RagingAvatar

Making my return to Vana'diel and stepping into Eorzea

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 10:14:00 +0000

So, in my last blog post, as I started writing I was uncertain as to whether I would be returning to Vana'diel but by the end of the post I was pretty certain that my return to Final Fantasy XI was inevitable.

That last post was some time ago.

Final Fantasy XIV has been released twice since then, first to collector's edition pre-orders and then second to regular edition owners.

Blizzard have announced their 'Cataclysm' expansion pack is set to be released before the end of the year and pre-orders have opened for the collector's edition version of that.

So what have I done since my last post?

I sold all my collector's editions box sets of World of Warcraft on eBay - getting back the money I had spent in purchasing them (much to my wife's delight!).

I bought Final Fantasy XIV and created a character on day one - taking in the atmosphere of being there at the very beginning.

I also restarted Final Fantasy XI from scratch - not reinstating a previous account.

All in all, the MMO side of my gaming life has been completely turned upside down.

Firstly, why did I restart FFXI from scratch?
Well, I wanted the subscription discounts from running both FFXI and XIV at the same time as well as the in-game item benefits of linking the two to the same Square-Enix account. Having bought the XIV collector's edition, it came with an authenticator key ring so having the two games linked to the same account allows me to use the same authentication key for both games.

When I bought FFXI for the first time, I imported it from the US and so predominantly down the years I've been playing with a US account. Square Enix haven't been very quick to allow the transferal of accounts from one region to another - so fearing that I wouldn't be able to link my EU XIV and US XI accounts together - I opted to simply restart the game again.

(Actually, I've heard, as it turns out that S-E did allow the transferral of accounts to a different region during the launch of FFXIV - but how was I supposed to know that that would happen!)

So far, in XI I've taken my new character, 'Dhylan' up to level 18 as a White Mage, completed the sub-job quest and switched to Red Mage - of which I'm now level 14. I also levelled Black Mage and Thief for about 6 levels each just for a little diversion.

I've joined a great linkshell on Bismarck, TheVolturiTwilight, who have been very helpful as well as encouraging - when to all intents and purposes I'm a 'new' player.

(I've posted a few screenshots in my Picasa feed of Dhylan's adventures if anyone is interested..)

So, how is Final Fantasy XIV working out?
Since coming home from my holiday in France (which is where I posted that last post from), I rushed online and downloaded the FFXIV public beta as fast as I could.
Which wasn't that fast - because the patching system during beta was just a nightmare. I was forced to be downloading unofficial torrents for the patches so that I could manually inject the patch files to get into the game. This has all been sorted out since the public release of the game, I'm pleased to say, that I've had no problems at all with the patch system since starting 'officially'.

I created a Hellsguard Roegadyn (which were called Galka in XI) named Kennedy Forthwright on the Istory server when the game was released - though I played as a Hyur during beta, opting to switch to a more melee focussed character for XIV so that I can enjoy markedly different gameplay types between XI and XIV.

I was also pleased to notice that despite the warnings of the XIV benchmark, which claimed that the game would simply not run on my Macbook Pro, the beta of the game ran(!), very slowly, but it ran all the same.
With the release day version of the game receiving some big engine upgrades - it allowed the game to run relatively smoothly on my laptop. Now, I don't get anything like 30fps but the game is certainly playable with all the settings set to their lowest possible.

Where in XI the player chooses one race and then a job - switching jobs whenever they like, as long as they're in their Mog House - XIV allows the player to change their 'job' (it doesn't call it that) whenever they like, wherever they are simply by just changing their equipped weapon - as that is what determines what their 'job' is.

I've opted to play as a 'Marauder' class at the moment - in my mind a kind of cross between Monk and Warrior from XI - though I wouldn't stake my life on that definition as I'm only level 9 at the moment.

The crafting system is pretty enjoyable, certainly a lot more involved than XI's, where crafting isn't merely a side objective used to feed your main job with money or products - but is an entirely separate, playable, different job. I've been enjoying completing Armorer quests, taking the class to level 7 so far - but I do fail to see where the game is going.

I understand, I really do, that the game is still in it's early infancy and doesn't have anywhere near the amount of content that XI does - and not even what XI had available at launch in the US (There had already been an expansion pack released for it by the time it was available in the US) - but I do spend half the time wondering where I am, who I am, what I'm doing and where I'm going.

The general thread of plot through the game just isn't there yet, which I think is one of the major issues that people are having with the game, they don't see where they're going - I think players want to know what evil they're going to face and defeat and therefore be able to justify the subscription fees to themselves.

I don't think that this is a big problem for me personally as in my mind I'm playing XI as my main MMO game with a little XIV on the side. It's a very beautiful and intriguing game to be sure, but I'm happy with dipping in, levelling a little here and there and dipping out.

In eschewing the regular, and popular, systems of Final Fantasy for a completely new approach to classes, jobs, combat etc. I think that a lot of Final Fantasy players are going to be turned off. I'm enjoying a different approach - but I'm still not done with XI and am still in love with the lore, story and world of Vana'diel.

So, I've returned to Vana'diel once again - and decided to take in a little of Eorzea too on the side.

Having only been married for a little over a year, I'm a pretty busy guy. I spend two hours a day on my commute to my job in Liverpool, I need time to research modern computing in order to affect the growth of my career. I love my wife and love spending time with her - as I rightly should. The question has to be asked, 'do I really have the time for one MMO let alone two?'

I just don't know. I know that I love playing XI and it's a great diversion to just jump on during my lunch hour or for half an hour when I get home - it's XIV that really begs the question.

Every few days I step into Eorzea to look around - immediately annoyed by the game's slow user interface - to level my armorer class and step out again. I imagine when the PS3 XIV gets released that I'll be inclined to visit Eorzea more often but until then (next March) I think XIV is going to have to remain as a pleasant diversion to my real gaming love, Final Fantasy XI.

Returning to Vana'diel

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 08:00:00 +0000

(I wrote this post on holiday in France on the 31st August, so I've back dated the post accordingly.)

What to play.. what to play.. MMOs are a huge investment and the choices are hard.

I started playing Final Fantasy XI when it was released for PlayStation in the US - which was quite some time before it was made available for PC in Europe. I loved the game. I loved the music, the world, the art, the style, the fights, the graphics. I loved it.

I never progressed very far in the game. It was just frankly too hard and too big a time sink for me. As a university student it was perfect - I could spend a lot of time playing that game (and I did!) but as a married game developer, my gaming time is not only very limited in terms of time but location too.

I have some game time available at home, some at lunchtimes in the office and some on the train on the way home - though the train doesn't have a solid internet connection.

