Pokemon Diamond (DS)

I've done a couple of online trades with players in Japan. Got myself a Skuntank and Murkrow for a Zubat and a Geodude. I think I did pretty well there.

I also just entered and won a contest, once I figured out how the dancing worked.

Can't seem to fight the gym leader in my current town, so I'm heading off to see where else I can go.

Pokemon Diamond (DS)

So, I got my second gym badge, hooray.

I also dipped a tow into the online trading scene. Well, I've put up my low-level Zubat Batpants and asked for a Skuntank in return. Somehow, somehow, I don't think I'll get any takers.

Pinball FX (360)

Rubbish. Me. Tonight. Rubbish.

I wish the tables had more to them. I think I prefer impossible video game pinball to video games based on tables that do or could exist.

Earth Defence Force 2017 (360)

Right, that's polished off the levels I'd already done on Normal. Next time I play I'll be continuing my Easy play through on all new levels. Yes.

Pinball FX (360)

I don't get the Extreme table. There doesn't seem to be anything there. It feels very empty compared to the others and I have no idea what to do.

Earth Defence Force 2017 (360)

When it's at its peak, I genuinely believe that this is the most visually impressive game that I have ever seen in my life.

Bar none.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Demo (PS3)

Hang on!

The original was on the Xbox not the 360!

So I suppose it must look better... but I guess it's the same relative standard, given present expectations, or something.

Excuse the brain fart there.

Gibber.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma Demo (PS3)

Happily, though I downloaded this from the Japanese store it displayed itself entirely in English, which was nice.

Appears to be the same as the 360 demo I played several hundred years ago. Though I died before getting to a boss in this one, which I'm not sure happened back then. No idea if it looks any better or worse than the 360 version, it just looks quite lovely.

Nice, lovely, odd words to be using for a game where you're a Flash-speed ninja killing hundreds of people, but that's about what it is. Nice, lovely, with hints of the famous difficulty level of the full game.

Oh, and a camera from hell, obviously. High speed fighting and tight corridors and box rooms really don't mix.

Pinball FX (360)

Hooray! I'm top of my Friends Leaderboard for the Agents table. Somehow it kept giving me tens of millions of points when I shot the spinner. No idea how I activated that and I'll probably never do it again.

I really need to sort out this content issue with Microsoft, too. My wife can't even use the Dead Rising theme we downloaded for her on this new machine.

Eets: Chowdown (360)

Really enjoyable little puzzle game. Wish it had per-level Leaderboards, but apart from that it's great. Once again, deKay is miles above me on the Leaderboard. (He's also the only friend of mine who's bought it so far.)

There's also a nice little mini game included, which I had a good time with, though it's taught me that, incredibly after all this time, I don't actually know which way round the B and X buttons are on the 360 controller. If I knew that, maybe deKay wouldn't have twice as many points as me...

Pinball FX (360)

It's decent pinball - decent enough to buy without much thought as the points were sitting there doing nothing - but I can't decide which view to use, it runs a bit fast and, inevitably, deKay got it before and is sitting pretty atop my Friends Leaderboard.

Pokemon Diamond (DS)

So, I choose the little penguin guy as my first Pokemon and I'm quite happy with the choice. Though I am currently wanting to evolve a Magikarp, which means I'll have two water-based Pokemon in my main team, which isn't a very good idea. Hmm. I am musing.

It's just Pokemon... again. But it's also just better enough to not feel like a waste.

Guitar Hero 2 (PS2)

In one four and a half hour sitting I've just polished off Easy mode and completed Medium - without failing a single track. No, not even Freebird. I rock.

Guitar Hero 2 (PS2)

Well, started this up on Easy and five-starred every song up to You Really Got Me first time. Including a Perfect on Woman. I know it's only Easy, but I'm still proud of a first-time Perfect.

Either Guitar Hero 2 is much easier on Easy than Guitar Hero, or I'm a lot better than I used to be.

