Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication
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Alex Lovett
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It's official I have a drink problem... in that I have too many!



Just received delivery of some more spirits id been eyeing up online. And yesterday I received the first part of my shipment of spicy spicy hot sauces... liquid pleasures indeed

Slightly obsessive? hoardish?... probably, given the drinks are all quite expensive for what they are, but at the same time I blow more on a monthly basis on train travel and taxis easily... and that really is depressing... this however fills me with joy

Most of this is all exploratory, finding things I like, some I like some I don't, I will admit there is a disproportionate number of cherry brandy and baileys bottles there *grins* I love that stuff.

A couple of the hot sauces are really nice too, the 'Pain is Good' ones, lots of BBQ flavour and while they are spicy they are not instantly lethal like the other 3 I got at the same time... the Red one on in the far corner is insane, but interesting at the same time, it has a weird deep burn that starts in the throat then your tongue explodes and you start panicking -_-






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Tags: - Games
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Add lights around underside of cliff faces
Can floor tile in an arranged way so that all hexagons line up and could fade from one color to another?
Make some floor decal doodads for printing on
Make more patterns and weaves for flooring

Widen up the pits, they should have massive overhangs, scale is rubbish here, no idea how powerful boolean/cropping terrain is in order to even do this?


do same thing again with concentric circles rotated off each other and inset into ground, mockup with tron hard edge into space

Add some hexagons protruding from ground like pillars

need some lights

rock clusters?

hexagonal piles and clusters say around ramps or jutting out the sides of cliffs

tilted ground hole with hex coming out

Giant electric tree with lava crack like veins at base

what about water, make it look like those glowing outdoor pools

bridges


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Tags: - Games
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Yes I have finally received my Fanatec Porsche Force Feedback Wheel woo yay woo

I have watched the thing travel the world by boat, travel Germany by road and now It's here after countless delays and setback the wheel I ordered in June -_-

I was expecting it in September.. no such luck it seems, some folk have had this pre-ordered over a year ago... anyway... what is this thing, this shiny technological masterpiece...

It arrived with good timing in one way as Dirt 2 just came out so I can play it first with my new wheel!! all the newness and awesomeness!



Here it is, taken at night so photos a bit grainy/blurry and washed out etc, but it still looks cool!






And here are some videos below in the links of me messing about with it in Dirt and Shift, I need to make a video of Richard Burns Rally which is by far the most fun despite It's age.



Naturally videos and pictures do little to convey the forces that are being applied to your hands as you drive, so use your imagination

;-)




Sure it was expensive, but it is the only wheel on the planet that supports everything, xbox, PS3, PC and looks good while doing it as a bonus.

It has immense force feedback, Rally Driving will jolt your arms all over if you are not careful, racing games will give you the subtle feedback as tyres are about to loose grip and when you need to counter steer a slide thus preventing a crash (they will at least if they properly simulate tyre deformation and contact patch which few do). Overall it provides a big deal of immersion into a game which may normally be a rather passive experience, suddenly you are drawn in and engaged and given extra sensory perceptions that not only make it more entertaining but easier to drive well.

It isn't as well made as a real porsche wheel, it has some defects, stitching is rough to touch, buttons have a bit of a gap and one button is really wonky to touch, the wheel is quite hard; theres no padding under the leather so it feels a bit hollow and hard, but compared to other gaming wheels.. it licks them all and it is a bit cheaper than a real Porsche wheel

:-)



This is It's closest competition:

hahahahah.. look at it... hah... get out of here, It's not any cheaper either really. Pedal Shifter on it are better though by the looks of it, which isn't difficult as the Fanatec's are so useless and rough I had to unscrew them and just use the buttons underneath, which work fine and I quite like them but it makes shifting while steering very difficult.

Biggest pest with this wheel is no game works with it properly by default, not the wheels fault as games are A. designed for retards who cannot drive, and B. are designed for weak ass regular geared wheels.

But you can always tweak and hack and disable all the dampening and aids to unleash It's power if you want.

Richard Burns rally needed a Max Torque tweak hidden away in some physics file which made the game... scary, I recommend using Drift Mode and a lower FFB if you do this though to simulate some kind of power assisted steering.

--

Below I shall detail how I went from a casual arcade gamer to full blown racing nerd with a wheel to proove it.

