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.
robertkknight on The Massive Face Of Truth: “A “Corrupt Dictatorship” indeed! Was then…is now, and still has the backing of some very powerful individuals in what is…” Jun 7, 23:06
Tenruh on The Massive Face Of Truth: “I made a monthly payment into the referendum fundraiser from March 2017 until February 2021 and assume there would have…” Jun 7, 22:26
Southernbystander on The Interesting Words Round: “‘Police Scotland have been advised that the information provided had already been investigated as part of our inquiries and no…” Jun 7, 21:55
Northcode on In pursuit of clarity: “Nope, I’m not wrong. Let me break it down for you: At C-24: Salvo could attend, but Scotland could not…” Jun 7, 21:40
Hatey McHateface on In pursuit of clarity: “Greatest living half Scot, Dan. Did he kick aff the shit in the ME? I’ve been around over half a…” Jun 7, 21:38
Dan on In pursuit of clarity: “Your wallet is constantly being plundered ya neep heid that was always wanting to be shown the money. Howz the…” Jun 7, 20:45
Aidan on In pursuit of clarity: “Sorry Northcode, you are wrong. Here is a link to the statement given by our very own Alf Baird on…” Jun 7, 20:21
Hatey McHateface on In pursuit of clarity: “I’ll presume to speak for Aidan, Northy. You’re every bit as clever as an alert reader would expect someone self-identifying…” Jun 7, 20:18
Northcode on In pursuit of clarity: “You said at 10:24 am today: “…promoted the Salvo/Liberate fundraiser which also has a case to answer for embezzlement…” And…” Jun 7, 19:53
Dan on The Massive Face Of Truth: “From back when I had an alert reader badge before it blew off my jacket on a run with the…” Jun 7, 19:46
Hatey McHateface on In pursuit of clarity: “Some Scots believe what happened in Scottish care homes during Covid was murder. And yes, “those people” did get away…” Jun 7, 19:38
Hatey McHateface on In pursuit of clarity: ““Throwing such serious allegations about without proof is piss poor behaviour” Where is the best place to get synthetic outrage…” Jun 7, 19:27
Aidan on In pursuit of clarity: “Well done Northcode, that was a spirited attempt at a defence but one that unfortunately doesn’t quite align to the…” Jun 7, 18:57
BigJay on The Massive Face Of Truth: “There was a bit of a kerfuffle back in 2023 regarding a fragrant, former female ‘aide’ to Humza UselessAF who…” Jun 7, 18:51
Northcode on In pursuit of clarity: “I’ve just realised what, I think, you have presented here as ‘evidence’ of Salvo/Liberate embezzlement… and I laugh in the…” Jun 7, 18:18
Dan on In pursuit of clarity: “@AiDan If you’re so sure there has been an act of embezzlement committed, and it bothers you so much; Then…” Jun 7, 17:52
Aidan on In pursuit of clarity: “lol, no it doesn’t. What might persuade someone is explaining how the circumstances I have set out above do not…” Jun 7, 17:26
Northcode on In pursuit of clarity: ““…are you expecting that to persuade anyone?” Yes… I am and it does. You know, you go on fair bit…” Jun 7, 17:04
Andy Wiltshire on The Massive Face Of Truth: “I trust the Rev is working feverishly on pieces about (a) cash for seats, and (b) the involvement of HMRC…” Jun 7, 16:53
Hatey McHateface on In pursuit of clarity: “Careful, Aidan! You’re trampling all over the green cheese with your muckle tackity boots. Green cheese is all some of…” Jun 7, 16:32
Aidan on In pursuit of clarity: ““I’m not going to engage with the facts you’ve laid out and therefore because I’m ignoring the evidence I win…” Jun 7, 16:30
Hatey McHateface on In pursuit of clarity: “New Caledonia, eh? A name to conjure with. Second only to Nova Scotia as a reminder of the Scots’ long,…” Jun 7, 16:20
Northcode on In pursuit of clarity: “Prove Salvo/Liberate are guilty of embezzlement. You can’t because you don’t have any proof. And why don’t you have any…” Jun 7, 16:17
100%Yes on The Massive Face Of Truth: “More SNP dirty secrets, cash for seats, this is just the start.” Jun 7, 16:16
Anne on The Massive Face Of Truth: “The day these corrupt and greedy individuals get their come uppence will be a great day .If only Alex were…” Jun 7, 15:58
Aidan on In pursuit of clarity: “Is it true or not true that the chair of C-24 issued the following statement:no petition … could be accepted…” Jun 7, 15:57
Mark Beggan on The Massive Face Of Truth: “Cosa Nostra. We’ll make Scotland an offer they can’t refuse. If anyone objects then they will be swimming with the…” Jun 7, 15:54
Skip_NC on The Massive Face Of Truth: “This is a question that absolutely must be answered. I’m surprised a certain Scot isn’t popping with excitement at yet…” Jun 7, 15:49
