MAC Vs. Mac

Just for the record, I know it's normally Mac, not MAC, but I'm using capitals in my titles for everything. When it arrives, Wii games will be marked (WII), for example.

So I'm not just being a wronghead.

Football Manager 2007 (MAC)

So, to recap, after failing to save Bishops Stortford from relegation, I found myself jobless. Eventually Gateshead offered me a short-term contract asking me to get them promoted from the Conference North. Wasn't too hopeful, but took the job anyway...

And, gosh, what a difference! For one thing, they've got some players worth more than £2,000. Somehow, just before I arrived, they even managed to buy someone worth £20,000 from a League Two side. He is amazing. I've played two games with Gateshead so far and he's scored four times and the media are falling over themselves to praise him. If he stays free of injury we're home free... but that's hardly likely over the whole season. At Stortford I was fairly lucky with the injuries until the end of the season, where three key players were out for a couple of months.

Just the quality of the footie on display is amazing. I'm seeing runs and teamwork and pace that I never, ever saw while managing football. It's like the match engine's been upgraded between seasons.

Anyway, this is the best (C/F)M game ever, I'm confident in saying.

Contact (DS)

I've played this for a couple of hours now in total, at a guess, with quick sessions grabbed here and there over the last few days.

My considered reaction so far is: hmmmmmm.

I like it, I'm enjoying it, but I really can't quite understand why. In terms of combat (click enemy once and relax, unless you want to use a special move) and general buggering about collecting stuff (enemies and trees drop cooking ingredients) it feels rather like an MMORPG. But it's definitely a traditional single player game when it comes to the level and quest structure. But it's all skinned in a new, interesting and stylish way and it looks absolutely gorgeous.

I think I fell in love when I first worked out how to interact with the game at the beginning. One of those moments where you're not quite sure what to do and idly try something, which has a very satisfying and surprising effect.

(Trying to avoid spoilers. Hopefully you'll know what I mean if you've played it.)

Overall, that based one what I've seen, it's a lovely handheld game to pull out for odd moments here and there. It's fairly undemanding and simple - after the initial hour or so of confusion as you're tutored in things after you first see them. (Or, at least, I kept being told about things after I'd already tried to use them and had given up in confusion.) And the sound isn't great or rubbish, so if you're someone who plays handhelds with the sound off - as I'm sure a great many people do - it's no great loss.

Really needs a better save system, though. Suspend save's no good if you're trying to conserve battery or want to pop into your Animal Crossing town for a couple of minutes after playing.

Six Word Stories

Inspired by that Wired link doing the rounds, stories that are six words long. Here are mine -

America defeated! Maple syrup for all!
He speaks softly to the dead.
Years unloved. He jumped. Squashed soulmate.
Doctor lost TARDIS, eternity in Hull.
Star Wars fan tries force, nothing.
Star Wars fan tries force, something...
Phone battery dead, kidnappers killed child.
No parachute! What now? Grow wings!
Fan forcibly shaved, Shearer was culprit.
Redundant, he lay down, awaited bisection.
Adventure booked, chute failed, God found.
Footsteps in empty flat, I moved.
Moon, howling, teeth, blood... cycle repeats.
Time stopped, we kissed, walked forever.
Dangerous plan leads to graveyard plot.
Garden swing, secrets, smiles, memories forged.

And now, working on a theme -

Bear steals picnic basket; ranger annoyed.
Dog nominal hero; cat catches criminal.
Dog sniggers, but plan backfires ironically.
Pigeon in danger? No, not really.
Cat has gang, lives in dustbin.

And more so -

Dog runs away, makes tall sandwich.
It was the amusement park's janitor!
"Puppy power!" Quick change the channel!
Lesbian in glasses longs for redhead.
The movie was actually quite good.

Football Manager 2007 (MAC)

Gateshead have offered my a short-term contract, based on me managing to get them promoted. Ha!

I doubt I'll have any luck, but it's something to do until I inevitably get sacked again.

I even applied for a job managing Maesteg before Gateshead stepped in. Maesteg!

Football Manager 2007 (MAC)

That's it.

Failure.

Injuy piled upon injury and the season came to a terrible end.

Relegated out of the Conference South.

Oh.

Invert Y

Yes, this is the old blog known as My Secret Game and - very briefly - Die Sony Die. I got myself a brand new domain - inverty.com, if you've just woken up - and I've promoted the blog to the front page. It's not like there was anything much on the old front page of mysecretshame.co.uk, anyway.

