Killer Albums

Note- This blog languished half written in my phone for months and I have posted it here still unfinished because I AM LAZY

Well I say killer and although it sounds as though it is a good thing, I actually wish to write about those other guys. You know the ones- the album that kills your love of a band, that with just one listen you suddenly find that you can't really enjoy their music any longer.

Why am I writing about this seemingly random subject a full year after my last post? Especially as I have become a Dad in that year, shouldn't I be waxing philosophical about the role of the father in modern parenting? Maybe, but many better writers than I have tackled that subject and I realised a few months back that it was a full 15 years since Oasis released the final coffin nail to seal in Britpop's bloated corpse. Things can only get better, a mantra held dear a few short months prior by the Labour party became replaced with "things will build up to fever pitch then peter out with an embarrassed cough" - exactly as Euro 96 (one of the main focus points of the era) had done for us Brits a year prior.
In the spirit of fairness I have relistened to the albums and some have actually changed my opinions of them. These are the albums that, rather than defining an era of my life actually ended one...

1- Oasis, Be Here Now (1997)
That coffin nail from earlier...
For a very long while I was ashamed to admit that I had ever liked Oasis. Blur were fine, as they had Popscene and the self titled album (still in my regular listening library) to listen to whenever I worried that I may have been duped by hormones when I loved them. Oasis did not have the back catalogue to redeem Be Here Now. First things first- I know it is cool to hate on the album, but for those of us who got up and travelled into town for the 8am launch it was a big deal. I know many Oasis fans that only got into the band post 2000 who think BHN is a pretty good album. Everyone I know who was excited to get it at launch thinks it is a travesty, the sound of the party ending prematurely.

The problem may well have been the hype. By the time they had released a couple of singles off of What's the Story the band had become a tabloid band. The music press was no longer required as the hype machine rolled on, with the red tops filling any slow news day with tales of Gallagher debauchery and mock outrage. Or the problem could have been that the band recorded an album that took the worst aspects from the previous two and amplified them (the poor lyrics of She's electric, Digsys Dinner or Married with Children combined with the overblown cocaine apocalypse of Champagne Supernova).

For me I think that the main issue was that Britpop was finally evolving into the kind of thing I had always naturally gravitated toward- that February two albums had been released within a week of each other that were actually different (Blur's self titled lo-fi masterpiece and Mansuns stellar debut that used a completely skewed set of influences to Oasis' done to death Beatle-isms). Be Here Now is a very important coming of age moment as it was the first time I realised that the good times will always end and to never enthuse about a band (or actor, director, author...) as loudly as my teenage self did, as it would be- sooner or later- thrown back in your face by those that always doubted them.

Footnote- a re-listen shows that D'ya know what I mean? is still a pretty decent track, but I struggled to listen past Magic Pie.

2- Green Day, Warning (2000)
Green Day was a guilty pleasure for a long time. As a lot of my peers were discovering music due to the Britpop explosion I had already developed quite an eclectic taste, but was unable to wax lyrical about the wonders of the American punk scene while everyone else was crediting the Beatles with inventing sound. Insomniac was a phenomenal album and I still consider it their best, Nimrod came our at a time when Britpops star was waning and holds a place in my heart as the Green Day album I could recommend to friends. 3 years later those same friends were raving about the latest Green Day, and it thoroughly disappointed me.

The main problem to me is the general feel of the album. It is by far the most polished and overdubbed sounding LP in the back catalogue, except the best track which is a live recording of Insomniac favourite '86'. The song writing was pretty dire, the commercial success of Good Riddance seemed to inspire Billie-Joe to write slower songs with clearer vocals- unfortunately songs like Warning have none of the quiet emotional impact of Good Riddance. I played this album a lot, as I wanted to like it but it lost out that christmas in the playlist stakes to the Offspring's Conspiracy of One.

Footnote- though I was put off the band a lot by this album, the 3 new tracks on the subsequent compilations (Poprocks and Coke, Maria, Ha Ha You're Dead) were strong enough to ignite a bit of excitement for American Idiot, excitement that fizzled out when I heard that album in all of it's overblown unnecessary glory. A re-listen of Warning reveals Deadbeat Holiday is a good song with crap lyrics.

