What a nifty little weekend that was!
Aside from the Project BBC pilot being sorted, I'm pleased to announce that The Good, The Bald and The Stupid is now up and indeed running!
What does that mean for this blog? Well I'll still be posting here, but probably not as much. Reason being, the new site is all about video gaming and it's many ways to please and annoy, so most, if not all of my gaming related opinions and views will appear there.
That said, there are a couple of things I want to address here. Firstly, I've found that I have, over the past few months, really found my passion again for writing. I hadn't actually lost it, it was just buried under other stuff, but ow it's back and in effect. What's better though is that due to the formats in which I'm writing i.e. here and goodbaldstupid.co.uk, I'm able to do that in a way that I enjoy most. My way! That's not to snub anybody else I've written anything for, but it's so refreshing to just let yourself flow when writing. Try it and you'll see what I mean, almost theuraputic!
The second thing, and the most important of the two, is a post by Mr Williams (link to the right) which I found a few hours ago. To be honest it took me by surprise; surprise in that it kinda came out of left field for me but made me realise a few things.
Gaz, what you said struck a chord with me. I've been thinking back an awful lot about those days recently and realised what I missed about it all. It wasn't the stress, the ridiculous amount of work we made ourselves do, the pillock TV owners who gave a whole new meaning to the word 'cocks', the nightmares of E3 and the deluge of work it brought, and definitely not the disagreements. It's that rare thing that you find in people who share the same passion you do, the same drive to make something out of nothing and above all to have a fucking good time along the way!
If it wasn't for you taking a chance with some guy who had never written shit for anybody before, I wouldn't have learnt what I learnt (and it was a lot) or met the people I did or have the experiences that I still sit back and remember now with a smile.
In short, thanks dude!
Oh and if you think you can get away from us all easily, think again. London needs to enjoy the Amigos Experience one more time at the very least!
I raise my glass to you sir!
Monday, November 27, 2006
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Project BBC
For the first time in a while I actually managed to keep to my own time schedule and as a result the pilot for Project BBC is now complete. I'm just awaiting feedback from the selected test group, and I didn't even have to bride them to do it, and then it'll take flight as soon as!
Weirdly enough, remember that other joint project I mentioned yesterday? Well it turns out that Project BBC and this could in fact turn out to be good bedfellows. Obviously more on that when both projects are fully under way, however you can actually now go visit the homepage of this new joint project. Please bear in mind though that as I type this (10pm on a Saturday night) the site has only just gone live, like five minutes ago so is light on content at this time as you would expect. It's Phil you see, the dude just can't sit on an idea longer than two minutes!* Do make sure that you stay tuned to the site as well to keep up to date with developments, but don't forget to come back here as I certainly won't be abandoning this blog!
That's it for now here. There are a few things gaming related I need to get off my chest, but I'll be sticking those thoughts up on goodbaldstupid.co.uk rather than here, seeing as that's what the site is all about. Oh and likely the name is somewhat familiar to a couple of you. Just proves that good ideas never die. Question is, which one is which? Think about it............
*Btw, that is a good point, not a fault ;)
Weirdly enough, remember that other joint project I mentioned yesterday? Well it turns out that Project BBC and this could in fact turn out to be good bedfellows. Obviously more on that when both projects are fully under way, however you can actually now go visit the homepage of this new joint project. Please bear in mind though that as I type this (10pm on a Saturday night) the site has only just gone live, like five minutes ago so is light on content at this time as you would expect. It's Phil you see, the dude just can't sit on an idea longer than two minutes!* Do make sure that you stay tuned to the site as well to keep up to date with developments, but don't forget to come back here as I certainly won't be abandoning this blog!
That's it for now here. There are a few things gaming related I need to get off my chest, but I'll be sticking those thoughts up on goodbaldstupid.co.uk rather than here, seeing as that's what the site is all about. Oh and likely the name is somewhat familiar to a couple of you. Just proves that good ideas never die. Question is, which one is which? Think about it............
*Btw, that is a good point, not a fault ;)
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Control has been restored, good work men!
Ok, panic over!
Driving to work yesterday I realised what an absolute pillock I'd been over that technical issue. Amazing what a good nights sleep, mixed with an absent minded drive to work can do for the old mental powers.
If any police are reading this, I was paying due care and attention to the road.............Officer.
So that means I'm back on track with getting a pilot sorted out. I've enlisted (or is that badgered) a couple of trusted friends to lend me there opinions on the pilot, and if that goes well, I should be having this new project open to all within a couple of weeks, which for me is really exciting! Plus after a conversation only moments ago with one of those said people, i tlook slike there may be something else in the works from 'The Three Amigos', *bad British toff accent from Black and white World War 2 film* but it's all hush hush, on the QT at the moment. Can't let old Jerry get wind of it or the whole shebang will be done for!
It's official, I've been playing Call of Duty 3 too much! Speaking of which, I'm getting more and more convinced that Grounds Keeper Willie from The Simpsons voices that Scottish guy in CoD3! Keep expecting Sergeant Skinner to join in the fight in his Vietnam gear.
Early this evening I was also reminded that yesterday, 22nd November, was the official first Birthday of the Xbox 360. It got me thinking about what I did that day, as somehow I was lucky enough to get one on launch. Well I'd wrangled the day off work (it was booked properly as Holiday, no skiving happened! Although it nearly came to that, but that's another story.) and got myself into town and the local GAME shop for 9am. Think that's sad? What about some mates of mine who stood for hours on a very cold night in London on Oxford street for around nine hours waiting for theirs! Although I would loved to have been there!
Back to the story. So I hand over my pre-order slip and pay for the goods, all while a guy next to me looks at the 360 box I was about to walk off with with more than a hint of envy. To the point that I wondered if I'd have a tap on my shoulder with a baseball bat in the car park! I'm kidding, he was actually pissed because he hadn't been able to secure a premium 360 and was stuck with no HDD, and no way of getting them as Microsoft hadn't gotten them out to many UK stores at that time. Poor bugger was so glum about it, so the assistant and I tried to suggest ways for him to get one. Admittedly ebay was the best we could come up with, and given the ridiculous prices of the consoles on there, getting a HDD let alone at a decent price would be hard. Oh look, it's happening again with the PS3 on ebay.
People, $2,000 for a new console does not make good business sense! How the feck do you justify that amount of cash!?!? On a fucking console! I'd love to get one, but I refuse to pay even the Sony asking price, let alone another 300% or so! Mental, they're all fricking mental because it's the ebay sellers and Sony that are laughing.
Back to the story again. I get the machine home and have the house to myself. The next god know show many hours were then a blur of Hexic, PGR3 and PDZ. Ahh sweet-blissful-new -console-haze.................................
Err, right..............yeah anyway next thing I know my wife has come home from work with me still sat in front of the TV. Most likely I carried the look of a burbling idiot crossed with an e-number fed 8 year old on his Birthday, and as I proceeded to tell her why it was so fecking brilliant all I remember were the 'That's nice dear' kind of answers. As if to say, I'm only being nice so you might talk about something adult in a minute.
She's suffered a long time with this gaming thing with me you see. In all seriousness she's cool about it. That's until I start spending too much time playing games than spending time with her, or doing chores and all that kinda stuff. The actual measurement of time I won't know until I actually do spend too much time playing games.
Speaking of which, she's waiting for me to get off here so we can get our nightly Lost fix. So I shall bid you all good night!
........................
Good night!
*looks around awkwardly, then slips off quietly*
Driving to work yesterday I realised what an absolute pillock I'd been over that technical issue. Amazing what a good nights sleep, mixed with an absent minded drive to work can do for the old mental powers.
If any police are reading this, I was paying due care and attention to the road.............Officer.
So that means I'm back on track with getting a pilot sorted out. I've enlisted (or is that badgered) a couple of trusted friends to lend me there opinions on the pilot, and if that goes well, I should be having this new project open to all within a couple of weeks, which for me is really exciting! Plus after a conversation only moments ago with one of those said people, i tlook slike there may be something else in the works from 'The Three Amigos', *bad British toff accent from Black and white World War 2 film* but it's all hush hush, on the QT at the moment. Can't let old Jerry get wind of it or the whole shebang will be done for!
It's official, I've been playing Call of Duty 3 too much! Speaking of which, I'm getting more and more convinced that Grounds Keeper Willie from The Simpsons voices that Scottish guy in CoD3! Keep expecting Sergeant Skinner to join in the fight in his Vietnam gear.
Early this evening I was also reminded that yesterday, 22nd November, was the official first Birthday of the Xbox 360. It got me thinking about what I did that day, as somehow I was lucky enough to get one on launch. Well I'd wrangled the day off work (it was booked properly as Holiday, no skiving happened! Although it nearly came to that, but that's another story.) and got myself into town and the local GAME shop for 9am. Think that's sad? What about some mates of mine who stood for hours on a very cold night in London on Oxford street for around nine hours waiting for theirs! Although I would loved to have been there!
Back to the story. So I hand over my pre-order slip and pay for the goods, all while a guy next to me looks at the 360 box I was about to walk off with with more than a hint of envy. To the point that I wondered if I'd have a tap on my shoulder with a baseball bat in the car park! I'm kidding, he was actually pissed because he hadn't been able to secure a premium 360 and was stuck with no HDD, and no way of getting them as Microsoft hadn't gotten them out to many UK stores at that time. Poor bugger was so glum about it, so the assistant and I tried to suggest ways for him to get one. Admittedly ebay was the best we could come up with, and given the ridiculous prices of the consoles on there, getting a HDD let alone at a decent price would be hard. Oh look, it's happening again with the PS3 on ebay.
People, $2,000 for a new console does not make good business sense! How the feck do you justify that amount of cash!?!? On a fucking console! I'd love to get one, but I refuse to pay even the Sony asking price, let alone another 300% or so! Mental, they're all fricking mental because it's the ebay sellers and Sony that are laughing.
Back to the story again. I get the machine home and have the house to myself. The next god know show many hours were then a blur of Hexic, PGR3 and PDZ. Ahh sweet-blissful-new -console-haze.................................
Err, right..............yeah anyway next thing I know my wife has come home from work with me still sat in front of the TV. Most likely I carried the look of a burbling idiot crossed with an e-number fed 8 year old on his Birthday, and as I proceeded to tell her why it was so fecking brilliant all I remember were the 'That's nice dear' kind of answers. As if to say, I'm only being nice so you might talk about something adult in a minute.
She's suffered a long time with this gaming thing with me you see. In all seriousness she's cool about it. That's until I start spending too much time playing games than spending time with her, or doing chores and all that kinda stuff. The actual measurement of time I won't know until I actually do spend too much time playing games.
Speaking of which, she's waiting for me to get off here so we can get our nightly Lost fix. So I shall bid you all good night!
........................
Good night!
*looks around awkwardly, then slips off quietly*
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Houston, we have a problem
I was hoping to be able to launch my new idea in some form this week, but between work at home and away from home, and some technical difficulties (not forgetting our efforts to catch up with Lost) it's all gone a bit South for the moment.
All that has happened is my plans for a bit more development time have been pushed to this weekend instead of, well, now. It's annoying because I wanted to get this going as soon as possible, plus I'm getting hacked off having to skirt around what it is in these posts. My other worry is that I'm setting myself up for a fall when you lot turn round and tell me 'is that it?!'
Why does tiredness always bring with an acute sense of paranoia!?
Random statement I know, but it's been one of those weeks again, and sadly I think that's gonna remain until the end of January at work. Long story, can't be arsed to explain it, but let's just say things are not so rosey in that particular garden. What's going to happen, I don't know, but that sense of security I had has been etched away a little bit more now. Even more so because I know where I want life to take me in the next two years. It's only a job I know but it'll allow me over time to expand myself and start doing things I really wanna do, not what I have to to pay the bills.
Gaming wise, loving Call of Duty 3 online on the 360, total improvement over 2 in my opinion. Except for the fricking moron who set a game off last night on Team Battle, hour time limit, no kill limit. Yeah a whole hour of the same map over and over..............fuck me did it get boring! But that was the exception as most other games I'v played have been really enjoyable. Even more so when I can get people to communicate! Please people, if you play team based games online on any format and have voice chat facilities for god sake use it!
Gears of War also arrived in the post today. Only played it for an hour today so haven't got enough to form a proper opinion on yet (more in a few days) but it just hasn't grabbed me by the danglies yet. AI seems solid for allies and enemies, graphics are lush as expected, but I can't help shift the hype-over-content feeling it's given. Maybe it will change, but i~'ll certainly let you know.
That's it for now, more Lost Season 2 to watch!
TTFN
All that has happened is my plans for a bit more development time have been pushed to this weekend instead of, well, now. It's annoying because I wanted to get this going as soon as possible, plus I'm getting hacked off having to skirt around what it is in these posts. My other worry is that I'm setting myself up for a fall when you lot turn round and tell me 'is that it?!'
Why does tiredness always bring with an acute sense of paranoia!?
Random statement I know, but it's been one of those weeks again, and sadly I think that's gonna remain until the end of January at work. Long story, can't be arsed to explain it, but let's just say things are not so rosey in that particular garden. What's going to happen, I don't know, but that sense of security I had has been etched away a little bit more now. Even more so because I know where I want life to take me in the next two years. It's only a job I know but it'll allow me over time to expand myself and start doing things I really wanna do, not what I have to to pay the bills.
Gaming wise, loving Call of Duty 3 online on the 360, total improvement over 2 in my opinion. Except for the fricking moron who set a game off last night on Team Battle, hour time limit, no kill limit. Yeah a whole hour of the same map over and over..............fuck me did it get boring! But that was the exception as most other games I'v played have been really enjoyable. Even more so when I can get people to communicate! Please people, if you play team based games online on any format and have voice chat facilities for god sake use it!
Gears of War also arrived in the post today. Only played it for an hour today so haven't got enough to form a proper opinion on yet (more in a few days) but it just hasn't grabbed me by the danglies yet. AI seems solid for allies and enemies, graphics are lush as expected, but I can't help shift the hype-over-content feeling it's given. Maybe it will change, but i~'ll certainly let you know.
That's it for now, more Lost Season 2 to watch!
TTFN
Sunday, November 19, 2006
New developments
It's been a little too long since my last post, but that's mainly due to being ridiculously busy at work, and home, then using the free time I have for playing Call of Duty 3.
However, there is another reason for not posting, one which I hope will become clear very soon. I'm going to get some pilot work done on my blog expansion today (Sunday). It's nothing ground-breaking, but something I've wanted to get back into for a long time. A couple of you already know what it is, and in fact I'll be asking for opinions of a chosen few on the pilot idea I have, once there is something concrete to have opinions on that is.
So I won't post much more now, except to say thanks for sticking with this blog if you have. Hopefully things will change for the better here, but that's for you to decide I guess, but I'm gonna have some fun making it!
TTFN
PS. I was also hoping to be able to change the appearance of this blog again but sadly the beta is now closed so it's staying as is for now.
However, there is another reason for not posting, one which I hope will become clear very soon. I'm going to get some pilot work done on my blog expansion today (Sunday). It's nothing ground-breaking, but something I've wanted to get back into for a long time. A couple of you already know what it is, and in fact I'll be asking for opinions of a chosen few on the pilot idea I have, once there is something concrete to have opinions on that is.
So I won't post much more now, except to say thanks for sticking with this blog if you have. Hopefully things will change for the better here, but that's for you to decide I guess, but I'm gonna have some fun making it!
TTFN
PS. I was also hoping to be able to change the appearance of this blog again but sadly the beta is now closed so it's staying as is for now.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Wii only a month away!!
I've just had a small moment of glowing happiness after realising that it is now a month until Nintendos new rectangular kit of joy hits UK shores. My joy would be ott, except I'm tempered by the fact that I'm still not 100% sure whether I'm getting one at launch.
I've pre-ordered a unit a local GAME store, but nothing has been confirmed to me aside from I'm in the queue. Yes I know I wasn't exactly complimentary about the store yesterday, but I figured they'd get the largest allocation or at least one of if not the. My other quandry is what games to get for it.
Right now I'm looking at Zelda: Twilight Princess and Red Steel. Oh come on, how could I buy a Nintendo system and not get Zelda!!?? Price-wise nowhere seems wildly better than the other, at least online. Probably a job for the weekend methinks that one!