I do wish I'd been able to afford the 360 version so I'd have Achievements and Friends Leaderboards and stuff, but there you go.

Lylat Wars (Wii)

Ah, thank goodness!

I was so worried that Lylat Wars wouldn't stand up today and I'd be horribly disappointed, but, no, it's still an excellent game today. The mothership level is, if not quite as awesome as I remember, due to horrifically dated graphics, still quite impressive and great fun.

Odd difficulty curve, though. Breezed through the first three levels without any problems, then lost all my lives on level four's boss. Stupid lava creature with shoulders that aren't part of its arms. Grr.

MLB 2K7 (PS3)

Ah, but I love this game. I've taken the difficulty down to Rookie from Pro and decided to play against the Pirates, rather than the Giants. (The Pirates aren't quite as good as the Giants, to put it nicely.) I won 7-1, which was nice. Six of those runs came in the 6th inning, from three home runs. In fact, all my runs came from homers, now I think about it. Ah well, I'm not complaining. I earned enough Tokens to unlock a classic team. The 1946 Red Sox, I think.

I've not got the hang of baserunning yet - last time I tried it I wanted to send a man to second, but he carried on and tried to run for third and I'm not sure why. And fielding really seems to be clumsy compared to the rest of the game. Not sure if I'm just rubbish at it and maybe missing something, or if it really isn't as good as the rest of the game. Sometimes my fielders just don't seem to want to pick up the ball.

But, still, I love the game. The presentation is just wonderful and really helps me get my fix on those evenings when NASN is just showing stinky old ice hockey.

And once this season is over - eep! - I'm sure I'll treasure it even more.

Sony may have made mistakes lately - many, many mistakes - but making the PS3 region-free was not one of them.

Gyruss Demo (360)

Quite like this. So much so that I nearly bought it, but I don't really want to spend any points until Microsoft get back to me about unlocking the Arcade games I've already bought.

3D Ultra Minigolf Adventures Demo (360)

Very short demo. Didn't really convince me to spend any points on the full game, though I do like the idea of designing my own holes.

Earth Defence Force 2017 (360)

I downloaded some demos that had come out while I was without a 360 and they were all rubbish, so I really can't be arsed to create separate entries for each once.

Anyway, once they were dealt with and I'd sent Microsoft a list of things that were wrong I played some EDF. I hadn't missed it nearly as much as I should have done. it's pretty much glorious. I've restarted on Easy to go through the game gathering weapons and health before jumping back to Normal.

Incidentally, the fans on this 360 seem noisier than my old 360, but the disc access is much, much quieter.

Xbox 360 Support Request

1033740430 for my reference, ignore -

Gamertag: That Rev Chap

I sent my console to you for repair and have received a refurbished unit back from you. I kept the hard drive so have all the old games, but now when my wife logs in under her profile (Gamertag: Pantherbun) she cannot play the full versions of our Live Arcade games. This is obviously a problem.

The Live Arcade games we have bought are -

Alien Hominid HD
Assault Heroes
Castlevania: SOTN
Cloning Clyde
Contra
Crystal Quest
DOOM
Feeding Frenzy
Frogger
Galaga
Gauntlet
Geometry Wars
Hardwood Hearts
Hexic HD
Jetpac Refuelled
Jewel Quest
Joust
LUMINES LIVE!
Marble Blast Ultra
Mutant Storm Reloaded
PAC-MAN
Robotron: 2084
Scramble
Smash TV
Street Fighter II' HF
Texas Hold 'em
Time Pilot
Uno
Wik: Fable of Souls
Worms
Zuma

In addition, we have also purchased extra content for some games. I haven't yet checked if this works for Oblivion and Viva Pinata as these are not Live Arcade games, but as they were purchased under my Gamertag then I'm worried they won't work either.

