Don’t know if anyone actually uses iGoogle, but if you do, why not give this little gadget I made a try. It’s nothing spectacular, but I never heard of a jaw-dropping Memory game either.

Yes, the good old Memory game. Something I thought more people would know! If you are part of that strange group that doesn’t, well, just find two of the same hidden images by clicking on the squares. Yes it’s that simple. Just try to do it in as few clicks possible.

Oh and the great thing is, it uses Flickr. Just go to its settings, type in the tag of your choice and you can play with anything ranging from kitties to girlies.

So, go on and install Flickr Memory, or check here to put the little game on your own site :P

Any comments always welcome through Twitter.

Yes, it’s been quiet on the PS3 front. But, as with every console launch, you can’t expect the first year to be great. We’ve only had a hand full of good titles on 360, and the great games are still for late 2007.

So, both consoles are not getting much love. But there are still small gems that get released once in a while and I’d hate to miss out.

First up, Pac-Man Championship Edition. Honestly, I’ve never enjoyed playing Pac-Man, but after seeing the 1UP show of last week, I had to give this complete make-over a try. And I love it! It’s got that same short adrenaline rush experience as Geometry Wars:Evolved used to give.

As for the PS3, not much new happened on the games front. It’s still a beautiful machine, made by people with good taste (awesome gui/music visualizer/etc .. it has Sony written all over it) and the cheapest Blu-Ray player out there. And damn, how could we ever have lived without!

I bought the BBC’s documentary Planet Earth on Blu-Ray. It is jaw-dropping. The most beautiful scenes of nature you will ever see, things you’ve never witnessed before in amazing high resolution detail. One negative thing though,… DVD will always look crap from now on… Now let’s hurry up with more BR releases plz k tnx!

And after a long wait, Calling All Cars, a PSN game by the creator of God of War, finally arrives in Europe. It’s supposed to be an awesome multiplayer game (preferably with everyone in the same room), with a sort of NBA Jam feel to it… I think we can’t go wrong with that! Also, WipEout, the PS1 original, is available and will be tried again just for its soundtrack alone.

A colleague just brought along the tv-movie Pirates of Silicon Valley, which reminded me of some docu I saw when I was a student, on the rise of Apple and Microsoft and how it all started.

A quick google later and I ran into the entire documentary here, a must-see for all in my opinion. You’ll find out how MS stole Apple’s ideas,… and where Apple got their ideas from…

Last Friday I took my old camera, the Sony Cybershot P7, out for final round of pictures, before I’d be parting with it, replacing it wih a new friend. Nothing beats the pond at Elke’s parents’ place for some nice nature shots, so I crawled around the water for an hour, trying to take some pictures of the 4-5 frogs swimming around. This little guy was shot from a very short distance, 30cm max. 3X zoom isn’t all that ;)

3500+ pictures were taken, in a timespan of 4 years, which isn’t a lot but seeing as lots of them are xmas pictures.. it kinda is :D It’s sad to see you go,… the places we’ve seen, the memories we’ve shared… but luckily your memory is stored in my iPhoto library, so it’ll be okay ;)

Last night the gang got together to max our electricity bill and game for 8 hours straight. There was some mainstream, a bit alternative, some retro and… a train simulator. Yes, it was Wim’s…

Anyway, except for the insane temperatures reached in the appartment (god damn summer), I guess we can say it was a pretty fun evening. Tnx to ya’ll for showing up and bringing all those great toys along, a big tnx to Elke for the snacks and tnx to Denis for taking some great pictures (we forgot to take one of you damn it ;)).

Go check the gallery here!

Crap. Another MMO has gotten me in its grip. Although, this time, it’s not really pointless grinding and questing, reaching useless goals and playing with 12 year olds. Nope, it really is a second life, oddly enough. Just, this life is a bit less limited ;)

The great thing about Second Life is its user-created content. Everything is created by the residents, the players in the game. You have access to a 3D modeling tool, allowing you to create anything you like. Adding your own textures and writing your own scripts, lets you build your own furniture, cars, pets,… anything really. All limited by just your imagination.

Of course, you don’t have to. You can just visit the shopping malls and buy your stuff instead of being creative yourself. What brings us to money issue. The world of SL has its own currency, the Linden Dollar, which has an exchange rate with real life money. So you can exchange it in two directions, meaning you can spend real life cash, but also make it! If you are succesful and have the skills to create great items, you might be able to get some extra pocket money out of it… or even get loaded! (google for some success stories of SL residents)

But the main activity is the networking, meeting people and going out to visit places. There are clubs of all sorts, fun parks, malls,… someone even recreated the town of the Flinstones! The live music streams add to the realism, giving that extra touch to each place you visit. Clubs even have live DJs interacting with the avatars dancing in the club. It’s a crazy new world, but one really worth a visit.

The first day I logged in I was lucky enough to run into a girl named Alyssa, who was kind enough to show me around the world of SL. Together with a guy named Quidam (or kiwi as we call him), we’re now living on this beautiful piece of country land (small island included!) owned by her. Now I got my own little Irish cottage on there. Took me 2 days to find furniture and get the interior right (it’s been a while since I saw 4am and 5am pass by two days in a row), but it’s looking sweet ^^ lol.

I suggest you check it out, as the basic account is free. Just download the 30+mb client, create an avatar and look me up, Suibne Goodnight. I even got white wine in the house ^^. And a drunk cat… walks a bit funny (whoever wrote that script is a retard lol). In the mean time, check out a few screenshots.

