Nick R

I haven't caught up with all of the event from last night, but I saw the first couple of preliminary heats, and yeah it was a shame that wasn't enough to get him into the finals. (His second run was very similar to that one except when he tried the nose manual at the end he fell forwards into the bowl, so it was nice to see him land it in run #3!) The BBC commentators were (jokingly) complaining that the director of the Olympic broadcasting feed had chosen to cut away from Anderson's post-run freestyling in order to show the replays and the next skater's run!

Family Guy and 2DTV: together at last!

It's gone from the Internet now, but a few years ago the gaming forum Talking Time had a really good thread with a level-by-level analysis of Sonic 1's level design. The author had a persuasive argument that the concept behind the Marble Zone was to combine Sonic's movement with the block-based structure of Mario or a typical NES platformer, in order to highlight how advanced the preceding Green Hill Zone's smooth slopes were, compared to the earlier platformers with which most players were familiar. Essentially showing off to players: "Sonic has no trouble navigating a Mario level, but Mario could never get up the first big slope in a Sonic game!" This may be why the Marble Zone is among most people's least favourite non-water Sonic levels.

ImmaculateClump's was better.

When it comes to early '90s console-aping platform games on microcomputers in which the player controls an alien who can stick to walls... Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure > Zool

My above post was not what I originally came in this topic to post! I wanted to say that I caught up with the BBC's overnight broadcasts of the qualifiers (at least the ones they showed on BBC1) and the finals of the skateboarding, without having the result spoiled. Very tense conclusion, coming down to the very last trick by the 4th placed Sakura Yosozumi! I wondered why, when skaters fell early in their first or second run, the timer disappeared and they didn't get up and try and do a couple more tricks. I know they'd be shaken from a fall, and that it breaks their rhythm and stops them from doing their planned run, but it couldn't hurt to add a few more points to their initial "safety" run's score? But apparently the rule is that a fall automatically ends the run. The American was the one I saw carrying on after a fall, and that seemed mainly to play to the camera rather than to add to her score. Then after catching up with that, I turned on the live TV and Johnson-Thompson had just had her injury.

I don't think these two are good comparisons to anyone competing in the skateboarding, but if we're talking about outsider/wildcard athletes being applauded for just participating and then having an effect on the sport in their home countries, maybe Eric Moussambani (Eric the Eel) is a better example than Eddie the Eagle. To my knowledge Eddie did not lead to a lot of British ski-jump participation (though his records have long since been surpassed), whereas after Sydney 2000, apparently Equatorial Guinea gained 50m swimming pools and a formal swimming organisation (with Eric as a coach). As for people who gamed the system to make it in despite not being of the expected standard, there was Elizabeth Swaney in the skiing halfpipe at the 2018 winter Olympics:

WB missed out some artists' names from the credits. Never mind, they can go in a tweet instead! You might expect that the only people left uncredited were inexperienced people, just getting their start in the industry. But that's not the case, as the names include people like Tony Bancroft (co-director of Mulan!), Tom Bancroft, and Tony Cervone.

Simone Biles up now on beam.

Just turned the TV on a minute before

I finally did that a few days ago. Trust me, you don't.

The Crysis demo was also very extensive. The whole first mission, with the bit where you emerge from the jungle at the top of a hill, overlooking the huts and pier on the shoreline, with the patrol boat in the sea. The demo also included the Sandbox level editor, so you could give yourself the portable nuke weapon and use it to blow up those huts and trees on the opposite shore! Yes! Such a generous section of the game.

This disc had Rez and MGS2 playable demos, and an Ico video: https://wiki.pcsx2.net/Official_PlayStation_2_Magazine_Demo_17 My friend had that disc when it first came out, and I played it on his PS2. After playing through most of the MGS2 demo (I think I died at the door that's booby-trapped with explosives and laser tripwires), I put on the Rez demo (as I hadn't played the DC version yet) and my friend seemed a bit confused about why I was so enthusiastic about it! Several years later, after I got a PS2 of my own, I bought a copy of that demo disc from a charity shop. Also, the only issue of the Official PS mag I ever bought was the one that had this demo disc: https://wiki.pcsx2.net/Official_PlayStation_2_Magazine_Demo_69 I bought it primarily for the demo of Black, but the disc also had demos for both Shadow of the Colossus and Ico (plus Fahrenheit, and 24: The Game).

The women who asked that Blizzcon question has been interviewed by Kotaku: https://kotaku.com/what-really-happened-at-that-blizzcon-panel-according-1847408469

Also: Don't Let Me Down, Revolution, She's A Woman, Rain...