Journals

Hey everyone! Merry Christmas and good fortune to all etc etc.

Haven't been around that much lately because I was either playing Demon's Souls and being a trolololo or I was working on a scene for my portfolio.I'm not gonna work on it anymore till way after Christmas but hopefully by then I'll have my design document for an Iphone game I am working on done.

Long story short is that I planned to make an Iphone game based on one of my old uni games and make some moneys but my programmer buddy is slow and has a life of his own so it doesn't matter. The real purpose however is to use this Iphone game and pitch it to EA in London who specialise in...you guessed it, Mobile Phone games.

Not to mention they take on graduates and the fact I have 1st honours degree. I'm like a polished turd made of children's tears!

So that's my life this year in a nutshell. I wish you all luck in your future's and have a nice day today/tommorow whatever.

What you guys getting for Christmas anyway?

I know I'm getting Star Trek Next Generation season's 1-7 and the Sly Cooper Collection for PS3. Oh not to mention Donkey Kong Country Returns but I'm skeptical cause I'm a HUGE fan of the classics and I doubt Retro Studios can match the old magic of the originals.

Merry Christmas or whatever you are celebrating!

And remember boys and girls, be good or else you shall be crushed beneath Santa's Jolly Boots of Doom

It's that time of year again.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Joyous Kwanzaa, and have a good day off work because other people believe in things you don't. I think that covers everyone on TWHL.

Peace on earth and goodwill towards everything. Let us not fight over little things such as geographical location, religion, or skin colour. Let us come together in peaceful harmony and make the world a better place.
Because if we don't, we're all screwed.

Happy Holidays!

So I made a new Steam account and purchase
Half-Life 2 Deathmatch
Day of Defeat Sourch
And Counter-Strike Source
for $15.00
And Flashpoint; Operation for $3 (what I'm curious!)

Twas the night before the night before Christmas...

Urby's special christmas vlog

Just so you know what to expect. A short holiday poem, quick reviews of 8 games from 2010, and some updates.

I think HL3 or HL2:Ep3 is constantly being postponed for something like this.
That is friggin' awesome.

This time, I figured I'd just provide you all with a short list of fat mods that come with Opposing Force content. This means that none of these (except the ones noted) will need opposing force in order to play. Opposing force is a good expansion that introduces new monsters, weapons, and styles of multiplayer gameplay (like capture the flags). Also if you get opposing force now you can play it online here.

This is a short list of opposing force mods. Most do not require you to have opposing force. If you want to play online you will need to buy opposing force legitimately (due to steam).

Half Life: Ultimate Attack
You play as a male assassin. Your buddies are male assassins and they speak like grunts (because they are model replacements)

Intolerable Threat (requires WON opposing force)
A quite random mishmash of maps made using the opposing force base. Your goal is to hunt down the G man, and standing in your way are aliens and his private corps of soldiers and black ops.

Nuclear winter
A post-apocalypse scenario where you must regroup with fellow american soldiers after a catastrophic nuclear attack by enemy countries. Go read moddb description I can't be bothered to copy paste crap.

Operation black Thunder
This German mod builds upon opposing force but also has a entirely new system of coding and interface, along with a radically different selection of weapons. You play a special forces operative and must perform "designated acts of sabotage" to a international terrorist organization called "WOLF". Objectives will be fed to you in the field. There are no aliens. So I was gonna give the homepage but looks like its down.

Xen assault
Another post-apocalyptic scenario involving an evil vortigaunt. What can I say, it's twhl's favourite ultra hard-ass mod.

I SAID IT WAS SHORT LIST!

So, I finally decided to delve back into the world of Minecraft. Well, actually that is a total lie because I have never left the world of Minecraft. However, I have decided to revive the blog in light of PCGamer's Tom Francis also writing one and despite the fact that I have pretty much seen it all and done it all, it is still pretty entertaining to read.

