Night City

 

This morning I completed Cyberpunk earning the Temperance achievement leaving Jonny Silverhand to take over Vs body. I had already completed as many of the ending the other ending branches. Personally I've found it an amazing game, in spite of the glitches (of which there are many!).

I bought Cyberpunk 2077 back in December. I got a deal with it on stadia which included a free stadia pro edition to play on. Its a huge world you can get lost in, it might not have been the groundbreaking event that it was hyped up to be. It is however in my opinion a solid and enjoyable game. I hope that they release some extra content for it.

Play it: Manchester

On Friday evening Kath and I headed into Manchester to visit Play it. An exhibition of computer gaming over the last 30 years. With everything from Classic systems, like the BBC micro including Atari, Commodore and Spectrum, Megadrive, SNES and Nintendo 64 through to PC, PlayStation and Xbox. To the ultra modern demos using Oculus rift.

I got to relive my childhood playing Mario Kart, PacMan, and Goldeneye amongst others.

Kath had never seen some of the computers and games before, a legacy of growing up behind the iron curtain. It was great watching her playing Sonic the hedgehog, collecting rings and blazing round at hyperspeed.

Kath also enjoyed the classic BBC Micro, as shown in the picture.

After the exhibition we went for a Byron burger in Piccadilly Gardens. Before running to catch the train home, an exciting evening!

The Girl Who Fell From The Sky

I spent most of the day reading The Girl Who Fell From The Sky by Simon Mawer. I got the book free from WHSmiths as an O2 priority offer, and its sat on my side table for quite a while. I quite regret that now as it was an interesting read, following a women recruited into the Special Operations Executive her training and posting to France. Some of the scenes were a little clumsy bit it chipped along at a good pace and was pretty entertaining.

Other than that I finally completed all the main missions on Grand Theft Auto V (Xbox 360). Overall it took around 40 hours of playing, tohugh I did complete a lot of the side missions in the tat two. Not sure I have the patients to find all the letter pieces though.

I tried playing online but it wasn't much fun, out of passive mode your lifespan is short. No-one seems to want to play the missions, I tried to begin one and waited for 15 minutes without anyone joining. It was a great game though, I really cant believe how large and detailed that map is, its truly amazing.

Super Meat Boy

Surprisingly after the drinking games I was feeling not too bad on Sunday Morning. I even managed to fit in a bit of cleaning before Paul and Woller popped round.

We had a coffee and a chat about stuff.

I had received the King of Limbs set in the week and hadn't had a chance to open it yet. So I decided to film us opening it. The package was nice, the newspaper a slightly different version. I loved the artwork, finding it actually better than that which came with In Rainbows. I actually feel its a shame that the artwork is printed on newspaper rather than glossy paper.  At some point I will mix the video and upload it to you tube.

Woller headed off so Paul and I played games. I had downloaded the potatoes sack last week from Steam. So got a chance to try out some of the games. Of all of the ones we played one stood out a country mile. Super Meat Boy, a simple platform game which you play meat boy. The object is to navigate round a small level to get to the girl. There are various pitfalls and traps and every surface you touch gets covered with blood. The levels are fiendishly difficult, but addictive. There are loads of nice touches, such as once you complete a level you see all the failed attempt too.

In the evening Jo Berger came over and we went out for a curry at the Kathmandu in Stockport. Before popping out we listened to some songs from Paul's new album. There is some songs from his LA / Sydney days including a couple I am really happy to hear again. I am looking forward to hearing the mastered version.

Its actually a Nepalese, and doesn't look like much from the outside. Fortunately the food is excellent, I had a lamb tikka sizzler with a spicy sauce. Paul had a prawn Madrass and Jo had a lamb meal. The food was really nice and tasty.

After the meal we headed back to my house and I made Paul watch walking dead with me. Before heading to bed we played and completed the first boss, on Super Meat boy.

Civilisation 5 Patch now out

Firaxis is launching a massive patch for Civ 5 which addresses a lot of the criticisms about he clueless AI. This patch list has so many fixes but one of my personal favourites is
"New “Angry Genghis” loading screen (replaces the “fluffy-bunny Genghis” loading screen)."

There are also some fixes to reduce the memory footprint so hopefully that will stop the game from crashing later on (something which has all but stopped me playing.

Some commentary on Ars Technica here

Civ V

Finally managed to start playing Sid Meier's Civilization V, so far its excellent. Civilization V is the latest incarnation of the Civilization series. I have been playing since getting hooked on Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri Complete (PC). SMAC followed Civ two coming before Civ III, and it hooked me. Phil and I used to play for hours, famously we once played until 4am and he had to work the next day (I had university I think I did make it to lectures somehow).

