50 Things about 2012

1.The first 24 hours of 2012: long texts, horde mode, aircoach, Duquesa, forced awake and intaking 2 extra bottles of Marques de Cacares despite a messy end to 2011, joy.

this view too

2.the last 24 hours of 2012: fixing the xbox, while planning a rather fun 2013.

3.one bottle of 7up can keep you alive for 3 straight days if you try.

4.Working in retail indeed teaches you to hate people

5. Bacbar, sweet jesus the messiness!

6.I am willing to die for some, and merely just a few injuries for others.

7.A Corolla is some beast to drive, and fun to master.

8.Photoshop keeps you sane when everything else isnt.

9. Dont beat someone too much at minigames.

10. Ulster Bank sure like making you wait to get your payslips, fecking technical fault

11. A quick trigger finger is expensive for something like paintballing, perhaps it was better to be a marksman than a Rambo?!

12. 12PM,12.12.12, the worst hour of 2012, appropriate timing eh?!

13. You couldnt hide my smile when I found out I was to graduate :)

14. Dr. Jones, Return of the Mack, Gangnam Style;If you know the connection, you'd better stay quiet!

15. 27 clothes pegs on your face makes for a great photo

16. Dishonored, it may not be the best looking (Halo 4), the most popular(Black Ops 2), or the smartest (Assassins creed) game out there, but it knew what I wanted, and delivered. My game of the year

17. 2 hours of Business a week truly ages you, and degenerates you into a shadow

18. On the other side of the coin, the enthusiasm you show when being in a Broadcasting Technology lecture is surprising to say the least.

19. my IADT experience for 2/3rds of 2012  http://1-media-cdn.foolz.us/ffuuka/board/sp/image/1340/16/1340169016931.jpg

20. the assassins game is getting too popular, let it go on for more than a mere 5 days this time lads!

21. The first time you absail down the quarry in Dalkey is a fear conquering experience.

22. The second time you absail down feels like a mission in Call of Duty, flying down the side as quickly as possible.

23. Chelsea Beating Bayern Munich over penalties was great imagery, if only because it was seen behind the counter of a chipper in Bray

24. Ronan, that match in the RDS was Class! best do it again soon

25. Doyles needs to fix their bannister.

26. A week in March was considered the Irish Summer, while the dying days of December rivalled some July days. sometimes I wonder...

27. Nandos is a must dine experience after mini golf.

28. You CAN surf in Killiney Beach, you just need some conditions for it.

Its pretty damn cool!

29. I did not find Ted funny, aside from the one Susan Boyle joke.

30. Photo's in Killiney end up as blackmail pics for trolling, nice one Ed.

31. Irelands where were you moment: Katie Taylor winning Gold in the London olympics; unfortunately I was in a workshift where the only shoppers were women complaining that men were enjoying women beat each other up....

32. Buy a scratchcard off an attractive co-worker when off shift, it makes you out as a risky gambler type.

33.Don't be surprised when said co worker actually is crazy instead of the sweet innocent type you thought, as she goes wild and messy on the dancefloor with random lads.

34. Haywire was to me the first American film set in Ireland which didnt have negative Irish stereotypes. Even Michael Fassbender baiting the heroine about the place felt justified when he ends up getting killed at the end of the fight.

35. I own Emmy's wristband on my arm, and she now owns the skull I had round my neck. A nice trade off for someone I will never meet again until the next life. Kudos crazy lady.

36. Dark Knight Rises, a rather popular choice but its my film of 2012. Not the greatest ever, but I didn't exactly see many others. Amazing spiderman perhaps as runner up......nah

37. Its hard to stop thinking about the good times when in a long cycle of bad times...

38. Selling the Family Guy Game=Value for money

39. Trading in Modern Warfare 3 for €4=still value for money :)

40. go light painting with like minded people, you learn some pretty good techniques!

41. You can get too old for camping holidays, but only temporarily

42. Remember to get the aul fella some bacon fries if you are getting some anyway.

43. Learn to Appreciate sitcoms on Channel 4; How I met your mother, Frasier, and the older noughties hits are worth the watch.

44. Run fast, and run the distance.

45. You miss your free space after a few months, and long for an indoor place where no ones watching.

46. Cooking oil wont blow up from a firework, but dont stand too close to the sun when it happens eh?!

47. Dominos deals are amazing when theres no food left.

48. Shanai got to know me this year, and I hope to dine there again when the money rolls in again, best Indian round the area.

49. 2012 seemed like the second part of a trilogy: the drama increased from 2011, and the plot threads remain unresolved, to be done in 2013.

50. 2013 better solve the plot threads: whats on the cards, I will not know, but I'd better learn from the previous years, and hope to be happy days!

I Finally get to review Sleeping Dogs!

Ah Sleeping Dogs. To say I have been waiting a while for this game is an understatement.

Announced by Activision as early as 2009 in the form of True Crime: Hong Kong, the game was cancelled in February 2011 along with its planned release of a new Guitar Hero.  Despite promising looking demos and showing an almost complete product, the publisher still let it go down the drain. The company's reasons were that the game was not of sufficient quality to compete in the open world genre, and as a result would not turn around as much of a profit as its other IP's, namely the obvious Call of Duty moneymaker and its own expectations for the game.

You crushed my soul Activision

The reasoning behind this still baffles me to this day; Why not just release a game thats 99% complete anyway, just to get SOME money out of it instead of letting those years of development go to waste with nothing to show for it?

Thankfully, Square Enix saw that the game was well worth bringing out, and after picking up the publishing rights,  released an announcement trailer in February this year, that really brought its presence in with a bang. Afterwards, its been a long enough wait, but finally last week I got my copy, and played everything it has to offer.

Was it worth the wait?

in short, yes.

From playing it through to the end, I can say that the best things about the game are that it takes familiar mechanics, blends them all together very smoothly, and tops it off with a solid story in a setting that has not been done to death in the sandbox genre.

You play as officer Wei Chen, a member of the San Francisco Police Department that is returning to his native homeland of Hong Kong, tasked with an undercover operation. He must infiltrate a branch of the Triad criminal organisation, under the Sun on Yee branch, and break it down from within. Throughout his story, you encounter a variety of characters from both sides of the law, including his Superintendant Thomas Pendrew
, old friend and member of the triads Jackie Ma, the leader of the water street gang Winston Chu, and even the Sun on Yee Dragon Head, Uncle Po.
All of these characters give Wei tasks that further progress the story and his standing in the gang, in a similar vein to the Grand theft Auto series. The story ultimately is a rather solid, if predictable undercover cop drama, that also pays homage to the martial arts genre. It fits well between the seriousness of the GTA4 tale, and the goofiness of a Saints Row 'story'. My biggest gripe is a lack of consistency with the timeframe of it all. I felt with the story than it could have been set over a few weeks, though it should feel like its over many months, just to make sense of the time infiltrating the gang. A slightly smaller gripe is the relatively short time it takes to complete the game. Whereas GTA4 would take an achievement of beating it in under 30 hours, Sleeping Dogs would clock in at roughly half that before the side missions.

Where do your loyalties lie?

The missions themselves run the usual of games in the genre, ranging from street fights to shootouts to infiltration and loaded with minigames, all with a lot of driving. The distinction Sleeping Dogs gives though, is a specialised melee system, upgrades and a solid arcade racer.

The melee combat takes up a large part of the action. The mechanics are similar to the recent batman games, but incorporate a lot of environmental attacks, and a lot of gory possibilities that come with it. Hand to hand is inspired by martial arts, and additional abilities can be gained by finding collectibles, such as health shrines for extra hitpoints, or statues for additional button combos.

