Games, games, games, games!

I often describe myself as a girlie gamer but I don't think I've ever posted on any of my blogs about the kind of games I like playing, OK you all know I'm a Poke-maniac but there are just so many different game styles I love playing, I thought I'd do a post about those I love most right now over the different consoles & PC that we have :-)

 

PC

Right now I'm going through a building phase with my PC gaming, I'm enjoying the whole Build-a-lot series as well as the My Kingdom for the Princess and I've just discovered Pioneer Lands which feels very similar right now. Each has a level where you have to build of collect certain items before the timer runs out, they give you a really decent amount of time to complete them too but I'm obsessed with getting through the levels on Gold which means as quickly as possible and I'm not doing too badly so far!lol Another one I'm playing a lot is Magic Farm, you're on a mission to find and rescue your parents and to get through each stage to get closer to finding them you have to grow and sell plants from a variety of farms as you progress through the land. Yes all these games can tend to be a bit repetitive but the fun in them is in raising your game play and setting your own challenges alongside those you are set in the games.

 

Facebook

I mostly seem to be playing casino type games on here at the moment, slots and bingo win out most days. I did enjoy the quest based ones like Frontierville for a while but then I completed all the quests and left it for a bit, by the time I went back I had loads and others were so far ahead it was difficult to gain the supplies I needed to get anything done so I gave up on it totally, it's a shame as it is a fun game, I just wish there was a PC/console version *hint hint*

DS (Lite/XL)

As well as Pokemon Black and White I find myself playing a lot of puzzle games right now. I love the Professor Layton ones and I keep going back to the Bomberman ones as well as I just love the mini games and enjoy the challenges they set. I also enjoy the Zelda games but tend to get bored with them after a week or so, leave them alone for a while then by the time I go back to them I cant remember what I was doing so have to start again (I think I should really keep a diary for this sort of game shouldn't I?lol) And I'm loving the MySims series of games as well, it's the building up theme I've got going again!

 

WII

Well, right now I seem to be playing Animal Crossing loads as well as the My Sims games on here as well as some of the games are very different to the DS versions, better in some ways, worse in others but it keeps me playing them!I love Mario Karts, I've always loved this fun type of racing ever since I first played CTR (Crash Team Racing) I love the fun elements of throwing things at the other drivers especially when you play against someone who normally only plays serious driving games (I think Dave now knows why I say Brakes are for wimps on his Driving games!lol)

 

XBox 360

On this, it's all about the music for me, I love all the music games I have, I'm getting better at the drums as I go, I'm even quite good on the guitar now, I'm not getting the mic out of it's bag tho, no-one should have my singing voice inflicted on them, even if it is only a game ;-) My favourite right now of the ones I have is Lego Rock band, it's just so much fun with the graphics and I know most of the songs as well, and those I didn't before I started ..... I do now!

PS3

Most of the time now I'm playing Sports Champions. This game involves the Play controllers and is loads of fun, I can nearly serve at table tennis but I'm getting really good at Archery and I love the gladiator battles although they can be very tiring and normally one is enough - good exercise though!

  

PSP

Yes, we do have one of these somewhere but I HATE the bloody thing, it takes ages to load up a bit of a game, you play that little bit then it starts chuntering again for ages as it loads up a bit more, I played with it once ..... never again!

NZXT H2 Vs Phantom

I recently became the lucky owner of both of these beautiful PC cases through some competitions I entered and won. The silvery fronted case on the left is the NZXT H2 in white (also available in Black) and the larger white case with red stripes on the right is the Limited Edition version of the NZXT Phantom (also available in Red, White and Black)

After receiving them both I thought I'd write about them on here incase you need a new case at some point as I really would recommend investing in one of these NZXT ones as they really are great for the prices (the H2 retails around £83 and the phantom around £105) and for more information on NZXT please visit their website here.

Here's the essential bits that you'd need to know about each case:.

Case Specs

	H2	Phantom
Case Type	Mid Tower Steel	Full Tower Steel
Dimensions (WxHxD)	215 x 466 X 520 mm	222 x 540 X 623 mm
Weight	8.9 kg	11 kg
Motherboard Support	ATX Baby AT Micro ATX	ATX Baby AT E-ATX Micro ATX
Internal Bays	8 INTERNAL 3.5"/2.5"	7 INTERNAL 3.5"/2.5"
External Bays	3 EXTERNAL 5.25"	5 EXTERNAL 5.25"
Fan Bays	4 x 120mm 1 x 140mm	3 x 120mm 1 x 140mm 2 x 200mm
Ports	1 x eSATA 1 x Headphone 1 x Mic In 3 x USB 2.0 1 x USB 3.0	1 x eSATA 1 x Headphone 1 x Mic In 2 x USB 2.0

Just looking at the image of the two cases I have to say the Phantom would have been my first choice of case and it is my favourite from the look of them BUT the H2 has a USB 3.0 port and the hot-swap HDD drive bay both of which are really attractive features.

