Click Here to check out the teaser trailer!

May 3, 2012 (London, UK) – Bethesda Softworks®, a ZeniMax® Media company, today announced The Elder Scrolls® Online, an MMO in development at ZeniMax Online Studios. The Elder Scrolls Online will be the first Elder Scrolls game to allow gamers to explore the legendary Elder Scrolls world with others.

The Elder Scrolls Online is being developed for PC and Mac under the leadership of industry veteran Matt Firor, who has spent the last two decades working in online game development. Details about the game are revealed in an exclusive cover story in Game Informer®’s June issue, which ships to subscribers and newsstands this month.

“We have been working hard to create an online world in which players will be able to experience the epic Elder Scrolls universe with their friends, something fans have long said they wanted,” said Matt Firor, game director ofThe Elder Scrolls Online. “It will be extremely rewarding finally to unveil what we have been developing the last several years. The entire team is committed to creating the best MMO ever made – and one that is worthy of The Elder Scrolls franchise.”

First on my list is the website, any of you guys who have followed HAC for some time now know I like to tinker with the site, the last update made it a lot more simple and clean, using some new fancy HTML5 code to get some snazzy effects in there. This style was fine for a while, but over the past month I’ve been working on something new, I haven’t even shown Caryan or David any of my designs yet, but once they give it the OK then expect some lovely new features to be popping up in the coming weeks.

Next up is videos, I’ve been a little absent from the YouTube videos for a few months, work got a little hectic for a while, but it’s all calming down now and I’m back on track. I’ve got a load of Shoot Many Robots I recorded last week with David, some more Left 4 Dead with Caryan, more Legend of Grimrock and maybe even some more Skyrim if i find the time. So there should be no shortage of videos in the coming weeks over on the YouTube channel.

Now onto the main event.. The Avengers, I’ll split this into two parts, one spoiler free and the second will be in spoiler tags as it’ll be only for folks who don’t mind spoilers or have already seen it.

For starters, it is amazing, I left the cinema (saw it in IMAX 3D for anyone who cares) with out any negative thoughts other than the knowledge that it’ll be a while till the next movies. Joss Wheaton is a wizard of film, he took the cinematic heroes we know and love, Iron Man, Thor, HawkEye, Captain America, Black Widow and Hulk and wove them into an amazing tapestry of film. Not once did I feel like any of the actors were missing out on screen time, they all got their equal share and it just felt.. right.
The next thing I’d like to mention is that this is a funny movie, not just Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, but all the characters have laugh out loud moments, Iron Man had great humor but I didn’t go into the cinema to see The Avengers expecting the entire audience to be laughing out loud together through out the movie.
The last spoiler free point I shall make is that this film has little to no set up, don’t worry about having to sit through an hour of story building and character creation before the good stuff starts like in most super hero movies. The Avengers is a sequel to IronMan 2, Thor, Captain America and The Incredible Hulk, those films have already introduced the characters, back stories, plot devices and more, so The Avengers can jump right into the action with out being held back. This does mean that yes, you do need to see the aformentioned films before The Avengers, but that’s kind of a given..

Now for the spoiler section, I’ll shove this in special tags so just click the spoiler button below if you’ve seen the movie or don’t mind it being spoiled…

Spoilers over, and to sum it all up, it was a fantastic movie, one that I would recommend to anybody, comic fans or not. It’s defiantly at the top of my favorite films list both as a comic book movie and a film in general. Go watch it, and tell me what you think in the comments!

So this is the end of my rather nerdy ramblings for today, expect more soon with Fable Heroes coming to Xbox Live Arcade this week, and Minecraft next week, I’m sure i’ll have loads to talk about.

So I bring exciting news, or exciting for me (that being said I got excited about seeing a Seagull in a zoo so that says a lot about how eager I am about things). In the near future I shall hopefully be bringing you all a new series of videos. The name isn’t sorted, I need to get witty on that, but the essential idea is geek crafting. A little story before the explanation to set the tone, build the suspense. I procrastinate TO THE MAX, it’s a little ridiculous but I get to do new things. For example, a while ago I got into a phase of learning to make sock monkeys. I got creative on crafts ass and made Ben a sock Enderman for Christmas. It was rad. So yeah, Ben and I had a little international business lunch (by which I mean we were in a Starbucks in Edinburgh) and considered sharing such things with all you lovely folk.

