First of all, I will start off by saying that I actually quite like it. I have had a read of a couple of the comments on the forum so far and have been shocked at all the negative feedback on it. So many people hate change it’s quite worrying. This is not a review so I will not be going in depth, I’m just providing screen shots.

Shut up and show us I hear you scream, well here you go: (You can click on the images for a larger version)

Lets start with the opening Screen:

As you can see a few things have changed here. The only thing i’m not too sure about is the large text rather than buttons. But after  playing about with it for 10 minutes it has started to grow on me.

Next up we have the Games list (3 Versions):

Now the first screen shot I really like. I love the idea of putting the game background behind all of the information.

Next up is tools:

They have kept that one pretty basic.

Next is the Friends Panel and Chat Window:

For those of you who wish to know, the latest SDK Build has been released for those of us that Pre Ordered Natural Selection 2 (Yay).

Here’s the complete list of changes in this patch:

• Added ability to set individual parameters on multiple selected entities of the same type
• Added removal of degenerate vertices when loading a level (could cause the level to be uneditable)
• Added object origin to selection cycle options (as default)
• Added refinery_wall_16_d material
• Added generic_cablemods_01_bend45 models
• Added generic_cablemods_01_bend90 models
• Added generic_cablemods_01_circuitbox models
• Added generic_cablemods_01_clamp_lg model
• Added generic_cablemods_01_clamp_sm model
• Added generic_cablemods_01_hang models
• Added generic_cablemods_01_hangbunch01 model
• Added generic_cablemods_01_hangfloor01 model
• Added generic_cablemods_01_hangfree01 model
• Added generic_cablemods_01_hanglong models
• Added generic_cablemods_01_str models
• Added generic_cablemods_02_bend45 models
• Added generic_cablemods_02_bend90 models
• Added generic_cablemods_02_hang models
• Added generic_cablemods_02_hangbunch01 model
• Added generic_cablemods_02_hangfloor01 model
• Added generic_cablemods_02_hangfree01 model
• Added generic_cablemods_02_hanglong models
• Added generic_cablemods_02_str models
• Fixed situational crash bug with undocked entity selection window

———————————- INSTALL LOG ———————————-

I guess a “Sorry” is in order for lack of updates. Haven’t really had a lot to moan about over the last couple of days. Couple of stupid things in the news that I may as well voice my opinions on though.

1. Cadbury’s > Kraft Takeover

It’s a very sad day when a company of this age is brought out by an American Firm. If things continue this way, then there really will be nothing British left. It amazes me that this has been allowed really, considering Kraft had to borrow money to even buy the Cadbury’s which instantly puts the company at risk. Stupid bloody idea.
They are obviously going to cut staff levels regardless of what has been promised. But I guess as long as they don’t go changing the way it’s made with cheaper alternatives then I will keep buying the products.

So here’s to you Cadbury’s. You’ve had a brilliant run. The BBC has created a timeline of their past which can be found; here.

2. Tiger Woods – Sex Clinic

What utter utter bollocks. Who comes up with these ideas? Any normal person would just be called a pervert and have done with it.
A Sex Clinic… Please. People have to go and get therapy for being horny? Have you people ever heard of Masturbation. It works wonders if your wife / partner is at work / away for a couple of days.  And plus point. You can even keep your filthy ideas in your head and nobody will ever know that you want to sleep with 15 women at a time.
Where on earth is the Common Sense going in this world…

3. “Comparethemarket” / “Comparethemeerkat”

Who else is bored of this complete and utter fucking drivel. It’s almost as stupid as that “gocompare” crap. And yes I am aware the language has gone downhill a little in this post, but the world is going downhill too.
You cannot honestly tell me that people typed in comparethemeerkat.com by accident when looking for comparethemarket.com. Is the literacy of the coming generations really that terrible that they have to point out the bloody obvious.

Again this is coming down to the complete lack of common sense in the world. I was stood in someone’s office earlier today and noticed something stuck to their wall that they found amusing.

Arachibutyrophobia- Fear of peanut butter sticking to the roof of the mouth
How on earth can that be a real phobia? To me that is just a severe dislike of peanut butter sticking to your mouth. How on earth can it scare you so much for it to be classed as a phobia.

What phobias do you have? Leave a comment and let me know. I may consider running a phobia poll over the next few days just to see which one is the most popular. Because lets face it, some of these phobias are all about getting attention rather than being scared of something.

Keys have now gone. Very sorry

I currently have two extra keys for Star Trek Online Beta to give away. The first two people to add GameVR and Grayski to their Twitter accounts, they will get the keys.

Good luck!

Recently, I had a not too nice experience of one of my email accounts being compromised. Not a very fun time at all, considering this gave this person access to all of my Bank Account information and User Names for a couple of online games. This has now changed and all of this information is only stored on paper on my desk safely.

