Film watched:
Children of Men
A miracle amongs chaos. A moving, exceptionally crafted film.
8/10
Thursday, October 04, 2007
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Play safe now!
That’s right young lad, you must remember to play safe now, always remember that if things get a little too exciting, you know erm, a little hot a sweaty, a little errr energetic…You must always get ready to use protection.
Just slip your protection over your… well you know… then you’ll be sure not to have any accidents.
That’s right, if it wasn’t bad enough that the Wii was given the name “Wii” and the fact that the Wiimote looks every so phallic, Nintendo have now announced that every Wiimote purchased from the end of the month onwards will come together with a free condom (or the Wii remote jacket if you want to be precise). Yep, Nintendo have made the sleek design of the Wiimote now look totally stupid…
I present exhibit A:
You can even go to the Nintendo website and order these for free if you already have a Wii. Alternatively you could just be sensible with your Wiimote and NOT throw it across the room and save the embarrassment of turning your Wiimote into a dildo.
Just slip your protection over your… well you know… then you’ll be sure not to have any accidents.
That’s right, if it wasn’t bad enough that the Wii was given the name “Wii” and the fact that the Wiimote looks every so phallic, Nintendo have now announced that every Wiimote purchased from the end of the month onwards will come together with a free condom (or the Wii remote jacket if you want to be precise). Yep, Nintendo have made the sleek design of the Wiimote now look totally stupid…
I present exhibit A:
You can even go to the Nintendo website and order these for free if you already have a Wii. Alternatively you could just be sensible with your Wiimote and NOT throw it across the room and save the embarrassment of turning your Wiimote into a dildo.
Alternatively, with the rumble on you get an instant vibrator...
NOOO... The images BURN my mind...
Monday, September 24, 2007
Games, Demo’s and Elizabeth
The PSN has recently been graced with a relatively healthy selection of demos (I am of course talking about the US PSN – the UK PSN is still a little lacking), as such, I thought I’d take a moment to give my 2 cents worth on the more interesting of these:
FIFA 08
On the rare occasions that I play Football games, I’ve previous much preferred the Pro Evolution series. Nothing has changed, as well presented as Fifa is, it still feels clunky and well, not as enjoyable as it should be.
Stuntman: Ignition
A relatively large demo, with 3 full sections to complete. As a game, it seems rather good, but I think that I’d quickly get frustrated by having to restart everything from the beginning when more then 5 errors are made during the stunts.
SKATE
I also downloaded the latest Tony Hawks demo last week and to be frank, that seemed pretty dreadful, SKATE on the other hand seems like a breath of fresh air compared to the seemingly tired Tony Hawks games. The reason? The control feels much more appropriate to a skateboard game. Also, the area in which you skate around isn’t OTT, instead it’s a realistic well thought out skate park. I must confess that I was quite impressed by this.
As well as downloading demo’s, I also purchased 2 games recently. Locoroco for the PS3 at a bargain price of £1.99 from the PSN and Super Paper Mario for the Wii. Locoroco, is well, odd. It’s more like Lemmings than the PSP Locoroco and to be fair, I haven’t had chance to give it a good go, however for £1.99, it’s worth buying for the art style alone!
I’m thoroughly enjoying Super Paper Mario at the moment. It’s a bit of an odd game really, it certainly isn’t as challenging as a normal 2D platform Mario and not as deep as a standard RPG Paper Mario. Instead it’s like a normal Paper Mario game with the RPG elements stripped to the minimum and platforming and exploration pushed to the fore. All great fun though, and very amusing at times.
Film watched:
Elizabeth
Fantastic performances by Blanchett and Rush. Golden Years looks promising!
7.5/10
FIFA 08
On the rare occasions that I play Football games, I’ve previous much preferred the Pro Evolution series. Nothing has changed, as well presented as Fifa is, it still feels clunky and well, not as enjoyable as it should be.
Stuntman: Ignition
A relatively large demo, with 3 full sections to complete. As a game, it seems rather good, but I think that I’d quickly get frustrated by having to restart everything from the beginning when more then 5 errors are made during the stunts.
