The Triumphs and Tribulations of Wiz

I was typing up my geography revision notes onto the TSR wiki and while I was doing it I needed to look up whether candlestick park was a football or baseball stadium. Anyway what I found was this, a quote from wikipedia
"The earthquake had been "predicted" in the morning edition of The San Jose Mercury News in a column by Kevin Cowherd (of The Baltimore Sun). He was discussing the fact that the Oakland Athletics and the San Francisco Giants were playing each other in the 1989 World Series at Candlestick Park that day. The quote from his column read: "... these are two teams from California and God only knows if they'll even get all the games in. An earthquake could rip through the Bay Area before they sing the anthem for Game 3,"— which was precisely when the quake occurred."
Now I don't know about other people but that is freakily scary.

I got Mass Effect for Christmas and it is quite good. Not sure yet how good it is as I have only played one hour of it and so there is still 25 hours + of game play left.
You start off aboard a ship heading to a planet called Eden Prime to pick up a beacon and this is the only part I have done. From doing this part, I can safely say that the voice control works very well. You have control of a conversation by pointing an arrow at each different option so say one of your team mates hears a noise, they will stop and ask you what to do, one option could be carry on and ignore it, another could be to go and investigate and the third could ask the team mate what he/she thinks. As well as the conversation control, the game play is very good. It is a good mix of cut scenes, shooting, talking and exploring. It is an RPG game but unlike others such as oblivion, the story does have some sort of structure to it and players can't get totally lost around a level as I did many a time. The graphics are good however during the firefights, it can get a bit laggy but there is definitely something that can be built on in the rest of the trilogy.
Today, I went into Warrington shopping and a new shop has opened up called game Xchange. I traded in R6 Vegas, Forza 2, Oblivion, and Call of Duty 3 and they gave me £40 quid for it so I got Orange box with the money and I have £10 store credit.
Having played on it continuously since I got home, I have fell in love with portal. A game where you have to great portals (holes in walls) and navigate your way through various levels. Some can be quite a challenge and need a bit of ingenious thinking to navigate safely. Also included in the orange box is Half Life 2, Half Life 2 Episode 1 and Episode 2 along with Team Fortress two.
Now with all the games, I don't have a clue when I am going to get through both Mass Effect and Orange box and finish Call of Duty 4 on veteran.

I got a wii yesterday as a joint christmas present with my sister. (First ever joint christmas present). It is really good and the motion sensing is superb. The tennis is the best game on wii sports and there is a debate in the household as to whether it is easier to stand close to the net or at the back of the court. Anyway, that is another matter.
The console is so small. Incredibly small. No bigger than a portable dvd player get the entertainment it gives is unbelievable. For the first time ever, actually watching other people play on it is fun. The games available appeal to all ages and even though we only have wii sports, even gran was playing tennis yesterday!
However, there is room for improvement. Because the console is so small there isn't a large fan so there isnt a large chip in. So in the future, if Nintendo were to combine the processing power of the PS3 or xbox 36o, then it would mean that more data could be processed as to where the controllers are in relation to the sensor bar. That would mean that better punches or more acurate tennis shots could be made. But appart from that, there is very little else that I would change on it.
The question now is which game do I buy. Mario Party looks very fun for all the family and with very competative relatives coming round later in the week, could be good. Super mario galaxy has got some very good reviews and could be a nice game to play alone when I feel like it. And finally, Sonic vs Mario, olympics also looks very good. Only problem, which one do I buy.

A few weeks ago the gadget show which I watch on Channel 5 launched a campaign to get the internet service providers (ISPs) to drop the dreadded clause upto. This was because many people were buying broadband at advertised speeds of lets say upto 8mb. When people then connected, they then found that the actual speed they were receiving was only around half of the advertised speed.
So to update people. One ISP, albeit a small unknown one has decided to drop the clause upto. They revealled that all ISPs get two figures from BT, one minimum expected speed and one maximum possible speed. It is these two figures that the ISP will use to calculate broadband speeds for its customers.
But that was only one ISP. What they need is more data so this is how you can help. Go to this website and do some speed tests and provide them with data.

So this was the last week of school and wasn't it a good one. Thursday lunch was one of the best ever. This year 7 kid came to the Klix machine and found that there was already 30p in the machine so he thought, I've not got 5p so if I go into reception and borrow 5p then I can get a cheap drink. So he went into reception and in the mean time, my friend fished a 5p out of his pocket, put it in the machine and gave him a free drink of cranberry juice with the flavouring sludge in the bottom.
Then on Friday, we all went to subway. I got a meatball Mariana but it all fell apart so I ask, Is it time for subway to start offering disposable cutlery. Anyway, we then went into game and started looking round but not being noisy or disturbing other people. Anyway, we all went up to the a xbox 360 and I think what pushed the people over the top is when we tried to play on assassins creed but the controllers weren't on so we tried to turn the controllers on and the manage told us to get out of the shop. Has anyone else been thrown out of GAME for turning on the controllers.

