Cities XL Goes Dark

I would say something like “our worst fears have been confirmed,” but it would be a highly ironic statement. Last night during the Apple brouhaha, Monte Cristo announced without fanfare that they’re ending the Cities XL online service.

If we pause to reflect, the sadness dissipates and we realise this has been going on since the initial release of the game. Despite a fantastic engine and some reasonable gameplay, the game itself was not finished at release time. After promises of treats and updates, the subscription service failed to deliver much more than a half-baked savegame-sharing system and a Christmas themed update. The actual gameplay remained unfinished and essentially broken.

So when the service goes belly-up after three months due to lack of interest, it’s really not that surprising.

There was no one particular problem, as the game suffered from numerous issues. As I mentioned, it was incomplete at the time of release, none of the team paid attention to the clients and beta testers who were disappointed with the limited gameplay, the DRM system was an absolute pain in the arse and required you to type your login details (often multiple times) whenever you wanted to launch the game. The subscription service was also an absolute rort, and the single player game was crippled to the verge of almost uselessness.

It had so much potential but the execution was completely bungled, and there’s no surprise it failed to entertain. The release states:

Cities XL will evolve into a fully single player game. As soon as march the Bus will be added for free in the solo game. At the same time we also keep on working on new content and new features to keep on improving Cities XL.

This seems highly unlikely, considering these features were promised at the launch of the game and still haven’t materialised. It’s disappointing but the money that Monte Cristo, customers, and subscribers alike sunk into the game has been lost and there’s really no point dragging it out. It’s game over.

Despite this, it will be interesting to see whether their decision will see the game un-crippled, and whether this will further allow the modding community to finish where Monte Cristo failed. One day the game might actually be worthwhile playing if that’s the case, but until then I suggest you keep your wallet firmly in your pocket.

  1. Posted January 28, 2010
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Hottest 100 for 2009

Owen suggested the other night that I should blog more about music, because everything else I blog about is shit. Realising that Owen is right and that Owen had a good suggestion, I decided to write this blog post for Owen who — let’s face it — is an infallibly authoritative source on what’s shit*.

I’m not sure why I bother with this any more, because my musical tastes have diverged significantly enough from the stuff they play on TripleJ anyway, but here’s the songs I picked for the hottest 100 this year.

  • Mando Diao - Fire
  • Decemberists, The - The Rake’s Song
  • Gomez - Airstream Driver
  • White Rabbits - Percussion Gun
  • IAMX - The Great Shipwreck Of Life
  • Eels - That Look You Give That Guy
  • Grizzly Bear - Fine For Now
  • Kasabian - Fire
  • Phoenix - Lisztomania
  • Them Crooked Vultures - New Fang?

IAMX and Gomez were both greatly anticipated albums, the latter of which I listened to far too much when I finally got it. Kasabian was another entry I’m sick to death of now, but I can still appreciate why I find these songs so damn attractive. Pop music at its greatest.

That Look You Give That Guy was a surprising entry, and a very cute track that makes you want to tear your heart out and throw it at someone. Grizzly Bear and Mando Diao were also lovely surprises that cropped up through the course of the year, although  I sold out my Grizzly Bear vote to Fine For Now because it was the only option without havint to manually enter it. I would probably have preferred Southern Point

Them Crooked Vultures are just ridiculously good, but I think I’m playing them to death as well. It’s not difficult to do either, they’ve got together and perfectly executed this pop album that makes you shit awe and bleed saccharine from your ears. It’s really impossible to describe how wonderful it is unless you listen to it, and appreciate it for the guitar driven ridiculousness of it all.

The Decemberists album was also more of a whole experience rather than a single item. As always they came out with a crushingly beautiful story that brings shivers and a tear dare you let it, and though it’s not the kind of music you can really blast up loud while you do the vacuuming, it’s certainly powerful enough to score a place in my favourites of the year.

White Rabbits and Phoenix are both token gestures because I like the artists, not those songs in particular.

Some more music which I would consider amongst the best this year but not played on TripleJ includessss…

