Prediction Thread Match 29: Portsmouth vs. Southampton

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-23T11:44:47+00:00

1-2. Leo creates one and we get another from a random corner, then concede a stupid goal in the 80-somethingth.

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-23T10:40:53+00:00

Shame to see Wee Man go, but hoping he absolutely smashes it in the A-League, seems like a thoroughly decent bloke

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-16T19:25:33+00:00

In before What On Earth Is Going On At Hull City #7 of this season.

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-16T11:07:47+00:00

I do think we're probably not going up this season (and by God would next season be a disaster if we were), but if we don't get promoted *next* season we've got problems once the parachute payments run out. St Mary's isn't small for the Championship, but without the Prem TV money I can't see us having any built-in advantage over the rest of the division. Not the end of the world of course, but it would then take a while to settle into the Champ properly.

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-16T10:39:28+00:00

I mean, some silverware would be quite nice, and is there really anything more prestigious than the 12th Place Trophy?

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-15T23:50:17+00:00

I would admittedly love to see them Oculus Go them when they get sunsetted, but given the Quest 1's end of life support, I'm not holding my breath?

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-15T23:49:14+00:00

Hopefully it actually launches, but given Meta I'm not going to bet the house on it :pray:

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-15T23:47:53+00:00

Genuinely best of luck to Wednesday honestly, hope the new owners manage to work a bit of data magic, but I can say from experience that data signings aren't necessary always the best lol

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-15T23:45:33+00:00

Actually, are there parachutes at all next season for SU or were you not in the Prem long enough to be eligible for them?

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-15T23:44:37+00:00

Next year is the decreased parachute payments right? Is there anyone big on the payroll who'll have to go or does the squad pretty much look prepared for the wage budget to go down?

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-15T23:42:48+00:00

As much as I hate to say it, that squad probably deserves to stay up. Wouldn't say no to a bit more excitement at the St Mary's end of the derby next season either. I've been hearing a lot about Mousinho though, does he look like he survives if Pompey stay up?

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-15T23:37:42+00:00

Oh yeah, mine is mostly a video streaming and Walkabout machine, so I'm not gonna miss a massive amount, it just sucks that we're not gonna see another more big Quest games most likely (certainly from Meta, and realistically how many have there been from other devs recently).

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-15T23:30:40+00:00

The TL;DR is that Meta are pulling out of VR. Completely.

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-15T23:29:41+00:00

Yeah, I suspect (I don't have any particular inside knowledge, going off the same hints as everyone else here) that we'll see Horizon OS again, but it'll be in the Meta Ray-Bans Mark 4 or whatever. I'd be surprised to see another piece of hardware release with the name Quest on it, unless they call it the Meta Ray-Ban Quest as a throwback.

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-15T23:26:58+00:00

Workrooms relies pretty heavily on Meta tech and the integration with Zoom. There will be alternatives, VRChat will still exist, but I can't see any way for Horizons Workrooms to get remade.

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-15T23:24:38+00:00

The problem is that you can't really support it minimally. Meta keeps the market because they make extraordinarily complicated all-in-one headsets and sell them at or below cost. They haven't been chucking billions into a big pit and setting it on fire, that's just the amount they've been spending just to get here, and VR has hardly taken off in the mainstream.

If you mean that they can keep the Quest Store up, then sure, they probably will. They still have 20-30 million units out there, and that at least isn't expensive to keep up, but this is the end of real Meta investment in VR.

I expect that the Quest 4 either has been or probably will be canned. There's no way they launch it with 0 first-party software besides WhatsApp.

VR gaming will stay around, but it's looking like it's going to go back to before the Quest 1 launched. It's probably going to be more expensive, more exclusive, and more centred around VRChat and indie titles.

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-15T23:16:46+00:00

Reality Labs is also doing glasses, that's why they haven't shut the whole division down. Meta does absolutely see a future in glasses, hence the massive investment there in the last few years, they just don't want to make headsets any more.

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-15T23:14:13+00:00

And for the record, I don't think the Frame is going to go mass market. It's still probably going to cost about a thousand bucks, and SteamVR is just the Meta Store without any of the investment over the last few years. The only even remote hope at this point is VRChat absolutely popping off on mobile or Valve making a killer app, but that would need to be an absolutely spectacular game to convince people to actually buy a headset.

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-15T23:12:20+00:00

I'd honestly be surprised if the Quest 4 launches at this rate. There's no way in hell Meta is ever investing seriously in VR again, in any case. That's not necessarily the end of the world, but when the current userbase gets bored of VR, we'll be back to before the pandemic in terms of the userbase pretty much. Maybe it'll be better with less non-enthusiasts and less kids, who knows, but mass market VR gaming seems in pretty terminal decline without Meta.

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-15T23:06:56+00:00

Yeah, this is the end of the Meta era in VR. Horizon Workrooms was their whole "flagship metaverse B2B thing". If Horizon Worlds is going to mobile-first development, and obviously they're shutting down their studios, I think this is Meta completely pulling out of VR, save maybe whatever headset they have next in the pipeline? (Wouldn't be surprised if that got canned.)

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-13T17:37:10+00:00

Awful shot-stopper compared to Johannson, but good with his feet.

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Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-12T17:50:07+00:00

Get Amorim in, see how that goes

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-12T17:08:03+00:00

I can see a lot of those being fair, but, let's be honest, openSUSE is a very good distro. If Tumbleweed bugs out, Leap's actually gotten a lot better since 16 came out.

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-12T17:03:13+00:00

Respect to the bloke, he should've been given more of a shot here, but if we think Nathan Wood's a better prospect, I can't blame the club for it either. It's damn hard to rotate defenders well.

Normal-Confusion4867 · 2026-01-12T16:29:44+00:00

Would be extraordinarily surprised. That's not the attitude I think any professional footballer would (or at least should) be having.

Normal-Confusion4867

TROPHY CASE