Asia Tsunami

I know a lot of guys from deviantART and some of my friends from other forums are from some of the affected areas (one of those being MythrilNazgul) so if you have any spare cash lying around please donate it to one of the charity organizations involved. A big list of links can be found in the OCR thread at the bottom of this post or in the DA news story (also linked). Whatever you would buy with the money is gonna be there next payday so don't be selfish.

OCR Thread

DA News Story

Those of the button clicking nature can donate through SupportAsia.org. You'll find a button down in the sidebar.

Phone

So I said yesterday I had a new phone for christmas. I've been doing some serious work on it today.

Wallpaper

This is the one I set after uploading a few others. If you want to make me a wallpaper then the dimensions to use are 176x200.

Photos

Here's one of the photos I've been taking with my phone.

Ringtones
I currently have the ballroom theme from Final Fantasy 8 as my voice call tone, The invincibility theme from Sonic 3D as a video call tone and the stage intro jingle from Megaman X as a message tone. I got all my tones free from VGMusic.com and then uploaded them to my phone.

Music
I have a single mp3 on my memory card and that is Someday by the Sonic Underground.

Videos
I'm making sure to check out the latest news and sport on my mobile. I get both delivered every day. As well as that I've got music videos from Maroon 5, Dizzee Rascal and Kaiser Chiefs. I also watch the best of MTV.

Games
I have the whole Yeti Sports (aka Twat the Penguin) series and a cool vertical shooter.

So that's my mobile.



NJ's mobile is an NEC e616 and is powered by 3

Welcome to our Network

Christmas Presents

Want to know what I got? Here's the list.

Halo 2 (COME ON!!)
Halo 2 Strategy Guide (slightly insulting)
Webcam (slightly disturbing)
Mini Digicam (even more disturbing)
Lynx Radio Set (insulting)
Rollerball Edge Game (Gadget Shop = cool)
LCD Alarm Clock (more Gadget Shop)
3 Giftbox (oh yeah, free downloads for a month)
Liverpool Away Shirt (keep the love)
Liverpool Calendar (heh heh)
GLC Greatest Hits (COME ON!! again)
Beyblade Annual (someone was paying attention)
Mega Pack of Jaffa Cakes (I WAS TRYING TO GIVE UP!)

So now you know.

The Christmas Webcomics

I read 6 different webcomics (though I know people who read 10 times that number) which are all in the links to the right. I decided to do a round-up of how those 6 have tackled Christmas.

Sinfest
Tatsuya Ishida hasn't really done a christmas comic though it could be interpreted as the nightmare before christmas.

Penny Arcade
Tycho and Gabe round off their awesome year with The Last Christmas. A special book presentation depicting the destruction of christmas. Nice one guys,

VG Cats
Aeris and Leo take a break and make way for now frequent webcomic character Gordon Freeman. He's opening his presents and as usual finds a lump of shit from his pet headcrab. Christmassy and takes the piss at the same time. VG Cats is still my favourite.

Ctrl+Alt+Del
Tim Buckley really pushed out the boat to produce a heart warming comic. Ethan and Lucas mourn the destruction of their christmas tree and presents (as seen in Wednesday's comic) and find that their friends are all they need on christmas time. Brilliant and something I really didn't see coming from the CAD team.

Sore Thumbs
I really like this comic. Owen and Chris break off their ongoing storyline to let the cast and characters wish the readers a merry christmas. Apart from Fairbanks who's just a miserable asshole.

PvP
I'm kinda getting pissed off with this lot. They've had the christmas thing going on for a while now and it's just gone stale. For christmas eve they have a dog and a cat arguing over who plays baby Jesus in a nativity play *yawns*.

In general it's a good christmas for the webcomics and seeing as how all of them delivered on christmas eve (except PA) it's great to see their dedication to their public on show. Merry Christmas w00ters and don't get too smashed.

Merry Christmas!!

I doubt I'll be posting anything now until Boxing Day so thanks for reading over the past few months. For making this year memorable I'd like to thank all my mates, everyone on all the sites I work/post on (IfritRoms.com, UKGameshows, deviantART, Overclocked Remix, Blogger, HQ Software, Gmail Swap, Challenge) and everyone else who's contacted me for whatever reason. Have a very merry christmas and remember to stock up well on batteries.

