Wednesday 31 December 2008

Living_Skins_fig01 Well the year is almost up. Only a few hours left before 2009 begins. It's been a good year, admittedly the Den has only been alive for less than half of it, but in about 4 months I'll have updated 68 times, that's not bad considering previous blogs have only lasted a few posts and about a week before I lose interest.

Anywho, this isn't gonna be a long a wordy post, I've got a few posts in the works but with it being new years eve I probably won't get them online till Jan 1st now. So this is just an update to wish everyone a Happy New Year, I hope you all have luck and good will in it and fingers crossed this time a year from now we'll all still be alive and going huh?

<3

Tuesday 30 December 2008

Oh the good ol' days.

Hello!

funny santa So Christmas is over and New Year is only days away. It's been a full year for me with lots of stuff going on. It's kinda peaked in the last few weeks with Christmas rushing, being social (a rare thing for me) and a lot of illness going around (and although I've managed to escape the two major bugs everyone I know seems to have caught, I've found out I have asthma and a heart murmur...joy). Anyway, that's pretty much why there have been no updates for about 2 weeks. Sorry about that.

Theirs a little good news though. With Christmas comes Christmas presents! I've gotten quite a few games to review as I find time as well as a few rants brewing and not to mention some small plans to change how the Den works.

Anywho, I'll try to date soon.

Till then enjoy the new look :D

Tuesday 16 December 2008

Dragonica

d20_black_350 I wanted to update with something long and wordy today with at least a few pictures. Sadly I was distracted by being lazy so no major update, sorry. Although I did do my rounds of the MMO websites earlier to see if there was any news on the Open Beta of Runes of Magic (as my download is gonna take over 24 hours thanks to the 3 gig install...I know...scary huh?), no real news on RoM but I did spot an update on Dragonica. This games been mentioned on a lot of MMO sites for a while now but for some reason it caught my interest today and I checked out the new trailer...gotta say the game looks bloody fun!

Anyway, pointless me trying to sell it based on a single trailer, better off showing you the trailer and letting you pick for yourself. Keep in mind it's gonna be hosted by the evil behind FlyFF and Space Cowboy...bastards...

Sunday 14 December 2008

Katy Brand's Music Videos

Ok as a sorry for no updates this weekend I give you a collection of the spoof music videos by good ol' British born and bred comedian Katy Brand. She's starting to feel like the UK's long over-due answer to Weird Al. Admittedly if your from outside the UK you probably wont get most of the people she's spoofing sorry. Enjoy

Saturday 13 December 2008

XNA, The Future of Homebrew, or Evil Tool for the Retarded?

So, recently I've been enjoying my 360 more than normal. Why? Well partly because I wanna get my gamer score up (I dunno why, it's as useless as the score in Super Mario Bros. 3 on NES), and also because I've been enjoying the growth and development of the NXE. I must say in general it's going good, but there are a few exceptions. I won't go on about them all today because I wanna focus on one.

The Community Games...

Microsoft released a bunch of tools a while back called XNA, this was to allow small time indy developers to make games on their PC then port it to Xbox 360 and if it passed moderation it would be sold on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Awesome huh? Well I think so.

Anyway, with the launch of the NXE came the launch of the Community Games shop, finally everyone could enjoy small time games for the average price of about 400 points. This appealed to me endlessly because I've always taken the view Homebrew causes creativity beyond that of a major games company. Sadly this isn't so.

There are about 20 games on the community shop right now and almost all of them suck. I know these are small time developers with no real budgets, but I used to be part of a small time MMO project, although we never finished our game, by posting for help on sites like Deviant Art we got some decent 3D modeler, some amazing artists, and some good writers as well as some impressive concept and think-tank members all working for free just because they wanted to be part of a game development team. So how come games like this get into the Xbox Live Community Game Shop:

xboxboxart

I downloaded this game cause I thought the cover must be a joke...it's not. This is the quality of images you can paint with the tool. I am in NO WAY joking when I say MSPaint that comes with your copy of Windows, or whatever you get with a Mac and Gimp if your using Linux is VASTLY better than this pile of crap and doesn't cost 400 shitting points!

