Crispybacon's blog

This looks familiar...

2011-11-24T12:25:00.001+13:00

2011 Wishlist

2011-05-19T16:11:00.003+12:00

Video Games

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (Xbox 360, release scheduled for 11 November 2011)
L.A. Noire (Xbox 360, release scheduled for 20 May 2011)
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (Xbox 360, released 10 November 2009)

DVDs

Castle, Season 1
Castle, Season 2
Castle, Season 3
Battle of Britain

Other

Microsoft Xbox Live Points
iPad 2 (black)

Oh no

2011-04-08T09:04:00.004+12:00

I've just spotted the new Tomb Kings figures from Games Workshop. I'm beginning to regret giving up the hobby.

A fantastic weekend

2011-03-13T20:54:00.010+13:00

Spent the weekend (since Friday afternoon) at the Tarureka Estate (formerly the Loft) in Featherston for the wedding of our good friends James and Sarah (who are also Logan's godparents). Since we were spending two nights at the Estate (in the Cottage), Summer went to spend the weekend at her breeder's just outside Levin. We took the opportunity to take a bit of a road trip, and headed for the Manawatu Gorge. Unfortunately, due a small navigational error on my part, we turned off SH57 before we got the SH3 and went across the Pahiatua Track instead. Wasn't that terrible, though: we got to drive through some beautiful New Zealand countryside (although I was the only one awake to enjoy most of it!). We got to Featherston just after 3pm, with time to get settled in and go to the rehearsal. Juliette was the groom's "Best Woman", so she was quite involved with everything, leaving me and Logan to our own devices. Fortunately, there were several other children around Logan's age staying for the wedding as well, so Logan got to make friends. Saturday was the day of the wedding, so Logan and I were again left to our own devices while Juliette was occupied with wedding stuff. About 2, we started getting ready. Logan looked great in his mini-tux, while Juliette looked fantastic in her dress. The wedding was perfect, with even the mosquitoes leaving everyone alone (they had mauled us savagely on Friday). After the wedding, we had a couple of hours before the reception. Logan got admired by all and sundry (some saying he outshone the girls!). A baby sitter had been booked and turned up laden down with toys. The kids seemed to like her, and we were quite happy to leave Logan with her. The reception was brilliant, and the bride & groom allowed me to sit next to Juliette at the head table, which was very gracious of them. The meal was fantastic, and accompanied by some really nice wines (not that I'm a wine connoiseur). Unfortunately, before Juliette's speech, I got a text from the babysitter saying that Logan had woken up and was upset, so I had to shoot over to the homestead to calm him down. Afterwards, I brought Logan back to the reception, but he really needed to go to sleep so we only stayed for about 10 minutes before I took him back to the cottage. Juliette stayed at the reception, performing her best-womanly duties. On Sunday, we prepared to leave. A barbecue was planned for that afternoon, but we needed to leave by 2pm to get to Summer by 5pm if we were going to go through the Manawatu Gorge (I had figured out where I went wrong, and knew where I was going this time!). In the end, we left at 2:30, so I decided we'd forego the gorge and head for Levin via the Rimutaka Hill Road-Haywards Hill-SH 1. Juliette, however, insisted that we go the long way because I really wanted to go through the Gorge. After a bit of ... discussion ... we agreed we'd go through the Gorge. I'm really glad I listened to Juliette. Not only was the Gorge a really beautiful peace of scenery and a nice road to drive, but just north of Carterton, five aircraft -- two biplanes (possibly Sopwith Camels) in Royal Flying Corps colours and three triplanes (possibly Fokker Dr.Is) in Luftstreitkraefte colours -- flew overhead. Thank goodness the roads in the Wairarapa tend to be straight, because I wasn't really watching the road! After a brief fuel stop in Pahiatua (where we met one of the other wedding guests), we went through the Gorge and headed for Levin, where we got in at 5:30. Summer had managed to hurt herself leaping up at guests the day before and had a severe limp, but she was happy to see us. We were happy to see her, but Logan was really happy to see her. We had a quick chat with the breeder, before getting back on the road and heading home down SH1.

Unfortunate...

2011-02-22T13:03:00.001+13:00

Spotted on Stuff just now:

Our English is the goodest

2011-01-13T10:40:00.004+13:00

From the IRD's page on spotting phishing scams:

Warning signs to watch for

If you receive an email asking for your tax information including your IRD number, password or user ID you should always check:
- is the sender's email address "@ird.govt.nz"?
- does the login page start with "https://"?
- does the website have "govt.nz/" in the address?
- does the text use poor spelling or grammar?
If you answered "No" to any of these question, delete the email permanently and also delete it from your trash

So in other words, if the text does use poor spelling or grammar then it must be from the IRD...

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T09:10:00.004+13:00

2011 is upon us, and here's hoping this year's better than the last three months have been.

As most of you will know, 2010 saw the loss of Merlin, one of our beloved golden retrievers. A semi-routine trip to the vet ended with a diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia. We tried chemo -- which only had a 20% remission rate -- but it only worked for a little bit, and Merlin was eventually sent to sleep on December 5, with me, Juliette and Summer with him at the last.

Of course, there have been happier moments this year. Logan turned one, and is almost walking. He got thoroughly spoiled on his birthday and Christmas, and had the undivided attention of his grandparents as his cousin Connor spent Christmas in Rotorua. This year, there should be four grandkids at the family Christmas: Connor, Logan, Hugo from Japan and Connor's brother or sister (who's due April/May).

New Year's resolutions include the perennial favourite, lose weight. I also want to spend some time getting a programming portfolio together, something I can point potential employers to. And I just want to be the best husband and father I can be.

Things to look forward to:

Logan turning two
Possibly trying for chickling #2
Buying our first house
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim in November (theoretically -- it's almost a given that it will be delated)

I'm sure there'll also be the usual ups and downs (that's called "life", folks) -- that's half the fun of a new year.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Coming Next Issue - News - www.GameInformer.com

2010-12-15T09:42:00.000+13:00

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Coming Next Issue - News - www.GameInformer.com

Afternoon entertainment

2010-09-21T16:21:00.003+12:00

Some idiot's just put a digger through a water main at the roadworks on Manners Street. The plume was higher than the 10-storey building across the road from my office.

Edit: Nearly an hour later, and it's still going, though not as forcefully.

Edit: Found on Youtube:

That made my day

2010-09-15T11:12:00.003+12:00

I'm working away like a good little boy, and I hear a light aircraft approaching. I think to myself, "He sounds a little low" and look out the window.

Buzzing across Wellington just above the roof tops is a Spitfire.

I don't think I'll be able to get this grin off my face for a while :-) Such a beautiful machine, such a wonderful noise!

>:-)

2010-08-11T13:32:00.001+12:00

Mafia II demo has been released on Xbox Live.... I know what I'm doing after I've put Logan to bed tonight.

Want a reason to play Warhammer?

2010-07-20T14:02:00.002+12:00

I'll give you 143 reasons not to. That's how much the 8th edition rule book costs. Sure, it's a hardcover, full colour 500+ page book, but it's only been four years since 7th edition, and from my (admittedly brief) flip-through of the new rule book at lunchtime today, not much has changed.

So, sorry Game$ Work$hop, but here's where we part company. I'll paint the figures I've got, but I'm not going to get any more.

One less hobby to occupy my time...

Indie space battle game

2010-07-19T23:04:00.001+12:00

Stumbled across a really neat space-battle game, Gratuitous Space Battles. Lots a fun!

Don't you just love cyclists?

2010-07-19T15:32:00.004+12:00

So I've dropped Logan off at daycare this morning, about 8am, and I've gotten back in the car to head off to work.

