Quickie: Job Hunting

Well the time has finally come; say goodbye to student loans, wave your 7 day weekends away, it's time to get a job. Why? Well, because I feel it's my calling (see: I'm skint). OK, so what will your fearless hero be working as? A quantum physicist? Boring! A fireman!? Too dangerous! The next Hollywood actor/model? Yawwwn! OK, so what already?

Well, yours truly has made several inquires into the following areas:
Market Research
Clerk
Market Research Clerk
Clerical work in the Market Research area

Haha! It's sad but true (although, admittedly I did make the job titles up!).

Anyway, like any 21 year old I have a plan (say again)! And working low pay temporary jobs is all part of that plan!

So peace out and wish me luck!

- Reality Unjustified BA. (that's right sports fans, Bachelor of Arts , you better show me some respectaa!)

Quickie: For reasons unknown!

Just a quick one from me. I'm off for a few 'drinks' tonight, my mate is driving us and we're kipping at a mates. Interestingly enough we're not going because of my mate but because of her mother. That's right, we were invited to her birthday party and as with all great birthday parties there is a theme! and I quote: "Come as an object not a person"...

What?

Ok, so by powers of great cunning and foreward thinking I'm going as a bottle of stella artois!

Well I'm wearing a Stella shirt, that counts for something, right?

R.U

E3 - Games I'm looking forward to seeing, but not as much as the other ones

There are 2 games that just missed out of my very exlusive list, they are as follows:

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GTA IV

On this outing you will play as Niko Bellic who has come to the good old US of A to start a-new. Hailing from an undisclosed Eastern European country, Niko has come to Liberty City (based on New York - which was met with a sea of New-yorkers screaming "It isn't that bad over here!") to hook up with his cousin, Roman. Who has previously been telling Niko of his high flying life style, needless to say he was lieing and now Niko seems like he's going to have to sort Roman out himself, while trying to turn his back on his past crimes...

Niko arives at Liberty City, with hopes of going straight. Ha!

Tell me more, tell me more!
Details are still a bit sketchy, but here's a few confirmed things that may (or may not) interest any gamers out there:

• Set in the year 2007 (aka nowadays)
• Much more control over what you do and how you do it, and allow, and I quote 'The player to create their own destiny'
• No planes due to there only being one city...
• ...but helicopters are still in!
• Stealing cars is made more realistic with more animations (breaking glass to get into locked cars etc.)
• Mobile phones and the Internet become essential tools, allowing you to talk to friends, increasing relationships (for reasons still unknow...) as well as some internet/phone based missions (e-mailing a CV to gain an interview - ringing a 'hits' phone to see where he is in a crowd)
• Old favourites: Ammu-Nation and Pay 'n Spray are gone. With the player having to call arms dealers to make specified deliveries or meeting locations and times.
• You can use taxi's as, well, a taxi... Jump into a cab, select somewhere on the map, sit back and relax. Or skip the traveling and arive there instantly.
• Release Date: October 19th (for Europe) 16th (Noth America)

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Fallout 3
Fallout 3 is the 3rd in the series of Fallout games (currently under development by Bethesda Softworks), which also spawned 2 spinoff games (Brotherhood of Steel and Fallout: Tactics). This is the first Fallout game, however, to use a first-person perspective; allowing players to view from their characters eyes, third person or a the original isometric perspective, as with the original games.
The game starts off with an interest idea (see below for a run down on the games opening). You begin as many of us do in real life; with your own birth. At this point your (character's) mother dies during labour, and so it is up to your father to bring you up.
When you turn 19 years old, one morning, you realise your father has disapeared, leaving The Vault (an underground area that keeps you and your community safe from the fallout which has occured above). Venturing out into the world above, you go in search of your father. From here, you'll be presented with a world much smaller than that of Oblivion, but much richer and more compressed; giving you more quality of Oblivions quantity.

Remember, someone always has to clean up your mess!

