Smash Hits | [Insert Skyrim Job Joke Here]

The BoSS is on vacation today. So.


You know, I don't buy terribly many video games. I mean, I play a whole lot of the things - I'd be the first to admit my eyes are sometimes bigger than my belly - but multiplayer modes rarely catch my eye, and £50 for a game that'll entertain me for a few evenings is a very hard sell.

Which is to say, the last video game I actually bought was Mass Effect 2. LoveFilm's kept me rolling in fun times on the 360 and PS3 since.

Anyway, if there was even a shadow of a shadow of a doubt that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim would be the game for which I break my long-standing buying fast, it's gone as of now. Because:

Cloth map! :D

Doesn't hurt that it's a cloth map for the hugely anticipated sequel to Oblivion, which given that I've yet to dare try my hand at an MMO must be the game have I've sunk the most hours into - ever. That I'd buy this beauty at some point was pretty much a gimme.

Then Bethseda announced a lovely burlap cloth map would be made available - for free! - to anyone and everyone who preorders Skyrim, whether from retailers in Europe or North America.

Here I'd been thinking I'd wait to see how the various console versions shook up in the final summation before I made a decision either way. (I mean, I'd like to get the Xbox 360 version, what with the points and all, but for a game of this sheer scale and scope, perhaps the PS3's extra storage will come in handy. Frankly I'd rather not have to worry about compressed textures and dodgy audio because of file format limitations - roll on the next generation already - but such is the gamer's life in this day and age.)

Well, I'd best pick one and be done with it, or no cloth map for me. Which I hardly need confess would make me a very sad Scotsman indeed...

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Source: Kotaku

Smash Hits | Not The Psychic Scotsman

Local interest (at least for me) meets mad science in this report from Medical Express, by way of Salon Futura's Cheryl Morgan.

Did you know scientists at the University of Glasgow have figured out how to read minds? Apparently by decoding the patterns of certain brainwaves, some odds and sods about the Institute of Neuroscience & Psychology have figured out which patterns represent which emotions, in a series of experiments which equate to expensive games of join the dots with value-added electroencephalography.

For instance, take a gander at this here beast:

What this remarkable news means is that now, after centuries of ignorance, scientists will finally be able to tell whether you find this here Jack Russell adorable, or terrifying.

They will be able to do this... eventually. Probably.

Let's all of us say it at once: God love Scotch science! :)

All kidding aside, this could very well be important-ish news, in due course. Mostly I was just looking for an excuse to post that puppy picture. Because the internet can never have enough puppies, am I right?

Or is it the other way round?

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Source: Medical Express

Smash Hits | Rockstars of the North

God bless the publicity-shy Scottish entrepreneurs at the tumultuous helm of Rockstar Studios for using the game-changing engine and the tremendous commercial success of the last Grand Theft Auto to leverage entire new sub-species of video game rather than as a platform to put out sequel after dreary sequel, as so many other developers seem content to do.

First in Red Dead Redemption and now with the wonderful L. A. Noire, instead of making innumerable millions on Grand Theft Auto: Afghanistan or some other such silliness they've helped give a medium in real danger of disappearing up its own first-person perspective [redacted] the kick in the rear it's sorely needed for so long.

I can't tell you how excited I was to get my hands on L. A. Noire yesterday, when my copy finally came through, and though I only managed to play for an hour or so before certain other responsibilities kicked me off the couch, I'll say this much for free: if you play video games to any great extent, and the latest from Rockstar isn't on your radar simply because it doesn't have Grand Theft Auto in the title, you, sir slash madam, are a part of the problem.

That is all.