always lucky...

We Be Rollin'

2011-07-15T10:35:00.001+01:00

Lot's going on at the moment. I've got a secret project in the works that *should* be making an appearance soon. Aside from that, we're now into the busiest period for work and I'm still finding time to rock out.

That's right, last weekend was Sonisphere which was amazing. With Diamond Head, Anthrax, Slayer, Megadeth and Metallica on the Friday night the rest of the acts that weekend were really going to have to up their game. Metallica put on a typically impressive show that didn't disappoint... although I've seen them play even better in the past.

Saturday was a little odd with some relatively 'lighter' acts thrown into the mix ending with... Biffy Clyro as the headliner?! This is a METAL festival right? In all honesty I had no interest in seeing them so when the heavens opened and we were getting soaked through to the skin we ducked out and hit an all-you-can eat Chinese restaurant. Damn we're rock 'n roll. Fortunately there were a few acts that were still worth seeing... although I think the highlight of Saturday for me was Richard Cheese with his half-hour of lounge-singer metal covers.

Sunday was pretty awesome with the likes of Motorhead, Airbourne, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot and... BILL BAILEY! House of Pain played a reasonable set but no-one really showed an interest until they played 'Jump Around'. Motorhead were as loud as ever although it loses some of the impact where you're not in an enclosed area. Airbourne were as energetic and amazing as always... Joel O'Keefe (their lead singer/guitarist) ensuring the crowd went wild by climbing up on top of the Saturn Stage to play a quick solo. The guy is crazy but we wouldn't want it any other way! Not being a particular fan of Limp Bizkit they really surprised me and were definitely one of the highlights of the weekend. Bill Bailey was as awesome as you'd expect him to be... although he did suffer from some sound mixing issue (as did a few acts I saw on the Saturn Stage).

All in all it was an amazing weekend... spoilt only by the fact it was gone 5am before we were back home in bed and had to be up for work at 7am. Next time I'll remember to take the Monday off!

Artificial Intelligence?

2011-06-14T20:47:00.001+01:00

If you are at all interested in Brink, you've probably read quite a lot of comments about it so far. The vocal minority (as far as I can tell) appear to be rather unhappy Xbox 360 owners getting some pretty bad lag when attempting to play online. I don't think the PC version has suffered from quite so many issues but it certainly wasn't problem free. For that reason, despite starting this post some time ago, I've held off finishing it while numerous patches have been released to give the game a fair shot.

Splash Damage have been rather good in terms of getting patches out there and communicating with the players. Personally, I've not had any issues other than some rather shocking AI.

But I'm getting ahead of myself...

Let's start with the simple fact that Brink is good... really good... and it's different. Heavily reliant on objectives and team work, it feels like a cross between Team Fortress 2 and Left 4 Dead. Run around by yourself and you're not going to last very long but stick with your team mates, especially if they are taking the time to 'buff' each other, and you can be an unstoppable machine. Compared to Quake Wars or Enemy Territory, this feels a lot tighter both in terms of the quality of the game and the gameplay itself.

The graphics, while not cutting edge, are good and the stylised art direction works well. There have been a few complaints about the lack of female characters but I'm not sure the elongated faces and features would lend themselves very well to the female form.

There has obviously been quite a lot of attention given to the sound as well. After listening to it being discussed in one of the Bethesda podcast, I can't help but notice the difference in sounds when aiming down the iron sight... and I think it's this attention to detail that really sells the game and, if I'm honest, something I've almost come to expect from anything coming out of the Bethesda camp.

As for the much hyped customisation, it's mixed bag. The character customisation is ok; Your face and colour are picked when you first start the character and then these can't be changed. I was a little disappointed to find that you can only pick your face from a selection and, while I understand why, it would have been good to have a wider range or some control over some of the facial features. Also, while there are quite a few pieces of clothing to be unlocked, I found that once I'd picked out an outfit I was reasonably happy with, I didn't really feel any need to go back and change it (although I did always check once I'd unlocked a new piece). The weapon customisation felt very similar, although there are obvious benefits and penalties for fitting certain attachments.

My problems with the game are all fairly minor issues, but ones that perhaps more testing or a fresh eye might have avoided. The weapon selection, for example, is desperately in need of some way to compare different weapons and a choice of selection screen; the current selection screen gets very cluttered once you've unlocked everything. Maybe the ability to filter by type of weapon might help. The friendly AI is also a little lacking; while your AI controlled medics will almost always run to your aid, they will often blindly run into firefights and get very quickly taken out. I also found that your team mates would sometimes struggle to run in the right direction for an objective or, worse, grab a transport objective and then run into an obviously hostile environment. At one point, one of my AI team mates managed to get themselves stuck behind a ladder and seem to become invisible to the other team... I ended up having to use grenades to knock him back into play!

But, as I've already said, a great game and definitely worth a play in a world drowning in the next "Call of Duty" wannabes.

On the... edge?

2011-05-10T15:58:00.001+01:00

Brink is almost here! When I first saw it, I have to be honest and say I wasn't that fussed. The more I saw about it, however, the more I became interested... until I couldn't help but pre-order it! I'm not sure who I was kidding really...

In a market that seems to be churning out FPS games that so desperately want to be "the next CoD" that then copy most of CoD's features hoping that it might just work, it's refreshing to see that the guys at Splash Damage are happy to be a bit different. Although, technically speaking, I guess they always have been as they've been trying to perfect the class-based shooter for quite some time now. With both Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars tucked into their belts (as well as numerous maps and mods) you'd hope that they are experts in their field.

So we're looking at a heavy focus on multiplayer, objective-based gaming... so far so good, but what's to get excited about?

Firstly, shallow though it may be, it looks fantastic. While comparisons are bound to be made between this and the current king of class-based gaming, Team Hat-ress 2 (AKA Team Fortress 2) because they've taken a rather cartoon-like approach to the graphics; it's more of a caricature style rather than full-on cartoon and they've done a great job. Far from the colour overload of Bulletstorm, it seems at least a little more grounded in the colour stakes.

Then there is the objective-based nature of the gaming. Splash Damage have said a few times that, while you'll obviously score points for killing the other team, there are far greater rewards for team play... such as healing your team mates or completing objectives. And the objectives themselves are dynamic depending on the game and your class so no two matches are likely to be the same.

Of course there's also the heavily advertised SMART system. Smooth Movement Across Random Terrain (AKA parkour). Simply hold the SMART button while running through the maps and you will automatically leap, climb and slide across rooftops and up walls (depending on your body size), which should certainly keep everyone on their toes (and the map makers having nightmares).

Customisation seems to be a big part as well, and we're talking more than just hats here... there are 102,247,681,536,000,000 alleged unique characters possible (including variations in tint, body size and side). That's an insane amount of customisation... and even if you remove the tint, body size and side, you're still looking 4,530,240 unique combinations!

And, despite being a mostly multiplayer experience, there is supposed to be a reasonable single-player campaign that can be played from either perspective, Resistance or Arc Security.

And there's plenty more, but I need to leave something for me to say once I've actually played it! Now I just have to wait for it to be released this Friday... which is possibly my only complaint at this stage. Despite the fact that Splash Damage are, in fact, based in good ol' Blighty, the American's are already playing Brink while we have to wait three more days! Such, I'd imagine, is the downside for partnering with US-based Bethesda/Zenimax Why, in this age of digital distribution, they can't release it globally I'll never know...

In the meantime, have a look at the 'instructional' videos on the official website and get a feel for the game and how it plays. I'll be back some point soon to, no doubt, give my verdict

Have blade, will stab...

2011-03-01T23:22:00.001Z

Is it really March already? Not quite sure where my year has gone so far. The good news is that despite spending most of my time working, I've also been getting some quality gaming time in as well (and that's on top of any wedding planning we've been doing)!

It is a curious test of any game series if you decide to play them one after the other. I'm not sure many would stand up to it. Each game's nuances highlighted by the other games in the series and the overall play style and theme tested to extreme without feeling stale or repetitive. But, when I got Assassin's Creed Brotherhood for Christmas I decided it was high time I finished the first two before getting stuck in.

To be fair, I'd already played through roughly half of AC1 so I had a bit of a head start.

The first Assassin's Creed is, by comparison, quite a simple affair. Go here, find the view points, complete the side quests and then stab someone. Rinse and repeat. While sounding rather repetitive the game manages to avoid getting too bad by giving you the freedom to do the side quests in any order you choose as well as skipping some of them if you're only interested in the main story line. The scenery is, like all three games, pretty impressive at times and the cities feel busy. If I could change one thing, and one thing only, I'd remove the harassers... those annoying stumbling idiots that push you if you get too close. I'm sure someone thought it was a good idea and I can appreciate the need to have 'obstacles' for the would-be assassin but personally I just found them an irritant that drew me away from the game, especially as they only ever went for you... maybe if they'd attacked guards and passing civilians they could have been partly useful as a distraction or, at the very least, the source of some amusement! Probably the weakest game in the series for the story, you do still get the impression that there is a larger plot to uncover.

The change of scenery and colour palette for the second game was quite significant. Certainly more stunning and varied than the first game, although it feels smaller. You character, Ezio, is quite different from Altair. Where Altair was a top assassin, stripped of rank and equipment and forced to earn (and learn) his place, Ezio is quite cheerful and just a little... sleazy, at least to begin with. The side missions are more varied and the number of ways to dispatch people has most certainly increased. You certainly feel that the developers had learned a lot from the first game and had tried to improve almost every aspect... and succeeded. The introduction of money and the ability to buy new armour and swords certainly appeals to the collector in me while the improved combat options and 'blending' means that you sometimes find yourself pulling off some quite amazing feats that almost have you believing that you are that good. Sadly, there are still times when the camera angles leave you struggling to see what is actually going on... but it's definitely better than the first game.

Assassin's Creed Brotherhood continues the story of Ezio. Gone is the slightly arrogant ladies man, replaced with a more bitter and determined assassin. Sadly, the start of this story involves the loss of all your weapons and skills you'd just earnt from the second game... which, having just played it, felt slightly odd. Why couldn't Ezio just go and buy or steal new weapons? Why do I have to wait before I can use a particular sword again? Such is the nature of the game. Not exactly game-breaking, especially if it's been a while since you played the second title (or you've never played it at all).

The scenery is just as colourful and feels slightly more natural as you're running about the streets of Rome... not quite so repetitive in design. The ability to buy shops and earn money has been extended to cover the entire game now, rather than just your villa, and the number of weapons and toys has increased yet again... although this isn't necessarily a good thing. I found that I rarely used the throwing knives, for example, once I'd unlocked one of the other weapons.

The horse riding, while functional in the first two games but not really serving much of a purpose, now includes the ability to ride throughout the city... but I'll be honest and say I still found it easier to move around on rooftops and only really used my horse when I had to. Especially as the quickest way to travel long distances was to use the sewer system that covered the map!

In some ways, the game tries to hard to improve over the second game. In some ways it succeeds, but in others you feel that they should have either given it more thought or not bothered at all. Take, for example, combat with multiple, mounted, crossbow-wielding guards: it's the sort of fight you're probably going to want to run from to give you a chance to turn the odds in your favour... only Ezio auto-targets a guard each time they hit him with a bolt. So, you un-target, try to turn and run (which is rather slow) and another bolt hits you... so Ezio immediately whips round to face them again. Strange how he can turn so quickly to face them but not to get away! In the end, I resorted to bunny-hopping away so I didn't get shot again *hangs head in shame*

That isn't the only place things get a bit tricky. Whenever you are attempting one of the more acrobatic puzzles, walking along high beams and leaping between walls, the camera sometimes shifts to a fixed position, obviously chosen by the designer to give you the best view of Ezio and his target. The problem is, having played through everything else in the game using the normal camera you now find yourself working at an unnatural angle and one you can't change... so you sometimes end up jumping in the wrong direction trying to compensate. This is made worse if you are working against the clock, move along a beam to jump and just as you hit the button... the camera moves to the fixed angle and you jump in the wrong direction. Immersion breaking and down right frustrating. I found myself literally screaming at the TV at times, explaining to Ezio's limp, broken corpse that that quite obviously wasn't the direction I wanted him to jump, how could he possibly be THAT stupid?! There were other, more specific, frustrations with the game, such as the rooftop race with a REALLY badly positioned dive point on the roof of the penultimate building that has you diving four stories into a hay cart instead of leaping across to the building opposite... but I don't really want to dwell any longer on the negative... well, other than to say the last few missions were annoying as hell but only because of the control they took away from me (without giving too much away).

Don't get me wrong, Brotherhood is an awesome game. By the time you're training up your own team of assassins and sending them off on their own missions, you'll feel like a true master assassin. The link Ubisoft created between Brotherhood and Assassin's Creed Legacy on Facebook was a nice touch that gave you bonuses for playing both games.

While Assassin's Creed II was definitely the smoothest of the three, I'd still pick Brotherhood as my favorite... if only for my team of assassins.

So I've finally done it... it's took a month and a half but it's all over, just in time for Ubisoft to announce that they will be announcing the next game in the series this May... the stabbing isn't over!

Now I've just got to finish Fallout: New Vegas, Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit and Bioshock 2... before Deus Ex: Human Revolution and LA Noire arrive.

And don't get me started on The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim... I have enough trouble sleeping as it is!

Still here... honest

2010-12-11T12:39:00.000Z

Twitter seems to be sucking up most of my desire to share random knowledge and my opinions at the moment but I haven't forgotten about my blog, honest.

As usual things have been a bit hectic although you're probably getting as bored hearing that as I am typing it... lol

Christmas is looking to be a lot of fun this year although the plans seem to shift from day to day.

I'm still recovering from a gig we played last night at the White Horse in Bognor so I'll cut this short... next update will be soon though, promise ;-)

Dog tired?

2010-08-23T14:44:00.001+01:00

So... it's been a while, as usual, but then that's no real surprise given that it's been summer time (my busiest time at work). There have been a few games during this time but I thought I'd get back into the swing of things with a more recent addition to my collection... Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days.

The original Kane & Lynch was... interesting. The Xbox 360 version of it is still currently sat on my shelf, unfinished. While the idea behind the game seemed sound, playing it proved unforgiving and mostly unrewarding.

Sadly, the sequel isn't much better. "Cinematic" camera angles and fairly stupid AI means that the levels, while looking quite interesting, can be a pain to actually play. The AI seems to have only a couple of ideas: sit and spray bullets or run at you like some crazed fool and hope they get close enough to kill you before they die. This isn't helped by the rather odd ability of some AI characters to come back from the dead! A number of times I've killed a policeman or soldier and as I've approached the body it's suddenly appeared upright and firing... funny, but annoying.

The other major problem, in my opinion at least, is the game itself and the reason for the title of this post... it all feels 'tired' like the developers just couldn't really be bothered. Each level just feels like the previous level with different textures: soldiers instead of policeman; concrete pillars instead of neon-clad shop fronts etc... it never really changes. It probably doesn't help that the 'plot' (if you can call it that) is all a bit pointless and tired as well... not exactly an inspiring start really.

Given the level of depth and character we're becoming used to in even the most basic shooters these days, it's almost a bit embarrassing.

It's possible that the multiplayer may improve this... but I can honestly say that I can't be bothered to find out!

Is there such a thing as too much tech? HELL NO!

2010-04-21T15:33:00.010+01:00

Today I was looking at the number of draft blog posts I've got kicking around in the background at the moment... and I realised that they've been there so long, I'm going to have to go back and replay those games again. Such a hard life ;)

In the meantime I've been playing a couple of 'older' games and (luckily) being reminded just how good some of them are.

If you've ever played Bioshock, you shouldn't be surprised that it is still such a good game. Not that it is exactly old (released only two years ago) but, having played through it on the PC shortly after release, I only picked it up for the Xbox a couple of weeks ago.

If I'm honest, I *had* forgotten just how good the game is. The setting and the atmosphere of the game is so well realised you could almost believe that some nutcase had really created this world under the sea... and that human nature, such that it is, had poisoned and destroyed it. It's so good, in fact, that although I'd already been through and completed it on the PC, I still played through it again to completion including hunting down all the upgrades and diary entries... again (yeah, I know... sad). Funny thing is... I didn't even buy it for myself!

The other game I've been playing has been Gun. Only a little older to be fair (2006) but a game I personally believe has not received anywhere near the recognition it should have. A free-roaming third person shooter set in the American 'wild' west back in the 1800 it involved, obviously, a fair amount of shootouts with bandits, soldiers and Indians (which got Activision into trouble with the 'Association for American Indian Development') and plenty of riding around on a variety of horses.

The game is great fun, if a little short, and has a number of well known actors who have provided the voices for the characters: Tom Skerritt, Ron Perlman, Brad Dourif, Kris Kristofferson, Lance Henriksen and Thomas Jane.

Again, a game so good I actually stayed with it till the end... that doesn't happen very often these days.

Mind you... Red Dead Redemption is fast approaching release... and I've got REALLY high hopes for that!

In other news, I appear to have acquired some new tech to play with (thanks Kev) in the form of a PS3 and a PSP, complete with a number of games! So if you thought having two game systems was bad enough, I now have FOUR! I even have time for a life... who had thought ;-)

Two wheels and over effected...

2010-03-02T12:22:00.005Z

How time flies when you're having fun :D

Certainly been a busy couple of months but I can't believe it's March already!

Yes, I've been slacking on blogging duties yet again... there are still quite a few unfinished posts kicking around in the background that I will finish (eventually ;) ).

Most of my gaming time in February has been taken up with Mass Effect 2. I was looking forward to this sequel but wasn't sure that it would live up to the first game. What with the supposed 'dumbing down' of the skills available to the characters and a few other changes to some of the other mechanics of the game there was a risk that they could spoil the overall effect. I'm happy to say that it hasn't!

