When I was growing up as a young lad in Brisbane after spending three years in Borneo, I was introduced to the arcade. A wonderous concept where people can go in, take some of the shrapnel they loathed and turn into glorious gaming fun. As the years went by, the games changed until one day the greatest arcade game ever came into being. Marvel vs Capcom 2.

I grew up on Street Fighter and Marvel comics and combining the two in my mind was a stroke of genius. Hours would go by as I would sit at the big arcade box fighting opponent using the combination of Ryu, Wolverine and Spider-man. Sadly the day came where it too had to go. I mourned its passing and moved on.

A few years later I acquired a copy of it on my pc, bringing back all the great memories. Sadly that too went away when my computer blew up and I didn't have a backup.

And now, glory of glories. It has all come back on the Xbox 360. Thank you Microsoft, in particular, the Xbox division. You have done a great thing today. All those memories again came flooding back and it all looks just as good as it did back then. Wolverine, Spider-man and Ryu are back on the prowl, pwning the opposition left right and centre.

My only complaint, and this is a small one, is that the 360 controller isn't the best thing for this game. For a game that has a hard,medium and soft punch and same strength kicks, having only Y,X,A and B as hitting options is a bit broken. If I could buy a USB arcade pad for the 360, I would. It deserves such an offering.

A couple of weeks ago I was made redundant, along with 25 others in my office and about 80 others from around the country. It has in fact been the first time since getting my first job 7.5 years ago, that I have actually not had a weekly pay check coming in.Having become unemployed, I've learned a couple of things.

1. I am most certainly a night owl.
- I already had my suspicions regarding this but this really has confirmed it. Without work to keep on a regular normal sleeping schedule, I have found myself staying awake later and later at night. Subsequently I'm not getting up until later and later in the afternoon. All this leads me on to my next point.

2. I have no reason to get up in the morning....well afternoon really.
- Because of no employment, I don't have to rush and get up to do shit. I can get up whenever I please which usually results in me turning off whatever alarm I have in place to try and get up at a reasonable and sleep a lil more.

3. Writing a resume is a bitch.
- I haven't had to do it in 7.5 years and I lost my last copy when my HD fried up. Trying to write about yourself to present yourself to potential employers is really hard. This is doubly hard when the only two jobs I've ever had have been from my last employer and my burger boy job over 5 years ago. Yup that's right. I've only had two jobs in 7.5. I'm a great candidate for an employer who wants someone to stay on long term but when it comes to experience I'm up shit creek. Although I do have a couple of references from my old work and another one from my internship last year which they were nice enough to give me. I have a friend currently trying to hook me up with a job where he is and should it go through, it will make my like a lot easier. Even if I do have enough cash to last me until Feb next year.

4. But it's not all bad
- I have had the chance since losing work to catch up on quite a few tv shows and watch some new ones. I'm currently working my way through the 3rd season of  E.R and will quickly grab seasons 4 and 5. 

So there ya go. The ups and downs of unemployment. Hopefully I'll be back in work soon but until then, more TV!!

Firstly, I went and saw District 9 and Inglorious Basterds recently. I found District 9 entertaining but it was a bit weird. I wasn't sure what to expect going in and didn't really know how to feel about it coming out. But still, an enjoyable film. Inglorious Basterds however was a brilliant film. A great blend of violence and comedy with Tarantino written all over it.Highly recommend that one. 

Secondly I recently traded in a whole bunch of games at my local games store and whilst it has greatly shrunk my collection, I have been able to pick up a few gems and am playing them as we speak. These include Far Cry 2, Prince of Persia, Madden 10 and Lost Odyssey. Reviews will be coming soon.

Finally, I am really, really liking the Tess/Carter dynamic they currently have going on Eureka. Allison Blake, whilst a great character in seasons one and two, seems to have a changed a lil over the course of season 3 and as such, the intimate relationship with Carter that was the highlight of the season one finale, doesn't seem like that good of an idea anymore. With the new Tess/Carter dynamic, the show finally has a romance plot point for Carter, something that was sorely needed after the disappearance of Callie Curie, the local dry cleaner. I normally don't go on about characters when it comes to a science fiction show but it is the characters on Eureka that make the show so damn enjoyable to watch.