Words with Friends - Analgias

Only a few days a go my latest highest scoring word 'Sculping' was played against HarpingOn. Now I give you 'Analgias' which if my limited medical knowledge is correct means a lack of pain. But I think Gary felt the pain when I played that word for 125 points.

Fallout New Vegas - Time to decide

I’ve been wanting to write a lot about the Fallout New Vegas, initially I had ideas of a daily diary but I did not want to spoil the experience for anyone who reads my posts so cancelled that idea. In my post below I have given a brief summary of the first few hours of play, do not read if you have not played the game yet.

After nearly 95 hours of gameplay I think now is a good time to do a quick update. The game does not have the hand-holding fallout 3 introduction and chucks you straight into the story. You are a courier who has been shot, your delivery has been taken & you have been left for dead. Lucky for you a passing robot comes to your rescue & takes you to the town of Goodsprings. Here the doctor removes your bullet & you are given time to heal & recover. If you have played Fallout 3 the control method is exactly the same with a few minor adjustments.

Once you are on your feet, the doctor gives you a quick check & you get to choose your SPECIAL points & TAG Skills. You are also given an option to choose Hardcore Mode (This has you looking after a few more things like H20, Food & Sleep but the biggest change is that stimpacks now heal over time). Time to question the doctor about what, why & who shot you? Then came the looting, this is the man who has just saved my life & how do I repay him? By nicking everything in his house to sell back to him for caps. Looting, Prospecting, Scavenging or Stealing call it what you want it’s a big part of the game & you need to do it to get caps to buy better weapons or armour to use. After buying a few stimpacks from the good doctor & using his sink to drink some H20 I then popped out to see the town of Goodsprings. It looked like I had stepped into a western movie set, wooden shacks, tumbleweed rolling down the hill & Brahmin chewing grass. I then question the townsfolk to find out more information about my attack & hear about the problems they are having from a group called ‘Powder Gangers’.

After completing some simple basic quests including a nice training quests which shows you some of the new features of the game it was time to help the townsfolk get rid of the ‘Powder Gangers’. The town gathered together, armed & nervous ready for a showdown, the Powder Gangers came running into the town guns blazing. Bullets flying everywhere. Bang !! Bang ! a town settler has just died next to me. I grab my gun and lock on using ‘VATS’ to take down a Powder Ganger, now for the next guy my AP is out I can’t use VATS. Do I want to go charging into a group of 4 enemies with no AP? How will my health suffer? Will I die? I use a stimpack (which will now heal me over time) & go charging in, shooting freestyle (without vats) bang, bang!, bang !! & BANG !!! they are all dead & my health is ok. I survived. Up pops a confirmation box informing me that I am now vilified by the Powder Gangers. What? Factions, this game has factions you have to choose who you want to help. I had the option on this quest to side with the Powder Gangers instead of the townsfolk but I did not & by helping the townsfolk, the Powder Gangers hate me which means they will shoot me on sight. You can if you want reload your save file & try to go for a neutral option, in my case I didn’t & carried on.

I have been lucky in that I have not experienced any game breaking bug as reported by Gary on UGVM but I have had the game freeze on me twice whilst going through a door loading screen. I was very worried about buying this game because of the developer Obsidian & the stories of bugs. The game is obviously broken & bugged (just search on google or read UGVM for the many reports), it’s disappointing to see a game released in this condition & I’m surprised there has not been more of an uproar by the gaming media. But I am glad I purchased the game on release I am throughly enjoying it so far.

Goodsprings was now safe & it was time for me to move on. My work here was done. The next 90+ hours had me helping out other towns with their problems, making difficult choice’s on how to treat a particular faction & selling anything I came across to amass my caps. The main storyline has you deciding on if you want to go with the NCR, Caesar’s Legion, Mr House or Yes Man (go it alone basically). I am now at that point where my character is now on level 30, gun & energy weapons are 90+ on skill & lockpick & speech on 100. I have 2 companions with me to back me up in a gunfight, in truth one of them probably gets the shot before me. I have a few small side-quests to complete & I need to go shopping for some SPECIAL implants.

Then I plan on creating one save file (multiple copies) on which I can choose one faction to complete the game & then reload to choose one of the others. The time has nearly come for me to decide. Will I go it alone? Align myself with Caesar’s Legion, help Mr House or let the NCR control the Mojave?

Words with Friends - Sculping

My previous highest scoring word was Futz for 111 points. Initially I was trying to play for a TW word and then saw the two DW's. So 'Sculping' for 115 points. Earlier in the game I played another 7 letter word 'Wordages'. Hoping that I can now play one of the TW's to win the game.

Carcassonne - Arpad Elo

Arpad Elo - a Hungarian-born American physics professor who created the 'ELO' rating system to show the 'relative skill level' of a player. The screen to the left does not show my highest ELO, I managed to get to 1540 & then came "THE FALL". It's inevitable that in this game of luck you will lose some games, unfortunately being so far ahead in the leaderboard with a high ELO means when you lose it's going to hurt.

