XBOX 360 - my Views

The Xbox 360 was the first of the heavy hitting consoles I bought. My brother had one which meant access to his (mostly driving) games collection. I was interested in First Person Shooters and the prospect of online gaming. I played a lot of Left for Dead online but mostly Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 online. I played this game online for about four months every night and managed to make my way up the ranks and enjoy discovering Domination Team games as being the most enjoyable. I'm annoyed that Microsoft make their online gaming service a subscription only basis. I also enjoy the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series of musical rhythm games. I was bought the 60gb model of which almost a third of it has been used in updates. The Xbox 360 plays most of the Xbox games by downloading an executable file to the hard drive and pulls the graphics and data from the DVD. Considering how cheap hard drives are, its shocking to see Microsoft charge so much for so little.

My Life with a Wii U

I did not take an initial strong interest in the Wii U, but it is growing on me, it helps that it is significantly cheaper than either of the two big hitters by around one hundred pounds in 2014. Although a Zelda game that just begs to be played, or a Mario Galaxy 3 comes would convince me otherwise. I like the concept of a controller with an inbuilt screen for added gaming elements. One downside to the inbuilt screen is that it is not multi-touch. I will most likely eventually own a Xbox One, but many years into its development cycle and with already cheap games and system exclusives. I will most likely buy a Playstation 4 first. The Wii U is essentially a graphically enhanced up Wii with HDMI output and a processing power equivalent of an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. The release of games from Nintendo shows that they held back a lot of Wii games to be released on their Wii U. The Deluxe version has 32gb of internal memory, and lets you add an additional 32gb Secure Digital card. It also has multiple USB ports, and has the facility to let you add a self-powered 2tb external hard drive for data storage, both of which is impressive, and helps keep the cost of the main unit down.

I finally found out about Hyrule Warriors the first of the Zelda games by Nintendo for their Wii U. And it looks to be a disappointment. Essentially its a open world hack and slash game akin to Dynasty Warriors and other such blade combat games. I had a look at the credits and the only thing about the game thats Nintendo is the name. They have even farmed the work out to a third party company who has made these kind of games before Koei.

 

I’ve owned my Wii U for a week now and am proud to say I’ve opened the box and thats it. I haven't plugged anything in or installed any updates and not even registered a Mii Wii Universe character. It came with Mario Kart 8, and I am aware that the number of good games is very limited, but I didn't buy it for millions of games, probably at best a dozen or so quality first party releases.

 

Sad that my Wii U still has been set up, but I'm getting closer. I have bought a 32gb Secure Digital card which will act as quick instant storage for the unit for doing upgrades and data saves. And I also bought an external self-powered 2tb Western Digital hard drive for saving games, downloadable content etc. When I first turned the Wii U on, it recognised the hard drive and instantly formatted it ready for use, great news. I’ve yet to check to see if it knows I plugged a 32gb card in as well.

 

I finally setup the Wii U in the loft, and I immediately fell in love with the interface and the way the gamepad makes music which compliments the music from the television. A perfect Nintendo harmony. I set up my Wii Mii and now have to find the time for an hour and a half to update the console before I can start playing anything. Its a lengthy day one update. The internet connection in the loft is not very good at the moment, and the connection does drop out. What I liked about the Nintendo Wii U is that when its downloading an update, if the connection drops it carries on from where it left off, rather than starting again from scratch.

A mixed night of Wii U updates whilst playing Half Life 2. I'm very impressed with the Wii U, but really need to see it on a decent television to appreciate it better. That will come later. I played Super Mario Bros Wii U and enjoyed the game. On the gamepad it looked and played just a Nintendo DS version of the game, albeit with a bigger screen. The graphics were excellent. The controls are tight, but I noticed something about the gamepad that I had never heard of or heard before. The A B X Y buttons rattle. Not just a little bit, but a lot. Its not a big issue, but its odd. Everyone seems to have the same problem, and its not just me.

 

The Mario Wii U game installed an update to the external hard disk drive so I am happy its working. When I get a chance I will check the storage of the three main devices and see how it is configured, internal memory, the 32gb Secure Digital card and the 2tb external hard disk drive.

Because Nintendo recommend an external self-powered hard drive as opposed to a normal USB powered external hard disk drive, I am contemplating moving my entire Wii game collection from three mixed external hard disk drives and putting them onto one single 2tb device, and then keep the external drives as emergency backups. Having worked out home much the main console cost, along with the Secure Digital and Hard Disk Drive upgrades added on top, the machine has cost the same as a Playstation 4.

 

I have been playing it more now, as I have played and enjoy Mario Kart 8, and looking forward to more Mario and Nintendo first party games, after all that was the sole reason I got this console.

Adventures in Gaming Part 5

After my poor introduction to text adventure games I loaded up and first encountered Twin Kingdom Valley on the BBC Model B but didn't get very far with it. Back in those days the puzzles were simple, and you only had a small set of objects to pick up and carry and items to manipulate. The trick was discovering the words and sometimes obscure solutions to obvious puzzles to win. Twin Kingdom Valley was a very advanced graphic adventure text game that simulated a living world. Every time you moved to a new location it would take about ten to twenty seconds to draw the scene for you. Oddly watching and waiting for this never got old, and you would watch it draw the scene every time. This was as close as I got to text adventures again. The world felt alive and forward planning made this a difficult game to play, but like Valhalla and The Hobbit, it was fun to wander around and do things that you normally shouldn't. As you typed your next sentence, characters would appear and leave the location, say or do things. The game was ahead of its time.

I can't remember the reason why, but one Christmas I was lent a Commodore 64 to borrow for the entire holiday fortnight. That Christmas was the most fun I think I’ve ever had playing computer games. With no interruptions I was able to dedicate the entire fortnight to the Commodore 64. I'd go to my room whenever I possibly could and load up the computer. The computer only came with a few games, but there was just enough to blow my mind with its amazing graphics and beautiful sounds. I remember playing Epyx’s Winter Games, I signed up and played all eight events and played as all eight countries into the early hours of the morning. It was far superior to my BBC computer. I gave it back after the fortnight, with no hope of owning one, I sadly forgot all about the Commodore until several months later.

We had a charity event at school and me and Greg decided to do a sponsored “playing games day” at school. I spent the whole day playing his Atari, and he spent the whole day playing on my BBC. I think it cemented my wanting to play American games as well as British games, a need that would only be fulfilled once I got a Commodore 64. We broke only for lunch, but I played Encounter, Battlezone and many Atari classic games like Pacman, Centipede and Asteroids.

There was a new boy who joined our form class at school, Thomas, and we quickly became good friends. We shared an interest in the same kind of music, he introduced me to role-playing games and we hung out most Saturdays. I later found out he owned a Commodore 64 and he wasn't that impressed with computers, mostly due to lack of interest and games. He didn't know anyone else with a Commodore 64, but I knew what the machine was capable of and later I somehow convinced him to swap his Commodore 64 the machine for my BBC model B. The Commodore had far superior games for it. He agreed to the swap, partly because I had many more games for my BBC. Whilst I did do some programming on the BBC, once I got my Commodore 64 I never did any kind of programming for years. The next time would be on the Atari ST many years later. After I did the swap, I never really saw much of him, and when we did he never ever mentioned computers again.