Peace y'all
NJ

The Challenge Days of Christmas!!

On the 9th of this month the members of the Challenge forums banded together to create The Challenge Days of Christmas. This is a gameshow themed version of The 12 Days of Christmas. Please don't take the piss as it took a while to write, even amongst all of us.

The Challenge Days of Christmas
On the 1st day of christmas Challenge gave to me
Fort Boyard in the French sea.

On the 2nd day of christmas Challenge gave to me
2 royal flushes
and Fort Boyard in the French sea

On the 3rd day of christmas Challenge gave to me
3 strange straight lines
2 royal flushes
and Fort Boyard in the French sea

On the 4th day of christmas Challenge gave to me
4 Folly riddles
3 strange straight lines
2 royal flushes
and Fort Boyard in the French sea

On the 5th day of christmas Challenge gave to me
5 BENDY BULLIES!!
4 Folly riddles
3 strange straight lines
2 royal flushes
and Fort Boyard in the French sea

On the 6th day of christmas Challenge gave to me
6 Gladiators
5 BENDY BULLIES!!
4 Folly riddles
3 strange straight lines
2 royal flushes
and Fort Boyard in the French sea

On the 7th day of christmas Challenge gave to me
7 Rainbow Warriors
6 Gladiators
5 BENDY BULLIES!!
4 Folly riddles
3 strange straight lines
2 royal flushes
and Fort Boyard in the French sea

On the 8th day of christmas Challenge gave to me
8 Krypton courses
7 Rainbow Warriors
6 Gladiators
5 BENDY BULLIES!!
4 Folly riddles
3 strange straight lines
2 royal flushes
and Fort Boyard in the French sea

On the 9th day of christmas Challenge gave to me
9 P'ing students
8 Krypton courses
7 Rainbow Warriors
6 Gladiators
5 BENDY BULLIES!!
4 Folly riddles
3 strange straight lines
2 royal flushes
and Fort Boyard in the French sea

On the 10th day of christmas Challenge gave to me
10 moles betraying
9 P'ing students
8 Krypton courses
7 Rainbow Warriors
6 Gladiators
5 BENDY BULLIES!!
4 Folly riddles
3 strange straight lines
2 royal flushes
and Fort Boyard in the French sea

On the 11th day of christmas Challenge gave to me
11 4 choice questions
10 moles betraying
9 P'ing students
8 Krypton courses
7 Rainbow Warriors
6 Gladiators
5 BENDY BULLIES!!
4 Folly riddles
3 strange straight lines
2 royal flushes
and Fort Boyard in the French sea

On the 12th day of christmas Challenge gave to me
12 Hot dog guzzlers
11 4 choice questions
10 moles betraying
9 P'ing students
8 Krypton courses
7 Rainbow Warriors
6 Gladiators
5 BENDY BULLYS!!
4 Folly riddles
3 strange straight lines
2 royal flushes
and Fort Boyard in the French sea

Yesterday JamesP (of the official Challenge team) came to the forum to inform us that he'd be singing it this year and BoyardQueen informed us that she'd accidentally sung it during a carol service. We're working on getting the Challenge bods to sing it on the channel over Christmas, I'll let you know if that happens.

Song Credits
Original Idea - deb03
Days 1+10 - BoyardQueen
Day 2 - bananaman_007
Days 3, 6, 9, 11, 12 and song editing - njsykora
Day 4 - BillyH
Day 5 - MPK
Day 7 - Porsmond
Day 8 - Games_Master

Change of Plan

I'll post the review of the year when I've finished it. That won't be today.

On a Mother-Fucking Roll!!

Wooo Hooo!! 2 done. The Fightbox article on UK Gameshows was written by me. I think I'm finally getting the hang of this Wikipedia business. Click the post title for the article.

Other Blogging

I've always kinda wondered why other companies try blogging services. Blogger does pretty much everything (and then some) so why other companies try it and then censor some content is beyond me. I used LiveJournal a while back (that site's still alive I think) but since then I've just developed w00tworld on Blogger. It'll stay here don't you worry, I ain't going nowhere.

Preparing for Emergencies

Web User called it the most irresponsible thing they'd ever seen.
The government didn't like it so they sued it's creator (not only in America people).
Betty Swallocks from Swansea didn't have anything to say about it as she's dead.

