Apparently some people have been having issues getting hold of the beta client due to the sheer number of folks trying to get it, so if you’re having issues, please keep on trying – more capacity is being added all the time.
For those of you already in, you can head over to the forums and post your feedback.
See you on the Battlefield 
Further to my last, the PC beta of Battlefield Bad Company 2 will be going live at 6pm tonight.
If you have a key, head over to Multiplay to download the game.
See you on the Battlefield
No doubt you’ve read Gordon’s recent posts on the blog and know that the PC beta of Battlefield Bad Company 2 is coming on January 28th.
The easiest way to participate is to pre-order the game, and there are some retailers giving out keys – Gordon’s posts have details of that. I’ve just snagged myself some keys (cheers Joe ) in preparation so no doubt I will suddenly become exceptionally popular with folks over the next few days…
It’s really important as many people as possible try and take part, as it gives us invaluable info not just about any potential in-game issues but also how the back end fares when being hammered under a real load, so get yourself a key and have at it.
See you on the Battlefield
As usual nothing happens around here for ages, then I remember and reckon I better spout something to keep the two or three people who actually visit this site mildly amused.
Anyway, this one is a bit overdue to be honest – just after Christmas I transferred some of my WAR characters from Eltharion to Karak Norn as the population was higher and I also wanted to try a Core server and see what the difference is.
I also took the opportunity recently to join a new guild, one of the top guilds on the server. I had a little trepidation at first because these guys are pretty good and I was a little worried about letting the side down, but as it turned out I needn’t have because as well as being top notch players they’re all top notch folks too, always ready to help out with equipment, advice and so on.
I won’t mention the guild name here as I don’t want people to get the impression that they are getting some kind of advantage from having an EA employee in the guild (which let me assure you they’re not) but they know who they are…
See you on the battlefield
With all the hoo-ha over dedicated servers or the lack thereof in certain games, there has been much discussion around Gordon Van Dyke’s comments about Bad Company 2 having dedicated servers.
It was interesting to see that many people assume that this is the first console Battlefield title to have dedicated servers, but actually every Battlefield game ever has had them, from 1942 through to Heroes, BC2 and 1943. You may not see them, but they’re always there.
Just wanted to clear that up
Picture the scene – the blasted wastelands of the Umbra Chaotica, the ill winds howling around the battlements of Charon’s Keep.
Approaching this dread bastion comes a force to be reckoned with; some 300 Order players, intent on taking the keep and opening the way to the Inevitable City.
Facing this horde are a mere three warbands of Orcs, Gobbos, Druchii and Chaos warped Northmen…
That’s right folks, last night we had an absolutely epic keep defense in Chaos Wastes. A huge zerg of nearly 300 Order players descended and laid waste to the zone. We had just under three warbands, about 60 players. Normally this would be an absolute wipe, but somehow we managed to hold them at the inner keep doors long enough for the outer doors to close, at which point their assault crumbled and we pushed them right back to their warcamp, whereupon they fled the zone and went to look for easier pickings elsewhere.
I have to say I think it was one of the best nights I’ve ever had in WAR (albeit spoiled slightly by the lag of over 400 players in one place), so a hearty well done and “WAAAAAGH!” to my fellow Greenskins, and a hearty botty-belch to the ‘umiez,’ dem fairy elf boyz an’ dem stuntiez…
Stuntiez?
STUNTIEZ!
SMASH DEM STUNTIEZ AN’ STEAL DEY STUFF!
Sorry, started coming over all Orcish at the end there…
See you on the battlefield
Well, Christmas has come and gone again but the fun goes on. The continuing Keg End Live Event in Warhammer is proceeding apace and will do so until January 5th, so you’ve still got time to join in if you wish. I managed to snag myself an elusive Battlebrew Backpack that I missed out on last year which needless to say I was chuffed with, but it made me wonder – should items be re-used in future events or should they be a one time deal? I have various titles and items that I got from events and they are unique to me; they mark you out as having been there and done it.
One example of this is the Signet of the Cursed Company. This item was awarded for pre-ordering Battleforge, and if you didn’t, then you couldn’t get the item. In a way I can understand why they would choose to make it available again (at least in the US) as part of the Call to Arms program, but for those of us that had it from before it seems somehow cheapened when you see great hordes of folks clattering about as skeletons.
I suppose the same could be said of the Battlebrew Backpack. I had actually resigned myself to never having this and it made me more determined to not miss any future events, but now I have one and while I was happy about it at first I now find myself kind of wishing they hadn’t done it. It’s a tricky one…
Anyway, further fun on the Christmas side of things can be found in the form of the Midnight Riders who recently released their Christmas single from which this post draws it’s name. Here’s hoping the boys make it into L4D2 as DLC or anything else soon. In the meantime, head over to their YouTube channel and check it out.
If anyone wants me, I’ll be sitting here with some milk, some cookies and my shotgun trained on the chimney…
This is absurd. I’ve just been through three supposedly “leading” book stores and not one of them had a copy of Homer’s “Illiad” or Plato’s “Republic”. The classics section in two of them were absolutely tiny, and one shop that didn’t even have a classics section – the stores are instead taken up with masses of “true crime” and endless biographies of non-entities, most of whom I’ve never even heard of, or the inevitable “health and well being” rubbish for people who think buying a book about healthy living will magically cancel out the masses of sugary crap they eat every day.
