FRONT PAGE FEATURE INDEX

Too lazy even to type a word into a "Search" box and hit Enter? Then this is the page for you. This index covers (by category, and in descending chronological order within each category) all the articles which have appeared on the WoS front page, and which were exclusive to (or at least premiered on) the website, rather than being published in a magazine and therefore found in the Main WoS Archive.

VIDEOGAMES
 
WoS Console Of The Year 2008
Acknowledging an overlooked zenith.

Revenge Of The Curse Of Scorpion Software
(Return To The)

Why I Don't Hate Valve
Email exchange showing the power of moaning.

Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3)
Guest review.

Driv3rgate 3 II - Electric Boogaloo
The Return Of Mystery Reporter X Is Back!

The Wonderful World Of Bruce Everiss
Featuring the return of Mystery Reporter X!

Space Giraffe (Xbox Live Arcade)
Review feature.

A Six And Two Threes
The PS3 and Xbox 360 head-to-head.

Schindler's Lift
A heartwarming tale, of a sort.

And Your Bird Can Sing
The DS and PSP head-to-head.

Nintendo DS Puzzle Game Review Roundup
Which word don't you understand?

So You Want To Be A Videogames Journalist?
A contribution of heartfelt and sincere advice, part
of a wider project involving many games writers.

Review Roundup: Deuxiéme Section
A second round-up of Nintendo DS games.

Back On The Road Again
A round-up of Nintendo DS games.

Project Gotham Racing 3 (Xbox 360)
Review.

Tomb Raider Legend (Xbox)
Review.

This Frequency's My Universe
Feature on the magnificent Grid Wars 2,
a game subsequently killed by Microsoft.

Have You Met Your Father? 2
The secret ancestry of classic games.
No.2 - The Typing Of The Dead.
BONUS CONTENT

DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou (PS2)
Review feature.

Raiden 3 (PS2)
Review feature on the WoS Game Of The Year 2005.

Fade Away And Irradiate
Feature on the steady decline of the Burnout series.

Cannon Fodder 2 - The Untold Story
Self-contradicting title for an epic four-part exploration
and explanation of the making of the No.1 Amiga
game designed by the host of WoS in 1994.

Namco 50th Anniversary (multi)
Review feature.

A Little Thing Here And A Little Thing There
Feature examining how, as games get ever more bloated
 and complicated, all the options and features that actually make them accessible and playable are being removed
one by one at the behest of stupid, neurotic publishers.

MAME Over
Controversial feature which caused quite a furore by
suggesting that the current developers of legendary
arcade emulator MAME had lost sight of what the
project was supposed to be about in the first place.

Visual Pinball Dreams
Short piece about some 3D updates/simulations of
the classic Amiga pinball games by 21st Century.
BONUS CONTENT

Are Videogames Art?
A definitive answer to a tedious question.

The Campaign For More Acronyms
Demanding the introduction to videogame reviews of
"The PGB Factor", by which players could find out how much tiresome tutorial/manual-reading/story-exposition
crap they were going to be subjected to before being
allowed to actually play the game they'd just paid for.

Around The Pole
A WoS Challenge feature, offering 10 custom
puzzle levels for the DS' splendid Polarium.

The WoS Complete N-Gage Gaming Guide
A comprehensive investigation of the surprisingly
good handheld games console/mobile phone hybrid.

Zoo Keeper (Nintendo DS)
Review feature.

Gran Turismo 4 (PS2)
Review feature.

Zoo Keeper (PC Flash version)
A beginner's guide to the game,
and also a WoS Challenge.

Lode Runner Once, Lode Runner Twice
Another WoS Challenge feature, this time based
on the Game Boy's Hyper Lode Runner (quite
possibly the hardest videogame ever created).

Lode Runner (GBA)
Review feature, incorporating a WoS Challenge.

Metal Slug Advance (GBA)
Review feature.

The Pointless Truth
An attempt to get to the bottom of a long-forgotten
mystery, in the shape of the Spectrum version of
Konami's classic arcade game Nemesis and the
disturbing air of corruption around its reviewing.

Gradius V (PS2)
Review feature.

Out Run 2 (Xbox)
Review feature, part 2 (one week on).

Out Run 2 (Xbox)
Review feature, part 1.

Why Piracy Is Good
Feature looking into the part played by
piracy in preserving videogame history.

Information Retrieval
The Your Sinclair All-Time Top 100
Spectrum Games, re-presented.

Detonator (PS2)
Review feature.

Stu's Super Puzzle Challenge
Actually a set-up for the Detonator piece.

