brought to you by MANLY RAGE
I broke a controller by throwing it at the weekend. This isn't the first time, I'm only human after all, but it was the first time I decided to see what I could do about it so I went down to B&Q and got a screwdriver to open it up. I replaced the shoulder button that popped out on impact with the floor (and the rest of the buttons as well when I turned the pad over by mistake and they all spilt out. It was very easy to put back together because all the buttons have different tabs sticking out the bottom so they can't settle in the wrong slots. It's all very idiot-proof) retightened the screws and it works fine. You'd almost never know it was broken.
Driven by the thrill of success and the masculine urges that had surfaced from tool use I tried my hand at another broken controller I had stored in the cupboard. With this one a corner broke off the shoulder button so it hangs loose. It should still work but it's awkward to hold, and while the other one was just an ordinary pad this was a rare transparent controller with coloured buttons and I felt guilty about manhandling it so I kept it (and the broken chip of plastic) for years in case I could get it fixed. I planned to take the button out, glue the broken piece on and reassemble it but I couldn't get the screws out. The screwdriver couldn't grip the slots even when I pressed hard and turned, like the screws were in too tight. Back into storage it goes. That pad was an old shame of mine so it's more of a letdown that I thought for just a few minutes I finally had the power to fix it.
Meanwhile in gaming news the laws on UK games ratings were changed again. Now the PEGI (Pan-European Gaming Information) ratings are going to be the only source of rating information, mandatory for all games and legally enforcable. Being older than 18 and not having children it doesn't affect me but I suspect the news reports about it were trying to play up how much of an advancement this is by a) not mentioning that virtually every game released in the UK over the past six years has voluntarily been rated by PEGI anyway so the information has always been there, and b) the reports only focus on the problems of children playing age-inappropriate games or retailers selling them to children. The continuing issue of parents who ignore the ratings and buy age-restricted games for their children isn't mentioned. Fancy that.
Driven by the thrill of success and the masculine urges that had surfaced from tool use I tried my hand at another broken controller I had stored in the cupboard. With this one a corner broke off the shoulder button so it hangs loose. It should still work but it's awkward to hold, and while the other one was just an ordinary pad this was a rare transparent controller with coloured buttons and I felt guilty about manhandling it so I kept it (and the broken chip of plastic) for years in case I could get it fixed. I planned to take the button out, glue the broken piece on and reassemble it but I couldn't get the screws out. The screwdriver couldn't grip the slots even when I pressed hard and turned, like the screws were in too tight. Back into storage it goes. That pad was an old shame of mine so it's more of a letdown that I thought for just a few minutes I finally had the power to fix it.
Meanwhile in gaming news the laws on UK games ratings were changed again. Now the PEGI (Pan-European Gaming Information) ratings are going to be the only source of rating information, mandatory for all games and legally enforcable. Being older than 18 and not having children it doesn't affect me but I suspect the news reports about it were trying to play up how much of an advancement this is by a) not mentioning that virtually every game released in the UK over the past six years has voluntarily been rated by PEGI anyway so the information has always been there, and b) the reports only focus on the problems of children playing age-inappropriate games or retailers selling them to children. The continuing issue of parents who ignore the ratings and buy age-restricted games for their children isn't mentioned. Fancy that.