"Time fades even legend..."

Evening.

I'm taking some time out of my coursework to pay homage to what is truly a great video game series. I am about 8 weeks too late for the anniversary, but what the hell.

On the 1st November 1996, Silicon Knights and Crystal Dynamics released a game on the then fairly new Sony Playstation called Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain. This game didn't utilise the 3D capabilities to the extent that the console does have and played as a 2d, top-down hack-n-slash. You played as a Vampire named Kain, who (as a human) is murdered right at the start. He gets revived as a Vampire and kills his assassins, only to be drawn into a quest to restore the Pillars of Nosgoth, 9 pillars that protect the land and were corrupted by dark forces 30 years earlier.

As Kain, you had to kill the Circle of 9, the guardians of the pillars to restore them. On the way, you picked up awesome spells, and weapons, to aid you in your quest. There's a super plot twist involving a change in history, as well as at the end - where it emerges the Kain is the final guardian and you can choose self sacrifice or to rule Nosgoth in its Damnation.

This game had good (albeit rather cheesy cod-Shakespearean) voice acting, a deep story and long gameplay.

The sequels (Particularly the Soul Reavers) are gaming masterpieces. Its a story that's too long to give, so I'll direct you to the brilliant plot guide by LOKfanatic on Gamefaqs.

Why am I posting about this? Well, its 8 years since the series was left unresolved by Crystal Dynamics in Defiance. In that time, Amy Hennig (the lead writer) moved on to work at Naughty Dog and a further game was canned early into development. Since then, Eidos told Core where to stick it after the Clusterfuck of Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness (which led to their eventual demise) and teamed up with CD (as they had done since Soul Reaver) for future games.

Sadly, these games had none of the atmosphere and challenge of the old games and were, quite simply, too easy. And when Eidos was bought out by Final Fantasy company Square Enix, they announced a further reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise.

The key gripe is that (on the CD Facebook page and on many online places) fans constantly ask CD to create another LOK game to at least complete the series - or like me, they want a full-blown redux of the original Blood Omen (which would require a Skyrim like world, that could make the game a hit). However, its all Tomb Raider this, Lara Croft that. This is a game whose legacy died (RIP) in 2000 after Chronicles was done and dusted (with its better days back in 1997-98). Legacy of Kain put CD on the map, and is easily the most underrated series in gaming history ever since the Atari motherboard was laid down.

In this age where Twilight disgracefully pollutes the Vampire folklore (that they are badass killers with a penchant for spilling blood and killing things in nasty ways) thanks to Stephanie Meyer's horrible idea of how a cross-species/necrophiliac relationship works (and Stephen King says the books are shite too), CD could easily have cashed in and revived Kain and Raziel (protagonist of Soul Reaver) to counter the image they were getting. No, they don't even announce the 15th Anniversary of the greatest game series they made! Its a sad state of affairs.

However, I leave you with a picture - its of a cover designed by a good friend of mine (with a few modifications of my own) of the whole series if it ever came out on the PS2. We were proud of it - more than CD appears to be proud of the Legacy of Kain.



Mind you, as Kain would say "The coin is still turning..."

Could it get anymore cold?

Hongi, guys.

Well, December is finally upon us - and the weather is finally starting to show it. I can't feel my toes so I'd best count 'em to be sure.

Oh yeah - I lost excitement for WWE 12 (although you probably knew this). Any game developer who can make Booker T look like Ronaldinho has really dropped a bollock or three. Instead, I'll get what could arguably be the Game of 2011 - Skyrim.

Coursework - Never before have I have a piece half done with a whole fortnight to go. I think I'm becoming organised. *shudder*. Outside of this, what have I done? Randomly gone around the outer fringes of the internet being bored out of my head. If ever was a good night out was needed then it is now. Bad thing is I've no money for a fortnight (Even though My Wii is getting sold this weekend, that money will be gone fairly sharpish).

