Love KFC

The first was finding out of this odd promotion being run by KFC here in Ireland, known as Love KFC. In return for offering vouchers for two regular meals for a tenner, people can submit their names for a possible new limited-edition burger. I decided for a laugh to put the bear in, in the off-chance that he somehow manages to win it by using his cuteness and charm across his social media outlets on his blog, Twitter and Facebook.

But now towards the end of the day. I get the feeling that this is going to turn into a popularity contest over the funniest and weirdest burger name, rather than helping based on the person themselves. Case in point, the bear managed to grab 200 impressions in the first day and was quite out in front for a while, until a wave of retweeting on Twitter which started with Mulley means that the “Human Centipede Burger” is now king…

ETF2L

The other thing was a practice match with some of the college folk in Team MonG for the ETF2L Highlander competition starting up soon. Y’know, the one where you can earn fancy badges to put onto your TF2 characters in-game so long as you complete your group matches. Well, we had a good match tonight, but the one thing that really pissed me the fuck off about the opposing team was their Natascha Heavy.

This weapon is 25% weaker than the Heavy’s regular Minigun, but when it hits it slows their speed down to a crawl, thus making them easier to hit with more bullets and keeping them massively slow. Under normal public circumstances, Heavies generally can’t go on a rampage as much since there’s so much more that can take them out, like multiple Snipers, or a hail of Soldier rocket spam. But in a Highlander environment, the single Soldier can’t do enough damage to take out the Heavy while he’s being healed by his Medic, the Sniper’s being taken out before he can kill the Heavy, and the Spy can do nothing as he’s convinced the enemy Heavy was using sound mods to more easily hear our Spy decloak.

It was especially infuriating for me since I was playing the Scout, the really fast moving class, and it was as if everywhere I turned that damn Heavy was there and I was dead no matter what. Even the enemy Scout, while annoyingly good, wasn’t as rage-inducing as this Heavy. Seriously, Valve really do need to nerf it soon. Reduce the speed cut on hit, reduce the chances for the speed cut, anything to make this damn weapon a lot less usable that it is…

Ugh, I’m off before I end up trolling somewhere with either of these rants…

I mean, I really do like making these videos, not really because I’m specifically trying to get views and subscribers on YouTube, rather I just want to make them, even if only ten people decide to watch it, as long as even one of those people like it, I consider it a success.

Yay, for the Intensity Pro!

So now that I have my Intensity, I definitely think I’m going to be making way more console videos. It probably won’t eclipse the amount of PC videos I make, but there should still be a decent amount of them. The fun part is that even though I’m already recording and editing them at 720p, I still have the capability to turn them into 1080i if I really want to show off

After a very quiet Friday (which was the actual day itself), with just a trip down to the bar in TGI Friday’s in the Centre for some bar food, cocktails and watching the Dutch dump Brazil out of the World Cup; I met up with a few friends for most of the day on the Saturday, with some general hanging around and doing whatever came to mind. One thing of note was the odd trip to the Asian market grabbing some very cheap Pocky, which I unfortunately munched through rather damn quickly after getting him, seeing as it’s so damn addictive. I really need to make some plans to go get a crate of so of them and start stocking them up in the wardrobes before Eirtakon…

Speaking of that, I really need to go sort out my plans for Final Form Sora now that I have time – and money.

Dinner with family later on that night was a massive affair – sixteen of us in all squeezing into the restaurant part of Ho Wun here in Dunboyne. It was a great night, getting everybody together for a night out to celebrate not only me, but my aunt Paula as well (whose birthday was the day before mine!), before heading home for more drinks and cake. And unfortunately no dog seeing as a couple of my aunts have some issues with canines.

Felt great the next day after a great 24 hours prior to it – and maybe a little bit because of the “personal ATM” feeling I had in my wallet following it.

So, what’s left in the summer? Well, finding a damn Blackmagic Intensity Pro somewhere in this country would be a great start, as I want to get into streaming my 360 online and maybe doing a Let’s Play of something on it – specifically Naughty Bear, which I was given on my birthday itself and I haven’t yet played it because I want to LP it blind if I can…

So, after buying Modern Warfare 2 yesterday evening in GAME in Blanch for €35 (not the €25 I definitely remember it being a little while ago – but at least it’s not €60 on Steam), I sat down last night for a long session of it. And by long, I mean really, really, really, really, really long. Like, started at midnight last night, ended… about twenty minutes ago, long.

The main plan for the night was to attempt to complete as much of the campaign on Veteran as possible to earn maximum Gamerscore from the game. That last until about 7am. The campaign, although it is incredibly diverse, thrilling and entertaining, was way short. Thankfully Veteran difficulty this time wasn’t as painstakingly cruel as MW1 with the infinite respawning enemies and allies that would rather just sit there while YOU kill them all, and so progressed at a nice steady pace filled with waiting for health to regenerate and retrying certain parts over and over.

