Yeah, when you post a blog tired, you miss things so here is a little addition to my previous post.
Elite: Dangerous is a great game but is it perfect? Well, no.
As an updated version of Frontier with improved graphics and an improved flight engine, it is great but that is all it is at the moment. The game is still lacking in a lot of content, though Frontier Developments have said that they still have a lot to add to the game.
There is a multiplayer component to the game but, at present, it is nothing more than occupying the same universe as other players. There are no systems in place to work cooperatively or do missions as a team, nor is there any way to trade between players (to the point that even if you willingly drop cargo for someone else, when they pick it up, it displays as "Stolen" in their inventory. This is supposed to be fixed in version 1.2 but, seeing as 1.1 isn't released yet, we will just have to see.
Missions are few and far between and, what missions there are, are very samey. There are only a few mission types: Transport, Hunting, Assassination and Fetch (off the top of my head). There may be more but I can't think of them just now or haven't seen them.
As a single player game, it is what I wanted from a Elite game but it can be so much more. Frontier Developments have a plan going forward and I am excited to see what comes next.
In the mean time, I have pirates to kill.
Thanks for reading.
Sakey
Sunday 8 February 2015
My new obsession is my old obsession
So I think my group of online gaming friends are getting sick of hearing the terms "Credits", "Deploying Hardpoints", "Frame Shift Drive", "Bounty" and "Docking" as they are about all that have come out of my mouth on Teamspeak in the last week. This has a lot to do with my playing of pretty much nothing but Elite: Dangerous.
I think a trip back in time is needed here.
The year is 1994. At that time I owned a Sega Mega Drive (Genesis for any Americans reading this) and was busy playing things like Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage, Phantasy Star 2 and a game called Starflight.
Now Starflight was a port of a DOS game that basically allowed you to fly around a galaxy searching planets for resources, negotiating, fighting, managing your crew. Think of it almost like a predecessor to something like FTL. I loved this game but I felt I wanted something more.
Now a guy who I was friends with and lived in the same street as me had (far more sensibly than me) got an Amiga 500 and had a game called Frontier: Elite 2. I had heard of Elite and seen it played but I had never played it myself (due to lack of a system to play it on). So this guy, Ross, let me play some Frontier and I was hooked. Barnards Star to Ross 154. Flying through Sol for the first time. Hyperspace mis-jumps and being stranded somewhere random with no Hydrogen Fuel to jump anywhere else. I fell in love with the game and had a copy on my PC in 1997 when I first got my own.
In the mean time though, Frontier had lit something in me. I took an interest in Newtonian Physics (not that I fully understand them to this day), space flight. and space combat games. Although I got my first PC in 1997, my family actually got our first PC in 1995 and the first game I managed to acquire for it was X-Wing. As much as I like Star Wars, I probably would never have gone for a space combat simulator if it wasn't for Frontier.
Fast forward again to 2013 and my love for space flight simulators still hasn't diminished. Since X-Wing I had played X-Wing Alliance, Freespace 2, StarLancer and FreeLancer (oh man, how I wish that had been joystick controlled and cockpit view). All the time though, I wished for an updated Frontier. Now with all the noise going on about Star Citizen at the end of 2012/start of 2013, I missed the Kickstarted for Elite Dangerous completely and promptly got rather pissed off when I found out about it. So I waited patiently for more news. Then the "Early Access" option appeared, for £200. Nope, no way I could justify that amount of money for the game, no matter how much I wanted to play it.
But the itch stayed there. As I read more about what they were promising with the game I became more and more excited. I mean, come on, 400 BILLION stars. Just, wow. That alone is an amazing achievement.
So fast forward again to January and thanks to us coming into a bit of money I got myself Elite Dangerous at last (along with a Saitek X55 Rhino HOTAS to play it with). I waited, I would say patiently but that would be a lie, until I finished work that evening, fired the game up. Did the basic training to get to grips with the control layout on the stick and started the game up.
Holy shit was I not disappointed. Firstly, this game is GORGEOUS. Even on my aging rig (Core i5 3570K, 8GB RAM, Radion HD 6870) it runs great. The ships look fantastic and are faithful recreations of the ships I saw in Frontier. Space it's self also looks amazing. The first time I FSD jumped to a new system and dropped out of Hyperspace in front of a Star made my jaw drop. Combat with lasers flying across the void, the explosions when the ship you have just been fighting blows up. Words do not do it justice. I will be streaming some Elite: Dangerous over the next weeks so please have a look to see just how good this looks.
Then there is the flight model. It just feels so right. The game has a full Newtonian Physics model but for the most part, you fly around with "Flight Assist" on which automatically counteracts the thrust you exert on the craft to make it handle almost like a plane. You can turn Flight Assist off however, which then makes your craft more agile but has the down side that you have to manually correct every movement. The easiest way to explain what I mean there is if you thrust left in space, there is nothing to stop you, so you would keep moving left, even when you stop thrusting. With Flight Assist on, when you stopped thrusting, the Flight Assist system will thrust right to bring you to a stop. With Flight Assist on, you would have to manually thrust right to stop the craft from moving, but of course, applying too much thrust will then have you moving right so it is a difficult task.
I could go on but I think I could fill another 20 pages on this game. Suffice to say, I haven't stopped playing it and I can't see me stopping any time soon.
Other than Elite, there are a few things going on.
I have finally started my Twitch/YouTube channel properly and will be doing my first broadcast tomorrow (Feb 9th) and 9PM GMT where I will have the first episode of a new series called "I'm Probably Going To Suck At..." where I will be playing games online such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty and Battlefield, games I don't usually play, and hopefully not being absolutely terrible. This will be broadcast on my Twitch channel and the VoDs will be uploaded to my YouTube Channel so please come have a watch of that.
Also there is now a Facebook page for SpikeyLogic and a Twitter account as well as a Steam group. Feel free to join/follow any of those you feel like.
Anyway, thanks for reading. If you have any comments, feel free to post them below and have a great day.
Sakey
I think a trip back in time is needed here.
The year is 1994. At that time I owned a Sega Mega Drive (Genesis for any Americans reading this) and was busy playing things like Sonic the Hedgehog, Streets of Rage, Phantasy Star 2 and a game called Starflight.