First against Jochta, losing by only 2 points but a drop of 32 points on my ELO. Ok I still have 1508, that's not too bad.

Worse was to come in the next game by losing to my son (the torment of "Yes", "Get-In", "Dad, you are crap. You came last"). Another drop of 32 points, leaves me now with 1476.

I then lost a further 2 games to to end on 1412.

By this time my arch-nemesis the evil Dr Lufferov had taken the lead.

The losing streak had to end at some point & a couple of wins against Dr Dolittle & LPFigwort has seen my ELO rise to 1425. But James has also been winning games and has extended his lead to 1471.

I now need to try and catch him up but the danger that is faced by both of us is that if we lose a game, it will be a 32 point drop on our ELO but if we win against anyone lower on the leaderboard we will only gain a few points. I'm hoping he cannot catch up to my high ELO of 1540.It's only a number but Arpad Elo knows that I had to win quite a few games to get to that number.

Some links on Arpad Elo
Rating System - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elo_rating_system
Arpad Elo - The Man himself - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arpad_Elo

What no logo?

In a previous post I said "Only games that I will buy on release qualify to be a logo"
Today I have just bought Call of Duty Black Ops & Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, but both of these games have not graced with a website logo. I had no intention of buying either game but COD:BO for £24.99 is too good an offer to miss & I will enjoy the online multiplayer action when I get round to playing it. For AC:Brotherhood Abbas is running through Fallout New Vegas and with his birthday coming soon, he asked & I said ok why not. So to amend my statement "Only games that I am eagerly anticipating the release, will qualify for a logo" So World of Keflings, when are you getting released?

But for the moment I am still wondering the Mojave desert completing side-quests & discovering new locations. Because the main storyline branches I want to get to a point in the game where I can create a save file & keep to brach out one way & then reload to go the other way. This will save me having to start the game again and play another 50+ hours to try the other branch.

Fallout New Vegas - Saved by a girl

The red shield is very important when attacking enemies, if it comes up it means the weapon you are using is too weak. So you either need to change to a stronger weapon or change your bullets to armour piercing. Whilst looking for a location near the Mojave outpost I came across some small radscorpions, easy I thought I crouched down & took them out with my 9mm Pistol with scope. I carried on up the hill to be confronted by a GIANT radscorpion. I then tried taking him out with my Cowboy Repeater (my most powerful weapon) but no, Red Shield came up again. I then had two choices, to lay down and let him eat me for breakfast or RUN !!!

I went for the run option so weapon holstered (it makes you run faster) I made a run for the Mojave outpost, I could hear it snapping at my heels, turning around to have a quick peek & AARGH !! it jumped at me with its claws. Abbas who was watching all this unfold jumped out of his seat. I let out a scream, turned around and ran. Seeing the NCR Trooper at the outpost, I ran to him. He got out his pistol and started shooting at the GIANT radscorpion, I turned around to have a look and the radscorpion was still coming for me. Aargh !! I’m sorry I shot the small radscorpions, please let me go !! I beg but still he shows no remorse. I run towards the barracks by now the NCR Trooper, Travelling Merchant & Mercenary are all trying to kill him for me. I run to Ghost (female sniper) because she is on top of the barracks & surely the GIANT radscorpion can’t come up the ramp? Ghost flashes past me, grabs her gun & BANG !! BANG !! 2 shots & I turn around to find the GIANT radscorpion lying motionless at the bottom of the ramp.

Breathe !! .....

Woah !! that was intense, Abbas & I turn to each other & start laughing !!

Abbas says “Dad you wimp, you were saved by a girl”

Words with Friends UGVM Tournament - Semi Finals

After a tough fought 2nd round we have our 4 semi-finalists. The draw for the semi-final ...

Curiosity vs themalsatsuma
jochta vs DBSnappa

Owen Allaway (13th July 1973 - 13th October 2010)

It was a difficult decision, do I want to attend a service that I feel I may be intruding on? Having not met Owen in person should I really attend? How would I feel going to an English funeral? All of these questions were answered by another more defining question. Do I miss Owen? Yes, everyday,  I miss his knowledge, humour, kindness & above all his friendship.

It was a nice service & I sat or stood listening to the memories/hymns thinking of Owen.

He studied at Oxford !! What?? Oh man !! I did not know that :(

His love for Star Wars & Doctor Who were mentioned, John Dow's blog post LINK was mentioned and had me choked up

His childhood memories from clutching a dalek toy as a page boy to playing Sorcerer's Cave


But above all he was a loving son, big brother, husband & friend to many.

Going out from the church hall you are given the chance to say your condolences to his family. Thom calling me by my name made me relieved that I was not intruding (thanks) & a big hug for Patience lifted the sadness for a brief moment.

Next to the church hall, refreshments were laid on but more importantly you got a chance to see photos of Owen growing up. A page boy clutching a dalek toy to his ZX-81 birthday cake. His time at Corpus Christi in Oxford to wedding photo's

This was the first time I had met some of the UGVM group members & the fact Owen had studied in Oxford made me sad that we did not get together before.


We then went to the local pub to have some drinks in his honour.. to Owen !!

