30-08-2007

TLEG.net is back online, baby! Relocated! Renamed! Revamped and better than (n)ever!

I'm so excited that I've finally got my site back. And yep, its now changed from TLEG.net to SmashBall.net, for reasons I'll reveal when I can be bothered to. Right now, all you need to know us the following:

a) I'm currently enjoying an unexpected extention to my week-long holiday in Amsterdam. Which, of course, is very awsome.
b) I'm getting trained up to be promoted at work. Bossing people around never gets old.
c) Thanks to the amazing (and sometimes sneaky) persuasive powers of my friend* I'm seriously considering finally letting go of my irrational dislike of getting back into education and will soon be going either back to college, or even straight to university. Oh, and I'll also be moving to a new city and house of my own. Which is nice.

Hmmm. Things are pretty good at the moment for me really. This time last year, I'd never have thought that a) through c) would ever have been likely to happen to me anytime soon. But now they are.

So, in summary:
\o/


*this friend happens to be the one who not only paid for me to come to Amsterdam with her, but also persuaded me to not get back to the UK then next day after we'd missed out flight (so I could get back to work) and stay here for another 5 days instead. She's a bit great really.


Oops, nearly forgot. I've also got a MySpace page now. It's a bit on the empty side though.

PS - She also did this:



I'm the bald one..

06-11-2005

PSP video converter thingy

A few things I've been reccomending to people buying PSPs that might be handy for converting video files and dvds to play on Sony's new handheld:

PSP Video 9 (4.46mb) - this nifty little freeware app easily and quickly can convert any video file on your computer into .MP4 format, and it even detects your PSP (when linked to your PC via the USB cable) and copies the files straight over to it. Brill stuff.

01-11-2005

More cool Nintendo stuff

With the upcoming very cool-looking Mario Smash Football (or Mario Super Strikers or whatever it's being called now) Nintendo are going to be releasing a Gamecube console bundle pack, with a limited edition white 'Cube that's out in the UK on November 18th (click for larger image):

I don't know about you, but I really want one kinda badly...

And in DS news, the dude who created Final Fantasy, Hironobu Sakaguch, is making a brand new RPG called Archaic Sealed Heat (or ASH for short) exclusively for the DS. The graphics (which are apparently pre-rendered, like in the early Resident Evil games and stuff) look amazing.

31-10-2005

'Burnout Legends' DS video

Kinda groovy, graphics are better than I thought the DS could achieve.

Burnout Legends DS (rightclick 'save as' - .mov file - 6.49mb)

29-10-2005

New job, psycho parents, and aging

I'm back online (again) after a month of being temporarily disconnected (again); started a new job at GAME in the Trafford Centre last week which is going amazingly well, great pay too (£5.54/hr) and since my last post I've celebrated another day of birth. Go me!

It's currently 06.51am right now & I'm kinda tired; I'll go into more detail about my psycho parents later on in the day, coz I know you guys can't wait to read that stuff..

:)

23-09-2005

Eve Online video

In case any of you've been wondering why I've not mentioned anything about the excellent Eve Online lately, it's because I've not been on it for a few months; I've not been able to afford it. I am getting back into it though, hopefully no later than next week, and it's been making the gaming news sites because it's reached another record of the number of players simultaneously in space (a whopping 15,000!) and a new fancy official trailer that's making the rounds too.

However, as good as the trailer is (and it's very good), personally I still don't think it's as good as this fan-made trailer, which shows plenty of epic player versus player space battles, and totally blew me away the first time I watched it:

Eve video - Vanguard (rightclick > 'save as' - .wmv - 33.5mb)

22-09-2005

Official Firefly music album available for download

Wow. Fox Music finally gave in to fans demands and made an album of music from Firefly available for download. You have to make up a US address for some reason, and apparently the files are in .WMA format, but if you want to put them on your iPod or whatever it's pretty easy to make an audio cd out of them and then turn the cd into mp3's.

Get it here, just $9.99 (about £5.56).

