Blog

The thoughts, opinions, happenings, and just plain ramblings of a seemingly boring person.

A New TA Successor on Kickstarter

Planetary AnnihilationThe idea of crowd funding has really taken off in the past year or so. Headlined most prominently by US-based Kickstarter, it enables people who want to raise money for something to easily pitch their idea to anyone on the internet, who can in turn pledge a certain amount of money often in return for some rewards once the project gets off the ground. It's a great way to raise early capital for a project without having to go to banks, or relinquish part-ownership to venture-capitalist firms.

I hadn't yet previously supported anything on Kickstarter or on other crowd funding … Read more →

I Just Can’t Get Into Skyrim

I like to think of myself as a pretty diverse gamer: I play across multiple genres, on multiple platforms, from both AAA big-publisher titles down to the small downloadable indie-type games.

But if I'm brutally honest with myself, all that is a big fat lie. Recently I have come to the realisation that, in terms of video games, I like what I like and even the best game that doesn't fit into my pre-conceived set of 'likes' or 'interests' will never grab me.

Case in point: The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. This game was fantastically well received critically, and … Read more →

Mass Effect 3 Extended Cut – My Thoughts

Mass Effect 3 Extended CutFirstly, this post will probably contain a lot of Mass Effect spoilers, so you are forewarned.

A while ago I posted my opinion on Mass Effect 3 shortly after it was released and I played through it. To paraphrase: epic game for the first 95%, but the ending to the game almost ruined the whole series for me. Since then, in reaction to the outcry over the lack of closure, illogicality, and plot inconsistencies, EA/Bioware announced that they'll be releasing an 'Extended Cut' of the ending which will add extra cut-scenes and dialogue to more fully explain it.

My attitude … Read more →

Mass Effect 3: Epic Gaming, Epic Ending Disappointments

Mass Effect 3 CoverI've just finished playing through Mass Effect 3, and I really enjoyed 90% of it. But like almost of the entire internet, the ending was just abysmal. Abysmal writing, abysmal plot, abysmal closure. The ending was such an epic disappointment, and like many others have mentioned, it's mostly counter to what the 2.9 games leading up to it were all about. I'll attempt to write this entry devoid of any big spoilers to the ME3 endings, but no promises if you are spoiler allergic!

I belatedly got into Mass Effect at the start of last year. At the … Read more →

Modern Borefare 3

Modern Warfare 3I've finally started to catch up on the gaming season releases, and the first that arrived in the mail: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3. After being largely disappointed with Modern Warfare 2, I wasn't really expecting much at all from the latest in the series.

After playing through the game over the past week or so, I wasn't at all surprised that it didn't exceed those expectations.

The game isn't "bad" per se, but it isn't all that good either. It really is just more of the same continued on from MW2. The graphics are mostly identical … Read more →

Remotes & MMORPGs

Logitech Harmony 650 remoteWe're still currently settling into the new house. Most things have found a place, but there's always those annoying items that you use, but not nearly often enough, that you can't throw away but have got to find a place for that is out of the way but still accessible for when you do on the odd occasion need it.

Anywho, one geeky thing that I have picked up recently is a new Logitech Harmony remote (I got the 650). Now that we have a AV receiver in addition to the TV, PS3, and WDTV, this remote is the best … Read more →

Birthday Goals & BF3

So begins the last year of my 20s. I'm really not looking forward leaving my 20s behind, so I guess i'm going to have to make the best of the year ahead.

My birthday yesterday went really well for the most part. I stayed up late the night before and kicked off my birthday watching Arsenal pummel Blackburn 7-1 with the cherry on top being a Thierry Henry Premier League goal. It's been a long long time since Arsenal won big like that (at least a season or two ago), so it was a really enjoyable game to watch. It's … Read more →

The Best and Worst of 2011

So my traditional critical wrap of the year is once again upon us. As a result of all the house building, this year I haven't really played many games at all, so that part of this review might be a little underdone. Balancing that out, this year Des and I went and saw a lot of movies, both theatrically and at home. At my count (which I think is still a little short), we've seen 35 movies released this year.

Anyway, here we go:

Movies

The Adventures of TintinBest Movie: The Adventures of Tintin

This one was a tough one because no movie … Read more →

Gaming Season 2011-2012 Begins: BF3 Beta

So another Gaming Season is upon us; the time of year that mega game companies seek to part parents and elder geeks with their money, and cash in on Christmas/holiday-related TV babysitting and bought love.

In looking through this season's upcoming launches that I am interested in, i'd say it's a comfortable mix: not too overloaded, but not overly lean either.

Battlefield 3 - October 25
Sonic Generations - November 3
COD: MW3 - November 8
Zelda: Skyward Sword - November 24
Mass Effect 3 - March 6

I'm really looking forward to Zelda, but the headline game has to … Read more →

Am I a Logitech Fanboy? New Mouse & X-Men

Logitech G9xIn the past few weeks the middle-click button on my trusty Logitech MX 400 mouse that I got about five years ago was starting to play up. This is especially concerning as the middle mouse button is what I use as melee-knifing in BC2, and the last thing you want in close quarters knife-combat in BC2 is to have an unreliable mouse button for that action.

The MX400 is a great mouse, and a five-year tour of duty is nothing to baulk at, but the time had come for a replacement. Of course five years has seen the MX400 go … Read more →