Summer Ale (Shepherd Neame)

Name: Summer Ale
Label: "Light & refreshing - mouthwatering, fresh & zesty - A fruity yet bitter golden pale ale"
Brewery: Shepherd Neame
ABV: 4.2%

Rating: "A delicious and refreshing golden ale, ideal for summer drinking. Brewed using the finest English malt with the perfect combination of choicest First Gold, Hersbrucker and Styrian Goldings hops, this ale has a zesty aroma and notes of citrus peel complemented by a bitter twist on the finish." The weather has gone nice, the perfect excuse to drink lots of this beer.

Game: I was describing some of my recent Max Payne 3 exploits to a colleague and realised I probably sounded like a completely deranged psychopath. Basically I mentioned how I was in a stadium and I sniped someone in the bum which triggered the slo-mo cutscene where I could shoot more bullets into my quickly expiring victim. I sent a bullet through the back of his neck and out of the front of his throat (this was in-game by the way, not at my colleague), another entry wound then opened up in the back of his head with accompanying exit wound out of the forehead, a final shot again through the back of the head, and then the metal clang of an empty chamber ended the sequence as blood continued to spurt out of the entry and exit wounds. Completely glorified violence and pretty horrific but somehow it was poetry in motion during the game. I'm a bit conflicted... it's so graphically violent but at the same time so amazingly amazing. And for the record, I'm not a psychopath. Possibly deranged... but definitely not a psychopath.

Summer Ale (Fuller's)

Name: Summer Ale
Label: "Refreshing - serve chilled"
Brewery: Fuller's
ABV: 3.9%

Rating: Summer is great, except this summer it's rained constantly for about three weeks (where's that climate change I ordered)? Anyway, this ale is very refreshing especially when chilled. Pale gold in colour, and brewed with malted wheat, pale malts and Czech Saaz hops for a perfectly refreshing summer beer.

Game: Bargain hunting is great and it generally means cheap games. This time it's Homefront up for inspection for just £9.99.  A competent shooter, some excellent set-pieces, some morally ambiguous choices (enemies on fire, shoot them quick or let them burn?). The premis, a unified Korea invades America and you are part of the American resistance.  There are some quite poignant cutscenes towards the beginning of the game but why, oh why, did they feel the need to put "Press A to skip" in big letters right across the screen? It's like watching a movie and then seeing "Press >> to fast forward this bit". Totally distracting and spoils any immersion and emotion the cutscene could have had. Apart from that, so far so good.