Gamer Banter: A trip down memory lane

June 17, 2010 – 8:23 am

Gamer Banter is a monthly gaming discussion of multiple bloggers. More info is here and please contact Terry from Game Couch if you wish to take part.

June’s topic is set by Terry from Game Couch: What was the game that made you a gamer?

When I first read the question I thought it was going to be easy answering it. An older version of my about page from 2007 states: “The game that convinced me to buy an Xbox in November 2003 was Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic which to this day continues to be one of my favourite titles.” KotOR is still my first gaming love and many times I’ve wanted to write a post about it, but couldn’t put it into words. There are at least eight started posts in my drafts and I’ve mentioned the game several times before in other posts.

However, does it mean it is the game that made me a gamer?

I remember playing exactly five games until I was 20 years old. Two of those were Tetris and some Mario game on the original Gameboy stolen from my best friend pre primary school when he fell asleep on the seat next to me during a long car journey from Germany to Italy! The other three were Tomb Raider 2, 3 and 4 which I borrowed from my friend’s brother back in 90′s, although I’m pretty sure I still had them a few years ago.. Out of those games I vaguely remember completing Tomb Raider 2 using the official strategy guide and I don’t recall particularly enjoying playing any of the games, but for some reason I carried on regardless.

I officially got into games in 2003 when I took a job as a gamestester following a mostly fruitless jobsearch after having just moved to the UK. Money was running out, the company was looking for native German speakers and a friend of mine was working there. To say it changed my life doesn’t quite describe the impact that job had on me over the following four years. Yes, gamestesting, or rather playtesting, itself is a boring job. Running into the same wall twenty times or playing with certain test specific game settings to simulate average gamers or playing incredibly broken games isn’t fun. Neither is completing the same game 20 times a week for three weeks or playing a game that’s of no interest which, in my case, is football or puzzle games.

Yet none of that mattered on the 5th of August 2003. My memory being as random it is, I still remember the day as if it was yesterday though, if I’m being honest, probably better!

I had chosen a very hot summer to move to the UK; the terraced house I was sharing with a close friend and some of his friends was unbearable and the week before we had started to camp in the garden. I had moved to the UK just over a month prior to that and spent a majority of the time job hunting. Every shop in town had my CV, I had filled out countless application forms, but was only offered a cold calling telesales job which I quit after three days as the little commission I made didn’t even cover my commuting!

One of my housemates, a Spanish speaking student, had taken up a part time job working as a gamestester and he suggested I should apply for it as well. It took them over a week to require an additional German tester [I later learned they misplaced my application and had been desperate for a native German all along!] and get back to me and I got the phonecall late Monday afternoon asking me to be in at 8.30am the following morning.

The night was yet another hot night and none of us could get any sleep inside or outside and suddenly it was 7am and we had to leave to catch a bus, followed by a train and a 30 minute walk. Arriving at the office there was an introduction followed by the signing of contracts and a far too long and detailed NDA before finally starting my job.

I remember both games I played on that day, both of them sports games taking me completely out of my comfort zone as I didn’t know the rules to either of them! Of course, I was bad at them, even though I quickly learned the rules and after an hour or so I enjoyed them. I got the first couple of wins. There were cutscenes with winning celebrations. Upbeat music. Excitement.

Even though I didn’t realise it at the time I was hooked. Not necessarily hooked on the winning itself or the sense of achievement at completing levels or a game, but hooked to gaming. Games did things I couldn’t even imagine and it was fun which is why I bought an Xbox with five games in November 2003: Halo, Midtown Madness 3, Conflict Desert Storm, Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Ring and Wallace and Gromit Project Zoo.

So which of the above games made me a gamer? None and all of them equally. I do think the games I played on that first day had a large part to do with it as I ended up buying them at a later point, but there were many more games that had me coming back over and over again.

Are you as curious as me to find out what other people consider the game that made them a gamer? Read their posts:

What was the game that made you a gamer?

