Professor Layton and the Spectre’s Call (DS): COMPLETED!

The ending of this was much less dramatic than at least the last two Layton games. It didn’t matter, especially since this is a prequel, but I kept expecting something… more. That didn’t happen. Never mind though. Something else odd was how much easier the puzzles were in this one. I’ve not done them all yet (I think I’ve completed about 105 out of the 155 main ones), but I’m sure that the final few puzzles in the other games …

Xbox.com’s broken psychicness

On the Xbox Rewards site at the moment there’s a section where you can get a “user type” created, depending on how you use your Xbox. It’s here, if you want to do it. It is, of course, completely broken. Like everything else on xbox.com, whenever I’m asked anything about what I use my Xbox for, I’m careful to point out “Games”. And nothing else. No films, TV, music, social networking, chicken farming or strategic planning. Or Kinect. So I …

Batman: Arkham City (PC)

No, that isn’t a mistake up there. Nor an April Fool, despite the date. I really did say “PC”. Technically, it’s a Mac, but under Windows. Anyhoo. With a machine capable of playing it, and an offer of Arkham City for £11.60 (when the 360 version is still £20+), and a promise that you can just use a 360 controller and plug it into a TV, I was tempted enough to get it. And yes, all those things work. I’ll …

Restricting who an Exchange 2010 user gets email from

At work, we have an IT Helpdesk (as part of Spiceworks). Staff can email the helpdesk, and the helpdesk creates a work ticket and the IT staff get notified. It works well. However, the system is locked so that only people on the work domain, with work email addresses (lets say, @work.com) can email it. This was intentional, so it didn’t pick up spam and so staff didn’t email it from their home email accounts and so on. If this …

How I hate PC gaming

Ten years ago, I used to play quite a lot of PC games. Sim City, Tony Hawk, GTA, Rollcage, Half Life. Some of the Tomb Raiders and things like NOX too. I forget the rest. The last PC game I really sank any time into was Anarchy Online, back in 2005. Even that I didn’t play for long. Aside from brief prod at the Phantasy Star Online: Blue Burst demo, that was the end of my PC gaming. There were …

Professor Layton and the Spectre’s Call (DS)

I was so torn about getting this. I nearly bought the US version simply because it has Professor Layton’s London Life included (the UK version doesn’t), but then I’d have to put up with “Last Specter” (shudder) on the box, and Luke’s US voice, which may cause me to snap something. The obvious solution would be to buy both versions – this for the main game, and the US one for London Life. This may yet happen. I’m not very …

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (360)

Finally done with this now. I must say, the final couple of hours soured my experience a little, what with the wandering round waiting for money to generate just to get the last few books, and the awful first person sections, and even having done all them there were still no Revelations. Anyway, that’s pretty much all the non-multiplayer achievements done, aside from a few I really can’t be bothered with (not least because some of them involve playing the first …

Journey (PS3): COMPLETED!

Never before have I played a game to completion, without any clue as to what the hell I’m supposed to be doing for pretty much the entire duration. And I certainly didn’t expect it to only take an hour to do so. Still – it was an experience, f’shaw. Here be spoilers: You start off on a sand dune. You’re some sort of girl (possibly) wearing a scarf. There’s a mountain in the distance which you have to walk to. …

2011: The Games

It’s a little later in the year than usual, but, as is traditional, here’s my list of the best games of 2011. Also as previously noted, this is a list of the best five games I played in 2011, not necessarily those that came out then. As is becoming more common, I’m buying games well after release when they’re cheap. 5. escapeVektor (Wii) Criminally overlooked, this WiiWare gem is a fantastic Painter-type arcade game. I played it from start to finish …

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (360)

You know, sometimes it would be much easier to just read what the achievements are, and how to get them, before starting the game. Saves hours of repetition after completing the game, if I’d just thought to, say, do a few thief tasks or something at the start and then the achievement would just pop up through normal play. In this case, thief looting. If I’d unlocked it earlier in the game then I could use it to loot 50 …

Lego Batman 2: NEED!

I know a lot of people thought the original Lego Batman was the weakest of the Lego games, but I think it was awesome. And because I think that, it is fact. This looks even better though! Apart from the voice acting. Not too sure about Lego games with voice acting yet…

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations (360): COMPLETED!

Dear Ubisoft, I am a big fan of your historically almost-accurate hood-wearing murderous free-runner simulators, but despite having played your three most recent in relatively quick succession and anxiously anticipating the finale of the “Ezio Trilogy” and its associated Revelations, I was shocked to discover that you seem to have forgotten to include any. Unless, of course, I have to unlock them by playing this poor Welltris/Mirror’s Edge minigame to completion, which, frankly, isn’t going to happen. Not least because it is the …