The Meaning of (Hewso's) Life

Extra! Extra! Read all about it. Pixel Hunt goes to press!

2012-01-17T21:48:00.000+11:00

As you all know gaming is serious business these days. With Magazines, TV shows, Books, Movies and even radio programs all sprouting news and “expertise”. But when it comes to the subject where do you go for an honest opinion from some of Australia’s best game journos? Well Pixel Hunt of course.

For the last 16 issues, Pixel Hunt has been providing quality opinion and information to the gaming public in the form of an ezine (that is electronic magazine Dad, come on keep up). It has become known throughout the Australian gaming industry as a place where writers can give honest opinion without sticking to the traditional structure of most magazines and websites. Because of this Pixel Hunt has earned a reputation for highly entertaining and informative writing.

This respect and reputation has allowed the ezine to make the next step…… go to press. Pixel Hunt is now available by order in a sexy printed format so you no longer have to take your laptop to the loo when you are reading the publication.

This is what Editor Dylan Burns had to say about this massive step (taken from MCVpacific.com): “From a marketing perspective, I think it’s important for people to be able to see and feel a physical product – to flick through and enjoy the awesome design work that (designer) Aaron has done. I’ve always seen Pixel Hunt as a cathartic platform for the who’s who of Australian games writing to let their hair down a little, allow themselves to scratch any writing itches and engage more closely with readers who follow them in various publications and across social networks. I’ve talked to some writers who see Pixel Hunt as a prestigious space to get published, as it’s a magazine (now) that is read by Australian games press. We aren’t dictated in any way by an owning publisher. We have complete freedom to print what we want.”

So there you have it folks a great publication has just become even greater. Pixel Hunt can be purchased here: http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/325924 and their main site is www.pixelhunt.com.au So please check them out and if you like what you see why not splash out and get yourself some quality gaming related reading material.

The Year in Review: Hewso Style

2011-12-29T10:11:00.001+11:00

Ok it is that time of year again, the time when we all look back at what has happened and reflect on the good, the bad and the ugly. 2011 for me was a great year, a year where some big changes have occurred and some bigger surprises. So to sum it up I thought I might share my thoughts on the year that was. What was good? What deserves to be forgotten? What you might have missed? These are the questions I will attempt to answer in my highly self-indulgent year in review.

What a year, I mean there is nothing I can say that hasn’t already been said about the amazing year video games had in 2011. From Skyrim to Batman, from Portal 2 to LA Noire some superlative games have been released this year and due to the sheer number of quality releases I am sure some gems will be missed. One of those gems is The Witcher 2. Released early in the year to little fanfare, The Witcher 2 was a master class in RPG storytelling and style. Great characters, amazing graphics (some of the best around) and a crushing difficulty made The Witcher 2 a game that no PC player should miss out on. (If you want to read my full thoughts on the game click here - http://blackpanel.com.au/2011/06/20/the-witcher-2-assassins-of-kings-review/ )

Another game that you shouldn’t miss is Driver San Francisco. Everyone thought the Driver franchise was dead. The last two entries in the series were rubbish and no one had any real interest in returning to the world. So it was with some surprise that Ubisoft announced another entry in the series. What was an even bigger surprise was that it was really really good. A game of pure fun, Driver SF has one of the stupidest premises in a video game ever, you can body snatch any driver in the city, but it works so well you wish you had more time with it. The game it’s self would be more accurately described as a Movie Chase Scene Simulator than a racing game but don’t let that put you off it is a mountain of fun from start to finish. (Once again I was lucky enough to get this to review. The review can be found here - http://blackpanel.com.au/2011/09/27/driver-san-francisco-review/)

It wasn’t all roses in the gaming world this year, gamers the world over suffered their fair share of disappointments. Duke’s long awaited return was not worth waiting for, Blizzard let the release date slide on Diablo 3 again, Australia still doesn’t have an R18+ rating (though we are closer) and Mortal Kombat (Another quality game, Get it you won’t be disappointed) was refused classification in Australia.

IMPORT MORTAL KOMBAT

But the single biggest disappointment for me this year was RAGE. RAGE was the long awaited new IP from shooter masters ID software (they made some small games, like Doom and Quake you might have heard of them) and unfortunately it seems that they are still stuck in the past. Shooters have come a long way since their last release and while RAGE is a solid game, it was severely lacking in areas that gamers take for granted these days leading to a mediocre experience. The worst part of the whole affair was the disdain that ID treated their PC fanbase. ATI video card users had an especially hard time in getting the game to even work. It took me 2 months, 2 patches and 4 Video Card Driver updates before I could play the game. This is just not acceptable in this day and age and I am sure ID will have a lot to do to make it up to its Hardcore PC community.

RAGE looks good, when you eventually get it running.

Join me for Movember

2011-09-29T19:32:00.011+10:00

Join me, grow a mo and change the face of men’s health.

The humble mo is a misunderstood creature, for 11 months of the year mo’s are often thought of as nothing but a bad taste remnant of the 70’s. But for the month of Movember (formally known as November) mo’s are not only hip, stylish and desirable but indicate the wearer of said mo is a fine human philanthropist with the wellbeing of others on their mind.

For those that could never understand why during November half the male population was walking around with furry lip warmers, Movember is a charity event where men from all around the world grow moustaches and get sponsorship to raise money for Men’s health programs such as prostate cancer research and male depression. I have been supporter of Movember for quite a few years and while contemplating which style of face caterpillar I would don this year. I wanted to do something a little bit more for the cause.

With this goal in mind, and knowing that my gaming brethren love to support a good cause, I set about organising the Australian Gaming Community Movember Team. A group of games writers/players/developers who not only want to support a great cause but have no fear in showing a hairy upper lip to the world.

The Following is from the Movember Website

"Movember is about raising funds and awareness for men's health, specifically prostate cancer and male depression. Close to 3,300 men die of prostate cancer in Australia each year and one in eight men will experience depression in their lifetime. Many of these men do not seek help.

I’d like to try and change those statistics.

The more people I can get to join my team, the more lives we can impact. You can either grow a moustache as a Mo Bro, or join as a Mo Sista and help to recruit other Mo growers to the team.

Once registered, the Movember team will send you all the information you need to raise funds and start growing as part of my Movember team."

So if you would like to join me and many others in raising some money you can join our facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/groups/170839739664200/?notif_t=group_r2j) or join the team directly by visiting our team page on the Movember website: (https://www.movember.com/au/register/details/team_id/206020). The lovely ladies out there are more than welcome to join as a Mo Sista and help the fella’s raises their money and provide support during what is likely to be an itchy time.

So wear your mo proudly, whether it be the Magnum PI, the Merv Hughes or the Uncle Chop chop and change the face of mens health.

*This article was originally posted at www.blackpanel.com.au Check them out for all you gaming news/reviews and features. Great site!

Five Fast Human’s With You

2011-09-11T09:17:00.000+10:00

I thought I would do another quick round up of what has been hitting my media intake for the last little while. There are some corkers and some shockers in this entry. You have been warned.

Too much man for anyone to take

Fast Five is the latest entry in the bazillion dollar rev head franchise and it is the best one yet. Some have described it as Oceans 11 for motor heads and that is a pretty accurate description of what is going on here. All of the cast from the previous movies have made a return and they seem to slip back into their respective roles with ease. The biggest addition (and I mean big) to this movie is Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as a bounty hunter sent by the FBI to catch Paul Walker and Vin Diesel. The Rock (and he is the candy ass whooping, smell what I'm cooking, “Rock” of old in this movie, not the fellow that did the abysmal The Tooth Fairy) and Vin bash manliness for the whole movie setting up a fight scene that didn’t disappoint. This movie has enough testosterone to make any 12 year old boy watching immediately go through puberty.

Basically the movie was a load big dumb fun, I had a grin on my face the whole time I was watching. Since Director Justin Lin took over the franchise with Tokyo Drift, each movie has been getting better and better, and with the enormous amount of money Fast 5 made at the box office it is safe to say that there is more Vin, Walker and Johnson coming our way in the near future.

