300x15X1200mm, pre-drilled countersunk

[Nick]

Ahh, the weekend! For many its a time to chill out and do fun stuff, but working from home and being a parent and all that means I get little time to actually do nothing and watch telly or just veg out, read a book or anything like that.

This week has been pretty hectic with HEXUS.gaming becmong busier and busier and getting more and more hits each day. The trick is to find a balance between scouring the web for the latest news of interest, sifting through the mountain of e-mails and press releases for content, playing previews and retail releases and then writing it all up.... I think I'm gradually finding a balance... I think.

This weekend will see me carrying on with work, but slotting that in between the usual household chores stuff that everyone has to do. I've just sent the other half and the eldest off down the newsagents to get some milk, which gives me a little time to write this before we get on with the jobs for today.

Lucky for me, I've got a fairly big project to do, which is to finish building the cupboards and shelves I made a start on weeks ago, and no, it's not your MFI flatpack stuff, this is all custom built, by me, from scratch... and yes, it does look good and it does the job more than adequately... that is, the bits I've done do the job....

Anyway, when the light fails outside, meaning using a circular saw could involve only being able to count to 9 afterwards, I'll crack on with stuff for the site with two main aims for this weekend.

The first is to finish a hands-on preview for Pilot Down: Behind Enemy Lines. This is a third person stealth/action game inspired by World War 2 pilots' stories of escape and evasion. I've only played the first few levels but the slower paced gameplay is quite cool for a more relaxing gaming session and the stylised graphics with their pop-art cartoon style static cutscenes make it feel like you playing a game straight out the pages of the Battle or Victor comics.

The other game I'm looking at is a full review of Aurora Watching. We covered it in a first look (here ) not very long ago and now I've got the full retail version for review. This is another third person stealth/shooter with a more arcadey aspect to it. I'm only a level or so in so making any judgements is a bit premature but the rough storyline is that you're a crack operative sent into the frozen artic to discover why a Russian sub has mysteriously and suddenly sunk.

Well, time to go and get lots of power tools out, make lots of mess and noise and then discover I'm all out of 35mm No.8 wood screws and give up on the whole thing and play Battlefield 2 all weekend, under the cover of "doing a follow up article for the site, dear".

[poolking]

Don't forget the pictures of your cupboards and shelves, I'm a sad git I know.

[Lee @ SCAN]

Soooo Nick,

Did you end up gaming the weekend away, or did you end up screwing all weekend?

Saying that, with such nice weather I bet the missus gave you your pinny and made you head barbecue honcho