Be Excellent To Each Other

21st November 2008

Games stuff:

• Left4Dead proved divisive, with Dimrill and Mr Dave sticking to their "this demo smells of POO" stance whilst Jonarob and Sister Cheeba maintain the full version they are playing is aces. Then Doctor Glyndwr and Zardoz complicated matters further by enjoying the demo.
• Fallout 3 was top of a lot of people's Most Played lists, with much discussion of tactics and plot twists. Warning! Spoilers!
• The New Xbox Experience shipped and we all talked about it a lot, like a collection of gaming nerds is likely to do. Bobbyaro hates it, most people are quite keen, everyone agrees avatars are a blatant rip-off of Miis.
• Our official FIFA 2009 team, BeeX United, played for their second week, but sadly took a 4-0 and 6-1 drubbing. They need your support!
• ChinnyHill has started the excellent 8-bit games challenge, where each week a different retro classic (or perhaps more often, "classic") will be chosen by last week's winner and we all compete for the highest score. You have until 6pm on Wed 26th Nov to score as much as you can in Super Pipeline 2 on the CPC.

Current affairs discussions:

• The BNP membership list was leaked and we all had a jolly good fight about whether it was wrong to look at the list or not. Some people, like Doctor Glyndwr and Mr Chris saw no harm in it; others like Dimrill were conflicted; but some posters, such as Lave maintained that this is just as bad a breach of privacy as the government snooping plans and no-one should be looking. Then we had an argument about whether the BNP were racist or not and it ended in tears.

Forum stuff:

• Lots of people met at Shunt, and then talked about meeting each other. Warning: contains pictures of drunken BeeXers.
• Welcome to our new posters, Mogwai (aka Mrs Curiosity) and Cobracure.

Posts of the Week:

• Davpaz in TV screen postion/XBOX 360: "Scoop! Forum minx Mimi today stated that former Beatle..."

If you wish to discuss This Week in BeeX, please use the discussion thread.

28th November 2008

Games stuff:

• Our amalgamated XNA Community games thread is gathering pace, serving as a useful guide to what is and isn't worth buying in the (already pretty big) list of new Xbox Live games.
• With purchases of the game by Doctor Glyndwr, Suicide Perkies, Craster, Myoptika, and Zardoz and The Egg, and already being owned by Dimrill, Mr Dave, jonarob, Sir Morte, Pundabaya, and WullieOoster, Unreal Tournament III is enjoying a spell as the BezzieShooter of choice. It's currently in Gamestation's 2-for-£30 offer or from PlayTrade for £14 delivered, and in 16 player fire fights offers a level of spectacle not often seen in today's more staid tactical FPSs. Yes, that's 12 players now, and Bobbyaro is wavering. Unlike CoD4 though it doesn't turn all shit when you have more than 6, so that's OK.
• Via some niftiness, Zaphod79 posted this excellent list of all our Mii60s on one page. See if you can match avatar to poster from just the pictures! He's also done one for gamercards.
• New poster Hero of Socialism asked what obscure old computer formats we had used, prompting a lengthy retro wig-out.
• Eidos were caught with their pants down, trying to "manage" negative reviews of Tomb Raider: Underground. The thread rapidly derailed into a Tomb Raider cuss-fest though, with Myoptika, MetalAngel, RuySan, Malc74 putting the boot in. However, DBSnappa and The Rev Owen defended the franchise, saying they very much enjoyed TR: Legend.
• Last week, the 8-bit challenge was won by ChinnyHill10 so he selected the game for the next challenge; Zynaps on the CPC. Can anyone challenge his knowledge of Games Of The Eighties?

Current affairs discussions:

• VAT is going to drop to 15%, prompting another of our ongoing economics discussions about whether this will work. Mr Chris and Craster argued at length about relative taxation rates on poorer and richer people, whilst GazChap, The Rev Owen, Plissken, and DrG nerded it up good talking about whether IT systems would have hardcoded VAT rates.
• The BBC started airing its remake of classic Terry Nation post-apocalypse TV show Survivors -- our thread stayed on topic for about five minutes before wandering into a discussion of how we would cope in a post-apocalytic world, and if there would be any room for lawyers with a Chemistry A-level.

