Cruel Seas - a preview

I have posted what others have considered some unkind thoughts on Cruel Seas back when it was released and, for a good while, I had no intention of approaching the game in any form. However, as time passed, I gave it a bit more thought and considered giving the game a go because the period had some attraction. I picked up a few books on the subject and that decided it. Let me be clear though: the interest in the period dictated the renewed interest in the game. History first, gaming second as far as I go.

That decision was followed by some umming and ahhing about buying the rule set and the kit to go with it. Seeing as I only wanted to give it a go, I didn't want to spend a great deal on what might only be a single outing. Fortunately, Warlord Games' marketing department (un)knowingly provided a solution. With a couple of issues of Wargames Illustrated sporting Sellotaped sprues, one magazine purchase by myself and a couple of donations (thanks, Andy and Shaun!), meant I had the kernel of a game. First Partizan this year saw me taking the plunge and buying the rule set (the only money I have actually paid directly to support the game, by the way. Maybe the marketing trick of free sprues worked???). Incidentally, at that show, the WI stand were offering a free sprue with every purchase. Hmmm...

Miniature Wargames then got in on the act, offering another sprue, so another magazine purchase added two more boats, followed by some more donations (thanks again to Andy and Shaun). As you can see below, I now have a dozen boats and some torpedo markers to play with for the cost of £20. The magazines would have been purchased regardless of their cover gifts.

I paid for one item here...

Now, I haven't played the game yet, having just perused the rules, but before passing comment on those, I must note the method in which I have acquired the kit. Maybe the marketing of the game was designed to nudge you in the direction of buying the rules, then you'd get more plastic after giving it a go. Maybe the game didn't launch as well as expected and that led to the deluge of plastic on magazine covers. Maybe something in between. I don't know, but in past employment, when I saw so much given away so early in a product's life cycle, that raised concerns about the success of that product. As I say, I could be totally wrong, (and I am also a cynic at heart), but it just feels a little off. Anyhoo, to the rule set themselves.

Pretty, yes. useful, no.

What we have here is a very glossy, picture heavy tome. A couple of spelling and grammar issues (I know, stones and glasshouses here!) do not spoil the overall quality and the game itself seems very straight forward. The mechanisms seem well thought out and not too finicky, though I am not a fan of either the activation process or the dice heavy torpedo rules. The amount of actual historical content is surprisingly high (with a but to be included below) and is backed up by a good bibliography with some excellent sources included. An observation though: the bibliography starts by referencing the Osprey titles about the period (indeed, most of the hand drawn illustrations are from those Ospreys), before noting the non-Osprey sources. Would I be too cynical to suggest that the publisher is guiding readers to their own products first, with the high probability that the "other recommended" sources were also used in the production of those Ospreys in the first place? Possibly, but then there is the full page Osprey advert a page later...

From what I have read, I am looking forward to putting on a game with the group when I get the kit painted (stop sniggering at the back!) and see how we take to Cruel Seas. I do, however, have a few points to make just from the read through...

• The rule set is a giant catalogue. Let's not kid ourselves here. I have seen more than one interview with games designers who has stated that the whole point of rule sets is to sell toys and it is no different here. True, the photographs of the boats are lovely and certainly give a sense of action and drama, but since these are diorama style set ups, no game will ever look that good without some serious (and OTT) effort. Also of note, nearly every page has at least  illustration/image, others are single or double page spreads of photographs, and others are a mixture of both illustrations and photographs. Out of a count of 108 pages, only 12 do not have an image of some kind - and I am not counting the token counters as images. I know the game designers needs to earn a crust, but this is very much style over substance.

The layout. I'm not sure...