The extra content we have purchased is -

Crystal Quest: Xtreme
LUMINES LIVE!: Advance Challenge Pack, Heavenly Star Pack, Base Pack, VS CPU Pack
Oblivion: Knights of the Nine, Mehrune's Razor, Shivering Isles, Wizard's Tower
Viva Pinata: Accessory Pack 1, Accessory Pack 2, Accessory Pack 3, Accessory Pack 4, Accessory Pack 5, Accessory Pack 6

Please let me know how we can get this new 360 working properly as soon as possible. All these were bought under my account but many were for my wife as much as me - and some were more for her.

MLB 2K7 (PS3)

Okay, a note for anyone searching Google: the US (or USA) version of MLB 2K7, also known as Major League Baseball 2K7, on the Playstation 3 video games console does work fine on a UK console. I know there have been conflicting reports online. General opinion seemed to lead to the conclusion that it would work, but I could find no confirmation. And some people were assuming that 2K Sports would lock it, as they did with the 360 version. So, if you're searching Google looking for confirmation, here (probably on page 132 of your results) is that confirmation. It'll probably only work if you're using HD, so anyone stuck with an old standard-definition set might be out of luck, but anyone with an HD-Ready television is all set.

Right, okay, that's my good deed done for the day. It's very good indeed, too, by the way. Changed a bit from the demo. Seems to look a bit nicer, some options that were on by default in the demo are off in the full game, but it's basically the same. Which should be pretty obvious, I suppose.

Anyway, I set up a profile and set my options. Played as the Astros against the Giants. I lost, badly. 15-0, I believe. Oddly, my pitcher, who pitched until he was nearly dead because I forgot to warm up anyone to relieve him, never got tense like all the pitchers did in the demo. I wonder if that's something I need to turn on? But I wasn't so bad at pitching really. Fielding was more the problem there. I just kept stepping over the ball and throwing to the wrong base. But I was okay. Batting was where I was really awful. One base hit in the whole game. One. In fact, I was so bad at hitting the ball that I thought I might be missing something, so after the game I tried a couple of home run derbys. I didn't have any trouble hitting the ball there, even with Astros players.

I think I might need to turn the difficulty down a bit.

Anyway, the game's great (apart from an odd lack of autosave and a million different save files - profile, options, game, even a separate save for the bloody music settings! - that all have to be dealt with in different places) and I'm very glad I can play it. I know the 360 version got (slightly) better reviews, but that's not region free, so for UK baseball fans PS3 1 - Xbox 360 0.

Happy Jackie Robinson Day

Guitar Hero (PS2)

I'm stuck on Medium now. I'll reluctantly concede that Cowboys from Hell may be possible - in an hour of trying I got as far as 78% - but I'm sure that Crossroads and Bark at the Moon are completely impossible.

Guitar Hero (PS2)

Two more songs done on medium, both first time, then time to go to Sainsbury's. Two bottles of Reggae Reggae Sauce bought - result! Although I'm already thinking that maybe we should have stocked up with more.

Anyway, I've just been reading more stuff about this whole "politeness in the blogosphere" thing. Blogosphere? Did I get that right? Anyway, there seems to be people saying you should stop people being nasty to people online and others saying that forcing people not to be nasty is even nastier than being nasty. Or something. I think I agree with the latter. Not that I have much experience. Maybe I would have if, instead of listing games I've played, that I wrote things about gay rights, abortion and terrorism. (For the record: for, nothing to do with me, against.)

So it struck me that the solution to the problem of online aggression is easy. Everyone should write stuff that nobody else reads. Or at the very most that only three or four other people with similar interests and who broadly agree with the writer read. So, yes, people shouldn't write about important stuff. Let's limit the world's blogs to dealing with specialist and/or trivial issues and let's also write in long badly contructed sentences that lack necessay punctuation such as commas and hyphens and which go on a bit after they really should have stopped.

Yes, that's the plan. And if you don't believe me then you're a ["silly person" - Ed].

GripShift (PS3)

I cannot think of a single thing to say about this game.

