"Picard to Engine Room... Geordie, what's that bloody racket?"

So for some reason, one of my PC's main cooling fans decides to start making this godawful clunking / grinding / really-loud-whirring noise. This is not something I'm not used to; every time my PC starts up, one of my video cards makes a similar noise until the fan settles down. But this was different, I could tell.

I checked the fans that could possibly be the cause - the power supply, my two graphics cards, the side fans... nothing. It had to be the main fan, so I took off the side of my Alienware's case for the very first time. After some tinkering about and a quick call to Alienware Technical Support (open 24 hours and great customer service, by the by), I managed to figure out the reason, but not the cause.

The main cooling fan (the one on the back of the PC that extracts the bulk of the hot air) has somehow lost its ability to stay away from the metal grille that stops it from flying off its magnetic centre-point into the workings of the PC. It now thwacks across some part of that grille every single rotation, which is something like 10 times a second.

{Adam from Mythbusters}Well there's yer problem!{/Adam from Mythbusters}

Unfortunately, despite several attempts, I could not fix the damned thing. I verified that it was the ONLY cause by softly pressing the fan back into its housing a little (i.e. more towards the outer case of the PC), which immediately stopped the sound and even made the fan turn faster. Which I sort of expected. Letting it go caused the noise to return. The thing has a spring in it which keeps it a set distance away from the outer casing, but nothing to keep it away from the grille. Removing said spring crossed my mind, but that wouldn't have any effect. So the whole thing has come out.

Luckily, my PC never tends to overheat. The hottest my graphics cards have ever gotten was about 75 degrees. I understand that cooling is no laughing matter, though, which is why my window is open and I have a desk fan blowing cold air into the front intakes of my Big Blue Box. It's just over one and a half years old, so it's about time something went wrong with it. Hopefully there won't be any further problems, and I'll look into ordering a replacement fan to see if that solves anything.

In other news, FlatOut: Ultimate Carnage is the best racing game, ever. I would be more detailed, but I honestly can't be bothered. Get the game yourself, or at least download the demo from the Xbox Live Marketplace. Also, the Ace Combat 6 demo from the very same place is worth a gander. Made me buy the previous two titles for the PS2. Osea, Yuktobania... ah, the memories of my first year at Uni and my wonderful little room.

Anyhoo, that's about it. Will no doubt update sometime in the next few weeks in a bit more detail.

Updating != My Strong Point

For those of you who don't get the title of this entry, don't worry. It's only meant to be funny to a select few people. It's likely that even they won't read this, though. Basically, it reiterates that I fail at keeping any semblance of an update schedule. I'll try and summarise the happenings of the last two months in bullet point format.

- Got a Wii (with Wii Sports, Zelda, Wii Play, Marvel: Ultimate Alliance and Resident Evil 4)
- Got a 19" TFT Monitor and shifted my PC out of the cupboard, onto my black desk.
- Played WoW a lot more, leveling my Horde Alt with Dante and occasionally popping onto my main.
- Failed dismally at playing any of the games I intended to, aside from the new ones that came with my Wii.
- Worked, worked, then worked some more. Changed onto 8 hour shifts instead of 10, meaning less days off.
- Helped David buy a PC, which he managed to save up for (via me) very successfully. He's enjoying it right now.
- Went and saw Spider-Man 3 and Die Hard 4.0 with my brother Andrew.
- Played a few games of C&C3 on the internet with Dante.
- Bought another two copies of Emperor: Battle for Dune, just so I don't lose the bloody discs again.

Nothing major, then. Just life as usual. As for right now, I've ordered a couple of games and the entire Red Dwarf "Just the Shows" DVD series. I fully expect more stuff will be ordered very soon.

This has been me, updating you. See you next epoch.

Two Days Off

It's been far too long a week. I've got two days off work now and by God I need them. Absolutely shattered.

The events of the past week or so have just sort of drifted by. I decided to cancel my PC subscription to Final Fantasy XI, then buy it for the 360 minutes later. It looks to be a lot better, despite being almost exactly the same. This is not to be questioned.

