If you're coming to Digitiser Live on July 20th, and you're able to get along to Harrow Arts Centre early, the lovely David Walford is putting on a sort of "Digi Fringe" event - which he has kindly offered to sponsor - for teletext artists and others in the Digi community who might have something they want to showcase.
We'll have more information soon, but if you're interested in showing off something - a game, a website, anything - drop us a line and we'll pass your details onto David.
Also, while we're on the subject of Digi Live... one of the segments we're planning is a sort of Antique's Roadshow thing. So, if you've some weird old gaming-related tat you want to bring along for us to assess on stage, that would be this: highly awesome.
Please bring the tat, otherwise we'll have another 15 minutes to fill.
If you'd like to appear here, or you've something you'd like me to give some attention to in our occasional Plug Zone, or you've got a picture of a bin you wish to share, please send your filthy emails to this place here: digitiser2000@gmail.com
We'll have more information soon, but if you're interested in showing off something - a game, a website, anything - drop us a line and we'll pass your details onto David.
Also, while we're on the subject of Digi Live... one of the segments we're planning is a sort of Antique's Roadshow thing. So, if you've some weird old gaming-related tat you want to bring along for us to assess on stage, that would be this: highly awesome.
Please bring the tat, otherwise we'll have another 15 minutes to fill.
If you'd like to appear here, or you've something you'd like me to give some attention to in our occasional Plug Zone, or you've got a picture of a bin you wish to share, please send your filthy emails to this place here: digitiser2000@gmail.com
KING BELL
Well, as you and the Twitter contingent know, it’s happened at last. I finally made it over the finish line with the Digi screenshot archive I’ve been working on for so many months.
And! It is here:
http://www.superpage58.com/digitiser-vault-teletext-screenshot-image-archive-index.htm
I do hope everyone enjoys using it and discovering/reacquainting themselves with all the classic old Digi pages. They have a dedicated home now - and I’ll keep it updated with any more that are unearthed over the years.
Profound thanks to everyone who contributed images to the archive, and those amazing individuals who provided help, assistance, and general moral support. There’s a proper acknowledgements section on the page above - I’m sincerely grateful for it all.
So anyway - there it is! We have a shiny new toy to play with, and more importantly, Digi gets the preservation treatment it deserves.
Now to see if I have any VHS tapes to send to @grim_fandango...
Chris Bell
Well, as you and the Twitter contingent know, it’s happened at last. I finally made it over the finish line with the Digi screenshot archive I’ve been working on for so many months.
And! It is here:
http://www.superpage58.com/digitiser-vault-teletext-screenshot-image-archive-index.htm
I do hope everyone enjoys using it and discovering/reacquainting themselves with all the classic old Digi pages. They have a dedicated home now - and I’ll keep it updated with any more that are unearthed over the years.
Profound thanks to everyone who contributed images to the archive, and those amazing individuals who provided help, assistance, and general moral support. There’s a proper acknowledgements section on the page above - I’m sincerely grateful for it all.
So anyway - there it is! We have a shiny new toy to play with, and more importantly, Digi gets the preservation treatment it deserves.
Now to see if I have any VHS tapes to send to @grim_fandango...
Chris Bell
I hope people show you the love and admiration you deserve, Bellston. I spent quite some time looking over it this week, and was alarmed by how few games I remember playing, let alone reviewing. Oddly, the thing I most like about it isn't just basking in my own absurdity, but just seeing it as a timeline for gaming history. With no other daily games mags at the time, it's a day-to-day record of what was going on in the 90s.
I hope it gets completed one day.
I hope it gets completed one day.
GAMING MILL'S LETTER
I'm a PC gamer. I've got nothing against console gamers (I used to be one) but as a result I find myself buying a ton of games (either directly or indirectly, depending on the price) via Steam.
What the hell has happened to Steam recently?!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1007840/Wanking_Simulator/
A wanking simulator?! No doubt it'll be rubbish (I have no intention of finding out) but it'll probably sell loads of copies just like the equally rubbish Goat Simulator did. That being said, I fired up Goat Simulator about half an hour before writing this and I actually quite enjoyed it, what with all the updates and whatnot since the last time I played it about four years ago.
Right, I'm off now to open my lounge window and listen to my weird neighbours talking in their garden; I bought this parabolic microphone thing that's great for listening to birdsong from miles away, but I also found out it's great for surreptitiously listening to private conversations from several hundred feet away. I suppose that makes me an Earwigging Tom or something.
