Mad Max - fourth movie, and a game coming in 2015

For the last couple of weeks I've spent most of my gaming time exploring the desolate future of Rage. In my opinion this game is an absolute gem. Yes, it has a few niggles, like a lack of an autosave feature, and the texture pop-ins, but it was exactly what I was after as my next game to play.

Rage is an open-world shooter with a terrain that essentially looks like a more realistic rendition of Pandora (Borderlands), with the vehicles and weaponry of the original Mad Max movie. In fact the game shares a lot of features with the original Borderlands, such as the bounty boards, looting, and of course, the various bandit enclaves.

Before I found out about the existence of Rage, I was getting quite excited over the future release of the open-world Mad Max game being developed by Avalanche Studios. While the in-game Max looks very little like Mel Gibson, and more like Joel from The Last of Us, I'm guessing the game's Max is actually modelled to look more like Tom Hardy.

What does the Bane actor have to do with Mad Max? Well Hardy is playing the titular character in George Miller's fourth instalment, Mad Max: Fury Road, which is also set for a 2015 release. I'm guessing it makes more sense for the game's Max to look more like Fury Road's Max, than like the original Max, Mel Gibson. This will help the game and film tie-in with one another, even if that was not the initial intention. 

We'll have to wait to see how these new additions to the Mad Max franchise will be marketed. But it looks like my desire for another open-world game, set in a dystopian future will be satiated by Mad Max. In the meantime though, I'll quite happily continue to get that fix from Rage.

Kahn live: An anti-review

Last night I got roped into attending the début solo performance of local musician, Kahn Morbee (The Parlotones). Following Kahn's advice of, 'not writing about what I don't like,' I'll simply tell you about my favourite part of the evening, and that I like the project's logo.

After playing a few new songs, Kahn asked if the audience wanted to hear a Parlotones song, which was met with several people in the audience cheering. Kahn asked for suggestions, at which point someone shouted "Shallow waters."

The irony is probably lost on foreign readers here, so I'll explain; Shallow waters is a song written and performed by another local band, Just Jinjer.

If you wish to hear what Kahn's solo effort sounds like, The candle is available on his website as a free download. It's not my cup of tea, but I'm sharing it anyway.

Review of Chevelle's compililation album "Stray Arrows"

I spent most of Sunday sick in bed, while Em spent most of Sunday clothes shopping with her mom and aunt. A little before 11:00 I received a text from Em that read, "Hey do you want the Chevrolet steat arrows cd?" This was closely followed by a second message that simply said, "Chevelle."

Fortunately I knew what Em had intended to write, and let her know that I wasn't really interested in the compilation (I had assumed it was still marked at the full retail price), and that I'd probably order it online at a later date.

Em's response was, "It's. r10."

Not entirely sure if Em had left a zero off the price, or if Em had come across Chevelle's Stray Arrows on sale for that ridiculously low price, I asked her to pick it up for me anyway. While R100 wouldn't have been the the best bargain, it would still be about a third cheaper.

Upon Em's return she handed me the CD. It was marked as only being R10. As an added bonus, it bore another sticker claiming that the album contained an additional four tracks. I checked the Wikipedia article on the compilation to confirm if this was the expanded tracklist;

Deluxe Version Track list:

1. Jars (from Sci-Fi Crimes 2009)
2. Same Old Trip (from Hats Off to the Bull 2011)
3. Vitamin R (Leading Us Along) (from This Type of Thinking 2004)
4. The Red (from Wonder What's Next 2002)
5. I Get It (from Vena Sera 2007)
6. Face to the Floor (from Hats Off to the Bull 2011)
7. Saferwaters (from Vena Sera 2007)
8. Send the Pain Below (from Wonder What's Next 2002)
9. Sleep Apnea (from Sci-Fi Crimes 2009)
10. The Clincher (from This Type of Thinking 2004)
11. Open/ Point #1 (from Point #1 1999)
12. Envy (from Hats Off to the Bull 2011)
13. Hats off to the Bull (from Hats Off to the Bull 2011)
14. The Meddler (from Hats Off to the Bull 2011)
15. Closure (from Wonder What's Next 2002)
16. Fizgig (previously unreleased)

To my surprise it was. In a previous post I mentioned my relative disappointment with the selection of tracks on the collection, as there were no tracks from Chevelle's first album, and only one track from Vena Sera, while a quarter of the tracks were from the groups most recent album. The addition of the four tracks on the 'deluxe edition' at least partially addressed this, see tracks shown above in orange.

The addition of these tracks makes the compilation a lot more appealing, even to someone like me who already owns most of Chevelle's studio albums. That said, I still would have preferred the inclusion of more b-sides, covers, or live recordings of songs.

