SW:TOR

It launches in about 2 – 3 weeks. Less if you preordered (2 weeks, 5ish days).

My main gripe is the graphics and character customisation.
The story is somewhat good. The bonus quests are annoying (like killing 45 of x, kill leader, turn in) and the main quests are nothing new. Though you have a class storyline that rocks.

It is a beta, yes. But I seriously hope quests are something new, and graphics are a lot better than what they are. I can suffer with everyone looking the same, but quests are a big thing for an MMO. Graphics also play a major role.

I kinda enjoy it. Though a Jedi tank is a pretty shit class to play. I might try inquisitor or the Jedi dual-wielding DPS class-thingy.

For a 100 million or more costing game, it looks depressing. I hope it improves. If not, I’ll have a good statuette to put on my shelf with the other collector editions I have bought, and I’ll go back to playing single-player RPG’s and the one MMO I will ever play for a prolonged period of time (EVE, though I’m unsubbed atm due to boredom.)

Fingers crossed, I hope it will improve in the next 2-ish weeks.

Meh…

Ok so Arkham City gets really boring after a time. It’s a good game and all, but to be frank the side missions are somewhat annoying.. For example, I can’t find Fries’ wife for the life of me. And The Riddler missions I gotta find more people to beat up and get information out of.

I’m basically at the end of the game, and I only have something silly like 10% completion… Really? The fuck is that meant to mean?
The fact that you can’t complete -ALL- of the side missions at the end of the game also pisses me off. So I’m going to have to restart the game, complete side missions as they come along.

I highly doubt I’d get any replay ability out of it at all, that’s basically what [RPG] games are these days, good for once, not for any more.

On other points, I like Revelations, playing as Al’tair when he’s an old dude is fun. And Ezio’s later life really intrigues me. Though to be honest, I kind of hate the 100% synch thing, but it’s a nice touch if you like to crack at these things over and over and get it right then and there. I probably wont see the point in doing it again, but who knows – it may be the last in the franchise, which I sincerely hope it isn’t.

Either way though, it’s a fucking awesome game and I like it.

Onto another point, SW:TOR is nearing release date, and I really, really, REA-FUCKING-LLY hope it’s a game worthy of my money and thus my monthly subscription. MMO’s have been pretty shitty releases, not to mention other games that have been hyped to hell in recent years have released with an overall lack-lustre reception come the levels that the big reviewers didn’t bother to get to (and sometimes the starting levels too).

I’m seriously looking for a decent PC game to download, I think I might get The First Templar, despite what people say about the voice acting. I mean hell, The Witcher number one people said the voice acting was shite, but hey, I quite liked it, it was a great game in my books, and still is. Which brings me to my next point, I’m probably gunna play Assassin’s of King’s again just to try the new patch thingmies, and mods.

Blah blah blah, so on and so forth.

Batman: Arkham City. Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

First off, I apologise. I’m still playing through these. But I will review them.

I for one am terribly excited for Revelations, which is on it’s way to my doorstep. I should get it this week. In the meantime I get to play Batman Arkham City lots.
And by lots I mean I’ll have to replay it every single time it decides to wipe my save games. I’ve had it happen twice already now, so, so depressing.

I’m still baffled as to why Rocksteady haven’t fixed it within the first week of it being released. I mean seriously, it took 2 weeks to get to me from the UK.

If it wipes my save again, I’ll burn it, then post it to Rocksteady and ask very nicely for a refund.

Though so far, the game is pretty good. But I haven’t played it all.

As for Revelations, I hope it isn’t the last game in the franchise. Though I probably am wishing for too much at this point. A lot of people aren’t too happy with the fact it’s much of the same old. It’s a decent finish to the story of Ezio – this much I do know. But I really do like the series.

Apart from those 2 games, I myself scored a beta to TOR, like everyone else – it’s a weekend test. This is another game I have a hard-on for, despite the graphics not being too orgasmic (i.e BF3).

Now in other news, Intel’s 2011 CPU’s are listed in a few stores. The 3960X going for $1,249 at one particular store. I’m tossing up whether to spend spare money on a generator. Or just blow it all on an upgrade.
Yes, I need a generator as unfortunately I run a business and need to have access to the Internet everywhere I go. Having an Internet aerial in itself doesn’t exactly allow me to run my laptop 24/7. And the bastard thing takes 165 watts, :HP:.

CyberBully

I wont go into detail, but here’s the synopsis:

Teen girl Taylor Hillridge gets a a laptop for her birthday and signs up on a social networking site. She starts to feel alone as her friends ostracize her and she falls victim to cyberbullying.

It’s the unfortunate, painful and very real truth about cyberbullying and bullying in general.
However it does have a nice ending.

I wont rate it, as it’s more an eye-opener than a movie. It happens every day, and it really needs to be stopped. Bullying is very bad, cyberbullying even worse.

Razer Blackwidow Ultimate

Look, I really like Razer’s innovations, and product designs. But they seem to fail on the quality of things.

I currently bought a Razer BWU less than a month ago. And about 2 weeks into using the product, the LED on the “Y” key seems to be flickering at the 2 brightest settings. While on the lowest it only has recently just started flickering.

It’s a mechanical keyboard with the lot – Macro Keys, LED’s, and naturally the disable the Windows key feature, media keys, number pad and on-the-fly macro recording. All along with Razer’s excellent software and auto-profile switching.

I “upgraded” to this from a G15 which I had ever since the refresh version was released. It still works, however it isn’t mechanical. Which is the main reason why I chose a Razer product – mechnical, LED + macro’s.

All in all, it is a good product, but it fails on the quality. So I can’t exactly recommend it unless you don’t mind spending $X returning it to the retailer, or to Razer themselves each time is starts playing up.

