Knife of Dunwall in London

...and so, the other night after work (on my way back to London Bridge station as for some reason the free shuttle bus didn't happen) I basically managed to walk completely out of London and into level 1 of Knife of Dunwall from Dishonored (can't find a better image, but trust me, this *has* to have been the inspiration for the level designers)...It's called Shad Thames (if you are interested) and from the looks of things there used to be a few more bridges...!

Awesome Graphics!

This is truly incredible...check out the E3 footage of Codemasters' new title - F1 2010...it just looks...well, *real*...!

A pox upon EA Games!

Those *idiots*...here we have a lovely environment, where it's easy, practically free and extremely quick to get hold of demo versions of new games (thus practically removing any incentive for casual piracy and boosting sales for genuinely great titles) and EA-bloody-Games suddenly decides that it can make a fast buck by charging for *demo* content...*sigh*...

No-one charges for demo content - if you are *paying* then it isn't a blooming demo, it's a commercial product! The only problem is, there are shower of fools out there prepared to splash out their hard-earned for something *useless* (who obviously do exist - because otherwise you wouldn't be able to buy stupid DLC like "Horse Armour") are either going to ruin it for everyone else by souring the pudding or push everyone back into the arms of either the aforementioned pirates, or the second-hand market, neither of which are going to help Tiny Tim, the cheerful but crippled programmers son, get his Christmas goose...

The other thing is, demo content is often released with a caveat something along the lines of "this is a demo and doesn't represent the finished product (blah blah)", so what is the story going to be here? Will we *pay* to become beta testers now? Or will EA wait until the game has gone Gold, sell a crippled version of it until people have stopped paying and then, when the game has been perfected, *finally* release the full version? What a mess... >8(

Oh and don't even get me started on Bioshock II including the first bit of DLC on the *game disk*, Bioware...what were you thinking? *Tut*...

Update - don't look now...EA are considering legal action against "South Park"...! It's just win after win after win for those guys...

Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death

Wah... :(

It's been happening for a while now, slump down onto my bean bag and poke the power button anticipating a nice bit of batarang action around Gotham City or perhaps throwing a few chain lightning bolts around Stonehelm and instead of the boot up routine three of the little lights around the power button flash annoyingly at me in a dismal red...I tut and hit it twice again to turn it off and back on and after a heartbeat the greens merrily cycle and the Xbox starts up normally (happy mayhem and evil cackling then commencing)...but Saturday last saw the end of my goon bashing and the suspension of my channeling the awesome power of mother nature...after at least twenty attempts, my pout getting bigger and bigger as my crest fell I was finally forced to accept that my Xbox had finally and fatally succombed to the infamous "Red Ring of Death"...

After an uncomfortable half an hour (trying to keep Thomas happy while) struggling to remember what ancient email account I twinned to my gamertag (and what the password was), I finally managed to register my xbox (about 4 years late), and wincing as I submitted my repair request (on a screen showing in a familiar red colour the words "Warranty Expired") to Microsoft in anticipation of a large bill...What popped up on the receipt page was both a shock and a very pleasant surprise - the amount they were going to charge me for the repair was (*gasp*) 0.00 GBP.

From there on, things only continued to improve (yes, odd I know, considering this post is about a broken gaming console) the email that arrived shortly afterwards told me to box up the Xbox not in it's original packaging (for some reason probably to do with dishonest appropriation with the intent to permanently deprive the original owner) slap on a return label (also sent on an email) and call UPS to arrange for (wait for it) FREE SHIPPING to the Xbox hospital for poorly consoles (which is in Frankfurt, just in case you were wondering)!

It turns out that Microsoft has taken this issue so seriously that in 2006 they put aside One Beeeeeeeeelion Dollars to combat the problem (or just enough for either $100 worth of shipping and repairs for every single Xbox 360 ever made, or to completely replace 1 in 3)...

Cherry on the top? My next door neighbour is going to stay with his Gran for half term and she has a Wii, so he's not using his Xbox... ;)

I can successfully manipulate time...

