I opened an email this afternoon from Atari that read 'Have me on your desktop' ..... very clever indeed.

After playing only a few hours of Left 4 Dead last night I feel as though I have contracted something, some kind of subtle but contagious ailment that I can feel in the tips of my fingers and at the front of my eyes. I don’t know how dangerous it is yet, but what I have diagnosed is that it’s glorious! Something has stuck, stuck to me like boomer vomit, leapt into my system like a hunters pounce, awakening in the darkest parts of my body like the cries of a deadly witch. What Valve’s done is created a kind of game unlike I’ve seen. It has the excitement and determining drive of a highly competitive game, the hilarious fun of a party game and the thoughtful chin stroking of a deep story driven title.
I know I’m making a fuss, getting all caught up in the initial wonders of a new game… But this is the best time for a game, that initial impact that will hopefully stick for some time.

I played for 3 hours last night.
It is the best.
Go and get it.
Stop reading.
Zombies.
Go.
Now.
RUN!

After watching the new Lips advertisement from Microsoft it kinda reminded me of another classic ad most of you might remember back in the day. See if you can guess it after watching the lips ad! (click view full for the answer).

eGames finished yesterday and even though I only did two of the three days, I am naffed. Maybe I'm just getting old, but I think I nearly racked up 350kms on my car ....... and every kilometre was worth it.

Taking the adage 'Sex sells' to the ultimate level, a new political party is about to hit the scene. With a missionary outlook to the activities behind-closed-doors (Or out in public view if you're into that sort of thing), the 'Sex Party' is seeking to win seats in both Federal and State parliments.

After setting up the AustralianGamer.com booth in the nick of time, once again complete with my massive 80cm CRT TV, a SNES, an N64, a MegaDrive, a Dreamcast and a host of games including last years favourites Goldeneye and MarioKart 64. The doors opened to the public and they flooded in, well not exactly, as the Friday of eGames weekend is normally the quietest of the three day event.

I love modern technology and how quick you can do stuff these days.

This was already on YouTube before we left the expo yesterday...

The Sony folks have outdone themselves with a number of displays this year at eGames, though the most impressive has to be at the Little Big Planet stall where a giant Earth (see fig. 1.1 prestickering) is being slowly taken over by miniature Sackboys personalised by the general public.

Unevacuation! I'm not sure that it's even a word, but I was lucky enough to be caught in an unevacuation yesterday as hordes of Cosplayers surged back into eGames after the previously mentioned fire evacuation.

Fire Warning Evacuations! We don't have them in Perth, as we haven't invented fire yet, but over here in Melbourne they are as common as a dog at the Lucky Chan Chinese Restaurant. Imagine my surprise yesterday, when the eGames kitchen caught fire and I was lucky enough to be trapped in the rabid horde of scared cosplayers running for the emergency exit.

Newspapers! We don't have them in Perth as most of the people there are still learning to read, but here in Melbourne they are serious business. Games are pretty popular here too, not as popular as V8 Utes and VB stubbies in Western Australia, but still pretty damn popular.

Yesterday my friend Yug asked me to come to Melbourne for a very special games show. I don’t normally make public appearances, especially after "the incident" a few years ago, but Yug promised free accomodation at The Hotel Cockroach, a free USB Key from a reputable distributor, and a pocket full of peanut M&M’s.

Game On Interactive are at it again, and are proud to announce another competition, this time for the newly released Gears of War 2.

With Matt, Yug, Oracle, Jae, George, Simon, Brett *Takes deep breath* AJ, Cav, Carl and... wait, who else is on our team?

Well it's Friday.