The graphics are greatly improved, the world map looks great. They have streamlined the whole game, removing the spying and religion features. Personally I think that this really helps make the game simpler and more fun. To get you going Advisors pop up to help make recommendations on their areas. The main thrust of the game remains the same however, starting from a lone city in 4000BC build up our Civilization into an great power.

One of the biggest improvements is the battle options. The unit counts are reduced to a more sensible one per tile, so no more stupid 20 unit stacks crushing your cities. Units cost more so it more important to keep hold of them upgrade them. Tactics now seem to be favored over swamping enemies with units.

There is one new feature, city states. These are computer controlled cities which can be interacted with in a variety of ways, befriending, trading or attacking.

The only issue that I have had so far is the games stability. I rally enjoyed Civ IV I wasnt sure how they could improve it, but they have managed to tweak the game in all sorts of wyas to make it a simpler and more fun experience while still maintaining the essence of what makes Civ uch a good series. If you like god games this is one of the best!

Vuelvo Al Sur

I have been busy this weekend. Phil talked me into helping him out on a job. He was putting on a series of live webcasts of the Co-operative groups regional annual general meetings. I had to operate the webcast encoder and help pack up at the end of the day. My gig was in Kettering (Phil had to go to Perth) so I had to leave straight after work on Friday night and motor down. I did get a rather tasty curry and a few beers when I arrived there. The event went really well, it was dry and boring to watch, top executives explaining the virtues of the business only to have audience members question why milk is 20 pence more expensive than another store.
We finished up by 5 so I was able to get home go for a quick jog, during which I realised I am really out of shape. Phil made it back around 10 so we headed to the Unicorn for a few drinks. I said hello to Julie but she was too busy working the bar to talk.
Yesterday I felt pretty tired, but I persevered, for the webcasting Phil needed a commenting system so people watching could leave messages for the presenters. I had put together a rough system using youtube.com as a basis. However there were a couple of bugs with the login system. I managed to run through and fix that functionality.
In the evening I bit the bullet and headed to the gym for my first proper weights session in some weeks. My arms are aching today, and I am a lot weaker, Ill have to work hard to get back to where I was. After the gym Phil and I headed to Andy Gilmore's to play some Wii. Emile's sister Hannah, friend K and Hannah's boyfriend Carl were also in attendance. Starting with a Mario Kart session we proved just how random it all is, you can be winning a race by miles only to be massacred by a series of attacks dumping you from 1st to the lower rankings, sometimes even in sight of the line. After which the Wii fit board came out and we all got to perform rather embarrassing moves trying to balance of hula hoop.

Mario Galaxy

Phil came round today, the first thing he said to me was, "Sorry John I am going to make you spend £30's". He wasn't wrong either. A few minutes later I was playing Mario Galaxy on my Wii and loving it. What a game its so intuitive, the attention to details is incredible the levels are interesting and varied, from the traditional stomping on enemies to flying around like a bee or swimming in the ocean.


I had to buy it, so Phil and I went out on mission to buy a copy, Toys R Us were having a special. It has been years since I last set foot in one of their store, I have to say I found the place an overpowering labyrinth of consumerism. I would be scared to bring my children there, probably they would wear parents down to the point they would buy anything just to escape.

As we were leaving Andy text messaged and invited Phil and I over for an evening of Wii. It sounded like a plan so after a short sojourn at the data center we headed to Abito.

We sent out for Chinese food and while we waited for the delivery we warming up with Tennis and bowling. When the food we were feeling really hungry. Fortunatley arrived in those American style boxes. They look quiet petite, but are actually like little tardises. They hold a size able amount of food. I was very happy with the vermicelli, it was way more than I could consume.

We returned to the couch all feeling somewhat bloated, our hunger more than sated. Next up was Mario, we took turns hurtling through the levels all enjoying the weird and wonderful level designs. I also enjoyed a few beers :) Overall a great game, great night.

Free WiFi

Fon have announced a new partnership with BT which should exponentially increase the number of FON spots available to anyone willing to share their broadband.

I have had a FON spot for quiet a while now, in fact my Nintendo Wii connects to the internet through it.

The Last Song

I have that Sunday feeling today, vague alcohol induced head ache, lethargy. I wanted to sit and play Zelda but unfortunately my dad decided it would be a good idea to light the fire so its about 100 degrees in the living room.