The reduced skill set certainly seems to streamline the character advancement without really removing your ability to develop your character the way you want. I'm all for stats and abilities in RPGs but the way ME2 handles character progression simply works (for ME2... please don't try it with Dragon Age!). I certainly appreciate the change in armour and weapon choices... the first game did get a bit cluttered with stuff by the time you got to the end.

The removal of the Mako and the ability to drive round on some planets, however, was a mixed blessing. The Mako was a complete pain in the backside to control most of the time, bouncing around like some sort of kids toy, and searching for resources on planets was painful (so it was fortunate you didn't really need them). I do, however, miss the slightly more sandbox environment that it gave you. The new approach of giving you the ability to scan planets from space certainly makes more sense and collecting resources using probes is a lot easier, if a little time consuming. It does, however, mean that when you do land on a planet, the mission/story is more focused and provides a better experience over all.

The graphics, if you haven't seen any screenshots or videos, are certainly a lot better and I've not really noticed any pop up (which the original suffered from)... though I'm sure it's still there, I was just too busy playing ;)

I'll avoid talking too much about the actual story because I don't want to spoil it too much for anyone who has yet to play it (I completed it last night) but I was pleased to see that the 'moral' choices were dotted throughout and quite often quite often ambiguous in nature.

As for the continuation of decisions made in the first game, I was fairly underwhelmed by the impact my choices had made on the world of Mass Effect 2. Mostly just confined to a random encounter or message while visiting one of the main hubs and I think they missed a trick there. That said, there did seem to be a fair bit of scope for some of the decisions from ME1 to follow through to ME3 (along with your decisions from ME2) and make a huge difference to the overall story... I just hope they don't waste them.

Other than the gaming, I've even managed to get some real life stuff in!

After just over five years out of the saddle, I'm now whizzing round on nice shiny Suzuki Bandit 600... you'll be able to spot me as I'll be the one with a HUGE grin on my face!

On top of that, February meant that it was time for Ladies Night. This time at Gurnard Pines, we had a great night of fun and frolics in the name of the ladies... and I'd just like to say I certainly had the most beautiful example with me that night ;-)

Civilian casualties? Whoops...

2009-12-03T15:00:00.000Z

If I were to try and define my alignment (in a D&D sense) when it comes to games, I think it would probably be 'Chaotic Good'... do the 'right thing' but my own way. So, generally speaking, when it comes to moral choices in games, I do tend to throw my lot in on the 'good' side. I've tried being 'evil' and it rarely works out... I just can't help myself... but Prototype certainly takes some strides towards making you think just a little differently about the good and evil involved.

To fully explain this, I do need to spoil the plot a little. None of it is particularly surprising, but there are some people who just don't like to know what's coming... if that's you, you might want to stop reading this post after the next two paragraphs.

You start the game a little into the future of the story... armed to the teeth with some serious mutant firepower and battling against tanks, helicopters, soldiers and mutant zombies. So, right from the start you are fighting against traditionally 'good' forces... what appears to be the US Army attempting to defend New York from a viral infection that's turning everyone into mutants. The number of abilities and methods of attack at this point are vast. Not only can you mutate your arms in to a number of different weapons to crush, decapitate and generally make life unpleasant for those less 'blessed' than yourself, but you can also run fast enough to run up buildings, jump high enough to clear smaller buildings and make moving from rooftop to rooftop easy (and fun) and if that wasn't enough, you can consume civilians and soldiers alike to replenish your health and then impersonate them!

After a short bout of this, you are taken back to the starting point of the story... the part where you enter the plot. Confused and lacking in both powers and memories you find yourself being hunted by military and mutants alike. As you play through the various story missions and side tasks, you unlock more memories by consuming key figures (of which there are 130 I believe). Each person holding a little piece of the information that makes up the main story. Everything you do also gives you evolution points that you can 'spend' to get or improve your abilities.

During the early parts of this story, most of the civilian population around you is still human and uninfected... and avoiding killing them while you are battling with the military is nigh on impossible. Soon you are racking up thousands of civilian and military casualties without any real reason why... then the story really starts to unfold and you find out who is to blame for your condition and realise that the military (or at least part of it) isn't entirely innocent. The problem is, you just can't help slaughtering all these 'innocent' people to get to the guilty ones... and it doesn't take long before you just stop worrying about it (if you worried at all) and start to enjoying it! Suddenly, regardless of the reasons behind it, you are one of the bad guys... and it feels good!

So life as a monster is fun and fast paced. The mechanics of the game work well and it doesn't take much to get you zooming around, slaughtering things in new and interesting ways. Assuming the identity of a base commander and infiltrating the various military bases (before slaughtering everyone in them) was a particular highlight for me, as was taking over the attack helicopters using your grappling arm. Like a lot of open world games, there is a delicate balance between have too much, or too little to do at any point in the game... Prototype certainly manages the balance fairly well, I don't think I ever found myself with nothing to do, but there is a certain amount of repetition involved. Still, if you're enjoying the game, repetition isn't necessarily a bad thing!

Psychologically damaged billionaire seeks playmate...

2009-12-03T13:00:00.000Z

First things first... a warning; I've not posted many 'reviews' on the games I've been playing recently, but I have been writing them so there's likely to be a flurry of activity over the next few days while I actually pull my finger out and finish what I want to say ;-)

And what better place to start than the surprisingly good Batman - Arkham Asylum!

And it was quite a surprise. There's not a particularly good track record (in my opinion, at least) where comic book tie-ins are concerned, especially when the developers decide to go down the 'Beat-em up' route... just take a look at the Watchmen game for a bland and repetitive example. I'm not saying they're all crap... but you're definitely fighting against the current.

The first thing you notice when playing for the first time is just how fluid the game is. The way Batman moves and fights is incredible. Especially considering that, at the beginning, you're only using two buttons: attack and counter. Each hit or counter is animated based on a number of factors, mostly on what you were just doing and what your target is currently doing. Thug running at you with a metal pipe? Catch the pipe and smack him in the chest with it. Attacking you from behind? A swift elbow to the face should fix that. Then add the great slow-motion finishing moves and you feel like you are the BEST beat-em up player ever!

Of course, if that was all that the game had it would get repetitive and dull quite quickly... and to be fair, the game IS fairly repetitive. Fortunately, that's not all it's got. For example, once you start moving around the Asylum, it's not long until you find yourself up against a couple of heavily armed foes. Batman, it would appear, is extremely vulnerable to bullets and one or two machine gun wielding thugs can easily take him out if he's not careful. This is where the game really starts to feel like Batman... gadgets. Flicking into 'Detective Mode' allows you so see thugs through walls, checking their stress/awareness levels, what weapons they're carrying and pick out any features of the environment you can use to your advantage. You can then use Batman's grappling hook to move around above the thugs and take them out stealthily. If you want to be picky, you could question how the bad guys never take a moment to look up (knowing that they are up against Batman, after all) but the stealth takedowns and sneaking about really works well.

As the game progresses, your array of gadgets grows until you're blowing holes in walls (and thugs) with explosive gel; taking out several thugs at once with multiple Batrangs; Or just hanging thugs from the frequent gargoyles around the asylum.

The game isn't, however, perfect. Some of the boss battles, for example, can be quite painful repetitive tasks sometimes. I understand that it's going to be quite hard to make all of them different but when they get it so right for some of them, it seems a shame that they resort to some sloppy old school 'hit the vulnerable spot when it is visible' battles. There are other smaller niggles, but none of prevent this game from being quite special.

Also, having played both the Xbox 360 and the PC versions, it's nice to see that they have taken the time to alter the control scheme to work on the PC, and taken advantage of higher resolutions. It's still fairly obvious that this was written with a Xbox 360 controller in mind, but it doesn't distract from the game.

Billy F*cking Talent!

2009-11-10T14:57:00.000Z

So... guess who we went to see this evening... go on, guess!

Billy Talent? You're damn right it was! And it was awesome! Playing a good mixture of newer and older tracks, they really knew how to get the crowd going. Surrender proved to be a particularly popular song with the crowd.

Not only that, but we had a bit of a surprise with the support acts. Often when I've been to a gig where the 'guest act' are left unannounced until you get there, I've found that they're not normally that good. Certainly I had no idea who the two guest acts, Canterbury and the Cancer Bats, were until the gig.

When Canterbury walked on stage, I wasn't exactly impressed. Without sounding too much like a grumpy old man, they looked like a school band and I was expecting them to start droning on about how hard life was and how much they missed their Mum and Dad... I certainly wasn't prepared for the upbeat and high energy indie rock they started throwing out. They certainly made it look like they were really enjoying themselves and that always has a positive effect on the crowd. If you're interested in a listen, their album is available FOR FREE at this address: http://www.canterburythankyou.com/

Cancer Bats were a little heavier than I'd normally listen too but weren't bad. They certainly seemed to have a lot of fans in the crowd.

All in all though, a fantastic gig!

More internet woes... good job we weren't there!

2009-11-10T13:23:00.004Z

Yet again I find myself without internet at home. My ISP has run a load of tests and, as per usual, they have all come back ok... excellent quality connection and the highest speeds. Great... still doesn't mean I have a working connection!

The most likely culprit at the moment is BT who may (or may not) be doing some work on my exchange *sigh*

Still... we were in Dorset for the weekend so I didn't really notice then! Chilli, alcohol and fireworks in the middle of nowhere surrounded by great friends... fantastic stuff :)

You've been tagged?

2009-10-07T18:42:00.004+01:00

Stumbled upon a curious thing today... Microsoft Tag; Microsoft's entry into the barcode world.

Doesn't sound too exciting when you put it like that, but it is quite an interesting idea. Basically, with everyone seeming to have a smart phone these days (or the very least a phone capable of browsing the Internet) there seems to be a lot of interest in making it easier for people to enter your web address (hence the rather exponential number of short URLs floating about atm). Microsoft's Tag basically allows you to take a photo of the rather colourful 'barcode' and the Tag app will translate it into a web url or email address etc...

They certainly are the first to try this approach, but their barcodes are easily created, colourful and customisable!

For example, the three images below are all Tags for this website. The first is Microsoft's default barcode using triangles, the second is the basic barcode showing the bare minimum you need to be able use the Tag and the last one is a quick and dirty example of a customised barcode... it looks like a load of doodles but still works!

The easiest thing is to try for yourself... for the main website visit http://www.microsoft.com/tag/ and to get the application for your phone, go to http://gettag.mobi

Just don't!

2009-09-21T16:06:00.002+01:00

Quick post today... Twin Sector... DON'T BUY IT (or else).

At the risk of devoting more time on this post than I could tolerate of the game:

- Cliche-ridden story
- Shocking animation
- Painful, grinding voice-acting
- Laughable gameplay

If this had been released 10 years ago... it still would have been crap!

In other news, work has calmed down a bit now so there will be a few more posts to come...

Summer time?

2009-08-19T13:46:00.006+01:00

July and August have been quite busy months this year. Managed to squeeze a couple of weeks off work, which is always good. During my time off we managed to pack up a couple of bags (and the dog) and headed off to sunny Dorset for a weekend at Grizzly's manor. Lots of walking, drinking, eating and rocking out was had and a fun time was had by all, as usual :)

Sadly I came back to work to the usual summer time supplier troubles... I'm pretty sure I've had a rant about it before but I'll at least mention it again... where is the customer services?! Cable engineers that think it's ok to leave your buildings looking like an abattoir floor (oh, and a word of advice for any potential cable teams out there... if your door frame is 4cm wide, cutting a rough 3.5cm diameter hole in it and then cramming more cables through it than it's obviously going to take will not work... and the fire officer gets particularly upset when you do it to fire doors!), CCTV engineers that don't actually know how to wire the equipment they are putting in OR install/configure the software (so I end up doing it for them), security 'experts' not bothering to do ANY of the things they had promised a month ago... and then going on holiday, and then two month lead-times on essential equipment! Still... I think I've kicked enough ass to get most of it fixed before time runs out.
*deep breath*

Anyway... other than that I've managed to get a reasonable amount of gaming in. Certainly clocked up a few hours (and achievements) on Oblivion on the Xbox. It also seems to have been a quiet time for the MMO makers as I've had free time thrown at me by Everquest II, Warhammer Online and Lord of the Rings Online which meant I could play for a month without paying anything... always a good thing!

Strangely, one game that has come back into the picture and I've been spending a lot of time playing is Far Cry 2! I've owned it for quite some time but never really got into it when it first arrived. Whether it was because I was playing something else, or just not in the right mood, I don't know but I'm absolutely loving it now. The graphics and physics are pretty amazing and there are a lot of quite clever touches... I particularly like the 'buddy rescue' when you lose almost all of your health. Just a little more convincing than having lots of lives and yet the game can still afford to be a little brutal sometimes. The only real pain I've found at the moment is that, even after three patches, the game frequently crashes in DirectX 10 mode. It appears to be quite a substantial memory leak (if the forums are to be believed) and can be quite frustrating. No error messages and no warning, it just drops to desktop and if you don't reboot before attempting to play again, it'll happen again even sooner! Strangely I've been unable to find any comments from Ubisoft despite quite a lot of people apparently suffering from it. The easiest solution is just to run in DirectX 9 mode... but that's hardly a proper solution. At least it's still fun to play...

A telling sign?

2009-07-08T18:36:00.004+01:00

This week I got the chance to play two new, very different games: Trine, a physics-based platform game, and Arma 2, a military simulator.

They couldn't be more different... in more ways that one.

Arma 2 is running on a game engine that's been built, tweaked, modified and updated over ten years. Currently in it's third generation it is (allegedly) used in training simulators by military all over the world. All I can say is good luck to them... despite already being patched (twice) the game is STILL a mess! For example, during the later stages of the 'Boot Camp' (where you are supposedly 'safe) I was taking part in some heavy weapon training... no sooner had I picked up one of the designated rocket launchers when I started to hear gun fire. To start with, I didn't think much of it (there was a shooting range not far away after all) until the bullets started sounding like they were getting closer... excellent I thought, it's an attack on the training camp, a sort of live exercise, what a great idea... and then I took a bullet in the chest (surviving, just) and looked up just in time to see my instructor gunned down by the unknown shooter which ended the game due to a "training accident". I don't honestly think there was supposed to be anyone firing at us during the training/tutorial and I've no idea if it happens every time as it frustrated me so much, I've not been back into that part of the game (trust me, the training is tedious). Having read a few reviews and reports, however, I don't appear to be alone... maybe when it's had a few more patches, this hardcore shooter will be worth another look.

Trine, on the other hand, really is quite amazing. You play the game as three different characters (you can only have one on screen at a time), a wizard that can manipulate and create objects, a thief that can shoot things from a distance and grapple on to things and a knight that can hack things, throw things and block incoming attacks. Using each of their unique abilities, you work your way through the colourful and animated world tackling numerous monsters and physics-based puzzles. The sheer polish on this game alone really puts the flawed Arma 2 to shame. I've yet to find anything that is even slightly out of place. Yes, it is a simpler and smaller game (Arma 2 covers 225 km² and has countless vehicles and weapons to play with) but maybe that's the point... maybe if the developers of Arma 2 has concentrated on making a smaller but more polished game they would then be in a position to follow the current trend of releasing the rest of the game via DLC?

I don't know for certain; I am, after all, only a gamer and novice developer. All I know is the amount of time I've lost to Trine instead of Arma 2... and isn't that what it's about?

Nuke it from space... it's the only way to be sure!

2009-06-09T11:58:00.004+01:00

Cool new trailer for the latest AvP game. I've loved the previous ones and this is looking amazing!

Take a look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an0gLnboLjE

More information can be found on Sega's blog here http://blogs.sega.com/usa/2009/05/20/new-aliens-vs-predator-details-and-images/

Yup... defintely one for my 'Most Wanted' list

In other news...

