Friday 5 December 2008

Games, Tunes and long long waits

OK, so at last the longest delay I can think of is finally over.

After a fourteen year wait, guns and roses finally have released the Chinese democracy album.
So, technicly I guess its more of an Axl Rose album than GNR as most of the band are missing and slash has been replaced by a guy with a KFC bucket on his head called (I kid you not) Bucket head.

Having spent many impatient months and years waiting for the latest games in my favourite series's's's's's' errrr... like street fighter, sonic and paper mario, I should be used to it by now but come on Axl, what the hell have you been doing all this time?

Anyway, I digress. When you have been waiting for such a long time for a release, be it music, games or films there is always the risk of serious dissapointment and so being a die hard GNR fan it was with some trepidation I slid Democracy into my aged Kenwood stereo.

Verdict?
It's good. No really!
it's really really good!
Worth the wait?
Nothing is worth 14 years wait, but it's a damn fine album and maybe in time it will become one of my faves but it's not a patch on Use you illusion 1+2 or Appetite for destruction, but despite of that I am pleased the wait is finally over and looking at the sales, it looks like a lot of people kept the faith but I can't help but think that it should have gone straight in at #1 and stayed there for a long long time and if it had have arrived 5 years ago it would have done.

Maybe too much damage has been done by missed deadlines and rumours of 100+ tracks waiting to be recorded for GNR to ever be the bohemoth they once were but at least they are back and hopefully it will only be one or two years before the next one.

Yes, we primarily talk of games here at bucket monkey, but hell, you just know guns and roses guitar hero will be along any time now.

Zigganoid

Wednesday 3 December 2008

Incorrect Game Progression

The Internet is a fascinating place. I discovered the other day that I can even buy artifacts that are technically illogical. After a bet with some colleagues, I discovered that I could actually buy a chocolate teapot, an inflatable dartboard, a solar powered torch, and a motorbike ashtray (Okay, this was actually an ashtray with a motorbike etched into it, but it still counts!) I am still struggling with a chocolate fireguard (although there is a record label with that name) and a screen door for a submarine. But, I’m pretty sure that it’s only a matter of time…!

Anyway, I digress. To the subject at hand – I was sitting in my living room with my 4 year old daughter the other not-so-long-ago, and we were playing a game together. The game in question was a Disney Winnie the Pooh educational game. Obviously at 4 years old, I am not going to subject her to the likes of San Andreas, or Silent Hill. Duh. Now, I know that this game is aimed at her age group, simple colouring games, odd one out, find the sound blah blah yackety schmackety Fatherly advice… and that without too much of my help, completed the game without a fantastic amount of brain power. This made me think back to times when I had struggled to complete games that had a more than significant level of challenge about them. From this, I could not help but wonder how the games industry was setting up my little daughter for the future… The game she was playing seemed to have two aims, to develop her learning skills, while at the same time improving her computer ability. However, delving into my own past made me realise that if she carries on playing games, at what point will they take that oh so familiar U-turn whereby the educational development ceases, and instead the values are challenged. When the fun and frolics of the young mutate into the battle hardened survival instincts required to complete games like Call of Duty. I find it odd that in a video store, there is a comedy section, an action section, a horror section… yet in a games shop, you will quite frequently find games like Silent Hill next to The Sims.

I must just take a moment to address the fact that I am not insinuating that I think all adult orientated games are violent or morally wrong, I have been playing games my entire life, and I know a light hearted game from a dark one regardless of genre in the same way that I can distinguish between a teen flick and a horror movie. Everyone has watched children’s TV as a child, and still remembers the first time they saw a film like Silence of the Lambs or Texas Chainsaw Massacre. (not on children’s TV, obviously. Duh again…) For the odd (very odd) one or two who decide that this is the life for them, they get what they deserve. For the rest of us, we remember that it is purely fiction and get on with our well adjusted lives.

And the final word – for all of you out there who think it’s very unlikely that my daughter, being of the female species is unlikely to express an interest in Call of Duty – I also have a 2 year old son. I will be watching his gaming development with some interest...

- Galford.