--

First racing game for me was really Need for Speed Underground, I don't count any games before that especially not the very first which would have been Burning Rubber on the Amstrad CPC+ shown below for amusement


It was a shit game then and it sure as hell is shit now

Anyway NFSU was a great introductory game, it was fast, easy enough to control with a keyboard, exciting stuff...


Then came NFS Most Wanted, which I felt was a great game too, nice graphics for It's time and this time I played on xbox with a analog controller giving much greater control over steering and acceleration.


Then came Forza 2, I tried the demo, thought it was an amusing insight into how real cars might handle, amusing in that they must all handle like ass thanks to It's overly difficult handling down to bad tyre physics.. ok the ewer not bad but they were on the sadistic side when it came to locking up.


I thought the game was bland and boring, and it is... really... but I changed my mind later...

I next got myself into Colin Mcrae Dirt, wow what a blast, it was fun but way more challenging than previous arcadey games I had played, still in the arcade realm though it is no sim.


The graphics also blew Forza out the water and still do, it looked the part and was a blast, so I splashed out on a Microsoft Force Feedback Wheel. Relatively cheap lil thing especially as I got %% off due to damaged packaging.

And it was an epic experience playing it with the wheel, took ages to get used to it, but once I had there was no going back. The level of immersion shot thru the roof, the fun, the swet on my brow... It's the best fun id had gaming in a long long time.

I then tried Forza Demo again and it came alive.. .suddenly it made sense with a wheel, what is the point of a car simulator if you then drive with a thumb stick... it makes no sense. With the wheel the feedback made the cars fun and drivable, it gave you a sense you would eventually just know and feel/untuit when a car was about to screw up and you would have already automatically counter acted it via the wheel.

The graphics were still horrendous and the gameplay was still dreadful, but the driving was fun with all the nuances you would expect.

I quickly realised the wheel I had while good for It's price, was no match for the high end wheels that only worked on PC and PS3.

I looked at PC Car Sims and thought of buying a wheel, but all the PC sims looked dull... lifeless even more so than Forza.

Then I heard Need for Speed were doing a 'sim' racer, and Forza 3 was coming.. and Dirt 2... and I danced, oh how I danced

Dirt 2 above... in game.. no really in game, graphics so good It's actually sexier than real life, I could lick it


How crap does Forza look now.. this is Shift looking very nice indeed

NFS Carbon had came and gone and had been shit, NFS Pro Street had came out, was a piece of shit, NFS Undercover had came out and was a piece of shit... pattern forming stuff... fortunately NFS Shift was by someone else entirely, and they have done a brilliant job, it feels like pretty damn good sim under the hood especially after some hacks. And the graphics and immersion are way above what anyone else other than Codemasters has been able to deliver.

Anyway, I heard of this Fanatec wheel when Forza announced they were supporting it shown below with a motion rig.. and i'm like finally!

Forza 3 looked really good too (from a distance), the wheel looked like a must have... then I saw the price... thought harder about it... and decided what the hell, I earn money to spend it and have fun, and this definitely looked like a top top quality product not only in aesthetic thanks to the Porsche styling genuine leather and paint and genuine badge... but more importantly it was quality gear inside that only the likes of the Logitech G27 can come close to... and man that wheel looks like a toy POS to me.

Anyway Forza 3 then came out, I bought it, turned out to be ok, but still ugly and dull as sin compared to what NFS and Codemaster were putting out, but it was all forgivable-ish as the handling was huge leaps better and it was class leading before. They have now full tyre modelling for deformation which is a big deal in how it affects the car handling and tyre slip/grip.

Forza is a driving game, Shift is a racing game.. big difference. Driving around on your own in a nice car in Forza is actually a pleasure on the few scenic road tracks it has.

Forza still has a plasticy look to it down to the bad car shaders which they could get away with better if they did any post/color correction or even get basic exposure right. They should really use normal maps on the cars instead of high poly as you can see dings and dents in them which could be easily avoided and make it fast enough to have more cars on track., another huge huge let down as It's limited to 8 cars a race.. ugh what a waste of time driving round a 10km track with 8 cars thinly spread over it.

Looks pretty good above sure, but in game and on older tracks especially it looks pretty sad at HD res.

Sorry for the rant/history lesson, but I want to show how I went from casual arcade racer to full blown top of the line limited edition force feedback wheel. I'm even looking at some of the hardcore PC car sims that I previously wrote off as ugly and dull. Got into outdoor 60mph karting And thinking how I can realistically buy a Lotus Elise to do the real thing-ish...

