Wedding Update

Now then! I thought that title would get your attention! I will talk about the wedding later, but as per my last couple of blogs this one will be about technology or more specifically gaming. The fact that I have been playing “Grand Theft Auto 4” (GTA4) over the last couple of weeks has sparked this off so lets get straight into it.

This game has been in the press a fair bit recently, mainly in the US on scaremongering religious TV channels deeming it the Devils’ spawn. These channels seem to think that it will no doubt lead to multiple copycat killings, beatings, stabbings, drunk-driving and general naughtiness. I don’t know how the journalists over there have got the balls to say this as the yanks seem to be doing a good job of all of the above without any encouragement from a video game.

So what is this, this Grand Theft Auto game. Well for those that don’t know it’s one of the biggest video game franchises about, with 8 stand alone games in the series (so why is this one called GTA 4??) and sales totalling more than 70 million copies world-wide (thanks to Wikipedia for this info). The first game was a pretty basic top down view driving game, which I remember playing at Ben’s house most Saturday nights after Picasso’s night club but that’s another story! After a few sequels it’s morphed into an absolutely huge, free roam, “sand box” game. The “sand box” moniker is a term that’s used to describe the non-linearity sections of a game, where you can ignore the plot and just go off and do what you want. Now GTA4 is a classic example of this as there is quite a detailed storyline with set missions which introduce (introduce?? – no one will understand that except Stew!) characters at set points in the game. But if you just want to go off and cause some mayhem then you can.

The game is set in a fictional city, called Liberty City, but everyone knows that it’s really New York. The game area is absolutely mammoth, even with only half of it unlocked, and pretty much everything you see you can go and explore. There’s burger bars, bowling alleys, pubs, cabaret clubs, Internet café’s, Laundrette’s, everyfink! You have your own mobile phone and you build up contacts throughout the game, you have radio stations that you can tune into whilst driving, you can watch tv in your apartment, you can go and buy clothes from shops, you have even have your own in-game email that you have to check. You can even download ringtones for your in-game mobile phone!

Now this all sounds well and good, but is it just a gimmick or is it fun to play. Well I have to admit for the first couple of hours of gameplay it is a bit overwhelming getting to grips with all the controls, mobile phones, emails, characters, but it’s designed in such a way that you don’t have to learn everything in one go. Still, I couldn’t help feeling that the game was a bit overrated. In one incident I was driving around and went for a drink and a game of a pool. Now I was sat there thinking why don’t I just go out in REAL LIFE for a drink and a game of pool??!??. This takes me back to one of my previous posts and the youth of today. How the internet/PC revolution has changed their lives forever as they can do everything and anything in a virtual world from their own bedroom. Oh yeah, there’s even strip clubs in GTA4 where it’s $50 a dance from a virtual stripper, errrmmm apparently.

Anyway, as I as was saying, I must admit that after a while the game definitely does live up to all the hype. The main character Niko Bellic (who is Serbian, but sounds more like Borat from Khazakstan, it’s nice!) is well acted, and he even has a “shady” history that gradually gets unveiled. Everyone who’s into games these days knows that things have moved on from Horace and the Spiders on the ZX Spectrum and they are full-blown productions, some of them rivalling Hollywood blockbusters, with the amount of design, marketing and hype that goes into them. It’s the attention to detail that wins me over for this game though, just silly little things, that when you’re playing it you think that’s nice. If you “borrow” a motorbike that you find with a helmet Niko puts this on and when you finish and walk away, after a few steps he takes the hat off and throws it to the floor. When you crash through some dustbins little bits of paper fly up in the air and then gradually float down again. This game has different weather conditions; when it rains the roads become really slippery. The inhabitants of Liberty City are so detailed it’s almost like you’re actually living there. In some games where there are a cast of many there are only a limited number of characters and they start “repeating” after a while; I’ve not seen the same person twice on the streets in GTA4 and I must have seen thousands of different pedestrians.

I don’t think games are quite there yet, when it will be an all encompassing “life” that you can live and do absolutely anything you want, and to be honest I’m glad as I still like getting out and about, going to restaurants, going for a walk, etc. You have to draw a line between real-life and games, although Michelle will probably comment that I am living more in Liberty City than in Hull City for the last couple of weeks!!

Well that’s it from me. Oh yeah I did mention the wedding didn’t I? Well, it’s looking likely to be sometime in October 2009 but there’s no date or venue confirmed yet. Watch this space!

Adios,

Sticks and Stones

Check out this link on YouTube.
This guy should try being Hull born and bred!!

Rant

Enjoy - it is funny!!

Pleading Poverty!

We're just back from a week away in Foulridge, Lancs. We had a really relaxing time, despite seeing lots of places. Foulridge is about 12 miles outside of Skipton, the nearest place you may all be familiar with is Burnley? Anyway it's irrelevant really. Our holiday cottage was two mins walk away from the Leeds Liverpool Canal and the famous mile long tunnel, In fact it's probably that famous that you don't have a clue what it is.. Google it!