Now Starflight was a port of a DOS game that basically allowed you to fly around a galaxy searching planets for resources, negotiating, fighting, managing your crew. Think of it almost like a predecessor to something like FTL. I loved this game but I felt I wanted something more.
Now a guy who I was friends with and lived in the same street as me had (far more sensibly than me) got an Amiga 500 and had a game called Frontier: Elite 2. I had heard of Elite and seen it played but I had never played it myself (due to lack of a system to play it on). So this guy, Ross, let me play some Frontier and I was hooked. Barnards Star to Ross 154. Flying through Sol for the first time. Hyperspace mis-jumps and being stranded somewhere random with no Hydrogen Fuel to jump anywhere else. I fell in love with the game and had a copy on my PC in 1997 when I first got my own.
In the mean time though, Frontier had lit something in me. I took an interest in Newtonian Physics (not that I fully understand them to this day), space flight. and space combat games. Although I got my first PC in 1997, my family actually got our first PC in 1995 and the first game I managed to acquire for it was X-Wing. As much as I like Star Wars, I probably would never have gone for a space combat simulator if it wasn't for Frontier.
Fast forward again to 2013 and my love for space flight simulators still hasn't diminished. Since X-Wing I had played X-Wing Alliance, Freespace 2, StarLancer and FreeLancer (oh man, how I wish that had been joystick controlled and cockpit view). All the time though, I wished for an updated Frontier. Now with all the noise going on about Star Citizen at the end of 2012/start of 2013, I missed the Kickstarted for Elite Dangerous completely and promptly got rather pissed off when I found out about it. So I waited patiently for more news. Then the "Early Access" option appeared, for £200. Nope, no way I could justify that amount of money for the game, no matter how much I wanted to play it.
But the itch stayed there. As I read more about what they were promising with the game I became more and more excited. I mean, come on, 400 BILLION stars. Just, wow. That alone is an amazing achievement.
So fast forward again to January and thanks to us coming into a bit of money I got myself Elite Dangerous at last (along with a Saitek X55 Rhino HOTAS to play it with). I waited, I would say patiently but that would be a lie, until I finished work that evening, fired the game up. Did the basic training to get to grips with the control layout on the stick and started the game up.
Holy shit was I not disappointed. Firstly, this game is GORGEOUS. Even on my aging rig (Core i5 3570K, 8GB RAM, Radion HD 6870) it runs great. The ships look fantastic and are faithful recreations of the ships I saw in Frontier. Space it's self also looks amazing. The first time I FSD jumped to a new system and dropped out of Hyperspace in front of a Star made my jaw drop. Combat with lasers flying across the void, the explosions when the ship you have just been fighting blows up. Words do not do it justice. I will be streaming some Elite: Dangerous over the next weeks so please have a look to see just how good this looks.
Then there is the flight model. It just feels so right. The game has a full Newtonian Physics model but for the most part, you fly around with "Flight Assist" on which automatically counteracts the thrust you exert on the craft to make it handle almost like a plane. You can turn Flight Assist off however, which then makes your craft more agile but has the down side that you have to manually correct every movement. The easiest way to explain what I mean there is if you thrust left in space, there is nothing to stop you, so you would keep moving left, even when you stop thrusting. With Flight Assist on, when you stopped thrusting, the Flight Assist system will thrust right to bring you to a stop. With Flight Assist on, you would have to manually thrust right to stop the craft from moving, but of course, applying too much thrust will then have you moving right so it is a difficult task.
I could go on but I think I could fill another 20 pages on this game. Suffice to say, I haven't stopped playing it and I can't see me stopping any time soon.
Other than Elite, there are a few things going on.
I have finally started my Twitch/YouTube channel properly and will be doing my first broadcast tomorrow (Feb 9th) and 9PM GMT where I will have the first episode of a new series called "I'm Probably Going To Suck At..." where I will be playing games online such as Counter Strike: Global Offensive, Call of Duty and Battlefield, games I don't usually play, and hopefully not being absolutely terrible. This will be broadcast on my Twitch channel and the VoDs will be uploaded to my YouTube Channel so please come have a watch of that.
Also there is now a Facebook page for SpikeyLogic and a Twitter account as well as a Steam group. Feel free to join/follow any of those you feel like.
Anyway, thanks for reading. If you have any comments, feel free to post them below and have a great day.
Sakey
Saturday 3 November 2012
A few things....
I know I don't post blogs anywhere near as much as I should but I felt like talking about a few things so please stay a while and listen...
Supermarket Wifi.
I was just up in Dundee with the family doing some shopping and we headed into the Tesco Extra at Kingsway Retail Park for a few things. When I got inside I checked my phone and there was the "Open Wifi Networks Available" icon sitting in the notification bar.
"Tesco won't have public wifi." I thought to myself but lo and behold it was. You require a Clubcard to access it which we don't have due to there not really being a Tesco local to us (yes there is one in Kirkcaldy but it's not as easily accessible as Asda or Sainsbury's) but this is still a great idea.
I would like to see more supermarkets implement this for customers as it is a service I could see me using quite a bit, especially where mobile signal inside the supermarket is poor (Sainsbury's Leven, I'm looking at you here!)
Google Nexus 4
Well Google have announced their new flagship phone, the Nexus 4, which I had been planning on looking at as a replacement to my Galaxy SII next year. However at present I'm not totally taken by it.
The main draw for me was, and still is, the stock Android OS on the phone.
My first Android phone was a G1 which had stock Android 1.5. I then moved to a HTC Desire which had Sense on it, and I hated Sense. It didn't take me long to root the device and get CyanogenMod installed.
I then moved to my current Galaxy SII. I kept the stock ROM on that one but used Go launcher instead of TouchWiz as it was far closer to Stock Android. I have since Installed a purely stock Ice Cream Sandwich ROM on it and it is faster and cleaner with me missing only one function available on TouchWiz (Automatic blocking of withheld numbers) though I am sure I could find a third party app to do that on the Play store.
However, lack of MicroSD slot, maximum of 16GB internal storage (which will probably have some of that reserved for the OS) and non-changeable battery are putting me off.
