Hi. Finally! Sorry it took me so long! Well, I came across you a couple of moons ago after doing my yearly search ritual for any updates re: Elite IV (and the riddle of the missing Braben)... So I just wanted to say a warm friendly hello and thanks for putting all this together; pretty amazing job you've done here... impressive.... most impressive. Anyway, after looking at your games list I ended up buying Evochron Mercenaries... haven't had much time to get into it yet but it looked pretty sweet from the demo. The in-game music got a bit repetitive though so I think I'll just have my iPod playing in the background. What though? Anything actually good... from Beethoven to to Nick Drake to Sleater-Kinney to Led Zeppelin to Sisters of Mercy to Gary Numan to Alien Sex Fiend to Toyah Willcox (sorry, Lady Gaga failed my audition)... at the moment I'm in an Industrial/Gothic/Neue Deutsche Härte mood. Tell me what you think:

Music to skim the atmosphere to or sun dive? Currently Listening to: Umbra et Imago - Lieber Gott.

Speaking of Alien Sex Fiend though... anyone remember 'Inferno'? Bugger... I wish I still had that game. Not for the Space Sim but for the music on the CD-Rom! I did a remix of one of the instrumental tracks (just for friends, not pro) with some clips from 'Predator' mixed in... by sheer fluke, it worked. Things like 'aint got time to bleed' and 'it's using the trees' ... w/ Billy laughing low frequency style... hoh hoh hoh (I don't mean like Alan Rickman in Die Hard)...

I'm not sure why but around this time every year I seem to get in the mood for some Space-based gaming... maybe it's the darker nights? Not just gaming though, I mean a Sci-Fi mood in general... anyone else in the "Bladerunner" mood? For the past couple of years I've been watching the DVD box set of Blake's 7 around October time... not all at once... just the odd episode or two per night until I've seen them all over again. I don't watch current telly or any Rupert Moloch.. sorry.. Murdoch rubbish. Just give me a few old DVD's of Blake's 7, The Prisoner (or anything else with the wonderful Patrick McGoohan in), Babylon 5, Red Dwarf and Outland (the Sean Connery film), that'll do for me.

What else to say... oh yeah... anyone else here like Terry Pratchett? ("Sir" Terry now eh). I met him at a book signing some 15 years ago at the local 'Hammicks' bookshop in Harrow. He was promoting his latest Discworld novel. How is this even relevant here? heh... well my friend Ant had recently given me a hardback of 'Only You Can Save Mankind' (a birthday present I think). I didn't actually have any of his other books at the time so I took that along and he signed it (with a little message)... I was surprised w/ Ant actually getting annoyed with me (and I think a bit jealous cos' he hardly said a word to him when it was his turn!?) Haha what a crazy drama queen mentalist!? My Pratchett was a happy, chatty Pratchett like a cheshire cat (cat-chett?) Maybe 'cos I asked him if any "Space Sim" games inspired him to write the book - and his eyes lit up from under his big black hat and began to run off a list of some I'd never even heard of - I just nodded like an idiot and said something like 'um, yeah.. that's a classic!', but I had been playing Wing Commander (on the Amiga, hadn't got a PC yet like HE had) and said the book reminded me of it and he said YES! that's it! He also said he was a huge 'Privateer' player and played it whenever he could! Actually I really recommend that everyone should read this book (or at least get the audiobook, it's out there!) if you like Space Sims. That was the only reason I even mentioned this. Well, I think anyone who's had the pleasure of meeting him knows exactly what a wonderfully lovely man he is. If only more people were like him. Or I should say, if only more 'English' people were like him, that is. If you know what I'm talking about, then we're on the same page.

Speaking of book-signings, I almost forgot.. I met Buzz Aldrin that way as well. Again, he was selling a particular book, but I took along something completely and totally different; my copy of 'Buzz Aldrin's Race Into Space' (CD-Rom version haha) and he signed it. I suppose I was more interested in talking w/ him about his time as a fighter pilot in Korea, not that I knew very much about it or anything (I was born in 1969), I just wasted too many hours with those Microprose sims that it was impossible NOT to ask.... by the way, am I the oldest person here? You don't have to reveal your age or anything, just a yes or no will suffice, thanks.

By the way, I don't actually go to many book signings, in case you got that idea. After Douglas Adams, there didn't seem much point.

Fave Space Sim? Not sure... maybe Frontier: Elite 2... mainly 'cos it was cool to explore real stars (I'm into Astronomy, ever been on a Star Party in Texas?), but the Wing Commanders were fun for sure, especially the Hamill era.. that video with them spliced together was fun to watch. Speaking of FMV... Klingon Academy... hard to beat. Privateer II too. Crazed Brian Blessed is a win every time eh. Oh.. and don't forget that awful FMV from the Frontier First Encounters CD-Rom, heh. Thing is... it's so bad, it's good!!