Games

007: Blood Stone
After some more — alright, a lot more — fiddling and tweaking the controls, I got this playing pretty well; to the point where I actually completed the first section (the driving controls really needed a lot of work, and I'd failed on a section like that multiple times before). The best hint I got from somewhere online: because the game has onscreen prompts about what button to press (at least during the training-like first level; maybe throughout, I don't know), ignore what would be sensible keyboard controls and set things up for the controller — i.e. map the controller's A button to keyboard-A, X to keyboard-X, and so on. It would be a rubbish control scheme on a PC (the keys are all over the place, and using A for the A button messes up WASD movement, for one), but it means you don't get "the game says press E, so that's X... or is it Y?" all the time.

Anyway, now that's all sorted, I need to decide what game(s) I'm actually playing — I mean, I've been through tutorials/first levels for three Bond games now! Speaking of which...


007: Everything or Nothing
I got an adapter that allows you to use original GameCube controllers with the WiiU, Switch, and PC — which also works with Steam Deck. Tested it on this a couple of times, plus a quick go on Zelda: Wind Waker, and got it working nicely (the D-pad doesn't work on menus for some reason, but does in game; but I did get the rumble working, so that's good). Also, hopefully this adapter will work with the Switch 2 when/if I get one (still leaning towards when, but when? I don't know).


3D Out Run
I've bought or downloaded a total of 33 games for my 3DS already, but this is first one I've actually played (beyond a minute or two to test carts work). This is a 3D port of a classic Sega arcade game (not to be confused with its original sequel, OutRun 3-D — the Wikipedia entry makes that mistake, in fact). There were a load of these conversions of Sega games made for the 3DS, and many of them are pretty well regarded — not always for the quality of the original game, but certainly for the effort and success of the emulation and 3D conversion. Out Run (aka OutRun) is one of the most recommended for its visuals.

Well, I agree that it's got a very effective use of 3D. It's almost hard to imagine playing it in 2D, so striking is the effect of the road and scenery rushing towards you. It doesn't feel like a particularly deep or long-lasting game, though — I mean, there's literally one circuit. Okay, that has different routes, adding up to 16 variations, but still. The only other customisation options are the difficulty (one to five stars) and a set of four unlockable modifiers for your vehicle, which you can mix and match. So, sure, there are ways to mix it up; and if this had been made in the era of achievements, I'm sure there'd be one for every possible combination of track, difficulty, and mods — that's 400 variants by my estimation. I didn't dislike it, but I'm not going to play this 400 times. But it was free, so that's fine.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

Seven new additions this week, including two BD-to-4K upgrades amid a bunch of brand-new acquisitions. On top of that, there's the running time update I had to put off from last week.

Number of titles in collection: 3,608 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 986 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,622 [up 5]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 461 [up 4]

Number of discs in collection: 8,672 [up 12]
Number of films: 4,597 [up 12]
Number of additional cuts: 466 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 10,172 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,267 [no change]

Total running time of collection (approx.):
607 days, 10 hours, and 43 minutes.
(Up 2 days, 7 hours, and 23 minutes from last month.)

See you next week, faithful reader.

Magazines

The Greatest Retro Games of All Time

Because I haven't been buying enough games lately as it is...!

Well, I came away from this list of 100 noting 15 titles I already own (or, er, have acquired), on top of 10 I've already played sufficiently that I don't necessarily want/need to play them again — so that's a quarter of the list off the bat. Mind you, another 25 were of enough interest for me to note down...

Films

7 Women and a Murder (2021)
[2nd watch]
[#73 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]

Theatre

Macbeth
at the Minack Theatre

The draw here was as much the Minack Theatre itself as the production — the latter was very good, but it was a fortunate coincidence that was what was on when we wanted to visit the Minack, rather than us wanting to see the play and then choosing a venue. To that end, we arrived early to also be able to tour the theatre, which includes an interesting exhibition on the site's creation and history. An incredible place, and a perfect setting for something as dramatic as Macbeth.

As the play reached the point of the murders, night had fallen and a blood-red moon rose over the horizon behind the open-air stage. It couldn't have been better planned if it had been stage managed. You don't get effects like that in any old venue!

Fiction

Swords and Deviltry by Fritz Leiber
I. Induction
II. The Snow Women
III. The Unholy Grail

The first book in the Fafhrd and Grey Mouser (aka Lankhmar) series, a classic of fantasy literature that was recommended to me a while ago (so long that I forget where or why or by who) but have only just started. The whole series is available in a two-volume edition as part of the Fantasy Masterworks series, but rather than dive straight into that I got hold of an ebook copy of this first book to try them out.

I say “first book” — the stories herein are the earliest chronologically, but they were written as prequels after Leiber had been penning tales about these characters for several decades. Does that make it the best place to start? I’m not sure. But I got this volume for a reason, so I guess someone thought it was! Or I did my research poorly… but, to be honest, that doesn’t sound like me.

