Terahawks Corner

2011 - that was the year that was

2012-01-07T13:26:00.004Z

Blimey

Where does the time go?

I'm aware of just how long it has been since I last posted and while I haven't given up gaming (far from it) it is a little perturbing how little appears to have changed since my last post.

Lets see, the Wii is almost exactly where it was a year ago. Wii Fit did see a few months of use but my daughters later bed time and her insistance on 'helping' by standing on the board means that the Wii has seen very little usage over the entirety of 2011

The DS is also very quiet. Ghost Trick is a very good game and is certainly something to purchase if you have any interest in any kind of puzzlers - it kept me engrossed throughout with a wonderful twist at the end though what it's replay value is I can't say. Haven't picked up any other games since and the commute home is now just for reading.

The 3DS is tempting (as is Vita) but I think the better value these days is a tablet (I've currently got my eyes on Asus' transformer range with Android or Windows 7) - if I only had a few hundred quid to burn so easily

The 360 and PS3 continue to swop around as to which sees more use - some of which is due to our current internet package having a fairly tight download limit. The PS3 is currently the more likely used console. Mrs Zombie Killer and myself have been co-oping Lego games the last few months (First with Lego Pirates, then Lego Batman and the improvements in things like camera and character choosing are fairly marked between those two.
Of the two main games sharing the optical drive, one is Uncharted 3 which is not is good as the second in the series. It's lacking the sparkle (though my word it has the shine) and it seems to be going through the motions a little more. And the camera really would much prefer it if all the player had to do was to press a button occasionally for 'start action sequence' rather than trying to actually move Drake through the world. And the second?
Wait for it ...

Assassins Creed 2

Really.

I've finally played it enough to reach Venice and am about to start the first main assault from the Thieves Guild with all assassination contracts, treasures, tombs and codexes found to this point.
It is a little distracting to be swopping between Ezio's super sneaky kill ability and Drake's inability to remain still when in cover - as has been the case throughout the Uncharted games, I really struggle at the stealth aspect.

Talking of stealth aspects I struggle at, Call of Duty: Black Ops was on the PS3 for a week or so. The sequence at the beginning of Rebirth through the dockyard I actually couldn't get past until I ignored my 'guide' and rushed in with a hatchet rather then try to sneak and continually get spotted by the second guard. Apart from that though, the game was pretty enjoyable. Very much set-piece to set-piece but that is all it tries to be, unlike the adventures of Nathan Drake.

Remaining on the PS3 for a little longer, the 500Gb is installed (and an easy job that was) and the issues surrounding the PSN hack breach earlier in the year mean that I've tried out Playstation Plus (with a bunch of trophies from Burnout Paradise). I'll leave my current thoughts on digital games for another post (if I can actually get back in the habit of posting)

There has been some hardware updates for the 360 also - Mrs Zombie Killer received Zumba back in Easter for a woefully underused birthday present but Kinect has seen a little more use - though not much more. While they have finally integrated Kinect support into the dashboard proper, I don't like the new design and seem to spend a lot of my time looking in sub-menus and sub-sub-menus for things like IX and the new games releases - or waiting for the thumbnails to cycle through.

There haven't been any downloadable games that have really sparked for me either. I liked the demos of Bastion and Clash Of Heroes but not enough to purchase them, though this is partly due to Assassins Creed: Brotherhood and Mass Effect 2 (STILL!), sitting on the shelves mocking me. And while I did purchase Ms 'Splosion Man, it hasn't captured me the way the first one managed.
I am interested in the new DLC for Defence Grid and in a new version of Plants Vs Zombies but there is still currently a pretty big list of games that I have yet to complete and which really should take priority - these include the 360 version of Batman: Arkham City and the PS3 versions of Deus Ex and Infamous (yes the first one)

2011 was a good year for games and I did manage to keep up with some (Modern Warfare 2 was an enjoyable romp over the summer months, Burnout Paradise kept the racer in me happy for a time and Ratchet and Clank established themselves in our gaming collection with their last two titles.

I think without the easy access to online gaming (at least easy access that doesn't cost!) I've lost interest in keeping up and I really have lost interest in having to play a game constantly to maintain a rank (the days of UT2004 are a long time back now).

It would be nice also if my wife was able to enjoy games without inducing a splitting headache (Uncharted 3 can manage this far too easily) - the inability to customise joypad layout continues to annoy and all the worries of digital downloads have taken some of the fun out of gaming

And then there were three, and four, and five, and ...

2010-12-28T21:35:00.004Z

Like a zombie or a Hollywood attention span, I bring this blog creakily back to life.

Apologises for the extended gap between postings - Mrs Zombie Killer and I now have a little terror of our own - still a little young yet to take part. Couple this with an anti-social job, a long protracted house move and an extended commute time ...

I'll cover how parenthood has altered my gaming habits another time, lets get back to the gaming.

Our long suffering DS is getting a little more attention now that I have a couple of hours of travel time each working day. And thus, I've finally found the Golden Apple! Yep the first Professor Layton has been completed (116 puzzles found and solved) and only one puzzle is still eluding detection. Can't get all the weekly downloads as the WEP encryption isn't good enough for our WPA enable network.
So, the next couple of Layton games are waving their arms; New Super Mario Bros is also getting me interested and I've also added Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective as one to get - there's a flash demo online or a different level from the DS download service.
Also tried out Rooms from the DS Download and really wasn't all that impressed - but then I'm not a huge fan of sliding puzzle games

The Wii is remaining quiet - taking advantage of the re-opened demo section to totally fill the hard drive (time to invest in a new SD card me-thinks) but the only new purchase this year has been a Wii Fit Plus for her Christmas present. And still in it's box as I write ...

PS3 is also quiet - haven't purchased MAG and have only just picked up a 500Gb HDD for it. Which I still need to install but haven't run a backup on the 60GB drive yet for over a year

I did pick up the DLC for Batman and Resident Evil 5, though I did also wait for prices to come down. I've also finally downloaded Age of Booty of which I've played to the last single player level and not completed at all in multiplayer.
We seem to be using the PS3 more for iPlayer than for games - this may change once I get the new HDD but I can't see much of an increase in online gaming on it just yet.

That said, it has been keeping the Assassins Creed 2 disc warm - though it has also been keeping it warm since about the time the little terror was born and as I want to pick up Brotherhood, I really should push on that. Of course, I've just picked up Enslaved so ...

Problem is that, now I finally have a working X360, I'm taking advantage of it. Blur, Split-Second, ilomilo, Dead Space: Ignition, Costume Quest, Crash Course, Harms Way, Defense Grid DLC, Darksiders, Dead Rising: Case Zero, Mass Effect 2 have all been purchased in the last 10 months and the last two of those I haven't even paid yet (the Mass Effect 2 box hasn't even been opened since picking it up as the same time as Assassins Creed 2!

The other title missing from that list is Lara Croft: Guardian of Light - which is currently proving to be our current co-op game and which we seem to be doing okay on.

Hopefully, I can update this blog a little more regularly and stop my posts turning into a list of games and actually comment on them ...

Hopefully ...

Maybe tomorrow ...

2010-08-31T17:23:00.002Z

Yes I know it's been a while since my last post - real life got in the way with all sorts of house moving work related newborn child adventures.

Anyhoo - Nintendo remains as was. we've bought no new games, played no existing games and haven't even turned it on this summer.

The PS3 has also been fairly quiet. On once a week to check the store. Still haven't run a backup and still have to purchase a larger HDD. Assassins Creed 2 remains in the disc slot and I have now at least got to all the viewpoints in the first area of the first city. Yes that's as far as I have played. When will I continue? Maybe tomorrow ...

The big gaming news is that the X360 is at last fixed and working fine and while my first born new daughter means that playing time is at a premium, I have at least got to the end of Halo 3. Gears of War 2 has also been completed and I've started online coop again with a friend. But the baby cries so I'm putting down the controller again. When do I get back to the game? Maybe tomorrow ...

Co-oping it

2010-01-29T21:24:00.004Z

Well, it's been a quiet few months for Nintendo in our house - We picked up Professor Layton back in November and while it is a curious village, we're somewhere around puzzle 40-something and no further.
Not because we've run out of hint coins (far from) - just haven't really felt like switching the DS back on since then. I did mention Chrono Trigger in a post a good few months back (HERE). That replaced Lunar Knights before completion though again I've lost interest in it long-term - still kicking my feet in ancient footprint tracking for those that know the game.

The Wii has also been quiet though there have been a few flutterings of life - mostly Darkside Chronicles which mrs zombie killer received for Christmas and which we completed in short order. There's still Tofu to shoot and a fair number of S-ranks to unlock but the credits have rolled and the disc is back in box.
It was replaced by Dead Space: Extraction which is not all that bad but doesn't seem to be quite as player friendly - which is to be expected to some extend, I guess. We've reached the Ishimura but we aren't caring about any of the characters trailing along with us (why do we have some major characters for a game that should be a lot more isolating? The obvious answer is that co-op play means that the lone explorer vibe would be tricky but as co-op play is essentially the main character dual wielding rather than two separate people, it wouldn't have been that much of a stretch. The dual wielding aspect of co-op play also grates a bit when the players have to have the same weapons but don't share ammo for the weapons. Mrs zombie kiler spends her time struggling to maintain ammo levels and I kept having to actively forgo pickups and point them out, which just doesn't feel right.

What is right is that Nintendo have finally allowed demo games.
Of course, in typical Nintendo fashion, there are only a few available and there is no 'demo' category in the Shopping Channel. It did mean I could finally try out My Life as A Darklord and it wasn't as bad as the reviews made out. Of course, I could only play the first few levels and previous experience makes me a little cautious around Final Fantasy defense games ...
It's also made the memory restrictions of the Wii more apparent - I've around a dozen games saves, a couple of demos, all the Channels and three SNES games (Cybernator, Secret of Mana and Metroid) and the slots are noticeably down to the low hundreds.

And of course Nintendo have decided to retract the demo 'offer' with the end of January. Just sometimes, this company really don't quite understand.

Low memory is also getting to be an issue on the PS3 - my 60Gb drive has less than 4Gb usable space left. Indeed to get the MAG beta download meant some serious shuffling.