So!I spawn on a sandy coast area looking out to a small body of water with land and trees on the other side. Turning around I notice that I am actually standing halfway up a hill, at the top of which stand more trees. My first job is to find some kind of cavern or sheltered area to build my first, temporary hovel to stay in for the first night.Having scrambled to the top of the hill I realise it is a lot smaller than I anticipated and after smashing down 2 trees with my fist, I come to another small pond. Not wanting to stray too far from the spawn point in case I die, I decide that this will be my primary base when I get the supplies together, but for now I really need to get that shelter underway. I turn to my left where the hill continues upwards and start to climb to get a better idea of my surroundings.Not bad. Looking back towards the spawn point I can see that the large body of water from before is in fact the ocean. Therefore the best way for me to go for now is further inland. I turn around to see nothing but tree. I scramble to the top with haste and as a result, fall and lose 2 hearts from my health bar. Bugger it. I try again, taking my time.Wow. In the distance are a collection of massive mountains and cliffs. I will definitely want to explore those at some point in the future. Not to mention mining for minerals and supplies and obsidian. Then it's The Nether. There is so much for me to do. But I still need that bloody shelter if I'm going to survive the first night. I scramble back down the tree and onto the hill, then climb back down to my pond. First, I need a work bench to make the tools I will need to gather my first night's supplies. I break the logs from the tree's down into wooden blocks, then 4 of the blocks into a work bench.And there it is. My first crafted item in this world, a work bench, plonked right next to some mud. Using the remains of the wood I break some of the blocks down into sticks, to be used as handles, and then create a pick and a shovel. I then use these to make a small hollowed out space in the mud and stone.This is fine for now but when it gets dark, my little hole is going to get even darker. I need light, specifically in the form of torches. I need to find coal. I could very well dig further into the rock in an attempt to locate some, but the further I go it, the darker it will get and if I hit a cave I am basically screwed. I scramble back up the hill in order to spot rocky areas nearby. Unlike other minerals in MC, coal can form on the surface as well as deep underground so it is fairly easy to come by with little effort required. I travel in one direction so as to try not to lose my way back, before long I notice a dip in the ground. I have found a cave, and there, right at its mouth is...Steel... fuck. There is no way I'm going in there without coal either so it's back up to the surface to keep trekking. I walk around for a few minutes without any luck until finally I spot some coal. Remember that thing I said about being able to find it with minimal effort?Harvesting it is a different matter entirely. This could end badly. To make matters worse, it just got a little darker. I don't think I'll be making it back to my hovel. I shall probably have to dig another around here somewhere. I tear up the cliff face with my shovel like a man who fears the black of night. This is mainly because I fear the black of night. It brings death. It brings death at its most explosive. I rip through stone and mud in seconds until I finally hit coal. I mine through it and it drops into my inventory. I whip open the crafting screen and slap a stick and the coal together to make a torch. I then ram the torch into the nearest hard surface I can see. Phew. Then I turn around.Oh shit.

It is nighttime. I know it is nighttime because I can see the fucking moon. I know it is nighttime because the mooing of cows and clucking of chickens has been replaced by the hungry groans of fuck-knows-what. I turn back to the cliff face and make the most comfortable hovel I could ever imagine.This game could be a cure for claustrophobia. There is a massive expansive world out there to explore, but when the sun goes down, this 2x2 block hole, hastily dug into a cliff, with a single torch as a source of light... It's so good to be in here. I would like to say that I didn't panic, since it is only a game. Truth is, I never even noticed when my pick broke and I have no idea how many stone blocks I obliterated with my bare hands. I could very well mine further into the mountain to see what it has to offer, but with no weapons or armor, you can forget it. I spend the night watching orange glowing eyes moving around in the trees below the cliff. I can worry about those in the morning.

