my reviewing stopped about 4 months ago when i changed jobs to work in a cafe, so now i work 9-5 what a way to make a living! its one of the best decisions I’ve ever made even though it meant leaving a a very very good friend in a bad place which hopefully he will get out of very soon, luckily with my new job and his soon to be new job we will be able to have an even better friendship.

anyway my aim tonight was to upload my climbing video that i made which was one of the most fun things I’ve done to do with this blog,unfortunately wordpress charges rather a lot to upload a video so I’ve just decided to write instead.

the last note of my final wordpress blog is that i will be moving all my blogs and tweets and reviews to possibly the greatest thing that ever happened in a small house on moss road on a wednesday……. the wednesday night thing! all my blogs will be stored to the new WNT website which should hopefully be up and running by october, it will be easier to navigate and much more frequently updated (unless work gets in the way)
and we will be reviewing as much as possible on our own site.

to find out more on the WNT please follow
@wednightthing on twitter
or myself
@robmiller87
both feeds will be updating when the site is ready and when the launch will be.

lastly thank you very much for reading my useless blog for the past year or so, I’ve really enjoyed writing it and getting back into music, films and apps i love and I’m going to enjoy it even more being able to write about it all with my best friend and co founder of the wednesday night thing ben or @benphillips22

anyway its good night from me on this account and i hope you folio my meaningless blabber on the wednesday night thing website soon

thankyou
rob

ps. this will probably get redirected to there any way so you’ll get stuck with me

Straight too it tonight with simple physics. Very similar to bridge basher and doodle bridge but now with extras. You have to build your design under a budget to a specific weight or load category. It’s very new so there’s not to many levels to start off with but I think in next few weeks therell be plenty of updates.

It great fun to play and a real “come back and try to do it better”. A good 7 out of 10 here for me.

Next up an app that’s been out a few weeks and is getting higher and higher in the top 25. Tiny wings. I say higher and higher but it will never match the mighty angry birds that’s now teamed up with a feature film. (Rio)

The aim is to get your tiny bird with equally tiny wings do fly over the islands sliding across the hills and plains. You can’t get any easier as of gameplay as all you need is one finger. Push down to descend and gain speed on the hills and go for as far as you can before the night falls and the game ends. The physics are very clever and effective. If you press to early or too late you kill all your speed that you accumulate over your game.

Another great feature is it’s connected to game centre, the iPhones equivalent to your xbox lives gamer score. So you can check how your friends are doing against your score

All in all I like it. Saying that id never buy a an app that i didn’t like the look of But there has been quite a few that I liked the look of and hated. Any way back to that silly little bird it’s easily a 6 out of ten. The only reason it’s not any higher is I can see it getting very boring very quick. Not something i like.

Next up. A great looking game. Graphically for a iPhone game it’s fantastic and coming at a time were the sport is popular and using a now tried and tested gameplay level how can it fail. Obviously it’s flick golf.

It’s a great game and extensive with three game types. All around the same style of gameplay with the “flick” style of playing the longer and faster you swipe across the screen the further your ball will travel. Once the balls in the air you can change it’s course by adding spin (tiger woods style)

The gameplay it’s self is great. There isn’t really a learning curve but the difficulty does increase. At the moment I’m stuck but i will complete it even if it kills me.

A great app overall. Looks great feels great. Plays great and I’ll keep on playing for a long while. A well deserved 9 out of 10

Lastly and unfortunately the most unplayed app of the week is mensa (after playing it im not even sure if that’s spelt right) it’s good but … It makes me feel stupid and I don’t like that. Ill not give it a full review tonight because I’ve not used it enough but it looks slick and and who knows maybe with practice I’ll be a clever person! (according to the app).

That’s all for this week. Next week who knows. I’ll dig around the app store for my most and least favourite apps of the week.

Thanks for reading (by the way the app that is waiting to be updated is my wordpress app ironically)

Night everyone

Rob x

First up. An app I’ve only got tonight which is called spout. A social networking app that brings all your news feeds and timelines together. Infusing flashy videos and fonts together in flowing piece of media to read your friends boring status updates with added splendour.

The apps called spout.

It’s easy to use and easy to set up and the flash vids work brilliantly. Facebook and twitter work great together with this and the twisting and turning screen really suits the app.

Next up flow paper. If your bored use it too make your new home screen paper. It takes seconds and you can create countless amounts of them. Just look at these

They look smokey and odd and when you make them they look real and like they are moving.

Last up it’s a classic that’s being reduced in price for a good cause. Street fighter iv. It’s a gorgeous piece of gaming remade in handheld format. With Bluetooth multiplayer and endless amounts of tournaments you can hadooken to your hearts content.

That’s it for tonight thanks for reading folks. By the way it’s for the tsunami fund when you buy street fighter.

Cheers.

Bob

It’s a crappy time of the year this week for singles but with one special band saying something on their website it got a whole lot better. This band are now know to release their albums in obscure ways after the last album was up for download via their site with a “pay what you want” pricetag aswell as the discbox version Which was 2 vynals and 2 CDs aswell as a box of artwork. The band of course are Radiohead and on Monday they told the world that their new album “the kings limbs” will be out on the 19th of Feb just five days after they let on that the album would be coming out at all.

I’m a huge Radiohead fan so it’s possibly the greatest thing to happen on a lonely valentines day. Im very very excited about it im trying to work out what it will sound like but I suppose the beauty off the band releasing it just five days after the press release there is no journalists that will have it before me! I have spent the 33 engish pounds for the newspaper version because I was like a child when my discbox turned up and I’m sure I’ll be the same this time too!

Any way as a game review takes most of my blogging space up I better get on with it.

TDU2 – Eden games -released 11th Feb 2011.