2009-06-05T22:19:00.002+01:00

Anyway... so this week E3 (The Electronic Entertainment Expo) has been stealing the gaming headlines. After two years out in the cold (having become a no-frills business meeting) it's back to it's former self with all the glitz, stunts and booth babes you'd expect from one of the gaming calendar's main events. As usual the announcement were a mixed tale of sequels and surprises. Anything there of note? Maybe... I've picked out a few bits that caught my eye:

- Bioshock 2 : After such an amazing first game, it was hard to imagine that they'd be able to better it. It's looking good so far... and now it includes multiplayer.
- Mass Effect 2 : I still haven't managed to finish the first one (something always gets in the way) but the sequel promises a darker and more sinister plot line and even better cinematics.
- Castlevania: Lord of Shadows : Another attempt to drag the Castlevania into the third dimension. I loved Castlevania on my old Game Boy and, personally, I don't think they've managed to make a sequel that even equals the original... perhaps this will.
- Left 4 Dead 2 : Even more zombie-killing fun... now with chainsaws and frying pans! An announcement no-one was really expecting (HL2 Episode 3 or Portal 2 anyone?) but a welcome sight all the same. More locations, different bosses and survivors and some real up-close and personal combat.
- Assassin's Creed II : Bigger, better, faster, longer? I've got to be honest, I don't normally expect much from Ubisoft. This, however, looks amazing. The original Assassin's Creed was good, but from what I've seen of the sequel so far, this is going to blow you away. All sorts of new moves and looking even more amazing... I can't wait!
- Modern Warfare II : The sequel to Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare appears to be shaping up nicely. It's also looking like the story line may be a little more gritty and unforgiving...
- Uncharted 2 : Among Thieves : Not owning a PS3, I've not played the original... but the sequel is looking amazing. A reason to buy a PS3 perhaps?
- Crackdown II : The ultimate bad-ass super cop sim IS getting a sequel. No real details as yet
- Red Steel 2 : The original wasn't bad. Hopefully the sequel will be a more refined experience.
- Forza 3 : Just watch this trailer... http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-09-forza/50004
- Lego Indiana Jones 2 : Will apparently include the ability to build your own levels in Lego!
- Agent : by Rockstar... little is know so far but they are obviously quite keen to hype it up.
- Modnation Racers : Build-your-own racing fun
- APB : I've been following this for a while. Essentially a Cops and Robbers MMOG and it looks to be shaping up nicely.
- DC Universe Online : There is certainly more polish on this since I played it last year (thanks Jens) and they've been showing off the 'cases' (AKA quests) available. Likely to reach beta in the Autumn (hopefully).
- The Agency : Sony's Spy MMO seems to be moving along nicely. Looking forward to beta testing this too.
- Alan Wake : At long last it looks like this may actually surface. Whether it'll be any good is a different matter entirely.
- The Vitality Sensor for the Wii : Yup... your Wii will now be able to, um, check your pulse (I'm sure they'll find a use for it).
- The Sony Wand : A glowing orb on a black shaft (that looks nothing like a dildo, according to GameSpot) that the Playstation Eye can 'see'. Seems a little bit of a step back from the Wii controller but time will tell.
- Project Natal : Microsoft's "surprise" announcement of a new controller for the Xbox 360 that uses a camera (with full body motion capture and facial recognition) and voice recognition to let you interact with the system. If it works, it has the potential to be amazing...
- PSP Go : A new PSP that looks a little like a cross between a Nintendo DS and a Samsung Mondi (or any other mobile phone with a slide-out keyboard). They've now ditched the UMD drive so it'll be interesting to see how PSP Go owners are going to be able to get the older games.

Broken Steel... FIXED!

2009-05-08T15:05:00.004+01:00

I should have expected it really... but at least it's finally here, and not a moment too soon.

Barely a hour after purchasing and downloading Broken Steel and The Pitt, I completed the main story-line of Fallout 3. I'm already level 22 and just about to head into The Pitt... it's all fun :-D

If only I hadn't got distracted by some other, rather addictive, games: King's Bounty, Braid and Plants Vs Zombies!

King's Bounty is very like the Might and Magic games. Turn-based combat using various troops based around the standard fantasy units (knights, dwarfs, necromancers etc..). It's a great little game.

Braid is an impressive little platform puzzler that uses the ability to manipulate time to create quite impressive puzzles. With it's 'painted' look and clever animation, it's certainly fun to play.

The winner, for me at least, has to be Plants Vs Zombies. In it's simplest form, it's a desktop tower defence game, but it's the quality of the game and the sheer number of variations of defence and attacking zombies that keep you playing. Each round gives you a new seed to plant or a message from the Zombies. Somebody definitely had some fun while thinking these up.

Head over to PopCap ( http://www.popcap.com/ ) and give it a go. Tell Crazy Dave I said "Hi!"

Broken Steel broken!

2009-05-05T15:03:00.000+01:00

IT'S HERE! IT'S HERE!

Fallout 3 - Broken Steel is here... I can start playing it again.

Oh... wait... no it's not... it's broken so they've taken it off the Live marketplace.

*sigh*

Some days you are the dog; some days you are the tree

2009-05-02T12:19:00.001+01:00

So, it's a nice weekend, what else is there to do but... get ourselves a puppy!

Yup, fraid so, we are now the proud owners of a lovely border collie called Dresden (after a character in one of my favourite series of books, not the German town).

He's certainly going to keep us busy ;-)

Almost as if they heard me...

2009-04-22T20:26:00.002+01:00

And this just in... looks like Fallout 3: Broken Steel is due for release on the 5th of May!

THAT'S LESS THAN TWO WEEKS AWAY!!!!

I'd better get my backside in gear and finish Oblivion... I wonder how many days holiday I've got left at work :-S

It's all fun and games till someone loses an eye...

2009-04-22T14:14:00.011+01:00

So... in my quest to find a replacement for Fallout 3 to fill the gap before the next DLC is released, I've ended up (quite logically) playing a lot of Oblivion again. Thought I'd start again from scratch but my character is fairly similar to my previous one (and pretty much any other RPG-like characters I have) with a healthy dose of sneaking, sniping and a little bit of magic.

While I hadn't really forgotten just how good Oblivion is, it is only after having played Fallout 3 for so long that I can see just how detailed and complex it can be. Fallout 3, though it is slightly odd to admit it, isn't as good. The setting is, obviously, completely different and the voice acting is significantly better... but the stories, characters, world and the mechanics of the game all, in my opinion, pale in comparison to Oblivion. This doesn't make Fallout 3 a bad game by any stretch of the imagination... it's still an amazing game... it's just not quite as good as Oblivion.

Inevitably, whenever I'm looking for something else to play, I've spent a fair amount of time on the Xbox. Saints Row 2 being the main attraction, though I've also spent a rather unhealthy amount of my time playing... Kingdom for Keflings.

If you've not come across this, it is an Xbox Arcade title. A very simple 'world builder' game. No combat or conflict... just you (as your Xbox avatar) resource gathering and building a kingdom, while directing the inhabitants of this world, the Keflings, to assist you with this task. Very simple, and very addictive.

Other than the games, I've been spending a bit of time messing around with a couple of new web-based toys. The first is GamerDNA. A site that monitors my Xbox Live, Xfire and Steam profiles and tracks what games I've been playing and the achievements I've racked up. The other is 360voice... which gives my Xbox 360 it's very own blog! It's a fairly simple idea; the site monitors my Xbox Live profile and uses the information to generate blog posts (the latest of which you will find on the right-hand side of my blog page). All just a bit of fun.

You'll find my profiles for these sites here:
GamerDNA - http://naiboss.gamerdna.com/
Xbox 360 Blog - http://360voice.gamerdna.com/tag/Naiboss

Also... I think knives are a good idea...

2009-03-25T16:02:00.009Z

So, with the release of the third DLC for Fallout 3, Broken Steel, they are finally going to be raising the level cap to 30 and remove the ending from the main game so you can continue... sounds great doesn't it? My problem is... I'm already level 20 and have been some time. I have already completed the first DLC pack, Operation Anchorage, and although I've got a few quests left in the main story line, I have visited around 70% of the locations and completed most of the quests associated with those areas. So, by the time the third installment gets released, those extra 10 levels are going to be a bit pointless unless the DLC contains enough to get me through it!
Judging by the rather troubled release of the second DLC, The Pitt, it may also mean having to wait even longer to play it!
So, for now, I'm going to try and pace myself and leave something to do once the third installment goes live... HA, who am I kidding?!? ;-)

And the winner is... WTF?!

2009-03-11T13:36:00.009Z

So... last night was was the BAFTA Video Game awards and a number of high profile (and some not-so-high profile) games were looking to pick up an award (or three).
I've read a few complaints in the past about how the BAFTAs are awarded for films but I didn't quite expect the games to suffer... how on earth did Super Mario Galaxy come to win 'Best Game'?! Don't get me wrong, it's a great game but BEST game? Considering it was released in November 2007, can you really tell me that there have been no games released since then that could be considered better? Like the other nominated titles: Call of Duty 4? Fable II? Fallout 3? Grand Theft Auto IV? Rock Band? All inferior to Super Mario Galaxy? Grand Theft Auto IV alone has manage to sell more than 10 million copies and become one of the highest rated games of all time... if only Niko had been a plumber huh?
And the award for 'Story and Character'... Call of Duty 4. R-i-g-h-t... Don't get me wrong, it's a fantastic game but I can't honestly claim that the story within is better than any of the other nominated titles (Assassin's Creed, Fable II, Fallout 3, Grand Theft Auto IV and Mass Effect). Maybe they considered the sandbox environments of the majority of those games as detrimental to the story, who knows!
That's not to say that they got all the awards wrong. Action and Adventure went to Fable II, Gameplay went to Call of Duty 4, Multiplayer went to Left 4 Dead (which caused quite debate with one of my console-obsessed, Call of Duty 4 loving, staff) and Professor Layton and the Curious Village grabbing the Handheld category (great game).
So not an entire washout, but it could definitely do with a good shake.
Anyway, you'll find the full list here: http://www.bafta.org/awards/video-games/nominations,664,BA.html

No. Sleep. Till...

2009-02-22T17:12:00.004Z

Bedtime?

Last night was 'Ladies Night' so we were all suited and booted for a night of good food, plentiful drink and great company. It gave yours truly an opportunity to brush off his DJ and prove I can scrub up nice if I choose to (even if I do say so myself). Obviously, I struggled to claim much (if any) of the limelight while someone else was there... good job she was with me really ;)

Life is good...

2009-02-15T10:26:00.006Z

Don't know about you but I had a great Valentine's Day yesterday. Woke up to an amazing breakfast in bed, spent the day lazing around and even popped up for a walk in the sunshine... and got a boot full of mud for my trouble :P

We then went out for a rather fantastic meal at a nearby indian restaurant, Monsoon, possibly the best indian I've ever had (which is saying something)!

Hope your day was as enjoyable, however you spent it.

Just in case...

2009-02-15T10:02:00.004Z

Just a quick word of warning... if your do have Fallout 3 and have installed it on to a drive other than your C drive (or whichever drive you have Windows installed on) you are VERY likely to have problems with the DLC, Operation Anchorage. Mine, for example, was crashing almost constantly... every time it tried to run the new content!

It would appear that the game attempts to look for the DLC in the Game for Windows Live folder... but uses the drive letter that the game is installed on, which isn't very helpful when GfWL defaults to your system drive.

Full credit to ministerforDOOM for working this out and fixing it... see this post for more details: http://forums.nicoclub.com/zerothread?id=399483&postid=4423278 (opens in a new window).

It's about time... all about time!

2009-02-09T11:24:00.005Z

So... having had no real access to my blog for the last couple of months thanks to some rather crap line management by Entanet (let's dump all our customers on a temporary line that can't take the load... doesn't THAT sound like a good idea?!) I am finally back online and working at home.

Not only that, but I've now got a new line in at work that means I can access there as well... result!

So, whether you consider it good or bad news, I should be back to posting on a more regular basis!

Anyway... as I mentioned in my last couple of posts, things were a little chaotic towards the end of last year. Thankfully that's all behind me now and 2009 is already looking like a great year! Finally getting my life, and the house, into some sort of order (well... the house is getting put in order, I like to keep a certain amount of chaos in my life :P ). I'm even managing to squeeze some gaming in!

Recently Fallout 3 (the PC version) has been playing a significant role, alongside Saint's Row 2 and Fable 2 on the Xbox. Absolutely loving Fallout 3 at the moment, it just seems to work regardless of the mood I'm in. Just loads of different things to do whether I'm interested in sneaking around, collecting things and using the VATS system to stealthily take out the raiders and ghouls or if I'm more interested in being a bit noisier I can just grab the mini gun or missile launcher and charge around like a loon attempting to hand out more damage than I collect. The moral greyness of the game also really appeals. I like the fact that, while there are repercussions, you can do pretty much anything you like. For example, one of the first missions you're likely to stumble across (and has been mentioned quite a bit) centres around Megaton... one person would like you to disarm the bomb in the middle of town, another would like you to rig it to explode. I decided to agree to both (curious as to how the game would deal with it and whether or not the charges given to you to rig the bomb were worth anything) before changing my mind and gunning the 'bad guy' down in the middle of the tavern. Well, it made me chuckle...

I've already bought the DLC for Fallout 3 (but yet to actually play it, lol) and was reasonably impressed by the progress the Games for Windows client has made over the last couple of months. They've still got some way to go, like the fact while we now have a stand-alone client, it is running as a standard application and can't be minimised to the notification area (like Steam or even the EA Downloader). Hopefully they'll continue to make progress.

Having also picked up the DLC for Fable 2 when it got released, I finally got round to playing it last night... lol. So far it seems like a fair amount of content for the cost so I've got no complaints. It'll be interesting to see if the GTA4 DLC holds up to scrutiny now it's been announced it'll be 1600 points (£13.99). Seems like a lot for an add-on.

Anyway... that'll do me for now... here's to a fun 2009 :)

Snow Joke! ahem

2009-02-03T12:22:00.004Z

How's this for proof that is DOES snow on the Isle of Wight! AND I got a day off work (mostly)... Yay!

The true colours of Christmas!

2008-12-25T11:43:00.003Z

Merry Christmas to all!

It's been a rollercoaster of a year but I made a lucky escape and it's finishing on a great note, surrounded by people I care about (and cool presents :P). It's times like these you can look back through the year and see things (and people) in their true colours.

Here's to an amazing 2009! Have fun!

X

A new beginning...

2008-12-15T01:14:00.006Z

So... I've been a little quiet of late. Things have been rather turbulent over the last few months and I've had little time (or inspiration) to say anything. But, things change, as they always do, and I thought I'd share a little happiness with you all... a bundle of happiness as it happens!

Say hello to my new niece, Libby (she's the one on the right :P). This was taken a few weeks ago now when she was just 3 weeks old! I still can't believe that my little sister managed to spawn something quite so amazing!

Christmas is going to be quite quiet this year, but still REALLY special. It'll be about family; Libby's first Christmas and my Mum's birthday (and a special one at that... 21 again eh Mum?) what more could we possibly need than to be surrounded by the people we care about? Here's to overloading on turkey at Christmas lunch and beating my Dad and something on the Wii ;)

Don't worry... I'll be back to my old self, waffling on about games like I know what I'm talking about, in my next post (probably)... What with Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead and Fable 2 I've certainly got some game-related stuff to waffle on about ;)

Have fun!

US Tour - Route 66

2008-08-13T12:45:00.000+01:00

Today started early... 4.30am to be precise which, quite frankly, shouldn't exist! Still, a quick wash and check of the room and I was on my way back to LAX to drop off the car and jump on my flight to Vegas by 5.30am.
The flight to Vegas only lasted an hour and then it was straight into the new hire car, a Dodge Avenger. Not quite as nice as the Pontiac G6 I was driving in LA but it did the job.
To be honest, I wasn't really looking forward to the drive to the Grand Canyon... but five hours and nearly 300 miles later I'd managed to take in the Hoover Dam, I-93, Route 66 (no less) and finally Route 64, I arrived at the hotel.
The journey was... tedious. The road stretching to the horizon in both directions and very little either side to give you any sense of location. The only 'distraction' being a grotty Wendy's on Route 66.
Exhausted and really only interested in some food before climbing into bed. You can imagine how pleased I was when, just 20 minutes after my arrival, the power cut out.
Thinking it was just the hotel, I headed out looking for somewhere with a working kitchen for some food... except the power cut had actually hit ALL of the shops and restaurants in the area and none of them could offer a hot meal.
Fortunately, by the time I'd got back to the hotel, they were handing out complimentary sandwiches to guests. Nothing like eating sandwiches in the corridor of your hotel (as there was no emergency lighting in the room) without air con in the desert to really finish off a long day :P
A couple of hours later, power was restored... just in time to get some sleep!

US Tour

2008-08-12T12:45:00.003+01:00

Another lazy day today. Up a bit later and breakfast at CoCo's again before heading into LA to have a look round.
The first stop was City Walk and the shops surrounding Universal Studios. As you'd expect, they were all larger than life but the highlight for me was definitely the Hard Rock Cafe. Not only was the place completely packed with cool rock memorabilia and playing great music/videos... but the food was fantastic as well (if a little pricey). Probably the best place I'd eaten so far. I even got myself a souvenir T-shirt.
By the time I finally made it down to the gates of Universal Studios, it was already 5pm and it seemed a little foolish to pay $69 for entry to the park when I'd be unlikely to see much of it... especially when I was supposed to be checking out of the hotel at 6am tomorrow morning (at the latest)! So, back to hotel for an early night... tomorrow was going to be a loooong day.

US Tour - Disneyland

2008-08-11T12:45:00.002+01:00

Today was Disneyland! After a slightly later than planned start, thanks in part to the REALLY slow service in Starbucks, I jumped on the 10am shuttle bus from the hotel. Barely 15 minutes later I was buying my ticket and strolling through the main gates and into 'City Hall' to pick up my '1st Time Visitor' badge. Already the park was pretty full and it's amazing how crowded it gets, despite how large it is.
Being the SciFi lover I am, I decided that the first zone I wanted to visit was 'Tomorrowland'. Breakfast seemed like an idea before I jumped on any rides, and I stopped at the Tomorrowland Terrace for a quick bite... only to discover that the Jedi Training Academy was right next to it and just starting up. While designed as an activity for children to take part in, the show was rather amusing thanks to the lead Jedi Master who has obviously been doing this for some time.
Once breakfast was out the way, it was time to hit the rides... Star Tours, Matterhorn Bobsled, Haunted Mansion, Pirates of the Caribbean, Indiana Jones Adventure to name a few. I won't bore you by going into each and everyone in detail but it was good to see that the waiting times were fairly short given how busy the park was. The rest of the day just involved a LOT of walking until 6pm when I settled down to watch the Main Street Parade followed by Fantasmic (a huge show based on Mickey Mouse playing with magic using a lot of pyrotechnics and some clever waterworks).
After a great, if tiring, day out it was back to the hotel.

US Tour - Hollywood!

2008-08-10T12:45:00.000+01:00

A nice lazy start to the day (as Sunday’s should be). Eventually headed down to ‘breakfast’ (if 11.30am still classes as breakfast) at a near-by bakery restaurant called CoCos. After treating myself to a huge “Mega Breakfast” of eggs, bacon, sausage, potatoes and pancakes it was time to jump in the car and head over to Hollywood!

