The recent E3 Valve and Sony Entertainment surprise has been an absolute gaming mind explosion.  Who would have thought that the once anti Sony Cell architecture bashing PC gaming elemental, Valves very own Gabe Newell, would be announcing his new found love for the "now?" Open Playstation 3?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijBSX9a-0Pw

Hang on a minute, didn't Sony just remove the ability to install Linux onto its console due to the potential open hackability presented by an individual named Geohot?

Regardless of recent events, the clues into this current gaming evolution, have been manifesting themselves for quite some time.  A few thoughts on the topic:

I can see some sort of PSN and Steam crossover deal happening. Sony and relative parties on Steam via the PC and Steam and relative parties via PSN. The PC still owns the MMORPG market which is simply THE most profitable gaming genre on the planet at this time - Sony obviously understands this. Gabe has shown his love for the MMORPG numerous times so it pretty much makes perfect sense for the grand master of Valve also.

The Mac entry just strikes me as bizarre as most Mac users are definitely not gamers and appears to be more a one finger salute directed towards Microsoft, well lets face it, they give their biggest platform not much gaming love due to their 360 interests. Windows Live is a mere stop gap in the scheme of gaming and not very good.

As Gabe recently said, the Mac as a so called open platform for gaming - This just strikes me as a generic and pointless marketing exercise due to the completely un-open nature of Apple hardware and the profit fueled philosophy behind it. Why would you pay double for hardware which is older and less powerful and completely restrictive than the alternative?

Gabe also points out the stability of the Apple Mac in recent Steam collected Data - Maybe because Mac users are playing the 8 revision of the games available.

What also irks me is the target crowd Valve now seems to be directing their attention at.  The new TF2 startup screen reeks of pure consolification and Mac centric elements.  The dumbed down nature Valve Software is playing with in this regard is completely lost of fans such as myself,  I don't need cues on how to game with a simple FPS!  Considering your existing market has absolutely no use for this - At all.

Unfortunately I doubt this sort of simplification process will ever let up with todays game developers,  Valves emphasis on the excellent though also casual friendly Portal franchise, is evidence of this change, at a time when 90% of their fans were crying for the long awaited next chapter in the Half Life franchise.

Warning, Contains Lost Final Episode Spoilers.

After watching the Lost finale I have a few mixed emotions in regards to the outcome of the last episode.  It wasn't bad by any stretch of the imagination, it just failed to explain the very concept and nature of the island.  Something I really wanted to see, though deep down I knew it was never going to happen.  One thing is clear though, and that is:

The Final Lost episode only wrapped up the Season 6 sideways flash – nothing else.

As a whole, I actually didn't mind the wrap up,  the character interaction and intense romantic and abundant sentimental nature of the episode was actually quite powerful.   Considering the character driven nature of the show, it was rather a fitting way to end the Losties journey through life.  As for the island and surrounding mythology, we are none the wiser.

There are a few points that may or should have been touched on from my perspective, but at the end of the day creating your own concept of the show in regards to the island, light and the Dharma initiative, is the only thing that can happen at this stage:

• Desmond was seemingly aware of purgatory whilst on the Island which is an interesting revelation and leaving the Island unexplained is probably due to the ABC wanting that side of the plot left open.

• The artifacts around the light source are interesting – Possible Mayan ancient Astronaut type stuff.

• Desmond is/was also able to move between reality and purgatory thereby making the island a gateway of sorts.

• The island is not bound by the law of time hence disrupting the light source causes the island to jump in time. The light conduits through the island giving matter and living things special properties.

• Normal people are unable to passthough the gateway making Desmond unique and probably half Alien or Angelic.

I guess since us Lost fans are making up our own island concepts, I'll just settle on Aliens and the light being a terraforming device originally used on Earth by God who is infact a group of advanced Aliens not bound by our theory of time and relative dimensions in space.

If it sounds like Doctor Who then maybe Desmond is his grandson....

Also in Australia, Channel 9 leaking the plot on TV before 7 screens the show on Wednesday is just pure nasty and a complete disregard for your viewers and peers.  Channel 9 you have just given your audience the ultimate reason to torrent media.  Your wrap-up wasn't even accurate and quite laughable at best.  Poor form 9!

This is an apparent explanation from someone within Bad Robot, the production company owned by J.J. Abrams;  At this time the source is not verified:

The Island:

It was real. Everything that happened on the island that we saw throughout the 6 seasons was real. Forget the final image of the plane crash, it was put in purposely to f*&k with people's heads and show how far the show had come. They really crashed. They really survived. They really discovered Dharma and the Others. The Island keeps the balance of good and evil in the world. It always has and always will perform that role. And the Island will always need a "Protector". Jacob wasn't the first, Hurley won't be the last. However, Jacob had to deal with a malevolent force (MIB) that his mother, nor Hurley had to deal with. He created the devil and had to find a way to kill him — even though the rules prevented him from actually doing so.

