The latest Bitscast is here, and this time we're giving away prizes!

Bitscast 6 - The Return of the Bitscast

In this show, we review BODY OF LIES, IN BRUGES, QUANTUM OF SOLACE, MAX PAYNE and RENAISSANCE.

We've been to the cinema and seen WATCHMEN and DEAN SPANLEY. Plus, we take a look back at retro Oz cinema on DVD - HOWLING III!

Thanks to Reel, we are also giving away a copy of Blue Murder: The Ultimate Edition (3 Disc - All Regions PAL) . To enter all you have to do is LISTEN TO THIS PODCAST, hear the question and send your answer to bitscastcompetitions@gmail.com. It's that simple. We'll read out the winner on the next Bitcast.

Don't delay - listen now...and win!

We've posted our latest thoughts on a few new release movies and DVDs as part of DVDBits latest Bitscast. Thought this might be an appropriate place to let all the good folks on GS know about this...

BitsCast - Episode 4!

We review DVDs and Blu-rays in the form ofHellboy II: The Golden Army; Batman: Gothman Knight; Tropic Thunder; Wall-E; Happy Go Lucky; You Kill Me and The Mummy - Tomb of the Dragon Emperor!

At the cinema, we go along toThe Wrestler; Doubt; Revolutionary Road; Gran Torino and Milk. Plus Trivia and all the other nonsense that you've come to expect!

Don't delay - listen, subscribe, feel the feed here!

Well, my poor little PS3 - just over a year old - and it decided it doesn't want to play discs anymore.

It could have been that I was thinking about buying High School Musical for Blu-ray, and the player protested in a characteristic display of good taste, but for now my journeys through the Wastelands of Fallout 3 have ceased. 

Sony have been contacted, and a repair/replacement is in the works, but now I only have memories to comfort me. And a Wii. And a PS2. And a DS. And the PC I'm typing this on. And my friends, family and girlfriend.

Look...outside...sunshine! 

In something of a spontaneous move, I booked a flight to Tokyo this morning for a Christmas/New Year visit.

It'll be my first trip, and I'm lucky enough to have a mate to stay with.

Tonight, I'm off to buy a jumper!

When I realised it had been a year since I last posted here, it kind of took me by surprise. I'm a bit slack at updating blogs at the best of times, but that was kind of insane. So, after a moment of unwise spending - purely to bolster the economy in these troubled times of course (after all, JB Hi-Fi must be struggling) - I return to the world of gaming with a pile of STUFF.

After scoring a very cheap copy of de Blob for the Wii - an excellent, all-round piece of fun for those doubters of the Wii out there - the bug was back with Fallout 3 only days away from release. So naturally, I had to pick up copies of Dead Space and Bioshock (all for PS3) along with it. Who knows when I'll have time to play all of this, with my final exam for my first session of a Masters of Information Management less than a week away!

Initial impressions of Fallout 3 are pretty high, and I am yet (touch wood) to encounter any of the infamous PS3 bugs. As a big fan of Oblivion, it is very easy to pick up and play straight out of the box, but I reckon absolutely anybody will be eased into gameplay by the genius introduction of childhood to 'manhood'. When your character first emerges from the Vault, it is very much like the exit from prison in Oblivion: the world has suddenly opened up and it truly is your oyster. I've barely tipped my toe in the ocean (or Wasteland in this case), but I already feel as though I've seen enough blood to support a small clinic.

Speaking of splattering, de Blob is the most fun you can have with your pants on. Take them off if you like, because it might make it even more so. The Wii-mote does vibrate after all!

As my less than subtle headline suggests, I have now entered the Next Generation of console gaming and purchased a PS3. The news that Australia would be yelling "See ya" to the 60GB model, and adding a "G'day" to a lesser 40GB model (sans backwards compatibility; 2 USB ports and the multi-card reader) sent shockwaves across a fragile nation. Well, maybe not shockwaves so much of murmurs of outrage from the fan community, many of whom went out and emptied the already low-stocked shelves of 60Gb models over the weekend. I was lucky enough on Monday, after trying about half-a-dozen large chains in my local super mall (and being laughed at by at least one of them) to pick up one of the last of four PS3s being held by a Large Retailer. Naturally, I still haggled over price, but my desperation was probably showing through. In the end, I'm now a proud member of the Living Generation. Or something like that.

