Crimbo presents

It's almost that type of year again, Christmas.

For the record I'm a firm believer in Christmas is 25th December. People with decorations up in October? Sorry I just don't get it, surely by having them up for so long you actually detract from the 'special-ness' (not a word) of them through over exposure. Companies with really early Christmas adverts... same to you, and people counting down 'sleeps'etc from about 150. Yes that is why I stopped following you on twitter/hid your facebook posts.

Oh and the to anyone who posts 364 sleeps til Crimbo on boxing day. Words can not describe how swiftly you shall vanish from my timeline(s). That includes retweets.

But this blog isn't to rant about premature festivities (my staff Crimbo party was in November this year, and was good!), I may do that separately, in fact I'm pretty certain I will. This is about myself, me, moi. I have no idea what I want for crimbo, and times a wasting.

The good wife asked me a good while ago what I wanted her to buy for me, I didn't know, which isn't uncommon but generally I think of something (to give to Santa in case Gracie is reading this, fat bastard gets all the credit) sooner or later. But this year I'm struggling.

I'm 30 year old so if I get not much, especially after being a pain in the arse about it, I'm not going to cry. But I'm a blank. It's me and I like gadgets so something electrical is an awesome idea. Do I wanted a tablet, the Kindle Fire and Google Nexus 7 are both pretty awesome little machines (wouldn't want to carry a 10" one round) and let's face it my 3 year old netbook is feeling it's age. But would I use it? I think so, especially as I do love my kindle and either could replace/upgrade that on everything except battery life. Possibility.

I did ponder the idea of splitting a Wii U between us (and my birthday) but jesus they're so expensive, even the games are £50 (in Game who you should know my opinion of by now). Cut the price Nintendo, one of the selling points of the original wii was the accessibility and affordability, at least of the basic pack. They still bummed you hard for a remote. So probably not a great idea.

Batman blu-ray set, check.

Ummm apart from that, I could ask for a 360 game, there's a new cheap PS3 out, but I don't really want another console. Something retro? An N64 would rock, but I haven't played the SNES as much as I thought I would, so it could be a dust gatherer. The wife has a 3DS but I can't see me getting the use.

So any ideas anyone, I have gadgety friends, who may or may not read this tripe. What's good?

Batman (Part 4)

So the Dark Knight Rises has been seen and verified as awesome! No matter where the Batman film franchise goes from here, it's safe to say there are 3 more cracking films to go with the 80s/90s ones. Tom Hardy was as good a Bane as he was a Shinzon (cracking) and bar a few suspensions in belief and one cheesy bit, the film was really good, but you know that as by now you would have seen it too. You haven't? What's wrong with you, get down the cinema. Don't make me come over there...

Anyway, as I said this final post in a stupidly over long series of posts is to do with the aspect of the Batman stuff I've probably spent the most time with, games!

I can only comment on the ones I've owned/played obviously so here we go, I'll start on... SNES!

Batman Returns: It's 1993 and 16 bits rule the gaming world! Movie tie ins were frequent and shitty, but this film was great, could the game be? They took Final Fight (a classic) gave it a Batman skin and a driving stage and voila, awesome game! Good work guys!

It controlled well, looked and sounded good and was fun to play. Can't ask for much more than that! Quite fancy getting it again for my SNES now...

Batman Forever: OK, the film wasn't as good, but use essentially an updated of the game and it'll be ok, surely! Well not quite, this game was more based graphically and by the way it controls on Mortal Kombat and could be a dark, cryptic pain in the arse at times. Still looked ok, but didn't play anywhere near as well.

You'd not quite know where you could walk, enemies would seemingly take a week to put down. Not good at all, a waste after the last game. There was a Batman & Robin game, but I can only imagine the shit that was, I never had a ps1 so never played it.

I had a bit of a gap then, I did play the PS2 Batman Begins briefly and it didn't seem great although not a total write off, nut I never got going on it. Then the games and film went their own ways and we were presented with:

Batman: Arkham Asylum: Mark Hamill is an awesome Joker voice isn't he? And this is an awesome game! Giving Batman an almost open world set up to roam and complete missions in, good, giving him loads of gadgets, doing well, big selection of enemies (Ivy, Joker, Scarecrow, Croc, Bane, Riddler etc) outstanding, the Scarecrow levels being possibly the best thing I've ever played, bonza! I could carry on, for days!

