Situated in central Stoke-on-Trent, directly opposite the railway station and 16 miles from Alton Towers Theme Park, the North Stafford...... more

Situated in central Stoke-on-Trent, directly opposite the railway station and 16 miles from Alton Towers Theme Park, the North Stafford Hotel boasts Jacobean-style architecture and well-equipped en suite rooms.

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Ever fancied being the owner of an Alton Towers or Disney World from the comfort of your own home? Well with Theme Park World you can...... more

Ever fancied being the owner of an Alton Towers or Disney World from the comfort of your own home? Well with Theme Park World you can be! The aim of the game is to build your dream park and keep it running, dealing with the day-to-day trials and tribulations of keeping the rides working and the punters happy. Strategy is all important here--place your burger stand too close to a rollercoaster entrance and the riders will stagger off the attraction and become "unwell" all over the floor. Too much salt on your chips and not enough fizzy pop results in parched visitors who vote with their feet and don't come back--this is not a game for those who like action fast and furious and pick up a game for a quick five minutes now and again. The user interface is a joy to use, making Theme Park World easy to play; in tutorial mode an interesting park advisor pops up to give tips on what needs to happen, where and when. But it's in the rollercoaster design phase that things get interesting. Lay out the track for your ride in full 3-D, then alter it in differing ways to produce a killer ride: corners can be banked, straights raised and lowered and sections can be added and removed to create the kind of white-knuckle ride Walt and Mickey would be proud of. Then, using the game's first-person mode, check it out from the front seat to get the impression of being there. Successful park management results in golden tickets being awarded. Collect enough tickets and you can progress to bigger theme parks, each of which presents a unique challenge. The long-term attraction of this game is doubtful, and only significant playing will reveal whether the whole procedure will become a little samey, but for a break from the traditional arcade-style fare usually associated with consoles, Theme Park World holds bags of promise and is a worthwhile investment. --Isabelle Thomas

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Ever fancied being the owner of an Alton Towers or Disney World from the comfort of your own home? Well with Theme Park World you can...... more

Ever fancied being the owner of an Alton Towers or Disney World from the comfort of your own home? Well with Theme Park World you can be! The aim of the game is to build your dream park and keep it running, dealing with the day-to-day trials and tribulations of keeping the rides working and the punters happy. Strategy is all important here--place your burger stand too close to a rollercoaster entrance and the riders will stagger off the attraction and become "unwell" all over the floor. Too much salt on your chips and not enough fizzy pop results in parched visitors who vote with their feet and don't come back--this is not a game for those who like action fast and furious and pick up a game for a quick five minutes now and again. The user interface is a joy to use, making Theme Park World easy to play; in tutorial mode an interesting park advisor pops up to give tips on what needs to happen, where and when. But it's in the rollercoaster design phase that things get interesting. Lay out the track for your ride in full 3-D, then alter it in differing ways to produce a killer ride: corners can be banked, straights raised and lowered and sections can be added and removed to create the kind of white-knuckle ride Walt and Mickey would be proud of. Then, using the game's first-person mode, check it out from the front seat to get the impression of being there. Successful park management results in golden tickets being awarded. Collect enough tickets and you can progress to bigger theme parks, each of which presents a unique challenge. The long-term attraction of this game is doubtful, and only significant playing will reveal whether the whole procedure will become a little samey, but for a break from the traditional arcade-style fare usually associated with consoles, Theme Park World holds bags of promise and is a worthwhile investment. --Isabelle Thomas

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Switch on the business news and you will probably be bombarded with yet more workplace experts telling you that everyone nowadays is grossly overworked, madly...... more

Switch on the business news and you will probably be bombarded with yet more workplace experts telling you that everyone nowadays is grossly overworked, madly juggling their work-life balance until they finally keel over and die from the sheer stress of it all. We all know that's right, don't we? The real truth is that there are millions upon millions of people who are actively disengaged from their jobs, who spend months and years sitting in offices doing next to nothing, lost in the cracks of laughably inefficient and abysmally managed large organisations, their talents wasted and long forgotten. The Living Dead unmasks the myth of the workplace for the first time. It tells the truth. Not cloaked in humour, as in Dilbert and The Office, but in plain black and white. The Living Dead will captivate anyone anywhere in the world who has ever worked in a large office environment, or those who have a genuine desire to make people's working lives more productive and enjoyable. Here are some astonishing statistics about office life you probably never knew: *40 per cent of all casual drugs users in the US (people who use drugs just once a month) still choose to do it at work. 19.6 per cent of people who take drugs at work do so at their workstation. * One in three mid-week visitors to the theme park Alton Towers has taken the day off work on a dishonest pretext. * One in five US workers has had sex with a co-worker during work hours. Full sex, that is. 44 per cent of men and 35 per cent of women have had at least some sexual contact at work. * One third of UK young professionals are hungover at least twice a week on working days. Two thirds admitted to having called in sick due to alcohol at least once in the previous month. *70 per cent of Internet porn sites are accessed during the 9 to 5 working day. * More than half of the UK's 14.5 million pet owners say they would need between two and five days off work to grieve for a dead pet, while 10 per cent said they would need

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Switch on the business news and you will probably be bombarded with yet more workplace experts telling you that everyone nowadays is grossly overworked, madly...... more

