Technology, honestly?

So I have a super-snazzy, ultra-fast Samsung Galaxy S3. And it is brilliant. But at the minute it has decided that, between it and the network provider, they don't want me to access the internet all of the time and on every application.

This is somewhat frustrating and I would love to know why it has decided to do this to me. As I type this post, I am waiting for the YouTube app to load up. I will let you know when it does.

I spent about 20 minutes on the phone to India while me tea went cold, asking them what on earth was going on. They had no idea, I have no idea. I have tried turning it off and on again several times, but to no avail. 

This makes me question the trust we place in technology. I mean just this morning I was uploading a day's worth of video recording onto it to upload it to YouTube, and now it is in tatters as I can't actually get the stuff on to YouTube as my phone won't let me. We basically run our lives by technology. I know my uncle has a tablet which acts as his diary for work and home, his whole life is stored on there. As this tablet ages, I can't help but look at it in fear of it crashing any day soon, and my Uncle left in a massive whole of confusion and chaos as he can't remember where or when he is supposed to do anything.

And along side this, I have spent the whole day today making signs out of wood. I here you ask, what is the significance in this dull and meaningless piece of knowledge of your life Tom? Well I did not use a single piece of technology to do it. I used wood, a saw, some paint, a book to use the words from to write on said signs, varnish and an incredibly useful sister to make me mny cups of tea. Yes you can argue that there was technology used to get all of those things to that point, hell all of them were probably paid for using a card. But it is the point that so much of our lives are based around technology nowadays, that we never actually get out and do anything.

We are too concerned about reading and writing frivilous little blogs in the hope we make somebody smile or change somebody's life our make a fe extra quid off of adsense, without thinking about what is important in life. So from now on I am going to try and do something technological and something non-technological each day. And I am going to keep you up-to-date with how that goes.

And also my phone has finally come back to tell me that there is a problem with the network and I can't upload that video. Point well and truly proven.

Thanks for reading

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Link to m

Post-Exams

Firstly I would like to apologise for the lack of posts in recent months. I have been incredibly snowed under with lots of things, mainly exams. I have just undertaken my final A Levels, which were to say the least, stressful and a right pain. But now I am a free man, so I can't complain!

I have loads of time on my hands now. Well I say that, I have spent every day since I broke up doing something. My mum teaches music at the local primary school, I am have been roped in to do numerous project in and around the Alreas Radio and Arts Fest stuff that I got involved in last year. Today I spent my day making signs out of wood with the Lord's Prayer on it. I am not even sure if that fits into anything, but apparently it was important! I must say, they lok pretty swish, even if they are about the Lord's Prayer...

So on top of all this work I have been doing in the Primary School (which by the way, I am not even getting paid for it, I am doing it completely voluntarily) I have also been putting my time to good use, working on 'Lucy the Moggy' doing some very important work on the car that I have been wanting to do for a long time. I have recently been part of the Morris Centenary International Event MMOC National Rally, and I have rekindled my love for the Minor. 

I have now got a book about the Morris Minor Traveller, which includes complete Morris history which I have now buffed up on, as well as some whacky and crazy Travellers with 5 rear passenger doors for example, or different boot and window configurations, which are really quite interesting, both visually and mechanically. It also has a complete step-by-step guide on how to replace the Ash frame, which I am looking at doing in the future. For the time being though I have been revarnishing her and she is starting to look really quite elegant. That and the addition of Chrome front light eyelids, and a roof rack complete with vintage suitcase and picnic basket, she is really taking shape.

The next project is the caravan which Lucy will soon be towing. Something that I saw at the Rally the other weekend, and have also researched before, is the idea of creating a 'Half-Timbered' effect trailer to use and tow around. Ones I have seen are really light and fellow owners of said trailers say they can drive at the speed limit quite comfortably because of the lightweight design and shallow height of them, allowing for a more streamlined effect. In fact the rood of the trailer, in a teardrop shape, at it's highest point would not exceed the roof of the car, which would mean it is really streamlined. I am looking forward to building it and using it thereon! All I need to do is find a trailer which I can use as an A-Frame chassic on which to base the caravan...