Yes, I was able to get onto MAG - though it took over an hours download time and then more than another hour to get past all the network error messages - I had time to check the forums and see that this seemed to be common.
The game itself plays quite well - the customisation options were basic ... I presume a limitation of the beta ... and the command structure didn't really seem to be present though I did get some FRAGO experience points so there were definitely some command level players.

My thoughts could be loosely summed up by this recent Penny Arcade comic

It certainly seemed to reward the snipers more than the objective rushers - though on more than one occasion I was able to rush an objective where the defense were used to racking up the headshots. It was here that the lack of an organised command structure was noticeable - fairly often it felt like being an individual under the same banner than than a cohesive unit. It was rare that anyone on the same team was there to support me when I reached the objective.

An aside here - apologises to the guy I mistakenly team killed trying to secure an objective. Some of the SVER and Valor skins look a little similar for my tastes.

When the command structure worked, it worked very well and the tide could switch surprisingly quickly so that either side had a chance up until the last few moments. I have a feeling that the majority of the grunts in MAG are going to be gamers who only play a few hours a week - if the game can deal with this then it stands a good chance of being a keeper.

Also on our PS3 is our copy of Batman: Arkham Asylum. This game is great and Batman is perfectly realised in this. My biggest request for the already confirmed sequel is that they tweak a little of the predator sections - it did seem a little arbitrary whether Batman could glide kick, or takedown a mook from up high. Some form of co-op would be nice, even if online only in the inevitable challenge maps. I'm not certain how Nightwing, or Batgirl, would manage the glides, though characters with different skill sets is nothing new.

I've also finally managed to get through all the levels of Lego Star Wars. The imbalance between Force and non-force characters is addressed a little by having some blaster types able to dodge shots. That Traveller's Tales hadn't got the formula right is clear though, particularly on levels like the Speeder level on Endor. Mrs zombie killer didn't join me through the last three episodes though the AI mostly fine (if a little fond of getting in the way of lightsabre swings.
I also don't like the Mos Eisley Cantina as the hub - seems a little more claustrophobic than Dexter's cafe from the first Lego Star Wars game. And yes I know that the Cantina IS more claustrophobic - I question whether that it's the best first view point for a game that sells on it's light hearted appeal, though I freely admit to not being able to think of a location that would be better suited, such as the college in Lego Indiana Jones

Talking of which, I'm still just two achievements from that game being my next 100% and my first non Live Arcade game. Also my first non tower defense game as it happens ... if I could just get that grenade blast and nazi hat thing sorted ...

But that will have to wait as I've finally been trying out some of the games of the year ... of 2007.
First up was Call of Duty 4 which I enjoyed playing through just as Modern Warfare 2 hit the shelves. And I'm currently clearing the galaxy of geth in Mass Effect 1 as paragon soldier Sheppard. For once on a thrid person viewpoint, wife number one doesn't get the motion sickness that happens on many of the Gears of Dead Tomb God of Uncharted Batman games out there.

In something a little more up to date, I also gave the online demo of Lost Planet 2 a go for a couple of hours. The game is solid enough and I reckon I will end up purchasing it, though not until the price comes down.
I do have a couple of comments - firstly to killswitchrick - you don't need to start a Live party to play, just hit the A button ...
And secondly to (I think) majorlane1: congratulations, you are the first person to make me turn my headset volume ALL the way down. This guy was crushed by the big bad in the demo in the first minute or so and all I heard for the next couple of minutes was a pre-pubescent voice going "what the hell? What the shit?" before going really crazy - like non compos mentis.
Cue volume going down.

As to the game itself, it does rely on co-op play though I question the logic of a boss that requires you to be EATEN to inflict damage.

And going back to hard drive woes, the 360 HDD is no better. I think that a second HDD purchase is in order, based on the prices of repair that I've been able to get. I've cleared the cache and even re-formatted the drive (which took a surprisingly short amount of time) and Crackdown, Shadow Complex and Gears of War 2 are still problems.

So of the three main consoles, two are running out of space and the third needs replacing.

Sigh.

Towers of synchronicity

2009-09-12T17:53:00.003Z

Funny how that synchronicity things works.

Some time back, I'm left with half an hour to kill and wander into a Forbidden Planet - it was that or a coffee and I was waiting to go for coffee somewhere else so ...

While browsing the book shelves, one title reaches out.
More Digressions
For those who don't recognise the reference this is a collection of columns from one Peter David (link to his blog to the right). Author didn't ring a bell but I'd recently read a couple of books of compiled columns and a quick flick through suggested I'd enjoy it.

Bought it on the spur of the moment and it was as I read through it over the next few days that I began to recognise the author. For those big into Marvel, he did the stories for Hulk and Spider Man for a time, including the movie adaptations; DC readers may have come across his words in Young Justice, sci-fi buffs may have some of his Star Trek books on the shelf.

How is this relevent to gaming?

Well, Shadow Complex was a recent Live Arcade download. Yes, it is very derivative of Metroid and I do disagree with Orson Scott Card's personal views on gay relationships but it is also a very good game and I do recommend it.

If only my hard drive allowed me to play through the Proving Grounds challenges

Yep, my xbox HDD is definitely turning into an issue. Gears of War 2 we now know will work absolutely fine ... as long as the HDD is unplugged. And this is despite it being a 'disc is unreadable' error.
And while that's an okay fix for retail games, it's a little tricky for Live Arcade downloads. Shadow Complex took over ten hours to complete on my first try (admittedly on a 100% completion run) and a part of that was due to trying not to go too fast as I tend to notice that games crash as lots of stuff happens onscreen.

This freezing has also taken place on Splosion Man a few times and Crackdown more regularly than I would like (most times I've tried to play it)

I'm coming to the opinion that it's a bad sector on the HDD - I've added another couple of Live Arcade games since which seem to be absolutely fine, though to be far they aren't pushing the graphical end.

The latest was Puzzle Quest, which was half price for Gold members. It's basic Match-3 gameplay with a fantasy quest taking place in the background (each game is a 'fight' between your character and generic fantasy enemy - match gems to damage the opponent, build up your mana to cast spells or win coins). The advantage is that grinding is easier - just go to instant action and anything you obtain there is available for your character in the main quest. I managed to get my character to around level 7 in about an hour of play before starting the quest proper and I'm currently riding around on a giant rat.
As you do.

Puzzle Quest shares the Bejewelled, Hexic and Tetris curse of 'just one more' game. And I've had more than one night of " oh crap is that the time" - never good for an insomniac.

The other digital download calling for my time is Defense Grid. This is another tower defence game and I'm going to talk a little more about the genre here.

I think the first concept of tower defence was laid way way back when I first played Rampart. For those who have missed this, you built walls to enclose open ground. These became castles that you could then put cannons onto. While building, pirates (for you were on the coast) would sail by and shoot down your walls. The game was balancing building large castle to claim land (and score) and building cannons to destroy the ships opposing you. The current demo on Xbox Arcade is rubbish by the way. No where near enough time to really get into it.

Fast forward many years and Fieldrunners comes out on iPhone. I don't have iPhone but I remember watching this game over the shoulder of a man who does and being intrigued by the concept.
Think that was the idea that lingered and got me into purchasing Crystal Defenders, remarked in my post of May.

I liked the idea of table top defence but Crystal Defenders is uncompromising in it's approach. 30 waves of bad guys assault and it doesn't seem to reward experimentation - the few times I did, on any map, my resources ran out far too quickly. The enemies travel along paths that you can't place your own warriors on so there's no way to shape their progress. Your warriors (towers!) can be upgraded but it all seems to be a precise balance between getting the right warriors in place and keeping resources for the high score. And the fact that your last gasp bombs (magical summons) deplete the very resource you are collecting is plain mean.

Also in that same May post, I mentioned Plants Vs Zombies. This does seem to reward experimentation. Zombies here travel along a row of lawn; putting platns down allows you to attack them or at the very least slow them down as the zombies turn out to omnivorous and quite happy to nosh down on cellulose before heading into your home to feast on your brains. The idea then becomes to slow them down with plants that take a long time to be eaten while attacking with plant based weaponry (pea-shooters, corn cannons and fume spraying mushrooms among many others).

And while both games are 'cartoon-y' in design, Plants Vs Zombies is much more light hearted. It comes with a host of mini games that limit types of enemies (just bobsleds full of zombies and zomboni ice makers in one level) or only provide plants on a conveyor belt and even allow a chance to play as the zombies against a set layout of plants. Most importantly, having different levels means that the player only has to get through the next few waves at any given point.
Playing this on a tablet PC also helps to be fair. Being able to tap anywhere on the screen does speed up deployment time and I don't miss having to drop and drag.

Not that tower defence is ruined by having to move a cursor.

The second latest game downloaded onto the Xbox was Defense Grid. Aliens are invading and the only defence here are towers of weaponry. God knows where the armed forces are here.
Defense Grid has a mix of paths only the aliens can travel and areas where towers can be built to shape the path. The aliens will take the path of least resistance - going miles to avoid going against a tower force shield but perfectly capable of doing do if blocked in.

Both this and Plants Vs Zombies just seem more accessible than Crystal Defenders and a little more forgiving (don't mistake that for easy). Resource management doesn't feel like as much of an issue - you still have to do it but getting it wrong doesn't seem to be the end of a level if you do.

More so, it just seems as if these two are designed to have fun with, while Crystal Defenders seems to be geared more to the serious gamer, by which I mean serious not happy, rather than serious hardcore.

It's this that's keeping me from purchasing My Life as a Darklord from WiiWare - that and the lack of a demo.
I really like to try a game before buying it and more likely to buy it if I like the demo. It's why I still want Age of Booty for example, why I won't be getting KaBlammo (guess what game that derives from ...) and why I've purchased the vast majority of games I've owned.

This includes Overlord 2. Now, we like Overlord and while we also like Overlord 2, the camera just seems a little more unsteady this time around while the minions don't seem to be quite as smart as they once were (yes I do want you to grab all those life orbs, Giblet, stop hiding in the hedge with the rest of the Browns). Starting in a mostly night setting also doesn't seem to help as much - I actually quite liked the idea of an evil overlord who was carrying out his nefarious plans during day time and who barely saw the night during his adventures.
Seems a bit more evil ("Hang on, the overlords invading." "But it's elevenses and we've not had our cup of tea yet." "That fiend!")