The good thing for me about the Wii is not the immense possibilities for toilet humour (why bother, been done god knows how many times now :D ) but that this console seems to be appealing to my wife as well. As I think I've said before, she's not a big gamer but likes the odd one here and there, probably because she's surrounded by consoles and games at home. Maybe it's the old Ninty magic working it's wonders; in fact I'm sure it is, because out of all the consoles I've had, the GameCube is the one she seems to gravitate towards, followed closely by the PS2 (mainly for dancing games, but hey, can't win 'em all!).
I'm also praying I do get one as I've booked the 8th and 11th December off work to enjoy a Wii weekend. Have I said that before? Just got a major deja-vu as I typed that :s
On other fronts, today is also a good day as Claire (my wife) is coming home after being on a course since Tuesday this week. It's nice on one hand to have the house to myself for a while, freedom to do whatever, but with three cats all demanding attention in various ways, I don't think I've sat down for more than an half an hour the last couple of evenings! Naturally it's also nice to have her home again as the place doesn't feel right with just me *cue sarcastic 'awwwww'* Weird how you much you miss someone so much when you live with them and they're not there!
I also had an idea the other day of how to make this blog a little different. I ran it past a mate of mine (cheers Paul btw :) ) and he seemed to think it'd be good. Now I just need to sit down and work out what to do with this idea; another job for the weekend. Plus I'll be looking changing at that style change either Friday or Sunday, just to warn you if you come back and think you've got the wrong blog.
TTFN
I've pre-ordered a unit a local GAME store, but nothing has been confirmed to me aside from I'm in the queue. Yes I know I wasn't exactly complimentary about the store yesterday, but I figured they'd get the largest allocation or at least one of if not the. My other quandry is what games to get for it.
Right now I'm looking at Zelda: Twilight Princess and Red Steel. Oh come on, how could I buy a Nintendo system and not get Zelda!!?? Price-wise nowhere seems wildly better than the other, at least online. Probably a job for the weekend methinks that one!
The good thing for me about the Wii is not the immense possibilities for toilet humour (why bother, been done god knows how many times now :D ) but that this console seems to be appealing to my wife as well. As I think I've said before, she's not a big gamer but likes the odd one here and there, probably because she's surrounded by consoles and games at home. Maybe it's the old Ninty magic working it's wonders; in fact I'm sure it is, because out of all the consoles I've had, the GameCube is the one she seems to gravitate towards, followed closely by the PS2 (mainly for dancing games, but hey, can't win 'em all!).
I'm also praying I do get one as I've booked the 8th and 11th December off work to enjoy a Wii weekend. Have I said that before? Just got a major deja-vu as I typed that :s
On other fronts, today is also a good day as Claire (my wife) is coming home after being on a course since Tuesday this week. It's nice on one hand to have the house to myself for a while, freedom to do whatever, but with three cats all demanding attention in various ways, I don't think I've sat down for more than an half an hour the last couple of evenings! Naturally it's also nice to have her home again as the place doesn't feel right with just me *cue sarcastic 'awwwww'* Weird how you much you miss someone so much when you live with them and they're not there!
I also had an idea the other day of how to make this blog a little different. I ran it past a mate of mine (cheers Paul btw :) ) and he seemed to think it'd be good. Now I just need to sit down and work out what to do with this idea; another job for the weekend. Plus I'll be looking changing at that style change either Friday or Sunday, just to warn you if you come back and think you've got the wrong blog.
TTFN
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
GAME end rental scheme.......sorry, 10 day returns
It had to happen sooner or later, but national UK retailer GAME have now formerly ended their 10 day return policy, and with it, an institution for many a gamer.
For as long as I can remember using GAME, or Electronics Boutique as they used to be, they have had the 10 day return/exchange if not happy. By it's nature, it became a way to for us all to try that game we weren't too sure about, safe in the knowledge that GAME would hold your money for that period in case you didn't like it. Ok, so it wasn't exactly like that, I'm trying to illustrate a point here!
However, a lot of people used it as a rental scheme, buying a game, taking it back, swapping, getting another, ad infinitum, ending up paying the cost of one game to try out a few.
Well it seems that GAME have finally cottoned on to this fact and called a stop to the whole thing. Whilst it makes good business sense for them I do wonder about the repercussions , not just for the chain in the short term but also game publishers.
Imagine that, because they no longer have the back up of the 10 day returns i.e. in case they don't like said game, x number of consumers purchase only 5 games a year, compared to 8/9 they would have bought. Assume the avergae cost of each game bought is around £35, given the variety of different console games and prices around. Already that is a far whack of income lost for GAME, and sales numbers lost for the publisher (plus with it bragging rights in the form of the charts). Less sales means less incentive for developers to take a chance on something that isn't already popular or part of the mainstream. You can work out the further effects from there I'm sure.
Along with that you have less second hand games for GAME to sell (obviously it's where trade ins go to), meaning less cheaper, slightly used titles, for those people who don't have enough cash to buy every game as it comes out to choose from.* Again, less sales for GAME.
Publishers though would probably be quite happy about this policy ending, because not only does every second/third/fourth etc hand sale of a title not count towards overall sales (at least not last time I looked into it) and they won't be missing out on a second wave of income. Think about it, all second hand games are essentially pure profit on the face value, all you take out is the price given for the game when the customer traded it in.**
If it weren't for the points card scheme I think GAME could end up suffering from this decision in the short term. Long term, they'll be fine. You don't get to be the UK's biggest retailer without having some serious back up in case the brown runny stuff hits the big swirly thing.
