The Ramblings Of Onearmedcookie

Well hello out there, it’s been a while huh? Even on Twitter, Google+ and other virtual haunts just lately I’ve been a stranger passing in the dark of night. Have you all missed me? Nope didn’t think so

So where have I been hiding, has there been a game so massive that I’ve been locked away in a dungeon – secretly testing it out before all the hype starts; ummm No, believe me it would have been a nicer way to finish the month.

You see two weeks mine and my partner’s world was shoved into a darkness, which was definitely very unexpected. It was definitely a moment to shake us both and make us look at our priorities in general, evaluate where we heading. You see on Saturday 10^th September I very nearly lost the most important person in my world – my super sexy fiancé. She was rushed into hospital Saturday morning after suffering a mild heart attack…

I admit to being in a daze as the next few days passed, pretending to be strong and coping like Superman, as if I knew that everything would be okay – whilst on the inside all I could see was the end of my world as I knew it. Dramatic yes but when something like this occurs, I do tend to find it very hard to look at the positives especially when they are an unknown quantity.

Life without my soul mate was difficult to comprehend, fear was stalking me making me doubt everything I was doing and making me one grumpy ass! Thankfully she is on the mend now, however with such an act things have had to be reviewed, our lives re-evaluated.

One thing, which became very clear was the fact everything else had taken over, writing, gaming, work, kids everything was fighting vying for my attention, sucking away all of my time. Everything I loved but not as much as I love my partner, therefore things will be changing. With great regret I have decided to leave MyInsideGamer, I can’t dedicate as much time as I used to. I need to get up out of my chair and live life more, take chances and spend those hours with the love of my life and family, making time for each other once more. Diet is also undergoing a radical overhaul, with weight to be lost and possible trips to the gym on the cards as well.

Smoking that scourge of my life is to be nipped in the bud,  whether or not I’ll be successful heh only god knows! One thing for sure, is that life has a funny way of smacking you over the head with a big stick, but with these challenges we learn new things about ourselves and get to see ourselves for a pure split second for the people we have become, offering a chance to reflect on what could so easily have been lost, making us take our heads from the sands and reach for the stars once more.

Hopefully I’ll keep this blog going, once I get more time and of course I will be back on Twitter and Google + soon annoying the hell out of you all!! So for now OnearmedCookie signing out….

So two weeks have passed when a certain event made me look at things a little more differently, certain aspects of my life were bought to me in clarity, which was quite unexpected. A challenge was laid down, it was met head on so to speak and I’m beginning to feel differently about a whole load of things.

Let me begin at the beginning – it was Sunday. I was suited and booted and my good lady was actually wearing a dress! We were off to a wedding, a day, which should have proved to be full of fun and excitement. Alas at this point we were not aware of how wrong this would go.

We left in my car, to pick up two friends on the way. The jokes were flowing – fun had begun. Just another normal day…

I turned onto the M6 without a care in the world – when suddenly one of my friends asked “what’s that smoke?” I looked into my rear view mirror – to see plumes of grey smoke blinding the rest of the motorway. The scary thing though was it was my car making the smoke. Obviously I pulled over straight away, and after a call to the RAC my good lady and I stood by the side of the road awaiting rescue. To be fair I assumed it was just a hole in the exhaust, nothing major something easily fixed. Obviously we were both gutted that we wouldn’t make the wedding. To be fair we must have looked quite odd on the side of the road all dolled up.

The very nice man from the RAC turned up after an hour, asked me to switch on the ignition to see the kind of smoke being emitted. I obliged and this is really where things took a turn, to be fair though it could have taken a totally different turn. The smoke began to get worse, the car was revving its guts out – the RAC man started shouting at me to turn off the ignition. I sat there waving the keys at him, I already had turned the ignition off – but the car wouldn’t stop – aghhhh!

Finally after five minutes, which felt like a life time the ignition cut off. Turns out that the turbo had blown, what was really scary though was the fact that it had apparently had a hole for a while, leaking oil onto the main engine. Thinking about it I was quite lucky, the sad thing though is that the car had been with me for over seven years, been with me on some fine adventures and yes I know it’s just a machine but it did hold some fond memories. The car has gone now, and the last part of me from South has gone with it. This just means though that I’m more determined than ever to make things happen, to go places and see more. This event has certainly opened up my eyes like you would never believe and made me realise that I still have so much to achieve…

Back long ago, when I was still a kid – the eighties to be exact one of my favourite cartoons of all time was the mighty Thundercats. There was something about the exploits of Lion-O and the rest of the gang, which kept me and my mates hooked.

Now nearly thirty years since its original release – America have seen fit to remake the series, giving it a new look and feel, reigniting the craze, which originally swept the country. Now I have to eat humble pie and say that I’ve been pleasantly surprised. So far we’re up to episode five and my thirst for their adventures on Third Earth is not waning.

