Celebrations and Salutations

So 2011 is finally here and it should be one of my most exciting years yet! Mainly because I leave university this year and go out into the big wide world to stake my claim! Or possibly an unemployed couch potato...

Of course I am joking and I am looking forward to my graduation ceremony a lot and then I aim to get a job as either a games developer or possibly website design. I have also toyed with the idea of applying for a job with our university as I have had an amazing three years at University of Greenwich. Before now I have not really given much thought to what job I actually wanted as I believed it best to concentrate on my university work and getting those elusive top marks! However I reached a pinnacle age on the 22^nd December [take a note ;-)] as I became 21. I was half expecting some miraculous transformation overnight and I would wake up wiser, smarter, taller and well more grown up! I am still waiting for that little present though!!! It was, however, the point in my life where I started seeing myself in a 9-5 job earning my way and gaining renowned success as the most innovative games designer the world has seen (we can dream right?).

So aside from jobs, ageing and graduation what I have been up to? Well playing Xbox 360 games :p I am studying games so I think I can say it was all in the name of research. I also think I deserve a bit of leisure as I really want this year to slow down so I can truly appreciate my last year at university. I also got bough the Xbox kinect sensor for Christmas which is fun to play about with. One game I bought for the kinect was  an exercise game. I mainly did this as it seems to be the ‘thing’ to buy at the moment plus I though I should be fitter as part of a new year’s resolution. Anyway this new game I thought I would give it a try so it does not end up as an endless waste of money. Although it has one really good little feature which is that the game allows you to choose the difficulty of the exercise routine. I am 21 and not morbidly obese so I thought go for it and choose a hard routine thinking it would not be too taxing....

20 minutes later I was lying on the floor preparing for the end! Oh my word it was a hard routine and I kept being told to lift my legs higher and my stretches were not strong enough and I only burned 130 calories! Oh well at least I had learnt a new lesson; know your limits! Its one lesson I always forget though but never for too long.

On my final note, before ending this blog, I would recommend a website called play.com. I imagine most people already know about it but it has free delivery and lots of bargains to be had from gadgets to DVD’s to games to books! So all that’s left is for me to say “I hope you all have a brilliant new year  and one of your best years yet!”

Here comes Santa Clause....

This week I actually started Christmas shopping and writing out Christmas cards! I was really proud I had finally started and my first priority was to send one Christmas card to New Zealand which I thought would take a week at most to get there but it seems I have missed the important send off date and now it won’t get there till after Christmas! It seems a recurring theme of my life to leave everything to last minute and I do keep saying I will be more organised.... next year.... trouble is I am in the third year now! Next term I will be more organised I am sure.

So aside from Christmas shopping and Christmas card writing I have also been working extremely hard. Remember in my last blog when I said I was lazing around? Well that now means I am a week behind! Oops... On the plus side I am steaming through the work as I actually feel recharged after my ‘week off’. One course I particularly enjoy is sound design as it really is teaching me how much sound in films and games really affects us. The course also has taught me that we, as humans, watch films and play games not because they are grounded in reality but because they take us out of reality. So film and game makers will over exaggerate most aspects to take us out of the real world. I know I am going into a massive educational lecture here but it is interesting! Just listen to some of the sounds made by objects in films and you will see how false the sounds truly are.

On another side note I have a few hints and tips about university for you all. When at university you will need to develop confidence as some people do really think they know everything and its important not to let them push you down when you know you are right. I have a group coursework that has come up recently and I got, in my opinion, a rather harsh email. In my eyes he had a few questions that needed to be answered and I felt he aimed those questions at me. It now seems that he was not firing questions but merely stating a few areas that need to be thought about a bit more. I have now asked we set up regular meetings to avoid this happening again. Ending on a positive however; in my games coursework I have now developed around 4 enemy characters!

 

Don’t let it snow, let it snow!