Veteran is no more of a challenge than Hardened was in the original. Which is probably better.

So after the entire Veteran completion, off I went again on Recruit to pick up all 45 pieces of intel. Cue 9am, and I have quite a large chunk of Gamerscore gleamed from the game from everything not-Special Ops. That can wait for some other time, or not be done at all.

So, I decided I may as well have gone onto multiplayer, since there was nothing else left to do. Now after my foray into MW2 multiplayer during the Steam free weekend, I wasn’t getting my hopes up on how this would work out. The changing of controls from 360 controller to keyboard and mouse didn’t go so well, plus I felt as if my reflexes weren’t as sharp and that everyone else had massive huge scripts helping them out.

Cue the first game in Mercenary Team Deathmatch.

I come out 18-6, absolutely decimating a team of several-times-already-prestiged noobs. However, overall my team lost because of the noobs on my team having significantly worse K/D ratios.

Oh boy, I’m home again

Not to brag, but I was pretty good at the original Modern Warfare a while ago, so that does transfer over to 2 a good bit. With that in mind, I then proceeded to play another 13 games. All 13, I won. I only had to get off because it was daylight, I was hungry, and the dog needed attention.

So far after what was only 1h 43m of playtime (apparently), I’m a Level 16 Staff Sergeant, with a win/loss record of 13-1, and a K/D ratio of just under 1.8.

Oh, did I also mention that one game where I went 27-4? Oh and the one other game where I managed to get a pretty decent kill-streak of 12, which included actually being able to legitimately call in a Stealth Bomber that I didn’t get from a Care Package for once?

Dead chuffed, I am

As such, cue the impromptu ”here’s my guess” post!

Being the nice person I am, I’ve taken the liberty of hiding my answers by disguising them the same colour as the background (or at least the background when this was written!), to avoid anyone who’s come straight to this post from being spoilered.

1. Portal
2. Bioshock 2
3. Donkey Kong
4. God of War
5. -
6. Sonic
7. Dead Space
8. Pacman
9. -
10. Half-Life
11. Pokémon
12. -
13. -
14. Halo
15. Final Fantasy (specifically VII)
16. Megaman
17. Fallout
18. -
19. Street Fighter
20. Assassins Creed
21. Frogger
22. -
23. Gears of War
24. -
25. Left 4 Dead
26. -
27. Oblivion
28. Duck Hunt
29. Mario
30. -
31. Zelda
32. Excite Bike
33. -
34. Mario Kart
35. -
36. Castlevania
37. Metroid
38. -
39. -
40. Team Fortress 2

So, how do you fare?

Now I really hate the annoying YouTube “10 minute” time limit – which is actually more of an 11 minute limit – because it means anyone with longer videos either has to edit them down to that length, or split them into parts. What makes it even more annoying is the way that partners have no time limits, yet it’s practically impossible to become one. And even more annoying is the fact that old Director account from back in 2006 still have unlimited time uploads because of the grandfather clause from back then – and if I had known this back in 2006 I would have tried getting it…

So either way, to avoid too much fancy editing and whatnot, I just decided to take the circa 160 minutes of footage and split it at every eleven minute mark, before spending the entire day rendering them before uploading them. The results are seen in this video below:

Seriously, fuck that. I edit them to the exact frame (and yes, I had the quantize to frames setting on, so it really was to the exact damn frame!) and YouTube’s processing thinks it’s 11:01, and rejects the video for that. Go fuck right off…

I really wish that I could just pack up and move to another video sharing service, but the problems with other places are also prevalent. Vimeo doesn’t allow gaming videos and has upload limits I’d surpass in a single video unless you pay them, for example. Plus, I’d have to re-establish myself there, even though I already have a bunch-load of subscribers, comments and views on YouTube.

I wish the engineers or admins behind the scenes would actually get up off their asses, look into the community and take note that many people wouldn’t mind being burdened by stupid restrictions such as these. Sure they upped the file size limit to 2GB, but I’d never use that in 11 minutes even if I tried. Recording on my camcorder at full 1080p with maxed settings – I still get over two hours of footage onto my 16GB card, which is about 15 minutes for two gigs.

Well OK, one major exception to this would have to be raw FRAPS footage. That eats up four gigs every two minutes or so…

But still, I’m rather pissed off at how I’ve lost an entire day rendering only for it to be made useless by a processing bug. Fuck this shit. Now I have to spend the entirety of today re-rendering everything, and I can’t play any games while doing so because Vegas takes up nearly all my CPU…

So it started off with Major Nelson doing another one of his free code giveaway puzzle things, which in this instance was a code disguised in the form of Xbox 360 lights set in such a way as they resembled semaphore flags.

