Yes it's that time again folks. The terminally unemployed are stuffed into Santa costumes and given a bell and a box for charity, housing estates around the country are transported into the upper echelons of bad taste (usually featuring light-up reindeer on the roof and plastic light up elves on the lawn) and I can delight in the comic wonder of Jim Carrey in The Grinch. Yes, it's Christmas time. It's around this time that journalists everywhere just can't be arsed to think of anything original so they look back bleary-eyed at the past year. Don't look at me for … Continue reading The Holiday’s Are Here Again→
Over the last few weeks, I have been noticeably absent from my bi-weekly commentary. Sad to say, it has become tough lately for me to come up with a column because a lot of personal matters have come up over the last month. I already mentioned the mass EMP that fried my GameCube, Xbox, and PS2. Thankfully they have all been repaired, but it bridged to another major disaster in my hellish schedule. The last of my repairs was to take place two weeks ago. I got a call from Starland telling me that my GameCube was repaired, and just … Continue reading Things Have To Look Up→
This week dear play chums I am lamenting the loss of my dearly beloved Game Boy Advance. The GiN columnists aren't having much luck with gaming machinery lately. Although my loss can hardly compare to the General's casualties of war, it is never the less a loss. At this point I must admit that the lost GBA is partly my own fault. The event occurred after a genial evening of post work drinking in a most hospitable pub. After much merriment, I went home. It wasn't until the morning, when I went to grab my bag for work that I … Continue reading Bloody Thieving Bastards→
As I pack my bags and head off to the Comdex computer show in Las Vegas, I wonder if the game industry will have a large presence at this largely computer-hardware type show. You see, last year was interesting because the tech industry (read non-game related technologies) were in a huge slump. Now we know this slump was just the beginning of what has become a long financial nightmare. The game industry by contrast was doing quite well, with three consoles to choose from and a healthy PC market. Even the old Macintosh game market looked like it might make … Continue reading Comdex Is About Games Too→
It has to be said, I have viewed the coming of Splinter Cell with some suspicion. I mean, I don't like Metal Gear, so why on earth would I put myself through the trauma of looking forward to and being disappointed by another sneak-em-up. Right from the very first screen shots, all I could see was some bloke crouched behind a crate, a gun held up against his cheekbone. Here we go again, think we've all seen this before, I said to myself. Yet another feeble attempt to step into the platinum "oh my God he's so wonderful" shoes of … Continue reading Suspect The Splinter Cell→
As if Islamic extremists flying airplanes into buildings and snipers wreaking havoc around this area isn't bad enough. To bring up my stress level, consider this" Two weeks ago, I headed off to my local EB to see if Red Faction 2 was released. Since this is the start of the busy holiday title season, I wanted to get a head start. After all, we are talking Red Faction 2, Contra: Shattered Soldier, Shenmue 2, Metroid Prime, Metal Gear Solid Substance, Splinter Cell, etc., etc., etc. As usual, I found out that RF2 was actually coming out the day after … Continue reading EMP Pulse Dancing→
On an average day I scour the Internet, visiting my favorite games websites in search of news, gossip, hearsay and sometimes even fact. This week I followed a link to the CBC News website and the Marketplace page – Canada’s Investigative Consumer Program. And what did I find there? Well it all began with the story of a woman, no, a"gasp, single mother, who enjoys playing EverQuest once her children are in bed. Nothing strange there you may think, but Canada’s Investigative Consumer journalists thought differently, and in the name of Canadian consumers they dug deep into the dark underbelly … Continue reading Chella Vs. Wendy Mesley→
Something is rotten in the state of the UK's videogame industry and ironically it goes by the name of FairPlay. Last week the FairPlay Group announced plans to stage "Don't Buy A Videogame Week" all in the name of its "campaign for cheaper games". "Consumers are being conned and it's time they made a stand," is the battle cry and the industry has been left a little stunned. FairPlay is a group of developers and journalists who claim that that "there isn't a single reason why games couldn't be sold at £20 or even less" and the whole campaign is … Continue reading Fairplay, Smareplay→
After the commentary I wrote last time regarding the lies and deceits that both EB and Gamestop displayed on their web sites, I thought they would actually take my concerns to heart. Go figure that they don't, as once again they both lied to me regarding the release date of NHL 2003. Recently it was listed to be released on October 1st, and as usual I gave the stores an extra day because of their "that's when it's being shipped" crap. But when I went to the local EB on the following day (the 2nd), NHL 2003 was STILL not … Continue reading Pre-Order Blues→
Another September rolls by and it’s time for the ubiquitous Tokyo Game Show (TGS) round-ups. As always, just one month after another dull ECTS, everyone’s suddenly got exciting new title announcements that set the Internet all abuzz. News of DOA 4 as an Xbox exclusive was music to my ears and produced a flurry of excitement in my household. The release day cannot come a moment too soon. But the biggest news from TGS has to be NUDE – no not a bunch of ageing, saggy German naturists – a hot new title destined for Xbox. NUDE stands for Natural … Continue reading Tokyo Games Time!→
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