Gamer for a Laugh

More Battlefield 2 and Mine 1.

2006-04-07T16:59:00.000Z

Well, it happened. Last night fighting away and churning out those scores, I was accused of cheating. Not that I was, or ever have cheated at a game. Made me feel really good, though. I have arrived. My skills are now so good that experienced players can't believe that I can pull off what I can pull off without cheating. Of course, when I'd explained my moves to them and shared my secrets a little there was a few moments stunned silence before the trollish behaviour turned on my team-mates. Unfortunately I was then so concerned with defending them I almost completely forgot the battle waging around me as our large lead slowly petered away during the war of words. So, a victory on several levels, but not the real one. It is nice to note that the next round went our way with our opposition all logging out two rounds later, obviously too scared to face us again. The next hurdle is competition at tournament level to see how I stack up against really decent adversaries and I will be keeping you posted here (no, Gamer will not fall by the wayside, although it may be very BF2 orientated for a while). For now, at the risk of repeating an earlier link that I gave you in my comments a couple of posts ago, this is the link to my current BF2 stats page. A couple of things to explain to non-stat junkies:
IAR = In A Round
SPM = Score Per Minute.
CP = Command Point.

And for those who know nothing of the ways of BF2 or FPS games:
The aim of the game is territorial supremacy, with CP's coming in the form of flags that a player must stand near (the distance varies) in order to take possession of the flag, although there are certain bases that cannot be captured. These same bases (both "cappable" and "non-cappable") form the spawn points in the game where players spawn after being killed or joining the server. Points are awarded for kills, helping your team mates and capturing flags. In order to win, a team must reduce the opponents points to zero through controlling the flags or kills (deathmatch). There are various maps, the rate at which the points are reduced, the amount of capturable flags depending upon the size (based on player amounts preset in a particular server), and the amount of points all being variables on these maps. In addition there may (or may not, depending on server) be a timer. The team with the highest score in points after the time expires is the winner if there is. Hopefully that sounds as simple as it is. It gets slightly more complicated with the inclusion of different kits that a player chooses from before spawning. This gives a different choice of guns for the infantryman as well as specialist abilities. Medics get medi-packs that heal people, engineers can repair stuff, while support get to resupply ammunition and special forces and anti - tank blow things up. Snipers snipe. All pretty self-explanatory. There's also within the team a position for a commander and the ability to make, join and leave squads as mentioned in my previous post. While the rest is pretty simple, the way in which commanders' points work requires some in-game knowledge so I won't bleat on about it right now.

So, that's the game and the stats page. Points of note on there include the win/loss ratio (anything above 1 is good), the % small arms accuracy (anything over 17% is good), the kill/death ratio (again, anything above 1). the score per minute (a kill is 2 points, flag capture 2, most others and assists all 1. Anything over 1 is good), the best round scores (anything above 100) and of course, the awards. I'm rather proud of my rack of medals, badges and ribbons as it represents a lot of work, particularly the array of gold medals, which are awarded for having the most points in a round. So far I've been exceeding my target of 1 gold a day. You might also want to check my sniper kit. I don't tend to use my sniper rifle a great deal, well I do, but from a safe distance to check if anyone has set off the claymores I've placed. Claymores are a proximity grenade - once set, they explode when an enemy walks within their range. I like claymores. I like tanks as well, if you check out the vehicles list, you'll see why, but not planes or helicopters. I've only recently worked out how to keep one in the air, which shows what a n00b I really am and I shouldn't call attention to it. *cough* Never mind.

Something I should call attention to before I go is a little something I've been working on for the animation blog. Apologies for any frustrated anticipation, but this shows I have been working away on that as well. You can take a look at my testbed to see some very simple experiments, but this is my own time scale so don't try holding your breathe.

Lastly, I know you all loved the APC song. This is Mine1.

Enjoy.

Brand new Blog.

2006-04-01T11:31:00.000Z

It's time. Time for a brand new blog. You'll be pleased to learn I'm going into business designing animations. The Buttoneer is where I will be discussing all things animated as well as showing off my work so far. It's extremely basic for now, until I've worked through my template, but but watch that space for your animation needs. I'll also be trimming down my blog portfolio with the deletion of my comic blog and testbeds shortly, probably Writer's Blog as well as they all lack direction, giving me just the two areas to concentrate on. So, a new route for Fuzzy to follow in his online life. Hope you all enjoy it (and buy lots and lots of flashing, moving pictures from me). Have fun. :D

I'm back, introducing Battlefield 2 & the APC song.

2006-03-26T10:35:00.000Z

You've guessed it from the title. Your favourite Fuzzter is back. Many thanks to all those who've left comments (except the spam about playboy - how do i delete, again...?). It's been a long hiatus & I apologise to anyone who's been watching with no joy. I won't explain it all here, but my attention has been pulled away largely by just one game. As a general rule I tend not to be a huge fan of FPS (First Person Shooter) games, but you may remember a search for one I could get on with. Well, I found it. Not since the days of Unreal Tournament have I enjoyed playing an FPS so much. It would be fair to say instant addiction grabbed me firmly and didn't let go. Battlefield 2 released by EA games is fully deserving of it's huge success. The latest in a long line of Battlefield games it gets a five star rating as it puts you in a modern war arena complete with armour, aircraft, helicopters and boats on a variety of maps from urban to plains taking in oilfields and swampland as a side dish. I'm impressed. I'm very impressed. It's an online game that gives a nod to plotline with rank based character progression being through experience on one of the thousands of officially recognised servers. Character progression gets you in-game gun unlocks that the infantryman may then use on official servers. Then there's the prizes. Badges, medals and ribbons that form bragging rights in the community, and there's a large community. So large that it has it's own legends, heros and myths. I must admit that they're not particularly welcoming to the newcomer (n00b), but the line between elite (1337) & n00b can be sometimes very thin. After you've owned (pwned) a few rounds and learnt a few maps respect can be very high. One thing I particularly like is the emphasis put on teamwork, with squads and a commander, which caters to the RTS (Real Time Strategy) fans. In a way, the ultimate box of toy soldiers being actual people, not bots fighting each other. Just never forget that they can come and get you too. Then there's the graphics and sound with different levels you can set them to depending on your system. When everything is turned up full it's truly awesome and gives a feel to the game that has had me jumping out of my skin and screamng battle cries. Don't take my word for it though. Watch this BF2 promotional video (Quicktime needed). Ah yes, the videos. There's an option in BF2 that, if the server allows, lets you download and view the videos of rounds you have been involved in. I'll leave you with just one of the many spoof videos out there as I really must be getting back to it now. After all, n00bs don't pwn themselves.

The APC song.

Back to buttons for a quick post (& I don't mean Panto)

2005-12-28T01:08:00.000Z

You may have noticed that the Pac-Man in the header seems to have gained a life of his own. FBF has been learning how to animate, so if you open the tag called "Blogs I Visit" over there in the right you'll see me practicing with this new skill. It's ok, I'm not going to go on about it right now, but I will, of course be including links to them in the post especially created for that purpose here. You can also find a link to that post in the "Web-Fu" series under "Previous Posts of Note" for quick and easy access. I'll be publishing both animated and static versions of each button without the background used in my sidebar menu. Really, then this is just to let you know that I have been beavering away behind the scenes and not giving myself any time to post... until now that is. Have fun looking at the pretty lights ;)

Happy Christmas.

2005-12-25T13:10:00.000Z

First off, as promised, a big, red

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

to all my readers.

To retain the Christmas theme from yesterday I discovered a rather playable drunken Santa game over at Addicting Games (no popups, but beware annoying voice saying "Hello." ). Keep him off the electrified rails and find your way to the alcohol & treats. Of course the more he drinks, the harder he is to control. They call it Sober Santa 2 (flash) & it's well worth a look after your xmas dinner. Speaking of which, mine is calling me so I've only time to mention Jingle Ballistics (flash) at the same site which is an excellent fighting game with even a character to unlock (be sure to read the controls though ;) ) and no Christmas would be complete without that old classic, Simon Says (flash) which i found at Kontraband (beware ads in both popups & popunders). Who remembers that?

Have fun this Christmas.

By the way, if you've not been here for a while, be sure to scroll down and catch some of the great articles you may have missed. Time Travel I'm proud of and Lag Kills is the part 2 in my Web-Fu for beginners series, an essential read.

Christmas Games and working morals.

2005-12-24T13:24:00.000Z

Remember this from several months ago?
Well I too have been thinking long and hard about it (two months of long and hard, in fact). I have consulted impartial professionals. I have asked my employers. I have discussed the issue over and over again. I have lost nights of sleep. I think on Christmas eve it's about the right time to set the record straight on my stand on this matter enabling me to put it to bed once and for all. I too work in areas which are very sensitive. I work with the elderly, the homeless, the drug dependent, members of the general public, the disabled, mental care patients, the list goes on and on. I can assure my readers, my clients and my employers that I will never publish anything at all about my work that may involve any of these vulnerable (oops, sorry, not a politically correct word anymore)... any of these people, my workmates or my employers themselves in any way, despite the incredibly good reading it would make. It's not right. There is an unspoken understanding of trust that I feel would be a betrayal if I were to behave in any other way than above reproach at all times because of the highly sensitive areas in which I work. That includes posting any information about them in any public area of the web, whatever the law might say on the matter. I cannot apply my moral understanding to another person however, that being ultimately their choice. I can choose to be offended by it, at the time it made me very uncomfortable to say nothing of the soul - searching. I considered withdrawing from the blogosphere altogether over it. I'm very glad that Yaeli has considered this matter to the degree she has and I feel that it's appropriate to finally discuss it here. It may seem an over-reaction to some, but to me it's a massive issue. How in the world can I work in this area if I feel that I can't be trusted? How therefore can I read another's writing about it and fail to comment? How do I react when that comment goes awry? Well, I've been privileged to learn the answers to these questions, despite how slow I've been to announce it. So, no hard feelings, but in best Bill & Ted styley a most excellent Christmas wish going out a little early to Yaeli and all my readers.

Right, now that that's out of the way, let's see what I can find to interest you for a few minutes in a roundup of Christmas games. First up on the Google list is PrimaryGames.com (beware pop-up ads) who offer us a wide selection of Christmas themed games including Attack of the Mutant Artificial Trees (shockwave) which is another one where you shoot the trees that rise from boxes and avoid hitting the elves. It's a nice example of it's kind and is well done. Another well done one they have is Adventure Elf (shockwave) which is a platform game in the best traditions of manic minor. Extremely addictive and easily playable. Remember, don't step on yellow snow. I found these two games and more though at freeworldgroup.com (beware popups, popunders and LOUD jingley bells) where there is also the hilarious Spank The Frank (shockwave) and the brilliantly frenetic Pengapop (shockwave)which brings a whole new idea to the old breakout games. I urge you to play it - it's great. Right, that's enough for now. Hopefully, I'll be posting tomorrow at some point to wish you all a more timely season's greeting,, but right now I should go and get all those presents I've been too busy to buy. Have a good Christmas, all, and enjoy the games.

Knife City.

2005-12-20T22:17:00.000Z

Something worth a mention is Knife City. The London Metropolitan Police has turned to an extremely well-produced video in order to try to combat the knife culture that is becoming more and more prominent in our large communities. It's an obvious pastiche of a certain title mentioned here at least once, Vice City by rockstar games which portrays with an impressive cut series between "gaming" scenes and reality the brutal effects of this culture. It's been called anti-gaming , but I sense this is not the case. They are merely using the medium to grab attention and relay the message. It may fall down on several other levels, however as it may not reach the target audience, despite many free copies being freely distributed. More so than our own generation, the youngsters of today are immune to advertising, even to the point of labeling this particular piece of it propaganda (check out the comments at Alice's blog, Wonderland here), which in itself is a sad state of affairs, but I feel more thought could be put into the site as a whole to make it actually harder - hitting. More attention grabbing. A good start though, and a clever idea to use a medium that virtually all UK teenagers respond to. A violent video game. So, far from being anti-gaming, I see it as an experiment in using a popular pastime as method to spread the word. Good luck, but fighting against that infamous teenage rebelliousness and indifference is a mountain to climb.

-Pandora-

2005-12-19T20:11:00.000Z

The storms raged. The winds cracked the mountains and howled into the endless night. The echoes crashed across the valleys and crags demanding that they rise from their foundations and join the maelstrom. Then the rains beat the mountains with the force of a bomb and rise they did. Huge and powerful they rose into the storm, joining it, feeding it and creating a force to shatter a continent. Pandora was awake.

Ask about Games.

2005-12-13T17:31:00.000Z

Some of you may remember this article from a while ago and I found myself in a position where I had to repeat some research on children's games for a friend while configuring a pc for his young brood. Synchronicity stepped in when I discovered a particularly apt site had gone live this week. At askaboutgames.com you'll find the answers to all the questions that parents want to ask about games, their ratings, the ratings themselves and penatlies attached to them. It's a very useful site for parents of kids of any age who want to allow them to play games of any kind and includes some very nice touches including a page that explains genres, an advice centre that tackles some serious issues like game piracy and the possible health risks attached to gaming and a facts and figures section that is fascinating if that's your thing (if your reading this, it probably is ;) ) that contains much information about gaming in the UK that I didn't know despite being heavily involved in the gaming industry for most of my life and in the computer gaming industry for a number of years. "25.1% of British women play games regularly."? There might be some hope for me yet, then :D. I have no idea if there is an american equivalent for those reading this from the other side of the puddle and would welcome the link if anyone knows of it, but there is a great deal that's universal on this well put together website. I have no hesitation in wholeheartedly recommending it to anyone, whether you're just curious or have little ones to consider.

New navigation thingy and SBHoF.

