Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands Verdict/Review
Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Pros:
- More Prince of Persia kind of platform gaming.
- Beautiful levels, design and graphics.
- Great presentation - slick and smooth.
- A good stand-alone game outside of the Sands of Time series.
- Interesting extra elements to the platform puzzles.
Cons:
- A few bugs made it so you couldn't progress. A reload fixed it.
- Constant reuse of the same 3 monsters and 3 bosses.
- Dodgy and annoying camera.
- Occassionally a jump sends you anywhere but where you wanted to go.
- Weak story but is in the same spirit as the other Prince of Persia games.
- Ubisoft DRM
Buy Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (Amazon.com)
Buy Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (PC DVD) (Amazon.co.uk)
Choices, Future, Present – What Now?
Time for one of those blog updates that are all about ME! Yeah, I know, I know but I don't enjoy writing these either. It is merely for me to understand what the hell is going on, getting it off my shoulders and be able to look at it from another perspective a bit.
I can't exactly go unemployed forever and since there is pretty much nothing available to a guy with my education, I need to move in a different direction. I have always wanted to educate myself more but have been unable to because of money and other circumstances.
I have always been someone who never know what he wanted to do with life. I know what I enjoy and that is about it. Sadly, most of those things I can't really do as a job - unless I get one of those "once in a thousand" jobs. So I just decided to study what I love and then take the job bridge when I get to it.
I have always played with the idea of going to the university, but lacked the means and personal freedom to do it - but I just wrote down what things I'd love to study. The list was shorter than I thought it would be, but one thing just stuck out from everything else: English.
I've always loved languages, especially Danish and English - but have also loved English literature and their culture (to an extend) - so it felt like a bit of a natural choice. Happy and fulfilled that I have finally found something I thought I might like, I researched it a bit and decided to send an application right away, since a good friend told me I still had a few days to apply in.
Alas, the rejection came mere 2 days later. I had missed one point that said I needed another language at the highest level (Here in Denmark, we have a system. A is the highest "level" you can learn, while F is the lowest). That is, I need Danish at A, English at A and another language at A. I researched it a bit further and realized that every field in the "Humanitarian" group (Pretty much just languages, cultures and such) requires this. I shook my head because there was no logic in this at all, especially since English is pretty much every Dane's secondary language. Why would I need to know a third language at such a high level to learn more about English?
I sent a complaint about this decision and got a rapid response back. Obviously, they won't budge - but they told me that it was the government that changed this in 2008. Great, if I had just applied back fucking then, I would be so happy. I am told that I am welcome to apply once I fulfill these criterion.
After this, I started to look for other educations but have been unable to find anything that really interests me. The only other thing is what is called "Writer's School", but they only take in 8 people a year out of about 250-500 applicants.
I am still quite interested in taking English and since I have Spanish at a C, I will only need to study Spanish at B and A. But it is only select schools in this country that teach this and even fewer that teach a language from the ground up to A - so my hands are a bit tied on that matter. To add to the fact, if I want to learn this in under a year, I will have to move to Copenhagen - which is certainly not an easy or cheap city in live in and I will have absolutely no job or cash flow. If I want to do Spanish B and A in 2 years, I can go to Aalborg, a city where most of my friends live, but I think that 2 years it too long to wait. Incidentally, before I thought about education, I had also thought about just moving to Aalborg and get a job up there until I figure out what I want or until I find a job I actually like.
So right now, I have absolutely no idea what the fuck to do. I also have the faint thought, in the back of my head, that I might not be able to learn Spanish and that I will fail, future adding to the failure of this whole situation. It's only a tiny voice and, I figured, is most likely without reason - since I will have plenty of time to practice and get better. Another small thing is that I practically forgotten everything Spanish, except the grammar and sentence syntaxes, so I'd have to teach myself this somehow quickly.
I will have to figure something out quickly, else I will have bypassed the deadline for the extra Spanish classes.
Dammit.
