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 …

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 …

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 …

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…

Need: New Tony Hawk game

Let’s pretend that Ride and Shred never existed, yes? Because, really, they didn’t. It was all a horrible, horrible dream. Now that we have erased them from all of time, let us instead look at Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater HD – the second best thing that could ever happen(*). A remake of levels from THPS games, in HD. On XBLA. Yes. NEED. * The best thing would be a 3DS compilation of THPS1-4, but this’ll do for now.

The wheel turns again

Which wheel? The Sonic Cycle wheel, of course. I will not be suckered again (you know I will) after the disappointment that was Sonic 4. And Sonic Colours. And two versions of Sonic Generations. I think that word pretty much sums up Sonic games these days – disappointment. A single play of the Sonic 4 Episode 2 trailer already shows some obvious problems. Firstly, most importantly, and most obviously – Tails. Gnnh. Just kill him off already. Then there’s the …

Pound-a-Mile Update – 200 Miles!

When I started this, I really didn’t think I’d manage 200 miles in a year. Not without a struggle, anyway. Yet somehow, I’ve hit 200 miles in just my first month. 207.87 miles, to be more precise. Not only that, but I’ve also forced myself to cycle every day so far this year. OK, so one of those days was on an exercise bike due to my inner tube literally EXPLODING and I didn’t have a spare, but still. And …

Managed network install of Google Chrome Frame

If you’re locked into using Internet Explorer on your network, for whatever reason, you’ll probably find that there are some websites that simply don’t work properly, and ask you to install a “modern browser” like Firefox or Chrome. Thing is, allowing other browsers on your network is fraught with technical support issues, especially if you use other systems that insist on only working properly in IE (like some Sharepoint stuff). You can’t rely on users to always use the right …

How to upgrade your Nintendo 3DS SD card

EDIT 25/10/2013: I’ve updated this guide to now include SDXC cards, which need to be specially formatted before you try to migrate. Find the new guide here. With demos now available on the 3DS eShop, it’s likely your original 2GB SD card will become a bit full, if it hasn’t done already. I found myself in this position today. Thankfully, I had a spare 4GB to “upgrade” to. You can, of course, just swap your old card for your new …