Tomb Raider: first multiplayer map revealed!

Yes, another post about Tomb Raider: 2013. What can I say, I'm extremely excited about it's upcoming release.

So I have been doing some browsing and have come across a really informative and interesting website for all things Tomb Raider. On this site, I located a news article detailing the announcement of the game's first multi-player map. Now, this is the first time a multi-player aspect has come to the Tomb Raider franchise but, let's face it, it's what everyone looks for when they buy a game these days - "can I play with my friends", well yes you can!

Right from the title, you can see that the first map is going to be a shanty town style. Now, whether or not they actual map will be called Shanty Town I do not know, but it's a brilliant source. It also states that certain retailers are now offering you the map if you pre-order the game. Whilst this may entice some people, I don't like the idea of being forced to pre-order something in order to get a perk before anyone else - I am quite happy playing through the single player campaign before jumping into multi-player. After all, the Tomb Raider games are renowned for their single player action.

I've included some concept art below. All three are taken from the source website, but I cannot find them anywhere on the official tombraider.com site, so I cannot guarantee their authenticity.

Click on the icons for a larger preview image. All Photos: www.tombnews.com

I really don't know what to expect from Tomb Raider multi-player. I can't see how it's going to work, unless they're going to make it the bog standard FPS model. If they do this, it'll just be a Call of Duty masked as something else. I hope they incorporate other features into the multi-player. Perhaps a unique co-op campaign?

I will add more Tomb Raider news to the blog when something juicy is released. If you want all the latest news, regardless of category, you can visit the website that I got my information from today - www.tombnews.com

Fuel prices are "fair and doing well"

So the latest trollop to come from our country is the OFT (Office of Fair Trading) making the statement, "the fuel market is working well" - they will not investigate fuel prices any further, despite them once again going on the rise.

Petrol prices are "fair" according to the OFT. Photo: www.tntmagazine.com

The OFT have stated that the retail price of fuel is one of the cheapest in Europe, once you minus the VAT and tax on there. What a pointless statement to make - it is something we already know. The main issue I, and many others, have is that prices always sky rocket when the wholesale price of crude oil goes up, but it fails to reduce in cost when crude oil prices drop. Now, even with tax in the loop this shouldn't be happening. If anything, the tax is less when the crude oil prices are lower so why aren't these savings being passed down to the consumer.

Another issue I have is the many different variations in price, depending on where you are. Competition is fine, it helps the consumer by providing the cheapest possible price but I'm not talking about these variations. Take me for example, I live in Stockport where the average price of fuel is around 132.7p per litre(source: www.petrolprices.com). Sam, on the other hand, lives in Oldham where the average is 132.2p per litre. Now I know this isn't a massive difference but the further up into the Saddleworth moors you go, the higher the price becomes. I think I remember driving past a service station up there that was selling unleaded at 153.4p per litre! 

To me, this does actually warrant some form of investigation. I can understand the small, family run service stations charging a bit more but surely there should be some consistency to major brand pricing. Why does a Shell near me charge 132.9p, yet a Shell 10 miles away charges 139.9p? I just don't see how this is fair.

Below I have included a diagram from www.petrolprices.co.uk, showing the breakdown of a lire of unleaded at 132.9p and a litre of diesel retailing at 137.9p:

 

















It is quite clear that the government is taking the largest chunk of the price we pay (don't forget they take the duty AND the VAT). This leaves 5p of every litre for the retailer. Whilst compared to the government share it looks pretty dire, it still doesn't excuse why the retailer puts the prices up in certain areas - maybe to increase the profits to compensate the lower priced areas?

At the end of the day, it's the consumer that is the victim in all of this. Maybe it's time the government rethought their strategy on fuel duty - it isn't helping put them on motorists' Christmas card lists...

Video game RAGE!

Okay, so this is more relevant to FPS games but I am sure there are rage fuelling moments in most genres. There's nothing worse than working your balls off to reach a certain point in the game and then - BOOM - game over. Whether that be something from the environment screwing you over, or that self obsessed, no life camper.

