Dubai In Pictures

Skyline + beach from atop a boat

30 seconds exposure. It was windy-ish

HDR of sea and sky

Kelly watches the sun disappear

Kayaks!

Looks like a holiday brochure picture :p

The hotel/Dubai from our balcony

2 awesome kids kayaking. The look like celebs!

Another skyline from the beach. Soft-focused

Daytime beach/skyline

Dubai (Abridged Version)

I never got that borrowed internet back :(

Neither did I manage to feasibly go online from anywhere. Amazingly, the hotel didn't even have the option for paid net access, let alone free.

Anyway, we're back now. Arrived back Sunday evening. Went straight in to an on call on Monday. Tomorrow is Christmas Day (off), and Friday I start nights. It just keeps on getting better.

Here's a quick run down of what we did in Dubai, other then days 0-2 which are in previous posts:

Day 3 - lots  of lying around in the sun, reading books, and we ended it going to Al Khaima, the hotel's Arabic restaurant for some Lebanese food, Sheesha, and live music. The weather was just awesome, as was the atmosphere.

Day 4 - We met Haniboy in Mall Of The Emirates (happens to be my favourite mall over there, it's where we went on that robocoaster before!) and had a steak from the legendary Butcher Shop & Grill. The steak (and burger) there is just phenomenal.

In the evening Ziad got us in to the event they were doing the lighting for. It was in the next door hotel and was something to do with some Arab dude buying Fox, and bringing all it's programmes to Rotana (Arabic station). We saw some DJ stuff and some Arabic singers, but the main but was this amazing fire show which involved huge jets of fire choreographed to famous Fox music, including The Simpsons theme!

After Ziad finished work, me and him left the hotel at 1am in search for food. We ended up going to the seediest of internet cafés (somewhere him and his friends regular ALOT) and had some cheap, dirty, but really tasty food. Best thing is you can eat by the computers, which feature cheap internet and a ton of pirated shit to watch/play. It's a geek dream-come-true.

Day 5 - ATLANTIS DAY!!

We went to Aquaventure Atlantis. This is a new waterparked based in the huge Atlantis Hotel, itself based on the tip of the huge Palm Island that's just opened there. It was great fun, loads of funky rides and a near-free-fall slide called The Leap Of Faith.

Day 6 - More hotel based chillaxin'. In the late evening I went out with Zaid&co to Alkoofa, a restaurant, which that night had live singers until 3 am. It was loud, noisy, very smoky, but great fun.

Day 7 - We went with Haniboy's family (including my future wife, his daughter Leyan) and Ziad to Fujeirah. There is an island there called Snoopy Island (cos it looks like Snoopy lying on his back) where you can stay on the beach and snorkel. Unfortunately, due to lots and lots of red Plankton snorkeling was impossible. We swam in the sea though, used the pool and had some burger's at the local hotel. Was fun, but shame about the snorkeling.

Day 8 - Last day. Shopping, packing, and having Chop Chop (chinese restaurant thingie in the mall).

Best Lunch Boxes EVER!

Courtesy of Kelly. No idea where she found them :)

Isn't it great being back?

Yes. All of them have to be dictated :(

Dubai Day 2

First of all, I am on "borrowed internet". The company Ziad works for as a 3.5G router so they lent it to me to use in the hotel. Unfortunately, they need it back on their site now.

I will try my best to blog tomorrow from somewhere. On to the day:

The laziness that was our day started with a breakfast on our balcony. In a surprise move for any hotel, actually requesting the breakfast as room service is free. After that we walked down to the hotel's beach and did what people do on the beach (NO! Not that!). This is my first beach holiday as such, and I enjoyed it a lot more than I thought.

We wandered back towards the hotel and lounged about on the sun chairs just behind the beach, on a green lawn in the shade. That was even more fun, there as a nice breeze and though busy, the beach/surrounding area was quiet so it was very blissful. We had lunch there, and I stupidly ordered a mint refresher drink (Lemonade, Sugar, Mint). It tasted EXACTLY like liquid Mint Sauce, which Kelly loves. She had that and I ordered something called Dessert Kiss (mixed fruits). Much better.

