The Beginning

Our latest morsel of comic nutrition:
We can't take all the credit for the hilarity in this one; we have included a Pratchett quote for your additional amusement.

Now I have done this comic, I can go 'shred some riffs' and if I take a fancy to it, and obviously, if the moment allows for it - 'throw some horns'... Just as soon as I Google both acts, to make sure they are contextually applicable, adhere to Health and Safety regulations, and, you know - exist?

JB
I would like to Rock out with my cock in, if that's OK?

Guitar Hero... Maybe

I didn't die! It was close though. After that serious bout of man flu, I am back to entertain you with words and sentences.

Of recent, I have been partaking in some serious Heroing of the Guitar variety. A series of games I never really saw myself playing, I stand before you a man converted. The particular game in question; World Tour, was only bought by my housemate not 8 hours ago, yet that's all its taken to get me hooked. Rawking to songs I previously hated, and feeling quite chuffed with my apparent level of skill.

I jest - I am only just a medium level Bass player (turns out its pronounced 'Base', not 'Bas'! What a day!) Yet still, I seem to act as if I am some sort of 900k-scoring crazy-man.

Amongst coursework and.. ahem... band practice... this weekend, I do hope to slot in some time for the next comic, and maybe some avatars I promised you all.

JB
what the hell is this 'Twitter' thing!?

So web 2.0 even our readers are user generated.

John's condition has been upgraded from feeling blah to feeling meh, so with a little luck he'll be startling witches and ragging on my knowledge of star trek again soon.

Today's post is bought to you by the letters twie and r, which with a bit of fudging around can make twitter, and as the eagle eyed amongst you may have spotted there is now a dotGif twitter channel. So now you too can be kept up to date on what Johns had for dinner, or my musings on the Eurovision song contests (by some weird coincidence those are the only two posts on the blog with the word chicken in, well this one now also) and get updates straight away whenever a new comic is posted, even whilst your away from your pc.

So there you have it as well as the website blog facebook group and twitter channel you never have an excuse to miss a single comic again, unless of course the earths magnetic field inverts, as it is prone to do, creating a giant electromagnet from the earths communication infrastructure thus negating the usage of all technology. In which case we have messenger pigeons so don't worry.

Feeding the birds, tuppence a bag.
T/K

Absolutely WTF

Mornin all,
The big J is ill at the moment, so I'm sure you'll all join me in laughing about that hoping he gets better if only because we have great plans for the next few comics, in fact we should have another one due as soon as John is well enough to avoid learning flash again. If you haven't seen the latest comic, in living color, check it out or else we'll send our own personal predator round.

In other news, a couple of things caught my eye this week, the first of which just for John should bring the lol/wtf's. I made a promise to myself never to link to cracked again but I couldn't resist it. While I'm not 100% certain they are all real, I give you the 20 Baffling Foreign Language movie posters featuring my personal favorite

This is not as you may think some sort of 80's Jewish Thundercats movie celebrating Hanukkah with a menorah themed costume, this is apparently Star Wars, according to some Russian PR company.

Next up on the WTF scale, somewhere around Starbucks a woman level, is Fox's decision to remake yet another "classic" British sitcom, Absolutely Fabulous. A searing indictment of brash commercialism highlighting the perils of excess and lampooning those who value it whilst making us feel happy we're not them, I assumed they'd already done that, wasn't it what the Simple Life was all about?

And in slightly more positive brit-com news, the new Red Dwarf features seem to be picking up pace, which can only be a good thing. So in tribute to that fact I leave you with Arnold Rimmer (apologies for the form breaking nature of this video).


Smoking a kipper intime for breakfast.
T/K

Windows 7

With minor trepidation, myself and the rest of the world await Windows 7, or, its less catchy title 'Windows what-Vista-should-have-been'. Having extensively tried out the beta, and only finding some minor sound issues (which may not even be 7's fault as the problem appeared recently in Vista) the OS seems pretty solid. Not having to restart throughout the install process was a real breath of fresh air - something so simple, yet seemingly overlooked. With a new build on the horizon (7025), we are seeing a gradual build to a release candidate and then eventually the full release.

