Agricultural Simulator 2011: Review

The main farming simulator that most people know is the Farming Simulator series by GIANTS Software. But there are a bunch of copies, such as Actalogic’s Agricultural Simulator. This wasn’t supposed to be a review.. but it ended out that way….
Review
There are 2 main differences between this and the Farming Simulator range. First off, the actual crops/tractor work is quite limited. You can do it, but it’s a real waste of money, and time. In Farming Simulator the main goal is about the tractor work. Farming Simulator has animals, but it’s quite limited in that respect. Agricultural Simulator has tried to be different here. The animals in AS2011 gain far more attention. You buy, fatten up and sell the animals, thus turning a profit. There are many more breeds of animals than FS2011 or 2013. FS2011 had 1, cows, FS2013 introduced sheep and chickens… Agricultural Simulator 2011 has Cows, Bulls, Sheep, Goats, Donkeys, Geese, Deer, Rabbits, Horses (?!) ..there are more but I can’t remember them off the top of my head… Each one has it’s own breeding cycle and demand.
In terms of crops, there are more here too, there are the main 4, Maize, Wheat, Barley and Canola (Which all make an appearance in FS2011-FS2013), but then there is Rye, Oats, Buckwheat, and I’m sure there are more, I’ve just not unlocked them yet… The fields require a bit more work than in Farming Simulator, they all need ploughing between crops, (you can just cultivate the stubble in for FS), then cultivating, fertilising (Can choose manure or artificial) and seeding. Then you can spray the crops while they’re growing to do.. something.. not sure what it changes, probably just yield. Lots more work there! There are AI that can help out, they’re slightly more in-depth than in FS as well. You hire workers from a list, and they can be assigned a job, tractor and machinery. They’ll then take these from the vehicle shed, drive to the field, do the job and return the machinery.  They can also be trained up with machines, allowing them to.. do something.. possibly work faster. They’ll do all the main crop work, including harvesting, but you’ll have to drive the trailer to empty the combine after they filled it.
The grain can be stored in a silo, and sold from there, but if you take it to a factory or depot you can get more for it. In Farming Simulator, you take your products to one of 4 or so buyers, and you can see the price in the PDA, so allowing you to choose the best price. AS2011 you don’t have a PDA like that, so you have to load your trailer and pick one. The price might be high or low, so you’ve gotta weigh up driving to the next one to check their prices, at the cost of the fuel to get there. Each place will only accept a certain amount as well, so no more selling millions of tonnes to the pub anymore…
The machines appear to be all CLASS machinery… Clearly the only company that’d give them a license  to reproduce their vehicles in game…
Graphics wise, AS2011 is far from optimised. It has more graphical depth, the tractors for example, get dirty from use, there are tyre tracks in the ground where you’ve driven. This improved graphics (Over FS2011, or indeed FS2013) come at the cost of hugely increased graphics card hunger… Unreasonably so, it’s like I’m running 5 copies of Skyrim at max res. I work on remote sensing data, where you’ve got BIG satellite images, which have to be processed and analysed, and it doesn't use up half the RAM and graphics RAM as AS2011….
Overall, Agricultural Simulator has much more depth than Farming Simulator, but it lacks the fun of Farming Simulator, it is much more of a serious business management game than a fun “OO argh! Get off my land!” kind of game…
I can’t really compare it that well really, I like them both at different times, if I’m missing the farm and tractors I’ll play Farming Simulator, but if I’m in the mood for some business management, I’ll choose Agricultural Simulator.
Overall I’d give Agricultural Simulator 2011 a 7/10, it is good, but it’s the graphics try a little too hard in some areas (Mud) and leave the other things (Like the terrain & trees) looking naff and very odd..
Farming Simulator 2013 gets an 8/10. It is a much more polished and balanced product, but lacks the depth of Agricultural Simulator 2011.
Agricultural Simulator 2011 is available from Steam
Farming Simulator 2013 is also available from Steam

Halo: Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition Review

So, when Halo Combat Evolved Anniversary Edition came out (Woa, that really is a mouthful… Lets just call it the Halo 1 Remake) I preordered and got it a day or so after the release date (It’s cos I live in the middle of nowhere…)
I played the first level on Pillar Of Autumn straight off, and thought it was class just to have a Halo 1 that looked like Halo Reach (Almost…). Time limits due to my work on the farm meant that I couldn’t finish playing any more than the first level and it sat dormant on my desk for a few months. I was hoping to play some at Christmas, but Skyrim was big on my play list, and somehow Halo got pushed to the back. Anyways, I’ve recently found myself with a bit more spare time in the mornings before breakfast and started to play again. This was helped by the fact that I’ve been ill in bed for 2 days and have managed to get some more time into Halo due to that.
So, I’ve finally completed it, i wussed out and did it on Normal, not Legendary… One day maybe…. If I end up in prison serving life mayby…. Unlikely.
So, the game… Well, I played the original Halo quite a few times, first on the PC waaay back.. (2004 maybe?) and again on the Xbox 360 with some friends and I’ve loved it, classic Halo, great game. Storyline is epic, coop play is good fun;  All round good game. The remake is pretty much the same, same storyline, coop is still good, but added to that are epic graphics from the Halo Reach engine. Very much nice and lovely.
There are some downsides though, First is that they reduced the number of players for Coop from 4 down to 2… Which means I can’t play it with 2 of my friends… It’s a shame, but not a massive problem. The graphics aren’t quite up to Halo Reach standards, but they’re close, the guns don’t look quite as nice and polished as in Reach, and it would’ve been nice if they’d added the DMR…But that’s not really in keeping with the Halo 1 remake. The one big problem I had was with the sound, many many times I had one audio track over the top of another one, was really annoying in the final cutscene when there was supposed to be sad, epic end music, it was overlayed with the action music from the previous scene…
If you’re a real Halo fan, then I would recommend getting this game, if you’ve played Halo 1 and the rest but aren’t really a great fan, not really worth getting, it’s just a better looking Halo 1 with better graphics…And achievements… And skulls….
All in all though, class game. It’s Halo 1… Can’t really go wrong there… Just want a redux Halo 2 now….
I’d give it a 7/10, it was as good as I was expecting, a remake of Halo 1, there is nothing new or groundbreaking that warrent a higher score though. Maybe if you completed it you could get all the nice stuff from Halo Reach in.. Customizable gear and awesome weapons, then it would get a 9/10 maybe..
Halo ODST is still my favourite...