Anyway, I'm off now to look for my cat that I haven't seen since 8am this morning :s I wish the little sod wouldn't do this to me!
*Although I do think that their second hand prices are verging on the ridiculous sometimes, never mind the fact that all of the last three second hand games I bought from them has been a pile of poop and not worked correctly! Hence I don't buy 'em second hand anymore.
** Which is usually shite, unless the game you're getting rid of is less than a month old!
For as long as I can remember using GAME, or Electronics Boutique as they used to be, they have had the 10 day return/exchange if not happy. By it's nature, it became a way to for us all to try that game we weren't too sure about, safe in the knowledge that GAME would hold your money for that period in case you didn't like it. Ok, so it wasn't exactly like that, I'm trying to illustrate a point here!
However, a lot of people used it as a rental scheme, buying a game, taking it back, swapping, getting another, ad infinitum, ending up paying the cost of one game to try out a few.
Well it seems that GAME have finally cottoned on to this fact and called a stop to the whole thing. Whilst it makes good business sense for them I do wonder about the repercussions , not just for the chain in the short term but also game publishers.
Imagine that, because they no longer have the back up of the 10 day returns i.e. in case they don't like said game, x number of consumers purchase only 5 games a year, compared to 8/9 they would have bought. Assume the avergae cost of each game bought is around £35, given the variety of different console games and prices around. Already that is a far whack of income lost for GAME, and sales numbers lost for the publisher (plus with it bragging rights in the form of the charts). Less sales means less incentive for developers to take a chance on something that isn't already popular or part of the mainstream. You can work out the further effects from there I'm sure.
Along with that you have less second hand games for GAME to sell (obviously it's where trade ins go to), meaning less cheaper, slightly used titles, for those people who don't have enough cash to buy every game as it comes out to choose from.* Again, less sales for GAME.
Publishers though would probably be quite happy about this policy ending, because not only does every second/third/fourth etc hand sale of a title not count towards overall sales (at least not last time I looked into it) and they won't be missing out on a second wave of income. Think about it, all second hand games are essentially pure profit on the face value, all you take out is the price given for the game when the customer traded it in.**
If it weren't for the points card scheme I think GAME could end up suffering from this decision in the short term. Long term, they'll be fine. You don't get to be the UK's biggest retailer without having some serious back up in case the brown runny stuff hits the big swirly thing.
Anyway, I'm off now to look for my cat that I haven't seen since 8am this morning :s I wish the little sod wouldn't do this to me!
*Although I do think that their second hand prices are verging on the ridiculous sometimes, never mind the fact that all of the last three second hand games I bought from them has been a pile of poop and not worked correctly! Hence I don't buy 'em second hand anymore.
** Which is usually shite, unless the game you're getting rid of is less than a month old!
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Dog Eat Dog (New Game Part 2)
Now those of you reading this who know me from the GA forums will no doubt remember the discussion we had about one Canis Canem Edit, aka Bully, from Rockstar Games. Those same people are probably still choking at the idea that I actually bought this game after what I said. Yet I let those guys post comments if they want to ;)
As for the game itself, well I must say after only a couple of hours play, so far I'm really impressed. On the off chance you don't know jack about it, it's been developed for PS2, by the same team behind GTA, and on first impressions is GTA, but set in a reform school, and without the Uzis and Ho's; well I haven't found a Ho yet but this is Rockstar, so anything is possible. I won't bore you with the basic premise aside from that but I would recommend using this link for a bit more background info. You can go now, I'll wait.
*Talk show host style* Aaannnd we're back!
Let me take you back in time, to the days of the Speccy, and in particular a game called Skool Daze. Remember it? No?
Ahhh the memories...........
Err, where was I? Oh yeah...
So, snap to today and the Canis Canem Edit (herein known as CCE). Whilst the story is nowhere near that of Skool Daze the idea of having free reign of what to do within the game is the same.
As soon as the intro sequence starts, it all screams Rockstar. Everything from the character models, to the environment; even though they are unique to CCE it all feels instantly familiar yet fresh at the same time. But it's also at this point you'll notice something else, the horrendous load times. I seemed to sit for ages waiting for the game to begin, yet it's when you do start exploring the world you understand why and doesn't matter anymore. It all streams directly and due to the close nature of the surroundings there isn't much distance pop-up that has plagued GTA.
First port of call is a trip to the Head, via his sycophantic secretary, after which you are generally free to go wherever you want. With classes to attend (which unlocks new skills and gadgets), full night/day cycle, missions to complete, characters to meet/greet/beat seven bells out of as you see fit, it is a great example of free-form gameplay.
Anybody picking this up who is used to the GTA control method will voerall feel comfy but with one exception. The right analogue stick still controls the floating camera (it's all in third person view) but doesn't control direction of movement of the character as well, it just looks around. Hard to explain but it's a subtle difference, one which I'm also glad to say is a temporary annoyance. Unless like me when I first booted the game up, you'd just been playing Splinter Cell on the 360 for a couple of hours, then picking up a PS2 pad is a complete head-fuck! I actually had to think about what buttons I was pressing!!
As a game it's what you would expect from Rockstar. Load up, get straight in, bold characters that are guranteed to bring out some kind of emotion either way, compelling story line and a wide variety of missions to complete and things to do. For anybody who has just got a PS2, or has had theirs for a while and found themselves not having reason to use it, this game is a bloody good reason! Or if you fancy reliving those school years, and all the social battery that comes with it, I couldn't recommend a better place to get you fix.
