… buying a second PS3 Controller so the girlfriend and I can play LittleBigPlanet together :D

Had Dock and Faye round last weekend just after the game arrived in the post and I’d asked Dock to bring along any spare pads so we could try the multiplayer option. It was so much fun, that Faye was a little disappointed after Dock had to leave, as he’d taken the controller’s with him. Oh, we were also a little sad to see him leave, not just ‘cos he took the pads haha

I’d been meaning to pick up a spare, just never had good reason to before as I’d never had any multiplayer games really. I think we’ll try designing a level next time she’s round :)

Nothing news worthy to report. Carry on.

About a week ago now, I was invited to attend a LAN Party in Swindon at Gillian’s. I’ve been wanting to do a short write up about it for a while now, but have just been so busy lately. Even today, I’m writing this after coming back from a weekend at Rik and Wing’s, which I’ll write about later this week :)

I haven’t been to a LAN Party since I was 18 years old! I was looking forward to this for nearly 2 months and had anticipated the fact that no one will be sleeping much that weekend and decided to pick up a few tins of Caffeine Mints to help with that XD The first evening began with Kit picking me up at my apartment around midnight, arriving at Swindon at about 1:30am, and then immediately diving into an ‘Unreal Tournament 3′ match. By 8am I’d decided I needed to crash and excused myself to retire to my lovely fold-away futon that I’d brought along with me.

I’d only managed to get 3 hours of sleep though before I was up again at 11am, only to find that some people were still up playing ‘World of Warcraft’. I was tempted to join them, but I haven’t touched my WoW account in quite a while and my character was far too weak to go on Raids. In another corner of the room, we also had an Xbox 360 and a PS3. A couple of the guys were taking turns playing ‘Devil May Cry 4′, which is a stunning game. I’d been planning to pick this up in another month or so and this weekend kind of spoilered the game for me haha but it’s fine, I’m in it for the gameplay, not the story.

After some breakfast, Gillian decided to treat myself, Denji and Bex to a game of Scrabble! Yes. At a LAN Party, with all this awesome hardware around us, we play a board game. It was awesome XD You should’ve seen my face light up when I spelled the word ‘SPLEEN’. Also, I think we all giggled when Gillian spelled out ‘ORC’.

The rest of the weekend was pretty much more gaming, a trip to the supermarket to buy more energy drinks, some food and aspirin. I swear, I was buzzing so much, when the weekend was over, my body was shaking from Caffeine withdrawal! There was a lot more to the weekend, but unless you were there, words just don’t do it justice. It was great. The guys I’d met were all a fun bunch and we had a fantastic time shooting each other. There was a lot of love in that house that weekend.

Looking forward to the next event :D

I can’t believe this sudden burst of games lately. I’ve been eating a packed lunch the past week in an attempt to save some cash after purchasing Assassin’s Creed, Uncharted: Drakes Fortune, N3: Ninety Nine Nights and Zombies Calling. I thought, great! These should keep me content for the next few months. I still want to pick up Mass Effect too at some point. Damn it!! See? All these games does not stop the lusting after the next load of upcoming titles. Oh, when will it end?!? *eats sandwich*

Looking forward to getting my hands on an Alone in the Dark demo (PLEASE release one T_T) but in the meantime, I played the demo for Dark Messiah of Might & Magic, which I really liked, and also just discovered Dark Sector (pictured above+below) which is coming out in about a month or so. Currently, very much looking forward to this title. It looks like super fun and it totally slipped under my radar. I only came across it by complete accident when I was doing a search for Dark Messiah on Amazon.

The main character in Dark Sector has had his arm exposed to some toxic disease and it mutates “into a gnarled, armoured instrument of destruction that can spontaneously grow a three-bladed flying weapon called the glaive”. It’s played in a third person view and has a few similar traits as RE:4, thus its appeal.

Lately I’ve noticed an influx in the action-mmo genre. *JOY*

With Tabula Rasa finally released (got to try it, very cool, may subscribe), reviews of Huxley started popping up again (not that keen on this one) and there’s been sneak peeks at the upcoming The Agency, which reminds me of Team Fortress in style. But today, some sites had been reporting about a Korean action-mmo titled The Day that’s released some gorgeous concept art which I’d like to share.

