Wrestlevania

See previous.

I didn't get into playing Resi 4 again just yet, but I was thinking more about exactly where I got to when I stopped last time: Clearly, I am thick.

I'm trying again to get into Dwarf Fortress, especially since I discovered it has a Mac client which means I can play it at work too. I know I've already had a go, but dammit I'm too self-important for that!

Game Station, one of the UK's biggest Video game chains, very occasionally sells the Hori stick for about half what it should go for. But every time I've been into several local branches and every time they've said they either don't have any or haven't even heard of the thing.

I loved the MegaDrive's 6-button "banana" pad myself, even though I used to play SCE with the 6-button Arcade Stick II. So I'm just glad to be able to use a similar controller again for arcade & emulated games. I hope they can get those new controllers over here soon though. I've been looking for a cheap Hori stick for 360 since they were released, but I've always missed them in the shops. We only ever seem to get one or two over here per local games shop, and I'm convinced the staff and/or their mates swipe them before they even go out on the shelves.

One small rule of thumb I swear by: as much as possible, try to make sure all your devices run at the same bus speed -- or "whole" divisions of if not. For example: if your CPU runs at 800MHz FSB, try to get RAM and a graphics card that run at multiplications/divisions of 800MHz. The last PC I built a few years ago was really well matched in this regard, and it was noticeably faster than better spec'd machines with less well-matched components. Can be a bit of a ball-ache, but I think it's worth doing if you're going to hand pick your components.

Actually, the cars - and no doubt the baseballs - can be used as ammo for a junk-throwing weapon you build yourself. You can buy the blueprint from Moira in Craterside Supplies, though I haven't built one yet myself. As far "going clepto" goes, I get too fed up with getting over-encumbered during a decent trek that I end up eating loads of stuff without needing to. And shooting up on meds or stimulants sometimes, too. Got a few nasty habits now it seems...

Listened to Hybrid's Soundsystem_01 a few times over the last week. While initially being disappointed with it, I've had it on loud today while working at home (blimmin' snow) and it's brilliant. But don't think it's some floaty, precocious over-produced Trance guff like the Hybrid of yester-year could be occasionally... Soundsystem_01 is a two-disc compilation of varied, intelligent and meaty Electronic music. The first disc is quite mellow and alludes to modern movie soundtracks, with contributions from Trentemøller and Harry Gregson-Williams. Whereas the second disc is a proper thumping mix of some quality Progressive tracks from the last 18 months or so. Tis really very good.

Chubby got skills.

I've tried several of TT's infamous LEGO tie-ins and I really cannot understand their appeal, as games. Strip away the vomiticious bastardisations of my youth's favourite franchises, and you're left with: ploddy, imprecise controls stupid, fixed camera novelty "action" sequences, exclusively defined by an even more stupid camera boring character design, and; what seems like deliberately awkward level design, apparently intended to kill the player over and over again--instant longevity! In short: uninspired, bland and wholly repetitive gameplay. I just don't get it. I recently picked up LEGO Indiana Jones as an introductory game for my kids. But I find myself quietly biting on the arm of the sofa in utter frustration at it the whole time. And still these games sell, by the truckload. Can someone draw me a diagram or something, either highlighting these games' masterful designs or indicating which part of my brain/soul I've had burnt off?

Ah, of course! How remiss of me, Mr Muh. And, for anyone who didn't get what I meant by "James has turned into Mr Stabby," well, follow that link back there. Actually, I think you should make that your avatar, Jim.

Blimey, I think NetDevil and LEGO might have something to say about Blockland once Universe gets closer to launch. Still, bet you won't get in the official LEGO game.

It made my head hurt after a while, trying to follow all the different discussions going on, but there's some interesting Resident Evil 5 discourse over on NeoGAF at the moment. In the interest of full disclosure: I found that thread genuinely frightening. I think I must lead a very sanitised and closeted life.

Played the beta of Mount & Blade at numerous points during its development. Great game, and daylight robbery for $7.50 -- damn me for not seeing it when it was on sale.

Yeah, not quite enough of us to make things really interesting. I think, because we were all pretty closely matched (skills-wise), things were fairly predictable. The conversation was very interesting though, definitely. That's what you get from having a part-time radio host in your game though I suppose. You missed me recalling my travelling childhood in some detail, and James' mock-synæsthesia. You also missed this:

Jesus, Raz... call yourself a cat? You should've been merrily frolicking amongst its intestines by the time the camera was found. ...oh alright.

I had the good sense to stay at home today (but the bad sense to still work). But, regardless, I'm definitely on for some rocket-powered wrecking later on. toblix, this will only serve to make your eventual return even more triumphanterer. What is it they say; abscess makes the heart go softer?

Resident Evil: Degeneration ...just, wow. What a horrible, horrible film, stuffed to bursting with any and all of the most detestably fucking stupid action/horror cliches you dare to imagine. From the last two decades or so. It's like watching one huge, utterly atrocious cutscene with no apparent end. And those glistening, bug-eyed Wax People they call characters... bleurgh!

So I had a play around in the demo, and it looks like it's got potential. It looks wonderful, above everything else, though the demo's suffering from some horrific tearing a lot of the time. The play mechanics seem good. There are a couple of good - albeit crowbarred - examples of co-op play in the two demo levels. With another person, it could be a lot of fun I think. Guns feel (and sound) weak, though. The pistol sounds weedy and spud gun-like, while the sniper rifle isn't much better, feeling and sounding like something you'd find at the fair. It takes a number of shots to kill even the standard cannon fodder, headshots or otherwise. Your partner has a sub-machine gun as her second weapon, but all that seems to do is repel enemies rather than damage them. It can get quite frustrating, especially as ammo is typically spartan. The way dead enemies bubble and then melt away seems like an unnecessary throwback to more technically limited games, like House of the Dead and the earlier Resident Evil titles. It's just a really weird thing to happen and didn't sit right from my perspective. Still, tiny detail. Otherwise it looks promising, though I'd probably only want to play it co-op with a friend next to me on the sofa I think.

Carcetti too, or so I'm told.

Fallout 3 on Xbox 360. But, fuck... does that Reilly's Rangers quest not just go on, and on, and on?!

I noticed that earlier--chuffin' bargain. Annoying that it's not working for you, though. Could it be region-/currency-related?

I want to play this again. I got most of the way through the castle, but didn't get to the maze part. I saw the maze whilst running around the battlements and corridors, but got stuck about then and didn't progress. Really enjoyed it though.

It's improving, definitely. I've been fairly indifferent towards BSG since mid-way through season 3, but the latest episode was good. Bit too Trek at times for me, but still, they're getting the tension back in there that we all loved originally. (Well I did...) Nice that Adama and the Prez tongue each other in public now, too. That was starting to get ridiculous.

Spent most of this morning waiting for the Dawn of War II beta to download, via Steam. Finally got the thing installed, but it wouldn't start--crash report window every time I tried to launch it. So I downloaded and installed the Games for Windows Live* software, patched it for Windows XP as required by MS, then tried again; same thing, crash report window immediately after trying to launch. Last thing to try was reverting Steam from the beta client back to the standard software. Reboot for good measure and still the same thing. You know, this - plus the perpetual hardware paper-chase - is what made me ditch PC gaming a couple of years ago. It's horse-shit and I can't stand it. * After a couple of weeks easy livin' on Windows 7, it suddenly developed HDD errors. So I had to completely twat my PC (remove all partitions, rebuild, reformat, and then reinstall everything) on Monday.