When firearms become introduced, they change the dynamic of play by putting in a cover system, as well as bullet time effects when vaulting obstacles. While they are rather decisive when its a gang of gunmen against you, you can still put up a fair fight against a few enemies with martial arts, with disarming abilities, and the environment is still yours to use...

the baddies should have never placed hooks and swordfish there really

Running through the games missions and quests is an upgrade system, where you gain abilities from Police, Triad and public face experience. Points are gained from the police Exp by not killing civilians or damaging public property, Triad Exp is earned from impressive combat techniques, and face Exp is earned from helping citizens around Hong Kong and being considered a popular figure. These all add to bonses, such as price discounts, melee abilities or extra bullet time. It fits well into the split loyalties theme.

Getting around Hong Kong is a breeze rather than a chore. You can travel on foot, utilizing a parkour movement, or get in the plentiful vehicles around the city. While the climbing is more contextual, and admittedly fun, it is disappointing that you cannot simply jump freely rather than wait for the indicator. On the other hand, driving is one arcade style blast of fun. Blending a mix of Burnout Revenge and Need for Speed Underground, the driving is fast and not in the slightest concerned with realism. This works to the games advantage, as open world games usually have dead boring street race events. Here, they are short and sweet, and you have a variety of vehicles, from the speedy motorcycles to a chicken van. Along with driving you can ride shotgun in vehicle shootouts, or stuff baddies in the trunk. And if you really feel adventurous, why not jump out of your car to hijack one beside you?

No sandbox game is without sidequests and minigames, and Sleeping Dogs is no exception. There are the usual "beat up this guy cos he said my hat looked gay" or the theft of vehicles, but the more unique ones involve Wei's undercover job. Hacking cameras, triangulating signals, planting bugs and cracking safes are part of the job. If Wei is a bit more on the Triads side, he can indulge in some cock fighting or  gambling in the dens off the island. Karaoke should really be avoided though...

When it comes to looks the city is the star of the show. While it isnt a real representation of Hong Kong, it captures a lot of the essence, with vibrant streets, vendors waiting to sell you pork buns and counterfeit clothes, and the neon signs dominating the streets. 

Close up however, the characters don't have the same level of detail as a Rockstar blockbuster, but do give a strong taste of the east with the voice talent. Mrs Chu speaks entirely in Cantonese, and a lot of the early dialogue has the same language, but its obvious that it turns into broken english in accented chinese. Still, its a different sound, especially with the oriental themed score.

I stand by that this game was worth the wait. While it does not surpass its obvious roots with contemporaries, it does the mechanics very well, particularly driving and fighting. The choice to visit Hong Kong was a big reason I waited for this title, and its as refreshing as I thought. Its rare to find a game that caters so much to my tastes, but when it shows the love of the Asian culture, has Need for speed driving, Streets of rage meets Arkham asylum fighting, and a story that can be taken as a great alternative to GTA4, with all the minigames added in, I cant help but like the game. Its overkill that they knew I would like a Pat Benatar classic in the karaoke, but steady on its still not a save for the karaoke.

I strongly recommend you give this game a look, if not for a buy then rent for a good week. It will please those who like the Asian action films of late, and those who want a solid sandbox adventure to play during this admittedly long gaming drought. Even if you just want a game thats fun, this could satisfy your needs, so try it out.

You dont hate people until...

As the saying goes (at least according to facebook), you do not hate people until you have worked in retail. And as it happens, I have been in that area of work for a few months now, and it really has hit the ultimate standoff between optimism and pessimism during this 'bank holiday'.

I had been blissfully unaware of humanity's annoyances until this month, as previously I was the ice cube in the store freezers with little interaction aside from co-workers, but alas it has all changed now, and my eternal optimism has to face wave after wave of angry looking women who would challenge angry birds for the namesake.

 

Here are a few particular quotes I get day in day out from the downtrodden and depressed, and some reasoning as to why I hate them, and why I prefer to use the self service checkouts when in the reverse role of customer.

"Are you open?"

