Elderly Gimp Warrior

World of Warcraft: Visiting the new zones

2011-01-04T14:21:00.000+01:00

Beetlebub is currently resting at a happy level 83 place. Again, experience comes in easy and fast. Quests are a walk in the park (so far ...) and really suck you into the lore of World of Warcraft. Everything you do prepares you for the dungeon mechanics to come.

Questing used to be, lets be honest, dull for the most part.
I'm not going to say it's not anymore, but you come across fun and wacky quests a lot in Cataclysm. The below screenshot shows a quest, where you had to ride a flying mount, and joust enemy NPCs off their mount. Like I said, wacky ... but a pleasant change.

Jousting in World of Warcraft. When is this going to be implemented for PvP??

Here you have to climb a tree, and save poor little bear-babies.
Actually you had to throw them onto that thing on the left.

All the quests you do in Mount Hyjal lead up to an apocalyptic final. In the end, you have to slug it out against Ragnaros, the firelord. Which is pretty impressive, given the fact he used to be a raid boss you had to show respect.

Preparing for battle. Good to know there are deities next to you to lend a hand ...

I did good. Helping out gods and eternal beings is a daily thing in my book.

As I'm heading to level 85, I'm still *stuck* with my Ebon flying mount. That's the Deathknight racial mount. It looks pretty, but with all the facy dragons available, I want to replace it. My eye falls on either the Reins of the Red Drake (Wyrmrest reputation vendor exhalted), or the Reins of the Purple Netherwing Drake (Netherwing exhaled).

It seems the latter is easier to get (grind), so the next few days are going to be spent on this.

Netherwing Drake, here I come!

World of Warcraft: Return of the Beetlebub

2011-01-04T13:53:00.000+01:00

What's a Beetlebub you might ask?

Easy. My level 80 Deathknight character offcourse. You see, I did try WotLK once, a long time ago. But the grind etc really got to me, and I stopped playing (again). And to make sure of that, I deleted the character. Actually I deleted all my characters ... which is a stupid thing to do by the way.

A couple of days ago (30th december), it suddenly hit me. I remembered I had a level 80 Deathknight. And why oh why did I delete it? So I did what any man would do in this situation. I opened a GM ticket, explaining the situation, telling how much I loved the expansion and how I missed my deathknight. And I offered a pretty please with sugar on top.

The next day, believe it or not, a Gamemaster replied to me they had restored the level 80 Deathknight to its full glory. Which turned out to be pretty damn naked. Apparantly, I charded and sold every piece of gear, and mailed all the gold to a buddy. Damn, that sucks ...

So there I was, totally in the nude, ready for the new Cataclysm zone. And it turns out, that's pretty hard. You just can't take a lot of hits without the +200 300 sta gear required these days. A trip to the auctionhouse was needed to provide me some means of questing and replacing gear.

And so it was done. Beetlebub was ready for Cataclysm.
Offcourse, playing a Deathknight is a bit different than playing a Rogue. As a Rogue, stealth and hitting fast and hard are your friends. Being a Deathknight is just standing there in plate armor taking the punches and returning them tenfold. It took some getting used to, but I'm kinda liking it now. Deathknight is raw power.

I competely finished Mount Hyjal, which was a fun and easy experience. The quests lead up to an epic conclusion and you get to fight along some well-known Warcraft heroes.

Briefly visited Vash'jir (?), but there is simply to much water for my taste, and not even that pretty sea-mount can change that. Will probably finish the quests there when I get to level 85, and need a break from something.

Deepholm is my current favorite zone. You get to meet Thrall, who sends you on your way. The zone looks and feels cold, desperate, evil, in ruins, and I like it.

One thing that stands out is the very fact that you often have to fight mobs that use a special mechanic like fire-breath or shadow bolts. When a mob is about to use a certain mechanic (event) on you, you get a warning message across your screen, an alert, and you have to do something. Either get out of the way or move towards another position, something like that. This is new. But also necassary. Because a lot of fights in the new Cataclysm dungeons use similar mechanics, and this is Blizzards way of preparing the player for these mechanics.

More to come.

World of Warcraft: Stabbing my way through Outland

2010-12-29T14:40:00.000+01:00

I have not so fond memories of Outland, the expansion that is "The Burning Crusade". To be more precise, it was one of the reasons I stopped playing. So to have to go through all that content again, just to get to level 70, made me real unhappy.

And the very first moments of my arrival in Outlands, in Hellfire Peninsula, confirmed my fears. O how I hate that zone. To many hills and cliffs, stupid orcs and monsters everywhere. So I did a bare minimum of quests for Honor Hold, and got my butt to Zangarmarsh as fast as I could.

Zangarmarsh actually is okay. A very different feeling while questing. Sure, the content (reputation, gear, ...) is also expendable, but at least it's a fun zone to hang out. And I like those Cenarion Druid guys. One thing is totally awesome, and that is the fact that you get to fly in Outlands at level 60. Imagine doing all the quests and travelling with your mount. Brrr ...

I'm also happy to announce I found myself a little guild. A bunch of casual players (28 at the moment), all different levels. They are still a level 1 guild, and by the looks of it, level 2 will be weeks away. Most of the time, there are only 3 or 4 people online at the same time. I know I said I wanted a small guild, but maybe this is a bit to small. We'll see how it progresses when more people (and myself) are in their 80's.

To finish up, some screenshots:

1k Needles.
Ready to jump and swim all the way to Tanaris. Not the smartest move I made that day.

Being a rogue badass in the Eastern Plaguelands.

Worgen on a rocket.
Sounds like a rock song to me.

Undercover in the Searing Gorge. Quests that lead up to a very entertaining climax.

Poor Murlocs being harrassed by Naga. Each and everyone of them had to relocate.

Something bad happened here. Big demon guy. Bad. Evil. Fried chicken ...

Chillin' at Zangarmarsh.

World of Warcraft: Dog Day Afternoon part3

2010-12-27T15:03:00.001+01:00

What a ride the last couple of days have been.
As of yesterday, I'm the proud owner of a level 60 rogue Worgen. And I'm ready to dabble into the Outlands. Which is going to be freakin' hell I tell you ...

Because I hate Outlands, and I hate the Burning Crusade. Okay, maybe not hate, but I'm not very fond of it either. The first zone you arrive at after jumping through the portal in the Blasted Lands is Hellfire Penn... something something. What a depressing zone is this? By all means I guess it is supposed to be like this, after all, the minions of hell have wrecked the place. But really?

Not to mention you get there, or at least I did, with crappy green gear, meaning as a rogue, you're getting your behind whipped by pretty every melee mob out there.

Anyway, a recapitulation of the last days /played.

Zone I went through in the old world before hitting 60.

- Western Plaguelands
- Eastern Plaguelands
- Dustwallow Marsch
- Badlands
- 1k Needles
- Tanaris
- Swamp of Sorrows
- Un'Goro Crater
- Blasted Lands

The Western Plaguelands are okay. The zone still has the same feeling I remembered from before. Vanilla WOW deju-vu. Easy and logical questhubs. Very fast and straightforward progression. In all, fast but not very rememberable.

Eastern Plaguelands I can describe as totally awesome. Just great fun there. The zone has been redesigned, the questing and natural flow streamlined. The entire zone looks and feels undead trouble. Also, there are quests and NPC characters that stay with you (or the questhub) during the entire progression. And not to forget, the huge amount of XP you can earn with these very easy quests.

How I remember Stratholme to be one of my favorite dungeons in the game. It used to be a 10 man raid dungeon, then they changed it to a 5 man dungeon, and now, the Baron has been lowered to a 5 man level 50 dungeon. Poor guy!

But like I said, I have no intention on doing these dungeons. Really no purpose, gear-wise, being so close to level 60 and on my way to Outland.

Dustwallow Marsch. Never really quested there in the old days. You had to go there a while to get attuned for the Onxyia raid dungeon, and the Alliance city there (Theramore) provides a travel-line (boat) to the other island.

Badlands. I actually intended to skip the zone entirely. By some NPC over at Eastern Plaguelands (I think) provided a quest to 'travel' to this zone, on a rocket. Needless to say, I couldn't resist the rocket. And I'm glad I didn't!

The Badlands have also been heavily redesigned. The quests provided a little bit of fun and insight towards the arrival of Deathwing, and were some of the funniest quests I've come across so far. Also, very fast XP here to be gained.

1k Needles. Skipped this zone. Bam ...
I hate waterquesting. I don't care if they give me a boat, a ship or the freakin' Titanic. If it involves water, I hate it. So I approached the edge of the cliff, jumped off, and swam all the way to Tanaris. Which, after contemplation, was not the smartest move in the history of smart moves. Can you appreciate the irony of the fact I had to swim across an entire zone to skip a zone with waterquests ... Yeah ...

Tanaris is still like the Tanaris I knew from before. Lots of sand and ... sand. Nothing worthy off attention.

Swamp of Sorrows is also one of the old zones you never got to know very well. I did get to know it a little better this time, and other than providing me with a nice amount of herbs, I can't say I'm impressed. It looks nice, has a real swampy feeling to it, but I just said, wham bam thank you mam (for the XP).

Un'Goro Crater used to be one of my favorite zone, because of the wicked look. It actually felt very claustrophobic and jungle-like. Well, it still does. I still have a bunch of quests there to complete.

Blasted Lands is a zone I avoided in the old game. can't answer as to why, just did. I heared there now is a portal in the Mages Quarter that teleports you to the Blasted Lands. Which is cool because then you don't have to travel anywhere alse by boat. So I jumped through the portal and started questing. And am I glad I did. Fun quests and fast XP. And a portal to ... Outlands. Which I couldn't resist after hitting 60. More on that later.

World of Warcraft: Dog Day Afternoon part2

2010-12-21T14:47:00.001+01:00

So the levelling up continues ...
Made it to level 42, in just a couple of days. Nothing to be proud of, the game (at least until now) is so easy. Not once did I have to group with another person to finish a quest or something. Not once. So for a multiplayer game, a bit weird.

I also haven't done many dungeons. I really don't see the need to do so. Every item you have gets replaced so fast, it's really time-wasting to do a dungeon a couple of times in order to obtain a particular blue item. Although maybe Scarlet Monestary is worth a revisit. I remember grinding a Scarlet Monestary wing dozens of times, to get my hands on a 2-handed mace, I believe it was called Mograin's Might or something?

Anyway, a compilation of screenshots that I took on my journey to level 42.

I decided to check out Ashenvale some more, to see all the changes it has gone though.

The bear is still locked up inside a cage. I remember this quest from the vanilla WOW days...

Ashenvale also troubled by 'world' changes. A lot of trees didn't make it.

After running round and round with no real goal, I decided to head over to Stranglethorn Vale, the area most south of the Eastern Kingdoms. Also the home of Booty Bay, pirate-city. Stranglethorn Vale used to be a place you raced through questing for levels. So you might say it was a bit underappriciated.

STV also split up in two parts, North and South. Here, the world has been torn up heavy, creating a beautifull waterfall.

It so happens Booty Bay has a connection to that other little harbor, namely Ratchet. And Ratchet is right in the middle of the Barrens. Or at least, it used to be. The map show us that the Barrens are split up by a huge canyon. Like I said in a previous post, I've been dying to see what happend there.

So I quickly did most of the quests in STV, and took the boat to the Barrens.

Good to see the two bankers are still present in Rachet.

They really weren't kidding when they said canyon, did they? Damn that thing is huge ...

A sight you don't expect to see in the middle of the Barrens. Those Druid guys are trying something ...

I really enjoyed my time at the Barrens. Even the Crossroads was still present. And I also had the opportunity to get up to speed with my herbalism skill. My very first character (vanilla WOW) was a Tauren shaman. Got him up to level 60 and retired the old cow. The Shaman is, in my opinion, a great tool, only a bit dull to play. I missed real melee abilities to use. Maybe that changed now, no idea, but I can't bring myself to roll a Shaman anymore.

Then, for some reason I cannot recall, I wanted to go the the Western Plaguelands. Guess I had a good time there. Although that seems odd. Have you ever been there? Undead, rotting, smelly corpses and ooze everywhere. They don't call it the plaguelands for nothing.

But once I have something on my mind, forget it ... it's going to be done!

WPL hasn't changed that much. A lot of quests have been downgraded.
Still, there are a couple of cool 'tough' guys to kill.

You get to see the Alliance and Horde 'work' together for a little while against the Scourge.

Here I had to 'distract' an enemy while the questgiver wacked it with a big sword.
"Sure" I said, "I can do that".

Among all this magic and mayhem, the following happened. Level 40! Ding ding! (do peopel still say that these days?)

Almost 60 :). I really want to see the new content.
Unfortunately, this means having to go through Outlands (bleh) and Northrend.

Still in Western Plaguelands. The cauldron quest is still there.

There it is.
Only 19 levels to go and I'm ready for the Outlands. And that scares the living sh*t out of me, because Outlands (TBC) was the reason I stopped playing in the first place.

I read somewhere that XP has been buffed in Outlands and Northrend. I hope so. I really do. I'm not planning on spending to much time there.

World of Warcraft: Dog Day Afternoon part1

2010-12-16T19:07:00.002+01:00

So much joy when you have a day off at work.
There's questing, instancing, questing, exploring, some more questing and finally, you get to explore some more.

A hard days work, and I've rocketed to level 29. Actually, rocketed is a bit overkill. Quests give plenty of experience, and god knows there are quests enough out there. Without even trying, you will level like a train on speed.

Where have my travels brought me?

I stopped the last post at Ashenvale. The Elven woodlands territory. Lots of shiny trees and bushes. I don't really remember spending an awful lot of time in Ashenvale in the old days. You did the quests there, because they were mainly an easy way to get XP fast. Because of this, I decided to head over to the other island, that is Eastern Kingdoms. Also, because somewhere I picked up a quest to head over to Stormwind City, and talk to this mysterious rogue trainerguy, who would tell me something supersecret, and give me a blue dagger as a reward.

Yay, daggers that are blue. Who doens't love those?
Easier said than done. Now to get to Stormwind without having to do it on foot. A lot of flightpaths have disappeared, and the whole alliance travelsystem is kinda new to me (previous Horde guy here). Anyway, I managed to get on a boat somewhere that brought me right on the doorstep of Stormwind City. Good for me.

Turned out the supersecreyrogueguy wanted me to go to Shadow Fang Keep, a dungeon in the middle of Horde territory (Silverpine Forest). At least, that's how it used to be. A quick glance at the map told me I had to cross the Wetlands, then Arathi Highlands, then Hillsbrad Foothills, and finally to the dungeon. One thing was for sure, it was going to be a long long walk.

Yeah, the dungeon finder is new to me ...
But I wanted the flightpaths anyway, and to pay a visit to the Wetlands. So onwards it was. To Shadow Fang Keep!

During my travels I crossed the Wetlands and I must say, I liked what I saw. Not to many changes, but an easier layout and questhubs that are close together.