By Cat | Posted in Blog Banter, Community and Games, Halo games, KotOR, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Xbox | Comments (14)

Ong-Quack

June 16, 2010 – 4:06 pm

It was a beautiful day; I was walking along the rather idyllic lake on the Reading University campus with two of my friend’s kids when the unthinkable happened:

Chased by approximately 80 ducks and geese at the Reading Uni lake! [They didn't all fit the picture!] #

Yes, of course they didn’t actually harm me or the kids and according to the groundskeeper I spoke to it’s fairly common for them to follow humans as so many feed them bread. However, having roughly 80 ducks and geese slowly emerge from the water and follow you on an uneven path, making pushing a pushchair difficult, is an interesting feeling. Especially as I’ve seen the film ‘Birds‘ several times!

What I love is how something this simple can create some hilarious Twitter replies:
Read More »

By Cat | Posted in Crowdsourcing, Funny Stuff, Life in general, Random, Twitter, Twitter Favourites | Comments (1)

We Live In Public

June 16, 2010 – 4:17 am

I’ve just finished watching ‘We Live In Public‘ and it was one of the most confusing documentaries I’ve ever watched. More4 had been advertising this film to death and the trailers looked quite interesting plus I’ve always been interested in topics about internet privacy and the evolution of the internet in everyday life.

Read More »

By Cat | Posted in Facebook, Films and TV | Leave a Comment

Live Tweeting

June 14, 2010 – 7:51 pm

So it’s E3 and the Microsoft press event. Everyone and their dog is excited about the new game announcements.

So what does everyone do? They take it to Twitter. I think about 20 of the people I’m following are in Los Angeles at the event with another 50 or so watching the live streaming at the moment. And they’re all tweeting about it at the rate of one tweet per person per minute, some of them a lot more. Tweets like:

  • Gears3NaoPlz
  • Holy SHIT> Gears of War 3.
  • Oh no
  • this guy is a tank!!!
  • meh, Fable, Halo…. yawn.
  • Elites are tough!

I love Twitter for news and information and communication and follow each one of them for a reason, but I doubt I’ll ever understand the point in Live-Tweeting something pretty much all your followers are watching anyway. If someone was interested in getting live information they can follow one of the many accounts from gaming sites that have live tweeting with actual content.

What is the point of random shouting like that when no one involved is going to read it anyway as they’re too busy shouting their own stuff and anyone else can’t relate to something they’re not watching?

For what it’s worth I somewhat care about the announcements, but not enough to watch it live right now and am perfectly content with reading about it in a condensed article later tonight. You know, when all the hyping’s calmed down again.

By Cat | Posted in Community and Games, Twitter, Xbox360 | Comments (1)

Foursquare

June 13, 2010 – 9:01 am

I first joined Foursquare at some point last autumn, because I remember reading about it somewhere and wanted to have a look myself.

I didn’t initially see much of a point in it, but started using it for the same way I originally starting using Twitter for – helping my bad memory by remembering what I’ve done when and where. For example on Wednesday:

  • 12:41 PM: Reading Station
  • 1:25 PM: Paddington Railway Station
  • 1:47 PM: German Embassy – “*crosses fingers*”
  • 3:22 PM: Sloane Square Station – “Delays on the District line holding up the Circle line!”
  • 3:47 PM: Starbucks – Paddington Central
  • 4:34 PM: Paddington Railway Station – “Heading back to Reading on the 16.36. Yey.”
  • 4:58 PM: Reading Station – “Definitely foursquare’d too much to day, but it helped keeping my annoyance at public transport in check!”
  • 7:34 PM: Glo Reading – “A bit early for the #rdgtweetup. See you soon?”

There have been plenty of other posts about Foursquare, for example this one from @TheSourceress or this one by @JamesBMarshall or this one. James also sums up a lot of the things I dislike about the site itself which is mostly rectified by using the mobile site.

In addition to that there are some other problems I’ve got with the site with the main one being usernames. The site doesn’t use usernames unless connected with a Twitter account so accepting friend requests can be difficult. For example I’ve got a pending friend request from someone called Daniel at the moment. I know many people called Daniel and there is no way I can figure out who he is based on mutual friends.