The carparks are right outside the daycare building, meaning cars have to drive over the footpath to get to and out of them. So while I'm reversing out the angle park, I'm conscious of the fact that there's cyclists and pedestrians travelling along the footpath in both directions. So I pull out carefully, and fortunately there's no cyclists or pedestrians in sight.

So there I am sitting on the footpath, dutifully indicating that I'm intending to pull onto Hutt Road when there's a gap in the traffic. It being rush hour, I've got to wait a bit.

I'm sitting there about thirty seconds when a cyclist arrives behind me. Remember, I'm stationary (with my brake lights on and have been for half a minute) and indicating that I'm trying to get onto a very busy road. But that's not enough for this character: he gesticulates at me to get out of the way.

Where? Where the heck am I going to go? On to Hutt Road? No thanks: the traffic's not stopping and I have no desire to be the road accident for the morning. Back into the carpark? Along the footpath?

Finally, the cyclist decides to go around me. Through the one-metre-wide gap between me and all the parked cars (so I'm between him and the busy street). The gap that no-one else is using. The gap that was there all along.

As he passes the front of the car, he gives me a dirty look.

So to sum up: I manoeuvred my car carefully (because I don't want some lycra-clad idiot splattered across my bonnet), I kept a gap so pedestrians and cylists can keep moving along the footpath (emphasis on foot), and I'm indicating so everyone can clearly see what I'm doing. But it wasn't enough for some holier-than-thou wheel-wiener who obviously decided that I was a massive obstacle that he'd have to alter course for.

I should also point out that I've almost been knocked down five times while dropping Logan off or picking him up from daycare. All five incidents involved a cyclist. Two of those times I was holding Logan.

So that's why I hate cyclists.

Update: And on the way home along the Hutt Road, in the 80 km/h stretch, I had to swerve to avoid hitting an idiot cyclist who suddenly veered in front of me to overtake another two idiot cyclists who, despite having the whole shoulder to ride in, were riding on the lane marking. Fortunately, I was the only car for twenty metres in either direction, and having Logan in the back seat helped keep the bad language away, but I was pretty ropeable.

Damn cyclists.

Giggle...

2010-07-15T08:54:00.002+12:00

From The Bottom Feeder:

I'll hear someone behind me shout, "Oi!" Which is British for, "Pardon me, but I am about to give your ass a truly extensive kicking."

Can you do 300 things in a minute?

2010-07-07T10:36:00.002+12:00

Then you can become a professional StarCraft player:

Pray, a moment's silence

2010-07-05T21:02:00.001+12:00

Mr Plecostamus -- a fish who survived the past three years with a hole in his head -- has passed away.

Journalists and research

2010-06-30T07:28:00.002+12:00

Stuff has a news article about the Rousillon crash of an Airbus A320 in 2008, where five Kiwis and two Germans were killed.

About halfway into the article is the line, "Flight data showed that the pilots did not receive accurate angle of attack readings, meaning they did not know the angle the wings were to the ground. " It's a small thing, but angle of attack is the angle between the wing and the oncoming flow of air over the wing.

If a journalist and their editor can't get the small facts right, how can we expect them to get the big facts right?

Oh great

2010-06-29T13:47:00.003+12:00

This is just what Wellington needs: more taxi drivers. Taking up parking spaces; stopping in the middle of the road in rush hour to drop off passengers; running orange and red lights; speeding; tail-gating; forgetting where the indicator is when changing lanes...

Back home

2010-05-22T20:25:00.002+12:00

I'm home again after my surgery. The benefits of having health insurance: it's been less than three weeks since the diagnosis!

Only a little bit of discomfort, and Panadol takes care of that. I'm also not supposed to do any heavy lifting for the next couple of days, which makes it difficult to give Logan a cuddle. :-(

Yup

2010-05-04T23:15:00.000+12:00

It's surgery, tentatively scheduled for 21 May.

Not again

2010-05-03T21:23:00.000+12:00

Remember this? It happened again last night, meaning we had a 1am trip to Kenepuru. Complicated this time because we didn't want to take Logan into a germ-filled emergency room while he's still recovering from a cold, so we had to wake up Juliette's parents and drop him off there (many thanks to the in-laws).