The games on the Commodore were bigger and better, and musically more impressive than the BBC, and even though I had initially less games for it, I was happier and it didn't take long for my games collection to grow. The BBC was essentially a black screen with coloured sprites moving around the screen. With the Commodore 64 the screens, sprites and background were full colour. And not only that but had full three channel sound, rather than the radio hiss from the BBC speaker. The Commodore 64 had been in the consumer market for a couple of years already and had a vast array of games. I had access to all a lot of second-hand games, re-releases, compilation box sets and budget games. I did find two fellow Commodore 64 owners who were passionate about games.

I began buying ZZAP64!, a popular computer games magazine dedicated to the Commodore 64 which kept me abreast of all the good and bad games. I liked the features, the humorous writing style and especially the Work in Progress articles which gave me a huge insight into how games were created. I was suddenly exposed to the inventive programming genius of Andrew Braybrook, the audio skills of Rob Hubbard and the witty insight of Jeff Minter. They did huge interviews with groups of musicians or programmers. The games I became interested in were because of the programmer or the musician who was involved rather than anything else. The reviewers of ZZAP64! actually seemed to enjoy playing the games and they weren't afraid to give good games good reviews and terrible games a shameful review. It was refreshing to see a high level of standards of journalism. Where a magazine used a scoring system out of ten, even the worst games got at least a seven. ZZAP64! used the full spectrum of scoring. I would rate ZZAP64! along with Amiga Power, Super Play, Edge and Zero as the five best computer magazines of all time. It helped that it was written by people who enjoyed the games they played and could write enthusiastically and negatively when needed. It set the standard for which I would rate all future gaming magazines.

At this stage all my computer games were originals, as I didn't know anyone who pirated Commodore games. I knew Greg copied most if his Atari games, but that was a real struggle and appeared to take technical knowledge and spending money on hardware. I knew it was easy to copy music tape to tape from friends and we didn't consider it piracy, a term that seemed alien to us.

One of the little games Thomas had (and was now mine), was a little gem called Chuckie Egg. At the time I just felt it was a relatively interesting and easy to play platformer. I already was experienced at playing platform games, and Chuckie Egg seem to look like a clone of Burger Time, which was one of my favourite games. What made Chuckie Egg more interesting and better than Burger Time was the Miner 2049er style level layouts which had areas that could only be reached by carefully examining the screen and making careful jumps. Suddenly the basic platforming skills required to collect all the corn whilst avoiding the mindless chickens became far more enjoyable. Watching and learning their simple patterns and discovering their fairly good artificial intelligence movement patterns made for an enjoyable expansion on platform games. In my opinion any new game should either be a whole new genre or bring something new to the game instead of rehashing old styles. Added to this was a generous time limit you were given to complete the level, so while I would hesitate to class this game as pedestrian, it was so well paced. If you exceeded this time limit, the big mother chicken came out and homed in directly on you and pushed you on to finish the level faster. The original game had roughly twenty levels which when completed clocked over and started you again from level one, but with more chickens. For me, Chuckie Egg was like Bruce Lee, a game where experiencing it was more important than the challenge. I didn't think either game was difficult to play. This is the game that I loved the most at the time, and despite being easy, is a game I still find time for now.

The Commodore 64 had a reputation as a temperamental and long loader when loading games from a cassette tape. Until somebody wrote a turbo loader for the machine, most games or programs took between five and ten minutes to load and there was no visual representation of whether or not a game was loading or had loaded. The screen would go purple and wait there until the program had loaded. The “loading bars” was copied from the ZX Spectrum method of loading so at least you knew something was happening. Later programmers would develop develop loading screens, and loading music as well as even little games to play as it loaded, such as Delta's Mix-e-load.

Sandboxing with Grand Theft Auto V and L.A. Noire

I have played Grand Theft Auto V on the Playstation 3 and have completed the main story. It took me on and off almost a month, but it was an enjoyable month as well. I loved the planning of the missions and the variety, and all three of the main characters had stories that I found worth exploring. I did feel that some of the opening magic was lost later in the game, and limiting the game to six heist missions is a shame, as I would have loved much more. There was still lots to do between the main missions, and some of the side quests are to collect cars and equipment to complete the main heist missions which were often more enjoyable and more varied than the main heist itself. I liked that you were given a choice of how you wished to accomplish the heist, quietly or noisily, front entrance or back door. Although I felt some of the choices you could make were irrelevant, i.e. who you brought along to assist you in the mission heists, as their contribution seemed pointless, but took varying amounts of the profits. I liked the way it told a bigger story by having you play three totally different characters, whereas in previous Grand Theft Auto games you only got to see the story from one viewpoint.

The only other time a sandbox game had employed this switching viewpoint as a story narrative was the final chapter in Rockstar’s L.A. Noire (a brilliant sandbox police procedure Grand Theft Auto-alike with an original interrogation mechanic), where towards the final chapter of the game you no longer played the hero police detective, but instead his private detective opposite. Its a classic movie and novel technique, but after having invested a lot into your character, it felt bad he was taken away from you and you were given a lesser character to finish the game with. Whilst the sandbox elements were not as extensive as any Grand Theft Auto game, it did have collectibles in the form of seeing sights in the city, lots of little side missions where you rescued passers by and performing many driving feats of speed, jumps and driving all the cars. The difference between this game and others was that the city wasn't fictional, but instead based on the 1950s Los Angeles, complete with post-war feel and city design. A lot of the story was set to this background, including new housing estates being built, people working in jobs that were involved with the mafia and low level crime.

I didn't like the way Grand Theft Auto V ended with each of the main characters murdering the nemesis of one of the other main characters. It felt empty and made me wonder why they didn't do this many weeks earlier as it would have saved a ton of problems. Still the game has some memorable moments and visually and aurally amazing, with the dialogue being the strongest element of the game. Still the game kept me occupied almost every night for over a month, and I’ve not really explored the multiplayer content at all, and very unlikely to either.

Playstation 3 - Late to the Game - First Thoughts

I came late to the Playstation 3 arena, but decided the console was mature enough and there were enough unique games on the Playstation 3 to warrant buying a one. The main reason was to enjoy the games released by Insomniac Games and Naughty Dog whom made some great games like Spyro the Dragon, Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter on the previous two Playstations and I really missed their humour. I had also been made aware of three games by That Game Company that were Playstation 3 exclusives. The first had already been released as a flash game that was an ambient experience plus a detailed and involved game to boot. This was revamped and released for the Playstation 3. Their next game was also an ambient experience called Flower in which you used the six-axis controller to fly a flower across lush grasslands to cause flowers to pop open. But it was their third game that really inspired me to buy a Playstation 3, Journey. One distinct feature of That Game Company was August Wintory’s sounds, and Journey really allowed him to expand and explore this music fully.