I use the MicroSD slot quite a bit, especially for transferring larger files from my phone to my tablet (and the MicroSD slot was a big selling point of the Xoom to me) so lack of one is really off putting.
So I am back to wondering what my next phone will be. Let's see what HTC, Samsung and Motorola can come up with next else I may be keeping my SII longer until I find something I really like.
Planetside 2
After freeing myself from the clutches of Blizzard and World of Warcraft, I almost made it away from MMOs until I got handed Planetside 2 beta access.
And I'm loving it.
For those of you that have never played Planetside, a quick introduction.
Planetside 2 is a MMOFPS in which three warring factions, the Terran Republic, The New Conglomerate and the Vanu Sovereignty all fight for control of the planet Auraxis. From the Planetside 2 website "Across the continents of Auraxis, thousands of players will come together in enormous battles to win control of critical territories and key resources for their empire. With a an extensive skill tree and free-form class-based system, players will be able to customize their soldier, weapons and vehicles to match their play-style, as well as the needs of their squad, outfit or empire. Battles can last for days or weeks, so players will need to build alliances and specialized combat outfits to take on long-term strategic and tactical initiatives. With air and ground combat, the battles will be larger and more intense than ever. "
With it being a beta, it should be noted that there are many bugs and issues still in the game. Even with the bugs that are currently in the beta client, I forgot how much I loved the scale of Planetside. Battlefield 2 was always the game that came closest to Planetside with it's 64 player combined arms battles but that still didn't come close. Planetside 2 is back with hundreds of players fighting over the different points on the different continents at any time.
Teamwork is another thing that is vital in Planetside. Outfits (The Planetside version of guilds/Clans) are often run with military precision and chains of command.
It's actually hard to describe the feeling of being in one of these fights, or it is for me anyway, and with Planetside 2 being free to play I am going to recommend the game to anyone who enjoys FPS and in particular Battlefield style games.
Well that's all folks.
Thanks for reading. If you have any comments please leave them below and I will do my best to respond to them.
Supermarket Wifi.
I was just up in Dundee with the family doing some shopping and we headed into the Tesco Extra at Kingsway Retail Park for a few things. When I got inside I checked my phone and there was the "Open Wifi Networks Available" icon sitting in the notification bar.
"Tesco won't have public wifi." I thought to myself but lo and behold it was. You require a Clubcard to access it which we don't have due to there not really being a Tesco local to us (yes there is one in Kirkcaldy but it's not as easily accessible as Asda or Sainsbury's) but this is still a great idea.
I would like to see more supermarkets implement this for customers as it is a service I could see me using quite a bit, especially where mobile signal inside the supermarket is poor (Sainsbury's Leven, I'm looking at you here!)
Google Nexus 4
Well Google have announced their new flagship phone, the Nexus 4, which I had been planning on looking at as a replacement to my Galaxy SII next year. However at present I'm not totally taken by it.
The main draw for me was, and still is, the stock Android OS on the phone.
My first Android phone was a G1 which had stock Android 1.5. I then moved to a HTC Desire which had Sense on it, and I hated Sense. It didn't take me long to root the device and get CyanogenMod installed.
I then moved to my current Galaxy SII. I kept the stock ROM on that one but used Go launcher instead of TouchWiz as it was far closer to Stock Android. I have since Installed a purely stock Ice Cream Sandwich ROM on it and it is faster and cleaner with me missing only one function available on TouchWiz (Automatic blocking of withheld numbers) though I am sure I could find a third party app to do that on the Play store.
However, lack of MicroSD slot, maximum of 16GB internal storage (which will probably have some of that reserved for the OS) and non-changeable battery are putting me off.
I use the MicroSD slot quite a bit, especially for transferring larger files from my phone to my tablet (and the MicroSD slot was a big selling point of the Xoom to me) so lack of one is really off putting.
So I am back to wondering what my next phone will be. Let's see what HTC, Samsung and Motorola can come up with next else I may be keeping my SII longer until I find something I really like.
Planetside 2
After freeing myself from the clutches of Blizzard and World of Warcraft, I almost made it away from MMOs until I got handed Planetside 2 beta access.
And I'm loving it.
For those of you that have never played Planetside, a quick introduction.
Planetside 2 is a MMOFPS in which three warring factions, the Terran Republic, The New Conglomerate and the Vanu Sovereignty all fight for control of the planet Auraxis. From the Planetside 2 website "Across the continents of Auraxis, thousands of players will come together in enormous battles to win control of critical territories and key resources for their empire. With a an extensive skill tree and free-form class-based system, players will be able to customize their soldier, weapons and vehicles to match their play-style, as well as the needs of their squad, outfit or empire. Battles can last for days or weeks, so players will need to build alliances and specialized combat outfits to take on long-term strategic and tactical initiatives. With air and ground combat, the battles will be larger and more intense than ever. "
With it being a beta, it should be noted that there are many bugs and issues still in the game. Even with the bugs that are currently in the beta client, I forgot how much I loved the scale of Planetside. Battlefield 2 was always the game that came closest to Planetside with it's 64 player combined arms battles but that still didn't come close. Planetside 2 is back with hundreds of players fighting over the different points on the different continents at any time.
Teamwork is another thing that is vital in Planetside. Outfits (The Planetside version of guilds/Clans) are often run with military precision and chains of command.
It's actually hard to describe the feeling of being in one of these fights, or it is for me anyway, and with Planetside 2 being free to play I am going to recommend the game to anyone who enjoys FPS and in particular Battlefield style games.
Well that's all folks.
Thanks for reading. If you have any comments please leave them below and I will do my best to respond to them.
Friday 29 June 2012
Random update.
Well I haven't posted on here for a while as I have been struggling to actually finish the posts I start (I have three or four half written posts sitting waiting for me to finish them).
The reason for this is a few things. Firstly, I have been suffering from a major case of cannotbearsedness. This is a serious condition that effects most people at some time in their lives. Secondly I am getting uber critical of my work and when I read it back I'm usually like "OMFG this sucks".