I bought a PC for my brother David. It was from a company recommended by my friend Dante, who I'm sure I've mentioned before. Cost about £450 or so, of which he's paying about £380, the rest being from me as an early birthday present. He's managed to pay quite a bit of it so far, which is impressive. It should be here within the next week or two - I'll be sure to post pictures of the machine when it arrives.

After a lot of procrastination, I hoovered my room. I can now walk around barefoot without accumulating... well, mostly more of me. Old bits of me, like hair and whatnot. It gets everywhere. I realise that none of you wanted to know that, but you don't exist, so be quiet. I also bought Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training for the DS, and have subsequently become semi-addicted to Sudoku. I'd managed to avoid the whole game for so long, too. Now I can't get enough of it.

Been trying EVE again; might even get a subscription this time, although it's seeming less likely now. This is linked to me playing WoW a lot more, with the 2.1 patch bringing some nice new changes. I might spec back to being a Resto Druid from my current Feral build, but only after I've done a lot more quests. Being a healer and trying to grind just don't mix well when you solo a lot. Oh, and I really need to play some more LOTRO. It's sort of lost some of the "shiny new MMO" value and is fast becoming simply mediocre in my eyes. I hope to hell that I find a second wind for it - I'd really like to like it.

In other news, Dante, Jaszon and I should hopefully be getting together for some more LAN Gaming sometime soon. Dante is getting home from Uni in a couple of days, and I shall convince them both that they like C&C3 more than BFME2. Might be able to play some WoW there as well, get my Horde Hunter alt through a couple of dungeons. And of course, I have two days off! Followed by a short stint of work, then more days off!

For the next two days, mornings are what I stay up until the early hours of, not what I get up in.

Semacode!

Just a very short post to explain the strange new addition to the info panel at the right-hand side of the blog - it's Semacode. It's a new-fangled type of barcode that phones can read by using their cameras and some nifty software. My Nokia N95 comes pre-loaded with Barcode Reading software of its own, but it's available free from here as well (just choose your phone type - Java, for most phone models, I should think).

"Why are you posting this on a website?" you might ask. Well I might ask who you are in retaliation, because no-one reads this, ergo no-one should care by default. My main reason, though, is that I think this might eventually take off and I'd like it documented that I did it early. It's also there just in case anyone wants to use it for linking to my blog. I don't expect anyone will print it out or anything, but someone (again, imaginary readers) might be looking at this blog on a laptop and want to subscribe to its feed on the phone. Easy way of getting straight there without having to bother with typing out the URL on the phone - just point your camera at the screen. Doesn't work so well on CRTs, however.

Those are my reasons and I'm sticking to them. Oh, and I also think they look cool. Yeah, that too.

Mobile Blogging

This post is the first of hopefully many that I will make from my shiny new Nokia N95. Using the email client, and the handy Moblogging service available on this site, I can just snap a picture and send it to my blog. It might require a bit of editing afterwards (this text, for example, was typed on my PC after uploading). But the theory is that I'll see something, Moblog it, then have an incentive to come back later on and edit it. Let's see what happens.

Also, enjoy this snapshot of Forres that I took earlier today. 5 megapixel cameras win.

Games and uh... More Games?

It's getting to the point now where I'm really struggling to keep this up to date. I either have too much or too little to write about; the too little comes from not actually wanting to take the time to type up the too much. I'll do my best, though.

In the last few weeks, I've been playing the Beta, then the Early Access, and now (as of about an hour ago) the Full Retail Version of The Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. At first, I thought it was crap; DDO's gaming engine wrapped up in some shiny new graphics along with the LotR lore. This passed after a bit, and I could only really whine about the gameplay - this may sound tired to non-WoW-players, but LOTRO really doesn't come close to the standard set by World of Warcraft. Having said that, though, it's one of four (yes, four, argh) MMORPGs that I'm actively subscribing to.

World of Warcraft
City of Heroes / City of Villains
Final Fantasy XI
Lord of the Rings: Online

Lots of money. However, I pre-ordered the Special Edition of LOTRO, which (among other things) allows me to have a cheaper subscription for the entire duration of my stay in Middle-earth... works out to be about £5 or £6 a month, which is not to be sniffed at. I'll still try and play the others (CoH / CoV when the next Issue comes out, FFXI when I can get my hand on that blasted third expansion, and WoW any time I feel like it).

