So Halloween is this Wednesday. I already did the whole dress up shit yesterday when my fiance and I took our 3 year old daughter to the local kids theme park. So now I'm moving on to something else, I'm starting a new survival horror game.

When I say new however, I mean one I haven't played yet.

I just got back from Town with a cheap copy of Silent Hill 3, a game I've been after for a while now, so this evening, once the littl'un's in bed, I intend to make a start on it as my game for the week (alongside The Orange Box on PC, but Ravenholme aside, that can hardly be classed as a Halloween game).

Any plans from you guys to do something similar?

The first of my "Team Now Loading" skate video projects.

This was thrown together in a couple of minutes today just as a tester, hence why its not edited to the music.

Anyhow, this video is introducing (in order of appearance, each still image introduces a new person)

Crayman Edge
RivaOni (myself obviously)
Wh0lewh0le
PapaBlingo

Just came back online after playing the new SEGA Rally demo, and have to say, while its not perfect, its great fun.

First off, if you like either of the SEGA Rally's, then you'll at least get some enjoyment out of this, its got your staple SEGA Rally stuff:

Big stupid slides
Jumps
Crowd being far too close to the circuit taking photos
and last but not least, but sort of innappropriate considering the demise of Colin McRae and how he died... Low Flying Helicopters.

Right, onto the rest of the game, The car's don't quite look like their on the circuit if you get my meaning, they don't quite look placed right, the rear view mirror feels squashed and the handlings incredibly light.

Now that last point is only a criticsm for a fair while, its a problem for the first race you have on the demo, at least it was for me. But you soon get the hang of it and start throwing either the Impreza or Lancer Evo into corners just like the game seems to want you to, which even to this day, some 12 years after the original games release, is still incredibly good fun.

The whole circuit grooving adds to the gameplay in a way I wouldn't of thought of, I'm not sure how to explain it, but I tend to try and hang back behind a lead car while he chews up the circuit for the first lap, then use his grooves to help me slide the car round the corners for the remainder of the race. Kind of how in road races (circuit races I mean, like Formula One or whatever) theres a "Clean" side of the circuit that has rubber down from previous races that helps cars grip better, and a dirty side where they have less traction. Simply put, I found the game easier to handle by sticking to the smooth parts of a circuit (but not too far off of the racing line) on straights then using the chewed up parts to corner, this more or less nullified any sort of handling issues, although I've not perfected any technique yet as I've only given the first circuit 3 runs round (not even touched the second circuit on the demo yet).


To be honest, a handful of games aside, I'd begun to lose faith in SEGA in-house titles, and while this hasn't restored my faith in them (being a former SEGA fanboy) it was highly enjoyable, if flawed, but is definetly on my "To Buy List" albeit its not at the top of that list.

I've had enough of this now!

I've spent the entire evening trying to get my DS to connect to my Wireless router so I can play Worms: Open Warfare 2 online!

I'm very close to saying fuck it and returning the game back to the store and getting something else instead, or I would if GAME didn't have that stupid fucking "broken sticker" policy in place now for fucks sakes.

The DS is a family friendly console, but its hardly family friendly to get it online... not unless you pay an extortionate fee for Nintendo's USB adaptor, why should I have to buy that when I have a wireless router? Answer? I shouldn't! My fiance's laptop connects to it fine, and I'm sure if I bought the wireless hub for the 360 that wouldn't have any issues (thats wired instead). The PSP auto detected the connection and got me actually browsing the web within minutes. Yet Nintendo's family friendly "Play Animal Crossing instead of going out and getting drunk and raped" handheld is near on impossible to get working.

So whats the issue? You tell me, first off I got a Error Code 52000, so I set a static IP and manually inputted the gateway and DNS, thats fine, I had to do that with the 360 too. Then I get a Error Code 52100, which is supposedly firewall related. Now I'd not long been playing a spot of Guild Wars and the firewalls on my PC conflict terribly with it for some reason (even though I know people with the same setup who have no issues whatsoever)so they were all turned off, so that error shouldn't be happening. But to be safe I added the DS' new static IP to my DMZ list, which should bypass any firewalls, it worked for the 360 when I had that issue.

But does the DS want to play ball? does it fuck, so I've barely touched the handheld in months, the only action its seen is the odd occassion that my missus has fancied playing Pokemon Diamond, but thats been on the rare occassion as she's fed up of them all being exactly the same game give or take a few measly options and a couple of hundred Pokemon that she feels are inferior to those featured in Red and Blue. So I get a new game to play on it, and the main reason I got it (I love a bit of online Wormage, but haven't always got access to means to play it on XBLA) I can't bloody well use!

