• What the hell is your problem, Benny?

    Alternate title: Semester Break 2011 Wrap-up

    What have I been up to all holidays?

    Not much, really.

    I’ve played games. In the holidays I spent quite a bit of time on Bad Company 2, finally getting to level 50 in the multiplayer stakes (I also uploaded a video of some mostly-scoped heli takedowns, if you haven’t already seen it). I had a go at some Fallout, and in the past few days there has been a bit of a Killing Floor revival, but nothing too intense (that’s probably a lie, I distinctly remember getting up at 9am to play a few rounds of Bad Company 2 before brunch). Somewhat disappointingly, I haven’t had any motivation to play Pokémon at all. That will change once the uni semester starts up once again, I’m sure.

    At one stage I also thought about applying to Rock Paper Shotgun — they’re currently looking for new writers to join the fold, and I thought I had a chance at being a world-renowned writer someday. As it turns out, I haven’t quite managed to get that far — all I need to do is update my resume and submit it along with my already-written 500 word piece on gaming penned exclusively for RPS, but like I said, that hasn’t happened just yet. Applications are open until the 14th of July, but I doubt I’ll get around to it.

    I installed a new operating system on my Mac! It’s not quite officially released yet either, but the gold master build was released to developers about a week ago. It’s nice so far; there are lots of little but appreicated changes here and there, and it’s a nice change.

    As for purchases: I purchased an SSD to put in my Mac, moving my normal HDD to the optical bay and replacing it with the SSD. Easily the single most expensive computer part I’ve ever bought, but worth it. 30 second boot times can’t be wrong. Sure I can’t watch a DVD anymore, but it’s been so long since I’ve done so that I probably won’t be missing that feature all that much anyway.
    I managed to purchase a new Nerf gun, a clear Vulcan. It completes my collection of all the “mainstream” Nerf weapons.
    I also purchased a new NAS, a HP MicroServer N36L. The plan is to put the 2x2TB drives from my PC (which currently does network attached storage duties) into it, perhaps up the RAM a little, and add some more drives down the track. It hasn’t arrived yet.

    So, what the hell is my problem? My Uni results weren’t fantastic. They were as I expected, but not fantastic. Sometimes it’s like I’m not enthusiastic about what I’m doing at Uni, sometimes it’s — oh, my YouTube video has finished uploading. Watch, comment.

    Until next time…

  • Mostly Scoped Heli Takedowns in Bad Company 2

  • Brains


    brains

    via 9GAG – Brains.

  • The On-Again, Off-Again, Gamer

    The on-again, off-again gamer is a common breed. Also known as the casual gamer, or casualatis gammarati, many on-again, off again gamers exist today.

    As a general rule, on-again, off-again gamers can be found in their natural habitat, whatever that may be. You see, on-again, off-again gamers come in all shapes and sizes. Some are teenagers, lured into an occasional Team Fortress game by friends, or even the small round of Left For Dead versus here and there. Others still play exclusively on consoles, shunning the cumbersome keyboard and mouse for the humble joystick and trigger combo preferred by on-again, off-again gamers everywhere. Many on-again, off-again gamers have normal jobs and lead normal lives, even with spouses, and in some cases, children.

    The thing that characterises on-again off-again gamers in the wild is that generally, they will have heard of most mainstream titles, that is, anything that has been picked up by the mass media or heavily marketed. The on-again, off-again gamer is easily persuaded by whatever the media says is good (or bad), and will usually stick to one or two sources for gaming-related information.

    The on-again, off-again gamer has a modest library of games. Perhaps nothing that stands out, but definitely all the popular ones. If questioned about his gaming library, the on-again, off-again gamer will respond with an all-encompassing statement about how he doesn’t have time to play a lot of games, or what precious time he does have for games that are, you know, actually worth his time.

    On-again, off-again gamers are almost exclusively male, although some have been known to be androgenous.

    The one thing that sets on-again, off-again gamers from the rest of the gaming community is simple: they very rarely finish a game. Sure, the on-again, off-again gamer will be more than happy to quote you all the famous lines such as “the cake is a lie”, but the on-again, off-again gamer very rarely finishes games, instead preferring to drag games out into year-long epics that would send any other type of gamer around the bend.

    Don’t get me wrong, on-again off-again gamers enjoy the games they play — it’s just that they’re very rarely in it for the story; to the on-again, off-again gamer, any game (that has received suitable reviews from all the big gaming publications) is a game, and that’s usually good enough for them.

    Gamerscore: 3752

  • Just a little Wraith humour

    I believe among your people it is customary to shake hands.

    — Stargate Atlantis, S04E08

  • Original GameBoy Color and Pokémon Gold

    Original GameBoy Color and Pokémon Gold

    14 days between posts? At least I have a good excuse — exams! Expect something longer tomorrow.

Benny Ling's Bling

Computers are like a bicycle for our minds.