2005-12-07T00:55:00.000Z

Well, after two nights hard work, I've finally managed to conjure a way to nail down my previous posts into an easily navigated format. Some of you might have noticed the "Previous posts of note" button that's appeared at the bottom of my sidebar (although I doubt it ;) until now). I've tried to pick out some of what I consider to be the more choice morsels along with links to all the games I've featured here in the past and series of articles will now be collected there under the "Series" section. I've also tried to link up the specific games articles for those who have found your way here looking for information on a specific game. It's a growing thing with more links and sections to be added. If you feel any articles have been missed out that should have been included, please feel free to shout out about it in any of the usual ways as well any suggestions you have for how it should be sectioned up and which posts or subjects rate a whole series about them. Please remember if mentioning specific games to look at that I really like to concentrate on the vast amount of free games out there with as little emphasis as possible on spending the old hard - earned cash. As you can see from my previous posts this is by no means exclusive and some games are well worth every penny.
Hope nobody minds a short post today but having finally cracked this particular nut and having to rise for work in a little over 6 hours I really must sleep,... but not without mentioning the latest community thing to be born (independently) out of Blog Explosion. The Shout Box Hall of Fame is a community blog made up of denizens of the Blog Explosion Shout Box. It's a little baby blog but has really got some tremendous talent of all kinds involved in it's conception. Good coders, writers, artists, comedians (& ennes :D), photographers, mommies, daddies, gamers... (oh yeah - yours truly has signed up to something else that'll eat into my time :P )... designers, a sleuth, a night club dj, the list goes on - this seems to have the lot. Even better is that I'm not organising it so it's not going to eat into my time TOO much... (ok, ok, I know I haven't posted there yet or created that button I said I was going to or that bit of text I said I'd sort or that banner I said I'd knock up OR... um... HA! - fooled you, there wasn't anything else! Or if there was I've not done that either. That horrible thing called having to work for a living has been getting in the way with 10+ hrs. a day, but enough of my troubles.)... and I think this is a certain winner. There's some great talent on display and after everything has calmed down after the first month-long rush of everyone posting in excitement I think we can expect some real top quality articles of all kinds there. One to watch.

Manhunt

2005-12-01T20:48:00.000Z

***WARNING***
THIS POST CONTAINS MATERIAL,IMAGES & LINKS TO MATERIAL THAT MAY BE OF A VIOLENT NATURE AND SHOULD NOT BE VIEWED BY MINORS.

They said we couldn't play it. That it would warp the minds of a generation. They whispered that it might break down the fabric of society and cause riots in the streets. It was banned in the UK for being just too sick. They can't keep a good game down though and the creators of Manhunt have a great deal to be proud of. Rockstar Games now have a tradition of violence in games being behind the much maligned Grand Theft Auto series, but this is a fish of a different colour entirely. The opening scene sees the hero of the tale (played by you) legally liquidated for crimes committed, however all is not as it seems as the player quickly learns awaking to an insistent voice urging him to kill. The player has been co-opted to play the lead role in a snuff movie and he must butcher his way out to survive. That's all the plot you need to know, at least for the beginning of it as you are inspired to kill your victims in ever more bloodthirsty ways throughout this game. First weapon of convenience is a plastic bag which can be used in a sneak attack from behind to execute the patsies in impressive cut-scenes that concentrate on the gore and give a real undercurrent to the feel of this game. Points are awarded according to style of kill and time taken per level with some really quite challenging scenarios played out. Many of the images shown here are from those cut scenes, but they should not be confused with the gameplay, which is smooth, detailed and reasonably interactive. The deeper you go the darker it gets and I feel the banning order has as much to do with the subject of this game which glorifies snuff movies, as it does with the gameplay. To be honest I have seen much bloodier scenes in games several times. There is something about this that sets it apart from the other bloodfests, some psychological thing within the darkness of it all. The cynical look it takes at the human condition is a haunting one that will leave a bad taste in many mouths if the violence doesn't make them physically sick. I love it though. Great game. If you don't see me for a while and nothing gets done on any of my sites (yes, I have (actually) been working hard on them all in those moments I manage to snatch from my busy and active life and work... well, ok, all apart from the comics blog) then it's because I'm playing Manhunt. Cheerfully gutting hapless gang members in my starring role as the next psycho killer star. Any psychological damage was done years ago and is far beyond the scope of any mere game to affect. Please note that I've had special training in how to avoid such damage from these games however so I cannot recommend it for any not possessed of a similar detachment from the all-powerful screen. I doubt it'll take me very long to get bored with it, as good as it is. The likes of me appreciate a much more complex plot to go along with our needless slaughter and psychological tricks before we can replay a game again and again. A jolly good jape though so one you can go back to 6 months later and still enjoy without having to get too involved in it. Just make sure you're not easily shocked.

Lag Kills. (Web-Fu for beginners Part II)

2005-11-26T10:34:00.000Z

If you frequent any kind of cyberspace then you will have encountered a thing called lag. It is by far the biggest killer of online gamers of any kind, for instance and at the least has some odd effects. It refers to the observed time lag between server and home PC whether it is the internet being emotional or something else. I'll concentrate on the something else here. Lag can often be caused by the home user inadvertently with a number of applications that can be bandwidth heavy. Downloading something or using any Peer to Peer (P2P) software is the first obvious example. Not only do both of these use that all-important bandwidth (don't forget, it's not only the download speed but the upload speed which is vital, particularly for the server host), but in the case of P2P software they also use processor cycles. These are the prime causes of lag in games and anywhere else. Not only does it affect the P2Per or downloader, all the people in their immediate area are hit as well, which can sometimes have disastrous knock-on effects depending on server load and/or configuration. Not that they are the only causes by any means. Anything that is CPU-intensive can cause lag. This includes many art programmes, transferring files through a network, burning CD's or DVD's, having too many browser windows open, playing more than one online (or offline) game at once, in short anything that makes a computer work hard. Certain Instant Messengers are also guilty of being bandwidth-hogs, the example that springs primarily to mind being MSN which can really make a difference in some cases. Most gamers use something like Teamspeak to communicate while playing because within such programmes you can often easily control how much bandwidth you allow it to use. Then there's cheating. Using modifications to the game that are unrecognised by the server host. Not only is this incredibly bad form and gets the cheater banned from that server (often entire communities of servers) but can cause lag for everyone in-game except (but often including) the miscreant using the cheat in the first place. So, if you're going to play an online game and want to minimise the chances of lag, shut down the downloads, switch off the P2P, stop the file transfers and discs being burnt, close all other windows except you're specialist communications if you use one and make sure that you're computer isn't downloading or installing updates in the background. Oh yeah, and never cheat. If you play more than one version of a given game (on different servers for example), then make certain that the one you are playing is the correct patch/modification for that particular server. Most Admins will not be impressed by a player who "forgot" to switch between modifications and caused a server crash or worse. Hopefully these tips will keep any lag you experience whilst gaming to a minimum, but they are by no means hard and fast rules, you can do everything right and still experience lag. Often you can test how bad the lag is using the in-game communication (normally text). Simply type a message in and the observed time between hitting "enter" and the time it takes to appear on screen gives you the lag factor, which explains all those messages that say "test" that you may have seen. They are testing how bad the lag is. An experienced veteran in a particular game can cope with a certain amount of lag, but I would never recommend continuing if it's too bad. In clans I have been in we have had different tactics for dealing with lag, depending upon it's severity and I may look at these in future articles. For now, an explanation of lag and it's causes should answer a few questions for those who don't know what it is exactly. How to cope with it is a different story altogether with many tips that are game specific. Hope this helps, though and as always, have fun.

Feel the Force.

2005-11-23T19:02:00.000Z

As an ex-joint-clan leader of a certain infamous Jedi clan in a Freelancer community I couldn't help but be overjoyed when I found a blogger out there that linked a superb Jedi Training game and in a nostalgic moment I felt I had to bring you certain things. A couple of hilarious ones from Metal Maverick to start off with that have been about for a while now but well worth another look. If you've not seen them already, you're in for a big treat with Jedi Training (flash) and Jedi Duels (flash) where we are introduced to a new Jedi hero... well, erm, a new Jedi... um... just watch them, they're funny, ok?.
Something else that has a nice retro feel is Star Bears, the Fandom Menace (shockwave) in which the player must match up lights to the keys a, s, d, z, x & c to combat... you'll get the idea and if you don't, it's a safe one to get your kids to help you with.
Lest I forget I should mention the game that got me started on this article in the first place. Jedi Trainer (flash) can be found at the awesomely clever Lost Vectors where there is all kinds of interesting stuff. I spotted it originally at Ellipsoid and the Wandering Pocket which is a great little blog that I'll keep an eye on.
Well, that's me out of the time snatched from my busy schedule - posting on a school night!

Have fun!

Battle of the Blogs: part 1

2005-11-20T23:48:00.000Z

Well, I figured you all figured I've been too busy messing with my template to bother with the minor detail of actually posting anything... you could well be right. I can also claim personal and professional pressures as well with things being more than a little hectic at the moment, but that would be an excuse. I've discovered a love of playing with images and coding which has even taken over from my love of community so have been beavering away on this dirty look (you know it makes sense - who really wants a site to be clean ?) rather than sitting in the various communities where I can normally be found chatting inanely and being soundly thrashed at Battle Of The Blogs, which can be found over at Blog Explosion. An interesting and highly addictive game I have been hesitant to endorse as it had previously come along with the inherent pitfalls of any popularity game. There are many idiots out there on the web that forget the key word of "game" and take it far too personally, giving rise to petty squabbles and flame wars over what was designed in the first place essentially as fun. That said, I have found very little of that in recent times when playing this rewarding game. I say rewarding because I have found many great sites through battling and regularly use it just to remain up-to-date with certain blogs. There's also regular readers who have first seen me in a battle slugging it out in what has usually proven a fruitless endeavor. Not that I mind that - it's all data... now, don't forget I am from the gaming fraternity and realised long ago that all PC (and most other) games are just about the numbers and this is no exception. It was simplicity itself to work out that all anyone needs to do to retain a decent winning streak was wait for a weak opponent (determined their win/loss ratio) and challenge them. It's not strictly true though. I thought I had certain patterns of numbers and ratios worked out and could prejudge who would win a given battle and have been disproved time and again. Whenever humans are thrown into an equation probabilities tend to go out of the window, however there are "tricks" to producing a good battling blog and there are many really excellent ones to learn from. Not that I can speak with any great authority on the subject languishing down in the two hundreds on the leader board as I am and I must admit that in order to further my understanding of this game the desire to increase my win/loss ratio has at least partly affected my motivation for the redesign. It's not only about content, it's quality or subject matter (rest assured I will not begin writing exclusively for BotB - this remains a gaming blog & will be about them, although being a game it's right that it should at least be able to hold it's own in the arena), but many other factors are involved. The look of the blog. I've specifically gone for a dirty look to fly in the face of the current fashion of cleanliness going around. Part of what made the Ridley Scott films for me was the dirty technology. It was believable because no-one cleaned the streets; but that's not enough either - it's got to work in all it's little details and features and have a feel that is unique to that blog to set it apart from all the others. It's got to have the "wow" factor. I've still got a lot of work to do before I feel I can set my sights on the more successful Battlers out there despite by dint of some great content in the past I've pulled off some stunning victories. I am no longer resting on my laurels however, as you can see the majority of the work has been done which should earn me a place with some of the more prestigious Blog Explosion members which should in turn allow me to speak with some authority on this matter and write the far more informative and definitive part 2 of this article. At the moment the best I can say is that I haven't been able to analyse a discernible pattern at the moment. To any n00bies out there at BotB hoping to pick up some tips there is some encouragement to be had. In the lower ranked numbers there are a vast amount of blogs who no longer battle for whatever reason. With each win you will gain a number of places. A great deal of it depends on who is voting at the time and at first although it seems hard if you stick at it you will look back to all those lost battles and think that you had it easy then because you weren't fighting for every point. Two points for a win has gotten me over a hundred places before now - wish it made that much difference at this stage. If you get your win:loss ratio up to about 1:2 and make sure you vote on all the battles you should find that it pays for itself in credits and can be very rewarding. You won't remember the countless times you lose to that mommy (or whatever) blog, but you'll count the one win you get against them as a valuable scalp (I have Ficken Chingers and Kinky Nina amongst mine).

Anyway, hope you all like the new look, but if you don't, then please bear with me as on this list of things to be done is a skin changer that will allow the reader to choose between different templates. All in all, even though there's been only a few posts, I'm quite proud of the work that's gone into this to get it to look the way it does and even though it's not yet finished or polished and will be an evolving thing I am satisfied with it enough to enter the arena once more.

Who's up for a battle?

Time Travel with FuzzBuck Fuzz.

2005-11-07T22:38:00.000Z

Before I go any further I'll point out now that this has nothing to do with games (well ok, maybe a little).

On Halloween night all mimsy with the witches dust I was tempted into tripping the light fantastic down a long corridor, a myriad of corridors suspended in space at once both translucent and transparent. I marveled at the majesty of creation in every direction, galaxies birthing, expiring and breathing cosmic eons. Never silent, never still. I realised that this was nothing extraordinary, the background we live our lives in utter ignorance of, but this moment was special.

There were doors in the walls.

Doors in the ceilings and doors in the floors. Trap doors, safety doors, wooden doors, metal doors, stone doors. Doors made from bone and doors made from fear. All manner of doors could be seen here. Each one had a number with style that matched it. "Pick a door." said a voice when I'd not nearly scratched it. Too much choice! I rushed and harried at speeds faster than light as I searched for the door that I knew would be right. 2119 wanted to be picked, but something was wrong so onwards I tripped. My guide wandered faster always ahead ...MY GUIDE!?... I stared at the laughter that grew slightly higher. My guide was fire. An airlock was found, was opened and entered. A dial turned at random and numbers descended.

1763.

Beclogged and betogged and alone in the city went young master Barlow heading North with a ditty. Heading North with a passion that always would lead him although having no food he knew not who would feed him. Ten years fly by fast till we see him again. Ten years spent at sea; he's a Freeman become. A night spent aloft in a Portsmouth Tavern and Northbound again he walks with his passion. Well his passion he found in a mid country town so he rested from walking and got down to talking of love. Farming the land for the lord of his burrough, old John settled down, that roguish old bugger. Ten years gone again and he's still at the farm, though he's thinking of leaving for his true love has gone. His eyes look once more to the North in the sky and again sets out walking always asking it why. Ten years this time walking ever Northwards he goes, through the dark brooding mountains that challenge his soul. Through the snows and the wilds and the merciless crows ever Northwards he walks never stumbles or falters. Upon reaching the ocean and feeling the motion of waves; he turns round to Southwards and grins at the mountains to brave. Ten years racing Southbound to Portsmouth returned, to work on the dockside his living he earned. I ask for a snippet, a word of advice, "It's cold in the North." came the wry seadog's spice.

******************************************

Well, I did say it had nothing to do with games, didn't I? No, it wasn't some crazy drugged-up hallucination, but a past-life hypnosis experience, a subject I've always found fascinating and I do think counts as "maybe a little" to do with them (although that's a 1,200 word article in it's own right) thrown together with a little creative writing. It's experimental so I'm extremely interested in what anybody & everybody makes of it.

All work and no play...

2005-11-06T05:36:00.000Z

...Makes Fuzz a dull boy...