So anyway, that is an update on my life, and hopefully with a bit more time on my hands, a few more to follow!

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And on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/peachy146

Thanks for reading!

My Search for the Perfect Game - Part 3: Prison Architect cont.

After the last post I thought I would go back and write a list of goods and bads for Prison Architect as the best game in the world. and here it is, starting with the positives:

-Firstly the way the GUI is set up is really good. All of the items are little tiles in menus, from foundations to objects to floors to walls. Now this is nothing special and can be found in many other games, I know. But there is a very nicely presented as well as functional clipboard type presentation of all the staffing, prisoners, and financial reports which is really good way of having a large menu on screen. This is minimised at the click of a button.

-Also the idea of foundations is really nice. it is something very realistic and means that the mechanics of the game work really well as well as that sense of realism. This is something I would definitely like to see in my ideal game.

-The way the people move around is very simple but very effective. There is no moving legs, occasional arms and head move too, as well as it being very obvious when they have handcuffs on etc. This simplicity is not only effective but also quite funny. For example, when the workers are carrying doors or tables, it just looks like doors or tables moving about the place and is quite quirky. This is something else which a game has to be. A little bit comical and a little bit light hearted designed with a sense of humour. After all it is a game.

-Obviously the game works on a very simple grid. Yet again basic and easy-to-use but also allows for ones imagination to get a bit carried away as well as mean that there is a lot more functionality in the game if there is that grid. Take Minecraft for example, the idea of blocks means you can build great big structures, but the physics mean that the grid adhered to is so controllable and neat. Often people talk about Minecraft OCD, which I have been diagnosed with by my friends, and I think this comes about by the lack of any roughness with the grid system. The reason why I think this should be applied to a perfect game is that it gives the player the possibility to do so much more, rather than struggling to even create a basic vehicle in something like Garry's Mod, and also allows for greater precision and neatness. A tidy game is a good game

The things which make Prison Architect not the best game in the world:

-The topic: Prisons aren't very exciting, at the bottom of it, but Prison Architect does bring an awful lot to the table when it comes to the topic and makes it very fun in breaking up fights and sorting people out etc etc, but it is more of a game of sorting people rather than managing a business, which what I think should be the focus of the best game in the world.

-You are paid every 24 in-game hours which is roughly around 25 minutes. It needs to be an hourly pay system and there also needs to be a better balance between money earnt and the cost of building things, as the current game doesn't allow, after then initial grants have been spent, for much in the way of earning money and therefore expansion. There are ways of sort of cheating, which is effective, but also it's not very ethical and takes a bit of the fun out of earning all of your money and developing your prison fairly and by the book.

-Apart from those two features, there isn't a lot else which is wrong with the game, and it is only in Alpha. Some things like the paths of Guards and how quickly they respond to incidents, which one is selected for each incident and things like that needs improving, but this is even an issue in games like SimCity 5, where the traffic goes round and round in loops to get to places when it wouldn't do that in real life, so it is not a unique issue and in all fairness to the game, I bloomin' love it.

So Prison Architect is a step in the right direction, but mainly the business aspect of the game doesn't quite make it the best possible game I can find. Nevertheless, go and play it if you are at all interested by what you have just read. I have already lost an entire weekend to it, and I have only just started playing it.

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My Search for the Perfect Game - Part 2: Prison Architect

So in my very short search through YouTubers for some unique indie games, one I stumbled across is a game called Prison Architect, which has been played by Sjin from the Yogscast as well as Louis of Mariocat Gaming, which I have really enjoyed watching the 50 odd videos he has on his channel over this weekend. Another wasted weekend to YouTube, but that is besides the point!

