ThunderPeel2001

That's cool, it still good to see a yardstick of how well I'm progressing in GH (and soon Rock Band) compared to the insane skills of you and Miffy.

Well, oddly enough, if this actually sends the idea into people's minds and it gets reported as something people want to see on gaming news sites... It might plant a seed in someone's brain at LucasArts. I say; bring on the hysteria!

He's supposed to be the age that Ian Holm played him in the original film, hence Gandalf's suspicious, "Why, Bilbo you haven't changed a bit". Bloody New Line got in the way of letting one of our finest actors play a great role. Holm would have captured Bilbo's proudness and pettiness perfectly, and his change by the end and... Ah, well :'(

That sounds very... (but in a multiplayer kind of way).

Hey Tommy, what's your XBL Gamertag?

True, their original design was way nicer... although the new design has higher quality displays (ironically). Wow! There's some great stuff in their portfolio. I can't wait for the technology to catch up so they can do a keyboard to their original design.

Well, I'm guessing Christmas just happened and maybe some people got DSs?

Dug this out again and decided to give it some time. There's at least one thing I prefer; No screen wobble when you activate Star Power... Oh how I hate thee screen wobble in GH2. It's also weird to notice that the Star Power lasts about half the time (feels even less) in GH3 which actually makes the gameplay less strategic: In GH2, while trying to get 5 stars for every song I used the score as a gauge. If I got a higher score it meant I did better in the song (makes sense, right?). In GH3 I was trying to five star Slayer's Raining Blood on Medium (the only one I can't do ) but the score was independent to how well I actually played: I got 90,000 and a 4 Star review. I tried again and got 120,000 and a 3 Star review!? That's quite a big difference considering I played WORSE but got a better score... Like I said, there's a lot less strategy in the gameplay. Possibly the lamest thing (and the thing I never imagined would be so lame... in fact I used to complain that Harmonix hadn't added it to GH2 for the 360) is still the utterly underwhelming online gameplay. Every ten minutes you either connect or crash. Once in a while you might get to play, and only then you're against some annoying twonk who whammys every sustained note... thus ruining the song. It's amazingly boring. You spend a lot more time waiting for a game that you do playing, and really, what does it add knowing that you're playing against someone for two or three minutes? Not much. The achievements are plain stupid, too. Who the hell has the time to complete 15 songs on expert using only a controller?! Or completing the entire campaign in lefty and righty... Is anyone's life so empty? Ah, well. This was meant to be a positive post about GH3... Whoops!

Yeah, while I do love the game, story and interface, the inventory/equip system is very poorly made. The action is pretty boring, too (prefer the turned based system from KOTOR) but it's not too bad. I've said it before, but it desperately needs some attention in terms of graphical touches... The "amazing" Citadel feels bare and half-finished in a lot of places, but again, I can live with it. (Can't wait for the inevitable "Lost Chapters/Special Edition" where they actually finish it, though!) But in all, the worse part is the poorly designed inventory system. It's amazingly old fashioned and unfriendly, but also quite important for the gameplay.

Yeah, I have a bad feeling about the Hobbit... especially as Ian Holm is too ill for the role now (recovering from cancer) It's going to make the "Why Bilbo, you haven't changed a bit" line in Fellowship seem like a corny in-joke :tdown:

Holy cow!!! That's some amazing skill! Wow!

Sounds like a damn cool message... No idea how you managed to mine comedy from it, though!

Not sure what this thread is about, but the title just reminded me of something: A clever guy created a mod to allow the DS to use WPA WiFi encryption, instead of the idiotically outdated WEP. I've not seen it mentioned elsewhere, but he's been working at it for a while now and I've only just stumbled across it. http://geekboy.ca/wifi/ Unfortunately, even though http://geekboy.ca is up and running, the wifi section seems to have disappeared. The only thing left of the project is this archived version, which looked very promising... http://web.archive.org/web/20070514001258/geekboy.ca/wifi/?cat=2 http://web.archive.org/web/20070513144935/geekboy.ca/wifi/?page_id=10 Anyone know more about this?

