God of Phoooaaaaarrrrrrr!!

God Of War III info explosion today :)

New screen shots, new preview, and an epic, epic new trailer (longer than the one earlier this year), showing some Kratos lovin'....

Excited? SURE! Psyched? HELL YEAH!!

Let's hope it's out this year......

PS: The whole trailer is in-game engine... no prerendered bullshots :)

The Future Geriatricians!

Martyn, Dinesh, and sexy genius....

Mustafaboy

Haniboy has a new baby boy :)

They've called him Mustafa. We'll call him Mustafaboy...

That's sprog number two, the first being my second wife to be, Layan.

Fingers crossed, we'll soon be adding Adam Alsawaf to the clan ;)

The Scarf

Some of you might know this already, but I'm learning how to knit :)

I've always been fascinated by it since being a kid, watching my aunt knit away..... 

So, a few weeks ago I went to the knitting shop and bought some needles, some yarn, and books for beginners (not to mention the .pdf of "knitting for dummies")...

My second project (the first one is a basic thing for the baby) is a scarf for Kelly for Valentine's Day... and here it is in all it's glory :)

For the knitters among you, it's garter stitch, stocking stitch, and cable.

Invaders Must Die - The Prodigy

Promo album (11 tracks).

On the kitchen for those interested ;)

PS: having a listen now.... not sure yet... seems to be a return to old skool, which is good-ish, but can't really make my mind up.

Meet The Spy!

Not official though :p

New Left4Dead stuff!

New game mode. vs mode for the 2 other maps. Free SDK (exciting, since it lets people create campaigns that can be found via match making!).

It's great to see Valve looking after it's customers so well... and they're updating TF2 also, so they're not just forgetting one for the other. Good stuff!

More here.

Twitter bar

There's a new sidebar on Good Delicious. It follows my twitters.

Which reminds me, please guys, join twitter. It's a really really easy way of getting in touch, essentially just one line of 140 characters max.. that's it. No it's not like facebook, it's a lot simpler... just one line to say what you're up to.

It's great fun to see what people are doing, and to organise stuff (like jigjigs). Me and Anmar (the only 2 on the damn thing) did a jigjig via twitter yesterday.

Also, loads of famous people/companies/websites are on twitter, hence giving you an RSS-like feed. In fact, that's it, it's like RSS for your friends.

I've invited a couple of you already, but as for the others, please give it a shot... it'll keep us in touch more.

www.twitter.com

As part of my quest to read books relating to Videogames and their culture, I ordered a variety of books from Amazon the other day.

Below is a video of the coolest book cover EVER created. Seriously. Rogue Leaders is the story of Lucas Arts and how it came to be, and is a very big and colourful book with loads of concept art and never seen before snaps of our favourite games from Lucas.

The cover though, is something else. Geek porn if I've ever seen it.

More about Rogue Leaders (and the other books) later.

Bit.Trip: Beat

I'll let the video talk for itself. I'm a sucker for trippy music games, as you know :)

Wiiware exclusive, in case you were wondering.

Sound familiar?

virus-database.com says:

CLL.94

Details

CLL.947

It is not a dangerous memory resident parasitic virus. It hooks INT 10h, 21h and writes itself to the end of COM and EXE files that are executed. On any INT 10h call the virus writes zero to ports 200h, 220h, 240h, all, 2E0, on any INT 21h call the virus writes random data to ports 230h-233h and 250h-253h (disables soundblaster? Adaptec adapters?). The virus contains the text string:

Creative library link. Copyright(c) 1994 by Michael Carington.

Wrong actually.

It disables videoblaster cards. Not soundblaster.

I wonder why anyone would make such a thing. Could it be to get rid of the competition? Make sure that no one else has a cutting-edge videoblaster? Who knows. I guess we'll never find out.

Oh, and who's Michael Carington? Who'd think up such a name. And why would he be stupid enough to put his real name in a virus. Silly.

It's amazing CLL reached as far as it did really.

Valve goodness

The escapist magazine has a very interesting article called Storming The Fortress, where they talk to Valve about Team Fortress 2. The juicy tidbits are that there's a new Payload map coming (woop woop!), a new very different game mode (let's hope it's not an arena variation), and maybe a 10th class! Oh, and the next class update is the damned scout. Shit.

In other news, the amazing replica model of the amazing Portal gun pictured below was created for flickr user emilyskeith by her boyfriend. To quote Joystiq's report verbatim:

This replica Portal gun was created for Flickr user -- and soon-to-be Portal cosplayer -- emilyskeith by her boyfriend, and is clearly a triumph of prop making. In fact, we consider it a huge success.

