Intermission
I've intended to update many times this month, but each time failed to actually get on with it - I usually make it as far as my friends page, and end up just browsing that instead. Even now I've not chosen the best time for this, but better than nothing, eh?
Actually, this post is from a PocketPC like last time, except that it's a different one, and I'm no longer stealing someone else's intarwebs. The old phone sadly died when, as I was walking home from work with Graham, Shanna called me and I tried to answer, talk, and then get it back in my pocket with only one hand. I didn't succeed. Luckily for me, Darius had some kind of replacement plan with O2 and managed to get them to send out something new: a lovely XDA Exec. The screen resolution is 640x480, double that of the XDA IIi, and it has an actual physical keyboard, so I don't have to type this on-screen with the stylus. I still wish I had a laptop in good condition, but this is the next-best thing, and very useful for my work too.
I bought a wireless bridge to use with it, so I could stop using whoever's connection I found before. More because the signal was crap than anything else - in my view, if you leave your network unprotected and advertising itself, that's an open invitation to use it! Having the bridge on my network has the benefit of allowing more than just interwebs though, such as streaming music from my PC.
Been playing a lot of games lately, and actually enjoying them. Typically, I don't play computer games much because they suck, driven more by publishers wanting to use reliable, proven formulas purely to make money than genuine entertainment value. In truth, the motivations behind these other games probably weren't much different, but they all have a certain quality about them which is rare these days.
The first is Prey, which Shanna picked up in some 3 for £10 deal. It appears at first to just Yet Another Shooter, but as you play on, more and more interesting aspects reveal themselves. The game makes heavy use of portals to create some very weird environments, and there's the variable gravity direction, along with having to walk along walls and ceilings to get around. There's also some genuine puzzles (that is, not 'this door requires a switch... omg puzzle!', although there is some of that too), which I always love to see. Add decent storyline with a not-quite-what-you-expected ending, equals a good game all round.
Second is XIII, based upon the comic of the same name. I recall wanting to play it when it wasnew, but never got round to buying it and indeed my hardware at the time would have struggled to play it anyway. I was reminded of it when I came across an old magazine of mine, that had a feature on it when it was new. So I finally got to play it, and I'm very glad I did. It's unique look means it doesn't really age like other games do - I could still believe that it was new. I can't quite place what I love about this game - the missions are varied and exciting, but the concepts aren't really anything new - but I found that when I played it, I was really having fun. Playing it meant having a good time, and amazingly, this is something seriously lacking from a majority of popular games.
Finally, there's Dark Messiah: Might & Magic. This one is not an old game - in fact, even my new computer has a hard time with the graphics details on high. This game does melee combat right, and that is something incredible. It's hard, and if you try to apply button-mashing tactics, you will get pwned (I get pwned without button-mashing tactics); this takes proper skill and timing. To be honest, there's nothing else in particular that makes this game special; it's a good game with a good story, but nothing that hasn't been done before with less impressive visuals. What makes it better than the others is just overall quality and polish - maybe nothing original, but it's everything done well.
Completing these three games has been a lot of fun, but now I've run out of new things to play again. Games are just so easy these days, but who can blame the publishers for giving their market what they want? People just don't like to lose, and whilst hardcore gamers might appreciate a challenge, the majority of players (having observed this myself many times) will just give up if they lose too much.
Actually, this is something I've been giving a lot of thought lately, in particular the field of massively multiplayer games. I can come up with a million ways that the realism and involvement in these games could be improved, yet a game based on my ideas would be doomed to failure because noone would want to play it, for one simple reason: everyone wants to be a hero. For a truly believable world, some players would have to be farmers, builders, or any other purely functional roles; the average player cannot pick up his sword and set out to save the world, and no matter how bad the 'rat problem in that house over there' may be, it's certainly not bad enough to require every occupant of the settlement to have to kill twenty of them to earn a skill point and five silver pieces. There's only enough 'quests' in a realistic world to go around a few people at most. Everyone else needs to stay behind and grow crops. Who wants to play a game where your only job is to raise cattle? Nobody. Truly realistic games will never be created, because the real world, for most people, is dull, and playing such a game would defeat the point of games in the first place; to escape from reality for a moment, and enjoy doing something you could otherwise never do.
The summer's heat has arrived. Still a good ten degrees away from it's expected peak, but still enough to make me feel ill and unable to concentrate, and plenty depressed. I have a very low tolerance for heat as it is, but my reaction to prolonged sunny weather is usually intense feelings of uselessness, inevitable failure and lost chances. My work performance has greatly decreased and I'm struggling to see the good in my creations. In short, I hate summer. Some kind of hibernation state until autumn would be quite welcome.
Next weekend we're going to spend a night in London to meet a friend of ours from online. It's amazing how much of a 'normal event' this seems to me, after having done it so many times. If anything, I prefer these kinds of meetings to being introduced by people I know, because you can get to know the person before meeting for the first time, then be more prepared for it.
