OK, OK

I know I said I'd post again tomorrow but this lesson is just too boring and I have to plug something.
http://www.paletteswap.com
One of my favourite sites. I'm gonna keep the whole NJ thing until Friday so I'll see you then.

Me and NJ - Part 1

A question for you lot who use the net a lot. When you sign up for something where you need a username do you use the same name for everything or just something different that sounds cool every time? I started signing online registration forms as Shiek. This worked well until I realised it was spelt wrong (supposed to be Sheik). I kept using it regardless and usually having to sign in twice for spelling my badly spelt username wrong until I signed up for the MSN Gaming Zone (which I've since stopped using) and found the name taken. That was the turning point of my online life and the birth of njsykora. Taken as New Jersey (no I don't live there) for my ice hockey team and Petr Sykora for my favourite player who moved to Anaheim within days prompting people joking and saying I should change to anasykora. Anyhoo, that's the name's origin and tomorrow I'll tell you how NJ has become a part of me in real life.

Microsoft and EA

Literally as I started this the other IE window I had open crashed (again). That's why I hate MS. Everywhere I go I see their stuff displayed at me. When I went to Gamestars Live the first thing I saw was the gigantic Microsoft logo over the Xbox stand. I hadn't intended taking a toilet break that early but the puke was moving fast. Billy's boys had their stand stretched along the whole left side and that's when I decided to do a comparision. EA had their stand stretched (and it was stretched) all down the middle. To get from the north side to the south side of the ExCel Center I had to stumble through The Sims 2, endless Lord of the Rings, EA Sports (I liked that bit actually) and Burnout 3 (their best bit). That's pushing through endless teenage girls (Sims 2), dozens of malnourished freaks (LotR), Overweight sports fans (EA Sports) and boy racers (Burnout 3). I class these 4 types of people as the scum of the earth and trying to get through all of them just to get from one side of the hall to the other and trust me I was doing that a lot (that's a lot of those people). Eventually I picked up a sick bag and ventured into MS's area. Why did only they have Juiced? Last time I checked it was multi format. The thing I found absolutely hilarious was the fact that half of the Xbox pods weren't working and no-one was doing anything to fix them. Microsoft are the dominant force in their market (trust me that isn't games). For now. EA are becoming the dominant force in the gaming market and I don't want that to happen. If EA keep growing then competition will die out and gaming will become stagnant and boring like the operating system market. No need for innovation and no need for decent customer service. Until Linux appeared anyway. It's happened to PCs. Please EA, don't let it happen to gaming.

Sociality

My mates always say they want me to be a bit more social, stop sitting in front of my comp all day. Clearly they don't know that keeping my comp alive all day is a full time job. The thing about this that bugs me is that everytime there's a reason for me to get out of my room (i.e. a party) no-one tells me about it. There's a sleepover at my mate Chris' place this weekend. Will I get invited? Will I hell.

FUCKING HELL!

Apologies for the language but I've just had to reformat my hard drive AGAIN. I'm officially ditching Windows and changing to Linspire Linux. I've seen the light, come on in.

Some Ideas

I'm pretty excited about these special reviews. I wrote the first one last night and I was surprised at how simple it was to get started (imo the hardest part of writing). After that it just flowed but you'll see that tomorrow. Remember all the games featured in the review specials are 100% free. No shareware and no hidden fees or dialers. I've virus tested them all so don't be scared of downloading them and having lots of fun. E-mail me with your high scores as well and I'll put up some tables eventually.

The other subject I wanted to talk about today is should I write a story? I'd post it here similar to Something Awful's Untitled Document (www.somethingawful.com). Look forward to some response on that at least. Later all.

Review Specials

I love writing reviews and soon I'm going to be starting a new series of special reviews based on freeware games. I'm going to be looking at how freeware games can often surpass their commercial counterparts and at the same time be perfect examples of their respective genres. This series will start on Tuesday with shoot 'em ups. Look forward to it.

GameSpy

Gaming website GameSpy (www.gamespy.com). Widely (and rightly) regarded as the scum of the internet GameSpy works on a Microsoft like presumption that it is doing everything right. As such it's "25 Most Overrated Games Ever" list went unchallenged on it's own website. This tactic would have worked but other gaming forums (notably GameFAQs) flamed GS to death. Here's my advice...

GameSpy includes Fileplanet and IGN (which suck)
Gamespot includes DLX, GameFAQs and Game Rankings (which pwn)

My choice for most Overrated game?
Video Gaming - Halo
Real Life - Poker
Later.

How to screw up a post

The more vigilant among you will notice that I completely screwed up my last post. This is because the preview function on the new post screen is shit. Anyhoo, anyone wants tips on screwing up their blog (or online diary of choice) then email me. Hell I need stuff in my inbox, I've got 1Gb and nothing to fill it with. Later.

Whoa, WHOA, WHAT THE F**K?!!

http://news.deviantart.com/article/15965/
Get Linspire linux for free! IMO this is the best version of linux there is. Still here? GO GET LINUX NOW!!

Gabe and Gabe

I feel it is my duty as a gaming fan and as a Penny Arcade fan (www.penny-arcade.com) to congratulate Mike and Kara Krahulik on the birth of Gabe Aden Krahulik. Today the (technically) adult Gabe posted the events and his thoughts on the hours spent waiting for the magic moment. This was a great thing to read and shows the benefits of having a strong community on a website alongside a pair of great webmasters. To my knowledge PA is the only site where Gabe would be able to make a news post like that, I quote from the post; "I don’t think that Penny Arcade is a webcomic. I’m honestly not sure it’s ever been one. For me PA is a diary, and so I hope you’ll all forgive me if I spend this morning recounting a particularly incredible day I had recently." For me a site is massively improved if the admins are approachable friendly people. I believe that in successfully doing this PA has secured it's place as an internet institution. Long may it reign and maybe me, Ifrit and Zero will be able to do this with IR (www.ifritroms.com) someday. Peace.

Hey all you people

Hey there. Chances are you came from my LiveJournal. I will still post there from time to time but now this is my main rambling place. If you were a keen follower of my LJ then welcome back. If you're new to my world then welcome. Come in, sit down and grab a drink from the bar because the show is about to begin.