Anyway, should be mostly the same old stuff. A list of games I've been playing that's of no interest to anyone except myself. I may - may - branch out a little and make some posts that aren't just a record of what I've recently done in video games, but no promises.

Anyway, welcome. Different URL, but the same old rubbish.

(I don't know who I think I'm talking to. Nobody read this diary at the old site and if they did then they'd just think I'd stopped updating it because I didn't put a notice up before I moved.)

Football Manager 2007 (MAC)

We're now bottom and the injuries are ridiculous. I was down to ten men after three - three! - players had to go off in my last game.

I don't honestly think I can turn this around in the time left.

There aren't any decent players available to loan, my players aren't performing and all seems completely hopeless right now.

Just when everything needed to go right things got even worse.

If I hadn't vowed to stay to the end of the season I'd be resigning right now. Mind you, the board are putting out so many press releases saying that my job's safe that I've started to get nervous.

Mid-Week Challenge

LAST WEEK

1) Complete Shadow of the Colossus. Do this before starting Okami. Bonus points for completing it before the statue arrives. (Dispatched today.)

Incomplete. But I've not failed, as despite not playing SotC, I've not played Okami, either. No bonus points for me, though. The statue arrived.

This challenge stays, despite the lack of time I have to play TV-based games at the moment.

2) Keep my Win/Loss record in Naked War positive. Given the state of the games I'm currently playing this might be hard.

Complete. I've currently won four and lost three. I am going to replace this challenge with a new one.

3) Complete the campaign mode in Company of Heroes. Do this before buying either the new Dawn of War expansion or Medieval II, no matter what reviews say.

Incomplete. Not played it. This challenge stays. Mainly because the PC Gamer review of Medieval II has me frothing at the mouth.

4) Get a score of above 250,000 on Lumines Live.

Incomplete. Will change this challenge slightly.

5) Get Big Top's picture in Animal Crossing.

Nobody's binging me, so no pictures from anyone for me. This one stays.

THIS WEEK

1) Complete Shadow of the Colossus. Do this before starting Okami.

2) Save Bishops Stortford from relegation in the 2006/2007 season in Football Manager 2007. Fifteen games left, about eight points deep inside the relegation zone. Could be tricky.

3) Complete the campaign mode in Company of Heroes. Do this before buying either the new Dawn of War expansion or Medieval II, no matter what reviews say.

4) Get a score of above 250,000 on any version of Lumines. (PSP, PSP sequel, mobile, 360.)

5) Get Big Top's picture in Animal Crossing.

Football Manager 2007 (MAC)

I'm losing hope at Bishops Stortford. I'm keeping the players' morale up, but mine's on the floor. We're twenty-seven matches in now and sitting firmly in 21st place in the Conference South. Our last match was a real killer - we went 1-0 up, but then our opponents got two penalties and ran away with the points.

Looking at the stats, it seems Jack Midson is the second highest scorer in the league this season, but we're very high up in the goals conceded list. That's getting better now I've brought in Foster on loan to sit back on the right - he's only a solid 7, but that's better than anyone else I've got there - but I'm still not doing well enough.

I really, really want to save the club and my job now; if we can just scrape through this season then I can use my experience next season to take us further up the table - and hopefully take me into a better job. I'm aiming to be a Premiership manager within a few seasons, but that's not looking likely right now.

We've just got to improve. Not a lot, but just enough so we edge these close matches. We've got to do it for the club, for the 352 people who come to see us play each week and, most of all, for me, so I don't have to start a new game at the end of this season.

Naked War (PC)

A lunchtime turn and another game won.

I started pretty badly, but pulled it back in the end, mainly thanks to Sidious managing to run halfway across the map one turn to blow up a turret just before my opponent could reach it. That was my favourite turn ever.

I really love this game.

Rainbow Six: Vegas Demo (360)

Another demo which looks nice, but which is incredibly bloody hard. I gave up on it last night. The loud noises where hurting my head.

Football Manager 2007 (MAC)

I'm still struggling with Bishops Stortford in the Conference South. It's just after Christmas and we're second from bottom.

It's depressing, but sometimes we just do well enough to give me hope and keep me from resigning. I've loaned a defender worth a mammoth £4,000 from Dagenham & Redbridge and he seems like he's going to fit in well. I've also asked to loan a young striker, just to see if that'll help. I feel for my striker Essandoh, he's a decent chap and he puts in good performances, but he just doesn't score.

Though scoring goals isn't so much of a problem. We've scored 23 this season, which is over one per game on average, I believe. It's just we've let in forty.