Traffic was rather heavy but once more the GPS proved its worth and it wasn’t long before I was parking up in the Hollywood and Highland Centre on Hollywood Boulevard. Spent some time strolling up and down the boulevard, taking photos of cheap impersonators, a few of the star’s stars and their imprints outside the Chinese Theatre and popping into a few of the shops. After getting a few photos of the Hollywood sign, it was back to the hotel to plan what to do for the evening.
A stroll round the area local to the hotel resulted in dinner at... an Aussie steak house! Lol!

US Tour - It all begins here...

2008-08-09T23:59:00.003+01:00

Ok... so I'm off to America for two weeks and thought it would be a cool idea to blog a little something each day as a reminder of what went on... it all starts today!

A fairly early start to kick things off... catching the 6:45am FastCAT and then a taxi up to Heathrow (terminal 5) for the eleven hour flight out to Los Angeles.

Despite the lack of sleep on the flight, the first task at hand was to jump in a hire car and make the 45 minute drive to the hotel! Driving for the first time in the States after a particularly long flight was an interesting start but was pretty smooth... helped by the GPS system :P

The hotel, being a Hyatt, was great. Big building, big rooms and a couple of restaurants to choose from for an evening meal. A quick burger (what else could I have for my first night in the US) from the California Grill in the hotel lobby and then it was off to sleep, ready for tomorrow's exploration of LA.

On holiday! YAY!

2008-08-06T00:49:00.006+01:00

Ok... so... July has been and gone and I've still neglected my blog!

Ah well... I don't think anyone actually worries about it too much :P

In truth, I've just been so very busy and tired. This time of year is always my busiest time at work, and normally the time when we're at our lowest having seen through the academic year. But, thankfully, I'm now 'officially' on holiday!!!

Ok, so I've had to pop into work for a least a few minutes each day so far...

And my right-hand-man has found himself a better job...

AND my carefully planned major job for the summer was, rather carelessly, completely destroyed in order to save a couple of quid (i.e. get the same result with a fraction of the resources!).

Still... roll with the punches eh?

Good job I'm off to the 'States for a bit... they won't be able to phone me there... Bwahahahahaha...

As for gaming... there's been plenty of GTA4, which I've now completed (just under 80 hours... I love to 'quest') and Rock Band... along side a return of Neverwinter Nights 2, EVE Online and, of course, the ever present Everquest 2. There are also a whole host of new titles on the horizon... Soul Calibur 4, Fable 2, Warhammer Online, Red Alert 3, Star Wars Force Unleashed, Spore, etc... so I don't think I'm likely to get bored any time soon :P

Anyway... I've just got in from seeing 'The Dark Knight' and should probably think about getting some sleep... hopefully my next post won't be too far into the future eh?

Enjoy!

Did he jump... or was he pushed?

2008-06-15T17:32:00.002+01:00

Blimey... June already... almost July in fact and I have been woefully neglectful of my blogging.

In truth there hasn't been much to say... working hard to get everything ready in the run up to the summer (when things at work really kick off), sorting out the holiday (though, to be fair, K did all the work on that one), playing a few games where I can fit them in and practicing for our up-coming gig!

All in all this is a busy month... throw Dave's wedding into the mix and his stag do(s) and free time just ceases to exist.

Oh... and Dave (because I know you read this from time to time) don't worry... the stories for the best man's speech aren't THAT bad... well, nothing you won't get forgiven for... eventually ;)

G T Yay!

2008-04-30T15:16:00.004+01:00

So... it's here... GTA4... do I even need say how good it is?

A quick look at my friends list says it all really... the number of people playing it last night was quite impressive.

I have only clocked up a few hours so far so I'll reserve my final comments for another day but what I will say is... attention to detail!

It's quite incredible... and it's some of the smallest things like the fact that one character you meet (and give a lift to) likes to smoke in the car. No big deal but if you've got any broken windows, the smoke gently drifts out of those windows. It's a million little things and they all make a difference.

So... if you don't see any posts for a while, you know where I am ;)

Hanging around with time to kill...

2008-04-18T18:15:00.004+01:00

I'm afraid I've been a little lax in my blogging duties of late. Partly down to the fact that work has been insanely busy (and my work ISP has got really nasty over filtering stuff, including blogger and any 'safe' means to bypass their filters) but mostly due to laziness :P

That said, I have managed to get a fair amount of gaming in. Everquest 2 has been quite high on the list, as has Eve, but the last week or so has very much been an Assassin's Creed week!

Can I just start by saying... Well done Ubisoft! If you're wondering why, then you've obviously not played it yet.

To me it is quite an incredible achievement, not for the stunning graphics, nor the amazing animation but more for the fact that it's a new IP... something significantly different from anything else out there.

That's not to say it's perfect but I do think that some of the reviews have been overly critical. Yes, the missions can get a little repetitive... but only if you follow the same formula for completing them. Take your time, wander about a bit, do the side missions as you encounter them, look for lone guards to take out smug in the knowledge that once you've slipped into the crowd no-one will ever know it was you.

My only real complaint, and it's one that has been mentioned by a number of people, is the ending. While I won't spoil it for anyone else, it was a little... empty... and quite clearly setting them up for the sequel. But then I am looking at the game as a single entity and not as a series of chapters in an epic tale... only time and Ubisoft can tell if that will work, but I'm willing to wait.

Grand Theft Time

2008-03-15T09:54:00.002Z

As Easter fast approaches the job list gets longer and the jobs more 'urgent' (and by that I mean I have to rescue people from a lack of planning... "A lack of planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine" or words to that effect... but I do try to keep everyone happy).

Unfortunately, as the stress levels rise at work my energy and the desire to do anything meaningful once I get home tends to drop... affectionately referred to as "End-of-term-itess". On top of that, poor K is rushed off her feet at work as well due to the impending inspection of her office... if the cats didn't insist on keeping us going so that they have someone to open packets of food for them I suspect we'd probably just get through the door and go straight to sleep... lol.

That said, it is almost over. K has now passed the deadline by which all of the documentation for the inspection needed to be sent off (which was one of her biggest jobs) and the Easter holidays are now just a few days away. And while I might not get the three weeks off over Easter that my teaching colleagues do, I am hoping to take a week off somewhere in the middle.

Gaming, while taking a back seat to maintaining my sanity, has drifted very much back into the 'GTA Zone'. With the release of GTA4 (on Xbox 360 at least) fast approaching and some excellent articles in almost every magazine getting the hype engine up to speed, I found myself with the desire to fire up GTA San Andreas again. So much so that I didn't even bother looking for my old saved game... I just started again.

It's all pretty amazing... despite the fact the graphics aren't much to look at and it has a nasty habit of waiting until I've just completed a tough mission (or I've been playing for a while and forgotten to save) before crashing. It's the silly little things I find the most fun... the incidental missions that you can stumble across like the delivery mission for a local shop, only found by jumping on the bicycle parked outside or the pimp missions that become available if you jump in a particular car. And the jumps... oh how I love the jumps... whizzing along on a motorbike and just noticing a piece of fencing that seems to have been conveniently left resting against a wall that, when used, trigger a cool slo-mo shot of you flying through the air to success/doom (delete as applicable)... something Burnout Paradise also does well I might add.

I do have another drain on my time at the moment... but until the NDA is lifted, I'm afraid I'll be keeping quiet ;)

1.51 billion reasons to say...

2008-03-11T19:43:00.002Z

...no thanks!

British Gas, the thieving swines that they are, decided to send us an update to our direct-debit today raising the monthly bill by 300%!!!

This (allegedly) was worked out from our usage last year, plus an extra 15% to cover their rise in prices.

Did I mention that we'd already agreed a 30% increase in our bill with them (that they apparently weren't supposed to do)? Even with this already in place... another 15% on top doesn't equal 300%, even I can see that there is a problem in that equation. I think, however, I've found the missing variable:

Current bill + 30% + 15% rise in fuel cost + GREEDY SHAREHOLDERS = 300%

All this after having announced profits of £1.51 BILLION!!!

Ah well... sod them... I'm off to a different supplier. I can only hope that everyone else does the same (unlikely I know... but it'd be nice).

Pirates of the Boring Sea

2008-03-06T22:34:00.004Z

Maybe I'm being a little to harsh with my title... but the sad fact is that it's true!

Having asked my little bro what he would like for his birthday, he asked (in the absence of a sports car and dancing girls) for a copy of PoBS... something that he would rather not play by himself.

Fair enough I thought and off to my friendly online retailer to buy two copies.

Don't get me wrong... it's a nice enough game... I just don't think it really has much to offer when compared to what has gone before and what is soon to be release.

While I can't comment on the newer MMOs (at least until the NDA is lifted :P), the graphics aren't as good as the likes of EQ2, the game play is slow at best and the animation is... well... embarrassing. All the character models are the same height and build, and the customisation limited. Add to that the fact that the ports all look so similar and the looping npc conversations/animations do little except irritate. The ship to ship combat can be vaguely interesting for a short while but mostly just dull zig-zagging attempting to move with the wind.

The PvP aspect of capturing ports sometimes works (when the system is not being exploited) but I think Tabular Rasa does a better job of contested territory.

It is a real shame. The idea was brilliant and the sea combat should have been one of the things that set it apart from the other MMOs. Maybe in six months or so it'll be in a better state. Unfortunately (in my opinion at least) at the moment, it is anything but...

RIP Rob - a true Boogie Knight

2008-03-06T22:18:00.005Z

Sad news fell upon my EQ2 guild at the beginning of last week. One of our officers and a good friend, Rob (AKA Akoji/Morry), passed away leaving a wife and three small children.

As a constant source of cheerful and selfless banter, Rob was one of the main influences on me in the guild and we would often exchange quite long and amusing chat messages about things going on in the guild and life in general.

Cursed with a dodgy Internet connection (and tanking abilities better than he would like to admit), any instance or raid was guaranteed to be interesting if Rob was on board... even if it was just because he could go link-dead at any moment, more often than not running off into the largest group of monsters he could find sending them our way.

He will be sorely missed and our thoughts go out to his friends and family.

Rest in peace Rob

Important Update!

2008-02-26T19:55:00.003Z

...at least, that's what Microsoft tell me!

Today (just a moment ago in fact) I was informed by my laptop that Windows needed to install an important update. I don't tend to check these very carefully when they come through, mainly because I have more interesting ways to spend my time, but also because Microsoft are in the habit of subtly hiding away the real reason for an update. In the past they have released 'critical' updates that turn out to be no more than their 'Genuine Advantage Tool' (AKA anti-piracy tool). Now I've got no real issue with this to be fair, as I own legitimate copies of Windows... but I don't like the idea of Microsoft digging round my PC just because they feel like it... especially when they're not very forthcoming about it.

In the past, the Genuine Advantage Tool was fairly easy to spot. It has a distinctive name and required you to sign an extra EULA to allow Microsoft free reign to your life. Today, it would appear that it is simply know as "Update for Windows Vista (KB940510)" and is there to protect me from dodgy hardware and software merchants palming off illegal copies of Vista.

So why the step backwards? Why, when they got burnt before with XP Service Pack 1, are they once again 'telling' illegal users to turn off the automatic updates... putting themselves and everyone else at risk again?

I'll be honest and say I don't know. It could be that they feel that Windows Vista is now stable enough to not be a threat (unlikely) but more likely that they just haven't shifted enough units yet and they're starting(?!) to look bad. Of course, the easy solution to that would be to give people a reason to upgrade to Vista... not try and bully people in that direction.

The message I'm trying to get across in this post? Simple... try judging things from our perspective Mr Gates! This update is neither important or relevant... spend more time fixing your software please!

eBad?

2008-02-15T14:25:00.006Z

Hmmm... having the 360 seems to have caused a bit of a chain reaction.

Not content with buying more games than I have time to play on my PC, I'm now doing the same for the 360. This hasn't been helped by my frequent visits to eBay in an attempt to pick up a few bargains...

So far this week I have managed to get both Crackdown and Kane and Lynch... and I've not completed Mass Effect yet or really played much of Saint Row!

...or Guitar Hero II and III

...or Skate (although I have already clocked up quite a lot of time :P)

...or Burnout Paradise

...or Air Combat 6

...or any of the other games I've got!

Is that wrong? Does it actually matter? Do I really care? Probably not if I'm honest... I'll just play whatever I'm in the mood for :D

At the moment, that seems to be quite a lot of Crackdown and Skate. Both quite casual games that I can drop in, blast away for a bit and then just save and quit. As today is the last day of the current half-term, my attention span is reasonably short and I'm not really in the mood for gripping stories or involving combat... point, click, boom... suits me just fine.

I have, however, discovered a slight problem with a lot of these games... multi-player is only possible through Xbox Live. So K can't really join in the fun... she either has to sit and watch me play or I have to sit and watch her play. More often than not, one of us just ends up going in the other room to use their PC... maybe it's time to move the TV into the other room... or get another TV and 360 :P

Mass Infected...

2008-02-04T12:50:00.002Z

So... birthday has long since passed, and an enjoyable one it was.

As per usual I got spoilt rotten with a video camera (from K), Burnout Paradise and Skate (from Connell and Anna) and then Mass Effect and Saint Row (from my folks). My birthday was definitely a time for Xbox 360 games (in the same way that Christmas was PC games heaven).

Out of the games from Connell and Anna, I was surprised to find that I've been spending far more time playing Skate than I have Burnout Paradise! Not that I dislike Burnout Paradise, it rocks, just that I really like Skate. I've never really been a fan of skateboarding games in the past, but after playing the demo of Skate I was hooked... it's just so easy to do incredibly cool (and superbly stupid) tricks and stunts.

That said, I think I've spent rather too much (show)time smashing my car at high speed in Burnout Paradise... the slo-mo crashes are just fantastic!

Unfortunately for both those games, however, was the arrival of Mass Effect. While they got a lot of play time before it arrived... Mass Effect is pretty much the only game I'm playing on my 360 at the moment. I could go on for pages and pages about how good the graphics are, the story, the side missions and the characters... but there are hundreds of websites that have already covered all that (and more) and have done it more justice than I would...

As if that wasn't enough, we also had a LANFix session on Saturday (the 2nd). Unlike the last few sessions we've had, this was purely a Counter-Strike Source session. With myself, Die Master, Grizzly, Bones, Viper, Hollywod and Beserker on-site and Toca joining us remotely from his island fortress, an enjoyable time was had by all (and most of it caught on my new camera). The statistics speak for themselves of course *flex* (good to know I've still got 'the skillz').

An (un)fortunate extra from the LAN session was the re-introduction of EVE Online into my life. Having successfully got my MMO habit down to just two again (EQ2 and LotRO), Bones managed to convince me to get back into EVE and see what's changed... if only I didn't have to work for a living eh?!?

Sorry guildies... I'm still here really... just a little distracted ;)

It's my birthday soon.... YAY!

2008-01-22T18:24:00.000Z

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!

The (gaming) Dark Side

2008-01-07T20:01:00.000Z

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 :)

Hard work...

2008-01-05T10:33:00.000Z

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.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T16:06:00.000Z

Oh... and before I forget... Happy New Year everyone!

Lord of the.... 'Service Unavailable'

2008-01-01T15:25:00.000Z

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...

Timelord? That's me...

2007-12-27T00:43:00.000Z

Having a great Christmas? I certainly am!

As well as getting a rather cool watch and a rather special fleece, I got a whole stack of games, DVDs, CDs and books.

Amongst the titles were none other than Unreal Tournament 3, Gears of War (for the PC, obviously), The Witcher, Lord of the Rings Online, Tabula Rasa and Blacksite.

Post on all will no doubt follow but initial plays suggest I'm in for a lot of fun... even Blacksite, which has had some rather poor reviews, seems pretty cool as long as you take it for what it is (a fun, arcade-shooter) and not what it could have been!

For the moment, I'll just have to work out exactly where I'm going to find the time to play all these, read all my books, watch my films and still manage to have some sort of life...

Dr Who has nothing on me!

Mac abusers

2007-12-05T14:30:00.000Z

Before I get stuck into the meat of this post, I'd like to make things clear... I like Macs. In fact, I like all operating systems, because they all have a role to play. I've been an administrator for Macs, Unix (AIX and a whole host of other 'Nix systems), Windows, Real32 (multi-user DOS) and even Novell, to name the main contenders. I do, for the most part, have a preference for Windows... but that's because I like the flexibility Windows provides and the number of games available for it. If Apple Macs were a bit cheaper (because they ARE expensive for what you get) and ran all of my games without having to mess around installing Windows as well... I might consider getting one (although I do find it amusing that, for a system that promotes individuality, all the iMacs are identical). In truth, Id be more likely to go for a Linux-based system as a second choice because I like to have more control over what I can or can't do.

So... my question is this... why did Apple use the most sanctimonious, patronising muppet they could find to give the guided tour of their OS X Leopard? Are Mac users really like that? Do they really identify with this idiot?

"Hi, my name is John..."

If you've not yet seen the guided tour, I suggest heading over to www.Apple.com and taking a look. Despite being a Windows user, I keep an eye on the development of other systems, at the very least to keep me on top of my job. I could be hypocritical and slightly cynical and suggest the bulk of the selling points for the new version of OS X are rip-offs of Windows functions... some of them dating back to Windows 98 SE... but I'm not going to because the polish that Apple have added is difficult to ignore! I particularly liked the 'Time Machine' and the new iChat. Watching the video was, however, a very painful experience just simply because of the vacuous moron that had guiding you.