After a good few years with no news and plenty speculation about a new test drive game the franchise is back with test drive unlimited 2 supposably bigger and better than the first which was excellent. The new game boasted 2 islands Ibiza and hawaii aswell as much more available in the world of online game-play and customisation and…..an online casino. I got the game on Friday and have played pretty much none stop apart from stopping for beer, nicotine breaks, sleep, work and the occasional bite to eat. Starting of on release day was great as the game is always online and other people drive the streets with you. It was an odd moment as I was driving to the driving school and 6 mustangs and 2 lancias were driving the same road! It dose start slow with the early cars but the game play is still great the “F.R.I.M” ( free roam instant money) part of the game is great going of your speed, jumps, drifts and close calls with traffic, it’s almost a game of how big are your balls pushing yourself to dive faster and closer to traffic and drift further and harder untill you progress to the pinical that is level 10 FRIM. I have managed to do this once but most of the time I wuss out at 1,000 dollars and bank it then.

There’s 3 classes of cars now (but no bikes) classic, dirt, and asphalt. Each class is spilt up too to keep the racing close. The car list is huge and with download packs to come there be many more for people to buy. Ranging from the already mentioned mustang, the citroen 2cv (the slowest car ever), middle range cars like the alfa Brera, the audi q7 for your dirt challenges and topping out at the peak of all cars the Bugatti veyron grand sport (oh and the new maclaren is in there to Which is rather sexy!)

There’s still plenty to do if you don’t want to do the challenges though with photography modes, were you take pictures of the islands at certain points of the day with certain weather. There’s the wreckages littered about the island 10 in each area.

On that note I cannot forget about the casino. It’s got poker, roulette, slots and a race around the island in a tt v10. It’s fun but in the early days it seems to be plagued by bugs. It’s still fun to bump up your money with or blow it all on red or that pair of Kings you thought would come up trumps. I can’t forget about the joy of just driving around the island and the picturesque views as you blast along the costal roads discovering hairdressers tuning shops and clothes shops along the way.

On to the nerd factor: graphically it is good not the best out there but good for the size of the game. It’s also very annoying at times because of lag issues and it dose have the odd bug but I’m Sure all those will be resolved in due time with an update.

Any way it’s scores on the doors time and the overall conclusion on my first week on TDU2. I’m enjoying it at the minuet while I’m finding things new every few miles. I’d love it if the casino was working properly but as I said I’m sure it will all get sorted in due time. The game gets a solid 7 out of 10 for now untill the niggly bits get fixed but give it a go it’s a very very good game and if you havent played test drive unlimited you’ve never lived!

On another note before I put this blog to bed my best friend is coming home in less than 3 weeks I’m expecting the best WNT’s to be happening and there’ll be plenty of blogs and pictures to go with it!

Thanks for reading
Rob
X

I suppose I better chunner on about my months really. It was Christmas it came and went then it was new year that disappeared really quickly. Now it’s the end of January and things are looking up, climbing is still an obbsession and with new Walls popping up everywhere it’s a great time for the sport especially as the new Liverpool wall is employing the new British ladies bouldering champion.

I havent really been out to be fair I’ve just sat around on my arse or in the delph feeling sorry for myself so this week I made a plan with a damn good friend to go out on a “date night” treat her to flowers and wine drinks and food and a film. The flowers and wine went out the window after I set off late. But I still got there which was a surprise! Nice food went out the window quickly nandos was planned that failed as it was packed as was frankie and bennys and chiqitos but they did provide a bucket of raspberry margarita for the lady. There I decided to book the tickets for the film. Via the newly installed VUE cinemas app.

The app is great using gps to give you a location of your nearest VUE cinema. Trailers for films are available with times and dates for the cinema you’ve selected aswell as as the booking feature that only took me 3 or 4 mins with my poor 3G connection.

We retreated to KFC for the food of chavs. The night had suddenly resorted to Chav date night instead of posh date night (I’d even contemplated on driving very quickly on the way home while playing “russian donk music” or some 90′s mashed his before doughnutting around a local supermarket carpark)

Finally the film. Black swan starring Natalie portman as “Nina” (Oscar nominated) after the first 30 mins I really wasnt involved I was concentrating on the first 20 mins of trailers trying to remember the name of the film with wallberg and bale “the fighter” which I must see. After that though I was in and I was in deep. Portman played the role very well. Really pulling the heart out of you at points. It did have it’s light points were the room did laugh but it did it whittley in a very clever way.

The score of the film was fantastic the majority of it was from swan lake but sections were adapted to fit the film with the adaptations working brilliantly.

Each scene was perfectly made and actors and actresses alike played the roles with every ounce of there being. Even in parts with the “masturbation” and the incredibly cringe worthy scene that I will not dwell on are perfectly made.

I’ll stay away from the ending as I really want people to see it but it’s ahead breaker. I loved everything after 10 minuets in it deserves every award it gets and I’m sure it will get many and if portman Dosnt get it then she has been robbed!

Go and watch it now everyone.

Well that’s this month done and dusted. Guinness is still my tipple and tonight I’ve been driving with the SHM continual mix on (still with 40 mins to go) my aim is to see the fighter and 127 before the oscars and social network we shall see and listen to some new albums.

Thanks for reading everyone
I’ve really enjoyed writing this blog.
Night all!

It’s been a pretty amazing year in music for me and for a lot of other people. With returns of bands like the delays, pendulems third album, BRMC’s huge step back into recording and the second album for foals to just name a few.

2011 looks like it wont disappoint either with debuts from Nero, chase and status’ second release and many many other bands to follow. Hopefully there’ll be plenty new talent to appear on the scene aswell. If this years anything to go by dubstep will be on a new level. Unless “suqealchy” wobbly baselines get a bit boring.

