Isn't it odd how the games industry and media (if we're still counting those as two separate things) constantly throw around phrases like "incredibly addictive" as terms of praise, yet as soon as anyone suggests games might actually be addictive they throw up their hands in horror, indignantly shriek "HOW DARE YOU?" and rush out angry press releases about how it's an outrageous load of rubbish and people should stop victimising them?

I'm just saying.

Well, that'll teach me to write a loving but very gently semi-critical appraisal of the iPad. Apple's crack Unbeliever Punishment Squad was scrambled immediately, and within 24 hours punishment was duly delivered.

The main engine of retribution was to be – as is so often the case – the vile, stinking, loathing-fuelled execresence that is PC iTunes.

Read more »

Earlier this week we pointed out that for most people in Britain, the current economic crisis is in fact no such thing. If you're in the blessed section of what in modern times is an unprecedentedly polarised society, which is defined by home ownership – something the majority of adults are – then the chances are you're doing just fine out of the banking catastrophe of 2007-8.

So the widespread vilification of Lord Young of Graffham (above, centre) in this morning's press for accidentally saying out loud what most people already know to be perfectly true is a little… well, it's not surprising, exactly, but it's another nail in the tattered, sieve-like coffin of the concept of honesty between the people and their semi-elected leaders.

Read more »

To cut a long story short, I recently undertook some manual labour involving bricks in order to try to get some more use out of my Playstation 3.

Having done so, I noticed that the flawed but inventive iPhone game Space Invaders Infinity Gene had been released on PSN (and XBLA) in what appeared to be quite an interesting remake, moving the game into 3D and doing some new stuff.

A check revealed that I had £7.04 left in my PSN "wallet" from previous activities and, noting in the news story I'd read on a US website that the game cost $9.99, I decided it would be an ideal first purchase in my PS3's new life chapter. Here's how I got on.

Read more »

Because sometimes even the most grown-up and respectable of publications, such as The Guardian, let completely gormless idiots do them, devaluing the whole concept and embarrassing all concerned in the process.

DoDonPachi Resurrection is in fact one of the finest games ever released on the iPod/iPhone, but subjective opinions on quality aren't the issue here. (Although so far DDPR has an average App Store review rating of 90%, and it's only that low because some tool couldn't run it and gave it 1/5.)

What's more important is the complete ignorance with which someone has been allowed to denigrate a tremendously well-executed game, while implying – entirely inaccurately – that they have some idea what they're talking about.

Read more »

Unfathomably, not everyone always agrees with WoSblog's informed and thoughtful assessments and analyses of the economics of the App Store.

In the interests of scrupulous balance and fairness, then, let's give some of those with opposing (trans: wrong) views a platform for a change.

Read more »

I had a bizarre consumer experience today, viewers. My four-month-old 64GB iPod Touch decided yesterday to commit suicide for no particular reason – it crashed mid-browse in Safari and then locked up on the Apple-logo screen. I tried all the normal and emergency restore methods without success – iTunes wouldn't even acknowledge its existence.

Then things got interesting. But if you're pushed for time, the moral of the following story is never buy anything from Currys, and never believe the government.

Read more »

The Boo Radleys' 1996 album "C'mon Kids" is the sort of record for which the term "commercial suicide" was invented. Like Pulp's "This Is Hardcore" two years later, it was the sound of an indie band reacting in panic to mainstream success by turning darkly introspective and abandoning the idea of writing great pop songs just when they'd finally gotten good at it.

As with Pulp, it wasn't actually the band's last record – they both managed one more album, with Pulp's "We Love Life" meeting a similar bargain-bin fate to the Boos' final effort "Kingsize" – but it was unquestionably the one that destroyed their success and cast them back into indie obscurity and poverty.

All things, though, are put right in time.

Read more »

WoSblog apologises for any inconvenience caused to would-be viewers this afternoon, when for several hours visitors to the site were confronted with the image below.

The blog's suspension for much of yesterday was the result of yet another desperate attempt by Olin Coles, the in-no-way brainless and cowardly owner of widely discredited "review" site Benchmark Reviews, to suppress the evidence of his site's not-at-all dishonest practices.

Read more »

Ooh, this gets better and better. Viewers who've been following the thrilling story as it develops will recall the eerie similarity between the content of the Benchmarks Review feature on the Herman Miller Embody chair, and the advertising blurb for it on the site of retailer Smart Furniture.

We were a little curious about this, bearing in mind site owner Olin Coles' strident assertion that, apart from the belatedly-acknowledged passages copied from Herman Miller's press release, "the remaining 99.9% of the article is a fully independent review of a self-purchased product."

(Actually it's the remaining 93.6%, but let's not quibble.)

So inestimable Friend Of WoSblog John X dropped Smart Furniture a line.

Read more »

Wow. I got home from a poker game in the early hours of this morning, and idly wondered if busted shill/"executive editor" Olin Coles might have replied to my polite request for his side of the story with regard to his hopelessly dishonest excuse for a website. What I found was that Mr Coles had instead chosen to post on the Benchmark Reviews forum, in a thread entitled "Forever banned: Hall of Shame". The thread describes itself thus:

"Like any writer, our work comes under fire from time to time. Most of the criticism is taken to heart and used to improve future work, but occasionally the critic can go overboard and begin making personal threats and accusations. This thread is intended to show our visitors that their accusations and threats do not remain anonymous."

Read more »

Can be found here.

I wouldn't call myself a fan of the Daily Telegraph by some way, but I've never seen it sink quite this low. And I speak as someone who doesn't give a donkey's danglers about global warming.

Read more »

1. Delete AppSniper.

That's saved you the first 50 hours of failure, at least.

Read more »

Point 1: Kaka clearly, obviously, makes an active short jabbing motion with his elbow towards Keita's chest.

Watch the video by clicking the pic above and then clicking the "RED CARD" clip, particularly from 0.36 to 0.38. Watch Kaka's arm. I think the mistake people have been making so far is to watch the footage with their eyes closed and their brains replaced with a turnip.

Read more »

I haven't been to bed yet. I may be cranky. But with over 90% of results in, it's not really possible to draw any conclusions from last night's election other than (a) almost everyone in Britain is a pathetic, brainless cretin, and (b) everything about our "democracy" is a sick black joke at our expense.

Let's take it step by step, shall we?

Read more »