The hospital was deserted, so I was seen immediately. They gave me a shot of morphine, after which I threw up so they gave me an anti-nausea shot. The doctor thought it was gall stones, but discharged me and sent me off to get blood tests and an ultrasound, which I had done this afternoon, confirming it was gall stones.

I've got an appointment with our GP tomorrow, to go over the results and where we go from here, but it sounds like I'm heading for surgery.

Sigh

2010-04-30T15:58:00.001+12:00

Yes, I know its obsolete tech, but a little piece of me died when I read this news.

Phew!

2010-04-16T16:14:00.001+12:00

My replacement Xbox has arrived! Only been without it for just under 3 weeks....

Ah, the simple things....

2010-04-15T20:50:00.003+12:00

Playing F-19 Stealth Fighter (an old Microprose classic). With CGA graphics.

Joy. :-)

Viral dancing

2010-04-10T22:56:00.006+12:00

Found via Techdirt, here's a video taken from the 2009 Sasquatch! Music Festival (at the Gorge Amphitheatre, George, Washington). One shirtless guy starts dancing, but by two minutes into the clip, he's been joined by a horde of others.

The actual Techdirt article is an interesting read (from the always thought-provoking Mike Masnick), following how one person's idea lead to a web service, MixTapeForYou.com. Kind of reminds me of the old 1978 BBC series, Connections.

Well, dang.

2010-03-27T09:16:00.000+13:00

Red ring of death.

Bugger.

Democracy fail

2010-03-14T06:48:00.007+13:00

Countries like China, Iran and others with totalitarian regimes are routinely castigated in the Western press for the limits they place on free speech, including on the internet. So the next target for staunch defenders of democracy should be... us?

According to Tech Liberty NZ, the Department of Internal Affairs (maybe that should be Infernal Affairs) has confirmed that an internet filter has gone live as of 1 February 2010. Two ISPs -- Watchdog and Maxnet -- have signed up, and Telecom, Vodafone and Telstra Clear have indicated that they will also sign up for it. Slingshot and Natcom have said they will not sign up. Orcon has said they probably won't.

The stated intention of the internet filter is to block access to child sex abuse images, it'll be hard for the government to resist the temptation to spread the filter's reach into other areas (political, social, economic, etc.). Especially since the list of sites blocked by the filter is secret: you're not allowed to know what's being blocked.

Now, stopping child sex abuse images is a laudable goal. I've always loathed the people who make and traffic in this stuff (especially now that I'm a father). But is this filter going to stop it?

No.

First of all, stopping someone from viewing this filth won't stop the production of it, which should be the more urgent goal of law enforcement. To produce a child sex abuse image (I hate the term 'kiddie porn'), a child has to be abused. That'll happen whether anybody downstream views the image or not. So catching and punishing the people who make the images should be a priority.

Secondly, the filter won't stop peer-to-peer file sharing, which is apparently how most child sex abuse images are shared.

Third, anyone determined enough will be able to route around the filter, making it useless.

This filter intrudes on your right to privacy and freedom from search. A police officer can't just stop you in the street and search you, they have to have probable cause: a justified reason to execute the search that will hold up in court. To search your house, the police have to go before a judge, explain why they think they need to search your house, and get a warrant before they knock on your door. To listen to your phone conversations, they likewise need a warrant. But your internet traffic? With this filter, where you browse, what you read and watch is fair game. Regardless of whether you're going to a banned site or not, if the website you are visiting happens to be hosted by the same web server as a banned site, your traffic will go via DIA's servers.

Somebody's going to rattle off the line, "If you're not doing anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about." Bullshit. We have a presumption of innocence in this country (innocent until proven guilty). A filter assumes you're guilty until it decides you're innocent.

