The smell I most associate with Christmas is rubber.
It's exactly 25 years this Christmas that this aroma assaulted me upon opening the box that contained my 48K Sinclair ZX Spectrum.
Didn't have any games to play on it over the Christmas period so it was the Horizons tape (by Psion iirc) and some rudimentary attempts at using ZX Basic (and getting used to summoning the keywords via combinations of caps shift and symbol shift.)
Thankfully my geekier side was held in abeyance once the shops reopened and my parents took me to the Fuller shop in Sweeting Street, Liverpool - which was next to a shop selling "marital aids" (don't know why my almost 13 year old brain recorded that fact) and I left with Imagine's Arcadia and a crappy flight sim written in basic.
14 December 2007
10 October 2007
Peggle
How did I get addicted to this? The graphics are utter plop; they look like a VGA DOS game circa 1994!
Because it's bloody good; fiendish yet simple to control!
Peggle Extreme, a cut down, half-life themed (e.g. the unicorn character has a headcrab covering its face) version of the game was given to people who pre-ordered Valve's Orange Box (Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Team Fortress 2, Portal) via their Steam distribution system.
I had a lot of fun with this and as the pre-order also came with an offer of $10+tax for the full Deluxe version, I decided to take them up on this offer.
I installed it, opened it and suddenly it was 3 hours later and way past my bedtime.
I'm actually more interested in playing this, when I get home, than Portal and Half-Life 2: Episode 2! Though I'll try and resist this urge and at least give these games a chance.
There are online playable, downloadable demo and purchasable (about £15) full non-steam versions at http://www.popcap.com/peggle - highly recommended.
Because it's bloody good; fiendish yet simple to control!
Peggle Extreme, a cut down, half-life themed (e.g. the unicorn character has a headcrab covering its face) version of the game was given to people who pre-ordered Valve's Orange Box (Half-Life 2, Half-Life 2: Episode 1, Half-Life 2: Episode 2, Team Fortress 2, Portal) via their Steam distribution system.
I had a lot of fun with this and as the pre-order also came with an offer of $10+tax for the full Deluxe version, I decided to take them up on this offer.
I installed it, opened it and suddenly it was 3 hours later and way past my bedtime.
I'm actually more interested in playing this, when I get home, than Portal and Half-Life 2: Episode 2! Though I'll try and resist this urge and at least give these games a chance.
There are online playable, downloadable demo and purchasable (about £15) full non-steam versions at http://www.popcap.com/peggle - highly recommended.
04 October 2007
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
A rather fun follow up game to both the freebie Return To Castle Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and the Quake series which dropped through my letterbox on Saturday.
I'd downloaded the demo version a couple of weeks previously and even though it had the same mission over and over it looked promising enough for me to shell out a mere £18 on it.
I have a tendency to play the infiltrator classes for both the human GDF and the alien Strogg forces, with a leaning more towards the Stroggs. This class can choose as a main weapon long distance scoped weapons in addition to their spy drones with explosives in them and their ability to steal the identity of a fallen enemy which can then be used to sneak up to a unsuspecting player and stab/shoot them in the back.
People can see how awful I am at it here
I'm just glad it doesn't list the amount of times I've accidentally killed members of my own side including a medic that had just revived me!
06 August 2007
Curtain call...
and lights grow dim.
Tragedy, love all lie within".
"Curtain Call" is definitely one of my favourite songs by The Damned and it's from their fourth album "The Black Album" (1980, Chiswick Records) and, at 17 minutes long, it takes up all of the 3rd side of this double album.
The album was produced by The Damned for the most part but the song "The History of the World - Part 1" was produced by Hans Zimmer, the future Academy Award ("The Lion King"), Grammy ("Crimson Tide") and Golden Globe ("The Lion King", "Gladiator") composer of many, many film scores!
Strangely when Big Beat acquired Chiswick's back catalogue they reissued this album as a single LP lacking my favourite song and the live performances of their earlier songs that they had recorded, in front of their fan club, at Shepperton Studios that were on the 4th side. The live tracks were subsequently released as a separate album with four more songs that weren't on "The Black Album" as "Live Shepperton 1980"
The first reissue of the CD, however, reinstated "Curtain Call" but not the live tracks.