And then there are the privacy concerns which @PaulCarr has summed up much better than me:

Yet within minutes of the first guests arriving, they were alarmed to discover that all of their privacy efforts were for naught. Their guests – their friends – had used Foursquare to check in at the party, thus instantly adding their address to the service’s growing database of highly specific locations.

From that point on, a simple search on the Foursquare site for the hosts’ name provides their full home address, along with a handy map for anyone who feels like breaking in and murdering them in their sleep. To make matters even worse, as more partygoers checked in – all caught up in the game element of this thing, and hoping to become mayor of someone else’s living room – the information was repeatedly pushed out via Twitter.

I don’t check in at home or at friend’s houses or anywhere I don’t want people to find me. I’m selective on who I accept on there and don’t relay my check in’s to Twitter with some rare exceptions.

Overall it does what I need it for; it tracks my movements and allows me to see if other people are around in town.

You can find me on Foursquare under carocat, but for the above reasons I will only accept requests if I know you.

By Cat | Posted in #rdgtweetup, Foursquare, Life in general, Twitter | Comments (2)

Achievement unlocked: Got passport!

June 10, 2010 – 2:05 am

An epic saga spanning 15 months has finally come to an end. Huzzah!

Passport!

Why does this make me so happy? This is why..

By Cat | Posted in Life in general, Personal | Comments (2)

The Tudors – The game [No, really..]

June 5, 2010 – 3:08 am

The Tudors packshot

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I have played many games based on a film or TV franchise including Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Shrek, Pirates of the Caribbean, Lost, Buffy and more. I would even consider some of them to be amongst my favourite Xbox 1.0 games.

Games directly based on films or shows have to be fairly linear to not stray too far from the canon, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be fun. For example I quite enjoyed the game based on Star Wars Episode III when it was released back in 2005. It was nothing groundbreaking and extremely linear, but still fun at the time. Just like the hack ‘n slash Lord of the Rings games released as movie tie-ins. Nothing groundbreaking, but nevertheless fun at the time.

.

Today, Slitherine Software [can't say I've heard of them before, but the name is rather awesome!] announced their latest title – The Tudors.

Read More »

By Cat | Posted in Buffy, Community and Games, EA, Facebook, Films and TV, Game Politics, Killerspiele, Lord of the Rings, Lost, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars, TV Shows, Ubisoft, Xbox, Xbox360 | Comments (1)

365 days later

June 3, 2010 – 1:08 pm

Reading Skyline May 2008

365 days ago I moved back to the UK. So much has happened since then which I’ve already mentioned in other posts, but what surprises me most is that it feels so much longer than just a year. Granted, Reading has always been a home to me, unlike Germany, but moving back has been so simple with no adjustment period.

I’ve had a lot of things to sort out in the last few months and life hasn’t been all that great, especially with some people that aren’t around anymore, but overall the decision to move back has been the best decision I’ve made in a long time.

Here’s to another 365 days!

By Cat | Posted in Life in general, Personal | Comments (4)

Knitting update

June 1, 2010 – 12:10 am

I have been knitting a fair bit in the last year, even though that’s not necessarily reflected in my Ravelry profile which I’m finding quite difficult to keep updated!

Projects I have completed since October:

  • A blue scarf for my housemate as a Christmas present.
  • A green scarf as a present for a friend which, as it turns out, is very much like the Starbucks green!
  • A red scarf for another friend of mine.
  • A pink scarf which I’ve since started unravelling again and started knitting again more narrowly [cutting down from 32 stitches to 16].

Projects I’ve started since October:

  • A set of green wristers, though I’ve abandoned that attempt for now!
  • A grey/purple staggered scarf.

So there is a distinct pattern there – scarves.

I learned how to knit when I was younger and I don’t know what any of the two stitches I know how to do are called so doing patterns is quite difficult for me. Most of my knitting is because I’m enjoying it whilst doing other things, like talking on the phone to a friend, meeting friends for a coffee or watching TV, so for the time being I’m fairly content with just doing the same thing over and over again, especially as I’ve now started resorting to different colour patterns.

