Greetings lost traveller! I'm not quite sure how you managed to stumble on the Church Of Blessed Indecision, but since you're here, you may as well pull up a chair and check out my inane ramblings on life, videogames, music and anything else that occupies my mind for a few fleeting seconds before 'the voices' start talking to me again...
Well enough of all this wallowing in self pity! So I can't give you any gaming news? Well what about a load of frankly innuendo-laiden place names? Fantastic! Enjoy!
For a lot of my upbringing reggae was the most important musical genre... Although I spent most of my formative years in an all white Liverpool environment, I aspired to the music of Jamaica.
I had the fortune of meeting King Yellowman at the 'Secrets' nightclub in 1989 in Ocean City, MD.
I've hit him up on youtube some twenty years later, and it is my privelige to share it with you now!
If there's still anyone out there that still checks in on this tumbleweed infested ghost town of a site, let me make my apologies. I've hit a zone of blogging impotence. There's many things I could have talked to y'all about , but gaming aint one of them.
I'm currently slogging my way through GTA IV, and don't get me wrong, I'm loving every second of my time in Liberty City, but it's taken me nearly a month to get through 25% of the game. That's not to say I've devoted all my free time to the game... I haven't! I've been listening to music, watching films, reading books- (Stephen King)- and comics... And I've kind of lost the impetus to blog (and even worse, checking on my blogging buddies blogs!)
Take the Saturn Junkyard for example... I created this blog and it's a creation of which I'm very proud. It's had over a 100,000 hits and has become an international phenomena. But I don't even contribute to it any more! It has it's own independent existence due to the very comprehensive team I recruited to post on it... Props to Caleb, Elend, Nebachadnezzar, Arugulaz etc...
I was originally thrilled to be a contributor on the Dreamcast Junkyard, Retro Treasures and Gnome's Gaming On The Go... But I deserve to be sacked from all those sites 'cos I've produced diddly squat for those esteemed places in months!
Basically I'm in a blogging rut my friends. Even posting this admission has been an effort. I guess I've got writers block, if I'm worthy of blessing myself with a condition that should be attributed to writers of a better calibre...
Anyway I'll leave you with the movie trailer for the latest film I just watched and loved because every piece of written prose needs a good picture to illustrate it...
Because I've been out of the blogging loop completely for the last month, Junlee and J have monopoloised the news on the next game that could make me think that the Wii was a valid purchase. Why it's 'Mad World' that black and white blood bath that seems the most interesting game to hit Nintendo's overly franchised market place since 'No More Heroes'.
I'll buy it and play it, hopefully I'll love it too. The Wii has held such a low place in my console world that I've actually let my son take it out of the living room and have it in his bedroom as an outlet for his Smash Bros obsession.
For me the 360 rules. i'm locked into GTA IV, the Wii means nothing.
Maybe this litle taster from the CVG newsletter that I regularly receive might explain why the Wii is still a valid console for real gamers. It's already lost the race as far as I'm concerned...
"Platinum Games chose Wii as the platform for its ultra-violent, black and white blood bath, MadWorld, because "it feels like a game that is at home" on Nintendo's console. Hmmm...
Speaking to CVG Platinum Games' Atsushi Inaba said the pick up and play nature of the controversial action game made it a good fit for Wii."We're really interested in the Wii platform so we wanted to create a really cool and stylish game for that," said Inaba.
"As you can see [from our Leipzig presentation] it's really easy to pick up and play so when we came up with the concept of Mad World the Wii felt like a good console for that. It feels like a game that is at home on Wii."MadWorld recently riled up a ton of controversy in the newspaper press for bringing extreme violence to Nintendo's otherwise "family friendly" console.
Mediawatch-UK even called for it to be banned from British shores."Yes, it's violent. We don't try to hide that, but as publishers, we see it as a fantasy game - it's fantasy violence. It's over the top. It's cartoony," Sega marketing man David Corless told us added.Refreshing? Yes. Needed? Yes. But is Mad World completely "at home" on Wii? Look out for the full interview later today."
I heard this on one of the Radio stations on GTA4... I used to have it back in the day, but it's long since gone... Probably lent it to someone, that's where a lot of my books, games, DVDs and CDs have gone... I'll be re-purchasing it ASAP!
Sorry to drone on about something you all probably completed/abandoned/got over months ago, but I can't believe how good GTA4 is. Now I know I shunned the excitement of it's release, neglected to even give it a go even though it was sat under my telly for six months and generally bad mouthed the franchise, but if you know me well that's about par for the course.
Whilst I drooled with anticipation for Umbrella Chronicles and I've still not completed it, chewed my nails off waiting for Soul Calibur IV, only to play it intensely for a couple of weeks before losing interest and currently have Smash Bros (purchased by Gaming Ginger Ninja, Big Mart - 14) without even having given it a look, I've just realised why everyone was so stoked about the release of GTA4...
The back story of Niko Bellic and cousin Roman's rise to notoriety, form the backstreets of "Fuckknowswhere, Eastern Europe", to the seedy, stinking, shit lined streets of Liberty City draws you in from the very start. Characters such as Vlad, Dimitri, Faustin, Little Jacob etc seem realistic (in a Gangster B-Movie type of way...)
