Life is a Mind Bending Puzzle

I got 75% off Demigod thanks to a discount code from Mel_Himself . The good news is that the discount codes are apparently re-usable. There is even a post on the official forums giving out codes for those who want to sample this fun game. Be aware that the multi-player scene is not exactly thriving. From browsing the forums I get the impression that there is a small core of experienced players who do not exactly welcome to noobs but for less than 4$/€ you can't really go wrong.

Demigod is an enjoyable arena based RTS combat game but it's unfortunate first impression is somewhat amateurish due to the lack of an in game tutorial. In the user manual they explain this omission by saying: "Let’s face it, the two most annoying ways to learn how to play a game are the user manual and an in-game tutorial." Unfortunately Demigod is sufficiently different from other RTS games that just jumping in isn't going to suffice. You do actually need to read the manual if you want to have any idea what is going on. To be more precise you only really need to read the short "Quick Explanation" on page 16 of the manual but if like me you tend to start a book on page 1 you will have already read most of the manual before you stumble across that vital page of advice. After having read the aforementioned Quick Advice and subsequently having played through two skirmish battles I can report that Demigod is an Arena based real time combat game where pla...

I have been a Firefox user for several years but I have come to realise that despite the Foxes tremendous power and flexibility it feels a bit old fashioned. In its default installation the screen is cluttered by tools and menu bars and Firefox's colour scheme and fonts lack the warm friendliness of its competitors. I know that Firefox is ridiculously customisable and you can get it to do just about anything you want and look like anything you want but it can be hard work keeping up with all these extensions. Most of the ones I really need (such as pop up blocking) have long since been incorporated into the standard browser tool-set. I have even stopped using Ad Block. Now that annoying pop-ups are automatically blocked the advent of fast broadband has removed any legitimate excuse to deny content providers of their advertising revenue. I guess I never seriously considered Internet Explorer as a contender although it still pops up often enough when badly behaved programs insist ...

Three cheers to Melf_Himself of Word of Shadow fame. Cheer number one is for pointing me towards Specter Spelunker Shrinks which is a brilliant little Flash game. Ken Grafals the creator of the game hit on an the extremely simple but extremely brilliant concept of allowing you to shrink or grow your character arbitrarily to overcome obstacles. I predict it could be the next Portal if he plays his cards right. Cheer number two is for giving away a buddy code that allowed me to get 75% off Demigod. Downloading it now. Cheer number 3 finally is just for being an all round sound chap. Thank you Melf.

So Murdoch is taking on the web . My money is on the internet. Murdoch may be rich and powerful but so by all accounts was King Canute.

Is it just me or has the frequency of Firefox updates become a little excessive. I know that these security fixes are for our own good but between updates to Firefox itself and updates to Firefox extensions I seem to spend more time updating than browsing at the moment.

I am currently playing and enjoying Operation Flashpoint Dragon Rising bought in a Steam sale a couple of weeks ago. That the game is being heavily discounted so soon after its October 2009 release indicates that it was far from a commercial success, a suspicion re-enforced by Codemasters announcement of a cessation of support for the game on the 16th February this year. My guess is that the game failed commercially because it fell between two schools. It is much slower paced and somewhat harder than traditional run and gun shooters. I imagine that many Call of Duty fans will be put off by a game where you can go 20 minutes before seeing an enemy and then die instantly from one bullet. On the other hand fans of earlier Flashpoint games may feel the game lacks realism and is too easy: You have a magic radar which pinpoints enemies with a red dot. Enemy AI is not all that smart and your team medic can cure every injury short of death with a single injection of morphine. I never rea...