Blast Factor (PS3)

I was rubbish tonight.

This is making me really want to play Mutant Storm again, probably because I can't.

Splatterhouse (Wii)

The final boss on level two is a poltergeist. You have to avoid candles, then punch a chair to death, then some knives, then a painting. Then the poltergeist turns into some sort of ectoplasmic entity and zooms off out a window.

I'd remembered that bit. I'd forgotten, however, that after the poltergeist buggers off that a chandelier falls from the ceiling. Which isn't much fun when you've scraped through to the end of the level with no lives and one single health point remaining.

Ack.

Blast Factor (PS3)

I've got games very similar to this on my 360. Mutant Storm, in particular. But I haven't got a 360 right now and I needed a quick fix of blasting so I spent £3.49 on this little game. It's not at all bad, though it shows up the rubbishness of the analogue sticks on the SIXAXIS more than most games. (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.)

I'm at about 19,000 on the worldwide leaderboard right now, so there's more competition for this than Super Rub 'a' Dub. Unfortunately, none of my four friends have played it, so there's no competition from them.

Guitar Hero (PS2)

Picked this up again.

Playing on Medium and I'm not sure how to do it. I mean, I'm getting through songs, but after multiple tries and by the skin of my teeth. My fingers don't remember which colour is which - especially when I'm asked to press two at once - and holding the guitar so I can cover four buttons really, really hurts me, from my fingers up to the elbow of my left arm. I'm in quite some pain right now.

And I had to skip More Than A Feeling because it's just too hard.

I should stick to games that require a thumb and a finger of each hand. More than that seems to be beyond me.

Forumla One CE (PS3)

Over and hour spent on the Nurburgring setting up my car, running practice laps and qualifying meant I started, for the first time ever, in pole position. A fine achievement, born of sweat, grit and concentration.

On the grid, nobody in front of me to crash into, just clear laps of this circuit I know so well. The countdown ends and the race starts. We come up to the first corner, I brake, the cars behind me don't, Michael Schumacher slams into me and knocks a wheel off. Race over.

So, the number of races I've completed in this game now stands at... none.

Dragon's Curse (Wii)

Thirty-nine minutes I've played this.

I really don't feel like playing any more.

Either I'm missing something or it's just stupidly hard. Not hard and fun like New Adventure Island, just clunky and annoyingly tough.

I frown in the direction of the people who recommended this.

Puzzle Quest (DS)

Lots of play this afternoon.

I've become a knight of some sort, which boosted my morale, and I've got some nice new items.

Ah! There's the microwave!

Formula One CE (PS3)

Nope, still not completed a race. But I got about five laps in at San Marino and I've got a good feeling about the Nurburgring.

Armored Core 4 Demo (PS3)

Darn it! Another demo without any invert setting for the y-axis. I tried playing it anyway, but couldn't get through the tutorial, which I ended up having to skip, and the first mission, though a success, was a comedy of errors and looking the wrong way.

Developers - CONTROLS ARE IMPORTANT.

Full Auto 2 Demo (PS3)

There's too much going on for my liking and it's not as smooth as it needs to be and I'm rubbish at it.

Pass.

MLB 2K7 Demo (PS3)

Tried this again this morning. It really is brilliant. I was maybe a little harsh about how it looked last night. The presentation is great and generates just the right atmosphere and the player models and clothing are okay - it's just the textures and lighting that really lets things down. It's very much stuck between generations.

As for how it plays, I enjoyed it much more this session - and not just because another home run won the game for me, in the bottom of the eighth this time.

MLB 2K7 Demo (PS3)

I set up a US account to download this one. Was very much worth it. It looks appalling, but it plays brilliantly. I do love being able to buy Inside Edge info so my catcher will give me tips on how best to pitch to certain players.

I couldn't get the hang of batting using the motion-sensing capabilities of the SIAXIS at all - I just kept bunting - but I found the option to change it back to the classic "hit X" method in the bottom of the ninth, hit a home run with a man already on first base and won the game.