So I am now late with my blog and I have a perfectly good reason.... erm.... oh yeah I was writing my blog (slaving away) and then due to the arctic temperatures I endured, whilst writing, my fingers became frozen to the keyboard! Therefore my blog has to be sent late but hey can’t be helped :p

So this week saw the arrival of the snow and it snowed and it snowed. First of all I was happy because snow means cancelled lectures and fun times with friends but then the truth settled in. Snow is all fine until the transport grinds to a halt and it’s all fine till it turns to ice. In my home town of Chatham I had friends say that the snow was half way up their legs and some had snow halfway up their doors. I personally do not like being unable to go out because I get bored and when I am bored I get cabin fever/ go crazy. However I was lucky this time and just spent most of my days watching films and drinking coffee and just lazing about. I have to say it was a well needed break!

On another note I have discovered comedy gold! For those who have not seen it Miranda is a brilliant show on BBC and its broadcast every week on Monday. It’s also good because you can watch it via BBC iplayer for those who do not own a TV. I have to say it’s now one of my favourite shows just for the sheer stupidity of the main character; Miranda.

On one show she was sitting in a sushi restaurant and casually enjoying a meal with her friends. However Miranda can’t just be normal and something bad was bound to happen. The scene actually ended with Miranda’s necklace being caught in the conveyor belt and she was whisked around while trying to untangle herself! It’s definitely a good little bit of comedy and one I would highly recommend.

Panic Mode!

Hi all,

I am going to start this blog off with education! *yawn*. It dawned on me recently I have hippopotomonstrosesquippediliophobia; which ironically is the fear of long words. Lecturers at university are always telling us to use big words so that we sound more articulated and more intelligent. So this week I have been looking up big words and thought I would share my favourites with you all. Aside from the word above I also liked the word circumbilivagination which basically means to rotate. However my favourite long word I found had to be a Nipmuk (American Indian) lake named Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. The lake was named to convey an agreement between the Nipmuks and their neighbouring tribes. It translates to “You fish on the left side, I’ll fish on the right side, and no one fishes in the middle.”

Where I found these crazy words!!!

http://wordsyoudontknow.com/10-very-long-words-you-dont-know/all/1/

Ok that’s my top three long words and now onto what’s been happening this week in my life. This week was the dreaded project pitch week!

Being a third year you have to undertake a big project that goes someway to highlighting how great you are at your course. Therefore we had to present/pitch our project idea to our lecturers to show that we know what we are talking about and that we have done enough research to put us in a good starting position. It also allows them to give us a push in the right direction if need be. Now, I hate public speaking and I feel very awkward even in social situations so this was my idea of a nightmare! I was given lots of tips to help my nerves and to stop myself from freezing up. These tips ranged from preparation to repeating rhymes in my head to drinking water every time I paused for a long time. Anyway I basically went into that room as a nervous wreck who already knew they were doomed to fail. It turns out at the end of the day if you are passionate enough about an area of interest it shows! It also is nice to know that nerves are a great help and not a burden. You see if you are nervous it keeps you on edge and ready to tackle those hard questions. To cut a long story short I was nervous but hey I am confident I passed! On a side note I really, really need to start Christmas shopping!!! Who else is with me?

So Tired....

This week my feeling has been consistently schleepy (Basically meaning I am halfway between sleepy and can’t be bothered to operate normally). An example of this would be the other day on the bus. I got on the bus paid with my oyster card (You should all get a student oyster card to get discounted fees!!!) and sat down. I then had my heavy bag with me and I moved it in front of my feet and was shocked to find it made a strange clunking noise like I had a glass bottle in there. I immediately got confused and then went about trying to find this bottle but I finally realised it doesn’t exist. It seems a lady in front of me also had a bag with a bottle of wine in and she moved her bag at the same time as mine! Blonde moment over....

In fairness the lack of sleep is my fault but it’s also a lack of energy as I seem to be in a never ending cycle right now. My life basically consists of wake up, eat, go to university, go home, eat, sleep and then start all over again. So my advice for all students would be to plan your weeks out in advance! I know it sounds silly but simple things such as a tick list really can help. I know when I get home I will write out a quick list of all the things I need to do for the next day or sometimes the whole week. By using lists I do have the occasional day off to play my computer games (all in the name of education, of course!) I also, as some may know, did not pass my second year so I really am putting everything I have into my third year!

