tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-73382482471527133622024-02-20T11:49:22.053+02:00My little gaming blogThis and that about the games I play or don't play.dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.comBlogger31125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-26812054041789663922011-05-22T15:30:00.000+03:002011-05-22T15:30:51.529+03:0010 most craziest game controllers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Inspired by my own <a href="http://mylittlegamingblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/controller-is-it-you.html">post</a> I decided to take a look at exactly what kind of controllers you can find to play games with. As I haven't tried any of the following gadgets I really don't know if they are good or bad in actually controlling a game. The only thing I do know is that they are special, either with their appearance or with the way they work. The meaning of this list is mostly to show what people/companies can come up with when it comes to playing games. So lets begin.<br />
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<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>10. Slime controller</b></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Made by <a href="http://www.hori.jp/us/products/ps2/dqsc/index.html">Hori</a> for Dragon Quest VIII on PS2. This controller has the same functions as the normal Dual Shock 2 so you can play any PS2 games with it. Well you could if you wanted to. Although this looks kinda cute in its own way its usefulness as a real controller is doubtful. The controller's cable can be removed so its value in decoration is slightly better. The controller even comes with it's own display stand.</div><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYzhTOBQlsZmpxypgHg5qHuF8AvH0taFitxCpq4d-KxbPLTN1gH2pwyWgQdy_oCY80B3mbFXFdOVFqlfAFP4SwDWWC-TrhYA-ZTRAW_MJCcvoTkLXrYT2r67RwGlVthf8ZHxMXLX0jtBM/s1600/slime2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYzhTOBQlsZmpxypgHg5qHuF8AvH0taFitxCpq4d-KxbPLTN1gH2pwyWgQdy_oCY80B3mbFXFdOVFqlfAFP4SwDWWC-TrhYA-ZTRAW_MJCcvoTkLXrYT2r67RwGlVthf8ZHxMXLX0jtBM/s200/slime2.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVoaBnjShuV0mQkq36DmlOfKPWWebNQgnhBc7dmgcGOat1dGuli38982HVvXZOQOubSUhQPA1ZeYD0zCAm5QmEfnCohwP4sQnFQJjLSE935tOgSuenW_PKUq8YGdq8L5Od0DCUJ-tL6XY/s1600/slime1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVoaBnjShuV0mQkq36DmlOfKPWWebNQgnhBc7dmgcGOat1dGuli38982HVvXZOQOubSUhQPA1ZeYD0zCAm5QmEfnCohwP4sQnFQJjLSE935tOgSuenW_PKUq8YGdq8L5Od0DCUJ-tL6XY/s200/slime1.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>9. Chainsaw controller</b></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDfBJe4HbsGltkV8O5H457jAjFxnAu0k5j8-Xg6-PUsyw8t3gi4REqBrEquhSnOfN41qFxTnUq7FaIBGldB3IDcJdAiBdHfcpovY5DVoPNK8TncckhqiKkzpHBefcuBo4vVvI8LgGXBwk/s1600/chainsawps2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDfBJe4HbsGltkV8O5H457jAjFxnAu0k5j8-Xg6-PUsyw8t3gi4REqBrEquhSnOfN41qFxTnUq7FaIBGldB3IDcJdAiBdHfcpovY5DVoPNK8TncckhqiKkzpHBefcuBo4vVvI8LgGXBwk/s320/chainsawps2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
This baby was made by <a href="http://www.nubytech.com/">Nuby Tech</a> for Resident Evil 4. They made two versions, one for PS2 and the other for GameCube. The controller seems to have all the buttons but it's hard for me to image myself playing with something like this. One special feature the controller has is the technology called N-motion. It means that you can make your character in the game to raise and lower his weapon by raising and lowering the controller itself. It may feel über macho for the first three minutes but I bet after that you get tired of holding something like this in your hands. I have to admit though that the Chainsaw controller is one of the coolest collector's items I've seen.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXhhgFz8u2cfh6z6IArbc6AXxdPv3bDWrT1tT2Ndfx8Yl4HwD57TY_iKrosZ3rACPsTnN7-zWlKAK8oRrKO9YcOyKjD0kZv5iM-FDzNoaw1X80_A2yDFVsN2JuSn8Q6RFFk42Oqw1NuH4/s1600/chainsawwii.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXhhgFz8u2cfh6z6IArbc6AXxdPv3bDWrT1tT2Ndfx8Yl4HwD57TY_iKrosZ3rACPsTnN7-zWlKAK8oRrKO9YcOyKjD0kZv5iM-FDzNoaw1X80_A2yDFVsN2JuSn8Q6RFFk42Oqw1NuH4/s320/chainsawwii.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>8. iGrip Ergonomic Keyboard</b></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR2J3Luj0NR9_7DvOCwJsGN3uLpwBUREa7MyY2wYxV9XtpaKlwS-PEGBiGjj8yOitVc5hocByLFF_dimOMFDENmfrCdAPIf_2qRl2rqIsAsf1q0UL128uXGavzEbrZS-kSYfXG07ozxrE/s1600/igrip.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="203" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiR2J3Luj0NR9_7DvOCwJsGN3uLpwBUREa7MyY2wYxV9XtpaKlwS-PEGBiGjj8yOitVc5hocByLFF_dimOMFDENmfrCdAPIf_2qRl2rqIsAsf1q0UL128uXGavzEbrZS-kSYfXG07ozxrE/s400/igrip.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I know what you're thinking but no, this is not an Apple product. Instead it's made by <a href="http://www.alphagrips.com/">AlphaGrip</a>. iGrip doesn't work with consoles but with PC it's fully qwerty compatible and has it's own trackball. In other words it's keyboard and mouse in one small gadget. I don't know about you but for me this thing looks really complex. All those buttons spread around the controller makes me think if this is the best solution for games. Of course I could be wrong. Maybe after a little practise you'll become invincible in Counter Strike. The two previous controllers could at least be used for decoration, but I wouldn't be leaving this one on the table when I have visitors.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>7. Steel Battalion controller</b></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjszsiuKJJQ-jL8tw9999RPivbYiq1yB5natWSUNWgtqtnYF6BJe_lazC5IkhMwJxIzafmOa_PVw0ugWWIN7S1PiEvO1EdipEbRPmJSnnhMtsnWKbJaxzK7sR0VyTs9G0L3xUxfeboLkKg/s1600/steelbattalion.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjszsiuKJJQ-jL8tw9999RPivbYiq1yB5natWSUNWgtqtnYF6BJe_lazC5IkhMwJxIzafmOa_PVw0ugWWIN7S1PiEvO1EdipEbRPmJSnnhMtsnWKbJaxzK7sR0VyTs9G0L3xUxfeboLkKg/s400/steelbattalion.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
I know <a href="http://www.steelbattalion.org/controller.php">this</a> might not seem so special as it looks quite similar to some flight simulator controllers, but because this is used to control only <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel_Battalion">Steel Battalion</a> it makes it unique. Actually the game can't even be played without this monster. This controller consists of four different parts, two with joysticks, one with only buttons and one with pedals. All in all there's about 40 buttons total. As I have never played any mech games I really don't know about their usual controls, but I could imagine they are complex. That in mind I could assume that this controller actually makes it easier to play Steel Battalion, compared to if it was played with normal pad. And lets be honest, you'll surely feel a bit more manly with this ahead of you.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>6. Desktop Train Cab Controller</b></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOwV-v6QbU9VN0ClqA3kwhaxN1I4agVXj-91pozaEwBmvsNa1UpB-exhMpb9EaZcAGxg-OgXC3NcXBM_wZWgF-SoLwgt9JBJwmEppRjHdAHxUv4AYA6ikpaU2dn96-BzMs8rT86sQ4ATk/s1600/traincab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOwV-v6QbU9VN0ClqA3kwhaxN1I4agVXj-91pozaEwBmvsNa1UpB-exhMpb9EaZcAGxg-OgXC3NcXBM_wZWgF-SoLwgt9JBJwmEppRjHdAHxUv4AYA6ikpaU2dn96-BzMs8rT86sQ4ATk/s400/traincab.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
Ever wanted to drive a train? <a href="http://www.raildriver.com/">Raildriver</a> has just the thing for you. This controller features realistic throttle, brake, reverser, switch controls and over 30 programmable buttons. That's how they advertise it and because I haven't seen a real train cockpit I just have to trust them. According to Raildriver's homepage this controllers supports only four games, but I guess there aren't many around in the first place.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>5. GameRunner</b></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwls7aOV3waRn5a6Tfs8sYu7IDhDQ3UDOlurMsJPGSBO2c6iX00SDxPFbISRfuEC0DbniwlSeWYyBRidZ8LWSJHEQ4x0loZYFHp_FnHXFWz6Ro_Mr4COJMHOxp0qdoM6wqWFBEB5GsNJg/s1600/gamerunner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwls7aOV3waRn5a6Tfs8sYu7IDhDQ3UDOlurMsJPGSBO2c6iX00SDxPFbISRfuEC0DbniwlSeWYyBRidZ8LWSJHEQ4x0loZYFHp_FnHXFWz6Ro_Mr4COJMHOxp0qdoM6wqWFBEB5GsNJg/s400/gamerunner.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
The first one on this list that really differs from the usual controllers. <a href="http://www.gamerunner.us/index.htm">GameRunner</a> is like a treadmill. You walk, jog or run on it and the character in the game moves the speed you are "moving". It also has several buttons on it which can be mapped as you like. This controller is said to work with all first-person games PC has to offer and also with first-person console games that recognize keyboard and mouse as controllers. If you have read my previous posts you know that I don't like running around my living room to play games so this surely is not for me, but if you like to exercise and play games maybe this is the machine to do both at the same time. It also has several ratio settings so you may adjust the speed you have to run on this thing to move at full speed in the game.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFAqNbKPyKqwAc-D1W2jO62yl76jnN0RDs1tnGCnxK3rtTpSAPWQpoegOvYq-IgQXnMXPAbgngqVdzcmjqWBJH9kthRa2Abyqdac9K2COKjpPnnG6zl9pdYp0mt8eFG_GVnbdEl2N8Pa0/s1600/GameRunner2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFAqNbKPyKqwAc-D1W2jO62yl76jnN0RDs1tnGCnxK3rtTpSAPWQpoegOvYq-IgQXnMXPAbgngqVdzcmjqWBJH9kthRa2Abyqdac9K2COKjpPnnG6zl9pdYp0mt8eFG_GVnbdEl2N8Pa0/s320/GameRunner2.png" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>4. Massage me</b></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiypVnB6XktPc4Qzy5u2q6LiDCCmKd2WoxHapslBRkcoqaUGwN8laekUqrhKrnNHwzRtdJwQNNXM7IB4SBQ-8iJFQisq-kHyBN9k8_FSX6PxK_yjJQTSa7HWAIXnwcQXqNIHZlQ8qC7P-o/s1600/massageme3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiypVnB6XktPc4Qzy5u2q6LiDCCmKd2WoxHapslBRkcoqaUGwN8laekUqrhKrnNHwzRtdJwQNNXM7IB4SBQ-8iJFQisq-kHyBN9k8_FSX6PxK_yjJQTSa7HWAIXnwcQXqNIHZlQ8qC7P-o/s400/massageme3.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3FUCQV00HbZgnOsfDjzdNCr1BIgEmW82Ckl7nGyQAFS4y5KDtHHlqfzSgik_x_heQKoTS_fhX2mn7fT-ud6aJrp-xmZXyeG_IU-_yVP6L7LGfnJbdNWAXwJRcDBk9YwTtFsV5QKSOs7M/s1600/massageme.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3FUCQV00HbZgnOsfDjzdNCr1BIgEmW82Ckl7nGyQAFS4y5KDtHHlqfzSgik_x_heQKoTS_fhX2mn7fT-ud6aJrp-xmZXyeG_IU-_yVP6L7LGfnJbdNWAXwJRcDBk9YwTtFsV5QKSOs7M/s320/massageme.jpg" width="213" /></a><br />
Maybe the weirdest one of the group. This <a href="http://www.massage-me.at/">controller</a> is like a soft vest you put on, so it actually needs two persons to work right. The buttons are located on the back side so as you are playing the game you are giving a back massage to the person wearing the controller at the same time. Finally a decent way to spend more time with your girlfriend! I have to admit that this is something I would have never thought myself, but I actually like the idea of playing Tekken (as they do on exhibitions) with this. I don't think the controller is very precise so it would mostly be about having fun and trying new things, but hey nothing wrong with that.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvSrAniCqdA28Zg0jjlQATECcHbBoyG-f3MwRlsk_7unMcfk7Oz0O-wVPKmnWkjaxutFiJzXeEbdXz5aoDKls4Q5PjwtoklL4M6LkMPsCTXOcoJcKVoKrzyFlhijNr2wbI1U-getI-3Xw/s1600/massageme2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvSrAniCqdA28Zg0jjlQATECcHbBoyG-f3MwRlsk_7unMcfk7Oz0O-wVPKmnWkjaxutFiJzXeEbdXz5aoDKls4Q5PjwtoklL4M6LkMPsCTXOcoJcKVoKrzyFlhijNr2wbI1U-getI-3Xw/s320/massageme2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>3. Death Crimson controller</b></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs7wowNX2aDV7l5Qa3qFZrmibl6JD34hFWQSOSP-4hcatjNMQTBIoSizRSchW7Pq82mJc35hstEKL81ZSiXsxzGzkIz49iSkbilfbhVWRaGEjeLzl4ifiYvSGtcShUM5n4GFEhYinhBkc/s1600/deathcrimson2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjs7wowNX2aDV7l5Qa3qFZrmibl6JD34hFWQSOSP-4hcatjNMQTBIoSizRSchW7Pq82mJc35hstEKL81ZSiXsxzGzkIz49iSkbilfbhVWRaGEjeLzl4ifiYvSGtcShUM5n4GFEhYinhBkc/s400/deathcrimson2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<i>"Coolest controller for the crappiest game ever"</i> says Kotaku. What I have read the crappiest game part is true, Death Crimson scored 1.0909 out of 10 on SegaSaturn Magazine, but the controller being cool is something everyone can decide for themselves. This monster was made by Takamasa Sumi for some museum in 2005. As it was really hard to find any good info about this thing I'm not totally sure if this has any real controller in it. What it does have is the Light gun controller, which in theory could be used to play other games than Death Crimson with this machine. In theory yes, but I guess Mr. Sumi is such a big fan of Death Crimson that he glued the lid of the console shut, so there's no way to change the disc.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQsTwsX3FHhbUtPigr1qkuG0Ll6Po0D80OW3yiX-gWLJ_B51-ua-DoS6U9HX3JgDd5aJsQ7IBzGkOLC_v32o55LDUf5UTAo0S0m2yId5WwcmtjGu1Y8zqjLZdA1yu7pWw_zO2L9HaH5X4/s1600/deathcrimson.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQsTwsX3FHhbUtPigr1qkuG0Ll6Po0D80OW3yiX-gWLJ_B51-ua-DoS6U9HX3JgDd5aJsQ7IBzGkOLC_v32o55LDUf5UTAo0S0m2yId5WwcmtjGu1Y8zqjLZdA1yu7pWw_zO2L9HaH5X4/s320/deathcrimson.jpg" width="228" /></a></div><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>2. 401cr</b></span><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE31GDrDhOwoH0_rf0wRcrd-OiHZA7ufbQVk60FIC-g8d-k5TG5Fy7iOc5En1OfinfgttRl4oL-p21mLHBzMp2v36fWus9AmVk8feOpvC4B0QupOkVnf5jNDowwJAQilfGxCAOUKVUbwU/s1600/401cr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE31GDrDhOwoH0_rf0wRcrd-OiHZA7ufbQVk60FIC-g8d-k5TG5Fy7iOc5En1OfinfgttRl4oL-p21mLHBzMp2v36fWus9AmVk8feOpvC4B0QupOkVnf5jNDowwJAQilfGxCAOUKVUbwU/s400/401cr.jpg" width="363" /></a></div><br />
The ultimate way to play driving simulator games. Manufactured by <a href="http://www.force-dynamics.com/">Force Dynamics</a> this thing really gives you the feeling of being on the track. It can move pretty much in any direction thus giving you the sensation of accelerating, braking, turning or you name it. Picture being worth a thousand words check out this <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJoi-1g0IzI">video</a>, probably worth ten thousand words. 401cr is equipped with a monitor, steering wheel, pedals and a five-way sound system all integrated into the simulator. If you're not happy with the default ones Force Dynamics is happy to customize any one of these for you. What you do need yourself is the PC to run the games. As this is pretty heavy machinery it's equipped with two emergency stop switches, one for the driver and the second is a remote one. It also has interlocked seat belt and doors. I have never been the biggest fan of racing games but after seeing this I just had to go and buy it, in my dreams that is.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEginaVfNyn5J13QFxE3X1gH0yV2OKSuyF1vaXa2CNCNabWjVKUeL8Aogvigo0tvv3Dd5gIVpUCGecayY0FrJDD4cB_2l71xjg9tYwKxQDavQsnD7YcgrAIaoa3IViCAVY8UNXk71I3Gxs8/s1600/401cr3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEginaVfNyn5J13QFxE3X1gH0yV2OKSuyF1vaXa2CNCNabWjVKUeL8Aogvigo0tvv3Dd5gIVpUCGecayY0FrJDD4cB_2l71xjg9tYwKxQDavQsnD7YcgrAIaoa3IViCAVY8UNXk71I3Gxs8/s200/401cr3.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOwqKpwBTGK2PWIbpjMlo5Hq1jp7V5Yq7OFAit8sOjukFn0uo3rhzQxj0w9sbHTEie4gXOWtGGamcmOYSj29AIMgMRp5JVZjoY07IILHc4byjhLGzBYTsYBl1k5Wh-wJ4kL7qLOM3rF0/s1600/401cr2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXOwqKpwBTGK2PWIbpjMlo5Hq1jp7V5Yq7OFAit8sOjukFn0uo3rhzQxj0w9sbHTEie4gXOWtGGamcmOYSj29AIMgMRp5JVZjoY07IILHc4byjhLGzBYTsYBl1k5Wh-wJ4kL7qLOM3rF0/s200/401cr2.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
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<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">1. EPOC</span></b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIVMx_NF9gMnJZwnB6wyMA5npSAJ7M0XXxvtLBUlflyurBlq3b6-OoTE36BQ4TWd8P0wbjaGYFJl64Yx-_HBeDp0MUYwHBMb5VAfnfuY67ILKTwaTH0Xx1x-LJDqU40rZ3CQKJGuvonWg/s1600/epoc.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIVMx_NF9gMnJZwnB6wyMA5npSAJ7M0XXxvtLBUlflyurBlq3b6-OoTE36BQ4TWd8P0wbjaGYFJl64Yx-_HBeDp0MUYwHBMb5VAfnfuY67ILKTwaTH0Xx1x-LJDqU40rZ3CQKJGuvonWg/s400/epoc.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
