Quite a boring day today , spent most of it trudging back and forth from Gibbet Hill where all of my Biomedical stuff is located. First a lecture in the morning with roll call (11am) , then a 15 min walk back to dorms where i cooked lunch (instant noodles) , then back to Gibbet hill for 1:15pm to get a photo taken , we had to queue until approx 2:30pm. Walk back to cryfield , walk back again at 4:30 for tutor introduction - my tutor is a complete failface who doesent know wtf is going on.
After that , chilling in my room for a while then went out for drinks.
Shared a pitcher of vodka and red bull with some guy. Half of them went to queue for club , the other half went to sit around SU. I got bored and couldnt really be bothered with either so i went back to my room to chill out a bit. Played WoW for about 15 minutes to collect moneys from my mailbox then got bored and went to the common room where everyone was sitting around playing this weird blink game.
Basically all the guys sit on chairs in a circle and then there are girls behind each boy. One of the chairs is empty. The girl has to blink/wink at guys to get them to go into her chair. Girl behind you has to stop you from escaping.
I was wearing a hoodie , the girl behind me was crazy.
I got choked about 4 times before i could escape.
Im not very good at that game ;_;
nothing much else happened today. And i think im gonna head to bed shortly because i my fucking lectures start at 11am tomorrow and its BS. I also have to do a 1500 word essay on something by 9th october. Which is mad BS.
On the brighter side , i bought tickets to see Pendulum w/ the hoosiers for £25. No idea who the hoosiers are but dil said they were decent - which means they're probably pretty bad but pendulum will make up for it i hope.
Monday 29 September 2008
Sunday 28 September 2008
University Day 2
Ill think of some post titles that arent generic as hell next time i promise. (i probably actually wont but ill at least try.)
After sitting around in the common room a bunch of us (read: All of us) decided we should try and cook dinner at the same time. I feel really bad cooking little horrible meals when everyone else seems to be going all out , there was a pizza cooked , fajitas with peppers and sauce , some sort of pasta with mince , pasta with cheese , toast cheese and beans , and i cant really remember what the girls had cooked but it was equally nice looking.
I looked in the fridge and eventually decided i would try and make a bacon and egg sandwich (my fridge inventory currently consists of Bacon , Eggs.... err....i think i have some apples in there... and some milk..
...
=/
i actually thought i had more in there before i typed this up. shit.
So the party thing was semi-lame , semi-cool. It was lame in that there was nothing particuarly special going on , but somewhat cool in the way that it made it easy to approach everyone and introduce yourself. I dont think ill be able to remember any more than 5% of the names i was told during the night but we'll see i guess.
Another half of the students came today , since yesterday was A-L surnames , today was everyone else so there were lots of people to meet. Our small posse thing turned into about 8-12 strong.
After a fair bit of chatting to randoms and such we decided to head out to the Student Union for a bit to see if we could get in. It was packed and there was an entrance fee We decided to try and find 'Varisity' or whatever it was called ,which is a pub/bar sort of place. We ended up walking all around campus for ages taking all sorts of routes. We EVENTUALLY got there and got a drink , after buying a £2 card you get a fair bit of discount I got a bottle of bulmers for like £2.60 or something which isnt particuarly bad - moreso considering how much of a bad drinker i am and that one bottle is enough to get me a little 'funny'. Its odd how a little alcohol can bring people out of their shells , i dont know why that is , maybe alcohol overrides the part of your brain that does self control , maybe you feel like you can blame it on the booze if you do stuff thats completely retarded...
The pub shut at 11pm (what the fuck.) so we had to journey AAAAALL the way back to the student union - which wasnt actually that far away we just took the longest route possible to get to varisity.
There was an outside DJ and stuff playing music. We hung around for a while there bopping along to pendulum , oasis , killers , basshunter and probably a load of other stuff im completely omitting.
We then went back to Cryfield (at around 12ish) to find a group of people in the common room , two of which playing guitars. We sat around for some more and chatted until now where i decided to write this up (1.30am) , Geroge - who was one of the guys playing guitar was an absoloute beast and was playing Tenacious D, reel big fish , and err... other... stuff. I cant really remember the other stuff but having a group of about 3 of us singing along to 'fuck her gently' was definately the highlight of my stay here so far. Yes there were girls there too. No i cant sing well but i couldnt really give a shit i suppose.
Rather nastily i havent actually tried using the bathroom showers yet , im kind of scared of using public showers but i know im going to have to eventually...
Tomorrow i have to attend a lecture at 11am at gibbet hill , i dont even know where that is but i met another Biomedical student next door to me so hopefully ill just tag along with him.
Im not quite missing home yet , although i do wish i had said a proper goodbye to Hassan (im sorry bro , i meant to on the friday but i was just so busy with other stuff , then i was hoping to tell my parents in the morning to give me a lift to your house but then i forgot ;_; )
Heres a picture of my room by the way.
i tried to be all cool and do a panorama thing , it didnt work very well but you get a rough idea of whats going on.
After sitting around in the common room a bunch of us (read: All of us) decided we should try and cook dinner at the same time. I feel really bad cooking little horrible meals when everyone else seems to be going all out , there was a pizza cooked , fajitas with peppers and sauce , some sort of pasta with mince , pasta with cheese , toast cheese and beans , and i cant really remember what the girls had cooked but it was equally nice looking.
I looked in the fridge and eventually decided i would try and make a bacon and egg sandwich (my fridge inventory currently consists of Bacon , Eggs.... err....i think i have some apples in there... and some milk..
...
=/
i actually thought i had more in there before i typed this up. shit.
So the party thing was semi-lame , semi-cool. It was lame in that there was nothing particuarly special going on , but somewhat cool in the way that it made it easy to approach everyone and introduce yourself. I dont think ill be able to remember any more than 5% of the names i was told during the night but we'll see i guess.
Another half of the students came today , since yesterday was A-L surnames , today was everyone else so there were lots of people to meet. Our small posse thing turned into about 8-12 strong.
