Another one captured in your net!

[Guest]

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!!

[sscadmin]

Hey Avon Welcome to SSC first off, I have the demo of Mercenary on my machine but haven't even installed it yet Seems like I never have time to game any more. And speaking of Blade Runner (http://www.blu-ray.com/movies/Blade-Runner-Blu-ray/545/) I have been thinking about this set because it has all the different versions they have come out with over the years and the Blu-Ray transfer looks pretty good and this movie is definitely worth adding to any scifi person's collection.I am a huge fan of the WC/Priv series and would like nothing more than to see EA resurrect this franchise and take it to the next level. But do keep an eye out for Wing Commander Saga because that should be done very soon and it looks great.Enjoy the site and glad you were able to pickup the signal and vector in SSC's location.

[Guest]

Thanks for the welcome and thanks again for the website, I really appreciate it. And thanks for the Bladerunner link! Yes I heard about that awesome set... not got my hands on it yet but I'll be writing to Santa soon, thanks for the reminder! I'm a big Rutger Hauer fan btw. I think the biggest missed-opportunity in movie-casting ever was a young Rutger not getting to play the part of Manfred von Richthoven... oh well. I like Ridley's films too, The Duellists is one of my top films for sure, but I can't watch Alien without thinking of Dark Star heh. I'm reading "Do Androids Dream of.." at the moment, I thought it was time to finally get around to it! I'm sure you know this already but my reminder for you is whatever you do, don't forget to only install that EvoMerc demo until you know you have time set aside for it; that time-limit was around 88 minutes I think and I only had a brief look in... I forgot and left it running while I got distracted cooking dinner, so I had to buy it... and now I don't seem to have any time to actually play it now either haha! My thought was just that it's a good idea to buy it now rather than later (while we still can?). Look in the mods section on the official site for the cockpit mods. I thought the cockpit was cool to start with but there's some nice work being done over there.PS: Random Thought: did anyone here play 'Captain Blood'? The Space Sim I mean... heh that could mean anything! Or.. what about Jeff 'Yak' Minter's Revenge of the Mutant Camels & Hovver Bovver? Oh and speaking of films... Tron: Legacy is going to be epic!! Oh no I've really rambled on far too much, sorry I'm such an idiot. I'll drop in again sometime, take care commander until the next mission.

[Geraldine]

A Pratchett fan, a Blake's 7 fan, a Miggy fan,..... my goodness could this possibly be the most well rounded individual to ever set foot on the SSC?Welcome to the SSC Avon You like books? Do try the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, although I suspect you already have