Hocking

How to Loose Friends & Alienate People I've had it on DVD since it came out, but never actually gotten around to watching it. Stuck it in last night as I didn't particularly feel like watching anything else I've picked up and have yet to watch. Surprised by how much I actually enjoyed it.

Picked up Super and Face Off on DVD the other day, as well as Drive Angry & Limitless on Blu-Ray. Quite pleased with the latter two, I don't usually buy Blu-Ray as I don't like to pay extra when you can up-scale DVDs on the PS3. The only other films I've bought as Blu-Ray before have been Avatar and Iron Man 2, although I regret not buying Iron Man 2 as a DVD. On this occasion they were only £1 more expensive than the DVD counter-parts though, so I went with it.

I love Borderlands, although it's one I keep putting down to avoid cleaning up the main quest without doing all the side missions. Only ever played in Co-Op twice, which was about two months ago now with a friend whom picked it up on the 360 after his PC kicked the bucket and was in need of things to play with other people. At the time though I was a good few levels ahead of him, but he was quite keen on my speeding up his progress to catch up with me. Never got the opportunity to play more of it in co-op though, as he then went ahead and completed it within two or three days. Edit; Spoiler'd the spoiler that'd been spoiler'd.

A poor choice of words on my behalf. Ditto, but I'm thankful they've not tried to integrate TOR with Origin. If The Old Republic did force the use of the software, I wouldn't be interested in picking up a copy as I disagree with the Terms of Service. That said, I am very confused about how the current EA account system works. EA forcibly reset my password following one of the LulzSec attacks a little while ago; which I then had to change. Yet when I access content on my XBOX that is tied to my EA account, it hasn't asked me to input the new password.

I have no idea what I'm doing wrong with the URL system on here. In the post I deleted, I swapped out the URL for the more well known Eurogamer, but it kept linking to the less well known website. That URL does work, if you copy and paste it into your address bar. Failing that though, this is the thread that the article links to; http://www.swtor.com...ad.php?t=343383 There are a couple of posts in there from Bioware Stephen Reid on how netting a boxed retail copy doesn't force you to use Origin.

I could be wrong, but as far as I know, you're only required to use Origin if you actually buy TOR through it. Bioware even provided Origin with the smallest allotment of pre-order codes than any other retailer. Edit; Confirmed. http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-06-16-ea-origin-not-compulsory-for-swtor

Interesting. I'm not sure if I'd take up the lifetime should it appear or not. The most time I've spent with any MMO was two years with EVE Online. I've played at least nine others off the top of my head, but not anywhere near long enough to have saved money with a lifetime package. Then again, Bioware have said by 2025 they'd like to think that TOR will still be around with hundreds of planets in-game. *Ponder.*

Haha yeah, that's pretty amusing. I went a little overboard with it yesterday though, I kept fouling it up in that area thanks to the guards. So I eventually just took them all as human shields to knock them out and simply threw them to the gators while I waited for the target to come feed them. Amazingly, they all counted as accidents and I ended up with a Silent Assassin rating. Likewise, I'm pretty worried they're going to turn it into Splinter Cell: Agent 47. Apparently they're using a system very much like the mark and execute from SC: Conviction. As much as I liked that in Conviction, I wouldn't so much like to see it in the next Hitman. The trailer also worries me somewhat, as Agent 47 assaults his way to the woman in the shower. Trying that in any of the previous games gets you killed, fast.

I've got a lot of confidence in Bioware and what they're doing with The Old Republic. I don't buy into the idea that it will be a failure, nor do I really buy into the idea that it'll be a WoW killer. I've been a part of several different MMO launches and the two themes always pop up; those that are super enthusiastic about the new title sway with the latter option while those that aren't keen on it sway with the former. So I voted on the poll for coexistence. I'm usually pretty slow to jump on the bandwagon for any new MMO, while I do tend to keep track of development, I very rarely get excited or pre-order until the last possible minute. I was burned by Age of Conan, Champions Online and Star Trek Online during their respective launch periods, so I'm a lot more cautious in general when it comes to MMOs these days. That said, The Old Republic is the first MMO I've pre-ordered without actually knowing anything about the subscription plan. My confidence in Bioware is such that I believe whatever comes along, will be the right decision. The fact that Knights of the Old Republic is one of my all time favourite games helps a lot too mind. I have to say though, I've been lapping up as much about TOR as I possibly can, save the back story. I never like going into an MMO with the back story, as I tend to end up with misconceptions about what to expect. Gameplay wise though, I think Bioware have hit onto something great with what they're doing. Far too many MMOs try to base their gameplay mechanics on World of Warcraft because they want to replicate it's sucess - but the problem with that is that no innovation happens. You end up with games that feel like World of Warcraft in different clothing. All Points Bulletin was heading in the right direction in that regard, before it went bust.(I have no idea how APB is doing with GamersFirst these days, as I can't stand their websites or their launcher). The problem with that game in my honest opinion though, was the absolute piss poor optimisation of their engine. If you didn't have a 64bit OS, you were shit out of luck in terms of nice graphics. That and the gun-play was pretty sloppy game design. Bioware seem to have a clear head about what works and what doesn't though. I'm very keen on the idea of their "Wall of Crazy." They supposedly already have a pretty solid game that most other developers would likely have already released, but Bioware seem to be quite aware that you only get to launch once and that you need to get it right the first time. They're also the only developer that I'm quite happy when they say things like; "Come back and ask us in a month," or "We can't answer that yet, but it is on the wall of crazy." Cryptic of Champions Online and Star Trek Online are an example of the polar opposite to me. I got very worried about both their titles in the run up to launch because I was a part of both beta programs. A lot of the stuff they were saying to their fans outside of the beta were downright lies. While those inside the beta programs were NDA bound not to point out that half of what they were saying were working features were completely broken. Cryptic paid almost no attention to their beta testers what so ever. Bioware on the other hand, it appears are doing their utmost to listen and change things based upon feedback. The companion character customisation that was revealed at Comic Con for example, is entirely tester inspired. tl;dr - I think The Old Republic will do just fine. Bioware are pretty clever when it comes to playing ball with their community.