Oh, and as for the Daily Mail-type accusations and calls for bans, it's bollocks. Why don't these people actually try and find out about the game rather than believing the hype? I admit I was not a big fan of this game prior to it's release, sadly because I got caught up in the if, buts, and maybes of what it was all about instead of the actual truth. A bit of how it was marketed still rankles with me, but we should all have learnt by now, this is what Rockstar do.
Tomorrow I'll be taking a look at a new policy from the UK's largest video gaming chain, GAME. Or should that be end of one? After that, not sure what I'll be writing about, but hey I'm open to suggestions if you se anything you think I'd be interested in!
As for the game itself, well I must say after only a couple of hours play, so far I'm really impressed. On the off chance you don't know jack about it, it's been developed for PS2, by the same team behind GTA, and on first impressions is GTA, but set in a reform school, and without the Uzis and Ho's; well I haven't found a Ho yet but this is Rockstar, so anything is possible. I won't bore you with the basic premise aside from that but I would recommend using this link for a bit more background info. You can go now, I'll wait.
*Talk show host style* Aaannnd we're back!
Let me take you back in time, to the days of the Speccy, and in particular a game called Skool Daze. Remember it? No?
SourceYou are Eric, a troublesome schoolboy, and your task is to steal your report card out of the school safe in the staff room so that you don't get into trouble! To do this, you must collect the combination letters for the safe and write them on a blackboard - not such an easy task seeing as one letter of the four letter combination is held by each of the teachers in the school. In order to get them to tell you their letter, you must make all of the shield scattered around the school flash by hitting them or firing your catapult at them. Once all the shields are flashing, knocking the teachers over with your catapult will cause them to tell you their letter of the combination. All except old Mr Creak, that is, who is so old he cannot be trusted to remember his letter. It has been hypnotically implanted in his mind and he will only remember it when he sees the number of the year that he was born!
Ahhh the memories...........
Err, where was I? Oh yeah...
So, snap to today and the Canis Canem Edit (herein known as CCE). Whilst the story is nowhere near that of Skool Daze the idea of having free reign of what to do within the game is the same.
As soon as the intro sequence starts, it all screams Rockstar. Everything from the character models, to the environment; even though they are unique to CCE it all feels instantly familiar yet fresh at the same time. But it's also at this point you'll notice something else, the horrendous load times. I seemed to sit for ages waiting for the game to begin, yet it's when you do start exploring the world you understand why and doesn't matter anymore. It all streams directly and due to the close nature of the surroundings there isn't much distance pop-up that has plagued GTA.
First port of call is a trip to the Head, via his sycophantic secretary, after which you are generally free to go wherever you want. With classes to attend (which unlocks new skills and gadgets), full night/day cycle, missions to complete, characters to meet/greet/beat seven bells out of as you see fit, it is a great example of free-form gameplay.
Anybody picking this up who is used to the GTA control method will voerall feel comfy but with one exception. The right analogue stick still controls the floating camera (it's all in third person view) but doesn't control direction of movement of the character as well, it just looks around. Hard to explain but it's a subtle difference, one which I'm also glad to say is a temporary annoyance. Unless like me when I first booted the game up, you'd just been playing Splinter Cell on the 360 for a couple of hours, then picking up a PS2 pad is a complete head-fuck! I actually had to think about what buttons I was pressing!!
As a game it's what you would expect from Rockstar. Load up, get straight in, bold characters that are guranteed to bring out some kind of emotion either way, compelling story line and a wide variety of missions to complete and things to do. For anybody who has just got a PS2, or has had theirs for a while and found themselves not having reason to use it, this game is a bloody good reason! Or if you fancy reliving those school years, and all the social battery that comes with it, I couldn't recommend a better place to get you fix.
Oh, and as for the Daily Mail-type accusations and calls for bans, it's bollocks. Why don't these people actually try and find out about the game rather than believing the hype? I admit I was not a big fan of this game prior to it's release, sadly because I got caught up in the if, buts, and maybes of what it was all about instead of the actual truth. A bit of how it was marketed still rankles with me, but we should all have learnt by now, this is what Rockstar do.
Tomorrow I'll be taking a look at a new policy from the UK's largest video gaming chain, GAME. Or should that be end of one? After that, not sure what I'll be writing about, but hey I'm open to suggestions if you se anything you think I'd be interested in!
New Game Part 1
Saturday brought with it a trip to the local shops and yes I ended up in a game store. With a bit of trading I got hold of Fifa 07 on the 360 and a second title I’ll discuss tomorrow.
Previously I’ve always been a devoted PES player. Not necessarily brilliant at it, but devoted nonetheless. But something about this current edition of Fifa caught my attention. After playing the demo from the Marketplace I was more than surprised at the way in which EA had actually gone back and reworked on the basic play elements of the game on the pitch. It still feels very much like a Fifa game, but it all feels more weighted, a little more real then previous efforts. Animations flow nicely, the ball bobbles along like it’s its own being, players positively bounce off each other at times, and of course there is the overall next-gen shine. It’s really quite enjoyable to play, until you start looking at the small downsides.
Apart from the International teams, there are only six leagues from which to choose a side. Six!!! That’s fine if you support one of the clubs in those leagues, but what about fools like me who are stuck in the Championship or lower? It’s an odd step for me when in previous editions EA have included the lower league teams. I’m sure there is some big reason for it but I wish they’d take the time to let us know! Or is it the fact that the old micro transactions will kick in over the Marketplace, allowing extra leagues to be downloaded, teams, players, stadiums etc. If that were true, the bigger question would be how much? What you think they won’t charge when EA have been one of the vocal developers/publishers saying they want to expand on the console digital distribution. They already do it loads with PC titles i.e. Battlefield.
