I’ve been working on getting fit recently. Partly because I plan to join the NZ Army reserves (called the Territorial Force here), and partly for good health. I’m pleased to say that I’ve had a new best run time today! I do a 5km series on Tuesday nights and today my split time (2.4km/1.5m actually) was 10:38. My full time was 24:38. In all I cut 55 seconds off my run time two weeks ago so I’m pretty pleased! Running is kinda fun when you get in to it, and while you’re not doing it, and not just before of course. Other than that, it’s a right laugh!

Been feeling the gamer itch recently. I’ve enjoyed The Movies, but needing to coerce friends into doing voices for one’s movies (you really want to make the effort and do a voiced film I think) is tricky! Worse, there are now so many many movies being posted to their community site it’s highly likely one’s brilliant effort will sink without a trace.

Meanwhile, I’m playing Morrowind, a $10 purchase, which is a nice game, especially with Desslock’s lovely walkthrough from GameSpot. Couldn’t live without the tips he provides!

However, I’ve still got the itch. Which is why I went and purchased the Call of Cthulhu 6th Edition Rulebook. I’m keen to organise some games, but where to find some players!

My new current obsession is The Movies, an interesting game out from Lionhead. Half the game a tycoon-style studio management thing, the other half is making machinima using the tools they give you. There are some pretty fun films out already and I’m sure we’ll see many more!

Going to get back into doing a wee bit more blogging. Might fidlde with the site too. In terms of gaming. Well, with a download limit here in New Zealand I can’t really effectively play Second Life. It’s also become nearly impossible to develop DarkLife with Mark as he’s 12 hours away and we’re both too busy to be up at crazy hours of the night. So, for this reason I’m waiting for The Movies, playing some Navy Field and still enjoying Battlefield 2. Hmm. More interesting posts as I get myself better organised.

*rant on* I have a bit of a thing for a good web game. Right now, Urban Dead is really rocking my world, but I’ve tried a fair-few of the more well known ones in my time. I like the short 5 minute distraction they can be, the multiplayeryness of them and the (sometimes) elegant design. But one thing constantly annoys me about them. What I hear you ask? Well, a complete lack of info on what the bloody hell the game is and how it works! For example, I followed a link to Evolution 5 and am instantly presented with a completely uninspiring page. Clicking on the Evolution Guide link doesn’t give you anything else to go on either, launching straight into discussion of menus and whatnot.

How hard would it be to place three or four sentences at the top of the page describing the game? It’s an incredibly basic thing to do but MOST web games fail to do it. And how about a screenshot! I know, revolutionary idea here! Sure, your game might be all text but I’d like to see how it looks and if it’s likely to fit my particular tastes (I like web games with maps, like Urban Dead. Just a personal thing).

Maybe I’m missing something. Maybe people don’t want new customers? But please, if you’re in any way involved in these games, look at your web site with fresh eyes and help us become interested! *rant off*

It’s been a while since I posted last, and that’s because my new life in Wellington is keeping me quite busy. I’ve picked up dancing again and I’ve been quite busy with work. Of course, I still game, but I’m not playing much Second Life right now. Why? Well, I find my skills aren’t keeping pace with the rest of the players and so for any task I can immediately think of half a dozen people I know who could do it better! As I’ve never been one to club or party in SL that leaves me without much to do in-game.

I have, however, tried to keep my hand in. So far I co-concepted a game design for the SL Game Design competition and it’s being built right now. I’m also still involved with Dark Life which has pretty much been running itself for a while. There may be some news on that in time. Unfortunately, the downside of being back in New Zealand is that the time zone really sucks for organising a group effort with people from overseas! Ahh well, we’ll see what happens.

Switch ISPs and now back on standard ADSL. It’s nice and quick so I should be a bit more active about the worlds. Keep an eye out for the Pirate!

Moved to Wellington and have been working in my new job for a few weeks and all my stuff is finally down here. Got a nice flat to live in and I have it all to myself which means I can keep it as clean or unclean as I want! Right now it looks beautiful and I’ve even been accused of being a metrosexual. I don’t think that’s a good thing.

The bad news is I’m on a wireless CDMA-based internet service (I don’t need or want a phone line and all the overhead that goes with it) and the connection is very very slow. Slower than 56k most of the time. This is only because I have terrible coverage right where I am. I’m not entirely sure why, but it’s probably just bad luck with where the base stations are, oh well! But anyway, this clearly is bad news for any playing of Second Life. Not sure how it will go in the future. If anything changes I’ll let folks know.

This week I’m going to be busy packing for a move to Wellington and a new job. I’ll be fairly unplugged for a while after the move so I won’t be around much to update my blog, play games and so on. Should be fun though!