Tell me more, tell me more!
We're still a long ways off getting this game, it's penciled in for the final quatre of next year (2008) so I wouldn't hold your breath. Suprisingly enough, we did get a walkthrough of the game which is explained below:

• Main character creation is implemented by specifying the character's childhood. The character's mother dies in labor in a Vault hospital, after which the player chooses the character's Traits and general appearance during the father's DNA analysis. Afterwards, the father removes his surgeon's mask to reveal a face much like the one chosen by the player for the character.
• As a child in the Vault, the character receives a book titled "You're Special", whereupon you'll set the character's 7 primary aptitudes. The character receives training weapons and a PIP-boy during childhood, and the player's performance in various tests determines the rest of the attributes. Additionally, there will be quests inside the Vault that influence the pc's relationship with his or her father.
• Skills and Perks are similar to those in previous games: the player chooses 3 Tag Skills out of 14 to be the character's specialties, and the character will gain a Perk every other level.
• Max level will be 20.
• There will be a definite end to the game, with many possible endings based on good/evil/neutral events you trigger.
• The Vault-tec Assisted Targeting System, or V.A.T.S. will be implemented. Various actions cost action points, and both the player and enemies can target specific body areas for attacks, inflicting specific injuries. While using V.A.T.S., real-time combat is paused creating a combat system that the Bethesda developers have described as a hybrid between turn-based and real-time combat.
• The game will maintain the same level of gore. All gory deaths in the game will be shown in slow motion. One of the featured screenshots is of a super-mutant's head exploding in great detail.
• The game will feature a new health and radiation system. The player can measure an object's radioactivity and gauge the effect it will have on the character.
• Karma titles, similar to those from previous games, will grant Xbox Live Achievements on that platform.
• The number '101' can be seen on the back of several characters' Vault suits. This signifies the characters home of origin, Vault 101 in Washington, D.C.
• Characters will be able to create small blasts by targeting nuclear generators and using nuclear catapults.

E3 - Games I'm looking forward to seeing

#1

Overview.

Just pipping Mass Effect to the number 1 spot, Assassin's Creed, somewhat totally opposite to Mass Effect, is set during the end of the 12th century during the Third Crusade in 3 cities; Damascus, Jerusalem and Acre, as well as the locations inbetween. You play as Altair, a member of the very real Hashshashin (believed to be the original Assassins). As the game begins you begin as a, for want of a better word, Pro; you have all of the abilities, weapon and moves of a great Assassin. However, you soon lose many of those abilities and weapons and have to start from scratch - here is where the player will begin. Your task, to win back to respect of your piers, is to assassinate 9 key individuals, on either side of the Third Crusade, to prove your worth. How you do this is up to you...

What's so good?

Bottle. It took some unbelievable bottle and creative vision to attempt something on the scale of Assassin's Creed.

Parkour like you've never parkour'd before!

(You probably never have!)

First and foremost, Free Running has never been so Free; where as in the past you have been able to climb walls (Spiderman, anyone?) or the odd fence (GTA SA, huh?) it was all scripted, and very repetitive. Now, instead of a wall, fence or building being interactive - the environment and, as Jade Raymond (producer and total hottie) says "Any architectural detail that sticks out more then 2 inches can be used as a hold for your hands or feet."* Reading that description doesn't do the visuals justice however, and seeing it in action is something beautiful to behold. Altair does not just climb up; if there is nothing for him to grab with his hand or stick his big size nines into then he won't, he'll look for something close and within reach to do so - and thus why this game is amazing: realism.

You'll actually grab 'sticky-outty' bits when you climb.

Fight like a freakin' Ninja!!

Although this is perhaps the first game when running away like a big girls blouse actually looks cool, there will be occasions when you need and/or just feel like kickin' some guards' ass. The fighting style isn't a button masher, nor does it seem particularly difficult to use (perhaps, to master though...). It seems as though there will 3 different types of ways to attack an opponent: grapple and to then stab or push/throw, block and then counter-attack, or simply swing for them. There also seems to be 4 types of weapons; the uber cool Assassin switch blade (used for assassinations), a short and long sword and throwing knives. All of these weapons are interchangeable and make for some beautiful combinations.

