Planet Sillicon

Casting for ASOIAF continues

By blog on Sep. 10, 2009.

I’ve one more cast member to announce, and general frustration with George to complain about, too.

I noticed on George’s blog a few days ago that Cersei Lannister has been cast, and will be played by Lena Headey. Now, obviously they will have to give her golden hair and green contacts, but I think this is a very good casting choice for Cersei, actually. Doesn’t this lady look like she could play an evil calculating so-and-so? I think so, and it’s nice to see that the casting is still going pretty well.

There are more pictures of the two Stark girls, too, up on George’s Not A Blog, and they really do fit the parts of Arya and Sansa, if you ask me. I was concerned about these characters, because finding good child actors can be very difficult, one imagines, but George said Arya especially blew the competition out of the water. That sounds like Arya spirit to me.

I was watching season six of 24 recently, with Boothe Powers as the President, and I think this actor could fit in so very well in the SoIaF world, he looks and sounds just right. It’s funny, but I couldn’t say exactly which character – have to be ‘bad’ or ruthless one – but I think he’d be a great addition to the show.

Now, just for a little bit of a complain, because it wouldn’t feel right to leave this out… George has been talking about writing more on A Dance with Dragons… about tackling a certain portion of the book, and not getting anywhere with it… Well, and this is a restrained version of what I want to say… What the hell is going on!? I want to write in all capitals right now, but I will refrain… George! Stop spreading your attentions over fifty bloody projects and get this bloody book bloody-well published! You told your fans when you released the last one that Dance was more than half done, which later turned into a third done, which meant this should have taken half to a third of the time of the last one! But no, NO! The last book came out October 2005! The one before that August 2000, so by my estimation of time and what he said, this book should have been out at latest early last year… We are looking to hit 2010 before Dance with Dragons is actually released, and I can’t help but feel this is due in part because of George’s lack of focus.

I know that it’s hard to write a book, to write a short story let alone a novel, but when you’re running off to write graphic novels and other things, it’s going to take even longer. It’s just so annoying. Respect the people who love your work. This is part of the reasons why Malazan makes into my top five favourite series, Erikson gets books written in a fifth of the time, and they are just as epic, larger in scale even, that Song of Ice and Fire, and as interesting in terms of storylines. Too depressing, I will admit, but Westeros has more than it’s fair share of that, too!

Frustration with e-mail accounts

By blog on Sep. 10, 2009.

Dear me, dear, dear, me. E-mail accounts can be so damn annoying! I get all sorts of spam and phishing scams, but I can’t get an email I actually want?

I got a comment on my blog from someone who said they saw the site on Technorati, so I went over and decided to join up – looks like an awesome site, actually! – and ‘claim’ my blog. All was going well, save having to find a user name took a few tries, until it got to verification time. There was a little message at this point saying if you didn’t get the message, check this FAQ. Over I went, thinking smugly that I was just filling in time, that my email account wasn’t one of those frustrating ones which wouldn’t let this process occur, nooooo, of course not!

I have a Hotmail account that I use for all non-work stuff. The company I work for have a very strict policy about non-work related emails, it’s insane. Anyway, because I’ve had this Hotmail account for about eight, nearly nine, years, I don’t much fancy using anything else. Seems fair enough, right? Anyone notice how the free Hotmail accounts stopped giving you the option to ‘block’ some time ago? Well, I get a heck of a lot of spam and phishing scam emails as a result, and I can deal with that, at least they still go to the Junk box.

But this verification email is just gone, lost, never to be seen in my Inbox, and I’m really annoyed. I wanted to join this site, but now the chances of that seem rather diminished. All I can hope is that some nice person will read this, and post me the email address the verification link comes from, so I can add it in Hotmail as a contact, and then I’ll get the email! So that’s still really annoying, but nice to know people are reading my blog!

Don’t like Penny Arcade’s new art style

By blog on Sep. 10, 2009.

