We Do Our Year In Review Cause We Don't Want To Be Left Out

Jan - Diet begins, suicide contemplated and denied after we realise Zelda: Four Swords comes out on the 7th and we start playing Ninja Gaiden again. Sales bring purchases. Mario War is considered number 1 reason to mod one's XBox.

Feb - World Of Warcraft starts to take its hold on Ratty. Ratty's life starts to fade. Dissertation - what Dissertation?

March - Resident Evil 4 comes out for Gamecube, Kev plays it a lot, Ratty is an ignorant sod and only manages 10 minutes. Mashed: Fully Loaded comes out on XBox. Metal Gear 3 comes out on PS2. Doctor Who starts on BBC1 - is really good. World Of Warcraft still draining Ratty.

April - Splinter Cell 3 comes out. Yup. World Of Warcraft put on pause as Ratty tries to shift concentration to Matrix online because Splinter Cell 3 gets beaten in a matter of days.

May - Time spent on beach playing frisbee and going to pub. Star Wars 3 is out at the cinema. Ratty see's it 5 times in 2 days, worries family.

June - Time spent on beach playing frisbee and going to pub and dressing up at 80's idols. Tru Calling comes out in the UK on DVD - if you haven't got it BLOODY GO AND BUY IT.

July - Ratty attempts a "clubbing holiday" in Greece, comes back slightly changed. Halo 2 Map Pack comes out.

August - Summer, we live by the beach.

September - We are born

October - Ninja Gaiden Black is released (aka highlight of the year), Nintendogs is released in UK, Pro Evo 5 comes out, October is given best month award, now.

November - XBox 360 comes out next month, Mario Kart DS is out! Tru Calling Series 2 comes out in the states, which only has six episodes but is worth every penny for the boxart alone.

December - Animal Crossing Wild World comes out everywhere but Europe, XBox 360 comes out of it's closet, Eliza gets her first "naughty" picture (YOU ARE HERE)


As you can see there's some months we can't really remember and a lot of other stuff too. So feel free to add in your own highlights of the year - just don't correct us because that's just bloody rude.

GameOverYeah's Favourites of 2005, round two.

Hmmm...

Part of me didn't want to release a list of my top 5 games of the year because I didn't want the other games to feel left out. However as I started to think about what games I have been playing this year I started to become slightly worried as I hadn't been playing THAT many new ones.

So seeking inspiration to further my poor memory I went to IGN and found some games I had played. I also became slightly depressed at their "Best of PS2 2005" to discover it full of sequels and only one "original" title, being God of War. Which I have not played. Then I shocked myself because I released I did spend three months on Warcraft earlier in the year and didn't want this to be in my top 5. Then I removed part of my brain and forgot.

So after much deliberation I found myself agreeing with kev's selection and wondering what mine may be. Following the rule of choosing games that came out in the UK this year, I decided to judge it on what has given me maximum joy and playtime, what have I really enjoyed this year?


In at number 5 is Mario Kart DS. This is without a doubt the greatest Mario Kart game I have played to date and marks a historical step for Nintendo as they make their worldwide online debut. I can barely fault the game as I keep going back to the single player with hope of completing it soon, and it's wonderful to see so many tracks - even ones from every other game. The special effort to put in cube tracks is great. It's only shortcoming is the ability to drag weapons in multiplayer - that would have made for more interesting sessions, but survives well without. Incredibly enough, it does not worry me that there is no use of the touch screen, the map is simply enough and is so useful when trying to figure out what's coming at you next!


In at number four is Mashed: Fully Loaded. A strange choice most will say, but it's a game that has always found it's way into our regular gaming evenings and provides the most competitive and amazing sessions. It is basically Micro Machines with weapons. It doesn't survive on its graphics or its longevity - it's simply an amazing multiplayer game that anyone can enjoy. You never know who the true winner of a match is, with even the bottom player quickly making his way up the leaderboard at the last second. I hope to god another one is made for the 360 as it seems that more can easily be done with this game to make it another essential purchase. Add to the fact that I got this for £20 on release and you can see why it is my fourth.


Still waiting for Halo 3 and endlessly playing Halo 2, this is my third choice. How can I get away with this? Well my third game of the year is the Halo 2 Map Pack! I still play the game many times a month on Live and it still takes up many gaming evenings surrounded by beer and references to the French version, a certain Master Chef and a water cave. The map pack was a bargain and brought a lot more replay value to an already amazing multiplayer game and will continue to be played until the third one appears. Bungie didn't have to release this, but in doing so they added security for those players like myself who weren't too happy about storying the maps on the HDD forever, in case of the console dying like kev's did - or in case we wanted them on the 360. They also added in a nice little side story and some other extras.


There's no way on earth this could not enter my top 5 and was extremely close to being number 1. Number 2 is Nintendogs. It has single handedly proven why Nintendo is still great and will continue to innovate and entertain for... well... forever! Selling more DS units that you can even comprehend, the game made its way into hearts everywhere, and brought back people that haven't played games in years. I have spent so many hours on this game, walking Marty back and forth, training him for frisbee contests, taunting him with my apache helicopter and scooping his poop. If this top 5 were rated on playtime alone - it would be number one.


