Mayhem of Music A to Z: "C"

Hey, It's me, Womble, back for another Music blog, writing while tucking into a nice full bowl of Weetabix Mini-Bites, their extremely tasty, nom nom nom. So, We've done A and B so today rather unspectacular it is C. I've had a couple of complaints, saying I'm wrong from my friends, but these are just my personal selection of music, I like everyone I mentioned (apart from the people I joked about). However if you do wish to leave your comments, positive, negative or more importantly you opinions, the by all means post a comment. Anyway, let's get on with it.

C is For...

Solo Artist

There is only one real artist that I can give the Award for C to is someone that isn't typically in my kind of music. He has done a lot of compilations, but also a few completely solo songs. He is immensely popular, and has attracted some of the biggest names in Music to be his "featuring..." Adam Wiles is his real name but you probably know him much better as...

Calvin Harris

Calvin Harris is surprisingly one of my favourite artists. I'm not usually into "Electro-Pop/Club" music, so for him to be one of my favourites might be a surprise to some people. He has made two albums with a third on the way. His first, "I created Disco", was a gold selling début album and had 2 top ten singles in it aswell. His second album "Ready For the Weekend" had number ones in it aswell. One of his most famous older tracks is "Dance Wiv Me" which he produced and featured on for Dizzee Rascal, the grime/garage rapper from London. This was number one for a number of weeks and was one of the most famous of 2008. This year he had a hit which was the biggest number one here in the UK and the best selling number one in America aswell. "We Found Love" with Rihanna on vocals hit number ones all round the world and was probably the biggest track of the year so far. I thought it was brilliant aswell, and of course followed the crowd and bought it aswell. Sorry Guys, I'm too mainstream.

Bands/Groups

Another fine set of artists on selection for the Bands of the letter C. I would go for The Caesars, but I only know one of their songs, "Jerk It Out" which despite being one of my favourite songs EVER, is not a good enough reason for them to be the best band beginning with C. To be honest I have chosen a band that more than live up to this, because they are a World rebound band yet again. Massive here and in the USA, they are just purely brilliant. With a very unique style to their music.

Coldplay
As I said Coldplay have probably the most unique style of any band. Personally I couldn't group them in a genre, they claim to be Alternative Rock and Post-Brit Pop, but I cant see them in either group. We'll just leave it at Awesome. Anyway, I have a couple of favourite songs from Coldplay. Their main classics "Yellow, Fix You and Viva la Vida" but also from their most recent album. Mylo Xyloto has 9 full tracks and 2 intro tracks. I love about 7 songs from it, fantastic Album and might feature in blog "M" or "X" if I can't think of anything. My absolute favourites are "Up In Flames, Charlie Brown and Every Tear-drop is a Waterfall" I did love "Paradise" but it did get annoying and overplayed. Which is a shame really. But overall an absolutely fantastic band. Great Live and Chris Martin is actually a really nice guy and funny aswell. Well that's what he seems from TV and the Radio.

Tracks

5. Crying Shame - Jack Johnson 

4. Crazy Little Thing Called Love - Queen

3. Charlie Brown - Coldplay

2. Call it What You Want - Foster the People (I adore FTP!)

1. Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol

Chasing cars, is just... Stunning, Such a perfect track. Love it. Enough said.

Cheesy Track Of the Blog
Cha Cha Slide - DJ Caspar   Love it and I once won a dance competition doing that dance. I am just to good at dancing. I won a £15 gift voucher to JJB Sports. I'm amazing at dancing.. I've even got the Afro to prove it.

Erm yeah... Sorry about this picture. It just makes me laugh. Laughing at your own face is always good....

Album

The album was prove rather difficult this week as the ones I have are crap. My best one is Crazy love, by Michael Buble, which is Okay, but not good enough. So I had to go searching. I found this gem, which I had listened to a few weeks ago, loved it and forgotten to buy it.

The Vaccines - Come of Age (Deluxe Version)

This version of their most recent album is the best, because it is an extra 17 tracks, which is all live versions from Brighton in 2012, including a fantastic rendition of their track "Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)" which is one of my favourite tracks, and not just because it features on FIFA 12, cause I heard it before, but still. Teenage Icon is a fantastic track. It has nothing to do with the fact that it says 'Preserved and shy, your average guy,

No piercing stare, just out of shape with messy hair' which describes me perfectly. It genuinely is a fantastic song, and really gets my foot tapping and head bobbing. Another of my favourite songs from this Album is "Misbehaviour" which apparently isn't their most popular track at all, but I like the guitar a lot in this track, pure brilliant. I think the reason why I like the Vaccines so much is because of Justin young, his vocals are brilliant. I really like the fact that his English accent is so prominent in his music. I always think that that is a really cool feature, and some of my favourite music has this feature. Including some of my friends from school who have this style. Its really beautiful.