Photo: dont-tread-on.me

Trust me, I have experienced it all. Just tonight I was catching up on some Modern Warfare 3, playing CTF which is one of my absolute favourite game types. The point of this tale is that the enemy team was almost entirely made up of kill-whore rushers, who only captured the flag once per round, within the last few seconds to ensure a victory. 

The amount of rage I was filled with during the above game was immense. In fact, I almost threw my controller out of the window. It annoys me so much when people play objective-based game types with no intention of playing the objective. Maybe their intention is to make people angry, that notion certainly works a charm.

On the flip side, I can see why many people are against any form of video game related rage. It unnecessarily stresses you out, can make you cause damage to your home and more worryingly to yourself in the process and is it really worth it? From that 5 minutes of rage, what have you achieved - apart from maybe giving others a laugh.

At the end of the day, you will always encounter a rage moment when playing video games. Whether this be your own or someone else's.

Perhaps if people actually played the game properly, and didn't K/D whore in objective based games, maybe rage would be less prevalent. However, trying to stop those that do this from doing so is a mammoth task in itself. Like anyone else, they are playing the game for fun. I suppose if that makes them enjoy the game then so be it - perhaps back out of the game and try another.

I might start backing out and choosing another game when I can feel rage creeping in. I just may be able to counter a repeat of the many situations I have put myself in before. The only problem with this comes when you are in a party, or playing with others. Just because you're playing really badly, or something is winding you up, should your party have to suffer and back out with you? 

It would be interesting to hear others' stories about video game rage. If you have a little spare time and have a memorable moment, why not share it? Comments are open to all and your contribution is greatly appreciated.

Quick poll

Just a quick post to tell you that I have now added a short poll to the blog, on the right hand side.

I'm wondering if people want to see me review more products such as gadgets, games, apps, electricals, etc. Please take a moment to vote, it'll help shape my blog to one that people enjoy reading.

If you want to contact me, you can do so via Twitter (@NathanCashman) 

If you want your app, game or product reviewed, you can always contact me via email (innaterambler@gmail.com) I will get back to you as soon as possible, most likely within 2-4 hours (I am in the UK, so if you are in a different timezone please be aware of this. Don't expect a reply at 4am)

Review: Garage inc HD for iPad

Garage inc HD is and iPad time management game. I personally love time management games and came across this app whilst browsing the store for something new to fill another slot on my iPad home screen. I was delighted with the result.

Photo: www.padvance.com

Firstly, it isn't a free app. Garage inc HD will set you back £1.99 but it's worth every penny.

The storyline is fantastic and really sets the game apart from the rest. Every few missions you get a cut scene which further progresses the storyline and gives you a better connection with the game. No more of this slugging away doing the same thing all the time, like some other time management games. Each level is totally different and the cut scenes can either work in your favour, or leave you picking up the pieces in the next mission.

I found myself not being able to put my iPad down the entire time I was playing. I know it's a cliché but it is just one of those games you don't want to stop playing.

There is hours of game play here as well. I've been playing solidly for well over 2 hours and it looks like plenty of the game is still left to go. What better value for money is there on the app store, in the same category, at the moment! I would find it hard to find one that even compares to Garage inc HD!

The graphics are really well done. The HD aspect takes it that one step further. I myself have an iPad 2, so I cannot comment on whether or not it looks better on the later iPads with their retina displays. I would imagine it does.

Overall, a really well thought out, well designed and well created little app that no time management lover's iPad should be without. I'm not the only one giving this glowing reviews, see the feedback on the app store HERE.

Notice: I was not paid, rewarded or gifted for writing this review. It is my own opinion following the lengthy playthrough of the game. I have not been contacted by the developer to ask for a written review.

Are video games becoming a reality?

One of my Twitter followers today posted a video that really set a spark off in my brain. It's regarding the topic of video games, and how they affect the real world - more specifically if violent video games are having an impact on the crime rate in today's society. You can find the video at the bottom of this post. Ironic thing is, he's debating the topic whilst playing Black Ops 2 - immense!

