Alex Kidman

Astonishingly, the cheapest and most expensive games I’ve ever owned — and I’ve owned a lot of games — both arrived at my home within the last week. For the record (only a few people will get this), I’ve paid my own money for both of them; they weren’t industry “freebies”. Such expense — and lack thereof — deserves a review, but this isn’t the kind of stuff I can particularly sell to my regular outlets. So, instead, I’ll pass the savings on to you, and review them right here!

First up, let’s start with the scraping the bottom of the barrel end of the equation, shall we?

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A couple of weekends ago, the Powerhouse museum held an ’80s themed retro gaming weekend. I went along as part of a Byteside panel discussion on where gaming is, was and is going to be, and the video of that panel is now up on YouTube.

Thrill! At the discussion of old games and new ones! Hiss! As I reveal a gaming activity beloved by another panel member that I find boring! Try not to look! Directly up my shorts leg. The white shorts? Big, big mistake.

It’s been a bit quiet around this blog for a little while — a necessary side-effect while I take on board some rather drastic changes to the way I work, who I work for and what I do. Interesting times, and all that.

In the meantime, though, it hasn’t stopped already written material appearing, both in print and online.

Online, first, at CNET.com.au, you’ll find these two reviews:

Acer Aspire Timeline 4810T: “Since when did vendor battery claims actually represent the truth?”

Belkin Powerline AV Networking Adapters: “Belkin’s take on power line networking benefits from a streamlined design compared to many Ethernet over power products, but still doesn’t deliver on the hype.”

Then in the print world, I’m all over the place. That’s not a reflection of my mental state, and more a reflection of the widespread use of my words across the consumer tech magazine marketplace right now.

In the July issue, which will also now be the penultimate issue of Australian Netguide, you’ll find my reviews of GPS devices from TomTom, Navman, Mio, Uniden, Nokia and Garmin, as well as standalone reviews of Roxio Easy VHS to DVD, Quicken QBi 2009, Genius BT-03i Touch Wireless Headset, AOC Verfino V22 Monitor, Asus SDRW-08D1S-U External DVD-RW Drive, Sanyo Xacti VPC-CG10EXBK HD Dual Camera, Canon Digital Ixus 95 IS, Kogan Agora Pro Netbook and Nintendo DSi, as well as games reviews of Wheelman, Stormrise, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, Singstar: Queen with Wireless Mics and the Broadband Buyer’s Guide.

The July issue of PC User magazine features a comprehensive guide to iPod-compatible earbuds, featuring brands such as Ultimate Ears, Altec Lansing, Panasonic, Philips, Genius, Sony and Sennheiser. My regular gig reviewing mobiles kicks into gear with reviews of the Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and Blackberry Curve 8900, as well as gadget reviews of the Nintendo DSi, Genius Trio Racer FF and Altec Lansing Orbit-M speaker.

Meanwhile, in PC Authority’s July issue, you’ll find my words — and even a small picture of my face, back when I had a goatee — plastered across the Apple pages. This month’s column deals with essential Mac OS X Leopard Tweaks, and how I apply them. Some obvious, some not. And in games, EA’s The Godfather II gets involved in a bizarre comparison between itself, Grand Theft Auto and Peggle Nights. It all makes sense. Trust me.

Note: I am not, and very rarely have been in an attic.

A couple of strikingly different articles today, both at PC Authority. First, hot from the pages of the print magazine, there’s this:

Far Cry 2: “Far Cry 2 is an ugly game, simply because it all too accurately portrays a modern world conflict in a war-torn African nation…”

And then, in a predictably Mac-centric way, there’s this web-exclusive piece:

Dear Santa Steve: my Christmas Apple wishlist: “I’ve been a good journo all year — honest. Alex Kidman lays out his Apple wish-list for the festive season.”

2008 has been an unusual year for me, professionally speaking. I’ve gone from being one half of an income to attempting to cover an entire income — tricky, especially given current financial strains — and as a result, I’ve written all sorts of things, from advertising copy to games reviews to seemingly endless quantities of Apple stories and everything else inbetween, and often within a very short space of each other. Plus a whole lot of news, which I find an interesting pursuit, given that so much of my writing career to date has been terribly reviews-centric. Still, there’s often not a lot of similarity even between my news pieces.

Take, for example, these two stories, comissioned and written on Friday for PC Authority:

Kogan Agora – a simpler, practical Google phone? “At first we thought Kogan’s choice of name was referencing those fluffy jumpers beloved of Ed Wood Jr, but it’s actually a reference to the greek word for “marketplace”.”

Top Five Console Games of 2008: “The best of this year’s joypad twiddlers, revealed.”

People throw out the strangest things, something I found out first-hand this morning.

It’s council kerbside pickup time — we get two Sundays a year where the council will come by (well, not all of them — I understand the Lord Mayor has a bad back, and the folks in the planning department can never plan the time, but I digress) and collect the types of waste that don’t go into regular or recycling bins. Old fridges, broken furniture and more than slightly soiled mattresses abound, which makes one wonder — where do people store all these things while they wait for pickup season?

In my case, the answer to that is “under the house”, and we had lots to put out, which we did yesterday afternoon, essentially as a post-4 year old party activity. All the carpet from our renovations, an old bookcase and lots and lots of bits of crud. I was slightly annoyed this morning to notice that one of our neighbours had “added” their rusty old ironing board to our pile — it’s not that I mind them recycling, but there are limits to the mass that council will take, and we still had more to add. Hopefully, it won’t matter.

Anyway, I had to walk home after church this morning, walking past people’s old broken lamps, mouldy garden furniture and the like when I spotted something that pinged my interest — a logo, that as a gamer, I knew very well. An Atari logo. But it couldn’t be… could it?

Wow. A 7800 box. Not a common item to see, but surely it was empty.. right? I had to check..

Hmm. That’s in pretty good condition, all things considered. And my beloved 2600 is a bit knackered (the 7800 is backwards compatible). I was willing to bet that it would be console only, or a cable would be missing…

Blimey. It’s all there. Controllers, instruction manual, power pack, coax cable — even the warranty card. All in (given the age of the unit) as near to mint condition as makes no difference. They’d even kept the receipt, which tells me it was purchased at the Big W store in the Macquarie Centre on the 10/01/90 for a grand total of… $147. Probably a touch overpriced in its day, but I can’t complain about free, really. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a whole ton of Donkey Kong, Combat and Outlaw to play. Not to mention working out exactly what it is that Yar is trying to gain revenge for. Giving a whole generation of kids epilepsy, possibly.

According to my wife, “not enough”. It’s that kind of day, but that hasn’t stopped the wheels of industry from turning — although in this case, with a rather large assist from someone who shall be known only as “MJCP” (what with that being his name), who did all the coding necessary for this blog, even though it’s technically mine to do. In any case, live today at Australian Macworld Online:

Control Freaks: “Kermit The Frog is, without a doubt, one of the wisest creatures ever to walk the face of the Earth. OK, I know, I know — he’s just a green sock with a man’s arm up it, albeit a green sock that’s capable of singing, dancing, riding bicycles and having a semi-serious relationship with a pig…”