Now, this is all well and good for me. As a Sony Drone - with a PS2; two Sony cameras (a Cybershot and an Alpha); a VAIO and an MP3 player - I may as well just name my first-born Sony at this point. I like that all my cards and things will work in this new Beast. The big plus was also the Blu-ray player, which will be included in the new model, but it's nice to have that little extra oomph in your shiny thing and a back-up if my PS2 ever decides to brick it. What about those other folk, the ones that haven't invested yet? While my PS2 library is quite small, with only a dozen titles or so, it is nice to be able to run them off the one machine. People are being very quick to dismiss the lack of backwards compatibility as something not really needed, but think of it this way: if you have a library - even a small library - of PS2 titles, and your PS2 has given up the ghost, what possible incentive do you now have for upgrading to a 40GB model? You'd be relying solely on the new titles coming out. Although they are amping up a bit, and include some major names, the rate is nowhere near the sheer number available for competitors (who I won't mention for fear of starting an additional console v console debate). I'm cautiously optimistic. Or warmly ambivalent. Or something like that.

So far I'm impressed anyway. As a long-time writer for DVD Bits, it's great to be able to upscale some of the DVDs I presently own to something that my HDTV will deign to love. The Pixar animated films look especially good. Playing games in hi-def with surround sound (I've got my PS3 hooked up to the TV via HDMI and through my DVD Recorder/Receiver via a digital optical cable) is something of a revelation. Ninja Gaiden Sigma was my first choice, and while that may mean I'm exhibiting some masochistic tendencies, it's also fun to smack the snot out of things. (No doubt, Oblivion will get a look-in at some stage, but again with the short-term snot bashing. Post-Zelda: Twilight Princess, I'm not ready to commit to another adventure just yet. This begs another question: should an emotionally fragile gamer be allowed to buy a new console so soon?). My Wii-Widow of a girlfriend was just starting to enjoy some of the co-op play on the Wii, but she is a now a gaming widow once again. A PS3dow perhaps? Or something like that.

Despite my entering the digital age, and throwing my hat in with the Blu-ray crowd, I still have to wonder if this is all going to matter in a few years. With digital downloads on the increase, and broadband ever so slowly getting better here in Australia and around the world, it's only a matter of time before we start seeing an end to these kind of disc-based wars. I believe that there is a place for more that a handful of competing formats, and that they can live together and drink lemonade on a quiet Sunday afternoon. I dream of a future, where man and squirrel are bound together in unholy harmony. Where people with cocktail sausages for fingers can just as easily play a console game as the more ably-fingered. I see a time when worn-out 360 owners will gently cradle their beloved PS3 partners as they drift off to sleep, their free arm still zapping a motion controlled Link as he trains with his crossbow. Yes, brothers and sisters, I speak of a Gaming Utopia, where console prejudice holds no sway in the love between a person and a small woodland animal.

Or something like that.

Been a while since I blogged, but I find myself in a contemplative mood. Perhaps that is because I just ate something with peanut butter in it. I often wonder how squirrels cope with all those nuts in them. Or maybe they've developed some kind of communal antidote to nut-induced insanity (or just being plain nuts, to use the technical term).

While I wait for Australia to get its act together and release Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, as well as the eagerly anticipated Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Simpsons games, I (like the rest of the country it would seem) went and picked up the latest Wiiventure, Super Paper Mario. What a fun game! Being completely "meta" and self-aware at all times, makes this a joy to come back to and every sitting. The combination of an old-school platformer and an RPG was inspired, and the sense of humour is spot-on. I'm not sure if we get the same script as the Japanese version of the game, but the comedy transports really well. It's targeted completely at us gamers, comic collectors and anybody who has ever played or a read a review for a RPG. The only gripe I have is that we had to wait so long for it. 6 months, man! That's like two trimesters. How long does it take to gestate in PAL? The aforementioned Metroid game seems to be taking about 3-4 months to get here, and I can only hope that the current estimate of a 2-3 week wait for the impressive-looking Super Mario Galaxy holds. If I'm not floating through space in a bee costume by Christmas, well...it just won't be Christmas!

Of course, with all that gaming power at my fingertips, what do I do? Play flash games on the Interweb. Throw Me is a current favourite. It's just like the story of baby Jesus, except with balloons; orbital skydiving and bouncing off the planet into oil rigs; wrecking balls and explosive clouds.

Thank heavens for small mercies. Now some people have a problem with buttons. They'd prefer a long zipper or a strip of velcro along the front of their outfits, just like those one-piece jumpsuits that we'll be wearing in the future according to most science fiction resources I've read (or at least skimmed the cover of). Not me. If I wear pants at all, they'll be those ones that the Smurfs wear. You know the type: they are a kind of shoe/pant hybrid. Typically white, although Papa Smurf seems to have the socialist red pants in the village (and Grandpa has a cowardly yellow). Don't even get me started on the Snorks, because that's a whole other kettle of fish. Where was I? Oh yes, buttons. I seem to have been awarded a button for tuning into the live coverage of the TGS Live Coverage. More specifically, "For tuning in during GameSpot's live coverage of the 2007 Tokyo Game Show, which took place on September 20-23. We all know you only wanted to see the cosplayers anyway". This is partially true, although the addition of pillows with breasts was a wonderful bonus. Vibrating broomsticks promise to take off across this fine nation in 2008, and I have no doubt with the Mad Cow and Horse Flu epidemics, Dangerous Meat will be a timely reminder of the issues that plague the globe in the coming years.

