What can I say... I'm not feeling very subtle at the moment!
*bounce*
I know K has got me something REALLY cool for my birthday.... and, even better, I haven't been able to guess what it might be! So I'm likely to be unbearable for the next few days as I get more and more excited... I'm sure I shouldn't be (at this age) but I... just... can't... help... myself!
*bounce*
In the meantime, I'm still rocking out on my 360 playing Guitar Hero 3 and slaughtering small animals in Lord of the Rings Online. I haven't been playing much EQ2 as it's not so easy to drop in and out when I've got 5 minutes as the others... but I'll be back soon!
*bounce*
Oh... and for those that have forgotten... it's the 25th of January... heh heh heh
I've just got to hope all the people who's birthdays I've forgotten decide to forgive me... there are quite a few (sorry) :P
Have fun!
Tuesday, 22 January 2008
Monday, 7 January 2008
The (gaming) Dark Side
As if the list of games I currently have on my play list wasn't enough, I decided to join the dark side yesterday... that's right, I bought a 'next gen' console.
"Nooooooooooooooooooooo" I hear you cry
*pauses to listen*
It's ok... it's nothing to worry about... I just felt it was time to move my faithful PS2 into retirement and the nice people at Gamestation were kind enough to take a stack of my money and give me an Xbox 360 in return.
I did, for a while, toy with the idea of getting a PS3 (so I could play my PS2 games on it)... but I've got to be honest and say that I just couldn't see any benefit in spending the extra money for a console that isn't that much different (oh, I know people claim that it is more powerful, but I've yet to see any real difference). There also seems to be more 'exclusive' 360 titles coming out AND I know loads of people with 360s and only really one person with a PS3, two including the bloke in the shop that sold me the 360, and both of them own a 360 as well!!!
So I have yet more games to drain my available time (well... if I had any).
I'm still, primarily, a PC gamer... but it's nice to throw myself on the sofa and play something different occasionally :)
"Nooooooooooooooooooooo" I hear you cry
*pauses to listen*
It's ok... it's nothing to worry about... I just felt it was time to move my faithful PS2 into retirement and the nice people at Gamestation were kind enough to take a stack of my money and give me an Xbox 360 in return.
I did, for a while, toy with the idea of getting a PS3 (so I could play my PS2 games on it)... but I've got to be honest and say that I just couldn't see any benefit in spending the extra money for a console that isn't that much different (oh, I know people claim that it is more powerful, but I've yet to see any real difference). There also seems to be more 'exclusive' 360 titles coming out AND I know loads of people with 360s and only really one person with a PS3, two including the bloke in the shop that sold me the 360, and both of them own a 360 as well!!!
So I have yet more games to drain my available time (well... if I had any).
I'm still, primarily, a PC gamer... but it's nice to throw myself on the sofa and play something different occasionally :)
Saturday, 5 January 2008
Hard work...
Ok... so LotRO technical support didn't get off to a great start when their first reply said, in so many words, "You're wrong and you've been able to play the game since the day you registered". Not one to take the blame lightly, a quick reply back to say that, actually, they were wrong (again, in so many words) was met with a slightly better response in which they agreed to refund me one of my 'free' days. One thing that did impress me about their technical support was that the same person, 'Rob', replied to all of my emails, rather than it being a whole string of different people (which tends to happen with a lot of faceless online technical support departments).
So, all in all, a good result for my first experience with them and I am now happily playing the game and really enjoying it. It hasn't got the same level of involvement that EQ2 has, but then I never intended for it to be a replacement to EQ2 (so don't worry guildies, EQ2 is my first love... I just like to play the field) but it's a great game. The graphics and sound are top notch (though the 'ye old pipe and string music' in the background can get a little grating after a while). The quests are all pretty much MMO standard apart from the 'Carry item X to village Y' quests which are ok to start with, but do get a little tedious. Mind you, being the quester I am, I still managed to finish all the mail delivery quests and I'm just about to finish the pie delivery quests as well... lol
I've yet to find any real problems... but the game seems to lack a certain amount of... well... soul (for want of a better work). Obviously, it's still early days. I'll give it a couple of months of casual play and see how it goes.
So, all in all, a good result for my first experience with them and I am now happily playing the game and really enjoying it. It hasn't got the same level of involvement that EQ2 has, but then I never intended for it to be a replacement to EQ2 (so don't worry guildies, EQ2 is my first love... I just like to play the field) but it's a great game. The graphics and sound are top notch (though the 'ye old pipe and string music' in the background can get a little grating after a while). The quests are all pretty much MMO standard apart from the 'Carry item X to village Y' quests which are ok to start with, but do get a little tedious. Mind you, being the quester I am, I still managed to finish all the mail delivery quests and I'm just about to finish the pie delivery quests as well... lol
I've yet to find any real problems... but the game seems to lack a certain amount of... well... soul (for want of a better work). Obviously, it's still early days. I'll give it a couple of months of casual play and see how it goes.