My own doodle, shop is censored so everyone is happy

So I suppose this is meant to be taken as a polite gesture from a customer who wants to get their shopping done as fast as possible, but do the bright lights of till 15, moving conveyor belt, open swing-door and ANOTHER CUSTOMER STILL BEING SERVED give them any hint? NO!

It does concern me that they ask when I am in the middle of a transaction with someone else, as if the entire store is going to shut down before they put their items on the belt. I also try to put myself in their shoes and wonder why ask that question in the first place, when someone is at a till they are there to scan stuff, so why not just put the stuff there and get it done?

"You looked bored/tired/lonely so I thought Id give you something to do"

A real way to piss me off. Granted, the life of a till monkey isnt a social one unless you happen to get the express checkouts with a few people to chat to, but do I look that way for fun?

I am wrecked because I am after serving a seemingly endless line of tampons and quorn sausages, and when I finally get a breather you show up ready to make me do it all again.

Its not really the initial saying that is bad though, more that it has an accompanying natural law whereby once you scan this dear customer's items, a wild trolley will appear behind them, stuffed to the brim.

Problem?

Can I have a euro for the trolley?

And thirdly, for now is when they ask for a euro for a trolley. This request isnt a stupid one by any means, but more what the customer does to make sure he/she gets one...

Firstly (while I am serving someone else) they will enter from the front doors, and make a robotic walk towards you, making sure they are noticed by you from as many yards away as possible.

still while serving someone else, they will ask for a euro, despite there being a machine by the door! Whats wrong with it, will it try to attack you if you use it?

and of course, I cant open the till until my transaction with the other customer is complete, but the minute it opens, they rush in with their change, their hands about to grab the euro from within

and just walk off like that, completely ignoring the customer who is still awaiting change too you know?

this is a similar scenario...minus the gun...and hooded hoodlums

 

So thats only a glimpse as to my daily annoyances, yet I still carry through, brighter than ever, because hey, someone has to oppose the pessimistic aul ones, and who is better at that?

Time Management: Act III

The world is very much different from the one I had been in at the time of first typing this blog, and more so from the last post.

So maybe not THIS different

For one, I finally have the job I have been craving all year to keep my mind busy. Its a basic job at the low end of things, but its a job, something that many in this emerald isle would crave. Perhaps the  4 year long 'recession' has stagnated to nothingness?

Or maybe the tiger is still missing?

Either way I am a worker, and its given me more money than I can spend, and I appreciate every free day I get. There has been times where I did, for example, 10 days straight, and its great, but I long for the days where I would climb killiney hill and dream of great things. A bit of a paradox considering I was dying for a job. Suppose its rare to find money and free time in the same space.

If it were not for employment I would not be typing on this new laptop I have, wearing this new sophisticated outfit, or planning a trip to see my brother stateside and getting all t3h W1mm1nzz!

I cant help but feel like Nico on this one...

And to top it all, I did get my degree after a year in purgatory, so it was not a waste of time. I have even applied for a prototype year to see if I can improve my status in the world!


But time management has not gone without a cost. Everything in the previous world has been burned to the ground, from memories I cannot relive again, good and bad, to other jobs and people, and it has not been without casualties. You could argue that I have lost everything and won everything at the same time. Its a change of worlds from the happily free, but poor man to the rich but busy man indeed.


Heres to making moneys at least!

The Final Destination review

I am not a big fan of pure horror films or 'gore porn' films such as the Saw films,Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the Ring, Friday the 13th, and the Excorcist among others.

Usually I prefer the tangents off of the genre. There is the Zombie horror, which is the best kind to transfer to a games man like myself, full of human social commentary with the usual action.

I Still think this is the best of its kind

There is the Science Fiction/Horror's like the Alien and Terminator series, blending action with bloody gore and some suspense

I even thought this was alright as a premise...

And then there is the comic horror where the films poke fun at horror conventions to a varying degree. Scary Movie goes all out for fun while the Final Destination Series has had a somewhat darker, though obvious humour in its films.

