Ill Start Monday Guvnor

I have moved

2010-05-19T06:07:00.000-07:00

Hey all, just wanted to let you know that I have moved here!

I'm in the process of tweaking the new site but hopefully you will enjoy reading it.

Thanks for following so far, Paul.

Survival of the Fittest

2010-04-18T14:23:00.000-07:00

So as some of you might remember one of the original reasons I set up this blog was to track my fitness, the blog has evolved to be a little more than that, but unfortunately the fitness side has been sidetracked somewhat, until now!

I've entered the 2010, Men's Health Survival of the Fittest race that takes place in Nottingham, Edinburgh and Cardiff, I'll be taking part in the Nottingham race with a few friends.

It's a 10km race with 10 obstacles like crossing a river on ropes, an army assault course and a step climb in my football teams home stadium, Nottingham Forest's City Ground. You can see more information at the official site should you want to take part.

I've got until October to get myself in shape, I'm 3 weeks into training now and it's fair to say that I have a long way to go.

Facts, figures, charts! They never sold a newspaper!

2010-04-06T08:22:00.000-07:00

There has been a lot of talk in recent months about the impending death of games as we know them. Murmurings about how the big 3 year projects will die a terrible death as we give way to the surge of new games and ideas via online stores like the app store, and even talk and hard evidence of Facebook as a gaming platform.

Now I welcome new gaming ideas and innovations as much as the next game designer/raving fan boy, but do people really think that these will be the downfall of massive AAA titles? I'm not so sure.

Just the other night I was having a good catch up chat with an old friend who has been in the games industry for a loooooong time, and we both agreed that there is certainly change in the air, I think most of us know this. In the next couple of years we're 100% certain that gaming's business model will see some massive changes mainly down to the previously mentioned digital distribution and new digital platforms, but another big factor is how much easier and cheaper it is to produce games again.

We're seeing the welcome return of the bedroom developer with fun little five minute games, 2D sprites and highscores! and do you know what? I like it. But the point I was getting to was that the death of multi million pound epics, your GTA's, Halo's and Call of Duties of this world, for me simply isn't going to happen. And I'll tell you why...

For years we have been striving for movie style production values, games that put us right in the thick of the action, where we relive the Normandy landings or the heist scene in Heat, and finally we are starting to get there. Yes it costs a monumental amount of cash to produce these games, but have you seen how much money they rake in! Modern Warfare 2 pulled in a phenomenal $550 million in it's first five days on sale, the best five day launch of ANY entertainment product ever, that includes books and movies. I have no idea what the sales figures are like now, but you can guarantee it's just as astonishing as the first week sales.

Now this simply isn't going to wither away and die, especially when the games being produced are arguably getting better and better and better. This sort of income is clearly the lifeblood of most major publishers and developers and they wont just stop producing these games as A) that would be madness and B) the public so ravenously lap up these great games, and whilst this is the case someone will provide them.

Now what awesome little games like Doodlejump, Pocket God and geoDefense bring to the table is pure gameplay and the ability to have your five minutes of fun, switch off and think nothing more of it until the next time you want a quick blast. Which is great and some would argue is what true gameplay is all about. But clearly these games cant replace the epic scenarios we see in some modern games today.

My take on this new wave of gaming innovation is that it will live alongside the more established and typical production methods. You only have to look to companies like EA to see proof of this, yes they have the clout to dip their fingers in many pies but they also have a board to please. So whilst EA are still developing their big hitting IP's further they are also developing mobile and social networking games as seen with their recent acquisition of Playfish.

For me what it boils down to is that there has never been a more exciting time to be a gamer, you can take your massive games and plough hours upon hours into them, but fantastically gaming seems to have rediscovered it's form and we can also play contemporary games like it's 1989.

Player Investment (Clever Title Pending)

2010-03-30T04:40:00.000-07:00

I'm pretty sure that most of my friends and colleagues will attest to the fact that I prefer to get my points across in a frank but considered manner.

Be that as it may, I tend to avoid buzzwords or catch phrases but recently one has caught my eye, not least because it interests me immensely.

Player Investment.

Now yeah it's been kicking around a while but it's definitely coming to the forefront of modern game design. Almost all modern games have a sort of standard player investment system in place, thanks to Microsoft's achievements and Sony's trophies. But developers are taking this and sprinting off with it, and with good reason too.

Games like Halo, Call Of Duty, World of Warcraft and many others are all supplying us with that carrot that tantalisingly teases us and keeps us ploughing hours upon hours into our games, which previously we would probably finish then leave on the shelf, trade in or flog to a mate.

A few years ago I began to play World Of Warcraft for a number of months in an effort to improve my understanding of the whole MMO genre, I was totally new to the experience and I found it very enjoyable. That said I didn't get hopelessly addicted and I was able to walk away without turning into a gibbering wreck.

The one thing that I have noticed in recent years is how other games have latched onto some of WOW's (and other RPG/MMO titles) fundamental mechanics. I think you could put up a strong argument suggesting that it's down to games like WOW, Ultima and Final fantasy etc that we find ourselves devoutly attempting to climb the ranks and brag to our friends and peers in games that you wouldn't normally associate that kind of system with.
Games like Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3 and numerous others. Can you imagine this back in the days of Quake 3, back then you didn't need any proof of your gaming prowess, you'd just let WASD and the left mouse button do the talking. And even that has changed with the introduction of Quake Live!

Don't let that last little rant fool you though, I definitely approve of all of these "Player Investment" mechanics. These relatively simple systems have been taken and used very successfully to ensure that we're still playing that "one more game" before we log off at the end of a Wednesday night whilst the wife and baby are asleep.

I already briefly mentioned Halo 3, for many there was always a strong desire to reach level 50 ( I never persevered) but Bungie are also taking this much further with Halo Reach, check out this link to see some of their impressive and I think exciting plans.

I guess one negative that does come to mind is that whilst all of these developers attempt to turn their games into huge time sinks, it leaves little time to mess around with other games so in that respect it could well be a very bad thing.

At the end of the day our desire to prove our superiority over others has well and truly been tapped into and I honestly believe that gaming in general is much more interesting for it. I just wonder where does it go next? I don't want to play one game for a year until the next one comes out, though the cynic in me tells me that's exactly what some developers want.

Heavy Rain vs Road Avenger

2010-03-16T07:09:00.000-07:00

So recently I played through Heavy Rain and a great game it is. One thing that did strike me was how much it reminded me of an old school classic, Road Avenger on the Mega CD.

For those not familiar with it, the game saw the player play an interactive anime movie by pressing the correct sequence of buttons in time to the on screen activities, you played the roll of a sort of Mad Max crossed with Kurt Russel in Death Proof in a speeding red sports car. The title does a great job of getting the protagonists activities across.

Now clearly Heavy Rain is light years ahead of Road Avenger in terms of tech and art etc, but design, hmmmmn not so much.

Some might say well Heavy Rain is on foot and so has more in common with the likes of Space Ace and Dragon's Liar, which is a fair comment but Road Avenger was better, it felt like the timing was right and that the actions you had to perform were more in context with the on screen action. Most importantly if you messed up it felt like it was your fault, which I'd say is one of, if not the most important things in any video game.

Heavy Rain also does this pretty well, granted there are times when it slips up a little, but for the most part the quick time events seem well authored and sensitive towards the onscreen action. Consequently they can have you on the edge of your seat.