This filter was implemented because DIA decided that it was allowed to under the Films, Videos, and Publications Classification Act 1993. This act mentions the internet. Once. In the definition of "service provider" (which itself is only mentioned one other time). It is definitely worrying that a government department can arbitrarily set up a censorship regime without political oversight: an unelected bureaucrat can decide what you can and cannot view, and not tell you until after you've potentially incriminated yourself.

Ben Franklin once said, "They who would give up an essential liberty for temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security." This filter is an assault on our liberties, and should be stopped as undemocratic. Let us decide for ourselves what we can watch and read.

Ok Go's new video

2010-03-10T23:25:00.003+13:00

From the same group that danced on treadmills (which can be seen, briefly, at some point in this music video):

Another flight

2010-03-06T15:23:00.009+13:00

Took a flight with the Wellington Aero Club today, courtesy of my mother-in-law (as a thank you for some help I'd given her with her computer). Spent about an hour in a two-seat Piper Tomahawk II mucking about around Wellington's south coast. Some glorious sights, but didn't get many photos as I was controlling the plane pretty much from the get go. Did the takeoff, cruising, a touch-and-go, and a full-stop landing with a little help from one of the instructors. Did get a chance to take a couple of pictures, plus some video clips.

It's the second time I've done one of these flights, the first time was a few years ago.

The future of games?

2010-03-03T22:56:00.004+13:00

Interesting talk to come out of DICE 2010, by Professor Jesse Schell of Carnegie Mellon University (courtesy of G4TV):

DS Games - E3 2010 - Guitar Hero 5

I particularly liked the explanation of why we hate the iPad (at about 17:15).

How to lose your fans

2010-03-02T16:48:00.011+13:00

Slashdot is reporting an 8-year fan-created episode in the (long dead) King's Quest series has been shutdown by Activision.

The series started in 1984 under the auspices of Sierra On-line with King's Quest: Quest for the Crown and finished in 1998 with King's Quest VIII: Mask of Eternity. When Sierra (as Sierra Entertainment) faded away, and stopped producing KQ games with the cancelation of King's Quest IX in 2002, fans stepped in and started producing their own labour of love, King's Quest IX: Every Cloak has a Silver Lining.

Fast forward 8 years, and Activision (owners of the remnants of Sierra and its IP) have issued a cease-and-desist order, effectively burying the game. Vivendi, when they controlled the IP and before they had been swallowed by Activision, had allowed development to continue under a non-commercial licence (i.e., the fans couldn't sell it and not actually call it King's Quest IX), but apparently Activision is not willing to allow even that.

Let's be clear: Activision have every right to do this. They own the intellectual property rights over the King's Quest series, so they are perfectly within their legal rights to do this. But, from a business point of view, this decision is completely nuts. Activision have no plans to revisit the series, so it's not competing against an "official" product. And the people producing the game are fans -- you know, people who love the series and are prepared to put in some work to keep it alive. All Activision are doing here is stomping over people who now might think twice before buying any Activision product.

Let's hear a big cheer for the lawyers....

Update: From Techdirt, Activision are letting the game go ahead. Common sense prevails...

Over-reaction

2010-01-03T16:37:00.003+13:00

I had my first real encounter with road rage today.

I parked the car in Porirua's Megacentre, next to a silver four-wheel drive, which, being a large vehicle parked in a space designed for a regular-size car, didn't leave a lot of room. I managed to get out without my door touching the other car, but Juliette's door caught a gust of wind as she got out, and it tapped the other car.

Next thing we know, a rather portly Pom (judging from his accent), came round from the driver's side and -- before even looking to see where our door touched the side of his car -- started ranting about our carelessness. I told him there was no damage done, and thought he'd go away, but no. He wandered round to between the cars, pointed at a spot completely indistinguishable from the rest of the door, and ranted about red paint on his door. When I asked him to point it out, he couldn't, so he then asked about the flecks of silver paint on the edge of my door. A close examination showed it was where paint from my car had come away, and was showing the underlying body work. I pointed this out to him, and he stomped off, muttering.