Ok, ok, I know I haven't updated in ages - well over a week, but if you're a regular visitor you'll spot the new header and see one of the reasons why. It's been quite a lot of work on the professional and social side as well; I've been out every night this week and all day today so haven't really gotten much opportunity to write nearly as much as I'd like to. Hope you can see from above though that wheels are turning in the background to bring a new look to this blog and get the others off the ground. Far from being neglected the creation process is ticking over nicely however it's nearly 6:00 am here and I have been up, awake and active since 7:30 am yesterday morning so I hope you will all forgive me if I cut this short and finally get some sleep. Hope you like the new header :D

Free Simpson Games

2005-10-27T19:27:00.000Z

In celebration and honour of the Philosopher of the Decade I will be dedicating this article to Simpson games. Yes that's right, Homer Simpson featured on a bona fide list which details the greatest 10 men of the decade. The lineup was prepared for Men's Health Magazine by experts and includes Bob Geldoff (greatest activist) and Lance Armstrong (greatest sportsman). Homer scored the top spot for philosophy after teaching "...a generation how to take on the challenge of modern fatherhood and win." according to editor Morgan Rees. So, what has the gaming community made of this paternal icon for our times?
Well, there's Homers (java) in which you must turn Homer's heads the right way up. Hours of frustration right there. If anyone actually succeeds at this one please let me know as I've become convinced that it is, in fact, impossible. Hmmm ... just one more go ...

...

...

Then there's Bartman (java) which is a version of Hangman in which you have to name the Springfield character or Bart gets it. Bizarrely it's another addictive one which tests your knowledge of the home town of the decade's greatest philosopher. Hit Homer (java) has you trying to give Homer's "Noggin a Floggin'" (to quote Ned Flanders) with your cursor cuing more frustration although Noughts and Homers (java) is much easier to beat. Mr Burns is not an expert at tic tac toe (naughts and crosses) it seems.
Funny games.bi z offers Simpsons Snow Fight (flash) as an acknowledgement of this wacky families' appeal. It's great fun and can get very hectic. To quote Nelson, "HA-ha!".
To round it all off Free Online Games.com (with ad popunder's & popups) shows us Simpsons Home I nteractive (flash) which allows us to explore the genius' home, interact with his pets and family and catch a glimpse into the mind of the greatest philosopher of the decade. This is a game you can download for free and use on your site if you have the necessary web-fu. I'll leave you with some useful computer wisdom from The Man himself. "'Hit any key to start.'... Which one's the 'any' key?"

Have fun.

:D

The answers!

2005-10-21T15:08:00.000Z

Happy weekend!!

Time for the answers. Thank you for all your comments and for playing this interesting game. I'll get around to answering them "shortly" but for now, here are the answers to the 20 things you'll wish you didn't know about Fuzzy.

1) True. I have only been driving a car for the past 3 years or so. Before then I used to hitch - hike everywhere. It still seems a large amount, but when you consider I lived for 3 years on the road itself and hitch-hiked my way across southern Europe and back it's not such an unbelievable figure. In fact I suspect it's a lot more as last time I tried to add it all up I lost count after 560,000.
2) True. It's where I ended up after my mad dash across Europe. A small town called Benidorm in fact where I worked in a bar.
3) True. 20 years or so ago my father received a rather prestigious award from Her Majesty and the whole family was invited down for the ceremony. A whole other world.
4) True. I never learned how. Don't misunderstand, I have no fear of water and can float quite effectively. I just have problems when it comes to propelling myself anywhere in the water.
5) True. It's a sport called Ghyl Scrambling (or girly scrambling for the more serious outdoors sportspeople). The no swimming was never much of an issue with this as the water is generally moving far too fast for anyone to be able to swim in it in the first place. The idea is that due to erosion caused by climbers many natural beauty spots are being ruined. The climbers thought that the answer to this was to tackle an area already subject to extreme natural erosion. A Ghyl is a Cumbrian word for a mountain stream or waterfall. Ghyl scrambling was born - it really is tremendous fun, a massive adrenalin rush and fairly life-threatening. Don't take it up unless you are already very good at climbing.
6) True. I joined a company call Patchwork which traveled the land with a fire show. I was a fire stick twirler (a 4 or 5 foot long staff with each end set on fire) and (you guessed it) Fire Eater. Great fun was had by all. I have no idea what any of them are up to now. I left when they headed for Russia not long after the wall came down but my passport not being up to date prevented me following this exciting career further.
7) False. Holst? Do me a favour! I don't exactly hate his work (it's very nice) but when compared to the majesty of Beethoven or the intricacies of Mozart both of those composers win hands down. If you were hoping to learn my favorite composer though I'm afraid I cannot choose between those two. Holst makes the top ten, but doesn't come first.
8) False. Never even been there, though it's on the list of places to visit when I get the opportunity. Amsterdam seems particularly attractive. Can't think why.
9) True. I have never been on the radio. Not once. Not even a little bit.
10) True. And non was quite right when he said it was at an early age. I remember playing 16 year olds from other schools when I was 13 and winning! After Spook (I can only remember his nickname - awesome chess player) left I was the next natural choice and in my tenure of 3 years as Chess captain we never lost a match.
11) True. This is one of a couple of technical ones. I was an extra for 1 day for the kingly sum of Â£50 on the set of First Knight. I have never seen my name in the credits or myself on screen, although I recognise a few others from that day technically it could be argued that I wasn't "in it". I was on the set and filmed - even if they didn't use it, I was still in it. True then. ;)
12) True. I spent the early years of my life there as an army brat.
13) False. Another technical one. I was in the same room as her, I was close enough to touch her, but we never said a word to each other and I was never introduced to the Queen. Therefore I never met her. My father did, but I didn't.
14) True. Several times in fact. Most noteworthy was News at Ten one night where my mother witnessed me being pulled from a rooftop and escorted into a Police van as part of a protest against the proposed M11 and the subsequent compulsory purchase orders that were (illegally) slapped on people's houses by the government. She was not best pleased.
15) True. I was training as a Radio Officer Cadet for a whole term and a half at their prestigious college facility.
16) True. The college was near Lake Windermere in Cumbria which is large enough for the basic training that was required. No journeys to sea were planned until the third year of training. The tutors were convinced they were going to teach me to swim but I got the last laugh when I got kicked out for excessive drinking and fighting with my Deck Officer .... erm .....
17) False. Never lived there nor would want to. I've passed through it many times but always thought it was just too full of French people prejudiced against the British to bother making the effort. They also eat strange things over there. Make sure your steak is from a cow.
18) True. Truth be told I still can but haven't played in many years so to say I'm rusty would be an understatement.
19) False. Nah, nobody would pay me for magic tricks unless it was how to make myself disappear. I do know a professional magician though, and a clown, a face painter and a Punch and Judy man so it is in the realms of possibility. It's just that I'm too lazy to put all the hours of necessary practice in.
20) True. Patchwork used to pay me to do that. They paid me in food and beer mostly (occasionally even cash!), but it was a living of a sort.

Just for the completeness of the thing (added in comments by non)

21) True(-ish). I wasn't going to mention this, but have been involved in a few riots over the years (go figure) which gave me enough experience to keep things "quiet" at a certain party I was at that sort of got out of hand when 500 riot police turned up wihout invites. They were politely requested to leave.
22) True. But not the dwelling you're thinking of non. There have been many much bigger than that. I did work there as a scaffolder and marquee erector though so have worked on some truly massive edifices for people to live in.
23) False. My pet boar is called Duffy. :D

Hope you've enjoyed playing, have been suitably amazed at just a few of the extraordinary things that have occurred in the life of FuzzBuck Fuzz and have gotten to know your favorite gaming blogger a little better. I reckon you're also looking forward to reading other people's true / false memes. So wihout further ado, these are the bloggers I have chosen to follow on from this post and for it to further infect the blogosphere. Don't worry if you don't want to do it, nobody will hold it against you, but I found it tremendous fun so heartily recommend having a go:

Just PureMood (Thought you'd like this one).

Empress Maruja (Go for it cupcake. Should keep you busy while I make buttons...).

& SNE (I hear you hate these things? This one is good fun though so have a go :D)

Consider yourselves tagged.

Edit:
And tagged at her own request:
& Crazie Queen

Have fun

20 things you'll wish you didn't know about Fuzzy.

2005-10-16T12:08:00.000Z

It's allright, not all of them are true.

Ok, ok I got tagged by Princsiss with a true/false meme. I's taken me ages to come up with these so if they're too easy I'm afraid you're just going to have to live with it. 20 things about me but not all of them are true. Can you spot the falsehoods? Leave the numbers of what you think are lies in my comments and I'll reveal the truth after the weekend and pick another lucky blogger or two for this game when all is exposed.

1) I have hitch - hiked over a half of a million miles (not all at once).
2) I have lived in Spain.
3) I have been inside Buckingham Palace.
4) I cannot swim.
5) I have run up waterfalls for fun.
6) At 25 I ran away to join the circus.
7) My favourite composer is Holst.
8) I have lived in Holland.
9) I have never been on the radio.
10) I was captain of the school chess team.
11) I have been in a film.
12) I have lived in Germany.
13) I have met the Queen of England.
14) I have been on television.
15) I was in the Merchant Navy.
16) But I never went to sea.
17) I have lived in France
18) I used to play the mandolin.
19) I'm a professional magician.
20) I used to breathe fire for a living.

Links to all Fuzz made buttons.

2005-10-16T03:47:00.000Z

Hi folks. It may have taken me a while but I've finally gotten around to making a start on the template changes that will decrease the time it takes to load this page and make it easier to navigate. See those buttons over in the side bar? All my links will eventually be in expandable menus headed by buttons like that, just click on the header button to see the links contained therein. That way when more and more of them are replaced by images your browser won't need to load them all, only the ones you want to look at. You also won't need to scroll all the way down the sidebar to see the particular heading that interests you. There's a longer term point to this post as well with me using it as a place to show the code for displaying ALL my buttons along with the images themselves so that people can easily access them. It will get it's own permanent link in my side bar and I will add any new buttons to this post along with the neccesary coding required to display it as a link to the relevant site. For now I'll be hosting them all at Image Shack which is far from ideal (feel free to host elsewhere) so I hope to get them hosted somewhere better at some stage as well as bringing them all to within a standard length (I'll be going for 88 pixels) and recreating as interlaced gifs for improved viewing. Any requests for buttons and of course the link that goes along with it can now be addressed here.

Who said the Space Race was over?

2005-10-07T22:21:00.000Z

Forget Nascar. Forget IndyCar. Forget Formula 1. The next ultimate racing contest is coming. Rocket Racing is (to a degree) already here with the existence of the X-Prize foundation and cup but Peter Diamandis the creator of it all isn't going to stop there. Plans for a league of races were announced recently in which up to 10 racers will fly side by side at breakneck speeds each in its own "virtual tunnel" which will be maintained by satellite navigation and sophisticated onboard computers to minimise the chances of physical contact between the pilots. The "X-Racers" are being built for the series by private rocket maker XCOR who are basing the design on their entry for the XCup the already flying XCOR EZ-Rocket. Large screens and handheld GPS tracking devices will enable the fans to keep up with the action as the racers fly around a planned 3.2km track including pit stops. Each will have two 400lb (180kg) thrust rocket engines fuelled by liquid nitrogen and alcohol that will come with tanks that will carry just under three minutes worth of fuel. Fast and furious will be the name of the game with the aircraft traveling at 225mph (360kph) and the franchise being completed with TV rights, sponsorship, video games and of course merchandising. 2007 is the date set for the races to be in full swing with a preview in New Mexico at the Las Cruces Airport on Sunday Oct 9th unveiling a new generation of private spaceships during the X Prize Cup. Peter Diamandis the american businessman behind the project said "The winning of the ANSARI X PRIZE changed the paradigm that spaceflight had to be developed by large governments. It showed that the private sector, through small entrepreneurial companies with bright young talent, could achieve big results with small budgets, in relatively short periods of time. It showed that prizes and competitions are one very effective means to achieve success.
Now we must keep the competition going, and help push the envelope faster, higher, and cheaper, to build the safe spaceships that will carry you and me to space. To this end, we have partnered with the state of New Mexico to create The X PRIZE CUP, an exciting and educational event that will attract tens of thousands of people each year to New Mexico to see the spaceships of tomorrow take racing to new heights."

The Space Race is back. This time it's personalised.

Burnout 2

2005-10-05T20:06:00.000Z

"So has Fuzzy made a brew yet ?" came the question the other night at my friend's house, "Not yet." was the response to be greeted by "You know the rules. If you want me to make a brew you've got to beat me at a game first. Any game, chess, cards, playstation - you name it.". The cards were first. There were no takers for the chess challenge (well, there wouldn't be) but then out came the playstation. Burnout 2 was the choice of arena for this group of heavy game heads to batter me into submission and finally make a cup of tea for everyone. A driving game. Now I don't normally like driving games (just not my bag, man) but there is something about any game that allows me to destroy my opponents that I just cannot resist so not a word of complaint came out of me when my friend asked, "Where did you find that ?" to another who had pulled it from a long ignored shelf. "It's been there all the time." was his answer to illicit the joyful response, "Cool! I'd forgotten I had that!". So with much chortling and eager anticipation the box was opened, the disc inserted and battle was joined. Not that we played the normal racing style of this excellent title. Oh no. There is a Crash mode that assigns dollar values to the amount of carnage caused as you smash into the side of a bus or hit a big rig. Carnage was definitely the order of the day and this is a truly stunning part of this game that really showcases the crash physics engine that separates this game series from the others. There's a multi-player feature to the Crash mode that we chose and of course the lowest score made the tea (after about 10 rounds each as we'd all forgotten why we were playing in the first place). Two junctions each were played with myself failing to score on the first (d'ho) but scoring highly enough on the second to leave myself in with a chance in the third and final round. There was only 6,000 dollars in it when I sailed past every single vehicle without hitting a single one. Another no score round. I put the kettle on. At least I won the "Make a cup of tea." game though and it doesn't stop Burnout being the class act it is. I'm missing it already. Anyone want a cup of tea?

p.s. Sorry it's been ages without a post. Life is hectic, what with all these cups of tea to make and everything. Screenshots shown from the X-box version (which may be my next choice of console).

Why we play games.