Not this obvious though

I have been a fan of the Final Destination movies since the younger side of my teens. They are never going to be critical masterpieces in the same way that Let the Right one in has been, and I know what to expect from the films;The lead character has a premonition in which a sizeable group are killed in an accident, saves themselves and a few others from the accident, accident happens, then one by one the few survivors are killed off in mouse trap type accidents. Aside from the exception of Ali Larter's character in Final Destination 2, no one makes it to the end of the film. Its more obvious to expect than what happens when a man sees a beautiful woman naked on his bed.

Despite my fun with the series, I have yet to see them on the big screen, which is a mighty shame with The Final Destination's case. At the time of its release, its big draw was that it was in 3D, and from the outset, not tacked on for that extra buck. It sadly shows when I finally saw it on the TV for the first time. Objects that fly out hit the walls of the TV screen and not right in my face, and as the film progresses it gets more and more noticeable with explosions, water and nails all flying out and about. Heck, there was even a sex scene, imagine the doorty fap in 3D!

They saw the 3D bewbz

So without the effect, the film feels very flat to watch, and CG effects are much more noticeable, even more so than the third. Still, it can't be all bad to watch, isnt the main draw overall about the death scenes?

Well, it sorta falls flat on that too...

The feeling of losing control, a theme in the third Final Destination in particular, is lost in the opening scene. the chances of escaping the Speedway crash feel somewhat greater to live than  its predecessors (fancy your chances surviving a Plane explosion or Roller Coaster ride?) The larger accidents near the climax also make death into some force akin to a Soldier with a chaingun with unlimited ammunition and grenades, killing ALL CIVILIANS just to get the survivors. Isn't 'death' a rather selective force in the series, why the deaths of the characters are more scary than if killed with many more alongside them?

its geting tired of singling out

 

Much of the previous instalments already got the cream of horrendous death sequences, such as the surprise bus accident, the tanning beds, the flying barbed wire, falling ladder, bathtub strangulation and so on. This film has a lot of retreads, with possibly the most scary being the swimming pool accident. Not by the act itself, but because it is based on an actual event.

The car wash sequence, while new, felt strangely non lethal. The suspension of disbelief is required I know, but I have seen Jonathan Goodwin tied down to a car in a washer in nothing but boxers.

Channel 4 in the noughties

Still, the Security guard is a pleasant change of the 'Evil black man that dies first' stereotype in horror (funnily, it is the racist redneck who gets it first while attacking a coloured man). The rest of the cast reek of bad character development. The romance between the lead and his girlfriend is worthy of attention, but IMO it would have been better had he done something that would save her but at the cost of his life (mushy but ah well).

My main problem, aside from the 3D failings when flat, is that it does not do anything over the top-fresh for the series. The fans watch the films for ingeniously gory scenes, and at the same time a twist in how the 'death' system works. The twist only really gains urgency near the end, and while I enjoyed these climactic events, the rest of the film plays by numbers and going rather refined over revolutionary. Its campy, overly reliant on the 3D gimmick and unoriginal.

So while I rank this as the lowest of all the Final Destinations, there is but one film in the series I have yet to see, and one which disproved the point of the title 'The Final Destination'. Will it be any good? I hope to see it soon!

Directed by a James Cameron Protegé (o.O)

I Love Halo/Halo 4 first look excitement

I am mad about one game series, and one game series in particular. That series is Halo. If I wanted one tattoo in my life, it would be this one...

Its the game series I would play forever in heaven, and forever participate in the ongoing conflict in Valhalla over capturing flags.

My desktop wallpaper c.2007

Its more than just a series of games. Its a culture, built around a space opera epic that can legitimately be compared to the hype and scale of Star Wars, a multiplayer experience that saved a games console, and a following known as the halo nation that are friendly, competitive, and ever questioning about the knowledge of the Halo universe.