In other news, I've bought some more games. Dungeon Siege II arrived, or did I say that already? I also decided to by the original Dungeon Siege, because it is a superior game. Which is sad, really. I've also gone ahead and bought "Hotel Dusk: Room 215" for the Nintendo DS - so far, nothing special, but it looks as though it could be a really good game once I've gotten into it.

I ordered Theme Hospital again - seriously, this must be the fifth time I've bought that game... not just for the PC, either. My copies keep disappearing, but they're only £5 a pop, so nothing to lose any sleep over. I've been trying to keep playing Dark Messiah and/or start playing NWN2 again, but am currently failing to do both (when faced with LOTRO / Theme Hospital / Hotel Dusk, this could perhaps be seen as understandable).

On the console side of things, I've been playing a lot of Xbox Live Arcade as of late; specifically Boom Boom Rocket. This game is amazing; it's clearly meant to be a clone of DDR (hence the name and the gameplay), but instead of dancing, you detonate fireworks of different colours in time to one of ten tracks. One colour for each of the A, B, X and Y buttons on the controller. It sounds really simple (and it is, I suppose) but it's addictive and fun. I'm in the Top 50 in the world for some of the songs, which I'm really proud of. It's not like I'll stay there for any decent length of time, but it's the fact that I was there that matters to me.

In news that is not game related, I've watched all of the Harry Potter movies again, up to The Goblet of Fire. I've never properly watched the first two, I remember liking the third and I had never seen the fourth. They're all a lot better than I remember / expected them to be, with particular reference to the fourth - I actually sat up in bed for the Harry / Voldemort wand-battle-thing. Frankly can't wait for the next one to come out. Oh, and add Spider-Man 3 to that "can't wait to see" list, too.

Hmm... think that's about it covered. As you can see, I really don't do much else apart from gaming. Some LOTRO-related news that may be interesting to my non-existent reader base is that I've joined a guild; The Red Band of Cardolan (will link the homepage at some point). We're based on the Laurelin server, which is the first of the RP servers for LOTRO. I thought I'd try something different, considering that I never really got into RP with WoW. I've also made some videos of LOTRO, specifically bugs and one particular guild event which we're all very proud of.

I'm aware that I'm beginning to ramble, so I think I'll end this post here. Again, this may be updated with links to the items mentioned at some point, but this is best done when daylight has not so long passed. More sporadic updates to come.

Buying Too Much

Yes, as the title suggests, I am currently spending far too much money on things. I've mentioned this before, but I keep doing it. Not on RPGs this time, though, which is a step in the right direction. I seem to have focused mainly on bargains or things I really feel I require. Granted, I regularly feel that I require a Wii and a PS3, but I have managed to resist thus far.

Nothing spectacular has happened so far in April, with March coming to a fairly uneventful conclusion as well. My friend Dante came back from Uni for the Easter Holidays, so there was some playing of Battle for Middle-earth II at Jaszon's house. I brought a couple of my new purchases (Dungeon Siege II: Deluxe, for example... only £7!), but we didn't end up playing anything else. Aside from WoW, of course, but I consider that more of a life choice than a game nowadays.

I've also decided to order a new keyboard and mouse. I've chosen the same models, however; you can't go far wrong with the Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard and the Logitech G7 Gaming Mouse. They're the epitome of current PC gaming input and I love my current ones... except that they're either broken or breaking. My keyboard suffered a shower of Stella Artois and the keys are now sticky as hell. Add to that the strange fact that the 'O' key seems to switch between not working and typing the ¬ symbol, plus some freaky fault with the backlights, and I thought that buying a new one was the best plan. As for my mouse... I think the little sensor underneath the left mouse button that tells the PC you've clicked it has given up the ghost. Or just gone a bit wonky. You click once, you've clicked anywhere between 3 and 8 times. Makes dragging and dropping, or any other task where clicking the left mouse button is important, very difficult.