Lastly though, I am working on a new project. I am looking to (properly) start my youtube channel. I have at least one idea for a weekly show in mind which I am putting together the stuff for now. Due to lack of funds, I have had to do the graphics myself at the moment so they kinda suck. When I have some money, I will get the stuff done professionally. I have already contacted a designer, Mhorag Mcdougall, who I can't recommend enough. If you need any graphics work done, give her a shout.
Anyway, I digress. So the first show is going to be called "Looking Back" and will be me playing old games (usually with someone else). The first episode will be recorded with KK and is going to be Streets of Rage 2 on the Mega Drive. I was planning on using xsplit (which is an awesome piece of software if you want to stream) to record it but due to the fact that I can't then edit the video (due to Premier thinking that it's running at 1000FPS) I am currently working on a new recording setup which should give me much more control over the video. The good thing with this setup is that I can record it all then add the graphics after.
Once I have things going this will all be available on http://www.youtube.com/spikeylogic
I have a few more games/guests lined up but no point spoiling it all too soon.
I am sure I have mentioned it before but Monday nights are board game nights (or Man Night in the Man Cave as Lisa has come to name it). We are currently rotating through the few games we have but are adding more as funds will allow. Last week we played some Settlers of Catan, Zombie Dice and a few hands of Poker to close off the evening.
This week with any luck we will have Castle Panic (On a side note, Wil Wheaton, you need to be getting commission from the publishers of these. We got Zombie Dice and now Castle Panic after I saw them on Tabletop) and will be playing that. I am going to start trying to do bits of recording during the night. Nothing to the degree of Tabletop but something none the less.
Erm, what else has happened. Oh yeah.
Going to see Garbage at the Barrowlands in Glasgow next Wednesday. Utterly can't wait. I missed the opportunity to see them in 98... I think it was 98 (Just checked, it was 98). OK, story time.
I was at T in the Park with a group of friends. Garbage were playing the main stage but the friends I was with wanted to go see something else. Me having little self confidence at the time went with them rather than going to see what I wanted myself. I have regretted that to this day.
Back to now and Lisa is a huge Garbage fan as well so when the tickets for the show became available we jumped at them. I just hope I am going to have a voice left once this is over. And if you haven't you should check out their new album Not Your Kind Of People which is awesome.
Wow this went on a bit.
Well if you got this far, thanks for reading all that. If you aren't already, follow me on Twitter where I promise to try and post more often. If you enjoyed reading this, please share it with others and if you have any comments at all, please leave them in the section below.
Until next time,
The reason for this is a few things. Firstly, I have been suffering from a major case of cannotbearsedness. This is a serious condition that effects most people at some time in their lives. Secondly I am getting uber critical of my work and when I read it back I'm usually like "OMFG this sucks".
Lastly though, I am working on a new project. I am looking to (properly) start my youtube channel. I have at least one idea for a weekly show in mind which I am putting together the stuff for now. Due to lack of funds, I have had to do the graphics myself at the moment so they kinda suck. When I have some money, I will get the stuff done professionally. I have already contacted a designer, Mhorag Mcdougall, who I can't recommend enough. If you need any graphics work done, give her a shout.
Anyway, I digress. So the first show is going to be called "Looking Back" and will be me playing old games (usually with someone else). The first episode will be recorded with KK and is going to be Streets of Rage 2 on the Mega Drive. I was planning on using xsplit (which is an awesome piece of software if you want to stream) to record it but due to the fact that I can't then edit the video (due to Premier thinking that it's running at 1000FPS) I am currently working on a new recording setup which should give me much more control over the video. The good thing with this setup is that I can record it all then add the graphics after.
Once I have things going this will all be available on http://www.youtube.com/spikeylogic
I have a few more games/guests lined up but no point spoiling it all too soon.
I am sure I have mentioned it before but Monday nights are board game nights (or Man Night in the Man Cave as Lisa has come to name it). We are currently rotating through the few games we have but are adding more as funds will allow. Last week we played some Settlers of Catan, Zombie Dice and a few hands of Poker to close off the evening.
 |
| Settlers of Catan on "Man Night" |
This week with any luck we will have Castle Panic (On a side note, Wil Wheaton, you need to be getting commission from the publishers of these. We got Zombie Dice and now Castle Panic after I saw them on Tabletop) and will be playing that. I am going to start trying to do bits of recording during the night. Nothing to the degree of Tabletop but something none the less.
Erm, what else has happened. Oh yeah.
Going to see Garbage at the Barrowlands in Glasgow next Wednesday. Utterly can't wait. I missed the opportunity to see them in 98... I think it was 98 (Just checked, it was 98). OK, story time.
I was at T in the Park with a group of friends. Garbage were playing the main stage but the friends I was with wanted to go see something else. Me having little self confidence at the time went with them rather than going to see what I wanted myself. I have regretted that to this day.
Back to now and Lisa is a huge Garbage fan as well so when the tickets for the show became available we jumped at them. I just hope I am going to have a voice left once this is over. And if you haven't you should check out their new album Not Your Kind Of People which is awesome.
Wow this went on a bit.
Well if you got this far, thanks for reading all that. If you aren't already, follow me on Twitter where I promise to try and post more often. If you enjoyed reading this, please share it with others and if you have any comments at all, please leave them in the section below.
Until next time,
Tuesday 1 May 2012
LAN Parties - What they're really about.
I think it was 2002 when I first attended a real LAN party.
I can't actually remember the name of the even now but it was hosted in a University in Glasgow and had about forty people there. To me as a gamer, it was unreal. Forty like minded people there for a weekend to play games over a LAN (Local Area Network), how could it get better than that. Much fun (and Unreal Tournament) was had that weekend.
I think a full explanation for non gamers is probably in order. LAN Parties are gaming events where people pack up their PCs and head to a centralised location, be it scout hall, university campus, racecourse, someone's house, and connect their PCs together over a network to play multiplayer games together and against each other. It's not a new concept and has been going on since the mid nineties at least.
My first LAN, and in this case I use the term VERY lightly, was going to my friend Euan's house and playing Doom and Civilisation over a null modem cable. This then developed into a four man house LAN at one of Euan's friends houses using old coax cable networks.
2002 was the first of me experiencing a proper LAN party, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.
