Sorry for not making a blog sooner. Last few weeks I've been pretty busy, and I've been tired so I've been going to bed early (10:30pm) and not always getting a full night sleep (5am), which is frustrating me a bit. I did have a bit of a nasty cold last week for a few days that left me really lethargic so I think I'm still getting over that.

As for games, I finished both GRID and Mass Effect. I may at some stage write a review for them. GRID sadly dragged on after a certain point, redoing the same races, same cars, same annoying sounds being repeated. I avoided all the drift races and came out on top of the ladder and the team ladder after about 17 seasons. Le Mans was boring after the 5th time, especially with the audi, but good game overall.

Mass Effect was also quite good, very cinematic, great story and brilliant acting/dialogue. I only really wish that some of the gameplay was better, in particular the enemy AI and the missions seemed below par for a game of today. Based on one playthrough I think The Witcher is the better game, not by a huge margin though.

I picked up Call of Juarez for $10 on Steam during the weekend sale, hard to resist those steam sales. I'm about 5 hours in and I must say it's prooving to be a very good game, the slow motion gun fights and bow/arrow fights are very enjoyable and graphically in dx10 I'm quite impressed. Even compared to ME, the voice work by Reverend Ray is superb.

Along with COJ I picked up Assassin's Creed which sadly is not doing much for me. I'm really not very far into the game (got my weapons back) and I'm already a bit tired of the game. If they didn't allow me to walk around like a fool during the boring cutscenes I'd probably have fallen asleep by now. I really like how you can just run and leap over objects with ease though.

Finished FEAR extraction point, it was 4 hours long, but compared to the original (7 hours) it was quite good. I think it actually did some really good scares, and built them up along side action as good, if not better, than the original FEAR. I had no idea what was going on with the story, and a bit more polish would have been good but as far as expansion packs go this was up there with the best.

As everybody knows D3 was announced a few days back (it has about 7000 people tracking it, rank #1 all games) and it has me quite excited. For those interested. Diablo was really my first online game that I spent a serious amount of time on, Dealing with PKers who had 50 ears in their inventory, questing with very cool people, and just having fun is still some of the best times I've had on PC. Diablo 2 was great also, but I didn't play much online because I was horribly lagged when I tried to play. I suspect I'll be playing D3 quite a lot, it will be a big game (and it's PC only!)

Next game on my WTFBBQ list is. S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky. It comes out late August, it's also coming to Steam if you are interesting in digital copies. Check out the latest trailer

http://youtube.com/watch?v=TKb-LHP0g-w

2 new games!

AND

I got Mass Effect on Saturday, so far put in a few hours and I'm enjoying it. Very cinematic, lots of good side quests, combat is pretty good. conversation/cutscenes are very good.

Also downloaded GRID from Steam, good price at $40USD for me, comes out at about half what I would pay for it retail here. Also seems like a good game, one thing I'd like to say is that. it. looks. damn. awesome. And it runs very well too. Played bit of multiplayer but the netcode leaves a bit to the imagination and it needs more modes or something. Campaign is sweet, I like how you can get your name in and voiced so your manager can whisper into your ear. "Welcome back Ben"

7000? Well thats just my posts on the gamespot forums, that's spamalicious I can tell you! FEAR extraction point kinda freaked me out in this one part, lights going out etc. Hard to explain without spoiling it so here is a spoiler

[spoiler] You and Holiday enter open room, blood stainin the middle. Walk into the centre. Lights go out, flashlight doesn't work. Pause. Lights flick back on *was that something* Lights go out again. Lights flick on *something else* goes on like this, until you realise that these "bodies" are slowly appearing hanging from the walls, and then holiday starts shooting and gets mauled basically by something quite horrendously [/spoiler] Was done well enough to put me on edge, and the build up was quite good. :)

Woah another month over already!

Some of you may or may not know I did get a PSP, not long after my last blog post actually. I wanted to form a bit of an impression first before posting gibberish. Currently I have 3 games, Vice City Stories, Wipeout Pure and Liberty City Stories. I haven't played LCS yet. I'm pretty impressed with the hardware, graphically it looks good, the screen is great, the unit is fairly light too. VCS looks pretty good too, only some LOD popin when you get in the fastest cars really, the sound track in the game is fantastic, and the game so far (12%) is great fun.