The Alliance harbor at the Wetlands is also not what it used to be. Someone sure had a party here, and forgot to clean up afterwards.

Questing at the shores of the Wetlands. It's good to know some things don't change.

We all need a yellow subm...

Quests that involve the killing of raptors. Why not? There's plenty of them anyway.

Unfortunately, I found out the hard way that Southshore is no longer an Alliance town. It has been ravaged. Forsaken everywhere, green ooze and terrible things. Where is my flightpath guys? Note to self, no more autorunning semi-unattended. Those Forsaken guards hit pretty hard ...

Extra! Extra! Southshore no longer where you thought it was. Great. Now you tell me ...

I thought it was Dalaran, but then I remembered. Dalaran got swapped with WotLK. Then what is this?

After many moons of travel, I got to Hillsbrad foothills. Alas no flightpath there for the Alliance ...

After my first run of Shadow Fang Keep, which went pretty fast and easy thanks to a high level friend, I decided to do all the quests at the Wetlands. And a good decision it was. Easypie quests and mucho XP to be earned. Yay for the Wetlands.

And let me tell you about my favorite Rogue ability! Cheap shot offcourse! Attack anything from stealth and incapacitate them for several seconds. Don't you leave home without it. I hardly ever use Ambush anymore.

When all was done in the Wetlands, I headed up to the Arathi Highlands. Refugee Pointe is the Alliance headquarters there. Never really been a fan of the Arathi zone. To big for my taste, not many eyecatchers. Did some minor quests there, and then remembered, I still have to go through Ashenvale. So back to Ashenvale it was! Granted, a lot of quests are below my level now, but that doens't mean easy XP is not worthy of my attention.

It is a shame that the earlier story, that is the background of the Worgen race etc doesn't really come up much in the different zone. It's pretty much a lot of kill this kill that repeat same old stuff it used to be before. Sometimes you come across a great questhub, but often, just the same ...

Some dude that needs to be killed. I admit, nothing really worth mentioning. A lot of the quests get like this, kill x kill y.

Ashenvale also redesigned. The Horde and Alliance really don't like eachother anymore.

What's next to come?
Finish up in Ashenvale and head out to the Barrens. And I can't wait to see the Barrens. The map shows me that it is now split up in north and south. Why? Who knows? But I'm sure gonna find out soon.

Then I'm not really sure. Maybe finish Arathi Highlands. And do some dungeons. Have to learn the dungeon finder anyway ...

World of Warcraft: Return of the grind (and playtime from level 1 to 22)

2010-12-15T18:43:00.037+01:00

Yes, after many moons, it has been decided. A return to World of Warcraft is necessary.

And with the return comes Cataclysm, the latest expansion of the game. So many interesting things have happened to the old world (so they say), making it irresitable for me not to give in.

However, I'm planning (hoping?) to make some changes in my gameplay. The plan is to try and enjoy the game at a basic level. Not to rush into things with the sole purpose of getting another level, or the next green/blue/purple item. No, this time lets try and enjoy the story behind the game, you know, actually read the quests before heading out and wacking things.

More after the jump for the first screenshots and the experience so far.

With Cataclysm installed, the choice for one of the new races is obvious. Worgen or Goblin? Because I have some friends that play Alliance, and it's always handy to have some high level friends in the pocket, I decided to go for Worgen. And more so, I picked the Rogue class.

I remember playing a rogue in vanilla-wow, and I kinda liked it. You are constantly up and in the middle of things. Very different than ranged combat. How I remember the dullness of being a Hunter for example. Shooting stuff from the back, no ... nothing for me.

Being a Rogue is to constantly pay attention to the 5 D's of rogueness. That is: Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive and Dodge.

Yeah, that's what we're talking about.

Worgen starting zone and early quests.

I have to say the game is more streamlined today for new players. You are taken by hand and gently guided to the real world. I actually can't say it felt like a massive multiplayer at that very time. But I guess that's not really necessary. The point is to introduce newcomers to the game-mechanics. And it does very well indeed.

The Worgen zone is well designed. Visually, you're taken on a ride in a desolate, dark, moody, cold place. Afterall you're nation is being rampaged by the Forsaken. The more you advance, the more you learn about yourself (wolfman) and your people. Pretty cool.

Locked up and nowhere to go. People don't react well to your new me.

Barren, dark, moody. The place you call home.

As a rogue, don't forget to check your back every now and then. Karma is ever present!

Posing for a picture. Wolf in the woods.

Story unfolds. United we stand. Lets take on the Forsaken.

Prince Liam is no more. Guess being a wolf didn't help him.

After the story has unfold itself, you can make your way to the 'real world'. That is, where everyone meets up and gets thrown into the game. No more kindergarden (joke), time to head out and learn the hard way.

The place Worgen get dumped at is Darkshore, also the place Night Elves go to when they grow up. Overall, the zone is redesigned okay. Quest hubs's are located pretty logical, although I'm no fan of the torn up world. That is, the craters in the ground, the canyons that make travelling annoying. Okay I get it, the world got bombarded and shred to pieces, but it's annoying at times.

What to do at Darkshore? Fish offcourse! Why a wolf needs a rod to fish ... ?

Darkshore is actually pretty ... dark.

Darkshore revealed.

At level 20, the Worgen are rewarded with their travelform. 60% speed increase on landtravel. And it looks pretty cool as well. You get to run on all fours. Very wolf-like and the animations look very slick.

Time to run. Thank god.

Arrival at Ashenvale. Never was a fan of this zone though. Curious what it will bring to the table.

No news is good news, unless it's about COD Black Ops

2010-12-02T15:30:00.000+01:00

Still no news about the COD Black Ops problems for the Playstation3 community. Lots of rants from gamers all over, but no real respons from Treyarch, other than a small notice in the upcoming patch.

"Investigating PS3 hard freeze reported to happen for a small number of users in multiplayer"

Geez, a small number of users ... That's a kick in the balls.
I'm having this issue, my brother has it, our cousin has it and the 4 other people I have in my friends list that own COD:BO are having this issue.

So basically everyone I know that plays COD:BO, even though it's not many, are having the same problems.I guess we're all shit out of luck then. You see, if I win the lottery this week, my brother also wins it in the same week and my cousin, guess what, also wins it, and to finish up 4 other people I know also win in the same week, is it okay to start asking questions? Could something have gone wrong?

But not in this case. Nope, just shit out of luck.

Call of Duty Black Ops game freeze (PS3)

2010-11-28T19:06:00.001+01:00

But I'm not alone out there. Loads of people with the same or even worse problems. I guess that's what you get when a series sells because of a name.

Pretty sucky to have to experience this at least once every single time I play. And after reading this, I'm not very convinced it's going to be fixed any time soon. I hate ports ...

Deathspank completed. Kickass game (PSN)

2010-11-28T18:53:00.001+01:00

I've got the attention span of a shrimp. And even that would be pretty insulting to the shrimp in question. So when I actually finish a game, that surely means something.

Find out more about my take on Deathspank, the Dispenser of Justice, a Vanquisher of Evil, and a Hero to the Downtrodden.

According to many websites, Deathspank is a combination of Diablo and Monkey Island. I guess that is correct. Although the Diablo part should be taken with a lot of salt. You start out as a 'weak' character, earning power-ups and better gear throughout the game.

Nothing spectacular here folks. The power-ups don't make or break your character, because at the end of the game, you'll have earned them all. It's just a matter of which power-up are you going to take first. The same goes for the weapons and armor. Sure there is a nice selection to make, but in the end, it doesn't really matter.

What makes this game so great is the funny, ridiculous, over-the-top characters and voice-over's you come across. Not the mention the weird and funny 'stupid' story that unfolds as you progress into the game.

Also worth mentioning is the beautiful world to explore. Lots of different zones to visit, and weird monsters to kill. If you're familiar with World of Warcraft, then this game will often make you chuckle.

Don't expect a system with a lot of depth. Basically it's a go from point A to B game, but with a lot of crazy extra's. This game will keep you entertained for a couple of hours. Looking forward to play the sequel, Deathspank: Thongs of Virtue.

Call of Duty Black Ops PS3 really worth it?

2010-11-18T17:03:00.002+01:00

A question worth answering.

You see, I've never played a Call of Duty game on a console before. I loved the very first Call of Duty game, on the PC and I loved the first expansion, United Offensive, on the PC. Played it hours on end, multiplayer that is. Now that I mention it, I don't believe I ever layed hands on the singleplayer campain before.

Then the milking began, and I never really looked back.

Here we are, years later, with Black Ops for the Playstation 3. Again, not really that interested in the singleplayer experience. It's all about the online thing baby!

Day 1: My first online gaming experience did not bode well. Lots of lag, disconnects and hosts that give up on you in the middle of a match. Not very fun indeed. A little check on the interwebs made me realise I'm not alone, thank god.

Day 2: Patch day! I did notice a reduction in lag, which made the gaming experience a whole lot better. Unfortunately, still a lot of hosts that 'fail' in the middle of a session, but I'm sure that will be worked out in the near future.

Overall, a rather fun experience.
Gameplay is very fast which I hated at first, but I'm slowely becoming a believer. No longer do you scroll from house to house, from cover to cover so you can be shot in the head by some player sniping from the other side of the map. Damn I really hate that.

In COD:BO, you kill and get killed, a lot. Which is okay I guess.

The unlocks are plenty available, and pretty easy to get. The currency needed to 'buy' unlocks is also easy to come by. My favorite gamemode at the moment is demolition. Three different spots to capture and hold.

It's been a while ...

2010-11-15T23:52:00.003+01:00

... Since my last post. This happens every couple of months. Life catches up with me and things start to collapse :).

Where to begin?

I'm still playing Star Wars Galaxies, at a very relaxed pace. Again I changed my character template, this time from Commando to BeastMaster/Medic. I was a bit scared how the BM/Medic combo was going to work out, but it turned out to be a real winner. So much power.

Star Wars Galaxies

I liked Commando. Big guns, lots of explosions, grenades, mines ... the whole nine yards. But without a decent block build it was not very effective. At least, not for me.

You see, I needed a solo-friendly build that would allow me to tackle most of the content (besides heroics and stuff) on my own. And Beast Master sure allows you to do that. I got myself a Slicing Hound, which is a DPS pet. Leveling the pet went pretty easy with the daily 10 terminal missions.

I don't even need to be fully buffed to tackle a golden Nighsister. Talk about fun playing solo :). I know I know, I'm playing a massive multiplayer game. But let me remind you that I play during EU hours on a US server. This means, pretty barren at times.

Also, I'm almost done Reverse Engineering my new Medic armor suit, which will be a mix off AGI, LCK and CON/PRE. The changes they made to the RE'ing process made it a lot easier to get a maxed suit of 35's.

The latest content updates, being the Nightsister prologue and the Rare Loot are nice, although I still have to find my first rare loot item.

Playstation 3

I downloaded Deathspank from the PSN, and I'm really loving it. The graphics, the sound, the crazy over the top voice-overs. It makes a fun game. Sure the game is very linear, but it's a great ride. Very recommended if you're looking for something easy and entertaining.

Call of Duty Black Ops is out and I had the chance to play it with my brothers. He had to buy a new PS3 system the other day, and he got himself CoD:BO along with it. We played a lot during the last couple of days. Remarkable so, we played splitscreen online against other players. Very cool. The first time I've seen this in a PS3 online game. Two people, splitscreen, getting at it online.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not crazy about the online play. The gameplay is so fast at times it's crazy. Not alot of tactics involved. Or maybe I'm just getting old. But my brother agrees on this one, which probably means we're both getting old. I guess CounterStrike 1.3 is long gone by now. But we like to think back to our 'glory' days.

Star Wars Galaxies and the funtrain keeps going

2010-07-15T01:15:00.002+02:00

Yeah that's right. Star Wars Galaxies has never been more fun (overdramatizing to get your attention).

I've (again) decided for a profession change. What again? Yep, I went from Smuggler to Medic to Commando. Phew, that's a plenty. Don't you hate it when that happens? Well I blame it on my ADD.

Smuggler is a cool class. You play an iconic character, you get to run around with a pistol. You can even whip people with it, I mean talk about epic. But then again you are a special kinda breed. And I mean that literally. You don't find that many smugglers out there (for some reason I don't yet understand). Join a heroic group, and mentioning the fact you're a smuggler often get the "Oh ok cool I guess" response.

So I went medic. My buddy plays a Jedi (like 80% on the server), and he is still doing his holocron (Sith 4/5 waistpack) grind. So that means lots of golden elites to kill. So I said to myself, lets try medic, heal a bit here and there. And yes, medic is cool. You get to heal others, which is fun if you're into that and everything. But also like the smuggler, you're a special kinda breed, because medics are also a rarity at times.

But unfortunately for me, medic gets boring after a while. Playing solo as a medic means killing stuff slooooooow. Very sloooooow.

That meant back to commando. Because I had some nifty commando stuff in the attic, and because it's a fun class. You get access to heavy weapons and stuff (flamethrowers, acid launchers ...), so that means lots of explosive gameplay.

So here I am today. Walking, asskicking Mando Commando. Yeeha me. Did I mention I got my hands on the Frontman's heroic jewelry set? Yep, fun garanteed. And not to mention the modded +35 armorsuit :). Nothing like the free market in Star Wars Galaxies.

So what have I been up to?

Rebel themepark in action. This has been on my todo list for a long time. Finally been able to finish up the quests.

Rebel themepark finished. Luke Skywalker is telling me what an awesome dude I am. And I even got a rebel flag. Yay the Rebellion.

Rebel themepark badge. I always tell the truth.

Droid Collection Quota (Space). I'm slowely becoming a fan of space-adventures in SWG. And you get a cool vizor reward for finishing this collection. I still need a decent amount of space XP to get to Master Pilot, so this collection will certainly provide that.

Nym's themepark. Decided to finish this because of the rewards you get (rug, banner, schematic etc ... The quests you have to do in this themepark are extremely boring. I just shot myself through all the quests, didn't even read a single questlog. Booooring, but decent loot and rewards.

Star Wars figures

2010-07-06T20:23:00.001+02:00

Not really that new to the collection, but some of my favorite figures none the less. I messed around with Corel Paint Shop a bit.

Battle damaged Darth Vader in front of laptop

Clone Emperor Palpatine looking all badass

Star Wars Galaxies and hitting a wall

2010-06-16T12:55:00.004+02:00

You reach a certain point in the game when you become dependant on others. Now this is not a bad thing per sé, after all you are playing a massive multiplayer game, but for a solo-bird like myself, it feels like hitting a brick wall.

Because, at a certain point, you need to upgrade your gear. That is, getting all those +35 mods on your shiny armor. That requires either a lot of credits, or access to guildmates that are proficient in the Reverse Engineering skill and are willing to help you out, or another trader character to do all this yourself.

