Bewitched, Bothered, Bewildered

Twenty-five feels quite odd, if only for the amount of times my older sister commented on how much more mature and organised my friends are and I was actually getting all grownded up presents! Does this mean I’m no longer allowed to act like the boy who never grew up?

So what did I get for my birthday?

Flight Simulator X Deluxe Edition
I’m currently having serious issues with this game. Why? Is it barely an upgrade on the predecessor? Does it run badly? Nope, it had Product Activation. Microsoft’s newest Big Brother meets the Control Freak method of making sure you own your copy while simultaneously punishing you for any and all alterations you may make to the computer you install it on. I’ve spent all weekend finding out why it’s refusing to accept the product key which is correct only to find out I have to phone a national rate Microsoft number to activate my copy and even then they may advice I just send it back and get a new copy. What a waste of space.

Miami Vice
I’ve yet to see this one but all good birthdays in this household require a big action movie for the family to enjoy.

Clarkson : The Good The Bad The Ugly
Further feeding my petrolhead ways, Clarkson jets off to the US with the Stig in tow to once again sort the wonderous from the catastrophic (a’la Heaven and Hell) but this time with American cars.

Goldeneye : Ultimate Edition
I recently took to rebuilding my Bond collection as DVDs, expecially when I discovered the wonders that are the Ultimate Editions. This time round I’m making sure to avoid the duds (Goodbye Moore, you won’t be missed) and as I have Goldfinger (the #1 Bond film of all time) already, it’s time to put the Brosnan collection together. So here’s his debut, fresh from Remington Steele and free from the thought that he’d one day have to compete with Daniel Craig (who is fast becoming everyone’s favorite Bond it seems.)

T-shirt and shirt set from Fat Face
Yes I have to admit I’m a Fat Face kind of guy, so my sister used her intricate powers of fashion sense to get me a lovely green T-shirt matched with a white/beige striped shirt.

Battlefield 2142
Free from any type of Product Activation rubbish, Battlefield 2142 came out around the same time that I finally got Battlefield 2 working (it took me 6 months and turned out to be such a simple fix that it was just embarrassing.) I love all things Battlefield and around this time of year, during the quiet Christmas weeks, there’s no game I like more than simple mindless shoot-em-ups. Whether it’s Call of Duty or Battlefield, both are engrossing and entertaining and free from any real complexity, they give my reflexes a great workout (something I seem to be needing now I’m not airsofting.) This new one takes us into the future with all sorts of plasma weaponry and speedy vehicles along with a greatly improved variant on the old Helicopter (It’s faster and more maneuverable, even the passenger-only version.)

True Crime: Streets of LA (For the Playstation 2)
Thanks to Kevin, I’ve got myself a new PS2 game to save my Need for Speed addled mind. I’ve heard a lot of good things about this one but never got around to actually buying it, so I’ll let you know what it’s like when I get a chance to bung it on.

Can’t Cook, Want to Learn
Bod and Sarah decided to track down something that would come in handy for my new flat…Sarah was all apologetic that she couldn’t find anything allergy free (allergy free cook books are almost non-existent and almost always a pile of poo anyway) but I seem to have inherited my mother’s ability to ‘adapt’ recipes so I’m sure I can have some fun with those I do find I’m not all that compatible with.

Michael Crichton : Next
I’m Crichton mad so maybe with getting all these books this year I’ll actually teach myself to be a faster reader. Unlikely, but maybe.

The Magic of Pants
Magic tricks with underwear…the perfect way to entertain on Christmas Day.

Paul Smith ‘Extreme’ Smellies
Thanks to Jon for putting himself through smelling “like a tart’s handbag” to find something that smells nice, this would be officially my first ever all grown up present and I’ve already had quite a few “it should mask the smell” jokes. Do you think Jon and Jo were trying to hint at something?

512MB of DDR RAM
What a difference just 512MB can make, I’m running PC2700 (333 DDR) even though my machine can technically make it to 400Mhz ram…I have so much 333 in there now that it would cost far too much to upgrade the speed (faster ram would be clocked down to the speed of the slowest stick, hence 333.) Even the full Flight Sim X which I can run in 30 minute trial mode is running at medium level graphics settings with a healthy 20fps…the demo only achieved 10-15fps and is supposedly faster than the full game so go figure.

So all in all, thanks everyone! A great load of presents and a wonderful party afterwards, even if I’m getting far too old for Twister.

This entry was posted on Sunday, December 10th, 2006 at 3:04 pm and is filed under Celluloid, Driving, Gadgety Goodness, Media, PC, Playstation 2, The World of Flight. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.