Back on to this year though. There’s been some epic albums and that’s what I’ll be talking about for now. Records that have really appealed to me in the past 12 months. I’ve tried to look at them as LP’s not just song after song as over the past few years the album has almost become obsolete (thanks to the beauty of iTunes and the usual downloading sites that “de-bundle” a LP).

For me there hasn’t been many albums that have completely stood out as full on mind blowing pieces of music, like from years gone by albums such as darkside of the moon, and melon collie and the infinite sadness or OK computer ( the list is endless) but this year there has been a couple of very very good full albums that i have really enjoyed. Some of them have been obscure that I would never really listen to or entertain. Like Delphic, I didn’t really enjoy the singles when I first heard them but they grew and grew. Plan b’s the deformation is a complete change for him and a blast into the mainstream that i wasn’t sure would work but as a piece of music it is unbelievably good.

looking over the 12 months at albums and trying to come up with my favourite album has been rather hard. The 2 albums I’ve mentioned already were great but there was defiantly one stand alone album that i keep going back to and that to me is a great album like the XX last year it didn’t really leave my iPod. Track by track it is fantastic it brings power and brings back my Love for the band relistening to albums i havnt touched in years. Reading the story of recording the album was amazing. A tough process for all members but a return for form.

But that’s just a teaser. As I said there’s lots of good albums. Plan b, foals, BRMC, delays, Delphic, bullet for my valentine, deaftones, Gorilaz. There’s just too many to many mention. They were diffinatly the stand alone albums for me the nominations if you will, but there was one stand alone winner. That I’m still listening to now

It’s head and shoulders above the rest and will be probably breaking my headphones well into the next year untill the next ALBUM OF THE YEAR and it has to be….…

The deftones -diamond eyes. It’s a return to form. It’s amazing. Buy it now! The stand alone album of the year by far!

Yet it’s all for a good cause. My passion is being rekindled but my passion for music is still there. So forgetting about my week let’s head on with this weeks #dailydownload blog!!! (yes it’s last weeks but you had a spotify playlist so shush!)

I stared this daily Download in a odd frame off mind things were changing fast so I needed something that would just settle my mind this was the song I needed!

Muse-hyper condriac music – hullabaloo. The song is a part 2 to the original single, wich was a double A side along with feeling good. The track has more colour and feel it’s almost breaths. The anger in matts voice is huge has he powers the line “I won’t love you/I never will” muse at their best

BIG DUB!! WTF & deadprez – it’s bigger than a hip hop. This is a release from everything for me it hits hard!!! I heard it on zane lowes show and fell in love! And it’s on this weeks playlist!

Plan b-the recluse (Nero remix) -the recluse EP. The album is in the shortlist for me for album of the year and this is one of the greatest tracks. The remix adds the dancefloor level the record needed. Bringing up the BPM in true Nero style dropping were needed and bringing the power for the usual “hands in the air”‘moments!

Chase and status ( ft tempa t) – hypist hype. A huge angry intro into the new album for chase and status. Its raw it’s aggressive and it’s massive and free from their website.

Another zane listen. Weezer – tired of sex(demo) – pinkertron (deluxe).
Another raw record it’s weezer all over! THIS IS WHY I LOVE THIS BAND! Its also very badly done!

Alexisonfire – the northern – old crows/young cardinals. This band are the metal band I always wanted. A very old freind of mine intoduced me to the first album they I enjoyed but the way this track moves and has sole just hit me as a record I’ll love forever! Corus’ and drops. The thing I’ll live forever. With the added vibe of metal and screaming it’s jus what every boy dreams of who loves a bit of metal

Leading us nicely on to the last track of this week and blog and playlist.

I have one person to thank for the whole weeks blog really they reintroduced me into the world of metal and scremo with this track. Hopefully she knows who she is if she ever reads this. She is also the reason I really got back into music again and the reason this blog is going so it’s a big thanks too her for this one ( round of applause!)

Bring me the horizon – diamonds arnt forever – suicide season. The intro is the main part of the track for me and any call of duty player! It’s all full on screamo with power and passion. It’s epic in all ways! It’s fast paced and just immense! A huge album for the band. I’m sure metal fans will agree.

That’s all for now folks. I’m busy busy at the moment. I will try and keep on with the twitter (@robmiller87) and this blog. For all your #dailydownload needs.

Thanks for reading

Rob x

So that’s why I have decided too blog on the records instead. So I must get on with it as there’s a fair few to get on with. I’ll start with the first then get upto today’s

Gonzales – crying – ivory tower. This was the first one for me. I had a moment while listening too pete tongue on my way home from work when he played this track. Everything stopped for me the spoke sung almost rap style vocal really hit me reminiscing on has lurnhams wear sunscreen and sage francis’ best if times. It’s a beautifully made song growing into a huge emotional finale.

Claire maguire – ain’t nobody – breakage RMX. I was a fan of the original track because of it’s light feel and how it was full of life but when I herd this version I was blown away how breakage had managed too suck all the life out of it almost like a vampire. The track moves, drops and breaks like ive never heard. I cant explain how’s it’s done all i know is I adore it.

Alkaline trio – private eye. I love this song. It reminds me of a simple time at school. It’s full of energy and it passes it on to me on every listen.

Lost prophets – shinobi vs dragon ninja. From one of my all time favourite albums of all time. Me and Danny had it on on the way too climbing. It made me remember that how good they were back in the early days.

Florance and the machine – heavy – lungs. All I have too say about this is it’s flo’s best work. I get blown away by her vocal power everytime and the string

Radiohead – true love waits. I was struggling too think of a song this day when this came on my iPod. It has meaning too me and I had too share it. Possibly in my five favourites of all time

Sleigh bells – infinity guitars. The weirdest band ever but I can’t get enough of it. It’s angry it’s odd and it’s brilliant.