Watford Riots- A Guide

It all began on a bright yet deceptively cold Tuesday morning. I arrived at work my usual 4 minutes late, to a barrage of questions from colleagues who live on a nearby housing estate (and rumour mill)
"Did you hear it?" "Was it scary?" and similar questions came flying toward me like cheap 3D graphics. I had not a single clue what they were talking about, and said so.
"The riots!"
"What riots?"
"The one's in Watford, my cousin said that a friend of hers was in town and it all kicked off, and there were riot police and hundreds of people and the shops were on fire"
I explained that I live as close to the High Street as it was possible to without actually living inside Primark, and not only did I hear nothing but I also have to walk halfway up the High Street to get to work and there were no signs of any damage to anything,
"They must have cleaned it up then" was the response.
I questioned the likelihood of this, and suggested that maybe- just maybe- nothing had happened
"Why would She lie?!" was the reply.

This was just the beginning of a day that would quickly become chock-full of paranoid nervous excitement from most, and teeth gritting from me.

A quick note on the mindset of Watford, as a town. It is situated just within the M25 but also within the boundaries of Hertfordshire- this gives it the belief that it can have the best and worst of both Herts and London. If a rapist is reported as being active 'in Hertfordshire', the people of Watford can be on edge, likewise on 7/7 people were on tenterhooks as "we're technically London though". On the other side of the coin you can be excited about the olympics coming to "our city" and also be smug about all the excellent grammar schools Hertfordshire has to offer. It is a truly conflicted place full of teenagers who believe they live in a 'Kidulthood' style urban environment, and their parents who believe they live in a 1980's middle-class Essex dream. I am generalising, but you can see why the rumours suddenly escalated.

A football match was cancelled as one of the players recieved a message warning that the riots were coming to Watford. The chain reaction began. Any siren or shout was interpreted as a sign of an impending riot- which for some reason would quickly escalate to the point that the Central London riots had. People were jittering. Living in the very heart of the town, I should have been the person that was scared- but I recognise bullshit when I see it and a lot of it I could see. At about 11am people were getting texts about "over a hundred people gathering in Cassiobury park". These people were going to work their way down the High Street, destroying everything in sight- pay no attention to the fact that it was quite a nice day and Cassiobury park often has hundreds of people in it, and it is the school hoilidays.

Then the "schedule" came through. The riot was going to march through South Oxhey, then down Bushey high street, hit Hemel Hempstead at 3, then Watford for 4. And these were ALL THE SAME PEOPLE. Never mind that they were walking for literally miles, THE RIOT WAS COMING. And worse, it was sticking to a timetable. This is the path it would walk

"They've already done South Oxhey, now they're in Bushey High street" exclaimed text messages. "The Harrow riot is joining it and it's gonna be terrible"
At some point a rumour had started that the news were not allowed to report on the riots- this meant that anyone actually looking for facts would be told that these WERE facts and the news were keeping it hushed up.

Thinking about this has made me re-angry about peoples definition of a riot, as though it were some sort of mythical beast that travelled from town to town- the same one every time doing damage everywhere. It carried on through the day, here is a brilliant yet very poorly spelled set of examples about what was going on http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20110809091525AAtBZ68
Read that, go on. Then a few facts.
I leave work at 4.30, and walk through the high street by about 5.10. All shops were open- the only thing I saw was a girl running past me on her mobile phone, screaming that she had to get out as the riot was coming from Hemel. I was going to stop her and point out that riots are usually such punctual beasts and it's not like one to be an hour late but I saw no point.
At 5.30 I was standing in Tesco when I got this text - "Tesco Costco n Asda all done over, comin 2 high St now". This was odd, thought I, as people are happily shopping all around me and those 3 places are nowhere near one another
(approximate locations)

Then at 6, when the shops close on a Tuesday, people began claiming all the shops had closed early because of the riots. A couple of the bars at the top of the town (closest to the park) actually did board up a window or two, but as I walked through the town everything was exactly as normal- just with more nervous people. At about nine the rumours started that a local cocaine dealer had boasted on facebook that there were now nearly 400 people gathering in Cassiobury park and it was all about to kick off. I decided to take my dogs to that park for a walk and a look.