A few months ago I decided to switch over to playing World of Warcraft after a very enjoyable test period and cancelled my FFXI subscription.

A few months in and I realise that WoW suffers from some different problems to FFXI.

Initially, WoW had a great starting experience where small stories took me from location to location, unveiling multiple branches for me to explore and locations to investigate - suddenly all these branches dried up and I found myself completely clueless as to where to go and what to do next.

I decided upon the Druid class, attracted by it's many possibilities due to it's shape shifting nature, and found myself in love with the starting area. Roaming around the leafy landscapes and enjoying the mini-quests that introduce me to the local lore - it was one of the best and enthralling experiences I've had in videogames.

This is to contrast against my disappointment as I reached new areas in the game only to find that the equivalent mini-quests don't reward very much at all and that the only fathomable reason for doing these quests is to get that level of understanding I had attained from my starting area.

Don't get me wrong, I had, have, grown to love World of Warcraft immensely. I had tracked down Collector's Editions of all the expansion packs so that I could enjoy the soundtracks and art books, subscribed to the WoW magazine and starting listening to Blizzard podcasts about the game.

It was all very entertaining stuff! But the game had started to slow down in pace for me and my original goal of making it to Northend and to defeating the Lich King was starting to seem more and more impossible not to mention undesirable.

The trouble was, there are no real benefits or balancing if higher level players want to go back and help out lower level players.

Having joined a highly social and helpful guild - it was frustrating to find that the game doesn't offer any incentives to the higher level players to come with me to a dungeon that they finished 40 levels ago.

I also found myself exceptionally disappointed when I levelled up and found that I now couldn't enter a dungeon that I still had outstanding quests in!

Final Fantasy XI doesn't have any of these problems.

Sure, there are social problems the same I imagine that all MMOs do. There are always people who are rude, unhelpful and annoying whenever people gather together under any banner or for any reason.

FFXI had level capped dungeons. Users have their abilities reduced/removed but they were still rewarded.
FFXI added Level Sync (albeit very late in the game) so that lower level players could be helped out.

Don't get me wrong, FFXI is a great game but not a perfect game.

For a start, it's starting to look old. Very old.

I love the fact that I can log in on my PS2 at home and then switch to my PC when I get to work - I hate the fact that my macros and maps still after 6 years don't sync between the two! (I also really dislike the fact there still isn't a Mac client after all these years!)

Final Fantasy XIV starts it's open beta today.
It doesn't appeal to me in the same way that XI did/does.
Graphically it looks fantastic. If I could play XI using that engine and that quality of textures and lighting - you can bet I'd buy a new PC just to play it.
But XIV looks like the kind of game you can play alongside XI just fine - and I think that Square Enix knows this and has structured it's pricing accordingly.

SE are saying that if you are a subscriber of FFXI when subscribed to FFXIV, you will receive a significant discount - which is cool - but lets me know that they're thinking that a lot of people will want to do that.

From a development perspective FFXIV is a daunting prospect. The fact that it's so beefy that it can't be played on my brand new laptop - and would require me to buy a new home desktop, limits it's userbase from the off - not to mention the locations where their userbase can play.

Delaying the PS3 version for 6 months, citing memory issues, is another concern but this does reduce the number of playable locations for me - given that I don't own a XIV capable computer and my work computer (which is used for game development) wouldn't cope either. (I'm fortunate in that my employer allows games to be played on our work computers at lunch time.)

All in all - I become more and more certain as time progresses that FFXI is still the best MMO for me to play. In terms of value for money, ability to play with advanced players in light of a waning userbase, ability to play at work, on my laptop or on my ageing PS2.

I own maps, guidebooks, soundtracks.. all manner of cool merchandise for XI. My investment has been huge and I find myself, every few years, writing a blog post just like this one explaining why I'm returning to the world of Vana'diel.

I guess It's because it's just so alluring that I keep coming back.

My 29th Birthday Message

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:36:00 +0000

Today, I turned 29.
I received lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of birthday greetings via various forms of modern communication - but many of those mediums don't allow me to post a long enough message in reply, so here is what I want to say to all my friends who messaged me throughout the day:

Hello all!! Thanks very much for all the birthday messages - this is the first time that I've been able to get to a computer all day (no lie! it was indeed an unusual day for me!) I've had a fabulous day today at the Capcom/Nintendo launch party for Monster Hunter Tri for Wii, popped into the Science Museum to look at the spacecraft exhibits, nipped to Foyles to oggle their programming books and browsed some old retro video game shop/haunts. (Sadly the shops are on their last legs.. :'( ) All in all - it was a day of great fun - defined by my weird geeky tastes. My wife was very patient throughout!!

Tonight, as I go to bed, I brace myself for tomorrow, spent embedded in the sofa with PS3 controller in hand. I shall be playing Dragon Age: Origins and Final Fantasy XI all day. :-) (Then dinner at the in-laws in the evening - yum!)

I am an exceptionally blessed man :-)

What the Liberal Democrats said next...

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:15:00 +0000

Some of my readers might remember my strongly worded email to the Liberal Democrats about the state of their website.

(Edit: I received this e-mail on the 30th September - only three days after my complaint - I just haven't posted it until now.)

This is the rather lame response I received - with an (even then) outdated policy document attached:

Dear David

Thank you for your email.

Unfortunately our web site is decided unwell at the moment. My apologies for this. We have got a new team working on it, and the new site is due to be unveiled in October.

In the meantime, please find attached one of our policy documents on Crime but please bear in mind that there will probably be an update when the site is relaunched next month. Obviously this is not fully comprehensive either, but it should give you a general idea.

Best wishes

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emma Peall

I am also genuinely saddened to report that the full policy is still not available on their site.

Go to this page and click the link at the bottom to attempt to read the policy - which is still a dead link.

Epic fail Lib Dems. You've lost my vote and I didn't even get to see your policies.

First impressions of 'Borderlands'

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:10:00 +0000

A couple of days ago I spotted Gearbox's new IP, 'Borderlands', for £25 on Asda's (Walmart to my American readers) website.

I'd had my eye on this game for a while. I found it's art style intriguing, mumblings of 'It's Fallout 3 but co-op, online and local' drew me in, but it was an article, that detailed it's change in art direction late on in it's development, that highlighted to me that this game was a labour of love for Gearbox.

I've read this game described as 'gun-porn'.
A Monster Hunter for the west even.
I won't disagree with these statements at all.

It's the comparison to Fallout that is most irking.

Fallout is a game of masterful story telling with slow paced wondering, intrigue and trepidation as you scour the game's world.

Borderlands is an arcade-like, open world shooting gallery with very similar enemies willingly jumping into your firing line. The AI unable to comprehend that you're now far too strong for it and are about to open a can of whoop.