• Dice - they will sell me dice for each of the fleets in their own little bag. For £24 a pack. 16 dice (plus bag) for £24. Yes, I know these are unique dice for the game, but seriously, a quick internet search for dice can get me 20 of the buggers for £4! Slightly bigger dice, plus a bag will cost £4 for 10. I can work round the usage issues from there with a teensy bit of thought. And Warlord want £24 for one(!) fleets' worth. Get tae f...!
• As a mechanism, the activation process isn't something I like. I know, it's a personal thing, and it may work well with the game so we'll see. Most games I have played have been simultaneous movement so I will withhold judgement until we play a game.
• Torpedo hits - they require 16 dice (where could I get that many dice... Oh!). It also means, on average scores, you are unlikely to destroy any of the bigger ships, meaning the other player won't go into a huff early on if you sink their big shiny model. Regardless, it's finicky.
• Points - This is a personal thing again, and take into account I have never been a competition gamer, but the designers have put a fair bit of thought into this game and have nodded to historical accuracy. Why then, instead of actual dispositions and force strengths, go for a points based allocation system? Then I remembered, you build your force to the points level you are playing with, which means you buy the kit to fit that points total. Historical accuracy be damned! A lot of my ire towards points systems stems from its inability to be historically accurate unless a ton of thought has gone into it. I recall a rule set in the 90's where you couldn't field what 2 Para had at Goose Green because you didn't have enough points. But that's me, and as I have said before, I am a history buff first and foremost, a historical war gamer second and a gamer third. In any case, I will decide the scenario based on the kit I have and the points allocation will not be taken into account when we do our play through. 
• Historical accuracy. Well, it's there. It's a bit hit and miss, and as noted above, the use of points to define forces means you can do pretty much whatever you want in the game. But the biggest issue I have is that the designers have started off well and then gamed the accuracy out of the window. Would an order of battle been too much to ask for specific theatres? What about actual battles or contacts? Why not try and teach a little bit of history to players in the guise of a game? 
• Condescension. There are little dialogue boxes with hints and advice, each fronted by a nation specific character. Why? I do not need to imagine a chap giving me advice. Place this information in the body of the text and let me read it there. I can cope with this. Finally, there is the whole "have fun, enjoy yourself, treat your fellow player/players with respect" and all that jazz. If you are the type of person who has to be told by the rule set how to be civil or friendly (considering who you are likely to be playing this game with), then something went seriously wrong long before you picked up Cruel Seas.

It may seem that I am being a little harsh but, on the whole, I am cautiously optimistic about playing it. It is plain to see that a lot of effort has gone into the game and my view is tempered by my cynicism to corporate,  marketing and gaming innit bull poo. However, play the game we shall and I will place a report, alongside observations from myself and the rest of the group, on here afterwards. As for when, probably later on in the year.

Helion & Company: The Iran-Iraq War volumes.

Helion and Company have a great track record of publishing titles on some really obscure conflicts and topics, and it was at a war games show last year that I saw the four volume set for the Iran-Iraq War. That conflict is something I recall being on the news quite a bit as a child and as the late 20th Century is my period of choice, purchasing these volumes was an easy decision to make.

Volume one covers the initial battle for the province of Khuzestan in South Western Iran between 1980 and 1982. Volume two follows up with the Iranian response that eventually saw the Faw Peninsula fall to Iranian forces between 1982 and 1986. Volume three takes up the rest of the war, where Iraqi forces retook the Faw Peninsula and battered Iranian forces to a stalemate, at least on the ground. In the air, they had overcome the Iranian Air Force. The final volume relates to the conflict on the fronts further north. Although the fighting was equally bitter, it was not on the same scale as the conflict in the south.

Written by E.R. Hooton, Tom Cooper and Farzin Nadimi, the books themselves are quite slim, following the usual Helion format. At  around 80-ish pages each, these books combine well written text with numerous contemporary photographs, custom illustrations and details colour plates. Each volume contains an excellent biography and extensive notes on the main text and my only real issue with the series (and other Helion texts) is the lack of maps. More precisely, the lack of maps at the right juncture. In many, there is a detailed map with the names of key towns, facilities and the like, but they always seem to be placed in the back of the book. It would be handy if such maps were near the front where you can see them before being deluged with place names in the text, It is, however, a minor complaint.

Taken as a whole, the Middle East @ War Series volumes 5, 6, 9 and 10 provide a superb introduction, overview and description of the Iran-Iraq War and offer not only eye-witness accounts but also well argued analysis of the conflict. Given the nature and recent history of both nations, it is unlikely that we'll ever see a definitive single (or multi) volume history of this struggle but this quad of tomes is certainly enough to give the reader a finer appreciation of it. Indeed, the political shenanigans of the various factions within Iran was a revelation to me and provided a much greater depth of understanding as to why the state of Iran behaved the way it did. That and the ever-repeated experience of Iraq where dictators try to control too much centrally and end up making a hash of whatever they are trying to achieve.