This is what truly concerns me. The game got though the moderation and put online for people to buy...why? It's the kind of thing freeware sites don't even put online. This shows some serious issues with the moderation and rating system which leads me to believe that within a few months the Community Shop is gonna be filled with horribly badly made games with no visual, gameplay, or audio quality at all. If you don't believe me, and have a 360, download the trial of RPaints and try questioning me then.

Seeing that this can make it onto the shop though has made me realise even I should be able to make a game...so, if you can code C++ and your bored, let me know, let's make a game where a stickman has to jump over lines...we'll be freaking rich!

Wednesday 10 December 2008

Actor In Neck Slash Stage Horror

An actor portraying a suicide bid accidentally slashed his own throat on-stage following a prop mix-up.

Daniel Hoevels, 30, collapsed with blood pouring from his neck after using a real blade instead of the blunt stage knife.

He was taken to hospital after the dramatic scene at Vienna's Burgtheater in Austria.

The audience had been in raptures, unaware the actor was facing his own demise for real.

But when he failed to greet their applause for the show's spectacular special effects with a bow they separated fact from fiction.

Police are now investigating whether the mix-up was murderous.

Full Story Here

Sorry guys and gals for the no-show on an update today, busy day. I did bump into this story on my rounds of the news web sites today though and thought I'd share. Kinda scary huh? I'll TRY to update tomorrow with my real update (got a bit of a rant on the go Happy) so see you then <3

Tuesday 9 December 2008

Blinko - Real Time. Real (Special) People.

I'll make this quick cause I need sleep bad. So today I was looking around the net when I noticed adverts for a site called Blinko. As far as I can gather without giving them my details it's a social network site aimed at mobile phone users. The site it's self isn't important. What's important here is their advert. Check this out;

imgad

Now am I alone in mistaking their horrific little character there for a mentally ill possibly down syndrome kid? Their even worse in the animated adverts (but I couldn't embed the flash into the site to show you the horrors Sad sorry). It's nice to see special people popping up in adverts and other places, but seriously...no ones gonna like me for saying this and the terminology I use, but are they trying to say their entire user base are retards?

Anywho, I might be able to update tomorrow with something a bit more substantial than a YouTube video or a random little thing like this, so check back then you sexy peoples (and the ugly ones too I guess).

Monday 8 December 2008

...And Yet I Bet He Sucks At Guitar Hero

Bored? Enjoy!

POO The internet is a big place full of wonderful things, weird things, amazing things...if you know where to look. If you don't, the internet is a sodding boring place with nothing to do. Because of this I've been collecting random sites in my favourite menu just to give to you guys to keep you entertained. Today I thought I'd give out a few links to what truly prove the internet is a weeeird place. So, as I can't be bothered to go on and on anymore, here are the sites:

1. The Zentai Project
For anyone worried there might be Hentai (as it's only a letter out) in this site, as far as I can find there isn't any. Instead this site is dedicated to the Zentai movement, a weird form of dressing up. I won't say any more than that because I don't wanna spoil it for you...but seriously, what the hell?

2. Zombo Com (requires sound)
This is Zombo Com...Welcome To Zombo Com...You Can Do Anything At Zombo Com...Yeeees...This...Is Zombo Com...

3. Leekspin (requires sound)
Don't worry, it's not Meat Spin *shivers*

4. You Fell Asleep Watching a DVD
Quite literally the ability to pick a movie from a list and see it's DVD menu on loop in a dark room as if you've just woken up at the end of a DVD...why? Because it's the internet and it can.

5. Clearly Closed
Seriously...I'm all for collections...but what the hell?

Saturday 6 December 2008

R.E.M - Munich

Cover of Editors Song

Out of the Red and into the £££!

180px-House_cupcakeSo, good news! Big Grin I have a joooooob!