2005-09-25T22:25:00.000Z

Sorry, sorry, it's been a long busy weekend but I've finally managed to catch up on my sleep. Work is a sad few hours away though so it will be the same thing again next week I'm afraid with hopefully more energy and time available towards the end of the week. Today I will be exploring a little the reasons why people game in the first place. We've all heard what I think is stuff and nonsense about violent games breeding violence in society when the reverse could actually be true providing as they do an outlet for repressed emotions and instincts more suited to hunting Neolithic gazelles or outrunning sabre tooth tigers than modern life. There is a payoff for playing games; firstly during the game itself there is an adrenaline rush that replaces the thrill of the hunt and then when the game is won or a challenge overcome there's a lovely endorphin high that satisfies the latent killer in all so called modern humans. It's worth noting that during the eighties in my wannabe yuppie days the arcade centre near the office was full every lunchtime with suited minor executives playing the most frantic games they could lay their hands on in the name of stress relief. It worked and while I couldn't compete with the fit of the suit, the size of the salary or the car that was being driven I could more than hold my own when it came to the arcade lunch break, a fact that was no end of satisfaction to me despite the shortfalls in the other areas. Socially I was at the higher end of the pecking order as a result of my games playing skills, thus negating the need to fight to establish my place in the hierarchy as I would have had to several thousand years ago. This is amongst grown men, the social building skills are vastly different to those used by our ancestors but the instincts that go behind it are the same, often replaced by banter in modern society. Those instincts are also satisfied within a gaming community based on skill and talent rather than physical or intellectual prowess. It really is a great leveler the trick being to play to your strengths and to strengthen areas you are weaker in - just as our ancestors would have had to do when competing with other predators for food in the wild. Teamwork is not neglected either with many many games requiring a team effort in order to achieve an effect advantageous to the group involved. Thus are clans and communities embarked on major hunting or foraging expeditions of yore. Games have it all when it comes to simulating things we no longer use and I believe it was a myth to claim that any human society is non-violent in the first place. The large scale lawlessness that was recently observed in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina surely shows what a thin veneer we paint over the cracks we hide behind. Society has always been violent but games may be able to help to reduce that violence by answering basic instinctive triggers that become frustrated and confused if left unchecked.

Ouch.

2005-09-20T19:21:00.000Z

Just a short word to let you know I aint suffering from any blogging woes - not got writer's block or anything, even got a folder full of articles I'm half way through but my brain and body are in shutdown after the shock to the system of returning to full-time very physical employment. I ache. I've got blisters where I used to have callouses and with long shifts am in the work, eat, sleep mode until the weekend (unless they offer me overtime at the weekends). I reckon it will take about a fortnight for my body to adjust fully which should make it possible for me to get back into some kind of schedule with my blogging responsibilities. Right now I'm not getting a chance to play any games let alone write about them, come up with imaginative fiction, administrate a forum or design a new template (LOTS wrong with this one - PLEASE offer me your suggestions). Don't worry though, I'll be as right as rain and playing and writing with the best of them shortly. For the moment the best I can offer is to quote a line from something that has been close to my heart for many a year ... ""It's time for bed," said Zebedee.".

Nytol.

Ok, just a quick show off then. Remember this? Here's another one of my old houses.

Must be true what they say about an Englishman and his home. :D

FuzzBuck's Buttons.

2005-09-18T05:10:00.000Z

Some of you may have noticed that the buttons turning up to replace the links to the "Blogs I visit" section have nothing to do with the software I blogged about earlier. It's true - nothing at all. I'm designing my own in Photoshop as part of a reorganisation of my links as nothing else is ideal for the job. Some of them I'm rather proud of and I can't resist blogging about the whole process even though it could only be said to be a game because it's fun to do, which it is (for me at least). That moment when all the elements fit into place and it starts to look like a finished professional product and I can look back at it and say "I made that." fills me with a great sense of achievement, especially when I see other people using the links I designed so if anyone wants me to create a button for them simply drop me a line in any of the usual fashions (email, comments in a blog, etc., etc.) and I'll be happy to see what I can come up with. I had thought that because of the size of the things involved (standard sizes ranging between 80x15 and 88x34) it would be incredibly difficult to sort the images and things like that and it is a skill no doubt about it. The same basics apply though - if something looks good it looks good and should transfer fine to a smaller medium. Here's the one I came up with for this blog if anyone wants to use it to link here ;).

All the links take you to the URL of the image in this post so you can easily save them. To visit the sites in question simply check out the side bar.
Particular favorites of mine are
, &

My favorite is Simply Not Edible's button, it has that certain something that brings it to life; at any moment I expect the little Final Fantasy figure to go wandering off around the screen. It's the first one I did inspired by the fact that his name is too long to fit into any of the standard button generators but I found that I couldn't stop there and methodically went through all the blogs I link to. Don't worry if I haven't got round to you yet, you're probably next. Speaking of that, Yoda's button makes it into my self-chosen top three because, well, it speaks for itself really and Glitch Art has that 1970's feel and a depth to the art of the image I pinched from them for the background that gives it an understated appeal. In a Frank Zappa type moment I feel the need to show you all the one's I've done so far and welcome any criticism (maybe even praise - LOL) and requests for buttons for yourselves.

...couldn't decide on the right colour scheme for Michele's...
,, or

A couple for The Guvnor Times where I will be a columnist in the weeks and months to come.
.

This next series is nice because it shows the creative process and when I started thinking "outside of the box".
to & then until

The Void Zero presented unique challenges that I "creatively" solved but can't decide which way round the spiral should go.
or

1 or 2 pixels for a border for Jean-Luc Picard?
,

More for Yoda, Glitch Art & Simply Not Edible.
,,

Wouldn't it be nice...?

2005-09-16T03:41:00.000Z

First a word about a change in schedules. It's been increasingly difficult for me to post every day (busy life, irons in fires and all that) so I'll be posting regularly on a "when I can" basis that I'll attempt to make every day or at least every other day. It kind of depends on the weather as well as recently my internet connection got taken out by rain in the external box but I'll try. Can't say fairer than that. On with the blog.

There's been a few discussions recently along the lines of the wish-list of the ultimate game. Personally right now I think that the market is ideal for the next big space simulation. Freelancer has become old - hat and Eve online is so much yesterday. My question is why stop there? Why not set it up so that each time you land on a planet or station you exit your ship and enter an open Grand Theft Auto style First Person Shooting game? When you have enough to afford armies why not then go into a Real Time Strategy game like the Total War series, or buy a house and live a normal life, or build your own space station, start your own colonies or empires in a building, resource - grabbing style RTS like Empire Earth, Age of Empires or Civilisations? Have a realistic flight simulator that can switch between flying in and out of atmosphere's if you're ship can manage it or even have entire battle fleets at your disposal after hiring mercenaries, taking over a major government or building your own? The possibilities seem endless if you really decide that the effect you want to pull off is the ultimate cross-genre game. Racing on land and in air using a choice of technologies available with both "clean" races where you don't try to kill your opponents and other, "dirty" races where anything goes including fixing the race. A gambling style based on different card games could be handled in casinos or the race tracks that could range from vehicle to animal including human and alien races that would be another huge hook for the available player market. Before I go any further ©: this idea FuzzBuck Fuzz 2005 ;). Seriously folks there's not been many producers that attempt cross-genre games but realistically this could be a huge market. Potentially you could please every type of gameplayer in a single player environment and even do a multiplayer version that you could open up to the community. The more I think about it the better and better this idea seems and there also seems many ways I reckon it could be pulled off effectively. If there are any major (or minor, talented and keen) games producers out there feel free to contact me and we can discuss the idea of the Game. If anyone else has any thoughts on this feel free to comment away. :D

Ashes victory but America's Army loses.

2005-09-13T14:00:00.000Z

...and I thought last week was bad. VERY sorry to anyone who's been waiting in vain for me to post over the last couple of days but things in the land of the Fuzzmeister have been just a little trying of late so posting on my weblog about games has sort of taken a back seat I'm afraid. No UK gaming blog would be complete without a mention of the recent cricket score at the moment though so a big congratulations to our lads who brought home the ashes victory (for those that don't know its a competition between England and Australia, the current "best" team in the world, over the 100 or so year old ashes of a pair of cricket bales that was burnt to signify the death of English cricket after being soundly thrashed by them all those years ago). The quality of play from both sides was remarkable as was the sense of fair play and good old fashioned gentlemanly conduct. Well done guys, the first time in 16 years that we can hold the coveted trophy aloft. Now that just IS cricket. As a side note I can't resist name dropping that a couple of my friends recently formed the children's entertainment at the birthday party of one of Andrew Flintoff's kids (a.k.a. Freddy Flintstone, England all-rounder, accomplished batsman and mean bowler). Well done to them too.

Now that that is out of the way today's missive takes a look at the much hyped America's Army. It's a first but I fear I must give a negative review to a completely free game. As first person shooter's go it's not that bad but there is an awful lot I feel that has been done badly in this game. The tutorials first of all do little to actually teach you the basics of the game but insist you must complete them in order to play. I found these to be buggy to be honest and never learnt how to correctly use grenades as that was the bit that kept failing when I tried to do it, no matter, it allowed me to continue on into the carnage anyway. Then I had to go about choosing a server. Being as green as they come I figured one calling itself N00bs Playground looked appropriate. Predictably it was full of experienced players and it was only a matter of time until I bit the dust first every time. Not to be deterred I attempted again and again to take the bridge (the point of the battle) to be blasted by snipers time afer time. An exercise in frustration really as every time I or my team member's tried the same trick we were accused of the heinous crime of "camping". I think that it's a bad choice of scenario for a newcomer's server that was badly policed and seemed to cater for the experienced player anyway. Try another server then, was my thought which I did to be greeted by the impatience that is usually accompanied by a player unfamiliar with a game and struggling with it. Perhaps the whole thing would have gone more smoothly had there been something in the tutorials to actually show me an awful lot more that I needed to know. Either way it's not a winner in my book as without massive first person shooter experience you will find this very difficult. If you do have the neccesary experience you will no doubt have much more up to date games to play with better, smoother graphics and on the whole more playability. Ah well, it can't be sweetness and light every time. Of course you may disagree with me and absolutely love this game. If so, please let me know where I have been going wrong and why I find it very difficult to appreciate this highly popular title.

Just a few more Shockwave free games.

2005-09-10T21:31:00.000Z

It's hard being Fuzzy sometimes. I have all these great games and ideas to bring to you that I just don't know sometimes which to blog about first. No clues right now about what is coming up but there is some fantastic stuff I've been working on. Speaking of which my full-time work starts again on Monday so I'll endeavor to get as much done before then as possible as it involves long hours. With that in mind for now I want to add a few more Shockwave games to the list of links. No sense in not giving myself more work to do when I come to re-organise them. One for the kids is Kids Domain where you'll find a great selection of educational games that it's safe to let your kids loose on. There's an older kids section too where they link to the most excellent (nod to Bill & Ted) Make Giant Art (shockwave) which hits a particular note with this ex-binman. How do you like this piece I knocked up earlier - would it make it into the Tate or what? They've also got links to things like GPS: The New Navigation (shockwave) which is at Nova, a fascinating site for any age from 10 to 100. There's also a way from Kids Domain to Snoopy.com the home of a particularly well known beagle that finds him pitted against Charlie Brown in what else other than Baseball? Top game. With that I must blog you and leave you I'm afraid as there's a game that's screaming at me that it wants me to play it right now. I'll tell you all about it later ;)

-Pandora-

2005-09-09T23:39:00.000Z

The Great Mind is infinite in it's thoughts.
Infinity is the expression of these thoughts.

And on the edges of these thoughts .... on the edges of the almost - on the edges of infinity itself where human understanding pales into nonsense there are beings that exist as a result of thoughts that last for a fraction of a fraction of a nanosecond. Every thought real or imagined exists somewhere in the infinite All. Imagination is a dangerous thing. For there be demons.

-Pandora-
Coming soon to a blog near you

(ps. Sorry it's late today. You know how it goes sometimes.)

Final Fantasy

2005-09-08T22:23:00.000Z

Well, what a few days it's been for me, but I won't bore you all with my problems I'll just get straight on with my latest offering which is again a short one (sorry) in which I'll introduce a game series I'm sure many of you are already familiar with. Final Fantasy is one of my great loves in gaming. The seventh episode is the reason I bought a Playstation and started getting back into computer games all those years ago. Back then I was a bit more of a serious games head having run, managed and been referee at several Live Fantasy Role Playing Games companies where grown men hit each other with swords. Computer games were for kids. Then I saw FFVII and changed my opinion. It was incredible and at least as much thought had been put into the rich land and plot of this game as I had myself into the lands, plots and political intrigues that I had created. Someone else had done all the work and they had done it better than me. Ok, I was constrained to an image on a screen and not in a castle, cave or forest with a sword in my hand ready to hack and slash at all opponent's but it pulled me back to the world of video games in no uncertain terms. For days, weeks and months I locked myself away until I reached the end. Then I bought a walkthrough and saw just how much I had missed. There's no doubt that this series just went from strength to strength with every new release and thoroughly deserves it's place in the hall of gaming greats. From flying universities to Chocobo breeding and space ships these games had it all and is another one of those I will look at more closely to see just which buttons were pushed for me and the rest of the worlds gamers to make it such a relentless winner.

The big five - oh but apologies for no post yesterday

2005-09-08T04:20:00.000Z

50th post but BIG apologies to all the regular reader's out there. Had one of those absolutely awful days where everything goes wrong and didn't get a chance to blog yesterday. I hope you can forgive the first time this has happened and will try to give warnings if it's likely to happen again. Occasionally real life intrudes upon my little corner of the blogosphere. As it's gone 5:00 here this morning this can only be a short apology to assuage my conscience and allow me to sleep. Will be posting properly later today. Catch you guys & gals later :)

Newsground revisited.

2005-09-06T17:53:00.000Z

I'm a bit pushed for time today so sorry if this is a bit short but Newsground is so good I just have to base today's article on it as well. I'll be concentrating on their games section (all flash) where as well as some standard often seen games they have many originals like Soldier which is a decent First Person Shooting game that sees you running around avoiding enemy fire whilst trying to shoot your opponents. Skull Kid is a bloodthirsty riotous look at office life and guaranteed to de-stress even the most jaded of office workers while Barbarian Bob has the clean lines of an instant hit. Stick RPG is extremely well done with a whole town to explore (but don't step off the map) including a bar where you will find mini-games and beer. The shot is of a stick - fight (can't help myself after a few beers) but my favorite was the drunken darts which is too close to playing darts after a few beverages for it's own good. The one tip I'll give is to stay on the path. I'll round it off with a game indicated for 17-year olds and over (so don't play it if you're too young!) that saw me guffaw with laughter. I'll let their own description do it justice. I couldn't make this stuff up: "What happens when you cross a cow with chocolate, vodka and a dodgy winter Olympic sport?"