If they can get the game to look as good as the concept art, I’m sold! I love the whole past/future sci-fi look :D Click here for more concept art. This post is riddled with links today.

On the plus side, at least there are enough titles out there to keep me entertained for the next year XD I promised myself that I won’t buy anything new until I’ve completed what I’ve purchased. My time management is fine, by the way. I don’t spend more than 2 or 3 hours every few nights on games :) I do try to stay productive! Speaking of which, tonight is the Jiman Prize Ceremony at the Japanese Embassy, hoping to catch up with Gillian and Michael to congratulate them and possibly discuss our projects together a bit. It’s not often I get to a face-to-face chat with people I’m working with.

Free Drinks and Sushi Ahoy!!

I took the day off today after waking up feeling like crap. Had a cold for the past week and thought I’d gotten through the worst of it, then POW! Couldn’t sleep a wink all night and all out of Night Nurse (zonks you right out, that stuff). Such a shame, as I had a really chilled out Saturday night and finally got to watch ‘Interview‘, which was a pretty good movie.

Called in sick and spent most of today in bed, and my evening was spent playing Team Fortress 2. When I first got the Orange Box, I tried it once and I was awful at it. But now, I’m awful at it and having fun :D The game’s cool. I found myself enjoying it a lot, mainly because the team work aspect of the game actually works.

Oh, Red Dwarf reruns are on!! I’ll catch an episode of that and then crash I think. Hope everyone’s had a pleasant Sunday :)

I could tell you how awesome this game is. I could put lots and lots of screencaps trying to capture it’s genius. I could link you to review upon review that praise this game. But I won’t. I’d rather SHOW you a glimpse, and it really is just a tiny tiny glimpse, into what makes this game great. Check out the video below.

It’s not just the gameplay, it’s the whole package. The story, the humour, the puzzles. Dude, I think I’m in love <3

My recent visit to Cambridge differed this time round as instead of staying round Dock and Selina’s, I spent the trip at Emma and Pud’s house :) I actually got to sleep on a very comfy futon sofa bed.

The highlight of the trip I believe was when Emma and I decided to head out to Tesco’s to buy something for lunch. Our combined bills total was about £140, with only £15 of that being spent on food XD the rest went on games and DVD’s. We’d both picked up a copy of Thrillville, a game that featured work from Dock and Selina. It’s weird, as Emma said, going from buying books/comics created by friends, to now buying games created by friends! Now we wait to see who makes it to the movies first haha

I got myself the Xbox version, as you saw, and Emma picked up the Wii version. We’d spent the entire evening, from about 4:00pm till 11:30pm playing Thrillville non-stop! It’s THAT good. I can see why the Wii version is superior to the Xbox version, as some games, such as mini-golf and the entertainer’s dance game, take full advantage of the Wii-mote. Makes those kind of mini-games really fun to play.

Apart from just great mini-games (such as the wonderful Sparkle Quest 2 and Sparkle Island) the main theme of the game is to build and run theme-parks. You wouldn’t believe how much fun you can have creating crazy roller-coasters.

Emma and Pud introduced me to this absolutely insane anime called Paniponi Dash. It’s totally nutters! I found myself laughing out loud often during every episode. I don’t understand how people can dream up this stuff! They must’ve been on crack with a hint of acid and lots ‘n lost ‘o sugar!!

We’d also found time to catch up with the rest of the Cambridge crew (Sonia, Matthew, Laura, Selina and Dock) and enjoyed a meal at Aki Teri’s, where I got to watch on the TV screens they had there the magnificent collection of headwear that Jamiroquai had featured in his videos over the last decade or so. Some crazy stuff.

All in all, a good time was had by all.

The End.

PS. This month’s Sweatdrop Podcast is out and the guys talk about the new ‘co_OKiE: Workaholic‘ comic in it. Check it out! It’s a good one!