Sorry updates have been a bit thin on the ground for the last few days, viewers – I've been insanely busy with about eight different things, and probably will be until Monday. One of them was reaching a milestone with the mighty Free-App Hero, which has now featured a frankly amazing 500 games since being released four months ago and written 150,000 words (roughly two novels' worth) about them. Yikes.
Astoundingly, that translates to somewhere in the region of £5 million saved by the app's users since it came out, and all without having to spend hundreds of tedious hours wading through thousands of godawful ad-strewn games written by escaped mental patients in order to find the good stuff.
Anyway, here are some pictures of weird stuff I saw in the park last week.
I was out and about today, and finally saw a 3DS in action for the first time. As billed, the 3D effect is absolutely gobsmacking, but even after just a few minutes I was finding it quite tiring on my eyes and I imagine the novelty will largely wear off after a couple of days, leaving you with a very pricey way to play Ridge Racer and Super Monkey Ball again. But not quite THIS pricey:
Viewers, a confluence like this comes around about once a decade. If it’s as sunny, warm and beautiful where you are as it is in Bath today, get out there and witness the phenomenon for yourself.
If it isn’t, don’t worry – you can do it indoors too.
The world moves alarmingly fast nowadays, doesn't it? But right now, at this particular moment in time and until something else shiny and exciting comes along (probably around lunchtime), this is the best game ever.
With a certain amount of irony, then, (and for no very good reason that I can immediately discern), it's called Forget-Me-Not.
Aged viewers will recall this reporter's once-burning love for the Nintendo DS. But it wasn't just the appearance on the scene of the younger, slimmer, all-touching-all-the-time iThings that caused the flame to die.
This week, with the Western launch of the 3DS just a few days away, I went back to the old stager for one last hurrah, to see what I'd missed in what's now almost two years of iOS-focused gaming and also to see how it felt to use a so-called "real" handheld console again. I found out some things, and have written them down here because I'm old and I forget stuff.
Hey! It's time for another WoSblog Challenge! WOO!
We're all familiar with the concept of Where's Wally/Waldo, right? The above is a tableau in similar vein but with a bit of a Biblical theme, taken from the iThing game Where's Jesus? Your job is simple: find the inset character (bottom left) somewhere in the main picture. He usually shows up after you've found three or four others in Level 1 (of 10).
(Click the pic to watch on YouTube. We can’t have it embedded here because the repellent corporate nightsoil at Sony Music Entertainment have laid a copyright block on it and there STILL isn’t a remotely decent video plugin for WordPress. This is the original TV version, incidentally.)
It’s fantastic, of course. But on this occasion it’s not the truly awesome thing.
Andy Ellis on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “The idea has legs Mr McHateface! Sadly* I see that many of those who would have been most embarrassed by…” May 17, 21:29
sarah on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “@ 100% Yes at 6.30: the KC Prof Robert Black was forensic in proving the falsity of the “United Kingdom”.…” May 17, 21:22
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “« I’m off out to feed the swans. » (recent Stu Campbell remark) _________ « we may as well do as Rev does…” May 17, 21:00
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I’ve enjoyed reading the Grok analysis and assessment of the “debate”. I wonder if it would catch on BTL too.…” May 17, 20:58
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I’m not sure it’s not a folk memory now. The place bears little resemblance to what it was in my…” May 17, 20:34
Hatey McHateface on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Sounds like your post needs fixing. How about “explosive stuff regarding the union by a fake KC” Any political and…” May 17, 20:20
Bilbo on Barbie Stories: “I was trying to stick the dagger deep but others have done so much better than me. She’s certainly no…” May 17, 19:08
TURABDIN on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Cutting to the crux, unless Scots grow a pair their country will just be a folk memory. There are no…” May 17, 19:07
100%Yes on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “This is what annoys me, people who claim to want Independence then advocate two votes for the SNP 1&2 when…” May 17, 18:30
aLurker on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “@Willie John Aye, pick a nitter instance that is currently in good health [1]. Then use the nitter service instance…” May 17, 17:20
Skip_NC on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Stu, if we are to believe James Kelly’s characterization of you, you were born in Hanover in 1960 (a few…” May 17, 17:00
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “GLASGOW DAWN (For my brother Stuart, 21 March 2009) Were they not great those hours we spent up in your…” May 17, 15:31
Ebok on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I think Rev, that you are attacking the system from the wrong angle and playing by the rules of the…” May 17, 14:39
Willie John on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Anybody got any tips on how I can read the whole saga without joining twitter/x? (Which I politely decline to…” May 17, 14:27
Skip_NC on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Stu, despite your obvious-self confidence, I am amazed that you actually had a debate on this issue with Scotland’s foremost…” May 17, 14:14
Jon Drummond on Barbie Stories: “Yes, I remember Zambonini. Just posted pice of her drunken socialising. Lips hanging of her skull with a hundredweight of…” May 17, 14:00
Jon Drummond on Barbie Stories: “Holy Mother of Christ. How the SNP (NuSNP) have fallen. Her only life/work experience is stocking the printer with with…” May 17, 13:51
lothianlad on Barbie Stories: “The SNP have been infiltrated, and are now utterly discredited.” May 17, 13:15
ScottieDog on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “There are complex algorithms used in portfolio investment decision making, yet research concluded that the use of simple hueristics such…” May 17, 10:21
MPW on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I asked if he could provide a link as stu had done, he delete the post. Therefore I believe stu…” May 17, 10:03
Andy Ellis on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “It says a lot (none of it good) about any pro-independence person who is involved in Scottish politics at the…” May 17, 09:39
A Browne on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “I fixed on of the ‘Anonymous’ comments: AnonymousMay 17, 2025 at 8:56?AM The problem is that at the moment young…” May 17, 09:23
duncanio on Well, this is a little embarrassing: “Having re-converted to the SNP perhaps he feels the need to go full-on anti-Wings to prove his credentials as a…” May 17, 09:06