Finally, my number one is Ninja Gaiden: Black. Yes I've got away with this one in the same way I did with Halo 2. It's not a new game really, but I am so enthusiastic about Ninja Gaiden and I have played it so many times I just have to put it as my number one. It would be right up there with Super Mario Brothers 3 in my all time Top 5 games. I can not fault it AT ALL. It's simply perfect in every way and no matter how many times I have to restart a level and even if I spend all day not getting anywhere it just doesn't matter. Why? Because it's fun to play. You may even find yourself not willing to finish it because once you have that's it. Well ok the point of Black is that you can play through the game again with new enemies and finally only with enemies. Ramping up the combo's and taking down enemy after enemy and taking out those ridiculous bosses - I mean who in the hell thought you'd see a Ninja taking on tanks and choppers? Well not me anyway. I sincerely hope we see a 360 sequel soon because as well as looking stunning, I don't see how they could mess it up!

I hope you've enjoyed reading my Top 5 and by all means feel free to comment - let us know what your Top 5 games of the year would be - we'd love to know!

What didn't make my list that I considered?
- Lego Star Wars was nearly my number 5
- Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory was close
- Zelda 4 Swords (see kevs)
- Call of Duty 2 - which I really did like, but finished in 2/3 days
- Buzz - only just got it, but it was the only game we played on our gaming evening the other night!
- Geometry Wars Retro Evolved
- Star Wars Battlefront 2
- Electroplankton (not out in uk yet so disqualified!)
- Animal Crossing DS (not out in uk yet so disqualified!)
- Wario Ware DS
- Advance Wars DS
- Feel the Magic 2 (not out in uk yet so disqualified!)
- Fahrenheit (not played enough)

Merry Xmas!

Our Animal Crossing Community Is Open - Add Your Friend Code Today!

We've opened up our town for visitors and we want to visit yours!

Head over to our Animal Crossing channel now to grab our friend code and post yours so we can come visit you!

We look forward to seeing you online soon!

GameOverYeah's Favourites of 2005, round one.

It had to happen sooner or later, we couldn't hold back the urgings we were having and are therefore plunging headlong into a very predictable top five of 2005. We couldn't really remember large parts of this year, so we had to check amazon to find out when certain games were released, so if these things are wrong, don't harp on to us. Also, we're only picking UK games, we're not about to pick shadow of the colossus, or animal crossing as our favourite game of the year, as most people haven't played these yet, and reading us bleating on about them will simply enrage the populace.

The keener eyed amongst you will have noticed that GameOverYeah is made up of two gentlemen, so we're both going to be entering into the new year spirit with these list things, the difference is, I'm getting in first, so it looks like Ratty is copying me when he picks the same games. That'll work.

Starting from the rear, as is the procedure for such things, Number 5 is 'Zelda: The Four Swords' and yes, we checked, and the release date is marked as January 7th, so it bloody counts. To my knowledge, we only played this game once in it's full 4 player, GBA:SP, takeaway and beer glory. But, that one time was more than enough to rank it this highly, it was amazing, co-operating, fighting, mass panic and man-hugs were the order of the evening, and none of us will be the same again. The fact that this game looks like a GBA game with fancy effects simply means nothing, it's perfectly playable, colour-coded puzzles, races for treasure and unified shouting at bosses couldn't be made better by next gen graphics.


Number 4 is Metal Gear Solid 3, and I won't hear any arguing about this. It delivered everything I wanted from it in a gameplay sense, and more than I could have imagined from the storyline sense. The extra elements of gameplay concerned me somewhat during the build-up, the talk of the camo-index, as well as having to catch food to eat during the mission seemed to be elements that could diminish the stealth element of the game. What a fool I was to think such things, the camo-index came in dashed handy without the soliton radar, and hunting poisonous snakes to unleash on the bumbling guards gave another way to oust them from the situation. I adore the cutscenes and absurd storylines of Metal Gear, and Snake Eater really managed to ramp up the quota on both of these, the young Ocelot stealing every scene with his gestures and his pointing, and Snake's wayward eyes genuinely making me laugh on occasion. I'm sure Metal Gear 4 will be just as good, and, if it isn't, then I hope a game is made that revolves around revolver, maybe during his FOXHOUND days.

Fairly predictably, Nintendogs features here at the midpoint. It's clearly not a game that can be played for any great length of time, but that's the beauty of it, similarly to Animal Crossing, 15 minutes every other day is enough time to come in, feed and water the hound, take it for a gentle stroll, and see if it can win some moolah. But it's not this that seems to be it's winning factor, it's probably the concept. While virtual pets have been done before, they've never been done with a touch screen to stroke, they've never looked this good, or been instantly understandable. I enjoy the fact that there is no aim whatsoever, no growth cycle or forced goals to attain, the game would be happy enough for you to sit in, washing your dog then feeding them jerky treats, as it would if you decided to win all the contest grades and bought the best interiors. Similar games, like Seaman, really lost my interest as it appeared that my man fish needed me to do very particular things with them. Also, girls like Nintendogs, and I like girls.

