As you can see the 'Best of Chatterbox' machine has quickly settled into its familiar routine of appearing several days late. It's mostly my fault, though, for not posting sooner, and besides, this edition is brought to you by relative newcomer to the 'best of' fold, Craggy Island.
This week's image was sent in by ImperfectRex. There are a couple more lined up but we still require your photographic genius. Just send in digital snaps (in landscape format) to gamesblog + at + googlemail + com - they must be game related, preferably in an exciting or unusual context.
Now read!
Monday
The dying embers of Glastonbury chatter spiced up this hot July Monday on the 'box. While a few bloggers had attended, and popped in to tell all later in the week, the Monday was all about the TV coverage and the vitriol it generally provoked, which was particular aimed at some of the presenters. Opinions were probably best be summed up by the opinion of Bigworv:
"Some bloke called Reggie introduced Ghost Town by The Specials at length, and was talking as if it was some unknown gem that I wouldn't have heard and he was a wonderful human being for introducing it into my life."
As for other presenters, Laverne and Radcliffe attracted some rare praise, but the bulk of the chatter (and the fury) was aimed at Jo Whiley. Let's just hope that neither she nor her family members read the blog...
The Glastonbury chatter also revealed a Chatterbox celebrity stalker, Dizzyisanegg, who delighted us with his hazy memories of meeting Lauren Laverne:
"Met once. She was lovely. Annoyingly I'd taken off my Kenickie T-shirt before going out and was pished by the time I spotted her on the street. I said hello, there was a bit of chat, good night, etc. She said where are you from, I told her then I said 'ohmygodIhadonmykenickietshirtearlierIcan'tbelieveItookitoff'. Seriously, I loved kenickie and was torn away from her by my flatmate who said something like 'I'm sure he's very pleased to meet you, but he'll thank me for removing him from this situation in the morning".
Sometime later he added:
"Just emailed my old flatmate about that to make sure it really did happen. She said 'Do you remember the other girl from that night?' Pretty puzzled so 'no' was the answer. Apparently I was taking a lady back to our flat but broke away mid conversation to go and chat to Laverne. That girl was never heard from again and apparently I didn't notice she'd left for about 20 minutes."
Who would have thought that Kenickie were ever that popular? [I would! I loved them too. Acetone is still one of my favourite songs of all time - Keef]
Tuesday
On Tuesday we all seemed to have been affected by the heat andm apart some chatter about the tennis and the oppressive humidity, things got off to a slow start. There was some conversation about poker, both online and with the presence of other 'real' people, but the day's chat didn't really get going until talk moved on to foreign cinema recommendations. For those of you requiring subtitled goodness try:
Amelie
Irreverible (though may not be to everyone's taste)
Tell No One
Pan's Labyrinth
(And so many others)
Talk then moved on with a question about fatherhood and gaming from JuanBlanco:
"A question for all those Daddies out there! Baby Blanco should be arriving on this planet in about 4 weeks time! Is babyrearing & gaming a possibility - or is it game over?"
Useful replies from PirateCaptain, Salubriousone, Pepperino and Killerbee. The consensus appeared to be that you could still game after the introduction of your new addition, but that short and sweet games were definitely the way to go. For that reason, online could be difficult as you may have to stop at any time. Let's hope that all goes well for JuanBlanco and that he finds it more rewarding and successful than his beloved Tamagoitchi...
Wednesday
Was all about toadying up to Guardian contributor AdamBoult and cracking the "what games to buy for PS3," chestnut. Recommendations were for all of the usual suspects:
Fallout 3
Dead Space
Wipeout HD
Valkyria Chronicles
Killzone 2
Far Cry 2
GTA 4
Assasins Creed
Bioshock
Resistance 2
Motorstorm: Pacific Rift
Chronicles Of Riddick
LittleBigPlanet
Uncharted
Predictably, choices proved controversial and there was quite a lot of division amongst the ranks about what should make the cut. Tony and Phil King were lonely voices suggesting Lair...
The other big story was the death of Goody's PS3. Let's hope that this doesn't become a common theme, as there are quite a few Chatterbox regulars whose machines are now out of warranty. Most people will probably be interested to see how he gets on with requesting that the shop pay for an out of warranty repair.
Thursday
Was most notable for the late appearance of TonyHayersEvilTwin. Apart from that, we saw a considerable amount of chat about the Wii Motion Plus, with many of us shelling out for yet more of Nintendo's white plastic tat.
Also the long-standing flirting between Cunning and Automatic led CBPodge to post a comparison between well-known Chatterboxers and characters from Friends:
Joey: Hayers
Ross: Cunning
Monica: Sheep2 - hates germs, so we can assume he's obsessively neat and seems to look better the older her gets.
Phoebe: Smellavision - does weird arty stuff.
Rachel: Automatic
Chandler: Everyone else
Not sure that it fits completely, but Smike certainly secured his position as Chandler's angry flatmate Eddy, with the following outburst:
"Anyone who likens me to any character on Friends is a Dead Man!!! I will find out where you live and make you suffer!!! Aaargh! Just thinking about Friends has made me angry."
Clearly a Will & Grace fan.
Friday
No real Friday question this week, perhaps we are running out? Closest thing being an inquiry as to whether we were lefties or righties from JuanBlanco. There was quite a bit of chatter about regional accents with Irish, Scouse, Scots, Brummie, Bristolian and Geordie all getting a mixed reaction as the conversation strayed into sectarian territory. Luckily, we all stepped back from the brink...
The week rounded off with a discussion about what type of carrier bag the fashionable Ned-around-town uses in a rainstorm (Farm Foods seemed to be a favourite). This was followed by the age old question of whether you would rather be a Ninja or a Pirate? Isn't that what caused the famous violent disagreement between Karl Popper and Ludwig Wittgenstein at the Cambridge moral science club in October 1946?
The lists
Movies
Foreign films in general
Transformers2
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Games
Bloodbowl
Demon's Souls
Oblivion
PES (new League season)
Monster Hunter Freedom United
Sacred2
Grand Slam Tennis
Fallout3