Video games are always a scapegoat when something tragic happens in life. The hype seems to fade away after a while, but then quickly resurfaces as soon as another major event occurs. This is exactly what has happened recently. One big reason why - Connecticut school shooting in December 2012.

The aftermath of the Connecticut shootings was one of deep sadness which, once everyone began to calm down, quickly turned to anger. A lot of this anger was aimed directly at video games. Somehow this anger has, once again, led to a massive debate on whether or not violent video games should be banned.

The problem I have with this argument is that there is literally no scientific proof that violent video games cause real life violence. If you actually take a moment to look at the statistics, you can quite clearly tell that the percentage of people who play these games do not, in any way shape or form, correlate to the percentage who then go on to massacre people, or commit some kind of violent crime.

Call of Duty: One of the many video games blamed for violent crime. Photo: codocom.com

If anything, it is the perpetrators own mental state that is the cause of violent crime. In my opinion, to be able to commit such acts of violence towards another human being indicates that there is something fundamentally wrong upstairs - nothing to do with video games. Just because they have played video games, and may have played the latest Halo, or Grand Theft Auto, before commencing their attack does not mean the game is to blame - yet this is the only factor that critics of violent video games seem to take into consideration.

I have done a little research, and the facts prove what I kind of knew already. Most of the gaming population who are playing these violent games on a daily basis are children in their early teens. This shows a complete lack of parental guidance. There is no way a 12 year old should have their hands on an 18 rated game. The only way they have managed to own the game will be their parents buying it for them - if anything this is the main cause of violent behaviour.

Trying to defend their actions, one parent commented:

"My son has a bad temper and is defiant. But when I remove his violent video games for a few days he becomes nicer, calmer and more compliant. It's very clear to me that the games have a negative affect on his behavior. I am afraid that if he is allowed to continue playing the violent games he may become a very scary teenager and adult." - Source: http://www.debate.org/opinions/do-violent-video-games-cause-behavior-problems

Okay, so your son has a bad temper and is defiant - discipline him. Be a good parent. Why does he have the video game in the first place? Why should grown adults have to suffer just because you can't parent properly and your child is aggressive as a result?

All of these parents who are up in arms against violent video games really need to start waking up and smelling the coffee. Your argument is invalid. Don't buy your under-age child an 18 rated video game and then complain that its content is affecting their well being! It's hypocrisy at the highest level.

At the end of the day, you cannot please everyone. Regardless, my point still stands. Violent games are rated appropriately and the rating is there for a reason. Besides, even if they did manage to ban violent games, do you really think that'll stop them being created and distributed? No. Look at the mass market of illegally downloaded music and films - this is banned but still continues. People will find a way to play the games that they have a right to play. Don't let some begrudged bad parents and old timers with no sense of modern society ruin it for the rest of us.

Anyway, that's my two cents. I could literally go on for days about this topic...

As promised, here's a link to the video that got me thinking in the first place:

Broadband help : try the test socket!

I am just about fed up of people reporting faults, and then as soon as I ask them to try in the test socket I get the following reply, "I am not touching my socket, that's an engineers job" - give me a break!

Firstly, the test socket has been implemented to save time and help both you and your ISP identify where a potential service fault may lie. By refusing to connect into the test socket, you are being uncooperative and rude. How am I supposed to help you fix your fault if you refuse to perform the basic diagnostic procedures that I ask?

Photo: www.hmmm.ip3.co.uk

The above image shows just how easy it is to access the test socket. Believe me, if it was only intended to be used by engineers then they would make it a lot harder to get into, and there would be signage all over it warning you not to touch it.

Furthermore, it is actually a BT recommended diagnostic. Do you know why? Because it eliminates your internal wiring as being at fault. If you have no fault in this test socket, but do with the faceplate connected, then your wiring is probably naff. On the contrary, if your fault still exists whilst connected to the test socket, there is a greater likelihood that the problem lies outside of your remit and requires further attention.

