Cult Press Update #2

With these updates, we’d like to introduce you to the fantastic features of Cult Press. So starting with this edition, we are going to focus on the main aspects of Cult Press and what they can do for you. This edition: Cult Press Profiles.

By now, everyone is aware of the Web 2.0 philosophy (e.g. MySpace, Blogger, YouTube, etc.) where it’s all about YOU and what YOU can bring to the table. Well, Cult Press is no exception to this trend. Cult Press is all about what types of news articles YOU like to read and introducing new ways for YOU to find them and share them with others.

Your Cult Press Profile is the starting hub of the site for registered members. Not only that, it is also your connection to every other registered member on the site, where you can broadcast your latest news articles and… yeah, you guessed it… blog to your heart’s desire.

So your Cult Press Profile is just a blog, right? Your Cult Press Profile is just like MySpace, right? Wrong. Oh no, it’s much, much more than that.

Of course, I can’t reveal everything right now, but here are just a few things that make your Cult Press Profile great:

• Display your face to the world (or choose an image that suits you)!
• Blog on the site, or load in your blog from another site with an RSS feed.
• Age, country, contact details, homepage, etc. – say as much or as little about yourself as you want.
• Send and receive private messages between members – or post public messages directly onto their Profiles.
• Your user level – show everyone how good you are!
• News articles from the site – recommended just for you.
• Choose your favourite subject so we know what news articles to show you.
• Fine tune your personal preferences by choosing specific keywords (favourite tags). We will only show you news articles on your Profile that have matching tags.
• Add other members as Friends, view the articles they have submitted or view the articles that have been recommended to them via their own favourite tags.
• Browse through your Friends’ Friends to build up a social network.
• View the Cult Press Awards that you have unlocked – show them off to your Friends to make them jealous!
• View your statistics – how many articles have you submitted? What is your rank? How many positive votes on articles have you received from other members?
• Subscribe to RSS feeds featuring your recommended news, your own articles, your Friend’s articles, etc.

OK, that’s it for now. Don’t forget to look out for Update #3, where I’ll let you in on a few more secrets about articles and their tags… until then, see ya!

Click here to view a preview image and post your comments!

Cult Press Update #1

We're hard at work on the brand new version of cultpress.com right now, but that hasn't stopped us from keeping you up-to-date about the work in progress!

We’ve had a lot of questions recently asking about Cult Press, so I’m going take this first edition of Cult Press Updates as an opportunity to answer some Frequently Asked Questions…

1. What’s this all about?

This is all about Cult Press, a brand new Web 2.0 website created by zer0mike and me. Zer0mike is the designer and I am the developer.

2. So what is Cult Press?

Cult Press is a combination of social networking and popular culture news, joining forces to create a unique experience where YOU can share the news that you are interested in with your friends – and make some new friends in the process.

The core subjects of Cult Press are: Film, music, games, gadgets, TV, toys and comics. If you are interested in any of those things, Cult Press is the website for you.

3. How does it work and what does it do?

Register with Cult Press to become a member and join the online community that enables you to read, post, share, discuss, vote and track your favourite popular culture news.

Seen a news article about film/music/games/etc. that you think will interest the Cult Press community? News articles can be submitted by any registered member of Cult Press. The articles will be checked by moderators and then published on the home page for the whole world to see.

Every news article submitted to Cult Press will feature accompanying tags – anyone who uses GameSpot will be aware of the way this system works – and the tags will help other members find the articles that they are interested in, with the help of tag clouds and a search facility.

Other members can leave comments on the article and vote on it. The more positive votes and comments the article receives, the longer it stays in view and the more Cult Factor points the article writer earns.

Any action performed on Cult Press, such as submitting an article, voting, etc., scores you Cult Factor points for your profile. The points system provides an extra level of competition between members and encourages members to do more on the site. Want to know who has submitted the most articles, voted the most times, read the most articles, has had articles read the most, etc., there will be leaderboards for all!

Periodical special events and promotions, as well as special achievements (such as submitting 100 articles) and discovering hidden secrets will result in the awarding of Reveal Badges to members. The badges will appear in a grid on your profile – try to collect them all! Click on the Reveal Badges to reveal more hidden secrets!

Your profile, My Cult Press, is the starting hub for registered members. Keep it up-to-date with your contact details and blog. Send and receive private messages between members. Submit your favourite tags and My Cult Press will automatically compile news from the site that specifically interests you. Subscribe to your own personal RSS feed or to RSS feeds of any other member. Add other members as friends to create a RSS feed featuring your friends’ articles.