I'm With You is the latest “effort” by funky rockers the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. I use quotation marks as the album doesn’t seem to have had any effort put into it at all. All of the songs seem like half-finished leftovers and B-sides from Stadium Arcadium and there isn’t one exciting song on the whole album.

This fly must be attracted by how much the album stinks

I have been a fan of the chilli’s for pretty much my whole life. The first album I ever bought was Blood Sugar Sex Magic and I have purchased every album since. Needless to say I have never been this disappointed with a band I love. There is no magic anymore and if it wasn’t for Flea trying his hardest to carry the band (he is smashing the bass the whole album) I could have sworn that this was not the chilli’s but a band that resembles them. No band is ever beyond redemption but I think RHCP will find it hard to win back fans after this shocker of an album.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution was probably my most anticipated game of the year and boy it didn’t disappoint. Set as a prequel to the original Deus Ex (a game which many still consider to be the best game ever made, 11 years after its release) DE:HR tells the story of Adam Jensen, a security expert in the employ of a human augmentation company. Starting with Jensen becoming augmented, DE:HR takes players on a ride of stealth/action/adventuring gameplay that has rarely been done this well. The game tailors itself to the player, giving you the choice on how you want to approach any given situation. Want to sneak past the guards and go straight to the objective, sure. Want to hack the security system so the turrets and robots attack their own masters , not a problem. Want to punch a hole through a wall, break a guard’s neck and shoot his squad mates down with an automatic shotgun, yep you can do that too.

Buy this game, you won't regret it

DE:HR is about choice, and with a story that simply outclasses just about any other game out there, the choice to play DE:HR is a no brainer. I cannot see a better game coming out this year. If you have the slightest interest in gaming you owe it to yourself to get this game.

Mythbusters. Gaming myths busted for those in older generation

2011-09-03T21:39:00.000+10:00

Being an older gamer I thought I would put together a little guide for those well matured folk out there that are a little scared and confused about how a fat plumber with a mushroom addiction can not only be fun, but be one of the biggest entertainment phenomenon’s in human history.

Myth 1 – Playing games is for kids.

If this doesn't say fun for everyone, nothing does.

Well technically this is true, it is for kids but (and there is always a but) it is for adults too. Gaming is a genuine family pastime and something that even my really really old parents are now starting to enjoy. In this wonderful day and age instead of the family crowding around the Monopoly board, rolling dice, counting fake money and loosing pieces this can be done in front of the TV with with nothing more than a console and a controller. No more arguments over the rules, no more kids eating the pieces and no more cheating bankers. What can be bad about that?

Myth 2 – Playing games leads to an increase in violent tendencies.

For a gamer the reverse is the actually true. If you ever see a person at work who is loud, irritable, sweating and prone to bouts of Tourette’s syndrome this person may not be coming down from the latest designer drug or recovering from a late night session at the local but be a gamer who hasn’t gotten a chance to unleash his worries on an unsuspecting pirate/ninja/gangster. Therapeutic violence is something that everyone should get behind, after all who doesn’t feel better at the thought of unleashing some of that pent up tension on a virtual representation of the telly tubbies (ok that game doesn’t exist, but it should, instant bestseller).

Myth 3 – Games are only played but antisocial nerds in their parent’s basement.

This couldn’t be further from the truth. In a recent survey that I just made up, 100% of sports stars used their first pay cheque to buy a gaming system. But in all seriousness (not really) gaming is a wonderful social experience. With the success of multiplayer games like Guitar Hero, Call of Duty and Mario Kart people are increasingly enjoying their gaming time with others. Another recent discovery is gaming goes well with alcohol (as proven by the success of the Mana Bar) and alcohol goes well with friends. Drunken singstar sessions is something that everyone should experience at least once in their life, after all how can you say you know someone until you experience their drunken attempt to bring soul to Ke Shan. Yes the antisocial roleplayer does exist but everyone else is having too much fun playing Rock Band with their drunken mates to notice.

Myth 4 – Games will rot your mind.

If there is anything more incorrect than this statement I am yet to see it. Games make education fun, easy and exciting as well as offering life lessons not available anywhere else. For example, with the inevitability of the Zombie apocalypse where are people going to get survival training? Educational documentaries such as Dawn of the Dead and Army of Darkness will only get the potential Zombie survivor so far. Without the interaction given to people by video games how will people know how to use common household items to create weapons of undead destruction.

Not only will video games assist your survival in this situation, they will teach you how to drive a million dollar sports car, build and manage a large scale army bent on planetary conquest, use a portal device to escape an evil AI contruct and the ins and outs of the economic structures within a large scale drug operation. All of these skills are essential for a rounded education experience and until the government realises this and Zombie kills 101 becomes a compulsory course in all high schools, video games are the only source of this vital knowledge.

So hopefully my guide has helped you folks in the blue rinse brigade understand this scary movement and to all the gamers reading this, I sincerely hope my article hasn’t made things worse for us.

A Final Farewell for the Big Man

2011-07-20T21:02:00.000+10:00

Losing your pet is always a hard thing for a family. Only other pet owners know what you go through when you lose a loving member of your household. I am going through this now having lost my Great Dane today, to what I can only assume was in relation to a tumour that had recently been diagnosed.

Sampson, was a loving member of my family, my wife and I bought him before we had children and really was always an important part of our life. From the first day we got him and he left a nasty package in the hallway (it wasn’t a small one either, the size of the dog = the size of the surprise)to me going crook at him last night for barking at someone walking past the house, his presence was always appreciated.

Now owning a Great Dane leads to unique problems like owning a snow shovel to pick up the poo, losing small children in holes he had dug and assuring the elderly neighbour that the dog sticking his head over the 6 foot fence was not standing on anything and he was just saying hello.

I buried Sampson today at my In-Laws farm, which itself was a challenge. The size of the trench we had to dig to give the big fella a proper burial was enormous and took myself and my father in-law the better part of an hour to dig out. The hardest part was telling my son that Samps was no longer with us. My youngest (2) was too young to realise what had happened but my eldest (6) knew exactly what was going on. My wife was the person that had to tell him and I don’t envy what she had to do. Dealing with her own grief and telling a crying child that he couldn’t play with his puppy anymore is a task I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy.

In the end you have to look back at the fun, I know it is clichéd but really how else does one deal with grief.

I know that this blog post is self indulgent, but giving Big Stoopid a proper Eulogy is something I had to do. Every family member deserves a proper goodbye. So goodbye my mate you will be missed.

He was a lap dog.

R.I.P Sampson

5/1/2003 – 20/7/2011

True Electric Worms

2011-07-10T14:53:00.000+10:00

Time again for me to put some of the things I have seen, done, experienced down on a digital page for your perusal. It has been a little while since I have done one of these so I have a few things to write about.

First is Electric Mary. Now for those that don’t know, Electric Mary is an Aussie rock band from Melbourne. They play old style rock, in fact the band slogan is “Rock and Roll served up the way it used to taste.” The band sticks true to this slogan with clear influences from classic bands like Deep Purple, Iron Maiden, Motley Crue and even a little bit of AC/DC. I first became aware of this band when they supported Alice Cooper on his most recent tour. They played for about 45 minutes and kicked it the whole time. Massive guitar solo’s great vocals and blues rock riffs abounded and I was immediately in love. I promptly purchased their CD “Down to the Bone” and it has been in heavy rotation on my Ipod ever since.

That was 2 years ago now and I have been anticipating some new material ever since. Well on the 17/7/11 my wish will come true. “Long time coming” is the name of their new EP/DVD that brings 6 new tracks on the CD and 7 live performances on the DVD. Trust me if you like hard rock and want to support Aussie music you owe it to yourself to check these guys out. Their album can be bought on iTunes and the new EP can be pre-ordered here: http://www.waterfrontrecords.com/product/78102

Remakes are the current flame of Hollywood. Old movies are being remade daily saving viewers everywhere from any spark of originality. Most of these remakes have been worse than the original but with the release of a new version of the John Wayne classic, True Grit that trend has been busted. Starring Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon and directed by the ever reliable Cohen brothers this remake is one worth watching. Telling the story of a young girl on a mission to track down her father’s killer, True Grit is one of the best westerns in recent times. Solid performances by Bridges and Damon, amazing cinematography and a breakout performance by Hailee Steinfield make this a movie that everyone should see.

