Archive for March, 2010

Combining life’s pleasures

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

It’s not often in life that you find something which combines two of your greatest loves. Take Gran Turismo for example; the perfect blend of perhaps my two favourite things – computer games and fast cars. Usually you’ve got to pursue all your interests separately, which is a lot more time consuming.

However I have recently found a new website that combines two of my big passions: online gambling and Sega games. The geniuses at Sega have launched an online casino site that lets you play a range of slots and table games based on classic Mega Drive, Saturn and Dreamcast titles. It is amazing. My favourites are the House of the Dead slots and the NIGHTS slots. The latter was one of my favourite titles from the ill-fated Saturn console, so much so that I even bought the recent Wii update just to relive the memories.

When I’m gambling online I don’t usually go in for Western games like blackjack or roulette, they are OK I suppose but I much prefer to play slots, Mahjong or other Asian casino games. Perhaps it’s my heritage but I’ve always had a fondness for Mahjong. I used to have a version on the PS2, it was basically one of the NTSC launch titles along with FantaVision (remember that?). The only thing was that without any proper reward, it got a bit boring (although could you say that about any game?). I much prefer to play it at an online casino where I can at least try to win some cash.

I mentioned Gran Turismo earlier in the post and fans of the Real Driving Simulator will know that the fifth full instalment is due this year. I am so excited about this. I have already played Prologue to death, tuned my Skyline to the point of it basically becoming undriveable and started to daydream about what hot new features will be in the full release – I am particularly interested in the Ferrari F1 car and how that class is used in the final game. Think how funny it would be to totally obliterate the field in the Sunday Driver’s league with Schumi’s old car!

I am going to do a full post about Gran Turismo 5 soon but in the meantime I will leave you with this video from E3. Enjoy…

Posted in gaming, online Gambling | 1 Comment »

Welcome to my blog

Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010

Hi guys! I figured it was probably time that I started updating my blog, don’t want to annoy Master Chief by leaving it empty. Incidentally do you like the design? I got my friend Alan to put it together, I think it’s totally awesome. The Chief is probably my favourite computer game character of all time, but just let me update you with my current top three:

  1. Lightning (Final Fantasy XIII) – so beautiful and inspirational
  2. Sofia Lamb (Bioshock 2) – sooo evil!
  3. Chris Redfield (Resident Evil 5) – I’m replaying this at the moment, he’s awesome

On the subject of Final Fantasy XIII, I just want to go on record and say that it’s not as bad as some people are making out. I’ve heard a lot of Square Enix haters slating the game but let’s face it, it is still one of the best that will come out this year. True, you spend roughly the first 15 hours just pressing X in the battles (I started avoiding them at one point, at the expense of points and spoils), but the environments and cutscenes are stunning and the character development and story are immense.

Admittedly the game will never live up to the majesty of Final Fantasy VII (still the greatest FF title of all time and in my opinion the pinnacle of console entertainment), but it’s certainly keeping me happy.

So that’s computer games, what else am I working on at the moment? I’ve got a couple of freelance development contracts that I can’t really talk about. Some interesting stuff in there though and it pays the bills. In my spare time I’m thinking of putting together a new iPhone app. Not sure what to focus it on though. Also I’m thinking of maybe swapping my iPhone for a HTC HD2; my friend Wing has got one and it is so unbelievably powerful. The only thing is, my iPhone is obviously jailbroken so I’ve got access to thousands of apps, but the Windows Mobile apps are more expensive and it is much harder to get free ones. So maybe I’ll stick with the iPhone. I will keep you posted.

OK so that’s my first update, hope you enjoyed the insight into my life. I’ll be posting more regularly from now on, stay tuned for new posts! I will leave you with one of my favourite exchanges from Halo 2 in honour of my blog mascot:

The Master Chief: Sir, request permission to leave the station.
Lord Hood: For what purpose, Master Chief?
The Master Chief: To give the Covenant back their bomb.

So awesome.

Posted in gaming | No Comments »