Geek-it

When I had my Nintendo Gamecube, one of my favourite games was ‘Metroid Prime’.

I have always been nuts about first person shooters, but when I saw this one I was very impressed. It is a game that is just so utterly polished; the amount of work that went into ‘Metroid Prime’ is phenomenal. The graphics are amazing and often look even better because of the beautiful lighting effects employed on each level. But it is not just the graphics which make ‘Metroid Prime’ such a joy to play…

Everything has been done perfectly; an incredible amount of thought has gone into the story and you quickly become totally engrossed in the finer details of the game. The sound is incredible, ranging from the eerily atmospheric to the downright frenetic, whilst the control system works like a dream. Being able to turn into a sphere is a very good idea in itself, but the programmers made extremely good use of it. There are many deviously designed areas to negotiate and lots of hidden places to discover.

‘Metroid Prime’ is such a good game because it so incredibly imaginative. There are plenty of really good first person shooters out there, but precious few of them are set amongst such stunning scenery or have the same amount of artistic flair. If this is the style of game you like to play then it really is worth investigating. It still stands out as a landmark in FPSs, even by today’s far higher standards.

Don’t you just love it when you come across free stuff? The internet is a great place to find freebies if you know where to look.

The Smashing Pumpkins are releasing their eighth album and the best thing about it is that you can get it for nothing! I found out about it by accident when I was reading about what they are up to. Apparently it is going to have a mammoth 44 tracks on it! One song is being released every couple of weeks and the first one is available to download right now.

It isn’t the first time that The Smashing Pumpkins have given an album away for nothing. In 2000 they made ‘Machina II: The Friends and Enemies of Modern Music’ available as a free download after a big fallout with their record company. They thought that giving it away to their fans for nothing was a great way of getting back at a record label that did not give them the support they deserved. Quite right too!

But The Pumpkins are not the only band to give away an album for free. It was only last year that Coldplay gave away their live CD ‘LeftRightLeftRightLeft’ and many other bands make songs available on free download as a taster for a forthcoming album.

It is good to know that some musicians are not just out to make money. Of course they want to earn a few quid, but it is nice when they do something like this as a way of rewarding their loyal fans.

I have just updated the text on the site for bio diesel supplier, I know that it might surprise you that I am doing some work for an oil company; but I don’t think they are as un-green as I once surmised. Plus, I’ve sold out, I need the cash!