I'm not joking, and it's actually rather easy - you may doubt me, so let's first off just consider the facts - we all know that time (albeit in a very small way) can be sped up by moving reasonably quickly (through the experimentally proven fact of "time dilation" - it's not a tricky read, but to summarise) - travel fast and time actually (for you) passes more slowly (this is compared to everyone at rest, or moving more slowly than you)...it's a tiny *weeny* effect (0 mph compared to 600 mph makes a difference only if you are able to measure billionths of a second) unless, that is, you start to approach the speed of light, when it all suddenly becomes deeply serious (mere minutes with the foot on the light speed pedal - a quick nip around the solar system - and when you land your shiny space ship you may find that everyone you ever knew has died of old age!  A big trip and you may return to a new civilization (a few bits of your old life might lay smashed up in a museum somewhere - if you are lucky), or take a wrong turn and the next geological age may await  (i.e. everything you ever knew is gone and the Insect Overlords now rule the Earth)...

Anyway, back to my point, my level of manipulation (while not being as puny as to almost evade an atomic clock, nor as powerful as the Tardis) sits somewhere inbetween - and it's simple and documented too, even though it wasn't penned by Einstein - just borrowed from the long handed-down saying "Time flies when you are having fun"...my theory of perceptual time dilation is flexible too, allowing both speeding up and slowing down of time, and the rates by which they are chained are extremely reliable...

I do it like this - if I want time to *really* slow down then I pick up a book and read (30 minutes of perception then regularly equals about 10 minutes of actual time)...if I want time to be *deleted* (almost immediately), then all I need to do is pick up a game - PSP or DS if I'm on the move, 360 when I'm at home (20 minutes of perception equals (usually) 57 minutes of actual time) and if I want time to run just about normally?  All I do is stick on TV or a movie and time ticks along pleasantly and normally (10 minutes equals 10 minutes)...

So I can (very) effectively control my perception of time just the same as if I had a little temporal remote control, just by varying my behaviour... ;)  I'm sure I'm not the only one, but it's been interesting to measure it... ;)

Amazing Xbox 360 line up for 2009!

So after the awesome Christmas line-up we have just enjoyed for the Xbox 360 (which I am working my way through as quickly as I can), what do we have to look forward to in 2009? There has been some suggestion that there is going to be a bit of a drought of talent, but I've done some digging and it really looks like there is a *huge* amount to get excited about!!

For convenience I've broken them down into three categories, starting with titles that I am very, *very* excited about (and why) -

Bioshock 2 - Sea of Dreams - Need I actually say any more? The continuation (although there is some speculation that it is likely to be a prequel) of this "spiritual successor" to the System Shock series has already got me shuddering with anticipation (and fear)...oh and Bioshock 3 has been announced too, timed to be released at the same time as the upcoming Bioshock movie, so lots to look forward to!

Ghostbusters - Even though it was pretty terrible by today's standards, back in the 8-bit era one of my favorite games was Ghostbusters (even with it's attribute clash and almost indistinguishable digitised speech) and that is probably the real reason why I'm so excited by this prospect (i.e. actually seeing some justice done to the franchise)...Despite the project being juggled like a hot potato, it does finally have a distributer (Atari at last check) and features members of the original cast including Ramis, Aykroyd, Murray and Ernie Hudson who have reunited to do the voice acting...equal measures of humor and scares are promised, as well as (familiar and new) weapons and gadgets to try and save New York City once again, and yes, you do get to set fire to Mr Stay Puft and that's got to be worth the price of admission alone...!

Beyond Good and Evil 2 - Very little information has emerged about this sequel to one of the most incredible games ever made (and sadly overlooked by most people), but the name alone is enough to justify extreme excitement for me...If you never played the first one, I can't recommend it strongly enough...incredible storytelling, one of the most believable worlds ever created inside a video game, genuinely compelling puzzles, clever and satisfying combat...if this game is anything like the first one, we are in for one hell of a ride!

Banjo-Tooie - An odd inclusion you might think, as this is penciled in at the moment as an Xbox Live Arcade title, but it seems to be shaping up into what I was really after from "Nuts and Bolts", i.e. a true sequel to the original N64 titles...Gruntilda is back (blah blah blah) and you still solve problems, do time challenges and jump around a lot collecting jiggies, however it's little exciting twist (there had to be one) being the ability to play as various other characters (including Mumbo, a submarine, a washing machine and even a dinosaur)...so let's all cross our fingers and hope it's a RARE hit (rather than miss... ;)

Just Cause 2 - Even though I never actually managed to liberate *all* the settlements on the original (it was *huge*) I'm still looking forward to seeing exactly what completely ridiculous acrobatics Rico Rodriguez is going to be capable of this time (my favorite of the first game being to drive at 100mph then jump out onto the car roof and deploy my parachute, soaring into the air over the jungle...that was just awesome)...hopefully some of the annoyances of the previous game will have been ironed out (less grinding would have been nice - I got royally sick of stealing shipments of cigars), and a better story line pumped into place (they have Far Cry 2 as a benchmark now, so the stakes have been well and truly raised)...oh and it's set in South East Asia this time (so that's the last time you have to hear that annoying "Policia!" sound bite (thank God)... ;)

Chronicles of Riddick: The Assault on Dark Athena - If you ever played the first Chronicles of Riddick game, you will *know* why this one is in this section - Vin Diesel *GETS*games - it's as simple as that...he understands exactly what is going to work, what is going to excite and surprise and he works his arse off to make sure that any project he is involved in is immersive, feels realistic and is extremely engaging. The movies were a bit...odd (IMHO, no matter how much I tried to like them)...the games (if the second one is anything like the first) are classics...

Alan Wake - Last, but not least, a game where the hype engine has certainly been cranked up to 11...You play a horror novelist (of the same name) who finds himself trapped in the nightmarish town of Bright Falls and in order to escape must solve a terrible mystery. It's a go anywhere/any time affair, as you uncover a story of suspense, with outrageous plot twists and fascinating NPCs, take care exploring during the hours of darkness though, as the demonic foe are more powerful at night! I want to say "Hurry up", but actually guys, don't...just take your time and release the game when it's *perfect*...

- next, we'll check out a few titles that stand a very good chance of being "must have" titles (and certainly merit keeping a careful eye upon) -

Splinter Cell - Conviction - The last time we saw Sam Fisher he was on the run from Third Echelon, a changed man...quite how this one is going to shape up is unclear, the levels I liked the least of the previous games were the ones where you were stripped of your equipment, and guess what? Being a fugitive means all that kit got put on ice...the key to survival now is improvisation, your environment becomes your inventory...In a nod to the "Hitman" series it's going to be possible to blend in with crowds to avoid detection or cause panic to distract enemies, multiplayer features too with players able to take opposing sides in the battle rather than facing AI enemies...I'm watching with interest!

APB - Right, this one is in here for one reason only - Back in the days of GTA I and GTA:London (on the PC at least, oddly there was no option on the PSOne even though it had a link cable) it was possible to link together loads of computers and play GTA with all your mates - and it was *extremely* fun...! What on earth the developers thought they were doing when they lost sight of that leaves me feeling stunned and slightly hurt every time I think about it...This game seeks to fix that blatant -if you will forgive me- crime...So pick a side, be it Cops or Gangs, and do your thing in a world full of human opposition, it's even got a (background) skill matching system to keep things fair and interesting (well, we'll see how well that works in practice)...no word yet on a single player mode, but it doesn't sound likely...

Street Fighter IV - The original Street Fighter cast is dragged kicking and screaming out of retirement (yet again) but this time not for a super-duper turbo special edition of an existing engine...this is a "from scratch" sequel, which you can't ignore - not only is it *gasp* -3D- (with dynamic camera), it's also adopted an extremely stylish cel-shaded look (a la Jet Set Radio, although a little less stylised), it hasn't abandoned the classic side scrolling gameplay though, never fear...There are a light dusting of new characters (including an MMA expert) and there are the obligatory new special moves which include focus attacks, super combos, and (with a nod of the head towards Nintendo) Ultraaaaaaa! Combos...it certainly *looks* amazing, we'll see if the gameplay is still as accessible and fun as it used to be...

Resident Evil 5 - Chris Redfield (how is he still alive?) goes to Africa! Combine the classic T-Virus zombie/mutant zombie threat with an army of Resi 4's Ganados, expect constant swarms of infected, including foe larger than ever seen before in the series...thankfully, in order to combat this imbalance, Chris is not alone - in a new twist, local or online co-op is the order of the day (although single player is still an option) player two taking control of newcomer companion Sheva Alomar (who is thankfully just as handy with firearms as Mr Redfield)...This is also the game that is supposed to tie up all the loose ends from the complicated ongoing story that began with Resi 1...so could we actually be looking at the end of the Umbrella Corporation? Don't hold your breath (while the series is still making money)... ;)

Wolfenstein - Raven (the development house) are back in action (which is a good thing), coding the latest run-and-gun adventure set in the world of Wolfenstein...so it's back to that scary vision of Germany where Hitler successfully harnessed the power of the supernatural to give the Nazis an unfair advantage in World War 2...very much looking forward to that, but a nice plot this time will be required to get me really frothing at the mouth... ;)

Aliens - Colonial Marines - Single player or co-op (with up to three pals) don the body amour Players take on the role of a member of the United States Colonial Marine squad in a terrifying new chapter of the Aliens story. Arm up with classic franchise weapons - pulse rifles/flamethrowers etc., as well as brand new technology against the Alien hive...bring it on!

- and finally, the ones that could be awesome or could be lame -

Dungeon Hero - Co-op or single player dungeon slash, smash and zzap(!) - it's just too hard to say at the moment, but this might be the kind of thing that really floats my boat, certainly looks like it allows a lot of enemies on the screen at once (so you can practice your big fireballs)... ;)

Blood Bowl - Well, this takes me back! Set your wayback machine to 1987, when in a leap sideways from traditional table top wargaming (specifically the Warhammer/40K/Epic series) the partners in battle "Games Workshop" and the model makers "Citadel Miniatures" collaborated to put out an interesting twist on Rugby/American Football featuring Elves, Orcs and Dwarves who will do literally anything to get the ball into the scoring zone at the other end of the field (including wiping out the opposition)...the dice-and-paper game did actually get turned into a DOS title in 1995 (maintaining the turn-based nature of the original board game)...this remake could go one of two ways, I'm not into sports titles myself, but I might be tempted to if I were able to tear an opponents head off...we shall see!

Alpha Protocol - Fable II-type flexible character development based on moral decisions meets Splinter Cell -looking very pretty at the moment, could be a winner in the making when agent Michael Thornton steps up to the plate to stop an international crisis escalating out of control, his every action having consequences for both his and the world’s future...a mashup of a couple of good ideas, it could result in something special...

- so that's actually about as far away from a drought of good titles that you could possibly get! In fact, it's rapidly shaping up into another financial severe dilemma! Bah... ;)

Xbox 360 Christmas line-up 2008

Just had a quick check of the Christmas release schedule and there are a truly horrifying number of games that I really want (even though I still haven't completed MOH:Airborne from last Christmas (but that's largely because the minute I start playing anything with a lot of banging noises I end up getting an earful from Flyingpops)...it's odd, because there has been such a *lack* of decent games for the 360 for soooooo long, suddenly to be facing (caveat - final reviews/demo play aside - as there could be some unexpected lemons) *seven* "must-have" titles this festive season it's just scaring the (financial) willies out of me...so let's run down the (amazingly impressive) list without further ado -

24th Oct
Fable II (*loved* Fable, despite it not living up to Peter's dream hype, both the times I played it, can't wait to do the same this time - eh chicken lovers?)
Far Cry 2 (sounds like the saving system might have spoiled this one a bit for the console versions, but still rabidly anticipating my trip back to the perfect tropical archipelago, even though it is unfortunately populated by the raving offspring of Dr Moreau...yep, this one is going to annoy Flyingpops no end... ;)
Dead Space (Well...maybe, I'll have to check the reviews, but it's been a long time since I've forced Flyingpops to actually get out of the bath to find out what I have been screaming in terror about - a certain room in Doom 3 - in fact)...

31st Oct
Fallout 3 (YAY!!!!!!! The latest and greatest from the perfect coding team at Bethesda Softworks, it almost makes me want to get Oblivion out again, but I fear that I wouldn't have a wife any longer if that did happen... ;)

14th Nov
Call of Duty - World at War (looking *really* good, if it's anything like as polished as COD 4 then we are in for a real treat, unfortunately it's another bang-bang game though)
Banjo Kazooie - Nuts and Bolts (RARE...well, what can I say - it's not just "hit and miss" with that lot, but "total classic and doggy-do-on-the-shoe" so only time will tell)...the last (proper) Banjo Kazooie I played was back on the Nintendo 64 and if it's *anything* like as good as that...put it this way - Christmas will certainly have come early, although not for Gruntilda)...

