Wrestlevania

I played In The Pit quite some time ago now -- simple but fun. You definitely need a decent PC joypad with rumble though for the full experience.

If you find one, do share. Right, getting back on topic: I've had my 360 since March and whilst I wasn't overly enamored with it for a while, the recent downpour of genuinely worthwhile titles has really made me love the system. Can't comment on PS3 from the same point of view, so I won't go beyond saying firstly how disappointed I am in Sony, and secondly how utterly pissed off I am with the continued cock-jousting developers are making over 360 vs. PS3 development. NOBODY FUCKING CARES! *deep breaths* Anyway, if you've a large PS2 collection - or you want to be able to play the very best games of the past generation - and you must have a next-gen system, but can wait for the games, get a PS3. If you just want a contemporary console with lots of great games to play now and good multiplayer support, get an Xbox 360. (It would be a pleasure to play with more Thumbs.)

You don't have to cheat. It's just a cheap way for us mere mortals to get more of the Gamerpoints we so desperately crave. It's not like some Monty Python-esque foot descends from the sky to squash you as soon as you step out side on Veteran. It's more the case that you need to have the reflexes of a cat to beat the thing on the highest difficulty settings, nothing more. Infinity Ward have always channeled play in the Call of Duty games -- it was never designed (nor sold!) as a free-roaming war simulation, FFS.

Oh they're laughed at around here too, believe me. A local web-dev mailing list often has little tirades about such types, even though a lot of people on there are actually of said demographic. And get it right: it's "noo meeja" foo'!

I think Damon Albarn & Co. put it best in one of their songs last year:

Ah, yes. I neglected to mention the other key aspect of this strategy is throwing away any grenades that do make it inside as quickly as possible.

I wanted to try their Express/Lite offering last year, but the software wouldn't actually load -- it just froze every time I tried to run it. Hugely infuriating, so I deleted it in disgust and haven't been back. Otherwise I hear nothing but gushingly vomiticious levels of praise for the full service.

If you do, the trick to surviving the hold-out at the end is to go prone in the ticket booth by the ferris wheel. The booth is impervious to grenade explosions, so you "just" have to stay prone and shoot any enemies that come round to the booth door to try and get you. Of course, you'll still have the sprint to the Chinook to get through right at the end...

I believe either series may have had an extremely limited DVD run at some point, as it's not on the main UK video sharing sites which respect "available media" rules, which in English means: "we don't host shit unless you simply can't get hold of it any other way." I'll be buggered if I can find it in any online store though, so check my *ahem* a few posts up.

Ah, good! I particularly liked it because it's very cutting around where I work (in Bristol) because there are an awful lot of Barleys around here. I shit you not...

I will enjoy seeing you eat those words once you've dropped out of your post-orgasmic haze from actually beating the level. I've been playing a bit more of Arcade mode, on Hardened, and the difficulty increase doesn't seem unreasonable or ridiculous to me so far.

I can live with that. I got around to watching season 1 of Gaiden all in one lunchtime last week and loved it. Whilst each episode is painfully short, they're very tightly made and channel the best aspects of Consolevania very nicely. I should probably watch the second season now ASAP! Also, I should be able to watch season 3 "properly" on TV, as we get access to all regional versions of BBC 1 via satellite in the UK.

Agreed -- it's genius.

I'm confused, Nachimir; are you liking or hating Nathan Barley?

I've been flip-flopping about Mass Effect ever since it was announced. On the one hand, it sounds like a stupendous sci-fi production and so should be something I'd absolutely rave about. But on the other, it sounds hugely dialgoue-dependent which doesn't sound fun to me. And, more over, I simply failed to care about either KotOR - even at the height of my Star Wars fanboyism years ago. I still like the original/traditional* Star Wars universe and settings, but not enough to play a KotOR 3 I think. And Mass Effect doesn't even have that going for it to my mind, so I'm passing on it. * And yes, before you say it, I'm well aware that KotOR is set a good 4,000 years before A New Hope.

Ah, Apogee. Many a fond memory of when I first really got into PC gaming on a friend's 386. If you want to really wallow in shareware nostalgia, Alien Carnage (also known as Halloween Harry) is now freeware.

Trust me, there's no need for complex science -- an average multiplayer session proves it's all been for shit.

My very first gaming memory is Penetrator on our then-new ZX Spectrum 48k Plus. My Dad bought the computer on the proviso that he'd be able to do something vaguely business-related with it. Instead, lots of my parent's friends all quickly seemed to get them and the inevitable tape-trading happened. Penetrator was, I think, not only my earliest gaming memory, but also the very first game we got for the machine too. At the age of 3 I learnt where to find the game tape, how to put it into the separate cassette deck, check the volume level, turn the computer on, enter LOAD "" at the prompt and then press 'Play' on the tape deck. And then I was a space fighter pilot, soaring over an alien world, raining down bombs on the enemy radar dishes waiting below. Well, for about 12 seconds anyway, until I was promptly shot down in a heavily pixelated fireball. Still, great fun. As of my next birthday I will have been playing video games as my main hobby for more than a quarter of a century. Which is a little odd to think about when put like that...

Ah, I neglected to mention I gave Arcade mode a try last night for the first time. It's a hoot, like Time Crisis but not on rails. The scoring system is quite addictive, plus you're still able to get achievements too. If they ported the game to Wii in this mode exclusively, it'd be no less brilliant I think.

As much horse shit as this may sound, this actually becomes instinctive after a modest amount of time. It very suddenly clicked for me last night and the game leapt another notch in terms of fun. Gash and I played again with some regulars we've been meeting up with and it was an absolute blast. I'm also starting to get better at the game too, even though I'm still a very lowly rank at present. Really, really can't recommend Call of Duty 4 enough -- it's a sublime package.

Best of luck on finding a legit copy -- rarer than rocking horse shit nowadays. I think MS should pay Irrational a fuck-load of cash to polish Shock 2 and sell it over Live in its visually remastered format. No mucking about with the sound design or game mechanics!

I'm giving serious thought to tackling the Veteran achievements this week, but it sounds like outright sadism by all accounts...

I sat down to finally play the game "properly" about 3 years ago. I got as far as the storage facility but was a nervous wreck with no ammo and the twitch reactions of a 4yr-old drinking neat Ribena. I think it's the only game I've played that's caused cold sweats and heart palpitations. I definitely need to steel my resolve and have another attempt some time. I'll see how I get on with the current crop of single-player games I'm dabbling with and then jump in.

It's simply an enhanced deal with the distributor. I would imagine it's of very little concern to them as long as it sells more copies of a key title in general, regardless of whatever guise it's goes under.

That Wikipedia listing is more than likely for the "official" US limited edition. What you got sounds suspiciously like those crappy (sorry) limited editions some European - particularly British - retailers simply invent, in a vain attempt to lure potential business away from competitors. These "ghetto giveaways" as I like to call them usually involve something that a) is dirt-cheap and can be slotted into the regular game box and then rewrapped and stickered as a special version of the game with very little labour, keeping costs to a minimum. Art cards are a prime example. Places like Play.com and GAME do this an awful lot I've noticed. Sorry, mate.