Ben X

My flatmate Dan and I had a very similar conversation a while back, about how the opening section of HL2 was, for us, the best, despite having no weapons at all. The interaction, the details, the running through squats and leaping over rooftops with bullets whizzing past. Dan drew the line around where Barney throws you the crowbar. I had to include the first firefight, because the pistol feels so meaty, the aiming so pleasurable, the shootouts so dramatic in a Sergio Leone way. A whole game like this, we said, would be amazing. Of course, they'd have to work very hard to make it non-linear and pack it full of detail. And it helps that HL2 was able to be self-indulgent to a point, knowing that they could take time over giving the players a HEV suit or a crowbar, as most would revel in the nostalgia.

Mmmmm, looks nice. And most of it isn't really there to show gameplay, right? It's an engine demo, with only a sneak peek of Crytek at the end. But the faces don't look half as impressive in-game as in that piccie, to my eye. Do you guys find that after the first watch, new engine-demos start to feel current-gen? It's like the Unreal Engine 3 shots. When I first saw them, they blew me away. Now my mind has tricked me into thinking that every game looks that good. Weird.

Hi Everyone, Good to see the forums finally back up, and ripe for a plug. Dan Marshall is writing a game, 'Gibbage'. It's a cartoon deathmatch platformer that Dan has created from scratch on his own, teaching himself to code along the way. He's chronicled this in PC Zone magazine, and as the game is nearing completion, Dan's set up a blog reprinting the articles. It's a really good read, and he'll soon be giving more in-depth tales of the basics of self-taught bedroom programming, so check it out. The website is not up properly yet, but you can download the demo for free. I implore you all to check the demo and blog out, and give Dan feedback on the blog if you wish. It's a brilliantly fun game, with the emphasis on gameplay, and as an Indie Game, fighting against the chart-clogging corporate tosh we put up with, it needs all the support and attention it can get. Thanks, Ben Ward

Please do email Dan with technical problems/queries - he may be able to help, or at least explain why it won't work! dan@gibbage.co.uk He's happy to help if he can, and eager for any feedback. Hope you have more luck soon, B

Oops! Sorry Nick, as Miffy observes, the current demo is really 'proof-of-gameplay' only, and not all technically sorted out etc. There will be a lovely, updated demo released at the same time as the full game. However, it runs on most systems we've tried, so it's still worth a try. And if not, the blog gives you the bestest page of PCZone's previous months for free, so that's always worth a read while you wait for the spectacular spectacular that is Gibbage. B

Cool, thanks Marek. I'm not sure what a 'spammish or viralish' way would have been, but I'm glad I didn't do it! Hope you enjoy it. Dan's hoping to make a real splash with it. Hopefully it'll be a breakout smash for Indie Gaming, but the best way for that to happen is good word-of-mouth, so thanks for the support. B

Tremors is a classic, obviously. Tremors 2 and 3 are superb sequels, amongst the best sequels ever (not a high accolade, admittedly). They connect with the first movie without carbon-copying it, they're funny and exciting. And they elevate Burt Gummer to near-Ash status. Tremors 4 was awful, though. Haven't seen the series, although apparently there's a Christopher Lloyd cameo, which is good enough for me. The trilogy is also good for drinking games, btw. Can't remember the rules now, but basically, everyone drinks a certain amount whenever a graboid is killed or whatever. I prefer that simple kind of movie drinking-game, where everyone does the same thing at the same time. None of that pick-a-character crap.

So, like, why don't you just, like, y'know, quit?

I wasn't enthralled by Citizen Kane the first time I saw it, but the second or third time I really appreciated it. Go watch Sofia Coppola's film, The Virgin Suicides, and compare it to LiT. It has the same dreamy, slow quality, but manages not to be as boring as a dog's ass. Don't watch The Majestic. I've never fought so hard against walking out of the cinema in my life. PS this forum should have a sticky links thread. Llama llama llama.

Yeah, that's probably it. Dammit Remo, I'm a tape-monkey, not a doctor.

Danny Boyle (28DL's director) went on record saying it is NOT a zombie movie. Oh, and in Day Of The Dead, one character manges to survive turning into a zombie from a bite by amputating his arm then quarterising (spelling?) the wound. We don't get to see whether this would have worked for more than a few days though...

Spaced is indeed great, I wholeheartedly recommend it. It has a higher (heavier?) balance of spoofy/surreal humour over situational humour and serious moments than Shaun, and it works perfectly. It's similar characters to Shaun with similar crises, but at an earlier stage in their life. A word of warning to anyone who hasn't seen Shaun yet: don't expect a spoof/parody, or even 'Spaced with zombies'. This is a zombie flick with a sense of humour, more along 'American Werewolf' lines. And what's best, is then you can fully appreciate idiots who argue over its accessibility to American audiences

Actually, I always thought Laverne was cute in a crazy-girl way. Especially her giggle. And boy, was she one good-looking tentacle.

By the law of six degrees of separation, we should all be able to get in touch with George's kids (or god-kids or something) and get them to ask him to fund Sam and Max's completion in place of a decade's birthday presents...

Purcell only worked on cutscene dialogue and general plot though. The E3 video was specially made (I think - it had better have been, as the idea of the game having a 6 foot evil cat makes me sick), and we only got a handful of screenshots. Purcell's comments seemed polite rather than ecstatic, and perhaps he would have said something similar whether the game sucked or not. It was a smarter move for LA to say "It's the marketplace's fault, we're looking after our assets", rather than "we made ANOTHER adventure game so shitty we had to dump it in the later development-stages", were the latter true. I'm not convinced this is the case, but I don't think we can dismiss it on the evidence we have. I had very hopes for the game, despite evil cats and LSL 3D-looking mini-games. And, seeing as it's my first post: