I was going to waste my time in this blog entry about someone who irritated me yesterday on the phone, but I don't want to dwell on the clueless and uneducated moron any longer. Needless to say their existence is entirely inconsequential to me so therefore I am not going to let it factor in my thoughts any longer.
There, that's better.
I have to say that I am really struggling at the moment. My mood is low again and I am just in that frame of mind where I think I must have done something wrong in a previous life. I am just in that rut where every decision I make seems to be wrong.
I had intended to do my next video review this week but I am still suffering from a bad chest and voice just won't stand up to speaking for longer than a couple of minutes without giving out. My videos are nothing special, but I do like to try and do the best I can when I make them.
What I will probably do tomorrow is cut together the footage I recorded and then just wait until next week to do the voice over then upload it to You Tube. I actually enjoy making the videos so I feel a bit deflated at the moment in not being able to do them. I wanted to try and make sure I did two a month but it just has not worked out to be possible.
On the gaming front I finished Two Worlds 2 and Killzone 3 this week. Both excellent games that are well worth checking out. I am currently playing Risen which is really proving to be an enigma of a game. Sometime I think that it is going great then it seems to fall on it's arse.
It is a tough RPG, there is no doubt about that. I had to drop the difficulty onto the easiest setting as I was getting killed by everything in sight and int he end it became too frustrating. The leveling up is handled differently as well. When you level up only your basic stats such as health increase. If you want to spend any of your leveling up points, you need to find a class trainer to build up your strength, wisdom and dexterity as well as becoming more proficient with the class weapons: Swords, magic and bows and so on. I am not against this, but it can become tiresome having to back track to find a class trainer just to complete your leveling up. It also costs you gold as well so it's a double whammy.
Graphically it is fairly awful. I don't know if this looks much better on the PC but it looks like a PS2 game at times on the 360. There are unfinished textures, memory leakage the lot. It doesn't detract away from the adventure as such, but it does look a little poor compared to it's contemporaries.
So that is pretty much it. Not really been up to much but there you go.
Thursday, 31 March 2011
Wednesday, 30 March 2011
AIDY'S TOP 5 ONLINE GAMING GUIDES
OK, I thought I would come up with my top 5 suggestions for people to observe in order to make online gaming a happier and more enlightening past time as opposed to the verbal mine field of cheats that it can be:
1) DON'T BE RACIST/HOMOPHOBIC OR DETAIL YOUR SEXUAL DESIRES ABOUT ANOTHER GAMERS FAMILY MEMBER
This is self explanatory and is not cool in the slightest. This seems to be the reserve of teenage games players who for some reason seem unable to play a game without their gums flapping about constantly, usually spouting some inane drivel about their sexual prowess, the racial heritage of people they cannot see and also the sexual orientation of their would be adversaries or indeed, their own team mates.
It does not need me to point out that not only can some of this be offensive but also is a violation of the terms and conditions of the online service, be it X Box Live or the Playstation Network, that they agreed to adhered to when they registered their gamer tag. Not only is there the facility to report these imbeciles but they can be muted and have their communications blocked. However it does not excuse this happening in the first place and no one should have to listen to their vile tirades.
Oh, and by the way, don't think that you cannot be tracked down just because you are on the other side of the world spouting your garbage in what you perceive to be the sanctity of your own homes. You can be traced and you can be got to. Just bear in mind that you have no idea who it is you are offending or what they might do for a living.
2) SPAWN CAMPING IS FOR LOSERS WHO CANNOT PLAY GAMES.
This is my personal favorite one to hate. Spawn camping bastards who just find a nice little nook or cranny near your teams spawn point and sit or lay there the whole round shooting you as soon as you spawn. Hey, guess what? You are a dick! Strangely enough there is no skill involved in doing this and it's actually no fun to play against people who think that this is a viable strategy in order to win a game.
As you sit there racking up your kill streak imaging how frustrated and bored you would become if someone was doing this to you. Then imagine you quitting the game because there was really no point in playing anymore. Now imagine other people doing the same and hey presto! No one ends up playing the game because the brain donors who are spawn camping all the time have killed it.
Try actually moving in the game, you know, take a risk - live a little! Who knows you might actually like it!
3) GLITCHING IS FOR LOSERS WHO CANNOT PLAY GAMES.
Yep, similar to point 2, glitchers are another breed of game spoiling idiots that somehow think that gaining an advantage by cheating is somehow makes them a better gamer. Now, it is often the case that a game has a glitch or two in it that the developers patch in due time. However a glitcher will take full advantage of this to their own benefit thus spoiling the game for everyone else.
There is no real excuse for it. OK you might stumble across it by accident, but more often than not once a glitch has been revealed it is suddenly exploited in nearly every game you join. It always appears to be the same person that is taking advantage of it as well. Whilst everyone else runs around trying to squeeze some enjoyment out of proceedings, your common garden glitcher forgoes any attempt to play the game and instead sets themselves up to exploit the glitch.
I have stopped playing many an online game because of this as there is just no point in playing it anymore and by the time the glitch has been patched by the developers, I have moved onto something else.
4) LEARN SOME GAMING ETIQUETTE.
This can cover quite a wide area of behaviour but I really want to narrow it down to the manner some play games. Team killing for example. There is always one who joins the game then sets about killing all and sundry on the screen, even though it is clear that it is a team based game mode.
Usually these gimps end up getting kicked but not before they have put everyone else in a foul mood and ruined the session. In the minds of these morons, they think that they are comedy legends when as a matter of fact that are annoying little turds that need to be flushed away down the nearest toilet never to be seen again.
The sad fact is that these arse wipes tend to also manifest the same the symptoms as seen in the previous points and their whole existence online seems to be centred around causing as much misery as possible. It is remarkable that they actually spend money on a game just to join in with people they don't know and annoy the living hell out of them.
I would have thought that being kicked from one game to another would get quite boring but it seems that they have sufficient numbers to crop up at least once every sessions and cause general misery!
5) LET THE WOOKIE WIN!
That's right. You know it makes sense to let me win. You will find your gaming experience to happier and your life will become fulfilled. You will come across fewer idiots online, you will feel light and gleeful. Your every whim and desire will be satiated all for letting me win online.
Surely that is worth a few moments of anguish!
1) DON'T BE RACIST/HOMOPHOBIC OR DETAIL YOUR SEXUAL DESIRES ABOUT ANOTHER GAMERS FAMILY MEMBER
This is self explanatory and is not cool in the slightest. This seems to be the reserve of teenage games players who for some reason seem unable to play a game without their gums flapping about constantly, usually spouting some inane drivel about their sexual prowess, the racial heritage of people they cannot see and also the sexual orientation of their would be adversaries or indeed, their own team mates.
It does not need me to point out that not only can some of this be offensive but also is a violation of the terms and conditions of the online service, be it X Box Live or the Playstation Network, that they agreed to adhered to when they registered their gamer tag. Not only is there the facility to report these imbeciles but they can be muted and have their communications blocked. However it does not excuse this happening in the first place and no one should have to listen to their vile tirades.
Oh, and by the way, don't think that you cannot be tracked down just because you are on the other side of the world spouting your garbage in what you perceive to be the sanctity of your own homes. You can be traced and you can be got to. Just bear in mind that you have no idea who it is you are offending or what they might do for a living.
2) SPAWN CAMPING IS FOR LOSERS WHO CANNOT PLAY GAMES.
This is my personal favorite one to hate. Spawn camping bastards who just find a nice little nook or cranny near your teams spawn point and sit or lay there the whole round shooting you as soon as you spawn. Hey, guess what? You are a dick! Strangely enough there is no skill involved in doing this and it's actually no fun to play against people who think that this is a viable strategy in order to win a game.
As you sit there racking up your kill streak imaging how frustrated and bored you would become if someone was doing this to you. Then imagine you quitting the game because there was really no point in playing anymore. Now imagine other people doing the same and hey presto! No one ends up playing the game because the brain donors who are spawn camping all the time have killed it.
Try actually moving in the game, you know, take a risk - live a little! Who knows you might actually like it!
3) GLITCHING IS FOR LOSERS WHO CANNOT PLAY GAMES.
Yep, similar to point 2, glitchers are another breed of game spoiling idiots that somehow think that gaining an advantage by cheating is somehow makes them a better gamer. Now, it is often the case that a game has a glitch or two in it that the developers patch in due time. However a glitcher will take full advantage of this to their own benefit thus spoiling the game for everyone else.
There is no real excuse for it. OK you might stumble across it by accident, but more often than not once a glitch has been revealed it is suddenly exploited in nearly every game you join. It always appears to be the same person that is taking advantage of it as well. Whilst everyone else runs around trying to squeeze some enjoyment out of proceedings, your common garden glitcher forgoes any attempt to play the game and instead sets themselves up to exploit the glitch.
I have stopped playing many an online game because of this as there is just no point in playing it anymore and by the time the glitch has been patched by the developers, I have moved onto something else.
4) LEARN SOME GAMING ETIQUETTE.
This can cover quite a wide area of behaviour but I really want to narrow it down to the manner some play games. Team killing for example. There is always one who joins the game then sets about killing all and sundry on the screen, even though it is clear that it is a team based game mode.
Usually these gimps end up getting kicked but not before they have put everyone else in a foul mood and ruined the session. In the minds of these morons, they think that they are comedy legends when as a matter of fact that are annoying little turds that need to be flushed away down the nearest toilet never to be seen again.
The sad fact is that these arse wipes tend to also manifest the same the symptoms as seen in the previous points and their whole existence online seems to be centred around causing as much misery as possible. It is remarkable that they actually spend money on a game just to join in with people they don't know and annoy the living hell out of them.
I would have thought that being kicked from one game to another would get quite boring but it seems that they have sufficient numbers to crop up at least once every sessions and cause general misery!
5) LET THE WOOKIE WIN!
That's right. You know it makes sense to let me win. You will find your gaming experience to happier and your life will become fulfilled. You will come across fewer idiots online, you will feel light and gleeful. Your every whim and desire will be satiated all for letting me win online.
Surely that is worth a few moments of anguish!
Tuesday, 29 March 2011
I GOT WIRES
I thought I would change track a little for this blog entry as looking back through what I had posted so far; it seems rather serious and I don't intend this blog to be nothing more than chin stroking exercise.
So, when is someone going to invent wireless electricity? I am serious. I am so fed of wires all over the place. I mean come on! We have wireless internet now and cordless phones. Isn't it about time some clever sod over at NASA or CERN stopped farting about with space ships and trying to create a planet destroying singularity under the ground in Switzerland and came up with something that would benefit mankind properly.
I get so fed up with untangling wires, tucking them out of the way, rolling them up and generally losing my tempter with them. Mankind cannot truly call ourselves a civilized and advanced race until we do away with wires.
Now, there are two possibilities that I can think of as a strictly non-scientific person. First of all I don't see why all electrical appliances cannot have a small miniture nuclear reactor in them so power them. We all know that nuclear energy is clean and safe (ish) and not only that it can provide energy for longer than the average human lives due to the lengthy half life of the materials used. I think this is very useable and will do away with wires and the need for rechargeable batteries as well.
The other possibility is a bit more sci-fi but I don't see why the electro-static particles in the air cannot be harnessed in some way and used to power electronic devices. Think of it like this. You would not get anymore static shocks and that can only be a good thing. Also, think that every time you use an electronic device, the electronic energy it gives off it will be harnessed and reused. How green is that?
I think both ideas are perfect feasible and I am at a loss as to why this has not been introduced already. Imagine the savings on energy bills - because you wouldn't have any. As a matter of fact I intend to patent these ideas so that I can get filthy rich at some point in the future. I shall call it Aidy's Quantum Electro-Powered Self Charging Reactor Core.
