tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-122171962024-03-07T23:54:01.831+01:00What a load of old rubbishThis webpage is boring. Go look at naked ladies.Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.comBlogger63125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-67283791921335276552008-05-06T14:48:00.001+01:002008-05-06T14:51:42.028+01:00I have a new cameraToday I decided I needed a new camera. After much investigation I narrowed the choice down to a Fuji S8000fd and a Canon SX100IS. In the end I went with the Canon for two reasons. Picture quality and size. The Fuji was just far too big.<br /><br />Here are some sample shots<br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hgfb/2470218937/" title="img_0024 by Big Flub, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2134/2470218937_957be4672a.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="img_0024" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hgfb/2470090099/" title="img_0014 by Big Flub, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2180/2470090099_45333c2b45.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="img_0014" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hgfb/2470090069/" title="img_0005 by Big Flub, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2115/2470090069_2bf8042af8.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="img_0005" /></a><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hgfb/2470090081/" title="img_0007 by Big Flub, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3180/2470090081_589a8f3222.jpg" width="500" height="375" alt="img_0007" /></a>Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-11244169811959374592008-04-30T10:44:00.002+01:002008-04-30T10:50:00.343+01:00I'm backI've been gone for a couple of weeks and I've had things to say but quite frankly I couldn't be bothered.<br /><br />Here's a quick update. GTAIV is good but not 10/10 good, Space Ace on Blu-ray is excellent, I start in the Age of Conan open beta tomorrow, Transmetropolitan is the best comic ever, Stephen Fry writes good sci-fi, my PC arrived in the end and is very fast indeed, Lego Star Wars is still good, House of Suns is cracking sci-fi, Doctor Who is back and better than ever, Pushing Daisies is the weirdest show I've ever seen and Miley Cyrus has had a photo taken of her that looks like she's just finished fucking. Disney is horrified.Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-40944871200137726122008-04-14T07:12:00.002+01:002008-04-14T07:14:41.617+01:00Delivery companies are all crapI'm waiting for a new PC from Dell to be delivered. Dell hire Walsh Western to deliver who in turn subcontract the the clueless Business Post.<br /><br />I have tracking info for the WW side of things but their tracking system has been broken for about a day and the automated phone line isn't answering. I phone up my Business Post depot (Where the parcel should be now) but they can't help without a consignment number. Because of the subcontracting I have no consignment number.<br /><br />2 years ago Business Post were supposed to deliver a Dell PC to me and used the "We tried but you weren't in" excuse.<br /><br />So I can easily see a clusterfuck approaching rapidly.Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-56397719196962932262008-04-08T14:52:00.002+01:002008-04-08T14:55:55.387+01:00Eee. Now in XP flavourI used Nlite to install a stripped down copy of XP on my Eee PC on Sunday. It works really well and I still have 2gig free on the SSD for apps. A 2gig memory upgrade arrived for it today that I'll fit tonight and I'm waiting for a 8gig SDHC card to arrive from Play.com for my data. I think I'll fill it up with Sid tunes and a selection of Mame games.<br /><br />Sadly Dwarf Fortress doesn't run fast enough. It maxes out the CPU and has a very low frame rate. It would have been the perfect portable DF machine too.<br /><br />In other news Rockband for the 360 and PS3 will cost a taking the pisstastic £180 so they can fuck right off. GTAIV continues to look insanely great.Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-7846209074749858592008-04-04T23:19:00.002+01:002008-04-04T23:32:15.333+01:00Dwarf Fortress the second comingI took the sum of my acquired DF knowledge and started a new fortress tonight. After getting three dwarves killed by fire imps early on things settled down and I currently have a thriving fortress. Ore mining expeditions to the lower levels have begun and my stonecrafters are keeping the fortress wealthy. Trading is no longer an issue.<br /><br />Here's the current layout<br /><br /><img src=http://datastore.parallax-rising.net/gallery/d/4500-1/fortress2-1.png></img>Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-33088535738350081802008-04-04T17:24:00.000+01:002008-04-04T17:25:03.104+01:00Kobolds have been sightedKobold thieves have been sighted in the area apparently wanting to steal children. I've activated a crack squad of dwarf recruits, armed them with crossbows and stationed them at the entrance. I've also armed my fishermen with crossbows since they tend to run into these buggers on their travels.