Hacked Off

Earlier this week, my Xbox Live account was hacked. My Microsoft points balance of about 1600 was all but emptied and an attempted purchase of a further 6000 points only failed as the credit card linked to my account had expired. According to my purchase history 'I' had purchased three items of FIFA 12 'Ultimate Team' DLC (I hadn't). According to my Windows Live account, I'd added another email to my account (nope) and changed my security to one in Chinese (hmm, no).

I'd had a hard, tense day at work and really wanted to unwind by shooting some terrorists in the face (MW2) followed by an early night. As it was, my evening was completely free of face-shooting and I was up until gone midnight deleting stuff and wandering around the internet changing other passwords and generally upping my security levels. Not what I'd wanted to do at all.

I'd been aware of a hacking problem on Live, particularly in relation to FIFA DLC - one of my friends list had had an identical hack before Christmas and you don't have to search far on the internet to find similar stories. Indeed, the verb  'to be FIFA'd' has started being used  ("I have been well and truly FIFA'd").

I'd never succumbed to a phish for my log in details and my password was judged 'strong' but a fat lot of good that did.  The Internets say that there's a weak link in Microsoft's security software and that may be the case (I'm no expert).  There's clearly something wrong given  the number of incidences of hackage reported on the Internet.  

I reported  it to Microsoft, who said that my Live account would be locked and the details  passed to its 'investigation team' and that this was likely to take up to 3 days.  12 hours later, I received an email from the investigations team, which said that they had verified that unauthorised access had taken place and then gave me a code for Microsoft points  slightly in excess of those that I had lost.  All I need now is for my account to be unlocked and I'll be back in the game (this hiatus may do something to remedy my FIFA addiction - 80+ hours to date).

Given how quickly my claim was agreed, coupled to the fact that early reports of this problem last autumn stated that accounts were being locked for up to a month, has led me to think that Microsoft know what's causing the issue and don't want to fix it.  The 360 is coming to the end of its lifespan, with its successor expected to be announced, in some quarters, at this year's E3.  Who knows what shape Live will take in the next generation of Xbox consoles?  Do Microsoft consider it cheaper to pay off those unlucky games like me who've been hacked, compared with the cost of altering deep-grained issues within Live's code, when Live for the Xbox 720 (this almost definitely won't be its name) may be far different?

Game of the Year 2011

It's been a long time since I blogged (again), as  that pesky 'real life' thing has been interfering in my free time (and I like to use at least some of that which I have left to actually play games!).  Hopefully, I'll get more time in the New Year.  I had hoped that my family  taking over the TV for  X-Factor 2011 would allow me some time for gaming but, no - I laid into my DS and 3DS instead, the better to block out the tuneless wailing and, frankly, shouting (Kitty, I'm looking at you, through eyes squinting in pain) that was on my TV.


Anyway, as I did last year, I thought I'd post on my favourite games from those that I'd played during the year. I haven't played everything this year - there are some triple A releases (Gears of War 3, Skyrim) that just don't float my gaming boat - and I have a couple (most notably Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword) that might have a claim to sneaking in my top 5 when I actually get around to playing them.  However, there's not much point of a 'best of' list being posted in April the following year, so here it is, in reverse order for an illusion of tension - 


5. Batman: Arkham City - the sequel to what was my game of the year  2009 (Batman: Arkham Asylum) and not as good as that superbly structured and balanced game.  The story and look of Gotham City (aka Arkham City, a prison built in the fenced-off streets of parts of Gotham) were great, as was the respect shown towards the Batman mythos.  There was too much unnecessary padding of side missions though and I hope that any subsequent Batman game from Rocksteady is more focussed. Admittedly, I didn't have to do any  side missions (or I could have picked and chose those that I wanted) but there's a bit of OCD towards collecting in most gamers - I blame Mario - and, in getting sidetracked, I lost some of the focus of the central narrative.   A special mention to the boss fights - far better than in the first game and one (Mr Freeze) was one of the best boss fights I've ever played.

4. Mario Kart 7 - an excellent entry into a series I've been playing for nearly twenty years. It followed the tried and tested template of 32 courses (16 new, 16 plucked form earlier iterations of the game) split into 8 cups, with various unlockables (characters, kart modifications) to pick up along the way.  The addition of underwater and in the air paths through courses gave a sense of 'verticality' to the courses (and the shortcuts available in them).  I was sceptical about this verticality at first but it really has an impact of gameplay and pathfinding.  It also has  the best use of 3D on the 3DS that I've yet seen. 