Medal of Honor Multiplayer PC Beta Verdict/Preview
The Unrealistic Hopes of a Nerdgasm
Let me step right up there and say that I love both the Call of Duty series as well as the Battlefield franchise. I have played both to death and still enjoy a game every now and then, despite the lack of new content to both the latest installments (Yes, I know there will be more map packs to Modern Warfare 2 - but it's too little, too late). So when I heard about Medal of Honor, I immediatly had hoped for a spiritual successor to Call of Duty now that it had turned into somewhat of a media circus and a horribly overused teat of a cow, which have turned a weird shade of grey. Then when it was announced that the cool, suave dudes from Swedish DICE (Guys behind Battlefield) were behind the multiplayer, I immediately had some nerdgasms of joy. A mix of Battlefield and Call of Duty? This is like the freaking Holy Grail for me. While both games happened to have mostly been aimed for the console, sadly, they played relatively well on the PC.
Enter Anger
When they announced a beta at E3, starting right away, I just knew I had to conquer (read: own) this Jesus of FPS games. This Saviour of a time long gone. I had to have it. I found out that if I owned Bad Company 2 on Steam, I'd be able to get into the beta earlier by preordering it. It sounded so amazing, it couldn't be true! I did just that - and with a few hiccups from EA (Gun Club still isn't working? Really?!) - the beta started.
Offering 2 modes with 2 maps, 1 for each mode, the beta isn't exactly offering a lot of content to play around with - but I am going to assume that the core gameplay is what they have considered will be the in released version. Which is just dreadful. The game offers absolutely nothing new. The gunplay feels mediocre and boring at best. There is no recoil or spread, except with the sniper, lending the idea that the PC beta is just a 1:1 port from the consoles. There is really nothing to it. It can quickly become quite a clusterfuck, especially because grenades, grenade launchers and rocket launchers doesn't have any kind of splash damage. Spawns are weird in team deathmatch, but mostly follows that of later CoD games, where you'd suddenly spawn behind enemy lines with no one nearby.
Despite a run and gun kind of gameplay, the game offers not much else. It gives you a sort of "killstreak" called "team actions", which is either a UAV or a mortar strike. In the form of customizations, you have the choice between 3 "classes". Soldier, spec ops and sniper. Within these classes, you can change/unlock weapons, sights, magazine and barrel.
Yes. That is it. There is nothing else to the game. I've played it for about 2 hours and it is just so mind numbingly boring. No sense of progression, no "umph" from the gameplay. No awesome moves or episodes, where you just sit back and think "Wow.. that was intense". The gameplay seems very calculated as well, with you being able to endure a specific amount of shots anywhere on the body (except the head) before falling on your face in the respawn menu, which was just made to taunt you for dying. The only episode I found "fun" was when I saw a corpse fly over a wall. That was it.
The game have been compared to the awesome Insurgency mod for Half-Life 2. In which it fails. It fails against a mod.
Changes I hope to See
Obviously I'd love to see a change in the gameplay itself. It is just lackluster - there is nothing to it. Maybe it can satisfy the console, but I like to think that we are more sophisticated on the PC and require just a bit more for it to keep our attention. It needs to be PC-ified, just like Bad Company 2 was.
Minor issues:
- Animations look stiff and bland.
- Menus handle like they would on a console. It even boasts several console-only settings, such as D-Pad settings and adjusting your TV-screen.
- Chat system is broke. It just shows a bar, which you can't type into and won't disappear before you die. During that time, you can't move. All you can do is aim and shoot.
- Server browser kicks you back to login screen. They also decided to have forgotten everything they learnt with Bad Company 2.
- Spawning system: Either add more spawn points or think of something else.
- Hit boxes have issues.
Suggestions:
- Respawns are too rapid in TDM, especially for the size of the map. Add a respawn delay.
- Tune up the destruction possible in the game. You have an engine that is capable of so much, yet decide that a rocket shot or a grenade can't move concrete or bricks. Turning it up will change the game and how it's played totally, camping spots come and go, making the game more interesting and varied. Who wouldn't have wished for destructible environments in Modern Warfare 2?
- More and varied game modes.
- Take a look at BC2. The infantry gameplay in that game is a lot more fun than it is in MoH, which is strictly infantry based. Why is that?