This was where I became unstuck with my chart, I had to decide which of these two games I liked THE MOST, one of which manages to permeate my daily thoughts, I don't feel whole if I don't play it with friends at least once a week, but this has been true of Pro Evo since I used to play ISS64, I can't call it my favourite game of 2005, because it's always my favourite game, it transcends the yearly calendar.



So Number One is Resident Evil 4, I won't go on about it, simply suffice to say that a month or so ago, I wanted to start playing the Resi games from the start, work my way through the series. Once I loaded up Zero, I suddenly realized that I didn't want to anymore, the franchise has been ruined by the brilliance of this, the whole rotate to move, storage chests, zombie nonsense all seems hideously unplayable now. So come on Capcom, pull the finger out, get the Re:Re:makes done, I want to play Resi 2 with this engine.


You will notice that there are no PC games, or Xbox games in my list, this is because I don't play PC games, and there were no good Xbox games this year. I imagine Ratty may put some of these things in his list, but don't hold your breath for Warcraft. Also, if you'd like to comment on what has transpired here this evening, do so, i shall read your comments and reply accordingly.

Sega Games On Revolution Officially Interest New Players

We just spoke with a friend on MSN who was previously not very interested in the Revolution. However we pointed him in the direction of rumor mongerer SPoNG and now we can exclusively report this quote:

"awesome stuff!"

And even went as far as to controversially announce:

"just means i will end up buying each of the next gen consoles now"

We once again refer you to our exclusive phrase "console maturity" whereby a person can appreciate all titles spread across all consoles and unite all mankind into one big fluffy online ball.

All together now:

Segaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Hoping That J Allard Is Hinting At A New Rare Killer Instinct Title

Oddly enough he's using the same gamercard play icon that we are right now:

J Allard's Gamercard

Its Fulgore!! FULGORE FROM KILLER INSTINCT

In case you didn't guess or know, the SNES original is one of my fave games of all time and bringing out a new version can only be a good thing. Even if its completely shit. The only other fighter that's given me enough loving to stop me causing a small war with Rare's barnhouse is Dead Or Alive!

Is he hinting that they're going to make a new one? PLEASE!
I guess he could just like the icon!

Wario Ware Twisted And The Nintendo European Strategy

By now you could happily buy Wario Ware from Japan or the states and probably get it for about half the price of what it will eventually cost when it decides to make it's way to the UK. Which is suggested as sometime in Feb. We'll be lucky to even see Animal Crossing then!!!

It's very strange that a company like Nintendo is holding back on a title like this. Especially when it can unlock a little goody in the Wario DS game! They'll tell you it's because they want to stagger their release schedules but we have some other ideas:

- It's to piss off Nintendo fans (this is a common belief from most of the Internet and is actually the most stupid opinion in the world, apart from Riverdance)
- It's to allow parents to save up more money for future Nintendo products (why? are people not as rich in Europe? how come Japan gets 1,000 Nintendo releases a week)
- There is only one localisation team and they consist of several farm animals
- Due to European law, Nintendo is only allowed to manufacture one game an hour
- There is only one translator called Marvin B, and he's not very good
- Nintendo are too busy plotting an invasion of Russia to think about Europe
- Nintendo don't actually exist in Europe, if you go and have a look in their European offices there will just be cardboard cutouts going round on train tracks and record players. Like in Home Alone.
- Nintendo Europe is actually located in France and they won't do anything until another country gives them some money

Aaaah there you have it, another early morning session to empty our brains.

Coming soon... "Sony's secret underwater empire and why they hate camels"

What Is Animal Crossing Teaching Us About The Mafia?

Tom Nook must be a crime lord.

HE OWNS AN ENTIRE VILLAGE. When we say own, he owns everyone - not the village. But this is true with your regular real world Mafia, they get to own people by lending them money or kidnapping senators or whatever else takes their fancy and gains them power.

From Day 1 Tom Nook owns your arse, you unwittingly bought a house off him and he's not going to let you forget about it, putting you to work for him almost before you've seen your property. Luckily you can get your own back by writing profanities about him on the town messageboard like we did. He doesn't own us just yet. But still even after these chores are done he'll get you hooked wheeling and dealing the local drug - TURNIPS.


And still he won't let up about that mortgage thing, which forces you to engage in errands with other townsfolk, trade drugs with nook and go fishing. Okay fishing isn't normal Mafia practice... OR IS IT? Does anyone remember Godfather 2 - when they went "fishing?" Or was that in the third one?

So next time you go and consider buying that uber violent game, think about what you actually want from it. If you want to learn about proper crime, this is the game for you.

All I Want For Christmas Is....

DEAD OR ALIVE FOUR

But that's not going to happen is it? Not that we're complaining, there's still a couple of 360 games we haven't played. Like Fifa.