I got the 500gb model, as I knew most Playstation 3 games installed part of the game on the hard drive, and my experience with the Xbox was that my 60gb hard drive space seemed to disappear fast. One downside of buying older games is that you can't play them straight out of the box. You need to install them (Grand Theft Auto V had a record twenty minute install) and then wait for updates. The Blu Ray player on the Playstation 3 is slower than the DVD drive on the Xbox 360, but the Blu Ray disc has a higher capacity. By allowing you to install as much of the game to the hard drive as possible it does speed up loading times. I was surprised that Sony released a 20gb model which is seriously underpowered and I have a friend who did buy it and is constantly managing the storage data. Interestingly the Playstation 4 has a 500gb hard drive, and is swappable and the Xbox One is now 500gb too. Both manufacturers have realised that they can't fool their customers any longer with high priced small hard drives any more.

The existing Playstation 3 is not backward compatible with the previous versions of the Playstation, which is a shame as this way Sony have cashed in on retro and High Definition (HD) remakes of older games, essentially selling you the game twice. And with the release of the Playstation 4 they have begun making HD remakes of Playstation 3 games too, such as The Last of Us. The Playstation 3 initially lived in the loft, but the portable television I played it on was so small you couldn't read the text designed for an HDMI LED flat 40” screen, and it wasn't long before I smuggled it into the lounge and it became home to SingStar for my second daughter who has a fairly decent singing voice. Getting her to sing Def Leppard and Toto songs is a winner in my book.

Adventures in Gaming Part 4

No one else at my school had a computer, so I was alone when discussing anything related to electronic games, consoles and computers. The most anyone had experienced were the dedicated LCD Game & Watch Nintendo toys rather than proper computers. Just before year three started at my secondary school, I was moved to a new school and met a boy in my class called Greg who was also into computers as well. We talked and I found out he was a huge Atari fan who had owned a VCS, and was just getting into the new Atari 400 and 800 range of home computers. He was part of a small circle of Ipswich Atari enthusiasts. I only knew of one other person who had an Atari 800. The Atari computers were an unusual pair of machines in that they would use cassette tapes but also accept cartridges. The Atari 400 used a membrane keyboard similar to the Sinclair ZX80 and ZX81. It was more accurate than the Sinclair computers because each of the keys had a bevelled edge to the virtual keys meaning your fingers were less likely to slip, but it still felt cheap. The Atari 800 on the other hand had a full proper keyboard. I would often have problems getting the Atari computers to load cassette games as it was very sensitive to electrical and radio interference. I later found out that both the Atari 400 and 800 computers were heavy machines because it had a lot of metal shielding to prevent radio interference and this was Atari’s poor solution to the huge problem. The Atari would only ever release one known computer, the Atari ST, but after this and the disastrous Falcon computer, they withdrew from the home computer market and became an equally unsuccessful console and handheld manufacturer before their demise and eventual purchase by Ubi Soft in the 1990s.

Through Greg, I was exposed to Atari fever like no other and its strange how the fever never really rubbed off on me. I would imagine I was a little more cynical than to accept things at face value. I think it was the expense of the computer that put most people off and the specialised version of Atari BASIC that wasn't the same as standard BASIC. Plus most of the games and hardware had to be bought via mail order through a dedicated Atari shop called The Silica Shop in an obscure and oddly named town called Sidcup. When I did visit Greg’s house one Sunday I got to play some Atari classics like Centipede, Star Raiders (an incredibly elegant and fun three dimensional space combat game with a strong strategy element to the action), Encounter, Miner 2049er and Boulderdash. I didn't get to play them very long as his friends were busy copying cassette games and kept resetting the Atari to check their copies were working. But the one thing that made the Atari special was the proliferation of American games. Very few of the early computers had programs that were programmed outside of the United Kingdom. Computers like the BBC and Sinclair machines were more popular in the United Kingdom, and hence 99% of the software was British. It was only with the arrival of the Atari and Commodore 64 (both American computers) that American programs would come to the United Kingdom in significant numbers. The other big American computer was the Apple, but the price meant that ownership of these machines was extremely limited. Although I liked the Atari computers, I realised that only knowing one other person wasn't enough to share and swap games with. At that point there I decided I would no longer buy niche consoles or computers, but would instead focus on the popular computers, and the games that ran on them.

One Atari game I remember playing, but its name has forever been lost to me was a two player overhead driving game with the track scrolling beneath you. The object of the game was to drive around the track as fast as you possible could and beat the other player. But the trick was to “race” the other player off the screen, whereby the track would reset and the winner would get one point, and you would carry on from where you left off. The winner of the game therefore was the person who scored the most points by driving fast enough that the other player disappeared. This was a game my brother just seemed too good at.

I started gravitating towards computer games shops, as it was visuals and aural excitement I was after and not black and white graphics of the business computers. The business shop owner must have been glad of my eventual departure, as I wasn't contributing anything to his shop. I do remember asking him once if he needed someone to help him in the shop as a Saturday assistant, but he declined.

At its height, Ipswich was home to three dedicated games computer shops, as well as the one computer business centre that I frequented, and also two national newsagent chain stores (John Menzies and WH Smith) that were selling computer games. Not bad for a small market town in Suffolk. I started hanging around one of the independent stores in Ipswich. I chose this shop as it was the only one that not only sold games, but also the computers and accessories as well all of which were powered on and running. They had games running all the time so you could play them as much and as often as you wanted. I began to study all the different computer systems, playing some of the games where I could. I became immersed in the home computer scene and was witness to all sorts of computers such as the Texas TI-98, which had a bolt-on speech synthesiser module and it would talk during games such as Parsec (“Great shot, Pilot”), Oric, Jupiter Ace, Commodore VIC 20, Atari 400 and 800, ZX Spectrum 16 and 48k, the Dragon and Commodore C64. I was impressed by them all. Every day after school I went to that shop and stayed there until closing time which was five-thirty in the evening. Most of my awe was saved for the VIC 20 and its older brother Commodore 64, I think it was Jeff Minter’s game, VoidRunner, that I saw running on the VIC 20 that impressed me most. My parents began to worry about me and where I was almost every weekday evening. The other shops sold the games, but only in sealed cassette boxes. Only your knowledge gleaned from computer magazines and the back of the boxes (and box art) would given you any indication of the quality of the game you were buying. Buying a computer game was hit and miss without valuable reviews. I began pinning for a more popular computer, or at least one that had commercial software I could buy, because while I did show some interest in programming, there was nothing to buy for the Color Genie and certainly no market for anything I thought about writing, Jon had already proved that. The games I started seeing in the shops were far better than what I could program myself. I got frustrated at all these games for computers I didn't own. No one heard of the Genie.

My parents eventually heeded my request for a new computer and settled on a BBC Model B computer as a replacement for the Genie. The BBC was a new machine produced by Acorn Computers, and its association with a national and international brand instantly gave it a reputation as a more serious computer, and being more educational. The British Broadcasting Corporation had just begun to run a series of television programmes dedicated to promoting computers. The BBC consumer tag was a huge bonus for Acorn Computers as they were successful in having a computer with the BBC brand. BBC TV was looking for a computer to launch alongside its television schedule which included programmes specifically for the BBC computer. The machine actually came in an A and B model. The main difference was the size of the internal memory. As an aside, because David Braben (one of the two original programmers of Elite) was a huge BBC computer fan, when he later released the Raspberry Pi mini computer, he released then as Model A and Model B, certainly after the classic BBC. It became undeniable when they relaunched an improved version of the Raspberry Pi B model as B+.