One thing I have learnt is that the woman who lives down the road has got the language of a docker.
Actually, I'm going to get some soup first.
I am unfit etc.
Gaming Mill
I'm a PC gamer. I've got nothing against console gamers (I used to be one) but as a result I find myself buying a ton of games (either directly or indirectly, depending on the price) via Steam.
What the hell has happened to Steam recently?!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1007840/Wanking_Simulator/
A wanking simulator?! No doubt it'll be rubbish (I have no intention of finding out) but it'll probably sell loads of copies just like the equally rubbish Goat Simulator did. That being said, I fired up Goat Simulator about half an hour before writing this and I actually quite enjoyed it, what with all the updates and whatnot since the last time I played it about four years ago.
Right, I'm off now to open my lounge window and listen to my weird neighbours talking in their garden; I bought this parabolic microphone thing that's great for listening to birdsong from miles away, but I also found out it's great for surreptitiously listening to private conversations from several hundred feet away. I suppose that makes me an Earwigging Tom or something.
One thing I have learnt is that the woman who lives down the road has got the language of a docker.
Actually, I'm going to get some soup first.
I am unfit etc.
Gaming Mill
I wish I'd had a parabolic mic a couple of years ago. My daughter's then-boyfriend blocked our toilet after he did a big poo and wiped his bottom with kitchen roll. I tried everything to unblock it - plunging, getting one of those big metal snake things, pouring powerful acid down there - and just as the point that I was going to call in Dyna-Rod, they turned up at my neighbour's house.
I naturally assumed that our boyfriend-related blockage had also blocked their drain, and I was worried that this would be found out, so I spied on the neighbour and the Dyna-Rod man from the upstairs landing window, while they were working on the drain. Unfortunately, the Dyna-Rod man saw me, because I basically had to hang half out the window in order to hear what they were saying, in case I was going to get into trouble.
And of course, my response upon being spotted was to duck down immediately, which couldn't have looked more suspicious.
Anyway. Turns out that the blockage got blamed on them pouring oil down their sink. And unblocking their drain unblocked our toilet.
So, that saved me a few quid.
I naturally assumed that our boyfriend-related blockage had also blocked their drain, and I was worried that this would be found out, so I spied on the neighbour and the Dyna-Rod man from the upstairs landing window, while they were working on the drain. Unfortunately, the Dyna-Rod man saw me, because I basically had to hang half out the window in order to hear what they were saying, in case I was going to get into trouble.
And of course, my response upon being spotted was to duck down immediately, which couldn't have looked more suspicious.
Anyway. Turns out that the blockage got blamed on them pouring oil down their sink. And unblocking their drain unblocked our toilet.
So, that saved me a few quid.
HUGGY BEAR
Hello!
I have a couple of questions about both Digi Live and the Video Game Game Show Show, and I hope this is an appropriate forum to ask them!
Will you be around in the bar afterwards to say hello?
Do you do hugs?
Thanks,
Chai :)
Hello!
I have a couple of questions about both Digi Live and the Video Game Game Show Show, and I hope this is an appropriate forum to ask them!
Will you be around in the bar afterwards to say hello?
Do you do hugs?
Thanks,
Chai :)
We will be in the bar afterwards to say hello at both events. I do hugs. £5 each.
CHAMPIONS OF M-HEALTH
It's Mental Health Awareness week. My work that underpays me enormously is apparently concerned about my well-being! Which is nice.
I'm attending your live do later this year, but will unlikely have the nerve to ask anything (should there be a round of audience questions - I'm not sure why I envisioned that might happen). I'm rambling my way to a question here instead.
One thing that's surprised me about Digitiser's shift (that's not a typo) towards YouTube etc. is you're championing good mental health a great deal. And the show and your other content are proving weirdly therapeutic for me. Has anyone else reported that?
Even before the likes of good sir Gannon or Octavius Kitten started discussing their issues in a rather fabulous and candid way, I got a general vibe of life-affirming positivity from it all.
Was this planned?! Or did it all come flowing forth naturally?
Peace and vegetables,
Alex
It's Mental Health Awareness week. My work that underpays me enormously is apparently concerned about my well-being! Which is nice.
I'm attending your live do later this year, but will unlikely have the nerve to ask anything (should there be a round of audience questions - I'm not sure why I envisioned that might happen). I'm rambling my way to a question here instead.
One thing that's surprised me about Digitiser's shift (that's not a typo) towards YouTube etc. is you're championing good mental health a great deal. And the show and your other content are proving weirdly therapeutic for me. Has anyone else reported that?