You know, I'm really getting in to this now. I so want to pull off a miracle and avoid relegation and then take the club to glory next season.

Football Manager 2007 (MAC)

Well, now we're at -

PLAYED: 14
WON: 3
DRAWN: 2
LOST: 9

We're out of the relegation zone and morale is soaring.

Three things seem to ahve prompted this small turnaround.

1) My cpatain went out with the flu and his replacement is doing better.
2) I moved to a more attacking 4-4-2.
3) I promoted Anton Innocent from the reserves to the main squad. He's not fit enough to last a whole match, but he's great when he's on.

Tony Hawk Project 8 Demo (360)

Gosh, this looks nice.

Unfortunately it seems a billion times harder to land tricks than in any other Tony Hawk game I've ever played and I don't know why.

Lumines Live (360)

I think the leaderboards may have been reset overnight, as I don't think my score of 80K should really have got me to 32nd in the world...

Lumines (PSP)

Been playing a bit of this to get my Lumines fix while my wife's playing Harvest Moon on the TV.

I'm really not very good.

Football Manager 2007 (MAC)

After a 5-1 defeat to non-league Solihull in the FA Cup my finger was hovering the "Resign" button for a while.

But nobody else will give me a job, so that would mean restarting the whole game.

Hmpf.

Football Manager 2007 (MAC)

Current record this season -

PLAYED: 8
WON: 1
DRAWN: 0
LOST: 7

Oops.

Lumines Live (360)

I wish this wasn't so good, so I could have boycotted it due to the price structure.

I am, however, weak in the face of genius.

So, Lumines bought. And advance pack bought, too.

Football Manager 2007 (MAC)

I took control of Bishop's Stortford.

I've, er, not been doing so well so far. In the pre-season friendlies I lost all but one match.

Oops.

If the season goes badly I'll either look for a new job or start a new game at a different club.

Exit (PSP)

My PSP had been unplayed for so long that it had forgotten the date and time. Oops.

Anyway, tried the first few levels of Exit. Graphically its incredibly gorgeous and makes my heart sing with joy... but the gameplay seems very stilted. But I have only tried the training levels so far, I suppose.

Football Manager 2007 Demo (MAC)

Just playing around with this as Villa while I wait for the full version to arrive.

I'm quite enjoying having money and players I've heard of, so I might even do this in the full game, instead of taking a random lower league team on.

Naked War (PC)

I'm losing my current games and turns are coming in slowly, but I'm really enjoying it when I play.

(Except when I seem to find a bug which means one of my men doesn't move or use his healing items on his turn.)

Phantasy Star Universe (360)

Needs a manual or some properly helpful in-game text.

I need to partner up with people, but I was too scared and so made my own my way through one level, getting up to level three in the process.

Don't have much desire to play it again.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 (360)

Playing this on my 360. Enjoying it more than on the original Xbox because I can see what's going on. It helps.

However, I died a million times in the skies over Kashyyyk at the weekend and once I got quite far into the mission and one of the mission events failed to trigger. I hope that was just a one-off and not a problem with playing the game on the 360.

Touch Golf (DS)

This has gone and got hard, damn it.

I'm seeing the "Out of Bounds" message entirely too often.

Naked War (PC)

I am enjoying this an incredible amount. It's really quite brilliant.

Oh, yes, I'm losing, but I'm getting better, training my eyes to see in the right way.

Blocking, that's what I need to remember.

Dig Dug Demo (360)

Two very simple levels that show me nothing I want to know. I don't want to know the basic mechanics, I want to know how the game changes at later levels, please.

And I hate the way the music only plays when you move. Hate, hate, hate it.

Full game remains unbought.

FIFA 07 (DS)

I started my career at Villa with a 5-2 win against Arsenal...

So I checked the game settings and it says it's on Beginner level and won't let me change it. Odd.

Touch Golf (DS)

Two things happened last night:

1) I got my first eagle.

2) I got past the rookie level.

I rock.

Tiger Woods 07 Demo (360)

As said previously, this is annoyingly good and doesn't have much of the over-the-top EA presentation that normally makes my blood boil.

Just Cause (360)

For such a big game, it's all a bit samey, isn't it?

But no more so than a lot of other games, so that can't be the issue I have with it. There are just annoyances that highlight it - principally the way the merest hint of contact with another vehicle stops you dead.

No, it's not rubbish, it's still fun, but after an evening spent with Jean Claude or Dolph you sometimes want something meatier, you know?

