Sunday, December 21, 2008
MANCHESTER UNITED ARE OFFICIALLY THE BEST IN THE WORLD!!
Saturday, December 20, 2008
New blog dedicated just for my gaming rants etc - Roo's Gaming Goodness
Thursday, December 11, 2008
What Wii can look forward to in 2009!
This one is more of a fan favourite and a personal favourite of mine. The original Another Code was a first generation release on the Nintendo DS. AC was point-and-click adventure which rejuvinated the dead genre. The new one looks better than ever and I'm psyched for the sequel. I couldn't find a trailer for this game so sorry for that. I have a lovely pic for you though!
Fragile is set in a post-apocalyptic near future world that has lost its light and is covered in a dense fog. Almost all the world's population has vanished, and the cities have been left abandoned. The game places the player in the shoes of Seto, a young boy.Seto wanders the world, searching for survivors and the answers behind the disappearance of everyone else. Seto also searches for a mysterious girl named "Ren." In his quest he must deal with ghosts and demons that lurk within the ruins of the abandoned cities. Despite this, the producer of the game insists that Fragile is not a survival horror in the same vein as Silent Hill, rather it will focus on "human drama".The world of Fragile will be filled with objects, sketches and short stories for the player to examine. Each artifact holds the memories of its former owner, and offers back story and hints to the player. A competition will be held where readers of gaming magazines can send in their own sketches and short stories to be included in the game.
Another favourite of mine NMH:DS is a sequel to one of Wii's best games to date, No More Heroes. Travis Touchdown is back to his badass self ready to kill whatever comes in his path. DS will have better stylised visual than it's predecessor plus Sude51 promised a darker, more mature storyline. I just HOPE Travis doesn't loose his over-the-top humour in DS.
Just look at the developer(s)! This game gets an automatic AAA-status. The forth enty in the popular horror series Fatal Frame will surly benefit from the Wii's motion controls (WiiRemote+Nunchuck combo). Plus it's being released here in Europe before America!!
RPG fanatics may notice that Square Enix are missing from the list. Not that they don't have any games in development but I just don't think any of them will be released in 2009. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers hopefully will see the light of day in 2009. The newly announced Dragon Quest X won't for sure be released in 2009 because Dragon Quest IX still has to be released for the DS!!
Sunday, November 30, 2008
In a mood for a [MASSIVE] rant!
Monday, November 24, 2008
Androo's Random Rant: I'm sick, bored and helpless - play time then!!
Friday, November 21, 2008
MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: HBC successfully installed!
How to install and a demonstration of the HBC:
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Santa needs a big sack for me this year!
Here's the tiny list of the things I will be opening on the 25th of the coming month:
Friday, November 14, 2008
*UPDATE* October sales data are in: Wii shatters records once again!
Wii™ and Nintendo DS™ topped the U.S. sales charts and combined to sell more than 1.29 million units in October. Nintendo sold 803,210 Wii consoles and 491,176 Nintendo DS systems in October, according to the independent NPD Group, which tracks video game sales in the United States. These figures bring the lifetime U.S. sales for Wii to more than 13.35 million and Nintendo DS to more than 23.02 million, extending their leads as the best-selling hardware of this generation.
Nintendo’s total hardware unit sales represent a 25.7 percent increase over October 2007. They also account for 59.3 percent of the industry’s total hardware unit sales.
Wii Fit™, the game that combines fun and fitness, sold nearly half a million copies in the United States in October, six months after it launched. The lifetime U.S. sales for Wii Fit now total more than 2.83 million.
“Nintendo provides consumers with the best value not only among video games, but also among most entertainment options,” said Cammie Dunaway, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of Sales & Marketing. “Nintendo also provides an incomparable range of experiences that everyone can enjoy, whether you’ve been playing for years or are just getting into video games.”
Three games made for Nintendo systems placed in the top five best-selling games of the month, including Wii Fit™ at No. 2 with 487,234 copies sold, Mario Kart Wii™ at No. 4 with 289,869 copies sold and Wii Play™ at No. 5 with 281,844 copies sold.
Roo
PS: The world is currently deep in recession, especially America, and still the gaming market is shattering record after record. This must be one of the heathiest markets in the world. Brilliant!
Thursday, November 6, 2008
Champions League Update 06/11/09
A Nintendo themed Christmas
Monday, November 3, 2008
Report: Man Utd 4, Hull City 3 - Old Trafford stunned, Rooney frustrated, Sir Alex fumes despite win!
