Restoring the SNES

Well it can't look any worse than it does at the moment.

I've finally collected all the materials I need to restore the SNES thats features in a previous post and put some life back into the "console in a half-shell.. Turtle Power!" (sorry couldn't resist!)

Things I've had to order:

• A variety of 3.5v 5mm coloured LED's
• Gamebit Screwdriver
• Wet and Dry Sand paper
• A scrap SNES that even the Sandpeople would have no interest in
• Cans of Spray Paint (Satin Black & Satin Night Navy)

My plans are to replace the missing top shell with the faulty SNES I've managed to practically pick up for nothing, add an alternative power light instead of the normal factory red one that normally indicates something is off or in standby and lastly do a paint job to finish..

I've done a few modifications before, my first was the chipping and spraying of my PSone which was a yellow body with black lid and matching buttons, it was a decent job at the time but looking back it could have been better. I then attempted the chipping of the PS2, without going into great detail it was one epic failure! Over time I have done quite a few bits but the most recent one was a while ago when I popped LED's into my brothers PS3 controller, which he has uploaded to Youtube. (see below)

TwisterV2's LED Modded Controller PS3

I am hoping to get this project underway this weekend but that depends on the delivery of my LED's but I will post results as soon as I have them, but if you hear a "BOOOOOOM" and see a small mushroom cloud at some point over the London area please consider this blog terminated along with its creator.

Zombie - Better late than never!

It's my kitchen and I'll bite if I want to

Last night I finally took the plunge and downloaded The Walking Dead on PSN. "Bit late?" I hear you say.. Well? I'm a little behind the times due to Azeroth and its evil gripping obsessive claw-like talons, but I thought "OK tonight, I've got my valor maxed so lets try something different!"

After spending what it felt like an eternity trying to remedy a slow connection to my new Virgin Superhub and without much success it finally allowed me to download the first episode. *Phew..*
First instinct was its was just another Telltale game like Sam & Max and the amazing Monkey Island, don't get me wrong great games and decent ports but something feels awkward about the control system on a console that makes point 'n' click games feel a little less fluent than if I had a mouse equipped. Anyway after the first 10-25mins of playing this game I was in awe all of a sudden. I think Telltales has finally cracked how to use a point 'n' click interface and succeeded with control fluency. I was gripped, although I became zombie chow a few times, in the spontaneous 'act now, not later' action sequences which left me on the edge of my seat it occurred to me I have been screaming out for an emotional response game in the style of Heavy Rain for some time, which still blows my mind to this very day.
I have to say I am very stoked with this gamble and makes a refreshing change as I seem to chuck money away on pointless games through PSN that very rarely get more than one or two sessions.

There seems to be a lot of Zombie games out over the last decade or two so here are my favourites.

(No particular order)

• Resident Evil (PS One)
• The Walking Dead (PS3)
• Left for Dead 2 (PC)
• Zombies Ate My Neighbours (SNES)
• Left for Dead (PC)

With this new found love, I must now watch the series. Kudos Telltale Games!

Iron Man Baldini

So it looks like we've finally wrapped up Franco Baldini as our new Technical Director. I have mixed emotions about this, we've tried it in the past with Comolli, Pleat and Arnesen which all seemed to tread on the managers toes at times and eventually the post was removed from the clubs infrastructure, but the fact that this has been a request from AVB - it may actually work in our favour.

So where will this lead? Well I'm hoping it is going to improve the speed and quality of the players we pick players up. I'm generally tired of watching other clubs, identify a target, and within a week or two, boom! they have their man, whilst we wait for 'Deadline Levy Day'. I know missing the CL spot impacts this but there is a planet full of footballers to choose from. I don't have anything against Levy and Co, personally think he is the best chairman in the league but when you play hardball its often countered by similar actions and used against you, as we have found out in previous windows.

Well let the rumor mill keep going as it does every year and reports Spurs want every Tom, Dick and Harry, but hopefully will see some encouraging signs in the next couple of weeks with this new appointment, but a striker must be the priority.

I noticed Baldini heavy resembles Robert Downey Jr, so does that mean we have Iron Man to sort out the Spanish Press and end this all this Bale talk for at least another 365 days?

Getting all retro!

I have finally managed to land my hands on another SNES. A few weekends back me and my brother was going through literally a shed load of things and stumbled upon a dark, green box that has definitely seen better days very much like the ones you would have seen in the classic point and click days.

We dusted it off and slowly lifted the lid and to our surprise it was loaded of SNES games and what used to resemble as SNES console, well it did work until my brother went into a complete nerd rage after I double perfected him on Killer Instinct, considering I was bend over looking through my legs! I'm pretty useless at fighting games which probably heightened the tension that fateful night.

 

This is all that remains of our first SNES

Thankfully we've outgrown the sibling rivalry that once was the bane of our childhood and have been playing all the next gen consoles over the years, the latest one 'should' definitely survive, I'm just guessing Killer Instinct will remain off the menu for the foreseeable future.

Cats vs Dogs

To cut a long sad story short, in the space of two months I lost both my Dad and our 14 year old bulldog 'Winston'. It has been the toughest period in all my 32 levels but I don't think anything can fill the void left by either and nothing can make any of this less painful.

Winston at Christmas, at least he tried to get into the party mood..

 

This is one of the funniest memories of Winston.

