Mr Party Hat

Wuthering Heights has been on my bookshelf for about 20 years. I never read it because I'm so familiar with the plot, but I'll add it to the list.

The writing doesn't get any better. I enjoyed Mistborn, but accepted it for what it was, breezy YA fantasy that's entirely carried by its magic system.

His epic saga (the 10-book one that starts with Way of the Kings) doesn't work for me, because he's not good enough to write an epic saga. He's the Netflix Originals of fantasy, and he's harmless enough. But his books aren't classics.

Speaking of classics, I'm currently buying up those beautiful penguin hardback classics, filling gaps in my classic literature knowledge. I'm sticking with 19th century onwards for now; any earlier and they do become a bit of a chore to read for someone of my middling intellect. But I've been surprised how enjoyable, and even page-turny, some of them are. Great Expectations has more in common with modern genre fiction than modern literary fiction. It's heavy on plot and vibe, light on naval gazing.

Cranford next.

I have no source for this, because I read it in a print magazine about 20 years ago, but I think it's much easier to make brilliant AI than it is to make the tough-but-fun kind. The work comes from sanding the edges off, making it easier to fight against.

So if the remaster's AI is worse, they must have put some work in to nerf it.

Play.

Denshattack! (exclamation not my own) is superb. It's like a lost Dreamcast game in the best possible way. Part Jet Set Radio, part Tony Hawk, but also completely its own thing. You play as a runaway Japanese train grinding, boosting and tricking your way through some of the most gorgeous environments ever rendered, across numerous arcade-style levels. There are secret objectives, high scores, and a surprisingly involved narrative. And the boss battles, good lord. You start every level thinking "well I'm essentially on rails, how can they possibly… oh never mind that was mindblowingly inventive". It's just wonderful, and well worth the 14 quid entry price. Buy it so they make more please.

Avatar PS5. I bounced off this a couple times before, and I have no love for Avatar generally. But the 3rd person camera and 40fps mode patch have brought me back in, and once you get used to it, the gameplay loop is actually really satisfying. By the guys who made Star Wars Outlaws, if anyone enjoyed that.

Want.

GTA6 to have a 40fps mode. Avatar reminded me how effective they are.

I reckon this generation could last another ten years with no real downsides. SSDs were the last big improvement for me, the last thing that really felt limiting on PS4. Now that we have those, I'd be very happy if progress just sort of… stopped for a bit. Imagine what devs could achieve on existing hardware if they had another decade to perfect things.

Having said that, when the PS6 launches I'll be there day one, because this is my main hobby and I'm happy spending £1000 for the latest and greatest. I'm not sure how many others will be, which is probably concerning for the health of the industry.