Big thanks to Ben for getting me some amazing Gameboy cufflinks.

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If you've ever played AOE (Age Of Empires) in the past you'll know it was one of the best RTS' of its time and still holds up today as a classic. So when Microsoft announced it was working on a new online version I was excited, but what stood out was that they were giving it away for free.

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For the first few hours of AOE Online you'd be forgiven for thinking that there wasn't a pay element included in the game at all. The developers have been very careful to hide away anything to do with purchasing until you've grasps the basics of the game. It's only after you've complete the first set of tutorial missions that you're exposed to a purchase upgrade. You're informed that an exclusive item can upgrade your units giving them stat bonuses but at a price, 1840 gamer points in fact, which works out at £15.76. For your money you gain access to the 'premium content pack' allowing you to use rare items, star tech and advisers. Helpfully the AOE website provides a comparison table that makes it easy to see what you get for your money.

The good news it you can pretty much ignore the purchase side of the game if you wish. Casual gamers will have fun with the missions and can play with friends in co-op mode. It's only when you want to get serious with the game do you need to upgrade, and at around £16 that's a lot less than a full retail game.

So far it looks like Microsoft have gotten the balance right with AOE Online. Upgrade purchases aside, AOE Online looks great, is fun and doesn't cost you anything to play. Its hard to complain about that.

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Updated http://moretrackslikethis.appspot.com/ with similar artist search and annoying bobbing notification bar. UX is the next thing I'm going to work on, bring back drag&drop and playlist generation.

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Added similar artists to moretrackslikethis dev code. Now to make it look pretty. However, the lime green is growing on me.

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For a kids game it gets bloody hard in the last few levels.

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Aladdin for the Megadrive.

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Picked the whole set up cheap on Ebay.

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I'm really enjoying reading the Pluto series.

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With my recent interest in HTML5 gaming I've started replaying some of the classic games from my childhood. The late 80's and early 90's was a golden era for gaming seeing several generations of consoles and home computers enter the market. From the industrious Commodore 64 and the classic NES to the much loved Sega Mega Drive.

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Play SkiFree HTML5 clone

Gaming, art and coding are three of the my most enjoyable pursuits. So with the rise of HTML5 and growing creditability of JavaScript I've decided to step into the indie-game development scene with this, a SkiFree clone.  It is my first attempt at pulling all the elements of programming, pixel art and simple game mechanics into a single game.

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This isn't a post I wanted to write. For over a month now I've been hoping that the issues I've been experiencing with Google's Nexus S phone would have been resolved but unfortunately after two OTA updates the issues remain.

Over 18 months ago I purchased a HTC Hero so that I could experience Android. While it was a good phone, HTC lagged behind the Android updates meaning I was stuck with 1.6 while Nexus One uses were enjoying 2.1. I decided then that my next phone would be an official Google phone, one that would receive updates immediately. So when Google announced the Nexus One's successor, the Nexus S, I immediately pre-ordered it. The Nexus S was faster, lighter, curved, had a super AMOLED display and mostly importantly it was running the latest version of Android, Gingerbread 2.3. It was perfect.

Fast forward a few weeks after the announcement and I had the phone in my hands, that's when things started to go awry.

The first issue I encountered was during the setup procedure, the phone refused to retrieve the correct time from the network. I tried several times including several restarts but nothing worked. No big deal is thought, I can manually set it for now but little did I realise that this was just the beginning of my issues.

I'd been using the phone on a daily basis, tweeting, texting, browsing the web, all without issue until I had to make a series of phone calls. Five minutes into a call and the line went dead. A few "Hello?"'s later and I was looking down at the screen to see the Google boot logo. I thought that was unusual at the time but I had an important call to return to. I dialed them back, apologised then three  minutes later the phone rebooted itself again. This happened three times in a row.

Upset by this I searched the web to see if anyone else was experienced similar issues and it turned out I wasn't alone. People had been experience reboots during calls, while listening to music, watching videos and more. The issues weren't just restricted to rebooting, there was a whole collection of bugs arising for Google's flagship Android device:

• Photos and videos disappearing from the Gallery
• Music files not updating after adding or deleting via USB
• Network reception dropping off until the phone is restarted
• Browser lag when displaying pages with images
• SMS messages sent to the wrong recipient
• ...and of course, the phone randomly rebooting in calls

The real shame about this situation is if you exclude these issues the Nexus S is a great phone. The screen is phenomenal, battery life is excellent and Android 2.3 has lots of great improvements. However, none of these plus points matter when you're at constant risk of the phone rebooting.