Now the astute person will notice that this is a 31-signal code, which is longer than the 25-character codes used on Xbox Live. Out of those 31 signals, seven of them are “number” signals, meaning the next signal represents a number.

“But wait”, I hear you saying. “That makes 24 characters”. Right, there were only 24 characters posted, and there was quite a bit of debate over where the missing character was. Despite that, Major Nelson announced around 12:36am BST that the code had been won. I was sitting there on the Xbox.com “Redeem Code” page waiting to hear what the story was when I read that.

So after that I started checking the Twitter search for @majornelson, and I had a look at the profile of the person he said came up with the puzzle: Laura Massey. After a little bit of refreshing, I noticed Laura was replying to other people who had replied to her stating their confusion with the presence of only 24 characters. Eventually though, I noticed a reply of hers to someone, where she specifically mentioned “I forgot the G after the two 9′s”. (That tweet has since been deleted.)

I then decided to give it a whack, fully expecting to see that someone else had somehow managed to randomly suss it out.

Instead I got this:

Yea, you get what I mean.

Now I just need a damn working 360 so I can play in the Halo Reach Beta…

It really doesn’t help when I have a pretty good Raptr rank achievement-wise either…

Starting this week is the RedBrick Halloween Intersocs Ball thingy. Tbh I’m really not sure what point there is to it other than to go to a bar, get buy one get one free drinks all night, and have an excuse to wear your Halloween costume again. None of which really helps me since I don’t drink, generally go to bars unless they serve good food (like the nuBar!), nor did I have a Haloween costume, since I laid low this year. Well, technically I could go in the costume that I’m planning for…

Eirtakon – the weekend after next. Otaku and other anime, manga, and possibly video game nerds congregating in the Hub to do what we would usually do, parading around pretending to be people we’re not, and making the place smell so bad that everyone will notice it on Monday morning

I’ll hopefully be there for the whole weekend, or at least that’s what my pre-registration ticket is saying to me. I actually found it a little scary that my reference number was number seven, and I’m not even a bigger nerd than some of those who frequent the Eirtaku forums, and IRC channel that I always lurk in when I even get the chance to connect because the server the channel is on doesn’t like so many connections from Redbrick at the same time… No matter what, I’ll be going as Hibiki from Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver, even if my costume is half-assed and nowhere near as accurate as some people have managed to do.

Please no glomping, as I may be carrying my laptop in that bag, as well as having my DS in one hand playing some Pokémon game, and my internet tablet in the other tweeting my way through the con via LapLan. That is, if they keep LapLan on. They better fucking keep LapLan on, else I’m breaking into either Clubs and Socs or the Mezz and then tweeting my way through.

Then the weekend after that again is the Games Soc BYOPC LAN, which will be the first one I’ll have attended with an actual desktop computer of mine that can actually run Source! Sure, it’s not going to be the most blinged out thing there (I’m looking at you, you Alienware-purchasing knobheads), but at least it’s something half-decent. Don’t expect much tweeting as I’ll be too busy gaming

And finally in the last weekend of the month, several of us from Games Soc are going to Video Games Live. It will be epic. Maybe I’ll se some of you there, provided you’re going on the 29th?

Anyway, I’m off to go source out a supplier of very cheap energy drink, since I’m going to need a hell of a lot of it to keep me awake this month…

So, the overall aim of this is to create a bit of a home media center, consisting mainly of the PC and my 360 (or possibly a new one if I decide not to bother repairing this shit). While it may seem simple though, I have a few plans in mind which make it fairly complex. While I normally like complications, when said complications can dictate what bits I need to buy, then it gets iffy.

So, first off is my build. You can find it on Komplett here. The majority of it is obviously for the computer itself, but the extras are to deal with the fancy bits I’m about to go into excruciating detail over. Because I am that sad, and the fact that I like to go into details. You can kill the tab now if you want, I won’t mind…

…

…

…

Still here? Good.

Some of the main omissions you may be waiting to scold me about would be the keyboard, mouse and monitor – but I’m already sorted for those with my G15, G9, and some crummy 19" widescreen thing with speakers. And I’m good for an OS for the moment since I can get Windows 7 Professional from college via the MSDNAA thingy. Or if all else fails, I still have my USB stick with the RC on it.

