There are two elements to the main screen – the sequencer, that allows you to create tracks for each instrument or part, while the other window contains your ‘rack’, where all of your devices sit, from the mixer to your synthesizers and compressors. You connect these up as you would in the studio, put them through the mixer and away you go.

The difference over most DAWs is that Reason is fairly easy to use and quick to pick up – loading samples has never been easier. But, it doesn’t compromise on flexibility – Fruity Loops is an easy to use tool but it used to be so limited. You can however now create your own MIDI tracks apparently so that too has advanced. Reason allows you to do it all, and even connect through other DAWs (like Cubase) if you want to use it solely for a synthesizer rather than a sequencer. The one thing it always lacked was recording audio into it and using plug ins of sorts.

That’s where Reason 5 comes in – although plug ins and VST’s are still not an added feature (and thus Reason keeps to its own, and quite rightly too!), recording audio straight in is with the “Record” add on which is superb – and not only that, but the audio can be sampled straight up. Fantastic. They have made song arrangement slightly easier with the use of “blocks”, which may or may not come in handy.

So why do I use Reason? For all of the above, but the main reason is that once you’re into it (which doesn’t take long as it’s easy to pick up), it’s a lot of fun to use, it’s flexible (any genre, any level of musicianship), and it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg. Get a trial, have a play, enjoy the beauty of music creation.

The first Mercenaries game was released in 2005, developed by Pandemic Studios and published by the almighty LucasArts. It was a great game – it received excellent reviews and it had incredible gameplay and was playable time and time again.

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames was released in 2008 and I couldn’t wait for it. I pre ordered it and recieved it on the day of release and I thought it was fantastic, and in fact I’m playing it again. The difference this time is, it was published by EA. It features an online co op which was supposedly very good, so I thought I would try it out. Except, I couldn’t connect to the servers. So, after researching a bit, I understand that Pandemic Studios are no more because EA closed them down and took their developers on, hence no more servers. Bugger.

So, I thought I’d go to the Mercenaries 2 website. Except, if you go to www.mercs2.com website, you get presented with the CPanel / APache from page. You get the same when you go to the Pandemic Studios website. Oh dear, it’s not looking too good.

So, what happened? Well apparently a new Mercs game is in the pipeline, Mercs Inc, being developed by EA with the old Pandemic Studios developers. But I can’t help thinking EA are going to kill yet another great series.

If someone can prove me wrong that the Mercs 2 servers are still live then please do get in touch with me, but I can’t see any.

In contrary to what I’ve talked about, Burnout was another series taken over by EA, but that has in fact remained to be a very good game.

As for Mercs Inc, will it be any good? Will it actually come out? Only time will tell….

Howevever, it seems bonkers to me that they are dropping it for that reason – when it first came out, you had to apply to use it – my application took three weeks! So yeah, perhaps people didn’t sign up for it because they couldn’t be bothered. Plus, it always stayed in ‘development’.

I’m sure the real reason why Wave never picked up is because people weren’t developing for it, or that it was an idea that would never really take off, purely by the fact that there are so many other Instant Messengers out there, and that e-mail is still the forerunner for online communication, and you’ll NEVER get people off e-mail.

Having said that it is an utter shame as Wave was a great product, and if all my contacts got onto it I would have used it as my main form of communication.

Having said that, I’m sure Google will replace it with something, perhaps something tied into “Google Buzz”, their social networking site. It’s time Facebook got a kick and moved on somewhere else.

Basically, I was selling a game on Ebay, and I got an e-mail through that was from a Simon Roud, and it went something like this:
”
Hi ,
I’m very interested in the eBay item you have for sale.
Please take a look over and let me know if the item is still available:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280401093194
If Yes, do you accept cash on collection? or if not I’ll pay by pay pal. (preferably cash since I hate paypals fees).
Looking for your fast answer.
Regards!
”

Not being fooled too easily, I hovered my cursor over the link (for the purpose of this exercise, the link above links to WordPress) and it would have taken me to some Russian site that looks to be selling cars – either way, the website could be infected and if you receive ANYTHING like the above, do not do a thing! Except report it immediately to spoof@ebay.co.uk.

Simon Roud asked for a fast answer, and so here it is – “bugger off”.

