Major System FAIL!

Today, I am not impressed. The reason for my sour mood is two fold – firstly I have had an awful week in work and I already know that next week is going to be a nightmare due to staff holidays and me being the only one who can cover them. Secondly, I knew that my Windows 7 pre-order (thank you for the bargain eBuyer) would be dispatched on Thursday for delivery when ever the Royal Mail stop striking and get some work done, so I ordered some upgraded memory to help things run a little smoother. I very happily opened my shiny new Corsair XMS2 memory yesterday and was excited to get home, rip open the case and fit it. Upon starting up my PC I went in to the BIOS to see what voltage it was assigned – this was too low, so I upped it to the amount needed and rebooted. The next trip in to the BIOS showed that my FSB had done up to 1066Mhz thanks to the bottle neck of my old memory now being removed, as a result all the voltages required had increased slightly, but more importantly the speed of my system would finally reach its potential. I rebooted the system and allowed it to run in to Windows whilst eagerly monitoring the boot sequence to see how much quicker it was – just as the smug look of success came across my face I was greeted by that thing all PC enthusiasts dread … the Blue Screen of Death!!!

After some tinkering I decided to phone my cousin, who is a bit of a guru on these things and we ran some tests. These hinted that the problem may be with my PSU, which granted isn’t the most powerful, but it is a very good spec and from a top manufacturer. I had gambled on this PSU being enough for my machine when I last upgraded, but it seems I may have lost this one due to the faster FSB, two additional hard-drives and a fat graphics card. Reluctantly I decided to buy a new PSU, because even if it turns out not to be the PSU, I should really get one more suitable anyway. As usual I went on to the eBuyer site, but the choice wasn’t fantastic and many seemed over priced for some reason, so I looked elsewhere. It appears that eBuyer was, as usual, very competitively priced and much to my amazement PSU prices have doubled since I last bought one 3 years ago – WTF is that all about?!

The only explanation I can think of is that all the companies have jumped on the ‘Energy Saving’ bandwagon and decided that all of sudden the same heap of junk, with a bigger fan (to reduce noise) and some plugs (to allow excess cables to be removed) is now worth a fortune – I was not impressed. In the end I settled on a 600W OCZ ModXStream that ticked all the boxes, but didn’t break the bank – thanks to OCUK.

I’m hoping that it will arrive tomorrow so I can get my system stable and backup everything before I install Windows 7 and start on the next bunch of issues.

ARGHHHHH!

Converting the Stubborn

Just a quick one today.

Last night I had 5 mates round for one of the regular xBox nights we have. Traditionally we have always played Pro Evolution Soccer (PES), but this time around I have decided to move my alliance to FIFA 10, something that was scowled upon by the traditionalists. After a week of persuasion I eventually managed to get a small group of sceptics to come round and give it a try. The format was familiar, arrive with a few beers, order in a chippy tea and play the tournament – cost to enter is one pound and no ‘top’ teams are allowed. Out of the hat I picked Boca Juniors, the worst team in the draw, but as I had played the game before this would help to even things out. After setting up the controllers to the alternative format so that we had a level playing field we got in some practice.

The result of the evening was that we all filled our faces, everyone loved the new puppy and I gained 60% acceptance, just two more people to keep the pressure on, if they all have a copy by xmas then the rest of the group will have to follow suit so they can play online … the mission continues.

LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias

Once again Frontier, the team behind the LostWinds series, have pulled off a masterpiece.

Over recent weeks I have been gaming quite a lot, mainly playing FIFA 10 online through the xBox 360, but last week I stumbled across an article about the imminent release of LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias, the second part in the story of young Toku and Enril the Wind Spirit’s adventure. This sparked me in to wanting to go back and complete the original game, something I had failed to do because I got stuck at about 70% of the way through and never returned to finish. So on Friday night whilst in the pub, giving the better half my complete attention of course, I decided to start my failed adventure again, the following evening. This particular Saturday night was scheduled to be gaming night because the better half had arranged a works night out and my new goal was to complete LostWinds.

After dropping her off at the pub to meet her friends I dashed home, grabbed my snacks and drinks and settled down to begin my adventure anew. Despite the fact I had encountered most of the jaw dropping moments the game has to offer before, I was still blown away the effortless interaction between the two characters and the charming puzzles set in the most amazingly stylised scenery. The charm of this game is that it is so simple  and yet so fulfilling in terms of story, visuals and a sense of achievement. One particular moment mesmerised me as I played, this was of course the final ‘boss’ encounter. I don’t want to ruin it for anyone who hasn’t seen it, but the thought that has gone in to it was outstanding and yet the solution is so simple and almost ‘routine’ after hours of game play, however it wasn’t without its difficulties. The reward for the completion of this puzzle wasn’t only the fact that you complete the game, but you also save someone from evil and gain a new friend. I completed the game in just shy of 4 hours and felt truly enlightened for having done so. Admittedly I did turn to a guide to avoid getting stuck where I had before, but this only served to mess things up further because the directions it contained where wrong, so my lesson has been learnt.

