Wrestlevania

Quality. Going to pre-order my copy this week at Asda. I'm all about the glamour you see.

Maybe, but give me tuned Sagan over Stacy 'Waste of Organs' Ferguson any day.

I'm not judging you. (Pervert.)

Another spot-on example of my most favourite music, this time by Moderat: DoxUiqUpkw4

Watched Drag Me to Hell last night, brilliantly ridiculous and fun. Masterful use of foreshadowing by Raimi to play with the audience - both those expecting it and those still scared by it. I also though it brilliant that the boyfriend seemed to ad-lib pretty much all his dialogue, trying to it around what was more clearly scripted and structured. Lent further B-movie horror flick credibility I think, without relying on any obvious gimmicks. I really liked the Indian mystic, too. Great character that ran the gamut of being horribly cliched and avoided the worst smartly.

About 10 days now I think, just before the end of October..?

No, Forza is strictly road racing. The new multiplayer high score drifting modes sound like a lot of fun though, which might make up for the lack of dirt/snow track-style driving.

With absolute impunity.

I grossly object to this statement through cherished, on-going experience, as well as overly-sentimental personal reasons! That's bang on though, the cunts.

Every time I try to make a payment to Steam, my bank blocks it as potential fraud. Seems to be a UK-wide banking thing at the moment, specifically targeting small online payments. I asked my bank why, and they said that fraudsters often make small trial payments online to see if the details they've stolen are valid. If they go through on something small, then they ramp up on bigger stuff very quickly (so my bank's anti-fraud dept. reckons). Because of this, I asked if I can personally set trusted suppliers on my account, but the bank people said no. Which means I have to call the pricks pretty much every time I try to buy something over the web, because they automatically block the payments...

Do you mean here or here? Cuz, y'know, I'm in the later one most days and it's a funking ace city... Regardless, best of luck for tomorrow!

Wuz wonderin' where you'd got to, JayDubya. Hopefully catch you online again soon!

Gah, that double-shifting thing sounds horrible! What's slightly worrying is that I've seen no mention or promotion of the Microsoft wheel for 360 at all since Forza 2 was released. Has it been discontinued?

I was too late to join in--curse you, Gran Turismo PSP!

I may be about for a short while this evening, so you can rejoice/rue my (temporary) return as well as n0wak's.

Because if they vanish when they're dead, it's not real and you won't feel compelled to kill anyone yourself! What a crock of shit.

It's abysmal, I agree. After my initial giddiness at being able to play Street Fighter Zero 3 on the move, the squidgy, thumb-pulping controls on PSP are literally crippling for anything frenetic.

Ah, the latter would explain everything in that case.

It's reassuring to read that, as too many of my friends and contacts have been waxing lyrical about it--but can't seem to articulate why.

So, I managed to scrape together a little bit of time last night and make fine use of my PSP for the first time in a while: I'm roughly 90 minutes in and have just started the second chapter. So far, so cheesy and brilliant.

I adore that, especially if I've just tuned a car I've raced before on the same track and I'm able to smash through my previous times. I also love the way shaving down your lap times like this over longer races really encourages you to drive faster and smoother with every lap. But it also really encourages you to take risks; clipping curbs more tightly, braking later into corners and putting the power down sooner and more aggressively as you exit. If you've got a great car and you're into the rhythm of the track, I'm often sad when I do finally complete that last lap and it's all over. Forza 2 was masterful at this, so I'm hoping the third game's initially blunt-seeming controls don't lessen that adrenaline buzz in the sequel.

Call me a moron, but I thought the Steam client would be where I'd get my invitation. Turns out it was buried in my Gmail inbox: Woo! Thanks, Scratch. Now, before I redeem, how can I get some Canadollars to you..?

Personally, I'd consider that more of a test of skill than e.g. barging your way to the front in the first lap, then weaving all over the place to protect your spot. But I'm not saying that's how you, personally, must be playing the game--this isn't an attack or a dismissal. What I'm saying is I actually find the longer races incredibly nerve-racking, but in a different way to the shorter, cup-style racing. While the latter's typically an exhilarating sprint from start to finish, the former's a true test of race craft for me (assuming the track's interesting and the competition's good).

I think this must be true, because I'm not seeing anything, Scratch...

Oh cool! Thanks, Scratch. Only just seen this update, as I didn't have time to switch on my PC yesterday between getting home from work and tumbling into bed. Will look tonight.