Upgrades

This one's for you, DrD - you're always asking me to keep the blog up to date with hardware upgrades ;)

Hopefully this Wednesday I'll have all the components for an upgrade. I'll also be moving to a full-tower case, having used minis/midis for the last 9 years.

Funnily enough, this isn't my first full tower. My very first AT machine (a PS/2 286) was a full tower with a big massive red on/off switch. Bless.

Details, specs, and maybe even build photos later. Stay tuned!

The Artful Dodger

Honest guv, I'll sell you 2 for the price of 3.....

Off The Grid

First of all, HELLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I probably haven't sat down and blogged properly for AGES. By the way, ever noticed that AGES is the reverse of SEGA? just a thought ;)

Anyhow, tomorrow we're off on a week-long break up to our favourite place, The Lake District. Specifically, The Swan Hotel, where we got engaged and married. It's a lovely 4 star hotel in the country that's just great fun to stay in.

Will be off the grid for the majority of time up there - will probably tweet/check twitter via iPhone but that's about it :)

We'll also pass by Manchester to see my brother, his new son (who's a few weeks older than Adam), and my mum who's up there now. Also, I wanna show my nephews who's king at Guitar Hero!!

So, till we meet again, adios amigos!!

Level 10

I just found out about the Thermaltake Level 10, perhaps the sexiest full tower case you will ever see.

Designed by BMW USA with Thermaltake to celebrate their 10th anniversary, the Level 10 is one hell of a revolution.

It's not easy to describe, so the best thing is for you to just head on over to the official site.

It's also not cheap, at $650 retail, and may well be limited production.

Damn it do I really want one!

District 9

Just back from District 9

It probably is one of the best sci-fi movies I have seen in recent memory, perhaps ever.

Seriously. I can't hype this movie enough.

PLEASE watch it.

Super Mario - Arabic Style!

DeathSpank

DeathSpank is a new game, by the legendary dude that is Ron Gilbert.

You might not recognise the game, but the man is the grandfather of a lot of iconic Lucasarts games, like Zak McCracken, Indy, and a lesser known game that's called Monkey Island. Along with the other legendary dude, Tim Schafer, he kept us laughing and entertained for years.

And DeathSpank is his brandspanking (pun intended) new game. And it's a mix between an RPG (diablo-like) and an adventure game.

I'll leave it to this joystiq article here to pique your interest. Make sure you read it all, and watch the video.

My favourite quote:

"They call me Eubrick the Retired. Formerly Eubrick the Bitter. Formerly Eubrick the Undefeated. Formerly Eubrick the Bastard of Hillhaven. Formerly Sally the Stable Girl. And formerly Eubrick the Bedwetter."

2girls1...

ho ho ho, you dirty minded bastards!

Night 7

09:49 - It's all over!!!!!!

Night 6

All Systems Go!!!!

Night 5

00:24 - loneliness, a good thing!

Night 4

Welcome to Rapture!

Night 3

07:12 - java!!!!

Night 2

The drive home...

Night 1

05:40 - feet up in the mess.
And yes, I'm on nights.

Oh. My. God.

Ever tried Guitar Hero on Expert? Too simple?

How about solving not one, but TWO Rubik Cubes while you're at it?

Pffffffft. I do that every day! Just like the dude below.

Watch it and weep.

I had to subscribe to EDGE

EDGE being a magazine that's popular in the UK. It's a multiformat games magazine, but it's a bit too "posh" and harsh for my liking.

STILL - they had an offer I couldn't refuse: subscribe, and you get a limited edition poster made by pixel artist extraordinaire, Army Of Trolls.

So I subscribed. And a week or so ago, the poster arrived. I took it to the neighbours (who happen to run a professional framing service) and today they delivered it to me all framed up.

It's now hanging proudly in my den (read games/computer room).

The poster is a celebration of everything gaming, and features scenese/characters/locations for loads of famous and not-so-famous games. Everything from Doom's Cacodaemon to Dr Kawashima's smiling face, to the Katamari-rolling prince is included here. It couldn't be any more appropriate for the room :)

Hello

Hello everyone.

I hope you're all ok.

Korg Kaossilator

I have just ordered one of these beauties. To think that one small box can come up with all this magic!