I can't remember what year it was that I went to my next LAN but it was the one that really got it's teeth into me.
Multiplay's i15 event was held at Newbury Racecourse and had around 1000 gamers there, which at the time was a lot for a UK LAN. I was competing in Team Fortress Classic at the time and went met up with two of my clan mates when I was there.
This is where I go off a bit and start talking about the social side of LANs. Most people have this stereotypical image of a gamer being in a dark room hunched over his keyboard/gamepad all alone. Most of us, in actual fact, are pretty sociable creatures. OK, we find it difficult to relate and interact with non-gamers at times but when we are with other gamers, it's a different story.
Case in point is the first of the two clan mates I met up with. Foxdie, or Jason as I call him these days, has become a close friend that I still speak to regularly to this day. I have made a lot of close friends through the gaming scene, most of which I have met outside of games and even LANs, and even more regular friends.
Anyway, back on track.
i15 I entered the TFC competition at the LAN with Foxdie and Metahawk (our clan leader) and we "merced" for another clan who's name has escaped me. Mercing is basically playing for another clan to help them make up numbers. In this instance, the TFC tournament was eight players versus eight players and the other clan only had five, hence we joined them.
More side notes: Little did I know that one of my now close friends, King-Kodiak, was playing on one of the opposing teams.
We came dead last in the tournament but I didn't care. This was an experience unlike any other LAN I had been to. The scale and the comraderey between all the players was amazing.
I've been to several other LAN events of varying sizes (everything from twenty people to fifteen hundred) since. Several more i-series, the now dead CentralLan and ScotLAN events, Epic.LAN and even started my own LANs in Aberdeen called BreachLAN (which I am no longer a part of but the events do still run). Yes I have played a lot of games at those events but more importantly I have met like minded people I never would have if I didn't go to these events. Friendships have been made and rivalries forged. These are all etched into what makes me who I am and I wouldn't have it any other way.
So why have I decided to write this now?
For a couple of reasons really. Firstly because I do get the "You're 32 years old, why do you still play computer games, they are for children" which to be fair I generally ignore as if you think gaming is for children you know nothing about gaming.
And because on Thursday night, when most of you are settling down and getting ready to turn in, I will be on an epic roadtrip with my friend Robbie heading down to Stockport for a house LAN (and Bobs first ever LAN). The metal shall be playing and the Monster flowing. When we get there Angelu5 will be waiting (or I hope so seeing as it's his house). KK and Supafly will be joining us either that night or the next day.
Yeah we will have our PCs there, and games will be played. More importantly I will be spending three days with four of my friends, three of whom I don't see very often. Laughs will be had and memories made.
And that's what LANs are all about.
Some LAN links for you:
Epic.LAN - LANs based in the midlands (Uttoxeter and Bagnall) - Next LAN Epic.Nine
Multiplay - Largest LANs in the UK based in Telford, Newbury and Stratford - Next LAN - insomnia 45
BreachLAN - Smaller LANs in Aberdeenshire - Next LAN - BreachLAN 21
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I can't actually remember the name of the even now but it was hosted in a University in Glasgow and had about forty people there. To me as a gamer, it was unreal. Forty like minded people there for a weekend to play games over a LAN (Local Area Network), how could it get better than that. Much fun (and Unreal Tournament) was had that weekend.
I think a full explanation for non gamers is probably in order. LAN Parties are gaming events where people pack up their PCs and head to a centralised location, be it scout hall, university campus, racecourse, someone's house, and connect their PCs together over a network to play multiplayer games together and against each other. It's not a new concept and has been going on since the mid nineties at least.
My first LAN, and in this case I use the term VERY lightly, was going to my friend Euan's house and playing Doom and Civilisation over a null modem cable. This then developed into a four man house LAN at one of Euan's friends houses using old coax cable networks.
2002 was the first of me experiencing a proper LAN party, and that was just the tip of the iceberg.
I can't remember what year it was that I went to my next LAN but it was the one that really got it's teeth into me.
Multiplay's i15 event was held at Newbury Racecourse and had around 1000 gamers there, which at the time was a lot for a UK LAN. I was competing in Team Fortress Classic at the time and went met up with two of my clan mates when I was there.
This is where I go off a bit and start talking about the social side of LANs. Most people have this stereotypical image of a gamer being in a dark room hunched over his keyboard/gamepad all alone. Most of us, in actual fact, are pretty sociable creatures. OK, we find it difficult to relate and interact with non-gamers at times but when we are with other gamers, it's a different story.
Case in point is the first of the two clan mates I met up with. Foxdie, or Jason as I call him these days, has become a close friend that I still speak to regularly to this day. I have made a lot of close friends through the gaming scene, most of which I have met outside of games and even LANs, and even more regular friends.
Anyway, back on track.
i15 I entered the TFC competition at the LAN with Foxdie and Metahawk (our clan leader) and we "merced" for another clan who's name has escaped me. Mercing is basically playing for another clan to help them make up numbers. In this instance, the TFC tournament was eight players versus eight players and the other clan only had five, hence we joined them.
More side notes: Little did I know that one of my now close friends, King-Kodiak, was playing on one of the opposing teams.
We came dead last in the tournament but I didn't care. This was an experience unlike any other LAN I had been to. The scale and the comraderey between all the players was amazing.
I've been to several other LAN events of varying sizes (everything from twenty people to fifteen hundred) since. Several more i-series, the now dead CentralLan and ScotLAN events, Epic.LAN and even started my own LANs in Aberdeen called BreachLAN (which I am no longer a part of but the events do still run). Yes I have played a lot of games at those events but more importantly I have met like minded people I never would have if I didn't go to these events. Friendships have been made and rivalries forged. These are all etched into what makes me who I am and I wouldn't have it any other way.
So why have I decided to write this now?
For a couple of reasons really. Firstly because I do get the "You're 32 years old, why do you still play computer games, they are for children" which to be fair I generally ignore as if you think gaming is for children you know nothing about gaming.
