Always enjoy the baby steps at Level 1

I installed the 70+GB of Destiny 2 just to get the first-hand experience of one of the most popular games out there.

Verdict: Brilliant game but I won’t be investing time into it right now.  Looking at my Library, I can haven’t even touched Mad Max, Game of Thrones and barely into the storyline of Mafia III, Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice or The Heavy Rain™.

The abundance of rich gaming choices is a wonderful testament to the scale of the industry.  I’m heading back to the simple, quick but fun 8 GB HELLDIVERS™ before re-installed The Division for next weeks runaround.

Destiny 2 – meeting the baddies
Destiny 2 – taking some time to enjoy Level 1

Cheesing it

Minimum effort for maximum gain is the basic formula for any investor.  Specialist areas like Dark Web, Cryptocurrency and The Division attract mavericks running routines that do just that.  At the moment, I’m investing a fair amount of time running easy missions (rinse and repeat cycles) on The Division Global Event to earn points to buy classified gear and it’s paying off nicely.

Tom Clancy’s The Division – rinse and repeat

Cryptocurrency efforts have been thinned by real-life challenges and Dark Web is basically ignored for now.  IRL the 90+°F daily heat wave is messing up my balance but I’m still going to focus on a Christmas escape to Florida this year, nuff planning needed.

Re-inventing yourself

The serious business of Gaming has not gone unnoticed by the global powerhouses like Microsoft.  Gaming is one of the six massive investment areas that the tech giant is focusing on and it makes me laugh when individuals jab at my lifelong indulgence on this “not so niche” area of computing.

Source: Microsoft

In the meantime, this weekend I took some time to level up my 3rd character in readiness for the next Global Event in The Division. It’s always fun starting from scratch and it gives me a good excuse to opt-out of real life.  I was joined by a few friends along the way and avoided toxic or youth gamers.

Tom Clancy’s The Division – Ready for the Global Event

In a way, I guess we re-invent ourselves in real life to suit the situation and our personal goals all the time.

 

Solo runs

My love for single player games continues; this skillset is particularly fruitful in a real-life Person versus Environment (PvE) situation. This morning I arrive at Gatwick Airport knowing I had just one hour to get to the terminal gate.

Navigating major airport terminals during summer holidays is challenging if you don’t anticipate the delays and have a countermeasure in mind. Also, any Network specialist will tell you that the last ‘hop’ is often the most problematic.

Airport terminal log – target Gate arrival time 11:20

10:30 arrive at Gatwick by train
10:40 arrive at terminal monorail shuttle 
transfer (Primary service)
Delay 1 - (Service failure)Terminal train 
out of service transferred to slow buses.
10:45 arrive at terminal
10:50 Checked-in luggage (I don’t normally do this)
10:55 Arrive at security check
Delay 2 - (Slow Service) Carry-on luggage 
selected for ‘random’ check
11:05 Cleared to proceed to gateway
Delay 3 - Gate allocated at 15 mins walk 
11:10 Arrive at Gate sweating and panting
11:30 Actually boarding plane
Delay 4 - Sitting on runway 
waiting for flight slot
12:14 Flight actually takes off

Flight departure scheduled for 11:55 and there no compensation or anything I can do about it except bitch and blog.

Tom Clancy’s The Division – the downside of Server side gaming
Hazards and delays avoided
Heavy or cumbersome hand luggage 
Travel document misplaced 
Gadgets misplaced 
Fast steady pace walk pass all NPCs 
(In real life - families, groups,tourists, 
airport staff walking the opposite way and 
folk who arrived early)
Shopping queues 
No window shopping 
No phone calls
No App checking
No SMS or VoIP 
No other players
...single player runs are definitely faster

Mission accomplished – Side effects

Elevated blood pressure 
Massive adrenaline surge
No time to think
No last minute detours
Hight chance of verbal conflict

Countermeasure

Arrive 2 hours ahead of time. 
(Problem: 4 out 5 EasyJet flights delayed)
ABSOLVER – Time to relax

Chaos can raise its head rapidly. Are you prepared?

Winter version is similar with the added bonus of being able to use your coat to conceal a second carry-on bag avoiding the additional fee….whoops, did I say that out loud.

Duties and Achievements

After 434 in-game days, I’ve finished the last story mode chapter of FallOut 4.  It’s been a nice long read and a pleasant range of endings.  As a completist, I’m drawn to the final few trophy hunts one of which is aptly named  “They’re not Dolls”.

So far my bobblehead collection contains  
Charisma
Energy weapons
Medicine
Melee
Perception
Repair
Speech
Explosive
Small Guns
Intelligence
Luck

Searching for

Sneak
Science
Big guns
Barter
Endurance
Lock Picking
Strength
Unarmed
Agility
Tom Clancy’s The Division – Pulling us back to NY

This is gaming

Simple Gameplay

The Directive on security of network and information systems (the NIS Directive) was adopted by the European Parliament on 6 July 2016 and entered into force in August 2016. Member States have to transpose the Directive into their national laws by 9 May 2018.

Naturally, this law has been sidelined in favour of the more popular GDPR which was entered into force on the 25 May 2018.

Maybe it’s “too” technical or doesn’t have a good acronym. I’ll just call it DENIS (DirectivE on security of Network and Information Systems) to keep it simple.

Two new Laws that just made things a little bit more complicated, but wait, there’s a shortage of InfoSec experts and salaries are not rising in proportion to the work, and wait, the InfoSec profession is 90% male or has all the industry reports suddenly fallen to the bottom of the agenda.

Cute little single player game INSIDE has got me laughing and panicking at the same time as I play the role of a boy escaping Big Brother….it kinda feels like Orwell’s 1984 vision.  The simple game design is what makes it an absolute winner in the era of 20 bottom combination moves.

INSIDE – Simple but brilliant gameplay