Ultimate Gambit

Today, i got a new hard disk. It didnt work, so i ran a diagnostic tool for Western Digital drives. It came out ok, but I decided to write 0′s to the drive at the start and end to clear it, just in case. Who knows why. It shouldnt have been a problem. But it was. I had the wrong drive selected. Instead of running the test and the clear on my new disk, it was running on my old hard disk, the one I boot from. This is a Western Digital drive too. Crap.
Now I have no windows boot partition.
Im an idiot

I know, i’ve gone quiet again… but this time with good reason! I’ve been spending my time working on my new website – http://www.andrewanderson.co.uk – which I will be using as my main website for my new career as an actor (Andrew Anderson is my professional name).
Its still under construction, but please feel free to take a look! If you spot any errors please let me know!

Anyhow, i’ll start posting regularally again soon…

I had a Corsair 1GB Flash Voyager USB drive, and had been using it for a few months. It has a keyring loop, so thats exactly what i used it for – putting it on the end of my keys. Anyway, after a month the cap got loose and i kept losing it (but luckily finding it again). This was annoying, but not the end of the world as the thing still worked. However, after having the keys hanging off it a few times, the usb connection started to get loose. Then eventually it snapped off…

Obviously this was a bit annoying, however you can pick up USB keys dirt cheap these days, so I wasnt too worried! But i thought i’d try and RMA it anyway. So i got an RMA number and sent it back by the cheapest post to the USA (which was about £1.20). A couple of weeks later I get a brand new sealed one back, delivered by UPS!

I’d half expected them to turn around and say it was physical damage, therefore my problem. So I just wanted to say thanks to Corsair – there still are some companies with good customer service in the world (yes, you should take note Bulldog!).

So, i just wrote a great post about Duke Nukem Forever, told it to publish, and realised my new firewall was blocking me being able to post… grr

So, rather than write it all out again, here is a great list of all the stuff that could have happened in the time they have so far taken to get Duke Nukem Forever finished. Enjoy!

I’m going to go into rant mode now…

I bought an item on ebay a while ago. It was a model delorean car from BTTF, (from seller retrotoys2004), and was described as being in good condition. I got it for a good price, but i was a bit miffed when it arrived and had a number of problems with it.

It was no longer screwed to the base, a wingmirror was broken off and had clearly tried to be fixed a few times because of glue marks, a windscreen wiper was missing, one of the wheels didnt raise properly with all the others, and a number of the fins on the back were snapped.

So, i e-mailed him to ask for a refund. The seller offered me one, but said i’d have to pay postage. Since the postage was going to cost me almost as much as the item, i decided not to bother.

So i left him Neutral feedback, since the item was not what he described, but he did offer me a refund in line with ebay’s T&C’s.

Then he leaves me a Negative feedback (my first) saying I was bad for eBay.

This really PI***S me off… I paid well, he got exactly what he should have off me, I DID NOTHING WRONG. He on the other hand falsely advertised, and in reality should have got negative feedback. The only reason i didnt was because of fear of getting a negative.

This is not how feedback should work. It SUCKS.

Now, in my opinion, neither buyer or seller should be able to see the feedback left for them until after they have left their feedback, that way the whole system is fair.

Am I wrong in being pi**ed off!? Does anyone else have a problem with the eBay feedback system? The whole system is open to manipulation and vindictiveness.

RANT OVER

Some of you who are reading my blog on Internet Explorer may be wondering why suddenly today they have had a splash screen telling them to install the Firefox web browser. The reason for this is that i truly believe that Firefox is a much better browser and that everybody should be using it! If you want to know why – click the image to the right – it links to Kill Bill’s Browser, which has some pretty good reasons as to why Firefox is better! If you use Firefox for just one week, I promise that you’ll find it better too…

If you really dont want to change, and I cant even convince you to try it, then don’t worry, you’ll only get reminded to try it by my splash screen every 15 days! Thanks to Explorer Destroyer for the script

If you have changed your mind, and think you want to try it, download Firefox below!

After just posting my views on E3 overall, I have now decided that it’s time for me to post about the games I’m looking forwards to. Quite simply, this is going to be a list…

(Oh, and something that i forgot to mention in my last post – thanks Microsoft! Let’s bring down Sony together!!)

So, the games i can’t wait for:

Wii
Super Mario Galaxy – it’s mario, need i say more!?
Super Smash Bros. Brawl – great fun with the mates – i’ll be interested to see how they use the new controller…
Metroid Prime 3 – still havent played the first two (although have the second), but i will eventually!
WarioWare Smooth Moves – great fun on the GBA, even more fun with a few beers and mates on the cube – bring it
Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz – more fun with Monkey’s in balls
Donkey Kong Bongo Blast – actually for Gamecube, but gives me another reason to have those Bongo’s lying about!!