21st Nov
Tomb Raider Underworld (Formulaic? Yes...Cliched? Yes...Unmissable? Damn it...yes! Please leave out the silly motorbike sections this time though!)

So all in all we are staring into the primed double barrels of total total gaming joy! In fact, probably enough joy to take me through the whole of next year without needing any other games at all! The down side? If I bought all of this lot on release day it would end up costing me almost £280...! So it's either trade-in time (luckily I have a big of a pile of "completes" at home), fingers crossed for Christmas presents (although with the "global financial crisis" that's actually (this year) probably a non-starter as we all tighten our belts), select a couple of prime titles and be happy with those, or just wait until the prices come down...although with the quality of this seasons offerings that's not going to happen for a *long* time...

I'm pleased...I really am - it's been so long since there was actually a choice in the matter...but "want want WANT"!!!

Honestly, I've not felt like this since I was young enough to early adopt console hardware! Damn it... ;)

Retrogeek

This is just so *super awesome* (albeit for a very select number of people out there), some guy has found (stuffed in his parent's garage) a huge pile of magazines that were published back in the 80's, all computer/gaming related and starting with the ones put out just after the release of the ZX81 he is very kindly sticking the most interesting bits under a scanner and uploading them to his new blog "Retrogeek"...

Excellent stuff...enjoy... ;)

Fallout 3 - Not long now!

Wow, absolutely can't wait for Fallout 3, the next in the pipeline from Bethesda - the crew who put out the Elder Scrolls games (the absolute classic "Oblivion" among them)...it seems like an age since I watched that first (incredibly atmospheric) teaser trailer and now here we almost are - European release date is the 31st of October! I almost feel like taking that Friday off and paying for Flyingpops to spend the weekend at a Spa...(and before you get excited, I did say *almost* sweetheart... x ;)

Best news of all, initial (disappointing) reports were that the game was going to be pretty small and very quick to complete (30 hours or so, which after all this development time would have been a bit of a shame), latest news is that (the map at the very least) has now grown to roughly the same size as the Oblivion map (i.e. absolutely colossal) and there are now around 200 possible endings, dependent entirely on player actions throughout the game...not only that, but they have managed to continue with their tradition of employing extremely fine voice actors (Patrick Stewart playing the King in "Oblivion") - Fallout 3 has Liam Neeson voice acting the part of the main characters father...oh come on and hurry up October!!! Not been this excited about a game since (the terrible let-down that was) Thief 3...

Amazon.co.uk DVD rental review

So a couple of weeks ago I thought I would try out online DVD rental, unfortunately when I signed up (Amazon seemed easiest, as we already have an account set up) I *slightly* misread the terms and conditions and was expecting to get more DVDs through the letterbox than two per month for my £3.99. This does mean I won't be rushing to return them in future (or eagerly checking the door mat when I return from town quite so often), but then, they don't actually even offer an unlimited plan, it's a maximum of 6 per calendar month, and for that they charge you £9.99 (for which you could almost buy and keep, forever, a recent DVD, assuming you don't mind it coming from Switzerland)...so I'm not *exactly* sure I'm sold on the idea...

The other thing that slightly dissapointed me was that one of the (two) disks I've had so far was badly scratched, meaning I had to do the furtiture polish trick to get it to read (frown)...

Tesco, on the other hand (as I discovered at the RANS household when we were last there) *do* offer unlimited disks per month, albeit one disk at a time (which, after all, is actually all Amazon have managed - despite being promised two at a time) and it includes *game* rental (all for £9.97 per calendar month)...I think they will be next on the list to try out...sticking with them will depend on how quick their turnover is...but that's what free trial periods are for, after all... ;)

Xbox 360 - Oblivion - Easy way to max out Stealth

Okay, this is how to max out your stealth, the easy way... ;)

Go and find the location that your girlfriend/sister/mother/hippy friend keep their hair bands (you'll want a thin one, the kind used to hold a simple pony-tail in place), here is where I knew to find one (tut)...