Do you see just how simple, yet effective, the test socket is.

Picture this scenario:

You experience a loss of dial tone. You immediately call your SP without checking the test socket, they are unable to locate a fault and so book an appointment for BT Openreach to attend in 3 days time.

3 days later, Mr BT Engineer turns up, tries the phone in the test socket and obtains dial tone. He'll be in and out within 10 minutes, and charge you for the privilege. As a result, you have been left without a dial tone for 3 days and been landed with an engineer call out charge of in excess of £115.

Now, the alternate scenario:

You experience a loss of dial tone. You take 5 measly minutes of, what you make out to be, your very busy schedule to remove 2 screws and try your phone in the test socket. You can get dial tone from the test socket.

Hey presto! you have found the fault is internal and does not require attention from BT. You have therefore saved yourself 3 days of waiting and a bill for over £115.

Which scenario would you prefer? I know which one I'd go for!

Broadband help : slow speeds

As promised, I have started writing up some DIY steps to helping your broadband connection - or at least help you understand what is going on anyway.

The majority of cases I deal with on a day to day basis, are those of slow connection speeds. Speed is a big deal with today's internet users - they want to avoid the dreaded video buffering and lengthy waits for page loading. This is all fine and dandy, your ISP should have no issues with helping improve your speeds.

However, before you ring your ISP, there are a few steps you can try yourself to ensure that the problem isn't being caused by something that you have complete control over. You can make your life so much easier by taking a little bit of time running through these checks before putting that call in to the techies - they'll ask you to go through them anyway, so save time.

Identify a pattern - if there is one

Do you only experience slower speeds at certain times of the day? If so, make a note of the times this performance reduction occurs. Please remember, however, that you are bound to experience some drop in speed during peak hours - this is an unfortunate fact that many people ignore. You are not the only person wanting to stream Eastenders from BBC iPlayer at 6.30pm on a Friday night. The internet gets congested, and you must deal with it.

A genuine pattern to make a note of, for example, would be if your performance rapidly reduces when it rains. There could be an exposed joint somewhere in BT's copper network that needs attention. Make sure you gather your evidence to prove the poor performance during this time or your ISP may shrug it off.

Check your internal setup

This is possibly the most important step you should take before contacting your ISP. I would say that in about 9/10 cases, connection problems are caused by either an incorrect setup or a piece of equipment gone bad.

I have included a rough diagram below of what an ideal home setup should look like - or at least, this is the setup you should adhere to before calling your ISP. As earlier, they will ask you to do this when you phone them so save the time and do it beforehand.

You will notice that the two setups are a little different. The NTE2000 socket already has a filter built into the faceplate. The advantage of this being you don't need to connect a micro-filter to any socket in your house. It does, however, mean your router must be connected to the NTE2000 socket - it won't work anywhere else.

On each of these sockets, you will find a line on the faceplate along with 2 screws. If you remove these screws, you will be able to pull the faceplate away from the socket - revealing the "test socket". Connecting your router into here, via a micro-filter, will bypass and therefore rule out your internal wiring causing the speed issues.

Gathering your evidence

So, you've checked your setup as outline above but your speeds are still suffering. Now is the time to contact your ISP. Don't be surprised if they don't believe you first off though, because they can "see your line is running at xMbps", whatever your speed is supposed to be.

If they say this, but your speeds are registering much lower than that, you have what we call a "throughput" problem. The only way to prove the fault is with your ISP's network, and not your PC, is to run a series of tests via the command prompt on your PC. You will need to run trace routes to see how the data is travelling across the internet. I will show you how to run these below.

Don't worry if you don't understand the results. You don't really need to. The only part you are concerned about is the time (ms) that each hop has taken. Generally speaking, any figure less than 100ms is considered highly acceptable. Most applications will not have any problem with this much latency.

In my example above, it shows that the network is operating very well and, if I was experiencing slow speeds, is not the cause of the problem.

Please be aware that these figures will be extremely higher if you are trace routing to a website or server that is in a different country - purely because the data has further to travel.