We did a bit of walking along the canal path and around the reservoir, but we didn't do any real 'rambling' as we didn't take any maps or a compass. We spent a day at Hebden Bridge and Howarth (home to the Bronte Sisters) we had a day at Skipton, mooching around the market, and trying out their fish and chips! we also spent a day visiting Grassington and Hawes up in The Yorkshire Dales. The weather was great at the start of the week although it did get a bit cooler on Tuesday, luckily though we never had any rain!
I have been to all of the above places before so knew what we were in for, Matt however has never visited any of these places, I think it's fair to say I picked out all the nice spots. We are hoping to go in the same area later in the summer and get some camping done, weather permitting!
England really is a stunning country when it comes to scenery, we were surrounded by rolling fields full of grazing sheep and lambs, it was just like been back in NZ, only there were far more people and cars. It was such a peaceful and tranquil setting, just what you need after the hustle and bustle of living in a large city like Hull.
It's not cheap though holidaying in the U.K, firstly there was the expense of the cottage in excess of £300 for the week, and then there is the issue of fuel, not to mention the extortionate prices at the moment. It was also self catering too so we had to feed ourselves for the week, then there were parking fees (£2 every time you stepped out of the car) £5 each for fish and chips, £4 for two cups of pissy tea, and then all the tat you tend to buy when you are aimlessly ambling around the shops on holiday mode. It's amazing the amount of tat you can accumulate in one week.
We did have a lovely Indian curry though and some decent pub grub, and more than a few pints of the landlords finest ales. My mum and dad also came up for a few days and wasted equally the same amount of cash as we did on nic nacs, it's obviously a holiday thing. At least we didn't bring home any fluffy donkeys or castanets!!

Anyway back to petrol prices as it seems to be the topic of all conversation at the moment. After much complaining about the price of it and the way it has steadily continued to rise over the last few months, me and Matt have agreed to just accept it. What else can we do? it's not going to come down again so we might as well just get on with it. For those of you that are feeling the pinch (which I think we all are) check out www.petrolprices.com, if you type in your post-code it will give you the details of the cheapest petrol stations in your area. It's not just fuel prices that are on the up though is it, it's your shopping bill too, a couple of pence here a couple of pence there and before you know it you are only getting half a basket of shopping for the price that you used to be able to get a full one for. Which means all your little treats have to go.. Campbell's meat balls, Fray Bentos meat pie (in a tin) Angel Delight!
And what about the cost of gas and electric city, they are just going up and up, and the weather is getting colder and colder. Can you believe it is mid June next week and we are still having to put our heating on in the evening as it's so cold! There has been a few articles on the news about poverty in the UK, what a load of rubbish, there is no such thing! There was an old girl on the TV complaining about the cost of heat and light etc and about the choice between keeping warm or going hungry, she also goes on to mention about the housing benefit she gets and the tax credits she so ungratefully receives (thanks very much I'll have them back then) and how difficult it is to cope. And she genuinely believes she is living below the poverty line. What I would say to that sad old woman is, save up your pension, your housing benefits, your tax credits and whatever other handouts you receive from the government and buy yourself a one way flight to somewhere like Ecuador, where 80% of the population DO live below the poverty line. Poverty in these countries is, no running water, no gas, no electricity, no food, no heat, no welfare benefits, no nothing! They also suffer extreme winters in houses that are no more than concrete huts, now that IS poverty!
However bad thing's get in Britain we can always be guaranteed a comfortable standard of living, we all live in habitable accommodation, we all have access to utilities (pensioners get a heating allowance every year) and we know that we can claim some kind of benefit from the government if we are unable to work or if we are retired.
In these 3rd world countries they live a hand to mouth existence every day of their sorry lives, they have never known a days luxury in their lives and the chance are they never will. So when I see a fat old woman, with nice clean clothes on, a lovely little flat with cupboards full of meatballs and angel delight saying "woe is me' I have to say I have no time for her and her wittering. My message to her is this 'Get in the real world love and stop feeling sorry for yourself!'

Anyway that's my rant over with.

We have uploaded some pics of our hols onto Flckr, there are also some of Edinburgh too. Our next jaunt is in a couple of weeks when we are off down to London on the train with Anna and Robin. We are booked in at Gordon Ramsey's Foxtrot Oscar for a slap up meal, we're also gonna do the touristy thing and jump on an open top bus and take in the delights, we're then off to Belfast for a wedding (not ours) and then who knows where?
Talking of weddings, we are just in the process of putting together a guest list for the occasion (a task in itself, you can't please everyone) so as soon as we have that agreed(!) we will be booking a venue and setting the date. It is difficult knowing who to invite etc, I might do it the Willy Wonka way and put so many invitations/golden tickets inside special packs of Angel Delight (or something similar) if you're lucky enough to land a ticket then you get to enjoy the celebrations, and if you don't land a ticket then you're even luckier as you don't have to worry about a wedding present, what to wear, where to stay, how to get there etc etc etc