Wrestlevania

A team of academics known as Digital Urban are attempting to create a virtual copy of the City of London using the Crysis mod tools. They're importing individual building meshes from SketchUp, Google's free 3D application which integrates user-submitted 3D constructions with the Google Earth software. It's pretty basic at the moment, but I'm impressed nonetheless.

I'm guessing you and I won't have any issues, as the last firmware update for the (2nd generation) nano was released months ago.

Does this only affect the latest generation of iPods? I downloaded a whacking 60MB firmware update for my father-in-law's new Classic last week, but haven't had anything for be 2nd generation iPod nano in a while. Not had any playback problems before now either, but haven't coupled the two most important sleek, white devices in my life for a few weeks.

Don't worry, I've already spiked the panda's water bowl; this little fuzzy ain't going nowhere... Also: welcome!

First rule of popular journalism: scandal sells, fuck the facts. It's also very easy for a popular outlet to quietly bin any dissenting correspondence, until it reaches critical mass and another popular outlet looking to "have a go" decides to pick it up. But that's typically for no less savory agenda-led purposes, i.e. making the competition looks stupid/incompetent.

I played the demo and was very impressed with the overall polish and character design; SEGA's influence at it's best, I'm certain of it. Thing is, The Club just seems like a score attack version of Gears of War. Which isn't really my bag to be honest -- multiplayer or not. I'm sure it's great for classic high score competitions (something sorely lacking in gaming nowadays), but it's not the sort of game I'd want to play in order to do this. So I guess, after being initially excited about the game, actually playing it has made me realise it's not really what I'm looking for.

My copy of Breakdown arrived from CeX this morning, so I'll be giving it a go tonight.

Can we expect a morbid, cataclysmic and car crash-like "can't look away" regression any moment now, then? Fingers crossed.

And so little immediately-obvious hate too, toblix. You're a changed... thing.

Any more of that filthy language and I'll report you to the moderators!

I only meant your second para, about some of the effects of the creature's appearance. That's all.

Episode number 7, Convention, is here. This week, Fat Ryan triumphs in comparing Link's Crossbow Training to, well... a fart.

...but I loved Messiah! Certainly, the control system wasn't brilliant. But the setting and story were hugely compelling I thought. Even my strictly-no-gaming (at the time) brother found Messiah really interesting and played it a lot. I've been hoping for a sequel ever since.

Still, doesn't hurt to use the spoiler tag to protect the innocent. I'm interested in seeing this. Was completely off my radar until later last week, when the hype must have reached critical mass and I finally stumbled across it. Monster movies with big budgets are very difficult to get right, but I was hoping perhaps Abrahms could make something good. The "shakey cam" approach seems like a piss-poor cop out to me though; very easy way of artificially generating tension and excitement. Can't find a decent torrent anywhere -- the web's flooded with fakes it seems at the moment. I suppose I can wait until next Friday to see it in the UK.

First Impressions (about 3hrs into the game) Blimey... rabbits on a bit, doesn't it? My turn... So far, it's OK. The story seems reasonable without being patronisning or bone-head stupid. But there's no real "edge" to it; it's sterile, predictable sci-fi pulp. I'm not overly enamoured with the art style either. Considering the raft of notable visual science fiction styles out there, BioWare have merely succeeded in distilling the most bland and unambitious aspects from each of them. Whilst a lot of people have cited this as a deliberate nod to camp sci-fi, other similarly lazy aspects of the game lead me to believe it's just coincidence. Already, there's a pervasive sense that the game was originally destined to have another 6 months' development ploughed into it. Take the inventory system for example: 3/4's of the screen is taken up by readouts that provide very little genuinely useful information. The actual inventory list is relegated to the smallest column on the right and is clunky to cycle through. Furthermore, you can't sort your inventory beyond basic types (armour, pistols, upgrades, etc.) which makes things considerably more labourious than they should be. I'm convinced that BioWare were told they had to ship the game much sooner than planned, and were told this whilst they were in the middle of developing the core game mechanics. It's like they spent what time they had left on polish, which, while amicable, can't disguise the fact the game feels unfinished -- at least in terms of finessing it's various aspects. The action sections are particularly weak and it's obvious BioWare haven't tackled this sort of game before due to the clumsy and frustrating nature of fire fights. The controls seem inconsistent and broken, too. Sometimes you can run, other times you can't -- but not because your stamina metre has drained, it's simply that the game apparently won't let you in certain places. It makes no sense. Additionally, the cover mechanic seems like a casual afterthought, the developers having seen how popular it was in the last big third-person 360 franchise, Gears of War. Sometimes you can get into cover, other times your avatar stubbornly refuses to tuck in against a life-saving wall or boulder and is promptly killed again and again. The questing also seems lazy and by the numbers. I don't think I've played a single BioWare game yet where the main quest didn't properly kick off until you'd been sent to find a down-on-his-luck ex member of the local enforcement agency getting shit-faced in the nearest dive. Mass Effect is no different; even several of the settings I've visited already look as though they could have been lifted straight from either Knights of the Old Republic game. So, as it stands, Mass Effect isn't doing anything to change my preconceptions that this is nothing more than a basic, over-hyped action RPG. I haven't seen anything that makes it stand out yet, though I'm somewhat compelled to see how the story unfolds.

Admissible as evidence I reckon...

Aye up -- did someone say "bile shortage"?

Corrected, courtesy of Dr 'Vania.

Tentacled ninja-owl, surely?

Could we not have smiley of this one though, please?

Could you at least make sure you wear longer skirts, please? This isn't the first time - and likely won't be the last - that El Vag d'Spears has made headlines.

Alternatively, you're actually drinking vomit..?

Maybe he's trying to mask some bad gas he's got (and failing at 02:24)...

Fine work indeed.

Interesting (if a little 'lite') video analysis from the Chicago Tribune: