I don't want to Know

I just watched Knowing with my fiancée, which was mostly a waste of time. Nicolas Cage is starting to annoy me, as is seems he can only do one expression and one character. The female character was so badly written, that she annoyed me almost as much as the entire cast of The Happening! Why, oh why, do women in movies always have to be so irrational and hysterical!

Women in real life do not scream at the top of their lungs every time something remotely odd happens!

The effects were pretty decent, but all in all, if you wanna see a Cage action movie, go rent The Rock or Face/Off.

PS: The world ends and everybody dies in the end (except the two children and some bunnies). There you have it, now you are knowing to.

PPS: Wouldn't the continuation of an entire species through just two speciments cause quite a lot of inbreeding? Just my 2 cents...

EVE Online: Preparing for the great escape

So far my exploration Drake fit version 1.0 looks like this:

[Drake, Exploration tech 1]
Mark I Generator Refitting: Shield Power Relay
Mark I Generator Refitting: Shield Power Relay
Ballistic Control System I
Ballistic Control System I

Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Large F-S9 Regolith Shield Induction
Invulnerability Field II
Photon Scattering Field II
Heat Dissipation Field II

'Malkuth' Heavy Missile Launcher I, Thunderbolt Heavy Missile
'Malkuth' Heavy Missile Launcher I, Thunderbolt Heavy Missile
'Malkuth' Heavy Missile Launcher I, Thunderbolt Heavy Missile
'Malkuth' Heavy Missile Launcher I, Thunderbolt Heavy Missile
'Malkuth' Heavy Missile Launcher I, Thunderbolt Heavy Missile
'Malkuth' Heavy Missile Launcher I, Thunderbolt Heavy Missile
Salvager I
[empty high slot]

Core Defence Field Purger I
Core Defence Field Purger I
Core Defence Field Purger I

It's an expensive one, but well worth the money. I expect it to act as a level 3 mission fit as well for some practice and extra isk. It is quite comfortable on the defensive side, but the offense lacks abit. I am hoping to replace the tech 1 items with tech 2 in a couple of weeks for some extra punch.

Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne

What can I say about Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne other than the title really nailed it. This game is crap compared to the first installment on every possible level. The three most memorable aspects of the first game has been completely ruined here: story, acting and bullet time.

The story is just crap. Nothing more to say. The writers must have been on Valkyrie...

The acting is almost as bad as the Max Payne movie (almost). Since when has Max Payne become so damn whiny.

The bullet time in Max Payne 2 is seriously the worst thing that has ever happened to a game franchise! Ever! As they say, if it isn't broken, don't fix it! Modders were quick to release Max Payne 1 bullet time mods, which kinda helped but shouldn't have been necessary.


So the bug question is now: complete this mess of a game or uninstall it for something worthwhile (maybe Max Payne 1)?

PS: By the way, Max Payne 3 is in the works. Let's hope they name it Max Payne 3: The Resurrection of Max Payne (the actual title is Rise From the Ashes, but that's close enough).

Blood Bowl!

I have played a few tabletop games over the years, most notably Warhammer 40k and Blood Bowl. For many years I have grumbled over the possibility of making a computer game version of Blood Bowl (something abit more technologically superior to FUMBBL) and it seems I wasn't the only one.

Without further delay I give you: Blood Bowl! Now that is how it's suppose to look on a computer! Unless they have completely f***** up the gameplay I am definately going to field a Skaven (or Chaos) team within 24 hours of the game releasing. The greatest joy for me in gaming is developing characters, whether that being new guns in Max Payne, levels in WoW or skills in EVE, so the prospect of having an online team gaining skills, attributes and star player points while smashing other players good-for-nothing humans, dwarves and elves is just too much for me to handle at this moment!



The pre-order is available on their site, and I definately recommend getting this game, at least to support the valiant effort from the development team in turning the (possibly) greatest tabletop game into hopefully one of the greatest video games ever made.