And that’s not all… but I’ve got to keep some stuff secret for now, but all will be revealed in due course.

4. When can we see it?

You’ll see it right here first. I will be posting sneak preview images and stuff from the site as it goes through development.

We hope to launch a public beta at www.cultpress.com on 07/07/07.


That's it for now, but we'll be posting more information in the future. Check out the full version of Cult Press Update #1 hosted on GameSpot and don't forget to look there for future news, sneak previews and exclusive revelations!

Shaun of the Dead figure review

You could say I have a certain fondness for Shaun of the Dead. I have seen the film more times than can be considered healthy, I have queued up for hours to meet Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright and I have dress up as Shaun himself for an alcohol fuelled Halloween party. So when, on the way home from the Toy Fair in London, I open a catalogue to see Shaun proudly standing next to the rest of the line up for Necas’ Cult Classic Series 4, I was just a little bit excited. Not quite as excited as I was when I finally saw him on the pegs of course….

Packaging


Shaun comes to you in the ever popular clamshell packaging, so
everything is kept very safe and secure and it’s highly unlikely that it will get damaged in transit or on the shelf. This is doubly helpful if you intend to store him MOC, as it also shows him off very nicely indeed.

The artwork on the box is also very attractive; showing a variety of film specific images including the films poster, as well as that there are a number of shots of the figure itself. On the reverse of the package is a small blurb on the film and images of the rest of the line. Its individuality of each package that I particularly like, with it being designed with each film in mind rather than the line as a whole. Unfortunately though, in this case it also backfires a little with the colour scheme being rather dark, making it harder for it too jump of the pegs when you see it in store, but that’s only a minor quibble.
Once you do crack him open, all that keeps you from playing with Shaun, is a few twist ties, so have some scissors handy.

Sculpt
You can always rely on Neca to produce a sculpt which, at the very least, is above average. So it should come as absolutely no surprise when I say that the sculpt is damn good. Shaun comes to us posed in the same way as he does on the films poster, cricket bat and flowers in hand. Technically they are accessories but you would be a fool not to have them in all the time. In the package I was a little worried about the head sculpt, it just didn’t seem to be Simon Pegg. I quickly changed my mind when I got a better look at him though, it simply is him, but I also worked out why I was worried. The sculpt, with all its wrinkles and details makes it seem like he a fair bit older than he is on screen, but it’s only a minor niggle and not much of an issue unless you have him so very close to your face all the time!
His clothes are also incredibly detailed with all the folds and wrinkles being in the rights places and seeming very natural.
The base that comes with Shaun is in theory a simple one, it’s only a record box placed on the ground after all, but once again the level of detail put into it is quite impressive. Shards of broken records scatter the floor, the box contains a selection of removable records, some of a couple of which have their own labels, and even a few bits off cutlery are included to add to the fun.
So overall it’s all very good.

Articulation
Shaun isn’t exactly loaded with joints but what we get is still pretty good. We have a fine ball jointed neck, ball shoulders and cuts at the waist and biceps. As good as it is you honestly won’t be using most of it too much as you’ll find you self sticking to the posters poses most of the time. Although the ball neck is always very useful for adding a little extra personality to proceedings.

Paint
Even the best of sculpts can be ruined if the paint application isn’t up to scratch, so I’m pleased to tell you there is nothing to worry about here. Everything is neat tidy and clean, with no slop or any errors that I can see. All the colours match the source very well and overall it’s just a darn good paint job!

Accessories
With Shaun you get a number of accessories (I have already mentioned a few, but here’s the round up)
You get his base, which isn’t needed to make him stand, but it just looks oh so good, a cricket bat, a spare hand holding flowers and a loose record. Also the records in the box can be removed.
You can’t do much with the loose record, other than leave it in the box,
As it doesn’t fit in his hand, but apart from that all the other accessories make complete sense and look very cool when used with Shaun.

Overall
I know I’m slightly biased, what with me being a fool for all things Shaun, but I still have to say I love this figure. The sculpt and paint come together so well, they make this an excellent addition to my cavalcade of SOTD paraphernalia. If only I had room for it all…….

Massive Attack London Live Review

Massive Attack, Carling Academy, Brixton London, February 8th 2007

A band that seems to have shied away from the music kingdom of Myspace (prove me wrong, anyone?), Massive Attack were certainly not short of devotees at this astounding gig.
Crammed in without an inch to spare, the audience were treated to a collection of their most famous tunes to date, pleasing the old traditionalists amongst us.

