The blog will no longer be updated...

...Because I've lost interest in it. I haven't updated the blog since my last post in May (about Sanna Nielsen going to the final in European Song Contest 2014). Writing a blog requires time and enthusiasm for different topics, and I realise now that blogging isn't really my thing.

So this is actually my final post. Take care everyone!

ESC 2014: Sweden to the final!

Sanna Nielsen made a great performance this evening and the song "Undo" managed to get to the final.

Go Sanna Nielsen! Go Sweden!

Sanna's performance in the Swedish Melodifestivalen 2014.

Origin: Dead Space free for a limited time!

The American video game company EA Games is currently offering the famous space horror game Dead Space for free. In order to get a free copy, the installation of EA Games' Origin is required. The offer lasts until May 8th, 2014.

When you have Origin installed, you can also get Battlefield 1942 free of charge.

Crazy Taxi (Android/iOS) - Free for a limited time!

Do you remember SEGA:s Crazy Taxi? The arcade game where you choose one of four different drivers, drive through a city resembling San Francisco, pick up customers and transport them to their destinations as quickly as possible to earn crrrraaazy money?

The mobile version of the game (Android/iOS) is now free for a limited time. The deadline is March 19th 2014. So if you haven't played Crazy Taxi before, or you want to relive the classic arcade title, you better start downloading now!

Links:

AppStore

Google Play (formerly Android Market)

Trailer:

Melodifestivalen 2014: Rätt låt vann!

Vilken finalkväll!

Mina favoritlåtar framfördes mycket bra och vilken rysare det var med poängutdelningen! I början ledde Ace Wilder med sin låt "Busy Doin' Nothin" med sju poäng före Sanna Nielsens "Undo" efter att Internationella juryn sagt sitt. Och när telefonrösterna hade räknats visade det sig att "Undo" vann årets Mello med endast två poäng ifrån "Busy Doin' Nothin"!

Jag är medveten om att många trodde och hellre skulle vilja se Sverige representeras av Ace Wilder. T.ex. i gårdagens Metro skrev reportern Anneli Sandberg att "Ace Wilder låter mest 2014" samt att hon trodde att "hon kan gå segrande ur den".

Självklart är det upp till var och en att få tycka vad man vill, men jag tycker ändå att rätt låt och rätt artist vann. Jag tycker att Sanna Nielsen är en professionell artist med en stark röst och som kan ha kontroll under press. Jag har flera gånger velat att hon skulle få representera Sverige, och nu lyckas hon äntligen få den chansen efter sju försök!

Det enda tråkiga var att Ellen Benediktsons bidrag "Songbird" inte var bland de fem bästa, för den är riktigt bra.

Nu finns Melodifestivalens alla låtar mer eller mindre på YouTube, och följande är mina favoritbidrag från årets final. Observera dock att dessa videoklipp är från deltävlingarna och inte från själva finalen.

Ellen Benediktson - "Songbird" (Deltävling 1)

Alcazar - "Blame it on the disco" (Deltävling 4)

Sanna Nielsen - "Undo" (Deltävling 2)

Återigen, stort grattis Sanna! Jag håller tummarna för dig under Eurovision Song Contest 2014 i Köpenhamn!

Jag hoppas att ni tagit hand om era nära och kära under Internationella kvinnodagen idag!

Melodifestivalen 2014: Parodi

Ahahahaha! Jag kan inte sluta skratta när jag ser detta videoklipp. Har ni också sett det på YouTube? Om ni inte har sett det ännu, så rekommenderar jag starkt att ni gör det om ni vill träna skrattmusklerna. Daniel Norberg (som var med i Idol 2010 om jag inte har fel), gör en parodi på årets Mello-finalister. Och han gör det väldigt bra måste jag säga.

Batman: Arkham Knight announced

Yesterday (March 4th 2014), we finally got the news of a new game in the famous Batman: Arkham video game franchise. It's called Batman: Arkham Knight. The game, created by the British Rocksteady Studios, will be the forth and final game in the series. It will also be the first game in the series where players can control the Batmobile.

I have many thoughts regarding this. Firstly, I'm sad that Rocksteady has decided to conclude the series with Arkham Knight, although I understand that it's better to end a series perfectly than badly. Secondly, I'm glad that Rocksteady has to make Gotham City bigger and the streets wider (compared to the ones in Batman: Arkham City) in order to make room for the Batmobile. Thirdly, I'm still disappointed that sexism is still present in the game - I'm thinking of Harley Quinn's provocative outfit.

