KingJoe

Ocarina of time was my first 'proper' zelda experience. I had the original Legend of Zelda on the NES (still have it, in the cupboard, signed...), but I wasn't into it anything like as much as I was into Ocarina. That game had me blown away. I had it a bit late (I got it on players' choice while I was doing my A-levels), but that just meant that I had no spoilers, but could ask people who had played it through for help. I'd also just bought a nice stereo and worked out how to get the N64 playing through it (those were simpler times, no dolby pro logic for me). All this conspired to make zelda an absolutely wonderful, immersive experience.it was the first game I'd literally played all day, from waking up to going to bed. The storyline was epic, with twists that weren't blindingly obvious. Ocarina taught me how to play zelda. It was the most beautiful, involving, frustrating and immersive game I had played up until then. There were times that I got stuck and couldn't stop thinking about how to get unstuck. There were times I'd just leg it about on epona for the hell of it. There was the water temple. There was the temple of time. Games have moved on since then, they have got more immersive and epic, and I reckon twilight princess is a better game to play, because it's got subtle extras, and the experience of 8 years making games in it that ocarina couldn't have. The story isn't quite as good, I reckon. But partly because I can tell what will happen from previous zeldas. The game is easier, I didn't find anything anywhere near as difficult as the Water Temple, the final boss didn't manage to kill me once, whenever I got stuck, a break from the game was all it took. I was never pulling my hair out, not knowing what to do next. But the game was[/] a zelda game. Very much so. It echoed ocarina really well. And the dungeon design was noticably excellent. Personally, I prefer TP to WW. Windwaker felt like there was almost too much of it, and I could never be bothered with the sidequests. Some of the dungeons were excellent. The shitty triforce quest wasn't. I found WW more annoying than I found TP. Link's awakening was a stunning game, absolutely fantastic. But I'm tired and it's been years since I played it! To summarise, Ocarina of Time is my favourite game of all time because it was what it was, way back when. Beef up the graphics and it would stand high among today's games. My second favourite (console) zelda is TP. I'm knackered, so I'm off to bed!

I am my greatest fear.

I genuinely read that as: I hate it when people at work ask me to do anything. Or don't do what I ask them.

Cheers for the info, but I reckon my problem is different now! I only get it during fog and it's a few thick vertical bars that are either greenish or reddish towards the middle of the screen. I'll get some pics tomorrow, or at the weekend- it's hard to describe.

One kid in a school I was in said that he hated "Iraqis, Jews and racists". Brilliantly, he had just covered Iraq, Israel and Racism in Football in his PSHCE lessons.

I quite like bowling for soup. I stumbled into them at Leeds festival 2001 and had a nice chat about bitter.

That there is one hell of a catch-phrase. I really want to call one of my kids 'Racial Hammer'

Mountain dew and vodka looks like cartoon toxic waste, and tastes pretty funky.

Bloody fishing and bug catching.

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

It's funny 'cos it's true.

I was being silly.

John Fucking Carpenter's Fucking Vampires. Pile of horsewank. Even worse is going to the cinema to see John Fucking Carpenter's Ghosts of Fucking Mars, and being too hungover to realise who 'John Carpenter' was until the film started. Another steaming pile of equine, as well.

You're generalising. I know plenty of black people we can talk about without every word making us racist. Trevor Macdonald for example.

I'm very happy with my wii. I play my DS loads, and that is never for the graphics. About 4 of my mates are trying to get hold of a wii, because it's good fun. I don't want to fuck about with 'epic' games all the time. It's pretty good to get back from the pub and have a few rounds on wii sports with mates. Or the odd 'stolen' 15 minute session here and there. Using the remote feels so natural now, it IS better than a normal controller because it's instantly immersing. The bloke on the screen does what I'm doing! Graphics are not an issue, the games don't suffer from a lack of photorealistic graphics. GC was good enough, and the wii is better than that, in terms of graphics. If you don't like the way the wii does things, then don't buy one, or sell yours for a profit on eBay. Bitching and moaning like we're all advertising executives or PR gurus isn't getting us anywhere. Let's leave the business to nintendo and just try to enjoy the product. Games consoles don't have to be penis extensions, it doesn't matter if your mate's is bigger, blacker and has better graphics. There is no console war. Just stop it. (And twilight princess is SOOOO much better than wind waker! Fucking boat!?)

