Blue Monday

A clear Winter sky heralds my Mother's move to the newly opened £750,000 brain injuries unit at her nursing home. This will provide a high level of care and social stimulation. Last Friday's edition of The Express & Echo newspaper covered the opening.

Number Six

Tired of waiting for an R2 DVD release of My So-Called Life (1994), in 2002 I purchased a Toshiba SD220 Multi-region DVD Player, and cannot recommend its successor highly enough for anyone tempted to dip a toe into the expansive R1 market. MSCL was never released outside the US and, following the withdrawal of the 5-disc box set, is listed as £250 on eBay.

Yesterday, I received Battlestar Galactica (2003 mini-series). I opted for the R1 DVD release for both technical and content reasons. The disc is authored to DVD18 specification (double-sided, dual-layer, 18GB) and 480p encoding. The advantage of the increased capacity (against the R2 DVD9) is a higher bit rate for both the feature and bonus material - detail is everything.

The mini-series has far exceeded my expectations (admittedly very low). The Cylons are a complex enemy. Prior to the bombardment and subjugation of Caprica, Number Six (Tricia Helfer), cursed with duality, chillingly breaks the neck of a baby and shows tearful remorse. In a Universe devoid of meaning it is the Cylons who believe that they are God's children whilst we battle with the guilt of knowing that they are our creation. The new series sports a strong cast and haunting ethereal score. By your command...

Chez Fred

Dad missed my birthday this year. So, he treated me to KFC tonight. Brought back memories of eating like a 'barbarian' with longtime friend and fellow Bournemouth alumni Sunil Chamund. In 1996 Sunil arranged an unforgettable - and genuine - surprise party. And Nick Smith, Natasha Gann et al went to Chez Fred. That evening Bournemouth's award-winning Chez Fred restaurant was closed to the public. I don't drink alcohol, but the proprietor very generously donated a bottle of wine. A cherished birthday memory and a reminder of far less complicated times.

Tonight Amazon UK started accepting pre-orders for Nintendo DS (£99.99 or €149). Maestro Shigeru Miyamoto oversaw the development of the successor to the Game Boy brand. The dual screen concept will doubtlessly shape the future of gaming. The DS hardware package will come bundled with Metroid Prime Hunters: First Hunt, as it did in the USA.

Connect Four

The European release of Sony PSP will be supported by a new download service. The PlayStation-branded download platform will initially be used as a marketing tool to offer PSP users free additional game levels and upgrades. Music and movies will follow. I'm wondering if the service will be a retooled Connect? Connect has yet to emerge from the shadow of iTMS and iPod. The latter has displaced the Walkman and forced Sony to repackage existing hardware and software (VAIO Pocket Music Player) to very limited success.

Universal Media Disc (UMD) leads the HDD and Memory Stick Duo technological triumvirate. Whether or not consumers have an appetite for yet another optical format remains to be seen.

Sony has already confirmed that a browser, email client, word processor and spreadsheet update is in development for PSP. These applications were withheld from last month's Japanese release and may debut with the US and European launch. The XMB GUI looks intuitive and owes a stylistic debt to Mac OS X Aqua.



Whilst Apple and Sony are commercial competitors an alliance has been forged concerning high-definition DVD. Following the enigmatic appearance of Sony President Kunitake Ando, at Macworld, industry observers speculate that there maybe more going on than meets the eye!

After an exhaustive search on various forums, I've decided to order Sony's small wonder (it can serve as an external USB HDD/portable media centre and automounts on Mac OS X). And, as a fan of Capcom, I'm eager for a slice of Darkstalkers Chronicle: The Chaos Tower (incorporating characters from Darkstalkers and Vampire Savior arcade franchises).