Ah well, the new tower design is great though and flattening legions of soldiers with a catapult flung boulder is worth a chuckle. I don't know how much of the writing Rhianna Pratchett brings to this but we like the humour also.

That's another those synchronicity things - having a game written by a recognised name author ...

And in another synchronious act, I open this months 'Edge' to found that Desktop Tower Defence is this months The Making Of.. article.

And because you never can have enough, logging onto Facebook while writing this, the first item in the news feed was a friends score on Warzone Tower Defense.

That's enough talk - somewhere, an alien is approaching ...

Hardware woes

2009-07-24T21:44:00.011Z

The monthly update - a month or so late ...

Meh, I'm sure you all will forgive me

I have been noticing recently the things around gaming on the consoles that would make things easier.

If PS3 could enable much more background loading, that would be nice.
If it could also provide a better breakdown of the contents of the hard drive, that would be another welcome addition for an update.
While the Xbox 360 allows me to see exactly how much room is taken up by games, videos, demos, etc at once, the PS3 only allows for 'all the memory' or item by item, which is very dull.

And I remember news stories back when Home was first introduced about being able to have your trophies onshow for friends to wander through and look at. How much longer will that take?
I kinda like the idea of having a gallery of my trophies that I can walk through and examine in detail. Some point soon, Home team?

Talking of Home, I am liking that companies are bringing out Second Life style mini areas for games. But if they are going to do it, they do need to keep on top of things. At the time of writing, the Resident Evil 5 area on Home only has game launching activated. The game has been out for four months now - you think that one of the three areas with the big 'coming soon' signs would be up and running by now.
EA is showing how fast changes to an area can happen with their sports area - just seems typical of Capcom to notice a zeitgeist and not quite get it right.
I mentioned last time about Resident Evil 5
and the likelihood of my having to play it solo. Well, wife number one can't quite keep her hands off the controllers any more so she tried it out.
The default control set-up proved, like Gears of War 2 to be too awkward but messing around with each different set-up meant that she found a system that actually works.
It's kinda interesting that while I stay with the starting normal, fastest aim, control D (strafe movement) she goes with the invert y, default aim, control type A (legacy movement). But that is also as likely to to her survival horror based game history while I've been fairly big on action adventures these last few years.

Yes, we've saved the world from bio-weapon infection for now and I didn't need to deal with the Sheva AI that forums are bitching about.

I do wish that developers would allow for players preference's with controls. It is a pet peeve of mine when controls are set to one type - particularly if they are a non-standard layout. I think it's safe to say that no company is going to risk the bad publicity of suing another company for a similar layout and it makes a game feel a little more finished and a little more 'mine' if I can alter the controls. And it's not just the controls. I want to be about to alter the audio levels (I always like to be able to pull the music down a little without affecting sound effects, voices or cut scene levels; to up the brightness a step or two and so on and turn on the subtitles to aid keeping up with what's going on.

And if I alter the controls, I want any pop up messages to reflect that. I'm fairly certain that it doesn't add much additional programming to make this possible. And I prefer controls that I can totally alter rather than just swopping two buttons somewhere. If I want to have a combination that uses three face buttons rather than shoulder buttons, I want to be able to do that (I wouldn't but i would like the option). I'll settle, as RE5 has shown, for a number of control layouts but they do need to be noticeably different.

On a more positive controller note I recently picked up a Chatpad and headset combo for the Xbox 360.
For anyone who uses Messenger on the 360, the Chatpad is brilliant. It fits between the handles while still allowing you to use the joypad normally; it has a quick messenger start button and the layout is just like a regular QWERTY keyboard - I presume this comes in localised versions. It does make the controller a little heavier but not that much and only seems to draw power when actually being used - and the backlight is bright enough so that you can see the keys clearly.

I have noticed that one or two of the shift keys don't work properly - the ' is over the z and the only way to get it to work is a double tap, which gives 'z. Still, at least it's that way wrong so it's only a quick backspace to clear it. And whether that's just mine I don't know.

Of course, having these means that I've finally bitten the bullet and bought xbox live gold. I still resent having to pay to game online but the lure is too strong. After having bought it though was the point at which I found out that my connection to live is classed as moderate - meaning that I may have issues on some games.
Real life has been busy of late so I haven't had chance to log onto any server yet to check the connection. That, and the inevitable cries of "n00b" whatever game I pick.

But it did give me an excuse to add some more games to my collection (like I needed one :-))
It's been a while since I mentioned Halo 3 (way back in this post) and I finally succumbed to a 2 for £20 offer to pick it up.

It's not grabbing me as yet. Partly this was due to a humungous scratch that meant I had to return the disc before it would let me past the menu screens and partly the opening just wasn't all that exciting. I'll come back to it at some point but it's shelf filler for now.
The other game of the offer was Crackdown which is proving fun. You start by picking one of three vehicles and drive straight into a fire fight which then allows you to open your first supply point to give weapon choice and choice of start locations.
The controls are somewhat clunky for sure and the AI is a little suspect - there was a great moment when a gang of Los Meurtos foot soldiers threw a grenade which bounced off a gate, killing three and opening the gate for me on the other side.
But the freedom in moving around the city is far more involving than the jungle corridor that Halo 3 wants me to walk along.

That's not to say that linear corridors can't be fun - Splosion Man is the latest non-disc game I've purchased, purely on the strength on the demo. And while that is all about the corridors, its definitely worth it's download price and some. I has taken some hours to reach the end but that's 8 of 12 achievements unlocked without using a guide to find my way through any of the levels. I'm taking a break from it at the moment but I will be returning on the cake hunt at some point.

And another spot of good xbox related news - last night was the first point that I realised that parties on live aren't game related. So myself, my best man and his mate were all chatting online, me taking out the last few Los Meurtos gang members on Crackdown and them dodging grenades and air strikes on Call Of Duty 4.I hadn't realised that the voice chat was separate to the game until then - though it makes sense now and is a welcome addition.

Don't think that the Xbox gets all good news this time around though. I finally tracked down my Gears Of War 2 unreadable disc error to the hard drive. It seems that if I take the HDD off and use a memory card the game runs fine - it's just having the hard drive attached that causes issues.
That is dull, but workable around for now.

It's liable to become an issue down the line, though, when space becomes an issue. My profile and dashboard updates are already taking up a fair chunk of memory card storage.
Still, storage is more of an issue on the PS3's 60Gb HDD. At least the Xbox HDD is easily removable. But my PS3 is down to thousands of megabytes rather than gigabytes of storage. It's looking more like I'm going to be opening it up and installing a new HDD.

It is a mystery to me why computer hard drives start at 250Gb and work up and domestic appliances like consoles and recorders start at 20Gb - actually no it's not. It's about selling peripherals, and cost cutting, sadly rather than customer service.

Return of the Zombies ...

2009-05-18T15:59:00.008Z

So what's the latest this month.

Well, as usual, I have far more games on the go than I ever get time to play.

Lunar Knights on the DS is still ongoing - I believe that I'm coming to the end, though that isn't near completion. Probably a good thing though as Chrono Trigger hasn't been fired up since checking it worked a couple of months back.

Valkyria Chronicles was the last game of choice on the PS3, one which I'm taking slowly but one that has really fired the strategy bug in me (oh god, another genre to want stuff from ...). Still haven't picked up any of the DLC though I probably should as the price increases have quietly started (Age of Booty which I swear was released at £6.19 is now £7.99 - I'm really going to have to clear the decks before adding that one). And having worked our way through Lego Indiana Jones, I managed to track down a copy of Lego Star Wars: Complete Saga.
This hasn't seemed as much fun, partly as I've still got the first Lego Star Wars on PS2 and partly as wife number one keeps getting characters that don't have force abilities in the co-op.
Now we've reached episode four it should pick up a little ...

And Pain continues to devalue my single trophy with the new trophy releases for the new levels. Grrr. At least, the Daxter model is free (splat!)

My Xbox360 gamercard (below the PS3 card)shows that both the Gears of War games were last on the drives - though I still can't clear the 'disc is unreadable' error. It may be easier to pick up a new copy of that once it becomes a Classic title.
Wife number one also tried out the co-op on the first Gears.
And hated it.

Switching to the legacy controls made it a little more bearable for her but she was a little too used to the shared camera of ObsCure and not the letterbox view.
She does grudgingly accept now why the camera can't be shared but this does raise the issue of Resident Evil 5's co-op. I may end up having to deal with Chris and Sheva all by my lonesome ...

There were times she used my view point to navigate which kinda defeats the object and the cover system just didn't click. Maybe I should dust off kill.switch for her?

Shooting isn't that much of a challenge for her though. The Wii has seen some action for the first time in a few months.

I blame a friends birthday - when a brand new Wii was the focus of several hours party gaming (Raving Rabbids joins the list of games that I normally wouldn't have played). That day session reminded wife number one of our own Wii and we loaded up Umbrella Chronicles for the first time in a good few months. A bunch more files unlocked but we can't quite get above the majority B ranks (there always seems to be just one C pulling the average down, sometimes bizarrely. I'd like to know what the weighting is on the ranks as I think it's biased to pull the ranks down (that said, I seem to recall the one S rank I have seemed to be awarded a little arbitrarily.

Back onto Xbox360 for Crystal Defenders - my first real try at tower placement strategy - with a slight wry grin after specifically mentioning Tactics last month. Good fun but the precision needed with balancing troop placement and money is a little disheartening. I think I'd prefer a little more option for experimenting than the rigidity all the guides seem to be insisting upon.
That said, I also gave Savage Moon a trial and that seems a little too undefined in it's approach - it's not all that clear where the enemy paths are and the approaches to the base do seem as if chosen at random.
Which is a very bad option for this type of strategy game.

In addition to all the above, there's still Tomb Raider and MGS4 to work through and a bunch of Achievements and Trophies to aim for. At some point, we'll need also to go back to Overlord: Raising Hell and go for the bad bad ending (as opposed to the good bad ending) - I'm really hoping something nasty happens to the jester in the sequel to that one ...

So of course I've downloaded another game to add to the pile.

It's yet another tower defense game but this one is on PC. It's also got zombies to keep wife number one happy.
Yep, I'm another supporter of Plants Vs Zombies. £14.95 seems a little pricey for a download game but it works superbly on the laptop - especially as we have a tablet PC. The point and click action seems to be custom made for full touch screen - enough that I couldn't see the game working as well on Xbox or PS3; though the Wii would do very well.

Have a better look here: http://www.popcap.com/extras/pvz/
The video section includes a potential ear worm ...

I don't know if there's any multi-player on it - I think not - but as we get used to the tablet PC, it's the sort of time-wasting thing that should help on long train journeys ...

Now, if you'll excuse me, I can hear the cry of brains coming from the lawn ...

A sprinkling of strategy mixed with a dose of action and a touch of tinkering...

2009-04-25T18:46:00.011Z

I mentioned that the triumvirate was complete in my last post.

It seems I was a little hasty with that -

After another bout of RROD and disc issues with a brand new Gears of War 2, I finally bit the bullet and paid for a new Xbox 360 Arcade model.

Why the arcade model? Well, we already had a 120GB HDD from an earlier ebay purchase. And in the UK there's a promotion that had a new Arcade model with 5 arcade games (Uno, Luxor 2, PacMan, Boom Boom Rocket and Feeding Frenzy) along with two wireless controllers, an internal 256 MB memory unit and two retail games (Lego Indiana Jones and Kung Fu Panda), all for the same price as the vanilla arcade model.

I can quite honestly say that none of the games were worth purchasing the console for, even for the easy Gamer Points, though Lego Indiana Jones has been a nice distraction for me and mrs zombie killer while we wait for Resident Evil 5 to come down in price.

Gears Of War 2 is potentially a game worth buying the console for but I've been having issues with that too - I've already had to replace the game once (free of charge though - thanks Gamestation!) and I continue to get 'disc is unreadable' messages.

I've tried cleaning the disc, loading into the hard drive and praying. Other than adding surge protection, I'm kinda at a lost for what else to do.

I'm fairly certain that the HDD is fine (Rez HD has no issues), that the drive is fine (no other discs have this issue) - it seems to be that Gears overworks the console.

Unless it's a hidden feature for not having Live Gold membership ...

Having a HDMI port though is a godsend - the difference between SD and HD is amazing. I knew that from the PS3 already but having HDMI on both that and the HDD recorder we use for TV viewing meant that I had forgotten it a little, until using the Xbox 360 on our home TV.
And thank god for our Bravia having 1080p display and three HDMI inputs ...

I was also not a fan of the wired controller I had been using on the 360 - Rez HD was a challenge to finish (this from someone who breezed through the PS2 version and gave up, bored, after unlocking the Morolian skin and several of the lasers) and Lara Croft just plain couldn't chimney jump

While over on PS3 land, I'm mourning the lack of Dualshock 3 pads again - the Sixaxis is so damn light compared to the Xbox 360 pads. That said, Lara Croft did the chimney jump first time and I could see the individual leaves in the Thai jungle rather than it being a green mess. Still, Tomb Raider hasn't been in the PS3 for a while - and it doesn't seem to have any trophy support despite what Gamefaqs say.

Prince of Persia has given me my first platinum trophy and I'm looking at the epilogue quite strongly. My reluctance to pay top whack for games is proving to be an issue here.

If I'd paid £40 for the game, then £6 for the extra DLC would be fine. But as I've paid £20 new, it doesn't seem to quite up add up. And Prince of Persia was a good game but not great - it wasn't as enjoyable as Sands of Time though it did add a new dimension to wall running.

I'll pay £6 for a full game (I suspect that Age of Booty will be purchased at some stage) but for an expansion, I do feel that the price should be reduced a little.

And talking of expansions that seem a little pricey, over £3 for one level of Valkyria Chronicles does seem pricey also.

Yep, I have Valkyria Chronicles and yes like the tend seems to be, I think that this is a great game.
It has it's quirks (hitting a target does seem a little hit and miss - and it's far too focused on rewarding speed over tactical play) but overall Sega have done themselves proud with this one. It's not for everyone but assuming that your interests are for more than twitch shooters, there's likely to be some mileage here.

The DLC for this seems a little skewy though. It's good to have DLC released for it but the marketing seems to be a little off. Remember for the following that I'm still working through the first play-through and I haven't got any of the extra content - which won't stop me from posting my initial impressions of the DLC.

Hard EX mode - Currently the difficulty seems a good level for me - I don't particularly want to make it harder. I would like missions to be replayable before the first completion of the game but that's neither here nor there.

Edy's Detachment - I don't really like this character. I get the impression that this download pack is trying to appeal to the anime fan base (she really reminds me of Sailor Moon). And three quid for a single mission is a little steep (worse than POP: Epilogue).

Behind Her Blue Flame - This one is initially the most appealing of the three. I like the idea of playing for the other side, even if the chances are that every character in it is likely to get killed off during the main campaign (and that's not much of a spoiler - we can ALL see that coming).

Looking around the interweb, I see that destructoid.com has a review of the three packs here. It looks like the Selvaria pack has four missions - which would make it a lot more worthwhile.

The quandary with the Valkyria Chronicles downloads is that I want to buy them to support the game but I don't want to buy content at the prices it's sold at.
And this isn't a credit crunch thing (which I'm sure is made worse by the continuous media scare-mongering - six months ago the only thing that told me we were in a recession was the media. They aren't helping.)

This is just a question of the value I place - a DVD is good value to buy for less than a tenner. Games when I started (on Spectrum many many moons ago) could be bought with change from a quid and even the top games were under a tenner.
Unreal Tournament 2004 was £40 as part of a two for one offer with Far Cry and for three years took many hours of my life as shooter, racer, puzzler, small film source and community entertainment.

I am appreciative of PSN being free and still don't like paying for access to gaming online (Xbox Live Gold, I'm looking at you here) - while the subscription model obviously seems to be acceptable to many, I still find it a little distasteful.

Anyways, Valkyria Chronicles is a very well made game and is polished through and through. It's also whetted my interest in the SRPG genre, though not for isometric battles a la Advance Quest or Final Fantasy Tactics - not yet anyways (and hence my interest in Age of Booty).
Nope, my inner geek is currently interested in Blood Bowl, which it seems will be both strategy game and action game, depending on whether you go with real time playing or turn based.

It reminds me somewhat of the battle sequences in Summoner 2 which I actually enjoyed, though of the two the first Summoner was overall the better game

See, and for all of you who thought I was a shooter through and through, I do appreciate the tactics of outflanking the zombies as much as loading up the gatling cannon and letting rip.

Triumvirate is complete

2009-03-04T18:39:00.007Z

Firstly, eagle eyed viewers will note the new Trophy card - design is by xxDune.

I've finally been able to add a few more trophies to the collection recently - on games I've actually wanted rather than buying games just to add numbers to the trophy collection.

The games themselves will surprise no-one - Dead Space is the disc currently keeping the PS3 warm at nights.
It's amazing how much more enjoyable a game is when I can move while shooting ... something I suspect me and Resident Evil 5 are going to fall out over.
As a note, if you'd tried the Dead Space demo and got bloodily wiped out, the game itself is a little more forgiving. Or at least, you've had a little more time to warm up and work out what's going on when you get to that bit.

Prince of Persia is awaiting my return to it, which if the wife gets the next Resident Evil could be a while.

We all know how she likes her zombies - and it was her like of survival horror that ended up with Alone In The Dark: Inferno
I remember saying that I hated the Wii version (which is still true - we traded the Wii version some months ago) - the PS3 version is better.

[shameless plug]
Another side note - if you have the PS3 version, there's an exclusive sequence in episode 6 that none of the online guides cover - except for mine! There are several full guides for Xbox 360 available in the usual places. If you need some help with Episode 6 on the PS3, you can find my guide on GameFAQS, Supercheats and Neoseeker.
[/shameless plug]

Kinda ironic, when I mentioned that I could do the Wii guide ...

I'm still waiting for trophy support for Bionic Commando: Rearmed though. Come on Capcom!
And I'm getting more and more bored with Pain
Having trophies that can only be done if you purchase DLC seems a little mercenary and not 'community friendly'

Talking of community friendly, what happened about Smash Bros? I hear you cry.
Found it for less than £20 and couldn't resist the purchase - I'm working my way through the labyrinth in the brief moments I get around to playing it.

Also on the Wii, way back when I mentioned I was waiting for Secret Of Mana to arrive on Virtual Console. Well, it arrived and it's currently sat in it's channel, waiting for me to leave Potos village at the start of the quest.
It's successor, Chrono Trigger is meanwhile awaiting it's turn in the DS, after Lunar Knights but as I only power up the DS when travelling long distances that could be a while yet.

And for the patient amongst you who guessed from the title - yes I finally also have a Xbox 360.
It is work's old one donated after it failed for the second time. Work has since replaced the original with a Xbox Arcade model with 60Gb HDD and I was given the old one to do with as I wished.

The first time I fixed it by following the guide here, though i didn't replace the X clamps, which is probably why it failed again.

After a month it failed again. At that point, I overcooked it by switching it on and smothering it with towels.

That lasted another month

This time, I purchased the X clamp kit from this UK site and so far it seems to be holding up.

Of course, I still need to buy a hard drive, Hi-Def cable and more than Gears of War for it.

Someone at work has brought in The Orange Box - I wonder how many more days I should wait before 'borrowing' it ...

Trying new genres on for style

2008-09-17T11:44:00.005Z

Anyone reading a post or two down will note that I have both a PS3 and Wii - why don't I just go the whole hog and purchase an Xbox360 to complete the triumvirate?

While I do keep getting tempted by the elite model (and my best man keeps clamouring me) I do already have access to one.

At work.

I'm not giving away where I work (here, at least) but there are times where we are 'on call' - where we have to be immediately available but don't to have to be actually doing anything.
While this used to mean that we spent the time reading, over the last couple of years, we've managed to snag a plasma screen and hook a digi-box to add TV.

Then a gamecube was going spare so it was donated.

It's possible we spent a little bit too much time on Mario Kart: Double Dash

Then work bought an Xbox360.

This was actually to provide entertainment for Joe Public during events involving audience but mostly hasn't been used.

We graciously said that we'd provide an ongoing system of regular performance checks ;-)

As it's in a staff room, the choice of games is generally limited to multi-player options and mostly to games that aren't offensive to people. Only a few of us tend to use it, but other members of staff use the room.

As we buy the games out of our own pocket (Dance Revolution is the 'public use' game) games also tend to be bought on the cheap.

So Forza, PES6, Sega Rally and Tiger Woods have been the main games of choice.
Which are great for the player but not so great to look at.

I'm a bit more of an arcade gamer so my choices have included Burnout: Revenge and Gears of War - games that are great fun to play (for me) and provide entertainment to other watchers - they always seem to like spectacular crashes and deaths, particularly when they are inflicted on me ...

It's possible in this staff room to tell whose been (or is) gaming by which game is currently loaded and, at the minute, the sports fans outnumber me while the non-gamers don't really care.

As we only have two controllers, that also limits the availability of local multi-player. And no internet connection means no online content of any kind.

It's been interesting playing the sort of games that I normally wouldn't purchase (Ice hockey is about the only sports games I've ever purchased) and I've managed to try a couple of PS3 that I also wouldn't normally buy.

Get ready for these - you may be surprised.

A colleague has recently purchased a 40Gb PS3 and brought it in to work for a few of the on-call days.

The first game I tried that I wouldn't have normally?

Grand Theft Auto IV

Yep, that's a hardcore gamer who has never played a GTA game on any format.

I'm not really certain why. I wasn't really interested in the first few GTAs, kinda missed the whole GTA3 thing and somehow Vice City and San Andreas just didn't appeal to me.

Maybe there weren't enough zombies ...

So now I've played a GTA, it seemed okay. The driving was good but not quite as responsive as a Burnout; the combat was good but not as involving as Gears of War.

It was obviously a good game but it just didn't light any fires for me.

The other game my colleague brought in was Guiter Hero 3

Now, rhythm games I generally don't go need. I have tried a few but never anything that required additional hardware. And while I'm loath to admit it, Guitar Hero was good fun, particularly taking it in turns with other players.

The worse thing is that every once in a while now, I'll be listening to something and start working out what the moves needed for the game version of the song

Gah!

I'm still doubting that I'll be buying Guitar Hero or Rockband but I can see the attraction there.

And talking of attraction, I finally managed to try out Smash Bros Brawl recently.

That game may just be the one to be the first purchase I make that's over £25 for a game.

PS3 Trophies

2008-08-20T20:26:00.004Z

Following on from my mention of trophies in the last post, I've updated the blog to include a gamercard linked to my PS3 profile.

Seeing as I haven't even loaded up UT2004 since Christmas, it's a little strange to keep the Xfire profile up.

So that's gone and now I broadcast my (lack of) trophies to the world.

Credit to the design goes to Deathvein.

Though Sony mentioned way back when that trophies would be a part of Home, I had totally forgotted about the idea of trophies until the V2.4 upgrade for PS3

(And by the way, updating the system on PS3 is a little annoying - anyone want to tell me just why it can't be done in the background ... the download at least ... sigh)

I don't know how many sites online are built to discuss trophies. When I set out hunting for more information, Google sent me to www.ps3trophies.co.uk.

It's a fairly new community but there's a good vibe going so I'm keen to support them. The UK bias helps but it's fully inclusive so I'm sure that the membership will become more global. The forum really helps in that community spirit.

If you are a PS3 owner, why not swing by and have a look. It's not as if it's going to cost anything ...

Black and White goes clunky

2008-08-16T14:52:00.007Z

Yes, I know - it's been forever since I lasted posted.

That big huge rant on backwards compatibility then nothing for nine months

So, what's going on in my world of game?

Well, on Christmas Day a shiny white Wii took up residence next to the TV.

Initial response was pretty good - we managed to get both mine and my wife's parents up and playing on Wii Sports and Resident Evil Chronicles was enjoyable (hey, you knew we'd have bought that).

The niggles have slowly crept up on us.

The Virtual Console is good and the fact that you can use old Gamecube controllers on most games has saved me buying yet another controller - but the whole Wii points thing is a little unwieldy - particularly if you are trying to transfer Stars from old Nintendo accounts - It took me from december to early August to get all my Stars transferred (and I only had a few thousand).

Nintendo have this rubbish idea that you can only purchase one Wii points card a day online and that they only have a 'limited number' available.

Huh?

So I have to log onto the website, sign in with my Nintendo account, click on the link to the wiipoints page, log in again(!), see what value of cards they have available at that point, normally shake my head as they say that no cards are available, occasionally - rapidly - click on a icon that says cards are available in set amounts, click another yes to the question of do you want to transfer the points, click the okay that follows, click onto purchase details, copy onto paper the 16 digit number that accompanies that 'purchase', exit the browser (which on the Wii costs 800 points!), load up the Shop Channel, click the 'Start Shopping' button on the news page, click the wii points, click the add points, click on the redeem voucher, click on the empty box, use a point and click system to enter that number from earlier, click enter, click confirm and then I've finally managed to change 400 Stars into 100 Wii points.

Hardly a good rate of interest.

That is the rather convoluted route required to get any use out of my Stars - I'm still going to have 90 Stars that are just going to get wasted as Nintendo have decided to make old points expire. And it looks like every time I buy a game, I'm going to have to do this again.

It doesn't encourage me to buy Wii points.

And the selection of games is still made up of far too many cheap looking party games and poor quality ports (do yourself a favour - do not buy Alone in the Dark on Wii - it's ruining the series, and the Wiimote controls, for me. Although, at the time of writing, I could write the first actual Wii guide for it as there is not one online)

WiiWare looks like it may be useful but releasing WiiWare titles seems to stop Nintendo releasing Virtual Console titles - the whole online experience is very clunky.

I'm hoping that Brawl and Mario Kart are more user-friendly in this respect. These are about the only games out that I have any interest in (well, and Zack and Wiki maybe)

Of course, I'm still hoping that Secret of Mana or any of the Chrono series get a release

I note that there's going to be a new bit to plug into the Wiimote to increase the accuracy. Thank god but should we really have to pay for this?
It's like Sony insisting that rumble was last gen then triumphantly announcing the Dual Shock 3.

And talking of Sony.

We succumbed and we ended up buying the 60Gb model from eBay after it got removed from the shops promptly on December 1st.

I did mean (and still mean) to purchase a larger HDD to install and still haven't got around to it.

Getting it set up was fairly simple - including deleting the old profile that the previous owner had left on there (I still have your FIFA file though if you need it!) apart from transferring the game saves from Memory cards onto the HDD.

For this, we had to buy a Memory Card adaptor (only available on the second hand market and now a little pointless). Then for the PS3 to be able to read the cards, everything had to switched on and inserted in just the right order - get any of the order wrong just meant the card was unreadable; in one case, this actually corrupted some of the data on the card.

Of the eight memory cards that we owned (for both PS1 and PS2) only one of each of PS1 and PS2 could be read, whatever order we tried (one offical and one Mad Catz third party). So I ended up spending a couple of hours with the PS2, moving _all_ the game saves around to get them onto the cards that could be read then switching TV inputs (thank God with the HDMI lead the two consoles were on different inputs) to get them onto the PS3.

And that was a little clunky also. To get the old Playstation saving system onto the PS3, you have to allocate part of the memory to act as a virtual memory card then transfer the saves from the actual memory card onto the virtual card. Then when playing the older games, you have to assign a slot number to the virtual memory card you want to use.

The Sixaxis motion is poor compared to the Wiimote and I'm planning to get Dualshocks at some point - I'm just still baulking at the price of controllers these days (same on Nintendo).

I'm also not a fan of the revised R2/L2 triggers - they just seem to fall somewhere between the Xbox 360 triggers and the PS2 shoulder buttons and don't seem work as well as either. I do prefer having the analog sticks in line with each other, unlike the X360 style and the controllers are a good size - if a little light.

Sony have done better on PSN - apart from the god awful load times for icons on their shop - and have a better integration to the PSP than Nintendo to the DS.

The DS can accept demos from the Wii now. Since the Nintendo channel started, if you go to the 'find games for me' section, there's an option to download to the DS (I tried out Iron Man and Ninja Gaiden DS) - you can't save anything and the demo is lost when you switch the DS off but it does work pretty well.

That PSN is starting to do more upgraded versions of old games (Bionic Commando is whetting my fancy) is good and there are some PS1 classics available but the pricing does seem a little random with games varying from £3 to £8 and DLC ranges from free to £3.
And being able to download demos and trailers is brilliant - though not being able to install games/demos in the background is very annoying - as is getting system updates that don't mention what they are updating.

I purchased a Jabra BT125 bluetooth headset separately which the PS3 found and accepted very quickly and easily. You can only have one (mono) Bluetooth headset profile stored on the PS3 which could be annoying if co-op multiplayer takes off.

Of course, what I haven't checked to see if that is one headset per account ... I will and report back.

I haven't yet managed to get online with any demo to try multiplayer - this may be an issue with connection speeds on my wireless network but I've certainly managed to get onto the scoreboards for Pain, Super Stardust HD and Eden.

Trophies also are a nice idea, presumably as a small offering from Home, though I wonder over the more competitive idea of Trophies over Achievements. I'm also not certain that having exclusive Trophies (ie no equivalents to Achievements) is going to help the big studios very much.
I'm also a little peeved that Trophies can't retroactively reward you - I've managed to clear all the planets on Stardust but am going to have to do it again.

Anyone able to confirm when (if?) Pain is getting Trophies added? That's a game I really can see trophies coming in for and I don't want to spend too much time on it if they are going to be used.

I'll talk more on games, modems and other thoughts at a little date (including some Xbox 360 stuff) - it's just nice to clear the air sometimes.

Lure of the Past

2007-11-05T23:13:00.000Z

I've just been reading this months EDGE magazine.

There's an article on the PS3 in there in which Ray McGuire, MD of SCEE, defends Sony's position on making the new PS3 model lose it's backwards compatibility.

This was done to try reduce the costs involved in manufacturing the PS3 which costs Sony - the company loses money in selling PS3.

Now I get reducing specs to reduce the cost (the other features missing from the new model include 2 less USB ports, 20Gb less hard drive, and the memory card reader) but I'm afraid that, for me at least, the backwards compatibility is non-negotiable.

We all know that updating and improving consoles doesn't necessary mean that games are also improved. Games like Space Invaders, Defender, Tetris, Super Mario Bros, Secret of Mana, Sonic, Metroid, Zelda to name but a few are regarded as classics on the systems that they first appeared upon. That's not to say that new consoles don't bring improved gaming to existing IP (and some of the games in that list have been improved in later years) - original games don't necessary lose their appeal just because a new console has been released.
And being able to play the old games on improved systems is something of an appeal.

Nintendo and Microsoft think so hence the Virtual Console and XBLA, and Sony used to think so.

I offer my gaming past as an example.

Converted to Nintendo at a young age, I owned an original Game Boy and a SNES. About my mid teens, I had discovered beer and girls and lost interest somewhat in the whole gaming thing. Both were sold off and the money went off to valuable causes (beer and rent)
It was in my second year that a friend of mine switched on his original Playstation and allowed me to play Resident Evil 2 for the first time.
I think I bought my own console within a month (what else was my student loan for?) with my own copy of RE2, along with the original Resident Evil game.

Somehow my then girl-friend (and my now-wife!) watched me playing those games and became hooked herself on that title. She's not overly keen on actually playing survival horror titles (though we double-teamed Obscure) but she loves to watch.

PS2 came out and there were three things that sold it for us (once the price had dropped from it's initial value) - a DVD player (which we didn't have at the time), Resident Evil Code Veronica (which I wasn't buying a Saturn for) and the backwards compatibility. We could sell the old PS but still be able to keep all the titles we liked (Res Evil, Dino Crisis, Parasite Eve, Medieval (noticing a theme?) and Crash Team Racing). Cool.

When the Res Evil series moved onto GameCube, we duly purchased one (actually we (SHE!) bought Resident Evil Remake before the console. Somehow, we avoided purchasing Resident Evil 4 until it's PS2 release (I think Prince of Persia and God of War helped there :-])

So, that's the current situation. We have two consoles under the TV and a shelf still has PS1 games alongside GC and PS2.

Now, at some point we will buy a Wii. The ability to play Gamecube games is a big plus and not even having to learn a new control system is good. The Virtual Console is another plus (I'm really hoping that Secret Of Mana gets confirmed for this) - though having to buy a different controller for this is (or will be) something of a pain.

It's a fairly good bet that we will also purchase one of the other big 'next-gen' consoles also. But this is where things get less predictable.

I can pretty much guarantee that once Resident Evil 5 comes out that we will have a console that can play this in pretty short order.

The PS3 has one main advantage over the 360 at the moment in that we'll still be able to play all the old titles (that, by the way, is 53 titles on my shelf RIGHT NOW - 53! I've just counted 'em). Sure, some of those titles will be traded in at some point but that's a lot of old titles and some of those will not be thrown out (the entire Resident Evil Series on PS1 and PS2 bar the appalling Survivor 2; Final Fantasy VII, Metal Gear Solid, Prince of Persia, God Of War, Dino Crisis)

To be able to play those titles and more is the only reason that we haven't purchased a 360 yet. The Elite model looks good, has a decent spec, some very appealing games, and my best man waiting on xbox live.

If the PS3 drops its ability to play the old games, it won't take much convincing to purchase the 360 and just keep the PS2. With the price of the PS3 where it is, it wouldn't cost much more to do this and I can guarantee that She won't allow for the Resident Evil games to be abandoned - and it seems a little pointless to purchase newer versions that are no difference to the original, such as the flood that appeared on GC while the series transferred.

Nor should we have to abandon them. Another good reason for leaving gaming when I did was that the new (at the time) N64 and Saturn machines couldn't play the older games. It seemed pointless to upgrade for flashy graphics when the games I enjoyed and had bought could not be enjoyed on the new systems.

It still seems pointless now. Purchasing a 360 and a Wii still seems to make more sense than a PS3 and Wii. In an ideal world, we would get all three but I've yet to see any titles that are really pushing the PS3 (God of War 3, and Metal Gear Solid 4) - most of the games I'm currently interested in also have a 360 version (Assassins Creed, UT3, TimeShift, Dead Rising, Gears of War, Lost Planet)

I suspect that we'll probably purchase a PS3 first while we know backwards compatibility is still available for the games that we own. I'd rather wait until the price comes down and the HDD capacity goes up - then of course that one appears to be a simple retrofit; going off-topic but our DVD player has a 400GB HDD - why are consoles supplying a HDD that is so stingy?

Just remember my list of reasons to buy the PS2.

Well, this time, the Blu-Ray format is not pervasive enough, andResident Evil 5 is not a Sony exclusive.

That only leaves backwards compatibility.

And by the way I have no plans to purchase a PSP to be able to pay again to download PS1 games that I already own (or acquire illegal cracking software).

Sony are going to have to be very careful at the minute but it's really looking like Microsoft and Nintendo are going to win this generation of consoles.

New Modem

2007-10-10T22:39:00.000Z

As mentioned in my earlier post (ISP V2) we need to buy a new modem to replace the existing Voyager that wasn't playing nicely any more.

We finally took the plunge with a Netgear wireless ADSL modem router (at least partly cos we were setting up a laptop for Mums use and had no way to check the onboard Wifi card was working)

Our PC is connected into one of the four available wired ports and set-up took about 10 minutes - a few minutes more to add the encryption, switch off the SSID and only allow connections from the laptop MAC via W2PK. Since then, it's mostly performed pretty well. The computer says it has a 100Mbps connection, though that of course makes no different to our broadband rate and it's nice not to have to turn the desktop on to get a connection via the laptop.

I have had the internet connection just die once or twice though - I don't know if Pipex are watching me after nearly going over the download limit in August (I had a broken leg - there wasn't much else to do) or if it's something to do with router or PC not talking nicely to each other. Most importantly, we don't have to worry about the PC seizing during shutdown

Halo 3: more minus than plus?

2007-10-10T21:54:00.000Z

I still remain a firm fan of UT in all it's flavours but I did spend three hours on Halo 3 at the weekend:

This was on the co-op campaign with a friend who has already completed once. In those three hours, we managed (with me first-timing Halo 3 - and only experience with the demo of the original Halo prior) to get someway into mission 6 (of 9).

It looks gorgeous, sounds amazing, and surprising slow. Anyone jumping floats in the air for several seconds, and there's no dodging. Even the fast vehicles like Ghosts seem to take an age to come about.
With two players, Halo 3 was good fun, despite all that. My partner in crime knew (mostly) what needed to be done and I am always able to flank opponents. He is a much better driver than I am but I am probably a better turret gunner.

I do have some good memories now of that session (in no particular order):
operating a mounted gun in a Warthog and using his zoomed in sniper view to watch my tracer fire and take down the sniper he was aiming for;
again in a Warthog shooting down the driver of a Ghost whose vehicle then crushed the driver of a second Ghost;
The Gravity Hammer!;
the look on my friends face when he turned to look for my character at one point and saw me (as the Arbiter) with a turret gun in my hands and a rocket launcher on my back;
the moment that while he was trying to snipe a Wraith, I was able to get to a rocket launcher - as the Wraith turned away from him, he saw me appear from behind a mound and fire a rocket at point-blank range, standing still to watch the burning wreckage fall around me;
a defensive position in a control room with inbound Flood "Cover the window - I've got the door" said he. It was on the first few that arrived that he got hit just as he emptied a clip - hearing him curse and fall back, I jumped in. With a Gravity Hammer. Splat! At that point, I covered the door instead and he just warned me as the Flood approached;
finding the Flame Thrower;
the first time in the Scorpions - pretty much not stopping and leaving a trail of smoking Convenant in my wake;

There were some irritants though-

The comparative slowness (compared to UT2k4 or even Timesplitters) meant several times I got caught in the open and suffered death by Brute;
at least once (during the first Scarab encounter when I tried to mount it) I was killed with absolutely no idea what had killed me;
at least once dying with a full weapon and equipment roster on top of more equipment and then being unable to pick up the weapons I was using when I got back to that spot (particularly annoying as it was an Energy Sword I couldn't get to);
though the graphics are lovely, the black borders and co-op play meant that the viewing area for each of us was only about a third of the screen, which did feel a little restrictive

It's a different pace of FPS and one I would have to adjust my playing style for - I've spent a good few years on objective based gaming (I really should have a look a Quake Wars at some point) - it is a good game (though I think playing it with someone improved the gaming experience for me) but I don't think it's enough to make me want to go out and buy a 360 for, despite what the hype would have you believe.

And as a small aside, who would honestly want to own a green xBox 360? Honestly?

How killing people with my dad improved our relationship

2007-06-16T14:13:00.000Z

Just a link in this post to an article on Gamasutra that is for the positive of video games

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/1443/how_killing_people_with_my_dad_.php

The Internet is for Porn next version

2007-06-01T21:39:00.001Z

I did post some time ago with the WoW version of Avenue Q's The Internet is for Porn.

As I have never played Wow or Guild Wars and I am aware that there may be a hint (just a hint) of rivalry between the two, I'm posting the Guild Wars version as well.

Watch it here

While I mention the WoW vs Guild War thing, have a like at this movie as well:

Can't touch this

Is it wrong to think the only difference is that Guild Wars only has human characters?

[don nomex suit]

UK ISP V2

2007-05-01T16:05:00.001Z

I posted over a year ago about having issues with our ISP - Pipex can't seem to transfer your account but have to close it and get you to open a new one.
I get the technical details of making sure the line is set up for them to be able to access it but why does that require a new account?

Anyhoo, the year was up and we had a bit of a look around to see if Pipex was going to continue to have our custom.
The criteria was a little more relaxed this time - it didn't have to be an unlimited download service, just larger than what seems to be the normal 2Gb limit (I've been monitoring our usage and I get through just over 2 GB a month - it's always one too many games of UT2k4!). A download speed of anything from 2Mbps was acceptable (the more the better though). And it had to be cheaper than the current plan. We also need a new modem as the BT based one we have regularly seizes the computer on shutdown

Our initial thought was for Orange which ticked all the boxes technically, gave us a Wi-fi box as a starting point for the home network that we will undoubtably have in the next year or so and with our existing Orange mobile contracts would only cost a fiver a month!
But we haven't hear anything good about the customer service. So we went for the BT Broadband version and called Pipex to ask for a PAC number.

We asked Pipex if they could price match the BT offer - they were able to give us 8Mbps download and increased upload speed, with a 15GB limit and they threw in free 01 and 02 calls, all for £15 (which is over a third less than we were paying). There will also be no downtime (though there may be some patchy service for a few days).
We still have to buy our own modem but Pipex agreed to give us 2 months free also.

Customer service still ranks high for this one ...

Haloid

2007-04-22T00:17:00.000Z

Just one of several links on Youtube

Created by Monty Oum - it's a masterpiece link of Metroid, Halo and the Matrix. A little rough round the edges, sure but very nice all the same.

It's worth checking out the deviant art page for this peep also.

Game Guides on Handheld Consoles

2007-04-21T18:32:00.000Z

I've been pondering the value of handheld consoles recently - as you do.

The DS lite is getting more appealing - primarily because of Brain Trainingand Hotel Dusk but I still can't find many reasons to purchase a PSP (besides I'd rather get the Wii and PS3 first!)

However, I've also recently started replaying Final Fantasy VIIand something that the handhelds would be great for would be as a context sensitive game guide.
I'm sure many gamers either miss parts of a game as they don't realise it's there or fail to acheive the conditions needed to open that bit/weapon/character/bonus up, or when using guides have to balance playing the game with hunting through a text file or online guide keeping up with where they are.

How much simpler would it be to have a guide open in your handheld that is linked to where you are in the game and changes accordingly - posting strategies for enemy encounters, flagging up hidden treasure and having files to hand to solve puzzles. Build it in a Wiki format and the gamers can edit it as they go along, adding new findings to be updated to the web for others to use themselves.

Would this really be that hard to implement?

Really?

UT3 approaches

2007-04-07T15:38:00.000Z

More and more details are being released about the forthcoming UT3 and this is one gamer who is looking forward to having to upgrade for the first time in a few years.
(of course there are still the consoles to buy, and the peripherals, and the new versions of other franchises, and ...)

No release date yet on UT3 (did they drop the UT2007 title cos they weren't certain they could release it in 2k7?) but more info can be found at GamesRadar

the Tiny URL link

A link for those who want the full URL

I used to have a life once

2007-01-14T11:07:00.000Z

Below is a copy of an article from the Daily Telegraph (link here) which details one man and his WoW addiction. Even my mum got it :)

But that was before Sam Leith joined the monster-killing millions in the online game World of Warcraft

So my gnome rogue, hoping to level up, is grinding his way through some leprous gnome exiles, picking the odd pocket for coppers, and vaguely searching for a dwarf, when he spots an intriguing doorway.

So, here I am, at 3.30am on a working day, red-eyed from bashing up trolls. And, I might add with a twinge of shame, 33 years old

He stealths, and starts waddling down the gently sloping stone corridor. A little way ahead, I can see where the passageway makes a right turn. Then this funny little mob shows up, then adds, and barely do I know I'm in combat before I'm toast. Didn't even get a Sinister Strike in.

A fast-moving L30 night-elf hunter breezes past my corpse, then stops, and turns round. He notices the dead gnome is level 7. "Dude," he tells my corpse. "This is a lvl 25 instance!" "I think I have realised my mistake," I tell him, as I zap back to the graveyard and prepare to go and retrieve my corpse.

If that sounds like gibberish to you, I'm in sympathy. Two weeks ago, I would have read the above anecdote and been defeated by what "grinding", "mobs", "adds", "Sinister Strike" and "instance" meant, still less been able to understand how you use "stealth" as a verb and why gnome exiles have leprosy and why you might be looking for a dwarf.

Yet at the last count there were 7.5 million people worldwide who would know just what I was talking about – and would giggle at the image of a half-witted newbie inadvertently picking a fight with an elite monster and duly getting squished.

This is World Of Warcraft – the world's most popular MMOG (Massively Multiplayer Online Game) – and it is, God help me, now a substantial portion of what used to pass for my life.

It started innocuously enough. My geeky friend K and her even geekier husband Stef started bending my ear. Try World of Warcraft, they said. It's like virtual-reality Dungeons & Dragons, they said. You'll love it, they said.

And I explained that, yes, precisely the reason that I was never going to try it was that I knew all of these things, and that I had read reports of Asian teenagers dying – yes, actually dropping dead – in internet cafes after playing WoW for days on end and forgetting to eat, and that I had moved on from the days of being a sebaceously challenged teenager rolling 18-sided dice, and that, dammit, I knew exactly how much I'd like it and that was the very reason I never tried crack cocaine.

So, here I am, at 3.30am on a working day, red-eyed from bashing up trolls. And, I might add with a twinge of shame, 33 years old. In my other life, I'm a three-foot gnome with a ludicrous blue moustache, a waddling gait that reminds my friends of Super Mario, and a talent for eviscerating giant spiders.

The basic premise of WoW will be familiar to anyone who has read Tolkien or played Dungeons & Dragons. It immerses the player in a fully populated 3-D fantasy world of magic, potions, elves, dwarves, warriors, druids and what have you.

Your character arrives in the world in his stockinged feet armed, if he or she is lucky, with a pointed stick. Hours of bashing – sorry, vanquishing – monsters and completing quests earn experience points and goodies that make you tougher, let you learn new skills, and set you on the path to geek godhood.

What makes the game so addictive is that – in addition to providing a staggeringly enormous and gorgeously realised world to explore – it also provides a community. Every player-character in the world of the game is online in real time, and those with different strengths and weaknesses benefit from teaming up.

They share quests, chatter constantly over the message system, swap tips and jokes, trade items. Altruism is frequent. Often, I've found myself unexpectedly outnumbered by baddies and a passing player of higher level has stepped in to save my bacon. "Thanks!" squeaks my feeble gnome. "NP [No problem]. Enjoy the game," replies my saviour before galloping off to kill something really scary.

The game even has a complex virtual economy. Characters trade covetable items through auction houses in the game's big cities such as Ironforge and Stormwind, and the money you accumulate has a real-world value to players who want to get ahead. "Gold farms" in Third World countries employ people to play the game for hours on end, accumulating treasure which is then sold for hard currency to cash-rich, time-poor Western players.

That may sound absurd, but a year or two back a Chinese man was murdered in the real world over the theft of virtual property in WoW.

The overlap of real and virtual worlds is seldom that malign. But it can be disconcerting. One night recently, having cried off evening drinks with K and Stef on the grounds of feeling flu-ey and rotten, I logged on to WoW. Seconds later, the message window flashed up; a person-to-person message called a "whisper". It was from Stef: "So, tucked up in bed with our Ovaltine then, are we?" Busted.

Console ads

2006-12-23T17:55:00.000Z

Games Console Ads

For once, a site with more educational than entertainment value.

2006-11-14T12:35:00.000Z

I've really got to give two thumbs up for this one. We've been playing it at work for the last few months and though we gained a 100% completion a few weeks back, it hasn't stopped us enjoying multi-player races.

It seems a few of us have GameCubes stashed in corners :)

YouTube - X-box guns

2006-10-02T22:03:00.000Z

YouTube - X-box guns

if only real life was like this ;)

GameTrailers.com - User Movie: 1K Project II by sMull

2006-09-04T18:24:00.000Z

This is neat - check it out!

GameTrailers.com - User Movie: 1K Project II by sMull

Mini rant on timed demos

2006-08-07T22:49:00.000Z

WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY????????

(I imagine the converstation went something like this)

Suit 1: Okay so, our tech geeks have burnt holes in their socks getting the demo ready to put on next months trade rag

Suit 2: I thought that they have just taken the tutorial level and ported it across

Suit 1: Oh, okay. Well, okay so, we need to implement something into the demo that's going to make Joe Public drool and be some damn eager to buy the game that they'll stop being cheap-ass bastards waiting for the game to hit the pre-owned section and actually buy the game at release price

Suit 2: We need to entice them into playing ...

Suit 1: okay

Suit 2: ... demonstrate the range of things to do ...

Suit 1: so

Suit 2: ... but not allow them to play it to death and get bored ...

Suit 1; Okay so?

Suit 2: ... ummm ...

[Suit 3 enters] Guys, sorry I'm late. Fred from Development cornered me about a timer. Still have no idea what he was on about. What's with the light bulbs over your heads?

So even though the developers have to port a whole level across and the average gamer will either love or hate the game, someone thinks that timing the demo out is a good idea.

lets look at the effect

OPS2 demo disk:
Lego Star Wars 2. Excellent. I'll try that. Cool, I can still deflect blaster shots. Neat, I can get into vehicles. And there are hundreds of studs hidden away. And that's an interesting .. oh the screens gone dark.
Well, maybe I need to finish story mode to avoid that
I don't think I can stop that timer. Well that's annoying.

Yakuza
Atmospheric intro piece and now I get control and this guy is offering examples of gameplay in different sections. 1 done - this game seems okay and that's the second section and , oh it's gone dark again. Ho-hum.

Micro Machines v4 Well, me and the guys are looking for another 4 player party game - let's have a gander. Excellent - it's similar to Mashed but with a bit more of a sense of humour - racing on a roof, cutting up a chicken coop, oh damnit it a timers started. Boo

Tomb Raider:Legend Well Lara looks better and she moves much more gracefully (I can see my Prince of Persia and God Of War taking notes). And man it's nice to be acrobatic and have a ranged weapon. And here are the puzzly bits, climb here, jump here, move that and the door opens and .. oh the demo has ended. Oh well fair enough.

See, all that work in getting the demo ready and by having a timer on a demo of a game that doesn't normally have a timer - it just makes me go, "well why couldn't they end the demo at a end point" and adds a couple of negative points. The coders have had to put the whole level on the demo disc anyway so why not let me explore the level to death at my own speed. If I like the game, I'll buy it anyway. If I don't, then having the time-out won't make me change my mind.

Okay, rant over.

New game

2006-08-07T22:43:00.000Z

In something of a chance from my usual survival horror/FPS favourites, I've been putting some time into this:

I wouldn't recommend paying full-price for it but it is fun to play (apart from the damn Defence of Kashyyyk level that is keeping me 2% from getting True Jedi status)

Ahem.

I'll be keeping an eye out for the next in series (doing the original trilogy) - again I'll be waiting for the budget prices though.