What I found were 6 other dog walkers who had all come out, like me, to disprove idiotic rumours and a group of 7-8 youths sitting under a tree. Satisfied that our town was safe from the dragon/ riot monster, we all went home.
Later I saw this on facebook

I only ever look on facebook when I want to be angry at thick people, 22 comments later She revealed that an ambulance had driven past and caused her to panic. Congratulations, Jay, you're angry at the thick.

Wednesday morning and the town was undamaged again. According to some news sites, 2 cars were set on fire and the 5 people responsible were all caught. I don't know how related this was, as during the Easter holidays 3 cars were set on fire and every windscreen was smashed on my street- however the people of Watford are taking it as a warning from that big riot beasty- "you got away this time, but I will be back"

Torchwood- My thoughts

There have been a few episodes of Torchwood- Miracle Day now, and it is still pretty dire.

As a show, Torchwood has always been hit and miss. The first series was excusable, but to make it adult there were totally pointless statements- "I can feel your hard-on" being the worst- but overall there were a few passable ideas to keep people watching. The second series was a little better, but for some reason it was felt that to make it more adult they should keep killing off characters who had a lot left to give whilst retaining those who we already knew all about.
Children of Earth was actually rather good, until the end- more on that later

So what is my problem with Miracle Day?
Firstly, Gwen. My problem with all Torchwood. A woman who went quite rapidly from normal person to superspy in an ill fitting catsuit. For some bizarre reason she is centre stage throughout, displaying a startling lack of emotion or charisma (any emotion will be displayed by the music- her tone of voice remains at either normal and robotic or angry and annoying)
But Gwen isn't all that is wrong with it. The horrendously slow pace of the series is making it a chore to watch- did episode two really need to spend so much time trying to save Jack's life? No. Do we need to have unnecessary sex scenes that add nothing to the plot? No. I know Starz are co-producing, but in the two other shows of theirs I have seen, sex scenes have either been kept to a minimum and used for plot advancement (Camelot) or the participants happily have a plot advancing conversation during the act (Spartacus). In Torchwood it was "Look, they like sex!"- I read this as "look, we're filling up space"

The two main American actors are both pretty good at conveying emotion- unfortunately the script calls for that emotion to be 'Mopey' or 'In pain'. Claire from Six Feet Under is very good too, and her character needs more screen time- I fear that more time on screen means more of a boring part though. Bill Pullman is excellent as Oswald, but his plotline seems too far fetched- however the fact that he now seems to be investigating things for himself was a nice development- though in true RTD style it may come to nothing.

A lot of people complain about Moffat writing Doctor Who. I think (controversially) that Moffat is a superior writer and show-runner to Russell T Davies. True, Moffat sticks to a formula and is stuck as a comedy writer but RTD is naturally a childrens writer and sticks to the formula of "all hope is lost.... here's a big red button, the day is saved!". It is his history as a low budget childrens writer that I feel has ruined Torchwood- that is the only reason I can see for the wholly unnecessary "look at the English and Americans doing stuff different" routine- do we really need to be told that petrol stations are gas stations? And the scene in which Gwen is told she is driving on the wrong side of the road seconds after being told that the roads are empty was just pointless.

Then there is the predictability of the plot. Deep down I hope that it is the Silence, or the Time Lords. But I am 90% sure that the end episode will go something like this.
Jack- Aha, Alien that has never been seen on screen before- it was you! I know you from offscreen!
Gwen- Look out Jack they will kill you!
Jack- Oh no they did killed me I love you Gwen despite your inability to act
Rex- This machine with the stop button, if I press it this will all stop but I may die
Gwen- Do it
Rex has a moment- does he save himself or the world?
Gwen presses the button
Rex- Noooooo, Do not want!
Enter Esther and Dr. Vera, who rush over to dying Rex
The Alien looks triumphant
Alien- we only really wanted to kill Jack, cos he was a wrong'un
Jack- I'm totally alive again, I'm gonna kill you aliens
Alien- Noooooo, Do Not Want!
Rex- thank you doctor I'm alive
Oswald- I'm dead, that makes me happy
Jack and Gwen do what they always do and ignore the fact that they love each other.