Some might complain about the quality of the photographs (which is unwarranted considering the paucity of imagery anyway, due to the nature of the combatants) and the lack of detail in specific operations but as mentioned before, the bibliography is extensive and there are companion volumes also published by Helion that focus on specific aircraft types and their histories (The Mirage F1 and MiG 23 volumes in the same Middle East @ War Series provide far greater detail on the introduction to service and combat operations for those types).

I highly recommend these books to anyone with an interest in that specific conflict, the politics of the nations involved and late 20th Century military conflict in general. The information contained within is as much good use to war gamers as to history buffs and would contribute well to any game no matter what rule set you use. Certainly as far as my wargaming goes, future ventures to H'irraq will have some added verisimilitude courtesy of these fine books and others from Helion and Co.

If these titles have caught your interest or you just want to have a look at what else Helion offer, visit their website here.

Retro tech review: the Sony PEG-UX50

The Sony PEG-UX50 is a dinky little thing, looking a lot like a miniature laptop than the personal entertainment organiser it is advertised to be. What's that you say? What's a personal entertainment organiser? Well, it could be the posh job title for a concierge at a brothel (do brothels have concierges?), but it's actually a media orientated personal digital assistant. Released in 2003, it cost $699. A cheaper wi-fi less model, the UX40, cost $100 less. Put into 2019 money, that's equivalent to $970, or £765 (which does not include VAT!). So what did this princely sum buy you 16 years ago? Well, quite a bit...

As you can see, this is switched on. There is a menu on-screen...

Let's get the elephant out of the room. This is ostensibly a PDA but it is also very much a convergence device, that lovely, near mythical beast of jack and master of all trades. And, like many attempts in the past, whilst Sony took a decent swing at the all-in-one concept, it ended up landing a glancing blow rather than  a solid hit. But it doesn't half look cool!

Ah, that's better! The normal menu view

Specs first, and we have a Sony CXD2230GA processor running at 123MHz. This is based on the ARM 5 core and gives the ability to run video playback at 30 frames per second. This was once a big deal! It also supports variable scaling of the clock speed, meaning if there was not much of a workload for the CPU, it would slow down to maximise battery life. Memory is a quite generous 104MB, divided between storage for programs (16MB), system back-up (16MB) and media storage (29MB) and it's the latter that explains the UX50's purpose.

The rolodex view: funky but impractical

The screen is rather good, for the time. With a 480x320 resolution and 16-bit colour (meaning 65,536 colours), it is also back-lit. This, by the way, is mandatory. With the back light off, it's nearly impossible to read, even in bright sunlight. It also swivels around to lie flat against the keyboard, making the UX50 a mini-convertible. Connectivity is well catered for with a proprietary Memory Stick slot, USB for desktop syncing, Infrared, Bluetooth and 802.11b standard Wi-fi. Given all of that, there is a fair amount of tech in the compact casing. It's not overly heavy either, being built with magnesium-alloy rather than plastic, which also means it is also quite sturdy. An extendable stylus, non-removable lithium-ion battery, mandatory (I'll explain later) docking sled and a rotating 0.3 megapixel camera complete the package. There is also a lip that overhangs when the device is shut. This contains some shortcut keys (back, internet, email and organiser) and a scroll wheel, more about which later. It must be noted that this was the time when Sony kept adding scroll wheels to devices and in the context of the UX50, it is a useful item. Oh, and what looks like a fitting for a lanyard. I have no idea who would attach several hundred dollars of kit to a bag, belt or wrist but if you ever felt the need, Sony have you covered.

Right hand side: MS slot and headphone jack. Stylus to the left.

Left hand side: Power switch, Infrared USB and lanyard.

Software is based upon Palm OS v5.2. The usual apps are present and correct and they cover a wide range of organiser type activities. You also get MP3 playback, a web browser, an email client, an audio recorder, as well as video and photo apps for the camera. Even a text message app for your ultimate in 2003 communication needs! The scroll wheel is handy here as if you use the rotary menu view as it helps navigate the menu in the style of a rolodex. It also does that in the non-rolodex view but it suits the former better. It's a bit of a dubious feature as the screen resolution doesn't allow you to make out much in the way of detail on the apps unless they are pretty much in the centre of the screen. But still, it shows some consideration to the UI.

SMS: So 2003, darling!