The BBC computer was more mainstream and certainly one of the most expensive micro home computer machine available, especially when compared to the Genie, but it still wasn't a pure gaming computer. It had serious applications, had a removable cartridge slot so you could expand the memory or plug in games and had a decent processor. It was eventually home to some great games like to Aviator (a three dimensional wireframe freeform flight simulator which had you flying a Spitfire) and one of the best home versions of Defender, Planetoid, that I can remember. I never did play Elite on the machine it was originally born on. The only other person I knew who had a BBC was my O Level Physics teacher, which made things a little embarrassing. Programming the BBC was much easier that the Color Genie, and even had an inbuilt machine code language that helped you run programs faster when BASIC proved to be too slow. I did struggle with machine code, even though it was beautifully simple, but you needed to have a solid understanding of electronics and the way a computer processor worked to get the best out of it.

Half Life 2

Ive finished Half Life 2 in the Orange Box and about an hour into Episode One.

Its a brilliant first person shooter but boy does it have a convoluted story path to get you to the end of the game.

Adventures in Gaming Part 3

I’ve no idea what happened to the Atari VCS console after I got my Color Genie, but I suspect after I was bought my first proper computer, the Atari was boxed away and later sold at a car boot sale. Gaming hadn't yet been around long enough for it to be considered retro yet. With the advent of emulation, this is one of the most commonly emulated consoles, and to be fair, there is no value in a second hand Atari VCS, the console just isn't rare enough to warrant a high price, and is very easily emulated.

The shop where my parents had bought the Color Genie soon became my second home every Saturday afternoon. The owner had foolishly told my parents that I could come into the shop whenever I wanted and ask questions about the machine. I was frustrated that there was very little I was able to do with my Color Genie at home and so it rapidly was becoming a white elephant. I rarely touched the Color Genie in the shop and instead spent all my time on the other business machines the shop owner was selling. These were big machines that made a lot of noise and were home to mysterious hard drives full of DOS programs and suchlike. I quickly found my way around the DOS prompt and discovered huge collections of programs and games hidden away in obscure directories. I never did any harm as it was far too fascinating to discover the potential that a computer could hold. I recall my favourite game to play was Space War. It must have been heartbreaking to see a young kid sitting staring at a huge monitor on a powerful four thousand pound IBM compatible PC, and all I was using it for was to play Space War. Although it was a two player game, I experimented and learnt to play on my own. The ships were vector drawn renditions of the USS Enterprise and a Klingon Class Cruiser. I guess the owner eventually got bored of me playing on his IBM and TRS-80 PCs when business clients kept arriving as he eventually hired a shop assistant who was also a talented games programmer who would quietly switch off the PCs while I wasn't looking. To be fair, I did get bored too as there was nothing new being installed, no new software or games. I did enjoy the smell of new computers, and he had his own coffee percolator machine and although I didn't drink coffee, I developed a love for the fresh smell of it.

Jon Roberts seemed impressed with my Color Genie enough that he also bought himself a Genie but unlike me he did manage to program it. Every day after school he would show me the new version of two games he was working on. The two games were a Pacman and Centipede crossover game called Eat-E-All-E (he loved wordplay) and a one on one basketball game for which I think he just called it Basketball. Most of his expertise and knowledge of the machine was gained through a program he wrote which PEEKed and POKEd into every part of the Genie’s memory just to see what would happen. There were a lot of places to PEEK and POKE into, and some crashed the machine, whilst others produced some very interesting visual results which he incorporated into his games. Jon was semi-retired or had money to live on so he didn't need to work. I was jealous that I was at school studying while he got to “play” with computers all day. I am certain if I didn't need to go to school I would have played on the computer constantly. Jon understood computers far better than I could as he was also interested in amateur electronics, and would often build his own little circuit boards. This acute understanding helped him see and understand what the computer saw and how it worked. Both games were written in BASIC, but other than glance at the program, I never really looked into how he got the game to run. I understood most of the BASIC functions and knew what they did, what I failed to understand and exploit was how they could interact together and produce a game, let alone a great one. I certainly didn't have an idea of the kind of game I wanted to write, as that at least would have been a starting point.

In the early 1980s there were many simple BASIC programming books that taught you how to program in BASIC or gave you a listing for you to type in and explore the computer language for yourself. The actual language of BASIC was very simple, but each computer came with its own version of the language meaning you had to learn each of its “dialects” to get a program to work. The programs in these books were small programs of games of chance, basic maze games and used very little processing power, and relied heavily on standard BASIC. Most usually had a section at the back detailing any unique variances between the main micro-computers. All the main home computers came with an instruction manual that was there to help you set up the computer, switch it on and told you how to access simple BASIC functions, but beyond that they were useless. They always came with a recommendation for a bigger or better dedicated instruction manual. I'm certain that if a decent book had have come with the Color Genie or ideally the BBC B then I would have been far happier. For me computers are still a mystery I’ve yet to fully understand. It is a shame I wasn't disciplined enough to stick with learning to program. The trouble was that playing games was far more enjoyable and alluring. Programming looked difficult, time-consuming, and required a good knowledge of maths and numbers which I wasn't brilliant with at the time. You also needed a logical brain as well to work out problems that didn't have an immediate solution. Without heavy processing power, you had to be clever and crafty to make magic happen. I knew of assembler language, the step down from machine code, but that really did require a maths brain and a logical understanding of the way computers worked.

Me and Jon discovered there was a Color Genie User Group that sent out a magazine once every few months called “Chewing GUM”, an amalgamation of Color Genie Usergroup Magazine. It was fairly expensive for what it was, even back in those days. I recall we only got a couple of issues of it before deciding it offered no real content and it was as expensive as any other computer magazine at the time and was little more than a sixteen or so page highly glossy magazine that was mostly filler and adverts. The first issue I got had a type-in computer listing program which would play the Star Wars theme through the computer’s sound chip. I typed it in and it sounded horrible, all the notes were out of tune and sequence. I checked the listing several times to ensure I had typed it in correctly and after wasting an entire afternoon, I gave up. The very next issue (two or three months later!) they published an apology and correction to the listing so the music sounded correct. I wasn't happy to have wasted so much of my time. I did type it in again and it did sound better, but I felt let down as well as seeing them waste several pages again reprinting the whole listing again.