Like I said, I'm a solo-bird, meaning I don't have access to guildresources. I'm also new (back) to the game, so no millions of credits for me. I did however start selling a bunch of veteran rewards to cash-up my character. But I'm afraid that's not going to cover much when it comes to purchasing the RE components.

Getting my trader character up and running and start Reverse Engineering everything myself is a long and painfull process. Doable, but fun? I dunno.

Last there is the heroic jewelery that is pretty much mandatory if you want to do anything endgame-wise or plan to solo a lot. Again, the recent changes made them tradable, but without sufficient funds this is a no-go option.
That pretty much means, doing the heroic instances to get the necessary tokens and purchase them myself. Did I mention I'm not that thrilled about that? I find the combat in SWG to chaotic and difficult (because of the awful UI & targetting mechanisms).

I relocated my residence to Tantooine near Mos Eisley. Sure it's a bit rough, but it's the place to be these days.

Checking out Mos Eisley.

Also, and I've mentioned this before, playing during EU times is pretty frustrating. The servers are US based, therefore often barren (or low populated) during my playhours.

I've also changed profession from smuggler to medic. The couple of times I did join other people to get something done, the Deathtroopers zone on Dathomir for example, it was pretty clear that good healing medics are a dying breed. In a group of 7 people, you can usually find 5 jedi, a commando and a medic that, for some reason, needs to be the first to start shooting at bunch of zombies, resulting in an early demise, leaving the group without ... guess what ... a healing guy.

The infested place on Dathomir. Make no mistake, these zombies will eat you for lunch and not feel bad about it!

Waiting to get to survivor nr. 3. We never got to him. The clone centre near the Quarantine OP works just fine, I can tell you that much.

Anyway, I'm puzzled to find out if the profession change can spice up my play. I really enjoy playing the Smuggler class. Some cool specials (pistol whip!) and the fact that smugglers are not that common for some reason. It's all Jedi, Commando and Spy.

If the brick wall feeling gets any stronger, I'm afraid my SWG return was of short nature.

A little sidenews. Finished two collections.

The feng shui pitch and roll collection. Now I can really decorate my house, wii.

Completed the shelving techniques collection. More itemspace is always welcome.

Other MMO's on the horizon (ones that don't have maintenance three times a week)

2010-06-11T00:39:00.000+02:00

Lots of emotions going around in the Lord of the Rings Online MMO-sphere. They recently announced a move to the free-to-play model. As in, the game is freely available to everyone, with a cash-shop and VIP membership rewards.

They must be pretty desperate to switch their entire game around. I played LOTRO for some time on and off. It's a world that you can get lost in. But I never really got in to it. And I guess most people haven't. So this change is a move to get more people in the game, and get cash somewhere else. It worked for DDO, but I'm not that optimistic for LOTRO.

Star Trek Online is catching my attention. I've read a lot of mixed opinions about the game, so I'm going to try the free trial soon. It has phasers, and spaceships, so it's bound to have some coolness.

Guild Wars 2 is looking better and better. Can't wait for it to hit the shelves.

Stop hotfixing dammit

2010-06-10T13:18:00.004+02:00

Arghh, why do they do this on a dude's day off? Get them servers back up and running. Actually I don't think it's looking good. For some reason, all the servers are listed as down.

So I guess that means the "hotfix" was not that successfull?
Why does it need to be a hotfix? Isn't a hotfix to be used when you have to fix something really urgent, as in 'If we don't hotfix that right now, the servers might explode and zombies will take over the world!'.

What did we learn? Don't hotfix shit when it's not needed.
For all the fun I'm having right now in Galaxies, SOE still has the ability to piss me off.

Oh well, back for some oldschool screenshots of Star Wars Galaxies (before the CU).

Waiting in line for a doctor-buff. That was pretty common those days.

A Jedi buddy of mine wacking birds. Those were the days Jedi still wore regular armor.

Me (Tyruss), my brother (Anu'Chi) and a Jedi buddy on Dathomir grinding mobs. Notice the pretty lightning bolts? Sweet.

Instancing in the old days. Chaotic and spammy. Euhm, pretty much like it is now?

The early days when Jedi grew in numbers and were able to show off in public. The day it all went to hell?

Hunting on Rancors was one of my favorite hobbies. Thank goodness they are so easy to spot ...

Anyway, those were the old days, long gone by now. Check more screens on my Flickr set page.

Fun and downtimes in SWG

2010-06-10T12:17:00.003+02:00

Currently enjoying myself in Star Wars Galaxies on my old server Eclipse. One issue I have very much a problem with, the excessive server downtime and hotfixes.

And the fact that some of the older servers (like Eclipse) always take the longest to come back up. I wonder why they have to do maintenance every other day (Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday)?

Back to the roots (Star Wars Galaxies)

2010-06-08T13:12:00.006+02:00

Funniest things happened the other day. I resubscribed to Star Wars Galaxies. Reason? Ultimate boredom in gaming-land for me. I had very high hopes for Read Dead Redemption (PS3), but it just can't deliver in my opinion.

Nothing much going on in the massively multiplayer section either. Star Wars The Old Republic from Bioware is still in the making, and by the looks of it, it's going to be a huge themepark. I'm not so sure about the persistent part of the game. And they are not helping either by keeping a tight lit on everything :).

Guild Wars 2 is looking better and better. But again, something for the distant future.

So that is when Star Wars Galaxies crept into my mind.
The game is so different than what it used to be. The NGE made sure of that. I can't really say much about the CU or the NGE, because I quit the game a little before it hit the servers.

But I can tell you this, it's not all bad. Not the way people make it seem. Sure it must have been a bomb to everyone still playing the game, but I'm actually enjoying myself ingame.

The bad:

Low activity on the server (at least during EU prime time hours)
Buff-mania (it feels that everything combat-related is linked to getting as many buffs as humanly possible)
Combat to fast-paced (I enjoyed the old system, where you could queue specials etc ... This new system is spamheavy and to many mobs are linked together)
Targetting is a bitch (Which is related to my previous point)
PvP is impossible without a gazillion buffs
Less options to picking a class (the old system allowed for great diversity, which was awesome)

The good:

A lot more stuff to do. Lots of cool(er) quests, rewards and collections to go after
Still a friendly community. Lots of people like to help out newbies and returning vets
Star Wars feeling is overall present. Rebel vs Imperial always possible (PvE and PvP)
Less options to picking a class (yes I noted that good and bad. It's good because it better defined this way. You're not feeling that gimped as a gun wielding smuggler anymore)
Instances! Great addition to the game.

As you can see, in general, I like the way SWG turned out to be. It's not the game I remember, but it's a game that in due time, will earn the same kind of fondness and fuzzy warm memories I have for the old SWG.

So what's the gameplan?

Get my smuggler (main) character up to speed. That means a full modded armorsuit (+35 mods and exotics). Getting my hands on all the necessary powerups. Finishing up important quests on Mustafar for the rewards (buff crystals and injectors etc). Doing the smuggler missions to get to tier 5 and access to pistol modifiers.

Getting my trader alt to cl90. Building a fleet of harvesters and start making credits. Learn all that's needed to start RE'ing stuff on my own. Get a modded suit (Luck & RE chance).

Playstation 3 what's to come?

2010-05-13T12:01:00.005+02:00

A bit slow lately on the PS3 side of gaming.
I finished Borderlands the other day. I believe it was the first game in years I actually finshed, so that has to count for something right? Great game, great stuff, I think I'll do the downloadable content soon.

Also working on Just Cause 2, but that's slowing down. It's a cool game, but the story and all is a bit sluggish, and after blowing up bases and towns for over an hour you kinda have the feeling "Been there done that".

So what is there to look forward to?

Enslaved

Video Games | Enslaved | Exclusive Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

The above video looks ok. It reminds of God of War, Dante's Inferno ... type of game.

Red Dead Redemption

Video Games | Red Dead Redemption | Exclusive Revolution Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

A game worth waiting for. From the dudes that gave us the game that put the PS in the spotlights. I'm talking about Rockstar Games dude! Check out all the stuff that RDR is going to bring. Looks very promising.

Medal of Honor

Video Games | Medal of Honor (2010) | Leave a Message Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

A possible Modern Warfare 2 and Battlefield BC2 contender? I believe so. If they can nail the multiplayer, and have enough achievement content, we could possibly see a future PSN content game here.

Dead Space 2

Video Games | Dead Space 2 | GT Pop-Block: Debut Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

I played the dismemberment demo from the PSN the other day, and is it me, or it that demo the worst possible way to introduce your game to the public? I mean, there's no epicness what so ever in the demo. Very blahh. I put the video above because I actually like the setting. I'm a Doom fan here people. But not going to give my money on DS. Sorry.

All Points Bulletin

Video Games | APB | Pre-Order Exclusive Content Trailer

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Not sure what to think of this game. it's kinda like GTA, but not really. You've got good guys and bad guys. You run / drive around in a city, and shoot stuff. Did you hear about the pricing policy they want to use for this game? You're going to pay for game-time. Like 8 euros will buy you 50 hours of playtime, and like dude, that is pretty weird.

Final Fantasy XIII

Video Games | Final Fantasy XIII | WikiCheats: Power Leveling Locales Walkthrough

XBox 360 | Playstation 3 | Nintendo Wii

Oh the flashbacks ...
I remember playing a FF game on the PS long ago. With my brother. Oh how we liked that game. Don't ask me what Final Fantasy game it was though. Was it 7? Or 8? Jesus, what's with the numbers people. But I have to be honest, this game looks great, it's just I have no idea what it is all about. I see anime people, and there's spells, and monsters. So I guess it's like 7 or 8?

That's it for the Playstation 3.

Did I mention I'm thinking of starting World of Warcraft again? With my brother? Yeah I know, I'm an idiot.

Memoires of a professional MMO hopper.

2010-04-28T19:03:00.004+02:00

Some recycled content from my old self-hosted blog.

"How come I keep switching one MMO for another and then back again? It's funny, but when I start to reflect on this I realise it's something ever present in my MMO history.

If I had to describe my MMO playstyle it would definately be something like this:

Compulsive MMO hopper.

The other day I commented on The Ancient Gaming Noob's blog, something about EVE Online, and I actually thought about giving EVE a shot. Again, I'm MMO hopping.

My past 2 years:

World of Warcraft --> Lord of the Rings Online --> World of Warcraft BC --> Star Wars Galaxies (post NGE) --> World of Warcraft BC --> Age of Conan --> World of Warcraft BC --> Warhammer Online --> World of Warcraft Lich King --> Warhammer Online.

That's extreme! Even now, when I'm staring at the list myself, I'm kinda in shock. What's this all about? Why do I keep jumping from one game to another?

Retrospecting-time.

There is one constant thing in the list, World of Warcraft. The others are what? A diversion?

LOTRO was a spur of the moment thing. I saw the game in action with a friend of mine, and was impressed with the general picture. But in the end it couldn't hold my interest. That happens.

The return to SWG (post NGE) was for pure nostalgic reasons. I have very fond memories of the old SWG game. You know, the one with no 'real' classes. The one where you could 'build' your character the way you wanted. So like I said, pure nostalgia. I wanted to see what SWG was like after all that time.

Age of Conan is on the list because I got all hyped up by Funcom. Oh the promises ... To be honest, I never even finished the 30 days 'free' gametime you get when you purchase the box.

So that leaves us with World of Warcraft and Warhammer Online.

World of Warcraft ... possibly the coolest thing ever. Bold statement? But I somehow mean it. Man I made a lot of friends in that game and man I had the coolest times a MMO has to offer.

Why? Because I played the game with a lot of personal, real-life friends. Hanging out on teamspeak, instancing and questing together. Yea I miss that. Most of them stopped playing the game a little after TBC. Others went real die-hard on me, to a place I could not follow. I'm casual now.

I believe that's why I keep going back to WOW. Not because it 'is' the best game ever, but because I had the best times ever. I resubbed a couple of weeks ago after giving the 10 day free trial a go, but I haven't logged on for over a week. Reality checked in, it's more of a geargrind than ever. And like I said, I'm so not up to that at the moment.

Lastly, Warhammer Online.
This one, ..., this one is tricky. I know I sometimes sound negatively about the game. Lord knows I hate the PvE part of the game with all my heart. Lord knows I hate pugging in the game.

But in its core, it remains a cool game. Needs a lot of polishing and tweaking yes, but Mythic really has a raw diamond in its hands. If only they would step up to the plate and f*cking home-run the bastard.

Ow, did I mention I dropped my eye on EVE Online?

Unattended macro'ing in Star Wars Galaxies

2010-04-28T18:54:00.003+02:00

Some recycled content from my old self-hosted blog.

"You may have noticed I'm really not that fond of unattended macro'ing in Star Wars Galaxies. So here's a little something you can do about it:"

Unattended macro'ing is da sux

Pretty nice paypal.com phishing attempt

2010-04-23T21:26:00.007+02:00

I do check my spamfolder on occasion. Google's Gmail is pretty tough on incoming messages. And so I noticed this message from Paypal.nl, saying something about my account security.

Pretty nice phishing attempt if you ask me

First, notice the fact that the mail came from a paypal.nl domain? That's just the first indication something is fishy. Paypal doesn't do mails from a .nl domain (I think).
And second, if you look closer at the link at the bottom, you'll see the link says paypal.cóm. Pretty tricky. And the fact that my bank would probably inform me first if there was an issue with my creditcard.

Anyway, pretty nice attempt.

New figures to the Star Wars collection

2010-04-19T14:30:00.006+02:00

Lately it's been a little slow on the Star Wars figures collecting business end, but that's not really a problem. We've got time no?

Pictures after the jump.

Gungan Warrior - The Legacy Collection 2009 (link)

Rum Sleg - The Legacy Collection 2009 (link)

Scout Trooper - The Legacy Collection 2009 repack (link)

Jango Fett - The Legacy Collection 2009 (link)

Clone Emperor Palpatine - The Legacy Collection 2008 comic pack (link)

Five reasons not to buy a Nokia smartphone (5800 Xpressmusic)

2010-04-06T22:38:00.011+02:00

1. The OVI platform / store sucks beyond comparison
So you can register at the Nokia site for stuff, you can register at the Ovi site for stuff, then you can register you phone-app to get access to the Ovi store ... How about one login to access all that crap?

2. The OVI PC suite sucks beyond comparison.
Installing this app takes about forever, and offcourse a quick look under the hood reveals some stuff you didn't ask for. Will companies never learn?

3. The OVI PC suite is slow as hell (Acer laptop intel core duo 2 ghz, 4 GB RAM, Nvidia GeForce 9600M GS)
No need to elaborate on this, do a search on Google, or even the Nokia forums, and you'll find lots of complaints about this.

4. The OVI PC suite is to freakin' complex. Hello simplicity???
Adding music takes about 700 clicks and even then my freakin' playlist won't update proper. Sync, update and make control maps ... euhm what? How about click and update?? I'm not a computer evangelist, nor am I a complete newbie, but this piece of software needs either a manual or a Nokia engineer sitting next to you to explain things.

