Nick R

[Nick R]

That reminds me, the Top 51 Episodes of Red Dwarf page doesn’t work any more – just gives an access denied message. :(

[Nick R]

> Ah, the good old days? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rg-E2jXVx5k

Hah, I came across that exact clip not long ago! I remembered that just before I got my Mega Drive for Xmas ’95, I saw the Scorpion on sale in a local indie games shop. (I actually briefly considered getting it instead of the MD!). So a while ago I had a look online for information about the Scorpion, and that Bad Influence clip was one of the first things I found.

Off the Telly interviewed Andy Crane a few years ago.

> SO how bout everyone else? Were you a CITV loyalist? A CBBC patriot? Or one of those fence sitting channel hoppers?

CITV. Mainly for the Warner Bros cartoons – Taz-Mania, Tiny Toons, Batman, Animaniacs and Freakazoid. Of the home-grown cartoons, they had Treasure Island, Captain Zed, and The Dreamstone. Of the live-action kids’ programmes, I think Rolf’s Cartoon Club, Woof!, Knightmare and Art-Attack were pretty much the only ones I watched.

I remember I started watching weekday CITV not long before they replaced the on-screen presenters with just voiceovers…

[Nick R]

> But the title is surpassed by at least this.

http://www.rinkworks.com/bookaminute/b/defoe.moll.shtml

[Nick R]

> God, I hate that movie.

:-(

I thought The Blues Brothers was one of those films that everyone likes!

(Whereas the sequel is one of those films I have no intention of ever seeing. Ever.)

[Nick R]

Loads of Easter eggs in the trailer:
http://www.slashfilm.com/2010/02/12/toy-story-3-trailer-easter-eggs-revealed/

I like the wooden block Lightning McQueen toy. But best of all: Totoro!

[Nick R]

Yeah, those banner picture choices are great. Encountered some nice header quotes too (Lawrence Miles lol).

Got any articles/retrospective reviews planned, or is it mostly going to be commentary on news items until the new series starts?

[Nick R]

It’s looking a lot more promising than any Sonic game has since… well, since the 2006 Sonic the Hedgehog was announced with a trailer that likewise gave the impression it was back to basics with just the original character, and we all know how that turned out.

Still, at the risk of being taken in by The Sonic Cycle once more (confession: I say “once more”, but other than a brief go on a Heroes demo pod, I haven’t actually played a new Sonic game since Adventure 2…), I’m hopeful. Those few seconds don’t show us much, but I like the way the 2D games’ parallax scrolling has been recreated!

Unrelated to this new game, I found these videos quite funny. The Labyrinth Zone one is the best:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JIseg6zeBA0

[Nick R]

> Also a major switcheroo in tone considering the comedy a the start of that scene. Correcting a piece of insulting graffiti. Heh.

Very reminiscent of his shouted correction of the “peedos” graffiti in series one!

> It is odd as I saw the door in the last series as a reward. In this it seems malevolent somehow.

IIRC the word Hell was mentioned at one point – by the lying-still Annie doppelg?nger, I think. I think that’s the closest the programme has come to specifying exactly who these “gatekeepers” are who want her to move on.

[Nick R]

John Hoare:
> Odd things going on with Rock and Chips, anyway – the BBC One broadcast had a film effect, and the BBC HD version didn?t.

I caught a bit of the BBC1 signed repeat in the early hours of this morning, and that didn’t have the film effect.

[Nick R]

[Nick R]

In lighter news:

http://www.holymoly.com/sites/default/files/imce/doctor-who-facebook-page.jpg

Superb.

“The Master likes this”
“…”

EDIT: The same person’s also done one for the Master! Love his sixth friend…
http://the-hellish-gnome.deviantart.com/art/The-Master-s-Facebook-Page-148491314

[Nick R]

Aww, I was still holding out hope that Gaiman would be on that list. :(

I really liked “The Unicorn and the Wasp” (buzzing vicar aside), so as bad as “Planet of the Dead” was, I’m not too disappointed to see Gareth Roberts listed. (Checking Wikipedia, I’ve only just learned he also co-wrote two episodes of the second series of the Vic & Bob Randall & Hopkirk (Deceased). I loved the first series of that at the time, but the second was a big disappointment… but from what I remember, Roberts’ two episodes were the best of a bad bunch.)