Anyway if you are unfamiliar with this game then let me explain a little bit about it. Basically, it involves you creating a map with nothing on it, then you have a little army of workers which you can use to build a prison to certain outlines given by the use of grants, which I thought was a very clever and unique way of laying down a beginner's tutorial. This immediately captured my attention. It is a complete simulation game from a birds-eye perspective, so doesn't involve any of the level of graphics as simCity 5 for example, or the 1st person view of Minecraft  it is a very basic, very simple and easy-to-use graphical interface, a bit like that of a Pokemon game, or probably a closer link to the graphics of Super Mario, with the same rounded and cartoon-like landscapes. However instead of being from the side or that weird 45 degree slanty view which Pokemon uses it is birds-eye, as I mentioned.

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My Search for the Perfect Game - Part 1

As an avid gamer and supporter of Youtubers, I have been thinking for quite a while about the perfect game. what really got me into playing was Minecraft, as you will be aware if you have read previous blogs. Now this game has a lot of aspects which really appeal to me: It is completely sandbox and free-roam, so you can do as you wish. There is the idea of growing and upgrading tools and buildings to get better things. A natural progression through material strength and durability properties.

However there a quite a few things which I would like to see in the game. The idea of money and creating and developing wealth, with things to earn money from and also spend money on to make more money, the kind of business simulation games which get a bit boring after 20 minutes, like burger restaurant and the like, have this element and it really captures me, but the idea of actually having to do the work yourself is also inspiring as it makes it more than just clicking things and earning money. You are actually being productive and it is a little more realistic.

The mod-pack of Tekkit though adds a lot of this, such as power and electricity, as well as being able to automate things and create very complex pieces of machinery. This I like! Also the pack never seems to end, so there is always new things to capture your imaginations and explorations.

My point is, they both still aren't perfect. Minecraft is absolutely amazing, don't get me wrong, as many of the people close to me will testify, I still believe this. However for me it isn't perfect. I am not quite sure what is perfect exactly so I am going to enter on a journey through the world of indie games and see what ideas and principals and mechanisms I can take from those games and strive to find the perfect game.

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Recently I've Been...

So me and my friend enjoy watching a certain YouTube gaming channel by the name of YogsCast. Some of you may have heard of them. Well if you haven't then you should have.

Every now and again we have a bit of a chat about it and get all too excited. This instance happened to be on a walk down to the local shop to get a drink. As it usually is to be honest with you. We were chatting and it inspired me to write a post about it. I have to say it is one of my real enjoyments, guiltily, to play Minecraft  A little 8 bit game, with no goals apart from to dig up dirt and other resources and build stuff out of it. It's that simple. But because it is that simple the possibilities are endless.

Now I am a mega-fan of the whole gaining wealth and dreaming about money, as you may have found out from my other blog: http://tomstopmoneytips.blogspot.co.uk/. Subsequently these kind of games that involve building your riches really appeal to me. So Minecraft is a big tick. Now one of the other games which they have just started playing based on it's latest release is Sim City.

Now this game is amazing. In my personal opinion, I may go as far as to say the best game in the world! It just appeals to me so much. Now upon telling this to my other friend, not the one I went to the shop with, but a different one, he said the only the aliens and zombies are good in SimCity. That's to say he is no longer my friend (joking of course).

I disagree with that strongly. I don't really know what it is about it that I enjoy so much. I think it is the excitement of building such great wealth and power maybe? I really do feel the thrill as you start to imagine all the things you can do and build and buy and go absolutely mental with it.

That kind of thing really fires me up I suppose. Like the idea of a growing business empire. So there I have said it. I have told the internet. I am a materialist pig.

Apart from it's not the thought of what I could spend the money on. The lottery really doesn't fuss me. You could put £1 million in front of me and tell me to go and by myself I really nice house and car. Obviously I would take it and do it, but it would be nowhere near as exciting as if you said here is £1 million pounds. Go and turn it into 10. I think it is the creativity and thought which you have to put into little entrepreneurial things that are really exciting. It's almost as if it is the challenge of making money that is what is exciting.