Forum stuff:

• Week eight of the Song Wars saw Plissken, Mr Chris, Spinglo Sponglo! and Shin take maximum points in the antipenultimate round of the first stage. With just two weeks of voting to go, there are still nineteen people in with a shout of making the last eight, with only Mimi and Bluecup having successfully booked their places in the quarter-finals.
• If you want to get involved in the BeeX secret Santa, hurry up and PM GazChap with your details.
• Drunk Mimi talked about her pants a bit.
• MaliA is trying to give up smoking.
• Mr Chris proposed the November dress-up challenge, in which you are required to visit an army surplus store, preferably one with scary, intense staff, buy something, then post a pic of you wearing it in public. Preferably looking stupid.
• Mr Dave reminds us of a certain forum mod wandering around in just his pants and a quilt infront of people he just met.
• Welcome to our new posters, Hero of Socialism, End of an Era, Captain Caveman (complete with epic length "hello" thread) and Amanda, who is from Cornwall but thinks Cornish nationalists are loons.

Posts of the Week:

• Dimrill satirises Glyndwr's geekhood.
• Zardoz expanded the myth of BurtTank with BurtChav and Dimrill brought us PerkiesTaxi BurtTank. And a timely reminder of BurtBomb from Dimrill there.

Thanks to my contributers this week: Mimi and MarkX. I am always seeking contributions, so PM me if you see something that should be in here. As ever to discuss the contents of this post, please use this thread.

5th December 2008

Games stuff:

• Romanista asks, what were our games of the year?
• What are all the computer games ever with crocodiles in? Dimrill must know!
• End of an Era asked for easy Xbox 360 first person shooters, which kicked off another round of the "keyboard and mouse rock/suck" debate. RuySan came out on the side of "pads for FPSs suck", with DrG, Myoptika and MarkG defending them. Meanwhile Zardoz talked about either anal sex or cakes, no-one seemed sure which.
• Wii Music has been warmly received by romanista and Mimi.
• This week's 8-bit challenge was won by zaphod79. For next week, he has picked Psst, a Rare Ultimate game for the Spectrum. See the thread for more details. (I cannot believe I got that wrong...)
• BeeX United won a game! (plus three losses and one draw)

Current affairs discussions:

• Kern started a thread about Tory frontbencher Damian Green's arrest. The discussion initially revolved around the unusual circumstances of the arrest and whether this was (another) Labour abuse of power. Later on the topic turned into a good old-fashioned Labour-versus-Tory debate, with Captain Caveman asserting that New Labour's policies are the root cause of the current economic crisis, DocG and Plisskin saying even though they are left-leaning they wish the Tory party were an effective opposition, and Craster and kalmar claiming the crisis is too complex to blame on Labour alone. Then DocGlyndwr changed the subject again to so-called "green economics".
• The M4 is covered in sweets and beer so we do what we do best -- make lame puns about it.
• Tragedy in Bombay and we're making more lame puns again.
• We also discussed Baby P, particularly around the tabloid reaction to the case. Later on the discussion widened to sociological issues, such as how to prevent people exploiting the welfare state. Naturally Captain Caveman banged the "get 'em to work" Tory drum, squaring off against JBR representing for the Loony Left. Positions may be exaggerated for purposes of comedy.
• The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that the UK can't keep DNA on people who weren't convicted, so we were snide about Jacqui Smith for a bit. Because we really can't stand her.

Forum stuff:

• Our lulz-per-post quotient reached dizzying heights with Plissken's discovery of a very awesome warning sign generator.
• NervousPete managed to complete NaNoWriMo -- writing a 50,304 novel entirely during the month of November. Well done sir!
• Jonarob wins the Google Adwords contest.
• Mimi introduced us to AdventMonkey and lots of people switched to festive posting names and avatars.
• Song Wars week 9

Posts of the Week:

• NervousPete on Graeme Friend and Chinny Fan's cliffside walk.
• Zardoz showed us what the Jasper Xbox 360 will look like.
• Dimrill explains why Unreal Tournament 3 on the Xbox 360 was so late and is so expensive.
• How to Forza race like Rodafowa.
• Zio explains why only wimps deice their windscreens.
• Craster explains why you never ask Doctor Glyndwr to explain things.
• Zardoz (again!) asks if Metal Angel will get a Christmas avatar.
• More Dimrill! Asking Kovacs about carseats.
• DavPaz's CV.
• Plissken on tomorrow's weather forecast.

And! We all got Christmas names! Including:

(sorry to anyone I missed off, I'll add you later if you let me know)

Thanks to my contributers this week: MarkX. I am always seeking contributions, so PM me if you see something that should be in here. As ever to discuss the contents of this post, please use this thread.

12th December 2008

Games stuff: with all the Christmas releases out already, so no new games to discuss, there wasn't much games banter this week.

