clivemurray.com

Well after quite an intense period of posting, I followed up with a whole week of nothing. What gives, I fail to hear you ask?

Well last Friday was the work Christmas party, which was heaps of fun. Plenty drinking and a bit of dancing and all went well. Then a weekend of Getting Stuff Done in the house, what with Chrimble on the way. Then this week I have been snowed-under balls-to-the-wall busy at work on a site that should launch today. If it does I’ll nip back and shunt you a link, cos I’m good like that.

Aw, but I can’t just post and run. Here, have a little present. Go and spend the rest of the day playing the official version (beta 2, currently) of surprise internet smash hit Line Rider. The new version has lots of new track editing options, and you can even save your tracks and come back to them later.

You’re welcome.
–c.

Nothing to with the TV series. It’s a game.

Join me.

–c.

Do any of you who read this thing play Guild Wars? If not, why not? And don’t give me any of that WoW bullshite either. If you play that fucking thing then you’re plainly a lost cause and there is no way I begin to tell you how wrong a choice you’ve made. I’ll just carry on playing in my amazing world for no monthly subscription while you get bored of yours and carry on paying for it, thanks.

Anyway, I’m a complete addict to the thing, even more so than usual since the latest episode, Nightfall, came out. I have all three episodes, and all 8 of my character slots are filled. Thing is, with the advent of heroes I now have to shell out gold not just to kit myself out, but for all of my heroes. And that goes for every character who has heroes, which is currently 3. This is going to get very costly very fast.

So to fix this I’ve had to go back to square one and create a new warrior character, purely because they are the best at making the infamous Droknar Run. There are always characters wanting to be run from Beacon’s Perch to Droknar’s Forge, because it cuts out half of the Prophecies episode, and that way people who’ve already completed the game can skip to the high level areas quite quickly.

Last night I was hanging around in Beacon’s and people were charging 8000 gold per run. Seeing as you can take 5 people on a run, that makes a total profit of ~40k per run.

Worth investing in, methinks.

Oh, if you don’t play Guild Wars, feel free to ignore this post. If you do, look me up ingame – current character names: Bob Solid, Talisker Laphroaig and Sapporo Kopparberg.

–c.

I do like my PS2 games, it must be said. I maintain that the best computer game I’ve ever played for overall enjoyment, value for money, and general fun, is this one. I played it for absolutely months, and even now I still go for a drive around when I’m bored. That said, rumours abound about the sequel, coming out this October. I’ve heard that it will be 4 or 6 times the size of Vice City, and comprises cities based on Las Vegas, San Fransisco and Los Angeles. Needless to say, I am semi-erect with anticipation. I have absolutely no doubt that Rockstar Games will deliver.

Previous to that, I would say that the best video game I’d ever immersed myself in would have been Max Payne, which I had no idea Rockstar were even involved with. I think they mostly did the ports to the consoles, what with it being a PC game initially. And of course Rockstar also did the sequel. Score two more for the boys with the cool company name.

The last game I bought (before this weekend) was a great gritty (and not to mention extremely violent) thriller type game by the name of Manhunt, developed by… oh look, it’s Rockstar again. Bloody fantastic game, that one, and I still haven’t finished it. Having spent ages and lots of attempts trying to kill Ramirez and his cronies, I’m still girding my loins for the next level where I will have to guide a nervous reporter through dank enemy-filled zones, creeping and slashing my way through the darkness. These boys at Rockstar sure know what gets me going.

So anyway, yesterday I traded in a few old games and spent ten minutes deliberating whether to get Hitman: Contracts or Driv3r. I ended up with neither, but rather the absolutely excellent Red Dead Revolver – a spaghetti western adventure with great characterisation, a nice control system and some lovely little touches like the “Dead-Eye” combat system and the nervy quickdraw showdowns.

So who made this one? Oh, would you look at that…

Yes yes, I’m sure you do know that Dubya is evil. But are you aware just how much? Would you like to find out more, in an entertaining way?

Perhaps you’d like to do it in the format of an 80s-style video game, featuring a host of 80s TV stars?

Of course you would! And you can, thanks to Emogame.

You will need at least half an hour to play the whole thing through, possibly more if you read all the Bush facts and figures. You may also need a stiff drink after some of it.

It’s worthwhile though, and my hat is fully off to the creators. The amount of work that must have gone into this game is boggling.

[Hint: Don't worry too much about your characters losing energy and dying - the game does let you continue. They want you to see all the information in the game, so they let you get through it even if you don't do that well...]

Recently discovered the UT2004 demo and have been playing it at lunchtimes and what-have-you.

VEHICLES! ONSLAUGHT! KILL THEM ALL!

Sorry. Think I’ll have a quick go now, actually…

So it seems that four of my favourite video console games – three of them sequels in themselves – all have sequels coming out this year.

I foresee a certain amount of thumb-cramp…

–c.

Kneel and give praise for the wonder that is ebay.

I have managed to source and win that most righteous of retro 8-bit consoles, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, or SNES, and that most furrilous and underwired multiplayer game, Super Bomberman 2.

Ahhhhh… it’s all coming flooding back.

–c.