Maybe it's just me... or maybe it's because he's American (although I know plenty of other Americans that don't make me want to punch them in the face just by telling me their name). I think, in truth, it has more to do with the Mac user base...

That statement alone is likely to get me beaten up on the way home... but let me explain (while I still can). My experiences with Mac users, both at work and at home, has led me to the conclusion that there are two types of Mac user (I suspect the same is true for most systems): There are the people who use Macs, and then there are the Mac Users... and there is a very specific distinction.

The 'people who use Macs' are those that understand why they use a Mac. Whether it's for business or entertainment, they know why they are using a Mac over any other system... whether it's because they feel it is just easier to use, or they prefer the applications that come with it... what it is, they have a reason for using their Mac (and probably aren't particularly bothered that there are other systems because they are happy with what they have got). This is a good thing...

Then there are the 'Mac Users'. They are an entirely different breed... ones that would wear the 'fan boy' title with pride while still denying it. You've all seen them... post on any forum in the world that PCs are better than Macs (or camels are better than Macs... or anything else for that matter) and you'll find that several will start feverishly posting about how you are un-educated and know nothing of their superior operating system. You'll find them everywhere... arguing that Apple products are, quite obviously, superior to anything else in the world... even to the point of arguing about products that haven't even been released (just pick and forum post about the iPhone before it was released...). These are the people that don't actually care what they need... they'll use a Mac anyway, stubbornly ignoring how much harder it is.

So what is the purpose of this patronising video? It can't be for the Fan Boys... they'll already have their copies because they'll have pre-ordered it as soon as it was announced, so you won't be selling it to them. And the smarmy idiot in the video is hardly going to appeal to the users of Macs because they'll be more interested in just finding out about the new features and how they can make their life a bit easier. So the only conclusion can be that the video is to sell their new OS to non-Mac users... but what sort of user are they looking for?

Watch the video, form your own conclusions... I'm off to play Crysis for a while, or one of the many other PC only games I own ;-)

Nostalgia

2007-11-28T20:26:00.000Z

You've gotta love it... prompted by a conversation with a friend earlier today, I took a look at my old blog. The last entry was back in May last year and was talking about the Boogie Knights (my EQ2 guild) and it being a small, friendly bunch... well it's funny how things change. Small no more! We are now the 5th largest guild on the sever and seem to be growing every week. Although the open invite policy has been tweaked a little, we are still a bunch of friendly so-and-so's so my previous offer still stands... should you find yourself wandering the wastes of MMO land and looking for somewhere to settle, pop into EQ2 on the Splitpaw server and send me a /tell. We're still mad... but happily so.

Crysis? Yeah, but only if you're quick.

2007-11-28T20:07:00.000Z

I knew it would happen... despite my love for Hellgate, my fling with it was cut tragically short (though I will return... one day soon) by the arrival of an entirely different beast. That's right, the behemoth that is Crysis arrived at the end of last week, was installed and then completed by Saturday morning.

Eh?

Yup... fraid so. It is very short for such a big title... though I'm not sure it was such a bad thing. Let me throw your mind (carefully) back to Far Cry... a fantastic game, to be sure, ruined by the last few levels and, if what I've read in the gaming press is to be believed, lots of people just didn't bother completing it. So, to be fair to Crytek, they have made the game shorter and by doing so have avoided repeating themselves to much and kept the alien section of the game relatively 'lite'. Of course, for people like me that did play Far Cry through to the end there is a simple solution... start Crysis again on a harder level. Having started (as you do) on 'Normal' level, I am now in the process of playing through on 'Delta' level (I decided to skip the 'Hard' level setting and go straight for the higher level to ensure I got a decent challenge).

At least I would be... if I hadn't finally received my copy of Rise of Kunark (no thanks to Play.com delaying my order despite having ordered it a month ago). The new expansion seems, so far, fantastic. The areas are more open and larger, they have moved the emphasis back to questing for XP (which I love) rather than the constant slaughter of ever spawning monsters. No doubt there will be a future post on the joys (or horrors) of RoK once I've spent more time adventuring and less time 'grinding' my Sage up the levels to be able to supply my guildies with the spells they require... till then.

Enjoy!

Hell YES!

2007-11-16T10:48:00.000Z

So... installed and working (no thanks to M$)... IT ROCKS!

Don't expect to get much in the way of coherent communication out of me for a little while.

Mine you... that said, it is CRYSIS DAY today! But I'm not too worried... my copy won't be arriving for a little while yet.

I am, however, more than a little annoyed about the latest EQ2 expansion, Rise of Kunark. Despite the fact it was released on Tuesday, my boxed copy has still not arrived from Play.com which means that, thanks to Play, I have no chance of getting any new server discoveries and I can't join any groups or raids that are adventuring in the new zones (which is pretty much everyone).

Ah well... I'll just have to 'make do' with yet more time on Hellgate :P

!£%^$&£%(@ Micosoft!

2007-11-15T20:02:00.000Z

So... I final receive my copy of Hellgate (thanks C-man... you're a star as always)... and (in my usual post-work tradition where new games are concerned) I get in, turn on my PC and start the game installing. Rather than sit there and watch the veeeery length (and quite boring) installation process, I create my online account and then wander off to do something else... cup of tea, get changed, check what's on TV etc...

When I come back, my PC is at the login prompt... puzzling. A quick check of the logs and it turns out that a Microsoft update has decided to reboot my PC... IN THE MIDDLE OF THE HELLGATE INSTALLATION!

(if I was in the habit of swearing in my blog, I would insert some REALLY quite offensive words about Microsoft here)

What kind of half-arse, monkey-brained, marshmallow-head forces an update to re-boot your machine in the middle of an installation?!? It's not even hard to detect... is the installer running? Yes... therefore I shouldn't reboot. Duh.

So now I've got to uninstall and re-install the software... both very lengthy processes wasting yet another hour of my evening! Thanks a bunch Billy... may your Mother's armpits be infested with the fleas of a thousand camels!

Ok... chill pill taken... I'm off to watch my PC intently for the next 30 minutes in-case they try to something else equally exasperating.

In other news...

2007-11-02T15:22:00.000Z

I'd just like to say 'Congratulations' to my little sister and her new husband Anthony (aka Troy) who got married last Saturday (27th October). Well done little sis... and good luck Troy :P

Where to begin?!?

2007-11-02T14:29:00.001Z

I installed 'The Orange Box' last night...

...and then proceeded to play Portal almost non-stop for several hours!

Crazy, crazy game and I love it. Now I've just got to resist the lure of TF2 long enough to finish HL2 Episode 2! There is, (un)fortunately yet another imminent distraction.... HELLGATE LONDON WAS RELEASED TODAY!

It hasn't got the best reviews in the PC gaming press but I've played the demo and I love it... it's Diablo, in 3D, in London... what's not to love!

There is, however, yet another problem... Crysis!

Having played the single player in glorious DirectX10 I can safely say it rocks! The DirectX9 version is great... but the DX10 version blows it away! At last, someone is releasing a game that may, just, prove that DirectX10 has some worth... nice one Crytek/EA. Mind you... was there ever any doubt :P

And, as if dealing with that little lot wasn't enough (I'm deliberately ignoring loads of the other AAA titles... they're on my wish list and I'll deal with them after Christmas :P), the new Everquest 2 expansion is released this month... I may have to quit work just to keep up!

So if you don't hear from me for a while... you know why!

Enjoy!

So many games, so little time!

2007-10-04T15:03:00.000+01:00

Other than a couple of good titles, the last couple of months have been a bit quiet on the game front... everyone holding their best till the start of the Christmas run.

So here it is... already a number of big titles like Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and World in Conflict have struck the shelves and started the spending spree.

Trouble is, even if I could afford to buy all the new titles that I'd like to, where the hell am I going to find the time to play them?!?

In the next eight weeks we'll be seeing:
- Half-life 2: Orange Box (HL2, EP1, EP2, TF2 and Portal)
- Clive Barker's Jericho
- Gears of War
- The Witcher
- PES 2008 (though that's not normally my sort of game)
- Hellgate: London
- Unreal Tournament III
- Crysis
- Kane and Lynch: Dead Men
- NFS Pro Street

And that's not even all of them, just a quick selection of the title that caught my eye while reading through the release lists. It's crazy! I'm not complaining... it's good to see so many (potentially) good games coming out... but where do I start?!?

To be honest, this is a decision I've already made... HL2: Orange Box, Hellgate: London and Crysis will be the first three to hit my machine. That, along with the usual EQ2 time, should last me into mid-December (hopefully) so the rest will become wish list fodder for friends and relatives to turn to for Christmas.

It's a good time to be a PC gamer...

PC demo - Good for it's age, fsh, one careless owner

2007-09-17T12:44:00.000+01:00

Rhetorical question time...

If you had something you were trying to sell, wouldn't you try to make it look it's best? If it was a car; wouldn't you give it a wash and a shine, maybe even hoover out all those old parking vouchers and the piles of sand from that one trip to the beach 3 years ago?

So why would anyone release something quite so unpolished as the Stranglehold PC demo?

Here we have a (supposed) AAA title with a well know action director behind it and using a moddified Unreal 3.0 engine with Havok physics... all the ingredients for a winning title. And then they push out a demo on the PC that looks like they couldn't be bothered: It looks and feels like a XBox port(that's the original, not the 360) due to a fixed relatively low resolution; there is no facility to change any options so you're stuck with the keys that they chose (not everyone uses WASD) and can't do anything about improving the graphics or sound. After a little digging around it would seem that by adding some command line options when running the game you can improve the resolution... I may have a go at altering the ini file as well to see what else is possible. All in all though, Midway have hardly done the title any favours by throwing out such a lackluster effort. It may be that they don't really care... after all, there are a number of companies that seem to be abandoning the PC market these days claiming piracy is hurting their revenue.

Personally I think it has less to do with piracy (though I'm not saying that isn't a problem) and more to do with the extra money they can make from the console market. After all, the PC gaming market, although constisting of possibly the largest number of gamers on the planet, struggles to charge more than £25 per title these days while the XBox 360 and PS3 titles all float around the £45+ marker. There are, of course, licensing issues involved in most console games, but there is also the knowledge that unless there is something spectacularly wrong with your title, there is very little support you need to give for the title (of course, if they gave their testing departments a bit more time and finance, you might find that the PC versions would require less support as well... Boiling Point, I'm looking at you!)

There is also the problem of PC gamers being that bit more demanding... higher resolutions, more options etc... and to top it all off, as the longest ever running games system the PC has quite a substational back catalogue of games containing some of the most pivotal points in gaming history. It makes producing a 'Max Payne' clone (which is essentially what Stranglehold is) that much harder as you've got something truely spectacular to be compared to!

That said this is just a demo and the released game may prove to be a stunning example of what can happen when Hollywood and gaming collide. However, rather than making me feel like I need Stranglehold in my collection, I'm left feeling that it still has a lot to prove... not exactly a shining example of good PR. Midway, if you're after a good example of how it can be done you need only look at someone like EA (Hellgate and especially Crysis) or maybe Rockstar (pick any game you like).

To be fair, the demo was still midly fun... not quite Max Payne 2 though ;)

Sooooooooo tired....

2007-08-31T22:35:00.000+01:00

And so ends my first week back at work...

...if anyone is looking for me I'll be tucked up in bed, mobile switched off, phone unplugged and the curtains drawn so I can deny that the world exists. I am going to be officially off-line!

(Though I'll probably feel a bit better in the morning so it won't last :P)

Cute? I don't do cute!

2007-08-19T00:02:00.000+01:00

Damn you PC Gamer... damn you and your talk of Peggle with all it's cute animals, flashing neon and happy music. Thanks to you I've just spent the last few hours giggling like a girl and humming 'Ode to joy'.

For those lucky people that don't read PC Gamer, let me enlighten you. It would seem that the staff there have a dangerous obsession with Peggle and see fit to mention it wherever possible. They've even dropped it into their top 100 games at number 40... that's higher than C&C3, F.E.A.R. and a whole host of AAA titles! Because of this, I thought I'd have a look,not to really play it as such (I'm far too busy shooting things and being generally violent in-game of course), just to find out what they were talking about. Oh how it has polluted my mind... even now I'm wondering whether I can better my high scores or pull of yet another amazing trick shot.

You owe me BIG time PC Gamer...

(now if you'll excuse me... I've got to see a unicorn about a fever)

The Dark Side

2007-08-04T19:33:00.001+01:00

Hope you like the new look and the header image btw...

Decided to move away from the blue for a while and try out a something different... this just seemed to appeal.

Island in the sun

2007-08-04T19:25:00.000+01:00

Woohoo... it's here! That's right folks, it's August and the summer has finally arrived. Not that it makes a blind bit of difference to me at the moment because I'm still working (yup, even at the weekend) despite the fact my holiday 'officially' started yesterday!

If I'm lucky, the work should be finished by Wednesday and I can start my holiday properly. So, for the next couple of days at least, I shall just have to be content with a windowless office, loud music and the air conditioning turned down to 18 degrees (shame we can't keep it that low during term time).

Hope the rest of you are having better luck with your holidays :)

Work, spandex and more work...

2007-07-31T15:33:00.000+01:00

Been a couple of weeks since my last post. Unfortunately work has been keeping me rather busy and with the current lack of new (decent) games, there isn't really much to talk about (unless you really want to hear about how the installation of my new fibre optic lines and managed switches is going? No, didn't think so...).

Strangely (or maybe not so) I've gone back to playing City of Heroes/Villains recently and, once again, having lots of fun zooming round fighting/promoting crime. Currently on 'Issue 10', the heroes and villains are having to fight together against a common foe; the alien invasion force of the Rikti. As well as a new joint zone in which to fight, there are frequent attacks on the surrounding areas... and when they attack it is utter chaos! Last night I found myself in the biggest fight I've seen so far... at least a dozen villains (including several high-level Master Mind villains with 4/5 'pets' each). Quite frankly the aliens didn't stand a chance... and neither did my PC as it slowed to almost slideshow-like frame rates. Pretty impressive as this is my new PC sporting a GeForce 8800 GTS, Core2Duo E6600 and 2Gb of RAM (not exactly cutting edge... but normally more than capable for the job).

Oh, and to ensure he get's his 15 minutes of fame, please take a look at a friend of mine, Connell, learning how to wheelie his motorbike courtesy of Motorcycle News. You'll find in here --> http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=jqqVJmsF6hU <-- Let's just hope that the new owner of the bike doesn't mind :-P

Anyway... work is calling... roll on Friday and three weeks holiday! Woohoo!

A Twitchy And Repulsive Individual

2007-07-10T16:46:00.000+01:00

I really only have myself to blame... I should read the forums of games I intend to buy before I actually go and buy them!

I'm talking, unfortunately, about Test Drive Unlimited. What sounds like a fun idea to start with... race around 1000 miles of Hawaiian roads, unlocking new vehicles and earning the money to buy them. Included in the list of vehicles are a vast number of classic old and new desirable cars and bikes.

Unfortunately, what sounds good on paper isn't much good if you then go and mess up the technology behind it. Playing single player appears to be mostly ok... the game looks great and, despite the slightly twitchy cars, is fun to play (we're not talking Driv3r kind of twitchy after all). Unfortunately, playing online appears to be a different matter entirely.

I seem to be one of the many players that can't even seem to connect to the servers. The forums are awash with tales of which ports people have tried unblocking, what routers they have tried and even what information they have monitored leaving their PC in a vain attempt to find a magic cure. For the rest, online play appears to be a touchy subject... some can get into the online server, but don't see anyone; others see the occasional player but as soon as they try to race them, they all get disconnected... I've not seen many posts by people who have actually connected and raced without issue!

Atari and Eden Games do not appear to be saying much on the subject. A patch has been promised for several months now that will fix a number of issues (no specifics as yet) and will add a couple of new cars to the mix as a sweetener! Seeing just how many unhappy posts there are though, how long they've waited and just how little information has been provided by Atari I can't help thinking that it's going to take more than just a sweetener to make this taste ok... or maybe just having a working game would be enough? Only time will tell...

Mind you, Atari releasing something that is technically impressive but then failing to back it up... can't help feeling a little deja vu (try looking up the late history of Atari hardware: Lynx, Jaguar, TT). Some have suggested that Atari were returning to greatness... I'm not convinced, and I've always been a fan of Atari, but it looks more like it's just a twitchy corpse to me.

Wiijitsu Mobster

2007-06-21T09:51:00.000+01:00

Games are a funny thing... judged on so many different aspects: graphics, gameplay, graphics, story, graphics, sound, graphics (can you see a pattern forming here?!?) etc...

The reason I mention this is that I've been off work for the last couple of days with a touch of flu. I do not 'do' sick well... it drives me insane and I end up clawing the walls looking to get back to work (of all places). I like to take my time off on my terms and being ill just isn't one of them. But what this does mean is that I've spent the last few days looking for a game (or several) in my collection to take my mind off being ill and stuck indoors. I tried a few different games... Oblivion, Battlefield 2, Everquest 2, Half-Life 2 Episode 1, Splinter Cell Double Agent (finally working now I have a new PC) and a number of demos on my PC and The Godfather: Blackhand Edition on the Wii.

The funny thing is, it wasn't the stunning graphics of Oblivion, the immersive lore of EQ2 or the out-and-out battle for survival of BF2 that kept me going... it was the fun gameplay of The Godfather...

I've read SO many articles on the graphics of various games recently; whether it's comparisons between the Xbox 360 and the PS3 or in-depth looks into just what DirectX 10 is capable of or just general commentary on what people feel defines 'good' graphics... and this seems to be the only thing they seem to be focusing on. Where are the articles on why, over 6 months after release, the Wii is still selling out (it's certainly not the graphics) or why games like 'N' are so popular. I'm not saying that graphics aren't important, just that people need to try looking a little harder at what actually makes gaming fun!