Tempest 3000 (Nuon)
Review feature on the Jeff Minter-designed
third Tempest sequel, for the obscure DVD
"console", which caused a ferocious uproar
on the hyper-sensitive coder's web forum.

The Love That Dare Not Speak Its Name
A heartfelt defence of the much-maligned
1983 laserdisc arcade game "Dragons Lair".

Hold The Firing Squad
Examining the declining standards of
games journalism. OR ARE THEY?

The King Of Route 66 (PS2)
Review feature mostly centred around the ratio
of time spent on actual game-playing, to hanging
around waiting for loading and the like. An early
precursor to the coining of "The PGB Factor".
(The Campaign For More Acronyms, above.)

Hard Drivin'
Uncovering the corruption of Future Publishing
over its reviews of Atari's abysmal Driv3r.

Raiden DX (PS1)
Review feature, and playful dig at Edge magazine.
BONUS CONTENT

It R3ally Do3sn't Matt3r Any Mor3
Torturously-titled look at the reaction to
the super-hyped but super-terrible Driv3r.

Super 60-Minute Shmup-O-Score Salon
A whole bunch of WoS Challenges, all
for vertically-scrolling shoot-'em-ups.

Sega Ages Out Run (PS2)
The last WoS review to have a score.

Have You Met Your Father?
The secret ancestry of classic games.
No.1 - Boulder Dash.

A Little Bonus Room
Short feature on the unsung PS1 platforming
classic Skull Monkeys, mostly as an excuse to
give away MP3s of some of its excellent music.

Tempest X3 (PS1)
Singing the praises of Tempest's
lesser-known, but best, sequel.

Gunner's Heaven (PS1)
Investigative reporting into the mysterious lineage of
one of the PS1's finest but least-acclaimed games.

Why The Spectrum Was Better Than The C64
Self-explanatory rabble-rousing piece written for
The Way Of The Rodent's special showdown issue.

The Interactive Instruction Manual
The original manual for Sensible World Of Soccer,
created by your host in an afternoon of madness.

Maths Is Beauty
Feature/playing guide for Geometry Wars on
the Xbox (hidden game in Project Gotham 2).

Space Invaders Anniversary (PS2)
Review, in experimental, slightly different
and swiftly-abandoned visual style.

R-Type Final (PS2)
Review of one of the best games currently gracing a
bargain bin somewhere near you for about five quid.

Virtua Racing Flat Out (PS2)
Review of a game now available in the UK as part of
an extremely worthwhile compilation also featuring
Sega Ages Out Run (see above) and many more.

Space Invaders: Invasion Day (PS2)
Review of a game crudely shoe-horned into
the Space Invaders history line in an attempt
to boost otherwise-unpromising sales potential.

The Neverending Story
Pondering the apparent mystery of why the
videogames industry fights so hard to avoid
becoming a genuine mass-market culture.

Walking With Burke And Hare
Exposing the strangely under-documented blatant
plagiarism that dogs the world of gaming to this day.

Forever In Eugene
Jarvis, that is, creator of Defender and Robotron, but
also the unfairly-overlooked Cruis'n USA, for which this
piece (written for Way Of The Rodent) offers up praise.

ABC:RIP
Early-2004 feature accurately predicting the
continued decline of the print videogame media.

Lesson One
An explanation of why I decided to
become a videogames journalist.

You Rebel(star) Scum
Feature on, and largely-successful resurrection of, the
magnificent turn-based strategy game Email X-COM.

There's A New Fridge In Town
Tracing the missing link between the
Game Boy and a washing machine.

Kicking Off
In response to 14 years of non-stop whining
from idiots, a comprehensive detailing of the
truth about rubbish football game Kick Off.

Metal Slug 5 (arcade)
Review feature, subtitled "Why I Hate Capitalism".

Stop The (Rip-Off) Express
Another piece on plagiarism. This one saw people
publishing my home address and inciting death threats.

[.special]
Another WoS-exclusive triumph of investigative
reporting reveals the great lost Super Mario Bros
game, the PC-8001's Super Mario Bros Special.
 

EXPLORING

Police On My Back
An exciting exploratory visit to the inside of a prison cell.

Ship Shapes And Bristol Fashions
An olive branch to the South West's biggest city.

Come Back Tomorrow
The second port of call in WoS Island Week.

Walk Into The Sea
A triumphant return to Scooby Doo Island.

Billiard Player Song
The incredibly beautiful confiscated village of Tyneham.

Over The Hill And Down The Slope
A 60-minute stop-off in beautiful Lulworth Cove.