Jon did try to sell the two games he had written in the Chewing GUM magazine with a small quarter page advert. Considering the computer had very few programs for it we both thought it would sell very well. Sadly, instead of selling loads of copies he eventually sold both games together when he got just one enquiry. I did playtest the games for him, but playing the same two games every day for months on end just got seriously boring. The basketball game only had a computer opponent who moved in reaction to you. I remember Jon had big issues programming the computer player to make mistakes and allow you to score a basket. It didn't play anything like a basketball game should play like. My only comparison to his effort was the Atari VCS Basketball game. His Pacman game was set in a garden where flowers slowly began to grow, and you ate them all up. Ghosts would appear and a Poltergeist would throw stars at you to keep you moving. He kept backups of every version he created, he was very disciplined like that. Of the two games, it was his Pacman game that I enjoyed more. The game evolved from the limitations of what he could program and the quirks and features of the game itself. I think it was that poor selling experience that put him off computer games and instead he turned his attention to using the computer as a database within business applications. One such application was a second hand car database that didn't do very well. He and my dad came up with the business idea of Datacars. An index card based database of people selling cars, and we would match them to buyers. They tried really hard until a competitor saw what they were doing and really pushed the idea and spent large amounts of money promoting their business model. After that, Jon packed the Color Genie away and I never saw him use it again.

I did manage to buy just one game for the Color Genie, a text adventure game set on an alien planet and you were the spaceman on a crashed spaceship. I never did complete it, but found out several years later it had a bug preventing you from solving an early puzzle. It meant no matter what I tried, there was no way to escape the ship. It ruined my taste for text adventure games for many years afterwards and was always resentful of adventure games after that. My taste for adventure was only resurrected with the advent of The Secret of Monkey Island over ten years later. At that time my dad bought me a second hand television so I could use the computer in my bedroom and I would no longer monopolise the television in the lounge or spend so much time in the computer shops.

Welcome a New Baby - the Wii U

Picked this up finally last night and got the Mario Kart 8 pack. I did have the option of Lego City Underground, but choose a big name game instead. I got the Deluxe version which has 32GB of memory and all the extras.

Because my youngest daughter no longer plays with her Innotab, I intend to steal the 32GB SD card in it and plug into the Wii U. I understand also that the Wii U accepts USB hard drives up to 2TB, so I will consider getting one for support storage of downloads, DLC and other extras.

Im pretty pleased, all I need now is the time to set it up. Gone are the days of say the SNES or Megadrive where you unpacked it, plugged it in and started playing. Now you have to configure the system and all the other nonsense, plus Im sure you will have to update the system as there was a day one patch.

Halo 3 and Bioshock 2

Im ashamed to say these are 2 games Ive played but not completed, so they currently are sharing the top gaming spot on my Xbox360 at the moment.

Halo
I am not a fan of the Halo games, empty repetitive levels, ineffective weapons hamper the story and gameplay. The first game was stunning, but playing more than a few levels you began to realise Bungie are just not very good games designers. The second game I enjoyed a little better, because you got to play as the Covenant on some levels. But the third and subsequent games are just empty to me.

Bioshock
The first game is heralded as a story masterpiece and rightly so, but the actual game play itself was nothing special. Often criticised because of its poor gunplay mechanics and onslaught of special powers. What drives players to explore this narrow game is the wonderous world that Irrational Games created. The sequel (not developed by Irrational themselves) explores a different side of Rapture and adds fan expected extras such as multiplayer.

Far Cry Predator Instincts Xbox 360

Its not often I give up on a game, but today is a day.
Id played it a while back, and parked it to play at a later date, but it hasnt aged well.

The graphics are good, not great, but the gunplay and combat is very weak.

The Far Cry games (and Crysis) have always been touted as tech-demos with games bolted on afterwards, and I feel this is an apt description here. Maybe its the implementation of the controller and controls that held me back, but I felt as though the interface was stopping me enjoying it.

Its badly made games like this that strip away the thin veneer of what shooting FPS games are all about and reveal how shallow and thin the gameplay is.

2nd Lounge - Man Cave Progress

My Xbox360 is the first console set up in the loft.
At the same time I filtered out all the games Ive played and dont intend to return to (but intend to keep just in case) and I was surprised to see almost half my collect get put in a box. Also about a third of my games are Guitar Hero and Rock Band so that doesnt really count.

Tonight I intend to complete the move with the Wii heading to the loft as well.

Carpet gone, boxes being cleared and more eBay stuff being queued up. Its getting very empty upstairs, but exciting too.

I also got my Raspberry Pi rainbow case and apart from one small crack (which you cant see when assembled) it looks terrific.

I found my TV lead for the Playstation 3 and that will suffice for now until I get a decent HD TV for the loft. On the basis that I still have a lot of games to play on the old consoles and lack of a decent TV, I have decided to buy the Wii U first as it has its own inbuilt screen. And its cheaper and has more games Im interested in that the other 2 new consoles.

GTAV on the New Consoles...Really Again?

How excited can you possibly be about the release of Grand Theft Auto V?
Oh yeah right, none whatsoever.
The game was released 2 years ago for the Xbox360 and Playstation3, so why are the games media and game producers trying their hardest to get us all excited about a re-release on the XboxOne and PS4?
I dont get it, and everyone I speak to who has a console and has played GTA5 agree that the game is done and finished and the thought of a nextgen release bores them.

PewDiePie Sucks

I have the audio soundtrack to this game, Shadow of the Colossus and knew it was a game I missed on the PS2, and have finally found a copy of the HD Remake with ICO for the PS3.

In anticipation I really wanted to see the first boss battle to get a feel for the game, and the first video on YouTube that came up was this clown.

I had heard of him before and dont understand how people can watch Lets Play Videos (play the game yourself), but apparently people watch his videos for his commentary.

His input to the game was banal and inane and full of childish humour that wouldn't have survived in the school playground when I was 15.

Swearing isn't comedy.
Playing a game badly isn't comedy.
Giving out hints and tips that don't relate to the game, isn't comedy.

I genuinely don't understand his popularity as his commentary adds nothing to the game he is playing. And while it is said it is his reaction to the games thats funny, I find it sad that comedy and humour cant be shared face to face rather than over the internet.

Raspberry Pi B+ Case

Its starting to gather dust, literally and figuratively, but I still want to preserve the unit for use. Its needs its own case, and so Maplins seems the ideal place to pick one up. Unfortunately, Maplins are not allowed to sell the Raspberry Pi, but they do have all the peripherals, including cases. But as is typical with such a backward company they only sell the case for the Model A and B, not the new improved B+. And speaking with a shop assistant they dont intend to order any more cases for any of the models until this stock has sold out. From what I see it looks like they will be holding onto this stock for years, as anyone who wants a Pi now will get the B+ model, and anyone who already has a Pi already has bought a case.

Amazon, sadly, it is.

Adventures in Gaming Part 2

Once the last long summer holiday was over and I started my first year at secondary school, a new friend I made admonished me for owning an Atari VCS console. He said he didn't want a dead-end console, where you could only buy and play games that Atari released. Instead of a console, his mum had bought him a proper computer, a 16k Sinclair ZX81, so that he could play and make his own games. Intrigued I went around his house after school that day to look at his new computer. It was a black marvel that was delicate as it was powerful with its iconic membrane keyboard. The ZX81 was delicate because the power pack would sometimes disconnect too easily whilst typing turning the power off. Even so, I knew after that day I wanted a computer too, as I wanted to make my own games. He only had a couple of games for it. My friend spent so long on his ZX81 that I never got to see much of him after school again. The rare moments I did get to be at his house, it was staring at the black and white television screen of the ZX81, playing simple games like 3D Monster Maze. It was a terrifyingly silent experience, but it was enough to spark our juvenile fantasies about creating our own games. It came to nothing.