After a fair bit of chatting to randoms and such we decided to head out to the Student Union for a bit to see if we could get in. It was packed and there was an entrance fee We decided to try and find 'Varisity' or whatever it was called ,which is a pub/bar sort of place. We ended up walking all around campus for ages taking all sorts of routes. We EVENTUALLY got there and got a drink , after buying a £2 card you get a fair bit of discount I got a bottle of bulmers for like £2.60 or something which isnt particuarly bad - moreso considering how much of a bad drinker i am and that one bottle is enough to get me a little 'funny'. Its odd how a little alcohol can bring people out of their shells , i dont know why that is , maybe alcohol overrides the part of your brain that does self control , maybe you feel like you can blame it on the booze if you do stuff thats completely retarded...
The pub shut at 11pm (what the fuck.) so we had to journey AAAAALL the way back to the student union - which wasnt actually that far away we just took the longest route possible to get to varisity.
There was an outside DJ and stuff playing music. We hung around for a while there bopping along to pendulum , oasis , killers , basshunter and probably a load of other stuff im completely omitting.
We then went back to Cryfield (at around 12ish) to find a group of people in the common room , two of which playing guitars. We sat around for some more and chatted until now where i decided to write this up (1.30am) , Geroge - who was one of the guys playing guitar was an absoloute beast and was playing Tenacious D, reel big fish , and err... other... stuff. I cant really remember the other stuff but having a group of about 3 of us singing along to 'fuck her gently' was definately the highlight of my stay here so far. Yes there were girls there too. No i cant sing well but i couldnt really give a shit i suppose.
Rather nastily i havent actually tried using the bathroom showers yet , im kind of scared of using public showers but i know im going to have to eventually...
Tomorrow i have to attend a lecture at 11am at gibbet hill , i dont even know where that is but i met another Biomedical student next door to me so hopefully ill just tag along with him.
Im not quite missing home yet , although i do wish i had said a proper goodbye to Hassan (im sorry bro , i meant to on the friday but i was just so busy with other stuff , then i was hoping to tell my parents in the morning to give me a lift to your house but then i forgot ;_; )
Heres a picture of my room by the way.
i tried to be all cool and do a panorama thing , it didnt work very well but you get a rough idea of whats going on.
University of Warwick , day 1
Everything seems a blur , we arrived at the university of warwick at around 1pm ish. Went to the dorm reception and was asked to fill out a form , they then gave me my room keys and make us write our room number code on a piece of paper along with our name and then take a mugshot photo. Im HOPING this was for their use or something and it will not end up as some sort of 'lets make fun of the freshers' sort of thing and be a poster.
Moved all my stuff into the room , painfully. Especially the computer , which weighs a fucking ton. Thanks antec - Great design but you couldnt make that shit lightweight huh.
This is my first time at warwick uni since i never really bothered to go to any of the open days and such.
My initial impressions - Wow , this place has a lot of grass and trees. Also. Wow , this place smells like shit.
My dad tells me the shit smell is because we're so far out from the city , i panic a little.
Whilst unpacking in my room i meet some of my neighbours. Across the hall is a socialite girl called Helen , she deemed it neccesary to bring a bottle of vodka with her.
Next to me is a stairwell , i cant really say anything bad about a stairwell.
On the other side of me is a quiet girl called... idk. I forgot.
On the other side across the hall (its like 2 rooms just outside my room) is a cool surfer like dude called Ben , which we promptly nicknamed Malfunction Man because he just can't do shit with electricals right - for example he put all of his stuff in the freezer (including peppers , cheese , carrots... - who the hell brings peppers with them anyway) , then he tries to make toast and practically breaks the toaster , it took him like an hour to get his internet working , etc etc.
2 other dudes which i seemed to group with is a large talky talk type guy called Tim, the one who knows a shitton of useless knowledge and isnt scared to share it with everyone. And an odd person who looks like Simon Amstell called Ian, he seems to be addicted to beer since he just kept drinking that shit casualy yesterday.
Walked around and got my uni card and finance and stuff sorted out, then came back and just chatted with the other people in my dorm for a while. Night eventually came and we decided we should try and go out and be social. unfortunately this night at the uni is basically a freshers night thing and you need to buy a shirt , of which none of us did. We ended up just chilling on the piazza and talking to randoms , we went to tescos with a group of people and came back with some food for the night/this morning and Tim bought a rather large bottle of SELEKT vodka , which they say tastes absoloutely horrible , i didn't try because proper smirnoff vodka in my opinion tastes like bleach so i cant even imagine what horrible vodka tastes like. I also bought a bottle of apple sourz , i figure it may come in useful at some point when we decide to play some drinking games.
Sat around and talked in the kitchen for an hour or so with a girl we found on the way to tesco called Margarita (which i cant spell properly , i think). Ben brokee the toaster at this point.
We headed back to the piazza to try and make more friends , we ended up talking to randoms again , lots of randoms.
Everyone went back to the common room around midnight and they stayed up talking to about 3am , i left at about 2:30am because i was tired. Of course i was then enticed by cross to play a 'little' WoW , and ended up sleeping at 5:30am
Woke up at 10 this morning from the sound of my mobile phone ringing , parents want to take me shopping for crap , i accept as i know it'll save me some money. Turns out it saved me rather alot of money as i needed quite a bit of crap. Still need to buy some PC speakers at some point though as atm to listen to music im just turning my headset way up and leaving it on the desk. its more than adequate noise level wise but im concerned it'll explode my headset sooner or later.
Theres a cryfield party thing at some point tonight , i know nothing of it but hopefully someone else will. I think im gonna go and try and socialize now since ive been typing this on and off all morning.
Moved all my stuff into the room , painfully. Especially the computer , which weighs a fucking ton. Thanks antec - Great design but you couldnt make that shit lightweight huh.
This is my first time at warwick uni since i never really bothered to go to any of the open days and such.
My initial impressions - Wow , this place has a lot of grass and trees. Also. Wow , this place smells like shit.
My dad tells me the shit smell is because we're so far out from the city , i panic a little.