  • Locksley, with Be In Love. Their previous album was a bit “meh” but had two token tracks. This one shits all over it with indie rock goodness and love.
  • Kamera and Apoptygma Berzerk I clump into the one artist considering how similar they (don’t really) sound. Crazy synths and a hint of ’80s revival, Nick actually introduced me to Apoptygma toward the beginning of the year.
  • The Working Title have a really unnerving album, Bone Island which also ranks very near the top of the list. Hijackers is crazy, quadruply so if you both listen and watch the animation on their website at the same time2.
  • Danger Mouse and Sparkle Horse also produced a really neato concept album Danger Mouse and Sparklehorse Present: Dark Night of the Soul with some massive names including Jason Lytle of Grandaddy (who’s incidentally whored his vocals out everywhere and released his own album this year, I love it,) Julian Casablancas of The Strokes (who’s also released a solo album,) James Mercer of The Shins,  Nina Persson of The Cardigans, Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals (who also released a splendidly quirky album that I’ve been enjoying greatly,) and others. The very unfortunate thing is that this album never got released due to unspecified legal reasons. It was released to Bittorrent instead.
  • I also enjoyed in no particular order: The Films, Norfolk, Stuck In The Sound, Dananananaykroyd, Datarock, Wilco, Starlight Mints, Cornershop, Imogen Heap, Chevelle, Yo La Tengo, and Porcupine Tree.

* Yeah, it’s my blog and I’ll write what I like, so ner. :P

2 This denotes entire albums that are giving me the shivers right now.

  1. Posted January 12, 2010
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Song Meme

You know I’m scraping a new low (awesome cliché mash-up, hey?) on ideas when I start with the general blog memes.

Regardless, I was tagged on Facebook, and I’m listening to music on random today, so I figured I’d do this the long way and micro-review my way through twenty-five tracks.

Once you’ve been tagged:

  1. Turn on your MP3 player.
  2. Go to SHUFFLE songs mode.
  3. Write down the first 25 songs that come up—song title and artist—NO editing/cheating, please.
  4. Choose 25 (or less) people to be tagged. It is generally considered to be in good taste to tag the person who tagged you.

I start my journey with Hot Chip’s “And I Was A Boy From School”. This technically doesn’t count because it was a part of a random playlist I selected earlier. From here on out though, it’s all mixed up.

  1. De/Vision — Love Will Find A Way — Already we’re onto the cheesy synthpop. This one’s a bit of pulp electronica from 2007 that’s kicking around my library. Rating: 2.5 stars, for the trippy almost trancelike bridge before the chorus at about the 2:00 mark. Linked video is the same song, different version.
  2. Phoenix — Long Distance Call — Much better, the namesake track of the 2006 album “It’s Never Been Like That”. This is an iconic album I will always love.
  3. Enon — Sold — Another awesome track, from another awesome band. Fantastic bass line, awesome use of what sound like tone generators. “You’re just a name on a shelf and while the colours amaze, they don’t cover the lies.”
  4. The Chemical Brothers — Do It Again (feat. Ali Love) — Not a bad track. My music player’s tagged it as electronica, but it’s more a kind of alternative electro-pop. Vaguely reminiscent of a more dancey Fatboy Slim. Pros: Distressed rubber ducky. Cons: recreational drugs required to appreciate all five and a half minutes of it.
  5. Basement Jaxx — U R On My Mind — Can you tell by the title how shit this track is? It’s a kind of chillout tripout pop track that doesn’t really go anywhere. In fact the entire album is a bit of  a waste of time. 1 star.
  6. Davwuh — Running Man — An experimental dubstep track. Worth a listen if you’re into that kind of thing. Awesome production values for something you can download for free.
  7. Chromeo — 100% — Super-cheesy pop track. Fantastic in that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s a fun album, actually, and I’d recommend it if you’re looking for something silly for the car.
  8. Maxïmo Park — Karaoke Plays — Quite an epic track, sometimes makes me want to cry.
  9. Okay — Peaceful — A really sweet album. An eclectic assortment of instruments smooshed together under a delicious indie pop shell.
  10. Pop Levi — From the Day That You Were Born — A bit of a slow track, but it’s the last one on the album so it’s okay. Generally brash garage-indie album (Yeah, I’m making up genres now) with lots of clipping. This track is mostly just guitar and strings and piano and piano played backward.
  11. PAS/CAL — O Honey We’re Ridiculous — Awesome album. I overplayed it to shit when it came out last year, and as such I’m now completely sick of it. Awesome indie rocky-poppy track which is all over the place.
  12. Kings Of Leon — I Want You — Cruisy rock track. Pretty meh otherwise.
  13. Ben Folds Five — Song for the Dumped — I think I copied this off Scott a while back. I always presumed that I enjoyed Ben Folds and his posse, but I never sat through an entire album of his. This is the last track of “Whatever and Ever Amen” which is the exact sentiment you’ll be feeling by the time you finish listening to it. Harsh?
  14. They Might Be Giants — If I Wasn’t Shy — Clarinet extraordinaire. It’s about time to run across some They Might Be Giants. This is one of their earlier drum machine tracks, and it’s a classic even if it’s not for everybody. I’ve linked to a live version from 2008 which has been rocked up with some real drums, but you get the point.
  15. Gwen Stefani — Hollaback Girl — Heh. Need I say more?
  16. Sneaker Pimps — Cute Sushi Lunches — I think this is just a filler track on one of the Sneaker Pimps’ more below-average albums. Half Life, Low Five, and Superbug are some better tracks from the album.
  17. Bloc Party — Better Than Heaven — I’ve mixed feelings about this band; I like them a lot, but they make me feel terrible. A lot of the songs, this one included, are very lyric heavy and you can’t really enjoy them without paying some attention. This one has an awesome instrumental piece, but isn’t for everybody.
  18. The Sounds — Mine for Life — Generic new wave electropop, nothing to write home about, although there’s a pretty cool keyboard piece toward the end. These guys released a new album in June which is quite good.
  19. The Presets — Kitty in the Middle — A short track from their 2005 album. The Presets have been overplayed something chronic since their latest album was released in the first half of 2008. I’m frankly sick of them.
  20. Minus the Bear — El Torrente — One of those ambient chillout tracks you expect to break into some awesome guitar driven hard rock affairs when the chorus comes around. Instead, it doesn’t. A soft alternative track suited to 2 AM driving through the city.
  21. LCD Soundsystem — On Repeat — Track six on the iconic self-titled dance-punk  album. This is in the cruisy lull in the middle of the album, so the better tracks are on either sides. Not worth a listen outside the context of the entire album. Also, it’s 8 minutes long.
  22. 65daysofstatic — Goodbye, 2007 — An instrumental industrial track which you’ll want to turn up NOISE once it builds up. Would be super epic if it wasn’t so flat on the high end.
  23. TV On The Radio — Let The Devil In — These guys are a bit hit and miss. This particular track is a miss. Unless you’re in the exact right mood.
  24. The Dandy Warhols — Nothing (Lifestyle Of A Tortured Artist For Sale) — What would a list be without The Dandy Warhols? They’re brilliant, but infuriatingly prone to filler tracks. This track (and indeed the album) is a patent blend of chillout stoner rock that evokes yearning for self-destructive weekends on the couch in some random’s beach house.
  25. The Automatic — This Ship — New album released today, I think. This track is giving me a strong sense of deja vu; I think I’ve heard it before.