SKATE
I also downloaded the latest Tony Hawks demo last week and to be frank, that seemed pretty dreadful, SKATE on the other hand seems like a breath of fresh air compared to the seemingly tired Tony Hawks games. The reason? The control feels much more appropriate to a skateboard game. Also, the area in which you skate around isn’t OTT, instead it’s a realistic well thought out skate park. I must confess that I was quite impressed by this.
As well as downloading demo’s, I also purchased 2 games recently. Locoroco for the PS3 at a bargain price of £1.99 from the PSN and Super Paper Mario for the Wii. Locoroco, is well, odd. It’s more like Lemmings than the PSP Locoroco and to be fair, I haven’t had chance to give it a good go, however for £1.99, it’s worth buying for the art style alone!
I’m thoroughly enjoying Super Paper Mario at the moment. It’s a bit of an odd game really, it certainly isn’t as challenging as a normal 2D platform Mario and not as deep as a standard RPG Paper Mario. Instead it’s like a normal Paper Mario game with the RPG elements stripped to the minimum and platforming and exploration pushed to the fore. All great fun though, and very amusing at times.
Film watched:
Elizabeth
Fantastic performances by Blanchett and Rush. Golden Years looks promising!
7.5/10
Thursday, September 13, 2007
School
Elliot started school this week and so far, he seems to be enjoying the experience. Unfortunately for him, he has also come down with another case of tonsillitis, which is making him a little on the tired side, thankfully, however, he is still managing to make it to school and it isn’t bothering him as much now that he is on medication.
At present he is doing just over 2 hours at school in the afternoon, so only time will tell how he adjusts to full school life for 5 days a week. I know that I was less than enamoured by the whole school experience, but then again Roz was the other end of the spectrum, so maybe he’ll take after her in that respect.
I’m very proud that my little boy seems to be taking things in his stride, the thing is, he just seems to be growing up so damn fast!
At present he is doing just over 2 hours at school in the afternoon, so only time will tell how he adjusts to full school life for 5 days a week. I know that I was less than enamoured by the whole school experience, but then again Roz was the other end of the spectrum, so maybe he’ll take after her in that respect.
I’m very proud that my little boy seems to be taking things in his stride, the thing is, he just seems to be growing up so damn fast!
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
INDY 4
So, the final title on Indiana Jones 4 has been announced.... and this is....
Drum roll ...................
Hmm?!?
Monday, September 03, 2007
“REALLY fat” and Warhawk
I thought I’d note something on my blog for posterity…
The other day after taking Roz to line dancing, I was walking Elliot out of the venue where this is held, which requires walking through a bar/restaurant. As we were walking out we passed a rather plump woman, at which time Elliot made the following comment (rather loudly).
“Daddy, that woman is REALLY fat”.
I quickly apologised to the woman and tried rushing Elliot out of the room, but not before he could add the further comment…
“She stopped growing big upwards and instead started growing big outwards!”
Kids…. You gotta love them.
Game played:
Warhawk
First of all the negatives…
* For an online only game the community aspects of the game really are strikingly poor when compared against Resistance. It could just be that Resistance did everything so well and that I just took this for granted, but several things about the community aspects of Warhawk really bug me, as follows:
* Trying to find ranked games and getting to join them is surprising difficult. In Resistance, all you needed to do is choose “ranked game” and it would plop you in the next available game – very quickly. In Warhawk you have to manually find them and join them, and even then by the time you’ve tried the game is normally full. As such, it can take an age to join a ranked game.
* For an online game which comes with a mic (with the Blu-ray version) there is very little online chatter, and when there is the quality of this isn’t as good as Resistance. It could just be the games I’ve played have been unusually quite, but Warhawk would really benefit voice communications to outline strategies.
* There is no way to track people you’ve just played against (available in Resistance).
* There is no way to block voice communications with specific players – i.e. if they are being offensive prats (available in Resistance).
* There is no quick and easy way to add a friend/buddy (available in Resistance).
* There is no way to add squads so that voice communication is always on and also no way to create a party to enter games (available in Resistance).
* The creation and management of clans is also rather limited.
