Phlegms

This post relates to: Day of Defeat: Source

Yup here it goes again, my incessant gaming addiction that is. Once again I have fallen in love with an online first person shooter. The game in question is "Day Of Defeat: Source", a game that just a few weeks ago I thought was unbalanced, badly made and generally hard to play. But that has drastically changed as for the duration of this week I  have found myself utterly incapable of not playing it. In just a week I have put in around 40 hours playing just "Day Of Defeat: Source". Which when you consider that I have been in work from 9-5 everyday this week is a pretty scary thought.

So after feeling pretty complacent towards my games for the past week I decided to heed your advice and take a much needed break from gaming. So for the past week instead on concentrating my efforts on gaming I started watching some movies. I seem to have a compulsion when it comes to buying dvds. Whenever I step in a HMV I feel compelled to spend ridiculous amounts of money on DVDs. Then when I get home I generally forget to watch them. So I decided to finally get around to actually watching some of the Dvds I had bought in the last couple of weeks, and in this blog I will give a mini-review of the movies I watched.

Casino Royale
Cant believe I had yet to see this film until recently considering it has been out over a year at this stage. The wait was worth it this as this is probably Bonds best outing to date (Bar Tomorrow Never Dies of course). It was action packed from start to finish with D.Craig and E.Green both giving great performances. My only critique of this film is the lack of the over-the-top bond action sequences we have come to expect from the franchise. With the exceptions of the parkour chase scene at the beginning and the car chase towards the end, it never felt like it picked up enough pace in that over the top style that Bond films encapsulate. It is definitely a step in the right direction and had a great look and feel to the film, but I think they will need to make things a little more fast paced to be a truly great bond film. Here's hoping that Quantum Of Solace can do such a job.

No Country For Old Men
This film was utterly amazing. I never got round to seeing it in the movies so when I saw it for 10 euro in HMV I had to pick it up. And I am glad I did. Words cant describe how much I loved this film. It was beautifully shot, great acting, great story, brilliant characters, it's hard to fault anything with this film.

Transformers
This was everything I thought it was capable of being. It wasnt an amazing piece of film-making by any stretch of the imagination, but it was great fun. Which given the subject matter of the film (Giant robots from space..) it couldnt be anything other than a fast-paced and fun film. And, of course, Megan Fox was in it which automagically equals instant win.

The Darjeeling Limited
Perhaps my new favorite Wes Anderson film, doesn't top "The Royal Tenenbaums", but comes damn close. Much like "No Country.." this film was beautifully shot. The colors in the sets and the camera work were superlative. The performances were great all round and the soundtrack was superb (Anything with "The Kinks" in it is an instant win). Not much else to say on this one other than it is a must see.


I also started watching "The Sopranos" for the first time having heard such good things about the series. I bought the first 2 seasons on dvd and am loving it so far. I watched both seasons in the space of 4 days which pretty much sums up how I feel about the series thus far. Hopefully I can get the 3rd season in the near future, but they are pretty expensive over here. It was great taking a break from gaming for a few days, but that break is pretty much over at this stage because I am in possession of the mighty "Spore" which I will post my impressions of in the next couple of days. As always, thanks for reading!

This post relates to: Fallout 3

As of late, I have been having severe commitment issues when it comes to games. Despite the glut of games I have bought recently (Games such as Burnout Paradise,Oblivion, Ninja Gaiden ds), I cant seem to bring myself around to playing them for any significant length of time. I have just become pretty apathetic towards playing games lately. I have even been neglecting my beloved "S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl"  which I was enjoying. Not even the allure of Cod 4's multiplayer can get me in the mood to show my 360 some love. The fact that my 360 recently chewed the crap out of my Cod4 disc doesn't help either. I have been playing the odd round of tf2 on the pc, but I am finding that the people playing never want to take part in any kind of effective team work which is pretty frustrating.
On another note, I finally got round to pre-ordering Fallout 3 on the 360 today. Went to my local gamestop in Dublin city, where I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the game had even been put on their system. So I wouldnt be able to pre-order it. The shop assistant did however inform me that I would be able to pre-order the official game guide. Which was one of those rare real life "wtf!" moments. So I trudged round to game where I asked if I could pre-order the collectors edition. Turns out I could, and not only this but according to the sales guy there, I was the first person to pre-order the game  in that shop. Which is the only Game store in Dublin. Strange as I assumed 2 months from release I would struggle to get a pre-order down for the collectors edition.

Thats pretty much all I have to say for now. Sorry it wasnt a particularly action packed blog, but I really havent played a whole lot of games at all and as such dont have much to talk about :)
As always, thanks for reading!

This post relates to: Fallout 3, The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

Well I just picked up Oblivion. I don't see this ending well as I just turned it on for a few minutes to test out the disc. Somehow I ended up playing for roughly six hours without noticing it, I didn't even stop when I had realized that I had missed 2 meals that day because I was playing it. Oh well, hopefully I can get it out of my system before I go back to school in 2 weeks.
Another thing playing Oblivion made made realize is about fallout 3. I now have complete trust in the dudes at Bethesda. Initially I was a little wary that they were taking it in such a different direction in comparison to the original. BUt after playing Oblivion for a little while, I am sure that Fallout 3 is going to be really,really, awesome. Roll on the late october I say.
As always, thanks for reading!

This post relates to: S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl, Burnout Paradise, Team Fortress 2

Well as of now I feel like a complete hypocrite. A few weeks ago I actually thought that I wouldn't get sucked right back into Team Fortress 2 on the PC by the new heavy update. No, not this time Valve. You already ruined me with both the medic update and the Pyro update. But this time would be different. This time I wasn't going  to be bribed by Valve, this time I wasn't going to care about the heavy update. I would say no to achievements. I would spit in the face of new unlock able weapons. I would deny Valve the pleasure of getting me hooked on TF2 again.This time I would triumph.

But alas, it was not to be. And come 12 am on the night the update went live I found myself frantically checking the download status of the update. This wasn't the low point though. The low point came at roughly 2 in the morning when I found myself in a server full similarly addicted suckers farming for those precious achievements. Not only had Valve sucked me back into a game I hadn't played properly for weeks, they had me farming for achievements like a complete sucker trying desperately to get the newest weapons in the Heavies arsenal. And for the past week the pattern has stayed pretty much the same. I have been compulsively playing TF2 whenever I have some free time. All my other gaming  has pretty much stopped dead in it's tracks. So that means I haven't progressed a whole lot further in "Stalker" which I was thoroughly enjoying. Nor have I been playing my newly acquired copy of "Burnout Paradise" which,due to my current addiction, I will most likely not play much more of for a few weeks. The saddest part of this story is that I have been playing the same map over, and over again. The chosen map being "Bad water Basin", which I can safely say is my absolute favorite Team Fortress 2 map. I love everything about it, I love attacking on it. I love defending it. I even love being a douche-bag and spamming the Demo-Man's grenade launcher when I sticky jump onto one of the roofs.

I should really wrap this blog up, by writing said blog I am only wasting precious time that could be better spent on sweet,sweet bad water basin. My steam user name is "phlegms", so add at your own peril and I'll do the same. As always, thanks for reading!