S.T.A.L.K.E.R (First Impressions)

IT’S BEEN A GOOD WEEK for PC gamers; first up was the release of S.T.A.L.K.E.R (Shadow Of Chernobyl) amidst high expectations and hype concerning the A-life system and now I find in my inbox this morning confirmation that Play.com has just posted out my copy of Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars… so my weekends are taken care of for a while

I did the usual thing of admiring the special edition packaging and documentation for approximately 0.3 seconds and then slung the DVD into the drive and started the installation, and I haven’t looked back since. I’m sure there are plenty of useful bits of information and context contained in the documentation, but I prefer to just stumble along and around the game mechanics and levels, seeing how it feels and how it plays; it’s just my way.

So then – what can you expect from my first impressions of the game? Well, I’ve got a bunch of cool screenshots from the game, a lot of observations on the performance, mechanics, graphics, design, interactions, AI and just about everything else… so if you are considering this PC game as an addition to your existing collection then I hope this review will give you some food for thought.

The good news is this is not your average game; the really good news is that whatever your expectations for this game, whatever hype you have heard about in advance – it still delivers enough bang for your [insert appropriate currency] to make it worth your time, as long as you know just what type of game play you are in for because this one is a breed apart from the usual FPS gunfests. It may not live up to all the aforementioned hype, but it does deliver more than enough to keep your interest.

This is a new direction for a PC game and I’m getting so much enjoyment from it that it reminds me of my first play through of Thief. Back then the gaming industry ended up coining the phrase First Person Sneaker for Thief, because so much of the game was focused upon sound and stealth. I’ve no idea yet what to use as an acronym for this game because it just keeps surprising me with new and innovative touches.

Right so – where to start? Let’s go straight to the eye candy, the graphics… Read more

Would You Slow Down For This?

AS THE DEATH toll continues to rise out of control here on Irish roads, everyone is screaming that something must be done to get drivers to slow down, to pay attention to the road signs.

Well, those whacky Danish have come up with a clever way to do just that, possibly.

Yup, you guessed it… Topless Models advertising road speeds!

Now of course this is possibly an early April Fool prank, but the video is worth a look anyway, and can you just imagine the chaos this lass would cause down on the M50? in the mornings

If the blurb is to be believed, madam there on the left is part of a specially-trained team of enthusiastic young women – known as the Bikini Bandits – not afraid to do whatever it takes so that motorists pay more attention to the speed limit… hmm, the mind boggles doesn’t it?

Somehow I think this really is a great April Fools joke, but fair play to whoever devised it. If such a scheme were ever entertained the sheer carnage that would ensue would dwarf all road death statistics to date I’m thinking.

Anyway, enjoy

Weird, Wonderful & Just Plain Odd

ON THE PLUS side, my copy of S.T.A.L.K.E.R arrived this evening in the post, so tonight shall be spent trying to forget the insanity of work and I’m looking forward to some full immersive gameplay. As for the topic of this post, well I just decided to throw out some of the weird and wonderful things I’ve come across today on the ‘net, a collection of oddities

Oh – and it has nothing to do with the photo on the left, except that the photo itself is a kind of oddity. It’s from the “Topless” collection and you can read more about this from a previous post entitled “This is Legal In New York” if you are interested. AndI just l like the photo.

So -on to the oddities for today then…

What can you do if you’ve been banned from an online game and want to get back in? How can you possibly convince the game admins that you are worthy of being admitted back into the fold? Well, in China you can do this by donating blood – a pint of blood to be precise. It’s an interesting move by a Chinese game company after banning 120,000 users for ‘abuse’ and if the story is true could mark an interesting twist for future blood drives!

Over in Cincinnati (USA) a pizza company has decided to put the mugshots of those deadbeats who avoid paying child support on the pizza boxes, essentially naming and shaming anyone who tries to avoid the legal burden. It’s an interesting approach I suppose, but where will it end? Read more

300 (Film Review)

I’VE JUST COME BACK from seeing “300” at the cinema and I’m not really sure what all the hype was about to be honest. For those that don’t know, 300 tells the story of the 300 Spartans who are alleged to have held a mountain pass at Thermopylae (also known as the Battle Of Thermopylae in 480 BC) against an advancing army of tens of thousands of Persians. On the one side, King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) leads the Spartans and (for a while) some not-so-great-at-fighting Acadians. On the other side, a veritable horde of mad things, beasts, immortals and archers led by the God-King Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro).