No 2 Halo fans are the same. Some enjoy reading the novels about the more humane aspects of being a supersoldier. Others love the story of six lowly soldiers fighting the covenant army under cover of darkness in a city the size of New York. Some like myself, enjoy the feeling of delivering the business end of my battle rifle to another players head, and going on to win a match.

less than three

It is also a franchise that does not forget its roots, and at the same time it makes advances to keep up with the times. Two series of late have hit me as being examples in how not to do this. Assassin's Creed's original premise was simply that of a man hopping on the rooftops to stealthily strike a specific target, yet the latest look at the series has full scale battles of the american revolution, and more that of a mercenary than of a silent assassin. They made needed adjustments, which I like, but lost the way of the assassin, and looks like they have gone into full battle mode

On the other extreme, you have the Call of Duty franchise, which is at the moment king of the games industry. It has kept faithful to the CoD4 formula, but to a fault. No major changes have been made since 2007, and it shows with its latest entry, Modern Warfare 3. It is a stale experience that I thoroughly disliked for being akin to a DLC product slapped with a €50 price.

A campaign shorter than Terminator:Salvation says it all

Bungie came out with a quality product with many changes as their last hurrah to the series in 2010, Reach. While some players disliked things like armour abilities, reticle bloom and overuse of forge world maps, there is no denying that it was a success. It had all the elements of a halo game, and delivered something fresh at the same time. It had a great story, along with addictive multiplayer and stuffed with more content than some games have on two disks! Most importantly, like all halo games, it felt like the studio had put a great deal of effort beyond the ordinary to create such a game. Every last bit of love shone through in the details, like the references to prior Halo games like the night time sniping mission, or the grandiose set pieces such as the evacuation of a city before being burned to dust.

Remember Reach. Forget CoD

And the future looks brighter than ever, with 343 industries taking the helm, a dedicated team that are as big a fan of the series as the community, they could well make something special with Halo 4. the recent first look has had me more hyped than I expected, truly the Multiplayer looks like the child of a loving Halo 3 and Reach couple, and the campaign looks to bring a new take on the story of the galaxy's biggest badass.

Wake me when you need me

It is such a pleasure to see this vidoc showcasing little tibits, and at the same time keep pretty much the whole story, as well as more multiplayer details hidden. The hype is driving me mad! I hope that the series will rightly reclaim the throne of FPS king once the Call of Duty ship sinks from milking.

World Wide Web War 1: ACTA

So its near the end of Q1 of 2012, and I am getting bloody annoyed at the whole ACTA craze that seems to be sweeping across the continent like a plague...

I am not good at describing ACTA, so this is a rather user friendly summary of it

SOPA may have been averted from the world, at least for the meantime, but ACTA seems to have got by fairly easily, notice a lack of sites going dark over this one?


Back when SOPA was still somewhat in the news, I was looking for something related to ACTA, and all I found on the Irish news media sites was the headline "Hackers attack Polish government websites"


http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0123/poland.html#article


What struck me at the time was that this was the only mention of ACTA at the time, despite all the widespread online protesting, it accounted for no media attention. A government website had to go down to get a news article less than 2 minutes long to hit the Irish public. Doing dangerous activities is the only way to get RTÉ's attention, and then you get labelled a cyberterrorist instead of a protester that needs to get the world to talk about ACTA.


Unfortunately, ACTA has seen less backlash over its persistence and, for me, the Irish view of acceptance. We protest for a day and then give up after a while. We are such wimps of a population in this country, getting bossed around, and yet we still take it every friggin day and do NOTHING to change it. We live our lives just getting little things being changed. For example, we lost indoor smoking and late bars, and despite the protests we just let it happen!


Thankfully, Bulgarians are not like us, they do something about the ACTA laws

http://www.rte.ie/news/2012/0214/bulgaria.html#article

Sign the petition against ACTA, they need 200'000 signs and are halfway there as I type. Heres hoping...


http://www.avaaz.org/en/acta_time_to_win_eu/?fJgDNcb&pv=38