A few things bug me with the PSP, on the software side you are restricted to mp4 video, which hey isn't a big deal when I can convert it easily, but why not support mpg, avi or hell even wmv formats? Oh another thing, you can't have video files that meet 480x272 (fullscreen format) this might be because sony said you can't have videos that look as good as UMD movies

The internet browser is ok, why you can only set 2mb max cache is beyond me (I have a memory card and should be able to set 100+ if I like). Another thing is the RSS feeder doesn't support text RSS feeds, which is beyond stupid, RSS started with text. I use google reader's PDA pages to get my RSS stuff, google saves the day again. Also of note, gamespot's mobile pages are actually pretty good on the PSP! So in short, PSP is a great piece of hardware, but in some ways gimped by software/choices by sony, I don't regret buying it at all, but can understand why people mod it.

On the PC front I played through Dark Messiah mostly based on the recommendation from indzman who is quite busy with life atm (send him a pm and tell him gamespot is more fun ;) ). I must say I had no bugs, no crashes. The game was pretty good, certainly from an action point of view. Check out my review

Also picked up FEAR extraction point at a good price during EB Games half yearly sales. I will be getting Mass Effect probably this week, heard good things and was surprised it got a 9.0 here, higher than the 360 version. It's not out here till the 6th of June.

Oh yeah if you use steam, get yourself a nice looking steamcard over here.

http://steamcard.com/

It will update every so often with game hours and games play that week, so it's a bit like gamertag/xfire sig.

In the past month PC gaming has been pretty dry, I've been playing lots of older games, trackmania united as usual and team frotress 2 with the new whorchievements and unlockables. Nothing new got released really. Alan Wake got pushed back to 2009 which makes me sad :(

I did get some vibrating (!) headphones, that has got to be the most unusual experience I've had in games. Basically it plugs into the usb port for power and starts to vibrate with heavy Bass sounds. So things like heavy bass songs start to vibrate my head (o.O) but things like grenades/shotguns/heartbeats in games, vibrate it too. I think I'm learning to like the feeling actually but I can turn it off if I get sick of it.

I did buy and play through Shadowgrounds Survivor ($5). It's a sub four hour game, but it's really a casual/arcade type game. It was a fun diversion and certainly worth the price.

Still working on my Gamespot Menu firefox extension, up to version 0.8 at the moment, and it has more customisation options, and soon a right click optional context menu to save you the time it takes you to go all the way to the top menu. On Mozilla, it's in the sandbox - which means you need to register to download (a real pain) I'm working on getting it public but lets just say the process isn't fast. You can get the currently still in progress version here on this hostsnake site as it was previously.

Bought Dark Messiah Might and Magic on Steam, apparently according to Chandu, it has his favourite creatures - spiders - all over the place, I"m only just at the boat so I haven't seen any spiders yet (looking forward to it). So far progressing pretty good, combat is involving so it's fun that way. Watching a guy climb up the stairs 4 times as I kick him down when he gets to the top is gold.

Also of interest is that I'm looking very carefully at getting a PSP with something like vice city stories, would be used for travelling, portable vid/mp3 player, or anytime I'm not at home on my PC. Currently debating whether it's worth getting, because I'm not sure how much I'd use it, and obviously I'd need a 4gb or bigger memory card to get some movies/songs on there too.

Between my last blog and now I played and completed painkiller overdose. Not much to say apart from it being very much like painkiller, new locales and new enemies. The load times were atrociously long, and I did get kinda tired of the constant barage and could only take it in small doses (!) But really if you like painkiller original this going to be good for you. I finished it with 1 hp left ;)

I also joined True Gaming Union the esteemed leader there does good work, he has some nice wallpapers up there on the main page anyway you might like to check out (gaming babes).