[Nick R]

I’ve also wondered which episode Patrick Stewart was referring to. A clip of “Gunmen of the Apocalypse” was shown at that point in the Red Dwarf A to Z, wasn’t it – is that the only reason his comment is associated with that episode?

[Nick R]

I liked the early series 1 episode about the fairies in the garden. A couple of years ago I read an online chat transcript with Terry Pratchett, in which he said that that episode had been his favourite thing about New Who and Torchwood so far. I was actually quite surprised that he’d pick something so close to a subject he’d covered himself.

Also, “Countrycide” had a brilliant title – can’t remember much about the quality of the episode itself, though.

I stopped watching series 1 not long after that. I think I saw the first couple of episodes of series 2, and they were an improvement, but I didn’t keep up with it. The LHC radio show last y… I mean, in 2008, didn’t really make a big impression on me.

I regret missing Children of Earth, though.

[Nick R]

Congratulations!

We named our daughter Chloe, after Chloe Annett!!!

“Your second daughter? What did you call your first?”
“Annette. After Chloe Annett.”

Ba-dum tish.

[Nick R]

It?s such a shame that people are seeming so flippant about RTD wanting to celebrate the last 5 years, and to close his chapter by filling in the blanks. I thought it was perfect, and needed. A thank you to the faithful fan base who had helped it become the success it is.

Conversely, you could argue that it was letting the real-world circumstances of the show’s production intrude in-universe, to the detriment of the story.

I wouldn’t go to that extreme: I do agree there should have been some element of acknowledgement that it’s the end of RTDOBE’s era – just that maybe it shouldn’t have been so neat, or so long.

Maybe instead of the Doctor surviving for long enough to go round visiting all those people, then while he was curled up in the chamber being hit with the radiation, there could have been a montage of flashes of all those supporting characters’ current situations. Then he’d regenerate in front of Wilfred.

That would have had the same effect of reminding us of all the characters introduced by RTD, but preserved the tragedy of the Tenth Doctor being unable to say goodbye in person. The fact he was able to do so really diluted the idea of him going when he’s not ready: he said he wasn’t ready, but everything being so neatly wrapped up meant that we, the audience, were.

Having said that, I must emphasise that though it had its problems, I really did thoroughly enjoy the episode!

[Nick R]

Didn’t Seb say in the nearly time:) thread that we’d have a separate thread for part 2? ;)

The new Doctor seemed ok? a bit exciteable and i can see him getting very annoying if he?s like that all the way through.

He did seem to whoop a lot in that short scene. He was alone, though, and the secene wasn’t really long enough to judge properly.

Speaking of which, when he mistook himself to be female I momentarily thought he?d said ?I?M A GOTH!!?

Haha, so did I!

Also, the “Cactuses!” – “That’s cacti!” – “That’s racist!” bit was funny.

[Nick R]

“There’s a phrase of great power that brings consolation to the soul in times of great need…
HAKUNA MATATA
… No, sorry, that’s The Lion King.”

That’s what he should have said.

Anyway, I enjoyed that. Although it kinda diluted the tragedy of his death that rather than regenerating in front of Wilfred alone, he had time to go round saying goodbye to all of RTD’s supporting characters. The equivalent of Trinity surviving for just long enough to give Neo a complete farewell speech before she pops her clogs.

[Nick R]

The Steve Coogan documentary was good. Nice to see Vic & Bob in character – having watched Bang Bang It’s Reeves & Mortimer on DVD a few weeks ago (for the first time since it was first shown), I kept half-expecting to hear “We are having fun, aren’t we?” and “Is it giro day?”

I liked 2009 Unwrapped with Miranda Hart last night. Sort of like Time Trumpet (with things like the remixed politicians’ speeches, Piers Morgan interviewing himself, and the endless Jeremy Paxman question) meets Star Stories (because it’s really silly but I couldn’t help but giggle at it). Adam Buxton’s bits bits dragged one joke out a bit too much, though.

