After a brief flirtation with those dreaded red lights before christmas, it seems that my Xbox 360 has truly kicked the bucket. When I switch it on, it makes a horrible clunking noise and those pretty pretty lights flash in their unique mocking way.

The Microsoft help line was fairly quick and painless and UPS are coming tomorrow to pick it up to send it to Germany where apparently it’ll get fixed. I, in the meantime, am missing out on the new GTA DLC. I’m also unable to use the Rock Band tracks that I just copied across to Rock Band 2 and haven’t played yet. However, I do have more time available to do actual work – and I am busy busy busy – so I should see the bright side.

But I don’t.

Sometimes, things are sent to try us. It can be hard to keep your head above the waterline and deal with the various things that clutter the plate of life. It’s at those times when we all need someone to look up to. Someone who has been there, done that, and lived to tell the story. (And written a book about it for reference purposes). Someone who “at once … intimidates and inspires; breaking down the walls that secure some yet block others.” Thanks to Will, I’ve discovered that very person.

Mat Dickie. Or as I like to call him, MDickie. Inspiration.

He’s “the free-thinking rebel that redefines the rules. He says what no-one else will say and does what no-one else will do“. Basically, when he talks, you better listen. He’s a master of everything that he puts his mind to and effortlessly maintains an entire empire. Specifically, he makes 3D games, primarily based on either wrestling (he’s a master at that too. When he was younger, he once tossed a guy off who jumped on his back, then they played with each other. True story.), or bible stories. Officially the two best subjects of 3D games. And he does both. Possibly combined, (Moses vs The Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase? (who, oddly, is now a christian minister..)) but that’s yet to be confirmed.

In his games, he also draws upon a myriad of popular culture references to convey his message to a world of people who, frankly, are lesser mortals. Things like comparing Jesus to Morpheus. As seen here. You have to watch this.

There’s also the colloquialisation of scripture, like in this scene from The You Testament.

How come indeed. It all helps to help us understand.

If the website isn’t enough, he’s also written a book, ‘Inspiration For The Interactive Generation’ which you can read the first chapter of on Amazon.

Gaming’s most outspoken character finally speaks out about himself! For almost a decade, Mat Dickie electrified the games industry with his prolific output. He used unconventional methods to create unconventional games, and redefined what could be achieved by one man. Audiences responded accordingly and ensured his underground rumblings would resonate around the world.

I’m hooked.

Now, I know that some of you cynical types might think that MDickie is too good to be true. I don’t blame you. I was like that too. I thought, how can one man embody all the qualities that I strive for and be so modest and helpful with it(?) How can just one person have achieved so much and have so much to share with the world(?) The answer lies in the fact that MDickie isn’t just one man. He’s a revolution. ‘The dictionary definition of “independence” in full effect. See if you can feel it…‘

NXE by the way, stands for ‘New Xbox Experience‘. It’s the.. err.. new xbox experience (strangely enough). Released midweek, I got to play with it a bit last night and so far I think it’s an improvement on the old navigation system. The coverflow style stuff is obviously heavily apple influenced but it’s slicker than the old blades so I’m all for it.

Not too sure about the avatar thing though. It’s so Wii. I struggled to get mine to look like me (click on the image on the left to see Mii me), but it’s quite good to see the groups of your friends who are playing the same games or whatever.

But anyway, the point for this is to say: the ‘welcome’ video that it plays just after you install the update is nice. That’s it. If you’re not xboxed up, you can still see it online. Good work from Exopolis. Check the HQ mov or the LQ youtubism.

A fortnight ago saw the release of Gears of War 2 on the 360. The first game was actually the first game I ever played on the xbox, but I only got around to buying it a few months ago in preparation for the sequel (needed to know the whole backstory etc). I quite liked it, and I thought that all the pre-release talk about the new game seemed quite promising so I picked it up on the day it dropped and happily joined the 2 million other people who got it during that opening weekend in shooting the shit out of those pesky locust.

A week later, after I’d finished the solo campaign and played a handful of multiplayer games, I decided that I was definitely bored of playing it. Then this week I popped into Game to swap it for World at War. And it’s not even like I’d played it a lot (it only took 3 or 4 sessions to get through the main story – and to be honest, I barely touched the multiplayer).

I actually enjoyed the single player a lot – though some of the boss battles were painfully straightforward, even on Hardcore. In fact, I don’t think there was anywhere in the game that took more than a few attempts to beat. But at least it was fun, and I thought the story was more than good enough to get you involved. The multiplayer however; not fun. For a start, having to wait nearly 10 minutes to even find a game (literally) put me off before I’d even started. Add to that the inability to easily mute the absolute fucktards that love to talk constant shit throughout each game (I’m no prude, and I’m up for a bit of gamesmenship, but I just don’t want to have to sit and listen to a 14 year old taking everyone through every painstaking detail of their game, complete with random racist outbursts whenever they get shot. It’s beyond irritating). Oh, and you can’t even quit a game if you wanted to. Also, I still find the lack of a straight-foward team deathmatch a bit shit.