Don't get me wrong, I had A LOT of fun playing this last night, whilst Jen was out at a Bible Study, but this isn't a game I'm going to play solidly until 'The End' because I remain unsure if it really even has one.

Sure, it has a story (a paper thin tale that I really didn't care about) and a whole bunch of quests (I have no idea how many or any notion of whether they can be replayed after finishing them once.) but I immediately realised this game is one I'll pop in every once in a while to run and gun around but it isn't a 'play once from start to finish' affair.

I'm not disappointed with Borderlands, it's struck me as a great game but it won't be replacing 'Mass Effect' as my current game-novel.

If you like the sound of a put-down, pick-up again shooter-RPG then Borderlands is probably your thing and you should check it out.

If you're the kind of gamer who needs story to drive their action forward, look elsewhere.

I'm somewhere in between - and I'm going to enjoy it every once in a while as a kind of filler in between main courses or when friends come over and we just want to blow some stuff up.

(Impressions of Borderlands for PS3 after about 3 hours of play time.)

How should I vote?

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 21:31:00 +0000

I found myself considering matters of a political nature this evening, and after some comments from a friend of mine, I find myself wanting to get more involved with local politics - by involved I mean, at least understanding whats going on.

So, having been one of the voters who picks which party to vote for based on who they like the most out of their leaders, and general media representation of them, I have previously voted for the Liberal Democrats, so I figured that their website was a good place to start.

I have no idea what Lib Dem policies are. All I know is that they aren't Conservative or Labour, and I know that the media have told me that they haven't done a very good job, so irresponsibly, I figure let the Liberal Democrats have a go.

Wanting to know more about Lib Dem policies, I went to their website and tried to read their policy on policing and crime management.

The link returned me to the front page of the news section.

All that was available on the website, I've quoted in my e-mail to the Lib Dems below.

I wonder if I'll get a reply. I genuinely hope so.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I am merely a generic citizen who knows not very much about politics and for some strange reason this evening found myself desiring to know what the Liberal Democrats think.

The brief summary of your policy on policing, 'The Liberal Democrats don’t rely on tough talk and gimmicks like the other parties: we focus on solutions that really work to cut crime.' doesn't actually tell me what you (the party) actually think about how policing and crime can be dealt with from a governmental level.

I admit, I haven't taken my vote seriously before - but I'm starting to. I've previously voted for the Liberal Democrats but now I'm starting to wonder why.

I also found that when I wanted to download the pdf file that detailed your policy, the link returned me to the front news page of your website.

Where does a generic citizen, who has no knowledge or understanding of politics find out the information that determines how I cast my vote?

Yours faithfully,

David Springate
Manchester

The first drop: Impressions of Halo 3: ODST

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 08:44:00 +0000

Anyone who personally knows me or reads this blog knows that I do love to play some Halo in my spare time, so the arrival of Bungie's new 'expansion' to Halo 3 brought a huge smile to face. Obviously, I'd pre-ordered and received my Sgt. Johnson DLC code too :)

My wife, the kind woman that she is, had already agreed that I could spend the evening in front of the TV shooting some Brutes in the face. I rushed home from work (the cancellation of a train not helping) to slap the disc into the drive and embark on a new adventure, with a new hero.

You see, Halo 3: ODST, as I'm sure most of you know, is a stand-alone title (not a typical expansion as such) set between the events of Halo 2 and Halo 3. No longer playing as the signature front-man, Master Chief, you now control various members of an ODST squad, who drop into Earth after the arrival of The Covenant in New Mombassa.

It was immediately apparent from the title screen that this wasn't my usual brand of Halo - the music and exceptionally dark look of the title screen had given that away - there was something about the vibe that had let me know that this was going to be different.

I wanted to approach this game with fresh eyes, so I'd avoided almost all other media exposure to it. I had no real idea what to expect from the campaign or the new 'Firefight' multiplayer mode.

Visually this game is no Killzone 2. It's not even a Gears of War 2.. but you'd be forgiven for not noticing. The artists and designers have made some very wise use of lighting, shadowing and closed environments (especially at the beginning of the game) - creating moody, dank locations, a place where it's very clear that you and the rest of your team are very much alone.

Last night I didn't make it very far because (and I admit I'm not the world's greatest Halo player - I love it but that doesn't mean I'm good!) I made my usual, stubborn mistake of starting the game on Legendary difficulty and found my evening being punished for it.

This game is crushingly difficult. Jen was treated to various yelps and wails as she walked about our apartment as I got my ass handed to me by small groups of Covenant comprising of just one brute and a few of their minions.

This isn't Halo 3 as usual (I know I've already said this but I can't emphasise this enough!).

As I played through the first level, I enjoyed the ODST's use of the new visor - which cleverly draws a nice outline around all the 3D objects in the scene (good one Mr. Shader Programmer!), highlighting the good guys in green and the enemies in red, whilst providing much needed night vision.

My only, exceptionally minor gripe, is that that meant that I couldn't soak up the vibe of a battered New Mombassa as much as I would have liked - the lighting all drained out of the scene because of my visor. The recent Batman: Arkham Asylum also suffered from this problem, offering a nice gameplay mechanic to the player that sacrificed the exceptional look of the game.

I guess the biggest thing that I immediately enjoyed about this game is the new found fear that I had for the smaller enemies from Halo 3.

Jackals, who Master Chief used to laugh in the face of, are now a formidable threat.
Seeing a minion (I can't remember their names right now..) running toward you holding two plasma grenades causes you to rethink your plan and tuck tail and run.

I'm looking forward to returning to this nightmare edition of Halo 3 tonight.

Later on in the evening, once Xbox Live had settled down (it seemed to have been taking a bit of a hammering because of the influx of ODST players), I met up with most of my usual squad who had managed to secure a copy of ODST on launch day.

We didn't even try out the ODST campaign's co-op mode and made a beeline for 'Firefight' instead.

The three of us, usually four, have played something in the region of 500 matches together on Halo 3 - and I think I'm the only one of us now that would like to see it still in regular rotation, the other guys have moved onto other pastures such as COD4.

One of the reasons for this is that, and I don't meant to sound big headed, is that I used to beat them to a pulp every single night of the week.

The arrival of Firefight is exceptionally welcome though as it brings an end to all that.

Where, for a very short while, we embarked on Gears of War 2's Horde mode, for a gameplay premise where we stand back to back, shoulder to shoulder, to face off against hordes (ha) of enemies, I predict that this will last us significantly longer.

GoW2's levels are too small. Their players too clunky, chunky and slow. Their gameplay is more like rock, paper, scissors than chess, with a very limited amount of weapons and manner to use them.