This is probably as sci-fi as a controller can be. <a href="http://www.emotiv.com/index.php">Emotiv</a> has developed an interface which lets you interact with a computer using just your mind. Yeah I know, sounds crazy. The gadget itself detects thoughts, feelings and expressions and then a program called EmoKey converts those detected events into any combination of keystrokes. For example EPOC detects that you smile and EmoKey prints :) on the screen (not game related but you get the idea). There are few simple games to download on Emotiv's homepage, like tetris and pong, but they also offer an adventure game that is said to change somehow to match your feelings during the game. It's really hard for me to think that you could actually control anything more complex than tetris with this, as it's even hard to believe that this isn't a fake in the first place, but here are few vids that at least show the possibilities of this controller: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDgkZZYSVPo">Angry Birds</a> and <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHmf3XI-Kyo">Cyclomaniacs</a>. The vids are pretty simple, the Angry Birds one seems quite wobbly and in the other there's really nothing much happening, but they are still examples of this technology. Although this might not be the best alternative to control your games at the moment, but I'm quite sure EPOC will be the way of the (distant?) future.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiushLzquNKBF_05eRORkYiADIGPwEiCvVOVC5ZoRd0DJDNxs_mY_aDzygM_lZYM4ZND0ptvmZMB63Sd8BPJWN1U1r4TZkC3JVGTpmaPtKM_CZWRcnqIKHBEHiv9qA_XjOGN7_NQxKFlGc/s1600/epoc2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiushLzquNKBF_05eRORkYiADIGPwEiCvVOVC5ZoRd0DJDNxs_mY_aDzygM_lZYM4ZND0ptvmZMB63Sd8BPJWN1U1r4TZkC3JVGTpmaPtKM_CZWRcnqIKHBEHiv9qA_XjOGN7_NQxKFlGc/s320/epoc2.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-32529782204516536572011-05-20T19:16:00.000+03:002011-05-20T19:16:00.848+03:00Little update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzctbcepuZgB2_uTP1v5hHbJRFeIscmqUIX4CPvQUpUBmGuQCCfVYtAjAaNDM_qwj45JrrXHD3Mkpf8sGtlw0K8VOM_g4zs9SLiX6NsyO_Jy6198WnvFSsyvYLsLRGcpx5oyC4cpayk7w/s1600/129940470885.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzctbcepuZgB2_uTP1v5hHbJRFeIscmqUIX4CPvQUpUBmGuQCCfVYtAjAaNDM_qwj45JrrXHD3Mkpf8sGtlw0K8VOM_g4zs9SLiX6NsyO_Jy6198WnvFSsyvYLsLRGcpx5oyC4cpayk7w/s1600/129940470885.jpg" /></a></div><br />
I apologize for not being very active on the past few days. My life happens to be a mess right now and today was the last straw. I worked my ass off at work and at the end of the day got shit rubbed into my face by this one guy (not my boss fortunately). So today I'm getting drunk as a skunk and tomorrow I'll face the consequences for it. Luckily I have one post almost done so I'll make some final tweaks tomorrow evening and publish it on Sunday.<br />
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For this post to have some real value I'll write a little update on Sony's welcome back package. Couple days ago they <a href="http://uk.playstation.com/psn/news/articles/detail/item373788/PSN-Welcome-Back-Programme/?site_locale=en_GB">announced</a> the content of that package. Here's the most interesting part of it:<br />
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1. Two free games from this list:<br />
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<ul><li>LittleBigPlanet</li>
<li>InFamous</li>
<li>Wipeout HD + Fury DLC</li>
<li>Ratchet & Clank: Quest for Booty</li>
<li>Dead Nation</li>
</ul><div><br />
</div>2. 30 days free Playstation Plus membership for non subscribers and 60 days subscription for existing members.<div><br />
</div><div>Not really big surprises there, but it could have been a lot worse too. As I already own LBP and InFamous I'm going to download Wipeout and R&C. I'm sure Dead Nation is a cool game too (it's Finnish!), but this time I'm going to pass. Now we'll just have to wait when Sony will have the Store back online (rumors saying next week) and we can enjoy our free games.</div>dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-33252464287168453052011-05-16T09:20:00.001+03:002011-05-16T09:20:50.425+03:00We are the champions!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVXjavelZt1cZe4A7r9lP8T-kT2vagLitTSxPRgRuwoPZ7mHHsV8iMqUOAdIogaN5rrGqATJDC1C0L5QddPXZfUb2uNya94vTnigx1ZP2Hwc_NbZRU4QWSkea2ogL7PrWOUWLQlJeZXV8/s1600/champions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVXjavelZt1cZe4A7r9lP8T-kT2vagLitTSxPRgRuwoPZ7mHHsV8iMqUOAdIogaN5rrGqATJDC1C0L5QddPXZfUb2uNya94vTnigx1ZP2Hwc_NbZRU4QWSkea2ogL7PrWOUWLQlJeZXV8/s400/champions.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
This is totally unrelated to my blog, but as yesterday was the second time something like this has ever happened I just have to write about it. <b>Finland is the new world champion in ice hockey 2011!!</b> There are probably two countries in the world who care about something like this, but I'm happy that Finland is the other one. I believe that the people will be partying the whole week here. It was so sweet when we won Sweden in the finals 6-1. From all the countries in the world our lovable western neighbor is just the one we wanted to beat. The last time we won the world championship in 1995 it was also against Sweden. Now we have something to remember for the next 16 years when we'll probably win the next time. Of course next year would be great time to win again as the games are played in Finland. Well maybe we'll win or maybe not, but we sure did win now! Oooooooooh yeah!!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibCUj4o9WuLD9AqxePRM5yFYCUnT5LLMBadoxL_T_qt7Sw_GeYMoouu3BkkmmxYMrNw5vFHsLPboLi3PbJpR2X6oQ3n7mca32iV6QmqMdvwc2lIPSCBOSCnpbN5DqXIxC1OApwiIUlS-A/s1600/party.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibCUj4o9WuLD9AqxePRM5yFYCUnT5LLMBadoxL_T_qt7Sw_GeYMoouu3BkkmmxYMrNw5vFHsLPboLi3PbJpR2X6oQ3n7mca32iV6QmqMdvwc2lIPSCBOSCnpbN5DqXIxC1OApwiIUlS-A/s400/party.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This is how we roll.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-81999620528848901182011-05-15T11:51:00.000+03:002011-05-15T11:51:49.402+03:00PSN coming back online<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIdikzNKT4gJmnxV00kYeG0MGmbTfDcSmgLl7QtZ-6IfWx3cyJJKhsZlxoF_-UEApRvlvDJ6So6iVnS6TO0XCsPuZ9ET8Q7WVboIPPb9Yhnz3VFuMfOyO3Hjhg3bUinZ-HPuKIBXA6CDM/s1600/itsalive2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="236" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIdikzNKT4gJmnxV00kYeG0MGmbTfDcSmgLl7QtZ-6IfWx3cyJJKhsZlxoF_-UEApRvlvDJ6So6iVnS6TO0XCsPuZ9ET8Q7WVboIPPb9Yhnz3VFuMfOyO3Hjhg3bUinZ-HPuKIBXA6CDM/s400/itsalive2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
It's alive! Or it will soon be at least. Sony <a href="http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2011/05/15/play-on-psn-restoration-begins-now/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SCEEBlog+%28blog.eu.playstation.com%29&utm_content=Google+International">announced</a> that the PSN is being restored now, but as it will take some time all countries won't have it online at the same time. From the link: <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>"</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #171818; line-height: 18px;"><i>The process has begun and some countries are being turned on now, so please be patient as we reach you." </i>For example I heard some very unofficial rumors that Finland will be online later this evening. Playstation Store won't come back yet, but buddy lists, online multiplayer and Playstation Home should work when the PSN starts working.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #171818; line-height: 18px;"></span></span>You can already download the new firmware version (3.61) for you PS3 which will force you to change your PSN password when the PSN comes back online. This password can only be changed on your own PS3, or on the PS3 which you made your PSN account. If you haven't downloaded anything from the PSN with your account you can change your password via e-mail that Sony will send you.<br />
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I'm sure many of you are thinking about the compensations Sony promised. On the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tHl6O5Sp8w">video</a> where Kazuo Hirai announces the PSN relaunch he also says that some sort of "welcome back package" will be formally announced in the coming days.<br />
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I'll update this post if I find something new and relevant information.dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-22380191396345273052011-05-11T18:49:00.003+03:002011-05-13T23:43:09.269+03:00250 followers!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMBlNj0gIwXmC0PATRZkJQN1cHIYt524v9MHyA_PWcXlOSmW3ah4lJAC9C1wzt2yXsujkcTVm6wLoW7-RQr5r1Ou08jKS20x_MOgmMm-7ESfQUyu4i6Xum8C-J2EFVZ_uW2xrzHWS83YI/s1600/party.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMBlNj0gIwXmC0PATRZkJQN1cHIYt524v9MHyA_PWcXlOSmW3ah4lJAC9C1wzt2yXsujkcTVm6wLoW7-RQr5r1Ou08jKS20x_MOgmMm-7ESfQUyu4i6Xum8C-J2EFVZ_uW2xrzHWS83YI/s400/party.png" width="373" /></a></div><br />
250 followers is unbelievable. The 250th follower was Dubbadeedoo. Check out his cool <a href="http://www.dubbadeedoo.com/">blog</a>, it has some crazy videos that I'm sure you'll find entertaining! Thank you guys so much for following and for the positive feedback. I promise I'm going to try to keep posting regularly also in the future, and if I'm lucky even with quality content. Because I just started my internship I don't have as much time to play games as I used to and this means I won't be writing as many reviews as I had hoped, but I'm just going to write about some other interesting stuff instead. So stay tuned for more low quality jokes and spelling errors!dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-88450273709315572952011-05-09T18:04:00.000+03:002011-05-09T18:04:16.760+03:00Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBZ20mzOqQQB38_u25pcmIuLGLuvPFNYNVcGzaaqznXy85KZ0UmxjAAHVAS65VaFQjoE2FpQzs7HgH43QeWszJA_V_j1XKYUAAuSt4F9AkoLwk5Ke9werw0URAX_ePXGkia8vLu3mHF8Y/s1600/majincover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBZ20mzOqQQB38_u25pcmIuLGLuvPFNYNVcGzaaqznXy85KZ0UmxjAAHVAS65VaFQjoE2FpQzs7HgH43QeWszJA_V_j1XKYUAAuSt4F9AkoLwk5Ke9werw0URAX_ePXGkia8vLu3mHF8Y/s320/majincover.jpg" width="276" /></a></div>I could guess many of you don't even know about this <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majin_and_the_Forsaken_Kingdom">game</a> as it was pretty new to me too. I just bought it because it was cheap and I remembered reading something good about it. The game is about a young man, Tepeu, who tries to save his kingdom which is controlled by mysterious darkness. Tepeu is accompanied by ancient giant known as Majin. The game's genre is mostly adventure although it has some action too. Tepeu and Majin explore the old kingdom and fight, or mostly Majin fights, the soldiers of darkness that control the land. I <a href="http://mylittlegamingblog.blogspot.com/2011/05/controller-is-it-you.html">wrote</a> few days ago that I like to lie down on the couch and relax with some nice adventure. Well, Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom is exactly what I meant.<br />
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The story in Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom is the usual (someone could say classic). The darkness has spread over the land and no one knows where it came from or how to destroy it. There has been some adventurers who have wandered into the kingdom to find out what's wrong, but they have all disappeared. So now it's Tepeu's turn and he, with the help of Majin, tries to solve the mystery of the darkness. Nothing really special about the story, but I found it nice how it's told by flashbacks of Majin's slowly returning memory.<br />
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The game is easy and fun to play. You control Tepeu and Majin is controlled by good enough AI. You can give simple orders to Majin, like follow, wait and attack, and he tries his best to obey. As Tepeu himself isn't a huge killing machine the fighting is mostly done by Majin. After Majin has knocked down an enemy you can finish him off with a combination move where Majin throws Tepeu in the air and Tepeu delivers the killing blow. Killing enemies with combinations fills Tepeu's power meter and the more full the meter the more powerful are the combination attacks. Although Tepeu isn't so great of a fighter he has the ability to kill smaller enemies with a single blow. This is done by sneaking behind the enemy. Sneak attack comes in handy when the partners are separated. This basically happens only when Tepeu has to go alone to turn some switch.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUYPv1DILxt_yiHng_NdjIR8oKj97k6L2s84Xkh-XhXT_kFwN5ucVhkuLhQ2Vv6DLF9XRpBfK3v9fH3cHAggFZFP_p5xmkb0ldUwJDDEnoKntojgijH3wzEfIlwX9HDC2VVM0V7R4CPqI/s1600/majinkickingass.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="223" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUYPv1DILxt_yiHng_NdjIR8oKj97k6L2s84Xkh-XhXT_kFwN5ucVhkuLhQ2Vv6DLF9XRpBfK3v9fH3cHAggFZFP_p5xmkb0ldUwJDDEnoKntojgijH3wzEfIlwX9HDC2VVM0V7R4CPqI/s400/majinkickingass.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Majin kicking ass!</td></tr>
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Fighting in the game is easy because you don't have to do much yourself. You ask Majin to attack, finish the enemies when they are knocked out and heal Majin if he's running low on health. Tepeu is healed by Majin, but he can't heal you during fights. So there's no way to heal yourself when in battle. Although if your health bar drops to zero you won't die instantly. Majin still can come and revive you, but if he doesn't make it in time then you're dead. But this doesn't happen very often. I think I died three times, and Majin once, during the whole game.<br />
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As the game progresses both heroes gain levels, Tepeu by just killing enemies and Majin by eating certain fruits. There are few special fruits that give Majin new powers. These powers are used in combat, you can ask Majin for example to blow enemies away with wind power, and to solve puzzles. With puzzles you don't have to guess which power to use as you only ask Majin to "act" on something. He then uses the right power, if he has it. The puzzles in the game are quite simple. They are basically turn the switch and the door opens type of puzzles. You just have to find the way to the switch and that usually requires for Majin to use a certain power on something.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This guy sure likes his daily fruits.</td></tr>
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The thing in the game I liked most is the overall atmosphere. Although the graphics aren't the best in business the game still looks nice. At most parts the surroundings are bright, nice and green. This game isn't dark, scary, sad or depressing but instead it's fun and sympathetic. As a central part of the game, Majin plays his role well and is the biggest reason for the sympathetic term. This lovable giant sneezes and stumbles to the ground once in a while. He also talks in this simple "me hungry" way.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp1KalVPX4D0MJhtsV-1P6F8drfcOCckawQe6RjrLYSBB2kJwWP1iioH3awa2qm1VB50afQnpGwuMyLRTQ-BEdsGrDk6ZfEeUYvqe6IByysP4Hie1_qPHo-3mo3XeogXa-yfYpxvXV36I/s1600/style.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp1KalVPX4D0MJhtsV-1P6F8drfcOCckawQe6RjrLYSBB2kJwWP1iioH3awa2qm1VB50afQnpGwuMyLRTQ-BEdsGrDk6ZfEeUYvqe6IByysP4Hie1_qPHo-3mo3XeogXa-yfYpxvXV36I/s400/style.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bright and green, just like I said.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
In case someone is close to an overdose of happiness here are few points I didn't like. Firstly the small animals who talk to Tepeu during the adventure. I found them annoying. They don't have anything important to say and the voice actors suck. Well you don't have to talk to most of these animals so this is not a big deal. The other bad thing is controls. In general they work fine, but they have a little lag which makes it hard and irritating when you have to jump from a small platform to another. Thirdly I would have liked the story to be a bit more interesting. Now it was just too ordinary and simple.<br />
