The Fear Part 2

Am very concerned as after a sustained burst of play yesterday have reached a sort of casual complacency with RE:4 (see, I've even given it a cool acronym). Reckon I've got the hang of things especially after the rather touchy moment in Chapter 1:2 when forced to hold off a sustained assault by the pseudo-zombie villagers. This, of course, means that the game is about to pull the carpet from under me, especially given a cryptic comment made by the Baron and conveyed to me by a friend referring to "invisible insects". I don't like insects as is and, frankly, don't imagine that their invisibility will render them any more appealing. However, the low-level abuse I'm currently enduring is beginning to turn this into an issue of pride so will resolve to press on until my skull caves in due to the terror.

Am already having 'problems' with the whole reality/video game divide. When a character in Maverick was referred to as 'the spaniard' I was waiting for some shabby fucker with a pitchfork to turn up and start ventilating Mel Gibson. Sadly this was not to be.

The Fear

The sum total of my experience with survival horror to date is the 30-odd minutes I spent playing Resident Evil: Nemesis. Specifically I played up until the point Nemesis came crashing through the bloody wall and chased me round the police station. That left me in a whimpering heap and I never picked the game up again. (Having said that the film is genius).

However, last Thursday the fiendish Baron Z forced his copy of Resident Evil 4 upon me with the assurance that it is not at all scary. This has proved to be a lie. It took me a while to summon up the courage to even load the game (to be fair I didn't get home until after dark on Thursday and there was no-one else at home). Have managed a few five minute bursts before terror overwhelmed me and am going to try and stick it out. There's enough of a Metal Gear Solid resemblence to keep me interested for the time being, have a feeling that fear will, eventually, win out.

Marple-ous

It's a rather tragic addiction to have but I am hooked on the Sunday night ITV murder mystery and last night's MArple was a classic. Not only a fine pantomime cast (Bonnie Langford, Steven Berkoff, Leslie bloody Philips) but a genuinely interesting story and, most importantly, a note-perfect homage to Don't Look Now for the climax. Blooming great stuff. Back to Midsomer Murders next week though. *Sigh*

Big monsters am good

Finally cracked with regard to my gaming drought on Saturday but managed to stave off my hunger for an xbox 360 with Shadow of the Colossus. Everyone and their mum has said how great this game is and I'm not one to disagree with consensus, happy to follow it like the sheep I am.



He's a big bugger isn't he? And what fun it is bringing the great sod to the ground. Clearly I'm not getting into the whole 'questioning the morality of video gaming' thing that Colossus is supposed to be about. Granted I can see the ethical questions inherent in attacking a generally peaceful race of giants without provocation and bringing about their destruction to satisfy a purely selfish end, but I'm normally too busy yelling at the screen and desperately attempting to stab open their vitals to let it bother me. That said it does put a novel spin on things, and it is quite refreshing to have no stereotypical great and noble quest behind your actions. Is also strangely calming in places, which is good because my next great bout of gaming looks likely to be the stack of pant-wettingly scary survival horror that Baron Z is threatening to lend me.

Rediscovery

For some reason I've found myself in a gaming hiatus, partially due to my aforementioned xbox problems, partially due to the loan of my sole PS2 memory card for the greater good of British culture and partially due to my being too busy to buy any new games. However, in the sporadic moments when I've revived my xbox from the dead I've been getting stuck back into Crimson Skies. It's a cracking little game and most importantly creates a beautifully immersive world of its own. Makes me curious why no sequel has ever emerged, especially given its warm reception and much praise heaped on multiplayer functionality (something that, being a johnny no-mates I've never really tried out). The latter factor, and Microsoft's apparent reliance on xbox live for its 360 console makes me think some new development should really be in the pipeline. If something did crop up that would smash my diminishing resistance to the 360 - since my last post on the subject I've experienced one of my trademark changes of heart.

Sad thing is, this is basically a childish *need* for new toys. There's no reason to get an xbox 360 - in fact, as this great post argues, there are plenty of reasons not to buy one. Oh well, perhaps I should just think of it as doing my bit for the British economy.

The closest I'll get to fame

With great joy saw my copy of GTA: San Andreas on The Culture Show last night. Sadly the footage was all too brief but long enough to see from the attire of CJ that I had managed to unlock Didier Sachs. This must make me, oh, around about the millionth best player in the world.

Anyway, just a call to vote for GTA on The Culture Show's Design Quest, for no other reason than to ruin a planned skiing holiday for the game's proponent - if the game places highly, he'll will have to come back for the follow-up show later in the year.

Motivation Bauer style

BTW new 24 is great. I GIVE YOU MY WORD.


Motivational posters for the modern age

More reasons to shop at Morrison's

Grant Morrison confirmed as regular writer on Batman

It's all very exciting stuff, and seems to confirm that he is now in charge of pretty much everything at DC (except Hellblazer - now in the capable hands of Denise Mina).

Oh, and Always Remember...

Hex-Box

As mentioned in passing below I've not had an easy time of things with my X-box recently. Indeed, Microsoft's finest has become the only games console I've owned to up and die on me. What is more, reports of a miraculous rise from the dead appear to have been a little premature as the little bastard refuses to work on anything like a regular basis.

Which led me to look seriously at the Xbox 360 whereupon I found myself in the interesting state of being unable to get excited about a new piece of shiny kit. I'm a generous man, so was prepared to overlook the cash-hungry division of consoles into regular and "Core" systems. However, when a boast is made as to the console's wireless capacity yet it then turns out that said wireless capability requires another 80 quid to be spent on a glorified aerial, questions have to be asked. To then discover the ridiculously limited nature of the compatible back-catalogue pretty much turned me off the thing there and then.

The fact is I'd really worked myself up to buy it but to have two of the major reasons for this kicked out from under me was pretty disappointing. Effectively all Microsoft have to go on is a disappointing range of launch titles. I'm going back to sacrificing animals on my official X-Box altar (only £99.99) in an attempt to summon its spirit back from the dead.

Prison Break Update!

Further to that post of a few weeks ago, here's the pathetic ad campaign in question:



No longer limited to bus-stops it's been plastered over the national press and the cinema circuit and therefore has gone from case of questionable judgement to outright lunacy. Who commissioned this rubbish?

Videoshame

Occasionally I forget just how tawdry the world of video games can be. Then something like this comes along.



Good lord.

Blog-less shame

So I've let this blog lapse about a month. Meh, amazed it's lasted this long. Anyway news in brief:

- Return of Harry Hill's TV Burp! Basically the best show on TV

- My xbox died and then - very much like Jesus - was resurrected, though I appear to have killed the cooling system meaning it can't run for more than a few hours at a time. Boo!

- Handbrake is the best app I've found for the Mac. Allows the transfer of DVDs (but only the ones you already own, of course) to video ipod. Truly is a thing of beauty

- My copy of GTA: San Andreas looks like it's on the way to TV stardom, as it may well be used in the background of a news article tomorrow. My life = empty.