Hey, it's been a while!

So yeah, I hardly ever write here, mainly because I feel it's a little redundant, since it seems I have hardly any readership. But that's okay, what I do post is mainly what happens to be on my mind at any given time. Mostly not worth reading really. On the flip side though, I feel a little bad that I hardly use this blog after my friend Emma Thorbinson helped me make this blog look really professional. - Also, as a thanks to Emma, please go check out her band Jessicas Ghost.

So what's been happening James, anything interesting. Well. Not really. I moved house a few times this year before settling down in February. Started a new relationship, thinking of returning to education and recently gotten back into playing Magic The Gathering, but that's not that all interesting really.

Also, I have been tinkering with the idea of providing weekly content here, I haven't fully planned the schedule but I was thinking of providing reviews every Friday, Personal updates weekly (I haven't figured out what day, I might move the reviews to Monday and do the weekly personal post on a Friday) and some other posts during the week, update on that coming soon I guess.

I am thinking of doing National Month of Writing (Nanowrimo) this November. The basic idea of Nano is you have one month to write a 50.000 word story. If you work around 3000 words a day you can pretty much pull it off. There are no prizes involved other than the self satification that you have the dedication to write 50.000 words within such a small time frame. 

It sounds great on paper but I really have little idea what I want to write about this year. in 2011 I was writing a story I spent a few years planning, only to have life get in the way and to be slapped in the face with a story that was far to detailed and pretty much impossible to find an ending I was happy with. This year I have two options. One idea is set in a dystopic future where the media controls all aspects of the population, imagine Rupert Murdoch being in charge of government and fox news was his main source of propaganda. The other idea involves Lucifer trying to find who is behind the recent killings of his fellow angels, both Arch and Fallen Angel. I might go with the latter idea, it's the one that appeals to me the most but the more I write the basic run down of the story the more I find plot holes in the plot. Maybe I can just go for it and suspend disbelief. A lot of novels never really follow real life, and I have Morningstar as the main protagonist! So yeah, I will update more when it happens.

And that pretty much wraps this post up, I hope you have a good weekend and I hope you have fun in what ever you guys do.

Minecraft: Xbox 360 edition.

Grab that Pickaxe, Grab your wolf, it's time to mine bitches!

Well Minecraft has come to the X-box 360 and let it be said that am somewhat of a fan of Minecraft. I have no shame in admiting to you dear reader that I have spent countless hours slaving away in the worlds made from blocks, creating houses and killing monsters coming my way to destroy my work.Firstly for anyone who is unaware of Minecraft or haven't taken the chance to look to much into it. Minecraft at it's heart is a virtual Lego set. This joke has been passed around since the games inception and it's actually true, even to the point Lego themselves have made a Minecraft themed set of blocks.

Minecraft creator Notch (One with the Hat) and Developer (Jeb) play with the Lego Minecraft Sets

The game starts you out in a randomly generated world filled with rocks, dirt, water, lava, snow, and various trees and animals. You start out with nothing and there really is no goal in the game, rather you set the goal yourself. First things first however, you must build shelter before night comes, for monsters spawn and generally want to make your life as hellish as possible. A good shack and a bed help elimate this problem. The more you play, the more eleborate your building designs come, you start to craft better tools and go on to do bigger and better things than when you first started. The thing about this game is as stated above, there really is no goal to work towards, you have to give yourself projects for there are plenty of avenues in the game to explore. You can build houses, explore caves, build a farm. They even introduced elements such as creating circuits that let you create doors and traps that open when people walk on pressure plates. The possibilities can be nearly endless.

Monsters burn during the day. BURN ZOMBIE!

But now that the game has come across to the console, lets get down to it. Is the port good? Short answer, yes, but there are some things to take into account. Thankfully there is a tutorial mode that welcomes new players to the game and teaches them every aspect of game play. The PC version would just drop you in a world with no explanation on how to play, and leaves you mostly to figure it out yourself or spend an hour scanning internet wiki's in order to find information on how to craft tools. I have read that some people online complain about dumbing down the game but this was seriously needed. While the game is simple to those with a little experience, it can be complicated for newcomers.

Lack of control customization annoys me.

Playing the game with a control pad is tricky at first. The main system revolves around using the triggers to mine and place items, it takes some getting used to but it works quiet well. My only complaint is that while you can change the controls, they don't offer you complete customization of the control system. You are restricted to three profiles of assigned changes and you cannot change the button system to suit your liking. This is just a minor issue for me.

Game Customization such as character skins and texture packs are sadly missing for now.

There are several things missing from the console version. Firstly, there is lack of creation mode. While this isn't exactly a killer for me, as I never really played on creative, this will be a killer for many. Secondly, the console version is a few updates behind from the original PC version - You're missing things like jungles, hunger, XP, enchanting and potions, but this doesn't bother me to much, you still get to visit and explore Minecraft's version of hell, you still get to play around with redstone circuits. They have stated these elements will come to the 360 soon so hopefully not to long to wait. Also missing is are the user generated modifications and texture packs that radically change the look and feel of the game.

Local Split screen Multiplayer is actually really fun way to play.

