lost in games

We have always been tresspassing. Cyprus was never an option. Greece? Yes. United Kingdom? Of course. But Cyprus? No, never an option.

Like refugees, Cypriots wanting to get a taste of XBOX Live have always been using false information to get access since the original Xbox. For people using the UK as their country for example a simple, arbitrary choice of a Post Code was fine as long as the remaining credit card information was correct. Because make no mistake we have always been paying our dues even we are outside the service area of Live.

But it appears that Microsoft now is trying to put an end to it. Cypriot 360 gamers trying to subscribe to Live or add MS points using their credit cards are no longer able to. A message informing the gamer that the address details are incorrect appears. It seems that now that arbitrary UK post code is no longer enough. The system verifies all the credit card details.

For the time being there is a way around this. Using redeemable Live cards both for the Live subscription and for adding Microsoft points to one’s account. I have successfully tried the latter. Also a friend of mine yesterday managed to get a 48 hour Live subscription using one of the free card codes found in some games.

But i wonder. Are we facing a ban on all things Live? If Microsoft decides to also start checking gamers IP addresses, much like the video rental service currently does, then i am afraid there will not be a way to get around anything.

Maybe it is time for gamers to start petitioning both Microsoft and internet service providers to formally bring the service to Cyprus to resolve the issue once and for all. But this is a country which has stuck to a 1mbit broadband and high prices compared to the rest of Europe and there is still no action from consurmers. I am not holding my breath. It is more likely that the Xbox Live service will finally be offered for free instead……

What a year! One of the very best i can remember.

I could start by explaining what my decision criteria were for the titles nominated to be game of the year. I have to actually have played and finished the game. So although Super Mario Galaxy, Uncharted and Bioshock must be great games there are not on my nominees list as i have not played them.

Basically my game of the year 2007 is not based on release dates but on played and finished date and here are my top three games for the year 2007:

1. Okami (PS2) - A game that i enjoyed and loved a lot more that The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. It simply stole my heart.

2. Call of Duty 4 (360)

3. Jeanne D’Arc (PSP)

There are many more that could have made it on the list like Farhenheit, SW:KOTR, Ratchet & Clank: Tools of Destruction, Colin McRae: Dirt, and of course Portal.

Okami has shown me that we have a reason to go back and play titles on the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube. Maybe when we play Super Mario Galaxy in 2-3 years time we can really appreciate what a great game that was for its time.

Don’t give up on older games!

Yeap, the site has released the 50 games for the year 2007 list. I don’t know whether you agree with this list but it is an interesting one. Crackdown in No.4 and Phantom Hourglass in No.5? You can check the top 10 list here.

Memoirs of Giapanta Zolos
Atletico Madrid manager since 1 June 2007

After 20 matches i am in 4th position but barely, as there are 5 more teams really close to me while the third placed team Valencia are 5 points clear. Real Madrid (managed by El Rey Kokanza) is leading the title chase with Barcelona while Sevilla (managed by Bastian Tsangos) is 7th just 2 points behind me.

My Uefa Cup run is going really well managing to finish top of my group and now facing Empoli in the last 32 teams phase. If i go through i will probably be facing Werder Bremen once again (also faced them in Bremen in a fantastic 2-2 match in the group stage).

I have been busy in the January transfer market bringing a defensive midfielder and a defender. But alas, as soon as my expensive (13.5million) DMF signing played a couple of games, he went off to play for Cameroon in the African Nations Cup. And it looks like Cameroon is going through to the next stage. GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

It has been a tremendous season so far. But not without its hiccups. I have some complaints about the game.

1. Disallowed goals - In almost every match a goal is scored where the striker was either in an offside position or a foul was committed and the goal was disallowed. In almost every game! In real life this does not happen that often and it is really annoying.

2. Inconsistency - Match difficulty can be fairly inconsistent in the sense that you win games where you wouldn’t not expect to win while lose games you really shouldn’t. For example Athl. Madrid have the second best away record while having the 17th best home record. And every time a team visits Vincente Calderon there is a constant wave of attacks and pressure from the away team. It just does not make any sense me.

Despite some grievances however this is a brilliant game. And having two more human players to interact with takes it to another level.

Did i mention that Arsene Wenger feels that we could be friends?

Good morning and Merry Christmas everybody!

I have added a couple more webcomics links (2pstart and joyoftech). There is also a new page with my favourite books and movies now.

