And I got some great pictures from Graeme Kidd’s (former Crash Editor and colleague from 20 years ago) 50th birthday party in Ludlow. We had a completely awesome time, hooked up with some people I’ve not seen to for a couple of decades and got more than a tad blasted.
Sadly they’re in the boot of my car on which the lock has broken. Along with a load of my clothes, my laptop and a package of Walls sausages. 
GnnnnnnnnnnGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG
There’s been a wide range of critical response to Space Giraffe, the short and long of it is that this a game that polarises opinion. This set of end user comments from Metacritic sums it up best for me
http://www.metacritic.com/games/usercomments.jsp?id_string=8681:TrsLgMEQX6wCXezipg4n3w**
And we’re really happy with that. What’s really odd is it’s both loved and hated for mostly the same reasons (defies expectation, psychaedelic graphics, complex rule set). Early days still but my gut feel from the sheer fervency of the people who do like it is that over the long term this game is destined for classic status. And rightly so 
Bit knackered today and still a little achey from the walk along the Pembrokeshire coastal path yesterday. 7 miles long but along some cliff tops that looked spectacular but tended to undulate an awful lot. We were both pretty proud once getting to the end, the last couple of miles or so being particularly draining.
From there it was back to the hotel where it was rapidly becoming apparent we were the youngest of all the residents, the place was chock full of OAPers stinking of wee and cabbage. Rather than bother with the restaurant we nipped down the Tescos and brought back some booze and snacks. Felt a little chavvy creeping through reception with some heavily laden clinking blue and white Tescos carrier bags.
A nice breakfast this morning and then a lovely drive up through South Wales to a camp site in Brecon only to be told they’re all booked out. D’oh! A little look on the GPS and we’ve now bagged a really nice room in a B&B from where I’m typing this. We’re off for a much gentler walk up to Table Mountain just down the road in a bit.
I’ve learnt my lesson form yesterday’s walk where I ended up with aching big toes due to unpleasantly long toe nails and had a bit of a self administered pedicure before we head out. And I’ll be slapping on some factor 15 to stop my head going even more strawberry like.
Tomorrow will be ace, going to an old haunt and seeing some people I’ve not seen for years. But it’s a surprise so Shhhhhhh!
Now in Fishguard via a quick stop to the very surprising St Davids, very small town with a whacking great medieval cathedral in the middle making it the smallest city in the UK. After the roughing it last night we’re in a hotel this evening overlooking Fishguard bay. Quick pit stop to freshen up, the mirror’s revealed that having caught the sun I’m back to looking radish like, and we’re back off out. This time a walk around Strumble Head and it’s a 7 miler. Back, knackered, later
Yum Yum. Uo early to figure out how to use this spiffy MSR stove to cook breakfast. A bleary head from last night isn’t a great help but we soon get some sausages on the go. Head bleariness comes from spending time in the pub which was a bit packed out thanks to England / Germany friendly so we sat outside. The outdoors of pubs (especially next to a family camp site) are a near living hell populated with kids being shouted at (”DARREN! Put that dahhhn NOW!”) and furtive smokers stinking the place up. Even so drink and nice chat makes it fun and leads on to a stumble back across the field under an immensley beautiful starry sky.
Today we’re off to a walk near Fishguard and hopefully a meet up with JT @ and family if we can get back into an area with mobile coverage
Well this is odd not being net connected and especially so on a day of Space Giraffe’s release, something I’ve been looking forward to for a while having seen the game develop from inception to completion.
Phoning Jimaroid from a field means I know of Jeff’s completely ludicrous half a billion score he’s planted at the top of the leader boards like a large stinky cow pat. And even better The Rev throwing his toys out of the pram at near light speed velocity. Anyway.
And why no net? We’re on holiday innit and currently sitting in Newgale’s Duke Of Edinburgh pub, sweating slightly after an ace cliff top walk along some mightily pretty coast. One of the sites en route was St Elvis’ Cromlech, a 5000 year old neolithic burial chamber apparently. Expectations weren’t met, I was hoping for something in the style of Graceland rather than a untidy and unsightly pile of rocks. The wind did seem to be whispering “wuh huh” accompanied by a spooky smell of cheeseburger.
It’s stumble head tomorrow, at the top of Pembrokeshire and another night camping. Which is fun but I think I’m starting to ming bit.
Hoorah! The Giraffe is on the loose and we were lucky enough to see it released at Jeff & Giles’ pad. We’re on a bit of camping holiday in Wales for the next week and first stop was casa Yak. Had a nice night down the Masons and this woke up this morning to see Space Giraffe up on XBLA A few pics:
Be back next week to make my mark on the leader boards, look out Jima
It’s official and we’re allowed to spill the bean that Space Giraffe will be available this coming Wednesday on XBOX Live Arcade
Only 400 XBLA points which is roughly the cost of a pint of Stella in Iceland IIRC.
Well it is Several great dollops of excitedness have dropped into our path since the last update including the great news that Space Giraffe has now passed certification which means it’ll be available to download very soon. Jeff’s made a launch blog containing a bunch of information about the game and how to rack the scores. There’s a lot subtlety and depth to SG so it’s really worth a bit of look see before downloading the demo
There’s info to be found here -> http://www.llamasoft.co.uk/
I’m really looking forward to seeing how people get on with this, if anyone fancies a bit of a SG score war when it’s out my gamer ID is Gyratory.
The weekend was dominated by the fabulous wedding of Mark and Shelley who are now Mr and Mrs Ashkovski and as I’m typing on their way to a Cuban honeymoon. Everyone had an absolutely brilliant time, Jon best manned it with great aplomb and the bride and groom made some very touching speeches that nearly caused something to get in my eye.
What was weird is the extra resonance that going to a wedding has once you’ve got hitched yourself. As well as enjoying the day enormously you also experience flashbacks to your own big day. All in all a great day in some beautiful countryside on the edge of the cotswolds with some great friends. It doesn’t get much better than that.
All the best to the newley weds and fingers crossed that wedded bliss is going to take the edge off of Shelley’s ludicrous Geo Wars mad skills.
Powered by WordPress