Dunworking’s Domain

Crysis ? What Crysis ?!

Here I am, it’s peeing down outside, and there’s been drama at Fratton Park (more on that in a minute)…but as I write this, I’ve just returned from a trip into Darkest Africa as I go on a mercenary mission of mercy…unbelievably I’m engrossed in my fourth (or is it fifth ?) big game for my PC this year…as the nights draw in, I’ve installed another title to keep me going for a good few evenings…this time it’s FAR CRY 2 . Given that the first game was a bit of a hit in this house, and that Crysis was such a waste of time on my PC, I’ve been pleased with this so far. Apart from the godawful DRM protection that is…

I notice that there isn’t to be a “Gears of War 2″ for the PC as the producers think that PC ownership and piracy go hand in hand. If it means that we’ll miss out on another crash-filled mess that was the first “Gears of War” and not have to put up with over-zealous protection then that’s fine by me. Anyhoo, the picture below doesn’t do justice to just how good the graphics are on “Far Cry 2″. And this on a PC with a last generation-but-one graphics card, note. The framerate keeps up, and the various missions, including ones which remind me just how bad a driver I am on PC games, are a tour-de-force.

Far Cry 2 - and to your left are some mountains…to your right…well, some more mountains.

Harry earns his Spurs

I am at the moment getting over the disappointment of Harry Redknapp clearing off to Spurs. The last time he left, we had a succession of men who’d struggle to manage their way out of a paper bag, and I fear that history will repeat itself. Not to mention the sale of our best players in January. Just when we needed stability at the club there’s an unwelcome change. Spurs are very lucky to get him at this stage of the season, and good luck to him. He’s done miracles at Pompey, and I hope that it’s not the start of a downward spiral for us.

TV Times

You can tell that winter is on the way, as I find my Freeview box being overfilled with series that I’ve set it to record. Amongst the new attractions are;

SANCTUARY

Initially reminding me of “Buffy”, this series has some sci-fi standards - doctor with mysterious secret, innocent abroad, and lots of sharp teeth and pointy claws. Good fun, and worth seeing if you like this sort of programme.

CHUCK
I missed this when Virgin 1 first showed it earlier this year. Recommended to me by Racheal, I’m enjoying this as much as I enjoyed “Reaper”. Both display the same sort of humour mixed with sci-fi themes. A must.

MERLIN
Given that they’ve messed around with the story, this is something of an enigma for me. I enjoy the swords & scorcery storylines, but there’s a feel of it being too “kids TV” sometimes. Not a good replacement for Doctor Who or Robin Hood, but watchable all the same.

….probably isn’t a train coming the other way after all…Following a very crap time of it of late, things are starting to fall into place again…as a member of my family said the other week…”you’ll be ok, you always seem to come out on top”…and, of late, this does seem to be the case. Apologies to anyone who’s tried to contact me on my mobile, as it’s not been working properly, but is all fixed now…talking of which

Phoney War
I’ve installed yet another “toy” on my e-61. Having got thorougly p*ssed off with the erratic service from “3″ on their new version of Push-mail, I downloaded the Emoze push-mail client. It works very well, and means that I’m able to be contacted by e-mail or text 24/7 (whether this is a good thing is open to discussion…)

Fast-track to the interweb
Also in “techy” mode, as I’ve said before, my internet connection is notoriously flakey…or it was until I changed my router settings to use those at Opendns. Yes, I know it might just be coincidence, but the connection certainly seems faster and more stable using them than what I had before.

XBLA - Yay ! (ahem!)
Having found a tescos gift voucher that I couldn’t use on food, I instead blew it on 4200 X-box live points…which has (a) meant the addition of more goodness to Burnout Paradise and (b) the downloading of the extraordinary Braid, not to mention the “throwaway thrills” of Galaga Legions. Far easier than Ikaruga (look, I’m getting old, ok ?!) and great for a quick blast in the evenings. Also…with some time on my hands at the moment, I’m fast approachingSomeone’s score on Bejewelled 2

PC Peggle Pickle
OK…now this isn’t quite on…just when I thought it was safe to return to less time-consuming affairs on the PC, those Pop-cap Games monkeys go and release a new Peggle game “Peggle Nights…yes, it’s exactly the same as all the other Peggle games, but it’s still goddamn addictive !

Daily Sport

Since we were last here, Theo Walcott took Croatia apart for England, Portsmouth sneaked through in the Uefa Cup and Pagham’s season has taken a bit of a nose-dive. Of these, probably the best example of a “false dawn” is Walcott. He’s still young, and whilst undoubtedly a superb player, not quite the finished article. Remember how the same praise was heaped on Wayne Rooney ? He’s gone through more than one goal-drought since then, and I just hope that when it happens to Walcott the press don’t make too much fuss.

Pompey’s adventures in Europe will continue after a draining evening in Portugal last Thursday. I’m looking forward to the group stage draw on Tuesday…the likes of AC Milan and Sampdoria hold no fears for the men of Fortress Fratton…

Pagham have gone out of the FA Cup, Vase and now the Sussex Senior Cup…not sure how or why our season has suddenly unravelled, but I’ve no doubt we’ll bounce back soon enough…

Buried treasure
Has this ever happened to you ? there’s a band you’ve heard of, but completely ignored as they don’t play “your” music. Then they take a change in direction, and you hear good things about it….you buy the CD on the and enjoy it as a change from the norm…

…this happened to me with the latest “Mercury Rev” release. I read a review which mentioned it sounded a little like “Boards of Canada”…which was a signal to me to try it out…and disappointed I was not. Although true “Mercury Rev” fans don’t seem to like it…Philistines !

And finally…a mention to the new “Theivery Corporation” CD Radio Retaliation…more of the same, and good job too…