Formula 1 2013 - Round 2: Malaysia

I’m sat in a bit of a funny situation at the moment. The 2013 Malaysian Grand Prix wasn’t a classic by any stretch of the imagination, but it more than highlighted a few damning things about the sport. Can’t have wheel to wheel racing with a team mate unless the boss permits it, can’t push too hard in case you run out of fuel or the tyres go off and having to save the engine and/or gear box as much as possible, not to mention the overpaid former second hand cars salesman who has far too much power (though I doubt he has so much power he can choose who drives for who).

Through the harsh sun and the rain, the drivers were pushed to their physical limits on what is one of the hardest tracks for the driver to endure, leading to some interesting situations, even if one overly familiar situation did have to make a reappearance.

Formula 1 2013 - Round 1: Austalia

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls and everyone in between, the 2013 Formula 1 season has begun! When the rubbers meets the tarmac, all the boasting and hot laps from testing will either hold up or get cast into the wind and we’ll know who’s worth watching this year.

 After 3 years on top, Red Bull and their wonder boy Sebastian Vettel look like the package to beat, especially with McLaren and Ferrari looking to try and to find some revolution that would put them on top while Red Bull did the sensible thing and evolved an already brilliant car instead. However, their rivals are close and there may well be a few unexpected lurkers creeping up on them.

Once again, the Formula 1 season starts down under in Melbourne, Australia, a circuit that throws up a few twists with its very nature as a street track, not to mention the weather playing a roll from time to time and this year it certainly didn’t disappoint.

Game Review: Paper Mario: Sticker Star

Developer: Intelligent Systems

Publisher: Nintendo

Genre: RPG

Platform: Nintendo 3DS

People tend to knock Nintendo for ‘rehashing their old franchises’. On every Nintendo system, there’s always Mario saving Peach from Bowser and Link saving Zelda from Ganon. However, you do have to blind yourself in order to not notice that each core game in not just those series but their other series’ such as Metroid, Star Fox and Pikmin undergo either change which is built into the core aspect of the game or significant refinement with each entry and sport a level of polish no other developer can hope to achieve (especially in this age of annual releases with half-hearted additions).

Whether it’s in terms of hardware which enabled more accurate sword play in Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword or simple and clever game play design such as Super Mario Galaxy and all the gravity shenanigans, Nintendo always tries to shake things up one way or another. Sadly, it doesn’t always work.

Formula 1 2013 Season Preview

Is it 20 13 or 2,013? I'm still wondering why people are sticking with 2,000 something when it makes no sense now. Sure, 20 00 sounded rubbish next to 2,000, but now we're out of that 'naughties' phase it starts to sound out of place. We didn't say 1,999 after all.

Anyway, pointless rant aside, now for the other thing I was hoping to talk about in this blog: Formula 1. We've had a few brilliant seasons in the last few years, marred by a few that were a chore to watch (2011 being the worst) but what can we look forwards to this year? There are a few details still being debated/not taken seriously by Bernie Ecclestone because he's not being offered enough money regarding a possible 20th race, but for now let’s have a run-down of the teams and their drivers.