Setting the pace with their newest heart-stopping song ‘False Flags’, every song played was with integrity and had the crowds mesmerised for the 90 minutes they were on stage.

Favourites from Collected, the greatest hits double-CD of 2006, played on the evening include Angel, Teardrop and the one-and-only Unfinished Symphony used in The Matrix.

Proving that there’s more to the band than a good sound, frontman Robert Del Naja and the group were actively supporting HOPING on the night, a foundation supporting Palestinian refugee children.

Their heart on the sleeve effort was widely applauded but in all honesty the guy handing out leaflets about the cause really started to grind on my nerves by the tenth time he approached us.

A clever tactic of the Attack was to have a huge light display with scrolling text giving facts and figures about the state of Palestine – entertaining and enlightening.

Refreshingly the audience were well behaved and without hardly any effort managed to blag a space at the barrier, affording me a fantastic view without the sweaty jumping teens to boot.
Exhilarating, trippy and most definitely worth the expensive ticket.

Review by Alexia Weeks

Doctor Who at Toy Fair

So the Toy Fair has come and gone, and as usual the most interesting stuff was kept behind closed doors, and in the case of Doctor who behind a large angry looking man who made me sign a bit off paper before I went in. So now I’m either married to a bouncer or he was simply asking me to promise not to steal everything I saw, I do hope it was the latter.

What was on display was all very impressive though, there was the next few assortments of the regular action figure line (some off which are starting to hit around now) and then all manner of my deluxe items.

The action figures gave us the mixture of old and new that were getting used to with the Doctor Who line with old characters either being re-used or packed in with other characters, Captain Jack now comes with an Empty Child, the Slitheen comes with a Space Pig and Rose comes with a couple of Robot Spiders. It makes me glad that I held back on getting some off these guys The new guys consist of an Autons twin pack, Clockwork Men, a new Dalek with mutant reveal, an Ood and in later series a selection of the new guys from series 3. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get any information on these new characters but trust me they look pretty good.

In terms of larger items the most interesting to me was a face of Boe “figure”, I obviously wasn’t able to play with it but the size of it implies that that is some kind of action feature hidden away somewhere inside him.

Moving away from the action figure line there where a number of items of interest on show, including a very large Dalek, even larger than the RC one that has been around for a couple of years. This guy was stated as having a feature called Dalek vision, basically it’s a bloody big Dalek with a camera in its eye stalk, sounds intriguing.
One of the new characters in the upcoming series seems to wear a mask, so later in the year we can look forward to a voice changer based on that, in the same vein as the Cyberman Helmet.
So all in all its looking like there is a whole lot to look forward too if you a fan of Doctor Who paraphernalia.

Night at the Museum Review

I wasn’t expecting to much from this little cinematic expedition, in fact I was expecting so very much less than that, don’t ask me why, I had barely heard anything about the film, but my head was telling me only bad things would happen. So when I came out of the cinema without ranting till I was blue in the face came as some what of a surprise….

The concept of the film is thus, Larry Daley (Ben Stiller) is in need of a job. If he doesn’t get one he wont be able to see his ten year old son, which is a bad thing, obviously. So he sets about finding employment and comes across a position working the late night security shift at the Museum of Natural History. On his first shift things go just a little bit crazy as all the exhibits come to life, and hilarity ensues. Things get a little bit more complicated when you factor in an evil Dick van Dyke, Egyptian curses and the obligatory crazy monkey.

The film takes about an hour to get interesting and even then it only just manages to hold your interest, everything that is going on in the film has been done before and most notably done better. Ironically when you consider the involvement of Robin Williams and Chris Columbus, Jumanji is a prime example of this.
The cast involved is a pretty star studded affair, as already mentioned you have Ben Stiller, Dick van Dyke and Robin Williams but add to that Ricky Gervais, Owen Wilson, Mickey Rooney and Steve Coogan. So it only adds to the disappointment when you realise that none of these actors come anywhere near to reaching the levels we know they can. Gervais is the biggest let down as he basically plays himself for about 5 minutes on screen, and is given only one gag to play with (oh the hilarity, we cant finish sentences). You know the only reason that he involved himself in this film is because he and Stiller are bosom buddies after working on Extras. Only the pairing of Coogan and Wilson really got me giggling, but it wasn’t enough to stop this film well below average.

So what we have here is a comedy/action/adventure type film ,that isn’t very funny and the action adventure bits have been done much better many times before.
But ignoring that, Alix liked it and she said she would hit me if I didn’t say something nice about it so…………….it had dinosaurs in it, and everyone knows they are cool!!