[Nick R]

“The Golden Eggcup” was better than last year’s Royle Family special. Neither of them were awful, but they were nowhere near as good as “The Queen of Sheba” special, which was the perfect example of how a long-absent show can live up to expectations, and was probably my favourite TV programme of 2006.

But no comedy this Christmas has been truly spectacular. Even Screenwipe wasn?t his best (although still contained some terrific one-liners).

Barry Shitpeas’ comments on Noel’s HQ and Nick Griffin’s appearance on Question Time were fantastic. The Peaches Geldof, Michael Jackson S?ance and Gary Glitter programmes were easy targets, but he got some good jokes out of them (“Come on. Come on. Come on, come on…”). And bonus points for ending the show with Modern Warfare 2’s “No Russian” level!

[Nick R]

David Tennant was on Desert Island Discs today.

One of his selections was Tim Minchin’s new Christmas song… which he also played when he (and Catherine Tate) hosted Jonathan Ross’s Radio 2 show yesterday.

How many BBC appearances over Christmas does that make? I count…

– Dr Who (x2)
– Hamlet
– Those BBC idents
– Catherine Tate’s Nan’s Christmas Carol
– QI
– Never Mind the Buzzcocks
– “Who On Who” (next Tuesday)
– Jonathan Ross’ radio 2 show
– Desert Island Discs

Good for him, I say – very few actors can even dream of being in the public eye that much (and for their work rather than tabloid Sleb gossip, at that).

[Nick R]

[Nick R]

The Master?s return was shite, it was magic, it wasn?t sci-fi in anyway, they fucking used the word potions.

I quite liked that – presenting it as a mystical fantasy ritual, and then throwing in the “biometric signature” phrase at the end.

Lawrence Miles’ review – I mean, blog post, written before he watched it – is up, and is typically upbeat.

The chase over the waste ground near the start was far too long, but I thought the Master’s jumping effect was pretty good. More convincing than Morpheus’ leap in The Matrix ten years ago.

The fact that RTD is shaking things up a lot (or applying a reset button?) before Moffat takes over reminds me of Brian Bendis ending his Daredevil run by putting Matt Murdock in jail before handing over to Ed Brubaker. Seb could probably think of dozens of other examples from comics…

Someone posted this over at Rllmukforum:
http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u101/gbfc/Shodai/TheMasterYEAAAHHH.jpg

[Nick R]

A very weird episode. Started off all portentious and epic and doom-laden with all the nightmares/resurrection-science-spell/final-showdown-in-a-shipyard/wistful-talk-in-the-cafe scenes, and then settled down enough for a little bit of comedy (“Welcome aboard!”; “Cactus!”), threw in a nod to Saint Obama, and finished with a double-whammy of a cliffhanger that was utterly amazing in a WTF batshit insane sort of way.

Great fun!

[Nick R]

John Hoare
> I probably would if I was writing it, mind, but then my writing is full of ridiculous qualifiers most of the time!

I think that for the most part I find that in my opinion I generally agree (although having said that, your mileage may vary).

[Nick R]

Here’s a 27 minute interview with James Cameron about the special effects. Some interesting stuff in there – like his discussion of why he thinks that scanning faces at higher and higher resolution (as the Matrix sequels and Superman Returns did) is the wrong path to go down, and his explanation of the problems they faced stopping the motion capture markers from interfering with the set lighting.

The impressions of the film I’ve heard so far seem to be split completely down the middle: those who think that the characters (both alien and human) are fleshed out and their relationships are convincing, and those who think that it’s a too-simple story with awful dialogue. Those who think this is a real step forward for 3D, and those who think it’s a blurry mess.

I’ll find out for myself next week! Not sure if I’ll be seeing it in IMAX 3D or Cineworld’s 3D yet, though. I’d prefer IMAX for the full Sensory Overload Event experience, but it might be hard to get seats towards the back/centre (The Dark Knight is the only IMAX film I’ve seen, and I was far too near the front for that). Also, after Coraline, I’m a bit worried about how comfortable it will be to wear the 3D glasses over my own for 3 hours (that’s including the trailers).

