I'm harping, I know

Close to all of them!

Almost the entire cast for HBO’s A Game of Thrones has been announced, and it’s looking like a good set!

We had quite a few cast members already, but now that the show has the green light and HBO has committed to filming the entire season, more characters needed to be cast. I thought many of the actors were very well suited, but some stood out as not being suited at all, though I hope to be surprised when I actually get to see the show!

Now that the show is actually going ahead, quite a few more roles have had to be filled, and some characters were being recast to find a better fit. George has put up an entire list of the cast so far and there are few that I don’t think are right on the money for the roles. I’ll include the list below so anyone feeling like it can Google them, but I’ll also include a link to George’s Not a Blog as there are pictures on there as well.

I’m honestly quite excited to see this come together, though still trepidatious as with any novel to screen cross-over. My boss read my post a while back on recycling my old mobile phone by selling it and now he wants some help doing the same thing - read, he wants me to do all that for him and I can’t say no as I’m an employee - with his collection of old phones. He said he’s got seven that need to go off, as they’re taking up an entire draw in his office desk…

Now for the cast!

SERIES REGULARS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:

Mark Addy as King Robert Baratheon
Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy
Sean Bean as Eddard “Ned” Stark
Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen
Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Ser Jamie Lannister
Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister
Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark
Aidan Gillen as Littlefinger
Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon
Iain Glen as Ser Jorah Mormont
Kit Harington as Jon Snow
Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister
Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Bran Stark
Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen
Richard Madden as Rob Stark
Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane (Hound)
Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark
Maisie Williams as Arya Stark

FEATURED CAST IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:

John Bradley as Samwell Tarly
Ron Donachie as Ser Rodrik Cassel
Jerome Flynn as Bronn
Conleth Hill as Varys
Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo
Donald Sumpter as Maester Luwin

GUEST CAST IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER:

Josef Altin as Pyp
Gethin Anthony as Renly Baratheon
Ciaran Bermingham as Mord
Esme Bianco as Ros
Susan Brown as Septa Mordane
Dominic Carter as Janos Slynt
Antonia Christophers as Mhaegen
Kate Dickie as Lysa Arryn
Roy Dotrice as Grand Maester Pycelle
Emun Elliott as Marillion
Lino Facioli as Robin Arryn
Jefferson Hall as Ser Hugh of the Vale
Derek Halligan as Alliser Thorne
Rhodri Hosking as Mycah
Margaret John as Old Nan
Finn Jones as Ser Loras Tyrell
Dermot Keaney as Gared
Francis Magee as Yoren
Joseph Mawle as Benjen Stark
Brendan McCormack as Ser Vardis Egan
Ian McElhinney as Ser Barristan Selmy
Luke McEwan as Rast
Kristian Nairn as Hodor
Rob Ostlere as Ser Waymar Royce
Eugene Simon as Lancel Lannister
Jamie Sives as Jory Cassel
John Standing as Jon Arryn
Conan Stevens as Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane
Peter Vaughan as Maester Aemon Targaryen
Miltos Yeromelou as Syrio Forel

Desk is a mess

I suppose I better clean it… at some point…

I’ve had two weeks vacation, which has been absolutely great. I’ve gone away with my SO, gamed a great deal, blogged a little, relaxed and generally had a very good holiday.

But now I must get back to it. Thankfully my work isn’t too taxing. I work hard at what I do to create the best websites I can, within the guidelines set out by the client, but the toll it takes on me isn’t too bad. Sure I’ve got some RSI going from typing, and my shoulders are ruined from constantly sitting at a computer, but all in all I’m not too bad off.

For the last… well it’s been more than a few months now, I’ve been able to work from home. That’s pretty much the icing on the cake of my working life, really. I much, much prefer working from home. My only issue is that I’m not exactly the neatest person, and scribble many a note to myself whilst I’m working. This leads to piles of notes, and other general mess, too.

I’m not so lazy as to get an office cleaner to clean up my work space, but it’s a close call. Looking at my computer, it could also use a clean. The dust this thing can collect is incredible, especially around the intake fans. You can clean it pretty well with a regular vacuum, but when you notice you’re core-temp is running a few degrees higher all the time, it’s time to break out the can of compressed air, open the case, and clean out all the dust on the inside of the damn thing. The air cans are really good for cleaning out keyboards, too.

