My Holiday in Minehead

Image by treehouse1977 via Flickr

I've been away on holiday for a week with a few mates so I thought I would tell you a bit about it.

Apart from me having to skive off work in order to attend this holiday (bad I know, a story in itself I'll leave for another time) I was really looking forward to this holiday as I spent it with my best friends; Chris, Matt and Jon; rather then family members as I had done previously. I wasn't expecting much, but I knew with my friends there I would have a good time.

It was about a four to five hour drive to get there from Hertfordshire down to Somerset. When we arrived I remembered the picturesque nature of the place from when I had went to Somerset previously as a child.

The house we stayed in was about a five minute walk from the town near the top of a hill. At first it looked kind of run down from the outside and grubby on the inside, but over the days I realised that it wasn't too bad at all and was comfortable for our stay. For our first day on the Sunday we spent our time getting acclimatised to the house, hooking up the Xbox and watching the TV. We also went down to get some fish and chips from the chip shop, and as many will know, fish and chips from seaside towns taste superior to those inland!

Monday consisted of the four of us buying all our food for our stay from the local Tesco's mostly consisting of junk food! We also went and explored some of the nearby countryside. We went into town too and bought some stuff to mess about with indoors, like rocket balloons and what not. Chris also bought a DVD from Blockbusters to watch; it was a horror film and it was OK, but I can't remember the name of it. Later on we also watched Torchwood which we did until Friday when it finished.

On Tuesday we again explored some of the countryside, climbing up some steep rocks by the sea at a nearby town. It started to rain very heavily though so we had to descend quickly back to the car. Apart from a quick sojourn into town we didn't go out again that day as it was still raining. Chris and Matt both bought spud guns while I bought a foam disk gun, one of the many things I bought on the holiday that didn't work. Later on we carelessly chucked around the potato for the spud gun indoors. I had the dubious honour of smashing a window with a potato, luckily it was just a small panel so I shouldn't have to pay too much.

Wednesday was the most eventful day of the entire holiday. We decided to go to town and Chris bought a dingy. We went to a nearby seaside town again and had to cross a large stretch of sand to reach the sea, which was really hard as there was a lot of quicksand. Myself and Jon, being sensible, decided it was best to head back to dry land, but Chris and Matt carried on and got in the dingy, but they kept falling out. The dingy eventually drifted off, and the two of them were now swimming in the sea quite away off shore. As myself and Jon couldn't see them at all we called the Coastguards in, and they were recovered, but it was a worrying time. Unsurprisingly we decided to stay in the rest of the day.

On Thursday we went down to explore the town of Minehead a little more. We made our first trip down to the arcades; seaside towns are where you find the majority of arcades these days. The arcades there were not the best I have seen, but they were pretty decent and had some good games like Tekken 5 as well as some a lot of non-video game stuff. I also bought a remote control helicopter, and we took another trip to Tesco to get the rest of our food supplies. Sadly the helicopter was very poor and it broke within minutes of use. I tried to fix it but it was just no use, so buy the end of the holiday I binned it despite paying £15 for it.

For Friday we went up a nearby town and visited a castle which was pretty cool. We took a trip to the moores at night too, and at that time it is extremely dark up there. Went home and watched Aliens from the Alien box set Matt bought.

Saturday was our last full day, and we once again went around the town. We couldn't really do much as it was a miserable day. Chris bought The Jerk for his big DVD collection which was a good film.

On Sunday we had to clean the house before we left. This was a big job as we had really messed the place up during our stay! There was a lot of things to do like clean all the rooms; hoover, mop up make the place look tidy etc. We then took the long drive home.

Overall, I enjoyed the holiday, but we did start to run out of things to do half way through the week. I probably would visit there again, but probably not for a long time when it'll be a little different from the last time. I enjoyed it as myself and my friends had a laugh and we got to know each other a little better too. Matt's off to university in September, so it was probably one of the last opportunities foir us to do something like this.

Update #9

I think it's time for another update. Sorry about the break again, I've just been trying to balance things out in my life as much as possible.

I'm going to change the updates to once a month instead, as I think the content will be better this way.

I've also purchased five new Sega Saturn games; Rayman, Bust a Move 2, Virtual On Cyber Troopers, Actua Golf, and Die Hard Arcade. I also bought Prototype on Xbox 360. I'll do some posts on these when I can.

The first half of June was quite hectic for me: I had to get all the college work in (one piece didn't get done in time) but what needed to be completed was done so and it was very tiring!

Although I will not be going until next year, I have to get my university stuff sorted now too. I would like to do a course involving video games, but less to do with the programming side. Crimonology and Film & Television studies are ones I'm considering too.

Have finally got around to sorting driving lessons out too. Want to get them started as soon as possible.

Big Brother 10 Update #2

OK, so Saffia walked first of all. For the most part I disliked her, but I like her more after she received the pictures of her kids, she didn't seem as brazen a character. Sophia's gone too after getting evicted. She did herself no favour with her behaviour with Saffia, and probably contributed to her walking. She seemed like a bitter angry person most of the time. Kris and Sophie seem to have got into a relationship, although it's not yet clear if it's serious or just a bit of fun. Big news though is the massive row between Marcus and Lisa, where Lisa got angry about Noirin's glasses situation, and the argument evolved into one about Lisa's bullying behaviour. Sree's stepped up his game to woo Noirin, but I don't think it's gonna happen for him sadly.

Angel: Has got a bit more quiet; possibly because the louder characters are asserting themselves in there more. Still seems like a nice woman, but takes some unfair stick at times, like from Lisa during the big argument. Is trying to prove someone can be healthy without eating three days by just making sure you consume glucose. She may be right, but it's a little bit unnecarssary and a bit of a bad example. 6/10

Cairon: Had a bust up with Sree in which he looked like a thuggish American chav, so has lost a lot of my support. Not the most moral person in their, I think he only really thinks of himself most of the time. The things he says sometimes shows that he's still pretty naive. 5/10

Charlie: Has been mostly the same, but showed he has a bad side after moaning about Freddie's cooking after the row, which annoyingly didn't get shown on the highlights. 5/10

Freddie: I like him a little more; I think he has good morals, but he just has a lot of annoying little tendencies. He's started to win me over though. 7/10

Karly: Has been totally annonymous of late. I think with all the arguments going down over the last few days she's tried to stay out of them, and I think that's the reason for this. 5/10

Kris: Got into a relationship with Sophie, although I expect he just sees it as a bit of fun and nothing serious. He's a ladies man, so I think he's just done it to get a kick. 6/10

Lisa: A big week for Lisa. The argument made her look foolish and stupid; she still has people in their that still support her though and suck up to her. 6/10

Marcus: Stood up to Lisa which was great, and he put his points across excelently. Like all of them in there, he has his faults, but is a nice chap. Takes tasks seriously also and has a go at housemates if he sees them slacking off. 8/10

Noirin: Got fed up of scribling on her face with the pen she threatened to go on hunger strike, which caused the massive argument. Sree clearly has feelings for her, but you can see she's uncomfortable with his advances. I wish she'd just tell him clearly but not in a painful way, and I'd be really annoyed if she nominates him she's been acting like his friend nethertheless. 7/10

Rodrigo: Has got a bit more talkative. Seems to feel very strongly about what he believes in, and has had a couple of arguments with Angel because of this. 7/10

Siavash: Has been a little bit more quiet, possibly because he hasn't really been involved in that much. Likes to keep peace in the house though which is a good thing. 7/10

Sophie: Quite boring this week since getting with Kris, still a nice girl, but hasn't done much. 5/10

Sree: Ah, Sree! I think he has a good heart, I don't think he's a bad guy at all like some people do. I just think the fact he wasn't brought up in this country makes it kind of difficult to interact with the others sometimes; I think he's misunderstood and he misunderstands the housemates also. An example is his bacon sandwiches he made for everyone, without cooking the bacon! This saga with Noirin is riviting, he likes her a lot, but it's safe to say his approach isn't quite working! 8/10

YouTube Video of the Week #3

Whereas last week I was spoilt for choice for videos to pick, this week I only have one!



Not much to say really, but it highlights something I've been concerned about on YouTube, and that's false copyright claims. The fact is YouTube doesn't bother checking if claims are legit, so anyone can make a copyright claim about anything. Many innocent people's videos have been removed in this annoying way.

YouTube Channel of the Week #1

OK here's another new feature. I had this planned at the same time as YouTube video of the week, but I didn't think there were any candidates previously.

This weeks award goes to lukemorse1. I only found out about this guy this week from HappyConsoleGamer's channel, and I can't believe that I didn't come across this guys videos before.

He lives in Japan and seems to have a decent games collection, and the fact that he lives over there means that he has some unusual stuff that he makes videos on. He clearly knows his stuff about video games.

He speaks well in his videos too; he's very clear which is essential. The videos I've seen so far have been of a good standard, and I can't wait to see more of them.

Big Brother 10 Update #1

Well so far I'd say things haven't really got started yet. The whole non-housemate thing I think put the house in limbo straight from the off, so it hasn't been great. That's ended now though and from the highlights it looks like things are going to be much more interesting from here on in. Beinazir got evicted, which I'm happy about as she was just so anonymous.

After the first eviction, here's my revised opinions on the remaining housemates:

Angel: Has suprised me, has actually been quite vocal in the house. She's getting involved in there and seems to have a nice personality too. 7/10

Cairon: Has livened up a bit more and has struck up a friendship with Siavash. Still retains the swagger but nice personality that I originally liked him for. 8/10

Charlie: Reminds me of the early winners still; he's getting involved in their and seems to be having fun; and he's making the show more entertaining. 8/10

Freddie: Still haven't took to him. I think he's a little too big for his boots and his sillyness seems to make him more annoying to me. 6/10

Karly: Not as bad as I made out, but is perhaps a little too quiet. Seems like a nice enough girl though. 6/10

Kris: Still hasn't stood out, but seems like a nice guy. 6/10

Lisa: Seems to have quite a high status in their, but doesn't seem to communicate much with some people. She's lively though and will keep things entertaining. 7/10

Marcus: Has certain quirks and mannerisms which are endearing, on the whole he's a nice bloke, but I don't think he's as appreachiated in the house as I think he should be. 8/10

Noirin: Hasn't done much since her task, but is a nice girl. 7/10

Rodrigo: Been quite quiet, but like Marcus he has endearing quirks in his personality and is a nice fellow. 8/10

Saffia: There's something I don't like about her. I think she's too bossy and likes control; has a personality like someone's boss at work at times. 5/10

Siavash: I like this guy. Behind his flamboyant appearance it appears that he is a wise person who knows the ways of the world, even though he is still young. 8/10

Sophia: Definitely the most misjudged! Her personality is negative, and has been the most bitchy in their as well as not being able to take a joke. 4/10

Sophie: A fun, lively and good natured girl, and can be quite chatty. 8/10

Sree: Can be a bit irritating, but he has his quirks. Like some of the housemates said, he can be annoying, but he's like a little brother as you like him still nonetheless. 8/10

YouTube Video of The Week #2

There was some strong competition this week, but I think stanburdman's commentary on this educational movie just about wins. This is the funniest thing I've seen on the Internet for a while, and stanburdman's done a few videos like this and is a funny guy so I suggest you check out his channel.

Big Brother 10: First Impressions

I think we have a good mix of housemates this year. Yeah, there are a few wackos, but it's nicely balanced. Although I see people complaining about the global nationalities of some of the housemates, I think they're going to be similar to what we've had before, but also different in some ways which can only be a good thing.

The house looks good, but I don't think we've seen everything yet.

I think having the housemates earn their place in the house is a good idea, as the fact a few will most probably be leaving on Sunday will give us a chance to get rid of the poor housemates early.

Here's a list of my first impressions of all of the housemates:

Angel: The weirdest housemate in there. A Russian female proffessional boxer, can't get much more random than that! Seems quiet, I think she'll go quite soon. 3/10

Beinazir: Find her irritating to be fair. We'll just have to wait and see. 5/10

Cairon: I like this guy. He reminds me of Science from BB 6 as well as Darnell from last year. He even has a similar back story to Darnell in that moved to the US from the UK at a young age. Probably one of the best housemates in there IMO, not sure he'll make it to the end though sadly. 9/10

Charlie: Reminds me of the winners of the early series. Could go far. 7/10

Freddie: For some reason he reminds me of Luke from BB9, and that's not a good thing. Things could change my opinion though. 7/10

Karly: Wannabe seeking fame. Had enough of those. 3/10

Kris: Hasn't stood out at all. 5/10

Lisa: Could turn into a great housemate. Has a lot of potential, could play the mother role to the others, as weird as that may sound. 8/10

Marcus: Looks like Wolverine! Seems like a good guy, nice to have a comic book nerd on too. Could go far. 8/10

Noirin: Has more substance than some of the other girls; proved she's not a wannabe by having the guts to have her eyebrows shaved off having her face grafitied in marker pen. 8/10

Rodrigo: The young Brazilian is my favourite at the moment. He has an element of his youthfulness, but has charm, comes across as a nice guy, and has humour too. Definitely has a good chance of winning. 10/10

Saffia: Really don't know what to think yet. Think she just had a VT like that to boost her chances of getting in. 5/10

Siavash: Seems like an interesting guy. I think we'll be seeing more of him and his personality throughout the show. 8/10

Sophia: Loud, happy and cheerful, good do well and go far, or become anoying and go out early. 7/10

Sophie: Very attractive, I give her that, but I hear she has an agent, so could be another wannabe. 5/10

Sree: Another housemate who intrigues me, I think he has some potential. 7/10

Anyway, enjoy the show and lets hope for a great series this year.

Why I Like Big Brother

So the new series starts tonight on Channel 4.

I know a great many people dislike this show now and the viewership is not as good as it was, I've watched it since the first series aired and it's become a yearly thing for me. Unlike other BB fans, I realise it's no longer the best show on TV, due to the crack down by OFCOM, and the wannabes hungry for fame who seem to get in year after year. I like the franchise and the concept as a whole, but there are good and bad series and housemates. To use a famous quote each series and every group of housemates is "like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get".

Yes, the OFCOM thing has turned a lot of people off the show, but I think it started before that. Series 6 in my opinion is where we started to see bad aspects creaping into the show, especially the wannabe housemates and some bad ideas from the production company. Some housemates were right assholes that series too which didn't help. The racism incident just emphasized this.

I think things are picking up for those still watching. Last years has to go down as one of my favourite series even though my favourite didn't win. The year before was of a good standard too; even if it was mainly carried by a few housemates. From the sounds of things this year it's going to be very hard for the housemates, so hopefully this will help to get rid of those just in there for fame quicker. Tasks I have no idea on, but hopefully they improve.

One more thing, I really hope the production team's meddling stops this year. For the last couple of years we have seen questionable things like punishments for one person and not for another when a rule is broken. But mostly it's unfair edits not faithful to the live feed. Unfortunately they've got rid of that this year, so viewers will have to be careful of what they see on the highlights, as many times the full story isn't told.

Anyway that's it for this entry. I will be doing more entries on Big Brother, but if you don't watch it I will still be creating lots of other content for you to enjoy.

E3 Ramblings #2

Welcome to part 2 of my E3 ramblings.

It seems FIFA 10 has appeared at E3 after all. My brother and I are massive fans of EA's series, buying them ever since they started on the Mega Drive. I know this is a bit fussy, but I don't like how it's called FIFA 10, it just doesn't sound right to me, they should have just went for plain old FIFA 2010. Anyway it seems like a lot of aspects will be improved; players will be able to move in more directions, better net physics, a better manager mode, practice matches (something fans have wanted for a while now), and an arena where you can actually play 11 vs 11 matches which is really exiting, as well as improvements with set pieces in this mode. Aparently EA are keeping pretty tight lipped, but it seems they're going to improve upon FIFA 09 as well as addign in some great new features.

The new Pro Evo looks good too, with better graphics, although still not as good as FIFA's. It seems like it's got FIFA's team setting slide bars too, although I'm not sure whether this was in previous Pro Evo games as the last time I played one was back when it was ISS!

On to Tekken 6 now, and I must say this looks great. The graphics look great on the new generation, and there's a new scenario mode where characters can pick up weapons and use giant robots, and apparently it plays kind of like Dynasty Warriors. It has the biggest roster ever for the series with a few new characters, and great interactive enviroments; I believe in one stage you can kick sheep about!

The new Gran Turismo game on the PSP looks decent so far, but I don't really know enough yet. The PS3 one though looks so good that it looks real, it's amazing. Go and look at the trailer for yourself on Youtube; if I had a PS3 I'd definitely buy it when it comes out.

E3 2009 Ramblings #1

Well E3 is now here so I should give some of my thoughts on what I've liked so far.

Well first I have to start with Natal. Just wow. Microsoft have really done something spectacular here. I agree that the demonstration they did of it probably was exaggerated to some extent (especially with Milo), but it appears they do have it working, and this is something that I never expected to see for a good few years in gaming, even with the Wii. Yeah, when it's released it probably will have a lot of gimmicky shovel ware, but the potential is just so huge with this thing. Even so, I do think conventional gaming with controllers will continue on regardless for as long as gaming is a popular past time. It's going to take the groundwork set by the Eye Toy and the Wii to a new level in my opinion.

I'm really interested in the Rock Band Beatles game too. The Beatles' great songs I'm sure will keep me playing for hours, not just when I have mates round. I love the fact that more than one person can sing too, an addition that was needed for this game.

Similarly, I'm looking forward to DJ Hero. I must admit, it does look quite different to Guitar Hero but has a similar premise, and the music of heard on the gameplay footage sounds awesome. It does sound though that this game is going to be a lot more fiddly than Guitar Hero.

Left 4 Dead 2 looks good too building on the previous games in little ways, and I'm also exited that a Metal Gear Solid game will be out on the 360.

The PSP Go looks ace, but I hate it how it seems Sony release a new version of the PSP so often. I know it's all about sales and money, but it would be great if they could just make one edition and just leave it. I own an original PSP and it seems it's getting left behind with all the new features being added to later versions such as microphones and whatnot. Nintendo are guilty of this too with the DS, but I think it's something I and other gamers will have to get used to.

YouTube Video of The Week #1

Welcome to one of a number of new features I have planned for the blog (you'll see the others soon)! Basically, I will pick a video I've seen in the last week and post about it on here.



In this video, Omki says what he thinks of Chris Chan's parents, blaming them, mostly, for the way he is. It's a great video and he talks a great deal of sense.

My Thoughts on Chris Chan

Ok I know I'm really really late with the whole Chris Chan thing but here's my thoughts. I've heard his name being banded about in the Internet for a long time, but I'd never taken the time to find out why he was so infamous. Now I know why and I wish I hadn't.

The guy is a 28 year old man (or so I've heard I may be wrong) who posts videos from his bedroom which looks something like an 8 year old's in that it seems to have toys and what not all over the place. As you'd expect on his videos he also comes across a very child like and immature person. What made me freak about this guy was finding the videos with the blow up sex dolls; two of them where he talks to it as if it's a real human girl he's in a relationship with and another where he... you know. That's what I find very retarded about this guy. Surely anyone with an ounce of common sense would know that putting videos up like this would be a really bad idea, knowing how the Internet is with these things, but no, he put it all out there for all to see.

He really is a sorry state of a human being, and like a lot of people think, he is probably the most socially retarded, strangest person I have ever seen on the internet, and that says something. Go and watch some of his videos to see what I mean (type in his name in YouTube), and watch Omki's video here.

Update #8

OK, first up there's some big news on the Saturn front. The Action Replay didn't get rid of the screen problems with the PAL games. Turns out its a Hz issue between my Japanese Saturn and the PAL games, as they're intended to work with different screen frequencies causing deficiencies such as games running faster than normal and also colour errors or so I've heard. You see, PAL games are intended to be run at 50Hz, while Japanese Saturns run games at 60Hz, AR or not.

After learning this I thought collecting PAL games was not really viable, so I thought about starting on Japanese games first again, but of course there's the language issue. Then I changed tack again and thought about the NA versions (these run in 60Hz fine), but these are hard to get hold of on UK websites and otherwise shipping is costly and could take a long time to arrive.

I learnt that it's possible to install a switch inside the Saturn to get around the Hz issues, but the cost of a soldering iron and all the other stuff taken into consideration I decided to just buy a PAL Saturn to go with my Japanese one. It may have cost me a bit of money but now I'll be able to play any Saturn game with no trouble.

Other than this, I handed in more CV's to game shops today. Hopefully I'll have more luck this time.

First Impressions: Street Racer

As I said in my Update, I recently bought this game for my Sega Saturn. This isn't really a First Impressions as such; more of a revisit, as this is a game that came with my PS1 when I was only 7 years old. Because of this, it is a game I hold dearly and really wanted to pick up for my Saturn.

Playing it again, the graphics haven't aged well at all, more so than other games. Everything just looks too pixelated on a big HD TV. The sounds and the music are OK but not great, but this is just how I remember them. Despite this, the charm of the game is still very much there. Some reasons I love this game is that it can be very hectic and some of the tracks can be very difficult to master. As well as this, the weapons system is very different to most games. In this you don't pick up weapons, you already have them which you can use at any time making the gameplay interesting. The arena battle mode is good too though I haven't played this yet on the Saturn, but it really adds something to the game.

This game may take me longer to play than Sega Rally as it has a lot more modes, and I'm really looking forward to playing this great game some more.

Update #7

Sorry I haven't done one of these in a while and for the little hiatus lately, but I had so much college work to do but that seems to be over now. It was hard work, but hopefully I've done enough to get the diploma next year. College doesn't actually finish until sometime next month now; the college is going to prepare us for the second year and bring us back in to help us meet some grades. Obviously this puts my driving lesson plans on hold, but I only have to wait a month.

I bought Street Racer for my Sega Saturn, so there will be a First Impressions and a review for this. I loved this game on PS1, so I decided to buy it for the Saturn. I've also purchased an Action Replay 4 in 1 for it but this has yet to arrive. Hopefully it will solve some of the problems I've experienced with the ST Key such as the game looking too big for the screen; and it will also give me a cheat cartridge and extra RAM too!

And finally, good luck to Manchester United on Wednesday!

Sega Rally Championship Review

Image by BlogDeManu via Flickr

This will be my first review of one of my Sega Saturn games which I will definitely be doing more of.

This game was released in 1995, so was one of the first 3D racers of the 32-bit era, the era in which I think 3D racers evolved as in my opinion they became a lot more sophisticated and detailed.

Due to this, the game is pretty basic. Two different cars, three different tracks, a Championship, Time Attack and Multiplayer mode.

The cars I think are well rounded. The Toyota Celica is faster and isn't meant to corner as well, while the Lancia Delta is a little slower and is meant to corner better. However, I prefer the Celica as it's speed allows you to drift round corners more effectively.

Even though the game only features three tracks (Desert, Forest and Mountain as well as a forth in Time Attack and multiplayer which you have to unlock), they do vary enough. The scenery is different amoung them and the difficulty increases respective to the order above.

The Championship mode is decent enough. In this mode you have to battle your way to first place when you finish the last race. So for example you finish 7th in the first race you will start in 7th place for the second. This is a neat concept which should be done more nowadays. The AI is OK, not the best but perfectly reasonable. If you finish 1st, you unlock the extra track for Time Attck and Multiplayer modes.

Time Attack is just the same as in any racing game, complete with the ghosts of previous attempts.

As I don't have a second controller, I can only speculate on the multiplayer, but I expect it would be a great two player game.

The gameplay's fun and enjoyable, and despite not having the greatest amount of content, you can sit down and play it for a good while. And I can't forget the replays! Sure the scenery looks a bit mad but the music's great!

That's all I can say on this game. If you have a Saturn, I definitely recommend picking it up if you don't somehow already own it, as it's a nice game you can just sit down and have a good game with.

Rating: 7/10

GAME OVER YEEEEEEAAAAAAH!

The New Rock Profile Episodes

Wow I'm, happy this show is back. Yeah it may only be on the web but I think that the show will really suit being on the internet rather than on TV.

The previous Rock Profile episodes were great and I have the DVD (one of few I own). And of course now they have so much more material to work with after Matt and Lucus not doing it for so long.

Update #6

Sorry I didn't post for a week before The Inbetweeners review, life has become very hectic for me as it's the last few weeks of college and I have many assignments to hand in! My output may be cut down for another week or two because of this.

Things I have planned are a new feature called the Nostalgia Files where I'll talk about some of my favourite things from childhood, from Dragonball to the Sega Mega Drive! I think it'll be a really neat feature and these will be made in both a text version and a video version which I shall post on YouTube.

