The Striek Symposium

(Email from Striek to Vellan, Vandea, Gozznut, Sicvy001 and Cookienut)

 Hello everyone,

 Just wondering what we're all playing at the moment.

 For those of us that manage to squeeze some game time in to every free moment, let's limit it to a week. For those of us that don't seem to get to play that much, let's limit it to the last 12 months (I'm looking at you Gozznut).

 Striek:

·         X360: Peggle Deluxe on XBLA.

o   It's my first Peggle outing, so flippin' addictive. Love it. Gets Caity playing too, we often play the dual mode. I ended up getting  some other friends addicted to it, then I got my parents addicted to it, so they bought the PC version ($6.95??!! from the PopCap website)

·         X360: Halo 3

o   Loving having more actual friends to play with, especially Steve, akasaxman (by association), Adrian.

o   Also loving the Mythic map pack and new achievements.

·         X360: Halo Wars

o   I really like it, but not like I like a full blown RTS and not like how I like Halo. It's great for the cutscenes, and I do enjoy it a lot, it's a great console RTS/Action RPG hybrid type of game. It probably only just sneaks in the 1 week window, when I get a free moment at home, I've been playing Peggle, when I get a larger block, I usually play Halo 3 matchmaking.

·         NDS: GTA Chinatown Wars

o   It really is the full GTA on the DS. Looks good, plays even better. I've played the first 4 missions, very much enjoying it.

 Vandea:

·         Wii - Super Mario Galaxy - this game rocks - it's so addictive also - great concepts for walking all over the worlds and the different things you can do using the controller

·         Halo3 XBL OBVIOUSLY

·         COD world at war - serisouly excellent realistic game (same same as cod 4) but still

·         awesome Guitar hero metallica (demo version) - wanna get the full version FO SHITZLE

Cookienut:

·         Halo 3 - Of course this is my main staple at the moment...pretty much every day. I'm pretty stoked that there's always a friend online playing this whenever I go on. I sometimes aim to play something else but I'm always drawn to H3. Squad battle matches are my new love at the moment. I have to say I have always loved single player games but am I turning into a multiplayer junkie? Hmmm I certainly hope not.

·         Braid - I've gone back to it to finish the game. It's a wonderful example of excellent game and level design. Simplistic yet completely mind bending at the same time. I'm almost up to the last world. It progressively gets harder but I'm really enjoying it.

·         Half Life 2: Orange Box - I am still yet to finish it. It's one of those games I play on and off. But every time a play it it rocks my socks. I am near the end of episode 2...then I'll move onto Portal and enjoy that as much as I can.

Sicvy001:

·         Race Driver GRID, I'm on the last season of all three championships (Asian, Euro & USA). I can't wait until codemaster releases the v8supercars dl pack.

·         The same makers of GRID are also releasing an F1 game for all consoles. Who has two thumbs and loves the Forumual 1? 

Sicvy001 (Again):

 Hey guys, today is my last day with Tenix lads. YAY. I will be losing this email address but I'll forward my new email when I start my new job.

Cookienut and Vandea, I'll see you guys in a few weeks. 

 Vandea:

 woohooo - bring on the work lans  hahahaha

 Cookienut:

 Few weeks? You start in 11 days :)

 You will be one of the last new employees to be trained for Eview. Because 1 day after you start we begin installing and configuring Dekho. My life will be non-existent for those next few weeks after that.

In terms of Tenix, I really enjoyed working with you guys there. We had heaps of fun mucking around in the office and working overseas. I can't believe it's been almost four years since I worked at Tenix. Infact it's been 6 years since I finished Uni (same with Striek I believe...we graduated the same day!). What I really appreciate is how we've all stayed in contact...here is my run down of knowing everyone:

 In late high school I met Striek who was in the same class at school as my wife.