I don’t like to do all the time consuming detailed cleaning, or scrubbing, but thankfully my SO does actually enjoy that sort of thing. But she hates to tidy. She doesn’t mind scrubbing down the bathroom, but clearing up the counter and putting everything away irks her. I actually enjoy the tidying aspect, so we’re very well suited in that way.

Update for Worms 2: Armageddon

Surprisingly filled out update for the points cost.

I bought the game on my first XBOX 360, but decided to re-download it onto my Elite and now of course I have to go through all the crap that is consolidating licences, but I can still play the game properly if I’m hooked up to XBOX Live, but when I unhook it - as the cable actually usually goes to my SO computer, yes, I’ll get another one soon - I can’t play the full title, only the trial. Anyway, back to the game.

Worms 2: Armageddon is great fun. Quintessential worms gaming. You’ve got a little team of worms - if you don’t know this then you must have lived in a cave for the past decade - with funny voices and hats, and you blow the crap out of one another. Simple, yet oh so engrossing!

My SO and I like to play. I win more often than not, but it’s still a good fight. We’d had heaps of fun playing this game in the past, and after reading that the Battle Pack was out recently, we decided to buy the Battle Pack, re-download the game, and play away!

It has been a lot of fun, and there’s a lot of new content in the Battle Pack. I quite like the new Superforts and all the new terrain types are incredibly welcome! There aren’t that many new voice packs, but what is there is up to snuff with the rest of the game. My SO would like to see a few more female sounding voice sets, however, which I agree with as the male sets far outweigh the female.

I’ve not had a chance to go through all of the new content, but the ferrets are pretty awesome. Termites not so much, but those ferrets I bet will be scary. There’s so much gaming going on in this house at the moment, so I’m off back to it!

Puzzle Quest 2 is good

Surprisingly good, actually

I had the trial to Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords and whilst I was waiting for something to download from XBOX Live I decided to give it a go. After a few minutes I had to have the full game, and looking it up on the Arcade. I found that it already had a sequel, which had substantially better graphics, so I bought that one instead.

That was about twenty-four hours ago and I think I’ve been playing this game for about twelve of those hours. Basically it’s a nice little RPG game with Bejewelled as the battle mechanic. Sounds odd at first, but it’s thoroughly engrossing. Bejewelled itself isn’t a title that can keep my attention for very long. It gets boring quickly because you feel like you’re getting little back for all your jewel switching. But with this game you actually get past the foe and get rewards from it, too.

It’s not an overly complex game, but it’s got enough depth to be quite satisfying, and you’ll find yourself coming back to it over and over should you give it a try. It’s also quite a lengthy title, from what I’ve read, so you can expect to really get your money’s worth out of it!

I really enjoy the puzzles for looting, disarming traps, and bashing down doors, too. Especially the loot puzzle mini game. It’s such a simple mechanic, as is the case in many aspects of the game, but the straightforward simplicity serves to heighten the enjoyment, as you can pretty much pick up and play at any point and you’ll do fine.

One aspect of the game that really, really works, is what occurs if you lose a fight. You get the XP from the fight, but the foe is still standing there. You can then just have another go at the creature, and another if that’s what it takes, until you get it. Sometimes a bit of luck can make all the difference, and not having to go back to save points or lose XP is a wonderful thing to not have to go through if your luck runs bad for a little while.

It’s a very enjoyable game which I strongly recommend to any 360 owner.

Zeta FTL

Serious lose. Ugh.

Okay so it’s been a good while since I last wrote, but I’ve been rather busy in that time. Went on a small vacation with my SO, which was great, and then spent a few days at home together, gaming and generally having fun. Of course, I only just realised that my last blog post didn’t go live when I hit ‘Publish’ instead saving itself as a draft. Good show… Anyway back on topic.

I’ve still been playing Fallout 3, but not as much. The reason? The Mothership Zeta add on. Wow. I hate the bloody place! It just goes on and on and I’ve still a heap to do in there. I’ve got to blow up two more power generators and do a bunch of other crap. It’s just very lengthy and boring compared to other parts of the game. Being enclosed in the one area when I’ve had the entire wastes to run around in really stinks.