Speed travel to the Imperial City Merchant's quarter and find the stunningly imaginatively named "Merchants Inn" (walk up the stairs ahead of you, turn left and it's the first tavern on the right), then simply push in the left thumb stick to start sneaking, loop the hair band around the left thumb stick and pull it towards the bottom left controller handle, again looping it around (like so) -

- your character will sneak into the corner and onto a box, but you will notice that instead of movement stopping, the camera will continue to bob (indicating motion), but all the time staying stuck in the corner of the bar...this is perfect, make sure the sneak eye indicator in the centre of the screen is pale (indicating you are hidden, if not, take your characters shoes off and try again)...then just watch for a minute or two, just to make sure your character stays in the corner of the bar (bobbing up and down and hidden), then turn off the TV (gasp!), and go out and enjoy the *real* world for a few hours (take your PSP in case of withdrawal symptoms ;) and when you return (might need to do this a couple of times as the "Journeyman", "Expert" and "Master" announce screens will pause the game, but depending on your skill when you start) - 100 sneak will be yours... ;)

One small caveat here though, if you are playing any class with Sneak as a major skill, don't do this, seriously consider making a custom character class (with all the other skills you fancy, but omitting Sneak), when I got around to sleeping on my initial character I shot up about 10 levels in one go, but still armed with terrible weapons and armour and got my arse kicked (prompting me to have to start all over again)...

A very merry birthday... ;)

Had lots of the family round last night for a lovely meal (half curry/half Chinese and one McDonalds for good measure) and drinks...got an excellent haul of gifts (including) -

- some beer from Harrods -

- a restaurant quality roasting pan (woo hoo!) -

- an extra life (might come in handy!) -

- and an XBOX 360!!!!!!!! Premium pack too, so the hard disk and wireless controller etc. were in the box! Awesome!!! So spent *all* of the rest of yesterday playing Gears of War (amazing graphics!) and Oblivion (incredible game!)...also got some *excellent* books, the new Jamie and Hugh efforts, a really nice shirt and tie (be perfect for the upcoming wedding), a Dalek shower gel, a Viz subscription for next year (cool!) and loads more...

...and...Christmas is tomorrow!! We're just loading all the pressies into Colin now...hope he doesn't break down! ;)

Quake 3 Forever - Q3 in a browser!??

Incredbile but true, it's only 1.5Mb (you need to install the latest Shockwave player) but it runs perfectly! Try out Quake 3 in a browser! I found it worked best in Firefox... ;)

Second Life - An introduction by Cory Ondrejka

Okay, here is a paste from the comment I made on the previous post (but this is an important issue to discuss) and please note - *THIS IS BASED ON A 3 HOUR FIRST IMPRESSION OF THE PRODUCT POST THE CORPORATE PRESENTATION* -

As he constantly reminded us, Second Life is not a game, it's a tool set to build a virtual world, populated by "residents" who can all build whatever they like...(and can even keep it if they pay for land to store it on)...

It's attracting quite some interest by the popular press, see recent articles here and here...wikipedia entry here...not least the BBC who have been holding events and giving away free gifts to "residents", it is even rumoured that Hilary Clinton is going to set up an office in the game in order to canvas in the upcoming elections!

Great promise...a really great speaker...a really great experience? I installed it last night to see...

One thing that came across really strongly during the talk is the massive benefit for those people with Aspingers or that were Schizophrenic, and (implied, admittedly) those disabled people who really couldn't leave the house for physical reasons...this game literally gives them wings (your Avatar can fly from the very start)...

Also, from an architechures of participation point of view, this environment encourages creativity unlike anything else in Web 2.0 (some stupid figure like 70% of participants actually create things! This is incedible - did you know that of all the active users of eBay only FOUR PERCENT actually sell anything? Consider also out of all the huge number of users of the internet what a tiny fraction actually keep a blog up to date? It's effectively ZERO PERCENT, same with Wikipedia effectively zero percent of users actually bother to update it)..!