Tuesday, 1 January 2008
Lord of the.... 'Service Unavailable'
I thought, in a fit of optimism, that I'd give one of the MMOs I received for Christmas a quick go yesterday (before we went off to our New Year's party).
So, having installed 'Lord of the Rings Online' and downloaded and installed the 2gig of stand-alone patches and extra content... and then downloaded the other mass of hot fixes and tweaks (which I'd estimate was probably nearly another gig of data) I proceeded to...
'Service Unavailable'
Sorry... where was I? Oh yes, I proceeded to...
'Service Unavailable'
No, I was definitely about to say that I'd attempted to log on to the Codemaster's account management page to...
'Service Unavailable'
Eh? Sorry... I'm really not sure...
'Service Unavailable'
Arrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!
Infuriating isn't it? After about a dozen of these unapologetic error messages, void of any real explanation or purpose, I was actually able to get to the log in page. A few more and I was able to log in. About another dozen or so (I can be patient when the need arises) I was actually able to get to the section when I could enter my registration key! Yay... I might actually be able to play the...
'Service Unavailable'
Unfortunately... it would appear that although I was able to register my code (and start the clock ticking on my free 30 days), without actually signing up to a payment plan I was unable to get into the game. And, as you can imagine, no matter how many times I attempted to setup some form of payment plan, their system wouldn't have it...
Complaints about the need to sign up to a payment plan, despite having 30 free days, aside... what kind of company can possibly avoid criticism with service like this? I know that it was New Year's Eve and I am, to a certain extent, sympathetic to this. And, having exchanged emails with Sam 'Satine' Russell (the Senior Community Liaison Manager) during the LotRO stress testing I know there are some people there that really do care about what they are doing... but Codemasters are hardly new to this game, and running DDO (Dungeons and Dragons Online), Archlord, RF Online, Fury and LotRO (to name their main online games) you'd have thought they'd have the staff and systems in place to ensure that problem like this are short-lived. In short... there are no excuses.
But... I'm generally a free and easy sort so I'll wait for their answer to my support request and see what happens. It's not like I haven't got other games to play in the meantime... though the desire to play LotRO may have passed by the time they get it fixed and the box will be moved on to my shelf marked 'Almost, but not quite'.
Time will tell...
So, having installed 'Lord of the Rings Online' and downloaded and installed the 2gig of stand-alone patches and extra content... and then downloaded the other mass of hot fixes and tweaks (which I'd estimate was probably nearly another gig of data) I proceeded to...
'Service Unavailable'
Sorry... where was I? Oh yes, I proceeded to...
'Service Unavailable'
No, I was definitely about to say that I'd attempted to log on to the Codemaster's account management page to...
'Service Unavailable'
Eh? Sorry... I'm really not sure...
'Service Unavailable'
Arrrrrggggghhhhhhhhhh!!!!!
Infuriating isn't it? After about a dozen of these unapologetic error messages, void of any real explanation or purpose, I was actually able to get to the log in page. A few more and I was able to log in. About another dozen or so (I can be patient when the need arises) I was actually able to get to the section when I could enter my registration key! Yay... I might actually be able to play the...
'Service Unavailable'
Unfortunately... it would appear that although I was able to register my code (and start the clock ticking on my free 30 days), without actually signing up to a payment plan I was unable to get into the game. And, as you can imagine, no matter how many times I attempted to setup some form of payment plan, their system wouldn't have it...
Complaints about the need to sign up to a payment plan, despite having 30 free days, aside... what kind of company can possibly avoid criticism with service like this? I know that it was New Year's Eve and I am, to a certain extent, sympathetic to this. And, having exchanged emails with Sam 'Satine' Russell (the Senior Community Liaison Manager) during the LotRO stress testing I know there are some people there that really do care about what they are doing... but Codemasters are hardly new to this game, and running DDO (Dungeons and Dragons Online), Archlord, RF Online, Fury and LotRO (to name their main online games) you'd have thought they'd have the staff and systems in place to ensure that problem like this are short-lived. In short... there are no excuses.
But... I'm generally a free and easy sort so I'll wait for their answer to my support request and see what happens. It's not like I haven't got other games to play in the meantime... though the desire to play LotRO may have passed by the time they get it fixed and the box will be moved on to my shelf marked 'Almost, but not quite'.
Time will tell...
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