I will become the next Jean-Michel Jarre by the way!

Living With First-Person Shooter Disease

Poor people!

Hitler finds out Michael Jackson has died

Choir simulates a storm

Dear God, the talent is just phenomenal....

The song is Africa by ToTo

haha (and new blog layout)

Yes I've simplified the blog template - this is pure and simple.

Reason? Removes the stupid width limitation in this column, and widens the side column significantly :)

Hence, I can post comics like this (and bigger youtube vids etc etc)

Office 2010 The Movie - World Premiere Trailer!

OMG OMG OMG I can't wait!!!

Double Fine Cotton 100%

Apologies to any none-medics/none-healthcare workers that might read this and wonder what the hell it's all about.

I recently had to venture in to the deep, dark, murky waters of The Theatres. You don't really want to go to The Theatres unless A\ you're mad, B\ you're fully anaesthetised, or C\ you work there (which really is part of point A).

There is one small exception, and that's if you have to do something to someone that involves the help of an anaesthetist. That was my predicament that day.

As part of the rules and laws of The Theatres, anyone entering it's lands has to change in to the appropriate clothes. Well, you could call them clothes but really they're just blue pyjamas, with a paper like thing you put around your head.

Anyway, there I was in the changing room feeling out of place when I noticed a strange phenomenon: hanging all over the place were clothes from various surgeons who were in The Theatres at the time. Nothing unusual there, except for the fact that every single one of them was hung in such a way that you could clearly see the labels:

Extra-fine double Egyptian Cotton 100% said one label! Luxury D&G said the other! DKNY said the other one, Christian Dior was on the next one! George from ASDA was on mine.

And it suddenly dawned upon me - surgeons have a big image problem.

See, outside of The Theatres you'll only ever see a surgeon in one of two states:

A\ Fully dressed in expensive designer gear. The suite, the handkerchief, the shirt, and probably even the knickers.

B\ Wearing those silly blue pyjamas that you should only wear in The Theatres. Complete with headgear; and, in extreme cases, wearing the facemask as well, trendily slipped down to the neck. This enhances ones state of appeal (and probably penis size) considerably.

This last state is understandable - they all want everyone else to go "ooooooh!, there goes Mr Surgeon! Off to save more lives!" and for young pretty girls to get all hot and sweaty and faint as they pass by.

The first state always bemused me. Why would you be so poshly dressed, if half the time you're just gonna take it all off and slip into the pyjamas? The Theatres sure doesn't let you stay all suited and booted, so why bother?

And the changing room answered that question. In The Theatres, wearing your pyjamas doesn't mean anything - everyone is wearing them. In fact, everyone from the person who's job it is to make sure the floor is clean, to the professor who visits once a month from Mars. In other words, no one knows who's who.

BUT - hang your clothes up in the changing room in a special way, making sure the expensive designer label is clearly visible to all, and hey presto instant kudos! You'll be the talk of The Theatres, and you'll stand out from the crowd!

I'm sure people working in The Theatres can tell who's around just by the labels on show in the changing room. "Oh look, a Christian Dior shirt! Mr Fantasic Surgeon must be operating!". No, scratch that, I'm sure that's what the surgeons think is happening when someone sees their shirts.

Luckily, the physicians on the other hand don't seem to have this image problem. In a very unscientific and crude study I've been doing, I've yet to see one single medical registrar wearing anything other than a shirt and tie. It's probably akin to the desperate title changing that happens the moment someone becomes a MRCS (google it). The speed with which their badge is changed from "Dr" to "Mr" is phenomenal....

It's all about the image.

Next time you're walking down the corridor and you see someone in a fancy suite, do me a favour. Ask them if their a surgeon and you can bet your life savings that they are. Compliment their choice of clothes and they'd probably show you the inside label.

Oh, and if they're carrying a shoulder manbag, don't even bother asking!

Shame

The recent tragic death of Michael Jackson has sparked a range of reactions around the world. Loyal fans believe the music has died, others believe that Michael was dead 15 years ago, turning in to a ghost all these years.

What almost everyone agrees on however, is the talent that the world has lost.

While I'm no Loyal fan (I only own his Number Ones album), I did grow up listening to his music, and I greatly admired him as a performer. As the world is taken over by Jackson-mania (funny how no one would admit being a fan when he was alive. Death is always kinder to artists), it's difficult to go anywhere without hearing or seeing his music.