This is a parody of footage taken from the film Downfall which shows hitlers last days in berlin as the russians took over the city. The film is all spoken in german so if you are english like me then you have to watch the subtitles but this then allows the subtitles to be manipulated as in the above video

Then back by popular demand, the creators created part two to the video.

The playlists have been changed for call of duty 4 today and now this is a run down of everything that is changed.

Multiplayer Playlist Changes:
The multiplayer playlists in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare are always evolving based on community feedback and stats we track behind the scenes. We're focused on constantly keeping the game fresh and tweaking it based on your feedback, so expect the following Playlist changes to be hitting soon:
Team Deathmatch
* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.
Mercenary Team Deathmatch
* Brand New Playlists: No Clans / Parties allowed.
* Players who don't want to be matchmade with clans (or people in parties) can team up with fellow lone wolves and play some TDM.
Free-for-All
* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.
* Score Limit Change: 100 Points
Domination
* Map Added to Rotation: Ambush - now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Bloc- now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Pipeline - now availalbe in map rotation.
Ground War
* No changes.
Sabatoge
* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.
Headquarters
* Map Added to Rotation: Ambush - now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Bloc- now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Pipeline - now availalbe in map rotation.
Search and Destroy
* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.
Team Tactical
* Map Added to Rotation: Ambush - now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Bloc- now available in map rotation.
* Map Added to Rotation: Pipeline - now availalbe in map rotation.
Hardcore Team Deathmatch
* Brand New Playlist: 100% Hardcore Team Deathmatch Only
* No longer switched between Hardcore Search and Destroy and Hardcore Team Deathmatch
* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.
Hardcore Search and Destroy
* Brand New Playlist: 100% Hardcore Search and Destroy Only
* No longer switched between Hardcore Search and Destroy and Hardcore Team Deathmatch
* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.
Old School
* Rule Set Change: Free-for-All Only w/ Old School Rules
* Increased Health (slightly)
* No Health Re-gen
* Score Limit Change: 100 points
* Map Added to Rotation: Showdown - now available in map rotation.
Cage Match
* Rule Set Change: No Longer Old School Mode
* 1 v 1: Normal Rules
* Map Added to Rotation: Countdown - now availalbe in map rotation
* Map Added to Rotation: District - now available in map rotation
Oldcore
* Playlist Removed
Team Objective
* Playlist Removed
* All game types included now available individually.
Upcoming Patch Updates (Separate from above Playlist changes):
Addition of Host Migration
* If Host of lobby leaves, all players will be deposited back to the lobby where next best host will be selected before new game restarts. Players will no longer be kicked out of game entirely.
Improved Network Performance For Larger Games
* 18 player games now require more bandwidth to host, resulting in smoother performance for players.
Optimized Server Selection for First Match
* Server selection is now optimized to select best bandwidth servers associated by LSP.
Updated Spectator "Chase Cam"
* Change Spectator Mode: Switch between First Person and Third Person.
* 360 Degree rotation around character you're spectating.
Fixed "Playlist Older Than Host" Error
* Player will no longer get error when entering games.
Optimized Corrupt Create-a-Class Handling
* Players will no longer be kicked from game when their create-a-class data is corrupted.
Added Kill Cam To Everything
* Kill Cam view Added: Air Strike Bombs (Follows bomb from plane to target)
* Kill Cam view Added: Grenades (Follows frag from hand to ground, then rotates to view target)
* Kill Cam view Added: RPGs (Follows RPG from launch to target)
* Kill Cam view Added: M203 Rounds (Follows round from launcher to target)
* Kill Cam view Added: Claymores (Views from behind claymore until explosion)
* Kill Cam view Added: C4 Packs (View from pack rotating to watch target)
* Kill Cam view Added: Martyrdom (View from grenade rotating to watch target)
Optimized Old School Experience
* Added Unlimited Sprint
* Doubled Magazine Size
* Added Ragdoll Cam
Additional Start Spawn Locations in All Maps
* Added a minimum of 9 extra start spawns on each side of all maps.
Optimized Sniper Rifle / ACOG Scope Accuracy
* Sniper Rifles and ACOG scope accuracy improved due to fix.
Fixed Weapon Sprint Bug
* Bug which gave players more sprint when using particular weapons.


