Portal 2… A fantastic sequel to a great game

Posted on May 3, 2011 by Luke

When I first saw Portal 2 available for pre-order on Steam, I snapped it up :) As you probably already know it was released just the other day and although I was a little slow to make a start on it, I have entered into the world of Aperture Science and can’t get enough of it!

So far I am up to chapter 8, so I will try to avoid dropping spoilers :) I really love Wheatley – although I hate him for what he eventually does – especially the fact that he is voice acted by Stephen Merchant. The scripts through the game are very clever and funny, revealing some interesting truths about GLaDOS and the history of Aperture Science.

Cave Johnson is also a very well scripted character, and I really like the way you get to see – or rather hear – him ageing and getting gradually more crazy.

I also like the new puzzle elements that are introduced in this game. I am not going to spoil them for those of you who haven’t played it yet, but there are now liquids, tunnels and bridges – as well as lasers.

If you liked Portal 1, you will love this excellently made sequel. To be honest, if you like quality games in general with great story lines, witty dialogue and unique gameplay then go ahead and grab a copy of Portal 2.

I am restraining myself from trying co-op mode until I finish the single player campaign, however I’ve heard it is also very good.

Luke

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Pcworld selling vintage hardware!

Posted on April 14, 2011 by Luke

Just a quick one here, but I noticed that PC world are selling retro hardware again. Prices are high as ever…
Nah.. Not really but you can see why I get the idea from the picture… An Intel i5, 4GB ram and yet only 500mb harddrive it’s so 90′s.. And I saw this in a news paper, marketing morons :D

Luke


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Tweet tweet

Posted on March 30, 2011 by Luke

I’ve just started using twitter (had an account for a while but not used it really), and I’ve noticed it’s used a lot for reporting downtime and what is being done to fix it by various hosting companies etc… I’ve just gone on there and it is down… where am I supposed to tweet that twitter is down… o.0 mind=blown

I will however be using it some more, and I am in the process of adding a feed box to the blog.. when I can get to the twitter site that is -.-

My username is lukewebdesign

Luke

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SmittyBlog

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Luke

Today I’ve been working more on the nearing IndyCon 2012 site launch (see the countdown), and helping SmittyB to set up a blog of his own all about retro gaming (and criticism of more recent games no doubt).

Hopefully there should be some really awesome content over there soon, as he has a real passion for games and I think he will make a great blogger.

Check out his blog here, and you’ve gotta love the header image he made for it :)

Luke

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Recommended Hosting

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Luke

I often get asked about what hosting I use, and what the best hosting out there is. In terms of UK hosting, I would always recommend Vidahost as their server are very fast (2 x dual core i7 processors, 24GB RAM and fast SCSI RAID 10 drives) and the support from the guys who run it is amazing!

I was in contact with them just last night and they told me I could freephone them from 9am till 11pm, or email them and get a prompt reply 24/7! I believe this too as I have opened tickets early in the morning before and had almost instant replies. Continue reading →

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The Fixie is back for the summer!

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Luke

Since we had nice weather the last couple of days I decided to get the fixie back out on the road, so I did a little fiddling in the shed and stripped some bits off of it, added some new stuff and rode it to work. Continue reading →

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New Ano parts arrived :)

Posted on March 22, 2011 by Luke

I bought a couple of items from a favourite forum of mine the other day (retrobike), and they arrived this morning :D

I got two NOS (new old stock) pairs of Dia-Compe 987 cantilever brakes in ano blue, which are great, and a really light Syncros Cattleprod stem which is in really good shape. Continue reading →

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LED Backlight Progress

Posted on March 20, 2011 by Luke

So I did some more soldering and managed to get a load more LED’s from a torch type thing. I have decided to put a strip up one side of the screen too, a) to add brightness and b) to even out the streaks.

I also got a handy skinny on/off push switch which I might use for manually controlling the backlight. Or perhaps a variable resistor and have it like an old IBM ThinkPad screen. Continue reading →

Posted in Mods | 2 Comments

World Skills 2011 Web Design

Posted on March 20, 2011 by Luke

So, I’m at it again, this time entering the competition at Higher level… The downside of this is I have to have a full site with database, storyboards and all in by Thursday the 24th…

Right now I’m hard pressed for ideas, so I’m just trawling other similar commercial sites and checking a few forums.

I’ve no idea how hard the heats or final will be this year (if I get that far..), but perhaps I will go all the way and get another gold.. probs not however :(

Luke

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Homebrew LED Backlighting a Laptop

Posted on March 18, 2011 by Luke

I have an older laptop that had been used as a mobile file and games server around college, as it had no screen. Until now. I found and promptly refitted the screen to discover the backlight was dead – something I would have no trouble replacing.
As it was a spare laptop however I decided to mod it with a LED backlit screen.

Here are a few photos for now, and no they aren’t actually permenantly installed yet but they certainly work. I will sort them out a bit more to get a less stripey light, and angle them all properly. Anyway Photos:

Continue reading →

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