Halo 3 offers us, frankly, ridiculously sized environments with vehicles to mow the enemies down in. The maps offer nooks and crannies, places to hide, enemies who'll find you. Huge enemy vehicles to make the most hardened player stop in his tracks.

Firefight was ridiculously good.

Last night I read on Kotaku, one of their writers describe Halo 3's gameplay to being the closest approximation of a boy imagining to be a soldier, jumping in tanks and hanging out with his squad. As I read the article, I grinned and nodded my head, this guy had totally hit the nail on the head.

Driving around large sandy maps, with my buddies as passengers in my Warthog, one gunning down the enemy (rather sloppily) and the other jumping out at the first sign of a Wraith to plant a grenade on it's back - I can't remember the last time I had this much co-op fun in a videogame.

The hilarity that ensues as a little runt fires the fuel-rod cannon at the front of the car, sending you all flailing in a bloody mess. The laughs as you realise your team-mate has long been out of ammo and is fleeing across a plain from a hammer wielding Chieftain.

I heartily recommend Halo 3: ODST, I really do. Even if H3's campaign isn't your bag, the multiplayer is worth the price of entry alone.

Given that ODST includes every H3 map released to date (all the DLC maps plus a few new ones currently exclusive to ODST), a new campaign (which I have no idea how long it is), guaranteed beta entry to Halo: Reach and Firefight (co-op multiplayer 'Horde-like' mode) I imagine that my credit card almost wants to shake my hand (if it had one) for making such a smart purchase.

(Including the H3 maps also means that I can delete the ones on my HDD - freeing me up over 1GB of space which is obviously very nice.)

If you're looking for a game with an interesting approach to a single player campaign and a sizeable multiplayer experience with both split-screen and online experiences, look no future.

Is it better than Halo 3? I don't know. It's just too early to tell - but the fact that I even wonder makes this a winner.

Halo 3: ODST is now available for Xbox 360.

"When somethings lost I want to fight to get it back again.." - Pearl Jam, the Christians and the lost

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:11:00 +0000

The new Pearl Jam album 'Backspacer' was released (as far as I'm concerned) yesterday and having pre-ordered it, it arrived on my desk yesterday morning - at which point I promptly ripped it to my Mac and started listening to it on repeat for the rest of the day.

Now, whilst I am already clear with myself that this isn't the greatest Pearl Jam album ever released, something that every Pearl Jam fan has been hoping for for the last ten years with a desire to say "I was there from the start", I am able to say that this is a 'great' album.

Whilst I feel it's too early for a review, my initial hunch is that some songs are just a bit 'meh' whilst others soar into arenas of greatness that their recent albums haven't been able to reach.

One thing I do want to note is their astute observation as to which song should be released as the debut single for the album.

Most popular (read: successful) artists who are associated with large labels have to debate and negotiate with their label as to which single should be released.

Free from the shackles of Sony Epic, new Pearl Jam are able to make such discussions free of corporate pushing.

'The Fixer', the chosen single, is clearly the right choice to be the first single - and I herald Pearl Jam's wisdom at such a decision - it really is 'single worthy'. (I was most disappointed at Metallica's choice of 'The Day that Never Comes' when clearly 'Broken, Beat & Scarred' should have been the first single for 'Death Magnetic'.)

The real reason I wanted to write this post is to mention some great lyrics on the album.

'I'm a lucky man to count on both hands, the ones I love, some folks have just one whilst others they got none.'
'I hide my disappointment 'cos for years I had been hopin' that when she came, she'd be coming just for me.'
'When somethings lost I want to fight to get it back again.'

How is it that such lyrics echo and resonate so well with the audience?
How does one right words that make the heart pang so hard?

Particularly the line of 'fighting to get it back again' rang true, internally my heart nodded with agreement - that is exactly how I feel about it.

But I also understand that I am a total hypocrite. I agree. I do pine for lost things. But do I act on it?

I recently married my Jennifer, and if for some reason I 'lost' her, be assured, I'd fight tooth and nail to get her back again. I'd go to the far parts of the earth to find her. (I'm quite a protective husband I must confess!)

If someone stole from me, if I had been wronged, I would fight to get it back again. (A friend once told me that I had a strong sense of justice - which is one of the finest compliments I had been ever paid.)

How is it then that the Master has been wronged, many are lost and my heart often remains unmoved?

When I think of lost things and fighting to get it back again it's hard to not think of Jesus.

The lost are everywhere, and were everywhere when Jesus walked the earth - imagine the agony of knowing that so many who you love are 'lost' to you, imagine the hard fight of fighting to get them back again? The pain as they turn from you even when you try to pull them to you?

I find that particular fight that The Lord undertook so hard to comprehend! I guess, this idea does make me say 'Thank you Lord!'.

Even when I want to fight to get something back again, I also know, that I don't always succeed.

Jesus has succeeded and is still watching the lost come back to him.

Pearl Jam certainly didn't intend for me to think of Jesus when listening to this song but I'm glad that it did.

If you're a Christian reading this - I know that some of my (few) subscribers are - please pray that I'd have a heart for the lost. To tell them of the faith I have in the accomplishments of the Lord Jesus, achieved at the cross - and to remember that if I can't find the lost and bring them back again, to know that it is the work of the Master and not mine. To also remember that proclaiming the gospel is a work of salvation and judgement. A dividing line.

I guess it would have been too much to hope that a song lyric would encapsulate the gospel.

Thank you for reading this mornings random post. :)

'Tatsunoko vs Capcom' Wii import controls

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 22:11:00 +0000

I recently imported the excellent Capcom beat-em-up game for Wii, 'Tatsunoko vs. Capcom'.

This is a reimagining of sorts for Capcom, as they return to their Vs. series (previously Capcom had made a series of Vs. games with Marvel characters), this time applying a simplistic slant to the control scheme - which suits it's Wii host platform very well.

One of the things I hadn't realised was that there are no distinctive punch and kick buttons like in the other Capcom fighting games.

In TvC there are merely light, medium and hard attack buttons.

I'll save a review of the game for another time but I wanted to post the control scheme for the classic controller, as it isn't obvious from the Japanese 'Options' menu and I thought it might help others who import this great game before it's Western release.

So here it is, the controls for TvC using a Wii Classic Controller (which I would heartily recommend for this game!)

Y - Light attack
X - Medium attack
A - Heavy attack
B - Partner assist
L - ??
R - All three attack buttons
Minus - Taunt
Plus - 'Start' menu

To tag press B and away from your opponent at the same time.
You can also use the R button as a dash button, both forward and back dashes.
Use A and forward or back to throw.

Does anyone know what L is for?

Hope that helps someone out there, if not, it's great for me to keep as reference!

