September 2010 Issue of NAG out This Week

It’s nearly that time again. Yeah, last Thursday of the month. And that means NAG time! The post detailing it over at NAG Online was up early this time.

As you can see, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II gets the cover, and should also get an award for one of the longest video game titles in recent memory. It makes Rage a great pleasure to type in comparison.
Previews include Dead Rising 2, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days (there’s a review of it in the Techno Times supplement that comes with the Cape Times – it turns out it ain’t that good, just average). There’s also a look at Portal 2, Fable III, which will be hitting the PC this time too, and Killzone 3.

Reviews don’t seem to have anything special apart a feature review on StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. Cracking game that. I’m playing it right now.

The Cover DVD has a demo of Kane & Lynch 2 on it (my brother all ready bought the game – I’ll have to ask him if it’s worth a try). It also says there on the contents page that there are 11 Free games, and of course the videos. All 200 of them. Well, it’s not that many – about 153 at least – but close enough.
----
Source: [NAG Online]

September 2010 Issue of NAG out This Week

Fallout 3: Chicken Licken [Random Madness]

I saw this clever advert on TV recently for Chicken Licken – a local restaurant and takeout chain.

It involved a family who in 1994, decided that because of the fears surrounding the upcoming election at the time and the changing of the guard from one government to the the other, along with the end of apartheid and the beginning of democracy (look up South African history to find out more), that it would be safer to move out of their house… and move underground; exactly underneath the plot in a bunker or vault of sorts.
They lived there for the next sixteen years, living off of nothing but canned food until one day, the father in the family got sick and tired of the living conditions and left to go topside – the first time in over a decade and a half.

After a few days, the son, now grown up and a young adult, decided that his father had been away for too long. Fearing the worst, he packed his bags and went up onto the surface himself to try and track his father down.

A family who has been underground might expect the world to be a very different place – and it was. As the son emerged from the depths of the underground, he found himself in… a Chicken Licken restaurant. The place had been built where the old house used to be.
After looking around in awe for awhile, he locked eyes with his father who was sitting down at one of the tables, hogging out on loads of chicken pieces, after having to put up with viennas and canned spam for a long time.

“Pa?” the son uttered.

The father stopped chewing ravenously for a short while to say, “Se vir ma ek’s nou daar.” (Tell mom I’ll be there now).

It was one of the more amusing ads on TV, but it took a few showings for me to make connections. It’s obvious that the story here and the one in Fallout 3 are quite similar; apart from the time frame and the conditions which lead to the father leaving. But it did involve living in a vault, with the father leaving after a time, and the son following him.

Of course in Fallout 3 the player character had never been to the surface until the day he went looking for his dad, James, whereas the son nicknamed “Boetie” in the ad was born on the surface but left with his family to move into the vault at about the age of three or four. When he emerged however in 2010, he was about the same age as the player character in Fallout 3: nineteen.

Coincidence? Interesting, nonetheless.

Fallout 3: Chicken Licken [Random Madness]

New Article: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Could be the Death of the Series

The other day S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was officially announced. I took the opportunity to publish an article the other day on HubPages that talked about how it might not be such a good thing.

The game’s engine is a multiplatform one, with console versions becoming more likely with the sequel, and part of me thinks it could end up being the end of a great PC exclusive series. Rough, raw, and largely unpolished… but still great. Here’s to hoping that the sequel actually comes through.

New Article: S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Could be the Death of the Series

Chaos Kenridge Moving Next Month

Chaos Computers is the fastest rising computer and technology-orientated retail chain in the Cape. There are stores in Kenilworth, Cape Gate, and Parklands.

The store that started it all is in Kenridge, Durbanville. Initially it was located in a pokey room which used to be an apartment overlooking the local petrol station and shopping centre. But eventually the first floor was used for businesses instead, with the ground floor belonging to a car showroom. Slowly it expanded and incorporated the room next to it, and after that another room.

The last time I visited, the store was barely half the length of the Kenridge Computer Academy’s floor space. But that’s about to change, seeing as I read in the paper the other day that after all this time, they are going to be taking the leap and moving to another location.
Next month, on 1 September, Chaos Computers will be moving from Kenridge to Willowbridge Shopping Centre.

It’s a move that I anticipated long ago. I thought they would either end up going to Willowbridge, or Tyger Valley Shopping Centre – which is just across the main road. But there are all ready established computer stores in TV - like Computer Mania and CompuCity, which have been there for years. I think Willowbridge was a good idea in this regard seeing as there’s less competition.