Graphics were good, sound was good, voice acting was superb, the hidden puzzles hard but achievable, that's what I'm talking about! There's something quite satisfying about silently clearing a room of armed 'goons' so they never knew what hit them. 

If you wanted to pick holes, the difficulty wasn't always steady, Croc was a piece of piss for example, and the combat could be got by on through a bit of button mashing, as opposed to learning the various tricks that are available, but some would say in that way the game is what you make it.

Not played this? For shame, get on with it, and get the 3d version. Bound to be cheap by now.

Then there was:

Batman: Arkham City: I know, lets take Arkham Asylum, work of art as it is and ramp it up so it's bigger, more headline bad guys, more puzzles, more gadgets etc... ummmm ok then!

Arkham City is essentially the same as Asylum only bigger and better. The plot is superbly written, there's so much to do (maybe too much with the riddler trophies). I'm sure I've gone on about it before so I won't overly extend this blog.

Some of the same moans exist, the fighting is similar in particular. You get variable characters, this time you get to play as Bruce Wayne (yes I know), Batman, Catwoman and (in an expansion) Robin in the main story. This then becomes the exception that proves the rule that Robin spoils everything.

Going forward? There are cliffhangers in Arkham City so a 3rd game is inevitable, I for one welcome it as it'll be awesome. Just hope it's not next gen though, I'm not keen on shelling out for new hardware. 

Anyway, lets leave it there, no more Batman I promise!

Games

Now I have a fairly decent size xbox games collection. By no means is it huge but there's a good few titles in there, maybe 40 or so? However of late I find myself struggling to really find anything I can be arsed playing. I mean I have driving games, sports games, kinect games, sandbox games, role playing games and shooting games (oh so many bastard shooting games).

I have games that are considered amazing, for example I've been trying to play Skyrim, which I'm assured by everyone is amazing and immersive and one of the best there is. Personally I have just killed a giant spider and then continually die on the next bit, doing the same section over and over again isn't interesting and I didn't want to play it any more.

Yes, this is down to me being shit at it I accept, but I enjoy other things I'm shit at, football, playing the piano lack of ability is no boundary there, Skyrim (like Fallout before it until I had some kind of epiphany and suddenly loved it) not happening mate, someone else can save your kingdom, or whatever else the fuck is going on.

But not just picking on Skyrim, games as a rule are very generic, there's so many FPS games, all produced just because Call of Duty sells, I'm sure they make up 60% of the software base. I just someone would release something new and good. Deadly Premonition would've been ideal but it's a bitch to control and looks like hell.

Minecraft is my salvation at the moment, I enjoy a bit of minecraft, maybe I'll do a blog just about minecraft soon. Maybe.

I Am Alive

Many many issues ago GamesTM, a respected games magazine wrote about a game called I Am Alive. Supposedly a big upcoming release, they devoted pages to it, screenshots, interviews, praise, much time was spent and hope was placed on the game. I read it, I looked at the pretty pictures, I liked the idea and I thought, 'Oh yes, it will be mine'

Then it vanished, seemingly cut, gamesTM pick another winner!

Some time later I read something online that vaguely mentions the existence of the game, so hope starts all over again, it turns out that the project had changed development companies and had trimmed itself down to be an XBLA/PSN game, so as a result would at least be cheaper, but with obviously less content.

So this got me thinking, is it worth it? What of the content has been forever lost, what else will suffer? Graphics? I'll chances are now cost a £10 (1200msp?) so it still may be worth a punt but I'm not convinced. Saints Row The Third is very enjoyable at the moment and it wouldn't really manage to get ahead of that anyway.

The game itself seems quite interesting (explaining why I was interested) in that you wander round a smashed up city trying to stay alive and help others. It'd be nice to play a game where you haven't got to shoot EVERYONE for a change.

There are a few big/interesting releases due soon though, FIFA street plays really well in the demo, I like it and that's out next Friday I think. Mass Effect 3 (which I have 0 interest in I'll be honest, so that one is just big) is out this Friday. Silent Hill HD collection is out on the 20th in North America but not quite sure over here, plus Downpour is due soon after. Plus there's always the kinect lightsaber game... I hope that's not awful I really do. Something deep inside is telling me it's going to be more Star Wars milking shit that dirties the good name of the series further so George Lucas can have an another solid gold toilet seat. Just wait til I start about re-releasing the films in 3D - JUST WAIT.