Anyway, my main plan is to have the PC and 360 both plugged into the one monitor I have which I can switch between much easier than having to unplug a VGA cable and plug in the other one, which is solved by the video switch. Ironically it seems to be the same type of switch that was used however long ago in the café I used to work in for the one station that had both a PC and the 360 on it… The 360 will go into the monitor’s shitty in-built speakers for the time being, while I can listen to the PC via headphones, or maybe some external speakers. Or something similar.

Here’s where it starts to get a little complicated though. For the purposes of LP’s or gameplay streams, I’d like to be able to send my 360′s output to both my monitor and an input on my computer simultaneously, so that I can play and record at the same time without having to go via the computer per se, and deal with lag and increased response time in-game. For that, I can only assume that I’d need some sort of video/audio splitter, except I have no idea what I’d need to get to sort that out…

With that sorted the mish-mash of VGA and audio cables in the back would look something like this:

• PC VGA cable -> video switch
• 360 VGA cable –> video/audio splitter
• Video/audio splitter video –> video switch
• Video/audio splitter audio –> monitor
• Video/audio splitter video/audio–> PC
• Video switch –> monitor

Also, with the house here in Dunboyne, there are Ethernet ports everywhere to hook into the Magnet fibre line. Except that there is only one port in the room nearby where I want all this stuff to be. Also, I want my PC and 360 to be on the same network so they can sync and do Media Center and all that other shit. As well, I need wireless access for my laptop in the house, y’know, just for the handiness of being able to use it anywhere in the house if needed. Plus the fact my mom likes to keep the wireless key to herself for some unknown reason. Not sure though if a normal router would do, or if I’d need an actual network switch.

All this stuff is confusing me quite a bit, which is why I’m looking for a little clarity and help from people who do know what I’m talking about as to what else I’d need to get to make this dream a reality.

Also, it can’t really be much more expensive than what it already is. I may have a good chunk in the savings account, but I’m not that well off.

Anyone?

But, since I can never keep tabs on which are my favourite of "x", I’ve decided it’s time for me to sit down and give each weapon I claim to love an honest review, and then grade them based on the scores I give it. As such, here are my Top 20 Video Game Weapons. According to me, anyway.

All of these weapons, I have played the games with which they appear. I have played with the weapon being mentioned in the game. If I haven’t played it, or played with it, it doesn’t appear here. Also, when thinking back about good weapons, I have to actually be able to think "Yea, that was a good weapon" off of the top of my head. No huge list of every single weapon in the game so I can grade and review each and every one. I’m not that sad.

Each weapon is graded based on four factors: Pure Power, namely how much of the enemy I’m disintegrating while using the weapon; Sheer Epicness, how important or bragging-worthy the weapon itself is; Uniqueness, if it’s a completely new thang, or just a rehash of the game old boring gun you get in every game; and Lovability, as in how much I used the weapon at every opportunity and couldn’t put it down until it was either taken from me somehow, or I ran out of ammo.

Without further ado, let’s get to the point.

#20 – Torque Bow – Gears of War 2

One of the more unique weapons in the game, the Torque Bow combines the long range and pure damage of the sniper rifle, with an explosive warhead and a unique delivery system. While it does lack any form of scope, forcing you to rely on the miniscule zoom provided by aiming, some of the sickest shots possible can be pulled off if you use it well, including the odd two-for-one or even more.

Power 8 – Epic 7 – Unique 6 – Love 4

Total 25/40

#19 – Dart Gun – Fallout 3

While most would consider large, powerful weapons to be synonymous with Fallout 3, sometimes it’s one of the smallest guns that can be the most deadly. The Dart Gun is one of the custom weapons you must find schematics for and create out of bits and bobs, but that does not undermine it’s usefulness. First off, it’s a silent weapon, meaning anyone who plays sneakily can make great use of it. While it’s base damage is horribly low, it has a secondary poison effect dealing more damage over the next few seconds to the target. And most importantly of all, a single hit from the gun instantly cripples both of the target’s legs, reducing them to a limp, and in the case of large powerful quick foes like the Deathclaw and Yao Guai – rendering them essentially moot, since you’ve removed their most powerful lunging attacks.

Power 2 – Epic 4 – Unique 9 – Love 10

Total 25/40

#18 – Force-a-Nature – Team Fortress 2

How can a humble hunting shotgun be such an insane weapon when in the hands of the Scout? The Force-a-Nature packs a huge wallop at close range, as well as the added effect of a vast amount of knockback, giving it two thumbs up for damage and stopping power. As well as being able to be used to propel yourself even further when jumping around like the crazy sugar-hyped baseball addict you are!

Power 6 – Epic 5 – Unique 4 – Love 10

Total 25/40

#17 – Assault Rifle – Left 4 Dead

Two words – well, actually really it’s just one word – Powershot. Your best friend when it comes to dealing with the Witch, and a great way to knock a huge chunk off of the Tank in a hurry! Other than that, quite frankly, it’s really meh.

