Best Voice Actor – Jack Black for Brutal Legend
Best Action Adventure Game – Assassins Creed 2
Studio of the Year – Rocksteady Studios
Best Team Sports Game – NHL 10 from EA Sports
Best Performance by a Human Male – Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in X-Men Origins
Best Cast – X-Men Origins: Wolverine
Best Independent Game – Flower
Best Individual Sports Game – UFC 2009 Undisputed
Best Role Playing Game – Dragon Age: Origins
Best PC Game – Dragon Age: Origins
Best Performance By a Human Female – Megan Fox in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Best Downloadable Game – Shadow Complex
Best Downloadable Content – The Ballad of Gay Tony
Best Wii Game – New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Most Anticipated Title 2010 – God Of War 3
Best Shooter – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Best Multiplayer – Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Best Fighting Game – Street Fighter IV
Best Handheld Game – Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
Best Driving Game – Forza Motorsport 3

Best Soundtrack – DJ Hero
Best Game based on TV Show – South Park Lets Go Tower Defense Play!
Best Music Game – The Beatles Rock Band
Best PlayStation 3 Game – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Best Xbox 360 Game – Left 4 Dead 2

Best Original Score – Halo 3: ODST
Best Graphics – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
Game of the Year – Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

With all the threads regarding being a trophy whore or not etc, i went out to search how this whole progress happens.

Points:
A is worth 15 Points
A is worth 30 Points
A is worth 90 Points
A is worth 180 points

Levels:
Level 1 – 0 pts
Level 2 – 200 pts
Level 3 – 600 pts
Level 4 – 1200 pts
Level 5 – 2400 pts
Level 6 – 4000 pts
Level 7 – 6000 pts
Level 8 – 8000 pts
Level 9 – 10000 pts
Level 10 – 12000 pts
Level 11 – 14000 pts
Level 12 – 16000 pts
Level 13 – 24000 pts
Level 14 – 32000 pts
Level 15 – 40000 pts
Level 16 – 48000 pts
Level 17 – 56000 pts
Level 18 – 64000 pts
Level 19 – 72000 pts
Level 20 – 80000 pts

It takes 8,000 points between levels after 20 also.

So that means that if you have 2 Gold Trophies, 7 Silver Trophies and 20 Bronze Trophies you would have 690 points (300 [20x15] + 210 [7x30] + 180 [2x90] = 690)
thus – level 3 with a small progress bar.

On my current one -

I have:
69 bronze
7 silver
2 gold
0 platinum

so…
69 x 15 = 1035
7 x 30 = 210
2 x 90 = 180

Total = 1425

Since i bought my PS3, i told myself that i want to finish each game i buy (not like on my PC) so i was looking at doing it, but now that i have found trophies…i will take more care to where my hard earned cash/peanuts are going and now playing through the game at least twice to collect every trophy!

Now these gaming/trophy cards are popping up all over the place showing more and more people like to brag about their stats, thus that user is playing the game to the fullest.
I have not achieved platinum yet, but i feel warm inside knowing i got something right when i hear that trophy sound in the background.

*can download the sound from here – http://www.megaupload.com/?d=SVEVW0DQ *

Griquas loosing their first match last week against the Bulls they will be coming back with a bang. 1 point seperated the two teams.

The big game this weekend is the Griquas vs the Sahrks, as loosing this match can see them dropping down to 3rd place!

Blue Bulls v Leopards

Full points here for the Bulls against the struggeling Leopards.

The Bulls by no less than  20 points.

Free State Cheetahs v Boland Cavaliers

After a poor start the Cheetahs will be looking at gettting into winning ways.

win by at least 25 points.

Sharks v Griquas

sdAfter the loss last week, the Griquas will be fighting hard to take the win. Personally i think the knock will be huge and they will be distracted!

Sharks by 4 points

Western Province v Golden Lions

Another big clash this week with the 2 titans up against each other.

Both needing wins and both wanting to move their way up the table. A loss could cost WP dearly!

Western Province by 5 points

District 9

With District 9 being created and directed in South Africa, i thought this would be a fitting thread (and poll)

The world is going crazy over a locally shot movie, District 9, which features aliens and UFOs moving into Johannesburg.

The film currently occupies the top box office spot in the US and is enjoying rave reviews from some of the toughest movie critics worldwide.