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Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom is a game for those who like their games to be relaxing. It's fun to play and makes you smile. Maybe if you take all your games seriously, you get bored if nothing happens every minute or you are looking for a real challenge then this isn't for you. I wrote about <a href="http://mylittlegamingblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/games-girls.html">games and girls</a> a while back and this game is one more example to add to the list of a bit different games to show someone who has only heard about the CODs and WOWs.dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com24tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-88589071865142150412011-05-06T11:14:00.001+03:002011-05-06T11:28:34.317+03:00Controller, is it you?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKYoEZJPQ9wWowvZoYfZePBxwZys8_03F1NmG3Ib80IpUz2SOhvkWwHnkXOne3HNzT1Z02BglBPA9VBZpxJyX8XWN_RJrGZVa2w5mUhOaIiEldNYUDf82M83iZuBd_ko3PGLCM2nM9Ink/s1600/motioncontrol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKYoEZJPQ9wWowvZoYfZePBxwZys8_03F1NmG3Ib80IpUz2SOhvkWwHnkXOne3HNzT1Z02BglBPA9VBZpxJyX8XWN_RJrGZVa2w5mUhOaIiEldNYUDf82M83iZuBd_ko3PGLCM2nM9Ink/s320/motioncontrol.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
For about twenty-five years console games have been played with some kind of pad. Now people are given new different choices. Kinect, Move and Wiimote offer new ways to play games, new to the masses at least, but is that the right way for game controllers to evolve? Or is it just a nice gimmick to sell games to new people? Well they are selling millions so someone has to like them.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://draspu.user.fi/kinectcontrol.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://draspu.user.fi/kinectcontrol.gif" width="98" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Way to go Microsoft!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>As I <a href="http://mylittlegamingblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/history.html">started</a> playing games with NES I have always played them with a pad. I mean if I'd have started earlier or with something different I would have played with joystick. Of course I have also used keyboard and mouse to play games with PC, but as I don't do it anymore (at least for now) I won't talk about it here. So twenty-five years with a gamepad is a long time. Especially as I don't like changes you might guess that for me this new way of playing isn't something that I'm excited about. Well yeah, you are mostly right. But that's just me and many people actually are excited about Kinect, Move and Wii.<br />
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So why I'm not interested? I like playing my games lying on the couch. It's easy, relaxing and, if the game isn't some ad/hd action packet, you can really enjoy the feeling of pure adventure (you read it right, I'm lazy). In my opinion all this can be done only if you can keep the pad in your lap, push the buttons with your fingers and lie down if you like. I don't like the idea of me waving my hands around or jumping around my living room. I can admit that I haven't tried any of those new controllers, but that's just because of the way I like to play my games.<br />
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I'm not totally against this new technology though. I'm sure it's great for party games. People jumping around and playing some mini games with friends laughing at them is cool. Also if you like to play FPS games online I think that Move can boost your kills, at least after some practise. Then there are sport games like golf that surely gets better with "real" controls, or if not better but at least they feel more real I'm sure. Fitness games absolutely benefit from motion control. Two older examples are dancing games and driving games. Both are at their best with the right kind of controller. My point here is that while some games benefit from a certain type of controller, it still ain't right to try to make that controller the default one for all games. I'm just happy that Kinect and Move aren't the default ones. I'm also hoping that that won't be the case in the next generation either.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQYcp9cSBZ9bLZspAWzQMDH8xAwkzpAygkdhTyTuS8_WQIY9lVhaqG20NThuu3is1tdW3lTbp_4LdeskDsVN9yeWVRNu3TbuUmYJjDwzIPjPRiiRYyzMSKXN9h21Qbd4VpPzJe5qfLBNE/s1600/ps4pad.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQYcp9cSBZ9bLZspAWzQMDH8xAwkzpAygkdhTyTuS8_WQIY9lVhaqG20NThuu3is1tdW3lTbp_4LdeskDsVN9yeWVRNu3TbuUmYJjDwzIPjPRiiRYyzMSKXN9h21Qbd4VpPzJe5qfLBNE/s200/ps4pad.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">More buttons ain't the right way either.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
In any case I think that this new way to play games has potential. For example Kinect isn't just accurate enough, yet. While I'm still not liking the idea of me running around my living room to play some game, there surely are other possibilities for this technology outside of controlling the game itself. E.g. proper facial recognition in any lighting condition. People at Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo should also keep their options open and not force this motion thing just because it's hot today. Now that it's hyped so much I also hope that the companies don't focus too much on just the technology but remember that there should be good games too.<br />
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I would love to hear your comments on this subject. What kind of controller do you use to play games and why?<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com35tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-64451741637943333622011-05-03T08:19:00.000+03:002011-05-03T08:19:05.706+03:00The 10 most common clichés in video games<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhIotS7O9BDiyCiaw2Icp3FLW-QwsLGrEZrFUYSuKNDYXVdWESW6Xl3O6FGhDyMpOQ7poQfDSyO52USRPgVmfNLWq3yU1BX2ruPua8g43pe4J4cUeN6HcFx5mD3EcGXPnn8uFdCgLoPFo/s1600/cliche.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhIotS7O9BDiyCiaw2Icp3FLW-QwsLGrEZrFUYSuKNDYXVdWESW6Xl3O6FGhDyMpOQ7poQfDSyO52USRPgVmfNLWq3yU1BX2ruPua8g43pe4J4cUeN6HcFx5mD3EcGXPnn8uFdCgLoPFo/s320/cliche.jpg" width="306" /></a></div><br />
When you play a lot you are guaranteed to bump into things that seem to repeat themselves in many games. Some may be there because there isn't any better way to do the thing in question, in some cases it can be just laziness, like "lets do it like this because others do it like so too". What ever the reasons might be these things will make you laugh, cry, feel frustrated etc, but what they won't do is surprise you. Without further ado My little gaming blog presents the 10 most common clichés in video games.<br />
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<b>10. Enemies drop totally random stuff</b></div><div><br />
You are playing some rpg and have to kill small animals to level up. After you've killed them they drop gold, weapons or armor. What's the point in this? A rat carrying a wallet, sure. Maybe he was on his way to the bank. The other part of this cliché is when enemies with guns die and if they drop something it surely ain't the weapon that poor sucker was firing with. Can't be that hard to make them drop the real weapons.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGzR-PSVZyL7FNeJOD31TNeCe0rpbFgQ7g0GErEec18EIonaScnAMXe57u4Z_lCvFz_3beEk_oZ9rKXUyqAZgl0O_IbOaTQEb-NVzH0Um1OZamoAOt8O0Rkp1MS4IxnIqSjX06vvEHf0g/s1600/piggy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGzR-PSVZyL7FNeJOD31TNeCe0rpbFgQ7g0GErEec18EIonaScnAMXe57u4Z_lCvFz_3beEk_oZ9rKXUyqAZgl0O_IbOaTQEb-NVzH0Um1OZamoAOt8O0Rkp1MS4IxnIqSjX06vvEHf0g/s200/piggy.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This one actually might drop some coins.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><b><br />
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<b>9. Enemies are almost blind and they have the memory of a 120 year old</b><br />
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This goes for games where you have to hide much, infiltrate buildings and other secret agent stuff. Firstly you always have to crouch so no one can notice you. Of course you'll become invisible when you are a little shorter. I can understand that you may move more silently but that a person can't see you from the other end of the hallway? Glasses should be mandatory for every bad guy in games. Second thing is their memory. You have been seen and the enemies start looking for you. You hide ten seconds behind the corner and everyone else seems to forget that you were ever there. Those mad scientists in games should try to come up with a cure for Alzheimer instead of those everyday death rays.</div><div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRs02T02KGcEhEXAlhmh3Zjj9n6gLUCdD5HCIb__MBZDvamtJvbjItcyrerhUyUj2Jk7SE5-vYlkwumo-0FSjBpda8GF_gz2i3Z3FP7ET2LTxanVDuuUzMWzXNqe9Y_MpWEjHpanm-P58/s1600/badmemory.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRs02T02KGcEhEXAlhmh3Zjj9n6gLUCdD5HCIb__MBZDvamtJvbjItcyrerhUyUj2Jk7SE5-vYlkwumo-0FSjBpda8GF_gz2i3Z3FP7ET2LTxanVDuuUzMWzXNqe9Y_MpWEjHpanm-P58/s200/badmemory.jpg" width="176" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Well you can't remember it all.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><b><br />
</b><br />
<b>8. You are delivering pizza when suddenly something happens and the fate of the world depends on you</b><br />
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In the beginning of the game you are doing your job or whatever like on any normal day. It's not hard to guess that that's going to change. I don't remember any game where you would really be surprised how things start to go wrong. Well maybe in Sims you get to live your days without accidents.<br />
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</div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCAJFvTLOg0H0O8rRB3S5LSvMzudj0GwFy_U_vj78GEyAgpzymbQOZycFGk3NFgkGGYvTdkmvUnV26_Y4H33rSg-L4bPap8O_dIavFcxvQ05t91HUr1jTPkBXvXSx-qOCOTgFUf1Iw3Qo/s1600/surprise.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="193" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCAJFvTLOg0H0O8rRB3S5LSvMzudj0GwFy_U_vj78GEyAgpzymbQOZycFGk3NFgkGGYvTdkmvUnV26_Y4H33rSg-L4bPap8O_dIavFcxvQ05t91HUr1jTPkBXvXSx-qOCOTgFUf1Iw3Qo/s200/surprise.gif" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I've got to save the world? Didn't see that one coming...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
</div><div><b>7. Your home is in danger because of some mysterious threat</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>Your village is suffering from some unknown natural disaster and you have to find a way to stop it. Your city is ruled by some evil organization or company which you must stop or destroy. Your planet faces imminent danger as some alien fleet is just around the corner coming to wipe out your entire race and you have to kick the aliens back to Coruscant or wherever they came from. Oh wow, these are all really original ideas. Probably the janitor came up with them.<br />
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</div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmjdFeKRp7aNHOS7Q7XZxWG6HHhnv2PSCz-CU_0m0ZBHMQ5Q2nYy7AFAnxNZRpiZgVvDGg7b3f6KXJOyd91p4dh10jjp5DF3Dt-FES8T_k3G9uc4THZGte-ifqbHkJ8Oog5n76c2EHVnQ/s1600/spaceinvaders.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmjdFeKRp7aNHOS7Q7XZxWG6HHhnv2PSCz-CU_0m0ZBHMQ5Q2nYy7AFAnxNZRpiZgVvDGg7b3f6KXJOyd91p4dh10jjp5DF3Dt-FES8T_k3G9uc4THZGte-ifqbHkJ8Oog5n76c2EHVnQ/s200/spaceinvaders.gif" width="175" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Watch out, invaders from space! This idea's older than jesus himself.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
</div><div><b>6. The hero is a plumber, a scientist or a teenage boy</b><br />
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Basically this goes along with the number 8. The world is full of soldiers but somehow it's the everyday joe who has to save the world. It doesn't matter that the most difficult task he has ever done is filling in the tax return. Teenage boy comes into the picture when talking about jrpg. The hero and his companions pretty often happen to be young. This doesn't mean they would be inexperienced or something like that. Although the hero's best friend happens to be 17 years old he still has been in numerous battles or has the knowledge of the Moscow public library.</div><div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjht9RuMu6OsjGIUEY0MWMR0zsOqnagTg5V0TEWefrG5qR5X1ofKnfQ_0YE-4oOm-0jEaNEO-EFeS7b2T8RaNdYd511C781WEzXKvI7gMYSL4zKHKd5Sqm9cPAPYDQw2zorRuHjhN8mJ4A/s1600/gordonfreeman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjht9RuMu6OsjGIUEY0MWMR0zsOqnagTg5V0TEWefrG5qR5X1ofKnfQ_0YE-4oOm-0jEaNEO-EFeS7b2T8RaNdYd511C781WEzXKvI7gMYSL4zKHKd5Sqm9cPAPYDQw2zorRuHjhN8mJ4A/s200/gordonfreeman.jpg" width="156" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scientists, the coolest guys on earth.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><b><br />
</b><br />
<b>5. The game has a sequel and your ultimate killing machine starts from level 1</b><br />
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You have finished the first game with your character possessing almost godlike powers, but if you play that same character on the part 2 you will somehow have lost all your powers and equipment. I remember when I read some conversations about God of War 3 (before it was released) and one of the most popular topics was how Kratos will lose his powers once again. Is it so hard to come up with a way to continue the story without crippling the hero?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWG7lr3MWUNEYqf0KtKIDBHTdc7YcgsRGvUFQ_pUsE7hBTi2NerukbmvpmcJ7MkD4Dq1rwFDjpkYz6LMxoZfKJseoaKGA866D3XOJnMbfZQfLBHI6WTV5N6SiW_-tZlJWPwIfINCbX-QQ/s1600/kratos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWG7lr3MWUNEYqf0KtKIDBHTdc7YcgsRGvUFQ_pUsE7hBTi2NerukbmvpmcJ7MkD4Dq1rwFDjpkYz6LMxoZfKJseoaKGA866D3XOJnMbfZQfLBHI6WTV5N6SiW_-tZlJWPwIfINCbX-QQ/s200/kratos.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It really feels like this.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><b><br />
</b><br />
<b>4. Hard to come up with ideas for achievements for your game? Check that you have the "collect all hidden treasures"</b><br />
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These days almost all PS3 and Xbox 360 games have achievements/trophies. Those vary from very simple ones (shoot 5 enemies) to some hc ones which take forever to achieve (earn 100000000 points in multiplayer). But the one you will surely find in every game is the one where you have to collect all the hidden objects. Of course there are some golden medallions lying around in the jungle or old playboy magazines in every warehouse across the town. And of course you'd want to look under every rock and around every corner to find those.<br />
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</div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3VpwEzBtj6_PnKWjSJP0VNyFgpF-rDpALlDTNv0HQRSuF1ouw85TPJOxE6y5BRHk8pHaVybwpeccCw2UvX2bogTdn3-YdDgA-zxdcquX7n-1_x7Kn4LkVYjw_jzCnA7xRo1V5euWsaI0/s1600/achievement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="51" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3VpwEzBtj6_PnKWjSJP0VNyFgpF-rDpALlDTNv0HQRSuF1ouw85TPJOxE6y5BRHk8pHaVybwpeccCw2UvX2bogTdn3-YdDgA-zxdcquX7n-1_x7Kn4LkVYjw_jzCnA7xRo1V5euWsaI0/s320/achievement.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yes, I did it!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
</div><div><b>3. The final boss seems to be almost dead when suddenly he comes alive twice as strong</b></div><div><br />
