 Sad news indeed. He was my favorite all-time driver and a true legend of the sport. I can't believe he's gone. He's been such an ambassador to the WRC and Rally racing in general. It was great to have seen him in action once again driving for Citroen earlier last season, I figured maybe a comeback was in order.
I've followed his career since he was tearing it up with Carlos Sainz as part of Subaru. Been a fan of rally racing games and his in particular since the first one on the PS1.
With the loss of Colin and of Richard Burns a few years ago, it leaves a big hole for popular drivers that have universal appeal. Both died well before their time and before they could culminate a life's worth of contributions.
My condolences go out to his family and loved ones, he will be sorely missed by many many people around the world.
Rally driver Colin McRae is believed to be among four people killed in a helicopter crash near his country home.
Strathclyde Police said the 39-year-old star was believed to be on board the aircraft, which crashed at Jerviswood, near Lanark at about 4.10pm yesterday.
There were four people on board, but no formal identifications have taken place yet.
A statement released by the force stated: "The bodies were found within the helicopter which is owned by Mr Colin McRae of Jerviswood House, Lanark.
"It is believed he was onboard the helicopter however until formal identification has taken place, we will not be able to confirm the identities of those onboard."
Police are to remain at the scene through the night where a thorough search of the area continues.
Air accident investigators will carry out a full investigation into the cause of the crash.
McRae became the Briton to win the World Rally Championship drivers' title in 1995 and hails from a well-known motor racing family in Scotland.
His father, Jimmy, is a five-time British rally champion and his brother, Alister, is also former British rally champion.
Colin McRae is married to Alison and has two children, Hollie and Johnny.
As well as winning the world championship driving a Subaru in 1995, he was runner-up in 1996, 1997 and 2001.
Colin McRae R.I.P. - 1968-2007
http://www.telegraph.co.u...2007/09/15/ncopter115.xml
http://news.scotsman.com/...ainment.cfm?id=1483222007
http://www.myfoxchicago.c...outCode=TSTY&pageId=3.4.1
So I thought I'd make a list of my favorite games. Why? Because I can, because I want to and because I'm curious to see how many off the top of my head I can think of.
It's interested to see how one can deviate from your own list when you can list a top 100 versus a top 5, 10 or 20 etc. This one is made up from just about every system from the last 30 years. All games I enjoy playing then and now. So here goes:
Continue reading My Top 100 list of favorite games from 3 decades.
 So apparently the Philmeister is taping an episode this Thursday concerning violent video games and the supposed correlation with violent crimes. He even has a special guest who's a so-called expert in the field. Wanna wager who that might be?
Maybe he'll turn the "Dr. Phil House" into a shock therapy rehab boot camp like the Chinese have done. Just remember folks, art is bad. Literature is evil. Video games are the tools of the Devil. Satan loves a high-score maker.
Salem witch trials anyone?
Every time a Gamestop cash register dings, Jack Thompson's anti-game rhetoric sings.
Played the Beautiful Katamari demo on the X360 a while ago. For those of you wondering it's around 432 meg in size. As usual it's an addicting, fun and yet simple game, though the demo itself was a bit on the short side. Anyone who has played the PS2 versions will instantly be familiar with this one. Those who've never played it, imagine a puzzle game where you roll around the environment sticking objects, animals etc to your ball building it up as you go. Then add a time limit and obstacles to make things more challenging. Simple? Yes. Addicting? You betcha!
The best part of this version IMO is the achievements that will accompany it. This game will make me want to work hard for those 1000 points. The multiplayer aspect of it may even convince me to get off my ass and get Xbox Live Gold. Keep an eye out for this game this fall. 
http://namco-ch.net/beautiful_katamari/index.php
So I played the Bioshock demo this morning. All the buzz surrounding it's release on XBL I figured I'd give it a go. Maybe, just maybe, my initial impression of the game was inaccurate.
It started out well enough. The plane crash, the exploration of the "visitor center" that leads to the city of "Rapture". I even had fun for the first 20 minutes or so. Some of the better points of this game are it's interaction with the environment, the music and the graphics/sound are both solid.
After rooting through garbage cans and corpses, killing a couple dozen cookie-cutter enemies and playing around with different weapons it started to bore me. The hacking and exploration of refuse and rubble filled areas got a bit repetitive. When the initial reaction from the environment and setting wore off it became just another FPS. A pity to anyone who had hoped that this would retain any part of the System Shock games, they'll be sadly disappointed.
No doubt this game will sell well to the game-starved 360 crowd who've waited all summer for a big title to hit store shelves. And no doubt reviewers will give it good scores, but I don't think it'll earn any GOTY awards. I'll of course give the game another chance once it comes out, I'm sure someone I know will buy it, but right now it's a bargain-binner. Overall the demo gets a solid 7.5 out of me, mostly for the soundtrack and presentation.
 Curse them and their corporate hunger. EA just took another 5% stake in Ubisoft. I have the feeling it's another leap in a bad direction for Ubisoft.
