Yesterday I posted links to two different subjects on GRcade, just to get a little traffic boost. One link was about E3, the other about Lost.
I was very surprised when I came on and saw that even though E3 is current and Lost finished ages ago, Lost came out on top with 29 hits. E3 only got 7. I think Lost got more hits because it was in Off Topic – more people tend to visit that folder than the Creative Corner. I must admit – I made clicking the Lost link sound a lot more appealing. Inadvertently, but still, if I had to pick which to click, I’d go for the Lost one.
So yeah, it’s been changed twice in less than a week now. The prosilverSE style wasn’t suitable, so we went with something a bit more like the old style in terms of layout. Overall, it’s much better, and apart from the code behind the banner being much stranger than I’m used to (and thus proving to be a bitch to alter), everything has gone much smoother on this update.
The new skin, AeroBlue, is courtesy of phpBB Headquarters. Hey, they also do this skin for WordPress. While it would be nice for the forum and the blog to look the same, I’ve grown quite attached to Atahualpa.
Let’s hope I don’t have to do this again for a very long time though, right?
This week I have been mostly writing about Halo 2 and doing up the forum. It’s been a mixed bag in terms of feedback on it – some like the bold new colours, some prefer the muted tones of yesterday. You can’t please all of the people all of the time though. It’ll work out in the end, whether it stays dark blue or I change it to the powdery blue colour.
Doctor Who was ok yesterday. The story was a bit iffy, I felt it was kinda bolted on after they decided they needed to bring the Daleks back. Although Amy Pond in cowboy boots was massive win.
It didn’t take too long from me deciding enough was enough and it had to be changed to it being pretty much finished. As much as I love Mike Lothar’s phpBB2 styles, they just weren’t cutting it in phpBB3. Optimization was an issue, and we were missing out on a load of features that the style just did not support. Sure, the colours are a bit bolder than we’re used to, but I think it’ll be fine once we’ve gotten used to them.
I’d like to thank the following people/organisations for their indirect help. Mike Lothar for the original Nosebleed/Conundrum, CiC for the phpBB3 port, and CyberAlien for the ColorizeIt! application. I may even have to put some permanent links up somewhere just to show my appreciation – not that we get much traffic, but y’know, it’s nice to be nice.
All I need to do now is sort out the top image and put a link to here on the index somewhere. I’m glad it was straightforward and there were no major problems. Shit-loads of minor ones, but nothing major.
Last night was the last time Halo 2 will ever be playable over Xbox Live. Personally, I didn’t attend (I got rid of Halo 2 ages ago – I never envisioned a time when we’d play it again), but I have spent the time being devoted to Halo 2 in other ways. I’ve been listening to the soundtrack (thanks again Orca, Secret Santa 2005), it’s telling of the iconic quality of the music that “Heavy Price Paid” is still used in Halo 3. I’ve been re-doing the forum, which is kind of a homage to Halo – I’d like it to be functional before Reach comes along. I’ve also been writing this blog entry, a retrospective of the Epic Win that was Halo 2.
The original, iconic RF! forum banner
Now, where to start? The Summer of 2004, Gamesradar, Halo 2, blah blah, the full version can be found here. This isn’t about RF! though, it’s about Halo 2. It was my first real experience of modern online gaming. Xbox Live itself was a revelation, with a unified friends list that was compatible through all Xbox Live enabled games, voice communication (well, apart from Powers to begin with) and smooth, high speed online gameplay. Then there was Halo 2. The Halo series was, and still is, the nicest First Person Shooter to control, it’s just so smooth and responsive. The Bungie FPS’s just feel so good. The engine underneath it all was solid. There was a satisfying recoil in the meaty weapons, both visual, aural and through the controller. The maps were (mostly) interesting and fun to play in. The icing on the cake though, were the in-depth stats available on Bungie.net. I spent almost as many hours on there poring over wins and losses as I did at my Xbox, making those wins and losses. Compare it to my previous experiences of online gaming (Phantasy Star Online on the Dreamcast) and you can see, this truly was next-gen.
The rules for RocketBall, summed up in one simple image
Here are some random moments of RF! Halo 2 history that still stick out in my mind to this very day.