Get Cape wear cape fly – collapsing cities. With shy fx on the production bringing his normal style of mixing too the record it adds so much. Just a beat that hooks in your brain and won’t leave. I’ve been finding myself singing it even if I’ve not heard it for a few days

Anyway today’s blog is just a revisit as it’s been so long since I’ve done I’ll get back too it soon gang. Thanks for reading

Rob

The Best Video Games Ever…

Firstly, a thank you to Rob himself for letting me stick me awe in with this one, muchos appreciated…although just for the record, having to put this into a top 10…you bastard, do you realise how hard that is to someone like me?! Do you realise exactly what is running through my head when I have to make these decisions?! So, as a result, I personally don’t think a ‘Top 10′ is possible without specific criteria. Instead I’m going to go through what could be called Landmark games, games that without them, you wouldn’t have the games of today. Games that have done something new, be it in a genre, a new mode of play, such as online, co-operative, or even back to the good old days of turn based split screen (for all you young un’s reading this, yes, that did used to exist!). See what you’ve made me do Rob! Do you know how long I’ve sat in front of this bloody computer just to come to the decision that I can’t actually give a ‘Top 10′?! DO YOU?!

Anyways, enough of throwing insults at a good friend of mine (STEVE!!…sorry couldn’t resist), more with the gaming…

With the amount of games I’ve played I already had a few ideas in me head about what could be included, and after a little thought, this list had, shall we say, grown somewhat to well over 10. Then I started to think about exactly how I was going to be able to give games that might not make the Top 10, but are still a. Brilliant and b. Influential in one way or another. Should I just pick and choose and try to mention each briefly? Should I do it by platform? Should I do it by genre? (See Rob, even more questions running through my head…this is hard!!) To be quite Frank with you I’m going to include a lot of games, a lot of games need a mention, even if they are to miss out on the Top 10 (or 20). I think the best way to break it down, and be able to include all the games I want to, is to break it down into generations.

So, to begin with, the generation that came around my birth, and also, before…I don’t feel quite as old now saying that! The era of the NES, Genesis, SNES, and various Arcade machines…oh, and the good ol’ PC. That’s right, I’m talking about the games which set the basis for all of the games we play now in one way or another, and games which even if the meaning of a computer game to you has about as much understanding as chips, cheese and gravy to a southerner, you will have heard of them. Names such as Mario, Sonic and Pac-Man, almost everyone will have at least heard of these. The early generation of games that are at least worth a mention are games which can still bring hours of endless fun even today, games such as Space Invaders, Tetris and Pac-Man. All were very simple, all were very addictive, and all have stood the test of time. Arguably, Space Invaders could be described as the first shooting game, meaning yes, Call of Duty and Halo, you owe your existence to this game! As for Tetris and Pac-Man, they are still played as much today as they were when they were first released meaning, undoubtedly, they have to be 2 of the greatest games made for this fact alone!

The aforementioned games laid the paving stones, they showed that, in time, there would be a mass market for videogames…and next in line to reinforce this notion came cultural icons know the world ten times over. 2 characters lead this motion…Sonic, and Mario. Over the years there have been variations of both of these series’ of games, but it is still the early ones that hold strong, and it is these games that brought great and fun gameplay to the world of videogames. It began all the way back in 1985 on the NES with Super Mario Bros. Nintendo landed not just a winner, but a cultural phenomenon with this. The gameplay worked smoothly, the concept was simplistic yet addictive enough, and for the time period, was graphically very good. All in all, it was what we still want from games today, and this was given a quarter of a century of a year ago (yeah, for all of you alive when this came out, that makes you feel old doesn’t it?!) It is for this reason that when considering ‘Greatest Ever’ lists that, Mario has to be considered. This does however lead to one problem, which Mario is included? In my personal opinion, Super Mario Bros, the original Mario, is a must. But for me, Super Mario Kart from 1992 is also a very strong candidate. It took what was created with the original Mario, and applied it to en entirely different genre, in racing, and made it as simple, fun and accessible to people of all ages as was seen with Super Mario Bros. The only other Mario I would consider including is the recent Super Mario World, as it went back to everything that made Super Mario Bros great, gave it a face-lift, and projected Mario into a fully open-world environment, a new twist to a sure fire classic!

Now 2 of the most iconic characters in videogame history have been covered its time to look at those that followed in their footsteps. Games that took us right through the 90′s…not forgetting the introduction of the next gen consoles in the late 90′s, consoles such as the PlayStation, and the Nintendo 64, and not to mention the good old Nintendo GameBoy!

Another few worthy mentions from times now covered in cobwebs for most. Streets Of Rage, side scrolling amazingness, and fun for 2 people to join on the same team to fight evil! Another one for you, Golden Axe. Again, a simple yet amazing game given to us on the Mega-Drive. Worthy of GOAT places? Not personally, but iconic? Most definitely.

A personal favourite from when I was growing up…Fury. A flying game in space, with up close fighting to get to the portal at the end of the level, with weapons of mass destruction if you were willing to go searching to help you get there with an even bigger bang. Again, simple yet very addictive. This was also the first game me and my Dad played religiously.

This period has graced us with so many iconic titles heard the world over that it will be hard to name them all! However, I will try, so apologies, but tough, I am going to name them.

One of the most iconic to me would be Doom. Simply, what a game! And I do have to give special credit to this game as if it wasn’t released, it would never have spawned the sequel Doom 3, which again, what a game! However, there is one particular memory I hold close when talking about gaming, and a few out there no exactly what I’m going on about…all I will say however, this brought the first time for me in hearing a fully grown adult (well, both ‘fully grown’ and ‘adult’ are debatable) fill his pants on a staircase because we weren’t there to keep the nasty monsters away (yes, these monsters were not real, no I’m not referring to his wife). But from a gaming perspective, Doom helped bringing shooters and survival horror together. This coupled with the sheer brilliance of the game itself could help put it onto any Top Games list.