Also I think it's nearly time to review both Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 and Sega Rally, but I still think they need playing just an hour or two more for me to do a full and complete review though.

The Inbetweeners Series 2 Review *SPOILERS

Now the latest series has finished, it's time to do the review.

First I must say that this series was every bit as good as I thought it would be. They really kept the quality up from the last series and the gags were equally funny.

What happened in this series was more or less what happened in the last, with the boys trying their best with women and trying to improve their social status. It seems the characters were prepared to go outside their comfort zone a bit more in this series though, such as they wouldn't have gone to a trendy club in London in the last series.

I said in my First Look of this series that they could of made Lauren from Episode 1 appear later on in the series, but I'm now glad this didn't happen as the show would've had less comedic value. The episodes really were more of the same and there's not much more I can say on that. The writers made sure though that the characters were put in to whole new situations.

There was some character progression in this series. Despite being the main character, Will seemed quite arrogant and pompous in this series; thinking he was better than other people. It worked well for comedic value though. Jay was more of the same, but saw that women weren't just objects in the last episode causing him to change his tune a bit there. Simon, probably the character with the most storylines this time around, again just seemed to do things at the wrong times and embarrass himself without knowing it or getting himself into some kind of mess. These made great but cringeworthy moments. He seemed to have the most success out of the four with the ladies this time, but always ended up on his own again eventually! Neil was great too, probably even dimmer than he was in the last series coming out with some classic lines due to his simpleness, but I feel they really need a storyline for him as he may become too one dimensional.

One of the reasons I love this show is that it really does capture what being near the bottom of the social standing is like. The people they meet around their age really do seem to be either vain, a tough violent type, sneaky, or just an all round dick such as Patrice! Carli and Jay's girlfriend in the last episode really use himself and Simon, Charlotte seems like a bit of a bimbo, and Patrice was just one nasty guy! I think it often happens in real life that the popular people are more likely to be jerks than the less popular people.

I loved this series. They did really well with it, but I don't think it was quite as good as the last series. The ideas for episodes were great, and now the gang have completed their first year in sixth form, lets look forward to at least two more series!

Rating: 8/10

Update #5

I've found something out about DWG2 since the First Impressions I did, and that is that it seems like it's a very long game which will take a long time to complete fully. Even though I've only owned it for about a week, I'm already really looking forward to doing a review.

I have a copy of Chrono Trigger DS which I bought when it came out in the US; I got it imported as I'm from the UK. I'm trying to cut back on the amount of games I play at a time down from about five which is not manageable for me down to two so I can start completing and reviewing more games like this one and Broken Sword (which I still haven't touched yet!). Also I can get more time to play my Saturn.

You may have noticed that the link to my YouTube channel has changed. I have cancelled my SmallManGeorge account and began a new one under the name of TheSaturnMan. As you can imagine, with my Saturn collecting I plan to do a lot of videos on it in the long term, as well as covering a lot of other gaming stuff.

It's been a fun week this week. College days have been so short (literally a couple of hours) due to stuff going on, it's great as I got to stay at home more and do a bit of work too.

Swine Flu

OK by now I'm sure almost everybody has heard of this. I'm surprised that all of this stuff just seemed to have came out of nowhere all of a sudden, it isn't how the media built up bird flu at all.

I really think that a lot of people need to relax and just calm down about this. Sure, it's a new illness that we have little to no knowledge of, but I'm sure something will be done to help stop this thing. Yes people have been killed by this in Mexico, but it's not exactly cancer is it? The media would like to have us believe that this is going to kill us all; at the end of the day, the more they can report on this the easier it is for them to do there job, and will more than likely gain the media more money too. The more they report on this in their usual sensationalist fashion the more panicked people will become; it's just not doing anyone any good. In fact I've heard that thousands of worried people have already called the health organisations, and I guess most of them (like 99.9% of them) have nothing to worry about.

I feel sorry for the poor Scottish couple that came home from holiday with the illness; I think it was bang out of order how the media released there names and where they lived; sure they need to be in some sort of quarantine for the moment, but there's a possibility things might be harder for them in the future because of this and it will damage their relationship with their community.

First Impressions: Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2

I must say, I loved the first Dynasty Warriors Gundam game. It was great to find a game of a good franchise with an anime series I really enjoy. I spent a long time playing it, but I couldn't help thinking that it seemed somewhat unfinished; the graphics weren't great; the gameplay was sometimes monotonous; and the Official Mode left out big parts of the plot. Keep in mind that I still found this a good game.

After getting this game today and playing it for a long time, they really did improve the game in the ways I wished it to. The gameplay's been improved significantly. The addition of giant mobile suits and armours really does vary the gameplay. The thrusters were tiresome in the last game as it took ages to get anywhere. Now it seems the maps have been scaled down a little bit and on top of that the thrusters are much faster, matching the fast paced action of the anime series.

Being a fan of retro gaming, graphics aren't really a big deal to me, but the graphics have been improved so much. There's now more reflectiveness to the metal of the mobile suits and detail which makes such a big difference. The same goes for the enviroments. They are no longer as uniform looking as they were before.

Of course there's many more mobile suits in the game. You can even play as the grunt enemies. The game really does have so much gameplay value. Instead of Original Mode, there's Mission Mode, where there's tonnes of missions for each character. Here you can build friendships and enemies with other characters and this will determine what happens in other missions.

The parts system has been masively overhauled. There are now parts for each separate part of the mobile suit, and you are also able to collect weaker and stronger parts. The mobile suit levels have been done away with because of this. Super moves are also improved with separate land, air and combo techniques again adding more variety.

What they've done here is build on the foundations of the last game. I forgot to add, online play is now in there too, this looks quite basic though and isn't really what I had in mind. They really have worked hard on this game, improving as many things as possible. DWG1 was a great game, but this is going to be even better.

Update #4

Sorry about the lack of posts over the last week; college is back on for me again so time is harder to come by.

Due to my Sega Saturn collecting, expect a lot of entries on that, I'm going to try and play it as much as possible. Half the games I have I haven't played yet so more First Impressions could follow.

Speaking of First Impressions, Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 is released tomorrow and as a big fan of Gundam and the last game, for me it's a must buy, despite me not buying that many games this generation. As a gamer I've found I like the older stuff more than the games they put out nowadays where I think a lot of them are so similar.