This is something I’ve been wondering for a while. Videogame publications and communities are always doing “Your Top 10 Games Ever” or “The 100 best videogames ever made” type things. EDGE recently (well a couple of months back) published a magazine with their top 100 games ever created in, here’s a link to a list of its contents.

So what makes a greatest ever videogame? Lets just take a quick look at their top 10.
1. Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
2. Resident Evil 4
3. Super Mario 64
4. Half Life 2
5. Super Mario World
6. Zelda: A Link to the Past
7. Halo: Combat Evolved
8. Final Fantasy XII
9. Tetris
10. Super Metroid

Pretty much a standard Top Ten List there, although there will always be arguments for and against certain games. But why? Are the games ommited genuinely the best examples of videogames, or are is it normally opinions based on nostalgia?

Will the likes of Resident Evil 4, Half Life 2 or Final Fantasy XII be even in the top 100 in 5 years time? How about 10 years? Does Super Mario 64 really still stand up to more modern games with more fluid controls such as Jak and Daxter on the PS2 (Which Miyamoto even admits is a better game)? Does this all really matter? Surely this is just a list of games that EDGE think are worth playing?

In that respect, why is Ocarina of Time number 1? Story aside, which wasn’t all that fantastic to be honest, the core gameplay elements have been the same in every single 3D Zelda made since it was released 10 years ago. Twilight Princess has tightened the controls immensly on Gamecube, resulting in you accidently running off of less lledges than you would of done using the N64 controller in Ocarina of Time. Don’t believe theres no real difference between all four 3D Zelda’s? Pick up a Gamecube and get Wind Waker, Zelda Collectors Disc and Twilight Princess for it and you can sample all four games.

It’s all based on opinion really, and alot of games that feature in these lists may have been great games in their time, but just don’t cut the mustard in this day and age. Take two N64 games, placed 17th and and 28th on the list, Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark respectively.

Now for the record, I’ve never been a fan of these games, the controls have always just felt completely wrong to me. But Goldeneye, as a console game, was revolutionary for its time. It was the first time a developer had made an FPS game work properly in terms of controls, atmosphere, story telling and multiplayer. But the console FPS has moved on in a huge way, possibly reflected by Halo: Combat Evolved’s placement in the number seven spot (although that could also be EDGE justifying their 10/10 for it).

So, what makes a great videogame? Surely with how fast our industry moves, only a game that plays incredibly well still years later (see Super Mario World and Super Metroid, the only games there of an age that I can’t make any complaints about), doesn’t lose any of its appeal and stands up well alongside more modern games? In this respect, nearly every game on that list has been bettered in one way or another.

A couple of days ago, I wrote this. Basically I'd organised a Forza 2 league for myself and 7 others on the community boards for the British gaming magazine GamesTM.

The first round took place tonight, it consisted of 8 laps around the full version of the Mugello circuit.

A good time was had by all.

Anyway, for the record heres who was driving what:

Dread :- #0 Mitsubishi Eclipse
The Penultimate Ninja :- #5 Audi TT Quattro
Richman :- #6 Lancia Delta
Jay :- #10 Mini Cooper
AC-AA-1806 :- #12 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII GSR
Smurph :- #77 Lancia Delta
Sly Reflex :- #82 Volkswagon Golf R32
Snake :- #99 Subaru Imprezza 22B

Unfortunately Dread (#0 Mitsubishi Eclipse) wasn't able to attend, we weren't aware till the last minute so we'll decide what to do about points for him to keep things interesting.

Everybody was limited to having their own modified car that was not allowed over or under a Class B, Snake had the lowest PI of B699.

Anyway, lots of photos here (14 in all).

And the Championship gets underway:



First corner see's Richman try to take the lead on the outside, but Smurph gets it back, with Snake and Sly following close behind:



AC outbreaks Sly Reflex, but a slight coming together puts Sly's lighter Golf into the gravel, resulting in Sly moving down to 7th and AC upto 4th:



Jay tries to take fourth, but cuts in too close to AC's nose:



Penultimate Ninja runs slightly wide:



Letting Sly Reflex back into fifth, before making another mistake:



A few corners later, AC follows suit and lets Sly Reflex into fourth:



And Ninja makes yet another mistake, moving him down to seventh:



The Delta's of Smurph (first) and Richman (second) set the pace:



While Sly begins to eat away at the gap between himself and Snake:



Snake skims the grass, making the gap ever smaller:



And a few corners later, Sly takes third, by forcing his way through Snakes racing line:



Final Corner and both Smurph and Richman who have had otherwise perfect races make a mistake while trying to psyche each other out:



But Smurph still takes the win, with Richman a close second:



Results as follows:

1. Smurph
2. Richman
3. Sly Reflex
4. Snake
5. AC-AA-1806
6. Jay
7. The Penultimate Ninja