The free roam 'sandbox' environment (which originally put me off the Vice City incarnation - as my then eight and six year old sons just used to drive around pointlessly smashing up vehicles, but having a wail of a time...) now seems enthralling and liberating at the same time.
Grabbing a quick police chase for no apparent reason at all, and getting away is a great distraction!
I like the health power ups (burger bars and restaurants), shopping for clothes or weapons, watching the TV and whiling away the hours playing pool, darts, watching a show at the cabaret club, playing the tetris style video game, meeting with Michelle or just cruising around listening to the highly entertaining talk radio shows! The music on offer is great (I find myself choosing the Tuff Gong station mostly...) But I also love the linearity of the missions!
In short, it has everything a game should have, in my opinion. It'll take me an age to complete (and there's no garantee it wont be abandoned, as so many other games I've raved about in the early stages have been when the going gets to tough...) If I've got one small gripe, it's the character rendering that look like they could have been better served by the Dreamcast. Compared to the graphically gorgeous setting of Liberty City, Niko et al look very "uncanny valley" if you get my drift...
If you're wondering where I'm up to in the game, I've just killed Faustin and been set up by Dimitri. Fortunately my bredren Little Jacob helped me kill off all Dimitri's henchmen and we wasted the pigs before fleeing... I was just on my ay to the safehouse when my stupid cousin Roman rang me. Then Mrs. K came in from work and I had to turn it off...LOL!
Still, it's got me looking forward to my next session, if Mrs. K is not demanding the TV to watch "Diagnosis Murder" when I get in from work tomorow...
My littlest Ginger, Teduardo, has been messing around in the world of "Spore". he's somehow managed to upload his creation onto Youtube without any help. Not bad for a 10 year old I reckon! So ladies and germs, without any further ado, I give you Dino-pig!
Here's the cover of one I bought in a Head Shop in Canada in 1982, age 15. (I still have it...) Whilst I was initially attracted to the shlock horror visuals on the front( the comic tells the story of serial killer Ed Gein, the original inspiration for Psycho) the comic contained an interview with Bob Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, authors of the epic Illuminatus! trilogy, which in turn 'turned me on' to studying the Illuminati, the politics and work of Timothy Leary and inspired me to try LSD, which I did the same summer (I was tripping at the top of the CN tower in Toronto, but that's another story... LOL!) All these synchronistic events have had a significant ricochet through my life right up to the present day. Weird Trips indeed!
Hello my beautiful friends! I'm back from my three week vacation in the beautiful land of Wales. I took the xbox 360. One day I was watching the Matrix and I just got totally into it for about the twenty seventh time. I went over to the little shop on the caravan park, and they were selling xbox and ps2 games two for £15 (which is kind of a rip off 'cos you can pick 'em up for peanuts over here...) They had 'Enter The Matrix' and 'Max Payne'.
Still, it was the chance to play a Matrix game and the weather this summer in the UK has been shit and I was on holiday and Mrs. K wasn't arriving for a week. I had plenty of gaming time available! So I bought the games. Enter The Matrix wouldn't load up immediately (I didn't have the internet to download the code or whatever). However Max Payne loaded up straight away. I'd played and loved this game on the PS2 (I've got two copies) but got stuck and couldn't progress and like so many games before I'd abandoned it. To cut what is rapidly becoming a long story short, I played the game to it's conclusion and LOVED it! It had every element of a game that should be there for me. To give it the award it deserves it came close to Shenmue. I know that's nearly blasphemy but it's true. What I absolutely loved were the faux series on TV... Lords and Ladies, Dick Justice etc. I love that!
When I finally finished the game, despite having a stack of games I could play, I felt the need to play more Max Payne. I found the sequel in 'Summit Games', Bangor, for the much more realistic price of £4. That saw me through the second week of my holiday... If you've never played Max Payne 1 & 2 you HAVE to play them.
After that I needed something along similar lines. It proved to be GTA4 that has been in my house since it's release date. I'm loving it. I've never played a GTA game but now I literally am Nico Bellic, and Liberty City is my home! I've only played 10% of the game but I love it. I know I'm always behind the times but in this case the lag is not THAT long...
Well I never did resolve my faux pas (see below), so unfortunately there is no happy ending to the sad tale of this week. Still, life goes on and so I've been trying to think of thing to cheer myself up.
The first thing that springs to mind is my family. I've had a really nice day with Mrs. K and my three lovely sons, Joe (16), Marty, (14) and little Ted, (10). My family (extended family and friends) are the best thing in my life, and really, whilst I have them, I'm the luckiest man in the world.
Next, it's you guys out there. Junlee, J, Funnyman, Nebacha, Sonnyboy, Gnome, Koobs, Caleb, BJ, Mikey... (and anyone else I've left out)...You're my virtual penpals. What's so great about our friendships and correspondence is that unlike some of those 'real life' friends out there, we will never fall out or get mixed messages.
Though we can't go out for a beer, or play a few videogames together (with the exception of Nuno!) we aren't going to see each other enough to get into the horrible situation I experienced this week... And believe me, you mean a lot to this old bastard!
Next, I'm going away on holiday for THREE WEEKS tomorrow!!! For those of you who don't know, I have a static caravan in Wales. This is what my friends in the US would call a trailer. A complete vacation 'home from home'. It's on a site in one of the most beautiful parts of the UK, with amazing mountains, beautiful countrysideand a fabulous coastline, historic castles, millenia old megaliths, gorgeous beaches where seals and dolphins swim. And I'm there for three weeks!