Now I’m off to play Alpha Centuari see you later!

Regards,
Matty

You jump into multiplayer for the first time, having just completed single player on recruit, you know, as you have never played CoD before now. You tentatively choose “Free for All” or “Team Deathmatch” as they seem like familiar names and the game loads up. Your in – you move around for a bit and you get…oh, you’ve been shot. Killcam reveals a sniper who took about a second to aim at your head and you’re down. Repeat this a few times over and you start getting bored and sign out…but, being the sadist you are, you want more….

So, how to survive? Here are a few tips I’ve learnt when surviving in Multiplayer -

1. First and foremost, snipers are a pain in the arse. Thing is, they can catch you out very easily if you make it easy for them to get you. Maybe that’s where I’m going wrong…
2. For heaven sake, do NOT run in while reloading. Get your head down, reload, and wait – someone may have seen you run for cover and will be aiming right where you hid.
3. Watch killcams – if it looks like someone is camping somewhere, get back there and get him! No one likes a sneaky camper – a grenade to the face works quite well.
4. Riot Shields are immensely fun to use – crouch to hid your feet, walk slowly and smack them in the face – do not turn sideways when facing an enemy, you’ll get shot. Highly effective in corridors or doorways, and also when you equip “Blast Shield”. Nothing gives greater pleasure than someone running up, then running back shooting, bullets being practically useless against you. With blast shield attached, you can survive most feeble attempts to blow you away with semtex!
5. Between Levels 1-30, don’t just use one weapon – get to either 25 or 75 kills and move to another weapon – you’ll go through the levels quicker. After 30, start focusing on the 150 kills and even 500 kills challenges. Remember, challenges such as “Operations” and even your perks count towards your total XP, remember to vary these too to increase your XP as much as possible.
6. There is absolutely nothing wrong with noobtubing – there is a reason why the grenade launcher attachment is there, so use it. People who moan about noobtubers are probably snipers – who are equally as annoying, but it’s all part of the game!
7. The throwing knife is actually quite effective – don’t be scared to replace your grenades with it.
8. Use C4 in Search and Destroys, Sabotage and Domination. Place them by the boxes or flags (whichever game mode you are in) and detonate when you know something is awry.

Most importantly – HAVE FUN! Yes, there are those who are there for giggles, there are those who are there as it’s quite a serious matter for them, and there are those who party on there, but whatever the case, get involved, get into the game and just have fun.

It has also meant that the cats have been out more than usual recently, as we see with Carwash – he loves enclosed spaces, and has found apparent joy in making a space in the rabbit hutch to park himself while enjoying the great outdoors. The rabbits don’t mind – I guess they really don’t have a choice in the matter!

Nowadays, the advancement of technology has made this easier than ever – the dream of being able to compose your own music at home is made into reality through some fairly easy steps. I will cover the basics of what you need to get yourself started. Look at the picture above – that’s what I started out with at home, and you can too.

Before we start, I am assuming you already know how to the basics of reading, writing, and playing music. Composing music with computers is not an avenue non-musicians should take if they are in the frame of mind of “I can copy and paste, I can get into the music industry”. It’s my understanding that that is not how it works – you must have a genuine interest in music and all that it is. If you don’t, look elsewhere now!

Hardware
The basics here are:

• You need a PC with a reasonable sound card (preferably with a MIDI interface), and at least 3-4 USB ports. Remember your monitor (at least a 19″), keyboard and mouse.
• A MIDI keyboard. The majority of keyboards, and all decent ones, should have a MIDI I/O interface.
• A MIDI cable to connect the two.

Software
This is the stuff you need installed on your PC. Remember to check your specs i.e. what does the software need to run, Windows, RAM, Processor speed, Hard Drive space.

• A MIDI sequencer and/or Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Examples here include Cubase, Sonar and Reason.
• If you want to burn music to a CD, you will need a CD Burner like Nero.
• If you want to edit .wav files for sampling, get yourself a wav editor like Steinburg wavelab, or Adobe Audition.

Other considerations to make

• A decent pair of headphones will not fail you. I bought a pair of Beyerdynamic DT100′s and they are outstanding for the price you pay.
• You will need to install drivers onto your PC for your keyboard to work on it – they should come with the keyboard on a CD. If not, you can normally download them from the keyboard manufacturers site.

