30 - Friday, October 1, 1999 — North Shore News

~ Hijinks galore in satirical romp

@ One Fine Day in the Middle of the Night by Christopher Brookmyre, Little, Brown and Company, 373 pages.

The invitations went out, and for most the promise of free drink was enough to bring them to thi ed school reunion, The invi- tees showed up for the bus thar would drive them to the Seottch coast where they would be transported to the absolute latest idea in holiday resorts.

This monolith to bad taste sat poised in the cold Atlantic waters astride a former oil rig now converted to a holiday fan- tasyland. The man behind the concept, Gavin Hutchinson, former classmate, looked forward to lording over his less accomplished peers before his monstrosity was towed to its tinal destination off the coast of Afr

Unfortunately for Hutchinson there were a few gatecrash- ers, both expected and unexpected, with weapons and with- out. Before you know it, there are bullets flying, hormones raging and hijinks galore.

Christopher Brookmyre tak he targets reunions and their glossy version of the past, our struggles to mature and find happiness, and the quest for suc- cess. Once a subject i is sights, he lets loose with both

» blasting wu and insights. That his sto: mes has the ring of a thick Scottish accent only adds to the fun.

sus ona wild satirical romp as

— Terry Pet:

Evers set for book signing

AUTHOR Anne ¢ Evers will be signing copies of her new book Affirmations: Your Passport te Happiness at North Vancouver’s 32 Books (14th and Lonsdale) on Wednesday, Oct. 20 at 7:30 p.m. Evers has worked in the personal growth field for the past 30 years. She is a columnist and writer who has appeared on nerous TV and talk shows in Canada and the U.S.

*Introducing our COMEDY RAILROAD

content rating system: (for those of you who may be concerned with show content (language, demeaner, etc)

@ Family

Entertainment Television

NORTH SHORE CRGANIZATIONS

@ Prime-Time

Shaun Conlin Contributing Writer

BPC/Win98: RollerCoaster Tycoon (Hasbro)

Ive been a fan of micro- management games for a long time simply for the rea- son the SpaCrty 2000 was one of the few games [could play back in my Macintosh

Now that Pve gone to the dark side and have Bill Gates calling the shots (Win98), at least | have a large variety games to choose trom,

Hasbro's RollerCoaster Tyeoon is as tun and absort ing as “real-time: god” games get. This time the engrossing genre vets 2 verumety “fin” premise. Cheeky, ». , overtly satirical, th

sionary gamep Don’t foad this one at the office, you'll never noti where the day has gone Can't rent it. Great purchase.

The CAN-AM COMEDY FOUNDATION will

donate 35% of your total purchase

price to your organization purchases of 10 or more tickets

For further informatio please call 929-7027.

official last week by contirm- ing March 4, 2000 as the launch date tor their highly i ation 2, a “super console” of their own to rival and in some ways sur- pass Sega’s farest gaming machine, the Dreameast. w machine is not tar as powertul as we were led to believe back in May at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), but it is at least similar in power to the Sega Dreameast. ‘The PSX2 will adlyo tila. DW chnology which will not only allow CONSUMErS to ENJOY Masse and elaborate gameplay watch DVD movies to standard music CT well.

The anit will have a MSRP of USS369 and will not come equipped with a modem for internet play,

4s king of Sega, the nt, wildly successful sameast launch did not go thout a few hitche

While the system has generat- ed arccord breaking USS150,000,000+4 since its release on 9/9/99, some of the SGD ROM” game dises were fHawed.

Seva attributes the manu- facturing glitch to one batch of software fron: one of their duplication facilities. The problem was rectified imme- diately and less then than 1% of games were said to be affected.

Sega uses four different facilities to manufacture their game d Unfortunately, the iaulty dises were shipped in “clumps” and it would appear that a large portion of them landed in the Greater

er area, with various ilers estimating 20%

pside

with the subject reading “web browser replacement” and the message body to include your name, mailing address and telephone num- ber. Or vou can call toll free 1-877-383-3291 Yam - 7pm Or call Sega's interac: tive voice mail at 1-800-872 7342. Any other detectiv product can be returned to the point of purchase. Sega of America apologies for any inconvenience. Who says cheaters never win? Soul Reaver: Don’t kill the first human you see, he,s t fellow shooting darts at vou. Ignore him and all other humans will think you,re some kind of god. Pretty cool.

Top Rentals:

1. NHL 2000 (PSX)

2. Final Fantasy VIE (PSX) 3. Soul Calibur (DC)

4, Sonie Adventure (DC)

5. Legacy of Kain: Soul (InterAction Computer Entertainment 120 E 3rd St. N. Van 987-3472. <www.gameaction.com>)