Thats right, a new FREE version of Trackmania Nations is out, it features more blocks and a unified ladder with everybody who has the United version. You can play the complete stadium environment for free :) You'll need to create an account but from then on you are set to play this crazy game

Download it now:
- Filefront
- GamersHell
- Worthplaying
- ComputerGames.ro
- Internode
- Gamespot
- Fileplanet

What I've been playing

Swat 4:

This game is both frustrating and rewarding, it's very tactical. You can't run and gun because you lose points for taking down bad guys without being under threat (eg being shot at, or aimed at after warning them). What this means is that you will try for non lethal takedowns including pepper spray for non mask wearing guys and tasers for those with electric personalities. Pepper is great for pesky civis who frankly don't want you to cuff them. It has an ok range so spraying bad guys quickly then tasering them (one -two punch) to get them to disarm works wonders. Gas masks guys will give you hassle though so you just get in position to taser them or flash bang them.

The great thing about swat 4 is that the enemy placement is very random, so is their action. Although you can see trends for sure, you have to play it safe. Many times I died when one or two guys were left, part of the trick is to use your squad as cannon fodder. There are no saves per missions, but it doesn't feel like you are drudging though the same crap due to the random placement, and most good mission runs are over in like 10 minutes.

Swat 4 Stetchkov syndicate:

Overall pretty weak expansion, very few new things. The best would have to be the new taser gun with two charges and longer range, also being able to time your squads together and smarter AI in general (like bad guys picking up weapons they dropped when you have your back turned ).

Rainbow Six Vegas:

Didn't like this one much, music was good and the graphics and gunplay is reasonable but everything else didn't mesh well with me sometimes the AI would be just dumb as hell, game missions were pretty boring, casinos, casino construction and dam was pretty much the extent of the variety. Too many obvious game triggers, stupid checkpoint saves, repeating conversations from dumb mercs etc. The terrorist hunt mode is ok I guess. At least it looks ok!

New stuff:

Lastly I got some more RAM, 2GB DDR 2 6400 (c4) to make the total amount of RAM in my PC at 4GB, naturally with Vista 32bit I don't get it all but I do get ~3.5GB, which is plenty more. Rocking with 1.8gb used in firefox and not having it choke is gold :D

Also announced today was Penumbra: Requiem

Thanks for reading :)

Ok I got tagged a few times and have decided it seems harmless enough (btw it seems this tagging started on youtube several months ago)

1. I play competitiive mixed grade badminton weekly, I usually play in B grade as #1 male. Its probably the best sport I've played.

2. I build my own PCs from parts I buy and order, using the internet as a guide I constructed my first PC which still runs to this day, my current PC is an upgrade of my second PC, I upgrade/buy when required.

3. I wear glasses, and not small ones, without them I can't see long or close everything is quite fuzzy. If you try squinting until everything gets blurry...thats what its like for me without them. People use them as magnifying glasses, that gives you an indication how strong they are. I've had them since I was 3-4.

4. I like helping people with PCs or PC games if I can, nothing worse than getting frustrated with PC gaming (Which can be at times) so I try to help around various forums.

5. The team I support is Collingwood (black and white), which resides in the Australia Football League, AFL was created in Australia as something to do when the Cricket season was over. This year marks 150th anniversary of the Melbourne Football Club. Hard to describe but its a bit like combining european football with basketball and heavy contact. I think its one of the best sports to watch because its free flowing, fast moving, high skill, high courage.

check out this promo for AFL

I tag (who I don't think have been and might want to): HardcoreKiller2 (soulja), Hot_Potato, Doom_HellKnight,Lilgunney612, zeus_gb

Hello again, things are going well for me and I hope everybody is well :)

Finished Penumbra Black Plague. It's quite a clever game made by a handful of guys that's available digitally for purchase, I got it through gamers gate which was a pretty painless process – download the game and activate it on launch. I did have to wait a few days for the GG patch but no dramas. My review

Also just passed Thief DS, it is older but the AI and stealth system works really well, the guards and faction members say some funny stuff when they are searching for you. I recall shooting a guy in the back and his final words were "Tis but a scratch ahhhhhhhhh" :D. My review

Been playing a lot of Trackmania United, working my way up the ladder by submitting times usually on a daily basis. I have downloaded over 150 custom tracks along with the 100+ official tracks included. Still some amazing user tracks after all this time. I prefer Coast setting the most but Stadium and Desert are cool too. Just recently I got #1 of the Australian ladder for the Coast setting, #26 in Australia for all settings.

Three more games

Unreal Tournament on Steam, never got the game but played the demo like mad. You can get many of the Unreal games on Steam now, they seem to be selling well too, good for epic.

