The site listed as the referrer is www dot submitter software dot com… they succeeded in posting 5 comments, all punting a piece of software to help drive traffic to your site by abusing shareware software sites and their PAD files… whatever they are. The software in question is actually produced by a another company, so I can only assume that submitter software is an affiliate looking to increase their earnings… maybe I should drop the software house a mail I thought… let them know about the unscrupulous tactics employed by people pushing their products… then when I looked at the products produced by this company I figured they’d probably applaud.

Of course, there could be a perfectly legitimate reason why my site was being spammed… maybe the site owner purchased advertising services from the company they make a mention of on their site and they had no clue what they would do to increase their traffic. So… Rebekah Hudson of 177 Captain HM Shreve Blvd, Shreveport, Louisiana (with the email address kphudson@comcast.net), I’d love to hear how you are involved with submitter software dot com (other than being the registrant).

So, how to stop this kind of crap if your site gets blitzed by this sorted of traffic… well, it’s actually quite simple if you can modify the .htaccess files and your server has mod_rewrite enabled. Google the search string +”block” +”referrer” +”apache” and you’ll get quite a lot of pages that provide details of how to block visitors based on referrers.

Cast on 58 stitches

* K2, P2 to end (last two stitches should be K)
* P2, K2 to end (last two stitches should be P)

This sets the pattern.  Continue for another 74 rows.

Knit 2 rows

* P2, K2 to end (last two stitches should be P)
* K2, P2 to end (last two stitches should be K)

This sets the pattern.  Continue for another 8 rows.

Cast off in pattern.

To complete, you need to sew up the sock along the starting and side edges. Then, find some cord (I knitted one with my french knitter and attached a couple of bobbles by knitting into the cord) pop the cord in place, fold the sock over on the 2 knit rows and then sew up the final edge to make the cord tube. This was knitted with Palette yarns 019/219 series yarn on 2.25mm/13 gauge needles. If you want a plainer sock, you could use something like the 018/219 series from Palette.

Here’s a piccie of my finished sock… the picture has been doctored to remove the background, but I’m sure you’ll get the idea.

The scarf is very straight forward…

Cast on 8 sts
Continue in garter stitch for 266 rows
Cast off

If memory serves, I knitted this on 4mm needles using both the red and white wool (Palette yarns 018/219 series). The tassles are simple loops tied on through the stitches. Depending on how you want your sackboy to look, you can adjust the length… as you can see from the photo, I went for the contemporary look so I made the scarf nice and long.

The hat is also fairly straight forward. This time I knitted with Palette yarns 018/219 series on 2.25mm/13 gauge needles using the following pattern:-

Cast on 94 stitches (thumb method)

* K2P2 x 23, K2
* P2k2 x 23, P2
* Sets pattern for first 6 rows

Continue in STST.  If required, change colour to seperate ribbed band.

STST for 6 rows.
  If you are adding a letter, then start it on the next
  row (should be a knit row) and work as required.
STST for a further 6 rows

Now, on each knit row, work the first and last 10 stitches like this:-

* K2 K2Tog K2 K2Tog K2

Continue until there are 10 stitches, then on the next knit row:-

* K2Tog to end

Break yarn, tie off stitches.

Make a pompom, sew up the hat and there you have it

It’s a PDF, so simply download it, print it out and get busy knitting

To be clear, I haven’t played Uncharted 2 (UC2) to completion. I’ve played a number of chapters looking for Treasures and I’ve had to face the various foes that have been thrown my way in the process, so I have a pretty good idea of the game play etc.

UC2 builds on the excellent foundation of UC. The graphics are amazing, the sound is great and the game play continues where UC left off. There are some new moves and a slight emphasis on being stealthy (the crunch of your targets neck is oh so satisfying ) which just add to an already impressive array of moves and options.

I can’t say too much more without feeling like a broken record as I’ve just written a review of Uncharted… suffice to say, it is just like UC, but better in every way.

For example, the treasure hunt… like UC, hidden throughout the levels are a collection of treasures. These unlock bonus material and of course contribute quite substantially to the trophy collection. Unlike UC however, they can be hidden in high up places, only accessible after being shot down. And of course, many of them are secreted away in the most difficult to reach places in the levels. Doesn’t sound like a big change, but it does make it more fun when you get around to the treasure hunt.

