Tag Post

I am bored. Seriously seriously bored. So I copied an old Tag post from IV to pass time.

1. Bought everyone in the bar a drink – No
2. Swam in the actual sea – Tried as best I could
3. Climbed a mountain – Several, also in Himachal and Kashmir 
4. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive – No
5. Been inside the Great Pyramid – No
6. Held a tarantula – No
7. Taken a candlelit bath with someone – No
8. Said “I love you” and meant it – Yes
9. Hugged a tree – Yes, while climbing up and while falling off
10. Water-skiied  - No, but Water scootered yes
11. Visited Paris – Yes, must write about that sometime
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea – No
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise – Eh? How many times?
14. Seen the Northern Lights – No
15. Gone to a huge sports game – No
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa/Qutub Minar – Nope, not allowed to anymore
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables – Yes, we had a vegetable farm behind our house
18. Touched an iceberg – No
19. Slept under the stars – Yes, it used to be a regular thing during the summers
20. Changed a baby’s diaper – Yes, oh gawd the stench
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon – No
22. Watched a meteor shower – No
23. Gotten drunk on champagne – No
24. Given more than you can afford to charity – No
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope – Yes, but not a very powerful one. The moon is weird
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight – Yes
28. Bet on a winning horse – No
29. Asked out a stranger – No
30. Had a snowball fight – Yes, the dumbass rohtang pass was closed, what else was I to do?
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can – Yes
32. Held a lamb – No
33. Seen a total eclipse – Yes, both solar and lunar. Sun kicks moons ASS at eclipsing
34. Ridden a roller coaster – Yes
35. Hit a sixer that won the game
36. Danced like a fool and didn’t care who was looking – Yes
37. The advantages of alcohol – ?
38. Adopted an accent for an entire day – No
39. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment - Thankfully, I still do … once in a while
40. Had two hard drives for your computer – I have 5 ( I agree with IV here, this is not made for Comp. Sci. people )
41. Can name all 27 states – there are more now and I am sure there will be more sooner or later
42. Taken care of someone who was drunk – Yes
43. Had amazing friends – Yes
44. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country – Yes, and I will never tell
45. Watched whales – No
46. Stolen a sign/damaged public property – Yes, that’s what gully cricket was about
47. Backpacked in Europe – Sorta, but more trains, planes, buses and metros but with very little money
48. Taken a road-trip – Aah, the memorable bickering 
49. Gone rock climbing – No
50. Taken a midnight walk on the beach – I still don’t see the big deal in walking on the beach. ( Goa, Mangalore, others )
51. Gone sky diving – No
52. Visited Kashmir – Yes
53. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
54. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them – Yes and tried to recruit me in a marketing scam, so it wasn’t very pleasant
55. Visited Japan – No
56. Tried to make a buffalo move when it sat down in front of your car – Yes, but it wasn’t in front of the car
57. Alphabetized your CDs – What’s a CD ?
58. Pretended to be a superhero – what kid hasn’t?
59. Played ‘Antakshari’ in a public place and sung really loudly without caring about the onlookers.
60. Lounged around in bed all day - Aah, OBH 298 on a nice cool windy August day.
61. Played gully cricket
62. Gone scuba diving – almost
63. Kissed in the rain
64. Played in the mud
65. Played in the rain
66. Gone to a drive-in theatre
67. Visited the Great Wall of China
68. Started a business
69. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
70. Toured ancient sites – I went to the house of Augustus Caesar. I was very impressed.
71. Taken a martial arts class
72. Played a video game for more than 6 hours straight – More like 28 ( damn you Dragon Age )
73. Gotten married
74. Been in a movie
75. Crashed a party
76. Gotten divorced
77. Gone without food for 5 days
78. Made chapatis from scratch  - yes, but I did not eat them
79. Won first prize in a costume contest
80. Ridden a gondola in Venice
81. Gotten a tattoo – do the free removable ones with bubble gums count?
82. White water rafted
83. Been on a television news program as an “expert”
84. Gotten flowers for no reason
85. Performed on stage – Bleh
86. Been to all states in India – Most of them
87. Recorded your own music
88. Eaten shark and preferred roadside ‘bandi’ food
89. Kissed on the first date
90. Gone to Thailand
91. Bought a house
92. Been in a combat zone
93. Buried one/both of your parents
94. Been on a cruise ship
95. Spoken more than one language fluently – English, Hindi, Punjabi ( can’t claim fluency )
96. Performed in the National Day Parade in New Delhi/your city
97. Raised children
98. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Passed out cold
100. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
101. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
102. Walked the Howrah bridge – Yes (drive), and I didn’t see what the big deal was 
103. Sang loudly in the car – with the windows open – and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking – do that on my bike all the time
104. Had plastic surgery
105. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
106. Wrote articles for a large publication
107. Lost over 10 kgs
108. Held someone while they were having a flashback
109. Piloted an airplane
110. Touched a stingray
111. Broken someone’s heart
112. Helped an animal give birth
113. Won money on a TV game show
114. Broken a bone
115. Gone on an African photo safari
116. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
117. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol – Yay! NCC
118. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
119. Ridden a horse – not pleasant, rode it without the harness
120. Had major surgery
121. Had a snake as a pet
122. Spent the night at a railway station – Railway stations, airports
123. Slept for 30 hours in a 48 hour period – bleh
124. Spent the better part of your life outside India
125. Visited all 7 continents  - 2 and counting
126. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
127. Eaten kangaroo meat
128. Eaten sushi
129. Had your picture in the newspaper
130. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
131. Gone back to school
132. Parasailed  - Yes and it was fun
133. Touched a cockroach – Touched it, killed it, pulled its whiskers off and tried to throw it at IV
134. Eaten fried ice cream
135. Read ‘The Iliad’ and ‘The Odyssey’ – I have read abridged versions of them
136. Selected one ‘important’ author who you missed in school, and read
137. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
138. Skipped all your school reunions – never been to one yet ( school != college )
139. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language – and bribed them ( another story from the europe trip )
140. Been elected to public office
141. Written your own computer language – it had loops, conditions and storage, so it was turning complete ( basically  a python hack )
142. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
143. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
144. Built your own PC from parts – Uncountable times
145. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
146. Had a booth at a street fair
147. Dyed your hair
148. Been a dj
149. Shaved your head
150. Caused a car accident
151. Saved someone’s life