[Nick R]

Reviews (or at least Twitter comments) are starting to appear, skirting the NDAs in creative ways:

@slashfilm I’m not allowed to say anythng about what I thought of Avatar, but saw it in a screening room with neill blomkamp, who didn’t sign an NDA. He loved it… I will say this, it’s hard to disagree with Neil :)

This one stands out though:

@simonpegg Avatar …………………… tweetless. Just tweetless in the best possible way.

[Nick R]

> Maybe they could do like ?Have I got news for you?, And have loads of Guest Hollys.

[Nick R]

WATCH THIS.

This making of video is also worth watching, and the website has more stuff including the Crysis level itself.

That Monkey Island level isn’t quite the coolest thing that’s been done with CryEngine, though:

Great Scott!

[Nick R]

Petetranterssister:

The things that let it down for me were that i never feel the Dr works particularly well without a sidekick

What did you think of “Midnight”?

Where had this strange cocky Dr come from? It would have been understandable if the Dr had been changing into this throughout the recent specials but it was completely out of the blue and i think they have shoved it in there just to fit in with some storyline coming up and because David Tenant is leaving.

I thought it made sense. His rant about how being Last Of The Time Lords puts him in charge of the laws of time came across as both his way of justifying intervening, and also psyching himself up to think of a way out. (It’s also a nice little example of what I believe TV Tropes refers to as a “Crowning Moment of Awesome” – or at least it would have been if his shouting hadn’t been drowned out by the music!) And then his cockiness afterwards was smugness at the fact that this way of thinking had worked, and glee at the thought that he can now go back and intervene in all sorts of other disasters that he’d previously regarded as “fixed”.

OK, his use of the phrase “little people” wasn’t the most subtle way of getting across the point that a Tenth Doctor with that much power and that reckless could become a very dangerous character, despite his good intentions. But generally, the Doctor’s behaviour in that bit didn’t bother me.

No, it was a different bit of the ending that didn’t add up. Adelaide’s logic for committing suicide was to minimise changes to the future timeline. But no matter what story the two other survivors told, getting from Mars to Earth within a day of the accident (without any trace of the spaceship they used) would prompt some pretty big questions. And having a mother who committed suicide on Earth rather than vanishing on Mars could have some big effects on her daughter’s desire to explore the universe.

All in all, not a very reliable way to ensure that future history stays intact…

[Nick R]

I Screamed When I Saw Your Final Destination Was Another Shitty Saw Movie Last Summer versus Jason

[Nick R]

Well, that?s basically it. BBC themselves don?t own the format, it?s originally from a US show called College Bowl.

A show that (according to Wikipedia) hasn’t even been broadcast for a very long time. Presumably the company that owns it is making steadier money selling the rights to international versions than they would making a programme themselves…

So yes, I was a bit annoyed at the absence of Universe Challenge on DVD. Although I watched my videotaped copy of Red Dwarf Night to death, so (like Can’t Smeg Won’t Smeg) I’d really only want it on DVD for completeness’ sake, rather than to watch it much.

I recently read this blog by one of the members of the University Challenge team that ended up the lowest-scoring of the Paxman era (they got demolished by Gail Trimble’s later-disqualified team). It’s an interesting read:

When we were waiting for the knockabout questions to start, I tried to talk things up in my head. I looked over at the Corpus Christi team “You can’t be that great, you look just like people to me.” This is in retrospect like an Amish Luddite threatening Terminator with a stick.

Differences between the show in life and at home.

It is harder. A lot, lot harder. And a lot more fun. If you want an idea, pick a team next time it’s on. In life you have no choice who you’re with, so you should probably flip a coin. Take something vaguely buzzer-shaped and place your finger on it. When a question is read out, push it when you want to answer and then answer within two and a half seconds. You must push it a *clear half-second before* Roger Tilling announces anyone’s name, else another player got there before you, and that’s you out. Also, if one of your chosen ‘team mates’ answers and happens to get it wrong, that’s you out. For extra spice only answer those bonuses that you or one of your ‘team mates’ get the starters to – so as to experience the frustration of hearing easy bonuses that the other team fails to get. ‘Playing at home’ is *comparatively easy*, you can hold back answering until Tilling’s voice kicks in. Figuring out for yourself when you’ve heard enough whilst listening to the rest of the question whilst assessing where the question is going whilst assessing your potential answers whilst wondering if one of the people next to you has a better idea, is a lot harder. If you end up guessing incorrectly more than two or three times, consider how much that would dent your confidence, and how much you’d be letting down the team. If you keep getting questions right despite all this, get on the show ASAP.