Although many people - including my countrymen - love and praise Batman: Arkham City, I'm not impressed with the game. Although Rocksteady intended to create the second game about "Batman in Gotham", Arkham City (I'm talking about the prison with the same name of the game) feels small. The prison isn't meant to be large, but since it consists of an older part of Gotham with famous locations like Crime Alley, Gotham Cathedral and Ace Chemicals, I think it should be larger than that. And the streets are narrow like a small suburb! This doesn't feel like a former part of a big city at all.

Regarding the sexism in the Arkham-franchise, I fail to understand why Rocksteady has chosen not to re-use Harley's classic outfit introduced in Batman: The Animated Series. While the male characters are fully dressed, Harley (like in the previous games) still have some parts uncovered - you can see that in the trailer at the end of this post.

In Arkham City, I would say that both Catwoman and Harley Quinn had the most impractical and sexist outfits. Poison Ivy is a "logical" exception since her appearance was that of a "naked-goddess" similar to Aphrodite.

These are some of my many thoughts of the franchise. Now please enjoy the YouTube-trailer of Arkham Knight:

Melodifestivalen 2014: Andra Chansen i Lidköping

Vad kan man säga?

Man får tycka hur man vill om "Mellon" igår, men jag tycker att det är tråkigt att bidraget "När änglarna går hem" inte gick vidare. Även om jag blev rörd av bidraget "Bröder", så var låten faktiskt monoton.

Nåja, grattis Helena Paraizou och Linus Svenning till finalplatserna!

Steam: Get the game "Thief Gold" for free!

The Japanese video game company Square Enix is currently having a promotion where gamers can download a free copy of Thief Gold (1999's updated version of the 1998 game Thief: The Dark Project by Looking Glass Studios) for Steam.

You can read more about how to get it on this link.

I can promise you that the instructions work. I'm currently downloading the game as I write this post.

A big thanks to you Razorcif at Loot Palace, for sharing this information with us!

Melodifestivalen 2014: Deltävling 4 i Örnsköldsvik

Kommer ni ihåg att jag skrev att deltävling 3 var den svagaste i årets "Mello"? Jag tar tillbaka det påståendet. Gårdagens deltävling tar hem detta "pris".

Jag såg fram emot Alcazars och Linda Bengtzings bidrag. Tyvärr åkte Bengtzing ut och Alcazars Blame it on the Disco känns bara som en ny variant av Stay the Night (Alcazars bidrag till Melodifestivalen 2009). Och personligen tycker jag att Stay the Night (som ni kan lyssna på i YouTube-klippet nedan) låter mycket bättre.

Humorn då? Tråkigt som vanligt. Jag kunde inte låta bli att le när jag såg Vargmust framföra deltävlingens "nionde bidrag". Annars var det inte mycket bättre än så.

The blog of Lord Greenleaf got 1000 pageviews!

On January 25th 2014, I started The blog of Lord Greenleaf.

Today, February 22th, I got more than 1000 pageviews thanks to EasyHits4U (EH4U)! Thank you EasyHits4U and thank you - both EH4U and non-EH4U visitors - for making this possible!

I got more than 1000 pageviews!

My blog gets approximately 20 visits a day. While it's not much, it's more than enough for me.

If you have a website, a blog or an online service of your own, I really recommend the traffic exchange service EasyHits4U. Although it does take time to browse through other websites in order to get visitors, it really pays off.

I like EH4U since it has a 1:1 exchange ratio (= visit a website, get a visitor) and you also get a $0.30 bonus for browsing through 1000 websites. If you want to earn more money than that, then you'll need referrals.

One other great thing with EH4U is that the service tracks how many people have visited your website. You can also create splash pages (simple webpages with little information about a service, website etc.) to promote it. As a free member, you can promote up to 15 websites (or blogs etc.) in total.

Please note that EH4U isn't meant to be a "Bux" site where you can earn money. EH4U is a traffic exchange after all!

Create your free logo at Logotype Creator

Do you have a company, an association or a website where you need a logotype? Then Logotype Creator is the service you need.

It's very simple: First you type the name of your company etc. and then press the button "Generate Logo Now!" You'll now get a selection of different logos created for you. Some of them are free while others cost money.

This is my free generated logo:

The icon consists of many PacMan-like shapes which symbolise my great interests in games - something which this blog is mostly about. The font colour is green to match the green leaves. The font used for this logo is meant to match the "natural handwriting" which symbolises my opinions.

You should give Logotype Creator a try. It's very useful!

Invitation & referral codes

Are you interested in a game but need to find an invitation code to give you a small headstart? Then hopefully this post will help you. I'll update it continuously so please visit it from time to time!

Latest update: 16/02/14

Games (In alphabetical order):

Command & Conquer: Tiberium Alliances (Web, online strategy)
- https://www.tiberiumalliances.com/ref/TScZVjM8BMEpTaVZu3jyhg

Guardian Cross (iOS, online fantasy trading card game)
- DT47351

Infinite Crisis (PC, MOBA)

- https://www.infinitecrisis.com/en/account/registration?utm_source=98e10981-5500-e311-a320-bc305b234d58&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=IC_RAF

[Once you register, please follow the instructions thoroughly.]