So that’s it. If you’re so inclined, you can always watch the compendium of my musical taste aggregated in nearly real-time on last.fm.

  1. Posted August 24, 2009
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Hottest 100 of all Time

Triple J’s having the Hottest 100 of all time, and if you haven’t already, you should go and vote.

It works like a regular hottest 100, except instead of just opertaining to the last year of releases, it includes every song that you can even remember. Ever. Of all time. It’s an awesome idea, but you only get ten tracks you’re allowed to vote for, and it’s just impossible to narrow it down and still be happy with the result.

My shortlist had twenty-three tracks on it. I deliberately didn’t go with anything too modern because it’s difficult to tell if a track is a keeper or not, and the majority of my music library is from the last five years, so it would be hell to try and go through it all.

Here’s my shortlist, I’m not going to tell you which tracks I actually voted for, because there’s no fun in that. I attached Youtube results to each track, so you can get a feel for any you’re not familiar with.

  1. Posted June 11, 2009
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A New Tide

A bassy synth, indie-rockin’ guitar stylings percussed with insidiously cowbell woven with the cute death-cab-esque vocals of Ian Ball make Airstream Driver one of those songs you’ll want to put in a very prominent spot on your next mix tape.

Gomez is an English indie rock band that have been around since the late ’90s. Having reinvented themselves time and time over, their latest album A New Tide sees them come to rest on a blend of bluesy pop-rock that this reviewer is enjoying very much. Always unique thanks to the three vocalists, Gomez are a stand-out band, and always good value.

A New Tide is really enjoyable.

A New Tide is really enjoyable.

Aside perhaps In Our Gun, A New Tide is by far their most mainstream album yet. While it’s garnered rather average reviews in the press, it’s an absolute delight to listen to for us common folk. There’s a number of stand-out rock tracks amongst dreamy ballads and sweet indie pop tunes, making it a really well-rounded disc.

If I Ask You Nicely is a charming love ditty, whereas Natural Reaction channels the almost unsettling mystique of their earlier sound. There’s an awful lot of diversity in this album, which is testament to their earlier experimentation, and you can hear a lot of their earlier styles coming together to form a cohesive qhole. It’s very polished which some circles will lead you to believe makes it shallower than previous albums, but it’s still a solid effort and difficult to fault.

If you only buy one album this year, A New Tide is a pretty good bet. It’s the kind of music you can stick in your CD stacker, and never get sick of. I was being wanky enough to assign stars, I’d give it a high four.

  1. Posted April 27, 2009
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