On the upside - have you ever heard a tune (i.e. no lyrics for a reference) but never known the artist or the name of the track? Seriously, a track I heard years ago was played at a party I worked on about this time last year. For 12 whole months, I've trawled Youtube, you name it. Finally, I tried Midomi (a site that claims to find a tune based on you humming it). I finally hummed it in key (after months of fucking up then giving up when the responses sounded nothing like it) and got the track. That feeling of elation is one that you can't emulate and you feel like you conquered the world.

ಥ◡ಥ

This week is shaping up to be another dull one by the looks (hence the shortage of posting - no cheering you lot) to be taken up by more coursework. Might even have to go to Manchester due to the inadequacies of facilities I pay good money for. But I suppose watching the Good Ship Euro sink to the bottom of the sea of history should keep me quiet for the next few days/weeks.

Not much to leave you with now, but this priceless quote from wrestling commentator and guru, Jim Ross:-

"If I live to be a hundred I will never understand why they keep so many damn weapons under the ring. It's almost like they want the competitors to use them on each other!"

(Oh, by the way - the track I was after was Heart of Asia by Watergate).

Fare thee well...

A lucky escape - or maybe not...

What a crazy afternoon.

I had to go to Tescos again this afternoon after finding my pre-order slip for Saints Row 3.

I'd decided to pass on the game on Friday as I had no spare cash. Dad offered to lend me the money - but seeing as I owe him already I decided against it. It was only this afternoon on finding the slip that I remembered that Tesco has a £5 deposit on games.

My arse fell out. I had missed the release date and reckoned that a fiver had gone down the pan just like that. I decided that, in the chance they'd take the slip, Dad can lend me the money. Luckily, I also had a "£3 off when you spend £20" voucher.

Thankfully, they still took the slip and I got the last copy in store. Saints Row for £30.

However, I got home and saw my £12 of clubcard vouchers staring up at me coldly. I blew my top.

Out of sheer frustration, I just handed them to my Dad. At least that's £12 off my debt.

However, I got down to it.

Seeing as I haven't played much - I hope I'm not going out on a limb by saying it's a bit disappointing compared to it's predecessor, the fantastic Saints Row 2. The city of Steelport seems a lot Smaller than Stillwater and has pretty much zero variety in the districts. It's rather dull to drive through.

However,, not to say it isn't fun - I'm having a right laugh running and doing DDTs, Undertaker-esque flying clotheslines (yes running attacks are wrestling moves). But it just doesn't seem to have the depth of it's predecessor - and doesn't seem to let you abuse the sandbox given to you so gratuitously as in the previous game. I will have to play it more so I'll reserve a full judgment.

I'll post again soon - until next time
...All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by...

A good laugh on a Monday lunchtime.

G'day folks.

I had nothing to really talk about over the last half of last week. However, the post arrived (before lunchtime, for a change) and a letter addressed to myself, Mum and Dad. Intrigued, we opened it and let out the customary groan of any letter we get from our local MP.

However, this letter (jointly done with a councillor for our ward) provided me with what can be described with a sense of hilarity.

It starts off with boundary concerns - the electoral commission want to move my ward (Fairfield and Howley) from the Warrington North constituency into Warrington South. I thought "standard concern for Labour really - despite the fact the electoral boundaries have been a mess for years". However, the one that set me off in disbelief is the following (Michael Cole voice), and I quote:-

"Streets will be cut in half by constituency boundaries, residents associations will cover people in different constituencies and many of your children's schools will be in another constituency".

I lost it. Since when were there armed-guard checkpoints at the boundary of each constituency that prevent children going to school? This isn't the Berlin wall, you know!

"These changes would rip apart our communities". Absolutely astonishing. All of a sudden, just because we'll end up with a different MP, our whole community is going to disintegrate.

I've got news for Helen Jones:- generally (barring the colour of the rosette), people I know couldn't give two monkeys about who their MP is. A lot of people wouldn't even have heard of her if not for this tidbit of fine literature.

