Well, I finally managed to put the time in and finish Gun. Great voice acting, music and atmosphere managed to make this a most enjoyable game.
Next up is The Warriors. Rockstar have once again outdone themselves. A decrepit New York in the hands of outlandish gangs is superbly brought to life with a great soundtrack and some hard hitting fighting mechanics.The fun and easy squad based commands just add that little bit extra to this title. The fighting also never gets boring and the varied objectives and enemies always manage to grab your attention.
Its been a scorching summer here in the Cape and as always we Capetonians just love to throw some meat on the grill and relax with good friends. This past weekend I met up with the gang from my high school and university days to chew the fat and reminisce about the good ol’ days. It was great to see everyone and just talk till the early morning hours. Some photos:
By “throwing” meat on the braai I mean our resident braai King, Craig literally throws the meat. His current record stands at +/- 4 pieces of dropped meat per braai. Thanks Craig! 
Published on
25 January 2007 in
Gaming.
Seeing that I’m such a Sony fan its never really been much of a choice when it comes to choosing my next gen platform of choice. I feel that the early teething problems that Sony is experiencing are nothing more than a few wrinkles that they will soon iron out.
As a sign of my devotion to Team Sony I decided to try and grab my nic so long before some young kid decides to use it. So feel free to join me on the Playstation Network from the 23rd March, I’ll be there as Merkaba.
Published on
25 January 2007 in
Film.
Just finished watching The Night of the Living Dead. Probably one of the most important horror films ever made. Its not particularly brilliant in a Citizen Kane way or particularly scary, rather its the group of characters thrown together in the farm house and how they react to one another that make this film a compelling watch. Go watch it as soon as you can.
Published on
23 January 2007 in
Gaming.
After months of waiting I’ve finally put through my pre-order for Final Fantasy 12. Final Fantasy games have become my weapon of choice in the battle against boredom. How can you not be impressed by a game that gives you a fully formed world to explore in the company of interesting and varied characters? Previous FF games have always seemed to focus on personal anxiety and emotional ties to other characters, but FF 12 seems to only use that as background to a much grander story of politics and nations. The battle system too has been redefined and shaken up from the usual staid turn based system to a more free form World of Warcraft style system. I’m sure its going to take some getting used to but I applaud the game’s creators for trying something new with a brand as cherished and fanatically followed as FF.
With the slow speed of South Africa’s distributors I’ll be looking at getting the game towards the start of March at the latest and am getting a bit overexcited at the prospect of laying my hands on my very own copy! In addition there should be a relative slew of titles coming out to act as the final send off for the venerable PS2: Rogue Galaxy, God of War II and Okami will all be making their way to me and the run up to the PS3’s launch should be made all the more poignant because of this. So thank you Mr Sony for having given us so much happiness and joy since 2001. Here’s hoping you have a long and successful future ahead of you.
Published on
15 January 2007 in
Gaming.
Well, this past week I’ve been making use of my free time and pouring hours into two great RPGs, Dragon Quest 8 & Shadow Hearts 2: Covenant. Both of these are your die-hard Japanese RPGs that manage to take upwards of 40+ hours of your life with only the pay-off of having completed a long and arduous journey with a group of eccentric characters. But believe you me, its worth every minute. Both games manage to suck you in for very different reasons.
Dragon Quest 8 is your old school type of RPG that presents you with a very basic story and plenty of monsters to fight. Where Level 5 have managed to make this more than the run of the mill RPG is in the lush game world and superb characters they present you with. Right from the very start of the game you can venture where ever your heart desires. See that mountain in the distance? You can run there and climb it just because you can. While the underlying story leads you through the world you’re free to get sidetracked at any point and just waste a few hours battling the oddball creatures in every area and discovering secrets and treasures off the beaten path. Speaking of monsters, DQ8 excels in this area with some of the wackiest and most charming creature designs ever seen. From the ever present Slime to boss characters with dreams of opening comedy clubs, every creature seems to have had hours of attention lavished on their design and back story. This is not to say that the main characters you meet on your journey are less interesting, indeed they are even more arresting. As a bonus for the US and UK versions of DQ8, a full voice track was recorded for the game. What really separates this from previous RPG voice tracks is that the vast majority of the voices are British which lends a certain something to the game world. Graphics wise DQ8 looks remarkable with a superb cell shading style and some masterful character designs from Akira Toyoama of Dragonball fame. Probably the most telling factor to the addictiveness of Dragon Quest is that for over a decade it has been banned from being sold during the week in Japan, such is the avid dedication of its Japanese fan base.
Second, is Shadow Hearts 2: Covenant. Lesser known than FF or DQ, this franchise has nonetheless managed to carve its own niche in the RPG world with its innovative Judgement Ring system and oddball universe. You just know that as soon as you start playing a game with a character who’s a crime fighting wrestler by the name of Grand Papillon with a voice to match, you’re in for something that bit different. The Judgement Ring system really adds a bit of spice to the otherwise bland random encounters so prevalent in the modern RPG. Not only does it affect the damage you can deal out in battles, but it can also give you a discount or markup when selling or purchasing items. Humour is never far in the world of SH, with both your companions and random strangers providing brilliant jokes done with some remarkable voice acting.
Next up for me:
Final Fantasy 12
Rogue Galaxy
I constantly find that the me as perceived by those around me is in a constant state of flux. Who I am and what I stand for are variables that constantly change in the eyes of others. While I may see myself as a constant those people around me who are too obtuse to observe the nuances and beliefs as well as the principles of those of us who are more attuned to the process of wonderment. I am always amazed at how dense those people around me are. How can they lose themselves in the mundaneness of everyday life without once deeming it necessary, no, essential to discover more about themselves and the world around them. Can we not see the bigger picture surrounding us as human beings? Surely the attainment of earthly wealth is merely fleeting while transcendence to another level of thought and being is of paramount importance?
It saddens me to see masses of otherwise ‘good’ people selling their souls to modern day idols such as wealth and security. You might ask why I say security, well, nothing in this life is certain. Our existence on this planet is but a fleeting moment in the life on the universe. We are but merely specks on the time line when compared to our surroundings. This time tomorrow we could be dead for all we know, yet we strive to achieve the impossibility of total security. Its laughable that we cannot see the forest for the trees.
I urge all of you who have happened to stumble on this and have decided to read this not to forsake the acquisition of true knowledge. Try and read books on esoteric knowledge, think a bit about the meaning of existence. Strive to achieve true enlightenment. Only through the questioning of authority can you hope to truly understand yourself and the world in which you find yourself.
I truly hope that some of the misguided people I have met in my life can come to understand the folly of their ways and will throw their shackles off to release themselves from their inability to truly think for themselves. May they come to see the folly of their endeavours.
Truly knowledge is power. who are we to mock the existence of others when we cannot fathom our own existence?
So, its a new year full of promises and dreams. We believe that anything is possible and that we can achieve whatever we set out to accomplish. As the year slowly progresses everything falls back into the expected routines. Whatever we had hoped would happen slowly falls to one side as we are consumed in the maddening rush of everyday life. We can only hope to keep our heads above the water in the futile hope that one day all of this will end and we will be able to throw off the shackles of modern society and embrace nature.
We’re always conditioned to believe that our uniqueness is what makes us special and yet afterwards we are told to conform or face the consequences. How can we be expected to lower ourselves to a base constant so that we can all become merely sardines in a can? Surely the compromising of our individuality merely confirms our hypocrisy as a species?
My futile hope is that one day we will come to understand the existence of our singular consciousness so that we may truly become one of thought and mind. And thus let it be one day.
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