Now I don't know if it's purely rose tinted glasses which has me making this comparison and please don't get me wrong I'm not holding Road Avenger up as a beacon of gaming achievement, and I'm sure that the timing I mentioned previously probably doesn't hold up as well as I remember. But I guess the point I'm attempting to make is that it's refreshing to see developers taking influence from other and often ill thought of areas of gaming's history and importantly improving the formula.

Road Avenger may or may not have given Quantic Dreams some inspiration, the highway section on Heavy Rain certainly suggests to me that it did, but I think it's also fair to say that other similar games of old, like Dragon's Lair etc would have popped up in the Quantic Dreams studio at some point.

Heavy Rain was a brilliant breath of fresh air, but elements of it are ingrained deeply in gaming's past.

Something I intend to bring into play as I continue to expand my repertoire.

Result!

2010-03-14T15:00:00.000-07:00

I just found out that I was runner up in the Eurogamer God Of War 3 competition, apparently I've won a GOW3 T shirt and poster.

Well happy with that!

2010-03-12T01:51:00.000-08:00

So as I've mentioned a few times I'm looking into learning more about the code/script side of game development.

Recently I came across Flixel essentially a library of Action Scripts put together by the chaps that produced the excellent Canabalt and Gravity Hook HD.

For some reason I seem to have taken to using Flixel and Flex Builder, maybe it's because it's a little more straight forward than coding in C++ and doesnt feel so extensive. But a large part is because of the great effort the Flixel guys have put into making things easy for new starters.

So thanks to the Flixel team and hopefully I'll be able to make more use of my ideas and have something to show soon. Work and being a Dad aside.

A Belated Happy New Year

2010-02-24T06:46:00.000-08:00

Hmmmn bit late with this one, I've been sooo busy in my private life and not had time for much at all.

My little daughter is growing up so fast now, she's nearly six months old and about to start eating real food, Awesome!

I'm hoping to take a leaf out of my friends book and start blogging a bit more, so expect to see more bloggage, if you're the gaming type, you might want to check out his page here.

Don't say I told you but he can be quiet witty and presents a good read, he also gives some valuable insight into developing XNA projects and such like.

Just got hold of a couple of new books as I really should read more. I've got part 2 of the Dark Tower series and I also bought Magician, looking forward to getting stuck into those.

I recently completed the excellent Heavy Rain on the PS3, if you have a PS3 I recommend you give it a try if you haven't already, really is a breath of fresh air. I seem to be developing an obsession with upping my PSN score, i cant see that turning out well for me.

Christmas, Bambino & Borderlands!

2009-12-11T07:26:00.000-08:00

So my 29th Christmas approaches, going to be an interesting one that's for sure. As most of us know life has a funny way of throwing us a few curve balls from time to time, and it's certainly done that recently!

Nevertheless I carry on marching forwards, my baby girl is growing up so fast it's scary. You hear parents say that fairly often but it's mad just how right they were. She's started smiling a lot now and there is nothing better than seeing that face after a day at work.

My wife Jodie has been an absolute legend looking after Summer whilst I work in Leeds, hopefully I can give her a much needed break when I break up for Christmas. Though I'm sure the recent beauty treatments for her birthday got me some brownie points! :)

I recently played through the COD MW2 single player campaign and really enjoyed the game, some bits were a little OTT as I always thought that COD was relatively grounded, but hey it's a video game. I guess if I was to be picky I could pick out the re spawning enemies as a downside but I still enjoyed the game regardless.

Been online a few times and that's really where it's at, was slightly disappointed that Boot camp from Treyarch's previous attempt was seemingly ignored I thought that was a great way of getting into online play gently. With having Summer it's much more difficult to put the time in like I used to so my friends march on ahead whilst i try to grab the odd hour.

I also recently purchased Halo ODST and Borderlands, really looking forward to giving both of these a whirl, I always lap the Halo games up and Borderlands looks to bring something interesting to the table. Looks very nice too.

My team Nottingham Forest seem to coming along very nicely, sitting pretty in 4th position level on points with 3rd placed Cardiff. We've seen some resounding victories too not to mention against top of the table Newcastle. I'd love for us to make the Premiership again, but only if we can compete and become a steady mid table side. The yo yo'ing a few years back was awful to see.

My gorgeous little girl

2009-10-27T16:29:00.000-07:00

So a lot has happened since I last posted. Myself and Jodie are now parents to our beautiful daughter Summer, and may I say that being a dad is the most amazing thing that has happened to me.

In my work life we've released Chinatown Wars on the PSP to much critical acclaim which I'm very happy about as we all put everything into ensuring that the game was rocking regardless of platform.

I got rid of my BMW at the weekend which was a sad moment but my new car, a Seat Leon FR is very nice and has softened the blow considerably.

I'm always trying to improve my game design mad skillz, and as previously mentioned I've started learning a little more about coding, I don't want to be a programmer I just like knowing what I'm talking about so this can only help and more excitingly for me I've been getting back into pixel art at home, having much fun with that too.

Today I visited the Eurogamer Expo in Leeds with a few colleagues, some great games were on show and I was especially impressed with some of the stuff I saw in the Indie Games section.

One game called VVVVVV by a guy called Terry Cavanagh was much fun, I recommend watching the video link.

Another great effort was a title called Plain Sight, this will be released on Steam pretty soon and again it's well worth checking out.

Although I did enjoy the show I did feel some things could have been done much better, apart from the games the event was relatively low key. There were hardly any freebies given out and there was generally a lack of excitement, that said it is a new event so hopefully it was successful enough to make them consider another and they will have a steady platform to build upon.

A Week In Boredom

2009-07-17T04:54:00.000-07:00

OK so I've been trying to find things to do with no money (thanks to Ibiza and the car) and being stuck in the house. So mainly all I've done this week is watch films and play games.

Watched Charlie Wilson's War the other night that was a really good film that both me and the wife enjoyed, very entertaining.

I was told by a friend of mine to watch a film called Session 9, he said it was one of the scariest things he'd seen. We put it on the other night and it was possibly the worst film to grace our DVD player. It felt like I was watching an Aussie soap rather than a US film, and it was about as scary as my dog.

Our dog may be named after a popular TV serial killer but believe me he isn't scary. Suffice to say we didn't watch the whole film.

Another film we watched was Son of Rambow which was very good, the kids in the film are very funny especially Lee Carter. Definitely reminds me of my childhood, me and my brother always used to grab our folks video camera and make our own movies....

I downloaded the demo of The Secret of Monkey Island Special Edition on Xbox live yesterday, I love the new look of the game and cant wait to spend some time with it again. I didn't see the demo through I'd rather wait until I grab the full thing and start from scratch.

Better now

2009-07-14T05:33:00.000-07:00

Feeling much better than I was now, all I have left is a tickly annoying cough. Not allowed back in to work for another week, so it's fair to say I'm more than a little bored!

I'm not officially house bound anymore so I went for a couple of drives around in the beast listening to the new Subliminal Sessions CD mixed by Eric Morillo. Well worth a look if you love music of the house variety.

For Better or For Worse?

2009-07-10T02:27:00.000-07:00

OK I admit it I committed the cardinal sin in the world of football I switched allegiances, last year I turned my back on PES for the first time since the great war started.

