Ben

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Everything posted by Ben

  1. ...Seeing as we have stickies for the others and a few of us here have PS3's now. Mine is: Pirateben
  2. Nice little write-up Rodi, brings back a lot of memories (it was indeed my and Lawrence's place Chris destroyed). Sometimes I can't believe it's been eight years since we started this - so much has happened.
  3. Starcraft 2

    No problem Forbin; have been gifted another one.
  4. Starcraft 2

    Seconded please! I actually have the Collector's edition on the way, but it's not getting to me for another week and a half so this would tide me over perfectly!
  5. Child of Eden

    Mizuguchi gave a demo of the game during Ubisoft's conference - about five minutes of play. Here's the video (skip to 1:23:30): http://www.gametrailers.com/e3/livefeed/ubisoft So yeah, it's Rez basically (or at the very least), and if that alone isn't enough to suggest why this will be fun to play then I guess you're not a pretty pictures and nice music type of guy. Fair enough, move along. Also, it does support traditional controllers as well. Btw, here's the official site: http://child-of-eden.us.ubi.com/
  6. Street Fighter IV

    For any UK based players preparing for Super Street Fighter IV and still considering buying their first arcade stick... Gamestation are selling the original SF4 Tournament edition stick for £50 (on PS3 and 360 for a few quid more), which is an incredible bargain: http://www.gamestation.co.uk/Accessories/PlayStation-3-Xbox-360/PS3-Street-Fighter-IV-Tournament-Fight-Stick/~r413622/
  7. Mini Thumbs meet?

    Cool - glad you guys enjoyed it. Sorry I couldn't come; I was all played out from the all-day SF event yesterday. Actually we all went to Casino afterwards but no one really felt like playing vanilla anymore, hehe; everyone just chilled there and talked about Super.
  8. Street Fighter IV

    As Patters says the SE is a good entry stick and fairly easy to upgrade (it's been built with mods in mind). However as an alternative you may want to consider paying just a little bit more and getting the Tournament Edition stick - this is slightly bigger and comes with the arcade parts (i.e. sanwa buttons etc.) as stock. It's considerably better. I imagine buying an original TE would cost roughly the same now as it would to buy a SE plus the new buttons and stick for the upgrade. It's within your $100 limit and it's pretty much the best arcade stick you can buy at any price: http://www.amazon.com/Street-Fighter-FightStick-Tournament-Playstation-3/dp/B001M22WN8 and http://www.gogamer.com/MADCATZ-Street-Fighter-IV-Round-2-Arcade-FightStick-Tournament-Edition-for-XBox-360-48-Hour-Madness-_stcVVproductId100090711VVcatId551271VVviewprod.htm
  9. Street Fighter IV

    Well it's been a poorly kept secret for the past couple of months but Super Street Fighter 4's game director Ono-san has officially confirmed that the game will be getting an arcade release and not just a console release. This is good news, since arcade presence is integral to the development of both the game itself as well as the community/scene.
  10. Mini Thumbs meet?

    If you actually want to play Street Fighter 4 I would suggest Casino (on Tottenham Court Road, next to Goodge Streeet Station) over Troc: the cab's at troc are fewer and I believe one of them currently has a busted stick and another a dodgy screen. Casino has about 6 linked cabs and the equipment is all good. ...of course the downside is that Casino is also the home of the UKs top SF players and getting on a machine could take a while on a Friday or Saturday night.
  11. Merry Christmas!

    Wishing you all lots of yuletide cheer Thumbs - let the bells ring out.
  12. How has Idle Thumbs affected your life?