I thought that was the end of it, but he comes back round and declares, "People like you should be shot!" And stomped off again. Then comes back (he must have had a list or something) and asked if I'd gotten my driver licence in the lottery. Finally, he went back to his car and drove to a different parking spot (incidentally, parking closer to another car than I had parked to his).

We're eally quite perplexed about how somebody can completely over-react like that. I've had worse dings where the car was actually moving -- both mine and the other drivers' fault -- where everyone was quite civil, and quick to dismiss any superficial damage (if any). But this guy went completely off his nut over a minor little tap -- where absolutely no damage was done to either car. Weird.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T07:16:00.006+13:00

The new year is upon us, whether you'll call it "twenty ten" or "two thousand ten".

Pity it had to get off to such a rocky start: the neighbours across the road decided to ring in the new year with fireworks. One or two would be okay, but they went for twenty minutes. And their kids would yell "Happy new year!" at anybody and everybody they saw.

And right as we're trying to get Logan to go to sleep. Grrr....

Really good article over on Wired about the fall of 3D Realms.

Currently playing: Battlefield: Bad Company (Xbox), Warhammer: Mark of Chaos (PC).

This post is a day late...

2009-11-18T23:37:00.004+13:00

... but that's to be expected, since I've had about 8 hours sleep in the past 67 hours.

Any how, the news: our son Logan was born at 1:30 am, 17 November, 24 days earlier than his due date. Full details are here.

YES!!!!!!!!

2009-11-14T22:26:00.000+13:00

We're in!

Christmas Coffees

2009-11-12T22:16:00.006+13:00

Starbucks have brought back their Christmas-themed coffees! The only time I ever get anything other than a hazelnut latte! Had a yummy dark cherry mocha today -- the last time I had one of these was just after visiting the Jorvik Viking Centre in York last year.

Done!

2009-11-09T21:49:00.002+13:00

It's over. Last exam sat, course work archived, studies are over.

Unless I'm mad enough to do post-grad....

Awesome little video

2009-11-06T18:54:00.002+13:00

Got 8 minutes? Then watch this:

Manners Mall

2009-10-29T07:39:00.004+13:00

I don't know what all the fuss over the plans for Manners Mall is about. The number of courier vans, delivery vehicles and bicycles that charge up and down there, it's like there's already a road through it.

I want one!

2009-10-21T07:27:00.001+13:00

Sign me up....

Surfacescapes Demo Walkthrough from Visual Story TAs on Vimeo.

Classic

2009-10-19T12:06:00.001+13:00

see more Lol Celebs

Easily entertained

2009-10-16T11:05:00.005+13:00

This post isn't about anything new or amazing, but I had a bit of a geek-out moment. I was reading a blog post by one of the D&D developers, who happened to mention he went on holiday with this family, and how the scenery at Chinook Pass in Washington state was awesome. I sauntered over to Google Maps, and looked up Chinook Pass. On a whim, I decided to see if Street View was available on I410... and it was. I must have traveled several miles along the road -- thoroughly agreeing with Rich Baker's assessment of the scenery -- before my boss told me my tea break was over...

Nothing new. Nothing earth-shattering. But I couldn't help marveling at the information tools available to us today.

Huzzah!

2009-10-15T21:50:00.003+13:00

Had my final university lecture at 4pm today. Just gotta get past two 3-hour exams in early November, and then I'll graduate. Still haven't decided about going to the capping ceremony. My wife, sister-in-law and mother-in-law want me to do it, but I'm not big on public displays.

Ugh... feeling old.

2009-10-12T21:29:00.004+13:00

GameSpy has published a list of their 25 Top Games of the '90s. Of the 25 on the list, I've played 20, and some of those are still games I love playing now (or would, if I still had a working copy).