Now I've always dabbled with both games throughout their history but I would often not buy FIFA, however you could guarantee I would buy every PES or International Superstar Soccer (as it was once affectionately known) released.

Last year however I didn't buy PES not even on budget! I got hold of the PES demo and quite frankly I was disappointed, now it's very shallow to judge a game on a demo alone but with PES 2009 it was difficult not to. Some might say it's even harsh to judge a game on it's presentation and for the most part I agree.

I just felt that after so many years of putting up with the cheesy front-end and woeful commentary, I thought I deserved more, yeah the game-play has always been the jewel in PES's crown. But I've been playing this game since I was a teenager, PES has little to prove here. That aside I did think the demo felt a little unresponsive, but I think you always feel a little like that when the annual update comes along.

The one thing that FIFA does well time and time again is the presentation. You have great music playing throughout the menu system and everything looks very slick and polished.

PES on the other hand looks like a mid nineties Sky Sports broadcast, whilst great back in the 95 /96 season, these days it's simply lost it's edge and isn't good enough.

The debate has been raging for over a decade now and I think we can all agree that as a games player you takes your choices. I mentioned I switched to FIFA I think it was more in protest than anything else, as I don't enjoy FIFA 09 as much as I enjoyed PES 6 or PES 2008 on the PS2 or 360 (yeah I even had both versions of PES 6!). Yeah I know, cutting your nose off to spite your face is not big or clever.

That said I firmly believe you have to give credit where credit is due. And EA to their credit have clearly pushed and pushed to bring FIFA in line with PES and in all fairness they are about there.

I bring this up because it's nearing that time of year where once again the great debate will crack open. In my opinion PES needs to do only a few minor things to get itself back in shape and I will be a loyal follower all over again. But it looks like FIFA has some great ideas up it's sleeve such as the 360 degree control of the players.

It will be interesting to see how they fare this autumn.

Breaking News:

2009-07-09T06:27:00.000-07:00

Alien Breed is on it's way back.

Our good friends over at Team 17 have today released 3 screens on Eurogamer from the Alien Breed remake they are currently working on. It's titled Alien Breed Evolution.

I'm very excited about seeing this, I'm sure my brother will be as excited as I am, we spent many weeks on the original game as kids.

See all the pics here..

Eurogamer

Nottingham Forest

2009-07-09T06:16:00.000-07:00

As most of you know I'm a massive Nottingham Forest fan. Looks like we may even get a strong enough side to push for a playoff spot in my opinion.

We made the signing of Paul Anderson permanent which was a genius move. One of the best players we have.

We also managed to capture Lee Camp from QPR who had a blinding loan spell with us last season. After his magnificent performance in that infamous game against the sheep I think most Forest fans will be happy to see him sign.

On top of that we signed Dele Adebola from Bristol and David McGoldrick from Southampton with apparently more signings on the way. I hear on the rumour mill that a young Jermaine Beckford may be City Ground bound.

Defiantly looking forward to the new season.

Yoooooou Reeeeeeeds!

Fitness Update

2009-07-07T06:11:00.000-07:00

As some of you may remember I set up this blog to track my fitness amongst other things. I kinda failed with that, but I now plan to get that all back on track.

Clearly this will have to wait until the pig flu has subsided but I'll be hitting the gym hard in the coming months, not least so our little daughter (when she arrives) can say "My Dad is bigger than your Dad" with some pride rather than embarrassment.

I plan to do this with a steady diet, regular games of squash and football and hitting the gym at least 3 times a week.

I'll keep you informed.

Nursery

2009-07-07T05:51:00.001-07:00

My wife and her sister have recently finished our nursery wall for when our baby girl arrives around October. I saw some amazing pictures on Deviant Art by a guy called Orioto

http://orioto.deviantart.com/gallery/#Videogame-Remakes

We particularly liked the Yoshi's Island image Orioto had produced so we got Jodie's sister Hollie to paint a picture on the nursery wall inspired by Orioto's original work. The image at the top of this blog shows the results.

As you can imagine we were very happy with the results.

Man Down, Man Down!

2009-07-07T05:26:00.000-07:00

Well apparently I have swine flu. Or at least I'm a suspected case so I'm now officially house bound for the next seven days.

I feel quite shocking, tiredness, head aches, upset stomach, aching limbs and a very sore throat amongst other things. But the main thing I'm bothered about is my pregnant wife! She's my designated flu buddy.

She's adamant that she is staying around even though I have the plague, bless her. Don't worry though any sign of oinking and we'll get her a flu buddy and house bound like me. :)

The funny thing is I was working out in San Diego for 2 months when the whole swine flu thing kicked off. I spend a week in Ibiza and three of the nine of us come down with the virus.

Damn you piggies, damn you!

Back from Ibiza

2009-07-05T07:54:00.000-07:00

Well I got back from Ibiza in the early hours of Saturday morning. We had a great time out there and went to some amazing club nights.

Highlights for me were Harry Choo Choo Romero's set at Pacha and the legendary Sasha at Cream. I really enjoyed Tiesto at Privilege too. As much as I hate to say (if only because my mate Bob was right) my long time favourite DJ, Paul Van Dyk was a bit of a let down.

The Ibiza Rocks hotel was pretty poor, they just seem to be set up to suck money out of their guests in any way possible. And whilst we weren't expecting an amazing room it would have been nice if the theme of all the rooms followed the vibe of the actual hotel. Simple things like having pictures of the Ibiza Rocks branding in the pics on the walls rather than some chintzy riverside scene. Ours was clearly left over from before the place made the transition to Ibiza Rocks.

That said the facilities were half decent and it didn't put a downer on the holiday.

Stuff

2009-06-25T08:59:00.000-07:00

So I've been playing a lot of inFamous on the PS3 recently. I really enjoyed motoring through the first island clearing up all the areas and doing the satellite runs (blatantly ripped from Crackdown!) but I'm not really feeling the urge to go back to it again. I'm sure I will though.

I love powering up the main guy but I always felt that he just wasn't quite powerful enough for me, maybe that develops later. I am playing on hard mode too, so there is every chance that this is the reason for that.

Off to Ibiza tomorrow so I will be out of touch for at least a week! Hopefully I will return with some Hangover style photos to show. :)

Here's a question are Transformers 2 and Terminator Salvation actually worth going to see on the big screen?

Some guys just can't handle Vegas

2009-06-24T15:06:00.000-07:00

Just got back from watching The Hangover, that has to be one of the funniest films I have ever seen. Especially being so close to a stag week away in Ibiza! Wonder if we can find a Tiger and lose the groom!

If you haven't seen the movie and you have brushed it off as a typical American Comedy, I urge you go along and see this film. I don't remember stopping laughing.

Ibiza!

2009-06-24T09:12:00.000-07:00

I'm off to Ibiza for the 3rd time on Friday and I cant wait! We're going to celebrate my good friend Martin getting married. It's also my last big blow out before my baby daughter arrives and I officially have to be more responsible! :)

9 of us are going out there, some awesome nights on whilst we are there, DJ's like Pete Tong, Sander Klienenberg, Tiesto, Paul Van Dyk, Steve Angelo and the rest of the Swedish House Mafia.

Staying at the Ibiza Rocks hotel so we get to see The Kooks live and go to the afterparty at Eden, sounds fun.

Been a while again!

