Planet Sillicon

Sitting on the nest egg

By blog on Mar. 15, 2010.

I really do enjoy watching my savings grow, it’s like waiting for an egg to hatch.

In the last few months I’ve been trying especially hard to save a lot. My SO and I pool our finances, which does make a difference, and she’s just as committed as I am to saving for our future. We’re both of the mind to retire early in life, but that means putting a lot of effort into it now rather than later.

Since I was able to start working from home, I’ve been amazed at how much I’ve been able to save. As any savings news website can tell you, it’s often the little things that you waste the bulk of your expendable money on without realising it. For me, it wasn’t only things like fares for public transport, it was often food or coffee or tea on the go. Being able to grab a cup of tea whilst waiting for your bus, and not worrying about the few bob you spent on it: after a week or so you’ve started to spend some serious cash on little items.

My SO loves packing a good lunch for work – and doing the same for me before she leaves for work in the morning – and has even gotten us nice bento-box styled containers so that there’s no throw-away packaging either.

So, knowing that I would be spending less, when I did start working from home, I committed to saving more. It’s been fantastic to get my monthly statements and see our cash ISA savings account really start to pick up pace in the last few months.

Also, another word of advice, never be afraid to swap savings accounts! If you’re not in a fixed term account – and many good savings accounts are more about having a certain amount to deposit when you open the account, rather than having the funds in there for a certain amount of time – you can always shop around for the best savings deals. If I thought Nationwide Savings and Investments had a better account option, I’d not hesitate to open an account and swap the savings over. It’s your money, and you’ve a right to put it where it will best earn you more!

Initial Impressions of Final Fantasy XIII

By blog on Mar. 15, 2010.

I’ve spent about two hours playing Final Fantasy XIII so far, and here’s what I think of them.

Okay so I know that two hours into an RPG is, well, hugely inadequate to get a real handle on the game, but that’s not what I’m doing here. I’m going to be doing a few posts on this game, and how I’m feeling about it, every now and then. This is one of the ‘now’ posts, so it’s early on in the game, the the ‘then’ posts will be much further into it.

Alright, let’s see, where to begin? Well, the opening cinematic was beautiful, and played out really nicely. No hitches in it on my system, and with the HDMI cable, it really is very pretty. The story is set up within this first sequence and is actually intriguing, which is nice. You first start off playing as Lightning, a typically ___ character who’s not really letting anyone in at this stage. The other initial character you meet is Sazh, who’s quite funny in his own way, and has a Chocobo hanging out in his hair. That’s sort of disgusting, but that baby Chocobo is very cute. It’s irritating that the American voice actor says ‘cho-co-bo’ when I’ve always called them ‘Cho-cowe-bo’ as in, that centre ‘co’ rhymes with ‘owe’, but that’s just a pet peeve of mine.

Next you meet Snow and his group, who come across as all a bit silly. The characters are mildly interesting at this stage, and a little irritating, but it’s too early to tell where precisely they’ll go with them. One hopes there are some unexpected character developments, because if it’s clichéd as well as very linear then I’ll be rather disappointed.

As for all the criticism of that game? Well, that’s actually quite warranted. You really are forced down a track – a narrow one at that – at this point in the game, and whilst I do understand that the first five or so hours of a game like this you’ll often be forced down a track, I do remember Oblivion gives you freedom to roam less than an hour into the game.

I am enjoying the game, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it goes, but I’m also cautious about expecting too much from the game. I’m really hoping that this ‘accessibility’ trend in the gaming industry – read: dumbing games down so any schmo can pick it up and play without having to, oh God, don’t say the bad word, LEARN something – will die down soon. I’m not saying I want to see the complex levelling system of FFX back, but nor do I want to go backwards in terms of game content just so they can ship a few more units.

Watery Fowls

By blog on Mar. 15, 2010.

I’ve been re-watching Fawlty Towers again and I must say, it’s still as good as ever.

The title there is of course a reference to the changing sign that’s shown at the beginning of each episode. The sign is changed by the paper-boy, who’s taking out his resentment at Basil by messing with the sign. It’s cute, and one of those things that stick with you about the show. The little details.

It’d been a while since I last saw the show, but I was looking through my old – and surprisingly extensive – VHS collection the other day, and noticed that I had a few episodes that I had taped from the TV. I popped one in the old VCR and saw that these tapes had been watched a lot. The condition was pretty bad, so I took a look on iTunes and found that the two seasons of Fawlty Towers very actually pretty cheap. I mean so they should be considering there’s only six episodes per season and they’re about half an hour long, but anyway.

