Terminator Salvation

This is dated for the 18th June.

This is a bit of a wierd Platinum as it didn't really seem like a Platinum, and I will be honest as I did play this for the Trophies as I did play this game for the Trophies, but the story is slightly longer and more complex than that.

When I first heard of this game coming out I was interested. I am a fan of the Terminator series so the prospect of a Next-Gen game about the series was certainly interesting. When the Trophy list first appeared my thoughts could be summed up in three letters: 'WTF.' 12 Trophies, 11 Gold and 1 Platinum. A gold for completing each level and then one for completing the game on Medium and one for completing Hard. I was wondering what would lead to this desicion and I concluded then that the game was either finished in a hury or rubbish. Easy Platinums get sales as Trophy Whores want it.

And now I have played the game it's showing that the problem was the latter one, the quality of the game is a little low. There is little hideously wrong with the game, just a few glitches that are rage worthy and the fact that the Terminator suck up bullets like a sponge. Of the 9 levels there is little variation in the enemies and I shall give a quick run through of each.

• L.A. 2016 is just an over rated tutorial and is really simple, not much else to say about it.
• Thank Heaven is the first real level as you move on to taking out the spiders and you get to actually do some real gameplay. Once again nothing challenging here.
• New Aquaintances throws up the first challenge in the game. The level is very simple until the finale where you first have to take out of the Terminators, and to make it a bit more fun they give you two at a time, from different angles. This wouldn't be hard if it weren't for the face that Terminators require you use Pipe Bombs as the only method of killing and that the cover system doesn't really help.
• The Sights was actually quite a fun level as at the end you got to attack a Hunter ship which was a bit of variety to the otherwise repition.
• Underground was a massive area of frustation. There's a fight where you have to defend these pillars for ages. Masses of Spiders and Terminators come at once and it becomes hard to kill them and you begin running out of rockets so it soon becomes near impossible.
• Into The Wild is barely worth mentioning as you spend most of the time not fighting and having a tour of the browny-green area.
• Angie has an opening as whenever you fight Terminators it becomes a bit annoying. After that it is dead simple and has a crummy ending cut scene.
• Every Life Is Sacred was actually a good level. The pacing was done well and the battles actually felt like you were fighting an actual battle and made this level full on fun
• For The Resistance was the finale and was very quickly done. After opening and taking out all the enemies I proceeded up the level. A slightly intense fight followed and then I deactivated the Terminators and ran for the Platinum.

All in all a slightly broken game it may be but it was habitable and an easy Platinum

Ciao
xoxox

XBox Exclusives

With the passing of E3 I have noticed something that should have become apparent a while ago. There is no need for XBox exclusives. I could understand when the 360 was the only next-gen console but now the PS3 is here 360 exclusives are redundant.

There is nothing on a technical front that can only be done on 360 so should be multi-platform. PS3 exclusives are obviously understandable as the technology is greater in the PS3 so it can run higher end games like Killzone 2 and MGS4. 360 exclusives now boil down to money.

Microsoft has so much money it is currently trying to consume the market, losing as much money as it wants so that soon it will become the only console around the problem with this is that Nintendo have the casual market and Sony have the hardcore. Microsoft trying to cover all has spread itself too thinly and is now stuck aimlessly meandering in the middle.

Well done Microsoft, you've fucked yourself over.

Smoking

I am probably joining this debate too late by I still want to add my two cents.

There's been a bit of a divide among my friends recently over the matter of smoking. We have the smokers on one side and the non-smokers on the other side. Which left me in the unfortunate position of being stuck in the middle. As I don't smoke properly but neither do I detest the thing.

I smoke very irreguarly that can't even consider myself a smoker, yet I have smoked so I am not a non-smoker. Even before I smoked a single cigarette I had nothing against it. No one was forcing it upon me, and I wasn't forcing my beliefs on them. Though my belief is to let you live your life as you want, as you are not hurting others. Which also brings up something with smoking. Second hand smoke.