Very cool Firefly & Serenity t-shirts available

Link

Serenity preview screening report & music samples

The Serenity preview screening yesterday was, in a word, amazing. I don't want to even vaguely describe anything about the film (because of spoilers), but it's enough to say that it surpassed my expectations, and they were pretty high to begin with. Also, two of the people I watched it with had no knowledge of the tv show beforehand, and they really enjoyed the film too. I can't wait to see it again when it's released nationwide on October 7th.

I've made my personal (and very unofficial) compilation of music from Serenity and Firefly, both instrumental and songs. I might add some more music to the album/playlist but at the moment you can get it here (33mb)

01. David Newman - Serenity (music clip from the film)

02. David Newman - Going for a Ride (music clip from the film)

03. David Newman - The Trading Station Part 1 (music clip from the film)

04. David Newman - The Trading Station Part 2 (music clip from the film)

05. Sonny Rhodes - Ballad of Serenity

06. Escape Key - Mal's Song (wonderful extended version of'Ballad of Serenity')

07. Joss Whedon - Ballad of Serenity

08. The Hero of Canton (clip from 'Jaynestown')

09. Adam Baldwin - Hero of Canton (from Firefly DVD extras)

10. Ballad of Joss (fan-made tribute song to Joss to the tune of 'Hero of Canton)

11. Greg Edmonson - Firefly End Credits Theme

Click here to pre-order the official 'Serenity' David Newman OST from Amazon, released October 10th, just £11.99.

I've also begun work on a dedicated Firefly/Serenity microsite which is coming along really well and is a great excuse for me to get away from the basic/minimalist look of the site and start using fancy things like drop-down menus and a bit of flash navigation and things.. It should be finished soon.

In case you've not seen Firefly yet (the excellent tv show which the Serenity movie is a follow-up to), you can get the full series dvd boxset from Play.com for just £26.99, with free delivery.

19-09-05

Prime report and Serenity preview tickets

I managed to (finally, after what happened last time I tried) get tickets to a Serenity preview showing for tomorrow night in Liverpool the other day, though today when I went to check my bank statement I got panicky coz they didn't show up on my bank statement. However I managed to call up someone on the phone and they went to double-checked wether the 3 tickets were definately pre-booked and they were, thank god. There still seems to be loads of tickets available for the nationwide preview at 20:30 tomorrow night, check here if there are any near you.

17-09-2005

Prime ahoy!

It's now 8:24am, I've just semi-finished packing, and I'm in the middle of eating breakfast. In about 15 minutes I'm hoping to be out of the door and on my way to Blackpool for Prime. Woooooooooooooooo!

I've got a really bad paranoid feeling that there won't be any day tickets left for sale when I get there; damn my lack-of -planning last-minute-ness!

I'll have loads of groovy photos and videos to put up here on Monday, can't wait to get there now!

16-09-2005

Nintendo Revolution controller finaly revealed

Oh. My. God. The fabled Nintendo Revolution controller has finally been revealed... and... it's a remote controller (!) with some sort of... analogue-stick add-on attatched. Duuuude... I think Shigsy's been at the mario 'shrooms again.. Evil Avatar news thread link.

Official Nintendo Revolution trailer (very cool - shows the controller in-use) - 16.7mb .mov file righclick > 'save as'

From Evil Avatar:

"You've been waiting for it, now get ready to see it.

Tonight, Nintendo's President Satoru Iwata will unveiled what they considered to be the revolutionary aspect of the Nintendo Revolution: the controller. The iPod-colored, TV remote-like device was shown off on stage at the Tokyo Game Conference while users on GameSpot's Revolution Boards proceeded to max out at least one thread before it was all said and done.

Users grew panicky when Iwata stated that he wouldn't be releasing new details on the Nintendo WiFi Connection service until October, but fortunately… it was only a few minutes later that Iwata lifted our spirits and held the controller high in the air for all to see. The single-handed, wireless device includes an on/off switch, quad-directional analog pad, an enlarged "A" button, "Start"/"Select" buttons, a "Home" button to instantly reach the "Dashboard"-like Revolution interface, four LEDs to show which player you are (1 through 4), and a set of "A"/"B" buttons.

