Christmas Plans

This holiday season i am planning to get a lot done, assuming I can keep away from the new Star Wars MMO. Firstly I want to really get to grips with Unity so I can try making some prototype games from some ideas I have, I also want to re-read my notes on C++ so I'm ready for the next semester at uni because, being the geek that I am, I want to do really well in this year and so far I could have done better. Lastly, and most importantly, I want to complete all these games that have been stacking up. For the last month or so I have been collecting these great games that have been coming out but have had no time to play them and this holiday is the perfect chance.

On top of all that I've found an interest in Bleach (the anime not the liquid) which is slowly sucking most of my time away for the moment but luckily I'll have ran out of episodes soon and can continue with my plans. Unluckily however, play.com are selling the next few seasons I want for under £10.

Time to make some harsh decisions.

While I'm here, we have made a facebook page for MercuryForty4. There isn't much there at the moment but it'll do until we get the actual page up and running so feel free to "like" it if you want to give us some moral support.

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All Night Long

Enough with the promises, I'll just have to get round to updating this whenever I can.

At the moment it is 5:50 AM, and my plan to stay up until at least 6 PM is going well, I foresee an hours nap or so around noon but that shouldn't hamper my progress. I should mention that I'm doing this because I have trouble waking up at a reasonable time due to my late nights at work so I am resetting my body clock so I can actually get up for my exam on Thursday.

In other news, this staying up all night business has allowed me the time to finally write my Skyward Sword review which is now available on my review site: A Game Developer Reviews:. Hopefully this large amount of spare time will also allow me to get some other work done and possibly even revise for the aforementioned exam.

For the meantime, however, I shall be collecting star coins on various levels of Super Mario 3D Land.

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Mobile Blogging

Today marks the first time I try to write a post away from my laptop. Despite the negative reviews for this iPhone app I wanted to give it a try, not least because I tend to have 0 time to sit down and write proper posts that you are all no doubt used to from me. A couple of points I've noticed already from a brief once over of the app is the lack of a landscape view which would have been much more comfortable to write from. Apart from that it seems fairly simple but that is not necessarily a bad thing. You don't get the option to read other peoples blogs but that doesn't concern me as much, it also lacks the ability to post links as I usually do but I can live without for these short mobile posts. Overall I would say that the Blogger app is very simple in what it can do, but for the average blogger such as me it's enough to get by on.

The photo options are also hidden by the keyboard so I nearly didn't notice them. They are the usual options you would expect in an app: take a photo or select a photo. For the purposes of a full review I will now post a photo of my girlfriends flat:



Well that's 2 days in a row I've posted now, that must be some sort of record.

Weekly (Maybe)

This blog is quickly becoming the Weekly (Maybe) and I have no one to blame but myself.......and 9gag.

BUT on the upside I have a lot of free time now that the semester is all but finished and I will be trialling the Blogger app to see if that helps me update this more often.

In the meantime I'll be starting to design my own website to go alongside MercuryForty4's site, you know so I look a bit more professional but it more than likely won't go live for some time. On top of that I have started getting to grips with Unity, a game development tool, although this will mainly be used for prototypes as I've been told, quite rightly so, that developing games directly from the code allows for much more freedom and greater control over the final product. That being said, it is a useful tool for using during development challenges such as the Global Game Jam as it allows for quick development of ideas. So I've been told, as I said I'm still getting to grips with it.

In other, more personal, news, my room is a state once again and I intend to restore it to its former glory again tomorrow and keep it that way....for a few days. After that's done and I've done some revision AND I do some work on personal projects I can start getting into Skyrim again and Saints Row as well. Might even  get a review on one of them for you after I get the Zelda one out the way as well as a few that I've had planned but never got round to.

Okay, how many things can you find to insult me in this picture?

Here I had a short review of Resistance: Fall of Man but it became slightly longer than I thought (I was expecting a few lines but ended up with a decent paragraph) so I've moved it over to A Game Developer Reviews: but don't worry, I'll have a bigger review for you to chew on later on.

You stay classy, Internet.


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The week that was

I promise to all of you that I will start updating this more often. Maybe.

Anyway, it has now been nearly 2 whole weeks since my last post and I've still been pulling in an average of 20 viewers a week. Makes me feel a little bit popular for once in my life but that's not the point! The reason for my minor absence is, of course, coursework. Two weeks ago I had a very important piece of coursework due in (from my view it was the most important of this semester). My C# coursework caused me many, many problems but I LOVED every moment of it. Call me strange but I love the thrill of working through code and finally getting it running after putting so much effort in. Unfortunately I ran out of time far too quickly and had to hand it in when I really wanted to finish it off to a higher standard and implement some more techniques that I had read about. On the plus side, I have finally realised the importance of managing my time better and sticking to schedules which I hope will help in my next semester when I have to programme a working game.

On a related note, I thought I would treat myself to something after stressing myself to near death for a few weeks.

All that hard work paid off.

That's right! A Limited Edition 25th Anniversary Legend of Zelda 3DS! I've been wanting a 3DS for a while now and I thought this was as good a time as any to finally get one, especially since the price drop from it's initial release. I especially wanted this one as Zelda is one of my all time favourite game franchises and not only is it designed in a cool black and gold theme with the crest of Hyrule emblazoned on the front but it also came with a copy of Ocarina of Time 3D! One of my all time favourite games!

On a related Zelda-esque note, I've been working my way through the new iteration, Skyward Sword. This is a game I could note recommend highly enough. If you still have a Wii go and get it now, or as soon as the shops open. You will not be disappointed in the slightest. I'm guessing that I will probably make this amazing game next weeks review for A Game Developer Reviews:. Hopefully I'll be able to tear myself away from the Zelda universe long enough to write up a review for another interesting game.

In the mean-time however, you will have to make do with this post but hopefully I will start getting more regular and have more for you to read. Also I might try using some form of sign off phrase as I find it quite hard to end these....

Its dangerous to go alone! Take this blog.

...nahhhh.

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