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CosmicThoughtsBlog of a 27 year old xbox live addict. 30 mars I don't post here nearly enoughLife so far.
Broadband died (advice, homechoice are good for TV, bad for internet!), so I got a new provider. Some of the issues seemed to be with the line, so I figured seeing as BT fix line issues, they would be the best people to get broadband with.
Just 12 hours into using it, and my internet is greatly improved. I can actually get on xbox live and (gasp) download and surf at the same time. Woot-woot!
Otherwise I'm on a strict detox for the time being, so no red bull or coffee. Trying to do something positive instead of wallowing in my own self-pity. No, I'm not going to say what caused this self-pity, but I am resolving to resolve it ;)
Maybe I should talk about Nationstates more often on here? At least I will have things to talk about.
This is what nationstates is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jennifer_Government:_NationStates
And this is where it is on the web. http://www.nationstates.net
I have a primary nation called Hirota, which has been going on for over 3 years now. Initially a moderate, Hirota now tends to take an extremist view in order to counter whatever philosophy is most popular amongst the UN. This tends to bring a lot of flak Hirota's way, and I've been in several debates which have gone sour - sadly.
More later 31 octobre Almost there....Got the 360, got the games, getting broadband on friday. All good. Anyway, I'm working late today - in fact all this week. It's good because I can have some time to myself in the morning to sleep, or chill out. But bad because I have no time in the evenings. I'm traditionally a morning person anyway (well, actually I'm a raving insomniac, but meh). Work is good actually. For once I'm on top of my issues, which has given me a chance to chill out and relax a bit. 24 octobre I have xbox 360 games! Now just need a 360!Yesterday I took the plunge and brought 3 new games. Well, 1 was new. The others have been out for a while. Ghost recon: Advanced warfighter I've played on the original xbox, played it's previous versions to death, and played it before. No problems with that one. Chromehounds reminds me of the old Mechwarrior series on the PC. I loved those games, as opposed to MechAssault or Mech commander. 20 octobre I promise to post more often
Well, I will now hopefully. I got myself a nifty piece of software which posts my blogs automatically. Could use word 2007, but this is much better. Anyhow, life. I am now in a permanent position in IT which is good, and I am busy getting myself settled in. I've travelled to Glasgow and Leeds to do stuff, so I'm busy. Still no broadband at home, so I err....liberate other users unsecured bandwidth. But after I tried playing xbox live over someone else's network, I realised I ought to do something about it. So on the recommendation of Swart, I've gone for homechoice. I get to blame him if it doesn't work. Only downside with homechoice thus far has been the price to install a wireless router. How can they justify 85 quid, when anyone with a little technical knowledge can pick up a router identical to the one they supply, install it, and get it running for the sum of 30 quid? Apart from that, I hope to get a xbox 360 this weekend. I like the look of Splinter cell: Double agent. Edit: Or at least I was going to, until my missus revealled her sister is down to visit.
P.S Good luck Liverpool on sunday. 3 août Alright, so I have not been about for a bitHeh, I thought this page would have gone by now. Nice to know. Things that have happened. Brother got married last week in Brighton. Got quite drunk and had a suprisingly good time. Had to take the train. I sold my car and have moved to london! Now job hunting, which is sooo much hassle. Been working on losing weight, and in this heat it's been difficult. Sometimes too hot to want to go jogging or burn off excess calories. 5 décembre Annoying cold callersSo I have had over the last few days calls from a number - I never answer as I don't know them. Anyway. I google'd the number, and look what I found: http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GEUA,GEUA:200 5-47,GEUA:en&q=02920368700 So, I signed up on a website to block all unsolicited calls to my number, and if I hear anything from them in 2 or 3 weeks time I shall be making a complaint. 15 novembre Roadmender
Quote
58 grand is a drop in the ocean for most councils - and I've seen the council waste more money one something far less important (as a former council employee I know that they'd much rather ensure they have luxuries for themselves rather than something for the cumminuty).
Roadmender is a good spot in town - it's not normally my cup of tea, but it's got a pretty good atmosphere.