Guardian Cross: Got two new Limited 5* cards!

This weekend I got two new Limited 5* cards in Guardian Cross!

The first one is Mighty Valentine Specter which I won in the Coliseum (PvP-battles):

The information page about Mighty Valentine Specter. (Screenshot taken by me)

The second one is Berith which I got by logging in 15 days in a row.

The information page about Berith. (Screenshot taken by me)

Like I wrote earlier, Guardian Cross is a great and easy online trading card game for Android- and iOS-devices, made by the Japanese video game company Square-Enix.

I love it very much since the illustrations are very beautiful, it's a Final Fantasy spin off, it reminds of Pokémon and it's very easy to play. If you're searching for a great game for your mobile phone, I highly reommend it.

Here is an invitation code (sadly only for the iOS-version) to get you started: DT47351

With the code you get a Super Rare card. I hope you'll enjoy the game as much as I do!

Here's a gameplay video of Guardian Cross:

Try The Witcher 1 & 2 for free this weekend

Another weekend and another game which Steam lets its users try for free. This time we get to try the fantasy games The Witcher and The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, based on the Polish author Andrzej Sapkowki's series of fantasy short stories.

Normally I would try a Steam-game during the weekend and then review it in one of my "A weekend with..." posts, but this time I won't play any of the games. The reason is the large game size. The first game alone is about 16 GB which would approximately take 20 hours for me to download. And I can't just let my computer "go on" 24 hours a day, can I?

Here's the official trailer of the first game:

Melodifestivalen 2014: Deltävling 3 i Göteborg

Så... Vad tycker ni? Min favoritlåt Red (som framfördes av gruppen Eko) gick inte vidare till final utan istället hamnade på åttonde plats. Egentligen tycker jag att den tredje deltävlingen i Göteborg är den svagaste hittills i årets Melodifestival.

Red var den enda låt som jag hejade på. Ledsen Shirley Clamp, men ditt bidrag i år är inte lika bra som Min kärlek (2004) eller Att älska dig (2005).

Och så humorn... Den är urusel. Om det inte vore för komikern Björn Gustafsson skulle jag inte orka titta igenom den alls.

Jag är bara tvungen att lägga till detta inlägg med ett YouTube-klipp av Att älska dig.

GOG.com: Download Dungeon Keeper for free! (less than 15 hours left)

GOG.com is an online game store where players can buy old & classic games mostly from the 90s, like Duke Nukem 3D (1996), the King's Quest series (1984-1998) and The Incredible Machine (1993).

This weekend, GOG (which is the abbreviation of Good Old Games), is offering the game Dungeon Keeper (1997) for free! Dungeon Keeper also exists as a free-to-play mobile game for iOS and Android. But the mobile game has been heavily criticised because it's not faithful to the original and it uses too much micro-transactions. So if you want to play Dungeon Keeper as it was meant to be played, this is a golden opportunity to do so.

Since there are many people who want to get a free copy, you don't actually get a direct download link on GOG. After you have registered your copy, GOG will notify you when you can download it.

But even if you (or I) don't manage to get Dungeon Keeper, I still recommend GOG. When you start an account at GOG the first time, you'll get some PC games for free. My favourite is the 1994-game Beneath a Steel Sky which I'm playing at the moment. The game is created by the company behind the famous Broken Sword-series.

If you can't or don't find the classic game of your choice, you can always request it. If there are enough votes on your game, GOG will consider selling it. I think this is a great way to stay legal since it's difficult to know if abandonware is legal or not.

So hurry! You have less than 15 hours left to get your free copy of Dungeon Keeper! Get it now at GOG.com!

No, when you read this post, you have less than 15 hours left
to get your free copy of Dungeon Keeper on GOG.com.

Injustice: I finally got John Stewart!

At last, after replaying all of the four John Stewart Green Lantern Challenges and completing the fifth and final one, I won a golden John Stewart Green Lantern card! Now that I have acquired it, I can always return to the in-game shop later to buy extra cards in order to enhance John. One extra John Stewart-card costs 165,000 Power Credits (the in-game currency). If I still had time to replay all of the challenges again, this time with a higher difficulty, I could have gotten one more card.

Being a golden card, John Stewart is the strongest of all Green Lantern cards in Injustice: Gods Among Us for mobile phones. His second special attack - "Parallell Nature" - is a very powerful attack which is a combination of rapid swiping and aiming compared to other characters' special attacks (which are either activated by swiping, tapping or aiming on the touch screen).