They didn't get it but whether you live in the UK or the US you'll find this site brilliant. One of the funniest things I've seen this year and the guy has shown me that he's one of the most versatile people on the net. He also works on the UK Gameshows site and on Defending the Fox. To complete his absolute perfection he's also been on Blockbusters! Check out his site and the fake Preparing for Emergencies site, they combine to be one of the funniest sites on the net.

Extract from the site

Welcome to the Preparing for Emergencies web site.

This summer we are sending an information booklet 'Preparing for Emergencies - What you need to know' to every home in the UK. While it won't panic people, it'll hopefully convince them to reelect me and all of my Labour cronies next year.

We are also launching a national advertising campaign letting you know to look out for the booklet coming through your letterboxes during August. In no way does this resemble the Reader's Digest Prize Draw.

Fake Preparing for Emergencies site

Thomas Scott's main site

In case the government sue me, the real Preparing for Emergencies site

What Am I Doing?

Wondered what I'm playing, watching, reading etc? Here's a quick guide.

Listening
I'm listening to Sonic Heroes Triple Threat. A brilliant CD which has a review in the review zone.

Playing
I'm playing Sonic Heroes and Unreal Tournament 2003. Both should keep me busy for a while.

Watching
I'm currently into Pimp My Ride, Fort Boyard Takes on the World and Blockbusters.

Reading
I'm not really into any books right now.

There you go. For a more in depth look check out Playlist. Every Monday on w00tworld Reviews.

My First UKGameshows Article!

Click the post title to check it out! It took a while but I'm fucking in there at last.

A Small Notice

I'm gonna be posting my review of the year on December 22nd. Just to give you a heads up.

Another One Bites the Dust

Criterion bit the dust earlier this year and now the gaming nazis have made a move on the last bastion of gaming creativity Ubi Soft. They now own 20% of Ubi and it's only a matter of time until Ubi fall to EA completely. I don't like to predict doom but this year has proved that no developer is safe. Acclaim went bankrupt, EA and Microsoft have been buying up everyone in sight and even Sega fell to slot machine makers Sammy. Finally Rare seemingly disappeared without trace after the dire Grabbed by the Ghoulies. Chances are 2005 will bring more of the same.

Good or Evil Ads

Just spotted the ad for Knights of the Old republic and it got me wondering. Why in the ads for games where you can be good or evil is good represented by an attractive female and evil represented by an extremely ugly god knows what? I noticed this on the ad for the brilliant Spellforce a while ago as well.

Beware the consequences of your porn habits.

How can you kill something so cute?

A New Convert and My Favourite Keyring

You know those competitions you enter just because you're in the area and might as well try your luck? I did that about 2 weeks ago now. A simple picture puzzle that kept me sat there working out the answer for nigh-on 5 minutes. I sent in the answer which turned out to be right and I won the competition. I got the prize in the post this morning which I was only told about by my mum 5 hours ago (look at the timestamp on this post). F for presentation to quote John Cho as it wasn't the tidiest of bundles (but it was actually wanted unlike my other mail) sealed with sticky tape as it was. Inside lay a (quite proffesional) letter from the webmaster which was nice to get (I might scan it in tomorrow if I can be assed). Alongside that was a (quite pointless actually) little bit of bubble wrap (which is never pointless) and then the bit I really wanted. The keyring. I wasn't expecting miracles (though I did have ideas) but it is pretty cool. The site is in the links (Keshi Heads) now as it's a Takeshi's Castle fans dream. On the one side is a picture of the castle itself with the whole crew and on the other side is the site logo with the words 'Kompetition Winner' and the site address. There is one problem I have with this keyring though and if you're reading Dan then heed this. As most of the regulars know I'm a dedicated Firefox supporter so the fact that the evil blue E has been used in the site logo may pose some tough questions when I go back to school. Why Dan's used this E when the show's logo has a perfectly good E in it escapes me but that's probably just staking his loyalties which I have no problem with (even though he's wrong). Either way the keyring's on my primary keys (front door, locker) for good now. Whether I take off the Science Museum one/thermometer is something I've yet to decide. I don't want more keyrings that keys and my bottle opener's too precious (and useful).

Man that took longer than I thought. As for the new convert (this should be quick) it's none other than Numbus of Hentai Palm fame! He's started blogging now and as a bonus (or bribe) includes a few hentai pics with all his posts and quite often he has something genuinely funny to say (or download) unlike me. Link's in the bar but beware as it does contain mature content.