So it's a lazy Sunday, and being a one-half of a couple that lives in suburbia, we've done what many of our kind do (apparently) and have gone shopping for household furniture. After all, is it not the Australian dream to own one's own set of self-assembly shelves to house one's games, DVDs and other trinkets?

The pursuance of this dream took two bus trips, as ours is not the sort of dream that involves a car. Or drivers licences for that matter. Regardless, the Moore Park Homemakers Supa Centa was - dubious spelling aside - was a one-stop shop for all of our various homemaking needs, as the cleverly mispelled name would imply. Many a lampshade, chair and bed had been purchased from the centre and it only seemed logical to return to the scene of such previous successes as 'Standard Lamp' and 'Loft Sofa with Coffee Table and Lowline Entertainment Unit'.

The finding and purchase of the 3-shelf bookcase was a simple matter. As was getting it home - a cab was involved! Upon arrival at our humble abode, my girlfriend presented me with a screwdriver at which point I made the first of several shock discoveries: there were no screws included. I check the instructions. It clearly said "Screws included". You can't imagine the shock of thinking you are getting screws, when it turns out your box is empty. Take that as a euphamism and it works on a completely different level.

The executive decision was made to go to the local supermarket and buy generic screws (oh the wonders contained within that phrase), rather than trek out to the so-called "Supa Centa" once more. Taking our trusty paper manual, we quickly found the right sized screws - timber screws I should add - in a pack of eight. The instruction sheet read "8 screws needed". As you can imagine, I was off my nuts on happiness.

Back home, I was happily screwing away (get your mind off it!), having worked out the mechanics of "shelf" from previous encounters. However, it wasn't until I reached the eighth and final screw that it dawned on me. I had only screwed on one side of the shelf. I felt sure that the instructions only included reference to 8 screws. I frantically consulted it again. Sure enough, I was right. In part:

"8 screws required - for this step"

Two adults with several degrees between us, and neither of us managed to work out that we were merely looking at a single step of an instruction sheet. That, in essence, is the IKEA Moment.

So it seems the dream of owning my own set of shelves will have to wait for another day, or at least until I call into the shops on the way home from work.

For now, a half completed set of shelving sits in an empty apartment waiting to be screwed. There is something in that for all of us I think.

...I head to the bargain bins.

Actually, I've been nowhere near a bargain bin lately, except to lean against one as I foolishly checked out the higher-priced new releases. What do you think they call the thing they throw the used bargain bins into? A quick Google search yielded this.

What I did do this week, aside from a quick trip up north for illicit study purposes, was pick up a copy of Resident Evil 4 for the Wii. Is there anything more simple than the child-like joy of shooting people that have done nothing more than be in the wrong place at the wrong time and are really freaky and European to boot? I ask you - IS THERE? Of course there is, but in order to explain it I'd have to put some pants back on.

Another bafflingly fun enterprise is the new Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix game on the Wii. Yes, I know it's a licence. Yes, I know it's a tie-in. Yes, I know it's wrong to direct teenagers around a fictional magical school. But it caused me to write a review. Is that wrong? Is it? IS IT? It is? Oh...

So, ending a week where I accepted the 'over the wing emergency exit' responsibility on the plane with some semi-core gaming doesn't seem all that bad. For the purposes of the conclusion, here is a picture of a hole puncher.

Well, it's only taken me about 4 months with very little motivation but The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess can now be added to the 'Completed' pile.

Ok, my completed pile is completely fictional (it's more of a slanty shelf), but the completion of the game is not. They threw everything they could at me: random fishing puzzles (why! why?); lava (oh how I hate lava!); an inconsistent saving mechanism and a severe case of Wii-elbow to contend with, but gosh-darnit, I made it through. Despite all of that, TLoZ: TP (as I shall now confusingly refer to it as) is one of the most satisfying adventure games to come out in years.

I say '4 months', but actual proper playing time was probably just over 40 hours (pretty much confining playing time to weekends), which is a more than satisfying length. Having played quite a few adventure games over the years, TLoZ: TP was my first foray back into not only adventure gaming, but console gaming in almost 10 years.  The Wii motion-sensor controls are incredibly intuitive on this, more so than any other game out to date. The really beautiful thing about TLoZ: TP is that once you get past the initial 'getting to know you' puzzles, there is a wonderfully rich and layered story underneath. It's come a long way from 'Oh, a princess has been kidnapped - can you go find her? That's a good lad...' At the end of the day, this is still the core plot device, but it is more epic in scope that the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and at 40 hours, ALMOST as long. I kid because I love...

Full review coming soon. For now, I breath a HUGE sigh of relief before tackling Final Fantasy XII on the weekend...