Upgrade

Yesterday was a long day, I had to do an upgrade at work which meant arriving early before the call centre open. So at 6.30am on Saturday morning I was sat in the office upgrading the computer systems.
The upgrade was actually other peoples work I was simply there to move it across. Unfortunately this meant when things went a little wrong (luckily not with the most important part) I didn't really know where to look. I managed to find a few work around for the short term, hopefully I will be able to get to the bottom of it Tomorrow.

House party

Andy and Emily invited Philip and my self over to there place for a house warming party. They have been living there for quiet a while now but haven't had a party yet. Phil had also been working so we arrived a little late. We also stopped off on route to pick up some beers and a house warming gift. Big Brain Training for the Wii. Shopping in Asda was bizarre none seemed to want to serve us and when I tried to use the self serve till all sorts of weird stuff happened. Phil played some Wii while chatted to Emily, K Andy, Will and others. K and Emily are about to start back at uni.
We had a long conversation about different sorts of fish we liked which was rather too adult for me.I worked my way through beer after beer, in fact judging by my head this morning I had way too many. To finish the night we had a game of poker, I only played one round I felt too drunk and tired to really try hard.
I really like their flat and its made me more sure I need to get out. I spent several hours on right move this afternoon, but It looks like I will really have to compromise or wait another year and save hard because I simply cannot afford more of what out there.

The Lost Art Of Keeping A Secret

Went for a BBQ at Jo Bergers today, I think its the first possibly the only one I will go to this year. Usually summer is bbq madness but this year the weather has been so poor this summer. Apparently Joe had a freezer full of food thanks to lack of BBQ action so he decided that as the weather should be good today it was time to use it.

Phil and I went down and dragged the Wii along, stopping on the way to pick up some beer and baps from the supermarket on route.

We arrived about an hour and a half after the first guests. Some music friend of Jo's, we had a chat with them and ate some bbq food, unfortunately they had to make tracks as they had a gig.

After they left I ate far too much meat, and had a chat with Jo and Holly. She seemed in an especially good mood, we talked about her new found love of gardening and work and life. I really enjoyed chatting to her, which was nice as Jo was busy cooking and entertaining.

I probably wont surprise you when I mention after the bbq we moved inside to play on, you've guessed it the Wii. Carlos a neighbor of Jo and Holly's brought round brain training and Tiger Woods golf. I found Tiger woods very difficult for a mess about game, more of a one player practice and improve than the Wii sports hit and hope games.

One of os friends came over and wow he must play a lot of games because he was so well practiced it was frightening. Apparently he is some sort of lawyer and they have games to chill out on in the office, wonderful I want them too!

Brain training was hilarious though, though I was feeling a little bit drunk at this point which I am sure adversely affected my play, unless I really am that stupid :S

My names John and I am a Wii addict

I am addicted, I just love the Wii. After playing in London I have had three nights of Wii this week.
Tuesday Phil and I played after Japanese class, then last night I went round to Andy and Emilie's mainly to chat and play some Wii. I arrived in the middle of the England game, Andy and Emily were in personalised England shirts. Never having been a footbal fan I found it quiet surreal.
We played a few games, I actually made up some points on golf and bowling. Phil arrived later after Akido and basically thrashed everyone at tennis. Andy got a bit stressed out by it all I think he was annoyed he didn't play very well and well he dosn't like losing either ;-)

I have even being playing Wii fitness when I venture home for lunch I find I have just enough time to get it donw before I jet back to work. I know I am probably a bit excessive at the moment bt I am sure I will calm down a little once the novelty wears off. I havent had a console this sociable since I bought my Nintendo 64 and Mario Kart our player!

Weekend In London 3

If I felt hungover yesterday today I felt destroyed. Fortunately Paul saved us by cooking a nice big breakfast. Even though the sausages were a few days out of date they smelled OK and tasted great. With some food inside I felt much better.

I was too tired and my train was due at 15:50 so there wasn't much to do except chill out at the flat and play some more Wii. Paul was getting a bit frustrated at golf, they can be pretty competitive.

I tried to make Pippa's wireless connection more secure, by putting WPA encryption on. It seemed to work ok thought she had a little problem after I left. I felt very grateful she let me stay all weekend it was good of them both.

At 3 Paul gave me a lift to the station and within a few hours I was home again. In truth I was pretty sad to be home, it had been great to catch up with Paul and Pippa. Hopefully our paths will cross more often in the future, and maybe next time Ill get out and see something of London.

Weekend In London 2

After the late night drinking we all woke up a little late and somewhat groggy. Pippa had someone coming round to view her spare room and as we were in no mood to set off early we waited around and tried to drown our hangovers with tea and coffee.