I'm taking my 360 and PS2, and Treamcast so there's loads of time for gaming! Then there is this wonderful video (below) that makes me laugh and laugh!
So all in all, the glass is ALWAYS half full, not half empty. Life goes on and good times are always around the corner. I love you my blogosphere bretheren. I'm also taking my laptop away so I'll still be keeping in touch with you all.
About a month ago, my friend from University phoned me up and said he was going to come up and visit me during my vacation. We lived together as room mates for three years, we went to Amsterdam and the Glastonbury festival together, got stoned together and once walked the 25 miles from Manchester to Wigan together, Suffice to say we were tight. I hadn't seen him for like eleven years and I thought that was it.
But when he got in touch I was so pleased. Now we spoke, and he said he was going to come up from London with his son, and stay with me, on what in my mind, was the FOURTH of August. I stayed in all day waiting for him to knock at my house, but he didn't arrive. I tried to find his phone number but couldn't.
I checked my messages, tried to find his phone number on my computer, but could get nothing. I assumed he'd thought better of it. The next day I went out to visit friends, and today went to visit my parents in Liverpool. When I returned home there was a message on my phone to say it was him, he had come up on the FIFTH. I felt so bad.
There were definitely some 'crossed wires' there. I was sure it was the fourth, he must have said the fifth. We hadn't exchanged mobile numbers, I could not find his number, the whole thing was a disaster. I have sat in my house for two weeks nearly, but on the day he came I wasn't there.
He had paid money to come the two hundred miles from London to Manchester, expecting to stay the night with me. I wasn't there. I've tried to phone him to apologise but there is no answer. I feel like a right cunt. It's really got me down and I'm sure thats one more friend from my past that is gone forever. (At Christmas, I fell out with my best friend of 25 years, Godfather to my son Joe and the other guy that lived with me and the one I'm writing about now when we were at Uni.) Twenty years ago we were the three amigos. I think I've managed to erase the final trace of that this week.
Hurrah! I just got Soul Calibur IV today and it's an absolute joy to play... Yoda's even cool and I didn't think I'd particularly like him! In fact he's the character I've used the most both on and offline. Playing online is an absolute blast... I now need my good friend Nebacha to get the game and repeat our epic battles on Virtua Fighter 5, only this time with weapons!
To celebrate my joy, I've decided to post a lot of pictures of my beloved Ivy. If the truth were told, I've spent an unhealthy amount of time 'customising' her outfit this afternoon! LOL! (There's a touch of Funnyman in all of us...)
OK, I'll be honest... I love the tune... Sweet Home In Alabama. It was Lynyrd Skynyrd's response to Neil Young's 'Southern Man'. But let's remember Neil Young's intention.... It was to expose the racism still prevalent (in that region) in the sixties/seventies. (Hell, if we're gonna keep it real in the eighties, nineties and noughties too!)
The response from Lynyrd Skynyrd 9back in the day) was meant to say hey peeps, we're not all like that, and actually we're proud of where we're from!
OK let's fast forward to 2008... Kid Rock, a white rapper from Detroit, has established that he's not going to cut it in the Rap World. This guy has been rapping since the eighties and he wanted to cut it in the world of rap.... mostly (until Eminem) a sole market of black artists.
He's been slowly moving towards representing the white 'rock' market for some time. It may be a shrewd business move on his part, or it may be a cynical move to betray his rap and Detroit roots. In the video, he 'recalls' his eighties summers of listening to Lynyrd Skynyrd by the lake, with white chicks in confederate flag bikinis.
BULLSHIT!!! He was trying to cut it (bravely may be?) in a world of rap, where his black contemporaries were making all the moves. He was probably listening to mix tapes from the hood and trying his best to emulate what he heard....
It distresses me greatly to seeing him selling out in a huge way, to the red-neck audiences that will be lapping this shit up on both sides of the Atlantic. Kid Rock might well become the poster boy for a bunch of white folk that see him bedding Pamela Anderson as being a major achievement and forget the real heroes that inspired him to be a rapper. And more sinisterly see him as being a protagonist for Southern USA bigotry...
I worry that this tune, which is doing hugely well on both sides of the pond, will become a chant for ignorant white peeps. He's undoing all the groundwork made by Eminem and Bubba Sparxx.
What concerns me more is that I've put money into this fucker's pocket, by buying his shit for years. He's such an icon that he's been a Simpson's character and is now a mainstream idol. He's the only white rapper that ever used the n-word in a song... Kid Rock? Fuck you!
I'll sign off by posting a stream of videos which I hope you'll watch... They might bring some context or sense to this rant....
Oh my god! My middle son, Big Mart, has just squealed like a girl from his bedroom! When I went to investigate the cause of said squeal, it seems that Marty's favourite EVER gaming character, Leon. S. Kennedy is back!
Now at this point, I have to say that within my house, Marty is my gaming and Resident Evil soulmate. We've enjoyed the franchise together. He's played the games with me, sometimes completing the harder parts that made me cry like a baby.