My new keyboard arrived a couple of days ago, and I'm waiting for delivery of my mouse. I hope the battery life on the new one is a bit better, too; my current ones only last a day or two, depending on how heavy my usage is.

I've pre-ordered the Special Edition of Lord of the Rings Online: Shadows of Angmar. FilePlanet offered subscribers the chance to play in the Beta, so I snapped up the offer, having missed previous Codemasters Stress-Test opportunities. After initial impressions of WoW-Clone-Done-Badly-Wrapped-Up-In-Prettier-DDO-Engine, the game began to grow on me. Laggy and spammy as the Beta was, I really think that it has the potential to be a big MMO... the lore alone will see it in good stead for a long time. Because I've pre-ordered the game, I'll get 10 days' early access to the live version and some special bonus items. Jaszon ordered it, too, and seems to be very happy that it includes a hard-back manual. I'll be sure to post my future impressions of the game once it arrives.

Let's see, what else... ah, I've joined the Pure Pwnage Gamer Army. I've got the dog tags and Special Ops access and everything. I've a feeling that I'll wear these dog tags a lot more than I ever did my Griever Ring or NWN2 Ring (though both of those are still cool). I'll eventually post a picture of them, along with a new Phoenix Wright-themed T-Shirt I bought as well.

I'm sure there's more that I haven't mentioned. On retrospect, it might be that March / April was an eventful period, but I was simply too distracted by parcels arriving every morning to take any notice. I'll likely come back and edit this post to have links to important items, but I'd rather get something posted, just to keep reassuring myself that I've maintained my committment to keeping this blog updated. I mean... not that it matters or anything, since nobody reads it, but it's nice to look back and be able to read something and think "I remember doing that".

... I think I may have already said that, though. Hmm.

Quick Post

Not been on the internet much recently; darting between playing my 360 and my DS. As predicted, the new Phoenix Wright rules. I've convinced Jaszon to get both games - he will thank me for it.

Decided to start Final Fantasy XII again, since I am FAR too low level for my area and I feel disconnected from the plot. Seems to just be cut-scene, run through enemy infested area, cut-scene, run through enemy infested area, OMG shop, boss, cut scene, etc.

Reading has slowed down a bit. Waiting for games to arrive in post (namely, Atelier Iris 1 and Final Fantasy III). Watched all of Series 1 to 4 of Scrubs and almost all of Black Books. Trying to decide which RPG to start playing again on my PS2 (so many to choose from!). Right now, however, I'm going to bed. Sleep is simple and always enjoyable.

Quite the Shopping List

It has occurred to me that I buy a lot of stuff. Not useless stuff, mark you; proper gaming / entertainment supplies, usually. There aren't that many weeks that go by where I don't have something delivered to my door. Normally, the delivery is a game, or several games. Sometimes it might be a DVD. Once or twice I might go crazy and get something like a Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers Power Morpher (nostalgia is a powerful thing), but not often.

This Spring is apparently a very busy season, however, as I seem to have an inordinate amount of "stuff" coming to me in the next few days. Lots of stuff. Take a look at this inventory, which I can't be bothered creating hyperlinks for:

Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (DS)
Final Fantasy: Tactics Advance (GBA)
Atelier Iris - Eternal Mana (PS2)
Atelier Iris 2 - The Azoth of Destiny (PS2)
Scrubs (Series 1) (DVD) (Box-Set)
Scrubs (Series 2) (DVD) (Box-Set)
Scrubs (Series 3) (DVD) (Box-Set)
Scrubs (Series 4) (DVD) (Box-Set)
Black Books (Series 1-3) (DVD) (Box-Set)
Final Fantasy VII Sword Materia (Accessories for my BUSTER SWORD)

Yes, each of the Scrubs entries are individual; they all have 4 discs each. I really like Scrubs. And I've got some more stuff pre-ordered, too:

Scrubs (Series 5) (DVD) (Box-Set)
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (PC)
Final Fantasy III (DS)

I've also just realised how many console RPGs I have lying around that I've still got to play. Ever since I discovered MMOs, my time playing good old fashioned role playing games has decreased. I don't think I can list them all, but I've got at least 6 - old and new - with another load being ordered or pre-ordered. I really need to sit down some time and play through them.

