Fatlo.af

Like a graceful warrior, his (or her) sword must be an extension of themselves, more than just an accessory. It must be akin to a metal hand shaped in the form of physical death. It’s this kind of mental thought thats required when you tackle Hammer On’s and Pull Off’s in Guitar Hero.

Guitar Hero stole my dignity
I had been trundling through the game at various moments when I was at PJ’s place but had never devoted the time to look at the tome of knowledge contained within the tutorials section. Advanced techniques, techniques that shouldn’t be attempted by mere mortals or the casual player, techniques with a difficulty rating of at least 5.

Of course, I was there. I felt I had devoted enough time to the game to warrant my position in the hallows of GH greatness. Like the evil englishman who chose the cup before Indiana Jones could at the end, he chose unwisely. I, wishing to feel something like Indy felt after drinking from the correct chalice, found I had also joined the other exclusive club by my arrogance.

The reason for my foray into the unexplored tutorials section was the recent exposure of the “Face-Melting” section of the Medium difficulty realm. In my excitement I jumped straight into attempting a metal favourite of mine, Cowboys from Hell by Pantera. Needless to say, I knew it would be hard, but I was still determined to try.

The notes came hard and fast, I gained some confidence at the beginning by getting the basic riff down but then it all went decidedly fruit like, some would say pear. It was like the song was a being, not a pre-recorded combination of sounds. It could sense my confidence growing and knew the only way to strike me down was to lull me, then cut me down and kick me repeatedly while there.

Like being attacked by a ninja, I didn’t see it coming, the notes at least 5 times faster than I’d ever seen before came hurling at me at what I could only perceive as close to the speed of light. I dodged the first wave of these shuriken-like red notes, getting through only vaguely after already having my confidence broken by the preceding section. I was running, attempting to leg it through the rest of the song with some dignity in tact. It was too late, the song and its undead will was chasing me, nipping at my heels. Death followed closely.

So, I failed, dismally. It was then that I decided I’d have a go at this learning section of the game, obviously they thought someone would need it. I’m still working through it occasionally, as soon as I acquire my own copy of Guitar Hero for my PS2, I’ll work it out. Then, there shall be a rematch, only then shall I have vengeance.

Use it or lose it
There is currently quite a debate going on between the warring factions of Pay TV and Free-to-Air (known herein as FTA). A lot of sports are disappearing to Foxtel and those of its ilk and FTA aren’t happy about it.

The argument is that why should we pay for something we’ve always seen for free? The counter argument is that if FTA aren’t willing to offer sports the respect they deserve, then they’re willing to show them properly.

Case in point, Channel 9 is showing the tri-nations game between New Zealand and Australia at 6:30pm on Saturday night, 90mins after it starts. Ch9, ignoring fan’s plea’s to watch it live have put on an episode of Funniest Home Video’s. Not quite the same.

This is all during this major campaign thats going on which opposes the siphoning off of sports onto Fox Sports thereby removing them from the common person to view unless they buy Foxtel.

While its good to be able to watch sports on FTA, the channel’s have seemingly grown complacent with its audience and made some fairly lacklustre decisions which has put them in jeopardy. This means that the well endowed Fox Sports library of channels can more than handle the load, with 3 channels for Fox Sports alone, it makes it hard to look elsewhere.

Yes, I have Foxtel, so I do take advantage of the coverage. It’s definitely nice to be able to watch A-League games live even if they’re being played in Adelaide. Not something that’s seen with AFL games very often at all unless its absolutely sold out. The same goes for cricket. FTA is going to always have to work hard to keep sports because they can only cover so much in a 24hour period. Unfortunately this isn’t going to change, which is probably for the best. Our current system isn’t exactly stellar and perhaps its time for a couple of other channels to open up. What’s wrong with Channel 9 having two channels? or three? The same for Channel 7 and 10. It’s not rocket science, they already do it on HD and Digital. Why not put different content on all the extra channels and be done with it. They can cover more programs, more sport, offer more content for very little extra cost and potentially make more from it.

Who knows, maybe they’re already planning on doing it. They’ll just have to try and keep the Foxtel wolves and bay for a little longer.

I’m off.