• Dimrill got Far Cry 2 and hated it, and Mr Dave wasn't greatly impressed either. Curio still loves it in the face though.
• In the 8-bit games challenge #unread" class="postlink">week three results, ChinnyHill10 won (again) with Zaphod79 in second place and Devilman in third. In the overall week-to-week league, that places Chinny first, narrowly ahead of Zaphod. Below that the table is wide open though, with plenty of room to make a play for third place. Next week's game is Eric and the Floaters (a Bomberman clone) on the Speccie. You can play this in your web browser, without installing anything, by clicking here.

Current affairs discussions:

• Due to the Internet Watch Foundation, some ISPs have blocked a page on Wikipedia, and their users can no longer anonymously edit Wikipedia. We debate the censorship angle of this in the thread.
• Curiosity points out that Richard Littlejohn has written something surpassingly vile, even by his high standards. No real debate in the thread, we all just joined in wishing we could kick him in the balls.
• Spinglo Sponglo! asked us to name his child. The conversation didn't feature many serious suggestions.

Forum stuff:

• Advent Monkey! Day five, day six: beer!, day seven: hat, day eight: Beer 2: The Beering, day nine: trees, day ten: Skiing Monkey, day eleven: monkey nativity.
• The indescribable, indecipherable Snails and Starlings Thread. (Apologies for missing it off last week's summary.)
• DavPaz asks what our posting names mean.
• It is revealed that, in their own way, Dimrill and Mimi are both experts on the topic of lady's pants.
• Pupil asked about internet dating. It turns out that loads of us -- including DavPaz, Myoptika, The Rev Owen, Kovacs Caprios, GazChap/Shin, Mimi's sister, Sheepeh, and a few friends-of-friends first met their signifiant other through the internet.
• Welcome to our new poster, Mr Dom.

A bumper crop of Posts of the Week:

• MaliA is not good at zombie impressions.
• Metal Angel on designing the BeeX Lapland Snow Festival Park of Super Happy Christmas Funtime.
• Zio on the crazy double standards women have.
• Mr Chris talking about the Millenium Stadium's toilets.
• Zardoz on why Mimi drinks fruit beers, Brent + Virgo = ?, and someone driving into the House of Fraser. And a rare treat for us: SantaBurtTank!
• Cras discussing Doc Glyndwr's geekiness, again, and indeed a third time.
• Mr Chris, Mini driver.
• Dimrill compares Far Cry 2 and delicious cake.
• Myp on the meaning of >.<

Thanks to my contributers this week: myoptika, DavPaz, Zardoz. I am always seeking contributions, so PM me if you see something that should be in here. As ever to discuss the contents of this post, please use this thread.

19th December 2008

A fairly quiet week this week, with most games releases having stopped for Christmas and even the news seemingly winding down somewhat. A bumper crop for funny posts, however.

Games stuff:

• Animal Crossing Wii continues to roll across the forum like a Nook-powered Katamari Damacy, scooping up flailing posters in its wake. Rodafowa has it on order, MaliA is getting it for Christmas, and Dimrill has already started. Mr and Mrs The Rev Owen, Mimi, mrak and Sinestro are already cuting it up on a regular basis, chopping trees and.. whatever else you do. A full list of friend codes are in the first post in the thread.
• The 8-bit games challenge woke up this week, with impressive scores in the game Eric And The Floaters achieved by lots of posters. Top of the score board were Runcle, Zaphod79 and ChinnyHill10. This means that in the league scores, ChinnyHill and Zaphod are way out in front scrapping over first place, with half a dozen posters competing for second. This weeks game is Splat on the Spectrum, an excellent scrolling maze game. Click here to play in your browser now!

Current affairs discussions:

• JohnCoffey posted the news that a suspected paedophile has been murdered. This kicked off a discussion about exactly how paedophiles should be treated in society -- punished, or treated? Captain Caveman took a hard line, but Goatboy (who has extensive work experience with victims of child abuse in later life) said that to claim that these victims are "messed up for life" becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The argument became very heated, but then a wonderful and rare thing happened: an impassioned post by Goatboy managed to change Cavey's mind and everyone went back to being excellent to each other.

Forum stuff:

• The Cardiff Christmas beer meet happened -- discussion starts here. Attendees were Goddess Jasmine, Joans, Doctor Glyndwr, MyFinger, The Egg, Metal Angel, Mr Dave, Goatboy, Mr Dom and NervousPete.
• Congratulations to Spinglo Sponglo! and his wife on the birth of their daughter!
• Welcome to our excellent new posters: JohnCoffey and Riles.