I will keep playing the game - but it does not bode well for now, sadly.
Preorder Medal of Honor (Amazon.com)
Preorder Medal of Honor (PC DVD) (Amazon.co.uk)
Weight Loss – Starting to Exercise and Eating Right
DISCLAIMER: I AM NOWHERE NEAR A PROFESSIONAL. THIS IS ALL THINGS THAT WORKED OUT FOR ME BUT THAT MIGHT NOT MEAN THAT IT WILL WORK FOR YOU. I HAVE RESEARCHED THIS EXTENSIVELY BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN IT IS 100% CORRECT. THESE ARE MY OBSERVATIONS.
Introduction
I am a chubby guy but have been out of shape, chubbier - even borderline obese. I made the realization that I do not want that to be me. I had low self-esteem, short of breath after a couple of flights of stairs and I needed something to do with all of the downtime I have due to no job or any relationship.
First, while still in a relationship, we tried to just go all out eating healthy. It made me lose around 5 kg over 7-10 weeks but due to the split, it didn't settle and salad isn't all that interesting to eat, no matter how delicious my ex made it (and she is a master in the kitchen). But I changed some things on the side, which is still going and which is contributing to a lot of my weight loss. And it really isn't as hard as people think.
The Theory Behind Weight Loss
You probably know about calories. You probably also know that a normal person should aim at eating around 2000-2500 calories a day. Why is this, you might ask. Well, it is for your body to function. It needs something to burn in order to transform that into energy - roughly speaking.
Now, depending on the type of work you do, you might need to exercise on the side in order to gain a balance and burn more calories than you eat, thus reducing your weight. The general rule is that if you wish to lose weight, you will have to eat for 500 calories less or exercise enough to have burnt 500 calories. This is per day. It takes about 3500 burnt calories to lose around 500 grams worth of weight.
Depending on your weight, that would take around 1 hour with the following activities:
Rowing (vigorous effort): 502
Running (8.4 km/h): 531
Ice skating (14.5 km/h): 531 Kickboxing: 590
Rock climbing (ascending): 649
Cross-country skiing (vigorous effort): 531
Swimming laps freestyle (vigorous effort): 590
Bicycling (20-25 km/h) (vigorous effort): 590
Walking up stairs: 472
Running up stairs: 885
Changing What You Eat
Changing what you eat actually isn't as hard as you might think - that is, if you do it in small steps. I used to drink A LOT of soda, eat a lot of potato chips and wouldn't shy away from calling for junk food every now and then. Now, I rarely drink soda (if I do, it's the light versions), rarely eat potato chips (mostly at parties and social events) and junk food is only if I am in town and unable to find better sources of food. If you had asked me to quit soda a year ago, I would have said it was impossible. I drank so much sugar that, if my blood sugar was too low, would send me into a shaking sugar shock. I no longer get this - but just imagine if I had continued down that road. What I am trying to say is that anything is possible, as long as you believe in yourself (not to be taken literal, a lot of things can certainly be accomplished from it, though).
What I would recommend you to start out with, is to record everything you eat and drink, every day for a week. Be honest as the only one you will be cheating is yourself. Now, take a look at this list and, if you were like me, you'd probably be a bit shocked at just how much junk you eat. Things with empty calories, as people love to call them, that really doesn't do much other than make your weight increase and satisfy the hunger for a little bit.
BUT, that is not what we are going to look at, at first. Look where you can make some tiny changes, i.e: If you drink a lot of soda - change to a light version. Sure, it will taste less sugary and have a different flavor, but it truly grows on you. Now, I think that the regular Coca Cola is way too sweet. Eventually you should go all the way down to only drinking water, essentially removing an entire category of calorie in-take.
A huge motivational factor in this is that you will not lose the food you eat entirely, as there is a reason you enjoy eating them. You will just step up to a healthier product - one that will make you feel better eating it. So in short, replace unhealthy food with a healthier one.
Do this with just about every item on your list. Really put yourself into it and don't settle for the thought that you cannot live without that snack - because you can.
