Planet Sillicon

Too Side-Tracked

By blog on Aug. 12, 2009.

I’m too side-tracked to write the post I was going to write, because I’ve just bought Plants vs Zombies and I’ve been playing it like mad today!

Okay so quick run through of the post I was going to write, about a renovation project. I had to completely re-tile my bathroom a while back, so I also renovated the bathroom accessories as well. New whirlpool bath, new shower enclosure, new taps and basin, and the final products went in last weekend with a heated towel rail, and an electric shower. To really shorten my post, my SO and I are really happy with the new set up, and if you are considering renovating your bathrooms, it’s best to decide all aspects ahead of time, otherwise you will end up with a half completed bathroom for the months it takes to get in the last few items that you order. Seriously, plan ahead and save yourself those troubles.

Okay now onto what I wanted to talk about today. As I mentioned earlier, I bought Plants vs Zombies earlier today, and I’m afraid to say, my productivity for the day took a sharp decline thereafter. Every time I sit down at my computer, I think ‘just one more turn’ which is fine, they don’t take that long. However, whenever my SO has been giving the game a try, I’ve also not done anything, because I’ve been watching her play!

This is seriously a very fun game, and the additions of mini-games and the almanac have really expanded on the enjoyment too. The write ups for the plants and zombies have a very fun, quirky sense of humour that makes you check the almanac every time you get a new plant or meat a new foe. The bowling mini-game seems a tad difficult, but I’m guessing that one just requires better luck than I just had.

It’s a very enjoyable game, and for the ridiculously small cost, I think everyone should download this game! The website has a few fun features, too, including a ‘zombatar’ avatar creation tool, and you can download the music video PopCap released for the game that is a real hoot! The demo is 60 free minutes, and I strongly suggest you try it out!

Top 25 PC Games According to IGN – Part 1

By blog on Aug. 11, 2009.

I always enjoy these lists, so here is my take on IGN’s 25 best PC games.

25) Falcon 4.0 – Whilst flight simulators aren’t really my thing, I like the realism that was attempted here. I also think it was a good turn for game developers to release the source code, as fans have been able to update and add to this game for quite a while.

24) Diablo – This was an amazing game, a lot of fun, a lot of memories. Remember Wurt? That annoying little boy who sold good equipment at ridiculously high prices? I laughed when I saw that his wooden leg was included in the second game, but it was also kind of sad. This was the benchmark game for action RPGs, a genre I still get a lot of enjoyment from. I’m very excited to see the third one of these release in the not too distant future.

23) Doom – I actually haven’t played Doom, I’ve played Doom II on the Playstation, but not this one. The second one was great, and from what I’ve heard, the first was better.

22) Unreal Tournament – Another that I’ve never played, and doesn’t hold the same kind of appeal for me because, in spite of being an MMO player, multiplayer just isn’t a big deal for me.

21) Deus Ex – The sequel to this game is among one of my all time favourites. I haven’t actually played the first one, but I think I may just have to rectify that. I really appreciate games that allow the player to take different, complicated, options in a game. It’s so refreshing!

20) Grim Fandango – This game was a heck of a lot of fun, but also too difficult. Whilst it was good, it didn’t quite achieve the awesomeness of Monkey Island, in my opinion.

19) Fallout – This is another where I have played further along in the series, but in this case I have actually played the original title as well. Fallout is a great, unique, and engaging game, and I’m looking forward to trying out Fallout 3 on the PS3!

18) System Shock 2 – I haven’t played this game before, but from the description given by IGN, I think I may have to go find an old copy.

17) Crysis – This game looks amazing, and sounds like a lot of pick-up-and-play fun. I think I’ll have to give it a go.

16) StarCraft – Real Time Strategy games can be so much fun, but StarCraft and StarCraft II are among some of the most enjoyable. Along with Age of Empires, this is the top of the RTS ladder, in my opinion.

I’ll follow up tomorrow with 15 through 1.

Thinking about life insurance

By blog on Aug. 10, 2009.

I’ve been thinking about life insurance, as my regular insurance just came up for renewal.

This is something that most of us should have, especially later in life or if we partake in any extreme sports, neither of which apply to me. I’ve tried taking a look at life insurance news sites, or having a look at a few life insurance blog sites, but I just can’t get interested. I think I would have to get one of those broker companies that search out life insurance policies that best suit you.

I just find the whole topic somewhat depressing, and I’d rather not invest a heck of a lot of time into delving into it. That’s why I’d rather have the issue taken care of for me; I don’t mind paying for it, because I see good sense in it, like with any insurance, but I don’t want to spend valuable time in going through all the different options.

Thinking on this has made me rather philosophical. I wonder who the first person was who came up with the idea of someone paying them a monthly sum, on the off chance that they would find themselves in trouble with their health, or even dying. Hmmm, I’m going to look that up. There you go, insurance pretty much came about when human society did. Though insurance the way we know it today really started around 1750BC by the Babylonians, where a caravanner who took out a loan to fund a shipment would pay an extra fee which meant that if the shipment was lost for whatever reason, the caravanner wouldn’t have to pay back any of the loan. That little five minute look over the history of insurance was so much more interesting than anything I read regarding taking out insurance. Isn’t that funny?

It’s still something under consideration. I’m pretty sure in the short term that I will extend my healthcare insurance to cover life insurance, but as I said, I will be having someone else do the work to find the appropriate deal for me.

Unusual Games

By blog on Aug. 10, 2009.

A few new titles have caught my eye of late as being some very usual games…

I’m going to talk about two in particular that have recently caught my eye, one is a Playstation Network game, and the other is a PC game. These games stand out as soon as you hear of them, due largely to the fun and odd names. Fat Princess and Plants vs. Zombies.

Fat Princess is available to download from the Playstation Network, and is a 32 player online battle royale where players can chose one of six classes, which can be changed at any time during the game, and do battle along side team mates to steal the opposing team’s fat princess, whilst keeping your own fat princess safe. It is quite cute, in graphics, but that doesn’t last long because there is also rather a lot of blood. It’s odd, it really is, but it looks very fun, too. You keep the opposing team’s princess in a jail of sorts, and she sinks down into it with the more cake you feed her and the fatter she gets. The teams have to carry their princess back to their own keep, and steal the other team’s princess to take her back to their jail, so the more cake each team feeds the opposing team’s princess the better, because the player carrying her will walk slower and slower, depending on just how fat she is. It looks like a fair bit of fast paced fun, and I do look forward to trying it out in the future. I would have liked to have seen an option to play with multiple players on the one console, not online, but unfortunately it isn’t in the mix.

Next up for oddball games is Plants vs. Zombies, which is a tower defence PC game. This is such an odd sounding premise, again, that it bears further investigation. Graphics wise, its a jaunty game, nice bright and clear, a certain child-game look to it which is fast belayed by the zombies chomping on your plants. Gameplay is based around the player using a variety of odd garden plants (potato bomb anyone?) to keep zombies from getting into the house beyond the garden. You have a bunch of sun flowers, that eventually ‘charge’ up and give points to the player, which they can spend on placing other plant-like items that will damage the zombies, attempting to keep they onslaught at bay. This is a little like Ninja Town, but this may actually be even more fun looking. I’ve just started downloading the Demo for this one, and I’ll probably end up buying it in the coming days. The game has a very strong ‘just one more turn’ thing going on, which is so much fun for a gamer to come across. I like the unlockable content side of it, every level allows access to a new plant type, and frankly, it’s bloody nice to be offered content rather than being forced to purchase it after purchasing the game.

So there’s my take on a couple of quirky games. It’s so much fun to see something very new and fresh out there.