Whilst unpacking in my room i meet some of my neighbours. Across the hall is a socialite girl called Helen , she deemed it neccesary to bring a bottle of vodka with her.
Next to me is a stairwell , i cant really say anything bad about a stairwell.
On the other side of me is a quiet girl called... idk. I forgot.
On the other side across the hall (its like 2 rooms just outside my room) is a cool surfer like dude called Ben , which we promptly nicknamed Malfunction Man because he just can't do shit with electricals right - for example he put all of his stuff in the freezer (including peppers , cheese , carrots... - who the hell brings peppers with them anyway) , then he tries to make toast and practically breaks the toaster , it took him like an hour to get his internet working , etc etc.
2 other dudes which i seemed to group with is a large talky talk type guy called Tim, the one who knows a shitton of useless knowledge and isnt scared to share it with everyone. And an odd person who looks like Simon Amstell called Ian, he seems to be addicted to beer since he just kept drinking that shit casualy yesterday.
Walked around and got my uni card and finance and stuff sorted out, then came back and just chatted with the other people in my dorm for a while. Night eventually came and we decided we should try and go out and be social. unfortunately this night at the uni is basically a freshers night thing and you need to buy a shirt , of which none of us did. We ended up just chilling on the piazza and talking to randoms , we went to tescos with a group of people and came back with some food for the night/this morning and Tim bought a rather large bottle of SELEKT vodka , which they say tastes absoloutely horrible , i didn't try because proper smirnoff vodka in my opinion tastes like bleach so i cant even imagine what horrible vodka tastes like. I also bought a bottle of apple sourz , i figure it may come in useful at some point when we decide to play some drinking games.
Sat around and talked in the kitchen for an hour or so with a girl we found on the way to tesco called Margarita (which i cant spell properly , i think). Ben brokee the toaster at this point.
We headed back to the piazza to try and make more friends , we ended up talking to randoms again , lots of randoms.
Everyone went back to the common room around midnight and they stayed up talking to about 3am , i left at about 2:30am because i was tired. Of course i was then enticed by cross to play a 'little' WoW , and ended up sleeping at 5:30am
Woke up at 10 this morning from the sound of my mobile phone ringing , parents want to take me shopping for crap , i accept as i know it'll save me some money. Turns out it saved me rather alot of money as i needed quite a bit of crap. Still need to buy some PC speakers at some point though as atm to listen to music im just turning my headset way up and leaving it on the desk. its more than adequate noise level wise but im concerned it'll explode my headset sooner or later.
Theres a cryfield party thing at some point tonight , i know nothing of it but hopefully someone else will. I think im gonna go and try and socialize now since ive been typing this on and off all morning.
Friday 26 September 2008
Wednesday 24 September 2008
Crysis Warhead
Saying 'pictures don't do this game justice' is like saying 'people with no nipples are strange'.
...
Well what i mean by that is that you really have to see crysis warhead in motion to comprehend how amazingly beautiful this game is.
Im playing on everything high (not very high) and shaders on normal and the effect is the pictures below.
Putting shaders on high basically puts on 18 different types of bloom and HDR at the same time. The result is a much brighter crysis where the sun shines through leaves and the shadows seem alot more contrasted.
The performance hit is of course rather big , at 1920x1200 i was getting 80fps with shaders on normal , and then 25-35fps with it on high.
I think ill take my silky smooth frames over a little extra sunlight.
The game is Sykes (Psycho)'s version of the original Crysis. This takes you on a different route completely but under the same events. Im not too far in (about 2-3 hours) so i dont know if you get to see Nomad (the guy you play in the original Crysis) or not.
I do question whether crysis warhead should be an 'expansion pack' or not , since it only really expands on the story. All of the gameplay elements are more or less identical to the original Crysis. Infact if you've played Crysis already, this is essentially the same game with more polish.
The fine details are certainly all there. When you get into the frozen area for example , your reflex sight has condensation over the front of it and your gun becomes all frosted.
Walking through frozen plants causes parts of them to shatter.
The sounds are all amazing , walking on ice and snow are exactly how you would imagine it to be.
There are a few issues with enemy AI , but for the most part they work well (occasionally they wont notice you - on other occasions they shoot you through 8 miles of shrubs and foliage)
Other little things like debris landing on the camera , blood on the camera , blinking when you get shot by a rocket or something - really makes you feel like you're in the game rather than playing it. Little things , but big effects. Blurring is also used very nicely in the game which is nice , for example when changing stuff on your weapons , the background becomes blurred out and emphasis is focused on the weapons themselves (whcih are all stupidly detailed by the way.)
I really liked the original Crysis , and thus Crysis Warhead is the same stuff but with more visual flare and better optimization (or maybe ive just gotten a 8800GTS since i played the first Crysis)
...
Well what i mean by that is that you really have to see crysis warhead in motion to comprehend how amazingly beautiful this game is.
Im playing on everything high (not very high) and shaders on normal and the effect is the pictures below.
Putting shaders on high basically puts on 18 different types of bloom and HDR at the same time. The result is a much brighter crysis where the sun shines through leaves and the shadows seem alot more contrasted.
The performance hit is of course rather big , at 1920x1200 i was getting 80fps with shaders on normal , and then 25-35fps with it on high.
I think ill take my silky smooth frames over a little extra sunlight.
The game is Sykes (Psycho)'s version of the original Crysis. This takes you on a different route completely but under the same events. Im not too far in (about 2-3 hours) so i dont know if you get to see Nomad (the guy you play in the original Crysis) or not.
I do question whether crysis warhead should be an 'expansion pack' or not , since it only really expands on the story. All of the gameplay elements are more or less identical to the original Crysis. Infact if you've played Crysis already, this is essentially the same game with more polish.
The fine details are certainly all there. When you get into the frozen area for example , your reflex sight has condensation over the front of it and your gun becomes all frosted.
Walking through frozen plants causes parts of them to shatter.
The sounds are all amazing , walking on ice and snow are exactly how you would imagine it to be.
