November 23, 2008

PHPNW '08

Today I’ve been out to PHPNW ’08, a web development conference at the Manchester Central Convention Complex (formerly the G-MEX). I was helping out so I had an early start, and was in Manchester for 8:30am. It got off to a great start, and over the day I met some great people and saw some familiar faces too.

One of the most interesting talks was the Getting Started with Zend Framework and the From HTML to Drupal in 30 Minutes (although it may have been better suited to 60 minutes!). I got a free T-shirt and some cool goodies too.

They’re one of the first conferences to utilise the http://joind.in/ service which helps attendees give feedback on the talks and can provide some constructive criticism to the speakers. It’s a really cool ‘Web 2.0′ idea, and I hope it takes off with many other conferences using it.

Encouraged by the great time I had today, I’ve booked a ticket for BarCamp Sheffield next weekend (the Sunday to be specific). If you see me there, feel free to say hi!

#barcampsheffield #php #phpnw #phpnw08

November 2, 2008

Far Cry 2

Well, it’s been a great week off for me, and what better way to end it than to get a fantastic new game! As usual, here’s a review…

Far Cry 2 is a game set in a fictional un-named African country, with a stunning varied landscape and a storyline which can go in many different ways. It comes from Ubisoft Montreal, the same guys who brought us Assassins Creed and Rainbow Six, both great games in their own right.

The open world is truly endless, original and varied. I’ve been through savannah, jungle and a whole lot more and that’s just the beginning. The realism of the game is much more than any other. For example, if you pick up an old gun off the floor and use it a lot, it’ll get jammed. You can unjam it and continue using it. However if you keep using it, you risk it blowing up in your hands.

You can also set off forest fires, which is pretty funny. Blow up a car, use a flamethrower or throw a molotov into trees and before long you’ll have a fire burning, and spreading rapidly too! (more…)

#far cry #reviews #xbox 360