It's pretty amazing when you just stop and think about it, that I can type a few words right now and send them almost instantaneously to another person across the planet. This and many other marvels of modern living can sometimes be taken for granted. This may be the reason that I have been so thoroughly frustrated with HTC over the last few day because trying to reach the e-commerce team in that company is basically like trying to call god.
Just as the clock struck Midnight on Friday I had text from a friend saying that Payments for the HTC Vive were starting to be taken and many were bouncing back: the initial cause was thought to be overly efficient anti-fraud mechanisms. Best to be safe I thought as I called my bank and literally while in the queue waiting to be spoken to I got the text. So my payment had been stopped, no problem I thought, I'll just get them to take the money again tomorrow. A very long story short (and six hours on the phone) after being assured payment would be attempted again Saturday morning instead I received an email informing me my order had been cancelled. Local witnesses reported seeing a small mushroom cloud over the horizon of Manchester at around the same time. Since then I did find the one helpful member of the HTC customer support team and *fingers crossed* I will still receive shipment sometime in April. If anyone has had problems with this please don't hesitate to email me at riggedforepic@gmail.com and I will help as much as I can.
So who was to blame? Well if I'm honest partly myself for not using PayPal and also not informing my bank ahead of time. However if what I have been reading is true the payments being knocked back were also partly the fault of Digital River, the company used to handle e-commerce for the Vive's shipping. One thing that does lie squarely at HTC's feet is the truly shambolic customer support I have been exposed to: from being left on hold until the call expired, very poor quality call audio (often sounding like they were working in an open-top sports car) and just generally being unable to help. Ok rant over, let us move on.
These last two weeks you may have noticed I've been fairly quiet and the reason being is I've had a fairly big operation on my leg: bed bound and in much more pain than usual I've been mostly listening to music and sleeping. The first game I dived into when able to sit back at my computer was a little gem called Stardew Valley, from a chap known as Concerned Ape. So I f you want to know what I thought of it please check out the reviews section, but the amazing story behind this game is that every single aspect was created by the lone developer. Sound impressive? Just wait until you play it. Stardew has been an awesome game to play while recovering as it completely absorbs your attention and can be quite serene at times.
So now I'm getting back to normal I've got a few games up for review and while I've been taking more of an interest in pixel adventures and indie games these next three will fit in very nicely. Enter the Gundeon, Hyper Light Drifter and Dead Star will all be getting the review treatment this week: if I can pry myself away from my farm that is.
Last but certainly not least I would just like to point some attention to a friend who is in the business of building custom made PC rigs. For now, I don't have any advertising on the site but if I see something I like I will mention it and obviously his quest to build people awesome gaming PC's fits with my own direction. I also buggered up the link the last time I mentioned him so there's that. Please check out Building a Gaming PC site.