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Day: 8 October 2012

Retro Corner: Resident Evil 1

The Resident Evil series has been a guilty pleasure for me for as long as I can remember. Despite the dodgy dialogue and controls, I have enjoyed every game that I have played. Resident Evil 1 though is the real highlight for me.

The game was very tense with a constant feeling that something was going to be waiting for you behind the next door, or a zombie dog would come hurtling through the window at you. There were both poor controls and very little ammunition in the game, adding tension to each encounter as you fumbled with your gun trying to shoot the monster of the moment, hoping you didn’t miss. The poor controls ironically worked, adding tension rather than frustration. Encounters were usually with one or two enemies at a time, but even a single enemy could kill you. Sometimes you would find a room with four or five enemies in and you would need to run away as fast as you could. Boss fights also ramped up the suspense, mainly because they would force you to use a large amount of your dwindling ammunition, leaving you to try and find something to fight off subsequent enemies with for some time after.

The game took place in an old mansion and surrounding area, with backtracking to open new doors and solve puzzles you didn’t have the right items or information for previously. The puzzles were clever, often mixing riddles with logic and really making you think.

Recently I played the Wii remake of RE1 and I still found the game to be enjoyable. The difficulties in control and lack of in game resources work to make small encounters tense, something the later games couldn’t do without throwing massive hordes at you, or giving some enemies ridiculous amounts of health.

Baking, breakfast and bistros: Burton Road has it all

South of Fallowfield, past Withington Village and into the land of West Didsbury lies Burton Road, a haven of bakeries and general homemade goodness. I’ll admit, I was getting bored of the cupcake fad, but something about And The Dish Ran Away With The Spoon, self-titled ‘purveyors of tea and cakes’, had me once again standing, eyes wide and possibly drooling, torn between the impossible choice of cakes on display. Making someone choose from such a delectable selection is bordering on torture, especially when it involves a white chocolate sponge topped with vanilla icing and a juicy raspberry, and a spiced ginger cupcake covered with cream cheese icing and ginger nut sprinkles. The only solution is to get both.

This isn’t the only dilemma you might face on Burton Road, as the windows of every restaurant, bar and bakery scream ‘Pick me! Pick me!’ The good news is that whatever you go for, you won’t be disappointed. Try Love2Eat for unpretentious, good food, cooked well. The Monday night ‘Supper Club’ includes a casserole, cake and a glass of wine all for £7. Rhubarb restaurant is another great choice, at £13.95 for two courses. The menu boasts pan-fried liver and black pudding, pork escalope with braised lentils and smoked bacon, as well as ginger sponge pudding with caramel sauce and Chantilly cream.

If you’re more into big breakfasts than fancy suppers, look no further than the Burton Road Bakery, which claims to have the best Eggs Benedict in South Manchester. You may think you prefer your breakfast in bed on a Sunday morning, but head on down to Folk and you won’t regret swapping your pillows and duvet for their ‘breakfast in bread’: everything we love about an English breakfast piled up lovingly in sandwich style. It’s cutlery-free consumption for you – and less washing up for them. Everybody wins.

Being away from the student hub, another of Burton Road’s merits is that you can actually tell when it’s the weekend. On Friday and Saturday night every bar and restaurant is packed, and Sunday morning sees an influx of young and oddly good looking folk rolling in and out of every open door.

…Is it something in the cake?

Smartphones: The Future of Gaming?

These days, it seems like everybody and their mum are playing games on their smartphones or tablets. Odds are, everyone reading this has got at least one game on their smartphone they regularly play and, unless their mum is like mine and genuinely afraid of the 21st century, she has too. Many hardcore gamers may resent these newcomers, but like it or not they are here to stay.

One of the main complaints raised is that touchscreen controls just aren’t practical for a lot of games. Especially on smart phones, you lose a significant chunk of the screen to your own thumbs as you fumble about trying to press buttons that aren’t all that easy to spot and generally just making a mess of your precious screen. A number of companies have been trying to get round this by releasing dedicated controllers for these devices. However, only recently have Apple authorised the production of such a peripheral for their systems. While it is only allowed to support games by one developer, this is a large step towards making the iPad (where the highest budget games from either iOS or Android stores are aimed) a viable gaming console.

For the past few years, the gaming industry has been rapidly evolving. Mobile and smartphone gaming is undoubtedly a threat to the “big three” of Nintendo, Sony & Microsoft. The swift expansion of the iOS and Android platforms has inflicted massive damage on the sales of Nintendo & Sony’s handheld consoles. For example, Sony’s PlayStation Vita has been suffering from a dismal launch in sales. In it’s first three quarters, only 2.2 million units have been sold worldwide. That may sound impressive, but compare that with the 2.97 million units their previous effort, the PSP, shipped in just two.

After a similarly shaky start, Nintendo have turned it around with their 3DS handheld, outselling its predecessor during their first year on the market with17.13 million units sold. So, while the market for dedicated handheld systems has decreased significantly, there is still demand for some.

In contrast, Apple sold over 147 million iOS devices worldwide in 2011 alone. Sales of Android capable devices top that. Together, this is a massive market of people to sell games to. And considering that most of these games are either free or a miserly 69p, it doesn’t take much for a developer to get their software into the hands of millions of people.