Anticipating Windows 7

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 08:33:00 +0000

Yesterday, I pre-ordered a copy of Windows 7.

Now, I am a hardened Mac fan nowadays - and I'm not really a big fan of Windows. However, I do recognize the need for a Windows OS (from the user perspective).

Occasionally, I need to use Microsoft's Visual Studio - because it provides an excellent debugger and is also the IDE we use at work.

I also like to run PC games every once and a while, Valve's Steam service has some great games on there that I've collected over the years - such as Half-Life and Half-Life 2, as well as being able to play (and indeed edit) games such as The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind.

I have to admit though, there were a couple of things other than that that made me whip out my credit card.

First of all, it seems feedback regarding the release candidate of Windows 7 has been nothing but praise - I haven't read a bad word about Microsoft's new OS.
Secondly, price. Previous efforts from Microsoft have weighed in at over the £100 mark - and that's just too pricey for software in my opinion. Because the EU ruled that Microsoft aren't allowed to include Internet Explorer in their new OS, apparently this has caused Microsoft to run a pre-order campaign that allows users to buy it for half-price at £45.

Finally, this isn't Windows Vista. WV made me want to tear my short, spiky hair out. It was buggy, slow and had a poorly designed user interface. It was expensive and needlessly 'glossly', chewing up valuable CPU and GPU time on effects that couldn't necessarily be disabled.

According to my friends on the forum I visit, (http://www.rllmukforum.com) my concerns have all been answered.

I have to admit, I'm a little excited about the new OS. Even as a child, I was always excited to find out about all the little intricacies of a new operating system. Yes, I was that kid. The one who installed Windows 95 from 25 floppy disks or however many it was..

I was also persuaded by a fellow geek at school to try out IBM's OS/2 Warp - and not knowing what a partition was at the time, consequently blanked my hard drive.

So, last night as a I left work I left the release candidate of Windows 7 downloading (note: A release candidate is literally that - a piece of software that been through the testing process and is now seriously being considered for release..) and I'm looking forward to installing it in a few days. (I think I might need a bigger hard drive..)

Providing the release candidate for public release is a good move from Microsoft in my opinion. It allows me, the consumer, to consider if I actually like Windows 7 enough to warrant a purchase before the product is even released.

I'll have basically two months to make my final decision before W7 is released in early October.

The question I'm now wondering though is, will my poor little Macbook be up to the task? (Another good reason for downloading the release candidate!)

My Macbook specs at time of writing are:
Intel Core 2 Duo 2.2ghz.
4GB ram.
120GB hdd. ( :-( )
Paltry Intel x3100 integrated graphics chip.

It's only really the GPU that lets me down, so I hope that the rest of my, quite frankly, beefy specs, will do fine with W7. But I guess, we'll see.

I'll report back when I know more..

You can download a copy of Windows 7 release candidate here.

The one with the new TV stand (a.k.a 'Why my fiancee rocks.')

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 16:10:00 +0000

People who know me are often a little shocked when they come over to the place I live and see the amount of videogame consoles that I own.

I don't have as many as some of the more ardent games collectors out there - but I definately have a sizeable collection.

A couple of years ago I was given my first proper TV stand by my friend Andrew, and it's served me really, really well until now..

Now that my collection has grown too large to fit on said stand.

Dave, my colleague who lives in the same apartment block as me, gave me a SMS on Saturday to say he was going to IKEA for some shopping, and he kindly asked if I wanted anything..

He and I had been eyeing up some TV stands on the ol' interweb at work and he knew the one I wanted :-)

I'm really happy with my IKEA Lack TV stand - it's huge, comfortable houses all the consoles and even has space left over for some more.

The thing that I want to publicly mention is that my fiancee, Jen (who I am now due to marry in less than 6 weeks!) is awesome.

There aren't many women who'd put up with this kind of thing I reckon - and I also don't think that every woman dreams of having their own videogame collection.

Thanks Jen for putting up with my massive, space consuming hobby. :-)

(Ikea Lack TV stand is £35 from your local Ikea.)

I didn't know about variadic macros!

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 09:22:00 +0000

It's become quite fashionable of late to cite Wikipedia as the place not to get information from.

At work yesterday I was working with C++/C macros of the standard #define form, you know, like this:

#define MY_FUNCTION myFunction("test parameter")

so that if I use the define MY_FUNCTION in my code, the compiler will swap in 'myFunction("test parameter")' for me.

However, as C++/C programmers out there will know, you can offer default parameter values for a function, so what if my function 'myFunction' has been originally defined like this:

void myFunction(std::string inputString = "test");

Well, that means that the function will have a default input string of test if one hasn't been specified, by calling the function like so:

myFunction();

The issue then is, how do I call myFunction from a defined macro with and without wanting to pass parameters into the macro? I mean, it's easy to define the macro to take a parameter but how do I make the parameter optional? For instance, to add macro parameters do this:

#define MY_FUNCTION(x) myFunction(x)

This way, the parameter 'x' passed into the define will then be automatically passed into the function 'myFunction' as it's first parameter.

But this is the clever part coming up..
If I want to maybe specify an optional parameter I can do it like this:

void myFunction(std::string = "test");
#define MY_FUNCTION(...) myFunction(__VA_ARGS__)

This way, my original C++ function of myFunction receives a single argument of type std::string, which, if it isn't passed in, defaults to being a string of characters as 'test'.
Now, the define will pass on a variable amount of arguments to the function as necessary (so I could pass 4 or 5 arguments if I wanted to, though the function itself would complain because it only accepts one argument.)

This way I can create a macro definition of my function that can accept optional parameters! Apparently this is called a 'variadic macro' and is part of the ISO C99 C standard. I didn't know that and thought it was pretty cool!

You can read more about it here.

The point of this post is mainly for record for myself so I know what this does and how to implement it in future - I don't think any of the other coders in our company knew how to do this, so I thought it was best to document it for future reference.

Geeks out there, I hope that helped.

More pictures of Springate HQ

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 08:31:00 +0000

At the weekend Jen rented a large van, that made a Ford Transit look like a mini, so I could move all my stuff in.

It made the flat look quite different to have all my stuff inside it - so these are pictures for my friends and relatives to see how development of Springate HQ is going :-)

(Pictures are taken using my new Sony Ericsson w580i phone - a replacement for my Nokia 6300 which I stupidly dropped in the toilet on Sunday morning before church. Camera is good, isn't it?)

Reply to 'Business, profit and the glory of God'

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 08:24:00 +0000

My friend Andrew recently blogged regarding Wayne Grudem's book 'Business to the Glory of God'.

