CherryPopper

After the last MonsterLAN event where I took my recently purchased Guitar Hero World Tour kit, the poor drum kit was a little worse for ware. The cymbals were cracked underneath and weren't responding as well as they should have been and the red drum pad was pretty much dead. I guess letting a room full of gamers and a few real drummers loose on them wasn't the greatest idea.

But since it was still under warranty I decided to go through the returns process to try my luck at getting them replaced. I went through the activision website and it said to do the parts separately so the drum pads would have to be sent separately from the cymbals. So I sent each part off in their own package and hoped for the best.

Three weeks later (normally 2 weeks but we had Christmas in between me sending them), I got the new cymbals back, no questions asked. A few days later I got the drums back but instead of just sending me the drum pads that I had sent them they had sent me the entire drum box that you get when you purchase the game. The drum box includes a usb mic, drum pads, kick pad, drum stand, 2 cymbals and 2 drum sticks.

So now I have spares of the cymbals, drum sticks, kick pad, drum stand and a usb mic. I guess I can use the extra usb mic for some duet action and the extra kick pedal will come in handy with the new Guitar Hero: Metacilla comes out as it makes use of 2 kick pads on the drums.

At the end of the day I can't fault activision as they replaced the beaten to death parts without question and even did me one better by sending the extra parts. So finally I can get the band back together so we can pretend to rock out once again... well at least boxy and me can cause Rogue's lame and wouldn't join us in our rocking out on stage!!!

This New Years I decided not to go down to Falls Festival or NYE by the waterfront and do the lighting but instead hang at home and make the most of the great views I have and watch the fireworks from the comfort of my own balcony. So I invited my family & my girlfriends family over for a BBQ and drinks so they could see in the new year with us while watching the fireworks not only in Melbourne but also the western suburbs.

I got a BBQ for Christmas so I fired it up and cooked up a charcoal storm for everyone and my girlfriend Andi made some yummy salads and deserts. The "family" fireworks kicked off at 9:15pm and gave us a glimpse of what to expect at midnight. After that we kicked back played some guitar hero and watched the full monty

As the clocked ticked closer to midnight a glance out the window we noticed that there were already fireworks going off in the suburbs some 15 mins before midnight. It wasn't just one but at least 7-8 little fireworks displays getting in early it seemed. Then as the clocked finally ticked midnight Melbourne put on a show, a beautiful one at that too.

As I looked over to the suburbs again you could see across the horizon at least 20 fireworks displays going off against the nights sky which looked just amazing. There were still some of them going off until 12:45am!!!

All up it was a great night worth every cent in rent... well at least for one month

Happy New Year.

I got booked to do a small gig for an upcoming band called Armen Firman. They have a few catchy songs, the new single Porch Dweller is quite good and the guys make it rock hard live too. There was one guy who came up mid show and yelled at me "are you doing the lights?" now normally the punters are dumb and think I'm just the audio guy or something and the lights are automated OR they are going to complain at me for the lights being in their face and they can't see the act.... fucking just move. But anyway back to the guy who yelled the question at me, i said yes and his response was "your fucking awesome" and while i know this generally it was great to see someone else enjoying my work.

Here are a few pics from the night.

Well I've been here for two weeks now... in Perth that is. One thing out about Perth is its hot one day but OMFG HOT the next day and next day and next day.... I haven't even seen a cloud.

I've been here doing some work for the WA Government and like every other Government department its really good at throwing money away. It took me two weeks to get them to understand it wasn't a good idea to waste money, only to have them change their mind at the last minute and basically throw all my good work out the window. I should have known better not to even try to talk sense into them.

I haven't had much time outside of the city itself but what i have noticed is the women here swear more and not just your average swearing but when your hearing the big "C" word after most other words you know its just a little too much. Now while I'm not really phased by this behaviour in general its a little off putting when your in a meeting with the WA Government and the client is using these words to describe their problem. Surprisingly this was normal for most of the chicks in Perth my work mates informed me and after two weeks here I found out for myself.

Well i've got to pack my stuff up, well find it in the room first then pack it as i'm off home for the weekend and most likely will be dragged back to boganville "now with extra BOGAN GOODNESS" for another week or so.

Man and i thought Adelaide was bad!!!

Team Fortress 2 was released on Wednesday 10th October and so began my new addiction. This game is every bit as good as the original Team Fortress Mod for Half-Life but has found ways to improve on that winning formula without destroying what was so good about the original.

The same familia classes are still there. The scout, soldier, pyro, demoman, heavy, medic, sniper, engineer & the spy. But the classes have been tweaked a little and I think for the better as the changes mean you have to work more as a team to win. Unlike in most "team" games you can have one good person carry the team to victory, but with the tweaks they have done in Team Fortress 2 it makes this a lot harder to do.

Take the sniper for example, in the original Team Fortress you had grenades to help defend yourself or to use to blow your way through the enemy's defences to cap their flag. But now the sniper is no longer equipped with grenades, actually no one is, so they rely on their team mates to keep them safe from harms way to snipe from a distance, sure they have a sub-machine gun but its not really that effective against the stronger classes like the soldier. They have also made the classes more dependant on each other but still keeping the balance just right to the point where a good medic or engineer can make or break the team.

They have also changed the way the maps work. So while there is still the classic CTF_2FORT map its no longer a flag your capping but intelligence. The other maps are capture the point/domination style maps. Some of the maps you only play one capture point at a time and you slowly capture all of the territories to win the game. This means you have no idea what point your going for next as it all depends on who wins which makes for great re-playability.

The other thing they have changed is the art style. Its now got a very cartoon feel to it, with smart ass comments coming from the people who kill you to the "who shot you" screen grab that shows you who shot you but with the added feature of showing your "bits" if they are lying around that player (see "read more" for pics).

Overall I'm loving this game, its been a blast so far and I just can't get enough of it. So if you want to get in on the action buy the Orange Box and jump in the MonsterLAN steam community and join me in a game.... just watch for my sniper cross-hair being on your forehead

*** UPDATED: Added Domination Picture ***

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