This year I have done the following:

• Passed my first year of University.
• Gone on a free trip to France.
• Moved into my first ever rented house with the coolest cats I know.
• Started to play my guitar regularly for the first time in FACKING ages.
• Calmed down my admittedly escalating alcohol consumption.
• Taken the first steps to become and actual games developer.
• And started this here blog/website thingy.

In short it has been amazing and even though it’s had its lows as well as it’s highs I’ve enjoyed all of it.

But enough of that soppy nostalgia crap and on with the new awesome plans I have for the next year. I shall definitely be updating this website a load more and I will be starting some new projects that I’ll keep anyone that actually reads this up to date with both on here and on my twitter @hockin1.

Hope everyone has had a top year like me and that the holidays is going to be as drunk and hazy for you as it is undoubtedly going to be for me

PEACE

It wont happen again
But yeah I’ve been on summer holidays for a mammoth three months now and I have to say it’s starting to get boring as shit; there is only so many times you can do everything without wanting to top yourself or break something in a vain attempt to break the humdrum monotony. However, even though things are a bit rubbish now, this summer has had some great times and some absolutely awesome distractions up until the last few weeks. Below I’m going to write them all up. If you like them read them, if you dont, throw them right back.

1. GUILDWARS!!!

Ok so the original  Guildwars came out 5 years ago but this summer I have fallen in love with it.

As a massive late comer to the whole MMO scene the last year has been a bit of a learning curve for me. It all started with a short stint on WOW, a couple of average at best free games, then pre patch Allods and now I am knee deep in Guildwars and I can honestly say that I don’t think I’ll be going back to any other MMO  any time soon. My interest was first peaked when I was watching videos for Aion and Guilwars 2 on gametrailers and after a quick check on amazon I found the complete edition (with all 3 expansions)  for only 15 quid. BARGAIN!

The game itself has wicked graphics a really neat story driven campaign and allows you to “employ” A.I controlled characters to help you take on quests if you can’t or won’t find player controlled characters. It has helped me spend more hours than I care to admit this summer and has always had me coming back for more. GUILDWARS YOU ARE MY SUMMER SAVIOUR.

With hours and hours of content it’s definitely worth the 15 quid to play so everyone get and hit me up my character name is Dr Exp.

2. Starcraft 2

It is official, the Koreans have a new crack. Starcraft 2 has dropped and it fucking rocks. I got the game fairly soon after it came out and I absolutely loved it. I haven’t managed to finish it yet with work and GW but I’m a decent way through and it’s been awesome so far. I had only played a small amount of the first one so I went into this not really knowing what to expect but with varied mission types, amazing units and a deep multiplayer SC2 has it all. The engine in the game is so robust that in time we’ll be seeing some amazing mods and because of the popularity it will undoubtedly be supported for years to come.

3. Ghosts of Ascalon

Another Guildwars based piece of goodness. GoA is a booked set in the Guildwars universe in between the first and second game. It follows the adventures of Dougal Keane a former Ebon Vanguard as he sets out with a makeshift group of adventurers to stop the constant conflict between the Humans and the Charr once and for all.

Got to be said it’s a real page turner and after only a couple of sessions over two days I’ve finished it already. With over 370 pages it’s definitely worth the fiver I spent on it. Check it out everyone.

4. The Maccabees

Not gaming related at all but I fucking love this band. No joke they’re actually class. As a self-confessed indie kid I’ve been a big fan of The Maccabees for a while but this summer it has definitely stepped up a notch. I have listened to every one of their songs and can safely say that I know most of the words to most of the songs I could find on youtube. Can’t say I know every one of the songs because I can’t afford to buy any of the albums.

If you haven’t heard of them get on it and just wait until you get hooked by the catchy as chlamydia guitar and lyrics.

5. Optimus Rhyme

Being the nerdy S.O.B that I am it was only going to be a matter of time until I stumbled upon nerdcore hip-hop when surfing the internet and it finally happened this summer. In the form of Optimus Rhyme a kick ass band from Seattle that rap about everything from their own inability to handle personal interactions to blagging a sickie and skiving off work. The awesome mix of rapped lyrics over some sexy funk tunes has had me bopping my head and singing along solidly since I first heard them. Anyone that fancies a change from the usual should definitely give them a listen and pay attention to the lyrics because some of them are honestly hilarious.

But yeah those have been my summer saviours I hope everyone has a wicked few months and is ready for some serious study back at uni

When I was little I’d watch films based in “the not so distant future” where everyone wore fucking hilariously skimpy outfits, flew hover cars and ran into robots all over the place…..even in school.

Guess what? They got crazy sons of bitches over at Hollywood got that last bit right.

According to a post I just read on Engadget those pesky Koreans have been at it again and have set in motion plans to incorporate robot teachers into 4,000 pre-school classes by 2012. Admittedly in these early stages the robots will only be in supporting roles as class room assistants but one day they will eventually fill all  8,000 pre-schools and possibly beyond.