Review: Before The Dawn; Rise of the Phoenix

So, I’ve got a new album from one of my favorite artists, Before The Dawn. I reviewed their album “Deathstar Rising” in the summer (Hey! Listen!) and it has become one of my albums for Summer 2011, and is still regularly played when I’m driving the tractor.

(This is pretty clever, new little widget from Spotify)

My overall feelings about this album are mixed, I love Before The Dawn, they’re up there at #2 favourite band, but this album was a bit of a let down. I love harsh vocals as much as the next man, but the reason I like Melodic Death Metal is the blend of harsh and clean vocals, that’s one of the reasons I loved Deathstar Rising so much, it had that blend of clean and harsh vocals that just made it epic and listenable. This album has some decent tracks, but overall the lack of any clean singing really just means this is gonna be on my shelf for listening to only when there is nothing else.
So, I’m only going to review those tracks I really liked,
first up is Exordium:



This is just an intro track, but I still rather like it. Some rather nice little riffs in there from the lead guitar.

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The second track, Pitch Black Universe continues with the same musical riffs, but with a distorted guitar, and some harsh vocals:

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The 3rd track, Phoenix Rising, was one of the pre released tracks, and I did listen to it quite a bit. It got me very excited for the album, and while the rest of the album has a similar epic music style, there is no clean vocals….Something I didn’t really notice in this track though:

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Skipping on to track 5, (Track 4, Cross To Bear is an okay, track but it’s not really one that sticks out) Throne of Ice, another one they pre-released, so I’ve got a fair listen of this one, and again, it is an epic track, but no clean vocals!

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Track 8, Eclipse, another pretty nice track, but again, not one that sticks out.

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Track 9, Closure, I quite liked this track, it’s pretty mellow and relaxed at the beginning, then gets a decent slow heavy and epic part later on, too much harsh vocals though…

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Bonus Track 10, Unbreakable. This is a remake of one of the tracks off one of their old albums, My Darkness from 2003. Loved that album, and this is a nice remake, definitely one of my favourites off the new album

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Last bonus track, (On my copy anyways), Track 11, Deliverance. Another pretty nice mellow track, no harsh guitar, it’s just a nice melodic track, nice!

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So, to conclude, I’ve got mixed feelings about this album, it is a nice album, and there are some decent songs on it, but it’s not really what i was hoping for. I was hoping for another one like Deathstar Rising, but this is a much harsher album. I like harsh sometimes too, but I was really in the mood for another Deathstar Rising. So, I do like the tracks and the album, its much more like the old Before The Dawn material, which I love too by the way…
So I do quite like the album, and I would recommend it to anyone who likes the old BTD material, to anyone who isn’t quite into the fully harsh MDM, maybe go buy Deathstar Rising instead…. but I do like it… I’m gonna go listen to Deathstar Rising now though…


On another note, I'm liking this new thing from Spotify! It's pretty nifty, just right click on the track or playlist and go "Copy Embed Code" then paste, for the little ones change the dimension to 80 instead of 380. Shweet!

Review: Phillips inear Virtual Surround Headphones

So, in my everlasting quest to find the perfect sound I've got some new headphones. It was also to try and see if the ipod issue I've been having, with the ipod pausing randomly, was due to the ipod its self, or if it was the headphones.
So, I got the Phillips Virtual Surround headphones from HMV (£19.99). Apparently they've got some sort of outside resonance speaker... No idea.
Anyways, this little speaker thing on the edge looks a bit naff, looks like you've got the headphones the wrong way in your ear....
To be honest the review is overall quite negative... The headphones were bought to be a replacement for my Sennheisers, as I thought that's where the problem lies, but the sound quality is terrible, no where near the Sennheisers. The ipod pausing issue still remains as well, so overall not a good pair of headphones! Don't buy them, get the cheaper and better sound quality Sennheisers.
Piece of junk.

