2006: Success (?), Failure, 30, Apathy. (k3nshi)

After a slow start and severely depleted funds, 2006 picked up towards the middle. It then rapidly plummeted down a pit.

Paid work with some "interesting" dynamics had a dramatic effect on my Quality of Life towards the latter part of the year. A massive increase in unnecessary stress saw my health suffer, and I piled on the pounds I worked so hard last year to lose. Meditation went out the window. Plans to run the Nike Run London 10K dissolved into nothing. Despite this, I made some new friends, relearned a few old skills and gained more confidence having survived a pretty harsh project.

I hit 30 in August. I went emo about it for a week. I'm probably still emo about it now. Thirty. A brighter part of that was I bought a mac mini as a media center and its working out just great. 2006 is the year I came to detest Windows. It really isn't good enough, and if Windows is the disease, I doubt Vista is the cure.

Family life in 2006: Better. Worse. Complicated.

Gaming was something that was largely not a part of my life in 2006, but that changed this week when I finally bought a 360 after much pressure (Hi Shimmy). Its looking increasingly likely I'll buy a PS3 at some point too. So much for only buying one console this generation.

I only tried a few new things this year, and failed to take on any of the big challenges I had considered at the end of 2005. At the end of this year, I can safely say I am very tired and somewhat apathetic. A trip to Dubai provided some necessary respite, but even that started badly as visa issues meant I was stuck in the airport for an entire day. Not fun.

I still feel tired and apathetic as 2006 trickles away. Here's hoping 2007 brings a lot of energy, focus and success.

Year End Awards 2006 (k3nshi)

The Kenshi Institute's Year End Awards 2006

• Man of the Year: James Bond


• Woman of the Year: Lara Croft


• Film of the Year: Mission Impossible 3


• Game of the Year: Tomb Raider: Legend (Xbox 360)


• Food of the Year: Biscuits


• Book of the Year: Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman


• Poison of the Year: Polonium


• Website of the Year: youtube.com


• Technology of the Year: Nintendo Wii


• Anti-Technology of the Year: Java


• Blog of the Year: Kotaku


• TV Channel of the Year: E! TV


• TV Show of the Year: Entourage


• Application of the Year: Entourage (Mac OS)


• Shape of the Year: Trapezium


• Place of the Year: The Lounge - Ritz Carlton Dubai


• Colour of the Year: Grey


• Year of the Year: 2005

Amateur Mugger FTL (k3nshi)

[16:37] amateur mugger FTL
[16:38] yeah I'm fine thanks
[16:38] so here we go
[16:38] I was walking to Harrow
[16:38] going the normal route I take
[16:38] which is up the main road and then into some side streets, which are normally empty
[16:38] as I go up the sidestreet I notice someone also going the same way as me
[16:39] which struck me as a bit unusual
[16:39] a bit further up the sidestreet the guy goes to me "Hey, whats the time?"
[16:39] which pretty much said to me there is a good chance this guy is going to try to mug me
[16:40] and sure enough the next thing he says is: "I Hope you have some money for me"
[16:40] to which I just say no
[16:40] and then its all "What? Show me your wallet!"
[16:40] and I just keep saying no
[16:40] then he puts his hand in his pocket as if he has something
[16:40] so I just walk the other direction back to the main road
[16:41] * Wickedkit (~Wickedkit@82-68-248-78.dsl.in-addr.zen.co.uk) has joined #edge

[16:41] * Playdoh gives channel operator status to Wickedkit
[16:41] this guy shouts out to me "Keep going about your business - you were going this way!"
[16:41] * Wickedkit gives channel operator status to RSimmy
[16:41] he followed me for a bit
[16:41] but I went into the nearest shop
[16:41] and called the cops
[16:41] THEN
[16:41] the cops arrived and I got to go on the prowl in an undercover cop car to look for the perp
[16:42] but we couldnt find him
[16:42] but that was quite fun

Ray Hound: Something for the Japanese Shooter Fans (k3nshi)

Ray-hound for Windows, another game by the Warning Forever guy. Screenshots certainly look pretty. No idea if this is OLD NEWS or not.

Killer Apps, Proxy Wars & Intergoons (k3nshi)

I think the most positive aspect that the next-gen is bringing/really focussing on is social gaming. The Wii adverts were a real breathe of fresh air, focussing on the players of the games and really showing a social experience. The last time I saw game adverts like that was for things like the old Atari systems waaaay back in the day. And by all accounts Nintendo really is managing to court non-gamers with their system.

Sony are making plenty of noises about user created content and creating an online experience. Phil 'Mr Popular' Harrison cant help mentioning things like Second Life and MySpace when talking about the online PS3 experience, so it appears as if Sony are going to take online seriously. Singstar online could be a killer app all by itself. Still, there is nothing to see there yet, which leaves us with...