This evening we're gonna have dinner in the hotel too (in case you hadn't noticed, today is hotel-only day, a traditional Alsawafx2 affair), probably at Al Khaima, that does BBQ and Sheesha. Mmmmmm.

Gotta go take the router back now :(

Dubai Day 1 (ish)

Our flight left Terminal 5 at 20:45 UK time, and we reached Dubai International Airport at 07:45... the ride was smooth, but there was a kid behind us that periodically would either cry "no no no!" or offer us crayons to play with... this kept us both busy and unable to sleep. Hence we were both tired and cranky :D

Amazingly enough, the travel agent had arranged our transport correctly, and we actually had someone waiting for us with a placard saying (ALSAWAF x 2)... they took us to the car (a nice big thing, not sure what) which drove us to Le Royal Meridien in Jumeirah. The driver insisted on pointing out landmarks but we couldn't understand his heavy Asian accent so we just nodded and smiled. Like you do.

The hotel is lovely... we've had great experiences in other Meridiens and this is no different. Really nice place, lovely staff. The receptionist took our details and said that the room was being prepared... in the meantime she gave us a pager to carry (can't get rid of them can I!) so we would be bleeped when the room was ready. They even let us have a free breakfast!

After about an hour or so the room was ready... it's on the 3rd floor of their Tower Block, and luckily for us it has a beautiful view of the beach, the pools and gardens, and Atlantis (on Palm Island). Both very tired, we had a shower and just fell fast asleep.

This evening we went out with Ziad and Bashar for some Arabic dinner and then a tea and Sheesha at Maxine Café in Jumeirah. It was nice, but we're still tired :D

Tomorrow is Chillaxin* Day, with lots of beach, pool, and food.

Things we would like to do including visiting Mall Of The Emirates, visiting Dubai Mall, going to Atlantis, going to Fujeirah's Snoopy Island, and a desert BBQ. Let's hope so :)

*a new word I've learnt from my great-cousin. I presume it's Chillin+Relaxin.

Dubai Day 0

Waiting at Terminal 5 for baggage drop to open.

New address, Stupid registrar, Jarre is back, L4D, and Dubai

Hello blogites!

Thanks for bearing with all the technical difficulties. More importantly, thank you all for your messages of support and help... I'm really happy that there are still people out there that follow my ramblings. It's great. Thanks again!

My old URL (ali-sob.com) seems to have disappeared. My STUPID STUPID registrar (www.discountdomainsuk.com, AVOID AT ANY COST) is not only expensive, but also technically incompetent and total shit. My registration with them has about a year left.

After lots of anger and grief with them, I've decided to move along.. it would have cost a bit to move ali-sob to somewhere else, so instead I've registered a new name with godaddy.com (thanks Anmar) for 5 years (a lot cheaper than stupid discountdomainsuk.com!).

The new address is:

WWW.ALIALSAWAF.COM

Sexy, don't you think? :p

Unfortunately, visitors to ali-sob.com will be greeted with DNS errors. If it does get fixed, I might get it to forward here, or vice versa, or maybe not.

On to more fun news now.

Jean-Michel Jarre is touring again, with 4 UK dates in May next year. I've booked 2 tickets for the London show (29/05/08) in advance before they all disappear, and I'm hoping a very pregnant Kelly by then should be able to come along.... according to her "I'll probably go in to labour there cos the baby will have enough of the music"... she's not a fan :( I'm hoping the baby will love it and become a Jarrenaut like it's supercool dad.

I mean me :p

We've been having a great, great time with Left4Dead (me, BlueBlood, Anmar + random friends)... it's a wonderful game both in coop and in vs (which is pure genius, warrants it's own post later).. it really brings out the cooperative spirit and brings us together as gaming friends... I can only wish that someone else picks it up and actually plays it, but for some reason I doubt that :p

Finally, tomorrow we fly back to Dubai (arrive Saturday AM) to spend a week doing nothing other than relaxing, reading books, and eating! The laptop will be with us, as will the big heavy camera/tripod, so watch this space we might just blog daily like NYC last year.

And that's the end of this long, overdue post. Thanks for listening!