You can't have a boss fight without this one. It really irritates me that you basically have to kill the boss like ten times before he's finally dead. Another detail for this is that you beat the enemy by ripping his armor (or something similar) piece by piece and at the end you'll be able to attack the weak spot and kill the sucker. And during this fight the boss just becomes more and more dangerous. You'd think that a man who's been almost beaten to death would become weaker, but oh no, not in the world of games.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjKGLhz-ZeaEifhBflK2ugoTeEk7E8muerGmBeFXzDYdTNG2O7m_SvJHSgU_A-q_ecZ8CMZqT2PfOlwjnGEAqtsOcMuF2vaSFu1oWKRjRHtfNiPZab6EovWl5GJDfrdNYDblQWQbtTcws/s1600/Wily.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjKGLhz-ZeaEifhBflK2ugoTeEk7E8muerGmBeFXzDYdTNG2O7m_SvJHSgU_A-q_ecZ8CMZqT2PfOlwjnGEAqtsOcMuF2vaSFu1oWKRjRHtfNiPZab6EovWl5GJDfrdNYDblQWQbtTcws/s1600/Wily.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of my favorite bad guys.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
</div><b>2. Boxes, boxes everywhere</b><br />
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The world is full of boxes, well at least game worlds are. Every warehouse, old factories and pretty much every room anywhere has boxes, countless numbers of boxes. Whether you have to hide or climb somewhere it's guaranteed that there are boxes. If the world has more objects than just the boxes the second one will be barrels, and not just any barrels but the exploding ones. "This game sucks! Can't get past this stupid room! There's a weak spot in the wall alright, with a barrel next to it, but I don't know how to break it. There also seems to be a way ahead up on the roof, but how can I get there with only these boxes lying around here?"<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj472ynnrs7s22ReaL3jSBxOWpx0PGUC8dt4gOhGeREu465u8ia7qQI4PJPrMdX3FEOVWd-B5PPak-9_G2xlW1quWzIps1VKHAo-CBpy5InCc7hTu8KEN5VuiH9zshjPwcsUjlEz2ycBDQ/s1600/boxes.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj472ynnrs7s22ReaL3jSBxOWpx0PGUC8dt4gOhGeREu465u8ia7qQI4PJPrMdX3FEOVWd-B5PPak-9_G2xlW1quWzIps1VKHAo-CBpy5InCc7hTu8KEN5VuiH9zshjPwcsUjlEz2ycBDQ/s200/boxes.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I'm soon having nightmares about these.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div><b>1. You are fighting for the freedom of the universe but still running errants for the poor lady in the gutter</b><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>You are the hero of the Universe, strongest and smartest man on the planet or just the ultimate killing machine of your time and you are working for the president of the USA/Earth/Galactic Alliance. Well it doesn't matter, as you still have to go and get the neighbor's children out of the kinder garden. One would think that a man on this position wouldn't have to do jobs like this, but still you can find these missions in way too many games. I'm just an average normal guy and even I don't like doing those things everyday, so is it a good way for the hero of the world to maintain his skills? I thought so too.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGAELwdpzz3WFJu0HST2rQML3B7jLzKcSh3_z6AnwoThx15c4qt9Df89-mDNEGFQpXbLI1N7cFKeGfAoYHr16uoHKee2X-ezTk2qkvRSdOz0P6gvy10NYlATCPCvTW6fo7MJKslXYsJT4/s1600/spiderman.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGAELwdpzz3WFJu0HST2rQML3B7jLzKcSh3_z6AnwoThx15c4qt9Df89-mDNEGFQpXbLI1N7cFKeGfAoYHr16uoHKee2X-ezTk2qkvRSdOz0P6gvy10NYlATCPCvTW6fo7MJKslXYsJT4/s320/spiderman.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At least he's good at this.</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div>dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-5472474866582338212011-04-30T14:28:00.000+03:002011-04-30T14:28:12.583+03:00Outbreak! Zombie Apocalypse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9nFxXYbq9AEMH5ZGtXZfAH7I_X8Wj4EOMXppi3RLM3NjKnQBQDyzmJrgWk-VMfbjOmSdv0zEJiw-E6MI1o8NZjbNJ9PF7mTLuwa_MG8huPwnfTBCngJ-jR8HHd3AL-8KTP5dYziOnJCY/s1600/outbreak.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9nFxXYbq9AEMH5ZGtXZfAH7I_X8Wj4EOMXppi3RLM3NjKnQBQDyzmJrgWk-VMfbjOmSdv0zEJiw-E6MI1o8NZjbNJ9PF7mTLuwa_MG8huPwnfTBCngJ-jR8HHd3AL-8KTP5dYziOnJCY/s400/outbreak.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
This time I'll be writing about some what different kind of a game. <a href="http://outbreakza.com/">Outbreak! Zombie Apocalypse</a> is a free real world location based game for Android. The idea of the game is that there are two sides, survivors and zombies, who battle against each other. When you register and log in the first time you will become either a survivor or a zombie. After that I bet you might guess what happens, but still let me tell you a little more.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiAhAcEaenm0u5IEy-kna-nc41ryjibl3Hs4_MxULrYYc_pDrjEXELbQk8_Lz_zPoqGwRi6F_0a9vnNgVIiN6CU8wSO-UQqEdsJ6CUSkMA9wYBUEGr62ivE0vZ3OJuFmuzkAaSXuJThHY/s1600/outbreakmap.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiAhAcEaenm0u5IEy-kna-nc41ryjibl3Hs4_MxULrYYc_pDrjEXELbQk8_Lz_zPoqGwRi6F_0a9vnNgVIiN6CU8wSO-UQqEdsJ6CUSkMA9wYBUEGr62ivE0vZ3OJuFmuzkAaSXuJThHY/s1600/outbreakmap.png" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looks like a peaceful neighbourhood.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The game is very simple. You install the software and register your account. After that you are ready to begin. The game happens in real world, so you won't be able to play this sitting home on your couch. The game pinpoints your location by using your phone's gps and shows 50 nearest players, zombies are red and survivors green. When your character is put on the map you can look up the nearest enemy and try to attack him. Attacking happens by just touching the players marker on the map. To be able to attack certain player he must be inside your attack range. The range for level one player is 500 meters (which is a little too much if you ask me). So if there is no enemy inside your range when you go to the map screen, you must go where there are some. Meaning you personally must travel to that location. When you log out from the game your character's location is saved on the map. This means that even when you are not playing the game yourself your character is still visible to other players and can be attacked.<br />
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Playing the game is pretty much the same whether you are a zombie or a survivor, but there are some small differences. If your character is born as a zombie your mission in the game is to infect the survivors. This happens by attacking them. If the attack is successful the survivor will be mutated into a zombie. If you become a survivor your mission will be to survive. You can attack zombies but you won't be able to kill them. If your attack succeeds you will only stun the zombie. The power of the stun depends on the attacker's level. On the first level it's only 15 minutes. As I didn't survive to the second level I don't know for how long the zombies will be stunned then. Attacking and leveling up also earns you some achievements, but as I haven't leveled up yet I haven't seen any.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYb8jVcOsJV8lIhfUXFwSJq5wv_kUCWdKFmhNkVvq9doK31KABW2fYQlXxPac2_22mpv9XgPGVg6MjU69eMZabcW06IOrmUTriTJS_VWG8TSmuub8996GUgglt8rG9VSDoVRVAQsRpac8/s1600/stunnedzombie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="170" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYb8jVcOsJV8lIhfUXFwSJq5wv_kUCWdKFmhNkVvq9doK31KABW2fYQlXxPac2_22mpv9XgPGVg6MjU69eMZabcW06IOrmUTriTJS_VWG8TSmuub8996GUgglt8rG9VSDoVRVAQsRpac8/s400/stunnedzombie.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">He's been stunned longer than 15 minutes I think.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
So attacking is easy but how about defending yourself then? As I said before your character is always visible on the map so you are in constant danger of being attacked. For a zombie there really isn't any way to defend yourself. Although as you can't die maybe there even shouldn't be one. Of course you can always defend yourself by physically running away. When a zombie is stunned it can't be attacked second time before that player has logged in again, which (in my opinion) is good because it helps to prevent easy grinding. At first there wasn't any way for survivors either to defend themselves, but in the last update became the ability to fortify. Fortifying your location means that you can't be infected by one zombie, but instead it takes four of them. So you ain't completely safe but still quite safe I would say. Fortify is good but not perfect. You can fortify yourself in only one location in any seven day period. This basically means that you can't leave that place to go hunt for zombies in a whole week. In my opinion that's too long time. There is one more way to defend yourself as a survivor. Just keep your eyes on the map 24/7 and try to stun the zombies that come too near. Sounds tempting doesn't it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirNez0MjI5iCkQ_O3Ic3ytANSNm7Iub3nNB5h6w2OedXb-8oT2wIZqNxzbhaxEnYaQTNHP2dSZqZ2IXiZhbYs-jCj5TUUCay73HdSlWslU8DQR3NVyGL8xslaNOhkyIsASxq11YjJXqsg/s1600/thumb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirNez0MjI5iCkQ_O3Ic3ytANSNm7Iub3nNB5h6w2OedXb-8oT2wIZqNxzbhaxEnYaQTNHP2dSZqZ2IXiZhbYs-jCj5TUUCay73HdSlWslU8DQR3NVyGL8xslaNOhkyIsASxq11YjJXqsg/s320/thumb.jpg" width="192" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You log in by scanning your thumbprint.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>As the game is in development here are some points I would like to see. First I'd help the survivors a bit. Make the stuns longer for the first level. 15 minutes ain't shit for defence. The zombie can just smoke a cigarette and try to infect you then. I would also like to change the fortify a bit. It could be done two or three times a week. This would keep your defence up but also let you go hunting more often. Secondly I would like to have more in-game data available. Now the game only shows your name, level and if you're clean or infected. The website has worldwide leaderboard but I want more. For example it would be nice to see your attack history, who you've attacked when and where or who has attacked you. Also maybe a list of recent fights in your neighbourhood, like in the last 24 hours or 7 days or something like that.<br />
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The game also needs more players. At the moment there are about 14200 users registered, 5200 zombies and 9000 survivors. Those numbers show that there should be much more survivors than zombies but at least in my city (probably in most bigger residential areas) there are hardly any left. When I first logged in there were three other survivors near me, but after few days I woke up and noticed that like the other three I had also been blessed with the desire for some sweet sweet braaaaaaaaaaaains. Must have been some secret zombie operation going on that night! Yesterday there were two survivors, but as I write this now there' none. That's half thanks to me though! I believe that most of the new players will be born as a survivor, but still it needs more balance somehow.<br />
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I'm pretty sure that something like this will be a huge hit in the future. Mobile phones are becoming so powerful that soon you'll be able to do anything anywhere anytime, if you can't already. While Outbreak! Zombie Apocalypse still is pretty simple it's on the right tracks and you never know what it'll be like in the future, it surely has the potential. The game also helps you to get some much needed exercise. Last Sunday I walked about 30 minutes to attack the only survivor in my area only to find that he had fortified himself. Damn! Like I would have made that trip without this game, yeah sure.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8BOIMQd3vbK3UFnArv26aL5nqwdmuYvH7rTGPb3RtjhI0m8jdqFRwGep2qPcA9rqReAd-riG607z3OjlzFyuOYZ-4PLtoVw6MY4On6XOqBUFTGlvQEkcD5-FEhkWvoY4E-GxcqymzaFs/s1600/qrcode.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8BOIMQd3vbK3UFnArv26aL5nqwdmuYvH7rTGPb3RtjhI0m8jdqFRwGep2qPcA9rqReAd-riG607z3OjlzFyuOYZ-4PLtoVw6MY4On6XOqBUFTGlvQEkcD5-FEhkWvoY4E-GxcqymzaFs/s200/qrcode.png" width="200" /></a>If you became interested Outbreak! Zombie Apocalypse can be downloaded for free from the <a href="https://market.android.com/details?id=com.kbdev.lbg">Android Market</a>, or you can just scan the code on the left. As the game is free it has a small ad at the bottom of the screen (doesn't bother me). You'll need Android 2.0.1 or better to play.<br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;">The hunt is on!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1oP8oBisXnIFlzqo_y_qkolxjv2Aiy-4wKg7p0zenD37dDu6gLCqVFm-CYPiWitnwMzQvJ9lEXaT_WPI0Oteo6_xnBcINA-RNnznULmIlKYnoKHloMgZC6F9Rr-ienFUG0wstW-Km7WU/s1600/scream.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1oP8oBisXnIFlzqo_y_qkolxjv2Aiy-4wKg7p0zenD37dDu6gLCqVFm-CYPiWitnwMzQvJ9lEXaT_WPI0Oteo6_xnBcINA-RNnznULmIlKYnoKHloMgZC6F9Rr-ienFUG0wstW-Km7WU/s1600/scream.png" /></a></div>dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-16284351503843882112011-04-27T16:16:00.000+03:002011-04-27T16:16:41.296+03:00Update on PSNJust my luck. Yesterday I <a href="http://mylittlegamingblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/psn-down-will-sony-prevail.html">posted</a> how i got scared about the rumors behind the closed PSN. Just after I published that post I looked at the latest news and found <a href="http://blog.eu.playstation.com/2011/04/26/psnqriocity-service-update/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SCEEBlog+%28blog.eu.playstation.com%29&utm_content=Google+International">this</a>. I'll summarize what was announced.<div><br />
</div><div>Sony admits that user accounts were hacked and personal information stolen. This information includes:</div><div><ul><li><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><i>"</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #171818; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>name, address (city, state/province, zip or postal code), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity passwords and login, and handle/PSN online ID."</i></span></span></span></i></li>
</ul></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #171818; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i> </i>Also possibly stolen:</span></span></div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #171818;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>"</i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #171818; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip), and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers."</i></span></span></i></span></span></li>
</ul></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #171818; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">And last but not least:</span></span></div><div><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #171818;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>"</i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #171818; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, to be on the safe side we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may also have been obtained."</i></span></span></i></span></span></li>
</ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #171818;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZORbXD21wOt3blZpLcrkkW9S0BEJYlr_svi1SviHeVCydiNoEt07onq0EFwtVN-FdSb5SHJrXVh804UxFZc9og6MaEZvG8WzjMckk6Md_Kc9pnxTYPj_mYwyFC9LCteaskBOCqV8QyBE/s1600/middle_finger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZORbXD21wOt3blZpLcrkkW9S0BEJYlr_svi1SviHeVCydiNoEt07onq0EFwtVN-FdSb5SHJrXVh804UxFZc9og6MaEZvG8WzjMckk6Md_Kc9pnxTYPj_mYwyFC9LCteaskBOCqV8QyBE/s1600/middle_finger.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You f*cking hackers!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #171818;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div>I really don't mind so much if someone knows my birthday and now that my password isn't the same anymore on most sites I'm not so worry about that either, but what I don't like is if my credit card number is out there for someone else to use. Although security code should be safe this still gives me the chills. Well at least for now my credit account looks normal.</span></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #171818;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #171818;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">This was just a small update to my yesterdays post. It just was so odd coincidence that at the same time when I'm writing how I got scared about the possible account breaches, because of the past experience, Sony announces that the user information has indeed been stolen. Just my luck.</span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #171818;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivS8HUsaaOEQiB1ST1xQFYV2m3DWamyBXOIPqX95ebVesqnfbB17J6X5TidmvnR9tdZchFMrySI95S5r5WnqLsFuxPC1WQJRaFLWf47VN3adDKZYu6fDEgjxnYI1XChN988Ztc1g3bnog/s1600/ohboy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEivS8HUsaaOEQiB1ST1xQFYV2m3DWamyBXOIPqX95ebVesqnfbB17J6X5TidmvnR9tdZchFMrySI95S5r5WnqLsFuxPC1WQJRaFLWf47VN3adDKZYu6fDEgjxnYI1XChN988Ztc1g3bnog/s1600/ohboy.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My face when I read the news.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com43tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-89557955593967411212011-04-27T00:10:00.000+03:002011-04-27T00:10:44.266+03:00PSN down, will Sony prevail?As some of you may already know Sony's Playstation Network has been down since last Wednesday. Sony announced on it's <a href="http://blog.eu.playstation.com/">blog</a> that <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><i>"</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #171818; line-height: 18px;"><i>An external intrusion on our system has affected our PlayStation Network and Qriocity services."</i> </span></span>There have been all kind of rumours around this news. First and maybe the biggest rumour being that it was the work of the almighty Anonymous, but I think that by now they can be left out. They have also <a href="http://anonnews.org/?p=press&a=item&i=848">stated</a> that they didn't do it. Some other minor rumours claim that Admin Dev accounts were <a href="http://www.psu.com/news/11425">breached</a> and that a custom firmware which allows the use of fake credit card info was <a href="http://www.gamespot.com/news/6310200.html">released</a>. The real reason might be some combination or it might be something totally else.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoW92ZNeHnsJ30b0VKW-2oqIi_n4WSa9AnoIEO6850lBKAVAkFLq5DxK8uAz27kf3r6EY1CNYNVQQJHmCMNxwKdcmPnYMLlkeD2b8VvGMQXrfhdA2F4uGHzhTE3ksIE8XWODwHeA7Bgt4/s1600/psnotwork.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjoW92ZNeHnsJ30b0VKW-2oqIi_n4WSa9AnoIEO6850lBKAVAkFLq5DxK8uAz27kf3r6EY1CNYNVQQJHmCMNxwKdcmPnYMLlkeD2b8VvGMQXrfhdA2F4uGHzhTE3ksIE8XWODwHeA7Bgt4/s320/psnotwork.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<a name='more'></a>This is a huge setback for Sony as one of their assets compared to Xbox 360 is that online gaming is free. Now you can't play at all whether you pay or not. Xbox Live as it is is considered to be much better than Sony's system, so this really is like a kick in the nuts for Sony. Multiplayer being a big thing at the moment one can only guess how this will affect Sony and their image. For me this ain't so big deal as I play only offline. The only thing that is bothering me is that I can't upload my trophies. (If my PS3 breaks down now I'll go berserk!) I also think that Sony should compensate this incident somehow. Of course it might not be their fault, but still there are people who can't play their favorite games at all. It would be a smart move for Sony to for example give away a little game for free after they get the store up and running again. That would surely help to protect the image. Whatever they might do, for their sake I hope they will solve this problem as soon as possible.<br />
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Now a little story that came to my mind when I read about those rumours.<br />
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The news of breached accounts scared me a little, but I have a good reason for that. A year or two ago my PSN account was hacked and the hacker f*ucked me up a little. Only a little because I survived with only small financial losses. I also have to admit that part of what happened was my own fault. At that time I had the same password at almost all the places where you needed one. You might guess what happened. My PSN account is hacked -> the hacker has access to my email -> the hacker has access to pretty much everywhere where I have registered. I was lucky that the person who did this was either very stupid or a real gamer. He bought all the Crash Bandicoot games from PSN store and also bought a 12 months Xbox Live Gold membership, but nothing else. I was like WTF when I found that out. He had access to all my online store accounts (which also had my credit card info saved there) but no. Well that's good for me. Of course I had some trouble getting my gmail account back. You have to remember when you opened the account and some other random stuff, but after several frustrating attemps I succeeded. And by the way if you're still wondering, of course I changed my credit card after what happened.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsmSuM1W_g1RjkJt-OJ8wxhqIRaZg5CxSrJCRJz5KZA21rRCXQ7OD3WIZUItYldmGDfd6B6ec_GwzxfldTby37shRhX2Q_7y5rPN5FmR_5BLv99unNW3hbUPhkSqApgqM6WlaUEfWJeAg/s1600/hacked.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="283" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsmSuM1W_g1RjkJt-OJ8wxhqIRaZg5CxSrJCRJz5KZA21rRCXQ7OD3WIZUItYldmGDfd6B6ec_GwzxfldTby37shRhX2Q_7y5rPN5FmR_5BLv99unNW3hbUPhkSqApgqM6WlaUEfWJeAg/s320/hacked.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Internet is serious business.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I made a complaint to Sony about what happened and the answer was pretty much "too bad", no money back or store credit or anything. I made the same complaint to Microsoft about that Gold membership and they first said that "sure you'll get your money back" and few days later came email saying "on second thought, you get nothing." It's so easy to f*ck the little consumer. I guess I'd have had my money back from the credit card company or the bank, but because the total amount was so small and because I hate the paper work needed to make a formal reclamation I didn't even try.<br />
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So boys and girls what did we learn here today? Don't have the same password on every site. You beg for trouble that way. I just got lucky.dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-55693070057943166902011-04-25T11:00:00.000+03:002011-04-25T11:00:34.249+03:00God of War 3<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEBJW2C04sjwdU6cpA2JO3nK46fEIZIg2MW8Nns3bgkBa-RTSV2myweTLUXmicMizfxuzQ_KeQnv-ILyGpwu9FkEhHhZdAZEhKaGEHgQCt0FQqtknZA7En8kN77HFODvQNTQZW_ZrFMpk/s1600/GodofWar3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEBJW2C04sjwdU6cpA2JO3nK46fEIZIg2MW8Nns3bgkBa-RTSV2myweTLUXmicMizfxuzQ_KeQnv-ILyGpwu9FkEhHhZdAZEhKaGEHgQCt0FQqtknZA7En8kN77HFODvQNTQZW_ZrFMpk/s320/GodofWar3.jpg" width="276" /></a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_of_War_III">God of War 3</a> is an action-adventure game where you control Kratos, a Spartan warrior who seeks vengeance upon Olympian gods. The game is very violent and brutal which is shown very clearly during every boss fight. The game has many of these boss fights so the violence has a big role in the game, but what can you expect from a true Spartan warrior whose only reason to live is revenge.<br />
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I never played God of War on PS2 so when the God of War Collection was published I just had to have it. It was nice to finally be able to play one of the biggest PS2 games (or two of them actually). The actual games didn't impress me so much, good hack'n'slash with puzzles and quick time events, but I liked the theme. Greek mythology is interesting so it was nice to see those familiar faces and kick their asses! The ending of God of War 2 left me thirsty for more so lets find out what the third chapter has to offer.<br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><i>"My vengeance...ends now."</i>- Kratos</div><a name='more'></a><br />
I really didn't have very big expectations, just wanted to see how the story ends. More killing and better graphics was what I expected and what I got. At first I was actually little disappointed. After the ending of GoW 2 I was waiting to see some cool action between the Titans and the Olympians, but it didn't really go that way. Instead Kratos falls and he has to start a long journey to get back to Zeus (is someone surprised?).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgweVMgfj5hOz8rbD70cNbQ3kzgqtE9Cd2ryiPCmqZ4nAuYQx1G44YPxwWb9zfia9uVE0ExosMgG-31NvQ0ogupbP6X_J3BYsd-EQbe3A1auGxZCdTUlOX80IJ7iwNpi_9QklQj2fLupm8/s1600/violence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgweVMgfj5hOz8rbD70cNbQ3kzgqtE9Cd2ryiPCmqZ4nAuYQx1G44YPxwWb9zfia9uVE0ExosMgG-31NvQ0ogupbP6X_J3BYsd-EQbe3A1auGxZCdTUlOX80IJ7iwNpi_9QklQj2fLupm8/s320/violence.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The game sure is violent. You might guess what happens here next.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Like I said the game mainly offers more the same as the first two. That is either good or bad depending what you thought about the first ones. I think it is good. The action runs smoothly forward. You fight, solve some simple puzzles and fight a little more. Luckily the fighting is fun and with a little practise you learn to use your weapons with deadly accuracy. Well I have to admit that during some fights I felt like the battle was just a tangled mass of creatures, but as I took some distance to the enemies I finally managed to survive. The game offers four different weapons and three items which you can all use to kill your enemies. Talking about killing, yes the quick time events are still there. Some say there are even more of them than before but I wouldn't say so. Some like them and some don't, I personally see them as a good way to have a little variation during the fights.<br />
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The graphics are indeed good. At the beginning when you see the Titans climbing the Mount Olympus it really looks awesome. The Titans really look like Titans and not just like some little pesky giants. Otherwise the sceneries are pretty much familiar from the previous episodes. They look really nice though. Developers should have come up with few new locations as Kratos now visits few places more than once. It's not a big mistake but I'd rather see new places than the ones I already visited.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaf7v2NM4uSypINr2NGCXYQt8-hT1ZdlS-2BAoiROq9Ry_uXZv1yr8mhi1HLMKAuDTViVCR4TkHmkZzv9sMshMCwoOd1KyZGoahD8awGNQ7GcHM_JckSG54CC1UdmywrdlPgXU3nGahOg/s1600/chronos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaf7v2NM4uSypINr2NGCXYQt8-hT1ZdlS-2BAoiROq9Ry_uXZv1yr8mhi1HLMKAuDTViVCR4TkHmkZzv9sMshMCwoOd1KyZGoahD8awGNQ7GcHM_JckSG54CC1UdmywrdlPgXU3nGahOg/s320/chronos.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Titans are big, I mean really big.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Now to my favorite part, the story. If you are not interested in Greek mythology or just don't like games like GoW it would be easy for you to say that "what is so great about that?". Well basically it's just a simple story of vengeance, yes, but at least for me the point is the theme. You are kicking the ass of the gods. How can you top that? That is what makes the game and the story "epic" for me. It really helps you to get to the mood if you are interested in or familiar with Greek mythology. Apart from the gods and mythology the story is just about a man and his obsession with revenge. I also liked the ending. It shows us how Kratos is a man who keeps his words. The ending was satisfying, sad and it leaves the story a little open. I guess they always have to have a way to continue the story. It was also nice to see Kratos have some other feelings besides hatred.<br />
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So now I have only praised the game, but is there something bad about it? If you would have asked me that during the few trickier battles I'd have said "WTF?!?! this is so unfair!!", but after a good night's sleep they took only few tries and voilà. It can be little frustrating when you kick someones ass four times and still they keep on charging, but I'd still say that the game is fair. It lets you save really often and gives you health boosts before every big fight. Like I said before during some battles I felt like the fight was just a big hassle and I couldn't see anything, but that only goes if all the characters are in the same spot. I was also a little disappointed that Kratos had to kill practically everyone. I found some of the characters very sympathetic. Although it's good that the game makes you feel something towards the characters, whether it's anger or joy or something else. Maybe the last bad thing could be that there really wasn't anything new in the game. It was pretty much just like the other two. I really hope that the story ends here.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOgUmwmtQTDqX_787fWxgqAdp3xAIe9TVGV-GAqA9OmYju2y6x2fDlfQqU_EP3AzxIdfeNUZR0-24BXh2qix_UxMwjrF9kfsuln_qWeoEdEwXPE24m2LFL-p7an8B9KjB9uxZ5KIRym3c/s1600/hades.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOgUmwmtQTDqX_787fWxgqAdp3xAIe9TVGV-GAqA9OmYju2y6x2fDlfQqU_EP3AzxIdfeNUZR0-24BXh2qix_UxMwjrF9kfsuln_qWeoEdEwXPE24m2LFL-p7an8B9KjB9uxZ5KIRym3c/s320/hades.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hades was one of the tough ones.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Summary: GoW 3 continues and ends the epic saga of Kratos. It has the same good qualities as the first two with better graphics. If the first parts had something you didn't like then you probably find them from this one too. God of War 3 is a game for those who like good hack'n'slash and enjoy epic stories.dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com16tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-42040848730203819832011-04-22T11:50:00.000+03:002011-04-22T11:50:22.847+03:00The way of the futureWhen I started this blog I was thinking to write only about the games I would currently be playing, but as usual things didn't go as planned. I could write only about the games, but I don't like the idea of updating my blog only once or twice a week. So as you have seen I have already made few posts about something else than just the game I'm playing and that is the way of the future for this blog.<br />
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So then what is this other stuff I'm going to write about? The only certain thing what my future posts will have in common is that they will somehow be game related. So basically you can expect almost anything. I will still write about every game I play though. I don't know if they are reviews or just some random thoughts, but in any case something. I don't believe I'll be posting any general news as they can be found pretty much everywhere and I would like to write as much my own opinions and stuff as possible. If the news are super interesting or have something that concerns me someway then I'll talk about them.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-WFS48WEMIBm-xjUDGSXMuwrGHNQ6iAshGzDq5nLPfBhRSzG-c-sizJqgpqgCToQ1gLt5S7ZRnvJhUqs136lCfhabyWu2qsRYCqjGORZ0gC9-A7T5O1EZaJqp6wPK8FLghg8jp25yzFk/s1600/writercat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-WFS48WEMIBm-xjUDGSXMuwrGHNQ6iAshGzDq5nLPfBhRSzG-c-sizJqgpqgCToQ1gLt5S7ZRnvJhUqs136lCfhabyWu2qsRYCqjGORZ0gC9-A7T5O1EZaJqp6wPK8FLghg8jp25yzFk/s320/writercat.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