There, I think I have sufficiently supplied a brilliant idea to the human race this evening, so now I shall return to watching some really shocking movie on the TV to recharge my batteries before my next thunder clap of an idea is unleashed!
So, when is someone going to invent wireless electricity? I am serious. I am so fed of wires all over the place. I mean come on! We have wireless internet now and cordless phones. Isn't it about time some clever sod over at NASA or CERN stopped farting about with space ships and trying to create a planet destroying singularity under the ground in Switzerland and came up with something that would benefit mankind properly.
I get so fed up with untangling wires, tucking them out of the way, rolling them up and generally losing my tempter with them. Mankind cannot truly call ourselves a civilized and advanced race until we do away with wires.
Now, there are two possibilities that I can think of as a strictly non-scientific person. First of all I don't see why all electrical appliances cannot have a small miniture nuclear reactor in them so power them. We all know that nuclear energy is clean and safe (ish) and not only that it can provide energy for longer than the average human lives due to the lengthy half life of the materials used. I think this is very useable and will do away with wires and the need for rechargeable batteries as well.
The other possibility is a bit more sci-fi but I don't see why the electro-static particles in the air cannot be harnessed in some way and used to power electronic devices. Think of it like this. You would not get anymore static shocks and that can only be a good thing. Also, think that every time you use an electronic device, the electronic energy it gives off it will be harnessed and reused. How green is that?
I think both ideas are perfect feasible and I am at a loss as to why this has not been introduced already. Imagine the savings on energy bills - because you wouldn't have any. As a matter of fact I intend to patent these ideas so that I can get filthy rich at some point in the future. I shall call it Aidy's Quantum Electro-Powered Self Charging Reactor Core.
There, I think I have sufficiently supplied a brilliant idea to the human race this evening, so now I shall return to watching some really shocking movie on the TV to recharge my batteries before my next thunder clap of an idea is unleashed!
Monday, 28 March 2011
RANK OFF!
Back when I started playing games online things were fairly straight forward. You selected the online mode, the game type and off you went. Then with the advent of X Box Live and Playstation Network, console owners were introduced to a little thing called the Friends List.
Now the idea behind this was for the gamer to accrue a list of people that they enjoyed playing games with so that they could see if they were online and simplify communications with them. The idea was excellent and worked really well. More importantly it served as a filter. You could avoid having to run the gauntlet of the random idiots who love nothing more than 'trash talking' (in other words being racist, homophobic or spouting vile things about your family from the safety of their living room thousands of miles away). It gave you control to make sure that you only got to play with the people had a element of trust or at least camaraderie with.
Then the games started to change. Some bright spark decided that it would be a good idea to introduce a ranking up system in their games. This entailed you getting access to better weapons and perks as well as having a ranking system which reflected the time and success you had playing the game. This seemed like a good idea except for one major draw back. It only applied if you played the game against random people in a ranked match. If you chose not to do this, then you could not rank up in the multiplayer and so access to new weapons and perks was closed to you.
The first major game I recall doing this on the consoles was Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I could be wrong and there may have been another game before this one, but there is no doubt that this game set the benchmark for how the majority of games were to follow.
To me this is wrong. First of all it totally negates the point of the friends list when it comes to using it as a filter for the people you want to play with. Microsoft went to great pains at the launch of the X Box 360 and it's new and improved X Box Live to show how the friends list was a way of being the centre point to the online element of the service for gaming. That seems to have been overlooked by games developers.
It is not just Microsoft but the same thing applies to the Playstation 3. If you want to unlock stuff in the multiplayer then you are forced to play against people you don't know and therefore run the risk of abuse and so on.
Now I know that you can mute communications with the idiots, but you still have to endure their rubbish and it certainly does not stop them acting like childish morons in the game. I have lost count of the number of times I have come across someone in an online session who is doing nothing more than trying to disrupt the game and ruin it for everyone else.
As far as I am concerned the developers of these games are forcing you to have to play the game a certain way online in order to get the full benefit from it and that is wrong. I want to enjoy the whole game and I want the unlocks thank you very much, however I don't want to endure hours of playing with potential idiots in order to achieve this. What I want is for these perks and unlocks to be available when I am playing in private games so I can enjoy playing against people I know are not going to be abusive and still enjoy the whole of the game.
Now the idea behind this was for the gamer to accrue a list of people that they enjoyed playing games with so that they could see if they were online and simplify communications with them. The idea was excellent and worked really well. More importantly it served as a filter. You could avoid having to run the gauntlet of the random idiots who love nothing more than 'trash talking' (in other words being racist, homophobic or spouting vile things about your family from the safety of their living room thousands of miles away). It gave you control to make sure that you only got to play with the people had a element of trust or at least camaraderie with.
Then the games started to change. Some bright spark decided that it would be a good idea to introduce a ranking up system in their games. This entailed you getting access to better weapons and perks as well as having a ranking system which reflected the time and success you had playing the game. This seemed like a good idea except for one major draw back. It only applied if you played the game against random people in a ranked match. If you chose not to do this, then you could not rank up in the multiplayer and so access to new weapons and perks was closed to you.
The first major game I recall doing this on the consoles was Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. I could be wrong and there may have been another game before this one, but there is no doubt that this game set the benchmark for how the majority of games were to follow.
To me this is wrong. First of all it totally negates the point of the friends list when it comes to using it as a filter for the people you want to play with. Microsoft went to great pains at the launch of the X Box 360 and it's new and improved X Box Live to show how the friends list was a way of being the centre point to the online element of the service for gaming. That seems to have been overlooked by games developers.
It is not just Microsoft but the same thing applies to the Playstation 3. If you want to unlock stuff in the multiplayer then you are forced to play against people you don't know and therefore run the risk of abuse and so on.
Now I know that you can mute communications with the idiots, but you still have to endure their rubbish and it certainly does not stop them acting like childish morons in the game. I have lost count of the number of times I have come across someone in an online session who is doing nothing more than trying to disrupt the game and ruin it for everyone else.
As far as I am concerned the developers of these games are forcing you to have to play the game a certain way online in order to get the full benefit from it and that is wrong. I want to enjoy the whole game and I want the unlocks thank you very much, however I don't want to endure hours of playing with potential idiots in order to achieve this. What I want is for these perks and unlocks to be available when I am playing in private games so I can enjoy playing against people I know are not going to be abusive and still enjoy the whole of the game.
Saturday, 26 March 2011
IS THAT IT?
I have just completed Homefront on the X Box 360 and I have to say that I am disappointed.
It's not that the game is rubbish, it's just that it is so short in the single player campaign department. Yet again it seems that game developers are taking liberties with the single player elements of their games and instead are focusing on the multiplayer aspect. I don't really think that this is on at all.
Now I do play online so the following does not really apply to me, but surely those who prefer a single player game are entitled to a well developed and complete campaign? Homefront ends suddenly and is so unsatisfying that it is hard to believe that the ending we get is the ending that John Milius who had a hand in writing the story actually penned when he wrote the story. It is clear that there is an intent to release more of the game as either DLC or as a sequel. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against game sequels, but when you sit down and develop a game and release it you cannot structure that game around the assumption that you can just end the game seemingly half way through and expect people to invest more money just to see it's conclusion.
Given the fact that it took me around 5 hours to complete the single player campaign leads me to believe that this game was in fact cut in half so that a sequel could be made. For a FPS the campaign should be no shorter than 10 hours to play through. Most well developed FPS's adhere to this whilst some that are either rush jobs or cash in sequels (cough Call of Duty cough) have chosen to fob off gamers with awful single player modes and I reckon it's time gamers started to vote with their wallets.
If you are just buying the latest Call of Duty for the multiplayer, then why bother? Has it really changed that much since Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare? It still uses the silly ranking up system (a topic for another rant) and still has the same basic mechanics. OK the scenarios and maps are different but so what? Is it really worth £40 just for that? PC modders have been converting games for years and in many cases doing a hell of a lot better job than the actual developers and what's more, their content is free, not some overcharged pile of crap that console owners put up with.
I know companies have to make money. But it is a tired excuse and frankly if you are happy to pay the same amount of money for less content then you are an idiot, plain and simple. The moment you give these companies any scope to do less they will do, you simply have to keep on at them.
Annoying someone from Kaos studios who developed Homefront went on record to say that if the games playing public want a bigger single player campaign in future Homefront games then they will have to ask for it! What a wonderful attitude. And how many Homefront users will it take for Kaos studios to make the campaign larger? Probably at least 60% of those that purchased it and let's be honest that's not going to happen because the majority of people who own the game would probably have not even been aware that Kaos studios issued that statement.
It is about time that games reviewers started to really mark down the games for having a poor single player campaign. It is about time that these reviewers stopped worrying about sponsorship deals and freebies and actually started to act in the best interest of the gamers out there which is what they should be doing.
Unless this is nipped in the bud now, it will get much worse in time and once again it will be the end user that loses out.
It's not that the game is rubbish, it's just that it is so short in the single player campaign department. Yet again it seems that game developers are taking liberties with the single player elements of their games and instead are focusing on the multiplayer aspect. I don't really think that this is on at all.
Now I do play online so the following does not really apply to me, but surely those who prefer a single player game are entitled to a well developed and complete campaign? Homefront ends suddenly and is so unsatisfying that it is hard to believe that the ending we get is the ending that John Milius who had a hand in writing the story actually penned when he wrote the story. It is clear that there is an intent to release more of the game as either DLC or as a sequel. Now don't get me wrong, I have nothing against game sequels, but when you sit down and develop a game and release it you cannot structure that game around the assumption that you can just end the game seemingly half way through and expect people to invest more money just to see it's conclusion.
Given the fact that it took me around 5 hours to complete the single player campaign leads me to believe that this game was in fact cut in half so that a sequel could be made. For a FPS the campaign should be no shorter than 10 hours to play through. Most well developed FPS's adhere to this whilst some that are either rush jobs or cash in sequels (cough Call of Duty cough) have chosen to fob off gamers with awful single player modes and I reckon it's time gamers started to vote with their wallets.
If you are just buying the latest Call of Duty for the multiplayer, then why bother? Has it really changed that much since Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare? It still uses the silly ranking up system (a topic for another rant) and still has the same basic mechanics. OK the scenarios and maps are different but so what? Is it really worth £40 just for that? PC modders have been converting games for years and in many cases doing a hell of a lot better job than the actual developers and what's more, their content is free, not some overcharged pile of crap that console owners put up with.
I know companies have to make money. But it is a tired excuse and frankly if you are happy to pay the same amount of money for less content then you are an idiot, plain and simple. The moment you give these companies any scope to do less they will do, you simply have to keep on at them.
Annoying someone from Kaos studios who developed Homefront went on record to say that if the games playing public want a bigger single player campaign in future Homefront games then they will have to ask for it! What a wonderful attitude. And how many Homefront users will it take for Kaos studios to make the campaign larger? Probably at least 60% of those that purchased it and let's be honest that's not going to happen because the majority of people who own the game would probably have not even been aware that Kaos studios issued that statement.
It is about time that games reviewers started to really mark down the games for having a poor single player campaign. It is about time that these reviewers stopped worrying about sponsorship deals and freebies and actually started to act in the best interest of the gamers out there which is what they should be doing.
Unless this is nipped in the bud now, it will get much worse in time and once again it will be the end user that loses out.
Friday, 25 March 2011
3DS, CRYSIS 2 & GETTING RIPPED OFF
After much consideration I passed on going to the big VIP launch of the 3DS last night. The main reason ultimately came down to the fact that after I left my friends house, I was simply far too tired to deal with having to stand in a queue for ages whilst some giddy sales assistants and Nintendo reps skipped around trying whip the gathered throng into a frenzy and taking pictures of all and sundry.