Power 4 – Epic 6 – Unique 8 – Love 8

Total 26/40

#16 – Spartan Laser – Halo 3

Normally, lasers aren’t too much trouble. They shoot some red stuff at you and it hurts. Well, let’s instead give a huge over-sized laser to a futuristic super-soldier and let them rain red death down on the masses. Now we’re talking some good laser. Of course, it does have it’s drawbacks of taking an age to charge up, inability to track enemies, as well as instantly becoming the target of all enemy fire as soon as you pick it up,

Power 10 – Epic 7 – Unique 4 – Love 5

Total 26/40

#15 – Blade – Prototype

Sure, it just looks like a big sword coming out of your arm. But when that big sword is capable of cutting through everything, then it becomes interesting. Coupled with making all the other powers look like either complete garbage or only useful in certain situations, and you get my drift!

Power 6 – Epic 8 – Unique 4 – Love 9

Total 27/40

#14 – Silenced G3 – Call of Duty 4

I tell you, a silenced G3 in Call of Duty 4 online playing Hardcore, especially with UAV Jammer and Dead Silence, it one of the most fun ways to play the game. As long as you are a sneaky bastard, like myself, and stay in the corners and out of sight of the enemy, you can have an absolute ball. While it may not be too powerful, the gun is whisper quiet and can take people down in one or two shots. I once remember sitting in a corner on Overgrow hidden by a bush for the whole length of a Hardcore Team Deathmatch game. Sure, I only picked up three kills, but no-one managed to find me at all!

Power 3 – Epic 6 – Unique 8 – Love 10

Total 27/40

#13 – Holy Hand Grenade – Worms

What much else is there to say about it? It’s a big-ass grenade that blows up, taking everyone in the nearby vicinity away with it. Although it does have the tendency to be a grenade, and even a slight miscalculation in your throw can prove very costly.

Power 10 – Epic 8 – Unique 6 – Love 4

Total 28/40

#12 – Malediction – EVE Online

While it’s not a weapon, per se, EVE is a bit more about the ships themselves than the loadouts they have. Built primarily as a tackler, the Malediction is one of the fastest ships in the game, particularly when fitted with a microwarpdrive and the right skill training. Capable of locking down targets, and harass them until larger gang forces arrive, or just chipping away at the enemy for a kill, the Male is one of my favourites. The fact it goes 13.5 AU/s in warp is just the icing on the cake!

Power 5 – Epic 6 – Unique 8 – Love 10

Total 29/40

#11 – Grenade Launcher – Call of Duty 4

While most people would probably shun the inclusion of such a weapon in a list like this, I say one thing – if they put the weapon in the game, balancing it out by making you use your first Perk to get two shots, and those people just know how to use the gun, then they are not idiots noob tubing. Deal with it. Besides, it’s fun running around with Overkill and two launcher guns, so that you get four shots, which is four near-guaranteed kills. Just don’t expect to make friends anytime soon.

Power 8 – Epic 2 – Unique 9 – Love 10

Total 29/40

#10 – Aura Sphere – Pokémon

Again, not exactly a weapon but then again how else are you supposed to fight in the Pokémon games? One of the moves added to the pool in Generation IV was Aura Sphere. A Special-based Fighting-type move that never misses, but unlike all the other guaranteed hit moves, it has a base power of 90 rather than 60. Coupled with the fact that the Pokémon that learn it all have a very high Special Attack stat, and Aura Sphere starts to completely decimate the enemy!

Power 8 – Epic 7 – Unique 6 – Love 9

Total 30/40

#9 – Particle Cannon – Command & Conquer Generals: Zero Hour

Normally, a beam of particles isn’t all that much of a big deal. How about then you turn them into a cannon. Still no? How about when you get stronger cannons that are built for half the price when you’re the Superweapon General? OK, what about 140 of them? While it may seem like a tame superweapon by most game standards, spamming them is a very effective tactic. Rain pinky-purple death!

Power 7 – Epic 8 – Unique 5 – Love 10

Total 30/40

#8 – Plasma Cutter – Dead Space

Never before has the most basic starting weapon been all you ever need. In Dead Space, the Plasma Cutter is arguably the only gun you need to use to beat the game (going so far as to actually give an achievement for doing so!) as it’s simple shots, be they horizontal or vertical, can make quick work of any enemy you face, particularly when upgraded to the maximum. While each individual shot may not be the best, overall in the right hands, it can be used with deadly efficiency.