Soon, I'm going to do something a little different. Due to family circumstances, there's going to be an unused car in the family, so I've been forced into learning to drive. I didn't really plan on doing it yet; time is short as it is with college and work, and although this may sound lazy, I like a lot of free time to indulge in my pastimes such as gaming. The furthest I have to travel is the next town which is easier by train, and other than that I pop into town which is a 20 minute walk but I enjoy it as it gives me some quality time with myself. But I guess a free car's too good to turn down. I'll post entries to how I'm getting on.

First Impressions: Sega Saturn

I've had my Saturn now for two days and I've been playing it quite a bit. I'm very happy for what I got for my money; on eBay they only said it'd come with four games, when in fact it came with eight! The games are all complete; disks in good nick, manuals, the little bits of paper inside the manuals and also the little game label things which Japanese Saturn games came with. The only problem was that some of the cases seemed to have got a little damaged in transit, but these are jewel cases we're talking about here, and I should be able to transfer all the covers and everything to new ones. The ST Key works great, but I now wish I'd bought the Action Replay 4 in 1 instead which not only allows play of any region's games, but also a cheat device and as a 1mb and 4mb RAM cartridge which some games need.

The games I've played so far mostly have an arcade feel to them. For example Sega Rally, which is a very basic racing game, part of the beginning of 3d racers in the 32-bit era alongside titles such as Ridge Racer, however this is a very different game to that, but they are both really simple to play with great gameplay to boot. Virtua Fighter 2 and Virtua Fighter Kids are very much the arcade fighter, again very simple to pick up and play like arcade games are. Unfortunately the other games I probably won't play for a long time as they are in Japanese and I don't understand a word of it!

The console itself looks solidly built, even though the plastic does look a bit cheap. The battery to store memory was a great idea, and shows Sega were ahead of there time with this due to data being stores in a similar vein nowadays with hard drives in consoles, although at the Saturn's time this technology was underdeveloped for consoles and the battery can run out.

The controller is nice and comfortable to hold. It's like a Mega Drive controller, but smaller making it easier to grip with your hands, and the addition of X, Y and Z buttons as well as two shoulder ones. These shoulder buttons seem a bit stiff, but still work well.

I'm glad I chose this console. I can see that I am going to have a good time collecting it; the games I've played so far have impressed me. It's clear that this console had a huge amount of potential which it didn't live up to; Sega probably shot themselves in the foot with the surprise launch.

Update #3

Welcome to this week's weekly update.

I still, still haven't got round to playing Broken Sword yet. Hopefully I'll get time to soon.

In an attempt to boost my gaming collection which I am starting I have just bought myself a Japanese Sega Saturn along with a regional adapter so I can play games from any region. I bought a Japanese one because a few Japanese Saturn games make use of the RAM slot which the adapter also uses. I am going to concentrate on building a collection for this console as well as the Neo Geo Pocket Color.

I've had no replies about my CV's as yet; if I do not receive one then I'll go and hand in some more, maybe to the same places as I've been told that works well.

As far as college goes I've only done a bit of work, probably won't get it all done to be honest. In fact, I'm not enjoying it as much as I once did, but I'll just have to wait and see how things turn out. If things don't go well I have my eye on BUFORA's Field Investigator course.

INQ1 Mobile Phone Review

For today's entry I am going to review the INQ1 mobile phone by the 3 network.

This phone is 3's first foray into the mobile phone market. It was released in December of last year and as you can see it lacks the touchscreen and other features that many other phones released around this time possess.

The navigation is pretty good but could be better. The slide menu works well and makes navigation very easy, but you can also access things from a traditional menu. This is one of my gripes with it, I think it would have been better to just have everything on the slide menu to make things a little less confusing.

It has a small collection of apps which work pretty well. Being a phone focussing on social networking, it is strong in this department. The Facebook app works really well and the scaled down version is nearly as good as having the real thing open on a computer's browser. Skype and Windows Messenger work well also and are also scaled down. You can choose to have contacts made from those on these social networking services which is a neat little feature. Other apps are things such as games as well as Google Maps and weather which is also useful. An email app is also featured, although this isn't the best. The app selection is small, but they cater for a range of needs.

Don't cound on using this phone as a camera. The quality is good where you have a lot of light, but it lacks a flash or a little light and so 90% of pictures and videos are too dark. It just doesn't sems to pick up light very well.

However the phone does work well for music and videos. You can make playlists although these can be a pain to manage sometimes, and they also take a while to load. Without the provided earphones, the sound is tinny when coming through the speakers, but with them the sound quality is much improved and is good enough to be used as an mp3 player. There is also limmited integration with Last.fm.

Overall I think this phone is good for myself, casual phone users and people use use a lot of social networking services I think this is a solid choice. However for people who use their phone a lot or for people who want a little bit more, I think they'd prefer something a little more advanced.

RATING: 6/10

Twitter

Yes folks I've started using Twitter, and I must say I'm enjoying it.

In my opinion I prefer it to Myspace and Facebook as it's just a more simple premise; you just post what you're doing and that's it; it doesn't use any fancy bells and whistles. It just makes it easier to use.

Follow me at https://twitter.com/oOGeorgeSnellOo

Update #2

I'm going to make this into a weekly thing now, where I'll tell you my plans for the blog as well as what I've been getting up to.

The Broken Sword first look won't be up for a while yet I'm afraid, I know I said I'd do it soon, but I just have so many games to play right now and want to finish them first, after which I'll do reviews of them.

I'm also going to try and put out at least one blog entry a day to boost the blog's content.

In my own life this easter holiday's come at a good time, it's meant I can take a well earned rest from all the college work, but it'll be time to knuckle down again next week for the last week of the holidays I'm afraid :( . I'm also planning to leave my job at Sainsbury's and get one at Gamestation or one of the Game stores in the next town down from here, but I'm also going to try at Blockbusters too.

My Thought on Dragon Ball Kai

I only just found out about Dragon Ball Kai a few days ago, and I know this must be a lot later than many other fans.

I think it's a good thing they've touched it up a bit and re-released it, as far as the Shonen Jump anime goes, right now I'd say One Piece, Naruto, and Bleach are the most popular, the latter two I am not particularly fond of.

