So I am sat here just finishing up at work and thought I would update everyone on whats going on, I have a few things in my mind that came up while listening to the BombCast so look out below for those.

Firstly, my purchase of NHL 09 that is released friday here in the UK has been put off until the end of the month. My laptop decided that for one final time it would show me what its made of with the blue screen of death, good bye my old friend.. Now considering my laptop is my one source to get online it takes prioroty over those other important things. I have a laptop ordered and will hopefully post a few pictures when it arrives, with a copy of Spore arriving friday all should be right with the world.

Now the games I need to pick up at the end of the month are NHL 09 and Star Wars: Force Unleashed, I think most of my time will be pumped in to Force Unleashed as it usually takes me a while to really start getting in to the sports genre games and Force Unleashed is probably higher on my list of most wanted than NHL.

OK, While listening to this weeks BombCast I had a thought. The first part of the cast is all about the Dreamcast and how it died so quickly, well, in the gaming world there are plenty of things that seem to get a lot of hype and then suddenly seem to just disappear. So I have a question for everyone, are there any games that come to mind that you heard/read about that you looked forward to but then suddenly disappeared? A few that pop in to my mind are B.C a caveman game that was at the time being developed by Peter Molyneux of Fable fame (I think thats right, atleast what I remember of it its right). Anywasy that game got shelved pretty late in development. Another is Stargate SG1: The Alliance, something that was given a major ad campaign and even features on the SG1 and Atlantis DVD sets at one point. Again due to different reasons it was shelved.

Now on to the one most common amongst Dreamcast users (See the link...;)) Shenmue 3. I really havent a clue what happened to Shenmue 3, they realese Shenmue 2 on Xbox and Dreamcast leaving the ending with a nice cliffhanger and then all goes quiet. Shenmue 3 is not mentioned for a long time, hoping people would forget about it. Shame as I would have loved to see the final chapter in the series.

Any thoughts? Other games you have looked forward tot hat have come up short or cut and never made?

I post a blog now and again on another site, thought I would copy it here to keep my blog active..

September rolls around once a year, with it comes what is commonly known as the gaming season. Three months where the release calendar is full and pretty exciting. No matter what console you own, as long as you’re in to gaming these next months can be a pretty busy time.

Personally I am a 360 gamer as many of you know; I love anything RPG orientated and love to find a new game I can get my teeth in to. Unfortunately more often than not the games of today fall short of what we expect, with less than adequate concentration on the main three vitals of a game (Story, Graphics and Game play) Manufacturers often concentrate on the one and leave the others in a dismal state.

In the RPG orientation I was finally bugged in to picking up 'Lost Odyssey' a game I had never got around to playing and not really ever considered. Coming in 4 discs the game boasts great visuals and some stunning cut scenes. The graphics are great, the cut scenes are great and plentiful (Which is something I enjoy) and the game play seems solid if somewhat unoriginal. Think Final Fantasy 10, with new characters and story with better graphics and that is all we have. Now that’s not necessarily a bad thing, I loved playing FFX; the combat system was great and made this my favourite of the Final Fantasy series.

The mini-games on ‘Lost Odyssey’ often seem somewhat pointless although they do help to break up the flow a little. Also on a nice note there is a ‘Thousand Years of Dreams’ section, using your main character you must discover memories from the past forgotten by the passage of time. Memories come in the form of short stories and are an interesting twist and add an extra depth and understanding to characters. I am currently on disc 2 with around 20 hours game play, predictions have me finishing somewhere in the 45-50 hour mark so a solid game that could take longer should I stop along the way to get more.

Overall score: 7

Now on to the rest of the year, my favourite part!

A few games I am looking at and am pretty sure to pick up, although I try to spread each purchase out to allow a decent play time some get purchased within days of each other...

In no real order I am going to start with the one fresh in my mind,

1.Star Wars: Force Unleashed
2.Far Cry 2
3.Fallout 3
4.Infinite Undiscovery
5.Fable 2
6.Gears OF War 2
7.Alan Wake (Should it ever be released)
8.Mercenaries 2
9.Call of Duty: World at War
10.Spider Man Web of Shadows

There are a few missing from that lists, but those come from the top of my head. Usually what I do is buy an RPG, put a load of time in to getting most of it done and then to have a break from solid play I would buy something a little easier going.