And theres also GT5 to look forward to on the PS3, which looks better than Forza, but it still looks like it might be quite sterile and dull in gameplay... though who knows, I shall wait to try it before judging, I commend them on the amount of content the game will have and if they add weather and day/night I will have to have some pretty bad gameplay to not still be a great game.

-Edit

Ok another GT5 preview article just came out and the thing looks outstanding on paper, they are adding weather and night racing... yay oh yay! finally! ooh and damage-to what exact extent i'm not sure but they even say they have interior damage for 100 or so cars'
How such a major part of racing has been left out of most.. nay all games, I don't know. All you ever hear about during F1 races or Rally or GT or anything is how the weather effects the tyres. My only hope now is for some real endurance race type stuff, but to have the computer pick the tyres for yo.

Which reminds me of another point I love that in Forza you can go in a tweak the car's setup and parts, it has It's own fun to it, but I'd also like to be able to forget about that entirely and just be a race driver sometimes too and have an expert team behind me setting all the stuff up and leave me to racing and trust my car is ALWAYS competitive, in Forza I feel like half the time I loose is cuss my car is junk... yah It's alll the cars fault

;-)






And that above is all I've got to go on right now regarding the night racing

:-P



You'd have thought being given a world exclusive they would have put bigger images in -_-



--

So is this wheel worth the money... yes, and if you want a longer answer to that... yeeeeeeesssss

it was worth my money, whether it is worth yours depends on how much you value your money and how much you would enjoy racing games really.

Now who wants to buy me the full setup for Christmas? I want to nerd out!!!!! they have a motion rig coming soon too... I need more money for this hobby

:-D



And before you say that the 3 screens is overkill, It's actually quite a big deal with car games, as without periphery vision you can't make tight turns as accurately as you can't see the apexes or see cars to your left and right that you may drive into. Aaand you judge speed from your peripheral vision, stuff whizzing by on your far left and right really makes you feel and see the speed you are doing which is why sims feel like you are driving slow and to the 200mph you are doing in game, try driving with a box on your head and a slot for your eyes... tunnel vision is not cool to be race driving with.











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Tags: - Food
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Carrots, Swede, Peas, Onion, Chinese Cabbage, Lamb Kebabs, Tomatoe


Spicy Ham and Chinese Cabbage, Onions, Tomatoe, Spicyness! (Learning to use various Indian spices I have)



Chicken Pasta Bake, Oat Bran and Cheese Topping = Yum (Sauce was Tuna Napol...)


Tofu, Chinese Leaves/Cabbage, Onion/Peas/Pepper, Rice
Chicken cooked into Garlic Nandos
Tofu and Leaves cooked in Soy and Chinese Herbs and Vegetable Stock, they soak up the flavour very well.


Noodles
Tofu and Chinese Leaves/Cabbage
Cooked in Soy, Herbs and Sweet/Sour Sauce


Gloriousness is a Costco Tiramisu


Failed Cake, just tasted too damn sweet, though it is meant to look like that.. mostly


Inedible sausage of forever cooked, not my fault or doing!

Chinese Leaves simmered in soy sauce
Thick noodles + Chicken in garlic black bean thingy thing sauce :-p I forget


Trifle I decorated with a Cherry Brandy moat ;-P




Alexs new invention, the double wrap... tasty!







Enchiladas - Pain is Good BBQ Flavas - Peas - Cheese and Ham fried in tomato chutney stuffed inside the enchiladas - Sundried Tomatoes and Chilis - Diced Tomato - Onions - Peppers



Sweedish Meatballs - Pasta - SunDried Tomato - ChilliPepper - Peas - Grilled Cheese





Yes most if not all the food I eat looks pretty disturbing, messy, mushy... but I tell you what, It smells good and tastes great and is simple to make

:-)


Fried ham in spice, Juicy Green Jalepeno Peppers, Boiled Potato mixed with Pataks Rogan Josh sauce and Heinz Beans with melted cheese on top and grilled




Variation on the same:


Thicks Noodles + Meatballs


Meatballs and Pasta


Pasta Bake with Soup andCheese grilled


Thick Noodles + Sauce + ham + Rice


Thick Noodles and cooked ham+sauce


Thicks Noodles plus tomato sauce plus spicy meatballs



Chicken


Red Thai Curry with.. stuff!