Steam sales are event that no PC gamer ever wants to miss. Every six months Steam has massive reductions on almost all games with daily deals that simply cannot be ignored. These sales are on right now and for a measly $15 I managed to pick up 3 great games. The first being Command and Conquer 4, a game that, while different to the previous entries in the series, is more than worth the $6 I paid for it. The second game was Oblivion, a game that won so many “Game of the year” awards, that it became the standard that all fantasy RPG’s are held to, even to this day. Yet even with all of this acclaim I have somehow missed playing it for the last 4 years but no longer. For a pauper’s price of $7 I got Oblivion and all of its expansions giving me about 100 hours of gameplay to look forward to.

The final game I picked up was a classic that has recently been remade. For $2 I got a game that contains over 86 weapons, advanced tactical turn based combat, hand drawn 2d graphics and most importantly small pink invertebrates. That’s right I picked up Worms (yes, I know how bad that sounds). For the two of you out there that have never played a Worms game it is simple. Think Tank Wars with Worms as the tanks and Sheep, Cows, Cement Donkeys and Holy Hand Grenades as weapons. The insane humour makes this a game that almost everyone will get a giggle out of and the gameplay is simple to lean yet difficult to master so there is a lot here to like and keep you playing, and at the cost of a can of coke I just couldn’t say no.

So that’s it for the entry, remember to comment below if you have anything to add or if you simply want to say hey and you can check out my Video game reviews at www.blackpanel.com.au . I am also now on Google+ so look me up if you are a member, I am the only Matthew Hewson on there at this point so I shouldn’t be too hard to find.

A Great Gaming Website featuring yours truly

The Story of A Sci/Fi Convention Virgin: My surprise trip to Supanova.

2011-07-02T17:45:00.000+10:00

It was any normal Friday afternoon, working away at my place of employment. Suddenly I received a phone call from my wife. She promptly instructed me to leave work and head home. After voicing my concern that this wasn’t possible as I simply had too much to do, my boss strolled over to me and told me to leave. It seems my wife had a cunning plan. So out the door I dashed and quickly headed home. Once there I found the family car packed, my bags included, and my wife waiting patiently to hit the road to our mystery location.

So it was with a quick de-tour via school to pick up my youngest son we headed off for my surprise trip. It was clear fairly soon that we were heading to Sydney and therefor I assumed that we were going to visit my parents for the weekend. I was right (or so I thought.) and after a slow drive due to an accident and road works, we arrived at my parents flat. We quickly followed the usual routine, dragging the bags up stairs, settling in for a drink and to watch the footy. It was then that my wife surprised me a second time with a ticket to Supanova.

With a grin on my face I continued getting comfortable; assuming that we would catch the train to Homebush in the morning and my parents would look after the kids for the day. Just as I got my laptop out my wife told me to pack it up and grab my bags. It turned out there was one surprise left, which was a hotel room for 2 nights in Kings Cross. My parents had agreed to have the kids for the weekend and Amy and I were going to get a weekend together. So after a bit of a train ride into town we quickly found our hotel room, grabbed some dinner and drinks and hit the hay.

Just a small part of the line up to get in.

After rising at a reasonable hour, we had a quick bite to eat and jumped on a train to head to Olympic Park and the Supanova pop culture expo. The first thing I noticed was the size of the line to get in. It was enormous, at which point I almost thought it would be better to do something else for the day. But after a few seconds we noticed that the line was moving through quickly and we took our place at the rear as we headed into the event. After a short wait of about 20-30 minutes we reached the front, paid our entry and went into the event.

Some of the great Cosplayers

My god there were a lot of people, and the cosplayers were out in force. Some were simply outstanding and I could do nothing but applaud the effort they went to in order to look like their favourite Sci/fi hero. Ezio to Aliens, Ariel to Poision Ivy. The variety of characters was amazing. My personal favourites were the girls who came as the weeping angels from Doctor who and the two lads dressed as Alien and Predator.

Moving on from simply gawking at passers-by, I went about checking out some of the stores and displays. GAME, Madman Comics and JB HI FI were probably the biggest stands there but there were many, many others to check out. As I made my way towards the centre of the expo, I was greeted by a wrestling ring, with two very bad performers pretending to hurt each other in the middle. After seeing this, I can see why professional wrestling never took off in Australia. To be honest the acting in a Uwe Boll was more convincing, and even more entertaining to watch.

After a quick marvel at how bad the so called “wrestlers” were I moved quickly to the theatre section of the expo to try and catch some of Amy Acker’s Q and A session. As my wife well knows I have somewhat of a crush on Amy Acker’s “Fred” character in the TV show Angel and I was surprised to see she was even better looking in person. Even my wife commented on how good she looked. Yup my nerdy dreams were coming true. So my wife, being the greatest wife ever, lined up to get us some autograph tokens. An Amy Acker token for me and a James Masters token for herself. While she was lining up I proceeded to wander around the expo, checking the sites and buy a few things here and there (I bought a Mario and Yoshi plush toy for my boys.) After almost 2 hours (I kid you not) my wife calls me and says she has finally gotten to the front of the line. So we both line up for our chance to meet our chosen crush and get their autograph. Apparently Amy Acker isn’t as popular as James Master s and I managed to get in, say a few polite words with Amy, and get out in under 15 minutes. My poor wife had a much longer wait.

A sneaky shot of Amy Acker

So once again I went a wandering while my patient wife waited in line, luckily for her she had her Kobo with her, giving her something to do while she shuffled forward ever so slowly. I went off and decided to try and get in to a demo session for the upcoming game “The Darkness 2” (Which I wrote about in my last blog entry) which went for 35 minutes. While in there my wife finally managed to meet “Spike”, went weak at the knees when he called her a “pretty little thing”, and come out to the front of the expo and waits for my demo session to finish. As I exited the demo I spied her seated on the overhead balcony, exhausted from all of the waiting she had to do.

The Expo floor

And that was it, both of us a little tired and hungry we decided to call it quits and begin our train trip back to the hotel room. I had a great time and it was a wonderful surprise and early birthday present. While I am glad I went, the expo its self was a little hit and miss, some things I loved and some things were poorly organised to the point of frustration. I don’t know if I will go back again, I think it would depend on which stars were in attendance as I can’t see it being too different year to year. In saying this it is something everyone with a little bit of “nerd” in them should do at least once, even if it is just to see to sights and maybe meet one of your crushes.

The Darkness II - Hands off preview.

2011-06-19T20:36:00.001+10:00

The Darkness II – Hands off preview.

The Darkness holds a special place in my heart. It was the first game I bought for my brand new Xbox 360 and it was a great game to boot. Going back and playing it now though shows how the mists of nostalgia can play with memories. The game looks quite “last-gen” and there are quite a few narrative and pacing problems. Even though I felt it had dated badly it still had one thing going for it, The Darkness itself. Voiced by the legendary Mike Patten, The Darkness was a great gameplay mechanic that stayed fresh for the whole experience.

So with this in mind I was glad to get the opportunity to see a 25 minute hands-off demo of the Darkness 2 at the Supanova pop culture expo in Sydney. I was ushered into the only quiet area on the venue’s floor, eagerly grabbed a front row seat and waited to see what the design team at Digital Extremes (who replaced the original’s developer, Starbreeze Studio) had to offer.

As the demo started I was immediately impressed by the graphics, gone was the realistic look of the original and in its place is a Cell Shaded world, heavily inspired by comics the story is drawn from. As I was taken through the demo by the presenter, some new gameplay features were pointed out. The player has a lot more control over the Darkness in this game. One of the tentacles can be used for grab and the other for melee attacks. When combined this led to some wonderful uses in combat. From holding a car door as a shield with one tentacle as the other rips out a gangster’s heart to impaling enemies with thrown poles as you finish others off with a shotgun.

Things are not going to end well for this bloke.

Another feature shown was the minion, this foul mouthed, vulgar little goblin makes his return from the first game and I was assured that this time he was more than just comic relief. In the demonstration I was shown how helpful the blighter could be. Opening doors, attacking enemies, searching for ammo all were shown and the presenter promised me that he had a lot more tricks up his sleeve.

This led to the demo’s conclusion. I was impressed by what was shown with the increased emphasis on using the Darkness as a weapon and the new look of the game. When I first heard that a sequel was coming I was unsure of how it would be received but after whetting my whistle with this teaser, The Darkness 2 is firmly at the top of my most anticipated list.

I was right, It didn't end well.

Of course I had one final question for the presenter, the most important thing to the experience as far as I was concerned. Was Mike Patten back as the voice of the Darkness? With an answer in the affirmative I walked out of the display room with a wide grin planted on my face and the hope for a great game in my heart.

The Darkness 2 is coming to PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in October 2011

An Alien, A Dragon and a Wasted Light

2011-04-25T20:42:00.003+10:00

Well I thought I would do something I haven't done for a while and write an update on things I have seen lately that deserve some extra attention.

Paul, the latest movie from Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz duo Simon Pegg and Nick Frost has finally reached Australian cinemas. The wait was worth it. The pair have hit another home run with this charming road trip comedy. The story for those that don't know is about two british lads who, while on a tour of the USA's most famous UFO hotspots, run into an actual Alien (Paul) who is running from captivity. Paul is voiced by Seth Rogan and it seems alot of his personality has seeped through into the CG creation. As you can imagine comedy hijinks ensue but they never get predictable. The supporting cast is all top notch (Jason Bateman and Sigourney Weaver both turn in stellar performances) and the SCI-FI references all come thick and fast (including the film's climax at one of the most famous locations in SCI-FI film history) leaving you laughing out loud. The film is more accessable than the duo's previous efforts so if you are put off by the excessive "britishness" in Shaun and Fuzz you should be fine here. All in all a great movie with plenty of laughs to be had.

Dragon Age 2 is the newest epic roleplaying game from RPG masters Bioware. Once again the player is thrust into the world of Dragon Age however things have changed this time around. The original game was a return to the old-school sensabilities of classic RPG's like Baulders Gate and Icewind Dale. It was lauded by many for this return to crushing difficulty, pause and order combat and massive game length. However many were put off by the game for these very reasons. DA:2 is a much more modern style of RPG and it seems to have more in common with Biowares other key series, Mass Effect, than it does with the original.

DA 2's main character is voiced this time around, creating a sense of involvement that the original lacked. The combat can now be played in real time (the option of pause and order is still there however) and the dialog system has been lifted directly from Mass Effect. In all the game experence has been streamlined nicely and for those that were daunted by the original, this is going to be a much more inviting game. The game has it's problems however. The whole game (all 25-30 hours) are set in one town. This of course becomes more than a little repetative. The other major issue I have with the game is the story. Story is usually one of Bioware's strong points but here it seems little more than a reason to connect quests together. The ending is also increadibly unsatisfying leaving the game open for what is obviously going to be the final part of the triology. Don't let these things deter you too much though as there is a lot of fun still to be had with DA2 and unless you are a die hard DA:O fan you should find something to love.

Wasting Light, the newest effort from alternate rock gods The Foo Fighters has hit the shelves. Labeled as a return to the bands earlier style the album contains 11 short but rocking anthems that should keep any fan more than happy. "Bridges Burning" and "White Limo" are some of the heaviest tracks that the band has released in years and something that fans have been clamouring for. Their pop sensibilites haven't left them though with radio friendly tracks such as "Rope" still getting love from Dave and the band. All in all a very solid effort with the only downside a very short running time. A couple of extra songs would have been nice but what is here is about as good as the Foo's have ever been.

Well thats it for me. Just a reminder I am also writing game reviews for www.blackpanel.com.au. My latest is on Need for Speed Shift 2 - Unleashed. Please head over (http://blackpanel.com.au/2011/04/21/shift-2-unleashed-review/) and check it out. While you are there support the site by subscribing to the podcast and the facebook group. I will love you for it.

A Quick Favor.

2011-04-18T22:40:00.001+10:00

Hey Folks just a quick message to ask a favor of you.

My Wife and Mother In-Law's business has entered a competition and they need your help. If you could all head to http://www.milliondollarmemo.com/en/entries/mitchell-personnel-solutions-australia-218?cmpid=36#. Watch the video and vote if you like it, it would be great. It is a great promo for their company and give them a chance to win a great holiday for the staff.

In case you are wondering the Mango is my Wife and Mini-Mango is my youngest.

Oh and if you feel like you want a chance to win some cool techie stuff and you live in Australia, you should click on this link. http://c.kogan.com.au/c/mega5/4POlngKE/ and you could pick up $5k worth of goodies.

Thanks for the help.

Hewso

Hewso's Blog - Post EA Sports Active

2011-04-08T09:06:00.001+10:00

This is just a quick entry to once again say thanks to everyone who supported me over the 9 Week EA sports active program and barring any mishaps (my Asthma is playing silly buggers at the moment) I will be starting the 9 week challenge again on Monday at the high intensity.

I just thought I would let you all know that I will continue to write here about things that catch my eye. There is no set topic just something that catches my fancy. If you have any ideas or suggestions please feel free to leave me a comment and I will do my best. Now I probably wont be writing weekly anymore as I will be writing games reviews for another site and my time is starting to get restricted.

Yup thats right I got a pretty cool gig writing video games reviews for a great little video game site called The Black Panel. You can check them out at http://blackpanel.com.au/ or at http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=113907277625 on facebook. My first review should be up tonight or on Monday and it is of a little downloadable title called Swarm. Please support the site that supports me by hitting "like" on Facebook or by visiting their site. The more visitors they get the more chance I will get to write for them.

Check them out. I will love ya for it!

So thank you again and please keep reading and adding suggestions. I loved everyone's comments and they got me through some tough times during the program.

Cheers

Hewso

These are Swarmites. Read about them in my review on the Blackpanel.com.au

Nine Weeks Down, Many Many more to come.

2011-04-03T21:19:00.000+10:00

Well it’s over. The Nine week EA sports challenge is done and my results are in. My original goal, to see if video games could help you lose weight, has been completed and I feel I have proven without a doubt that if you can improve your health and lose weight by sticking to a workout regime set by a Video game. After completing the challenge I feel I need to clarify something. This is not actually a game. My initial impressions were correct; this is a serious fitness product that you just happen to use on a video game system. It would be a disservice to call this product a game as the reality is that this is one of the best home fitness products I have seen and while it will never be the equal to a personal trainer or a commitment to an expensive gym membership it is a great substitute for those who wish to simply get fit at home.

Worth the $$$ and the time I put into it.

When I last wrote I was on my way to Fiji and was worried about what it would do to my workout schedule. Well my worries were realised when, after I went to the trouble of packing my playstation and securing it for transport, the TV in my hotel room was broken. This fact was compounded by the reality of what locals call “Fiji time” or in other words “why do something today when it could be reasonably put off till tomorrow”. This is a condition that pervades throughout the Fijian Islands (and the whole pacific island region from what I have heard) and it led to a 6 day wait for the TV to get fixed, putting my plans of working out in Fiji to a permanent rest.

Not one to let something like this get me down I continued to think of my health, even if it was just a little bit. Eating healthy was difficult due to the rich nature of the resort food; however I lived this week by the “lesser of two evils” philosophy and went for the foods I felt were better for me. I also walked when I could and did plenty of swimming. This attitude led to me only gaining 1.2kg over my trip and after the large serve of Lobster Mornay and significant amount of cocktails I consumed over the 8 night period I am pretty happy with that result. I have since lost 1kg of that weight on my return just by going back to a healthy diet so things are still looking good.

Yup, this is me busting my diet wide open. Enjoying it too!

Now that my 9 weeks are over I would just like to point out a few things that have happened to me in this time.