Power 4 – Epic 10 – Unique 7 – Love 10

Total 31/40

#7 – Ripper – Dead Space

When it comes to creating as much gore as possible, you’d look to a saw of some sort. That’s where the Ripper comes in. Launching remote saw blades that tear apart and quickly dismember anything that comes your way, you’d be hard pressed to downplay this weapon and weak and unwieldy. Proper aiming makes for quick work of nearby foes, particularly if you are swarmed by many foes at once and want a quick escape. Who needs a saw on a bayonet?

Power 6 – Epic 9 – Unique 9 – Love 7

Total 31/40

#6 – Gravity Gun – Half-Life 2

It is one of the main signatures of Half-Life. Nothing is more satisfying that killing your enemy with a cardboard box that you picked up with the Gravity Gun and shot straight at their face. Chopping through zombies in Ravenholm with saw blades fired with deadly accuracy is heaven. And it all gets better when infused with dark energy, making it actually useful when there’s no junk around to fire at things any larger than a headcrab!

Power 5 – Epic 10 – Unique 10 – Love 7

Total 32/40

#5 – Homing Rocket Launcher – Crackdown

In Crackdown, there are two types of rocket launcher. The normal, boring one; and the badass homing one. There are many ways that this description can be understated, so I’ll just put it like this: once you find this weapon, you really have no reason to switch to another ever again. It really is that awesome. Especially when you can start using it to juggle things around like cars or dead bodies!

Power 8 – Epic 10 – Unique 6 – Love 10

Total 34/40

#4 – Tesla Cannon – Fallout 3

Yes, it is a big ass cannon that fires a huge electrical burst with high damage. Yes, it is that bad ass. Yes, each shot is powered by a single Electron Charge Cell. And yes, it would be much better if we could use it much, much earlier than the final mission…

Power 10 – Epic 10 – Unique 6 – Love 8

Total 34/40

#3 – Banana Bomb – Worms

It’s soft. It’s squishy. It’s yellow. It’s exploding fruit. What else do you want?!?!

Power 10 – Epic 9 – Unique 7 – Love 10

Total 36/40

#2 – Scoped Gauss Rifle – Fallout 3

Introduced with the Operation: Anchorage expansion, the Scoped Gauss Rifle is one of the best all-round weapons available in the game. With a high damage capability, huge knockback on criticals, and a high zooming scope allowing for great free-aim shots, the Gauss Rifle can easily become your primary and only weapon given you have enough Microfusion Cells! The main drawbacks are the fact that as a completely unique weapon, the only way to repair it is via NPCs, which does cost quite a bit of money. Also, it does become considerably less effective the higher-levelled you are. However, it can still be quite an excellent damage source, even against the toughest of opponents!

Power 8 – Epic 9 – Unique 10 – Love 10

Total 37/40

#1 – Concrete Donkey – Worms

Nothing, and I seriously mean NOTHING can compare to a big huge concrete donkey just dropping from the sky and absolutely decimating everything in it’s path downwards, leaving nothing bug a big huge gaping hole in the landscape. And hopefully a lot of dead worms!

Power 10 – Epic 10 – Unique 10 – Love 10

Total 40/40

Well, there you have it. A run-down of my Top 20 Video Game Weapons. Since there will be more games out in the future with more weapons that I’ll love, I’ll pop up a complete list and update it as necessary. I also hope that you do agree with me somewhat!

There’s been an awful lot of playing, a lot of editing, rendering and definitely a lot of uploading. On average, each video takes about 12-13 minutes of gameplay, about 20 minutes raw editing, between an hour and a half to two hours of rendering, and depending on where I am and what sort of connection I have, anywhere between seven minutes and four hours to upload to YouTube.

The result is this:

I’ll be back amongst the living soon though, don’t worry! Especially with college starting up again at the end of the month. I really should work on a nice backlog of gameplay in the meantime…

In case some of you haven’t already gathered from some previous posts, I still like the video game series. The anime has started to falter and is now falling into the "meh" category, but the game are still a large pick-me-up. One of the things that I would like to do is to get my hands on the game as early as possible and then start a blind LP of it, before any of those bigshots with more subscribers than sense start claiming to have the best video coverage of the game around when all they do is some crappy post-production and acting. </end Marriland rant>

Unfortunately it seems that my usual reliable ROM grabbers have been a little slow on the uptake of the latest batch of games and some lucky Japanese folk have already started playing and divulging the details. Which means that now everywhere is filled with every single new detail about how the plot, storyline, Gym Leader rosters, catchable Poké’s, events etc. have changed from the original. And quite frankly, I’m a little pissed off that I have to learn about the games from other websites rather than first-hand experience with it loaded onto my DS, with me plonked in front of it, stylus in hand.

Now to go back to my waiting.

Hopefully this eye twitch will go away soon.