I really don’t like it, it looks bad… and it’s not just the art style, either, the new site interface is ugly and overly out of the way.

If you go right back to the start of Penny Arcade, you can see how far Gabe’s come in his art. The characters look a lot better, smoother, just… more professional. This new art style seems to harken back overly to the original Penny Arcade, and it makes Gabe’s work look less good for it. I don’t know what the heck is going on over there, and I haven’t seen any mention of it on the forums over there, but it just looks a bit cheaper, a bit nasty.

The whole site has a new style, too. The menu buttons have all be squished over to the sides, which means any time you want to use them, you spend the first second searching for them. Bad design, very bad design. Even the fonts are ugly… what are they thinking?

Looking back over comics from earlier this year, I’d have to say the colour pallet is slightly different, the backgrounds are tending to be less detailed, and the characters themselves seem to have thinner outline lines, and I’d say that a major difference is the eyes. They seem to be just slightly different, leading to the characters looking a little… stupid… I don’t want to say that, but that’s the affect.

Of course, these are all very slightly noticeable, two degrees less saturation on colours will be hard to specifically notice, yet has an impact… I’m being picky I suppose because I really like the comic, it’s the only web comic I keep up with. It’s frustrating to see their site and their comic go downhill. I’m hoping that the comics are just the intervening ones whilst they are at PAX, and that they are the reserves that were done some time ago.

On a side note, I’d like to say congratulations to Tycho on his second bundle of very cute joy, Ronia Quinn.

What we’ll put up with

By blog on Sep. 8, 2009.

For our gaming. Seriously, gamers experience pain from what they do, especially if they are a PC gamer, because gaming just isn’t kind on the wrists and hands.

I spend a lot of time gaming on the PC and the PS3 Slim, at the moment, and whilst the PS3 is fine for me, the PC does give me some pains. First off, my wrists hurt like heck, after a while. I’ve got wrist guards to help with this – which my SO fondly refers to as ‘Gamer Gauntlets’, she has some too – but you can’t really take all the pain away from RSI injuries, because in most cases you don’t stop doing the behaviour which caused it in the first place.

Then there’s the inevitable back pain from sitting in the same chair, usually your posture isn’t fantastic, and you aren’t getting up often enough to stretch. Anyone who’s experienced prolonged back pain will know that it takes a lot of energy from you, it’s really draining. Having sore wrists and a sore back makes you very uninclined to do a lot of things, too, except maybe to lie down or have a hot bath.

Now, with the PS3, as I said, it doesn’t bother me. However, since we got it, and my SO has been playing it, she has said that her finger tips – especially her thumbs – get sore, along with her wrists and hands. She has to stop and massage them quite regularly, same with me and my wrists whilst I’m playing PC games. I find this amazing, that the PS3 can give me no issue, but she is still caused pain by it. She’s a uni student, so has to spend a lot of time on the computer, and she’s also stated that this leads to the same feelings of sore wrists – she’s essay writing, not gaming, though – along with sore elbows and knees from her chair and a sore back. She’s short, so she often gets extra pains because the world is sized for a slightly taller woman.

But we both wouldn’t give it up, even with all the pains, I don’t know if that makes us more or less geeky, though…

Shocking levels of intolerance

By blog on Sep. 6, 2009.

Even for a person who has the occasional rant, I was shocked at some of the content of a person’s blog post that I happened across when looking at a favourite blog of mine. You see, this post was linked in the comments section, as the commenter’s most recent blog post… the title was interesting so I took a look.

I couldn’t believe this woman’s anger at what had actually occured. It was mind boggling, shocking, disquieting, and kind of disgusting. I was looking over the comments, seeing all of them agree with her rant, and then there was one comment, a really, really, huge comment, that actually said everything I had wanted to say. I’m going to quote that comment here, purely because I think they’re right, that comment will be removed pretty much as soon as the blogger sees an actual coherent argument that doesn’t agree with them. But I wanted to add my own feelings to the issue.

