Now lets bring this back to a much lighter note though with the reason for  this blog post:

My 60GB Original PS3 has YLOD on my ass.

Why... I thought you loved me!?

So there I was on Saturday chiling with the girlfriend, I poped Enslaved (Check this trailer if you don’t know it) into the drive and then before I finaly got around to playing this game a year after picking it up I said:

Tizz: Omg I have to show you this video of Robbaz playing one of the best games ever where this bear has to eat the fishies before winter comes!

Sian: What?…

Tizz: Robbaz… the kink king of Sweeden! … all will become clear

So after booting the PS3 and hiting up the browser (omg wtf its all changed) I went to youtube (omg wtf It’s all built for ps3) then raged at the shit interface before finding Robbaz’s channel on there. After laughing at the baddass warlruss inspecting a dragons nipples (over some tea and biscuits ofcourse because we are british) suddenly the vid lagged a bit then BEEP BEEP and a powerd down with the red standby light flashing at me. I didnt think anything of it, as it has done this before, and with the modern firmware the PS3 will powerdown when getting a little to hot, much like a PC will if the CPU starts to cook itself. The bad thing was that when I pressed the power button the damn thing went to green.. then to.. yellow then flashed red with the dreaded beeps as well to audibly tell me it’s fucked.

I thought 3 things:

1. It’s to damn hot so it’s not botting up till it’s cooled down (makes sense)
2. It has a built in timer that if it did overheat it won’t boot till that’s expired (stupid if not monitoring temp but it’s Sony after all)
3. Robbaz inspected it’s nipples and performed a german suplex on my PS3…

After leaving it to cool for an hour in the kitchen, no luck. Still does the YLOD on me, but at this point I’m still not admiting to myself it’s that and prehaps just the RLOD i’ve had previously that it recovers from…but guess what… yeh that’s right It didn’t. (kinda obvious right as I wouldn’t be writing this)

So I admited it’s fate and acepted that the big george forman’s grill has pushed it’s last pixel as it lays before me. bitch. Now the main issue I was worried about was:

MY SHITING SAVE DATA!

So I’ve looked around and so far I can’t find any information about how to get the save data of the HDD, as they are locked to the console for piracy and all that bs sake. That’s fine but as you don’t offer a cloud service to automaticaly back up my save data, and we don’t use memory cards anymore… I’m really pissed off! This is a huge oversight by Sony. So I poned Playstation tech support to see what my options are and spoke to a guy called Dave (I don’t trust someone with that name If I havn’t met them, I just think car salesman)

Dave: Hi there how can I help

Tizz: Hey my PS3 has YLOD on me and I wanted to see what my options are as it’s out of warrenty.

Dave: M-kay well we can swap that for you for a referb model right away.

Tizz: Oh right, nice lets do that then.

Dave: That will be £110 including VAT + Delivery…

Tizz: ..(mumbles wtf).. Sorry Dave, I can’t do that. Will it be a new slim, or a phat ps3, do I get a year warrenty on it too?

Dave:  We match models, and there is 3 months warrenty.

Tizz: 3 months… I may as well buy a new one for that price and get a year!? Don’t you guys offer a repair service?!  What happends to all my game save data!?

Dave: No we don’t offer a repair service, and all your data will be lost as the ps3′s HDD is console locked.

Tizz: …

Dave: Hello?

Tizz: …

Dave: Do you wan’t to think about it?

Well that wen’t as expected and as it’s over four years old there is no warrenty so as Sony offer no repair service or a way to get my save data off, I may take it apart and try to repair it using my Cornish ninja wizard skills, but it’s a stab in the dark that the issue is just a cracked solder and not something else. I’ll document this proccess and if i remember how to reasamble it and I get a result then I’ll post a guide for my issue on here. Otherwise:

R.I.P 60GB PHAT PS3:  23/10/2007 – 05/05/2012.

Age 4 years, 6 months and 12 days.

We’re in the long awaited 2012 and before we all die this year we’re all being treated to some epic comic book films. One of the most talked about ATM is The Avengers (Avengers Assemble for us in the UK) For those living under a rock here’s the latest trailer below:

Now as you pick your jaw up off the floor like I did when I sore this you may also be like me and have the realisation of “Oh crap I havn’t seen <Insert film here> yet” For me when I first laid eyes on the trailer I hadn’t got around to seeing Thor or Captain America. Two very important films for two major Avenger characters back-stories. So I’ve been trying to watch and catch up on some filmage before May and thought I’d share not only a list but also my order in what to watch them encase you really are behind or want to have some sort of super hero marathon orgy with some sort of order (not production year but relevance to each other). SPOILER FREE

1st – Iron Man

Some people say watch Captain America first but my reasoning is that Iron Man is the first film which Shield is mentioned as Jules Winnfield Nick Fury appearing after the bad ass credits to say he’s setting up the operation, also a prototype for the Shield emblem is seen.  There’s also a lot of references in this film for others too, like the Fin Fang Foom poster (Iron Man 3 enemy?) 10 Rings references and the suitcase suit used in Iron Man 2.