But then again, it's nice to know that I have this huge backlog of games to tide me over should I need them. RPGs are the best games in the world, bar none; I'll play every single one I own, right to the end. You'll see.

Jaszon, stop laughing.

Lack of News

Yeah, nothing much has really happened in the last few days. To be honest, this will probably be a recurring theme within this blog. My life is by no means exciting, and the very small number of people to whom I have linked this blog are probably never going to come back to it unless I link it to them directly. Again.

And yet I keep updating it, which is what I've intended to do from the outset; from the very first blog I started. It wasn't about who read it, but that it was there.

I've been playing Final Fantasy XI a lot over the last few days. I'm only a Level 9 Red Mage on the Remora server, but I've read a lot of guides about being a RDM and it seems like it could be fun. I'm having a bit of trouble getting into it in the same way that I did World of Warcraft, but I'm sure that will pass with time. Right now, I'm just leveling up enough to venture into the Dangruf Wadi without those damned Rock Lizards ganging up on me. I can cast Cure, but it's rather ineffective when you're dead in 15 seconds regardless.

Oh, and I've found that it is impossible to buy a copy of the third expansion pack for FFXI (The Treasures of Aht'Urhgan) online. There just aren't any copies anywhere. Seriously, take a look. They're all out of stock. Even eBay has nothing. It's unprecedented.

I've been slacking off a bit in the 360 and PS2 department of late, with no real progress on Crackdown, Dead Rising or Final Fantasy XII. Granted, I got owned pretty hard on FFXII by some stupid flying blotch of red... think it was called a Salamandite or something. It was floating around that sort of oil-rig structure over the Sand Sea. Figure I must have taken a wrong turn or something.

I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things in the next few days. I've been reading Discworld novels more than anything else, with The Last Continent and The Fifth Elephant already digested in a few days. On to The Truth now, which I've only read once before. Then onto Thief of Time, which I'm pretty sure is my favourite Discworld novel, if only because I've read it the most. I'll go and get something to drink now... ran out of Bru again.

Buster Sword Again

Couldn't help myself. Here's another picture of my sword. My bed is a standard size single, and this beast is much bigger than that. It is WIN personified.

Well... swordified.

Belated Birthday Present

So my friend Jaszon tells me today that my birthday present (from him and another friend of mine, codename: Dante) has arrived at his house. Considering that my birthday is the 31st of December, it is somewhat late. This is alright, though, because there's nothing better than getting a late birthday present that you weren't expecting in the first place.

Well, maybe there are a few better things, but shh.

Anyhoo, I keep pestering both Jaszon and Dante to tell me what it is. Dante just does the MSN equivalent of smirking and says nothing. Jaszon is a little more descriptive, saying that I might want to get a lift there and back, as walking down the street with it would be most amusing. He also said it was a lot heavier than he thought it would be and is well over a meter long. At this point, I'm fearing the worst. But when my Dad got home, I got a lift up to Jaszon's house... and this is what I find there waiting for me:

It's a freaking BUSTER SWORD. I really shouldn't have to explain why this rules so much. The thing weighs a ton, but that's a ton of pure amazingness. It has a leather scabbard and a wall mount, to boot. It's going above my window, because the only other wall big enough just happens to be the one my bed is up against. As cool as this sword is, I don't trust my walls not to let it drop on top of me at 4.30am.

Oh, just a note for those of you who fail at life and don't know what a Buster Sword is, check this link (look under Buster Sword and First Ken) for more information. It's an awesome replica of the Buster Sword used in Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children; part of the six swords of the First Ken. The best one, if you ask me.

Rules SO MUCH.

Minor Update

Not really much to update on, come to think of it. My earlier post regarding the play time of Crackdown reveals that the critics were accurate; the game really is too short. Whereas before I hadn't even taken down the first "boss", I've now almost completed the thing. Granted, it's on the easiest difficulty setting, but that's how I've always played my games. I start on the easiest, then I move through the difficulties. It adds longevity to any game. Still kicks ass, though.

