Music in the Final Fantasy Series

I recently came across an old hard drive with a lot of music that I must have "acquired" about 5-6 years ago and I've only now had a chance to properly go through it and it seems a big chunk of it is actually tracks from the various Final Fantasy games. It made me have a think about the franchise in general and I came to the conclusion that lately it sucks! Something I never thought I'd say or think possible about 10 years ago.

After I got over the shock of it all, I realized that while the direction the franchise has taken might be questionable, the one thing that rarely, if ever isn't top notch quality, is the music.

Nobuo Uematsu has been the leading man for Square pretty much since their inception back in the 80's and while he might not actually work for the company anymore he still scores for them, has produced some amazing music that was probably too good for video games and is the quality worthy of big screen movies.

I remember as a kid a lot of people turned their nose up at the Final Fantasy series because it wasn't fast paced action like most other games on the market but I think anyone who appreciates orchestrated music will find something they like in the soundtracks to these games, even if the game doesn't seem interesting to you. Square Enix really set a bar when it came to the quality expected for music in video games, something I always believed was a mechanism they used to execute the story where the graphics might not have been able to express the emotion required to really enjoy a scene in a game. This is something that isn't so apparent in games today thanks to HD graphics but it can be seen from the perspective that a lot of companies (including Square Enix themselves) believe that thanks to better graphics, they don't need solid gameplay and a good story to make a good game which is absolutely wrong but that's a different blog all together!

For those of you that might not know what Final Fantasy is(shame on you!) or have never played/heard the music I suggest you check out some tracks, for those of you that have played it I suggest you go back and listen to some old classics!

Here are a few tracks, in no particular order I suggest that can most definitely be found on YouTube.

1. Final Fantasy X - Suteki da ne (Orchestral)
2. Final Fantasy VI - Forever Rachel (Orchestral)
3. Final Fantasy VIII - Eyes on Me
4. Final Fantasy XI - Battle in the Dungeon
5. Final Fantasy XI - Battle in the Dunegon 2
6. Final Fantasy XI - Mhuara
7. Entire Tour De Japon Concert
8. Final Fantasy VII - Aeris' Theme
   
9. Final Fantasy IX - Kuja's Theme

I could literally keep naming off songs but those are some of my personal favorites that come to mind straight away.

FIFA 11 Review

Having the ability to re-release the same game with minimal updates every year and not only get away with it but top the charts every time is like a dream come true to a developer and publisher and that's how things work for EA with the FIFA series and 11 is no different.

Loved

• The Personality+ system really makes the game feel a lot more realistic and sometimes it can feel like you're really watching that player move around in the game
• The UI update while offering the same functionality as past games has had graphical change which is welcome. The Manager Mode UI is also much easier to navigate and isn't as slow as FIFA 09
• Finally being able to play as a goalkeeper!

Hated

• The music in the FIFA series hasn't been up to scratch since 98' in my opinion and this version isn't any different, I don't think I recognised one song.
• For some reason EA decided to remove the majority of managerial duties from the Manager Mode. Pretty much all you can do now is buy and sell players.
• A lot of the commentary has been reused from FIFA 10 which was very disappointing.
• Penalties are now impossible, no matter what you do it sails into orbit.
  

3 new features have been added, rosters and jerseys have been updated and some of the old features have been tweaked which mixes things up for the hardcore fanbase who have been following the series religiously but the average gamer probably isn't going to notice any of it which is why I'd only recommend the game to newcomers. Personally I think EA should really be releasing these as DLC updates every year because at it's core, FIFA 11 is the same game as FIFA 08/09/10 with a new paint of coat over it.

Improvements I'd like to see in Borderlands 2

Borderlands is just over a year out at this stage and Gearbox have released 3 DLC packs with another one to be released in a few weeks. I originally played it on PC at launch and I got bored of it very quickly. It's only in the last few weeks that my cousin decided to buy it for the 360 and I ended up playing it with him too and for some reason I enjoyed it a lot more the second time around.

We're currently working through the Secret Armoury DLC pack and should be finished soon.

Gearbox have said that the next pack is to be the last which brings up a lot of speculations and rumours that they might be working on a sequel. As much as I'm enjoying the game it definitely does have it's faults. So what would I like to see added/removed/changed?

• Ammo and cash should automatically be picked up if it can be used instead of having to pick up each clip individually.
  
• Better collision detection for vehicles. So many times I've nudged a wall and gotten stuck in the scenery.
• Make it easier to distinguish between gun types.
• Instead of having set characters, let the player create their avatar and then choose a class.
  