Even before the likes of good sir Gannon or Octavius Kitten started discussing their issues in a rather fabulous and candid way, I got a general vibe of life-affirming positivity from it all.
Was this planned?! Or did it all come flowing forth naturally?
Peace and vegetables,
Alex
I thought about doing a Q&A at the live show, but they're usually a bit awkward, nobody ever wants to go first, and as many people are coming a long way to see us, and have paid money... it felt like we needed to put on a bit more of a show than just the sort of thing you get at a gaming convention.
But! As mentioned above - we'll be hanging around afterwards if you've got something to ask. I hope I get drunk!
The mental health thing... wasn't by design at all. When I wasn't being Mr Biffo, I did spend close to three years training to be a psychotherapist, Gannon and Octav1us both have had their challenges, and so I guess it was natural that we'd end up talking about it sooner or later.
I guess I just feel like I've got something to offer, based upon training and experience. Far be it for me to honk my nozzle, but even though I never pursued psychotherapy as a career - that's another story - it's one of the few things I've done in my life that I'm happy to say I had an affinity for.
That said, trying to be helpful when it comes to mental illness often goes down like a lead baguette, but it's always coming from a place of compassion and benevolence. And, frankly, a smidgen more informed expertise than the average person.
It's like... yesterday on Twitter... I posted about the hashtag that was trending, #whyimunhappyin5words (which sort of blew up rather unexpectedly).
And then one of the people who did tell me I was "talking shit" had the word "depressed" in their Twitter handle - which was exactly what I was talking about; people making their depression/anxiety/challenges their identity. Which would've been funny in an ironic way if it hadn't been so sad.
It really, really worries me - especially when it comes to younger generations. There's this worrying trend to normalise mental illness to the point whereby it becomes the norm, rather than something that we all have the ability to challenge.
I mean, it's great that people can now have a space where mental illness can be talked about without judgement, and it doesn't carry the stigma it once did, but it should be talked about in the same way you talk about any illness - not as if it's the entirety of who you are. It needs to be separated from a person's sense of self.
I know of teenage girls who've talked about being depressed or suicidal straight after their favourite YouTuber has, and that is incredibly dangerous.
The reason it can be hard to talk about this, especially in the current climate, without getting flack for it, is because people can be resistant to wanting to change, especially if you're challenging what has become their identity.
They can see it as an attack, rather than it coming from a place of wanting to help. And it doesn't help that there are those out there who do attack people for discussing mental health, or rather un-empathically dismiss it as attention-seeking.
Depression and anxiety can seem insurmountable and impossible to overcome, and it can be all-consuming, but if we let it define us or if it becomes too reinforced, because we're getting a little too much love and acceptance for it over the other aspects of who we are, where's the incentive to try and tackle it?
Social media can offer a sense of acceptance and community, and can be a positive thing, but I also see it as sometimes removing a person's ability to take responsibility for themselves. Ultimately, only we can turn things around. We can't use other people as a crutch.
There's a thing called "learned helplessness", which is linked to low self-esteem, which is a belief that people can't help themselves, that all is lost, and I'm massively concerned that there's too much about social media communities, currently, which reinforces that.
As I said yesterday on Twitter, far too many suffer from depression and anxiety, it's a real and terrible issue. There's no one-size-fits-all solution, and we need to be able to talk about it - but not to the point where it almost becomes glamorised.
If that happens - and I feel it is happening a little too often - then people who do have the potential to help themselves may just get stuck in it. Depression, like anything familiar, can start to feel comfortable. But it's an insidious, hungry, illness that wants to feast on your identity. We can't let it.
But anyway. Whole books have been written about this, so I'm not going to nail it here, and I can't even remember whether any of this has anything to do with your letter.
Either way, you're not alone in saying that Digi is helping you, and that's immensely gratifying. That's all I want really; for it to be something that makes life a little better for people. As you say - life-affirming!
But! As mentioned above - we'll be hanging around afterwards if you've got something to ask. I hope I get drunk!
The mental health thing... wasn't by design at all. When I wasn't being Mr Biffo, I did spend close to three years training to be a psychotherapist, Gannon and Octav1us both have had their challenges, and so I guess it was natural that we'd end up talking about it sooner or later.
I guess I just feel like I've got something to offer, based upon training and experience. Far be it for me to honk my nozzle, but even though I never pursued psychotherapy as a career - that's another story - it's one of the few things I've done in my life that I'm happy to say I had an affinity for.
