A Few Days in London

Well it was the end of the semester and I had lots of coursework due in this week, naturally this involved a trip into Uni. Lots of work was done, a very funny 3D film was made and after transcribing a 25 minute interview about mechanisms of attention in video games I began to doubt the existence of the word "Frustrating".

Despite all this academic torture I did manage to get some gaming

in. A bit of time was spent on a friends PS3 playing Madden 10, Worms and posing as a sultry temptress on PlayStation Home. i also had my first experience of the gamerbase LAN centre in the Trocadero. Playing my first PC FPS in years. MW2 is way more twitchy on PC and lots more jumping is done. The controls just lend themselves to a different gaming style I guess. My left handedness didn't really help either as my fingers just weren't in the right place for the various buttons I needed to press. I did get to play some Eve there too, my god that game is beautiful on a decent PC with a big high quality monitor.

I also popped into my previous local arcade for a few credits on DoDonPachi DFK still hitting a wall on level 4 with a score of about 1.4 billion. None of the other shooter crowd were in so I had my credits and left.

The most fun of the few days though were my credits with

Afterburner Climax again at the

Trocadero. climbing into the moving mock-up ejector seat makes me feel ten years old again pulling loop the loops and gunning down scores of enemy fighters. All I can say is that this is what arcade gaming is all about, sod Final Fantasy, GTA IV and various other games that take up your entire life for about three months, get some cash, go down to Troc and get your arse onto that game. It is an experience (almost) worth the £2 a credit the thieving gits at Troc are charging . I can not wait to get the Xbox Live version when it comes out this year, even without the moving cabinet, It's gonna be schweet!

The Last Few Weeks

Things have been a little busy for me the last few weeks. The amount of work I now have to do at University (third year :S) plus a distinct lack of cash has left me rather run down and although I have been gaming I just haven't been in the mood to write about games (outside of uni work).

However I thought I would now let you know what games I have been playing over the last few weeks just to show that I am not dead.

Xbox 360

My Xbox Live connection has been a little iffy the last few weeks to so my online gaming has been limited but I have managed to put in some hours on the new Call of Duty and I love it! The campaign is everything a FPS campaign needs to be and the online is phenomenal. Add to that the special ops missions and I'm surprised I'm not playing it now!

Geometry Wars 2 has been played quite a bit by me and the GF. I hate to admit it but I think in many game modes she is better than me, she just needs to relax more whilst playing.

Bomberman Live is another of my GF's favourites and she is definitely a better player than me at Bomberman. I do however have my moments and do beat her occasionally.

PS2

I have been playing a little Street Fighter II and some Gradius III on the ol' PS2 still getting my ass handed to me by Gradius on the bubble level.

PC

Eve online is still getting played most nights taking up most of my PC gaming time but i have also managed to play some Space Empires V too. a nice slow alternative to all the shooty mayhem in my other games.

Arcade

I got my first 1CC two weeks ago on DeathSmiles Black Label. I was well chuffed :P

I have also been playing DoDonPachi Daifukkatsu and the recently installed Dogyun.

Other Stuff

At Uni we have set up a gaming society so hopefully we can get a good social scene going. There are some good people doing the Games Studies course and as you can imagine it can be pretty competitive.

Well that is about it for now. I really hope normal service will resume soon. I do enjoy blogging and hope some of my posts bing a little brightness into folks lives :P

Current Events

Well I am back in Gloucestershire after moving out of our house in London. It is nice being back in the country but i will be without Xbox live for the next 3-4 months ARGH!!!

However I have decided no to let this interrupt my gaming adventures so I thought I would let you know what I am currently playing.


DoDonPachi.[Arcade(MAME)]

One of the best known Danmaku shooters to emerge from Japan. I currently have an old 19" CRT monitor on its side and the game looks great on it. Bloody hard but amazing fun! I also bought myself a Sega Saturn USB pad from China. It works great and has really allowed my to take advantage of MAME and the other emulators I have.


Retrograde [C64]
Still one of my favorite games of all time. An apex productions classic.

Silent Hunter III [PC]
Still in my opinion the best sub sim ever. I downloaded the fan made expansion pack GWX made by Grey Wolves (avalable from subsim.com for a small donation) and this really adds to the historical accurancy and imersion. Well worth a small donation.


Zero Wing [Mega Drive]
Not one of Toaplans better shooters but still an enjoyable game. I just love the music too.
"All your base are blong to us!"

Street Fighter IV [X360]
Still practicing with this one.