Just about everything EA touches turns to shit in my opinion. I've seen way too many good franchises like Command & Conquer for example turn to crap once EA gets their fingers into the company. Now all they do is pump out one mediocre sequel after another with no soul or imagination. Oh sure you can spiel sales figures and whatnot, but when you buy everything and take advantage of fan loyalty towards a series, well this is the response you get.
Oh boy, just wait until Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia or Assassin's Creed becomes as lame as EA movie license garbage. If anybody can kill the artistic integrity and creativeness of the gaming industry and make it as bad as the movie industry, EA can. Oh how I pine for the days when an Electronic Arts game meant something.
How about you spend some of your money doing R&D on a NEW IP. Novel concept isn't it? Instead of buying everything you see, come up with your own original game idea for a change. Do you remember how?
From my old blog, posted August 8:
You probably think I'm referring to Super Mario Bros.? The Legend of Zelda perhaps? Nope, I'm referring to the sub simulator Silent Service! Yeah that's right. Silent Service. the NES port of the 1985 computer classic.
I played so much of this game as a kid. There are few NES games that make my top list of all-time and this is one of them. Hours a day spent hunting the seas for convoys, running from sub-killing destroyers and racking up kills to my credit.
Well as a collector today is a happy day indeed. The postman brought me some eBay goodies and among them was my complete in box copy of Silent Service! Personally the most important NES game I needed for my collection. Also the one that will ensure the NES will stay hooked up to my TV.
Also I got Top Gear Rally for the N64 CIB, as well as a Buck Bumble manual I needed and a Diddy Kong Racing operation card (the pack-in quick reference guide). I also received a Star Trek Elite Force manual for the PC that I mistakenly thought was a PS2 one instead. LOL Oh well, 'try try again' on that one.
From my old blog, posted August 7
I've been quite busy lately between projects, work and otherwise. But I have found the time to game every so often. I've spread my gaming attention around quite a bit. In the last week or so Mario Tennis, Bonk's Revenge, Phantom Dust, Morrowind GOTY, Banjo Kazooie and Front Mission 3 have all taken a piece of my time.
I won't bore you with the details of each game, but Phantom Dust for the record turned out better than I had thought it would. A decent story and good gameplay coupled with good control, graphics and combat camera. It's one of many games that's been in my backlog for a while now and I'm glad I had a chance to try it out.
So before we headed home from our failed quest to score ourselves a copy of the B5: Lost Tales movie, we stopped into EB Games across the road to see if I could find a consolation prize. Sure enough that copy of Resident Evil: Dead Aim I had my eye on was still there from the week before. Score!
I'm a huge fan of Guncon games. It probably stems from my love of Firearms as a hobby and my fond memories of games like Gangster Town and Safari Hunt and even Hogan's Alley to a lesser extent. Or arcade memories like T2: Judgement Day, Operation Wolf, Lethal Enforcers and Silent Scope. Ah yes, Silent Scope....prob one of the best arcade games I have ever played. I really must make a point to get myself one of those cabs.
In any case if a game says Guncon on the case chances are I'll buy it.
From my old blog, posted July 25:
...because an elephant never forgets.
So I picked two PlayStation games and a PC Joystick today from a local pawnshop. Well usually I watch them put the disc into the cases to make sure they are the right ones (wrong game, greatest hits etc) but this time I got to chatting with the guy at the cash about the Logitech Joystick I bought and got distracted. Evidently he did too because he forgot to put the discs into the cases and I forgot to check them!! So here I am cursing my own stupidity at home with 2 empty cases I paid for and not able to call the place as it closed shortly after we left. D'oh! 
Hopefully tomorrow I can sort this out but I'll have to call early so they'll put the games aside for me to pick up.
I did however manage to find a green Sony PlayStation memory card (1st party) almost new for $5. You can never have too many PS1 mem cards in my opinion.
Update: All is good, I got the games the next day, crisis averted.
From my old blog, posted July 25:
I'm not a big NES fan, never have been. But there's always been a small list of NES titles that I love very much, LoZ is among them. Between the Gamecube Bonus disc, GBA re-release and emulation I hadn't played an actual copy of Zelda on a real NES for probably 17 years or more.
So I had decided out of the blue to hook up a NES and play a few games. When I had gotten to Zelda I decided that I'll keep it hooked up for a while longer. It's almost unbelievable that after so long, I can still feel comfortable with a NES pad in my hands and navigate the map and dungeons like an old pro. Just like riding a bke I guess. One thing that did surprise me was the green colour of the woods. I had forgotten just how green they were, a detail perhaps lost on remakes or re-releases lately.
Of course then I had remembered how much we used to play on B&W TV's which were still being made and used in the late 80's. And how we'd beg our parents to use the "big" set in the living room. I happen to have a black and white set sitting on top of my second TV in the bedroom, more or less for nostalgia and Pong. I bet if I hooked my NES up to that I'd feel like a kid again, though my old eyes will have to squint to see the small 13" screen.