THE END

I hope I'm wrong- but throughout the children of earth series people were expecting the aliens to be something we had seen before- and it wasn't. And Jack just happened to have a grandson with the power to save the day at the cost of his life. Which was, frankly, stupid

HOW MUCH?!

In my beautifully ill-informed and poorly worded Apple post I complained bitterly about the cost of tickets to see bands. I have just proved my point by forking out £81 for two tickets to see Weezer.

Weezer are a band I have loved since I was 11. The first time I heard Undone I fell in love- as someone who naturally gravitates towards cardigans and has to wear glasses, Rivers Cuomo is the perfect musician (see also- Graham Coxon). In my life many opportunities have been missed to see this great band (I actually missed them twice at Reading due to helping people who were too drunk to see) and I have wanted to see them for 17 years of my life. When I discovered they were to appear at Sonisphere I considered going to see them there despite not really wanting to sit through any of the other acts (especially Metallica, a band I can proudly say I have walked out on no less than 5 times). Then yesterday whilst trawling through the listings at Brixton there they were, in July and tickets were not on sale until this morning at 9am.

At work this morning I had the page up and was furiously F5-ing it until they came on sale. £35 each is not too much to pay for something I have wanted to do for nearly two-thirds of my life. But then they told me that Postage and Packing was £2.25. Not too bad, I love real tickets and still nerdishly collect them as a memento of things I have did. Weirdly though, when I paid the handling charges were £11. ELEVEN FUCKING QUID. For What?! What are Ticketweb doing with these tickets to make them so hard to handle? How much does an envelope cost these days?! Unless the band themselves are personally hand writing all tickets, letting the Queen urinate on them and sending them to me in John Travoltas private jet I should not have to pay eleven quid handling charge for what is essentially 2 pieces of cardboard and a small envelope!

I bought them anyway. Roll on July, when the sting of the handling charge will be a distant memory

Pokemon- An abusive relationship

A long time ago, when I was a teenage loser, I had a friend with an older brother. His brother was- in my eyes- the coolest person I had ever met. Not only was he in a band but he also had a genuine Japanese friend- and they would sit together playing weird Japanese games on their Gameboys. One such game was 'Pocket Monsters' which they were obsessed with- I watched them play, and loved it. When it popped out in English I had to buy both versions- one for my GB, one for my new GBC so I could trade between them. As a 16 year old I should have had better things to do but I racked up 100+ hours on both games.

Being helplessly in love with the workings of this game- so childish yet also fiendishly hard in many places, simple to play but with a hell of a lot of maths behind it that somehow all works, I failed to notice that Pokemon was becoming a phenomena- and rapidly being branded as a 'Kids' thing. For the first year or so you would see commuters, parents waiting for their kids in the park, and other adults playing with a Gameboy that had a distinctive Red or Blue cartridge proudly sticking out. But the anime ruined it for everyone.

The worst thing the anime did for Pokemon is 'cutening' the monsters- making them as doe-eyed and cute as possible- even in the UK red and blue some of the designs (Pikachu in particular) looked horrible- like an actual vicious rodent that could feasibly pop out of your toilet and put Weils disease all over your face towels. Then there was the atrocious US voice acting. The best thing the Anime did is make Japanese animation staples something that a lot of people knew about.

Once Pokemon was rebranded as a kids thing, I began losing interest. The Yellow version was an impulse buy and I completed it very quickly. The affair was over. Or so I thought.

Suddenly the primitive interwebs were abuzz with noise about the new Pokemon games coming out in Japan. I started to get a bit excited- 100 new Pokemon, and the ability to catch nocturnal pokes seemed like the sort of thing no child would want- but a teenage stoner would love it! I pre-ordered Gold and Silver on import and waited.