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"No Hope"		4:10
2.	"I Always Knew"		3:34
3.	"Teenage Icon"		3:05
4.	"All in Vain"		3:52
5.	"Ghost Town"		2:21
6.	"Aftershave Ocean"		4:10
7.	"Weirdo"		4:49
8.	"Bad Mood"		3:06
9.	"Change of Heart Pt.2"		2:18
10.	"I Wish I Was a Girl"		2:53
11.	"Lonely World"		5:02

Deluxe Edition Bonus Tracks
No.	Title	Length
12.	"Runaway"	2:49
13.	"Possessive"	3:42
14.	"Misbehaviour"	2:58

Deluxe Edition Live at Brighton Bonus CD
No.	Title	Length
1.	"No Hope"	4:07
2.	"Wreckin' Bar (Ra Ra Ra)"	1:43
3.	"Tiger Blood"	2:28
4.	"A Lack of Understanding"	3:08
5.	"Wetsuit"	4:24
6.	"Teenage Icon"	3:15
7.	"Under Your Thumb"	2:27
8.	"Post Break Up Sex"	2:55
9.	"All in White"	4:42
10.	"Wolf Pack"	2:50
11.	"Weirdo"	5:01
12.	"Blow it Up"	2:40
13.	"Bad Mood"	3:21
14.	"If You Wanna"	3:27
15.	"Family Friend"	8:56
16.	"Why Should I Love You"	3:48
17.	"Norgaard"	2:32

From Wikipedia.

Truely brilliant album, easily more interesting to me than Abbey Road, from the 'A' blog, which is a great album, but I probably wouldn't listen to all the tracks. Whereas I have lots of tracks to chose from on this Album and most of them are great. Definitely have a listen, and to be honest you may aswell buy it, worth it for the number of quality tracks. 

Side note: The Vaccines did a great cover on radio one the other day of "We are Never Ever Ever getting back together" by Taylor swift. So much better than the original.

Anyway thanks for reading it through once again, I hope there weren't too many errors. Post any comments below and I hope you enjoyed it, "D" will be out shortly. 23 to go. 

Links and Things
Just a quick nod in the direction of the other stuff Obsidian Corp is doing

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ObsidianCorpGaming

Twitter: @theObsidianCorp

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/TheObsidianCorp
Email Me aswell: PompeyJames@hotmail.co.uk ('re:Blog' so I know how you got my email)

And of course check out our other Blogs, by clicking on The Obsidian Corp at the side!

Thank you from everyone at the Obsidian Corp

James "Womble" Richardson

Mayhem of Music A to Z: "B"

Another Music blog today and after yesterday being "A" guess what today is. Nope, Wrong, today It's going to be "B". That's a surprise isn't it?... Anyway, right yes. On with the show.

B is For....

Artist

Now choosing this week's Solo artist for 'B' was actually harder than last week, because there was a choice to make.

Do I chose the older artists? or the more modern ones?

The older genres have a lot to offer for this letter. The Jazz legend BB King, Broadway Star Barbra Streisand, the face of 'Glam Rock' David Bowie, R&B Singer Billy Ocean. Even the two most well known classical artists, Bach and Beethoven. The list goes on and on.

But the same can be said for the modern genre aswell. Mainly on the female side of the genre with Beyoncé, Brittney and Bieber.... Just kidding Justin Bieber would never be on the list of the best music A-Z, She is awful. Let's not rule out the male section aswell, there's a couple of good solo artists that are guys aswell, such as B.O.B, Gary Barlow or Bruno Mars.

To be honest I found it so hard I decided to combine the two, and chose a modern artist that performed like one of the greats.

Solo Artist - Michael Buble

Michael Bublé performs mainly Big Band, Swing and Jazz. Sometimes touching on Pop music which he makes his own. "The Bube" has been performing on a international level for the majority of the naughties, releasing his début album in 2003, which hit number one in Australia and in the top 10 in Canada, GB and the USA. He also captures the hearts of many women across the world, maybe I'm envious of all of the 60 year old women that chase after him, but I definitely admire him. My personal favourites of his songs are "Sway" (I might know all the words.... erm...yeah) and "I just haven't met you yet!" because it's upbeat and easy listening, like most of MB's music. Let's be honest, why wouldn't he be an inspiration to me, he's a great singer, and manages to make a little bit of chubbiness look sexy. 

Band/Group

The band section is just as full, My choice was slightly easier though, considering they are one of the biggest bands of all time. However it wasn't like they didn't have competition. Bon Jovi, Bink-182, The Black Eyed Peas, Bananarama, the Beach Boys, Busted, The Bee Gees, Boyzone or Biffy Clyro. Of which I love all of them... apart from Boyzone... Sorry Ronan Keeting. Also I apologise to the incredible amount of Busted fans. As they didn't win... But I do confess my love for "Air Hostess" and Thunderbirds. So I'm not all bad.
I would say Biffy are the one's in second place, "Many of Horror" is one of my all time favourite songs and they are one of my favourite bands but they just don't beat the band I have chosen. 

The Beatles

The Beatles are from Liverpool, and consisted of John Lennon, Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and the other one... just kidding, and George Harrison. Apart from creating some of the best music of all time, they are alos 4 famous individuals. Ringo Starr was the voice of my childhood, doing the narrative to "Thomas the Tank Engine" which was always my favourite show as a child. Back to the music though, "I wanna hold you Hand", my favourite Beatles song, was written by Lennon and McCartney and was recorded in 1963. Another song that I like from the Beatles, is "Hello, Goodbye" this was released in 1967.
In total the Beatles have released over 250 tracks, including 17 number ones in the UK, and 20 in the USA with total combined sales of between 600million and 1 Billion sales. Truly incredible statistics....well...they are the most successful band of all time. So who doesn't love them?!

Best 'B' Tracks

Next up it's my top 5 favourite tracks beginning with B. Once again, I'm going to race through them again, so keep up.