The whole thing feels so claustrophobic, so tingly squished in, and blowing away alien after alien does not make up for this fact! Seriously, though, I want those little bastards to suffer. There’s quite a few people and mutants that they’ve picked up, some going right back to feudal Japan. Yeah, they’ve been cryogenically freezing people for later. Don’t know why, yet. Being the paragon that I am, I’m not killing the Samurai for his armour, even though there’s no bad karma for doing it, but it doesn’t seem right to me.

I’ve found this area really off putting, and I’ve not been playing for the last few days because I just can’t stand this place. The indoor maps aren’t very good in Fallout, which usually doesn’t bother me, but in this case, when I just want to get through to the destination area because there’s very little actual content, and just more aliens to kill, makes these maps very annoying.

I hate that I’m stuck in this area until the quest in complete. With nearly all other parts of the game, you can leave at any point and come back. Here, nope. You’re stuck. For many, many hours, in a linear corridor filled with annoying aliens. Ugh.

What a great game

That looks like a sarcastic title, but I’m serious. Fallout 3 is excellent!

I started playing Fallout 3 again, though this time on my 360. I was playing it on PC for a while, but when it bugged during a main-story mission, and corrupted my only save file, I gave it up for a long while.

I really enjoyed the game, but my perception of it was greatly marred due to the game-breaking bugginess. This is nothing new for Bethesda, but something that I wish they’d stop doing. I don’t mind waiting an extra month or two for a game that’s actually going to work!

I have the game of the year edition, with all the downloadable content included and so far I’m enjoying it greatly. This has to be one of my top ten all time most enjoyable games. It’s a very large and engaging game world, and you actually care about what’s going on.

Oblivion was a good game, but I didn’t feel as drawn in as I do with Fallout 3. The only downside is that the game still is a little buggy. Twice, during many, many, hours of gameplay the game has frozen my 360. After shutting down the console, it loaded up fine afterwards, but still, that’s irritating.

I also had a great deal of difficulty with one particular quest, getting the Temple of the Union people to the Lincoln Memorial. I had to do a great deal of running around trying to get everything right to have the escaped slaves turn up at all. If you kill all the slavers at the Memorial before you’ve talked to Hannibal Hamlin - the leader of the Temple people - then all the freed slaves just walked out of the old Temple of the Union building never to be seen again. Very frustrating but eventually I got it sorted out.

There’s just so much to appreciate with this game. The music is fantastic, the ambient sounds excellent, and some times the sense of creepiness is incredible. I just went through Vault 106, the one with the creepy ghostiness going on, but because my science skill is at 85 I can’t find out what was really going on as I need a science skill of 100 to hack the Overseer’s computer. Dammit!

Chavette lost her case

The chavette who threatened my neighbour with legal action after she hit him did take the case to court, and lost!

So there was some lead up to the case, but I’d not spoken to my neighbour in a while so I’d not heard about it until this week. He received notification in the post from a law firm that specialises in compensation claims for accidents that the chavette driver was in fact pursuing the case and was seeking compensation for claims of a whiplash injury she received during the accident.

My neighbour said he approached a law society he was familiar with who suggested the legal services of a group that should be able to help him with the case. He made an appointment with him and they were only too happy to take the case on.

Early last week the case was heard in a courtroom where the judge dismissed the case shortly after hearing what had happened from the mouth of the chavette herself! Once the chavette said that she hit my neighbours car because he’d stopped at an orange traffic light, the judge stopped her there, told her she was lucky she wasn’t being fined for wasting the courts time.

My neighbour was so happy with the outcome, and his lawyers said they didn’t feel like they deserved his money, but he said he was happy to pay the fee for the entertainment of seeing the young lady’s face when the judge got mad her.

My SO and I are very happy that our nice old neighbour doesn’t have to pay some compensation claim for something so ridiculous. It’s irritating to see how often these sorts of cases come about. There seems to be far too many ‘ambulance chasers’ out there, and little in the way of repercussions for bringing these sorts of suits against people. Hopefully the chavette learned her lesson, then perhaps she’ll share them with her chav friends and they’ll know not to try to sue people when they hit them with their cars!

BP no longer top dog

Not even in the list of top dogs. Take that!

Seriously, this oil spill disaster is going to be almost as bad for the company as it has been for the environment. I’m at a loss as to what to say, okay well no I’m not, I’ve got a lot to say, and here I go.