Bank directors' bonuses

2009-09-06T22:02:00.005+12:00

True/Slant is an interesting website, and I like Laurie Essig's column. A recent one is on the ridiculous bonuses paid to bankers, despite their proven ineptitude culminating in the current financial crisis (okay, I know it's not as simple as that). One particular paragraph stands out (especially since it keeps getting trotted out by the State Services Commission):

Furthermore, the absolutely insane propaganda coming from the likes of [Wall St insider Timothy] Geithner that these salaries are “good” for America because they attract the “best and the brightest” is not true. Insanely high salaries attract the greediest. Period. Work that doesn’t involve screwing other people and is fairly compensated attracts the best and the brightest since the best, by definition, are motivated by more than money.

Read the whole column. Then go read some other articles.

Dinner

2009-09-05T23:38:00.006+12:00

Just got back from a fabulous dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Lower Hutt, Las Margaritas (a surprise birthday party for one of my D&D players). Good food, great atmosphere, and a rousing rendition of the Spanish Happy Birthday for Cam.

Weee!

2009-08-28T02:18:00.001+12:00

That was a bit of a shake. Still, no damage (except for startled missus). Back to sleep.

Been a while

2009-08-15T19:48:00.004+12:00

Urg, been busy -- painting baby's room, work, study -- and we've been without internet at home for nearly a month. Must do better. :-P

Anyhoo, thanks to GameSpy, here's a video to go "wow" to:--

And now, the big news

2009-06-07T16:12:00.005+12:00

My wife and I are expecting a baby! He or she isn't due until December, but we've just come out of the first trimester, and everything looks great, so now we're telling everyone.

Latest news on the pregnancy can be found here (yes, another blog).

Duke Nukem Never?

2009-05-09T00:08:00.016+12:00

News is floating around the 'Net that the long-awaited Duke Nukem Forever's studio, 3D Realms, has shut down (or been shut down) due to a lack of funding. Their website, which was up-and-running last time I looked (less than a week ago), is now coming up with a "This webpage is not available" message, though the forums still seem to be up.

DNF has been in development hell for the past 12 years, and has become the poster boy of vapourware, and the gaming world's longest running jokes (for example, linking the games initials with the status of a race car that fails to complete a race). 3D Realms has long stated (rather petulantly, I thought) its release date as "when it's done". Aside from some screenshots in the early days, the only news was a trailer released in late 2007 (which was also the topic of the first post in this blog).

Part of the problem has been the chopping and changing of technology midstream. Starting with the Quake II engine, 3D Realms switched to the Unreal engine in 1998, a newer version of the Unreal engine in 1999, Unreal 2.0 in 2001. The physics engine changed from Karma to Meqon. There was a very public spat between 3D Realms and their publisher, Take Two, and repeated no-shows at various tradeshows.

Is this necessarily a bad thing? With its long development cycle, DNF would have to have been something awesome, otherwise it would have been one of the most pilloried video games in history (though maybe not as much as Daikatana...). Duke Nukem 3D is widely considered a landmark game in the FPS genre, and much was expected of its successor, especially from its early screenshots. It's entirely possible that the game would have been released to poor reviews, which would have spelt the death knell of 3DR anyway.

But it could have been a good game, too. It looks like we'll never know.

Update: The 3D Realms website is back up, only to say goodbye (complete with staff photo).

The franchise is safe

2009-04-29T08:13:00.003+12:00

We were lucky enough to get tickets to an advance screening of the new Star Trek movie (sister-in-law's husband won tickets, but it's on the night of said sister-in-law's birthday). It totally rocks (although one thing did bother me: [spoiler alert] Kirk goes from Iowa farmboy to starship captain in three years?!). It was also nice to see that Leonard Nimoy had a proper part in the movie, not a Leonard's-still-alive-and-we-got-him-in-the-movie part.

Fantastic short movie

2009-04-22T19:49:00.005+12:00

Thanks to blue cat for the heads-up on this, here's an absolutely fantastic short movie:

Oh!

2009-04-18T00:48:00.004+12:00

And thanks to Bezerk Raccoon putting up a post about her weekly ritual of checking up PostSecret. I've added it to my "blogs I follow" list, and I reckon it'll become part of my weekly ritual.