And because on Thursday night, when most of you are settling down and getting ready to turn in, I will be on an epic roadtrip with my friend Robbie heading down to Stockport for a house LAN (and Bobs first ever LAN). The metal shall be playing and the Monster flowing. When we get there Angelu5 will be waiting (or I hope so seeing as it's his house). KK and Supafly will be joining us either that night or the next day.
Yeah we will have our PCs there, and games will be played. More importantly I will be spending three days with four of my friends, three of whom I don't see very often. Laughs will be had and memories made.
And that's what LANs are all about.
Some LAN links for you:
Epic.LAN - LANs based in the midlands (Uttoxeter and Bagnall) - Next LAN Epic.Nine
Multiplay - Largest LANs in the UK based in Telford, Newbury and Stratford - Next LAN - insomnia 45
BreachLAN - Smaller LANs in Aberdeenshire - Next LAN - BreachLAN 21
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Tuesday 28 February 2012
Late to the game, but so glad I came.
Being the huge Android advocate I am, it may surprise you that for the last year and a bit, I've been an iPad (suppose I better capitalise it correctly on here) owner. The reason for this is quite simple: when I bought the ipad, the only Android tablet available was the Dell Streak which was in no way comparable to the ipad.
It was actually bought so Lisa could take online payments when she was doing stalls for her business, a task at which it excelled. Don't get me wrong, the iPad isn't a bad piece of kit I'm just not a fan of Apples walled garden policy. For casual users, its fine but for me, it was just too restrictive.
So I have finally taken the dive into the Android tablet market and decided on the Motorola XOOM. Now I am going to pull a lot of iPad/iOS comparisons here due to that being my main frame of reference and me only having experience of five minutes play with a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Asus EEE Pad Transformer.
First the feel and look. Slick is the word I would use to describe it. Due to the extra ports and expansions on the XOOM, it's not as clean looking as an iPad. This, in my opinion, isn't a bad thing. Also, where the iPad feels like it should be used in portrait mode due to the power button/headphone jack being on one of the short sides and the home button then being at the bottom, the XOOM is designed to be used in landscape. Both do, however, rotate the screen so you can use it no matter what way you hold it.
On the front there are no hardware buttons on the XOOM. The usual home/back/menu hardware buttons I have always been used to on Android handsets have been replaced with on screen soft buttons which rotate with the screen so are always where you would expecexpec them. The front does host a small camera for video chat. On the bottom is the micro USB port, micro HDMI and a proprietary charger port. Actually, going on a slight tanget at this point, the charger. WTF Motorola? The charger is basically a laptop charger with a smaller end on it. Seriously, one of the reasons I want a tablet is to have less to carry when going away. A chunky charger like that is not the way to go. Ahem. Back to the tablet. On the left side are the volume buttons which are exactly what you would expect. The top of the device has the Micro SD slot under a cover and the headphone jack, which is situated right in the centre. This is, in all fairness, a major design flaw. If you put the XOOM in a dock to watch a movie or video with headphones, the cable will end up in front of the screen. The back has the main camera, a dual LED flash and the power button. The XOOM feels solid and well made. If I have any complaint about the construction, it would be that the smooth back of the device doesn't give the best grip - a problem with the iPad as well - which should be resolved when I get a case for it. It does feel a bit unbalanced when held in portrait mode due to the widescreen layout, something that the iPad doesn't suffer from.
One of my biggest complaints about the iPad, especially since we had the 16GB version, was the lack of expandable storage. Another thing that we use the iPad for is entertaining our daughter on long journies. By the time we loaded full seasons of Peppa Pig, Ben and Holly, etc on, it didn't leave much space for us. The XOOM's 32GB internal memory is complimented by the addition of a Micro SD slot which is neatly hidden on the top of the device under a pull off cover (if this was the 3G version, the sim card would also live under there). The ability to add and swap storage gives the XOOM flexibility that the iPad just doesn't have in that department. As i mentioned earlier, the XOOM comes equipped with two cameras. The front camera has a resolution of 1.3 megapixel where as the rear camera is 5 megapixel. The webcam, as I call the front camera, does the job for video chat but as you would expect from such a low resolution, snaps aren't great. The rear camera takes decent quality shots but nothing spectacular. To be fair though, its not a device I would really use for even mildly serious photography, even if it had a 10 megapixel camera. For quick snaps to be sent to
Facebook when you have the tablet handy, it's more than adiquate.
The screen is another big difference to the iPad. The 10" capacitive touchscreen has an aspect ratio of 16:9 instead of the iPad's 4:3. Running at a 1280 x 800, the screen can display 720p HD content. The touchscreen is on par with the iPad, I can touch type on it and it keeps up pretty well. The stock keyboard that comes with Honeycomb is not bad (I typed this on it) but could be better. One of the plus sides to Android, as I have touched on previously, is the customizeabiliy. There are several alternative keyboards on the Market including, my favorite, Swiftkey X which has a tablet version. The XOOM has bluetooth which gives you the option of connecting a bluetooth keyboard if you would prefer. Speaking of external peripherals, Android is compatable with bluetooth mice throughout the OS. This gives the XOOM massive flexibility especially in business and art apps.
The screen does suffer from the usual issue of not being great in direct sunlight, an issue most tablets have. Also, as usual, it picks up fingerprints easily so a screen protector or microfibre cloth is essential (and unfortunately, I have neither currently).
I suppose I better move onto the OS. The XOOM is running Android 3.2 Honeycomb. This was the first version of Android to be designed with tablets in mind. Its a huge improvement over the tablets I have seen still running Gingerbread. The UI is on par with the responsiveness of iOS, flicking between the home screens with no real lag. The UI layout, even with the changes, is still distinctively Android. There are five home screens for you to customize as you see fit with the usual assortment of shortcuts and widgets, something iOS still hasn't picked up on. Gone, sadly, is the shade. Notifications now appear at the bottom right of the screen next to the clock. This area also displays the battery and wifi status icons. The bottom left hosts the back, home and multitasking buttons. Multitasking used to be achieved by long pressing the home button. With this no longer a hardware button, multitasking has been given its own button.
At the top right of the home screens is the app button which opens the application dock. This hasn't changed much from previous versions. One flaw here is that in portrait mode, the icons in the dock wont fill down to the bottom of the screen.