8-Bit Jesus

Is an AWESOME chiptune album by Doctor Octoroc... remixing classical christmas tracks in chiptune, with nods to the big greats like Mario, Konami, and Ninja Gaiden!

Doctor Octoroc is kind enough to provide the first half of the album for free, a generous 9 tracks... grab it here and rock on to some awesome christmas bleeps and blops!

The Simpsons Mock Apple

Very effectively too :)

Happy Birthday Mouse!

Dear Mouse,

Happy 40th Birthday!!

Even though you're fourty, you've had lots and lots of plastic surgery and changes done to you. Did you know that you were born made out of wood!!

1968 it was... your daddy, Doug Engelbart, made a big wooden version of you and used you to show of his networked computers in a presentation. He didn't call you a mouse mind you, one of his friends thought you looked like a mouse, so the name stuck!

It wasn't until you were 16 though, remember that? Remember when your dad's friend, Steve Jobs, made that Apple II computer and started giving you away with it... wow you made such an impact! And, since then, you've been touched and prodded and pressed and clicked and moved by millions of people every day. Poor you!

And who could forget 1999? When that company with the funny name decided to make the very first "gaming mouse"... that was exciting wasn't it! You looked all funny with your new design, and you were shy and no one thought that you'd manage to be a gaming mouse. How wrong were they!

So, thank you very much mouse for letting us enjoy using (and playing with) our computers. Don't worry about the nay-sayers, or those gloomy people who think that we'll all be forgetting about you in 40 year's time, when things like touch screens and gesture controls take over your place. You'll always be my number one!

SoB.

The real Death Toll

Scary... today in Bury St Edmund's it was cold and foggy, and we were waiting for a bus just outside of a cemetery... it looked so much like Death Toll that I almost ran on the bus when it showed up, barricaded myself in, and got ready to defend against the horde...

Why didn't I think of this first?

Prince of Persia

Quick note: I'm an IGN Insider (aka paid member)... I've just seen an exclusive video of THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GAME IN THE WORLD, aka the new Prince of Persia.

People, this game looks, feels, sounds, hell even tastes beautiful! It's like a comic come to life. A beautiful, colourful, striking, enchanting comic.

I wish I could embed it... I think it'll release publically soon, and then you'll all see what I'm raving about. This a game that we should all buy.

Out 5th of December on 360, PS3, and PC.

SoB The Second

Or Kelly The Second. Who knows ;)

Butt Rape - No Lube

Leaps of Faith

I've just finished Mirror's Edge, the new game from DICE (those of Battlefield fame) and EA.

You might have heard about this one - set in a futuristic utopia, where big brother reins supreme. You play Faith, a "runner" which is a group that delivers messages the old-fashioned way, hence avoiding the all-seeing eye of the government.

Soon enough, she gets involved in a murder case, and that's what the story revolves around. Not that it matters. In fact, while the story is reasonable, it's not why this game is nothing short of amazing. It's the innovative game play that makes this such a great game to play.

Primarily, Mirror's Edge is a platformer. A very enjoyable one at that. Now if platforming isn't your thing, don't browse away. Platforming in Mirror's Edge is done from the First Person perspective. So it's a First Person Platformer. The only other example of something similar is the excellent Metroid Prime series, but they focus more on puzzles and combat.

If you've seen any videos of the game you might have my initial reaction: nausea. First Person platforming is something sickly to watch, the view point bobs a lot, you're constantly looking up then down then at ledges, and even running is shaky. I remember skipping everything to do with Mirror's Edge (in magazines and sites etc) because I was adamant that I can't play it because I get motion sick. Sea sick to be more precise, which is what this game brought on.

Cleverly then, and probably because of the amount of nausea in their game testing department, DICE went on to add a very simple anti-nausea mechanism: a little reticle. Yes, that's all, just a little dot (like in FPS) that your eye focuses on. With that, I got zero nausea, and neither did Kelly who watched the majority of the game. Thank God they did, otherwise I would have missed out on the most innovative game of the year.