As for the rest of the hardware, comment must be made about the keyboard. Firstly, they managed to fit one in, so the industrial design of the UX50 deserves applause. Secondly, despite the keys being quite small and hard to press, they are well spaced (helped by the ridged effect) and with two thumbs, you can get some decent note-taking done. The ridged design also complements the look of the device.

Closed, with lanyard hoop (!), scroll wheel and shortcut keys

In use, it is a nippy little thing and even through casual use, you can't help but think that the UX50 would have been a handy device to carry around. If you had the cash, that is. And access to a plug. You see, at this point, the convergence device dream falters. Here we go!

Battery life: despite the processor scaling and the easy to use docking sled, reviews at the time commented upon the sub-standard battery life. Three to four hours of steady use was about the limit, and wi-fi would hammer that even further, meaning the UX50 could never get through a full day unless you barely used it. Add the back-lit screen and whilst there are many things you can do with the UX50, you would need to do them rather quickly before you killed the battery. In the actual model I have, the battery lasts about an hour, decent enough considering its age and unknown previous use. Oh, and that sled? That is the only way to charge the device. There is no charging port on the UX50 itself. That means you need the sled and power cable which, by the way, uses a power brick that also takes up a fair amount of space and a separate lead for the plug. Hmmm.

On its sled, that port is Sony's own design.

The screen - it really is a bit too small. The relatively low resolution means that the small text in the web browser is almost impossible to see. That and the grainy effect destroys much of the quality of any video or photographs you may wish to view. Speaking of images, the on-board camera is also very poor, though for the time, it was possibly considered decent. Age has not been kind to imaging expectations. The screen also makes using the rotary menu view a bit too difficult to use for comfort. As noted above, without the back light, you ain't seeing diddly squat.

Screen folded over, actually pretty neat!

Storage is another issue. If music or video is your thing, then you are going to have to use the Memory Stick slot to add extra storage and that is a pet hatred of mine. Not the external storage per-se, more Sony's attitude to memory cards. Rather than use cheaper and more widely available Secure Digital format cards, they used their own proprietary (and suitably expensive) MS cards. True, this was a source of income for them, but as was proved with the PSP and PSP Vita handheld consoles, people were turned off by the idea of the costly extra memory, especially when you compared prices and realised how much they were gouging you for. But as already noted, Sony liked their proprietary standards back then.
The stylus. Whilst the UX50 has a touchscreen, it is resistive, so you're going to need that stylus or a finger nail. The supplied stylus is too small to use comfortably, even when extended and very easy to mis-place.

Size. It may seem churlish to decry the keyboard. After all, I have just said that it is decent. But the hard keys will wear you down over time and whilst good for note taking, they are no good for longer periods of use.

In the here and now, the PEG-UX50 can be seen for what it was: an attempt to have an all-round entertainment/productivity and organiser tool. The form factor is something I really like and, prior to touchscreens entering the mobile phone market, is one of the best examples of the mobile keyboard format I have seen - my favourite yet has to be a Blackberry 9300 but that's just me. The thing is, the UX50 was hobbled by the technology of the day and, to be honest, the target market it was aimed for. As in, what was the target market? For entertainment on the move, it was expensive and individual devices could offer a similar capability for a combined price lower than $699 and doing a better job all round. True, you'd have more kit to carry but money does talk and the amount this cost when released (and the equivalent now) is far too much for the consumer market. Indeed, many consumer devices have faltered with an RRP north of $500. As for the mobile professional, the price was bearable but the added entertainment features may have been considered unwarranted and the battery life too poor (it also doesn't help that the internal battery is non-removable so that docking sled would need to be carried too, reducing the usefulness of having to carry only one device given the sled's size). It is certainly well made and very well designed, just not overly practical.

Convergence devices always sound like a good idea (Teas maid/alarm clocks spring to mind), but they are often less than the sum of their parts. That should never be a reason not to consider them, just accept that there may be compromises that hobble the usefulness of the device. Even today, whilst the ubiquitous mobile phone can be considered the generic equivalent to the UX50, there are still issues that demonstrate these compromises. Battery life could always be better. Controls, especially for gaming, are impacted by the touchscreen interface, whereas physical controls may often prove better. Then there is the screen size itself, limited by the physical need to have the device able to be used by one hand. And no, I will never buy into the folding screen dream, that's just one more thing to break.