Matt/mapooo

Ultimate Avengers DVD Review

Santa was obviously wearing his geek hat this year; under my festive tree I found a brand spanking new laptop, all manner off comic bookery and the Ultimate Avengers movie DVD. So I was a very happy bunny. I quickly booted up my new computermotron, searched for a wireless network and promptly failed, so instead I shoved in the Avengers DVD and watched the whole thing, unfortunately I came away with very mixed feelings, let me explain why…

The film is roughly based on the first couple of story of story arcs from the Ultimates comic book, “Super-Human” and “Homeland security”, but for the sake of the film instead of having them run one after each other the stories are mixed up and intertwined. Which leads to an interesting combination of elements where we see Captain America stop a nuclear bomb during WWII then get frozen for 60 years, only to be unfrozen and then form the new super army “the Avengers”, an alien race attacking earth and Bruce Banner battling his inner Hulky demons. There is more too it than that, but I don’t want to spoil it too much for you now do I?

The voice acting and general story line are ok, but there is definitely room for a number of improvements. While I don’t mind the fact that two stories have been combined here, and actually think it makes quite a bit of sense to do so, there are a number of other changes that I’ not too pleased with.

The main issue I have is a general one, it seems that, while inspired by the Ultimates, a whole heap off this film is either watered down from the sources material of based more on the regular Avengers form the 616 universe. Tony Stark’s heart condition, the down playing of the violent relationship between Henry Pym (Giant-Man) and his wife the Wasp, and the smaller alien battle amongst many other changes may not be important to everyone, but if you know the Ultimates and Ultimate universe they will definitely bug you. I cant see the point of making this film specifically Ultimate, but then taking so much from elsewhere.
But as I said, there is a lot of room for improvement, but standing by itself the film is a fun if short little romp (always wanted to use that word, and it kind of works there. Hurray for me!!)

The animation and art style is in a similar situation to the story, good for most but with definite room for improvement. The general style is obviously that of the Ultimates, but with a cartoon network style sheen to it, this doesn’t really surprise me as literally animating the comic book would have not been easy at all, but a little more similarity to the book would not have been a bad thing at all. Also more time and effort and maybe even more should have been invested into the project as it seems to be lacking that extra quality you get from a lot of modern cartoons

Extras on the DVD come in the form of a trivia track running over the film, a doc on the making of the film and history of the Avengers feature, a brief look at the sequel and a reasonably funny look at some fan auditions for parts in the film. So not a bucket load by any stretch but what you get is good, interesting and quite informative.

So overall the DVD is quite good, not great but most definitely not terrible. it’s a good launching point for the series on DVD and hopefully things can only get better from here on out. The sequel is already out in America so I think I may have to use this inter-web thingy to try and dig out a copy.

Thanks to our Matt!

Xmas Hell Part 3! - Must Have DVDs

There are only 4 days to Christmas and what better last minute gift than a DVD and so here is part , and this time I’m going too be taking a gander at some of the BETTER DVDs available this merry Christmas season. So that means none of the horrible animal computer animation films that have been doing the rounds or even POTC, their all too obvious, these are much more interesting!!

∑ Ren and Stimpy Season 1 and 2
For some reason my dad never liked me watching this as a kid, so the chance to own in a lovely DVD set is oh so very enticing!!! On three discs you get all of season 1&2, which means that there is over 400 minutes of cartoon fun. However; the extras are slightly lacking, with only a few commentaries included and a featurette or two. So not the great “collector’s box set” it could have been, but the cartoon is just so damn good you must buy it for everyone!!

∑ Serenity and Firefly
I’ll put this simply, if George Lucas had put the spirit that goes into these two wonderful things, I wouldn’t hate the new trilogy like I do!!!!
From the great mind of Joss Wheddon (he’s the guys who did Buffy, you might have heard of it?), comes what can only be described as a western in space. But add to that a level of wit, subtle comedy and emotion and you get a genuinely fantastic thing.
Get Firefly first and then Serenity, its just better that way, and the film tends to tie up a few loose ends from the series.