District 9, starring the fairly unknown Sharlto Copley and directed by Neill Blomkamp – both South Africans – raked in 37million (about R296 million) when it opened in the US last week, outdoing the likes of GI Joe: The rise of Cobra, The Time Traveller’s Wife and Julie & Julia.

Locally, the Eyewitness News reported this week that the movie could be the biggest South African export ever.

The film opens with a documentary-style series of interviews that introduce the situation. Twenty years before, an alien ship is seen coming towards Earth and arrives above Johannesburg, South Africa. It hovers above the city for three months without any contact; eventually humans take the initiative and cut into the ship. They discover a large group of aliens who are malnourished and sick. The aliens are later assessed as apparently being all “workers”, with their leadership mysteriously missing (it is hypothesized that a plague may have wiped out all of the leadership-caste). Grainy footage shows part of the ship (supposed to be a command module) falling to Earth, but nobody has been able to find it, leaving the ship inoperable.

The creatures, called “prawns” as a derogatory reference to the sea creature which they resemble, are housed in a government camp. The alien race’s true name is never learned they are primarily referred to as “prawns” or, more rarely, “non-humans”. Overcrowding and militarization eventually turn the area into a slum known as District 9. A massive black market is set up between the aliens and a group of Nigerians primarily led by Mumbo, a paralyzed warlord. In addition to inter-species prostitution, the Nigerians exchange canned cat food for alien weapons, of which the cat food has a similar effect to catnip on the aliens.

The movie takes place in 2010. Patience over the alien situation has run out and control over them has been contracted to Multi-National United (MNU), a private company that shows little regard for the aliens’ welfare. MNU is interested in using the aliens’ advanced weaponry, but its integration with alien biology makes it useless for humans.

An MNU field operative named Wikus van der Merwe (Sharlto Copley), is set with a task to move 1.8 million aliens to a new District 10 camp located 240 km from Johannesburg, with help from private security forces working for MNU. While inspecting a suspicious alien residence, Wikus handles an alien device which squirts a dark liquid into his face. He becomes very sick and collects the device as evidence.

A rapid transformation begins to occur, and shortly after exposure to the liquid, Wikus’s left arm mutates into a claw exactly like that of a prawn. After collapsing at a surprise party in his house, and a doctor at a local hospital discovers his alien left arm, Wikus is taken into custody and a series of tests and experiments are performed on him; these reveal that his alien DNA allows him to operate alien weapons. The scientists discover that his DNA is currently “in balance” with the alien DNA, which is gradually taking over. They decide to harvest his body for biological material at this critical point, to have the greatest chance of replicating his ability to use alien technology in other humans later. To reduce any side-effects, no anesthetic was used. However, during the attempted vivisection Wikus escapes after overpowering his captors, and flees from MNU.

Wikus seeks refuge in the run-down shack of an alien called Christopher Johnson, the same alien who Wikus attempted to evict earlier, who created the alien device that infected Wikus. The device contains fuel that Christopher scavenged from various alien parts scattered around District 9. It is hinted that Christopher might be a surviving member of the prawn leadership caste, as he shows much more knowledge of how alien technology works, possesses or at least found the command module, and interacts with MNU officials more articulately than other aliens. Although initially hostile towards Wikus, Christopher eventually agrees to help him reverse the transformation if Wikus will retrieve the fuel from MNU labs. Christopher promises to undo the mutation by getting Wikus aboard the mother ship hovering over Johannesburg, and shows Wikus the ship’s command module, which has been hidden under his shack.

Wikus steals some alien weaponry from Mumbo and his gang, with Mumbo vowing to capture Wikus and eat his mutated arm (his witch doctor believes this will give him the power to operate the alien weaponry). With Christopher’s help they launch an assault on MNU and successfully retrieve the fuel sample. While there, Christopher discovers that MNU has been experimenting on his people. Wikus and Christopher fight their way back to District 9 and Christopher begins preparations to leave. He tells Wikus that he must first return to his home world to seek help for his people before he can cure Wikus. Furious, Wikus knocks Christopher unconscious and powers up the ship himself. The MNU mercenaries target Wikus and destroy one of the command module’s engines, causing it to crash land inside District 9.