Awesome.

I do hope the full game is region-free, because 2K Sports never release their baseball games in the UK. I cuss them bad.

Everybody's Golf 5 Demo (PS3)

Three holes of golfing goodness. Had to set up a Japanese account to download it, which was a pain, but it was just about worth it. It's made sure I won't be getting Tiger Woods and will be waiting for an English-language version of this instead.

I also tried the new control method, but with all the instructions in Japanese I couldn't work out why my shots were failing so dismally, so I quit out on the first hole.

Super Rub 'a' Dub (PS3)

Well, that's all the levels cleared.

Not with gold medals, but they're all done.

I don't think it's sold too well - most of my scores aren't very good, yet are inside the top thirty on the Worldwide leaderboards. I'm even in the top ten on one level.

Shame, as it's good fun and priced right at £3.49.

Formula One CE (PS3)

Having enjoyed the demo and being without my 360, I decided to pick this up. I'm enjoying the driving very much, which is a good thing, as I'm not achieving anything.

Before each race there's an hour or so of practice laps to get the car ready and qualifying laps to determine grid position. Then the race starts and somewhere on the first lap I hit another car and have to retire.

My current aim is to finish a race before the end of this season.

Super Rub 'a' Dub (PS3)

You're a rubber duck in a bath.

You rescue smaller rubber ducks by tilting the controller to grab them and take them to exit, avoiding clockwork sharks.

It's clean, it works, it's very playable and it's £3.49.

Fair enough.

Motorstorm (PS3)

Mud, mud, glorious mud!

Did a few races today. Got three first places really easily and then on the fourth I thought I'd won until I saw that some evil motorcyclist had just pipped me at the post without me noticing. Ouch.

I'd rather be playing Oblivion, but with the 360 dead and gone then this was a good - if entirely different - substitute.

Virtua Fighter 5 (PS3)

Second SIXAXIS controller arrived today, so I played 2-player Virtua Fighter for the first time in my life. I was playing Aoi against my wife's Pai. Final score? Er, well, um, I lost 6-1. Good fun, though. And it's not the winning that counts.

Maddeningly, there seems no way for player two to log in to their profile, so when we played Tekken very briefly when I was logged in, it thought I was both players and was registering a win and a loss for me every time we played a match. Weird. And in VF5 my wife was the logged-in user, so I had to create a new character in one of her spare save slots instead of being able to use one of my own.

That can't be right, surely?

Puzzle Quest (DS)

CRACK.

Puzzle Quest (DS)

Hmm.

Turn-based, two-player Bejewelled/Zoo Keeper clone + RPG elements = addiction.

There's not a lot of story, no exploration, mostly just text menus and battling. But it works.

Slitherlink (DS)

Two more puzzles done. No zombies, no complaints, nothing to say.

The Elder Scrolls: Oblivion (360)

A quest to getcha cure seemed to be setting up a twist ending that never came.

I'm avoiding as much combat as possible, relying on sneaking and, to a much greater extent, running really, really fast.

I've not been getting into it as I thought I would. In particular, the summoning and killing of headless zombies I'm having to do to keep all magical weapons charged is getting very tiring.

One classic Oblivion moment, though. My vampirism was getting stronger, as I hadn't fed for a while. Needing to stay out of sunlight, I sat on a bench in the local inn until the early hours of the morning. No guests at the inn, so I snuck out into the streets and picked the lock on a local house. I crept up to the bedroom and in. A figure asleep in bed - but someone standing next to them! I froze, but the standing figure didn't see me and instead tottered across the room, groaning. I fed on the sleeping person - priorities - then crept up to the groaning creature, which seemed to be some kind of zombie... called Uncle Leo. It's a strange place, the Shivering Isles.

flOw (PS3)

Started it up to see if I'd made a mistake thinking I'd seen all the levels. I hadn't.