Hi all, hope your all well and enjoying your summer so far. It's been pretty nice weather wise in London of late, it's been warm, and very sunny. Do any of you have any plans to get away somewhere nice this summer?, perhaps with the familyor on your own with friends or lovers?. I ask because I have to go to Turkey next month for some health treatments. It will be the first time I have been. My back's playing up after I injured it a while ago getting out of bed. it's been pretty annoying given the heat were having right now. I haven't been very active and don't think I will be for a while. Which is why I need to get my back ironed out by some fat hairy middle aged Turkish man. I am of course dreading the prospect, but one's health is all important and overriding. My girlfriend is naturally loving this all, it's her chance to nurture and laugh a lot as a hobble around like a old man in need of a walking stick.

On the big issue of today, briefly. Yeah, everyone's most likely hit their fill level, I know I have, but for for the record, I was a fan back in the day, so I am sad about what's happened. I had actually bought tickets to the o2 Arena gig and was really looking forward to taking my girlfriend. And making my peace,  I am referring to me shunning his music after the scandals and issues. Back then, things just got way too weird for me, and for someone the reviles pedophilia it was enough of a shock to the system to say, **** this and move on. I will be contacted in due course regarding any possible refund. I don't  really care about the money though, I just think it's terrible shame that I never got the chance to see him live at least once [ . ] 

Went shopping today, to sort of cheer myself up a little. My collection has just received a great addition in the form of a Japanese Dreamcast Joystick.

Dreamcast ASCII Stick FT - Special Capcom Version

It's heavy and it features a nice slant leading to the panel. The hands feel great on it, the base of your palms curve perfectly on the slant and it also features mild vibration, which on a Dreamcast is very rare on Joysticks. I like the blue and yellow Capcom colours.











Loaded up SNK 2 and SF3 earlier, and it felt awesome.

Ran out of Rum last night, while taking it all in, bought some moar today ^ ^











I saw 4 player single cart on the cover and ended up buying it. I'm also a big fan of the series and this game has evaded me for too long. This should be awesome on 4 GB Micro's. I happen to have both 2 and 4 player link cables that I bought on import from Hong Kong 2 years back. I have never played a 4 player game on the machine so far, so that should be pretty cool. I actually prefer to play GBA games on my Micro's, games feel great and look awesome on the smaller screen, which has the same number of pixels, yet is smaller. It's almost like a HDGBA of sorts. I love playing  Street Fighter Alpha 3 Upper, I know it's missing buttons but I still love it despite. I like playing 2 player battles on trains, I've had some epic battle on the London Underground, lol.


Great game, great handheld...    Needed another copy:
 








I've been playing a few games on DS lately, Soul Bubbles (-relaxing ****) and TWEWY, and these cool games.



PunchOut!! is a blast and all that you would expect, Little King Story on the other hand is easily one of the best games I have played all year, and that's saying something. It has it's flaws, like any other game, but it's genius and charm are far more apparent to me.

Mi back needs fixing, in the meantime I'm taking it easy, and taking the bottle out into the garden in a mo.. I might play some SF3 out there later. Sat in my lounger sharing a bottle bottle of rum with joystick hooked up. That's taking it easy ;)


Hope you all enjoy the rest of your summer,

Linky

The MiyaMotoBot is alive!, R.O.B is dead!...Get over it bob




Yea, I know lol, but take away the glasses and it does bare a slight resemblance.

Hi all, hope your all well, I'm so so's. I haven't blogged in a while due to me being away, on what most here would call a vacation, and what Madonna would call a Holiday. I went to Valencia to be with the family.

On the subject of R.O.B, I'm actually pretty confident gamers will see him return one day in some form, perhaps even as part of the firmware of a new console at the very least, Although I do think it would be far cooler to have another little robot.  I do think giving some humanistic aspects to a robot can be pretty neat, and not even remotely unnerving as the robot in the above video. That robot is ****ing freaky. Imagine a day far flung in the future, a time when opposing fan-boys could have their wicked way on Miyamoto,. If they ever felt inclined they could take the robot down to the cellar, like Dead Zed did, lol. 

One that could recharge my Nintendo handheld and tell me when it's ready would be a standard expectation, it could check messages on my Wii and then read them out to me, after I say hello, or wave something in front of it's face ;). You could even have retro-fied sound effects and audio from the sender. In games, it give me words of encouragement during bouts of Wii Fit, like some sick twisted evil little robot *IGN GameScoop*...I don't know, but what do you think?

What do you think a R.O.B of the future might one day do?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend,

Linky

Hi all, hope your all well. I certainly am, today a client paid up promptly for a change, as a result I am booking a holiday away tomorrow. I'm not sure where I am going just yet, but it will likely be somewhere in Europe, Holland most likely...

Anyway, If you did not know already, I <3 Boxing!,  my late father got me into it when I was younger, I used to watch my old man gesturing punches at the TV while I looked on and laughed at him. Now I am the one throwing punches while sitting in my chair, and it's my GF doing the mocking.