Lifeventure 300ml Thermal Mug

Okay, bit of a mini-review here, just got myself a new coffee (well, for me Yorkshire Tea Gold) mug. It's from Millets and the cost was  £12. So, the outside construction is coloured stainless steel, and I think its a continuous formed piece forming the inside too, and insulation is through a vacuum around the chamber.
The lid is a pressure release thing of plastic and steel, so if your tea gets cold and contracts it doesn't grab the lid and never let go.
The tea I made about an hour ago is still too hot to drink, so its a pretty good insulator, no idea how long it'll keep things nice and warm, but it's probably a fair few hours.
They come in a nice wide range of colours, I chose blue, but there is green, brown, blue, red, pink, silver, black and a couple more I don't remember. So yea, nice little tea/coffee mug. Just don't smash them behind a tractor seat or the vacuum breaks...

Sennheiser Cx150 In Ear Headphones from HMV

|| Product being looked at here! ||
Righty, a few months back I broke my headphones, I think they must’ve got wet or something while I was doing Marine Biology, but they stopped working is the key point. I headed into Bangor, North Wales in search of some new headphones and found a HMV.

I found some pretty cheap headphones. They were just £15 when i found them in October 2011. I figured they’d be okay, maybe nothing special, but better than a dull and quiet bus ride home, so I bought them.
The only way I can fully express my feelings towards these headphones is to describe what happened next.
After I left the shop I tried them on, and plugged in my Ipod…. I’ve never had this before but I could not stop the massive grin forming on my face whilst listning with them, the sound quality is amazing, I was hearing instruments and riffs I didn’t even know existed in some songs.
I have tried expensive headphones, cheap headphones and a load of others in between, but I can honestly say these Sennheiser Cx150 headphones are the best I have ever tried. I strongly recommend!
Only downside I’ve found is that they’re a little fragile, am slightly concerned I’ll break them… Downside of being a farmer…..

:UPDATE: 19/03/2012
Okay, I had a bit of a fear that I'd break these headphones, and I may have actually managed that...
Though I'm not sure yet...
When I'm using these headphones my ipod keeps pausing, like when you pull the headphones out... Only the headphones are still very much plugged in. I tried turning the headphone plug around in the socket a few times and it doesn't seem to pause it by doing that... so I'm not sure how it's doing it...
I tried my old SkullCandy headphones again, and the problem was reduced, but still occasionally there, though instead of every 20 seconds it was every couple of songs... Which isn't quite as bad, but when you're milking, or doing something with your hands it is pretty annoying...
But still, I love these headphones, the audio quality is unmatched, but the annoying pausing issue is meaning I can't really use them in my ipod anymore :(

Dear Esther (2012)

Well, the studio behind the original HL2 mod “Dear Esther”, a group called The Chinese Room, have been working on an actual release title of Dear Esther. They teamed up with Robert Briscoe, who designed some of the levels for another of my favourite games, Mirror’s Edge, to bring us a remade Dear Esther. They redid the graphics, the voice recording etc etc and it looks pretty damned awesome.

I played the original Dear Esther a few years back, and was very impressed with the game (I can’t really describe it as a game… but it is the only label I can put on it…. I guess it’s more of an interactive visual arts medium/Interactive novel?). I’ve been keeping an eye on the development of this release, and jumped on it the day it came out…

So, here are some screenshots:

 

The ship wreck on the shore

Interior of the Lighthouse… I love the detail!

The game looks absolutely stunning… And this is on a machine that struggles to play Borderlands on the lowest setting…….Can’t  wait to take it for a spin on my Desktop…

Floor details, plus obligatory chemical symbols…

Stairwell into the Lighthouse

Lighthouse building interior

sigh… It’s puurty

I love it…. Despite the main character being a right downer… He sounds like no fun to be around….

Awesome game… Pop over to Steam and pick it up

>>> Do it! <<<

Interesting article on their website:

Dear Esther sold 16k units in under 24 hours - Recoupes financial backing in 6 hours

Not entirely surprising…

Anyways, have a goodun!

Skipper out.

Metro 2033 Completed

So, on Monday I bought Metro 2033, it was on sale on Steam, for £3.71. Bargain, loaf of bread and a couple pints of milk worth, organic bread and milk mind, but still, cheapish. I wasn’t sure when I would be able to play it, seeing as I’m on a new course. Turns out I was in luck, or not so, I got ill. This gave me a couple days of being unable to walk about, or do anything, so I thought I should just haul my ass over to the computer and complete it.
So, it took me 9 hours, with a couple of rage quits, to complete. Overall, my impressions of this game are good though it is creepy as hell in places! Really eerie. I think it was made by some people who used to work on the original STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl.
==Possible Spoilers ==
This STALKER connection does seem to show in places, and I don't mean the simple fact that they’re both set around Russia and the Eastern Bloc. The first one I noticed was the fact that when you ascend to the surface with “Bourbon” he refers to “Stalkers” and “stashes”…. Got to be a reference to STALKER?
The second, was not so much to STALKER, but to the scene and the community, a reference to  Arkady and Boris Strugatsky and their famous (in STALKER communities) book, Roadside Picnic.