5. The OVI PC suite takes up to much power.
Hidden NokiaMServer.exe hogging resource power when idle and shit ...
This is the one that made me uninstall it after an hour. Why the hidden crap I did not ask for?

The hidden NokiaMServer.exe file that takes up lots of RAM

Notice my complete and utter disgust at the new Ovi PC Suite 2 I just downloaded and installed? What a complete waste. How in the name of god can you justify crap like this?

A quick glance at Google about the hidden NokiaMServer.exe file

Fuck Nokia. Never. Again.
No complaints about the phone in general. It works like it should. It could use some tinkering and simplifying, but it's decent. The PC software on the other hand, complete and utter waist of internet-space.

Next time I'm bitching about Apple's pricing policy, I'll remember this post.

MAG Playstation3 review. After a couple of weeks playtime

2010-03-31T11:18:00.013+02:00

The best way to tell if a game lives up to its potential is to review it after a couple of weeks of play (maybe even months?). That way the honeymoon is over and you really get to know the game and its flaws.

To get things started, MAG is an OK game.
But like any OK game, it could have been a great game.

MAG is online play only. There is no singleplayer campain, no story, nothing. Create an avatar, log in, and kill other players. That's it.

Sounds pretty straightforward no?
To keep things interesting, you start as a newbie. Level 1, standard equipment ... Kill people, heal and revive teammates, conquer and defend objectives to earn experience and level your trooper. More XP means access to better weapons and gear.

Great way to keep a man playing and keep the game interesting. Or not?

You see, I find myself playing MAG less and less.
The biggest problem I have at the moment is the lack of maps in the different game-modes and the complete lack of a decent community.

You see, there's the sabotage-mode and the domination-mode. Both have you either attacking or defending objectives, the only difference being the number of players involved (sabotage is 64vs64, and domination is 128vs128). There are two other game-modes, but they suck monkeyballs, so I'm not going to mention them here.

There are three factions to choose from, the russians, the euros and the yankies. Nothing to fancy, just different looks and different weapons. All three factions have, in every game-mode, a map that is their homebase. This is your defend map.

In order to spice things up, you sometimes defend your homebase, or you attack the other factions base.

After a couple of weeks play, I'm pretty fed up with some maps (most actually), and I find myself constantly playing my defend map in sabotage mode. Why, because I know that map like the back of my hand, and earning XP in a defend map is way easier.

Also, the domination mode really doesn't do it for me, unless you're playing with clanmates. Believe me when I say that these maps are freakin' big, and they have a massive feel that makes you feel like a puny little soldier. Playing this solo is really boring. In a way it does capture the massiveness of war, if we can say such a thing about a videogame, but that doesn't mean it's okay.

Domination mode is what I call ADHD mode. So much going on, constant explosions all around you. Armored vehicles constantly driving around. It really bores the living crap out of me.

The graphics are not that impressive, but they work for me. You often have to play with people from the entire world in your squad, so lag is a real issue here. So in order to cut down on everything that might have an impact on latency and issues, graphical magic was thrown overboard.

And that's a good thing, because I have yet to experience real lag in MAG. I've played with people from the US and people from Japan in my squad, so all in all, really impressive.

The XP and levelling thing is ok as well. Think Call of Duty MW.
Unlock new weapons and abilities, get more power at your fingertips. Works pretty well.

Again, like in any online shooter these days, there's the sniper class that is way overpowered. The sniperclass has access to a super-sniper-rifle (canon??) that can pretty much one-shot kill players. Very annoying. I have that with most shooters that have a sniper class. They kinda ruin the game for me. Remember that MAG has lots of big open maps with lots of running.

What, snipers represent real-life combat blabla ?? This is a game, not a real-life combat situation. Game = fun, war = really not that much fun!

The online experience is where it hurts the most in my opinion.

Take my advice, and find some people to play this game with. Friends, clanmates, whatever... because in general, the PS community, and by that I mean the people you come across when playing online games on the PSN, are some of the worst, l€€t-speaking, verbally aggressive, retarded, stupid lowlifes I have come across in my 20 years of online gaming.

Really, if Sony decides to charge a subscription fee to access the PSN and play games online, I'll be the first to throw a party.

Conclusion:

+ Massive warfare (if that's your thing)
+ No lag
+ Designed for teamplay
+ Cool classes and unlocks

- Community is horrible
- You have to play with random people from the PSN
- To few maps = boooring
- Unbalanced maps = boooring
- To many snipers = boooring
- You really need friends / clan to play with

To be or not to be? Why are (online) people such dicks?

2010-03-30T15:19:00.015+02:00

That's the question Shakespeare would have asked if he was around to witness the wonderful world of internet and forums.

Don't get me wrong, I'm quite sure there is NO answer to my question; Why are (online) people such dicks? And to be more precise, why are (game)forums littered with verbally abusive / aggressive wannabee punks?

I'm afraid we don't have to do much effort to get near something that could qualify as an answer.

It's the world we live in these days.
TV is the devil
Computergames are the devil
MTV / TMF is the devil
The internet is for porn ...

Yeah, I think I made a pretty decent list here.

Is TV the devil?

Not really, but I guess it does come close. TV really killed the radio star, and kinda lowered everyones moral boundries in the process. Do you watch a lot of TV these days? I don't actually. To many freakin' commercials for my taste.

Are computergames the devil?

Not really, but it's easy to be fooled. I remember when I was a kid, and me and my brother would play the living shit out of our C64. We loved to play games like GI Joe and the like.

Our mother often said something like "So much violence in those games, what's that all about".
It's a good thing we're no longer kids and have to play in front of our mother, because the violence in games these days, phew ... scary.

This is not a rant to ban violent games. Hell I played videogames all my life (and still do btw) and I turned out pretty much ok. But you cannot deny and you should not even try to, that the violence and realism in games these days is scary?

Why? Could it possibly be that this is affecting young kids / people to such an extend that it is killing their mind and nullifying their emotional behaviour to things?

Ah well, that's a discussion for the doctors ...

Are MTV / TMF (etc) the devil?

I was about to answer that question with a big fat YES.
But, in defence of the above, I have to say I don't know. You see, when I was young, MTV was in its prime. MTV was hardcore. Lots of heavy metal and stuff, Beavis and Butthead were king.

If you would have asked any adult the above question while he/she was watching me (<-- longhaired, black-clothed, busted armyboots wearing youngster), I'm sure the answer would be a big fat YES. So I guess I'm getting old. Oh crap, I'm getting old.

Is the internet for pron?

Yeah, I'm afraid that's a nasty question. The internet brings out the best, and the worst in people. And like it or not, the internet is a good representation of the human race.

If for some reason the human race becomes extinct, and an alien civilization bumps into earth and they find the remnants of our society, pray to who or whatever you want for them to miss "the internet".

Conclusion

Maybe all of the above makes "It's the world we live in".

Karen Traviss and (no more) Star Wars

2010-03-30T10:05:00.003+02:00

I’ve only recently finished her latest novel Imperial Commando 501th, and I pretty much liked it. It makes you eager for the last (and final) part. What will Skirata do to make it all work? Will Darman ever get to see his kid? What about all the Jedi on Mandalore?

I knew that she was going to stop writing Star Wars novels after she finished the Imperial Commando sequel, that was scheduled early 2010. Why? Because the Lucas-machine decided to change a bunch of stuff regarding the Star Wars universe, thanks to the new Bountyhunter / Fett TV cartoon show (that is following the Clone Wars TV cartoon show).

As of those changes, Mandalorians are a peace-loving people. Forget about the rude, nomadic, bad-ass, ass-kicking mercs. Nope, their got rid of their old ways and made peace with the universe … or something like that.

Obviously that really messed up the timeline and background of all the previous Commando novels. Mandalorians are a bunch of badass mofo’s, and that’s how they should be.

But what can you do?
Nothing. It’s the way the people at Lucas want to run the show; and it’s their show.

But as of late december, Karen Traviss decided to back down from the scheduled sequel of Imperial Commando 501th.

From her blog:

“Yes, for once a rumour is actually true; I’ve withdrawn from the sequel to Imperial Commando 501st, which was going to be my final Star Wars novel. I had issues over contractual matters and working practices that still showed no signs of being resolvable after a couple of years, so I told the publisher that I would not be doing the book.”

Auch, that really hurt.
Just like that. No … sequel … to … Imperial … Commando …
Will … Darman … ever … see … his … kid … ?

That leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
I’m sure she has her reasons. Changes like these are a kick in the balls. It makes you wonder what the hell LA is doing. But then again Star Wars is a commercial product, and the franchise needs “revitalizing” in order to appeal to a new, young audience. And we can’t have ruthless Mandalorians in it.

She has a couple of blog-posts up, trying to explain things.
She does a half baked job, really.

I don’t want to know you have NO emotional investment in your books / characters. I don’t want to know you consider your books to be “just a living”.

What I do care is the fact I have five books on my shelf, with an emotional and financial investment attached, without the prospect of a decent ending / conclusion in the immediate future.

I totally get what you say though. LA must have pissed you off big time. And you have every right to flip them the bird. But what about all those Commando books on people’s shelves Karen?

Quote from karentraviss.typepad.com:

“So stick with me on my continuing journey in other universes, both tie-in and creator-owned, and I can guarantee you an action-packed ride with plenty of characters to get absorbed in.”

I changed it for you:

“So stick with me on my continuing journey in other universes, both tie-in and creator-owned, and I can guarantee you an action-packed ride with plenty of characters to get absorbed in. Until something stupid happens I really don’t like and will take a shitload of effort on my part to get around. Then you can suck monkeyballs for all I care.”

Author gets wtf-pwnd by Amazon customers / reviews

2010-03-30T10:01:00.003+02:00

And it’s not even his fault.

An article of Mr. Paul Carr over on Techcrunch got my attention. In short. Some dude published a book. As usual, a hardcover edition is available first.

Publishers make the most by selling hardcover editions. Then after a couple of months, a paperback edition is released. These days, e-books get released together with the paperback. Why? Because publishers make most of their money with hardcover editions.

In comes ‘The big short‘ by Michael Lewis. A new book, available in hardcover edition.

What’s all the fuzz about? People want their e-book. But they have to wait? Why? Argghh damn you, because publishers make the most on hardcover editions.

So what do people do these days? They will yell in your face. They will use whatever means necessary to express the fact that you SUCK. And it so happens that Amazon makes it easy for people to express their feeling. You can leave a review.

Result as of 3/23/2010 14:08pm:

- 43 five star reviews
- 10 four star reviews
- 3 three star reviews
- 5 two star reviews
- 67 one-star reviews

Auch, that must hurt if you are Michael Lewis.
Phew, we are getting there, be patient.

Enter Mr. Paul Carr, bigshot writer/author. (If you write it often enough I guess that makes it true). He’s not a fan of Amazon’s idiotic review policy:

“Amazon needs to – immediately – change its review policy so that only people who have actually bought a book are allowed to review it.”

Waw … he means people that actually bought it through Amazon should be allowed. You getting paid by Amazon here Paul?

“…it would also banish all of the general haters (who would never spend money on a book by the object of their hatred) as well as the kids and trolls who have never bought a book in their life.”

Good … good … I can feel your anger Pauly … Soon your training will be complete, and you will know the true power of the dark side.

Dude, wtf?
So suddenly the e-book haters are people who never bought a book in their life? Then why do they want to buy an e-book?

So basically you only want to allow people that will tell you how great you are and how super-duper product x really is? That’s kinda biased no? What kind of review-system is that? Wait don’t tell me, it not a review system at all.

You see, when you want to have a review system, the kind of system in which people say good things about something, you have to keep in mind that there are others out there, that might not agree. So these people have to be able to talk about their experience etc as well. It keeps the system in balance. It’s what makes Amazon such a great shopping experience.

I know when I want to know something about a book, a dvd, a game, I head over to Amazon UK. Because I know that’s where I’ll find reviews from other customers. If I knew that only good/positive reviews were allowed there, the system would have no value what-so-ever.

I get it.

Don’t get me wrong. I get your point.
The reputation of the book is being damaged by these one-star “false” negatives. But does Amazon have to change it’s policies because of that?

NO!
Because the review system at Amazon works perfectly. People are telling you what they feel. And when people (customers) are that vocal, it usually means you dropped the ball somewhere. In this case, e-book customers that are left out.

Is it Michael Lewis’ fault?
Nope, not at all. But maybe he’ll think twice about dealing with publisher x again in the future.

That’s the thing with technology and web 2.0 and all that. The customer has a lot more power that we like to admit.

And then others start writing about it as well.

“If Amazon wants to be a fair vendor of books, they need to delete these idiotic, pro-kindle, fan boy reviews. Is Amazon a fair arbiter of this, or has their mad kindle lust blinded them to what is right?”

Walking a thin line here no? Amazon deciding what a good review or a bad review is?

“These pro-kindle, anti-author reviews are completely unfair to the writer. A review is supposed to be about the book, not the publishers format release schedule.”

Power of the customer at work. You want to dance, you better pack your dancing shoes.

“I was surprised to hear from a number of literary agents who wrote to thank me for that. They have apparently been having all manner of issues with Amazon reviewers over the years…”

Yea it’s annoying when customers tell you your business sucks.
Seriously, read the above quote again, and after that, be sure to read it once more.

Did you notice Mr. Paul Carr and Mr. Barry Ritholtz are both writers? You probably did because they like to talk about it, alot.

Gamemania.be for the first and last time

2010-03-30T09:41:00.012+02:00

Today is one of those days you’re happily awaiting a release of a game. In particular, a PS3 game named Just Cause 2.
A while ago I decided to get my hands on the limited edition, because of the little extra perks. Some cool weapons, gear etc … just some fun stuff.

Because I played the demo and liked it very much I wanted my hands on the game right away. So I pre-ordered it at Gamemania.be, a Belgian branch of stores & webshop specializing in games. One of the things I know from experience (and you as well) is that if you want a game at release date, and you want to buy it somewhere close, you have to pay more.

Webshops like Play.com and Thehut.com are at times very cheap, but then you have to wait a couple of days more for your game to arrive. In this case, I wanted the game right away, so that extra cost I knew I had to pay was worth it. Or so I thought.

Notice the pricing? That's shipping included!

A little background information. Gamemania is a relative well-know brand here. So you’d expect competitive prices. If you take a look at their website, you’ll notice very little pricing. On purpose I assume now.

Upon heading to the store to pick up my pre-order, I decided to take a quick look at two competitors of Gamemania, namely Mediamarkt and Bart Smith. Mediamarkt is a big multimedia / electronics store, with a small emphasis on games. Bart Smith is a chain of general toy stores, also with a small emphasis on games.

Mediamarkt only had the regular edition of the game on stock, priced at 51.99 euros. Bart Smith had both editions on stock, priced 59.99 euros. Pretty “normal” prices I guess. Notice the “” there? It depends on what you think is normal.

It's good to be the king ?!