5. By Your Hand - Los Campesinos

4. Billionaire - Travie McCoy and Bruno Mars

3. Be Safe - The Cribs

2. Beautiful Day - U2

1. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

Let's be honest, its one of the greatest songs of all times. It need no explanation to why I picked it in first place.

Cheesy Track of the Blog
Bom Bom - Sam and the Womp
Just such a hilarious song. Its so Euro-crazy, and claims she can drink 16 pints of Rum, and then still go Bom Bom... I hate to break it to you Sam... but you would be dead. Gutted.

Album

Brand New Eyes - Paramore

Finally this week it's the best Album. I couldn't think of many, but when I looked on my iPod and saw "Brand New Eyes" I knew it was the right decision. Paramore do the amazing thing of combining stunningly beautiful tracks, with Alternative rock tracks. My 3 favourite tracks from this album are "Turn it off" which has a great melody and is a 'foot-tapper'. Also "Misguided Ghosts" and "The Only Exception" as they are stunningly beautiful songs. Definitely in my top few beautiful tacks of all time.

Standard Edition
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Careful"	3:50
2.	"Ignorance"	3:39
3.	"Playing God"	3:03
4.	"Brick by Boring Brick"	4:14
5.	"Turn It Off"	4:20
6.	"The Only Exception"	4:28
7.	"Feeling Sorry"	3:05
8.	"Looking Up"	3:29
9.	"Where the Lines Overlap"	3:19
10.	"Misguided Ghosts"	3:02
11.	"All I Wanted"	3:49

(from Wikipedia)

Well anyway that's B blog, took me a surprisingly long time, don't know why. I probably shouldn't blog whilst watching Red Dwarf and Listening to my music. 

If you enjoyed my blog then check out Tom's Blog: http://tomsbloggyblogblog.blogspot.co.uk/ He talks alot about the radio and recent goings on in our village. So have a read.


Anyway, Thanks for reading this rather long blog about the music side of the letter B. I hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for the remaining 24 Posts.


Links and Things
Just a quick nod in the direction of the other stuff Obsidian Corp is doing

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ObsidianCorpGaming

Twitter: @theObsidianCorp

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/TheObsidianCorp 

And of course check out our other Blogs, by clicking on The Obsidian Corp at the side!

Thank you from everyone at the Obsidian Corp

James "Womble" Richardson

Mayhem of Music A to Z: "A"

I fancied doing a bit of a change today, after a few gaming posts, I thought that I would do a music blog. What I thought I would do is go through the Alphabet, commenting on the best bands, songs, albums that begin with that letter. So opinionated and structured, just how I like it.

So going about this in order, that means that this blog post is A. I'll try not to miss any out. Also, hopefully, it will be a nice variety of music, I have a fairly wide taste from the 60's to the modern day, across almost all of the genres. So Enjoy, and don't be afraid to comment below on your opinions.

A is for...

Solo Artist

We will start with individual artists, and the letter A means there are quite alot, immediately springing to mind Lily Allen, Akon, Bryan Adams, Christina Aguilera. In fact there are so many I might offer a few in this blog.

Firstly we have someone who might not be a normal straight lad's first choice. She is one of the biggest stars of the British music scene, but is popular all over the world. She was the first solo artist to sell 3 Million copies of one album in a single year in the UK, with her album "21".

Adele

Adele is quite simply one of the greatest singers of the 21st century. Although some people might argue that her songs are all depressing and boring, I completely disagree. I think that she expresses her feelings and emotions so perfectly and passionately in the lyrics. Her songs are just purely beautiful and most of the give you goosebumps on your arms, and a shiver up your spine.

My personal favourite songs are "Someone Like You" which was her second hit from the Album "21" The song was her first UK number one, and also topped the charts in Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Brazil, Italy, France and Switzerland, and has become Adele's second number one in the United States. The lyrics describe her coming to terms with a broken relationship, stating 'I wish nothing but the best for you'. Overall I think that this song is Adele's most beautiful song.
On the counter side, one of her more upbeat songs (upbeat for Adele) "Chasing Pavements" is my favourite of her tracks from her first album "19" Accompanied by a strange music video (She is singing at the scene of a car crash and the 'dead bodies' dance together) I think that this song is a more catchy tune than 'Someone like you" or "Set Fire to the Rain", also on the album "21".

So that is this week's "Solo Artist"

Bands or Groups

There are even more bands beginning with A than there are individual artists, including ABBA, AC/DC, All American Rejects, All Saints, Alphabeat, Aerosmith and the list just goes on.

I have a massive love for Aerosmith and AC/DC and even a soft spot for 70's Disco Group ABBA. but I have gone for a band that is more up-to-date. Personally I just think that they are really good, and their songs are the kind you listen to loudly in your bedroom.

The Arctic Monkeys

Originating in 2002 from Sheffield in England, The Arctic Monkeys are an Indie Rock/Garage Rock band. There are four members, pictured to the right. Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Nick O'Malley, Matt Helders. Nick replace original member, and previous bass guitarist, Andy Nicholson in 2006, and the band has kept that layout until the present day. 

The Band only really became famous in the mid-early 2000's when it sold out gig's across the country, the released their debut album "Whatever People Say, That's What I'm Not" It became the UK's fastest ever selling debut album, selling 360,000 copies in the first week of release and still holds that title for any debut albums released by a Band.