Final part of my blog is an announcement: I have started Christmas shopping! I am not sure though if I have started early or just at a normal time.... I have been consistently told at university that I need to manage my time efficiently so I believe this is merely using that principle. I will also leave you with a little figure (which may annoy some people):

36 days till Christmas!!!

Student life is a riot...

As some of you may have seen on the news recently the protest against the rise in tuition fee costs did not go according to plan. It ended with some angry students climbing onto the roofs of the Tory headquarters and throwing down things such as fire extinguishers. They also decided to smash a number of windows and graffiti the establishment. I have to say that I am disappointed that this has happened as it seems to have taken away the message we was trying to get across. People seem to think that education is a privilege and in reality it is not; it is a basic human right! I have had a number of friends (who have never been to university) remarking that ‘students are stupid’ and ‘clearly the education is not paying off’ all because of the reckless action at the protests. They do not realise that people are going to be angry and i am sure if they were told their tax was due to double, if not triple, they would do more than vandalise property. I think at the end of the day students will still apply for university for the very fact that it is worth the cost. I know I have blogged before that student life is stressful and hard at times but if you don’t work hard for something then is it really worth it?

I actually did not go to the student protest as I was unsure at what they actually were trying to accomplish. I disagree that university funding is going to be cut and disagree that course fees will increase but i also acknowledge that cuts need to be made. I just do not see why they hit the students who are, after all, the investment of the future. It also goes back to students generally getting a hard time. I have often heard people say the students get an easy time and they have the good life etcetera. I do not believe this at all. I know students that work the hardest to get the most out of their course and they work a lot harder than they many people who have a full time job. Also many students, such as me, have part time jobs. I think what I am rambling on about is basically; university is tough but it’s worth the effort!

I also wanted to leave you with this quote which, to me, talks about broadening your mind and listening to all sides of an argument so that you can see the truth:

Better keep yourself clean and bright; you are the window through which you must see the world.  ~George Bernard Shaw ~

Fable 3!!!

As I have blogged previously; my life has gotten rather hectic with all the university coursework I have to do so obviously I have been working extremely hard....

... Well I was going to but then I bought a brand new game. At first I was not sure about the game because I have heard some bad reviews about it. So during the last week, with every spare moment I have, I have been trying to complete Fable 3. To be honest it is a good game but it does lack in certain areas as when I finished the game I couldn’t help but think ‘did they rush this?’ I went through the game thinking how much effort and consideration they had taken but towards the end the game seemed more rushed as the storyline deteriorated in quality. The actual gameplay was brilliant and that was consistent throughout. The whole game revolves around an evil king who has thrown his land into a time of gloom and misery and it is up to you, the prince or princess, to end his reign of tyranny.

As you progress through the game you are constantly made to choose between good and evil by way of the decisions you make. At first I thought this was a good concept but at times the decision made little difference on the outcome and the options were too simplistic. For example it would be like ‘Do you want to kill someone or let them live?’ erm lets think I am good therefore I think I will let them live?! It would have been more true to life if the decisions were less obvious in my opinion. Other parts of the game were really clever such as the game as a whole element. The game does involve you, the main character, leading a revolution and becoming the hero of the people but it also plays on the common thought of ‘What happens to the hero in everyday life?’ Fable has played on this by providing the hero character the ability to settle down and have children or possibly adopt. The hero can also purchase a business or rent out houses etc. To me this showed a lot of wit and also a lot of effort to make the game a fun piece.

Overall though I would recommend the game as it has helped me keep sane over the past week or so! Also I would just to like to add that yes I have spent ages playing a computer game when I should, most probably, have been working extremely hard on my course but I assure you i was merely ‘studying’ the game on a professional level ;-). After all I am studying Games and Multimedia Technologies!

Image Obtained from:

IGN: Fable 3 Artwork