<br /><br />I have a crafterdwarf churning out stonecrafts non-stop (This is the way to buy stuff from the traders folks) and I'm still waiting for my puppies to grow up so I can turn them into sleek killing dog missiles.<br /><br />I think something must have died in dining room number 2 since it's currently filled with a purple miasma cloud. Not good if you need to eat your lunch.Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-47846465432187933362008-04-02T14:29:00.002+01:002008-04-02T14:29:41.638+01:00The mess in fullI discovered how to take full screenshots of my fortress so here it is in all its chaotic glory<br /><br /><img src=http://datastore.parallax-rising.net/gallery/d/4494-2/fortress.png></img>Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-83429636987730387082008-04-02T14:19:00.002+01:002008-04-02T14:22:51.700+01:00Dwarf Fortress UpdateMy first wave of immigrants has arrived. I now have 28 dwarves of various skills and work is moving much faster now. I have lots and lots of food and booze, cattle culling has begun and I've started sending hunters out into the landscape.<br /><br />Fortress expansion has begun in earnest. First step is new dining and bed space for everyone. I'm hoping I can get enough resources together to buy an avil soon but I'm not sure if I can.<br /><br /><img src="http://datastore.parallax-rising.net/gallery/d/4491-1/immigrants.png"></img><br /><br />I'm not sure where the tame bear came from thoughBig Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-80958378648989190202008-04-02T10:00:00.002+01:002008-04-02T10:06:45.056+01:00Fortress UpdateSo far my fortress is progressing nicely. I have farms, workshops, large storage areas, plenty of sleeping and eating facilities and the capability to make much booze. A slight mixup means I won't be able to train wardogs for a while but hopefully I'll evade notice by the elephant armies for a while longer.<br /><br />It did take about an hour for my dwarves to clear all the spare rock I had scattered around the place but all the rooms are clear now and I have plenty of room for expansion. I'm looking forward to the first wave of immigrants moving in. Things should move a lot faster once I have more pairs of hands. I didn't have enough craft items ready for the first traders this year so I couldn't afford an anvil. Metalworking will just have to wait until later.<br /><br />A donkey and a horse seem to have taken up residence in the fortress but nobody will claim ownership of them. The dogs, cats and cows have all given birth to a new generation and the cats are doing a good job of keeping the rat population down.<br /><br />Next job is to create more barrels and bins for storage and to try and get enough food and booze supplies for when the immigrants arrive.Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-7035162010575502372008-04-01T06:27:00.002+01:002008-04-02T10:06:45.057+01:00Best game everFor quite a long time now I've wanted to play <a href="http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/">Dwarf Fortress</a> and every time I've tried the almost vertical learning curve put me off.<br /><br />Until last night. Last night I put in the extra effort and it paid off. I only played for a few hours but I'm afraid I'm hooked. For those not in the know Dwarf Fortress is a Dungeon Keeper type game done in the style of a real time <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roguelike">Roguelike</a>. You take your merry band of dwarfs into the wilderness and attempt to start a new settlement there.<br /><br />It has a user interface designed by the devil himself and gives you almost no guidance on how to play. There's a halfway decent first player guide <a href="http://dwarf.lendemaindeveille.com/index.php/Your_first_fortress">here</a> but it misses out on some critical information that caused me to need to restart 3 or 4 times before it clicked.<br /><br />So it's hard, unhelpful, difficult and ugly but persevere and it's so very, very rewarding. Like <a href="http://www.nethack.org/">Nethack</a> and Roguelikes before it I fear I'm now a lifetime convert to the way of Dwarf Fortress.<br /><br /><img src=http://datastore.parallax-rising.net/gallery/d/4478-1/choosing_building.PNG></img>Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-12516171325826773922008-03-29T18:41:00.002+01:002008-04-02T10:07:10.713+01:00PS3 gets use shock sensation!I bought two games for my PS3 yesterday. The first I only bought because it's cheap and I wanted to see what the graphics were like. Not because I have much interest in playing Gran Turismo 5 Prologue. It is indeed very pretty and handles well but it's really only for petrol beards. I prefer my driving games arcade style. Something like Burnout, Daytona or Outrun style.