2009-06-24T06:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been some time since my previous blog but I've been a very busy boy. Work is pretty crazy at the mo so much going on, but of course I still love it.

I'm enjoying being back home I missed my friends and family very much. It's great to be back to a good cold pint of Fosters at the local too.

I've been redecorating and gardening of all things, in time for the new arrival in October. We're having a baby girl and we've decided on a name now too. But I'll reveal that one at a later date.

Off to see The Hangover tonight, I've heard great things so I hope it doesn't disapoint me.

Matthew and Hyde!

2009-05-02T13:45:00.000-07:00

Well last night was interesting we hit Encinitas for our usual weekend night out, one of us had a few too many tequilas and ended up in a cell for the night!

This was after using street lamps as a lap dancing pole, falling into a 7/11 sign and then into the middle of the road. The local Sheriff's thought it was probably best to stick our friend in a cell for the night, probably just so he didn't die! :)

We can laugh about it now.

Home

2009-05-02T13:17:00.000-07:00

Appologies again for not updating for a while. I've been a very busy boy.

As any regular reader will know I've been out in San Diego for nearly 2 months. Had a great time out here and took in some of the sights. Met some amazing people and genuine new friends.

I'll be heading home soon, really looking forward to catching up with my family and friends.

I recently got a new tattoo, it's the start of a full or half sleeve, cant quite make my mind up yet, HUGE thanks to the artist Billy who was a great guy and an awesome tattooist and did a great job on my arm.

If you feel the need for some ink and your in Lucadia you should check his shack out. You'll need to wait but it's soooooo worth it.

http://www.454tattoo.com/

Story So Far

2009-04-09T15:12:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd kick off my latest blog with a gratuitous picture of our fridge! So I'm nearly at the end of my forth week out in San Diego things are going well. Jodie has now come out here to join me for a couple of weeks so that's cheered me up very much.

I'll be back in the UK roughly mid May. Not had much time to take in the sights but when we have been out and about we've had a good laugh.

A couple of places we've enjoyed recently were two bars in Encinitas The Saloon and D street. Great bars with a great vibe.

http://www.myspace.com/the_saloon

http://www.dstreetbarandgrill.com/

Other than that we've been frequenting the Karl Strauss bar on an it's fair to say regular basis. :)
When we initially got here we were staying in a very comfy but unfortunately boring hotel with no bar! Shocking I know.

Anyway I'm a busy boy so more soon, hope all of you back home are well? and see you in a few weeks.

Sorry its late! A few stories to come this is the first.

2009-04-06T09:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's been a while since my last post, we've been out in San Diego for about 3 weeks now, so I'll start with a funny story.

During our first week out it was Saint Patrick's day, now we do celebrate St Paddy's back in the UK but I wouldn't say it's always a massive night. Over here it's a big deal.

Everyone was out and almost everyone was wearing Green, the whole vibe was very festive. We decided to hit the first bar in Carlsbad Village. Now stupidly myself and one of the other guys Sean (who happens to be Irish) forgot our ID, the bouncer politely suggested we go get it then return and so we did.

Upon returning the rest of our party were in a different bar so we had a few in there then returned to the previous bar at which we were originally refused entry. This is where it gets funny.

So we're all queuing up to get in to this bar again I get in with my driver's licence as ID, one of the other guys gets in then Sean gets stopped and told that his Irish passport (which he'd previously been told to fetch) will not be permitted as actual ID! And this is on St Paddy's day of all Days.

So you've got a bar full of people (of which I would imagine very few are Irish) all wildly celebrating an Irish holiday, and an Irish guy stood outside being refused entry! Made us laugh anyway.

BIG NEWS!

2009-03-21T10:08:00.000-07:00

Me and Jodie are going to be parents! Christ I've been dying to say that.

Hope everyone back home is ok, missing all you guys like crazy. Will do a longer blog soon, I've got some interesting stuff to stick up when I get time, busy at work at the mo.

Rapturous Response!

2009-03-17T13:29:00.000-07:00

GTA CTW is now out in stores, as previously mentioned I was a little apprehensive about the forthcoming reviews. I always feel like this at the end of a game.

You put your heart and soul into something you genuinely love and all you want to do is produce a very good game that players will enjoy.

Without blowing our own trumpet it seems like it's job done. I'm so happy with these scores, I genuinely thought that this was the best project I'd ever worked on I think this confirms that for me....

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ds/grandtheftautochinatownwars

As you regular readers know I'm now out in San Diego (more specifically Carlsbad). The weather is awesome and the place looks great but I'm missing Jodie like mad.

Met some great guys out here, and I'm really looking forward to working with them, looks like I may even finally get my sleeve tattoo started, one of the guys here has some connections in SD so I'm going to see about getting something started. I mean it this time Hollie/Andy! :)

Offski's!

2009-03-13T10:24:00.000-07:00

Well I leave for San Diego on Monday, I'm very much looking forward to getting over there but I'm going to miss Jodie massively. I think in all our years together the longest we've been apart is about 3 days. So a couple of months is going to be a big deal for both of us.

It's fair to say I'll miss the dog and the rest of my family and friends too. :) I've got some big news to reveal on here, but unfortunately it's going to have to wait until next week. I'll still be writing my blog from my temporary home so hopefully I'll be able to post some great images and stories.

Chinatown Wars will be hitting the stores imminently, I think I mentioned before that we're all very proud of what we have built, I'm excited/nervous to see the review scores rolling in. After 2 years you just want people to enjoy what the team have created.

Speaking of games if you have an iphone or an ipod touch pick up Zen Bound from the app store. It's a really funky little game that involves wrapping up wooden blocks in string, much better than it sounds. Pocket God is also worth a look for 59p, you don't really do much its just a bit of a laugh.

Finally I must say Happy Birthday to my brother, we're off to Hooters tonight for his 30th birthday, so that should be a laugh, Pete Tong is playing at Stealth. Be great to drag everyone to that but I doubt that's gonna happen.

Road Trip!

2009-03-08T04:30:00.000-07:00

I've been very busy this weekend, it looks like I'm going to be out of the country for a couple of months leaving my lovely wife behind.

Which is one of the reasons I wanted to ensure my car was in the best condition it could be before I leave. As well as you know wanting to keep it nice. :)

On top of this we've been looking at new houses, it looks like this could all start happening in the space of a week, which is quite frankly insane! but also very exciting.

So basically its all go.

Nothing like a good swift kick to the place where the sun don't shine!

2009-03-08T04:13:00.001-07:00

As I mentioned on here before my car was due in for a service. It's fair to say Mr BMW had my pants down. As you may or may not know I own an E46 BMW M3 (one in the pic above). I've wanted one for years, specifically that model the specific options it has and colour etc.

So yesterday I took it for its first service with BMW since getting the car around Christmas, I got the car in a private sale so it's expected that a few things may need addressing.

The car needs new wishbone suspension on the front, a new sensor for my alarm the actual oil service doing and a few belts that had perished on the air con and something else amongst a few other minor things.

£2000 later and I'm a little gutted, to be fair the guys at the BMW garage we're a little sympathetic dropping nearly £200 off the actual price and showing me through the garage and explaining exactly what needed doing and why.