The animation looks a little like Pokemon for my liking, however the story of these proud cats has been given a darker tone – keeping aspects of the original characters intact, whilst adding more scope for the future. I am falling in love with this new look, I know some diehard fans will resist until the end – but I must implore you all to give this show a chance. You might well be pleasantly surprised…

So last night, I finally delved into Dungeon Siege 3. After convincing a few friends to join in with the fun – it was time to press start on what I was hoping to be another fab RPG…

To be fair after the first three hours, with some great company – I fell straight in love with the game. It’s far from perfect but again it proves that online co-op is the way gaming is going. Joining your friends for some Dungeon looting is awesome fun! Getting to lay the smacketh down with your friends cheering you on is just such a great feeling. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – I’m really surprised that more games just don’t have a proper co-op experience.

Dungeon Siege 3 is not without its faults though, one of the biggest issues I can see with this game – when playing with strangers is the stupid system of loot. When playing through with other people, all of the loot is available to everyone – you sell everything that’s the whole party’s loot just gone, vanished without a trace. Why you would do this, god only knows. However I’ve been hearing some rather silly stories! This is the new way it seems peeps are using to basically piss players off. You jump in – get given the parties loot – you bugger off – sell the loot – jump out and then send a nasty message to the party leader! Why the hell would this be allowed to happen? Most importantly though, why the hell would the developers allow such a massive stupidity to occur?

So with that in mind – most of my games will be private affairs with people from my friends list. Shame because this has limited my games to just a few now…

It’s certainly been a crazy few months, with a shed load of stuff to get through. So what have I been up to? What’s taken up so much of my time? I hear you scream. Well obviously I’ve still been busy over at MyInsideGamer, been playing some great games as well as tinkering with new hardware. Also works suddenly changed for me, taking up more time than I seem to have at various times.

For the last two years I’ve been desperately trying to make something of myself at work, trying to get further up the ladder. My role had become monotonous – becoming a chore, which I began despising. After what seems like a lifetime, instead of being knocked back two steps, I finally in March got that dang promotion! So yes I’ve been going through a few changes at work, I now have my own team to look after. Add to this a new boss and a restructure, things have certainly proved to be interesting the last few months.

The site seems to be growing well and I’m happy to say I’ve had the pleasure of playing some blinding games so far this year. Add to this my new toy the 3DS, which has been played to death, I have to say this year has really begun with a bang!

The 3DS is amazing; I can’t believe the 3D visuals. They really do just pop out at you, Street Fighter IV seems to be the title, which pushes it to the max. Street Pass is glorious fun with the Mii’s; I never expected it to be as addictive!

Also I’ve been playing the Gears beta, which I’m pleased to say is simply awesome! Gears is back but all improved and everything seems to be so much slicker than its predecessors.

For the future, I’m hoping to spend some more time on this little blog of mine. I have a few ideas about what I want to achieve. Only time will tell, if it works out though.

Last weekend I travelled back to my Norfolk roots, and then got dragged around the Norfolk coast. I love the Norfolk coast there’s just something about the area that makes me feel relaxed and at ease with the world.

I also managed to grab hold of my folks SLR digital camera, a toy, which I confess to trying to use before. Alas until then I had always been given a negative – a big flat no. Still today was different and so, for the first time in years I managed to play with a proper camera!

Now bear with me, I’m not a brilliant photographer and also a little rusty. However I was asked rather nicely on Twitter to post some pictures, so without delay, here they are…

Sat in front of the telly, watching old films – I realize that another year has passed. Twelve months have once more blurred through the time line, phasing into vapour, making more memories evaporate into a haze, folding into the distance.
It seems like only yesterday that I was wondering where 2010 would take me, what great adventure lay in front of my feet. Dreams and aspirations being formulated some, which have taken me further than I expected, others that like time itself have slipped through my fingertips – gone forever.
Its been a year full of ups and downs, tests for me to bear, some that have seen me grown in strength, others that have merely tried to push me to breaking point. Yet one way or another I can’t help but feel that every test has only helped me become stronger, developed me more as a person – hopefully creating a better me.
My biggest strength by far has come from the support from my fiance, although some have looked down on my writing, belittling it and sometimes making it seem pointless. However even when I’ve been completely selfish, locking myself away with my thoughts, spending hours upon hours just tapping away at this keyboard, her faith in me has never waned. Yes it has caused friction at points (totally my fault), everything has been resolved. So I want to say a big thank you here publicly for all her support, putting up with all my silliness.
Another big plus this year has been the people I’ve met through Twitter and my passion for gaming. There are some amazing people out there, if your reading this – I’m sure you know who you are. Some amazing writers whom, if I had not undertaken this journey would have remained unknown to me, true maestros of the written word. People who can take the written word and turn them into powerful emotional statements, creating a musical melody of words.
So all in all, looking back its been a great year, with plenty of potential for 2011 – so please raise a glass with me as I wish you all a super kick ass year ahead, may all your dreams come true and many adventures begin …

So here we are once more, a few months have flown by with virtual dust gathering around my tired blog. I bet you’re all wondering why that is, the only excuse really is time. That accursed beast, which seems to drag all of us to a halt. If there was a way of slowing things down – then I’d be one of the first to use it, yet I’ve had a great few months and played some amazing games.

Three of considerable note are Deadly Premonition, Call of Duty Black Ops and Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood.