- My fitness has noticeably improved

- I have lost 2 shirt sizes

- My jeans are noticeably too big

- I have dropped three belt notches

These are just some of the additional benefits I have gained through the use of EA sports active 2. Along with my significant amount of weight loss all of the above results make me very glad that I took the step (and the $120) and participated in the challenge. In fact I am so happy I am planning on starting the 9 week program once again after another week off (the diet is not off, nor is the walking. Just the program.) This time I plan to do it on the high intensity and make it through without missing a workout. With this plan I hope to get to 120kgs in time for my 30^th birthday in August.

Well that’s it for this part of my blog. I just want to say a quick thank you to all of you out there that have read, offered support, given advice and basically just helped me on my way. It made the hard weeks easier knowing that I had many readers out there keen to see me finish this challenge and improve my health. Special thanks have to go to my Wife and kids, who supported me throughout the whole challenge. Without their help it simply wouldn’t have been possible to complete. Finally I would like to say that I will be going back to my old style of blog and basically writing about what I feel like. If you like what I have written so far please feel free to hang around and read my future entries. I will also provide the occasional update on the weight loss if you are all interested.

So once again thanks for the support and here is what you have all been waiting for. The final ever “Hewso’s Stat Tracker”.

Workouts completed - 33

Hours of Exercise - 18 hours 33 minutes

Calories Burned - 11 078

Distance Ran - 40.76km

Average Heart Rate -126bpm

Max Heart Rate -195bpm

Total Weight Loss - 12.6 kg

Total Measurement loss - 17cm

Training while drinking is bad for your health.

2011-03-13T22:42:00.001+11:00

Well now that 7 weeks are down I can see the finish line. The 9 week challenge is no longer a marathon but a sprint to the finish. Unlike the last we spoke I am not going to bore you with a poor attempt at humour, so you won’t have to wade through a couple of pages of bad cop jokes to get to the weekly losses.

Waist measurement: 122cm (-2cm)

Resting Heart Rate: 69bpm (-1 bpm)

Weight: 135.6 (the same)

Now why did I not lose any weight? I could say that I have no idea. I could also say that it was just an off week, an aberration. Or I could also tell you that I had a really good week eating right and working out and then ruined it all by having a big night out of drinking and eating bad things. Now if I did say those things which one would you believe?

Yup that’s right I had a big weekend. I won’t give too many details but let’s just say it involved golf, the pub, rugby league, a casino and Weird Al Yankovic. While I had a great time it was hardly a set of activities conducive to weight loss and fitness. Anyway I have enough guilt coming from within so I won’t dwell on it any longer here.

I Blame Weird Al.

Last week I mentioned I will be facing a big challenge in the final two weeks of the program. That challenge is a small pacific nation, about 4 hour’s flight time from Sydney. That nation is Fiji and the challenge to my workouts is I am going there. Now having been to Fiji twice previously so I have a certain expectation of what my eating habits will be. Breakfast cocktails and rich seafood are the order of the day so I will have quite an issue when it comes to continuing my fitness journey.

This is where I will be spending my time.

To combat this I am taking my PS3 with me and hoping I can connect it to the TV in our hotel room. This will at least give me the ability to continue doing my workouts, I will also try as best as possible to choose a healthy option for dinner (except for my anniversary night, that dinner is Lobster all the way), keep active (plenty of swimming and walks up to the nearby marina) and drink my rum with Diet coke. Hopefully if I can do these things I can prevent any major weight gain. If not it could be a very bad week. Willpower don’t let me down.

Of course this also means that there will not be a blog entry next week. Internet access is sketchy at best so I will be unable to give you an update on how things are going. Fear not as I will be returning on the 25^th of March, just in time for the final weekly update and shortly after that a summary entry on my whole experience during the 9 week challenge. So stay tuned loyal readers for the impending ending of this hi-tech fitness journey.

Another pic of where I am staying. Are you jealous yet?

Hewso’s Stats Tracker

Workouts completed - 32

Hours of Exercise - 17hours 48 minutes

Calories burned - 11290

Distance Ran - 38.03km

Average Heart Rate - 126 bpm

Max Heart Rate - 195 bpm

Total Weight loss - 12.8kg

Measurement loss - 16cm

The Interview.

2011-03-07T22:40:00.000+11:00

The time is 2138hrs on Monday the 7^th of March. The interviewee is a Mrs A Hewson, aka Ms Mitchell, aka Ook the Chook. Detective Hugh Gass conducting the interview.

Please note this is not actually my wife, just a random pic from google.

Mrs Hewson, I would like to remind you that anything you say can and will be used in a court of law. I would also like to remind you of your right to legal counsel and that you have indicated you are willing to wave that right.

Detective H Gass: Mrs Hewson, if that is your real name. What were your first thoughts when your “so called” husband came to you with the idea of this experiment?

Mrs Hewson: I was initially excited; I thought it was a great excuse for my husband to actually do something about his weight. Later on I had some fleeting worries that he had wasted our money on a system that is unlikely to work.

Detective H Gass: How has this experiment affected your life? As a wife and a mother surely this has had some effect on your family’s daily routine.

Mrs Hewson: Having to cook my own dinner is something I had to adjust too. My husband was the primary cook in our house until he began the EA Sports Active program. Now he is too busy eating veggies and healthy cuts of meat to cook me my favourite meals of Spaghetti Bolognaise or Beef Stroganoff. His working out has also played havoc with our going out plans. Now we have to wait until he has done his workout until we can go to a friend’s place or head to the movies.

Detective H Gass: Mrs Hewson, after all of the “working out” surely there has to have been some discernable results. Please describe what you have seen and remember you are legally required to tell the truth.

Mrs Hewson: My Husbands recent clothing purchases have fit much better. His body seems to fit into standard sizes without looking like a watermelon in a condom. Another thing I have noticed is my arms now fit around him much easier so if I want to cuddle him, or smack him in the back head I can. Despite all of this he still seems like the same cranky bastard I married a few years ago.

Detective H Gass: So Mrs Hewson I have one final question for you. Do you think EA Sports Active 2 has worked over all, or do you think it is a bunch of crap?

Mrs Hewson: Honestly I think it works; it is a great motivator for my lazy husband. It sets him a goal and his video game obsessed mind has to complete it. I think it is some form of OCD or something. But I must say overall I am proud of his achievements so far. He has impressed me with his commitment to something he could have easily shoved on the “impulse buy” shelf never to be heard from again. But he hasn’t and he has improved his health because of it.

Detective H Gass: Thank you for your time Mrs Hewson you a free to go, but If I was you I wouldn’t leave the region anytime soon, we may have more questions for you.

Ahh, a witty police pun. Don't worry I didn't come up with it.

Anyway, I have really made you all wait to get my results for this week. And considering you read my whole bad cop drama shtick I suppose I shouldn’t let you wait any longer. The results are:

Waist Measurement 124 (- 3cms)

Resting Heart Rate 70bpm (the same)

Weight 135.6 (-1.2 kg)

So another weight loss, smaller than last week but a loss is always a positive. That’s pretty much it for this week. A little bit unusual but I hope you enjoyed it all the same. Next week I will be letting you know about an upcoming challenge in my attempt to do the EA sports active 2 9 week challenge.

Hewso’s Stat Tracker. Week 6

Workouts completed - 29

Hours of Exercise - 15hours 42minutes

Calories burned - 9907

Distance Ran - 32.92kms

Average Heart Rate - 127 bpm

Max Heart Rate - 195 bpm

Total Weight loss - 12.8 kg

Measurement loss - 14cm

Another delay, this is becoming a habit.

2011-03-06T21:40:00.002+11:00

Sorry folks, due to unforseen circumstances I have been unable to write a blog entry tonight. I promise that tomorrow will be the day you see my wife call me a fat bastard.

A day late but worth the wait.

2011-02-28T22:02:00.000+11:00

For those regular readers out there by now you have probably noticed that my usual Sunday entry was delayed. This was due to my attendance at the Soundwave music festival. It was a great day with Slash and Myles Kennedy being the highlight. But you are not here to read about my day of head-banging, moshing and rocking out but to read about my results for the week. So without any further ado, the results:

Resting heart rate - 70 bpm (- 4 bpm)

Waist measurement – 127 (- 2 cm)

Weight – 136.8kg (-3.0kg)

10kgs lost = Party Time!

