Christmas

I can’t be dealing with all this Christmas malarkey at the minute. I don’t know whether it’s just me, but it seems to be getting harder and harder to find decent presents. I know people would be happy with a lot of things, but I like to get stuff that is nice, or individual. Seems like the big companies like I Want One Of Those and Firebox seem to not only be selling the generic crap that you could get anybody, but the cool stuff that was new/hard to find last year.

On another note, I’ve been playing Gears of War 2 pretty much all afternoon, after spending some time putting Christmas trees and lights up. I have a thing for co-op games, some things are so much more fun when you’re playing with a friend, and you get some decent teamplay going on. It’s nice to have a change from all the competitiveness of most other multiplayer games, and it seems to keep my interest a lot longer. Having said that, I’ll probably buy a 360 and Gears 2 soon anyway, and play through on my own. Chainsawing baddies never gets old!

 

The search for presents continues…(I’d disclose what I’ve got people, but you never know who’s reading)

Games on a mac…

Yes, I know it’s wrong, and that I should be using Boot Camp to boot into Windows. But, I can’t, because I don’t have Leopard.

I got a free copy of Crossover Games from their giveaway last month, and I’ve only just got around to using it. Or, trying to use it. I’ve successfully installed Steam, and downloaded and installed Counter-Strike. I can’t seem to get it working properly though, it will just show a black screen when I try and join a game. I’ll have another tweak with it, and have a go with some other games. Otherwise, I’ll have to shell out for Leopard and make myself an nLited install of XP.

I’m running short of hard drive space, too. My Macbook Pro is pretty much out of space, and my main PC is running short. Have to get some more drives pretty soon.

While I’m on the subject of games…you have to have been living under a rock if you haven’t heard of Left4Dead. I haven’t got around to buying the full game yet, but the demo had me sold within 10 minutes. The gameplay is so addictive, and it seems to have a really high replay value too.

Just as I was writing this post, I managed to get Audiosurf working under Crossover, so maybe not all hope is lost.

Long time, no see

Yeah, I haven’t updated this in a while. Sorry. I’ve been busy!

I finally got a job! Working in a local pub, in the restaurant and behind the bar. It’s enjoyable: nice to get out of the house, and you meet some great people. I’m hoping to get something more after the Christmas season though, I need something else to do during the day!

Flying to the US in around two weeks, spending Christmas there with my family. Been trying to get presents sorted, but I’m stuck for a few people. Any ideas?

I should probably update about some tech stuff that has me interested. The main thing I can think of is the new RED Cameras. Well, I say cameras – camera system. Details haven’t been finalised yet, but the idea of it being a completely modular system has me really interested. The idea is that you buy a “brain” which has all the camera sensor and processing inside, and then attach accessories to it depending on what you are using it for. There are millions of combinations. If you’re shooting a movie, you choose a configuration that’ll let you shoot film steadily. If you are shooting stills, you swap the components out and you have a DSLR. The beauty of it is, once they come out with a better sensor, in theory you just swap out the “brain” and keep the accessories, saving you money in the long run. The EPIC will obviously be out of most people’s reach, but the Scarlet is apparently within rage of the Canon 5DII (according to Engadget). If this is true, with the RED accepting Canon and Nikon lenses, then the fight for the prosumer’s money could become very interesting indeed. Personally, I can’t afford either, and I’d be waiting to see image results from the RED, but I’ll be following the battle closely.