Cow Curling for your gaming enjoyment.

"Moo!"

All your base are belong to us.

2005-09-05T20:58:00.000Z

Set the Wayback Generator, we're going back, way back to 1989 and a game called Zero Wing for the Sega Genesis by Toaplan. It was never a class game with poor graphics and playability and was almost completely unremarkable. Just one thing separated it from the rest of the games that were out then (or have been since) and that has endeared it to the hearts of a generation. The language. It was just about the worst translation that has been produced in a game (from the original Japanese) and is the origin of the now iconic phrase "All your base are belong to us." There have been many spoofs of it since and there are a couple I've come across that I just have to share with you. You'll need Flash to play these videos (useful for much more than just playing games) and I found this little lot at Newsgrounds (thanks GW) where you will find much more than just these videos. More about that later, first the original video spoof that set off all the others by Bad_CRC, you may get advertising popunders as you navigate around the site but I found that just allowing the first one and then minimising it stops all the others from opening. There are a couple of jewels on the Newsgrounds page that lists other spoofs but the cream of the crop is definitely the first one, TMST's Zero Wing Rhapsody an absolute work of genius in my humble opinion. It had me rolling in the aisles. Another good one is All your Wazzup which combines this and an advert for a popular beer (yes, I know all beer is popular).

I can't go without mentioning another area worthy of your consideration at their site. Remember Worms (I'll be hunting that one out properly later)? Well they have a whole Worms section with playable games and videos, all very very funny.

Oh yeah, they have a games section too ;)

A great site to share with you then and I just can't resist leaving you with this banner.

Have fun.

South Park games beat the countdown...

2005-09-04T22:48:00.000Z

Remember this ...

"Footnote: ... hmmm, just noticed this ... "Your life of crime begins on foot in Liberty City, in an area called South Park. " ... South Park ... I wonder..."

from an earlier post? Well, I went off to look for any information to back it up. Couldn't find anything to say that the makers of South Park were all GTA players who named their show after it but you know I want it to be true if only for the sense of wholeness of it, particularly as it's gone full circle now with South Park games being freely available at South Park Studios. A show that was named after a game that now spawns games based on itself. Yes, I like the completeness of it all. The games like the show should be considered for adults only with profanity and adult themes so DO NOT visit if you are easily offended or under age. Yes, that means you. Don't go telling your father or mother that FuzzBuck said it was ok to play these games because I haven't, ok? Read the disclaimer.

If you're old enough and like South Park though these games are a must. All their games require the Flash plug in which is available through the link on my sidebar (under Flash games). First I tried was the hilarious Wild Animal Thumb Jam. You play Eric Cartman and must survive the wild animals by jamming your thumb ... well, I'm sure you can guess. I have to admit I was laughing so hard I never survived very long at all. Top game.
Next up was Cartman vs Evil Cartman (can you see a theme developing here?) which sees the evil nemesis being beaten to a pulp by the victorious hero of our tale. Ok, when I played it I lost but just a little more practice...

What is nice about them all is the true to show graphics with proper comic style flashes when the blows go in. To try and stay away from Eric (oh no, I can feel my mouse sliding towards Cartman's Boomb ox which is hilarious ... Cough ... ) ... To try and stay away from Eric for a moment Create your own South Park Character does exactly what it says on the tin allowing you to change head, body, legs and a vast amount of extras. Here's one I made earlier.

And I didn't use any sticky-back plastic.

:D

Enjoy.

A gem for all bloggers or site designers.

2005-09-03T18:31:00.000Z

is a nice little site I found (thanks Charmyou) that you can use to make buttons just like this one:

That people can use to link to you. If you want to use the above button to link to me please feel free, the URL is:

http://img42.imageshack.us/img42/5218/gamerfuzz1bf.jpg

Or feel free to host it wherever you want.

You MAY see me replacing all my links with buttons but it's a gem nonetheless. If you do create your own buttons be sure to let me know and I'll replace my links with your buttons rather than ones of my own design.

I was going to carry on with something gaming related but just to prove that I don't always blog about games here I think I'm going to leave it there.

Always leave 'em wanting more.

:D

Different types of games players.

2005-09-02T22:22:00.000Z

There are many different types of games players. It has been an issue in several places so I'll attempt to shed some light on it - or at least be definitively wrong. It's a very tricky subject as every single player out there will claim they are a mixture of types. To some degree this is true but from observed behaviour they almost always fall into one of the following categories.

Combat Players. I'll start with the type easiest to spot. These types live to kill and see every moment spent not in combat as literally a waste of time. Whether or not they concentrate on human or ai (artificial intelligence) opponents could be a subdivision but is not a major thing. No challenge is too great for a combat player, the harder the better and they will often go out of their way to make things harder for themselves just so they can beat it. Often loners online things like plot, storyline and continuity have little interest for them. Just killing more and harder things. This is not to say they will not work as part of a team. Many very effective teams are made from combat players and many many games concentrate on this single type of player.

Persona Players create complex personalities for their characters complete with histories, back stories and the hundred and one things that go along with it. Very little outside of this is important although they will participate fully in plot or storyline situations it will always be from the point of view of how their created character would react or be affected.

Social Players tend to spend most of their time socialising with other players. They will build networks of contacts and often will only be online when their contacts are about. Playing with friends is the primary concern for the social player but again they will interact fully with any storyline situations as long as they can do so with their friends.

Statistic Players care about stats. Any stats. Whether it's the amount of kills or having the most powerful sword of wootness or guns this is what makes them tick. They tend to be very thorough knowing chapter and verse on game rules and mechanics and every secret or hidden place in the game. That's where the sword of wootness hangs out. Storyline and plot devices matter to them, but only from the point of view of what they can get out of it.

Role Players. You may think that anyone who plays a Role Playing Game (RPG) is by definition a role player. In fact there are very few true role players out there. They will hover on every word of any plot dissecting and analyising every last detail. They will be extremely knowledgeable about all the major characters in their envirnoment and will frequently interract with them. They are the players who come up with the grand schemes and plotlines of their own. If they come across an under-developed area in a game they will happily make up things to expand on the original and it will always fit with the precious continuity. When another type of player "dies" within a game they may be back seconds or minutes later with the same name as good as new. When a roleplayer dies it is a major event, the loss of a virtual possession and you will almost never see the same person as the same character back again. Some people refer to this as hard core playing. It's not, it's just a role player playing to his or her potential. The only thing more important to the role player than their character is the continuity. That must be preserved at all costs and if it means dying to save the world then few will hesitate. Unless they are role playing a character who would hesitate of course.

Many thanks to Talzhemir who's Ideas On The Nature Of Role Playing formed the inspiration for this article.

The shape of things already here...

2005-09-01T18:14:00.000Z

Wow. Anyone who appreciates the realism of physically correct graphics cannot be anything but impressed by this. Check out their demos. The effects used in games have become better and better over the years, from the early days of 2D stuff (go on, admit it, we all still love it) to the amazing 3D effects where after spraying your opponent with a hail of bullets, blood and body parts flying in all directions you then go on to sign your name in the innocently by-standing walls. A lot of physics goes into that. Calculating the velocity of the bullets, the effects of them striking different materials, the velocity and viscosity of the carnage, the list goes on and on. As great as the effects all are, most of the calculations are done by your Central Processing Unit or CPU. Your graphics card handles the effects of those calculations on graphical images to show you the image on the screen. Looks good, but what if the graphics card was doing it all? The latest ones on the market will handle it and by lightening the load on your CPU it will be even smoother and more realistic. I see awesome things on the horizon. Not long ago I posted on Lancers Reactor that the complexity of a game that followed all the known astrophysical rules in a space simulation would be counter productive. That is, it would be so complex that there's no way our computers would handle it. With things like this on their way and fully integrated software and hardware I can see that being a showpiece for programmers to come. Guess we can only wait to see what the future brings and hopefully see the big games producers start to concentrate on playability through realistic graphics rather than flashiness of games to sell to the masses.

Grand Theft Auto

2005-08-31T21:33:00.000Z

Huh? They're GIVING AWAY the first three volumes of Grand Theft Auto? That'll be over at Rockstar Games who are in a generous mood then. Good on 'em I say. This game revolutionised game playing at the time (1997) and was the first driving game I (amongst others) actually enjoyed playing. Except that it wasn't a driving game, it had a massive role playing aspect, and even elements of a shoot 'em up. Except that most of the time you spent driving it seemed, so it was a driving game ... you see what I mean? It crossed boundaries and genres with a mass appeal and competent skill. Not happy with just releasing these classics to the like of us for free they've even tweaked them a little so they will play better on modern computers and operating systems. These are big old downloads though so be aware:

328 MB for GTA1,
165 MB for Wild Metal &
344 MB for GTA2

You will also need to register with Rockstar to receive the downloads but so far I haven't received any spam from that quarter yet, and even if they do, I'll be too busy playing their games to notice. A small price to pay. If you grew up or played games in the nineties these are worth a free revisit. Even if you didn't I heartily recommend it to find out what all the fuss was about then and the roots of what you get today. Ok, It's a long way from the sharp 3D graphics of their modern offering, GTA San Andreas but there's a massive replayability to this series. The graphics have that correct retro feel to still appeal to the subconscious as you have loads of fun destroying things or traveling from phone box to phone box completing the missions that can be picked up from them. Our favorite, even on the modern version is to see how many police you can kill or get chasing you and still survive. Can't remember what the records were but I've a feeling I'm about to be making new ones.

Footnote: ... hmmm, just noticed this ... "Your life of crime begins on foot in Liberty City, in an area called South Park. " ... South Park ... I wonder...

Some terms explained.

2005-08-30T17:07:00.000Z

Just to explain some terms I've used or may use in the future. First off is the expression "Mod" or "Mod.". This is taken to mean a modification of any kind, usually done by a fan and/or a coder, but should not be considered as only being related to games. You can mod your car or your computer case or anything else. Indeed, my case had to be modded slightly to fit the sound card in.

A "Coder" is anyone who uses code on a regular basis or is capable of using computer codes of any kind. Further identification can be made by adding the type of code they are familiar with (as in C++ coder or html coder), although most coders have several codes under their belt so the generic "coder" is more commonly used. At least by me.

A "bug" is something that doesn't work right or an undocumented "feature" of a computer program. A "Patch" is supposed to fix bugs or rebalance the game.

Which should cover most of the things I'm likely to talk about. Anything else I will endeavor to cover at the time.

Blogging Games

2005-08-29T18:41:00.000Z

It wouldn't be right for a gaming blog to go without mentioning blogging games themselves. There are a few I've come across so far from the Comment Game brought to us by Michele, which is an innovative and wonderful idea. Top game. I've been a little too busy to play it myself recently but yes, a definite winner.

The post below is about a fantasy shares game for blogs. That was a surprise I must say, when I discovered people had already been buying and selling shares in my blog! Ah, the power of a search engine. Well, I've had time to look at it now and it seems a great resource for the blogging community as well as a top game. Being the strategy head I am though, I'll see how much I can suss out before I risk ruining my profile with stupid buys or sells.

Then there's the Interview Game which I first encountered at Clever Lines From Yellow Napkins, regular readers will have already seen it, but my answers are here. I couldn't resist ;)

Well, that'll do for an introduction I reckon. I'm missing a film about a game on UK Channel 4. Gotta go :D.

Post to claim your prize :D

2005-08-28T23:02:00.000Z

No Need to Click Here - I'm just claiming my feed at Feedster

My prize for that one being to edit the feeds that feedster picks out of my blogs &

is where there is a fantasy stock market game selling shares in blogs, believe it or not. Apparently Gamer is fairly hot property for a new blog so I'm getting in there with the ownership shares. Yes, there will be another post later today. ;)

Java Games

2005-08-28T19:32:00.000Z

I notice from looking at my links that I have been neglecting more than just the comics blog. Java games deserve a further expansion as their are many free games out there to discover and play. Some real gems too. Ice Break Alpha (java) is one of those. It has stunning graphics for a mini game as well as a real addiction value. No direct link available due to the Terms and Conditions of the site that has written it, Java Game Play but this place has got to get a mention for some of the stunning games it develops. Another one of theirs to show you is the Sci-Fi edition of the Blast First series. Nice games.

If puzzles are more your thing, can anyone solve this one? Pentalpha (java) drove me near dotty in the hour or so it took for me to give up. It's at Darkfish Games where you can also find Checkers (that's Draughts to me), Reversi (Othello) and a few others. It took me five attempts to eventually beat the thing at Five Field Kono (java). Some good stuff to go at.

Then again, maybe adventure games are more your thing. Runescape (java) from Arcade Pod might be the one for you. It's a Massive Multiplayer Online Game using java and seems very well done at first glance with a useful tutorial and well-populated as the screenshot shows. It has " ... monsters to kill, quests to complete ... treasure to win," and an experience-based character development ruleset that makes it very addictive. The more you play and do, the more you experience, the more powerful and developed you become. If you're a role player it could be right up your dark alley. Another good one I found there is Glinx (java) which is excellent for a de-stressing strategy type game.

Finally a mention of Free Arcade the home of Wicky Woo (java), a platform-based game in the best traditions of the eighties. Great stuff!

Web-Fu for Freelancer fans

2005-08-27T17:35:00.000Z

When I was Admin at a Freelancer server an excuse often used for having an incorrect mod installed on an online game was "Mod Manager didn't uninstall it properly." Which may have been true (although no acceptable excuse). Freelancer Mod Manager whilst being the standard for installing Freelancer mods is not a foolproof method of switching between mods or switching between a modified and unmodified game. By far the best way is to arrange different Freelancer files, each containing different Freelancer mods. This way you will never be running a different version of Freelancer than the one you think you are. Here's how you do it.

You will need space available for these installs. As Freelancer including Nomad's Revenge (a large mod) itself is just under a single Gig this shouldn't be a major issue. If space is an issue however, check the size of the modded files you need to include before you go any further. You will also need a basic understanding of how your PC works and the original CD.