I know this is just a blog, and that this is just one person’s opinion, but I find it disturbing that someone could be so uncaring about another human being. The kid sprayed some graffiti on some buildings, and he’s going to prison for six months for it, but she thinks this isn’t enough. He’s not just ‘tagging’ these buildings, either, he’s an actual artist, and this ‘lady’ has a dig at him for that, as well. What’s wrong with people? She accuses this kid of being a sociopath, but she’s the one exhibiting more antisocial behaviour. Bah, I just don’t get it. Please read the link above with her rant in it, and then read the comment I’ve quoted below if it isn’t still on the blog in question.

E-Fairy Said:

Wow, your level of rage seems wildly disproportionate to what this young person actually did. I don’t believe the article was at all trying to excuse this young man, in fact, it seemed surprisingly fact based and non-emotive, especially after what you had said about it. Why are you so outraged that he didn’t answer a question due to discomfort? Tell me, isn’t there anything you don’t do because you would find it uncomfortable or distasteful? Does this young person not have that right also?

You call him a “psychopath” a term not even used any more by clinical psychologists or psychiatrists. A term that, essentially, means sociopath, though that it also outdated, and has been replaced by antisocial personality disorder. Do you know what that actually means? Your suggesting this young man has no conscience, no understanding of right and wrong, and no empathy. I think that is a bit far fetched, now isn’t it?

As for monsters are created, not born, I believe you’ll actually find that nearly all who would fit under the definition of ‘monster’ already had a predilection for psychological issues, and some of the worst known serial killers, suffers of antisocial personality disorder, were actually raised in strict yet loving homes. So that blows your theory, or should I say that part of your rant, completely out of the water.

You also claim to know what this young man has faced in his life, in spite of not knowing him personally, nor ever even having any contact with him. You resort to name calling, a very childish method of communication indeed.

To top it off, you suggest that your legal system is not harsh enough with sentencing young people, when it has been proven for all the world to see that your country has one of the worst criminal justice systems in terms of rehabilitation and repeat offences. Your prisons hold one in every 31 adults, that’s 7.3 million citizens. It is well documented that your country has the highest rate of incarceration per capita compared to anywhere in the world. And, property crime – as in graffiti – has been on a steady decline since the 1990’s, so maybe you should start to consider that those in control of that particular part of the judicial system, actually know what they are doing, no?

And for goodness sake, if a person has had an exhibition of their artwork, then they’re an artist, whether you like it or not.

I’m under no illusion that this comment will probably not be published on your site, or if it is, it won’t be for very long, but I find your level of intolerance and injustice to be rather disgusting. I’m hoping your own children, should you have any, don’t try to make themselves too comfortable, or expect you to support them through a difficult time should they make a mistake, or really, rely on you in any way for a moral compass.

You tell ‘em!

Poor reviews for a chuckle

By blog on Sep. 6, 2009.

I’ve written before on how really bad game reviews tickle my sense of humour, so today I’ve had a little time to kill and was looking up DS games that scored 1.0 on IGN. Here are two that seemed most funny.

First up we have not only Elf Bowling 1, but Elf Bowling 1 & 2! The premise behind this ‘game’ is that you are Santa, and you hate elves, so in the first game you’ve got them set up as ‘Pins’ and you ‘Bowl’ at them. See all those loaded words there? That’s because the sprites look so bad, that calling this a game is really being too generous. All you do is tap once, that’s it. You can’t aim, apparently, or do anything, really. You just have to tap the screen. And that’s just the first title, wait, there’s more! The second title is supposedly worse than the first! In this one, hateful Santa and his elves are in ‘Paradise’ and Santa’s now using the elves to play shuffle-board with. According to the review, there’s no animation of the elves, they just sort of bump about. This game originally made the rounds on the web as a free flash-game. Somehow it was made into a DS title that you’re supposed to actually pay for!? Apparently there are songs in there, too. “Elf, Elf, Baby” and “Who let the Elves out”… I shudder at the thought. Ahh, how funny! Looking at the video, this is by far the worst looking DS game I’ve ever seen.