My only gripe is that there's too many Mario Kart Wii courses on the retro cups - I've nothing against the courses picked (Maple Treeway, Coconut Mall, Mushroom Gorge and Koopa Cape), which are all very good (the former two are probably my favourite courses on MKW). It's just that I still regularly play MKW and one of the great things about playing retro courses in successive Mario Karts is that they take you back to courses that you've not played for a while - this time around, I still play  a quarter of the retro courses on offer in another game.

3. LA Noire - a game that can be summed up as a James Ellroy's LA Quartet simulator  - and just as good as that sounds. Spooky facial capture tech puts recognisable actors (including many of the cast of Mad Men and  John Noble from Fringe)  into the game. The facial expressions  used by the actors are a key part of the gameplay, as you try to 'read' them in interview sequences, something that had never been done in a game before (and that worked very well). Excellent narrative (even if there are a few holes and too many 'borrowings' from Ellroy) and interview sequences.  


Unfortunately, the developer went into administration shortly after the game was released but hopefully another developer has picked up the tech used in the game - it showed massive promise

2. Portal 2 - It's not often that I laugh out loud at a videogame (50 Cent: Blood on the Sand excepted) but I did, several times, in Portal 2.   Intelligence, wit and humour are three attributes not always found in videogames but Valve's excellent first person puzzler had them in spades. As with the first game (that I did not even play until after this one), the gameplay revolves around the portal gun - a device that shoots two (at any given time) holes into reality that then create a portal between them that the player can pass through. The puzzles are essentially a series of passages from A to B but that brief description does not do them justice.  You get  a sense of real achievement (which is always far better than an Achievement) after working out a particularly tough puzzle without resorting to an internet guide. This was my game of the year until today (30/12), when I reached the end of -

1. Uncharted 3 -  Uncharted is one of Sony's console exclusive crown jewels (along with Killzone and Resistance, neither of which I'm that keen on).  Uncharted 2 was excellent in every area (still only my third favourite game on 2009 though, behind Batman and Assassin's Creed II) but this one surpasses it.  The same treasure seeking template as before (think 'Indiana Jones' (but try not to think of the awful fourth film)) but this has been polished to perfection.  The story was spot-on and didn't succumb to the narrative foolishness in the final reel as the previous two games.  Some of the set pieces were breathtakingly good - straight out of a Hollywood blockbuster. The environment effects - fire, water - were superb, giving a true sense of danger to what you were doing onscreen and Nathan Drake is a genuinely engaging central character.  All of the characters were excellently voice-acted, particularly Drake and the always in need of rescue Victor 'Sully' Sullivan (Princess Peach to Drake's Mario).  Special mention goes  to the music score, which was pitch perfect for the game.
Well, that brings to an end my games of the year.  Honourable mentions must be given to those that  just missed out -  Little Big Planet 2 (in the top 3 until the autumn), Super Mario 3D Land, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and FIFA 12 (the best football game I've ever played).  Same time again next year...

If it's in the game, it's in the game

This year's iteration in the FIFA franchise came out a few weeks ago. I bought it on the day of release and have been playing it, if not solidly then consistently, since then. It is an excellent game, far better than last year's more defence-minded game and as good, if not better, than FIFA10 (up until now my favourite football videogame ever).

But I'm not blogging about my silky FIFA skills (with my win percentage bumping along at around 20%, that wouldn't take long). Last Saturday, I went to see real football, West Ham United v Blackpool and thoroughly enjoyed a 4-0 saunter for the Cockney Boys. My seat for the day was in one of the stands to the side of the ground,  just below the TV gantry, almost in line with the centre circle. The view from my seat was very similar to the default camera option in this year's FIFA. Such is the realism of FIFA12 (graphically - at a distance, anyway - as well as in the gameplay), there were times during the West Ham game when I was watching the on-field action instinctively thinking 'finesse that shot' or 'pressing tackle!' and imagining the corresponding button press as I saw play develop. I'd then remember that this wasn't a virtual game of football, that it was an actual one.

These thoughts came like they do when playing the game - jumping into the 'twitch reflex' part of my brain, rather than the rational, thinking-monkey, bit (the rational bit then kicking in, rolling its eyes at 'twitch' and reminding Team Brain that its body wasn't holding a controller). I've had this feeling before - for example, when scanning the tops of flyovers for giant ants after a lengthy EDF 2017 session - but never from a sports game. I think this is testament to the immersive nature of this year's  FIFA and it is difficult to predict how EA can improve upon this sense of immersion  in the  future (not that that will stop them bringing out FIFA13, of course).  

RIP Funland

Last week I was in the Piccadilly area of London on my lunch break. As is usual when I'm over that way, I popped into the Trocadero to have a wander around Funland, which is probably the largest arcade in Central London (if not England). Or rather 'was' the largest arcade in London, as it has recently closed down.