Games more specific to the survival horror genre owe a lot to Doom, and should I give a mention to Alone In The Dark? Well, there’s the mention, so I guess the answer to that would be yes. Games such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill. Both have brought new aspects to gaming, Resident Evil, personally, I think is amazing. Always has a good story, but you have to choose in different situations what to do, low on ammo, do you risk it or sneak round avoiding conflict…the choices were endless! Silent Hill, well, all I’m going to say is, lots of booze, 3am, dark room…

Staying with consoles for the time being, but aiming for the kids of the world (yes, of all ages), bring in the legends of Crash Bandicoot, Rayman and Banjo Kazooie! The fact that a Bandicoot (do they even exist?) could be made into a game, and sorry, but those shorts, yes, simply…yes! And the punch from a man that has no joined limbs, simply amazing! Banjo on the other hand epitomised the adventures of kids and grown men alike, come on, getting constant assistance form a bird, we weren’t going to say no! Now, two games that need a least a note, Spyro The Dragon and Ratchet & Clank. Spyro The Dragon, simply put, took everything that Crash did, and replaced the lead character with a fire breathing dragon that grew up through the series, with the same levels of success. Ratchet & Clank, again, took the best the platform genre had to offer, made you build things to help complete your quest for world saviour, and provided a very accessible and enjoyable game, just 10 years after Crash. All the aforementioned games had an adult take on humour, appealing to not just kids, but old kids too, without being unreasonable for small ‘uns to play. And whilst talking about games aimed for the younger sproggs amongst us…does anyone remember Pokemon (on the good ol’ GameBoy!). The number of people that spent their entire childhood trying to catch them all…it became an overnight phenomenon! For something that was so simple, was yet so addictive. Looking back through time however, simple has always worked (Tetris and Pac-Man much?).

Now to mention a few driving games back from the PlayStation era. Road Rash, Driver, Ridge Racer, Wipeout 2097 and the famed Destruction Derby. Road Rash, violence on motorbikes, always going to be a win! Ridge Racer, highly popular…if you couldn’t race properly to save your life…and were Japanese. Driver, fairly realistic handling models combined with an underground story line made for a very popular, very addictive, very good game. Wipeout 2097, racing at extreme high speed, always a winning formula (yes, I do realise on a computer slow and steady never wins the race so going as fast as possible generally is going to win races). The catch however comes when you realise that your doing these ridiculous speeds without wheels, and with the addition of guns bigger than your house to really fluff your opponents up…this really was futuristic folks! For this, it is worthy of a mention. Now for Destruction Derby. It was basically exactly what it sounds like. The last car standing (I use the term very…very…loosely). The sheer simplicity and destruction available brought about pure class. However, would any of these make a Greatest Of All Time list? Again, probably not, but each and every one of them worthy of a mention due to how good they were in their day.

I think it is around this point that I need to bring the attentions of you valued reader’s (who by this point will know that what I’m saying is very highly opinionated, albeit backed up with fact, however if you do have any problems please forward your ferocity to a one Rob Miller, he was the bastard who asked me to do this!) that it was not all about shooting things to tiny bits, being scared shitless with only a torch to defend yourself against fictional monsters on a staircase, catching them all and directing a Bandicoot in shorts around. Yes I am referring to the empty bottle of beer next to me…

No, I’m not, I’m referring to the games that taught us how to plan our lives efficiently…yes, I’m referring to strategy games. Games we had to learn how to build empires, while defending the peasants providing us with moneys to carry on destroying other people’s empires (what, just look at what the Roman’s did!). Games such as Age Of Empires (speaking as a witness it is possible to start with nothing, build Knight Rider, defeat armies and end back up with nothing, just a couple of thousand years later, can’t you…Rob?!) and Command & Conquer, where we learnt that blowing the holy hell out of an opponent couldn’t be done in 10 minutes (unless you really were crap!), we had to plan when to attack, what to send, where to place backups…oh the amount of things we had to consider at that age, school had nothing on it!

It was all just war however…through strategy games we were given the option to build empires without the worry of another person coming and knocking it back down. Games such as SimCity, Roller Coaster Tycoon, and a personal favourite as a child, Theme Hospital. The hilarity to make a potentially dying person have to travel all the way around a hospital, because you could, just for him to walk through a wall as the game wanted to spite you, was somehow still always amusing (no I wasn’t drunk, I have never done drugs, and am not a horrible person…how was I meant to know how to build a hospital at the age of 7?!)

Would these games be worth of a place on the Greatest Of All Time list however? Personally, I wouldn’t include the latter two as they provide very little in-game threat to your progress, the former two however, that’s a tough one. I’m not denying they are great games, but for me, I don’t know if they have that ‘wow’ factor that makes you instantly think they are god’s gift to the gaming world.

Right, just for this little bit I’m going to change platform, and go over to the PC, as there are a number of games that need a mention.

Kicking things off, The Sims. A game that appealed to literally everyone. Men, women, children and albino heshe dwarfs alike. In harsh reality, The Sims was the game that allowed you to live the life you always wanted to, but never could! The fact that it was easy to pick up and get into, and gave endless options on what to do made it a solid contender for the GOAT list.

Next on the agenda, the first proper shooter I’ve mentioned…CounterStrike, in particular CounterStrike: Source. Personally I was never a big PC gamer, however I fully understand just how good this game is. I’d use the term ‘was’ but the fact that there a still literally thousands upon thousands of people playing this game. Very simple concept. Kill or be killed…the longer you stay alive the better equipment you can get…the harder you are to kill…fair…is it bollocks, but that’s life, so tough titties! Did this take away from people playing it when they kept having their derrière kicked by people who put more time into the game than they did life itself? No, it just made people more determined to become good, the first signs of a truly brilliant game.