There are a few issues with enemy AI , but for the most part they work well (occasionally they wont notice you - on other occasions they shoot you through 8 miles of shrubs and foliage)
Other little things like debris landing on the camera , blood on the camera , blinking when you get shot by a rocket or something - really makes you feel like you're in the game rather than playing it. Little things , but big effects. Blurring is also used very nicely in the game which is nice , for example when changing stuff on your weapons , the background becomes blurred out and emphasis is focused on the weapons themselves (whcih are all stupidly detailed by the way.)
I really liked the original Crysis , and thus Crysis Warhead is the same stuff but with more visual flare and better optimization (or maybe ive just gotten a 8800GTS since i played the first Crysis)
Lack of recent updates
Sorry about the recent nega-blogging.
Its the last week at home before i move out to Uni and hence ive been out a fair bit.
The times i have been home have been pretty much spent playing WoW and you guys don't really want to know about that so i'll leave it out of this blog. - If you're intrested in that stuff all my stats and gear are here
Yesterday was spent with Frances , meatball sub for lunch and then off to lakeside for a lookaround. Had my last shakeaway for a while - Aero Mint , which came out extra extra thick and was amazing. It reminded me of the old style McDonalds milkshakes.
Today was spent dossing about and playing DS, played a bit of WoW then went out to dinner at the carvery - which for those who don't know is basically a traditional english roast sort of restaurant , you get your plate and ask for a certain type of meat - Gammon (ham) / Turkey / Beef , or you can have some of each or 2 types. Me being... me. I had some of all of them. You then take veggies like brocoli , carrots , potatoes, peas etc etc etc and then help yourself to cranberry sauce and gravy and then take it back to your table and nom that shit.
Im beginning to think about packing , i leave on saturday and so far ive packed my duvet covers and a towel. I have clothes strewn over my sofa still and i really cant be fucked to do anything about it. *sigh*
Its the last week at home before i move out to Uni and hence ive been out a fair bit.
The times i have been home have been pretty much spent playing WoW and you guys don't really want to know about that so i'll leave it out of this blog. - If you're intrested in that stuff all my stats and gear are here
Yesterday was spent with Frances , meatball sub for lunch and then off to lakeside for a lookaround. Had my last shakeaway for a while - Aero Mint , which came out extra extra thick and was amazing. It reminded me of the old style McDonalds milkshakes.
Today was spent dossing about and playing DS, played a bit of WoW then went out to dinner at the carvery - which for those who don't know is basically a traditional english roast sort of restaurant , you get your plate and ask for a certain type of meat - Gammon (ham) / Turkey / Beef , or you can have some of each or 2 types. Me being... me. I had some of all of them. You then take veggies like brocoli , carrots , potatoes, peas etc etc etc and then help yourself to cranberry sauce and gravy and then take it back to your table and nom that shit.
Im beginning to think about packing , i leave on saturday and so far ive packed my duvet covers and a towel. I have clothes strewn over my sofa still and i really cant be fucked to do anything about it. *sigh*
Monday 22 September 2008
Friday 19 September 2008
Bowlob
To send off some of those who are going to uni tomorrow (20th Sep) we decided to go bowling.
I have to say , i forgot how expensive bowling is. 2 games = £10 , yikes.
I finally managed to find my exact positioning and shot and managed to get some fobtastic strikes in.
Also managed to get a new record of loudness of the ball hitting the floor and distance down the lane before the ball hits the floor.
For the idiots , this is what bowling is supposed to look like. You throw the bowling ball nearish to the floor and along it.
Advanced tips and strategies from a bowling prodigy.
Loud Bowling™
To be able to turn heads of the people around you (to see your potential strike) i recommend this technique , its called Loud Bowling™ and basically works by pretending there is a sandcastle below the floorboards of the bowling lane. Alternatively you could imagine it as a nest of spiders / birthday cake / your ex's face / black person / Swan etc etc.
By bowling like this , not only will you feel amazing knowing that you're getting your moneys worth of bowling by costing the management hundreds of pounds worth of damage to their floors , you also turn heads and will be able to feel popular and professional.
Xtreme Bowling™
Tired of how easy normal bowling is? Then its time for you to try XTREME BOWLING™
The ultimate goal of Xtreme Bowling™ is to be able to hit the pins and get a strike WITHOUT LETTING THE BALL HIT THE LANE , obviously this is very hard to do unless you're built like a tank , Try your best to throw it as far down the lane as possible. (My personal best is about 3/5 down the lane)
Aside from look really cool , you get to give yourself additional challenge. Spinning the ball is not recomended but you can if you want. If your ball flies into another lane you do not get any kudos or points unless you get a strike in that lane.
I have to say , i forgot how expensive bowling is. 2 games = £10 , yikes.
I finally managed to find my exact positioning and shot and managed to get some fobtastic strikes in.
Also managed to get a new record of loudness of the ball hitting the floor and distance down the lane before the ball hits the floor.
For the idiots , this is what bowling is supposed to look like. You throw the bowling ball nearish to the floor and along it.
Advanced tips and strategies from a bowling prodigy.
Loud Bowling™
To be able to turn heads of the people around you (to see your potential strike) i recommend this technique , its called Loud Bowling™ and basically works by pretending there is a sandcastle below the floorboards of the bowling lane. Alternatively you could imagine it as a nest of spiders / birthday cake / your ex's face / black person / Swan etc etc.
By bowling like this , not only will you feel amazing knowing that you're getting your moneys worth of bowling by costing the management hundreds of pounds worth of damage to their floors , you also turn heads and will be able to feel popular and professional.
Xtreme Bowling™
Tired of how easy normal bowling is? Then its time for you to try XTREME BOWLING™
The ultimate goal of Xtreme Bowling™ is to be able to hit the pins and get a strike WITHOUT LETTING THE BALL HIT THE LANE , obviously this is very hard to do unless you're built like a tank , Try your best to throw it as far down the lane as possible. (My personal best is about 3/5 down the lane)
Aside from look really cool , you get to give yourself additional challenge. Spinning the ball is not recomended but you can if you want. If your ball flies into another lane you do not get any kudos or points unless you get a strike in that lane.