The bulk of gameplay involves running from one roof top to the other (immensely satisfying) while you plot your route... this is aided by two things: "runner's vision", which paints useful platforms/ledges/etc red (on to colour later), and pressing and holding "B" will turn Faith towards her destination (of course, how to get there is the question, but at least it gives you bearings). Both these features can be turned off for the "hardcore", but non of them are spoon-feeding and in fact just make the game a lot more enjoyable, but the option is there if you're feeling masochistic.

Then there's the indoor sections, which can be similar to the outdoor sections (for eg in a big mall) or exhilarating set pieces (an underground train station comes to mind); but, and here's another stroke of genius, a lot of the indoor sections are actually puzzles. Environmental puzzles at that. You know where you need to go, but initially there's no way to get there at all... figuring out the path, and actually working out how to get from A to B is great fun... it's not about speed here or fast running, it's about nimble movements and figuring out a route.

And then there are a few combat situations - moments where you have to get past enemies, either by running past them, or disarming them and/or shooting back at them (Faith has no weapons, she has to disarm someone to get them). Disarming is fun enough, but the shooting is a bit generic. I have a feeling this was a deliberate design, it's a lot more satisfying wall-running and flipping past a gang of SWATs shooting at you, than it is shooting them. Seriously.

Visually the game is nothing short of stunning. The city is beautifully realised and drawn, with washed-out colours and no colour red anywhere. The only red in the game is on Faith's clothes, and what she sees in runner vision. In doors the game is just as striking, with very "ikea"-like interiors made of basic, primary colours (it's no surprise, DICE are Swedish). Beautiful.

The music and sound effects are just perfect... the music being ambient electronica, which really suits the mode of the game. It crescendos up during combat sequences or roof-top chases, but becomes subtle when you're pondering a puzzle.

Finally, controls in such a game are essential. Pixel-perfect platforming is useless if the controls betray you. Here, the controls are very simple (one trigger jumps, the other crouches), responsive, and do exactly as you want them to do. Missing that crucial jump may initially feel like the game's fault, but deep inside you know it's because you jumped to early. Stringing together a set of moves (for example a typical set: run, climb wall, slide, jump, turn, jump, grab) soon becomes second nature and any slip is nothing other than player fault. Get it all right on the other hand, and you can't help but admire the responsive controls.

The platforming is spot-on. From simple wall-climbs and little vaults, to complicated sets as above with gravity-defying jumps that seem impossible. Again, I don't think Faith was called Faith by coincidence - there are numerous times you make a "leap of faith" and hold your breath while you physically lean forward hoping that she'll catch that far away ledge, which she usually does, putting a big satisfied grin on your face.

In case you hadn't noticed, I like this game a lot. It's innovative, artistic, beautiful to look at, beautiful to listen to, and a joy to play. I might be biased because I like platformers, but this isn't a typical platformer, this is something new, Mirror's Edge is Mirror's Edge.

Get it now on 360/PS3, or give it a spin next January on PC. Whatever you decide, don't miss out.

Left 4 Dead is Alive!

Finally, after years of waiting, L4D unlocked this morning for those who pre-ordered the Steam version! Retail launches this Friday.

I'm still a bit too addicted to Mirror's Edge and Tomb Raider Underworld (both amazing, the first one warrants it's own post soon!), so I've been playing them today, but am dying to play L4D soon!

I have today and tomorrow off for the above purposes, and I'm all stocked up on caffeine and snacks. Anyone game?

Interesting.....

So we've played the Left4Dead demo to death (get it?)...... but little did we know that Valve still had the time to sneak a little Easter Egg in there. One that concerns a certain favourite game here at Good Delicious...

Kotaku reader Srider has found a curious advert on the back of a cereal box in L4D... it advertises some TF2 action figures, and urges you to "COLLECT ALL 10!".... Yes, that's 10, as in 9+1, as in there's a 10th class coming sometime :D

I wonder what it can be......

Man escapes from prison Solid Snake Style

Now here's a good one: A 42 year old Turkish drug dealer has escaped a German prison by hiding in a box :D

At the end of his shift making stationary, the imaginative inmate climbed in to a box which was picked up by the prison courier, among other boxes to various destinations... the inmate then cut a big hole in the tarpaulin of the truck and was free :D

Just goes to show you, playing video games doesn't just lead to violence, drug abuse, and sexism/racism/religionism/etc, it also teaches you how to escape from very sticky situations....