• Bigger variety and more distinct differences in classes. (Healer/Gunner/Engineer/Ranged etc)
  
• Ability for players to be in different zones in the same game.
  
• Better level scaling.
• Player pets. (Claptrap, Rakk or Skag could have different pros/cons)
• Better overall story.
• Add an auction house or trading post system to swap equipment with different players
  
• Add a crafting system.
• Add a World Map and a personal waypoint system.

People might argue that what I'm really looking for is an MMO but I think Gearbox are really on to something with this sub-genre FPS-RPG and this would be a good way forward for them.

It probably won't be long until we find out if they truly are working on the sequel, my bets are that we will get an announcement at E3 next year at the latest (or maybe even PAX this year?) We have the next DLC to look forward to first anyway!

Impressions after using the iPhone 4 for a week

With the iPhone 4 officially released in Ireland last week I couldn't help myself and picked one up. I'm glad to say that I'm unable to recreate the "death grip" on my phone, before or after updating to iOS 4.0.1 but thats not to say that there is reception issues with the phone. Since changing to the iPhone I have noticed that the bars on my phone are a lot lower than that of my last phone (which was a HD2) I've only experienced one dropped call and that was on a train in the middle of the countryside which would have happened on any phone.

I have to say I'm really in love with the design of the phone, it's even nicer to look at in person than it is in pictures. The retina display is also a treat, best screen I've ever seen. Everything really comes out crisp and clear. Battery life is quite good too, heavy use gets you about a day. Charging is fairly quick. Looking at about 1-2 hours for a full charge.

Can't really say much about the apps since there are so many. My last phone was WinMo6 which sucked donkey balls for choice (and price) changing to a platform with so many options in the app department is great. I've spent a few hours every so often browsing the free sections of the iTunes store which has some useful stuff.

So for anyone who might have been on the fence about getting this phone, I can tell you that I haven't been disappointed and I suggest to pick it up.

iOS4 to get an update to fix reception issues?

So Apple have finally come forward to officially address the reception issues that iPhone 4 users have been complaining about and it turns out, at least according to them, that there is no issue.

Apples open letter describes that the problem is actually with the software and how it calculates how many bars to show depending on the reception in the area, they go on to explain that this was also present in older models of the iPhone because they all used the same formula. The software update will use a more precise calculation that they have obtained from AT&T.

You can read the entire letter here on Gizmodo but the gist of it really is that Apple won't admit that after extensive testing from many different reputable blogs and websites that there is a design flaw with its antenna and while this software update is going to more realistically display the reception of the phone, people who have been experiencing issues are going to continue to do so.

iPhone 4 issues

So the iPhone 4 has sold 1.7 million in 3 days probably making it the fastest selling phone ever created but this time around Apple have been getting a lot of complaints, the majority being that the phone loses reception if held in a certain way. Personally I can't imagine how a flaw as huge as that got through Apples QA processes. It's not as if you have to hold the phone in a very awkward position to replicate it, most people are going to notice the problem.

Apparently the issue is because the silver band which covers all sides of the phone is actually the antenna when it comes in contact with skin it dampens the signal, this isn't a problem in most phones because the antenna are usually on the inside of the phone.

Steve Jobs has given mixed responses to some people who've emailed him, he has supposedly said that it isn't an issue and not to hold the phone that way, most recently he said that it isn't an issue and to "stay tuned". Another "fix" is to buy a bumper case which Apple sell which covers the sides of the phone in rubber.

People speculated that this means that Apple are going to release a software update which will resolve the issue but I wonder if this is even possible? I was considering picking up the iPhone because its specs are impressive and the phones design is beautiful but until this issue is fixed or even officially addressed by Apple, there's not a chance a lot more people are going to pick it up.

For potential buyers, best case scenario; It can be fixed via software update. Worst case? Next years model will fix it. People who already own it, I would return it and demand my money back.

Another problem I've heard about is the phone shatters very easily when dropped due to the new glass that in the design. Apple have gone on record saying that it's less likely to scratch but the materials used to accomplish this actually weaken the overall integrity of the glass as a whole which means it's less likely to survive a fall than older models.

So at the end of the day, buying the bumper case which Apple are extorting $30 for seems to be required if you want the phone to work and survive which is a pity because the new design is too nice to hide.

A year old!