I wasn't disappointed- Gold and Silver are fantastic games, even when played in the wrong language. I played them to death until the UK versions came out, by which point I was sick of it- especially as the translaters like to give a lot of the Pokes bloody stupid names. I had moved out of my parents and started working at this point, so I had less time to play.

A few years on, I was wandering through Tesco when I bumped into something. Like meeting an old flame by chance I happened upon a display of Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. Suddenly, despite being an adult, those old emotions came stirring back up- "look at that red one" I thought, "that looks cool". Before I knew it I was rushing excitedly home to play Ruby on my newly purchased GBA. The downside of meeting an old lover in a supermarket, is that often reality cannot match up to the memory. I found- and still find- the third generation of Pokemon to be the most awful. Maybe it was high expectations, but it just wasn't as fun.

The Hoenn region has a few good parts- the volcano and the 8th gym town stand out, but the amount of water is just annoying- having to surf everywhere whilst rinsing your cash on max repels to keep tentacruels at bay is never fun, they might as well have a game which is set 50% in a cave. Compared to many other GBA titles the graphics are pretty bad, and I was- once more- disheartened with the entire franchise.

Several years passed and I had obtained my trusty DS. I once more spotted new Pokemon in the wild. Diamond and Pearl. I skulked back tentatively clutching Diamond- like a celebrity giving Alicia Duvall a call "I know I've been stung before but it was once so good I didn't care about the consequences". I was very pleasantly surprised. The Sinnoh region is vast, but there is a lot of variety. The snow areas were very good, and the new Pokemon were better than those of Gen3- the relationship was back on, and I got very into it- gaining Pearl, Platinum, SoulSilver and HeartGold as soon as they came out. I probably overdid it when I pre-ordered Black in Japanese.

Generation 5 is, don't get me wrong, fantastic. It looks great, and though very similar to the previous games it has a few little tweaks to just make it that much better (the fact that you gain additional exp from higher levelled Pokemon is a good change). The times of day and now seasons add to the replay value, and mean you will come back to it after completion just to see what you can do in the winter.

But there is a major problem. It is still the same. Pokemon has the fault that it was created as perfect as it could possibly be. This is not a problem for home console franchises (Super Mario Bros for example is still one of the most perfectly realised platformers of all time, but so is SMB3, Super Mario World, Mario 64, and the 2 Galaxy games) as the major Nintendo home platform franchises (Mario, Zelda, Metroid) all benefit from a new generation of consoles- and Metroid in particular is a completely different game when put into 3d. Pokemon doesn't have this luxury- it is pretty impossible to imagine a full 3D Pokemon game, as part of the point of it is not being able to see what lurks in the long grass, a feature that would become pretty stupid looking in a beautifully realised 3D landscape. And the Stadium games taught us that turn based battles do not need great graphics, if anything they become more tedious and repetetive. Pokkemon can only improve, and hope that each time it does it gains a few more fans.

The 'Parallel evolution' is a mixed bag- as much as I enjoy the fact that this whole new region has developed similar looking Pokemon to do similar things, in nature it is amazing (and strong evidence for the non-existence of God) in a game it just seems unimaginative.

The Pokeathlon in the HG/SS games was brilliant and challenging, and was much better than the terrible fashion shows of the D/P/PT ones. B/W gives you- Pokemon musicals. Yup, musicals. Not only are they virtually impossible to do in a foreign language, they are slow and boring. I got all the way through Japanese Black, and once more lost interest in the franchise. I had seen it all before.

I never learn though- so much hype was spewed out over the appearance of them in the UK that I relented and bought White. I got bored of it within the first half hour. Trying to make the trekking through it less painful I decided to breed my best team on my Japanese version and send them over to the UK one, this worked for a bit but I did the 3rd Gym and stopped. I turn it back on once a night and think "I really do not want to slog through that desert". Then I turn it off and play Okamiden instead.

Is this the final divorce? Probably not. I will most likely go back at some point, like a kicked dog. But until then I will remember it fondly........