They had high hopes for Bioshock, and so did everyone else (thanks to the God like status that System Shock has been elevated to). If this game came along without any expectations (ie. it wasn't made by the System Shock 2 people), people would be less tough on it. The game is flawed to be sure, but it's only flawed in the sense that it's not the best thing ever created. It's still fucking brilliant. I haven't read the write-up linked above (yet), but I think Richard Cobbett wrote the great review of Bioshock that hit the nail on the head regarding its flaws. Don't worry, it's an article with NO SPOILERS! Read the whole thing here (no spoilers!)In short, System Shock had a more believable environment Not only does the city's "greatness" never feel real or tangible, it's downfall is hard to fathom as well. If the game had been set in the 1970s (ie. some 20 or 30 years after Rapture's "fall") then it would have made a lot more sense. (How on earth did it become so decrepit in one year?! It's a minor point, but its look would have fitted nicely into a storyline set later on.) The story as they decided to go with feels shoe-horned in... It's also painfully obvious that their starting idea was the horrific experiments performed in Nazi POW camps on their prisoners. But someone along the way must have noticed; "Hey, are we saying that the Nazis were right to experiment like that? Rapture has developed all this cool technology... by not having any ethics either. What are we saying here?!". So they toned down the Nazi inspiration (if that's the right word), but never replaced it/or re-worked it with something more substantial. As such, there's a big hole in the city's history. WHY did these people ever believe that it was a good idea? HOW were they convinced/seduced by Ryan? There must have been some elements of success or some decent rational argument that would win over rationally-minded people into moving to Rapture. They couldn't have all been ex-Nazi nutcases/raving psychopaths. Also, does the rest of the world know about this? How did he advertise it to people? Nothing really gels If it was a different story, a sort of "Lost" story where , it would have been better. That's what gets the story going in the first place so why ? Surely that's the worst bit of BioShock? It's like their attempts at creating something huge and wonderful made them lose sight of what they were actually creating. If they'd kept the concept and environment simple, like System Shock's, it might have made the story (and therefore experience) more solid. But, just like Andrew Ryan, their ideas and goals spiralled and they lost their tight control over everything. Like Ryan's legacy, Rapture, what we're left with isn't the best thing ever, it's just fucking amazing instead

Hi Norfolk, thanks for the comment! It's a shame you couldn't add it to the blog, but it's much appreciated. I think you said something which I might have forgotten to make clear... but you summed it up perfectly in a sentence: People without interests are inherently dull (surely?)... not the other way around! But you're right, to people outside their field, geeks are probably impenetrable at times. Saying that, I enjoy seeing enthusiasm in people, even if I don't necessarily 'get' their particular love. Thanks again, it's nice to know I'm not the only one who feels this way about these things!

The worst thing for me, and the only thing that's making me question whether to buy it or not, is the fact that the AI is so absolutely appalling. Why bother introducing 'stealth' gameplay if you're not going to actually let it have any real significance in the game? Especially considering how "technically advanced" it's supposed to be Still, I did enjoy myself on the island... provided the rest of the game is so open and that stealth is still a part of it, I might enjoy it. But seriously....... how hard is it to program: If an enemy is within a certain radius of a dead enemy, then enter 'suspicious behaviour' mode (the same one they enter when they see you). If an enemy 'sees' a dead enemy (the same way they 'see' you), then act the same. Allow you to pick up bodies (just showing legs and slowing your speed down, like in Deus Ex, would be fine) and hide them... and voila! Fairly decent stealth gameplay. It's an oversight that borders on flaw, if you ask me.

I think it's Activision and Harmonix, but I'm not sure. I read somewhere that Activision are claiming that Harmonix need to pay a price to order to let Rock Band's guitars work on Guitar Hero... Annoying! Edit: I've read your articles. Very nice! Look forward to the indepth discussions!

I don't think there's any console crossover, sadly. I wish there was. It means you need to find someone on pretty much the same level as you, and prepared to travel with a big fake looking guitar (possible on public transport) AND with the same console as you, before you can enjoy two player. Oh well. Tommy: Your website is down again, so I can't read your article Wrestle: Did we ever discover if that journalist was fired for writing an honest review? I'd forgotten about that, I probably shouldn't have linked to that evil, (potentially) untrustworthy site.

What's the compatibility of all those guitars, Miffy? Can you use the new wireless GH3 guitar with GH2? Can you use the Rock Band guitar with GH2 or 3? Do Guitars from different platforms work on other platforms (PS2, Wii, 360, etc?). It'd be cool if someone made a chart... Actually, I'll go and Google one right now Edit: Found one!

Where can you pick up Rockstar Table Tennis for the 360 cheaper than £7.98? Play: £15 Amazon: £13 Game :£15 Gameplay: £15 HMV: £18 Zavvi: £14 Price Grabber: £15 Even on eBay it rarely sells for less than £8 (including shipping) and usually for £10. So I'm utterly, totally and completely bemused... Why "ouch?". Is there some place I'm missing that sells games a lot cheaper?! If so, please tell! I got mine from GamesStation, incidentally. The game itself it really good, too. I highly recommend it (especially for around £10-15). It's old school "pure skill" gameplay. Simplistic, but fun to play and get to grips with. Great for a quick blast.

Picked it up for £8 in the post-Xmas sales. I also picked up Viva Pinata for £15 new! (Quite chuffed! )

Loom was mocked from within Loom!

I've been tempted to pick it up at some point. It looks like it could be good, simple fun.

Merry Christmas!!

Rats.