[Crowbar]

So a bit over a week ago a female housemate of mine was drunk and we were watching stuff on the iBBC player or whatever it's called. We saw somebody zorbing, and got talking about how cool it was, and this led to her saying "We should go skydiving". A couple of days later we've actually booked it.

And today we actually did it.

There's really no words that can do justice to the sensation of being thrown (we were both doing tandem jumps with instructors) out of a plane at 13,000 feet. That moment of jumping and seeing the ground looming up below you with nothing in-between was probably the most intense thing I've ever experienced, with the following few seconds and seeing the plane disappearing upwards being a close second. You don't get your stomach jumping up into your mouth like you do with rollercoasters, the most accurate way I can describe the feeling is simply "falling". We were in freefall for about 45 seconds (down to 5,000 feet), and then the parachute was opened and we floated down for about 4-5 minutes. It couldn't have been a more beautiful day, though it was incredibly cold in the sky. I actually felt rather dazed for a while afterwards and had to lie down, but I'm definitely glad I did it.

Has anybody else ever engaged in any extreme sports?

[EDIT] Oh, also, I did actually get NOM with the Sonic Unleashed preview, but it turned out to be nothing new, even though they apparently did get an actual hands-on with it, so I didn't really feel motivated to post about it. They did say the werewolf sections were pretty cool, but there were no fucking pictures or real details beyond what you'd expect. Even the developer interview didn't turn up much beyond the fact that supposedly they went into the project with Sonic Adventure 3 in mind.

[Magnezone]

...

I am extremely jealous :(

[P.P.A.]

So a bit over a week ago a female housemate of mine was drunk

* P.P.A. raises an eyebrow.

and we were watching stuff on the iBBC player or whatever it's called. We saw somebody zorbing, and got talking about how cool it was, and this led to her saying "We should go skydiving".

* P.P.A. can feel your disappointment.

Nah but seriously, that's cool I guess. Not something I would do though, I'm far too afraid of heights. D:


Also surprisingly I too got this ONM issue. Even though last time I got the letter that I'd have to continue my subscription if I don't want to lose it. Oh well, seems that THIS was the last issue then. Fortunately. I raged numerous times:

(...)simple side-scrolling platformer(...)

Simple? One of the outstanding features of the early Sonic games were their unusually complex level designs.

(...)Sonic Heroes (and its unnecessary sequel)(...)

Err, what sequel? It's not Shadow they're referring too, as that gets noted just a few words after.

(...)and the les said about Sonic The Hedgehog on 360 and PS3 the better, if only because it was absolutely awful.

I don't deny S06 was a bad game (even though I like it), but constantly ignoring its few positive aspects (level design, music, concept, graphics) is just unfair. Also it's funny how they praise SatSR throughout the duration of the article in contrast. §easily the best 'proper' home console Sonic game for a long time", huh? (Damn it, I need to buy it so I can officially bitch about it. :/)

Think that the vastness of the 3D levels and lack of guidance through them goes against everything that Sonic's original speed freak gameplay stands for? Then it's gone.

"original speed freak gameplay", wasn't that first introduced in Sonic Advance 2 (the once-per-game speed levels of the old games aside (SLZ, SS, CPZ...)? Vast 3D levels, the only games to had those were Sonic R and 06 iirc. The others had linear, GUIDED almost on-rails levels that were definitely not what Sonic was in the first place. It seems these people have never played Sonic CD, or even Sonic Triple Trouble.

(...)classic level design, it lets Sonic fans get back to the business of running through stages at ridiculous speeds, relying on their reactions to dodge obstacles and generally enjoying the things that made Sonic good in the first place.

I begin to think these people consider Sonic Rush a classic Sonic game, because this is definitely not what I remember of the MD games.

The result? A game that lets you explore without letting you off the leash too much,

That doesn't even really make sense, unless a splitting path once or twice in a HOLD RIGHT AND RUN levels means "exploration" now.

doesn't over-complicate the action with levels that feel too packed with things to do (...)

Aw, crap. This sounds an awful lot like we're getting a Rush 3, where all you do is hold right. Also I am most certain all the old games had levels filled with gimmicks and numerous stuff to do, and that also was one of the reasons they were so good!

(...)the sole gimmick that Sonic Team has decided to make the key focus of the whole game.

Oh god. What did you say about "going back to the roots" again?

(...)Think of it as an attempt to mix up the gameplay a little,(...)

Yeah, just like the team feature in Heroes and the gunplay in Shadow (that was bashed a few lines ago, even though while admittedly crap, it was a lot less game-defining than Heroes' buddy bullshit, Rush's stupid boost move and so on), amirite?

To sum it up, I don't regret in any way that I discontinued my subscription. While I don't expect a Nintendo magazine to be 100% informed about the mascot of the former rival company, I do expect at least a bit of competence, or at least admittance to the lack thereof. But keeping referring to "classic Sonic gameplay" and then going on to list things that contradict that is just pathetic. I suggest the authors to play Sonic 1-3&K and Sonic CD some more, and then come back and claim that Rush (and probably Unleashed) are at least remotely similar to them in gameplay, style and spirit.

In fact I am tempted to join the forums of ONM just to copypaste this rant. Fuck, I'm in rage again.

[Crowbar]

So a bit over a week ago a female housemate of mine was drunk

* P.P.A. raises an eyebrow.

and we were watching stuff on the iBBC player or whatever it's called. We saw somebody zorbing, and got talking about how cool it was, and this led to her saying "We should go skydiving".

* P.P.A. can feel your disappointment.

Lol don't even go there. Let's just say it really, really isn't like that.

[General Throatstomper]

I've never really understood the appeal of gaming magazines. If there's a major story, it will get scanned and posted everywhere. If there's something mildly interesting, it will get scanned and posted everywhere. If there's a nonsensical article and somebody deserves a verbal castration, it will get scanned and posted everywhere. You could argue you're "supporting the medium", but I could argue your efforts are inconsequential in relation to all the people who are ditching game mags alltogether. You would then insist that relevant action starts on a base consumer level, and macroscopically your actions would matter-"what if a million people did this...". To this, the obvious retort would be that a million people will function independently, unless there was a surge of influence spurning action instead of your idle "I do it so everyone else will" attitude. You would probably leave the room in a huff.

Anyways, sky diving is something I plan on doing eventually...but zorb (...zorbing?) sounds like a more enjoyable experience. Does anyone even market zorbs (...zorb balls?) for recreational use?

[Crowbar]

I see scanned game mag articles extremely rarely these days.

[Rick_242]

Way to go and start a useless debate over sonic games PPA. D:

Damn you Crowbar I've wanted to go skydiving since I was 8. Don't rub it in my faaaaaaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeec.

[EDIT] Saw that little sentence.

Extreme sports? Well there was extreme frisbee I did a year ago in P.E. >_>

It was a weird mix of football with frisbee. You had to throw a frisbee at one of your teammates because when you have the frisbee you can't move. The goal of the game was to get the frisbee to the endzone to score points for your team while avoiding the intercepting enemy team. Fortunately I had a competent team and unfortunately one of the team members was a guy who think "I'm the one" and tried going solo and barking orders on what to do. We never let him touch the frisbee after the first minute of our first match. >_>