Messages

:: what else I should pick up games wise

I guess it depends what sort of thing you like playing. I highly recommend the criminally under-rated Zoo Keeper, which can now be picked up for a song (13 quid from movietyme.com). It's a fast, frenetic puzzler on a par with Tetris. The only problem is the appalling Quest mode (because it's blatantly unfair, and you need to top every high-score table to unlock "super hard mode" and get the real high scores); other than that, it's ace. (And the people saying it's no better than Flash-based Bejewelled efforts have clearly not played Zoo Keeper, or don't understand the concept of portable gaming.

Elsewhere, Mr Driller 2 has actually provided the bulk of my non-Mario Kart DS gaming time. It offers little over previous versions of the game, but it's fairly cheap in most places now and worth a look.

In terms of platform games, Kirby: Canvas Curse is a rather unique effort, which uses the stylus extensively (and intuitively). It's fun, and quite relaxing. And then, of course, there's the new Mario Bros. game, which has been receiving almost unanimously positive reviews.

:: not the type of game an over 17 year old
:: would likely get hooked on.

Well, apart from Meteos. Or Animal Crossing. Or the utterly fantastic Mario Kart DS. Or Zoo Keeper. Or Kirby... (and so on). Just because a game can appeal to all ages, that doesn't mean someone who's not a kid will shun it. In fact, it often means people of all ages will embrace it ? at least people who are sick of the Sony "gangsta motherf***er rap shooter" generic-o-games. Evidently, I (and a bunch of people I know) must be "17 again" or something.

From what I can tell ? at least in the UK ? the PSP is primarily targeted at people who think they want a cool gadget, but don't really know why. Literally no-one I know with a PSP is raving about the actual games (in fact, few mention them at all), but about all the additional features (despite, you know, rarely actually using any of them), and how "cool" the console looks (until the screen is covered in fingerprints, presumably). Crucially, everyone I know with a DS (including a fairly large number of ex-PSP owners) is raving about the actual games. Most of these people, it has to be said, are in their 30s...

Maybe there's a certain mindset of people who grew up with really great, innovative games in the 1970s and 1980s who see through the thin gloss of today's gaming market and actually appreciate innovation and new ideas when they see them, hence the success of the DS, and its ability to usually out-sell its "glossier" (but brain-dead) rival.

Yes, the new DS still has a GBA slot.

:: though the PSP is more adult

GNH! What is WITH that argument? Why is it more "adult"?

Maybe I'm being a right old git, but my single criterion for games is that they should be fun. I don't care if my avatar is Mario in a kart or "bad-ass motherf***er gangsta dude". Actually, I do, because the latter is clearly poorly thought out marketing bollocks.

I don't see trying to make you rebuy the games you already own or the movies you already own as being particularly adult either.

New characters, ideas and innovation strike me as more adult than recycling, but then I remember the days where almost every video game was something new and exciting, rather than an EA-created rehash of an existing title.

(Sorry, DD?I know this sounds like I'm having a go at you, but it really is nothing personal. I've just heard one too many people in GAME convince friends not to buy a DS, because it's somehow "for kids". Maybe they need to check out UK-Resistance's "blue sky" campaign, or stop being taken in by Sony's marketing bollocks.)

I'm not sure with the DS that smaller = better, although a lighter model would definitely be welcome.

Guitar and keyboards, mainly, along with various Mac-based recording apps. If anyone's interested in hearing my output, check out http://www.projectnoise.co.uk

Link: http://www.projectnoise.co.uk" target="_blank">Project Noise

I thought zzzenith.com was a pretty funny strip, and relevant, given the changes in the world since the original series was printed. One thing strikes me, though: surely, that was written for Rebellion?

::  I look forward to May's Alan Moore date.
:: I see no-one has mentioned it

Well, apart from me. :)

I really hate replying to myself, but anyway: Amazon has September 9, 2006 for a little book called Nikolai Dante: Tsar Wars and December 11, 2006 for The Slaying of Slade. Now, I know Amazon is often as accurate as a penalty taker who's just had six pints, half a bottle of vodka, and has been spun round for ten minutes by his mad team-mates, but here's hoping they're bang on the money this time.

Notably, the Dredd Case Files also appear to stop being bi-monthly after volume 4. I think it's a great shame that the books are being honed down from three each month to two (although I suppose that this could always change), but there you go. Along with the fourth and final classic Robo-Hunter, here's massively hoping the fourth book of Dante also finds a place in the schedule between September and December, so to wrap up the first big chunk of that story.

In fact, what's I'd love to see:

September:
Dredd Case Files 05
Nikolai Dante: Tsar Wars

October:
[Some really good recentish Dredd story]
Robo-Hunter 4

November:
Dredd Case Files 06
Leviathan

Mmmmmm. (Well, one can dream, right?)

Still, Cabs in Feb and the Moore book are both exciting choices. The only month that doesn't excite me is August (Bec and Kawl is a strip I've yet to get into in any way, and Realpolitik... well, I'd rather see more Stronty Dog. Maybe if Alpha gets a video game, a rash of SD books will suddenly appear!)

Yeah, my Prog was also a little knackered this week?several pages stuck together with glue, and the back cover folded over twice. Still, it's what's inside that counts, and the contents were excellent this week?a really top Prog.

Not a bad selection at all. Despite some of the earlier issues being a bit iffy, EE is really starting to show its worth, and I'm now feeling a bit silly about not adding it to my sub. Maybe I will next time round, especially seeing as none of the newsagents in this area stock it.

I thought it was all right, too. It wasn't fantastic, but I went into it thinking it'd be a straight sit-com, and I therefore wasn't disappointed. Frankly, I'm getting sick of the catchphrase-based junk that pollutes the airwaves these days (Spoons?boy, did that get old fast), and it's good to see someone have a stab at a good ol' fashioned sit-com.

Bear in mind something else, too: the first few episodes of Black Books weren't that good. The first episode of Spaced was mediocre. And Father Ted at the start wasn't great. Even Black Adder took until the second series to gel in any way whatsoever. These days, everyone's so keen to dismiss things...

Oh, and Chris Morris was excellent.

And the moral of the tale is: wait until you receive a response from a company before slagging them off on the internet.

Doesn't surprise me in the slightest. I wrote to Amazon four times about a cock-up in the listing for my previous book, and they kept claiming there was nothing they could do about it, then that I should talk to my publisher. When I told them that I had talked to my publisher and that they too had asked for the information to be changed several times, Amazon went back to the "it's from an external database?it's out of our hands" argument. When I wrote for the final time, suggesting that they were talking shite, and that they do in fact update stuff themselves, the information magically changed.

One suspects that Jonathan and co. don't want to have to go through that every time?life's too short!