The End Of Time

  • December 21, 2009

doctor-who2

This past Saturday we watched the third-last David Tennant Doctor Who special, The Waters Of Mars and it was, well quite brilliant. A massive improvement from Planet Of The Dead. The Doctor was taken to a place he’d not been before and… certain things happened. And the final 2-part episode was foreshadowed quite well at the end.

And that end begins next Saturday with part one of The End Of Time. We will of course watch it live (in HD!) and I am looking forward to it tremendously (those who may have seen the trailer will be with me in celebrating the nod to the Deadly Assassin-era Master to be seen in this episode!). And then… the very next day… I’m off to Australia!

So I won’t be able to see part two, in which Doctor 10 regenerates into Doctor 11, until I get back. It screens on January 2, so KLS is going to tape it and keep it safe on our PVR until I return when I can watch it in glorious HD. And try really, really, really hard not to have it spoiled for me in the interim.

Unless (of course) it screens in Australia or AW obtains a good quality copy during my stay 🙂

(Almost) Done

  • December 17, 2009

I just finished grading my students exams. The second class had their yesterday, and grading the 51 exams took me the better part of about 5 hours today. One day I will learn to write questions that don’t lend themselves to long, difficult-to-grade solutions.

500x_1

Tomorrow I shall enter the grades, and (hopefully) be done with school this semester. Of course that’s a lie, since I have to prepare a lecture for the day I get back (yes, I have to teach the day I get back). But that can be done at home.

The squirrels? Just a little something to make mum smile 😉

Is This Playing The Game?

  • December 9, 2009

You may or may not have noticed the link to my PS3 trophies on the sidebar to the right, not to mention the post about it a while ago.

Also, I may or may not have mentioned one of the reasons I got out of WoW was I became aware that the only appeal the game had held for the last few weeks had been the achievements, and once I lost interest in them I realized I wasn’t enjoying the game any more.

Achievements in games are here to stay, and as long as youre score is public then they are – for many – a badge of honour. They can be fun, they can be frustrating, they can be addicting, they can be irritating. They are a double edged sword, and for some players, they are (in my opinion) dangerous indeed.

Read this very interesting article to see what I mean.

I have mixed feelings. Yes, I have done stuff in games/WoW just to get an achievement, but I’d never consider playing a game that wasn’t fun just for the achievements. As for the achievements themselves, well I think they are wonderful. For instance, I’d love for them to have been around forever, and to browse through nearly 30 years of my gaming career in the form of achievements… such as:

“UFO Get” – Shoot down your first UFO (obtained XX/XX/78)