Steam has a rating that rates you on how much you've played Steam games over the past two weeks. I'm around 3.9 or something, "Master of Nothing". This isn't very high, despite playing Portal for 9.5 hours since its release at 8:00AM on Wednesday morning. I have played it to completion three times, I have completed the Bonus Maps, and have made a start on the timed/limited runs. I managed to play it from clicking "New" to the final drop in one hour and six minutes. That record will be broken next time I play.
For those of you unfamiliar with what I'm talking about, it's a new game, called Portal.
A while ago, I can't remember exactly, probably about ten months ago, a trailer for the game appeared on YouTube, and I eagerly told everyone I knew about it. The game, set in the Half Life Universe, involved solving problems, not by jumping, but by shooting portals in the walls. This new game mechanic interested me, as they set about it in a realistic way. Well, as realistic as a physics defying idea can be. And like most stuff Valve does, I expected it to be great.
In the waiting time I downloaded Narbacular Drop, the original game which introduced user placed Portals. I enjoyed that and played it through many times (it was only really a proof of concept, so very short). But as Portal came out, un nouveau raison d'etre was came to light. Despite its short length, I can't stress how much I love this game.
"Any contact with the chamber floor will result in an unsatisfactory mark on your official testing record, followed by death."
I've barely even played Half Life 2: Episode Two. Well, I have, a bit, and I'm seeing fantastic cinematic effects. Just a couple of minutes in and I'm catching a glimpse of something through a window, not long enough to see what it is, just enough to know I'm being watched. It was far more effective and scary with the absence of suspenseful music, something a lot of Hollywood could take a cue from.
I'm not going to say much more on the subject of videogames though.
The JCS started again last Tuesday, for the first time with myself at the helm. I never though I'd make it as President, but I have become the first white President the society has ever had, if I recall correctly. And despite not having a stall at the Fresher Fair, and relying on old mailing lists and posters, we had a massive amount of new members. HUGE SUCCESS. I know that most of them we won't see again, but it's enough to keep the society alive.
I had a strange phone call last night. I was playing Portal (sorry) and my phone rang. I checked the time, it was 1:15AM. The call went something like this (I start):
"Hello?"
"Hi, I'm calling from BT Answerphone, I was wondering if you could design us a new logo."
"Design a new logo?"
"Yes. Is this a bad time to call?"
"No, it's a brilliant time to call."
"Well we just need someone..."
"Where did you get my information?"
"From Facebook. Should we just send you an email?"
"Yes, send me a Facebook message."
"Ok, can I just take your name?"
"You can get that from Facebook as well."
"Ok, thank you."
"Goodbye."
A few flags went off. BT never calls outside business hours unless. In fact, nobody does unless it's an emergency or they're from Australia. My mobile number isn't on Facebook to anyone but friends. There's no info about my graphic design career online accompanied by my mobile number, and if there was they'd know my name. On top of that, he sounded like a thirteen year old lowering his voice and his friends were snickering in the background. Either it's some ill-planned prank, or the worst scam I've ever come across.
I had a horrible thought. Last night, I'm in my room, flying through Portals, and while I'm looking, I see something. A tiny, red, square dot. I can't figure what it's meant to be. A little below that and to the left, the same thing, but green. These dots are standing out against a dark background. And I realise, one of my worst fears: dead pixels. The fear plagues every LCD monitor owner, something that can ruin something so beautiful. Trouble was, I'd shut down my computer, and was lying in bed. I'm getting dead pixels in my dreams. This is probably worse. They've gone now, but still, scary.
I did dream about Portals last night as well, it's strange. I used them just to help with the shopping.
Anyway, I'm off to work in a few minutes. The PHP websites don't code themselves.
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