The legendary Hemi 265 Charger. Hear it scream.

I'm not sure that this post needs words as such.   Simply watching the video- especially around the 30-second mark- is enough to send tingles down the spine of all true Mopar fans. Even if you don't have pentastar-blood running though your veins, you just can't beat the sound of an Australia Charger with a Hemi 265 (4.3L) straight-six...

Call of Duty 4: top tips for Claymore fun

As you may have read in my previous article claymores are my friends, I just can't get enough of the little fellas in Call of Duty 4. I have experimented by placing claymores in all kinds of locations, and have employed many different tactics along the way. Here are some of my favourite top tips for claymore fun!

• Unexpected location strategy. I like to place the claymores in seemingly-random spots, usually where they can be partially obscured by grass. This provides a nice surprise for enemies who carelessly dash between supposed empty/safe sections of the map. By the time they see the claymore it's usually too late.
  
• Fall-back ambush strategy. When approaching a firefight, I often prepare for a possible retreat by placing a few claymores along the way. Point them in the direction you are traveling. Just around corners and along narrow laneways are obvious choices. Enter the firefight as usual, but if you feel the tide turning against you start backing away in a fighting retreat. Alternatively you can turn and run- that will work as a lure too. The enemy usually can't resist chasing you, and with his attention firmly focused on finishing you off he will inevitably miss your little insurance policy. Until it blows up in his face that is.
  
• Cover your tracks strategy. Slightly different to the fall-back ambush strategy in that you face the claymores away from your direction of travel. Very reassuring if you end up in a battle to know that you won't be caught from behind. You know what I mean.
  
• Block all entrances strategy. An old favourite for snipers and campers. Simply find a nice safe location with only a few entrances, then claymore the heck out of them. The first you'll know about an enemy attack is a large explosion and 10+ points on your score.

(image from mocoloco.com)

Tracking delivery of my VW Golf GTI

Thanks to Wallenius Wilhelmsen's excellent tracking website, I was able to see exactly how (and when) my Golf MkV GTI travelled across the world from Germany to Australia.  To perform the query all I needed was my GTI's VIN number.  I've included a picture of the results below (VIN number and some other details have been removed! :)

I thought it would be interesting to go on a virtual-tour by visualising the trip using Google Maps.  My 2007 3-door GTI was manufactured at Volkswagen's sprawling Wolfsburg factory in Jan 07.

View Larger Map

It was then transported across Germany from Wolfsburg to Bremerhaven

View Larger Map

In mid-Feb at Bremerhaven it was loaded aboard Wallenius Wilhelmsen's ship MIGNON

View Larger Map


And was then transported to Sydney Australia, arriving at the end of March 

View Larger Map

Finally, the GTI was transported 300km from Sydney to Canberra. 

View Larger Map

...where it remains today.  All pretty fascinating, don't you think?

Guitar Hero: aging disgracefully, or better than ever?

The Guitar Hero series would have to rank as some of the greatest games ever made. Simple to learn, but fiendishly hard to complete (on expert difficulty), the games have something for everyone. I was hooked after playing Guitar Hero II on Playstation 2, and thought that I would never make it beyond medium difficulty. Well, it wasn't long before I was working my way up through hard and expert, and seeking more songs I purchased a copy of the original Guitar Hero. Another great game with an excellent selection of classic songs, although the controls did seem a little unforgiving compared to Guitar Hero 2 (they must have finessed them for the sequel). I loved every minute of GH1. Actually, perhaps not every minute... trying to beat Cowboys from Hell on expert still makes me want to throw my guitar through the TV.

Anyway, my (elusive) main point is that since Guitar Hero 2, I think the series may have lost its way. Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s was a disappointment... at first. Nothing much had changed since GH2, except for the deletion of bonus tracks. Not a good start. However things rapidly improved, with the inclusion of some fantastic songs. Wrathchild by Iron Maiden anyone? The top-notch tracks were the saviour of GHE:RT80s. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, however, went right off the rails. The fundamentals were all still there, and the track list was decent, but the game just didn't have the same feel as the prequels. The one-liners and tips that appear during the game weren't funny anymore, and the in-game graphics had undergone a wholly unnecessary makeover. Why did new-GH-developer Neversoft mess with a winning formula? Why couldn't original-GH-developer Harmonix crank out one more Guitar Hero themselves before moving on to Rock Band? And while I'm asking questions, why am I still stuck on 31/40 songs completed (expert mode) in Guitar Hero 2?

So many questions...