The crime she was found guilty of was "risk of injury to a minor, or impairing the morals of a child". Which probably includes: convincing a child to murder their parents; making a child run naked on a treadmill while a blind jazz pianist throws axes at them; throwing children off roofs; making kids surf on lava. As it was 4 counts, the maximum penalty for this type of crime is 10 years. She won't get that though, I'd hope. But she should have pulled the plug. Dozy mare.

Radio 4 is awesome. In our time is ace.

I used to read one, it was pretty good, but I've forgotten what it was called. It had 2 guys working in some sort of office, but I think one of them got the sack. Perhaps both did. It may have featured melons. VGcats is a regular too.

Beat me to it! 100% agreed. There's been a serious scientific study into this and it was found in all cases that people drove at least as safely when stoned as when not stoned. Reaction time was slowed but people tended to be more cautious as a result (basically, unlike alcohol, weed doesn't supress your inhibitions, ore make you fearless) Yes. And disorganised crime too! The point is- it doesn't hurt ANYONE other than the user (and it doesn't hurt them very much, if used sensibly). Adults should be trusted to make their own decisions. If I want a joint it should be MY choice, not YOURS or anybody else's. We aren't talking about making this mandatory- you don't HAVE to smoke it. But the option should be there. To all those who's mate's have been 'addicted' to weed, there are little or no physiological withdrawl symtoms to weed, due to the extremely long time the THC stays in your blood after smoking. If someone develops a habit, then they need to sort themselves out. Any weed addiction is entirely psychological (which can seem to be physical, but it IS psychosomatic), and if an adult has such little willpower or self control then that's their fault. Remember the Japanese gamer who died through playing constantly for days? SHould gaming (or the internet, for that matter) be banned because people can be addicted to it? I think not. There are sex-addicts out there. Let's ban that... Those people who 'become dicks because they smoke weed' were most probably dicks anyway. I've experienced paranoia after a suppply of extremely strong skunk was knocking around Manchester. I stopped smoking for a while, and made weaker joints when I started again. People should be forced to take responsibilty for their own actions and making their decisions for them isn't the way to do this.

Heroine- yes. Guns, etc should be controlled (as should drugs, to an extent) Basically, you're right, I over generalised. I'm pretty liberal in that if you want to do something and it doesn't hurt anyone else directly then you should be allowed to do it. Personally, I would like marijuana to be legal because I do it, it doesn't hurt anyone and I am a criminal purely because I enjoy an occasional smoke. Apart from that, I'm a perfectly productive member of society. 'Get real'? where did that come from? There's no need to be condescending just because we have different opinions. Ya berk.

I'd like to see it legalised so I wasn't at risk of losing my job because I enjoy the relaxing feeling I get from consuming a plant that grows naturally on the earth. I see no moral reasons for it being illegal, just a lot of nanny-state nonsense 'protecting people from themselves'. There are negative side-effects but adults deserve the right to make their own decisions. In a democracy, the things people want should not be illegal. if you make sought-after products illegal, you simply hand the supply of the product to 'criminals' by definition. And I've met some dealers who were really nice people, they just sold something that they themselves enjoyed and made money from it. Much like a pub landlord. 'Gateway drug' nonsense is nonsense. The statistical inference is that "people who take hard drugs are more likely to have smoked cannabis than people who have never taken hard drugs". Which is fairly obvious. If you say yes to smack, you're unlikely to turn down a joint. The converse is not necessarily true. Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Rant over.

I won a copy of Tijuana Toads (a cartoon) on video when I was a kid for doing a crossword. I also won a copy of Dungeon Keeper for designing a chair for satan when I was about 14, from CVG. Never saw the game though (and I'd actually bought it myself when the magazine came out). I've won a few bottles of whisky in the work raffle! I'm also currently enjoying a year's supply of innocent smoothies that I won when I went to fruitstock this year, my name is apparently appearing on a bottle label too!

The only cheese I wouldn't eat was a French Brie-ish type cheese from a uni booze cruise. You could actually smell the listeria on it. All other cheeses are fair game though. Love the blue cheeses. Yeah, cheese fucking rules.

I'm going for the biggie and giving up smoking before I'm 25. Also better pass my driving test. And stop being so fucking lazy. But smoking is top banana.