Until recently I've been working on a voluntary basis in a local Charity Shop, but yesterday I got the sexy news that a job I went for a good 2 months back has accepted me. This is good on a few fronts, for starters I get to work in a place with heating. Secondly I no longer will be under the control of A4-fucking-E! About sodding time! Those slave drivers waste my time, and the tax payers money under the false claim of helping people to find work. Thirdly I'm gonna be in the money! This means getting games more up to date meaning reviews about the same time as everyone else. A better PC meaning better gaming, and I finally get to blow some money on doing things I've always wanted to do and no doubt I'll document them here!

So, wehay for me. I hope everyone is sexy good. I'm off to drink Pepsi (ta Del) and eat Yorkie Bar (once again, ta Del). G'Night!

Zombie Master 1.2.0

cute_li__l_zombies_by_zombiebunny0 So, it's been a long time coming but finally version 1.2.0 of Zombie Master is out! :-D Joy!

So, what is Zombie Master? Before you go shouting rip-off this games been out for longer than Left4Dead's been in the works. Zombie Master is a Mod for Half Life 2 in which a group of online players take on the rolls of survivors in a zombie apocalypse. The twist on this game compared to games like Zombie Panic and Left4Dead is the fact one of the players dose not play a survivor or even play in a first person mode, Instead they take on the roll of the Zombie Master (kinda like a Dungeon Master). The Zombie Master gets an RTS view in which he/she can summon zombies, setup traps, or arrange ambushes of one of 5 different zombie types (all quite similar to the zombies found in Left4Dead, that's your Valve original thinking there). The game, being a mod (and a popular one) has a lot of player made maps, ranging from the shit (Tetris) to the bloody amazing (Asylum). The game has it's fair share of glitches and like any online based game, a lot of arse-holes and people who abuse the Steam in-engine audio system (you get sick of people blasting sound clips or Rick-Rolling you Yawn) but it's a solid mod with fun varying maps and has kept me and my friends amused for a long while.

zombiemaster2

So, for people who DO know what Zombie Master is and haven't heard about the new update, what dose the update change? Check out these sexy new things:

- Molotovs
- Revolver
- Immolators
- Banshees clinging to the ceiling
- Load-out map entities, letting survivors start out with equipment
- Overhauled spawning menu and system
- Late-joiner autojoin
- Lag compensation: Banshees can now be hit
- Zombie-view spectator camera
- Lots of balancing tweaks, and a lot of bugfixes

I mean, if your getting bored of Zombie Master all I should have to say is "Banshees clinging to the ceiling" and you should be back on there in a flash! It adds a whole new element of tactics for ZM's and a whole new scariness for survivors. Also a new anti-spam system stops people like me spawning a shit load of zombies anymore, meaning some of us need to rethink our tactics.

Check it out : HERE

3D-Bit Awesomeness!

200605_06_14_b0092714_1234751

If your a reader of Kotaku you already know about this, but I bumped into this site though the lord of gaming news that is Kotaku and loved it so much I thought I'd stick it up here for people who don't spend all day trolling though updates on game sites like me and other lifeless people out there.

The site is in Japanese but it's not about the text, however insightful it may or may not be. No, this is about the sexalicious pictures. They are simple but amazing, it took me a while to work out if they were 3D or actually models someone had made and photographed. I love crap like this, if you know of any good sites for stuff like this why not tell me, I'll credit you and stick it up here for the world to see...and by world I mean about 3 people...including me...and you.

Dotter Dotter

Wednesday 3 December 2008

bunnies

Tuesday 2 December 2008

The CrapTop Strikes Again!

ima17_qjpreviewth

Well I downloaded the 1.3 gig install file. Bypassed the patchier because there is a glitch in it and ran Shin Megami Tensei : Imagine Online. So, how'd it go? Crap Sad

Sadly due to some bizarre programming decisions they decided to code the game to fall back on processor power more than RAM, because of this the game can be run on sucky ram (512mb) but the problem is no computer with 512mb or RAM has a 3.0mhz processor, In truth only new computers do (although I'm not taking into account Korea and other eastern countries from where this game originated's technology levels in comparison to us). Because of this I can't run the game very well at all. On an 800x600 resolution with everything set to low in the graphics menu the game still lost frame rate to depressingly low levels whenever more than about 3 people were on screen, the thing practically died when I entered a patch of monsters.

