It's all for char-i-dee mate!

I had an idea that we could raise some money for the Penny Arcade Child's Play charity and have some fun at the same time, by running a sponsored 24-hour Fi Club at some point in the New Year.

The charity aims to stick toys and games into the sticky mitts of unfortunate kiddies in hospitals around the world. Our 'local' one is Alder Hey children's hospital in Upnorthland somewhere (Liverpool.) Each participating hospital makes an Amazon wish list and contributors buy stuff off the list and it gets sent straight to the hospital.


I see this as a potential win-win-win-win. We get to raise money for charity and look cool, we get to mess around for 24 hours, we get to go happy shopping on Amazon, and the ickle kiddies get loads of cool gear.

What say ye, fellow Fi Clubbers?

AllOfMP3.com

its official, Russia will be closing allofmp3.com. Please hold a minutes silence. Russia have just joined sony (not including tv's :)) on my sh1t list.

TechCrunch link

Matt

Emergence Day

... is supposed to be November the 17th. In case anyone is living under a rock - that is the Xbox 360 Gears of War release date.

Emergence Day for the Fi Club will be November 24th @ Munchk's pink palace. I promise to turn up to this one!

There you go, glad I haven't hyped that one too much, good job... lol.

The only way to commute?

A subject close to my own heart!!! The ultimate gaming bus!

Linky

The Real Mii

Got a couple of minutes spare? Log onto Joystiq's Mii Creator (SWF) and create your Nintendo Mii.

I was actually surprised how quick easy it was to get a passing likeness from the tool.

Why So Hard On The PSP Then?

So Sony are releasing Open Platform for the PS3 which allows "any desired third-party system software to be installed on it."

Unless I'm overlooking something surely this poses Sony exactly the same security risks as homebrew on the PSP? Worse in fact as Sony are opening the door and inviting everyone in to the party, rather than make us climb up the drainpipe of HENC and in through the bathroom window of Devhook.

So, Sony, what gives?

Baxx0rs, baxx0rs thru teh miztz of t1m3...

Join me on a journey, fellow clubber, a journey back through the mists of time to an age when we were younger and had fewer kids... March to be exact.

Click the archive link down there for March 2006 and look at the very first set of stories on 'Fi Club. Sure, marvel at how punchy and tight our writing was back then, for it was a time of wonder, but also look at how the stuff we were writing about way back in March is the same stuff we've only just started getting hold of and playing now. Soda Fountain, Tekken, Mercury Meltdown (ack-shully, even though it's on my PSP, I haven't actually run that one yet) and GTAVCS.

Funny how that lot took about 8 months to get here.

I'm EEEmerging!

Munchk towers is good for me.

Looking forward to it.

Bring on the War with Gears!

I'll bring the straws so you guys can draw to see who loses and gets teamed with me!

Bum, fragged again!

 

Also, Friday 24th is the release date for G.H.2.

Play has it listed at £39.99, game and guitar.

Do we fancy this as a club purchase?

I'll put in, but I can't aford to get it myself.

 

Picking up on Hir0's earlier thread...

I know what he means about tags and names.

Similar problem.

 

R.

 

 

Nuff Gamez

You know that road trip we keep saying we're going to make? You know, the one where we're going to drive down to Austin to stop my girlfriend from watching that VHS of me shagging some blonde one-night-stand that I sent to her by mistake? It's gonna be great, and now we have the happy happy goodness of our drooling lobotomised PSPs, I decided to see just how much A-rated gamer goodness I could cram into my Mem-o-stiku at the same time to keep us occupied on the journey.

Avoiding the horribly flawed "WTF did I DL this shit for?" of Mega Man, I dragged the smallest games on to my stick until it screamed out in over stuffed-agony. Turns out, this trip will be filled with many hours of (mostly puzzler) fun as we wind our way down south trying to avoid the gaze of the fugly deliverance dude with the obvious eating disorder sitting next to us in the back. Get away from me, man, stop looking at me. I don't care who's car it is.

Here's the listage -- chekkit:
Lumines
Space Invaders Evolution
Every Extend Extra
Mercury Meltdown
Pilot Academy
Virtua Tennis

and of course, Syphon Filter is in the slot pretending to be all of the above. The irony.

So that's seven games. Couple that with the improvements in battery life that we're seeing due to the fact that our PSPs no longer have to spin up an electric motor or run an optical read head and we're doing pretty well.

Right, that's it, pull over, I'm putting the freak out on the highway.

Calling All The Hir0s

Suppose a fellow were to tire of his nick? Suppose he found it passé, overused amongst the gaming community and that it's faux-Japaneseness grated on a fellow? Suppose a fellow found he shared his nick with a certain Microsoft employee?

Suppose said fellow were to change his gaming nick. What would he change it to? Something clever and witty, something dashing and brave that reflected his real life and gaming persona I suspect.

What do you think? Any ideas? Brainstorm people!

Supergrass

Munchk, dude, your Xbox360 is squealing on you!

Sony fuck it up again!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6146328.stm

Grand Theft Video Game

Remember last Fi Club where we were all pissed off with Sony for destroying our favourite over-acting-grey-importer and for generally being shits?