Second abysmal game is simply called Aquarium. Now, the cover art actually looks kind of intriguing, in a DS game sort of way. When you look at the clean, nice cover, you think this must be an interesting, though perhaps short lived, game, but you’d be so very, very wrong. Aquarium is a, well hang on, is meant – sort of – to be a game where you put fish in a tank and feed them some stuff that they don’t actually eat, just swim back and forth and the food disappears, and you’re supposed to find this relaxing. There are unlockables, though it’s not explained what unlocks them – probably just sitting through more of this horrible little game – and you can ‘decorate’ the tank with scenery and what not, that apparently looks hideous. Wow, this is so bad it may have passed funny and gone right to “Why?” Here are some screens if you would like to subject yourself to the funniness, because the screens to attain that level of so bad it’s bloody hilarious.

Socially awkward situations

By blog on Sep. 6, 2009.

Aren’t they a hoot? Well, not really, but when you look back on them they sort of are…

For instance, the other night I was taking a cab home, and because I was alone, the cabbie, who seemed a nice enough sort, was rather intent on telling me his life story. Now, normally I don’t mind a bit of talking with the cabbies, it’s a good way to learn the latest news; they always seem to be listening to news on radio stations. So when he first started talking, I put down my book and didn’t try to curb the conversation with non-committal responses. This is what I usually do when I’m not in the mood to talk, or the cabbie has said something rude.

Now, this time, though, I thought the conversation would be of inconsequential things, current events, weather, sports results, that sort of thing. However, no, he starts telling me about how he’s working too much, that he’s not getting enough time with his kids, that he’s just asked for a few days off, that his back is troubling him, and so on. I really felt for the guy, all that sounded pretty damn crappy, but his conversation was very one-sided. There wasn’t really much one could say to him, that would be more than ‘that’s a bad situation’ and ‘I feel your pain’ and ‘that’s too bad’. I wanted to say more, but you can’t really because you don’t really know this person. I resorted to asking prompting questions to give the guy a chance to talk about it more.

It seemed like the right thing to do, to give the guy a chance to talk. He seemed to expect to be shut down, so I thought he deserved a chance to be listened to. We all need to complain sometimes, and I think most of us need someone to listen to us when we do it. So that was my good deed for the day, even if it was uncomfortable at the time. Now it’s kind of funny, because the guy really did talk about everything in about ten minutes.

A day for relaxation

By blog on Sep. 6, 2009.

After a really busy week, today is my designated day of relaxation, and goodness how I need it!

After what feels like months of waiting, a few weeks back the last pieces of my bathroom were put into place. Now, finally, I’ve got a chance to actually enjoy it, because I’m not quite as busy, and that funny smell of newly installed stuff is gone. I hate that smell, that sort of silicone, paint, glue, stuff smell. I’m really happy with how everything turned out, the new bathroom furniture is nice, and more importantly, not degraded by poor ventilation. We used to have issues with the exhaust fan not working properly, which lead to peeling paint, bowed walls, and cracked tiles thanks to the bowed walls. So after we decided to re-tile everything, and repaint the ceiling, we had one of those natural exhaust systems installed. I found it on an ethical home site, when I was looking for a better solution to the one we’d had in there previously.

We ended up buying all our new stuff for the bathroom separately, because even though those bathroom suites packages are cheaper, they are very limited. We also know that this is going to be our home for a very long time, we have no intention of selling it ever. I’ve noticed many houses going on the market of late, and it does make you realise just how tempting the idea of cash for home sales must be to so many. I just hope that those people realise before it’s too late what a bad option that really is for them.

So this afternoon I’m going to take a nice bath, and read for a while. Of course, that’s if I can tear myself away from the PS3 for long enough. Weekends are great for gaming, especially if you have managed to clear every other obligation away, so you just have time for you and your SO to kick back and play Soulcalibur for hours!