Fighting… as I’ve mentioned, there is a stealthy element to the game, with some nice new moves to accommodate it. There are also new weapons, such as the riot shield… grab it, hide behind it and face your enemies head on, peeping out from the thing to pop them in the head. You can also aim grenades without peeking from your cover like you had to in the original. Again, minor tweak but it does add to the already great game play.

In conclusion, I gave Uncharted a maximum score of 10. To really do UC2 justice in comparison to UC, I should really give it a maximum of 11 as it really does take the Uncharted world to the next level. A fantastic next step in what I can only hope is a long series of games.

When the original Playstation was around, there was only one game to play if you wanted to run around in deserted places solving ancient puzzles… that was of course Tomb Raider. Unfortunately, I’m guessing because of publisher pressure, the game lost what made it great after number 4 was released. 5 was just a bit too short if I recall correctly, and it’s outings on the PS2… best not to mention them (with one notable exception… Anniversary, which is of course a major rework of the original Tomb Raider). Why shouldn’t we mention them… simply because they lacked what made the game great on the Playstation. The control schema changed to accomodate more moves… the puzzles didn’t seem as tough… the games weren’t as long… I can’t quite put my finger on it, but they just didn’t cut it. So for many years now, we’ve been waiting for a game to take up the mantle and fill the void, and well… in my opinion at least, that game (or series of games) is here.

Welcome Uncharted: Drakes Fortune.

For those of you who are long time Playstation gamers, you will no doubt remember such classics as Crash Bandicoot and Jak and Daxter, produced by Naughty Dog. Well, they are the team responsible for Uncharted… a bit of a departure from Crash and Jak, but what a departure

I’ve owned this game for ages, but I’ve never played it. It took watching a friend play through Uncharted 2 to get me in the mood, and well… was I in the mood! I’ve just finished playing through for the first time on the Hard difficulty (if you play through on hard, you will earn the first 3 difficulty trophies and unlock the Crushing difficulty level, which I’m now playing through). It is hard. Your enemies take a while to kill, at times ammo is almost extinct and you yourself… a few shots and your on your way to an early grave.

So, what makes me think Uncharted can fill the enormous boots of the original Tomb Raider games… well, lets see…

First up the environment… the gaming environment is huge and the detail is amazing. The vegetation sways in the wind, you can almost swim in the rivers and waterfalls, and you can hear everything from the birds in the trees to the roar of the ocean waves. Now this is nothing new I know, but it just makes the game that bit more engaging and believable. And best of all, it doesn’t appear to be as constrained by an arbitrary grid as Tomb Raider does, meaning the surfaces and faces you walk and climb on can be curved, like real cliffs for example.

The Story… you play the part of Nathan Drake, a distant relative of Sir. Francis Drake, on his quest to uncover El Dorado using clues left by Sir. Francis. The plot starts on a boat as Nathan recovers Sir. Francis’ coffin from the ocean floor only to find it contains his journal, and our adventure begins.

The puzzles… whilst there aren’t that many puzzles, this doesn’t detract from the game play as you’ll very often be looking for routes through the environment and the best way to despatch those that stand between you and the ultimate prize. The puzzles that are there rely on you decoding the information in Sir. Francis’ journal to get the solution. Once you have it, you’ll probably have to battle the environment to reach a successful conclusion. In short, one of the things that made Tomb Raider great is back in abundance in Uncharted.

The graphics and sound… as I’ve stated above, the sound is superb. Have one of your enemies throw a grenade near you… you’ll have ringing in your speakers just like it exploded a few feet from you. And well, the graphics… whilst they aren’t photorealistic (who needs that anyway), they are certainly filled with the atmosphere of the area you’re in. From misty mountain slopes in the forest to the dark dank depths of an old bunker, you certainly get the feel of being there.

