Annual Summary (2011)

Yes! It's that time again! The new year is just a few hours away and just like last year I have decided to summarise my year in this blog post.

MY ACHIEVEMENTS OF THIS YEAR:

This year I bought a PlayStation 3 and have collected a total of 31 games for the system. Here's a list of them and which ones I have finished:

• [FINISHED] Red Dead Redemption, 
• [FINISHED] Grand Theft Auto 4,
• [FINISHED] Fallout 3,
• [FINISHED] Fallout: New Vegas,
• [FINISHED] The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion,
• The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim,

Merry Christmas 2011!

Thankyou for your follows and views so far this year it's been great seeing my blog expand in popularity!
I got a load of novelty christmas pressies today as my actual presents are back home in cold England.

Here's a piccy of all of the games I have bought this christmas and the loot I have received...

Call of Duty sleepwear (My parents found this funny...haha)
Judge Dredd: The Complete Case Files 04 
Various art supplies
Dead Space - PS3
Dead Space 2 - PS3
Dead Island - PS3
InFAMOUS - PS3
Bioshock 2 - PS3
Batman: Arkham Asylum  PS3
The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks - DS
Pokemon White - DS
Pacman graphic tee (I am wearing this whilst typing this post! Teehee!)
A ton of candy - nom nom nom!


!HAPPY CHRISTMAS!

Have a good one everybody!

- Oli

Powerup #3 - Targus Lap Chill Mat

The Targus Lap Chill Mat

I bought one of these babies at Walmart today for $38. Basically what it does is blow cool air into the vents under your laptop to prevent it from overheating not nearly as fast as it should do. Seeing as my laptop overheats in literally 10 minutes this is really helpful and I can play for over an hour before my computer's processor starts to feel the burn!


You just plug it into a UBS port and 'poof!' it's on. No software installation, No startup screen, No fuss - it does exactly what it says on the box and is an excellent 'powerup' for my laptop!

Its been a massive help in speeding up and preventing lag on games I like to play online - most recently Tibia which I've just started to play. I highly recommend this accessory if you have trouble with your computers heat!







I rate the Targus Lap Chill Mat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  . . . 9/10

Tibia MMORPG - First Impressions

Daisy at DaisyFAIL recently blogged about her adventures in an MMO called Tibia. Having never heard of this game I asked her about it and she told me more about the game. I also checked out its Wikipedia page for more info (if in doubt always run straight to Wikipedia kids!). Tibia has it's own wiki too which has walkthroughs on quests etc.

Anyway, thanks to Daisy I was persuaded to check out the site. Apparently many people used to love this MMO and it was really popular back in the 'early days'. However people abandoned it for 3D MMOs such as Runescape and World of Warcraft which are all basically the same thing. I personally am not to picky when it comes to graphics, hell Oblivion was pug-ugly but is still my favourite RPG I've ever played! Carrying on, Tibia isn't all that bad - it's 2D and the game's camera is at a slight slant. The interface looks a little dated but it's charmful and fun at the same time...

The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks - First Impressions

This is practically the only DS game I can think of that I bought this year - with this year dominated by PlayStation 3 gaming - I haven't really been playing too much of Nintendo's old dual screen wonder. I bought Spirit Tracks new in Super-Target for $19.99 which I didn't think was too bad.

Having played the first in the DS Legend of Zelda series - Phantom Hourglass - which I loved playing through right to the end, I had high expectations for this sequel...

Holiday purchases!

So I'm in the states for my annual holiday again this year. I landed on Friday the 16th so I've been here 5 days already. The main reason I came here was to chill, relax, eat loads of food (especially pop-tarts) and get away from the hassle of my GCSEs. I also came here with a TON of cash... I think you can guess what for!

I've hit Gamestop 5 times so far and here's what I've picked up...

Gamingheap Review - THE ORANGE BOX: Half-Life 2 (PS3)

 Half-Life 2  (PS3)

Over this week Skyrim had gotten a little 'samey' so I decided to play The Orange Box which I kind of ditched back in August. I didn't get very far with Half-Life 2 so I picked it first out of Portal and Team Fortress 2. Here's my verdict, a review, on the game...

Half-Life 2 was released on Microsoft Windows in 2004, ported to the Xbox 360 in '06 and finally released in The Orange Box for the PlayStation 3 in '07. Half-Life 2 is a continuation of the story in Half-Life which was released in 1998 as Valve's debut product. Basically in Half-Life you play as Dr. Gordon Freeman a scientist at the 'Black Mesa' facility. A teleportation experiment goes wrong and open dimensional rifts where parasites come through and attack earth. Eventually Dr. Freeman kills the overlord at the end of the game, unknowingly widening the dimensional rifts. This leads to a trans-dimensional race called 'The Combine' to attack earth. Humanity surrenders and the Combine take over and so on. Basically in Half-Life 2 you play as Gordon Freeman fighting in the resistance against the Combine. 

My first impressions of the game weren't great. I thought the gameplay was repetitive, graphics mediocre and overall a boring game... Oh I was so wrong!