That said, trying to be helpful when it comes to mental illness often goes down like a lead baguette, but it's always coming from a place of compassion and benevolence. And, frankly, a smidgen more informed expertise than the average person.
It's like... yesterday on Twitter... I posted about the hashtag that was trending, #whyimunhappyin5words (which sort of blew up rather unexpectedly).
And then one of the people who did tell me I was "talking shit" had the word "depressed" in their Twitter handle - which was exactly what I was talking about; people making their depression/anxiety/challenges their identity. Which would've been funny in an ironic way if it hadn't been so sad.
It really, really worries me - especially when it comes to younger generations. There's this worrying trend to normalise mental illness to the point whereby it becomes the norm, rather than something that we all have the ability to challenge.
I mean, it's great that people can now have a space where mental illness can be talked about without judgement, and it doesn't carry the stigma it once did, but it should be talked about in the same way you talk about any illness - not as if it's the entirety of who you are. It needs to be separated from a person's sense of self.
I know of teenage girls who've talked about being depressed or suicidal straight after their favourite YouTuber has, and that is incredibly dangerous.
The reason it can be hard to talk about this, especially in the current climate, without getting flack for it, is because people can be resistant to wanting to change, especially if you're challenging what has become their identity.
They can see it as an attack, rather than it coming from a place of wanting to help. And it doesn't help that there are those out there who do attack people for discussing mental health, or rather un-empathically dismiss it as attention-seeking.
Depression and anxiety can seem insurmountable and impossible to overcome, and it can be all-consuming, but if we let it define us or if it becomes too reinforced, because we're getting a little too much love and acceptance for it over the other aspects of who we are, where's the incentive to try and tackle it?
Social media can offer a sense of acceptance and community, and can be a positive thing, but I also see it as sometimes removing a person's ability to take responsibility for themselves. Ultimately, only we can turn things around. We can't use other people as a crutch.
There's a thing called "learned helplessness", which is linked to low self-esteem, which is a belief that people can't help themselves, that all is lost, and I'm massively concerned that there's too much about social media communities, currently, which reinforces that.
As I said yesterday on Twitter, far too many suffer from depression and anxiety, it's a real and terrible issue. There's no one-size-fits-all solution, and we need to be able to talk about it - but not to the point where it almost becomes glamorised.
If that happens - and I feel it is happening a little too often - then people who do have the potential to help themselves may just get stuck in it. Depression, like anything familiar, can start to feel comfortable. But it's an insidious, hungry, illness that wants to feast on your identity. We can't let it.
But anyway. Whole books have been written about this, so I'm not going to nail it here, and I can't even remember whether any of this has anything to do with your letter.
Either way, you're not alone in saying that Digi is helping you, and that's immensely gratifying. That's all I want really; for it to be something that makes life a little better for people. As you say - life-affirming!
7EVEN
How Do.
The Final Fantasy VII Remake trailer is out!
WOW!!!!!!!!!
It's almost here! I'm almost at the point of arrival.
Kind Regards,
Jim Leighton (Future Darts World Champion) x
How Do.
The Final Fantasy VII Remake trailer is out!
WOW!!!!!!!!!
It's almost here! I'm almost at the point of arrival.
Kind Regards,
Jim Leighton (Future Darts World Champion) x
I don't care about that. Press reveal to see something I do care about.
REVEAL:
LEG MEETS BOOT
Although nice for the unwitting consumer, surely these bootleg gaming handhelds are massively illegal, like a pre-loaded R4 DS Card Of yesteryear, which I’m sure Nintendo actively outlawed at the time?
Makes you wonder how these devices fall under the radar as most are readily available in most market stalls or electronics stores across the country. I suppose it doesn’t help that they don’t advertise what is on them, or change the names of the games. I can imagine these devices generally leave a bitter taste in the mouth on most avid retro gamers and collectors.
Luke Adams
Although nice for the unwitting consumer, surely these bootleg gaming handhelds are massively illegal, like a pre-loaded R4 DS Card Of yesteryear, which I’m sure Nintendo actively outlawed at the time?
Makes you wonder how these devices fall under the radar as most are readily available in most market stalls or electronics stores across the country. I suppose it doesn’t help that they don’t advertise what is on them, or change the names of the games. I can imagine these devices generally leave a bitter taste in the mouth on most avid retro gamers and collectors.
Luke Adams
Yeah, as we said in our video on them - they're massively illegal. But they also seem to be everywhere these days.