I don't know, I'll watch some gameplay videos and stuff now and make my mind up based on that. If Downpour is as poor as Homecoming I'd rather rent it anyway. Lovefilm, you are awesome!

Oh yeah my XBOX Live Gold is up soon, and not having a previously classic but now tired film series to exploit, I need a cheap place to get a sub, anyone know anywhere? Let me know!

Mortal Kombat

Yesterday for the snip of 800MSP I downloaded the arcade versions of the first three Mortal Kombat games. I used to love these back in ta day (home versions anyway) so I thought I'd relive some classic memories and play some Mortal Kombat.

Firstly, yes I know there's a newer one, yes I've played it and although I didn't hate it, I can't say I particularly liked it. Nowhere near enough to actually part with cash for the thing. If  it turns up in a 2 for £20 with Rise of Nightmares, I'll pick them up, but not for £30/40 thanks.

But the old ones? I thought yeah, lets go!

I started off with Mortal Kombat, looks dated yes, it's old, no doubt me and my grey mop also look a fair bit more... classic then I did in 1992. Nobody's judging me on it (to my face) so I'm not going to pick on that, I started ploughing through the single player mode, as I doubt the wife would fancy a bit of this game. It was still fun, still played mostly ok, felt a little jerky and maybe not the quickest, but good! I remembered (some of) the moves, even Scorpions fatality (10g for that too), struggled through the endurance rounds and then I got to Goro. The bastard.

Suddenly, I was being beaten like Arsenal on a Saturday. Nothing I tried was working and this 4 armed motherlover was beating the living shit out of me (well Scorpion anyway). So I tried again, same result and again, you know where this is going. Eventually I scraped 2 rounds against him and moved on, but I was shocked at suddenly how hard it had got.

Next was Shang Tsung and once again, for an old bloke, he was damn tough. He spent 70% of his time as Rayden and the rest as Goro which really didn't help, but once again repeated beatings started. Then in a lapse of AI judgement he decided Johnny Cage was the way forward so I kicked his behind quite easily (Cage being the worst choice.. ever) and then to my astonishment he went Sonya Blade / Cage the next time and boom he was down and out.

Scarred from the horrible difficulty of it, I thought I'd give 3 a blast (well it's 'Ultimate' MK3 which apparently is quite a minor upgrade) I started, waltzed through the first few in a very similar style, still holding my determination to play as Scorpion, I got beat the odd time on the way up and thengot to Montaro. I could easily write the bit about Goro again here, but this guy had a horses arse too. Bit he was overcome!

Then came the experience of the night, Shao Kahn. Seemingly impossible to beat in open combat. The others were frustrating yes, but this took the piss. I must have played this guy for 30 mins before resorting to such cheap tactics as dodge and uppercut, repeat to eventually beat the fecker. I'm honestly shocked the TV hasn't got a hole in it the perfect shape of a flung XBOX controller and thankfully nobody else was around to hear my language!

This is my point, they started out fun, but became annoying, too annoying. I've still got MK2 to play, but there's no doubt in my mind that'll be very hard and frustrate me too. I never remember the games being this hard, although these are the arcade versions not home and while I don't think I'm great at them, I'm far from rubbish. Apparently the new one is the same at the end as well, I like a challenge but this is bull to be fair!

I will play it, I paid for it after all, but I can't say I'm overly looking forward to it.

Rise of Nightmares

My Kinect hasn't been the best of investments so far, if I'd paid anywhere near full what for it I'd be borderline livid, but I did get it on the cheap and I do very much like Kinect Sports. However apart from that software is well sketchy and if anything a bit... young (or a bit Wii-like even).

When I heard about Rise of Nightmares I was quite excited, looked a bit like House of the Dead, seemed quite interesting, uses Kinect. Result. It's been quite a wait for it to turn up and it didn't look all that promising from videos/previews etc and there was no demo (never a good sign), so I rented it yesterday as opposed to buying it, and honestly that seems like a good choice, it's not that I'm not enjoying it... it's just a bit... fiddly.

Combat is good, it picks up on punches, kicks, pipe swings well, but movement less so. A slight move of the shoulders can send you spinning off target. The graphics and voice acting is somewhat lacking and (so far) it's just not very scary, which must be what it was going for.

However, it is quite fun, punching zombies... where else can you do that, as I said the combat is reactive and well done and give them a quick 1-2 and down they go giving a sense of satisfaction. Nothing like kicking a zombie to the ground to make you feel good about yourself.

