Cake, Hype, Cake, Cake, Games, Cake, Film, Cakecakecake

I need to post more !

And I have another idea for an ongoing meme too. I really enjoyed doing the Xmas December Photo Challenge last year and I think it did some good in changing up how I do posts. As in ... more pictures.

Talking of pictures ... I have cake.

There was a third, which was as gertlush as the other two there look. I have lots of cake here at the moment (German market visit yesterday!) but those two there will be the ones disappearing first. Homemade cake always has a certain something extra that market or shop bought cake is missing.

Oh - those words ... Yep. Another birthday coming ... tomorrow. I'm getting older ! Feeling older too. Tiredness is hitting but that just means I need to find a way of unlocking the energy that is within the excess baggage I'm carrying around again.

What does help with the motivation is getting smiles and hugs. People on my Facebook will have seen a picture where I caught a special little lady in a moment of sheer joy. Huge smile and it gives an idea of those bubbly chuckles I keep talking about.

I had a lovely evening last night, one of the better birthday evenings for a good few years now. Presents, a film (Bond), tasty munchies (Wagamama) and excellent company. What more could you want :-).

Bond was pretty good, although I do remember back to the old Bond films which were all about the entertainment, the toys, the corny jokes, while still keeping the spectacular and often silly action going. New Bond is far grittier, the scripts are better and they don't descend to the level of cliche that spoiled Die Another Day. It does help that Daniel Craig is one of the best Bonds to have played the part.

Yep. Spectre is a pretty good film, way up there in the standard of Bond films. It is very brutal though, not suitable for kids (this is picking up on a discussion on the radio). There are scenes there that would give kiddies nightmares (some adults too I bet), which is not what Bond films should be about.

Oh that cake is being very tempting ... but I shall resist until I hit Publish and make sure it's on the Facebooks and the Twitters.

That gets me to hype, which is currently bridging both the film and the games. Bond is heavily hyped, as are others where you probably see more minutes of trailer and advert before you see the film than there are minutes in the film. The Star Wars film is a classic example, hopefully it will live up to the hype. Hype is a dangerous thing, it raises expectations past a point which is utterly unrealistic. I've enjoyed films best where I go in with no expectations at all, except to be entertained by what I'm about to see. When I saw Star Trek Nemesis, I'd read the book before and the book was fairly ok. The film, however, was an absolute travesty that killed off Star Trek until the new films came out.

There's a lot of hype in the gaming world as well at the moment. There is a category of game called the AAA title, which are the games with most money thrown at them. You've probably heard about Call of Duty, Fallout 4, the Star Wars game and a bunch of others ...

Call of Duty - I avoid these like the plague although I did enjoy the first CoD. It was a solid, well made single player game. The newer CoDs are all about the multiplayer, which is a format I do not enjoy.
Fallout 4 - has massive hype and I'll enjoy watching the Hannah playthrough (linky) but ... I got grabbed far quicker by the start of her Rise of the Tomb Raider playthrough (linky) which is written by the ever fantastic Rhianna Pratchett.
Star Wars Battlefront - meh. Another bad multiplayer online shooter with no depth and apparently very poor balance. Just living on the licenced setting. Try Team Fortress 2 or Planetside 2 instead. Don't pay the EA idiot tax.

Yeah - I won't be buying any of those games, in fact I swore off getting anything that DICE (makers of Battlefield and Battlefront) are involved in after being unable to play Battlefield 3 due to game breaking bugs. I built a computer for that ! (Ok, it was to showcase the graphics a new machine I was building anyway was going to have).

I may acquire Rise of the Tomb Raider when it comes to PC. They've released it on a console as an exclusive and it's coming to other platforms later. That's not a bad way of doing it, means the game is properly sorted out instead of being the mess that Batman Arkham Knight (another megahyped game) was on launch.

Hype comes from two different places :

People who have experienced something and who are telling everyone how awesome it is.
People who want you to buy something, it hasn't been released but the expectations are out there.

The first is me with that German Market and the Happy Cookie Place. It deserves its hype. The other is people being blind to past performance by the people making what the hype is about. In the case of Fallout 4, it's by a company called Bethesda who have a massive reputation but I've never really got on well with their games. The games are gorgeous :

That's Skyrim from a few years ago. But they are also deeply flawed in terms of their gameplay (this matters in games above all else but is quickly forgotten under the hype), storyline and evolution of that ongoing free to explore world.

I'll give Fallout 4 a miss, although I'll watch the Hannah playthrough to see how it evolves. It's telling that she's completed Rise of the Tomb Raider already. I guess that one is going to be a 10-15 hour game, so I'm looking forward to lots of videos. The best games grab you and their story keeps you playing when you should really be going to bed before the sun comes up.

Oh - one reason I'll keep watching the Hannah playthrough is because her commentary genuinely adds to the experience. Must play through the first Tomb Raider at some point, I've watched the play through twice ! And enjoyed it both times, both for story and the added commentary. (Link to Hannah-channel)

That cake is becoming irresistable now so it's time to hit that Publish button :-).

PS The meme will be from a book called The Alphabet of the Human Heart. I see lots of trigger in there for things to write about. Cheers to little Cupid's Gift for the gifts ! :-)