So yes, to put it in more direct phrases I’ll soon be bringing you a live action series of how to make things with a geeky spin on them. Think sewing, baking and other creative things. Only awesome.

Keep an eye out, it should be pretty awesome.

That aside, it felt like the perfect time to inform all you folks that here at Have A Cookie believe in doing our part, and we do ours by using 100% green web hosting. That’s right, it’s going to be a dull post..

Over 80% of greenhouse gas emissions produced by man-made causes in the U.S. are the result of burning natural gas, oil, coal, and other fossil fuels. Half – that’s 50% – of energy consumption is by corporations. Put those two statistics together and you get the short answer to why Have A Cookie felt the call to go green.

Renewable or “green” energy is produced without the consumption of precious natural resources, instead created by harnessing the power of the sun, wind, water, biomass, and biogas, to name a few. Renewable energy produces significantly less carbon emissions, and in some cases, none at all.

Aiming to do our part (and maybe some of yours too) to fight global climate change, Have A Cookie has taken – and still is taking – bold measures to make sure all our datacentres use 100% renewable electricity suppliers.

Besides the obvious benefits to our environment, our health, and that of our progeny, going green also provides significant economic benefits to local communities. Since most sources of green power are smaller, locally-based businesses, switching over to procuring energy from renewable electricity providers stimulates local economies.

So bottom line, we’re doing our part to save the planet, I like to think of us as super heroes of the interwebs..

  

I do use Facebook, I’m not some sort of vigilante who’s boycotting it, I will admit that it’s a very useful way to keep in touch with friends if you don’t see them all the time. But there is just so much stuff about it that just annoys the hell out of me. I actually devoted a chapter of my dissertation to photo sharing on Facebook. It annoys me, but I am kind of fascinated by how this social networking site has become so embedded in our day to day lives.

I digress, what it is that really pisses me off is the people on Facebook. A stupid statement to make I know, facebook exists because of the people on it. But more and more often I find myself becoming infuriated by the things that people do via comments, posts and requests. This led me to thinking about how this transfers to real life situation and how very rude their actions would be (I cannot abide bad manners, I’m a complete ass for it). So read, and feel embarrassed when you realise that you have more than likely done these things yourself at some point in time.

I should add, if any of my friends read this, and you have committed one of these heinous crimes at some point, I’m not mad at YOU, just your actions. Also, stop doing it.

Commenting on Wall Posts.

This one makes me so so mad every time it happens, which is quite often. If I want to share something with everyone, I will do a status. If I want to share something with just one person, I will write on their wall. Makes sense right? So it really annoys me if I post something on a friends wall, then another mutual friend comments first. More so annoying is when this happens to me. There have been plenty of times when a friend will post something on my wall, generally a video or a picture, for me to see. Then other friends comment before I have even seen whatever it is. IT’SREALLYFUCKINGANNOYING!!!!!!!!
There are generally two ways in which this happens;
Instance 1- Friend 1 posted a music video on my wall for a band I hadn’t listened to yet. Friend 2 then comments talking about how much they love it and start talking about another song, which I have also not heard. Friends 1 and 2 then continue to discuss said band, leaving me no place to input my thoughts on it. Pretty much all I can say at this point it “yeah, that’s super rad” or words to the effect.
Real life equivalent: In a group setting Friend 1 says “Oh have you seen that new music video by *suitably obscure but cool band* yet? I think you’ll love it”. Friend 2 suddenly sweeps in seemingly from nowhere, hellbent on dominating the conversation: “Oh my god I LOVE that song!!!! Have you heard this one, and this one, oh and this one….” I am left teetering on the edge of the discussion, unable to leave at risk of seeming rude, but unable to chip in without seeming like an idiot.

Instance 2- So as not to discriminate against Friend 2, I’ll introduce Friends 3 and 4. Friend 3 posts a video on my wall. Friend 4 comments before I get the chance merely to say that they saw it the other day and speculating how I would react in such a situation. Okay. Why was this such a pressing issue that you needed to comment before I got the chance. As it is I didn’t comment at all. Now NO-ONE will know what I would do.
Real life equivalent: Friend 3 shows me a picture, Friend 4, without a moments hesitation shouts “I’ve already seen this!! I wonder what Caryan thinks?!!!” Well I am standing right there and my attention has been drawn to the object in question, why don’t you wait quietly and see rather than jumping straight in? Though as a side note, I should add due to my online response in the hypothetical real life situation I was just as rude- storming off without comment.