I was sad when it all happened. Thanks to this interconnected world, news can spread within seconds. Tragedies can unfold infront of millions of eyes (remember September 2001?), and news as big as Jackson's collapse probably reached the media before it reached his family.

It was posted on a twitter feed I follow on what was a quiet Thursday night. Staying up till 4 am watching BBC news live, I heard the confirmation of death and even saw his body wrapped in white, being taken over to the cold slab at the Coroner's Office. It was very saddening to witness, whether the body was that of Michael Jackson, or of anybody, the new digital age can poke in to the most personal and undignified of moments, and we like to watch with morbid fascination.

As the world started finding out about his death, people were posting their reactions all over the web. Facebook was flooded with statuses mouring the man, and the usual comments about paedophilia, bankruptcy, plastic surgery, etc etc came in and were not that unexpected. After all, the allegations surrounding him were never really shaken off.

But it's the other backlash that caught me off guard. The backlash from almost anyone Iraqi on my friends list. Comments were posted about how "100s are dying in Iraq, why are you bothered about this one person" or "don't forget our beloved country" or "people in Iraq are dying in a worse way every day". Accusations that presume that any Iraqi sad that Michael Jackson has died has automatically betrayed his or her country. An accusation that is hugely unfair.

I can't really remember the day when I haven't thought about the tragedy that is Iraq. Be it either in the back of my mind, or when I get asked where I'm from by patients at work, or, worse still, when I'm listening to music and a song comes on that a dead (killed) friend liked. Something that almost always makes me tearful.

Or perhaps when I email my dad, or text him. I'm instantly reminded of what happened to us last year. If I don't email or text him, I get pangs of dread that I haven't heard from him and something might have happened.

So yes, I do remember Iraq. I remember the tragedies and they sadden me. I've lost close, close friends who have died unfairly young, and our family has been a victim of horrible crime there. That doesn't mean I can't be sad that an artist has died. It doesn't mean that I can't show that support, or talk about it publically.

Being Iraqi is already a tough job. Before 2003 people would look at you like you're a neo-nazi, after 2003 you automatically get pseudo-sympathy from people you've known for minutes, telling you about how sad the situation is there. While I proudly tell people where I'm from if asked, I always brace myself not to wince when the inevitable "oh, we're so sorry about what's going on there" comes along. I know it is, and I don't want to be reminded of what it REALLY means to be affected by it.

We're all used to this now, those of us living outside of Iraq. What we're not used to though is these accusations by our fellow Iraqis. It seems that as the country is in a tragedy, it's taboo to be concerned about something else. Any public show of sympathy towards anything else other than Iraq is deemed a misjustice.

It's funny though, because all these people are outside of Iraq. All of them are in another country, having left their alleged beloved Iraq. And all of them are counting the days until they get another passport. I remember when you were all back in Iraq, and how you just couldn't wait to leave. You weren't that passionate back then, and you're not that passionate now. At least I have the decency not to fake it.

Yes I'm sad Michael Jackson has died, and I'm not ashamed to show it. I am ashamed about this fake Iraqi royalty, and I'm ashamed to know anyone who does it.

Shame.

Michael Jackson RIP

In what has to be the saddest news of recent memory, Michael Jackson has been confirmed dead today from what appears to be a fatal heart attack. He was only 50.

Controversial or not, the man's amazing contribution to music and popular culture is immeasurable. His impact was huge.

We were lucky to have lived in an age where we witnessed such talent and contribution.

Rest in Peace Michael - never forgotten.

So how do you pronounce GIF?

First of all - more about Adam later - don't kill me!

Now - how do you pronounce GIF?

I'm sure you do what a lot of us do - pronounce it like GIFt. With a hard G. Makes sense really, it is afterall gift minus a T.

Problem is, it's pronounced JIF. Which sucks.

Other problem is, here's why it's pronounced JIF. Sucks again.

Let's hope no one tells me next that jpeg isn't pronounced jay-peg. The world will never be the same.

Guess who's here....

Konami Code

Anyone remember The Konami Code?

It was a cheat in most 8 bit Konami games (I think Contra started it). You pressed "up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start" and you got 30 lives (in Contra) or whatever.