Now about 'Leon S' (that's how Marty always referred to him.) When I was playing RE4 Wii Edition downstairs, Marty was playing RE4: PS2 upstairs in his bedroom. Giving me status reports on his progress and posing thought provoking questions like... "Who do you reckon would win in a fight Dad? Leon S. or Ryo Hazuki?" or "Do you reckon Ada Wong could take Jill Valentine?"
I got a bit worried at one point that Marty was a bit gay for Leon S. but I know he just loves the character in a healthy way... *(disclaimer - Father K is not homophobic and feels for consenting same sex couples, homosexuality is as healthy as heterosexuality)- Just not for his sons... *Cough!* LOL!
Anyway, back to the point of the post... I just read this...
"Sony Pictures and CAPCOM(R) Introduce RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION
Fans at San Diego's Comic-Con International Get a Sneak Preview of the All New CGI Animated Feature Film Based on the Popular CAPCOM Video Game Franchise
Last update: 11:26 a.m. EDT July 28, 2008
SAN DIEGO & TOKYO, Jul 28, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Seven years after the destruction of Raccoon City, the war against the zombies rages on in RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION, a co-production of CAPCOM Co., Ltd. (CAPCOM) and Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan Co., Ltd. (SPEJ) based on the popular video game and film franchise. Making its theatrical debut this fall in Japan and coming to DVD, Blu-ray(TM) High-Def and PSP in North America later in 2008, this spectacular, all-CGI animated feature takes the zombie action to a whole new level with its ground-breaking visual effects and thrilling new storyline.
SPEJ and CAPCOM hosted a sneak preview of RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION during a panel and press conference, open to the public, at San Diego's Comic-Con International in San Diego on Friday, July 25 at 1:00 PM P.D.T. in the San Diego Convention Center (Room 2). During this event, producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi (associate producer of Resident Evil: Apocalypse and video game producer of Resident Evil(R) 4 and Devil May Cry(R) 4) and director Makoto Kamiya (special effects director of L: Change The World, Godzilla, Mothra and King Ghidorah: Giant Monsters All Out Attack) presented the worldwide debut of the film's revealing two-minute theatrical trailer and answered questions about RESIDENT EVIL: DEGENERATION.
SYNOPSIS
The "Umbrella Incident" that took place in Raccoon City ended with a missile attack ordered by the government intended to wipe out the deadly zombie virus. Following this catastrophe, the Umbrella Corporation's stock plummeted. This serious blow to the business giant resulted in its complete dissolution. 7 years later, at an airport somewhere in the United States, on an ordinary autumn afternoon, a zombie is unleashed. Now, in an airport beginning to fill with the undead, the horrific disaster is about to repeat itself..."
OK my brothers! I'm at a crossroads right now. I've got five weeks of my beautiful break left, right? So despite the fact that the British summer seems to have arrived, I need to play some games. Yes I've had a few games of House Of The Dead III and Sega Rally on the PC, and yes they were good. But when it comes to console gaming, I'm in a bit of a jam...
You see I've got Umbrella Chronicles, Red Steel and No More Heroes where I'm so close to the finish of the game that I can smell it. But can I get there? NO!!! I'll put the game on, play it and lose. It's an exercise in frustration. For example in No More Heroes, I'm trying to beat the assasin Bad Girl. I play (and this might take an hour) and every time I get my arse kicked. Am I any further in the game? NO!!!
The same could be said of the 'Twin Ivans' in Umbrella Chronicles or the boss 'Tokai' in Red Steel. My gaming prowess does not seem to let me past these levels.
Onto the 360 then. I bought 'Dead Rising' and 'Viking' in May. I flounder around at the start of these games, but at the end of July, I'm no further on than on the day I bought them. So here's my dilemma...
Now most recently, I had the most glorious time playing 'Sword Of The Beserk: Gut's Rage' on the Dreamcast. I started it in June and finished it in June. It was a great experience, a holistic experience and it felt like I'd used my gaming time well.
At the moment, I'm trying to play 'Jet Set Radio' on the Dreamcast. And guess what? I love the game, (I've since bought Jet Set Radio Future on the Xbox and the Japnese soundtrack to both game on CD.) But when I load up the Dreamcast game, as usual, I've reached an impass...
Do I keep beating my head against a brick wall or do I just seek closure?... There is an absolute plethora of unfinished games I have awaiting me in my house. Let's just reference them for a moment...
Virtual Cosole? Comix Zone, Shinobi III, Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time. PS2? Kingdom Hearts, Max Payne. Dreamcast? Head Hunter, Resident Evil: Code Veronica, Blue Stinger, HOTD 2. GBA? Legend Of Zelda: A Link To The Past, Ecco The Dolphin, Golden Axe. Saturn? Virtua Cop 1 & 2, HOTD 1, Casper.
I've enjoyed completing games recently... Let's take look... 360... Bioshock, Shenmue II, COD4, Area 51. Wii? RE4. Dreamcast? SWOB: GR, RE2 and RE3. PS2 Enter The Matrix, Matrix Path Of Neo. DS? Resident Evil .
Should I just trade my non-starters in and buy another game? Soul Calibur 4 is out in the UK in a matter of days... Or do I just keep all those non-finished titles (like I do with my Dreamcast collection) and wait for the day when I'm up for completing?.... Help me out brothers, I need your sage-like advice!