Still, as a history piece, the UX50 is worthy of remembrance, for the alternative ideas back when industrial design, greater competition and market focus had not succumbed to the homogeneity of today. And it still looks cool!

Recent Reads - A Trio.

Another chance to get through the reading pile occurred recently and it must be said that the to be read pile is getting rather low now, no more than two dozens titles left. Believe me when I say this is quite good for me. This time, I managed to finish three titles of interest, two very informative and one entertaining.

I'll start with the entertaining title first: "Disaster at Stalingrad" by Peter Tsouras. I picked this up at a book shop just off the Minster in York last year and I must say it's been a fun read. Tsouras has form in the alternate history genre and this is another corker. Taking up most of 1942, Disaster at Stalingrad posits a naval battle around supply convoy PQ17 that destroys the German surface fleet as a going concern but also ends the Allied convoys to Murmansk. A simultaneous move to bring supplies in via Persia and German intrigues in Turkey combine to affect the conflict around Stalingrad and the German push to the Caucasus region. The end result? Well, you'll have to read the book for that, but I can say that Tsouras writes in an easy going and plain style, combining action with information that gives you a well defined image of the conflict and the actions of those within that conflict. You may not agree with the ending of the book, and it certainly leaves more questions than answers (as does most alternate history), but as a take on what could have happened in World War Two, this definitely beats space lizards.

Next up is "Hue 1968" by Mark Bowden. This is a narrative history of the battle of Hue during the Tet Offensive, and boy does it not pull any punches. A journalist by trade, Bowden has written an excellent account of the battle, even-handed in its portrayal of both sides, immaculately researched (the source notes and interviewees give a sense of the effort put into this book), and packed with visceral detail. Some of the descriptions are not for the faint of heart yet he paints a vivid picture of a battle that few expected to fight. Neither the Viet Cong/NVA forces (who expected the general population to rise up and support the North), nor the US armed forces (more experienced in jungle warfare and very derogatory about the capabilities of the Viet Cong/NVA, which was to cost them dearly) were ready for urban warfare, and preconceptions on both sides were torn up by the bloody, bitter fighting that caused massive casualties for both the armed combatants and the civilian population caught in between. Indeed, the American generalship of the period is put very much under the microscope as well as the political motives that guided the military's actions and it is very much true that the battle of Hue and the Tet Offensive in general made real the fears that America did not have the will to win, just the will to get out without too much a loss of face. "Hue 1968" is an extraordinary book about a period that seems to have been forgotten. Indeed, 'Nam 1965-1972 by Battlefront games doesn't mention Hue at all in its 1968 section, preferring the siege of Khe Sanh. This may fit into the stereotype of the conflict, but that is to miss the point. Of course, there are other rule sets available. Any wargamer who wishes to re-fight Vietnam would be well served if they read this book first as even if it does not cover your area of interest, it certainly puts the human story into perspective.

Finally, "The Challenge" by Andrew Lambert takes us back a bit further in time to the War of 1812 and the naval battles fought between America and Britain. It is an easy read and extremely detailed, Lambert has a good eye for detail and a writing style that suits this type of book. I certainly learned a lot about the naval actions, ships and the participants. Tactics are well described as is the basis of the war. The conflict on land gets only brief mentions: this is a story of economic embargo, fraught naval battles and gentlemanly conduct. It is also nice to have a non-American view of the conflict, as not everything is about the debacle that was New Orleans. I mean, when you go to war ostensibly to end a supposed wrong but really to take Canada and Florida but end up with a ruined economy, no coastal trade, neither Canada nor Florida and a rather singed Presidential home, yet still claim victory, well, that says something. One of the points of this book is that the War of 1812 was something Britain considered a nuisance, a side show to the existential struggle against Napoleon. Britain ended the war having secured peace and so began the era of Pax Britannica, hardly the sign of a defeated nation. A comment raised by Lambert is that the true losers in America were the Native allies of the British and slaves and that is a very fair point. Criticism of the book: it can come across as a little bit too biased to the British, but then again, maybe not. After reading several tomes on the War of 1812 and the inherent American bias, it is nice to read an alternative view. As with all history, the more sources you read on a period, the greater your understanding of that period, and I heartily recommend this one to create a balanced view.

Haynes - 57 varieties???