Like me they are keen to keep the car looking as good as it should, the recent prang I reported was also not included in that quote, they would prefer to replace the whole rear quarter panel as the damage is just too awkward to put right by usual means and wouldn't look as good as it possibly should. They recommend I go through the insurance for that. :)

Stuff

2009-03-05T15:09:00.000-08:00

OK so as I previously mentioned I've been looking into doing some pet projects with C sharp (Its late I cant remember how to find the correct symbol so your going to have to have the word sharp)

I thought I'd have a blast at some space orientated art work as seen above, I'm fairly pleased with the results too. I'll do another soon but spend a little more time on it.

There really isn't enough time in the day though.

On another semi related note I really want one of those new red Xbox 360's they look rocking!

New Stuff

2009-03-02T12:54:00.000-08:00

How good does it feel to buy new stuff, especially when things decide to fit you, got myself some nice new clothes and a new pair of K Swiss trainers (see image above). Very happy with those.

Having fun with my car alarm at the minute, since I had new tires fitted (£370 boys, nothing like a good swift kick to the knackers!) My alarm has decided to periodically go off.

Its due in at the garage next week so I'm sure Mr BMW will put things right for me at the cost of a new house. Still I'm looking forward to the car having a little TLC after its recent ordeal. :)

I also started playing around with the demo of Traktor Pro its a funky piece of kit, If I decide to buy the whole product I may see about getting some mixes uploaded for old times sake. I do very much miss DJ'ing, EUUUUFORIAAAAAA!

See it always comes back to the fabulous Ibiza trip we have planned in June, this will be nothing short of Epic!

Ravey Davey Gravy!

2009-02-27T03:51:00.000-08:00

Wow the new Prodigy album is immense. If you haven't picked it up yet I suggest you get on it. It has a great old school feel mashed with new sounds, best album to be released in a good while in my opinion. And The Prodigy back to their filthy best.

I was really looking forward to going to see them live in April but looks like I may now miss them! :(

Long Weekends, Dents and Slumdogs

2009-02-24T02:27:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the lack of posts, Ive been away to Cornwall for the first time in my life. Really enjoyed it down there with my wife and dog. We also got the roof down on the new motor for the first time, Much fun.

Speaking of the new motor my good lady had a minor bump in my pride and joy the other night, fortunately she's fine, Jodie is OK too as it happens......I jest of course. The car has a minor dent and scratches but it should fix up fine. I think Jodie thought the world was going to implode bless her.

We went to see Slumdog Millionaire before we went away. Now yeah there is a lot of hype about this film, and with that you will inevitably get some folk saying its not very good. Don't believe them, I thoroughly enjoyed this film and cant recommend it enough. I love it when you come out of a cinema genuinely excited about what you just saw.

Hopefully I'll feel the same way about Watchmen, I just hope they do it justice.

Anybody played Noby Noby Boy on the PS3 yet? This game is just crazy but in the best of ways, I'm not sure what the hell I'm doing but its a good laugh. Look forward to playing with it a bit more.

I started playing around with C# and the tutorials on the XNA website with my good friend Andy on Sunday, We finished the 2D shooter and modified it by making it two player. Was good fun, looking forward to learning some more and hopefully getting some personal projects going.

Booked!

2009-02-18T07:06:00.000-08:00

It's fair to say I'm now very excited about my mate Martin's upcoming stag week! We've finalized details and booked it. All that remains is to save some spondoolies for when we land in June.

I've been listening to loads of new music and browsing the club sites, Its silly how excited I am.

Another top thing to look forward to is Street Fighter 4 this weekend. Though I may have to put that on hold as I head down to Falmouth this weekend.

We're of to see the sister in law who's at Uni down there, so many people have told me how nice it is but I've never been before. This will also present the first chance to chuck our dog in the sea for a laugh! :)

EDIT: Almost forgot we went to see Notorious, I did enjoy the film but I couldn't help but think it was maybe just a little one sided.

The Weekend Has Landed!

2009-02-13T06:01:00.000-08:00

I'm really in the mood for some beers this weekend good job we're off to a house party on Saturday then! :)

Looks like the weather seems to be warming up after a brief come back from the snow fall. To celebrate I got my car cleaned looks awesome if I don't mind saying so myself.

Going to see Notorious tonight with a bunch of mates should be fun, I've heard mixed reviews so I'll let you guys know what I think once I've seen it.

Surprised

2009-02-11T02:50:00.000-08:00

One in a while you can get pleasently surprised by games that initially you may dismiss because of a licence or theme. One such game is due very soon and its shaping up very nicely. That game is 50 cent - Blood In The Sand.

Click on the link above to see a video of the game in action. It looks like great fun in a similar way to Stranglehold that came out a year or so ago. I'll be watching this one closely.

So little time, Ibiza and car expense

2009-02-10T02:39:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to spend some more time playing games. Contrary to what my lovely wife would have you believe I don't think I spend as much time as I'd like playing games.

So I started playing Crackdown last night. This passed me by first time around as I played the demo and for some reason didn't enjoy it.

How wrong I was whoever thought jumping city blocks could be so much fun!

Looks like the snow is finally starting to clear up which makes me happy, I really need some sun. I'm off to Ibiza in June for my friend Martin's stag week. I've been asked to be one of his groomsmen (which I am very honoured to be) so it's our job to ensure he gets there and back, safe and sound...

I look forward to it with eager anticipation. :)

I have to get myself two new front tyres for my car, its going to cost me about £180 for each tyre. wounded! Better than coming off the road I guess. In other great car news it's due for a service soon, I'm sure that will happily reduce my funds too.

Preview!

2009-02-08T03:04:00.000-08:00

Just found a Chinatown Wars preview from the guys at IGN. Good times!

Linksies!

Oh yeah and I've joined up to Twitter, could be interesting I guess. Does that mean I have to forget about facebook in the same way I sacked Myspace off!? :)

Twitterize

I prefer my blog anyway.

Chinatown Wars at the NY Comic Con

2009-02-08T02:54:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Kotaku and IGN you can see pictures of the booth we've set up for Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars at the New York Comic Con.

Click me!

And me.

I have readers!

2009-02-07T01:26:00.000-08:00

Sat in the pub last night and a few friends moaned at me about updating the blog! I was well happy with that, some folk are reading my everyday quibbles.

Well we had more snow so the shoveling of my drive way was pointless. I'll be totally honest and admit that my gym progress has slipped this week. I will be back on form next week though.

The problem is I've started playing five a side football, and it batters me for a bout 2 days after playing, can only be a good thing I guess.

The latest game I've been working on comes out soon, we're all very excited its been a long time coming and I'm sure I speak for everyone when I say we are very proud of what we have built.

For more information visit this link Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars.

There looks to be some great new game coming out soon that I'm very much looking forward too. If you don't know about these already check the links for more info.

Street Fighter 4
As a kid I worshiped street fighter 2 in all of its guises, this genuinely feels like its bringing those giddy little feelings back.
Killzone 2
I didn't play much of the first game but i cant help but get caught up in all the hype, got the demo sat waiting on my PS3 will give that a blast later today.
Madworld
You cant beat a little bit of ultra violence, shed loads of it here, very interested to see how this turns out.

Game on!

2009-02-04T02:57:00.000-08:00

OK so we're back into the real world the snow has started to melt, though that does appear to be everywhere but my street!

I dare not move my car as it will just slide into one of the council's lamp posts and leave me with a nice bill for both the car and the lamp post whilst leaving our street in darkness. Either that or it will just career into one of my neighbours vehicles.