With regards to the storyline, something I care most about, overall I did like it. No real twists, I could’ve seen how the story would've played out if given the main points: Big bad monsters you never really see, a home place, main character, and some missiles… Pretty much sums it up… Make some friends, friends die, monsters die… The end. Not to say I didn't enjoy it! Despite a mildly predictable storyline, it was well executed. The characters were well voiced and likable. Ulman was a legend, made some amusing jokes. Khan was a very cool character, he would be a very useful companion if STALKER was real, or Metro 2033 for that matter. The level Ghosts was really quite eerie, and very cool, has the atmosphere of the original STALKER, SOC.
Graphics are very good, well, grimy and nice. I do like it. There is always something out there with better graphics than something else, but hey, I’m a storyline over graphics person.

So for me, graphics were top notch. Storyline was very enjoyable, and that is all that counts. So overall, I’d give this game an 8 or 9 out of 10. Lets say:
8.5/10
Would I play it again? Yea, I think I would. There are achievements for this game that are worth a go at trying to get. Creepy game

How to change the keyboard on the Dell Vostro 1500 (And possibly others… Who knows what standardised systems dell have!)

Olé! I spilled a large amount of hot chocolate over my laptop the other day, and the E button stopped working, I popped the keyboard out and cleaned it to no avail, so I had to replace it. If you find yourself in a similar situation, I would recommend getting a new keyboard…It is so nice to work on really nice responsive keys etc etc… Dunno, just feels like having a new laptop again. Anyways, here is how to switch the old out, and the new in:

First of all, you need to order a replacement keyboard, these can be found by looking on ebay for Dell Vostro 1500 keyboard, or by searching the model number and getting an official dell version from somewhere. I am not going to say which I did….But I got a keyboard that works.

So, once you have your shiny keyboard, you need to get the old one out. First of all, you need a small posidrive screwdriver (positive one… with a + end) and a larger flat head screwdriver.

With the larger flat head screwdriver, locate the slight hole in the top right corner of the laptop, on a panel containing the power button. Put the flat head here and wedge the panel upwards. (I used a knife as that was all I had around me… farmer remember…)

The whole panel should come up, with some slightly unnerving cracks and crunches.. but all in one piece:

Dethatch this to expose the innards of that section… You should see 2 + screws, at the location of the red arrows in the below image:

Remove these!

Pull the keyboard back, away from the screen, and pull it up at the same time, it should come away, but be careful, it is still attached!!

There is a small connector above the trackpad, with a blue tab, lift this tab and it should allow you to pull the keyboard wire tape clear of it’s little plug thing.

The old keyboard should come free now, so just remove it. The new keyboard now needs attaching. First try and get the wire tape into the little clip you just got the old one out of. Keep the blue tab lifted, and try and force the tape into the bottom. There are 2 little lugs on the side of the tape, these should go inside the clip, and prevent you from pulling the wires out again. When this is clipped on, push the blue tab back down, clip the keyboard back in and pop the 2 screws back in the top.

Then, reattach the plastic panel with the power switch, starting from the left side, where there are 2 lugs that need to clip into holes in the main body. Then push the rest of the panel down with your hand

And you’re ready to rock!

Enjoy

-Skip

Time Lapses! Wooooo!

Yar, so I bought an Android app called TimeLapse, quite a fun little app, which I’ve been using to make some time lapse films of assorted things on the farm, the first of these is Spraying and milking on Wednesday:

Wednesday Time Lapse Fim

I am snoozing a lot as it is 5 in the morning…

Sounds of a Playground Fading

I’m not the kind of guy to accuse a band of selling out and changing. When Blinded Colony changed to The Blinded a lot of fans were really angry, and felt let down. The new Sonic Syndicate album had a very different sound, and a lot of fans were really up in arms against it. I’ve always been one to embrace a new direction of a band. I love the old Sonic Syndicate stuff, but I’ve got that now, so I’m open to whatever they feel they want to play.

In Flames…. I think they’re my favourite band… With Before the Dawn coming in a close 2nd…. But in 2010 or so the guitarist, Jesper Stromblad left the band on good terms. Big disappointment for me as it meant they pulled out of their UK tour…And I missed seeing them in Cardiff…. But I digress. I was thinking we’d heard the last of In Flames when they did their collaborative track with Pendulum (Self Vs. Self), but I was pleasantly surprised when I learned of the impending new album “Sounds of a Playground Fading.”  I eagerly preordered my copy and awaited the delivery…. It still hasn’t arrived… And Spotify beat me to it. So, it is in Spotify now!

(This has been sitting in my drafts folder for a very long time.. I really need to finish and publish it)

So, on the 22nd of June (Dispite me writing this on the 27th of October, 2011 I still remember the date, it was the same date that I got my degree results) the CD finally arrived. And as it turned out, to my luck, I was working alone in the Inner Garden, so I could slam on the iPod and listen to the album profusely. The Album stuck, and I really enjoyed it, so it was my soundtrack of my summer (*fading):

^ Kept me company during hay making… Yarrr in the tractor!

^ Driving down to Wales…. A very depressing journey leaving behind a very good summer… But made bearable by Sounds of A Playground Fading (Or just 01 Sounds Of A as the dashboard seems to think)

After a lot of listening, I came to some conclusions.  Like much of In Flames there are tracks I love, and others that I just skip…

So, here’s the listing:

1. Sounds of a Playground Fading
2. Deliver Us
3. All For Me
4. The Puzzle
5. Fear Is The Weakness
6. Where The Dead Ships Dwell
7. The Attic
8. Darker Times
9. Ropes
10. Enter Tragedy
11. Jester’s Door
12. A New Dawn
13. Liberation

 

Sounds Of A Playground Fading, Track 1, a very good introduction, and while this isn’t one of my top rated tracks, it is certainly one I will listen to and not skip over. The chorus is very singable, though the theme is a little dark.