But although it sounds good what will the repercussions be on the actual quality of teaching and development of the kid that they will be in contact with? My mother runs a pre-school so I thought that this would be a cracking opportunity to see what a trained professional had to say and it was comedy to get my mum talking about robots. Fairly sure at one point she referenced Number Johnny 5 , the greatest film robot ever…fact. She wasn’t convinced and said that it’ll never happen due to the influence of child to adult communication on emotional, physical and educational developement. Admittedly a bit of a buzz kill but who cares..those koreans practically talk binary with the amount of starcraft they play so it might just work.

I’ve got my fingers crossed that it does and who knows maybe one day your kids will be getting taught by robots…..maybe.

But today that changes. This post is all about internet TV and its untapped potential.

As a lazy, money grabbing student I have a shed load of free time on my hands and when im not working hard or out doing the things that popular kids do I’m in my room on my computer. And while you may think this is the perfect setting for a porn addiction to flourish I’m here to show otherwise. Sure I spend a bit of time waiting for things to buffer and wearing my headphones, alone, in the dark and when people come in I can feel a bit embarrassed but I am not fapping, oh no I’m watching TV. Surprisingly really good TV .

At the minute  I’m admittedly only taking baby steps into the world of web TV but my short ride has been a blast.

I basically stumbled across it when watching the latest episode of GTFO.TV on thestream.tv. For those of you that dont know GTFO is a E-Pop Culture show from the states that runs late on a monday night (hosted by two ex members of Epileptic Gaming (honestly best thing i have ever seen) and a pro street fighter player) that talks about everything internet with their own brand of crass American humour. After laughing my way through another class hour of content I started looking around the site that hosted the video and stumbled across all the stuff  going on there. From random satire edged news to shows about a deranged doctor, with an affinity for horror films working straight out of a mausoleum, the stream.tv has it all and with the overall quality rising you can have some really good times watching the stuff they’ve got on show .

However, as good as it is there is something better and it is….(drum roll please)….REVISION 3!!!!

Simply put the site rocks, all the programme’s on there are of unbelievably high quality, the writing is good, the educational stuff is good everything about is amazing.

Personally my favourite show is web zeroes. This small sitcom esque buddy show has it all and it has kept me hooked through some rubbishy uni loading times and has given me hope that my own stupid ass internet idea’s (this collection of posts included) can be successful. They try everything and the path they take leads them down the dark, dark roads of addiction, to unemployment and beyond. This show is the whole package.

As the information age keeps on growing internet T.V is going to be a big deal within the near future. By climbing on board now you can be riding high and proud on the bandwagon. So why not take the leap now? Test the waters…see if you like them and then dive in head first because there’s a world of untapped potential out there.

Today the German Government officially warned web users to find alternative web browsers for safer surfing.

They highlighted the fact that IE is the supposed “weak link” when looking at recent attacks on Google’s systems.

The warning, released by the Federal Office for Information Security, has quite understandably been countered by Microsoft who claim that the risk to everday and causual users is minimal and by utilising the browsers increased security people could rest easy knowing theyre not at any serious risk.

But yeah, Germany struck back with a good ol’ “IT DOESN’T MATTER!!” claiming that that’s still not good enough and that just to be safe  German internet users or, if you’d prefer de Deutsche Internetnutzer (yeah thats right i know things), should download an alternative (Firefox FTW!) and enjoy their time on the information highway in relative safety.

As a newly converted Firefox user this really does put the nail in the coffin for IE in my opinion. The fact that an actual Government agency would come out and say something as bold as this is truly mind blowing and I think its proof that our adopted home is hitting the big time; with people actually caring that little bit about us.

Go Germany, go Mozilla and go take care now guys.

After originally having a personal blog/site on here I decided that it was time for a change.

After a really weird sleepless night at university I was struck by a brainwave : I’m skint as fuuck and I’m fairly sure that theres thousands of people out there living the student dream just like me. Other people are living off tins of baked beans, other people are combining all the rubbishy tasting bits at the bottom of coke bottles to make bigger, fuller bottles that addmittedly still taste like ass.

But even though I live in what many would consider abdject poverty I still loves me teh interwebs and all other nerdy things (I am enrolled on a games development degree, after all.) so i spend what little free time I have left playing videogames and watching interesting stuff on my computer.

This is where the problem lies!!

Shit’s expensive these days and after the student loan runs out and you start not being able to buy stuff what you do? Short answer: You starting looking elsewhere. You use your search engine, you trawl the internet and you try and find free, or at least cheaper, alternatives to the stuff you used to get when you had money, like a normal person.

So:

This blog/site will be a place for me, and hopefully in the future a team of others, to share, review, and talk about all sorts of internet related things. From cool games to cool sites this page will hopefully be all about it. Bringing news and money saving tips to educate and help people on their internet travels!

Remember; it’s like the face book group says:

“University – it’s like being on the dole but your parents are proud of you”