Long story short.. the 300 hold out for 3 days until they are betrayed, and die a valiant death defending freedom, honour and oh all that other crap too. God I’m getting bored even writing this

This movie is not meant to be a historical epic, accurately told; it’s more of a spectacle with exaggerations everywhere and lots of ‘poetic license’ in effect. Shot almost exclusively in CGI-mode against a blue screen, Zack Snyder (Director) brings the graphic novel of Frank Millar (of Sin City fame) and Lynn Varley’s graphic novel vividly to life, the only problem is the whole affair is pretty much plot free, simplistic, more style than substance and visceral to the max.

The battle scenes are handled very effectively though, and as long as you can suspend your disbelief for a bit – which let’s face it is the reason most of us go the cinema in the first place – you won’t be too let down by the shallow story and the weak characters. As a spectacle it’s brash, effects laden, fast and satisfying. As a film – it’s certainly entertaining and probably worth your few [insert appropriate currency here] but don’t go in expecting anything more than sheer popcorn entertainment.

Then again, if you like nipples, you’re in for a visual feast… Read more

A Sudden Outbreak Of Common Sense… In Ireland?

THE IRISH INFORMATION Commissioner’s Office has seemingly told schools to tone down the whole ‘biometric’ thing. In particular there are about seven schools in Ireland who seem keen to deploy various biometric solutions to keep track of their students, the most obvious one being fingerprinting, but the Commissioner’s office has rained on their parade telling them that it will ‘rip out‘ anything it considers ‘excessive‘.

In its guidance for schools issued this month, the office indicated that it might not approve of schools fingerprinting pupils. It said it wasn’t necessary in Irish law for them to do so, and if it wasn’t necessary then the Data Protection Act said it shouldn’t be done. So – ten out of ten for the lads at the Commissioners office – they seem to be doing a bang up job of taking a calm and rational approach to things. Bravo I say.

Although one does wonder at this sudden outbreak of common sense, sure you’d almost think it was an election year wouldn’t you?

Oh wait… it is.

Anyone want to take a wild stab at which of our amazingly inept politicians will try to swing in behind this common sense approach in the coming days? It’s just too good a soundbite opportunity to miss, so I’m betting at least one of the oxygen thieves will jump on the bandwagon and wax lyrical about the childern; who’s protecting the children? Read more

“Congratulations gents, we just got away with murder”

THIS READS like the stuff of cheap airport fiction novels, but it’s actually from testimony in the ongoing courts martial of several US marines for committing murder in Iraq. What it boils down to is as follows: Several marines went on a “hunt” for a known insurgent named Saleh Gowad with the intention of killing him. He had previously been captured and released several times and they decided to do something about it.

Failing to find him, they then randomly seized a disabled ex-policeman – Hashim Awad - from his home as he slept and then proceeded to setup an elaborate infra-red spoof to fool the overhead spy drones into thinking a legitimate battle had ensued in order to cover up his murder.

This ’spoofing’ included wrapping a marine around the already bound body of Awad so as to fool the drone into thinking a single infra-red image was recorded and setting up a fake scene where one marine pretended to be the insurgent ‘planting a bomb’ while the rest of the squad watched from close by. The recorded thermal imagery from the aircraft seemed to show troops watching an insurgent digging by the road, perhaps to place a bomb.

Then it get’s really convoluted… Read more

Widescreen Goodness

I CAVED IN and decided to avail of some retail therapy, namely a Dell Ultrasharp 20.1 inch Widescreen LCD Flat Panel Monitor

Considering I ordered this puppy on St. Paddys Day, I was pretty impressed with the turnaround. It was processed and despatched on the same day, arriving on my doorstep within 2 working days thereafter.

It’s taking me a while to get used to the sheer size of the thing, and of couse now I’ve got the whole two-monitor drag-n-drop thing going on with my desktop too, but the real advantage is in the gaming side of life.

So – given that my copy of Stalker is due any day now, and C&C 3 is due to ship next week… I’m looking forward to some serious widescreen goodness over the coming months.

Normal service shall resume over the weekend, once I get used to all this widescreen craziness