I'd gone to Funland for years - as much as anywhere, it was 'my' arcade when in my twenties. I was never a frequent visitor - although comparatively wealthy next to students nowadays, even back in the mid-90s students didn't have spare cash to feed, in £1 coin increments, to Namco, Sega, Konami et al. I was a regular visitor though - probably dropping in every couple of months or so.

As with every arcade - except Segaworld - that I have ever been to (and I'm a gamer who grew up on the English South Coast, so I've been to quite a few), Funland was, even at its late 90s height, slightly seedy and down at heel. That has always been part of an arcade's charm, I think - the juxtaposition of the advanced gaming technology, with the sticky carpets, cigarette smoke (pre-ban, that is) and dingy lighting.

It had one of the best range of arcade games around - this was where I first played Daytona, in a fantastic 8-cabinet array - and used to get the latest cabinets, probably before anywhere else in the country. I've read that, at its height, gaming journalists would often visit to see the latest games in action (and then, no doubt, stay on them for ages for £1 with their mad gaming skillz).

As well as a great range of arcade games, there were a few other money-spinning entertainments in Funland. Dodgems, a mini bowling allay and, for a time, a range of games that you could win paper tokens on, that could then be exchanged (after amassing a huge number of them) for a range of tacky prizes, as at a funfair. I don't think I ever went on any of those - it was always all about the videogames for me - but I remember that, at one point, the dodgem circuit was lined with classic arcade cabinets that were nearly always empty and so good for a quick, wait-free game.

For a time Funland was co-located in the Trocadero with Segaworld London - a misguided attempt to create an interactive theme park by Sega in the years when they seemed to lumber from one massive mistake to another (blow your marketing budget for your new console on sponsoring a football team?). However, Funland was there before Segaworld opened in 1996 and it was there after Segaworld closed down in 2002 and, indeed, took over some of Segaworld's floorspace. This multi-floor expansion made Funland somewhat of a maze and, as I'd only go over every 6 months or so after I stopped being a student and had to get on with 'real life', I would frequently get lost while wandering around, wondering where the exit was. Fortunately, there was never a fire...

I checked the internets when I returned to work - it seems the arcade closed in July 2011. The official website (www.funland.co.uk) cites a 'power failure' (that has also knocked out their phones) but that is unlikely as the rest of (what's left) of the businesses in the Trocadero had electricity to burn on my visit. And 2 months to fix a power failure? The power was back on in Baghdad quicker than that. There are reports on the internet that the real reason was somewhat different but, what is definitely true is that the upper levels of the 7-storey Trocadero complex are being redeveloped as a hotel and I wonder if the landlords were all that keen on what was, by the end, quite a seedy arcade occupying the levels of the building below their shiny new hotel. Whatever the real reason for the closure was, the arcade docent look like re-opening.

I think that my admission that I only went every 6 months in its latter years, is probably indicative of why arcades are thought to be a dying business. I would go on a weekday lunchtime in the heart of tourist London and it was never all that busy. Given the overheads attached to such a venture, in that high-rent location (the electricity bill alone must have been astronomical), it is difficult to see how it lasted as long as it did. With the massive advances in console entertainment in the near 20 years I'd been going to Funland, gamers simply do not need to shovel pound coins into arcade machines to get high quality gaming fixes. Put simply, you can't run a large-floorspace business in Central London based on hardcore dance gamers (Funland was something of a shrine for dancing games, apparently) and nostalgic twice-yearly gamers like me. I am slightly disappointed that I never got the opportunity to take my daughter (who loves arcades) along to Funland (my wife, on the other hand, is probably quite relieved).

Holiday Casualty

I've just been on a great fortnight's holiday in Suffolk - very relaxing, reasonably clement weather  and plenty to do.  As is usual for me, I took my DS Lite, my PSP (which went untouched) and my iPad, in order to head off gaming withdrawal.  Unfortunately, my DS bought the farm while I was away (coincidentally, on a farm) - one of the hinges snapped off as I opened it up for another game of imported zombie RTS Zombie Daisuki (to be reviewed soon).

Something missing?

I wasn't particularly rough with it but the housing for the power lights completely sheared off.  I bought the DS Lite when it came out, upgrading from my DS Chunky, so I've had it for over four years (in which time I've played it a lot).  Even so, a physical failure like this seems poor.

Fortunately, the DS still works OK, though some balancing (or changing grip, so that the left hand is supporting the top screen as well using the D-pad) is required to prevent the top screen from becoming wonky while playing.  I think that this means it is no longer a portable console - playing it on the sofa at home is fine but I think bumpy train journeys are a thing of the past!