After Wikus is captured by MNU, a battle between the MNU mercenaries and Mumbo’s gang breaks out. After a protracted firefight, the Nigerians capture Wikus. Just before Wikus’ arm is chopped off, Christopher’s son activates several systems in the mothership, including the autopilot routine of a mechanized battle suit; it slaughters Mumbo and his men after they fire on it. Wikus enters the alien walker battle suit, and after initially attempting to flee, returns and rescues Christopher. Armed with a lightning cannon, tracking missiles, and a high-powered machine gun, Wikus begins to fight the MNU men. After being knocked over by a anti-tank sniper round, he convinces Christopher to return to the shuttle without him, over Christopher’s objections. Christopher promises Wikus that he will return in three years to repair his body. Christopher then boards the shuttle and activates a tractor beam which returns the command module to the mother ship.

Wikus is shot in the back and the walker suit ejects him. Wikus, heavily wounded, begins dragging himself away from the leader (and sole survivor) of an MNU squad, but is quickly caught. As Wikus prepares to die, aliens burst out of the surrounding slums and dismember the mercenary.

The film concludes with another series of interviews and news broadcasts, providing human opinions on the events that unfolded. The aliens are successfully moved to District 10, which now has a population of 2.5 million and is growing. One of Wikus’ coworkers hacks MNU’s database and publicly exposes their illegal genetic experiments. There are many differing theories on Wikus’ fate. Some people believe that he either left on the mother ship, is in hiding, was captured by MNU or a government agency. Some interviewees hypothesize that the aliens are planning to return with a full army and declare war on humanity. An interview with Wikus’ wife reveals a small metal rose was left on her doorstep (Wikus has earlier demonstrated his affection with handmade gifts). Her friends have told her that it could not have possibly been Wikus, but she appears unsure. In the final scene, an alien with a bandaged left arm is shown in a junk yard fashioning a rose out of scrap metal.

(Source: WikiPedia. Bangs_McCoy)

‘It looks bad, but it was Giteau’s arm leading the way,’ Watson told the Cape Times. ‘I don’t think it should be upgraded to a red card. Giteau’s arm was out and he caught Fourie, who got hurt in the incident. He floored Fourie du Preez while the Springbok scrumhalf was waiting for a high ball. Giteau knocked him down with his elbow and made no attempt to play the ball. If he did then i would of left it, but watch the replay and you can see he was playing the man and not the ball!!!

Spiro Zavos is quick to blame SA for ruthless play and boring rugby, but this Australian idiot has never even played International rugby, EVER!

So how can he comment on anything on the field.. can you catch a rugby ball?

Again Aus and NZ moan when SA beat them, get over it!

 At 12hr 34 minutes and 56 seconds the time and date will be

 12:34:56 07/08/09

 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

This will never happen in our life again?!!!!

• Reboot the decoder. Wait for full video & audio to resume.
• Press MENU to go to the Decoder Menu
• Select Advanced Options
• Enter 9949
• Select DSD Upgrade
• Wait for the RED button to appear, then press RED and follow the onscreen instructions.
• Warning! Do not interrupt the download process (which could take up to 30 minutes) and wait for full video & audio to resume.

Note:
If the RED button does not appear and your decoder does not have the latest software, try:

Option 1 : factory reset
o Press MENU to go to the Decoder Menu
o Select Information Central
o Select Information Central
o Press i
o Press 7 (to reset all Factory Settings)
o Wait for completion of process (you will end up on the Network Set-up screen)
o Press BLUE to scan this network
o Wait for scan to complete.

Try download process again.

If that still doesn’t work, there is (as an absolute resort) :

Option 2 : front panel forced upgrade
o Reset decoder
o Wait for “DL” to be displayed
o Press “Standby”
o Press “Up Arrow”
o Press “Down Arrow”
o Press “Standby”
o Software download should start, do not interrupt and wait for audio and video to resume.

To check that you have the latest version of software :

• Press MENU to go to the Decoder Menu
• Select Information Central
• Select Hardware Status
• Press the right arrow twice to go to the Loader Status screen
• Take note of the value on the 3rd line (Load Ver/Var). The latest version as @ 6 August is 15 / 2.

So what’s different in this updated software (released 6 August)?

