Let down by a computer game!?

Last night I was let down by a computer game. Yes, I know it sounds silly, but bear with me on this one.

I used to really enjoy the Prince of Persia series. In fact I still play the first three ones, althought Warrior Within is the weaker of the three. The one they called Prince of Persia just didn't do it for me, the humour was mostly gone, they had turned him into a sarcastic redneck. The game had been turned into a lot of complicated acrobatics followed by one-on-one fights. There was nothing to that game, it became pretty boring after a while. Gone were the fights were you had to hold your own against an increasing number of enemies while trying to keep Farah alive and avoiding being shot by her. And you had to use tactics during those fights, you couldn't just wade in, you had to draw some of them away from Farah, target specific ones first because you knew they would be the ones that were more likely to get you killed... Not in that installment of PoP, it was just plain hit hit hit special move hit hit hit send what's-her-name in hit hit hit, it's dead. Next!

Anyway, this is actually not about PoP. I got hooked onto the Assassin's Creed series now. Really enjoyed the first one to the point that I would reload the game to try and get all the flags and kill all the Templars even after I completed the game. I am now playing Assassin's Creed 2. It took me a while to get round to playing it because I have been hooked onto Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2, which are great games in their own rights and the very first first-person shooters I have been able to play without feeling like bringing my meals back up.

I am digressing again. Assassin's Creed 2. Great fun! Really have to stop and think about some of your contracts, you cannot just wade in there and get the target. And you still get some acrobatics worth of the Prince. So we are all happy. Last night I was doing Sequence 12. I killed Checco (pretty easy to do if you chase after him on horseback and attack him from the horse) and got stabbed in the guts as a reward. Anyway, time passes. You would have thought Ezio would be on a bed, covered with a nice flimsy blanket, bandaged around the abdomen, maybe a spot of blood on the bandages, armour on a stand to the side of the room (after all, he is amongst Assassins, so he'd be safe). I mean, all I was asking for was a bit of eye candy, you know, for us female gamers (and gay gamers out there too). I wanted to see those abs and muscled arms.

Was it too much to ask for? Obviously it was. He wakes up on a terrace laying on (maybe) a bed. Caterina is there beside you and she is obviously relieved that you have regained conciousness. You know time has passed because Ezio is now sporting a beard (and those take more than an evening to grow unless you are special). So why is he not in a bed with some bandages and showing off those abs you know he must have because there is no way a weedy man would have been able to go climbing and running and fighting like he does?

So I was extremely disappoined. Sad but true. Maybe I will load the Prince again cos I know HE does lose his shirt to show off those abs!

Portal Camera Locations - Camera Shy

I found these at the above linked website, and thought that reposting it here might be a good idea. This one is for all the people like me that kept missing the one vital camera in order to get the achievement!

Chamber 02

3 cameras.

• Camera 01 – Above the entry door.
• Camera 02 – Next to the first blue portal.
• Camera 03 – Above the window overlooking the portal gun.

Chamber 03

3 cameras.

• Camera 04 – Next to the chamber information sign.
• Camera 05 – Next to the orange portal.
• Camera 06 – Next to the exit door.

Chamber 04

2 cameras.

• Camera 07 – Next to the button.
• Camera 08 – Near the exit door.

Chamber 05

3 cameras.

• Camera 09 – Near the chamber information sign.
• Camera 10 – Next to the door in the main area.
• Camera 11 – On the wall opposide the exit door.

Chamber 10

1 camera.

• Camera 12 – Next to the steps at the entrance.

Chamber 11

1 camera.

• Camera 13 – Above the corridor leading from the entrance.

Chamber 13

3 cameras.

• Camera 14 – Next to the button near the entrance.
• Camera 15 – Next to the first door.
• Camera 16 – In the exit corridor, next to the exit door.

Chamber 15

5 cameras.

• Camera 17 – Next to the chamber information sign.
• Camera 18 – Next to the exit from the first area.
• Camera 19 – Above the exit from the 2nd area.
• Camera 20 – In the side room of the 3rd area.
• Camera 21 – Above the entrance to the 4th area.

Chamber 16

5 cameras.

• Camera 22 – Behind the 1st turret.
• Camera 23 – In the 2nd area.
• Camera 24 – Behind the 3rd turret.
• Camera 25 – Above the turret opposite the button.
• Camera 26 – Behind the turret through the button door.

Chamber 17

2 cameras.

• Camera 27 – At the end of the 2nd energy ball corridor.
• Camera 28 – Over the doorway in the main area.

Chamber 18

2 cameras.

• Camera 29 – Next to the entrance to the turret area.
• Camera 30 – At the start of the fling area, next to the water.

Chamber 19

3 cameras.

• Camera 31 – On the wall in the first area.
• Camera 32 – Above the button that opens the door in the moving platform area.
• Camera 33 – Near the end of the moving platform area.

Edinburgh Fringe top ten jokes

The Fringe Festival has been and gone. And here is the top ten jokes as voted by the public once a panel of judges had reduced the total number of entries to 27.

• 1) Dan Antopolski - "Hedgehogs - why can't they just share the hedge?"

• 2) Paddy Lennox - "I was watching the London Marathon and saw one runner dressed as a chicken and another runner dressed as an egg. I thought: 'This could be interesting'."

• 3) Sarah Millican - "I had my boobs measured and bought a new bra. Now I call them Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes because they're up where they belong."

• 4) Zoe Lyons - "I went on a girls' night out recently. The invitation said 'dress to kill'. I went as Rose West."

• 5) Jack Whitehall - "I'm sure wherever my dad is; he's looking down on us. He's not dead, just very condescending."

• 6) Adam Hills - "Going to Starbucks for coffee is like going to prison for sex. You know you're going to get it, but it's going to be rough."

• 7) Marcus Brigstocke - "To the people who've got iPhones: you just bought one, you didn't invent it!"

• 8) Rhod Gilbert - "A spa hotel? It's like a normal hotel, only in reception there's a picture of a pebble."

• 9) Dan Antopolski - "I've been reading the news about there being a civil war in Madagascar. Well, I've seen it six times and there isn't."

• 10) Simon Brodkin (as Lee Nelson) - "I started so many fights at my school - I had that attention-deficit disorder. So I didn't finish a lot of them."

And also here are some of the worst jokes:

• Carey Marx - "I'm not doing any Michael Jackson jokes, because they always involve puns about his songs. And that's bad."

• Frank Woodley - "I phoned the swine flu hotline and all I got was crackling."

• Alex Maple - "Michael Jackson only invented the moonwalk so he could sneak up on children."

• Phil Nichol - "She's got a face like a rare Chinese vase - minging."

• Alistair McGowan - "I've just split up from my girlfriend, which is a shame, because it was a long-standing arrangement. Perhaps if we'd sat down a bit more..."

Dos and Don'ts with Babies

These pictures are from a book by David and Kelly Sopp. All credits go to them, for the marvelous book! If you like it, you can buy it on Amazon, as it would make a great gift:
http://www.amazon.com/Safe-Baby-Handling-Tips-David/dp/0762424915