Speed tests

If your latency is consistently reading in excess of 120ms, from the 3rd hop onwards, you will seriously need to consider reporting the issue to your ISP. Run a couple of speedtests at different times of the day to make sure it isn't related to increased traffic during peak times and then give your ISP a call.

Once they have got through all the nitty gritty, request an email address to send your results into. Attach your trace routes and speed tests for reference.

Modern Warfare 3 : Infected Strategies

Image from codblackopsgameplay1.blogspot.com

These are some tips that I wrote up about 12 months ago when I was massively into the Infected lobbies on Modern Warfare 3. I played a lot of it whilst off work with tonsilitis and noticed a lot of mistakes that people make, and how to learn from them and actually get some decent fun out of it.

These tips are only for those not infected. I did plan on writing up some tips for the infected but it's such an easy, generic task, then I don't really see much point. If there's enough interest in these though, I might consider writing some up.

1. Work as a team

You aren't getting anywhere solo, so don't put your headband and face paint on just yet. Rush, K/D whores are not welcome in the infected lobbies and will not last very long at all so don't attempt it. Stick with your team and help hold a position. Feel free to move around the safe spot to "build up" weaker or failing strongholds.

2. Watch your back

As the game tips suggest, you MUST be aware of what's going on behind you. Leaving your back exposed for too long is risky. Try running backwards when moving into a safe spot, this way you can cover your movements whilst your teammates presence ensures you won't be caught from the rear.

3. Never be the last survivor

You might earn a loss for the privilege, and it isn't fun being chased by 17 people who are all faster than, and throwing knives at, you.

4. Spare your ammo

Try to build up your ammo when there isn't many infected in the game, because you sure as hell won't be able to stock up when there are tonnes of them (not impossible in certain situations, just a lot more difficult)

5. Use your secondary!

If you have one, make use of it. Too many people fail to use them and get caught out reloading their main weapon. If you're completely out, switch to your secondary to quell the assault to give yourself a few seconds to reload your main weapon.

6. Use ALL ammo prior to reload

Another bug bear of mine, people fire a couple of bullets then immediately reload. This is both selfish and incredibly time wasting. Hitting that reload will immediately allow you to pick up a scavenger package even though you may not need one, potentially cutting off another teammates supply. It is also time wasting, that reload may only take a couple of seconds, but that could be the difference of life and death, and could potentially mean your team losing an entire stronghold. Always think before hitting reload. If you have dual wield weapons, fire one at a time, then you can fire the other whilst you reload the empty barrel.

7. WATCH THOSE THROWING KNIVES

I cannot stand the things. In my opinion, without them the infected would not win as many times as they currently do. The way it is at the moment, the infected win 99.9% of all games so this is hugely unbalanced. You can help stop throwing knife attacks on you by finding yourself some decent cover that allows you to see. This won't completely eliminate them, and you will still get the odd, extremely annoying fluke shot but that's life.

8. Be patient

The game will start off very slow, due to the low amount of infected players, but just sit tight, hold your position and wait. Too many people want to rush out there and rack up kills. This game type isn't about the amount of kills, it's about survival and it's popularly used as a win booster (you'll nearly always win and it counts towards your win/loss ratio)

9. Watch for any tactical insertions

It's best to destroy these rather than waiting for the enemy to spawn because it saves time and allows you to return to your journey of entering the safe spot. Destroying them is also better than leaving them for the obvious reason the enemy could spawn behind you.

10. Learn the maps

There comes a time in this game where map knowledge is incredibly helpful. Especially at the beginning of the game, when you will be making your way to one of the popular safe spots on that particular map. It also helps if you need to abandon a particular spot due to infiltration and allows you to make the safest and speediest getaway. Either way, knowing your way around the maps is a helpful tool to possess and the more you play the quicker you'll learn.

Whether you follow these steps or not, as a non-infected your chances of survival are pretty much 0%. Good Luck.

The above steps are simply information you may find helpful. I am not stating that by following it you will become a better player.

