way out west – don’t look now | evening sessions

what a fantastic album.  it arrived yesterday from amazon and was immediately lifted to mp3 for the aleph.  a double cd, it features a mix cd done by nick and jody.  it’s become my newest selection for evening sessions, which at the moment tend to involve driving.  it’s made up of almost all straight fours tracks, but they’re just great – very open, relaxed grooves.  i’ve listened to it twice through and the album only once.

hanging around with chibi-r, i must say that silent hill 4: the room is quite impressive.  when he explains to me the ethos behind silent hill 2 and 4, it almost makes me want to get a ps2.  my problem with survival horror and psychological thrillers is that i tend not to have enough time to play them, so if i die after half an hour of gameplay, i give-up.  i just don’t have the time to repeat-game, and though they tend not to repeat too much, i think i’d lose the pacing if i didn’t immediately try and get through what i just failed at.  there is supposed to be easy combat modes, so i might give it a go at chibi-r’s next time.

absolutely cannot wait for donkey-konga.  i think i’m possibly more excited about it than halo 2.  halo i know will be fantastic, and co-op as always will be brilliant, but a few weeks ago laura, chibi-r, and one of my work friends jack were over at my place and we played the japanese version with a freeloader.  laura and jack aren’t gamers and at first were reluctant to join in, but they ended up having so much fun, it really was great.  we only have one set of bongos though, but knowing me, if we get to play it enough, i’ll go out and buy another three controllers just so everyone can use them.

this was why i acquired a cube.  multiplayer enjoyment.  i despise online gaming, and deathmatch became tiring back in the quake II haydays of high-school.  the reason i acquired an x-box was absolutely for halo.  no other game has such great gameplay dynamics for co-operative play.  i’m tired of competative gameplay.  i’m tired of the same conventions being recycled over and over again.  and i’m tired of people who think counter-strike, gta and final fantasy are the pinacle of gaming.