Coolest thing is, these days some web devs have included the code hidden in to their pages, and using it will trigger an easter egg of some sort.

To use, go to any page you like, and try your luck. You just have to press "enter" instead of "start", and you're done...

I'll give you a few pointers - try it on gamespot.com, it'll take you to the contra cheats page (clever!), and try it on facebook (won't tell you what happens there).

So, go ahead and try it anywhere you like, you never know what'll happen!

Milo Project

OK, I'm late news I know.

But e3 has just been and gone, and while Nintendo announced two new marios and a new metroid (omg!), Microsoft had a very, very clever trick up their sleeves: Project Natal.

Rather than trying to describe it (and failing), I'd rather leave you to watch this video of developer extraordinaire, Peter Molyneaux (him of Bulldog and Lionhead fame) demoing their latest "game" - The Milo Project.

Prepare to be amazed.

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Video Games | Lionhead Milo Project | E3 09: Milo Tech Demo

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Have I mentioned this before?

Today, at work I needed to quickly edit some photos (don't ask) so I remembered the awesomeness that is pixlr.

Ever heard of cloud computing? it's the next big thing see. Just like virtual reality, lens-flare, motion blur, et al, it's the buzzword today. Because fast internet is affordable and available now, cloud computing is possible.

What it means is that a big, mean, powerful server somewhere does the computing for you, and all your humble PC needs to do is just access the internet and that server. Think of it as remote access to a desktop on a powerful PC. The speed of the net will make the interface very much real-time and lag-free.

Cloud gaming is bigging up too. Imagine not having to upgrade or buy a new console at all, all you need is your internet access. The game video/audio is streamed to you, and your inputs are relayed up to the cloud.

Anyway, pixlr use cloud computing to a very useful effect - photo editing. They have two free, amazing products - EXPRESS, which does basic, basic tasks all within your browser window, and the fantastic EDITOR, which I'll leave you to discover.

Amazing. Now imagine this all taking off big time. It's scary.

tinternet is back

tinternet is back.

4 more days till due date.

so I'll probably be "not back" soon.

Shalom

(A)Live in the Arena

The Jarre concert yesterday was in Wembley Arena. Not to be confused with the big Wembley Stadium, the Arena is a live music venue that's next door to it's big brother.

We were going to go to London the night before, and stay in a hotel there. Instead, we decided to drive up on the day and park at the Arena itself. Parking was prebooked and everything.

Here's one word - never, ever drive to Wembley Arena. Ever. Never Ever.

Why? Because driving in that part of London is MADNESS. The lanes shift about so quickly that you have to have a 6th sense to be able to predict where to be in time, not helped by the fact that everyone speeds and everyone else knows where they're going, hence making it damn near impossible to swap lanes in time.

Worse still, I had a background driver with me (Kelly), who would jump and thrash and pretend to press brakes every time she thought someone was gonna hit us.

Here's another word - never, ever drive a background driver to Wembley Arena. Ever. Never Ever.

SO - we got there at around 17:00. Gig at 20:00. Wandered over to the local Mc Donalds and almost had three courses there to spend time. Filtered in to the Arena foyer at 18:30 and, remembering the madness after last year's concert, I sensibly bought the merchandise I want earlier on. Sat down in our bit-too-small seats at 19:00 or so and waited.

The show itself was fantastic. The lighting and lasers and smoke that Jarre is so famous for was miniturised into an indoor version, bathing the whole arena with beautiful vistas of colour and sound. There were no graphics nor big projections, but they still managed to recreate the iconic Equinoxe faces using some clever LED trickery.

Jarre is also proud of a French-developed sound system that he is prototyping. It's developed so that you don't see a single speaker, everything comes from behind the stage, all hidden away with some material that is opaque to light but lets sound through. It also distributes the sound evenly, no matter where you are in relation to the speakers you'll hear the same.

The logic behind this makes sense - what he wanted to create is a show, not a concert. A show of light and sound, and speakers would only get in the way. Big towering things that can obscure the vision of anybody at an angle.

It's a great concept and it should start being used more frequently by other artists.

