Wrestlevania

You could hardly criticise existing Sony customers if they weren't all leaping to upgrade anyway -- the PS2 will remain a much more valuable games system for a good few months yet, at least. Also Xbox 360 has pinched some really key, previously platform-exclusive titles from PS3. I think once if Konami announce a version of the next Metal Gear Solid for X360, PS3's really going to start suffering.

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou; watched this last night and it's a very good film.

Off the back of the imminent arrival, SCEA makes a final PR push to convince the last few procrastinators still flip-flopping on the issue of whether to buy a PS3 now, or wait until the price drops (or Sony's games division pitches into the sea):

"Chris Remo Action Shoes" Bravo, really.

113, methinks: "it's 'bad' ...plus a hundred!"

Probably; but I think it's great! Hope they took out at least one FIFA/Pro Evo team in the process -- that makes me feel warm and fuzzy.

The resolution of that touch-sensitive video wall would be far greater, not mention of significantly better quality, with individual pixels taking up significantly less actual surface area than your average/cheap/bundled TFT monitor. Moreover it's a far greater surface than your average/cheap/bundled TFT, which would change your approach to working in this way anyway--because you can spread items out as much you want. So, generally speaking, you're making an unbalanced comparison in my opinion.

Sounds like they were all XP'd up but had nowhere to go...

Well, if wireless demo pods have made it into UK stores I'd be surprised if mainland Europe hasn't gotten them yet. Dumb question #2: Have you asked any of your local games retailers?

I watched Children of Men on Saturday night. It's a good film, but not particularly special beyond being very nicely shot. Clive Owen is faultless throughout, Michael Caine is superb, but the rest of the cast is completely forgettable. An entertaining film in its own right, but one of those unusual films where you don't have to put in any effort to enjoy it, but won't feel guilty about that at the end either. (I hope that makes sense.) United 93 had its UK television premiere last night. I think it's a difficult film to be critical of because it's still a sensitive subject, but I'd say it was remarkably restrained in the majority, focussing on plausible assumptions as to what happened on board. It didn't seem to have the impact (for me) on the small screen as many critics had raved about, when it was originally released in cinemas. It's certainly enlightening and frightening though.

I certainly didn't - are they good?

I'm more concerned for those haunted by two-fingered confectionery and follicle-festooned chin tumours... PS: Do not enter "warts" into Google Images; that's terrifying.

Heh, I signed up for GGE this morning, too - spooky! Edit: Just read your entry on GGE (interesting piece) and replied.

Oddly enough I finally tried to get into playing Bloodlines last week, too. But the sheer number of bugs in the game's presentation are too distracting for me, so I'm not persevering with it. Not that I noticed, no.

HB, MB.

Fixed.

Nook looks suitably annoying. But KK... so butch! He's like the Ken Masters of the Animal Crossing anime!

What's aggravating is that the Sony spin doctors will flip this around into something like, "See?! We told you game developers wanted ridiculous extra capacity!"

The PS3 is currently attrocious value for money and will remain so until original, must-have, platform-exclusive titles start appearing on the system with reliable frequency. The developer exodus from PlayStation-exclusive development right now is hugely embarassing for everyone involved. Citing it as console of the year shows no fucking consumer appreciation or editorial integrity at all. IGN: "Buy this - cuz it's better on paper than the other ones!" Fuck off. The rest of the Internet were over this infantile, bullshit justification months and months ago. No self-respecting games journalist could reasonably argue the PS3 is better than anything else available on the market right now, because there's piss-all worth buying it for. As it stands, Gameboy Micro is a far more potent gaming system than PS3 for fuck's sake. Sorry, just makes my piss boil.

Congratulations and good luck.

Strong, with lots of full fat milk. Using 'Gold Top' (aka 'Half-and-Half') is pure heaven. No sugar, though -- I've worked hard to become this bitter.

Makes a big difference, seriously.

For anyone who fancies going through group therapy to alleviate the agony of childhood 8-bit gaming, that's right, kids -- Jet Set Willy: Online is now a reality!

No reason an official version couldn't be produced in a GBA-style cart instead, though. In fact I'm struggling to see how the designer(s) failed to do this themselves anyway, leaving the DS slot free for DS software as intended. They could then perhaps have mapped in some sort of D-pad override, so that you could tilt your DS around to control your existing DS games. Something like that for movement in, for example, Metroid Prime: Hunters would make it a much more comfortable - and perhaps accurate - game to play too, I think. Imagine how a fully-analogue version of Marble Madness would play on that though, tilting the DS around to guide the ball through the course! I guess that this might also fit quite neatly with Super Monkey Ball too, but I've never played it (much to my shame) so I've no real idea in this respect. Still, it's an exciting piece of kit as it is -- good find.

I was a die-hard PC gamer until about 2 years ago, when I bought a DS. I've been playing PC games since a 486 25SX was considered "The Shit", and I'd definitely say things have changed in the last few years. I think the multi-platform stuff has probably done the most harm to PC gaming because a) it's expensive to do; it's driven purely by monetary reasons, not by the audience or the developers (strictly speaking); and c) it yields relatively low returns when compared to the intended console versions. I'm lead to believe that even the GameCube versions of pretty much any multi-format title sold much better than the PC version--irrespective of the franchise. This, in turn, leaves the PC gamers with a somewhat stale catalogue of games to choose from, and leaves major publishing houses with the skewed reality that PC development is both cost-ineffective and highly niche. Throughout the 90's I rabidly upgraded my PC as soon as I had the money to do so, reaping the rewards by playing stuff like Total Annihilation, Half-Life and Quake 3 Arena in all their audio-visual glory. I think I've pretty much exhausted every PC genre I was interested in now though, with the last truly essential game being Half-Life 2. (However, even that fact hasn't motivated me enough to spend the £10 or so to get Episode 2 via Steam.) My PC nowadays is a seriously out-of-date Acer Ferrari, but I've no impetous to upgrade anymore. The most fun I have regarding PC gaming nowadays is playing free indie shooters, which my aging machine is more than capable of running with all the bells and whistles maxed out. I'm really enjoying console gaming again, having not bought anything 'current' since the SEGA MegaDrive--and I loved that machine far more than I ever did my old PCs. With my DS constantly to hand, my Dreamcast under the TV - and a Wii appearing next to it some time this year - PC gaming for me personally is pretty much obsolete. And with that realisation it feels like a little piece of me just died. :\