On the plus side, for the likes of Nintendo, they're rarely the best way to play games. In the interests of research, I bought one of those Raspberry Pi retro things recently - housed in a replica NES. It has something like 7,000 games on there, across a whole variety of systems, but a lot of those games run really badly; fuzzy graphics, weird sound glitches, terrible frame rates.
So, swings and roundabouts.
On the plus side, for the likes of Nintendo, they're rarely the best way to play games. In the interests of research, I bought one of those Raspberry Pi retro things recently - housed in a replica NES. It has something like 7,000 games on there, across a whole variety of systems, but a lot of those games run really badly; fuzzy graphics, weird sound glitches, terrible frame rates.
So, swings and roundabouts.
RISING DAMP
Does anyone think that Capcom could be set to announce Dead Rising 5 at E3 this year? Dead Rising 3 and 4 have been out a good while now and we have not heard very much from Capcom pertaining to this.
The team over at Colt Eastwood has done a video reporting that Dead Rising 5 could be announced as a surprise this year at E3 as well as over long awaited games and the possibility of the next Xbox announced.
Heres the video Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-m5P-DbxUE&t=328s
I really hope Capcom does tease a Dead Rising 5 as I most certainly am curious as to what Capcom has in store for us at this years E3 and Microsoft's conference.
gamertag ( gaz be rotten)
Does anyone think that Capcom could be set to announce Dead Rising 5 at E3 this year? Dead Rising 3 and 4 have been out a good while now and we have not heard very much from Capcom pertaining to this.
The team over at Colt Eastwood has done a video reporting that Dead Rising 5 could be announced as a surprise this year at E3 as well as over long awaited games and the possibility of the next Xbox announced.
Heres the video Link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-m5P-DbxUE&t=328s
I really hope Capcom does tease a Dead Rising 5 as I most certainly am curious as to what Capcom has in store for us at this years E3 and Microsoft's conference.
gamertag ( gaz be rotten)
I've not played a Dead Rising game for a long time, and I can't see myself being particularly excited by a fifth one. The first game had a weird structure, and then the bosses in the next couple just really annoyed me. I hate bosses in games.
I hate bosses.
I hate bosses.
THE BOATPEOPLE
Firstly I can assure you that me and Mr.J (the wife) are two people. We bought 2 tickets to Digi Live so this clearly proves it. Also, thank you for the lovely boat fun reveal - Mr.J (the wife) is going to print out a copy for the toilet wall.
So your VR on PS2 article got me pondering, has VR been the smash hit everyone was saying it would be several years ago? Did it live up to the hype or has it passed by again, to inevitably resurface again in several years?
I'm a bit of a pessimist, and I've often been called up on my negativity by my optimist peers when I said several things would not be the future of gaming and would fade away, including Kinect, Ouya, and that Steam Box thing that never (as far as I'm aware) happened.
I also spoke critically about VR, mostly due to the tech not being totally ready, and the cost of it (at the time it was still PC based) pushing it far out of the reaches of the mainstream, keeping it niche, and putting big companies off making flashy games for it. I was derided as a fool who didn't understand that it was definatley going to be the future and would most certainly change the gaming world forever.
That being said, I do have a PSVR (which I'm now trying to sell) that I bought in more profitable times as an impulse thing, and was fun for 5 mins but overall is a bit impractical with all the cables (and the pass thru box for some reason doesn't support 4K so I have to switch HDMIs around) and most of the time makes me feel ill after a while, but at least Sony have tried to keep it reasonably affordable and straight forward for its end users, and do develop their own software to support it.
I've had some fun in the past with the Eye Toy, PSMove, and rolled around the floor like a tiger while a cheap Kinect I picked up took pictures of me, but these were cheapish bits of fun and mostly enjoyed with other people in a party game kinda way, but certainly nothing (literally) game changing.
Mr.S
Firstly I can assure you that me and Mr.J (the wife) are two people. We bought 2 tickets to Digi Live so this clearly proves it. Also, thank you for the lovely boat fun reveal - Mr.J (the wife) is going to print out a copy for the toilet wall.
So your VR on PS2 article got me pondering, has VR been the smash hit everyone was saying it would be several years ago? Did it live up to the hype or has it passed by again, to inevitably resurface again in several years?
I'm a bit of a pessimist, and I've often been called up on my negativity by my optimist peers when I said several things would not be the future of gaming and would fade away, including Kinect, Ouya, and that Steam Box thing that never (as far as I'm aware) happened.