Another 3 kilos have disappeared into the ether and what is even better is the news I have busted the 10kg weight loss mark (which is roughly 22 pounds for those not up on the metric system). This is something that has really brought a smile to my face. I even allowed myself a celebratory piece of a friend’s birthday cake as a reward (nothing but veggies tomorrow to make up for it though.) My resting heart rate and measurements are also continuing to drop. 5 weeks in and EA Sports Active 2 has lived up to its promise of being an all-round health and fitness solution. It is however only just past the half way mark of the 9 week program so it still has some time to let me down.

Life, I have noticed, is changing. My health is now at the forefront of my thinking and is no longer something to be ignored. For example, I recently went to the “Hog’s Breath” (for those that don’t know, a chain of steak houses) where I ordered an entrée of crumbed mushrooms and a main of a balsamic calamari salad. My normal order at a place like this would have been large slabs of animal with a side order of deep fried potatoes of some description. And while I have always liked salad it never would have been a choice previously for me in a place like this. This is the change of thinking I have gone through since taking on the 9 week challenge. What started as a way to improve my writing has evolved into a lifestyle change that has affected my perception on life in general.

Unfortunately I really don’t have much more to add this evening. After spending all of Sunday rocking out (and walking about 20kms in the process) and most of today driving home I am somewhat exhausted and my brain doesn’t seem to be functioning in a coherent manner. As a teaser though next week I plan to put down the thoughts of the person that loves me the most (well at least I hope she does) my wife, noting her opinions and observations in regards to my journey so far. I promise to be honest with you so if she says I am a lazy fat arse; well that is what you are going to read (I am hoping that she will be much nicer than that though).

Headbanging Fitness: The new fitness fad brought to you by The Shopping Channel.

Hewso’s stat tracker.

Workouts completed - 25

Hours of Exercise - 13hours and 3 minutes

Calories burned - 8243

Distance Ran - 26.85km

Average Heart Rate - 126 bpm

Maximum Heart Rate - 195 bpm

Weight Loss - 11.6kgs

Waist measurement - -11cms

A tempory delay to normal broadcasting

2011-02-26T18:10:00.001+11:00

Due to a sudden case of Headbanging (I am off to the soundwave music festival) our usual Sunday blog entry will not take place.

Please rest assured that normal broadcasting will resume on Monday (Aussie time)

An Expert opinion on an Amateur’s Journey.

2011-02-20T21:47:00.000+11:00

Another week down and another blog entry to go up. This week was full of drama, action, comedy and even a little bit of romance. Well not really, it was pretty much the same as last week which is why I managed to call in a favour to get some qualified insight and opinion on the EA Sports Active 2 program. But first the real reason you are all reading, to see if I am about to break down and cry again, the Stats.

Waist Measurement - 129cm (a loss of 1cm)

Resting Heart Rate – 74bpm (same as last week)

Weight – 139.8 (a loss of 1.6kg)

As you can see I am continuing to lose weight, I have a feeling that number would have been slightly larger without the packet of chips I shared with my family last night and the delicious Beef Ravioli I had today at lunch with my parents (hint: Italian restaurants, while they serve great food, tend not to be a great weight loss destination) so I am happy with my results. Next week I will endeavour to resist the temptation and see what my true loss will be.

So onto the meat and potatoes of this week’s blog, my extra special guest and his opinions about the program. A little about him, Jono (as he is called) spent 4 years at uni studying exercise physiology at the University of Wollongong. To help fund this study he worked as a personal rehabilitation trainer at a local gym dealing with workers compensation cases. Since leaving university he has been employed by the Liverpool hospital in Sydney as a Cardio diagnostician where his role was setting up, adjusting and maintaining pacemakers already implanted in patients and diagnosing heart problems and issues with patients. He has recently completed further study in Cardio electric science and has left the Public health system to pursue a career in the Private Sector. Oh and one final qualification, he is my little brother.

Yup, my baby bro is much smarter than me!

The only way for Jono to obtain an accurate opinion was for him to actually do a workout. So with the sensors readjusted for his much smaller frame and a towel and water bottle at the ready we started up the game. For this test I asked the trainer to create a new workout for our situation. We selected a Cardio work which had little arm work so Jono’s bad shoulders wouldn’t come into play (a legacy from a youth spent playing rugby league). So with a workout selected and a slightly apprehensive look in his eye we started the program.

As the workout started he was led through the warm-up phase. Jono commented that he felt the warm up was not long enough and a little more stretching should be introduced to enable the body to be ready for a high intensity session. After about 10 minutes I could see the sweat appearing on his forehead. His breathing had quickened and all body signs indicated he was working hard. This was confirmed by his comments in regards to “foot fires” and “squats” causing a burn in his legs. He also stated that he felt like a dick jumping around in front of the TV and had to fight the urge to close the curtains in case anyone was watching.

With the workout complete and my brother sweating up a storm, I quizzed him further on his opinions. “I personally prefer being in a gym or outside, however, this is a perfectly acceptable substitute and is great for people that cannot afford the gym or feel insecure exercising in front of others“ was his summarising statement.

We also discussed other aspects of the workouts and the program in general. First was the schedule of the workouts. Jono informed me that 4 workouts a week was a good number, however, he strongly encouraged activity every day if weight loss was my goal. Second was the resistance band. Jono was a fan of these bands, commenting on their flexible and beneficial nature in exercise. He did say that if muscle development was your goal free weights would achieve better results. Finally we discussed the amounts of exercises in the game. This is something he was really impressed with, bringing out the old cliché “diversity beats boredom” and the fact that I am still getting new activities after 4 weeks is great.

So all in all Jono seemed to be fairly impressed with what was on offer in the game. He had a few minor quibbles (occasionally an exercise wouldn’t register) but felt overall the experience offered an acceptable substitute to a gym. I feel that in some respects he was simply happy that his older brother was finally getting of his XXXL backside and doing some exercise and if a video game helped me, it was a great thing.

So that’s about it for this week. Hopefully having someone else’s opinion in this entry has broken up the boredom and given you another insight into the experience. I should have mentioned this earlier but if you have any questions in regards to my workouts, or if you want to clarify something please feel free to contact me in the comments section below or at @Hewso81 on twitter. If you have any questions for Jono I will try to get an answer for you as well (I can’t promise anything though I might have used up all of my favours now.) So stick around for more video game fitness shenanigans next week.

Hewso’s Stat Tracker.

Workouts completed – 19

Hours of Exercise – 9 hours 50 minutes

Calories Burned – 6135

Distance Ran – 18.68km

Average Heart Rate – 130bpm

Maximum Heart Rate – 195bpm

Weight loss total – 8.6kg

Waist measurement difference - -9cm

The Difference of a Week.

2011-02-13T22:38:00.000+11:00

Well the 3^rd week of EA Sports workouts has been completed and according to the game, so has phase one of my 9 week program. The game made quite a song and dance about this so I imagine starting tomorrow when phase 2 kicks in I am going to get my butt kicked repeatedly by my increasingly annoying trainer and a game that shows no mercy to the unfit and flabby.

But no one is reading this to hear me whinge about what is going to happen tomorrow. You are all reading to see if I have broken down and committed ritual Hari Kari or if I am back on track with my aim of a fitter/thinner and all round healthier me. Well please start your mental drumrolls the results are just a blank line away:

Waist Measurement – 130cm (-2cm)

Resting Heart Rate – 74bpm (-5bpm)

Weight – 141.4kg (-2.4kg)

That’s right I am a loser again (that sounded better in my head). After the devastation of last week’s result I have managed to shrink just that little bit more. I have even been able to drop a notch on my favourite belt which is great news. The benefits don’t stop there as you all can see my resting heart rate is dropping, which I have been informed is a very good thing. I am also feeling better all-round. I am using less Ventolin (asthma medication for those that don’t know) and well how do I put this….. I am digesting things much more efficiently (use your imagination I am not going to describe that one in more detail.)

