New Laptop is a pc, so now i'm thinking of all the games I haven't played that i really should have done, or the ones I've forgotten to play. 
Steam is great, but sometimes you want to play Gabriel Knight or Baldurs Gate 2. So GOG is where it's at for me. 
 
So why am I writing this? Well..if you're reading this..and you must be...I hope. I'd like some suggestions as to what I should be raiding GOG for. 
Now, Gabirel Knight and Baldurs Gate and Planescape are already on my todo list...as would Freelancer 2 if it worked in windows 7. 
 
I would appreciate any other advice though. Arcanum?  
oh and take it as read that I've played Fallout 1 and 2 already. 
 
In other news, even though I have them on Steam, I had to go and buy the Crysis and Shogun 2 discs..otherwise i'd never get to play them. Our connection is whacky at home at the moment and I really want to play some Shogun, so i traded in Bulletstorm and that covered me fine. Shame it's £10 cheaper on amazon anyway. 
Also got Stalker on the way..should be an interesting weekend. If the internet works and i can reg these games. ooooo drm and pcs, I'd forgotten all about you in my mac induced haze. 
ah well.

I'm just typing this before we start recording our podcast for this week (take a look at HS21's blog..it'll be there at some point..hopefully..this time) 
 We're just waiting on HS21 and Turboman to turn up..considering HS stated the times to turn up, she's being a fashionably late bitch.  
 
A decent team for MvC3 is tough, at least for me. I tend to like fast and nimble characters (I use X-23 all the time) but if your opponent gets you in a combo you die pretty quickly. Phoenix is awesome but dies faster than Akuma with a cold. I used to run with Viewtiful Joe, Wolvie and X-23 but that only gets you so far and wolvie and x are essentially (well genetically bar a lack of y chromosome) the same..so I've been mucking around with Wesker and Chris. Wesker is a lot of fun but he reminds me of ..shit, the dude with chains and green hair in Blazblue..mind has gone blank..but yeah, fun to play as but hard to master. I think I'll work on Wesker. Still anyone who rolls with Hulk, Sentinel and Storm will tear me apart. Sigh. 
Yes I'm shit..but I hardly have the time to really work on it unfortunately. 
 
Livejournal is very popular in Russia apparently....hmm odd. You'd have thought that they'd be more into myspace. ah well. 
 
Heh it's been a while since my last blog hasn't it? Well not much has changed except im back in the UK, I've got a job and I'm considering getting a new laptop as my MPB had a screen fault (well a logic board fault) again. Apparently it's a recognised fault and it gets fixed for free..but it's beginning to piss me off to be honest. I've had to re-do the OS a couple of times this past 6 months and those steam sales make me want to have a PC..especially because i keep buying stuff i can'y play (come on..crysis for £4.99..how can you not?) So I'm looking at decent gaming laptops....mostly Alienware isn't it really. Tres Cher but you gotta pay to play. Thank god for £200 a week pay. 
 
GDC is a bit shit apparently..well this year at least. It was nice to SWERY though wasn't it? Sweet guy. His face when he saw the cards that some enterprising dude made. 'Sugoi' indeed...yeah i can't be arsed to look up the Romanji for awesome in Japanese. I'm lazy like that. I've still only done part of Deadly Premonition on my xbox. I keep getting.. 
 
ooo starting. Perhaps i'll do a post or during thingy. 
 Nah..We're ordering takeout now. 
 
Sigh, we need to get our shit together. It's nigh on impossible to be fair. We're dealing with at least 4 different time zones and people do actually have some sort of social life. Well at least thats what they tell me, I haven't had a social life in a while. Difficult when you live up a mountain in the middle of nowhere. Didn't have Guinness either. Fucking nightmare.  
 