I will be replacing it shortly, probably with a DSi.  I did consider a 3DS given the recent price drop but I'm not that interested in any of the current 3DS games and, if I got one, it would be for the DS backwards compatibility.  However, there is very little difference in price between the two at the moment (which is faintly ridiculous), so I might end up taking the 3D plunge or (most likely) checking the condition/price of  a second hand DSi

Official Wireless Xbox 360 controller (silver) - review

Unless you're relentlessly anti-social (or fixated with online play only), you'll need to buy additional controllers to complement the one packaged with your console. You may have an annoying sibling to take on at FIFA, a guest who wants to 'see how much games have changed since my Atari ST', or a child to grind Lego collecathons with. However you arrive there, you will almost certainly be looking to buy a second controller at some point.  I bought a second official MS Xbox controller when I bought my 360 in 2007. Recently one of them became faulty, continually becoming disconnected from the console despite fully juiced-up batteries or battery packs. As I often play 360 with my daughter, a second controller is essential and so I was in the market for a new one.

Third-party pads are nearly always awful (Power A Pro Elite on PS3 being a notable exception), so I looked to Microsoft for a replacement pad. As I've written on here before, I think that the 360 controller is the best controller that I have ever used over my thirty years of gaming. Other than the d-pad, which is a bit sucky, there is nothing that I would seek to improve about the pad that I wanted to replace.

Pretty

Never one to miss a trick, improving the d-pad is exactly what Microsoft has done in the latest version of the pad. The d-pad switches between a disc (as in the original pad) and, with a slight twist, a cross. The cross is undoubtedly better than the disc but most games that I play don't use the d-pad all that much - weapon selection, choice of tactics and similar functions. While it's a neat trick, I don't think it is that much of a killer feature to warrant a purchase on its own.

As an 'innie'

As an 'outie'

As the pictures show, my new controller is silver which, as the pictures don't quite show, is a matt effect (a shiny finish would not have done much for its gripability). I thought that this would run the risk of scuffing like a cheap plastic toy - of the metal effect rubbing off after repeated use to show the black plastic underneath. So far, however, that has not happened, even under the part of the controller under my wedding ring.

Another new 'feature' is a recolouring of the buttons, presumably to echo the silver colour of the pad itself. I think that this is a poor design choice as far as its primary purpose - as a game controller - is concerned. while it might make sense aesthetically, the 'normal' colours of the buttons are important when playing games. Screen prompts, particularly in tutorials, will flash up the colour, as well as the letters (which are unchanged in this pad). I instinctively know that 'green' means the 'A' button. There have been occasions playing with the new pad where I've seen a green, blue, red or yellow coloured screen prompt and had to think 'is that white, light grey, middle grey or dark grey?'. Many games rely on split-second timing and that fraction of a second additional thinking time may be the difference between success or failure.

The buttons in all their monochrome glory

The pad is slightly heavier than the normal pad. Without batteries it is 226gm (compared to the normal pad's 209gm) and with the standard rechargeable battery pack, it is 297gm (compared to a normal pad's 280gm). 17gm difference seems very little indeed but it does make a difference. I often have stiff wrists the day following a lengthy gaming session (30-years' gaming experience, ftw) and that was noticeably worse with the new pad. The day after a long session with this pad on high octane shooter Vanquish, my wrists were aching like those of a 14-year old boy with unmonitored internet access.

I paid £45 for the pad, which came packaged with a play and charge kit. As I needed a play and charge kit anyway, I thought that this was a good price. However, in my opinion this pad is not as good as the original pad. The chief 'good' point - the new D-pad - does not outweigh the 'bad' ones - the weight and the different coloured buttons. When/if I next need to pick up another new pad, I will be going for the original one.

Resident Evil 'Umbrella Corporation' Cuff Links

I often wear cufflinks for work and have a reasonably large collection of them. I recently purchased a pair of 'Umbrella Corporation' cufflinks from UK-based etsy seller Deadly Pretty.

Y'know - evil

The Umbrella Corporation insignia is made from acrylic (possibly a little too thin for everyday use or I may just be used to weightier links) and exactly the right the surface area.  Not too small as to barely cover the link hole but not too large that it looks like it's fallen from a Las Vegas-era Elvis jumpsuit.

The link-y bit is my preferred shape - a t-bar that snaps open/shut (much preferable to capstan-style cuff links).

My day job sometimes requires interaction with politicians and I find the possibility of meeting politicos wearing the symbol of a sinister, conspiracy-riddled organisation that is  committed to developing hideous biological weapons, quite amusing...