Call of Cthulhu

Finally I got the new Call of Cthulhu game Dark Corners of the earth. Being a horror fan I looked forward to this. There is very little good horrors made these days in movies nevermind games. I got kinda into the the Cthulhu genre of horror by way of the Evil Dead movies following the book of the dead story back to the Necronomicon of H.P. Lovecraft's stories. I find his ideas intriguing although I find his books very difficult to read. He has lots of implications in his stories without all the gore we kind of expect nowadays from horror stories.

Anyways back to the game. I was at first surprised with the blocky designs of rooms and textures. It reminds me of much older games not one released in 2006. The character designs also seem a bit unnatural - I was expecting a bit better from the same company that is bringing out Elder Scrolls : Oblivion. But I know, yes it is a different team and probably an old engine due to the long time it took to be developed. So anyway before I started the game I made sure my kids were tucked in bed and my wife was busy and then I went and switched of the light for a spooky atmosphere. The start of the game is a bit confusing as I couldn't really understand what I was supposed to do. First thought was I had to stop a bunch of guys shooting from inside the house. But rather the game expects you to investigate the bottom floor rather than rushing the assailants. Okay that aside there is one creepy part in this prelude, but nothing to really get me anxious or anything.

So a bit dissapointed I continued the next evening (You'll note I don't play much on a game per night as I have lots of other responsibilities as well). So I arrived at the town InnsMouth. Now I know a bit about this town seeing as I saw the movie Dagon (pretty good horror movie but a bit gory...) which also told about this same town. OK so the town didn't look anything like the one in the movie but I knew there was something going on with its citizens. As a matter of fact only an idiot will be walking around not thinking he/she is in severe danger in this town. Luckily in the beginning the citizens doesn't seem to want you as their next sacrifice. They seem quite placent during the day. You catch glimpses of stuff and get knocked over by something that used to be someone's mom. The story line slowly gets you closer to your yet undeterminable fate. So far that night I can't really say that the game has anything really scary even playing in the dark as I was.

So last night I continued playing and then my idiot of an character actually wanted to go and sleep in this obviously demented town. This is when all hell broke loose. The game doesn't let you go to sleep until you bolted the room's door. No surprise then as you are woken up to a few citizens coming to collect body dead or alive for their next sacrifice. The game makes good use of that feeling of blurriness when waking up - which adds to the tension of getting out of the room as fast as you can before they break down your door.

What follows is probably one of the scariest things I have ever experienced on a computer (expect for a blue screen of death). You have to make your way from room to next room bolting doors and moving cupboards as you go along. This chase is quite a long (I mean this a relative too how long you can stand the tension and not being able to save your game...) and you'll have to do it a few times before getting it right as you need to figure out where to go as well while running shit scared. I read in some walkthrough there is periods you can actually wait a bit and that they don't always actively chase you. But it is so well done you feel like you have to scramble for it the whole time. This obviously makes for stupid mistakes as well (guilty as charged).

Finally I found my way away from the gang and through a warehouse were you gotto walk real slow and hide from the thugs. There also seem some other thing that is looking for you but you look as from its viewpoint so you can never get to see it. The scariness of the game dropped again. I went through some sewers with nothing much horrible in them - just a dead little girl insisting she is alive but always on the other side of an grating you can't get past anyways - so there is no scary "follow me" kindof routine used here. A pity it could have worked well for the game. The sewers hints of something being there but not showing you really anything. You finally meet up with a woman you met before earlier in the game. She somehow has not had any problems with the citizens while living there and go wherever she pleases - which seems quite unlikely. She helps you get into a church that the strange citizens are repelled from. Unfortunately she snuffs it before you can get a bit of cop and feel, so much for the sex scene - oh well ... which leaves you alone in the church.

One funny thing to me about this church was that although the people won't chase you into it, the priest has been crucified and disembowelled inside the church. Now how did they get this right if they couldn't enter ? Anyhow this is where I am currently with the game...