Deliver Us, Track 2. This was released as a single before the album was released, and I listened to it a lot… It’s still a good track, and one I’m not likely to skip over in a hurry. Nothing stands out particularly, but it’s still a good track.

All For Me, Track 3. This is one of those tracks that doesn’t really make an impression on me… It’s a skipable one… There is nothing really.. wrong with it, it’s just not one I really want to listen to that much…

The Puzzle, Track 4. At first this was one of those tracks that I skipped… The introduction is a little too chaotic, and I never really heard it out properly. But, when I did… This has become one of my favourites. The chorus…..Oh it’s one of those awesome epic ones… And the instrumental section at 1:40 or so is awesome…. And the section from 3:10, though very simple, is very epic… And lead to some erratic driving while I was listening to it. It’s just a shame the song ends….

Fear Is The Weakness, Track 5. This was an instant hit with e. Love love love it. Very epic.. Not much more I can say on that.. Just love singing loudly and badly along

Where The Dead Ships Dwell, Track 6. Similar to The Puzzle, not an instant hit with me, but it’s one without too much screaming and therefore I can sort of sing along with it in the car/tractor/shower. Very nice guitar solos, good all round track

The Attic, Track 7. This is one I nearly always skip over….The lyrics are just too dark and weird…. Don’t really have anything more to say on the matter……

Darker Times, Track 8. Like the Puzzle it was was one I skipped over initially, too chaotic, but when the chorus kicks in at 1:00, I decided I liked the song. It is one of those epic ones…. Though I usually just hum the bass….

Ropes, Track 9. I think this is my favourite song on the album. The intro is awesome, and it remains that way throughout.

“If this would be your last breath, would you change a thing?”

Oh I do like this track

Enter Tragedy, Track 10. Kind of neutral on this one… There are parts I like, the instrumental I do quite like…. But it’s not really one of my top songs on the album….

Jester’s Door, Track 11. This seems to be a goodbye to Jesper. So goodbye Jesper!

A New Dawn, Track 12. Locates straight after Jester’s Door, this does seem to be a look to the future. And the future looks good! Good song, not a skipable one.

“ And I can’t wait to see the sunrise again”

Was listening to it as I drove through these mountains in North Wales:

It seemed very apt.

Liberation, Track 13. The last track on the album! It is quite a slow moving song, but with some epic moments. Overall, a good track.. Definitely worth a listen.

 

 

Yea, so my overall impressions of the CD…. Very good. Well worth a listen! Go out and buy it! Available in HMV!

-Skip

Universe Sandbox - Review

Snazzy little program came onto the Steam marketplace a couple of days ago, called Universe Sandbox. Basically, the premise of the game is you’ve got complete control over all aspects of the universe. You can take our solar system, see what would happen if you dialled the mass of the sun up, or try and set up a Geosynchronous orbit around the earth.
^ In  this one I tried to see what would happen if the earth had a set of rings like Neptune, Saturn, etc etc, at the same point as the moon. The gravity of the moon caused some really cool twists and turns in the rings, and a bunch of asteroids broke orbit and crashed into the planet.
Dialling the gravity up a couple of notches is a fun one too, if you get the gravity high enough the sun turns into a black hole, and everything slowly collapses in on its self. Before then though, some of the planets do a slingshot around the sun and end up reaching the escape velocity and buggering off into space.
Using timing and changes to speed and changing the semi major axis I tried to dock a “teapot” with the ISS (the teapot is one of the random weird objects you can use as they didn't have a shuttle…) It was going quite well, I got the closing velocity down really nice and slow, but when the teapot finally got to the ISS (represented by a piece of rock…) the collision engine picked it up as a crash and smashed my teapot… Doh!

This is quite a fun little game, especially for those who are white and nerdy enough to get out the calculator to figure out all the velocities, forces and radii needed to get objects in certain places, it is still very buggy and has crashed on me a number of times, so hopefully in time they’ll release a patch and fix that all up, also I’m hoping for more models,spacecraft, satellites, gas clouds etc etc. But we shall see.
If you like astronomy, astrophysics and anything else to do with stars and SPAAAACE (Portal 2 reference for you there), I’d strongly recommend this, it’s only a few quid at the moment, so get it!
-Skip

Stripe Scanner

Stripe Spotter: Available Here

Hello there, time for another review.

The stripes on zebras are unique to each animal, and realising that, the development team behind Stripe Scanner set out to create a program to recognise individuals from their stripes.

Now, this is not my area of expertise, I’m a diatoms man rather than a big game man, but I have done a module in African Biodiversity, so I do know a little bit.

Using photographs I’ve taken in South Africa and Kenya, I set out to create my own database of animals using their program. Here are my thoughts:

The UI is very simple, identifying animals is pretty easy, select the body part and press Identify Animal….

Now, here is where I ran into some difficulty.The images I took are from 2007 and 2009, so I have no idea which animal is which… To create the database you need to have a base population of identified zebras, with which to compare the later photographs. I lack this, so my database consists of guess work as to which are new animals.