Despite all of the above, Warhawk is immense fun. The battles in the game are fiercely fought and the likes of capture the flag and zone games can be very closely fought affairs. Also the feel of the game is very different to Resistance, as vehicles play an integral part of the game and players are seen in third person. Also, although there are actually only 5 different areas to explores, these are all very big and play differently depending on the type of game you are playing.
Dogfights (on advance setting) are initially difficult (i.e. you won’t last long at first), but after some practice, they can be thrilling as you dodge around canyons and over towns in pursuit of other Warhawks.
Overall, although a little flawed and lacking in the features that I would have liked, this is great fun to play and that at the end of the day, this is all that is required.
The other day after taking Roz to line dancing, I was walking Elliot out of the venue where this is held, which requires walking through a bar/restaurant. As we were walking out we passed a rather plump woman, at which time Elliot made the following comment (rather loudly).
“Daddy, that woman is REALLY fat”.
I quickly apologised to the woman and tried rushing Elliot out of the room, but not before he could add the further comment…
“She stopped growing big upwards and instead started growing big outwards!”
Kids…. You gotta love them.
Game played:
Warhawk
First of all the negatives…
* For an online only game the community aspects of the game really are strikingly poor when compared against Resistance. It could just be that Resistance did everything so well and that I just took this for granted, but several things about the community aspects of Warhawk really bug me, as follows:
* Trying to find ranked games and getting to join them is surprising difficult. In Resistance, all you needed to do is choose “ranked game” and it would plop you in the next available game – very quickly. In Warhawk you have to manually find them and join them, and even then by the time you’ve tried the game is normally full. As such, it can take an age to join a ranked game.
* For an online game which comes with a mic (with the Blu-ray version) there is very little online chatter, and when there is the quality of this isn’t as good as Resistance. It could just be the games I’ve played have been unusually quite, but Warhawk would really benefit voice communications to outline strategies.
* There is no way to track people you’ve just played against (available in Resistance).
* There is no way to block voice communications with specific players – i.e. if they are being offensive prats (available in Resistance).
* There is no quick and easy way to add a friend/buddy (available in Resistance).
* There is no way to add squads so that voice communication is always on and also no way to create a party to enter games (available in Resistance).
* The creation and management of clans is also rather limited.
Despite all of the above, Warhawk is immense fun. The battles in the game are fiercely fought and the likes of capture the flag and zone games can be very closely fought affairs. Also the feel of the game is very different to Resistance, as vehicles play an integral part of the game and players are seen in third person. Also, although there are actually only 5 different areas to explores, these are all very big and play differently depending on the type of game you are playing.
Dogfights (on advance setting) are initially difficult (i.e. you won’t last long at first), but after some practice, they can be thrilling as you dodge around canyons and over towns in pursuit of other Warhawks.
Overall, although a little flawed and lacking in the features that I would have liked, this is great fun to play and that at the end of the day, this is all that is required.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Happy Potter, Waverace & other stuff
Finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows last week. My verdict? It was good, but not spectacular, enjoyable, but not groundbreaking. I still think that Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is the best in the series. I had high hopes for quite a dramatic finale to the series, but it ended up being rather predictable, with the final chapter being particularly wet. I still think that it’s a very good series of books, but I think that some people just get a little too hooked up on them!
I downloaded Waverace for the N64 on my Wii recently (I used to own it – but stupidly sold it many years ago). It is definitely a far superior game to Waverace: Bluestorm on the GC. The wave effects are still very impressive, even for the N64, but it’s the control of the jet ski’s which make it a better game. On the GC version it was just too damn sensitive, the N64 version feels just right. I have to say that it’s been one of my favourite Virtual Console downloads so far.
Had a quick go of Bioshock on the PC the other night. I was very impressed, it certainly seems like a very immersive game. It’s just a shame that any hope of a PS3 version has gone out of the window recently.
I’m looking forward to downloading Warhawk, but unfortunately whilst it is already out in the US, the European download has been delayed a further 2 days until the 30 August. Why? Just to coincide with the normal PSN updates which happen each Thursday. Seems like a pretty dumb reason to me, but at least it’s only a 2 day delay, so I shouldn’t complain too much. Looking forward to multiplayer dogfights :)
Lastly I have to mention that Roz has booked a ticket to Mika (a.k.a. the confirmed son of Satan) on December 3 in London. I’m going to go along with her to London for a couple of days, but I must stress that I AM NOT GOING TO WATCH MIKA LIVE, I’m just going along with her to London. I would rather have my intestines forcibly pulled out and fed to a cat, which is probably the type of sensation that I would feel if I did happen to watch Mika live.