Currently Guitar Hero 3 is sucking up a lot of my time when I am not playing ‘Lost Odyssey’. Never really had much time for this when I first picked it up but is fast becoming a great stress reliever when I get home from work, I even have my girlfriend playing a few Co-op games with me!

Anyways, Drop me a line anytime. My gamer tag is Casey Hale. Comments always appreciated

Its been a while since I got around to posting here. Shame really as I could have done with a decent place to vent some stuff, even if nobody reads this.

Firstly, I got my hosthood. Love being a host once again and am getting the same buzz when a story comes together, something I dearly missed while I was away. Currently hosting the USS Magistrate sim and having to challenge myself with every post. The crew are excellent and we do have some really good posts and plots developing.

Now my probation is almost up I am looking to expand slightly, maybe take on another sim. In an ideal world a Stargate sim would be excellent, or a ST sim that I can get stuck in to and learn a lot from. Either is good for me as long as its a challenge that I can undertake with even the slightest hope of succeeding.

Many of you dont know much about me, so before I vent a little history. Back when I was in the parachute regiment I suffered a serious injury, I was parachuting when my parachute failed to deploy (The official term for the malfunction is Horseshoe, my parachute Horseshoe'd). By the time I had cut away the main chute, cleared and deployed the reserve I had gained to much speed. Hitting the ground at a rate much higher than normal.

The result was a shattered ankle, Broken leg, fractured arm other various cuts and bruises. I was in a coma for 13 hours after it happened, to this day I do not remember anything from when my reserve deployed. I woke in hospital the next morning surrounded by my CO my patrol and my Mum. I was wheel chair bound for 5 months and had my ankle rebuilt in 4 operations. 1 year of Physical therapy everyday and alot of time in the gym I finally go out in to the wide world. I was 20 years old and had spent the majority of my adult life so far being unable to walk - great start!

I am 22 now and still have my check ups every three months to make sure everything is in the right place still I have Physical therapy once a month for a couple of hours to ensure that my ankle and knee still stay loose and dont stiffen up, or something like that.

Now comes the vent part.. Very few people at work know about ym injuries or my life in the army. They possibly know what I was in there but I rarely talk about things that remind of those days. I was only in the army for 4 years and was very young(I joined at 16) but it was an age where age didnt matter, 9/11 was fresh on everyones mind and the army needed everyone they could get there hands on. For my 18th birthday I got to celebrate my assignment to the middle east, I shipped out the day after. After being bounced around all over the place by the army my patrol finally got to come home after I got injured, A month after my 19th birthday.

I have a lot of respect for the men and women of any military from any country that goes out and fights for what they believe is right. The patriotism and heroism within some will always have me remembering the things I saw with awe. That is why I do not believe on playing on my injuries, if I am in pain I work though it or take a few days off. I do not air my pain in hopes of sympathy and hope that people will take pity on me. In my life if I have learnt anything it is that there are people a lot worse off than me!

We have an Engineer at work, he served with the Royal Air Force for 8 years up until 2001. During this time he injured his back from ducking down to fix the underside of aircrafts or something, I dont know. To be honest as soon as he starts trying to hook a little sympathy from me I tune out and think of something different. Today he comes in and tells me that I am taking over a major percentage of his hands on workload because his back is playing up and he doesnt want to do ti because of the pain. Apparently he has cleared this with the boss and everything has been agreed.. Everything has been agreed?!! Usually a very mellow person I think I shocked him when I hit the roof, storming out to see the boss and in the end havingan argument in front of both directors and most of the managers.

It didnt do much good but boy did it feel good. Every problem that I had with the engineer the other people in the offices and people in the factory came out, something I rarely do cause bringing those things up leads to an akward working enviroment. Now, after the three of us were seperated by others and had calmed down we all went in to an office to talk about the issues. The Engineer had not passed his idea to the boss and was basically deciding he didnt have to do any work cause he is quite lazy. Also the other issues were talked about one by one, some resolved others put to rest. All in all I think a good vent to your boss goes well, atleast, it did with me!

In other real life news.. I have reapplied to become a volunteer police officer, I will work 8 hours a week at a minimum and do all that other police officers do(DOnt knowif the US has an equivelant). Eventually I will become a full time police officer but for now while I get the rest of my life in order it will be good to give back to the community I was raised in while learning some essential skills I will probably need inthe future.

Anyways, thanks for reading.. If you made it all the way through!;)

Bourne..