Logo Change - World of Keflings

Well Fallout New Vegas is now out so it's time to change the logo. Only games that I will buy on release qualify to be a logo. Previously that was Halo Reach & then Fallout New Vegas. Looking at the games that are going to be released for the rest of the year there is nothing that I will be buying on release. I will wait for games like Assassins Creed Brotherhood, Need for Speed & Gran Turismo 5 (Delayed again !!) to drop in price before buying. Looking at the release schedule for retail releases for next year there are a few games that interest me like Brink & Bulletstorm but I don't know enough about them to even think about purchasing. There is however one game I will be buying on release for XBLA (Xbox Live Arcade) and that is World of Keflings. A sequel to the excellent Kingdom of Keflings by Ninjabee which is currently still on schedule to be released this year, just don't know when?

New Game - Fallout New Vegas

Fallout New Vegas, lots of reports of bugs on this game but luckily a day one patch was issued that seems to have fixed these issues. After my first day of play, 6 hours game play & no bugs or crashes experienced. The game itself plays very much like Fallout 3, think of this like an extended add-on pack. So far I have only experienced few things different from the wasteland, some different enemies & weapons. Hardcore mode brings an extra challenge to the game in that you have to monitor you sleep, food & H20 levels. In truth though these don't provide that much if a "Hardcore" challenge, the biggest challenge is the change to the use of stimpacks. These now will heal you over time instead of instant healing, because of this one fact you can't go in all guns blazing & just spam heal with your stimpacks but instead you need to play more carefully & plan your attacks. You will find yourself taking cover & luring the enemies in to you so you can take them out with your shotgun by a bullet to the head. For completing the game in Hardcore you are rewarded with 100g achievement so it is worth playing with it on. A few other changes include the facility now for you make your ammo using materials & weapon repair is now done building weapon repair kits or merging two of the same weapons like before but you can no longer repair at the shop (well I have not found a place yet). If summary then if you have played Fallout 3, this game is more of the same. Time for me now to get back to the desert, I've got some quests to complete ...

Carcassonne - Van Morrison - Back on the top

It's taken me nearly a month (LINK) to get back to the top of the Carcassonne leaderboard & my arch nemesis James is dropping like Autumn leaves :)

Time to play Van Morrison - Back on the Top

Currently I have 15 games on the go !!
Off to play my turns now

Shining Force

Shining Force is easily one of my favourite RPG's. It's a turn based RPG originally released on the Sega Megadrive. I remember paying £59.99 for it's sequel that was nearly a month's wages for a Saturday worker. Sega have used the Megadrive back catalogue very lazily in my opinion by just coping and pasting the games to release on any gaming system they can find, instead of updating the release's.

Back to Shining Force on the Ipod Touch, the controls work fine apart from occasionally obscuring your movement. The continue function seemed broken on my 2nd gen but with the 4th gen & multi-tasking it works perfectly. So if you are using a non multi-tasking machine make sure you use the in game save option.

For those of you that have not played this gem on many of the re-releases then you have the usual rpg story in that you the hero must save the world from total destruction (Yawn!). You can then control a team of up to 12 characters to battle the evil forces in a turn based style. The characters vary from your usual Warrior class to healers, magic types & even a werewolf?? Yep and some more strange creatures that join you along the way. Some are hidden & are difficult to find so I would say find a guide to help you get the characters. They can basically only perform a few function like Attack, Magic, Use an Item or Defend. You then get experience points from these actions & eventually level up to increase your stats. It's simple but then again this is a 17 year old RPG & back in 1993 JAP RPG's needed to be simple to appeal to western audiences apparently?

You can visit towns & shops to upgrade weapons/armour. Talk to various residents & a few treasure chests to open. When fighting you have the option to warp your team back to the nearest town if you are getting beat or you just what to grind the maps to get stronger. Normal usual 90's RPG but easily one of the best turn based RPG's I have played.

I just wished Sega would put in a bit of effort on re-released games, spruce up the graphics, throw in a few more characters. Anyhow looking forward to Shining Force 2 next please Sega.

Whilst I am also on my wish list can you not use the Shining name is crap adventure rpg's. Yes I'm looking at you Shining in the Darkness, Shining Force Neo & all you other lame action rpg attempts. Stick to the tried and much liked formula of turn based. Also a re-release of Shining Force 3 (All 3 Parts) on XBLA/PSN or Disc based would be nice please.

Words with Friends UGVM Tournament - Round 2

In memory of Owen the tournament will continue to the 2nd round, knockout stages 1 match to advance into the Semi Finals.

gospvg, HaggisHunter, jochta, themalsatsuma, DBSnappa, Beckysprites, HarpingOn & Curiosity

The 2nd round matches are
Curiosity vs HaggisHunter - Curiosity WON
HarpingOn vs jochta - jochta WON
Becksprites vs themalsatsuma - themalsatsuma WON
gospvg vs DBSnappa (Bugger !!) - DBSnappa WON


When starting the matches please make sure you say in the chat window that this is a tournament game.
Good Luck all & post the results in the comments section