In the UK it is Fathers day today. Got a good range of pressies from the kids. And no socks. I've told the children what will happen to them if they buy me socks. So most of the time they don't. Which is as it should be. Got some DVDs (Ally Mcbeal and Futurama) and an XBOX game. Number one son is somewhat disgusted about the game. I wanted Terminator III because a review said it was quite good and very easy to play. Hmmm. It is good, but I can't play it that well. I blundered through a few levels standing around and getting killed. Then number one son had ago and whizzed past loads of stuff muttering about how he really preferred something which taxed him at least a bit.

As I write this he is grappling with the 42 key Steel Batallion controller (which he does find a challenge). Of all the fighting games that I've seen this one seems the most realistic to me. The view is blurry and indistinct and breaks up every now and then. And when you get hit the whole display flickers in a very realistic fashion. I read yesterday that the number one games developer at the moment is, believe it or not, the US Army. They want their soldiers trained in the various hi-tech ways of doing away with the enemy, and apparently getting kids to play games is the way forward. They already use Playstation like controllers for some of their remote vehicles.  I seem to remember discovering this scenario in various science fiction stories (and the film "The Last Starfigher") way back. I must admit that I find this kind of thing somewhat depressing. I'd hate to think of number one son being sent off to fight just because he can get the high score...