Apparently this is a 'Cosplay' (as in a person dressed like someone from a game.) I've no idea what game this young lady is trying to replicate and quite frankly I don't care. It's nicked straight from J's site and I am becoming somewhat obsessed by the image. I won't tell you what he said, but I massively concur. Enjoy!!! (I could be wrong, I'm not focusing too much on her nose, but could that be a little coke residue on her nostril?) I'm just imagining the scene right now... Snort this, stick the beret on and bend over... LOL!
Well so far this holiday I've been watching some great movies. So far it's been Star Wars Episode III, the Matrix, TMNT (surprisingly good!) and at the moment the most excellent A Scanner Darkly. I couldn't even begin to explain the plot. It's basically a cautionary tale of surveillance, totalitarian government, narcotic abuse, drug induced paranoia and so on.
Originally penned by ace Science Fiction writer Philip K. Dick, this film is both visually stunning (due to it's cell shaded trippy visuals) and brilliantly acted by Keanau Reeves, Woody Harrelson , Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jr. amongst others...
Lord knows what watching this film under the influence of substances would do to your neural cortexes! LOL!
On more sober and sobering trip, watching the DVD "Zeitgeist" was a massive jolt of reality that shook me up somewhat. I've known about this horrifying agenda for some time, but the DVD wraps it all up and presents it so succinctly that it gave me shivers and made the hairs on my neck stand up. My littlest son Ted, has the full name Edward 'David Icke' Early, because of my ultimate respect for an individual that has tried to bring this agenda to our attention for the last fifteen years.
I urge you, nay compel you, to click on the links above. It's massively important that you know about the agenda unfolding before your eyes. It's scarier than what was happening in Nazi Germany in 1933. In fact if it's more dangerous than that, because instead of affecting one country or one race, it's the same agenda affecting the world and all it's people.
I'm preaching right now, but I'm entitled to! I'm a Reverend and a Father! Take heed bretheren! For the hour is close at hand...
OK, it's the second day of my holiday and things have turned out great! First of all I ran out of beer tonight and I was at a loss to know what to do.... The shops were shut and things looked grim... Then a quick search on google turned up this.... Crateman! He delivered beer to my door for a reasonable sum at an unreasonable hour....
Next up was the amazing House Off The Dead III on PC. This is a franchise I've folllowed both on consoles (the Saturn and the Dreamcast) and also in arcades...
I've never experienced it's third incarnation on a home console until today... I've spent many a pound playing it in arcades with the pump action shotgun peripheral though... My middle ginger Marty bought me it for Christmas and I finally loaded it up onto my laptop, and got very close to completing it!
It's a killer port! The best PC game I've ever experienced... I look forward to completing it! As I mentioned over at the Saturn Junkyard just recently, PC ports seem easier to play...
Anyway, apart from Marty almost being mugged by a former pupil of mine, life looks pretty good. On the subject of that little prick, obviously being shot in the leg hasn't put him off a life of crime. So I'm going to pay him a visit and bang the little turd out. Hopefully some kind words from the Father might make him re-think his life choices. Hey ho! Let's see how hard he is when he deals with a man instead of a boy...
I've just nicked the following statement from the excellent CVG News letter that I have somehow managed to have posted to me on a regular basis. Lord knows it's difficult enough to bring you any exclusive gaming news without my beautiful contemporaries, Junlee, Funnyman or J bringing it to you first, but I think I may have been quick enough to bring you this... As usual, as it is not my words, I'll quote them in the customary maroon...
"Resident Evil 5 is coming to Wii, apparently. But it's not Nintendo or Capcom that let it slip. It was the president of Sega of America, Simon Jeffrey.
Discussing Nintendo's focus on the core gaming market, Jeffrey said: "The Wii's selling incredible amounts of hardware, but Nintendo knows it needs to expand the demographic. It needs to connect with the core gaming demographic."
He then added: "Resident Evil 5 - when that happens on the Wii that's going to help."
We scrambled for the phone to speak with Capcom who's 'funny' spokesperson gave us this comment: "We have nothing further to announce regarding Resident Evil 5 at this time," adding, sarcastically: "Did you hear about the Sonic MMO, though, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, DS and Megadrive? And they're bringing back the Dreamcast! Because it was brilliant."
Jeffrey insists the shocking statement during the Kotaku interview was a "simple slip of the tongue", and Reggie says Resi 5 isn't happening "yet". Still, makes you wonder what Sega may know that we don't..."
Pretty cool huh? As someone who has experienced every Resi game on a variety of consoles from the Saturn, Dreamcast, PS2, Gamecube, DS and Wii, I have to say that my best ever RE experience was RE4 on the Wii...
So if this is true, I'm torn between enjoying the graphical splendour of the 360 and the intuitive control system of the Wii. Capcom aren't daft... They want to make as much money as possible from their next Resi installment. 360 owners and PS3 owners will buy this title on the day of release. They know Wii owners will be gagging for more after RE4, RE 0 (Japan only) and Umbrella Chronicles... If they release it on Nintendos finest, it'll be more money in the bank.
Ah here I am on a Tuesday afternoon at 5:30, with a lovely can of Strongbow in my hand and Alice Cooper's dulcit tones ringing in my ears...