Unwanted Friend Requests

I am not very popular in terms of Facebook. Mainly because I’m ruthless with my friends list. If I haven’t spoke to you in a few months and don’t plan to do so in the near future, I will delete you. There are actually quite a few people I have added that I would delete if not for the fear of running into them and being forced into awkward conversation. I just don’t see the point in having all these “friends” when you barely, if ever talk to them. Obviously other people don’t see things that way. The two situations that spring to mind both involve ex boyfriends of a friend. One of which I met about three times, the other only once and these meetings both took place years ago, before Facebook was even popular (or even invented if I recall correctly). Anyway, both of these people have tried to add me as a “friend” on Facebook. I had no interest in talking to them in the past let alone now after years of never seeing them (hardly a loss) but nonetheless they wanted to be “friends”. One of which persevered about three or four times after being rejected.
Real life equivalent: You meet someone through a friend and talk very little. On seeing them again you politely acknowledge them but volunteer no further participation. Five years later you see this person on the street. They march directly up to you and with no other conversation say “Do you want to be friends?”. You politely decline and go on your way. About a week later they see you again and once again come out with a direct “Do you want to be friends?”, to the same response. The person is undeterred and makes more attempts with the same relentless approach. Online it’s acceptable, in reality it would be fucking creepy.

Commenting on Tagged Posts

This is similar to commenting on wall posts but still annoying. We all know the fun of being tagged in statuses of friends. It makes you feel super cool and included and also belittles anyone who wasn’t involved, making them feel bad that they weren’t invited to whatever event occurred. I know it’s kind of dickish, and it does make you feel bad if many of your friends are tagged in a posts and you aren’t included, even if you did decline to attend. But when you have the glory of a friend having so much fun with you that they want to share it with all their other Facebook friends, it’s really annoying when someone not included, or even not known to you comments. This is generally someone the friend knows from work or uni but you’ve never met them. What follows is a big ‘ol discussion between your friend and their friend which slowly meanders off topic but you still get notified for. Repeatedly.
Real life equivalent: So we’re at a hypothetical party now. Friend 1 is standing with you and Friends 2-6, you all went for a Picnic earlier on in the day (a little sad, but really this is the sort of junk that I do).
Friend 1: So I had a really awesome time at the park with you guys today, we should totally do it again some time
Friend 1’s Friend: Oh you went to a park? I love parks I used to take my dog to one all the time.
Friend 1. Oh how sweet, what kind of dog do you have?
Friend 1’s Friend: He was a Brussels Griffon* but he died from AIDS, the little scamp.
Friend 1: Oh no, that adorable pigeon we nursed at uni had AIDS to so I feel your pain.

This conversation continues to meander through topics that you don’t care about and hilarious anecdotes that you don’t understand. It’s the best.

Spamming your Newsfeed with YouTube Videos

Man this irritates me. There are some people I know that insist on putting links to YouTube videos on their status updates so that EVERYONE has to know they like this song. the irritating part is, they’re not even new songs. Someone went through a phase a while ago of posting links to songs by The Beatles. All the fucking time. Everyone knows The Beatles, we know they’re good. You don’t have to shove it in my face.
Real life equivalent: Sitting on the mode of public transport of your choice with someone that you know sitting next to you. Every five minutes or so they turn to you and say “You know *song name and band that EVERYONE knows*? That’s a GREAT song. I’m going to listen to it right now”. They then proceed to listen to the song, nice and quietly. Then alert you, and every other person on the transportation device, of what song they’re going to listen to next.

See it’s times like this that I’m glad many of my friends don’t take an interest in my posts. If anyone has read this, if you’re liked enough to be a Facebook friend of mine don’t be offended. I do like you, just not your Facebook manners.

*This is a real dog! Look it up, They kind of look like the Lorax.

