Back In The Nick of Time

Yes. I'm back, just in time to do at least one post in January. And there is no way you can prove I'm writing this in February.

So I'm back, as promised, and although I don't have any stimulating content just yet, I do have something just as exciting.

Say hello to Mycroft;

Yes, I named my new computer Mycroft, deal with it.

Of course the real computer is out of shot, sitting under my desk. It's a Dell Inspiron 580, with a 3.2Ghz i3 processor and 4GB of RAM. It's also black.

As you might be able to make out in the picture, I've been downloading a lot of my unplayed Steam library. Torchlight I've admittedly played before, but it's nice to be able to run the thing without it running at 1 FPS. Tales of Monkey Island works far better than it ever did on the Toaster (Requiescat in pace, Toaster).

I also spent some time downloading TF2, and when I say spent some time, I mean about four hours. The bandwidth in the flat is all over the place. It runs okay, and whilst the graphics aren't perfect, it's still a better experience than playing it on the XBox.

As we speak I am downloading S.T.A.L.K.E.R Call Of Pripyat which I'm quite looking forward to, ever since I read an article detailing the Emission events. I'm not sure how well I'll be able to run it but I'm hopeful. I'm sure it will be able to cope.

So there we are. A new year and a new computer. Also a new phone but that's not really relevant at this juncture. Stay tuned for compelling updates. Next time; the future of the Assassin's Creed franchise.

NoClip and Further Dungeons

Before we get started, lemme just say I wanna go to a PAX. This is now my goal. To go to a PAX. They are at sucky times of the year for me, and also in America, but I'm still going to one of them. So there.

Re-installed Half-Life 2, purely so I could abuse the console to get the Super Gravity Gun and stuff the bloody trash can cop into the god-damn trash can then laugh hysterically. After about twenty minutes of basically hitting the corpse into the can, it went in, but it really wasn't worth after all the effort. I was so bored by that point I even forgot to get a screen shot. I also mucked about with a bit of noclipping, but usually ended up trapped in NoWhereVille (the name I give to the blank areas behind the drawn walls) so that got dull after a while. I turned the game off when killing the Metro Cops got old. I like shotguns. However, the whole experience has me thinking of a few ideas for a G-Mod comic. Don't hold your breath though, since I wouldn't even think of getting it till I get a new laptop, as HL2 staggers along on this one.

I finally bought Torchlight, and it is SWEET. As in like absolutely fantastic. I honestly can't remember the last time I enjoyed a computer game this much. I haven't been playing it as much as I've wanted to (i.e. the whole day) but I am writing a review for NR, so there's that. Next time I blog it'll be a proper post about the game, with a suitably appropriate pun as the title...

But until then, watch this, and I will see y'all when you next turn up!

UF-OMG

Ugh, it hurts to have a title that cliche. I'll go flay myself after this.

No blog posts for a while. I went home at the weekend, but I didn't update the blog because I'd left my laptop charger back at the flat, and I didn't realise until the second the train pulled out of Canterbury East. Just my luck.

I had a go on this weird white box next to my TV, which I'm pretty is called a XBox or something like that. I finally finished Mothership Zeta on F3, which was good. There's a very weird space battle section at the end which involves pressing three buttons, and that's pretty much it. Although there is an awesome explosion at the end. Upon returning to Earth I wandered around the Wastelands aimlessly, and it rekindled my love for Fallout 3. Plus, alien lazers are pretty awesome.

I also am looking to buy Torchlight, mainly because I need a new game to play, and also something to review on NR. I'd spent most of last week entering a six-word story competition to try and win a copy. On one hand, I like the idea of a contest that isn't entirely luck based. On the other, HURR ME CANT WRITE GOOD WORDS.

Finally, go read this webcomic. It's clearly designed for cool people, so god knows why I'm reading it.

As you may be able to tell I'm feeling a tad self-depricating this week. Thumbs up though.

See y'all at some other point in the future!

Nothing Doing

There has been a lack of updates here recently. Reason; I've honestly got nothing to talk about. The new laptop fell through, I've been slowing been turning my room into a Coca-Cola advert (and seriously suffering from the effects of this) and hammering my head against a wall because i STILL don't have Torchlight. Curse you, ambiguous god-like entity.

This also has the impact that I've had nothing to write for the Newb Review, so I may wheel out my old review of Grim Fandango. I am probably going to be appearing on the podcast this week so check it out on the site

Finally, my one sentence review of that Tekken game that was on PSP;

You can play as a kangaroo.

Take from that what you will. Now go 'way...

Life is one big RPG...

Or so it would seem that way. It's all about the upgrades, people!

Finally. Finally, after literally years of complaining, I am upgrading my laptop. Yeah, the E System 3115 with it's 1.73Ghz processor, 1MB of memory and 80GB of hard drive has served me well enough in the past (ignoring the problems with Portal and Time Gentlemen, Please) but now I'm moving on up.

THIS is the laptop I'm getting, although, technically it's not, sort of making that link pointless. Whilst it's still the Acer 5738, it's got a 320GB hard drive instead of 250GB, and actually has real graphics card (the main reason I like it). It's also got an AMD Athelon processor (I think) which only runs at 2.0Ghz, but I'm perfectly happy with that. Oh and it's rocking up Windows 7, which honestly isn't a big deal for me, although apparently it can give me 15% more battery life, although I have absolutely no idea how.

So there we go. I should be getting it sometime around next week, so The Toaster isn't finished yet, it's still got some time left before I sell it to someone, then run off laughing about it.

On a similar vein, I've been getting excited about Torchlight, which I can honestly admit I only found out about three or four days ago from the Steam frontpage. It's sort of Diablo-esque click-a-thon, probably because it was made by a load of the guys who did the first two Diablos. I don't know what interested me about it, but it's a low-spec game, with an cool gameplay idea (procedurally-generated-item-collecting-dungeon-crawler-with-a-wolf-sidekick), and I've downloaded the demo. I'll be honest, it doesn't run as well as I'd hope, so I may need to get a laptop... HEY. I just realised...

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is a full circle.

The other day I bought EDGE. I've given up all hope.

See y'all in the Dungeons!