Wrestlevania

That sounds wicked. I just started playing the game again this weekend, with all the mods previously listed in this thread. I'd forgotten how rich the story telling and characterisations are...

That Martin Luther King stencil is class.

Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays is fine by me. But lets pick a single, agreeable day and stick with it; rotating weekly schedules simply don't work--especially for something casual. Tuesdays then?

Down like a frown, etc.

Mrs V and I watched Superman Returns earlier in the week, and what a disappointment that was. Not that we were expecting much of course, but it's just how little it actually delivers is what's disappointing. It's like a rejected version of a script for the original film, except with far less effort to characterise and endear the main parts to the audience. The remake trades exclusively off its history, and expects everyone watching to know and care about the main characters quite intimately already--without putting in any effort to further these characters through the course of the film. It's also a mish-mash of notable scenes - or at least ideas/sentiments - from the previous films, with nothing new being added at all. If anything, Returns pretty much kills the filmic series stone dead. There were a couple of aspects of the production that annoyed me, too. The intro and theme music are, to all intents and purposes, exactly the same as the 80s movies. Except the opening credits are computer-generated this time. Also, the modern CG effects used for Superman's powers make them seem mundane and dull in Returns. He doesn't shoot exciting red lasers from his eyes any more; you get this faint wobbly heat signature instead. Real duffer of a film, with no imagination or merit of its own. The casting is pants, too; Kevin Spacey is pointlessly cast as Lex Luthor and makes nothing of the role.

Excellent! Maybe we could go Club-ing after our Grand Thumb Auto sessions?

I've just picked up a copy of The Club for cheap on Xbox 360 in the post-Christmas sales. Definitely worth a punt for less than a tenner.

I played about 7hrs of the game last year (or was it the year before?) and enjoyed what I experienced. Looking at the things which have now been polished up, I really want to get into it again.

I registered for the Lugaru offer last week.

Right, as it's Christmas & New Year's Eve these coming Wednesdays, I vote we play Tuesday nights instead over the next couple of weeks.

But don't you see? This is what happens when you don't read Mr Molyneux's included letter regarding "how to properly yo Lionhead yo-yos".

I tried the demo last week and was modestly impressed. The sense of speed is very good, but I don't like being able to move through all three plains; it just doesn't feel right for Sonic. It's also too easy to come to a sudden halt on peripheral scenery, because you were pressing the stick slightly to the left or right whilst dashing forwards. Side on, Unleashed looks glorious--it's just how I'd hoped Sonic would look in 3D. It's a faithful evolution, visually and stylistically, and the demo level at least was interesting and varied. However, it's rarely apparent how you reach an alternative - usually higher up - path through a level, which means the exploration aspect (at least in the demo) isn't that fun. Unlike the original 2D Sonics.

Yes, immediately down to 800x600 as the login screen was lagging badly for me and dropping key strokes. That did speed the initial screens up a noticable amount, but my machine still didn't cope well in-game; I guesstimate that I was getting between 1 and 4 frames a second.

Hmm... I just installed and tried the latest build, and it runs so painfully slowly on my machine as to be basically unplayable. Very little point in my joining in tonight, but thanks all for including me so far.

You're definitely a hood ornament next session.

Already downloading it--nice work, Beatniks! Feeling a bit wonky today, though; fucking typical--first day off and you catch something. I'll try to be on later, assuming my body isn't trying to turn itself inside out by this evening...

That's good news, can't wait to have more Thumbs join in. Oh, and sorry if I spammed you with invites last night, ys; I was excited to see you were playing GTA IV, but didn't notice it was the PC version until Miffy pointed it out...

LOL - shit, that'll teach us to talk about games, Miffy.

Inkheart, on the otherhand, bothered me intensely; it's a sloppily written mess of a film and thoroughly disposable. I was stone cold bored for its entire duration, which kind of made me angry as the cast list looks at least competent. Film aside, however, what really fucked me off about last night was that we paid £15 for a pair of tickets, yet there were only 10 people in a cinema that should seat 150. Now, I've despised how massively over-priced cinema tickets have been for some time. But last night I had the dread realisation; we're paying to fill empty seats for films people just aren't interested in. Hollywood churns out so much shit nowadays, all of which seemingly has the sole purpose of taking a lot of money over its first weekend and that's it. Nothing more--executives simply don't care beyond opening weekend figures or critical acclaim. Not unless the critical acclaim might increase the opening weekend's takings. It appalls me - absolutely appalls me - that Hollywood turns out massive volumes of worthless, unwanted crap at great expense, but has the audacity to blame dwindling cinema numbers on piracy. I've heard similar absolute horse-cock being levelled at DVD - and particularly Blu-ray - sales; "more people are stealing films rather than buying them. Stop thinking and discriminating and just BUY!!!" No, Sir, you can fuck right off--and take your stupid, pathetic attempt at filmic entertainment with you. You bell-end.

Minotaur China Shop is the next game from Flashbang, purveyors of fine in-browser gaming such as Off-Road Velociraptor Safari and Jetpack Brontosaurus. In it, you play Minotaur. All Minotaur wants to do is run his own shop and sell fine china to his waiting customers. Unfortunately, Minotaur is cursed with being rather clumsy and having a very short temper. Having been imprisoned in the Labyrinth for his last misdemeanour - he accidentally tipped over a shelf of teacups and then destroyed the rest of the stock in a fit of rage - Minotaur is back. And this time, he has patented Minotaur Rage Insurance! I've been playing the beta today and it is, unsurprisingly, utterly charming and very funny to boot. Should be out of beta very shortly, but you can apply to test it yourself via Flashbang's Blurst portal.

One, solitary criticism: no intro music!

I'm downloading now--thanks for sorting this out!

Oh well; you either love it or hate it, I guess. Actually I'm sure one of the Thumb's overlords could fix it for you...

Big scary message says "Yes!"

Just tried again for good measure and still get the 404 error page. No worries if the system's being a little tricky.