Opposing teams tend to know when they have United rattled – when steam starts coming out of Rooney’s ears and the brilliant forward suddenly resembles a bull in a china shop. And so it proved, the moment that Geovanni scored from the penalty spot for Hull to leave hanging in the balance a match that the Barclays Premier League champions should have had sewn up long before.
Rooney has delivered some of the best football of his career for club and country this season, but just as he possesses an ability to excite and enthral, so his occasional recklessness can make supporters wince and cringe – and for two of United’s past three league matches this side of Rooney’s character has manifested itself. Can it be any coincidence that he has not scored in those games?
Anonymous away to Everton the previous weekend, Rooney was substituted for his own good by Sir Alex Ferguson when, having just been booked against his former club and with the score at 1-1, the 23-year-old was spotted kissing the badge on his shirt as his exasperation got the better of him. Ferguson did not take the same drastic action against Hull on Saturday, but he should have done.
The United manager complained – rightly – that Michael Turner, the Hull defender, who had already been cautioned, should have been shown at least a second yellow card for fouling Michael Carrick on the edge of the penalty area, but Ferguson might count himself fortunate that Rooney was not dismissed two minutes after Geovanni had made it 4-3.
Nothing went Rooney’s way against Hull, which is saying something given United’s dominance, and it showed. Contesting a drop-ball with George Boateng, the Hull captain in the absence of the suspended Ian Ashbee, Rooney launched in with both feet. It was nasty and dangerous, but Mike Dean, the referee, barely had time to blow his whistle when the ball ricocheted into the path of Andy Dawson and Rooney flew in with an equally reckless challenge.
If Rooney was lucky to escape with a booking, it was a wonder that he was allowed to stay on the pitch after directing a volley of abuse at one of Dean’s assistants, then the fourth official.
Phil Brown, the Hull manager, attempted to defend Rooney by saying that “maybe we need to look at that and instil that kind of anger, that drive and desire to win, in our players”. But watching the forward blow his shaven-headed top like that, it is hard to escape the feeling that such behaviour is detrimental to the team, especially on occasions such as these, when cool heads are required.
“The referee didn’t know who should have possession so I said give it to United and let them give it back to our goalkeeper, but Rooney didn’t want that – he wanted to compete for it [and take a drop-ball],” Boateng said. “I said, ‘Fine, let’s do it’ and then he lost it a bit. He’s a temperamental player, one who plays from the heart. He is an outstanding footballer, but he gets frustrated when things aren’t going right.
“You can’t take that out of him because it’s part of what makes him so determined to win – he’s got fire. But that’s when they realised they had a game on their hands. We had them rocking in the last ten minutes.”
They did, but how United found themselves in such an “embarrassing situation”, as Ferguson described it, was mystifying and a little worrying.
As inspired as Bernard Mendy’s introduction was – the Hull substitute capitalised on a poor back-header from Patrice Evra to make it 4-2 and won the penalty, after being upended by Rio Ferdinand, from which Geovanni scored – United’s failure to put the game to bed was a source of frustration for Ferguson for the third match running.Despite battering Everton during the first half at Goodison Park, United had only a one-goal lead to show for their supremacy and were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw, while Ferguson was critical of his players for taking their foot off the pedal against West Ham United in midweek and not adding to their two first-half goals.
It would be churlish to be too critical of a team who scored four times against Hull, but their profligacy was marked – Ferguson was not guilty of exaggeration when he said that the game could have finished 10-1 – and with Chelsea already boasting a goal difference that is more than double that of the champions, the United manager will hope such wastefulness does not come back to haunt his side.
On the plus side, Cristiano Ronaldo plundered another two goals to take his tally for the season to seven in 11 matches, even if the Portugal winger might have had five, Carrick impressed on his first start for seven weeks and Berbatov produced his best performance in a United shirt, one that left Brown purring. “That’s why the saga [with Tottenham Hotspur over the forward’s transfer] went on so long and United ended up having to pay over £30 million for him,” the Hull manager said.
What the Premier League’s surprise package lack in skill, they more than make up for in character and pride. They were the first team to score three goals at Old Trafford since Chelsea 3½ years ago, but Hull are likely to get under the skin of plenty more teams this season. Just ask Rooney." - James Ducker, TheTimesOnline.co.uk
Roo
Side note: This was really a football fan's match to see. The European Champions were almost embarrassed by Premier League newcomers in the Theatre of Dreams! Hull City are here to stay and thank God for that. They are a team worthy of the EPL status.