But then, after the... 'mixed' reviews and opinions of Vista, I think a jpeg of a donkey in a dusty field would be a welcome upgrade in the eyes of some users...

As commenter 'Mugsy' from the engadget article says (following a lively discussion/simile on toothpaste...):

...Yeah, but if Microsoft made tooth paste you wouldn't know what the difference was between the 5 versions, and you'd have to upgrade your toothbrush.

'Nuff said.

JB

Dawn of War II

Dawn of War II, my technically-most-anticipated game of the year, has had a beta released, and, after months of pouring over the opening cinematic's and various articles on the game, I was eagerly awaiting some hot, 40,000 years-in-the-future action.

Usually, Relic can't put a foot wrong in my eyes, but here, the game seems sadly lacking. Whether its the pace, the new method of game play (with less all-out-war and more troop-centric gameplay) or the Austro-Canadian team-mates I was paired with (granting some astronomical ping) the multi player does not seem to enthrall me as much as I was expecting.

This is just my first impression, mind. Hopefully, the pre-mentioned troop concentrated game play in single player will suit more to my taste.

JB

I'll take two please!

Gotta love Cosplayers:


More pictures.

JB

In Living Colour

Want some comic?

There! You got comic all in your face!

Finally - the real-life presence of the Predator is truly revealed. Or, something like that.

Not bad for 2 hours work... If only all these blasted things took that long!

JB

Whoa. Peace in our time.

A quick one as I mentioned it a while ago, but now it seems to be pretty much confirmed, Keanu Reeves as Spike Spiegel

Oh and in other news watchmen settlement.

Building methane resistant clocks on mars
T/K

P.S: BSG starts again today, watch it or else I'll send the toasters round.

My would-have-been Most Wanted

Thanks to Free Radical deciding that the world is not ready for such awesomeness, the circulation of the day-old, instantly-infamous Battlefront III video has had the fanboys up in arms about the dropping of the title, and its subsequent move to another developer (Rebellion - good name though), who, no longer have - erm, lets see - all the cool stuff Free Radical had in its alpha:



This also went on to include the mind-melting piece of concept art: Darth Obi-Wan. I shit you not my friend. (Picture 1) (Picture 2)

Raise your glasses/cups/cans/flagons, here's to the best game we wont play this year! [clink!]

JB

Terry is writing a blog post and he has a plan.

My games of 09 feature is coming soon I promise, as is a new comic and the next (possibly last in its current format dotCommentary) should follow soon also.

But for now its a microblog post, semi-topical to do with the up and coming return of half decent TV to our screens, in the form of Lost and Battlestar Galactica. If you havent watched the BSG webisodes yet I suggest you head on over to youtube and do that now.

For those of you who haven't watched BSG youll need to fill in an extenuating circumstances form, and then a handy way to get you upto speed is available, the good people over at docstoc have decided to explain the saga in the form of a Facebook live feed starting with the mini series then moving onto the first series. Its funnier then it sounds trust me, so check it out.

Preparing to jump
T/K

A Message for Petric...

I can't really ignore this story any more: Daniel Petric, 17, a regular stand-up icon of video-games-blamed-for-horrific/pointless-murder, is looking at (readers note: this linked report of the hearing made me feel a little sick - especially his Fathers recollection) life imprisonment, sans parole, for the brutal killing of his mother, and attempted killing of his father. His Lawyers saying "his youth and video game addiction made him less responsible" doesn't really make me feel much better about it either, considering neither the APA and AMA (American Psychological/Medical Association) both do not have any sort of classification of 'Video Game Addiction'. Then this is also on Kotaku. Happy New Year Gamers!

We have a super special message for Daniel below:

Daniel,
I look forward to your upcoming incarceration, and may you rot in prison for the rest of your natural life.
Love,
Everyone at Dotgif x

In other less depressing news (unless you remain in the employ of Sony), Sony reports losses of ¥100 Billion - only ¥300 billion off their initial ¥200billion profit plans for '07-'08! Maybe its something to do with those overpriced Telly's, and that expensive, under-whelming console you've made little/no profit on then!?