Thus began Jacob's plan to bring candidates to the Island to do the one thing he couldn't do. Kill the MIB. He had a huge list of candidates that spanned generations. Yet everytime he brought people there, the MIB corrupted them and caused them to kill one another. That was until Richard came along and helped Jacob understand that if he didn't take a more active role, then his plan would never work.

Enter Dharma — which I'm not sure why John is having such a hard time grasping. Dharma, like the countless scores of people that were brought to the island before, were brought there by Jacob as part of his plan to kill the MIB. However, the MIB was aware of this plan and interferred by "corrupting" Ben. Making Ben believe he was doing the work of Jacob when in reality he was doing the work of the MIB. This carried over into all of Ben's "off-island" activities. He was the leader. He spoke for Jacob as far as they were concerned. So the "Others" killed Dharma and later were actively trying to kill Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley and all the candidates because that's what the MIB wanted. And what he couldn't do for himself.

Dharma was originally brought in to be good. But was turned bad by MIB's corruption and eventually destroyed by his pawn Ben. Now, was Dharma only brought there to help Jack and the other Canditates on their overall quest to kill Smokey? Or did Jacob have another list of Canidates from the Dharma group that we were never aware of? That's a question that is purposley not answered because whatever answer the writers came up with would be worse than the one you come up with for yourself. Still ... Dharma's purpose is not "pointless" or even vague. Hell, it's pretty blantent.

Still, despite his grand plan, Jacob wanted to give his "candidates" (our Lostaways) the one thing he, nor his brother, were ever afforded: free will. Hence him bringing a host of "candidates" through the decades and letting them "choose" which one would actually do the job in the end. Maybe he knew Jack would be the one to kill Flocke and that Hurley would be the protector in the end. Maybe he didn't. But that was always the key question of the show: Fate vs Free-will. Science vs Faith. Personally I think Jacob knew from the beginning what was going to happen and that everyone played a part over 6 seasons in helping Jack get to the point where he needed to be to kill Smokey and make Hurley the protector — I know that's how a lot of the writers viewed it. But again, they won't answer that (nor should they) because that ruins the fun.

In the end, Jack got to do what he always wanted to do from the very first episode of the show: Save his fellow Lostaways. He got Kate and Sawyer off the island and he gave Hurley the purpose in life he'd always been missing. And, in Sideways world (which we'll get to next) he in fact saved everyone by helping them all move on ...

Now...

Sideways World:

Sideways world is where it gets really cool in terms of theology and metaphysical discussion (for me at least — because I love history/religion theories and loved all the talks in the writer's room about it). Basically what the show is proposing is that we're all linked to certain people during our lives. Call them soulmates (though it's not exactly the best word). But these people we're linked to are with us duing "the most important moments of our lives" as Christian said. These are the people we move through the universe with from lifetime to lifetime. It's loosely based in Hinduisim with large doses of western religion thrown into the mix.

The conceit that the writers created, basing it off these religious philosophies, was that as a group, the Lostaways subconsciously created this "sideways" world where they exist in purgatory until they are "awakened" and find one another. Once they all find one another, they can then move on and move forward. In essence, this is the show's concept of the afterlife. According to the show, everyone creates their own "Sideways" purgatory with their "soulmates" throughout their lives and exist there until they all move on together. That's a beautiful notion. Even if you aren't religious or even spirtual, the idea that we live AND die together is deeply profound and moving.

It's a really cool and spirtual concept that fits the whole tone and subtext the show has had from the beginning. These people were SUPPOSED to be together on that plane. They were supposed to live through these events — not JUST because of Jacob. But because that's what the universe or God (depending on how religious you wish to get) wanted to happen. The show was always about science vs faith — and it ultimately came down on the side of faith. It answered THE core question of the series. The one question that has been at the root of every island mystery, every character backstory, every plot twist. That, by itself, is quite an accomplishment.

How much you want to extrapolate from that is up to you as the viewer. Think about season 1 when we first found the Hatch. Everyone thought that's THE answer! Whatever is down there is the answer! Then, as we discovered it was just one station of many. One link in a very long chain that kept revealing more, and more of a larger mosiac.