Of particular importance to me especially is the new added kill cam. No longer are you killed by a grenade that you don't know where it has come from and then when you go into the kill cam you see a guy half way across the map toss a grenade in your general direction and think 'right, that didn't tell me anything'.

Ok, so this video is a mash up of a south park episode (Make love not Warcraft) and footage from the recent blockbuster hit, Call of Duty 4

Santa has to visit 90 million homes before sunrise on Christmas day, this means that Santa has 1 1000th of a second to climb down the chimney, eat the mince pie, drink the cherry, fill the stockings and get back on the roof. As well, the sleigh will be carrying around 300,000 tonnes of presents and to move that through the sky, it will need around 100,000 reindeer to lift the sleigh, Santa and the presents. So it all has a combined weight of around 350,000 tonnes.
Then to get to all the homes, the sleigh must move at around 1000km/sec. At that speed Rudolph's nose won't glow red, it will glow white hot from the immense friction from the air moving past. Then at that speed, in five thousandths of a second, the sleigh and all its mass will vaporise in an incredible fireball that would destroy the world.
So you can see, SANTA IS NOT REAL

After a turbulent year in F1 Fernando Alonso has joined Renault again as he left McClaren last month after problems with the team. He is reported to earn around £25milion from the deal for the 2008 season. This then means that there is one race seat at McClaren and likely to fill that would be Heikki Kovalianen. That would present an unbelievable rivalry for next season with perhaps a 4 way battle for the title between Alonso, Massa, Hamilton and Raikkonen

On another note, Joe Calzaghe took the award for sports personality of the year last night with Lewis Hamilton in second and Ricky Hatton in third.

Xbox LIVE Marketplace Video Store to Open in UK

Last year, the US saw the launch of the US Video Marketplace. A hub where full length movies and TV shows were brought together for xbox live owners to pay for and download. The facility has been a great success with new movies and shows added every week.
What I want to share, is that on December 11th, the UK video marketplace will open. When it does films such as 300 and the Matrix trilogy will be available to download. There have also been rumours throughout the year of the BBC and ITV showing content on the marketplace for viewers to download. Standard Definition movies will be available for 250 points which is around £2 which is very reasonable to download and watch.

In addition to this announcement, the fall update was release today and unfortunately I still don't have my 360 back :( but hopefully it will be back for next week.

Wow 2million posts in 3 weeks.
Challenge was this week was to get internet stardom in 3 weeks. Suzi went for a marketing approach and Jason just went for word of mouth and like 2 million posts in 3 weeks that is unbelievable. Here is his video.

Anyway, on with the campaign. A few weeks ago the GS launched a campaign to force ISPs to drop the 'up to' clause before broadband speed. To help go to their website and follow the instructions on how to help.

Ok, M$ have just released info on the fall update for xbox 360 world wide.

In the last update, many people found that when they added windows live messenger support they got messages saying that you are under 18 or people saying that they have changed their email since they created their xbox live account. The fall update will fix both of those problems. There will be an option to change the windows live ID associated with the gamertag and crucially be able to "graduate your xbox live account" which means that the parental controls are removed. Also the age limit to talk on messenger will be lowered.

Other than that, support will be included for xbox originals, where you can download full versions of original xbox games costing 1200 M$ points.

But, there is still no news on a european video marketplace?

So I've just set my blog up and I thought I'd tell you a bit about my self.

I live in the north west, no point in me telling you where it is as you would never be able to find it but anyway, it is halfway between Liverpool and Manchester. I am taking GCSEs at the end of this year at Deanery High School in Wigan. I am an explorer scout and young leader in St. Helens and I don't care what people think of me being a scout. With my explorer unit I have been to Iceland, been abseiling doing a climbing course and numerous walks.

I am also know as a gadget freak and love to fiddle with anything techy wise like computers or phones or MP3 players.

I have an xbox 360 which is at Microsoft at the moment cos it is broke. I love my xbox, spend most of my waking life on it. I play most first person shooters, favourites include, CoD4, Halo 3, and Rainbow 6 Vegas. I am really looking forward to Mass Effect and might get assassins creed
. Really looking forward to Tom Clancy's Endwar, that looks an awesome.

With the threat of nuclear war eliminated, no one thought world war 3 was possible, but they were wrong...

It is the US vs an EU alliance vs Russia which looks awesome

That is all I am going to post today, but I'll post some more stuff later tomorow or sunday