The music was a greatest hits affair. But more of a private one. The crowd-pleasing Rendez-Vous IV was absent for example, a track he's played live almost always. The track list was more like Jarre flicking through his family pictures and picking the ones he likes. You could see him visibly enjoying playing his tunes, improvising here, making mistakes there.

His beloved laser-harp had been tweaked to look FANTASTIC indoors, and he showed it off twice, the iconic Rendez-Vous II being one of them.

The intro was as spine tingling as I thought - the main riff of Industrial Revolution Part II starts, and a cone of laser is on the stage - a hand breaks the cone and slowly moves to reveal the silhouette of Jarre carrying his famous keyboard. Amazing.

He played tracks from almost all his albums, Oxygene got the most has he encored Oxygene IV, a track that started it all for him and happened to be conceived in a London flat, so he's extra-fond of the fact he's playing it in the city it was born.

Finally, best of all, he played Equinoxe 5, a track he last played live in Houston 1986. Even better, it's a track anyone who grew up in Iraq will recognise INSTANTLY. Just press play on the player below :)

Overall, another magical evening spent in the hands of the God Father of Electronica. I was grinning from ear to ear throughout!

Tomorrow!

Tomorrow! Tomorrow!!!

The BIG day when we get to see Jarre live again! 3rd time for me, 2nd for Kelly. First for Adam :D He's a big fan already, dancing away inside his mum when I play any Jarre stuff.

I am SO looking forward to this! I never dreamt of seeing Jarre once, let alone three times!!

This is an arena tour, indoors only. Not the usual Jarre city affair, but saying that the man has some tricks up his sleeve still. Biggest of all is that the sound system is engineered to be TOTALLY INVISIBLE. No speakers seen whatsoever.

It's meant to be that you're watching a show, not just listening to music, and big speakers take away from the image he wants to create.

I'll be sure to tweet from there (@alialsawaf if you wanted to follow) and also post a blog review after. I'll also make sure to buy at least two of everything on sale in the merchandise stall there!

Best thing is, I know what the intro is - it's the goose-bump-inducing awesomeness that is Industrial Revolution - Part 2. FANTASTIC!

moving house

We are moving homes.

Turning in to the boring old middle-aged fart that I am, not only am I married, am expecting a baby, but also now we bought a house in a quiet little close, in a quiet little village, in the quiet English country side. My God, soon there will be a dog and it'll be official - we're grown up and "parents". SHIT.

So, the last few days/next few days are all about moving out, buying new furniture for the new house, fixing the 101 little things the old owners left etc etc. And setting up the geek (read: grasp-to-feeling-younger) room :D

Net should have been transitioned smoothly, but as always things go wrong so not sure when the new house will be online. I do know the old flat is going offline soon, so adios till then!

Speak to you soon from Elmswell!

Duke Nukem Forever REAL footage.

Shame it took 3D Realms to shut down for some more info about the ill-fated, much joked about, Duke Nukem Forever.

I remember seeing footage of it in 1997, and yet it still never finished. 12 years later.

So, one of the 3D Realms team has put together a NSFW video of some of the done gameplay elements. It was all looking like great fun, and I hope that someone, somewhere picks up the team and actually manages to get the game done.

Leaked Beyond Good and Evil 2 footage

If this really is Beyond Good and Evil 2, I'm a very very happy man!

Ecoballs

We were skeptical at first. I first heard about the Ecoballs in a gadget magazine I buy now and then. They were meant to be the environmentally friendly way to wash clothes.

I told Kelly about them and she told me she'd heard about them before also, but never really bothered to find out about them.

We then started searching around and found that the Ecoballs had been around for a while now. Looking like little planets, the balls use some "scientific breakthrough technology" to wash your clothes. The funny thing is, there's no foam and no perfume as such. Washing with the Ecoballs looks like you're washing with just water.

And indeed that's what it is for the majority. It uses ions and stuff that get rid of dirt. Or so they say.

So we went out and bought some. I don't think we've anticipated watching clothes as much as this! We followed the instructions exactly (3/4 load, put both balls in) and watched it wash at 30 degrees.

When the cycle finished we took the clothes out and naturally gave them a smell. And they smelt of wet clothes. Not "clean", not fragrant, just clothes that had water on them. Imagine a pair of jeans on a rainy day. That smell.

