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

Long Time

I haven't blogged in a while. I would apologise but don't see why I have to. I blog when I want to and I just haven't felt the need for a long time. I don't see why I need to blog everyday if I'll just produce a rubbish blog from it. Even the best bloggers don't blog daily, as it should be quality, not quantity.

Anyway, maybe I should get onto writing a real blog. I haven't written anything in 9 days so stuff has happened. Easter Sunday was fine, a nice leg of lamb slowly roasted in an oven for over four hours along with roasties and proper gravy made a very good lunch. Even if I did feel very ill afterwards and couldn't eat for another 24 hours.

During the week I did some more revision (which is the reason I haven't been in the mood to write) and played some Killzone online. I've had quite a bit of fun with it and I've reached the rank of General which meant I unlocked the Sniper. So I took it for a spin and ended hiding in a tiny room, picking a few people off from afar and then having to defend myself with a pistol against people machine guns.

Over this weekend a friend of mine, Rocky, was going on about Assassin's Creed II so I decided I would finish Assassin's Creed which has been sitting half finished since August. I thoroughly enjoyed it, even if the end was a bit anticlimatic. II looks very promising with 16 different mission styles, each one much more interactive than the last games missions.

Apart from gaming I've just been MSNing and watching TV. Heroes, Lost and Fringe are getting even better.

On a final note. Sarah is having a child, we shall name him Lucifer Stewie Griffin Dodd, and he shall wear little skinny jeans and baby converse's, and he'll have purple hair

Ciao

xoxox

You're Not Alone Alice

I have a fringe now as well.

Not that you will ever see it in flesh as having to straighten my hair is not something I can be bothered to do.

Been A Long Time

I am still alive and active on this blog, I've just been a bit occupied as of lately. I'll explain a bit as we go through.

Duke of Edinburgh was fine. I wrote a very long blog about it but I decided against posting as I didn't like the flow of it. To sum it shortly: Our group was elite and we showed it.

On Friday night Humphrey's had his birthday party which was very awesome. It was a complete blast even if I did stink of fags afterwards. Ben and Holly 'lost an earing' in the summer house and me and Alice heckled them.

Since then I've done very little but try and revise which is really hard as I don't have any concentration anymore.

Anyway, on to what I really wanted to talk about in this blog. Skype. I really like talking to people, well certain people, but I only have 60 minutes of call time on my phone. That used to be more than enoughbut recently I have begun exceeding my limit. So when it egan to run out I turned to the next best thing, Skype. It is a free way to call people over the internet and you can even voice conference and have several people talking at once. This means that there's been some fun conversations with Sarah, Maddy and Phiggins. I say conversation, it's mainly Sarah talking with me occasionally talking and Maddy staying almost silent.

It's good fun and I recomend everyone get an account and talk, rather than type, to each other.

Ciao

xoxox

Duke of Edinburgh

This is my 50th post.

Tomorrow morning I set off on my Duke of Edinburgh training expedition. I have no idea how it will go but I will inform you all fully when I return on Wednesday evening.

Call of Duty 6

All you need to know is that Call of Duty 6 is coming. It'll be amazing. Infinity Ward are making it so it will kick World at War's ass.

Ciao xox

Leturing

Before I start I'm just going to add how much I'm enjoying trying to find trophies that match the blog.

We had a lecture today from an ambassador for the British embassy. Usually I don't like any of the lectures we recieve but this one was quite good. He simply talked about confrontations and what the major current ones are in the world. I mainly enjoyed it due to his random movie mentions.

Random sections of Shrek, Batman, The Incredibles and Mars Attacks made it lots of fun as some of the references were truly random. The reference with the Joker was very ood but did mess up about the next ten minutes of his speech as all I could think about was all the little lines that the Joker says.

Ciao

xox

Elite truly is

I only played 10 minutes of Elite because that is all I had time for but it was hard.

The Helghast actually aim to kill you, and the grenades do a lot of damage. The bullets really hurt you as well so it becomes very common to die alot. It is a bit annoying but I am sure that if I sit down with it, scope each arena out and think before I do this game will fall into place.

Radec Rage

Continuing from my last blog and my continued plight on the way to becoming a War Hero I finished the campaign on Hard. The final battle with Radec annoyed me so much yesterday that I had to stop, otherwise I am sure I would be missing a controller right now. After having a day away from the game to relax, forget about it and then come back with a new strategy I completed it.