Tuesday 16 September 2008
Monday 15 September 2008
Some good stuff thats coming our way.
Patapon 2
^ More patapons , missions and items sounds good to me.
http://www.siliconera.com/2008/09/11/getting-into-the-groove-with-groovin-blocks/
^ Groovin Blocks actually sounds really good as well. If you cant be bothered to read the article , think lumines + Columns with techno music and you get additional score multipliers if you drop the blocks in time with the beat. Pretty innovative if you ask me.
Nirin
^ Road Rash Arcade?
Yggdra Union
http://www.siliconera.com/2008/09/09/ygdra-union-this-was-once-a-gba-game/
^ Looks amazing and it comes out in North America Tomorrow, i just hope my PSP will run it because i havent upgraded my firmware in about a half year.
S4 League
^ Open Beta now , for those who havent heard of it , its basically a futuristic Gunz Online.
And we all have to admit , we all liked gunz online for a small period of time.
^ More patapons , missions and items sounds good to me.
http://www.siliconera.com/2008/09/11/getting-into-the-groove-with-groovin-blocks/
^ Groovin Blocks actually sounds really good as well. If you cant be bothered to read the article , think lumines + Columns with techno music and you get additional score multipliers if you drop the blocks in time with the beat. Pretty innovative if you ask me.
Nirin
^ Road Rash Arcade?
Yggdra Union
http://www.siliconera.com/2008/09/09/ygdra-union-this-was-once-a-gba-game/
^ Looks amazing and it comes out in North America Tomorrow, i just hope my PSP will run it because i havent upgraded my firmware in about a half year.
S4 League
^ Open Beta now , for those who havent heard of it , its basically a futuristic Gunz Online.
And we all have to admit , we all liked gunz online for a small period of time.
Saturday 13 September 2008
Friday 12 September 2008
Warwick
Spent this morning sorting out my uni stuff.
Enrolling , sorting out the IT account.
They also have online photo submission for your uni card.
I still dont really know whats going on with the student loan though mind you.
Also. Krispy Kreme baby.
Enrolling , sorting out the IT account.
They also have online photo submission for your uni card.
I still dont really know whats going on with the student loan though mind you.
Also. Krispy Kreme baby.
Wednesday 10 September 2008
Reorder some Meng stock
Coz he sold out D:
yeah , so i play WoW now.
blame cross.
not sure if ill continue playing after i go to Uni though since i might actually have a life there.
yeah , so i play WoW now.
blame cross.
not sure if ill continue playing after i go to Uni though since i might actually have a life there.
Tuesday 9 September 2008
Spore (Part 3 - Space)
Last we left the gobbos they had just finished building their latest innovative space craft.
You take to huge void that is space and sniff out other races and habitable planets. Those which are habitable , you... err... habit.
Those which arent habitable , you can terraform by using various tools to change the atmosphere and temperature until it is suitable for life , which you need to bring from other planets.
So for example if a planet has no atmosphere and is freezing cold - you can use an atmosphere machine thing and then summon meteors (somehow) to heat up the planet. When the planet becomes habitable you then place some plants down , and a few herbivores and carnivores to balance out the ecosystem. You can then throw down a city. Do the same again and you can put down another city on the same planet. To a limit of 3 cities.
Alternatively after making some allies and buying weapons , you can go out and just plain steal other race's colonies.
Note : the combat is NOT the strongest part of the space stage , infact its pretty shit. Without allies you're pretty much a deadman since only your allies can hit stuff with 99% accuracy.
Theres also trading with other races , which is how you'll get almost all of your money. Theres also quests but i havent done many of those - they usually involve killing your allies in an attempt to make that race your ally.
I dont even know what you spend the majority of this age doing , colonizing other planets , collecting money , trading, invading hostile planets , defending friendly planets (or your planets) , and just general tomfoolery in space. It does start VERY VERY complicated ,with the game throwing about 200 icons and tabs in your face without much introduction , but you'll get the hang of it.. eventually.
One of the things that impresses me the most is the sheer scale of the game. Some of you have probably seen the video where they zoom all the way out , but heres that in pictures for those that havent seen it...
You've all seen the planet from previous screenshots so ill skip that.
Above is a solar system , 5 planets and a sun in this one... Lets zoom out..
The solar system has turned into a star , hovering over the star with the mouse shows what planets are inside...
Here you can see a shitton of stars , and everything gets VERY VERY CONFUSING. I dont even know wtf is going on , there is like 5 races in my area (not including the 2 i wiped out) , red is me , red areas are hostile , green areas are allied etc etc... Lets zoom out.
You can just about see the coloured faction areas in the picture... Our home planet is looking pretty fucking small right now. Zoooooom ouuuuuuuuuuutttt.......
... oh fuck.
Oh , one final word.
Late into the game you get the planet destroyer...
Its so amazing to watch :D
You take to huge void that is space and sniff out other races and habitable planets. Those which are habitable , you... err... habit.
Those which arent habitable , you can terraform by using various tools to change the atmosphere and temperature until it is suitable for life , which you need to bring from other planets.
So for example if a planet has no atmosphere and is freezing cold - you can use an atmosphere machine thing and then summon meteors (somehow) to heat up the planet. When the planet becomes habitable you then place some plants down , and a few herbivores and carnivores to balance out the ecosystem. You can then throw down a city. Do the same again and you can put down another city on the same planet. To a limit of 3 cities.
Alternatively after making some allies and buying weapons , you can go out and just plain steal other race's colonies.
Note : the combat is NOT the strongest part of the space stage , infact its pretty shit. Without allies you're pretty much a deadman since only your allies can hit stuff with 99% accuracy.
Theres also trading with other races , which is how you'll get almost all of your money. Theres also quests but i havent done many of those - they usually involve killing your allies in an attempt to make that race your ally.
