Wrestlevania

Colour me intrigued. Listening to the two latest instalments of The Hollywood Saloon's Saloon Shots this morning, on my way in to work, and was so depressed by some of the remakes/reboots on the way: RoboCop, The Fly, Nightmare on Elm Street, Beverly Hills Cop... ...just, why?! At least The A-Team makes sense, and The Fly might kick arse if Cronenberg does indeed take to remaking his remake(?!). But RoboCop and Nightmare on Elm Street already? They're still superb films in their own right, we don't need them remade! Or, given how bland (or just plain pointless) recent remakes - like Friday the 13th and Psycho - have been, is there a rather grim pattern emerging? Are film studios / property owners simply looking to culturally reskin past successes every couple of decades, without any interest in making an interesting/worthwhile film? It would certainly seem that way...

I didn't enjoy Brick much myself. Too much of a culture and reference gap for me to understand the deeper meanings of some characters exchanges. Having said that, it's beautifully shot and excellently cast. It's a great film I just couldn't properly appreciate. By contrast, I watched Assassination of a High School President last night and thought it excellent. There are definite similarities to Brick, but it's more open and "Pop-y" in its characters and language, so I didn't struggle with it. Willis' character was a pastiche, but a fun - if rather flat - pastiche, definitely. Thumbs up!

I don't like PayPal (piss-poor interface), but it's probably the most sensible option given the international boundaries. I already have a PayPal account, so it shouldn't be a problem. Is that OK with you, Scratch?

toblix (aka toeblix) already broke Steam once. Do not taunt him a second time...

Hmm, so... it seems Valve are offering a mere £3 off the price of L4D2 at pre-order, with no specific discount for people who already own the original (slight pang of disappointment). Looking at the 4-pack though and thinking £20.25 each at the pre-order price is a steal. Realistically, how do-able is it to coordinate buying something like this amongst fellow forumites? I'm sure a few Thumbs have done it before with the original L4D..?

I really hope this is the much-wished-for party mode, where you can have things like round robins and winner stays on. That'd be superb, instead of having to fudge matchmaking amongst friends using something like an Xbox LIVE party.

I forgot to mention that I watched The Hurt Locker last night by the way (which is probably an early indication of what I thought of it). While I can appreciate why critics might be praising it, I don't actually think it's strong enough a story - or screenplay - to warrant the towering accolades seemingly heaped upon it. To frame this: were it an episode in something like Generation Kill (which I thought superb), it would've been one of the stand-out parts of that series without question. But in isolation, it just wasn't strong enough in my opinion. The central character is certainly intriguing, but not enough to draw the film along for its 2hr+ duration smoothly. There's also little development (or interest) in the two immediate supporting characters, who make up the other two thirds of the main character's three-man squad, which also didn't really help in keeping me interested. Edit: Sorry if my cocking up the spoiler tag on initial post ruined any details for anyone.

[remo-nerd-voice]A mere paragraph on each?! Why there are whole short stories on pretty much every character for TRUE fans![/remo-nerd-voice] PS: And the bounty hunters, too. PPS: I've read them all. PPPS: Most of them are complete ass, but a couple are enjoyable and actually make some semblance of sense.

Not a Fan, personally - always found Dee Jay spammy and annoying. I don't like Tekken's Eddy Gordo for the same reasons--he's basically a copy of Dee Jay anyway. Would much rather Capcom diversified things a bit and maybe looked at bringing in some fighters from other franchises, like Darkstalkers ferinstance. Or even some others from the Zero/Alpha series', like Rolento and Guy.

Played the demo a few times last week and I have to say I found it slightly disappointing. Speed sensitive input seems to have noticeably numbed the controls to me, but the actual driving didn't seem slower, and the car still does everything you expect - and want! - it to. So more of a mental adjustment than anything else I guess. I loved the slick new presentation, though. Definitely the right direction to take the game. And the demo track was still a lot of fun, even with the subtle changes in handling. I just liked the twitchiness of the second game and enjoyed scrubbing around the front tyres through corners--you knew you were on the ragged edge more immediately then.

Finally got around to seeing District 9 and wasn't disappointed. I really liked the writing, the way all this high tech kit was just strewn - unwanted and unusable - across the ghetto, with the aliens themselves also devolved into squalid living and behaviour. I think there's a point with good sci-fi where you don't have to work everything out, and you don't need some grandiose resolution to Everything either. (I think this may have been a point Nick made on one of the not-too-distant podcasts actually.) I enjoyed District 9 most of all because of its confidence in this regard; everything about it just flowed really well for me, didn't run away with itself in scope, and didn't insult you with some patronising, ridiculous last-10-minutes crescendo. Definitely a personal favourite of this year--just don't let there be a sequel!

Bear in mind that not all PSX games appear to be "emulatable" on the PSP, and that's the Phat I'm talking about, too. No idea what the PSPgo will (or won't, more like) be capable of with regards to emulation.

Hey Thumbs, Seeing as I've kicked off a couple of regular nights (Grand Thumb Auto, Left 4 Thumbs) here over the past few months, I thought I should let you regulars know I'm not going to be able to make it for a few weeks. To cut a long story short, Mrs V needs a major operation, which has a 6-week recovery period. It means I'll be principally looking after the house, Mrs V and the kids for the next month or more, as well as still working 4 days a week. So I'm not going to have much - if any - spare time for a while. Just wanted to let you know and to encourage you guys to keep getting organised every week and having regular games still. Though they're too much fun I think to die out now anyway, but don't they don't organise themselves! So keep playing, m'kay? If you've got GTA4 on Xbox 360, or Left 4 Dead on PC, get involved--they're a riot! Well, that's it. I'll probably still post every now and then, but I'm going to be out of the gaming loop for a bit. Catch you on the far side.

Well, I got to bring her home this (Tuesday) afternoon as it happens. For those not in the know, being stuck on a ward comprised mainly of senile geriatrics is a particular circle of Hell. So it's a huge relief to have a back here already. She's sleeping for the first time since Sunday night, whilst I make myself useful by completing the rather bloody brilliant Research and Development mod.

Thanks again for all the best wishes, both here and from those of you on Twitter as well. As a small update: today was filled - as you can imagine - with much stress, a 5hr wait for a bed and a hospital fire alarm being set off just after 8pm (not an hour after I finally got to see Mrs V). Oh, and one of our friends' kids somehow knew about Mrs V going to hospital and so dutifully blabbed to our eldest in school today. But, above all, her operation went well and she's at least starting out well with her recovery. Hopefully, she'll be home on Wednesday.

Cheers all.

Cheers, gents.

That's what I'm hoping for.

You could always have a go at making your own Xbox 360 hard drive. I'm certainly tempted, especially with how cheap HDDs are nowadays, and the fact it's warranty irrelevant (you don't send your HDD if you RRoD).

I shall hold onto this thought in my darkest of hours.

We may be in England and yet we may not be English.

Appreciated.

"Because this is the score their marketing team wanted for the exclusive, and who am I to argue? 8.0/10" -IGN.com

BLOODY Weston-super-Mare -- beat that!

Without enough notice, even yours truly might somehow be able to wangle it on a "business trip" again, which is how I met Remo and Ben last time, and eljay twice before that. In fact it made me wish I lived a lot closer to Lurn-daarn.