Roz also proudly informed me that she has over 200 plays of “Grace Kelly” by Mika on her ipod…
I’m really starting to worry about her sanity…
I downloaded Waverace for the N64 on my Wii recently (I used to own it – but stupidly sold it many years ago). It is definitely a far superior game to Waverace: Bluestorm on the GC. The wave effects are still very impressive, even for the N64, but it’s the control of the jet ski’s which make it a better game. On the GC version it was just too damn sensitive, the N64 version feels just right. I have to say that it’s been one of my favourite Virtual Console downloads so far.
Had a quick go of Bioshock on the PC the other night. I was very impressed, it certainly seems like a very immersive game. It’s just a shame that any hope of a PS3 version has gone out of the window recently.
I’m looking forward to downloading Warhawk, but unfortunately whilst it is already out in the US, the European download has been delayed a further 2 days until the 30 August. Why? Just to coincide with the normal PSN updates which happen each Thursday. Seems like a pretty dumb reason to me, but at least it’s only a 2 day delay, so I shouldn’t complain too much. Looking forward to multiplayer dogfights :)
Lastly I have to mention that Roz has booked a ticket to Mika (a.k.a. the confirmed son of Satan) on December 3 in London. I’m going to go along with her to London for a couple of days, but I must stress that I AM NOT GOING TO WATCH MIKA LIVE, I’m just going along with her to London. I would rather have my intestines forcibly pulled out and fed to a cat, which is probably the type of sensation that I would feel if I did happen to watch Mika live.
Roz also proudly informed me that she has over 200 plays of “Grace Kelly” by Mika on her ipod…
I’m really starting to worry about her sanity…
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Format war and “SEX”
The format war between Blu-ray and HD DVD just gets dirtier and dirtier.
The news in today is that both Paramount and Dreamworks, who have previously supported both formats, have decided that from now on that they will support just HD DVD (apart from films directed by Steven Spielberg strangely enough – I guess Spielberg likes Blu-ray!)
On face value this just seems plain dumb. After all the format war has been slipping in favour to Blu-ray for some time now, with sale of approximately 2-1 or even 3-1 in favour of Blu-ray of late. However, I have also heard rumour that Paramount received a payoff of $150 million to encourage the support of HD DVD from the HD DVD consortium. You can see the logic of accepting the offer, after all the sales of both formats is miniscule in comparison to DVD sales, so this is just extra change in the pockets of Paramount. Unfortunately, for the customer, this just means that an unnecessary format war has been drawn out even longer! This seems to have annoyed the Americans no end, mainly because Transformers is a Paramount film and will now be coming out on just HD DVD. A whole heap of American’s seem to love this loud and ultimately pointless film for some unknown reason (bless them).
There are those that suggest that the format war is pointless anyway, as digital distribution is bound to take over from a physical medium. I really do not see this happening, at least not for another 10-20 years, as the size of HD movies is just too large, and is a very different story to music downloads. Also, a whole bunch of people (me included), just prefer to purchase things on a physical medium (i.e. I still buy CD’s).
Overall, this news just sucks. I was just staring to buy a few Blu-ray disks now that I have my PS3, but cautiously, as I didn’t want to end up with a ton if disks for a defunct format. Now, this news makes me even more cautious. I still think that Blu-ray has the upper hand and will likely win in the end, but a Blu-ray victory looks a little less certain than it did yesterday.
The thing is, I really believe that we will eventually need a physical HD Format for films. At present, most people are pretty oblivious to this and are more than happy with DVD (and rightly so), but as HD TV’s are adopted and when HD TV signals start to become the standard (probably not for some time) those DVD’s will start to look a little below par. For now however, both HD DVD and Blu-ray will remain very much a niche format, very similar to Laserdisk in the US prior to the arrival of DVD.