Difficulty… I played through on Hard difficulty (it has Easy, Normal and Hard out of the box, with Crushing being unlocked when you complete the game on Hard). I played to complete it, not hunt for all the trophies and treasures, but in doing so I’ve scored about 60% of the trophies and two thirds of the treasures. It was hard. I had some major fights and died many times, but thanks to the checkpoints in game, I never lost too much progress. But, if you die in the middle of a big fight and you’re doing well… don’t expect it to go the same way when you are resurrected at the start of it… after a while I found some of the enemies changed their tactics, and in some cases you won’t restart where you thought you were, so be prepared. As I said, I’m currently playing through on Crushing difficulty and it is a major step above Hard in terms of how difficult it is. In hard, you can take quite a few shots before being close to death… in Crushing… one or two and you’re nearly in the resus room of the local hospital. The enemies are tougher and appear to be a better aim, so it promises to be a much tougher gaming experience the second time through.

There’s not too much more I can say. If you liked Tomb Raider and have been looking for a replacement, or if you’re new to the PS3 and fancy a game that has you thinking about puzzles, strategies (you’ll need them for some of the fights you’ll have) and whether to take the AK-47 with 26 bullets or the M-4 with 27 bullets, then give it a go. I can honestly say I’ve not enjoyed a Tomb Raider style game as much as this since I last played Tomb Raiders I, II and III many years ago. Truly an excellent game which is why I’m giving it full marks.

I pre-ordered my copy of LBP for the PSP from Amazon. It arrived on the day of release and that was it, I was set Prior to release I had read that they’d had to seriously chop the game down in order to squeeze it onto the PSP. The chops were apparently, a reduction in the number of depth levels from 3 to 1 and a lack of multiplayer facilities in game (understandable really when you consider there is only one set of controls and a comparatively slow processor in comparison to the PS3), so I was, to say the least, a little concerned about the game and how it would play out when compared to the PS3 version which I love so much.

But, I’m glad to say, I’ve not been disappointed.

I’ve lost count of how many hours I’ve been playing. Playing through levels, then going back and replaying them to get all the prizes and ace them and I still have a whole bunch to do. I’ve not tried creating anything yet, but I can say this…

The lack of multiplayer facilities hasn’t damaged the game, it’s still a great fun game to play, on your own (I play it in my downtime at work – I’m using the Pomodoro Technique so I play a while during the post-focus cooldown period) and the supposed reduction from 3 levels of depth to 1 hasn’t materialised… yes, the number of levels has been reduced… to 2. But to be honest, I haven’t really noticed it.

The levels themselves are pretty challenging, organised in the same way as the original game (as groups of levels created by various story characters), I’ve played my way through 31 (20 main and 11 mini) levels and I believe I still have one or two to go.

Graphically, it’s obviously not going to be up to PS3 standard, but it still looks great. Customising your character is a little more limited than the PS3, and creating levels is a little different since there is the concept of static and dynamic objects. Static objects stay where they are placed and cannot move during game play (a bit like stick something with a blob of dark matter) while dynamic objects can move (this is simply a mechanism to reduce the physics processing required to manage the level). There are no global options to control lighting (or at least if there are, I couldn’t find them) and sound effects are organised as individual items instead of being grouped into different speakers as they are in LBP.

Despite these changes though (which were to be expected given the massive gaping void that exists in terms of pure processing power between the PS3 and the PSP), it is a great game. So, if like me, you’d like to get a dose of LBP on the move, it’s well worth the investment.

Released on the 22nd December 2009, this is the first themed creators pack since the excellent Metal Gear Solid pack which of course provided the most excellent paint ball gun. This time around the theme is water.

Yes, thats right… Sackboy can swim

The pack contains some new creators tools in the form of new global options to control the water in the level, a global water object (similar to the global lighting object), a water switch and a scuba backpack allowing Sackboy to breath indefinitely underwater.

And to show off these new toys, a collection of 6 excellent levels based on Pirates of the Carribean.

All in all, an excellent addition to LBP. The new creator tools are great, and the themed levels are great fun, providing some new engaging game play and some good examples of what you can do.

My only complaint, I should point out that I’m not sure when these came in, is that some of the creators tools are now a pain in the butt. For example, setting the length of pistons etc. These used to be done using steps of 0.5. Now, they are done in steps of 1.0. You can still fine adjust things, but if, like me you work on logic using the medium grid, 2.5 and 7.5 are pretty common values and now setting them up takes a while longer than it used to.

But, minor gripe aside, this new content pack is well worth the small investment.

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