    Inadvertantly. Basically he demoed some games made by his company (Gamelab?) during the experimental games session at GDC a couple of years ago, but none of the games shown were in any way experimental (definitely not in relation to the other games on display). After the presentation I asked some of the other guys if they thought so too and everyone agreed, but unfortunately there wasn't time to ask Eric about it during the session itself. Anyway later that evening we were at a party and I saw Eric. I was sincerely curious about why he was asked to demonstrate his games as part of that session so I approached him and asked... He was mildly offended. In my defence I was slightly drunk, and furthermore he admitted they weren't experimental. He then gave me "the hand" and moved away towards the dancefloor, dancing in an extremely provocative and seductive manner without a hint of self-doubt. Alex, Marek and I were amused.
  13. Idle thumbs London meet!

    Make it "Dan".
  14. How has Idle Thumbs affected your life?

    It was just another boring day at work. Spaff suggested we go out for some fresh air and grab a pie from the bakery. On the way there he said: "So Ben, since coming back from E3 and continuing discussions with Jake and Marek about it I've decided I want to do this new site, I want to move away from Mojo and create something that covers more; also most game sites are bollocks: they don't write about games intelligently or discuss them with any sense of fun like we all do when we're hanging out. Anyway, so you've got professional writing and editing experience and I want you on-board..." And that's where it all started. We didn't even have a name then. I've met some awesome people here and across the pond; shared some great experiences; argued (probably a bit too passionately) about the quality of our articles; tracked down Eric Chahi; slept on random floors and five-star hotels alike; survived GDC plagues; feared my friend was dead in a ditch in LA; insulted Eric Zimmerman; and risen through the ranks of publishers and developers alike. All thanks to that boring job and Spaff's bakery run proposal.
  15. Best game credit roll/sequence

    I make an appearance in this one
  16. Life

    The guy next to Chris is known as Wrestlevania on the forum (i.e. the one who posted the pic). The girl is unknown to us at this time.
  17. Nobi Nobi Boy

    Interesting. The randomness and mystery of the trophies in Noby actually made me feel the opposite. I felt like it encouraged me to try to do anything I could imagine (or rather imagine what the designer was thinking) without any traditional constraints, which usually ended up being a fun process.
  18. Street Fighter IV

    Really? I love facing all the Ken/Ryu players - most of them just don't know the game that well, default to those characters and are therefore incredibly predicatable and easy to beat.
  19. Street Fighter IV

    PS3 version for me too. If you install it (optional) the load times are okay.
  20. Flower

    It's fine. However, the thread is for discussing the game, not your writing abilities (...or the DualShocks capabilities ). If you'd like feedback on your writing start another thread in Idle Banter. Thanks. Back on topic: I'm still enjoying the game. As with Portal the length really isn't the problem that some would have you believe (even given the price) as it's such an inviting and replayable experience. Going back to play the early levels in particular is quite easy - the way the levels are presented, in terms of both visual and aural cues, is simply exhilarating and hugely satisfying.
  21. Street Fighter IV

    A lot of the hardcore SF players and stick enthusiasts over on the SRK forums have now got their hands on the Madcatz sticks and the general response seems to be mixed - with a lot of the sticks apparently shipping broken out of the box or just not responding to inputs after a short while. Obviously a bunch of people are having no problems but thought it was worth mentioning.
  22. New people: Read this, say hi.

    Welcome I used to frequent the NTSC-UK forums a few years back - had some good posters there and decent discussion on the whole; sad to hear it may not be the case anymore.
  23. Street Fighter IV

    I also cannot wait for this and am awaiting delivery of the Collectors Edition . Regarding the Tournament Edition stick, I have heard that they are having issues getting enough ready in time and sent to Capcom Europe let alone retailers and consumers!
  24. Killzone 2

    I believe the crouch toggle is available as an option in multiplayer, and according to some reports once you switch it on it also applies in single player.
  25. Killzone 2

    We don't do scores here. I give your post 4.6/10. I jest of course. I had the opportunity to play on the beta and as well as the impressive visuals I found the game to be quite enjoyable in terms of online play. The weight of the gun and control in general takes a bit of getting use to coming from games like CoD4, it almost feels too heavy and slow to respond initially; but it's rather satisfying in how solid it feels once you adjust.