Were you obsessed with the Y2K bug for a few months at the end of 1999? Were you, like me, a bit disappointed that all records of ownership were destroyed, all bank accounts wiped out and that you didn’t get the chance to loot that new TV you had your eye on? Well, fear not! Because believe it or not, you can actually play Y2K: The Game on your PC. It’s actually been around for a decade (released as a marketing man’s dream in the latter stages of the 20th century) but it had somehow passed me by until I saw it listed on an exhibition stand at a recent video game event I attended.

Naturally, I went straight online to try and buy a copy, though the only ones available seemed to be on ebay. This probably should have been my first clue that it wasn’t going to live up to expectations, but by this point I was so excited I was prepared to ignore all the signs that Y2K:The Game might be a disappointment. Actually, the premise is a pretty cool one. It’s a problem solving game, in the manner of the Professor Leighton phenomenon, but with fewer puzzles and a much, much weirder back story.

You play from the point of view of a bloke who bought and moved into a new house in time to celebrate New Year’s Eve 1999 and didn’t do his homework on the previous owner; who just happened to be a crazy inventor who had set up the whole property to be run by robots. When the Y2K bug turns his dream home into a very scary prison, the main character has to solve a series of puzzles ton escape from rooms, defeat electronic security systems and escape from murderous household appliances. It’s a bit of harmless fun if you can find a copy yourself on ebay, but it is a little bit of a let down – kind of like the real thing eh?

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So that probably explains why I was the only person on the planet who felt a bit let down that Y2K hadn’t set off all the nuclear weapons and destroyed civilisation as we know it. Well, maybe not the only person. I’m sure there were a few weirdoes out there who had created their own little cult around Y2K and the end of the world; I was more interested in avoiding a day at work with the hangover from hell…

So, the world was still in one piece when I awoke, but I still had one small glimmer of hope on that morning of January 1. Maybe the nuclear weapons had stayed securely in their bunkers, but there was still the possibility that computers across the world had been rendered useless by the Millennium Bug. Lying in bed with my head pounding and my stomach churning, I was praying for a call from the deputy manager – of course the manager had given himself the day off – to tell me that we couldn’t do a stock take as all the equipment at the warehouse had mysteriously crashed at midnight. Sadly, the call never came and I spent the day stuck inside a dingy office furniture storage unit feeling like death barely warmed up. Great way to start the Millennium!

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It’s easy to laugh at Y2K now we all know that the whole millennium thing went off without a hitch. In fact, lots of TV shows and movies have done just that; and sometimes they’ve done it very well. There’s an episode of ’Family Guy'in particular that based an entire show about what life would be like in a post-Y2K Quahog. I won’t spoil the story, but it involves Stewie mutating into a weird sort of octopus, a quest to find the only food source that can survive an apocalypse – the Twinkie – and Peter setting up New Quahog, where everyone gets to pick their new job out of a hat!

I love Family Guy, and have even invested in some digital printing kit in order to print out some classic stills to decorate my study; seeing as my wife won’t allow them anywhere else in the house! The Y2K episode or “Da Boom” to give it its proper title is one of my favourites, but Family Guy is far from the only TV show to reference the millennium bug. ’My Name is Earl'also did a great Y2K flashback episode, where Earl, Randy and Joy all convinced themselves they were the only people to have survived the millennium and proceeded to go crazy in Camden’s store – only to wake on January 2nd in the bed department surrounded by customers and a very angry manager!

Would you believe there is even a film called “Y2K”? It made the whole millennium thing seem a lot more exciting than a few computers going haywire, and featured a military team heading deep into the jungle to disarm a nuclear weapon that the computer experts hadn’t been able to reach and was going to launch at the stroke of midnight. Obviously, with a title like “Y2K” I had to rent it when I saw it online, but sadly it turned out to be a bit of a non-event. Kind of like Y2K itself!

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I can’t deny it, and nor do I want to. I love my gadgets — have done ever since I knew the world wasn’t really going to end — and the R4 Card is one of my most beloved. Now sit back, dear reader, and immerse yourself in my love of this extra special thing.

Primarily designed to work with your DS console, this little beauty is now available and fully-functional on a number of other gaming consoles: 3DS consoles and the Dsi to name but two (note: it really depends on which specific card you are buying, so always check website details to make sure your new card will work with your console!).