<br /><br />The second game however I've played much more. Everybody's Golf. I'd never played one of this series before but I must admit to being very impressed. It's a good solid golf game wrapped up in huge great bags of fun. The first set of tournaments is pretty easy (With nice unlocks when you win or do something tricky) and the second course I've just unlocked has really started to ramp up the difficulty. Two Flub thumbs up.<br /><br /><img src="http://datastore.parallax-rising.net/gallery/d/4475-1/Everybody-s-Golf-5-5.jpg"></img>Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-62012831534760452922008-03-25T10:39:00.001+01:002008-04-02T10:07:10.714+01:00I'm weakOn Saturday due to sheer boredom I spent hours farming wolves near Oatbarton in LOTRO in order to train my tailoring skill up to Master Expert. Then when I was done I realised just how much work it's going to take to do the same for Master Artisan.<br /><br />I feel shame :(Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-77956458723548086262008-03-20T16:05:00.002+01:002008-04-02T10:07:10.715+01:00Front page of redditIt seems my little ramblings about MMOs have reached the front page of Reddit (And only I suspect because the rules were changed recently to stop the front page being dominated by US politics :) ).<br /><br />It was certainly a surprise since I had no intention of submitting it and didn't really write it with the expectation a lot of people would read it (Except for one forum full of really great people. Hi guys. Boo Teamonkey). I suppose you can call it a high point of a rather dull life if you like.<br /><br />Hello to those people who made nice comments. I fart in the general direction of the people who either didn't get what I was saying or were just trolling Reddit for the lulz. It was just something that had been kicking around in my head wanting to escape. It's not like I'm expecting any change in MMO development. At least not while Blizzard is still solvent although I'd kill for a non-PvP game in the style of Eve.Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-68079733371158232012008-03-20T10:06:00.001+01:002008-04-02T10:07:10.716+01:00MMOs. They're doing it wrong Part IIWoW was both a blessing and a curse. The single clever thing WoW did was take all the good bits from other MMOs and put a large amount of shine and polish on them. I'm still at a loss to explain so large a success though. It has however made it much harder for any other MMO to be "different".<br /><br />The biggest problem I have with MMOs (And remember this is all from my perspective. Another player will have different needs) is levels and the associated grind that goes with that. Every dev team and publisher seems utterly focused on churning out what is pretty much a guided tour of their game. "I'm level 43. Now I go to this area to play". It's a fundamentally broken and redundant mechanic for many reasons. Not least of which is penalises people with less gaming time than the zoned rats who dominate these games today. It also means you have to spend a lot of time developing a path through your game that you expect the players to take rather than creating a world. Levels are imo the single worst thing in MMOs today. They do more to promote static and unchanging player experiences than anything else.<br /><br />Let's look at two games you'd think were like chalk and cheese but are actually very similar. Ultima Online and Eve Online. Ultima Online was the first big graphic MMO. Eve is a more modern Elite style MMO. I'll describe each one in turn.<br /><br />1. Ultima Online.<br />UO has changed a lot over the years but the fundamentals are the same. It's a classless and leveless fantasy MMO. Skills are trained through repeated use and almost the entire game world is open to play from the beginning if you're nimble enough to get somewhere. Occupations are varied. Many characters in the game have vocations other than combat and many have never fought a battle at all. UO has many problems but it also gets many things right.<br /><br />2. Eve Online. Eve is a classless and levelless space MMO. Skills are trained in realtime. You set a skill training and a certain amount of time later it becomes trained. This even continues when the player is offline promoting a constant sense of progress. Eve like UO is an open ended sandbox. No levels means no need for a strict progression through the game and most importantly no need for an "endgame". Players in Eve can be miners, pirates, industrialists, company managers or anything they damn well want. Eve however is probably the most hardcore PVP game currently on the market. Nowhere except for docked at a station is safe. Players can be killed anytime and anywhere (Although in certain circumstances there are consequences for doing this). This combined with the many ingame ways to "be a bastard" makes Eve a very hostile and unfriendly game. Obviously there's a sizable playerbase who likes this but I do wonder how many players would leave if a PVE alternative came along.