The Haynes Owner's Workshop Manuals are a bit of a British staple. From 1960 onwards, there were manuals printed for pretty much every mainstream car in the UK. A few years ago, Haynes branched out from the car market and started producing manuals for everything else. Ignoring the Alien Invasion and Zombie Apocalypse ones, what caught my interest were the Manuals for aircraft, ships and military vehicles.

Just a few of the many available

With a retail price of £25.00, this could be seen as quite expensive but they are quite common in remainder book shops like The Works and you can get them quite cheaply on Amazon. Most of the above cost me £6 a piece!

They follow the same format, a history of the subject, then a technical description covering design, weapons, propulsion and  the like, specialist versions and then a service history. What makes these books an excellent source is that whilst all of the information contained within them is already public knowledge, it's the way they place all of that information in one volume. It helps that the authors of each volume are experienced in their field - the Chieftain and Challenger 2 editions, for instance, are written by a gentleman who served twenty years in the British Army and used and commanded such vehicles in service. These are not the be all and end all of their respective topics by any means, but they include decent bibliographies for further reading and a wealth of illustrations and photographs. Indeed, if you're a modeler or wargamer who wants to put some realistic kit on the table, you'll find a lot of detail in these books that will make your efforts that much better.

In a sense, these are similar to Ospreys, and can be considered a good introduction to their respective topics. The advantage the Haynes volumes have is that they are more detailed, have much better imagery and can be found (outside of war games shows), a bit cheaper than Ospreys.

Aquaman - Problems, Questions and Concerns

I never much fancied watching Warner Bros/DC's Aquaman when it had its cinematic release. Lack of time and apathy conspired to rob me of the opportunity. So it was with some interest that I was loaned the DVD by my friend Eddie. That interest died a small death when he commented that it was one of the worst superhero films he'd ever watched and made Green Lantern look average. Oh hell. But, in the interest of fairness, and being suitably forewarned, my good lady and I settled down last night to watch it. We are never getting those two hours back. Ever.

Let's start with the problems. The film begins by describing how Arthur Curry's (Aquaman) parents met. Played by Temuera Morrison and Nicole Kidman, this is a brief intro, and the filmmakers have used digital de-ageing techniques to make them look younger. This has some pedigree in superhero movies as the MCU has used the technique a few times, most notably (and brilliantly) on Samuel L Jackson in Captain Marvel. Here, however, the effect is terrible. I have seen more realistic CGI character in videogames and at best, it looks weird. At worst, it's scary. Bad stuff happens and the movie moves on.

Then the film cuts to Arthur as a child and a school trip to an aquarium, where he gets to demonstrate his communication abilities with sea life. Then it cuts to the present day. That's it. No further explanation or examination of the consequences of this. Nothing.

Now we have the introduction of the adult Aquaman, and an action sequence set on a Russian submarine. Decent enough, but the film clearly has no idea how submarines work (ballast and floating are an issue) and when you see the submarine in action a bit later, they've forgotten that there was a massive explosion in the torpedo room (from which it is firing torpedoes!) and it sank due to having several holes in it (ballast tanks, the hatch through which Aquaman entered and left, etc).

I could go on, but nah, I really can't be bothered to go into that much detail, so here are the high (low)-lights:

• The music - a cheesy Vangelis-style rip off that really doesn't much suit the tone of the film.
• The tone of the film - is it heavyweight drama, or a Flash Gordon style adventure?
• If it is a Flash Gordon style adventure, and that's the tone of it for much of the time, Flash Gordon did it much, much better.
• CGI - aside from the de-aging already mentioned, let's bring up the sets. It's pretty obvious where they used green screen for some outdoor scenes and by god does it show! It's pretty common now and even the rather good Black Panther suffered a fair bit from this. The overall effect looks cheap.
• Physical sets - the Sicilian village looks like it's been stolen from Mamma Mia 2.
• The fight in Sicily - Black Manta's costume and dialogue, as well as the fight scene itself, would make the Power Rangers TV show blush in embarrassment. He looks terrible. 
• The drumming octopus(!)
• The Karathen - they couldn't seem to get the rights to use the word Kraken. WTF?
• The final battle - a CGI mess (to be fair, most of the "underwater" bits are decent enough). The final battle though, is just terrible. And they stole from pretty much every Godzilla movie with the use of the Karathen in actions and sound effects.
• Aquaman's intelligence - is he clever? Stupid? Playing dumb? And he ends up being King Arthur. They stole from Arthurian legend. There is not an original idea in here.