Saga of a Star World

Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II was shown last night on sky one. Battlestar Galactica's S1 finale is of Buffy/24/Alias calibre. The audacious twists and turns, culminating in Adama's 'assassination' by a Boomer Cylon replica, were irresistible. The exploration of Cylon religion (ideology) provided the production with an opportunity to reprise the cinema of Stanley Kubrick and intellectual concepts penned by Isaac Asimov and Philip K. Dick. Whilst the biomechanical Basestar interior evoked the designs of fabled surrealist H.R. Giger.

Turning back to the original Battlestar Galactica TV series. In Europe three feature-length episodes were released theatrically (in alternate form):

*Battlestar Galactica (1978)
Abridged version of Saga of a Star World. Includes Baltar's execution, which was deemed too violent for TV audiences.

*Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack (1978)
The Living Legend Part I & Part II and Fire in Space.

*Galactica III: Conquest of the Earth (1980)
Galactica Discovers Earth, The Night the Cylons Landed Part I & Part II, The Young Lords and stock footage taken from the movie Earthquake (1974).

We didn't own cable (Rediffusion television was one of the earliest providers). So, I only viewed the first theatrically and the 'sequels' on video rental (Sony Betamax). Baltar's execution (in the theatrical version) is confusing and his return is never explained. It would be nearly a decade before I had an opportunity to see the entire Battlestar Galactica series including the risible Galactica 80.

I've ordered the 2003 mini-series (R1 DVD) from Play. Compare and contrast R1, R2 and R4 releases here.

On an unrelated note. Some iDisk users are experiencing service problems following scheduled maintenance (at the weekend). I'm very happy to report that none of the purported issues have afflicted my account. Again, this only serves to underscore the importance of archiving data on a regular basis.

Goodies

On my Birthday I went with friends to Pizza Hut (a personal favourite) and dined on BBQ Chicken Wings, Garlic Bread, Potato Wedges, Chicken Feast Pan Pizza, New York Style Baked Cheesecake and Pepsi. We usually opt for commercial cousin KFC.

A fabulous day was rounded-off with a Neo-Geo 2.5D fighting fix.



SNK's Advanced Entertainment System (AES, 1990), promoted by its hugely successful arcade incarnation Multi-Video System (MVS, 1989), failed to set the home gaming arena ablaze. This was due to the forbiddingly expensive hardware (£100+ cartridges) and the Nintendo/Sega duopoly. However, Neo-Geo plays attractive host to Fatal Fury, Metal Slug and The King of Fighters franchises. Memory card interoperability allowed gamers to save progress between AES and MVS, a feature that has never been duplicated. Neo-Geo is the longest officially supported games platform eclipsing Nintendo's original Game Boy.

This March Nintendo DS and Sony PSP are expected to launch in Europe.

Happy Birthday

To me!

System 16

An arcade game hobbyist since my teens, I'm following, with great interest, the development of MAME (a modular and portable driver oriented architecture). Programmer Aaron Giles, whose resume takes in the sights and sounds of LucasArts and Microsoft, continues to rewrite the Sega driver for MAME. His recent accomplishments warrant technical comparison with THX! Both projects are directed at the preservation of popular entertainment mediums (albeit MAME is a not-for-profit document).

I for one can't wait to replay Sega's Turbo Out Run, Space Harrier and Super Hang On with 100% accuracy in the near future. For further reading may I suggest System 16.

Ice Ice Baby

This will come as no shocking revelation to anyone who knows me. I've ordered iLife '05 and an iPod shuffle (1GB), which will form part of my birthday present. There's already a 3 - 6 week waiting period and emerging eBay market for those keen to exploit availability of the feted solid state portable.



Reviews will be forthcoming.

Well, the original keyboard and mouse diagnosis was correct. Replacements arrived today and all is now well. With hindsight, and given the relatively inexpensive cost, I should have 'junked' the old hardware last year and not spent hours reinstalling software!

Daily Planet star grabs Globe

Congratulations to Teri Hatcher on her Golden Globe win. A decade ago Teri's visage adorned the walls of many an undergraduates room. Mine was no exception.



Natalie Portman scooped an award sans force too.