I think much of Geocities remained accessible until 2013/2014 before going completely (apart from Japan 2019 or so).

Holiday soundtrack for one particularly memorable break. Nice to revisit.

The soundtrack was fun too

Sniper Elite 5. I played V2 way back and fancied an updated experience. Going reasonably well so far and that x-ray cam experience remains gnarly.

Half-Life was my introduction to FPS gaming; I loved every game in the series that I had the pleasure to play - Half-Life, Opposing Force, Blue Shift and Half-Life 2 (Lost Coast, Episode One, Episode 2). I never got round to playing Alyx; I didn’t have hardware that would cope!

Half-Life also spawned the CounterStrike series; I sank way to many hours into them.

My favourite game remains the original; I enjoyed the narrative and the occasional puzzle. I purchased the upgraded graphics pack (which also fixed a few glitches) and prefer the original with this pack to the remastered version of the game (Half-Life: Source).

You used to need to upgrade … every year or two

That’s what took me out of PC gaming; that and a price increase (possibly crypto related, possibly financial crash related).

It’s on the tip of my tongue; there was a whole series of ghost pirate themed “hidden object” point and click puzzle games. I’ll update the post when it comes back.

Edit: Nightmares of the Deep

I found out about her through the trailer of a video game years ago; ended up listening to a lot of her music.

The video game trailer was for The Witness.

They tried to sell me a game and I bought the music instead.

Bought the game more recently and found that was pretty good too; I like puzzles and don’t mind the repetition.

Your work and effort is very much appreciated. I had noticed the live version thing (I’d posted Burn by The Cure as a rare live performance) but having the studio recording is enough - those who want to see how a track might have sounded live will be able to find it (e.g. for some of the Alestorm tracks that have been shared recently, there is a very good live mix available under their label on YouTube).

Not being able to access all music via just one streaming provider seems to be a feature of the services these days. Sad and frustrating, but it doesn’t detract from the value and quality of this playlist.

Thanks again.

This looks like a lot of work - but I love the idea of this.

Seems a great way to explore music I’ve never heard before - and revisit some classics.

Thank you.

Was that the one where the physical copy came with two lenses (for glasses) that were built into the packaging? Or was that a different Tool masterpiece?

Can’t see this image without mentally autoplaying Welcome

Welcome to Americana Please make your selection Followed by the pound sign now

Thanks for sharing the playlist. Dance with the Dead feature; that’s another confessional from me. Heard Riot for the first time a while ago and found it kinda fun.

Looks like I know what I’m listening to for a few days…

Apart from a brief detour in the mid to late 90s, Iron Maiden have been fairly consistent over the course of their nearly 50-year existence - you can usually tell if a track is one of theirs within a few seconds.

actively avoid it

Lol

I like it in small doses. Discovered this kind of stuff during my one proven COVID-19 episode; used to joke that transient loss of sense of smell had ruined my taste in more ways than one.

Makes a change from my usual diet of various metal flavours.

I did want to tag it so that I could spare folks that particular disappointment.

I think they do mean Something in the Way - and I find it an oddly comforting listen.

There’s a live recording here

Well that was a pleasant surprise. Thank you for posting!

For something so violently-phrased and expletive-laden the chorus has an odd catchiness to it.