I have just tried to access my own blog from work this lunchtime using Explorer, only to be faced by the following message:
Your organization's Internet use policy restricts access to this web page at this time.
Reason: The Websense category "Sex" is filtered.
URL: http://bazlurgan.blogspot.com/
Hmm…. Right then. I guess that my blog is just too explicit for my works internet security system, because lets face it, my blog is simply laced with explicit articles, shocking photo’s and raunchy video’s. I really should be ashamed…
No, what probably happened is that at some point on my blog, I mentioned the word “sex”. Oh dear, how very, very, bad of me… Because just mentioning the word “sex” must be a big no no, after all there is nothing more shocking and disturbing than reading the word “sex “online is there? After all, just think of the images that the simple word “sex” conjures up! These thoughts must be stopped, and the mere mention of “sex” must be prohibited at all costs.
For example, just think how many times I mentioned “sex” in the last paragraph alone – see I just did it again! At this rate, I’ll never be able to read my own blog at work ever again…
Just to be rebellious….
“Sex”
There I said it again.
I wonder what would happen if I said “f*ck”?
Oh, never mind, I’m not going there…
The news in today is that both Paramount and Dreamworks, who have previously supported both formats, have decided that from now on that they will support just HD DVD (apart from films directed by Steven Spielberg strangely enough – I guess Spielberg likes Blu-ray!)
On face value this just seems plain dumb. After all the format war has been slipping in favour to Blu-ray for some time now, with sale of approximately 2-1 or even 3-1 in favour of Blu-ray of late. However, I have also heard rumour that Paramount received a payoff of $150 million to encourage the support of HD DVD from the HD DVD consortium. You can see the logic of accepting the offer, after all the sales of both formats is miniscule in comparison to DVD sales, so this is just extra change in the pockets of Paramount. Unfortunately, for the customer, this just means that an unnecessary format war has been drawn out even longer! This seems to have annoyed the Americans no end, mainly because Transformers is a Paramount film and will now be coming out on just HD DVD. A whole heap of American’s seem to love this loud and ultimately pointless film for some unknown reason (bless them).
There are those that suggest that the format war is pointless anyway, as digital distribution is bound to take over from a physical medium. I really do not see this happening, at least not for another 10-20 years, as the size of HD movies is just too large, and is a very different story to music downloads. Also, a whole bunch of people (me included), just prefer to purchase things on a physical medium (i.e. I still buy CD’s).
Overall, this news just sucks. I was just staring to buy a few Blu-ray disks now that I have my PS3, but cautiously, as I didn’t want to end up with a ton if disks for a defunct format. Now, this news makes me even more cautious. I still think that Blu-ray has the upper hand and will likely win in the end, but a Blu-ray victory looks a little less certain than it did yesterday.
The thing is, I really believe that we will eventually need a physical HD Format for films. At present, most people are pretty oblivious to this and are more than happy with DVD (and rightly so), but as HD TV’s are adopted and when HD TV signals start to become the standard (probably not for some time) those DVD’s will start to look a little below par. For now however, both HD DVD and Blu-ray will remain very much a niche format, very similar to Laserdisk in the US prior to the arrival of DVD.
I have just tried to access my own blog from work this lunchtime using Explorer, only to be faced by the following message:
Your organization's Internet use policy restricts access to this web page at this time.
Reason: The Websense category "Sex" is filtered.
URL: http://bazlurgan.blogspot.com/
Hmm…. Right then. I guess that my blog is just too explicit for my works internet security system, because lets face it, my blog is simply laced with explicit articles, shocking photo’s and raunchy video’s. I really should be ashamed…
No, what probably happened is that at some point on my blog, I mentioned the word “sex”. Oh dear, how very, very, bad of me… Because just mentioning the word “sex” must be a big no no, after all there is nothing more shocking and disturbing than reading the word “sex “online is there? After all, just think of the images that the simple word “sex” conjures up! These thoughts must be stopped, and the mere mention of “sex” must be prohibited at all costs.
For example, just think how many times I mentioned “sex” in the last paragraph alone – see I just did it again! At this rate, I’ll never be able to read my own blog at work ever again…
Just to be rebellious….
“Sex”
There I said it again.