Final verdit; Stray Arrows: A collection of favorites is a worthwhile compilation to pick up if you do not own many Chevelle albums. If you have most of the recent/ popular releases, then there is no real reason to get this, unless you find it on the cheap like Em did. Lastly, if you're a die-hard collector who has to own this for Fizgig, the only previously unreleased track, then at least you wont be too disappointed, as Fizgig is a relatively strong offering, but I wouldn't consider it an essential Chevelle track.

Call of Duty: Ghosts - I've earned my mask

Call of Duty: Ghosts is the first title from Activision's multi-billion dollar franchise that I have played. I'd read a few reviews saying that the single player campaign would take approximately six hours to complete on the regular difficulty setting. A little sceptical that the campaign would be that short, I started playing Ghosts late Friday evening. Most of Saturday was spent out of the house, but I managed to progress about two-thirds of the way through the storyline by Saturday night. On Sunday morning I managed to 'earn my mask.' 

I didn't take note of how many actual hours I'd spent playing Ghosts, but I managed to complete the campaign during three relatively short sessions, which also had a few rounds of Extinction thrown in for some variety. So the single player campaign really is quite short.

Regardless, I still enjoyed playing the game, which is the whole point of playing the game isn't it? Yes, the graphics aren't quite as good as all those screen shots being thrown around of the game being played on next-generation consoles, but at least I got to play it at 1080p. All that 'resolutiongate' stuff doesn't really matter though, because the action is so fast-paced there will be very little time to stop and clip the foliage.

The constant on going action was actually an aspect that I didn't particularly like about the game. I found it difficult to follow the dialogues, and concentrate on where enemy gunfire was coming from simultaneously. I guess this is since Ghosts is based around missions which make up standalone levels, as opposed to the free-roam type of shooter (e.g. Tomb Raider and Borderlands) that I am used to. This non-stop action definitely adds to the intensity of the game experience.

I now need to sit down and organise a proper internet connection for my console. Then I'll be able to get stuck into playing some online multiplayer, and experience the real reason the Call of Duty franchise is so popular first-hand. That said, my inability to follow dialogue, and enemies at the same time may mean that I wont make a particularly successful online soldier, but I wont know until I've given it a go. This might be a good excuse to get that head set I've been eyeing out for the past few weeks though. Either way, I'm especially looking forward to playing Extinction with someone else to help me take out all those damn zerglings, as well as seeing my customised soldier in action.

Overall, Call of Duty: Ghosts hasn't been my favourite first person shooter title (that would be Borderlands), but I did enjoy playing through the single player campaign. I thought that the games ending was absolutely brilliant. I had just breathed a sigh of relief, as the credits rolled, and then back to another cut scene. I was left thinking, 'did that just happen?' Without spoiling the ending too much, this was an obvious way to leave the door open for the development of a sequel.

Given the shortness of the campaign, I will likely play through Ghosts at least once more on a higher difficulty setting in order to try find the remaining Rorke Files, and unlock a few more trophies. But before I do so, I want to spend some more time exploring the intricate worlds of Sanctuary and Pandora.

Grand Theft Auto V review video

So I ended up cancelling my pre-order for Grand Theft Auto V, and I don't regret doing so. I have quite a few untouched games in my stash already, so I figured I'd wait a while before getting GTA V. On the plus side, it means I have some spare time to watch videos like this.

A day and a half in Franschhoek

After a busy weekend showing Em around my hometown, we've ventured beyond the shadows of Table Mountain, to the winelands of Franschhoek for the night. We're spending the night at Lavender Farm, which is a lovely little guest house just beyond the main strip in town. Our room is very spacious, and faces a small field planted with lavender with the mountain in the distance. Hopefully there'll be a break in the rain so that we can take some more picturesque photographs.

We had springbok pies for lunch at the Franschhoek Station Pub, which is situated towards the lower end of the Main rain. The pie was quite good, although a little dry, as there was no gravy in the filling, but as a result there was more shredded meat present. 

After lunch we went went for a brief walk down the main road of the village, visiting the Huguenot Memorial, and popping into a few of the curio shops. After having walked of our lunch, we decided to go on a wine tasting trip to the Dieu Donné and Haute Cabrière vineyards. Em and I tasted eight wines at Dieu Donné, a micro-brewed beer at the neighbouring Roca Restaurant, and three wines and a potstill brandy at Haute Cabrière. Neither of us had heard of Dieu Donné prior to the trip, but since we were offered a free wine tasting as part of our nights accommodation, we decided to take advantage of the deal.