But the writer's took it even further this season by contrasting this Sideways "purgatory" with the Island itself. Remember when Michael appeared to Hurley, he said he was not allowed to leave the Island. Just like the MIB. He wasn't allowed into this sideways world and thus, was not afforded the opportunity to move on. Why? Because he had proven himself to be unworthy with his actions on the Island. He failed the test. The others, passed. They made it into Sideways world when they died — some before Jack, some years later. In Hurley's case, maybe centuries later. They exist in this sideways world until they are "awakened" and they can only move on TOGETHER because they are linked. They are destined to be together for eternity. That was their destiny.

They were NOT linked to Anna Lucia, Daniel, Roussou, Alex, Miles, Lupidis, (and all the rest who weren't in the chuch — basically everyone who wasn't in season 1). Yet those people exist in Sideways world. Why? Well again, here's where they leave it up to you to decide. The way I like to think about it, is that those people who were left behind in Sideways world have to find their own soulmates before they can wake up. It's possible that those links aren't people from the island but from their other life (Anna's parnter, the guy she shot --- Roussou's husband, etc etc).

A lot of people have been talking about Ben and why he didn't go into the Church. And if you think of Sideways world in this way, then it gives you the answer to that very question. Ben can't move on yet because he hasn't connected with the people he needs to. It's going to be his job to awaken Roussou, Alex, Anna Lucia (maybe), Ethan, Goodspeed, his father and the rest. He has to attone for his sins more than he did by being Hurley's number two. He has to do what Hurley and Desmond did for our Lostaways with his own people. He has to help them connect. And he can only move on when all the links in his chain are ready to. Same can be said for Faraday, Charlotte, Whidmore, Hawkins etc. It's really a neat, and cool concept. At least to me.

But, from a more "behind the scenes" note: the reason Ben's not in the church, and the reason no one is in the church but for Season 1 people is because they wrote the ending to the show after writing the pilot. And never changed it. The writers always said (and many didn't believe them) that they knew their ending from the very first episode. I applaud them for that. It's pretty fantastic. Originally Ben was supposed to have a 3 episode arc and be done. But he became a big part of the show. They could have easily changed their ending and put him in the church — but instead they problem solved it. Gave him a BRILLIANT moment with Locke outside the church ... and then that was it. I loved that. For those that wonder — the original ending started the moment Jack walked into the church and touches the casket to Jack closing his eyes as the other plane flies away. That was always JJ's ending. And they kept it.

For me the ending of this show means a lot. Not only because I worked on it, but because as a writer it inspired me in a way the medium had never done before. I've been inspired to write by great films. Maybe too many to count. And there have been amazing TV shows that I've loved (X-Files, 24, Sopranos, countless ½ hour shows). But none did what LOST did for me. None showed me that you could take huge risks (writing a show about faith for network TV) and stick to your creative guns and STILL please the audience. I learned a lot from the show as a writer. I learned even more from being around the incredible writers, producers, PAs, interns and everyone else who slaved on the show for 6 years.

In the end, for me, LOST was a touchstone show that dealt with faith, the afterlife, and all these big, spirtual questions that most shows don't touch. And to me, they never once waivered from their core story — even with all the sci-fi elements they mixed in. To walk that long and daunting of a creative tightrope and survive is simply astounding.

A possible Lost inspiration and platform for story development is the Journal titled "The Jinn of the Time Machine: Non-trivial Self-Consistent Solutions" by Russian physicists Igor Novikov and Andrei concerning and hypothesising about various theoretical issues in time travel.

The jinn essentially move in a circular timespace which at some point make them appear to move against the second law of thermodynamics. As they move forward in time they self-organize and instead of gaining entropy, they lose entropy.

The Genie references throughout the series of Lost still lead me to thinking Jacob, MiB and others are part of the Jinn, a race higher evolved than humans though under the concept of Angelic life as made popular in various religions.  In other words they are Genies.

Some interesting Lost centricpoints on the Genie theory:

• Jinn are beings much like humans, possessing the ability to be good and bad. They have the power to transform into other animals and humans, and they are known to prefer the form of a snake.
• In Islam-associated mythology, the jinn were said to be controllable by magically binding them to objects, as Suleiman (Solomon) most famously did; the Spirit of the Lamp in the story of Aladdin was such a jinni, bound to an oil lamp.
• The Jinn will only grant "A wish" in turn for a specific favor – Looking at you Jacob....
• Evil beings from among the jinn are roughly equivalent to the demons of Christian lore. In mythology, Jinn have the ability to possess human beings, both in the sense that they persuade humans to perform actions, and like the Christian perception of demonic possession.
• It is said that by taking seven hairs out of the tail of a cat that was all black except for a white spot on the end of its tail, and then burning the hairs in a small closed room with the possessed—filling their nose with the scent—this would release them from the spell of the jinn inside them.
• Desmond is reading this book by British Indian writer Salman Rushdie. "It is a phantasmagorical story set in a city so old and ruinous that it has forgotten its name". It is an allegorical story about a 10 year old boy in an imaginary world called "Kahani" and his father is the story teller. After his mother leaves his father, the father is unable to tell stories anymore. There is a water genie who controls the Ocean of the Stream of Stories. Haroun is the Arabic for Aaron....
• Death to the Jinn is merely an obstacle (that can be over come) hence their indifference to it.