Anyway, I’ve enjoyed it so far, so I’ll probably go ahead and get those paperbacks next. I will finish this ebook first though, because it’s the fourth and final story in this collection that’s supposed to be its highlight: it won both the Nebula and Hugo Award for Best Novella.

this week on 100Films.co.uk

Oh look, another new month — that's pretty much the only time I post anything on 100Films.co.uk nowadays. Shame, really, but I just don't find the time.

Anyway, it's still ticking over with these monthly columns turning up on schedule each month, so here they are again. First, the overall review of August...





And second, my "failures"...





More next Sunday? Not likely, but stranger things have happened.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

After several relatively quiet weeks, it feels like all guns blazing this time, with multiple multi-film box sets and a couple of shiny new 4K releases — all just in time for the monthly running time update!

...except I'm actually away from home this week, as of yesterday evening, so can't get at my running time list to work that out. It appearing next week instead won't hurt anyone.

Number of titles in collection: 3,603 [up 5]
Of which DVDs: 986 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,617 [up 5]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 457 [up 2]

Number of discs in collection: 8,660 [up 17]
Number of films: 4,585 [up 20]
Number of additional cuts: 466 [up 11]
Number of TV episodes: 10,172 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,267 [up 1]

See you next week, faithful reader.

Games

007: Blood Stone

In the process of discovering that neither the PS3 nor Xbox 360 versions of Blood Stone play well with emulators, I also learnt they'd released it for PC — somehow I'd completely forgotten about that. Anyway, I managed to get hold of a copy, and that runs on my Steam Deck. Not natively, of course, and it seems to not have controller support, so I also learnt something about my Steam Deck via the process of remapping controls. It's still not perfect, further tweaking may nail it, but the main thing is I got the game running and some semblance of controls sorted. Hurrah!

And after all that effort, it crossed my mind that the game's old enough it would probably run fine on my Mac, where I could use the native keyboard + mouse controls it's designed for, so maybe I should play it there instead. Oh well.

Games

GoldenEye 007: Reloaded

In what I intend to be the final bit of fiddling before I actually start playing some games on my new devices, today I tried to set up a pair of James Bond titles on my Steam Deck: the PS3 versions of GoldenEye 007 Reloaded (as the Xbox 360 one doesn't run so well) and Blood Stone (aka 007 Blood Stone, aka James Bond 007: Blood Stone, but nowhere does anyone call it Blood Stone 007, despite that being the order of the words on the cover. But I digress...)

Long story short, the latter was a bit of a disaster. I eventually learnt it doesn't run well at all, so abandoned it. It was released on PC too, although is no longer officially available, but if I can find it that would be a better bet — although my brief bit of reading suggests it doesn't run instantly either, but might be doable with some fiddling.

The fact I've logged this entry as GoldenEye should tell you I had more success there. Absolutely no crashes or freezes, everything ran smoothly and looked good. Hurrah! I ended up playing the whole first level, which probably took me a lot longer than it's meant to, even on the lowest difficulty setting; but I also didn't die, which suggests the game is pretty forgiving on said setting. Fine by me — as I've said before, I don't actually play games like this to be challenged, but to experience other aspects.

Now, whether I keep at this or immediately switch to something else (Everything or Nothing was the Bond game that I really wanted to play, and there's so many other titles I'd like to get stuck into, not to mention the games I already have on the go), time will tell.

TV

The 1% Club
3x11 Episode 11
[Watch all episodes (again) on ITVX.]

Films

The Wild Robot (2024)
[#72 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]

Fiction

The Governess by Stephen Gallagher

I confess I only read this today to ensure I completed the August achievement on the GoodReads 2025 Reading Challenge. But I’m glad I did, because it was an effective little Gothic ghost story.

I’ve got several more of Gallagher’s chapbooks, though perhaps I should save them for future challenge requirements. I’m now more interested in getting hold of other of his novels, though — the Sebastian Becker series advertised at the end of this volume sounds interesting.

Games

New Nintendo 3DS XL

So, as well as my Steam Deck, I also just got one of these. That's the full official name of the console, by the way — it's a second-hand New 3DS XL, not a new New 3DS XL, because they dont make them anymore.

Also much like the Steam Deck yesterday, I spent a hefty chunk of today hacking it and testing out the new features that gave me. Mainly that involved installing games that are no longer officially available (because Nintendo shut the eShop), as well as some games that are ridiculously expensive second-hand but, y'know, there are other ways to get them when you've got a hacked device.

And, again like the Steam Deck, I now have a ludicrous backlog of games to play. Where will I find the time? God knows.

Films

Project A (1983)
[#71 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]
"What Do You Mean You Haven't Seen...?" 2025 #8

Games

Steam Deck

This is the thing I alluded to recently* a couple of weeks ago: I won a Steam Deck! The 512GB OLED model, to be precise. And I spent most of today playing with it. Not playing on it — I played bits of various games, but nothing properly — but playing around with getting it set up and stuff.