My personal favourite track is "I Bet that you look good on the Dancefloor" which was released in October 2005 and slotted straight in at the top of the charts. It also featured on their album "Whatever People Say, That's What I'm Not". I love this track because, apart from being one of the band's earlier songs, it is still probably their most catchy and is one of my most played songs on my iPod. It was also voted 11th in NME's "150 top songs of the last 15 years"

I also like the song "Fluorescent Adolescent" which is another great song, but also has one of the weirdest music videos I've ever seen. It contains a clowns beating people up, and one clown growing up alongside a gangster, and then beating him up throughout.... So yeah, I don't really know what to say about that...

So, The Arctic monkeys are my band for "A" just for being so awesome, which also begins with "A".

Top 5 Tracks

I'm not going to give reasons for chosing these, I'm just going to fire them off.

5.

Always where I Need to be - The Kooks

4.

All Summer Long - Kid Rock

3.

All Shook Up - Elvis Presley

2.

All You Need Is Love - The Beatles

...

1.

America - Razorlight

There are loads of tracks beginning with A, I even missed out Angry Mob by the Kaiser Chiefs, and "Another one bites the dust" by Queen. which are some of my favourite tracks, but there are so many tracks for "A". I even missed out "All About You" By Mcfly. but oh well.

Cheesy Track of the Blog
American Idiot - Greenday
I really like this track, but to be honest, despite it's popularity, it's actually really cheesy. The song is so american its past Ironic.

Album

Finally It the Best Album beginning with 'A'. I was going to choose "A Night at the Opera" by Queen, but that would have just been for Bohemian Rhapsody, and I'm sure that will feature in the next blog.

So instead I have gone for one of the greatest bands of all time. Need I say more than The Beatles.

Abbey Road - The Beatles

It was released in 1969 and was the Band's last recorded work before it's break up in 1970, (Let it Be, was released after, but recorded earlier) Obviously the album was number one in the UK but surprisingly didn't reach it in any other of the main countries.

Side one
No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Come Together"	Lennon	4:20
2.	"Something"	Harrison	3:03
3.	"Maxwell's Silver Hammer"	McCartney	3:27
4.	"Oh! Darling"	McCartney	3:26
5.	"Octopus's Garden"	Starr	2:51
6.	"I Want You (She's So Heavy)"	Lennon	7:47

Side two
No.	Title	Lead vocals	Length
1.	"Here Comes the Sun"	Harrison	3:05
2.	"Because"	Lennon, McCartney and Harrison	2:45
3.	"You Never Give Me Your Money"	McCartney	4:02
4.	"Sun King"	Lennon, with McCartney and Harrison	2:26
5.	"Mean Mr. Mustard"	Lennon	1:06
6.	"Polythene Pam"	Lennon	1:12
7.	"She Came In Through the Bathroom Window"	McCartney	1:57
8.	"Golden Slumbers"	McCartney	1:31
9.	"Carry That Weight"	McCartney with Lennon, Harrison and Starr	1:36
10.	"The End"	McCartney	2:05
11.	"Her Majesty"	McCartney	0:23

Track List from Wikipedia.

The cover of the album is also one of the most famous for any album ever, and has been replicated many times by different bands, and tourists.
The album also contains one of my most favourite songs from The Beatles, and that is "Here Comes the Sun"
I have only recently got into The Beatles after I organised and hosted a local village radio for a week with some of my more musically educated friends. One of whom was Tom Peach, who introduced me to The Beatles, as he is a massive fan of the all time greats.





He also does a blog, and you should check that out http://tomsbloggyblogblog.blogspot.co.uk/ He talks alot about the radio and recent goings on in our village. So have a read.


Anyway, Thanks for reading this rather long blog about the music side of the letter A. I hope you enjoyed and stay tuned for the remaining 25 Posts.


Links and Things
Just a quick nod in the direction of the other stuff Obsidian Corp is doing

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ObsidianCorpGaming

Twitter: @theObsidianCorp

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/TheObsidianCorp 

And of course check out our other Blogs, by clicking on The Obsidian Corp at the side!

Thank you from everyone at the Obsidian Corp

James "Womble" Richardson

The Gaming Log: III

Another Gaming blog today, and perhaps one of my favourite games ever. Need I say more than Minecraft. This will probably become a regular blog the more I play it and sometimes it may have video links accompanying it.

Minecraft

For those of you who don't know Minecraft is an open world block-based game. You mine blocks, gain-materials and craft them to build defences from the creatures that like to kill you, and to build more creative and impressive houses and buildings. This allows it to be an unlimited game, you can always find more materials, there are always more monsters to kill and there are always more interesting houses to build.

Obviously, being a block based game, the graphics arn't it's main selling point. Infact, it has very little graphics at all. But that's what makes this game one of the best in the world. It's all about imagination, creativity and exploration. I have logged literally months on this game, because It never get's boring. Infact even if you do feel yourself becoming a little bored by the basic game, there are a million and one 'Mods' that people have made to make the game more interesting.

For those with no imagination, this is you looking a a hill with some trees,
holding a sword. Health, Armour and Inventory at the bottom.

The Basics 

The game spawns you in a world, you are a pixelated man, known as 'Steve'. You left-click to destroy/mine a block, and right-click to place the block in your hand. Simple, and to look around all you do is move your mouse and use WASD. Easy as 1,2,3. I think the fact it is so easy is another appeal. When your not fighting evil things, it is a very relaxing game. The block that you have selected will be the one that is in your hand on the screen, like the sword is in the hand in the screenshot above. To craft things, you place blocks in certain patterns in your crafting window in the inventory (2x2), or in a crafting table (3x3)

Terminology

Mobs - Term for the evil monsters that come out at night to kill you.