2nd – Captain America

Captain America is set during the second world war and features Tony Starks farther and Stark industries. So a nice timeline bit of prequel content is there for fans of Iron Man. It also explains a few things about the super solder syrim that will be relevant for The Incredible Hulk later on. Shield is mentioned at the end as is common with all these films and makes sense with the period the film is set in once you see this!

3rd – Iron Man 2

For me this didn’t hold up to the original Iron Man, but we did have the bad-ass/damn hot Black Widow introduced to us in this film as Tony Starks new assistant (She hasn’t had her own film (yet))  Nick Fury returns with his team SHIELD during this film and the Hulk’s attacks are seen on TV in SHIELD HQ due to being set during this film and after. After the credits, a SHIELD agent discovers Thor’s hammer.

4th – The Incredible Hulk

Now you could watch the 2003 Hulk before any of these films as it was made outside of all the “universe” in which the current Marvel films sit within. Because of this I’ll say skip it + it had some over the top cheesy editing/comic book effects… and the end is a mess too. Anyway The Incredible Hulk has references to Nick Fury but more importantly is set in the same time as Iron Man 2. Tony Stark appears at the end talking about the Avengers project (so clearly announced he’s Iron Man, thus this film is set after the first film / during and after the second).

5th – Thor

As mentioned at the end of Iron Man 2 they found a hammer, you find out how it gets there and also are introduced to another character in the Avengers – HawkEye. He’s only seen briefly at Shield’s camp but its a little cameo and a nice nod to someone who’s not had his own film / introduction like Black Widow. There’s plenty of references to other characters and stark industries too throughout the film.

Time to get watching and let’s hope it’s as damn awesome as the trailer is looking!
HULK SMASH!

Things I’ve been up too:

• Working full speed at DCH on a whole host of projects, a lot of things for our big announcement in January that we are know known as Doner; one of the worlds largest independent advertising networks.
• Freelancing
• Charity work – Jump for Josie 2
• Freelancing
• Donating large sums of money to Double Fine’s Kick Starter project ( will blog about this soon)
• Eating cake’s baked by Siany
• Freelancing
• Planning to incorporate my professional work into this site… something I wasn’t planing on doing but It makes sense for me to keep on-top off things to host everything in one neat site.
• oh and more Freelance work (Yeh I need to stop saying yes to projects!)

So this little post is a selfish one for me to set in stone this statement:

Work less for money but more for art.

Something as someone who is saving for a house and all that adult stuff that we have to deal with seems idiotic to even say but I need to tone down the amount of work I do for other companies and people and move forward with my own things, developing my own ideas and living a bit more to keep on-top of my game!

Also Mass Effect 3 is out soon… so there’s that too…

Now because I’m so damn manly my beard grows at the same rate of which Superman fly’s, so it didn’t take long to get to the lumberjack stage, and then once styled I took it on tour up to Newcastle and let it enjoy the -10 temperatures and Geordie accents for a few days before treating it with style on a flight back.

DESPERADO TASH

I reached a rather bad-ass Mexican desperado mo at the end of November and to all those who sponsored me or shared your support I thank you.

Next year I plan on getting a group at DCH to do a mass grow and really try and raise some dough for a really important cause.

Till next year, *Lifts top hat*
Tizz.

After scoring some tickets for Playstation Access this Friday me and Sian headed down to Motion in Bristol to get our game on, oh and also enjoy the free beer! Thanks Sony!

The event was quite exclusive due to invite only which was made more obvious once we got inside joining the handful of other gamers there, admittedly we did get there around 7, so the night was young!

Above was the game line up that was announced prior to the event, I was damn excited for not only the uncharted 3 lan games, but also that I would get a chance to play Batman and Battlefield 3 for the first time as the cues at the Eurogamer expo where insane.

However Battman was no where to be seen? and Battlefield crashed lol… for the night! so we where left with:

• Uncharted 3,
• FIFA 12,
• Battlefield 3,
• Assassins Creed Revelations,
• GoldenEye 007 Reloaded,
• Batman: Arkham City,
• Resistance 3,
• Ratchet and Clank: All 4 One,
• Starhawk,
• Tekken TAG HD,
• Dark Souls.

