As readers may already be aware, my main hobby to distract myself from my day job in the profoundly depressing world of politics is to delve into retro videogaming via my Retropie. It’s an endlessly rewarding fount of discovery and entertainment for many reasons, but sometimes the two spheres collide in extremely unexpected ways.
So let’s talk about GORF.
Midway’s 1981 arcade hit was a pioneering and innovative game. It was the first game to be comprised of multiple highly distinct sub-games, boldly including direct lifts of other people’s coin-ops in the form of Space Invaders and Galaxian. And while it wasn’t the first arcade game to feature synthesised speech – it was beaten to that punch by the likes of Berzerk and Wizard Of Wor the previous year – it was famous for the extensive and iconic vocabulary with which it taunted and goaded the player.
It got numerous conversions of variable quality to various home systems, whether as contemporary licences or later homebrew ports, and that’s where we come in.
It’s taken me four weeks to write this, because I barely knew where to start.
Channel 4 showed the singular and vastly wonderful The Banshees Of Inisherin at the weekend, and as brilliant as it is in its own right, it also came loaded with all sorts of resonances and finally prodded me into action.
The equally singular and wonderful Jonathan Nash, who will be known to readers of this isolated and quiet island parish under a variety of names, died last month, of death. It was sudden yet expected, and in those respects very much the opposite of the man himself.
The Spectrum community is arguably more on top of the machine’s history than any other in the world of gaming, so it’s always quite noteworthy when something and/or someone escapes its notice entirely. And so it is with Lukasz Kur.
The screenshot above is of a game called a_e Adventure, or sometimes a_e in King Chrum’s Gold Mines. (According to Kur the character’s name represents “a portion of a forum member’s user name which inadvertantly looked like an emoticon of sorts – a little face with asymetrical eyes.”)
This page lists the various contract tariffs for the imminent iPhone 4S on O2. If you add them up, you get some pretty strange results.
(For the purposes of these calculations, we've worked out the total cost for the term of a 12-month contract, including a £6 "Bolt-On" for 500MB of data, and based on purchasing the 64GB model.)
Not least because I essentially don’t give a shit about the environment. (The result depicted in the image below is from Scottish Vote Compass, and my non-Scotch chums might find it interesting to take the test too.)
I do believe human activities are causing global warming, and that we’re rendering the planet incapable of sustaining human life at a terrifying rate – via greenhouse gases, pollution and overpopulation – to the point where mankind could in my view have well under 100 years left of anything recognisable as our current lifestyle. It’s just that I think that’s a good thing.
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “For those who can. I hope you are feeding the wee birds this winter. They also need fresh water at…” Dec 28, 14:35
Northcode on A matter of class: ““Of course your keyboard being all sticky can’t help either.” Intellectual my perfectly smooth and rounded porcelain buttocks, Andy Inglis.…” Dec 28, 13:47
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “I’ve thought for a long time that the chief reason the British nationalist project is “going down the pan” was…” Dec 28, 13:20
Alf Baird on A matter of class: “The ““Scotland as colony” narrative – is perfectly legitimate”, especially so for those having studied postcolonial theory in depth, then…” Dec 28, 13:11
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Northcode Correction: “que the inevitable…” should, of course, read as “cue the inevitable…” I guess that’s what happens when…” Dec 28, 13:05
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on A matter of class: “Book review I did a few years ago which may be of interest to some – ‘CANADIAN GAELDOM: FADED FOOTPRINT…” Dec 28, 13:00
Northcode on A matter of class: “Correction: “que the inevitable…” should, of course, read as “cue the inevitable…”” Dec 28, 12:17
TURABDIN on A matter of class: “@ ANDY ELLIS, ENGLAND OR UK is going to the dogs, finished according to taxi drivers and Hampstead dinner party…” Dec 28, 12:11
Northcode on A matter of class: ““Your contribution is little more than we’d expect from the intellectually low voltage usual suspects in here…” “The intellectually low…” Dec 28, 12:03
Xaracen on A matter of class: “@James Cheyne; 1- The 1707 Treaty did not expire with the Irish treaty in 1800! Technically, the English/Irish agreement wasn’t…” Dec 28, 11:56
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Alf 11.33am I happen to agree with the OP, however my contributions being directed towards addressing the wall to…” Dec 28, 11:49
Alf Baird on A matter of class: “A point to note is that “Your contribution” to the subject matter of the article itself is non-existent, your purpose…” Dec 28, 11:33
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Northcode 10.51 am Your contribution is little more than we’d expect from the intellectually low voltage usual suspects in…” Dec 28, 11:12
Northcode on A matter of class: ““Oor Scots language is wha we are, aye Scots, an the verra grund o the independence/leeberation muivement” Aye, Alf, yer…” Dec 28, 11:08
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “We are not Unionists we are Fascists. Do try and keep up with the world around you.” Dec 28, 11:06
Alf Baird on A matter of class: ““If Rev Stu added the word “colony” and it’s variants to his banned list” The colonizer only bans what he…” Dec 28, 10:56
Northcode on A matter of class: ““If Rev Stu added the word “colony” and it’s variants to his banned list, we’d scarcely hear from you again…”…” Dec 28, 10:51
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “Talking of Independence. How’s that going these days? Not so good. In fact it’s now reduced to barricading itself behind…” Dec 28, 10:50
Northcode on A matter of class: “I think I’ve figured out why one of my comments has been bounced into the WoS wilderness… It’s because I…” Dec 28, 10:48
Northcode on A matter of class: “Guid mornyng aw… a howp youse aw hae a guid day the day.” Dec 28, 10:40
Anthem on A matter of class: “With barely a 27% turnout it’s hardly a sign of reform being a major player. Labour still managed 21% even…” Dec 28, 10:29
Anthem on A matter of class: “With barely a 27% turnout it’s hardly a sign of reform being a major player. Labour still managed 21% even…” Dec 28, 10:27
Mark Beggan on A matter of class: “The colonization of Mars has been cancelled. It appears the indiginus natives have ‘gone fishing’. While the men returning from…” Dec 28, 10:25
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “Now remember you theorists of a union with Scotland your looking for definative evidence to consolidate that your theory is…” Dec 28, 10:23
James Cheyne on A matter of class: “You see what happens, When I do not post, the Scottish unionist theory believers flood the site in droves on…” Dec 28, 10:10
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Alf Baird 9.41 pm Always so many questions on this and that, all of which avoid the most important…” Dec 28, 10:07
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Northcode Three innocuous posts… all sent to moderation. I’m beginning to wonder if Ellis is a WoS alter-ego. Or…” Dec 28, 10:02
Andy Ellis on A matter of class: “@ Anthem 1.03am Do tell us which part is crap. The result is a matter of public record: yoon parties…” Dec 28, 09:58
Aidan on A matter of class: “If someone puts their pronouns in their bio they get cut out of your will do they Dan? Are you…” Dec 28, 08:41
Anthem on A matter of class: “I’m also very familiar with the area. And you’re talking crap.” Dec 28, 01:03