I bought both seasons and I’ve already watched nearly every episode twice! I love The Builders episode, as well as The Germans, Communication Problems, and others that aren’t coming to mind right now.

I know there’s been a few documentaries about Fawlty Towers in recent times, and I’d like to get a hold of those too. It’s just so much fun, and I do wish there were more, though I can see why Cleese and Booth wouldn’t write more, the intensity of the acting is enough to fear an onset of apoplexy for John when he’s playing Basil.

It’s so much fun going back and watching something you’ve not seen in a long time, and it bears up just as well as it did a decade ago. You’ve got to appreciate that, it’s certainly an amazing feat.

Can’t wait for warmer weather

By blog on Mar. 8, 2010.

Usually I hate Summer, and much prefer Winter, but this year, with all those really heavy snow storms, I’m just looking forward to the relaxation of not having to clear my front path!

Okay, okay so I know Spring is practically here, but we’re still getting intermittent snow, sleet, and rain, which causes the path in our front garden to be extremely slippery! If I don’t get out there and shovel and salt it regularly, it’s too dangerous and I hate the idea of either my SO or myself being injured because we didn’t take care of it.

Another reason I’m looking forward to warmer weather is that my SO bought me a rather awesome gift for our anniversary, she’s paid for the two of us to go ‘Zorbing’. It’s something I’ve seen a few times here and there, and always wanted to give it a go myself. Basically you get into a very large inflatable ball, and you roll down a hill. It’s much more fun looking than sounding, too.

I’m thinking at some point in the future I want to organise something like this for her, too. She has this thing about hot air balloons, so I’m considering taking her on one, or perhaps paying for us to go where she can create her own perfume or for the two of us to go jetskiing, which would also be fun but it’s hard to even consider going anywhere near water at the moment. Nonetheless, I’m enjoying considering what to surprise her with!

So, in spite of my absolute love of Winter, I’m really looking forward to Summer this year. I wish you could choose how long you wanted each season to be, because if I could, Winter and Autumn would last for four months each, and Spring and Summer would get two months each. Yes, that would suit me rather well, actually.

Kenshin – not what I remembered

By blog on Mar. 8, 2010.

I’ve just bought Kenshin and am watching it for the second time. Not exactly what I remembered…

I first watched this anime series about six or seven years ago with my SO based on a recommendation from my brother. When I first watched it, I thought it was fun and entertaining, and have always fondly remembered it. I’m sure you’ll even find me referencing it here at some point as ‘good anime’.

So about two weeks ago when I was shopping for DVDs, I noticed in the anime section and thought why the heck not, and picked up what they had in stock, which was the first two volumes. My SO was excited to be watching it again, and we were eagerly watching episode after episode most nights for the past fortnight.

We are up to the second last episode at this point, and let me give you a run down of what the last twelve episodes have been like.

Recap of what happened in the last episode
Recap of the scene where Kenshin left for Tokyo and Kaoru is sad
Sojiro quoting Shishio saying ‘If you’re strong you live, if you’re weak you die’
Sojiro quoting Shishio saying ‘If you’re strong you live, if you’re weak you die’
Sojiro quoting Shishio saying ‘If you’re strong you live, if you’re weak you die’
Tiny bit of actual fighting

Then finally when Kenshin beat the snot out of Sojiro, he finally fought Shishio and the battle went:
Recap of what happened in the last episode
Recap of the scene where Kenshin left for Tokyo and Kaoru is sad
Shishio saying ‘If you’re strong you live, if you’re weak you die’
Shishio saying ‘If you’re strong you live, if you’re weak you die’
Shishio saying ‘If you’re strong you live, if you’re weak you die’
Shishio kicking everyone’s ass really unfairly in a stupid ‘Jim the Giant Eagle who was almost as strong as God’ kind of way.

Finally Kenshin’s won, but now he’s half dead, and if I hear that stupid half-baked misunderstood Darwinism one more time I’ll be heard half way down the street swearing!

It’s really not as good as I remembered, and it feels very silly at times, and not in a good way like at other points in the series. The first meeting between Misao and Kenshin is hilarious, though.

It’s an alright introduction to anime, but Cowboy Bebop is much better!