Yes it's that most wonderful time of the year, the summer holidays!!! Going from full time education into the teaching profession, (with a couple of gap years in between ,) I've never worked properly in the month of August, EVER!
Sure there were summer jobs in the candy store in Ocean City Maryland or the year I laboured on a building site in the Roman city of St. Albans (yes I'm that old!!! LOL!) But they never felt like work.
So it's six weeks of chilling out, drinking beer, watching DVDs and playing games!!! HA!!
So hopefully I'll be able to blog a bit more too! For the latest news on my class look here...
You know, I was always a big champion of white rappers. As the music genre that was my favourite for many years, I was thrilled when the likes of TheBeastie Boys, 3rd Bass, Kid Rock and so on joined the hallowed hall of fame occupied by such amazing rap pioneers as Grandmaster Flash, TheSugar Hill Gang, Kurtis Blow and Run DMC. It proved to me that dorky white guys could be as cool and happening as their black contemporaries.
I've since posted here about MC Tunes, Eminem, House Of Pain, La Coka Nostra, Bubba Sparxx and so on.
Now with one fell swoop the phenomenon of the white rapper has just been put back twenty years. I IMPLORE you to watch this it is STUNNING! I'm actually beginning to think this kid has talent! Simply the funniest thing I've seen or heard in ages!
I stumbled across this picture on the internet whilst bored. Suffice to say I stopped being bored immediately. I'm SO looking forward to this game, my interest fuelled largely by the great Junlee and his legacy of snippets and teasers. In fact I'm looking forward to this more than Soul Calibur 4.
This is simply because of how great the game looks visually and my love, since childhood of everything to do with DC comics. (I was always DC rather than Marvel.)
Now we've got Catwoman looking HOT!!! I hope I have the money to buy this on the day of release...
One of my favourite artists in the world, Noel Gallagher, has jumped on the "games promote violence" bandwagon, in an interview with BBC Radio One's Newsbeat programme.
I seriously love this guy's music, have all their LPs and have seen them in concert three times.
But when he spouts ill informed opinion like this, I want to hold my head in my hands and cry.
The frankly grim rise in knife crime in the UK is due to bad social conditions, poverty, poor education, entrenched gang attitudes in inner cities and a shitty government that has done very little to address any of the above in it's 11 years in office. A government which Mr. Gallagher was very happy to endorse back in 1997 by the way.
Here's his comments in full:
'Oasis' Noel Gallagher has blamed violent videogames as one of the reasons for the knife crime problem among Britain's youth.
Speaking to BBC Newsbeat, the song writer said that violent games desensitise kids from crime, which is "really, really scary," he said."I was up in Liverpool for a week a couple of weeks ago and even on the news there it's every single night," said Gallagher.
"In my day, status was trying to be somebody, do you know what I mean, not trying to kill somebody."People say it's through violent video games and I guess that's got something to do with it", he suggested.
"If kids are sitting up all night smoking super skunk and they become so desensitised to crime because they're playing these video games, it's really, really scary.""I don't even know what Cameron or Gordon Brown are going to do about it," he added.'
FK's Opinion? Noel... You're talking through your arse.
Well I've been very quiet here lately (as I have been on all my blogs.) Thank you all for still popping by...
The truth is I have had no videogame news to tell, as I'm still grinding round the streets of Tokyo-to on my rocket powered roller skates. Yep I'm still plugging away at Jet Set Radio and haven't touched my Xbox or Wii since May.
So what can I tell you about? Well first of all there is www.glassgiant.comwhich is a fun bit of a site where you can do silly bits of photo-shop type stuff with ease. It's where I did the Elderly wanted poster and the FK Hollywood sign which now graces the side bar.
I've just finished the best book I've read in ages, Stephen King's'The Stand'. The tale of a government made plague ravaging the US and basically wiping out 99% of the population, King is a master story teller and the book has just kept me enthralled for all of it's 1300+ pages. Just before I finished it, I discovered that it had been made into a King scripted mini-series in the mid nineties. I bought the DVD off eBay and it's an excellent adaptation of the book. I've only watched the first part (there's four) but I'm going to get through it all this weekend (and continue on my JSR odyssey!)
Then there's work, which has contributed to my depleted blog output. For those of you who don't know, I'm a teacher, working in primary school (5-11 year olds) in inner city Manchester. My school is situated in my neighbourhood of Moss Side, famous (or infamous) in England for being full of guns, drugs and gangs.
Therefore, as you might imagine, we have (amongst the vast majority of good kids) a few bad apples. Kids who are seriously fucked up and whose behaviour is really bad. Some of them have mental health problems, psychological problems and some are just bad to the bone! That's where I come in. I've specialised in behaviour management for seven of the sixteen years I've been a teacher. My official job title is 'Lead Behaviour Professional' and usually I float around the school addressing incidents of confrontational and antagonistic behaviour, moving from class to class and supporting kids that are falling apart.
Phew! I've never got that deep or personal before have I? Well what I was saying, in a very round-about-sort-of-way, was that I've had that role taken away from me. For the three weeks remaining in school before the summer holidays, I've been given a class to take full time. This class has been falling apart, because they've been shat on by their teachers for the last two years. Both teachers, the one they had last year and the one they had this year, are on 'long term sick leave'. Neither one is actually ill, both are playing the 'sick' card, which within the English system, means that they can both receive six months full pay, as long as they've got a doctor gullible enough to sign them off.