This alone will ensure I will be voting for someone else in future council elections. 1 novembre Could the PS3 be delayed til 2007?From a former employee of GameStop: "I worked for GameStop over the summer, and this came up during the Madden 2005 [2006?] Release a few months back, and "confirmed" by our District Manager, I'm not entirely sure how true it is, but if you do some research on it, here's what you'd be looking for: The PS3 is delayed until 2007, the decision for this came about through the failure of the initial hardware the PS3 Development Team created. Apparently, 300 PS3 Units were created and sent to various software developers to begin creating games for the new system. However, design flaws in the PS3 (Specifically, not enough coolant) caused the systems to overheat and meltdown after only moderate use by the developers. According to my DM (District Manager), Sony went and fired the entirety of the PS3 Development Team for this flaw. In short, from what I've heard, if Sony gained anything from this experience, it's minor technical knowledge on what the PS3 can handle, but for the most part they were sent to square one." ******* Interesting. 28 octobre My future gamercard for 360<iframe src="http://gamercard.xbox.com/cosmicthoughts.card" scrolling="no" frameBorder="0" height="140" width="204"></iframe> 21 octobre when power companies don't get it rightNow,
I'm pretty good with saving electricity- I live on my own, have hi energy
lightbulbs, and don't use much electricity - but 4 quid for 4 months? That's not
right <sigh> 20 octobre 360 shortage in UK very likelyWhilst the US might not be suffering the shortages claimed by MS (http://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000337064097/ ) It looks pretty likely the UK will not be so fortunate. In another Blog, a chap known as Olly, has talked about his experiences of dealing with several game retailers around the UK. In one post Olly found that independent and smaller game retailers are being offered a total of four Xbox 360s to sell. Even bigger stores like Toys R’ Us only have around ten units for sale. The reason for this? Microsoft has only allocated 100,000 units to the UK in total. That’s in comparison to the PSP’s 250,000 units at launch; a console which is still suffering shortages. So whilst it’s likely that the US will avoid the majority of shortages, the U.K. may not be so lucky. It's not going to bother me, I'm not going to get a 360 till March, April time - mainly because of the price, but also because the one title I had down as a must have (Ghost recon 3) is being delayed. Sure there are other titles I'd like, but they'll be about second hand in Gamestation or Game in no time. But if I was considering getting it at launch, I would have been reconsidering about now - if there is such a shortage there is no point me trying to pre-order now. It also pretty much rules out 360 being the big must have item this xmas. 360's in Walmarts across USA reader in Sun Prairie,
Wisconsin wrote to tell us that his local Wal-Mart has a playable Xbox
360 on display with demos of Call of Duty 2, Kameo, and King
Kong. There are also looping videos of other games. We called that Wal-Mart
to confirm and were told by the person working in electronics that this is in
fact true. According to him, “Wal-Marts are going to be the first stores to have
Xbox 360s.” He said that a Microsoft representative came by and just decided to
set up an Xbox 360 in Sun Prairie. Go figger.
The Philadelphia, PA store does NOT have an Xbox 360 yet. Does your local Wal-Mart have playable Xbox 360s? To find out:
Confirmed at:
18 octobre Allard shoot PS2's for funSoftware Notebook: Pricey Xbox will be worth it, Microsoft exec says SAN FRANCISCO -- Little more than a month remains until the launch of the Xbox 360 video-game console, the product on which Microsoft is pinning much of its hopes as it tries to expand beyond its core Windows and Office products. At events in New York and San Francisco last week, Microsoft sought to answer one of the biggest questions surrounding the console -- what the actual gaming experience will be like. The company let journalists, analysts and a few gaming enthusiasts spend the day playing some of the initial Xbox 360 titles.
In an interview at the end of the San Francisco event, Xbox executive J Allard talked about the new games, the future of the blockbuster "Halo" franchise from Microsoft's Bungie Studios, and the gaming- related implications of Microsoft's surprise legal settlement and partnership with RealNetworks. Allard, a Microsoft corporate vice president, also defended the Xbox 360's two-tiered pricing structure as the right approach for consumer choice. The structure has drawn some criticism -- with the full-fledged $400 model costing more than many past consoles at launch, and the $300 "core system" requiring people to spend more over time if they buy the absent components, such as a hard drive, individually. And of course, there's the subject of market leader Sony -- an area where Allard has exemplified Microsoft's feelings by displaying, in his office, a Sony PlayStation 2 punctured by a machine-gun bullet. He talked about the rivalry and hinted with a smile that one of Sony's new PlayStation 3 consoles could meet a similar fate after they're released next spring. Edited excerpts from the interview: Q: The settlement with RealNetworks includes them making casual games for your Xbox Live online system. What type of presence do you expect them to have? Allard: The RealNetworks guys have done a good job with the RealArcade thing -- had a lot of successful games published on the PC in the casual space. But we haven't worked together with them yet on the console space, so we're looking forward to it. We haven't announced or determined the final list of games, but hopefully it's just the beginning of good things to come. Q: I played some of the Xbox 360 games today, and the graphics do seem better. But is that alone going to be enough to convince people to upgrade?