 I started work at Woolworths doing night fill and Striek worked there as well. He happened to save my job because the chump of a manager we had thought I was crap. But Striek convinced him otherwise and just before I left Woolies in 2004, our other manager said I was one of the fastest nighfillers. After a while both Striek and I were regarded as the 'fathers' of the nightfill team (remember Cynkar Striek?)

 I would often go to Striek's house after work (11pm or 12am) and stay for hours playing Project Gotham Racing and his new Xbox. We even played Halo but I didn't think much of it at the time. His superb 51cm Phillips matchline TV was a sight to behold running through s-video. It was the best non-hd CRT screen ever.

 As all this happened I started Uni and met Gozznut pretty early on in the degree.

 I bought myself and Xbox based off playtime of Striek's console. This was one month before I got married (July 2002). I borrowed Halo:CE off Striek for a couple of weeks and decided to spend some time with the game. After one Saturday doing the whole game on heroic, I decided it was officially the best game ever made.

 I can't remember when but Striek, Gozznut and I struck up a friendship in regards to gaming and doing pretty much most Uni subjects together. Gozznut would often bring in his Xbox into Uni and we would play 4 player Halo coop in the uni bar and a really crap tastic rear projection tele. IT would usually be Gozznut, Striek (when he didn't have to be at SA Water), Sicvy001, Andrew and the whinging Morgan.

 At this stage (year 2), we met Sicvy001. I thought he was a grizzled metal head but soon discovered he was a grizzled metal head that loved puppies so naturally we all became friends.

 This is when the lan's started. First would mainly be something like Gozznut and Striek coming over my house at Surrey Downs and playing Rallisport Challenge split screen and giggling at the replay (oh how fun that was!) and soon developed into full scale Halo and eventually Halo 2 lans.

 Gozznut and I used to go to Harris Scarfe in town and play on the Xbox in there during Uni breaks because no one else did.

 So after Uni, we all kind of went our separate ways for a few months. Gozznut still had to finish his degree and as did Sicvy001 I believe. Funny thing was while Striek had been working at SA Water for sometime, Sicvy001 and Andrew both got a job at Tenix. I was struggling to find work of anytype suitable for a graduate and Sicvy001 sent me a message regarding some contract work at Tenix. So I went to a 15 minute interview and they gave me a job on the spot!

 Soon after Gozznut was in the same boat. He did an interview and got a job!

 During this time as incomes increased, so did our lan's.

 Gozznut's parents house was the most frequent lan location and very, very memorable. Even Vellan's garage was a good location (and she collated the stats and cookienut ended up overall winner...yay! - I still have the certificate!)

 Even while Gozznut, Sicvy001 and I worked overseas in Norway, I had my Xbox with me. Halo 2 had just been released and it provided a good distraction from the crazy work hours while overseas (and the cold temperature!)

 Now look where we are. We still hang out and play video games. Gozznut not so much but our plans are to glue a 360 to him and force him to play. Vandea has since joined our little band and proves that red heads can play Halo.

 So I'm glad we all have interests in video gaming and general win.

 Kudos to all.

 Striek:

 Very well said Cookienut.

 That must’ve taken ages to type!

 Cookienut:

Not ages. About 5 or so minutes..as you can tell by the many spelling errors and general nonsense structure of some sentences.

You might be aware of the big 1UP layoffs, where 1UP (Ziff Davis) got sold to UGO and then UGO sacked the majority of the staff. Anyway, a bunch of the guys got together immediately after and started up the Rebel FM podcast (coz they used to do 1UP FM) and the guys that used to do the 1UP show are working on something too (but they talk on the Rebel FM podcast as well).

Rebel FM = www.eat-sleep-game.com

(Not the) 1UP Show = www.talkingorange.com

Anyway, on the second show of Rebel FM, half of it was taken up with the guys talking through (on the spot) their top 3 games of 2008 (plus honourable mentions and things they missed). So I thought that'd be fun for us to do. I sent an email around to some of my friends, and here are the results.