Now, you may ask How come the R4 has made such a statement in the world of gaming? It’s a fair enough question. After all, it isn’t as if Nintendo have a corner on the market when it comes to shifting devices which are capable of transporting us to a far galaxy or distant war-zone.

the card allows users to store tons of movies, music and even books. This means that not only is there more space for stuff you love, but while you are on the go you’ll be able to do virtually anything

All you need to know is this: it’s simple. Thanks to the card’s ability to store tons of extra files on your console, it’s a stand-out favourite. But that’s not the only reason, of course. Even better than that, the card allows users to store tons of movies, music and even books. This means that not only is there more space for stuff you love, but while you are on the go you’ll be able to do virtually anything you please. Suddenly, here’s a vast improvement over carrying that bulky laptop around: something that just isn’t conducive to modern living sometimes, and can also be a pain when all you really need is a small screen not a massive one.

Also good is that the card will hold and play various different file types. This means you’ll spend less time getting stressed and trying to work out how to open a file, and more time listening to your favourite songs or watching movies on the tube while the rest of the world makes do with staring at commuters.

There’s more, too: the card loves nothing more than giving you an entire library of games – all of which can be found on the internet in trusted places which won’t give you viruses.

As if all that wasn’t already good enough, there are also further possibilities if you wish to investigate them. These include variations on the standard R4 which can turn your DS into a proper full-on multi-media player! Not only that but you don’t have to worry about losing your files, as a separate copy will be made. This is great because it means no more stressing out about backing up your stuff.

In short, the R4 makes things which were once impossible, very possible. Not only that but it does so in an easy-to-use way – so no worries if you’re just an occasional gamer who is looking to dabble in something a bit more new-school.

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I’d completely forgotten that my computer along with several million others were probably going to turn into a pile of numerical mush come one minute after midnight. I sobered up quite quickly when I realised I’d left my computer on with an essay that was due in January not saved! My two friends laughed at me and told that it was pointless worrying and that if I lost the essay then hey it wouldn’t matter as no computer would be able to print it anyway. Still, I began to wonder if I should leg it back to the house and quickly print off the essay before the clocks struck midnight.

Alcohol fuelled sense prevailed and I stuck around with my friends, ignoring the banners and drinking more beer content with the knowledge that if my computer was going to blow up then there wasn’t a thing I could do about it. It turns out common sense also prevailed that night as well. My computer didn’t blow up and my essay was fine.

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The following things happened:

1) Airport security increased.

2) People panicked about terrorism.

3) The world went terrorism-mad, looking to blame them for anything and everything, from the economic climate to why teenagers were misbehaving.

4) And much more…

Now, of course this didn’t happen overnight, and it didn’t happen exactly when the new millennium came, but make no mistake: it happened. Somehow, due to a series of strange facts and events, things would never be the same again.

Then again, there were lots of new cool things about the new millennium, and it’d be wrong to forget those. One thing was that we all stopped worrying about our computers stopping working, and there was a general feeling of breathing out and relaxing, knowing it’d be a long time until the next millennium scare.

Personally, I work with someone who’s obsessed with fine-tuning time management software , so I’m glad nothing happened to the computers…he’d have been a nightmare!

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The first things I did in the new millennium:

1) Sat on my bed and felt angry for a while. Wondered if I could get away with not going into work and getting a friend to tell my boss that the Y2K bug got me.

2) Ate some cereal.

3) Ate some more cereal and felt more annoyed.

4) Called my friend Derek to see how upset he was. He was even more upset than me, which was not surprising: he hates his job even more than I do!

The worst thing, though, about the world not ending, was all the people who, for the next few months, went on about the world not ending. It was everywhere you went: the post office, the supermarket – you couldn’t even go for a wee in the pub toilets without someone coming up beside you to do a wee and unzipping and saying “still here then? Yeah, me too…”

It just got beyond a joke if you ask me.

Then there was ortak , the guy at work who had a smile on his face that new first day in the millennium. I didn’t mind too much though: he was brand-new at work. After he’d been there a few weeks he’d wish the end had come after all!