The only thing is that seeing as Willowbridge is a more upmarket venue than before, I have doubts that the low prices that made Chaos so favourable in the past will still be adhered to. The rent of a bigger store in such a place, which is often frequented by tourists and the like, and considered by some to be more upmarket, may end up pushing up the prices.

Well, we’ll have to see. The Grand Opening of the new and improved store will take place on Friday, September 3, 2010.

 ----
Source: Chaos [via TygerBurger]

Chaos Kenridge Moving Next Month

New Article: The BrotherHood – Celebrating Hoods!

Hoodie Day [12 August – NZ]

I put up a new article on one of my HubPages profiles just lately. It’s been a while since I’ve done one. This one is called The BrotherHood: Hooded Characters in Video Games.

As you can tell, it’s about hooded characters in video games. Think Garrett from Thief.

I decided to put it up there as an article, seeing as there’s quite a lot of content to go along with it. I was initially going to post it here on the blog, but thought I would just do this short post talking about it instead and link to it.

There’s pictures of each of the characters mentioned, or most of them anyway, along with a poll to vote for whoever is your favourite. Games are mentioned in chronological order, right from ROTT in 1995, up to Thi4f, which is yet to come out.

I thought it was a good idea to to publish it now seeing as this week, on the 12th, today, is Hoodie Day. Well, in New Zealand, anyway, alongside the UN's International Youth Day. I started working on the idea about a year ago. It’s been sitting on my HD since then, and I was just waiting for this particular day to come along.

New Article: The BrotherHood – Celebrating Hoods!

HubPages Turns 4 This Month, Partners with ClickTurn

I’ve been a member over on HubPages for the last two years. It’s said to be one of the web’s leading content publishing sites – rivalling the likes of Squidoo, Helium and other such places, some of which may have been around for longer.

This month, HubPages turns 4. It was founded back in 2006 by the “two Pauls” – Paul Edmondson and Paul Deeds. There’s now a staff of several people, and not to mention probably a few hundred or even thousand people who are registered, and publish articles, or hubs, with the easy creation and editing tools.

HubPages likely has one of the better communities out there, and the user experience, interface, and so on is always being improved seeing as the HP staff and engineers are always listening to requests for features and other suggestions. It’s most definitely a website I don’t regret joining. They’ve made some great changes to the overall look over the past year or two.

Right now, HubPages is in the process of extending its revenue generating options. For some time now it has utilized Google Adsense, Amazon, EBay, and Kontera as a means for people to generate passive income from their hubs. This month they have begun a partnership with ClickTurn – a company which supposedly has a new and fresh approach to advertising with its interactive styled ads. These ads often have videos and links to Facebook and Twitter pages and the like embedded within. They look as though they’re more social than the usual ads have been up until now.

It’s a new company, but seemingly won over HP, with the promise that soon we will be able to use these ads on our hubs, either to supplement earnings with other programs, or as a replacement.

If you’re still not a member of one of the hottest places on the net, then you should join now and start with your online web presence and passive income generating efforts. Even if it’s just for backlinks to your blogs and so on. People on there have multiple reasons for joining – and staying. There are writers, photographers, artists, sculptors, and people in other professions from all walks of life. You’ll like it. Promise.

Happy Birthday HubPages, and here’s to many more years!

HubPages Turns 4 This Month, Partners with ClickTurn

The Verge Returns: Coming Back This Week

Just over a couple of months ago, the somewhat popular show about video games on Vuzu, called The Verge, went off the air for a hiatus which was said to last a couple of months.

During this time two new shows made an appearance on the channel: GameFace and The Ginx Files. PlayR, the taped version and predecessor of The Verge, continued to be shown as well. There were also a number of changes to the days when these programs were shown, in addition to the changed timeslots before that.

Anyway, this week, Monday the 2nd of August, sees The Verge return to regular, live programming, you might be pleased to hear.

For the past two months or more, we’ve been forced to sit and endure reruns of past episodes. I’m still left wondering why exactly it was that the break took place in the first place, and I’m also still anticipating some changes that may have been made to the format or appearance of the show – such as the disappearance of that bar with all the SMSs and messages that shows up at the bottom. But fat chance of that happening anyway.

You can follow updates on The Verge at their Facebook page, Twitter, and the main website.

The Verge Returns: Coming Back This Week