Spacehamster’s Blog

One of my cousins from Malaysia (Li Yi) visited Tasmania with a few of her friends. They stayed in a Villa Townhouse, and travelled around the entire state. It was lovely having them around. My only regret is that they can’t visit more often. But like our family, they too have commitments at home.

I’ve been playing Tiberium Wars since it was released. I don’t have a particuarly high opinion of EA, mostly due to how badly they treat their developers. That dislike was borne out by the extremely poor ‘Collectors Edition’ packaging for this game. $100AUS for a bonus DVD which only contained a few videos? A pathetic ripoff. Fortunately, the developers have done a great job with the game itself. It isn’t the classic that C&C was, but it’s visually appealing with enjoyable gameplay. The Single-Player campaign is strong. As usual with C&C, the Nod Campaign is more intriguing and exciting than the straightlaced GDI campaign. My only crticism is I wish they’d added an Risk-style World map as well as the campaign, as in BFME2. Apart from that, I’d give it 7.5/10.

Doctor Who is back on the air in the UK. From all reports, it looks like they’ve done a great job…again. The new companion (Freema Agyeman) is attracting plenty of positive attention. But the big question is - just what does Russell. T. Davies have planned for the third season? We’ve had a Dalek invasion, a fantastic Dalek/Cyberman showdown. Just how is he going to top that? Time will tell…

Well, it’s certainly been a busy few weeks. The good news is that I can now see clearly again. This experience has taught me how incredibly precious eyesight is. One more treatment on my left eye and then I’m done. And my surgeon has assured me that a victrectomy won’t be necessary because my floaters have cleared up.

Command & Conquer 3 has been released to a decidedly muted and lacklustre fanfare. At the request of my brother, I pre-ordered the Kane Edition from EB. All I got was one extra DVD with a couple of video clips on it - not great extra value for $100. EA Marketing and Management have really screwed up this one.

On the other hand, kudos to the Developers at EA because the game itself is just terrific. The single-player campaign is slick and professionally-presented. The graphics are very good. And the gameplay is fun and fast-paced without being overwhelming…unless you really want it to be. The AI is a huge improvement over previous C&C games, and easily rivals Company of Heroes or Supreme Commander. The difference between Easy and Medium AI is huge. I spent some of the weekend playing this game…and that hasn’t happened in a very long time.

I also spent the past few weeks acquainting myself with some new reading matter. More specifically, Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files, and the Sookie Stackhouse Vampire mystery novels. Both use the supernatural, but it’s fascinating to see how different their interpretations are. The Stackhouse novels focus more on human relationships, and how an ordinary human would cope in a supernatural world of werewolves and vampires. The Dresden Files are your hardboiled detective novels - boys own adventure stuff. See the TV Series on Sci-Fi (plug plug) if you want to get a taste.

If I were to decide on which I liked more, I think I’d read Neil Gaiman’s novelsinstead. Now there’s an author with imagination and creativity - he weaves incredible worlds and creates the most interesting characters I’ve ever read. I’m inspired to read more of Neil’s work (as if I hadn’t read enough already), just so I can experience the kind of magic a truly great author can weave out of words.