Jon Roberts, an older man who was renting a room in my parents house at the time, had a strong interest in electronics and computers and bought himself a Sinclair ZX80 kit computer. It was the predecessor to the ZX81, and only came in kit form, i.e. you had to build it yourself. It was a blue and white angular and flat machine with a blue and black keyboard and the tiniest 1k memory you could imagine. It wouldn't take Jon long to use all the memory up with even the most simple BASIC programs he wrote. Jon would reluctantly let me watch him work at his computer and I saw him slowly make games for it. I remember he programmed his own simple text adventure maze game in which you needed to find the exit. He watched and laughed as I found the exit impossible to find. He was quite crafty in that the only way you could escape was to turn one hundred and eighty degrees and go backwards, as you started the game at the entrance, so if you turned around it suddenly became the exit. He would have made a great games designer. I had highly unrealistic expectations of him just making magical computer games while I watched without any real understanding of the hard work involved with programming to make the magic happen.

My parents saw my growing interest in computers. Either that or Jon kept telling them I spent far too much time in his room watching him create computer programs, when he’d rather be left alone to learn about programming intricacies himself. My parents realised that consoles were dead end entertainment machines. You couldn’t be very creative with a games console despite Atari having released a BASIC programming cartridge for their VCS and several “educational” games. My parents resolved that they would buy me a proper computer and most likely heeded Jon’s advice and went in search of a shop that sold computers.

Back in those days computers were either business machines or kit/enthusiast machines, the affordable home computer market was still a year away. Sinclair sold the ZX80 and ZX81 both in complete and it kit form, but were still considered electronic machines rather than home computers, and neither featured a keyboard that was anything more that basic. Jon was interested in electronics, and would often build his own devices out of electronic breadboards he purchased from mail order catalogues, so for him the ZX80 was a perfect machine to build and play with. My parents came across a computer shop that was selling only business computers but it did stock a home computer, the EACA Color (sic) Genie EG2000. It was a Chinese produced home computer version of the TRS-80 home computer. It had no commercial appeal, and no one I knew had ever heard of it, and certainly it had very little commercial software written for it back then or at any time. The machine was a modest success in Germany and Australia before it was ousted by more well known machines. Even thirty years later it has a very small Wikipedia webpage and a few fan pages and videos. It is often and rightly overlooked. But the Genie did have eight colours, and it did have more memory as standard than the ZX80 or ZX81 at 16k, and had a proper version of BASIC to learn to program with. It had serial ports for a joystick, a printer and a light pen, all of which were prohibitively expensive for me, usually the same price as the home computer itself, and were fundamentally useless without software to drive them. The Color Genie was beige and boring, but it did have a full proper keyboard that enabled me to learn to type reasonably fast, and to be fair it did look like a proper computer, unlike any of the Sinclair machines. I never really did much with the Color Genie other than type in programs from computer magazines such as Computer & Video Games and play around with simple BASIC programs. Most of them would only work with modification, mostly down to syntax of the language. I never developed the tenacity and discipline to write computer programs.

The Loft/Man-Cave

Its been on my mind for a while, but I have a loft conversion which is currently just storage and desk space. Storage for my stuff Im selling on eBay, and desk space for a desktop PC which is now dead and doubles as a work space.

Ive been wanting to relocate my consoles to the loft for a while now, but without a decent TV its impossible.

Well all that has changed now, and I will be selling off as much as I can to make as much space and money as possible and using some of the funds to turn the loft from an office storage to a second lounge, with bean bags and other amenities to take me back to my youth.

Wii U vs Playstation 4

I decided that its a toss up between buying a Wii U or Playstation 4 first. In theory the Wii U should be the better choice as its been out longer and its software has had time to mature unlike the other two main consoles, but apart from Mario Kart 8 and a series of games that aren't not exclusives yet, there is nothing to get excited about. The touchscreen is very novel and to be able to play games on it without a television a huge boon. There will be a Zelda game, a Pikmin 3 game, and the next episode of Star Fox but what about another Metroid?

I will wait for at least a year before looking into an Xbox One or Playstation 4 to give the market and games time to mature and come down in price. TitanFall is a popular Xbox game but has nothing new to say, and Destiny just looks and plays too much like Halo from the same developer, which I dislike as a first person shooter. The weapons in Halo are very unsatisfying to use and especially the main gun you are given at the start is virtually ineffective, and has the stopping power of a bubblegun, it is very unsatisfying to fire. The general consensus appears to be everyone will own a Wii U for the game exclusives and one of the other consoles for gaming, its just a shame that the exclusives are few and far between.

Adventures in Gaming Part 1

My earliest experience of interactive TV games was playing Pong and Star Chess. Everyone it seemed in the late 1970s had a Pong game or variant in their lounge. I was also lucky in that I also had Star Chess, a chess variant but with spaceships instead of the medieval court, the ability to shoot an enemy from a distance rather than “taking” the unit, as well as shields and other strategy elements that made it more random and interesting. One power you had was the ability to engage hyperspace on a unit and have it disappear for several turns and for it to appear randomly somewhere else on the board. What united both games was the requirement of two players, although some versions of Pong included a basic computer opponent who either was artificially dumb, slow or impossible to beat.

I remembered my excitement when my uncle arrived at our house one evening and hooked up his Atari VCS to our television. He plugged in a game cartridge and suddenly our static television went black, then lit up in garish slideshow of fluorescent colours. He hit the reset switch on the Atari and away we went. I remember being embarrassingly hysterical at watching coloured dots move around in response to my joystick commands. These weren't dots, but in my eyes they were tanks, planes, outlaws and knights fighting dragons. They were directly under my control, as I flittered between such games as Combat, Outlaw, Adventure! and Space Invaders. My uncle had only brought a small selection of these plastic game boxes, but it was enough. He only stayed the evening and was gone in the morning.

The next day all I could think about was Atari. I wanted to have an Atari VCS console, and I wanted to play these games. I quickly immersed myself in the, mostly American, advertising literature of the time and found out about all these fantastic games for the Atari console. Little did I realise back then that all of the literature was written by Atari themselves. The Atari was the most popular machine simply because it was the best known machine, but because of its high price and new nature of the technology no one else I knew owned one, let alone knew it existed. I am certain had my uncle not arrived that evening, I'd be none the wiser about consoles. It wasn't long before my parents started looking in shops that sold electrical goods and eventually found one that sold the Atari VCS as well as the games, and we encountered two hurdles.