I also spoke critically about VR, mostly due to the tech not being totally ready, and the cost of it (at the time it was still PC based) pushing it far out of the reaches of the mainstream, keeping it niche, and putting big companies off making flashy games for it. I was derided as a fool who didn't understand that it was definatley going to be the future and would most certainly change the gaming world forever.
That being said, I do have a PSVR (which I'm now trying to sell) that I bought in more profitable times as an impulse thing, and was fun for 5 mins but overall is a bit impractical with all the cables (and the pass thru box for some reason doesn't support 4K so I have to switch HDMIs around) and most of the time makes me feel ill after a while, but at least Sony have tried to keep it reasonably affordable and straight forward for its end users, and do develop their own software to support it.
I've had some fun in the past with the Eye Toy, PSMove, and rolled around the floor like a tiger while a cheap Kinect I picked up took pictures of me, but these were cheapish bits of fun and mostly enjoyed with other people in a party game kinda way, but certainly nothing (literally) game changing.
Mr.S
I've pre-ordered one of those new wireless Oculus Quest headsets, which should be arriving next week. I think a self-contained, wireless, headset is the best way forwards for VR, but it does nothing for all the other barriers that VR presents.
I still love the idea of VR gaming - that's why I bought a Quest - but I honestly don't think it's ever going to truly become the default. It's going to stay a novelty, at least in terms of entertainment.
Have a new reveal showing some more of what happens on your boat:
I still love the idea of VR gaming - that's why I bought a Quest - but I honestly don't think it's ever going to truly become the default. It's going to stay a novelty, at least in terms of entertainment.
Have a new reveal showing some more of what happens on your boat:
REVEAL:
SOD OF WAR
Ja Ja willkommen, Mr Muscle (Biffo).
I’ve just finished God of War. Not the new one - the PS2 original. It was enjoyable knockabout fun until the game (developers) decided to do some of my least favourite things, these:
Bad platforming: It’s not a platformer, but here comes a big platforming section, the kind with fixed camera angles so you can judge anything and you can’t see the next bit until you’re RIGHT THERE. I died so much in these platforming sections that the game asked me if I wanted to switch to easy mode, unhelpfully it also stated that it would only make combat easier.
New rules at the 11th hour: If you’ve spent an entire game learning combat and levelling up stuff why-oh-WHY would the final boss be a battle where you’re stripped of all that? Surely the denouement should be the culmination of all your efforts rather than suddenly being an arcadey Bushido Blade with a seesaw health bar.
I have questions.
1. Whenever I’m not very good at a game I blame the design and start to deconstruct everything. Do you ever do this?
2. Was any game ever soured for you by a late rule change or an inserted section of unwanted “different” gameplay?
Das ist letter
Grembot
Ja Ja willkommen, Mr Muscle (Biffo).
I’ve just finished God of War. Not the new one - the PS2 original. It was enjoyable knockabout fun until the game (developers) decided to do some of my least favourite things, these:
Bad platforming: It’s not a platformer, but here comes a big platforming section, the kind with fixed camera angles so you can judge anything and you can’t see the next bit until you’re RIGHT THERE. I died so much in these platforming sections that the game asked me if I wanted to switch to easy mode, unhelpfully it also stated that it would only make combat easier.
New rules at the 11th hour: If you’ve spent an entire game learning combat and levelling up stuff why-oh-WHY would the final boss be a battle where you’re stripped of all that? Surely the denouement should be the culmination of all your efforts rather than suddenly being an arcadey Bushido Blade with a seesaw health bar.
I have questions.
1. Whenever I’m not very good at a game I blame the design and start to deconstruct everything. Do you ever do this?
2. Was any game ever soured for you by a late rule change or an inserted section of unwanted “different” gameplay?
Das ist letter
Grembot
1. I guess there are those out there who enjoy the masochistic thrill of ploughing through a fundamentally broken game, but it's also in the eye of the beholder. I know I'm not the best player in the world, but I also know there are certain games (Dark Souls et al) which aren't for me.
2. Again, pretty much any boss section, which isn't as short and sweet as the bosses you get in the average Mario game. They're a horrible chore. I've given up on far too many games because of a particularly challenging boss.
2. Again, pretty much any boss section, which isn't as short and sweet as the bosses you get in the average Mario game. They're a horrible chore. I've given up on far too many games because of a particularly challenging boss.
KICKED IN THE SHENS
You have previously stated you are “not looking forward” to Shenmue 3.
May I ask why? What was it about the first 2 games that put you off?