Smelting - Cooking things in a furnace

Ore - Blocks that can be smelted to make useful materials.

AFK - Away from Keyboard (used online)

Friendly Mobs - Sheep, Pigs, Cows, Squid, Ocelot, Wolves, Chickens - term for the mobs that don't usually hurt you.

Ingot - A bar of metal, usually found straight after smelting the ore.

CT - Crafting Table

Playing the Game

Usually I start by breaking trees with my hands. Wood, is the very basic block that you need at the start. It can be crafted into planks, which can then be crafted into a crafting table, which is very important for doing anything interesting on the game.
After getting wood, I will then kill and pigs, cows or chickens in the area for food, and go exploring to find a good place to start building. Sometimes this takes a long time, as you are looking for somewhere where useful areas are close by.

Once you have found the perfect area, convert 90% of your logs into wooden planks. (you need the 10% for charcoal in a bit.)

Start Building

Next you want to start building you house. Start by making a line of wooden planks, it works best if there is an odd number, say 9. Then when you get to the end, go 90 degrees and do another 9. Make it into a square, remove the middle block on one side for a door. Then build it upwards, till you have something rubbish like this. This will do to start with. Now place your crafting table inside, and make a door (wooden planks, 2x3 upwards) and place it in the gap. Beautiful!

Next I would make some tools and start collecting materials to get creative. I like to build a house that's out of the box, otherwise you end up with the same basic, 'shed-with-windows' look. But by now, it is probably night-time. DA DA DAAAA!

This means horrible nasty things are going to come and kill you. YAY!.... I mean... oh what a shame... :(

Night Time

Zombie (Left): The first guy your going to meet is probably a Zombie. Their moany growling noise is unmistakable, and they wound you by walking up to you and 'hitting' you. They are the most basic Mob, and you shouldnt have much trouble killing them with your hand, let alone a sword.

Skeleton (Right): Next up you'll probably be struck by an arrow, and think; "where the hell did that come from!" Well, it came from a skeleton, possibly my least favourite Mob, because they can be so far away to hit you, so you have probably already lost a few lives by the time your close enough to hit it. Annoying.

The Creeper: Then you will meet the weirdest and most horrible thing ever to walk the earth, well Minecraftia anyway. The mob inverted Souly for the purpose of pissing you off. Is it a Tree? Is it a Penis? Or Is it a weird Green Dildo? No, It's a Creeper. Born from a coding error, this beast, sneaks up behind you and explodes, killing you if you are within 3 blocks, and creating a crater in the ground, or in whatever masterpiece you have just created. "That Bastard just destroyed half my house... that took me ages." However, it has become the face of Minecraft, the droopy grin even appearing in the Letter 'A' in the Logo. All sorts of memorabilia can be bought with his face on, so be aware Minecrafter.

Once you have survived the night, the rest of the game is down to you, theres no 'ultimate way' of playing the rest of the game. It is whatever you want it to be, "The world is your oyster" So get out there. Imagine, Explore, Create.

Here's a house I recently made in the middle of a lake.

It took me a long time. Garden on the roof, the cobblestone tower in the middle is a spiral stair case, and the pathway across is red-powered, so when I flick a switch it falls into the ocean so that anyone visiting has to swim.  

Anyway, enough showing off, thats the end of my blog, thanks for reading.

Links and Things
Just a quick nod in the direction of the other stuff Obsidian Corp is doing

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ObsidianCorpGaming

Twitter: @theObsidianCorp

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/TheObsidianCorp 

And of course check out our other Blogs, by clicking on The Obsidian Corp at the side!

Thank you from everyone at the Obsidian Corp

James "Womble" Richardson

The Gaming Log: II

This week in my gaming log, I thought that I would take a look at Football Manager 2012. I bought this game for PC about 2 months ago, after a friend begged me to buy it, as he had no one to play online with, not on a game anyway (nothing implied there... honestly.). Once again, this was my partner in crime, Luke, who begged me to buy it. So it being only a tenner, I thought: "Why Not?". In this blog I will describe the game for those of you who haven't played it, and share some of my experiences.

Football Manager 2012

Getting Started, Eventually.
After purchasing the game for £10 from game-station, I wasn't expecting much, and after 2 hours of sitting at my computer watching the install, I was rather regretting my decision. Even when loading up the game, I could have walked to the moon and back. But once I had finally got the game going Luke then decided to tell me that I needed to download two more things. Firstly "LogMeIn Hamachi" a server hosting piece of software, which also took a hike up Kilimanjaro to install, and then after all that the Football Manager Editor, but we will get onto that later.

The FM Editor
Next I make the ridiculous decision to say, "I'll host Luke" to which Luke says "load up the Editor then." After approximately 2 minutes of loading time a large white screen pops up before my eyes, with very little on it. I click on the file button, load the most recent database update and begin to search through the options.  Personally I think that the editor is a great idea, as it means you can edit the Football Manager database directly. This is great, because I can write off Portsmouth's debt, give them a £1billion to spend, and new star striker Lionel Messi. Which, obviously is very realistic.

However some problems are arisen when this then goes to playing the game. Nonetheless I wrote off our debts, gave us a few million to strengthen our squad, put us back in the premier league, with a new fantasy team of Messi, Ronaldo, Pique & Xavi and I even made Fratton Park from this..:

...Into this;

I'm sure the extra 80,000 seats will be filled, and loads more season tickets sold.