PC
Pirates of the Caribbean Onile – except for the fact that it’s a subscription based MMO, so i probably wont play it
Dark Messiah of Might and Magic – looks really gory with great AI – hope the fun matches!

Another year, another E3, and i’ll be honest, it looks like Nintendo have stolen the show… Can’t say I’m disappointed either.

It’s no secret to those of you who know me that i’m a bit of a Nintendo fanboy, having bought a Gamecube on release day, and sticking by it to this day. And now, with a more detailed look at the Rev…sorry, Wii, i cannot wait! Ok, so I cant support the decision to go with the name Wii, i really dont see what was wrong with Revolution, but it is starting to settle. I still think whatever clever clogs over in Japan thought it up needs to be given a slap, and the bods in Nintendo Europe which didnt put their foot down because of all the potential innuendo when the name was suggested, well, they need one too!

Anyway, that’s all by the by, the name’s staying, and looking on the bright side, it certainly gave Nintendo alot of publicity in the run up to E3! That, along with the excellence of the press conference at the start of the week have led to the queues being the longest seen at E3 for a number of years!

At Nintendo’s press conference, we learned more about the controller; the fact that it’s now going to have a built in speaker (which i initially doubted, but now think is a great idea), we saw previews of some great games (Mario Galaxy and Zelda Twilight Princess were the highlights for me) and found out that we’ll have it by Christmas (although no definate date). I just cant wait!

Outside of the press conference, the main highlight for me is the announcement of Super Smash Bros Brawl. SSB:Melee was one of my favorite games on the Gamecube, and it looks like its going to be amazing on the Wii, with loads of new characters. There were also some other great looking games for the Wii being previewed (Sadness comes to mind, and the new WarioWare but i’m there were definately others).

Looking further afield than Nintendo, I’ll be honest, i was less than impressed by the other companies. Sony have STOLEN Nintendo’s 3D movement idea last minute (developers only found out about it 3 weeks ago apparently), and this just puts them further down in my estimations. I’ve always disliked Sony, but that has just taken the biscuit in my mind. Oh, and the $500-$600 price tag – idiots.

Microsoft were always a second choice for me, but to be honest, apart from Halo 3 (which i have never played the first 2 of, so no big deal to me) didnt really have a great deal to show. Their live features all look good, but again, have never really interested me.

As was the case with me and my Gamecube, every game i want to play (minus the odd few, which i think i can live without) is either going to be available on the Wii, or on my PC, so i have absolutely no need for any other console! Even the games on Xbox 360 which i want to play (the new Indiana Jones developed by Lucasarts looks amazing with the advanced AI and links into the new film) will very likely come out on the PC given a bit of wait.

So for me, come Christmas, i intend to have a Wii in my stocking, and a copy of Twilight Princess. Don’t expect to see me for a few weeks!!

All in all, a great showing at E3, mainly from Nintendo, and I really like the way things are going. For me, the charm of Nintendo is that anyone will be able to pick up and play, which means that when my mates come over we can have alot of fun. Add to that the fact that their system is bringing a whole new dimension to gaming, and i dont doubt that it is one that will stay due to the advanced immersion possibilities, and I am just bursting for a Wii (sorry, i couldnt resist!)

Today i helped out a friend by going an experiment of his in an MRI Scanner. It’s pretty wierd going in those things – the field is pretty strong, and if you forget to take your belt off (like i stupidly did) you can feel it within about 5m of the machine! That’s one hell of a strong magnet! The particular machine we used was more than double the strength of the ones that they use in hospital, but i’m told it’s still safe… (here’s to hoping!)

Anyway, the best bit about having it done was the fact that they gave me the data and told me where to get the software to have a mess around with it. So, after an hour or so playing with my brain this evening (so to speak), i’ve come up with the following two pretty cool images of my brain, as supplied by the machines at the Nottinghm Magnetic Resonance Centre! Funky ey?! So for all of you that have doubted that I had a brain in the past, here’s the proof that you’re wrong

Just remind me never to shave my head – its far to much of a strange shape!!

I read an article on BBC today, about Disney’s plans to put some of their TV shows (including Lost and Desperate Housewives) online for a free download. This could be really good news (longterm) as it could mean that there is no more missing tv shows that you really want to see, and people will no longer have to break the law to watch shows that they really want to see!

There are however a few problems in the way at the moment. For a start, its only going to be launched in the US for the time being (using IP addresses), so that means that we’re going to have to wait until the UK companies get themselves in gear. Not only this, but because the adverts are going to be non-skippable, that is going to mean a specialist player, probably laden with tons of DRM software and potentially spyware, which nobody wants.