Human religions consider the Jinn to be Demonic yet the Jinn are merely 1 level more advanced than humans on the evolutionary scale of capability. The Jinn may seem devoid of emotion yet it is this factor that allows them to keep the real evil at bay.  Emotion based on life and death and emotive perception based on the concept of existence are very different when digested by human beings. Death to the Jinn could be considered as an altered state of being – Is Lost this advanced in this sort of storytelling?

The alternate reality may be the only reality and island events have created an event horizon whereby the island is stuck in a quantum parallax and the only way to fix it is by bringing both versions together.

If the Island is the focus and the core of the whole Lost premise, and control over the very concept of relative time is produced on the island, this would suggest that multiple possible realities have been envisioned though not yet been implemented – keeping current with the producers saying that the alternate reality is not an alternate reality but more a perceived existence. (inserted cool sounding scifi names)

I recently wrote this for Ozsource Australia:

What a torrid few days it has been for the ABC with a massive community backlash in regards to the original silent axing of Good Game TV favorite, The Junglist.  The mainstream Media has also caught wind of the events unfoldng at the ABC with The Age announcing "Good Game presenter claims ABC gender bias after axing"

In the recent forum thread: Statement from the team.... including Junglist the community and Junglist himself has responded to this apparent comment and untruth from the whole Good Game team:

The decision to take Junglist off air was not forced upon us by ABC Management and it's one that is fully supported by all the GG team. We are gutted that it has come to this but in our opinion it absolutely had to happen.

It's strange for us to read that so many of you think this is because we have suffered a raging case of political correctness gone mad or a wish to dumb the show down. That’s absolutely not right. We, as ever, will continue our quest to bring you the show for gamers by gamers but this has to be our last word on this – we have shows to make!

Finally, we genuinely wish Junglist all the best, and we hope he finds a medium for his awesome analysis and presenting skills that works for him.

Team Good Game Out
(Syd, Bajo, Moe, Tuk, Gog, Mafia, Jeremy Pencil, Palindrome)

A response to this from Junglist:

I can tell you that this is a lie. There was no vote taken, no consensus reached. In fact, the GG team was completely unaware of the change until the same day I found out. The same confidentiality clause that prevented me from saying anything publicly, prevented management from telling them anything.

I have spoken to members of the GG team who clearly DON'T support this, but can't say anything publicly. Of course they'll tow the party line. They have to.

Up until now the situation has just been poorly handled. But to now LIE to your own audience, in an effort to save face for replacing an experienced reviewer/presenter with an inexperienced one, is quite simply the lowest thing I've ever seen ABC management do.

I feel now as if I'm being professionally attacked, so here's a truth bomb. In the meeting where I was told I would be replaced, the reason given was they wanted a girl on the show. "Mass appeal" was a direct quote from that meeting. After a half-hour of explaining how they'll lose their hardcore following, they responded that yes, they knew this, but expected to make up the numbers with a new following. "A show can grow beyond its hardcore base", is another direct quote.

The decision was forced by ABC management, for a mass appeal direction, and will naturally be dumbed down for the loss of experience....

Trawling through the thread it becomes clear what some of the issues the Good Game management had with Junglist.  They did not see eye to eye for his desire to review more in-depth if required, unlike the default 1 hour play-test.  Imagine a review for Dragon Age Origins coming from Good Game after an hours worth of play time.So what if it takes a bit longer - more time makes for a better review, especially considering Good Game only does 3 a week and throws out a heap of submissions from Bajo and Junlist every week.

ABC management also appear to have a misguided mission to target the stereotypical Wii type casual gaming public and younger gamer with a dumbing down in order to achieve mass appeal.  Thinking the core gaming audience would not notice this was enough motivation to remove the only core gamer from the show.  His replacement in Hex, also reeks of blatant sexifying to encourage viewer numbers.  I do not have anything against her in general as she has the right personality and ability to become a TV star with great potential for the future, she just walked into a Dog House.