Work is going well, too. Despite having only ever taken one or two Marks & Spencer calls before (email team, you see) I managed to do quite well on Monday and Tuesday. It's now Wednesday, and I'm on my first of three days off. Then back in for four, which sucks, but at least the calls are only flower orders and stores calling in to check things. I mean, come on... "Do we deliver to Wales?"

We do, in case you're wondering.

Aside from Crackdown, work and sleeping, I've mainly been re-reading some Discworld novels. Started from the beginning and I'm working my way through. It only occurred to me a few weeks ago that I still didn't have Carpe Jugulum, which was both shocking and exciting - I love reading Discworld novels that I've never read before. I'm up to The Fifth Elephant at the moment, which I'm thoroughly enjoying. I seem to be able to forget almost everything that happens in a Discworld novel, so reading them again is almost as good as the first time. That, and the Vimes novels are my favourite.

That's about it, really. Might head down to Tesco for some IRN BRU. Two 2 litre bottles should do me until Saturday, when I can just buy some 500mls from the cafeteria at any time. I'll be sure to post again should anything interesting happen, though.

Games and a Party

I've not been online for the last few days - Final Fantasy XII, Crackdown and Dead Rising arrived, and I've been playing those basically non-stop. Three amazing games, from what I've garnered so far.

Final Fantasy XII was always going to be excellent. I've not yet found a Final Fantasy game that doesn't kick ass (quietly ignoring certain spin-offs which didn't quite measure up, in my opinion). Having played nothing but 360 for a while now, the graphics do look grainy and pixelated in comparison, especially on the environments side of things; graphics didn't ever matter to me, though, and Square have really done a god job of pushing the PS2 to its limits.

Battles are a thing that bothered me initially. I mean, yay, no more random encounters, but it just doesn't feel like Final Fantasy without them. This feeling has waned a little now that I'm progressing through the plot; when watching the cut-scenes and FMV, I know that it's a Final Fantasy, but the actual gameplay is missing something. A weird cross between Vagrant Story and something entirely new, the whole real-time / turn-based battling thing doesn't do it for me in the same way previous versions did.

The Gambit system is good; I like not having to worry about healing myself so much, as the battles are far too quick paced for my liking. Even slowing the fights down via the Config menu is far too speedy. The Licences system is, for want of a better word, bad. It's clear that Square have tried to take the best features of Final Fantasy X's Sphere Grid leveling system and apply them here, but they've failed. There's just too much to choose from, and I feel that Square have over-customised the whole character development side of things. They got it right in VII with Materia - go back to that!

Despite it being, so far, my least favourite Final Fantasy in terms of gameplay, the story is what I'm really interested in. It's shaping up to be pretty damned cool. The characters, acting, voices, plot... everything is there, and it is brilliant. I'll give a more in-depth review after completing it, but right now the general feeling is "kudos to the writers, but the game designers need to sit down with FFVII for a while".

Crackdown is equally amazing, albeit in a different way. It takes what I liked about GTA (driving cars about like a madman, basically) and combines that with a really intuitive combat and exploration system. I can't describe how cool it is to jump off a ten floor building, firing an SMG at a perp on the ground, lobbing a grenade at a group of four others, watching them and their vehicles explode and then landing safely.

I've seen reviews that praise the game highly for the gameplay, but criticise its longevity. A lot of people are of the opinion that the game is far too short; I can't really comment at this stage, as I've not even defeated the first gang kingpin yet, but I'll get back to that after I've completed the game.

Dead Rising is a different kettle of fish. It's got what I expect to be a corny storyline, some really poor characters, the on-screen writing is far too small for anyone without a 42" HDTV to read... but I'll be damned if ploughing through a hundred zombies with a lawnmower isn't some of the best fun to be had on any gaming console today. I pick up a bowling ball, and I can smash their heads in with vim. I've taken to shouting "FACE!" every time I do so. It's just good, clean, zombie-killing fun from the masters of survival horror (Capcom, in case you fail at gaming entirely).