Oh now we're dissing the Turks. I like Turkey, its a nice country and it's warm. Warmer than here at least. Surprised i haven't got frostbite to be honest. Speaking of which that Battlefield 3 trailer was nice wasn't it? Looked very smart and was mostly technically correct according to some website run by off duty soldiers. I like Battlefield games..can't stand COD. It's like you're on meth the whole way through  
 
HS is here. time to roll. 
 
edit: 
We've just finished.  
In short 
bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahah recording stuff is difficult. 
Here's a little insider knowledge, behind the curtain if you will, of the podcast. 
We actually have 4 more podcasts that never saw the light of day, including one we recorded where HS and I were playing Minecraft while casting 
'Shit it's a skeleton...shit I'm dead and lost my diamond axe'...well that was mostly HS. We also had one, and I'll be honest most of these were my fault, where the trail limitations kicked in and some bitch said 'this is a trial version' every 3 seconds over the recording...which was sad as it was the best one we did especially with Axxol's awesome Louis Armstrong impression at the end there. We'll try and get him to do another rendition at some point. 
As the host of a barnyard full of crazy animals, its not easy to keep control. People generally talk over each other or take long pauses and then start off again. Quite a few times i get caught that way.. I'll be saying 'okay, and what about you Derek?' and HS will talk for another 10 minutes about how emergent the gameplay is in Far Cry. I should point out that's just a hypothetical example and never actually happened. Derek wasn't there.  Nevertheless it's fun. I think that comes across rather well in the podcast..especially after the fifth listen, i just can't get enough of Turboman's dulcet tones...but i think we generally have fun and that comes across. The randomness of it works pretty well too. It helps that any member of the..community isn't the word, perhaps mob? is willing to be a guest on the show. Bringing something new to the table, be it lesbians, Staples, Danish accents or Louis Armstrong impressions is always awesome and takes us off into weird places. Also the question segment tends to be fucking hysterical..seriously, Zombiepie, Organiclastic and you other guys. Where the hell do you get those ideas from? 
 
Anyway, this is kind of a short note to you guys to say thanks for making this insanity enjoyable.  Though I think Christonice summed up the podcast perfectly by comparing it to the sound of a pair of copulating felines. My biggest thanks should be to the staff of the Luchazine. Without you guys, this would never have happened. So if you wan't to blame someone, blame Goran_p. 
 
Now, I wonder if this podcast will actually ever get put up. 
Apparently not. After crash the recording got lost. It was a classic guys, we managed to insult most of the western hemisphere at different stages throughout..including Mubarak and Charlie Sheen. Bree Olsen tweets also made a come back..or should that be cum back? 
okay I'm done.

Breaking with tradition, first up is my review of Inception..which i literally just watched.  
SPOILERS..cause I know people are very protective of their...experience?
For those who can't be arsed, or have problems with my lyrical styles, here's my review in a nutshell: 
Not bad, but there are some major flaws that stop it from being excellent. 3*s. 
 

Another week, another look back at what I've been playing, which will probably offend someone. 
 
This past week, I've mostly been playing: 

Another week, another update.  
Oh and, lest I forget, all opinions here are my own, solely, so don't get wound up about it. 

This week i've mostly been playing: 
Tales of Innocence (Eng Translation..FINALLY) 

So 
This weeks games: 
Mass Effect 2 
Peace Walker 
Blazblue 
Bleach 3rd Phantom 
FFXIII 
 