And as a final slap in the face to the readers, the letter includes a form to the councillor that states "Warrington is big enough for two parliamentary constituencies" - quite! A population of 250K would demand it! In any case, if Fairfield and Howley moved into WS, wouldn't that increase the Labour vote in a current Tory seat (as WN is a safe Labour seat)? Or can they not see the forest for the damn trees?

This isn't a Tory boy rant, for any critics - The EU course they are taking has made me a UKIP guy. I just think it's hilarious how they overstate a boundary change as if it's apocalyptic for residents in our ward when most average people probably couldn't give a monkey's anyway.

Yes, by the way - I agree with the changes to the boudaries. 650 MPs is far to many. So what if MPs have an increased workload? They can finally do something to justify all those lovely expenses that they still get. try 50-100 less and we might be getting somewhere.

If Nick Robinson is in eyeshot of this post - could I have a job please?

/political discourse.

I'll post again sometime - hopefully with a little less politics.

And the Creed is written

Evening.

Been two days playing Assassins Creed so I have been rather quiet. Its awesome. No question.

Of course, my pet hate (Multiplayer achievements) turned up, so I can't get the full 100 gamerscore off the bugger. However, the story so far seems as deep as the other games'. And the gameplay follows in the same fashion so it's easy to pick up if you play the other games first.

Ezio has now hit the age my dear dad reached - his 50s. He is no longer the womanising youth from 1476, but a Master Assassin in 1511. As for Desmond - I'll not ruin it.

Because of the game, I've not really done anything for two days. Apart from quiz night last night. Naturally, we didn't win but we had the usual fun.

My voice is just about starting to recover from this cold. Many would dread that.

Staying in Preston tomorrow night, which is useful for Friday's seminar on Euthanasia.

I'll just leave this one on the BMA trying to persuade the government to ban smoking in your own car. Absolute rubbish - telling people how they should live their lives.

And as my mother says: "I'll quit when they all do." Physician, heal thyself.

Sayonara, kids.

The joy of viral infections

Yeah, the title's a misnomer. It just sucks when a cold is what drives you to post on a blog.

Sunday and Monday were standard, really. Work. nothing special. I finally found the facebook page for where I work though so we can actually promote ourselves (its St. Benedict's club, by the way and at the risk of a plug).

If this seems disjointed its because I had four hours sleep last night because of my throat feeling like it went through a cheese grater. All I can wait for is the trip to town and play AC: Revelations after. And to get some soup for my dinner to make me feel sorry for myself.

Someone at work last night said I need to do something for myself (which I do, but never consciously). I'll have to from necessity now this week, partly to make me feel good in a cold and partly because of impending essays. I'd better savour it this week as I can see me making trips to Preston just to park up in the library on my own. If there was ever a need to charge an ipod, its then.

I suppose I can have a laugh about the whole fuel debate in Parliament today - see if the government slaps another 3-line whip on it to vote down another popular proposal - scrapping a fuel increase and passing on fuel price drops at the pump. You can never tell when you have a government torn between loyalty to a body that could cause its downfall in a flash (The 1922 committee) and loyalty to a collection of puddings of various bad flavours (Clegg and the Lib Dems).

I can have a laugh as I don't drive and will gladly walk or use public transport (apart from the buses as they're a ripoff anyway).

Its still early, so I might post again after. Who knows, I might have an early review of AC:R.

Untill then, niente è vero tutto è permesso (Nothing is true, everything is permitted).

Li'l Jimmy's night out in an Empty Spiral.

Just got back from a freaking awesome gig. Straight Line Stitch - a band I hadn't heard of - opened at Academy 2 tonight and really got us all going. Another female fronted band that had a real heavy sound on them. Alexis Brown had the crowd eating from her hand.

Then Lacuna Coil themselves. These guys proved just how great they are live. Played a few songs from the upcoming album which sounds like it will be amazing.

You know you've been to an awesome show when you come out with ringing ears.

