voyage to mars
Okay, so the deed is done, and I've switched hosting from HostMe (not good) to Lunarpages (hopefully very good). StartLogic was a bit cheaper, but Lunarpages appears to have excellent FAQs and forums to help helpless newbies like myself, and they also come highly recommended.
Expect downtime in the next few days as things are switched around, poked and prodded, and I screw up everything by clicking the wrong button. Twice.
Hopefully I can make everything link up correctly so that Voyage To Mars remains in the same place, but with a new TypePad look, and all the old Blogger pages are still accessible on my site. Any suggestions?
(I'll also be doing a bit of double-posting while the transition is happening, so that existing links to this page will still remain valid. Like I said, during these times of chaos, you'll want to check out my
TypePad blog.)
Argh! Blogger must die!
Let's try this one more time, and pray that the post doesn't get devoured by Big Bad Blogger. Because that just happened. Again.
I'm most likely going to make some big changes around here, so if RagnarTornquist.com stops working during the next week or so, point your browsers to the following address:
http://ragnartornquist.typepad.com/voyage_to_mars/
This is a
temporary solution that I'm testing out, but it may end up being a
permanent solution. In that case, www.ragnartornquist.com will be redirected to the TypePad address. Or something like that. See, I'm Mr Stupid when it comes to this stuff, and if anyone out there has the Mad Skillz - and the time - to help me out, let me know. I honestly don't know what I'm doing, and I really don't have the time - nor the brain cells - to learn everything I need to do it right.
Time to cross my fingers and click 'publish'. Eek.
Edit: Nope, it ain't working. I can't publish anything, and I've made my final decision. Bye-bye Blogger, hello...something else. For the time being, TypePad's where you'll find me.
Blogger has gone completely loco this past week, and I've been unable to post anything from anywhere. I have a few posts in the pipeline, but unfortunately I cannot access them at the moment. I'll probably be switching to another blogging tool in the near future - as well as a new web host - so if you arrive at this site and find, well,
nothing, don't be alarmed. I'll be back.
It's been a while since my last round of bullet reviews, so here are some brief thoughts on the games I've been
wasting my time on playing lately:
God of War (PS2).
Devil May Cry meets
Prince of Persia. On acid. The kind of acid that makes you really surly. There's violence, there's sex - interactive sex, even - there's some annoying platforming bits, and there are
Dragon's Lair type boss encounters. It's gotten some
amazing reviews, and while it
is a ton of fun (in small portions), I feel the hype isn't completely justified. I don't know, maybe I'm just too old to get a kick out of bare breasts, buckets of blood, and a surly anti-hero. Why-oh-why must Kratos be so angry all the time? Where's the love?
Brothers in Arms (Xbox). I was really looking forward to this one, and while it's certainly not a
bad game, it's not one I've been itching to dig back into. I don't quite know why. Maybe it's because, despite the setting - fields, roads, forests - it feels very restrictive. Low hedges and rickety fences work like solid walls, and you are, in effect, still running down corridors. There's no more freedom in this game than there is in
DOOM 3. I will return to it one of these days, and hopefully I'll be able to get into it more, but for the time being: eh.
Lumines (PSP). More addictive than crack. Great back-to-the-basics gameplay, great visuals, great music. Worth getting a PSP for, especially if you travel a lot.
Ridge Racer (PSP). The best portable racer
ever - although that's not saying much. It looks, sounds, and feels like a proper console game, and wouldn't look amiss on the PS2. It's the best installment in the series since the original PlayStation version...but I'm not totally convinced that a game like this works well on a small screen and with the PSP's somewhat twitchy analog 'joystick'. As a tech demo, it's fantastic. As a game? I would've preferred to play this one on my TV. But it's still an amazing thing to behold.
Wipeout Pure (PSP). This is a tough one, because it's a very unforgiving game, and it's not casual friendly. It's hard. You bounce into things. You lose. A lot. You need to invest time in this one before it gets good, which seems sort of counterproductive to that whole portable idea. Traditionally, handheld games were supposed to be quick to pick up, get into, and enjoy.
Wipeout isn't. But it looks and sounds stunning, and the reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, so I guess I need to put a bit more time and effort into it. And the PSP ain't a GameBoy. The rules have changed.
Tiger Woods (PSP). I loves my golf games - hell, I even enjoyed the DS version - and this one's pretty good. Little has been lost in the translation, and, again, it does look very nice. It's not the game I curl up on the couch with, but it's perfect for those looong plane rides, transfers, and rainy days in hotel rooms. Recommended.
All in all, it's been a good couple of months for gaming, and the PSP's launch lineup has been nothing short of stunning. Few consoles have ever launched with so many must-own titles, and Sony's done a bang-up job with their little prodigy.
Next time:
Gran Turismo 4,
Jade Empire, and the Xbox version of
DOOM 3.
Fortunately (or
unfortunately?), yesterday's post was a Big Fat Lie. While I would love to see a portable
Dreamfall (the PSP would probably be a better fit than the DS, considering the visuals and the audio), I cringe at the thought of Dr. Boll getting his disturbingly incompetent hands on our universe. A
Dreamfall movie might happen at some point - there is interest - but not now, and not from the man who put the final nail in the coffin of Christian Slater's 'career'.
I'm really, really excited to be sharing some awesome
Dreamfall-related news with you today. I've been sworn to secrecy by our PR department for several months now, but I've finally been given the go-ahead to make a couple of really cool announcements, so here goes:
First off, in addition to the PC and Xbox versions of the game, our recently established production office in Beijing has just begun development on a Nintendo DS version! Due for release (hopefully, fingers crossed, etc.) before Christmas, the portable version will be a classic 2D adventure game utilising the DS's dual screens to their full effect. The touch-screen will display the location and the characters in an isometric view, while the top screen will be used for dialogue, cinematics, maps, quest journal, and other pertinent information. The game will feature a unique and revolutionary 'point-and-tap' control system, our patented focus field feature, and even a voice recognition interface. The DS is the perfect fit for a classic adventure, and purists should definitely check this one out.
Secondly - and this is a biggie -
Dreamfall is headed to the silver screen! German auteur
Uwe Boll, the mastermind behind such classics as
House of the Dead and
Alone in the Dark, will write and direct the adaptation, which (for budgetary reasons) will be set in modern-day Berlin, and shot in Romania. It's still early, and the script is being written as we speak, but Dr. Boll is courting
Michelle Rodriguez for the role of Zoë Castillo, while April Ryan might be played by none other than
Milla Jovovich! The second I know more, I'll post it here, so keep checking back.
The official announcements will be made on Monday, but I just wanted to give y'all a heads up, just 'cause. Keep it real, people, and check back tomorrow for more breaking news!