Personal 3D Viewer

After grabbing a beer we went over to check out Sony’s new 3D tech, the Personal 3D Viewer (Seriously?! this is what your calling it!?) despite the name we both thought the thing was pretty cool. I was surprised that it felt like viewing a cinema screen, the screen size illusion really worked well for me! only thing is the guy said the retail price is around £800… that was a shock, i was expecting £400… but £800?! Wow. Also the strap at the back could of been designed better, fine if it’s just used for you but it’s a rubber stoper and feels a little fidly.

Personal 3D Viewer, Worst name ever...

Sian was totally entering Tron right about now.

Uncharted 3 – Multiplayer

After playing around with some Tekken Tag HD I went to get my ass kicked do surprisingly well at some Uncharted 3 lan action. It was in it’s own room and was kitted out so well, plants and tree’s all over the place with hidden treasures and ruin’s back lit with the subtle club lighting of Motion. I played a team battle, 4v4 I think?!  with some guys really knowing their stuff. Luckily I had played a bit of Uncharted 2 Muiti to hold my own and this felt like a welcome return. What was nice for me was playing in a Lan environment again, something I have done with PC gaming in the past and it creates a great atmosphere and really get’s you into the competitive streak.

Sian <3 Drake

Sian totaly loved my skills...

We tried our hand at some Ratchet and clank and I remembered how Sian get’s when I “Always Win” theirs a 50/50 chance I will lose my life one of these days… i swear… Before making my way to try some Resistance 3 using the Move I gave a respectful tip of the hat to my man Dark Souls, having played a good 30 mins of this at the Eurogamer expo and it’s just as bad-ass as Deamon souls; not for babies.

Resistance 3 looks great, and it does feel like they have given it some depth and refined the storyline since the first installment which is great. Using the move was a lot of fun although to look right or left you have to move the gun to the right of the screen etc, this makes looking + aiming very difficult, and it would be great if one analogue stick could rotate the player while your move stick could aim.. then though you can’t move…  So although a fun arcade experience that issue does ruin the immersion of the game for me, but would be fun in co-op or with some friends watching.

So i would say play this using a controller to really get into it, and to be honest that’s the best way to game. Cold cider, comfy sofa, big ass TV, and get immersed!.

Jungle Room!

DS - Not for babies!

Shame BF3 didn't work

I had one awesome weekend attending the Eurogamer expo (apart from the walking!) I could focus on the whole experience but instead I’m just going to focus on my experiences with the games that I was into to keep this short and snappy (as I’m also on holiday and should be relaxing by the pool)

Wipeout 2048 + Playstation Vita

Thanks to Playstation Access me and Sian managed to win passes to skip the cue at the Vita line, so first stop was to get these wrist bands and come back at 14:30! The bad thing was when we came back and just skipped right in I felt very bad as the looks we got where those of when a D list celeb skips a very long cue at a nightclub, but multiply that by 100 as these where some diehard fans cueing not 30 mins but closer to 2 hours to get a chance to play on the upcoming Playstation Vita.

After we explained how we just walked in to the other lucky 8 people to avoid being killed with evil’s we where asked to pick a card from a face down deck, this card would hold the game we would get to play.. all of us had the classic “oh f**k” look on our faces as most had a title they really wanted to try. I drew LBP but then sore that there was Wipeout and Uncharted cards, the two games I would want to play out of the available.

Ami who walked me through Wipeout! Such an awesome outfit

After a mass swap exercise by everyone I ended up with the Wipeout card and was greeted by the lovely Ami Nakajima in one awesome pilot outfit!! (Pic to the left) I had a quick overview of the Vita by one of the guys there about it’s spec etc, all things you can find out online really. Then Ami sat down in front of me to talk me threw Wipeout 2048. The game was classic wipeout, very much stuck to its routes and will feel very familiar for anyone who’s played and is a fan of the series, it’s just as fast and furious as the previous installments and looked bloody great on the handheld! Also a nice touch is the camera snapping a pic for multiplayer i take it? much like racing games in arcades so you can see who is who. The vita its self felt light and really ergonomic in my hand, much more than the 3DS. Along with really responsive analogue sticks the vita was just something i picked up and just started gaming.. no adjusting a slider for lame 3D gaming (Yes i think its a fad and should go away ) I think Vita is going to be my next portable and I’ll be getting a copy of wipeout too. Even if I did come 6th on the second race which took place around a skyscraper (badass) but I blame that on Ami’s flirting!

Rage

I don’t know why I was nervous about this being as good as I hoped.. felt… dreamed it would be, it’s made by ID for gods sake! Having just met the Creative Director of ID previously and getting my PC cover signed by him! (Yeh designers are my celebs! ) I headed over to the Rage area. There was no cue for these machines, plenty of them and spread out at the back, I was gutted it was all 360′s as I don’t do FPS on consoles, once you’ve played using a mouse and keyboard you just can’t go back. Anyway the game was bloody awesome! I jumped right into a chapter saving all intro stuff for when I pick this badboy up. I really just wanted to just get a feel of it and try out the combat, and it plays as well as all those trailers out there showing it off. Walk around a corner into 4 enemy’s who haven’t spotted me. Sneak up and throw a deadly boomerang slicing one guys head off, the other 3 turn to me and i zoom in with my pistol head shooting one. Then I run round a ruined pillar not getting distracted but the awesome texture work and switch to my shotgun to blast the other two with rapid shots… soo damn cool!