ME2: 
I've not got a 360, I've not got a PC..all I've got is a Mac and a ps3 (and a ds, and a psp, and a ps2, and a wii, and an original xbox, and a gamecube) 
So, you'd naturally think there would be no way, beyond bootcamping my mac (which I can't do) to play ME2, right? 
WRONG...well...kinda wrong. 
Some genius, somewhere, created this little thing called wineskin. It uses Wine in a similar way to the cider ports we've had from EA etc. It's a wrapper that you put your installed game (using crossover or  whatever) in. With wineskin you can port games over from PC. Sure its not a native build from the ground up...but its BETTER THAN NOTHING. 
Anyway, having played and finished ME1 on my mac (great port), I finally got around to trying out the ME2 wrapper. 
It works...but it still needs a lot of tweaking. The game looks awful, with textures out of place or just black, and it runs between 30fps down to about 5fps at times. 
Keep in mind that the wrapper is a work in progress, sure it looks shitty now, but hopefully we'll be able to improve upon it.  I've played up to the part in the second mission after meeting Tali again..then it just got too bogged down.
Also my MBP is 3 years old and only has 128mb Geforce 8600M GT. My copy of ME ran fine, and I could play Crysis with everything on medium when i did have Bootcamp.  
Anyway, the guys who have put their heart and soul into porting ME2 have done a great job so far and they're still working on it. 
As for the game itself, I really don't like the UI..the bit with all the squad members at the bottom annoys me, and the shield and health indicator is in the wrong place for my eyes. I think all that time playing WoW a year or so ago has made me over sensitive to UI's in general. I always want to tweak or move them around. 
Other than that, It seems to be a great sequel to a great game. I'm looking forward to playing it as it's meant to be played at some point...just not now. 
 
Peace Walker 
Finished the main game..now I'm playing hide and seek with Zadornov (or Senor Door Knob as people have taken to calling him) 
The story, as in most MGS games, seems to lose the thread near the end. AIs with ghosts in the machine? Why did the Boss really die? 
I'm pretty sure this has all been covered before in MGS3. There was no revelation for me about the Boss' motivation. 
 The final battle with Peace Walker annoyed me at the start...You've got to stop the launch but we don't know how! 
So there I am, trying to find the clever way to stop it, when all you need to do is shoot the bugger. 
I think that really was the main failing of Peace Walker. All the bosses just needed to be shot over and over again. It's a nice touch to make it matter where you shoot them for the AI parts...but just shooting the pod over and over again with rockets and a heavy machine gun gets a bit tired after a while. 
Another problem was the characters themselves. 
Coldman? Dude had no personality beyond 'crazy dude' and...you wouldn't have missed him if he had been taken out of the game. 
Paz? WTF...Isn't there supposed to be a twist in the tail with her? She's too goody goody to exist. Also, that date with Paz thing and the love box? People are complaining about that? REALLY?  
Amanda: First couple of levels she's badass...and then she just disappears from the story to only be heard over the codec....pretty much like everyone else. Why aren't these people out there doing backup for the boss? 
The game just felt really compartmentalised. This bit here, this bit here..ne'er the twain shall meet. 
Even so, it was a great game well worth picking up and a 'solid' edition to the series...but next time, put Infrastructure in you twats.  
 
Blazblue. 
Noel and Taokaka continue to give me hours of enjoyment. 
Got my first online perfect the other day with Noel against a guy 20 levels higher than me. I'd like to think it was skill, but it's more likely he spilt his tea on his lap or something. Definitely the game for me that SFIV is for many others. 
 
Bleach: 3rd Phantom. 
Ahh, Bleach, a DS, a SRPG. 
I really want to like this game...really do. I love SRPGs, I like Bleach and i love my DS. 
Problem here is twofold. 
a) The game mechanics are..boring. It's slow and doesn't..frikky frikky..flow. Attack animations are non-skippable and your movement is severely limited. It can take 4 turns just to get next to the enemy. The graphics are pretty poor too but thats not really relevant. 
b) The story. Twins attacked by hollows in the past, taken in by random made up Captain of 5th squad with Aizen as LT (I want to drive my sword through his eye every time i see the fucker) and they become Shinigami..or as the americans like to say Soul Reapers...which really does not have the same ring to it. This is the far past, where all the major Captains and LTs of the 13 squads are still kids (considering they're just souls..I don't quite understand how that works)..so beyond seeing 'Lil Shiro', Momo, Gin, Renji and Matsumoto as kids..or seeing Urahara and everyone's favourite ninja Soi-Fon..there's not much to see here. I think this is post 'turn back the pendulum' so no Shinji as captain here. oh and the main characters..the twins...are fucking annoying.
Anyway, its a nice enough game..and when we get to modern era it might pick up. 
 
