Tales of the Unexpected

To start, a full disclaimer type note about this post. Firstly, it's something I've never spoken about to anyone (ominous opening huh??). Secondly, I've always had a very open mind towards things that can't be explained. I have members of my family who are absolutely convinced one way or the other when it comes to these matters, but I've always kind of sat on the fence. I've written this post more as an observation of what I believe I witnessed, rather than as a statement of fact. I don't expect to convince you, dear reader and follower of Monkey matters, I just wanted to share!

Truly Next-Gen Gaming?

Ok so before I start, and for full disclosure, I'm an XBox One owner in this generation. Last generation I bought (and still own) a 360, a PS3 and a Wii, so I'm in no way a fanboy to any of the consoles. Although no doubt I'll still get called one as I own an XBox One! I've owned the XB1 for almost 2 months now and wanted to share my thoughts on what I feel makes the difference between the current generation and the last generation. Obviously my slant is going to be Microsoft heavy as this is what I own, and I don't feel that it's fair to talk about Sony when I don't own a PS4, although some of the points here do apply to both manufacturers.

The obvious biggest battle is once again between Sony and Microsoft. And as things stand at the moment, Sony seem to have the headstart in terms of console sales. Sales rates on both systems are continuing to surpass the last generation with healthy sales on both consoles and games. There are obvious differences in price here, but then there are obvious differences in what comes in the box. 

Carpe Diem Part 2

A long time ago, I wrote a post entitled Carpe Diem. It was written not long after a very good friend of mine, and the man who had introduced me and taught me to drumming, had lost his ongoing battle with cancer. It talked about the way that, following on from his death, I had regretted not making the effort to go back to where I grew up and go and see him, and the band that I used to be a part of, a regret that I still have today. The title became obvious to me as I wrote the post, and now I find myself writing another piece for which this title is, sadly, incredibly apt.

It's taken me almost 18 months to get to the point where I feel I can do this post justice. I'm not going to name names in this, in fact I'm intentionally changing them as the things I'm about to write about are incredibly personal, and the wounds still raw. My motivation for writing this post? I can't honestly answer that, as I don't really know. I guess it allows me to show that, from the dark days that clouded summer 2012, there can be an escape, and that time truly does heal.

Writing the Unwritten Rules of Online Gaming

This is a repost of an article I first wrote around 4 years ago, and appeared on the original PsychoticMonkey.co.uk, before my Wordpress woes. I've taken a look over it, but a lot of it is as applicable then as it is now!

We've all been there. You're enjoying yourself with some online play, be it on the PC or over XBox Live, and all of a sudden something happens that ruins it all. It can be anything, but invariably it's the actions of another player rather than the action of the game itself.

TomTom full postcodes not working?

So before I moved over to here, by far the most popular post on my blog was the one detailing how to fix your TomTom device when it would only accept the first half of a UK postcode (so "AA1", rather than "AA1 1AA"). I've managed to retrieve at least part of that post and here it is as I notice a lot of you are still finding your way to me looking for this!

It's a new dawn...

It's a new day...

So as you'll see, I've moved. A number of run-ins with malware and people generally messing around with my old Wordpress blog have caused me to have a rethink. And this new looking blog (minimalist is how I like to think of it) is the result. I'm now relying on the likes of Blogger to keep me safe, rather than having to maintain my own MySql database as was the case previously. I'm sad to move away from A Small Orange, who have been by far the best commercial hosts I've ever used (thanks guys) but I just don't have the time anymore to deal with the ins and outs of maintaining my own blogging software, and as you the reader will have seen, my time for writing over the past couple of years has pretty much disappeared.