Finished up Hitman: Bloody Money in the early hours of this morning before heading to bed. Third or fourth time I've beaten it, brilliant game.

Last I read about the on-going fallout between EA and Valve was that EA were wanting to offer their patches and DLC exclusively through Origin - which violates either the Steam Terms of Service or some other agreement about content offered through the client. I find it rather amusing as during yesterdays EA Investor Conference Call; JR stated that while happy with how Origin is doing - he wants EA games to be available on all possible digital distribution platforms. Pretty counter productive to make such a statement and at the same time be trying to limit exactly how much service these platforms can offer in relation to your own product. Hypothetically speaking, it's akin to Universal happily allowing all of their films to play on any DVD/Blu-Ray player but only allowing you to access the special features of said films on their own proprietary player. Plain stupidity.

Picked this up the other day in HMV; Pretty happy as I've been eyeing the Alien Anthology Blu Ray set in the supermarket for a few months now. This came in a fair sight cheaper and includes eight films rather than just the four Alien ones. Never actually gotten around to watching any of these right the way through - I've only ever caught pieces of them when they've been on TV.

I've just finished Portal 2 and the only word I am left with is awesome.

Angels & Demons I've had it for a while, along with The Da Vinci Code, but I've never gotten around to reading them. I quite like the two films based on the Dan Brown books, so I figure this summer is as good a time as any to get into them all properly.

Total of £68, but I'll be getting £13 of that back for half the price of the Portal 2 pack. So technically I've spent £54.

Picked up Hitman: Blood Money, Portal 2, X3 Terran Conflict and Two Worlds II in the Steam sale yesterday and today. Pretty excited about Terran Conflict. I picked it up at retail a while back, but it didn't like my PC specs at the time - ran okay in some systems and suffered pretty severe video lag in others. I played quite a lot of X2 The Threat and didn't overly like the controls, so the revamped system in Terran Conflict really appeals to me.

Welcome Sporkwaffles.

Excellent. I was hoping these might pop up.

The PS3 copy is half the way there. I'm quite sore over that, having paid for all the DLC on the 360.

Good game that, played through the trial version on XBL a good few times. Very tempted to pick it up in the sale, but I'm thinking I'd prefer it on the 360. I did just pick up Risen in the sale. A friend picked it up when it originally came out and was singing it's praises. I wasn't a fan of it's price tag at the time.

Agreed and seriously considering not picking up ToR at all, with that in mind.

I've never really been a fan of the Minmatar vessels. My original pre-Trinity Gallente main was only able to fly Gallente ships, but I grew tired of their fittings. I had been training the Caldari I rolled last year to fly all the vessels, but stopped with the frigs at frig III to focus on being more effective at shield tanking in Caldari ships. Pretty keen on my Caracal fitting for level 2 care-bearing with the Caldari Navy though.

I'm in the process of going through all the Oblivion mods I keep on hand after picking up Oblivion in the Steam sales and I'm curious as to what mods you all use. I'm quite fond of these; Unofficial Oblivion Patch (fixes over 1800 bugs) Unofficial DLC Patch Unofficial Shivering Isles Patch DarNified UI Keychain Better Landscape LOD Textures Better Landscape LOD Border Region Textures No Psychic Guards Colour Map Adventurers Spells (Magic Storage, Mark & Recall, Sleep) Wayshrine Map Markers Necromancer's Start (Re-animation spell & some gear) Lich Gear Better Rings Better Amulets Vermillion & Silverthorn Robes All Normal Clothing for sale in the Market District Alchemists Reference (recipe book)

The Cormorant is the Caldari Destroyer, not one of the Caldari Cruisers.

I tend to just use god mode to avoid being turned, although the unofficial oblivion patch does fix issues with the being cured of vampirisim.