We're sure it was hard for Emily to overstate her satisfaction with the finished replica, which features working orange and blue LEDs and was weathered to convey the idea that she wasn't the first Aperture Science subject to use it. To her boyfriend: you've ensured that her love for you will be still alive for years to come. Also, we want one.

Universe Computers and Consoles

As it stands now.....

Thanks to Mustafa for being crazy enough to go back to Iraq and taking this snap :)

Spot the Boomer!

This is the moment the survivors got overwhelmed by the infected.

Can you spot the boomer in the middle of all the mayhem?

PS: it was a vs match and we (the infected in this case) practically owned the other team.

(click to enlarge)

it's the smaller things

Remember a time when games didn't really have save points? They didn't need them really.

Games were short, but were a challenge to play. A challenge that you progressively got better at until you virtually finished the first stages without even thinking, or losing a life.

It was a simpler time. But also one that required a time commitment from the player. When you start playing a game, you play it with the intention to finish. Of course, the media wasn't as large or flexible to accommodate saving. Games were on tapes (saving could take minutes!), cartridges (expensive to produce), and very rarely floppy disks. It was more common to get a code to unlock the next level, rather than a save point. And we all had that time back then. We could all just load a game and just marathon play it until finished. Or at least try.

Games were designed with this limitation in mind. Imagine being able to save in R-Type, or Commando, or even Green Beret? If you could, you'd finish the game the day you buy it, and the thrill of playing would just disappear. There's nothing more thrilling than getting past that bit you're stuck on and move on a bit, just to hit a more challenging bit later on!

But then games started becoming more than games. They  started telling stories, involving us in their tales and making us connect with the characters. I challenge any gamer that says that they haven't been affected emotionally by a game. Whether you feel happy that the hero has done his deed, or sad at a death of a character, or even scared or nervous; games are involving us more than ever. Which is why we need save points now.

Imagine a book that you can't read unless you do it in one sitting. If you stop, you start from the beginning. You'll get bored of the repetition, you'll lose connection with the characters, and just not bother any more. Luckily the media we play games on now has evolved and we can save now. But, unlike a book, saving in games isn't like putting a bookmark, it depends on what the designer wants you to.

If the designer wants, they can let you save any time you like. The infamous F5 quick save hammering that we've all done when trying to complete a challenging level is borderline cheating. In fact, it is cheating. Or the designer can give us save points at calculated places. Some insanely distant and frustrating, some before key points in the game, and, the dreaded one, some after a pivotal moment where you can't go back and change your mind.

Saving is a smaller thing in games that is hugely overlooked. In the right hands, saving a game can be a very enjoyable experience, and one that adds to the game experience. See Full Spectrum Warrior for a great example of a save system that's integrated within the game world. In the wrong hands, saving becomes down right annoying. Lazily coded menus, odd interfaces that hinder the process, and long save times.

It can also be used to great effect to add (or remove) challenge from a game. The quick save mentioned above can significantly make a game easier (an odd example is FarCry 2. On the PC you can quick save, on consoles you can't - you have to find a safe house and sleep in it. The console idea is a lot more immersive), and checkpoints placed properly can make a game that more exciting. We've all played a game where you're fighting a tough section just to see (or hear) the checkpoint in the nick of time! It's a sensation of elation nothing else can mimic.

So here's to saving. The unsung hero of games these days. And here's to the developers that take the time and effort to think about their save points. To them, we salute you.

from heaven

I think last year was mostly a good year. Except for the incident with my dad's kidnap, which thankfully had a happy ending (figuratively), things last year were definitely for the better.

I finally managed to become MRCP, me and Kelly got married and also pregnant (final product ETA June 09), and I also managed to secure a 5 year training programme in Geriatric Medicine, the speciality I want to do as a consultant.

I went to Dubai twice, once in the blazing heat of August, and then with Kelly in the cool weather of December. I also saw my dad in Amman, and met up with some golden oldie friends (Blue Blood, Wolf, NBA), all of which I last saw 8 years ago!

The saddest news from last year was the tragic demise of a great Baghdad College friend called Harith Abdullah. He was killed in a car accident in Dubai, freakishly enough the same time me and Kelly were there. RIP Harith, you will be missed.

Last year was also the year that all hell broke loose when it came to video games, and gaming in general. There were so many megaton releases and essentials that I ended up owning most and playing none. I still haven't even put the Metal Gear Solid 4 disk in the PS3!

I also got to do more reading, both of fiction and graphic novels. A13 introduced me to graphic novels and the whole scanning scene, while my purchase of an iRex iLiad got me reading all sorts of novels again.