I never ordered / bought at GameMania before. My usual habitat is Ebay.be, the Amazon UK marketplace and the two webshops listed above. But like I said, if you really really want a game at release and you want it from a local gamestore, you have to pay extra.

I really don’t mind, but can you guess the price I payed for Just Cause 2 Limited Edition at Gamemania?

64,98 euros

That’s freakin’ right!
For a shop, that specialises in games. With their core-business being videogames. For a business that’s in one of the most competitive markets know to mankind. G A M E S …

64,98 euros

Lets get one thing straight. It is my fault and my fault alone.

I could have shit my pants in front of the counter and started a rant. I could have asked why in the world a business that focusses solely on videogames has prices higher than a regular toystore? I could have just walked out of the store without paying for it. But I didn’t.

Why? One, I did pre-order it through their website. Two, I have my own bookshop, and I hate it when people order something and then not come and pick it up. And three, it’s my own fault I couldn’t wait a couple of days more and order it online.

So I bought a game at Gamemania, for the first and for the last time.

Dear Gamemania, please don’t consider this to be a rant at your pricing policy. It’s your business and you can do with it as you please. Instead, consider this to be valuable first-hand, ex-customer, can-you-fucking-believe-it feedback.

PS3 Just Cause 2 Demo

2010-03-07T16:55:00.003+01:00

Just Cause 2 is freakin' awesome!
To bad it is a timed demo, damn those wicked marketing boys. The game plays like GTA, but this time you get to do what you always wanted to do in Liberty City, blow shit up, preferably as loud as possible.

Nothing like an epic fail on a monday evening: PSN error 8001050f

2010-03-01T21:10:00.002+01:00

So you come home after a long day of work, decide to fire up the old PS3 for some MAG-time, and bam, you get hit by this:

Error something something.
Good to know you're not alone in the world no?

"Around the world, PlayStation 3 consoles simply aren't working like they're supposed to, with an error — Error: 8001050F — preventing people from not just going online, but from playing some PS3 games offline as well."

From the EU PS blog:

"We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data."

Epic fail ...

Need a Symbian (mobile) task manager app

2010-02-26T15:57:00.000+01:00

Anyone out there that knows about a decent Symbian (mobile) task manager application? Moments like these I wish I had an Iphone. Apple app store is king.

Book review: The Last Colony by John Scalzi

2010-02-16T22:51:00.003+01:00

*From my old blog*

And another sci-fi book.
You might have noticed, I really like sci-fi.

Again, this is the conclusion of a series. The Last Colony is book three of John Scalzi. We're still following John Perry, former super-human soldier, in his retirement. Free from fighting aliens, he's happy farming away with his new wife and adopted daughter, who by the way is the object of worship of an entire alien race (see book 2 for that).

As usual, sh*t hits the fan and they (Perry and his wife, who's also a former special-ops trooper) are asked to carry out a dangerous mission. From the publisher:

John Perry has at last found peace in a violent universe, living quietly with his family in one of humanity's many colonies. It's a good life, yet there's something ...missing. When John and his wife Jane are asked to lead a new colony world, he jumps at the chance to explore the universe once more. But they soon find out that nothing is what it seems, for his new colony is merely pawns in an interstellar game of war and diplomacy between humanity's Colonial Union and a new, seemingly unstoppable alien alliance that is dedicated to ending all human colonization. As this contest rages above, Perry struggles to keep his terrified colonists alive in the face of threats both alien and familiar, on a planet yet to reveal its own fatal secrets.

I can tell you right now, I loved and hated the book.
I loved it because it's entertaining, exciting, full of intrige, excellent written, ... in short a damn good sci-fi novel. I hated it because Scalzi claims this is the end of the storyline, no more John Perry.

Do you need to real the two previous titles? Actually, no you don't. It's definately a surplus, you get to know where Perry comes from, how he got of planet earth and got drafted into the Colonial Union. Just take my word for it, both titles are as good as this one.

Both previous books were action filled stories, lots of battles, alien races etc ... Lost Colony is more a survival story, survival of a colony.

What make these books part of my favorite collection? Scalzi's trademark of wise-cracking humor, the easy reading it offers, the action, the character depth. A pitty the story has come to an end.

Selexyz Maastricht = coolest bookstore location ever

2010-02-16T22:44:00.001+01:00

My girlfriend and I visited Selexyz's at Maastricht a long time ago, and I came across some pictures I took while browsing the store. This has to be the coolest setting ever for a bookshop.

If you happen to be at Maastricht, be sure to make a visit!

Random stories: Comedy, expositions and Esprit weirdness

2009-12-06T16:05:00.002+01:00

What have I been up to these days?

For starters, my girlfriend and I went to see Nigel Williams, a stand-up comedian/performer, at the CC "De Muze" Heusden Zolder yesterday. I've seen the guy on the television a couple of times, and he always struck me as a funny guy.

He usually has a very heavily themed show, and this year the subject of his performance was "Belief/Religion". And boy, was it heavy. Don't get me wrong, he was funny at times, and he certainly made a lot of valid points. But it wasn't what I expected from it. Oh well ...

Almost front row seats for Nigel Williams.

We also went to the Fotomuseum in Antwerp some time ago, to see an exposition called 'Dolen - Onderweg in Europa' (Roaming - Across Europe) from Michiel Hendryckx.

Keep on walking, find the exit!

More doors ...

And this is something that happened last weekend, when my girlfriend and I were shopping at Hasselt. My brother's firstborn is my godchild, so because of Sinterklaas (St Nicholas) on december the 5th, we needed some presents for the little guy. We were told he could use some new tshirts etc, and we decided to check out this clothing store (Esprit) in Hasselt.

It wasn't very busy in the store, and one of the employees, probably the one responsible for the children's section, was very anxious to help us. Okay, cool. I work in a store as well, and I know that such is not a given thing in retail. Anyway, we finish up our browsing, pick a couple of cool things for the kid, and we thank the lady in question for her help and kindness. Then suddenly she pulls up a card and asks us if we'd be kind enough to leave it at the cash register after paying for the clothing.

Forcing your employees to be helpfull, that's one way of doing things.

For those of you that don't speak dutch, here's what the card says:

"Dear customer,

It has been a real pleasure assisting you!
If you feel I've provided good service, please hand over this card together with your merchandise to my colleague at the cash register."

Anyone sane out there?
Okay, maybe the company is having some sort of competition. The employee with the most handoffs wins a trip to Hawaii or something. I'm not a fan of such a thing either, but okay, management can be clueless ...

But imagine if it's not a contest. For a second, imagine your management decides to do the same. Starting now, you have to hand out cards like this to all your dealings with 'customers'. Employees with the highest amount of cards every month get a golden star on their chart. Oh the joy ...
Especially the "It has been a real pleasure assisting you!". Take it from me boys and girls, working in retail is NOT a pleasure. People (customers) these days are arrogant, impatient, clueless, demanding, hasty, intolerable, quick-tempered ...

Now I want to know the reason for the cards. Time for an email?

The Good (internet), the Bad (virusses/spyware) and the Ugly (protection software).

2009-11-29T16:47:00.002+01:00

Unfortunately, we faced yet another crisis here at EGW mannor. My girlfriends laptop had an Avast warning pop-up suddenly. Something about a win32:malware-gen ETUNISER.dll virus/trojan alert.

A search on the internet did not do any good. And a virustotal check was not very helpfull either. The file is now in the Avast chest and staying put, and the laptop is behaving normal. So no worries I guess?

So I decided to take a closer look at McAfee SiteAdvisor, and see if it would be a usefull tool to install on the girlfriends laptop. So I downloaded and installed it on my system (for Firefox). Not really a verdict so far, just the same old you get when you're installing unknown stuff on a computer.

You see, I also use the no-script addon for Firefox, and after installing the SiteAdvisor plugin, and visiting websites with my Firefox, this little warning comes up every single time thanks to the no-script addon.

The option to allow or temporarily allow something called SACORE.

What's that all about?
That is what I love about the no-scipt addon. It freakin' tells you what's happening behind the scenes. So onwards again, this time to check out this file called SACORE.

And what does the internet tell us?
Not a lot I'm afraid. Some things about a Microsoft Server Appl. Core Web Framework and other things about a possible component of the SiteAdvisor installation. Whats a poor guy to do?

Star Wars figure added to the collection: Admiral Yularen

2009-11-15T14:07:00.000+01:00

It's been a while since I've posted a Star Wars figure update. Constantly monitoring Ebay for good deals takes a lot of time and dedication, and sometimes it slacks ... bad me I know.

Anyway, here's a figure I stumbled upon at our local supermarket. It's from the 2008 Clone Wars series, and a 2009 repack-figure. I'm not a big fan of the Clone Wars mini-series (TV), but hey, times change and as we grow older, so does Star Wars. For the good, for the bad, who knows such things?

Admiral Yularen talks to an Obi-Wan holo.

Anyway, I kinda like this figure. Very Imperial / Empire minded. Me likes ...

Just finished the last book of the New Jedi Order series

2009-10-29T22:52:00.000+01:00

And what a ride The New Jedi Order has been. Nineteen books in total. Lots of changes in the Star Wars universe, character deaths, blown up planets ... you name it. I can't wait to start the Dark Nest triology, and see the downfall of Jacen Solo. Yeah, I'm evil :p

Downloading YouTube videos the safe way

2009-10-21T16:05:00.000+02:00

Don't you just love YouTube?

I listen to YouTube videos (music offcourse duh) as much as I listen to my MP3 collection. But there's one downside, you always have to get online, and stream the videos over and over.

So to get the videos on your computer is like, totally awesome. But how?
There are countless of "downloaders" available on the internet. But are they safe to use? I don't know? There's Orbit Downloader, or the Easy Youtube Video Downloader plugin for Firefox.

Did I ever mention I'm like super-hyper -paranoid about trojans and spyware?

Anyway, I figured there had to be an easier/safer way to get the damn videos on my system without having to rely on unknown software. Then it hit me, what about that other browser installed on my laptop. The one that is installed by default on every Windows machine? What's it called again? Oh right, Internet Explorer.

So here's how it goes:

1- Open the page of the video, for example: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byrIccGcUl4

2- Let the video stream until the ending. Look at the picture below. The red bar underneath the video indicates the length/position of the frame, a.k.a your're at the 2nd minute of a 5 minute video. Notice the bright red and soft red difference?

That's the difference we're looking for. Make sure the soft red bar is completely loaded (or to say it with a fancy word, fully streamed).

Don't mind the old dude in the picture.
He's not much to look at, but he can play the living sh*t out of a guitar.

3- Pause the video if you're not in the mood to listen to it anymore.

3.bis- Is the soft red bar completely filled (streamed!!)? If yes, continue. If no, be patient.

4- Go to your Internet Explorer temporary internet files folder.

How?
4.1- Click Extra>Internetoptions
4.2- In the tab called general, you'll see browse history
4.3- Click the setting button
4.4- A new window will open. Click the show files (or folder) button.

5- Voila, you are now in your temporary internet files folder. Locate files that are marked as 'Video for flash'. These are the videos your 'streamed' onto your computer. Because when you are watching a video on the internet, the actual video has to be downloaded (temporarily) onto your computer. But because it is temporarily (streaming!) it is stored in a cache, namely the temporary internet files folder. Phew ...

Look for the 'Video for Flash' file type.

Now all you have to do is rightclick the file, and copy it to an other location, for example 'My document>Videos' or whatever you like.

Voila, you now have a .FLV copy of the video. But what is a .FLV file?
Easy, it's a flash movie. Now all you need is a flash movie player. I like to use Adobe Media player. It's easy to use and not to mention safe for your computer.

Enjoy your local YouTube videos!

VandenBorre and service = Total awesomeness

2009-10-21T12:56:00.001+02:00

About ten months ago, my girlfriend and I bought a dishwasher at a local multimedia/electro shop, namely Vandenborre. To those who are not familiar with VDB, it is one of Belgiums bigger electro-stores, with a big emphasis on service.

The last couple of days, the dishwasher was making an awful lot of noise, especially when pumping away the used water. The machine is a Bosch, and it's called the "SilencePlus". But, like I said, the silence part was missing the last couple of days.

So we called the people of VDB, and we made an appointment for one of their people to come over and check it out. A couple of days later, this guy shows up, and gives the dishwasher a closer look. Result, according to the mechanic, a broken pump mechanism.
Lucky for us, they are easy to come by, so we only had to wait two days for it to arrive. So we made a new appointment two days later for someone to come by and install the new pump.

Today, another tech-guy (or whatever these guys are called) showed up. He takes a look at the dishwasher, and decides the 'broken' pump could use some closer inspection.

And what did he find?

Trapped inside a dishwasher

The plastic wrapping of a medicine.
That little piece of plastic was messing with the pump mechanism, making all those noises. Bummer ...

An because this sort of thing isn't covered by the warranty, I had to pay 50,00 €. But luckiy me, the mechanic called his supervisor, because this should have been spotted by the first tech-guy two days ago. And because of that, I did not have to pay a thing. Service anyone?

Yay Vandenborre!

Objectdock for Windows

2009-10-21T10:50:00.000+02:00

The other day, I read about Stardock's Objectdock software. Basically it enhances/replaces your Windows taskbar with a dock interface, like you find on the Mac.

There are two versions, a free one and a Plus version. The plus version looked pretty cool. Had a bunch of features that appealed to me. So upon checking the price etc I read this:

"Impulse must be installed in order to download and update software."

Euh? Why?
According to the website: Impulse is a digital distribution platform. Dowload games and applications easily with one platform.

So it's kinda like Steam. No thanks. I never asked for Impulse.
Cancel order ...

Youtube videos of the moment

2009-10-19T10:25:00.000+02:00

Some Youtube videos I've been listening to lately.

Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton - solo acoustic guitar by Igor Presnyakov.

Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N' Roses - solo acoustic guitar by Igor Presnyakov.

Youtube music time

2009-09-29T12:16:00.000+02:00

Some Youtube videos I've been listening to the last few days.

Tommy Emmanuel - Heartbreak Hotel
Definately listen to this blues guy. And the last 25 seconds of the clip are a must see. The guy totally shreds his guitar. Awesome.

Chris Cornell covers Billy Jean (acoustic live)

Chris Cornell covers Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden) (acoustic live)

Two gripes of the day

2009-09-29T12:01:00.000+02:00

First, Ebay feedback. Why can't people (sellers) leave feedback like they are supposed to? Why do you always have to email them for it? Usually this happens with powersellers. Not completely understandable (I'm a nice guy no?). They have like hundreds of items every single week in their overview, and the layout of Ebay these days is not making it any easier.

And gripe number two, Twitter spam.
I'm just starting with Twitter, and if there's one thing you notice immediately, it's the fact that you get lots of followers, right from the start. People/organizations you never even heard of start following you. Why? Who the f*** knows. Probably to get some attention (aka spam).

