Mio Mao!

My eldest boy and I have discovered the joys of Mio and Mao, which can be seen here.

All together now!

Mio Mao…Mio Mao! Lalala la-la!

Mio Mao…Mio Mao! Lalala la-la!

Back to Werner!

We recently started playing Battlefield 2142, and the change from the ‘quest/raiding’ of WoW to ’shoot-em and scream at the screen’ awakened a longing for another online shooter we used to play a few years ago – Planetside.

When we first started out we played for hours every evening and weekend – having no children back then did wonders for our gaming time – and we had our own outfit. Friends also used to play and we would shout and scream into voice comms into the wee hours.  Back then I had a stealthy character who used to sneak into bases and hack consoles. I was pretty poor at it, but I had fun trying! Next I changed to a combat engineering class – my fave – where I would lay turrets and mines to kill unsuspecting troops. Oh how I love my AMS too.

The game has come a long way since that and not only is there a whole new area with new vehicles through the Core Combat expansion, but can you now command giant mechs or BFR’s and they changed the layout of the world.

What did it for us though was the prospect of a whole new expanded engineering skill system, which now boasts Fortification, Assault and Advanced Engineering (a combination of the two), with new flying and stealthed turrets to boot.

Get the game downloaded, join Vanu Sovereignty, and message N1GHTSH4D3 in game (yeh, stoopid name I know) – you’ll have great fun, I promise.

PR stunt or ‘kind bonus’?

I’m guessing the former…

So, on the launch of the Playstation 3, the Oxford Street branch of Virgin Megastore gave out 100 HD TV’s worth £2,500 to the insane people who had queued outside the store for the past 2 days (as well as keeping them tanked up on coffee and coke).

I’m not jealous. Honest.

To be honest I am not entirely excited about the PS3. I am able to play on a still-reasonable PC, and Xbox 360 and Wii, and have access to a PSP. I can even play on my little DS if I am truly bored. I have enough games right now to last me months and months, so I don’t really need yet another platform with yet another batch of games that I have no time to play.

Anyway, I digress…check out a ‘microsoft biased’ review here which is actually quite surprising…

Now for something completely different…

They’re two, they’re four, they’re six, they’re eight.
Shunting trucks and hauling freight.
Red and green and brown and blue,
They’re the really useful crew!
All with different roles to play,
’round Tidmouth sheds or far away.
Down the hills and ’round the bends,
Thomas and his friends!

Thomas!  He’s the cheeky one.
James! Is vain but lots of fun!
Percy!  Pulls the mail on time.
Gordon!  Thunders down the line!
Emily!  Really knows her stuff.
Henry! Toots and huffs and puffs.
Edward! Wants to help and share.
Toby!  Let’s just say…he’s square!

They’re two, they’re four, they’re six, they’re eight.
Shunting trucks and hauling freight.
Red and green and brown and blue,
They’re the really useful crew!
All with different roles to play,
’round Tidmouth sheds or far away.
Down the hills and ’round the bends,
Thomas and his friends!

Hey, I said there would be some odd blogging on here, didn’t I? This is Nicholas’s fave programme at the moment, and I know these lyrics off by heart now! We love Thomas!

Morrowind Modding

I used to play Morrowind quite a long time ago, before the expansions, but I completely ruined it when I started to cheat – summoning up Azura’s Star multiple times using the console and selling them to Scamp the Creeper, then spending the money on training to ridiculous levels!

This time, however, having learned the error of my cheating ways, I am going to play properly – however, mods are another thing entirely…

It’s safe to say I am using quite a number of mods, and I thought I should ‘come clean’ and list them all here before play commences, with links in case you want to get them yourselves.  Most are listed in my Links list to the right under Telesphoros’ Mod List.

Better Heads

Morrowind Comes Alive
Fantastic mod which basically inserts new non-static npc’s into the game world, and also locks doors at night.

Tamriel Rebuilt
A project to rebuild the world The Elder Scrolls is set in. Some good work here, and downloadable work in progress

Less Generic NPCs
This is really good work, hats off to these people – no more generic conversation, this mod inserts whole new scripts into many towns.

Khalazza Productions (face mods from here)
I grabbed quite a few face/body mods from here

Atmospheric Sound Effects
Another interesting mod which inserts background sounds into Morrowind.

Avenger’s Female Armor Pack 2.0

Avenger’s Female Shirt Pack 2.0

Sell & Sail Galleon
Sail off around the world with your very own boat!

Better Bodies
Much improved bodies, highly recommended.

Delayed Dark Brotherhood Attack
If you don’t want to be attacked straight away, if you are a wimp like me for example!

Morrowind Enhanced
If you go to the website there are other addons to use with it such as stealth/crime and combat.

All Silt Strider Ports
Allows you to travel to any silt strider port instead of having to go through many ports to get to a destination.

Slof’s Better Beasts
Take a peek.

The Latest Greatest Housing Mod Gold
Really good fun, houses to rent!

Potion Upgrade 1.3
Better bottles!

Better Books
Make books look lovely with this one.

Ashlander Tent
A tent you can pack up and take along with you on your travels, looks nice too.

Hendalf Gold
Better looking coins

Pearl Palace
This housing mod is an underground palace with pretty much everything you need in it (including anchemy jars, a fave of mine)

New Argonian Bodies

Better Clothes 1.0

Fast Travel
More for fun, not something I plan on using much really. I don’t have the time to explore that I used to. 

Ultimate Textures
A MUST HAVE. Really improves the game; absolutely beautiful.

Morrowind FPS Optimizer
Another must have.

and if you have Windows with Direct X 9.0c or later get this:

Morrowind Graphics Extender
Unfortuntely I cannot use this as I am running Windows Vista

 

All the above mods have been created by others with time and patience I do not possess. They are links to other websites beyond my control. Please don’t use their work as your own. Use at your own risk, and back up your save games before installing them!

Introducing: Adelea Wolfsbane

This is my Oblivion character, Adelea Wolfsbane (please excuse the lack of anti-aliasing).

Profile
Class:    Agent  (the charming assassin)
Sign:     The Thief

Skills:    Acrobatics, Illusion, Marksman, Mercantile, Security, Sneak, Speechcraft.

 

Guilds

Dark Brotherhood:     Listener

Thieves Guild:            Gray Fox

Introducing: Dhania Moonseed

This is my Morrowind character, Dhania Moonseed.

Profile
Class:            Callidus  (sneaky backstabber)
Sign:              The Thief

Major skills:    Security, Marksman, Light Armour, Speechcraft, Mercantile
Minor skills:    Sneak, Short Blade, Block, Alchemy, Athletics

 

Guilds

None as yet

It should be noted that I have chosen those skills to level her more slowly, which is a better idea in Morrowind which does not have level scaling. She is going to be less of a ‘charmer’ than Adelea, preferring the stealth/backstab approach. I think this is how she will develop anyway.

Welcome to my Blog!

Perhaps you are a fellow gaming fan, a fan of my faves Morrowind and Oblivion, or you just think I am insane! Either way, I hope enjoy my blog and pop back to read updates!

This was my blog until I decided I wanted to post more general nonsense or gaming stuff on it, but I’ll be using this one from now on.