With Download '07 approaching i've now purchased my ticket and am eagerly awaiting June and all of the quite frankly awesome lineup, with bands I want to see being Bring Me The Horizon, Dimmu Borgir (maybe), Dragonforce, Dream Theater, Evanescence (maybe), Iron Maiden, Killswitch Engage, Korn, Machine Head, Megadeth, Slayer, Within Temptation, and Wolfmother (maybe). Plus with Rage Against The Machine and possibly Disturbed still to be announced it's looking like the best Download ever!
I still haven't been paid for my work although i've been promised it this Friday coming... i'll update when I finally get it. I've been after this for ages, purely so I can buy this Sharp Aquos TV:
Why this one? Not only because it's 1080p capable (and therefore futureproofed for HDTV), but because even though it's £2000 I can get it from EmpireDirect for £1400... which for a 46" LCD 1080p TV is tremendously cheap!
Oh, and on one final note... Guitar Hero II for the XBox 360 comes out on Friday... WOOO!!! \o/
I've been playing a lot more 360 recently (along with restarting FFXII to try and do everything in it), but I haven't really been playing actual 360 games. I had a quick go on F.E.A.R., Football Manager 2007, and Condemned, but i've mainly been playing Live Arcade. Why? Simply because in the past three weeks, we've had Alien Hominid, Worms (!) and the 1989 TeenageMutant Ninja Turtles Arcade Game (!!!). I've also just found out that next Wednesday's release for the Live Arcade is Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, complete with awesome 2D graphics and craptacula voice acting. Ahh, the memories!
On another note, I still haven't been paid by James Hardie for my work that I did for them before Christmas. This has literally gone well beyond a joke now - the company I did the work via (i.e. like a middle man) is so astounded by the time it's taken that they have decided to pay me themselves so i'm not waiting on it, whilst they try and wrangle the cash out of James Hardie. So:
Oh, and in case you're wondering, no, I didn't make this image - I actually found it online using Google Image search! :D
Yesterday at work, I was pretty bored (as usual) and decided to look at the release listing and pre-order all the games that I want to buy over the next month or two... and what a bad idea it was. Natwest are gonna think i've had my bank card stolen or something if I buy this lot:
Excite Truck (Wii) - 16th Feb
Supreme Commander (PC) - 16th Feb
XBox 360 Crossfire Receiver (PC) - 16th Feb
Crackdown (360) - 23rd Feb
Final Fantasy XII (PS2) 23rd Feb
GAMEWare Wii Rechargable Battery & Dock (Wii) - 2nd Mar
Sonic & The Secret Of The Rings (Wii) - 2nd Mar
Castlevania: Portrait Of Ruin (DS) - 9th Mar
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter 2 (360) - 9th Mar
Pheonix Wright, Ace Attorney: Justice For All (DS) - 16th Mar
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2007 (Wii) - 23rd Mar
Command & Conquer 3: Tiberium Wars (PC) - 30th Mar
Mario Party 8 (Wii) - 30th Mar
Virtua Tennis 3 (360) - 30th Mar
All of those in the space of a month and a half... I estimate that even with my staff discount, that lot will cost me about £350... ouch...
First off, the snow. I was actually quite suprised at just how much snow fell over the two days it was around, although I wasn't the least but suprised that Britain pretty much ground to a halt along the roads and trains. Why is it that the slightest amount of bad weather can completely destroy the transport system... I half imagine all the trains and buses exploding under direct sunlight...
Anyway, this weekend I was visited by a good friend of mine called Neil from over in Lancashire (where I come from), and we went out into Leeds to meet up with another good friend of mine named Tom, who now lives with his wife Ally over there. Unfortunately neither Stephen (another friend in Lanacshire) nor Ally could make it due to various circumstances, but it was all good.
Tom actually living in Leeds(ish) knew it a bit better than myself (having only lived nearby and visited the centre), so he knew a of a restaurant for us to try called Tampopo. Strangely, it isn't like a "normal" restaurant with one style of food, but it covers many eastern styles (such as Japanese, Vietanmese, Malyasian, and so on). Even so, I have to admit it was some of the best food i've had in a long time. I throughly recommend you try it if you have one nearby, although there's only four in the country! :P
After that it was a case of catching up and grabbing a few drinks, including visiting Cafe FAB, a great place I remembered from years ago, which has old arcades, table football, a life-sized Dalek, and of course, beer! What was suprising to me was that it hadn't changed in about four or five years. It was identical to how I remember it...
Now however, the weekend is over. It's back to work tomorrow... oh joy...
Well, i'm now twenty five years old (yes, 25). I'm happy to report that it feels no different than being twenty four. I had a really nice evening though so it's all good.
In other news, tickets for Download Festival 2007 have now gone on sale! Yay! Admittedly they do cost £145 (plus a £10 booking fee), but for a week in June it's just hot weather, beer, and good music! Like this:
Finally, SquareEnix handily sent out an advance copy of Final Fantasy XII on PS2 to our store, which Tim and I have been sharing every half-week, and I must say, it's probably the best Final Fantasy i've played in years.