<br /><br />One other thing I wish to talk about is the second biggest problem MMOs can have (Although to be fair this is not as bad as it used to be). Putting PVP and PVE players in the same environment. It just doesn't work. Apart from the two sides of the player base being utterly hostile to each other's playstyles (Disclaimer. I hate PVP in almost any form) it adds extra burden to the poor dev team trying to keep the game "balanced". What works for PVP doesn't always work for PVE and vice versa. For me the best thing any MMO can do is segregate the two side totally.Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-25382977933667401112008-03-20T07:43:00.001+01:002008-04-02T10:07:10.717+01:00MMOs. They're doing it wrong.I tend to play MMOs more than anything else. Even though I'm rabidly anti-social towards most of the people who play them I just love the idea of playing in a shared world full of stupid talking scenery.<br /><br />But they never get it right and until I read Halting State by Charles Stross I couldn't put my finger on exactly why. Halting State is set in Scotland in 2017. In it Stross decides that MMOs have become very big business indeed and proceeds to build a rather good conspiracy story around a robbery in one of these MMOs. At as basic level he says this "The economy of an MMO is based around fun. If your players aren't having fun they'll go somewhere else".<br /><br />Here's my list of things that Stross's MMO did right that current teams haven't managed to figure out yet.<br /><br />1. Scale. The first time we enter Stross's game it's in a city 2km across floating in the sky above a landmass that doesn't seem to end. You can start off and head in any direction looking for action or performing quests. According to Stross upon the realisation that manually creating content was expensive and time consuming companies put a lot of R&D money into procedurally generated content. Both quests and landmass. So in a 2017 MMO no two people will ever do the same things. You might get a quest to go to a dungeon that has been spawned just for you but will still be there for other quests later for anyone. Compare that to WoW or LOTRO and these games begin to look very small and very static. Most current MMOs never really change the early game (Which is odd considering how many people end up replaying them with different characters). One thing I really hate in an MMO is starting a new character since I know I'm going to have to do exactly the same things every other one of my characters has done. It's boring.<br /><br />2. They feel like games. With the possible exception of Eve Online all current MMOs do a very poor job of hiding the fact that they're a game so that in the end they all become an exercise in min/maxing, stat tweaking for max dps and effective exploiting of the game mechanics. Why? Because there's nothing else to do but rush to level 50 and see all the new content that they've spent the last 12 months creating to keep you interested. Why should I play an adventurer in a fantasy game and be somehow unable to figure out how to ride a horse until I've been playing the game for 35 levels *and* then find it costs more than I paid for my house for the same character. It's fantasy land. I run around killing orcs for a living. I should have known how to ride a horse since I was a nipper.<br /><br />We know why I have to wait for level 35 to get a horse of course (Sorry). It's because the devs are focused on creating a game and a game requires a reward and something to strive for and timesinks to keep you playing. So Ultima Online lets anyone with 500 gold (10 minutes for a new player) buy and ride a horse (One that you have to stable and doesn't vanish the second you dismount) while everything since would rather you spent most of your time traveling. What I'd like is a big sandbox that features plenty to do (Including save the world epic quests) but no two players should ever have to play through the game in the same way.<br /><br />3. Combat is everything. Only Ultima Online to my knowledge has ever tackled this. It's the only MMO I've played where it's possible to create a successful character without ever having to pick up a sword. It was easily possible to spend your time running a shop or being a blacksmith. In almost anything else those sorts of occupations are secondary and normally directly tied to fighting. Stop it please.<br /><br />4. Odd stuff. I've already mentioned seasoned fighters being unable to ride horses but what about other issues? In a huge game world you might not be near a town when night falls or you want to cook some food and have a kip. In LOTRO only specialist cooks can cook food and create campfires (Creating campfires used to be the Hunter's job). Say what? You mean to say your traveling mercenary has no idea how to get a campfire going and cook some salted meat he has in his backpack? Seriously?