I've got it for 5 days, by which time I think the story mode will be done, and with no multiplayer and doubtful replay value, I'd say a rental is fair enough. It's not bad at all, it's just not wow.

Worth a go if you're curious though...

Gears of War 3

I quite enjoyed the England v Wales football match the other night, chalk another one under battling defeat for the records. Good for reputation, bad for ranking. But for me the highlight of the broadcast was the half time Gears of War 3 trailer, it may not have been overly representative of gameplay but it looked damn good.

I got onto xbox quite late on, when I bought my 360 Gears 1 was quite an old game, well thought of but old, and Gears 2 had been out for a bit. I quickly acquired the second game 2nd hand completed it and then went back to the first one, which I never really got going on. But I've played enough to make me quite eager to get my hands on the third (and apparently final) chapter.

Similarly to the other games to catch my interest that are forthcoming, the story seems particularly good here, and has been knocked up by an experienced writer on the series. I like a good story and have also found myself quite interested  by Modern Warfare 3 and Arkham City for the same reasons, and 'cos Batman is cool innit. (Well I say cool, you know what I actually mean)

Also though, Gears 2 had a cracking online section. It's not too often I play online multiplayer, as I find it annoying and generally I suck. But Horde mode was a thing of beauty, and I clocked hours on it (as well as deathmatch etc) and I fully intend to try it out again, along with the reverse mode where you play as locust attacking cogs for a change.

If anyone does fancy a game I'm on live as: eternalcymru don't be shy.

So come September 20th, not far away now I'll either be waiting for my pre-order to be delivered or in Tesco at midnight (who knows, I live life so close to the edge anything could happen)

Kinect - now I finally have one

It took 8 months and a price decrease in excess of 50% (well for what I paid anyway, they still full price shiny new and in a box) but I relented and purchased myself a lovely motion sensor-tastic Kinect for me XBOX.

Gamestation did me a deal on a PSU'd up one for around £60, bargain and I was away. Set up did require a reshuffle of my 2nd living room, but I've set myself up with plenty of room now and usually, after some framing issues it seems to be all ok.

As I've said before I had concerns, not with the technology, it's a clever little thing and does it's job for the most part well. I of course got Kinect Adventures for nada which is enjoyable enough, but not exactly awe inspiring, bringing me back to an initial concern that it could get strangled by shovelware, and looking at the carnival games, biggest loser, cloned sports games etc games that have already shown up, it is creeping up, so I had a go an Kinect Adventures, which is a reasonable tutorial on how to use the gadget, not exactly engaging gamewise though.

So I popped in my vehicle and slid my arse down to blockbuster to acquire more software.

Firstly, one of the biggest draws to Kinect was Yoostar 2. Yes shallow, but lets face it, my pretty little face(!) combined with my outgoing nature and acting skills are never ever going to get me on TV. So this is as close as I'm ever gonna get. I'll be honest, I felt a little self concious, even in an empty room, acting out these scenes, but it was fun, and it's gone on the 'to buy' list. I also think I did a fooking awesome Ben Stiller monologue from the end of Meet the Parents... Sure. I got one question for you. It's can you deal with that!?! Class!

I also got myself a bit of Kinect Sports which is bordering on shovelware, but at times I really enjoyed. The track and field in particular was fun, and quite energetic! The football aspect is pretty dreadful, and doesn't know when I'm kicking the thing much of the time.

I do want an exercise game for it as I'm starting to get properly fat again, when I should be losing!! I am told that Your Shape is the best and EA is a bit pants. So I'll pick that up in the next few days maybe! Or the The other games return to their blockbuster home Friday.

In general use, it was quickly intuitive moving menus and the 'minority report' style moving stuff around menus is good. Voice commands are responsive and accurate, and considering my accent makes me sound like a backwards camp sheep loving villager, but Kinect is down with that. XBOX... Dashboard indeed. 

In general I'm happy with my knockdown purchase, but still feel it needs more, I'm sure more will come, maybe in Star Wars Kinect. I don't think it will ever replace traditional controller, nor would I want it too, standing up to play every game doesn't sound appealing, plus the feeling of a controller is one I like, the feedback and vibration from something physical would suit many games better than air shooting etc.

It also takes photos of you in game, that means no more naked gaming, could you imagine if I accidentally published a pic of me doing javelin with my wang out, doesn't bear thinking about. But then again, unless it's on zoom, would anyone notice....