Currently playing: EVE Online

I am a great fan of mmorpgs but sadly they rarely hold my attention for more than a few weeks. I think I have been through most of the ones that would be considered AAA games and quite a few asian f2p ones as well. My longest running subscribtion have been WoW but damnit if I would ever spend all my time with mindless raid grind! I really wanted to like Warhammer: Age of Reckoning as well, but sadly the combat felt disconnected and even though I have resubbed twice, it still hasn't caught me.

Back on track: EVE Online! This is a game that, as someone on mmorpg.com said, you feel you have to like. And so I have had 4-5 different trial accounts over the years, each time the learning curve has defeated me as described by the following illustration:


This time however, I set myself some pretty basic goals and have worked towards those since day 1: mining and exploration. Mining is pretty basic:

1. Read miners guide.
2. Do as miners guide tells you!

Now that was pretty easy and the learning curve has been defeated.

However, mining for me isn't the goal in itself, rather it is a way of financing my desire for exploration. Wormhole exploration is supposed to not be a soloer's game, but I have absolutely no intention of listening to the nay-sayers. When I get the skills and the Drake, I'm going in! I expect to be blown to bits by either Sleepers or other players, so please come and find me on the other side, I promise to put up a good fight (or at least a fight)!

I'll let you know when I actually enter the infamous wormholes and what wild and wacky adventures I'll get myself into on the inside...

Burnout Paradise and my current work

I am currently working on a car simulation and its quite a tough nut to crack. The most precise direction I was given for my task was "it should drive ly Burnout"... and with that instruction in mind I set out to acquire a copy of Burnout Paradise for Windows.

On the surface this game is pretty cool and I understand why I was told to make something along those lines. It is probably one of the easiest driving games I have ever played. No matter how fast you drive, unless you touch the brakes, you can turn as much as you like... no drifting! Hmmmm, I suppose the game is quite different compared to Gran Turismo (I sucked at GT but boy was it fun), but does it have to be that arcadish? Just a tad more difficult controls would make the game more interesting in my humble oppinion. I guess the driving could work if only the handbrake was less responsive and more interesting. Almost the second you touch the handbrake button, the car turns at least 180 degrees and slows to an almost complete stop... I want to screach around the bloody corners! But no, I have to chose between making a nice curve (even at top speed) and coming to a complete stop while doing a 90 degree slide using either the brake or hand brake... where's the fun in that.

Back to my initial reason for playing the game: I was requested to create something similar in the game engine we use. Right now I have something that kinda works like Burnout but (in my oppinion) is abit more fun because of the slip and slide action when turning. It is still a bit to difficult to control at the moment (driving on a constant wet surface I suppose) but something abit in between should do the trick. I am still missing proper brakes, hand brakes and a decent gearing algorithm (no gearing in Burnout Paradise either, weak!).

PS: The slow motion crash and take down effects in Burnout Paradise are the only justifications I have for actually continuing to play the game. Why did they remove the takedown playmode that was featured in Burnout 3: Takedown? I loved smashing busses into each other....

First post and abit about me

What can I say.... not much to say really...

I'm a game programmer by profession, although I have recently been laid off (damn you, financial crisis). I enjoy games of almost any kind, but must confess that my skills at gaming are lacking at best. I also have a great interest in books (although I should read more), movies (even the bad ones *Resident Evil trillogy* (there is a fourth one coming!)), music (I have tickets for NIN at O2 in about a month) and tv-series (30 Rock, Dexter, Reaper, Dead Like Me (hmmm alot of death in there... great humor though)).

I am getting married soon, really looking forward to it! I have been with my fiancée for almost 10 years so not many surprises there. I highly value my friends and family even though there aren't alot of them around.

Lastly, I must say that I struggle with a moderate to severe depression. It's a tough one considering all the intentions one might have of accomplishing things, but finding it impossible to actually go through with it due to no energy or motivation. I guess this blog is one of those things that I try to actually do and not just consider.