The girl viewing the flat arrived so Pippa showed her around while Paul and I waited. She seemed a nice girl, Pippa was keen to get her back for a second "interview".

We set off to Angel in search of sustenance and excitement. Food was pretty easy to come by, we all bought these tasty Ciabatta filled with mozzarella and salami from a local delicatessens in Angel. After eating we were feeling a lot more refreshed so went for a wonder around the shops.

In truth I had rather hoped to see a bit of London but even after eating I felt a little tired. Also Paul had kind of helped talk me into buying a Nintendo Wii. I have been really enjoying playing on Andy's, and Phil's Wii and seeing one pre-owned in Game I though, "Why not?".

After a quick search around I managed to source a second controller from Woolworth's, the last one available at any shop in Angel. After a quick Frappuccino in was back to Pippa's for a few games.
We spent most of the afternoon playing Wii, joined later on by Pippa's friend Monica. She was great at the games putting us to shame but she didn't seem to enjoy it all that much. She did I think enjoy the Pizza we ordered though :)

After eating we headed out on the bus into Hoxton. A night of drinking and carousing ensued as you can see from the photos here.

Get It Together

Just got back from another night of Wii play at the Andy and Emily'. I found it difficult to play tonight I was feeling tired and run down after work and arguing with my parents earlier.

I got really annoyed with them mostly unjustifiably sometimes people kill you with kindness, sometimes I just need to have things my way, I just really need some space to breath and at the moment I haven't got it.

To be honest it isn't just my parents who are disturbing my mood, I got a text message from Olya today. She is happy with this Russian guy, but she wants me to come and visit them. Part of me really wants to, to see her again, and some of Russia. Many more parts of me think its a god damn crazy idea. I wish I could control my emotion better really, should learn not care so much. Olya isnt the only ex flame who I have spoken to recently Maia invitied me to come see her husband and new apartment in Milan and in a real blast form the past Jenny added me on Facebook, all So complicated.

I got round to the Abito apartments about 9. The Wii was soon out, Tennis was first. Then Andy thrashed me at Golf and Emily demolished me at baseball, in fact I only managed to win one game all evening. It was fun though, in between playing I managed to get the old pc Andy used to use working.

Emily was also showing off her extremely snazzy mac book pro, I want one!

Who is Tyler Durden?

I felt fine after drinking last night, I guess that Harp extra must be actually quiet light. It was a funny night just a few relaxed drinks and some chatting at the John Millington. Nice and stress free.

Nick was on at me to come to the V festival, and I must confess I would really like to their are some amazing bands playing. Unfortunately im already in the red after Turkey, what with all the trips there and the fact I had barley paid off China. Then no sooner did I reach home but I had to buy some new glasses. They came to over £300 after the lenses and sight test, so at least for a few months I need to be careful.

I had a free day today with nothing much to do. I decided to relax in the morning then went for a swim. I stupidly cycled there thinking a few minutes of sunshine meant better weather. Haha, I should have remembered the sunshine is just a trap to make you forget your coat. On the way home I was as wet as I had been in the pool!

This afternoon after watching Hamilton come third in a slightly anticlimatic Silverstone, I tried to get something done on my Dad's website. I proved impossible, I think I will have to either rewrite it or use a Windows server to host it, because try as I might I cannot get mono to run this webpage :(

I got a text message from Olya, apparently its raining on the black sea and today is some sort of valentines day affair in Russia. I wasn't entirely sure how to respond. I cant quiet work out if she is tormenting me, wants to be friends, is just bored, or actually misses me. I should really stop tormenting myself and forget about her. One of my friends told me my problem is that I form too deep connections too quickly with people so I get hurt. I think she is correct, and maybe I find it hard to deal with so hide myself away. Mostly I think I analyse too much and act too little. I just need to try and be more assertive, challenge myself and try and be a little less introvert.

This evening I headed to Phil's house to play on his Wii, he has bought another nun chuck so we were able to have two player boxing. So much fun, and actually a little workout. Next was gold then tennis. I actually managed to win at tennis usually I get thrashed :) The Wii is really a fun toy, really engaging and a lot more enjoyable than I imagined. I kind of really want one, though I am not sure how much I would use it after the novelty wore off.

I hope this post isn't too boring / rambling. I have found blogging really difficult recently, I feel pretty sad and am *trying* desperately not to totally lose it, and stay as positive as I can.

Smash it up

Saw this on the register it seems some Canadian guy's queue up to buy a Play Station 3. Only to take it outside and sledgehammer it to death in front of waiting crowd!

Its not the first time either they have done an ipod a xbox and a Nintendo Wii