We finally settled how to use these cases by deciding that the current PC will take up residence in the H2 in a few weeks time and the Phantom will be kept by for Dave's 40th. He didn't know what he wanted until I received these cases but now he's decided that he'd like to build another PC, a really high spec one with 3D and that he would be able to use to work on (believe me, it'll need to be really good for his work!lol) So this case will be the start of it, I'm going to be getting him a few bits for his Birthday towards it as well and hopefully others will too. It's good to see him excited over something and he really is over building this PC :-)

Another Week.......

.....Another diet update!

Well, I've been on the Slimfast 1,2,3 plan for 10 weeks now and everything still feels like it's going well for me, I cant see any difference looking in a mirror but can feel it in some of my clothes. I've lost a total of 25lbs which works out at 2 and a half a week which I'm really happy about, yes, I'd love to lose more and get down to my target quicker but I've done that in the past and I've always ended up putting it all (and more) right back on again. This time I want it to stick and that's part of why I'm enjoying this diet plan I think.

I get to have 2 milkshakes and 3 snacks each day alongside a main meal. I know some people worry that it wont be filling but it is, or it is to me and the snacks you can have aren't restricted to being their own ones like you are with the shakes, you can have any snack up to 100 Kcal and some, like fresh fruit would be quite a lot of snack to fill that number of calories!

......and now for something completely different!

 This week I read on Splodz Blogz about the moon being the closest it's been to us for a while (here) so I took my coolpix up to Dave's telescope (hopefully one day he will find the D ring for the DSLR again!lol) and snapped this pic :-)

Vibrating Massager Sponge

This is definitely the fruitiest strawberry I have ever come across as well as it being the largest!

At 17cm x 15cm x 10cm the sponge is a nice handful without being too big to be easy to use. Without the massager attachment the sponge is heart shaped, quite firm and holds up well when wet. When using it for bathing purposes I found it to be slightly abrasive but only in as much as it buffs away the dead skin so I would advise using a creamy shower gel with it to give your skin a nice soft feel and healthy glow.

The massager part of the unit is concealed as the greenery on the top of the strawberry. It fits snugly in so there is little chance of it accidentally coming apart and revealing your secret to anyone who doesn't know ;-) It's powered by 2 AAA batteries (not supplied) and has variable speed although the write up on the website (http://www.find-me-a-gift.co.uk/vibrating-massager-sponge.html) doesn't indicate this. The loop through which the hanging cord passes is the power adjuster and on/off switch.

In testing it so far I've found the batteries do seem to last well and the motor has got a good amount of power in it for massaging those aches and pains away or whatever else you decide to use it for!lol For the price, I'd say this is a great gift and one that caused more than a few giggles!

This is on sale at  findmeagift.co.uk for £9.99

Shopping for Free!

Towards the end of last year I was lucky enough to win a £200 shopping voucher, it took a while to sort out between them getting lost in the post and address problems but it turned up a few weeks ago. £200 to spend at the West Quay shopping centre in Southampton ..... YAY!

My first thought was to treat myself to a 3DS when they come out but after hearing so many negative points about them recently I've decided against that for now (but I really wouldn't complain if I won one!lol) so instead I decided to get a DSi XL, I looked at which shops have a branch at West Quay and priced the console up and today off we went. After buying the console and game bits that I wanted there was a tiny bit left so I also got a nice new pair of slippers as well

Shopping is so much more fun when someone else has paid for it for you :-D

Diet Update & the PS3 move!

I just noticed I haven't reported in this week on my progress well, it's another 2lbs gone so I'm really happy with that :-D

We've also recently received the move system for the PS3, I had assumed it would be much like the Wii and can be playing sat down without much activity needed for most of the games, I was so wrong!

You have to line yourself up with the camera to play and it tells you off if you go out of vision, yes, you can be lazy with it but it is so much fun and I found I got quite competitive when playing against Dave. I'm mostly playing Sports Champions at the moment, I'm getting quite good at archery and the gladiator battles are really good fun.

I used to enjoy games like Street fighter before controllers got more buttons than I have fingers to use them and this takes me back to that but it's better as you use 2 controllers, one as your shield and the other as a sword/club. It makes controlling the character very easy and makes you so much more involved when you see your character doing what you do, I can see it being good therapy against bad moods too ;-)