Nintendo updates the DS

By blog on Mar. 8, 2010.

But do they really need to?

Oh I’ll get it, don’t get me wrong. I know that ol’ Ninty knows that, too, but I can’t pass up a better DS, but at what point should Nintendo bite the bullet and just work a little longer and release a brand new handheld? And… Hang on, I need to address something here, and it needs an entire paragraph of it’s own…

Ahem.

What the hell is with ‘i’ everything? Bloody iTunes and they’re stinking repugnant camel case. Yes, that’s what it’s really called, because it’s stupidly humped – no, I don’t think camels are stupid or that their humps are stupid, I just really hate crappy grammar – and all up and down. Since iTunes made it huge, every bloody thing has an ‘i’ in there somewhere! It’s ridiculous and inane!

Okay, back to Nintendo’s DSi XL. Okay so I’m still wondering about this. There have been three updates to the original DS already, DS Lite, DSi, and now the DSi XL, and now the DSi and the DSi XL are supposed to be sold together, that you’ve got the choice between the two. Does it seem to anyone else that Nintendo is now becoming not only the kings of shovel-ware but inventing shovel-hardware? Because that’s what it seems like to me!

The DSi XL will ship in the US at the end of this month, in burgundy and bronze, and is going to retail over there for US$189.99 whilst here it’s going to be £159.99 and Australians are looking at AU$349.00 and Europe is looking at €159.99. Anyone in the know about current currency conversion will know that the console is much cheaper in the US than here, cheaper than it is even in Japan. Also, the DS is not region specific, so if you’ve got a friend who can ship you one from the states it’d cost you less than buying it here when it comes out!

After that, I need a bath. Damn Nintendo, stop being so damn greedy!

Safe as houses?

By blog on Feb. 22, 2010.

That adage is being tested these days, with repossessions still going on.

My last post on UK’s debt issues put me in mind of this. My SO told me the other day – after chatting with one of the neighbourhood’s friendly gossips – that two more houses in the nearby streets had been repossessed. We were shocked, as we live in a fairly well off area, so the idea of people in our situation losing their house is pretty surprising and a little scary.

We’re very comfortable in that sense, with no chance whatsoever of losing our house, but still, it pays to be cautious with how things are. Perhaps I”m just dour after talking about all this financial crap, but nonetheless, I’ll devote one more post to giving the small amount of advice I can for those out there possibly facing repossession.

There are some mind boggling mortgage deals out there at the moment, with up to 90% loans for houses, but those sorts of loans are what caused the financial crisis in the first place and shouldn’t be entered into without a heck of a lot of prior knowledge and a very, very stable income. But with housing prices still falling, they are very tempting for many, many Brits. I think those same people who are interested in these types of loans should perhaps do some research into repossession news, though those sorts of sites are great for anyone looking to avoid or stop repossessions.

I’m not saying that for sure if you get a large mortgage loan you’re sure to lose your house, but what I am saying is that many Brits are facing serious repossession problems at the moment, and that could be avoided with more insight into the current market, and more information on what to expect from the market in the coming months.

It’s not a situation for leaps of faith, but more a studied search over the edge of the cliff to see just how far you’ve got to go before you can land on solid ground again.

Ubisoft causes anger in gamers

By blog on Feb. 22, 2010.

Ubisoft unveiled their new security package for games, and gamers are quite angered by it.

Many fans of Assassin’s Creed will be excitedly waiting for the sequel to come out in a little over a fortnight, but some recent news from Ubisoft has fans somewhat up in arms. Ubisoft has announced a brand new Digital Rights Manager – DRM – for all their games that have online capabilities. This system is supposed to ensure that their games are no longer being pirated, but of course, there’s a price.

If you want to play Assassin’s Creed II on the PC, you’ve got to have a constant net connection. If your connection drops out, you’re kicked out of the game, and are faced with a screen telling you that you can either wait for the connection to re-establish itself, or quit. You’ll lose your progress since your last save point if that happens, too. Oh and if Ubisoft’s servers go down? Well, Ubisoft stated that “The idea is to avoid that point as much as possible, but we have been clear from the beginning that the game does need an internet connection for you to play. So if it goes down for real for a little while, then yeah, you can’t play.

”

Notice the way they said that? “…Avoid that point as much as possible…” You know, that sort of sounds like they’re trying to avoid saying it outright and owning this nasty flaw in their plan.