Was it all the hanging around in bars waiting for sailors? Did that put you off even getting round to playing the games? Were you too busy doing that???
Ha!
And so on
????
Yours
Peter Hook (Hooky)
You have previously stated you are “not looking forward” to Shenmue 3.
May I ask why? What was it about the first 2 games that put you off?
Was it all the hanging around in bars waiting for sailors? Did that put you off even getting round to playing the games? Were you too busy doing that???
Ha!
And so on
????
Yours
Peter Hook (Hooky)
Shenmue was just a load of boring walking around. It was so bloody slow and dull. THAT IS WHY.
LOST SONG
The video which I have attached was some music supposedly from the development stages of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. This isn't just the Hidden Palace zone music that never got used till the remaster in 2013, but if you listen to the "Club Scene" - whilst ignoring the fact Sonic is dancing next to Tails who is sleeping, not dead - the music resembles that of a lost act.
Though it isn't known what level this was intended for (or cutscene), what this does is shed a larger light on the cut material from Sonic 2, as we've seen with that weird Badnik in the first edition that was shown on a Nickelodeon US Show, or the sprites for unused Badnik from I dunno when, but we can always take guesses.
Yours truly
The BV Reviewer
The video which I have attached was some music supposedly from the development stages of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. This isn't just the Hidden Palace zone music that never got used till the remaster in 2013, but if you listen to the "Club Scene" - whilst ignoring the fact Sonic is dancing next to Tails who is sleeping, not dead - the music resembles that of a lost act.
Though it isn't known what level this was intended for (or cutscene), what this does is shed a larger light on the cut material from Sonic 2, as we've seen with that weird Badnik in the first edition that was shown on a Nickelodeon US Show, or the sprites for unused Badnik from I dunno when, but we can always take guesses.
Yours truly
The BV Reviewer
What a horrible song!
500 Qs OF WHYTE
351) In games where you have had a choice of characters to play as, do you always choose the same ones, or try to use them all?
352) If you were to choose a Mount Rushmore of computer game characters, who would be on it?
353) How closely, rightly or wrongly, do you think that the opinions of most games journalists reflect those of their audience? I ask because there seems to be a widening chasm between what film critics like and audiences.
354) Ubisoft never seem to be thought of as one of the great software houses, which I think is unfair. They have made lots of good games, in different styles, over a long period. Not only that but (and this might be the problem for many) they have essentially defined the open world experience for many. Not only that but they made a Nintendo game that Nintendo would have been unlikely ever to attempt. What do you think of Ubisoft overall?
355) What's your favourite original song in any computer game i.e. written for the game and includes lyrics.
John Whyte
351) In games where you have had a choice of characters to play as, do you always choose the same ones, or try to use them all?
352) If you were to choose a Mount Rushmore of computer game characters, who would be on it?
353) How closely, rightly or wrongly, do you think that the opinions of most games journalists reflect those of their audience? I ask because there seems to be a widening chasm between what film critics like and audiences.
354) Ubisoft never seem to be thought of as one of the great software houses, which I think is unfair. They have made lots of good games, in different styles, over a long period. Not only that but (and this might be the problem for many) they have essentially defined the open world experience for many. Not only that but they made a Nintendo game that Nintendo would have been unlikely ever to attempt. What do you think of Ubisoft overall?
355) What's your favourite original song in any computer game i.e. written for the game and includes lyrics.
John Whyte
351) You mean, go back and choose a different character? Nah, if it's that then I just play through the once. If you mean a game where you get to switch between different characters mid-game, then I have this to say: dunno.
352) Pac-Man, Mario, Lara Croft, Master Chief and a Tetris block.
353) In all honesty, I don't read a lot of modern games journalism, though obviously in recent years there has been a definite rift between certain gamers and journalists. Which is a whole other topic.
354) I agree; Ubisoft are still going, where many of the contemporaries have fallen away, so they have clearly done something right. As you say, in a lot of ways they've come to define open world games. And
355) Oh bloody hell. It's from a magazine, not a game, but this:
352) Pac-Man, Mario, Lara Croft, Master Chief and a Tetris block.
353) In all honesty, I don't read a lot of modern games journalism, though obviously in recent years there has been a definite rift between certain gamers and journalists. Which is a whole other topic.
354) I agree; Ubisoft are still going, where many of the contemporaries have fallen away, so they have clearly done something right. As you say, in a lot of ways they've come to define open world games. And
355) Oh bloody hell. It's from a magazine, not a game, but this:
500 Qs OF PEPSIMAN
16) What is your favourite licensed music track used in a video game?
