Wrestlevania

I simply had to do that to get through Dawn of Sorrow's several "bad" endings successfully. Portrait of Ruin looks no different as I hit the first false ending about 6-7 hours in. Now I can't get any further, mainly because the [ahem] "advice" offered by NPCs is somewhat wooly to say the least... Or maybe I'm just thick.

Love Farscape, although season 3 dipped very sharply in story writing early on -- the whole "we're trapped in a game!" plot of one particular episode was so ball-achingly generic, even Farscape's usual charms couldn't save it. But what a superb "We Don't Give a F*ck!" ending! Especially the special Peacekeeper Wars mini-series.

Added my Friend Code for 42 All-Time Classics. Anyone who wants to boost their world rank at pretty much anything please add me to your roster...

42 All-Time Classics has turned out to be just as good as the reviews made out. My only gripe - and it's a glaring oversight - is that there's no "hot seat" support for multiplay. I brought my DS with me on Christmas Day to the In-Law's house and it's the first time my brother's been genuinely enthusiastic about playing the DS (he's not a gamer). But we had to take turns playing a round at bowling/darts/etc. against the computer for highest scores. Being able to play these sorts of games in multiplayer on just one DS would be brilliant.

Nicely done Ninty, congratulations!

/me punches self in bollocks repeatedly for forgetting to mention this superb GameCube game

Cats are indeed fantastic. The two Mini W's and myself have almost convinced Mrs W that getting a cat (or two) would be a very good idea. I'd love a Siamese; I used to look after a neighbour's Siamese when I was a kid and his family went away sometimes, and he was brilliant -- an unstoppable chatterbox! I found out not so long ago, though, that he was killed in a house fire some years after we'd moved away... :\ :\ :\ :\ :\

Excellent. I've added you to my friends list now -- make sure you add me too, or we won't be able to meet up! I have pears if you'd like one of those. I'll also see if I can't get that blasted pantsless racoon to stock a watering can to bring you as well.

Get your credit card over to Play.com double-quick then. They've got a monster sale on at the moment, in which you can get Bully for £12.99 (delivered). No recommendations though I'm afraid other than perhaps Guitar Hero II, which I played for the first time yesterday and presently stink at. It's still great fun though -- especially with two players, each with their own guitar controller. And it's Mister Bumhole to you, thankyouverymuch.

Haven't a clue. National governments should publish daily blogs indicating where they've decided that line is for today. Seriously, I don't believe there is any 'line' -- it's down to plain bad luck on the part of the accused when it comes to their day in court (and the small detail of whether it's a crime in the present country in the first place). Yes, the man is portrayed as being detached from reality somewhat, but I don't agree with him being imprisoned for it. That's just plain irresponsible in my view, when you consider the extremely high levels of racism and violence within the prison system. There's nothing to say such experiences haven't in fact compounded his views on The Holocaust into something sinister now, either.

I think the concept of Jaws Unleashed* captured people's imaginations more than anything else. It certainly piqued my interest (even though I didn't expect much from the finished game). * Who'd be stupid enough to try putting a 14' Great White on a leash in the first place anyway?

Ikaruga - nails SSX3 - bliss Soul Calibur 2 - slick Super Mario Sunshine - novel

That's what I thought. Likewise for Street Fighter II' Hyper Fighting - they should be whipped for even suggesting such a thing.

There was speculation earlier this year that Sony would repurpose PS2 as a cheap motion-based system to compete with Wii directly, which appears to be borne out in the Ars article (emphasis mine): It was theorised that EyeToy would play a central part in this and that this repurposing would in fact be an expansion of EyeToy in an effort to draw "new markets" to the PlayStation brand. The idea was that once all the 'hardcore' had been shifted over to PS3, PS2 would be bundled with EyeToy and some motion-based games by default, to be sold very cheaply (sub-$100) and marketed away from traditional gaming strongholds.

For the record, I ordered 42 All-Time Classics on Saturday. I'll pick up Phantom Hourglass sometime next year, once it's been released, either on import from the US or a terrestrial UK version (depending on time frames).

Right, off the back of several hours' play I like Portrait of Ruin so far. Initially I thought the radical, almost dissonant areas of the game quite jarring and unconnected at first. But as you start to get into the story they make more sense and become somewhat coherent. There's one of those great gaming moments whereby you switch from not properly understanding the game to where you're completely absorbed by it, and this happened quite suddenly for me about 3 hours in. The partner aspect of the game is brilliant. You can switch playing either character solo at any time, or have them fight simultaneously as you wish. Changing partners mid-quest or boss fight is an essential strategy in certain situations, and really keeps things fresh as you shift your mindset from melee to magic and then back again. The special double team moves also vary wildly, as they should in a game with so many different kinds of enemies. Each of Jonathon's and Charlotte's unique spells also contrast between each other, so you can quickly change characters, fire an essential spell or melee attack, then switch back again. If I were going to compare Portrait of Ruin to another game, I'm surprised and delighted to say it's one of my all time favourite arcade slashers, Capcom's brilliant Magic Sword. And now we effectively have that game in portable form -- hurrah! As for the music aspect, which I got so excited about on Thumbs back in the summer, it's subtle but varied. It's also very rich, with minimal loops and patterns used throughout. It's just the sort of orchestral arrangement you'd want for a Castlevania game, even though it's put together by Streets of Rage techno God Yuzo Koshiro (not to cast niche-genre aspertions at the great man himself). The only negative points I have so far are two-fold: 3D backgrounds look just as stunning as they did in Dawn of Sorrow, but are used not nearly enough for my tastes. You very occaisionally fight enemies drawn using polygons instead of sprites, which seems pointless and quite jarring when compared to the chunky arcade-like 2D characters used everywhere else.

I'm really looking forward to The Last King of Scotland also, based on (surprise surprise) PIXELSURGEON's excellent in-depth review. I am not a viral marketeer for PIXELSURGEON, honest!

I watched Brick at the weekend. Really don't rate it myself; seems like a teenage amateur dramatics project that got way too much budget. The dialogue also seemed to be deliberately 'clicky', with every line having some unfamiliar term or frame of reference shoe-horned in by strict directorial mandate. I also couldn't help but draw parallels between it and Bugsy Malone afterwards either. A frustrating - and therefore irritating - 1.5 hours overall, but I get the feeling I'm perhaps not the intended audience. It was nicely shot in places though. I'm hoping Little Miss Sunshine is more enjoyable, which is on next at the House d'Vania Odeon.

Portrait of Ruin arrived this morning! I've watched the intro - stunning quality FMV for the tiny DS - and I'm so far liking the more arcade-like graphic style of the first few scenes. Music has been quite understated so far, but I'm barely through the opening as yet. Will put in some hardcore hours these coming few days then report back.

Yup -- it's been linked in my signature for a week or more already. Smashing little game. Make sure you guys check out it's predecessor, Within a Deep Forest; the gameplay is very similar but the music... stunning.

I'm disgusted Ubi didn't actually make this a Wii exclusive -- shoe horning the game onto other formats is blatant penny-pinching, and I'd hoped they might have been above that.

Just as a follow-up (emphasis mine): Not wishing to employ biz speak too much, but this sends a very clear signal just how viable a platform Nintendo DS is for the games industry. And I'm also now excited. I demand a better trailer though, damnit!

"Every time you procrastinate, God kills a kitten." ...I think. Or was it wanking? Same difference.

Indeed -- Air Force W is now patroling the skies...

Rope lights.