Now, as I said before, we have to do this in small steps. If you have a lot of unhealthy things on your list, then don't go and buy the light/improved version of all of them right away. Start out small - like with the soda first. Then after you feel good about doing that, continue. Replace more and more and eventually you might find that you don't actually need some of those things on your list anymore.
While replacing food items, try and size down your portions and/or only take one portion.. The fact is that if you eat fast, you will pretty much overeat because the food doesn't have time to expand in your stomach, which means you will still feel hungry even after having eaten a good portion. Try, if it is possible, to eat a portion and then wait 20-30 minutes, then if you are still hungry, eat another. Odds are you will not feel hungry afterwards and you have just saved your body from having to burn a lot of extra calories.
Exercising
If you are really serious about losing weight, like me, you probably also want to try exercising. Eating right is part of a good weight loss, but exercise completes the circle and - if you can keep going - you will see your weight go down quickly, especially in the start.
PLEASE, before you do anything, go to a doctor and have a health check. Tell him what you are planning to do and he will tell you what to be on the look out for. If you have a tendency to get inflamed joints and it's also in your knees and feet, then running is probably not the first thing you should do. If you have flat feet, you might need to obtain special insoles etc.
First and foremost, figure out what kind of exercise you like to do. Competitive sports? Join a sports club. Biking? Get out on the road. Find something you find enjoyment in doing but if there really isn't any and you just feel that every exercise you do makes you weep for the couch, I will say one thing: Hang in there. Like with anything, the better you get at it, the more enjoyment you will get out of it. Like me, I hated running but started anyway. Now I know I can run a decent amount before feeling short of breath and I can keep pushing myself and still be at awe at the results I keep pulling in. If you still feel that you just can't exercise, then go to the gym. If the motivation is lacking then keep reading. I will explain a few things in another topic that might get you out there.
For outside sports: Now that you have decided on an exercise you want to do, jump on it and just get out there. As with everything, do it, at first, in moderation. Small steps, remember? Do not push yourself all too much at first. Just enjoy what you are doing. Take breaks, enjoy the weather, take a scenic route - it's your time. Do this for a week.
After you have done that, you will probably feel that exercising is a bit easier than it was at first. Now you can start pushing yourself. Start out with 5 minutes of relaxing speed, for warm-up. Afterwards, try to push yourself. Get a sweat working and then keep going until you just can't anymore, then at a relaxing speed again. Rinse and repeat. Try to make yourself do 30 minutes to an hour every weekday. Set your mind up to it, maybe fine-tune your route and take time and then try to beat your time. If you can't do 5 times a week, then at least try 3. Just. Keep. Pushing. Yourself. Remember to do some light stretching afterwards.
Gym: The gym is a wonderful place. They have several cardio machines, so you can differ in your workouts. Like with outside sports, just try to familiarize yourself with the machines for the first week. Figure out what you enjoy doing for longer and shorter times, figure out what effort level you should put the machines at and what program you think would be just for you. After that week, start out with 15 minutes worth of warm-up. I would recommend the stationary bike. After that, go to another machine and truly push yourself for 15 minutes. Then to another and another 15 minutes etc. Try to do this 3-5 days a week. Remember to do some light stretching afterwards.
After having done this for a few weeks, you will start to know how your body works - what gives you a sweat and what doesn't. Try to make a plan in your head in what you want to do every day. Every exercise, except the work out, should make you sweat and if it doesn't, it means you need to push yourself even more.
If you feel faint or in any kind of pain, stop what you are doing and, if necessary, consult your doctor. Aching, however, normally happens when muscles get used and develop but if it aches for too long, go to your doctor.
I would elaborate more on this, but it really depends on the person on what they'd do.
Keeping Motivated
How to keep motivated is really up to every person, but I will tell you what worked with me.
- A crush - as sad as it sounds, I eventually kept going because of a girl.
- The boost in self-confidence is absolutely intoxicating. It's amazing. It can keep you going.
- Having to go to the gym. This means that it isn't that easy to just get home again and will make you keep going.