If any of the characters in the player's team get very low health - they are protected by John's Emergency Barrier which makes them invulnarable for 8 seconds. This is very useful if both the opponent and the active hero/villain have low health. Sadly each character can only get benefit by the Emergency Barrier once per match.

If I have any complaints about the card, it would be that John Stewart isn't voiced by Phil LaMarr - his original voice actor from the Justice League animated series and the original console version of Injustice. Instead John is voiced by Adam Baldwin, the same actor who lends his voice to Green Lantern Hal Jordan.

Lantern John Stewart as seen in the shop. (Click to enlarge)

Updates to the blog

As some of you may have discovered last week, I've added Tags / Etiketter to the right of the blog. That, in order for you to browse through my posts easier and re-read the posts of your choice.

"Tags / Etiketter" work like Categories. So during the weekend I've browsed through all of the posts and re-tagged them. You'll discover that many of the posts belong to more categories than one.

I believe I'll update "Tags / Etiketter" continuously since there are still some topics which I haven't brought up yet on the blog. Food for example.

A weekend with Borderlands 2

During the weekend (07/02/14-09/02/14), Steam lets its members try Borderlands 2 (by 2K Games) for free. I found out about it during late Saturday, and after waiting more than 8 hours to download and install the game I finally got a chance to try it out - even if I could only play it for 1-2 hours.

In short, Borderlands 2 can be described as a FPS (= first person shooter) game with RPG-elements (= role playing game). 4 players can play together online in the story campaign.

Borderlands 2 takes place on a planet called Pandora, where a Vault (with alien technology) has been opened and a valuable mineral has been spread all over the planet as a result. The Hyperion Corporation, lead by the antagonist Handsome Jack, tries to find this mineral and "civilise" the savage planet with an iron fist. Many people travel to the planet in order to find the mineral, and they're hence called "Vault Hunters".

The story starts with four Vault Hunters travel on a train which gets destroyed by the Handsome Jack. Left for dead, the protagonists are found by a robot named Claptrap who decides to lead them to the city of Sanctuary. In the city, an anti-Hyperion resistance group is gathering to revolt against the terror of Handsome Jack. The voyage to Sanctuary isn't easy since the route is filled with bandits and mercenaries working for Handsome Jack, and monstrous beasts.

The graphics are cell-shaded, so it feels like watching a cartoon. I don't know how to comment on the humour presented in the game, but the game - due to its violent content (among others) - is definitely not recommended for younger players (compared to Sanctum 2). The ESRB gave it an M-rating.

Similar to a MMORPG (= massive multiplayer online role playing game), the player can't really "die" during the missions. Once defeated, the player gets a chance to recover by defeating an opponent. If the player fails to do so, he/she will respawn at a spawn point spread across the level he/she is in.

Borderlands 2 offers the player a chance to explore Pandora, something which I appreciate a lot. But I'm not into games with M-ratings so I might not buy it for a while.

Here is the "Doomsday" trailer of the game:

Tankar om Melodifestivalens andra deltävling i Linköping, 8 februari 2014

Igår under Melodifestivalens andra deltävling gick Sanna Nielsen och gruppen Panetoz vidare till final, medan Martin Stenmarck och JEM gick till Andra Chansen.

Personligen hade jag hoppats på att Martin Stenmarck skulle gå vidare till final. Tyvärr Panetoz, er låt "Efter solsken" är inget för mig. Men grattis ändå!

Angående programledarna tycker jag mer om deras presentation under denna deltävling än förra veckans. Jag hoppas att de fortsätter på detta sätt under resten av musiktävlingen.

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi

The Winter Olympics started yesterday, on February 7th 2014, in Sochi. Did you watch the Opening Ceremony? While the Ceremony was epic, one thing caught many viewers' attention, including mine:

Unfortunately I can't post any images from the Winter Olympics since I don't have the copyright and the permission to do so. Instead I'll use various YouTube-clips taken from the sporting event. There may be a risk that the video clip above will be removed from YouTube. I used another video before to show the stubborn Olympic ring, but that one was removed.

By the way, I earned $0.30 after visiting 1000 sites in total with EasyHits4U yesterday. It's nothing really. It's just a fun bonus.

Guardian Cross: Won Great Impundulu!

Those who have visited my lenses on Squidoo may remember my article about Square-Enix's trading card game, Guardian Cross. I'll upload a new review about the game later on this blog, but now to the news of today.

As usual I participated in the game's Elite Coliseum last week. I got a B+ rating and won a Bronze Limited 5* card: Great Impundulu!

The message where I learn of my Coliseum Reward.

Great Impundulu's information page.