Take the target out head on without a second thought.

Variety is the spice of life!?

So, you've got your uber cool climbing, jumping and basically spiderman-like moves and you've also got your somewhat ninja-like cut throat abilities for when things get up close and personal, but what else? Well, games like to give us gamers things in 3's and this is no different. The final and perhaps most original idea (although I think IO Interactive may have something to say about that) is the new social stealth concept which seems to be the coders new toy; next gen has given programmers the ability to program multiple A.I for each NPC (non-playing character) and thus the birth of social stealth). Social stealth is a pretty simple idea; to avoid looking suspicious you perform tasks or mimic actions of others to remain inconspicuous: think "that" peeping tom who pretends to attend to his garden every time you catch his eye!

In Assassin's Creed, the idea is the same. Perhaps you want to get close to your target but have no buildings near by, or perhaps there are just too many guards. Well, with social stealth you will be able to blend into a crowd, or small group of people (say, a bunch of monks) and make your way towards the target within said crowd. This will allow you to get as close as possible without your target or his bodyguards becoming suspicious of the guy in the hood with the multiple weapons on his back. It can also be used when splegging it (see "running away, fast") to lose the guards; perhaps there's a group of individuals sitting on a bench? Sit next to them and watch as the guards go running on past you!

Feeling sneaky? Use crowds of monks to approach the target without being seen

It's the next stage of gaming-evolution!

We're at the stage now where next-gen games are now, finally making an appearance. Sure, Gears of War introduced us to what could be achieved and even the game play was pretty darn good too. But it didn't really push the boundaries game play wise, it didn't introduce us to any new ideas or innovative game play techniques. It was, if we're being fair, a very beautiful looking 3rd person shooter!

Assassin's Creed (and Mass Effect) are pushing the envelope to the extreme, offering players as much freedom and high quality of content that games such as Oblivion (lots of space, lacking on quality), GOW (again, looks nice - but a rehash of old ideas and very short), and so on, failed to do. It's clear to see that the final quarter of 2007 will see the rise of the true next gen games.

So...?

So?! You need more? Well, let me take this opportunity to turn into the hormone driven guy that I truly am and present to you Jade Raymond...

We love you Jade..!!!!! <3

Ahem, quite..

Pencil your calenders folks. November has been announced as the release date for Assassin's Creed - it's gunna' be one helluva month!

E3 Game Play Video

Newest Trailer

PS. The song from the new trailer is Lonely Souls by Unkle with vocals from Mr Richard Ashcroft himself. I promptly downloaded that song, as it's so damned good!

R. U

Quickie: The Life of David Gale - Movie Review

Ego, desire: a half martyr is no good to us

The Life of David Gale is a drama based around David Gale (Kevin Spacey) and his convicted rape and murder of fellow activist Constance Harraway (Laura Linney). Bitsey Bloom (Kate Winslet), news reporter, is drafted in by Gale not to stop his death sentence, or prove he did not do it, but to find out "why" and to make sure people remember him for what lived for and not for why he died, interestingly it eventually becomes apparent that his reason for living and dieing were the same.

Overall The Life of David Gale is kind of a predicatable film, but it's told very well - and led by the ever brilliant Kevin Spacey, acting his socks of as David Gale. Kate Winslet puts in a decent performance as Spacey's female lead, Bitsey Bloom, and has really made me question her talent (for the better!) as of late. (Although technically, by "as of late" I mean the films I've seen her in and not those she has done most recently.)

The most effective part of the film is that you really feel for Gale right up until the last second when you realise he wasn't doing it to prove a point but because of his ego and, as he describes in his own words about a woman who does the same to him.."(she did it to) Poke her finger at authority, show the powers that be how much smarter she was" - this is not a preachy film about the death penalty, nor should it be advertised as being. Once you see the last scene that will become apparent to you. This film is about sacrificing yourself for your desire because (another quote) "(T)he moment... the second... that you get what you seek... you don't... you can't want it anymore."

It's a good movie, solid. Kate Winslet is Ok, Spacey is a diamond. It's certainly worth a shot, especially if you're a die hard Spacey fan.

