Micro Blogs

1. The day I finally decide (or rather finally get my arse in gear) to write about the crap weather everything clears up! Everyday this week I have been expecting to see the tortured remains of frigate F69 to be washed up in Houghton Bay.

Is anyone else sick of these 100 year storms that show up every other week? I’ve not lived in Wellington to know if this is the norm, but at least we had a good summer this year.

Anyway, if there was ever a day for Fish and Chips (or Fush and Chups) in Waitangi Park today’s the day.

2. Last weekend I hired an Xbox 360 from my local video store with a copy of Madden 06. I was impressed by the console (though it was the “budget” $514 version with no hard drive) but the game sucked.

Actually now I think about it, the console was LOUD (it hummed louder than the TV volume) and the controllers didn’t vibrate (which is a small thing but how could I know my player was touching another player?)

The game felt like they had taken the non-360 version and just made it prettier. And MAN, was it prettier! The players really did look like they do in real life (well, you know, sort of), that is the big money, big name players. I took a closer look at Philadelphia Centre Hank Fraley and he was just a cartoon fat guy. It was also cool that some players had their actual voices recorded from real games.

The game play was terrible however. This seems to be because the game is meant to be a taster for Madden 07. There were no mini-games, no commentary from Madden or Al and the franchise mode was woeful at best. The player movement was a little weird though. A player sprinting at full stretch still looked like they were jogging and the intros to every game were the same (including the Superbowl) and there are no celebrations afterwards.

Speaking of games here is an American take on Rugby 06. I love the quote:

Still, it's good fun. Rugby 06 isn't as pretty as the bigger EA Sports games, but it isn't as larded down with excess crap, either; just lots of teams, lots of tournaments, and what we'll assume are famous players in a good tough sport

3. I have now joined the storied ranks of the Wellingtonista crew. I have been enlisted to fill in bits and pieces about sport and what-not around the Capital.

4. Has anyone seen the new Up-and-Go ad? It shows two fellas camping out get tickets for some event. There is another guy in the line ahead of them. They drink the product and when the other guy falls asleep they move him to the back of the queue.

What is the products theme? Drink Up-and-Go and become a jerk. It seems that this might be a new trend in advertising.