Anyway, after editing the world to make it a better place, and then ruining it by giving Chelsea some extra cash for Luke, we loaded up the game, ready for a few hours of winning matches.

Pre-season
Once we have connected and are in the game, we set about starting the season, and when It gets to our first game, we realise I have done it wrong. I bought all foreign players into the Portsmouth team, and removed all the others, so I ended up with no "Home Grown" players. You need 8 in the premier league to be allowed to compete. (FYI: A Home grown player is one that has spent at least 3 years between the ages of 15-21 in the country.) believe it or not. Ronaldo and Lampard were my only home grown players. So it was back to the editor, to edit the "days in Nation" setting in the Player data. So while I was there I created me, made me a Central Midfielder and maxed out my attributes.

Finally we are back in the game and we can finally play. Thankfully we could skip through the pre-season matches as Luke made sure to tell me about the "Team Policy" settings, which meant I could assign my assistant manager to any of the club's runnings, such as friendly matches, contract renewals and even pre-match team talks. However this meant that for the first 2 hours of playing, we were skipping hour by hour the days from 1st July all the way to August 13th, when the season kicked off. Stopping only for transfers.


Actually Playing

Here is a basic screen from the game, Wimbledon's Fact Page

Apart from the many criticisms I have stated above, the actual game-play of the game is brilliant. The menu's are simple and quick to navigate, tactics are easy, scouting is easy, even challenging a team to a friendly is easy. Transfers even have a very handy "Don't show unrealistic transfers" button, which does exactly what it says on the tin, and shows you the best players, that actually will come to your team. As you can imagine, for Portsmouth, it isn't that many. So I was left with the squad I had, which wasn't really a problem. So I sorted my tactics, and then spent pre-season waiting for Luke to buy every player under the sun. But thankfully August 13th came and we could start our first game. The menu's flickered away, Teamsheet, Tactics, Team Talk until I clicked the "Play" button, and my computer began to load the TV view or my match..

TV View

After a couple of seconds the greatest graphics I have ever seen filled my page.(I could see why the game was only a tenner.) Look at that stadium detail! I mean that stand behind the goal must have taken them donkey's years to make. Concrete steps. Literally pushing the boundaries of what computer graphics can do. Even the players must have taken them ages, especially to make them all look exactly the same, and even to make their rounded heads and bodies look pointy. Impressive.
- Yeah, if your last game was Space Invaders, or you could quite afford an Atari VCS console from 1982.
Yeah that black box thing to the right.
 the thing that is nearly double my age at 30 years old.
Anyway, killing the joke now, but to be honest, I was expecting a little more for a game that starts at £29.99
Having said that, after a while It does begin to grow on you. You find yourself starting to love the limited graphics, and comedic outcomes of the game. It becomes a bit of a gimmick.

Give It a Chance.
If you ignore it's faults and imperfections this is actually a pretty amazing game. The simplicity of it, and the uncontrollability of each match keeps you on the edge of your seat. I find myself shouting at the screen, cheering my team on, and even getting a bit wound up when things don't go my way. So despite a large amount of this blog, slagging off the game, I genuinely love it. I now spent hours every night playing with Luke or George (another person Luke begged.) or sometimes on my own, playing my Portsmouth season. It's just so satisfying when you win a game, especially If it was hard work. Which sometimes, this game is.


Links and Things
Just a quick nod in the direction of the other stuff Obsidian Corp is doing

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ObsidianCorpGaming

Twitter: @theObsidianCorp

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/TheObsidianCorp 

And of course check out our other Blogs, by clicking on The Obsidian Corp at the side!

Thank you from everyone at the Obsidian Corp

James "Womble" Richardson

The Gaming Log

One of my second passions is gaming. So I thought I would, stick a couple of posts about my gaming experiences. As a keen Xbox 360 player, I dabble in Call Of Duty, Muck around in Minecraft and Fail at FIFA. However, despite being rubbish at every game I play, I thought I would share with you some of my gamin experiences.

Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

To be honest, I've lost a lot of interest in the more recent call of duty games, like Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops. In fact, because I didn't like Black Ops at all, I didn't even buy MW3 (however I have played it, and It isn't awful, but neither is it amazing.) So I have ended up back on the Game that made the series the best in the World; Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. I'm not the best at it and I rage a lot, but overall I enjoy playing it. A fairly solid 1.30 Kill/Death Ratio is enough to keep me on my toes, and I appreciate the game a lot. I prefer the more simplistic Kill Streak method, which means I can have "UAV" and "AC130" on at the same time, rather than having to change tactics to get the larger kill streaks. I also prefer simple things that you might not notice when playing the other games, such as the colour schemes. Black Ops was very brown and yellowy, which, I don't know why, I didn't like. But MW2 seems more "real life" colours, its not like there is a filter on the camera lens. Another thing is the sound and feel of the guns. If a gun feels like your shaking a child's maraca then it doesn't feel or sound like a gun. That is how Black Ops, and World at War, both felt. Whereas the sounds and vibration of the MW2 guns means it feels much more real and natural.