“When you spawn, you will find you have a Shotgun and a Sword”. The time all the Elites played in character – “Capture the Sacred Icon my Brothers! Burn the Heretics!”. Orca telling us not to worry, and that “they can’t arm it” – only for the opposition bomb to explode, losing us a round. RF! winning the “Best Thread Ever” on Gamesradar. Dante’s Peak. Cubeamania flying to the top of Headlong and never coming back down. Orca arming his SMG. Somehow managing to run myself over in a Warthog by going over a tiny hill on Coagulation. Dante blocking the grav-lift on Headlong. Dawn Of The Dead on Headlong (box yourself in under the stairs!). Dawn Of The Dead on Foundation (To Room 4!). Dawn Of The Dead on Waterworks (yeah, where the fuck is everyone?). Elites clearly being the same size as Spartans. Boosting a Wraith into a pillar on Burial Mounds hoping to see The Giant Master Chief. The time we were just standing and chatting up on top of one of the bases on Coagulation, and Jane just assassinated Grumpy for no reason. Destroying XBM at Halo 2. The various “Dress up as Orca for our Anniversary” evenings. Some French guy telling me to “Go and play Rainbow Six Black Arrow, you noob”. The incredible gametypes: Tony Martin, Ghosts of Mars, Snipe 1-flag, ASDA Flag, Heartbeat, Take The Turret, and so many more I cannot hope to remember.
Maybe you have some of your own? Make a comment here, or post them on the forum – go on, share.
The less initiated among you may be wondering what all these images peppered around are – they are cherished memories, each one. Could Reach be our Renaissance? Check out the Halo 2 image gallery which is elsewhere on my blog – they are mostly of the time we had a “Photocall” – loads of Furies showed up and Orca took pictures of his TV with his camera – and there are a few other random ones on there too.
Halo 3 just wasn’t the same. I’m not sure why it didn’t gel as well as Halo 2 – was it the lack of clan support? The maps not being as good as they were in Halo 2? Bastardising Dawn Of The Dead by making a proper Zombie gametype? By all accounts, with The Forge, screenshots and saved films, it should have been better. Still, Halo Reach is looking like it may recapture the brilliance of Halo 2, and it’s not long ’til we get a taster in the form of the Multiplayer Beta. Fingers crossed, eh?
Thanks crazy barefooted guy from this post! You secured me a couple of foot fetish “barefoot” searches. It was also pretty fortuitous that I smoke, as the word “cigarette” secured me some fag fetish clicks. I must also thank the guy or gal who clicked through because of the “lol cat doomsday” search, if only as some kind of proof that I did get traffic before I mentioned Karen Gillan.
So, you know that post I made yesterday about having a job interview (it’s just below this one, scroll down a little)? Well I got a couple of comments on it from some spambots (pretending to be natural and not come across as spambots). Here, read the first one:
I really can’t understand some points of this post, but I guess I just need to learn a bit more about this, because it definitely sounds interesting and kind of though-provoking! By the way, how did you first get involved with this?
Well.
He cannot understand some points of this 26 word post. The general point, that I had an interview, was even reflected in the title. Clearly he needs to learn more about interviews. Oh yes, he suggests that next. Reputable companies do sound interesting, don’t they? And I guess keeping your fingers crossed is kind of thought-provoking. And after all that, as an aside, a parting comment, he asks how did I first get involved in wanting a job. I would’ve thought that was obvious.
The second one, on the same 26 word post:
Hey this is a great story. I’m going to email this to my friends. I stumbled on this while googling for some music lyrics, I’ll be sure to come back. thanks for sharing.
I’m sure his friends will be enthralled by my “great story”. What lyrics must he have been googling for to find a post about someone having a job interview?
I did not know this, but apparently when I take my socks off, one comes off inside out, the other comes off “the right way”. Now, this has, as far as I know, never ever been a problem. But the other night, I was told that I had to make sure I turned both my socks the right way round before I put them in for washing as the person who sorted my socks after they had been washed had put them all in a pile of single “odd socks” and it was a massive ordeal for the next person up the food chain to finally sort out what in God’s name was going on with the infernal, puzzling pile of odd socks.
I assume that the initial sorter either:
A: couldn’t be bothered to check what pattern the inside out ones had on them so he could make a pair; or
B: does not posses the intellectual nous to check what pattern the inside out ones had on them so he could make a pair.
So, something I had no idea I did, something that has never posed a problem before, is suddenly this massive big deal and I’m being told follow this new agenda because people are too worried about treading on the stupid sock sorter’s toes. Gosh, someone else had to puzzle for what I presume was literally seconds to see what on Earth was going on with this pile of socks!
Just a quick note to say, among other things, we’re back online.
The house move went smoothly and the internet has been transferred over so we can do online stuff again.
Yesterday was my Birthday! I am now 31 years old – but I don’t feel a day older than 25. I got a new phone from Jane, my Mum got me Star Trek on DVD (which I watched yesterday, it was very good – I would’ve loved to have seen it at the cinema) and this year’s Mock the Week book, which contains on average about 20 proper LOL jokes per page. David, Katie and Jasmine got me Batman: Arkham Asylum which I’m loving hugely – it’s a joy to play but also a challenge. I also got two Gamestation Gift Cards with indeterminate amounts of credit on them and a box of Liquorice Allsorts (which I am planning on eating all myself, if I can get away with it).
I hope to get some pictures of the house up tomorrow, there’s too much to catch up on right now to do them today, but I promise to get them up this week at least.