Deadly Premonition has some great characters and a marvellous weird story. Being brave the developers have mixed the open world genre with the horror survival game. It’s a brave way to go forward and to be fair this game should have scored low – yet you can’t help but fall in love with the game and play it through. This was a game which proved to be god awful but it strangely works and is great fun to play. You can find the full review here.

Next up Call of Duty: Black Ops, although I didn’t get to review this eagerly anticipated title, it wasn’t long before I gave into the craze. The story from what I’ve played seems a lot more intense than previous COD titles, and has a polish which manages to match Modern Warfare 2. I’ve never been a big fan of Treyarch titles; WAW never hooked me when I played. Yet I have found myself addicted to the multiplayer, enjoying the new maps and kill streaks. Especially the little racing car with bomb attached – it proves another great instalment to the series and quite possibly Treayarch’s finest hour.

Then I began playing Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood a game, which I have excitedly been waiting for since its announcement earlier this year. I have to say this franchise is quickly becoming my favourite with a great story line and some amazing characters. The free running element is once again used brilliantly, then there’s the icing on the cake – multiplayer. The multiplayer proves to be a burst of fresh air, with an original idea executed perfectly.  If you want to read the full review check it out.

For the last twenty odd years, video gaming has been one of my biggest interests. From the humble Amstrad CPC 464 to the stunning 16bit Megadrive, I have been very lucky being able to play some of the greatest games to ever grace our lovely world.
However there seems to be a blip on my horizon, a stain upon my favourite past time. A little itch which won’t go away – becoming more and more annoying as each minute ticks past!

Glitches and updates – yes for me this has been the year of the update. Games which have been released at full price when still full of open glitches and errors. Now I’m not against updates, if it’s fixing the end result then it’s an excellent feature. What is annoying me though is the fact that a lot of these things in my mind could have been easily rectified before release, perhaps the developers run out of time – perhaps they seriously didn’t notice them?

However I can live with this little issue, with the seven or eight updates being downloaded before I can even play some titles!
Now there seems to be a bigger issue at hand, one which is slowly winding me up till I’m ready to burst. One which I hope will not be copied by other developers. Components of games actually missing from the advertised game!

I am of course talking about Lara Croft and The Guardian Of Light. The game was heavily advertised as the first co-op game for our favourite heroine, unfortunately at the time of release the online co-op was missing. I loved the idea that this would be co-op and so with my MS points in my virtual wallet – I went ahead and bought it. A friend bought it as well – the idea being some very well spent hours on co-op.

Of course beofre you ask, yes we were aware that the online wasn’t going to be available till late September – not a problem we both trusted this to be the case and bought it anyway. Now we are nearly at the end of October and still we are awaiting the update which should have really been built into the game since day one. I’ve been trawling the net for some news alas there are no confirmed dates as of yet, with only a rumour about November being the only little tease out there. However the developer has been kind to confirm five new DLC packs!

Yes my draw dropped when I read this – so I can’t actually play the game as originally advertised, however they have had time to work on five DLC packs. I’m sorry but that does seem to be a rather straight kick to the balls for all of us waiting patiently, for the promised online component.

I have to admit I feel neglected as if the developer no longer cares what we think, no longer cares about giving us the full game which was promised upon release. The stranger thing is that through trawling the net I have found various forums all saying the same thing, people getting more and more pissed at the total abandonment we seem to have witnessed from this company.

Is this the future I have to look forward to? I hope not for if it is then I can see one of my favourite past times fading fast…

I finally decided to stop getting carried away with Halo: Reach multiplayer, to get my hands dirty and begin the campaign. Luckily I was not alone, a friend has just purchased the game and so we decided to join the fight for Reach together – a four hour gaming session began.

I have to say WOW; the campaign for me is everything a Halo game should be. No it hasn’t suddenly become my favourite game of the year, but it has made sure that the Halo franchise has ended on a very, very high note.

I’ve still got a way to go before completing the campaign, yet everything I have encountered so far has been sublime. The usual Bungie polish that I have grown to love is there, Reach the planet looks epic, with the horizon being utterly beautiful. I’m really glad I decided to cave and buy this title, with it proving to be a must buy every time I play.

I’ve also gone back to an old favourite which I have to confess the first time around, I just didn’t play as much as I would have liked. I’m not one for zombie/horror titles as a general rule of thumb; however L4D is one of my all-time favourite co-op games. L4D2 however I finally purchased but alas I seemed to miss the boat. I managed to buy the game just as everyone I knew had played it to death, meaning most of my friends weren’t really up for many games.

However I decided to jump in and obliterate some of the zombie horde over the weekend – I love it. The characters are loveable; the scenarios are bigger than the first and the AI of the Zombie horde seem so much smarter than the original that it really seems to push your tactics to the limits.

Two extremely enjoyable games which have both surpassed my expectations, also showing a big change to how I’m enjoying my favourite hobby – co-op. I seem to be drifting more towards games which show a decent online co-op mode. Full stories which I can enjoy time and time again with friends the whole world over.

This is proving to be such a huge part of my buying decisions and other gamers I know, that it still surprises me that more developers don’t seem to consider co-op more in their titles.