Also in the League Liverpool (aka the scousers) lost to bottom of the table Tottenham Hotspur which saw them loose their first place seat to Chelsea. Liverpool to win the EPL? People talked WAY too soon. Liverpool are on one leg just by loosing Torres. No depth in squad = no PL trophies!
Britain has a new F1 champion in Hamiltom! he almost lost it but the lad came fifth in the final corner of the track. Incredible last moments of the race. Congrats to him!
Thursday, October 23, 2008
A star is born: Wayne Rooney!
Amid the pandemonium at Goodison Park, Clive Tyldsley bellowed: "Remember the name, Wayne Rooney." Moments earlier, the 16-year-old had announced himself to the football world by hammering a 30-yard injury-time winner against champions Arsenal.
*The goal that put Rooney onto the radar! Pure classic.*
Let's FIFA 09!
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Report: Man Utd 3, Celtic 0 - Unbeaten home record stretched to 17!
The first two goals came from Dimitar Berbatov — who has scored four in two European appearances for his new club and five in total this season — although on each occasion he appeared to be offside. However, Celtic’s displeasure was downplayed by Gordon Strachan. “I’m not going to sit here and scream about offside,” the manager said. “I’m a football man and I know when I’m beaten — and well beaten.”
In 19 away games in the present guise of the competition, Celtic have failed to muster a single victory and that sequence rarely looked in danger on their latest excursion south of the border. While their spirit could not be questioned, particularly in the opening half, United’s superiority told, with Rooney and Berbatov the key figures.
Rooney has mustered nine goals in his past seven appearances for club and country, a tally that exceeds the eight in seven he scored 12 months ago. “I’ve always said that Wayne’s goalscoring goes in spurts,” Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, said. “His goalscoring performances will even out as he gets older, we’ve no worries about that. I just hope the spurt he’s on lasts for a few more games.”
Strachan, the former United midfield player, was effusive, however. “I just think he’s unplayable,” he said of Rooney. “We tried different shapes and tactics, but he turns this way and that and then turns up somewhere else. When you see players like that you have to hold your hands up and say you’ve seen one world-class player backed up by a couple more, and then other international-class players.”
Strachan described United’s performance as “one of the best I’ve ever come across watching European football” and “better than anybody since I’ve been at Celtic”. That may have been excessive, but Ferguson’s players have served notice on their rivals in England and abroad that they remain a force to be reckoned with, keeping five clean sheets in succession and scoring 14 times in the process.
“We’re in a good bit of form at the moment and have terrific momentum,” Ferguson said. “I’m very pleased with the performance.” He has targeted ten points to qualify for the knockout stages — they have seven with three games to play, including Aalborg at home — but is intent on leaving group E as winners.
Ferguson also paid tribute to Berbatov. “Dimitar showed some fantastic pieces of football,” he said of the Bulgaria forward, who was slow to shine after his £30.75 million transfer from Tottenham Hotspur in the summer. “The rest of the team are beginning to understand the type of player he is and he can always produce a pass that will mean something. Some of his passing was absolutely superb.”
Berbatov was substituted with a hip injury, but Ferguson insisted that he and Cristiano Ronaldo, who took a knock to a kneecap, should be available to play away to Everton on Saturday. The manager had said that he would consider resting Ronaldo against Celtic, but said that the player “demanded to play this morning”. Rio Ferdinand was absent after sustaining a minor knee injury in training. - George Caulkin, TheTimesOnline.co.uk
Roo
Monday, October 20, 2008
Manchester United slaughter WBA 4-0!!
Wayne Rooney was brilliant, delivering a world-class goal that finally broke the deadlock in the second half and setting up Cristiano Ronaldo and substitute Nani for two more, with Dimitar Berbatov scoring his first Premier League goal for the club in between. It was almost vintage stuff.
Yet the game presented a microcosm of United’s season so far, for they were flat and anxious for much of the first half before Ronaldo and Rooney combined effectively on the edge of the area and Rooney fired a low shot past Scott Carson, the West Bromwich Albion goalkeeper. Referee Mark Halsey penalised Rooney for the manner in which he challenged Gianni Zuiverloon before setting up his strike, which seemed to ignite Rooney and his teammates. The longer the match went on the better they became, which Sir Alex Ferguson is sure will be the story of the season.
“The players have now got the legs to play 90 minutes and the rhythm and tempo as well. The speed of our game was terrific today,” said the Manchester United manager. “That was our best 90 minutes of the season. I reckon we are back on track and playing more like the real Manchester United.”