Speaking of apps, this is always one of the big iOS vs Android arguments. The iOS app store has more app available on it but the Android Market is catching up. A lot of the iOS apps are now either available on Android or have equivalents. Android also allows you to install apps from locations other than the Market. This option is turned off by default but can be turned on in a few presses. This does, admittedly, leave Android open to the possibility of malicious apps in a way iOS won't be but it is a worthwhile trade off to have more choice. Just always check out the feedback in the Market before installing unless you know the developer is trusted. There aren't many apps designed for the higher resolution of tablet screens but for the most part, the apps have all scaled up fine, in fact the phone apps work far better on android scaling wise compared to the iPad.
The Market on the XOOM borrows heavily from the iOS app store in layout rather than from the phone version of the Market. Upon launch, the top section gives you the apps designed for tablets. Navigation through the market is simple and hassle free. Google checkout is the only payment option but it is quickly setup.
Talking of Google, to get the most out of any android device, a Google account is essential. Once my Googlemail account was added, my mail, calendar, contacts and even my app purchases from my phone were synced to the XOOM. Adding another email was painless and in less than two minutes I had my work exchange email and calendar syncing as well.
Video playback on the XOOM is nice and smooth, even if the stock video player only plays a limited set of formats. Yet again, the market comes to the rescue with plenty of free and paid for apps to replace the stock player.
There was no social networking apps with the XOOM but it was easy enough to download the official Facebook and Twitter apps. There are several unofficial apps available as well but I would recommend sticking to trusted publishers. There is also an official Tweetdeck app with both Facebook and Twitter integration.
As you will most likely know, to connect an iPad to a PC you require iTunes to be installed. My unbridled hate for iTunes isn't really for this post but let's just say that the chance to be free from it was a major deciding factor in changing tablets. Connecting the XOOM to a PC is done via a standard micro USB connector which mounts the internal storage as a drive in my computer that you can drag/drop/copy/past to and from to your hearts content. This makes, in my opinion, adding media, or anything for that matter, to the XOOM easy.
In conclusion, iOS and the iPad are still a far better out of the box experience. For the casual user, I would probably have to recommend the iPad over an Android tablet still. If you are willing to put a little time in though, learn and experement, Android is a far more satisfying OS and you could do far worse than the XOOM.
If I was to give the XOOM a score it would be 4/5. It's just let down by a few silly design decisions.
It was actually bought so Lisa could take online payments when she was doing stalls for her business, a task at which it excelled. Don't get me wrong, the iPad isn't a bad piece of kit I'm just not a fan of Apples walled garden policy. For casual users, its fine but for me, it was just too restrictive.
So I have finally taken the dive into the Android tablet market and decided on the Motorola XOOM. Now I am going to pull a lot of iPad/iOS comparisons here due to that being my main frame of reference and me only having experience of five minutes play with a Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and the Asus EEE Pad Transformer.
First the feel and look. Slick is the word I would use to describe it. Due to the extra ports and expansions on the XOOM, it's not as clean looking as an iPad. This, in my opinion, isn't a bad thing. Also, where the iPad feels like it should be used in portrait mode due to the power button/headphone jack being on one of the short sides and the home button then being at the bottom, the XOOM is designed to be used in landscape. Both do, however, rotate the screen so you can use it no matter what way you hold it.
On the front there are no hardware buttons on the XOOM. The usual home/back/menu hardware buttons I have always been used to on Android handsets have been replaced with on screen soft buttons which rotate with the screen so are always where you would expecexpec them. The front does host a small camera for video chat. On the bottom is the micro USB port, micro HDMI and a proprietary charger port. Actually, going on a slight tanget at this point, the charger. WTF Motorola? The charger is basically a laptop charger with a smaller end on it. Seriously, one of the reasons I want a tablet is to have less to carry when going away. A chunky charger like that is not the way to go. Ahem. Back to the tablet. On the left side are the volume buttons which are exactly what you would expect. The top of the device has the Micro SD slot under a cover and the headphone jack, which is situated right in the centre. This is, in all fairness, a major design flaw. If you put the XOOM in a dock to watch a movie or video with headphones, the cable will end up in front of the screen. The back has the main camera, a dual LED flash and the power button. The XOOM feels solid and well made. If I have any complaint about the construction, it would be that the smooth back of the device doesn't give the best grip - a problem with the iPad as well - which should be resolved when I get a case for it. It does feel a bit unbalanced when held in portrait mode due to the widescreen layout, something that the iPad doesn't suffer from.
One of my biggest complaints about the iPad, especially since we had the 16GB version, was the lack of expandable storage. Another thing that we use the iPad for is entertaining our daughter on long journies. By the time we loaded full seasons of Peppa Pig, Ben and Holly, etc on, it didn't leave much space for us. The XOOM's 32GB internal memory is complimented by the addition of a Micro SD slot which is neatly hidden on the top of the device under a pull off cover (if this was the 3G version, the sim card would also live under there). The ability to add and swap storage gives the XOOM flexibility that the iPad just doesn't have in that department. As i mentioned earlier, the XOOM comes equipped with two cameras. The front camera has a resolution of 1.3 megapixel where as the rear camera is 5 megapixel. The webcam, as I call the front camera, does the job for video chat but as you would expect from such a low resolution, snaps aren't great. The rear camera takes decent quality shots but nothing spectacular. To be fair though, its not a device I would really use for even mildly serious photography, even if it had a 10 megapixel camera. For quick snaps to be sent to
Facebook when you have the tablet handy, it's more than adiquate.
The screen is another big difference to the iPad. The 10" capacitive touchscreen has an aspect ratio of 16:9 instead of the iPad's 4:3. Running at a 1280 x 800, the screen can display 720p HD content. The touchscreen is on par with the iPad, I can touch type on it and it keeps up pretty well. The stock keyboard that comes with Honeycomb is not bad (I typed this on it) but could be better. One of the plus sides to Android, as I have touched on previously, is the customizeabiliy. There are several alternative keyboards on the Market including, my favorite, Swiftkey X which has a tablet version. The XOOM has bluetooth which gives you the option of connecting a bluetooth keyboard if you would prefer. Speaking of external peripherals, Android is compatable with bluetooth mice throughout the OS. This gives the XOOM massive flexibility especially in business and art apps.
