New game

Guess which game, imported from Japan, came through the post for me yesterday...

:)

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…

#1

Wii is #1!

It has overtaken the Xbox360 in less than half the time that the 360 has been out on release...

Look HERE...

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…

Barry and Joker

Films watched:
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?

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…

PS3 unbreakable?

Is the PS3 unbreakable?

This article seems to suggest this...

LINK

My conclusion? Some people have far too much free time!

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 !!!

Rock Band pricing...

See the link HERE

$200 for th full package! That's game, guitar, drums and microphone... Phew. Also, rather strangely, it looks as if the XBox 360 is STILL going to have a wired controller! This is a real shame for XBox users as a wireless guitar would be a great bonus for the game - I guess that their propietry wireless technology just cost too much...

BTW - does that guitar look a little familiar :)

Guitar Hero?

Look what Roz and I purchased today...

Second hand, very cheap, but hardly used - from a friend... We couldn't say no :)

All I've got to do now is tune it, then learn to play.... Shouldn't be too difficult - I'm passable at Guitar Hero - erm, maybe not :-/

B5: The Lost Tales

Film watched:

Babylon 5: The Lost Tales

Very good budget restrictive film. Just wish there was more!

7.5/10