I haven't read the book but I wanted to comment on what Andrew had to say, my reply was too lengthy (oops!) so I've included it here and linked to it in Andrew's comments section.

I realize I'm a little late to reply to this post, but I'm going to anyway.

The seeming 'tension' between the Evangelical church and the workplace is quite an odd one - and let me flesh out what I mean by tension.

It is right that there is a big push for evangelical Christians to enter into full-time Christian ministry - there is a lack of able, teaching Christian men and women entering this 'field' (for lack of a better term) but I can't help but feel that the big push of this actually undermines the importance of the Christian in the workplace.

Christian ministry is something that requires the 'employee' to both have a desire to work in this field and the support from their local church (meaning their pastors and teachers) to do so. So is it right to so publicly urge people to enter Christian ministry? (I'm thinking at the front of conferences, visiting missionaries etc.)

I've been working at a company in Liverpool for just over 2 years now and it is almost a constant battle between two inner lines of thought - one that says that my work is worthwhile because of the friends I make at work (who I then am trying to introduce the Lord Jesus to) and the influence that I hold in a local business - urging them to avoid illegal practice, reminding them that work is not my reason to live and therefore I am not available to sleep in the office all the time. (Some colleagues until recently hadn't had a day off for 4 months!)

However, the other inner thought is that my work isn't worth while and I find myself considering leaving this work behind to become a missionary or other full time ministry role. Part of me can't help but feel this is a more holy pursuit.

This is when I arrive at my final position that there is no reason why I cannot hold these two things together.

I am a missionary - in my workplace! I also feel that whilst being able to work where I do (admittedly taking part in work that I actually love - not just merely think is acceptable - I have been blessed!) I can still exercise my gifts in the local church and (here comes the best part) then share with my friends at work how that is going.

For example, it has often been a great thing to be able to share with colleagues that I'm preaching at the weekend - they'll sometimes ask what I'm preaching on, what does it mean, how do I know what it means, how does it apply to us in today's world etc. I don't think I'm particularly blessed with 'thinking' friends but that it is merely a matter of sharing our lives with them! In fact, as I wrote this on the train to work, a colleague who I travel to work with asked me what am I writing and consequently what an 'Evangelical' Christian is!

Before working where I do, I worked as a ministry trainee at Christ Church Liverpool (as you know, Andrew) and when I left there to work at my current employment I asked a friend of mine what should I do in future? How long should I work in secular employment? Should I return to full-time Christian ministry at some point?

His answer was that I am capable of earning a lot of money to fund Christian ministry and should therefore do so.

This was initially enough of an answer for me and actually fueled my progression at work to be able to earn more money but as time has progressed I've realised that my time spent with friends is far more valuable to me than the by-product of earning money to fund holier employment.

I want to comment on the subject of profit that Grudem discusses - but I feel I have nothing to add. Apart from what does Grudem mean but it being a help to the person he has had a transaction with?

My first stab at an answer would be that the church should most definately encourage their congregations to take part in business - and indeed in transactions that involve making profit.
The reason I would say so is that it is good to take part in all areas of life and to show an example of how to fairly 'do' business and to not act for dishonest gain.

Of course, not all Christians should take part in business as perhaps their hearts cannot cope - the temptation of dishonest gain may be too much - but we cannot falter as a church at that hurdle and frown upon business and profit, as that is the issue with every worldly pursuit, that we are all sinful, selfish, idolatrous, hard hearted people.

New flat

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 10:08:00 +0000

On August 29th, I'll be getting married to a little hot-blonde honey named Jennifer :-)

So, as is usual for two people who are married we were going to need a place to live - so we went and checked out a few places in Manchester (which was a far more stressful experience than you'd first think! Why can't estate agents and letting agencies take more care for their customer's experience? ) and put our deposit down for the flat shown in the pictures below.

I thought it'd be nice for family and friends to see what our place is going to be like - exciting times ahead!!

Comments on PSP firmware update 5.50

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 08:18:00 +0000

I love my PSP. I take it everywhere with me. I take it on holiday. I take it to work. I take it to the bathroom. I take it to the bathroom when I'm at work. I take it to my fiancee's house. I take it to my fiancee's parent's house.

Let me reiterate. I take it everywhere.

However, the new PSP firmware update has left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

New firmware features include:
- the ability to traverse nested folder structures in the directory structure of the device
- internet search from the XMB (the operating system that runs on the PSP when a game isn't being executed)
- trials for Trend Micro's Web Security and Kid Safety
- Information Bar (like the one on PS3) added to the Playstation Network section in the XMB

So, all in all, we have nested folder support (which should have been there in the first place), internet search (which is a minor feature addition at best - and relies upon the name being actually correct on the UMD disc), trials for internet security and kid safety (trials which are probably there to protect Sony from possibility of lawsuit - 'we gave the parents opportunity to protect their children, your honour!') and the PS3 information bar (which is a PR stream at best that doesn't offer any real information to the user, just snippets of sales pitches.)

Besides my comments above I'd like to add:
1. In agreement with a user on the Playstation.Blog - Sony, if you wanted to add some useful information why not add an RSS feed to the Playstation.Blog so that users get some actually helpful and interesting, up-to-date information rather than a sales pitch.

2. Where are my PSP trophies? You can't claim that this is really a portable Playstation if you can't take the general feel of the Playstation experience with you. The same can be said for my friend's list, multiple user support, synchronisation of my bookmarks from my PSP to my PS3.. the list could go on and on.

3. What's the point in providing trial security tools for a web browser that can't actually browse most websites?! Don't get me wrong, I think it's important to protect the kids from inappropriate material but surely that's what the internet parental lock on the device is for?

All in all, I love my PSP. Still.

I play it more than any other gaming device I own. Last night I was up until 1am playing Loco Roco (Jennifer was playing it the other day and that got me thinking I need to get back on it..) whilst even now I have a nagging feeling that I need to continue getting through the quests in Monster Hunter Freedom 2.

But seriously, Sony, pull your socks up. If you want this device to compete against the global dominance of the DS/DSi and iPhone - then you need to start giving us a service/device that can. (sigh)

PS. Any chance of Skype on PS3?

GDC 09 - Sunday - Wednesday

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 14:50:00 +0000

Whew! A LOT has happened so far!

I arrived in San Francisco on Sunday. Monday and Tuesday were spent not working.
Wednesday, the conference (for me) actually started. (It started Monday for mobile developers.)

Tuesday night, my colleagues and I headed to a UK Trade & Industry bash at a brewery near the W hotel in downtown SF. It was a pretty cool party with games indsustry people standing around chatting and hanging out, free food and beer/wine.. but the conversation quite quickly dried up and we were all dragged a few doors down to the LucasArts/EDGE magazine party. Which was also pretty cool.