I agree with a segregation between smoking and non-smoking parts of pubs and restaurants, and by segregation I mean a full split between them. If you choose to smoke, I will not stop you. Though those who don't want to smoke shouldn't be forced to be exposed to your second hand smoke. An example came up at Humphrey's (excellent) party. The smokers all sat in the kitchen, and smoked there as that is where the ashtrays were and it also meant less smoke got absorbed into the fabrics. People who didn't want to be near the smoke could make the choice not to be there. 

It all comes down to choices. Choose to smoke or choose not to, but in my opinion you can only truly make the desicion once you have tried a cigarette. 

Ciao

xox

Linger in Shadows

This blog is technically dated for the 9th of May but I have't had the time to write it until now

Linger in Shadows is a weird 'game.' I was told by many folks to buy it. A lot of people saying it was 16 quick Trophies but I wasn't ready to pay £2 for only Trophies. Then I started hearing more things from the Demo Scene lot. 

Apparently this game is something brand new in gaming experiences, and I have to agree. It is less of a game more of an experience in time manipulation. You 'watch' a ten minute video and occasionally have to input. It's these inputs that mean you edit time and the outcome of certain activities. It's hard to really explain what it is until you play it, which I suggest you do.

I am pretty sure everyone will enjoy it. Whether you actually apreciate how good it is or just like the clang of new Silver wear this is a very fun experience.

Sal's

As much as I can try deny it, Sal's is an important part of my life. I've met some great people there and a lot of close friends. I've also learnt a lot there. I've been exposed to mass ignorance and and differing opinions. I've seen Creationist argue with total belief in there ridiculous argument and I have seen ignorance in it's highest form in the denial of Evolution.

It's also been where I have had some surreal experiences. One night is still a laughing point between me and the person involved, 'Try New Things!' 

While I was browsing through the forum and making a few posts I started to notice that even through purely text based communications, friendships form, and I can neatly group them up. This picture will be my working point.

Each of the circles represents a different section of the forum, and of the friends I made there. The top left is the simplest, and the hardest. The top left is just people who are just awesome, so I have got to know and become friends with. Most of them are bloggers but it's also because they are just generally awesome people.

To the right of them is the staff, which are all people who have been selected to moderate the forum or to because they are 'Distinguished' in the eyes of the staff. When I got promoted to being a Distinguished Member I was thrown into an area with people who I had never really got to know. When people can talk freely they say a lot more, so I got to know them very quickly.

The bottom ones are the Playstation Club, the place I always posts. I love gaming, and playing on my Playstation 3 so we exchange news, tips, advice and general PS3 stuff. When your interests are so deeply shared you can easily get along with people and we've all become good buddies.

The people in the middle are more interesting. The overlapping of groups is most interesting as it really points out certain wholes in the forum. Pixel Bunnie is a very interesting person, it's hard to explain, so I was always friends with her and when we both got promoted it changed very little. Dani is another interesting person, he is more innuendo filled than you could imagine and him being a member of the staff changed little as well.

Fencefry crosses out from the Playstation Club as he is a very nice guy and we agree on a lot. However, there is no cross over from the staff to the Playstation Club. Which may mean nothing to most people but I notice something more deep. The Playstation Club is located in a Sub-Forum of 'Everything Not RuneScape' called 'Console Games.' Imaginative I know! But in that whole Sub-Forum there are 3 staff that post, and only two of us are massively active. There used to be a fourth but he got demoted for various reasons. The reason to me while there are no staff there is because of the maturity in that forum. It could be that none of the staff are gamers but I know some of them have an interest of sorts. The main things is the whole area is filled with the possibility of flame wars, and a few break out occasionally. With xBox and Playstation fans so closely placed (and with the occasioanl wailing on of the Wii) disputes occasionally occur and lead to abuse from both sides. I think the last serious one was over Cal of Duty, and which guns were better, but it ended in suspensions.

Enough about my life, or lack of it.

Ciao

xoxox

Benjamin Linus

Video Recaps | Full Episodes | Webisodes

Dan

Ok. I would say this to your face but I'll fuck up the words somehow.

Stay out of my life. If I want to tell people about what's going on I'll tell them myself, I don't need you telling people and telling them wrong.

Stop fucking intervening in my life and get on with your own.

Other news. Life is otherwise fine

Yippee Ki Yay MotherFucker

xoxox