- Audio books and music. Music is a huge motivational factor during the exercise. Time just goes faster. I have recently put audio books on my mp3 player as well, so I can get a few chapters down at each workout. In theory, you could put on a learning audio book and getting taught while getting fit.
- Use your friends. Ask your friends if they want to start going or go with them, if they already are. They can be the difference from having a break and actually going that day.
- Eventually you will be in such great shape that you will do it for the sheer enjoyment.
Gear and Gadgets
Clothing: This really depends on where you work out. If it's outside, get some appropriate clothing so you don't get cold. If inside, just get some decent shorts and make use of some old t-shirts. If you are of the female gender, go get a very supportive sports bra - especially if you run.
Shoes: Get. Some. Running. Shoes. I cannot really express just how important running shoes are, even if you don't plan on running. The suspension in these shoes are good against your joints and it is just a world of difference once you have tried it. I bought running shoes, mainly because of my flatfeet but I will never ever buy normal shoes again. Shoes are pretty much the one place where you shouldn't feel bad about spending a lot of money. I personally lean towards Nike running shoes, but I am sure that is just a subjective preference.
Mp3 Players: This one is a bit controversial. Some people think that Mp3 players = iPods but I would urge everyone to think of what exactly they want out of their music apparatus. I knew what I wanted and I will absolutely recommend it: An inexpensive light Mp3 player with a display and a clip. It cost me $47. Enter: SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 2GB version. Amazing value for the money, especially because it takes MicroSD - which means I can just put in my 32GB card. I will never run out of space on this wonder machine.
Headphones: Normal headphones usually fall out of my ears as soon as I start jogging, so I quickly realized that I need some special ones. I have had the look out on several ones, but finally fell in love with and bought the Sennheiser PMX 80 Sport II. Unlike the OMX 80, this one is connected in the neck, which I find is the best, simply due to the fact that there is only one wire. It's cheap, as well, and the sound is amazing. This means that you will only have one wire.
Pulse watches: I use a heart rate monitor as a core part in my cardio training, simply because I go for a specific heart rate, where I know I will be burning a lot of calories. Since all of the cardio equipment at my gym can pretty much handle every heart rate monitor there is on the market (at least, if it's using radio frequencies), I just use a cheap one. I never use the watch anymore.
Android Application CardioTrainer: If you are as lucky as having an Android phone, you should definitely get CardioTrainer, which is free from the Market. It can be best described as a virtual training partner. It tracks your outdoor activities through GPS but is also able to count your steps. After the training, you can see your route through Google Maps, see your calorie burn, average speed, distance etc. etc. It really have to be experienced because it is tough to explain.
Conclusion
As it started, everything is possible if you believe in yourself. You will see some pretty hefty results at first, but that is just because your body is burning a lot more since it isn't used to that kind of exercise. Don't give up when your weight loss slows down, but keep going. This just means you are getting into shape and you can stand more punishment. Up your exercises, make sure your heart rate is still getting up there and that you are sweating. Also, do not weight yourself more than once a week because your weight will go up and down throughout it.
Remember, exercising become a lot more fun when you get into shape.
Sarina Paris – Look At Us
For all the times that we,
We ever wouldn't be,
Look at us baby,
Look at us now,
For everyday that I should have you by my side,
We'll make it baby,
Look at us now,
For every night I pray,
I know that you will stay,
Look at us baby,
Look at us now,
Remembering the time our love was not so fine,
We made it baby,
Look at us now,
Baby look at us,
Everybody believed we would never be,
Look at us up above,
We are so in love,
Everyday in your arms,
Baby can't go wrong we are strong look at us now,
For all the times that we,
We ever were to be,
Look at us baby,
Look at us now,
For everyday that I should have you by my side,
We'll make it baby,
Look at us now,
For every night I pray,
I know that you will stay,
Look at us baby,
Look at us now,
Remembering the time,
Our love was not so fine,
We made it baby,
Look at us
Baby look at us,
Baby look at us,
Baby look at us.
---------------
I don't know if you are still out there, but this was the song that made me smile. Now I can listen to it again and remember an amazing period. I smile.