∑ Spaced series One or Two
This is what the guys who brought you Shaun of the Dead brought you before they brought you Shaun of the Dead. It’s the tale of two losers who, cast out on to the street, join forces to find somewhere to live. Which they quickly do and the “hilarity ensues”!!!
Simon Pegg and Jessica Stevenson are Tim Bisley and Daisy Steiner - two hopeless twentysomethings sharing a flat and pretending to be a couple. Joining them on their urban adventures are wine-swilling landlady Marsha, the rather intense artist who lives downstairs Brian, Tim's best friend and would-be TA soldier Mike, and Daisy's best friend, the air-headed Twist. Together they tackle the big questions that the 21st century poses: who are they, what they mean to each other and who should switch on the kettle?

∑ Black Books series 1-3
More comedy, this time from the crazy mind of Dylan Moran. Bernard Black (Dylan Moran) owns a small second hand book store, but there is a small problem with this situation of his; he hates the people, the customers and even the books, and so spend most of the time drinking wine and shouting abuse, and Bill Bailey, great performances and whole host of cameos and you get one of the best British comedies in recent times.

∑ The Ultimate Avengers Movie
The Ultimates is one of my favourite comics at the moment (when they release them that is), and this straight to DVD movie follows, roughly, the first season of this comic book.

Thanks to Matt Thomas for the last minute guide.

Xmas Hell Part 2: Book Ideas

If you can’t think of anything interesting to give to people during this festive period, a great but traditionally uninspiring backup plan is some kind off written word type literary fare, but usually that’s a big and dull silly idea. So I bring forth some GOOD ideas for books this Christmas-

• The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Bluebear; by Walter Mayer
Bluebear is a blue bear, but I’m sure that’s pretty obvious to you, and this book tells the tale of his first 13 ½ lives (he has 27 you see). Set in the mysterious world of Zamonia the tale marries all manner of different genres including fantasy, Sci-Fi and classic fairy tales. Despite weighing in at over 700 hundreds pages the book is about as easy to read as you could wish for and is beautifully illustrated throughout.
I randomly came across this when my mother brought home a big pile of books from the library, being a simple fellow it was the pictures that enticed me. Of course this lead to me reading the actual words, and they are, well, very good. It was one of those very rare books in this world that I couldn’t stop reading, any spare time I had would see me with my nose wedged firmly between its pages. So therefore I recommend it to you.
If you do like this, Moers wrote a second book, set in the same universe. Rumo is the tale of a Wolperting (it’s a bit like a dog), who armed with Dandelion (it’s a talking sword) will one day become the greatest hero in Zamonia. I am in the middle of reading it as we speak, and I have to say it’s a whole load of good.

• The Walking Dead v1-5, written by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by Tony Moore
Zombies are cool; everyone loves them at the moment, and rightly so. But one thing oft lacking with thee whole zombie hoopla is a good story to back it up. That’s where The Walking Dead comes in. The story is centred on a small-town police officer named Rick Grimes who, at the start of vol. 1, gets shot. We rejoin him sometime later in a hospital bed; he is alone, confused and for some reason in a world over run with those loveable scamps, the “un-dead”.
Now I know what you thinking, that sounds like a million other Zombie filled romps, however, what sets this apart from pretty much all the other stories out there is that this one concentrates more on the people involved and the lives that’s they lead, the human interaction. This allows the stories to be much deeper than it could have been, and therefore when the zombies do actually get involved it’s a much more shocking, as you generally care (or dislike) the characters involved.
The book is drawn by Tony Moore, and is black and white throughout, and to put it simply is quite beautiful, albeit beautiful in a “world full of flesh eating zombies” kind of way.

As it stands there are 5 (soon to be 6) trade paperbacks available, collecting up to issue 36 of the comic book. Obviously, start with vol.1 if you’re buying for someone who hasn’t read the books yet. Or if you’re feeling fancy a hardcover collecting issue 1-24 is also available.

• The Halo Graphic Novel (HGN), written/draw by various artists.
This is one, I have to say, that I haven’t actually had the pleasure of reading yet, but as it’s on my Christmas list, I think ill be allowed to write about it here.
The HGN is composed of 4 separate stories based in and around the Halo universe, and four completely different stories at that, ranging from a tale of armour testing to the story of how the people of New Mombasa fought against those evil folk the Covenant.
Each different story is presented in a completely different artistic style and looks incredible throughout,. Also the book comes complete with a gallery section with comprises of images from the halo universe from all manner of Marvel/ Bungie artists.