Believe me, I did the Apple iPad launch day last year and that was bad enough!
I weighed up my mood, my stamina and also the fact that I had 24 games to trade in and concluded that I couldn't be bothered with the whole who ha.
I decided instead to go first thing this morning (well as soon as the store opened). First up was getting fleeced over how much I got for all the games I traded in. £89.00. That's right, just £89.00 for 24 traded in games. That averages out about £3.70 per game. Some games I only got .50p for. 50 bloody pence! The case and the instruction are worth more than that! Just where do they get the prices from? After doing my article about the necessity for trading in games the other day, I felt like fate was kicking me, with great gusto and enthusiasm, right in the bollocks!
At the end of the day, and I am really trying to extract some semblance of philosophy from the episode, I was not going to play those games again so something is better than nothing. It will take me some time to recover though.
So I got the Aqua Blue one. I don't know why, but I just get sick to death of the same old boring black consoles. My PSP is some sort of metallic red colour and it suits me just fine. Along with that I got Ridge Racer, Pilot Wings Resort and Ghost Recon Shadow Wars. They will keep me going for a while though I do have my eye on the Splinter Cell 3D game as well which looks good.
The 3D works really well and it is a technically impressive gadget. The main operating system owes more to the Wii's channel system interface and it's all the better for it. It was was simple and quick to get going and update so full marks there. Obviously I have not played it enough to garner a proper opinion worthy of a review but my first impressions are very positive.
So that covers the 3DS and being ripped off so what is left? Ah yes, Crysis 2. I have not had chance to play this yet though I am looking forward to it. I enjoyed the multiplayer demo that was online so I reckon I should get on with this. I just wish I had a PC to enjoy it in it's full glory but I will make do with the 360 version for now. I have a Mac capable of running the latest games, it's just that few companies actually bother releasing stuff for it which is frustrating. I simple cannot justify splashing out on a PC to go with my Mac Book Pro and my iMac. Even by my standards that is far too indulgent.
Believe me, I did the Apple iPad launch day last year and that was bad enough!
I weighed up my mood, my stamina and also the fact that I had 24 games to trade in and concluded that I couldn't be bothered with the whole who ha.
I decided instead to go first thing this morning (well as soon as the store opened). First up was getting fleeced over how much I got for all the games I traded in. £89.00. That's right, just £89.00 for 24 traded in games. That averages out about £3.70 per game. Some games I only got .50p for. 50 bloody pence! The case and the instruction are worth more than that! Just where do they get the prices from? After doing my article about the necessity for trading in games the other day, I felt like fate was kicking me, with great gusto and enthusiasm, right in the bollocks!
At the end of the day, and I am really trying to extract some semblance of philosophy from the episode, I was not going to play those games again so something is better than nothing. It will take me some time to recover though.
So I got the Aqua Blue one. I don't know why, but I just get sick to death of the same old boring black consoles. My PSP is some sort of metallic red colour and it suits me just fine. Along with that I got Ridge Racer, Pilot Wings Resort and Ghost Recon Shadow Wars. They will keep me going for a while though I do have my eye on the Splinter Cell 3D game as well which looks good.
The 3D works really well and it is a technically impressive gadget. The main operating system owes more to the Wii's channel system interface and it's all the better for it. It was was simple and quick to get going and update so full marks there. Obviously I have not played it enough to garner a proper opinion worthy of a review but my first impressions are very positive.
So that covers the 3DS and being ripped off so what is left? Ah yes, Crysis 2. I have not had chance to play this yet though I am looking forward to it. I enjoyed the multiplayer demo that was online so I reckon I should get on with this. I just wish I had a PC to enjoy it in it's full glory but I will make do with the 360 version for now. I have a Mac capable of running the latest games, it's just that few companies actually bother releasing stuff for it which is frustrating. I simple cannot justify splashing out on a PC to go with my Mac Book Pro and my iMac. Even by my standards that is far too indulgent.
Wednesday, 23 March 2011
THE LIVES OF OTHERS
No am I am not going to talk about the excellent film that came out a few years back, but rather the ease with which the unintentional actions of others can have such an effect on you.
This morning I was happily sat drinking a cup of coffee in the conservatory with the doors open. It was a cool morning but I am someone who likes fresh air and coolness. So I am sat there going through my emails and logging onto to Twitter enjoying the quiet time after people have drifted off to work and so on. Being out in suburbia and surrounded by trees I can sometimes get the impression that I am in the country with no one else around. It's a good feeling to have from time to time and can be relaxing.
So there I am in a good zen like mood when all of a sudden drifting on the airwaves like some sort of noxious lethal gas came the sound of the song Tragedy. Now it would have been bad enough if this had been the falsetto warble of the Bee Gees, but sadly and tragically (every pun intended) it was by the supremely talentless Steps. Whoever was playing this 'song' not only has a shit taste in music but also absolutely no shame at all. I would rather wire my gentleman's parts to a car battery and repeatedly switch the engine on and off than listen to such audio rapists as Steps. The thought of actually playing 'music' like that so loud so as to advertise the fact is beyond any sort of consideration!
Thankfully I only had to endure the one audio assault before whoever it was came to timely and sticky end at the hands of a more militant objector or they closed whatever escape hatch this evil was escaping from.
OK, in isolation this doesn't really matter, but it served as a reminder of what I really hate about summer the most. Other peoples noise.
For some strange reason, people seem to like sharing with everyone what they are listening to, talking about or doing in general whilst they are in their back gardens in summer. Frankly I could not give a toss what taste in music they have as I can be assured that it certainly won't be anything I like and I certainly don't want to know what is going on in their lives as for some reason, people who talk outdoors seem to insist on talking far louder than usual despite the fact that their intended target can be no more than two feet away. If this was confined to the day that would be OK, but for some reason it has to carry on at night. It is like there is no escape from having to listen to other peoples bullshit in one for or another.
The icing on the cake is usually the outdoor BBQ that turns into some sort of all night party. It appears that other people are not entitled to sleep because the party goers have to get drunk and shout/slur/sing/vomit their way through to the point where they pass out, which on average where I live tends to be around 4.00am. Hey guess what arseholes? I am not attending your party so I don't want to share in any of it, including your crappy music, your stupid brain dead conversations or actually your life in anyway shape or form. I really couldn't care less and I would really like it if you all were to vanish from the face of the Earth.
It's at times like this I really wish a had a supply of hand grenades or a sniper rifle or something to shut the irritating bastards up with!
You see, I don't believe that I should inflict my noise on other people if I can help it. OK there are always occasions when it is unavoidable but that is different than the air headed attitude that most people tend to have these days where they actually seem to go out of the way to annoy other people. It is symptomatic of today's society that no one really gives a shit about how their actions affect others. It is not about being boring it is about having the basic semblance of consideration for other people that you have to share the vicinity with. It should never be the case that someone else's noise should keep you up all night. Laws passed are a waste of time because the Police never bother turning up unless there is some sort of fight and let's face it, do we really need to have the Police to come and tell us to turn the music down or behave in a civilised fashion?
My philosophy in life is to do what you want and have a good time but never ever at the expense of others. I just wish these selfish muppets would consider that from time to time.
This morning I was happily sat drinking a cup of coffee in the conservatory with the doors open. It was a cool morning but I am someone who likes fresh air and coolness. So I am sat there going through my emails and logging onto to Twitter enjoying the quiet time after people have drifted off to work and so on. Being out in suburbia and surrounded by trees I can sometimes get the impression that I am in the country with no one else around. It's a good feeling to have from time to time and can be relaxing.
So there I am in a good zen like mood when all of a sudden drifting on the airwaves like some sort of noxious lethal gas came the sound of the song Tragedy. Now it would have been bad enough if this had been the falsetto warble of the Bee Gees, but sadly and tragically (every pun intended) it was by the supremely talentless Steps. Whoever was playing this 'song' not only has a shit taste in music but also absolutely no shame at all. I would rather wire my gentleman's parts to a car battery and repeatedly switch the engine on and off than listen to such audio rapists as Steps. The thought of actually playing 'music' like that so loud so as to advertise the fact is beyond any sort of consideration!
Thankfully I only had to endure the one audio assault before whoever it was came to timely and sticky end at the hands of a more militant objector or they closed whatever escape hatch this evil was escaping from.
OK, in isolation this doesn't really matter, but it served as a reminder of what I really hate about summer the most. Other peoples noise.
For some strange reason, people seem to like sharing with everyone what they are listening to, talking about or doing in general whilst they are in their back gardens in summer. Frankly I could not give a toss what taste in music they have as I can be assured that it certainly won't be anything I like and I certainly don't want to know what is going on in their lives as for some reason, people who talk outdoors seem to insist on talking far louder than usual despite the fact that their intended target can be no more than two feet away. If this was confined to the day that would be OK, but for some reason it has to carry on at night. It is like there is no escape from having to listen to other peoples bullshit in one for or another.
The icing on the cake is usually the outdoor BBQ that turns into some sort of all night party. It appears that other people are not entitled to sleep because the party goers have to get drunk and shout/slur/sing/vomit their way through to the point where they pass out, which on average where I live tends to be around 4.00am. Hey guess what arseholes? I am not attending your party so I don't want to share in any of it, including your crappy music, your stupid brain dead conversations or actually your life in anyway shape or form. I really couldn't care less and I would really like it if you all were to vanish from the face of the Earth.
It's at times like this I really wish a had a supply of hand grenades or a sniper rifle or something to shut the irritating bastards up with!
You see, I don't believe that I should inflict my noise on other people if I can help it. OK there are always occasions when it is unavoidable but that is different than the air headed attitude that most people tend to have these days where they actually seem to go out of the way to annoy other people. It is symptomatic of today's society that no one really gives a shit about how their actions affect others. It is not about being boring it is about having the basic semblance of consideration for other people that you have to share the vicinity with. It should never be the case that someone else's noise should keep you up all night. Laws passed are a waste of time because the Police never bother turning up unless there is some sort of fight and let's face it, do we really need to have the Police to come and tell us to turn the music down or behave in a civilised fashion?
My philosophy in life is to do what you want and have a good time but never ever at the expense of others. I just wish these selfish muppets would consider that from time to time.
Tuesday, 22 March 2011
RISEN...3DS...BLAH BLAH!
I couldn't think of any kind of witty title, not that I make a history of doing so anyway so there you go.
OK, first up, I picked up an RPG off Amazon for the small sum of £10. It is called Risen, though for some strange and unfathomable reason I tend to pronounce it Ryezen instead of Risen like Rizen. I don't know why, I don't have any trouble with the word risen in any other context, but there is some silly part of my brain that simply insist on mentally saying it as Ryezen. Anyway enough of my mental challenges. It is not exactly an obscure RPG. When it was launch about 18 months to two years ago it was given some coverage although it didn't tend to fare too well.
Needless to say I will for forgoing any review scores and will check it out myself. First I have to deal with Two Worlds 2 which is becoming even more epic in terms of how long it is taking me to complete. I am roughly 20 hours in and I am still on the first part. I am one of those RPGer's that have to do all the side quests as well otherwise I don't feel I have completed the game. I don't understand those who like to thunder through these type of games as quickly as possible. What is the point in bypassing what is essentially half the game just to complete it in record time?
I have been invited by Game to attend the midnight launch party of the Nintendo 3DS at their store on Thursday evening. Apparently the first 100 people will receive a free 3DS game and a one of the 100 will be randomly chosen to get the 3DS for free. Along with that there is food and champagne being put on. I am really tempted to go. I doubt that I will get there in time to be one of the lucky 100 (I am at friends earlier in the evening) but I reckon it would be worth experiencing an event like this as they don't tend to be hosted outside of London. The only reservation I have is that I am going to be lugging a pile of games to trade in and I get antsy around a lot of people at the best of times. The last thing I want is a hot crowded atmosphere and then the stress of having to stand at the counter for ages whilst the sale assistant scans through the mass horde of games.
