BD's Gaming Diary (Upd:15th Jan)

[MarioMark]

Awww, PSO! I miss it so much, no, make that soooooo much.

I've lost some good mates on that. Can I take this opportunity to shout to my old friends too in hope that they google for me one day and find this thread?

Oi, Blackjack, Selecta, it's me Selix! Where are you!!!?

Cheers

[Welrain]

I remember my first pso game. Welrain (me), Zeddicus and a wee fella called Derm. We had such a laugh, got killed by the Serpent and watched as a fourth person joined and nicked our stuff...lol. Good times.

[SteJay]

Prior to my arrival at NTSC-UK I was a long term poster and malcontent at UGVD, where I was known as Welrain. It was a usenet newgroup and it was brilliant. I whiled away many a hour there. So many personalities, the good and the bad.

There was the Bennet incident and the great Phantasy Star Online feud, talking about that:

UGVD did really come into it's own with the arrival of Phantasy Star Online. So much fun was had. I still recall so many character names: Fenster, Keaton, Raven, Zathras, Zeddicus, Mai, Wesker, Didi, Incadenza and more. Lots of memories here:

http://www.xs4all.nl/~ink/pso/

PSO has never been bettered imho. It had it all.

I know some of the UGVD lot hang around here and on RLLMUK so Hi everyone if you remember me, if not its probably for the best :P

On a related note, here are some links to uploads of the old UGVD website:

http://www.stevejackson.org.uk/ugvd1/ with pictures of some UGVDers celebrating reaching level 100 in the original PSO here.

And:

http://www.stevejackson.org.uk/ugvd2/

Also, forget Bennet, before that we stared into the face of armageddon at the hands of Adam 'Wrestling' Capewell as shown here and here.

Also, in that list of PSO players above, how come there is no mention of that really cool FatBoy guy? *sob* Oh, and remember Cavey, that bloody guy lived on the PSO servers twenty hours a day!

[Kieran76]

I remember my first pso game. Welrain (me), Zeddicus and a wee fella called Derm. We had such a laugh, got killed by the Serpent and watched as a fourth person joined and nicked our stuff...lol. Good times.

That last bit made me laugh. I never had any joy on PSO, kept getting booted out of games or picked on by better players.

[JamesS]

The Dreamcast remains, for me, one of the best periods of gaming and PSO was one of the best games on the system. I've never, before or since, enjoyed online gaming as much as I did in those UGVD days, even though I didn't play anything like as much as some of the people mentioned in this thread.

It's such a shame PSU didn't really take off in the same way. I think the pricing is largely to blame there, though. No free month, and an awkward to cancel subscription system (on the 360 at least) meant that I've never even gone online with it.

There's not really anything quite like PSO on modern consoles, which is a real shame. I hold out a little hope that Monster Hunter on the Wii might get an audience in the west (assuming it's actually released and online), but I doubt it will.

[SteJay]

You are bang on there, James. As easy as it is to get into online gaming today with the likes of Xbox Live etc, nothing, absolutely nothing since, has offered the same sense of community as PSO did five or six years ago on the Dreamcast.

I do have a recollection of joining you for a couple of games of PSO. What was the name of your main character again?

[JamesS]

On DC, it was Sol (a force) or SolBot (Hucast). Good old Titan(ia) 11.

Just looking through some of those pictures, I remember being so excited when I saw a blue Rappy. It's hard to imagine now how seeing a slightly different coloured chicken in a game could seem quite so exciting.

[Welrain]

Also, in that list of PSO players above, how come there is no mention of that really cool FatBoy guy? *sob* Oh, and remember Cavey, that bloody guy lived on the PSO servers twenty hours a day!

I swear I thought I'd put you down. I've missed loads of people out but there were so many from those greats days. If I recall correctly Cavey was Raven, who was John Peat?

[Welrain]

More Purchases - November



Even more purchases this month. Both 10/10 titles in my opinion.

I've played Half Life 2 and Episode 1 before but I've started for the beginning for the full experience. Stunning so far.

Call of Duty 4 is utterly amazing. I've played a couple of single players level but it's mutliplayer where it's at. Been playing for 5hrs so far and having some very exciting and down to the wire matches. More to come on this later.

[SteJay]

I swear I thought I'd put you down.

Yeah, right! *sob*

If I recall correctly Cavey was Raven, who was John Peat?

Er, Cavey was Cavey.

[Welrain]

Well I was half right - Cavey's second character was indeed Raven.

[Welrain]

On the Bog: Wade Hixton's Counter Punch

The toilet is an excellent place for some sneaky gaming while at work, and today I found myself playing Wade Hixton's Counter Punch on the GBA micro.



I'd never heard of before, but it was cheap on uwish (£3 or something) sometime ago so I purchased it. I'm told it's essentially an update to Punch Out, but since I never played that I wouldn't really know.

You play Wade Hixton, red neck and thicko, who's car breaks-down in some backwater american town. A town populated entirely by boxers it seems. Went to the local bar and got into a fight.

First opponent: Rocco McScrub - He's a bin-man who carries a rubbish bag with him with a pet raccoon named Scratch inside.

Took me a few goes to get into this, but I was soon dodging and blocking like a professional. It helps that the controls are simple, left/right to dodge, up/down to block, b/a/should buttons to let loose some punches. Seems to be a way to release special attacks (Rocco attacks with the racoon!!!) but I've not yet figured out how. I won eventually. Graphically it reminds me of Ren & Stimpy and the like and seems to have the same humour.

So I won my first fight and I'm about to go visiting some other areas in town, will see what happens tomorrow.

[Welrain]

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[Welrain]

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[Welrain]

On the Game: Earth Defence Force 2017



After all the stress of Call of Duty 4 on hardened I?ve decided to take it easy and blast some giant insects, robots and the odd ufo into oblivion?EDF EDF! I?ve played this a little before but other games tempted me away. Anyway I?ve started again and I?m currently blasting acid spitting ants to pieces on level 3. It?s very simple, looks a bit naff but it?s a shed load of fun.