The Northern Lights

Aurora Borealis, taken on 1 January 2022 in Kirkenes, Norway.

Posted on: 4 January 2022 | 11:57 am

Unboxing Wayô Records’ Shenmue Music Box

I felt like Shenmue merchandise had peaked earlier this year with the official Shenmue rubber duck and cologne, but they’ve been topped by what is possibly the most beautiful piece of memorabilia I own. From French record label Wayô Records and part of a series of music boxes, the €275 price tag did give me … Continue reading Unboxing Wayô Records’ Shenmue Music Box →

Posted on: 14 December 2021 | 1:19 am

Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge

I was lucky enough to escape the country and visit Galaxy’s Edge Orlando last week. Good lord. You can see where that billion dollars went. And if you see those queue times for Rise of the Resistance and wonder if it’s worth it, absolutely yes. Get there early and go straight there.

Posted on: 2 December 2021 | 4:58 am

Building the Lego Super Mario 64 Question Block

She won’t admit it, but I suspect my girlfriend’s slightly sick of the ornamental positions in our new house slowly being given over to Lego. There have been some phenomenal sets in recent years, as attested by the prominent positions of not family photos, but rather my UCS X-Wing, Saturn V and Old Fishing Shop. … Continue reading Building the Lego Super Mario 64 Question Block →

Posted on: 11 October 2021 | 2:28 pm

Days of Play and the costs of digital distribution

This month marks Sony’s annual Days of Play sale, and I’m seeing lots of European digital PS5 owners expressing disappointment at the small discounts on offer. Demon’s Souls, a remake that’s now six months old? £60.89. Bargain. But I have to ask. What did you expect? This isn’t America, where there’s borderline price-fixing on retail … Continue reading Days of Play and the costs of digital distribution →

Posted on: 26 May 2021 | 3:12 pm

Jedi: Fallen Order is my favourite Souls game

While many complain about the dearth of PS5 software – not sure what they expected, given the way new consoles work – I’ve been using mine to partake of some of the best games of the last few years, many of which I skipped due to indifference or poor performance on my launch PS4. Ratchet … Continue reading Jedi: Fallen Order is my favourite Souls game →

Posted on: 23 May 2021 | 5:03 pm

The PS5 saga

I’ve been buying most consoles at launch since the N64, when Nintendo brought its console to these shores with an initial shipment of only 20,000 machines, and I was able to walk into an independent retailer (remember those?) on a random Saturday a couple of months before launch and put my name down. An optimist … Continue reading The PS5 saga →

Posted on: 26 February 2021 | 12:08 pm

Teaching myself programming under lockdown

As with many of us, COVID-19 has given me an abundance of free time, and I’ve been using it to do something I’ve tried and failed to do numerous times over the years: to teach myself to code. I can remember going straight from devouring HTML For Dummies and using it to build the Shenmue … Continue reading Teaching myself programming under lockdown →

Posted on: 27 May 2020 | 7:56 am

Grandia: An upbeat adventure for these bleak times

As what has been a rather shitty status quo continues to get worse, I didn’t feel like the big new releases in Doom Eternal or the Resident Evil 3 remake were the appropriate antidotes. Instead, I’ve been relying on a little glimmer of light that’s been occupying my Switch since “social distancing” entered the vernacular: … Continue reading Grandia: An upbeat adventure for these bleak times →

Posted on: 31 March 2020 | 3:08 am

iPhone 11 Pro night mode

For the first time, the iPhone 11 Pro is a phone that I feel entirely comfortable using as my sole snapshot camera. Literally, the only thing it doesn’t do better than my point-and-shoot (which is no slouch) is zoom, which may be an insurmountable problem for the smartphone form factor… or it may not. I’ve … Continue reading iPhone 11 Pro night mode →

Posted on: 24 January 2020 | 1:14 pm