3 out of 5

(It's easily a 4 if you're a fan of Kevin Spacey)

Quickie: Transformers - Movie Review

A film in disguise!
(Unless I totally love a film, expect reviews to be about this long)

I have a few gripes with this film. Firstly, the acting - terrible! No chemistry at all - especially between the two lead characters, Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) and Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), argh, horrible.
Graphically it was amazing, but it was so badly used it was unbelievable - apart from some slow motion shots where you could actually see the detail and care that had gone into the special effects and the fantastic Optimus Prime transforming moments (and the transforming in general) they were really difficult to make out (I saw it at the flicks, not on some pirate by the way :P) whenever there was a battle, it just turned into a mesh of 'robot' where you couldn't distinguish between who and what was fighting - realistic, yeah. Entertaining, not for me...

On a nicer note, it did have some genuinely funny moments, however that took away a lot of the emotion that could have been used. I didn't feel sorry for anyone, nor did I feel like they were afraid it seemed like a joke to them... Maybe that's what they were going for when they wrote it but I believe had they tried to involved the audience emotionally it would have worked a lot better.

Apart from that the best thing in this film is Megan Fox and that's only because she was the least worse thing on show (and looked very, very attractive...)

For all you transformer hardcore fans, you will love it no doubt. My mate couldn't stop harping on about it after but it just didn't do it for me.

On a positive note, I did get to see that awesome trailer for JJ Abrams' new film. It was the best thing about this movie

It gets a very lenient 2/5 from me. (Thanks to Megan Fox - although she can't act for toffee, bless her...)

Please don't make a sequel

2 out of 5

Thank you!!
What can I say, I'm a guy!!

R.U

Update and Lost Countdown added!

Hey ho,

Well I've not posted for a bit and I am behind on a few things blog-related. My final game of E3 should be up before the weekend is over. I think I may put the Lost rewatch on hold for a week or so. Also, in other news, I have been writing a short story - you may remember me having a moan about my creative process during a Midnight Reflection at 2:51am. My short story, aptly named Man, covers the, somewhat mundane life of Frick, a lower class factory worker. Set in an unspecified time in the future, we see what man has become, and during the story uncover specific parts of Man, and how we, as a race, have changed. The following is from the opening chapter, which focuses on Man... and his daily routine:

...and his daily routine
"Is anyone alive in there?!" He shouted. But he was not heard, or at least he was not received; Work had become such an impossibly repetitive routine over the, Frick thought, endless years. The factory itself seemed to go on forever, both vertically and horizontally, like it's line of various items which resembled pretty much nothing at all at this stage of production, but promised to be put to efficient use by the time the various items had reached the external sector of the factory. Frick, currently in his late 30s, medium height, medium build, and unshaven had always described himself as being 'built perfectly for the job' - which was both a fair estimate, a true reflection of himself as a man, and a statement of irony; working the factories did not require any special abilities or a specific body type as say, Bin Beatles do - named so after the Dung beetle for the way at which it would push its huge mound of waste around. Frick was currently wearing the factories brown-shaded overalls, and brown-shaded gloves.

"Hey, you!!" The shout came again. Snapping back into reality, Frick feverishly began checking the various items that had arrived at his sector of the assembly line, picking out those which he instinctively recognized as being "null" and placing them in the nearby bin which would, sooner or later, be taken to another factory. At this new factory, the bins contents would be emptied onto an almost identical conveyor belt, where people, not unlike Frick, would sort through the somewhat random trash, locating those items that were relevant to that particular factory, and discarding those which were not. This would repeat forever if needs be, or at least until the bin was empty.

Well if you manage to stumble across this blog, give it a read and let me know what you think. It should be noted that this short story is heavily influenced by Phil K Dick and in particular the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Or at least that is where I am heading with it. At this moment in time I'm about half way through so expected to see the rest of this chapter up some time soon, with an update!

One last thing - I've added a Lost Countdown (very cool!) for all us Losties out there.

Just 200 days to go!

R.U