Due to this, when I came to adding an individual from thousands of kilometres away, from Kenya, what should’ve been distinctively different stripes, the similarity is much higher than it should be. (0.46)

All in all, I think this is a valuable program for those who need to process a large local herd of individuals if you have a base number of photographs of identified individuals to work from. My example has a poor collection of disorganised photographs, of quality too low for a proper identification, so this test of the software was not really sound.

But all in all, worth checking out if you’ve got a lot of zebras to identify!

Download Here

Before the Dawn–Deathstar Rising

The playlist is available here, or by searching Deathstar Rising or Before the Dawn in Spotify.. or you know.. buying the CD! I think it’s on Itunes…

Okie dokie, another little review. This s a music review of what is probably my current favourite Melodic Death Metal album.

The first 2 tracks, The First Snow and Winter Within really give a feel to the rest of the album. Very epic guitar, nice mix of clean vocals and growling, (I got stuck there.. what’s the opposite of clean vocals? I was going to say filthy vocals! but that suggests inappropriate language) Unlike a lot of the Death Metal out there, the singer can actually sing clean vocals well.

Deathstar, the 3rd album on the track has a very catchy guitar part, which I often find myself humming along to, and the chorus I’ll often burst out into growls “ONE BY ONE!” ..then forget the rest of the chorus and wonder why everyone is staring at me.

Another of my favourite tracks on this album is Butterfly Effect, another great example of very catchy melodies, and an awesome mix of harsh (AHA! that’s the term for it!) vocals and clean. I think the whole album has an interesting change to the usual Before the Dawn format. Most other songs have quite harsh choruses, and clean vocals in between, like one of my other favourites by Before the Dawn: End of Day from the album “Decade of Darkness.”

Overall, Butterfly Effect is an awesome song, I’ve no idea what the harsh vocals are saying but the chorus is awesome: “Can’t define, what has caused this chain reaction. Wings of a butterfly, brought the storm to my direction”  - It’s an awesome chorus!

The bonus tracks, available on the later commercial release of the CD include an acoustic version of “My Room,” which is another one of my favourites by this band. I’m not sure about the live bonus tracks…. I prefer the studio recorded ones, they’re more… polished.

I ordered the CD on preorder, and got it a couple days before it was released with a rather nice T-shirt.

Overall impressions of this album are very good, I do love it, and it has helped me get through writing my dissertation, so that’s always a bonus! So yea, check it out, link is ^^^ Up there for Spotify.

A couple of their songs are on their facebook page:

BOOK OF FACES!

Enjoy!

Skippy, signing out 1216 Zulu.

Bzeek!

I feel I should share this little discovery of mine with the class. But I should preface it with some back story first. I live in Botton Village in North Yorkshire, it’s in the middle of nowhere, and the buildings are made of mahusive bits of rock. The internet that we do have had to be forged from the raw… CAT5 cables… It’s wired basically is what I’m getting at. Now, I have a phone, it’s a shiny Android, a HTC Hero to be precise. It uses WIFI, something that we lack with all the… stone, it’s just not a practical method of connecting to the internet. So I have a slight problem with updating everything and synchronising all my music off Spotify onto my phone. (BTW, Spotify is awesome… just to let you know. I’d highly recommend it if you live in Europe, if you dont live in Europe…. MOVE TO EUROPE! We’ve got… rain, and…. land, and shops and stuff, it’s amazing!) But I am getting side tracked.

So, the problem is I need wifi to sync Spotify on my phone. Survival basics, what do I have, and what do I need?

I have: Laptop, wired internet and a data hungry phone

I need: Wifi…

Solution: Bzeek

What this little rascal does is creates a local Wifi network around your computer, which you can then use to access the internet with all your little devices.

There is a slight downside of this in that the WIFI is available to anyone else who is near, but the upshot is that if anyone uses your internet, you get paid. So all in all, it’s not too bad! It’s all secure and tight, and when you’ve finished synching your phone, you can just turn it off.

So far it does seem a little slow, but that is partially due to the slow internet here…. I’m trying to sync 9 songs up, started 10 minutes ago.. and it’s still on 9 songs left to sync… but I have every faith in the technology!

Thought I’d go though my Steam games and give mini reviews to them…

688(I) Hunter/Killer

0.3 hrs on record

Was basically a more limited version of Dangerous Waters… Just the one submarine and worse graphics…

Rating: 3/10

All Points Bulletin

6.8 hrs on record

I was pissed off with this game… I spent the above time.. 6.8 hours downloading it.. and it just lagged like an absolute mother bitch… was unplayable.. annoyed..

Raing: 0/10… I couldnt even walk forwards..

America's Army 3

0.1 hrs on record

Another game that really pissed me off…I couldnt even complete the basic training mission where you have to run the course in a certain time… I guess its a fair estimation of how I’d do in actual basic selection…

Rating 0/10

ARMA 2

6.3 hrs on record

I was hoping for a lot from ArmA 2. I loved some parts of ArmA 1 and in those respects 2 didnt disapoint, there are loads of weapons, vehicles, etc, and the mission editor is nearly identical which are all pluses.. but the same old stupid interface and awkward aiming and shooting…I mostly played it for making a mission with 1 tank and one harrier, then bombing the tank.. hours of fun.