OK! Where has that left the children? Well basically, fucked. These kids have little consistency or stability in their home lives. They need those two things when they come to school. It's been taken away. They are moody, depressed, volatile and fragile by equal measures. They fight (and I mean FIGHT) at the drop of a hat. They can't learn because they are constantly 'dissing' each other. Typical comment? "Go suck yer mum!" Charming isn't it?
So I'm with the 32 of them trying to educate and impart basic social skills for the whole school day. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a tough gig. This week, I abandoned the curriculum and we did 'Superhero Week'. We spent a week looking at Spiderman, Batman, Wonderwoman, the X-Men and so on. It all led up to them thinking up their own Superhero and writing about them for 45 minutes.
It worked! They wrote good stuff! Last week they couldn't even sit together and this week they sat in silence (listening chill out tunes) and produced work that was really, really good! On Monday I take 30+ of the 11 year olds camping for three days, and I get to escape the class from hell.
Spending three days away from home has never looked so appealing LOL!
Usually, my long posts fail to pull in the comments. If you want to hear more of my school life I'll tell you. I could do an entire blog about it. If not, it'll be business as usual. You decide!
Could such a stunning piece of creation come from the fingers of a mere mortal? When I woke up this morning to discover this work of art had been fashioned over at the Artworks, I was dancing around like a fool.
Deitrix has already forever marked the Wiikly sermons and SJY with his work, as can be seen by the black and white portrait of your's truly that resides in the sidebar. Incredibly, that was done without him ever having laid eyes on my ugly mug.
However, this new portrait is actually taken from my Cyprus wedding 'pimp' photo. Now I ask you.... How can he make me look SO good when a camera cannot? How many people in the world have actually got a portrait of themselves? in the past that was reserved for noblemen, lords, dukes and dare I say, kings.
Well I feel like a motherhumping king today, I can assure you of that. I'm getting it printed off and framed!!!! It will be a record of me in my prime that my kids can keep forever. I'm actually shedding fucking tears as I write this.
Words cannot express my gratitude and humility in the face of the mighty Deitrix. Make sure you go and check out the Artworks right now!
First of all apologies to BJ, Funnyman and anyone else who hate my music posts (or the music I post.) Having been inspired by Junlee's latest musical offering, (the very excellent Twista retro rap odyssey) I thought I'd hit my dwindling audience with a slice of early nineties NY hip hop.
3rd Bass were the first serious white rappers (although one third of the outfit was black!) on the rap scene. At the time, Kid Rock was unheard of outside Detroit, the Beastie Boys were considered something of a comedy/novelty act - although that changed with the release of the excellent "Paul's Boutique" - Vanilla Ice had rejected a recording offer from Public Enemy's Chuck D, in favour of becoming a cartoon pop star and Manchester's own MC Tunes was unheard of outside of the UK.
The above track is from the seminal "Derelicts Of Dialect" LP and features a very catchy slice of Peter Gabriel's "Sledge Hammer" as the hook. Seriously under-rated and sadly, largely forgotten, I loved these guys...
Oh my god! Having ponced about all over the next generation, going "Oooohhh! Aren't these graphics lovely?..." and "Wow! These motion controls are really cool!" I've just given Jet Set Radio on the Dreamcast a proper play and I'm in love...
Dreamcast June was a little idea I came up with over at one of my favourite hang outs, the PDC Forum. Of course, way back in May it was just a concept. I had no intention of having a Dreamcast only month, but I was painfully aware that my Dreamcast was gathering dust and that with my whopping Dreamcast software collection finally sorted, there were loads of games that I'd spent the Krishna family budget on, that I'd only dipped into, or more criminally never played.
However, after messing about on Crazy Taxi and falling in love with Soul Calibur all over again, playing Manchester United with Sheffield Wednesday (and beating them hands down) on Sega World Wide Soccer 2000 (Euro Edition) and then completing Sword Of The Berserk (Gut's Rage) I realised that Dreamcast June was actually a good idea...
Therefore, I've not touched the Wii or the 360 for over two weeks... All of my unfinished and unexplored games on those consoles remain in that state. I nearly cracked on Monday though, fancying a little dabble on Viking or a little zombie dispatching on Dead Rising...
Or maybe I should have completed No More Heroes? After all I was about to waste the number two assassin... *(note to self... "Were you really? I thought you'd tried to loads of times and kept getting your sorry arse kicked all over the show...)*
But no! My resolve stayed strong and I picked out the original cell shaded epic for my gaming pleasure... Jet Set Radio!
Now here is a game that I've dabbled with in the past. Usually that means completing the tutorial and even once completing the first level, but I never really understood the game or got any good at it.
Well all that's changed. I'm two thirds of the way through Garam's challenge after completing three levels. I'm fucking in love!! What a game! The graphics, the gameplay, the soundtrack!!! Fan-fucking-tastic!!!!
Now if you want to know more about it please click on this link...
For now I'll just state that this has been one of my gaming highlights this year. There is so much Dreamcast goodness that I've only ever played in a half arsed fashion, or more ashamedly, not at all...
Here's a little video to make you all go and play it. Right now! (BTW... What should I play on the Dreamcast next? Answers on a postcard please...)