So we let them dry. And that's when we realised that in fact the clothes were clean. And smelt like clean clothes. After ironing, they smelt like very fresh clean clothes, just without a fragrance. It's difficult to explain, but because we're so used to having perfumed washing powder/liquid/etc, the actual smell of clean clothes is something that is actually very nice. And refreshing.

More importantly, the more the clothes are washed, the softer they get. The opposite of usual washing, the biggest change we noticed is in our bed linen and towels. Everything feels softer. Colours don't fade either.

So there you have it. These things are very useful. Not only light weight, refillable and reusable, cost about 6 pence per wash (nothing!) and actually work. Don't ask me how though, they just make everything clean and fresh.

Worryingly, I'm blogging about washing clothes. It must be the Adam effect. Stay tuned.

Ames' Window

Ok, I'll try to explain this as best as I understand it.

A clever person called Ames designed a window that's got built in perspective (ie it's narrower one side than the other). He also (cleverly) stuck a stick in the middle of this window. So far so good.

Here's the genius bit - when the window spins around, our eyes get confused, and start misinterpreting the shape and the direction and everything.

Just watch :)

Fallcrack 3

In case you're wondering, I'm utterly and totally and hopelessly addicted to Fallout 3 (PC version).

Which explains any reduced blogs, random tweets, etc etc.

Have had it for a while now but never really played it until I started reading The Road (kudos A13!) and it whetted my appetite for some post-apocalyptic RPGing.

While Oblivion didn't really hook me (sure was impressive but the fantasy setting was a bit boring), Fallout 3 is like Oblivion for geeks. A sci-fi open world which is hugely impressive. The effort gone in to creating the wastelands and all it's inhabitants is just phenomenal.

That, and I'm a sucker for games that have radios. I'm looking at you GTA IV - it's all your fault.

Perhaps more later, but I know one thing - it's been a very long time since I've been so obsessed by one game, it's making everything else boring.

Try if you can. But beware, no more life.

Edit - here's a quick capture of what happens when you use The Fatman to nuke the shit out of a Supermutant Brute. Imagine doing a rocket jump with that one :)

There's a new widget

Just to your right. You might need to scroll down to see it.

It's a live traffic feed. It shows who the last person to visit is from. You can even monitor the blog in real-time. Complete with sounds :)

It also tells you how they got there (direct, google, etc etc).

Amusing for a bit. I promise..... try proxifying your visit to make me think I'm getting visitors from Thailand, Russia, China :)

sarien.net

sarien.net (named after a space quest character) is a site that lets you play old school Sierra adventures for free, inside your browser.

Currently, you can play Space Quest 1 and 2, Leisure Suit Larry 1, Black Cauldron (?), and Police Quest 1.

Yes, we've seen in-browser flash games before. Even completely emulated consoles of yesteryear. So why waste precious blogspace about this one?

Well, that's because sarien.net has a very unique feature. The games are multiplayer! When you start an adventure, you'll see other people who are playing at the same time. You'll see their actions, what they're typing, and, crucially, you can help each other out!

Stuck trying to wonder where to buy a condom from in Larry? Or the infamous where to send the damn flowers to puzzle (remember that one in Larry? damn you "suite"!!), just ask the player near you, or help them out if they're stuck.

The site has been flooded recently (10,000+ players peaked on it earlier today) so if it's a bit unstable then just be patient, or try again later.

Whatever you do though, you must give it a try. It's well worth the nostalgia :)

Queen Bohemian Rhapsody Old School Computer Remix

I'll shamelessly copy-paste the video description. Just watch it already :p

There are millions of computers sitting idle at home consuming fantom electricity. Let's see where all that power is going. This is dedicated to all fans of Queen and hey let's not forget about Mike Myers and Dana Carvey of Wayne's World.
Please note no effects or sampling was used. What you see is what you hear (does that even make sense?)
Atari 800XL was used for the lead piano/organ sound
Texas Instruments TI-99/4a as lead guitar
8 Inch Floppy Disk as Bass
3.5 inch Harddrive as the cymbal
HP ScanJet 3C was used for all vocals. Please note I had to record the HP scanner 4 seperate times for each voice. I tried to buy 4 HP scanners but for some reason sellers on E-Bay expect you to pay $80-$100, I got mine for $30.