I’m still very interested on who the guests and story line unfolds along with the racing element, but for me I was just happy to get some great post apocalypse combat as Fallout New Vegas was just lacking in story and combat for me.

Skyrim

The cueing here wasn’t to bad, about 30 mins in total as most people where trying to cue for Vita, OnLive and Battlefield 3 at this time. I watched other playing it and decided to skip all unnecessary intro stuff as this was a timed 15 mins play  then the next person so I had to move fast. I sat down 2 cm’s away from a 40 inch TV which was soo comfortable (/sarcasm)  But regardless i popd the headphones on and set forth into Mordor! oh something like that… Now again this sucked as I play Elder scrolls series on the PC, so using a controller was unnatural for me, and when your that close you see all the consoles imperfections where it can’t run AA and all the rest of the filters as well as a powerful PC can. That aside it still looked great and this is a game that will suck away the hours. In the short play time I had i managed to get into a bit of combat and explore a few areas, some snow ridden and other cave like areas, just as I was getting into the combat, dodging arrows and burning them with my left hands’ magic ability as i charged to final blow them with my right hand i was shoulder taped and told to GTFO   Awesome game and cant wait for 11:11:11!!

Counter Strike : OS

NO NO NO, do not announce your having one of my favorite games of all time at the expo, let me come along with some people I play CS 1.6 with only to be crushed because you have it running on a PS3!!! I’m a huge PS3 fan, but for the love of god FPS = PC , end of. I didn’t bother to cue for this as I would suck using a controller for a game like this, so I watched the 5v5 game they had going instead. The map was dust 2 and oh man did it look good! Classic CS with nice updates and additions. I had to pull myself away and go cue for Skyrim instead as I really did want to play the dirty console version , but I must stay pure.

Uncharted 3

I played a quick bout of Uncharted 3 due to it being the multiplayer, It plays brilliantly and is just as good as the second, but this time there is a nice character customisation! I’m a sucker for customisation… I’m off to a Playstation event in Bristol this friday so i shall be bringing a full lowdown on Drake then

Dark Souls

The original is titled one of the hardest games on the PS3 and rightfully so.. its f**king so unforgiving! you really have to learn strategies and be mindful when entering battle, nothing has changed with Dark souls. I sat down with it for about 20 mins and after equipping a few things i set forth. This game is very true to the original with the combat and core gameplay being very familiar, the enemies I had where quite low level and being a fan of the original I had no problem getting past these unlike some of the other players next to me who where new to the series. I eventually got to a boss however.. now boss’s in this game will kick your ass, if you’ve ever squatted a fly before.. well your that fly. No mercy at all. I lasted 14 seconds before being slammed into a pillar at which point i sob’d and walked away knowing I would need to be there all day to get past him. Love this game, and once I finish the first one this one will be a welcomed bully.

Street Fighter X Tekken

Me and Ten cued for what felt like 15 hours behind weirdly the only Street Fighter X Tekken cab in the whole place?! It was sponsor by Kick the energy drink too, not even Capcom?! After watching some idiot posers thinking they where the shit time out every game we finally got a go. Now I’m a massive Tekken fan and ditched SF after 2 for Tekken. So i selected Horang and .. wait.. wheres LAW?!! NOOOOOOOOOOO. I vadar cried No for 20 mins before selecting Ken like a pussy and set forth for some ass kicking, unfortunately the guy I played was a SF4 fan and  knew his stuff. I managed to lose gracefully the first game, win the second and just lose the third all the time thinking to myself the Tekken characters where not handling like I remember them doing so, it just felt like SF4 with Tekken characters for me, which maybe is what they where going for. I may try out Tekken x SF when it comes around but as for this version I will have to pass. Any SF4 fan though will totally love it!

PICS!

Most of my pictures blured but here’s a couple i managed to take, so need a phone with a decent camera again!

Sian loves tanks!

Sonic Boom... ina can!

Amiga 1200.. oh how many memories this brings back is crazy

My professional design portfolio can still be found at www.port.re7ox.com and will as normal will feature work i’ve done for clients and brands through my employers as well as freelance.

I hope the layout is clear and the new comment system works well for people, feel free to drop me a line regarding anything unless it’s about X Factor though, as i really don’t give a sh…

Tizz