Fresh from the original adventure and still with that warm cuddly feeling in my chest I downloaded the sequel. 20 minutes later I was at the introduction screen and the magical music that features throughout the games was playing … then suddenly the dreaded iPhone ring-tone began to play … I had my orders to go pick the better half up and she was in a slightly less than lady like state. Disappointedly I prised the remote from my hand a powered down the Wii, I was soooooo close!!!

It wasn’t until Monday evening that I finally got to sit down and play Winter of the Melodias. I turned off my phone, turned on the Wii and at last made it past the opening screen. As the game starts you are greeted by a familiar scene – Toku is asleep in a stupid place and fall to the ground with a bump. His guardian, Deo, is there and shortly after arrives the renowned adventurer Notéa to break the bad news and the foundation to your next adventure. I wont ruin the plot beause learning it is an integral parts of the games experience, but its nothing to unfamiliar. Person close to you in trouble, go to dangerous place and save them. This begins the best introduction to a game I have ever experienced, its begins by your new friend Magmok, ancient Guardian of Mistralis, taking you to the place you need to be, as thanks for saving him in the final encounter of the previous game. As you proceed up the mountainous terrain Magmok climbs with you and helps you in areas where you cannot get through unaided. As you ascend the basic controls are introduced for those who are unfamiliar with the first game. By the time you reach the top your are familiar with the basics and ready for an adventure.

I have only played a further half an hour in to the game before I had to go back to the real world, but needless to say I can already see massive improvement to the game, yet it still feels the same and offers the same amazing experience. A clever touch I really enjoyed is that when you begin you are not dressed for the environment, meaning that you have to stay close to beacons in order to keep warm, this adds a new dimension and pressure to the early stages and really makes you think. The increased variety of enemies is also very clever, after encouraging you to use them in clearing an obstacle or to defeat other enemies , an example of this is when you reach a thorny blockade, you can use the enemies that are ‘on-fire’ to destroy the thorns before using vortex to make a snow ball and dousing them out. These clever touches add depth and this is what make Winter of the Melodias so much more rewarding than the original – not to mention the map which actually helps you make sense of what you are achieving.

I genuinely recommend to anyone looking for a good adventure game to give this a try, its only £7 and worth every penny in my opinion. You can’t help but be charmed and feel a sense of achievement.

Update (15/10/2009): I’ve just finished the game after an intense 4 hours. So I thought I’d post a tip for those struggling with the final fight (spoiler alert)… that purple blob he throws at you is the only thing you can hurt him with.

Is FIFA as addictive as Heroin?

Well, so far I’m only one sentence in to this post and it’s taken me four days to get this far, so you work it out …

Aion Beta: Unexpected End of Archive Error

I received an email from PC Gamer magazine last week informing me that I had been given access to the open beta of Aion: Tower of Eternity, which seemed nice, but rather pointless, seeing as it was an open beta … ie: available to all. Regardless I decided to check out the website and see what it was all about. The game looks very impressive and worth a look, so I set about downloading the beta via their own torrent. Several hours later it was done and I attempted to open it, only to get a message through WinRAR saying “Unexpected end of archive”. This was a bit annoying, but in a 9gb compressed file I could understand that it may have corrupted during download, so I set about getting another copy from a more ‘direct source’ and did so. 2 hours later I had it (uber phat pipes ftw) and double clicked, only to have the same problem.

I did a little searching and found people simply blamed the lengthy file names or other stupid issues, non of which could realistically cause a problem. Eventually I stumbled upon a forum post that mentioned an issue with WinRAR and to try WinZip, so I downloaded the latest free trial and it worked. Woohoo … 2 days of frustration solved by using a little logic: use the program that the file was created in!

So to summarise for all those out there still banging their heads on the wall: Download WinZip (from here) if your getting the “Unexpected end of archive” error when trying to open the Aion Beta.

Enjoy!

2009 So Far … 1st Jan to 1st May

Seeing as I’ve lost everything on the site I thought it was a good idea to make an article that covered everything that has happened so far this year, so here goes:

2009 began with Me, Lisa and her friends taking a drunken walk back from a fantastic New Years Eve party at Shaw Hill Hotel, Whittle-le-Woods Near Chorley. This seems to have set the tone for the fantastic year ahead. Because so much has happened I’m going to do a month by month break-down, Enjoy!