The screen does suffer from the usual issue of not being great in direct sunlight, an issue most tablets have. Also, as usual, it picks up fingerprints easily so a screen protector or microfibre cloth is essential (and unfortunately, I have neither currently).
I suppose I better move onto the OS. The XOOM is running Android 3.2 Honeycomb. This was the first version of Android to be designed with tablets in mind. Its a huge improvement over the tablets I have seen still running Gingerbread. The UI is on par with the responsiveness of iOS, flicking between the home screens with no real lag. The UI layout, even with the changes, is still distinctively Android. There are five home screens for you to customize as you see fit with the usual assortment of shortcuts and widgets, something iOS still hasn't picked up on. Gone, sadly, is the shade. Notifications now appear at the bottom right of the screen next to the clock. This area also displays the battery and wifi status icons. The bottom left hosts the back, home and multitasking buttons. Multitasking used to be achieved by long pressing the home button. With this no longer a hardware button, multitasking has been given its own button.
At the top right of the home screens is the app button which opens the application dock. This hasn't changed much from previous versions. One flaw here is that in portrait mode, the icons in the dock wont fill down to the bottom of the screen.
Speaking of apps, this is always one of the big iOS vs Android arguments. The iOS app store has more app available on it but the Android Market is catching up. A lot of the iOS apps are now either available on Android or have equivalents. Android also allows you to install apps from locations other than the Market. This option is turned off by default but can be turned on in a few presses. This does, admittedly, leave Android open to the possibility of malicious apps in a way iOS won't be but it is a worthwhile trade off to have more choice. Just always check out the feedback in the Market before installing unless you know the developer is trusted. There aren't many apps designed for the higher resolution of tablet screens but for the most part, the apps have all scaled up fine, in fact the phone apps work far better on android scaling wise compared to the iPad.
The Market on the XOOM borrows heavily from the iOS app store in layout rather than from the phone version of the Market. Upon launch, the top section gives you the apps designed for tablets. Navigation through the market is simple and hassle free. Google checkout is the only payment option but it is quickly setup.
Talking of Google, to get the most out of any android device, a Google account is essential. Once my Googlemail account was added, my mail, calendar, contacts and even my app purchases from my phone were synced to the XOOM. Adding another email was painless and in less than two minutes I had my work exchange email and calendar syncing as well.
Video playback on the XOOM is nice and smooth, even if the stock video player only plays a limited set of formats. Yet again, the market comes to the rescue with plenty of free and paid for apps to replace the stock player.
There was no social networking apps with the XOOM but it was easy enough to download the official Facebook and Twitter apps. There are several unofficial apps available as well but I would recommend sticking to trusted publishers. There is also an official Tweetdeck app with both Facebook and Twitter integration.
As you will most likely know, to connect an iPad to a PC you require iTunes to be installed. My unbridled hate for iTunes isn't really for this post but let's just say that the chance to be free from it was a major deciding factor in changing tablets. Connecting the XOOM to a PC is done via a standard micro USB connector which mounts the internal storage as a drive in my computer that you can drag/drop/copy/past to and from to your hearts content. This makes, in my opinion, adding media, or anything for that matter, to the XOOM easy.
In conclusion, iOS and the iPad are still a far better out of the box experience. For the casual user, I would probably have to recommend the iPad over an Android tablet still. If you are willing to put a little time in though, learn and experement, Android is a far more satisfying OS and you could do far worse than the XOOM.
If I was to give the XOOM a score it would be 4/5. It's just let down by a few silly design decisions.
Tuesday 10 January 2012
Portal 2 - Complete
Note: I started writing this on January 4th and have been busy so only got round to finishing this today.
Well, it's only four days into 2012 and already the first game on my list has been completed.
Portal 2 is, as if you couldn't guess, the sequel to Portal. A FPS puzzle game based around the use of a piece of kit called a, bet you can't guess, "Portal Gun". If you haven't played either of the portal games and therefore don't know how the Portal Gun works, go play them now? They are both brilliant.
The story had a few nice twists in it and was easily as good as the first game. The voice acting was also superb with the original actress, Ellen McLain, reprising her role. Even Stephen Merchant was a brilliant choice for the voice of Wheatly, and I can't usually stand him.
The addition of the gels, and I'll leave it at that as I don't want to spoil things if you haven't played it yet, later on in the game add more mechanics to the game but I wouldn't say it made the game any more interesting than the first.
Overall I would recommend Portal 2 to pretty much anyone. It's not a hardcore game and will appeal to casual players. It's a good game for playing in spurts. If you have played and enjoyed the first game, then there is absolutely no reason for you not to play this.
Now that that's completed though, on to the next game from my list. I've decided to go with Orcs Must Die as my next gaming project. I'll let you know once that one's done.
What were your thoughts on Portal 2? Feel free to post in the comments below with what you thought.
Thanks for reading.
Well, it's only four days into 2012 and already the first game on my list has been completed.
Portal 2 is, as if you couldn't guess, the sequel to Portal. A FPS puzzle game based around the use of a piece of kit called a, bet you can't guess, "Portal Gun". If you haven't played either of the portal games and therefore don't know how the Portal Gun works, go play them now? They are both brilliant.
The story had a few nice twists in it and was easily as good as the first game. The voice acting was also superb with the original actress, Ellen McLain, reprising her role. Even Stephen Merchant was a brilliant choice for the voice of Wheatly, and I can't usually stand him.
The addition of the gels, and I'll leave it at that as I don't want to spoil things if you haven't played it yet, later on in the game add more mechanics to the game but I wouldn't say it made the game any more interesting than the first.
Overall I would recommend Portal 2 to pretty much anyone. It's not a hardcore game and will appeal to casual players. It's a good game for playing in spurts. If you have played and enjoyed the first game, then there is absolutely no reason for you not to play this.
Now that that's completed though, on to the next game from my list. I've decided to go with Orcs Must Die as my next gaming project. I'll let you know once that one's done.
What were your thoughts on Portal 2? Feel free to post in the comments below with what you thought.
Thanks for reading.
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