From my old blog, posted July 18:
Been listening to their "Vaporware Soundtracks" album, awesome tunes. Every time I hear them I get a vibe like I'm listening to someone playing an Intellivision, Sega Master System, or Sega Genesis in the background of my living room.
Hell I may even break out my Music Composer for the Commodore 64 that I have and start messing around with it. Thanks to Scott for introducing me to them. 
http://www.8bitweapon.com/
From my old blog, posted July 18
Picked this game up tonight at a local pawn/music shop. Now I have Time Crisis, Time Crisis: Project Titan, and also Time Crisis II, all I need now is III. The first 2 games are good but Time Crisis II, that's another story! I can spend hours plinking away at that game, even the firing range modes with the cardboard targets can provide me with endless entertainment. Mind you I'm very much a firearm enthusiast so I guess it's natural, but I am impressed at both the GunCon2's performance and the game's quality itself.
At this point in time Time Crisis 4 is the only PlayStation 3 game I really want badly. Since it'll be such a bugger to find I may buy it when it's released because finding a complete-in-box copy of any of them is near impossible around here. Sure there are places like eBay but you never know the shape or condition of the GunCon2 unless you can look at it before you buy it.
On a side note, I picked up Battalion Wars for the Gamecube as well for only $5. I'm not sure about you but around here a Gamecube game for $5 is a steal, a good Gamecube game for $5 is almost unheard of. Even though PS2, Xbox and even certain Xbox 360 games can be had for $10 or under, it's very uncommon to find top notch titles for the Gamecube for less than $20, even after the Nintendo Wii has been out for so long.
So the dust has settled this weekend as another E3 wraps up. Did you manage to catch any of the action? Did you care? Were you like me, disappointed because the hype didn't meet with your expectations? All in all a tame E3 expo which was only a shadow of it's former self. Sure there were announcements: Disney movies, Wii-Fit, Echochrome to name a few, it just didn't have the wow factor I'm sure everyone was expecting. Sure we all knew it wouldn't be the same, they told us as much last year. We just didn't think it'd have the energy of a Librarian Convention during a snowstorm.
Reading the various articles from all over the web, it seemed many journalists, industry professionals and various other attendees found it cramped, poorly planned and lacking in participation. Gone are the booth babes many considered to be the backbone of the show, the showmanship that attracts large crowds of fanboys drooling, jeering and cheering for their favorite systems and of course the big games never before unveiled.
The most exciting moment for me was when I read that a truck pulling into a hotel underground parking was too high for the ceiling clearance and smashed into the building, good times....good times... Perhaps if Chewbacca went nuts and started biting people's heads off the crowd the PSP redesign would've been more exciting. Maybe if Peter Moore and band didn't suck at Rock Band so much it would've been entertaining. Or perhaps if the first quarter of an hour of the Nintendo press where Reggie rehashed sales figures he used words like "destroy" "annihilate" and "vanquish" it would've been more like a pep rally and less like a infomercial. "With Wii-Fit we will destroy our competitors this holiday season!!". Sounded good didn't it? 
Sales pitches, hands-on gameplay and news is all fine, but E3 used to also be about the celebration of gaming, something we all have in common regardless of who's products we buy. The glamour of seeing your favorite celebrity or sports star getting his ass handed to him by a geek, or a total dork with a booth babe on each arm. Live bands, out of the blue announcements, WTF moments, memorable quotes and cool swag. Not hotel room armchair interviews, poor PR handling and bad camera angles for the conferences.
I've ranted long enough, so let me summarize: E3 2008 needs soul, celebration and most importantly competitive spirit in order to survive. Otherwise turn the show over to the suits behind closed doors and move the action to Leipzig (GC2007) and TGS (Tokyo Game Show) and let someone else host the next big North American gaming event in '08.
 Why not? RF Generation is one of the internet's leading video gaming databases covering games and hardware with over 30,000 game and hardware listings and 40,000 images spanning everything from the Magnavox Odyssey to the Commodore 64 to todays newest systems like the Nintendo Wii and Sony PSP totalling over 140 different game systems. Registered members can track their collections, access detailed information like barcodes, part numbers, Ratings, screenshots and much more. They can also submit new games and information like scans, reviews, trivia, etc. for review by this site's staff. Accurate information is approved and added and the submitter gets credited with it by having their name listed on the page along with their contribution.
On top of that there is a forum of members who make a friendly community of gamers from all areas of gaming from all over the world. PC, Console, Retro, Modern, Handheld, Arcade and more. Don't forget the weekly chats where members get together and discuss gaming in all of it's forms and an on-site arcade with over 150 games. Also don't forget about the front page your reading right now with new articles and gaming news on a daily basis as well as the ability to subscribe to the blog via RSS.
So register now and join the over 1200 members who call RF Generation their second home, we'll even let you put your feet up on the coffee table.
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