January

The year started with Geoff and Mygenet’s wedding, which was all planned at the last minute. Geoff being close family and us having grown up together, I knew I was going to heavily involved, what I didn’t expect was to be asked to usher 4 days before the wedding, and then with 3 days to go I was asked to step in as Best Man due to Geoff’s uncle have an arse of a boss who wouldn’t allow him to take the day off work … on a Saturday! Despite the chaos everything went really well and pictures are available on either of their Facebook accounts.

After the wedding the next two weeks, as it is every year, was filled with birthdays. One of these was a mate of mine and as his wife was out playing we organised a Pro-Evo night for the lads. Lots of Beer, Plenty of Chilli’s and a bit of gambling ensued!

At the end of the month it was Lisa’s birthday, so being the super boyfriend that I am I sent her off to Geneva to see a good friend of hers and spend 4 days getting blind drunk. Upon her return I was in the good books and was forced to endure several weeks of no nagging, drinking with the lads, playing on my xBox and getting spoilt rotten by my lady … terrible times! hehe

February

Everyone know what happens in February, and despite the fact that I hate it, I knew that Lisa was looking forward to it, so Valentines day was in need of planning. Being as how I was in the good books though, Lisa decided that she would take me out! This did feel some what emasculating, but she spared me from wearing the dress, matching shoes and hand bag, so I realised that I could let her be dominant for the day, in exchange for an all expenses paid visit to a fantastic Japanese restaurant in Liverpool and more Tiger Beer than is required to drown a … Tiger?

Next came another batch of close family birthday’s! Towards the end of the month an unusual night out was arranged with a few friends. The venue was the local town hall and the event was a ‘mystery meal’. This didn’t mean we’d get fed something random, it meant that all the staff involved in ’serving’ us where part of a larger play that taking place before us. The plot was of course a murder mystery and the acting was superb. After the police arrived the scene changed as we, as witnesses became involved in the interrogation of the cast, with the ultimate goal of guessing who the murder was. We all had a great night and its an experience I recommend everyone should try, especially if the entrance fee’s go to a good cause.

At the end of the month my car’s MOT, Tax and Service was due, so saving was required, but I did have one night out for a friends 30th. Everyone was there and it was a chance to introduce Lisa to another group of friends who I don’t see very often now we’ve finished playing football. The night was superb and was capped off nicely by the birthday boy being sick down someone’s back after pinching some shots that were meant for other people. Quality :-)

March

Early March was spent sorting my car and attempting to get back in to a routine at the gym, which I failed miserably to do. Other than that, nothing much seemed to happen.

In mid-March it was Mygenet’s birthday, so her and Geoff to decided to throw a small a party that doubled up as a house warming. Everyone had a good time filling their faces and getting to catch up on events since the wedding.

At the end of March myself and Lisa thought it would be nice for the parents to meet, seeing as they only lived a few hundred meters from each other. We had noticed that a life soul singer was on a very nice pub that wasn’t far from where we live, so we booked it. The night was fantastic, the music was great, the food was fantastic (despite a few slip up’s) and the parents got along fine. The night was duly topped off by the taxi having to pull over to let Lisa throw up all over the grass verge right in front of my parents … classy, lol.

April

April is always a crazy month in my life, but this year I decided to do something I’d been putting off for years … I booked to go to Ladies Day at Aintree Races. We both got dolled up and along with out friends had a fantastic day drinking champagne, being merry, losing our money and eating some of the best fish & chips i’ve ever come across. Cant wait till next year :-)

Next up was the usual round of birthdays that take place, including my own, at last. I got lots of nice presents from those close to me and had a good booze up with my mates at the local.

At the end of the month was something I’ve been looking forward too for months … Andy’s Stag-do in Calella, Spain! We were due to be picked up at 04:30 on Friday morning, so being the punch of alky’s that we are, we arranged to meet in the pub at 22:00 on Thursday! The land lady kept the boozer open for us until we got picked up, and so the mayhem began. We had four fantastic days enjoying a free bar, free food and funny nights out. The highlight of the weekend was the stag getting involved in a dance-off with the locals whilst wearing a beautiful red dress with black poker-dots, matching bag and a lovely elephant cock-piece! Coming a close second was Scott’s ability to fall asleep in the most stupid places and wake up covered in permanent marker! Third goes to the bar on the beach where we all chilled out with a pint of Amstel whilst listening to Bob Marley tunes, good times!

So as you can see, it’s been a busy few months. But that’s everything up to date … job done!