Thats all great, but surely it goes deeper than that?
Well yes as it happens it does, but that covers the core components for a very basic setup. You then need to consider the features of your soundcard, its interfaces, whether it supports the sound drivers you need (ASIO), and of course what slot it fits into the PC (PCI, PCI Express). Oh, then you need to setup your MIDI interface (keyboard) to talk to your software, as well as your PC, optimise it all to reduce latency, and thats after establishing costs!

Where can I get help? Can YOU help?
I can certainly do my best! Just contact me. There are however many suppliers out there who will be more than happy to build machines specifically designed for your requirements. I used www.music-pc.com for my first machine which is still going today. Also, get yourself some reading material to get the background to music production techniques and understand how tools like EQ, Compression and Reverb works. Without doing this, you are jumping straight into the deep end and will probably be put off for life.

Next steps

• Join a music community. Online or offline. Learn from each other, build your confidence and get to know how its done.
• Save up! You can probably get started on about £1k – £1.5k on brand new equipment and software licenses.

Happy composing!

People who know me will also now one is quite an avid fan of War of the Worlds. From the original H G Wells novel written in 1898, to the Jeff Wayne musical in 1975 I get a kick from the idea of an alien invasion based in Victorian England. Imagine people in those days even considering the thought of “Heat Rays” destroying towns and cities all over England, in huge tripods that could be seen for miles over the horizon. The thought today can even send shivers down my spine, just watch the Stephen Spielberg interpretation (notice interpretation, it certainly isn’t a version as it has nothing to DO with the original novel, although a couple of scenes were picked from it, as well as the Jeff Wayne musical artwork – hardcore fans, did you notice.., Panic in the Streets?). Anyway, the whole idea of a computer game being released was exciting at the time, but for two different ones on two different platforms? Most excellent.

The PC game War of the Worlds was no more than an RTS (Real Time Strategy). Only it really was real time – construction wasn’t money – it was time. Build your defences, research new equipment, go kick some ass. Hell, you could even be the martians! That in itself was a good game – realism wasn’t its strongest area, and graphics certainly weren’t great but enjoyable all the same. But today, I focus on the PS version.

Most of the PS version was a strange combination of third person / RTS – control one unit, go blow some stuff up, transport civilians from one place to another, set up gunposts and control them to defend against the Martian tripods. You could flick between available units, placing units where you want, when you want, hoping that they may be able to defend while you are off busy doing something else. Oh, needless to say, the soundtrack was a selection of remixed versions of Jeff Waynes original compositions which I suppose is the core structure of the game itself and so it had to be. Good soundtrack mind you.

However, one cannot feel left down by the graphics and gameplay in general. The controls are clunky, the graphics look blockier than Legoland and the Human AI (as opposed to the Martian AI) certainly hits an all time low. It can also be very frustrating at times – a millimetre out on your gun and that Flying machine is getting away and blowing up your supply barges.

But, to cut to the chase, at the time it was an average game – and now, completely out of date and having seen War of the Worlds Live with the cutting edge CGI stuff, the question begs – you have the opportunity to literally blow everyone away with a new release, why not make it happen? The third person / RTS factor was good, but just didn’t work – stick to one genre, give the game a huge atmosphere, make it feel like the gamer is really are fighting for Earth and you may well have a box office hit here – release it with the way overdue CGI film and another Live Tour and, well there you go! I’m sure its easier said than done, but possible nonetheless.

Nevertheless, the War of the Worlds fan base will live on, so it should only be a matter of time before something is released. I wait with baited breath…

Actually, it’s not so much a rant. It’s more of an overview of what the game has to offer the player, and I am currently seeking Final Fantasy (FF) fans on their opinions on this.

I will stress before I continue that I have not quite completed the game and that I am about to embark on the side missions before taking on the big guy at the end. Whoever that may be. It’s also worth noting I’m 50 hours or so into it so be prepared to invest some time into this game (cue laughter from FF fans).

For the not so Final Fantasy fans, it’s worth knowing the essence of what makes a Final Fantasy – basically, within the first 5-10 hours of playing you meet the characters that will eventually join your “Battle Team”. You then all get caught up in the storyline and travel a world, defeat enemies, level your characters up to defeat bosses along the way, while being submersed in a huge storyline that can be overwhelming at times but makes sense in the end. All of this, with some hugely impressive FMV, stunning graphics and backdrops, as well as a wondrous soundtrack – guaranteed every time.