An exceptional case of smartphone game success is undoubtedly that of Angry Birds. In 2011, it exceeded 500 million downloads worldwide across all platforms, and has spawned sequels, spin-offs and merchandise. It is even becoming available as boxed software for the 3DS. Addictive gameplay, frequent updates and a tiny price point have made Angry Birds the smartphone game to have.

Needless to say, this kind of potential draws in many developers, from the big boys at Capcom to the smallest of indie devs and some of the games they are producing are fantastic. There is no shortage of quality (and shovelware) on offer, and the savvy buyer can wind up with a massive collection of excellent games on their smartphone for half the cost of one AAA title on their 360 or PS3.
It’s easy to forget that these little devices can be technologically formidable too. The iPhone 5, for example, comes packing the A6 Processor by Apple. This is an evolution of the processor that powers the latest iPad, a device likely more powerful than many people’s laptops and home computers. Not only that, but the iPhone 5 features LTE wireless technology, which will allow for high-speed multiplayer gaming

The advent of smartphone gaming has meant that, once again, the industry has had to adapt to survive. However, rather than changing direction towards this new style, the “big three” have tried to distinguish themselves, and prove why their hardware is still worth buying today. Thanks to a hasty price drop and a strong games line-up, Nintendo avoided the problems that Sony currently has with the PlayStation Vita. The Vita’s price puts it in a similar band to high-end smartphones, and most people who already own a phone or other handheld console can’t justify the expenditure on a handheld that doesn’t offer much more than they already have.

Even if you’re the oldest of the old school, and wouldn’t touch a game of Doodle Jump if your life depended on it, the popularity of smartphone gaming is good news. In the near future, we will see the influences it has had on our home consoles with the launch of Xbox SmartGlass services, and Nintendo’s new Wii U. If they’re successful, who knows where it will go beyond there? I’m not saying Minority Report computer for games but, yeah. Minority Report computer for games.

A Smiths reunion – ‘Stop me if you think you’ve heard this one before’

Fresh rumours of a Smiths reunion surfaced earlier this week, which has happened so often since their split in 1987 that it barely qualifies as news. Apparently, though, this latest speculation, which claimed a Glastonbury 2013 appearance was all but confirmed, had major credibility to it. Even the most hardened cynics began to believe it. Quiffs and gladioli at the ready!

That is until a spokesperson for guitarist Johnny Marr promptly issued the following statement: “The Smiths are never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever going to reunite – ever.” Other than sounding like a poor Taylor Swift tribute act, I think he’s made himself quite clear. Lead singer Morrissey released a similar statement, although with less abuse of the word ‘ever’.

Heaven knows I’m delighted now. Don’t get me wrong, I love Morrissey’s witty lyrics, draped in his trademark sardonic humour. Marr’s jangly guitar riffs are instantly recognisable and dumbfound fellow guitarists to this day. Together they elevated The Smiths to the very pinnacle of ‘80s indie pop, and to the top of my iTunes most-played. And deservedly so; they’re one of the most influential bands from the ‘80s music scene, and from our darling Manchester no less. So what could they possibly gain from a reunion? Their legacy is far too precious to desecrate for a quick pay day. The phenomenal success of The Stone Roses’ recent comeback has proved that anything is possible. However, when Morrissey has wished Smiths drummer Mike Joyce “the very worst for the rest of his life”, I think these are wounds that time, or even money, can’t heal.

Unfortunately, this won’t be the last we hear of such rumours. For many, there is still a tiny light of hope that Morrissey and Marr will once again unite on stage, and that is a light that will never go out.

Gang injunctions introduced after shootings in Salford

Gang injunctions have been passed in Salford for the first time following a spate of recent shootings in the area.

Officers in Salford have been called to six incidents in which a firearm was discharged since 9 September 2012. The Chief Superintendent of Salford, Kevin Mulligan, said: “We do know these attacks are targeted and it’s an ongoing dispute between two rival groups”.

He added that while no-one had been injured, the police had issued a “significant number” of threat-to-life warnings to individuals who they believed were under threat of being murdered or seriously injured.

The injunctions have been placed on four individuals suspected of gang violence, who may not be identified due to the terms of the ruling.

The new civil order permits police to place restrictions on criminals, such as barring them from entering volatile neighbourhoods, or charging them with rehabilitative activities. Violations are punishable by up to two years in prison and an unlimited fine.

Chief Superintendent Mulligan said that the laws were passed due to the ‘large amount of concern in the community’ following recent shootings.

He continued: “Both ourselves and our partner agencies are working very hard to tackle the issue of organised crime groups and violence in our communities, and in the past few years we have secured some excellent convictions – and lengthy sentences – of key organised crime group members”.

The injunctions come as part of a wider scheme in Salford to tackle organised crime in a pilot operation called ‘Project Gulf’, which ensures that the City Council works in allegiance with both the Greater Manchester Police force and HM Revenue and Customs. It is one of thirteen national pilots tasked with disrupting criminals’ wider operations.

There have been almost 500 arrests related to organised crime in Salford in the past year, and officers have confiscated “a large amount of drugs and money from organised crime groups in Salford and Greater Manchester as a whole”.