Co-op campaign is fun, and the multiplayer horde mode is great if you’re in a decent team. My one regret with taking the game back is I’ll never see Wave 50 but I’m pretty sure I’ll get over it. (Besides, I can always indulge in the Nazi Zombies for some horde-esque fun). But generally, there was nothing that’d keep me playing the game past this two week mark. So bye bye Marcus Fenix for now. Maybe GoW:3 will get me back into it…(?)

A quicky here celebrating the wonder that is retro game covers. Sort of. They’re not strictly realistic (as pointed out by many geek commenters who really should lighten up) but it’s a fun reimagining of some current games and how they might look twere they downgraded to a pixel steeze.

via

I don’t see how anyone would fail to be a fan of old game covers/booklets. Much like illustrated movie posters, there’s this certain quality which can only really be achieved by many many hours of painstaking hand drawing. Proper works of art.

There’s plenty of examples to be seen at car boot sales up and down the country if you don’t mind getting up at 7 on a cold wet Sunday morning.. Or you could just check out this flickr set that I’ve been looking for an excuse to link to for years or this post full of atari game covers which has should help you to put those ‘modern’ ones at the top into context.

I’m still playing GTA IV a fair bit. I’ve got 64% complete which isn’t bad considering I’ve not actually gone overboard with the hours playing it.. Haven’t really delved into the online play yet because I’m saving it until I’ve at least completed the main story missions (I’m on the last one). There’s a slight concern that I’ll get bored after finishing the main missions but I suppose I can always do it again but make all the different decisions. Fun fun fun. Not to mention I’m looking forward to actually just roaming the city doing random stuff – which leads me to this post here.

I stumbled on this flickr set called ‘Sightseeing in Liberty City‘ which does a great job at highlighting the level of detail R* put into recreating New York for the game. It’s ridiculous. Makes me yearn even more for a trip to the Big Apple. I’ll get there sooner rather than later. Til then I’ll stay rocking the threadless tee. Anyway, look at the flickr set. It’s good.

I’ve been slacking with this here blog lately.. but with good reason. And those reasons are about to increase so I wouldn’t expect a plethora of posts anytime soon.

Primarily, this time of year at work is technically known as a nightmare. With just over two weeks to go ’til the BA Interactive Media Production 3rd year major hand-in, students are understandably getting a bit twitchy.. I’m not sure that now is a good time to mention that at this point before my own major hand-in, I’d finished my project but I’ll do it anyway. Blah. I’m sure they’ll pull it out of the bag.. have a look at pixelpier to see the showcase details and come along.. it’ll be fun.

I’ve also been spending a little bit of time trying to redesign this site ready for the May 1st Reboot but now there’s only 3 days left, it’s not looking like I’ll manage it this year. Alas. It’ll be a June reboot instead. More on that as and when.

Finally, as of tonight, GTA IV will own my life. Sad, but true. It’s pretty much the only reason I wanted a 360 and I’ve been waiting for it for soooo long now. There’s been plenty said about it at loads of other places so I wont dwell.. besides, must dash and pop a cap in some online asses.. ooohhh yeah!

I rarely have time to play games online these days but when I do, it’s uberfun and always make me wish I was a student again, without a job and with broadband. And then after getting slaughtered several times in a row, I’m glad that I actually have other things to do, because it’s really not healthy to spend so much time shooting at people online is it(?)

Anyway. So I don’t spend too much time playing games nowadays, but I do have an Xbox 360. And Halo 3. In the first few months, I’d only played about 20 matches online and I felt bad about that because really, what’s the point of having Halo if you’re not playing online? So I thought I’d give Xbox Live a whirl for a bit and see if it’s worth it longterm. I played a bit last night and quickly realised that I’m not actually very good. Thanks to the amazing (and really, it IS amazing and probably deserves a whole ‘nother post) level of information that Bungie record about your games, you too can see how bad I currently am at Halo. I believe that some people might say that I get ‘pwned!!!!!’ frequently. I wouldn’t say that. That’s not how I roll. Ph33r |\/|y 1337 sk1llz! n00b.

I also played a bit on FIFA 08, which I appear to be better at (see here) but still, the long periods of having not played any games at all have taken their toll. I swear I used to be good at this type of thing. Blah.

So yeah. Feel free to step to me on Xbox Live see if you can hang with the big dogs. Word the fuck up.

(Or just add me as friend and let me win a few times..)

I haven’t really played Halo since some frenetic multiplayer games many years ago in my first year of uni (which were fucking great; 4 on 4 capture the flag, trying to take a peek at the other teams screen to see where they were sniping you from etc. Brilliant.), and Halo 2 completely passed me by but the next game is definitely getting my attention. The various adverts(/promo things) have been rather good, but the new site is stunning. Have a look. Super smooth tracking around a super detailed model = super nice experience. I really like the snippets of information from ‘veterans’ of the war too.. It’s engaging and does a great job of building up the whole Halo mythology.

I don’t want to sound too ‘geekish’, but it does look spanking. Yet another reason to splash out on a 360 (along with GTA4 and Call of Duty 4). I dunno why I’m holding out really..