So, what to gamers get out of this irritating new anti-piracy tactic? Well, you’ll get to be able to install the game on as many PCs as you like, you’ll have cloud-based save data – fancy words for ‘on the internet’ – and you’ll not need a disc to play. So if you happen to play PC games at two different locations, you’ll be able to access the save file from both, which is the only real benefit that I see here. Most games allow for at least a couple of installs, and as for the disc not being necessary, that’s only an issue if you’re not careful with the disc and allow it to become scratched.

It feels a lot like Ubisoft is ransoming their games to us, and I really don’t think it’s a good idea. I think that hackers are going to find a way around the system, and the only one who’ll suffer for it are gamers who do the right thing and pay for the games. Bad show, Ubisoft, bad show.

Poor finances for many

By blog on Feb. 22, 2010.

That damn economic crisis is still affecting so many Brits, and it’s still worth looking at every now and then, just to be cautious.

It’s frustrating to me that the selfish actions of a few are still having dramatic effect on so many, and on such an international scale. Many countries have suffered because of the sub-prime crisis, and many of those that were hit are still feeling the effects. I’m sure I’m not the only one who’s noticed that everything in the supermarket still seems to be going up.

Many Brits got into debt over the last couple of months, probably just trying to stay afloat with personal loans, but it’s having quite an adverse effect now as people are being pinched more and more by debt repayments. I’m always surprised when I get letters in the post from my bank asking me if I’d like to take out any loans, or that this credit card would be just right for me. What worries me is that, if you’re not currently up to date on money advice from people who won’t profit off of you, then you might just think these offers from your bank are good ones.

But they’re not. My strong suggestion to those in debt is to get some good advice on how to get out of it taking into consideration the budget you’ve got to work with now, and after that, making sure you regularly check sites like ‘This is Money’ for news and information before you take out any more loans.

My SO and I both work, quite a bit, and we are both paid well, yet even for us things have gotten a lot tighter than they used to be. It’s alright for us, but we are also very proactive about looking into the current financial climes before doing anything with our money, be that saving with a different account or purchasing a game… Basically, I think we need to play for the long game, not just for right now like many banks and so forth are pushing us to do.

Flamers for Final Fantasy XIII

By blog on Feb. 21, 2010.

Some people are already starting in on Final Fantasy XIII, but are their concerns warranted?

Fans of the series are eagerly snapping up any piece of info they can about the soon to be released Final Fantasy XIII, but not everything they’ve read has sat well with them. On the game’s official website, one of the creators has talked about the linearity of the first half of the game, saying that it’s largely story-driven and you don’t get to run around exploring until you’re in the second half. It’s an attempt to get players invested in the story and very familiar with the new game mechanics.

I’ll say right now that I’m no stranger to having a go at a game before I’ve played it. I panned the crap out of Fable 3 just the other day, but I’m a little less inclined to do that with the Final Fantasy series. One major difference is that the Final Fantasy series has really established itself, there have been no failures in the series so far, no games that just weren’t up to par, though sure, some people favour certain iterations over others, but none of the games have been bad or poor.

Okay so what am I thinking about this? Well, one of the major issues that fans are angry about – I’m speaking based on comments on sites like IGN – is that there aren’t any towns to explore, and whilst I understand that, those extra towns just wouldn’t fit in with this story line. The first half of the game takes place in Cocoon, a paradise city built for humans that floats in sky above the planet Pulse. Now, the people of Cocoon don’t visit the surface of the planet, ever. Heck, most of them have never even seen it! So how would it make sense to have extra towns for people to explore?

Well, you could argue that the story could have been structured differently so that there were towns to explore, but I think that if you’ve got a good story, go with it. Changing things like this could be the inspiration the creators needed to make an especially good Final Fantasy game.

Another issue many are having with this particular Final Fantasy is the linearity, the fact that players are driven by storyline for the first half of the game before they’re given free reign. Now, I can understand that that’s a long time, but on the other hand Japanese RPGs are usually like this to some extent, you’re guided for longer, but the story line is usually quite in depth, so it’s worth it. I do like that it will give players a long time to get used to the new Paradigm mechanic, but mostly I am just trusting in the franchise at this point on this particular point, and I’m fine with that, Square Enix has earned it.

Oh, and how funny is it that we are now up the thirteenth ‘Final Fantasy?