Vario IV

I think I may have found my new mobile...

My current phone is the T-Mobile MDA Vario II, based on HTC's TyTN hardware.

When HTC announced the TyTN II I was looking forward to owning it in the guise of T-Mobile's MDA Vario III. That was until the Sony Ericsson Xperia X1 made it's appearance.

Until the X1, I'd never really liked Sony Ericsson phones. I mean, I could appreciate what the hardware could do, but the style and the OS never really held my attention or imagination. But the X1? Designed by HTC, sporting - at least partly - Windows Mobile 6? It looked mean. It looked awesome. My only reservation was down to whether it would have lights to show connection status, charging status or message status. I know, it's odd, but it's so much easier to just glance at your phone and be able to tell these things from a couple of leds than it is to have to turn the screen on to check.

Anyway, since I still had a short while before I could upgrade, I decided to wait and have a look at both the Vario III and X1 and decide which one I like best.

Until today that is. Feeling a bit bored in work I fired up my browser and decided to see what was new on gsmarena. Lo and behold, I noticed the MDA Vario IV and Compact IV first look.

I'd already heard bits and pieces about the HTC Diamond (the Compact IV) and had heard the name Raphael along with it but this is the first time I've saw the hardware (also starting to be known, it seems, as the TyTN III) and I knew instantly that that is the new phone I must have.

I won't go into the details of the models here, head over to the first look if you want more info, but I think these are definitely something to look out for.

Oh God, what have I done...

So I've started playing Final Fantasy XI again.

I remember all the reasons I stopped playing but for some reason I really had an urge to jump in again.

I originally picked up the game on the PC because of a friend recommending it. I had already played other MMOs so I wasn't hitting unknown territory but I really didn't realise just what I was getting myself into.

For an established MMO that's been out for a while you know that the initial install can take a little time, there are always updates and fixes being applied, but 6 hours was a little bit over the odds. The actual install off of the game CDs took around an hour with the other 5 hours dedicated to downloading and installing the updates, and my internet connection at the time wasn't exactly slow.

This time I picked up the 2008 Edition of the game on 360 and, with a 20Mb connection, I set about installing and updating. With a much improved 3 hours setup, I was ready to begin playing.

With the PC version of the game, I always felt at odds with the control scheme. The game was originally made for the PlayStation 2 and as such was set up to be played with the PS2 controller. When the game was ported to the PC the pad style controls were essentially just mapped to the numeric keypad and cursor keys with little having been done to support a mouse and keyboard type setup. It always felt very awkward to me, so I was really interested in and looking forward to seeing how well it would actually play with a console controller. The good news is it's very intuitive and you can get down to business fairly quickly. The bad news is you really miss the keyboard when trying to type messages. Fortunately this was fixed by the purchase of a wireless keyboard and probably makes for the best style of play. With the 360 controller also working with Windows these days you could probably just do the same thing in reverse if you want to give it a try.

So far so good. On to Vana'diel...

The real test for me will be around the level 15 - 20 mark where, if you want to progress with any kind of speed, you really have to start grouping up with other people. The problem I have with this is that most people around the Dunes area are idiots. Plain and simple. I lost count of how many bad groups I got into and remember only two good ones. The issue I have is that when people start getting into groups, they start gunning for the hardest enemies they can find and this would only ever end in one of two ways; you win the fight, but take a lot of damage and need to rest/heal for ages before you can fight again, or you get tanked and killed.

The real problem with that is that you lose XP when you die. The problem with that is that you down-level when you lose enough XP. Down-levelling ain't fun...

In my opinion the secret at this stage is to pull smaller enemies that aren't quite as tough and go through as many as you can before you have to stop and heal up. Sure you get less XP per kill, but in the long run you can get more XP from a lot of smaller mobs than you can in the same time it takes for one big mob and it really keeps things flowing instead of stopping and starting all the time. People don't often listen though...

My friend (who still plays) assures me that it gets better after that because all the idiots get stuck at that point. Gee, what a surprise...

I'm currently a level 6 warrior killing bugs and rabbits in West Ronfaure in San'doria on the Hades server. More to come as things develop....

Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness...

Ok, so I promised my thoughts on RSPoD and here they are....

Between the two versions - PC & 360 - I have to say I prefer the 360 version.

They both have their good points (the bad points are pretty much the same for both and I've been playing more on the 360 so I'll talk about those in a minute); I prefer the using the controller for over the keyboard and mouse system for the PC version but it can be easier to select items in the environment with by using the mouse, especially when the items are close together and you're left trying to position yourself properly with the left thumbstick on the 360 controller.

Now, the bad points.

I personally think it would've been nice to be able to use the right thumbstick on the 360 controller to look around, even if just slightly. It feels odd these days to be in a 3D environment and to have an almost 2D camera. At the least I would've liked to have been able to use the right thumbstick to select between objects that are close together.

The only other bad point is the combat. The combat itself is fine, and fun for that matter, but the emphasis on blocking and countering your opponents attacks can be a real distraction. Don't get me wrong, it certainly engages you and keeps you on your toes, but the signal that you're about to be hit (the enemy's health bar will flash when the attack is about to connect) can be a little hard to read, resulting in a lot of partial blocks.

I've found the best way around this is just to wait for your special attack to charge up and concentrate on blocking/countering and damage control until then.

And that's it for bad points. The game is great in every other way. The story's good and the comedy is both high and low-brow and genuinely funny.

This first episode it setting us up for a great series I think.

Very Slick...

So after a short while with PA Adventures (Episode One) on the 360, I have to say that so far I'm impressed.

There are a couple of little problems/niggles I've got with it, but I feel they have more to do with the small size of the app itself (208MB on the PC and 160MB on the 360) and what they've done with that limit is pretty outstanding.

As I said before, I'm a fan of PA so the humour is connecting - which it may not for non-fans - and you might want to take what I say about it with a pinch of salt, but I'll do my best to talk about it from non-biased standpoint.

More on this when I've had a chance to play through more and check out the PC version...

Slick

This is one game I've been eager to get my hands on since it was announced...

On the Rain-Slick Precipice of Darkness : Episode One

I'm a huge Penny Arcade fan so I'm probably a little biased, but I'm sure this'll be one hell of a series.

If you're interested you can grab the game on PC from the Greenhouse or on xbla for the 360.

I'll probably grab both, to compare interfaces and ease of play...

Welcome to Liberty City

So I've been playing GTA IV, a little behind most other people but I didn't preorder or try and get it on the day of launch so I had to wait till it was back in stock.

I don't want to say too much about it right now since I'm nowhere near finished - at about 25 hours in I'm only about 20% through the game - but from what I have saw, it deserves a lot of the praise it's getting. I'm not really one for following review scores so I won't comment on the "perfect 10s" it's been getting but it is a great game and I'd recommend it to anyone.

I'll maybe talk some more about it when I'm nearer the end, or finished it, but then I might not. Other people may have already said enough about it already by that point...