Q: There were listings by some online retailers citing a spring release date for "Halo 3" among their pre-orders. What can you say about that? Allard: Well, maybe they know more than I do. (Laughing.) You know, Bungie is definitely working on an Xbox 360 title right now. The thing that's made Bungie games special, always, is they don't rush it. They don't hold themselves to an artificial date. They preserve quality and the depth of the experience above all else. The original "Halo" was 4-and-a half years in development. The next "Halo," people gave us a lot of heat for slipping it, what, six months from the originally anticipated date. But it was the most successful title on the Xbox platform, one of the most influential titles of the entire last generation. And so we're glad we waited. The next Bungie title, I think you can expect not more of the same, but rather a title that holds itself to that same kind of bar. Q: But you're saying "the next Bungie title" -- you're not saying "Halo 3." You're not confirming there's a "Halo 3." Allard: There is going to be a "Halo" movie. I can confirm that. Q: How do you feel about your prospects at this point against the PlayStation 3? Allard: I feel great, I really do. ... I can't point at any other console launch in the history of mankind where they invited so many journalists to come out and just said play the games. Enough rhetoric, enough press conferences, enough interviews. Go play the games for four hours. That's what customers are going to buy. So I feel really good about where we're lined up. Sony, on the other hand, has certainly had a lot to say and shown some great movies to get people excited about what the potential might be, but until you invite a couple hundred journalists over to spend as much time as they want playing your games, it's hard to say what they're really going to deliver. Q: What about the price? For a college student who wants to get a full Xbox 360 plus a couple games, man, that's 520 bucks. Is that a concern for you guys? Allard: You can go to the Apple store and drop three grand on a Macintosh and come to the performance of Xbox 360 without games. So it's a pretty darn good value no matter how you look at it. This thing is on the cutting edge of technology, and you cannot buy a system that competes with this for anywhere in the neighborhood. We are sensitive to the pricing and the price-conscious consumer. That's why we introduced the core system. We've taken some criticism on one end of the spectrum, but it's like, look, you want to buy the two extra games and save the $100? OK, buy the lower-end system and upgrade the system over time as your budget permits. Virtually every consumer electronics business, whether it's televisions or cell phones or DVD players, has a family of products -- iPods. Any other industry where you're involved with consumers, whether you're buying jeans or sports cars, there's entry level and there's the premium level. The great thing about what we set out to do with the Xbox 360 and the introductory bundles is that you can upgrade to the premium system from the core system. You can buy the core system, and it's not the best value, the better value is obviously the premium system. But you can build it over time and catch up with the Joneses. Q: Are you going to have a PS3 with a machine-gun bullet through it? Allard: If they ever ship the thing, something might happen to one or two of 'em. Right now it's just shootin' at Web pages. Rumour Mill : 360 has larger hard drives tooApparently the Xbox 360s shown at the Digital Life show this past weekend at the Jacob Javitz were sportin' 40GB and 80GB hard drives. There is no way to confirm it with photos or anything, but according to an observant tipster one Xbox 360 was shown to have 38 GB of space remaining when a Microsoft representative navigated a "memory" section for a few brief moments. It does make a lot of intuitive sense. It also jives with the theory that the Xbox 360 is a trojan horse for direct-to-consumer broadband delivery of triple-A titles. 40GB drives are just the beginning. Before the Xbox 360 generation is over, there will be multi-terabyte add-on storage options. "games are NOT films"Total Video Games has carried out an interview with Andrew S. Walsh, scriptwriter of the upcoming space action simulator, X3: The Reunion, which includes his thoughts on why Hollywood scriptwriters make bad games. Andrew gives the impression that the creation of a game script is a delicate balancing act between “engaging the player” as well as including a “vision of what the story [should] be”. Hollywood scriptwriters tend to neglect the former part of the equation, instead focusing mainly on their own ideas of how the story should unfold. There’s also the problem of the game engine’s limits. If you can’t get the game to convey what you want to show, then there’s “no point writing the scene/level”. There ya’ go Hollywood, it’s as simple as that. Stop writing unengaging, linear and impractical game scripts. ipod vs PSPhttp://www.joystiq.com/entry/1234000583063886/ If it weren’t just necessary bravado (executives aren’t allowed to admit to being afraid or needing their comfy blankies), we might be inclined to believe him. As it stands, though, the new iPod could put a serious crimp in Sony’s plans to sell the PSP as anything other than a portable gaming device. Here’s a quick comparison of the two products from the video playback angle only:
What we’re really hoping is that the iPod creates within
Sony an urgency that will allow the PSP’s product designers to ditch
technologies that are holding the console back and push through changes that
have been shot down in the past for political reasons. The good folks at Sony
know what’s required for the PSP to compete with the iPod, but political
considerations and warring internal factions can result in compromises that
cripple product popularity. Anyhow, life has been pretty quiet since I last posted. Nothing interesting has really happened to me. Gosh, what a great blog this must be to read <sigh> I really need to get my bluetooth dongle set up here at work so I can upload my photos from my phone. I use a k700i - which is about the best camera on a phone on the market according to the Sony Ericsson media machine. That photo of the sky was done at medium resolution - it can do bigger and better :) Would make the blog a bit more interesting I suppose - at least if I got really bored I could take a photo of the view from my office :) It was very early this morning.......But I saw this and I had to take a picture from just outside of my house. Nice view :) 4 octobre Ohhhhhhh.this film will rock!http://www.bungie.net/News/TopStory.aspx?story=biggorilla&p=4955829 No sense beating around the bush. I would only say that if you're not already sitting down, you absolutely should. A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to partner with two tremendous Producers from Universal, Mary Parent and Scott Stuber. In the short time they've been on board, Mary and Scott have joined with Peter Schlessel to accomplish unimaginably wonderful things. Example? They've secured an Executive Producer to help guarantee the creative integrity and technical excellence of the Halo film. And that Executive Producer's name is Peter Jackson. I'll give you a second to process. If you're having a strong, emotional reaction, don't panic. When I heard the news it took me the better part of a day just to stop smiling. Yes. The Peter Jackson, Executive Producing the Halo film. Needless to say I and the rest of Bungie are positively incontinent (Marty especially). But what really knocks us on our asses is we're also getting the combined talent of the mighty men and women of WETA in the bargain. From fabricating Covenant weapons to building life-sized Forerunner structures to accomplishing shot after shot of complex live-action/CG integration – simply put, there's no group of people we'd rather have realize the Halo universe on screen. Indeed, I don't think there's another group that even could. Mary and Scott know Peter Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh because of their work on King Kong (which Universal is distributing), so I asked them for their personal take on this development: "First, let me just say how honored and excited Scott and I are to be involved in this project. As huge fans of the game ourselves we know how high the bar is. We've made it our mission to try and involve the absolute very best people one can imagine in every capacity. Having developed a great relationship with Peter and Fran through the extraordinary Kong experience, and seeing first hand just how unique a filmmaking environment they have crafted, we approached them about the possibility of coming aboard to Exec Produce. Not surprisingly, they were already avid fans of the game, and given our existing shorthand, they said yes! To be able to continue our relationship with them – on HALO of all projects – is really a dream come true for us in the biggest possible way." I daresay me too. And did I mention that Mary and Scott are awesome? Not surprisingly I've begun apartment hunting in Wellington – though Chris Butcher says I can bunk with his grandmother in Christchurch so long I don't mind a bit of a commute… I'm only half joking. Parsons and I are hopping on a plane to New Zealand next week to meet Mr. Jackson and his team, and I imagine it won't be the last time we make the trip. If I didn't make this clear in my previous update, Bungie's in this for the long haul – 100% dedicated to making the Halo movie the best it can be. Now we have help. Ten thousand pound gorilla help. And that's just about the best kind there is. -- CosmicThoughts Far Cry instincts is.......Fantastic. Certainly one of the best console games I've had on xbox. Better than Halo 2? Yeah, it probably is. The depth provided by the map editor is staggering. |
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