It's good that a new generation of kids just getting into anime will get a chance to see this great series, not necessarily in Japan, but in the US and the UK too where I think there is a good chance of it being released seeing as Dragon Ball Z is one of their most successful shows. For me, as a kid I'd watched Pokemon and Digimon before it, but Dragon Ball Z made me much more aware of anime and kind of kick started my interest in it.

From what I have seen, the animation has been improved but not to a massive degree. Things do look better quality wise though. I know it would have been a hard task, but it would have been great if the animation was the same quality of the opening and ending sequence which look eyewateringly good. The filler episodes have apparently gone too which obviously keeps things closer to the manga.

Cracked's New Website Design

Man I dislike the new style. It's just a mess, the layout was perfectly good in the first place, if it ain't broke don't fix it is what they say.

My main gripe is that there's just too much going on on all the pages, you just don't know where to look. White on black is also quite distracting. Hopefully I'll get used to it in a couple of weeks.

The Inbetweeners Series 2, First Look

The first episode was great. I'll start by saying that.

They did some really interesting things in this episode which I hope will continue throughout the series. Sticking a wedge between Will and Simon was a great idea, I really hope Lauren's character comes back which I think she will, as it was really interesting what they did there.

The best parts of the episode were the boat parts, extremely funny, especially the part with the fish.

There were also moments where I had my head in my hands and was watching through my fingers as there was a lot of embarrassing moments in this episode!

Anyway I suggest watching this series, it looks like it's going to be a cracker!

Update #1

Sorry I haven't posted any updates over the last week, I've had a humongous amount of college assignments to complete, and I still do!

Anyway I just picked up Broken Sword Shadow of the Templars, so I'll do a first look of that soon.

The Inbetweeners starts again tomorrow and I can't wait! One of the cast feels it's much better than the last series which was great so I have high hopes indeed!

I've been working solidly this week though and this could continue into next week, but I'll try my best to find time to update this blog whenever I can.

Skins Series 3 Review

OK so now the series has finished I can now type up this review.

This is the first series of Skins that I have seen. When Skins first came onto our screens two years back, it looked like one fucked up show even to me, a teenager, with all the stuff they showed in the trailers, so because of this I didn't watch the first two series. There were so many people going on about how good it was however that I decided to give series 3 a go and see what all the fuss was about.

The general plot of this show are pretty simple, it's about the lives of a bunch of teenagers. But as you can imagine as the series goes on this creates so many complicated storylines and plot threads.

The characters were great in this show. Their are four key characters in the show out of the main characters. Effy is the lead character, quiet, mysterious and someone who keeps her feelings bottled up. Cook's the rowdy, brash and rebellious character, and he was my favourite as he helps create much of the plot and Jack O'Connell played him brilliantly. You've got Freddie, who many think is a bit of a drip, but I think he's supposed to represent the average guy. Then you've got JJ who tries to bring his friends together when things go wrong. Although not quite as important to the plot, you've also got the dopey Pandora, the inocent and well-manered boy from the Congo Thomas, the two very different twins and the complicated Naomi.

The episodes were well structured in my view. I have to admit the first three episodes didn't impress me that much, and Mackenzie Crook's character was pretty worthless. But after that everything just fell into place nicely. Pandora, JJ and Effy's episodes were probably some of the best TV I've seen in a long time, and these were the episodes where the plot really exploded. After these three episodes though, the final episode was a bit of an anti-climax as I was naturally expecting something just as good. Yes it worked that the more minor characters weren't in it as they would of just got in the way, but the only good bit was Cook on the boat (I'll say no more than that!). I kind of agree with other fans thet it could of been better had they swapped the last two episodes around which would of created a more conventional ending, although the way they did do it did create a sort of clifhanger which I know they've done before at the end of series 1.

Anyway I say go and watch this now. Seriously, you won't regret it. If you think it's all about sex and drugs every episode, I say give a chance like I did and you'll be in for a pleasant surprise.

Even though there are things which they could of done better, I am nethertheless going to give this show a 10/10.

Crossing the Line!

Since my rant on The Gadget Show, I haven't watched an episode since. However it came to my attention that something so bad happened on the last episode, and yes it is yet again to do with the Apple bias.

Basically, they did a review comparing the DSi, the PSP and the iPhone/iPod Touch as portable games consoles, the iPod Touch inexplicably winning out, rated 5 stars as a games console.

I have no problem saying that it is a good platform for gaming, but it's still in its infancy gaming wise compared to the DSi and the PSP. Yeah it has some good games on it but even then it doesn't come close to the other two.

This thing seems to have caused something of a controversy amoung the fans, in that people now know there's more than meets the eye with this whole Apple thing, and that fans who dismissed it can no longer just ignore it like it's a coincidence.

Anyway, what I'm typing can't really do this thing any justice, to see what I mean just watch the clip.

http://gadgetshow.five.tv/videos/mobile-gaming

My Thoughts on The Inbetweeners

So, this show is taking over for its second series once Skins finishes its run. I'm really looking forward to the return of this show, it's one of the best sitcoms I've seen over the last few years.

The setting is similar to Skins, but it's a very different show. Like Skins it focuses on the lives of some teenagers (although in The Inbetweeners it's a small group of boys), and a lot of the storyline does take place at school, more so than Skins.

But the tone of the show is much different. Skins is more drama orientated and is rather exaggerated in almost all aspects e.g. the characters regularly have sex and take drugs far more teenagers do in reality. The Inbetweeners is more of a comedy, and things are more how they are in real life. The characters may be a bit more nerdy, but also more normal and true to life.

Anyway, I think if you like Skins, you will enjoy this, It's a bit different, but it's well worth the watch.

What I've Been Up To

Sorry I haven't posted in a while; my network mucked up a while back and I fixed it a few weeks ago, but I only just got my Xbox 360 back online, and it was a real ordeal! I hooked it up online wirelessly with a router instead of shelling out £60 on a wireless adapter, and even though it took me a long time because of having to find a way around a double NAT issue, it's well worth it.

If anyone needs and help sorting out their Xbox Live, please just emal me and I'll be happy to help.

A Bad Day

Ever had one of those days when nothing seems to go right? I had one of those today at work (in Sainsbury's in the bakery).

Hearing United lost 4-1 was bad enough, but at least there we're still potentially 7 points clear, and we have a tradition of going on a long, long run after a bad game so I wasn't too down.