And to stay on the Twitter topic, don't you hate it when people you're following spam the living crap out of you? Take the screenshot below. One person Twittering three to four times an hour. That's just retarded. Is there actually anyone that is okay with that? Imaging having a hundred people like that in your overview?

Star Wars collectables update

2009-09-27T00:59:00.000+02:00

Three new figures added to the collection. I'm talking about three figures from the Power of the Force 2 series:

Wuher - 2000 fan club exclusive
Spirit of Obi-Wan - 1997 Frito-Lay exclusive
Han Solo as stormtrooper - 1995 Kellogg's Froot Loops Exclusive

The Superheroes Bizarro Twitter theme/background

2009-09-26T16:01:00.000+02:00

And we're back again with a new Twitter background template. This time it's a theme based on superheroes and villains. So lets just call it the 'Superheroes Bizarro Twitter Theme' okay?

Always the basics up first. All images remain the property of their respectful owners/creators. I just collected and used them for this collage. Most of the images come from Flickr and some were found using Google image search.

Download the template
(Click all sizes and download the original (1680 by 1050))

Basic information:
The image is 1680 by 1050 pixels. When setting it as the default background in Twitter you should set it to tile. File size is just under the maximum of 800kb.

The design colors:
Sidebar: #ff9933
Sidebar border: #ff8000
Links: #800000
Text: #0a0a0a

This is what the template & design colors look like on a 1440 by 900 resolution

The Star Wars Twitter theme/background by Stefson aka Elderly Gimp Warrior

2009-09-22T22:10:00.000+02:00

Lets get the basics out of the way. All images remain the property of their respectful owners/creators, and of course Star Wars equals G. Lucas. So in the end, everything Star Wars related goes back to him, all bow for the king please!

(click 'All sizes' and download the original size (1680 by 1050))

Where did I get all the images used in the collage? Just random Google-stuff and fan-art from various forums I've been collecting for some time now. You can see the template in action on my Twitter page.

The template/background is free to use as you see fit, as long as you respect the creative commons / non commercial purposes. Oh, I'm not making any money from it what-so-ever. Think Banksy baby!

Basic information:
The image is a 1680 by 1050 pixel template and should be set to tile. File size is just under the maximum limit of 800kb. You have a bunch of possibilities when it comes to design colors, but here are two basic setups that work pretty well:

Blueish
Sidebar: #ccccff
Sidebar border: #6666ff
Links: #0000b3
Text: #0a0a0a

Blueish

Reddish
Sidebar: #ffb3b3
Sidebar border: #ff8080
Links: #cc0000
Text: #0f0f0f

Reddish

You can go to my Flickr page to download the Star Wars Twitter template (.jpg file). Click 'All sizes' and download the original size (1680 by 1050).

Woeps. Damn that internet and its trojans

2009-09-17T14:51:00.000+02:00

And lets kick of this post by thanking Avast antivirus on my bare knees. Yesterday, I was casually browsing the web for a network monitor tool. Lots of stuff to be found on Google. I stumbled upon this website (URL broken to prevent someone accidentaly clicking it):

wxw.mingsoft.com

Immediately after clicking the link on Google and loading the site, the Avast scanner popped up.

An Iframe trojan alert. To be more precise, it was HTML:Iframe-JR [Trj]
Again, Avast saved the day by preventing the iframe from loading, and being able to abort the connection. This is the second time in two months this has happened. The other was also an iframe (html:iframe-inf) that Avast prevented from loading.

It's funny and sad at the same time.
Funny because I'm what you can call a pretty paranoid internet user, and this is like I said the second time in two months. Sad because this is what the internet is heading to. A cesspit of decay.

MTV'sTV for men aka endless reruns

2009-09-17T14:36:00.000+02:00

I like MTV. That is, I like MTV most of the time. MTV has been part of my life for ages. Beavis and Butthead anyone?

One of the things I like about them the most is the fact that they keep evolving. The MTV of today is not the MTV I remember from my young (teenager) days. And you know what, that's cool. Things change, people change, the world changes, so should MTV.

Now for the gripe ... MTV TV for men (EU - Belgium).
It starts at 22.00pm in the evening, usually until 01.00am. The trailer shows it all. Humor, gadgets, sports ... Basically lots of Jackass, Viva La Bam, Scarred. The crazy type of shows. Nothing wrong with that, only the simple notion that most of the time, it's freakin' reruns of 2002-2004 shows that have been aired, oh lets say, a hundred times before.

Why?
It reminds me of a channel we have in Belgium, called VT4.
In the last 4 years, they must have rerun 'Friends' over 50 times. Really I'm not kidding. Over 50 times. Add to that commercial breaks every 5 minutes, and you have a recipe for success no?

I've received a blessing from Mata Amritanandamayi Math

2009-09-17T12:17:00.000+02:00

What's in a name right?

Apparently, my parents decided I could use some divine intervention, so out of the blue, I received this letter and package. It's a blessing from India, namely the Brahmasthanam Temple, and I now have two deities watching over me.

The package from India

Their names? Durga and Saraswati.

In Hinduism, the Goddess Durga means the inaccessible or the invincible or Maa Durga (Mother Durga), one who can redeem in situations of utmost distress. She is thus considered the fiercer, demon-fighting form of Lord Shiva's wife, Goddess Parvati. Durga manifests fearlessness and patience, and never loses her sense of humor, even during spiritual battles of epic proportion.

Durga

In the Vedic system Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge, music and the arts. Saraswati has been identified with the Vedic Saraswati River. She is considered as consort of Brahma and wife of Vishnu. She is the daughter of Durga and is seen alongside her during Durga Puja celebrations along with her rival sister Lakshmi and her brothers Ganesh and Muruga. Saraswati's children are the Vedas, which are the oldest sacred texts of Hinduism.

As a river/water goddess, Saraswati symbolizes fertility and prosperity. She is associated with purity and creativity, especially in the context of communication, such as in literary and verbal skills.

Saraswati

There you have it. Another fine example of the wonderful world of the internet. Order the help of a God online.

Socom Confrontation on the PS3. Oh my god

2009-09-12T16:48:00.000+02:00

Last week I bought the PS3 game Socom: Confrontation for some online adventures. I know the game from its predecessor on the PS2. One of my buddies played this all the time, and he tought it was the best game evah, so ...

Now you have to know, I've spent basically my entire life as an online PC gaming freak. So to have to swap the old mouse/keyboard combo for a controller is a shock. No wait, that's not doing it justice. It is an entire new world. If PC gaming is Mars, then PS3 gaming is Venus, or whatever.

Anyway, I viewed some movies and trailers on YouTube, and the game looked okay. It kinda made me think back to my old Counterstrike days (you know, the little game that existed before Valve manhandled it).

So "up and at them" like McBain would say ...

The first couple of days were hard. Aiming with a controller in PvE games is sucky at times, aiming in online PvP situations is ... well ... even suckier.

Also, is it me or is the game missing some very basic features? I mean come on. Why on earth is there no 'mute all' function? Why is there no 'mute all' by default option? Why is there no 'mute all but friends/clanmates' ability?

Dear god, I don't mind tactical jibberish every now and then, but I don't want to hear a bunch of 12 year olds talking about Pokemon every second of the game.

So the only option left when you join a lobby is to mute all the players with a mic, over and over again. That's right, because apparantly the game/system does not store your settings when it comes to this. The guy you muted thirty minutes ago in another channel? Mute him again in this one.

Remember this screen, you'll be watching it often!

Also, why on earth is there no option to set certain channels as favorites? Why do I have to skim the entire list over and over again to get to my preferred channel? I guess the basic concept of favorites has not yet been introduced in console gaming.

The game itself is blah ...
Maybe in clangames tactics are king, but in public games little tactics are involved. It's Jackie Chan's Rush Hour every step of the way!

Conclusion / Scoreboard:

Online console shooters 1
Elderly gimp warrior 0
Developers of Socom -1 (for not including a permanent 'mute all' function. Shame on you, you lazy bastards!)

Again new additions to the collection

2009-09-12T11:51:00.000+02:00

Exclusive hunting has never been more fun :-). Four new additions in excellent condition. Two of them are real exclusives from the Power of the Force 2 series (1995-2000), still in their original packaging, mint in box (see below).

The others are a loose Rahm Kota 30th Anniversary figure, and a 1997 Dewback and Sandtrooper special creature set, still in its original box (I opened it carefully for display purposes. The box however is in pristine condition).

I know I said exclusive first, but I couldn't resist the Rahm Kota and Dewback figures. Anyway here they are:

Oola & Salacious crumb - 1998 fan club exclusive (PotF2)

Kabe & Muftak - 1998 internet exclusive (PotF2)

Rahm Kota - 2008 30th Anniversary collection expanded universe (TFU videogame)

Dewback and Sandtrooper - 1997 Retail special creature set (PotF2)

The ultimate Star Wars figure wishlist (exclusives)

2009-09-11T19:13:00.000+02:00

Like I said a couple of topics ago, it is time for a battleplan when it comes to collecting Star Wars figures. And that plan is to focus on exclusives first.

Edit 27/12/2009:
Exclusives still come first, but sometimes you come across an item to good to be true, so I'll start updating the list with regular figures as well.

Thanks to one of my favorite websites when it comes to this subject, searching for exclusives is a lot easier. I'm offcourse talking about the Rebelscum.com photo archives.

Some other websites that are very usefull are:

Lets face it, Star Wars is everywhere. On to the battleplan. Let's make a "must have list" of exclusive figures. (Disclaimer: All the pretty images below are property of Rebelscum.com)

Vintage collection (1977-1985)

1977 - Artoo-Detoo (R2-D2)
1977 - Chewbacca
1977 - Luke Skywalker
1977 - Princess Leia Organa
1977 - Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi
1977 - Darth Vader
1977 - Han Solo
1977 - See-Threepio (C-3PO)
1977 - Stormtrooper / Imperial Stormtrooper
1977 - Death Squad Commander / Star Destroyer Commander
1977 - Jawa
1977 - Sand People / Sandpeople / Tusken Raider (Sand People)
1978 - Greedo
1978 - Hammerhead
1978 - Snaggletooth
1978 - Walrus Man
1978 - Arfive-Defour (R5-D4)
1978 - Death Star Droid
1978 - Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot) / Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Fighter Pilot)
1978 - Power Droid
1979 - Boba Fett
1980 tESB - Bossk (Bounty Hunter)
1980 tESB - Bespin Security Guard (I)
1980 tESB - FX-7 (Medical Droid)
1980 tESB - Han Solo (Hoth Outfit) / Han Solo (Hoth Battle Gear)
1980 tESB - IG-88 (Bounty Hunter)
1980 tESB - Imperial Stormtrooper (Hoth Battle Gear)
1980 tESB - Lando Calrissian
1980 tESB - Luke Skywalker (Bespin Fatigues)
1980 tESB - Leia Organa (Bespin Gown) / Princess Leia Organa (Bespin Gown)
1980 tESB - Rebel Soldier (Hoth Battle Gear)
1980 tESB - Yoda / Yoda The Jedi Master
1980 tESB - Dengar
1980 tESB - Han Solo (Bespin Outfit) / Han Solo (Cloud City Outfit)
1980 tESB - Lobot / Lobot (Lando's Aid)
1980 tESB - Ugnaught
1980 tESB - AT-AT Driver
1980 tESB - Leia / Leia Organa / Princess Leia Organa (Hoth Outfit)
1980 tESB - Imperial Commander
1980 tESB - Rebel Commander
1980 tESB - 2-1B/ Two-Onebee (2-1B)/ Too-Onebee (2-1B)
1980 tESB - AT-AT Commander/ General Veers
1980 tESB - Luke Skywalker (Hoth Battle Gear) / Luke Skywalker (Hoth Outfit)
1981 tESB - Bespin Security Guard (II)
1981 tESB - Cloud Car Pilot / (Twin Pod) Cloud Car Pilot
1981 tESB - 4-LOM
1982 tESB - See-Threepio (C-3PO) With Removable limbs
1982 tESB - Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot
1982 tESB - Zuckuss
1982 RotJ - Admiral Ackbar
1982 RotJ - Lando Calrissian (Skiff Guard Disguise)
1983 RotJ - Nien Nunb
1983 RotJ - Bib Fortuna
1983 RotJ - Biker Scout
1983 RotJ - Chief Chirpa
1983 RotJ - Emperor's Royal Guard
1983 RotJ - Gamorrean Guard
1983 RotJ - General Madine
1983 RotJ - Klaatu
1983 RotJ - Logray (Ewok Medicine Man)
1983 RotJ - Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight Outfit)
1983 RotJ - Princess Leia Organa (Boushh Disguise) / BoushhRebel Commando
1983 RotJ - Ree-Yees
1983 RotJ - Squid Head
1983 RotJ - Weequay
1983 RotJ - 8D8
1983 RotJ - Klaatu (In Skiff Guard Outfit) / Klaatu (Skiff Guard Outfit)
1983 RotJ - Nikto
1984 RotJ - The Emperor
1984 RotJ - AT-ST Driver
1984 RotJ - B-Wing Pilot
1984 RotJ - Han Solo (In Trench Coat)
1984 RotJ - Princess Leia Organa (In Combat Poncho)
1984 RotJ - Pruneface
1984 RotJ - Rancor Keeper
1984 RotJ - Teebo
1984 RotJ - Wicket W. Warrick
1984 RotJ - Lumat
1984 RotJ - Paploo
1984 PotF - A-Wing Pilot
1984 PotF - Han Solo (In Carbonite Chamber)
1984 PotF - Imperial Dignitary
1984 PotF - Imperial Gunner
1984 PotF - Luke Skywalker (Imperial Stormtrooper Outfit)
1985 PotF - Anakin Skywalker
1985 PotF - Amanaman
1985 PotF - Barada
1985 PotF - EV-9D9
1985 PotF - Lando Calrissian (General Pilot)
1985 PotF - Luke Skywalker (In Battle Poncho)
1985 PotF - Romba
1985 PotF - Warok
1985 PotF - Yak Face

Power of the force 2 (1995 - 2000)

