Warriors Orochi 2 Character Modifier

So I've been messing around with the character modifier code for Warriors Orochi 2 lately. Thanks to Godshin for the PAL-DE version of the code and to Wonderpierrot for the NTSC version; those codes were a lot of help in converting to PAL UK.

Anyway so I should have a video up sometime in the future but for now, the code to play as Gyuki in free mode is working, and I've also managed to play as one of the NPC generals: 'Suzuki'. (Presumably Shigenori Suzuki) However the game is prone to crashing when playing as the latter. I also need to hack a joker code to be able to play as Dodomekki in free mode, and perhaps more NPC generals and even troops maybe... Anyway, I will be updating on the situation and I'll probably make a short preview video while I'm working on the rest of the codes.

FIFA 12 Demo - Some First Thoughts

So the FIFA 12 demo was released yesterday and my friend and I met up for a few pre-season matches. I'd ended up despising FIFA 11 for various reasons at the end of last year; just various important parts of the gameplay felt like they hadn't quite been perfected by E.A. I know it's early days, but I'm staking a claim and saying that these problems have been rectified in FIFA 12. These problems were:

Strength / holding up ability of the forwards.
Defensive movement and reactions.
The passing system.

I'm delighted to say that the forwards seem to have a lot more ability to be able to hold the ball up and shield it from opposition defenders. However the demo doesn't contain too many strikers which have low strength abilities, e.g. Neymar for Santos in Fifa 11. His strength was roundabouts the 45 mark (out of 99) and would be shrugged off the ball incredibly (and annoyingly) easily. So, I'm going to partially sit on the fence on this one, though the outlook is promising.

Now a lot of people have been saying that defending on the Fifa 12 demo is fairly difficult, but I found it to be a massive improvement! Their reactions and the control for the player to put them exactly where they want them felt great. I felt in full control of my defence.

The passing system was a big let down for me in Fifa 11. E.A. attempted to create a system to eliminate 'ping pong passing' which I concur was much needed; but what we got was something much worse. The passing was slow and sluggish, and I felt that I was always tracking backwards to receive the ball. On the Fifa 12 demo, the passing was very good. Every pass was of a decent speed and for the majority of the time, they reached their intended target.

One thing that bugged me was that Wayne Rooney was the player that featured on the 'arena', however Manchester United are not available to play as in a full match. It makes me think that, as on a lot of demos; there were more things that remain locked to the user. Though the teams that were included were pleasing; apart from having Manchester City rather than United! (But maybe I'm slightly biased.) The playable teams are: Barcelona, Manchester City, Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, Marseille and A.C. Milan.

So, a big thumbs up overall and I'm looking forward to the full release on the 30th September!

Experience - The worst word in the English language

After finishing my degree and making the decision to undertake a masters course in Journalism, I was faced with the task that every former student is faced with; finding a job. Albeit a part-time one. It then dawned on me that for pretty much every job advertised today, you need experience! Seriously, there was a Christmas temp job at Primark advertised, that stated the dreaded words; 'experience essential.' What kind of experience is required to be able to to handle shit clothes and give crap customer service? Are they wanting experience of working in a sweatshop?

Considered applying to work in a little local cafe, although they not only wanted experience but a 'food hygiene certificate' as well!

:O

I mean, the fact that I'm alive and not sat in hospital shows that I know not to eat raw chicken, then ponder who I could have caught salmonela off... A hygiene certificate could be more apparent in Primark, considering the threat of catching aids from brushing against a casually shopping (I mean shop-lifting) chav.

It's not all doom and gloom. I'm sitting here looking at my Euromillions ticket fro Friday's God-knows-how-many-times rollover. The optimism of winning a cool £126 million jackpot is keeping me going. :)