First, let's do a clean version of the game and a back-up. Go to your Freelancer install folder. On default:

"c:\program files\microsoft games\freelancer\"

right - click on the freelancer folder and delete it making sure you have backed up any saved games you wish to keep. This only applies to Single Player games. All the information about your multi-player files is stored on the server(s) you visit. Make certain you have a permanent record of your Account ID which is the number the server uses to recognise you. You will need to re-enter this manually when you connect to the global server after a re-install. Find this in your start menu. Go to START, ALL PROGRAMS, MICROSOFT GAMES, FREELANCER, EXAMINE MY ACCOUNT ID for this information. Then empty the recycle bin. Then re-install the game to the same location. Once installed reboot your PC. Now, go back to:

"c:\program files\microsoft games\"

Where you will find this new version of Freelancer. Make a copy of it, that is right click, select COPY then right click in the open window (away from the original Freelancer folder) and PASTE it into the window. This will be called "Copy of Freelancer" and is your FL back up (so leave it alone - lol). Whenever you need a clean version of FL just copy "copy of freelancer" into the same window, renaming the file to "Freelancer" after deleting (and emptying the recycle bin) the FL folder you want to replace.

Now install the mod you want to install. This is a massively variable section and depends alot on the mechanics of each individual mod. I will assume you are able to follow the read - me files for each of these mods and can follow the install process. If not, don't be afraid to ask me for help. Once you have installed the mod, rename the Freelancer file to reflect that - i.e. "FL Nomad's Revenge" or "FL Asgard" or whatever. Make a shortcut on your desktop (go into the Freelancer mod folder you have just created, then into the "EXE" folder, locate the "Freelancer.exe" file, then right-click and select Create Shortcut. Then simply drag it onto your desktop) and be sure to rename it to reflect the mod. Now simply rinse (reboot) and repeat for each different server with a mod you play on. Don't forget to leave a clean version of Freelancer apart from your back-up so that you can still play on vanilla servers or servers with server-side only mods. It's also a good idea to reboot your PC each time you switch mod versions while playing.

Note: This (or variations of it) will NOT work with all games, although it will with some. It's included here because part of the richness of Freelancer is contained within the vast variety of mods available for it and the many online communities, but playing the wrong one in the wrong place will get you banned. This is a very simple way to keep your online experience hassle free. Well, at least from being accused of being a cheat when you've made a genuine mistake with mod manager. I can only protect you from the online pirates for a suitable fee.

Doppleganger

2005-08-26T20:06:00.000Z

"Have a look at this," a regular reader said to me the other day and sent a picture of this little thing:

After a quick search I found out it was the Dust - Puppy from a daily web comic strip. It was a few more minutes before he said "I'm impressed."
"Yeah, It's not bad at all." Was my reply, which was considered funny, to my confusion. "Actually," came the explanation, "I was impressed by your speed in finding it. I think the strip is pants."

Ah, you couldn't have looked very closely, is my considered opinion. Very funny, and here is how come I can get away with posting this in here and not my long-neglected but not forgotten comic blog.

Fair enough sometimes it doesn't quite work as an individual 3 panel strip (the joy of the short format), but as the story shows it's hilarious. Or at least I think it is - and although it may be only a tenuous link to gaming I'm sure you will be highly amused by it.
Enjoy.

Empire Earth

2005-08-26T00:43:00.000Z

Hee, hee, sorry my post is a bit late today but I got carried away playing a game. Empire Earth is another game that's had a (fairly) recent update and release. The original is as addictive as ever and sees you starting from a neolithic culture (or wherever you want) all the way up to nano age technology. There's many really nice features one springing immeadiately to mind being you don't have to follow it all the way through. A friend of mine always sets the maximum technology available to the Rennaisance period as this gives him most enjoyment. Many other things are resettable which gives it loads of replay value. My current favourate is island - hopping on gigantic planets, that is set the map type to either small or large islands and the map size to gigantic. That way in the early campaign it's alot easier to defend your coast. I like to play against alot of opponents though so almost always have to fight hard for those first few islands. I've also got to be absolutely honest here. Since re-installing it I've again been bitten by the bug and can't wait to get back to the fray. Typical of this type of game you utilise resources to build more and different buildings depending on your technology. Right now I'm still in the stone age on the one I started for this article but that wont last long. Right, where's the nearest stone mine...

Shoot that Crazy Frog! Retro games and introducing Yeti Sports.

2005-08-24T20:12:00.000Z

Ok, whose had enough of that Crazy Frog? I found an answer, simply shoot the little varmint. Shoot Crazy Frog (flash) enables you to get your own back in a way that is particularly satisfying after the twentieth or thirtieth time youve launched him into the ether. Now I can smile at the adverts when I see them because I know that little froggy is getting his. Oh yes. It's one of twenty two titles brought to us by Student Free Stuff.com and there are many classics already mentioned, but one that sticks out to me is Donkey Kong (flash), an arcade master. This is a pretty good version of the original and better than many others out there, I've actually been looking before and it was a friends' 14 year old son who pointed me in this direction. I'm glad he did, although he bent my ear raving about the penguin games. Got us both in trouble too, as he was supposed to be eating his tea. Suppose I'd better take a look. Hee hee - glad I did that too. The Yeti sports section of four games down at the end of the list is great fun. From Spank the Penguin (flash) a kind of Yeti baseball (Pingu is the ball) to O rca Slap (flash), more of a darts game taking a in a bloodier version of Penguin Spa nk (flash) it leads to Seal Bounce (flash) which is excellent for a laugh. There's a lead off to another site hidden in there somewhere - I believe the home of Yeti Sports. I'll have a closer look at that in a later post. For now, have fun and my highest score on the bloody version of Spank the Penguin is 851.9.

Enclave

2005-08-23T22:22:00.000Z

Enclave is one of those games that you forget just how good it is. The makers describe it as, "... the ultimate fantasy action/combat game," and while nothing is ever ultimate they can be justifiably proud of this product. It has the look of a classic First Person Shooting game and manages to convey a dark fantasy feel to the setting. Skillfully done within the first few minutes you are almost afraid to step around that next corner. Each section of the storyline is a seperate mission with clearly defined goals and comes complete with a counter showing you how much cash is available in each section so you can easily track your progress. You can also go back and replay previous sections to get anything you've missed. If there is a failing it's that within each choice section there is pretty much one way to do it (to some degree an injustice, but it does follow a definate path). Replay value is good with the choice of playing either the light or dark path options and different character's to choose from. Every time I've played this I've enjoyed it and I actually think it's got a very strong storyline, particularly well done in how it feeds you each piece of information.

Other nice touches are the menu screens which I think look great and work really well and the music. Very rarely do I find a game where the music can be bothered with so I usually listen to something like Rush for action or combat games and something mellower for more sedate role playing situations. With this their own music wins out. In the game itself there are puzzles to solve, secret areas, obstacles to be overcome, monsters to kill and of course you must save the world.

On the whole, well done and I have no hesitation recommending this game to any players who like action, combat, fantasy or role-playing games.

Calling all writers.

2005-08-22T18:07:00.000Z

Announcing Writers Blog. A new venture just started today by me. I'd like to invite missives from anyone out there whose got anything from any genre. Your own stories only please and please be sure to run your story through a spell checker and/or grammer checker first. Been a bit busy with doing this today so no long gaming thing. Might get time later but wanted to unveil this first.

Happy writing.

-Pandora-

2005-08-21T15:56:00.000Z

Not all asked questions. Some kept their attention firmly fixed. Where there had been a place teeming with human life there was only desolation. Some focused solely on this area. Those few that were at the precise angle reported later observing one word seemingly "written" in the patterns there. Only for a few moments but it had been quite clear. "Pandora" spelled out in human pain, suffering and death. The watchers became very afraid.

Coming soon to a blog near you.

Black and White

2005-08-20T16:06:00.000Z

Another day trying to sort Black and White and got nowhere. This is becoming addictive. An attempt at therapy is to write the article anyway and see what happens. I think Black and White is great. You play a god. In control of worshippers and their village(s) there are many very nice touches. By far the best and most immediately visible is the creature you get to control. Every god needs a creature and many are available including hidden ones that you'll have fun trying to find and ones you can download for free. There are other gods out there of course, the game comprising of trying to survive, help your villages to grow and thwart the plans of others. Oh yes, and to save the world. There are many side quests to follow as well which kept me amused for hours. It's not a straight strategy game either, contrary to the way it was marketed, with aspects of role playing and the inimitable creature. That in itself is a joy. You have to train your creature you see. It learns, has it own developing personality and intelligence and is such fun in it's own right there's a game in itself. I heartily recommend it for that alone. If you want to know how to train it there are many many sites that go into it in great detail. Some tricks I learned, apart from the obvious ones. I had my monkey to the point where I could leave it in a village and it would take care of ALL the villagers needs as well as itself with the added benefit that it would set fire to it's own poo or throw it out to sea. Was really hard to get it out of the game of "toss the villager" though.
There's Easter eggs (look in the schoolhouse in the first village), hidden secrets, magic to learn (and teach), a main quest, side quests, puzzles, battles, strategy and much more in this game.

And Lionhe ad are releasing B&W 2. It looks awesome as these few screenshots show. I'm really really looking forward to it, wondering just what (apart from graphics) they can improve in this excellent addition to my gaming pleasure.

Ahh, that'll be it. Proper real-time strategy-based large battles. Cool.

Web-Fu for beginners

2005-08-19T16:55:00.000Z

I'll start with the manual and assume that Windows is the operating system you are most likely to be using. Click START, HELP & SUPPORT, or HELP on older versions of windows. These are the Windows Help files. Believe it or not, it's a very powerful resource that will tell you much you may need to know about working and maintaining your PC.

Now maintenance. Your car needs maintaining. You put oil and water in the engine, air in the tyres and screenwash in the resevoir. Or you should. It's the same with your PC. STOP! Put down that oil can and step away from the back of the computer. What I mean is that it needs maintaining. Every week you should perform a virus scan as a matter of course. You should always keep your virus scanner and Firewall up to date. Many (if not all) have an automatic update option. What I actually do is have mine tell me when an update is available and then do it manually. I might be playing a game online at the time, and the download may cause it to lag (I'll talk about lag in later posts). At the very first opportunity I get it sorted though. I'd only have myself to blame if I didn't and something went wrong. If you don't have a virus scanner and/or Firewall stop reading this right now and go get them. [understatement] It's important [/understatement]. There's several freeware ones available, and I may take a look at a few in the future. You should consider the option of a router or gateway when you accept an internet connection from a provider. These can act as firewalls and can be very good, depending on suppliers, prices etc. but it should be noted that the Firewall that comes within Windows is only the most very basic you can get (in service pack 1) or a particular pain in the rear (service pack 2) to use. Check it's turned off if you have another Firewall installed. That's another thing you need to keep up to date as well. Windows itself. Make sure you regularly check for updates from Windows update.

Other applications you need are some sort of anti-spyware and anti ad-ware. Although these are the same things you want a couple of them as they are amongst the most up-do-date forms of maliciousware or invasions of privacy out there. Personally I use Ad-Aware and SpyBot with no problems. What one doesn't get, the other does. There are reasons for this that I'll go into in more detail at a later date. Keep them up-to-date and do regular checks. Once a week or less if you frequent some of the more questionable places on the net.

Next is error checking and defragmentation. If you have Windows XP there will be less of a need for this but I'd still say once a week perform these tasks. It doesn't take that long and may well improve performance and free up hard drive space otherwise being wasted. The order is important, do the error check first and the defrag after.

Click START, HELP & SUPPORT to open the help files. Then type "error checking" in the little white box in the top left-hand corner. You should get something like this. Simply follow the instructions given and you should have no problem.

Defragmentation is in the same place as error checking as is a facility to back up your files. Regular back-ups are a good idea too to avoid data loss but if you maintain your system, hopefully you won't suffer a catastrophic failure and be forced to use the back-ups you made, hardware failures, lightning strikes and floods notwithstanding. If possible, put them on a seperate drive that isn't used daily, or back up to a DVD or CD. Always verify these back-ups and if the data is important do two or three verified copies, never rely on only one copy.

Regular maintainence may well see you preventing potential problems instead of having to deal with them as they arise. Hopefully this will enhance your game playing and all round pc experience.

Many thanks to FatBob & Wes for valuable help with this article.

Double Dragon (retro game)

2005-08-18T20:27:00.000Z

Todays experiences of gaming then. Well, a few hours was wasted trying again to get Black and White to work with no results. Well I say wasted but I do have a much more efficient and very up to date system now. Still doesn't work though as many irritated frowns can tell. Only Black and White (have yet to test the Freelancer stutter but I think that'll now be fixed - finger's crossed), all the others seem to work fine. It's got me scratching my head and no mistake. To avoid getting too obsessed and this blog being renamed "Fuzzy's obsession with fixing his games" I thought I'd give us all a new learning curve to entertain. A friend recently suggested I go in search of a bandonware or freeware games. Never one not to bother googling my first target is a game that had a massive cult following in the late 80's and early 90's. It rocked. Double Dragon was awesome. The graphics may seem a bit laughable now, but for the time this was cutting edge and has influenced a vast amount of games since. Just a quick look at these few shots gives an idea how many. There really is a huge amount of games (and other programmes) available if you're prepared to look for them for free that have now been given over to the public domain. Remember to keep your web-fu switched on though as some of them require complex installs and other such frown bringing things. I found an easily installed Double Dragon at the Games 4 Win ulitmate games archive. Be aware, the villians are a bit harder than the original and you'll need to go into options, set config, controllers, then define to set the key controls (no idea as to what the defaults are). I've left the rest of the settings the same and it works fine. Remember to ALWAYS check anything you download for virus' or other malicious ware before you install it. Anything I suggest will always be checked beforehand but I can only hold my hands up to anything I miss or if anything changes after I've checked it. Best to check for yourself too. Make it a habit. With that word of warning over, I'll bid you all happy hunting and gaming. Let me know if you come across any good stuff.

Black and White and Alpha Centauri

2005-08-17T17:01:00.000Z

I sat down and planned a marvelous article on Black and White today. An old game but a goodie and with Black & White 2 having just been fully revealed at the Games Convention in Leipzig 18th - 21st August 2005 it would have been good timing. Unfortunately technology had other ideas. I discovered rather nasty glitches...
Ok, that's probably a driver problem (also been suffering glitches with some video players). Just to make sure I try an uninstall and re-install of the game to no avail. Fair enough, I go off and get the latest driver (77.77 from Nvidia). I try an install of that and still no joy. Hmmm, well maybe an outside chance of it being codecs (I know that doesn't exactly make sense, but you never know). A lengthy download of the latest K-Lite mega codec pack and I try again. Again with the same results. All my videos play perfectly in all players now though. Ah well.