Switch on the business news and you will probably be bombarded with yet more workplace experts telling you that everyone nowadays is grossly overworked, madly juggling their work-life balance until they finally keel over and die from the sheer stress of it all. We all know that's right, don't we? The real truth is that there are millions upon millions of people who are actively disengaged from their jobs, who spend months and years sitting in offices doing next to nothing, lost in the cracks of laughably inefficient and abysmally managed large organisations, their talents wasted and long forgotten. The Living Dead unmasks the myth of the workplace for the first time. It tells the truth. Not cloaked in humour, as in Dilbert and The Office, but in plain black and white. The Living Dead will captivate anyone anywhere in the world who has ever worked in a large office environment, or those who have a genuine desire to make people's working lives more productive and enjoyable. Here are some astonishing statistics about office life you probably never knew: *40 per cent of all casual drugs users in the US (people who use drugs just once a month) still choose to do it at work. 19.6 per cent of people who take drugs at work do so at their workstation. * One in three mid-week visitors to the theme park Alton Towers has taken the day off work on a dishonest pretext. * One in five US workers has had sex with a co-worker during work hours. Full sex, that is. 44 per cent of men and 35 per cent of women have had at least some sexual contact at work. * One third of UK young professionals are hungover at least twice a week on working days. Two thirds admitted to having called in sick due to alcohol at least once in the previous month. *70 per cent of Internet porn sites are accessed during the 9 to 5 working day. * More than half of the UK's 14.5 million pet owners say they would need between two and five days off work to grieve for a dead pet, while 10 per cent said they would need

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ul style list style type none margin 0 px padding 0 px li style margin 0 5 em 0 em li style margin 0 5 em 0 em span style font family verdana arial helvetica...... more

ul style list style type none margin 0 px padding 0 px li style margin 0 5 em 0 em li style margin 0 5 em 0 em span style font family verdana arial helvetica sans serif font size small ever fancied being the owner of an alton towers or disney world from the comfort of your own home well with nbsp span i style font family verdana arial helvetica sans serif font size small theme park world i span style font family verdana arial helvetica sans serif font size small nbsp you can be the aim of the ga

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RollerCoaster Tycoon is one of the few games ever released that seems to appeal to gamers of every type, and the Loopy Landscapes expansion pack will appeal to...... more

RollerCoaster Tycoon is one of the few games ever released that seems to appeal to gamers of every type, and the Loopy Landscapes expansion pack will appeal to all RCT fans. The only slight letdown is that there aren't a lot of new rides to play with--as the name suggests the main focus of this expansion is new terrain and themes.One of the best aspects of Loopy Landscapes is that it lets you personalise your park in ways that were not possible in the original game. Open a hat stall, T-shirt stand, or nearly any other shop and you can choose what colour the items will be. It's a hoot to watch a herd of hapless fun-seekers walk through your park wearing a rainbow of caps and holding an equally colourful assortment of balloons. New scenarios in the package sees an English theme with Alton Towers and Blackpool pleasure beach now featured for you to get those grubby little hands on. That isn't all of course, and other themes are included, such as the icy Winter Wonderland and majestic Medieval Castles ranging in difficulty from sedate fun to frenzied puzzle solving.One of best new scenarios gives you an empty park and unlimited funds, but you only have a certain amount of time to attract 2000 guests, and if the park rating dips below 700 you lose the game. This effectively turned time and space into the most valuable resources in the game, requiring us to rethink some old strategies. Newcomers should note that a copy of RollerCoaster Tycoon is required to play Loopy Landscapes; while RCT junkies will want to get their hands on all the new goodies Loopy Landscapes offers as soon as possible. --T. Byrl Baker

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Have you ever wanted to ride the scariest roller coaster in the world, well here's the next best thing: the chance to design and run your very own theme...... more

Have you ever wanted to ride the scariest roller coaster in the world, well here's the next best thing: the chance to design and run your very own theme park.With Hasbro's Roller Coaster Tycoon, you get to control every aspect of running a Theme Park, from the hiring of staff to help run the park, to more fun tasks such as designing the biggest and best roller coaster to draw in the excited, paying crowds.But in order to accomplish this feat you will need to put aside copious amounts of free time, as you'll find this game very addictive. The more money you prise from the pockets of your enthusiastic guests the faster you'll be able to research and build bigger and faster rides.But running a theme park is not just building rides, it's also maintaining your park and making sure it runs smoothly. You will need to hire enough mechanics to cope with the inevitable problem of broken down rides and cleaners to pick up rubbish and mop up the sick of the more squeamish of riders.If the park is poorly kept, and you don't provide the paying guests with the things they need, like toilets and umbrellas for when the heavens open up, you'll get swamped with complaints and eventually you'll see the number of guests decreasing, losing you valuable ride development money.The adding of Loopy Landscapes lets you personalise your park in ways that were not possible in the original game. Open a hat stall, T-shirt stan, or nearly any other shop and you can choose what colour the items will be. It's a hoot to watch a herd of hapless fun-seekers walk through your park wearing a rainbow of caps and holding an equally colourful assortment of balloons. New scenarios in the package sees an English theme, with Alton Towers and Blackpool pleasure beach now featured for you to get those grubby little hands on. That isn't all of course, and other themes are included, such as the icy Winter Wonderland and majestic Medieval Castles ranging in difficulty from sedate fun to frenzied puzzle solvingAll-in-all a very entertaining and amusing game, where you get to experience the thrill of a day out at a theme park, without having to spend any money, or experiencing any nausea! --Frances Barber

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