My disappointment with the EDGE party, whilst obviously high in budget and class - was the lack of real developers being there, it was mainly a PR exercise where marketing people get to stand around and wag their tongues about games they're not making.

But then came Wednesday morning. I was pretty tired after the late night before but head out at 9am for Satoru Iwata's presentation.

Iwata-san is the president of Nintendo Japan - so this presentation was a very big deal, the queue to get in went outside the Moscone Centre and down the street for quite a way!

In the queue I got chatting to the guy next to me who turned out to be a lead artist for Inis, and had developed Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents!

Anyway, the news about the new Wii SDHC support, the Zelda DS game, Virtual Console Arcade etc. is all heavily covered by news sites such as Kotaku so there's no point in me going over it here..

But what most sites didn't cover was that Nintendo gave every attendee a free copy of their new game 'Rhythm Heaven' - which was previously available in Japan as 'Rhythm Tengoku Gold', this was just amazing. Nintendo gave away thousands of copies of a game I was already looking forward to! Fantastic!

As I was leaving this presentation, I stood on the stairs sorting my bag out and noticed a man I immediately recognised.

Jaime Griesemer from Bungie, the designer of Halo 3.

There was no way I was going to pass this up, so in a moment that is amongst the many geeky things that I do in life - I had to go over and say hi, shake his hand and tell him that I really appreciate his work.

Jaime was a really humble guy and seemed really surprised and pleased to hear someone praising his work to his face - which I thought was great, I figure he must get that kind of praise all the time having worked on such a universally acclaimed title. It was a cool moment.

Anyway, the rest of the day I spent wondering around the expo, looking at all the cool new technology and chatting with representatives from various companies and attending some seminars.

Last night was another cool event for me too though.

In the UK, we almost never get to attend events where gamers are invited to an exclusive party where you can just sit around and play games, chat and win some stuff.

PlayStation.Blog had recently posted that they were having such an event over at the W hotel and I decided to head along.

They had some unreleased games on play for the gaming public such as 'Fat Princess' and 'Rag Doll Kung-Fu' - I particularly liked the 'Fat Princess' game, that's a guaranteed purchase from me. (Though I just remembered how cool 'Flower' was over at the PS booth in the expo - all this PSN downloading is going to get expensive!)

I took part in the Resistance: Retribution tournament too, as I'd brought my PSP along as per the instructions on the blog.

I think there must have been only 16 entrants but I walked away in second place winning a copy of the game and a poster. (I lost by 4 points.. :'( Could've won a Metal Gear 4 PS3!)

Given that I didn't know there were going to be prizes, I took my free Killzone 2 t-shirt and headed home extremely satisfied.

Obviously, I already own Resistance: Retribution so I'll be taking my US version to GameStop later today to trade it in - but that's not the point. It was nice to have walked away having won something :-) (The poster was pretty cool and tasteful too!)

Right, anyway, now it's time for me to get out of bed - I need to get ready to go to my first seminar of the day which is by the legendary Hitoshi Sakimoto, the composer of Final Fantasy XII! I can't wait!

See ya!

PSP Skype defeats my connectivity woes

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 15:52:00 +0000

Last night I arrived in San Francisco for this years Game Developer Conference. (GDC)

I found upon my arrival in the US of A, that I had been a forgetful moron and hadn't enabled international roaming on my cellphone contract before leaving England - which means that my mobile phone can't connect to AT&T or T-Mobile whilst I'm here.

This really bothered me. It meant I couldn't contact Jen (the girl who in a few months will become my wife), my Mum and Dad, work colleagues (I'm a little paranoid about getting seperated from them in a foreign country and not being able to reach them)..

So, last night, using my hotel room phone I called Orange's support line and found that obviously there was no-one there - it was about 4am GMT at that point, so I have no idea what I was thinking..

But this morning, when I woke up it was about 2pm GMT.
The problem was, I didn't want to use the hotel room phone and incurr all manner of phone charges for the company because I needed my cell phone to work.

So I called Orange using Skype on my PSP, through the hotel's free WiFi access.

Now, I've never needed to use PSP Skype to make an 'emergency' call like this - but man, it performed wonderfully.

The software even had a built-in keypad during the call so I could select the different functions I needed, you know, 'Press 3 if you are having problems making phone calls..' that kind of thing.

Within 10 minutes, Orange had setup my phone and it automatically connected.

Right now, I am a very happy man, able to now make and receive calls again, free Wifi in my hotel room (as well as a 50inch TV!) and my boss is taking me out for breakfast soon too.

I love my job.

More from GDC as and when. Keep watching.

Metal Gear Online Reward Shop - Hong Kong Edition

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Sun, 28 Dec 2008 02:39:00 +0000

My good friend Carolyn (who I must remember to e-mail..) kindly bought me a copy of 'Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots' (in fact it was the sweeet limited edition version) for my PS3.

Because this is the Hong Kong version, I've had some problems getting to the website to spend my Metal Gear Online reward points.

Tonight, I've finally found it:
http://mgo2web.konami.com/us/reward/

Just posting it here in case anyone else has the same bother I've had. Enjoy.

Mirrors Edge - First Impressions

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Sat, 27 Dec 2008 02:55:00 +0000

It isn't often that I decide that a game is great enough that it warrants a post on my blog.

I was initially disappointed by the Mirrors Edge demo, that I downloaded from PlayStation Network, decidedly disliking the hand-holding that the demo forced upon me, rather than giving me the option to just get into the action.

Declaring to my housemate that it was rubbish (to my shame I used worse language, I admit) - I found myself returning to it later again that night - drawn to it by it's compelling visual style.

I played the demo a good 4 or 5 times more over the coming fortnight and finally purchased it in GAME's pre-Christmas sale, deal-of-the-week at £25 using some in-store credit I was saving.

Vowing not to play the game until I completed Metal Gear Solid 4, I finally caved in today (Boxing Day) - and whilst my girlfriend slept on the sofa for the afternoon, I was running, jumping and clambering across rooftops.

I wasn't disappointed. To my glee, Mirrors Edge strikes me as a short game - I count that as a great positive, in that too many games are too long these days and I never get a chance to finish them - but in a matter of hours I'd finished the first couple of chapters of the game. (There are eight in total.)

At midnight, I sent my now shattered girlfriend to bed and told her I was returning to Mirrors Edge. It's 3am now and all I did was finish another chapter.

The rest of the time was spent trying to beat time trial scores across the rooftops. I love time trials, especially when a game records your ghosts. I find it so compelling and addictive - judging by the clock as I now head to bed, this was no exception.

It became clear to me that in order to achieve a good time in an area, I needed to execute wall runs, rolls from high jumps and heavily consider the best route.