The Battle system itself changes with each game, as does the way you level up characters – FF7 had a ‘dedicated live battle mode’, FF10 had the ‘turn based dedicated battle mode’ while levelling up your characters with the ‘sphere grid’, FF12 had a ‘real time battle mode’ with a chess board like ‘grid’ to level up characters. With all of them, you get to select three characters to participate in your battles. One is usually a healer, one is an attacker and another is a mage. Typically.

So, this is where I start with the ‘not so good compared to other Final Fantasies’ part of FF13 – it’s Battle System. You control one character. The other two do their own thing. Ok, it works most of the time. They know who you are attacking so they follow suit and yes the job gets done. But what if I did’t want them to attack the same guy? What if I wanted them to cast Silence on a guy casting Firaga on me (Silence prevents them from casting any form of magic – normally)? Change your battle group during battle to a “Commando” (attacker) “Ravager” (mage) and “Medic” (er…medic) and the medic doesn’t always heal the most needy. The most needy is normally the Ravager who is dead and needs to be raised, yet the Medic continues to heel the Commando who has about 90% health as it is. One redeeming factor though is the Battle System is easy to use, and flows very well without much thinking. Hell, if you can’t be bothered to be strategic, just hit “Auto Battle” every time, the game does it for you! As for the levelling up, you only have one choice and that is to follow a path through the “Crystalium”. You can’t go and level up on a particular attribute (Strength, Aim, Magic, Agility), which is quite unfortunate.

Now with all pre-FF13 games, you wonder around a world, visiting places, carefully buying weapons, items, armour and magic ready for your journey. Not in FF-13 – you visit a “virtual” shopping menu system to buy stuff. Or, the items you pick up along the way you can use to ‘upgrade’ your weapon. Most of the stuff you can buy from the store you either already have or is just totally redundant because you’ve spent too long upgrading your current weapon / armour. I’ve only just bought new weapons myself! Also, the ability to freely talk to other people has been taken from the game, partly because there isn’t anyone to talk too. You do however have two worlds to ‘explore’ so that’s not a bad expansion.

To touch on the characters, you have: Lightning, the “I’m on a mission” good all rounder, Snow “Let’s do this!” hard man, Sazh “token black guy”, Vanille “Whacky and Funky” mage, Hope “timid and scared but will cast magic for kudos”, and Fang “comes out of no where but is one tough cookie”.

There are also recognisable items, magics, summons and creatures from previous outings, such as Chocobos, Potions, Phoenix Downs, Blizzard, Water, Fire, Aero, Bahamut etc. so FF fans will not be without.

So far, a battle system that’s a bit linear, the purchasing department that is a bit limited and a world with no one to talk to. Not looking to good.

All complaints come through me first

Except, it’s a great game. The storyline is blistering, the graphics are simply the best ever seen in any Final Fantasy and the soundtrack is, as usual, pure bliss. And, as every good game should be, its highly entertaining. So, why the ‘rant’?

Well, it’s all a bit too linear. There’s no sense of “I can’t wait to do this”, no “Bahamut will sort this out”, and certainly no ‘advanced strategy’ behind the battle system, exciting they however may be. Which actually makes the game a hell of a lot more appealing to the wider public than previous Final Fantasies.

So, the short of it is, if you haven’t got into Final Fantasy before, now is your chance – you might just like it.

Whilst I go away to find out what the ending is, FF fans answer me this question – considering the battle systems, the exploration, the character development, and overall experience you got from previous Final Fantasies, is Final Fantasy really a Final Fantasy? To help you answer this question, just go back and play the predecessors…

So, curious as I was I looked up my old address and there he was – my little black Clio!

Go to Google Maps and find the address “the chase, titchfield common”. then, grab the little orange man on the corner of that and Course Park Crescent. Find the property with the “Your Move” sign outside and look in the driveway. Nice

If anyone else out there spots their car or even themselves post it here! Obviously don’t give away your address if you don’t want to and for the stalkers out there, I don’t live in The Chase anymore…

Happy street viewing!