Seriously, no wonder the level of literacy in this country is in the state it’s in. I remember as a child reading Aesop’s Fables, the 12 Labours of Herakles (not Hercules as it is commonly mispelled – thanks for nothing Disney), Dickens, Bronte, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Hardy, the list is endless; or at least I thought it was. Apparently there’s no room in modern literature for people who can actually spell, who can use the intricacies of our fair language to craft a masterpiece, oh no, today we get drivel half regurgitated in text speak designed to appeal to “da y00f” and the slimy under-dregs of society for whom the winner of some banal TV “talent” show actually has meaning.
It gets worse online. I searched the self proclaimed leading e-book store for Homer’s Odyssey and found some book about a blind cat called Homer. The same search on Amazon gave me a whole bunch of Simpsons related merchandise, Play was much the same and at that point I gave up and sank my head into my hands in despair.
How did this happen? Did IQs just drop sharply over the last few years? Or perhaps it’s just me? I remember when I used to commute into London daily and getting strange looks from people on the train because I was reading Shakespeare – people used to ask me if I was rehearsing for a performance, although the acidic look they received usually meant they didn’t ask again. I read The Canterbury Tales in the original Middle English and I freely admit the first time through I hardly understood a word but I persevered and taught myself to read it. Give that to most kids these days and they would probably take one look and use the pages to roll a spliff.
I worry for the future of our society, I really do.
Some months ago I had the rare privilege of meeting Sir Richard Noble, something of a hero of mine and definitely a man who puts the “engine” in engineering.
For anyone out there who’s been in a coma for the last 30 years, Sir Richard broke the land speed record in Thrust 2 in 1983, reaching over 633MPH. He also lead the team that build Thrust SSC (SuperSonic Car), the first land vehicle to break the sound barrier. Piloted by Wing Commander Andy Green, Thrust SSC achieved a stunning 763MPH in 1997 (I say piloted as it was basically a jet fighter without wings…).
You may be familiar with Sir Richard’s latest little project. If you’re not, you might think breaking the sound barrier on land would be enough for some people, but not these guys. Like me, this team is passionate about engineering and getting young people passionate about it too, and they figure the best way to do that is to build Bloodhound SSC, a car designed to reach an absolutely staggering 1000MPH and I know if anyone can do it, they can.
Bloodhound is powered not only by the jet engine from a Eurofighter Typhoon, but also a hybrid rocket, both providing over 47500lbs of thrust, which is the equivalent of 180 Formula One race cars. Everything about this car is impressive – how many cars do you know that use a full size racing engine as a fuel pump?
Why am I posting this today? Simple – today the final design was unveiled, a massive milestone.
Anyway, the entire project is being funded through sponsorship and donations so head on over to the Bloodhound website and make a donation. It doesn’t matter if you’re from the UK or not – this project is designed to inspire the next generation of engineers the world over, and that deserves global support. It doesn’t matter how many boffins we have in labs and such, because without engineers nothing gets built and let’s face it – who doesn’t want to see a car that can beat a fighter jet in a drag race? 
Understandably, we have quite a few Logitech G5 mice in the office, one of which I’ve been using for the last couple of years so when it came time to buy a new mouse to use at home, it seemed a no-brainer to get a G5. I ordered one from an online dealer I had previously used with no issue and it arrived a couple of days later.
I used the mouse happily for a week and then suddenly it stopped working. I tried it on several PCs at work and home but it was dead, so I called the retailer and sent it back. Imagine my annoyance a few days later when they returned the mouse to me, told me it was working fine and charged me £20 for the privilege. More annoyingly, when I called them and told them the mouse in fact didn’t work and all the things I’d tried, they told me all I could do was register a complaint which would be dealt with by a manager. Needless to say this could only be done online – heaven forbid you could actually speak to said manager… Anyway I did as they asked only to get a fairly snotty mail back on Friday telling me they were not going to refund or replace the mouse and if I sent it back all they would do is charge me again; effectively they told me to bugger off and call Logitech.
As you can imagine I was slightly put out by this.
Not to be deterred, I decided to do just that so off I went to Logitech’s website to find a phone number. I was pleasantly surprised to see they were open on Saturdays, so I called them today. I had a bit of a wait to get through, but eventually I was put through to an American sounding chap by the name of Mike. I explained the situation to Mike and we went through some trouble shooting steps although it was clear to both of us that the mouse had gone the way of the Dodo. Anyway, the long and short of it is that Mike told me I could have a replacement mouse, but they didn’t have any G5s about, so instead would I accept a G500? The G500, for those who don’t know, is twice the price of the G5, has more buttons and is generally a step up, so naturally I said I’d be delighted. Turns out this mouse will be delivered free of charge in the next week or so.
So good job Logitech and more importantly good job Mike – after the fuss I had with the retailer you’ve restored my flagging faith in the consumer packaged goods market, and if anyone from Logitech is reading this – give Mike a pay rise