Guardian Cross is one of the few free-to-play mobile games which I really like. I've played the game almost everyday since late 2012. I like it very much since it's easy to play and other players won't attack you unless you participate in the Coliseum (player vs player battles). Not only that, a few Final Fantasy bosses appear in the game as Guardians (the cards which you must catch and use during battles).

If you're interested in Guardian Cross, here's my invitation code: DT47351 (iOS only)

The invitation code can only be used once when you create an account the first time (in order to play the game). Using the code will give you a super rare 4* card. I really recommend you to give Guardian Cross a chance. If you don't like it, you can always remove it easily.

J.K. Rowling: Harry Potter should have married Hermione Granger?

Alright... It seems J.K. Rowling wanted Harry and Hermione to become a couple and get married at the end of the Harry Potter book series, according to the articles found on Swedish Metro and Toronto Sun.

To be honest with you, I still don't like how everything turned out in the end. Although Voldemort was finally destroyed in the final book, many characters who I loved throught the series never made it to the end.

As for the shipping... When I read Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, I thought Draco Malfoy was harbouring secret feelings for Hermione. And when it later turned out that he wasn't as bad as people thought he was, I did think of him getting married with Hermione. That was until J.K. Rowling denied that theory.

What do you think? Should Harry have married Hermione instead of Ginny? I honestly don't know. Ginny deserves Harry, but I'm not satisfied with how the stories developed in the later books. They somehow felt rushed.

Here's an interesting video with 101 reasons to why Harry and Hermione should be together. The video was made and uploaded on February 19th 2012, long before J.K. Rowling was interviewed by Emma Watson in the mentioned articles.

Breaking news: Philip Seymour Hoffman has passed away

Philip Seymour Hoffman

in Cannes 2002 promoting

the movie Punch-Drunk

Love. (Wikimedia Commons)

Shortly after publishing my previous post about Green Lantern John Stewart, I read a notice on Swedish Metro that actor Philip Seymour Hoffman has passed away. At the moment there's very little information about the actor's death, only that he was found in his flat in New York City.

I must admit that I haven't seen many of his movies. The first time I saw him was in Mission Impossible III where he played the villain Owen Davian. The last time I saw him was in The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.

Rest in peace Mr. Hoffman, and thank you very much for the interpretation of your movie characters!

Here's the trailer to Mission Impossible III showing Owen Davian's (Philip Seymour Hoffman) threat against the protagonist Ethan Hunt:

Injustice: I have to restart John Stewart Green Lantern Challenge?!

Those of you who play the mobile versions of Injustice: Gods Among Us, know that NetherRealms every so often holds events where the players can win a rare golden card to his/her deck by completing five challenges.

The announcement of John Stewart Challange Mode in
the iOS-version of Injustice: Gods Among us.

During this event which started on January 23th 2014, the players can win a Green Lantern John Stewart golden card. I've played Injustice everyday and completed four of them. But today a dreadful thing happened: My progress has been deleted and now I have to replay the challenges all over again!

How could this happen? The only explanation I can think of is that the app must to be connected to the Internet at all times. So if you want to play the normal missions offline, turn the Internet off and start the game: You'll get the message that the "Previous challenge has expired". And when you turn the Internet back on, the app will think that you're starting a brand new session of the Challenges!

*Sigh* There's nothing else I can do but to replay the challenges again. I have reached the third challenge and I have only 7 days left. We'll see if I can make it in time. I can't play 24/7 everyday during the coming week can I?

Here is a YouTube-video showing the gameplay of Green Lantern John Stewart in the iOS-version of Injustice:

The blog of Lord Greenleaf - now on Google!

I joined Blogger on January 25th and submitted my blog to Bloggportalen.se on January 28th. Today I've discovered that my blog can be found on Google! Woohoo!

When I was active on Squidoo, my lenses weren't even visible on Google. I'm very glad that I joined Blogger. Squidoo is just a waste of time.

Remember folks, avoid Squidoo at all costs! That website is not worth your time and effort!

Sherlock Season 3 on SVT

After the first semifinal of Melodifestivalen in Malmö, SVT (Sveriges Television = Sweden's Television, the Swedish national public TV broadcaster) aired the first episode of Sherlock season 3 ("The Empty Hearse"). The rest of season 3 will be aired on February 8th and 15th at 9.30 PM Swedish time.

SVT has also reprised season 1 and 2 earlier during January. As usual I follow the series with great interest and look already forward to season 4.

Ellen Benediktson - en av finalisterna i Melodifestivalen 2014

Precis som alltid följde jag livesändningen av årets första deltävling av Melodifestivalen i Malmö. Vad kan jag säga? Det var väntat att Yohio skulle gå till final, men oväntat att Elena Paparizou skulle hamna i Andra chansen. Jag trodde att hon skulle bli Malmös andra finalist.