Rating: 3/10 …. Stupid GUI..

ARMA: Combat Operations

13.4 hrs on record

This is the STEAM version only.. I think it would be up there in the 100h range if it recorded my old version. Despite its clunky interface and stupid aiming, I loved this game. Especially the Sahrani Life RPG element  

Rating 7/10 Although I loved it, the interface was really dumb.

Armored Fist 3

I’ve yet to try this.. I got it with the Novalogic pack..

Audiosurf

1 hrs on record

An interesting concept… Fun to play when your bored… But hardly ground breaking in terms of story telling… well, there isnt a story.. thats not the point of this game! Its something to dip into when you feel like listning to some music and doing something at the same time (that doesnt include working..)

6/10

Battlefield 2

2.6 hrs on record

Meh… BF1942 was amazing, loved the COOP element. BF2 disappointed on that front. The AI behaved like the dicks you find online, jumping up and down…. SOLDIERS DONT JUMP UP AND DOWN IN REAL BATTLE! You dont dodge incoming fire by hopping up and down… You get into cover and give return fire..

4/10

BioShock

Ah, I played it for that short a time it didnt even record. Stupid game…. if there were mods I would consider playing it… Pack a G36 and I’d jump straight in.

2/10

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

4.7 hrs on record

Grrr…….. Yea… £40 for 5h of game play.. I was very pissed off… But its Call of Duty… its for the multiplayer… Which I detest… Not worth it..

2/10

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Multiplayer

0.1 hrs on record

..Meh, better on the Xbox, but hardly ground breaking..

1/10

Comanche 4

Got with Novalogic pack.. never played… Looks graphically challenged..

Counter-Strike: Source

0.1 hrs on record

If you want to be shot in the face repeatedly by a 8 year old…. play this game! Idiotic game… But Gmod needed it..

0/10

Counter-Strike: Source Beta

Crash Time II

0.2 hrs on record

It looked quite good fun… But I suck at driving…

1/10

Dangerous Waters

148.5 hrs on record

..I think this is the game I’ve played on longest… Great fun, nothing beats sitting in a darkened room with headphones pressed tightly to one ear whilst listening to a BQQ-5. Had just read Red Storm Rising, so was totally into all the OHP class frigates, and 688s.

Rating 9/10

Darkest Hour: Europe '44-'45

1.6 hrs on record

Played it online for a bit, but the graphics were rubbish… Game play was okay I guess… but not something I’ll play again..

2/10

Day of Defeat: Source

0.3 hrs on record

Damn the guns have some serious recoil! But yea, meh.. got because Gmod wanted the files..

1/10

Delta Force

Delta Force 2

Delta Force: Black Hawk Down

Although it doesnt say it here, I’ve completed BHD a few times. Awesome game. Looks a bit like an old version of Joint Operations.. which I suppose it is… Brilliant storyline Love it. But no Coop! And the multiplayer sucked….

Rating 8/10

Delta Force: Black Hawk Down - Team Sabre

Similar in game play to BHD, but without the familiar storyline. Good, but the original was better. Some good missions though, dont get me wrong.

7/10

Delta Force: Land Warrior

Delta Force: Task Force Dagger

Delta Force: Xtreme

Started playing it.. but its just a cheap version of Joint Operations.. Meh.

4/10

Delta Force: Xtreme 2

4.5 hrs on record

Completed it in 4.5h… There is a full review here: No! here!

Better graphics than BHD, but rubbish weapons.. Missed the whole ranging in from Joint Operations

6/10

DiRT 2

1.6 hrs on record

I suck at driving, so sucked at this..

2/10

F-16 Multirole Fighter

F-22 Lightning 3

Fallout 3

22.1 hrs on record

The first version I got! Thought it was pretty good.. but nothing special..

6/10

Fallout 3 - Game of the Year Edition

64.4 hrs on record

The 2nd time I got it i really got into it. This was the GOTY version, so all the addons. And I loved it! awesome game! Got all the achievements!

8.5/10

Far Cry 2

19.9 hrs on record

I got quite far though this, but my PC crashed and I lost the save game. It wasnt untill recently (August 2010) that i actually completed it on the Xbox. Was a good game with regards to Storyline. And I looooved the scenery. Its set in Africa, which is a country close to my heart, really beautiful scenes in the grasslands. Really nice. But some gameplay aspects sucked.. No Coop for one.. Whats the point in a jeep you can drive, but have to switch seats to gun if you cant have someone else on the gun? meh..

8/10 anyway… was a good game

Far Cry 2: Fortunes Pack

Fleet Command

Frontlines: Fuel of War

5.1 hrs on record

I got this for like 2 quid.. BARGAIN! Loved the game too. The storyline was really good and thought provoking. I just got it for the Xbox too, but not been able to play it much yet.

Garry's Mod

158.8 hrs on record

158h says it all. I freaking love this game. Game? …Sandbox. Its amazing fun. I spent about 50 hours just building assorted space ships and flying them around the gooniverse map. Amazing fun! Class game! I can actually find no flaws.. Apart from perhaps when you’ve built everything there isnt much left to do…

9.5/10 … because I cant give 10/10 to any game….