World Of Warcraft. Arguably the most popular game of all time. This is worth mentioning as an entire franchise, as there are so many add-on’s building on an already massive game, it would be nigh on impossible to single out just one. A game that brought together the gaming community, a place to make friends, a place to make enemies, a place to let a game take over your entire life! The want to get yourself better, the want to get your character better, and to team with your comrades in arms to try to take over the world are all factors that make this game amazing. Confession, I have never played WoW.

Now a game that tried something entirely new, and in many ways, succeeded but has never been copied, Black & White. A vast open space game, very good graphically, with so many options it was enough to give you a head-ache. You do choose a character to start, but not a person, or elf, or hobbit, but an animal. You then have to teach this animal everything, like you would with a baby. Frustrating, highly, addictive, hell yeah, worthy of a GOAT place, unlikely. I did feel however a game with this scope and originality was worthy of at least a mention.

Right, now for another change of direction…what about games that take the normal conventions of games, a la, controllers and sitting on a sofa with pizza, beer and (the rare occasion if you listen to the press about gaming) friends. There are two games in particular I’m thinking of at this time, please don’t hate me for the second choice. The first, Time Crisis. Having to actually shoot the screen with a (not real) gun, whether it be at home, or in it’s original home, the arcades. This brought an entirely different element to gaming, one which became highly addictive, especially if you had deep pockets (those things cost a fortune in the arcades!). Then there was the added enjoyment of teaming with a friend to actually to able to shoot the people on screen with as realistic feeling as was possible without getting a few months community service for shooting someone in real life (remember kids, you only get life for speeding).

The second one, I’m really…really…sorry for putting this in this article but I feel it’s worth a mention (although it’s still questionable if it actually is a game or not), Wii Sports. The game for all the family…apparently. Granted my Dad put his shoulder out playing tennis, and I’ve seen many people actually punch friends in the face with the boxing one, but still, once you understand how it works, all it works is your wrists…and can still be done from a sofa…with beer…and ‘insert fast food here’. The game for all the family…the game to tear a competitive hole through your family, more likely.

Then there’s Guitar Hero. Actually being able to play along with your favourite songs without having to spend hours and hours actually learning the guitar is a genius idea. Add in playing with your friends, this could be a perfect party game, and was available to everyone with songs from all era’s and difficulties to make sure you couldn’t crucify what you thought was your favourite song, Guitar Hero adds an entirely different, yet still very successful spin on the world of games.

Now for the games that allow you to play the most energetic of sports whilst sitting in the comfort of your own home…complete with beer…and ‘enter name of junk food here’. Football always has been the dominant sport, especially in games, so most people will know the two names I’m going to bring up. FIFA and Pro Evo Soccer. FIFA had the licence, Pro Evo had the gameplay, most people had a favourite. There was enough to keep any footballer happy with either, and both have been around for a long time, bringing up dates out every year with a few tweaks here and there. This then leads onto Football Manager. The football game for those that couldn’t play, but were very good tactically, and were willing to trawl through endless amounts of statistics to find exactly what it was they were looking for. However, personally, how much can these games change the face of gaming? Don’t get me wrong, brilliant games, but it seems to be just more tweaks here and there and an updated roster each year.

There is just one more sports game that I think deserves a mention. One of the most frustrating yet brilliant games I have ever seen. Going to the land of ‘button bashing’ to a sequence…International Track & Field. The number of weeks passed playing this determined to get better, and be actually able to do every event took dedication, and there was nothing better than declaring you were faster over 100m than all your mates, because you had faster thumbs!

Talking of ‘button bashing’, this leads me onto the genre where you just generally beat people with overly muscle people (and overly big boob females) created by the land of the rising sun. Yes, I’m talking about fighting games. There are four key ones in my view. Mortal Kombat (yes, this did spawn really bad films), Street Fighter, Dead Or Alive (yes this also spawned a really bad film), and the King of the Ironfist itself, Tekken. The only way you could slice, dice, and generally punch a girl in the face, and get away with it! Tekken was the best for me, dark storyline, brilliant and diverse characters and some of the most creative names ever! The winning puch came with Tekken Tag however, what a brilliant idea! They are all similar, agreed, but they all brought something slightly different to fighting, making them all unique.

Time for one more little gem in the gaming world, a game that people who don’t like games will like…Worms. Whoever thought of giving 2D worms an exploding sheep and a ‘holy’ hand grenade to kill fellow worms, came up with one of the greatest inventions ever! The amount of endless months playing this game that I spent, I am not ashamed to admit, hell, I’ve even managed to get a girlfriend of mine addicted (no, we aren’t still together, no, it was not because she was better at Worms than me), that is just how good Worms is! Anyone that has played Worms, cannot argue with me as to why it is worthy of a GOAT place, anyone that hasn’t, please stop reading now, go and play Worms, then realise, any argument you have as to why this is not a good game, is not valid.

There are more iconic games worth mentioning, some very capable of making a Greatest Of All Time list, some simply worth a mention. Quake, helped build on what Doom started. Prince Of Persia, Battlefield, Timesplitters, Devil May Cry, Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six all helped build on in-game storylines, in-game detailing and general gaming followings. Need For Speed (especially Hot Pursuit 2), was another absolutely brilliant racing game, allowing you to drive cars that, unless you had more money than sense, and driving reactions of a God, would never allow you to outrun the Police (not that the police run the kind of cars they did on this game). Once again however, I don’t think any of these have done anything worthy of making say, a Top 10. I will say though, that I have had each of these games, most of their sequels, and have happily played them to death (ok, not literally death but you get the jist), just for me, there was something missing to make me think they were the greatest of all time. Also, another quick mention for one of the brilliant features of Timesplitters, the ability to entirely create multiplayer maps down to every little detail (yes I did let my creative side run wild here).