Wii 2 (Wii Wii?)

So Nintendo have announced the latest in their quick turnaround machine upgrades, next year the Wii will be replaced by the Wii 2 (I'm assuming a more creative working title will follow). The Wii itself always disappointed me, the concept was good but the follow through? It's had a few good games, the usual Nintendo staples such as Mario, Mario Kart were good. The Wii Silent Hill is supposed to be excellent (never played it) and some games such as Resi 4, Eledees, Mad World, got through, even games like Conduit tried, but for the most part the software support has been poor.

Firstly, Nintendo share an ethos with Apple, they like upgrading their machines so people have to pay full price to have the latest. Hand-held wise since the EU launch of the DS in 2006 there has been DS, DS Lite, DSi, DSi XL, 3DS, each more expensive than the last while just offering enough to make it a viable new product. Console wise 5 years between Gamecube and Wii is quite short for this kind of thing and it'll be 6 between Wii and Wii 2. For comparison the 360 is a year older than the Wii and has no plans to be replaced any time soon (although to be fair xbox to 360 was a REALLY short turnaround).

But what does this announcement mean for the Wii? Who's going to develop software for it now when it's days are already numbered? It was a great opportunity that never got the chance to get going, suffocated by casual gaming and shovelware to put it nicely. Apparently the Wii 2 (I like Wii Wii... Nintendo can you hear me?) will be easy to write for and port, but the Wii has a reputation for being a 'casual' console and that rep could be hard to shift.

Homefront

About E3 time last year I noticed a trailer for a game I'd only heard vague things about before. The trailer was a back story trailer and used very believable plot points to eventually develop the story into the Korean invasion of America. The trailer was excellent and the story got my attention from the outset, I had high hopes for the game! I thought if narrative of this standard could be maintained through this game, and could be this interesting, it could help supplement what is getting to be a very tired genre.

As things got closer to the release I began to hear very mixed things about the gameplay. Formulaic, uninteresting were just some of the words that were banded about, and in the end I didn't end up buying it. But thankfully due to a work friend lending me his copy I did get the chance to play it.

Well, that was a lucky escape! Yes the plot is still good, but the game... not so good. Where to start? The characters, well each is a stereotype. Only the woman ever shows any real emotion (well a man wouldn't would they) The dialogue is dreadful, not so much the cut scenes, but the 'on the move' dialogue is a few lines repeated over and over again. The objectives generally switch between 1) Follow Connor 2) Shoot stuff 3) Follow Connor to next  laid on set piece 4) shoot more shit, and become tiresome quite quickly.

It follows the COD blueprint of throwing in sniper levels and vehicles, but this is the best and worst of the game. The sniper sections are reasonable enough, as good as it gets anyway, but the vehicles, especially the shocking helicopter level, are beyond poor. The helicopter is painfully difficult to control and about as much fun as waxing (or so I'm told...).

The enemies are all the same pretty much to look at, (except for 1 level where they're different, but still the same as each other) but they die randomly. I killed one guy with 2 to the kneecap, but his mate took 3 or 4 to the head... that does not make sense.Why would a Wookiee, an 8-foot-tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor, with a bunch of 2-foot-tall Ewoks? That does not make sense!

In generally the single player is a let down, a horrible disappointment, but at least it was over quick, what was that 4, 4.5 hours? Not allot of bang for ya buck and ended with what can only be described as a weak ass ending, no spoilers here though.

Now throw in the traditional graphical glitches, corpses falling through walls and the like.

I've not tried the multiplayer, I've no inclination too either, I have Bad Company 2 if I wanted that.

Such a pity, could have been amazing, Portal 2 will be amazing. 1 more week!

Fallout revisited

When I first played it, I hated Fallout 3. Found it drawn out, dull, uninteresting, unengaging etc. But then I received (at my request) Fallout: New Vegas as a crimbo present. Now essentially it's the same game, but weirdly I really enjoyed NV. It played the same, I think the characters were better (wonderful work from Odo from DS9 on the Mr House voice) but for some reason the game just clicked with me.

This has inspired me, I've gone tearing back to Fallout 3 and started a new game! I'm already doing better at it, as I know what I'm doing far better from the extended NV playing. The character I've set up is essentially the same as my NV character, which is far from how I tried to play 3 the first time. Basically in the space of 90mins I've got almost as far as my entire effort previously, infact I'm a single plot point behind and am further with one side quest.