This is a kick in the balls for me because I've been a fan of the SMT series ever since playing Nocturne on PS2 and soon after discovering Persona 2 on PSX (oh and dieing to get my grubby little mits on a copy of Persona 3). It's also annoying because from what I did get to play the game it's simple, beautiful in it's own basic-graphic way, and actually has a plot that interests me (I've never played an MMORPG and been driven by it's plot before, not even Final Fantasy XI and that has little else too it).

I have passed my Closed Beta account onto a friend though who also loved the Shin Megami Tensei series and is if anything a bigger MMORPG fan than me (you'll find out more about him soon with a new project I'm part of). Fingers crossed I'll get enough feed back off him soon to pass on in a quick post to let anyone out there who's interested (and for some reason reading my blog o_O get a life) if the game is really worth a big download and a slow tutorial.

More news on this soon Happy

Oh Fable II, You Bitch...

927246_20080513_screen015 So, I finished Fable 2 a few hours ago. I've gotta say sweet Jesus that sucked. I wanted to tell you how the epic ending topped off a good story but it really didn't. Which brings up a whole new issue in my mind which I think we'll all start to see more and more. I won't say how Fable 2 ended but it ended in a really open way. I know the whole point is that you carry on living after the story, but Fable 1 did that but still ended the story well and gave us an epic battle with Jack of Blades first. Fable 2 doesn't have a final battle...seriously, no big bad boss...and considering up until now their idea of a boss had been throwing trolls at me, I was hoping for something good to make up for laziness but nothing...at all. After the fight you get to pick one of 3 wishes, but unlike in Fable 1 where it was true power or the life of your sister, in Fable 2 it's between bringing your loved ones back to life (which somehow excludes your sister), bringing thousands of people back to life, or lots and lots and LOTS of money. Nothing TRULY evil, just greedy, and whatever you pick the characters try to make you feel like shit for it.

So anyway, you pick one of them and get pretty much the same result with more or less money and more or less loved ones or random people. Then there is a moment in which you realise the story isn't really over and evil isn't gone. I won't say what happens, but you can tell this (unlike Fable 1) is setting up for a truly connected sequel. But then I realised something, it's not...it's setting up to make us wanna fork out money for downloadable chapters, just like GTA IV. These days not only is quality control going out the window on the basis of "we can patch what issues the public find" but also we are paying top money for less than a full game and having to pay more for the rest. Downloadable content like new items or quests is fair enough but whole new chunks of story, that's taking the piss.

But still no matter what I can't over look the fact the ending to Fable 2 sucked balls. I mean a friend warned me about it, but I kinda brushed it off as 'oh he was just let down because we waited so long for this game' but after seeing it...I mean no boss battle? That makes as much sense as Neo going to face Smith at the end of Matrix only to find he'd topped himself...HUUUUGE anti-climax.

Who Rules? I Rule!

ss03

Oh yeeeeeeeeah, I got into the Shin Megami Tensei: Imagine Online beta with Aeria Games! Big Grin That's put a smile on my face, I'll let you know how it goes when I've played it a bit.

Monday 1 December 2008

December Look

tat16 So as you can see the sites got a bit of a new colour design. Why? Well a few reasons really. First of all I get bored of one look very quickly so I like to change the design on my sites every so often just to give it a fresh feeling, keeps me interesting in the project and keeps me updating Happy Secondly I'm starting up a new little idea, I dunno how long it will last but instead of a total redesign of the site every so often which has been known to lead to disaster before (I've deleted entire archives by accident) instead I will stick with the current setup but each month on the first (or second) I will update with a new background, title and colour scheme, nice and simple. Third and finally I have some web-space coming my way soon with a domain and everything, it's been over 6 months since the last time I owned real estate on the interweb so it's been a long time since I last got to fiddle with PHP and HTML so I'm trying to get back into it enough to get something respectable made with my fancy new web-space (no, I wont be closing down the Den, this is my own place where I can talk about what I like how I like, the site will be for a project with a team I hope).

So, fingers crossed the snot-green look will be here till January now and then what colour next? Only time will tell!...if you find that at all exciting you should probably kill yourself.