This new posting policy helps me to make the blog more versatile and will add some variation for my posts. I'm also open for suggestions about what I should talk about, so if you have something on your mind tell me about it in the comments. I would also like to thank everyone who voted at my poll. God of War 3 won so it's time to kick Zeus's ass.dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-51967004720171881922011-04-19T15:56:00.002+03:002011-04-21T19:14:50.492+03:00Games + girls = ?One of the biggest mysteries of our time is, of course, the combination of games and girls. Do they mix? Well here's my two cents.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWQLGsPelSNQNV6CNJlHhpYCcoPkfzKxVrSxq7QeWgkfB8pTqhV3w08uedhCuULJwuqUO9DHL7fbC0bKF5OhkoAt4CF5_ReJR9we9mZ4uzE4EnORUQhFDsDGl18k7IKjTfgRzeTV5A9dQ/s1600/girlguitarhero.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWQLGsPelSNQNV6CNJlHhpYCcoPkfzKxVrSxq7QeWgkfB8pTqhV3w08uedhCuULJwuqUO9DHL7fbC0bKF5OhkoAt4CF5_ReJR9we9mZ4uzE4EnORUQhFDsDGl18k7IKjTfgRzeTV5A9dQ/s320/girlguitarhero.jpg" width="233" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">At least they seem to mix really well.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I think the public opinion is that games are for (teenage) boys. At least it used to be like that. Of course it's easy to think so when you look at the games today. When you see a game or advertisement with a women with huge tits and very little clothes on, it gives us a pretty good hint to whom the games are made/advertised to. Well not all games are like that, but big part of them is. And why is that? Because sex sells. There's no denying that. I can't walk on the street without seeing ads with good looking women on them. But it works. My head turns nicely when I walk past them. I like women, can't help it.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQZpQ0rxzeQ-vFnFCfogiVg2MQaTXZvYLlFGOE0v-SE7oZHKkDE-0ovkF5eQyI3MD5ixkRHQkhYyg8S5FJuDOAlZekQLpDDGkhesNBGZ5DdvdC5QsU25dZwAa5gzx7odSmQFnivpRt6Xg/s1600/nariko.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQZpQ0rxzeQ-vFnFCfogiVg2MQaTXZvYLlFGOE0v-SE7oZHKkDE-0ovkF5eQyI3MD5ixkRHQkhYyg8S5FJuDOAlZekQLpDDGkhesNBGZ5DdvdC5QsU25dZwAa5gzx7odSmQFnivpRt6Xg/s320/nariko.jpg" width="244" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">I wouldn't mind playing with her.</td></tr>
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So it seems like games are for boys, but don't believe everything you see. Today's generation has grown up with games surrounding them, so they see more easily what's the deal with games. And this includes girls. I understand if my mom says that games are for little boys. Only thing she knows about games is a tv commercial about Gran Turismo. Well that and solitaire she plays occasionally. That was my mom and she's is 60, then lets move to my girlfriend who is 19. She used to play games just like me when she was little. Mario and Tekken were great she says. She also played WoW few years back. Well today she doesn't play that much anymore, but that doesn't mean she wouldn't like games. I bought all the available Crash Bandicoots from PSN and she played them all through. She also tried Flow (game where you control the character by moving and turning the controller and not by pushing any buttons) but didn't like it. "Only suckers play games like this. I want my good old pad with buttons" she said. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Words of a true gamer</span>. :p<br />
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That's only one person I know, but if we look at the game industry as a whole we can easily see how the girls are taken into account more and more. They even have a word for it, social gaming. Ever heard of it? Popcap Games ordered a <a href="http://popcap.mediaroom.com/index.php?s=43&item=149">survey</a> about social gaming and guess what, the majority of those gamers are women (55% - 45%). If you look only <a href="http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-games-statistics-2010-09">Facebook</a> the gap grows even bigger (69% - 31%). So the girls in fact do like to play games. They just play them on Facebook, at least for now. One interesting point from Popcap's survey (this includes boys too, but girls being the majority of those gamers it still gives us some direction):<br />
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<ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: arial, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">When asked to choose as many reasons as they wanted for playing social games from a lengthy list, social gamers cited "fun and excitement" as the most popular motivation (53%). Stress relief (45%) and "competitive spirit" (43%) were next most popular respectively, followed by "mental workout" (32%) and "connect with others" (24%).</span></li>
</ul><br />
Those most popular reasons look familiar. At least for me they are the reasons I play games (although some games cause more stress than relieve it). "Competitive spirit" is also one big reason for all online gamers, whether they play CoD or FIFA or whatever.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimggqI_0rWmOC8Y1FmGOvj_-jow_rTSOZTQVtCGIohpAX7HXTRUJyq-WnP9u776RcoAGo4U5xcQK31LESFqgW87beZ950jnow1CcCONEfXteVL_K4xT8MN36kJrDYEq1elS9y92-wudeY/s1600/femalegamers.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimggqI_0rWmOC8Y1FmGOvj_-jow_rTSOZTQVtCGIohpAX7HXTRUJyq-WnP9u776RcoAGo4U5xcQK31LESFqgW87beZ950jnow1CcCONEfXteVL_K4xT8MN36kJrDYEq1elS9y92-wudeY/s320/femalegamers.jpg" width="243" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Maybe this is why girls don't play with consoles...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>So the reasons to play are pretty much the same but games differ. I believe this is because it's so easy for girls to play Farmville or whatever on Facebook. I'm pretty sure they would like "real" games just as much if they only had the chance to try. These "real" games have so many different genres that there surely is something for everyone. For example games like Little Big Planet, Sims, ModNation Racers and Viva Pinata are great if you want to show someone that there are also other games than the GTAs and CoDs. And I'm not stating here that those two are bad, just that they are so well known already. Also Guitar Heros and Singstars etc are easy to approach.<br />
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So, games and girls, do they mix? I'd say yes. Girls like to play but they just play the games that are available to them and most of those games happen to be on Facebook or somewhere else on the internet. If we want to get them on the couch to play with us we need more social games for consoles or the current games and consoles with different kind of marketing strategy.dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com68tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-70800770489561820012011-04-17T00:16:00.000+03:002011-04-17T00:16:50.873+03:00Dead Rising 2/2Most of the zombies are dead and Chuck has escaped, but was it worth it? The answer is yes and no.<br />
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The answer is no because of the time limits. Like I said before they are super annoying. I'm now playing the game second time and I still hate those time limits. I'm not even sure if I'm able to play it to the end now. I'm going to try though. I was hoping that there would be some kind of free roam mode after the first playthrough. That would have been nice. No time limits, just you, weapons and the zombie horde.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTRPZzgQx5xhcVmVt7MK_NmWnwUEalXnGk_vyAUMarh6kF9_fY5ddpc9ouXOY7UfD0Z1MbVdOuTRpeo5EM74lN6BS6kYJ7elba2hN63QWiJLSHC4cPGQ3yGLqztCyrWSIVj5Co66jWcY/s1600/watch.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizTRPZzgQx5xhcVmVt7MK_NmWnwUEalXnGk_vyAUMarh6kF9_fY5ddpc9ouXOY7UfD0Z1MbVdOuTRpeo5EM74lN6BS6kYJ7elba2hN63QWiJLSHC4cPGQ3yGLqztCyrWSIVj5Co66jWcY/s320/watch.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This screen comes too familiar.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Last time I also mentioned difficult enemies. There were some that felt difficult, but as Chuck gained some levels it became easier to beat those little bastards. But first you had to gain those levels and before that there were some missions that I had to skip because of the difficult foes. So again I repeat myself. Without time limits I would have had the chance to level Chuck up and after that go and try those missions.<br />
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So why was the game worth my time? Dead Rising 2 has it's moments. If you leave out time limits, killing those zombies is fun and entertaining. With so many different ways to smash a zombies head it doesn't get boring. After killing few thousands of those things I don't even find the killing repeating itself. Picture this: twenty zombies coming your way and you take a few swings at them with your fire axe and sledge-hammer combination. You hear few splashes and find yourself standing alone with a big pile of zombie guts on the ground. Man, that's satisfying!<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMN8197zmfch6umXRoaCz_14mp79rGwpqnOeynD14m6wfFEtKh6PstPmQtyJXFieQi2unkTlZzGwcreofkXmCr0yI8jxos3S3AJgZ53NnMsRQTCdJSFH9YJPQxJ_1KsmKmml7Hk_AwIFM/s1600/Randy.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="186" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMN8197zmfch6umXRoaCz_14mp79rGwpqnOeynD14m6wfFEtKh6PstPmQtyJXFieQi2unkTlZzGwcreofkXmCr0yI8jxos3S3AJgZ53NnMsRQTCdJSFH9YJPQxJ_1KsmKmml7Hk_AwIFM/s320/Randy.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Randy with his pink chainsaw. Got to have one of those myself!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>The game also has twisted humour which at least I find funny. For example there were these two magicians who were practising a trick where a woman was cut in half with a huge saw blade. Well they failed every time, the woman died, but it didn't stop them of trying. The humour in general was about some sick people killing others. Some like it and some don't. Another example: maybe my favorite character, Randy, is a psychopath who wants to get married. And he just accidentally cuts his father in half with his chainsaw.<br />
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Because the point in this game is to survive and kill zombies it isn't a surprise that the plot is not worth mentioning. There are couple bad guys who get what they deserve. That's pretty much it.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnNnDJjZWRiKfvO5ZvUW-hTcqHXfgJNH8Lw57GvDpeFJBUt2-FXdZWkT57Hq1LZPN8t90gIAN7HXHeKUqqyvvamU52l_Khg0hfkNi4wAxfV2780_MALkjblRx6dit2Jw6Vk5CKuKiDRO0/s1600/slappy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnNnDJjZWRiKfvO5ZvUW-hTcqHXfgJNH8Lw57GvDpeFJBUt2-FXdZWkT57Hq1LZPN8t90gIAN7HXHeKUqqyvvamU52l_Khg0hfkNi4wAxfV2780_MALkjblRx6dit2Jw6Vk5CKuKiDRO0/s320/slappy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Another great character. Slappy is sad because his girlfriend died. :(</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Lets try to sum up my opinions about the game. The game is good if you know what to expect. Lots of zombies and many many ways to kill them. But if you are like me and want to complete all the missions you are in a constant hurry with very little time to really enjoy killing zombies.<br />
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P.S. There is still time to vote what game I'll play next. The poll's on the right. Vote!dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-7854139382675256142011-04-13T09:25:00.001+03:002011-04-13T09:29:41.319+03:00Can't decideI'm still playing Dead Rising 2 but I'm already thinking about the game I'm going to play next. I have two new games waiting but it's always so hard to decide, so I thought I could ask you guys. The nominees are:<br />
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<ul><li>God of War 3</li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPc7NFg4QJugwPIH8iUIBSPJCoYRESPcmN3ctEQhxdKyK-WHBFebrAjC1t7m1qCYyysauEvuEQo_-DTOPVm3GNquTXZEPa_JjW0OuUpo6QJODJqTTKgSopW5Se3A27tiiHthAFsnr9DUA/s1600/kratos.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="177" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPc7NFg4QJugwPIH8iUIBSPJCoYRESPcmN3ctEQhxdKyK-WHBFebrAjC1t7m1qCYyysauEvuEQo_-DTOPVm3GNquTXZEPa_JjW0OuUpo6QJODJqTTKgSopW5Se3A27tiiHthAFsnr9DUA/s320/kratos.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<ul><li>Majin and the Forsaken Kingdom</li>
</ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimosPsnmFl_UllBdP1XCv3PLZU18icdsgRsmUaXDTpfNto8DGiHepAhdugjNxHRCgCOLgLI3xUS5enXNI11EC3gOc9fpBTK322CPnqK-5lqMTOxfbTSeD8YLR4ex7WrDasGYO9zRVjJ_4/s1600/guys.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimosPsnmFl_UllBdP1XCv3PLZU18icdsgRsmUaXDTpfNto8DGiHepAhdugjNxHRCgCOLgLI3xUS5enXNI11EC3gOc9fpBTK322CPnqK-5lqMTOxfbTSeD8YLR4ex7WrDasGYO9zRVjJ_4/s320/guys.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div><br />
</div><div>I guess many of you know what God of War is about, but for those who don't know it's an action game loosely based on Greek mythology. You play Kratos as he tries to take vengeance on Zeus and other Olympian Gods killing huge amount of monsters on the way.<br />
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The second one can be more unfamiliar. It's an adventure game with some action and puzzles. You control a young man Tepeu who's accompanied by the great ancient beast Majin. This duo wanders around old and mystical kingdom and tries to defeat some evil monsters. I myself don't really know much else about the game.</div><div><br />
</div><div>When I'm done with Dead Rising 2 I'm going to choose the game which has more votes and play it next. The poll is on the right so choose your side and vote!</div>dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com40tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-2052134547739091382011-04-12T08:35:00.000+03:002011-04-12T08:35:11.938+03:00Dead Rising 2As I promised before I'm now playing <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Rising_2">Dead Rising 2</a>. Dead Rising 2 is a third person action game where you play Chuck Greene as he tries to survive the zombie outbreak in Fortune City. Chuck has been framed to be a terrorist and he tries to find the persons responsible.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXO3y3ELUvShVyWkSAYgBO5a1DnxN6Bue7eNe7eTBr-9w4Nu4oXNLgohaeQLubBLOxCYS9H3qbIHVnFtiDVm5zy852x_PPAGrDS3IGd0FDZ5cX-3BYsfNwIFscmRCnqZCUeOnT2K3dZcw/s1600/deadrising2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXO3y3ELUvShVyWkSAYgBO5a1DnxN6Bue7eNe7eTBr-9w4Nu4oXNLgohaeQLubBLOxCYS9H3qbIHVnFtiDVm5zy852x_PPAGrDS3IGd0FDZ5cX-3BYsfNwIFscmRCnqZCUeOnT2K3dZcw/s200/deadrising2.jpg" width="168" /></a></div><br />
The game happens in "real time", meaning that the in-game clock runs all the time you play. The plot is divided to small episodes which all start at some exact time. Between these episodes there are lots of different side missions where you rescue or kill people around Fortune City. These side missions have time limits too. When they come available you only have certain amount of time to complete them. Third time based thing in the game is finding vaccine for Chuck's daughter. She has been bitten by a zombie and needs Zombrex every 24 hours (game time). So all these happen at certain time and the clock is running.<br />
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I really have mixed up feelings about the game. As I said before I don't like time limits in games and it's as I'd feared. The time limits are really annoying. I can't rest or "take it easy" at any point. There's always something where I have to hurry. Well the side missions aren't mandatory so I can admit that the hurry is partly my fault, but with my obsessions to try to do everything in the game it's really hard to let some missions just pass because I don't have the time. I just try to think that I'll complete them during the next playthrough. The game also feels pretty hard from time to time. Or maybe it's just me and my sucky skills but certain enemies in some missions feel really hard. They run faster than you, have much more health and do more damage. Some even heal themselves. I think it would just take the right tactic and right weapon to kill them, but with the hurry on my mind I just don't have the patience to try everything.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhitd-1-fpdQQosYrum5kEnXd5oP8RJKLMlSZxpQfuAW48VcHMxQgzmFqb40IBShbpcpcDIutNTaN9Dj7Q8kl6OEOLEQ0yH8v98KgtmO_viOM56dwt-Tur7fVVpy2itAbyU1rP-I7QPoFU/s1600/zombies.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="156" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhitd-1-fpdQQosYrum5kEnXd5oP8RJKLMlSZxpQfuAW48VcHMxQgzmFqb40IBShbpcpcDIutNTaN9Dj7Q8kl6OEOLEQ0yH8v98KgtmO_viOM56dwt-Tur7fVVpy2itAbyU1rP-I7QPoFU/s320/zombies.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The game has zombies, lots of zombies.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Time limits cause panic in me, but so do the zombies. They are everywhere, and there's lots of them! Of course if the main thing in game is zombie riot there should be lots of them, but together with time limits they can be really huge pain in the ass. I'm always running from point A to point B and wouldn't have time to deal with millions of zombies, but there they are. I have to admit that this is maybe the right way to do a game like this, it's just me that is wrong in this combination. The only thing that I would change is the time limits. Without them I would so much enjoy crushing those zombie hordes.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2XaCYJ2gy3ovN8XONvUmthoF9oj0dcpMXrrGAwCnlCff7XDKeo-qyZ0WFlWaIZToy5Zv_g6KEkcI_ChI6bp04xlkMHwheD3NrIHu3dAubcHuT2zeb6nk9fbLPKC18ahaHuH7TZxiVjug/s1600/guitar2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2XaCYJ2gy3ovN8XONvUmthoF9oj0dcpMXrrGAwCnlCff7XDKeo-qyZ0WFlWaIZToy5Zv_g6KEkcI_ChI6bp04xlkMHwheD3NrIHu3dAubcHuT2zeb6nk9fbLPKC18ahaHuH7TZxiVjug/s320/guitar2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So you didn't like my solo, bitch?!?</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