OK so that’s the three main ideas I have for you, but here are a few extra that might tickle your fancy.
• Marvel Zombies; Trade paper back/hardcover.
The title kind of gives it away, all your marvel favourites are hear in zombie form, and there hungry, so much carnage ensues. It’s silly but fun, and looks fantastic.
• Any thing by Edward Monkton.
Whether you plump for the Penguin of Death, the Pig of Happiness or even the Madness Hamsters you know you’ll be getting a small hardback book of sheer random greatness. Go here to learn more.
• The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and other Stories; written/illustrated Tim Burton.
A selection of poems telling the tale of a selection of rather “interesting” children, ranging from Roy the toxic boy and Junk Girl too Oyster boy and my personal favourite Jimmy, the Hideous penguin boy. The tales vary from being deeply the depressing to highly hilarious, but usually flit between the two. Oh and the illustrations are fantastic too.

Ok, I think that will be enough suggestions for you for now, if you still cant decide what too get your loved ones, I shall return shortly with some DVD suggestions.

Thanks again to the ever inspiring Matt Thomas

Xmas Hell Part 1! Game Help!

With the Christmas season now officially upon us, I was given the idea of writing a Festive Gift ideas list. Now there are two ways I could do this; I could either just copy what the big retailers out there think you should buy because it will make them lots off easy money, or I could do it the more fun way and point out loads off cool shit you have probably never heard but will make your life full off happy smiles if you listen to my pearls of wisdom and buy them all. In a Shaun of the Dead style….the second one.

Games:
Everyone loves playing games at Christmas, if you don’t your probably a Nazi or dead, so I think ill start there.

•Ticket to Ride: Ill start with one off the things I doubt you’ll have heard about. Ticket to ride (or “the Train Game” as it has affectionately become known as in my circle of friends). Basically the point off the game is to score as many points as you can this is done by collecting train cards and then using them to claim train routes across North America, the longer the route the more points you get. As well as that you also need to try and connect specific cities, which are usually stupidly far apart. The joy of this game come from its sheer simplicity, it’s the classic formula of taking only minutes to learn, but you’ll then constantly develop and change your strategy every time you play. Add to that the look your opponents give you when you build on a piece of track they desperately need, and you’ll soon see why this game has won all manner of game of the year awards and sold around half a million copies in around 2 years.RRP £29.99

•Munchkin: This couldn’t be more different to Ticket if it tried. It’s basically a card game where your character is battling through a dungeon inhabited with all manner of lovely creatures, and its your job to swiftly kill them with a big sword and then move on to try and kill more things until you reach the all important Level 10, when this happens you win. Doesn’t sound that interesting I hear you say? Well I did also forget to tell you its kinda crazy, the weapons range from your common all garden sword to the slightly more interesting rat on a stick and boots of butt kicking, you could end up fighting a potted plant with a chicken on your head and trust me never pick up a duck in a dungeon. I have played this game for hours on end, usually with the odd can of alcohol in easy reach, and can’t recommend it highly enough.

It’s not the easiest thing to pick up but when you do you’ll be throwing curses at each other, stabbing people in the back and generally acting like complete git to make sure you win in the most humiliating way possible.
RRP £14.99

•Villa Paletti: If I start by simply saying Jenga, you will get a vague idea of what sort of game this is. You use bits of wood to make a tower, but unlike Jenga, this game is actually pretty good.
In the tradition of a Jengaesque, you simply have to take the wooden poles from the lower levels and move them higher, making sure you don’t send the whole thing crashing. It’s a fantastic party game, and I know this after hours of rigorous testing in the many pubs of Cheltenham, usually with quite a few people staring at me as I search for a piece that can actually be taken out safely; of course once that happens you have to try and find a new home for it which is equally nerve shattering. You don’t know what fear is until you see the most ungainly, yet some how spectacular, tower nearly keel over in front of you as you take out a piece and then realise you now have to find a home for it. But of course that’s what makes it fun, so ignore Jenga and Tumba and all manner of other buildy type games this Christmas and buy Villa Paletti right now!!! Please?
RRP £19.99

So those are the three I would most recommend to you but there a few more I want to mention.

•Apples to Apples- Essentially the point of this game is to argue the toss with everyone until the dealer agrees with your opinion, and its great fun. I scientifically proved this on Boxing Day last year.
•Polarity- Make magnets balance in mid air and score lots of points, just won the first ever Science Museum Toy Award.
•Zombies- It’s got zombies in it, what more do you need to know about it!!!!! OK, a little more I suppose, you go round shooting lots of little plastic zombies while trying not to die. It’s basically every Zombie film you have ever seen but you control it, which is nice!

OK so that’s my game recommendations done, hopefully soon ill give you some Toy/Action figure ideas, a List of DVDS you must buy people this Christmas and then a random array of other stuff.

All Hail Matt Thomas