Wrestlevania

No, sorry--that's not what I was getting at. More that I have precious little free time nowadays, so I'm being an elitist snob when it comes to media consumption. It was, you're correct. But I don't like how they threw basically everything out the window for the (completely unnecessary) sequel, including the art style and refreshingly chilling undertones of psychosis in the 'cutscenes' between levels.

That's cool. I have no local meatspace friends, however... I played the demo some time ago, before I'd played Warriors Orochi, but Bladestorm didn't really grab me in the same way the PSP game has. Orochi seems 'purer', more focused. That might be because of the technology constraints, but then the portable version's been slated for being simplistic fan service. (I think that's unfair criticism though, personally, going on what others have said about the numerous console versions.) Might give the Bladestorm demo another try in that case, now I know what to expect and how these games should be played. But top of my Musou list now is DW: Gundam on 360; I hear that's fantastic.

I've been playing Warriors Orochi on PSP a fair bit in the last couple of weeks and I just don't know how I managed to overlook this series for so long. I love scrolling/roaming fighters and Orochi's blend of button mashing, easy-to-master combo system and healthy dollop of accessible strategy is great fun. I've yet to play Earth Defense Force 2017, still, but I just keep hearing how fantastic it is. Am I right in believing you can't play it co-op online though?

Given hindsight it was a cruel and unfair piece of analysis. So I've taken it down. Apologies all.

No, but I've no intention of going anywhere near anything he's made again. Plus the only 'angle' Postal The Movie has is cheap exploitation—something I'd like to think I'm well beyond at this juncture in one's movie-watching career.

I've a suspicion you may be bitterly disappointed with this final season then, Marek. After the irrelevance of (most of) season 3, the season 4 opener has immediately gotten me hooked. It's also piqued Mrs V's interest once more, after she wandered away from the series some time ago.

Not closed, but much reduced. Instead of it being in the $teens-of-millions, it's now limited to about $3 million - and demands an arse-load of extra paperwork, too. This is why he so magnanimously announced he'd be stepping back from doing multimillion dollar franchises, that self-euthanize at the box office; he can't get the money for them any more, because exploiting the grant system from his home country was the only way he could raise the cash. Quite the turd, isn't he? And after seeing the Postal 'virgins' trailer, how could anyone forgive him for foisting this sack of vomit on the world? It really makes my piss boil that the Postal franchise has been so carefully ruined by Running with Scissors and then Boll. The original game was actually quite good.

I really enjoyed Cloverfield, because it was everything I hoped it would be: big, stupid, shallow and great fun. Sometimes it's nice to just sit back and watch something that demands nothing more of you than your senses—then sets fire to them.

banplx?

Mrs V and I are confirmed fans of Mononoke and Spirited Away fans, but they're a bit too spectral for the little 'uns just yet. So we'll wait to show them those. Can't wait to see what the girls make of the Cat-Bus in Totoro though! That's exquisite!

See, now, those of you with email notifications switched on will note that that was my original spelling. But I changed it due to peer pressure.

What an agonisingly, hair-rippingly, piss-boilingly, lazy, bare-faced, cheap, gimmicky piece of utter fanboy pandering shite! After luring you in with a more than passable story for the first 90 minutes or so, the game suddenly dumps you in front of a terminal and says, "here's a fuck-tonne of missions to do, you slavish, FF fanboy cock-end, you--and they're all completely disconnected! Off you go, you pleb! PS: We gots your dollar." AAAAAARGH!!! Hate, hate, HATE! If you've any self respect at all, avoid this game like the mother-fucking plague.

Monster Hunter must be played in multiplayer to get the most long-term enjoyment out of it.

I'm planning to show My Neighbor Totaro to the little Vanias very soon.

If you mean in the same way bubonic plague was "not good" for about 50% of European inhabitants at the time, then yes. It's fucking awful.

No, it's Nick Naylor from the excellent film Thank You for Smoking.

Upon seeing that, I'm now quite glad he went more than a little screaming bat-shit insane and decided to have all his images taken offline.

On 360 at least, CoD4 has one of those shite '16+' black and white badges, hidden in plain site amongst a morass of other similarly designed - and ultimately meaningless - swatches. But I agree, it definitely should have been rated by the BBFC. PS: Anne Diamond's a willing media sock-puppet and therefore irrevocably a cunt.

Children of Men TV series makes a lot of sense. Will be looking forward to that one. But tonight, we dine on Battlestar! Hoping to suck Mrs V back into the series too, after watching season 3 without her and she not missing an awful lot as a result. We finished watching Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles on Sunday last and decided it's a bit, well...

Funnily enough, I finally signed up for an account this morning. I shall foster my taste in music upon the world in short order (then post my URL here).

Oh agreed, 100% -- the Lost review is my favourite of season 3 so far, definitely.

Ander Ilar released a superb mix for the Resident Adviser podcast recently. It's quite a peaceful, atmospheric collection of music, verging on ambient at times. Really nice.

Good Christ, that thing's terrifyingly sophisticated. Not to mention chillingly life-like...