(Images - Fight Night R4)











































Five years ago I saw Manny Pacquiao box for the first time, I remember it well. I was having trouble sleeping one night so I turned on the TV to see this fighter destroying some guy with an awesome degree of skill. Manny, who's name I did not know then, had totally broken apart this other fighters battle plan, with every round you could see it being dismantled. It really was amazing to watch. I was so blown away by the speed and precision of this unknown fighter, that there and then, I made a prediction - This guy is definitely going to become world champion one day....Four years later, I was right.

He is the finest all round pound for pound fighter in the world today, in my eyes there's no debate, but perhaps Floyd senior has worked his magic on Ricky Hatton, enough to make him a fighter capable of defeating Manny?.

I adore Ricky Hatton also, I am after all a Brit, as well as that I also feel an affinity with the city of Manchester, even if it's not the blue half. (-
Ricky is a Manchester City fan *scum*,  as opposed to a Manchester United one like me :)

Ricky's aggression in the ring is fantastic for fans to watch, he's a old school gritty brawler, almost every boxing fan appreciates that, but I question some things.. I just don't feel you can erase bad methods you have learned throughout your fighting career. Ricky may have won many fights using those all out aggression tactics, ones we all know and love, but here, at this level, I think he could hit a brick wall.  If he cannot put into practice the little he has learned in this short time, I think he is doomed to fail again. Even if he does get inside and does damage. as he will no doubt try to, "Pacman" will take adequate measures, naturally trying to pick him off at distance or catch him as soon as he slips up.

Ricky's work with Floyd Sr is catch up work in my eyes, stuff he should have learned years ago. Ricky's last trainer was not a great tactician (understatement), his knowledge was limited, and so was Ricky's skill as a result. I feel that Ricky's skill has been stunted as a fighter, and he has been defeated because of it. But Ricky does have a great foundation to build upon, even in this late stage of his career.

Right now, I am going with Manny, but I do think Ricky could win, and win well, but only if he takes on board Floyd's Snr advice and puts it into practice well on the night. That takes discipline, If Ricky has it, it will be a very interesting fight to watch, and way too close to call.

HBO Trailer



Who do you think will win, and why?... Who have you got any money on?... I have a lot of money riding on this myself :D

Hi all, hope your all doing well, despite this lull in releases. I spent most of yesterday playing Marvel Vs Capcom 2 after all this talk of a new version on the way...Anyway;

Can you think of any music / music videos other than those below that you think have been inspired by videogames in some way?

I used to listen to a lot of dance music here in the UK while growing up, Hardcore and Jungle mainly. Back then I remember a lot of those underground tracks would use samples from video games and movies, with little concern of ownership rights. Today I found one of those early tracks, one which must be 20 years old now *darn*,  a track that was inspired by the classic shmup R Type. (uploaded below)

Finding the track prompted me to scour around and see what other music / music videos that have been inspired by videogames.  I came up with the following, but I reckon there must be many more, which is why I am hoping some of you can shed some light on a few others.









Jo - "R Type" (PUSH A TO PAUSE)




I am actually currently making my own music of the sort, using my DSi & Korg DS-10, while FruityLoops to bring the sonic awesomeness together. I will be sure to post my tracks in this thread when I am done.



Here's the few that I found:


Candence Weapon - "Sharks"


(Donkey Kong, Frogger, Rampage, and more)


 Junior Senior - "Move Your Feet"


(Atari 2600)


Xiu Xiu - "Boy Soprano"


(The Legend of Kage)


Top Gear SNES - seems to have inspired Muse's - "Bliss"



Muse - "Bliss"



Architecture in Helsinki - "Do The Whirlwind"


The same Aussie dude made that awesome video art project ^

It's Friday tomorrow, make sure have a good one whatever you end up doing. [LS]

Hi friends, I hope your all well, and playing some awesome games, be them old or new.

I got a DSi on Friday, and I have to say I am pretty impressed with it all. The handheld feels great, very comfortable, and I really like the new D-pad and buttons. They have a delicate spongy feel about them, which for me feels better than the Lite's.

The screen size?, well I have tried out Ninja Gaiden Dragon Sword and Viewtiful Joe. Ninja Gaiden played notably better with this increase due to the nature of the controls. The UI feels cohesive with Wii, animations and sounds are neat. My GF likes the catchy DSi Shop music and is dancing to it now. Wario Ware is fun, it had my GF laughing hard. It can easily make you look like a spastic having a fit. Not good when you look like one of those freaky dudes at the mental hospital in Jacob's Ladder. To makes matters worse, it all gets played on the title screen, to almost rub it in..

People, friends, DS gamers (100m), I dread to think what's going to happen, what sick nasty people in this world are going to do with it......It disgusts me already. Oh darn, Charlie Brown is on. i've seen them all, Peppermint Patty is awesome. Anyway, I took some pics and will upload them as I watch.

Feel free to ask questions