Den andra finalisten blev istället debutanten Ellen Benediktson med sin låt "Songbird". Jag anser att hon förtjänar den finalplatsen. Hon sjunger sin ballad med känsla. Tyvärr finns det ingen officiellt videoklipp av hennes sång på nätet ännu. Och även om det finns YouTube-klipp redan nu, kommer de säkert snabbt att tas bort av SVT.

Tyvärr är jag inte lika nöjd med årets programvärdar. Deras "humor" var inte alls rolig! Jag föredrar faktiskt Gina Dirawi och Danny Saucedo som programvärdar. Vem minns inte deras parodi på Prinsessan Madeleines och Chris O'Neills tillkännagivande om deras bröllop?

Happy New Year 2014 of the Horse!

To all of you who celebrate the Chinese New Year of the Horse, 恭喜發財 (Gongxi facai)!

Here is a famous Chinese New Year song, Cai Shen Dao. It's quite funny!

Sorry for the bad sound quality. But I couldn't any other better video.

Final Fantasy XIII Story Recap (Retrospective Trailer)

Do you like old school JRPG:s? Do you think that Final Fantasy VI is the best FF-game ever? Then you must look at this trailer which summarises the plots of Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XIII-2.

Square-Enix released this trailer yesterday (January 29th) to promote their upcoming game Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, which is the final game of the trilogy featuring the protagonist Lightning.

What do I think of the trailer? It's very awesome! Square-Enix should have continued to create old school RPG:s of this kind!

A weekend with Sanctum 2

Sanctum 2 box art from Wikipedia

During the weekend (24/01/14-26/01/14), Steam let its users play Sanctum 2 free of charge. 

Sanctum 2 is a science fiction hybrid of tower defense/FPS game by Coffee Stain Studios released in 2013. In the game, four players may ally with each other online in order to stop aliens from destroying the player base's power core.

The four players can choose between four different characters with different abilities. Each player can arm him- or herself with 2 different firearms.

When not fighting aliens, the players must build walls and towers in order to defend the power core long enough before all of the attackers are annihilated.

The plot is narrated through comic book panels which are interesting to follow.

Sanctum 2 is fun to play, but I'm more of an explorer. Instead of guarding an area I would rather visit new environments like Black Mesa (Half-Life), City 17 (Half-Life 2), Nar Shadda (Star Wars: Dark Forces) and many other places.

So would I buy it? Perhaps in the future, but not today.

Here is a trailer showing the gameplay of Sanctum 2:

Att få saker gratis på nätet: En recension om Loot Palace

To get things for free: A review of Loot Palace - An English summary can be found at the bottom of this Swedish review.

Många av er har kanske inte hört talas om Loot Palace tidigare men har sett att jag många gånger nämnt det amerikanska företaget på min blogg.

Loot Palace, som grundades 2011 av entreprenören Dan Bochichio, är ett online belöningsprogram där medlemmar kan utföra uppgifter och tjäna den virtuella valutan Plunder Points. För dessa "plundringspoäng" kan medlemmarna senare byta mot diverse olika presentkort och spelkort. T.ex. kan man få Steam Wallet, Sony PlayStation Network Cards, Microsoft Xbox Live Points, Nintendo Points samt presentkort till iTunes och Amazon.

Uppgifterna kan handla om att se på reklamfilmer, svara på enkätundersökningar, skaffa gratis varuprover, utnyttja engångserbjudanden, nedladdning av diverse program och köp av fysiska eller digitala varor (programvara eller spel). Loot Palaces erbjudanden varierar från land till land beroende på företagets samarbetspartners.

Guess the Value - en av Loot Palaces många tävlingar.

Förutom dessa uppgifter kan medlemmarna även delta i tävlingar som att gissa värdet på en bunt med presentkort ("Guess the Value") och spela mot varandra i olika flashspel för att nå topp fem. Sedan några månader tillbaka kan man också vinna Plunder Points genom att använda Loot Palaces egen sökmotor och lyssna på radio. Möjligheten att lyssna på radio och få poäng samtidigt gäller tyvärr inte i Sverige.

Tjänar man poäng snabbt? Det beror på vad man vill satsa på. Gör man som jag och bara tittar på reklamfilmer tar det mycket lång tid, men man är säker på att få poäng - till skillnad från enkätundersökningarna.

På samma sätt som Pay-To-Click tjänsterna (t.ex. NeoBux som jag skrev om i mitt förra inlägg) har man chansen att tjäna många poäng utan extra arbete om man lyckas rekrytera folk till företaget och få dem att utföra uppgifterna.

Trots att jag är emot konceptet att rekrytera människor och utnyttja deras vilja att få gratis saker gillar jag trots allt Loot Palace.