The Wizard Bitch

Oft-times, on my twitter account, I will spout off about the Wizard that I work with. My workplace is a haven for social undesirables and crackpots, being tucked away in an industrial estate 2 miles from a town either way. The oddest of the lot are
Wasp Eye. If you don't know of him, look him up on http://www.billybullshit.com/ he is our manager and a source of many elaborate stories.
Guy. A 6ft9 morbidly obese lunatic who looks like Dr. Robotnik crossed with Professor Weet-o. Having some form of learning difficulties he flits from giggling and joking to violently kicking the headlights off of a car in less than a second. This is a bad drawing of him, he is actually fatter as you can see here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxSqlBkLJ4k

Gjovalin. A hapless and luckless Kosovan who suffers severe migraines, and is obsessed with Elton John (not in a stalky way, he finds Sir Elton's appearance and very existence hilarious and if ever there is a picture of him in a paper it will get cut out and stuck to someones back). Has a love of Rice Pudding, as can be seen here... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcB3XrzBH1c

Doom Sponge. The lowest possible form of human being. Miserable, warty, caravan owning absorber of glumness. Spent his whole 10 year marriage breaking down due to the fact he spent every waking moment away from his wife through  his own choice until they split up, whereupon he began finding new reasons to be depressed. This is a man who happily admits to going to the pub just to look glum in the hopes somebody will buy him a drink.

And then there is Steve. The Bitch Wizard. The reason I am writing this in the first place. See, Steve is 28- the same age as myself. But he has never grown up. Ever. His hobby is Larping. He dresses as a 'Water Sprite' and runs around in caves in his spare time. This is reasonable, a lot of people do this, but so much about him angers me.
His insistence on correcting you if you say 'sweets' or 'chocolate'- "Do you mean candy" he asks, "I call it that because I have been to America" *smug smile*. He grew up in Slough, and spent 10 days in America 10 fucking years ago.
The way he claims anyone over 17 is "too old". He has dated 9 different 16-17 year old girls in the two years since he started at my work, AND HE REFUSES TO SLEEP WITH THEM. This is, to me, even creepier than someone preying on young girls for sex. He has what he calls "The three month rule" where he spends the initial part of any relationship ensuring they get to spend no time together alone because in his words he is "not a smut monster". He lost two girlfriends through refusing to stay at their homes because he didn't have pyjamas, and the other 7 all felt unwanted and unattractive after 2 months of getting turned down. We have attempted to explain that pretty much the only reason any 17 year old wants a boyfriend who is pushing 30 is to get some sexual practise in before moving on to someone closer in age to them but he is having none of it claiming they are all "innocent and sweet"
His referring to himself not only as "shiny" but also in the third person. "Steve is Shiny today isn't he?" he will ask us before saying to himself  "Steve is always shiny"
He pays his mum £50 a month to live, pays no bills and has all of his food paid for. He cannot understand why I am so "old and boring" and don't spend my life shopping and going out to parties. He doesn't seem to understand that most people have to live in the real world.

He makes me draw doodles like this

There are a million other annoying things he does, but I have gone on a bit

Farewell, my Electric friend

With the 3ds just weeks away, I wish to bore the pants off of all of you with my thoughts on the original Nintendo DS. It is hard to believe that I originally refrained from purchasing one due to the- as I saw it-pointless gimmick of the touch screen. When I finally relented I ate my words along with several cakes, as I realised it was the finest handheld console in the history of poking things that go beep with your hands in a public space. I have owned a lot of games for it in the years I have had it, but only a select few have held my attention so long that they may as well have been glued inside the console. The games that I feel have defined the DS as one of the best platforms for gaming ever, and have wasted my life, are these.

The World Ends With You.
Purchased impulsively after hearing nothing but great things about it from the Gbatemp forums, it was well worth the hype. A strange game similar in plot to Bleach, in which you have died , have to save the world from creatures that inhabit the afterlife, and have to solve the mystery of your own murder. It has great plot and dialogue, a bizarre both-screens-at-once two battles in one system that takes a while to get used to but is well worth it. There are Pokemon-esque aspects of raising and evolving your pin-badge collection (which each give you special moves to use in battle). There is nothing like it on any console.