And the announcement that they'll possibly do Manchester again after the album comes out means I'm game. Hopefully next time I'll use a better camera than the crappy one on the x10 mini pro that focuses, then blurs when you press the ergonomically shit button - rather than give me an on screen option

(NB - If anybody knows if it can be done I'd appreciate it.)

Tops off what was a pretty mundane day to be honest (or as mundane as it can be when you're bouncing off the walls). Although the long-missed saturday breakfast at the Blue Bell in town is back - even if it is every day. I really have missed them. If you happen to be in Warrington before half 11, give it a try (not that I'm plugging here, but seriously).

Time to wait until tuesday now, for Assassin's Creed: Revelations - and SR3 friday. Probably won't play that untill my first Collective Labour Law coursework is in though as its in for mid-december.

All I will say then, and leave you with, is

Niente è vero tutto è permesso (Nothing is true, everything is permitted)

Arrivederci, everyone.

Have you ever considered...

Well, today was interesting in Preston.

In the module of life and death: law and ethics we discussed lawfully assisted death. I enjoy the module as we simply go beyond the law and look at the ethical arguments relating to the law and the impact the law can have.

With law saying you're legally dead when your brain stem is no more, how does that impact on medical decisions to turn off life support or withdraw treatment? Lots of them could add fuel to a potential dissertation next year.

Well, I'm off to Manchester tomorrow night to see Lacuna Coil. An awesome band with a great musical sound and frontwoman with a divine voice. In the meantime? I'm still waiting anxiously for Assassin's Creed: Revelations and Saints Row the Third. With SR 3, any sense of seriousness the previous installment had seems to have flown straight out of the window. This is where GTA appear to have failed - by taking itself seriously and adding realism to such an extent, it lost a lot of fun the likes of GTA3, VC & SA all had.

And then a wait for WWE '12. Having recently gotten back into wrestling, I hadn't bothered with the games for a while. Raw 2 had the best create-a-wrestler by far, and WWE '12 seems to be heading that way. But I was sold as soon as "create-an-arena" was announced - with the opportunity (thanks to the paint tool) to create ANY promotion or old-school type arena you want. The only wait then is the long, unbearable one to March when Mass Effect 3 is released.

Generally though, I'm well out of the hypochondriac phase I had during summer (which was probably worse for people round me than for me - for which I thank you for putting up with my shit). and my social life isn't advancing. I suppose thats why I aired dirty linen and ranted on the old blog. Really, the only person that can sort that is Me. So if anybody in Preston wants to do a night out in a few weeks I should be game. Or just for lunch if you want it calmer, what ever floats your boat.

Until next time, See you Space Cowboy...

This seems strangely familiar - but priorities are priorities

Evenin' all

So, the old blog can be put to rest. I haven't blogged properly for a long time. So I decided to begin anew.

And new is how I feel. I actually feel like I need to get everything in gear since I graduated and started my Masters. I've a room thats looking less like a bomb site by the week, and I'm back in the swing of education after a really horrible summer. Waiting for coursework can be a bitch though.

Now its through, I need to knuckle down soon and consider my prioroties again. Strike law, euthanasia and abortion can do that to a guy, seriously. Christmas will essentially be non-existent, naturally but thats the price I'm paying - on top of my £1680 this year.

Socialising has gotten a lot thinner. I haven't been on Xbox live for weeks, and when your best friend has moved to preston Facebook chat just isn't the same as sharing laughs all the time. particularly in the gym. (I'm not paying £150 at preston, before anybody asks.)

I'll try to be a bit more mellow, and keep my rants to twitter where it can come out in bursts. Ranting a lot can make you just bitter and cynical, which is something I need to be less of if people are ever going to take me seriously. In any case, bad booking in Wrestling and political shenanigans can only get you so far in chit-chat.

I hope to add more to the blog as the days go on - and actually give the impression of things going on in my life; be they funny anecdotes or actually serious things I have advice on. I'll do my best to keep you posted.

Until next time... See you Space Cowboys.