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.
Al Dente on These Words Are My Own: “If you need Anwar as your lawyer, you’re guilty as hell.” Jul 18, 07:12
Effijy on These Words Are My Own: “The other question that I’m scratching my head about is why. Sturgeon is First Minister of her country. The job…” Jul 18, 07:10
Turnbulldrier on These Words Are My Own: “Question. Can the full 10min speech be entered into the record in the HOC or is it only content that…” Jul 18, 07:03
Young Lochinvar on These Words Are My Own: “This is all fascinating Rev Gaun yersel.. However one wee thing that whispers in my ear, amongst others you have…” Jul 18, 04:20
Mark Beggan on These Words Are My Own: “It’s the crap they spent the money on that gets people. A national scandal that involves the very highest of…” Jul 18, 02:07
Young Lochinvar on A Matter Of Declinature: “James You got in before me there as I had the 19th noted. Salutations anyway my friend! And correct about…” Jul 18, 01:59
Young Lochinvar on These Words Are My Own: “AH But, but.. “She loved that necklace, so why should she” surrender any of the items??!? Honestly, who speaks like…” Jul 18, 01:28
James on These Words Are My Own: “What a brass neck she has. Always the victim, always. Her time in court will come, Salmond will get justice.…” Jul 18, 01:13
Angus on These Words Are My Own: “Masterstroke by Stuart to challenge the biggest coward, the biggest tractor and the biggest liar in Scottish history who has…” Jul 18, 01:03
Angus on These Words Are My Own: “Utmost thanks to David Davis for exposing the utter corruption of the Scottish state. Can he not also name the…” Jul 18, 00:55
Angus on These Words Are My Own: ““What happened with the £60,000-worth of items that were dropped from the indictment: the hairstylers, the lingerie and the books…” Jul 18, 00:47
Heaver on These Words Are My Own: “She will flee justice by going abroad. Where? That could be revealing. The alphabetty accusers will be checking their passports…” Jul 18, 00:43
Jay on These Words Are My Own: “It is regrettable that the House of Commons at Westminster had to be the channel through which Sturgeon/Murrell might be…” Jul 18, 00:31
Oneliner on These Words Are My Own: “MI5 is working on a plan to save her. Apparently they are not averse to lying in court if it…” Jul 18, 00:22
David Ferguson on These Words Are My Own: “Well, things are bubbling along nicely… Just to keep everything tidy, matters requiring attention: 1. The “ring-fenced” fund. I’d still…” Jul 18, 00:21
James on A Matter Of Declinature: “For Young Lochinvar, and to upset the three stooges….. Thank feck that’s (almost) over for another 4 years. So….July 18th…..must…” Jul 18, 00:01
willie on These Words Are My Own: “The COPFS apparently justify that the dropping of £58.3k of stolen goods from the indictment on the grounds that it…” Jul 17, 23:57
willie on These Words Are My Own: “The dam is ready to absolutely burst. Sturgeon is being exposed for the foul individual that she is. Her lying…” Jul 17, 23:48
Neil in Glasgow on These Words Are My Own: “We are all Stuart Campbell. A couple of quid from each of us and She’s toast. Unlike the sycophants that…” Jul 17, 23:48
Fearghas MacFhionnlaigh on These Words Are My Own: “« The Shadow of that hyddeous strength, Sax myle and more it is of length. » – ‘Ane Dialog betuix…” Jul 17, 23:47
Al Harron on These Words Are My Own: ““What happened with the £60,000-worth of items that were dropped from the indictment: the hairstylers, the lingerie and the books…” Jul 17, 23:30
sarah on These Words Are My Own: “Oh dear, Rev. You will never get on in public life. Far too principled and brave.” Jul 17, 22:53
Hatey McHateface on A Matter Of Declinature: “I see, Alf. Inevitably, yes, but individually to a greater or lesser extent. Like death, inevitable, but not for everyone,…” Jul 17, 22:39
Hatey Mchateface on A Matter Of Declinature: ““More to be pitied then scorned sadly” Ach, why not stick in your comfort zone and scorn ignorantly? Or sit…” Jul 17, 22:33
sam on These Words Are My Own: “Sturgeon is unlikely to ever want to face cross examination in court on any of the issues you raise. And…” Jul 17, 22:28
Hatey McHateface on A Matter Of Declinature: “Scots blokes are able to present themselves as women. It doesn’t mean they’re women. If you don’t understand what “present”…” Jul 17, 22:22
robertkknight on These Words Are My Own: “Well said all round. The dogs in the street know who did what to whom and when and why. Agent…” Jul 17, 22:21