It just dawned on me today that the blog must be a year old by now, checking back on the posts it seems I was right, officially we a year and and 18 days old! I know that I've have been neglecting things around here a bit in recently months but I can't believe that it's been going for that long.

Here's to many more!

Is the iPad worth it?

It seems like every tech site on the internet is covering the imminent launch of the iPad which for those of you in America is only a few hours away. I've been keeping an eye on the news in the last few days and I've read some of the reviews so I've decided to weigh in and give my opinion on the matter.

I'd be lying if I hadn't thought about ordering an iPad for myself, I've been quietly waiting for Microsofts Courier to be officially announced and released since it was leaked last year and as of right now the iPad is probably the closest thing to that, but I've been burned by Apple before which is why I've decided to wait. I got caught up in the hype of the iPhone when it originally launched back in 2008 and picked one up.

The phone was epic for it's multi-touch gestures and accelerometer but that was it really, no app store, poor iTunes connectivity and very buggy software. A year later they released the 3G and then the 3GS slowly adding new things. If they'd have released the 3G/S first, I probably wouldn't be writing this now. That is why I'm going to wait because I'm sure the same thing is going to happen with the iPad too.

Apple made a huge mistake not allowing flash support on this device. I think they got away with it on the iPhone (barely I might add) because it was a mobile phone but the iPad is supposed to be a Tablet PC. Apple have effectively blocked a good chunk of the internet thanks to this move, something which has downright stopped me from ordering one. I've seen some of the tech demos out there for HTML5 and it really is looking impressive but until it takes off and becomes widespread, the iPad is missing something too big to ignore. It's my opinion that the only reason Apple choose to block Flash is because of it's development capabilities. Why would you bother going through the process of getting your application approved by Apple when you could just post it online with Flash and let people use it that way?

I know a lot of people will tell you that Apple products are ridiculously overpriced and that you're paying for the brand name, not the actual product and they're right, $500 is a lot of money for what is, in reality a glorified iPhone/Touch XL. My main reason behind considering one is the application development, something I will definitely be playing around with in the near future and the possibilities open up even more with an iPhone XL, more space to do cool things.

In the end though I will be waiting until the iPad G or whatever the next iteration is going to be called comes out some time next year with the improvements and lower price tag before I think about getting it again, maybe by that time the Courier will be released.

So is the iPad worth it? No.

Official Final Fantasy XIV YouTube Channel is up!

Square Enix have opened up a Final Fantasy XIV YouTube channel which can be found here

There's only one video up at the moment but it's full of new gameplay (new to me anyway!)

The video brought back a lot of memories of FFXI to me. I think with the races being the same in both games, it just all seems very familiar but new at the same time. The locations shown in the video looked very promising, everything looked very grand and with what I'm imagining will be the theme song to the game being played in the background I'm sure it will be epic.

Unfortunately I had no clue what they were talking about but thanks to ZAM you can get the translation here

I hope that the game is still set for release this year, I'm definitely looking forward to getting my hands on it

Final Fantasy XIII Review Scores

I've been certain for the last few years that it's very hard to trust the scores that websites and magazines give to high profile games, simply because I'm convinced they are payed off in some sense to give it favorable reviews. Today IGN wrote what I thought was a very fair review and gave it a score it deserved. Unfortunately they picked a game I had the high hopes for to give a low score.

I've already had people come back at me with saying that 8.3 isn't a bad score for a game. Normally I would agree; A lot of people and a lot of developers would be happy to get above 8 but I don't think there has been a numbered Final Fantasy that has ever gone below 9 on its first-time review (remakes don't count!) which what upsets me I guess.

From what I've gathered, there isn't really a "Bad Guy" like Sephiroth. There aren't any NPC's to interact with and no towns to explore. Basically, it seems like they took out all the RPG elements (much like Bioware did to ME2) and have made it more of an action game.

Yeah I know this post doesn't really have a point, you might say that this is my way of venting on the subject. I just read EDGE's review and they gave it a 5/10. Stating the same issues I mentioned above :(

The game isn't out till Tuesday and I'll definitely be picking it up regardless of bad reviews. I just hope that I enjoy it as much as I have the others in the franchise, it can't be much worse than Final Fantasy X-2....can it?



Expect a review once I get my hands on it!

Mass Effect 2 Review

I could literally sum this up in a sentence, actually in a word. Epic. Bioware are blessed to have such a great writing staff on hand because their last few games have been amazingly pieced together with great stories and Mass Effect 2 is no different.