Today an official Google employee posted news of a third minor release for Android 2.3 which is due out in the next few weeks. It specifically addresses rebooting during calls, but myself and other users are hoping it'll also fix the other issues.

I remain a fan of Android and look forward to version 3.0 (Honeycomb). I'm just disappointed that while they actively promote the Nexus S as being the 'Pure Google experience' there remains so many serious issues with both the device and the software.

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Mondays are special, something to look forward to. When else in the week can you load up with a man cannon, AK-47 and  gun down wave after wave of screaming witches and rocket toting mutants?

Killing Floor has a special charm, a comic-book lightheartedness. While L4D is a classic, there something endearing about Killing Floor. Maybe it's the RPG leveling system, or the purchasing of supplies between rounds that adds that something extra, making it a co-op game that lends itself to played again and again. 

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I was lucky enough to be given an Arduino Uno for Christmas. For those who haven't heard of Arduino before, it's an open-source programmable electronics prototyping board. It allows you to write code then flash it onto the board and interact with other electronic components such as LEDs or speakers.

For me the Arduino is the perfect combination of software and hardware. It allows me to programme then see that code interact with the physical world. For example, it only took an hour of experimenting to get a little flashing traffic light system working. The code is similar to C++, and while I'm more experienced with JavaScript and Python it was relative easy to get use to. Here's the code:

int redPin = 10; int yellowPin = 9; int greenPin = 8; void setup() {     pinMode(redPin, OUTPUT);     pinMode(yellowPin, OUTPUT);     pinMode(greenPin, OUTPUT); } void loop() {     digitalWrite(redPin, HIGH);     delay(300);     digitalWrite(yellowPin, HIGH);     delay(300);     digitalWrite(greenPin, HIGH);     delay(2000);     digitalWrite(redPin, LOW);     digitalWrite(yellowPin, LOW);     digitalWrite(greenPin, LOW);     delay(300); }

As you can see it's relatively simple. The fun part is wiring it all up the breadboard with resisters and LEDs and seeing the flashed code running.

I'm really looking forward to making more advanced devices, ultimately culminating in a robotic arm which has always been a dream of mine to build.

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After seeing @seb_ly's talk at FullFrontal I was inspired to code my own particle experiment. There's two great tricks I learnt from the that talk. The first was using semi-transparent fillRect to generate trails, the other was choosing alternative globalCompositeOperation settings to generate glow effects. For now I'm just playing around with circular rotation and improving my OOP JavaScript.

View the HTML5 canvas particle experiment

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I've already blogged about my love for Minecraft, so the natural next step was to setup our own server for co-op gameplay. It turned out to be a good time too as Amazon is offering free micro EC2 servers for a year.
Getting the server up and running was simple, with a very nice how-to guide on the forums for additional guidance. However, one thing remained, administration.

As a group we all have access to the server, but seeing as its running on Linux and Minecraft is a little flaky, there's a good chance we'll need to restart the application or reboot the server. So what happens if the server falls over when I'm out enjoying a Black sheep? That's where Android steps in. Some very nice programmers have made connectbot, a secure shell application that allows me to SSH into the server and run terminal commands. What makes connectbot even better is that it supports .pem keys, meaning I have passwordless access to the box.

I used Dropbox to copy the .pem certificate to my mobile, set up the server in connectbot, linked to the .pem and that was it. The soft-keyboard interface takes a while to get use to but its easy to learn.

So there we have it, remote SSH access to our Minecraft server via my mobile phone. Now we just have to wait for the Minecraft update so we can use the portal and enter the Nether.

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Our third hack day started with a clear vision 'create an online multi-player racing game using the latest web technology'.

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I think I've made a terrible mistake. Over the last few weeks I've been reading about the growing success of Minecraft, so I decided to buy in and see what all the fuss was about. It's now lunch time at work and I've spent the last half an hour mining iron ore and spelunking, a term I only learnt after playing this game.