Because of this, I changed all of my passwords on every single account I could think of. One of which being my Google Mail. Now I know for a fact that I changed my password successfully as I managed to log in once after changing. Unfortunately all went to pot the next morning when I attempted to log in to check my emails. Username / Password incorrect.
That’s fine, we all making spelling mistakes every now and then, so I tried once more… Same answer. Wonderful! Have I written the password down wrong? Nope because I still had a copy of the file on my desktop with my passwords that had been put there to print. I Copied and pasted the password, and still no access.

Not a problem I hear you say? Well I thought exactly the same thing until I attempted password recovery. “Password reset instructions sent to alternate email address”. Little bit of a problem there, I hadn’t updated my alternate email for a good few years! (Doh!)

The next alternative was to wait for 24 hours for the other option to become available of answering the secret question… Now usually this also wouldn’t be a problem, although I have had my GMail account since late 2002. Some people have good memories but I don’t!
I Could not for the life of me remember what the answer to that certain question was.

By now I was starting to get a little bit stressed, through nobody’s fault but my own really. So I decided to use their account recovery form. What a waste of bloody time.
After filling in EVERY single question on the form, including the exact time, date, and sign up link I used (Was a Beta Invite, so friend had copy of email sent), they replied with:

"Thank you for your report. We've completed our investigation and cannot
return your account at this time. We were unable to verify that you own
this account based on the information you provided."

I mean, what other information could they possibly want, to prove that I was the owner of the account. So I attempted to submit the form again, with all the answers. Received the same reply. I then tried going through it all a different way (keep in mind there is pretty much 24 hours between all attempts), I proceeded to go through the AdWords way.
They couldn’t help me because I hadn’t added any Payment Information to the account, so that was that way out.

Another couple of days passed, with me trying to figure out what the hell to do, it then occurred to me, I would try and give them a call. Seems like if you don’t know exactly who you are calling there, you can’t get past the automated system. Bit of a let down really, I would at least expect a receptionist.

With that idea gone, and another couple of days pondering what the hell to do, I decided there was no other option but to purchase the old domain name which the password reset emails were being sent to. What a joke… After 24 hours for the order to complete, I could finally add the email addresses to the new domain name and send myself a password reset email.

I now have full access to my GMail account again, but for future reference, I will not be relying on Google Support to help me out in any way shape or form for anything… Disappointed Google…

So let this be a lesson to all of you out there who think you can remember all of your passwords. You can’t! You will inevitably forget at least one, or have problems somewhere along the line.

If you managed to miss out on TenTonHammer’s Star Trek Online Beta Key giveaway, then fear not as NowGamer currently have some more available!

And to be quite honest, it’s pretty simple stuff to get your hands on one. All you need to do is follow a couple of people on twitter and do as they ask (Nothing too kinky don’t worry).

After that you will receive your Free Star Trek Online Beta Key within 3 – 4 minutes.

Good luck and leave a comment if you managed to get one.

I’m still currently downloading the installer, coming in at a whopping 7.7GB, my speed has now dropped to a shoddy 532.4 kB/s and im only at 4.4GB. Guess this is going to be an over nighter. Never mind, guess I will just have to do some quality control during the day tomorrow.

Also means I can’t do much with my connection for the evening, oh the joy of living in the middle of nowhere and having crap connections.

In other news, I have managed to get a little bit of work done on Containment. I have been working on the Storage Room today, which is nowhere near complete worryingly, considering the amount of time that has gone in to it!

As you can see, it still needs quite a few props added, the fan in the ceiling isn’t yet lighted correctly, some of the Storage Crates are also going to be doubled up in size to create a more creepy atmosphere. The floor needs some proper grating added rather than just the texture, and a load of Cable and pipe work are going to be added to the ceiling.

So there it is as it stands so far!

Sorry for not giving you an update last night, but I was shattered with not a lot to say. So read more for this mornings gripes!Well that was exciting, in the midst of starting to write this, I managed to grab myself a Free Open Beta Key to Star Trek Online! WooHoo (Thank you Jez). Any of you who are interested may want to run on over to TenTonHammer pretty sharpish and grab yourself a key before they all go.

Anyway, back to what I was originally going to moan about was having to repair peoples computers over and over again. Some people should just not be allowed a computer if they aren’t going to look after it. This is now the third time this month I have had to sort this laptop out for a customer. Always the same thing, Fake AntiVirus.

Now come on people, it really isn’t rocket science. Please for the love of Satan’s Portion, learn this one important fact.

ANTIVIRUS DOES NOT TELL YOU THAT YOU ARE INFECTED BY INTERNET SCANNING IN AN INTERNET EXPLORER WINDOW

Now we have that one major point out the way, I may one day go in to the other smaller obvious points that people really aren’t getting. Especially one the about “I thought FaceBook was a safe site”. I hear that come out of someone’s mouth again and I will slap them silly. FaceBook is safe, as long as you have some common sense, which people really seem to be lacking these days. Otherwise it’s about as safe as putting your penis in a doorway, waiting for someone to slam it shut.

Hopefully I should get around to doing some work on Containment today, if not, then i’m sure I will have something else to complain about. But remember, go and get your Star Trek Beta Key!!