Rune Factory 3.
I was never really too much of a fan of the Harvest Moon games, I never really gave them a chance. The spin off series however is fabulous. The first two- though great- are not a patch on last years third offering, still unavailable here in the UK but import it from America and be amazed. Firstly it has its own title sequence and theme tune- the tune is actually rather nice, but the literal translation of the Japanese lyrics makes it slightly strange. It is by far the most beautiful opening sequence of any game on the DS I have played- even when he holds a Lemon triumphantly aloft before turning into a sheep. The game is a bizarre mixture of genres- from Zelda-esque dungeon crawling, JRPG style levelling up in skill with a variety of weapons, whilst running a farm, ingratiating yourself to the townspeople, finding a wife, fishing, practising your cookery, making weapons in the forge, making medicine.... The controls work brilliantly, but I find the D-Pad easier than touch screen only. I have played through twice so far and no doubt will again.

Legend Of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass/ Spirit Tracks.
Any Zelda game will make my list of top games for whatever console it was on. The usual fare, but with touch screen only controls that are wonderfully simplistic and take no time at all to get to grips with. I cannot choose which one I prefer, each have a lot going for them

Super Mario 64 DS
A remake, yes, but with an extra shedload of goodies stuffed into it. Some complained of the touch controls not being as good as the analog stick on the N64 but the only levels I ever found that a problem were the 'fling bowser by his tail' ones. Not only was this game a great way of showing off the hardware but the improvements on the N64 one made the whole thing a little more challenging.

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (aka 999)
Imagine professor Layton was suddenly transported into a scenario straight out of one of the 'Saw' movies. That is essentially this game. Part puzzle solving, part interactive novel (which is very well written despite a few glaring translation errors from the original Japanese version). Another Import only game as we in the UK have yet to recieve it, but it is more than worth it if you are willing to allow a game to completely immerse you. It is not one you can just pick up and play, or do while you wait for something to come on the TV. There are multiple endings available, and you can only see the true ending after experiencing almost all of the bad ones so it is very replayable (you restart with your memories intact- and you do find out how this is possible). Also Ice-9 is a major plot element, and I love Kurt Vonnegut

Super Scribblenauts.
As much as I loved the first one the controls were annoying. Super Scribblenauts fixes that and also makes things a whole lot weirder. How many games do you know where you can summon a friendly fire-breathing ridable hypersonic flying invisible pregnant velociraptor, use it to defeat a lion before it gives birth and you get killed by its baby? Not many, but it is just as fun as it sounds. Some levels are quite restrictive in what you can choose (thinking of three items a leprechaun would enjoy was pretty annoying, as you also have to please 3 other types of person 3 times without repeating words) but the pros far outweigh the cons. And it is cheap too!

Grand Theft Auto- Chinatown Wars
I wondered how they would make a GTA game work on the DS (after the atrocious Grand Theft Advance) but they did brilliantly. As a fan of the more cartoonish aspects of the franchise (Vice City being my favourite, as it has a sense of humour- San Andreas and GTA4 take themselves way too seriously) it was nice to play a genuinely fun GTA game. Like the original you can pick it up, go on a rampage for 15 minutes and close it off- the missions are never so frustrating that you mind doing them again if the battery dies (a lot of the  missions in san andreas, and even VC stories were designed so that once you were halfway through you never wanted to do them again) and the Zombie attack island is a great way to waste hours of your life.

Pokemon- all of them
As a grown man of 28, I probably shouldn't admit to loving this franchise but I can't help myself. Once you have the hang of it you are hooked in. Forget the anime, and multitude of rip-off childrens products, the games are as complex or as simple as you want them to be. Black and White- though graphically very nice and with a more grown up plotline- are much shorter than the Gold and Silver remakes, and I think a bit shorter than Diamond Pearl and Platinum. Catching them all is no longer really an acceptable goal though, now there are over 600 of the little bastards!

So that is it, I have missed a whole bunch out but please comment at the bottom on my choices and leave a few of your own. I will miss the DS, but backwards compatability means I can continue to play some of the best games ever made. Plus the studio Ghibli game isn't out until November, and that looks AMAZING