I dont even know what you spend the majority of this age doing , colonizing other planets , collecting money , trading, invading hostile planets , defending friendly planets (or your planets) , and just general tomfoolery in space. It does start VERY VERY complicated ,with the game throwing about 200 icons and tabs in your face without much introduction , but you'll get the hang of it.. eventually.
One of the things that impresses me the most is the sheer scale of the game. Some of you have probably seen the video where they zoom all the way out , but heres that in pictures for those that havent seen it...
You've all seen the planet from previous screenshots so ill skip that.
Above is a solar system , 5 planets and a sun in this one... Lets zoom out..
The solar system has turned into a star , hovering over the star with the mouse shows what planets are inside...
Here you can see a shitton of stars , and everything gets VERY VERY CONFUSING. I dont even know wtf is going on , there is like 5 races in my area (not including the 2 i wiped out) , red is me , red areas are hostile , green areas are allied etc etc... Lets zoom out.
You can just about see the coloured faction areas in the picture... Our home planet is looking pretty fucking small right now. Zoooooom ouuuuuuuuuuutttt.......
... oh fuck.
Oh , one final word.
Late into the game you get the planet destroyer...
Its so amazing to watch :D
Monday 8 September 2008
Spore (Part 2)
Last time we left the sweet race of gobbos at the start of the tribal phase.
So after the boring land creature stage , you reach the tribal stage. Which basically turns the game into a very simplified Age of Empires , only with the added difference of being able to befriend other towns into allies (for the carebears out there)
You get a few different types of shacks which allow you to equip your creatures with different things. For the carebears there are instruments. Using these you can go and bard it up for the other towns and eventually they like you and such.
Alternatively for the warriors - Axes , flame torches and spears.
The tribal phase seems to go by way too quick , which is a shame because so far its definately the most fun part. Maybe i just enjoyed it because im rubbish at actual RTS games.
After clearing out all the other tribes (or befriending them) you enter the civilization stage...
You get to create your HQ
Here was my first attempt , unfortunately i built it the wrong way round. So i had to remake.
Worth noting that how you play the game affects how your tribe actually acts.
For example if you start as a carnivore then make every other species extinct , then destroy all of your neighboring tribes you'll get the picture below.
You then get to make your own land vehicle.
You then get to make each of your buildings , House , entertainment and factories.
Id show pictures but you'll be sick of pictures by the end of this post.
Heres a picture of my boat - notice the amazing name.
And a picture of my plane.
You then build up your empire by taking over other cities , then expand the cities to increase your military and funds , then take over more cities. (if you zoom on the below pic you can see the other buildings i made too , they're nothing too fancy though.)
And heres a picture of me destroying a town using like 200 planes.
I think ill leave this here. Next time i update it'll be the space stage!
So after the boring land creature stage , you reach the tribal stage. Which basically turns the game into a very simplified Age of Empires , only with the added difference of being able to befriend other towns into allies (for the carebears out there)
You get a few different types of shacks which allow you to equip your creatures with different things. For the carebears there are instruments. Using these you can go and bard it up for the other towns and eventually they like you and such.
Alternatively for the warriors - Axes , flame torches and spears.
The tribal phase seems to go by way too quick , which is a shame because so far its definately the most fun part. Maybe i just enjoyed it because im rubbish at actual RTS games.
After clearing out all the other tribes (or befriending them) you enter the civilization stage...
You get to create your HQ
Here was my first attempt , unfortunately i built it the wrong way round. So i had to remake.
Worth noting that how you play the game affects how your tribe actually acts.
For example if you start as a carnivore then make every other species extinct , then destroy all of your neighboring tribes you'll get the picture below.
You then get to make your own land vehicle.
You then get to make each of your buildings , House , entertainment and factories.
Id show pictures but you'll be sick of pictures by the end of this post.
Heres a picture of my boat - notice the amazing name.
And a picture of my plane.
You then build up your empire by taking over other cities , then expand the cities to increase your military and funds , then take over more cities. (if you zoom on the below pic you can see the other buildings i made too , they're nothing too fancy though.)
And heres a picture of me destroying a town using like 200 planes.
I think ill leave this here. Next time i update it'll be the space stage!
Sunday 7 September 2008
Mercenaries 2 : World in Flames
World in flames , which is probably how the devs percieve their own forum now that this game has been released.
When i read the gamespot review i thought to myself 'wow. the game cant be that bad , not to deserve a 5 score' , turns out i was wrong to some extent. However they were playing on the console version - if they were playing the PC version it probably would have gotten a much lower score.
Summary of flaws.
- Your character will say some sort of horrible one liner 95% of the time when you :
Kill someone
Pick up an item
Get in a vehicle
See another vehicle
Hit a civilian
<probably about 200 other things too , but i cant think of anything else right now>
- Controls are utterly retarded and nega-intuitive , which seems to be an increasing trend in games nowadays. It DOES support the 360 control pad , however the aiming reticle seems to go reeeeeeeaally slow regardless of how high you put the sensitivity on , it also has an issue with deadzones where if your stick isnt completely straight , it'll still turn/walk.
- Lack of proper widescreen support , the game only supports 4:3 and 16:9 , almost all widescreen computer monitors are 16:10, this means that if you put widescreen on , you'll be greeted with a horizontally squished game. This leads to....
- The graphics look shit , well... maybe not THAT shit. And nobody would really care if... (the game actually doesent look that bad with the aspect ratio fixed)
- The framerate is shit. For what you get graphics wise , the framerate really shouldnt be as low as it is.
- The text all has a very odd pixelated look to it , not sure if this is intentional or just because i run it at really high res but.. yeah.
- The game uses subtitles along with its audio , and like most badly made games , the subtitles dont sync with whats being said. Sometimes they also disapear too fast , appear too fast , or dont appear at all.
- Speaking of audio and subtitles. They censor swearing. I don't really know what rating the game is supposed to be but for a game where you can kill anyone , blow up anything , headbutt people in tanks , steal cars/bikes etc... Do you really need to censor swearing? Its got a really horrible high pitched tone in place of swearing as well which makes it worse.