I don't want to spoil the game for anyone so I'll try my best to keep them out.

The Good

• Amazing Storyline

The story was mind blowing to me, it's so much darker than the first and basically begs for the sequel without leaving the player not satisfied.

• Improved Game Mechanics

Bioware have been saying from the beginning that they went back and retooled everything based on player feedback from the first game and it's hard not to see their work. The aiming and guns feel a lot better and more responsive and accurate.

The conversation system has been completely upgraded now to include Paragon/Renegade actions as well as good guy/bad guy conversations. Some of them are really amazing. I think this is the closest they've come to morality and hopefully they can only improve on it for the next game.

• More interesting characters

While Mass Effect 1 had a good crew, the crew of the 2nd are 10x better. They feel more real and I found myself actually wanting to hear what they all had to say instead of just trying to chat up the women (which I did too naturally :P)

• Better side quests

I didn't do a lot of side quests in Mass Effect 1 because they weren't really all that interesting, I guess it's something that Bioware worked on too because they are a lot more impressive in this and some of them could have been a main story in itself.

The Bad
Unfortunately there are some bad parts to the game, most of which isn't really the fault of Bioware but more a platform issue. I can only speak for the Xbox 360 version which is what I played.

• RPG elements are gone

I wonder if EA had anything to do with this. A lot of the RPG elements that made up the first game have either been removed or extremely toned down. Less abilities to level up, health system changed to rechargeable shield system and no visible stats for weapons and only minimal stats on armor.

• Bring back the old UI!

Along with removing the RPG stuff, they've also changed the UI. I can only speak for myself but the I found it nearly impossible to keep track of my teams health. They were either getting hit or dead and I usually only noticed they were dead if they let out a scream. The mail system was a nightmare to go through, sometimes it would skip over buttons, or sometimes it'd be impossible to read the mail since the right stick was too sensitive to scroll through them.

• Loading times

A lot of people were very frustrated by extremely long elevator rides from the first game so Bioware decided to take them out, now instead of looking at extremely long elevator rides, we just get extremely long animated wallpapers. At one point in the game I was having trouble and kept dying which would have been fine except that the game had to load for 40-60 seconds each time it happened which was a nightmare.

• Framerate issues

Thankfully Bioware managed to get rid of the Unreal Engines mascot aka texture popping for this one but there was one major problem towards the end of the game. The framerate of the game goes to 15-17 frames a second at certain sections of the last boss. There was also a problem with the ending cutscene. It switches between pre-rendered and in-game scenes every few seconds which made the pre-rendered scenes stutter when they started.

The Verdict
There are very little problems with Mass Effect and the problems I listed really were only an Xbox problem (I never thought to install the game at the time so next playthrough I'll be doing that to test if those framerate issues are still there) but the game itself storywise and gameplay-wise make it a must have game. I simply can't wait for the third game which is hopefully not that far away. I just hope they take another stab at the UI and maybe add back some of the RPG elements.

Score: 9.5/10

What I've been up to

As some of you might know, I'm currently stuck at home with tonsillitis. I've taken the time to overhaul a few things and make some plans to upgrade my home network.

As I mentioned in my last post I've finally figured out that damn problem with the mixed up " and @ keys which has made working on the Mac so much easier. I know it sounds like such a stupid thing but when you've spent 10 years with them that way, it's hard to break the habit!

I used to think Mac's were crap but I've come around to them now and I actually really like the OS but unfortunately there are some Windows only programs that I need to do my work. I was using Bootcamp for a while but it was such a nightmare having to reboot and switch between the both. I'm currently testing out VMware Fusion 3 which so far has been working wonders, I've used Virtual PC before so I knew the drill. The most important thing though is VMware supports 3D acceleration which I need for some of the applications I use for college work.

I installed Windows XP and got each of the programs working without any issues.

I'm currently planning out a home server for the house. I'd like to be able to stream content all over the house without having to leave my computer on, I'm currently leaning towards using Windows Home Server for the OS and using spare parts from old computers I've picked up over the years. From what I've read it will run well (as long as I don't plan on streaming HD content straight away) on the parts I've got. The major thing I need to invest in is storage space for backups and hosting my media.

Last but not least I've discovered two amazing things (one thanks to my cousin, the other thanks to Google) Groove Shark and Mozilla Prism.

Groove Shark is basically the YouTube equivalent for the internet radio industry. It runs much like Last.fm but instead of charging you to listen to the music, they let you listen for free but offer VIP services that gets rid of some annoying ads and offers you a bigger library. So far I haven't had any problems finding a song I like.