Happy days.
JB
If your the type that doesn't click the links - ¥100 Billion is roughly equivalent to just over $1 billion...

GOTY Roundup.

So, it looks like, even with some issues on the PC version, Kotaku seem to share my sentiments regarding Grand Theft Auto IV, awarding it their Game of the Year (Goaty...), along with Best Writing, which I definitely agree with. With other sites pinning their shiny awards to Metal Gear Solid 4, Spore and Fallout 3, we can see it has been a good year for gaming, but, I stand steadfast in my opinion that Grand Theft Auto ticks enough boxes to grab my own Game of the Year. I was also very happy to see Left4Dead scooping every damned Multiplayer award going.

Coming soon; GAME OF THE DECADE(ADE... ade... ade)! - Yes, that does indicate that I am planning my blog posts a year in advance.

Until then, we have some comics due - we apologise for the utter lack of anything remotely Christmas-sy, but hey, turns out we had better things to do! [level 70 dance /]

JB

The year of living dangerously, at least if it wasnt for quick save/load.

So as john posted his thoughts on the past and future years in gaming its my turn now.

I will be spreading my post across three days, the first will be my coverage of the year that just passed, and my second post in a few days will be my look forward to 2009 games, and finally day 3, a look at my wildcards of 2008.

So lets see how last years list worked out.
1.super smash brothers brawl – can it be as good as its fans think? (wii) So it was the best selling of all the smash bros. games and garnered the best reviews, in fact the only thing to fault about it was the roster could have included more non Nintendo characters (sonic and co were a good start) and the online play left a little to be desired, but this is a Nintendo title of course the online wasn't perfect. Rating: Hit!
2.Alan wake – Providing remedy can make a game that lives up to the tech, this could be something special (pc/360) I suppose 2008 was a bit optimistic, but this game still looks quite cool, if you don't think so go and watch a few trailers. Rating: still asleep.
3.sonic chronicles: the dark brotherhood – the bioware + the blue hedgehog + rpg, nuff said (ds) Well it seems a not quite perfect battle system and, dare I say it, poor dialogue and party interaction caused this game to be simply ok ;(. Rating : Miss.
4.Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Ring of Fates/Crystal Bearers – hopefully more emphasis on gameplay rather then a still-born tech demo.(ds, wii) Rings of fate was released, to middling reviews, the main problem being the games damn near impossible in single player and a pain in multiplayer, as for Crystal Bearers, still in development so who knows. Rating : Miss, for now.
5.Fable 2 – All dog kicking aside this could be something special, just keep Molyneux away from journalists. (360, pc) Finally a good one, not just good, but my tip for game of the year. Rating : Hit!
6.No more heroes – If people can get past the obvious GTA – Jedi Stories similarities this might just be one of the best wii games yet (wii) A contender for best game no-one played, good reviews but failed to sell even half a million world wide. Rating : Hit! not that anybody noticed.
7.Too Human – Eternal Darkness was great, and assuming they can stop suing people for long enough too human maybe one day. (playstation 1, gc, 360, ocoma game sphere) With Dennis Dyack's "interesting" approach to PR, including mocking the guys at Penny Arcade, and starting a flamewar on various forums, he is a shoe in for the Peter Molyneux "don't let him near the journalists" Award, sadly the only award this decidedly average game is likely to win. Rating : Miss.
8.sins of a solar empire – Stardock don't just make blinds, they also make and publish blindingly good games now and again, particularly in the space based rts 4x genre. (pc) I played the heck outta this game in the first half of the year, nice work Ironclad games, I look forward to more sins. Rating : Hit.
9.Borderlands – Brothers in arms, halo, opposing force, will borderlands avoid being a mongrel? (pc/360/ps3) Not released but the more I read the more interested I get. Rating : Let sleeping dogs lie, for now.
10.Far cry 2 – no. mutants. Please. (pc/ps3/360) A good game, but was it really far cry 2? at least there was no mutants. Rating: Hit.

So that was 2008, next up, what does 2009 promise?
T/K