That has made me think, what went wrong the first time then? Don't get me wrong, I'm still don't think 3 is the greatest thing I've ever played, so far the characters aren't as good, no doubting that in my head, but it's nowhere near as bad as I remember. No doubt something will frustrate me soon enough and I'll revert back to my previous opinion, but for now, game on!

Downside it is distracting me from Top Spin 4, which so far I must say plays wonderfully, but I've found shockingly easy. The AI tactics are predictable and repetitive and easy to counter. Played it online against a similar player and it was awesome though!!

These will tide me over until Portal 2 comes out at least. Can't say how much I'm looking forward to a bit of orange and blue action. The original was a triumph, I'm making a note here huge success (sorry, actually after that I'll leave it there)

Top Spin 4

Ok, something different. I'm trying to post this via the medium of iPhone. Knowing auto correct as I do, please accept my apologies for the seemingly stupid/random typos it will contain.

Anyway, Friday is an exciting day for a tennis loving geek such as myself. It sees the release of Top Spin 4 on the 360 (other versions are available). Now of the main tennis games produced only really 2 are any good Top Spin and Virtua Tennis. It's a very similar split to Pro Evo and FIFA in that one tries to be realistic (Top Spin, FIFA) while the other is more 'arcadey'. On both sets on franchises I'm with the more realistic ones, Virtua Tennis is fun but it's just all a bit... Throwaway.

In Top Spin I like the career mode, which apparently now is even better. It plays very nice, from the demo anyway, but sadly the real player roster andcreal tornament listings are a bit sparse (no wimbeldon again :() with just as many 'legends' as current players. Thanks but I'd rather the current ones. It also includes a solitary Brit (World #5 Murray) while Virtua Tennis has 2 with the pretty random inclusion of Laura Robson. Not that I was expecting more, I hardly think the somewhat lacking talents of Jamie Baker, Richard Bloomfield or Jamie Ward deserve inclusion...

So come Friday I will wander to gameand lay my cash down for Top Spin and I'm pretty sure it'll be good fun to play. At least it will be a bit of variation from the almost unbroken run Fallout: New Vegas I'd getting in the drive at the moment.

That choice is a bit of a strange one, I never got on with Fallout 3. I don't know if it was the location didn't engage me, the game felt like a chore, or what, but I didn't like it. However, despite being a very very similar experience New Vegas has got me hooked. I find myself being careful with reputations, the setting is nice, I was genuinely looking forward to getting to Vegas itself and wasn't disappointed when I did. It's all good, well not quite all. There are still pull your hair out annoyed sections and bugs aplenty (although the major ones have been fixed) for example while repairing a powervstation HELIOS One last night I encountered a flying piece of scrap metal while seemed to be gravitationally attracted to me. I mean I'm not denying I'm a bit fat but I don't deserve my own moon!!

Anyway, once I done with New Vegas I may venture back to 3. Maybe now I'm familiar with the game more it'll click a bit better, but chancescare it won't.

Top Spin first anyway.

Kinect - a gaming revolution?

The time is quickly approaching that Microsft will be releasing their XBOX 360 peripheral, Kinect.

Aint it perdy?

Now Kinect (I preferred Natal) is billed as something that will fully revolutionise the way everyone games, removing controllers from the mix. I have a mate who managed to get is backside on the Beta testing program (jammy b*stard) and he can't stop raving about how good it is, how responsive how accurate etc. This is a guy who as a rule knows his stuff and his opinion can be very much trusted.

However, I'm far from convinced.

I've been through this 'new way of gaming stuff before' I picked up a Wii on launch day and was memorised by the way things played. Wii Sports was accurate, responsive and all those things, but after not a hell of a lot of time, it felt gimmicky. Third party titles came out that the developers had either not grasped how to program for the Wii, leading to difficult to play games, or were just lazily adding motion controls to existing titles to shift a few dozen more units.

I have a horrible feeling Kinect will do the same for me. For the first 3 or 4 weeks, it'll be amazing. I wont be able to believe I ever had to push a button to play stuff, what a fool was I! But then I wont feel like standing up, or some new games will arrive, as immense cost and be plainly rubbish and I'll long for my 360 pad again.

Plus there's the cost, these 'controllers' will not be cheap, in fact they will laugh in the face of cheap and mock just how cheap it is. Weighing in at £130 (you can get them cheaper but this is the RRP so Game/Gamestation will charge that at least, and probably a little more just cos people will pay it) you can actually guy an 360 for less. For your £130 you get the controller (at least you only need one) and 1 piece of software, Kinect Adventures. Any further games are full price, pocket destroying.

