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Just got back from the Golden Joystick awards, which went pretty much as expected with Call of Duty 4 wiping the floor with everyone. Out of its nine nominations, Activision's all-conquering shooter picked up an impressive four awards, including Ultimate Game of the Year (isn't simple "Game of the Year" a good enough title for that award?)
GTAIV picked up a couple of gongs - including beating CoD4 to best Xbox game. There weren't any huge surprises - except Super Smash Bros. Brawl beating Super Mario Galaxy to the best Nintendo game title. Also, the nomination of Spore in the "Most Wanted" category (reserved for games yet to come out that everyone's excited about) seemed a little odd, seeing as it's been around for ages. And do we really need a "Retailer of the Year" award? Play.com won, in case you're wondering.
Frankie Boyle did the hosting duties this time around. I'd repeat some of his jokes, but if you've seen him on Mock The Week, you'll know most of his stuff is pretty unrepeatable. Actually, if you've seen him on Mock The Week, you'll have already heard most of the routine he did anyway. I thought he'd lay into the crowd a bit more, but after a gag about gamers not being able to find girlfriends went a little flat he seemed to back off.
Anyway, we'll have a full round-up of the winners on the site on Monday, so keep an eye out for that. In the meantime, check out the best of this week's T&G content...
The worst bit of snowball-fighting has always been, to me, the massive pain caused as you over-chill your hands by frantically sculpting your 100'th snowball: something that'd not be a problem with this snowball gun. It sculpts the 'balls for you, three at a time, and then you can use its internal slingshot to fire them at neighbor kids up to 50 feet away. Actually I've remembered that the worst bit of snowball fighting is being hit by one that "accidentally" has gravel in it, but you take my point. With this baby tucked under your arm, wintry Cold Wars will be decidedly more one-sided. Yours for $30. [
Though the omission of two all-but-standard smartphone features from BlackBerry's Storm is disappointing, it isn't totally inexplicable. BGR has confirmed through a "really top-level" Verizon source that the crippling was — surprise! — carried out at the behest of the wireless company. Few wireless providers are innocent of phone neutering, but this blatant promotion of their data service and the added network anchor that the lack of tri-band HSDPA protect interests that, well, don't really need much protecting. Even with Wi-Fi, who the hell is going to buy a Storm without a data plan? Stop baiting us, Verizon. We like you. [
Check out JVC's Sound Garden concept: it's come leaping forth like a delighted lamb from the creative spring that is Tokyo's Design Week, and just like a newborn lamb finding its legs, it sure looks funny. An attempt at blending eco-friendliness with interesting design, it's a full hi-fi speaker system with bass-reflex ports and the whole deal, alongside little pot-like areas to insert plants. And it's all made of "eco-plastic," designed so you can connect together several of the elements to make a whole hive-like sculpture of audio and greenery. Did I point out it's weirdness? Oh I did. Thank goodness it's just a concept. [
Traditional sound machines tend to use white noise or repetitive nature sounds to compete with the cacophony of the outside, but that only works to a certain extent. Ecotones, by Silicon Valley start up ASTI, is hoping to one-up them by actually being able to adapt to the user's environment. You can choose from 12 different SoundStories—including settings, I bet, like ocean or rainforest—that play at 18-bit quality, better than standard CDs. Audio backgrounds react to cues in the listening space and combine them with hundreds of “natural” sounds to make a soundscape that's supposedly a lot more relaxing. It's available through Hammacher Schlemmer for $299. Wow, anything for a good night's rest, I guess? [
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