We're buggered.

Release Dates from different stores:

GAME - JAN 06
AMAZON - JAN 27th 06
PLAY - FEB 3RD 06

United States:

EBGAMES AND DVDBOXOFFICE - DEC 21ST 05 (yeah right!)


Could it come out Wednesday in the states? Hmmmm, will it be region coded? Lets bloody hope not!

Maybe we'll have to pray for world peace instead - it's more likely than getting DOA4 within the next four days. It doesn't really matter anyway - we've got Animal Crossing keeping us sane, and that will last us for at least another half a year.

24 Series 5 Trailer - 4 HOUR SERIES PREMIERE BECKONS

...but not for us meer English folk.

Yes 24 will be back very soon for all you yanks, and us brits who engage in multimedia downloads of which we only hear of but have never tried... ever.

Kevin alerted me of this earlier today as I slowly recoved from a truly amazing evening at Hed Kandi in Bournemouth - hello to all involved. What is that link you ask? Well it's the trailer for Season 5, and boy oh boy oh boy does it look hot.


For all you fans that haven't imported the fourth series DVD from the states, you're also missing out on a 10 minute series opener that fills in some stuff between series 4 and 5. Like they did last time. We're hoping for a quiet re release of series four over here again so we can salivate at the wonderful car chase.

GET YOUR FILL OF BAUER NOW

Here's something for Kevin as he needs his weekly fill of Chloe...

Call Of Duty 2 IS The Halo Of The XBox 360 Launch

I would like to begin by thanking my good friend who deputises at GameStation for forcing me to buy Call Of Duty 2. I went into the store with the intention of walking out with Need For Speed, but this was definitely the better choice for me.

I've finished the game now, Veteran stylie - and it's one of the most enjoyable FPS gaming experiences I've had since Half Life 2. Playing it directly on the most difficult setting was thought to be foolish but was actually completely rewarding. The levels are quite tough, but there is a frequency in the save points you can start to predict and use to your advantage. The great thing about completing a level on Veteran is getting those achievement points, seeing your score go up by 50 odd points each time you finish is so unbelievably satisfying. You finally get decent rewards for finishing a game, given gaming art and stuff is nice for 5 minutes but this is with you forever. People can see you've tried. I just hope that the Action Replay devices aren't going to tarnish this in the future.


Anyway, why is Call Of Duty the Halo of the 360 so far? Well it's the similarities which weren't originally obvious to me but are now incredibly easy to see. The game does play rather similarly to the Halo titles and has very similar mechanics.

Take a look at the screenshot as an example.

- Similar hud - simplistic numerical layout
- Similar radar, okay this has more stuff on it, but it functions in the same way - flashing up with red dots during fire etc.
- Similar strength / range melee attacks
- No health bar - on Veteran its three direct shots and you are dead. If you get a couple and move back to recover behind a crate you'll be ok to go on.
- Fun AI - you still get that repetitive 15 second session with them - they respond well to your actions, but you can also get a good idea of what they'll do - it really is fun

This is definitely my launch title, closely followed by Gotham and then Perfect Dark - but only really for the multiplayer. I need to try their Single Player stuff again really, it needs more viewings before I try not to rubbish it.

Anyway - what were your fave titles?
Do you agree with the COD2 / Halo comparisons.

Tell us in the comments.

Desperately Need An XBox 360 Controller? Play have got em...

Its wired the PC / XBox 360 controller for £18!


Seems Play and others are completely sold out of the wireless and wired 360 controllers, but nobody thinks to check their PC section for this little beauty - use it in your box and PC! And no, we don't get money from Play.com for this - but if they're reading this and want to give us some we would be happy to recieve.

Guard? I think there's a Splinter in my Cell

So, Ubisoft have blown their cover on the whole Sam Fisher 'WANTED' lark, by announcing that, for the start of the game at least, he shall be spending some time behind bars as an undercover operative, with his cover story being the killing of his daughter.

Apparently you'll be making decisions that will affect the course of the game, much like the predicament faced by our boy Jack Bauer in the third series of 24, all that business with the Russian roulette, you remember.

I'd quite like some prison life to be explored, maybe trying to steer clear of your daddy, maybe sneaking into other inmates cells to acquire some fags for bartering with later. I'm not crass enough to mention the showers, you can use your own filthy minds for that.

It would appear Ubisoft are attempting to take the series further, adding some important character and real background to their sneaky stealth action series. While the games have been fairly fulfilling and exciting, waiting about behind a crate for two hours while I figure out some inept guards movements isn't as rewarding as waiting about behind a similar crate during a Metal Gear game.

With Kojima's series, you can be fairly certain some plot twist or another is waiting at the end of the corridor, that Revolver Oceot is probably going to turn up, spin some guns, and spin a web of lies at you. Failing all that, there'll probably be a massive boss battle, maybe against a huge chieftain in a tank, or a 100yr old sniper, if you're lucky, it'll be against a bipedal nuclear warhead, now wouldn't that be something Mr Fisher eh?