Finding Mirrors Edge to be an excellent and rewarding game (trophy support added a little something too), I rushed upstairs (when my poor back had had enough of sitting in a wooden dining room chair, hunching my shoulders to play the game) to write this blog entry where it pleases me immensely to heavily recommend Mirrors Edge.

I love it. It's genius - and I can already tell you that once I've completed it, I'll be adding a sequel to my most-wanted list.

Fantastic. Simply fantastic.

(Impressions are based on the Playstation 3 version of Mirrors Edge. Played in SD. No patches were applied.)

Mother 3 translated to English!

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:56:00 +0000

I know it's been a while since I've last updated (shrug) - I've been busy :-)

ANYWAY today is an amazing day - the Mother 3 English patch has finally been released and is now available here: http://mother3.fobby.net/.

All you need to play it is a Gameboy Advance emulator and a copy of the Japanese Mother 3 ROM. Personally, I own the Japanese cartridge. I've been waiting a long time for this day.

I can't wait to finish work and get home and get crackin' :-)

Have fun :-)

Tales of Vesperia - Demo Review

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 20:32:00 +0000

When I got home from work this evening about three hours ago - I opened my laptop to catch up on today's gaming news, to read on Kotaku that a wonderful surprise had occurred - Namco-Bandai had released a 'Tales of Vesperia' demo on Japan's Xbox Live Marketplace!

So off I scurried onto the Marketplace to check out what was going on over there - and I found a whole tonne of content that hasn't yet made it to British English shores.

Content such as:
Armored Core: For Answer Demo
Raiden Fighters Aces Demo
Mobile Suit Gundam: Operation Troy Trailer

As well as some nice free 'Puyo Pop Fever' dashboard themes and gamer pics.

Obviously I grabbed the aforementioned 'Vesperia' demo too.

I've been wiping the drool away from my mouth for a little while now, anticipating a 'Tales of..' game for the Xbox 360 - but to be honest this demo has made me take 'Vesperia' off my wanted games list.

Don't get me wrong, it's an astonishing game. It's gorgeous. It looks like a Studio Ghibli animation in a videogame - with some beautiful Nintendo-esque introduction sequences and trails into and out of new areas.

However, it's got to be said - the voice acting was just plain awful. Awful.

Where do they find these people who do the voice acting is these games?!

The voices all sound like they're coming from a little American girl - and perhaps it might even be the same American girl that Namco have been exploiting in all their RPGs of late?

I seem to remember that 'Eternal Sonata' had equally bad voice acting - but that won me over (though not enough to actually purchase the game) by it's frankly brilliant battle system.

'Tales of Vesperia' however didn't manage such a feat - though I do bear in mind that this is merely an early demo - the battles seemed frantic and flailing, I was unsure of which enemy I needed to hit and when, there was no order to the battle at all as if it couldn't quite make it's mind up whether to try to rival Final Fantasy's gameplay or Ninja Gaiden's!

All in all, from the frankly lack-lustre introduction to the story - which just dragged from the start, not engaging me even slightly - to the repetitive, button mashing gameplay - I remain distinctly unimpressed.

Don't get me wrong, I'm hoping for a UK release of 'Tales of Vesperia' even now.
I'm also hoping that they include the Japanese voice actors on the DVD as well as the English ones - and that they can tighten that gameplay mechanic too.

Perhaps the battles are more complex than I could see.
Perhaps theres some hidden depth that I failed to uncover.
Namco, if that's so - for goodness sake - let the player know about it with a battle system tutorial - that quickly and briefly informs the player of what's going on without being a laboured lecture as so many RPGs seem to manage.

Returning to the topic of the voice acting - I don't think it would be that bad really if the developers tightened up the transition between characters speaking.

I found that by pressing the A button when I think that currently vocal character has finished their sentence - causing the next person to start speaking immediately - made the conversation seem far more natural and fluid..

Because. To. Be. Honest. Natural. And. Real. Conversations. Don't. Generally. Have. Lots. Of. Pauses. In. Between. Sentences. And. Between. Participants.

In closing. This game is a landmark title for the 360 - the 'Tales of' series has a huge following and I'm really glad that a JRPG as big as this one has made it's way to my big white friend. I'm especially, just, blown away, by the fantastic graphics on display - but then equally brought back to reality by the shocking voice acting and lack of gameplay definition.

And that's without even mentioning the music.

'Tales of Vesperia' is available in demo form from the Japanese Xbox Live Marketplace today. The demo is also available in many other Asian countries.

Geek Note: Syntax checking in GCC

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 15:36:00 +0000

This is a note for myself: a little tidbit that I learnt today..

In order to check the syntax of C/C++ files but not compile, assemble or link those files use the following flag:

-fsyntax-only

Quality.

Christ Church Liverpool Xbox Live Leaderboard - UPDATED!

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 08:50:00 +0000

I've added all the new GamerTags for people from Christ Church Liverpool to the CCL leaderboard.

If you attend CCL and haven't passed me your GamerTag - then why not?!
Just drop me an email or post a comment and I'll rectify it straight away..

Music Review: Counting Crows - Saturday Nights and Sunday Mornings

noreply@blogger.com (RagingAvatar) — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 10:16:00 +0000

Arthritic.

That was how I described this album to a friend last night - and whilst rushing to work this morning that was the best description I could come up with.

I've loved Counting Crows since a friend introduced them to me about ten years ago - and I've bought every record - bar their cash-in greatest hits - following their evolution as a group, growth in maturity and musical complexity.

This record however makes me consider, has Adam Duritz run out of steam?

The band's original drummer and bassist have left - I think noticing that the dream of making good, original rock music is over.

There are couple of things that really ache me about this record:
1) Musically - there's nothing new and 'good' about the style and sound of this record. A stylistic rehash of the previous album with an occasional jarring bridge of weird, faster, harder strumming and unconvincing pseudo-Spanish-knock-off riffs.

2) Lyrics? Don't make me laugh. Duritz quotes his own previous work during a few of the songs on this record - some that he's already quoted before on other albums! Has the well of originality dried up??

Perhaps I'd be more forgiving if this record had come at a better time.
If there was nothing else for me to listen to then I might have been a little more understanding and perhaps even grateful - but when compared to such great as albums as Linkin Park's 'Minutes to Midnight', Jetplane Landing's 'Backlash Cop' or Fighting With Wire's 'Man Vs. Monster', to be honest I can't justify the time wasted on listening to this record.

Limping, walking slowly, crumbling. Arthritic I feel is a good description for a record from a band who perhaps are long past their peak.

I won't be buying the next Counting Crows record - there's just too much better music to listen to.

Sorry Adam.