Alpha Centauri is a logical conclusion to the Sid Meier's classic Civilization series. Having completed the space ship at the end of Civilization 3 the survivors find themselves colonizing a whole new, alien planet. Factions already decided en - route the rise to power quickly goes astray as the planet they have landed on slowly reveals that it has many secrets. An extremely well - written strategy game it gives massive insights into how all such games work. One of it's strengths (to make me still want to play it and write about it 6 years after it's release) is the ability to reset so many things. This adds massively to it's replay value and I enjoy playing it for new facets to the game each time I do. It's also a great world domination thing and the society has to be carefully managed to achieve final overall authority. It's no push over on the harder levels but if you can become proficient in all aspects of this game there is little you will not master in the strategy world. Add the extra benefit that being an old game it will run fine on older or lower spec machines and it's still a winner.

Interview with a FuzzBuck

2005-08-16T01:04:00.000Z

The Official Interview Game Rules:
1. If you want to participate, leave a comment below saying interview me.
2. I will respond by asking you five questions - each person's will be different.
3. You will update your journal/blog with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview others in the same post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Here are your five questions:

1) If you had to live in a world of complete light(without sunglasses) or complete darkness (without electricity-so not even a flashlight) which would you choose?

1.)As light is a pre-requesite for life it would have to be light I guess...

2) Would you rather eat nothing but peanut butter and jelly for every meal or only eat two days out of the week?

2.) Can't stand peanut butter. And I'm guessing by jelly you mean jam? (two very different things to us brits). I reckon I could cope on jam alone (as long as there's enough of it) - it wouldn't matter when my teeth fell out & Diabetes is merely an occupational hazard. Mind you, the second option isn't that far away from my usual eating pattern anyway, so I might not notice. Jam, definately the jam (eating a cheese & jam sandwich right now ;))

3) Would you ever let anyone kill you for money?

3.) Yes. (but it would need to be ALOT of money)

4) If you had to choose between listening to country or death metal for the next 24 hours,what would you pick?

4.) That's a toughie. Would I be able to pick which death metal & country or would it be random?

5) Shag,Marry,or throw off a cliff: Glenn Close, Demi Moore,or Britney Spears

5.) Glenn Close - throw off a cliff (who?)
Demi & Britney - shag, both together. Hey - if I'm gonna have a fantasy, I'm gonna make it a good one

Cutting edge.

2005-08-15T12:04:00.000Z

Is this the shape of things to come? Games that actually make you feel the forces involved when hurtling your car around a race track or banking that spaceship round a sun for a slingshot? Are we to feel the acceleration when blasting out of the atmosphere of a planet pulling at our skin? Great stuff! Ok, a patent for this kind of thing was made in the US as long ago as 1999, but this working model was unveiled on the 2nd of August. The only thing is ... am I the only one to be very afraid by a technology that controls which way we walk? What's next? Something that only allows us to see certain things or hear other's? Oh? What do you mean we've got that already?

Ok then, how about a robot we can send into battle from miles away? Oh? The m too? Well, how about a balloon that can go to orbital distances? Really? They're working on it?

The future is here folks, time to get out that tin - foil hat and go looking for the alien lizard conspiracists who had it right all along. Either that or it's witchcraft. Burn the scientists I say - but only after they've invented the latest game-playing technology.

Clever Media

2005-08-14T03:52:00.000Z

Those clever people at Clever Media do themselves proud. Their site is well worth a closer look with several gems hiding away. First for a mention is the Make your own game (shockwave) game. Here's a quick look at one yours truly came up with. I call it Pac Invaders. Hours of fun right there. Check out also the strategy games. Star Conquest (shockwave) is a classic take - over space game involving exploration, founding colonies, terraforming, building a fleet and of course, defending yourself from alien invasion. Great fun if you like the civilization - type games.

World Conquest (shockwave) is a basic risk game but if you're any good, you'll want to change the hardness levels (which are quite amenable to change).

Then there's Everchess (shockwave).

You know I like Chess from the post the other day. This is a Massive Multiplayer Online version of it. Extremely impressively done, you're on an infinite board (the pieces still only move up to 8 squares) and can be facing many opponents at once from any direction. It gives a new edge to the game and is innovative. In fact it most reminds me of an ancient Scandinavian or Norse version of Chess I played years ago for four player's. This fascinating, far more refined version is a joy to watch, play and even listen to as Microsoft Sam's voice calls out the moves and in-game chat (imagine my excitement when I found that this voice is built-in to Windows, I know, I know, small things). So by taking a step back, it's a leap forward. Clever people.

-Pandora-

2005-08-13T00:28:00.000Z

Pandora sat like an angry giant brooding in the darkness. Too long, too long alone in the void. Those would come who would end the loneliness, bring light into the blackness. They were not here yet. Pandora knew they would come though, with a certainty greater than any of the ancient teller's of the future. They would come because they must. It was simple. Pandora had learnt that in the thirst for knowledge that accompanied contact, they had to know, to explore and exploit. To change the Universe to suit themselves. Oh yes, they would come. They would come and Pandora would be waiting.

-Pandora-
Coming soon to a blog near you.

Chess

2005-08-12T18:01:00.000Z

Never let it be said that FuzzBucks Blog is purely about video games. Chess is a classic board game that makes the transition to cyberspace very well. If you're interested in the history of this ancient game I found a very good article here. Fascinating stuff. There are many many games that offer competition against a pc out there but I find that once I've played them a dozen times I can pretty much beat them on any level (except speed chess). Playing a human is a very different matter altogether. There are those that consider 10 minutes as adequate for a game of Chess. If that's your kind of game then Shockwave live chess (shockwave & java) is for you. Be aware though, that's all you get. 5 minutes each total to make your moves so it's speed chess really (although the version of that that we used to play was 10 seconds per move or lose a piece - your opponents choice). If your more of a sedate player then Shockwave e-mail chess (shockwave) may work if you have a ready-made opponent. It suffer's the occasional problem with loading new games and doesn't call check mate, but if you can handle these minor annoyances it may be for you. Alternatively, try Gameknot (java) who offer a sedate gameplaying environment including leagues, tournaments and open games for you to join, although their speed chess (blitz chess) is still in beta stage. I really can't emphasise enough how much of a great game this is. If it wasn't, would it really have been around for thousands of years? There are no doubt entire blogs about just chess and I will be looking a little more closely at different elements of this timeless game in future posts. For now, hope that's enough to get you started in the world of online chess and always check your mate.

Even more online and retro free games

2005-08-11T18:33:00.000Z

You lucky people. You lucky, lucky, lucky, lucky lucky people. Even more freebie games. Remember this is only a slice of the vast amount available on the web. Get searching. Even something as banal as "free shockwave games" in google will get good results. Here's a few I found that way (not all of them though). Anything you find not already covered, please feel free to mail me the url or post a comment, but no driving games. I don't like driving games.

Ok, maybe one.

Redline Rumble (shockwave) is a driving game with a role playing idea behind the backstory. You are kidnapped and must drive to survive. It's got some stunning graphics for a mini-game and shows just how much can be done with Shockwave.

To concentrate on their games for a moment though, Shockwave themselves have a good selection including Redline Rumble above and Boulder Dash Treasure Pleasure (shockwave), the latest in a long line of Boulder Dash games, a platfrom classic. It's not just action games there either, offering mind games and multiplayer sections as well.

Mini Arcade (shockwave) offers great value (free) with two games in one. The picture is from Star Striker (the one on the right) which I preferred but if you like a bit more realistic approach to spaceship handling, click the one on the left. Candystand are the people who bring us that game and many others.

Aqua Breakout (shockwave) from Madcool Games Galore is really cool. In their own words, "It's is like Break Out but you're under water as a submarine! Check it out!"

Please excuse me now for a proper retro moment as I've found a really playable version of Frogger (flash) at Gameroom 2000.

*SPLAT*

There, now that's over, time to tell you about just one more. A bit of a frantic one, Chopper Rescue (shockwave) has you running around trying to avoid enemies and rescue your stranded soldiers. It's brought to us by those clever people from Clever Media. For controls & description click here

Even more free, instant & retro games.

2005-08-10T19:33:00.000Z

Oh I do like doing the research for articles like this. Hours and hours of playing pointless meaningless games online. Great fun, even if it does make the posts late in the day. Here's the latest lot then. Hope you get as addicted as I do.

Sheep Dash (flash) will test your reactions, from the BBC no less.

Cubeoban (flash) will have you reaching for the slide rule (something we used to use in the olden days before calculators)

While Drop-Kick the Faint (flash) is strictly adults only due to the language used there are many more titles at Funny Games that are playable by all ages.

El Emigrante (flash) is wonderfully politically incorrect and I wait for the UK version that someone is bound to create (I hope) eagerly.

Raiden X (flash) is a must for anyone who likes old-school arcade games. It's awesome and very retro. Just one of many excellent games from Crazy Monkey Games.

If you're into things like that Crazy Rabbit (see yesterdays post or the link in the side-bar), then Arms (flash) might just be right up your alley

I'll round it all off with Rhino Feeder (flash) which is bound to see you stomped before the day is out.

Have fun

More Instant Games

2005-08-09T19:16:00.000Z

Just a quicky about some of the odd games out there. Antcity (flash) is a good example, suited to the more meglomaniac of us. As the pic shows, you can get carried away with it. Spare a thought for the poodle I say.

Catapult (shockwave) is definately one for the physicists. I made just over 7,400 to give you something to aim at.

As to Pepsi Finger Footy (flash) that should only be played if you're ready for a serious laugh. Had me rolling in the aisles.

Another good one is Globs (flash), a cute mini-game that looks like this. Can be a little frustrating until you get the hang of it but well worth the effort, while things like Crazy Rabbit (flash) are not so much a game as an exercise in frustration for the Rabbit.

Escape has the excellent clean lines of a future classic. Anything over 30 seconds is good.

Eat The Fly (flash) is just one of many off-the-wall games found at One More Lev el along with some more common ones, like Tetris (flash). Spank the Monkey (flash) is always great for putting a smile on my face.

Just a few to be going along with for now. The lists will grow and grow over time.

Caught by Dredd

2005-08-08T09:53:00.000Z

Yes - It had to happen. The great Fuzzter came in contact with everyone's favourite Judge.
He said:
"You actually mentioned the Tomb of Knowledge in your blog. I used that site for item information for a long time until the Arreat Summit came along. Speaking of which, it's too bad you didn't add a link to the Summit - it's easily the most frequently updated, and most accurate game-related resource for D2, and is maintained by volunteers from Blizzard to boot."

Very good catch there Dredd - saved me an embarrassing drop of the ball. Aren't I glad you decided it was unworthy of cube time?

If you're wondering just what I'm talking about - check out 2000AD (a comic) where every week Judge Dredd battles crime and hands out lifestyle advice like, "Tell it to the shrink in the psych cubes, Punk."

Seriuosly though, quite rightly the Arreat summit should get a mention in any article involving DiabloII. Sorry I missed it out.

-Pandora-

2005-08-07T03:11:00.000Z

"Pandora is the outer shepherd satellite of the F ring. The image at right shows both Pandora, the faint F ring, Prometheus and part of the A ring. "

"More heavily cratered than nearby Prometheus,
Pandora has at least two large crater's 30 km in diameter. But it shows no linear ridges or valleys. "

"In Greek mythology, Pandora was the first woman on earth. Zeus ordered Hephaestus, the god of craftsmanship, to create her and he did, using water and earth. The gods endowed her with many talents; Aphrodite gave her beauty, Apollo music, Hermes persuasion, and so forth. Hence her name:
Pandora, `all-gifted`. "
"When Prometheus stole fire from heaven, Zeus took vengeance by presenting Pandora to Epimetheus, Prometheus' brother. With her Pandora had a jar which she was not to open under any circumstance. Impelled by her natural curiosity, Pandora opened the jar,and all evil contained escaped and spread over the earth. She hastened to close the lid, but the whole contents of the jar had escaped..."

"... except for one thing that lay at the bottom, ... "

-Pandora-
Coming soon to a blog near you.

"...and that was hope."

Diablo II

2005-08-06T11:23:00.000Z

It's the turn of Diablo II to be introduced now. A classic role-playing game far simpler than NWN (see previous post below) so may be an easier route into role-playing for the combat player. If you like the look or idea of role-playing games but fear the complexity, try this. There's a playable demo freely available for you to try before you part with your cash that should give a good idea of the gameplay and mechanics.

As with Freelancer and NWN it's not exactly a new game and again there is a huge online community of Diablo player's with all of the resulting benefits that that gives a game. The Tomb of Knowledge is an excellent resource as is Diabloii.net where there is a large, booming, active and well - moderated community.

Of course it's a dis-service to claim it's only useful as a kind of non-complex NWN. That is blatantly not true and Diablo is a very good game in it's own right. The replay value is particularly valid getting progressively harder until you're on a Hell setting. There's also great humour with a secret cow level (really) and lots of little things within the game. The fact that there's no shortage of combat and a not overtly-complex plot or character development lends it very well to a meeting between primarily role-player's and primarily combat player's.

Not that I'm knocking the plot. When the Lords of Destruction expansion was released there was enough of an option just to add to it. Ok, not a hard trick to pull but the fact that Blizzard could do it shows the strength of the plot in the first place. In short, it's a very worthwhile game as a stand alone and with it's expansion. Although again I would advise playing/buying both to maximise your enjoyment of the game.

Neverwinter Nights basic mechanics.

2005-08-05T21:43:00.000Z

Ok, a few words about Neverwinter Nights having slagged it off before, doing it a grave injustice. It's a great game. A little about the mechanics of it. Neverwinter Nights uses a rule set based on Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. A board game, using dice. So everything in Neverwinter Nights uses dice (the computer deals with the calculations). It refers to them (as in AD&D conventions) as D. So when it talks about a D20 or a D10 or a D6 it means literally that. A 20-sided dice (so a number between 1 and 20 inclusive) a 10-sided dice (1 and 10 inc.) and a 6-sided dice (between 1 and 6 inc.) and so on. Other's being D4, D12, & D100. AD&D uses two ten-sided dice (2D10) to simulate a D100 taking one to be the tens the other one units (they have to be different colours). D12's are often replaced with 2D6.

This means that when your sword (look at it in your inventory and right click) tells you it can do 1D6 + 1 damage that means a number between 2 and 7 inc. damage. You may have bonus' (plus or minus) on top of that based upon your statistics, items, spells, potions etc. You can check this at any time by pressing 'c' or hitting the icon below your picture (top right hand corner) to see your character sheet where all that information is stored.