The ‘wild guesses’ that you can throw at the TV at home are generally a no-no in the studio. Twice on our episodes I would’ve guessed Tchaikovsky for starters because he’s one of the few composers I know. It would’ve been the right answer twice, I would’ve ‘got that’ at home. But on TV I wasn’t nearly confident enough to waste a potential chance for a team mate, and it was the right decision, I think, not to buzz.

I never really judged people that harshly before being on it, but now I’m all the more sympathetic to contestants on screen. It’s harder than it looks, and you have to be very good indeed to get more than 3 or 4 starters in an episode.

[Nick R]

I still have a huge amount of fondness for this, though;

The Tom Baker line that opens that sketch is the one I always remember from Little Britain. It’s the one I always quote in defence of the first series.

There were some good characters at the start but they didn?t seem to go anywhere. Simply rehashing the same predictable scenarios/ punchlines over and over got old very rapidly.

I think Lou and Andy were the characters that survived the constant repetition longest, because watching a fat man go flying across the background of a scene will always hold some appeal. And “She pushed me!” is a great punchline.

[Nick R]

I got #1 Blackadder (yay!), #2 Green Wing (yay!), #3 ‘Allo ‘Allo (never seen it…) and The Wrong Door as the wildcard (never seen that, either).

Re: Nathan Barley, you can watch the whole series on Channel 4’s website. I like it, but having never encountered anyone who’s part of that London media “rise of the idiots”, I still find it hard to believe that such people exist. Although having said that…

[Nick R]

Two awful quality cam copies of the new trailer.

Bright, but blurry and will probably be taken down quickly:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhkPpcbu-Ts

Sharper but darker, but it disguises the title so it might stay on YouTube longer…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a47YvdYYYLQ

Well, I’m still excited by the film! When the teaser trailer came out, I was surprised they only mentioned Titanic, but the new trailer includes that knockout sequence of captions TERMINATOR – ALIENS – TERMINATOR 2 – TRUE LIES – TITANIC. A reminder that this is James Cameron we’re talking about, it will be good!

It’s hard to say much about the special effects from video quality that bad (can’t wait to see a HD version). I couldn’t quite understand people’s complaints about the effects in the first trailer, but then I’m always quite tolerant of shortcomings in special effects anyway – The Matrix Reloaded’s Burly Brawl looked fine to me, except for Neo’s coat in the shots where he spins round high in the air. It’s only really bad effects like the infamous ones in Die Another Day that irritate me.

The film’s hype has made a big thing about the way the Avatars’ faces resemble the actors, but I confess that I still don’t really recognise them in either video or stills. :(

[Nick R]

The version I learned has an old-fashioned ending which no-one else I know seems to use:

30 days hath September
April, June and November
All the rest have 31
Except February alone which has but 28 days clear
And 29 in each leap year

The “clear” might be a bit of a filler word, but it works! I was yelling that version at the TV screen when the mnemonic was mentioned on QI and Alan Davies finished on “Except February” then complained about it not rhyming. :(

[Nick R]

There’s a South Bank Show episode about Pixar tonight at 10.15. I think the last one they did about animation was the one about anime a few years ago – should be a treat if it’s as good as that.

[Nick R]

I don’t think the film will be awful, but the characters’ facial animation is definitely deeeeeep into the uncanny valley – probably more so than anything else I’ve seen. I like the atmosphere of the environments, though.

It’s also been announced that Zemeckis will be remaking Yellow Submarine(!) using 3D performance capture. There are many films for which a remake would be pointless, and that’s one of them. Maybe if he does it in the style of the Beatles: Rock Band intro, it could work… but almost certainly not. At least it’ll give them an excuse to get the original’s DVD back in print…

[Nick R]

> I don?t think I?ve ever given anything as much chances as I?ve given Monty Python. I?ve seen all the movies, seen a huge amount of sketches?and nothing. Not a smile.

