Social Media Updates and Retro Handheld Gaming

Yes, I know, it's been a few weeks since I last posted anything.  You'll now find me on Twitter @QuantumCritique and Audioboo so please follow along for some micro-blogging fun.  You'll also find my most recent article for The Motion Online.  This week I'm mulling over the past of retro handheld gaming, with classic titles such as Tetris and Bomber-man under more scrutiny than a celebrity sex tape. As usual, all feedback and future article suggestions are most welcome. 


As a little reminder of the glory of Tetris I found this great cover on Audioboo by actionben.

listen to ‘Tetris theme’ on Audioboo

Why pay more for first editions?

Everything, it appears, is collected by someone.  From fine art to celebrity hair follicles.  If it exists, someone somewhere will be its archivist, slavishly tending to their garden of things, adding to it and ensuring it betters anything else that could have been collected by any collecting rival.

Books are an obvious collectable, with their varied editions, printing errors and signed copies, they offer a breadth or possibilities to the collector.   Yet some things holds more sway than any other, a first edition. Simply by looking on eBay or AbeBooks, you can tell the significance heaped onto these initial prints from their monetary value.  Why are they so important you might ask?  A valid question indeed.  Certainly they are the prints of text that had been untested in their quality and popularity amongst the book buying public and academic interpretations, they are the purest untainted, undiluted versions, closer to the fingers of the author than the copious versions to follow should the book become successful.  However what really matter is surly the contents of the novel, the assembly of the words into meaning and not the means by which the words on their pages are bound or forged in the furnaces of book publishers before all others.

Browsing eBay I chanced across a tomb of Philip K. Dick artefacts, being sold off by a poor (soon to be a little richer) individual who had either realised his collection's monetary value outweighed its personal value or whom had taken a stand against the collection, realising that the ideas in the books offer him more than their collectors kudos.

However, while I believe in the ideas above all else, my recent discovery of an old edition of Dicken's Christmas Stories, which had likely been held by both my now deceased grandparents, and likely great grandparents, in addition to other family members in between.  I came to wonder whether they have, in some way, imparted something on the novel they placed back on the shelf and whether in fact, we all add something to a text with every read.  I doubt this is something that overawes the substance of the novel or the intentions of the author, rather its a separate entity, lingering long after the reader has departed, leaving their pages folded, torn, unintentionally letting the oils from their fingers discolour the pages in conjunction with the effects of time, dust, light and smoke which cling to each page for their right to be remembered.

I seldom pick up a book and stop to think whether the other readers came to the same conclusions about its characters, how they felt as the narrative concluded or even whether it brought tears to their eyes, but there is always undoubtedly something tangibly different about picking up an old book, tattered by several readings, and a crisp new copy straight off the production line.  A new book offers a chance to be the first to impact the integrity of the artefact, leaving behind evidence of your personality; clean, tidy, careful with the pages or treating the book with an over-friendly carelessness, resulting in creased and notable damage?

So, is a first edition really worth many times more than the new book hot off the press?  Like a typical Libran, I answer both yes and no.  The text of the novel remains the same, the story it harbours will not change, however, the added historicity of the physical object may change they way you approach a book, imparting some of its ingrained past as you turn the pages and forge your own understanding.

Image provided by HoskingIndustries (via Flickr).

The Important First Line

Picture: David Sillitoe

We've all heard about the importance of a novel's opening line so I've had a quick look through some of my favourites and scoured the internet for some handy tips.  Yes, I know.  I really shouldn't be worrying about minor details at such an early stage but I'm a worrier, what can I say.

Taking notes from my own collection, some are certainly more memorable and well crafted than others, they all go someway towards setting the tone of the novel in those first tentative moments before the reader decides whether they are going to engage with the book or not.  One of my personal favourites, A Christmas Carol, "Marley was dead: to begin with." Dickens excellently introduces the concept that all is not what it seems and that anything, even the most inconceivable notion, is possible on this night.

"The drought had lasted now for ten million years, and the reign of the terrible lizards had long since ended." opens Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey, covering in one simple sentence an immeasurable timeframe.

I was recently captivated by the opening lines of Julian Barnes's The Sense of an Ending, which managed to surmise the memories that were to be explored by the protagonist over the first half of the novel, sparse yet intriguing and technically not just one sentence (but I don't care).

Sometimes the simply whimsical really hooks me in.  Neil Gaiman's Stardust begins with, "There was once a young man who wished to gain his Heart's Desire." Simple yet compelling, Gaiman set the tone of his magical fairytale perfectly.

I've had a brief look around the net for anything that might help me conjure a cunning and crafty first sentence.  I found a great article by Christopher Jackson at Fuel Your Writing which I found really helpful and informative with some great examples of opening lines.  The Guardian's Books Blog also offered up an article from 2007 by Guy Dammann, What's your favourite first line?, which while a little dry provides some brilliant examples.  If that's not enough, try this comprehensive list of opening lines from Stylist as they list their favourite 100 opening lines.

As for my opening sentence, well, it's still under construction and probably won't be finalised for quite some time.  This is what I have so far, comments welcome as usual:

"Jurian stood sharply, accompanied by the creaking groans of countless troubled souls who had warmed the same part of the ageing wooden pew."

Retro Gamer: The Best of Bond

With the Buzz around Skyfall building, what better time to reassess gaming's best Bond moments.  Follow this link to be shaken and stirred.**

**Disclaimer: Any shaking or stirring you feel as a result of clicking this link is not as a direct result of my article and should be treated as a potential medical emergency).

Check out the video after the break for some classic Bond style car chase action in Spy Hunter.

Retro Gamer: Fighting Games

Fighting games were once the kings of the arcade, producing some of gamings more notorious characters, catchphrases and cosplay. So are you an Iron First fighter or would you rather take on a four armed goliath to save Earth Realm? Let the Hadoukens begin!

Staff Recommendation/ Gallants | Cornerhouse

Staff Recommendation/ Gallants | Cornerhouse - check out my latest review for Cornerhouse in Manchester. Gallants is a highly amusing film that owes debts to the classic kung-fu movies of old and is well worth watching for a hearty laugh or two.

The Stool Pigeon | Cornerhouse

If you're interested in Asian Cinema or just fancy dabbling with something a little different, why not check out my review of The Stool Pigeon for Cornerhouse, Manchester.