The purpose of the additional "A" button and the coinciding "B" button you ask? Well, if you decide to spill your heart out over an NES classic like "Big Nose", you can actually flip the "remote" on its side and comfortably hold the controller like you would a standard NES controller (d-pad on the left, A/B buttons on the right, Select/Start buttons in the middle).

Located conveniently at the bottom of the "remote", players will find a slot to insert the other "half" of the Revolution's controller unit. Although Nintendo and third-party manufacturers will be able to utilize the port with their own adapters, Iwata decided to only show off the handheld analog stick with two buttons located on the back side of the unit. The cord did appear quite short in this photo, but I suppose we can worry about that at a later time."

1-Up's feature on the new controller.

Um... wow. I guess. I think my brain is slowly readjusting to the possibilities offered by this damn cool tilt-sensitive contoller will have for games. Heh, at least people won't be complaining about Metroid Prime 3's aiming system anymore - you see a space pirate out of the corner of your eye? Just point the controller 'at it' and fire!

... wow.

'Prime' Buffy convention, Serenity UK preview tickets & more next-gen games screens

The last-ever Starfury Buffy convention starts today in Blackpool at the good old Norbreck Castle Hotel. I really wish I could be there on the first day, but what with my current having-got-fired-last-week scenario and all, I can only really afford to go for the Saturday and Sunday. It ain't such a big deal, as I've met quite a few of the guests at past cons, and all off the guest talks and autograph sessions seem to be repeated over Saturday and Sunday.

I really can't wait to get there on Saturday morning; as well as all the obvious excitement of a Starfury con (which are always excellent without fail), I get to see all my mates again who I've got to know though the cons and who I don't usually get to see very often, what with most of them living in silly far-away areas of the country.

Nearly 2 weeks before the official UK release date, Cantstopthesignal.co.uk have been offering preview tickets for the finished final print of 'Serenity' on the 20th of September (this coming Tuesday) at this link; I've been lucky enough to have beat the cues of rabid Serenity fans and have managed to book myself a ticket to the Nottingham showing. I would have preferred to get one for the Liverpool or Leeds showing, as they're nearer to me and most likely a bit cheaper to get to from Manchester, but for some reason the Odeon online ticket booking site didn't seem to like my Maestro card for some reason. Silly Odeon! Can't believe I'm finally getting to see Serenity early after what happened the last time I tried to book a ticket..

There've been some more tasty-looking screenshots and magazine scans of upcoming next-gen games, Metal Gear Solid 4 (what's with grandad porno-tache wearing Snake? Eh?), Devil May Cry 4 (nice, though Dante looks a bit femininne) and Resident Evil 5 (*jaw drops*). Enjoy! (click image for fullsize)

Metal Gear Solid 4:

Devil May Cry 4:

Resident Evil 5:

Also, another very interesting thing, is this as-yet-unconfirmed photo of a slide (supposedly) showing off the mega-uber-top-secret Nintendo Revolution's UI (from EvilAvatar):

Is that a pic of the still-unrevealed Revolution pad I see at the bottom of the screen? Gosh...

11-09-2005

Next-gen Sonic game screenshots

Got these from the always brilliant games news site, Evil Avatar (who in turn got them from the also-great 1-Up). The next-gen Sonic game is going to be multiplatform again, and is coming out on Xbox360 and PS3. It looks sweeeeeeeeeet too (click images for fullsize):

See, with those jaw-dropping screens, the Killzone 2 trailer (even if none of it is in-game graphics) and the prospect of Resident Evil 5, I'm finally getting excited about next-gen consoles (my enthusiasm for the Nintendo Revolution is implied by default, and I will be getting one on day one even though I still don't know what kind of crazy fabrication Shigsy excpects me to control Mario128 with).