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.
twathater on Faces In Sand: “So Alex Neil and William Duguid who have feasted at the snp trough for years and done absolutely fuck all…” Oct 27, 03:27
sarah on Faces In Sand: “Yes United and Independence Forum Scotland have started Yes2030.scot – it had a spot at the SSRG Conference to publicise…” Oct 26, 21:47
William Smith on Faces In Sand: “Drat! Here I was, waiting on our impending liberation! I don’t know about you, but I can’t cope with any…” Oct 26, 21:15
Captain Caveman on Faces In Sand: “”Have you any idea how stupid these statements make you look?” I’m going with “no”.” Oct 26, 21:08
Alf Baird on Faces In Sand: “‘Unionist’ cheerleaders need to believe that a union exists, in fact their colonial ‘condition’ depends on maintaining the hoax at…” Oct 26, 20:45
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: “The usual suspects can’t believe in the impending bankruptcy of the U.K. because they already believe Scotland is hoaching with…” Oct 26, 20:31
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: “So you’re saying there’s no date to save? I’ve been saving a space on the front of the fridge to…” Oct 26, 20:11
Chas on Faces In Sand: “Word reaches me that the ‘High Executive’ at the UN have met in secret session to discuss the recent presentation…” Oct 26, 19:54
Aidan on Faces In Sand: “I believe the tidal generation project in the Pentland Firth will be the highest capacity tidal project in the world…” Oct 26, 19:27
Dan on Faces In Sand: “Like other articles, this starts ok but ends with pushing nuclear. Ideal as it only takes a couple of months…” Oct 26, 18:58
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: “Nah, CC, Confused retired from a long, successful and lucrative career in the higher echelons of the diplomatic service. That’s…” Oct 26, 18:38
Hatey McHateface on Faces In Sand: “Nope, Marie, I didn’t.” Oct 26, 18:21
Aidan on Faces In Sand: “On point 1: yes I am obviously saying that, I don’t know how anyone could think anything different. The treaty…” Oct 26, 18:18
Xaracen on Faces In Sand: “Aidan, are you claiming that the 1707 Treaty was not voided by England’s coercion of Scotland to bring it to…” Oct 26, 18:15
Xaracen on Faces In Sand: “Are you claiming that the 1707 Treaty was not voided by England’s coercion of Scotland to bring it to the…” Oct 26, 17:52
Aidan on Faces In Sand: “The only thing missing from your explanation is the eccentric bit which is; “I, Xaracen, posting on Wings over Scotland…” Oct 26, 17:08
Xaracen on Faces In Sand: “@Northcode; Re your “The Myth They All Rely On” post of 21 October; (I was too busy with a flitting…” Oct 26, 16:42
Aidan on Faces In Sand: “It is extremely tedious, and it is not presented with the intent to provoke debate or discussion, it is simply…” Oct 26, 14:44
Spartan 117 on Faces In Sand: “I doubt anybody in the M25 omniclusterfuckpermashambles-on-Thames is paying any attention to the UN capers (all of which is just…” Oct 26, 13:41
Spartan 117 on Faces In Sand: “Pished, hysterical, incoherent rambling as per.” Oct 26, 13:31
Captain Caveman on Faces In Sand: “Yes, the “useful idiot” argument (from a Unionist POV) isn’t lost on me. 🙂 However, it is bloody tedious, isn’t…” Oct 26, 13:25
Aidan on Faces In Sand: “I think Confused is having a tougher time as an adult. I would guess passing the days drinking very strong,…” Oct 26, 13:24
Aidan on Faces In Sand: “It has a practical purpose in driving the cause of independence down a dead end and diverting time and resources,…” Oct 26, 13:18
Captain Caveman on Faces In Sand: “I’m guessing you had a tough time at school, Confused, and were no stranger to the “bogwash”.” Oct 26, 12:40
Confused on Faces In Sand: “getting into the english at the UN is useful, and enjoyable, because it “hits them where they live” – they…” Oct 26, 12:17
Confused on Faces In Sand: ““Rewilding” is another con job – what it means is : GET ORFF MOI LAND – and whenever an ANGLO…” Oct 26, 12:14
Lorncal on Faces In Sand: “Northcode: although contemporary international law would back us up in most areas, the Treaty will almost certainly come into play…” Oct 26, 11:30
Spartan 117 on Faces In Sand: “Alf, but the UK *does* exist, legally, politically and physically, not just within its territory but it is internationally recognised.…” Oct 26, 10:55
Northcode on Faces In Sand: “I understand the frustration — democratic systems are imperfect everywhere. But my point was simply that, unlike in 1707, Scots…” Oct 26, 10:24
Captain Caveman on Faces In Sand: “Hey, it’s almost as though this “ancient guff” that happened over 300 years ago is of no pragmatic consequence in…” Oct 26, 10:14