Horse meat burgers | Police pay reduced

So I have been in hiding for the past few days, for purely personal reasons. I apologise for the lack of updates. To make up for it, I have two fairly big stories to cover today.

Horse meat found in supermarket burgers

This story has been circulating for a good 24 hours now and is still hot on the press. The long and short of it, is that horse DNA was found in supermarket value beefburgers. 

Burgers sold by Lidl, Aldi, Tesco and Iceland found to contain horse meat

The announcement provoked a large outcry from people - many of which probably never even ate the burgers. To me, if you aren't affected by the product, don't complain - it's completely pointless.

The supermarket that is receiving most criticism is Tesco. I am not entirely sure this is fair, when chains such as Lidl and Aldi were found to be selling burgers from the same supplier. It appears people are deliberately sticking the knife into Tesco yet again. It's a shame, because it was only very recently that Tesco announced a turn around from the drop in profits late last year, so this is a massive step back for them.

In my opinion, people were all fine with eating the burgers and possibly even enjoyed them, before someone told them there was horse DNA in there. People are fine with butchering a cow, a pig and a lamb but the minute it comes to horse people are outraged. Seriously, if you eat meat then don't complain when you're given meat. If you're so appalled to be eating horse, perhaps you shouldn't be a meat eater.

Police pay reduced

This is another story that has bothered me. The home secretary has announced that a police constables pay is to be reduced to around £18k. Before I begin, I do realise that this is a fairly standard wage in today's society but I don't agree with it.

Police are to have their pay reduced

The police do a remarkable job, and their responsibility is huge. If anything, their pay should be increased or at least frozen, not reduced!

It really makes me laugh as, if you've seen my post earlier this week, MP's are wanting a pay increase. So, let's get this straight, MP's who complain, complain, increase taxes, complain, complain, introduce more fees, complain, complain, etc... want an increase on the already extortionate wage they are paid whereas a policeman/woman who looks after society and upholds the law, whilst putting their own lives in danger are having their wage reduced.

This country is really falling on it's backside. It has been for a very long time, but the more these pompous idiots are in power, the faster we will head towards oblivion.

Appears Blackberry have lost it

Blackberry are in the news once more, with yet another service outage. Is it just me, or are Blackberry services down more than they are up?

Users were unable to use email and web facilities. Photo: uk.hardware.info

This latest blackout appears to have affected Vodafone customers and left users without email or web access. Whilst SMS and phone calls were still functional, the main purpose of a Blackberry is for email and various uses of the web (BBM, Facebook, Twitter, etc.)

A lot of users took to Twitter to voice their frustrations - using their PC of course - and demand Vodafone to get things sorted. From what I understand, and from research, it appears that RIM placed the blame on Vodafone because all of their services were operating "normally".

I'm not sure how much longer the Blackberry has in the UK market. It still has an attraction to the common consumer in that you can pick one up relatively cheap, and it has the BBM feature that other phone's lack. The most common use for a Blackberry, that I have seen, is business. It seems they are the much easier option - plus the business side of the network never appears to have problems.

To think, at one stage, I used to want a Blackberry. How very lucky I feel that I was turned down for credit back then. Possibly the only time having no credit rating will save my life.

In other news...

Take a look at the below image. It's a box junction in London that has been dubbed "The Moneybox Junction". Drivers feel that the council have deliberately made the box larger than standard, as well as strategically place two sets of lights a few hundred metres away, all to generate massive sums of money.

I think the estimation is that the council made around £2M between 2011-2012 - crazy, isn't it!

Moneybox Junction. Photo: http://bit.ly/VY6OL4 (Daily Mail)

MP's are underpaid, wait... what??

I've just been reading a rather funny story. In all honesty, I read it yesterday but couldn't get my head around it properly in order to express my opinion.

The long and short of it, MP's have stated that they believe they are underpaid and are entitled to a 32% pay rise! Before I carry on, please bear in mind that most MP's are on a paltry sum of £60,000 p.a. so they deserve the pay rise.