Anyway, hype aside, my brief look around tonight lead me to a 10 point observation -

1-There is a lot of empty space
2-The first area I teleported to I was walking around for about 4 minutes before (and there was no-one else there) I got a message asking me to leave
3-It feels like walking through a vast flea market, people have to pay to make unique things, and they want money to share (i.e. it's extremely commercial and obviously money driven to the core)
4 - My graphics card isn't quite up to the job...bah... :(
5 - A lot of the object code is dodgy (training areas aside) - the number of sofas that threw me into the air when I tried to stand up was a little silly, and also notable was the wonderful airship I found that threw me into the sea after not taking off, not moving and then complaining it hit something (which wasn't there)...
6 - A lot of the non-dodgy code is clunky (su doku in the help zone is extremely unfriendly)
7 - Educational or public service presentations work WELL (and are free, but I'm not sure they should be charging schools...)
8 - This environment is wonderful for crossing the boundary between IVL and IRL (especially the wonderful crossover between life and avatar at conferences/book signings/etc)...anything you can stream on the web (video, music etc.) you can stream into Second Life
9 - A few extra textures at launch would be nice...I wasn't very happy to arrive in the world looking like a classic US uni jock by default either, especially after being offered the choice at sign up (and choosing an interesting CyberGoth look - which was totally ignored), also the more interesting textures just look terrible on clothing, I thought chainmail jeans would be cool...but no...it looked more like blurry grey wool...
10 - I enjoyed being able to fly by default... ;)

I'm not out the door, and I admint I should try it out on a better machine...(the spec that Cory told me in person was a lot more acurate than the spec on the website)...

I also think newbies need a bit more of a guide to, say -

• Welcoming groups
• Cool things to see
• Cool things to do

It wouldn't hurt to have an obvious - Teleport yourself here (to action/cool/popular thing, rather than just a location on the blurry map) object to engage people from the help island...

Also, in the style of MUDs or MMORPGs? Why not guild recruitment from the off? Instant feeling that you *belong*...

Anyway, there really isn't much excuse not to at least try it and tell me how wrong I am...it's only about a 20Mb download and it's free...(in the begining at least)... ;)

Elder Scrolls Oblivion Domino chase

Simply brilliant physics engine demo if nothing else...watch it here....

Much more importantly, I'm going to talk about 7/7 tomorrow, I think, after the recent report...

Retro Gaming, Remakes and End Sequences

Spent some of the weekend mucking around with the retro gaming scene, inspired by a copy of "Retro Gamer" magazine I picked up at the car boot sale in Dorking a couple of weeks back (there is a guy who somehow manages to get heaps and heaps of current magazines and sell them for 50p a shot, not that I'm complaining)...anyway, I found a few really interesting things trawling the interweb that I thought I would share (if you like this kind of thing) -

• These guys have written a PC emulator (complete with the legal roms) for all of the "Mercenary" games
• These guys have made a beautiful remake of "Total Eclipse" (very early 3D game) and are also working on "Driller" (cool!)
• The Speccie scene has come on a *lot* since I last looked, most of the emulators now support .RZX archives, which basically means you can pause, rewind and retry games during play, all the while recording your keystrokes...the brilliant result? You can download and watch people finishing old speccie games (right to the end sequences! Admittedly they are usually a bit underwhelming considering the amount of effort involved)...I watched someone finish "Skool Daze" and "Bak 2 Skool" (no wonder I never managed them myself)...there is also this archive of "Speccie Spoilers" to enjoy which cut right to the chase...
• Found this site which has a nice archive of remakes (check out this remake of "Sir Fred"...it's still impossible though!), the forum is the best bit to check out for more (and play hints, maps etc)...

Anyway, it's a good way to while away a few pleasant hours in memory lane without having to get the ladders out and dust off the *real* speccies from the loft...(and the games load quicker too)... ;)

The rest of the weekend was spent trying to catch as much of the rain as I could (filled the top half of the water barrel, a bucket (from the overflow on the barrel) and an 8 gallon watering can (from the tap on the bottom) during Saturday alone!) playing the new "Da Vinci Code" XBOX game (suprisingly good, it's almost like "Farenheight" but with better puzzles) and trying to finish "Rogue Trooper" (but the sniper enemy in the later levels is a right pain in the cranium!), and lastly getting the camping stuff ready for Laughton, which is next weekend, but if the weather doesn't improve, well, put it this way - I'm not going to sit in a muddy field in the rain for 3 days...

