Sixty-Five!
All change... and stay the same.

Oooh.

Ah, the English* summertime. Our Tim crashes out of Wimbleydon early, saving us all the embarrassment of the hormonal high hopes of Henman Hill. Hundreds of idiots learn about the usefulness of camping on the high ground – the hard way – at Glastonbury, and London Underground singularly fail to anticipate the weather. Again.

Still, never mind all of that nonsense, we here at Rodent towers love the summer despite (or even because of) our nations spectacular crapness at dealing with it. So, put the Xbox away, pick up that illegally imported PSP (before Sony come and take it away from you) and head down to your local park for some sparkly Wipeout action.

Alternatively, you can follow Russ’ splendid guide to seasonal gaming pleasures. You’ll have to supply your own knotted hanky though, we’ve run out. Elsewhere, we’ve finally given up trying to find a way to actually review Archer Maclean’s Mercury and have instead decided to dedicate this month’s Bonus Stage to it’s glorious banality.

We have other stuff too, but quite frankly it’s a bit hot and I’m not entirely sure what we’re going to be able to fit in yet. I’m sure it’ll be very good.

Chris Ahchay, Editor July 2005

*Yes. We know. We just like seeing Mamemeister’s little cheeks puff up like that…

PfuckingS
Team Rodent are playing in the MCV Magazine Fives at Mill Hill tomorrow. Wish us luck. We're a bit shit. But plucky. And semi-bearded.

A word from someone else:

Big news for us! Sickboy is moving upstairs at the ever-more imaginary Rodent Towers. After two years of slugging out the mag regular as clockwork, Andy has now taken the role of Editor at Large. Essentially this means we still get the benefit of his creative input, ideas, suggestions and articles but Andy gets the chance to meet some of his increasing real-world deadlines.

This magazine is the result of many people's input but Andy's direction and editorial leadership has been utterly crucial in creating the cracking thing you lot appear to enjoy reading. We were incredibly lucky to have a professional magazine editor with us at the start and will always be hugely grateful. Thanks Sickboy, you've been an inspiration, as well as bloody good company and a source of consistent support.

So, the future and all that. Chris Ahchay has been working with Andy for the last year as his deputy and gamely steps right into the scary Editor role. I'm chuffed to bits that Chris is up for this - it's not easy, takes loads of time and looms-up every month. I'm convinced that, with a different voice, Chris will prove as influential at Rodent as his brilliant predecessor.

And I'm also delighted to announce that Russ has agreed to join the editorial team as Deputy Editor. Russell has been a consistently excellent contributor and, although there were a number of candidates for the role (each of whom would have brought something unique and valuable to the post) Russ won out because we felt his and Chris's styles would really work fantastically well together. Also because he promised me his Resident Evil 4, which he's since given to Swith.

The bastard.

Cheers then!

Richard H. (Koworld), Publisher - July 2005