Lets face it, having the surname of ‘Woodcock’ is not something you would rush down to deed-poll to have yours changed to, but it has never ever bothered me. I just look at it as something passed down from my father, so I am proud to wear the title, however there are the more immature of course who would bother poking fun.

It seems though Hollywood has latched on and decided to make the film title ‘Mr Woodcock’. No it has no references to my life (although last couple of weeks I could have made into a film, but that is another story), but it is a little weird having your surname as a movie:

Billy Bob Thornton, Seann William Scott, and Susan Sarandon star in the outrageous comedy “Mr. Woodcock”. Scott stars as John Farley, a self-help author who returns to his hometown only to discover that his mother (Sarandon) has fallen in love with his old high school nemesis, Mr. Woodcock (Thornton) – the gruff, no-nonsense gym teacher who had put him through years of mental and physical humiliation. Determined to prevent history from repeating itself, John sets out to stop his mother from marrying the man who had made life miserable for him and his classmates.

So there you have it, a film using my surname (not unique to me of course, which is a shame maybe I should claim royalties… nah!), which looks like a crazy American teen movie full of cheap laughs. There is a curiosity involved though to watch the film, maybe the publishers could send me a copy?

So seems we learn from the trailer that 1) I will become a P.E. teacher (gasp), 2) lock up your mother in case I date her (double gasp) and 3) never creep around the house in the dark otherwise I will hit you with a baseball bat even if I know you (hmmm, oh well you should have the light on anyway)…

Link: Mr. Woodcock – The Movie

My favourite gaming genre has to be the classic 2D point ‘n’ click adventure. Although there are equivalents today still appearing, for me the best of the best are already out there from years gone by and some playable on many platforms thanks to the marvelous ScummVM engine.

I am still working on MIDI music enhancements for various games such as Simon the Sorcerer, Discworld, Beneath a Steel Sky, Inherit the Earth, Flight of the Amazon Queen and another (which I will be announcing in the next week or so) and I am hoping to share my admiration for a genre that should never be forgotten.

With this in mind, here is my top 10 point and click adventure list of which I consider personally to be the most memorable of all time:

• 1) Simon the Sorcerer – Adventure Soft
  This was actually my first game on the PC after playing and loving the subtitle-only version on the Acorn Archimedes. I was so excited when I heard I would be getting a PC that I rushed down to the shops to buy the talkie version of the game on PC CD-ROM in anticipation of it arriving. Full of charm and magical statements, Simon the Sorcerer is my favourite game of all time never mind just point and click adventures.
• 2) Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars – Revolution Software
  Full of mystery and intrigue, George Stobbart goes on an adventure taking you along with him in this fantastic quest full of fascinating locations (my favourite being Ireland) and lovable characters.
• 3) Full Throttle – LucasArts
  Dazzling video animation and music for the time (in fact the reason why I upgraded to 8mb of memory… wow!) with murder, leather jackets galore and eerie settings. Only as Ben, leader of a biker gang called the Polecats can you solve the mystery and save the day.
• 4) Discworld – Teeny Weeny Games and Perfect 10 Productions
  Follow Rincewind in the Discworld universe created by Terry Pratchett to rid the enormous turtle world of a ruthless rampaging dragon. Starring the voices of Eric Idle, Jon Pertwee and Tony Robinson this title provides masses of humour and bizarre puzzles.
• 5) Broken Sword II: The Smoking Mirror – Revolution Software
  Continuing on from the success of the first in the series, join again George Stobbart as he is yet again flung into chaos and sets of for another trek across multiple locations. Not quite as interesting a subject as the Templars, but still a great romp through wonderful gaming heaven.
• 6) Simon the Sorcerer II – Adventure Soft
  In Simon the Sorcerer II: The Lion, the Wizard and the Wardrobe, Simon’s voice may have changed (from Chris Barrie to Brian Bowles), but the magical adventure continues. The return of the Swampling with his own fast food chain is probably the highlight of the entire game as you read through the items on the menu. A very good sequel, but lacked the exploration I adored so much from the original.
• 7) Day of the Tentacle – LucasArts
  Another gem of the many from LucasArts, the title features a tentacle (yes a tentacle stay with me here!) who is bent on taking over the world. It is up to Bernard Bernoulli, Hoagie and Laverne to travel in time thanks to Dr. Fred’s Chron-o-John’s (time travelling toilets believe it or not!) to stop this mad tentacle from reaching his goal.
• 8) Sam & Max Hit the Road – LucasArts
  Welcome Sam and Max the Freelance Police in their hysterical journey to locate the missing Big Foot (or Sasquatch). Featuring the two characters, Sam a large dog and Max a crazy rabbit allows for double the fun in every aspect of the game.
• 9) The Gene Machine – Divide by Zero
  One of the unsung heroes of point and click adventuring, The Gene Machine features an unusual lead character with the very pompous yet amusing Piers Featherstonehaugh (pronounced Fanshawe). The locations and animations are very appealing as they are set mostly in Victorian England from the dark and gloomy slums to the darn right posh establishments. A great classic that requires a stiff upper lip at all times to be enjoyed properly.
• 10) Touche: The Adventures of the Fifth Musketeer – Clipper Software
  Not the most amazing graphics ever seen in this genre, but some of the best laugh out loud moments for me have come from this game. With a noble quest in one hand and a sword in the other, Geoffroi Le Brun is set to travel around France in an attempt to fulfil the dying wish of a nobleman taking his will to the rightful heir.