Actually, no, they bloody well don't. A pay rise is generally awarded when an employee excels in their role, I don't believe MP's have even come close to correctly performing their role let alone excel. It just shows you how out of touch they are with the rest of the UK. 

It makes me laugh, they want all of us to vote for them, yet they cut people's benefits, they increase taxes, they introduce more fees and then have the cheek to say they want a bigger wage. The wage they are on at the moment is easily 3-4 times, if not more, as much as the standard working class citizen. In my eyes, if these citizens can live on their wage then the MP's can live on their so called "low" wage. If they can't, they should make sacrifices and cut their spending like everyone else has to. Sell that flash car, downgrade the property. You do whatever it takes to live on your wage. Most people I know, and those I don't, have a hell of a lot more expenditure to worry about and they DON'T complain - they get on with it. What a perfect example of how the country should be.

If I had my way, the country would be run by the majority. None of these wealthy bred, Cambridge educated toffs who have no idea how the majority of the UK lives.

Or, to make it fair, why not have it similar to America. Each area of the country run by a different government. One that is more in touch with the people of the area. Money made from that area goes straight to their particular government and spent in that area only. None of this centralised bullcrap where the high lords in London get to decide how the rest of the country lives, only spending money where they see fit.

You can find more info on this story here. I'm done. I could go on for hours and hours about how ridiculous this whole saga is.

Les Miserables

Les Miserables is a well known novel by Victor Hugo. It has been adapted into theatrical performances for many years now and has, this year, been turned into a film.

Sam managed to pick up some free tickets to a preview showing of the film this evening, so we decided to go and see it. I must say, I was impressed. I will admit that I was not looking forward to it. Having seen the theatrical performance (which is stunning, by the way) I couldn't see how they would successfully convert it into a film, a decent one anyway. However, as it was free, I though I might as well give it a go - after much persuasion from the Sam.

I'm not going to spoil it. If you have read the book or seen it at the theatre then there isn't really anything to spoil but for the benefit of those who are new to Les Mis I won't mention any part of the story.

Iconic image used to promote theatrical performances of Les Miserables

I was pleasantly surprised by the film to be quite honest. With strong performances from Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe, you won't be disappointed if you do decide to go and see it. I must warn you, especially if you haven't seen Les Mis in the theatre, it is a very long film - around 2 and a half hours. It's worth mentioning that this will probably turn to about 3 hours ish with adverts and trailers (something that a preview doesn't have, fortunately).

Also, with it being a sung-story musical, there is non stop songs from start to finish. If this isn't your thing, don't bother.

Film poster

I would definitely recommend giving it a watch. It's an inspiring story and one you are not likely to forget. It also has an unforgettable music track list with favourites such as "I dreamed a dream" and "Look down".

If you haven't read the book, and would like to know the background story before watching the film, then you should be able to pick up a second hand copy relatively cheap. It's a French book so you'll need the English translation, unless you can read French of course. You can actually pick up the Kindle edition of the English translated version for £0.00 - yes, it's completely free at the moment. (Please note that this price is correct as of 23:54GMT on 08/01/13).

The film is released in UK cinemas on 11th January, 2013. It's a very popular tale so expect queues and packed screens on release day.

Playstation 4?

So I have just read something very interesting. Rumour has it, that Sony is due to announce their next gen console - dubbed the Playstation 4 (PS4). These rumours have been sparked by the news that Sony have ceased worldwide production of the Playstation 2 (PS2). Shortly after they did the same thing with the original Playstation, the Playstation 3 (PS3) was announced.

Now, I am not a Playstation gamer myself. I do own a PS2, and did originally own the first Playstation but I don't have the PS3. The reason for this is solely one of price. When the PS3 was first released, it was well beyond my budget. The Xbox 360, on the other hand, was much more affordable for me. Being an Xbox gamer for the last few years has made me rusty on the Playstation(s). I can't get used to the controller, so quickly give up and return to the Xbox.