My own personal thoughts and closing sentiments on this debacle which I also sent to the ABC:

I would like to highlight my disgust at the apparent disgraceful act of commercialisation and sexism with the sacking of Junglist from Good Game.  This is not what the ABC is about. The poor performance of your staff on the Good Game forums is also unprofessional and now has brought about potential damning discrimination issues with the ABC in general.
Good Game was fantastic the way it was but now you have killed it and the Real gaming community.

Thanks a lot.

Save Junglist Website.

Save Junglist Facebook Group.

Petition.

ABC Contact Form.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ka7wveV7Wsw

I have just recently purchased the new Muse album: The Resistance and have been memorised by it ever since.  The album for me, is a masterpiece and lead singer Matthew Bellamy is a god damn genius.  The ability to transcend genres and make a truly exciting piece of musical art is a rare feat these days - especially in a market saturated with synthetic pop idols and a limited and controlling media landscape.

Why mention V?

The flow or order of the album seems to be an alternative take on Revelation, be it the end of days, Armageddon or what ever you want to call it.  It appears to be a fragmented idea on existence, one that deals with love, aliens, death and DNA.

The parallels it has with the old (soon to be new again) TV series "V" which also had parallels with the Nazi Holocaust is uncanny. I re-watched the Mini series not too long ago so the Story is still relatively fresh in my mind.

Looking at the official Muse wiki on the album: http://www.musewiki.org/The_Resistance_%28album%29 quite a few songs draw from George Orwells Nineteen Eighty-Four which was indeed an original V influence.

Unnatural Selection: http://www.musewiki.org/Unnatural_Selection_%28song%29 suggests:

"that the song might address the idea of the British royal family being descendants of giant lizards, as proposed by David Icke among others"

Lizards.....Its the damn V soundtrack!

Exogenesis: http://www.musewiki.org/Exogenesis:_Symphony_%28song%29

"The song tells the story of humanity leaving a destructive Earth behind to populate elsewhere in the Universe." and "life is seeded across the universe from other sources, for example, arriving to Earth on comets, hence "cross pollination""

Anyway, this is just my take on the album, and as music is about as subjective a topic as you can get, don't blame me if I am completely off.

CIGS could cost more than $20 for a packet of 30 and come in plain wrapping if radical proposals now under consideration by the federal government are accepted.

The government is considering a cigarette tax hike and a ban on all remaining tobacco advertising and sponsorship in response to its yet-to-be-released Preventative Health Taskforce report.

What the hell is the Preventative Health Taskforce and what are their priorities?

It seems targeting smokers is a sure fire way to bring in the dollars under the guise of better health.  Most smokers are of working age and earn enough to pay the excess tax and can put up with various price hikes.

Anti-smoking organisations such as the Public Health Association, the Cancer Council and the National Heart Foundation have backed the plan but fail to target the more fundamental issues present.  What about the hundreds of proven dangerous additives available in our food today - this is a simple example of dodgy $$ fuelled prioritising.

Artificial colours and flavours are allowed in my kids food in Australia - stuff that has been banned in the UK due to known health issues.

The government needs to get its priorities right and stop treating Australians like idiots.

For Information on Toyo Ink Australia, please visit the official website.

Toyo Ink Australia

The Toyo Ink company is one of the top three printing ink manufacturers and suppliers in the world.   Toyo Ink celebrated their 100 year anniversary as an incorporated company in 2007 and today our operations expand across most countries in Asia, Australia, New Zealand, North America and Europe.

Globally, Toyo Ink employs over 6000 people and has an annual turnover exceeding US$2 billion. International management structure breaks the company into 5 regions, defined primarily by geography.

The Toyo Ink group covers 2 broadly defined business areas; a Graphic Arts and a Chemical field. These in turn are divided into 4 business segments; printing inks, graphic arts machinery and supplies, Polymer Chemicals and Chemicals and media materials.

At Toyo Ink Australia and New Zealand we concentrate on printing inks and associated consumables. Toyo Ink Aus was established in 1984 as a joint venture of local shareholders with Toyo Ink Mfg Co Ltd of Japan. In 1987 the printing ink manufacturing plant at Kilsyth, Melbourne, was opened with an initial size of 21,000 m2, and in 1992 the local shareholders relinquished all of their shares to the Toyo Ink Mfg Co Ltd.  Gravure plant closed due to unforeseen circumstances.

The main production factory and head office are located at Kilsyth, approximately 35 kms east of the Melbourne CBD and in the foothills of the beautiful Mt Dandenong. It is on this site that the Technical Centre is also located.  More.