Anyway, the reason The Godfather is fun, despite the tired PS2 like graphics? Quite simply the controls on the Wii... the control method which I will now, and in the future, refer to as Wiijitsu (cause I'm sad like that).

There are a lot of different controls but they are SO simple to get the hang of and, more importantly, FUN! Want to grab someone during a fight, clench your fists and pull the Z and B triggers. Throw someone (once you've grabbed them)? Flick your hands to the side, let go and watch them fly. Give someone a quick right jab? Guess what... you just give a quick jab with your right hand. Don't even get me started on the headbutts, smacking people's heads into tables or pushing them off balconies (sorry Mr Thompson, still don't have the urge to do it in real life). It's almost like (shock, horror) someone actually thought about them!

It's not perfect, no game ever is; the car physics are hazardous at best and I've managed to travel through the scenery a few times. Slight niggles at best, but what the game does, it does well... though there is a part of me that wonders if being a true mobster was ever really this much fun!

Remember, someday, and that day may never come, I'll call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this blog post as a gift.

Something shiny this way comes...

2007-06-05T13:51:00.000+01:00

I'm afraid I've been a little lax with my Blogging duties of late. Quite simply it's because I've been spending all my time either working or gaming. Lots of EQ2, thanks to the suprise release of two new zones (one being a new starter city) and a new race as part of the normal monthly update... that's right, no cash changed hands, SOE simply gave the evil players a fae-like race, the Arasai, for free to balance out the addition of the candyfloss-loving goodie Fae with the Echoes of Faydwer expansion pack. Gotta love the free stuff :)

On top of that, I've been getting a steady stream of EA games coming my way thanks to the joy that is 'an inside man' (all through legitimate, EA sanctioned, channels I assure you). Now my only struggle is to find enough time to play all the PC, PS2 and Wii games I've been buying :S

I do, however, have some even better news for this month... at this very moment in time I am expecting the delivery of my brand new PC! With K's PC finally giving up the ghost I finally decided to bite the bullet and get a new PC. No Shuttle system this time (too much of a pain to upgrade if I'm honest), instead I've gone for a Core2Duo E6600, 2Gb RAM and a GeForce 8800 GTS all housed in a rather cool NZXT case. Thankfully it's got huge potential for upgrading at a later date as well so I shouldn't have to think about getting a completely new system for many years to come (famous last words). Hopefully my next post with not be one about Vista and DX10 woes...

Anyway... I've got a dining room to finish stripping wallpaper from before I get to play with my new beast... have fun!

Spoke too soon...

2007-04-30T09:56:00.000+01:00

Gah...

Sometimes I have to wonder why I bother. No sooner have I made a post where the world appears to be seeing games in a clear and honest light than some muppet over at Sony thinks it'd be a good idea to promote God of War II using a dead goat, some warm offal and a handful of topless girls....

Though I shudder at the thought of actually using a link to the Daily Mail, it was the only version I could find at the time to link. Cut through their usual sensationalist rubbish though (including "the lengths to which the industry will go to exploit youngsters" despite it being an 18 rated game) and there are a few facts there!

The Daily "We can make eating cereal shocking" Mail Article

I've got no problem with an adult orientate launch party, but using a real goat?!? Regardless of how it actually died, I'm not sure that was the smartest idea give the number of uneducated idiots currently gunning for the entertainment industry... the last thing you want to do is give them ammunition.

Or maybe that was Sony's plan? Though I doubt it included a recall of an entire print run of their magazine...

Balanced media report shocker! Gamers rejoice...

2007-04-24T13:17:00.000+01:00

I suppose it was bound to happen eventually...

CNN News Story

Although the comment from the 'Manhunt Fan' doesn't exactly paint the best picture ;)

I hate to tar the rest of the world with the same brush (with more that a few coats on the good ol' US of A) but there does appear to be one message that seems quite clear to me... us Brits are just a little more level-headed when it comes to gaming!

It's not that hard to spot... look what happened with the 'Hot Coffee' mod! In the US there was outrage and the game was rated R and pull violently from shelves. In the UK, the BBFC shrugged and pointed out that they had already given it an 18 rating for the violence and swearing... adding adult relations to the bundle didn't really change that.

Mind you, we don't have to deal with the likes of Jack 'Soccer Mom' Thompson over here and guns are a little harder to come by for the average teenager. I still worry though about a country that's quite happy to sell a game full of guns, drugs, gangs and violence in your average shopping mall but then is up in arms at the suggestion that two adults might partake in some consensual lovin' (unless you're paying for it of course as that was in the game regardless of the mod).

Ah well... I'm off to command my armies of GDI. Better hope I never get put in charge of a REAL army... who knows what I might get up to!

Nai

Radioactive mutant harassment

2007-04-04T14:32:00.000+01:00

It's been a long time coming and, having read a few of the reviews, it's not exactly what some people were expecting.

A lot was made of the A-life simulation and the life would carry on regardless of your actions... and I think it does.

The first time you spot a mutant dog dragging off the corpse of a bandit you shot earlier to a more convenient place to eat is quite incredible. Or maybe it's when you return to a Stalker camp you left a few hours ago to find them in a pitched battle with some other local band... corpses of people you'd be chatting to earlier littering the surrounding area. In some places it is so subtle you might miss it... but I think that's part of the attraction; you shouldn't notice. Anything that sticks out or grabs your attention is likely to break the immersion of the game and, in my opinion, they seem to have got it almost right.

There's other little touches as well, like the fact that enemy soldiers will attempt to flank you or use cover; mutant dogs hunt in packs but will run off when they realise that they are the only one left; the list could go on.

The game isn't perfect and the first patch (I suspect there will be many more to come) wasn't exactly popular if you'd made any significant progress, as it incompatible with existing saved games. Personally, I'd already made it through about half of the main story but was happy to start again as I'd been enjoying it so much.

Strangely, there is a lot to dislike about the game... it has realistic(ish) weight limits on your inventory, your weapons and armour degrade with use making them less effective, ammunition can be difficult to come by for some of the better weapons and the radiation can be a REAL pain in the behind sometimes. It can be a real challenge. But the truth of the matter is that these should be selling points and they make the game what it is! We've been spoilt of late with the ability to carry unlimited quantities of guns, ammunition etc... that never go wrong or wear out. I love the fact that in the middle of a gun fight, if I've got a little too ambitious, I might find myself stood in the open with a jammed assault rifle. It's an easy thing to remedy... just reload the weapon... but for those precious few seconds I'm defenseless and THEY know it!

I've already clocked up over 20 hours and have barely had time to even look at Command and Conquer 3 (yet). I love it... and the more I play it, the more it seems to drive those radioactive, psychic, mutant hooks into me!

Tough love... is there any other kind?

The three Rs - Reading, Ranting and Really BAD Technical Support... (very long post)

2007-04-04T10:15:00.000+01:00

I think I'm in the wrong job.

Actually... let me change that... I think I'm in the wrong industry!

Now maybe it's just me, but, as a manager of a technical support department I spend a lot of time fighting the 'bad press' that the job seems to generate. People often misunderstand what we do for a living: We fix problems and make things better... we are not here purely to make your life more difficult and we certainly don't spend our time trying to make the systems you use go wrong.

Trust me when I say that if you upset us, we have far more amusing ways of getting you back than making your computer go 'slow'! Nothing is more dangerous than a system administrator with a grudge (not that I would ever dream of being unprofessional and posting your deepest, darkest secrets on the nearest popular blog/forum... but you know I could!).

So, imagine my dismay when I end up weeks after buying a new All-in-one printer for someone and I'm STILL 'discussing' a software problem with the technical support department of the manufacturer.

(I warn you now... this is a long post)

Knowing how much detail I like people to give me when they encounter a problem, this is the original support call I submitted on the 12th March:

Everything seems to be installed and working except for the fax software. Every time the system tries to access the fax, an error message appears stating "Failed to open or initialize the FaxMan database". Eventually, after this message has appeared a few times, a new window will appear with an application error for lxctfax.exe (attempting to read memory 0x00000000).

The software is being install under a user account with administrative access to the local PC and I've tried it twice now without success.

Please help

Not, I hope, an unreasonable request. Two days later, I receive the following:

Thank you for contacting Lexmark International. Your customer reference
number is CUxxxxxxxxx. Please include this number for future correspondence.

Please follow the steps given below to set up the printer to send and receive faxes:

1. Connect telephone line from the LINE socket on the All-In-One to the telephone wall jack.

2. Connect the answering machine to the EXT socket on the All-In-One.

3. Connect the other telephone line to the answering machine.

4. Connect one end of the telephone line from the answering machine to the telephone.

If you are not using the answering machine then connect the printer directly to the wall outlet.

Please provide the information listed below to facilitate the record of your case.

Date of purchase:

Place of purchase:

If you have bought the printer through DELL, please specify your Service Tag Number and also specify if you have a beige or black printer.

Please do not modify or delete the subject text and use the same email address for all your replies.

If you have any further questions, please reply to this email in the usual way or contact us at our Technical Support Centre on the number above.

Best regards,
Sumanta
Lexmark Technical Support Team

Ok, I'm thinking that this is probably some sort of automated response... not to worry, I'll email them back with the details they've asked for and THEN we'll get some action.

Not entirely sure why you have sent back instructions on how to connect the cables to the printer/fax as this bears no relevance to my support call (and this is already done correctly). The problem is with the ability to use the fax software on the PC...

Date of purchase: 2nd February 2007

Place of purchase: *Some major retailer or other*

Another reply, this time the following day (which is great):

To send a fax with "Fax solutions," please follow the steps given below:

1. Go to "Start," "Programs," (Windows XP: "All Programs") "Lexmark Fax Solutions" and click "Lexmark Fax Solutions."

2. In the Sending Faxes screen, under "I Want To...," click "Send a new fax."

3. When the Enter Recipient Information screen appears, enter the recipient's "Name," "Company" and "Fax Number." Click "Next." The Select "Cover Page" Information screen will appear.

4. Select "No cover" page or Use cover page template as required. Click "Next." The "Attach Additional Documents" screen appears.

5. If you are adding an attachment, you can do it here. Click "Next." The "Sending Options" screen appears.

6. Make your selections as required from these sending time and fax type options.

Please do not modify or delete the subject text and use the same email address for all your replies.

If you have any further questions, please reply to this email in the usual way or contact us at our Technical Support Centre on the number above.

Best regards,
Maria
Lexmark Technical Support Team

Ah... erm... ok... not sure that's really going to help if I can't actually run the fax software in the first place. Perhaps they misunderstood...

Thanks Maria... but I'm afraid you still seem to be missing my actual problem. The fax software will not load at all.

*Quoted original call*

Please understand that I do not need guidance on the usage of the software, nor do I need instruction on how to connect the cables... I need technical support for the fax software which will not run.

My original support call was very clear about what the problem is

You might be able to tell, but I'm starting to get a little frustrated that I've got a user unable to fax from her PC (which she needs to do) and to make it worse, she's on a remote site with no local support. Anyway, yet another reply... this time on the same day (I'm obviously becoming a priority call).

Dear costumer,

First of all, I would like to apologize for the difficulties you have encountered in trying to get this problem solved and for any inadequate information we may have provided you with adding further delay in the resolution of the issue.

As far as your request is concerned, please refer to the link below and read carefully the instructions it provides before you start doing them.

http://support.lexmark.com/cgi-perl/knowledgebase.cgi?ccs=227:1:0:null:0:0&docid=ENUS25296

Please keep me informed if you have any questions or remarks.

Best regards,
IMANE
Lexmark Technical Support.

Wow... a personalised reply, with an apology (ignoring the fact that this is the first reply I’ve had that didn’t use my name and that I’m now a ‘costumer’). That's the sort of support I like to see. What could possibly spoil this... oh... maybe if the link was to a webpage explaining how to setup the fax software (that won't actually run).

It took me a little while to reply (unfortunately I had other people/problems to deal with and I wanted to make sure I'd actually tried following their instructions just in case I had actually missed something) but it was short and bitter.

Unfortunately, as per my original support request, the fax software will
not run (please see the original ticket for details of the errors).

Some assistance with the actual problem would be appreciated!

This time the reply takes five days... evidently I've moved down the priority list.

To install the Fax Solution Software, please follow the setup instructions given below:

1. Place the Lexmark installation CD in the CD-ROM drive. Cancel installation screen.

2. Double-click on "My Computer."

3. Right click on the Lexmark CD icon.

4. Left click on "Explore."

5. Double-click on the "Fax" folder and then double click on the "Setup" folder.

6. Select the appropriate language. The "InstallShield" Wizard appears.

7. Click "Next."

8. Click "Yes" to accept the license agreement and then click "Next." A Setup Status screen appears, displaying a progress bar. When 100% has been reached, click "Finish" to complete the installation.

Please do not modify or delete the subject text and use the same email address for all your replies.

If you have any further questions, please reply to this email in the usual way or contact us at our Technical Support Centre on the number above.

Best regards,
Maria
Lexmark Technical Support Team

...head ...beating ... wall ...pain

*cry*

But the fax software is already installed, it just won't run! What am I doing wrong? Who did I upset? Pleeeeeeease help me...

I have passed through frustration and anger and I'm now moving into desperation, despair and denial... at least I'm back dealing with Maria (if that's really her name).

Maria,

Thank you for the information but I already know how to install the software... the problem is that the software will not run once it has been installed!

We have also tried uninstalling and reinstalling the software with no change.

PLEASE read the initial support request... all of the details are there.

And that is currently where it stands. All I can do is wait till either they read my reply, or I find myself able to go out, visit the remote site again and ring Lexmark technical support in the vain hope of support, guidance and counselling!

Watch this space...

Read it and Wii-p...

2007-03-28T10:35:00.001+01:00

Sorry, very bad pun but fitting of the following funny article...

The Wii is a Plastic Box of Death

And the winner is?

2007-03-15T16:26:00.000Z

Why do we seem to need to compare systems in such a hostile way?

It always seems to be the same... Atari Vs Commodore, Sega Vs Nintendo, Microsoft Vs Just about everything on the planet.

It's actually the last one that I find a particular pain at the moment, particularly in relation to Windows Vs Mac.

I'm certainly not a fan of Bill and his chums but neither am I likely to deny the fact that Windows serves a purpose... as does Mac OS... as does Linux... as does every other operating system. Every Mac site I've seen insists on making a big show about how Macs are SO much better than PCs... how the hardware is 'better', the software 'more stable' etc... (you've all seen them so I won't list them all). And the number of students that come into my office suggesting that Apple is the way to go is just ridiculous.

Ask them what they like about Macs though and the answer is almost always the same... they look good.

Yup... ok... for the most part I'll give you that (though the minimalist white plastic look is getting a bit old). What else? Anything?

Don't get me wrong, I like Macs, and they have more going for them than just their looks. But... they're not better. Neither are they worse... just different.

It's about choosing the right 'tool' for the job.

Macs are a safe bet if you stick to the specific tasks/software available for them (which is quite a vast selection) but they are more expensive (no matter what the Mac users try to justify) and they no longer have the exclusive edge that they used to in terms of software for desktop publishing, music and graphics work. Just recently I had a Mac setup on my desk next to my main PC... £1000 of Mac with a very nice 17" widescreen TFT... unfortunately my £500 PC (including the 19" widescreen TFT) is the more useful by far for what I do.

The trick to PCs is their flexibility. We run well in excess of 170 different applications and Windows happily takes them on. If a piece of hardware goes wrong? We just whip it out and throw something else in... even if it is completely different from what it had before. Sure, this has the potential to give you some instability if you don't take the time to uninstall the previous drivers... but it'll still work! They may not look as 'nice' as a Mac (though they are rarely as ugly these days as the beige blocks that Mac users like to use as examples of a typical PC) and, due to their popularity, they are always going to suffer from attack from the virus writers (if you're looking to cause anarchy, which are you going to choose... the widespread popular to be unpopular Microsoft or the 'I'm your friend' little-guy Apple?).

As an ex-Unix, Novell and Real/32 (amongst others) administrator I've worked with a lot of different set ups. And I've used all of them in different scenarios (the recording for my band was done on a Mac using Pro Tools). I'd never dream of using anything other than Unix for a ultra-secure and stable commercial engineering system; and if I was building a media centre designed to go in the lounge, I'd be a little foolish to over look using something like a Mac mini... but for my day to day tasks? No question about it... PC all the way, I need the flexibility (and the games)!

My Point? Be happy and secure with what you've got. If you feel the need to justify what you've got or who you are by putting others down then you've probably got some issues you need to work on (and not many friends).

Guarding Vans... again!

2007-03-02T15:58:00.000Z

It's no good... I gave in.

And now SOE have decided to raise the cost of Station Access, it's a good idea (cause I'd be paying for it anyway).

I bought Vanguard...

I know, I know... anyone who played on beta (or heard me complain about it) will be saying "Why?!?" but the truth of the matter is... it's actually quite good.

Well... it's better than it was on beta anyway. There are still a lot of rough edges and bugs, but you can see the potential, understand why they have created it. And when it's working as it should... it will be great!

So far I have yet to see a player's house or boat... but I'm sure it won't be too long (I know there are some out there from the Vanguard forums). I've already got my first horse at level 10 and it makes a fantastic difference because the world is HUGE. This obviously has it's pros and cons. It's great that there is so much space and so many places to go... but it's a pain that it can take (what seems like) forever to get there. Despite original claims that there would be no instant travel facility, they have caved-in to public opinion and now added this to several main areas (so I'm told).