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So L4D2 has finally come to an end *sigh*. Our weekly four player co-op gaming sessions culminated tonight in the completion of the final chapter.

I was surprised at how easy it was compared to earlier chapters, but overall a good finish. However, nothing could top the previous chapter, Hard Rain. That chapter is one of my all time favourite gaming experiences so far. From the multiple witch kills, to the awe-inspiring special effect that made you feel you where in the midst of a force ten storm. Hard Rain was perfect.

So farewell L4D2, you gave us many good times, and I see you again soon when the next DLC arrives.

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I recently had reason to question the security of my phone which led me to thinking about what services I've placed my trust in.

Back in December I purchased a HTC Hero and quickly found HTC slow at updating the Android OS. Being the geek that I am, I rooted the phone and started using custom ROMS. All was well until last weekend when I installed a new ROM that was so overly customised I was concerned about the safety of my Google account.

I use Google a lot, they have my emails, SMS messages, credit-card details, budget spreadsheets and more. So it's fair to say I prize my Google account and make sure its protected with a strong password. So when this ROM asked for my Google account name and password, it was pause for thought; What's stopping someone from adding code that collects my account details? It hasn't been officially approved. I'm downloading it from a public forum, sometimes from file sharing sites such as RapidShare. The full source code isn't available, and even if it was, how am I sure the binary was compiled from that source? The answer is I can't be sure. I'm taking a risk and placing my trust in the good will of a stranger.

There's always a level of trust asked of us when we use technology. From Window's OS to the Linux kernel, we hope that commercial interests and peer review will protect us. So what happens when small, immature services ask us to hand over our passwords?

One solution is oAuth, eliminating the need to pass your credentials directly but instead deferring to the original provider. This allows for granular control over what data can be accessed and providing a way to revoke that access. Twitter, Android Apps and even Facebook are all examples of this oAuth model.

So it's a shame to see websites still asking for your prized passwords. For example, many social sites will ask for your Google user name and password so it can connect with your friends. This is a bad precedent not only because it trivialise the importance of security but there's no assurance that a rogue employee, error log or cache dump wont let slip your precious password.

So what can be done to protect your accounts? Vigilance, common sense and a small amount of paranoia will all help. Regularly checking and pruning what has access to your accounts, such as your Google account, applying the Duck test, and searching for chatter around any new service are all good preventative measures that will help keep your accounts safe. But its also import to put pressure on those sites that ask for account passwords, pushing them to transition over to more secure techniques like oAuth.

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First let me say that I really like my PS3, it's an amazing piece of hardware and I've gotten many hours of entertainment out of it. So when Sony launched their video download service I was excited.

Having only FreeView in my flat, my choice of films are limited to whatever's on Film Four and the DVD's I have access to. An on-demand download service is exactly what I wanted and I didn't mind throwing a few quid Sony's way for good content. However, the important part of the on-demand service is the 'on-demand' bit. Choose a film, pay your money, watch and win. But not with the PSN Video store, oh no. It takes your money quickly enough, but then comes the download, well that'll keep you waiting.

Now I've got a pretty good Internet connection, 24Meg with Be Broadband, and can reach speeds of around 2.1MB/s on a good day. Downloading a standard definition film of around 2.5GB should take about 25 minutes. But on Sony's PSN video store it takes more than two hours, sometimes up to three hours. What's the point of sitting down to rent a film if you then have to wait three hours for it to download. Am I meant to plan ahead, download the day before? Where's the impulse purchase in that?

The reason I take issue with this is because Sony have no excuse for such poor download speeds. I appreciate Friday evening must be a peak time for them but that's what CDN's were invented for. Akamai, Cache Fly and Amazon S3 have all solved this problem. Hell, with so many PS3's hooked up to the network why not use P2P technology and let me download it from everyone else.

The reality is that it's faster to download the 4GB HD version of a film from 'alternative' sources than it is to get the SD version legit from PSN. When the dodgy way of getting content is better than the official way people choose the path of least resistance, especially when the selling point of 'on-demand' service is better served by alternative means.

Please Sony, invest more in bandwidth and a more robust CDN so we can enjoy the films you offer without having to wait an age to get them.

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