FFXIII 
After all the bitching about this game when it came out, i was hesitant to get it. 
Now that you can buy it for around £16.99 new, I thought what the hell... 
First off, either it doesn't install at all, or it does streaming installs like Fallout 3 or Wolverine. This is a very good thing. 
Next, on a hdtv at 1080p the game looks incredible. INCREDIBLE. The transitions from battle to travel are smooth, and rarely does it load for more than 3 seconds. 
So, onto the storyline. I've only just started the game..just gone off to see Serah in the massive damocles swords type thing. 
As I'm just starting out, I don't expect to understand anything..its 'in media res' so I'll just have to pick it up as I go along. 
From what I understand you've got Cocoon above and Pulse below. Pulse is bad, Cocoon is good. On Pulse there are these being's called Fal'Cie who are burdened with some sort of power, and they make people into L'Cie if they come too close or something. The government of Cocoon is either sending a tithe to Pulse or culling it's overburdened population by ferrying them off to 'hell on earth' pulse. I have a feeling Pulse is no such thing. Serah is Lightning's sister and Snow's fiancee.  
Snow needs to shave, Hope is annoying, I can't stop looking at Vanille's arse during a fight, Lightning seems to be a decent protagonist and Sahaz? is the token Black guy of the story. Hopefully he moves beyond the annoying whiner that he is at the moment. 
Oh and why does Vanille sound Australian? WTF is up with that? 
Gameplay: 
Wow, they sure weren't kidding. Straight line from A to B, with some fighting and cutscenes inbetween. 
This doesn't bother me so much. I treat games like books..I'm here for the story. If they can keep my interest, I don't really care if all i do is press X. 
Which is another point. All you do in RPGs like FF is just press X. You select what you want to do (attack, magic, item, defend) and press X. There is no change apart from the fact that they have simplified the system with auto battle. I have no problem with it. You can use it or not use it, its up to you..just don't whine about it when you do use it. 
As i said, I'm still at the beginning of the game, and..erm there's no leveling going on, which is...odd, but whatever. Also with only two attacks, there's not much strategy going on here. I do like the 'break' type system that seems to have been taken from Xenosaga but simplified. Seriously simplified. Hey, if Albedo is in this..that would be awesome.
 
I think this is the word of today people. 
SIMPLIFIED. 
Square has made this game as simple as possible to appeal to as many people as possible, and has lost some fans in the long run. 
I don't really have any problem with the game so far..I'd like to stop jumping around characters and stick with Lightning for a while. 
Anyway, It'll be interesting to see how it develops..hopefully they'll start putting new mechanics in soon. I could do with some more attack types. 
I will say this though...I'm ready for a ps3 Kingdom Hearts.

Quick update. 
This weeks games (which finally turned up after waiting 2 weeks or so) 
Blazblue 
Ratchet and Clank: Crack in Time 
Uncharted 2 
Phantasy Star Portable 
Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker 
and my fightpad came as well. 
 
So. 
Blazblue is awesome. I actually like playing as 5 of the twelve characters. Noel, Jin, Ragna, Rachel and..erm the dude who looks likes he should be in Persona. 
It's a smooth fighting game thats as much about flash as it is about depth. 
Odd story mode, done in the interactive novel type style that is so popular in Japan. I have no problem with it, so thats all good. 
Its odd that it actually has a coherent story mode to begin with..but each erm level has only one bount..so you have to be very aggressive. 
I've mentioned that my internet connection is beyond awful, but i managed a quasi-lag free game. Naturally i got ripped apart..but it was good fun. 
 
Might be a good time to mention my fightpad. Its a nice bit of kit. Dpad floats above the controller slightly, and it reminds me of the old megadrive (genesis) pads..which makes me feel right at home. The rows of three buttons, top for punches, bottom for kicks and the two shoulder buttons for all three punches/kicks. It works perfectly with SFIV, though i did have one odd disconnect with Blazblue near the end of a match..which ended with me dead, but hey..it happens. Only problem is that it uses a usb receiver which you have to put in player 1 usb. If you pick up another controller to play something else, you have to remember to remove the usb otherwise it won't register the normal ps3 pad as player 1. A very minor problem though. If you like your fighting games and are frustrated with either ps3/360 pads..i'd advise you to buy one. 
 