Part of me says sod it and go for it, the other part says go on the Friday morning and perhaps have a less stressful experience getting it. I have pre-ordered the 3DS so I shouldn't have any issues in getting it.
Well that's it. Not much else to report on today so I will leave it at that and get back to Two Worlds 2. Stay safe.
OK, first up, I picked up an RPG off Amazon for the small sum of £10. It is called Risen, though for some strange and unfathomable reason I tend to pronounce it Ryezen instead of Risen like Rizen. I don't know why, I don't have any trouble with the word risen in any other context, but there is some silly part of my brain that simply insist on mentally saying it as Ryezen. Anyway enough of my mental challenges. It is not exactly an obscure RPG. When it was launch about 18 months to two years ago it was given some coverage although it didn't tend to fare too well.
Needless to say I will for forgoing any review scores and will check it out myself. First I have to deal with Two Worlds 2 which is becoming even more epic in terms of how long it is taking me to complete. I am roughly 20 hours in and I am still on the first part. I am one of those RPGer's that have to do all the side quests as well otherwise I don't feel I have completed the game. I don't understand those who like to thunder through these type of games as quickly as possible. What is the point in bypassing what is essentially half the game just to complete it in record time?
I have been invited by Game to attend the midnight launch party of the Nintendo 3DS at their store on Thursday evening. Apparently the first 100 people will receive a free 3DS game and a one of the 100 will be randomly chosen to get the 3DS for free. Along with that there is food and champagne being put on. I am really tempted to go. I doubt that I will get there in time to be one of the lucky 100 (I am at friends earlier in the evening) but I reckon it would be worth experiencing an event like this as they don't tend to be hosted outside of London. The only reservation I have is that I am going to be lugging a pile of games to trade in and I get antsy around a lot of people at the best of times. The last thing I want is a hot crowded atmosphere and then the stress of having to stand at the counter for ages whilst the sale assistant scans through the mass horde of games.
Part of me says sod it and go for it, the other part says go on the Friday morning and perhaps have a less stressful experience getting it. I have pre-ordered the 3DS so I shouldn't have any issues in getting it.
Well that's it. Not much else to report on today so I will leave it at that and get back to Two Worlds 2. Stay safe.
Monday, 21 March 2011
WHY WE NEED THE PRE-OWNED MARKET
Whilst trading in games and buying them pre-owned is regarded by games publishers as the great Satan for the end user it can be a God send.
In the past year or so we have seen EA launch their campaign against the pre-owned market in the form of 'Project $10' which was targeted directly at those who buy their games second hand. The basic principle is that if you buy one of EA games second hand then in order to take advantage of the games online functionality you need to pay EA an additional amount of money to buy an online pass code. If you bought the game new then the pass code comes included in the box however it is a use once only deal.
The idea behind this is two fold. To encourage people to buy their games brand new and to drive down the demand for trading their games in and buying them second hand. The first is an easy concept to appreciate, but the latter is quite sneaky on the part of EA.
You see, when you come to trade in an EA game you are less likely to receive as much money in the trade in. Why? Well because the store trading in the game will now need to sell it pre-owned at a reduced price in order to make it attractive for any potential buyer. If in the past you got say £19.99 on the trade in, the store could sell it second hand for £29.99 and there would still be those who would buy it. Effectively they would be saving £10 on the purchase. Now with Project $10 that is not the case. If you bought the game at £29.99 and then had to pay £10 for the online pass then you are effectively paying full price for a second hand game. The alternative is that you are paying a second hand price for an incomplete game.
What EA are effectively doing is driving away the demand for their games to be traded. No one wants to get a pittance for trading in a game and no one wants to pay anything approaching the normal price for a second hand game that they will need to pay extra for in order to get the full benefit from it so the demand suddenly drops off.
OK, this is nothing new, but it now seems that more and more publishers are going to go down this route. THQ have already done this with Homefront whereby you can only rank up so far without needing to put in the online pass code and no doubt others will follow suite. The more take this up, the tighter the squeeze will be on the pre-owned market.
So why do we need the pre-owned market?
Well, I look at it this way. There are many games I have in my collection that I would not have purchased had I not had a wedge of completed games to trade in. Usually these are games that I would not normally buy but ones I take a punt on when shopping for other titles because they effectively cost me next to nothing when offset against the trade in. This Friday I hope to get a 3DS but the only way I can afford one at the moment is by trading in a shopping bag full of games that I have completed and have no intention on revisiting. If the trade in was no longer there, I simply would have to re-evaluate my purchases. In other words, I would have to spend far less on games and be more prudent in what I buy.
It is fair to say that it won't be the big publishers that will lose out, but the smaller ones as it tends to be them that have the less attractive titles, or certainly the ones that you are more likely to have to take a punt on. Whilst the likes of EA and Activision and so on massage their huge bank balances the smaller publishers will see a tail off in sales because fewer people will be in a position to take a chance on their games. How can that possibly be good for the industry?
I also don't agree with the sentiment that EA and the others are right to do this. You can argue that they are fed up with stores like Game pocketing the whole profits from the second hand sales, but so what if they do? EA pocket a huge amount of cash from the sale of the new title and that's all they should be entitled to. If you sell a car second hand are the car manufacturers entitled to a cut of the money? Same with any other appliance around the home? Once the manufacturer has produced the goods and sold them, that is all they are entitled to. What it amounts to is sheer greed by the large publishers who don't need the money. They don't like the fact that someone else is making a cut out of their titles.
The bottom line is that we need the pre-owned market. Without it we are going to sweep the legs out from under the industry and the long term losers, as always, will be the consumer.
In the past year or so we have seen EA launch their campaign against the pre-owned market in the form of 'Project $10' which was targeted directly at those who buy their games second hand. The basic principle is that if you buy one of EA games second hand then in order to take advantage of the games online functionality you need to pay EA an additional amount of money to buy an online pass code. If you bought the game new then the pass code comes included in the box however it is a use once only deal.
The idea behind this is two fold. To encourage people to buy their games brand new and to drive down the demand for trading their games in and buying them second hand. The first is an easy concept to appreciate, but the latter is quite sneaky on the part of EA.
You see, when you come to trade in an EA game you are less likely to receive as much money in the trade in. Why? Well because the store trading in the game will now need to sell it pre-owned at a reduced price in order to make it attractive for any potential buyer. If in the past you got say £19.99 on the trade in, the store could sell it second hand for £29.99 and there would still be those who would buy it. Effectively they would be saving £10 on the purchase. Now with Project $10 that is not the case. If you bought the game at £29.99 and then had to pay £10 for the online pass then you are effectively paying full price for a second hand game. The alternative is that you are paying a second hand price for an incomplete game.
What EA are effectively doing is driving away the demand for their games to be traded. No one wants to get a pittance for trading in a game and no one wants to pay anything approaching the normal price for a second hand game that they will need to pay extra for in order to get the full benefit from it so the demand suddenly drops off.
OK, this is nothing new, but it now seems that more and more publishers are going to go down this route. THQ have already done this with Homefront whereby you can only rank up so far without needing to put in the online pass code and no doubt others will follow suite. The more take this up, the tighter the squeeze will be on the pre-owned market.
So why do we need the pre-owned market?
Well, I look at it this way. There are many games I have in my collection that I would not have purchased had I not had a wedge of completed games to trade in. Usually these are games that I would not normally buy but ones I take a punt on when shopping for other titles because they effectively cost me next to nothing when offset against the trade in. This Friday I hope to get a 3DS but the only way I can afford one at the moment is by trading in a shopping bag full of games that I have completed and have no intention on revisiting. If the trade in was no longer there, I simply would have to re-evaluate my purchases. In other words, I would have to spend far less on games and be more prudent in what I buy.
It is fair to say that it won't be the big publishers that will lose out, but the smaller ones as it tends to be them that have the less attractive titles, or certainly the ones that you are more likely to have to take a punt on. Whilst the likes of EA and Activision and so on massage their huge bank balances the smaller publishers will see a tail off in sales because fewer people will be in a position to take a chance on their games. How can that possibly be good for the industry?
I also don't agree with the sentiment that EA and the others are right to do this. You can argue that they are fed up with stores like Game pocketing the whole profits from the second hand sales, but so what if they do? EA pocket a huge amount of cash from the sale of the new title and that's all they should be entitled to. If you sell a car second hand are the car manufacturers entitled to a cut of the money? Same with any other appliance around the home? Once the manufacturer has produced the goods and sold them, that is all they are entitled to. What it amounts to is sheer greed by the large publishers who don't need the money. They don't like the fact that someone else is making a cut out of their titles.
The bottom line is that we need the pre-owned market. Without it we are going to sweep the legs out from under the industry and the long term losers, as always, will be the consumer.
Sunday, 20 March 2011
BRIEF UPDATE AND STUFF I AM PLAYING
I got Homefront yesterday despite some average reviews. I have to say that so far I am enjoying it in the single player mode and look forward to getting online with it. I have to also say that so far I have not come across some of the so called bugs and rough around the edges issues that seemed to count against the game but it might be that I have not reached that point yet.
I am also still loving Two Worlds 2. Honestly I really fail to see why anyone who likes RPG's would not like this game. It's got all the attributes you could want from an RPG and for me, it just seems that the console crowd are the ones dragging it down. It's limited release through Amazon only in the UK has effectively ended any chance of chart success so it seems destined to slip under the radar which is a shame.
Next Friday I am hoping to pick up the 3DS. I have a lot of high hopes for this and so I am counting on Nintendo delivering which they usually do when it comes to handhelds. The only issue I have is the slightly weak launch line up of games, but having seen what is coming round the corner I am really looking forward to it. Not to mention it has been nearly a year since I last purchased a new gadget!
To round things off here is a Sunday Afternoon Music Video. The Breeders: Cannonball.
I am also still loving Two Worlds 2. Honestly I really fail to see why anyone who likes RPG's would not like this game. It's got all the attributes you could want from an RPG and for me, it just seems that the console crowd are the ones dragging it down. It's limited release through Amazon only in the UK has effectively ended any chance of chart success so it seems destined to slip under the radar which is a shame.
Next Friday I am hoping to pick up the 3DS. I have a lot of high hopes for this and so I am counting on Nintendo delivering which they usually do when it comes to handhelds. The only issue I have is the slightly weak launch line up of games, but having seen what is coming round the corner I am really looking forward to it. Not to mention it has been nearly a year since I last purchased a new gadget!
To round things off here is a Sunday Afternoon Music Video. The Breeders: Cannonball.
Friday, 18 March 2011
IT'S GOOD TO UNPLUG
I have spent the biggest part of today unplugged from the internet and from playing games until this evening. I decided to break the cycle and and spend some time away from the keyboard. Now I know a day is hardly makes it worthy of being declared as abstinence but it felt good just the same. I spent some time in the back garden, not doing anything but taking in things around me.
It was quiet and still for the most part and the weather, although sunny, was still chilly in an early Spring type way. Just taking in the myriad of flora and fauna around me was quite the eye opener. I am not saying it was like being in the Amazonian Rain Forest, but we spend so much of our time going to and from places that I don't think we spend enough time taking in our surroundings.
I also noted that, even in winter, nature reclaims the land we take from it in next to no time. There was grass growing behind the shed at an already overgrown height and moss and grass is aleady sprouting between the flags on the path. It set me thinking how nature will one day reclaim all the resources that man has cultivated from the Earth. Whereas it is important that we respect and look after our environment, the over powering strength of nature will repair any damage we make long after humanity has gone from the face of the Earth.