I also saw someone I used to know, an old friend of mine, although me and my other friends stopped taking to him nearly two years ago now as he became something of a psychopath, I just walked past him with my cap covering my face so he couldn't see me! It was strange, I was glad to see him again because of the times when we were good friends, but also worrying because of future experiences of his personallity, and I don't want him back in my life again. That may sound harsh, but if you were me you'd understand.

I'm planning to go on holiday this July with some mates of mine, and I thought all the holiday arrangements at work was all sorted out, the forms had been handed in. Turned out someone booked that week too, and just so happened to be working the day the forms came out so was able to get his in straight away. I booked the following week, in the hope that the holiday can be rearranged for then, but if it cannot, then I guess I'll have no choice but to throw a sickie!

The Gadget Show Rant

Yes folks, it's time for my rant on The Gadget Show.

I started watching The Gadget Show a good while back now, although I think they were already in the studio by that time. It was, and as far as I know still is, the only show of its kind on terrestrial television here in the UK, and being a young teenager at that time it was right up my street and I enjoyed watching it. The presenters suited the show, the format was good and they were able to keep it fresh too.

Over the last year and a half or so though, I've noticed the show gradually slipping in its standard, and at this moment in time its got so bad that I'm no longer going to watch it from here on in. Here are my reasons why.

Firstly the gadgets they cover. The majority of the gadgets now are just so expensive to the common man, especially in these financial times. The rest seem to be just novelty items, which have no point or usage to them. Yeah I agree that a show of its type should have these types of things featured, just not for the majority of the show like they do.

Secondly the challenges. The challenges were good first of all and were fun to watch, but now they've just become a borefest, possibly because they've ran out of ideas that their budget can afford. The gadgets being compared are sometimes entirely different in terms of either what they are, or how they're supposed to be used and so provides little benefit to the viewer in this respect. Half of it is also the presenters just mucking around too which has went beyond humour and is now annoying. And when will you ever need a laptop that can withstand dynamite?

Now the presenters. The presenters used to be great on this show, but now they've become annoying and repetitive. What happened people? Jason is enthusiastic about gadgets, but its got too much now to the point where he's annoying to watch; I would like it more if he was a bit more serious rather than the sometimes OTT, larking about attitude he gets. Suzi should be kicked off the show in my opinion, she only really offers the show an attractive host, but it's as if she's reading of a card or something. Jon is probably the best presenter and the one I don't have a problem with, it's just that he now gets limited airtime. Dallas was OK but not great, and it's too early to tell with Ortis yet.

On to the Apple bias. This is my biggest problem. Apple products will often get superior reviews to their competitors', even if the competitors products have in fact got higher reviews elsewhere. It's got so bad now that Apple products are even being placed in shot where they aren't even relevant. It's even carried into the latest series which has only just started, placing an iPod on their Wall of Fame ahead of the original Sony Walkman. Without the Walkman, the iPod wouldn't be around (at least not as quickly), simple.

So yeah that's my rant. Hopefully Ortis will be able to kick some life into the show.

John Titor

I just finished watching Hoaxhunter's videos on this with the last part being released today, and I must say, I believe in the conclusions he reached.

I think with a lot of people in the unexplained phenomena community, they would actually prefer that cases are not solved, as it takes away from their interest. I think Hoaxhunter probably got it right, I do think it would make sense that the originator of this thing would hide behind his lawyer brother to peddle this thing out.

Skins, It's Just So Good

Seriously, this show is just superb. The start of Series 3 (this is the first series I've watched) wasn't that great but since then it's just been consistently very very good. It seems whenever I see an episode now, I think they won't be able to top it, but somehow the episodes just keep getting better.

I'll definitely be doing a review of the series when it is over, possibly even one of the few videos I will make from now on.

Oh and The Gadget Show rant will be up tomorrow, sorry for the delay but my brother was round for most of the night using the computer!

Myself and YouTube

I just want to say that I will not be making any videos for the foreseeable future. My reasons are simple, I have just enjoyed making this blog so much more as well as being able to express every detail about something which you can't always do with video as you forget things. The uploading process is just so much faster also.

Don't get me wrong, I have enjoyed making videos, but I just feel that working on a blog is just more rewarding for me personally.

Upcoming Rant: The Gadget Show

I've been planning to do a rant on this for a while now, but I have now got annoyed by it enough to actually make one. My subject of choice is going to be The Gadget Show on Channel 5.

The rant should be up tomorrow, and I'll be ranting about everything from the hosts, the format, its unhelpfulness (you'll understand when the rant is up), and the worst thing of all, its annoying Apple bias.

I know I will enjoy making this rant, and I hope you enjoy reading it.

Manchester United

Now if you may or may not know from reading the info on my YouTube channel, I am a big Manchester United fan, and am posting this after our victory against Inter Milan which I am very happy about; although I was confident we would win. Am looking forward to the Liverpool game now, but again like last time I will be unable to watch it due to work!

Anyway, I'm thinking of buying the Champions' League 3rd shirt which is only £19.99 for today and tomorrow which is a huge saving, or the limited edition Champions' League Final set with the special shirt, the program and all that stuff in it, although I'll have to save up quite a bit for that as it's quite expensive.

Oh, and I'm also planning on getting the Xbox 360 Manchester United faceplate too.

Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection

Hello and welcome to the first entry to my blog.

Today I picked up Sega Mega Drive Ultimate Collection for the Xbox 360. For a long time up until the last few months I have used a lot of emulators and roms, but I decided to get this game after hearing some good things about it as well as the truly large amount of games available. It also contributes to my gaming collection which I am trying to build up.

Admittedly I haven't played mush of this game, but I will go over what I have seen.

First thing is the navigation is nice and simple as it should be with a compilation game, but you can also view a little bit of the background behind the games as well as a lot of extras you can unlock such as interviews and even Master System games such as Phantasy Star.

Saves can be made with all the separate games as far as I'm aware, and the screen settings can also be changed so the game fits in widescreen format which looks really clear; much better than when playing an actual Mega Drive on a widescreen TV. You can also enhance the graphics which is a little feature I wasn't expecting but a great one; just like using filters on an emulator, although the original graphics do sometimes look better as they just look more authentic.

So yeah I like this game so far, it's one of those games I think I will play a lot when I'm bored, but as with games of this type, it lacks the playthoughability that games like Gears of War 2 do for example.