House of the Dead 4

No, I'm not going to review it. Not least because I couldn't do it the injustice of passing judgement on one credit of play. (I was skint, dammit!) Anyway, there is a shiny new HotD4 machine in the Megabowl at Fountainbridge. In the desolate world of Edinburgh's arcades, which rarely see a new machine and where operators wait patiently for cabinets to die so they can replace them with bandits, this is a welcome sight indeed.

It's the first title out the door running on Sega's Lindbergh hardware I believe, which is not based on the Xbox 360. It looks the part. For once in a game about zombies, the concept of an infestation is actually credible. They don't come in twos or threes, they march forward in dozens. Sega have also seen fit to give the zombies unique attire, someting I was clamoring for in the run-up to the Xbox's HotD3.

The weapons this time are submachineguns, which work satisfyingly, tho of course anyone with any sense will fire them in bursts. Not happy with a new weapon, the designers have added other gameplay elements to the formula. Zombies now grapple with players before taking a bite and must be shaken free of. Unchecked, a crowd will overwhelm your ingame avatar, pushing you to the ground and trampling you into the bargain. It's all welcome stuff. Whether it's enough remains to be seen, as Sega's lightgun games have been going downhill ever since their departure from the NAOMI board, and arguably before that.

I just thought I'd let you know.

New Adventures in Cooking

I declare my first experiment in cooking Gaeng Ped to be a success. I did burn the rice a little bit, which is embarrassing, but it all turned out right in the end. More importantly, Ho-il liked it too, which makes me happy, since he's such a kick arse chef. The recipe I used in the end turned out to be an amalgam of the one on E2 and a sheet that the lady in the Thai supermarket gave me. Here's what I used in the end:

300g chicken breast, diced
2 tins coconut cream
3 tbsp red curry paste
5 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp sugar
6 kafir lime leaves, shredded
1 tbsp Thai basil leaves, crushed
1 small tin bamboo shoots
1 cup pineapple pieces
100g baby sweetcorn
5 baby aubergines, quartered

These were all bought from either Thai@Haymarket, or Lidle. Despite this, it added up to a fair bit. I wound up paying around £13 in the end, although some of that constituted inital outlay on ingredients that make several dishes. This made enough for two, with a little left over for my lunch today.

Using a large stew pot (no wok in my flat), I briefly fried the curry paste first, then seared the chicken. Into that, I poured one tin of coconut cream, saving the other for later. After that, I added most of the other ingredients, except the aubergines. When it had reduced down a little bit, I dropped in the aubergines and topped it up with the rest of the coconut milk, covering and leaving it to simmer until the aubergines had cooked. Lovely.

Ho-il did indeed bring Killzone (an FPS for the PS2), and we played a fair bit of deathmatch then took turns at trying to clear campaign missions. Killzone certainly is visually impressive, with a powerful aesthetic and a lot of detail. As an experience, it has a lot to offer, however, I think it lacks a lot in AI and in the design of a comprehensively believable environment. There is much shepherding, and that bizarre predicament where an elite soldier can't jump a 3 foot wall rears its head. In fact, he can't jump full stop, except where permitted by the level designers.

Midnight

At GEAS yesterday, Colin's D&D game wasn't running, so I asked around for something else I could join in. It transpired that I could join a game called Midnight, that was just about to begin afresh. Midnight uses D&D rules, so I didn't have that much to relearn, and is set in a dark and opressive world where evil gods reign, the dead walk the earth, and literacy and combat training are outlawed.

Suitable to such a hopeless world, the GM threw us in at the deep end, as the party began manacled together, being herded north by a gang of orks to be worked to death in an iron foundry. ( Read more Tolkien-esque goings-on... )

So, quite a fun afternoon. I'm still a beginner, and I try, though I worry that I'm not contributing enough that is useful to the game. I'll just have to endeavour to improve that with time.

Colin did show up eventually, then proceeded to fall asleep at the table, much to everyone's amusement. Wild night, I guess.