<br /><br />I start up my game client and login. Upon choosing the character I want to play tonight (I have several) a map appears with towns, villages and special areas I've already visited highlighted and I'm asked to choose where I want to start. On the map I can see where my friends are but tonight I'm going solo. I choose to start in a stone circle on a hilltop near a small village. A real life friend told me he'd passed through there yesterday and was told by a npc that an orc warband had been sighted in the area. I want to investigate and see if they're still around. I can go anywhere I've previously been in this game. Why shouldn't I? What dev team in their right mind would expect their players to trudge halfway across the game world before they can start having fun (Oh wait. Most of them). I look around and immediately notice the bloody corpse in the center of the circle. A quick examination of it shows it's a ritual sacrifice and I have a new quest. It's not the orcs I was expecting though. It seems I recognised the killing as the work of a cult that worships an insane god. I'm told I can see tracks heading off into the woods to the east. I decide to accept the quest and investigate. I head off to the east and when I reach the edge of the woods I switch on my tracking skill (This character spends a lot of time in forests. There are no strict classes in the game but you could probably call him a ranger) and discover the people I'm following passed by here a few hours ago and then turned north. I follow the trail until I come upon a small shack in a clearing. Two cultists are standing guard outside. I unsheathe my bow and stick and arrow in the throat of the one on the left (Those damage bonuses for stealth kills are very handy :) ) then unsheathe my sword and run at the one on the right. As I'm killing him another two run out from the shack but don't worry. It's an MMO and not real life. Despite being realistic and huge it's still possible to fight a few mobs lower level than you ;). I finish these off and head into the shack. Inside I find a woman bound to a chair crying. I ungag her and she asks for my help......<br /><br />And of course if I'd started in the village instead of the stone circle I'd probably be in another part of the map fighting orcs now.<br /><br />Note that I'm not saying my way is the only way or indeed easy to do. I just wish that MMO developers and publishers would grow a pair and start working on making their games live and breathe rather than churning out the same thing over and over again.<br /><br />What does everyone else think?Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-82943573448386132762008-03-17T15:10:00.001+01:002008-04-02T10:07:10.717+01:00Connect and moreConnect on Saturday was a lot of fun. I met some nice people, didn't ban anyone :( and got to try Jumpgate Evolution which looks very promising.<br /><br />Today I bought myself a second monitor and as soon as I get home I'll get that set up. It should make my strip mining in Eve and playing other MMOs a lot more flexiable.Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-22871946945719091202008-03-12T11:56:00.002+01:002008-04-02T10:07:10.718+01:00Connect 2008I'm off to the Codemasters Connect 2008 convention in Birmingham on Saturday. There I expect to see many, many nerds, collect lots of free swag and hopefully blag a Jumpgate beta key.Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-86231504531148569722008-03-07T17:25:00.000+01:002008-04-02T10:07:10.719+01:00New games todayToday I happened to be in Tescos and spotted that they had a load of video games on sale. Happily one of those happened to be the new Harry Potter game. I nearly bought it for the PS3 for £24 but then I spotted that the XBox 360 version was only £22 so I bought that instead. I've played the demo and found it to be decent but not worth full price so I was happy to find it cheaper today.<br /><br />I also bought Moto GP 07 for £18 on a whim. I haven't played a motorbike racing game since Manx TT so I thought I'd give it a try.Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-29245306119804163512008-03-01T07:34:00.001+01:002008-04-02T10:07:10.720+01:00Lost Odyssey ThoughtsWhat an odd little game. I'm about 6 hours in and I've noticed a few things. <br /><br />I was right about the plot. It's your standard emo drivel that the FFVII fanboys go nuts over for some inexplicable reason. A lot of the dialogue is quite unintentionally hilarious. Graphics are fantastic in the cities but fairly poor while wandering around the very small wilderness areas. Combat is turn based with one real time element but quite enjoyable.<br /><br />The skill system is very interesting and very simple to get your immortals trained. I approve. The game also appears to have systems built in to deter you grinding for levels (While not making it impossible to grind for skills). I've been following the players guide while playing (Or I'd probably have thrown the game out the window at the first boss) and it appears just playing the game normally (Not fleeing every battle) puts you at the level you need to be to fight the next boss. Which is nice. I don't know if that changes any.