Secondly, your teammates AI can be a worrying blend of sublime and ridiculous, often with more bias to the latter sadly. You’d hope they look for space when you’re in possession, push ahead on interceptions for a quick break, hold up the opposition on attacking runs in the final third. Truth it, they do, but inconsistently. However, you don’t notice the real effects of this until you start upping the difficulty level above Semi-Pro.
So you’re reading this without having bought either game yet, and by probably on the lines of ‘ Pro Evo, here I come!’ But bear with it a moment longer.
If it was that bad I wouldn’t still be playing it now, because despite these flaws it does play an enjoyable game of footie. It creates a good atmosphere (just switch off the commentary after a while as the twittering gets a bit repetitive too soon, but is still passable) with fans chanting, singing the name of the home team, and reacting well to the on screen action.
Shooting for goal has always been slightly biased to creating Rugby scores in past versions. Here things are better balanced making scoring a test of you than the Goalies AI. Press the shoot button too early and the player will simply stab at the ball, not getting the best power or direction as desired, same with headers. It’s more about timing and direction, and with the plethora of ways you can manoeuvre the ball about the pitch proper build up play is possible, and makes that top corner belter even more rewarding.
Add in the management options, whilst light compared to true management games, provides that little bit of tweaking necessary to get you more involved in the overall club. Good thing is, it isn’t essential to your success on the pitch, but if you take the time to play with the various options and improvements things do take a turn on the pitch depending what you did. Just don’t expect results quickly from your changes, it’s all about building the club and players up, which is another reason why lower leagues from this country and abroad are sorely missed. Taking a League 2 side from obscurity to European glory would have been brilliant, unless those micro transactions do appear of course!
Sadly I’m yet to try out Live play (if anyone is interested drop me a note or leave a comment. Hey you may just get an easy victory) so can’t comment much on that side yet.
Is it the epitome of console footballing? Well no, I don’t think so, but it does provide a decent experience, and as one of the two first next-gen footy games on 360 it will do well, never mind the Fifa license behind it.
Tomorrow I’ll be taking a look at the second game I got on the weekend; a small-unknown title by the name of Canis Canem Edit.
Previously I’ve always been a devoted PES player. Not necessarily brilliant at it, but devoted nonetheless. But something about this current edition of Fifa caught my attention. After playing the demo from the Marketplace I was more than surprised at the way in which EA had actually gone back and reworked on the basic play elements of the game on the pitch. It still feels very much like a Fifa game, but it all feels more weighted, a little more real then previous efforts. Animations flow nicely, the ball bobbles along like it’s its own being, players positively bounce off each other at times, and of course there is the overall next-gen shine. It’s really quite enjoyable to play, until you start looking at the small downsides.
Apart from the International teams, there are only six leagues from which to choose a side. Six!!! That’s fine if you support one of the clubs in those leagues, but what about fools like me who are stuck in the Championship or lower? It’s an odd step for me when in previous editions EA have included the lower league teams. I’m sure there is some big reason for it but I wish they’d take the time to let us know! Or is it the fact that the old micro transactions will kick in over the Marketplace, allowing extra leagues to be downloaded, teams, players, stadiums etc. If that were true, the bigger question would be how much? What you think they won’t charge when EA have been one of the vocal developers/publishers saying they want to expand on the console digital distribution. They already do it loads with PC titles i.e. Battlefield.
Secondly, your teammates AI can be a worrying blend of sublime and ridiculous, often with more bias to the latter sadly. You’d hope they look for space when you’re in possession, push ahead on interceptions for a quick break, hold up the opposition on attacking runs in the final third. Truth it, they do, but inconsistently. However, you don’t notice the real effects of this until you start upping the difficulty level above Semi-Pro.
So you’re reading this without having bought either game yet, and by probably on the lines of ‘ Pro Evo, here I come!’ But bear with it a moment longer.
If it was that bad I wouldn’t still be playing it now, because despite these flaws it does play an enjoyable game of footie. It creates a good atmosphere (just switch off the commentary after a while as the twittering gets a bit repetitive too soon, but is still passable) with fans chanting, singing the name of the home team, and reacting well to the on screen action.
Shooting for goal has always been slightly biased to creating Rugby scores in past versions. Here things are better balanced making scoring a test of you than the Goalies AI. Press the shoot button too early and the player will simply stab at the ball, not getting the best power or direction as desired, same with headers. It’s more about timing and direction, and with the plethora of ways you can manoeuvre the ball about the pitch proper build up play is possible, and makes that top corner belter even more rewarding.
Add in the management options, whilst light compared to true management games, provides that little bit of tweaking necessary to get you more involved in the overall club. Good thing is, it isn’t essential to your success on the pitch, but if you take the time to play with the various options and improvements things do take a turn on the pitch depending what you did. Just don’t expect results quickly from your changes, it’s all about building the club and players up, which is another reason why lower leagues from this country and abroad are sorely missed. Taking a League 2 side from obscurity to European glory would have been brilliant, unless those micro transactions do appear of course!
Sadly I’m yet to try out Live play (if anyone is interested drop me a note or leave a comment. Hey you may just get an easy victory) so can’t comment much on that side yet.
