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It got a mention in the indie games compendium, so someone else must also be playing. Just done the first couple of levels and it's great so far, the combat is incredibly solid and stylish, and it's just loads of fucking fun. My only concern is that it lacks depth, but we'll see.

All good points, but I suppose at this juncture I'd struggle to further explain my complete ambivalence to both games, though I really meant what I said. The Infamous demo was incredibly "meh", and I can't see Prototype being any different in that respect, though they seem to have both garnered bewilderingly great reviews. I've gotten into a habit of making what I feel are decent arguments before having them absolutely ripped to shreds. This internet man [And I suppose my point about Crackdown is that these must have both lifted ideas from that game. If their dev cycles were two and a half years, we know exactly what they were doing.]

I'd argue that they aren't a true genre. With several different country albums, you'd be more likely to get a grab-bag of quality and different takes on a similar theme, whereas "Super-power based open world action game" is a much, much more restrictive definition. I'll concede that I should have perhaps outlined that it's this "open world game" type that I'm specifically griping at. Everyone's aware that Prototype and Infamous are hilariously similar, and though they're obviously different enough experiences to be released within a similar time frame and be viable sellers, I can't be blamed as a consumer for my indifference. The more interesting comparison is romantic comedies, because for a period there was a definite trend and there were too many released in a short space of time. They're still being released, but not nearly at that rate. Sometimes, there definitely are too many releases within one genre, whatever the medium. Or maybe I'm just being an idiot, but I find it amusing that because there are two of these releasing within weeks of each other I'm not inclined to take an interest in either.

These open world games man... Crackdown is only two years old. Sorry, I'm being grumpy, but I can't get excited about more of these fucking things.

Over here, the depressing and broad trend appears to be the use of technology for the sake of it. Public services have made a horribly late and overzealous leap to the internet, and no more is this in evidence than in my secondary school. Because of Thatcher's government cutting a third of the budget from the original building, it was outsized and falling to bits within twenty years. Consequently, it had to be replaced (the private finance initiative used to jumpstart the process is largely incidental within this context) and the new school opened three years ago. Its proliferation of "SmartBoards" and laptops of dubious utility, coupled with gleefully idiotic moves like digital class registers, only serve to strengthen my conviction that, sometimes, we're just better off without digitalisation. Put computers where they are needed, do not overreach to the point of ridicule.

"If I knew about games, I wouldn't work for IGN.com!" - IGN.com

Tim Schafer is probably loving this, he's ironically getting a bit of free advertising from Activison.

Bobby Kotick really is an evil fuck.

Oh dear, I do look like an awful idiot now, don't I? [Then again, the clips only went up yesterday and the Steam group was started the day it was announced]

Hey Miffy, that sounds pretty great! And I've finished my last school exams now, so I have four months off until I start uni! A lot of video games will be played, a lot of shifts at work completed and (if I can motivate myself) a lot of writing will be done.

I think it looks really good actually.

Exactly, it's another case of the internet deriving everything about a game from a short - almost teaser-like - trailer. Although there are some decent points in there, I'm pretty chuffed about a new Left 4 Dead; the first one didn't thrill me as much as I'd hoped and an increased emphasis on getting up close and personal with the zombies and brighter visuals would almost certainly resonate with me in a much more meaningful way. Also, the delicious irony.

I only just started Secret of Monkey Island three days ago

Lies. Nobody cried, they're just jumping on the old hat "Team Ico game provokes tears thus games are art and emotional" bandwagon because they failed to play the original. That's not to say it doesn't look incredible. Anyway, of all the stuff it's a great return to form, some huge announcements. Microsoft were runaway "winners" in my opinion. And what the fuck is that Play.Create.Share. racing game? It looks awful! Another couple of these and I'll be wishing LittleBigPlanet never existed.

I haven't been online for two days thanks to my last exam. I come back and E3 is totally nuts. My inner cynic tells me I should be berating half of this stuff, especially because it's all sequels, but it's difficult not to get excited. That Trials HD better come to PC, I attempted Trials 2 with the 360 controller and it was horrible. Sony have just announced a load of PSP stuff, it's now vaguely interesting to me. FFVII is coming to PSN today apparently (probably not here).

Like everyone else said, just keep writing. If it's shit you can chop it to bits when you proof read. [This is rich coming from me, because although I'm confident my writing is alright, I'm incredibly lazy. I'll write a third of an article, then stop and come back to it a month later, it's not so much "block" as "distracted by internet".]

That performance makes me sad, because about an hour after that Dom's dad died I thought Jay-Z was a stroke of genius, but I think you're right about returning it to modern rock again. That was a sort of one off, and Status Quo will be awful these days (not that I particularly liked them in the first place).

Video game?

"Fuck, fucking-" - IGN.com

They have a good system for that on the site I'd love to play The Last Express as well given the massive Jordan Mechner erection Idle Thumbs has, most of the time their opinions align fairly well with my own. Did anyone else get weird audio quality with this episode? Nick's voice was doing that horrible distortion thing for me.

I got it with my DS last week, not particularly out of choice. Played a wee bit, it's a very odd game, but whether it capitalises on that aspect like other Suda games is yet to become apparent.

On the same site as the Beneath a Steel Sky 2 announcement.

"Go to location, kill people to get to target, chase target, kill target -- it never feels repetitive." - IGN.com Actual quote.

Played the demo earlier, let's copy and paste what I've already said about this game! You can definitely see the Sly influence, which is pretty endearing Other than that, the fluidity of animation and the level of interactivity with the world is great, but this is the kind of experience that thrives on pacing, so the boxed product could go either way. Combat was awfully dull and irritating and the mission structure was woeful; if they can't offer a decent level to do in the demo that's their problem. The good/evil divide seemed quite redundant based on the demo as well, especially as you still had to carry out the same task. It controls very well, though, and exploration is a joy. The city itself is horrid, really dull looking. I know it's meant to be "gritty", but I can't help feeling a slightly cartoony or at least more colourful vibe would have helped a lot. Impressions so far mixed, but the fundamentals are excellent. I'll buy it when it's a wee bit cheaper.