Bad Company Trailers

New trailers for Bad Company have just come out.

And they're fucking hilarious.

One spoofs Gears of War and the other the Rainbow Six series- both of which I own, but I prefer the Gears of War parody cos I always found Mad World to be most depressing, overrated song ever.

(Mr Coulter, if you're reading this, you'd better check it out, cos I recall you once telling me about the GoW Mad World trailer back in the good old Indo days...)

Breaking the Hiatus

Given my interest in gaming, it's actually quite a pity that I suck at it.

Yesterday I picked up my Xbox 360 controller for the first time in ages- weeks, months...and started playing Mass Effect.

This game has freaked me out more than once on occasion- there was once this terrible level which had horrible zombie husks attacking my crew and they were all coming towards me with hideous outstretched zombie hands AND THIS IS WHY I CAN'T PLAY RESIDENT EVIL.

Oh, and apparently I couldn't KILL any of the scientists additionally shooting at me because they were under mind-control so I had to shoot and destroy zombies while getting close enough to survivors in order to whack them with the butt of my rifle. (Virtue sucks.)

I can't even begin to tell you how long it took me to get past that stage.

Anyway, I was hoping for something relaxing after the stress of law exams, but OH NO, there had to be an entire level of effing Rachni, which are semi-sentient alien GIANT BUG THINGS THAT SPIT DEADLY POISON.

And after I set this weird neuron-pulse thing to kill them all, I had exactly two minutes to get out of the facility, only two medpacs, five grenades, and my sensor was swarming with red Rachni dots.

BUG THINGS. EVERYWHERE. SPITTING POISON AT ME.

I panicked.

Cue much mental swearing.

And this is why I suck at gaming.

It took me at least ten tries to get past that level- I tried being sneaky and using a pop'n'shoot technique but the time limit killed that idea, so I just started throwing grenades from a distance, using my pistols and biotics when I ventured closer.

I panic whenever anything remotely FPS comes up.

And that is why most of my games are single-player. Because no one wants to hear their partner shrieking profanities and running around in circles when there's shootin' to be done.

Releasing the Spores

They've finally released the PC requirements to play Spore- check it out here.

(Or if you can't be stuffed clicking on the link, here they are)

FOR WINDOWS VISTA
2.0 GHz P4 processor or equivalent
768 MB RAM A 128 MB Video Card, with support for Pixel Shader 2.0
At least 6 GB of hard drive space

That's it?!

I thought it was going to be a monstrous exercise, something similar to the Stranglehold or Crysis specs.

But nope, it's actually reasonable.

(Well, I can say this now I've upgraded from 256MB RAM to 2GB and from a GeForce 2 MX to a GeForce 8600GT.)

Well, I'm happy.

Hopefully, this game won't prove as addictive as Sims 2.

I'm still looking for a game to test my system out on...Jade Empire (the special shiny edition) was $10 at work but I already have a swathe of RPGs to get through and I never have time to sit down and play.

Any suggestions?

When Gaming Affects Your Girly Shopping Habits

Popped into Myers today and they were having 30% off knitwear. 30%. Off. Knitwear.

*grins*

What doth this have to do with Technobabblement, you ask?

Well...

I saw this lovely long-sleeved, knee-length button knit- there was a choice of cream, charcoal or brown, but I went straight for the charcoal one (which also had hints of a dusky blue). Initially, I was devastated because the Size 10 was too big (Miss Shop have inconsistent sizing) but I managed to snag the last Size 6 which happened to be a perfect fit when I tried it on in the changing room.

And you know what?

It had a hood.

So I pulled it over my head to see what it looked like.

And oh. My. God.

It was an Altair hood.

This dude.

My thought process went as follows:

"This. Is. Way. Cool."

"Hey...it's also kind of like Luke's Jedi cowl in Episode VI except it's totally the wrong colour. Ooh, it's even got that funny pointy bit at the top."

"Hee hee...I look like the guy from Assassin's Creed...if you squint...and if you're drunk...and if you forget the fact that he's a highly trained male assassin and not a woman...tee hee hee."

"I am sooooo buying this."

And that was that.