Is it the epitome of console footballing? Well no, I don’t think so, but it does provide a decent experience, and as one of the two first next-gen footy games on 360 it will do well, never mind the Fifa license behind it.
Tomorrow I’ll be taking a look at the second game I got on the weekend; a small-unknown title by the name of Canis Canem Edit.
Monday, November 06, 2006
Title block and Saddam
I think I've worked out the problem with what to write in this blog. Sometimes I spend ages trying to think up a title before even writing an entry. Mostly it works as usually I have a particular topic I want to write to about.
Today however I do not. I find myself sat at work, remembering I didn't make an entry as planned yesterday. Trouble is I can't remember what it was I was gonna write about, but you might think that's a good think given my previous rants. It was something sweeping about BMW drivers being nonces, and other random stuff, but it's probably best to leave it anyway.
One thing that did catch my eye over the weekend was the sentence given to one Saddam Hussein. The Death Sentence!
Has the judge or judges (no idea if it was a group decision) ever heard of the word 'martyr'? Ok, the man isn't one of the nicest people you'd ever met alledgedly, a dictator with a ruthless patriotic streak, and as Wuddya would like us believe a threat to the free world due to his links to terrorist organisations (what WMD George? A beggar with a pointy stick?). I expect Saddam did have a large hand to play in the murder of the 140+ people in the town where someone tried to assasinate him, but is hanging the guy really going to end all of the problems in Iraq?
By problems, I mean the stuff that ordinary people are facing, the faction fighting, not what George and Tony want to do because to those guys it boils down to one thing; oil. Oil and where it's coming from, at a good price. I get the feeling that during all this those in control at government level here, the US and any other country involved in the 'peace-keeping' mission are forgetting that some Iraqis have had to live with this shit for decades. Sending in troops again from other countries doesn't always mean the solution will come with a gun pointed at it! Not to mention the deaths of servicemen and women on all sides, dying for this supposed greater good, to protect the Western world and it's Black Gold.
Kill Saddam, and you breed a new generation of supporters, fanatics and believers of the cause. Maybe dead he won't be able to control anything, but what about the people that are still at large, that haven't been pulled up in front of a court like Saddam and his closest advisors. Think they'll just give up? When you have a leader like Saddam so full of passion and bile, it'd be hard to think that it hasn't rubbed off on a few people!
I'd be interested to get your thoughts on this issue as well so don't forget to leave a comment below.
There are a few more things I could write about but I'm going to leave it till tomorrow, probably try and do a bit a day, including my early views on a couple of games I got my hands on over the weekend.
TTFN
EDIT: Forgot to say that I've switched comment moderation 'on' just to try and avoid any spam type entries, so if you comment doesn't appear, don't panic it's just that kicking in. I'll make sure any comments are put on site asap, plus I promise that none will be edited in any way, unless the content is inapproriate (and I'm a broad-minded chap).
Plus I'm looking at switching to the Beta version of Blogger soon so if you visit in the next week or so and notice another change, that's why. But then I'll probably make an entry just about that. Hey, it's something to talk about!
Today however I do not. I find myself sat at work, remembering I didn't make an entry as planned yesterday. Trouble is I can't remember what it was I was gonna write about, but you might think that's a good think given my previous rants. It was something sweeping about BMW drivers being nonces, and other random stuff, but it's probably best to leave it anyway.
One thing that did catch my eye over the weekend was the sentence given to one Saddam Hussein. The Death Sentence!
Has the judge or judges (no idea if it was a group decision) ever heard of the word 'martyr'? Ok, the man isn't one of the nicest people you'd ever met alledgedly, a dictator with a ruthless patriotic streak, and as Wuddya would like us believe a threat to the free world due to his links to terrorist organisations (what WMD George? A beggar with a pointy stick?). I expect Saddam did have a large hand to play in the murder of the 140+ people in the town where someone tried to assasinate him, but is hanging the guy really going to end all of the problems in Iraq?
By problems, I mean the stuff that ordinary people are facing, the faction fighting, not what George and Tony want to do because to those guys it boils down to one thing; oil. Oil and where it's coming from, at a good price. I get the feeling that during all this those in control at government level here, the US and any other country involved in the 'peace-keeping' mission are forgetting that some Iraqis have had to live with this shit for decades. Sending in troops again from other countries doesn't always mean the solution will come with a gun pointed at it! Not to mention the deaths of servicemen and women on all sides, dying for this supposed greater good, to protect the Western world and it's Black Gold.
Kill Saddam, and you breed a new generation of supporters, fanatics and believers of the cause. Maybe dead he won't be able to control anything, but what about the people that are still at large, that haven't been pulled up in front of a court like Saddam and his closest advisors. Think they'll just give up? When you have a leader like Saddam so full of passion and bile, it'd be hard to think that it hasn't rubbed off on a few people!
I'd be interested to get your thoughts on this issue as well so don't forget to leave a comment below.
There are a few more things I could write about but I'm going to leave it till tomorrow, probably try and do a bit a day, including my early views on a couple of games I got my hands on over the weekend.
TTFN
EDIT: Forgot to say that I've switched comment moderation 'on' just to try and avoid any spam type entries, so if you comment doesn't appear, don't panic it's just that kicking in. I'll make sure any comments are put on site asap, plus I promise that none will be edited in any way, unless the content is inapproriate (and I'm a broad-minded chap).
Plus I'm looking at switching to the Beta version of Blogger soon so if you visit in the next week or so and notice another change, that's why. But then I'll probably make an entry just about that. Hey, it's something to talk about!
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