I shovelled both mine and my neighbours drive yesterday (I'm nice like that) and after doing the work it dawned on me that maybe it was a little pointless as the street was still loaded with packed ice. So I stopped and went to the pub for some much needed food and beer.

watched the Incredible Hulk last night the one with Ed Norton and Liv Tyler, I really enjoyed it. I especially liked the cameo at the end ( I won't spoil it) but I really hope they follow up on that.

Just do The Ultimates and I'll be very happy, as long as they do a very good job of it.

Snow! whadya mean snow?

2009-02-02T11:38:00.000-08:00

Well as most of you know we got a bit of snow here in the UK. I had "fun" in my car on the way to work, I went to pick my brother in law up and ended up getting stuck on his girlfriend's street!

It's rear wheel drive and has lots of power but I just wasn't able to get any grip. I needed help from my brother in law and a kind neighbor to help get my car off the street.

Funnily enough we were sent home from work early so my and my wife made the most of this and sat down for some TV and video games.

We watched episode 2 of Lost titled "Jughead", we both really enjoyed this episode. After the quite baffling opener this started to lay some interesting groundwork, I look forward to seeing how this all unfolds.

I've started getting rather addicted to these "tower defense" games, it started with fieldrunners on the iPhone and now I've just grabbed Pixel Junk Monsters on the PS3, I'm really enjoying it.

The gym has suffered today, to be quite frank I couldn't be bothered to walk to the gym, its way too cold. And I wasn't going to risk skating with a German sports car for second time in a day.

Forest for the Prem, Fitness Update and Beer!

2009-01-29T02:10:00.000-08:00

Well so far so good, got a couple of things to report, one that some may find disappointing but to be honest I still think I've done very well and the circumstances were exceptional.

I had a few drinks the other night, 3 pints to be exact. To be honest i didn't really enjoy them but we decided to go out and celebrate, at this stage I wont go into why, but I'll certainly let folk know at a later date.

The gym is still going well, My body is now starting to get used to the current workload so I'm not feeling the niggles as much. I think I need to raise my game over the next week.

I've also started playing 5 a side with some of my work mates on Wednesdays so all in all I'm doing OK.

Went to see Valkyrie the other night with Tom Cruise and loads of Brit actors, very good film and I highly recommend you watch it, i find most WWII stories incredible and this was certainly an amazing event.

In other news Nottingham Forest won again on tuesday night this puts us 17th in the championship, certainly not out of danger just yet but encouraging signs. Playoffs here we come....I jest of course.

The Wrestler

2009-01-25T04:51:00.000-08:00

I went to see The Wrestler staring Mickey Rourke last night, it was good film. Quite moving in parts. I'd certainly recommend watching it. The way it shows how the guys all prepare for their fights is entertaining and the matches themselves looked great.

The film really seemed to capture how battered the central character (Randy) was. Good film.

Went to the gym for a short one today, just to try and burn off the dirty food I eat this weekend. I'll be back in tomorrow too. Hope you all had a great weekend.

Congratulations

2009-01-24T05:52:00.001-08:00

I'd just like to give out a big congratulations to my good friends Rich and Sarah who just gave birth to a healthy baby boy, Ellis.

Good health to you all.

Derby V Forest

2009-01-24T05:35:00.000-08:00

Well that was interesting, wasn't a bad game of football to be fair. I'd say Derby got the better of the first half and subsequently got a goal. Forest came out guns blazing in the second half and Rob Earnshaw scored an almost Carbon copy of the Derby goal. Paul Smith pulled off some great stops to make the game finish up 1 - 1 so we'll get a replay at the City Ground in Nottingham. Better than losing I guess.

It was all overshadowed by a bad injury to Paul Anderson, who apparently fractured his forearm and dislocated his wrist, looked very rough on the replay! Hope he mends quick, been a great player for us. I also hope we can convince Liverpool to flog him to us permanently.

As an aside to last nights game I cant see how both teams are where they are in the league, both sides looked competent, As much as I hate to say it I don't want Derby to get relegated this season or us for that matter. The local Derby's always make for great games, so here's to both sides finishing the season strongly.

I had my weekend treat during the game last night a nice dirty pizza. I quite fancied a few beers too but yeah I stayed strong again. I won't be going to Galway at the end of the month now either so I will manage the whole of January without a beer.

Should make our trip to Prague in February relatively cheap, one beer and I'll be gone.

Big Game

2009-01-23T05:48:00.000-08:00

Tonight's the night Forest play Derby at Pride Park. I'm very confident that we can win this, having a few mates round to watch the game on TV. At the very least I want a replay at the city ground and an entertaining game tonight. I guess we'll soon see.

I recently read Batman Under the Hood parts one and two, very good. They continue on from the Hush plot line so don't read these unless you read Hush. I cant go into too much detail without spoiling the story so I'll just say give em a read if you haven't already.

Hit the gym again last night, proper tired myself out, it was a good work out so all good, I'm also going to be joining in with our newly formed 5 a side football games on a Wednesday night so its whole world of fitness.

Just over a week to go before I can have a beer, I will enjoy that very much, but that said I've only missed the booze on 2 or 3 occasions across the whole month and even then I still had a giggle. I wonder if I could just give it up..........Nah! ;)

Complete Madness!

2009-01-22T06:49:00.000-08:00

You have to check this out, an awesome video. What these guys are doing looks amazing. Extreme sport called Wingsuit Base Jumping.

http://vimeo.com/1778399

OK so they may well feature in the Darwin awards one day, I hope not. But lets be honest its quiet likely.

The new F1 season gets under way on the 27th of March, Should be a great season again loved last years. You can check out the race calender here.

http://www.formula1.com/races/

Hoping to get Silverstone tickets this year though I suspect that may be difficult with it being the last ever Silverstone.

Dawson's Creak Unde....sorry Twilight

2009-01-21T05:25:00.000-08:00

Went to see the film Twilight yesterday, now I watched the trailer and thought it looked interesting and I'd heard that it was supposed to be a decent film from numerous sources.

I was a little disappointed, I think the main reason was because it isn't what I expected, and yeah I know that's not necessarily fair on the film but it was just like watching an episode of the OC or Dawson's creak with a lot more rain, pale skin and vampires, although i guess the latter go hand in hand.

I was expecting something more along the lines of The Lost Boys, a bit more action perhaps and further development of some of the peripheral characters, that said I didnt know it was based on an existing book until I saw the film so that may explain a few things. Ah well it wasn't rubbish just expected a bit more.

Role Models on the other hand had me proper belly laughing, great film if you fancy something funny.

Went to the gym again yesterday, all still going to plan I had a Chili burger for lunch today so I think I'm going to have to work a little harder in the gym tomorrow.

From the FA Cup to Persia!

2009-01-20T05:42:00.000-08:00

Just returned from my second session at the gym this morning that went as planned see the previous "Biceps of Nadal" post.

I had a breakfast that consisted of a glass of Orange Juice, 2 slices of toast and a banana. For lunch I intend to have some meat don't know what yet but some meat.

My muscles are really aching but I feel good for it. Got on the scales this morning and I'm now 17 stone 10 lbs.

On Friday my team Nottingham Forest take on their bitter rivals Derby County. Any Forest or Derby fan will tell you that this is one of the biggest rivalries in football, and it was a massive coincidence that we we're drawn to play each other in the FA Cup.