Han Solo as stormtrooper - 1995 Kellogg's Froot Loops Exclusive (got it - MIB)
Cantina band member - 1997 fan club exclusive
B'omarr monk - 1997 internet exclusive
Wuher - 2000 fan club exclusive (got it - MOC)
Spirit of Obi-Wan - 1997 Frito-Lay exclusive (got it - MIB)
Luke Skywalker Jedi Knight - 1997 theater edition freebie
Oola & Salacious crumb - 1998 fan club exclusive (got it - MOC)
Kabe & Muftak - 1998 internet exclusive (got it - MOC)
Sneak preview - Mace Windu - 1998 Hasbro mail in promotion
Sneak preview - STAP & Battle Droid - 1998 retail
Millennium Minted Coins - C-3PO - 1998 retail
Millennium Minted Coins - Chewbacca - 1998 Toys'R'us exclusive
Millennium Minted Coins - Emperor Palpatine - 1998 Toys'R'us exclusive
Millennium Minted Coins - Han Solo Bespin gear - 1998 Toys'R'us exclusive
Millennium Minted Coins - Luke Skywalker Endor gear - 1998 Toys'R'us exclusive
Millennium Minted Coins - Princess Leia Endor gear - 1998 Toys'R'us exclusive
Millennium Minted Coins - Snowtrooper - 1998 Toys'R'us exclusive
Complete galaxy - Dagobah with Yoda - 1998 retail
Complete galaxy - Death Star with Darth Vader - 1998 retail
Complete galaxy - Endor with Ewok - 1998 retail
Complete galaxy - Tantooine with Luke Skywalker - 1998 retail
Max Rebo band pairs - Barquin D'an & Droopy McCool - 1998 Walmart exclusive
Max Rebo band pairs - Joh Yowza & Sy Snootles - 1998 Walmart exclusive
Max Rebo band pairs - Max Rebo & Doda Bodonawieedo - 1998 retail

Power of the Jedi (2000 - 2002)

Boba Fett - 2000 300th figure special edition retail
C3PO - 2001 Jedi-Con convention exclusive
Rorworr Wookiee scout - 2000 retail

Star Wars saga (2002 - 2004)

Darth Vader - 2002 New York toy fair (silver anniversary)
Commander Jorg Sacul - 2002 EU celebration 2 exclusive (George Lucas)
R2D2 - 2002 Toys R Us exclusive (silver anniversary)
Holiday exclusive R2D2 & C3PO - 2002 Walmart exclusive
Jedi-con 2004 Holocron adventure - 2004 convention exclusive twopack
Silver Boba Fett - 2003 convention exclusive
Silver Clone Trooper - 2003 Toys R Us exclusive (got it - loose)
Silver Sandtrooper - 2004 Comic Con exclusive
Holiday edition Yoda - 2003 fan club exclusive

Original trilogy collection (2004 - 2005)

Darth Vader Silver Saga edition - 2004 Toys R Us exclusive (got it - loose)
Holiday edition Jawas - 2004 Entertainment Earth exclusive
Luke Skywalker's encounter with Yoda - 2004 Star Wars Encuentuos Mexico convention
Emperor Palpatine Executor transmission - 2004 Starwarsshop.com exclusive
Darth Vader 500th special edition - 2005 retail (got it - loose)
Wedge Antilles - 2005 internet exclusive
Holographic Princess Leia - 2005 retail
Scout Trooper - 2004 SW Battlefront video game exclusive
Holiday Darth Vader - 2005 Starwarsshop.com exclusive (got it - MOC)

Revenge of the Sith (2005)

Darth Vader Lava reflection - 2005 Target exclusive
Clone Trooper - 2005 Target exclusive
Darth Vader (Anakin) Duel at Mustafar - 2005 Target exclusive
Obi-Wan Kenobi Duel at Mustafar - 2005 Target exclusive
Utapau Shadow Trooper - 2005 Target exclusive
Anakin Skywalker Star Wars Reunion - 2005 convention exclusive
Remote control R2D2 - 2005 Japanese retail exclusive
Darth Vader celebration III - 2005 celebration III exclusive
Holographic Yoda Kashyyyk transmission - 2005 Toys R Us exclusive
Holographic Emperor Palpatine - 2005 Toys R Us exclusive
Covert Ops clone trooper - 2005 Starwarsshop.com exclusive

The Saga Collection (2006)

Early bird certificate package - 2005 Walmart exclusive
Early bird kit - 2005 Walmart exclusive figure kit
Seperation of the twins: Leia Organa and Bail Organa - 2005 Walmart exclusive
Seperation of the twins: Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi - 2005 Walmart exclusive
General Grievous (Demise) - 2006 Target exclusive
George Lucas in Stormtrooper disguise - 2006 Ultimate Galactic Hunt mailaway
501st Stormtrooper - 2006 San Diego Comic Con convention exclusive
Shadow Stormtrooper - 2006 Starwarsshop.com internet exclusive (got it - loose)
Darth Vader Woolsworth - 2006 UK Woolsworth exclusive
Clone Trooper (Saleucami) - 2006 French Toys R Us exclusive

30th Anniversary Collection (2006 - 2008)

Figures:

McQuarrie Signature Series: Concept Luke Skywalker - 2007 Celebration IV / Europe
McQuarrie Signature Series: Concept R2-D2 & C-3PO - 2007 Celebration IV / Europe (got it - loose)
Cantina Band Member - 2007 Walt Disney World exclusive (SW weekend)
McQuarrie Signature Series: Concept Obi-Wan Kenobi & Yoda - 2007 San Diego Comin Con
R2-KT (Shared Exclusive) - 2007 San Diego Comin Con
Shadow Scout w/ Speeder Bike - 2007 San Diego Comin Con (got it - MOC)
Concept General Grievous - 2007 Starwarsshop.com exclusive
Shadow Troopers (Jedi-Con 2008) - 2008 Starwarsshop.com exclusive
Stormtrooper Commander (GameStop) - 2008 retail exclusive
Darth Vader & Incinerator Troopers (Wal-Mart) - 2008 retail exclusive
Emperor Palpatine & Shadow Stormtroopers (Wal-Mart) - 2008 retail exclusive

Multipacks:

I am your father's day gift pack - 2007 Walmart retail exclusive
Republic Elite Forces: Mandalorians & Clone Troopers - 2007 Entertainment Earth exclusive ExpUn
Republic Elite Forces: Mandalorians & Omega Squad - 2007 Entertainment Earth exclusive ExpUn
Star Wars Battlefront II Clone pack - 2007 Previews exclusive (shared)
Star Wars Battlefront II Droid pack - 2007 Previews exclusive (shared)
The Max Rebo band: Jabba's entertainers - 2007 Walmart retail exclusive
The Max Rebo band: Jabba's musicians - 2007 Walmart retail exclusive

Comic packs:

Carnor Jax & Kir Kanos (Crimson Empire) - 2006 Internet exclusive

The Clone Wars (2008 - 2009)

Captain Rex - 2008 redemption certificate
Nahdar Vebb - ?
Clone Trooper Senate Security - 2008 San Diego Comic Con convention
Commander Fox - 2008 Target exclusive retail
Commander Ponds - 2008 Toys R Us exclusive retail
Holographic General Grievous - 2008 Toys R Us exclusive retail
Ambush 1 of 2: Lieutenant Thire & Clone Trooper Rys - 2009 Walmart exclusive retail
Ambush 2 of 2: Yoda & Clone Trooper Jek - 2009 Walmart exclusive retail
Clone Trooper 501th legion - 2008 Walmart exclusive retail
Rookies: Captain Rex & Clone Trooper Fives - ?
Rookies: Clone Commander Cody & Clone Trooper Echo - ?

The Legacy Collection (2008 - 2010)

Figures:

Disturbance in the Force - 2008 Celebration Japan & SDCC
Luke Skywalker X-Wing Pilot - 2009 San Diego Comic Con
Stormtrooper Commander - 2009 San Diego Comic Con TFU videogame
Joker Squadron - ?
Episode III Commemorative Tin Collection - ?
Episode IV Commemorative Tin Collection - ?
Episode V Commemorative Tin Collection - ?
Legends of the Saga - 2008 K-mart retail exclusive
Qui-Gon Jinn & Eopie - ?
Crimson Empire: The Crucible - 2008 Preview retail exclusive
Battlefront II: Clone Pack - 2009 Toys R Us retail exclusive
Battlefront II: Droid Pack - 2009 Toys R Us retail exclusive
Darth Vader & Incinerator Troopers - 2009 Toys R Us retail exclusive TFU videogame
Emperor Palpatine & Shadow Stormtroopers - 2009 Toys R Us retail exclusive TFU videogame

Comic packs:

Ibtisam & Nrin Vakil (X-Wing Rogue Squadron) - 2009 Walmart retail exclusive SW ExpUn
Janek Sunber & Amanin (Empire) - 2009 Walmart retail exclusive SW Dark Horse ExpUn
Machook, Keoulkeech & Kettch (Marvel) - 2009 Walmart retail exclusive SW Marvel ExpUn
Dllr Nep & Plourr Ilo (X-Wing Rogue Squadron) - ?
IG-97 & Rom Mohc (Star Wars Tales) - ?
Storm Commando & General Weir (X-Wing Rogue Leader) - ?

Battle packs:

Disturbance at Lard Homestead - 2008 Toys R Us retail exclusive
Ultimate Battle Pack: Battle at the Sarlacc Pit - 2008 Target retail exclusive

Evolutions pack:

Clone Commandos - 2009 Walmart retail exclusive
Imperial pilot legacy II - 2009 Walmart retail exclusive
Rebel pilot legacy III - 2009 Walmart retail exclusive

We humans are a weird bunch

2009-09-11T13:58:00.000+02:00

Seeing how yesterday started well, this topic won't make a lot of difference.

My girlfriend and I came home pretty late, and when we were parking our car she spotted something lying at our parking-lot. See image below.

A poor little pigeon that was hurt.
Its tail was bent very awkward, and it was very disoriented. It also kept walking/crawling/stumbling in small circles over and over, holding its head backwards, where it shouldn't belong.

We didn't know what happened to it. Did it fly into something? Was it attacked by a cat? However, it was clearly dying.

We stood there, next to it, wondering what to do. It was 10.30pm, so there were no veterinarians on duty. Even if there were, no veterinarian is going to aid a wild pigeon. So that left us with three options.
We could: take it with us and try to take care of it, leave it alone and let nature do its thing, or end the poor animals suffering.

We choose ... the second option.

We don't know anything about birds, leave alone taking care of a wounded one. What can you do? How do you know you're not putting it through more pain? Plus the fact that wild pigeons are notorious disease carriers, well, that made the first a not so desirable option.

Option number three? To be honest, I've never killed an animal in my life. Neither has my girlfriend. I wasn't very fond of the idea. The only thing I found in the vicinity was a large tile. But the idea of smashing a bird with a 2 kilo tile didn't quite appeal to me.

So that left us with the most convenient solution, walk away.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm not feeling bad about this. After all, it was only a pigeon. Sure it was a living being, and you can debate the living shit out of this. But I'm not going to.

What did make me think is this.
Every single day when you put on your television and watch the seven o'clock news, we are being bombarded with images and live videos of warfare, genocide and mass-murder in the name of religion or politics.

What do you do (or at least I do)? You change the channel.
I don't want to hear about the latest war anymore. I don't want to know about the latest lunatic in some far-away country that's going anal because he thinks his religion is better than someone else's. I don't want to watch live feeds about the latest 1,000 deaths in some nation's war. I just don't care anymore!

But when there's a dying pigeon on your parking-lot you suddenly face a moral dilemma. Yep, we humans are a weird bunch.

Accidents do happen

2009-09-11T13:19:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we witnessed the aftermath of an accident that happened a hundred meters from our home. One car crashed into another. As you can see in the picture, the collision must have been quite heavy, because the utmost right vehicle is pretty smashed up.

The lady sitting on the road curve is one of the drivers, I guess from the darkgrey Toyota.
Anyway, the junction was a complete mess, no police were at the scene yet, only the ambulance.

Eyes open when you drive people!

How the accident happened is guesswork, but I think it's safe to say that the person responsible for the accident was driving way to fast, and ignored a red light.

So that made me think, why on earth are our governments spending millions of euros a year on promoting road safety through advertisements, billboards, ... when it is clear people just don't care.

I don't like driving.
I don't like being in a car.

I go to work every day on a bike (10 minute ride). Have you ever gone to work by bike?

Do you have any idea how many times a week I see an almost-accident?
How many times a week I see some smuck driving his/her car with his/her head up his ass?
How many times I see people driving a vehicle that should be prosecuted for being a complete asocial douchebag?

It's a good thing I'm not an evil dictator ruling my country with an iron fist. I'd have three simple rules. You break 'em, you loose. No questions asked. Those would be:

Drive slow
Drive carefull
Don't be a douche

I know, sounds very simplistic. But it's human nature to overcomplicate things.
Oh, and that €20,000,000 budget for next years road safety campain? Yea, go ahead and deposit it to my bankaccount please ...

Two new additions to the collection

2009-09-09T14:29:00.000+02:00

Yep, Ebay comes through once again.

This time it's for a Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper disguise (1996 - PotF series).

Luke comes in many flavors

And a re-release of the 2006 internet exclusive MOC comic pack exclusive, featuring Carnor Jax & Kir Canos (2006 - 30th Anniversary)

They're just asking to be released out of their plastic cage

Maasmechelen village: A new suit and food

2009-09-09T12:58:00.000+02:00

Yesterday we visited a place called Maasmechelen Village. Basically it is one big shopping centre in the middle of nowhere, with a lot of outlet stores from well-known brands.

The girlfriend at M.V.

My brother is getting married in october, so I need a new suit. And I'm happy to say, I found one at Féraud Paris. Offcourse, going from store to store makes a person hungry. So we decided to have a meal at the only 'restaurant' available.

CELLINI Gastronomia it was called. In short, the worst tagliatelli bolognese I ever ate. Freaking horrible. I've eaten deep freeze meals that were more tasty than this. Be warned ...

The tagliatelli in question

When is too much too much?

2009-09-09T12:14:00.000+02:00

So you're working on a project, and it's all fine and dandy. Then the novelty wears of and it starts taking more time and effort. Don't you hate it? Don't you hate this situation, this feeling? I sure do.

I remember reading Seth Godin's book "The Dip". Seth Godin says:

"Every new project (or job, or hobby, or company) starts out exciting and fun. Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point-really hard, and not much fun at all. And then you find yourself asking if the goal is even worth the hassle.

Maybe you're in a Dip-a temporary setback that will get better if you keep pushing. But maybe it's really a Cul-de-Sac, which will never get better, no matter how hard you try.

What really sets superstars apart from everyone else is the ability to escape dead ends quickly, while staying focused and motivated when it really counts."

Seth's a genuis. He really is. He speaks only the truth.
But you're still at that point. Seth's not around to give you advice, so what do you do? Oh, I might as well tell you that being an adult with ADD is not helping the situation either.

Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. Multiplayer, no mute function?

2009-09-08T00:01:00.000+02:00

This is one pretty gem I'm playing lately. Some good old-fashioned fast-paced cowboy action. The singleplayer campain is very fun and engaging. Sure the cutscene and voiceovers remind you of a lowbudget B-movie, but that's what I think of when you say cowboy movie, so it works for me.

The cool part is the multiplayer, where you can get some western action. No longer will you have to dodge machinegun fire, mortar shells or bazookas. Nope, it's all sixshooters, rifles and shotguns here. And I love it.

Not to mention the awesome detail and kickass graphics ingame.

Blow it all up baby!

But there's one thing I'm missing. An ingame mute function to disable the chat from other players. For some reason, I just can find it. Maybe there isn't one, I don't freaking know. Can't find anything in the manual, can't find anything on the web. Pretty annoying. The only way to get rid of the chatter is by lowering the volume of the speech setting (under options/audio).