To Blog or not to Blog

Okay here I have been wasting away my blog and not updating it. I decided to start again but rather than having a little wisdom blogged, I thought it better to just blog about stuff I am currently doing. This will allow me in the future and look back at what I did when and what (if anything) I have accomplished. This will make it probably more useful to me than anybody else but what the hey !

Just had to post this little ditty

"The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

- Ronald Reagan

Quote of the Day

"Listen -- strange women lying in ponds distributing
swords is no basis for a system of government. Supreme executive
power derives from a mandate from the masses, not from some
farcical aquatic ceremony."

- Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Quote of the Day

"I cook with wine, sometimes I even add it to the food."

- W. C. Fields

Quote of the Day

"There's only one way to have a happy marriage and as soon as I learn what it is I'll get married again."

- Clint Eastwood

Quote of the Day

"In Japan, employees occasionally work themselves to death. It's called Karoshi. I don't want that to happen to anybody in my department. The trick is to take a break as soon as you see a bright light and hear dead relatives beckon."

- Scott Adams

Quote of the Day

"The wages of sin are death, but by the time taxes are taken out, it's just sort of a tired feeling."

- Paula Poundstone

Quote of the Day

"The moment at which two people, approaching from opposite ends of a long passageway, recognize each other and immediately pretend they haven t. This is to avoid the ghastly embarrassment of having to continue recognizing each other the whole length of the corridor."

-Douglas Adams

Quote of the Day

"Space is big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the drug store, but that's just peanuts to space."

- Douglas Adams

Quote of the Day

"If it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, we have at least to consider the possibility that we have a small aquatic bird of the family anatidae on our hands."

- Douglas Adams

Quote of the Day

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools."

- Douglas Adams

Quote of the Day

"He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief."

- Sir Francis Bacon

Quote of the Day

"Wives are young men’s mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men’s nurses."

- Sir Francis Bacon

Bet my wife is looking forward to nursing me at old age ...

Quote of the Day

"Silence is the virtue of fools"

-Sir Francis Bacon

You got to love this one after my absence of posting :)...

To Post Or Not To Post

Whoah ! Just look at that It's been almost a month since I last posted... Since I went on a week's vacation, I just got lazy... or is it because a lack of really interesting news out there. Well anyways let me see if I can get back to at least one post a day. Even if it is only a quote.

Scott Adams Creates a Blog

I don't believe it ! The mentor for all office workers right around the world has decided to start his own blog. Now if that is not an awesome news item, I don't know what is. (Do I need to mention that I am a fan of the comic strip Dilbert ?)

Rootkits

Yep after viruses, trojan, malware and spyware comes a new menace - Rootkits. These things actually change the way your operating system works so that your normal spyware/malware detectors can't pickup any problematic proggies running on your system. These things are real nasty and apparently the only solution to really get rid of one is to format the system again. There are a few programs out there that will help you detect these bothersome things.

Check out the article at :
Tech Support Alert

Slave Species of god

I found a new interesting book via fedup.co.za (thanks goes to my wife) that has been written by fellow South African, Michael Tellinger. The first chapter can be downloaded for free.

"Short introduction to Slave Species of god.

While many books have been written around the subject of our human ancestry, Slave Species of god skilfully manages to combine much of the ancient knowledge of lost civilisations to expose the shocking truth about our human origins. The book is easy to read and grabs its reader from the very first chapter. It unravels the mystery of our CREATOR and the creation of "Adam" while it draws a clear distinction between "god" and GOD. It takes its reader on a journey of discovery through 550 pages of astonishing facts. You will be exposed to the earliest human writings and our ancestors some 450 000 years ago, as they plotted the genetic manipulation of the human race. This is probably the most controversial book written by any South African author and will challenge all the newcomers to this genre of literature."

Check it out here :
Slave Species Link

Ananova - Artists erect giant pink bunny on mountain

Now here is a news item worth noting.



"An enormous pink bunny has been erected on an Italian mountainside where it will stay for the next 20 years."

Check it out here :

Ananova - Artists erect giant pink bunny on mountain