One thing I really hate is having to keep Firefox open for web applications so Prism is like a godsend to me. It lets you make a stand alone program out of web applications that can collapse to the taskbar. It means that if your browser crashes (as they do) the radio or game you are using isn't going to crash with it. I highly recommend checking it out.

So that's what I've been up to the last few days. Mass Effect 2 tomorrow and then STO next week. Those plus college is going to keep me very busy!

Apple iPad Impressions

So it's finally been announced. We've known about it for month's but now the iPad is official and I've to be honest. It's a bit of a disappointment. First the Nexus 1, then the HP Tablet and now the iPad.

Software wise it met all my expectations. We knew it would run on some kind of hybrid iPhone OS and we weren't wrong. All those iPhone apps are still going to work without any issues, they're just going to look very small (apparently it will have a zoom function that will make the apps look bigger but will lose visual quality)

My biggest gripe is the physical design of it. That big black border around the screen makes it look horrible! I think 99% of the concepts different websites came up with had the screen extending to the absolute edge, similar to the iPhone and iPod touch. I guess the reason for that could be that they simply couldn't fit the hardware in to such a small place but that begs the question, why didn't they make the screen bigger then? It's supposed to be a 9.7" capacitive touch screen, an extra .3 inches could have made a huge difference aesthetically (to me at least)

I'm sure by the time the next iteration of it is released sometime next year they'll have redesigned it to be more streamlined as Apple do with all their products.

The most exciting thing that comes to mind now for the iPad is the development of iPad applications which I'm guessing will have an extremely, if not identical process to that of the iPhone via the App Store. Being a bit of a programmer myself this is where I think the iPad could potentially shine just like it's little brother.

I think I'll definitely be waiting till next year to pick up the revised version after all the initial bugs and problems have been kicked.

Welcome to 2010

Hey all. Happy New Year

I know I've been away for a while. As I've said a million times by now, college has had me busy and it hasn't changed so I haven't had the chance to update as much as I'd like to.

Modern Warfare 2 has started to get a bit old which I expected to happen, I've been playing the multiplayer for about 2 months now and it's been fun so I think its run the course.

Mass Effect 2 is coming out in a few weeks which I'm really looking forward to playing. "Santa" brought me a Sony eBook Reader for Christmas and the first book I got for it was the first Mass Effect Novel which is a prequel to the game and has been great so far. I plan on playing through the first Mass Effect again after finishing the book and then if I have time I'll pick up the second novel which is a sequel.

STO's beta is still in full force. Apparently the NDA has been lifted which means we can talk about it and I do plan on talking about the state of the game very soon. I've actually decided to take a break from testing because I don't want to ruin the game for myself at launch.

I ordered a new phone today called the HTC HD2 which should be here on Monday, I'll write up a first impressions on it when it comes.

So I hope everyone had a good Christmas and plan on having a great new year.

Christmas is nearly here!

So Christmas is just around the corner, I wish I could use it as the excuse as to why I've been away but the honest truth is, I've been too busy. I've said this a few times in my last few blogs but it's the truth. I'm having a hard time juggling my time between games, college and having some sort of a social life.

STO is currently chin deep in beta which is moving along smoothly, open beta isn't too far off either. I really wish I could talk about it but as I've said before, the NDA is in effect and I don't want to get on the bad side of Cryptic because I really want to keep playing :P

2010 is looking to be a great year for games we've got Mass Effect 2 in January, Star Trek Online in February, Final Fantasy XIII and White Knight Chronicles in March as well as some that don't have a solid date.

I went to the open day of the college I'm hoping to switch to next year on Saturday and it was really cool. The building, the people and the general atmosphere of the place was awesome. After talking to a few of the people currently in the course as well as the lecturers it just looks like the place for me.

Christmas break is coming up soon which means I'll be able to chillax and get my gaming on. I plan on replaying Mass Effect and going through all the side quest content just in time for Mass Effect 2's release and maybe I'll even finish Dragon Age, you never know!

Cya all later and again I'm sorry for not writing too much lately!

Bit late to the party

So Star Trek Online gets it's release date! I'm a bit annoyed that the EU has to wait 3 more days to play but I guess I'll survive.

February 5th!

I'm going to have a few projects to work on around that time so my playtime could be restricted until I get my midterm and then on to the summer holidays.