I think there’s a ghost or something similar in my room. There. I said it. I mention on things like Podcasts and in some videos how scared I am of everything (maybe one day I’ll make a list of things that scare me, but not today), Ghosts are included in this category. I’m living “at home” at the minute (you’d think that any house could be classed as “living at home” but I mean in the standard sense of living with family) and the house is an old miners house. This is reason one for the possibility of ghosts, old houses seem to be more inclined to get ghosts. Reason two- my bedroom is the coldest room in the entire house. It’s more than likely just because it has a flat roof etc and because of my stupid old window but it could be sue to the paranormal. Reason three I walked in my room this morning and got a whiff of cigarette smoke only no-one in the house smokes this leads me to believe said ghosts was maybe a smoker. My powers of deduction are insane, I know. Finally, reason five- my clocks are mental. I used to have a plug in digital clock. It had a radio for the alarm, it was pretty old school awesome. Anyway, I would set the time and without fail the clock would wind up being too fast. It wouldn’t be straight away, but over the course of a few weeks it would gradually get out of sync with the other clocks until it would wind up being a good half an hour fast. Then for Christmas I got another digital clock, but this time a battery one (I did get other gifts also, I didn’t only get a clock). It was fine for a while then the other day I realised it’s seven minutes slow. I just don’t understand it. The only conclusion I can draw from these occurrences is that there is a ghost, in my room. This displeases me.

Although, I guess I’m obliged to share that I have a stupidly overactive imagination and a tendency to convince myself of things when there is no relevant evidence to support my theories. For example. When I was a lot younger I read a book that my sister owned called “True Horror Stories”. It was meant for kids but it was fucking scary regardless. It featured the story of 112 Ocean Avenue, which is the house that the Amityville Horror (the book, before the movies) was said to be about. I’ll not go into details (mainly because I’m too scared to read the story on the Wikipedia page) but one of the things that happened in the house was that one of the windows in the house always had flies buzzing around it or something like that. To this day if there’s a place with lots of flies, or dead flies, I get genuinely scared of things. A similar thing was when someone was telling me about The Exorcist, they said before sicky face got possessed there were noises in the attic and her mother said it was nothing (I’m unsure of how true this is, I haven’t seen the movies, and I was way young at this point so whoever was telling me might not have seen it either) because of this any time I heard noises above my room I used to be scared it was the Devil. I have a flat roof above my room, there’s no loft/attic, any noises I’ll have heard will have almost certainly been Seagulls.

I’m just terrible. I can over analyse the slightest noise until I’ve convinced myself of the least likely explanation for it. When Ben and I lived in Sunderland for a year I convinced myself that the flat was haunted. There was literally no reasoning at all behind this theory but I was terrified of that flat the whole time I lived there. If I had days I wasn’t at uni (or days I skipped uni) I would practically bully Ben into skipping College and playing XBox 360 so I wouldn’t get eaten by ghosts (like Pacman). Ironically though the game I played most that year was Left 4 Dead 2. Nothing like getting rid of ghost fears by being confronted by Zombies.

For the record, I am also afraid of Zombies.

I’ve been seeing good things about the Super Hostile series of maps by Vechs, so I thought I’d give one of them a go. Cue Spellbound Caves.

As with all of my videos I find constructive feedback extremely helpful. So if you have some feedback for me I’d love to hear it. Paticularly, I’d like to know if you guys think the videos in this series should be shorter or longer in length, what you think of the editing style in this series, or whether you’d like some background Minecraft music thrown in. Of course, any other feedback is just as good.

The game, for those of you who don’t know is Minecraft by Mojang, which you can grab at http://minecraft.net and the map I’m playing can be found here.

The targets are the entertainment pirates out there, but that’s not the people who will be effected the most. Any material or websites that appear to break copyright in any form could be blocked from the USA or even be shut down entirely.

But Ben your British, not American silly? That’s right but websites that we all use on a daily basis, Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia will all be affected by these laws and most of all smaller websites like Have A Cookie could become blocked in the USA thus loosing over two thirds of you loyal fans!

SOPA and PIPA are very similar bills, one from the House of Representatives and one from the Senate. Both are well on their way to becoming laws after a vote in the chamber of congress. This must not happen, we must do something now before it becomes too late and the Internet as we know it is lost. SOPA and PIPA are only the beginning, it’s only a matter of time before the rest of the world follows in Americas footsteps…

Do your part and visit www.americancensorship.org for more information.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Find us on Spreadshirt or by clicking the Shop link on the menu bar at the top!

This is part one of a two part video showing off the awesome game that is Q.U.B.E.

Part 2 will show some of the more complex parts of the game.