A Nuclear Challenge

Enough of explaining why I play COD 6, and onto what I have been up to recently. Well, as an average player, I am not big with high kill streaks. if I manage to get an AC130 or a Chopper Gunner, im usually very happy, and having a good game. So my good friend, and fellow Xbox addict, Luke challenged me to get a Nuke (25 Kill streak). Obviously being competitive meant I accepted and went off with the classic "7 - Harrier,  11 -AC130, 25 - Nuke" Kill Streaks. The first challenge for a rubbish player like me was to get the seven needed for Harriers, and almost immediately I was struggling. I got it a couple of times, and was killed instantly. Then one quick hop in an AC130 on Carnival, only to kill myself and one enemy trying to find me.  But then the game came. Ground War, Domination on Terminal, I knew I could do it, I equip scavenger, so I don't run out of Ammo, and I stick on the TAR-21 FMJ, the most powerful choice I had unlocked in my current Prestige.

I start the game slowly, capturing a flag or two and picking off a few guys. Meanwhile, good friend Luke is hammering the kills home, acquiring Harriers, then a Pave Low. But as his kill streak ends, he has to go and leaves the game. the stage is set. I manage to scramble to the back of the plane, to hide behind the thick cover that is the plane seats. I claymore the steps and inside the plane I manage a 5 kill streak, but the guys keep coming back. So I hop down the steps as they try and shoot though the walls, I manage to shotgun 2 guys together with the M1014 (only a 4 round gun, not bad on a core game-mode) Harriers! I call them in, One with the air strike and another with the air support, then another, and another.

Lettering fills my screen "11 Kill Streak - AC130" I find a safe place to lie while I call in the Ass Clapper 130 and I begin, firing each shell down on the red squares below. But after only 9 kills, I get taken down and Im left to get the last five with my gun. I stay at the back area of the plane, picking people off on both sides. 22 Kills, 23.... 24. Suddenly the game timer begins, and I know I've got to move out. The spawns have changed and I only have 20 seconds to get a kill and call it in. I run frantically, A couple of assists as my team-mates get the final bullet. I get to the shop, I see the guy, I aim at his head.....
But I'm dead. Shot-Gunned from behind, before I have time to respawn, the game is over. I have failed. Oh Well, what did I expect? shaking with adrenaline in my desk chair. 

Some People get Nukes once every few games, and to them I say very well done, but I'm not very good. So a 24 Kill streak is pretty good for me, having only got Nuke on one other occasion.

Links and ThingsJust a quick nod in the direction of the other stuff Obsidian Corp is doing

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ObsidianCorpGaming

Twitter: @theObsidianCorp

Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/TheObsidianCorp 

And of course check out our other Blogs, by clicking on The Obsidian Corp at the side!

Thank you from everyone at the Obsidian Corp

James "Womble" Richardson

Love and Football: A New Season

Football kicks of properly tommorow, all at the same time for the first time in a while. All four main divisions of English football play their first set of fixtures this weekend. So I thought as my first topical post I would discuss my opinions and hopes for the new season. As a Portsmouth Fan I'm going to discuss them, and mainly the premier league. But I will also offer a few predictions to the other leagues and some things to look out for. So here we go;

The Premier League

This is set up to be one of the most impressive seasons ever in the Premier League, Manchester City made it look close and kept the adrenaline pumping right till the last second of the season last year, but we shouldn't have doubted them. But Manchester United have signed the Top Goalscorer Van Persie, and Fergie is seeking his revenge on the their Sky Blue rivals. Could Chelsea even be a surprise package in the top 2 as their young signings are looking to be stars of the future. Maybe, after their Champions League success and Roberto Di Matteo can inspire them to a title challenge, who knows? What I am really hoping for is another close exciting season, where teams move positions in the league every time they score or concede. Last season was a taste, but I desire more. The relegation fight could be closer than ever with all the bottom teams upping their game towards the end of last season, it's almost too close to call, Wigan favourite to go down, but they have been for the last few years, and they pull of miracles every season with Roberto Martinez. So all areas of the table are being highly contested and I think there could be some really big shocks this year.

Here's My Predictions for the Premier League this week;

