twmac

Having just bought my first batch of Xbox Live arcade games and then seeing some very positive things on all systems has put me in high spirits, plus upcoming projects are looking great. The only blotch on the horizon is COD3, which is so buggy but I've gotten to level 5 on veteran and don't want to give up. Senko no Ronde has also been picked up by Ubisoft for North American distribution. Thank you Ubi.

Otogi! Loved that game. Actually, in a way, with all the talk about Molyneux and Fable 2, I thought that commentary on Fable 1 was pretty valid. I never really thought about the plot stuff really, except every single character seemed to have been streamlined so that it really didn't matter what choices you made in regards to them. I really wanted to have a throw down with Whisper's brother later in the game due to oe of the choices made earlier, and was disappointed when nothing arose. Any rumours about Fable 2, if the devs are going to take the same 'sit on the fence' aproach to the moral choices?

Can't happen, developers can't release content for sale that may give other players an unfair advantage whilst online (so far this means weapons and patches, but in some cases it is extended to online maps too). I know this to be true on the 360, not sure about the other two.

They are remaking Speedball2 for the PC, and it was rumoured that there would be a console version too... Xbox Live? http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=73689

Re-watched Buffalo 66, Vincent Galo is genius in this film. 'Thank you for smoking' - I haven't laughed that hard in so long 'Love and Death on long Island' - A good John Hurt and Jason Priestly film, which I re-watched because of the previous film (there is a joke in LDLI to do with smoking), hasn't aged well but still worth watching. Dexter is really good. Need to watch more episodes. Anyone else disappointed that 'The Departed' won the Oscar? Yeah, it was okay, but with so many better films out this year it feels like people are falling over themselves to throw Scorcese an award every time he farts out a half decent film. I mean 'Gangs of New York' would have been nothing without Daniel Day-Lewis.

Waitaminute, I'm supposed to forgive Sony unconditionally?

Being one of those miopic Sony-haters, the news of Sony home yesterday, did actually stop me in my tracks and go 'Well thats an interesting idea'. If it works I think it is a great inclusion, Sony needed something like this so that they could people to turn away from all the negativity and go 'Oooooh'. I know this post sounds sarcastic, but it isn't meant to be. The only two things that bother me, the already mentioned intuitiveness of it (ie: If I want to jump in find out which of my friends is online and join in a game how easy is that going to be?). And the cost... the initial package is free, but Phil Harrison has already made no attempts to tell people that to get more you don't have to pay more, and rather play more. Being a sucker for achievements, the idea of trophies appeals to my ego.

Whoops, wonder what I saw then? Wait a minute... [Edit] Aaaah, just the contact info. Well Slough is still boring then.

The 360 doesn't sound like it is for you. With all your arguments in place, I can't think of one reason for you to get one. Stick with your PC and upgrade when necessary. I'm assuming you already have a PS2, you are sorted. I'm a console player simply because I can't stand compatibility issues between hardware and software.

I've been hooked on Xbox Live for the last month, so I decided to fork out 68 dollars and buy a year's top up card for it. The two guy's at the shop joked that some people were scratching the cards to much and rubbing out the subscription code. So I very carefully scraped mie away, only to find the first two digits missing. Obviously I tried to take the card back to the retailer. And after a heated discussion with the manager I was turned away with no exchange. This actually didn't surprise all that much as it the same with mobile phone cards, the retailer claims no responsibility for them. My problem is that, the guy's attitude as the manager was rather unhelpful. He gave me no options on how to get in touch with Microsoft, instead one of the employees gave me a phone number. When I said I didn't have a phone I got a shrug and a half-arsed apology. In the last 2 years I have spent well over a thousand dollars there, not including my 360 which I would have got from there but they were sold out. Some of the staff even knew me by name. 20 minutes on the phone wouldn't have hurt they're sales. I've tried online but can find no way to get help from Microsoft that way (they're Xbox website is confusing and misleading, oh the irony), anyone have any suggestions before I waste my lunch break at work/or waste another 68 dollars on a piece of plastic that might not have the numbers?

Don't rightly know about the US, but in the UK I used to be able to do pretty much anything with my debit card. Without the monthly charges etc. After another half hour on the phone with a much more coherent Xbox support staff, I've been redirected back to the shop I bought the card at... Thngs are not looking good. The worst bit is that I'm currently so demoralised by the whole experience, I'm not sure I can be bothered to argue anymore, and am almost prepared to let them win

I checked the link... It is set in Slough is it not? Just admiring the fact that they are doing something there that merits visiting, is all.

Yeah, I would have but I have no means of purchasing it, Canada doesn't believe in debit cards, and won't give me a credt card.