Luckily, I still have wood left over from the 2 trees I knocked down earlier and I now have a plentiful supply of mine stone as well. I use these to make 3 of each of the tools, pick, shovel and axe as well as 3 stone swords in case I need to deal with any mobs in the morning on the way back to my spawn area. I wander over to the window to see that the sun is finally starting to rise...OH HOLY FUCK! Out of nowhere a creeper pops up into view and I almost literally shit my pants. Had I got a few steps closer the resulting explosion would have probably taken out the entire hole and sent me tumbling down into the trees to my death. I approach to try and swing my sword at it and it stares back, letting out a loud, dry hiss. I back off. I am trapped. Stuck between a rock and a very nasty green thing with a tendency to explode walls and people. I carefully mine out the stone block next to the window so that I have a wider space to swing the sword. The last thing I want to do here is charge the creeper and bash my sword into the rocks. I take a deep breath, grab my sword and lunch. I hit before the creeper even has time to charge its attack, it staggers back and vanishes over the edge, out of view. I have no idea if it is dead. The only thing to do is go outside and check. As the sunlight spreads out across the land I approach the window. I'm sure things can only get better from here, right?

Xbox 360 or PS3?
So here it is. I currently have an Xbox 360, but I'm thinking about selling it and buying a PS3. I want a PS3 more mainly because I on't want to play $50 a month to play online when the PS3 has it for free. There is really only 1 thing Xbox has of PS3 and that's Halo but I don't even really like Halo.
So should I do it or keep my Xbox?

My new rig, built yesterday.

All the software and games installed today.

Unique screenshots of The Elder Scrolls V.

HDR.

Architecture: The mages guild.

Models: Some horses

Note: These might not actually be in-game screenshots from an alpha build.

Hallo thar, new video.

It's been a long time since this last one. I go all out in this one, including a poem and special segment I like to call "cat butt"

Has anybody else tried Amnesia?
I started playing it a few days ago. Honestly I've never been more scared in my life. Holy shit. FEAR ain't got nothing on this.
The story is very interesting, however I'm progressing through it at a really slow pace since I keep shitting myself and close down the game every 15 minutes or so.

For those who have played it, what did you think?

Lyssa's surgery results. She has a hole in her head now, as well as a plate and screws and... well see for yourself.

Happy holidays! Be sure to play at least 10 mods over winter break.

So I ran into this thread and I think we need medics over here right now. I have xen assault but in a zip it is over 100 mega and as c-striker may or may not know, filefront recently had a major site overhaul not unlike facebook's and all files are rearranged so that any current links die. Anyway I put a link on moddb so if you want to play this you can.

Okay that was the news. Anyway this week we have some czech mods to discuss. First up is red mesa, a fullbright mod of 16 maps. I think the quality of the mappack is guessable based on keyword in the previous sentence. Then we have its sequel, Red Mesa 2. Nothing much here.

The final czech mod we are talking about is Half life: The Real. The title is bit misleading, as I though the mod was quite surreal. I swear, at one point you are thrown into a catacombs as the Diablo II title music plays in your headphones. That was pretty random, lol.

Anyway in this mod you assume the identity of Trinity. You know, that woman from the Matrix movies. Well, not really, but that is your player model so you can't complain.

Like residual point, this mod features two full-length scenarios separately, one as the "new game" and one as the "training". Unfortunately I still have not even finished the "training" campaign yet, since there is one VERY VERY ANNOYING thing about this mod.

This mod has a ridiculous excuse for a skill.cfg. In case you didn't know that is the file that sets the damage for all the attacks and health for monsters and players. Anyway in this crazy skill, headcrabs can kill you in 2 hits at FULL HEALTH AND ARMOUR. They can easily GIB you in 2 hits without armour. No seriously, I even got my ass chewed by LEECHES, WITH ARMOUR. So, "Easy" might as well be "Deadly". Luckily for you, though only I alone need to suffer such pain. Go here and look for the fixed skill.cfg courtesy of phillip's community.

Of course even with that you will be in for a hard time. The first map of the "training" campaign has you on a train running like a mofo as a jet prepares to bomb your ass until you are dead. I dunno if the "new game" campaign is better, though it is a fact that the "training" campaign predates the "new" campaign so that is a possibility.

I want to say more about this mod but I am not making much progress because of the over 9000 skill level. If you want to try this (59 maps total, I think) PLEASE get the skill.cfg fix or other wise you will die atleast 10 times by headcrabs alone.