So this is a big game for both sides. We seem to be in a decent run of form at the minute so I'm confident we can do a job, good luck for Friday lads.

I've been playing the new Prince of Persia over the last few days, and I must admit at first I wasn't convinced and to be honest their are a few design decisions that I'm personally a little dubious of. But once you get past that some of the elements are borderline genius, I love the way you can string together the death defying leaps and bounds. I'm really enjoying the game.

Some of my friends and colleagues have argued that the game can feel like a big quick time event, I just think that they are wrong. :)

That said I'd have preferred it if they shoe horned the sands of time mechanic in there rather than the lady that flies and re-spots you, Sands of time's quick rewind just felt a little more fitting to me.

I do wonder why the lass that can fly, wont just fly me over the gaping chasm and be done with it. But I guess that wouldnt be much fun now would it.

The Stig Outed?

2009-01-19T06:54:00.000-08:00

Looks like the identity of The Stig may be out, according to the telegraph he's a Mr Ben Collins. Follow the link for more info!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/4286448/Who-is-the-Stig-The-answer.html

Like a shitting dog.

2009-01-18T23:29:00.000-08:00

Yup that's what I'm currently shaking like! Just returned from the gym after nearly an hours work out, the new gym looks really smart. I'm very happy to have facilities like this in the same village that I live in.

All they need now are water fountains or containers for the main gym area, I don't like having to jog upstairs to the water fountain.

I have a serious lack of fitness/energy I feel exhausted after a relatively minor work out. I'm sure it will come easier with more time and effort.

Right I'm gonna hit the shower, grab some breakfast then head off up to work. Bye for now.

Progress

2009-01-18T04:59:00.000-08:00

As an aside, just cutting beer out of my life (temporarily might I add) has made a massive difference. last week I lost 1/2 a stone, I eat fairly well and even had some treats too. I'm now 18 stone so lets watch this space.

To those that don't know me I'm 6'2" and fairly well built so I'm not as big as the 18 stone makes me sound. :)

Biceps of Nadal!

2009-01-18T04:20:00.001-08:00

I figured its time to get to work and get properly prepped for my early morning work out tomorrow. The whole point of my blog originally was to keep track on my fitness and keep myself motivated. Another thing I'd like to do is remain brutally honest with myself and any readers I might have out there. So I thought Id best outline my fitness plans, here goes.

I aim to get up at 6am every day.
I'll get up have a banana or an orange juice and get over to the gym for 6.30.
Once at the gym this is roughly the routine I will initially start to follow.

Treadmill or bike for 5 minutes to start the warm up.
Continue warm up on the rower for a further 10 minutes.
I plan to work up my body through my muscle groups starting with the calves, then the quads, abs (lower and upper, separately) then onto my Chest, shoulder and finishing with my triceps and biceps. I'll do 12 reps per muscle group then quickly move onto the next group.
Once that cycle has been complete I will rest for 2 minutes then begin the cycle again.

Initially I plan to follow the above routine 3 times a week, once I get myself into the routine and feel a little more confident I intend to research further and look into other muscle groups and hopefully become a little more hardcore. On top of this I hope to get some football and squash in there too, the football being reliant on the weather (told you I'd be honest). :)

I'm really happy with how my year has started. I haven't touched a drop of booze for 18 days now and I'm feeling excited and optimistic about my progression.

This next part the whole hitting the gym will be the hardest part for me. I've not hit the gym consistently for a long long time. I need to keep myself in the right frame of mind and just knuckle down. I can't make excuses for my lack of fitness any more.

Hero

2009-01-17T12:32:00.000-08:00

WOW Chesley Sullenberger! Now that was impressive stuff, don't get me wrong I'm no aviation expert but its difficult to not be impressed by that amazing ditch into the Hudson River.

I'm sure he's the toast of NYC right now and rightly so. Watched some footage of the plane being ditched on the BBC site, scary stuff. I have a massive phobia of flying but at the same time stuff like this amazes me.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7835497.stm

In other good news Nottingham Forest got another win today they beat Plymouth 2 - 0 at the City Ground. I'm so happy that we're pulling away from the drop zone. It certainly makes my weekend feel much better.

Getting well excited about hitting the gym, my older brother came around and gave me some good advice about working specific muscle groups today so I feel a little more well equipped for Mondays session.

The weekend has landed!

2009-01-16T03:21:00.000-08:00

OK so the weekend is here again, this would usually mean that I'm well up for a few beers and quite excited about the weekend. To be honest I 'm not feeling as excited as I usually would and I must admit that I am starting to miss having a few drinks with mates now.

I mean yeah I've been out with the guys and its been good to see them, and yeah you don't need beer to have a good time, but It's kind of like having decaffeinated Coffee or No Sugar Red Bull, its a little bit pointless. Besides there is only so much Diet Coke you can drink. and don't get me started on Kaliber!

One thing I will take from this experience is realising that moderation is key. I don't think I will drink half as much as i used to, Holidays and celebrations aside of course. So I guess some good will come out of it.

My team Nottingham Forest take on Plymouth on Saturday I'm hoping they can maintian their run of form and get another win, this would pull us even further from the drop zone and make me much happier.

I was introduced to a funny video tutorial on Youtube today, if you like playing around in photoshop you should see the funny side, and maybe even if you dont....

http://uk.youtube.com/results?search_query=You+suck+at+photoshop&search_type=&aq=f

Clever Girl

2009-01-15T08:43:00.000-08:00

One of the guys at work found this I had to post it, clip of a young toddler that has memorised lots of game character names. Bless her, bet she'll make a good gamer and you'd hope be pretty smart too.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=skFIwIGw1iI

MAN DOWN, MAN DOWN!

2009-01-15T02:07:00.000-08:00

Feeling much better today, still a bit groggy and a have a bit of a cough but apart from that I'm fine. Looks like the cold was passed on to my brother in law though, so I'm sure he's loving that right now (sorry Az).

I'll be on the squash court on Sunday I'm not the best squash player but I really enjoy the sport, it does knacker you out and you know you've had a proper workout after a few games. My good friend Gordon has taught me the basics, I'd like to get up to a similar standard so the games are more interesting for both of us.

I'll tell you something I could have murdered a beer last night, really fancied one. I remained strong, so that's 15 days and counting.

Chop Shop

2009-01-14T01:56:00.000-08:00

I watched a program on the discovery channel last night called Chop Shop - London Garage. This program is great. The guys on there had a 1984 Jaguar that was in a right state (see image above!).

They ended up making an awesome looking beast inspired by a Tiger apparently.

I've sky+'d the program now, if you like this kind of thing its definitely worth a look. Here's how the car ended up.

Football Blog

2009-01-13T06:59:00.000-08:00

I often read Robbo's blog on the BBC Sport website the latest one has some gems in it with regards the Man United vs Chelsea game at the weekend.

These paragraphs in particular made me chuckle!

The main problem is the Scolari special, the cluttered midfield - five of them, all standing closer together than a bunch of toddlers playing frisbee, so close in fact that you'd think they were lining up for that penalty shoot-out all over again.

Not one of them can go past people - hell, they couldn't trick their way past Ronaldo's Ferrari right now - a fact made even more obvious by the ancient Giggsy. As Harry Redknapp has quite rightly pointed out, there are too many fat backsides sitting on their fat reputations/wallets - and Chelsea are no different.

