Raithe

.. Well to be fair to Bio.. there is that big shiny button under Options about "Not sharing gaming data with Bioware online"... so it's not as if its hidden away and they're concealing the fact..

He was quite good in the role of Lucifer back in the first Prophecy. Of course, that was a blink and you could miss it role .. especially when up against the intensity of Christopher Walken stealing scenes..

"mannly men. men in tights." Sorry, something about that just flashed that song through my head. Although if we're talking action starts of the 80's that impress - Dolph Lundgren, not just an action star but a Master's in Chemical Engineering and an IQ to match Einsteins (apparently). Although for the historical figure view.. Quin Shi Huang. Finely balanced on the impressive versus total bastard. Set about and achieved unification of China and established the foundations for two millenia of imperial rule.. On the one hand I loathe the guy for the book burnings he used and forced assimilation to unify the warring states... But on the other I can understand why he did it and how it worked. And you kind of have to admire the iron willed focus and complete bastardness to go through with it all.

I'm caught in that awkward "I want to play a game" yearning, but not actually in the mood to play any games. Which probably makes no real sense but.. heh, at the moment I guess it's just the sit and wait to see if any new games in the near future inspire actual game playing moods.

I actually managed to read through Dark Heresy, Deathwatch and Rogue Trader core books recently... Although I was expecting the character creation and advance to be a bit more like Warhammer Fantasy RP. I've got to say they do seem quite interesting, and both Deathwatch and Rogue Trader include some short comments on how you can combine the other games with them. All made so much easier by that combination of Calixis Sector, Koronus Expanse, and the Jericho-Maw Rift.

It was awesome except for the guy who played the lead. He sucked pretty hard. It was like they tried finding the person with the least charisma they could find. It did have a rather damned good soundtrack. Actually both the mini-series did.

And for something completely different... I just watched the final episode to Blake's 7. Something I'd missed up till now and woo, that caught me a bit by surprise. I mean, I knew the bad guys had won and it caused an outcry back then..but I hadn't realised just how extreme it was. How many tv series do you know that would end the series by killing off all but one of the heroes.. have a final shot of the lead figure being surrounded by the evil Federation troopers.. and then cut to the credits and have the sounds of several laser blasts ring out..... As they say, 1978 in America had Battlestar Galactica and Dirk Benedict.. 1978 in the UK had Blake's 7 and Paul Darrow.

Another preview.. and this from a game journalist who admits to never having sat down for a proper game of the original... IGN - Deus Ex:Human Revoltion - A Newcomer's Perspective

Hm, I finished off the Borderlands single-player campaign the other weekend.. but apart from the DA2 demo I just haven't been able to get in the mood to play anything. Which is kind of annoying since I've got a Fear 2 game to finish off at some point..that's been hanging for about a month. And I picked up a cheap copy of Dead Space some time ago I still haven't started.

And apparently my sister will be bringing home a new dog in a few weeks. A german shepherd puppy going by the name Mason... I did ask if she gets another cat will it be called "Dixie" but that went whistling over her head. Since there's already the typically brain-dead, over-enthusiastic spaniel called Katey, and the one-eyed persian cat by the name of Nelson loitering around the house.. I foresee some potentially tumultuous times ahead.

Had one of those nights of little sleep, so now I'm facing the day. Tea restored some but I'm still getting those odd woozy moments. Still, a quick lunch of some sushi, and then off to the village to deal with various errands.

And for the next batch... G4 - Deus Ex - Xbox 360 Hands on Preview IGN - Does Human Revolution feel like Deus Ex? Joystiq - Deus Ex Humane Decisions Heh.. Yeah, this looks like its getting that old Deus Ex feel.. Here's to hoping that lasts..

What I liked was that it pretty much came across as all the different reviewers had tried different combinations of game-play. Yes, stealthy to a greater or lesser degree, but it does seem as if there's a lot of variation in approach and just what's allowed within the game..

