Not the one with Michael Hasselhoff. The new one. The really bad, cheesy, unrealistic show about a talking car that can transform. And yes I think it is worth watching.
When I watched the first episode it was pretty funny. Not for the right reasons though. In the first 10 minutes the two main characters ended up naked in a burning car. It was all about the talking car and establishing the various characters as best they good in the short time they had. Standard action affair with a heavy dose of techno-mumbo-jumbo.
The episodes that followed were pretty boring aswell, Michael Knight going off on undercover missions with his fancy car (which likes to talk back) and the use of satellites to look into the windows of moving cars and various other silly things. Nothing that really stood out to me as new and interesting at least.
Why I continuted to watch I do not know, but at the very least it was amusing. Luckily for me I did continue to watch it because after episode 4 and beyond it seemed to take a turn for the better.
It was still full of cheesy technology (even worse than I thought possible!), corny lines and silly plots but the characters had grown on me and suddenly I was enjoying watching them go about their silly business. In particular the focus stopped being entirely on the two main characters and the secondary characters started to shine aswell. Instead of laughing at them, I was now laughing with them. The car (KITT) had also started to develop into more of a character rather than just a talking piece of tech on wheels.
I guess for some it will still be too cheesy but don't base it on the first episode alone (it gets even more absurd later on :P) but the chracters started become more interesting and it becomes an enjoyable show.
Over the past year I have been working on rewriting our web based strategy game, Voidwars, to use xmlhttprequests and xml instead of the ever evil hidden iframe technique. Originally intending to write it entirely from scratch I instead took parts of the code and rewrote them to produce xml instead of html/javascript and created web front end that communicated with the server via xmlhttprequest, as most web applications do these days.
It took a frelling long time to do so, and I learned quite a few things along the way, and once I had a working prototype, I felt it easier to push forward as I could implement features and see them working.
Voidwars is a civilisation/master of orion type game, you expand your empire through colonising other planets, building fleets and researching new technologies. The game "ticks" every 3 minutes, and games can last for up to a month. To win you must complete objectives and the first player to 10 points will win the game.
The game is far from finished in my eyes, I still have many features planned for it, but for now I just want people to try it, and get as much feedback as possible. We already have a few regular players (who know more about the game than I do) but would like to see more people try it out and get feedback from them.
One of the new additions to Voidwars is the Trial Game. It took a while to finally add, but players can now join this game at any time and take a look at what Voidwars is about without joining a full game (games only start once a month and can last a month). So if you randomly end up reading this feel free to take a look and let me know what you think.
A new game is currently open for signups (game 32) also, though please try out the trial game before joining a regular game!
A group of escaped "criminals" travel the universe aboard a living ship, mostly looking for a way home though their goals change quite a bit over the course of the series. Very original sci-fi show, has a lot of irregular shaped aliens, totally crazy plot lines and stars Ben Browder and Claudia Black (they starred in season 9 and 10 of SG1 as Cameron and Vala respectively). Rewatching the entire series from the start. Very good series, probably peaked a bit early (season 2) but still a solid sci-fi show later on (if a bit weird!). Am now watching season 4 and these are the episodes I have never seen so am enjoying them a lot. Worth watching if you have ran out of Stargate to watch =)
An anime series based upon the Ghost in the Shell manga and movie. Lots of action and the most convoluted plot line ever. The story takes place in Japan in the future where almost everyone is part cyborg and can link directly to the net. Centered around Section 9, a special ops group who take on tasks the regular police force can't. Plot is quite hard to follow but has very likeable characters especially the Tachikomas which are weird looking robots with cute and quirky personalities. Enjoyed watching it but felt it could have been better if it didn't try to push across such confusing motives.
A classic 80s cartoons involving a bunch of humanoid cats who try to survive and defend their new home from the forces of evil. Cheesy, full of plot holes, silly bad guys and terrible voice acting, but a fun trip down memory lane. Thundercats HO!
A third person sci-fi action rpg game with a very well done conversation system. While the action parts were fun, I mostly enjoyed the conversation and "questing" parts as it added the back story of all the characters and plunged you into the world of Mass Effect. There is so much detail in this game it is astounding, and while it certainly borrows most of its ideas from other sci-fi shows it blends them well into an interesting universe. Most likely my favourite game of the year so far, in fact one of my all time favourite games.
This game is just pure fun. Tons of modes to play through, lots of different characters to play, online play, level creation and a challenge system mean it has plenty of stuff to do. Multiplayer is as fun as ever (at least for me :P). Reccomended if you own a Wii for sure, though may not be for everyone if you don't like beat-em-ups.
Yes I still play. Not as much as I used to but now and again. Wrath of the Lich King will be coming later this year which will kick up my interest again.
An entirely web-based space based strategy game similar to Master of Orion and Birth of the Federation. The game was "recently" rewritten from scratch to use xmlhttprequest and to keep the UI seperate from the back end xml interface. Supports up to 100 players in a game, players can construct fleets, colonise and conquer planets, research technologies and attempt to complete enough objectives to win the game. Games occur once a month and can last between 2-4 weeks. This is what I spend most of my free time doing, fixing bugs and adding new features when possible, a trial game is available if anyone wants to take a look at it (feedback is welcome!)
Everyone who owns a Wii should go and buy Zack and Wiki : The Quest for Barbaros' Treasure.
I will start by saying I don't think it is the greatest game ever made, however I will say that it is Fun, Cute, Simple, Challenging, Funny, Pretty and most definitely worth buying. I would be surprised if there is someone who doesn't find something in this game they will enjoy.
Zakuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!
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Wiki
Another year has passed. I didn't say alot on here, and made my usual claims to post more that I didn't stick to. So I will once again claim I will post more and then not do so (in the spirit of new years resolutions)
Spent a couple of weeks back home in England for christmas, I stayed at my Aunts house (which was good because they have broadband and a wireless router), visited various family members, did lots of shopping and eating (roast dinners ftw) and mostly doing not a lot of anything. I did end working for a day while at home because of an incident with one of our servers, and I did my best to work on voidwars some more but in the end I probably watched more bad english TV than anything else.
I enjoyed my time back home, but Oslo feels more like home to me now so I was glad to be back and I am also glad to be back at work. Which brings us back to the present, 2008. Lets hope its as interesting as the last one was (or more so!)
HAPPY NEW YEAR!