Modern Warfare 2 came out two nights ago and it's probably the reason why I haven't written this earlier. It's so damn addictive I can't stop playing it. Even when you ragequit, you find yourself back playing again within 5-10 minutes.

[SPOILERS]

It's been getting a lot of publicity because of it's violence, more specifically I think people are getting "upset" about the airport level. It is a bit on the nose and I'm sure there could be people who would take offense or be very upset by it but Infinity Ward gives you the opportunity to skip the level when you start the campaign and even warns you twice.

Basically you play as a terrorist. You get to shoot up an Airport of innocent people as an undercover CIA agent. You don't actually have to shoot anybody, you can just walk through the airport and let your terrorist friends do the dirty work so you can always say you didn't kill anyone.

Me on the other hand, I killed every last person and enjoyed it. It's a game and no I don't have any homicidal thoughts and no, I'm not a terrorist. The game has an 18's (mature) rating for a reason. Infinity Ward do cover their asses at the end of the level though and the bad guy actually shoots you dead for your "bad deeds"

[END OF SPOILERS]

The multiplayer is fantastic and is a lot more fleshed out than CoD4. Better balance, more perks, more levels and loads of maps to play on. It will definitely keep people playing for years.

On a more personal level, I've handed in a few assignments and done a programming test, things are going good.

Cya later!

Leaked Screenshots of Halo Reach

It looks like Microsoft have a leak somewhere as 6 pictures of the next Halo game has been leaked.







Even though these pictures are a bit blurry, there are definitely some small details that stick out. Looks like some weapons are getting revamped, updated UI and even a bit of a graphical update by the looks of it.

Besides the teaser trailer Bungie released at E3 I believe, this is the first bit of information we've had since it was announced so big thanks to Tom Morello!

Been a while....

I just don't seem to have the time to update the blog anymore! I'm all over the place with the STO beta in full whack and college projects coming in left right and center it's been tough!

I got some feedback on my character design assignment from my teacher, just a few tweaks and a bit of padding and it's good to go. We got our first 3D assignment today, we've to replicate the Saturn V rocket (aka Apollo 11) as close as possible to the real thing. I spent 4 hours working on it today and it's looking close. Once I add a bit more detail and work on the texture it'll be cool.

I got bored during my Midterm and decided to play around with a very small website based on the LCARS system in Star Trek and it came out pretty well.

It got me thinking about redesigning my web design project to incorporate it but I'm not sure if I'll be allowed. We have to copy a magazine article as close as possible.

I'll ask the teacher when I get a chance but I've a feeling the answer is going to be no :(


I've been playing a bit of Borderlands too. I have to admit the first time I played it, I didn't think much. It really felt like a single player MMO grind fest which it is, it also made me feel motion sick (which happens to me sometimes with FPS games for some reason) so I thought enough was enough. I played again today with a few friends from AoA and really had a blast. For some odd reason playing the game in windowed mode stopped me from getting motion sickness playing it

The game was still a grind fest but it was fun playing with other people.

I'm still playing Urban Dead (usually in class) and I'm finally getting to grasps with the whole thing. It really starts off slow, but once you get enough experience to get some skills things start to kick off.

I've also been testing STO and I really wish I could talk about it because there's so much to say! As soon as the NDA is lifted I'll have everything ready to go!

Modern Warfare 2 is also just around the corner. I'm thinking about picking it up on PC instead of the Xbox, I'm not sure though. I'll have to think about it.

I think that's all I got in me for now. Later!

My Poor Computer...

I think the announcement of the STO beta scared the living crap out of my PC because it's had nothing but problems since.

I somehow got a virus that completely disabled my PC, it installed something called "Antivirus System Pro" which wouldn't let me open Task Manager or anything that could be useful to stopping it because it was "infected", I managed to get rid of it after a few hours of desperate searching on forums and websites but it had already done its damage.

My sound card and network card wouldn't work after it. I tried uninstalling the drivers, reinstalling them, updating them. In the end it just made sense to wipe the computer and start fresh. I needed to clean my HDD anyway so I went ahead and did it.

I forgot to transfer a few files that I needed but overall all my media and important stuff was backed up on my external drive so no major harm done.

I love this music!

One thing I forgot to mention in my Uncharted 2 Demo was the quality of the music. Nate's Theme in particular is my favorite. One thing that Naughty Dog did brilliantly was have the soundtrack to the game stream constantly during menu's and loading screens.

It makes waiting for a multiplayer game that bit more bare-able

Check out Nate's Theme below