I have no idea when Sony would even be likely to announce the PS4. It could be in a few days, weeks, months. It might not even be at all. They may have already shown a very select few individuals what they are working on, however.

Either way you look at it, a new console is inevitable from Sony. They know consoles like I know how to breathe - it completes them and, to be quite frank, is one of the key building blocks to their corporation.

In my honest opinion, I can't see myself going back to Playstation. If they make the controller similar to the Xbox, or they make the Xbox controllers compatible, I might consider it but I can't see that becoming a reality. We'll have to just keep our eyes and ears open for more juicy news.

You can see some concept art below the post. I don't think the PS4 (or whatever Sony's next console will be) is going to look a thing like these, but it's nice to see the community are so involved in the potential project and what they'd like to see. I can almost definitely believe that 3D will be introduced. With the likes of the 3DS and 3D televisions becoming ever more popular, I would think the likes of Sony would be first in there on introducing a 3D capable console - like they did with the Blu-Ray.

Concept design 1 - Kind of has the "Wii" look

Concept design 2 - Controller looks bulky and the console looks unstable

Apple lose £813,000 in Paris theft

I read this story late last night but didn't have chance to post my reaction. Basically a group of armed robbers broke into the Apple store in Paris, making off with goods worth £813,000 (1M euro).

Their planning was half decent, I've got to admit. The heist happened on New Years Eve, a time when the city was counting down to New Year and the attention of the Police was focused on the celebrations.

The Apple store in Paris, France

I have seen a lot of reactions to this online, stating that "it isn't a huge loss for Apple" and "they make billions a year, this isn't even pocket change for them". Whilst this is all true, theft is still theft. If you were a multi-millionaire it would still upset you to have something stolen from you.

Another point is that if Apple just shrugged this off, what's to stop more frequent and possibly dangerous heists being attempted? I count them lucky that the robbers decided to break in when the store was shut.

I feel these days, with the recent expenses scandal in the UK and the news of "tax evading" corporations, people have literally gone on a witch hunt. If you're a big corporation with lots of profit and hardly any outgoings, you deserve to be robbed. This is where the line should be drawn. No one "deserves" to have their possessions taken from them, regardless of how rich and/or powerful they are. At the end of the day, if you steal from someone then you're a low life who does not deserve to walk free.

We all need to accept that a business is there to make money, and a business only thrives on hard work and dedication, plus a lot of money, from the people who run it. Sure, some are gifted with rich parents or family who fund their ventures but a company can't simply run off borrowed money. It needs to turn into a successful and profitable business that can only be attained through dedication and a LOT of hard work.

Apple

The robbers of the Paris Apple store are still at large, with a lot of Apple products. Unless they're smart about how they shift the goods, someone is bound to get suspicious about the amount they're selling.

I, for one, seriously hope they are caught sooner rather than later and definitely before they have the chance to target anyone else.

Hello, 2013

First post of 2013! Happy New Year to you all, the views and shares I have had on this blog to date has been fantastic. I saw a real push yesterday when I clocked my highest ever view count, so thank you!

My post today is about Minecraft, more specifically Tekkit Servers. I've just purchased a server, got it setup and installed the Tekkit plugin but I keep running into problems when I attempt to play the darned thing! It keeps telling me I don't have certain mods that the server requires. I've managed to sort out a couple of them after some quick Google searches but I'm stumped with the other two. I've contacted the server techie guys, hoping they can help.

I am a technical guy myself but this stuff is just a little out of my remit, hence me asking the experts!

Tekkit - Possibly the most popular Minecraft Mod pack.

I really love Tekkit. I've only recently got into it so it is taking some getting used to, but the more I play the more I'll pick up. I've also been following a few YouTube series' to see how other people play, get an idea of what to do, what machines to start with, etc.

I might do a playthrough on Tekkit. If that's something you're interested in then check out my NerdyCraft blog, link here. That blog is empty at the moment but maybe my beginnings with Tekkit can be it's first adventure. I'll see how I go - got to get the server and my launcher working in tandem first however.

I'll keep you all posted.