Hurdle number one was the price. Even in 1980 these machines were very expensive, at over two hundred pounds for the main unit, and the games weren't cheap either at forty pounds each. At least they weren't until Activision started selling their own games at a slightly lower price point of of thirty pounds. I later found out that Activision was a company that made games that were programmed by ex-disgruntled Atari programmers who received little or no credit for their work. Activision would promote the creators of these games on the box cover and art so everyone knew who made it. We bought the machine which came with the Combat game free. We also bought Tennis as my dad was a big fan of the sport, Dragster because my brother loved cars, and I choose Space Invaders because I wanted to shoot things. All in all my parents spent almost four hundred pounds. Most of the games required two players, so it wasn't easy to play on my own. The computer Tennis opponent was rubbish and reminded me of a slightly better graphical version of Pong. So that just left Space Invaders. Freeway was a game we bought a few weeks later, and was a horribly flawed version of Frogger, but did allow for two players. Without any independent magazines reviewing these games there was no indication of how good they were. Hurdle number two was when to play. As there was only one television in our house at the time, I had to rely on me being the only one home to be able to play it, or nothing else on television for my parents to let me play on it. It didn't take long for me to be the only one interested in these games, as the allure of the limited gameplay eventually wore off.

I we didn't own many of the games, perhaps no more than half a dozen games, but we did borrow some from my uncle, I mostly choose single player games such as Superman and Adventure. I think my uncle either lost interest in Atari consoles or moved onto a newer system, as he eventually sold the whole lot to our grand parents, which we’d play every time we visited. Of all the games I played on the machine, the two I loved the best was Space Invaders (with its two bullet hidden cheat I could stay on and play that game for hours) and Adventure. Although I do recall spending an incredible amount of time learning all the various methods to beat Superman in record time. I think I managed it in under one minute and twenty seconds.

RetroPie update

I have spent a little more time with the Raspberry Pi and the RetroPie installation.

I have increased the memory (the guide I read was incomplete) and also increased the clock speed of the Pi to Moderate. This has improved the game speed, and SNES titles like Star Fox run closer to the console, but the emulator still has sound and music issues which Im sure will improve.

I also plugged in a compatible wireless device and made the Rapsberry Pi wireless and part of the network. This also makes transferring of ROMs and files easier.

I have 2 issues still, (a) having to configure a unieque controller every time I switch between emulators (b) getting the Amiga emulator to work properly.

RetroPi on the Raspberry Pi, a Retro Based Dedicated Computer

I have been fascinated by Raspberry Pi, the world tiniest and cheapest computer ever since it was announced about three years ago. Despite its barebones fragile appearance, the Pi without a proper case looks like a delicate circuit board, I knew I wanted one. But as is typical with me I was unsure what I would do with it once I'd bought one.
 

Well that question was answered for me by PetRockBlack who wrote Emulation Station, a front end for emulators designed for Linux/Raspberry Pi. It ran ROMs from pretty much every retro console there was from 1996 and older, with the notable exception of the Saturn.

I knew I had a spare month coming up, and after reading a Lifehacker guide (that I later discovered was woefully inadequate) I began planning to build my own Raspberry Pi retro computer.

I ordered a Raspberry Pi B+, the new Plus model has 2 extra USB ports, is tidier all round. I also ordered a power cable and a pair of SNES controllers and an Nintendo 64 controller all through Amazon.

I bought a 32gb MicroSD card in a shop and waited for the packages to arrive. The first two items that came through the letterbox was the Raspberry Pi and the power lead. The computer was as tiny as I thought it would be, but the motherboard was much stronger than I expected. It was neater, only accepted MicroSD cards, whereas the previous Pi computers only accepted the SD Card. I realised that the machine would work but I had no way of connecting it to my PC monitor, so had to wait until the next day to buy a lead HDMI to DVI.

I bought the HDMI to DVI lead and connected it up from the Pi to the monitor. With 4 USB ports it mean I could add multiple devices, all of which were self powered through the Pi. I pluged in a keyboard and existing Xbox360 type USB (the Logitech Chillstream) controller to the Pi. I began to download the disk image from PetRockBlock, all the while trying to work out how I was going to get the ROMs from my laptop to the Pi. Lifehacker, and several of the other guides, recommended any router, I found two old routers, but no power lead.

I installed the disk imaging program and turned the MicroSD card into a bootable RetroPi operating system on the laptop, and plugged it into the Pi and waited for everything to light up. I was amazed it came to life instantly. Everything was automated, in the meantime I carried on with my feverish hunt for router power leads.

Eventually I found a BT Home Hub lead, but it wouldnt fire up, so I connected the power lead to an old Sky router and the lights on the router all woke up. The Pi wired connection was perfect, but I got nothing out of my laptop. Strange.

By this time RetroPi was installed and I followed the Lifehacker guide and changed a few settings. It suggested several that had no documentation to explain what they were doing. Once I realised they had given you false, incomplete and totally inadequate instructions, I Googled for better information.

I configured the controller for Emulation Station working, but it didnt work ingame. I tested Doom, CaveStory and Duke Nukem 3D all worked well, and plug in a set of speakers.

After Googling for controller set up, I set up the controller to work ingame perfectly.

I then installed CyberDuck and got it working, but couldn't get a link to the Pi. I had no idea of the IP address. I noticed no light from my laptop, and realised there was no network driver as I did a system restore about 6 months ago, and only installed the wireless driver. I had to hunt the internet and after about ten minutes I installed network driver for wired connection.

All while this was happening I was using the Pi IP address on the Pi - made a note, and had a bit of fun checking out the simple Windows front end for the the OS, I was impressed

I got Cyberduck to make the connection, and copied across 2 test ROMs across, Super Mario World and Secret of Mana

I configured the in-game controllers (fiddly) and was played Super Mario World in minutes.

It seems to run okay but does suffer from slowdown so I intend to see if I can get the Pi to run faster by overclocking and let it have access to more memory. It struggled with StarFox.

RetroPi

Just placed my order with Amazon for the all components I need to build a RetroPi computer/console.

Ive the guide ready to go from Lifehacker and will get it up and running as soon as possible.

1 Raspberry Pi
1 Powerlead (The Pi doesnt come with one, but is a USB powered source
1 Nintendo 64 USB Controller
1 2no SNES Controller

All I need is a SD Card, but I can buy one of these from a shop without going via Amazon.

Unchartered 2 Continues

Just a short update to say I am thoroughly enjoying the game and story of Uncharted 2. It flows a lot better both in terms of gameplay, cut scenes and the puzzles are more enjoyable and more epic to solve.

I do feel you are hand held through some parts but its a developer choice to aid players, but the hints come too easily and too fast.

Id say Im about half way through now, and every time I play it I see more and more of The Last of Us in the gameplay, the game that Naughty Dog would develop after Uncharted 3.

Not so sure about the 2 new antagonists voive acting ability, Chloe comes across as a tart/slut/vixen and Flynn comes across as an inept buffoon.

Rage - Xbox 360

A first person shooter, but with driving elements.
A stunning looking game that really pushes the IDtech engine to limit.
The FPS engine is very well done and the gunfights are very satisfying. The variety in the weapons and the customisation is excellent. If you like pistol fights then you can trick out your pistol to make it the best weapon you can.

What surprised me was that the game was available cheap second hand within months of its release. So what is so bad about the game that has players dumping it in droves. I hope to identify the key issues.

The Missions
The game sets you off on the typical fetch and return missions but does this by sending you to "dungeons" you've already visited for a second try. Now I dont have an issue with recyling levels, its just that this game does it at a higher level that any game I've ever played before. It disguises the fact that it doesnt have many levels by making you revisit the same ones again.

