It’s GTA VI of course but to add some variety, my next most anticipated is probably Civilisations VII.

I’ve played practically every version of civ since the first one including some spin offs. The series is easily my most played out of everything. I actually wasn’t too keen on CIV 6 & prefer 5, hopefully 7 is a return to form (for me personally). I know at least one friend who is getting it on launch as well so hopefully can play some multiplayer while the enthusiasm is still high to make time to play it.

2024 was my usually year of darting from one idea to the next & realising that I neither have the skills, hours in the day or motivation to create much/any good quality content.

2025 will be about a realignment of priorities & being realistic with what is achievable. The most important thing will simply be to create whatever I feel like for the enjoyment of it.

Gone is trying to stick to some specific niche or brand & following all the guides and advice on what you are supposed to do.

Out goes being on social platforms I don’t really want to be on.

In comes just a simple casual YouTube channel & a blue sky account just under my online handle. The aim, simply to see a random post do well & get the satisfaction of seeing the engagement number go up on one of them..

My 10 month old Pixel 8 phone recently started to go faulty. Every time I plugged it in for charging, the screen would get this weird green static on it for a second or two, & a green static type bar would scroll from top to bottom down the screen as well. It was a bit like a “ghost in the machine” sort of glitch that you would see in a film in some scene to hint that a phone has been bugged/tapped and is glitching.

Randomly over the next month, when I brought the phone out of sleep, & usually during some time sensitive activity like trying to use Google pay in a shop, it would be bright green with a random patch flickering off and on at max hdr brightness, this section would also be hotter than the sun when touched (to use an Alan partridge phrase!).

This got worse over the weeks until a couple of weeks before the warranty expired, the screen was just dead most of the time.

sent it off for a free warranty repair, which involved the huge carbon footprint of shipping by air mail to Poland, then flown all the way back to me & delivered to my door, just for a standard screen swap out.

This repair process took a good couple of weeks to play out & searching on Reddit showed me this is not a one off unique problem,m. There are reports of exactly the same very specific screen issue going back through multiple pixel models over the years.

Phoneless, I switched back to the apple eco system and got a 16 pro. Sold the repaired handset once it eventually got delivered back to me.

I quite liked it. Nothing amazing on show but the support from publisher's was good and I liked the format and having a live audience. I can see this becoming THE big showcase of the year in the lead up to the "holiday" sales period.

The absence of Playstation was notable & disappointing, they have really gone backwards with their lack of interest in industry/community events.

Civ 7 looked different enough to look forward to another new version. Dune I really have on my radar and paying a lot of attention to it but this presentation of it I was a bit disappointed with so much focus on PvP. Previously it looked very pve focussed so I hope this was just showing a different part of it and not that the focus has shifted as we get closer to the final product.

COD is like the fast food of gaming & I do like the look of this years entry.

I think the final will be between Spain and England and I've always expected this....

England to go 1 - 0 up within the first 5 minutes from and early lucky goal from a bad spanish mistake at the back, Kane to score it. Thoughts of winning will enter the minds of the crowd and the audience at home but it isnt to be.

Spain will go onto dominate with their attacking style overwhelming the English defense. 2-1 Spain at half time. Then 4-1 Spain by the end of the 90 minutes. That young kid I don't know the name of that player for Spain will get a hatrick.

1 yellow card for England.

This is my best one I have saved. Back from the OG season late 2023.

I personally think it's should be used for offside and goal line decisions only. Essentially the binary simplicity of has the ball/player broken through a line.

Everything else should be left to the referees interpretation of the rules, because it's all part of the experience and fun of the game.

It's got to be this one between Mansell & Senna in 1991. The image of these two cars wheel to wheel down the straight is what I always think of when it comes to overtaking in F1.

Your Favourite Spanish Grand Prix - 1991 Mansell & Senna - YouTube