The collected works of ScottyB

We must have spent an hour in Myer today playing on that thing.

I understand now why all those kids (and parents) are standing in front of the system - appearing to ‘hog’ it - whenever I’d walk past. I would stand there patiently, hoping that they’d notice another person lusting after the graphics, wanting a game. I desired a sample, just a taste.

Today I finally managed to happen upon a demo system with not a single soul within a two metre radius. Like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Predator, I dived for the controls. ‘C’MAAAAN! I’M EERE’, it beckoned. ‘DO EEEET, DO EEEETT NOW! C’MAAAAAAN! PLAY ME!’, It yelled.

And I did.

Formula One Championship Edition I found deep within the high-definition menus. And I played like there was no tomorrow. After a few initial teething problems with controls (who’d have thought the second-controller would be the one that I had to use? Even though the menus all worked with the first controller…) I was on the grid, revving Fernando Alonso’s 2006 Renault engine to its redline. The lights went out and I was away.

It didn’t take me long to adjust to the precision steering and the tremendous grip levels. Soon I was challenging Kimi Raikkonen for the lead. With 5 corners to go, on the last lap, I braked late, charged up the inside and nabbed the lead. I crossed the line in a clear first place.

Afterwards, I felt like Elaine, tested positive for opium. That’s right. White Lotus. Yam-yam. Shanghai Sally. It was drug, I had to have more. I was addicted.

It took all of my might to walk away without a unit in a Myer bag under my arm.

At $999 for the system and $99 for the game, its no cheap thrill. While I’ve no doubt I would get the value out of it - in fact I’d devote so much of my spare time to it, I’d probably find myself single again - I just couldn’t do it.

Honestly, its not the price. Blu-Ray players are retailing for almost that price out here now alone. And the PS3 is so much more.

What is holding me back is the lack of Gran Turismo 5.

For, my friends, the day that item hits the shelf, is the day ScottyB disappears into the seclusion of the TV room with a brand new PS3+GT5+F1CE package.

It is evil, addictive gaming at its finest.

I think all of us (at least those of us moviegoers) will remember the year 1999 - and the release of The Matrix.

Without a doubt it revolutionised the way we viewed movies and the field of Computer Generated Imagery, it brought about a string of cinematic format ‘trilogies’ and essentially, at the time, became one of the most hyped films of the genre. The characters became household names, the quotes were recited by school kids everywhere. ‘Bullet-time’ became common-knowledge and found its way into all sorts of video games and cartoons. Its hard to find someone who hasn’t been, at the very least, mildly influenced by something out of the Wachowski Brothers’ famous flicks.

I saw each of them at the cinema, on the big screen, with the THX surround sound. It was the ultimate experience. I’ve always been a real enthusiast of movies and an absolute action film junkie, so when the Matrix series came along, I got on the bandwagon and rode that bugger all the way to the back row. Three times. And to this day, it still sticks out as one of the greatest cinematic experiences of my life. The tremendous anticipation between films and the utmost surprise and love of the art and the philosophy.

Sure its sequels were met with less than favourable critic analysis, but in my mind I saw a futuristic, eye-candy delivering monster of a vision.

One day a few years ago, I bought the trilogy in a lovely 5-disc, ‘code’ covered tin box set. I don’t even see the code now. All I see is blonde.. brunette… yeah you get the picture. Strangely, though, I never watched them. Usually after the purchase of a new DVD it is customary - almost religiously binding - for me to watch the film immediately. For some reason though, the trilogy of the Matrix got filed away on the shelf. Not forgotten, just not experienced again on my small TV and sound.

Maybe I thought it would spoil the effect. Maybe I didn’t have 7 hours to throw away at them again. Whatever the case, it was forgotten as it all changed recently.

A certain brunette has never seen the Matrix (or at least no more than odd bits and pieces) so, thanks to a 40″ LCD, THX Surround Sound and what is essentially a dedicated movie room, I put up little resistance when I was asked if we could view the Matrix once more.

Even after 8 years, the original still looks fresh. And after 4 years, the sequel(s) manage to look polished and well and truly up with todays standards of breathtaking CGI. In fact, I’d go so far as to say the final sequence between Neo and Agent Smith in Revolutions would still have to be one of the greatest of all time. Its how you view superhero battles, its how fights between two immensely powerful, near-indestructible beings should be fought and conveyed to the audience. This is the type of scene we should be seeing in DC and Marvel Comic adaptations. Completely over-the-top, downright ludicrous, but utterly fulfilling.

You pick up all the minor details you missed the first time around. You notice all the finer points of the film and the CGI, the attention to detail. Its really quite an impressive trilogy.

‘You have a problem with authority, Mr. Anderson. You believe you are special, that somehow the rules do not apply to you. Obviously, you are mistaken.’

How wrong he was.