What do you think of Terry Gilliam’s animations? IMO they’re some of the most consistently funny bits of the series (although admittedly I haven’t really seen many full episodes of the TV series: I’m mainly only familiar with the most popular sketches – the ones that were remade in And Now For Something Completely Different, were included on the “best of” Region 2 DVDs that came out before the full series was available, and always get repeated as clips in comedy documentaries).

> Now could have been a great opportunity what with the new Hitchhikers book out on Monday

Well that’s crept up on me! I haven’t kept up with news about it since its initial announcement. At that time, I was sceptical about it (I haven’t read any of the Artemis Fowl books), but I wasn’t outraged by the idea of someone other than Douglas writing the series.

[Nick R]

SFX has an alternative version with “the logo” and “the insignia” combined together.

I like it.

[Nick R]

ONE FILM – Almost Famous, which I watched last week and really enjoyed. (Some of you have mentioned Eternal Sunshine – yep, it’s brilliant, but I love Adaptation. and Being John Malkovich just as much.)

ONE BOOK – The Player of Games by Iain M Banks. I’ve read three of his Culture novels recently, and this was my favourite so far. Although I’m looking forward to getting to Excession, after what I’ve heard about it…

ONE ALBUM – Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation, because it really is as good as its reputation suggests.

ONE OTHER REALLY COOL THING – This webcomic page

ONE OTHER REALLY COOL THING: Harry Hill?s early stand up comedy, before he became Mr. Family Entertainment Cabaret Act. I mourn for ?old Harry?.

So do I. TV Burp is great, but I miss Stouffer, “and relax”, the Badger Parade, and regular viewer Bunty Hoven.

[Nick R]

Not especially. About as ?clever? as Meet the Spartans. A damn sight funnier maybe, but it doesn?t take much intelligence to take a recent movie and spoof it. The only thing that worked for me with what Eldon and Gattiss were doing was when they called on Brian.

In contrast to the majority of the parodies, it was completely overdone. It took over most of the episode, presumably because the film was so recent and had caught the imagination of Pegg, Stevenson and Wright so much.

That one might have been overdone, but on the other hand, later in series 2 we get what must be one of the shortest Matrix parodies ever, where Mike fantasises about how to get past the lobby of Dark Star Comics (accompanied by a few twangs of “Spybreak”-ish music). Those few seconds might just be my favourite Matrix spoof ever.

[Nick R]

Ben:

I still say that TimeSplitters, the spiritual sequels to GoldenEye 64 and the first Perfect Dark, is easily one of the best console FPS series of all time (assuming you avoid the first game, which is a bit pants). TimeSplitters II has an utterly fantastic singleplayer campaign and has some fantastic multiplayer modes. TimeSplitters: Future Perfect has a disappointing singleplayer campaign (although the time travel shenanigans are a lot of fun) but has pitch-perfect multiplayer. The only thing that would have made it better is if they?d somehow found a way of incorporating GE & PD maps into the game?

TS2’s story mode is only really good for the first level (the dam), but the challenges made up for it. I love the series. I think a lot of people were put off TS2 because it stuck to the GoldenEye aiming method of having the crosshair move around the screen, whereas by that time the convention was to have it stay in the centre of the screen. Most people don’t seem to know that TimeSplitters Future Perfect has the option to switch between the two.

Have you played Free Radical Design’s Second Sight? Great little game, with a fantastic storytelling technique which fits in perfectly with its plot’s big twist.

Seb:

I remain convinced that the majority of people who declared it BEST EVER were people who?d never played a decent PC-based FPS in their lives.

I’d love to be able to dispute that, but I can’t because I think the only FPSs I’d played when I first tried GoldenEye were Zero Tolerance and Corporation on the Mega Drive, and a very brief go on Duke Nukem 3D on the PC (although I may have just watched someone playing that).

So I’m afraid the best argument I can offer is that even the reviewers for multi-format magazines like Edge and C&VG raved about GoldenEye and its multiplayer, despite presumably having access to the best of what was out on the PC at the time. (Which isn’t a very good argument. Sorry.)