Xbox LIVE. Which I think really is the 360s killer feature, especially if you dont like Halo. For me Halo 3 is enough - but Halo 3 isnt out yet, and so I wouldnt be thinking about getting a 360. Except of course a large group of hashedgers are all playing Gears of War online and working like some kind of unholy army in J Allard's Proxy War for Gaming. "Buy a 360!", "Have you got it yet?", "JOIN USSSS!". Just another day on #edge at the moment.

So despite the fact that currently I think the 360 is a massively underwhelming and overpriced purchase; the console most likely to be the spiritual successor of the Dreamcast, I have seriously been thinking about buying one. I've been in GAME numerous time teetering on the point of purchase for a console whose library of games is incredibly uninspiring. Why? Because as killer apps go, 'Gaming with your mates' is pretty much the psychopath app. First everyone is playing Gears of War, then everyone moves on to Test Drive Unlimited, then its the next thing and the killing spree continues.

So the 360. I might buy one... tomorrow.

It hasn't even started yet... (k3nshi)

Let's be clear: the next gen hasnt begun AT ALL. If I want to buy a next-gen console today, I have no choice: I can only readily buy a 360.

So for all the internet game forum know it alls who are proclaiming the PS3 dead in the water, all I can say is: the battle hasnt even started yet. Really it all kicks off in mid-2008, possibly late 2008, when all the consoles seriously start trying to court the casual gamer and every console has a few decent games.

Next gen hasn't even really started on the 360 yet either. Bar a few notable (recent) titles, so much of the library seems like old gen gameplay with tarted up visuals. Roll on the likes of Bioshock, Assasin's Creed and Halo 3. Note that (with the exception of inhouse title Halo 3), these titles have been mooted for the PS3 at one point in time or other. Face it: next gen games development is expensive. And publishers are going to want to ammortise those costs by hitting as many platforms as possible or by releasing on the most dominant platform. And that cant happen until all 3 consoles are out in the market in sufficient numbers and the massmarket has chosen its winners and losers.

I am Two (k3nshi)

Another year over (expect the tradional year end posts soon enough). But today... hashedge is two years old. Have a cake. Play a game. And think happy thoughts.

Its been a pretty quiet year for the blog. A lot of my time has been taken up with Other Things, which has meant I havent been following gaming very much at all this year. But it looks like I might be getting back into gaming a bit more, what with an exciting NEW GENERATION about to begin. So... expect more hashedge blog action REAL SOON...

Games of the Year 2006 (k3nshi)

Gamer	Game of the Year	Platform
corps	Oblivion	Xbox 360
Crhis	Gears of Wars	Xbox 360
debaser	New Super Mario	Nintendo DS
elbo	Shadow of the Colossus	PS2
franki	Lego Star Wars 2	Xbox 360
Kenshi	Tomb Raider: Legend	Xbox 360
Kit	Gears of War	Xbox 360
kon-el	Zelda: Twilight Princess	Nintendo Wii
Meh	Okami OMG ROLF	PS2
qazimod	Viewtiful Joe: Double Trouble	Nintendo DS
Rayn	Zelda: Twilight Princess	Nintendo Wii
rhp	Wii Sports	Nintendo Wii
Shimmyhill	Gears of War	Xbox 360
Steev	Final Fantasy XII	PS2
Taev	Oblivion	PC
The-G	Gears of War	Xbox 360
vamecum	Oendan	Nintendo DS
Van	Pheonix Wright 2	Nintendo DS

Platform	Number of GOTY votes
Xbox 360	7
Nintendo DS	4
Nintendo Wii	3
PS2	3
PC	1

Any more, for any more? Let me know...

Dubai Living (k3nshi)

...brief post from Dubai, cos my laptop battery is going to die REAL SOON now.

- Days spent in airport due to visa issues: 1
- OMG its been raining. Only 1 sunny day so far. :-(
- Lamborgini's spotted: 2
- BMWs/Mercs/Audis/Lexus: innumerable

To be continued...

Cool Mario Desktops... (k3nshi)

[14:30]  http://www.flickr.com/photos/andy_leitch/140504998/
[14:30]  nice desktop
[14:32]  and another: http://www.flickr.com/photos/andy_leitch/140388573/

Hurry up... (k3nshi)

clicky clicky

DEMOGRAPHIC (k3nshi)

Spotted on the tube today: A woman. Playing a (black) Nintendo DS. Didn't find out what game she was playing though. 

PS3: Flow (k3nshi)

Screenshot

Flow is the only game I am interested in on PS3 at the moment. It's like the X360 launch all over again (where I was only interested in Geometry Wars). A nice write up on flow is at the WSG.