Sayonara Keshi Heads.

Fixes

Bit of general maintenance. I tidied the link's bar and put up a new photo of me for my profile.

Next Door

Ever looked at the blog next door? Look at the guy next to me, now I understand all that 'how to blog' crap.

Coming Soon...

Wow, busy day today (see first post of the day to see why) but it's nearly over. I've revived my old 3 story series A Cracked Looking Glass and you lot can read it here on the feature channel. It's coming soon so keep an eye on those live bookmarks Firefans.

Check It Ouuut

I've been fiddling with my blog template for an hour now. In the sidebar now resides a long list o' links and the feature, review and this blog have now combined into the almighty.....

W00TWORLD NETWORK!!

Talk about melodramatic. I'll keep adding pages so this site becomes better and better.

Dulling the Pain?

You know times when things are renamed to make them sound better? I'm in one of those situations now. At this school when the usual routes of demerits and detentions have failed students get chucked into internal exclusion. We just get delivered work from the various subject teachers and do it in a special room supervised by a teacher who's got nothing better to do. Well that used to be the case. Now we've got a fancy re-intergration room which I must admit is a bit better than the old internal room. Let me explain what's going on around me in comparision to the old room.

1) In internal there had to be complete silence at all times. No communication with anyone. In here at the moment there are 2 other girls in here, one's doing an exam and the other's sending a text in full view of our permanent supervisor (Mr Rowberry). Seems like most of the rules don't apply in here. Oh, we've also got one of Julia's CDs on (Now Playing: George Michael - Flawless).

2) In internal if you were found to not be doing work you may as well book the execution. Well I'm writing this blog entry so that's that.

3) Permenant supervision is required at all times. That was internal. Mr Rowberry is constantly in and out of the door.

So for everyone at this school who fears this room, don't. It is different from internal believe it or not.
Peace y'all.

And Now the News

Evening all. I got a few things to tell you about and most of them refer to the gameshow top 10.

1) I'm now on the staff of UKGameshows.com. A bit of showing off got me in and I'm currently working on my first article. Check out the site in the links at the end of this post.

2) I'm collecting TV theme tunes and there are some I could use some help with. If you have the theme tunes to Treasure Hunt and Sub Zero then give me a buzz.

3) I got F-Zero GX yesterday. If you're gaming skills are anything below great then don't bother. Look for a review on the review channel in the next few days.

That's everything I think.

Links
http://www.ukgameshows.com (I'm working here now)
http://njreview.blogspot.com (F-Zero GX review coming soon)

Violent Videogames (yet again)

Those who know me will know that nothing pisses me off more than TV programs constantly taking on videogames. Yesterday apparantly a grave dodging MP called for an outright ban on violent videogames even though those in question are given 18 ratings. Newsflash to OAPs TV programs. Just because we play games like this doesn't mean we're all sick, violent perverts. Doesn't mean any of us are. We're not, full stop.

The 10 Best Gameshows Ever: Number 9

Number 9 - Sub Zero

The ultimate interactive experience is what it was billed as and it truly was. The battle of the sexes on TV (again) and this time everyone was involved. Robin Banks and Gemma James were the overseers of the game and also the inhabitants of the bunker. This bunker was the core of the game and unfortunately had a contaminated water supply which could only be fixed by a copious supply of one thing, biospheres. These had to be obtained by the two teams with help from the viewers. In some of the games the players and viewers had to work together, Biorats being the best example where the viewers controlled a pair of robots and tried to push biospheres around so they could be picked up by the players' cranes. Sometimes the players worked alone, Arcadia for example where one player from each team faced off at a video game challenge. Also came times where the viewers were alone like in Web Connection, a quiz over webcams with the resulting biospheres going to the supported teams. The highlight of the show for me however was the almighty Net Detectives, a web wide biosphere hunt. 5 clues were posted on the Sub Zero website at the beginning of the week and the viewers had to find the 5 sites that those clues related to. On those sites lay a biosphere and whichever team's supporters found the most spheres over the week got a bonus sphere at the end of the show. A member from each team also ran the hunt on the day winning biospheres for every site found as well a 6th for getting all 5 (if that makes sense). After every game had been played and the Net Detective results were in (a tense moment as it could turn the game) the winners were announced (to mass cheering in my house if the XXs won or to just me cheering if the XYs won) and prizes were handed out. These included a souvenir biosphere for every member of both teams (someone say Crystal Maze?) but while the winners headed back to the surface the losers had to pay. They would be sent, biospheres and all into the cryogenic chamber where the temperature was (go on, guess) sub zero. Sub Zero is gone now after it changed location to a space station and suddenly sucked but the bunker days alone give it this place. A truly irreplacable show and great Sunday morning telly.