Arsenal 1-2 Sunderland - A lack of Van Persie could cause a Struggle at The Emirates, as the new faces like Podolski could take a while to settle. Whereas Sunderland look very impressive last season, with Larsson and Bentner. So I think they will beat the Gunners
Fulham 3-0 Norwich - Fulham impressed me at the end of last season, I think they will continue that form. Whereas Norwich started brilliantly last year, but fell towards the end, a more consistent season is needed if they are to survive.
QPR 0-1 Swansea - A very tight defense last year, so I think Swansea will just get a victory. Close Game though as I think QPR are a good side, and without Joey Barton they can play some proper football.
Reading 1-2 Stoke City - I think the newcomers will put up a good fight at home, but stoke are a good side and should overcome the Berkshire side.
West Brom 0-2 Liverpool - Brendan Rogers will hopefully inspire Liverpool to 5th or 6th place this season. So a win at the Hawthorn's is important to kick off their season. Albion on the other hand need to be in the mid-table this season, to silence their critic who dub them a "yo-yo team"
West Ham 0-0 Aston Villa - The two teams strikers are the worst part of their teams. So a 0-0 I'm affraid. I really think Villa could struggle this year, and I hope not, as alot of the people I know support them, but I can't see them being safe from the drop with games to spare. West Ham might also be in the fight down the bottom, unless they sign some top players soon.
Newcastle 2-2 Tottenham - I hope Newcastle can carry on their form from last season, but AVB's Spurs will be very tough to beat in the fixture. I can only see a high score, maybe Newcastle will steal it due to the brilliance of Cissé, but I think Spurs can hold on.
Wigan 0-4 Chelsea - Despite a magical end to last season, key players have left Wigan and untested players have arrive, so I think another slow start for the Latics. Chelsea have lost Drogba, but an impressive transfer spree should see them scoring. Torres to hit form?
Man City 5-2 Southampton - You would think that a Portsmouth supporter would write off their rivals this season, but I am thinking that Southampton will finish the top of the bottom half, maybe 13th or so. Their impressive style of play last season was good to watch, but most of all they won matches. Unlucky not to win the league, but Lambert, Lalana and Co will be looking to tear up the premier league this season. Manchester City, obviously favourite to retain their title, and personally I think that they will, but I think in more impressive style, Ballotelli should hit incredible form this season, and Tevez back and Aguero on form as always, It could be incredible to watch. Even their defense is impressive, with my personal player of the season last year Vincent Kompany in the centre, a newly on-form Lescott, and Micah Richards impressive, it could be an unbeatable team. I think because this team is now gelling and playing together, it could be more powerful that ever. Yikes!
Everton 1-3 Manchester Utd - now this will be an interesting game, Everton are always a very tough side to beat and I thought Moyes got it bang-on last year with Jelavic, Pienaar and Co. But with the departure of star Aussie Cahill, people are questioning them. Personally I think that this is a great move, he is beginning to get on a bit, and wasn't so influential last season as he has been in previous years, so I think the Toffees will be fine. Man U have signed the Premier League top goalscored Robin Van Persie, forking out £24m, this will either be brilliant or a flop. Personally I think that Van Persie will do great with Fergie, and might even teach young Wayne a few things and improve him. I'm expecting god things, but I don't think title winning things.

League Predictions:

1st: Manchester City
2nd: Chelsea
3rd: Manchester Utd
4th: Newcastle
5th: Liverpool
6th: Spurs
7th: Arsenal
8th: Everton
9th: Fulham
10th: Swansea
11th: Sunderland
12th: Stoke City
13th: Southampton
14th: West Brom
15th: Reading
16th: Norwich
17th: West Ham
18th: Wigan
19th: Aston Villa
20th QPR

The Championship

I think that there could be another very dominant force to take the reigns this season in the Championship, like Portsmouth, Reading and other teams have done before, I think someone will run away with it, and the mot interesting battle will become 2nd place. I'll predict the notable places for Championship with my reasoning. I think it will be the Battle of the 'B's

1st: Blackpool, I think that last season was a blip, and they finished 4th. Their team had the potential, but didn't quite challenge enough. So this season will see them walk their way back into the Prem.
2nd: Bolton, Still premier league quality, and I think they will go straight back up, but it won't be easy, as some teams have invested strongly this year.
Play-off Winner: I am torn between bitter rivals Birmingham and Leicester, but I think that the Blues of Birmingham will just beat the Foxes simply due to the fact that Leicester is full of individual players which I don't think will gel until mid-season, By then the Brummies will have opened up a lead, and will finish above Leicester, then take that form to Wembley and beat them.

Relegation:
Barnsley, Peterborough and Sheffield Wed. The newly promoted Wednesday might fall short of keeping up with the Championship next year, so might fall back down. Barnsley sit in mid-table every season, but this year i believe different, some fans are not impressed with the amount being put into the club, and I think this could see them drop down. Peterborough did't impress me last season, despite some high-scoring matches. towards the end they faltered and scraped staying up, but this season I feel they wont be so lucky.

Portsmouth

One of the most talked about clubs this summer has been a drowning Portsmouth, as an avid supported and lover of the club, I thought I had to voice my opinions. Due to mismanagement and high players wages Portsmouth are in administration for the second time. 3 years of money trouble has seen us drop from the Premier League to League 1, and the recent pull out of Hong Kong millionaire Belu Chainrai means Portsmouth are without a bidder and have been circling the drain. However in the last few days, Portsmouth have had 10 points reinstated and been granted permission to sign players on frees and loans and have thus secure 10 players on short term deals. These players have had a terrific pre-season, even beating a full-strength Bolton side 3-0. Could this be an miracle, Michael Appleton, a new Pompey legend could be putting together a very competitive side, and I think that we, providing we stay out of more financial trouble, might even challenge the top half. Even if we do have the points deduction at a later date. Izale McLeod and Luke Rodgers at the helm of Pompey's strike force and an impressive little winger, Keiran Djilali could mean we might score a few, and with players like Dumbuya and Ex-Chelsea Jon Harley, we might have a decent defense aswell. so my prediction for Portsmouth this season is 10th Position. Ready to challenge the Play-offs next year. Providing there is no more financial trouble and we don't go bust. But fingers crossed! PLAY UP POMPEY!

A Summary

As you can see I'm a very opinionated football fan and I have made some fairly strange predictions. I hope no one is offended. I love football, and I respect every team in the football league, even Southampton. So please comment below, as I'd love to know your predictions, and feelings about your team. Maybe you think your team can challenge this season, or you don't think a team is good enough. Feel free to comment and discuss, ad I'm sure I'll get involved aswell.

Links and Things

Just a quick nod in the direction of the other stuff Obsidian Corp is doing

Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/ObsidianCorpGaming

Twitter: @theObsidianCorp

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/TheObsidianCorp

And of course check out our other Blogs, by clicking on The Obsidian Corp at the side!

Thank you from everyone at the Obsidian Corp

James "Womble" Richardson