Getting Smart

I wanted to get more organized with gaming so that I could enjoy all the new games, whilst not missing any new stuff. So I made a list of games I want to play in 2011.

1. Bulletstorm
2. Homefront
3. Dragon Age 2
4. Crysis 2
5. Mass Effect 2
6. Diablo 3
7. Infamous 2
8. Fear 3
9. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
10. L.A. Noire
11. Portal 2
12. Resistance 3
13. Uncharted 3
14. Elder Scrolls 5
15. Ghost Recon: Future Soldier
16. Last Guardian
17. Darkspore

Now, as it is with list, it got me thinking. 17 Games * Rs. 2600 per game = Rs. 44200. WHAT! ok ok. what if I get them second-hand, that involves waiting for a couple of months 17*1600 = Rs. 27200

So it was time to get smart. What i noticed was that only Infamous, Resistance, Uncharted and Last Guardian are PS3 exclusives. Others can be obtained for lesser ( ahem! ) 13*600 = Rs. 7800 ( approx. cost of a new PC game ).

Savings >= 20K-25K. So I got myself a new graphics card. A Sapphire Radeon HD4670 for Rs. 3642.

Nvidia 7900 ( Old and Ugly )

Radeon HD4670 ( Look how pretty )

Hell yes! Prepare to Dominate

Why this you may ask. Well let me tell you.