BBC world has more here. It's only a matter of time until someone links this escape to the convict's love of video games, specifically the Metal Gear series...

Iraqi Ameno

7ashasha or what?!

The coolest pool tricks EVER!

Prepare to feel inadequate:

Sorry

for the lack of proper posts. Been busy, work sucks.

Lots to talk about: Little Big Planet, Dead Space (AWESOME!!), The L4D demo out Thursday, and the fact that I'm in love with a joystick.

More later. I promise.

You MONSTER!!

Rabbit!!

Spotted somewhere in Sweden by Anarki13

Do me a favour and post this on your blog:

http://www.l4dmods.com/index.php

There you go.

Saturday afternoon on Aldeburgh beach

Afro Samurai

I'm getting excited about this. Afro Samurai is a Namco game, based on the anime of the same name.

I haven't read (nor seen) the comic/show, but today C&VG released 52 (!!) new shots of the game, and a quick hands on. It sounds like it's gonna be a cell-shaded, awesome Kill Bill-esque slash 'em up.

Coming February for 360 and PS3.

abit to quit motherboard market?!

This is sad news - it's old and I've just stumbled upon it, as part of research for an X58 (Nehalam) mobo.

Allegedly, according to Hexus, abit is to quit making motherboards end of this year. There's no official word on their website, in fact, their IX58-MAX motherboard has been spotted in the past.

I love abit motherboards - other than my first ever DISASTER motherboard (gigabyte), I've owned abit up until this April (where I got XFX then eVGA), they make excellent and very stable motherboards.

I hope it's all a lie - otherwise I don't know what motherboard to go for come upgrade time. I'm off to email abit.

World Of Goo

World of Goo is something I've been looking forward to for a while now. I'm a sucker for everything it comprises: cute game, simple gameplay, progressive difficulty, puzzles, and it's 2D!

Created by Indie outfit 2D Boy, who in their own words "is a brave new indie game studio based in San Francisco, making games the old fashioned way - a team of two, no money, and a whole lot of "love"". This is their first commercial release.

The game has set the media alight with admiration and raving reviews: IGN gave the Wiiware version a 9.5/10, Eurogamer (notoriously tough) gave the PC version a 9/10, and Rock Paper Shotgun gave it a SALE! verdict.

So go ahead, grab World Of Goo on your favourite platform, and let's support these bastions of 2D gaming, who have created something even Nintendo would be proud of. There's no excuse, it's small, you can download it from Steam or Direct2Drive or Wiiware, and it's $20.

Out Monday.

PS: please don't pirate it. If they make enough money out of Goo they might make a 2nd part. We can pirate that instead :p

Live in London Trailer

Back in December 2002, me and some friends decided to make a film to send back home to our friends and family in Baghad. We went out in London, and filmed everything we saw and did.

Back then, I was creative and had inspiration :p So I sat down and made a trailer of it all.

I don't think the trailer nor the DVD reached anywhere. I still have the original filming, and the other day I found the trailer, so here it is, in all it's youtube-compressed glory.

PS: The track is "From Rusholme With Love" by "Mint Royale"

New Macbooks this Tuesday?

Tuesday the 14th of October, 2008 - Apple is due to reveal it's updates to the Macbook range of notebooks (as it likes to call them).

Great news - I've been wanting to give Kelly my MBP and get myself a shining new one :)

All will be revealed on Tuesday at 10am PST. I wonder if that rumoured double-multi-touch-screen beast will be born.

Loads more speculation here.

TGS: NMH2 and R-TYPE Dimensions!

So I woke up way too early today (nights, remember?) to find that lots of information from the first day of the Tokyo Game Show has hit the web. 

The usual surprises (Halo prequel etc) and info on games we already know about. But, more importantly, two games I really care about:

No More Heroes 2 (Desperate Struggle) has been announced! The original NMH is a Wii game by Suda 51 (the awesome man behind Killer7 and many others) and it is one of the most fun, original, and best games on any system - not just the Wii. At the end of the first NMH, the game tells us that it might come back - or not, leaving us all in limbo whether there will be a sequel. And thank God there is!

