Ultimate summer games There are a host of games lined up for summer releases that I can’t wait to get my hands on. Some are out in weeks, others in months, but they all have two things in common: they look wonderful, and may prevent you from getting skin cancer. Except for DS games, which you can play outside. Mirror’s Edge Published EA, developed by DICE Avaliable on 360/ PS3 This game looks like the true evolution of the first-person genre. Think parkour in a clean/dystopian future with added guns (if you want to use them – you don’t have to,) all from the first-person perspective. If that sounds dizzying, check out some of the videos online. They’ll either enthral you or leave you suffering motion sickness. Happily, I don’t get motion sickness and I absolutely love how the game looks, with sharp, clean visuals and a wonderful design aesthetic. If the writing and story end up half as sharp this could be on a par with Portal. Little Big Planet Published by Sony, developed by Media Molecule
Have you ever had problems? Of course you have. Everyone has problems. Every single person has some serious issues, but of course the degree to which we let them define us is what matters. That’s why we have drunks, nerds, tortured artists, jocks, goths, bankers, sluts, players, player haters, people that care too much, people that don’t care at all, and everything in between. People also have shit to deal with. ‘Shit’ being the catch-all noun of everything with discardable value. Linguistically the word is the primal essence of what it describes. It slides off the tongue, and sticks to the end of the sentence – greasy and worthless, and ultimately unpleasant. It’s interesting that there is a societal taboo on expressing such a primal idea. No-one wants to be reminded how much shit they’ve got around them. Take money for instance. Most people consider it a problem, on some level. How do I get enough? How do I get more? A lot of people consider it shit. Here’s a problem: my Bank just let me know today about a dishonour fee for a transaction. Fair enough, except they are only telling me now that they took it out a couple of days ago, and have updated my balance to reflect that. Except a few days ago is when my original transaction was due to go through, which has now failed because I only had exactly the right amount in there before hand, because of a previous dishonour fee last week which I was only informed about two days ago. I have no other money because I took
Exclusive to PS3 Luckily, I don’t have to wait to actually play this. Someone I know is one of maybe two people in NZ in the public beta. So I’ve already played it and can say it’s awesome. I can’t say much more, because of a nondisclosure agreement put on all the beta testers, but if you own a PS3 this will be a must-get. You get to create your own levels and publish them online, for adorable voodoo doll-ish characters to play in. The closest thing ever to an infinite game, this should be the time-sink of choice for gamers everywhere when it comes out. Rock Band (2?) Published by MTV, developed by Harmonix For Wii, PS3, 360 God damn you, MTV, for not bringing this out here already. I still really want to play Rock Band. Problem is, according to the morons at EB who I’m not sure are functioning humans, the release date isn’t entirely known yet. (The Internet tells me it’s December.) Rock Band 2 is already out in the States, for God’s sake! So, the point of this one is: don’t buy Rock Band if Guitar Hero 4, which sports similar controls plus a music generator, comes out first. Punish them!
a night off work, and the only other source I can get to in time is the money I have earmarked for materials needed to pass a course this semester. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you a conundrum. Like problems, shit only has as much power over us as we let it. You can elect to not care about shit. You can actually elect to not care about money. You can get pissed off and stressed out by being fleeced by the people in charge of looking after your money; or you can get over it. I’m pretty sure my bank has its own problems. So, as people are defined by their problems, where do we find solutions? How do we get rid of our shit, and stop fucking around? For a start, stop looking for solutions. Then stop looking for problems. Sad because you think you’re ugly? Try smiling. Raging because your city isn’t pretty? The top street artists in the world would kill to come to a canvas as blank as Hamilton. The street art capital of New Zealand is the perfect logical progression from the blank concrete capital. Imagine the tourism to a place that’s different every time you visit? People need proof though. Can’t get your art on a public wall? Lease a building and give yourself permission. Go drive through the back of town and you’ll see what I mean. Barton St. or nearabouts could be the line between up-town and art-town. Everyone wins.
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