Now a game that every boy loved as a child, purely because ‘they’ bounced (and were hugely out of proportion yet fitting). Yes, I’m talking about Lara Croft and Tomb Raider. A game that helped develop adventure games, and set the ground work for the modern generation of adventure games to follow. This combined with a highly agile, flexible, big boobed lead character (see why it appealed to blokes?). On a more serious though…those boobs were huge! No, right, stop thinking about boobs. Tomb Raider, was, and still is a brilliant game, and always comes up with new puzzles and methods to help you progress, rather than sitting on its own success hoping that will do. Its games like this that stand out, making Tomb Raider a very strong contender for the GOAT list.

By this point you will have realised I have yet to mention a lot of key games form the more modern generations. This is because good things come to those who wait. That and the fact that that a lot of these games are all very capable of taking places high up on my Greatest Of All Time list.

These games can be broken down into three specific genres: Action Adventure; Role-Playing; and Racing.

So what action adventures are there that could be described as truly great? You’re looking at games like Call of Duty (especially the Modern Warfares), Legend of Zelda, GoldenEye, StarCraft, Killzone, Bioshock, Red Faction, Splinter Cell (the earlier ones), Gears of War and a little game that’s meant to be really popular…Halo (both the first and the second for different reasons). Legend of Zelda, Bioshock and StarCraft helped blow storytelling with graphics to boot into another atmosphere; GoldenEye and Call of Duty helped make FPS’s instantly accessible with brilliant gameplay, brilliant graphics, and the feeling in a story that you want to carry on playing to find out what happens next, not to mention the added realism that feeling that your actually fighting there, the feeling that its your fight! A personal note for Red Faction, this was the first game to introduce destructible environments. Wait, ‘don’t shoot…or I’ll die!’

Then there is Splinter Cell, a game following in the footsteps of one of the greatest. However, the reason this could challenge for a top position is not because of it’s deep storytelling ability, its brilliant graphics, and the use of surrounding objects, like using the shadows or hanging from the roofing to get your task completed. No, the reason this could challenge was by bringing all of this into online gaming. Playing this game with a friend online meant you had to learn how to work together, and use everything you could to win, something that hadn’t been seen before this point.

This brings me onto Halo. Such a great game, so many memories. This came at a time when FPS’s were becoming common, with nothing new really occurring. Along comes Master Chief, a hero the world instantly falls in love with, with a mission to save mankind from the greatest danger ever faced. Combine this with huge on space levels, some of the most fluid gameplay, and the one of the best multiplayer aspects ever seen made this an instant winner. ‘Now you see me, now you don’t, now you see me, no you…oh f**k’…that is all I have to say for some people to realise why this will make the GOAT list! Halo 2, then went a stage further with online ‘matchmaking’, making for some of the easiest and most fun online experiences even to this day.

Then two acts of brilliance from the PC – Half-Life and Deus Ex, and one from the X-Box 360 – Gears Of War. These are games that have the instant action and tactics of games like Halo and Splinter Cell, but with the details of RPG’s. This is very hard to achieve but these games achieve this with nothing less than greatness. Gears of War combined all of this with what felt like cinematic gameplay, again, a first amongst games.

Now for what would be in the film world ‘epics’. I’m talking about games like Final Fantasy (although in specific ‘VII’), Fallout, Fable, The Elder Scrolls, Grand Theft Auto, Mass Effect and Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic. Games where you start out with nothing, unknown, with very little experience, but through time, you get better, stronger, and more involved in the story until you are the one to be humanities saviour. The stories are always huge, have so many intricate details it is nigh on impossible to see and know everything. Everything about the games make you feel like your in the time of the game, ancient times in fable and the elder scrolls; post apocalyptic times in fallout; the criminal underworld of GTA; and in an science fiction world we have yet to experience in Mass Effect and Star Wars. These games run so smoothly, and get you so involved they are truly amazing, but because of the scale and freedom of these games, they are more of a rarity, such is the ‘epic’ in film, but this just helps them stand out even more.

For anyone that knows my gaming habits, they will know I tend to take to racing games like my stomach does to food. As many racing games there are out there, I can only think of four that could contend a place on this list, and as my gaming friends know, have been very successful on all four. The first, Gran Turismo; the second, Project Gotham Racing (especially on the second and fourth on the instalment; the third, Test Drive (and in specific, TD: Unlimited); and finally, where a lot of my personal gaming history and success lies, Forza Motorsport. Gran Turismo set the standard, hundreds of cars, thousands of options, loads of tracks, the possibilities were endless. This combined with phenomenal graphics and gameplay made this an instant classic. Test Drive (Unlimited) was the first ‘open-world’ driving game, where you could go where you wanted, race what you wanted, when you wanted to, something very hard to achieve in a racing game (although I have got intricate details of a game just like this one that I designed as a kid and showed to Sony years ago, damn, why didn’t I get this copyrighted!). The fact that myself (and a certain Ordinary Boy a a Covert DedParrot) propelled ourselves into the elite rankings online on this game helped to create a special place for this game with me, the re-emergence of S.F.

Project Gotham Racing, one of the easiest racing games to get into, with instant fun to be had. This combined with original challenges for the single players and a huge online arena made for greatness. For me, PGR2 was the best. After holding some of the biggest records on the game (been unbeaten for over 200 races online), and having one of the biggest winning percentages ever seen on the game (just over 1800 races, just over 1600 wins and only been off the podium 11 times) helped propel this game to stardom for me! Also, worthy of a note, the sheer fact that I was willing to do this many races is a testament to the game. It was full of ‘Cool Racer’ s and ‘RoadHog’ s!

