This article has nothing to do with Street Fighter IV though – it’s actually some coverage of the indie games that had warmed my heart across the cold winter – specifically Super Hypercube and the all conquering Spelunky.

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At the time, I was playing it a lot. I’ll admit that for some reason my addiction waned, and I know why – it’s because I’m a completionist. Any time I came up against a public quest (which rely on grouping with nearby players to complete) I’d want to do it (because they were normally great fun.) Of course, if there was no one about, I’d have to wait until some other players were (or else get into the un-fun situation of repeatedly failing it.)

As a result, with both of my characters – a Chosen and a Witch Hunter – I found myself at public quests absolutely no one was ever around for. So I just stopped playing. Next time I have some free time (rare as it is) I’ll go back to it, though – they’ve made a lot of changes since. Guess I’m just kind of worried about getting addicted to it again.

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In fact, I don’t even mention the event until the very last paragraph, where the most interesting thing I can note is that there was an FM Towns Marty on site which was running a copy of Raiden.

There was a Vectrex too, I remember. That was quite fun too.

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Well, in February 2009 I’m really not sure I can come with any more, and the negatives I go on to list – removing backwards compatibility, introducing a Dualshock 3, and so on – still sting.

Despite all that, I should really get myself a PS3 considering this month they’re releasing Flower and Noby Noby Boy, but the price still puts me off. If only Sony would finally be kind enough to give me one (hint.)

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Not that anyone really seems to care about the Virtual Console these days – to be honest I don’t even really remember what comes out from week to week now, as it’s usually some awful Sega game they’re putting out for no reason other than habit.

Intriguingly, at the end of this column I promise I’ll play through the Halo trilogy, because other than playing about six missions of the first Halo one afternoon in London, I’ve never really played them. Here I am nearly two years later and I still haven’t bothered.

Maybe one day.

(You can download the PDF of this issue at the Game Reactor website.)

Despite the fact I didn’t take a break from my column until 2008 I actually haven’t updated this site with my columns since mid 2007. Here’s the first one I didn’t update about – a column on Space Giraffe – in which I managed to shoehorn in some discussion of IGF Mobile.

You can still read the full article, in Danish, as part of the PDF found on the Game Reactor website.

I don’t even really like baseball (certainly not as a spectator sport, although my one trip to the Skydome was alright) but I’ll probably be picking up a copy when it hits shelves this week – the same week Sin and Punishment hit the Wii Virtual Console, so it’s a good week indeed.

The rest of my article is about the furore that surrounded Manhunt 2’s ban in the UK, and how this kind of controversy can stop people from trying to make truly mature games. Any kind of censorship is bad for expression. I’m anti-censorship, but I think my opinion is a little strange (particularly in North America) in that I have no particular problem with legislation stopping adults-only games getting into the hands of children, as long as adults can still buy them freely. Of course, stores are so stupidly squeamish about selling adults-only games, a bigger problem in my mind. People really need to be able to accept that legitimate culture really can be “adults-only” and that doesn’t mean we all need to be protected from it.

Anyway, you can read the full article, in Danish, as part of the PDF found on the Game Reactor website.

It’s mostly about how addictive I find the Xbox 360’s Gamerscore, even though I’m well aware it’s completely pointless. You gain absolutely nothing from it other than the joy of seeing numbers go up, and yet I’ve performed some of the most obscure and ridiculous tasks just to feel that rush of endorphins that comes when I hear the “plink” of another unlocked achievement.

If only Microsoft would convert Gamerscore points to Microsoft points at a rate of 10 to 1 or something. Then I could excuse myself.

In general, though, I don’t think it’s a very good thing. It adds another layer of abstraction that reminds you that you’re playing a game, and titles have to work extra hard to capture your imagination. I was completely surprised to find that King Kong was a title that managed to capture my imagination, considering it’s most well known for being 1000 easy achievement points, but it did. And I’m rather glad I played it.

You can read the full article, in Danish, as part of the PDF found on the Game Reactor website.

Interested in translating the article for your own regional publication? Do get in touch, dears.

I don’t think they’ve ripped out hardware emulation for North Americans yet, have they? Which is a good thing, as I suppose I’ll have to rush out and get a PS3 before they do. If I can be bothered, which isn’t, currently, looking too likely. Anyway! You can download this issue as a PDF from the Game Reactor website.