Hope you enjoy these.

There is a new gameplay trailer of Patapon (PSP). I guess the distinct visuals and sound will mean that you will either love it or hate it.

Click here

There has been a lot of discussion lately regarding the credibility of reviews and mostly about the independence of reviewers and games sites, However, there is another issue. I don’t mean someone’s writing skills, gaming skills and experience. I am also curious about how much time a reviewer spends with a game.

I watched over the weekend a lot of reviews on Gametrailers (GT) which although i don’t always agree with i respect and enjoy. But when i watched the Scene it? review on the 360 i was astonished. The reviewer missed something which would only have happened if he played it just once! He claims that one of the faults in this game is that the answers of players (which are multiple choice A,B,X,Y) appear on screen and thus made known to all players. This leads to “jumping the wagon play” especially when one of the players is identified as an expert, just like the reviewer says.

BUT! That happens only in the party mode. You can play (along with three other people) the play mode where answers are not visible!

I am amazed that the reviewer did not notice that. It happened to me and my friends the first 2 times we played it. We played the party mode and experienced the jumping in the wagon thing. But then we tried the first mode and voila! Multiplayer Scene it? with non-visible answers!

Which brings up the obvious question. How long did he play this game? 5mins? 1hour? By himself or with colleagues? Did he take it home to try it with other people? How could he miss such a thing and then post a drawback that is not there? That is simply poor reviewing.

Just started a session with 2 of my friends on FM2008. One room, three managers, three laptops, three teams, one game!

Its not everyday that we manage to find the time to squeeze in enough hours in our calendar for every football fan’s dream game. But it’s the holidays and things are on our side. Started the session today in Spain’s first division. My friends got Seville and Real Madrid while i am managing Athletico Madrid as you can see from the title….

The team has some great midfielders like Simao and Maxi Rodriguez while in front it is Forlan and Aguero. The defence is the weak line but i have not been able to attract any good signings to strengthen it.

Now here is the plan.

Short passing, quick pace and attack minded. The Arsenal way. The best defence is a strong offence.

I love this game!

Keith Stuart over at Guardian Unlimited’s Gamesblog declared PES the most disappointing game in 2007. I could not agree more. I have been a loyal supporter of the series since its PS1 days but this last iteration has been a disaster. I decided to punish Konami for releasing such a game by not buying it and instead opting out for EA’s football game which although not perfect has a lot going for it (pace and the Be a pro mode).

I just hope that Konami has now learned a valuable lesson that even their most loyal followers may desert the series if it stagnates. It is time they took it to the next-geneation we expect PES to be in. Smooth online play and with more options and less arcadey if possible. And also the presentation desperately needs to improve.

Fingers crossed for next year.

I played my first game yesterday. To say that i had no idea what was going on and what i was supposed to do would be an understatement. Simply put, the game does not have a very user friendly interface or a Civilopedia kind of feature. Fortunately Bill Harris at Dubious Quality has some detailed playthrough posts for gamers first try with the game. It helps you understand firstly the interface, then the units and then how it all plays together. You should play your first session while reading this - click here.

In any case i choose the Humans and whithin 45mins my unguarded HQ was captures by the Xenopods. Didn’t really understand the battle mechanism, i mean how it all works out.

It definitely has an element of luck due to the dice rolls for most events and also at the start of the turn to decide which faction goes first and how many action points each faction has available to play in that turn. However, you do have some important decisions to make like sacrificing resources (which you use to build units) to increase your chances of getting a higher roll and therefore more action points to use during your turn.

One of the most interesting aspects of the game is that you a very limited amount of resources and units at your disposal. This creates a connection with your units and makes every decision you make even more critical.

Right now i am in my second game (again chose the Humans), and was doing better for a while as i managed to establish another base nearby (my recon units discovered some friendly people who joined my faction). I was able to build more units and armies but i lost a very big battle. Lost 1 Hero, 1 Unit of Artillery and 1 Unit of Fanatics against some independent units i thought i could take on. To take revenge i sent an Air Unit but was intercepted by Xenopods and was destroyed. So in just two turns i lost most of my units.

Despite its unfriendliness to newcomers this game really draws you in. All PC strategy game fans should download the demo and have a go.

Me, i am thinking of how to quickly set up my defenses against the incoming Indepenents and Xenopods.