Real Mince complete with far too much fatty oil, learned to drain it in future and dab with paper towels or just use fake/Quorn Mince to save arteries!




Chorizo Sausage or Lincolnshire Sausage cooked in Barbados Mustard Pepper Sauce, with Onion Gravy and bubble and squeak (Cabbage/Mash)







Some restaurants I have visited

Sticky Chicken - Thai - Red Orchid Canal side Mailbox Birmingham


Tapas at Mechu - Birminhgam, best Tapas ever





2nd Visit to Mechu:


La Tascas - Good Tapas! = Fat




Indian in Manchester by River - East East Restaurant



Thai Restaurant Mailbox Birmingham

Good very spicy indian food aimed at indian people - StarCity Birmingham






--

Favorite Ingredients and Meals


Tesco - Sundried Tomatoes (they look disgusting but dice them up and they taste delicious, add a lovely tart and rich flavour to almost anything)


Tesco - Merchant Gourmet Roquito Hot Sweet Chilli Peppers (amazing juicy sweet spicy nom!)


Star - Jalapeno Peppers - Juicy Spiceyness Lovely!!


Nandos - Hot Peri-Peri Sauce, lovely flavour, real taste, and good on spice/hotness too, comes in different strengths too along with a variety of flavours.



Chorizo Sausage, why buy normal sausages when you can have chorizo, spicy and rich flavored and no less healthy than normal sausages I believe.

I just recently bought some Chorizo & Pork sausages and the are fantastic. Too Strong to eat on there own you'll really want to put it with something else like Patas Bravas or what I had it with Bubble and Squeek

:-D

or just onion gravy and mashed potato or something. Such basic and simple food but it tastes really good. Slightly worrying how much fat /oil drips out of these things though, the Pork+Chorizo are not as bad as the full on chorizo and I think they taste better too.

Thick Chinese Noodles

These are fantastic if you can find them, I get them from a chinese super market Sing Fat
They cook reeealy quick and go well with so many things.

Morrisons - Quorn - Mince - 1.99


Quorn Mince, looks pretty weird but tastes great and is essential if you like mince/meatballs etc as the real beef stuff is horrendously unhealthy you can just see it dripping with oil and fat


Quorn Italian Style Meat Balls - Very very nice


Quorn Chicken Style Pieces - need a fair bit of oil to soften them, doesn't taste much like chicken at all


Quorn - Peppered Steaks

Frozen rice and Frozen Diced Onions are a must if you do a lot of stir fry. It makes cooking effortlessly fast and simple.

Morrisions Own - Frozen Vegetable Rice (Mushrooms Peas Rice) - £1.29 - BUY



Baps Buns

Sainsburys - Frozen Diced Onions - 500g - 69p - BUY


Sliced Water Chesnuts

Great with noodles, they add a lovely lil crunch to what might ordinarily be a rather mushy blend of noodles. And they don't have much flavor really, try them!

Chilli Bean Sauce, this stuff is epicaly good, goes nice with:


Laksa Paste


Red Thai Curry Paste, I like to stir fry meat in it such as ham, gives the meat a brilliant spicy tang.



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Tags: - Food
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I hate the word Gourmet, perhaps as it reeks of pretensive and elitist... anyone who can taste the difference of crap from good food and has the money and wisdom to choose the better stuff read on

I am no food expert but here I shall collect some of my findings of stuff I find particularly delicious

It doesn't inherently have to be expensive, I like simple foods, not everything has to be aged 100 years to pass my palate.. id rather eat at Pizzahut than a authentic Italian Restaurant, I'm not a big fan of nouvelle cuisine where they server you tiny ass amounts of food in some kind of sadist fashion of making you want it more... pseudo expensive I call it, where people try to make stuff seem expensive by either covering it in fake gold or just giving you hardly any of it in order to make you feel posh because you are that superficial.

Anyway I could rant on forever, to the food and drink!!

I will be paying special attention to things local to me in and around Birmingham

Restaurants

Nandos
Killer food, simple food, healthy (relatively) and spicy is always good in my book

PizzaHut
Good pizzas but always leaves me feeling like a fat bastard, a good treat now and then but for gods sake don't go regularly and go at a time when the kids are not around

La Tasca
Great great food, the Tapas are wonderful not as good as Mechu but pretty close

Red Peppers

Random Tapas Place by Canal

---

Mechu in Birmingham
Very nice classy place, good prices, amazing Tapas


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