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Many believe this world could end at any second and life as we know it would cease to exist. These threats are not just from science fiction books or religious texts but they are events that could really happen. If the world ends there will be no need to take paternity tests because no one will be here. Here are five major disasters that can bring the world to an end:

1. Black Hole: Collapsed stars can turn into what is called black holes. Black holes command a sense of fear and awe. Nothing is able to escape a black hole not even light. The Milky Way galaxy which we live in contains numerous collapsed stars that are ready to become black holes. If a black hole was able to pull itself towards earth then it could disrupt the climates and orbits in our solar system and thus destroy our planet.

2. Religious: Many theories exist about how the world is going to end. Most of the major theories around the world are religious and involve divine intervention by a deity to destroy the earth. Most of the religious groups believe that God (gods) will destroy the planet. Like any of these theories it is not known if and when it will happen; but some religious groups have taken their belief into their own hand by taking violent actions and mass suicides which have destroyed thousands of lives around the world.

3. Alien Attack: Mankind has been searching the universe for life for ages. Now with the modern technology if there is an alien life, the chance to encounter that life is increasing. If there is an intelligent alien life out there it is possible that there could be a conflict between them and our planet. If we have a conflict with an alien force then we all could be destroyed.

4. World War Three: It is more realistic that we would destroy ourselves than for aliens to come and destroy us. Since the world has had two world wars, there is always the threat that there could be another one. With thousands of nuclear warheads around the world the threat of a global war has never been more dangerous.

5. Environmental: The biodiversity of our planet is disappearing. Thousands of species are becoming extinct every year. The main issue is that many organisms depend on each other and when one dies other creatures will die too. Forests are being cut down, pollution is increasing and we as a world are not concerned about our planet. This could cause the human race to eventually become extinct itself.

There is always a threat of end of the world happening. It could one of the above mentioned ways or some other way, let us be thankful for each day we have, live it our fullest and try to save our planet earth.

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The whole business of ‘survival'after a nuclear holocaust is not quite as simple or clear-cut as you’d think. After all, it isn’t just your physical self you must save; there are your mental faculties to consider as well…

For example, you may be able to pick up a fully equipped nuclear bunker for an absolute steal and this will provide you with instant safety from any impending atomic attack! But just how long do you think you could hold it together in there? Bunkers are not exactly ‘spacious'and there are only so many weeks that you can play klonkdike solitaire before going totally stark raving mad!

You can see what I’m saying, can’t you? Sure, it’s pretty easy to keep yourself away from apocalyptic harm on a physical level; but what is the point if you are only going to emerge as a drooling, muttering shadow of your former self??? Apart from that, have you stopped to think about the long-term consequences of an all-out nuclear attack?

You are likely to see many long months of fallout, whilst there will be very little sunlight at all. And if you do manage to grow any food, then it is bound to be deformed, discoloured and dangerously radioactive. Perhaps you could live underground instead? But that would be a little depressing as well; no sunbathing, no country walks and no wandering into town whenever you get a craving for fish and chips!

Does the idea of ‘survival'in a post-apocalyptic world still appeal? Surely it would be more about ‘existing'than ‘surviving’…

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OK, so the world didn’t end in 2000 (unless your name is Alan Sugar and your business was shifting dodgy looking / working Amstrad telephone-internet things), but it still could. No exaggeration there. Look around you, if you can be bothered to get out of your chair (or just go online and look about there: better than nothing). We’re ransacking this planet of every ounce of dignity. In fact, I have no doubt that if “dignity” was a commodity then we’d be mining that as well. Oh wait a minute, we did: it was called the Credit Crunch.

So, what would actually happen if the world ended and there really was an Apocalypse? Well, for one thing we wouldn’t be too stressed. One minute we’d all be saying, “wow, did you see that car in the distance? It just got hurled into the stratosphere!” and the next we’d be dead. End of.

But say, for example, there was a Half Apocalypse that left us all struggling like a spider on the floor with three legs ripped off…what then?

We’d be fine, I think. Wouldn’t we? I mean, for many years we’ve been making films and writing books about what it would actually be like to be in those end days. And like all things, it’s never as bad as you thought it would be, and I reckon that goes even for the Apocalypse.

Course, I could be wrong: a special chemical from the government could explode, spraying 566782HHDT carte r4i over everything. But still, that’s unlikely to happen. Cheer up, it could just be a meteor or a much cleaner nuclear explosion.

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