XBox 360 Japanese Business Proposition - IF YOU LIVE IN JAPAN YOU COULD EARN £150 / hour

If you are in Japan right now then contact us as we would like to help you make some money.

Go into a shop and buy 10 of those dirt cheap XBox 360's, stick em on EBay selling em to the UK and other places that are sold out. Then send us about £50 from each sale because its our idea, patent pending.

The Internet's been ranting on about how this is a negative "XBox 360 does shit in Japan", "Shit XBox is shit in Japan" but actually it's the best thing that could've happened. Imagine how much money you could make. If you're not financially inclined then don't worry, you can buy an XBox 360 dirt cheap and then get DOA4 and other naked women games very soon.

Here's a famous picture:

See, this is why we're the Internet's "Most Positive Site Of The Year".

XBox 360 Homebrew Door Blown Open Or Just Slightly Ajar?

Given it's a bit fiddly but we've been playing round with using the Media Centre extender software built into the 360 to run up pretty much anything we've got on our PC. If you've got a Media Centre PC you may wanna give this a shot...

Simply using the More Programs feature you can run up Internet Explorer, Explorer, Solitaire and whatever really. In theory you should be able to run DivX stuff too but we haven't had the time to try yet.

If you go to the C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Start Menu\Programs\Accessories\Media Centre\Media Centre Programs folder and add in a file that ends with ".mcl" and edit in in notepad to contain something like:

So you can look at our site!

You can browse anything on your pc! Just not very easily!

The extender seems to pretty much work as a remote connection to your PC, so your actually running this stuff on your PC, not your XBox. Hence why the door is only really slightly ajar because we're cheating really, you can run anything you want on your pc to your XBox. Think MAME and other wonderful emulators, and being able to watch DivX on your box finally.

This could be a cheeky way in for people to start doing stuff with the 360. Already there are useful apps to consider that people made for Media Centre which i've been using for a little while now like MyUk which lets you stream a lot of Internet TV, lottery or football results and other cool stuff to your PC. They do it by using the same method as that link we gave you above to direct you to a website they've formatted specifically for the remote control, and of course goes straight to your XBox 360 too!

As you can see its cool stuff, but unfortunately requires a Media Centre PC!

UPDATUM:

We seem to be attracting third rate visitors who don't really deserve computers as we've now been posed the question:

"WHY IS DIVX SO IMPORTANT?"

Answer:

Now if that's not a good enough excuse then it's likely you have a sexuality fault. Feel free to post your own DivX suggestions below, but please no gay ones. We're not anti gay, we just don't like looking at them.

Why The XBox 360 Could Do Better In Japan This Time Round

This time they've got better marketing - here's why:

LAST TIME

PROBLEMS:

1) The XBox is not plugged in, yet they're having a fantastic time

2) Their skirts are not short enough to register Japanese male interest

3) They aren't wearing schoolgirl uniforms or getting raped so again feign Japanese male interest

4) Its just not weird enough

THIS TIME:

After failing to generate interest with women Microsoft decide to go for the total opposite and go for the weirdest thing possible. Set up a guard right by a gigantic lottery style machine loaded with something that no one can touch.

WHAT THEY COULD HAVE DONE:

This would have got them instant success and Sony would have no chance.

Animal Crossing VS Call Of Duty 2 - Gaming dilemma

Its a difficult time right now, as it is always at this time of year when every game comes out that you've been waiting all year to play.

I never thought i'd like Call Of Duty 2, in fact I went into GameStation thinking I was going to come out with Need For Speed: Most Wanted. I was convinced to instead walk out with COD2. No that's not a fishing game, it is instead my favorite launch title to date, having only played Perfect Dark, condemned and Project Gotham 3. I had a quick nosey at how to rank up the achievements before I started playing and I noticed most awards were given for finishing a level on Veteran, so I thought "hell why not" and dived right in on the most difficult setting.


So far I have not regretted this seemingly foolish choice. It's completely amazing and satisfying, fulfilling that repetitive 15 second fun session that I used to get with Halo. You know the type - kill some people, have some fun with em and get to the next checkpoint. It wasn't incredibly difficult to get through and was just fun, until I got to the D-Day landings and got to the top of that cliff. I'm finding it very difficult to get across that field, but I've changed my tactics and got a full sniper rifle now so I'm ready for anything.

Anyway that was how I spent a lot of Saturday. The other half of it, and Sunday and Friday eve was spent on the wonderful masterpiece that is Animal Crossing: Wild World. A completely different game with totally different merits. I set up my character while riding in the back of kap'n's taxi where he mistook me for a girl because I told him my name as cute. Well come on - Ratty is a cute name.


From then on it was just one great step after another, it feels like playing a better version of what was already a perfect game. I've done my first tasks for Tom Nook, written an abusive note about him on the town's notice board and I've met all of my villagers. There were three to begin with and now there are five! I've also let someone else set up shop in my house and he tried poking my sleeping body - didn't seem to have any effect luckily, or I would've thrown a brick at his mouth.