I am sure there are some of you are wondering why I haven’t mentioned Monkey Island and maybe some other classics, but these are my top 10 point and click adventure games that I played the most and enjoyed.

Make sure you consider your top 10…

My personal website has been open close to a year now and in that time it has changed quite dramatically in how I have attempted to use the power of blogging.

What started as a simple way of communicating a few ideas and ramblings has soon become a regular stop for a much broader range of people particularly interested in gaming and technology.

Yesterday all my hard work was recognised as now I have been accepted into the 9rules community of bloggers:

9rules is a community of the best weblogs in the world on a variety of topics. We started 9rules to give passionate writers more exposure and to help readers find great blogs on their favorite subjects. It’s difficult to find sites worth returning to, so 9rules brings together the very best of the independent web all under one roof.

This is something I have been trying to be a part of for a while now and if it wasn’t for Tammie poking me to enter again I would have missed this wonderful opportunity (thanks Tammie!).

As 2007 quickly approaches, I wish to redesign the whole website (again thanks to Tammie) and to continue providing my thoughts on gaming and technology, through the use of written articles and podcasting.

Link: James Woodcock’s Blog – New 9rules Member!

Skype 3.0 has been released for users on the Internet who like to chat for endless hours with headsets for free. I have been using Skype for quite a long while now and find it especially useful for keeping in contact with family and friends who have gone to stay in different countries due to work or study.

New features include:

• Easier to use, more powerful and personal interface.
• Connect with the world on Skype Public Chats.
• Do more and share more with Extras.
• Click to call ordinary phone numbers on any website (optional install).

Link: Skype 3.0 Final Released Download

I am loving Rainbow Six Vegas especially online and now we already have a patch to fix some of the little problems we were experiencing. Congratulations to the developers for getting this out so quick as I was very disappointed with the time it took for the Far Cry Instincts: Predator update!

Best changes are ‘Fixed a disconnection bug when host changes map’ and ‘Fixed bug regarding voice chat – Now voice chat works for all players’…

Single Player

• Fixed bugs with voice recognition
• Fixed a bug that made the game crash when killing Dr. Smythe under a specific circumstance.

Multiplayer

• Getting stuck at briefing screen when joining a match in progress
• Fixed a coop crash when failing a mission numerous times
• Fixed an exploit where observers received same kills as host in terrorist hunt
• Fixed a intermittent coop crash in map Factory
• Fixed a disconnection bug when host changes map
• Fixed a bug with live camera that forced a reboot.
• Fixed an issue with max players not being related to recommended players for maps.
• Added better feedback in the game search menus.
• Fixed a bug with the siege specialist achievement.
• Fixed players crashing when using shield and entering a game with shield restricted.
• Fixed a rare crash when starting a coop story game
• Fixed a bug that made the shield become invisible in certain circumstances.
• Fixed a display bug with weapons disappearing while using shield
• Fixed a crash while using the Live Vision Camera
• Fixed a display bug with the canister in retrieval staying visible after being taken.
• Fixed a random crash for clients in COOP games.
• Fixed a display error that showed 14 players instead of 16 for dedicated servers.
• Fixed a bug with score limits not working properly.
• Fixed a bug that sometimes prevented grenades from being used at game start.
• Fixed a crash through the world bug related to starting COOP games while playing Terrorist Hunt.
• Fixed a crash through the world bug in Casino COOP.
• Fixed a bug with invalid recommended players in COOP maps.
• Fixed a lockup in COOP mode related to clients joining a game late.
• Fixed a bug where a dedicated server set for 16 players only accepted 14.
• Added better feedback in the game search menus
• Remove proximity voice chat from team games.
• Adjust TerroHunt XP based on density setting:
• Fixed bug regarding voice chat – Now voice chat works for all players
• Fixed a crash where clients crash when host change map or quit the game before they have time to load lobby
• Fixed a crash when clientnt selects Option/ Map name either in the lobby or In game
• Fixed a bug related to the infiltration specialist achievement
• Fixed a bug where when score limit is 10 a game does not end when canister is deposited
• Fixed a bug in splitscreen:Crash when player 2 Press ready before player 1 in the login profile menu
• Fixed a bug where game occasionally crashes on boot at the Title Screen.

General

• Fixed some localization errors in Spanish