White With No Sugar
Visiting Prince Charles' dream village, Poundbury.

Weston, We Have A Problem
A WoS mission gone wrong, but then rescued.

The Abyss Strolls Also Through You
A little respite from some battles with monsters,
in the shape of a daytrip to Cheddar Gorge.

What I Did On My Holidays
A diary of a short break in Sunderland and Scotland
in January 2006, covering bitter legal disputes, snack
treats, politics, architecture, picturesque scenery,
long-term mental illness and football.

Travels With Trashman
Visiting the real-life locations of the classic
Spectrum game, as a special birthday treat.

Stolen From The People
A trip to the ghost village of Imber.

PHOTOGRAPHY

Bright Signs (Don't Do It)
A snapshot of local prohibitions.

Me And My Shadow
Wandering around town, taking
pictures of my own dark reflection.

This Is Britain
A single image, encapsulating what
makes our proud nation great.

I Don't Fancy Being Beside The Seaside
Some startling images of the UK leisure industry's
attempts to sell people homeland-based holidays.

MUSIC

A Song To Learn And Sing
Appreciating the unsettling classic "13".

Stu's Glastonbury Diary
An account of my non-trip to the 2005 gathering.
BONUS CONTENT

Never Trust A Hippy
A piece of investigative reporting into the somewhat
misrepresented finances of the Glastonbury Festival, revealing that, due to creative accounting, the "non-
profit" event in fact rakes in millions of pounds for its organisers, while donating vastly less money to
charitable causes than anyone thinks.

Born Too Soon
The story of the zany misadventures of your
reporter's late-1980s band The Jellyheads.

Stu's Awesome World Of Correct Pop Lyrics
A small rant, and a public service.

Big Songs For Little Attention Spans Vol.2
The second collection of 100 songs on one CD.

Big Songs For Little Attention Spans Vol.1
The original (and successful) attempt to fit 100
proper, GOOD, tracks onto a single CD. Easily
the most popular feature in the history of WoS to
date, spreading far and wide across the net and
generating well over 1 million MB of downloading.

The Greatest Rock'n'Roll Stars
A bold attempt to rewrite critical history in
favour of The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle.

"I Just Work Here"
A heartfelt appreciation of Elvis Presley's finest hour.

Red Light Spells Danger
Lovingly-detailed analysis of the lyrics
of Billy Ocean's breakdown classic.

SNACKS

Nothing Stays The Same
Feature on the surprise incorporation of the famous
Lion Sports Mixtures and Midget Gems gum sweets
into the Maynards confectionery empire, which would
go on to generate a surprising amount of fuss.

Snack My Bitch Up
A compilation of consumer reports written for
Snackspot. Really ought to complete this one at
some point, since I've now given up doing stuff
for the site on account of the depressingly
idiotic absurdity of the fuss mentioned above. 

FICTION

"Though Believing Sees Me Cursed"
Short story intended as accompaniment to the great
Johnny Boy single "You Are The Generation That
Bought More Shoes And You Get What You Deserve"

"Skybrush Driftwood"
This one's for "Noisy Summer" by the Raveonettes.

MISC

Operation Apocalypse - The Untold Story
Future Publishing, the law and me.

Open Letter To Don Foster MP
A little bit of politics, ladies and gentlemen.

Goal Club
The best biannual football sweepstake game on Earth.
LINK CURRENTLY INACTIVE

The WoS Semi-Complete Guide To Poker
Does what it says it does.

The PR Of Piracy
The investigations of Mystery Reporter X into
the Industry Trust For IP Awareness Ltd's
dodgy anti-piracy campaign of 2004.

Blow Your Rights
The original feature examining the ludicrous "DVD
Piracy Is A Crime" campaign, which subsequently
sparked Mystery Reporter X's diligent detective work.

The Real English Disease
A look at the possible underlying reasons
behind English football hooliganism.

Film 1 A.D.
Movie review on Mel Gibson's epic
"The Passion Of The Christ".

The Real World (Of Stuart)
A small collection of retrieved rantings from various
internet forums, on topics ranging from 9/11 to the
war in Iraq, the morality of taxation and the pros and
cons of the Old Firm joining the English Premiership.

STUFF TO DOWNLOAD

Deadeye Virtual Arcade
Graphic backdrop files for the splendid indie game.

Micro Machine
A "skin" file to make the GBA emulator
Visual Boy Advance look cuter.

It's A(nother) Swindle
The Great Rock'n'Roll Swindle Pinball 2004.

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