This is the dilemma - which game do I give more time. Which one is better? Well in my opinion the greater title is Animal Crossing and I shall be playing it for many more months, possibly years than Call Of Duty 2. But they both live on their own fantastic merits and has once again proven that if you can find it in you to acquire the different consoles out there you will find yourself with a fuller gaming experience, tasting everything there is in this luscious empire.

Mmmmmm

Don't You Just Hate It When You Know THAT Package Has Arrived At Home But You're Stuck In Shitty Work?

MY ANIMAL CROSSING HAS ARRIVED

But I'm stuck here at work. I'm putting out a plea at this moment in time for anyone to come and do my job for me while I go home and play on my beautiful new shiny game. You need to have good knowledge of HTML, XML, CSS, ActiveX Controls, C++, C, C# and be prepared to put up with shit that people throw at you. Also try talking to people that work in our "foreign" offices, they're more difficult to understand than Irish people.


Reasons for me to go home early / Reasons for you to buy Animal Crossing DS:

- Jokes are funnier than those in the daily newspaper "The Sun"
- It features lovely animals and lets you forget all the bad things in the world
- You can go online and get Kev to design you ANYTHING. And I mean anything, he is amazing with pixel based paint programs and could even paint you a Picasso.
- You can go online and play with US, we're lovely and will treat you to anything you need.

FUCK! I need to get home NOW.

Why Hasn't A New Outrun Been Announced For The 360?

BASTARDS

"Hey guys I've got an idea, lets take successful franchise Outrun and bastardise it"

Okay maybe that's not went on in the Outrun 2006 Coast to Coast meeting, and maybe bastardise is a little harsh BUT COME ON! Here we go buying a 360 innocently thinking we'll get sequels to all of our loved XBox games. Imagine:

- Jet Set Radio: INSERT SUBTITLE HERE
- Panzer Dragoon: INSERT SUBTITLE HERE

And do we dare:

- NINJA GAIDEN - BUY THIS SEQUEL CAUSE IT WILL BE BLOODY GREAT

But of course we heard rumblings earlier in the year of Gaiden possibly going to the PS3 - the only reason to consider thinking about buying the machine. And no nothing's been mentioned about either Sega game mentioned above. But we have of course heard lovely stories about upcoming sequels like

- Fable: Man and Dog
- Halo 3: Find out what happens at the end of Halo 2.

But to stick a loved franchise on the bloody PS2, PSP and PC is going to make us cry. Its going to look shit on the PS2, it'll still be lovely of course - but it would look like a lesbian orgy on the 360 for gods sake. And who knows we may get a nice port on the PSP, but if we buy the PS2 one and play it on a small screen it will look just the same and save us money on a PSP. Don't even start me off on the whole "why is the PSP getting that new Ghouls and Ghosts game".


Or we could just pray the PC one will look fantastic. Either way the end of the post is going to end with the word chastise.

Keep your wallet in your pocket son.

In my continued efforts to avoid all contact with the xbox360, I've been thrusting myself headlong down several different avenues.

Firstly there's 'The New Pro Evo' , Tiger Woods 2005 is proving to be an irresistible experience, creating the worlds most bizarre golfers, and earning them millions of dollars doesn't sound like it should excite me, but it does. It has become the perfect game for an evening with chums, not needing to pay as much attention as is needed for a Halo rally or a 3 time tour of the Nurburgring paves a path for more conversation, disk jockeying, and drinking. But of course, when the shout goes up, all eyes dart to the screen for a peach of a shot from a bunker, or a breakdance celebration. Plus, golf is just quite funny as a standard 'going hard at the flag-stick?'


Then there's the actual new Pro Evo, which is furnishing us with a challenge we've not experienced since the days of Ikaruga. But, where we gave up with Ikaruga, relegating it to 'collection' status, we're determined to soldier on with our 6 star meister league, okay we might spend the best part of 5 years* in the second division, but promotion will come in the end I imagine. An understanding of the referees quirks and whims is slowly developing, we can get away with some tackles Essien would wince from, and Lineker-esque incorruptibility gets rewarded with yellow cards aplenty, but this merely adds to the realism of the experience, or something.



Finally, and the greatest of these distractions is obviously Mario Kart DS, instantly a handheld classic, and due to the revelations in the wi-fi area, bound to go down in some history books as a thing of wonder. As we've discussed before, the connection to the network is simplicity itself, meaning that within half an hour of unpacking the dongle, I was being beaten comprehensively by karters from across the globe, all children much my junior I imagine, laughing uncontrollably at my ham-fisted play. Of course, this may all become a faint memory, as hopefully soon I'll be making shirts with offensive words on them, to send to Ratty under the banner of irony.

If anyone feels like sponsoring my abstinence from the xbox, it would be most welcome, I still haven't laid hands on a controller, and don't expect to have the chance to anytime soon.

*Pro Evo years, not real ones. We hope.

WHERE are our copies of Animal Crossing?