With free-scoring Chelsea having thrown down the gauntlet early in the day and Liverpool rising to the challenge against Wigan, it was imperative for United to demonstrate their ability and willingness to join the fight. They struggled early on, Ronaldo remaining a marginal influence until the second half and Berbatov unable to make any real impact before his pass sent Rooney on his way for the opening goal. The way he held up the ball before laying it off to Rooney, who crossed to Nani for the final goal, emphasised his class and it is a matter of time before the Bulgarian becomes a more consistently effective threat.
With Carlos Tevez and Anderson omitted Ferguson deployed a fluid and attacking midfield in support of the two strikers. Ronaldo and Park Ji-Sung switched flanks seamlessly and took up positions as part of a front four as frequently as they operated in midfield. But with Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Owen Hargreaves and Anderson absent, United appeared to lack solidity in midfield in the opening skirmishes, leaving themselves exposed to West Brom’s counter-attacks. When Darren Fletcher missed a tackle, allowing Robert Koren to set up Chris Brunt for a long-range shot, this became apparent, but Brunt’s effort was too close to Edwin van der Sar. Alas, it was as close as West Brom would come to springing an upset.
Inevitably, United’s movement and passing improved. Ronaldo manoeuvred his way through on the left side of the box to strike a shot that Carson saved and the Baggies keeper had to be alert again when Ryan Giggs’s free kick into the near post was headed goalwards by Rooney, Carson managing to parry the ball away.
*Please note that the above video does NOT feature the goals against WBA. This is because YouTube is disallowing anyone to upload any direct-from-tv videos due to copyright reasons. To watch the goals click HERE.
Increasingly, the visitors found themselves pinned in their own half. A strong shout for a penalty was dismissed by referee Mark Halsey when Paul Robinson appeared to handle the ball but, from the resultant corner by Rooney, Nemanja Vidic’s header was saved by Carson’s legs.
West Brom rarely troubled their hosts but they worked hard and their defenders, especially Robinson and Jonas Olsson, were brave and obstinate, while Carson performed admirably. But Rooney, who has scored eight goals for club and country in his past six games, would not be denied and his goal, when it finally arrived, would have been worthy of winning the game.
He collected Berbatov’s pass, checked his run superbly when he entered the penalty box and cut inside to beat Ryan Donk before shooting past Carson into the bottom right corner. It signalled the end of West Brom’s resistance. Ronaldo and Berbatov were able to make them pay as United went some way towards addressing their goal difference behind Chelsea.
Rooney released Ronaldo on the edge of the area the Portuguese coolly stroked the ball between the goalkeeper’s legs. Two minutes later Nani crossed from the left and Berbatov met the ball with a sublime right-footed volley. Nani scored a fourth goal with a good finish from a ball supplied by the man of the moment.
“They paid £30m for Rooney but what is he worth now? £100m? I don’t know,” said Tony Mowbray, the West Brom manager. - Brian Doogan, TheTimesOnline.co.uk
Roo
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Rooney shines, Gerrard answer his critics and England look set to qualify for the 2010 World Cup
Fabio Capello, the England manager, goes into a World Cup hiatus having made history, revived a broken team and breathed life into dying men. Not a bad two months, then. The most eye-catching fact is that this was England’s fourth consecutive group six win, which represents the best start the national team have made in the qualifying stage of this competition, but bald statistics cannot express the extent to which the Italian has transformed English football, or the way he has contrived to do it with so little fuss.
Capello has made a prolific goalscorer of Wayne Rooney again, brought harmony to the heart of midfield, emboldened a protégé in Theo Walcott and found a line-leading centre forward in Emile Heskey where it was previously considered none existed. He has turned a group of players who staggered from their last campaign, shell-shocked like war veterans, and made them the epitome of calm, battle-hardened efficiency. In adversity here, they did not panic. Under incredible pressure in Zagreb, they rose to the challenge. It is like watching a different team, yet the personnel has barely changed.
Capello said he wished to be judged only when the competitive games began, and his self-belief was justified. The stuttering England witnessed in his friendly games is a distant memory now, a childish doodle, an early work, crude and unformed. This is the real deal. Maybe this England will be, too.