Naked War (PC)

This is actually fantastic.

Even though I'm fantastically bad at it.

There's an incredible amount of different stuff to do on the small maps and - most importantly - there always seems to be hope, even when I'm losing badly.

Though on my bad PC (using the lowest graphical settings) I find it very hard to see which square a crate is actually on at times.

I'm definitely still learning the game and given my record with strategy games I doubt I'll ever be any good, but I'm really enjoying it.

Animal Crossing: Wild World (DS)

Acorns!

Just Cause (360)

Just started this. It's very good fun indeed. Looks lovely, makes you feel like an invincible action hero in the worst/best braindead action movie ever.

Glitchy as anything and I'm not sure it's worth full price, but at the budget Play Asia price I played, very happy so far.

Lost Planet Demo (360)

While I was going through the demos on my 360 I thought I'd try this again.

It's very hard, still. But ace. When I'm not getting shot from off-screen with no chance to recover.

NHL 07 (360)

Huh?

A huge download for... a thirty-second shoot-out? Not even any sort of real game?

What was the point of that, then?

Need For Speed Carbon Demo (360)

Put it in the bumper-cam view and it was much, much better than it was when I tried it last week. Framerate still rubbish, but the racing was actually quite fun.

Bouyed up I tried the drift mode. Three times. Just in case I was missing something. I don't think I was. Terrible, it was. Too hard and no fun at all.

Tiger Woods 07 Demo (360)

Damn.

I really enjoyed this.

And I really didn't want to.

Looks merely okay, but the golf seems very solid. And that's what important, yes?

Another one for the wishlist, then.

Naked War (PC)

I'm currently play three games. One against an online acquaintance, one against a reviewer and one against someone I don't know who picked up a challenge I posted on the web site. A good mix. It's too early to tell who's winning in two of them, but in one of them I'm already very much on the back foot.

It's a really good game, actually. Great to play in short bursts, but also checking-mail-every-ten-secondsly addictive. Er... you know what I mean.

FIFA 07 (DS)

Well, I turned the difficulty up to Amateur and played two games against Birmingham City. (Boo, hiss, etc.) In the first game I had someone sent off three minutes in and lost 1-0, but in the second game I kept eleven men on the pitch and won 4-1. Which feels about right...

Star Wars: Episode III Revenge Of The Sith (DS)

A nice little licensed game. A scrolling beat-em-up of the old school, with 3D Starfox-style flying stages inserted every few stages.

The story is compressed so much that it's completely nonsensical if you've not seen the movie, but who's going to be playing who hasn't?

Far better than the awful Lego Star Wars II DS game, at any rate.

Touch Golf (DS)

Now this I genuinely like without any if, buts, maybes or reservations of any kind.

Which isn't to say that it's the best game I've ever played, but it's a nice non-gimmicky golf game that makes good use of the stylus and is fun to play.

FIFA 07 (DS)

Well, it's a lot more enjoyable straight off than the 360 demo.

Probably because it's set on the easiest difficulty level - as Villa I just beat Port Vale 11-1 in the final of the English Cup.

Perhaps I need to make it a bit harder before judging what it's really like, eh?

Doom (360)

A couple more levels completed.

Annoyingly, I seem to have lost my 360 headset - I'm sure it's around... somewhere - and my wireless controller has developed an annoying clicking sound when I move it back and to the right. Movement still feels fine so far, but the clicking noise sounds very wrong and gets into my brain and makes me want to kill things.

So Doom's quite good for that, really.

FIFA 07 Demo (360)

Hmpf.

I decided to play it until I scored a goal.

In the first game, I didn't score.

In the second game, I didn't score.

In the third game, I scored... sort of. It was credited to Giggs, but what happened was that Giggs took a shot, the goalkeeper fumbled it, a defender ran in, the ball bounced around between them and then over the goalie and into the back of the net. Looked like an own goal by the defender to me.

So, thinking that didn't count, I played a fourth game, but didn't score.

So I tried a fifth game, but didn't score.

And then I turned the bloody thing off.

OutRun 2006 Coast 2 Coast (XBOX)

A quick run through. The 328 GTS is twitchier than I remember, but I completed the SP tracks on the easiest route, so I was happy.

Star Wars Battlefront 2 (XBOX)

Used this to test out Xbox on new TV. No improvement in visual quality - Xbox RGB output still seems to be horirbly dark and sludgy. This is an official cable and everything. I am perplexed.

Wish it looked better, as the game itself is perfectly enjoyable in short bursts.