The Keg got a little smaller this week.

The game it’s self is still keeping things interesting. There are 2 new exercises every workout and while I am at the point that they are all just refinements on previous exercises, it is still nice to have something a little different to do each day. Another thing I have noticed is I am having less and less instances of the game not registering what I am doing. The exercise that I had problems with in the first week now registers just fine which leads me be to believe that I was doing something wrong in the first place. I am having a few issues with the custom soundtrack feature of the game. There is no way to shuffle the songs so every workout has the same songs playing. I have gotten around this by creating multiple playlists but this is hardly an elegant solution to a problem that should have been thought of in development. It is a little nit-picky I know, however, when you are working out four times a week it becomes more of an issue.

In the interest of trying all of the features of the game I also created and completed a custom workout. The process of creating a custom workout was quite simple, you simply select which exercise you want to complete and voila workout created. The game offers advice on what should be included in a workout, ensuring you include a workout and cool-down as well as displaying the estimated time and calorie burn for your workout. The good thing about this was I got to create a workout that didn’t include the Mountain biking exercise (I still stand by my statement that the devil had a hand in inventing that one.)

I will one day look this good in a singlet, only with better hair.

Well that’s pretty much it for this week, a definite improvement on the last rather morose blog entry. It is amazing what achieving your goals can do to your outlook on things. Next week I have a special guest contributor to the blog. I have managed, through great personal cost, to secure not only a qualified personal trainer but a Cardio/vascular technician (same person) to observe me working out and also take part in a workout to give their thoughts and opinions on the game. Ok the personal cost is not so great, it is my brother, but the impressive title is true. So stay tuned folks for more exciting stories from my modern quest for fitness and health.

Hewso’s Stat Tracker

Workouts completed – 15

Hours of Exercise – 7:20hrs

Calories burned – 4512

Distance ran – 13.57km

Average Heart Rate – 131bpm

Max Heart Rate – 195bpm

Weight loss total – -6.8kgs

Waist measurement difference - -8cm

This is going to hurt….. a lot.

2011-02-06T20:11:00.003+11:00

Well another week of hard workouts and sweat is over. Week 2 is done and now is the time to write about what happened. I will tell you now that things aren’t good. So without any further procrastination here are my week 2 stats.

Waist Measurement – 132cm (the same)

Resting Heart Rate – (79bpm)

Weight – 143.8kg (+400g)

Yup, that’s right I put on weight and let me tell you right now I am devastated. All week I have been eating healthy and giving 100% in all of the workouts and I still put on weight. I will be honest this is a horrible blow. After last week I was pumped ready to complete the remaining weeks and make a huge difference to my weight. Now all motivation has evaporated and any desire to continue putting myself through this is leaving me quickly. If I wasn’t writing this blog to determine if these games actually work then I would probably stop right now.

Yup, Sad face time.

Very depressing so far I know so from now on I will try to lift the tone a little. This week’s workouts were hard (the swear-to-exercise ratio was much higher this week). They seem to be getting progressively harder and longer. All workouts this week ran well over 30min (last week they were about 25min) and seemed to focus on really pushing me with each exercise. The good side of this is that I seem to be recovering much quicker now. In the first week it would take a good 10 minutes before I was ready to even talk but this time frame has noticeably shortened. My annoyance for this week (apart from still being a fat bastard) is the coach. I must admit I am starting to get a little annoyed with the trainer. I think I had heard all of her comments after the first 2 workouts and now with 8 completed it is starting to get more than a little repetitive (more like mind numbingly painful).

This week I had an extra audience while doing my workouts. So besides the usual cheering from my eldest and my youngest trying to perform “The People’s Elbow” on me every time I am doing floor exercises, I had my mother sitting in the corner reading her book and pretending not to hear me drop the F-bomb with an increasing regularity. Both my mother and father seemed reasonably impressed with the game and as my father works in the sport industry I can only take that as a good sign. Dad even went so far as to comment on the unhealthy love the game has for squats and how he approves.

I look at this pic and the first thing I think of is "Wow cool TV setup". Is that wrong?

Well that’s pretty much it for this week. I must admit this was the hardest blog entry to write so far. Getting the enthusiasm to tell the world that I have put on weight is not normally something I would tackle without at least 3 rum and cokes beforehand, alas drinking is a big no no when getting fit so rest assured that all writing has been done stone cold sober. So now it is time to pick a cliché, “the past is past” “It’s a new week” “blah blah blah”. They all apply in this situation, I just hope my efforts don’t seem a waste again this time next week.

Hewso’s Stat Tracker.

Workouts completed – 9

Hours of Exercise – 4:35

Calories Burned – 2685

Distance Ran – 8.01km

Average Heart Rate – 135bpm

Max Heart Rate – 195bpm

Weight loss total - -4.4kgs

Waist measurement difference - -6cm

One Week Down. More Pain to Come

2011-01-30T20:51:00.000+11:00

Well, one week has been successfully completed. Four scheduled workouts and a diet change have occurred in the past week and things are going well. There has been some swearing, lack of motivation and even some triumph to report on so let’s not drag the suspense any further and get to what you are all waiting for, the weigh in.

Waist Measurement - 132cm (a loss of 6cm)

Resting Heart Rate – 78bpm (same as last week)

Weight – ready for it………….. Wow the suspense must be killing you………. 143.5kg (a loss of 4.9kg)

I can be bought!

Yup that’s right, I lost almost 5 kilos this week all by following this game to the letter. I know what you’re thinking; EA got to you and is paying you off. While I can be bought (and for pretty cheap as well), I haven’t been bribed in this case. I am still driving my 10 year old car and still paying off the mortgage which should tell you that the fat cats haven’t gotten to me with a large wad of cash.

So in short things are going well at the moment. This weigh in result was just what I needed after a very hard week. All week I have been ill, suffering from one of those random “itis’s” that strike folks down from time to time. Throat sore, nose blocked, eyes red and swollen meant working out was not the highest thing on my priority list. This of course didn’t matter. After weeks spruiking what I was going to do and having friends and family all excited to see how I was going I couldn’t let a little thing like being crook hold me back (my wife wasn’t either).

I dove into the workouts with minimal enthusiasm, and attacked the game as best as possible. The workouts were all a challenge. The game gave me a wide variety of ways to hurt and build a sweat. As I said last week there was one exercise that wouldn’t register for me and this continued through the week. This one and only exercise just wouldn’t pick up my movements. However, apart from this exercise the game has been pretty spot on in picking things up and telling me if I am not doing the movements correctly.

More of this.

The dietary side of things is somewhat minimal in that it only gives you dietary advice. There are 10 main things the game asks you to do as a part of your daily diet and I have been following these to the letter. These tips mainly consist of common sense, like “Eat 5 serves of fruit/veggies a day” or “drink 8 cups of water a day”. It is the same stuff we have been hearing for years but as it has been around for so long I can safely assume that it is solid info that can be trusted.

Unfortunatly less of this.

Another tool the game offers to help with your overall health is two daily surveys. The first is a nutritional survey which keeps track of how you are going with your daily health and diet intake. It is a good way to see how you are going and as long as you answer the questions truthfully it will keep an accurate journal of your daily nutrition. The second survey is simply a quick question that asks what other activity you did during the day. This asks if you have done any extra sport, walking or even household chores and gives you an approximate amount of calories you have burnt during this activity. It is another helpful tool that really gives you an indication of how you are going with your fitness (or how slack you have been).

Well that’s pretty much it for this week. A really positive week and even feeling like I was dying didn’t stop me achieving some great results. Hopefully next week is just as productive and I will be back with a similarly positive result (and maybe some more fat jokes, which are conspicuous in their absence this week.)