I have a preorder in place in Game in Swansea. It's not mine but when my (same) mate (I have more than one, I'm just only referring to him at the mo) found out his Beta testing kit was his, I inherited his preorder, but the closer I get to the day, the more I'm thinking, do I really want it? Can I really justify the outlay for something which seems to gimmicky? The more I think about the the more I'm thinking not.

Now, at this point I can add I've never actually played using it. It could be what I've been looking for all these years, I just don't know it yet. But chances are it's not, it'll be fun for a bi then gather dust. Actually I think writing this has just made my mind up!!

I read something perfect on the GamesTM forum yesterday, it basically said what will people prefer in the long run, playing with a invisible steering wheel, or feeling the rumble and feedback from a real one/controller. Well when you say it like that... (sorry can't find post again to link too!)

Microsoft know one thing, Kinect will be a success, it will sell millions and be impossible to get hold of (now thinks about keeping preorder and selling for Christmas... hmmm <evil laugh>) but it may not be one with people like me (I'm pretty sure there's not many people wanting to be put into that category) but the Wii inspired casual market and kids, and after all kids are the future. The Wii captured a market, that very market and it's understandable Microsoft want a chunk of it I suppose. I just hope it doesn't become compulsory on too many games.

I think I'll get Fable 3 instead, wait that's Kinect compatible... here we go again...

When a luxury becomes a necessity.

I have a fairly cushy life, the majority of people in the UK do (for now, the Torys aren't in full swing yet).

Yes, like with most people, I don't live in a palace, a castle etc but I have running water, more than enough food, a bed, a roof and access to healthcare. There are places on this planet where people would kill for any of them, but I/we take them for granted.

I thought I was quite grounded, until I moved home recently which resulted in a slight fall in my access to things such as TV, Internet, XBOX. These things are almost the definition of luxury, but there were times where not having these things really put my nose out. It was at this point I thought, when did these things become THAT necessary? I even have a dongle, at some expense, so I have a backup internet source (using it now!!), so just incase I'm out of wifi range, my iPhone hasn't got signal, I can still grab my spare laptop (smaller one so more portable) and check twitter http://www.twitter.com/andrewdrisc or post here.

The counter argument is we have worked hard for these luxuries and deserve them, and to be honest it's an argument I'm happy to hide behind!

I wonder whether many people of my generation could last without Sky Sports (maybe people would travel to the grounds to see sport?), without games consoles, without Facebook (which I dislike anyway) without email, IM, etc

To be honest I would probably fail horribly, but honestly I don't even want to try. If that makes me a bad person, I apologise whole heartedly.

The Apprentice!

It's that time of year again, the (apparently) most acceptable form of reality TV has hit our screens. The 12(?) week long advert for how great Lord Sugar is upon us, The Apprentice!

Only coupled with the amstrad love, this year he's got a book out which no doubt will be written into the subtext of as many episodes as he can force. Mentions of his past will creep in, prompting people to think, hmmm amazon.

The list of candidates appear to be... questionable. The men has a leader who's CV must have town crier on it at some point. The guy was loud, pointless and annoying. One of them I've felt the urge to slap since the moment he opened his gob. This fecker (Stuart?) even has hair that looks like he wants to be Wolverine, what a dick!

The women's team seems far more sensible but at this stage that usually is the case, as men are far more eager to look stupid on TV. But to be fair, the final scenes in the house made them all look like dicks. I've always been a fan of the apprentice, even if not of the whole reality TV genreThis series better get better!!

On Alibi at the same time as the BBC's version of Big Brother (Well it is) is the excellent Castle. Nathan Fillion the ever charismatic lead feels fresh and interesting, even though it's not particularly!

I'll continue to watch The Apprentice no doubt, as it typically does get more interesting... Hmmm yeah I'm sure.

In personal news, I'm in the new house! No longer (a version of I suppose, I admitted the melodramatic nature of the statement aaaaaaaages ago) homeless. We have water, sky, power and lots of belongings we can't quite track down yet but "Must be in there somewhere". Won't be long we'll be able to class ourselves as 'moved in'! I may even celebrate finding my xbox, that is when we do find my xbox, not happened yet, by getting myself the F1 game. Looks like it rocks.