So, Its been a long couple of weeks for me. Work has picked up and so have most of my sims, in most cases.. This is great. Things with the HHB are moving along and i hope to hear either way some time soon.

Now, I am not the sort of person that likes to stay 'within the box'. Many people like to stick to there safe little boundaries and are happy with that. But thats not me, I like to push the envelope and make my own boundaries, often in all areas of my life. As you can imagine this is can be a great strength but at the same time a great weakness. That is why I look to friends (On and Offline) to keep me grounded to my surroundings.

The reason I bring this up is I have been thinking of an idea for a new sim, well.. I really have two ideas, one has hardly been done and where I have found it, its not done well. The other I cannot find any trace of at all. Both ideas come from months of thinking about them and not really having the time to dedicate or decide which one to move forward.

The two genres im speaking of are 24 and The Xfiles. I think both would make a popular and strong addition to any simming community as fans of these types of shows have no where to go. I think if i have the time soon I will work on one of these and see where I get in terms of interest. Either way I think the ideas could go very far.

I havent really much time left to post the ideas in detail, so ill cut it off there and post when im not at work. But please, leave me a message letting me know what you think, could these two areas be converted in to a sim that is succesful. Honesty and open opinions are gladly welcome!

Its been a long weekend for me. I still did not have the internet at home so I couldnt do any simming. It was the tenth anniversary of my grandads death so spent most of Sunday with my family, even though it has been so long since he passed I still remember the last time I saw him and the moment I was told he was gone. It is something that will probably always be with me.

On a lighter note, I have the internet back. I am using it at work now and the line will be switched back on thursday morning. Got a few ideas for some character development plots with my characters. Mostly the characters on the USS Endevour and the USS Magistrate sims. My two email sims are the ones I think I connect with most, maybe because I spend more time researching and typing my posts. Different to the message board sims I am in SGC and SG:Libertas. My email posts tend to be more detailed, more focused and more descriptive. I am guessing this is much the case with most simmers. Once I have begun these development plots I will keep an update on here as to how its going and how it is being taken.

So, what are your favourite kind of sims? I now sim on all three levels. Live, MB and Email. What do you think differs from the three and what makes a good sim for you?

Sean

Hey guys,

This is really for anyone who wants to know about me. THought it would be the best way to start a blog as I am not a big blogger, but I can try i suppose!

So.. Im 21, I live in the south of England and work a little to much and am under payed for what I do.(Who isnt right?!) I love simming and the friendships it has brought me. My brothers and sisters play a huge part in my life. I have brothers who are 18, 10 and 7. Two sisters who are 5 and 5 months. I think a little insight in to fellow simmers is always a good thing. It helps you get in to someones mind and really get to know them making simming easier.

I am currently going through the application stage of host selection. I am hoping to re-enlist in service of the FSF. I was previously a host under the name FSF Bauer. Due to personal reason I had to leave the host life behind. I recently returned to the FSF and only when I returned did i truly realise how much I missed this place.

And now just cause I cant be bothered to write a load of other stuff.. Heres 20 quick facts about me.

1. I used to be in the British Parachute Regiment
2. I watch way to much NCIS
3. My favourite tv shows include NCIS, JAG, Lost, Heroes, Firefly Stargate, X files.. THe list goes on..
4. Favourite films include Shooter, Tears of the Sun, Armageddon, Men of Honor, Remember the Titans and Coach Carter.
5. I was kicked in the face with an ice skate when I was 14. Leaving a scar now covered by my eye brow.
6. I tower over most people standing at 6 foot 8 inches.
7. I left the Army due to a bad parachute landing in which i shattered my ankle.
8. Because of said Injury I now have bad knees and ankle. Preventing any long distance running.
9. I cannot stand chicken.
10. I hate people who base opinions on looks.
11. I hate people who think different of me because I chose the life i did.
12. I am a monarchist. I support the queen and the country.
13. ..However, this in no way implies I support the government.
14. When I was young I wanted to be a US Marine. Nationality problems cause me to choose what I did.
15. Biggest mistake I have ever made was taking a medical Discharge instead of fighting to stay in.
16. I have ultimate respect for those who choose to put there lives on the line for the freedom we experience everyday.
17. I think the FSF is one of the gratests ideas since the Wheel.
18. I have 36 Cousins
19. My car is my prize possesion
20. If the internet fails at home.. I get very bored!