Av alla gratistjänster som finns på nätet, anser jag trots allt att Loot Palace är världens bästa gratissajt därför att den är:

1. internationell - även svenska medborgare kan ansluta sig till Loot Palace 
2. en social nätverkstjänst - alla medlemmar kan delta i företagets chatt och forum för att träffa nya likasinnade människor: Jag har lärt känna nya vänner på Loot Palace
3. en trovärdig webbplats enligt Scanurl.net, Web of Trust, Webutation och URLVoid
4. en webbplats som bara belönar sina medlemmar med digitala presentkort: ni kan praktiskt taget köpa vad som helst med dem - pengar behövs i praktiken inte! 
5. en webbplats med engagerad personal - de svarar snabbt på era frågor och hjälper till om problem uppstår 
6. en webbplats där ni kan efterfråga vilka present- och spelkort som helst som kan användas internationellt
7. en webbplats som tillåter inaktivitet - Efter sex månaders inaktivitet blir ens konto arkiverat; kontot aktiveras på nytt efter att man kontaktat supporten

Jag har varit medlem på Loot Palace sedan 2012 och ångrar det inte. Jag har sparat ihop tillräckligt mycket poäng för att skaffa minst två presentkort men väljer att spara dem tills vidare. Och det är tack vare Loot Palace som jag kunde upptäcka flashspelet Papa's Pastaria.

Men till skillnad från andra rekryterare kommer jag inte att be er att använda min inbjudningskod eftersom jag anser att rekryteringsmodeller i allmänhet är oetiska.

Visserligen har jag redan lagt in länkar till Loot Palace med min inbjudningskod på min blogg, men det är upp till er själva om ni vill använda koden eller inte. Ni kan lätt radera bort koden från webbadressen och bli nya medlemmar "blankt".

Men om ni ändå på något sätt vill stödja mig och väljer att använda min inbjudningskod, är jag mycket tacksam.

Så småningom kommer jag också att presentera en jämförelse mellan Loot Palace och de andra online belöningsprogrammen Points2Shop och Stuffpoint.

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English Summary:

Loot Palace is an online rewards program where its users can do offers, watch advertisements, do surveys, play games and listen to radio in order to earn Plunder Points. It was founded in 2011 by the entrepreneur Dan Bochichio. The points are used in exchange for different gift and game currency cards like Steam Wallet, PlayStation Network Cards, Xbox Live Points, Nintendo Points, iTunes Gift Cards and Amazon gift cards.

Similar to Pay-To-Click services like NeoBux, the users may earn more points by referring people - a concept which I normally am strongly against.

Still I think Loot Palace is the best online reward program in the world since it is

1. international - citizens of most countries can join
2. a social networking service (like Facebook) - any member can join the chat and the forums to meet new people
3. a trustworthy website according to Scanurl.net, Web of Trust, Webutation and URLVoid
4. a website which only rewards you digital gift cards: you can virtually buy anything with them - no money needed!
5. a website with a great and committed Staff - they're quick to respond and help you with any inquiries
6. a website where you can request any available gift and game currency cards
7. a website which is tolerant towards inactivity - just contact the support if you have been inactive for 6 months and you'll start earning points again

I have been a member of Loot Palace since 2012 and I don't regret it. I've earned enough points to get at least two game currency cards. I've met new friends at the website and discovered the flash game Papa's Pastaria!

I won't ask you to use my referral code because I think the concept of referring people in general - to prey on people's will to earn free gift cards quickly - is unethical.

Although I have links (with my referral code) to Loot Palace, it is up to you - the reader - if you want to be recruited by me or not. You can easily remove the code and register as a new member at Loot Palace without my involvement. But if you still want to support me and choose to use my referral link, I would be much obliged.

Later in the future, I'll present a comparision between Loot Palace, Points2Shop and Stuffpoint. Thank you for reading.

I would like to thank the Staff of Loot Palace for giving me their permission to use the company's logotype and its photo of "Guess the Value".

Att tjäna pengar på nätet: En recension om NeoBux

To earn money on the Internet: A review of NeoBux - An English summary can be found at the bottom of this Swedish review.

Mitt första svenska inlägg på min blogg, och idag tänker jag göra en snabb presentation om NeoBux.

NeoBux är en s.k. Pay-to-click tjänst där medlemmar får betalt genom att klicka och läsa/titta på annonser. Låter det för bra för att vara sant? Tyvärr ja.

Efter att man registrerat sig på webbplatsen, får man (som gratismedlem) klicka sig igenom 25 olika annonser värda $0.001 per klick. Därefter måste man vänta i ca 6 timmar innan man får nya att läsa. Ibland kan det dyka upp några annonser till som NeoBux:s medlemmar har skapat. Man kan också skapa egna reklam som andra kan klicka på.