It slices and dices

I have a bit of a fetish these days. It doesn't have an official name (yet), but it involves a love of everything hack and slash related. The more button mashing the better.

I'm not sure when it started. Or even why. All I know is I'm currently enjoying the purest of gameplay forms - mash lots of buttons, and you're on screen character responds appropriately with some impressive moves and combos. The gorier the better.

There's no technicality to it. No method. It's just all simple, one button is a quick hit, the other is a slower "heavy" hit, and one button jumps. Add any more to this and it just gets confusing. Remember Golden Axe? Or Streets of Rage? That's the level we're talking about.

See, I don't like "technical" fighters or action games. Both recent Ninja Gaiden games were excellent, but I had to play them on the easiest difficulty (Ninja Dog, since you insist). Not because the platforming was hard, nor the general fights, but the boss fights were lessons in testing your patience, and technical ability. The former I have little of, the latter I have none.

Give me a button masher any day. Sit me down, tell me the three buttons, and let me feel like I'm unleashing hell on the screen! A clever button masher makes you feel that randomly changing from mashing X to mashing Y causes a big difference. Bosses should require a little bit of technical know how, but still mashing away at the weak spot should do the trick.

It's just pure and simple fun.

My fetish is helped recently by a slew of excellent games. Remember, God Of War is a button masher, no matter what anyone tells you. It's just an extremely well done button masher, with some excellent puzzles and platforming elements.

Have a glance to your right (remember? the currently playing list? yes, it's still there :p) and you'll see that I recently finished Afro Samurai which is a great cell-shaded hack and slash with button mashing galore, and I'm currently playing Ninja Blade which is the simple, hollywood-like version of Ninja Gaiden, while Madworld tries hard to pretend it isn't a button masher, but it is, with a bit of button swinging as well (new genre?!).

Problem is, all the other "big name" games are on hiatus - I just can't play them. I love Killzone 2, but it's gotta wait till my thumbs are sore. Little Big Planet I've still played a few levels of, despite my screaming excitement... Not to mention Okami that's on hold, and I still haven't even installed Metal Gear Solid 4.

But who cares, I'm having a great time. I recommend button mashing hack em ups and slash em ups to anyone who's feeling a bit bored of today's technical and tasking stuff. Just grab a joystick, and mash away.

Enjoy the resurgence of the genre while it lasts.

Now why didn't I think of this?

BioShock 2 Gameplay Video!

ooooooooooooooh now this is exciting!!!

Video footage of the sequel to one of my most favourite, favourite games of all time. So much so that the Big Daddy figurine sits proudly on top of my PC. I'll add a Big Sister figurine soon hopefully :D

Time to reinstall BioShock and play it all over again for the 3rd time.

Night 7

The 7th night was an interesting one. It all bega...........

OH WHO CARES!! NIGHTS ARE OVER!!! 8 DAYS OFF NOW!

Night 6

Eating pot noodles. I love pot noodles!

Night 5

meh.

Night 4

A nice steady night. Saying that though, it's suddenly 6am!!
Must've been busy. I'm just happy am past the midway mark. It's all
downhill from here baby!!

La-Mulana

A 2D side-scroller, like the awesome Cave Story.

I'll let the official blurb wet your appetite ;)

La-Mulana is a freeware free-roaming platformer game designed to look, sound, and play like a classic MSX game. It´s heavily influenced by the classic Konami MSX game "The Maze of Galious" and anyone who has played that title will probably recognize the similarities very quickly. You play the whip-wielding Indiana Jones-esque archaeologist Lemeza Kosugi as he investigates the ancient ruins of La-Mulana in an attempt to find its treasure and one-up his father, who is trying to get the same treasure as well.

Grab it from here.

Night 3

Even better than night 2!!!

I bet night 4 is gonna make me regret saying that!

Night 2

A great one! Nice and quiet.

Listening to The Ting Tings as I type this :)

Night 1

Horrible horrible night till now. Way too busy, the SHOs are slow, and
there's too many patients.

Sucks.

Nights

Yes, again. A week of nights.

Starts 22:00 today :(

This time round, I'll try to blog nightly. Rather than a picture, a short twitter-like blog each night.

The end of blogging?

I haven't blogged for a while. Not in the traditional sense at least.