Apparently, the only person's fault that there are two numbers missing, is me. After talking to an obnoxious automated response thing called Max I spent almost an hour on the phone with an arguaby less helpful support staff. It was rather phenomenal. Rather like talking to a rat or dog that only has multiple choice options: 1) We are not liable for this 2) What is your gamertag? 3) What is your address and postal code? 4) I'm sorry, I'm not at liberty to do that 5) You must take it back to the retailer 6) Thank you for waiting patiently After about the umpteenth time of telling her as much information (answers to 2 and 3) as I could, and for her to keep telling there was no known gamertag with that title. I logged onto Xbox.com and was staring at it while she continued to deny my existence. I then asked several times to talk to a line manager or someone else in charge, to which she refused each time with response 4. I then pointed out that it seemed ridiculous to me that in the time they had been supplying this service, that no single person had ever called up about this, so she answered with both 1 and 5. She then finally found my gamertag, made me wait and then came back to me with 6 and then with answer 1 again. I managed not to shout at her and then firmly said that I couldn't take it back, then she said that they didn't deal with sort of stuff. I then became quite unreasonable and demanded she just give 12 months of online now (answer 4). Finally they gave me a fax number and a reference number that I could fax the evidence to, in the vain hope that I might be able to get some sort of, I don't know... service? And ended it with the classic: Thank you for calling Xbox support, please call again. C***s

Hmmm... Fair enough. I still don't like the fact just doing what the law dictates some how deserves a pat on the back. But I won't argue more because I'm way too biased against Sony. Liked the article Wrestlemania, I shall make sure to read more of his stuff.

Thanks for the comiseration. I'll spend sometime at work tomorrow, I just hate having to use my half hour break to sort something out, when email would be more preferable.

Yeah, backwards compatibility is a bit of a joke. 3 of the 21 games I own work on mine (one of them being Fuzion Frenzy). I also don't recommend insert The Suffering: The ties that bind into a 360... I did out of curiosity, and my 360 had a fit, then the game denied that it was inserted, then the system crashed and refused to be rebooted for 2 hrs. Ouch. Ben, I'm feeling a little analogy heavy today. If someone told you in advance that they were going to kick you in the balls, it still wouldn't stop it really hurting when they got around to doing it.

I think the distinstion between 'doing what is right' and 'doing what the law dictated to them' is pretty simple. A rapist who is caught, pleads Not Guilty (even though they really did it), is convicted and sentenced isn't 'doing what is right'. In contrast, someone who finds another person's wallet, tracks them down and returns it to them, cards and cash intact, would definitely be seen to be 'doing what is right'. Why should we forgive Sony or say 'Gawd bless 'em, they are trying at least'. This is an international company that should priding itself on supplying a demand , instead of lying, cheating, bullying and anything else they can get away with. Granted, Sony may have realised that they had to use hype to compete with the Wii's fanbase and the 360's early release. But surely hype should be based on something substantial? You know, actually supply what you claim you have.

Was that thing male or female? I couldn't tell before I poked myself in the eyes...

Doh! Well if EB Games is to be trusted, at least I should be able to wait for the 'Game of the Year' addition which won't cost me me 60 dollars.

They do stuff in Slough?

A new(ish) Driver game that is good? Surely not? I want to play something other than the Demo of Crackdown. It looks better balanced that 'Hulk: Ultimate Destruction' which was pretty flippng good anyway.

Currently 'Enchanted Arms' is a RPG that has very little currency in it. I struggle to get everything I need without grinding. Also nice to play a Japanese RPG that manages to combine moody/stupid teenagers with a plot that clearly doesn't take itself too seriously... Or maybe I don't take it too seriously because everyone is obsessed with the main character's right arm and he keeps striking the two armed version of 'f**k you'. Anyone know if there is an intention to release oblivion for the 360 with a bunch of the patches. I read a review about how annoying it is for every creatures to automatically level up with you, almost negating your leveling up.

I suppose I'm the only fan of Leonardo... I know he was a bit uptight, but he had two huge Katanas. That is badass as far as I'm concerned.

See, I read that article and one of things that really bothered me was how proud every person was of screwing other companies over for EA. From the begnning when they cut how much of a percentage the distributors were entitled to, to threatening SEGA and getting a better deal than they would have with Nintendo. Only to dump them when SEGA came up with their own sports range (something not mentioned in the article). To releasing the same game on multiple platforms, and at the same time admitting that they liked it that way because then a hardware manufacturer can't have it their own way. I thought Stranger's Wrath was a great game, and I hope that every now and then EA 'help' release something like that again. To boot, EA are generally lazy (I know this from first hand experience), if it is too awkward for them they just go 'Fuck it, we're EA, we'll go somewhere else'.