Next up is the irem remake of the awesome, awesome R-Type! R-Type Dimensions is an XBLA release of R-type 1 and 2. This SHMUP remains the holy grail of all SHMUPs, and imho, and that of many others, remains to be surpassed!

The game features the same chiptune soundtrack, a pseudo-3D view (optional) and new co-op and endless modes. CANNOT WAIT!

Finally: last night tonight :D

Mario and Luigi 3

In a move to try and make us "core" gamers feel better, following the train-wreck that was E3, Nintendo have announced some new things for their systems in a recent summit.

Remakes of old classics with Wii consoles (Pikmin! Metroid Prime 1 and 2!) and some new stuff too, the best of which, for me, is the announcement of Mario and Luigi 3, the sequel to one of my most favourite DS games :D

In other news, there's a source mod on Steam called Zombie Panic. Kinda like L4D-lite, those interested should give it a spin.

In even more other news, I'm on nights tonight. Just four though.

Mario and Luigi video below:

Little Big Planet BETA!

I got a beta code yesterday!! Downloaded it, and LOVE IT!

This game is amazing, and is way more than what it's hyped up to be... me and Kelly have been having a great time, and that's just playing. We still haven't started creating anything yet :D

Can't wait for the full product. This game is gonna be a landmark in the history of gaming.

Little Big SHADOW

So this month, my most anticipated game of the year, and I think Sony's first real killer-app comes out: Little Big Planet.

OF course, I can't wait.

More importantly, I intend to recreate a famous 90s game within the Little Big Planet environment. If THE reviews are to be believed, you can create anything, albeit "anything" will always look cute and cuddly, like Sackboy.

There. You've heard the news first. When I become an internet celebrity with my awesome creation, you'd have heard of the BEAST here first.

THREE cheers!

Coolest videogame trailer EVER!

Nintendo's new 2D platformer, Wario Land: Shake It hits the Wii this week.

To hype things up, the big N have released a trailer for the game on youtube. It has to be the coolest game trailer I've ever seen. Make sure you watch the whole 45 second video :)

Clickity Link

Twenty Toes

We're FUBARed

So IGN have gone and listed the most anticipated games on the 360 for this autumn. I've took out the games that don't interest me, and here's what I'm left with:

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts
Call of Duty: World at War
Dead Space
Fable II
Fallout 3
Gears of War 2
Left 4 Dead
LEGO Batman: The Videogame
Mirror's Edge
Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
Prince of Persia
Saints Row 2
Sonic Unleashed
Tomb Raider Underworld

That's fourteen games left. All for this Autumn! Why oh why does this have to happen EVERY YEAR? The Autumn/Christmas flood of games has become a fixed stable of gaming.
Still, it's great to have so many awesome hits coming out this year, in what has been to now, a much more quiet year compared to the behemoth that was last year.

I've managed to do a few single player games in my 2 months off (damn you Super Mario Galaxy for sapping all my time, I could have done way more without you!) so I'm left with a few games to finish before this onslaught. Bring it on!

3 days ago...

3 days ago I ordered some stuff off of the Valve Store. Yesterday I got an email to say the box has been dispatched (from the states).

This morning at 10:40 am or so the FedEx dude rang the bell with the box in his hand. I find that just amazing.. within less than 24 hours (our time at least) the box has been through all the channels and traveled half the world to get here.

Anyhow, here's the inner-geek shining through:

A Black Mesa parking permit :)

This came with 2 bumper stickers:

(What Would Gordon Freeman Do?)

A Portal T-shirt. Front:

And, naturally, back:

Aperture Science mug:

Yes I'm a double agent! I work for Black Mesa, but drink out of Aperture mugs! Take that GLaDOS!

Finally, my most prized piece - all ready for when we're gonna play the game:

As you can see, the cap is in "distressed" style, ie all tattered, just like a survivor :)

INTRODUCING

Maximillian AlKhalidi.... or Nile Warp's spawn in other words!

How awesome is this dude?! Here's hoping he grows up following MY example :p

Sunday morning I'm waking up.....