Well it's the 24th, so onto the next embargo, but here's the latest batch.. Eurogamer's Deus Ex Hands-On Destructoid's Deus Ex First Mission Gamespot Deus Ex Part Two PC Gamer - Deus Ex the First Three Hours... Rock Paper Shotgun - Deus Ex Impressions Part Two!

Doesn't that depend on the size of the hill...

Just the fighters don't have the quite so obviously mysterious/weird talents that mages do.. hell, even Rogues get that short-range teleport provided by Backstab... and the whole infinite supply of Miasmic Jars to throw around. It's all about coming up with pseudo-rationale for amazing effects from skills. Besides, part of the balance between magic-users and non-magic users in rpg's has traditionally been the balance of at lower-levels the wizarding types don't have many spells and get their clocks cleaned if they get caught in melee. They don't get mega-death-dealery until the higher levels. So supposedly the balance is in the trouble of getting them to those levels..when compared with the sword-choppy-slashey-murder style of the warrior types who tend to get the benefits at earlier levels and start to lose out as you get higher..

Heh, for the way out nostalgia hit.. I was listening to the soundtrack to the old Buck Rogers in the 25th Century show.. Very mellow..

Some games do cry out for replay value. I mean I've replayed Deus Ex, Vampire Bloodlines, Hitman and a bunch of others multiple times over the years... Then there are a few other games (generally the rpg ones) where although the main storyline is always the same, you get some quite different content on the journey through that story depending on certain choices. Which can push me to try replaying them to see just how much of a different feel it is to play as another class/sex/race etc. Although then if I don't really notice much difference I might not actually push myself to finish those playthroughs.. Of course, I go through batches where I don't pick up any new games for ages, and then a bunch might come out in a short time-frame that make me pre-order or pick them up straight away.

One thing I did notice last night.. when you picked up a new skill, the Tactics would automatically generate some rules for the new skill. Which works nicely compared to how DA:O didn't recognise it unless you went in and created them yourself.

The rogues backstab seemed quite smart in a silly way. The whole "teleport" behind whoever you're fighting so you're right at their back... Was also a useful way to avoid the Ogre's smashing attacks. So if the rest of the Rogue skills have that similar vein and mean you don't have to spend large amounts of time maneuvering your way around the battlefield to being able to use skills ala Origins.. I can see how that might make Rogues a touch more adaptable.

On the upside, some of the different touches on what is the "legendary" story and what's the "realistic" story look like it could be a touch interesting. It did partially tweak my sense of humour that in the legendary version, the sister has tremendous bosoms, but when its the real version she's actually more of a normal phsyical body. You could just imagine this dwarven rogue having a few drinks and adding those sorts of exagerated elements in.

Ah I hadn't realised it was out for the pc yet either.. Hm, so is it worth the

I think the key trouble to the demo.. is that it doesn't show anything off except the combat. And that's not even much of combat.. or at least you get the "legendary start up fight" then the "realistic start up fight" when you haven't got any real skills. Then the sequence it jumps to Isabella gives you a few more levels..but again, doesn't really show you much of the advanced mixup of skills and how they interact. The combat does seem to be a bit more frenetic and fast paced then da:o..but from the demo it looks like its just the same style, just done at a faster pace (if that makes sense) Which makes me wonder if it'll partially deal with the "grindy" feel that origins had.. you might have to kill the same amount of enemies..but the slicker/faster way you go through them might not make it feel like quite such a task. You don't really get to see much of the dialogue happen.. I mean there's a couple of short sentences between the family, another brief conversation when you meet a couple fleeing the blight..and then talking to flemeth which is a bit longer. But you don't really see any consequences of conversation. It's pretty much all fluffy conversation. I've got to admit I did get a bit annoyed at the laggy way that "loading..." would appear before cutscenes..and even during them at various points. I'm hoping that's just due to it being a demo rather then a full game..but it's a bit jarring when it has to spend 5 or 10 seconds paused in a cutscene to load the next portion. And I'm running on a fairly decent rig...

Unfortunately.. not a sundial. The nicely done stone bird bath.. which at the time was rather frozen under that snow.