Hoowah! The hating goes on, and here's where Sony start paying.

This Friday, after all the work is done, pile on over to Ruut's gaff and bring your PSPs (Yes! you heard right! Your PSP!) and at least a 2GB Mem-o-stiku Duo, and we'll all get our god-damn game on in a big stylie. Yeah!

Want to know more? Hit the handy dandy comment button and we'll clue you in! Hit the button now -- tell us if you're there or not. Want to know if I have your car? Hit the button. Fuck it, just hit the button and let us know you're alive, it's all cool.

** U P D A T E !**
Now with new image hotness! Clikkit! See more bigly!
Last time on 'Fi Club, in a moment of madness, H i r 0 san and I dumped out our respective game pouches and scoped the beautiful vista of current-gen game tech loveliness. Hours of fun and laughter and wanton violence. Hours and hours and hours and hours...

The PS3 Factfile

The bbc have a page about the PS3, whats in it, and how much it is gonna cost. How much?
Anyway, go here, if your Sony hating bone will allow!

Anyone Can Play Guitar

1up.com reports on some DS Guitar sim software being released in Japan in December.

The software, called Hiite Utaeru DS Guitar M-06 (or just M-06, for short), allows anyone to strum out a few pleasant sounds, while proper guitar players can also feel at home with the ability to control the sound like a real guitar. 120 chords are built in, with three plucking variations of each. These are navigated with the d-pad, while the pen is brushed across the touch screen to strum.

There's a limited release due on amazon.co.jp on December 21, and a general release in February. I'm hoping I can get my hands on an evaluation copy by Christmas.

I really like that cover too.

Wii Woe

This morning I got the following email from play.com:

Dear Customer,

Due to a European shortage of the Nintendo Wii Consoles, we regret to inform you that Play.com will be unable to supply your pre-ordered Nintendo Wii at launch. As an Official distributor of Nintendo products we are guaranteed more stock before Christmas, but Nintendo have informed us, along with all other official Nintendo retailers, that the console will not be freely available until next year.

All pre-orders will be fulfilled on a first come, first served basis and we will fulfil your order as soon as we can.

If you no longer wish to keep your pre-order with Play.com please login to your account and remove the item from your Outstanding Orders.

Kind Regards

PLAY.COM

I guess they just got their allocation figures in yesterday or today. Considering I pre-ordered on the 18th September I think I'm now shit outta luck on any chance of getting it before Xmas. I've put in three pre-orders at other retailers and I'm on the Toys'R'Us email list for a notification of when they start taking pre-orders.

While I'm admittedly pretty gutted, I'm kinda stoked for Nintendo that there's this much consumer interest in Europe. It bodes well for the future of the console (there was a part of me that was thinking it might end up as another Gamecube.)

That's His Gamer Face

London-based photographer Phillip Toledano wanted to take a set of portraits of people that would reveal a hidden part of their character so he gave them video games to play.




via Notcot.com

Egg-sactly How Hot?

Young Woody Allen cooks an egg on his (already broken) Xbox 360 Heat Sink.

Twilight Princess Teaser

Here's a nice video teaser for Zelda: Twilight Princess. It features some of the intro, some other interesting looking FMV and some gameplay footage which really doesn't look a whole lot worse than the FMV bits.

As Cartman says: "It's going to be S-WIIIIIIIIII-T."

You guys will help freeze me until December right?

Just Light A Match

Found this guy taking care of business in Syphon Filter. I couldn't flush him out but I made sure he wasn't going anywhere.

Pie Chart Joke of the Day

via BoingBoing

Don't Mind If I Do

The Sony executive division are vying with their customer support already for November's Clueless Twat Of The Month Award.

SCE Worldwide Europe VP and asshat bullshit-monger Jamie MacDonald posits his crackhead theory that Euro gamers "don't mind [the delays]" that relegate us to third place behind Japan and the USA when it comes to console releases.

Speaking to gamesindustry.biz regarding the four month delay of the UK release of the PS3 he said:

"In Europe, it doesn't seem that the release of our platforms after the US and Japan - in the long run - affects how consumers feel."

If only people would show their disapproval with their wallets then maybe he'd get the message.

It appears that this sort of blatant fuckwittery is rife within Sony's higher echelons. Sony CEO Sir Howard Stringer expressed befuddlement regarding the delay during an announcement to Reuters, saying:

"I think the idea of worrying about a delay in PlayStation is slightly strange to me."

Our man-in-France, Monsieur RobPS2 said in response:

"Maybe if they give me a PS3 and I don't pay for it for 6 months, I could be 'befuddled' at why they want their money."

Thanks RobPS2 - you speak for us all I think.

Wii Virtual Console Details

Guardian Unlimited has the skinny on the Wii's first month of Virtual Console releases including NES, SNES, N64, Megadrive and TurboGrafx (PC Engine) titles and their prices.

I'm a bit disappointed to see only Super Mario 64 on the N64 list as I was hoping to run through Ocarina of Time and then Majora's Mask (which I never played on the original.) Here's hoping they'll be on the 1Q07 list.