November 2008
World of Gooby Shabbir on Saturday, 29th November 2008 15:30
I've been sooo busy over the last month really, that I haven't had a chance at all the update my blog! I've been constantly updating on Twitter however, and you can see those on the column on the right.
I haven't even had the chance to play many games. There is one game however that I delved into and loved: World of Goo. It seemed like a cool idea and I was pleased to see that it's on multiple operating systems, so I downloaded the demo on Mac and it really blew me away!
The idea of the game is to make a bridge using little blobs to get to a goal. The aesthetics are pleasing and more than that, it has physics! So you can't just keep building straight across with no support. You have to plan things out carefully.
The game is very cute, and very vibrant. It's worth a look if you're into puzzle games. It runs flawlessly on my MacBook (which is a year and a half old).
Besides that, I've been busy with courseworks and so on. You can see one of my courseworks by downloading this zip. It's creating 3D objects in Java from scratch using lots of complex maths. But it's good fun and it's a nice little gimmick to play around with due to the options I added.
I used iShowU to record that. I was trying to find a way to record it for my cousin and show her, since she doesn't have Java installed on her laptop, so did a little search for a video recorder and found that. It's worth about £15 I think, but it does a great job. I'm using the demo, hence why it has their name plastered everywhere over the video!
Fallout 3 So Early It's Premature Impressionsby Shabbir on Thursday, 6th November 2008
I played Fallout 3 for just about half an hour. For those who know about the game, I'm still inside the Vault at the beginning. I'm assuming I'm at a certain bit just before leaving the Vault to go to the Wastelands, but I won't say more since I don't want to spoil the game to anyone.
So far I've really enjoyed that half an hour! I really love the beginning of the game since your character customisation is done in a very unique and original manner, which makes it even more enjoyable!
I will definitely dive into a bit more probably this weekend, but I've been prioritising my work and trying to get on top of that, so I'm going to have to leave my blog post here I'm afraid!
Fallout 3 Collector's Editionby Shabbir on Monday, 3rd November 2008
It's here. It's sitting on my desk. It's right here in front of me. Fallout 3. Collector's Edition. And I haven't played it yet!
Yep, my preorder just arrived this morning, while I was out at university. And I am psyched to dash it into my XBox 360 and give it a good solid few hours of special devotion time! I wish! Unfortunately, university is a lot of work, and at the stage I am, it's as bad as it gets.
So, this is a short blog post just to rant off about how happy I am having the Collector's Edition in my position (don't forget the Bobblehead!) I shall most likely dive into the game later this week when I get some free time.
For now... keep reading my Twitter feed, and just wait for me to write some impressions on Fallout 3.
Stanford Twenty20, Uni, Blah Blah Blog Blogby Shabbir on Saturday, 1st November 2008
As I begin to write this blog entry, Jerome Taylor dismisses Ian Bell as the Standard Twenty20 match is starting to get into flow.
And again, Taylor has now bowled Matt Prior. Can the Stanford Superstars upset England and run away with $20 million?
Before I get into what I'm talking about, let me write a normal blog entry!
I've been bogged down with university. I haven't blogged in about 5-6 weeks now, and coincidently that's about the same time as university started! Computer Science is not an easy subject, and the fact I've studying some pretty hard modules this semester doesn't make things easy! However, it has been interesting and I just need to constantly hang in there.
Besides being at uni, I haven't really had the time to do much else. Video gaming wise, my Xbox is sitting pretty dormant below my desk. I just play an occasional game on my iPhone, namely Real Football 2009, which is just like playing a PlayStation football game.
A user called GAZArts on YouTube goes about recording gameplay footage from video games, and then putting them together to effectively make a movie out of a game. He did it for a game called Fahrenheit (also known as Indigo Prophecy in the USA), which is a game that I really wanted to play. I actually have the game, but never got around to completing it. So having seen that I can just watch it on YouTube, I did so and went through and watched the whole game as a movie. The end portion of the game seems to get pretty wacky, but it's interesting all the way through.
The same user has also done the same thing with Mass Effect, and again I never got around to finishing it despite even getting the Collector's Edition! So now I'm watching that when I get a bit of free time now and then.
I've started using Twitter. You'll notice now on the right hand side of the website, instead of showing the latest blog posts, it has my Twitter entries. I started using Twitter a few days ago, and am pretty enjoying it. The only thing is not many of my friends use it, but since I can update it from my phone, it's ideal to somewhat keep the website updated.
Now back to the beginning of the blog. I used to play and watch cricket a few years ago. I really just stopped watching almost all sports when I started university, since my free time went down the drain. I continued playing football however on a weekly basis.
Cricket seems to have boomed, especially with the invention of Twenty20 cricket, which provides a good short entertaining burst of 3 hours or so of cricket. Huge money has been put into this form of game, with various leagues (especially now in India), and with good success.
Stanford has arranged this $20 million match, winner takes all. The England international cricket team takes on the "Stanford Superstars", a select XI from West Indian cricketers. The game is also an attempt at rebuilding West Indian cricket and building up interest again.
Cricket is an enjoyable sport, I used to love playing it back at school, but once at university it's pretty time consuming. Same goes for watching it, but for now, Kevin Pieterson has just been bowled behind his legs and I'm going to get back to watching!