Jonathan:

I will still never, ever understand how the control pad is somehow considered a preferable way to play any modern FPS

The consensus is that aiming is quicker and more accurate with keyboard and mouse, but based on my success rate in Counter-Strike and Team Fortress 2, that rule applies to everyone except me. :)

I can acknowledge that K&M might be more practical, but I find pads more fun to use. Things like rumble, and having firing/grenades/iron sights on triggers rather than mouse or keyboard buttons, make all the difference to me. All other things being equal, I’d rather play an FPS designed from the ground up for a pad.

and further more, why everyone seems so determined to spunk all over Halo.

Oh, I can prattle on for ages about why Halo 1 is every bit as wonderful as its reputation suggests. And this is from someone who didn’t even get to play it properly until last year, by which time I’d already played later console FPSs that had incorporated features it popularised like a weapon limit, recharging shields, and instant access to grenades and melee attacks.

Essentially I like it because…

– I prefer the design philosophy of having all weapons staying useful in different situations all through a game, rather than your first gun being made redundant when you get better ones.
– The two weapon limit adds extra complications to consider, such as the fact you have to remember where dead bodies are that you can return to if you need a different gun.
– The AI strikes a good balance between convincing believability and exploitable predictability.
– The repetitive level design doesn’t matter at all because there’s enough variety in the setup of encounters, and in the way you can approach each one, for it to stay fresh.
– Legendary difficulty is genuinely worth mastering because of the entirely different feel it gives the game, and unlike in Halo 2 is never unfair.
– The whole thing encourages more spectacular (and funny) near-miss “did you see that?” moments than anything this side of Grand Theft Auto.

Obviously YMMV if you prefer your FPSs to focus on different things, but it nails all the combat elements that appeal to me.

[Nick R]

> To be fair, the game plays and looks like a dog these days. It?s one of those games that helped ruin my A-Level grades with it?s addictiveness, but i just find it painful to play now.

Oh, I don’t find that. Although I can acknowledge that many elements are dated and have been surpassed, I still count it as my favourite game ever. I’ve played it so much over the years that I can quickly switch between it and more modern FPSs without the control system or framerate bothering me. (Although I do find I still have to play GoldenEye and Perfect Dark with inverted aiming, whereas I’ve since switched to normal for all other twin-stick console FPSs.) Going back to it for a time attack session or to mess about with the cheats is always comfortingly familiar.

The GoldenEye Source Half-Life 2 mod is definitely worth checking out. It’s not quite what a full official remake would be like, but it’s great fun and looks fantastic. It’s also possible to play the N64 version online using emulators (and hack the game to make new levels), but I’ve never tried that.

The Xbox Live Arcade version of Perfect Dark is still on its way. I think that of the two games, that is the one that was too ambitious for its host system, and will therefore benefit more from being playable at a consistent 60fps. (Although I doubt it’ll do anything to fix Elvis and the alien levels…)

[Nick R]

I don’t care that he didn’t give a real explanation of how he did the trick, whether it was sleight-of-hand or high-tech equipment or whatever. The problem was simply that this was one of his weakest shows, and felt very padded out (it didn’t really need both of the tricks involving mice). He could have mentioned things like the Monty Hall problem and the way our minds have trouble with the counter-intuitive aspects of probabilities, without his show necessarily becoming a maths lecture. It would have been more interesting (well, to me…) than all that nonspecific talk of DEEP MATHS.

And until now he hasn’t really come under fire from scientific sceptics (other than Simon Singh) because he goes out of his way to make it clear that the likes of mediums are charlatans. But this time the show finished with a lot of people left with the impression that willpower can influence random events.

Having said that, his presentation of how I would have done it (phrase ? OJ Simpson) was pretty entertaining. “Hypnotised the security guards…!”

And if it gets lots more people to play the lottery this week then that’s more money they can distribute to good causes, so hooray for that!

[Nick R]

My mum won a tenner on those numbers! Woohoo!

Trailer for the explanation programme. A snowflake… hmm… freeze-frame?

I noticed he kept reiterating “I’ve done nothing illegal” in his patter. I wonder if that’s got anything to do with anything.