Hewso’s Stats tracker – Week 1

Workouts completed – 5

Hours of Exercise – 2 hours 16 minutes

Calories Burned – 1236

Distance Ran – 2.92km

Average Heart Rate – 130bpm

Maximum Heart Rate – 185bpm

Weight loss total – 4.9kg

Waist measurement difference - -6cm

Coming to terms with fatness. Day 1 of the 9 week challenge

2011-01-24T19:54:00.003+11:00

Well Day one is here and the nasty stuff is about to begin. With all the talk and self-promotion on this blog there was no pulling out so I dove into the game with the full force of good intentions and stern determination.

Setting up my 9 week challenge was a breeze. I simply selected the desired intensity of workout from easy, medium and holy shit I am going to get smashed (I mean hard). I chose medium as it was suggested by the game for a person in my condition. Speaking of condition, well it isn’t so crash hot. I have realised for a while now that I need to do something about my health and this game made it clear that this issue couldn’t be avoided any longer. My health has been a growing concern for me and I feel many little niggly problems I suffer can probably be attributed to my weight and fitness. Hopefully this is the first step to fixing that.

So let’s get the dramatic out of the way. The measurements:

1) Waist measurement -138 cm

2) Resting heart rate – 78bpm (beats per minute)

3) Weight – umm well this is the hard one. Its its………………….. 148.4kgs. Yup you read that right 148.4 kg.

Let me tell you I wasn’t expecting that, I mean high 130’s, maybe low 140’s but not nearly 150kgs. But unlike a certain reality show starting soon I didn’t burst into tears. It simply steeled my resolve to complete these 9 weeks. So now that the shock and drama have been completed, let’s talk about the first workout.

Well it became apparent very quickly that this game was serious. It started with a simple warm up, getting the blood flowing by some light jogging and stretching exercises. It quickly moved onto the more difficult. My sweat was freely flowing by the 5^th workout and I had 21 to go. My resolve was severely tested at that point. I ploughed on however with an audience of my 5yo son cheering me every time I completed an exercise (it actually helped believe it or not).

The exercises were varied and some of them were even fun. The basketball shooting which combined side lunges with jumping was a great exercise and fun to do. Mountain biking was not fun, it was just plain evil. It involves a combination of squats, squat jumps and running to complete, the second time I did this I was almost at the point of worshiping Huey (that’s vomit time for those that don’t know). I only had one problem with the motion sensors, in one exercise it wouldn’t recognise my movements but I am not sure if that was the game’s fault or mine as all the other exercises worked fine. At this point I will put it down to incorrect technique.

So as I sit here I feel many different things. Fear at having to go through this for the next 9 weeks, exhaustion because I am basically knackered, pride at taking the first step, and intrigue as I wonder if this will work. With all of these different emotions swimming around in my head I am sure this will make the whole thing an interesting journey.

Well that’s it for this week. Next week I will do a new weigh in/measure and let you all know how I am going. I will also go into more detail about some of the other features in the game which I have found interesting. In the meantime I have three more workouts to do this week (4 workouts 3 days off per week) so wish me luck.

Hewso’s Stats tracker.

Workouts – 2

Hours of Exercise – 33min

Calories Burned – 355

Distance Ran – 0.75 km

Average Heart rate – 129bpm

Max Heart rate – 185bpm

Preparing for the Pain. The Setup

2011-01-23T09:53:00.000+11:00

Well with only a weekend left to use and abuse my body (minds out of the gutter folks) I thought I would get the game read to rock for my first workout on Monday. Booting up the disc (and going through the familiar PS3 game update) I was greeted by a cheery welcome video that outlined the features of EA Sports Active 2. An enthusiastic presenter informed me that I would be able to get a beneficial workout that would improve my health while I had fun. A lofty and noble goal to be sure, but is it the truth?

Once I had been taken through this introductory video I was greeted by the setup screen. Here I was asked to set up my on screen avatar with weight, height and age all being important factors. I encountered my first hurdle, Imperial measurements. So with a quick google search for a conversion calculator I was able to enter my height in feet and my weight in pounds (Which I am not putting up here yet. That shocker is for Monday.) So with my dimensions in I got to select what I would look like on screen. This is a fairly typical character creation tool and while not as comprehensive as other EA sports titles there are still enough options to be able to create a fairly good representation of yourself on screen.

So far so good, the only challenge encountered so far is seeing how much I actually weigh in big bold letters on the screen (while the physical pain is minimal the mental traumatisation is something I may need intense therapy to get over). Now comes setting up the motion sensors and heart rate monitor. A tutorial video walks you through the process for the first time making the process so simple even my father could do it (maybe). So with one sensor on each arm and one on my leg I was ready to go. Surprisingly the sensors were quite comfortable so they shouldn’t be an annoyance in the more intense workouts ahead.

All the doodads and thingymagigs that come with the game.

All this has taken 20 minutes or so, which is a fairly significant time to setup a game but it is clear that the developer wanted people to take this as a serious fitness program and have presented it as such. They are making sure that users take the time to customise their experience ensuring the best possible results are achieved. I must say the whole thing is quite impressive (especially when compared to other fitness programs such as Wii Fit and the first Sports Active). Colour me optimistic, this may actually work.

The final step in the process is selecting my fitness coach for the 9 week challenge. I have two options. A Male coach (with an appropriately manly name like Bruce or something) that specialises in strength and conditioning and a Female coach (Can’t remember her name, lets say Vicki. Seems like a good fitness trainer name) that specialises in Fitness and Cardio. As I am a fat bastard I went with Vicki in the hope that she can help me trim the keg currently residing around my waist.

So with the setup completed I have finally reached the main menu so it is time for a little exploration. Heading over to the options menu I find I can change the measurements to metric (Which saves a lot of dreaded math time I am here for the physical workout not a mental one.) I also found another interesting feature. The ability to use custom soundtracks in your workouts. I got a little excited at this point. The thought of having to listen to 9 weeks of generic techno pop was one of the things I was dreading in the challenge. Now I have the ability to burn fat to Metallica or Avenged Sevenfold and not have to try and stay motivated with repetitive beats or bad midi tunes.

My first experience with this game has been incredibly positive. What I have been presented with is a professional product that obviously takes its intentions seriously, but good intentions and great presentation does not equal results. So with my path laid and ready to walk I am actually looking forward to the start of my 9 week test. Monday is the first day of working out and this is sure to be an interesting journey if not a productive one.

There is a good chance this will be me in the not too distant future

Getting Fit, The modern way (maybe)

2011-01-18T23:14:00.001+11:00

Well it is that time of year. The time when everyone starts to think they over indulged at Christmas and they have an excess of stomach/bum/thigh that they need to get rid of. In this day and age there are one million and one ways to loose weight. Shakes, Diets, Detox's, Vibration machines and of course hard work and exercise are just a few of the ways. However in recent times there has been a new entry into the fitness/health/weight loss arena and that is Fitness video games.

The advent of the Wii fit has bombarded gamers with promises to improve their health and enhance their fitness. The question is of course, do they actually work? Well I am going to test it out. One recent addition to this genre of game is EA Sports Active 2 (EA SA2). I recently procured this (on the PS3) to see if a video game can actually improve my health and well being. EA SA2 comes with 2 motion sensors (one for the arm and one for the leg), a Heart monitor and an elastic exercise band and promises the user a traditional fitness workout in front of their TV.

Caution: Large amounts of sweat predicted in the future.

My plan is as follows. I will partake in the game's 9 week challenge. I will follow this challenge to the letter and complete all exercises to the best of my abilities. I will keep track of my resting heart rate, waist measurement and weight over the 9 week challenge and note any changes for comparison. I will also follow any fitness and diet advice the game has to offer as best as possible.

The reason I am doing this is two fold. First is I need to loose weight and get fit. It is no secret that I need to drop a few kegs but finding the time to do exercise can be difficult with 2 kids, a full time job and a loving wife all demanding your attention. This may be the solution to my time problems. The second reason is do these games actually work? Can you really improve yourself by jumping up and down in front of a TV and looking like an idiot in the process.

From Monday next week I will begin the challenge and I will be putting updates on this blog weekly telling you all how I am going and what changes (if any) have occurred. So fingers crossed folks and wish me luck, because this could be a real life altering challenge brought to me by a video game!

From This to This? Only time will tell!