Credit is due to all who have played a part in carrying out Capello’s instructions with such assuredness, but, in Minsk, it was down to three in particular: Rooney and Steven Gerrard, the match-winners, and Heskey, whose selfless efforts have turned England into prolific goalscorers, with 14 in four competitive matches (and only two of those in the turkey shoot of Andorra). Heskey’s name rarely appears on the scoresheet but his aura does, it is what has turned Rooney into the confident, world-class forward who has been missing since the European Championship finals in 2004.
The days of trial and error are over. Capello knows Rooney’s best position for certain now and it is behind a target man-striker. It will take exceptional circumstances for him to be moved again. Together, Heskey and Rooney put in football’s equivalent of a double weekend shift and then some in Minsk, always available, always providing an option for a midfield that needed to move the ball on quickly under pressure from a youthful Belarus team. With the scores level at 1-1, Heskey and Rooney combined for a goal that illustrated perfectly why their partnership is such a success. Heskey battled his way down the left flank, shrugging off the attention of defenders, looking up for a quick cross only to see Rooney having problems holding the line and half a yard offside. He delayed, rode another challenge, waited until Rooney was in the perfect position to receive and slipped him the ball, the striker opening his body to steer it past Yury Zhevnov in the Belarus goal. Together, they made it look so simple; in reality, it was far from that.
Yet England are making a lot look simple these days. This was a tough game and Belarus are difficult opponents, capable of messing up superior opposition the way the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia did Steve McClaren’s England when drawing at Old Trafford. By the end, though, England were in complete control in a way that surpassed even the teams managed by serial qualifier Sven-Göran Eriksson. Rooney’s second put air into the scoreline, and what a beauty it was. Rooney dummied a pass 35 yards out but continued his run towards goal, at which point he was picked out perfectly by Gerrard.
As Belarus hit the panic switch, Rooney dribbled around one desperate tackle before finishing high into the net from eight yards out. It was a goal that spoke for England’s rebuilt confidence and of one man in particular. Capello is starting to get a higher level of performance out of Rooney than any other manager in recent years; perhaps even Sir Alex Ferguson.
Had Gerrard not hit a post with an open goal beckoning after going round a defender and the goalkeeper, the scoreline would have matched the victory in Zagreb, but it would be churlish to make this miss — although it was a howler — too much of an issue; especially as Gerrard did Capello’s bidding by starting on the left and got the goal that eased the pressure on England and put the team on their way.
It came after just 11 minutes. Frank Lampard won a tackle in midfield, the ball ran loose, Rooney scuffled for it, found Gerrard and he steered a sublime curling shot out of the reach of Zhevnov and into the far corner. He has now scored twice in the past three games in which he has started left of the midfield four. Perhaps that debate can be laid to rest, too, now?
What Capello also got right, though, was his assessment of the technical ability of the Belarus team, with his comparison to the nimble, shortpassing game of Arsenal. Those who believed the England manager was indulging in hyperbole and perhaps a little self-preservation by talking up the difficulty of the opposition were quickly dissuaded from this hopeful fantasy by the Belarus response to England’s first goal. Far from being stunned or subdued by Gerrard’s early intervention, they used it as the motivation to play to their attacking strengths and came at England, initially overrunning the midfield with quick, imaginative passing interchanges and movement.
David James, the England goalkeeper, was not looking convincing and when Pavel Sitko — a 22-year-old left-sided player who will surely not remain at his club, Vitebsk, for long — tested him with a shot from 20 yards, it took James two attempts to bring the ball under control. Not a good sign. There were more worrying developments on the flanks, where Wes Brown and Wayne Bridge were getting little protection and the Belarussians were looking increasingly dangerous.
Igor Stasevich, a 22-year-old right-sided player with BATE Borisov, the first Belarussian team to make the group stage of the Champions League, was causing Bridge particular problems and it was no surprise that the equalising goal should be his creation. If this underplays the contribution of his team-mates it is only because there were too many involved to list by name, the goal coming at the end of 23 passes in a manner that made Capello’s reference to Arsenal seem remarkably prescient.
Cutting to the chase, though, Stasevich dummied a cross, Bridge did not so much buy it as have the damn thing nationalised and Sitko stole in behind Brown at the far post so that when the ball did arrive, he stooped low unmarked with only James to beat.
On another night, under another manager, there might have been darting eyes and nervous glances. Instead, Capello gave his players the hard stare and they continued executing the plan as directed. It sounds so straightforward, this new thinking, maybe even a little dull. It is not. For this team, it is revolution writ large, although Capello will make it look and sound easy, like so much of what he does. - Martin Samuel, TheTimesOnline.co.uk
Roo