Finally in 2005, the entire double album was remastered and reissued on CD along with nine extra tracks including two versions of their cover of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit"!
The line-up for the album is: Dave Vanian - Vocals; Captain Sensible - Guitars & Vocals; Paul Gray (ex-Eddie & The Hot Rods) - Bass; and Rat Scabies - Drums.
Today this album arrived in the mail as part of my recent urge to stock up on albums by The Damned to replace old vinyl, ancient CDs or merely to get ones that I've never owned before. In the case of this album it was to finally get my mitts on it, as I had not listened to this album for many years as it was my brother who had it back then.
Overall it's not my favourite album by The Damned (which is "Phantasmagoria") but it's got a heck of a lot of good tracks on it. Indeed it's worth it for all 17 minutes and 14 seconds of "Curtain Call"!
Tragedy, love all lie within".
"Curtain Call" is definitely one of my favourite songs by The Damned and it's from their fourth album "The Black Album" (1980, Chiswick Records) and, at 17 minutes long, it takes up all of the 3rd side of this double album.
The album was produced by The Damned for the most part but the song "The History of the World - Part 1" was produced by Hans Zimmer, the future Academy Award ("The Lion King"), Grammy ("Crimson Tide") and Golden Globe ("The Lion King", "Gladiator") composer of many, many film scores!
Strangely when Big Beat acquired Chiswick's back catalogue they reissued this album as a single LP lacking my favourite song and the live performances of their earlier songs that they had recorded, in front of their fan club, at Shepperton Studios that were on the 4th side. The live tracks were subsequently released as a separate album with four more songs that weren't on "The Black Album" as "Live Shepperton 1980"
The first reissue of the CD, however, reinstated "Curtain Call" but not the live tracks.
Finally in 2005, the entire double album was remastered and reissued on CD along with nine extra tracks including two versions of their cover of Jefferson Airplane's "White Rabbit"!
The line-up for the album is: Dave Vanian - Vocals; Captain Sensible - Guitars & Vocals; Paul Gray (ex-Eddie & The Hot Rods) - Bass; and Rat Scabies - Drums.
Today this album arrived in the mail as part of my recent urge to stock up on albums by The Damned to replace old vinyl, ancient CDs or merely to get ones that I've never owned before. In the case of this album it was to finally get my mitts on it, as I had not listened to this album for many years as it was my brother who had it back then.
Overall it's not my favourite album by The Damned (which is "Phantasmagoria") but it's got a heck of a lot of good tracks on it. Indeed it's worth it for all 17 minutes and 14 seconds of "Curtain Call"!
03 August 2007
Then suddenly, like a fly in a cup of tea...
..I'm stirred and no longer free to fly away."
Cheesy lyrics but I love The Damned's album Phantasmagoria and I'm over the moon to finally have a remastered version of it. Album hasn't been available to buy brand new on CD in years so it's great that it's finally available again albeit as a Japanese import.
It comes with replicas of the original vinyl album outer and inner sleeves and the label is used to make it look like a miniature version of the special edition white vinyl album plus it has a fold out lyrics sheet (in Japanese and English)
Favourite track is "Sanctum Sanctorum" which has a lovely atmospheric intro.
Their follow-up album "Anything" is also available and like "Phantasmagoria" has been unavailable on CD for years (apart from people asking £lots for a secondhand copy of it). Can't wait to get that either.
Cheesy lyrics but I love The Damned's album Phantasmagoria and I'm over the moon to finally have a remastered version of it. Album hasn't been available to buy brand new on CD in years so it's great that it's finally available again albeit as a Japanese import.
It comes with replicas of the original vinyl album outer and inner sleeves and the label is used to make it look like a miniature version of the special edition white vinyl album plus it has a fold out lyrics sheet (in Japanese and English)
Favourite track is "Sanctum Sanctorum" which has a lovely atmospheric intro.
Their follow-up album "Anything" is also available and like "Phantasmagoria" has been unavailable on CD for years (apart from people asking £lots for a secondhand copy of it). Can't wait to get that either.
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