I always thought that 'video games' was two words, but that's how language changes. Anyway, my prize from the GSUK Podcast of about three months ago has finally arrived (I'm not blaming GSUK, it's Rough Guide's fault, but I won't blame them either since it came ). I'm impressed considering I got it free, but there are some less than stellar things I feel compelled to point out if you see a copy at Waterstones or Borders and think about getting it. First off, on p. 254 there is an article discussing Warren Spector, the designer of such greats as Deus Ex and Thief amongst other things. There is also a picture, which it claims is a screenshot of Deus Ex. This is not Deus Ex, but Invisible War; the distinctly mediocre sequel. A mistake easily made I am sure, but a mistake that wouldn't have been made if the guy who had been putting the pictures together had actually played Deus Ex. A few pages back on p. 242, there is a list of what they claim are the ten 'greatest icons' of games. Included are some things you would expect, such as Pac-Man, Dr. Gordon Freeman, Link and Lara Croft, but also some surprises such as The Prince from Beautiful Katamari, and Ryu from Street Fighter. I'm not sure if I would place either of them in the top ten, but I suppose that any top ten is a personal decision.

One thing the book does suffer from is including too many new games from the past two or three years and not enough of the vintages, which overall make up a 'canon' of what they call "the 75 greatest games of all time". For example, including Ratchet and Clank Future: Tools of Destruction (which in no way deserves to be there) instead of something like Perfect Dark. Or having skate. included instead of Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2. Some were obviously chosen because they were the newest incarnation of a popular series, but why not choose the most popular version of the series (for example, including Tekken 3 rather than 5)?Thankfully, most of the obvious games you would expect to see there are included. They've got things like Fallout, Black and White, Baldur's Gate II, The Sims, World of Warcraft, Max Payne and Half-Life 2 (with a mini-box for the original Half-Life) all taken into account. There is also a neat history of videogaming, all the way from 1952's OXO (the very first 'game' of Naughts and Crosses) through Tennis for Two, Spacewar! and Pong all the way to the modern day.

An interesting section is the reviews of popular videogame websites near the back. It seems that they conclude our 'sister' site GameFAQs to be the greatest source of information, stating "other sites may carry much of the same content, but this is still the best one-stop destination for a stuck gamer". However, that is not to say they are not complimentary of GameSpot, stating it offers "everything you ever needed to know to do with games". However, they do note rather drily that "despite rapid staff turnover in late 2007 and early 2008, it continues to provide incomparably detailed reviews, videos, podcasts, messageboards and will even host your blog." So there you are, quite a detailed overview of various site features. The one other irritating thing I discovered in the book was that there was a reference saying "see page 4" on p.4 itself. If that isn't self-defeating then I don't know what is.

P.S. I'll not be very active for a couple of weeks because I'm returning to university, to a currently internetless house, meaning I'll have to make special trips to the university campus to use the net. Exasperating, but that's the way it's going to be.

At least, I was. Not anymore sadly, as the summer months draw to a quick, sudden and ultimately wet ending. Anyway, back to the point of this posting. When I was in Hong Kong during my holiday, a city of massive skyscrapers, very little litter and, whilst I was there, the Beijing Olympic Equestrian Events (there were no suitable parks in Beijing itself, along with the worry that the smog would upset the horses), I visited Victoria Peak. This is the relatively famous mountain situated behind the Central financial district and Admiralty (where the Headquarters of the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) apparently have such good 'feng shui' that just standing in the Atrium is supposed to bring good luck), and getting to the top involves either a long car journey up through the posh suburban Mid-Levels, or a quick journey on an extremely steep tram service. Upon arriving at the top of the mountain, you are greeted by a large building which kind of looks like a giant bird dish: the Peak Tower (see below).

Now, inside this giant bird dish is an excellent viewing platform of Downtown Hong Kong, but also what is probably the highest (in terms of elevation) EA Experience shop and arcade I have ever seen. It just seemed surreal that at the top of this mountain, there would be a giant tower with a shopping centre and an EA Experience at the centre of it. In terms of games, there was Battlefield Bad Company (where things really do like to explode often), The Sims 2 (which was a bit dull considering it has been out for many years now) and Need for Speed ProStreet (again boring as it is already out). Actually, the best thing I saw there was simple a sign for Environmental Audio Extensions (EAX) sound from Creative, which was introducing our of their new speaker systems, and underneath was a pun to make Hendrix fans groan; "Are You EAXperienced?"

Turning to games, I've been playing some more Team Fortress 2, continuing with Tropico, and attempting to solve sound cache problems with Battlefield 1942, where the sound just freaks out and everything starts looping (though thankfully the game itself continues to run without problem. Even though I've asked EA support, they haven't been particularly helpful (considering their answers have all the personality of a depressed photocopier), and none of their suggestions have ultimately solved the problem. And ending on two important things happening in the world utterly unrelated to games; John McCain chose Sarah Palin to be his VP candidate, and Hurricane Gustav is barrelling once again to Louisiana and the New Orleans/Lake Charles area. On Palin, she's new, she's a woman, and she has almost no experience beyond being Governor of Alaska for 20 months. However, it is a really clever tactic, because whichever way the Presidential election swings, the US is either going to get its first black President, or its first woman Vice President. Hurricane Gustav on the other hand has caused a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans (fearful of another Katrina) and much of the Louisiana coastline, and because it is heading over the Gulf of Mexico, the winds continue to strengthen until it reaches landfall sometime tomorrow. Anyway, here's a picture of the spectacular view from the Peak Tower in Hong Kong to round off.

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