I wonder what would happen if I said “f*ck”?
Oh, never mind, I’m not going there…
Monday, August 20, 2007
Barry and Joker
Films watched:
Barry Lyndon
Barry Lyndon
Wooden performance by Ryan O’Neill spoils this Kubrick period drama.
6.5/10
There have been a few pictures from The Dark Knight which have found there way onto the internet of late… One I particular caught my attention. A much better image of The Joker has come to light. This is shown below:
I simply love the Joker as a character, but he can often be portrayed incorrectly, both in the comics and on film (I do not rank Nicolson’s Joker very highly). You have to hit the right note of utter and complete insanity to achieve true Jokerism (hey – I’ve invented a new word). The best to capture this outside of the comics was strangely enough Mark Hamill (yes –Luke Skywalker) during his run playing the character for The Batman Animated Series.
Anyway, the above photo gives me some hope that he may be portrayed well in The Dark Knight. After all, does there appear to be a shred of sanity in that face?
Thursday, August 16, 2007
Delay, delay, delay
There seems to have been game delay after delay recently…. Here is the list of delays that spring to mind so far…
Smash Bros Brawl – Still due out in December in the US and Japan, but delayed until 2008 in Europe.
Metal Gear Solid 4 – Originally set to be released in 2007, but now has a “worldwide” release due of “early 2008”.
Grand Theft Auto 4 – Originally due out in October 2007, but now pushed back to quarter 1 2008.
And now finally…
Rock Band - Still due out in December in the US, but delayed until 2008 in Europe.
Sometimes it sucks to be European…
Smash Bros Brawl – Still due out in December in the US and Japan, but delayed until 2008 in Europe.
Metal Gear Solid 4 – Originally set to be released in 2007, but now has a “worldwide” release due of “early 2008”.
Grand Theft Auto 4 – Originally due out in October 2007, but now pushed back to quarter 1 2008.
And now finally…
Rock Band - Still due out in December in the US, but delayed until 2008 in Europe.
Sometimes it sucks to be European…
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
PS3 unbreakable?
Is the PS3 unbreakable?
This article seems to suggest this...
LINK
My conclusion? Some people have far too much free time!
This article seems to suggest this...
LINK
My conclusion? Some people have far too much free time!
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Guitar strings and Mika
So, this morning I thought I’d tune our guitar and have my first lesson. After hooking up the electronic tuner I thought I’d start with the number 1E string. After a few seconds of twisting – TWANG. There goes one string.
Luckily I had spare strings, so after figuring out how to string the guitar again, I started once more, making my way instead from the 6 string to number 1E again. 6 to 2 were fine, had no problems tuning these, and then came 1E again…. TWANG…
Hmm – no more spare strings. So that was my first lesson over and done with!
Also, rather unluckily, the guitar shop near my work is shut all week. I was hoping that they might help me tune this final devilish string – but I guess this will have to wait.
Mika….
Roz likes Mika and plays his album ALL THE TIME…
My downstairs neighbours (and tenants) like Mika and play his album (rather loudly) ALL THE TIME…
If I have to hear about Grace Kelly, Fat Girls or Lollypops one more time I may snap (much like my guitar string).
I didn’t mind him at first, now with hand on heart, I can honestly say…
I … HATE … MIKA
MIKA … MUST … DIE !!!
Luckily I had spare strings, so after figuring out how to string the guitar again, I started once more, making my way instead from the 6 string to number 1E again. 6 to 2 were fine, had no problems tuning these, and then came 1E again…. TWANG…
Hmm – no more spare strings. So that was my first lesson over and done with!
Also, rather unluckily, the guitar shop near my work is shut all week. I was hoping that they might help me tune this final devilish string – but I guess this will have to wait.
Mika….
Roz likes Mika and plays his album ALL THE TIME…
My downstairs neighbours (and tenants) like Mika and play his album (rather loudly) ALL THE TIME…
If I have to hear about Grace Kelly, Fat Girls or Lollypops one more time I may snap (much like my guitar string).
I didn’t mind him at first, now with hand on heart, I can honestly say…
I … HATE … MIKA
MIKA … MUST … DIE !!!
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