Would the fact that the balls are white like those used on motion capture suits make it easier to track them for any split-screening or superimposing that might be going on?

The problem with all the theories about technology (split screen with digital camera wobble; lasers shining photochemical inks on the balls) is that it goes against the bit at the end where he says “how I did it and how you can do it too”.

Did anyone else see subliminal messages flashing up on screen during the show after the Lottery show? They flashed up too quickly for me to read but it got me thinking about what Derren?s got planned for this ?Event? of his?

The word was “forget”.

[Nick R]

> But what annoys me more is when the analogue signal ?compromises? with 16:9 shows by broadcasting them in 14:9, with a thin sliver shaved off each side and with small black bars on the top & bottom. Thing is, my widescreen TV has 3 settings ? 16:9, 4:3 and Zoom ? so if I?ve recorded something on the VCR I can either watch it with pillarboxes and small letterboxes, or zoomed in with a sliver shaved off the top and bottom as well. Then again, last week we got a digital recorder so it?s not so much of a problem any more.

I think broadcasting 14:9 on analogue is a good compromise – doesn’t annoy the old dears who wonder why their screens aren’t being filled. :) However, our widescreen TV (a CRT) does have a 14:9 setting, but it’s not available when playing back a video recording from our DVD+R recorder (no PVR just yet!), in which case I encounter the same problem as you. And you can only view Teletext in either 4:3 or 16:9, not 14:9 (not that that’ll be an issue much longer… sadly).

For some reason our TV also has separate “wide” and “16:9” settings, which seem to produce identical effects.

[Nick R]

I’ve only seen a few films at the cinema this year:

Watchmen: I enjoyed it, and was relieved it was so much better than it could have been (with an Alan Moore adaptation, that’s high praise!). However I mainly enjoyed it for the spectacle of seeing those familiar comic book panels on the big screen; I didn’t really give it much consideration on any deeper level than that, I didn’t get involved in any debates on the changes they made to the ending. They nailed Dr Manhattan’s origin sequence, though – screw the critics who thought it was a pointless digression that dragged the pace to a halt! (I’m glad the hydrogen symbol explanation is being restored in the director’s cut.)

Coraline: Excellent, although I’m not sure yet if I like it as much as Nightmare Before Christmas. I enjoyed my first 3D eperience (bring on Avatar!), but it was a bit distracting: the glasses were a bit uncomfortable over my own.

There was also a weird, faint ghost image some way to the lower-right of the main image, visible both with and without the glasses, and through both eyes. It was only really noticable with bright parts against a black background – like the shots of the Moon, or the end credits. Like this, only fainter. I don’t know if that’s an inherent side-effect of all 3D films (at least the ones that use polarisation rather than synchronised LCD shutters), or if it’s just the way Birmingham Cineworld had it set up. Only explanation I’ve heard so far is that it was some form of internal reflection within the projector…

Star Trek: I’ve never really been that into Star Trek. Loved the original series when BBC2 ran them in prime time about 10 years ago; seen a few TNG episodes and First Contact; liked the two or three DS9 episodes I saw; haven’t seen anything more recent than that. For me, what I’ve seen of Star Trek has always come across better in theory (via second-hand sources like “The Physics of Star Trek” and Wikipedia character/episode descriptions) than in execution. But like Casino Royale and Batman Begins, this reboot sounded promising from the moment it was announced, and lived up to it.

However, I don’t think it was better than Mission: Impossible 3 (one of my favourite blockbusters of the last few years, which was better-paced, had a better MacGuffin, and a much better villain), but it was definitely tremendous fun, with a great ensemble cast that I definitely want to see playing those parts again.

[Nick R]

Am I right in thinking the cut between takes was when the lid of the trunk covered the camera?

I originally thought it was some time before that, with the swinging kitchen door. But having said that, the lid was moving much less than the door, so it seems like that would have been an easier place to match up the two takes.

[Nick R]

> A few shows that I?ve recorded onto VHS over the years have somehow retained a partial Pg.888/subtitle track. Never thought that was possible, either.

I thought only S-VHS tapes could retain teletext information? That was how the last few days of Digitiser were recovered.

[Author]

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