This month I've left the current gen behind and I've been rediscovering the joys of the Dreamcast. What a truly stunning console and what fabulous games. This month has regailed me with the joys of Soul Calibur, Crazy Taxi, Daytona USA 2001, Sega World Wide Soccer 2000 (Euro Edition) and Tee Off Golf. I've also completed the rather excellent cinematic adventure, Sword Of The Beserk (Gut's Rage).
Here's a little video montage to remind us all of how great the DREAMCAST was/is...
The good folks over at Game Cabaret, a sterling site collectively created by our dear friends Gnome and Guttertalk, tend to look at the topical and more adult themed sideof gaming. I received this article by email this morning. It reminds us of the old quandry that the much anticipated (by me especially) RE5 carries with it... You may remember this article that myself, Gnome, Elderly and J all posted about back in the day.
The setting of RE5 in Africa and the idea of a white 'hero' gunning down scores of black 'bad people' (in this case Zombies) was seen as a rather unsavoury image, particularly when recalling the colonial actions of European countries and the subjugation of native peoples by Europeans in the not too distant past.
This led to several people postulating that it might be a good idea for Capcom to rethink it's setting or change the game's content. The article concedes that Capcom developers were not being intentionally racist, but that they had not perhaps sensitively thought of the way in which black gamers or consumers might receive the games imagery. Thus the game might still be responsible for an unintentional form of racism - racist none-the-less. I'll leave it with you...
Here's the rather excellent article, by Guttertalk, reproduced in full. Oh and don't forget to explore the wonderful Game Cabaret further, there's a lot of great posts which deserve a read!
"After charges of racism, the Resident Evil 5 team made no changes to the game. Anyone who works in the U.S. for a company of almost any size has probably had training on sexism in the workplace. The point that is made time and time again [as I have had about 4 of these sessions at different places] is that sexism is not a matter of intent but of perception. Argue with that if you want, but that is the definition.The point is that it is not up to the speaker to decide what is sexism but the victim. So does this logic apply to other forms of prejudice. And there is a simple explanation for this perspective: it is possible for us to speak or act in a way that is offensive even though we might not mean it as such. But ignorance does not cut the prejudice to a less harmful dosage. It is simply then unintentional racism.
For example, years ago, I was at a small party of about 25 people in Indiana. There's one who has smoked and drinked a bit, so he's talking loudly and says something about a "porch monkey." The party was almost entirely white. Almost. Two black men were there and became irate. The woman hosting the party talked to them, aware of their anger and then went to the guy and explained that he had been offensive. I believed the guy when he said he had no idea that "porch monkey" was a prejudiced term . . . he thought it just referred to yard statues. He wasn't even aware of the black men or talking about them. He apologized profusely. The black men accepted it, although they were amazed that someone would claim to be so ignorant. It was a clear tale of different experiences for it is possible for some to speak and behave in a biased way without knowing the meaning behind it. I doubt that the Capcom team intended racism. But it's the context and perspective of the victim that matters. Sure, white guys get killed in games all the time. It doesn't matter if no one said anything about Latinos getting shot in other games.
There were ways to address the issue without throwing the game to wayside and starting over. For them to disregard the complaints is a worse action, one done not ignorance but in purposeful defiance. The original charge of racism against Resident Evil 5 seems no different than Sony's "white is coming" ad.But their response would be, thus, be the same if Sony hadn't pulled the ad but stayed with that campaign. I honestly don't believe that Jun Takeuchi is racist, but I think the game's racist perceptions are valid.
I also think it's mistake to judge racism by claiming that it wasn't intended. We know that racism is often expressed in coded but ambiguous terms. I've seen it in play, learning that "welfare" and other terms are loaded, with a wry smile or subtle expression to convey the real meaning. We've seen the "dog whistle" messages at work in the U.S. this campaign season. Whether we like it or not, the victims get the first right of refusal, however inconvenient that may be to some. This is the price of history, which can't be conveniently wiped away within a generation and after happy-happy-joy-joy political speeches."
Well I'm getting lazier and lazier... Here's some lovely screenshots from the best game yet to happen.... Resident Evil 5 (apart from the re-release of Shenmue on the Wii...)
The Neverending Betrayal at House on the Hill
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With the release of the Widow's Walk expansion I and my beloved boardgaming
(also, you know, proper) friends decided to return to *Betrayal at House on
th...
Killzone 2 Preview
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Killzone 2 will be the sequel to the original lackluster title Killzone on
the PlayStation 2. Do not be lulled into believing that the sequel will be
as ab...
Film review: Batman v Superman: Dawn of justice
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[image: Batman v Superman: Dawn of justice | Random J blog]
I went into *Batman v Superman* with no expectations. I had not watched any
of the trailers, I ...
Plans for icekoobs.com
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The web address is going to be directed at another page. Not yet but soon.
I have to do do a portfolio for an assignment. Which is great for me as I'm
kill...
Hi, yall!
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So, this is kinda pointless since by now every single one of you already
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make it ...
Prince of Persia review (PS3, Xbox 360)
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When we saw the last Prince of Persia game titled Prince of Persia: The Two
Thrones on a console, it was approximately three years ago. With this
latest en...
Here's the rather excellent article, by Guttertalk, reproduced in full. Oh and don't forget to explore the wonderful 