17) What is your favourite non-licensed track used in a video game?
18) What is your favourite game based upon a licensed I.P.?
19) Why does there seem to be little room on the YouTubes for absurdity in video game culture? Aside from a few channels, everything seems to be aimed towards the same demographic of those who take games WAY too seriously.
Did gaming culture lose its sense of humour in the early 2000s or am I just a dinosaur of an era long gone-by?
Cheers,
Pepsiman
16) What is your favourite licensed music track used in a video game?
17) What is your favourite non-licensed track used in a video game?
18) What is your favourite game based upon a licensed I.P.?
19) Why does there seem to be little room on the YouTubes for absurdity in video game culture? Aside from a few channels, everything seems to be aimed towards the same demographic of those who take games WAY too seriously.
Did gaming culture lose its sense of humour in the early 2000s or am I just a dinosaur of an era long gone-by?
Cheers,
Pepsiman
16) The one I always remember is Bad to the Bone from Rock & Roll racing.
17) See previous letter!
18) I'm going to say Terminator: Future Shock. I've played it recently, and it doesn't quite hold up in the light of the modern day, but at the time it was one of the most atmospheric games I've ever played.
19) It's part of what we see Digitiser as the antidote for. It baffles me that people take gaming and retro gaming so bloody seriously. Or, at least, are resistant to stuff which doesn't.
Not that we have anything so grand as a philosophy, but making something like that would bore me senseless. I mean, I do really like watching DJ Slope and Nostalgia Nerd et al - who put the info over any funnies... it's just not for me as a creator.
When we were doing Digitiser The Show we did - early on - slightly fall between two horses by trying to please the people who wanted serious gaming content... rather than just being ourselves.
The biggest regret I have with the series is not sticking to our original opening for Episode 1. It was chaotic, but the general feeling on set was that it wasn't enough about games... And perhaps some of us got a bit swamped by some of the bantz between certain gobshites.
But really, we were being ourselves. When we re-recorded it we pretended to be "professional", but on hindsight it came across as us being nervous and awkward. It wasn't that anyone was nervous (we had a day of filming under our belts by then) - it was just us sort of all trying to squash our personalities into a straightjacket and "behave".
You'll note that the series got more loose as it went on, and we just started being ourselves. I'm a firm believer that people can smell inauthenticity - even if that's not what they identify it as - so the main thing we try and do now on the Digi Minis (and it'll carry through into Series 2) is be who we are.
And, for better or worse, we struggle to focus, we struggle to be professional, and we struggle to take anything too seriously. What's nice is that the channel is slowly growing, and people seem to know what they're going to get now. Whether they like it or not.
Goodbye, everyone! Have a wonderful Christmas!
17) See previous letter!
18) I'm going to say Terminator: Future Shock. I've played it recently, and it doesn't quite hold up in the light of the modern day, but at the time it was one of the most atmospheric games I've ever played.
19) It's part of what we see Digitiser as the antidote for. It baffles me that people take gaming and retro gaming so bloody seriously. Or, at least, are resistant to stuff which doesn't.
Not that we have anything so grand as a philosophy, but making something like that would bore me senseless. I mean, I do really like watching DJ Slope and Nostalgia Nerd et al - who put the info over any funnies... it's just not for me as a creator.
When we were doing Digitiser The Show we did - early on - slightly fall between two horses by trying to please the people who wanted serious gaming content... rather than just being ourselves.
The biggest regret I have with the series is not sticking to our original opening for Episode 1. It was chaotic, but the general feeling on set was that it wasn't enough about games... And perhaps some of us got a bit swamped by some of the bantz between certain gobshites.
But really, we were being ourselves. When we re-recorded it we pretended to be "professional", but on hindsight it came across as us being nervous and awkward. It wasn't that anyone was nervous (we had a day of filming under our belts by then) - it was just us sort of all trying to squash our personalities into a straightjacket and "behave".
You'll note that the series got more loose as it went on, and we just started being ourselves. I'm a firm believer that people can smell inauthenticity - even if that's not what they identify it as - so the main thing we try and do now on the Digi Minis (and it'll carry through into Series 2) is be who we are.
And, for better or worse, we struggle to focus, we struggle to be professional, and we struggle to take anything too seriously. What's nice is that the channel is slowly growing, and people seem to know what they're going to get now. Whether they like it or not.
Goodbye, everyone! Have a wonderful Christmas!
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