Whoa, nearly got all strange and surreal there!
Back on being unplugged - I think it does everyone good to simply leave the modern day communication devices off for a while. So much of modern life is given over to the intrusion of stuff like the internet and other telecommunications. The advent of the mobile phone is almost like having some sort of tracking device on you at all times. Everywhere you go you can be contacted, you cannot be away from stuff for a moment. One thing I have started to do of late is leave my mobile phone either switched off or at home should I venture out. I am fed up of being beholden to this intrusive device.
I don't know. I have often wondered what life would be like living in a more simple and sober age. I have often wanted to live the life of a monk high in the mountains of Tibet, spending my days working a subsistence lifestyle and generally being a peace with myself. The problem is I am so familiar with the noise of the information age that the calmness and stillness and immediacy of each moment would probable drive me insane! I guess I have not reached the right spiritual enlightenment level yet.
I appreciate that this posting has been one big long incomprehensible ramble, but it sort of sums up the day I have had!
It was quiet and still for the most part and the weather, although sunny, was still chilly in an early Spring type way. Just taking in the myriad of flora and fauna around me was quite the eye opener. I am not saying it was like being in the Amazonian Rain Forest, but we spend so much of our time going to and from places that I don't think we spend enough time taking in our surroundings.
I also noted that, even in winter, nature reclaims the land we take from it in next to no time. There was grass growing behind the shed at an already overgrown height and moss and grass is aleady sprouting between the flags on the path. It set me thinking how nature will one day reclaim all the resources that man has cultivated from the Earth. Whereas it is important that we respect and look after our environment, the over powering strength of nature will repair any damage we make long after humanity has gone from the face of the Earth.
Whoa, nearly got all strange and surreal there!
Back on being unplugged - I think it does everyone good to simply leave the modern day communication devices off for a while. So much of modern life is given over to the intrusion of stuff like the internet and other telecommunications. The advent of the mobile phone is almost like having some sort of tracking device on you at all times. Everywhere you go you can be contacted, you cannot be away from stuff for a moment. One thing I have started to do of late is leave my mobile phone either switched off or at home should I venture out. I am fed up of being beholden to this intrusive device.
I don't know. I have often wondered what life would be like living in a more simple and sober age. I have often wanted to live the life of a monk high in the mountains of Tibet, spending my days working a subsistence lifestyle and generally being a peace with myself. The problem is I am so familiar with the noise of the information age that the calmness and stillness and immediacy of each moment would probable drive me insane! I guess I have not reached the right spiritual enlightenment level yet.
I appreciate that this posting has been one big long incomprehensible ramble, but it sort of sums up the day I have had!
Thursday, 17 March 2011
THOUGHTS ON BAFTA AWARDS
Well I made it through the near two hours. That is probably the best review I could give the BAFTA Awards for Video Games, or whatever it was called.
The actual show itself was surprisingly OK. Instead of going down the path of trying to be hip and happening they went for the traditional awards show style which worked for me. Dara O'Briain hosted the awards and he was great. He has a genuine wit and is also an avid gamer and it shows. He made some funny observations and was not afraid to go down the path of making some nerdy jokes.
Where the show fell on it's arse was when it actually came to the awards themselves. I am not going go through each award and nomination because I frankly have neither the inclination or the actual energy to do so. There were some worthy winners such as Battlefield Bad Company 2 picking up an award for best sound and some downright shocking ones such as Need For Speed Hot Pursuit picking up the best multiplayer award.
However there was one glaring error that stood out. Some bright spark at the BAFTA's decided that Fallout New Vegas was a strategy game. This was nominated alongside the likes of Civilization 5, Starcraft 2, Napoleon Total War etc. Fallout New Vegas is an RPG. It was conceived as an RPG. It plays like an RPG, it is an RPG. There is no way that this should have been included in this category. However it turns out that the BAFTA's for Video Games does not have an award for best RPG. In a year that saw the likes of Fable 3, Fallout New Vegas, Final Fantasy XIII, Demons Souls (only came out in Europe in the last 12 months) and Mass Effect 2 and these are just the main ones off the top of my head - there will be countless more released on the PC as well, no one saw fit to include a best RPG category?
The most glaring omission from the nominations was Enslaved Odyssey To The West. This was one of the most stunning games I played all year. It also has the most believable characters I have come across in a game with the digital performances living up to the brilliant voice talent behind them. Andy Serkis and Lindsey Shaw provided the main voice cast and the story is a re-telling of the classic Chinese tale of Journey To The West. Quite how it was overlooked for even a nomination speaks volumes of how these type of award shows are flawed and ultimately have little in the way of importance.
So to sum up, they have managed to sort out the actual presentation of these shows, now all they need to do is actually embrace the whole of gaming and not just the ones that hog the top of the charts for weeks on end. That way, some credibility might follow.
The actual show itself was surprisingly OK. Instead of going down the path of trying to be hip and happening they went for the traditional awards show style which worked for me. Dara O'Briain hosted the awards and he was great. He has a genuine wit and is also an avid gamer and it shows. He made some funny observations and was not afraid to go down the path of making some nerdy jokes.
Where the show fell on it's arse was when it actually came to the awards themselves. I am not going go through each award and nomination because I frankly have neither the inclination or the actual energy to do so. There were some worthy winners such as Battlefield Bad Company 2 picking up an award for best sound and some downright shocking ones such as Need For Speed Hot Pursuit picking up the best multiplayer award.
However there was one glaring error that stood out. Some bright spark at the BAFTA's decided that Fallout New Vegas was a strategy game. This was nominated alongside the likes of Civilization 5, Starcraft 2, Napoleon Total War etc. Fallout New Vegas is an RPG. It was conceived as an RPG. It plays like an RPG, it is an RPG. There is no way that this should have been included in this category. However it turns out that the BAFTA's for Video Games does not have an award for best RPG. In a year that saw the likes of Fable 3, Fallout New Vegas, Final Fantasy XIII, Demons Souls (only came out in Europe in the last 12 months) and Mass Effect 2 and these are just the main ones off the top of my head - there will be countless more released on the PC as well, no one saw fit to include a best RPG category?
The most glaring omission from the nominations was Enslaved Odyssey To The West. This was one of the most stunning games I played all year. It also has the most believable characters I have come across in a game with the digital performances living up to the brilliant voice talent behind them. Andy Serkis and Lindsey Shaw provided the main voice cast and the story is a re-telling of the classic Chinese tale of Journey To The West. Quite how it was overlooked for even a nomination speaks volumes of how these type of award shows are flawed and ultimately have little in the way of importance.
So to sum up, they have managed to sort out the actual presentation of these shows, now all they need to do is actually embrace the whole of gaming and not just the ones that hog the top of the charts for weeks on end. That way, some credibility might follow.
Wednesday, 16 March 2011
AND THE AWARD GOES TO...
Apparently it's the game BAFTA's tonight. So I expect it will be another embarrassing episode where the producers responsible will press gang in some awkward celebrities who may have occasionally played a game into proclaiming that they are huge gamers before announcing that the game of the year is Mass Redemption Reach 2.
OK, that is not likely to happen as the celebs will have a card to read the winner off, but it is always the same with these shows. Now look, I am not saying that celebrities don't enjoy playing games as much as us the great unwashed, but often the sheer awkwardness of these occasions just makes the whole thing horrible and third rate.
For the first time I will actually be watching this thing live over the internet so as to see if it is going to be another car wreck or whether for the first time the producers actually get it right, but I am not holding my breath.
I have no definitive answer as to why games and award ceremonies don't gel well together. I think it is probably the same reason as to why the vast majority of televisions shows that have tried to cover video games have ended up on the floor...those responsible don't seem to understand who the average gamer is and so they always try and be sort of hip and happening and in the process come across as a collection of massive arseholes.
Anyway, enough of that nonsense.
I cleared a game out of my pile 'o shame this afternoon. Bullestorm can now be archived. I have to say that although I really enjoyed the game, I was hoping for more out of the ending than what I got. It looks like it was cut short and I felt a bit unsatisfied. I don't want to go into more because I don't like giving out spoilers, but there you go.
Next on my list will be to clear the single player campaign in Killzone 3 then go back to Two Worlds 2 and Dragon Age 2. Many hours of gaming there and I still have loads more to get through.
OK, that is not likely to happen as the celebs will have a card to read the winner off, but it is always the same with these shows. Now look, I am not saying that celebrities don't enjoy playing games as much as us the great unwashed, but often the sheer awkwardness of these occasions just makes the whole thing horrible and third rate.
For the first time I will actually be watching this thing live over the internet so as to see if it is going to be another car wreck or whether for the first time the producers actually get it right, but I am not holding my breath.
I have no definitive answer as to why games and award ceremonies don't gel well together. I think it is probably the same reason as to why the vast majority of televisions shows that have tried to cover video games have ended up on the floor...those responsible don't seem to understand who the average gamer is and so they always try and be sort of hip and happening and in the process come across as a collection of massive arseholes.
Anyway, enough of that nonsense.
I cleared a game out of my pile 'o shame this afternoon. Bullestorm can now be archived. I have to say that although I really enjoyed the game, I was hoping for more out of the ending than what I got. It looks like it was cut short and I felt a bit unsatisfied. I don't want to go into more because I don't like giving out spoilers, but there you go.
Next on my list will be to clear the single player campaign in Killzone 3 then go back to Two Worlds 2 and Dragon Age 2. Many hours of gaming there and I still have loads more to get through.
Tuesday, 15 March 2011
RELIABLE REVIEWS
I am always fascinated by how some games reviewers come up with a score to underline their review with. It seems to be a total necessity for every single commercial review outlet, whether it be on the internet or in a magazine, for the review to be summed up with a single score at the end of it. The reviewer can toil away for hours trying to come up with a piece of writing that conveys the gaming experience that they have had but deep down they know that the only thing the reader is interested in is what the overall score of the game is.
I do video reviews of games on You Tube and one of the questions I was asked when I first started was why I didn't score the games. The answer was simple. There was no way I was prepared to create a ten or fifteen minute video whereby I try to explain the good and bad points of a game only to then spend nearly as much time trying to work out a balanced and fair points scoring system to sum the video up. At the end of the day you should be able to ascertain whether this is a game you would like to try through a mixture of the footage shown and the commentary.
You see I have real problem with scores. Whereas in the real world and mark over 6/10 would be regarded as being good, when it comes to video games and gamers, the likes of 6/10 and 7/10 are anathema. They tend to be regarded as the safe scores that don't really praise a game to the gills nor condemn it to the depths of Hades. I liken these scores to the awful word 'nice'. I hate that word. Nice is a cheap word that you can use to negotiate your way out of saying something is good when in fact you don't really like it. This game is nice. Urgh!
That's the conundrum that scores give reviewers though. That said having read reviews for many games where it is clear that the reviewer has not played the game properly or for long enough then my sympathy for the said reviewers often wears thin.
Take Two Worlds 2 for example. I have played the game for about 9 hours since I started to play it yesterday. In those first few hours the game is tough, very tough. Nearly everything can kill you and there is a temptation to restart in the easy mode because it seems that most combat scenarios end up in your character either dying or having to do a runner. However the more I have played it and leveled my character up, the easier the game has become - just like an RPG should. As you become more powerful only the new and more powerful adversiares should provide a challenge. It is clear reading some reviews that those who write it off as too hard have clearly not invested the time needed to form a more balanced and fair opinion.