*twitch*

And in case you really do want to know, I haven’t exactly made a rock-solid decision on what sort of team I will be using during the LP. Feraligatr is certain; Crobat will be used if Togekiss is unavailable or if it’s too much effort (see current Platinum LP for reasons why not to bother with it); Ampharos is considered, if Mareep is available; Arcanine is likely, although since a Level 5 Eevee is available, that could prove useful as Flareon or Jolteon; Sudowoodo is highly likely. The sixth spot, I really have no idea what to put there. Maybe I could spend literally hours off-camera looking for Heracross in the trees…

Pay close attention to all the names that pop up during the multiplayer gameplay sections of the review.

Yays

I must admit that the latest batch of Avatar clothing – “Summer Wear” – did finally add a set an alright set of shorts that you could choose for your avatar to wear. Although I’d still prefer more options than what are currently available (you have 5 choices, otherwise it’s full-lengths for you!) it’s probably something my avatar is probably more comfortable in.

Now I just need to go find the nearby sporting goods store to reflect this in real life, since I have no idea where my other pair have gotten to. Probably still shoved in a wardrobe in Dunboyne somewhere.

I also love how epically pointless this entry is, although it might have something to do with my really odd disposition towards being extremely interested about what people are wearing on the lower half of their bodies to the point that I will actually stop and stare, or do a double-take…

My head – it is the oddest of places.

Logo

Right, let’s start to rip on the interim Japanese version logos. Yes, we’ve made it very obvious that they are Gold and Silver, you don’t need to go absolutely overboard on the colours and the shine. Also, I fail to see how the "heart" is reminiscent of Ho-oh, it’s just a heart, possibly in the form on wings. And how is Lugia a soul…? Sometimes I don’t understand these Japanese people and how they come up with the most random things like these and expect people to be wowed by them.

Player characters

Where to start? Well the first choice of who to rip on absolutely has to go on the new female player character. Why introduce a new one, when we had Kris in Crystal? Way to break with continuity. Sure Leaf was kinda considered a new character since there was no female player in RGBY, but she was supposed to be a revamp of a female character that was supposed to be in the game originally (but supposedly removed near to release) but remained in place in the manga (as Blue), and Blue was revamped to Leaf in FR/LG…

Also, copy and paste on official artwork FTW. Faces look exactly the same on the pair of them… and they both seem to have hoods on their jackets? Hard to tell at this point in time. And to stay true to form, again the female has the absolute skimpiest shorts ever, as if trying to compete with Dawn’s micro-micro-mini skirt. I’m just glad there’s no way you could actually look up there.

Oh, and as for Gold… all I can think of is the TF2 Scout. An incredibly young Pokémon trainer version of him that is. Waiting for the first video of him with the Scout’s in-game dialogue super-imposed!

Also, this will screw up the manga somewhat, provided we’re going back to the original ten after the Diamond/Pearl/Platinum arc of the story. Gold will likely be updated to match the new look, but what’s going to happen with Kris, and how is this new female going to be intertwined with the story?

And the other shit

Some interesting new official artwork for some of them. Blissey’s turned into quite the fat bitch, for sure…

And as for those two, I hope they get a complete nerf. I absolutely hated it with those who played Silver, caught Lugia and swept the Elite Four with that and their starter. They really need to fix that…

Ranting Review Score

As this is only a preview of course, there’s no score for this at the moment. But as soon as it’s out in the Autumn and I download it, there will be a proper rant and nitpick etc. here!

Even though I do get my fix of traditional gaming action in college every Monday and Wednesday, there is the underlying problem that I’m playing the same games against the same people week after week. While it’s not particularly a bad thing, I would like to diversify my opponents a bit, hence why we should have a blogger’s (or whatever we call ourselves) get-together to go all low-tech with plastic pieces, cards, dice in many different shapes, and pen and paper!

Plus, I need an excuse to finally be able to play a huge 8-player game of Twilight Imperium
It won’t be as manic as the picture, thankfully. That appears to be a 12-player game using every single system tile, piece, card etc. available and then some!

There’s no date or location in mind as of yet, mainly because this is still in the planning phase. And, similar to character creation for RPG’s, there’s a lot of fine details to worry about, such as how I’m going to get my hands on enough board games to keep everyone occupied! If you have any suggestions or fancy helping out, drop me a line. I’ll be sure to invoke a special rule for anyone that does lend a hand, allowing them one free D10 roll to be used at some point in some game that uses dice

Tuesday

The main thing about this week had to have been the SU elections for next year. Unlike last year, there was quite a bit of a contest for most of the high-profile spots (i.e. the sabbaticals!) leading to a lot of canvassing. This meant campaign t-shirts for all those involved; the creation of posters, some with fancy Photoshop work (Andrew the “Anchorman”), some just plain and boring (humanities guy); the guillotine was overworked for the first time in forever, chopping up all the pages into leaflets; and an insane amount of lollipops, sweets and other things filled with sugar that would have made all the ladies from the health fair look on in disgust.