Striek's Top 3

1. Gears Of War 2 - Xbox 360

2. God of War: Chains of Olympus - PSP

3. Professor Layton and the Curious Village - DS

Should have been top 3, but didn't start playing it till this year:

Fallout 3 - Xbox 360

Should have been top 3, but didn't have anyone to play it with (Besides SS84/SS75):

Left 4 Dead - Xbox 360

Honourable Mentions

Grand Theft Auto IV - Xbox 360

Advance Wars: Days of Ruin - DS

Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts - Xbox 360

Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2 - Xbox 360 Arcade

Games that might have made it if I'd had the time:

World of Goo - PC

Lock's Quest - DS

Bionic Commando Rearmed - Xbox 360 Arcade

Braid - Xbox 360 Arcade

Castle Crashers - Xbox 360 Arcade

Space Invaders Extreme – PSP

Games that I wish I'd had time for:

The World Ends With You - DS

Chrono Trigger - DS

Fable II – Xbox 360

Mirror's Edge – Xbox 360

Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix – Xbox 360 Arcade

Patapon - PSP

Loco Roco 2 – PSP

Well, I was supposed to mention my Top 3, plus a few others, but I've ended up listing 22 games here. So rather than talk at length about my choices, I'll keep it super short.

My Top 3 are the Top 3 because they were the only games this year that drove me to finish them as quickly as possible.

Cookienut's Top 3 (Who broke the whole, it must have been released in 2008 rule)

Half Life 2 Orange Box: I've almost finished Episode 2 but man is it one hell of a game. Probably one of the best games of the last few years. Probably the best single player fps I have ever played. Yes possibly even better then Halo: CE...but I reckon that is more of a tie.

Gears of War 2: This was awesomeness wrapped in bacon. The whole game was a treat but especially the last half. so many wow moments. Plus the visuals...yikes! Ok the story wasn't that great and the characters are pretty shallow...but that's exactly the way you make a game feel like a kick ass movie. In fact playing through it is better than watching a good sci fi movie.

Braid: For me this has been one of the greatest games of all time. Simple, then not so simple, intuitive and completely different. Think of crossing Portal with Back to the Future with a  sprinkling of Van Gogh. I know I have only played half of it and mainly in just one sitting. Playing this late at night with the lights off with just headphone on is like watching art unfold. I will finish it soon again, hopefully in just one more sitting. It makes you think...but in a good way :)

While I admit my gaming pedigree is not the same as say Striek or Vellan, I have really enjoyed 08 in terms of gaming. The biggest triumph was finally getting BB. Finally being on LIVE is so awesome.

I'm looking forward to Halo Wars, finishing GOW2 on Insane, maybe even a PS3 if all things go well. But my biggest thing for this year will be having a kid. I'm not sure how much gaming I'll get in once that happens but I hope to do plenty. Plus JB is getting married. It's all happening!

Hopefully gozznut will get back to playing some games and we can meet up online...because it's never fun without Gozz.

Vellan's Top 3

1. World of Warcraft (WOTLK)

This comes in at #1 purely because of the time I have invested in it.  Of course, all my friends are shmucks who refuse to play.

2. Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Part One.

A truly awesome game.  Mime!Cthulhu?  You guys don't even know who HP Lovecraft is, but trust me, it's *hilarious*. 

3. Assassin's Creed.

Not an excellent game...I mean, it was highly repetitive, but I needed some stealth as Conviction was pushed back.  But then I went back to playing Chaos Theory.  Still, Assassin's Creed did follow the Rule of Cool.  Walking up to a guy, knifing him and then disappearing into the crowd makes you feel pretty invincible.

sicvy001's Top 3

1.     The Darkness

2.     Gears of War 2

3.     Grid

Now… before we get to Gozznut's Top 3, or lack of Top 3'ness, I thought I'd simply list the games that made our Top 3's