There are some things I’m planning to knit in the future though not necessarily this year:

My big project for the rest of the year, however, will be a blanket. In reality I think it will take me longer than just this year to do as I’m planning a 200x150cm blanket with multicoloured squares each 20×20 stitches. Updates on that to follow!

I’ve also finally done something with my knitting page. It includes my Ravelry profile, profile description and various knitting pictures though I will have to take some more of recently completed work.

By Cat | Posted in Knitting, Ravelry | Comments (8)

And it continues..

May 31, 2010 – 8:28 pm

My attempts at being ill this year continues well. Since my last post on the subject in February I’ve had countless colds lasting about a week each time, pulled muscles and back pain. The only positive side effect is that I’m finally registered with a GP; something that’s taken me over seven years!

At the moment I’ve just gotten over my first sunburn in over ten years, a pulled muscle in my right upper arm that’s flared up again, a bruise on my right forearm thanks to a railing I didn’t notice early enough and several small bruises all over thanks to my friend’s children or public transport.

In itself none of that is severe in any case and I wouldn’t be this bothered about it had it not been less than a week ago that I regained my voice again after a particularly bad cold. It really has been one thing following another pretty much since the beginning of the year.

Of course there are several reasons for it. I’m regularly spending time with my friend’s children who pick up their colds and stomach bugs from other people. Continuous colds have left my immune system weakened and I haven’t done enough to combat it. I don’t have 5 a day, I don’t have set meals and I can’t remember the last time I had breakfast, lunch and dinner at roughly the right times.

I am now officially tired of being ill so I suppose there will have to be some changes. I like cooking, but do far too little of it and much rather have bread than cooking or use frozen vegetables instead of new ones. There are many great recipes I want to try yet never get around doing them, because I don’t have all the ingredients or because it’s too much effort for just one person and I don’t see the point of it a lot. But thinking about it that is definitely just a cop out and in no way a valid excuse!

I’m going to aim at cooking at least three times a week from now on and am going to try at cooking enough to freeze it for another time which should get my vitamin consumption up and will hopefully improve my immune system!

As for the sunburn, I’ve yet again realised how great Twitter’s crowdsourcing is:

Having my first sunburn in over ten years and completely forgot how painful they are. What home remedies do you use? #

  • HeartbreakRidge: @carocat aloe and whiskey #
  • ollieboote: @carocat aftersun does actually work. pic some of taht up. otehrwise. just cold showers. #
  • Techslut: @carocat Yogurt. Cold. Smear it on then let it sit there then take a warm shower. Also, same works with aloe gel. #
  • Dramagirl: @carocat Best is juice from fresh Aloe Vera leaves crushed; cold tea. #
  • Dramagirl: @carocat Just regular tea-pot tea … black leaf … and the actual infused water #
  • PCurd: @carocat stay inside. Aloa Vera (sp). #
  • bakerleuk: @carocat cold shower it soothes the burn and knocks sense in to u fir for not wearing sun screen. Hope urs isn’t too bad #
  • bakerleuk: @carocat plus lots af aftersun to stop peeling #

And @Techslut gave me a brilliant suggestion on how to apply yoghurt and other remedies on my back:

Techslut: @carocat Simple – smear some on a towel. Put it on a bed. Put back on it. #

Of course then there are the truly strange people:

  • spritesbites: @carocat just dont do what i saw one woman do and thats use cooking oil #
  • carocat: @spritesbites Wow. Why? #
  • spritesbites: @carocat she thought it would soothe her sunburn. ffs *rolleyes* at stupid public :-(( #
  • carocat: @spritesbites How on Earth is that in any way logical?! #
  • spritesbites: @carocat it is not logical, people are just stupid #

Amen!

By Cat | Posted in Cooking, Crowdsourcing, Life in general, Personal, Twitter, Twitter Favourites | Leave a Comment