However, when and if Logitech release a mechanical keyboard product. I most definitely will be buying one of those. I’ve never EVER had a Logitech product fail on me.

Anyway, it wont stop the Razer fans from buying their products. Nor will telling people Dell and Alienware’s are overpriced stop them from buying their products. But I felt I should update the blog and write a quick and shitty review anyway

Downton Abbey, Merlin – New Seasons

Downton Abbey – series 2 is already out. We left series 1 on the bombshell of WWI starting. I really like Downton Abbey with Dame Maggie Smith playing the awesome role of Violet, Dowager Countess of Grantham.
I’d highly recommend the series  to anyone. It’s right up there with Game of Thrones by HBO.

Now Merlin series 4. Also a great TV show. More geared towards the kids. But none the less a great show all-over. King Arthur has aged since I last saw him in series 3. It could be the haircut, but he looks a bit older. Merlin however looks the same. Great actors in the show, and hopefully Morganna wont have as big a role. My main gripe is her, I hate her character and the person playing it. Be the directors having her grinning in the background – whatever. They truly annoy me with her character and the actress playing it.

Both are great TV shows none-the-less. Both are available on BBC-iView I believe. In Australia – ABC (not sure about Downton though).
Go ahead and watch them.

In other news – I finished watching the whole of 24, and I must admit that is also an epic TV show. So if you haven’t watched it – go do it. Pity about it ending though. I really like Kiefer Sutherland

Saitek Cybord R.A.T 7 (MadCatz)

Saitek, known for making completely fucking awesome flight control systems, have their sister company MadCatz… Known for making shitty products.
Well they’ve stepped up their game and I recently bought an R.A.T. 7 Gaming Mouse. While pricey, I find it’s well worth it.

The unique feature of this, ugly mouse is it’s completely customisable, save for the buttons and thumb rest. Though mind you the thumb rest is movable in, our, forwards and backwards.
The pinky rest has 3 parts, one which will cause no drag, and 2 which I probably wont try out. It comes with a built in tool to the mouse allowing you to undo all the bits to remove, or completely change them.

All this combined with weights, and 3 different palm rests (1 smooth, 1 grip-like and 1 high profile) and an awesome glide with a satisfying click make this mouse my favourite to date.

I’ll let the pictures do all the talking.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2

To start, I wasn’t a fan of them putting the last movie in to two bits. But it seemed to have actually been a good idea – financially and for us the fans.
The main line-up of movies has some differences from the book, and these last 2 movies don’t have as many, but I still must stress that the books are in most cases much better.

The movie starts off as you’d expect – Lord Voldies ending in Part 1, him with the elder piece of stick and he’s somewhat ready to do what he attempted to do ages ago – kill Harry Potter.
He supposedly has the power with the elder wand. As I usually do, I try not to spoil movies but I’ll do my best attempt.

The movie takes them all over the place – Hogwarts, Gringotts Bank (Diagon Alley) and Hogsmeade. They encounter various creatures and drink polyjuice potion, friends, foes and a blind dragon. They need to find out the remaining Horcruxes and destroy them. However it’s nothing like part 1 – there’s no camping at all!

The movie seems a little rushed to me compared to the book. It’s a bit weird in the sense I felt it was missing something. However the visuals, effects and acting is really good as you’d expect. It’s a great ending to the long franchise, and you finally get to see Ron and Hermione snog.

I’ve rushed the review because I can’t add to it without spoiling it.
I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who likes the franchise. But I must admit, books are usually better. It’s quite a long movie however.

8.5/10

Heroes of Newerth

Heroes of Newerth is a DOTA-like game.

I actually bought it for $10 when it wasn’t free-to-play but either way, it’s now free to play.

The game is practically like DOTA. You get to choose a out of a bunch of heroes – strength, intelligence and agility. Support, DPS, Tank.
It happens to have an item shop – which mind you is quite good. It’s not a pay-to-win game which is a good thing. However you can purchase early access to some specific heroes before they are released to the general public.

For free to play players, you don’t get access to the whole line up of heroes, which may put you off – however I’d look for a way to get them. I’m not too sure on how you’d do that though.

All in all, it’s a fun enough game, and will entertain you for many hours. But there is a major drawback which puts me off – and that it the community.
The community absolutely sucks. Whether you’re a newbie or an expert, public games are definitely full of cancer.
If you plan on playing this game, get yourself in to a clan as soon as possible so you don’t get cancer.
I myself actually tried to find someone who could mentor me early on. But after a week of no replies I decided to withdraw the application. I felt it would be a smart move to find someone to teach me the ropes, me being a 1500 PSR and all. But the players with a lot less PSR than I were getting mentors left right and centre. I’m still looking for a good group to get myself in to, but alas it may not be for me.

The game runs native on Linux, Mac and Windows. I’ve yet to find a bug or crash whilst playing it on Ubuntu 11.04, which is great!

Rating: 6/10. It’s fun, the graphics aren’t bad. But the community stinks.
I’ll definitely be getting DOTA 2 though.

So DLC For DA2

Ok, so Bioware announced a while ago (like a few days) that some expansion or whatever is coming to Dragon Age 2.

Amidst that, a trailer was released. I for one, will be getting the DLC. But I really didn’t like Dragon Age 2 all that much. It’s really pissed me off and I sincerely hope Bioware will improve on their already known Dragon Age 3.
However – the only reason why is because I hate leaving a story unfinished.

In other news, I’m eagerly awaiting Assassins Creed: Revelations. Ubisoft are truly one of my favourite RPG makers, along with CD Projekt RED, who funnily enough have released patch 1.3 for The Witcher 2.
(Be sure to uninstall any mods pre-patch, then install them again afterwards )