Grand Theft Auto IV

16.3 hrs on record

I turned Nikko Belic away from a life of crime… but the game lost whatever storyline it had when I did… Plus the storyline sort of ended when I refused to date some random girl I didnt know. Thats not how I roll.

Meh/10… thats not a number.. eer 6/10.

Half-Life 2

13.4 hrs on record

Played mostly over Synergy mod. Excelent game.

8/10

Half-Life 2: Deathmatch

Half-Life 2: Episode One (See Synergy)

Half-Life 2: Episode Two (See Synergy)

0.3 hrs on record

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast

0.3 hrs on record

Joint Operations: Escalation

14.9 hrs on record

GOTTA LOVE JOINT OPS! Though with the new edition none of the stats recorders work.. and I cant install mods on the STEAM version of Jops…. But yea, its an amazing game! LOVE IT!

9/10

Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising

Killing Floor

63.5 hrs on record

Nothing like extreme gore and violence when your in a bad mood. So grab your M9 and blow some zombies heads off. Great fun! And I’ll definitely be playing more of this as soon as I get new internet, instead of this inter-нет that I currently have…нет is russian for No. Its pronounced “Niet” ..Inter Niet…. Oh nvm…

9/10

Killing Floor Mod: Defence Alliance 2

1.2 hrs on record

The shite cousin of Killing Floor.

2/10

Left 4 Dead

I did like this to start with, but once you’ve completed it once or twice its just so repetative. Shite replay value.

3/10 ..Just because I’m feeling generous.

Left 4 Dead 2

2.9 hrs on record

Its a once though game… Although its meant to be “great replay value” … Once you know the story the only difference will be where the zombies are…. meh

3/10

Mare Nostrum

0.4 hrs on record

Junk graphics, clunky gameplay..

2/10

MiG-29 Fulcrum

Portal

PORTAL! Amazing game! Its class! You’ve got to play it!

9.5/10

Red Orchestra: Ostfront 41-45

Rhythm Zone

0.2 hrs on record

I got this thinking it would be like a custom Guitar Hero. But was disapointed to find there was no strumming… Meant I sucked at it since I’m used to holding down the note, then strumming when it passes. But its okay when you get used to it. But unlikely to play again.

3/10

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat

73.8 hrs on record

OMG. STALKER! 3rd in the series. The 2nd best I’d say. Full review here: TADA!

Really love the STALKER series. My favorite game series of all time. Love it sums it up.

9/10 A-MAZING!

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky

4.8 hrs on record

:Cough: This game was a mistake. lets be honest. Its the worst of the STALKER series. I think they just rushed it though developement…. I’m playing it again with the STALKER Complete mod by ArtistPavel (Available here) so we shall see… maybe its better with that mod..

One memorable moment only really from that game, the battle for the bridge at Limansk, and the battles though Limansk itself, they were the best thing about this game. Its worth getting if you’ve completed Shadow of Chernobyl, just for the storyline, dont play Call of Pripyat without playing this first.

6/10… yea.. it sucked.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl

69.7 hrs on record

MY FAVORITE GAME OF ALL TIME! Love it love it love it! A short review doesnt do it justice. This game is like an old jumper, you really love it, its got so many good memories, but its also really uncool and you would never be seen in public with it as its not as cool as all your MW2s and Battlefields. GSC a its finest.

9.8/10. Just because it doesnt have COOP, and the artefacts are too easy to find… Otherwise it’d be a 10/10 for sure! 11/10!

Stargate Resistance

0.5 hrs on record

I was tricked… I thought this was the Stargate Worlds under a new name… But it turned out to be CounterStrike in the SGC, with Zat guns and P90s… meh.

2/10

Sub Command

Synergy

40.8 hrs on record

I’ve completed Halflife 2 on Synergy….3 times I think.. and am on my 4th play though with Wendy. Its a Coop mod for Half life 2, so instead of going though the campaign on your own, you’ve got someone backing you up. Tis a great mod

9/10

Tachyon: The Fringe

Team Fortress 2

0.3 hrs on record

Weird looking, deathmatch shite… meh

2/10

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

77.3 hrs on record

 

Gasp… Oblivion. BEAUTIFUL! Love this game so much! I’m not even going to say anymore… Play it.

9/10

Tomb Raider: Anniversary

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon

0.1 hrs on record

I’m wishing I’d played this a long time ago, when I was playing Rainbow Six.. The controls are the same, but I now find them really hard to use after all the newer games… Was gutted as I loved these old Tom Clancy games..

6/10

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter

4.9 hrs on record

s’ difficult! Even on easy! I gave up…

5/10

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Desert Siege

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Island Thunder

TrackMania United

12.3 hrs on record

I suck at driving… But its an awesome game..

7/10

X3: Reunion

81.3 hrs on record

Haha oh I love this game! There are some awesome mods for it too, the Stargate mod is my favorite. Flying around in a BC-304 Daedalus class ship is amazing fun, especially when you have a fleet of F-302s onboard. CLAAAAS! But never completed it… The tangos just get too difficult later on.. I’d take a few hits and just blow up… annoying…

7/10

X3: Terran Conflict

0.3 hrs on record

Figured I shouldnt play this till I’d completed Reunion… so cant really comment..