Now, Forza Motorsport. This was the game that brought in Car Club racing. This was the game that allowed you to fully customise a car down to its smallest details. This was the game that projected racing games to a level never seen before. Again, brilliant graphics, brilliant gameplay, absolutely massive, and one of the most interactive online notions a game has ever had! This, combined, again down to my success on it, and the creation of S.F. by 3 lads from Wigan taking on the world’s greatest, and succeeding, make this one of the most memorable, and greatest games I have even had the joy of playing.

This leaves just game to be mentioned (at least by name, as it has been referred to already for those that know what is coming). Metal Gear Solid. No, it was not the first, but it was the reinvention of the Metal Gear Franchise in a new era. The father of the stealth action shooter. There was something very, very special about this game right from the word go. You were instantly emerged, you were dropped in at the deep end, you instantly felt you were outnumbered and outgunned (agreed, you were) but this just made you want to succeed even more. This combined with some of the most detailed characters, specifically in terms of their personal backgrounds, made you feel like you were Solid Snake. The storyline was something of pure genius, and if I could go back and play this again, I would, happily. Yes, it was simply that good!

Right, now I’ve covered all of the games that could/should/maybe be included in the Greatest Of All Time, I think I should give my personal Top 5 Greatest Games Of All Time.

5 – Mass Effect

4 – Halo: Combat Evolved

3 – Gears Of War 2

2 – Forza Motorsport

1 – Metal Gear Solid

Brought to you by a S.F. Umpa Lumpa.

I really have too thank john for that its a cracking read i really enjoyed it and im the one who is posting it! Its time for my review of UFC 2010 now (yet i feel outdone by john)

Here we go!

UFC undisputed 2010.

The second instalment in the UFC range has been released recently for the xbox, and the ps3, after the first game i was left disappointed as the career mode, and the general game play especially the grappling section (i just couldn’t get too grips with it) now the new games is out so i was looking forward too giving the new one a try even though i was left disheartened before.

On too the new game, instantly i was happier the loading screens are quicker too start the game layout is better and easier to use. Graphically the game is smoother and a lot sharper than the previous effort, on the first play the exhibition mode was a little fiddly but after a few plays i was used too it and having the ” change fighter” option which made multiplayer gaming much faster and more fun.

The career mode is vastly improved, including being an amateur fighter mode before you get invited too the ufc which is handy because A you need to get used too the new training and B you need too improve your fighters abilities before you get too the big leagues (as i found out the hard way after being knocked out in first round of my first UFC fight!) Now im used too the decaying stat levels in the training mode and the new sparring and training camp modes i fly through the weeks before my fight, training and learning new moves too be able too smash my opponent before they can think about getting me too the ground. However i now no longer struggle with the grappling section its much more fluid and easier too attack and defend and now i know how too make a submission and make the opponent tap out im not always in a bad way!

The other features that the game offers is title mode, were you climb through the weight division either fighting 8,10 or 12 fighters in a “ladder” format until you become the champion, then you can defend your title, its a nice little extra. Theres also the classic fights mode, with a huge amount of fights that you can play through either changing the outcome of a fight by making the original looser win and by completing the certain moves that happened during the fight ie; the triangle choke hold in the final round of the fight. Its really good fun.

The range of fighters is massive now all the weight classes have a mass amount of fighters with a vast array of different abilities so the range of fights are almost endless, ive yet too attempt too the online mode but you can sign up for the online camps and download extra fighters which is a nice touch.

So then on too the scores on the doors. I really enjoy the game and i cant see my self getting bored of it for a while. The improvements are fantastic with much more flowing style of gameplay and graphically its sound. Im going too give it 63% there is some improvements too be made but its still great!

Well thats that! In the next few weeks i shall hopefully get a video interview with the fireflys including a couple of live tracks all depending on how long it takes me too make them!

Next week ill try and get back into a normal pattern and get listening too some music but after all this gaming im off too play some classic tycoon games from the late 90′s

Thanks everyone and thanks very much to john for this one!

I often had moments were I would think I love my iphone as id check maps, buy things online, find numbers, check facebook/ twitter see old texts, type fast, buy music, watch films and a whole bunch of other things that id never think of doing with a normal phone but on Monday my iphone died the death that is a beer can.

Since that moment i’ve had no music as my old ipod has died as well. So as a took a short walk too my local food establishment I had no entertainment, I didn’t know what to do, I found myself more observant than ever, looking at people and cars and things I had forgotten about. Today I’ve needed too run a few errands and sort some things out, but without my iphone how am I supposed to see what everyone else is doing while I’m doing this without twitter or facebook, how can I find someone’s house! I resorted to the age old way of using google maps, one day soon I may refer to an A to Z of the northwest!

At the moment im using another LG, its not great to be honest its not good, to be even more honest its rubbish, I throw it about wherever it is. It cost me a small amount of change I had floating about in my pocket and its worth a lot less than that but it is helping get back to life without “teck” and without having everything at the touch of a button, I have found myself not impulse buying off the internet because I have nothing else too do or aimlessly posting on facebook. Its also helped me too get back to the blogging again as I actually have something too talk about, although when I do get my iphone back I will probably blog on that a lot more!

In the last post I did say that it was going to be a music and holiday focused post, but the music’s not great and the holiday was worse than that so maybe one day in the future I shall post about them, just not after this rant

Thanks for reading all as usual.

This weeks on repeats are – the general public and how they wander about, try not putting your headphones in and just watching for a change. This past few days i’ve found it great fun!

Cheers again

Rob