One week older

Oops, another seven day gap in updates - and it's not as though I can use the excuse that nothing's happened. Thorpe Park last monday was more fun than seemed strictly necessary - I guess I have a thing for tat in all its forms. In this case the form taken was sub-Disneyisms, lots of grease and sugar and some rides that bordered on the actively unpleasant. I took some photos but they were all rubbish.

Other highlight of the week was the Just Cause demo cropping up on Xbox Live. Am very much looking forward to this - more so, truth be told, than Dead Rising.

Otherwise last couple of days were spent in the distant north. Will need some time recuperating within the M25 before my powers return fully.

Every Microsoft product - by law - has to have one *evil* feature

Kotaku spits petrol on the glowing embers of Xbox micropayments. This is the nagging itch to owning an Xbox (and Live account), the knowlwedge that Microsoft are on a mission to gouge you when and where the opportunity arises. Perhaps this is a little unfair, after all Live offers invaluable demos and game trailers and their arcadde titles all come with trial downloads. Nevertheless, the brazenness of drip-dripping new content on users for a fee (even a small one) is pretty shocking. Even more so when applied to a game like Chromehounds which, from what I can gather, relies almost wholly on online play for its appeal. This is effectively corporate legitimation of the sort of mentality that trades MMORPG currency for real-world cash-money.

What's worse is the sigh-inducing inevitability of it all. The purpose of a corporation ios to make money, and they're not going to miss an opportunity to do so. The only option for consumers is to grit their teeth and boycott such products - and take note of those downloads which are (at present) free.

[BLANKS] On a Plane

Weak! My posts have been poor. Here's an update to make up for it.

ITEM - Having been deprived of my DS for a week things are settling back to normal. Nintendog Bauer has been walked and washed and my Animal Crossing avatar has spent the last few days weeding and watering his town back to a degree of civic beauty. Still got to catch up with my brain training but otherwise things are ticking along nicely.

ITEM - In the wake of the Baron's conversion to Xbox picked up a copy of Far Cry Predator to get acquainted before the inevitable kill-fest, which took place last night. It's a nice little FPS, but I'm still too hooked on Battlefield 2 to really appreciate the single player narrative driven sort of shooter just yet. Mind you, haven't unlocked the 'feral powers' part of the game, though having experimented with it in multiplayer this might drastically change the feel of the game. Descending from the skies like an angel of doom and ripping out the Baron's spine certainly made for an enjoyable afternoon.

ITEM - Snakes on a Plane not terrible if you go in, as I did, with rock-bottom expectations. Not great either mind, but at least the producers/director have got the right balance of deadpan and tongue-in-cheek.

One thing I'd like to do is a DVD update of my last month or so on Lovefilm. It will bore the pants off anyone who may read it but for my reference would be very useful.

Teh Interweb

It's procrastination frenzy time and I've attempted to pick up the joys of You Tube by sticking a video of my flatmate's cat attempting to smash its way through a window to get at some impudent moggy who dares to sit on the other side. Personally my sympathy's with the other cat as I live on the first floor.

UK Resistance "pwns" gaming industry

Cause and Effect.

Priceless

Demo Rising

The Dead Rising Demo has been Live since Friday, and first impressions are pretty positive - though with caveats. The zombie-killing-sandbox thing is fun, and it seems there are indeed a lot of weapons out there (as well as a number of other ways to humiliate and taunt the undead - sticking novelty masks on their heads for instance). However, as it's a Capcom game the controls are a bit shonky and there are perhaps some questions over longevity.

Furthermore the Gamespot review also throws up some danger signs. A dodgy save-game mechanic for instance, and a plethora of the ultimate fun-killer, the escort mission (I couldn't care less if some weedy local gets ripped apart by zombies... give me a chainsaw!).

Not suggesting this game will be any less than great fun, am just fully aware of the dangers of the anti-climax. My personal feelings remain... BRAINS!

New Toys, Old Toys

Unfortunately Blogger picture upload is playing up so I can't show the photo of my lovely, shiny and, so far, uncracked DS Lite. The touch-screen and actively imaginitive game design (plus the unstoppable power of mario kart) places this leagues above the somewhat clonky PSP, even though Sony's portable beast has the edge in multimedia support. The DS concentrates on providing an enjoyable portable experience that, crucially, feels like a portable experience - the worry is that Sony falls into the same macho trap with PS3, in simply trying to stuff in features without much thought as to how they work together. Microsoft have integrated multimedia functionality into their console (as anyone whose witnessed my Battlefield 2 'War is Hell' playlist in operation will testify) - it feels natural and the interface design is pretty much flawless for gaming. With blu-ray, online stuff and motion-sensing controllers the impression is that Sony is simply trying to be a jack of all trades - with associated failings.

Continuing on a Nintendo tip, have salvaged my NES. Still seems to be working and the chunky 80s design really has got classic status written all over it. Remains to be seen if the games are still playable though - a trial run with Super Mario 3 was rather encouraging.

%$*@ing Battlefield 2! £%&@ing Xbox live!

Beena bit of a write-off afternoon. Firstly a cancellation on the part of a friend of mine denied me an evening of beer. I set off for home early with the intent of making up for this with a session of gun-related violence on Battlefield 2. However, this was not to be either, as the sodding system continues to deny that the servers are available.

It's fairly pathetic I freely admit, but having relatively unfettered access to live network play for the last few months has shifted it from being a privelige to a right, and I now feel I am being denied a feature of my life every bit as fundamental as free speech or cable TV. Effectively I've become the screaming German kid of internet lore, chucking a right eppy of a tantrum because of a mild inconveniance to a non-essential luxury. Still, that's the way things go - I still shudder at the thought of losing internet access for a few days, or my mobile running out of battery over a weekend. Time to toughen up and get a bit more Ray Mears about life in general I think.

Anyway, have found the perfect calming influence in this charming tale of baby hippo and giant tortoise.

Droooolll

New trailer for Dead Rising is out there.

Looks splattertastic.