FFS BAGSIED!

Right, I've bagsied Fi Club on Friday 16 February. Anyone who wants to challenge this better have a damn good reason for not having bagsied earlier. I'm off work this week, so it's nice and easy for me to host on Friday and I won't give this up easily.

Who wants to be a Hir0?

This is not game related but does concern our friend Hir0 and something I think you will all enjoy.
I've just watched the first two episodes of NBC's new series, Heroes.
Very good.
It's about a group of seemingly unconnected people, who all discover that they're developing "special" abilities.
One can see moments of the future, another has superfast healing and so on...
It's got me hooked so far and I've got the next few episodes lined up to watch already.
This series has not been shown in this country so far, so watch out for it at your local convenience torrent site or wait until it shows on Sky.
Or I'll lend it to you.
And look out for our little Hir0, in a starring roll. (though he's got an accent and make-up on).

Kart Racing Round Up

It's only when one plays an huge amount of Diddy Kong Racing, that one begins to understand the iconic beauty, finely crafted polish and awesome playabilty that oozes from every bit of Mario Kart DS.

Whilst DKR totally has my attention at the moment (and remember, this is the game of the moment on a huge banquet table of complete and total handheld all you can eat smorgasbord), it's a pretty rough hewn, by the numbers gig. After getting thrashed in another hell for leather hovercraft boing-a-thon, I decided to swap gameslugs and fire up MKDS to see how the two lined up.

Mario's familiar insane j-pop blared out an obvious message -- that for all of Diddy and the gang's efforts, the plumber still tops the podium in the Ninty leagues this time round. DKR certainly arrives at the party with a convincing swagger, bringing the collecting hook of the last episode, and throws in a fun vehicle upgrade and extra item shop for bait. This had me criss crossing the lobby while I raced more familiar courses to pick up easy coins to add a new body kit or shocks pack to my kart, plane and hovercraft. This has added juice when you discover that leaving the beaten track to go after juicy strings of coins means you'll undoubtedly lose -- and will forfeit your coins until you win.

Back at Mushroom Kingdom, things looked, for some reason better, even after all this time. Sure, the models in Mario's world look pretty chunky, with triangular exhausts and odd flippers instead of arms, wrists, hands and fingers; but the game moves in a much more sophisticated way. What becomes obvious from playing is that while DKR is running at 30 frames a second, MKDS is running closer to 60 fps, and looks a lot more fluid as a rsult. The animations have more frames, so the flicker animation effect appears less. That, coupled with the polish that 15 years of Mario Kart games gives, and the adrenalin still grabs me in MKDS more than in the newcomer.

The polish in Mario continues through the menus, too. DK feels less clean, more of a hurdle to overcome to get a mobile racing fix. Mario's tried and tested menu navigation will never break -- again, one just has to mash the A button until the race begins.

I'll tire of DKR before too much longer, I can feel it, but it's nice to have it as a good racer after Mario is all done. If I had to choose though, old Jump Man would win easly.

Its Wii 60 time!!!

Friday 2nd Feb, its Wii60 time. 8.30pm onwards at munchks pink palace!!!

(image from www.wii60.com)

Jal Might Be Good...

...at Wii Boxing, but he never did this...

DOA Movie

Watch the unsurprisingly crap DOA (Dead Or Alive) courtesy (for the moment) of Google Video.



On the plus side, you do get to see Holly Valance running around in a bikini. On the downside... it's shit.

Deus Ex Hi Def

Anyone who knew me when I first started really PC gaming will remember the fun I had with Deus Ex.

Deus Ex was a first-person shooter/RPG with a difference: you didn't have to shoot anyone. In theory it was possible to sneak the whole game using only stun darts, tasers and your bare hands, leaving a trail of unconscious bad guys (and good guys if the mood took you). Each level was approachable in several different ways: Go in with guns blazing and kill everything that twitches, or stick to the shadows and complete your missions completely unnoticed. The former earned you a reputation as a complete psycho amongst your colleagues, the latter confirmed their opinion of you as a total pansy. Conversations with game characters completely depended on their perception of you and some would release different information depending on what they thought of you.

This diversity made the game very replayable, so I am understandably excited about the Deus Ex - Project HDTP (High Definition Texture Project) - a team of modders and coders who are attempting to update the graphical look of the game to something more suitable for the 21st Century. Here're their objectives:

Features:
1. All new remodelled and retextured Objects.
2. Objects will sport a high resolution of 256.
3. Brand new character models and matching high resolution skins.
4. Character models are more individual. For example each guard/trooper type will now have its own model instead of using the generic one.
5. Character models now have their own fingers (removing the 'mittens' effect).
6. Models that require animation will be full animated from scratch to compliment the higher quality feel.
7. Characters look darker and more moody to enhance the game play experience.
8. Vehicle models and weapons will be remodelled, skinned and reanimated.

Work is progressing nicely with several areas completely remodelled already, although no work has been done on others. This is just the excuse I need to replay this excellent game again.