With the rise and rise of Facebook and Twitter, it's infinitely easier (and with more reach) to just post a quick note on Facebook, or an update on Twitter. In fact, Twitter claims to be a "microblogging" service.

Those of you paying attention to the Twitter sidebar, or those that follow me on it, will now that I much more often update it. It's easy, quick, and concise.

The same applies to Facebook really. A wall update will instantly show up on all your friends' lists, hence making it that much easier to reach everyone. Most websites now offer a "share this on facebook" link that makes posting stuff as easy as one click. Indeed, just now I saw a great video and I can't be bothered to link it here (HTML editing), instead I just clicked the "Share On Facebook" button and that's it, all posted and shared for the world to see.

I don't know. This may well be the end of blogging as we know it, or maybe of this blog.

Amazing Quick Changing Artists

I have absolutely no clue how all this is going on!

The changes with the red sheet and the confetti are simply stunning.

Courtest of Wolf - I'd link to his blog but it was last updated a year ago :p

Braid and Gobliiins are back!

Two things:

1\ The beautiful, beautiful, beautiful, BEAUTIFUL Braid is out on PC on the 30th. Don't disappoint me like you all did with World of Goo (you pirated it, ALL of you). Please buy this game. PLEASE. If only for the amazing soundtrack. And the puzzles. And the art. And the gameplay. And the story. And everything.

2\ Did anyone know that Gobliiins 4 is coming out? In fact, it's out on the 27th of this month!! Core gameplay remains exactly the same (goofy, obscure, random puzzles). The original was successful enough to spawn two sequels, but has the gameplay withstood the test of time? I guess only time will tell (pun intended)

Did I mention that everyone should buy Braid? I'm buying it AGAIN (I own the 360 version).

Don't let me down people.

The Calypso dude!

Remember the Jarre 1989 Paris La Defense extravaganza?

He had those awesome, awesome big massive puppets dancing about to Calypso 1.

Now someone has made an awesome, awesome puppet made out of Lego :D

Found here :)

And here's the youtube video for those that might have forgotten:

The 200th Edge

Edge magazine is 200 issues old this month. To celebrate, Edge have done something I think is a world first: they have created 200 unique covers for the same issue, all of which are printed and are in circulation! Now, imagine having to "catch them all".

More importantly, they're beautiful to look at. With the usual culty/pixely/newgen mix of stuff, you can behold all of them right here.

I suggest you do as I did and save them all, I have a feeling the C&VG servers will pull these soon.

Enjoy.

a classic book for a modern child

haha!

Baby Countdown!

Is to your right. Scary.

There's 3D images each week, and a dreaded (this many days left) big number at the bottom.

Oh dear.

Please Help To Make The World You're Living In Better

I've spoken about Surface To Air many times before, the seminal track by the mighty, mighty Chemical Brothers. But, I feel compelled to give it it's own post this time round.

Yesterday I was driving back from London (at night, as usual) and Surface To Air was pumping, almost exclusively on repeat, and wasn't it just bliss, hence inspiring this post :)

See, Surface To Air is one of those long, epic Chemical tracks that feature in most of their albums. Usually clocking in at 8 minutes, this one is from their 2005 album, Push The Button. Starting off with a distorted computer voice telling us to "please help to make the world you're living in better", the track starts of with just a single fluctuating bleep that sounds like a deep water diver trying to tap out a tune... this gradually builds up bit by bit until the main bass rhythm kicks in, a beautiful riff that's more guitar than electronica, all the time with little sounds of what can only be imagined as majestic and graceful sea creatures passing along the rhythm as it "surfaces to air"....

Layer upon layer of music is added to this ever repeating riff, until it explodes with percussion at what must be the "surface", and the realisation that it's all calm, serene, and beautiful up there, all alone, bar for the one or two creatures that pass you by. Probably with some man made ships or submarines making their presence evident with some metallic bleeps now and then.

It's a journey, one hell of a journey in fact. It washes you away, massages your ears, and takes you to some electronic sea bed where things are in harmony and peace with each other, and to surface to air is to breathe which is to live. This is acoustic nirvana, music at it's very best.

When it's all over you want to do it all over again, paying more and more attention to the various sounds that you might have missed before, interpreting them differently with each listen.

It's magic.