Posts by DW

How to be a failure at Guitar Hero III

Maybe not a game for guitarists.

Your review is the same response to the game that I've heard from most of my guitar playing friends: it's nothing like playing a real guitar, so they don't like it. I don't really understand the complaint - as mentioned above, you wouldn't play a driving sim expecting to have to replace your broken rear tail light or be cut off by some idiot in a Mercedes, would you?

I don't play guitar, but do enjoy this game immensely. I'm fairly good with several other instruments, and once you get used to the game and the controller it's more or less like playing sheet music along with a band or orchestra. As with playing in an ensemble you have to stay in time, playing the right notes as your cues come up. The actual fingering isn't a transferable skill, but the improved sense of rhythm and good feel for music that comes with many years of group performance can be put to good use. The game is far easier to pick up than a real instrument, a good laugh to play with friends, and you get to pretend to be a rock star. I could hardly ask for more.

And MattBryant - there might not be a BFG, but there are several end of stage bosses including Slash and the devil (Lou).

eBayer punts Wii for £1m

Looks like there's a sale on.

The price has since been slashed to a mere £500,000. What a bargain!

Facebook 'friend request' lands UK man in jail

A couple of points.

I can quite easily see how someone could make a mistake and accidentally send an e-mail to people they don't mean to through Facebook. However, there are a few things which have been said here that are incorrect.

Firstly, it is not necessary to sign up to Facebook to view photos or albums on it. They can be linked to directly, although the function is hidden in very small print at the bottom of the page, so can easily be missed.

In any case, when you sign up you can indeed allow Facebook access to various of your address books, and it will then (this is an important point) ask for your permission to send e-mails to your contacts inviting them to join Facebook. Furthermore, once permission is given, any contacts already signed up to Facebook using an e-mail in your address book will automatically be sent a friend request.

The point here is that although the defendant ought to have been more careful in looking through the list of people Facebook was going to e-mail, it is unlikely that he realised a friend request was going to be sent.

While the judge may not have understood these subtleties, I think that he was ultimately correct in his decision - whether through a lack of care or through malice, the defendant broke the terms of his bail in a way that could quite easily have been prevented had he just looked through the page of people Facebook was going to contact and unchecked the box for his ex-wife. Whatever else in the process may be confusing, that particular step is made very obvious and easy to understand.