Picture Overload!!!

When rose fingered Dawn swept across the sky this morning, I awoke to find that it had snowed overnight, turning this hell hole into something of a magical winter wonderland. As other people prepared to make snow angels and snowmen, I used my initiative and creativity to produce this: A Snowcast!
I've started noticing that there are quite a few PSP ads popping up too.
I saw this one and others like it on my way to work...

Then I turned a corner and saw this fucking behemoth plastered on the side of a building:

Now thats what I call advertising. Now, this is just a theory, but I reckon that if Sega had done something like this with the Dreamcast instead of this:Or this

then it might have lasted more than three poxy years. It wasn't all bad today though. At dinner time I prised myself away from my desk and forced myself outside. I wandered into a well known city centre goth-athon called 'Affleck's Palace' and found an original Pac Man arcade cabinet! Even better still, tucked away next to it was an original Sega Rally cabinet, complete with steering wheel and pedals. I had a quick go on it, but the years away from the awesome Saturn version have made me rusty and I was getting nowhere near my old personal best of about 48 seconds on the Desert track (with the Celica...the Lancia is a pig). Oh well.

Still a great game though, but it has to be the most uncomfortable-to-play arcade cabinet of all time...you have yo use pedals and stand up? Ridiculous!

I may be some time...

I mentioned earlier this week that I had had two new entrants in the 'Yard. The first, Unreal Tournament, left me cold. Not just chilly, but freezing - Captain Oates style . I've heard great things about it and have observed an aquaintance play it online (granted it was about 5 years ago, on the PC), but having sampled it's 'delights' for myself, I will make the following statement to the first person I bump into on the way to work in the morning - "It's Shite." And yes, that was a capital 's.' It's not that it's a bad game...it's just a bit, well, pointless. It's the Dreamcast equivalent of Turok: Rage Wars but -get this - NOT AS GOOD!

Quite.

The other new contestant faired slightly better. Ladies and Gentlemen, say Hello to Rush 2049! I have to admit that I've fallen in love with this game, which is strange because the technician who manufactured me said my cold mechanical heart could never know true love and then slapped me across the face with an old slipper. Aaaanyway, moving ever so swiftly on, I've finally written a review of Rush 2049 and it can be found...

Here.

Also, I'm still on the quest to change that LED, but I need to get a soldering iron first and seeing as baked beans (see right) are cheaper and more essential to maintaining basic life functions than a soldering iron, the project may be delayed by a week. Or maybe two. It will not be a Wembley Stadium sized delay though, and is unlikely to cost the British taxpayer several million pounds. Thank you for your co-operation.

"Get a Life...Get a Dreamcast..."

Yes, that rather outlandish claim does exist somewhere else apart from above the Ivory and Platinum Gates that mark the entrance to the Dreamcast Junkyard. It exists here, as part of a UK Launch promo video.

Also, out of sheer boredom (right), this evening saw me try out Planet Ring for the first time. It's meant to be some sort of online theme park where you take part in various simple games with other players via the wonders of the internet. However, as I've stated elsewhere, my DC is not hooked up to the net so all that happened when I tried to play was a message that the console was looking for an internet connection... When it couldnt find one it just exited to the 'start' screen. Fellow Blogger son_et_lumiere made a comment about an 'infinity loop' in one of Jet Set Radio's levels a few weeks back...well, I think I've inadvertantly discovered a new one.

Next, here's a delightful Chu Chu Rocket advert. Why can't all games ads be as downright fucking lovely as this? If they were, I'm sure we'd all be much happier. Not only in our work, but also in our dreams. Cough.

Finally, stay tuned as I attempt to modify my DC by changing that grotesque orange LED to a more PAL-friendly blue one...results and pictures will follow soon. Fingers crossed I don't accidentally blow up a) my Dreamcast; or (less importantly) b) myself.

Butterfly Effect

Alternative realities are very cool. If any of the complete and utter bullshit published by 'Academics' on the internet has even a modicum of truth in it, there is a possibility that there are an infinate number of alternative Earths where me, you and even Noel Edmunds live totally different lives. In a similar way, there is probably an Earth where the gaming masses aren't brain-dead sheep who's minds are so susceptible to advertising and hype that they ignore truly revolutionary console design in favour of boring, EA funded Sony-manufactured white elephants. On this Earth, if you walk into Gamestation or GAME, you are likely to see the following adorning the shelves:



Good eh?! Also, in this reality there is no such thing as PAL and NTSC - everything is universal! The only problem is that the only edible substance on the planet is Fray Bentos pies. Still, you can't have everything.