Big Packet?

I just read an article on El Reg which highlights a new technology that enables ISPs to "manage" the speed for particular web based services. This is certainly prefereable to having idiotic levels of bandwidth cap, but it hardly seems to be in the consumers best interests. I'd rather not have my ISP snooping over all my internet traffic to determine how much I use P2P. I have two main uses for P2P software anyway, and both of them are above reproach if any anti-P2P evangelists out there are reading. The first I use BitTorrent to get patches for games (particularly Dark and Light which seems to love giving 800meg patches) and I use it for downloading radio shows to listen to while I'm at work on the ImP broadcast.

And if I got a sniff of my ISP doing this to my service, I'd find someone else to provide my web connection faster than you could say OMFGWTFBBQPWNZR.

In space no one hears you criticise.

If the only major criticism about an MMORPG title is that "it's boring" then I think that is more of a succcess than you could possibly hope for.

Three years down the line, Crowd Control Production's awesome Eve Online has been subject of a recent interview over on MMORPG.com. Sure, I'm an Eve Online retiree, but when you read that interview, it sounds like they have learning the ability of "under promising and over delivering" which is so lacking in most MMORPG developers today. Over the past few years, they've had their share of problems, but now the title is exceptionally successful and shows that if a developer sticks to their intentions, even the smallest of titles (as Eve once was) can make a good living for some talented folks.

I only hope that my current MMORPG of choice Dark and Light, will be quicker to mature than Eve has been.

Another reason to dislike NexGen Consoles

After reading reports on El Reg about Amazon charging a "sourcing fee" for certain Xbox games, I headed over to the web retailers website in the UK to see what I could find.

OMG, to use a TLA universally loved by web-users/

For example:
FIFA 06: Road To Fifa World Cup (Xbox 360)
Amazon Price: £49.99 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery [I should bloody think so].+ £12.00 sourcing fee.

Just in case you're not sure about your mat skills, adding this game to your Amazon cart takes the subtotal to £61.99

Play.com on the other hand have the same title for £39.99 Delivered....

I'd sooner buy a Gizmondo than an E-box 360.

Nintendo DS a great hit - as is a certain buggy MMORPG

My recent abscence from all things BLOG can largely be attributed to three things eating into my spare time: salary earning requirement; a new MMORPG; and the new toy I mentioned in the last post.

The first, aka work, is not to be talked about in a BLOG which is about any OTHER than work.

The second is Dark and Light aka, Settlers of Ganareth. The game has shown significant improvements in reliability over the past couple of weeks. So much so that I've been able to play for four hours at a single sitting, rather than the four hour a week average up until February. It's a good job too, considering that they hope to have the main commercial launch of the game in April. I will not be surprised if that launch date slips to a month that starts with the letter N, or even D. If by some miracle they pull off the launch I'll be quite happy to issue a formal written apology to Farlan, AD, NP3 and anyone else involved on the "other side" of this title.

The third... ahhh the third. Nintendo DS. Who'd have thought such a small bundle of plastic and silicon could give the kind of pleasure that Tommy Lee received from Pamela Anderson on a certain road trip. OK, so perhaps that's somewhat of an exaggeration. I don't own a boat for a start. But what joy it is to be playing games that can keep you amused for hours, yet can be picked up during the adverts for a quick round of WIFI Mario Kart against the wife :). There's a lot to say for Nintendo's fun approach to gaming, something I haven't experienced since the NES.

So all in all, there hasn't been regular posts for a while. And there wont be for a while longer, particularly as I'm taking three weeks to travel to the other side of the world very soon!

Nintendo DS V Gizmondo V PSP

I bought a Nintendo DS this week. And so did the wife! It's quite a pleasant little device. Not quite styled for the iPOD generation, but nevertheless it's pretty compact.

I have played WIFI enabled games of Super Mario Cart which has been a lot of fun. Gonna get some more titles to play with soon!

I was considering purchasing a Gizmondo but as they recently went bust (bankrupt aka tits-up) in EU, I'm not sure that'd be such a good idea. Rumours have it that Gizmondo US will buy them out.

I also looked at the PSP, and whilst they clearly lead the pack of portable gaming platforms with their technical spec, I felt that due to my preference for multiplayer gaming two Nintendo DS for the price of one PSP - not to mention the cost of the software - won the argument.

They might be giants - almost.

Ultimate Show Down of Ultimate Destiny. Needs sound. Work Safe. Cheers to Saosin for the link.

This reminded me of They Might Be Giants, who recently performed in the "angry" city of Glasgow at the Garage (check their movie) but is infact a song and flash movie by someone completely different. Nice lyrics and the anim is classic "I can't draw to save my granny" FLASH, which is pretty much still better than anything I could do, and adds to the appeal of the movie :)

Hope you enjoy!