Now don't get me wrong, I am all for gamers and reviewers having an opinion on whether they like a game or not. Not everyone is going to like the same game as it all stems down to personal tastes, however the job of a reviewer, especially those that are being paid, is to be as factually reliable as possible. Quite how some reviewers were able to write with knowledge and conviction about the multi-player aspects of Test Drive Unlimited 2 when the majority of the online features have been offline since it was launched is amazing. In the same way it is equally incredible how some review copies of games don't seem to feature the game breaking bugs that the retail ones do as there never appears to be any mention of these when the reviewer is waxing lyrical about the new 'best game ever!'
I am sure most readers will be familiar with the Driver 3 debacle a few years back when two popular magazine publications were granted exclusive reviews of the long awaited game. All other online and magazine publications had an embargo placed on them until these two magazines went to sale. By some incredible twist of fate, both the magazines (one for the PS2 the other for the X Box) scored the game very highly. However this glowing opinion was not shared by the other publications or by the gamers who found a game that was bug ridden, unfinished and dreadful to play.
It is not recently either. I remember reading an article a while back where some ex-employees of a popular Commodore 64 magazine explained how they had their scores bumped up by the magazines editor as the publisher of the game concerned had spent a large amount in terms of advertising revenue with them. This was repeated some years later with a certain major website parting company with a member of staff over a dispute regarding the scores given to Kane and Lynch as the publisher had spent money on advertising the game on their site.
Bearing this in mind just how can any commercial website or magazine, where advertising is a key element in their income and ability to pay their staff, be able to offer a balanced and impartial review for games? It's impossible to tell. What the internet has afforded us is the luxury of not only being able to go to these sites but also the smaller ones where reviews are created by the gamers themselves. It is unfair to tarnish all professional reviewers with the same brush but at least the option is there to offset their opinions with those of actual gamers.
Again it does not excuse those lazy reviewers who have not real passion for gaming and are merely at these companies as a stepping stone to what they perceive to be something better. They are easy to spot. They are the ones that clearly have not played the game properly.
I do video reviews of games on You Tube and one of the questions I was asked when I first started was why I didn't score the games. The answer was simple. There was no way I was prepared to create a ten or fifteen minute video whereby I try to explain the good and bad points of a game only to then spend nearly as much time trying to work out a balanced and fair points scoring system to sum the video up. At the end of the day you should be able to ascertain whether this is a game you would like to try through a mixture of the footage shown and the commentary.
You see I have real problem with scores. Whereas in the real world and mark over 6/10 would be regarded as being good, when it comes to video games and gamers, the likes of 6/10 and 7/10 are anathema. They tend to be regarded as the safe scores that don't really praise a game to the gills nor condemn it to the depths of Hades. I liken these scores to the awful word 'nice'. I hate that word. Nice is a cheap word that you can use to negotiate your way out of saying something is good when in fact you don't really like it. This game is nice. Urgh!
That's the conundrum that scores give reviewers though. That said having read reviews for many games where it is clear that the reviewer has not played the game properly or for long enough then my sympathy for the said reviewers often wears thin.
Take Two Worlds 2 for example. I have played the game for about 9 hours since I started to play it yesterday. In those first few hours the game is tough, very tough. Nearly everything can kill you and there is a temptation to restart in the easy mode because it seems that most combat scenarios end up in your character either dying or having to do a runner. However the more I have played it and leveled my character up, the easier the game has become - just like an RPG should. As you become more powerful only the new and more powerful adversiares should provide a challenge. It is clear reading some reviews that those who write it off as too hard have clearly not invested the time needed to form a more balanced and fair opinion.
Now don't get me wrong, I am all for gamers and reviewers having an opinion on whether they like a game or not. Not everyone is going to like the same game as it all stems down to personal tastes, however the job of a reviewer, especially those that are being paid, is to be as factually reliable as possible. Quite how some reviewers were able to write with knowledge and conviction about the multi-player aspects of Test Drive Unlimited 2 when the majority of the online features have been offline since it was launched is amazing. In the same way it is equally incredible how some review copies of games don't seem to feature the game breaking bugs that the retail ones do as there never appears to be any mention of these when the reviewer is waxing lyrical about the new 'best game ever!'
I am sure most readers will be familiar with the Driver 3 debacle a few years back when two popular magazine publications were granted exclusive reviews of the long awaited game. All other online and magazine publications had an embargo placed on them until these two magazines went to sale. By some incredible twist of fate, both the magazines (one for the PS2 the other for the X Box) scored the game very highly. However this glowing opinion was not shared by the other publications or by the gamers who found a game that was bug ridden, unfinished and dreadful to play.
It is not recently either. I remember reading an article a while back where some ex-employees of a popular Commodore 64 magazine explained how they had their scores bumped up by the magazines editor as the publisher of the game concerned had spent a large amount in terms of advertising revenue with them. This was repeated some years later with a certain major website parting company with a member of staff over a dispute regarding the scores given to Kane and Lynch as the publisher had spent money on advertising the game on their site.
Bearing this in mind just how can any commercial website or magazine, where advertising is a key element in their income and ability to pay their staff, be able to offer a balanced and impartial review for games? It's impossible to tell. What the internet has afforded us is the luxury of not only being able to go to these sites but also the smaller ones where reviews are created by the gamers themselves. It is unfair to tarnish all professional reviewers with the same brush but at least the option is there to offset their opinions with those of actual gamers.
Again it does not excuse those lazy reviewers who have not real passion for gaming and are merely at these companies as a stepping stone to what they perceive to be something better. They are easy to spot. They are the ones that clearly have not played the game properly.
Monday, 14 March 2011
TWO WORLDS 2 & DRAGON AGE 2 & TORCHLIGHT
Like most bus routes run in the UK, you can wait ages for a decent RPG then three come along all at the same time.
Last week certainly made up for a barren run RPG wise for me. First up Torchlight arrived on X Box Live Marketplace. I nearly bought this via Steam last year for the Mac but decided against it at the last minute as I thought I had too many games to play at the time and didn't want to spend the £15 asking price only for it to sit there on my hard drive doing nothing. Well that was a mistake. It's a really good game in the old style Diablo type RPG vein. Stylistically speaking it seems to have a more cartoon like influence like a mixture of Deathspank and Warcraft 3 if the latter can be described as being cartoon like. What I am saying is that there is no attempt at a dark and sinister real world style setting but something clearly more rooted in fantasy.
It is an uncomplicated game but well worth playing all the same, and so far I have racked up a fair few hours on it.
On Friday, after many weeks and months of waiting both Two Worlds 2 and Dragon Age 2 arrived.
As you can see I am suitably crazy about finally getting Two Worlds 2 as I never thought it would arrive!
The original Two Worlds was a criminally overlooked RPG game. It suffered the inevitable comparisons with Oblivion although it played totally different. Many lazy reviewers jumped on the fact that it was a 3D world and you could ride a horse as basis enough to compare rather than judge the game on it's own merits. Certainly from a graphics stand point it was no match on the X Box for Oblivion but I imagine on a more powerful PC it would have looked much prettier. There were bugs and the dialogue was an acquired taste as it was spoken in the manner of Old English but I actually really enjoyed it. Sadly the developers have dropped this from Two Worlds 2 and they have opted for a more straight forward dialogue style which now also includes modern day profanity which simply does not fit into the world it is set in.
That said from what I have played of it so far I am really enjoying it. The graphics are a massive improvement and the game is more hardcore. When you can get stoned to death by an irate baboon or chased across the fields by a flock of angry ostrich's you know you are playing something aimed a more hardcore RPG audience. Much like the classic RPG's of yore you cannot button bash your way out of trouble in this. Prudent use of blocking and some good old fashioned fleeing is the order of the day.
Lastly Dragon Age 2 arrived, somewhat late on Friday afternoon which was irritating as I had paid for express delivery. When it arrived I noticed that there was no card included with the game giving me my pre-order codes. I tried to contact Game, who I had pre-ordered it with, via Twitter but go no response.
Now I am one of those people who don't like starting a game before I have downloaded all the necessary bonus stuff and so on. There is nothing more irritating than to discover that you need to back track or worse still restart the game to get the benefit of the DLC. So I ended up waiting all weekend before finally being able to track someone down at Game willing to hand over the code. As if that was not enough, in order to use the code I had to register an account on Bioware's site then input the code to get it in game as opposed to the easier method of using an X Box Live Marketplace code. Arggh!
I did manage to get a few minutes play in and it looks like a real winner. The combat is smooth and satisfying as well as being more dynamic and the graphics on the 360 look more the part now. I am really looking forward to getting stuck into this one.
So I have loads to play through again. Not only do I have these games but a stack of others I have collected over the past few months. It's not easy!
Last week certainly made up for a barren run RPG wise for me. First up Torchlight arrived on X Box Live Marketplace. I nearly bought this via Steam last year for the Mac but decided against it at the last minute as I thought I had too many games to play at the time and didn't want to spend the £15 asking price only for it to sit there on my hard drive doing nothing. Well that was a mistake. It's a really good game in the old style Diablo type RPG vein. Stylistically speaking it seems to have a more cartoon like influence like a mixture of Deathspank and Warcraft 3 if the latter can be described as being cartoon like. What I am saying is that there is no attempt at a dark and sinister real world style setting but something clearly more rooted in fantasy.
It is an uncomplicated game but well worth playing all the same, and so far I have racked up a fair few hours on it.
On Friday, after many weeks and months of waiting both Two Worlds 2 and Dragon Age 2 arrived.
As you can see I am suitably crazy about finally getting Two Worlds 2 as I never thought it would arrive!
The original Two Worlds was a criminally overlooked RPG game. It suffered the inevitable comparisons with Oblivion although it played totally different. Many lazy reviewers jumped on the fact that it was a 3D world and you could ride a horse as basis enough to compare rather than judge the game on it's own merits. Certainly from a graphics stand point it was no match on the X Box for Oblivion but I imagine on a more powerful PC it would have looked much prettier. There were bugs and the dialogue was an acquired taste as it was spoken in the manner of Old English but I actually really enjoyed it. Sadly the developers have dropped this from Two Worlds 2 and they have opted for a more straight forward dialogue style which now also includes modern day profanity which simply does not fit into the world it is set in.
That said from what I have played of it so far I am really enjoying it. The graphics are a massive improvement and the game is more hardcore. When you can get stoned to death by an irate baboon or chased across the fields by a flock of angry ostrich's you know you are playing something aimed a more hardcore RPG audience. Much like the classic RPG's of yore you cannot button bash your way out of trouble in this. Prudent use of blocking and some good old fashioned fleeing is the order of the day.
Lastly Dragon Age 2 arrived, somewhat late on Friday afternoon which was irritating as I had paid for express delivery. When it arrived I noticed that there was no card included with the game giving me my pre-order codes. I tried to contact Game, who I had pre-ordered it with, via Twitter but go no response.
Now I am one of those people who don't like starting a game before I have downloaded all the necessary bonus stuff and so on. There is nothing more irritating than to discover that you need to back track or worse still restart the game to get the benefit of the DLC. So I ended up waiting all weekend before finally being able to track someone down at Game willing to hand over the code. As if that was not enough, in order to use the code I had to register an account on Bioware's site then input the code to get it in game as opposed to the easier method of using an X Box Live Marketplace code. Arggh!
I did manage to get a few minutes play in and it looks like a real winner. The combat is smooth and satisfying as well as being more dynamic and the graphics on the 360 look more the part now. I am really looking forward to getting stuck into this one.
So I have loads to play through again. Not only do I have these games but a stack of others I have collected over the past few months. It's not easy!
Sunday, 13 March 2011
SONG FOR A SUNDAY
I have come down with a right nasty cold, so I cannot really be bothered to put together a proper post, but I did come across this song - Julie by the Levellers which is a belting tune - on You Tube. I hope you enjoy it and have a nice Sunday.