Of course, if you saw it you'd be like, "Dude, it's a freakin' HOOD. People wear HOODIES, it's not like it's a big deal."

But I love it.

This knit shall now be known as the 'Altair' cardigan :D

Mobile Update

I have only ever had two mobile phones.

The first was a wonderful, slightly bricky thing otherwise known as a Nokia 5110. The second phone is my current one, and has lasted me four years- a Nokia 6610i which has served me well.

And because I am brave and adventurous, I got another Nokia last week.

I've been pondering the phone question for a while now. Several months ago, I was considering getting a pink Sony Ericsson Z310i. Except that it looked impossibly girly to the point where I might have been embarrassed to actually take it out in public. And when I asked my colleague if it would be too girly, his response was somewhat damning. I think something along the lines of, "Yes, it would be too girly. In the kind of 'oh look at me, I'm a Playboy bunny' girly."

Anyway...I now have a Nokia 6300. Which is a delicious-looking candybar phone, in a pretty slim leather case, and it has this beautiful QVGA screen that blows my old phone out of the water. There's also Bluetooth, which I've never had before, an MP3 player and a theme function that has now let me have Jensen Ackles and Jared Padelecki always with me in my handbag.

However, the battery life sucks.

Really, really sucks.

I didn't even DO anything to the phone except play with it constantly and press the buttons constantly and poke it so I could see the picture of Jensen light up and try out the camera...and the battery life is already 3/4 gone after two days.

Surely that wouldn't have drained it? It's 860mah. Then again, I'm sure Jensen Ackles is so luminously gorgeous that he'd drain anything...

Anyhow, the point is I've finally made that jump and upgraded. But I haven't used any of the extra features because I'M SCARED OF DRAINING THE BATTERY. I looked online and a couple of people suggested shaving off the end of a BL-5C battery so that the contacts can physically fit, but y'know, I'd rather not do that...

I'm assuming/hoping/praying that the battery life will improve after a few charge cycles. If not, I don't think it's going to last quite so long as the 6610i...especially since the first 6300 I got had a faulty directional pad- cue the three of us at work cracking jokes about stroking stiff keys- and I had to delete everything off my one-day-old phone and replace it the next day. Hmm.

Now it's time to upgrade the computer in two or three weeks. Expect a bit more ranting as new developments arise...

N.B, post-post: Put it through a full discharge/recharge cycle. Battery life is MUCH better. And I've chucked on AC/DC as my ringtone on full volume...I still grin every time I hear the opening riff of 'Back in Black' from my handbag.

Signs You Need To Update Your Computer #1

My computer is making an odd chirping sound.

It sounds like there's a cricket stuck in the chassis.

Chirp.

Chirpy chirp chirp.

If the PC weren't running so slowly at the moment I might find it a little bit adorable.

But it's beginning to sound less like a cricket and more like hoards of locusts hiding in my lawn in summer....

Mortal Kombat Vs. DC...?

Yup, you heard right.

Mortal Kombat versus...DC. As in, DC Comics. As in, you're going to see Sub-Zero against Batman. Raidan versus Wonder Woman.

This is either the stupidest game premise I've ever heard or the coolest.

And frankly, it is actually that stupid that I am going to rush out and buy it when it's released. Because I want to see Raiden jam lightning down Batman's suit...(except if it's as rubbery as George Clooney's costume then Raiden is sorta screwed.)

I'm pretty sure they had that Marvel vs Capcom thing ages ago, so the idea of mashing two worlds together is nothing new- and I'm guessing that everyone is secretly thinking, "Why couldn't it have been Marvel vs DC?!" But Marvel is Marvel, DC is DC, and never the twain shall meet.

I've been waiting so long for a Mortal Kombat title to hit the 360 that y'know what? I don't really care, I just want it. I'm sick of playing the Mortal Kombat 3 demo that I downloaded from Live four months ago...I want to see some high-definition butt-kicking, although apparently this new title will be sans Fatalities.

Now at least I can stop jealously eyeing Mortal Kombat Armageddon on the shelf at work that holds the Wii games.

I hope Ashrah makes an appearance in this new one. I have a weakness for Mortal Kombat characters with cool hats.