• (new) Dolby is now available via HDMI
• (fixed) Loss of audio when HD PVR comes out of standby
• (fixed) Exiting SuperSport Active does not default to ALL channels
• (fixed*) Audio glitch when changing soundtrack options from stereo to surround sound **
• (fixed*) Audio glitch when soundtrack automatically changes from stereo to surround sound **
• (fixed*) Scheduled recording fails when starting at the same time that a reminder is triggered ***
• (improved) Slow or non-response to remote control commands **
• (improved) Loading speed of TV Guide schedules
• (improved) Recording reliability
• (improved) “Freezing” i-plate (this was were the i-plate displayed past events and did not update to display the current event) ***
• (improved) Available time based recordings not displaying in the Playlist (reboot required to resolve) ***
• (improved) White dots shown on 16:9 channels when viewed on a 4:3 TV. Note : this is not yet resolved for all channels

* Not observed in testing and trials. This issue was not observed by all customers on the previous software.
** This issue was not observed by all customers on the previous software.
*** This issue was not observed by many customers on the previous software (low incidence rate).

What else do you need to know?

o Audio glitches – if you hear an audio glitch when changing soundtrack options from stereo to surround sound, or when the soundtrack automatically changes from stereo to surround sound, we’d love to hear from you. Please post as much info as possible, including details on your installation, how your audio equipment is connected to your HD PVR and very importantly, details (including brand & model) of your audio equipment.
o Duplicate channels / “funny” numbered channels – this seems to be restricted to certain installation types only (multi-unit dwelling). To resolve, initialise a rescan (press MENU, select Advanced Options, enter 9949, select Network Set-up and press YELLOW to “scan all enabled networks”).
o Multi Unit Dwelling is still not officially supported.
o We have had reports of inconsistent displays on the LED (front panel) but have had no reports where this has had any impact on recordings.

Please know that all other issues previously reported have been noted and we continue our work on improving the software. The team is already working on Series and adding DStv on Demand, but more on that in the next month or so….

So firstly. You should pull a 0 ITS player every week as it will cost you nothing and you never know what will climb out of the woodwork. The maximum ITS’s you can save is 100 and to get to this you will need to invest £20000/week to receive 10 ITS’s for that week. Now you asking – how many can i use on a player. 35 can be used on a 17y youth pull if your academy is at superb conditions. Now please! It is a random die roll and you are not garenteed to get a respectable+ player.

12 ITS on a primary is the maximum, so pick at least 1 of batting and bowling, Make sure to spend the remaining ITS sensibly too(on the corresponding secondary). Then the rest can put on stamina and fielding or WK, but that is up to you.
12 ITS will guarantee you mediocre skill.

With the click of a button you pull your 17y and setting the target level to reach is of course an interesting debate in itself.
Depending on the skills of the player and if you want him to go to U19′s or just slow training is all up to the manager. Some great pulls will get from 5-10 nets on them, where some will only get 3!

Concentration and Consistency take a long time to train in this game, particularly for youngsters as the speed of training is adversely weighted against them since young lads have a tendency to not listen and/or apply themselves to the mental side of the game as they should. The theory being that these are signs of maturity and hence more mature players will appreciate and learn these skills more readily. Primary (Bowling & Batting) Skills take about 10 or 11 weeks to train for a 17yr old using one net, 6 or 7 using two nets, 5 weeks with 3 nets. Stamina 6 weeks with one net and players of all ages improve at the same rate. Wicket Keeping takes around 7 weeks for a 17yr old to train and fielding takes 6 weeks with one net session. Given that you get conc/cons bonuses from fielding it’s a cheap and cheerful stat to increase!

Whatever your chosen training path is, train one or two superstars or 3 or 4 players. Soon it will be evident that your superstar is about 30 yrs old and you start the process all over again.

Now i have not gone and searched the whole BT, of teams that are all 100% (or close) home-grown teams.

I hope that somebody reading this finds some new motivation to develop his/her team further and takes on the challenge to see if home-grown success is possible to achieve.

>>Fixtures and results<<

I believe we will win but it aint going to be a party it’s going to be a war and mark my words if we kick away our ball like we did against NZ better close ur eyes!

I’m just hoping we don’t kick as much this weekend, their back three are way to dangerous and way too good under the highball with Giteau and Barnes and Mortlock pairing up in the middle kicking possesion away and hoping for mistakes for me won’t be at the best interest, and then brussow will have a tough time against waugh and smith…oh this is going to be a belter…..