Gears of War Movie (Xbox 360)

2006-05-13T14:02:00.000Z

Gears of War Movie (Xbox 360)

Check out this vid of the new Gears Of War game (warning it's 280+MB large!) The game footage starts about 6 mins in and runs for around 10mins.

This is the kind of action I was missing from so many games - y'all know I'm a big UT fan but I've always wanted an online game that built on the games like kill.switch or CT Special Forces that allowed for active use of cover. Hell, if RE5 is planning to have fast enemies, or MGS4 is in a warzone, this seems like a no-brainer addition.

If I have a shooting weapon (be it a .38mm revovler or a BFG!) I want to be able to move, to take cover and to generally evade. Unless I'm on a turret, I want to be able to use my feet!

new skin! Again!

2006-04-21T21:34:00.000Z

I'm getting really fickle

The Gargoyle is gone

YouTube - Super Mario Reloaded

2006-04-01T17:04:00.000Z

YouTube - Super Mario Reloaded

The most well-known fight scene in the Matrix Reloaded gets a makeover - 8-bit style!

new skin!

2006-03-26T13:33:00.000Z

Well, we all do it. For now, Antix is not respawning and has gone to the big top in the sky. For now, at least ...

so instead wave hello to a new Gargoyle skin, Turim (skinned by Slaughter)

Searching for more music

2006-03-26T13:21:00.000Z

Find Music You'll Love - Pandora

I spend most of my time online streaming radio. For a while now I've been using Yahoo's Launch with it's neat personalised radio which allows me to choose what I listen to. But it doesn't allow for multiple genres :(

Pandora does the same thing, allowing to to pick an artist that you like then it will carry on playing similar artists which you rate and "auto-tune" it to the style that you fancy.
You can have multiple 'stations' to vary your styles. So far, I'm liking it. It's missing a little polish but then, it is free so ...

what the ...?

2006-02-24T19:11:00.000Z

I've just followed this link to a posting on 1Up.

It's a piece from WGN de-claiming games as the new Crack-Cocaine ...

I'm speechless.
No actually I'm not. Is there really not enough news out there that some media company has to create some sensationalist press like this? (don't answer that!)

Follow the links and decide for yourself.
Decide just how much BS is spewed out in this story. Grrr!

Fandel Mulkey's 1UP Blog: You have got to see this video. The News media at it's worst.

UK ISP

2006-02-11T19:52:00.000Z

Moving house recently and we have been reminded how some companies can do so well in some things but really just miss the point in others.

For a couple of years, we have been using Pipex as our broadband provider. There was no installation fee, no join up fee and we could use an ADSL modem that was given us free by a friend. We were connected ahead of schedule. Then they upgraded our speed from 512K to 2M free of charge and continued to provide an uncapped, unmetered service. Beuno!

And then we moved ...

For some reason, Pipex were unable to move our account to the new address, even though we had the phone number moved. I had to cancel the account and start a new one. Anyone want to write in and explain just why that is?

In any case, we are sticking with Pipex for the moment but we are keeping tabs on a number of other providers whom we may well switch to if the high level of customer service that they had provided appears to have wondered off.

In no order (all are uncapped and allow for 2MB download speed) -
Homechoice includes digital TV and an uncapped service (which they don't charge for but reserve the right to do so
NewNet OK this is capped but it is at 25GB with isn't too bad. It also provides a static IP as standard if you are looking for one
Tiscali Allow for referral fees (but I have heard bad things about them from users)
FastSurf Seems to be equal with Pipex though it is a shade more expensive but only a minimum 1 month contract

can't move both sets of limbs ...

2006-01-12T02:20:00.000Z

Resident Evil

Lessee, this is a series that has spanned, what over 15 versions across 7 consoles and the PC, including a couple of light gun based variants. It was the series that brought survival horror to the gaming mainstream (though yes Alone in the Dark did it first) and the next version is already in development for the PS3. And has spawned 2 films, a series of novels and a number of comics

The heroes in all but the Outbreak files are trained police, government, special force, and corporate espionage agents (normally more than one) and are prodigies in specialist areas (the master of unlocking :) - ok so you knew _that_ was coming) able to handle assorted weapons, computers and codes.

Why then, is it only the 'normal folk' in Outbreak who once they have aimed a weapon are able to move at the same time??

EVERY other similar game in the world allows movement but the nearest that the RE gang have ever got to it was the ability to dodge in RE3. Fur Chrissakes Leon in RE4 can jump through windows and smash heads open but he can't sidestep; both the Survivor games (which need a lightgun to be played properly) freeze the character to the spot when the trigger is pulled; Claire, in Veronica, in the opening movie is able to outrun attack helicopters and uses elements of Gun Kata. Then the player takes control and she is lucky to be able to turn or look up or down with a weapon readied.

From the more well-known games such as Dino Crisis (released about the same time as RE2 and by Capcom also) to the lesser known (I'll use Obscure, the only 2 player survival horror that I can think of) the majority of the characters had worked out that it's easier to avoid bio-weapon mutants if you walk backwards while pumping them full of lead.

Any chance that RE5 might decide to have movement on a separate control to aim? Or is such a concept far more difficult to program then I could imagine

[/sarcasm] ;)

For any who has ever used a tool ...

2006-01-03T20:16:00.000Z

Stolen from the Chicago Craigslist...
This damn thing made me glad that I wasn't drinking coffee whilst reading. :)

For men who think they know about tools:

1. DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat
metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest
and flings
your beer across the room, splattering itagainst that freshly painted part
you
were drying.

2. WIRE WHEEL: Cleans paint off bolts and then throws them somewhere under
the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprint whorls and
hard-earned guitar calluses in about the time it takes you to say, "shit!"

3. ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning pop rivets in their
holes
until you die of old age.

4. PLIERS: Used to round off hexagonal bolt heads.

5. HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board
principle: It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable
motion, and
the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future
becomes.

6. VISE GRIP PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads. If nothing else is
available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to
the palm of
your hand.

7. OXYACETYLENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for setting various flammable
objects in your shop on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside a
wheel hub you're trying to get the bearing race out of.

8. WHITWORTH SOCKETS: Once used for working on older British cars and
motorcycles, they are now used mainly for impersonating that 9/16" or 1/2"
socket you've been searching for the last 15 minutes.

9. HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering an automobile to the ground
After
you have installed your new disk brake pads, trapping the jack handle
firmly
under the bumper.

10. EIGHT-FOOT LONG DOUGLAS FIR 4X4: Used to attempt to lever an
automobile
upward off a hydraulic jack handle.

11. TWEEZERS: A tool for removing splinters of wood, especially Douglas
fir.

12. TELEPHONE: Tool for calling your neighbor to see if he has another
hydraulic floor jack.

13. SNAP-ON GASKET SCRAPER: Theoretically useful as a sandwich tool for
spreading mayonnaise; used mainly for removing dog feces from your boots.

14. E-Z OUT BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool that snaps off in bolt holes
and
is ten times harder than any known drill bit.

15. TWO-TON HYDRAULIC ENGINE HOIST: A handy tool for testing the tensile
strength of bolts and fuel lines you forgot to disconnect.

16. CRAFTSMAN 1/2" x 16" SCREWDRIVER: A large motor mount prying tool that
inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end without
the
handle.

17 AVIATION METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw.

18. TROUBLE LIGHT: The home builder's own tanning booth. Sometimes called
drop light, it is a good source of vitamin D, "the sunshine vitamin,"
which
is not otherwise found under cars at night. Health benefits aside, its
main
purpose is to consume 40-watt light bulbs at about the same rate
that 105-mm howitzer shells might be used during, say, the first few hours
of the Battle of the Bulge. More often dark than light, its name is
somewhat
misleading.

19. PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the lids of old-style
paper-and-tin oil cans and squirt oil on your shirt; can also be used, as
the
name implies, to round off the interiors of Phillips screw heads.

20. AIR COMPRESSOR: A machine that takes energy produced in a coal-burning
power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed air that
travels by hose to an pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty bolts last
tightened 70 years ago by someone at Ford, and rounds them off.

21. PRY BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or
bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 cent part.

22. HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to cut hoses 1/2 inch too short.

23. HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer now-a-days
is
used as a kind of divining rod to locate expensive parts not far from
the object
we are trying to hit.

24. MECHANIC'S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of
cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on
boxes containing upholstered items, chrome-plated metal, plastic parts and
the other hand not holding the knife.

25. ANY MULTI-TOOL, usually offered on TV infomercials purported to fit
any
size nut, bolt, screw, smooth, slotted, hexagonal, square, Teflon,
ridged, slick
all for only $19.95 and "if you order now you get two of them (because
they are
so cheap and useless, we even feel guilty about selling them to you)":
Alternate uses: good paperweight, pretty good trot line weight. good glass
breaker if you're trapped in your car, and the best use of all...just
something
to throw that not even the dog will bring back.

After me wife got me ...

2006-01-01T21:04:00.000Z

What did I get the missus for Christmas?

Well, from her wish list

and also

As you can see from the last post, we both have similar tastes ;)

My wife got me ...

2006-01-01T20:59:00.000Z

Just a coupla games that I got for Crimbo -

and also

Thoughts on these to follow

Internet is for Porn

2006-01-01T20:53:00.000Z

Offical

this World of Warcraft video says so ;)

You don't need to know the first thing about WoW to enjoy this but it does have some strong language in it (no nudity though!). Hey, it's on google video - it can't be too bad.

Enjoy

Internet is for Porn

Change of pace

2005-12-05T20:32:00.000Z

We recently picked up Fahrenheit for the PS2

So far, I'm pretty impressed. I'd recommend it to anyone who is looking for a well-thought game with a little depth.
Just cos I'm also a fragger don't mean that sometimes I like a game that works the brain as well as the reaction speed

Looking for me?

2005-12-05T20:15:00.000Z

You'll notice from my Xfire profile above that if I am gaming online I'll normally be fragging in Unreal Tournament 2004

I'm generally in the AS server run by )O(mnipotents and I'm currently in the Antix skin.

Swing by and join in the fun

Testing

2005-10-21T18:06:00.000Z

We all need a place to stretch scream and shout - Howdy.

The shorter this blog stays the better RL is treating me ;)