However, what the 360 version of this game lacks, it makes it up, somewhat in the multiplayer aspect. Getting multiplayer on the PC version can be a right pain as you have to know IP addresses and requires additional software to run a server, however withing the console port, you are able to play over X-box live with up to 8 players, and play 4 screen local co op split-screen and it makes the experience so much easier. Its actually really fun having a friend sit next to you, helping you build, or even taking swords and striking each other down. The massive downside to this element is that you have to have a HD television. Using a scart lead to connect you're 360 to a television, forget Local co-op. I think this is a MASSIVE deal breaker for many, inducing me. While I run my 360 through my 19 inch PC widescreen, my old CRT television is much bigger and would be perfect for getting on a sofa with friends. I am really hoping this will be fixed at some point.

On the whole I have spent a good few hours playing this port of one of my favorite game, sure there are some things missing from the console version but it's still highly enjoyable as playing it on the PC. If you can't play this on the PC and you have the funds, it's 1600 points on Xbox Live Arcade, check it out as getting the chance to chill on a sofa and just build is a really nice way to play. I will state that lack of multiplayer on standard definition televisions is a major dick move but don't let that discourage you.

What I Learned From: Portal 2

Okay, so there is a guy called Eddy Webb who works at White Wolf - a roleplay company best known for it's World of Darkness line. He's a pretty awesome guy and his site is well worth a visit if you're interested in Roleplay and Sherlock Holmes. His site can be found Here!

So why did I mention him? Well I kinda stole one of his ideas. Every now and again he makes a post called "What I learned from *insert game here*" - and I always find them a brilliant read and I want to give it a go myself. Started with a little gem I have been waiting a very long time for - Portal 2! So I would like to introduce you to my first article.

What I Learned From Portal 2

 Oh GLaDOS - It's so good to see you once again, we missed you!

So, since the game was revealed to be in production last year, I couldn't wait for this game, and sadly, I fell down in the wait. I promised myself not to look at spoilers, or trailers, but I couldnt help myself. I was caught up in the portal 2 frenzy. I re-played Portal 1, I even played the advanced maps, without cheating and I felt like my IQ rose by 60 points when I finished each one. 

You see Portal has a special place in my heart. When I found out about the game. My love for video games was near dying. I felt that every game was to similar to each other, One FPS felt like every other FPS out there. Same for RPG's - Later I found out I wasn't looking hard enough. But Portal helped me realise that, but showing me video games can be differnt. Here was a game that did something that I had never seen before and I was in love from the moment I saw the trailer. The game didn't dissopoint, and yeah, the game is short but when I first played it. It took me a few hours to actually finish the game. In short. This game rekindled my love for video gaming and helped me realise that games can be diverse. Something which the guys at Extra Credits also preach about. 

So now that Portal 2 is released and I have finished it. - Here is what I have learned from Portal 2. Also, if you havent finished the game. DO NOT PROCEED - This will have spoilers. So if you have finished - good, read on and not be spoiled.

Video Games Can Have a Brilliant and Caring Community Behind Them 

When Portal 2 was revealed, we were introduced to a character who I instantly fell in love with. His name was Wheatley. He was british, he wouldnt shut up, he was exited and he was all over a lovable character. I was working at the time he was revealed to the public, and as a joke, my work mate said "someone should make a facebook or a twitter account for wheatley and see how many people we get following him" - So I did just that. I made a twitter account. Within the space of a year, the account had gained 400+ followers and man has it been amazing, The community the account has spawned has made me laugh, and given me a load of friends, and some true moments of heart warming when people actually told me they care not only for the characters profile, but the person behind it, me. It has also spawned a podcast and fans. I never anticipated such a huge following from what started out as a joke. - to anyone who follows wheatley on twitter. Thank you so much for making that account one of the best things I have done online. You truely make me feel proud of the achievments spawned from that.

Story Makes All The Differnce.

So while portal 1 had a very loose story, it still worked, the story, which was given such a dark sense of humour made that game for me, despite being so very loose. But Portal 2 changed all that, we actually have a full blown story, complete with more in depth characters - It came in the form of Cave Johnson, a man so crazy only he could come up with the science aperture gave us. GLaDOS - An isane AI who becomes a much better character in this game and Wheatley who went on to become one of the most memorable bad guys for me. - and the game is so much better thanks to the story. This story had moments of sheer shock, anger and happiness, something I havent experienced since playing Metal Gear Solid 3 so many years ago. So yes, story is something truely makes all the differnce, a great story, a lovable game.

ARG's Are Horrible!

It's not all praise. I learned that I have come to dislike Alternate Reality Games with great bitterness. Valve had all the signs of a great ARG. GLaDOS was infecting other games, hell, she was leaving clues left right and centre, and people who tried to figured out the clues went missing and came back wrong. I loved it. Then a countdown happened, and I was so dumb enough to fall for it. People thought Portal 2 was being released early and we were sort of right. The countdown ended. It turned out that you had to play the games that GLaDOS infected in order to release Portal 2 early. Only they did it in such an annoying way. The countdown moved slowly, and the game was released on midnight ON RELEASE DATE! They should have skipped the entire ARG entirely as they only used it as an excuse to make people play Indie Games - Which is great for supporting the indie community but using the hype around Portal 2 was in my opinion exploitative and downright disgusting.

In my closing comment, despite the ARG the game came out and was brilliant, it met all my expectations and has hands down become my favourite game of the year, if not all time. I truely love the team behind Portal 2 and I want to thank them for making the wait such a brilliant adventure. I really got something out of it.