What makes you happy ?

There were network problems between the UK and the US this morning. Very frustrating when I wanted to get in and work (because I still do at weekends, like everyone else in the company) so in the end I gave up and decided this was sending me the message to go get a PS3.
I’ve been pondering whether to get a PS3 or an Xbox360. In the end the PS3 won because of the games. I want to play SSX, Ridge Racer, Final Fantasy, to have a huge back catalogue to choose from. It’s no more of ‘more of the same’ than the Xbox what with it’s NHL 07 /08, Madden 200x etc. I’ve owned the PS since day 1 in the UK, have the PS2 and PSP so it’s a logical progression to get the better of the 2 consoles IMNSHO.
Went into GAME, asked if I could swap a game out from a bundle they offered and get a different one. No says the guy – we are giving the games for free so we choose, not you. Bad.
Went into Virgin. Chose 2 from 6 games, 2 from 5 Blu-ray films and it cost the same as GAME. The extra points on the GAME reward card didn’t help their cause there. So Ridge Racer 7, Motorstorm and Oblivion (which I bought as well) are now ready to be played. Along with Stardust HD (I’d recalled the other day how great one of the Ape Escape mini-games was which used the two sticks on the joypad so Stardust is just the mutt’s nuts in that respect).

Ridge Racer 7. So far it’s fantastic. Just as I expected and then some.
So next I’ll have to see what RR online is like. I know I can get close to kicking butt on RR. Online ID is markX2

Remember Arkanoid? There are some games that I can sit and play for hours on end and the bat and ball one is it. I know some people like Solitaire to play but Arkanoid and similar work for me to just relax and chill out.
I bought Ricochet Infinity last week and even for all it’s power-ups and whizz-bangs it’s still game I can play and play and play. The ‘just one more level’ factor is very high. The irritating loops that the ball in Arkanoid used to get into have gone but the rest of the game is still supremely simple – stop the ball falling out. And that’s just why I like it.

Coffee-free mac returned complete with 2gb of ram. Nice.
Creative Audigy soundcard arrived, installed and now I have excellent sound.
Jade Empire installed. Game says it won’t work because the gfx card drivers are too old. But the game does run. Which is useful because the latest drivers won’t display games – which is odd. For instance in Neverwinter I can see the cursor but not the actual game screen. Not a big deal though.
Taito Legends bought for the PS2. (It was only 7 quid). So now I get to play Rainbow Islands, Bubble Bobble and Phoenix all on the TV. I have them in MAME but it’s better on the bigger TV.
Not a bad way to head into the weekend.

This will keep you busy for a few.

Grow Island

I thought I’d start playing Baldur’s Gate again as I never seem to finish it and I should. Before I’ve always ignore the ‘Register the game’ link because it’s a really old game and I doubt there are any new secrets they can tell me. But this time I clicked it.

Y2K unforeseen.

When I installed the game yesterday it reported that there was only 850mb of free space on the drive when it was really around 110gb. And now it seems to be saying I’m running a 586, that I have a math co-proc (do I?), Windows 5 and the storage is again wrong. The display is right. Check out those speed choices too!

I’m not shy about the fact I can tick all the way to the right so I’ll register.

Bummer. I have no fax, hooking the printer up and then the price of a stamp? I’m too cheap for that. Looks like I’m on my own then…

.. and I have no idea why. Steve suggested the sata driver floppy and while enabling the legacy USB which was the only change I made, I saw the drives as being recognised. So I’m installed and running. Very very odd. I’m happy of course.

Went to install Neverwinter Nights 2 and Jade Empire. I didn’t exactly read the boxes… my system should just run NWN2 but Jade might be tougher. So I could upgrade but I figure I’ll wait a bit. The desire to get my fingers in the machine’s innards is pretty low right now. And waiting will always see prices drop, though it’s probably not that much anyway.

We had Sky installed earlier – concession to the girls – and the guy doing it got chatting about his overclocked machine, the gfx card he had, ram etc. I said – as I have many times – that pc developers are lazy in that they will have hardware created for them, they use all available memory and then some more, that they force upgrades. I indicated the consoles by the TV and said that at least with them everyone knew what they were getting. His reply – “Yes, but consoles only have the gameplay”.

The theoretical maximum velocity of a sheep in a vacuum is expressed in sheepsecs (Ssx) – The Register

After reading the above, SSX, SSX Tricky and SSX On Tour just won’t seem the same..

You buy another one.

Since we got back I’ve been searching for the Dreamfall game. I searched everywhere but the girl’s rooms, even the garage. I searched more than once. I searched over days. No joy. I asked the girl’s – not seen. So I buy the game again – and D found the original. (This is despite me previously saying “Have you seen it?” “No.” and yet she then says after finding it “That’s where I last saw it” which was mere inches from it’s hiding place.) So I’m due a refund – luckily I hadn’t opened the game cellophane.
So I’ll check metacritic for good reviews before I go. A good PS2 game would be nice …

Last night we were playing Wii Sports bowling. I happened to mention that I’d heard of a ‘bomb’ when playing the power bowling. Mike said how to do it and he took the floor to try. He didn’t get it but I saw how he lined things up. I youtube’d for a video and when I found one emailed home with the info for my youngest daughter who is good at the bowling – the last game I saw she got 8 strikes, a spare and 2 more strikes. She beats me pretty much every time. After the email was sent I had a go. And I did it – I got the bomb. All 91 pins at double points. I had several witnesses to this feat. I emailed home with the news. This morning I got the reply from P – she won’t take hearsay as proof.
And to think she should trust her father :)

This morning I woke with a normal elbow. It now looks like I have slid half a tennis ball around the elbow. Very odd. It squishes if I put my elbow on the desk. It has this odd creaky feeling when I prod it. And it itches. Aside from that it’s fine, just fine.

Played FFXII last night. I was around 8hrs in – I spent far too much time trying to find the switch for the massive gate in the underground part. I find the switch, go through gate and get to save crystal. Wandering a bit further I come across the Mimic Queen. Big, colourful and lethal. I tried twice to defeat and failed. Third time tried magics and different gambits. Fourth time tried other combos. Failure. So it looks like somewhere I missed something or should have practised using magic so tonight I roll back to somewhere around 5 hours and continue from there. The guide I bought is still sealed….. maybe I should open…
And I found my SSX On Tour game save with me at #1. 55 seconds outside the legend full race so I need to work on that.