That leads us to the next big thing in the game, weapons. There's more ways in the game to kill those bastards than you can imagine. Almost anything can be used as a weapon, from a house plant to a huge war axe. And as if those weren't enough you can combine many of them with each other (after you have found the correct combo card). How'd you like a toy helicopter with a machete attached to it, or a paddle with a chainsaw? One of my favorites I've seen so far is a bucket with a power drill. You put that thing in zombies head and it drills the zombie to death. Oh wow! That's how I like my zombies, in bits and pieces.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie0zyC22lD6Y6ok3UzLYH5fZSOJtrIp0-Z3cysnGqEV5v8oMr216v5-xVtr-dQdbCkwNU2rdkWkfpqCyw4-qDT09zr0Uv2FafC_C4XupMwv-dr4nRuHBfsvwMWN47zwA5LMa3gVQBDKzw/s1600/chainsaw2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie0zyC22lD6Y6ok3UzLYH5fZSOJtrIp0-Z3cysnGqEV5v8oMr216v5-xVtr-dQdbCkwNU2rdkWkfpqCyw4-qDT09zr0Uv2FafC_C4XupMwv-dr4nRuHBfsvwMWN47zwA5LMa3gVQBDKzw/s320/chainsaw2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">It's splashing time!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: left;">Dead Rising 2 may not be my favorite game but I'm still going to finish it. The game has it's moments from time to time so it's not all bad. You'll have my final opinion when I have played the game through. That would be in few days I hope.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div>dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-1524534090068299422011-04-10T01:07:00.004+03:002011-04-10T23:06:17.299+03:00History part 4I don't actually know what made me change PC for consoles again. One reason that comes to my mind is the image of me lying comfy on my couch with pad in my hands looking at my huge television. Now I know that you can do that with computer also, but at that time my idea of PC gaming was me sitting in front of my monitor with crooked back.<br />
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So in late 2007 or early 2008 I decided to spent the money I had saved from my previous job and bought Xbox 360 and PS3 at the same time. I bought them both because couldn't decide between them. I think with Xbox I thought about games like Halo and Mass Effect and for PS3 there was "the brand" that interested me. Sony had had some great exclusives like GTA, Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid and I wanted to be sure I would have the change to play some of them (yeah, Sony had had some exclusives...).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-aNDi-mUl8licWSM1-xS2KNVcsXULurD6xYvqcTLZo6-m09eiimg531qp9e-cjRg5YPg8Kl10pJg-Vo61qjCHEa0lc2YNSANnpnEXvyk7791mG9c1MUloMWbVjrMl6-MMsIaOnJa-3FE/s1600/IMAG0013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-aNDi-mUl8licWSM1-xS2KNVcsXULurD6xYvqcTLZo6-m09eiimg531qp9e-cjRg5YPg8Kl10pJg-Vo61qjCHEa0lc2YNSANnpnEXvyk7791mG9c1MUloMWbVjrMl6-MMsIaOnJa-3FE/s320/IMAG0013.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two brothers side by side.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
As you can see I totally missed the whole PS2 era. I played happily with my computer and thought "lol those lamers don't know shit about games, they just play with their crappy resolution and pad that has like four buttons." Well times change I see. Still the whole PS2 phenomenon was one reason for my decision to buy PS3. Sony surely has made some good work with their marketing. It's my luck that game studios are making remastered versions of some old classics for PS3. Just waiting to get my hands on Ico and Shadow of the Colossus.<br />
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Xbox 360 and PS3 at the same house? Yeah it's a winner's choice. At first I was happy that I bought them both. Uncharted for PS3 and Mass Effect on Xbox. They both had good things, but then something happened. Somehow I just leaned towards playstation. I could say that it was the overall feeling about the system and software, but that would be strange because it was PS3 that broke down a month after I bought it, Xbox had better games at first and dualshock is crap compared to Microsoft's controller. And still I bought almost all cross-platform games for PS3 and quite soon stopped buying games for Xbox completely. After that I guess it's just fair to call me a fanboy.<br />
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I have six games for X0 worth mentioning (technically only 4 because of Halos 1&2), first three Halos, Mass Effect 1 and 2 and Lost Odyssey. Halos are overrated, I don't understand why people make so big deal about them. Really liked the atmosphere in Lost Odyssey. Stories Kaim starts to remember are nice to read and the milieu is great. But those child characters, oh man how I hated them. Indeed the game comes from Japan. Don't have to say much about Mass Effects, they are pure gold (1>2). I'll buy Mass Effect 2 for PS3 also when I see good enough offer.<br />
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For PS3 I have little over 30 games. It ain't much but they have kept my busy over the last few years. Don't want to write a list of them all but it's hard to name just a few, so I'll take a photo of them and you can see for yourselves. The best one? It's really hard to say, but maybe Batman: Arkham Asylum could be it. It depends on the day you ask though.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHvA7NKgNUy84lliK0x7njK7vS8yAZB1KjFoiWaebR9WkCad_mrtUY6Xb3kIEWjz9zmaAMjXUzddXyBcof4qgkkFrsYEAjvP4PH0WORca1nbfhEQ5OxGpKIK1Afo14EvlHqpYcHpNPuNM/s1600/IMAG0009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgHvA7NKgNUy84lliK0x7njK7vS8yAZB1KjFoiWaebR9WkCad_mrtUY6Xb3kIEWjz9zmaAMjXUzddXyBcof4qgkkFrsYEAjvP4PH0WORca1nbfhEQ5OxGpKIK1Afo14EvlHqpYcHpNPuNM/s320/IMAG0009.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 16px;">My babies.</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Being a console person nowadays there is one thing I envy about PC gaming, Steam. It's easy and it's cheap if you just wait for the right offers. PSN and Xbox Live are ok, but they are missing the offers that would make me buy games there. I have bought few games from PSN (Megaman 10!) and I'm sure the number would be doubled with good offers. Good offer isn't a few years old game for 20 euros. With PSN+ I could get some games for "free" but they haven't interested me much yet.<br />
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I think that covers pretty much all of my game related history. I hope there has been something interesting enough to read about. Writing about this stuff has also made me think about the future of gaming, so I think I'll be writing about that too in the future.dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-91426033822884150262011-04-07T08:34:00.000+03:002011-04-07T08:34:27.989+03:00History part 3Pentium 75MHz was getting old and fast. Couldn't really buy any new games for it anymore so needed something new. The answer was Sony Playstation. Actually if I remember correctly my parents bought it for my brother (the computer was in my room so it was his turn). Nevertheless we played with it both as much. It didn't have nearly as big effect on me as did the earlier platforms. The first time is always the first time.<br />
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Even the games didn't feel so good. I guess here the first time law applies too, I had already seen pretty much all the genres I was playing then. Some good games what I remember: Metal Gear Solid, Tekken 3, Gran Turismo, Tomb Raider and Tony Hawk's Pro Skater. Then there were games like NHL and Need for Speed and others, but they didn't really rock my boat.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqIFExkL72RuhcZxa93RT2YwwcMI38oeShbsofgTmelCTwwwjmYLiGoM4NUJvhiKR_8p18rnRSxbihSXc4kj8MFlylR3zWmFEPJ0GAwybK_gG6FhqoMh7sd4zv_qFQCAcL7SN5ecEBO0Y/s1600/jin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqIFExkL72RuhcZxa93RT2YwwcMI38oeShbsofgTmelCTwwwjmYLiGoM4NUJvhiKR_8p18rnRSxbihSXc4kj8MFlylR3zWmFEPJ0GAwybK_gG6FhqoMh7sd4zv_qFQCAcL7SN5ecEBO0Y/s320/jin.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My favorite. Does he look cool or what?!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Although I played with PSone pretty much I needed something else. So after one summer I used all money I got from my summer job and bought a new computer. AMD Thunderbird 700MHz with 128MB ram and a cheap GeForce2 MX. It was good enough to play almost every game for a while, but it too started to get old pretty fast. Some years later it broke down and I had to buy a new one. AMD again, Athlon 64 3200+ with 1GB ram and ATI 9800 Pro (changed it later for GeForce 7600 GT). That is the computer I'm still using right now and it's also one reason why I don't play new PC games anymore. Not many PC exclusives I'd like to play though. Witcher, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and Starcraft 2 comes to mind. Well and the incoming Diablo 3 of course.<br />
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So what about the games I played? The biggest thing was of course Baldur's Gate 2, the best game I have ever played on PC. Right behind it are Fallouts 1 and 2. I also tried Icewind Dales but never finished them. Weird thing is I have never even tried Planescape: Torment. I know it's an excellent game, but somehow I have missed it. But someday... Other great game from that time is Deus Ex. It was new to me to be able to complete the missions with so many ways in a first-person game. It felt so cool back then. Really liked that one, but haven't ever tried the sequel. I will make up for that mistake when the third one is published.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjawKUd7YrS_QJyQ2HE3AzYbHZyWPxeu62tNuc0sL5DjqqmLfRtSIn5Eu_ObsXlHqTAlekxdOp9LZOCac8_le8A4s7r-mKO6LLXi5DPaspGIJigyUw9KX_5-mK2T99cf6j-y-__VJ_TdB4/s1600/bg2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjawKUd7YrS_QJyQ2HE3AzYbHZyWPxeu62tNuc0sL5DjqqmLfRtSIn5Eu_ObsXlHqTAlekxdOp9LZOCac8_le8A4s7r-mKO6LLXi5DPaspGIJigyUw9KX_5-mK2T99cf6j-y-__VJ_TdB4/s200/bg2.jpg" width="152" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the greatest ever.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
Because I played Jagged Alliance back in the day I of course liked Jagged Alliance 2 and because of those I had to try Silent Storm. It's great but would be even greater without Panzerkleins. I just didn't like them. The game is still one of my favorites though. I also tried X-COM/UFO series for the first time. The first ones are old but they just keep on rocking. With games like these I always imagine myself playing hardcore and not using save/load trick, but mind is weak and it almost always goes to that. It's a shame.<br />
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During these years online gaming started to become more popular, but like I have told you before I'm not really into that. I didn't like it then and don't like it now. I remember playing Quake 2 and some other games with friends at school and that was cool, but playing on lan is different because you are with other people there and not by yourself. Half-Life is a great game but I have played Counter-Strike like two times. I have spent countless hours with Diablo 2, but don't remember if ever tried the multiplayer. Also have never tried WoW. Just not for me.dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-26172659827037396042011-04-05T08:23:00.000+03:002011-04-05T08:23:39.847+03:00History part 2Nothing good lasts forever. While I still played with NES something new and different was coming. It was the day when dad bought our first computer and I was happy again. I think the year was 1995. It was so different from Nintendo and you could do some much with it. Like write stuff! We didn't have a modem, so internet came to our house some years later.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqPDTSxK7iaQWDADmKaQdBZolYAXz7jU_1C37RvAyi3Ub9dTTozkpfIEqelJ3UuTLmVEUQZjYB6bfvCxWMHdNviSsyN5boMwaDU4QRNoK4LAwovGFgrU1VGtGxP3SNLq9G_RnjfuNRglQ/s1600/ibmaptiva.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqPDTSxK7iaQWDADmKaQdBZolYAXz7jU_1C37RvAyi3Ub9dTTozkpfIEqelJ3UuTLmVEUQZjYB6bfvCxWMHdNviSsyN5boMwaDU4QRNoK4LAwovGFgrU1VGtGxP3SNLq9G_RnjfuNRglQ/s320/ibmaptiva.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">IBM Aptiva Pentium 75MHz. I was so proud .</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
My first PC game was Space Quest 6 - The Spinal Frontier. Reason for that game was the same as it was with all my NES games. The box looked cool (funny looking dude in space!). I had never heard of any Space Quest games before. The game was fun to play. I even got help from my mom with it! And it looked so much better than those crappy NES games. Of course years and years later those crappy games now look cool and retro. ;)<br />
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After that became games like Jagged Alliance (and Deadly Games), Steel Panthers, Carmageddon, Grand Theft Auto, Master of Orion 2 and Heroes of Might and Magic 2 just to name a few. Opening the drawer behind my back reveals some of those games in their original boxes. I would love to have those big cardboard boxes back. They were so much cooler than the DVD casings today.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpGLIum-HG3GckDjw1Yl5th8mz98eBl2OsW3-vJugk4DbmMu3hQhyphenhyphenetqQ6WH4WXQgu21XhJ5yiHjdkuMypXj45vQipxA7SsyrJTDsRpT3gkNsgFcTZ25CoJzhomEYVbl4mHcaiYt_0jiU/s1600/IMAG0007.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="241" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpGLIum-HG3GckDjw1Yl5th8mz98eBl2OsW3-vJugk4DbmMu3hQhyphenhyphenetqQ6WH4WXQgu21XhJ5yiHjdkuMypXj45vQipxA7SsyrJTDsRpT3gkNsgFcTZ25CoJzhomEYVbl4mHcaiYt_0jiU/s320/IMAG0007.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of those games from my drawer.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I think games like Master of Orion and Heroes of Might and Magic were my favorite at the time. It was so nice to play those games with my brother at the same computer. Switching chairs and trying to guess what the other is up to. Nothing like good hotseat action. I still have played MoO several times after those years, although during my second PC era I started to like different games (about that later).<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdd7HHKI-Kcg8f9G9_CfE6MSl2yYfGEdoh_5rCGlGwwH8zVQP0Ump7PivKPd8FzC6sujrugVyv_i5AdQsdH20fA4OYIv2AqHnqupM0HIn1Cv1zNUI4P5BrmBa6m5AlfXTixopsWJOy2iw/s1600/bombers.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdd7HHKI-Kcg8f9G9_CfE6MSl2yYfGEdoh_5rCGlGwwH8zVQP0Ump7PivKPd8FzC6sujrugVyv_i5AdQsdH20fA4OYIv2AqHnqupM0HIn1Cv1zNUI4P5BrmBa6m5AlfXTixopsWJOy2iw/s200/bombers.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mine Bombers. Some serious action.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>These years also introduced me to small finnish shareware games. Anyone ever heard of Slicks, Molez or Mine Bombers? Especially the last one was maybe the most played game with me and my brother. We even bought the full version by sending some cash via regular mail. Some other great moments I remember during that time are the first time I saw my friend play Doom, "Wow! The barrels explode when you shoot at them!!" and the first time I saw 3D accelerated graphics. That was Quake 2 I think.dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-35059674021603395852011-04-03T11:20:00.000+03:002011-04-03T11:20:06.615+03:00HistoryI thought I could write about something else than the current game I'm playing for a change, so here's a little story how I ended up where I am now. We are talking about video games of course. I split the story in four parts and will publish the parts during the coming week.<br />