Position - 9th
Created by - Unknown
Still going? - No (1999-2001)
Theme music - Orgasmicly good
Memorable moment - The afternoon after the first show when it was announce that the BBCs network had been so overwhelmed by viewers calling, texting and emailing in that it had crashed completely.

Next time on The 10 Best Gameshows Ever
Number 8 - The Krypton Factor

The 10 Best Gameshows Ever: Number 10

Number 10 - Scrapheap Challenge

It's 2 teams creating something working from piles of scrap. What is better than that? The premise behind Scrapheap is 2 teams constucting a certain machine from a titanic mountain of scrap metal and (sometimes) working machinery. These two teams do have a structure. At the top there's the captain, the head honcho. Whatever he/she says goes (that's the theory anyway). Next there's the TC or technical consultant. This is someone from outside the team who has loads of experience in the particular area of the challenge. Finally there are the 2 scavengers who are responsible for finding all the crap needed to build the item. These items are always constructed in the build areas which are only separated by a high wall meaning that often when parts are hard to come by some 'borrowing' is required. Keeping it all together are the hosts Robert Lewellen and Cathy Rogers (or Lisa Rogers now - no relation) who both show incredible enthusiasm for the show. The core is of course the challenges themselves. These have been racing cars, chariots, car flingers, spy cars, log pullers, fire engines and bombs. After the build day (10 hours) the 2 teams put their machines to the test in a final contest after which the winners move on to the next round. First to the quarter finals, then the semis, then the final and then the series champions take on the reigning champions in the grand final. The first champions were the Megalomaniacs who became scrapheap legends until they were replaced at the top by the best scrapheap team of all time, the Catalysts. A team of Jaguar engineers who went on to win 3 championships until being taken down at last by the current champs the Anoraks. Scrapheap Challenge takes the 10th place in my chart.

Position - 10th
Created by - Cathy Rogers
Still going? - Yep

Spin-off list
Junkyard Wars (american version but they had to use our scrapheap)
Scrapheap vs Junkyard (the americans challenged us at our game, we won)
Scrapheap Mega Challenge (we took on the russians and the chinese, we lost)
The Rustys (the end of series awards/piss take)

Next time on The 10 Best Gameshows Ever
Number 9 - Sub Zero

The 10 Best Gameshows Ever

Putting the A-Z on hold for a bit to present this look at my favourite gameshows ever. I've always held gameshows as my favourite genre of program and I've watched loads of them over the years and winced as the genre has gone downhill and become soaked with reality TV. I'll put up a more in-depth look at each one as we go along but here's the list so you know what to expect.

1 - ?? (I'm not telling you this)
2 - ?? (I'm not telling you this)
3 - ?? (I'm not telling you this)
4 - ?? (I'm not telling you this)
5 - ?? (I'm not telling you this)
6 - ?? (I'm not telling you this)
7 - ?? (I'm not telling you this)
8 - ?? (I'm not telling you this)
9 - Sub Zero
10 - Scrapheap Challenge

Heh heh.

An Apology

Obviously someone did spot that last post and decided to spam my ass. Nice try but I picked out an intellegent mail amongst all the shit. Here's the important bit.

"In the post your age thread and in your profile you stated that you are under 16. Numbus recently added a sticky thread in the forum rules explaining that members who said they were under 16 would be banned."

The guy went on to say that he respected me for telling the truth but didn't like the way I sounded off at Numbus yesterday. I accept all of this and would like to take this chance to apologise to Numbus and the whole Hentai Palm team. I realise the guys were looking after their own hides as well as the wellbeing of the site. No way would I willingly endanger that site. Don't worry those who enjoyed my (very few) posts as in a few months when I hit 16 I'll be back and I'll be ready to really and legally have some fun.