Not to mention the fact that I apparently wasn’t in the database this year and so wasn’t able to vote – thank you again, you fuckers in the Registry… :angry:

Wednesday

The second day of voting for the SU, thankfully saw the place quietening down a bit. Posters were already torn down and the place was turning back to normal. At least until Clubs and Socs days next year :S

The afternoon was one of the more hectic ones, with both Airsoft and Games Soc having their AGM’s on at the exact same time. After hanging around with Games Soc for a bit until after 2 (AGM hadn’t started as for the lack of quorum), so for a quick run down to the Airsoft one, take a few show of hands votes, give Ordinary Member a shot and not win, then leg it back up with everyone to the Games Soc one as nearly all of them are members.

AGM was brief enough. Every position bar two went uncontested, and the only reason those two were contested was because of our nooby first year meaning just a little too well. Needless to say he didn’t make it. Oh, and I’m Console Ents for next year. Woo. To quote Robby: I finally made it. I’m not going to delve into how badly our resident noob lost in both his attempts, but let’s say it was near-unanimous.

And Games Soc won Best Society and the Clubs and Socs Awards. Epic win

Thursday

Thursday was mainly spent recovering from the night before. Lab gaming was a very subdued affair seeing as how firstly very few people were there, but also as the lab would be closing way earlier than usual because of a scheduled power cut the following morning. No matter, there were SU election counts and recounts to enjoy.

There was a good bit of tension as the Education and Welfare candidates were all around for the results of a recount which increased the winning margin from 3 to 4 votes. Apparently a future recount increased it even more to 6 votes! It was one of the tighest elections ever. I wouldn’t like to have been one of the candidates for that. I would have had to take out all my stress on Super Smash Bros. which the guys set up in the Clubs and Socs office…

BTW, we finally unlocked Toon Link, and thus all characters on the Games Soc copy of Brawl

Friday

Sleep. That’s all I can say. Oh, and Elly’s Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy party. There were a lot of white mice eaten

Saturday

A1 qualifying is the main thing that kept me up on Saturday. Starting third and second bode very well for the championship with Switzerland starting last and third. Also, Man U barely winning was not nice, particularly with Ronaldo only playing 22 minutes and thus wasting my captaincy choice for the week in the Fantasy league. :angry:

Sunday

A1 racing, more footy. A1 stewards are a bunch of fags. Filipe Albuquerque cannot drive.

Plus, I was invited home to Dunboyne by Aoife so that we could spend Easter Sunday as a family for dinner. It was nice to be able to go back home legally for a while and see everyone again. Aoife was especially pleased. Also, I found out that my mom was heading out to the US for another business trip the following morning, which did lead to a hectic night of packing… I did get to stay the night, so yay for sleeping in a familiar bed with comfy sheets

I managed to bring some more of my stuff with me to Santry as well, and with a little bit of playing around, managed to get my 360 connected to Live via my computer, so yay for being back on Live presence again! Not sure if the connection is ideal enough for playing on, so maybe we could test it out in a few custom games on my new Halo 3 map I’ve been forging in Sandbox?

The Links

Fellow DCU student and iPhone app seller raking it in, Steven T-S, was on the RTÉ News on Two last (well 19th) night. I swear, I have never known there was a room that shiny and new on campus…

Fucking modders and standbyers…

The Pics

A heart attack in pastry… *insert Homer Simpson style drool here*

Enjoy the rest of the heart attacks on a plate/stick/whatever here!

The Vids

A collection of all the blood-curling Halo 3 screams when you splatter someone

Unforgotten Realms – Episode 21

The Links

The cuts at Dublin Bus have started… Well now I most definitely cannot miss the 2320 back home weekdays…

RTÉ.ie has a Web Slice! It’s a pity it’s just for the Lotto resutls, but in all fairness it’s the first mainstream website I’ve seen to offer one! Before you start asking “WTF?”, it’s an IE8 only thing

Big Liam from Games Soc has set up an Irish traditional gaming podcast with a couple of other guys – The Adventuring Party. Oisín sounds very familiar to me though… Was he the guy running the Little Wars game at Gaelcon last year?

The Pics

I think a cartain Johnathan Paula and Jory Caron would like this case mod!

Sinéad found the perfect house for a first time buyer!

The Vids

Am I sadistic in finding this funny?

The Guild – Season 2 – Episode 10: Socializing Sucks