Its getting lovely comments from lovely people all over the place who are playing it non stop and designing beautiful new shirts and hats for their characters and we can't play it yet. I know my copy is currently shipping from somewhere, I just want it to get off the ship and into my grubby, yet mildly sexy hands.


If the Royal Mail / UPS or any other mailing type company is reading this, please dispatch every person you have to locate and deliver our spiffing games ASAP! We're playing our 360 still but we need a break from the war in Call of Duty, and the dodgy looking characters in Perfect Dark.

Then when we're over the initial hype of Animal Crossing we'll piss ourselves waiting for the release of Dead or Alive 4. Lovely ladies fighting for our attention.

Getting Closer To The Revolution's Specs - NOW WITH EASY TO USE DIAGRAM

IGN have posted some more information about the specs of the Revolution. I have no problem whatsoever in following them and believing that the information is true.

We don't have many years in the making or industry contacts so we ain't ever gonna be able to break an exclusive and tell you what the console is going to be able to do. However keep an eye on the new IGN Revolution channel because those guys don't really ever get it wrong, they're honest and when they do speculate it's fun to share their imagination.

In short their story on the Revolution's specs is that we're looking at double the sort of power we're getting from the GameCube:

"Basically, take a GameCube, double the clock rate of the CPU and GPU and you're done."

"The CPU is the same as Gekko with one and a half to two times the performance and improved caching," said a source. "Our guys experimented with it and think they'll be able to get about twice the performance as GameCube."

For those who could be easily confused by this onslaught of information, we've made an easy to use diagram which explains the Revolution and how it works:

Next EBay Scam: XBox 360 VGA Cables

You think XBox 360's are hard to come by? Well try getting a VGA cable too! They're even bloody worse to find!

EBay is full of people selling off their Official MS VGA cables for OVER FIFTY QUID!
Thats over 100% profit cause these babies are only 20 quid to buy! I got my Joytech one from Play.com for £11.99!!!

Then there is this guy selling the cables at £170 for CHARITY! People are already ripping him to shred's in his own little Q&A box.

Still doesn't explain the chap that's selling his for £70!

This truly is a very giving Christmas isn't it chaps?

i know i've posted this pic before, BUT I JUST BLOODY LOVE IT, she's gonna give all ye EBayers a good telling off

There's No Good News... So Lets Talk About X-Men 3

Nah there really hasn't been anything to be read on the internet right now, we've looked at story about Gary Bushell and his love of the Revolution controller. We've looked at story about Microsoft XBox 360 on fire, crashing and not crashing. We've looked at story about ginger people setting up their own country somewhere in Asia.

These are all pretty much regular Monday style stories.

So lets have a shift from gaming and move over to another one of our loves... MOVIES! But not just MOVIES...

MOVIES ABOUT COMICS!

X-Men 3 has been doomed from the get go, its been through roughly three directors now, the latest being Brett Ratner - who brought us two funny Rush Hours and equally funny Red Dragon. Now it looks as if this doom has been falsely given - I've just watched the trailer and it looks like we could be stepping up to see a rather good film. It looks like the X-Men are going to war, and people (Jean Gray! noooo) are starting to choose their sides. Have a look at the trailer here and see.

Dr Frasier Crane! The Beast!!

Who knows if they're going to have the same problems as Mortal Kombat 2, throwing in as many characters as possible and not really ever seeing them individually grow.

So Was It Worth Buying An XBox 360?

In short... HELL YEAH

Its amazing, I've never spent a full hour with a console before even playing an actual game either! I sat there and fiddled with all of the wonderful extras! Gave my console a lovely Eliza background, played with Media Centre, downloaded a demo of Smash Tv. Oooh sir.


Over the weekend I've come to love it more, even though I am the lowest scoring member of XBox Live right now, with most of my mates topping the 400 points mark and me not even hitting 80! But it's because they've all been going crazy on Gotham and I've just sat through some missions on Perfect Dark and my new full version of Smash TV. Also downloaded the Need for Speed Demo, didn't take longer than 30 mins to get the whole 1 gig demo. How handy!

Overall - Ce Fantastique! Looking forward to a long and loving relationship...

BIG MONEY! BIG PRIZES! I LOVE IT!!!

I Got 10 Points For Finishing Perfect Dark Zero!

Precursor?

I think a lot of people are gonna play Perfect Dark Zero and when they finish it, they'll wonder what it was all about. Remember I don't rate games on the same merits as other people, I look for the best in games and focus on these factors. I even enjoyed Obi Wan on the XBox!

I'll come out and say it now, its not the game I was looking forward to playing but it's not a disappointment. There's stuff I wanted and things felt a bit weird, but overall it's a pretty good game and I'm looking forward to trotting through it again to unlock more stuff. I don't know if they're in there but the trademark "play through level x on x difficulty in x time to unlock x cheat" doesn't seem to have made it either. Which is one of the things that makes this game feel isolated from Perfect Dark. You could simply change the character names and you wouldn't know you're playing a game made by the blokes who brought you GoldenEye and Perfect Dark.