-          X360 - Assassin's Creed

-          X360 - Half-Life 2: The Orange Box

-          X360 - Gears Of War 2 (3 of out 4! The only multiple vote winner, I would have voted for Orange Box too though, but I kept my list to 2008 releases only)

-          X360 - Grid

-          X360 - The Darkness

-          X360 Arcade - Penny Arcade Adventures: On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness, Part One

-          X360 Arcade - Braid

-          PC - World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

-          PSP - God of War: Chains of Olympus

-          DS - Professor Layton and the Curious Village

Okay… so now to finish…

Gozznut's Top 3 (or the discussion which ensued)

22/01/2009 9:46AM

From Gozznut

Lol.

JB, what percentage of your money and time goes to Gaming? Hahaha

It'd be good to see you add something to your live.space blog finally. Although I haven't added anything other than photos since August, but I think your last post was November 2007?

I've got GOW2 from Vince at the moment. I haven't played it. I need to get Grid back from him and finish that. And I'm also toying with the idea of getting GTA4 but I don't think I'd ever finish it. It might be good for multi player though?

22/01/2009 10:30AM

From Striek

So Tom, basically your list for last year tom would be…

The three games I played in 2007.

1.       Grid

2.       ??

3.       ??

Though you did get that PSP didn't you? Didn't play any games on it? You can pick up GOW:COO for $19 these days, and that's my #2!

Unfortunately not much of my time goes to gaming Tom, that's why I only finished a few games this year! These days I'd be lucky to get 2 hours per week on average.

22/01/2009 10:35AM

From Cookienut

Ha! You'll have to borrow mine. I've stopped playing GTA4 for quite some time. I'm almost 60% through but I just don't play it. Infact I haven't really done any gaming for the last couple of weeks. It's not a self imposed gaming hiatus, it's just that I really haven't been bothered. I have had many dvd's to watch and felt more compelled with that.

I know what you mean about losing time JB...I hate getting older for that very reason. I wish I was still 18 to 20 and going to Uni. Yeah, I had no money but heck life was easier. Plenty of time for games, socialising and such. Not any more though! My kid better be awesome at games.

Hi Everyone,

Well, after posting my thing to say I’d be coming back soon (November last year) I really didn’t think anyone would notice anyway… But thanks Ben, ICandee and Tom!

I’ll be posting some real stuff soon, but this is just a quick one to update people and say congrats to others:

Ben (Echohammer): You got engaged or married? Anyway, congrats!

ICandee: Married and a mini ICandee/Ruffneck! Super congrats!

Cluskevird: You just get the “Most unfailing blogger” Award, for seemingly never stopping with continual posts – I salute you!

Tom: Newcomer Award! Everyone, I went to Uni with Tom and he is totally awesome. He hasn’t got the best grammar, punctuation, and spelling, but I tell you… If someone edited his stuff and just fixed up the little mistakes… he is a really clever, sharp writer. Add him to your Google Reader!

Other people that I know, I am reading your stuff (thanks Google Reader) but I’m just in a bit of a hurry right now.

As for a mini-update as to how I’m going, here it is since my last proper update:

• I have played games, but not as much as I’d like.
• I found an awesome girl, whom I love very much.
• We got engaged July last year.
• We get married in a month (Feb 21)
• All the plans and stuff are eating up all potential game time!

There’s STACKS of other stuff, but it’s all inconsequential in comparison to the other stuff hey.

Till next time soon!

Until then, I’ve been listening to the Rebel FM podcast (since the massive 1UP layoffs) and in the second show they did, half the show was them going around discussing what each of them thought their top 3 games of 2008 were. That will be what my next post will be about. I’m going to write it up, send it around to my friends that I email regularly, and perhaps put up what all of us think.

In the meantime, if anyone reads this, you should totally add me on Facebook, I’m John Bormann. And if you wanna see what I’ve been up to in the past couple of years, you can do that in photo form at my Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnbormann

JB/Striek

The comeback is soon.