Friday, 11 March 2011
THERE IS GOOD IN PEOPLE
Like many others I watched in sadness and hopelessness at the events which have unfolded in Japan this morning as the largest recorded earthquake in the countries history triggered off a tsunami that swamped much of the countries coastline.
One of the worst aspects was seeing this wall of water rapidly approaching people in cars who were frantically trying to drive out of the way of the wave only to become engulfed by it. It is certain that many of those people died trapped in their cars and it is gut wrenching to watch real people in the final moments of their lives dying right before your eyes. No Hollywood movie or video game can ever come close to emulating that feeling. This is real, those people dying are real and it can have a profound effect.
However, in the midst of this human tragedy, there is always that glimmering light of hope that shines through. So much of the news emphasizes the negative aspects of humanity. We all know of the greed and corruption that goes on at the highest levels of office. Yet the hope I have for the future of the human race is always highlighted when terrible events like this happens and that how quick other nations in this world will come to the aid of the one stricken.
Forgetting politics, it is reassuring that the spark of humanity is still very much alive. That our governments are always prepared to act to help people in times of natural disasters. That we have international aid agencies that mobilise within a few short hours of a disaster happening, ready and waiting to go across to the other side of the world to assist those in need.
Humanity has it's flaws. Governments have their agenda's. Yet when forces are unleashed that can be incomprehensible they will act and do what is right. Deep inside there is still compassion for our fellow men and women. It is a shame that it takes such terrible events as those which have happened and are happening in Japan for this to shine through.
There maybe examples of when governments have failed such as what happened in New Orleans but we are an imperfect species that will always make bad calls. The hope is that we learn from these errors in judgment.
There is still good in people and that should never be forgotten.
One of the worst aspects was seeing this wall of water rapidly approaching people in cars who were frantically trying to drive out of the way of the wave only to become engulfed by it. It is certain that many of those people died trapped in their cars and it is gut wrenching to watch real people in the final moments of their lives dying right before your eyes. No Hollywood movie or video game can ever come close to emulating that feeling. This is real, those people dying are real and it can have a profound effect.
However, in the midst of this human tragedy, there is always that glimmering light of hope that shines through. So much of the news emphasizes the negative aspects of humanity. We all know of the greed and corruption that goes on at the highest levels of office. Yet the hope I have for the future of the human race is always highlighted when terrible events like this happens and that how quick other nations in this world will come to the aid of the one stricken.
Forgetting politics, it is reassuring that the spark of humanity is still very much alive. That our governments are always prepared to act to help people in times of natural disasters. That we have international aid agencies that mobilise within a few short hours of a disaster happening, ready and waiting to go across to the other side of the world to assist those in need.
Humanity has it's flaws. Governments have their agenda's. Yet when forces are unleashed that can be incomprehensible they will act and do what is right. Deep inside there is still compassion for our fellow men and women. It is a shame that it takes such terrible events as those which have happened and are happening in Japan for this to shine through.
There maybe examples of when governments have failed such as what happened in New Orleans but we are an imperfect species that will always make bad calls. The hope is that we learn from these errors in judgment.
There is still good in people and that should never be forgotten.
Wednesday, 9 March 2011
SOME C64 NINJA MAGIC!
I thought I would relive some my childhood in video gaming today by embedding a couple of gems. This is footage from The Last Ninja and the The Last Ninja 2. The games were rock hard but were excellent and I loved the soundtrack to them.
Bear in mind that these games were on the C64 and so the audio and graphical limitations are evident but they paved the way for what was to come and back in their day they were excellent.
Bear in mind that these games were on the C64 and so the audio and graphical limitations are evident but they paved the way for what was to come and back in their day they were excellent.
Monday, 7 March 2011
IT'S A BIG OL' UNIVERSE OUT THERE
I watched Wonders of the Universe on the BBC last night which is presented by Professor Brian Cox. For me it's one of the most interesting and compelling programs on television and, as some of you who read one of my previous blogs will know, I don't watch television that much.
What I really like about Wonders and Professor Cox is the way the show is presented. Over the course of the series each aspect is explained in simple layman's terms. However this is not done in some patronising way. A degree of intellect and the ability to learn is required but he puts over the complex and mind blowing laws of universal physics in a way that someone like me, who spent all of his time in physics classes trying to electrocute myself or trying to blow the lab up, would actually find the theory aspect interesting.
I previously watched the precursor to this, Wonders of the Solar System, and I was that hooked by it I bought it on Blu Ray to watch in glorious high definition, and it is worth it. Not only is the program well presented but there are some beautiful images of the universe and the myriad of objects that make it up.
It is sometime a hard thing to detach oneself from the daily grind of life on Earth and more specifically our own lives. Sometimes we become too wrapped up in the immediacy of our own existence to actually fully appreciate exactly how much of a fantastic gift life is. One of the things that I was totally unaware of is that one day our universe will effectively die out. The stars will stop shining and all that will be left will be the darkness of the void. The actual period of the universes life that we are in at the moment is the only period where life anywhere in the universe will be possible. OK, we a measuring this in billions and trillions of years here so it's not like a 1000 year opportunity, but universally speaking that is a small period of it's life cycle.
When you think about this and then factor in the requirements for life to prosper as it has on Earth it really makes you think just how great a gift life is. With odds stacked against the successful establishment of life on a planet the fact that we get a shot at it now in almost perfect circumstances is something we should be thankful for.
I am looking forward to what else the series will bring. Although I have a limited understanding of the true physics behind this marvelous engine that is the universe I still try to learn as much as I can. I just wish there were more programs like this out there whereby there is a true educational value to be obtained.
What I really like about Wonders and Professor Cox is the way the show is presented. Over the course of the series each aspect is explained in simple layman's terms. However this is not done in some patronising way. A degree of intellect and the ability to learn is required but he puts over the complex and mind blowing laws of universal physics in a way that someone like me, who spent all of his time in physics classes trying to electrocute myself or trying to blow the lab up, would actually find the theory aspect interesting.
I previously watched the precursor to this, Wonders of the Solar System, and I was that hooked by it I bought it on Blu Ray to watch in glorious high definition, and it is worth it. Not only is the program well presented but there are some beautiful images of the universe and the myriad of objects that make it up.
It is sometime a hard thing to detach oneself from the daily grind of life on Earth and more specifically our own lives. Sometimes we become too wrapped up in the immediacy of our own existence to actually fully appreciate exactly how much of a fantastic gift life is. One of the things that I was totally unaware of is that one day our universe will effectively die out. The stars will stop shining and all that will be left will be the darkness of the void. The actual period of the universes life that we are in at the moment is the only period where life anywhere in the universe will be possible. OK, we a measuring this in billions and trillions of years here so it's not like a 1000 year opportunity, but universally speaking that is a small period of it's life cycle.
When you think about this and then factor in the requirements for life to prosper as it has on Earth it really makes you think just how great a gift life is. With odds stacked against the successful establishment of life on a planet the fact that we get a shot at it now in almost perfect circumstances is something we should be thankful for.
I am looking forward to what else the series will bring. Although I have a limited understanding of the true physics behind this marvelous engine that is the universe I still try to learn as much as I can. I just wish there were more programs like this out there whereby there is a true educational value to be obtained.
Sunday, 6 March 2011
GLAZER OWNERSHIP COMING HOME TO ROOST
Fergie moaning about value. Gill claiming money is there to buy players if Fergie wants to. A team whose midfield is so bad that it is one of life's mysteries how we are top of the table (though we won't be for much longer the way things are going). Finally owners who have saddled the club with a huge amount of debt.
Now I seriously doubt that it would take a rocket scientist here, but one of those points above does not fit with the pattern. I will give you a clue. Gill said it.
You see, Gill says that Fergie has money to spend on players. Fergie claims there is no value in the transfer market. The only time I ever hear this is from managers who don't have much money to spend on players. Managers who seemingly have plenty tend to go about spending it, because having a larger pool of talent to chose from makes life easier throughout a long campaign. Certainly Fergie didn't see their being a value problem when he signed Berbatov for £30 million which was way above his value. He certainly did not flinch at paying £28 million for Veron who had not even kicked a ball in the Premiership.
So why is he suddenly complaining about a lack of value when there is a clear and dire need to buy players and Gill is telling everyone who will listen that there is money there to buy players? Hm, it's a strange one isn't it?
For two seasons now the midfield has needed addressing and for two seasons Fergie has been moaning about value whilst spending conservatively in the transfer market. Considering the loss of Ronaldo who was the FIFA Player of the Year at the time and Carlos Tevez who was a key asset with Ronaldo and Rooney up front, one may have been forgiven in thinking that a sizable amount of the Ronaldo £80 million transfer fee would have been available to strengthen the squad. It appears that is not the case.
So given the debt that is on the club's books, the fact that we are impotent in the transfer market and the fact that this side is in dire need of investment it would appear that our friend David Gill is telling fibs. There is no money to buy players - certainly not at the level needed to bring genuine class to the side. If that is the case, then I am baffled as to why Fergie would tolerate this.
At this stage of his career, why the hell should he be protecting those who are purposefully making his life more difficult? Why does he not just call it a day and blow the whistle on just what is the real state of play at the club? After all, he would be doing the fans a service for finally putting to bed any doubt about the state of the clubs finances and ability to compete at the highest level to buy players.
Now I am all for youth coming through. However it has to be there at the club already and clearly that is not the case at the moment. If we continue to ignore the issue then decline is inevitable and the more we slide the harder it will be to stop the rot. For those who think that it is not possible, wake up and look around. In 1990 did Liverpool fans honestly believe that would be their last league championship win for 21 years? Did Nottingham Forest fans truly think that their side would end up relegated and out of the top flight under Brian Clough? Back in 1968 did the United fans that night at Wembley consider that in 6 years they would have crashed out of the top flight in English football?
No of course not. Now I am not suggesting that United will be relegated or anything like that, but decline is sudden and very difficult to stop. In 1995 Blackburn Rovers won the league, but their cash dried up and look what happened to them. Success has to be maintained at all times. The moment you cut corners or rest on your laurels it's over.
The cracks in this side have been getting ever wider since the 2009 Champions League final and they will only get worse. Already three ideal candidates have been snapped up by other clubs. Ozil, Van Der Vaart and Sneijder. How many more are going to be allowed to go elsewhere?
If the money isn't there, Fergie should just call it a day in the summer and not allow his legacy to be tainted by these lying Glazer's and their stooge Gill. He should rise above it and let them boil in their own pot of lies because blowing the lid on how bad things are will put intolerable pressure on the Glazer's to consider selling. Falling attendances and a dip in merchandise would hammer their revenue streams screwing up their fragile business plans. A decline in the teams fortunes would further dent their ability to service their debt especially if they don't have the revenue from the Champions League.
In walking out on United, Fergie could actually end up doing one final act greater than any trophy he has ever won at the club. He could rid them of the Glazer ownership and that would garner him more praise and cement his legacy in the eyes of the fans.
The Glazer ownership is coming home to roost. I fear the reality of this is yet to truly hit home.
Now I seriously doubt that it would take a rocket scientist here, but one of those points above does not fit with the pattern. I will give you a clue. Gill said it.
You see, Gill says that Fergie has money to spend on players. Fergie claims there is no value in the transfer market. The only time I ever hear this is from managers who don't have much money to spend on players. Managers who seemingly have plenty tend to go about spending it, because having a larger pool of talent to chose from makes life easier throughout a long campaign. Certainly Fergie didn't see their being a value problem when he signed Berbatov for £30 million which was way above his value. He certainly did not flinch at paying £28 million for Veron who had not even kicked a ball in the Premiership.
So why is he suddenly complaining about a lack of value when there is a clear and dire need to buy players and Gill is telling everyone who will listen that there is money there to buy players? Hm, it's a strange one isn't it?