You can get the Deal pack for $54 which includes Unreal 2, Unreal, UT, UT2K4 and UT3. Great to see epic on steam and I'm hoping for more of their games along with more older titles

SWAT 4 gold and R6V I got at EB Games. Started Rainbow 6 Vegas already under the watchful eye of Mr indzman and have arrived at Las Vegas. I will move on to SWAT 4 shortly

Finally Happy Easter to all those that celebrate it :)

Long time no update sorry guys :(

Three new games since last blog: Thief Deadly Shadows, Penumbra Black Plague (my first 2008 game) and Trackmania United

Two dark games, slowly getting into thief, the AI says some funny stuff when you are hiding around them and they also do some weird stuff like running into objects :P. It's getting better now though. Played the demo of penumbra black plague and it was really cool, you can pick up physics objects with your mouse (think hl2 gravity gun only much more intricate, you open doors by pulling or pushing them) and it focuses on horror and puzzles, not action and shooting, currently waiting for the patch for the gamers gate version.

I updated the Gamespot menu to 0.4 now it features fixed forums, and you can view the UK and AU forums, checkbox options, and suppress the platform sections on the menu if you wish. Tell me if it works or breaks or something. :)

I also completely two reviews Tomb Raider Legend (meshes anniversary with it for comparison) and you can read more of my opinions about Trackmania United which is a cool racer with loads of user tracks to try, currently working my way up the ranks (#2 Coast in Australia) :)

Oh yeah also spammed my way up to 6000 forum posts :o

Since my last blog I got Tomb Raider Legend on Steam because I had fun with Tomb Raider: Anniversary. Its from 2006 but it actually looks better than anniversary thanks to the next gen content. Legend is a lot shorter, approximately half the length of annivesary, partly because anniversary is harder, puzzles are bigger, in Legend things are much more linear.

Legend has more action, stuff like shooting, you have a train chase and there are a lot more industrial platforming opposed to anniversary's egypt etc. There are lots of really really dumb guys to shoot in Legend, its really not that great though. Anniversary has less combat nicely spread between puzzles that keeps you on your toes. Anniversary does get a tad too hard towards the end, but overall was more fun thanks to the puzzle design. Legend had more story and some funnier dialogue. Both were pretty good games and have some replay value in the Croft manor and to unlock all the outfits.

Winner: Tomb Raider Anniversary

Also new is my UT3 review, it is quite lengthy so to break it down the game is a lot of fun thanks to the good bots and the great maps, its a decent sequel but the campaign is crap.Check it out here

Lastly if you use firefox and want a way to move about Gamespot quicker then you can check out the firefox extension I made just for kicks. http://nutcrackr.hostsnake.com/gamespotmenu.html. For the record it's harmless, I have submitted it to Mozilla but their new sandbox system is a joke so I don't expect to see it officially up there any time soon. Oh and yes Gamespot did just change their forum structure so an update will be coming soon. :)

Feedback is welcomed too ;)

Since my last blog I've done much gaming. Finally finished The Witcher, what an epic single player game that was, it ended well and I enjoyed just about all of it. You can check out my review here (9.0), else you can just buy it for yourself :)

Psychonauts I got on steam during the sale period, previously I'd been put off by the design. But it surprised me, not only with the puzzles, but also with the great dialog and mostly fun platforming elements. Basically you go inside the minds of people, using your powers to defeat various things inside their heads and sort them out to get something from them. What sets it apart I guess is that the levels are varied and crazy and you get some nifty powers that are used to solve many puzzles or kill strange bosses. Certainly deserved to sell many times the number of copies it sold.

Tomb Raider Anniversary was next, also on steam, played the demo a while back but wasn't so amazed with it. It has some tedious repetitive sections and some annoying monsters but overall it was good. Some of the puzzles in the Egypt chapter were excellent and it reached its peak there I think but had many other good sections. A few end parts were harder than they should have been but otherwise fun.

Other two games I just got recently are UT3 and World in Conflict. Haven't touched WIC yet. UT3 is very cool from what I've played, some of the levels are just insane in terms of geometry design but don't seem messy, basically its just a much better looking ut2k4 which is fun for me. 2008 has been good so far, hope you guys are all well :)