Posts of the Week:

• NervousPete on The Day The Earth Stood Still. Wow. Just... wow.
• AceAceBaby on JohnCoffey's car.
• Myp on GazChap's new cooker.
• Mimi on Paul O'Grady's drag act and it was LewieP that did it!
• The entire goddamn Inappropriate Movie Games thread is fried gold.

Thanks to my contributers this week: myoptika. I am always seeking contributions, so PM me if you see something that should be in here. As ever to discuss the contents of this post, please use this thread.

2nd January 2009

A bumper two-week edition of BeeX WeeX, because I was too inebriated/fat/lazy to put one up on Boxing Day.

Games stuff:

• Following quite a long hiatus with no new games, Metal Angel and Myp started making a noise about Midnight Club LA. Dimrill seemed less impressed than the other bezzies; DocG ordered on the strength of the recommendations in that threat (currently £18 from play.com).
• Several new posters received Fallout 3, which continued to generate discussion.
• Remember to vote for BeeX GOTY 2008 - deadline Jan 5th.

Current affairs discussions:

• Little happened, and what did happen, we didn't talk about.

Forum stuff:

• A mushy Merry Christmas thread, and a Happy New Year one. Also, what did you think of 2008? Unfortunately, a lot BeeXers had a shit year, so let's hope for more all-round excellence in 2009.
• Some sort of amazing run of birthdays. We had Mimi on the 20th, and then Dimrill, Metal Angel and Zio on Dec 21st, and then Sir Morte on Dec 22nd!
• The Beex Poker Tournament ended for the year. Well done to Craig for organising it all, and for winning! Honourable mentions to Curiosity in second and Joans in third.
• Dimrill wants your nominations for the BeeX Deathlist 2009 - you have until Jan 14th to make your choices.
• ChristmasScum ended in defeat for the good children -- congratulations to the Grinch, Kalmarzipan, and his goblins, Myoptinsel, Rudolfowa, and Baubleyaro.

Posts of the Week spans the alphabet this week -- from AceAceBaby to Zardoz. Also note we have our first non-funny POTW, which was always my intention but never came up until now.

• AceAceBaby on a rash purchase of Fallout 3? (technically was last week, but I missed it, so now it's this week instead). Also, why Owen's brother's 360 suffered a RRoD after just one day.
• Pundabaya waxes lyrical about music and copyright
• Craster on the corrrect etiquette to deal with presents from your ex and Pascal's purpoise.
• The Rev wishing people happy birthday.
• Zardoz FeeXes myp's reminiscing.
• WullieOoster on the experience of buying records (not funny, but excellent).
• Burghost and Bortferatu
• Yay! Awful composer puns.
• The Inappropriate Movie Games thread continues to lumber onwards, producing comedy at every turn.
• MrD brings us Dexter the Time Sweeping Cat.
• Pundabaya on how to choose a laptop.
• Dimrill disucsses the difficulty scaling in Midnight Club LA.

Thanks to my contributers this week: Mimi, Craster, Zardoz. I am always seeking contributions, so PM me if you see something that should be in here. As ever to discuss the contents of this post, please use this thread.

9th Jan 2009

Games stuff:

• More people seem to be getting Midnight Club LA - opinion is still devided over the single player game, but multiplayer seems to be universally enjoyable.

Current affairs discussions:

• Debate raged about the morality of charging for XBox live, with more than a little discussion about the concepts of cost and value.
• In contrast to the rest of the world's media, a surprisingly calm discussion was had regarding the situation in Gaza

Forum stuff:

• Ahahhaaha - I ain't fucking touching this.
• Except for Song Wars: the voting for the final of Song Wars is now up, marking both an epic battle between Sheepeh and Zardoz, and an answer to the eternal question: "who is best out of KISS and The Stooges?"

POTW:

• MaliA on how baby oil is made.
• Nemmie and Squirt have horrible dreams.

I am always seeking contributions, so PM me if you see something that should be in here. Thanks for contributions this week from Shin, Plissken, and MarkX. As ever to discuss the contents of this post, please use this thread.

I am trialling making Beex Weex available on the site, rather than the forum -- see here for this week's edition. Eventually this thread may be deleted (once all archived issues are copied to the site), but I will continue to post a "bump" post into the discussion thread when the new issue goes live.

This is still up for debate though, so post in the discussion thread if you feel this would be a mistake for any reason.