I also really must try and get out to take some pictures this week, my camera is gathering dust during all these pesky rainshowers and my shooting finger is decidedly itchy...

Gone to the Dogs - Greyhound racing in Hove

So Saturday night we headed off to Hove (near Brighton) to go and watch (and place bets on) the Greyhound Racing, this was my second time so I kind of knew what to expect...They do this quite good deal (well, for me anyway) whereby you pay £12 entry and you get a form guide and a number of vouchers - one is like a lottery scratchcard, no idea what you can win but none of us did, one is a free £1 bet on either a 4-race or 6-race accumulator (I did a lucky dip and lost, but the odds are terrible), one is a voucher for dinner (which was pretty bad, I *think* they were trying to do tandoori, but they should have picked a bit of chicken with some meat on it) -

- and the last two get you free drinks at the bar (a pint of anything on tap or a soft drink), oh yes, and then you bet money on the races! We decided to bet £1 each per race...Flyingpops picked her dogs based purely on their names and went for "Place" bets which means the lucky dog can come in either first or second and you still win...I decided to pick the favorites (I'm not much of a gambler) and go for "Win" (which means they must come in first), and between us we cleaned up - either she or I had a winning ticket for every race! We came home just over £4 up, so if we had scaled that up and bet larger sums we could have come home considerably richer...but it's just not worth the risk if you ask me! ;) I think the whole evening wound up costing under £30 (for the pair of us) which isn't bad for a whole night's entertainment!

I did try to take a few shots of the dogs zooming around the track, but in the low light they just came out as streaks (or pitch black) because the use of flash photography is banned (for obvious reasons)...so it looks like you need a nice bright day to shoot anything that moves quite that quickly... ;)

Interestingly, this isn't the only way to approach the racing, you *can* book a nice table right by the window and go for the a la carte menu rather than the "chip van"-style "Next! Whacha want?" canteen, but then you might miss out on the amazing atmosphere down by the track (during the 10th race of the evening I saw people *still* tucking into their main courses)...it's a tricky one to call...might try it posh-style next time... ;)

It's excellent fun though, regardless...(but then, we didn't loose loads of money :)

Grand National update

...just as well I only wasted a pound! ;)

Sol, mar, arena y sangrea... ;)

...well, aren´t we being a lazy bunch, not even blogging... ;) These Spanish keyboards take a bit of getting used to...

So far we´ve spent the most time just sat by the pool, sleeping, eating chorizo/paella and drinking cerveza grande/sangrea... ;)

The volcanic sand down at the playa de la arena is just awesome, looks like a thousand particles of glittering gold in every square foot of black sand, and the rocks on the shoreline look like they belong on the moon...quite surreal...the resort is a bit of a pain, but only because it´s so perfect there really isn´t much need to wander too far from base camp...local supermarcardo is wonderful too, took some great shots of fresh monkfish looking scary, and about a hundred legs of dry cured pork...not like Tesco... ;) The pull along shopping baskets are cool too...!

Oh, ended up taking GTA:LCS, and I´m pleased I did, much progression has taken place with a focused mind...(and printed FAQ)... ;)

Anyway, wish you all were here...it´s super hot, super good weather and mañana we are off to Loro Parque to see the Killer Whales performo...biggest water park outside of Florida apparently!!! ;)

Packing for holiday

Well, I've started to get my act together, although it's impossible to compete with Flyingpops who is *always* packed and ready to go at least a week early...(not joking ;)

It's actually starting to feel tangible now - it's acts like getting pairs of shorts out from the back of the cupboard and picking up sun tan lotion from the supermarket that do it...I think that's why I've got a bit "behind"...(that is comparitively speaking, of course, we aren't actually off until Friday morning after all)...

Among the remaining holiday preperations I'm left with one terrible dilema however - which PSP game do I take on holiday? Because of the low firmware level I'm running I have to copy the code of the UMD onto my memory card and (without going into details) use some "special tricks" to get them to run...but the two games I really want to play at the moment are "Tales of Eternia" and "Grand Theft Auto-Liberty City Stories" but they are so large I can only fit either one, or the other onto my Pro-Duo...*wince*...I think it's going to be TOE that wins, but it's going to be hard to part with GTA for a whole week... :(

I need a bigger card...next month maybe... ;)