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Part 1: <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQw4MVZZ0X4-MKEcXkeLxrutezhlxYrvomx0PI27ieNxboSlSYp3BKuVT2BSgrLx3ferJUFgLTSK27gUUROzWkp2A3C7-oUHyHYMFK9AjdtbfWaa6zlF9grLs0fxdnKCAjKd41XLE_64o/s1600/console.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="144" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQw4MVZZ0X4-MKEcXkeLxrutezhlxYrvomx0PI27ieNxboSlSYp3BKuVT2BSgrLx3ferJUFgLTSK27gUUROzWkp2A3C7-oUHyHYMFK9AjdtbfWaa6zlF9grLs0fxdnKCAjKd41XLE_64o/s200/console.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
The first time I got my hands on games was at the late 80's I think. My parents rented a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) from some local shop. After that there was no turning back. The renting time was 24 hours so I think me and my little brother didn't sleep at all that night. My folks didn't rent it very often, against our wishes, so it was always so cool when they did. <span style="font-size: small;">Too bad I don't remember any games we played, but I could guess Super Mario was one.</span><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLkYZwz1Dljb74OTtluqNg4lE7F5ldP_jzNm7HaprBvWTIxIR0YmjrZ8iTjGeqBKDRu0IR-10W1P28qsLWLmNo72b4uIv3Pt6TVDaOMmG_AJv5wHX7LaLlj3bbYyBeLYlfyVW0eTkr_t4/s1600/supermariobros.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLkYZwz1Dljb74OTtluqNg4lE7F5ldP_jzNm7HaprBvWTIxIR0YmjrZ8iTjGeqBKDRu0IR-10W1P28qsLWLmNo72b4uIv3Pt6TVDaOMmG_AJv5wHX7LaLlj3bbYyBeLYlfyVW0eTkr_t4/s320/supermariobros.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You are now hearing the music in your head.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Couple years after that came the big day when we finally got our own NES. Oh man, I was probably the happiest kid in the whole world that day. I think the only game that came with the console was the one and only Super Mario Bros. During next few weeks/months there were "few" arguments about who can use the television (we only had one).</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Because we lived in a really small town there wasn't any place to buy new games. So whenever we visited some bigger city we got a new game. The way to choose a new game was quite different at the time. I looked at different covers and chose the one which seemed most cool. And yes, we did got some sucky games with that method. But there were so many good ones it's useless to complain. Super Mario Bros. 3, Double Dragons, Blades of Steel, Contra, Excitebike, Mega Mans, Snake Rattle 'n' Roll and many more. So many good memories there. *sigh*</span><br />
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It's nice to remember what gaming was like then. Today games are made pretty easy for mass markets and you can usually save whenever you want. It was different back then. At least I notice it if playing with emulator. Save and load are in heavy use. One particular game comes to mind when talking about difficult games. Ever heard of Battletoads? Man that game was hard! I remember how me and my brother played it for hours and hours. It was hard yes but yet so fun to play. If the game is hard it still have to be fair, otherwise it will just suck. And the feeling when we defeated the final boss? Indescribable.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnr-8Yez3mYDlR039A2xu02ORf9ua470WHvvjFkatN0dpLhlr3eO7EDUnQ4Tc3R_rvxqQH0yUSaNW7hkN_O4bgTKUsS0bebp5Gaw_02Tfx06i0bXs62M6BdL6sdskmJ0E09zB8wDnoR7M/s1600/battletoads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnr-8Yez3mYDlR039A2xu02ORf9ua470WHvvjFkatN0dpLhlr3eO7EDUnQ4Tc3R_rvxqQH0yUSaNW7hkN_O4bgTKUsS0bebp5Gaw_02Tfx06i0bXs62M6BdL6sdskmJ0E09zB8wDnoR7M/s200/battletoads.jpg" width="145" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the easier ones.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I think the console and the games are still somewhere at my parents. Maybe I should take a ride at the retro train sometime. For the old time's sake.<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span>dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-73661658630292945882011-04-01T14:34:00.000+03:002011-04-01T14:34:01.431+03:00Change of heartI've been very interested on earthworms lately and been thinking about changing my blog to be about them.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJzpBBZGrq3OcJUswVSANPOgk1NBP-vy9vXetKRUywInAAohb0tnwmB1HO01xrJcO0iNF8mdSRj2dZoks_h_vYAJXGbRyRbh3otld88Isz-n19QmV3EsasQW2rHrha0xoB8ijMugVp6gY/s1600/worm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJzpBBZGrq3OcJUswVSANPOgk1NBP-vy9vXetKRUywInAAohb0tnwmB1HO01xrJcO0iNF8mdSRj2dZoks_h_vYAJXGbRyRbh3otld88Isz-n19QmV3EsasQW2rHrha0xoB8ijMugVp6gY/s200/worm.jpg" width="198" /></a></div><br />
Did you know that earthworms (<i>Lumbricus terrestris</i>) can grow up to be 30cm long? And that they are hermaphrodites, meaning they are both male and female at the same time? Talking about playing with yourself!<br />
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Earthworms can also regenerate to some extent, but that varies between species and depends on the extent of the damage. Studies of some G.E. Gates show that, in theory, it's possible to grow two different worms from one. Science fiction is here!<br />
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Earthworms are also very known as fishing baits. Many of you have surely dug up some and gone fishing with your friends. I know I surely have done it many many times. Behind my parent's house is their little garden and back there is a great place to dig up some worms. Especially after the rain.<br />
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But maybe the most biggest secret about earthworms, that most people don't even know, is this: <span style="background: none repeat scroll 0% 0% black; color: black;">April Fools! I so got you!</span>dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com21tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-18057818297686705022011-03-31T17:23:00.000+03:002011-03-31T17:23:22.429+03:00100 followers!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEyhnnOcXC7sZnVWjf_mzqMh-Y_LVduKGHiUV0Y2e2eTIV6gT1Wz3OxXg-qBtp4PkwKLVtJ3QSnWeyiOvWGUm9HuQjFXhF6kxM2lp_8vQvzbNR_tlfTIe93H_GVnPoGEKBhQghnu81kIY/s1600/surprise.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEyhnnOcXC7sZnVWjf_mzqMh-Y_LVduKGHiUV0Y2e2eTIV6gT1Wz3OxXg-qBtp4PkwKLVtJ3QSnWeyiOvWGUm9HuQjFXhF6kxM2lp_8vQvzbNR_tlfTIe93H_GVnPoGEKBhQghnu81kIY/s320/surprise.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
Wohoo! You guys are great. Didn't think there would be so many of you so fast, but here we are. I would like to thank mom and dad, my fifth grade teacher, all of my neighbours, the guy I met at the bar few weeks back and my cat. Well, maybe you guys too who have the time to read my blog. You made this possible. Thank you.<br />
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But what's left after this epic accomplishment? I was thinking of writing about something else too than just about the games I'm currently playing. That would allow faster updates on the blog and could be fun to write about other stuff in general. Although the posts would still be game related, more or less, but it would make the blog richer. We'll see in the future.dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-81911177962333148442011-03-29T19:34:00.000+03:002011-03-29T19:34:11.173+03:00And the murderer is...Finished the game yesterday. I liked it from the beginning to the end. Although the story is pretty normal for a psychological thriller (mysterious killer killing people with a twist), it still was a much needed change to the stories I usually see in the games I play.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSSBaHI1EwR3yXm6lGfIMTC1bGTy8Ir-tor8j6dRD0K6FQbs6DmDiUjWDU6KV6qZ5lCjcMN_X99L5Oi8IPSmbn6arMzAAQQ2DxbDjeItoSegDim73xER3hvpcd0NTIpeX9G0hVAeiGz-A/s1600/HeavyRain.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSSBaHI1EwR3yXm6lGfIMTC1bGTy8Ir-tor8j6dRD0K6FQbs6DmDiUjWDU6KV6qZ5lCjcMN_X99L5Oi8IPSmbn6arMzAAQQ2DxbDjeItoSegDim73xER3hvpcd0NTIpeX9G0hVAeiGz-A/s320/HeavyRain.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the multi-view scenes. Looking good.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
There really isn't much to add to my previous post. The lazy controls were there to the end and also "shake the controller" parts started to annoy me a little. (I have to add that although my game was the "move edition" I used the normal controller, so everything I say about controls is just about the pad.) Still I have very little bad to say. I'm now playing the game the second time and it's nice to have so much things that can change during the second playthrough. Almost all episodes have things that can go a different way.<br />
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At this point I guess I can reveal that I knew who the murderer was before playing the game. I accidentally got spoiled on some forum where idiots like to spoil other people for fun (f*cking lamers). So the moment where the game reveals the murderer didn't have the effect it should have had on me. But I have to admit that during the game I was starting to think that maybe I don't remember right, that person can't be the killer.<br />
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I also have to say that there may be some sides of the story that I still don't know. At least one thing comes to mind that was left unanswered. I'm hoping maybe the second playthrough and different decisions will tell me more. Anyway I'm quite happy in the way the game ended for me at the first time, there was only one thing which I failed. I got my happy ending though, just the way I like it.<br />
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<b>Some final words:</b> Heavy Rain is for people who like psychological thrillers or just enjoy a good story, or for people who want to play something a little bit different than the usual CODs and GTAs. Looks very nice but has some trouble with the controls.<br />
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My first post about this game is <a href="http://mylittlegamingblog.blogspot.com/2011/03/heavy-rain.html">here</a>.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4DLhRN7GrI8RPwIrW7q2HpsiD6ZRrbLjSvJaB0z7SdXYmvKkTPokS12GK0RRieRcRQl_rRBQ0kBbFGV9iqt8farYfxdtZHPQpeDlzi3ufYovudsmV20UbGLK2xfp0GlRO5UtyqgNwNKM/s1600/madison.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4DLhRN7GrI8RPwIrW7q2HpsiD6ZRrbLjSvJaB0z7SdXYmvKkTPokS12GK0RRieRcRQl_rRBQ0kBbFGV9iqt8farYfxdtZHPQpeDlzi3ufYovudsmV20UbGLK2xfp0GlRO5UtyqgNwNKM/s320/madison.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shake it baby!</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
I received the Dead Rising 2 in the mail today, so as soon as I'm done with Heavy Rain I'll start on that. I'm little disappointed though. Didn't read the description closely enough and I thought I'll get all that stuff in the picture I posted, but instead I just got the steelbook box, making of DVD and the cool pen. Well it was cheap although it would have been just a normal game, so I won't complain.dshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17396785459343712676noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7338248247152713362.post-59706480251623827832011-03-27T19:00:00.000+03:002011-03-27T19:00:39.639+03:00Heavy RainAfter Riddick maybe a little different game. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_rain">Heavy Rain</a> is a game where you try to catch the mysterious Origami Killer. But instead of controlling just one character, you in turns control four persons. All with different aspects to the killings.<br />
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I've heard a lot of good things about this game, and being a person who likes good stories, I just have to try it. Right at the start the game made a great first impression. During the installation you are guided to make your own origami with the paper that came with the game. Great innovation! Just love this kind of things. It would be great if installation/loading screens could offer you something else than the usual and boring "loading" text. Too bad that none of the other loading screens in this game has nothing interesting to offer.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvA1TMT2sngUE-lYKw0z0aorRVsk85-Wehgh3J4H17Wbsp28LDJG7mY63RybWqVEwJGjTLSWLWCSxg_UibS6fKedOMfVXuptzc2twsEWKk6FJn8dRCZnbx17Ho72mzWfJY2gCcGIK1rEs/s1600/EthanMars.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvA1TMT2sngUE-lYKw0z0aorRVsk85-Wehgh3J4H17Wbsp28LDJG7mY63RybWqVEwJGjTLSWLWCSxg_UibS6fKedOMfVXuptzc2twsEWKk6FJn8dRCZnbx17Ho72mzWfJY2gCcGIK1rEs/s320/EthanMars.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ethan Mars. Trying to save his son.</td></tr>
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So the game begins. First I noticed the great graphics. It surely does look amazing, even after many hours staring at it. Second thing I noticed wasn't so nice. The way you control the character is too clumsy. You have to push R2 to walk and choose the direction with left stick. I don't feel like being in control at all. This not being an action game that ain't so big of a thing, but it still bugs me from time to time. Other controls in the game are quite simple. You interact with the world by pushing a button, waving the controller, keeping some buttons down and things like that. One funny thing related to that happened today. I was in a spot where I had to keep several buttons down. I think six at the most. Well, the combination was so difficult that when it came time to push the sixth button my fingers couldn't do it, so I used my tongue. :D But it worked and I did get forward in the game.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Norman Jayden. FBI profiler trying to catch the killer.</td></tr>
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What about the story then? After the start it has opened up and I like it. Trying to guess who the killer might be, collecting evidence and trying to save one of the main character's son is entertaining. The game also has some way getting under my skin. It really felt good when I got Ethan's son to smile in the park playing with him. Or the part where you are arresting one of the suspects. I pointed my gun on him thinking I'm gonna talk my way out of this (in every game I always play character who's good in talking and not shooting). I talked and he was going to surrender when BAM! It seemed like he was going to attack another police officer and I shot him. This happened in a second so the shot was a pure reaction to the suspect's movement. I was really disappointed having killed him. First time ever when something like this happened to me. I did something I didn't want to do.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Scott Shelby. Private investigator also trying to find the killer.</td></tr>
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I'm now maybe a little after the mid-point in the game and I have to say that I really like this game. It's not really a game type of game, if you know what I mean. You don't run in some woods or mountains killing monsters and the tempo is quite slow. But that is the thing that makes this game different. Many people say that this is just an interactive movie. Some of it is true I guess, but what I do know for sure is that I must see this to the end.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn7Wxl9H4ebug75Ja8IU-Cikcg5WFMHK9HeFYFSiGhldxla46QeOZ5m_3z2dK6oYIcC8zytAJ43mGYAj9SXcYXH56aE6Njh7PjSA20ldXFNxIwH-_CGAgMNMy9XnHeeepqt-2fb8zo3CE/s1600/madisonpaige.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn7Wxl9H4ebug75Ja8IU-Cikcg5WFMHK9HeFYFSiGhldxla46QeOZ5m_3z2dK6oYIcC8zytAJ43mGYAj9SXcYXH56aE6Njh7PjSA20ldXFNxIwH-_CGAgMNMy9XnHeeepqt-2fb8zo3CE/s320/madisonpaige.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Madison Paige. Trying to help Ethan. Looks damn hot!</td></tr>
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