It was also the year when Clan Khara was born. 3 members strong (with no real hope of more coming), me, Blue Blood, and pyroMax form the team. Team Fortress 2 dominates our stats, but the 2008 release of Left4Dead has kept us busy too. We now have our own dedicated server hosted with multiplay. It's called The Toilet and is an 8 player Left4Dead server. Great stuff.

It'll be interesting to see how 2009 pans out. I hope it's a good one for everybody. I for one am learning how to knit for the baby (a scarf is my first project). I tell you, it's not easy!

Finally, without further ado, here's the games I clocked 2008

PC

Tomb Raider Underworld

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Call of Duty - World At War

Abe's Oddysee (no I didn't finish it 11 years ago!)

Shadowgrounds Survivor

Flipside

Clive Barker's Jericho

World Of Goo (my love for this is public. Get it people, get it!)

Dead Space (EA surprises us with an original IP that copies the best bits of killer games like GOW, BioShock, and RE4 to create an atmospheric, scary, and gripping space survival horror. Great stuff)

Psychonauts (this is the 2nd time I finish Tim Schafer's masterpiece of design, humour, and story telling)

Half-Life (how I missed this the first time I don't know. Neither does Blue Blood :p)

360

Gears of War 2

Mirror's Edge (more here)

Castle Crashers

Braid (Proof if anything that bedroom coding is alive and kicking. One of the most artistic and beautiful platformers/puzzlers to hit any machine, Braid tells the story of one man's fruitless mission to "find the princess". It is perfect in every manner, from the art style, to the music, to the time-bending puzzles, to the great ending, it just drips with style and elegance. And to think it comes from the brain of one man)

GTA IV

Rez HD (more here)

Ninja Gaiden II

PS3

Siren Blood Curse

Ninja Gaiden Sigma

Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction

Ratchet and Clank: Quest For Booty

Wii

Super Mario Galaxy (All DAMNED 120 stars! There's a 121th star, but that's just OTT. SMG is Nintendo and Shigeru's finest moment, redefining 3D platforming just like the phenomenal Super Mario 64. Top stuff)

No More Heroes (Suda 51's spiritual follow up to the excellent Killer7. Taking videogame clichés and conventions to the max, and coming up with a weird and wonderful hack and slash 'em up that borrows from and makes fun of almost everything related to the world of gaming and gamers. As ONM put it, a video game lesson in 10 classes. NMH2 is officially coming too!)

Lost Winds

Zack and Wiki

from hell

I have had 5 night shifts that I'm sure have been sent to me from the lowest, stinkiest, deepest pits of hell. I still have 2 more.

So, I'm going to see the new year dawn in while I'm trying to work out why Gladys fell, and why Queenie is confused.

Sucks. I would much rather spend it trying to push the Payload to the end of Badwater Basin, or shooting 1232 zombies in the face.

Have a Happy New Year you lucky SOBs!

Trigger Happy

(click to enlarge)

http://www.vgcats.com/comics/

Masters Of Doom, Changeling, and nights

On holiday I managed to finish two books:

Porn & Pong: an OKish look at how the videogame industry and the porn industry are closer than we imagine. Trends are the same, the explosion of both market's worth is amazing too.

Masters Of Doom: now this one's more like it. The true story behind how John Romero and John Carmack ended up ruling the PC gaming world. It's an amazing story, and even though it's all based on fact it's written very cleverly and is even a page turner! You'll find out the drive behind the two, the differences and the similarities, and more importantly the technical achievements they managed on the then-worse-than-consoles-PC. There's a lot more behind things like Commander Keen (the smooth scrolling was the first ever seen on the PC) and even the names of their games.

This is a book written for EXACTLY the kind of people that read this blog.. the geeky PC gaming/using fraternity that literally grew up drooling at Doom and it's Deathmatch. Read it, it's essential.

On holiday we managed to watch one film:

Changeling: here's a prediction I'm going to make. Changeling is going to net 4 Oscars: Best Film, Best Director, Best Actress in Main Role, and Best Costumes (or design). Clint Eastwood directs Angelina Jolie (yes, she does act great in this film!) in a gripping true story about a woman who's son goes missing and the police give her back the wrong child. When she starts questioning them, the corruption behind the LAPD starts to show leading to a national scandal. On paper, this sounds dull, but trust me, it's difficult to say anything about this film without spoiling the shockingly true story.

It's also a film that rivets around the performance of it's stars, and they truly do shine. We watched the film with low expectations but ended up being so gripped by it and pleasantly surprised. Watch it.

Finally, I'm on a week of nights starting in 2 hours. That's 7 in a row. Hmph.

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