/played
Me & My Katamari (psp)
Metal Gear Ac!d 2 (psp)
Second Life (pc/mac)

/listened to
Podcasts…

Okay, no Lost this week. Those 3 episodes of Season 2 sort of made me want to take a break… I’ll get back to it soon I hope.

Me & My Katamari is still keeping me busy. I don’t know whether the game is longer than its PS2 versions, but it sure feels like it. Which is a good thing though, since they were really too short. Also couldn’t resist buying Metal Gear Ac!d 2, the card-based stealth game. And I seriously have stealth problems, even when it’s turn-based, so I end up having to kill every enemy on the field anyway.

And yes, there’s a PC game on the list! *Shock! .. I know I banned MMORPGs from my life, but I blame Adam Curry’s podcast. Hearing about Second Life over and over again and seeing as it is free, I finally got around installing it. And it ended up wasting all my precious weekend time. It’s like an MMO, but without the grinding, questing, annoying parties, etc. Just the good things! :D Chilling, talking, shopping, building, etc. The entire world is completely customizable and just about everything you want to do is possible. The place is only limited by your own imagination.

I’m planning on doing a seperate post on the game a bit later on though and won’t go into too much detail here. I’ll try to get some nice screenshots and some fun stories to tell ;) In the mean time, if you are interested, head over to their site and give it a try!

Last week was one crazy game week. Unless you’ve been living under a rock or are a complete noob when it comes to gaming, E3 just ended last Friday and it was pretty interesting.

Sony was the big loser though, with some underwhelming announcements and the return of the Dualshock controller… with motion sensor! (Wii rip-off anyone? Hell, the developers weren’t even aware) Microsoft had some great games to show off and Nintendo stole the show with their Nintendo Wii, probably the greatest innovation in gaming since ages. Google the Internet and see Steven Spielberg even go crazy playing Wii tennis with Miyamoto.

Anyway, a quick overview of the games that really impressed me:

Lost Planet (360)

Thanks to Xbox Live, we could enjoy a demo of the game at home… and it blew us away. This must be the prettiest game on console I have played. Not just the lighting, but the models and animation, the fact that it really looks next-gen… and plays great! This is a must-buy for sure.

Gears of War (360)

Although I thought it wasn’t an exclusive for 360, this really shows what the hardware is capable of. The creators of Unreal bring you a gory, 3rd person over-the-shoulder shooter, that just looks as if it was pre-rendered… but isn’t. Sony must have cried when they saw this.

Nintendo Wii

Yes I said games, but when it comes to the Wii, you got to love them all. Red Steel looked a bit unready, but Wii Sports, Metroid and Mario Galaxy can’t be released soon enough. The new controllers will change the way we play games… and will require me throw some furniture out the window if I want room enough for 4 player Tennis…

Heavenly Sword (PS3)

The cover of Edge made me check the game out on the Internet and although it’s just God of War with a chick, I think that’s just what God of War was missing. A red-haired beauty slashes away with a couple of huge swords and chains. Gorgeously rendered, well animated and extremely sexy-violent (if there is such a thing), this might just be worth considering a PS3.

Dead or Alive: Extreme 2 (360)

It’s girls, in bikinis, in hi-def. Do I need to say more?

Some other titles also grabbed my attention, but these are the ones I’m losing sleep over. Xmas 2006 (and in some cases 2007) can’t come soon enough!

No, I’m still not starting my own (although I’ve been thinking about it)…

Podcasts have changed my life. No really. A big part of it even… Yes, those 2 hours (minimum) I spent commuting each day have become far less of a pain since I discovered the world of… podcasts. Hey! That’s 10 hours a week. So yeh, it is a big deal ^^.

Anyway, there are too many podcasts out there. And it really is getting hard to filter out the crap. So I’ll give you a list of what I think is worthy of your time… You are reading this blog so chances are big you sort of have the same interests, no?

Enough talk, to the list!

1UP Yours Radio Podcast: In my humble opinion, the best videogame podcast out there. Heated discussions on news, game reviews etc. If you want an honest opinion, this is the place to be.
Listen!

Adam Curry: Daily Source Code: It’s daily, so I can’t really find the time to listen to every single episode. Adam Curry, “the podfather”, talks about podcasting, his personal life and Second Life. Quite entertaining… for a Dutch ^^.
Listen!

Mondays - What Sunday Threw Up: Now these guys/girl are funny. And available almost every Monday! A 1+ hour show to brighten up your start of the week.
Listen!

The Kojima Productions Report: The latest news on Kojima, creators of Metal Gear Solid. Even if you aren’t into MGS, like me, it’s pretty interesting to hear about the latest developments on one of the greatest Japanese titles out there.
Listen!

Major Nelson: Your source for any Xbox 360 related news, head of Xbox Live gives you the latest info on the first next-gen console.
Listen!

Dreamstation.cc: A weekly show, filled with reviews and news on games, by, if I’m not mistaken, a group of Italian-American guys who really do make a fun show. They tend to talk a bit too much about The Godfather though ;)
Listen!

VGM Daily: Not as good as the previous, but these guys always have a bunch of nice game-related interviews ready. They have commercial breaks though. Thank god for the fast-forward button.
Listen!

As you noticed, lots and lots of game news enters my ears during those traffic jams. I’m like a walking games magazine! :D Ask me anything! There’s more, but nothing I’ll keep listening too for much longer. If you have any more to promote, let me know!

A Mac is really a PC and a PC can be a Mac but let’s not go there ^^. You’ve probably seen these ads before if you’ve visited the Apple site since last week, but they are really worth a look so, here you are, in case you’ve missed them.