It's clear-out time at the Bridge: you get more interest from your average savings account than you do from Drogba these days; Hassungotta Kalou and Skiptoo Malouda can go; Deco's a dud; it's tempting to change the vowels in Ballack's name after Sunday; and why exactly were Man U and Chelsea scrapping over John Obi Mikel in the first place I wonder?

You can see the full blog here...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/robborobson/

Aching all over!

2009-01-13T02:11:00.000-08:00

Woke up this morning started driving up to work and I'm aching all over. You'd hope this would be from my extensive training I started yesterday. You'd hope that wouldn't you?

Except it seems like a higher power is at work here, not only has the new gym put off its opening until next Monday (How funny is that, all things considered) but I've also come down with a bout of the MAN FLU!

I feel like death warmed up. Aching limbs, headache, sore throat, swollen throat and oh yeah lets not forget the throwing up, joy of joy.

Why not go to another gym I hear you ask, well the whole point in this new gym is that it opens at 6.30 so I can fit in a gym session before my drive up to work, the old gym doesn't open till 7 which believe it or not makes a great difference.

Woo!

2009-01-10T02:53:00.000-08:00

Hit the town last night, it was a good friend's birthday. So usually we'd be on a bit of a mission. I'm pleased to report that not a drop of alcohol was consumed by me.

We also went to the new bar in Mansfield called Saints, very nice smart little bar, may well spend more time in there when my self imposed drink ban is over.
http://www.chad.co.uk/leisure/Saints-alive-New-cafe-bar.4767599.jp

Well for those that have been following the blog you probably know I start the gym on Monday, I'm feeling raring to go and very much looking forward to getting started.

Some interesting news regarding the game I've been working on for some time now,
http://www.mcvuk.com/news/32892/GTA-gives-DS-its-first-18-rated-title
Not long now I cant wait for release, exciting times indeed.

Quisiera una bottela de vino blanco

2009-01-08T14:30:00.000-08:00

Seriously these earworm CD's are super cool! We listened to part of the 1st Spanish disk on the way up to work today, seems really well put together. I'll be fluent in no time! :)

Another day and still no alcohol, I'm doing pretty well with this, I don't really want a beer either, that said I've just sorted going to Galway with a bunch of friends at the end of Jan so I should fall off the wagon in spectacular style. It should be messy.

Anyone else had enough of this cold weather, point proven it can get cold now gimme some warmer weather please.

One last thing

2009-01-07T14:40:00.000-08:00

Before I pack in for the day, we got our dog Dexter (named after the serial killer and not the cartoon) groomed today. He went to the grooming place looking like a scruffy (but I thought very cool) dog. He's come back and he looks.....well, different. For the record the dog in the picture isnt mine but he does now look very much like that.

As my friend Andy put it, he looked funky and cool before now he looks like an old lady owns him! Poor little thing, he'll be fine though I'm sure he'll look ace once his hair grows. Just a matter getting used to his new appearance.

Spanish

2009-01-07T14:20:00.000-08:00

I like to think that I can get by with the Spanish language, I can order food, hotels and all the usual touristy type stuff but I'd love to become proficient with the language.

So as you can imagine I was very happy with my Earworm Rapid Spanish Cd's that I received for Christmas.
Tomorrow I'll be listening to this as I drive up to work, my drive takes just over an hour so this should give me plenty of time to take stuff in. Watch this space.

So my eating and drinking habits are much improved, still not touched a drop of alcohol, that's nearly a week now! :)

This would surprise a few people, not quite as much as Derby beating Man United 1 - 0 but still it would surprise some folk.

I was hoping Man U would stuff Derby and soften them up for the FA cup game against Forest, ah well I guess we'll just have to let the football do the talking.

My top games of 2008

2009-01-06T09:26:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd list my favourite games of 2008. I've done this in no particular order as I couldn't honestly say that one game is better than another if they have little or no relation to each other. So here is a list of games that grabbed my attention through 2008.

Fieldrunners (iPhone) - The guys that made this clearly put a lot of love into the game, its so much fun looks great and I cant put it down.

FIFA 09 (Ps3) - For the first time ever I got FIFA not just before Pro Evo but instead of. Shocker!

Grand Theft Auto 4 (Xbox 360) - The guys at North and NY did an amazing job on this, I loved playing through it, the characters we're top and the whole plot was very absorbing.

Metal Gear Solid 4 (PS3) - Brilliant game, liked the story, loved the look of the game. Again this is one of those games that you can just tell has had a whole lot of love poured into it.

Gears Of War 2 (Xbox 360) - Loved both Gears games, for some reason i just got really sucked into both of them, I think it must simply be the fundamental mechanics the cover system, sprinting into a crowd of Locust and chainsaws!

Wipeout HD (PS3) - the best Wipeout game I've ever played, still going through it but love trying to get all of the gold medals, much fun and looks glorious.

Patapon (PSP) - Brilliantly original and much fun, killed some time in the sun with this game.

Call of Duty World At War (PS3) - You cant seem to go far wrong with COD games, yeah we've all played plenty of WW2 games but for me they always deliver, and I'm thoroughly enjoying WAW.

World Of Warcraft (MAC) - I cant list games that caught my attention without mentioning WOW, 2008 was the first time I sat and played WOW, I got hooked. Still love the game now but try to be a little more careful of the time i spend on it.

Fallout 3 (PS3) - Not yet played Fallout 3 in its entirety but what I've seen I have very much enjoyed, looking forward to getting my teeth back into it.

Mirror's Edge - Only just started playing this, I love the novel idea and at times it plays really well, it can be frustrating but I urge you to look past the frustrating sections and give this a blast.

Mario Kart (Wii) - Such a laugh when playing with friends, if you have a Wii its well worth getting it.

Spore (MAC) - Only scratched the surface with Spore but so far I like what I see.

Omissions

Fable 2 - I fully intend to get this and give it the attention I hear it deserves.

Dead Space - The trailers and hype got me intrigued, I loved the movie Event Horizon so anything that comes close to that in game format has got to be worth a look.

Prince of Persia - The art looks awesome, cant wait to give this a look. Sands of time was an all time favourite of mine.

Yawn

2009-01-06T02:20:00.000-08:00

Well I'm attempting to get my body used to waking up at silly o clock in the morning. It's not going too well at the minute its fair to say.

The plan is to get used to getting up and hitting the gym at 6.30 am. I'm hoping to get into a nice steady routine. Its just way too cold at the minute. Ah well, the battle continues.

In case you had'nt guessed

2009-01-05T13:08:00.000-08:00

I start hitting the gym seriously on Monday 12th! :)

It's alive, It's aliiiiive!

2009-01-05T06:27:00.000-08:00

January 5th 2009 the day I started my first ever blog. I've set this blog up mainly to help encourage a healthier lifestyle. I intend to update the blog with my fitness progress and probably have a good chat about other general goings on in my life.

At the very least it will be something I can look back on, hopefully with a smile on my face. But who knows maybe some other folk will enjoy reading.

I must say so far so good, This year I haven't had any alcohol (well you cant count the early hours of New Years Day can you, that would be unfair) and I intend to follow this trend throughout January, and who knows maybe even beyond. For those that know me this is a big step.

Looking forward to a healthier and hopefully prosperous 2009.