Because, sure, my Steam library is all easily accessible and installable and whatnot (even if it doesn't all necessarily run, though there are websites to help with that), but I've got so many games from other places (mainly GOG, but others too) that I'd like to be able to play on there that I had to get some other stuff going. Those aren't much more difficult thanks to Heroic Games Launcher (which I mentioned a couple of weeks ago because it's also helped with my Mac. Also, that's how long this has been incoming!)

No, the thing that occupied most of my time was emulation. The Deck is basically just a PC in a console shell, which means it's very customisable, and that means you can run emulators on it. Considering my interest in the Switch 2 had reached a point where I was on the verge of purchasing one and had begun planning what exactly I wanted to buy (the console itself, obviously, but also which peripherals and games), plus the fact I'd already had a go at emulation on my Mac with an eye to playing more, and I was keyed up to get some classic games going — as if I don't have enough natively-playable games to be getting on with! (I do. I really, really do.)

There are various emulation solutions, the two main ones (it seems to me) being EmuDeck and RetroDeck. I'd been umming and ahhing about which to go for, eventually settled on the former, but over the course of today decided the latter was more my speed. And so I've been installing stuff and setting it up and testing out old games.

First up: James Bond adventure Everything or Nothing. Although I'd tried the GameCube version before, I read that the Xbox version was actually the best one, so I tried to get that going. Turns out, EoN doesn't play nicely with Xbox emulators — as in, it's entirely unplayable — so, after trial and error getting to that realisation (if only I'd found that link earlier and realised it was futile), I caved and went back to the 'Cube version. That runs pretty much perfectly.

In a similar vein, I tried GoldenEye 007 Reloaded, the PS3/Xbox 360 port of the GoldenEye remake originally released on Wii (which I owned on that console back in the day but don't think I even got round to starting). It runs, and while it's running it runs well, but then it will suddenly completely freeze up and the app has to be killed and restarted, and you have to pick up from wherever the last checkpoint was. Frustrating. I have tried to see if there are some fixes that can be applied (changing graphic settings, that kind of thing), but everything I turn up is related to getting an Xbox port of the N64 original to play. Grr. I've left it installed, just in case. So far I've tried the Xbox 360 version, because the controller layout matches the Deck (no silly circle/square/whatever PS BS here), but maybe the PS3 one is worth a shot if it's more stable.

Considering they always run such closed ecosystems, it's kinda ironic that the easiest of all was getting Nintendo stuff to run. Legend of Zelda games from both SNES (A Link to the Past) and GameCube (The Wind Waker) ran without a problem, as did the N64's Paper Mario. I also started up a couple of other SNES games — EarthBound and Super Castlevania IV — which also seem fine. Quite why I'm interested in Castlevania right now, I'm not sure, but I also popped on one of the most acclaimed, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night from the original PlayStation, which I got going easily enough. Finally, a couple of PS2 titles — ICO and Shadow of the Colossus — required some more fiddling (in part to set up some recommended graphics settings to ensure they ran well), but weren't too strenuous really. Well, that said, I wouldn't want to be having to faff with that all the time, but for a couple of well-regarded titles I've been on-and-off curious about for a while, I'm hoping it was worth it.

Obviously, as I said earlier, I've only touched on each of these games briefly — enough to establish they run at all, not that they won't break apart / crash / etc when playing them properly. I fully expect the Nintendo systems to all be fine, but who knows if those PlayStation ones (especially the PS2 pair) won't behave like GoldenEye Reloaded when I do more than run around the opening room for two minutes?

Anyway, I'm done with all that setup now (apart from maybe trying the PS3 GoldenEye), so maybe I'll actually get on with playing some of the games. Of course, I also ought to take the time to go back to Gray Matter and Dungeons of Hinterberg — although as the latter is scheduled to leave Luna tomorrow, it makes more sense to just quit now and start over on my Steam Deck. At least that makes it easier to know which game to start with.


* Two weeks! That's for two reasons: firstly, it took quite a while to turn up; and secondly, it came almost a week ago, but I've been too busy to sit down with it until today.

Collection Count

Collection Count tracks my DVD/Blu-ray collection via a number of statistics every week.

The tiniest of additions this week, with just one new single-film single-disc arrival...

Number of titles in collection: 3,598 [up 1]
Of which DVDs: 986 [no change]
Of which Blu-rays: 2,612 [up 1]
— of which Ultra HD Blu-rays: 455 [no change]

Number of discs in collection: 8,643 [up 1]
Number of films: 4,565 [up 1]
Number of additional cuts: 455 [no change]
Number of TV episodes: 10,172 [no change]
Number of short films: 1,266 [no change]

...but I did just spend several hundred pounds (seriously) on preorders for next month, across both multi-film box sets and indulgent single-film sets. It's a drain on my bank balance, for sure, but it won't necessarily result in huge increases here. Ho hum.

See you next week for the start of that, faithful reader.

Games

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring - Trick-Taking Game

TV

Friends
9x21 The One with the Fertility Test [6th or so watch]

Films

The Thursday Murder Club (2025)
[#70 in The 100 Films in a Year Challenge 2025]

Can't believe it's been two years since I read the novel. Where does time go?!