<br /><br />As I said earlier. I'm 6 hours in and I really haven't done that much combat when I think back. As usual the game is pretty top heavy with cut scenes but it hasn't been too bad at all.Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-85645394952393053022008-02-29T21:05:00.003+01:002008-04-02T10:07:10.721+01:00New game timeMy copy of Lost Odyssey for the Xbox 360 arrived today. I shouldn't really buy JRPGs. They only piss me off. This one so far has been about an hour of cut scenes and running around to about 15 minutes of actual combat so far. It's nice though. I never finish them but I have to admit that I do enjoy the time I put into them. Only up to a point though. Then the autistic accountant syndrome I mentioned previously kicks in. They try so hard to be "epic" and the end result (Including FFVII you fanboys) always reads like bad emo fantasy fanfic. Also who's bright idea was it that your hero and his team needs to spend hours running in circles in the same area to grind levels before you can continue? Doesn't really fit in with the whole epic and heroic feel at all.<br /><br />I'm hoping Asda have a copy of the new Katamari game when I go shopping tomorrow. I wouldn't mind playing that.<br /><br />Still nothing I want to buy for the PS3 though. It's getting depressing.Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-43906326567102514312008-02-28T10:53:00.002+01:002008-02-28T11:01:08.239+01:00Today's rubbishMy new TV is settling in well. Colours are much more vivid than my old set. It all fits into the room much nicer and I finally have the gaming layout I wanted from the start.<br /><br />Gamewise I've been playing some Everyday Shooter on the PS3 and I'm hoping my copy of Lost Odyssey for the 360 arrives tomorrow from Amazon. I'm sure I'll enjoy it for the short time I play it but JRPGs tend to piss me off once they reach the point where it expects you to dive into the stats and combat system like an obsessive and autistic accountant.<br /><br />I upgraded my hacked PSP last night to 3.90 m33-2 from 3.80 m33-something or other. It's a piece of cake since Dark Alex decided to start using the PSP's built in network updater :)Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-8014392318115375082008-02-23T19:11:00.002+01:002008-02-28T11:01:13.122+01:00I have a new TVToday I replaced my old (And pretty average) 32 inch crappy brand HDTV with something more sorted to my small room. A nice 26 inch good quality Samsung HDTV.<br /><br /><img src=http://datastore.parallax-rising.net/gallery/d/4405-2/IMG_1359.JPG></img><br /><br />The 32 inch was really far too big for the space I have so it's moved downstairs where it'll do a good job as the family TV (Kyle XY episode 1 looked ace on it earlier) and my new piece of sex can be arranged in a way I always wanted. One teething problem I had was certain Wii VC games refusing to display properly but a quick net search show that these titles had updates available. Downloading those fixed the problem quickly.Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-11929930845485590962008-02-18T08:01:00.002+01:002008-02-18T08:04:47.010+01:00We have a winner folks!Yup. It appears to be all over for poor HDDVD with Toshiba expected to throw in the towel sometime this week. I must say that I'm disappointed that blu-ray has prevailed. The lack of region coding in HDDVD made it an attractive proposition for the early adopter but I suspect that and the PS3 giving a false impression of userbase that sent HDDVD to an early grave.<br /><br />However having said that it is good that the uncertainty looks to be over. The market did need to find a winner quickly and I'm happy they have. My PS3 is a really nice Blu-ray player with an utterly lovely media remote.<br /><br />It'll be interesting to see how Microsoft eventually reacts to thisBig Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-30425108310485788582008-02-12T20:19:00.001+01:002008-02-18T08:05:32.252+01:00Mp3 of the weekThe utterly fantastic Geordie Sweet.<br /><br />http://www.c64tomsk.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/Geordie_Sweet.mp3<br /><br />(Don't worry. It's free and legal)<br /><br />Be sure to have a browse of the rest of Tomsk's site.Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12217196.post-42075795671860087862008-02-12T14:50:00.001+01:002008-02-18T08:05:56.255+01:00You hit the hoodie for 1d6+3 of low level sonic damage.<a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7240180.stm">This article</a> caused me to lol quite hard<br /><br />Especially this part.<br /><br /><span style="font-style:italic;"><span style="font-weight:bold;">"What type of society uses a low-level sonic weapon on its children?"</span></span><br /><br />The answer quite obviously is one that hasn't leveled up enough to equip high-level sonic weapons.Big Flubhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06837332564682020042noreply@blogger.com0