So, D means dice (plural) or die (singular). The first thing that happens in an encounter (fight) is an initiative roll. Whoever gets best, plus or minus any bonus, goes first. They roll to hit using a D20 plus or minus any bonus against the AC or Armour Class of the defender. Any dodges, parries, shields or whatever are calculated then.

Then the damage is rolled, then on to the player/monster/npc with the next highest initiative until the end of the round. Where more than one protagonist has the same initiative the common convention is that whoever has the highest Dex (dexterity) goes first. When the Dex is also identical then another roll is typically performed for just these two (or however many) to choose first action/reaction. Then again from the beginning for another round.

All these actions are performed by your pc in fractions of seconds depending on what you tell it to do by clicking on this or by pressing on that and you do not need to know it to play the game. It helps to know what all that yellow writing means that flits past in your chatbox though. It gives you an indication of how the battle is going and what exactly you are up against. If you are only hitting on a roll of 20 on a D20 you are out-classed and should run unless they are only hitting you on a roll of 20 as well.

The game D&D has been going for decades and Neverwinter Nights benefits greatly from the vast resources that have been created for this over the years by professionals and fans alike. To say there's a wealth is an understatement. A huge amount is available through their own site Neverwinter Vault and the community here. If you like role playing games this is a wonderful platform for you to indulge in giving options for creating your own worlds (modules) to play in or downloading and playing the hundreds of modules available.

It's a great game and I love it and will be posting much more on it over the time to come. Like Freelancer, it's an open-ended game that can run and run.

I would suggest though, if you're thinking of going out to buy it, get the set giving the first two expansions (Shadows of Undrentide and Hordes of the Underdark ) with the game and play each one through before you go looking for modules as very few work fully using just the basic NWN's install.

As a final note. This is an online dice simulator.

Enjoy.

Announcing Comics Unrivalled.

2005-08-04T10:33:00.000Z

Inspired by a comment a couple of days ago I've started a comics blog. Many many hours of my mis-spent youth was spent with my head in a comic and there are some truly exceptional works out there. As well as some mundane ones. I'll be taking a look at many different ones in articles, features, reviews and such like showing snippets of the artwork when possible. It won't be a daily thing like here, but won't exactly be infrequent either as there's a ridiculous amount in the comic world that inspires me.

So, visit Comics Unrivalled to see the bare bones of the place today, but keep going back to see what's new. Link also in side-bar.

Pandora

2005-08-03T22:47:00.000Z

coming soon to a blog near you

Retro games rock!

2005-08-02T18:06:00.000Z

Ok, hands up who remember's Tank Commander? I found a pretty good version here

Or Missile Command?

And who can possibly forget Pacman?

Or the even more classic Space Invader's?

All these games and many more are available using the Java plug-in. But it's not just Java that's good for freebie games. Macromedia Flash Player is another good programme that can be downloaded here with instructions on how to install it (the Yahoo toolbar is not needed).

With these two installed you should have access to a massive amount of free games from the just plain silly to ancient arcade games that forced me and many others into putting vast amounts of cash into big (sometimes small) boxes in my youth. Isn't technology wonderful? We can now play them to our hearts content for free. The only other one you may need is Shockwave (download and info.) another macromedia product.

With all 3 there should be no game you remember that isn't out there somewhere for free as well as alot more that you wouldn't dream of.

I'll be back later to edit my template and include links to my favourites - right now, for those space-sim fans, how about a bit of Defender (Shockwave) or Asteroids (Java)
Note: With Asteroids your pop-up killer may stop the game opening when you click play. If so, try right click and open it in a new window.

A Quick Java Note

2005-08-01T22:12:00.000Z

Sorry my post is so late in the day today - it's been a very busy one for me. Only really got a moment to mention that the Elite game shown in the side bar requires the Java plug in to make it work. Their home & downloads pages get separate links above it. It will be joined by other Java games as and when I get the time to put them on. There will also be a Flash games section and I'm sure lots of otherwise fruitful hours will be lost as a result.
Enjoy.

p.s. - if anyone could advise how not to drive my elite spaceship into planets I would be much obliged

Pandora

2005-07-31T07:50:00.000Z

"Pandora." The word was repeated throughout the debating chamber. What did it mean? What could it mean? All through the party after the success that day it had put a pall on things. "Ancient legend." She had said. "Which legend?" A few knew it and they told the others. The story. The box. An ancient story, from the earliest times of human civilization. "What did it mean now?" Some form of Greek parable maybe, in a mixing of traditions? Or just a story? Curse that girl, why couldn't they get the young to communicate properly these days? Another argued that it wasn't her fault, "What does Pandora mean?" The council were called back to session and a new subject for debate was considered. The meaning of Pandora.

A few FL screenshots.

2005-07-30T09:31:00.000Z

A bit of combat.

The sith departed from the 5 approaching Jedi Knights for those can't read the fubared labels. Well - you would, wouldn't you?

Pactice makes perfect

and more practice

and even more :)

Space Simulations.

2005-07-30T05:45:00.000Z

By far the most impressive title I have seen in this genre is Freelancer. An awesome game. It merges several traditional genres to be honest, mixing role-playing with elements of shoot 'em up and of course, flying a space ship. Lots of spaceships. If you are old enough to remember Elite, a wire-framed graphic interface that at the time we all thought was so good it was like Traveller on a computer then this is the game that Elite wanted to be. I liked it so much it was my original reason to get BroadBand. Then I got heavily involved in Clan life online and ended up hosting my own 24/7 Freelancer server. All the online stuff is free after the original purchase of the game and having been at the centre of a massive Freelancer community for a number of years now there is a wealth of Mods, add-ons, walkthroughs, articles etc. Most (but not all) are found at Lancers Reactor. A thing that I and many others encouraged within the community was the sharing of knowledge and that has trickled down to being the norm at many places. There are still alot of secretive people out there though which is fair enough. Freelancer is a massive enough game to have lots of secrets. To the point where in one clan we trained our members to be able to cut it with the very best on ANY server (the Jedi Knights - hello to any who read this :)). It's not enough just to tell people how to do stuff in this game. You have to teach them, expanding on their natural talents and minimising areas where they're not so talented just like in real life. I like the game that much that the bug still very much has me, despite being unable to play online right now due to some kind of weird glitch with my pc (looks meaningfully at the box with an image of a large axe in his mind) years after discovering it. I'm impressed. Try it.

I'll also produce different reviews on some of the mods etc. here from time to time and, of course rant away about ... ohhh, lots of things about this game.

For now I'll organise my links into a Freelaner section and tell you a little about a place called The Nexus Forum Index. I first came across this place almost immeadiately after it's conception but was very restricted on the amount of time I could give being server police and moderator on two different servers. So didn't bother joining (sry). I thought it was a darn good idea then though as I do now. A cross server forum for role-playing and much more, in fact - in their own words:

"Everything here is the same as Siruis, and more. People can RP from different servers. I.E. People from Excelcia can RP with people from Asgard. You can recruit here for people from other servers. So if you need more members, come here to recruit, and get people to join your faction and server. Thats about it, any questions PM me."

Sirius is referring to the Sirius Sector the area of space that mankind fled to at the end of Starlancer, the precurser of Freelancer.

There are lots of servers Excelcia being sadly no more as a server, (or at least i've not been able to find it and get only broken links to their page. Looks like many servers still use this as a mod though. If you know I'm wrong on this - pls. let me know.) and Asgard being just a couple available. This is not a Massive Multiplayer Online like Eve & I'll review some of them over time as well. Freelancer servers that is, not MMO's. I've already played at alot but they constantly change like the web itself being in a state of flux and I'll try to keep things as current as possible.

And Nexus is at the beginning of it's life in web terms I feel. So good to know about.

Have fun.

Woohoo - the weekend at last!

2005-07-29T06:35:00.000Z

GhostWolf said...
"this is the second time ive had to write this grrrrr.
you started the rant soo well then realised you had the answer all along. my old house had three levels to it. the top two had the same layout if viewed as a map. but the bottom one would look more like a corridor.the layout does look different then the outside on some places. so stop this silly ranting and find one that worthy of my time reading it. "

Such a good comment i just had to base today's post around it. A chance to show off in no small way as well.

What you say is, of course, indisputeably true, dear wolf. I used to live here:

Some 20 years or so ago (Fuzz has a deep, dark and long past) where i was heavily involved in Live Fantasy Role Playing. Can't resist more pics of the old place though; hope you don't mind too much whilst i indulge myself.

View back across the courtyard showing the ancient Oak and the ridiculously spooky (and very haunted) Chapel.

View from across the moat (in my day dry, but now re-filled) showing the Chapel roof and the "Ref's" tower. Finally a stunning ariel shot for a sense of the sheer scale of the place.

It took me a good few months just to find my way around when i first joined. Now if pushed i could probably produce a pretty accurate map of the old girl including hidden rooms, secret doors and passages and the stupidly complex catacombs. There's something like 700 rooms in total and if anything it seeems a bit of a cheat if in-game we had an auto-mapper always showing our location. Ok, any one of us could have sat down and mapped as we went (and don't think it was at all simplified by us ref's who would construct false walls, doors, rooms, corridors etc. to suit the dungeon/whim at the time) but in all my years as a Live Role Player I have never yet seen anyone actually do it. What I have seen hundreds of times is parties and individuals going the wrong way (often, but not always after killing the guide). I remember with fondness bordering on post-traumatic stress disorder a New Years' meeting on the Leeds moors. 5+ hours in extreme survival conditions at sub-zero temperatures spent hunting first the party, then the monster's, then trying to get the two to connect without being too much of a control freak. Oh those happy hours. Don't know how we all didn't freeze to death. That was a big wide open space, though. Peckforton was a fish of a different kettle entirely. People would often get lost for hours - indeed, referee's were encouraged to take an (unpaid) assistant ref with them when pre-setting dungeons to assist in such (& other) eventualities. So - you're rght. Buildings can and do look different on the outside and inside - but only to a degree. The moment i set foot through this doorway, there was little doubt i was entering a castle.

Auto-maps are dodgy things though - supposedly meant to simulate our memory of being places before. I think they give misleading information that is no substitute for actually getting lost somewhere and having to figure it out for yourself.

Rant in C sharp.

2005-07-28T15:08:00.000Z

Ok, it's been nearly a week & i've only managed to talk about 1 game - & i couldn't get that to work properly. Time for a misplaced rant in the best traditions of an old-fashioned game player. Have you ever noticed that in many games when you enter a building the physical layout inside has nothing to do with the external architecture? I have, and find it really annoying. True i used to use the same trick when creating maps for use as a DM (Dungeon Master) - but what the player's saw was an accurate picture, revised once the interior had been finished.

To give an example of this mis-sizing, consider this building from Neverwinter Nights:

(fig 1)

And the other view:

(fig 2)

Shown on the map as:

As you can see - there are two doors. Go in the first door - shown in fig1 - and it looks like this:

Go in the second (fig2) and this is what you get:

As you can see it clearly doesn't fit which just makes me irritated. When you kick in a door with a scream of "DEATH AND CHAOS!!" i reckon you deserve at least a chance to know what size building you're getting into ... wait a minute, what's that staircase doing there? What do you mean they're on different levels? Well ok, it's a bad example, but i'm not going all the way through now looking for another one. You know what i mean. Things should look right all the time and we shouldn't have to suspend disbeleif at any stage. And that's another thing - why hasn't anyone invented a game console that plugs straight into the brain yet? Lazy game designer's - That's who I blame! Or maybe Russians, or aliens even. Well, i did say it was misplaced.

Pandora

2005-07-27T09:21:00.000Z

"Pandora." The ancient had said and became terrified. That human speech had been used was in itself almost unheard of. All lessons ended. The sounds of birds and animals became silent. Liquid ceased to flow and the Sun hung suspended in the sky. For a few moments the planet itself stopped, caught by the ancients' terror.

Time to show off a few images ;)

2005-07-26T06:56:00.000Z

Che Guethatcher. A pity we didn't print this one during the falklands war or the poll-tax riots. (on T-shirts @ £8:00 a throw. If you're interested though, drop me a line - I'm sure something could be arranged ;))

Derren Brown. The UK's own mini-mentalist striking a particularly spooky pose. Notice how the eyes follow you? That's because he knows what you're thinking.

Good old Ronnie fantasizing about Fava beans and Chiante....or maybe something else. This one was deemed far too frightening to be published anywhere but here. Hope you can understand why. (If not, again drop me a line - this time to be put in touch with a good shrink.)

Monday.

2005-07-25T10:36:00.000Z

Still no joy with MTW & the film was in french. What i get for buying from dodgy geezer's in pubs i suppose. Work shortly so time to switch everything off. More later.

Pandora

2005-07-24T13:39:00.000Z

"Pandora," it began as a whisper in the listening halls. "Pandora," it was always broadcast with fear bordering on panic. "Pandora." It was whispered in the shadows and in the places where light breaks through the high windows. "Pandora." It seemed like a prophecy of doom. "Pandora." The lowliest visitor to the the halls of power heard it whispered before anyone dare say it out loud.

Fuzzies experiences of Medieval Total War

2005-07-23T13:37:00.000Z

Despite playing alot of other similar war games i've never actually played this so today after an ear-bashing on how good it is from a friend who will remain nameless to protect the innocent i thought i'd give it a go.

First came the install. Easy enough with only 2 discs and no crazy switching between them a dozen times like some other games. Then came the no-cd patch (the amount of noise my pc makes is an issue & i have a fairly noisy dvd-drive so i always try to play games with no cd in if i can. It's also a pain to keep switching cd's if i want to play another game). First i downloaded one that said it was an exe fix as well as a no-cd crack so i try that - and it crashes when it tries to play a campaign, although other game options work fine. Ok, so much for clever files. Being the forward-planning fuz that i am i didn't keep a copy of the original exe so now it was re-install time. That seems to go without a hitch & i run a test with the cd in to see if it's a different issue. It appears to be. On a fresh install i can still not start a SP campaign. Then again - my friend did mention a patch so i go in search of that...one 5.6M download later (and a few hours being distracted by a search for looney sounds....erm, long story anyway...) and i install the patch or rather, discover i actually downloaded the rome total war patch so have to download another, this being an 8M download. That done and installed, i try again to have the game crash when i try to start a single player campaign. Hmmmm....i consider reprogramming my pc with the large axe downstairs in the shed. Time to reach for the X-Men 2 cd i still haven't watched.

First post

2005-07-22T22:36:00.000Z

two ....

two ....

two ....

nahhh man, this mics down

*tap*

*tap*

two ....