Another L4D gameplay video

But this one's awesome! Watch as a PAX player throws a molotive cocktail at everyone (including a team mate!), gets vomited on (OMG!) and gets attacked by a tank.

This game is going to be bad.....

PS: Watch it in HD if you can. It's worth it.

Left4Dead demo confirmed.

Gabe Newell (of Valve fame) has confirmed that there will be a Left4Dead demo. Even better news, it will be both single player and online co-op!

No word on when it is though.

Joystiq has more details here.

Sadly true

Priceless!

Today is Apple event day (I can't remember what it's called).

Engadget are live there, blogging away as usual while Jobs comes up with new stuff. Mainly, 2 new iPods (new nano, new touch), and firmware 2.1 for the iPhone (at long last!).

Jobs is also claiming that the iPod/iPhone is "the best portable device for playing games"... hmm, ever heard of Nintendo Steve?... anyway, Engadget's quote from the live blog is priceless:

10:47AM "It's the best portable device for playing games..." gauntlet: THROWN.

Loool. The gauntlet is indeed thrown. Who'd dare claim such a thing when so many others have tried and failed against the Big N.... only time will tell if Apple are as lucky with games as  they are with .mp3 (hint: I highly doubt it).

Spore

is locked at 30FPS. How stupid is that?

What's worse - it tears like hell. Yes, my monitor is 60hz hence 30FPS should never tear, and yes VSYNC is forced on for all games in the CCC, but still it tears.

Still - LOVELY game. I've got legs now!

Pure

There's a demo out on Xbox Live for Pure, the disney racer that we're all not looking forward to, cos all of us don't really know about it.

Very under-hyped, the game is an off-road ATV racer coming for PS3, 360, and suprisingly PC even. I had a spin today and not only are the graphics awesome, the gameplay is great, and it's just really really fun.

So, I'm promoting it myself now: go read up on Pure, check the demo if you can, and download the screenshots/videos. And when it's out, get it :)

Faris

Google Chrome

Chrome is Google's foray in to browsers, which according to them:

Google Chrome is a browser that combines a minimal design with sophisticated technology to make the web faster, safer, and easier.

It's only just (22 minutes!) been released (Beta, windows only. Mac to follow), and you can grab it here.

Let's see what it adds to the already dominated scene.

Hate2O

Let me get this off my chest: I hate, despise, loathe, just cannot tolerate levels based under water, or on ice!

I just hate them.

Under water levels make me feel motion-sick. The degree of freedom in an under water level reminds me of what Descent did to me when I first saw it, and the slow movement under water makes that sick feeling even worse. Urgh.

Ice levels? Damn you ice levels!! I think they are just a cheap cheap way to make a boring level just a bit more difficult, and for me, really frustrating! Again, the whole trying to negotiate a surface that's slippery and in which neither starting nor stopping movement happens when you actually want it to happen, it's just enough to make me stop playing a game all together.

My rant comes on the basis that yesterday and today I've finished 2 galaxies that are based on water/ice in Super Mario Galaxy. As great as that game is, as inspired and original and imaginative that it is, and as perfect a platform game that it is, those 2 galaxies were just boring, frustrating and dull.

So you can imagine that if the great Nintendo can't make a proper water/ice level, who can? The answer? NO ONE CAN.

Don't get me wrong - I love platform games. In fact, I think they are my most favourite genre of games (followed closely by FPS), and I love good old fashioned pixel-perfect jumping and timing. But ice and water just annoy me - you can't time anything on ice, and you move so slow in water (usually coupled with a crappy control mechanic to speed you up, like repeatedly pressing A or something just as stupid) that both of them just make me want to -to quote a good delicious regular- athib min rasee (throw up).

Which is why God Of War I and II come in mind as excellent games: their underwater levels are a delight (because Kratos can move EXACTLY as he can on the surface, and there's no dodgy camera to work with), and any level with snow/ice in it is just for the atmosphere. There's no slipping and sliding, God Of War doesn't need any of that to make a level challenging.

To Kratos, I salute you.

To Mario, you're still number one. BUT I wish you wouldn't get yourself in so much shit (read: water).