Recently I was looking to get another dog, mainly to try and raise the happiness levels at home and to lift a little of the gloom that surrounds the family at the moment. After mulling over and over about the breed of dog I wanted, I come to the conclusion that its too soon for another dog as nothing can compare to the 14 years of companionship that we cherished with Winny.

So after much debate I decided to try something new and spontaneously went out and got a kitten. We called him Nim. The ironic thing is I've never been a cat person, in fact the idea of a cat used to terrify the bejesus out of me. I'm not sure where that came from, I've never been attacked nor owned one, I've just always been a dog person.

He was born on 1st March 2013 and here he is (shot with my Canon 40D):

I have also have a few funnies of Nim settling in at home, but this is my best one yet. (shot with Samsung S3):

Nim's Top 10 Commodore 64 Games

The Commodore has a very special place in my heart, not only did it span an entire generation of geeky 'code-at-home' gamers but I have very fond memories of getting into gaming with my Dad. He first bought the C64 in 1984 and that's where my C64 adventure and gaming began.

Once you master the command "LOAD" and located where "RUN-STOP" was, you were practically unstoppable. Later it got even more exciting with the introduction of the 1541 Drive and the classic 5" 1/4 disks, when the "LOAD" was upgraded to "LOAD "*" ,8,1 Ooooohhh I hear you say!
It made you feel incredibly intelligent and powerful "Wow, I made it do something.." Over time I did a bit of BASIC programming but nothing concrete ever came from it, but I will always remember the innocent simple gaming that the C64 offered.

Here is my Top 10 C64 Games of All Time:

10. Raid Over Moscow

This game was actually banned in Germany due to sensitive nature of gameplay and story. Thankfully this wasn't the case for the UK. This little gem was as unique as they come. It didn't following the standard rules of continuous gameplay throughout, it infact had a deeper side to it with 5 different styles of gameplay to offer.

9. Beach Head II

I probably will remember this as my first ever multiplayer experience. There would always be a little debate between my dad, me or my brother who actually played as Allies or the Dictator, then you also had the fallout when only two can play at a given time. The sound was great considering it was in 8bit. Favourite quote was from the Dictator "You cant hurt me!"

8. Hunchback 

This is actually one of my first ever memories of the C64. A simplistic game that goes to prove you can keep dying and actually want more if you develop something that keeps you interested. The Teddy Bears Picnic overture adds a touch of nostalgia and sticks with you, although I do remember being told to notch the volume down, it drove my mum mental.

7. Defender of the Crown

When I first played DotC it was a little bit over my head, but as time grew and I played more, the more I still didn’t know what I was doing! Looking back on it, it was a great little game, jousting, sword fighting, catapult raids it was all exciting stuff, and I believe this lead to my addiction the Sid Meiers Civilization series, and yes I do know how to play that one *cough*

6. Gunship

Daa-da-da-da-DAA-da, da-da-da-DAA-da, da-da-da-DAAA-da, da-da-da-daaaaaaa!

Ride of the Valkyries as the intro screen loads up, now this is a game that had me hooked from the get go. Simplistic controls and amazing sound not to mention lock on and fire! Job done. Great game, crappy pilot.

5. Leaderboard Golf

This was the godfather of golfing sims, and in many way I prefer this to the Tiger Woods series but you cant fault EA’s beautiful courses and what it brings to the table, but back to the Leaderboard Golf. A simplistic golf simulator that delivers hours of easy play for up to four players, not to mention you can turn the trees off!

4. Ultima IV

Richard Garriet aka Lord British has for a long time been one of my gaming idles and IV was the first one I played. I have played them all up to the disappointing Ascension but apart from Ultima 7 this ranks up with one of my all time favourite games. I've always waited for a new game, but it seems it all stops with the online version.

3. Zork I
In days where playing a game required paper and a pencil, this was just nothing short of amazing. I sadly miss the text adventure days, and although there are plenty of people still writing text adventures they seem to miss an element that resided in many Infocom games. Zork is my favourite one and deserves legendary standing when people speak of the games of yesteryear.

2. Elite

Space the final smuggling frontier. What a game, starts of slow but once you get into the swing of it, it can completely take over, watching dots and vectors has never been so interesting, and I am stoked that this is finally getting a makeover and due out sometime in the future.

1. Ghostbusters 

Who ya gonna call? Ghsotbusters was all the rage in the 80’s, and I was over the moon when my dad pick up the C64 copy and now I finally get to be a real Ghostbuster! I actually still play this from time to time, its just a joy to play and it was the first C64 game I completed or should I say ‘clocked’ keeping with the old skool vibe.

The World of Nim

My current gaming addiction is World of Warcraft, although I do spent my fair share of the time on my PS3 or PC enjoying the delights of Steam and PSN. Warcraft seems to be the top dog at the moment.

I have been playing on/off since launch, way back in 2004. Things where extremely different from the old days of yore, that said it hasn't put me off building an alt army.

    Level 90: Warrior, Hunter, Paladin, Death Knight, Rogue
    Level 85: Mage
   
I'm a big fan of transmogrification and go to great lengths to find that perfect set.

I have just finished my Thor-like set for my Paladin:

I raid twice a week with an awesome guild The Chapter, we are a level 25 social guild, that is built up on the belief that you can play the game seriously but in a friendly, helpful and well tuned environment.