A minor thing, but disruptive at times.

Are Playstation Network downloads locked to your account?

2009-09-07T18:41:00.000+02:00

I'm a newbie when it comes to Playstation, and an even bigger newbie when it comes to the PSN (PlayStation Network). Only yesterday I fired up a multiplayer game of Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood. I've been playing this little gem a lot lately, and I'm getting the hang of playing a shooter on a console with a controller. Believe me, when you've spent a lifetime on PC gaming, that's keyboard and mouse, it's quite a shock.

Anyway, online gaming has always interested me more than singleplayer stuff, so I started checking out SOCOM Confrontation for the PS3. SOCOM is offcourse a pretty well known game on the Playstation, and it reminds me of Counterstrike so ...

Apparantly you can buy it through the PSN for €29,99 , which is ok I guess. But before I wanted to do this (first time remember) I wanted to know something. And that was, how does the PSN work? Does it work like Steam, where games are locked to your account? Can you redownload it after upgrading your hard-drive?

The FAQ on the Playstation store website is loaded with lots of information, but I couldn't find the answer to my particular question. Pretty weird ... I wonder if I'm the only one that has this question. Is it possible?

Thanks to good old google, I did not have to search for long.

Yay, it is possible to redownload content.
I know, it would be very dumb not to, but Sony is a place of business, so one can never be to sure.

My new precious ... Darth Vader 2005 holiday exclusive (SWshop)

2009-09-07T16:49:00.000+02:00

Like I mentioned earlier, like a thousand times, I like Star Wars.
Comics, novels and figures is what I collect.

One of my lastest additions is the Christmas holiday 2005 (StarWars Shop Exclusive) Darth Vader. And ever beter, it's in pristine condition, MOC like they say.

I only paid about 28$ for it, shipping to Belgium (EU) included. A bargain if you ask me.

Darth Vader in red.

The problem with Star Wars figures is the fact there's so many of them. Collecting them all would take a lifetime on Ebay, not to mention very costly. So I need a better battle plan. And after some thinking (it happens on occasion!) I decided to hunt for exclusives first. Getting all these will be a daunting task. Getting them all and relatively cheap will be like an epic quest.

Buying on Ebay is not the problem. You can pretty much find anything there, if you're willing to cash up for it. And this is what makes hunting on Ebay such fun, if you look hard enough, and take your time, you can make some real bargains here and there.

Oh, lets throw in this picture as well. It's my girlfriend holding my very first figure that got me started in collecting figures again. See all the other Star Wars *stuff* in the background? That's just the beginning ...

A Stormtrooper in good company.

A photo of mine selected for the Antwerp photo short-list at Schamp.com

2009-09-05T12:26:00.000+02:00

I got this message through Flickr mail the other day.

"Hi Stefson, I am writing to let you know that one of your photos with a Creative Commons license has been short-listed for inclusion in the eighth edition of our Schmap Antwerp Guide, to be published late September 2009."

Euh? What's Schmap.com? From their website:

"Schmap is a leading publisher of digital travel guides for 200 destinations throughout the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand."

Ok, cool, I guess. I clicked on the included link to permit the use of the picture and voila, let the royalties roll in. Oh wait, I put it up with a CC license. Damn ... nah just kidding.

See the original picture below on my Flickr account, or in all its glory in a 3648x2432 format.
A little information perhaps, the picture was taken when my girlfriend and me visited the Antwerp zoo a while ago.

Star Wars and the inevitable ending

2009-09-05T12:01:00.000+02:00

So I already told you I'm a Star Wars fan. Nothing fanatic, no lightsabers hanging from my belt, no Darth Vader masks in my closet. But a collector none the less.

Currently, I'm reading the New Jedi Order series (see a small portion of my bookshelf in the picture below), featuring the Yuuzhan Vong War. A lot has been said and written about the series, an example here from Wookiepedia:

"Timothy Zahn felt the series was too dark and straying from the "feel" of Star Wars.

Randy Stradley, alleged that Del Rey used an invasion idea originating with Dark Horse and took it in directions they did not intend.

Michael Stackpole, just after the publication of his NJO Dark Tide books, when asked what his new BattleTech books would involve, responded, "An alien invasion? No, a thousand times, no."However, author John Ostrander read and enjoyed the series.

In an interview published in The Unifying Force, Shelly Shapiro, the Editorial Director of Del Rey, expressed some regret over the "grimmer" aspects of the series and the Yuuzhan Vong themselves."

As for me, I really like the series.
And I love the dark, grimmy, fearsome, constant despair and wartime in it. It's Star Wars with an attitude. Don't get me wrong, I like Timothy Zahn's style and lets say, Karen Traviss. But it's always so boyscout-like. It's Star Wars with with pink goggles on. So for now, I'm really enjoying this dark-themed universe. I've got 6 novels to go, and then we're through.

And one of the things I do a lot is read stuff on Wookieepedia. When I come across new characters, factions or whatever, I look them up. One of the downsides of this is you get to know stuff before they happen in the novels, because you're just not that far in the series.

And when I was browsing Woopieepedia the other day, I came across Luke Skywalker's page. And near the ending was this:

Auch, that actually hurt.
I know they can't make the man live forever, and that at some point, he would not be a part of the living world anymore. But I never actually thought about it. That at a certain point, in a certain novel, I will read about Luke Skywalker's death.

Now I'm actually curious how it happens.
I know Jacen Solo is going to turn out bad. I know Mara Jade is going to, well, you know. I just can't seem to wrap my head around it. Sure if I wanted to I could look it up right now, google it. But I don't want to. I want it to hit me like a truck :-)

What a ride the last 14 days have been

2009-09-04T12:22:00.000+02:00

Doctors, more doctors, and lots of running around.

And school started again, I'm in my second year of Applied Computer Science, and I've taken programming as my major. This means, vb.NET and Java for breakfast. I'm curious how this is going to turn out, last year I got to work with VBA, and I really hated it. I'm no fan of MS Office, and certainly not MS Access.

I got rid of a lot of websites I was handling, and hopefully this will leave me more time and better focus on what's important.

Also, I got to celebrate my birthday. And thanks to my girlfriend I'm now a happy owner of the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic. I'm impressed by the phone, it's easy to use, has lots of options, and works great. However, I'm not happy about the Nokia OVI platform. It is supposed to be like the Apple Iphone shop/platform, where developers and the community can create stuff (applets, themes etc...). Pretty non existent if you ask me, in comparison to the Iphone community. This is where Nokia fails to deliver. Why try and copy when you know it's never going to happen? Anyway, we'll see how it goes.

Firefox vs Acer vs Vista. How to find out what froze your system

2009-08-26T10:54:00.000+02:00

For the very first time on this laptop, while surfing a particular website (www.massively.com) my firefox froze, and as a result Windows Vista froze up as well. Don't you hate it when that happens?

I sure do.
So now I want to find out what it was that caused Firefox and ultimately Vista to freeze like that. Sounds like an epic quest. Was it Firefox that reacted poorly to something from the website in question? Was it Vista that had a problem? Was it the Acer laptop? To make matters worse is I don't have a logfile of the problem.

Guess it's to be continued...

The quest for a new phone (smartphone)

2009-08-25T16:36:00.000+02:00

My current cellphone is in desperate need for a replacement. It's a Samsung SGH-X820, and bought it 3 years ago (I think). This time I'm looking for a smartphone.

The new Apple Iphone is looking pretty sweet (so did the older model by the way), but it is freaking expensive, over 600€ !! I'm not a cheap guy, but that's a little over the top. So my quest for a descent but less expensive smartphone began.

My eye fell upon the Nokia 5800 Xpressmusic.
It looks slick, is a hell of alot cheaper, has loads of features, even stuff the Iphone doesn't have. Apparantly, the 5800 is called the Iphone-killer a lot of times. I'm not sure if it's appropriate, and frankly I really don't care.

But the guys at tube5800.com made a nice little list of why the Nokia 5800 is better than the Iphone. Some of the reasons are:

- The Nokia is smaller in size and weighs less
- The resolution of the Nokia toughscreen is higher (640 by 360 to 480 by 320)
- The possibility to expand your storage capacity
- The Nokia has different inputmethodes (finger, stylus, plectrum and handwriting), the Iphone only has one (finger).
- The Nokia has better camera and video functionality. 3.2 MP, flash, 3x digital zoom with a carl zeiss lens and the option to record videos. The Iphone only has a 2 MP camera and no other functions.

Check out the entire list for more details.
Again, this is e-peen and /flex stuff. But it has similarities with my 'recent' laptop purchase. I was contemplating between buying an Apple notebook or an Acer (Vista) notebook. Back on my old blog, I compiled a nice list comparing the two notebooks. And, like we see here, the Acer notebook came out on top, despite a lower price. It has more power and more hardware options.

Anyway, what's left now is searching for a new subscription for this smartphone. I need casual internet functionality, and my current subscription doesn't offer this.

4 Things to do after installing a new wordpress blog

2009-08-24T18:57:00.000+02:00

Like I said earlier, I've switched from a selfhosted Wordpress blog to this Google (blogspot) powered blog.

The reasons are tenfold. Using a blog that is hosted/powered by one of the largest, best, coolest, ... (fill in what you like) ... companies in the world gives you many advantages:

No need to worry about upgrading your version, which can be a pain when it comes to Wordpress. Sure they added a cool feature to upgrade on the fly, but still ...
No need to create backups (not always recommended)
No need to worry about security. I mean it's Google we're talking about. Sure you can nag about downtime etc, but that can be an issue with your selfhosted blog as well.
Integration with your Google-account
Managing a Googleblog has never been easier
Reliability and speed are not an issue

But I thought this post was about Wordpress?
Yes it is. On occasion (or several), you need more control for your blog. Or you need to have more functionality from it. You need it to behave more like a website than a blog.

In comes Wordpress, a blogplatform that can be used as a full fledged content management system. Important to know is this: You need to take care of some issues after your fresh installation. These are:

1. Permalinks

By default, your pages/posts will look like this:

http://www.yoursite.com/index.php?p=2

where p is the post id.
You really don't want them to look like this. First of all, it doesn't say anything about the content you can find on the page. Second, you need to think about your SEO. Having key words in your link will benefit your website, and ultimately, your ranking.

So you want to change the way your Wordpress blog handles your permalinks. Log into WordPress with your admin account, and then click on ‘Options’. Next click the sub-category under options entitled ‘Permalink’.

In the edit box just underneath where it says, ‘Use the template tags above to create a virtual site structure:’ type the following:

/%post_id%/%postname%/

For faster performance, it is better to include a unique variable such as the post ID number within the permalink structure. To finish click the update permalinks button. Voila, that's that.

2. Fight spam

Download and install the Akismet plugin to catch comment spam. Unfortunately, Wordpress is a very popular platform. Therefor it is also often targetted by spammers. If you let your guard down, and you don't protect the comments-function of your blog, you're bound to be swarmed by spam.

Therefor, go to the Akismet website and claim a key (it's free!!) to use the plugin on your blog. It uses filters to automatically delete/flag spam.

3. Drop the version string in your Meta Tags

Most of the times, Wordpress will put this little piece of code into the header of your blog:


meta name="generator" content="WordPress " /

Very annoying. Basically it displays the version-number of the Wordpress installation in your code. Wordpress gets updates pretty often, so a version number will look like 2.0.8. If you don't update your vesion often (and you will have to if you plan on using Wordpress!), displaying your 'older' version-number in your code can attract hackers and scriptkiddies.

4. Protect Your Blog With a Solid Password

After the installation of your blog, Wordpress will autogenerate a password for you that will look like 125f8fh2852g58@55. A long string of letters, numbers etc. Sure it's difficult for us mere human to guess, but for computers (hackprograms) it can be a lot easier.

So be sure to change the automated password into something a little more diverse.

These are only the first steps you can do in order to protect and/or manage your new Wordpress blog. There are a bunch of security-related things you can do afterwards, but these are a bit more technical. Maybe I'll make it into a follow-up post.

Star Wars collectables and me

2009-08-24T18:22:00.000+02:00

As a Star Wars fan (not the crazy, jedi robes wearing, lightsaber wielding kinda guy) I collect Star Wars figures. There, I said it. I collect Star Wars figures.

Mostly through the wonderful world of Ebay offcourse.

I've not been doing this for a very long time. Comics and novels, yes, I pretty much have them all. But figures, no, not so long. It's only been very recent that I started doing that. To be more precise, for about 3 years now. It started with my girlfriend, who bought me this Star Wars (Original Trilogy Collection - 2004 through 2005) Stormtrooper vintage style figure for me just for fun.

It sat on my desk for quite some time, keeping my desktop safe from rebel scum!

Then I started to remember something. On my parents attic sat an entire box filled with old Star Wars toys and figures. My love for Star Wars goes back a long time. So I went over to claim back what was once my treasure.

Alas ...
Apparently my parents decided all that crap on the attic was getting in their way. So on a sunny afternoon, they took all that old 'crap' from the attic, and sold it all on some flea market.

All my precious, gone forever. For a mere 0.50 cent a figure!
Now you have to know when I was just a kid, I took care of my belongings. Each and every one of those figures was in pristine condition. The guy that bought all my figures had a great day.

Anyway, my girlfriend suggested rebuilding my empire. Start anew. So I did.

Now the point of this incredibly long post. I came upon this cool post called "The Top Ten Most Valuable Star Wars Figures". Now I know what to hunt for on Ebay.

My girlfriend says I'm crazy at times. I just point here to this: The biggest star wars collection in the galaxy.

Why elderly gimp warrior?

2009-08-24T18:01:00.000+02:00

Why did I choose this description for my blog?

Elderly because I'm not getting any younger these days.

Gimp because of this (dictionary):

(1) a derrogatory term for someone that is disabled or has a medicial problem that results in physical impairment. - Nope, that's not it.

(2) A sex slave or submissive, usually male, as popularlized by the movie Pulp Fiction. - As cool as it sounds, that's not it either.

(3) An insult implying that someone is incompetent, stupid, etc. Can also be used to imply that the person is uncool or can't/won't do what everyone else is doing. - Yay, found it. That pretty much sums it up.

Warrior because of my life so far. Always fighting the big bad world.

What am I going to write about?
Well, pretty much what I was writing about on my old blog. Usability, websites, design, the internet, life on the internet ...

I'll try and get my old stuff back online.

A new place to call home

2009-08-24T17:55:00.000+02:00

Like the title says, the little blog will be my new blogginghome on the internet. My previous blog, on my own domain www.stefson.com is now my main calling-card. And a big benefit is I can now take advantage of all the upsides of a Google-hosted blog.

I know hosting it yourself, with Wordpress, gives you more control about the look and feel. But blogging from one of the worlds finest blogging-platforms make it much more plesant, and easier.

No longer do you have to worry about upgrading your current version etc ...
I'll make a post about this later.