Musically, I've found a few good new bands lately. The one I'm most pleased with though, is Live. I heard a track of theirs, 'The Dam At Otter Creek', on Last.fm a long time ago, made a note of their name as someone to check out later, and forgot about them. Now I finally got round to getting the whole album that track came from, 'Throwing Copper', I am most impressed. They come across a little too... religiously focussed for me in places, but it doesn't have to be taken that way; there's always a wider, more generic meaning, and a lot of what they have to say (whatever the motive) is very meaningful.
We finally got to see Never The Bride again. We thought it'd been a couple of years, but Nikki said that it had been four years since they'd played at Kyps'. Whilst waiting for them to start, I couldn't really remember what was so great about them. I remembered they were good, but their studio albums aren't anything special, and they hadn't been down to see us for so long... but once they started into their first song, it all came back. They are an incredible experience to see live. They don't have any 'show', no lights and lasers and all that, but they don't need it. The band as a whole can entertain, but Nikki in particular, is a master on stage. They even came out at the end of the show to sign merchandise, so we bought a DVD and got it signed. Shanna asked Nikki and Been for a photograph, and got that too. They're down in September I believe - can't wait!
I bought Marc's (thuleatan) album 'Still', finally. I meant to get something of his after he sent me 'Reflex Arc' for 'winning' some kind of competition I wasn't aware of. Both are excellent works, and Reflex Arc in particular has a level of quality easily equal and above that of 'professional' releases. Why the hell more people are not interested in his work, I cannot understand at all.
Dream Theater's new album, 'Systematic Chaos', is pretty good too. Many fans (including me, though I didn't object to it) felt that the previous album 'Octovarium' wasn't their usual style, and was much more 'poppy' than it should have been. The latest release (predictably, I have to say) responds to that by making it very clear that they are still a metal band. It's still different from previous albums in a way though, especially in the instrumental sections, and I've mixed feelings on a few parts. The closing track though, 'In The Presence Of Enemies (Part II)' is fantastic - there's usually one or two tracks on each album that stand above all the rest and are probably what makes me await their releases so eagerly, and on this one, it's this track.
Speaking of Dream Theater, we're going to see them! Graham and I missed the chance once before because we were low on money, and have regretted it ever since (especially when we found out they covered 'Dark Side Of The Moon' in it's entirity) and they haven't been here since, but they're playing Wembley Area in London in October, and we're not going to miss it again!
s'getting late now though, and I have something to work on (will explain), so that's enough for now.
Actually, this post is from a PocketPC like last time, except that it's a different one, and I'm no longer stealing someone else's intarwebs. The old phone sadly died when, as I was walking home from work with Graham, Shanna called me and I tried to answer, talk, and then get it back in my pocket with only one hand. I didn't succeed. Luckily for me, Darius had some kind of replacement plan with O2 and managed to get them to send out something new: a lovely XDA Exec. The screen resolution is 640x480, double that of the XDA IIi, and it has an actual physical keyboard, so I don't have to type this on-screen with the stylus. I still wish I had a laptop in good condition, but this is the next-best thing, and very useful for my work too.
I bought a wireless bridge to use with it, so I could stop using whoever's connection I found before. More because the signal was crap than anything else - in my view, if you leave your network unprotected and advertising itself, that's an open invitation to use it! Having the bridge on my network has the benefit of allowing more than just interwebs though, such as streaming music from my PC.
Been playing a lot of games lately, and actually enjoying them. Typically, I don't play computer games much because they suck, driven more by publishers wanting to use reliable, proven formulas purely to make money than genuine entertainment value. In truth, the motivations behind these other games probably weren't much different, but they all have a certain quality about them which is rare these days.
The first is Prey, which Shanna picked up in some 3 for £10 deal. It appears at first to just Yet Another Shooter, but as you play on, more and more interesting aspects reveal themselves. The game makes heavy use of portals to create some very weird environments, and there's the variable gravity direction, along with having to walk along walls and ceilings to get around. There's also some genuine puzzles (that is, not 'this door requires a switch... omg puzzle!', although there is some of that too), which I always love to see. Add decent storyline with a not-quite-what-you-expected ending, equals a good game all round.
Second is XIII, based upon the comic of the same name. I recall wanting to play it when it wasnew, but never got round to buying it and indeed my hardware at the time would have struggled to play it anyway. I was reminded of it when I came across an old magazine of mine, that had a feature on it when it was new. So I finally got to play it, and I'm very glad I did. It's unique look means it doesn't really age like other games do - I could still believe that it was new. I can't quite place what I love about this game - the missions are varied and exciting, but the concepts aren't really anything new - but I found that when I played it, I was really having fun. Playing it meant having a good time, and amazingly, this is something seriously lacking from a majority of popular games.