- The game uses icons instead of keys/buttons to tell you what to do. So for example if you're supposed to hit the melee button to do something , a little icon will apepar with a fist instead of [F] or whatever the xbox control is. This wouldnt really be a problem if it at some point told you what the buttons were , its also impossible to find the buttons in the game controller settings because they just arent there or dont tell you.
The scene below near the start of the game for example. Press the feet button. This looks easier than it is here because you can take a good hard stare at the picture. When you're playing the game you have around a second to evaluate what it is , and then press the button. It also said nothing about having to tap the jump button multiple times - As a result i ended up trying nearly every button in the game and then went to gamefaqs.
^ Thankfully i wasnt the only one that had no idea wtf to do.
- The tanks/cars/trucks/bikes handle about as well as wet fish after rubbing baby oil over your hands. You'll go crashing into walls , other vehicles and of course lots of...
- Civilians LOVE running into the road randomly as you drive by. Like nigs to KFC they all become magnetized to the front of you car - each time you hit them you lose $5000. Fun.
- All NPC's talk too much , being able to hear the enemy is one thing , but hearing 'ENEMY SIGHTED , THE ENEMY IS HERE , THE ENEMY IS BEHIND THE TREE , THE ENEMY IS HERE , ENEMY SIGHTED , ENEMY SIGHTED , THE ENEMY IS BEHIND THE TREE' about 5 times in 10 seconds will very quickly drive you batshit insane.
- General bugs with the game , for example the one below~
This was part of a mission , throw the smoke grenade into the objective marker. Then do some other shit before the deadline time runs out. As you can see , the smoke grenade is clearly INSIDE the marker , i tried throwing it about 200 times. No dice.
If the mission wasnt about 30 minutes long in total i would have turned the game off at this point.
Eventually i managed to complete the objective by killing myself , spending 3 minutes driving back , 2 minutes hijacking the tank , 2 minutes killing everyone inside the base and then throwing the fucking smoke into the marker and this time it worked first time.
- oh , one more thing. The music ingame is like a horrible 5 second loop of something straight from 'the empire strikes back'
When i read the gamespot review i thought to myself 'wow. the game cant be that bad , not to deserve a 5 score' , turns out i was wrong to some extent. However they were playing on the console version - if they were playing the PC version it probably would have gotten a much lower score.
Summary of flaws.
- Your character will say some sort of horrible one liner 95% of the time when you :
Kill someone
Pick up an item
Get in a vehicle
See another vehicle
Hit a civilian
<probably about 200 other things too , but i cant think of anything else right now>
- Controls are utterly retarded and nega-intuitive , which seems to be an increasing trend in games nowadays. It DOES support the 360 control pad , however the aiming reticle seems to go reeeeeeeaally slow regardless of how high you put the sensitivity on , it also has an issue with deadzones where if your stick isnt completely straight , it'll still turn/walk.
- Lack of proper widescreen support , the game only supports 4:3 and 16:9 , almost all widescreen computer monitors are 16:10, this means that if you put widescreen on , you'll be greeted with a horizontally squished game. This leads to....
- The graphics look shit , well... maybe not THAT shit. And nobody would really care if... (the game actually doesent look that bad with the aspect ratio fixed)
- The framerate is shit. For what you get graphics wise , the framerate really shouldnt be as low as it is.
- The text all has a very odd pixelated look to it , not sure if this is intentional or just because i run it at really high res but.. yeah.
- The game uses subtitles along with its audio , and like most badly made games , the subtitles dont sync with whats being said. Sometimes they also disapear too fast , appear too fast , or dont appear at all.
- Speaking of audio and subtitles. They censor swearing. I don't really know what rating the game is supposed to be but for a game where you can kill anyone , blow up anything , headbutt people in tanks , steal cars/bikes etc... Do you really need to censor swearing? Its got a really horrible high pitched tone in place of swearing as well which makes it worse.
- The game uses icons instead of keys/buttons to tell you what to do. So for example if you're supposed to hit the melee button to do something , a little icon will apepar with a fist instead of [F] or whatever the xbox control is. This wouldnt really be a problem if it at some point told you what the buttons were , its also impossible to find the buttons in the game controller settings because they just arent there or dont tell you.
The scene below near the start of the game for example. Press the feet button. This looks easier than it is here because you can take a good hard stare at the picture. When you're playing the game you have around a second to evaluate what it is , and then press the button. It also said nothing about having to tap the jump button multiple times - As a result i ended up trying nearly every button in the game and then went to gamefaqs.
^ Thankfully i wasnt the only one that had no idea wtf to do.
- The tanks/cars/trucks/bikes handle about as well as wet fish after rubbing baby oil over your hands. You'll go crashing into walls , other vehicles and of course lots of...
- Civilians LOVE running into the road randomly as you drive by. Like nigs to KFC they all become magnetized to the front of you car - each time you hit them you lose $5000. Fun.
- All NPC's talk too much , being able to hear the enemy is one thing , but hearing 'ENEMY SIGHTED , THE ENEMY IS HERE , THE ENEMY IS BEHIND THE TREE , THE ENEMY IS HERE , ENEMY SIGHTED , ENEMY SIGHTED , THE ENEMY IS BEHIND THE TREE' about 5 times in 10 seconds will very quickly drive you batshit insane.
- General bugs with the game , for example the one below~
This was part of a mission , throw the smoke grenade into the objective marker. Then do some other shit before the deadline time runs out. As you can see , the smoke grenade is clearly INSIDE the marker , i tried throwing it about 200 times. No dice.
If the mission wasnt about 30 minutes long in total i would have turned the game off at this point.
Eventually i managed to complete the objective by killing myself , spending 3 minutes driving back , 2 minutes hijacking the tank , 2 minutes killing everyone inside the base and then throwing the fucking smoke into the marker and this time it worked first time.