It was a pretty hideous ordeal. It was an unrelenting battle which was just depressing at times. Having to hold off in a tiny area, with surprise attacks appearing to the sides of me which continually killed me, was just so painful at times as it is hard to tell quite how you activate the next section. After many attempts I got to the final sections and got them almost in succession. I would have completed them in succession if I had known all the details of Radec's battle. There is a way to tell if he is nearly dead which I was unaware of so I tried to finish him mid-battle which was never going to work.

The outro for me was amazing. There was one part which was a tad unsatisfying which I will not spoil for those who haven't got there yet. However, if you know anything about my personality you can guess what that was.

All in all, this is game that you need to buy. The campaign in intense, the online is relentless and everything else (including the game menus) looks amazing.

Ciao

xox

Want That

That is what I want, and so does Raj.

That above you there is the 'War Hero' Trophy. The Platinum trophy for Killzone 2. The trophy gained when you have completed all the other trophies.

I want this, not because it is a Platinum trophy but because of what it means.

Killzone was the most hyped game of this year, and to me it delivered. I love everything about this game. It may be brutally annoying at times but it is just because the AI are too clever, or the dust physics are just too perfect. I want to do everything in this game. I want to try a bit of everything and succeed at it. I unlocked the 'Master Conductor' trophy today by complete accident. I was playing around with the electroshocker and three Helghast stepped into line so I fried all three and chuckled as they all groaned and fell to the floor. Then I heard that lovely 'ching' noise denoting an unlocked trophy. I though maybe it was for 500 kills or something like that and was surprised with the result.

To have the War Hero trophy would mean, to me, that I had done everything the best that Sony could throw at me. And I'm loving it

Ciao

xoxox

Running Music

I've been doing some cross country as part of my sport on Tuesday afternoons and I believe I have got into the rhythm of it.

I may not be very good as I usually stop after two long laps of the school but I could be worse. What I was referring to by getting into a rhythm was the ever important running music, and to me there is only one choice. Bring Me The Horizon. Opening with their cover of Eyeless moving into Suicide Season and in theory onto This Is What The Edge Of Your Seat Was Made For depending if I am out there for long enough.

The fast drum beats, intense guitar riffs and lyrics so filled with pain, anger or emotion depending on your opinion but either way it helps while away the pain of running. Seiving legs and tight lungs seem less painful with Bring Me The Horizon ringing through.

Ciao

xox

It Is Done

That is the complete set of Fallout 3 Trophies. Which I finished today, unlocking me my first Platinum, ever. It was long slog of 33 hours and 14 minutes (I apologise ifI said the wrong time to anyone) but it is fully complete. It took about eight save files and as many tricks as I discovered. To each trophy there is a little story, an adventure one could say, and some knowledge gained. Tips and tricks picked up along the way to be passed onto another in search of the same trophy. I've discovered what Sony meant when they said Trophies were for the community.

As I've been working towards the ultimatum of the Platinum Trophy I have had to ask for help. Certain things are quite hard to do without assistance, such as finding all the BobbleHeads. I found a good few of them, 11 to be precise, without any assistance except for Ravens Rock which I was told I had to get there and then. I turned to PS3Trophies.co.uk for some help to find people with shortcuts and clever ways to avoid certain hazards. I was also able to return with tips I had spotted on my voyage. People exchanging this information brings them to a common ground they can discuss and starts a friendship.

It feels to have this Platinum, for a few reasons. While 48 of the trophies were fun to achieve and didn't even feel like effort, the last two were a real slog. The last 10 terminal hacks (you need 50 to achieve the trophy 'Data Miner') were pretty hard to do. I had to venture across the entire Wasteland (the area in which you play the game) and was stuck on 49 for a while. 'Doesn't Play Well With Others' was another pain as I started today with 169 people kills (you need 300 for the trophy) and geting the last 131 is a challenge. After raiding all of the colonies I was running low on ideas. I eventually ended up travelling to places where I knew there would be one or two people to kill. I had to headshot a sleeping Agatha (a kind old lady who plays the violin for people in the wasteland), surprise Reilly (a friendly mercenary who was mourning the loss of her dear friends in battle) and even jump Three Dog (the legendary DJ who runs Galaxy News Radio). It was a low point for me but it is done now.

I am also glad as it shows it can be done. Much like with Runescape and getting my first 99 (the maximum level for a skill), it showed me I could do it. You see people with them everywhere but actually doing it yourself is something you can never until you do it. Now that I've done it, it can only get easier so the voyage for trophies continues.

I also apologise for not blogging recently. My laptop has been refusing to work with Blogspot