Aside from gaming, I got very drunk last night. It was the Vertex "End of Vodafone Contract" party, and it was a lot of fun. I had a very small but very nice meal (I'd eaten not long beforehand) and I imbibed copious amounts of alcohol before making it home at about 3am. Somewhere in there, I also managed to dance with a couple of very lovely ladies and have a very interesting conversation with another. I was a gentleman to the last, though, ensuring that one of the girls got home safely after a taxi or two failed to arrive.

Felt rank today, though. Had to stop by the roadside when I was getting a lift to work to air out my stomach a bit. Feeling just fine now, though... not sure if all of the alcohol is out of my system yet, but I'll live. But the good news is that I have an impromptu day off tomorrow, thanks to the Marks and Spencer training being so damned easy. For now, I think I'll install my copy of Command and Conquer: The First Decade (just arrived this morning) and see about giving one or two of the games a shot.

Version 1.1

Well, I've pretty much finished the look and layout of the blog, now. It's blue, has some info and links to the right hand side, shows the entry history and generally looks as cool as I'd like it to. Future improvements may include some sort of witty text somewhere over to the right, or perhaps even a picture. Right now, though, it'll do.

I suppose I should really post something, then. But here's where it all normally falls down; my life is generally boring. It consists mainly of eating, sleeping, working and playing games. Seriously, that's about it. I'll still give it a shot, though, as I would really like to have a blog that I can look at and say, "Damn, that's a lot of posts". I have a habit of forgetting things, so to have my life written down might teach my brain to remember a little better.

Right now, I'm awaiting the arrival of several games. I've ordered a whole heap of them from Play.com:

- Final Fantasy XII (PS2)
- Final Fantasy III (DS) (Pre-order)

These two games, by the by, will make my Final Fantasy Collection complete. You have no idea how long I've waited for FFIII to be released.

- Crackdown (Xbox 360)
- Over-G Fighters (Xbox 360)
- Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All (DS) (Pre-order)

The original Phoenix Wright is the single best game on the DS. Ever. Until the aforementioned sequel comes out, that is.

- Command and Conquer: The First Decade (PC)
- Command and Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (PC) (Pre-order)

Just got the demo for C&C3 from FilePlanet, and it rocks quite hard. My expert game reviewing skills give it an 8/10, slightly let down because of the viewing distance / level of detail ratio and that the "this is where you've just asked your troops to move to" icon is white, square and the size of an Orca landing pad. A whole host of other things contribute to the 2 points from perfection, but I can't quite put my finger on them. Still looks like it'll be a kickass game, though.

- Dead Rising (Xbox 360)
- Best of Star Wars Collection (PC)

That about covers it, I think. Other than that, I've had a couple of days off in the last week, during which I've managed to reach Level 70 on my Druid in World of Warcraft. It lacked the sense of celebration that came with Level 60, to be quite honest, and I feel somewhat akin to a lost sheep. More accurate, perhaps, is that I feel like a wolf which has just seen every sheep in a field disappear into nothingness.

Tomorrow is my last day on the Vodafone contract at work (see this BBC article for more info). It's only a half-day, followed by two days off, then some light-hearted training on the Saturday and Sunday. Marks and Spencer is an easy enough contract to do; I was on the email team briefly in December last year, but I'll be doing phone calls, now. So bear in mind that if you need to order anything from M&S (like, say, flowers or a new couch) and the person on the other end says "Good Morning, welcome to Marks and Spencer, you're speaking to Chris", you might be talking to me.

I think that's about it for now. It's certainly been a longer entry than I'd first anticipated. Hopefully it will be the first of many - I'll even add it to my Links bar in IE. I'll be back when something interesting happens.

A New Beginning

Historically, I've been very bad at maintaining blogs. I've got several of them now, one of which I created and subsequently deleted no less than an hour ago. It didn't look very good, and was plastered with ads. Another I created here, at Blogspot, back when it was still in Beta. Granted, the switch wasn't that long ago, but it was all but abandoned long before that.

However, having managed to obtain a semi-decent URL for my ramblings to occupy, I hereby renew my ridiculous claim... "I'll try to keep this up to date".

With that out of the way, I'll cut this post short. The entire reason for its existence is to give me an idea of what a proper entry will look like. If all goes well, I should return in the not too distant future to type up said 'proper entry'. I really wouldn't hold my breath, though.