The combat is pretty standard for this sort of MMO with the addition of special attacks and counter-attacks (which flash up when they are available). This makes it immediately accessible to anyone who's played an MMO before but also adds a little extra. And it's quite impressive to watch some of the more martial-arts based combat; my main character is a bladed-staff wielding Dark-Elf Disciple who seems to spend a lot of time spinning the staff around his head in a threatening manner that would give even the most hardened Health and Safety Inspector a heart-attack.

The crafting, on the other hand, is quite unusual in that it is turn-based and requires a little planning and thought to be able to successful product of any real quality. Each item, whether it's refining some raw material or creating a final product, go through four main phases. Each phase requires you to take several steps to increase the quality and/or progress of the crafting. Each of these steps will cost action points of which you only get a certain number (2000 to be precise) for each crafting session. Depending on the difficulty of the item you are crafting you'll find that you'll get a few 'complications' along the way that can change the effectiveness, quality or progress of your crafting... it can get quite complex and, for the first time crafter, seem quite daunting. Personally I've grown to like it... it's not quite as 'laid back' as the EQ2 twitch-crafting and far more involving that the casual instant-crafting of something like WoW.

All in all, it's a strange beast. Most of the people I'm spoken to have got some thing to complain about but, at the same time, something they REALLY like about it... and they're enjoying it.

Personally I like the fact that it's like EQ1... I don't necessarily like having everything handed to me on a plate like some of the 'current generation' MMOs. I was a little disappointed to see some really quite unforgiving reviews being given. PC Zone in particular gave it just 45 and from what they had written, it sounded like they'd only been playing the beta. On top of that, the general comments gave away the fact that they are quite obviously big fans of WoW and I couldn't help feeling that it was clouding their judgement unfairly (read it for yourself and by all means tell me I'm wrong). Perhaps some people have forgotten that these games are supposed to be RPGs... that's Role Playing Games. Not PvP perfect 'build' raid-a-thons. WoW is popular... and that's very different from being the best. I've got a WoW account (check out my character from the link on the right of my page) but because I wasn't really interested in the race to the end game, it proved quite boring. The graphics are cartoon-like and blocky, the mechanics all a bit 'Fisher Price' and the community is spoilt by childish 'duel me cause I'm 10+ levels higher than you' idiots (a bit like most non-clan Counter-Strike Source servers). But then I've said this all before...

There is a need for a decent MMORPG at the moment... something that really gets people excited. This isn't it... but it fills a hole.

We'll see what comes of the other new contenders this year... we may even see a return for one of the original heroes of MMORPGs, Ultima Online, as it hits it's 10th anniversary and a promise of something special.

At the end of the day, there's a lot going on and, in my opinion, it can only lead to bigger and better things...

Today's Hero - Dave "Shiny" Perry

2007-03-02T15:22:00.000Z

All I can say is "Thank you Dave" for being the 'official' voice of reason when yet another pointless 'study' into why people do bad things pointed the finger at gaming!

This time it was into why drivers aged 16 to 24 drive fast (you can read the story here -> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/6410061.stm )

It couldn't possibly be anything to do with their inexperience with driving and thinking they own the road; or that their favorite music just came on the stereo; or that they are just showing off... or just simply because they can.

Perhaps if they were taught the harsh realities of the road, they might think twice. The school I work in recently sent pupils along to a scheme run by the local emergency services where they simulated (in a very realistic fashion) the carnage caused by a road accident. The effect was impressive and the students that were there will remember it for some time... but attendance wasn't compulsory!

Getting your own car and license gives you freedom, social acceptability and power. You can go anywhere; do anything; and if you don't truly understand the consequences of your actions... you'll keep going until you do (speaking from my own experiences).

It's not everyone that does it and, if it was me conducting the survey, I'd be looking into why some of them don't drive fast or dangerously! If you can work that out, it wouldn't matter what outside influences you thought were affecting drivers.

For the record, unofficially of course, I probably drove too fast and dangerously for my first few years of driving... and until recently, I was never really a fan of driving games.

Dave Perry, I salute you.

You Tools!

2007-02-23T13:03:00.000Z

Dear Yahoo, Google, MSN et al

I DON'T WANT ANY INTERNET TOOLBARS (thank you very much)!

Please, please, please stop trying to include them in every piece of software I attempt to install (especially as the 'default' option).

If I want one, I'll ask.

Thanks

PS - It also makes part of my job, supporting non-technical sorts, more difficult because they don't understand where it's come from or why they want/need it...

The light at the end of the dark corridor?

2007-02-14T10:10:00.000Z

...and that would be a very dark corridor infested with pipe-wielding zombie-like nutters looking to bludgeon the life out of me, just because they can (personally I blame the parents).

It's all ok... everyone can relax... I've found my gaming mojo again (right where I left it) and I have 'Condemned: Criminal Origins' to thank for that!

It's an almost straight-forward story: FBI investigator framed for the murder of two policemen, on the run trying to clear his name by tracking down the serial killer who was really responsible. Throw in a strange, supposedly helpful, figure who has the habit of turning up in the most unlikely places, a trusted lab technician that doesn't mind getting her hands dirty and a whole host of dark places in which everything has just one thing on their mind (or what's left of it)... to beat you to death with whatever they can grab, and you've got quite a gripping and very tense game.

I can't really say too much about the story without spoiling some of the twists in the plot, but it's a solid crime/thriller story with believable (within the context of the game) twists; though you're likely to see most of them coming if you've ever played or watched something similar.

The combat is scarily good... with the emphasis quite clearly on melee combat using whatever is to hand: bits of metal piping, wood, conduit, locker doors, fire axes etc... everything feels like it has some weight to it. Pick up a sledge hammer and you know it's going to take a bit of work to hit anything with it... but when you do, you know it's going to hurt (big time). With the tougher 1-on-1 fights it can get a little repetitive (block, hit, step back, rinse and repeat) though thankfully there weren't many of these. Firearms are few and far between, especially at the start of the game, with no ammo boxes (anywhere in the game) and the ability to only carry one weapon at a time, I often found myself desperately beating something to the ground with the butt of whatever gun I was using after it ran out of bullets. This makes you really careful about when you shoot because every shot counts. It makes for a fantastic dynamic in the game, especially when the enemies start to come think and fast. One of the nice (and essential) touches to the lack of ammo is the need/ability to check how many bullets are left in the gun rather than having an ammo counter showing on the screen... just one more step into the immersion that games should, in my opinion, provide.

I've heard some complaints that the game is a little short. Personally I think it's just the right length... any more and you risk it running out of new ways to scare the pants off you and become repetitive. I'd much rather have a shorter, high quality game with a half-decent story than 100 levels of 'Generic FPS IX'. My one big hope is that they decide to make a sequel... there were a few un-answered questions I'd like to look into.

The only part of the game I felt could have done with a little more attention was the forensic investigation. The range of tools is great but you can't use them all the time, only when you are prompted. I can understand why this is necessary because if it didn't, you could end up wandering round some of the larger levels for hours (and hours) looking for clues and it would have made maintaining the tense atmosphere difficult... but I think you could have kept the visual prompts for the key areas and still allowed the use of the tools elsewhere, maybe with non-essential evidence to collect or some side-missions involving other (linked or not) crimes. I think it would have made it feel more like you were playing a 'proper' investigator.

One final comment... while it's obvious that this was designed for consoles (one button for all the forensic tools?), it seems that Monolith have taken the time to make sure they've catered for the PC users with every setting you could need and support for a huge range of configurations. Take note Ubisoft, this is how it should be done!

Anyone got a map?

2007-01-29T17:07:00.000Z

Um... how can I put this... I'm lost!

Yup, it's true, my gaming mojo is current dazed and confused (or is that confused and dazed).

Loads of games at my disposal and I just can't find one that I REALLY want to play.

That doesn't mean that I'm not playing anything of course... just that I'm trying to play EVERYTHING (and it gets a bit confusing, especially when I've got two games going at the same time).

Thinking about it, I started when I started playing the Vanguard beta. They promised so much but it all felt so dated and, ultimately, pointless. It's drained the hope from me... the promise of the future of gaming... and, at the moment, there just doesn't seem to be anything to restore that. Don't get me wrong, there are loads of titles claiming the 'future of gaming' crown. Even Duke Nukem (please don't joke about it) Forever has raised his weary, wise-cracking, head to stir-up yet more rumours (a new, tiny, in-game screenshot of Duke was used in a recent job advert) but this doesn't escape the fact that nothing is actually HERE, right now.

Ubisoft have gone right up their own backsides with Rainbow Six Vegas and Splinter Cell Double Agent with the whole 'let's not bother supporting the largest gaming community on the planet' thing, attempting to directly port the XBox 360 versions across (not as badly as some, admittedly, but still pretty crap). EA are flexing their financial might with the in-game advertising in BF2142. Valve are attempting to upset as many people as possible by trying to do the same with CS1.6. Even Microsoft, despite their (alleged) big push on 'Games for Windows' seem to have forgotten that it might help if you stop trying to get exclusives for the XBox 360 or convincing the software houses that it is a good idea to make your game DirectX 10 only (just to sell your console/new OS). Nobody seems to be trying to do the one thing guaranteed to bring the cash rolling in... release a decent game!!!!

Oh, don't get me wrong, there are plenty of AAA titles 'on their way' with the likes of Spore, Bioshock, Quake Wars, S.T.A.L.K.E.R, Assassin's Creed and the numerous sequels (UT2007 and Crysis spring immediately to mind) but with the current trend of constant delays (both genuine, development delays, and pointless marketing ones) we might not see these titles for months!

As things currently stand, there is nothing to look forward to until the end of March, at which point there will be a flood of releases attempting to drain your bank account of cash (just check out this page - Gameplay). April, on the other hand, has absolutely nothing, because the 'money men' don't like April. Fools.

One, rather odd thing, that strikes me about the Vista release this month (changing the subject ever-so-slightly) is that there is no actual reason for buying it. Only nVidia have released a DirectX 10 based graphics card (if you've got £300+ just lying around) and none of the Vista-only games are anywhere near release. Hardly the sort of support you'd expect for the 'next gen' operating system. ATi don't even look like they will be ready to release their DX10 range of cards till CeBIT (in March, no less) at the earliest! Just a thought...

Anyway, I'm off to find a pack of cards... who needs electronic gaming huh?

Would you like fries with that?

2007-01-23T18:23:00.000Z

Ok... so resisting my urge to buy more Wii games turned out to be a little fruitless as Gameplay decided (in their infinite wisdom) to ignore my requests to cancel the Wii pre-order I originally had in place and sent me out a second Wii and a copy of Zelda!

Can't really complain as I had a friend that had been looking to get a Wii but I held on to the (rather fantastic) Zelda for myself. Probably THE best game currently available for the Wii (though Wii sports is a definate contender... if only because it's fun and free!!!).

Other than the Wii news, it's been a busy time for band emails...

It's been probably two years since my band, Stolen Goods, have had any real dialogue going. There aren't any problems (that I'm aware of), we've all just gone in our seperate directions and taken an impromtu break from it all. Now, it seems, we're all interested in getting back together again!

I think, if I'm honest, we all lost interest in playing as a band when it started to get a bit too serious... too much like hard work. We all work for a living and have lives outside of the band (shocking I know) so, for me at least, the band was a good way to relax and enjoy myself playing good music with a few close friends. Don't get me wrong, I love playing live gigs, but I play for fun... not profit. If I can walk (stumble?) away from a gig with a smile on my face, beer in my belly and enough loose change for the ferry home then it was a good night!

Other than Mike, the lead guitarist, we've all tried our hand in other bands without much success so it'll be interesting to get us all back together again. At the moment, this looks like it's most likely to happen when Mike is playing with his other band Dropzone at the Admiral Drake in Portsmouth on the 9th of February. I've not heard them play before so it could be a laugh (or very painful...).

No doubt I'll give you all an update on that shortly after...

As if by magic...

2007-01-15T13:08:00.000Z

...the shop keeper appeared. And what do you imagine he might be carrying? Surely that's not a brand new Nintendo Wii?!?

Why yes, it is... and now it's MINE! Bwahahahahahaha

Sorry about that. It is, however, all true. I am now the very proud owner of a Nintendo Wii without any sort of pre-ordering nonsense. I feel a bit sorry for the people that are still waiting for their pre-orders to be filled... it seems a bit stupid that while some companies are waiting on stock to complete orders placed before the launch, I was able to walk into my local Game store this weekend and pick one off the shelf (not strictly true, I did phone them first to check they'd got their delivery... but you get the idea).

I've managed to resist the urge to buy all the games currently available and restricted myself to Wii Play (with the additional remote) and Red Steel. Mind you, if I hadn't resisted, what would all my friends and family have to buy me for my birthday at the end of the month ;-)

Of course, it wasn't all happiness and light this weekend... ignoring the Wii-ache in my right shoulder from playing Wii sports waaaaay too much, I was the unfortunately victim of a dead router on Saturday night. Normally not a major headache but it would happen while I was trying to get online to take part in an upcoming MMO beta stress test. Fortuantely they extended the test to cover Sunday as well so a quick trip to the nearest shop got me back online in time to grab my place. Until the NDA is lifted there isn't much I can say... except that I'd underestimated this particular entry in the new MMO race, something I won't be doing again!

The ex-router is a bit of a pain. It's a fairly new NetGear MIMO RangeMax but it's been playing up for a couple of weeks now. First the wireless would only intemittenly let traffic through and then it started blocking internet traffic out completely. Tried updating the firmware as it was still running the orginal stuff... and at that point, despite claiming a successful update, the unit stop working completely!

Ah well... here's to modern technology eh!

Nai

New year... new house... new addition!

2007-01-11T13:59:00.001Z

Happy New Year!

Taken me a few days to get myself back in gear after a great New Year so this is a slightly belated New Year message I'm afraid. Another year is here and we're already almost half-way through January (Scary).

Fortunately I'm not one for making New Year resolutions so I won't bore you with tales of things I plan to do this year (and follow it up a few weeks later on how I've already broken them :-P). That said, I'm pleased to say that the single resolution I made last year to have bought a new house and moved in by the end of the year, I did manage to stick to... just. Perhaps there is something to be said for making one resolution... I shall have to give it some thought.

Anyway, please excuse the pointless rambling, there was actually a reason for making this post... a new addition to the new house. No... not THAT sort of addition (sorry Mum, it'll be some time before you see any gran-children) but a new pussy cat. Strickly speaking, as he is only 6 months old, a kitten; though you wouldn't know it to look at him because he is HUGE. He joined us yesterday from the nice people at Cats Protection and has already started to settle nicely into his new home. Unfortunately his arrival was given a less than friendly welcome by my existing cat, Cleo. Obviously not happy at having to now share everything she was being extremely stroppy yesterday and it may take some time before they get along.

Unfortunately I don't have any photos to upload yet, but I'll post some as soon as I can.

Oh... and his name? Morpheus (how's that for a cool name for a cat).

Enjoy!

Last rant of 2006... probably

2006-12-29T13:51:00.000Z

How was your Christmas? Mine was great... got to see all my family and spend some quality time with them, eat lots of great food and all in all had a very pleasant time.

As tends to happen at Christmas, I got lots of new stuff to play with (lucky lad that I am). Two of the presents in particular were a welcome surprise: Splinter Cell Double Agent and Battlefield 2142.

Splinter Cell in particular was one I was looking forward to playing. I've always been a fan of the series but this one looked like they'd made some cool additions, like the whole 'trust system' where your choices during the missions would really make a difference. Unfortunately I have yet to find out... thanks to the 'brains' at Ubisoft who decided that releasing a triple-A title in a less than fit state was a good idea!

To avoid replicating the many, many (many) pages of people complaining on the Ubisoft forums, I'll try and give a brief summary:

Firstly, the game only 'officially' supports about eight of the most up-to-date, cutting edge graphics cards. That said, as most gamers know, you don't always need to have an officially supported card. Unfortunately, they also decided to screw the majority of ATI graphics card owners but deciding that the game requires shader model 3. Evidently they've not been doing their research... you only need to check out the Valve survey to see that most people do not have such up-to-date hardware. This means that my lovely desktop PC with it's fairly decent Athlon64 3500 and 2Gb of HyperX RAM can't run the game AT ALL because it's using a ATI Radeon x800GTO2 (flashed to an x850 with all the pipelines). A complete joke if you ask me... and for the sake of including SM2 (which is, ultimately, just another set of librarys) into the TEN GIG installation is just taking the piss.

These technical differences aside, I discovered that there was another issue... that a large percentage of people couldn't even get the game to run even WITH the correct, supported, hardware. An undefined **MUST CHECK** error upon launching the title seemed to be stopping a lot of people from getting into the game and only by following a messy workaround were some of the able to get in. Ubisoft's response? Not a lot for the first month or two of release... class job guys and girls... class job.

All being said, I have been able to get Double Agent running on my laptop (which has a nVidia GeForce Go 7600) though the game only just about runs despite a gig of RAM and a decent dual-core processor. Not helped by the fact that every time you change the settings from 'Next Gen Graphics' down to 'Standard Graphics' and apply/save, the game decides differently and changes it back again!!! Only by selecting the custom option and switching everything off are you able to turn the graphics settings off! I'm guessing that all their Beta testing budget must have gone on paying the zoo keepers that looked after the monkeys who ported this directly from the Xbox 360.

I've got one small observation for you Ubisoft... take a look at the number of console owners, not just the 360, ALL of them... now take a look at the number of PC owners. Now have a good hard think (use a calculator if you need to) about who's likely to cost you more money if you upset them... I'll even give you a hint: it's not the console owners!