Finally, there's Dark Messiah: Might & Magic. This one is not an old game - in fact, even my new computer has a hard time with the graphics details on high. This game does melee combat right, and that is something incredible. It's hard, and if you try to apply button-mashing tactics, you will get pwned (I get pwned without button-mashing tactics); this takes proper skill and timing. To be honest, there's nothing else in particular that makes this game special; it's a good game with a good story, but nothing that hasn't been done before with less impressive visuals. What makes it better than the others is just overall quality and polish - maybe nothing original, but it's everything done well.
Completing these three games has been a lot of fun, but now I've run out of new things to play again. Games are just so easy these days, but who can blame the publishers for giving their market what they want? People just don't like to lose, and whilst hardcore gamers might appreciate a challenge, the majority of players (having observed this myself many times) will just give up if they lose too much.
Actually, this is something I've been giving a lot of thought lately, in particular the field of massively multiplayer games. I can come up with a million ways that the realism and involvement in these games could be improved, yet a game based on my ideas would be doomed to failure because noone would want to play it, for one simple reason: everyone wants to be a hero. For a truly believable world, some players would have to be farmers, builders, or any other purely functional roles; the average player cannot pick up his sword and set out to save the world, and no matter how bad the 'rat problem in that house over there' may be, it's certainly not bad enough to require every occupant of the settlement to have to kill twenty of them to earn a skill point and five silver pieces. There's only enough 'quests' in a realistic world to go around a few people at most. Everyone else needs to stay behind and grow crops. Who wants to play a game where your only job is to raise cattle? Nobody. Truly realistic games will never be created, because the real world, for most people, is dull, and playing such a game would defeat the point of games in the first place; to escape from reality for a moment, and enjoy doing something you could otherwise never do.
The summer's heat has arrived. Still a good ten degrees away from it's expected peak, but still enough to make me feel ill and unable to concentrate, and plenty depressed. I have a very low tolerance for heat as it is, but my reaction to prolonged sunny weather is usually intense feelings of uselessness, inevitable failure and lost chances. My work performance has greatly decreased and I'm struggling to see the good in my creations. In short, I hate summer. Some kind of hibernation state until autumn would be quite welcome.
Next weekend we're going to spend a night in London to meet a friend of ours from online. It's amazing how much of a 'normal event' this seems to me, after having done it so many times. If anything, I prefer these kinds of meetings to being introduced by people I know, because you can get to know the person before meeting for the first time, then be more prepared for it.
Musically, I've found a few good new bands lately. The one I'm most pleased with though, is Live. I heard a track of theirs, 'The Dam At Otter Creek', on Last.fm a long time ago, made a note of their name as someone to check out later, and forgot about them. Now I finally got round to getting the whole album that track came from, 'Throwing Copper', I am most impressed. They come across a little too... religiously focussed for me in places, but it doesn't have to be taken that way; there's always a wider, more generic meaning, and a lot of what they have to say (whatever the motive) is very meaningful.
We finally got to see Never The Bride again. We thought it'd been a couple of years, but Nikki said that it had been four years since they'd played at Kyps'. Whilst waiting for them to start, I couldn't really remember what was so great about them. I remembered they were good, but their studio albums aren't anything special, and they hadn't been down to see us for so long... but once they started into their first song, it all came back. They are an incredible experience to see live. They don't have any 'show', no lights and lasers and all that, but they don't need it. The band as a whole can entertain, but Nikki in particular, is a master on stage. They even came out at the end of the show to sign merchandise, so we bought a DVD and got it signed. Shanna asked Nikki and Been for a photograph, and got that too. They're down in September I believe - can't wait!
I bought Marc's (thuleatan) album 'Still', finally. I meant to get something of his after he sent me 'Reflex Arc' for 'winning' some kind of competition I wasn't aware of. Both are excellent works, and Reflex Arc in particular has a level of quality easily equal and above that of 'professional' releases. Why the hell more people are not interested in his work, I cannot understand at all.
Dream Theater's new album, 'Systematic Chaos', is pretty good too. Many fans (including me, though I didn't object to it) felt that the previous album 'Octovarium' wasn't their usual style, and was much more 'poppy' than it should have been. The latest release (predictably, I have to say) responds to that by making it very clear that they are still a metal band. It's still different from previous albums in a way though, especially in the instrumental sections, and I've mixed feelings on a few parts. The closing track though, 'In The Presence Of Enemies (Part II)' is fantastic - there's usually one or two tracks on each album that stand above all the rest and are probably what makes me await their releases so eagerly, and on this one, it's this track.
Speaking of Dream Theater, we're going to see them! Graham and I missed the chance once before because we were low on money, and have regretted it ever since (especially when we found out they covered 'Dark Side Of The Moon' in it's entirity) and they haven't been here since, but they're playing Wembley Area in London in October, and we're not going to miss it again!
s'getting late now though, and I have something to work on (will explain), so that's enough for now.