Can you believe that that unmitigated, worst natural disaster ever for the US, event was caused by one of the world’s wealthiest companies trying to make more money!? I would like to see the financial news for BP get a hell of a lot worse than being dropped from the BBC index of world’s largest firms. I want this company to really have to fix this, and be monitored a lot more closely from now on.

I think they paid far more attention to their independent financial advisers instead of who they should have listened to, a good independent ecological advisory firm! I’m rather angry at the financial and ecological disasters hitting the world thanks to too many big companies being too damn concerned with banking more money for themselves. If you check your current account, and see a great deal more money than you would need to live comfortably for the rest of your life, then you sure as hell should settle down and not take huge risks, make poor choices and take unwarranted short-cuts.

If you watched the responses from Tony Hayward to the US Senate, you’d be forgiven for reasonably assuming that the man did absolutely nothing at all. His response to so many questions was ‘I had no involvement with that part of the company’ or ‘I was not involved with those choices’. I mean, what part of the company was he involved with? Golf? Lunch? Naps? Bah! What a wanker!

I hope oil companies take a lesson from this and don’t attempt to earn themselves more money in the future at the potential cost to the environment and people who’ve got to live near those places that could be affected.

Wow, PlayStation Move looks ridiculous

I don’t like the bubble.

Let’s just take a look at this thing. It’s incredibly similar to the Wii-mote in set up, save that it’s black. But… so is the new Wii-mote… Oh and it’s also got a very silly little balloon thing on the end, that looks like the controller is obnoxiously blowing gum at you. Apparently it’s not hard, and is sort of rubbery and pliable like a clown’s nose that can be pressed out of shape and then will just bounce back into place when you let go of it.

The Move is, essentially, the Wii-mote restyled. It works on the same principal as the Wii-mote, but instead of an infrared sensor bar that the Wii implements, you’re working with the PlayStation Eye instead. This means that the Move will pick up more of a 3D aspect than the Wii has, as the Eye allows for greater perception of depth.

As with the Wii-mote, you’ve got a secondary controller, that in this case is called the ‘navigation’ controller, but apparently you don’t have to use it, you can just play with the normal PlayStation controller in your left hand… wtf!? Yeah, how do you imagine that’s going to work, Sony? Oh, you don’t? Of course you don’t.

The Move will sell in the UK for £39.99, the navigation controller for £29.99, and if you need the Eye as well, you can get that with the Move for £49.99. So, price wise we Brits are paying a little bit extra, but at the same time it’s not the worst price difference we’ve been hit with.

Really, the Move just hasn’t blown me away… but then again, PlayStation in general really hasn’t made a big impact on me. I like to game in order to relax, and I don’t actually like having to stand up and wave something around to play.

Nintendo talks about the 3DS

Well… they talk a little…

So, I had big reservations about this handheld. I mean, what’s with the huge push for all things 3D at the moment? It seems so 80’s to me. I’ve not gone and seen any movie in 3D, and I’ve never felt like I was missing anything. It just seems a bit absurd, sitting there in those multi-coloured glasses.

So when Nintendo announced that, not only less than a month after bringing out the huge and unwieldy DSiXL, they were upgrading the handheld, that it was also going to be 3D, I was disappointed and angry with Nintendo. I mean seriously… I’m getting real tired of Nintendo rehashing the same few games that bring them huge revenues, and then filling shelves with shovel ware to confuse those not in the know into spending money on crap games.

Nintendo finally showed off what the handheld was going to look like at E3 this week, and I have to say, I’m quite impressed with the look of the machine.

When I first heard about the analogue stick, I thought it sounded very out of place with the handheld, but it actually looks alright in there. The larger screens are nicer, too, and apparently the hardware in there to rival the Wii. That makes me think two things; it’s great that the graphics will be that good, and oh my the Wii sucks.

The reports from people who’ve actually had a chance to play a demo are very positive. So far people are all saying really good things about how it plays and how comfortable it is to play. The 3D is able to be turned on or off, which I’m very pleased about, and apparently there’s also quite a bit of room to move in terms of still getting the 3D image rather than the two images separating.

I’m feeling a lot more positive about the handheld, and I’m looking forward to more info on it. Nintendo still isn’t saying much, and they’re still rehashing game after game, but when one of those games is Ocarina of Time, I’m not too irritated.