Battlefield 2142 on the other hand, installed (and plays) like a dream. My only complaint would be the inclusion of a little slip of paper inside the box that tells you that they will be including in-game advertising and collecting information on you. If you don't like it, don't install the game! Nothing like options eh EA? They're not alone either; Valve have just announced that they will be putting in-game advertising into Counter-Strike. The only difference here is that Valve don't pay for any of the servers or bandwidth and don't offer any additional services like the Battlefield 2/2142 ranking. Seems a bit much that they should be making money off people that pay for their servers and bandwidth themselves... at least we all now know why they threatened admins with legal action if they put their own adverts in-game.

Not entirely sure how I feel about in-game advertising... after seeing what Ubisoft did with chewing gum in Chaos Theory I'm inclined to stay well away. And I'm not sure I want to see adverts for Tesco car insurance while trying to take out a huge assault mech. If they can keep in subtle and it doesn't detract from the game then I don't really care either way but I very much doubt that they are capable of that. Look at the product placement we already get in films, James Bond being a prime example... lengthy shots focused on the brand of their phone/laptop/car etc... Maybe we'll get branded weapons and vehicles? A Ford Assault Buggy anyone? Or maybe a Sony Plasma Rifle (in the 40 watt range)? Time will tell...

Anyway... life is good and 2007 is fast approaching. Have fun and enjoy the festivities!

Naiboss

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

2006-12-25T10:01:00.000Z

'Nuff said

Games are for life... not just for Christmas!

2006-12-08T16:19:00.001Z

Give a thought for those less fortunately than yourself over the Christmas holidays and donate some gaming goodness via the Child's Play charity. Click on the logo for more details.

Because, quite frankly, we rock and we need to let people know!

Life without the net...

2006-12-08T15:22:00.001Z

It quiet.... too quiet... most likely because I'm currently off-line at home at the moment!

Scary huh?!? Imagine (if you will) a world without emails, websites, blogs, MMOs etc... It's a very strange place indeed. If not for the delights of Guitar Hero II (which rocks btw) I may have gone crazy!

It's ok... it's only because we've moved into the new house and I'm between ISPs at the moment. I'm willing to make the sacrifice however for heating and hot water that work, double-glazing and (much) more room! It's g-r-e-a-t!

Mind you, I'm not going to be net-less for much longer! Thanks to the nice people at Rural Internet I have a nice shiny new 8Mb connection on it way! Yay!

Unfortunately I can't mention ISPs without a quick rant about ADSL4Less (AKA HotChilli Internet) so if you're not interested in reading it... stop reading now (I won't be offended)... Still here? Good to see :)

Yet again ADSL4Less have proved that I've made the right decision switching to a different provider; After numerous attempts to get a MAC code out of them to migrate my line rather than disconnecting, I gave up and ordered a 'cease' on the account (as this requires no communication with their 'help' line). Unfortunately this requires a seven day 'block' on my line stopping me from moving straight to another ISP... which I have no problem with apart from it taking me two days into the next month for which they then charged me a full month's fees!!! This is also despite the fact that I have, on several occasions, made it quite clear that I have not authorised they to automatically take payments (but their 'system' does not allow you to remove card or account details from their database!).

On top of this I also need to mention their (laughable) bandwidth monitor. As I was running on a capped connection, I often found myself having to top up my limit during the month (not really an issue)... what I didn't realise is that their bandwidth monitor (which the cap relies on) seems to have a mind of it's own. Not only does it measure how much you've downloaded, but it also seems to add your uploaded data usage and a random extra percentage to the top. At first I though I'd just downloaded more than I'd realised (easy to do) so I ran a few tests. In October I decided to blow my bandwidth cap (of 2Gb) in style by downloading 20Gb of torrents... I kept track of exactly how much data I had both downloaded and uploaded (using a variety of tools) over that month and at the end found that I downloaded (as expected) just over 20Gb but also uploaded just over 20Gb... and the ADSL4Less bandwidth monitor? 50Gb!!!! So, if you're thinking of getting a capped line with them... don't.

If, however, you are drawn to them by the cheap monthly fees and no contract deals... just be aware that you get what you pay for.

/rant over

Have fun!

Naiboss

Gotta love personality tests...

2006-11-13T16:13:00.001Z

A quick browse through some random online tests led me too the 'RPG Class Test'... behold the result:

Assassin
51% Combativeness, 80% Sneakiness, 44% Intellect, 36% Spirituality

Violent and deceptive: You are an Assassin.
Score! You have a prestige class. A prestige class can only be taken after you've fulfilled certain requirements. This may mean that you're an exceptionally talented person, but it probably doesn't.
Skulking through the shadows... hunting their prey without remorse... Assassins are some of the most dangerous killers in D&D, and evil b'stards to boot.
You're not necessarily evil, but you are both violent and sneaky. Chances are you aren't very honorable. Though who knows? You might have some noble goals, even if your methods tend to be... unorthodox. You might just be a Slayer of Domiel or something.

'Nuff said

Life is a game... ?

2006-11-10T00:48:00.001Z

Ever wonder if it is all just some sort of twisted game?

Just had a rather curious day... I got a call saying my Dad had just been taken into hospital with a suspected (minor) heart attack!

Fortunately, I'm feeling pretty positive. I've spoken to Mum and although they are going to keep Dad in for a week and subject him to some pretty horrible tests (which I refuse to describe on the basis of maintaining public decency), it seems that he's ok and that this was probably just a 'warning shot'.

I really ought to get some sleep though... I suspect I've got a busy weekend ahead!

I leave you with this, rather splendid OK Go video... nothing more than an excuse to blow stuff up (like you need an excuse). I don't work for them, honest, I just like their music and especially their videos (did I mention that they've just released a DVD... :P).

OK Go - Invincible

Remember: There are some things in this world that can't be replaced.

Play safe. Enjoy!

Talking of nutters...

2006-11-06T19:26:00.001Z

Just bought OK Go's latest album, Oh No. Fantastic album... even more so if you've seen the videos. Thankfully the band have all their videos on the website (in a fairly low resolution admittedly).

The two best ones just have to be "Here it goes again" (the treadmill video) and "A million ways" (the backyard dance) and cause I'm nice to you, here they are:

OK Go - "Here It Goes Again"

OK Go - "A Million Ways"

Or head over to www.OKGo.net for all the rest

Enjoy!

Who needs qualifications?!?

2006-11-06T19:16:00.000Z

I love people who think just a little bit differently. How's this for a job application?

It's been around for a little while now but is definately worth watching!

'Nuff said...

Gah!!! (it's ok... it's only a quick rant... well, maybe not that quick)

2006-11-01T18:33:00.003Z

Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?

Why do people do it?

Why do people feel the need to publish such (quite obviously) biased 'Product X' Vs 'Product Y' reviews?

In this particular instance I referring to a pointless 'IE7 Vs Firefox 2' review by none other than the Editor, Senior Editor and Associate Editor of CNet which can be found here

If you read through this pointless use of webspace you'll find comments by three quite obviously existing users/lovers of Firefox on which they think is better. What gets me is that regardless of the negative comments they give to Firefox 2, they always award it a higher score than IE7... even when they've commented on how well IE7 does something?!? One of them is even so desperate to mark IE7 down that he complains about the extra space the 'New Tab' tab takes up (if you're using IE7 you'll understand). Another even claims to have noticed that Firefox 2 opens new tabs a millisecond quicker...

Quite frankly I don't care which of them is better than the other because I use both... but if you're going to run a website like CNet and claim to be making a comparison, make a fair and balanced one!

Bah... don't even get me started on the whole 'Windows Vs Mac Vs Linux' party...

Slightly Off-White Messiah?

2006-11-01T17:56:00.001Z

It's here! It's here! Woohoo! Dark Messiah of Might and Magic is finally here! Oh...

Um...

This is it?

Ah...

< embaressed silence >

Anyway... what's on TV?

Actually... I'm being unfair. While some may have reacted in this manner, I love it. I know it's not had the smoothest of releases (check out the number of people on the Ubisoft forums that can't run it at all despite being able to run the demo) and that some people don't think it has lived up to all that it claimed to be but, all that aside, I STILL think it's great!

It was never designed (as far as I can tell) to be in direct competition with the likes of Oblivion for first-person roleplaying. It is, in it's most basic form, Half-Life 2 with swords, magic and demonic creatures. Is that such a bad thing?

To be fair, even that comparison sells the game short. The skill point system allows you to customise your character (something you obviously can't do in HL2) and it let's you tweak your abilities and attributes to suit your play style. I read one review that claimed that this was a bit pointless and there was no point putting points into anything except the melee combat and strength... evidently that person had not really tried playing the game as anything other than a fighter. They even claimed that the stealth options were the most pointless and had no effect! Oh how I hate ill-informed reviews...

Speaking as someone who loves to play the sneaky, back-stabbing, sniping sort I couldn't disagree more with the review. With a little careful selection and occasionally saving up some of my points (instead of just blowing them on the first thing that flashes) I've managed to create a fantastic assassin. I can hide in the shadows and remain almost completely undetected... even when some of the necromancers or guards walk right by me. And, once I've singled out a target I can move almost silently to sneak up behind them to dispatch them in one swift movement. Or maybe I'll just hide in the shadows, removing the threats one by one with a carefully placed arrow to the head... it's great. Sure, my character will struggle a bit when faced with full on combat against mutliple foes... but then that's the point; I don't want the odds to always be in my favour!

I will say is that the game does feel a bit short. It may just be that I've been playing it a LOT over the last few days but it all seems to have gone past just a bit too quickly (for the record, I haven't quite completed it... but I'm close). I also wasn't particularly impressed that after installing the game, Steam then tried to install it AGAIN to a different location (and I know a lot of people that didn't realise that it was DOWNLOADING and installing another version!). It's not like I'm short of hard drive space but I don't see much point in wasting it nor the internet bandwidth to download it.

All in all though... it looks and sounds fantastic, the combat is well done (if a little repetitive after a few chapters) and the skill point system allows you to tweak your character enough to pander to your favorite ply style. It's a great game and worthy of my hard earned cash (and I haven't even tried the multiplayer side yet!).

Stop complaining and start playing fools!

Life's a beach... just not THIS beach!

2006-10-17T11:24:00.001+01:00

I have to admit, I was starting to get really rather bored by this current trend for World War II games. Why bother thinking for yourself and creating something inventive when you can just use something from real-life history... apparently the imagination is highly overrated!

If I'm honest... I'm still quite bored of most World War II games but Relic (the people behind Dawn of War) have managed to create something rather special in Company of Heroes.

I'm not even sure I can explain exactly what makes it THAT special... it's just the whole package. The main factors are probably just the incredible attention to detail and the overall quality of the game. If you've played Dawn of War, you'll have experienced Relic's 'touch' before... that moment your first Dreadnaught opens up with it's chain gun before grabbing an enemy and pounding them into the ground; Company of Heroes is like that, only better!

The first time you grab a mounted machine gun (as part of the tutorial)and start blasting away at some approaching Germans, or throw a satchel charge through the front of a bunker... it's just incredible. But it's not the killing that does it, it's how it effects the scenery: barrels and crates get obliterated as bullets carve their way through them, houses collapse having had their insides rearranged by high explosives, artillery fire leaves huge craters in the road throwing everything aside. It's just as you'd want it to be: action and reaction.

Don't believe me? Download the demo... I have nothing more to say (and that's unusual).

Naiboss

Falling in L.O.V.E. all over again...

2006-09-30T12:01:00.001+01:00

It's true... I've found love again... a love of fear!

Well, more precisely, F.E.A.R. Extraction Point.

I've just finished playing through the demo for the third time and those ghostly things (because I'm not quite sure what they are or how to describe them) still give me the creeps. The red glowing eyes and shadow-like movements... all just too eerie. In fact the first time I reached that part of the demo, every hair stood on end... it's THAT good.

I'm not sure I can remember the last game that really had that sort of effect on me, it may even be as far back as the Aliens mod for Doom (best played with the lights off and heartless, stealthy flat mates with a vicious sense of humour...).

From this initial impression there doesn't appear to be any huge leaps in the additional features department... but that's not necessarily a bad thing. The original game was fantastic and if this expansion just adds more of the same I'll be a happy man. But this was just a demo so there's no telling what surprises lay in wait in the full version!

Now if you'll excuse me... I'm off down the shops to get some brighter, long-life, light bulbs and lamps to cover all the darkened corners of the house. Just can't be too careful these days...

Are gamers killers?

2006-09-15T16:26:00.001+01:00

They're at it again... or rather, Jack Thompson is at it again.

Apparently, the 25 year old man that went on a shooting spree in a Montreal College this week played 'Postal' and 'Super Columbine Massacre RPG' and that is why one person is dead and nineteen other were wounded.

Do you think they will EVER stop trying to blame games? Of course it had nothing to do with the fact that maybe, just maybe, he wasn't right in the head?

It's a tragic event and one that will scar a lot of the people in and around the area for the rest of their lives so it's only right that Jack Thompson should jump in and start declaring that he is 'right again'... good one Jack... way to go in the sensitivity stakes!

I'm still not sure exactly what Jack gets out of trying to bad-mouth computer games all the time. According to him they are 'violent virtual reality murder simulators' that TRAIN people to kill.

Um...

Nope...

Struggling slightly with this concept...

I've played computer games (violent and otherwise) for the last twenty-odd years; I've watched violent films; I listen to heavy metal all the time; I'm even IN a heavy metal band... and yet I don't feel any urges to start killing people.

Maybe it's me... maybe there's something wrong with me... maybe I SHOULD be feeling these urges...

Or maybe he's talking a load of bull

His latest target is Take-Two Software's 'Bully' which get's released mid-October. He is quoted as saying that it is 'in every sense is Columbine simulator'. Yeah... I can see the similarities... two teens, armed to the teeth with an assortment of weapons and looking to blow up their school before 'checking out' is just like being bullied (or being the bully) at school. The funny thing is... the ESRB rated the game T for Teen! Score one for the ESRB.

One thing I think Jack has really missed out is the fact that if we were all trained killers... surely one of us would have had the decency to take him out first?

anyone remember when people used to kill for money, love or (the biggest killer of all) religion?

Now if you'll excuse me... I've got to go catch a plane to Florida to see a lawyer about a gun...

Who needs sleep?

2006-08-24T19:54:00.001+01:00

Oh dear... just noticed that I've finally crossed the 1000 hour mark playing Everquest 2. Scary thing is, that's only the hours that XFire has logged and doesn't include any of the time before I used XFire or the hours I've played using other machines!!!

The REALLY scary thing is that, despite having played 52 hours in the last 7 days, I still somehow manage to work full time, and have a 'proper' life as well as my virtual one.

Sleep is highly over-rated (honest).

Property matters... no really, it does!

2006-08-19T02:31:00.001+01:00

In other, more pleasant, news; it looks like I may have (finally) found a house! Put in an offer at the end of last week (which was accepted) and have spent some of this week sorting out solicitors, mortgage applications and surveys... now I just have to sit back and wait.

Can't see why buying and selling a house has to be anymore difficult than buying a car myself: You have a 'thing' you want to sell, you set a price, the buyer takes a look (maybe brings a specialist to check it out properly), you haggle, you agree a price, buyer pays and claims his item. Can you imagine if you had to go through the same sort of grief when buying a car as you do when buying a house?

Ah well, fingers crossed I shouldn't have to do this again for a while.

always lucky...

We Be Rollin'

Artificial Intelligence?

On the... edge?

Have blade, will stab...

Still here... honest

Dog tired?

Is there such a thing as too much tech? HELL NO!

Two wheels and over effected...

Civilian casualties? Whoops...

Psychologically damaged billionaire seeks playmate...

Billy F*cking Talent!

More internet woes... good job we weren't there!

You've been tagged?

Just don't!

Summer time?

A telling sign?

Nuke it from space... it's the only way to be sure!

In other news...

Broken Steel... FIXED!

Broken Steel broken!

Some days you are the dog; some days you are the tree

Almost as if they heard me...

It's all fun and games till someone loses an eye...

Also... I think knives are a good idea...

And the winner is... WTF?!

No. Sleep. Till...

Life is good...

Just in case...

It's about time... all about time!

Snow Joke! *ahem*

The true colours of Christmas!

A new beginning...

US Tour - Route 66

US Tour

US Tour - Disneyland

US Tour - Hollywood!

US Tour - It all begins here...

On holiday! YAY!

Did he jump... or was he pushed?

G T Yay!

Hanging around with time to kill...

Grand Theft Time

1.51 billion reasons to say...

Pirates of the Boring Sea

RIP Rob - a true Boogie Knight

Important Update!

eBad?

Mass Infected...

It's my birthday soon.... YAY!

The (gaming) Dark Side

Hard work...

Happy New Year!

Lord of the.... 'Service Unavailable'

Timelord? That's me...

Mac abusers

Nostalgia

Crysis? Yeah, but only if you're quick.

Hell YES!

!£%^$&*£%*(@ Micosoft!

In other news...

Where to begin?!?

So many games, so little time!

PC demo - Good for it's age, fsh, one careless owner

Sooooooooo tired....

Cute? I don't do cute!

The Dark Side

Island in the sun

Work, spandex and more work...

A Twitchy And Repulsive Individual

Wiijitsu Mobster

Something shiny this way comes...

Spoke too soon...

Balanced media report shocker! Gamers rejoice...

Radioactive mutant harassment

The three Rs - Reading, Ranting and Really BAD Technical Support... (very long post)

Read it and Wii-p...

And the winner is?

Guarding Vans... again!

Today's Hero - Dave "Shiny" Perry

Snow Joke! ahem

!£%^$&£%(@ Micosoft!