The game has main missions and side missions. The side missions are essentially grinding missions on the same level and get boring very quickly.

The Driving
The driving element was something new for ID to undertake, and while the graphic engine handles the driving perfectly it just doesnt sit right in an ID game. The driving between levels, the driving action you encounter en route and the specific racing levels are very well done, but they are just not welcome in a FPS. Its this sudden addition to the gameplay that can ruin a game such as Brutal Legend. An action third person game suddenly becomes a strategy war game.

The Sound
The sound is an issue in the game, but Im reviewing the Xbox version which has serious sound issues.
(a) the sound cuts out in the middle of a level, and if you save the game and reload, it reloads without the sound element as well. The only way to correct the sound bug is to reload a previous save where the sound does work.
(b) the vocal talent used for the NPCs sending you on missions are the same people from Doom 3, very lazy.
(c) during gunfights the conversations between enemies is humourous but also misleading. It happened to me once, and now is a huge issue for me. If I know there are 3 enemies in a room and I hear them chatting to each other how they are going to flank me, I change my fighting position and style to prepare for a flank. But if I kill 2 of the enemies, the conversation still remains, i.e. the 1 remaining enemy is still discussing with his dead comrades strategies that involve more than 1 person. Its misleading as it doesnt given you any audio clues as to how many of the enemies remain.

All said, the game does have some truly brilliant moments, the graphic engine is solid and robust, I have a dislike for the "bosses" in this game, but overall Id still give this game an 8/10 despite being "dumped" by ID and its fanbase. I cant comment on multiplayer as yet.

Monument Valley Android

Ive been a bit quiet over the last few days as ive been played monument valley on my android.

Despite the price tag the game offers no more than a couple of hours of gameplay but it lives up to the hype.

Beautiful mesmerising and stimulating, this reminds me of Journey on the PS3.

It does stand up to repeat playing but it doesnt unlock anything new.

10 inventive levels which unfold before your eyes in nee and original ways. Each level introduces something new.

Day of the Tentacle - CDROM

I had some bad experiences with adventure games in the 1980s, both text and graphic adventures that stopped me dead in my tracks by either having a puzzle so obscure as to be unsolveable or a puzzle that require the exact parser for the puzzle to be solved. I recall once adventure game that had a word incorrectly spelt in the parser, meaning you could only solve the puzzle by mispelling the object.

Well all that changed with Lucasarts which remapped the adventure gaming scene with Manic Mansion. I did play it, and its follow up Zak McKraken and the Alien Mindbenders but it was only the adventure The Secret of Monkey Island did graphic adventure games become fun to play and laugh out loud funny as well.

Day of the Tentacle is essentially Manic Mansion 2. I had been meaning to play this for many years since I downloaded and install SCUMMVM (the Script Creation Utility for Manic Mansion Virtual Machine), essentially an emulator for running any of the SCUMM games and others.

Whilst some of the humour had dwindled, the spark and ingenuity hadnt, and puzzles and problems I had deliberated on for days came back to me very quickly.

Im looking forward to finding the time to play through the Sam and Max Hit the Road CD-ROM as well.

Planning for a Month Alone

My wife and children are off on holiday in August for a whole month, which gives me just over 30 days to play console games. There are quite a few I want to go through from start to finish and also games that i've yet to finish.

Ive broken them down into machines

Wii
Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2
Super Mario Bros Wii
De Blob - I finished the first game a few years back and semi started the sequel but never finished
LEGO series - I have all the Lego games, here is my chance to play them all - please...

Xbox360
Halo 3
Rock Band/Guitar Hero
Dead Space 1 and 2 - Ive finished 1 already and halfway through the 2nd game, but want to experience them from the start.
GTA IV - I bought this but never played it much. I bypassed it for GTAV. I will go back to it though.

PS3
Dead Space 3
Uncharted 2 and 3

If You Live in the Past, You'll Live Like a King

Bought Dead Space 3 and Rayman Origins for the Playstation 3. Hardly games you'd say where in the same genre.

I was leant the first Dead Space game for the Xbox360 and whilst I dislike horror survival games, especially Resident Evil, I was hooked by this game that genuinely scares from start to finish. I have the sequel also for the Xbox but havent yet finished it. I know DS3 got average reviews, and was criticised mostly for focusing less on claustraphobia elements and more on action, but I intend this summer to complete all 3 games back to back.

Rayman Origins is just one of those games thats great for the kids. For those of you who care to know, I have 3 daughters to whom Im introducing all kinds of games to, but especially cooperative team games like Kirby, Mario and Rayman. The previous 3 games are for the Wii, but after having played Little Big Planet 1 and 2, Id like to upgrade their game playing to a bigger hardcore console.

Uncharted 2 - PS3

My adventure with this game continues.

The music continues to be an inspiring mix of cinema and US TV cop show quality.

The graphics and engine work better and smoother. There is a lot more blurring when focusing on targets.

The game is a continuation of the original, i.e. the gameplay types work seemlessly. Gunfights, Puzzle Solving and the Exploration.

The dialogue is generally strong, but the mcguffin to get you into the story/plot is a little bizarre. I hope the game as it goes will reveal the background history between the main characters.

Again, I can see how The Last of Us followed this game perfectly, as the hide and seek and stealth elements along with the gunplay are identical. I did start playing the 3rd installment of Uncharted, but glad I abandoned it in favour of the first 2 games first.

PS3 Singstar

So its my 8year old daughter's birthday this weekend and she does show some interest in music and singing, so at my wife's request I bought her Singstar for the PS3. Its certainly better and more supported that the pathetic XBox360 version called LIPS.

It has virtually the same mechanics, but works seemlessly and has the added bonus of allowing you to play content from other Singstar games, both on the PS3 and PS2, Brilliant. Plus you do have the ability to download the music too which appears to be updated on a regular basis.

Downsides....I wish the PS3 could play CD+G files, had childrens nursery rhymes and even some Russian music too.

Zelda Wii U

This is likely to the THE reason for me to consider purchasing a Wii U. And no other.

Id like to less explosions and more discovery, but Im certain that will come.

Uncharted 1 Finished, welcome Uncharted 2

It was said to me many years ago when I first owned a SNES console, and I began buying second hand games (those were they days of cardboard boxes meaning that they regularly were fragile and fell apart without TLC), that "if you live in the past, you can live like a King." Meaning buying the latest console and games was expensive. Better buy a machine in its twilight years (PS3 purchased 2013) and pick up every game worthwhile and average for such a steal. E.g. 2 good games for £ 20, or 5 for £ 20. I recently picked up the entire Uncharted series for PS3 for £ 20 and have completed the first game and about to commence the 2nd in the series. Because I know they went on to develop The Last of Us (and have played a little bit of it already about 10 hours worth) I did notice a lot of similarities in the hide and seek style of gameplay.

Ever since the days of the original Playstation, I've been a fan of both Naughty Dog and Insomniac Games and playing Uncharted felt as good as it gets.

I noticed the graphical enhancement of the 2nd game over the 1st already.