Ratchet and Clank is..well ratchet and clank. For me, thats more than enough. They added temporal distortion puzzles in realtime..which is nice. They've also added a massive amount of customisation and weapon upgrades. They've also improved on the space segments by making them free roaming. Oddly enough you can pick up different radio stations in your ship, making it a rather...GTA like experience in some ways. 
 
MGS: Peace Walker...hmmm 
No infrastructure Co-Op or Vs Ops. My ps3 uses wireless so i can't use the adhoc, and my mac doesn't have an xlink kai compatible card. 
I'm sure i'm not in the minority in this one..well perhaps with the mac..but what the fuck is the point in adding co-op and vs when the majority of people don't have friends/relatives/animals that have psp's near them..let alone are interested in MGS? 
Besides that glaring fault, and the fact that the bosses are obviously set up with Co-Op in mind....and the annoying 'Take out all the guards before tranqing the drive' mini bosses' in my...opinion, having played all of the MGS games, this is by far the best. Take into consideration that, even though I loved the storyline of Snake Eater, I hated some of the mechanics and the general gameplay. The cutscenes, done in a graphic novel style, are beautiful. Personally, I wish that all of the cutscenes in MGS up to now had been done with Ashley Wood's art. The man is genius. I'm still looking to get that Omnibus that they recently put out of all the MGS comics, mostly for his artwork. 
The QTEs that are in the cutscenes are pretty damn good to, as long as you're ready for them. 
 
The other two games are either known, or haven't got round to them yet. 
Any thoughts, leave them after the *beep*

I'm an ardent fan of fighting games, though I don't consider myself to be a pro or actually anything above casual in my fighting gaming.
I grew up with Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat on my Megadrive. 
I sank countless hours into Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Guilty Gear. I mastered Guy, Sol and Chipp. 
None of my 6-13 year old nephews could beat me (heh) and neither could my university friends. 
Well apart from this one guy who beat me every single time, whatever I did...and he never played any fighting games before. 
 
Now I have a ps3, and i was counting down the days till SFIV came out. 
 I preordered it, and waited patiently till i came back from Uni to play it. 
 
The day finally arrived, I put the game in..IIIINNNDESSTRRRUUCTTTABBBLLLEEE 
..... 
I can't play it. 
I tried, and I tried...but...Its hard enough to pull of a fireball, let alone combo. 
I have other problems with the game, but its mostly my inability to actually effectively play it. 
Even on its easiest setting I have problems. 
 
So why? 
I have some theories about this: 
a) I'm just generally a lot worse at fighting games than I thought...which is possible, but unlikely. I can still play SFA3  and Guilty Gear on hard mode just fine. 
b) The ps3 pad just doesn't work for me in regards to fighting games. This is very likely a part of my problem. 
c) The SFIV engine just does not do anything for my way of playing..I could say it was too slow, but I'd probably be wrong. 
d) Tying in to the last point..maybe my rhythm is not in time with SFIV's engine, and I just need to work a bit harder at it. 
 
I will say that I prefer the VS series at the moment over 'au natural'. I have Tats vs Capcom and with the Classic Controller Pro I can rip into that game just like I used to do with the older games. Its an awesome game by the way, and being able to play as Tekkaman Blade is well worth the wait. 
 
So here are my questions to those in the know: 
 
Should I be considering getting a fightpad? I've never really spent more than 5 mins in an arcade, so I don't think a stick is really going to help me.  
I've ordered Blazblue due to my love of Guilty Gear...any thoughts on this game and whether it will have the same problems as SFIV? 
Am I the only one having serious problems with SFIV? 
and more generally, let me know what you think on the state of fighting games at the moment