Review of Soulcalibur IV- Part 2

By blog on Sep. 6, 2009.

Continuing from the previous post…

Other game mechanics that I think really add to this game is the chance to level up playing styles. I’ll get to why it’s styles your levelling, rather than characters, in just a second. There are many single player modes, which is nice, making it a game that you really don’t have to play online to get the best benefit from. If leader boards are your thing, though, then you will have to play online to be a part of them, obviously. You will unlock achievements as you go through, though in this particular game they are referred to as ‘Honours’

Now, for what really sets this title apart as an amazing contribution to this series is the character creation. Not only can you go and give the standard characters better weapons, as you used to be able to in previous titles, but you can go in and make a character from scratch. You can choose male or female, and then any of the weapon styles for your new character. That’s why levelling a style in this game, rather than a specific character, even though the styles are referred to by the original character who use them. You can unlock many different costume items, weapons, and armour by going through the game. Some you need to pay for, using the gold you earn by playing in the single player modes. It’s a nice system, and it adds so much depth to the game.

From the point of view of my SO, who loves the games but gets aggravated at the costumes or physiques many of the female characters are subjected to, she loves this customisability. She’s made a female samurai based on Mitsurugi, who is actually dressed like a samurai, and is really pleased to be able to play as a variety of female characters, not just those with little on.

I’m really enjoying the ability to create characters that don’t look silly, as many unfortunately do. They are all part of the game, and that’s fine, but it’s nice to have more control over the characters you most like to play as. There are even some characters included in the game that were made by manga artists, so this is obviously a very key feature of the game.

There are a few oddballs in the game, being Darth Vader and The Apprentice, and Yoda is available on the 360 version, and for download for a small fee from the PlayStation Network. I still want to talk more about this game, but I can see this post is becoming rather huge, so I’ll leave it at that.

Overall, I’m very impressed with the game, and I really didn’t expect to be playing this more than the other three, but I’m finding that it’s taking up most of my game time at the moment. I’m awarding the game a 9.2 in score, it’s really a great game that every fighting game fan should have!

I’m looking forward to getting into the other games some more to bring you more reviews.

Review of Soulcalibur IV- Part 1

By blog on Sep. 6, 2009.

Here is the first of my game reviews that I stated I would be doing for my new PS3 games… Soulcalibur IV.

I’ve played the previous two version of this game, Soulcalibur II on the Dreamcast – right before Sega gave up on creating consoles – and Soulcalibur III on the XBOX, so I was already familiar with many of the game mechanics and characters. SCIV has a few new characters, most of which use weapon styles that veteran players will already be familiar with. The graphics are nice and clear, with good interfaces and character models. The backgrounds are nice in most cases, but the voicing at the beginning of each battle is inane to the point of irritation or hilarity, depending on your mood.

The fighting is very responsive, with no control lag to speak of. Some of the characters moves remain the same from previous games, though some moves are achieved with distinctly different button and direction combinations. Some of the new game mechanics really add a nice touch to the game, such as armour destruction and the Soul Gauge Critical Finish manoeuvre. The Soul Gauge can be found at the end of your character’s health bar, and is a small coloured gem type thing. It starts green, but if you are blocking all your opponent’s attacks without landing any hits yourself – blocked or not – then this gem will slowly turn yellow and then red. Once it’s flashing red, the opponent has a chance to do a Critical Finish, which is an instant kill move, but it only works if your opponent has also broken a piece of your armour, or broken through your defence, which is when they hit your weapon a whole lot and there’s a metallic breaking sound followed by your guard being down in spite of you still holding the correct button. To do this move you have to hit all four face buttons at the same time, or simply L1.

Now, there is too much more to put in just this post, so I’ve decided to spread the review over two. Not sure if that will happen with all my reviews, but it will with this one.