In fairness, most of the cast do well with what they've got, and Jason Momoa is fun on-screen, but every time I see Amber Heard and that god-awful wig, I just think they really wanted Scarlett Johansson and couldn't get her due to Marvel commitments.

Questions: Why? What was the point of this movie? Why did it make $ 1 billion plus at the box office? What the hell were they all thinking? (Naturally, with that billion comes the promise of a sequel and a spin off).

Concerns: If this is the future of the DC cinematic universe, count me out. I liked the Nolan "Dark Knight" series, despite their logic gaps, and I wanted to like the rebooted version of Bat-fleck, but after wasting time with Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad, I am not sure I want to keep up with it. True, Wonder Woman was brilliant but the sequel sounds a bit iffy. I have never seen Man of Steel (not that big a Superman fan, he's just too... boring). I have no interest in Justice League, and Shazam, well, meh!

I get what DC are trying to do, and that is to equal Marvel and Disney with their slate of films - but the issue here is that Marvel planned their course carefully: standalone titles followed by team ups and a strong continuing story, culminating in Avengers: Endgame that looks, at the time of writing, of hitting the frankly ludicrous goal of an opening weekend of $1 billion worldwide. Extreme, I know, but there has been a lot of hard work (and 21 previous films in the series) to get to that point, and that is something the DC tried to circumvent and boy, have they been burned because of it.

So, my recommendation: avoid like the plague. I hear Eddie is trading his copy in at CEX...

Hey! Listen! - A Book Review

As you may know, the history of computing and video games is one of my things. I have a decent, if not complete, collection of books on the topic and whenever a new title is announced, it gets my attention pretty quickly. And so it was when "Hey! Listen!" was released earlier this week. I picked up a copy at Waterstones in short order and read it within a couple of days.

A bit of background here: Steve McNeil is definitely a video game fan. The blurb on the back tells you this but having seen him in the TV show "Dara O Briain's Go 8 Bit" which lasted 27 episodes over three series on Dave (a show he created off-screen before the on-screen shenanigans) he does know his stuff. His natural enthusiasm for games, both playing them, and their history, translates very well into this book.

Now the author admits that there are more detailed and in-depth books out there on the subject, and he provides an excellent bibliography at the back of "Hey! Listen!" to prove that, but that cannot be taken as a negative point about this book. McNeil sets out his aim in the introduction: this will cover the industry from the date of his earliest experiences with it to the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (where the title of the book also comes from). And what a journey it is.

This is a history of computing and video gaming, from the background given about Space War and the founding of Atari, to the bitter court fights between Sega and Nintendo in the early '90's but told through the eyes of a slightly hyperactive man child - and that's not a criticism. In fact, it makes for a very well written and easy to read book. McNeil's voice is clarity itself through the writing and he peppers almost every page with footnotes as well. I must admit that when I started having to look at these, I found it a bit tiresome - I am a believer that footnotes should be used sparingly as they can take you out of the narrative very quickly, but with "Hey! Listen!", they do exactly the opposite. McNeil uses these for comic anecdotes, remarks and just plain fooling about, whilst also keeping on topic. By the half way point of the book, I was looking forward to these to see what gems he had added. And this is the thing that makes "Hey! Listen!" such a good book: it gives you a very readable account of the industry's history whilst making you laugh (at times out loud). I have even recommended it to my wife, not because she is a video game history nerd like me, but that she'd find the book itself a funny read. That she'll learn about the video game crash of '83 is just an added bonus!

If there are any negatives, it must be that it ends where it does. There are twenty years of gaming to write about after the scope of the book ends but, and I say this with a hint of sadness, there might not be the variety that made video gaming up to 1998 so interesting in those years. True, we had Microsoft enter the hardware field after Sega left it, but to me, at least, the industry matured and became more money focused, and that took a bit of the excitement and personality away. McNeil points this out too when mentioning the likes of Activision and Electronic Arts - two companies founded because of the way corporate behaviour was treating developers in the early days. They have become what they strove to avoid. I can only hope though, that the author gets round to another book on the topic, because I'll grab a copy of that one too!

Anyhoo, back to "Hey! Listen!". My recommendation: buy it! You'll have a laugh anyway and you'll maybe learn some things you didn't already know.