For two seasons now the midfield has needed addressing and for two seasons Fergie has been moaning about value whilst spending conservatively in the transfer market. Considering the loss of Ronaldo who was the FIFA Player of the Year at the time and Carlos Tevez who was a key asset with Ronaldo and Rooney up front, one may have been forgiven in thinking that a sizable amount of the Ronaldo £80 million transfer fee would have been available to strengthen the squad. It appears that is not the case.
So given the debt that is on the club's books, the fact that we are impotent in the transfer market and the fact that this side is in dire need of investment it would appear that our friend David Gill is telling fibs. There is no money to buy players - certainly not at the level needed to bring genuine class to the side. If that is the case, then I am baffled as to why Fergie would tolerate this.
At this stage of his career, why the hell should he be protecting those who are purposefully making his life more difficult? Why does he not just call it a day and blow the whistle on just what is the real state of play at the club? After all, he would be doing the fans a service for finally putting to bed any doubt about the state of the clubs finances and ability to compete at the highest level to buy players.
Now I am all for youth coming through. However it has to be there at the club already and clearly that is not the case at the moment. If we continue to ignore the issue then decline is inevitable and the more we slide the harder it will be to stop the rot. For those who think that it is not possible, wake up and look around. In 1990 did Liverpool fans honestly believe that would be their last league championship win for 21 years? Did Nottingham Forest fans truly think that their side would end up relegated and out of the top flight under Brian Clough? Back in 1968 did the United fans that night at Wembley consider that in 6 years they would have crashed out of the top flight in English football?
No of course not. Now I am not suggesting that United will be relegated or anything like that, but decline is sudden and very difficult to stop. In 1995 Blackburn Rovers won the league, but their cash dried up and look what happened to them. Success has to be maintained at all times. The moment you cut corners or rest on your laurels it's over.
The cracks in this side have been getting ever wider since the 2009 Champions League final and they will only get worse. Already three ideal candidates have been snapped up by other clubs. Ozil, Van Der Vaart and Sneijder. How many more are going to be allowed to go elsewhere?
If the money isn't there, Fergie should just call it a day in the summer and not allow his legacy to be tainted by these lying Glazer's and their stooge Gill. He should rise above it and let them boil in their own pot of lies because blowing the lid on how bad things are will put intolerable pressure on the Glazer's to consider selling. Falling attendances and a dip in merchandise would hammer their revenue streams screwing up their fragile business plans. A decline in the teams fortunes would further dent their ability to service their debt especially if they don't have the revenue from the Champions League.
In walking out on United, Fergie could actually end up doing one final act greater than any trophy he has ever won at the club. He could rid them of the Glazer ownership and that would garner him more praise and cement his legacy in the eyes of the fans.
The Glazer ownership is coming home to roost. I fear the reality of this is yet to truly hit home.
Friday, 4 March 2011
WHERE IS TWO WORLDS 2?
Just who decides when to release a video game? I am fairly confident it has nothing to do with the developers and equally confident that the full blame lies with the publishers.
The reason for my new rant at the industry is the sheer and incredible stupidity of the people behind the release of Two Worlds 2.
This game has been delayed many times already and was supposed to be coming out today. I had pre-ordered this off Amazon as Game no longer seemed to be listing this. When I pre-ordered it I was advised that it was supposed to be launched last Friday (24th February) but then was advised via email that it had been put back a week to today, the 4th March. I was not too fussed. Bulletstorm and Killzone 3 were coming out last Friday and so it made sense to delay it. With little coming out this week of note I was looking forward to getting it.
This morning, however, I received yet another email telling me that it had been put back a week to the 11th March. OK, this in itself is still no personal disaster for me - I have plenty of games to play through and other things to do, but for the game itself it is plainly stupid as the long awaited and much hyped Dragon Age 2 is released on that very same day.
Now releasing an RPG game up against 2 first person shooters is not the end of the world. There will always be those who fancy something different, but to push it back right into the release window of one of the most eagerly awaited RPG's this year is either staggeringly stupid or supremely arrogant. I am more inclined to think that this is the former.
It seems that Two Worlds 2 is destined to fail. Even though the game had already been delayed for a UK release it seems that there are dark forces at work preventing it getting released. The shipment for the UK release was damaged resulting in a further delay and one wonders whether the loss of a wide general release may actually be the precursor to the game not actually coming out at all.
As a fan of RPG games this would be a crying shame. The first Two Worlds was something of an acquired taste, but I really liked it and so was looking forward to the sequel
OK in this case of Two Worlds 2 some of the blame for it's delay is not entirely down to the publisher, but the original delay in getting it into the UK was. This game has already been released in Europe in November last year and the US since January this year on the X Box 360. How hard could it have been to release at the same time in the UK?
What's more, the game is ONLY available through Amazon in the UK. You cannot go onto the high street and buy it! How incredibly stupid is that? If I was a developer who had worked hard on the project I would be spitting fire at how poor the release had been handled.
What remains now is whether the game will ever surface in the UK and perhaps more interestingly whether Amazon will take it upon themselves to inflate the price just before they dispatch the game since they have the monopoly on it's release.
The reason for my new rant at the industry is the sheer and incredible stupidity of the people behind the release of Two Worlds 2.
This game has been delayed many times already and was supposed to be coming out today. I had pre-ordered this off Amazon as Game no longer seemed to be listing this. When I pre-ordered it I was advised that it was supposed to be launched last Friday (24th February) but then was advised via email that it had been put back a week to today, the 4th March. I was not too fussed. Bulletstorm and Killzone 3 were coming out last Friday and so it made sense to delay it. With little coming out this week of note I was looking forward to getting it.
This morning, however, I received yet another email telling me that it had been put back a week to the 11th March. OK, this in itself is still no personal disaster for me - I have plenty of games to play through and other things to do, but for the game itself it is plainly stupid as the long awaited and much hyped Dragon Age 2 is released on that very same day.
Now releasing an RPG game up against 2 first person shooters is not the end of the world. There will always be those who fancy something different, but to push it back right into the release window of one of the most eagerly awaited RPG's this year is either staggeringly stupid or supremely arrogant. I am more inclined to think that this is the former.
It seems that Two Worlds 2 is destined to fail. Even though the game had already been delayed for a UK release it seems that there are dark forces at work preventing it getting released. The shipment for the UK release was damaged resulting in a further delay and one wonders whether the loss of a wide general release may actually be the precursor to the game not actually coming out at all.
As a fan of RPG games this would be a crying shame. The first Two Worlds was something of an acquired taste, but I really liked it and so was looking forward to the sequel
OK in this case of Two Worlds 2 some of the blame for it's delay is not entirely down to the publisher, but the original delay in getting it into the UK was. This game has already been released in Europe in November last year and the US since January this year on the X Box 360. How hard could it have been to release at the same time in the UK?
What's more, the game is ONLY available through Amazon in the UK. You cannot go onto the high street and buy it! How incredibly stupid is that? If I was a developer who had worked hard on the project I would be spitting fire at how poor the release had been handled.
What remains now is whether the game will ever surface in the UK and perhaps more interestingly whether Amazon will take it upon themselves to inflate the price just before they dispatch the game since they have the monopoly on it's release.
Thursday, 3 March 2011
GENERAL STUFF
When I started this blog I actually didn't intend for it to become a daily thing as it almost has - in fact on some days I have posted two entries. That said, I think it is good if you can try and keep something going for as long as possible.
I used to try and do daily pictures and post them on the Blipfoto site, but I sort of lost interest as it meant trying to go out everyday and find something interesting to take a photo of. The problem is that there are only so many trees, fields and old buildings you can photograph before you become seriously bored of it as well. Added to the fact that I was lugging a Sony DSLR around with me meant that it wasn't exactly a point and shoot exercise. I admit that I should have been more motivated, but motivation has become a real problem for me in the past 12 months or so, but that is a different story altogether.
What I have decided to try was at least keep this blog up to date and try and do one or two video game reviews on You Tube each month. Sometimes when you are trying to sharpen your focus into something productive it helps to use things that you can easily get access to and get done, rather than setting yourself a mission as it were.
I did say some entries ago that I also did not intend to post here if I felt that I had nothing to say which is also true. Not all entries on here are going to be lengthy reads unless I need to unleash on something but this will not become an extension of Twitter.
As I have already mentioned, my MacBook Pro is in repair at the moment so getting stuff done, whilst possible, is a little more inconvenient. However I tend to record the raw footage of my game reviews in a batch to save having to keep messing around with the cables. I have another couple of reviews in the pipeline. My next one I intend to get up on You Tube next week and I will embed it here on this blog site as well. I have not decided which one to do yet (if truth be known I actually cannot remember which game footage I shot).
Anyway, just an update. Hopefully I will have some game related ramblings to post next time round.
I used to try and do daily pictures and post them on the Blipfoto site, but I sort of lost interest as it meant trying to go out everyday and find something interesting to take a photo of. The problem is that there are only so many trees, fields and old buildings you can photograph before you become seriously bored of it as well. Added to the fact that I was lugging a Sony DSLR around with me meant that it wasn't exactly a point and shoot exercise. I admit that I should have been more motivated, but motivation has become a real problem for me in the past 12 months or so, but that is a different story altogether.
What I have decided to try was at least keep this blog up to date and try and do one or two video game reviews on You Tube each month. Sometimes when you are trying to sharpen your focus into something productive it helps to use things that you can easily get access to and get done, rather than setting yourself a mission as it were.
I did say some entries ago that I also did not intend to post here if I felt that I had nothing to say which is also true. Not all entries on here are going to be lengthy reads unless I need to unleash on something but this will not become an extension of Twitter.
As I have already mentioned, my MacBook Pro is in repair at the moment so getting stuff done, whilst possible, is a little more inconvenient. However I tend to record the raw footage of my game reviews in a batch to save having to keep messing around with the cables. I have another couple of reviews in the pipeline. My next one I intend to get up on You Tube next week and I will embed it here on this blog site as well. I have not decided which one to do yet (if truth be known I actually cannot remember which game footage I shot).
Anyway, just an update. Hopefully I will have some game related ramblings to post next time round.
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
BONUS MUSIC INTERLUDE
Just thought I would link to this music video that I watched on You Tube some time ago. It's a great composition that someone has made featuring footage from Assassin's Creed 2 and the music from the game called Venice Rooftops which was created by Jesper Kyd. It's one of my favorite music keys in any video game, which is appropriate as the Assassin's Creed series is amongst my most favorite video game series.
Remember: "Nothing is true, everything is permitted."
Remember: "Nothing is true, everything is permitted."
DOING THIS IPAD STYLE
I thought I would try and unleash the power of my iPad to do this blog entry...that is if you consider using an iPad to compose a blog unleashing it's power.
Thankfully my MacBook Pro can be repaired economically and without the need to resort to claiming on the house insurance. I have to say that I found the Genius Bar at the Apple Store to be the most helpful IT support that I have ever come across. The technician gave a thorough examination of the lap top and was very helpful in explaining each of the steps they were taking in making sure there were no other traceable issues aside from the screen repair.
I now just have to wait for the repair to be carried out which should take up to 14 days.
As a result of having to do a lot of running about yesterday I didn't get much gaming or work done so I need to try and do some today.
Thankfully my MacBook Pro can be repaired economically and without the need to resort to claiming on the house insurance. I have to say that I found the Genius Bar at the Apple Store to be the most helpful IT support that I have ever come across. The technician gave a thorough examination of the lap top and was very helpful in explaining each of the steps they were taking in making sure there were no other traceable issues aside from the screen repair.
I now just have to wait for the repair to be carried out which should take up to 14 days.
As a result of having to do a lot of running about yesterday I didn't get much gaming or work done so I need to try and do some today.
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