- oh , one more thing. The music ingame is like a horrible 5 second loop of something straight from 'the empire strikes back'
Saturday 6 September 2008
Meet the Sandwich
OM NOM NOM NOM
(from the bottom , bread - ham - bbq sauce - egg - ketchup - bread - ketchup - egg - bbq sauce - ham - bread)
Friday 5 September 2008
The Strangers
So i went with a few friends to see 'The Strangers' today
I actually had no idea what the film was about before i went to see it , the ONLY thing i had seen was this poster.
Jist of the story is creepy bagheadman starts terrorizing a couple who are in the middle of nowehere , couple then has to escape from the creepy bagheadman. (this is super abridged version revealing practically none of the story)
Aftering being convinced by a friend who couldnt go that the film was gonna be shit - even going to the trouble of looking up reviews to prove how bad it would be (thanks for that by the way , way to let jealousy get the better of you) the film actually turned out to be alright.
Sure the story was far from original, and the ending was 'poor pish' as boyce would say , the film is generally pretty good at what it sets out to do , that being make you anxious and jump every now and then at cheap BOO scares. I cant remember the last time i saw a movie that made me jump , but this did.
The film is also pretty minimal on its torture bits , which seems to be becoming a rarity in horror films nowadays, with most films being 50% creepy clowns , 50% long drawn out screaming tortury scenes.
This was a relief for me , personally im not big on the whole 'har har , look at him sawing his own arm off' or whatever thing , and i dont really see how anyone can be.
End note : Not great or anything in terms of general viewing (id rather be watching tropic thunder) but as a horror film it serves its purpose - bit too many panto style HE'S BEHIND YOU! moments though.
ps. while im talking about horror films, saw V? really? ive never seen any of the Saw films since from what i gather its just gore scenes but surely it cant be good enough to warrant a 5th film... can it?
I actually had no idea what the film was about before i went to see it , the ONLY thing i had seen was this poster.
Jist of the story is creepy bagheadman starts terrorizing a couple who are in the middle of nowehere , couple then has to escape from the creepy bagheadman. (this is super abridged version revealing practically none of the story)
Aftering being convinced by a friend who couldnt go that the film was gonna be shit - even going to the trouble of looking up reviews to prove how bad it would be (thanks for that by the way , way to let jealousy get the better of you) the film actually turned out to be alright.
Sure the story was far from original, and the ending was 'poor pish' as boyce would say , the film is generally pretty good at what it sets out to do , that being make you anxious and jump every now and then at cheap BOO scares. I cant remember the last time i saw a movie that made me jump , but this did.
The film is also pretty minimal on its torture bits , which seems to be becoming a rarity in horror films nowadays, with most films being 50% creepy clowns , 50% long drawn out screaming tortury scenes.
This was a relief for me , personally im not big on the whole 'har har , look at him sawing his own arm off' or whatever thing , and i dont really see how anyone can be.
End note : Not great or anything in terms of general viewing (id rather be watching tropic thunder) but as a horror film it serves its purpose - bit too many panto style HE'S BEHIND YOU! moments though.
ps. while im talking about horror films, saw V? really? ive never seen any of the Saw films since from what i gather its just gore scenes but surely it cant be good enough to warrant a 5th film... can it?
Thursday 4 September 2008
Spore
Its out! at last!
Is it a letdown? mmm... i cant really decide.
In my head it was gonna be way more fun and entertaining...
The cell stage is pretty much eat everything smaller than you , run from anything bigger than you. Grow bigger and then eat the stuff that was bigger than you. etc etc. (feeding frenzy/insane aquarium style)
There is some evolution in this stage , mainly in the form of mouth , where your eyes are , how many spermtail things you have [[my biomedical science course starts on 27th btw]] , you can get poison spitting gland thingies and fins and shit too - these affect your speed , turning speed , attack power , etc.
and
And then...
He grew legs!!
And his brain grew and grew!!
and then...
Somewhere along the way he grew 4 arms , tusks , blackman lips , toes (2 of them) and he turned purple!
Later on he slimmed down a little and turned green too.
The land stage is basically running around making friends with or killing any other species you come into contact with. You get xp for either outcome.
Making friends is basically clicking on them , they dance , you dance , they sing , you sing - and hopefully if your species evolved properly you'll be able to convince them that you arent a complete asshole of a race.
Making other species extinct is basically
step 1 : Grow teeth
step 2 : Grow Horns (optional)
step 3 : Grow Arms (optional)
Kill everything that moves
One of the advantages of befriending other species though is that you can recruit them (freedom fighters style) and then they can help beat the shit out of the other speciess.
Thats as far as ive gotten in the game so far , when i progress more you can expect some more pictures of 'Gobbo' (which actually doesent look anything like a real Gobbo)
Is it a letdown? mmm... i cant really decide.
In my head it was gonna be way more fun and entertaining...
The cell stage is pretty much eat everything smaller than you , run from anything bigger than you. Grow bigger and then eat the stuff that was bigger than you. etc etc. (feeding frenzy/insane aquarium style)
There is some evolution in this stage , mainly in the form of mouth , where your eyes are , how many spermtail things you have [[my biomedical science course starts on 27th btw]] , you can get poison spitting gland thingies and fins and shit too - these affect your speed , turning speed , attack power , etc.
and
And then...
He grew legs!!
And his brain grew and grew!!
and then...
Somewhere along the way he grew 4 arms , tusks , blackman lips , toes (2 of them) and he turned purple!
Later on he slimmed down a little and turned green too.
The land stage is basically running around making friends with or killing any other species you come into contact with. You get xp for either outcome.
Making friends is basically clicking on them , they dance , you dance , they sing , you sing - and hopefully if your species evolved properly you'll be able to convince them that you arent a complete asshole of a race.
Making other species extinct is basically
step 1 : Grow teeth
step 2 : Grow Horns (optional)
step 3 : Grow Arms (optional)
Kill everything that moves
One of the advantages of befriending other species though is that you can recruit them (freedom fighters style) and then they can help beat the shit out of the other speciess.
Thats as far as ive gotten in the game so far , when i progress more you can expect some more pictures of 'Gobbo' (which actually doesent look anything like a real Gobbo)
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