I even thought the credits may have been as lovely as the original game's, but no - in fact Halo 2's credits were my new Perfect Dark's credits.

Time for Gotham methinks...

XBox 360 Pre Gaming Impressions

OK. I've now had my XBox 360 for the better part of an hour and a half and I still haven't removed the games I bought from their packaging. Part of this is because I'm a strange, anal completist and like to play with every aspect of something new I have.

I've been playing around with all of the other features of the 360, pretty much all of the non gaming ones. I am amazed, it's gone above and beyond my expectations with all of these features all ready.

I was eager to see how improved the Media Centre features were over the XBox 180's extender, and it is faster and a lot more improved. I even managed to sign into messenger successfully on it. Another thing I absolutely adored was being able to quickly connect to my PC through the dash and set up a gorgeous wallpaper - instantly.


My 360 is complete - already, it has become beautiful.

What else have I done? I had a quick shot at the trial version of Smash TV - which is amazing! I totally intend to buy the full version through the marketplace and have some amazing Co Op sessions on Live! So amazing!

I plugged in some USB stuff - tried out the iPod video - didn't pick up the videos, but found every single song, but can't play the ACC or AAC one's, whatever its called. And then I was completely shocked because on a whim I plugged in my new USB keyboard, and lo and behold it worked in the dashboard when I wanted to type messages to my mate!

I'm shocked that all of these features worked flawlessly because I've come to expect little of anything I buy these days, and well Microsoft you've outdone yourself so far.

Now to try out Perfect Dark...

XBox 360 UK Countdown T-01 Day - Hype And Glory

I'm going to get my XBox 360 tomorrow. No we're not one of those members of the press that have every piece of hardware and software simply thrown at them. We're just your everyday Joe that's been playing games since day of birth.

The good thing is that money isn't too much of a problem so we've been looking at our options - what do we buy? Its possible we'll only be walking out with Perfect Dark and Gotham tomorrow, but we really want to give condemned and Kameo a shot. Condemned would have been an instant yes if there were multiplayer involved as we're having a 360 party tomorrow night. Kameo is one we haven't read the reviews for and simply wish to appreciate in an isolated manner. This games been a long time in the making and needs dedication.


On the subject of Perfect Dark, I fear we'll hear a lot of negative feedback about the game. I watched an extremely disappointing video review from IGN yesterday which was only 6 minutes long and felt wrong. It didn't seem to talk about anything in great detail and seemed to give an overall feeling of boredom. However I do believe I am going to love the game, its been a long time coming and with criticisms such as the lack of change to the AI you would think I'd be worried. But these are things I loved about Perfect Dark - i loved the way the AI worked and this was the reason I went back to complete the challenges, because you had to follow the way they worked. The visuals are not the things I will be concentrating on for the time being.

As for accessories we're only after some pads and that elusive VGA cable because we don't have an HDTV set and want to see what it'll look like on our dishy monitor. The TV will be coming soon, we just don't know if this console will justify our purchase. There's one game that could do the job...


So world, do we need to get any other game apart from Perfect Dark or Gotham? We're not throwing knives at the launch lineup here, we just don't know if any other title is worth our pennies? The other thing I find myself worrying about is whether or not it will stand the test of time against Animal Crossing which we're due to get in the next couple of weeks!?!?!

Guess we'll know soon enough. Enjoy your launch day chaps.

Will The 360 Need HD-DVD? Speculation Frenzy!

Ok its not a massive amount of speculation - just a little.

I've been off work ill for the past few days (hence the lack of updates) and in this time I've done very little - played a bit of Ninja Gaiden and Mario Kart DS and looked forward to the launch of the 360 this Friday.

I have been keeping up with a few bits of news on the internet - one of which set my mind cogs working.

Now, I hear you shout "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT IT LOOKS TOO TECHNICAL GET IT OFF HERE MY HEAD HURTS YOU BASTARD"

Ok calm down dear. It's supposedly Maxell's Holographic Disc format that can hold 300GB of data. Possibly in the future going up to 1.6TB - a TB being a terabyte which is 1,000GB.

My speculation is so - will Microsoft not bother re-releasing the XBox 360 with an HD-DVD drive as people have speculated? Could they instead decide to use the expansion port they use for the Hard Drive to implement some sort of add on as many consoles of the past have?

Look at the Mega-CD - the Satelliview - the Famicom Disk Drive - the ill fated 64DD (probably failing because it sounds like a large ladies bra size)

Could Microsoft instead prevent an uproar of people complaining about having to buy a new version of the machine and instead make some money back on an add-on that could have some sort of media like the Holographic Disc?


They could even offer a contract out - allow many companies to produce HD-DVD addons for the machine that would still provide one generic solution to their storage problem.

Once again remember this is speculation, nothing more. What do you think? I mean I haven't got a machine yet so I could be entirely wrong about the port. But I hope I've raised some interesting ideas and hopes in the machine - why couldn't they use the port for greater things?