Dieu Donné's wines were pleasant, but none of the eight we tasted, made me go, "Oh, wow! I really need to buy a bottle of this so I can drink it again." In contrast, at Haute Cabrière, Em couldn't decide on how many of each bottle she wanted to buy. In the end she went for the 2012 Chardonnay Pinot Noir, and 2011 Unwooded Pinot Noir.

Following an afternoon of strolling through the village, and sipping on some wine, it was time for dinner. Earlier in the day while chatting to the barkeep of the Franschhoek Station Pub, she had suggested a few restaurants to have dinner at. One of those was The Grillroom, which was an exceptional dining experience. Em and I both decided to have the "Local's set menu," which has two-, and three-course options.

I'll continue writing this post (and add pictures) tomorrow, after we've finished our tour of Franschhoek, and have arrived back in Cape Town.

February poll results

Last month I ran a poll to see what visitors wanted to see more of on the blog. It ran from 14 February, until the end of the month. During that period of time Here be Porpoises received approximately 273 hits. Of those 273 hits, only one person completed the poll, meaning that 0.36% of the site's visitors voted.

This is what 0.36% of 273 looks like

Fortunately I had allowed voters to choose multiple options, as the sole person who took the time to vote selected two of the five categories; they wanted to see more posts about reviews and downloads.

No love for the sea animals

With that information, I wrote a brief review of the new How to Destroy Angels album (that post has had 13 views since 19 February). As for the addressing the downloads part, all I can say is that of the 96 posts I've written so far, just over 20% of those have included links to download free music. I will try post a few more download links in the future, but I like to first listen to the music before I share it on this blog, just in case I think it's rubbish, and undeserving of the promotion.

On the topic of free downloads, if you're interested in free image processing software I suggest you check out GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program). So far I have been able to use it to do everything I'd previously used Photoshop for, except automatically stitch together photos to make a panorama. That said, a quick Google search for "creating panoramas in GIMP" returns links to several GIMP plug-ins and how-to tutorials.

How to Destroy Angels' impressive new album

How to Destroy Angels have teamed up with Pitchfork Advance in order to stream their first full length album, Welcome Oblivion for free. This is no regular album stream though, as it includes album artwork, as well as several short videos to accompany the music.

Tracks available to stream:

1. Wake Up: the best opening track of all the HTDA releases.
2. Keep it together*: I still have neutral feelings about this track. I like the remixes though.
3. And the sky began to scream: from 03:00 onwards is reminiscent of Trent Reznor's earlier songs.
4. Welcome Oblivion: could easily be mistaken for a remix of a b-side from The Fragile era, with elements from Atticus Ross and Reznor's soundtracks thrown in for good measure. I like that this track has some aggressive vocals. This song will surely satisfy many Nine Inch Nails followers who are craving some new material from the project.
5. Ice age*: the original version of this song has grown on me me a little, but I still prefer the Soft Moon remix.
6. On the wing*: starts with some promise, but the vocals killed it for me. Not my favourite track, but not a bad one.
7. Too late, all gone: I liked the intro. I didn't like the verse, but the bridge and chorus are astounding. Overall this sounds like a mash-up of the Dust Brothers soundtrack for Fight Club and a b-side from NIN's Year Zero.
8. How long?: I like everything about this track; it is one of the songs where Mariqueen Maandig-Reznor has demonstrated her true vocal abilities. I really want to hear this song get a few plays on a  local radio station. The video is excellent too.
9. Strings and attractors: another track in which Maandig-Reznor flexes her vocal chords a bit. Unfortunately the spoken versus detract from the chorus, which is a beautiful combination of Reznor and Maandig-Reznor's voices. They really need to do another duet like this.
10. We fade away: with a guest appearance by Alessandro Cortini, I was a little disappointed by this track on the first listen. I was hoping it would build  into something that was reminiscent of one of the jams from Ghosts I-IV, but instead it turned out sounding a bit like a reworked left over from The Social Network soundtrack. It did sound better after a second listen though.
11. Recursive self-improvement: fortunately this track has the groovy, experimental noodling I was expecting to be featured in We fade away.
12. The loop closes*: still one of my favourites, although not so much the chanting at the end. It also has a cool video.
13. Hallowed ground: The piano in this piece, once again evokes memories of sounds from The Social Network score, None-the-less, it's a good choice to close the album off with.

* Tracks originally released on An Omen EP.

Overall, I enjoyed this album, and am considering getting the vinyl edition. Listening to this on a pair of earphones for the first time has definitely made a difference, especially with regard to the tracks that were originally released on the An Omen EP. It also helps to have heard the rest of the album in order to fully appreciate how the tracks on the EP fit in with the concept of the album.

For me the stand out tracks were Welcome oblivion, How long?, Recursive self-improvement and Hallowed ground.