8. May 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

Nintendo fans, and in particular Super Smash Bros Brawl fans, have been making war on Yahtzee after his review of the game. This is his response to all the “constructive” criticism he has been receiving.

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24. March 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

It’s all handheld gaming lately and it’s all about Final Fantasy Tactics on the PSP. I am 34 hours into the game and I can really see this going to 100 hours and more. On Sunday as I was playing one battle I realised that my main character, Zolos (of course) was not particularly strong and that I have been progressing through the story mode due to the strength of the rest of the team.

An hour later and after a couple of battles where you have to save in between but cannot access the world map (and hence shop or do levelling up with random battles) I reached a battle where Zolos had to fight one on one against a far superior enemy. Zolos had HP of 271 while the enemy cause 140HP with every strike. It was ugly. 2 rounds and died. Tried again and again changing jobs and abilities but at not avail. After 2-3 rounds I kept dropping dead.

Back to the drawing board or should I say random battles for some levelling up and some thinking of what job/abilities to use. This game has really grabbed me by the b…. and it won’t let go.

It is a mixture of pain with pleasure.

Did you have a similar masochistic experience with game?

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3. March 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

SOS! Fifteen people are trapped aboard a ship that’s going to sink in exactly 20 minutes. Their only chance for survival is the five person life raft stowed on their vessel. To make matters worse, the waters around the ship are teeming with man-eating sharks, so swimming to safety is out of the question.

A round-trip to the nearest island and back to the boat takes nine minutes on the raft. How many people will live to see dry land?

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12. February 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

Current Status

Job: At. Madrid manager
Age: 31
Nationality: Cypriot
Favourite Club: Arsenal

At. Madrid 2008/09 (until January 2009): Primera Division: 3rd, Spanish Cup: Quarter finals - playing Valencia, UEFA Cup: First Knock out round - playing Udinese

At. Madrid 2007/8: Primera Division: 6th, Spanish Cup Finalist, UEFA Cup semi final

Fiercest rival: Real Madrid
Other Rivals: Seville, Barcelona

Dislikes: El Rey Kokanza (R. Madrid manager)

Biggest Transfers:
In: D’Alessandro GBP 14million, Jean II Makoun GBP 13.5million, Fabricio Coloccini GBP 8.75million
Out: Maxi Rodriguez GBP 20million, Sergio Aguero GBP 25.5million, Jose Antonio Reyes GBP 26.5million

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5. February 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

It is not easy to find people to play board games anymore in our ever busy adult schedules. One of the problems that board games, like Risk have, is that they require a big investment of time on any single day which actually makes it almost impossible to be played on a weekday. That leaves weekends where football and going out (so i hear) take priority.

Hasbro, the maker of Risk, however is preparing to launch a new version called Risk: Black Ops. It will introduce a new resource based system on Capitals and Cities which will affect troop additions. But the version will also introduce an Objectives System and will be streamlined. The primary effect is that individual game sessions will be reduced to around 50 minutes making frequent sessions possible. Risk is adapting to us.

There is a post at Gamers with Jobs from Lara Crigger, who managed to have a go at the Risk: Black Ops version, and details her impressions. LINK

Also N’Gai Croal goes one step further to explain how the collaboration between EA and Hasbro can bring board games such as Risk: Black Ops to the XBLA and PSN. LINK

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30. January 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

Yesterday i went to what we Cypriots sometimes call the National Guard (but usually just call it a complete waste of time), what outsiders would call a fiasco and what i’d like to call the black hole that just sucks taxpayers’ money.

Whenever i go to these “meetings” it is as if i am in a world like the one in F.E.A.R or Timeshift where time just slows down. It feels like i am there for an eternity mainly because there is rarely anything interesting to do. Most reservists just sit around for small talk, use their mobiles non-stop, read the sports section of the newspapers or just smoke their cigarettes thinking (about nothing) and staring (into nothingness).

Those are things that i don’t do in my “civilian” life and therefore could never do even if i wanted to. My best option is of course portable gaming which would have been ideal. But in all honesty although i don’t usually give a damn about other people’s opinion on gaming this is too much. Sitting in a room or area full of reservists playing games on my PSP or DS on my own is just suicide. If you have seen About a Boy, it is like that kid getting on the stage to sing with his tambourine before Hugh Grant appears to save him from being socially slaughtered.

What i need to do is locate another gamer. There has to be a gamer in my company (army term) who is a nerd like me. There has to be. Then it would make it tolerable. Less of a loner, outcast. Ok, maybe we would still be outcasts but at least we would be an Army of Two. We would agree beforehand on which console to bring and what multiplayer game to play. Advance Wars and Mario Kart on the DS or Warhammer 40k and Lumines on the PSP? Then time would surely fly.

I have to find him. I need to find that soulmate who will help me speed up time because I can’t take it anymore….

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28. January 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

I am too tired, too sleepy and too angry that it’s Monday that i am not in the mood for writing anything worth reading……Instead i found this for you. No need to explain anything as the geek on the clip does a good job at that.

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25. January 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

To: Mr Christofias, Mr Tassos and Mr Kassoulides

Dear Sirs,

I am writing this letter to all three of you after years of suffering and because I don’t see any attempt to actually resolve the issue.

It is not because it takes me an hour to get from the Kalispera area to Santa Roza. It is not because on the way I have to avoid at least 10-15 lunatics who either don’t stop at the traffic lights, don’t use their indicators when changing lanes, create their own lanes or cut off the road in order to make a u-turn. It’s not because pavements are used as parking space or as roads. It’s not because the noise and environmental pollution has skyrocketed. And it’s certainly not because of the drunk drivers and the fatal car accidents.

No, it seems that none of the above is a good enough reason for you to take any action. I demand decent and clean buses so that I can listen to podcasts on my ipod. I demand trams so that I can play my PSP and DS games. I demand regular and punctual buses so that I can read my books.

I demand a promise right here, right now. And I don’t mean your usual ones. I mean a real promise!

A disgruntled voter

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25. January 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

Who doesn’t miss point and click adventures? Whether it was Monkey Island, Indiana Jones, King’s Quest or Future Wars we just couldn’t get enough of them. And then they were gone.

Fortunately there are some freeware adventures that can take us back even for just a while. Yesterday i managed to play the first two episodes of such a game. Cover Front is a freeware episodic spy thriller. It is more of a puzzle, escape from room/situation with attention needed to find that crucial pixel. I loved it. Great atmosphere and artwork and the story which is set in the early 1900s is engaging.

Point and click here for episode 1
Point and click here for episode 2

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1. January 2008 by Costas Taliadoros.

I wanted to wish all of you a very happy new year.

I would also like to promise you that i will strive to make this blog as informative and entertaining as possible for the year 2008. Of course this will depend on the state of the videogame industry but if 2007 is any indication we should have nothing to worry about.

My main wish for this year, and something that i want to contribute to, is that the Cypriot gaming community matures to become a more organised and active community.

Playing games games is great. But playing games and then having healthy discussions and opinions on these games as well as other issues that concern gamers is even greater.

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