Men hur tjänar man "snabba cash" som man så ofta ser på många annonser lite varstans på nätet, t.ex. på YouTube? "Hemligheten" är rekrytering av människor ("referrals") som också klickar på annonser. För varje klick som ens "referral" gör, tjänar man lite mer pengar.

NeoBux fungerar också som en s.k. Traffic exchange tjänst där medlemmar kan presentera sina webbplatser för varandra och på så sätt få ökat besöksantal.

Hur blir det med inaktivitet? I NeoBux:s användarvillkor står det att om ens konto inte används i 30 dagar, kommer kontot att tillfälligt bli suspenderat. Kontot blir permanent suspenderat efter 60 dagars inaktivitet. Om man skapar ett konto men inte använder det inom 72 timmar, blir det också permanent avstängt.

Man kan tyvärr inte avsluta ens NeoBux-konto. 

Vad anser jag om NeoBux och dess tjänster? Jag testade tjänsten och tjänade $0.028 på en timme. Det är inte mycket alls och det är tidskrävande. Det kanske är ett roligt tidsfördriv men traditionellt arbete med timlön är trots allt mycket mer "lönsamt" jämfört med det här.

Att tjäna pengar genom att bjuda in och låta andra människor också göra en del av jobbet tycker jag är oetiskt. Jag tycker att det är fel att utnyttja människors vilja att tjäna in extra pengar för att man själv ska kunna nå samma mål. 

Jag föreslår därför att ni bör undvika NeoBux och andra liknande Pay-To-Click tjänster.


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English summary:

NeoBux is a Pay-To-Click service where the members can earn money by clicking on and watching advertisements. Each click gives the member $0.001. After watching 25 different ads, the member needs to wait for 6 hours before he/she can repeat the process.

The only way as a free member to earn money quicker is through referrals. Each time a referral clicks on an ad, the free member earns some money.

NeoBux also works like a Traffic exchange program where its users can present their websites/blogs to each other in order to get more hits.

NeoBux temporarily suspends an account if it's inactive for 30 days. The account gets suspended permanently if it's inactive for 60 days. Once you've created an account, you can never close it.

The concept of using other people to do the work for you in order to earn money yourself - to prey on people's will to get an income in an easy way - is unethical according to me. Because of that I recommend you not to use NeoBux and other similar Pay-To-Click services.

I love Papa's Pastaria!

Loot Palace - the best online rewards program where it rewards its users different gift cards - have different flash pages every month where the users can compete with each other. The goal is to get to the top 5 each month, since the winners will get extra Plunder Points.

My favourite flash game right now is Papa's Pastaria (original URL) by Flipline Studios. The aim of the game is to run a restaurant where you, the owner, mostly will do all of the work: take orders, cook noodles, add sauces and satisfy the customers.

At the moment my high score is too low to be on the top 5. But the game is addicting nevertheless.

Here is my first avatar before my saved game was deleted and I had to restart from the beginning:

Avoid Squidoo at all costs!

Sorry Squidoo, but you should be avoided!

Some of you might have read my articles on my Squidoo-page in the past. Unfortunately they have been unpublished since they supposedly aren't original and "spammy" according to Squidoo's terms of service (TOS). Not only that, I can't even log into my account to either copy or edit my contents to follow their TOS!

I agree with Squidoo that articles - or lenses as they're called - should be original and reflect the author's thoughts and opinions; in other words - no plagiarism. I also agree that lenses shouldn't only be about promoting affiliate programs where authors ask their readers to use their referral codes. But how is it possible to know that a certain text is original or not?

Sometimes it's very easy to see that a text has been copied or quoted without the original author's permission. But how can you as an author prove that your text is your own work - especially on Squidoo?

After my experiences of Squidoo unpublishing my lenses, I would say it's impossible. It took me 7 hours to write an article about Loot Palace. It was accepted and featured on my page. But now all of my lenses have been taken down and I can't do anything about it. Several hours of work down the drain...

I have also written e-mails to Squidoo regarding this matter. But their policy is that if they don't reply in 30 days, that means my unpublished lenses still aren't approved and will be removed after 60 days in total.

This is one of the reasons why I started a "real" blog instead, here on Blogger.

So if you plan on starting a Squidoo-account to write articles, I strongly recommend you not to do it. Even if you write lenses of high quality (according to yourself), Squidoo will unpublish them if they think the articles violate their TOS. And Squidoo change the TOS very often!

Hello world!

Although I've "blogged" before through journal posts on my deviantART-account, this is my first "real" blog post.

On this blog I'll share with you my thoughts and experiences of video games and other things. I'll mostly write in English, but if there're local news I'll write in my native language Swedish.

Thanks for visiting my blog! Tack så mycket!