1. Old PC is shitty. shitty motherboard, shitty CPU. shitty RAM etc.
2. most importantly shitty PSU. This card has one of the lowest power consumptions, doesn’t even need an external power input from PSU
3. Many Many outputs. DVI/HDMI/VGA. And since I have a decent display, this is a plus. And when I decide to upgrade, this can become the home theater card.
4. It is cheap.
5. Anything better won’t fit my motherboard and I don’t want to be investing that much right now.

I must say, I am extremely happy with the card. 7900 would over heat like a mother, anytime anything was happening. But 4670 is cool all the time, I understand it not fair to compare technologies that are 10 years apart.

It doesn’t run the games at stellar graphics, with every thing at MAX, but I don’t really care. Bulletstorm was choppy but that is because of the cpu and harddisk more than the card. Dragon Age 2 is running perfectly at 1600×1200 with everything at HIGH!

Darksiders

Darksiders

Many people have said that darksiders has copied shamelessly off other games, that it is a zelda-clone, blah blah. I think that what you get in darksiders, is not one but many games. There is a very decent platformer, a challenging puzzle game and a great action-adventure game. But what I like most about Darksiders is the lore.

I am sure everyone knows about the “Christian Apocalypse & the four horsemen“. The short version is that at the end of days Pestilence, War, Famine and Death ( personified as four horsemen ) would come; after a bunch of seals are broken and heaven and hell would be at war and the world would end. In Darksiders you start as War, the proud and vengeful horseman, who has been called to earth long before the appointed time. He finds that the battle between heaven and hell has already begun and he is getting blamed for war-mongering ( why, of course ). So War sets out to clear his name ( he is stripped of all of his power of course, otherwise there wouldn’t be much of game now, would it? ) and fuck everyone up. He finds help in odd places and discovers a deep treachery. I don’t want to put any spoilers but the ending so awesome I could’ve cried.

Dungeon

The artwork again is breathtaking and the environment is grim yet beautiful ( all the people are dead/ zombies, what else did you expect? ). Even the dungeons are not bland, filled with sculptures and cravings. War’s quest takes him from cities to deserts, from giant towers to Eden itself. So the graphics etc. are quite good. Even during the fast paced action, there is very little sluggishness ( it is there at times, but bearable ). The background music is ok, nothing exceptional but it is the voice acting that stands out. Brilliant work by Vigil Games, some of the best voice actors have provided their talent for Darksiders.

As the game progress, War regains some of his former powers and abilities. These abilities open up new avenues in previously visited areas and makes for a better experience while traversing the world looking for loot. But enough about the inane stuff. Let’s get to the gameplay and the shear awesomeness that will melt faces.

Ruin

That right there is “Ruin”, the supernatural horse of War, which you ride around the wasteland, slashing faces and arms alike. I really like the weapons level system where the weapon becomes increasingly power as you continue to use it. More moves become available and damage increases as well. Most of the special moves are easy to pull off but you can’t get around by plain old button mashing. Dodging and dashing becomes important as enemies become powerful towards the end.

There are mainly 4 platforming elements

1. The double jump and float, which is boosted by geysers. This what you start with. Gets annoying at times when you thing you have made the jump but you over did it, hit the roof and fall into lava.
2. Slow time to run under/over/past fast moving object. I would have liked it to be included into combat as well.
3. Swinging around with a chain. Fairly standard. I really like the part where some chests were hidden in the “Shadow Realm” portals to different areas.
4. Portals. If you have played Portal, this is similar, except that portals can be created only in specific places. It makes for challenging puzzles, like throwing bombs through portals, shooting portals through portals and solving block moving puzzles.

The only thing I didn’t really like were the bosses, although they fit well with the story and all, there were very disproportionate in difficulty. Most of them required figuring out a simple move and spamming it hundreds of times, which gets boring. The bosses also didn’t do much, they had a fixed set of 4-5 moves and it all appeared very scripted, kills immersion.

The game runs well most of the times but I did find a couple of glitches, like jumping into walls and subsequently crashing the game, or getting stuck between objects. Enemies also get glitched and stuck at times.

Overall it was a very fun game and has a very good replay value.

Rumors are that Darksiders 2 would be about a different horsemen, I can’t wait