A very telling and well thought out post by Andy. I’ll be leaving my comments over at his site for continuity when this thing hits the fan 
Monthly Archive for October, 2007
If you don’t buy The Orange Box this year you are quite literally INSANE. Comprising of Half-Life 2, Episode 1, Episode 2, Portal and Team Fortress 2 makes for INSANE value for money. There is not a better deal out there. Buy it now!
Team Fortress 2 I have been playing excessively since the beta first started and would say it’s worth it for that alone. Multiplayer shooters have come out at that price individually before - Shadowrun anyone? But this is on another level to that particular game as there is something for every type of player from casual (medic, engineer) to the hardcore (soldier, spy) and it’s so much fun.
I finished Episode 2 yesterday and as usual the quality is sky high. Valve is all about polish polish polish and this instalment just shines. The plot was explained much better this time around and definitely gave off a middle of the trilogy feeling what with the not so happy ending. Alyx remains the most convincing in game character I have ever seen and, by your side or not, much of the story rests on her convincing performances. I hope Episode 3 isn’t far away but Valve being Valve they could make us wait another 16 months for the next instalment.
Last but not least is Portal which I completed in one sitting. Compelling, original, funny, twisted and more. We all knew the technology was there to make for a great puzzler but they went a step further and crafted something with character and depth. Also being set in the Half-Life universe (at Apature Science, Black Mesa’s rival) is a great idea and it would love to see some overlap in Episode 3 down the line.
Good work Valve! I look forward to the next box whatever colour it is.
Time to add my thoughts - better late than never.
Randy and Dana have both made their arguments. Dana insists Randy was happy with his contract when he signed 8 months ago and didn’t attempt to renegotiate before quitting. Randy says Dana the Fertitas lied to him about being the second most highly paid fighter in the company and they failed to secure the big fight with Fedor.
If what Dana says is true, and Randy never even attempted to renegotiate his contract, I would side with Dana on this one. If he felt he wasn’t being paid enough the best course was to tell management directly rather than asking them where he stands in the company, talking to other fighters and then quitting out of the blue. I would agree with Couture that he should be paid the same if not more than anyone else in the heavyweight division (if not the entire company) but he did nothing to ensure that happened.
The other issue is Randy being very hung up on Fedor. Rightly so, he is still considered by most analysts to be the number one heavyweight in the world. It is completely logical that Randy would want to test himself against this man - once and for all silence all the critics and put the brakes on the Fedor hype train. It is for this reason I believe Randy only wants one more fight, for it to be with Fedor and for it to set him up financially for a long long time. Win or lose that fight I see him retiring for good if it ever happens.
So long term match making has not been greatly affected but the image of the UFC in the eyes of the mainstream has been tarnished and the heavyweight division thrown up in the air.
Jim over at RPS has an excellent write up on the potential of a “World of Evecraft” style game. I totally agree.
I never want to deal with letting agents again. Their websites suck, they don’t answer the phones and they never call back. My theory is they are making so much money hand over fist that it’s actually a waste of their time to pursuing clients as one walks through the door every few minutes with a wad of cash in hand. Unfortunately it’s getting harder and harder to deal directly with landlords now that the agencies have polluted all the decent listing sites. Gap in the market? I’ll look into it.
Long story short I found somewhere half decent and fingers crossed I can move in this week (or at least whenever the broadband gets hooked up). The old BT monopoly reared its head once again and wanted to charge a ¬£125 connection fee for the phone line! But thanks to Andy’s Bulldog suggestion I will be paying a grand total of ¬£1! Lets just hope they show up for the installation. One of my considerations in picking a flat this time aside from location and price has been large white walls. You know the kind a projector would look good on? More on that when I have it set up.
It’s looking pretty hectic this week and I will be travelling about quite a bit so I look forward to my next post coming from the new place (if everything goes according to plan)!
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