FIFA 07 Demo (360)

Hmm.

Looks nice and shiny, ball seems to behave better than any other footie game I've played, but it felt quite clunky and I didn't score once in the three half-games I played.

I need to play this further. I am intrigued, but unconvinced.

Naked War (PC)

I've completed one game and had an excellent time.

I lost horribly - I was playing one of the game's programmers, after all - but by the end I almost knew what I was doing... Except when I didn't jump out of tank even though I thought I'd asked myself to.

Odd.

Anyway, it's great fun and well worth investigating.

Naked War (PC)

Multiplayer turn-based strategy played over email.

Only done a few turns so far, but the interface is nice, it runs on rubbish PCs and it's got a nice style to it.

Stay tuned for future updates, but first impressions are that it's well worth a look. Could be an indie sleeper smash. Or something.

Sonic The Hedgehog Demo (360)

I tried this again to see if I was being too hard on it before.

I wasn't.

Need For Speed: Carbon Demo (360)

Bloody awful.

I played it yesterday when I was off work sick and could only stand it for about a minute before the horrible framerate made my head feel like it had split in two. (Before playing it merely felt like my head was in danger of splitting in two.)

You can play around and customise bits of your car before racing, but beyond the spoiler I doubt anybody would notice any difference during the racings. (Especially in the in-car view, obviously.)

Anyway, the framerate is no better than Most Wanted last year and the racing seems significantly more annoying and handling much more sludge-like.

I am not impressed.

Sonic The Hedgehog Demo (360)

No, I've not played it again, but I've written something I think begins to sum up how bad it is -

Imagine you get into work to find your boss at the door with a cardboard box of your belongings telling you to go home. Forever. So you walk home in the rain, stepping on dogshit twice on the way. On your doormat is a letter from the bank saying they've discovered errors in your account dating back twelve years and you owe them $57,583.10, payable immediately. Annoyed, you kick the cat, which lands at an awkward ankle and breaks its neck. It's yelping in pain and confusion, trying the drag itself across the floor by its chin, so you put it out of its misery with a heavy book. Just then the doorbell rings and it's your wife's parents come to collect the book they lent you. Which you're holding in your hands. Covered in cat brains. And an eyeball. With a dead cat lying on the hallway carpet behind you. They turn in disgust and leave, their Volvo running over your prize-winning flowers in their haste to exit your driveway. Then you go upstairs to find your wife to tell her about your day and find she's been brutally murdered. Her brains - looking not unlike the cat's - are spread all over your bed. You call the police and they arrest you and beat you in the cells and feed you food they've all pissed in, but by mid-evening come to the conclusion that you're not a murderer and it was all the work of a gang of seventeen men she had been sleeping with every day for several months while you were at work. The police therefore simply charge you with animal cruelty and release you on bail. You get home to find you've been burgled because the police investigators left your front door open. All that's left is your TV and Xbox 360. And a tightly coiled turd in the middle of your living room floor. So you sit down on the floor, away from the turd, download the Sonic demo and play it and it's the worst thing that's happened to you all day. That's how bad it is.

42 All-Time Classics (DS)

Thank fuck for that.

I've finished the incredibly painful Stamp mode, which means I've got all the games unlocked.

Really, it was horrible, horrible, horrible. Some of the games just made no sense whatsoever to my poor brain.

Awful.

Dark Messiah of Might & Magic Demo (PC)

Oooh pretty.

Freezes for half a second whenever it fancies - maybe when it loads a new sound effect? - which shouldn't be a big deal, but as it tends to happen during combat and set pieces kind of ruins the game.

Same problem as in Half-Life 2, as it happens, but it happens to a much greater extent here.

Half-Life 2: Episode One (PC)

COMPLETED!

Very good game when it wasn't crashing all over the place. I'm thinking about playing Half-Life 2 through again now, but I might wait for the 360 version and play it there instead.

Company Of Heroes (PC)

Just had to defend a French town from a German invasion.

Awesome.

I failed the first time, but was far better prepared the second time and withstood the onslaught with the use of barbed wire, mines, anti-tank guns, sandbags, machine guns and, eventually, tanks.

And a sniper.

Very, very intense.

Company of Heroes (PC)

Another mission. I had to capture a town. The main thing I discovered is that snipers are utter, utter bastards.

I'm really loving this game. It's nice to have a few small squads that you care about, rather than billions of tanks.

It's a really about using everyone to the full and trying to make sure they survive. I'm doing far fewer suicide runs in this than in a standard RTS.