You may have noticed...

2009-04-18T00:38:00.003+12:00

... that there are a couple of tattoo blogs listed in the "blogs I follow" list. Both the missus and I have tattoos. Well, it's actually the same tattoo: a Celtic infinity knot that Juliette found on Teh Interweb (which, unfortunately, I can't seem to find again). It apparently symbolises two lives coming together as one, which was why we had them done when we got back from our honeymoon. Juliette's is on her right shoulderblade, mine on my left (normally when walking together, Juliette's on my left).

But we're not stopping there. Juliette's got some ideas for more tattoos, primarily ones that'll she have done when we have kids (at some point), as well as ones showing her love of animals.

Me? I've kicked around some vague ideas of tigers (I was born in the Year of the Tiger), wolves ('cos I love 'em), and eagles ('cos I love 'em and they can fly), but today I stumbled across the Geeky Tattoos website. Now, I'm kicking around geek tattoo ideas....

We have to wait how long?

2009-04-16T19:59:00.002+12:00

Watched the new Doctor Who adventure, Planet of the Dead the other night. Thought it was a bit Pitch Black-ish, and Lady Christina was a bit Lara Croft-ish, but that didn't stop it from being a really good episode.

Naturally enough, I hopped on Teh Interweb to find when the next episode will be.

November?!?!

Aaargh, don't know if I can last that long. Still, Torchwood season 3 in June/July, so that'll break up the wait a bit.

Cool new game

2009-04-12T01:26:00.003+12:00

Downloaded a demo from Xbox Live tonight for a game called Flock! Seriously fun.

Armageddon '09

2009-04-04T16:46:00.008+13:00

I spent most of today at the Armageddon Expo at Wellington's TSB Arena. It opened at 9, but Shane and I got there around 7:45 (with Eric showing up around 8). The queue wasn't very long when we got there, but grew in the 30 minutes before opening.

About 20 minutes before opening, the lines were split into two: one for those who already had their tickets, and those who had pre-ordered but not received their tickets or (like us) were buying their tickets at the door.

Of course, the doors opened, and line #1 head straight in. But the Ticketek computers weren't cooperating, so we were in line for another 20-odd minutes. None of the staff seemed to know what was going on, or how to fix it, or what to do in the meantime for the hundreds of people queuing up out the door waiting to give them money. Honestly, I've seen traffic jams that were better organised.

Eventually -- about 30 minutes after the doors were opened -- we got into the hall (and we were near the front of the queue). This was my first time at Armageddon, and I have to see, first impressions weren't too good. Several big names weren't there -- like Weta Studios, or Sony Playstation -- and the rest just felt like a third-rate country fair.

We wandered around a bit -- Shane and Eric buying DVDs, and me being very unimpressed. There were a couple of things that looked nice -- a miniature X-wing pilot's helmet, but at $129, it was a bit too expensive -- and the 501st Legion (Outpost 42) representatives looked impressive (Stormtroopers, Boba Fett, and a rather portly Garindan), although stormies with female breastplates are less impressive than the Emperor would possibly hope (at least the one I saw didn't have an exposed midriff).

Of course, being a pulp expo, there were plenty of people dressed in costumes. The influence of the new movie Twilight was evident: lots of teenage girls dressed as vampires, although somehow I doubt that vampires have problems with acne.

The only reason I had gone to Armageddon was for the guest stars, specifically, Peter Davison and Mark Strickson who had played the Fifth Doctor and Turlough (one of the Fifth Doctor's companions) on Doctor Who. To quote David Tennant in Time Crash, Peter Davison was "my Doctor" -- the only one who I remember from his first appearance in Castrovalva to his final one in Caves of Androzani. Both gave very interesting talks, recounting stories from their time on the show, as well as what they're up to now, and was worth the price of admission all on their own.

Overall, though, Armageddon was disappointing: poorly organised, short on big-card draws (apart from Davison and Strickson). Unless another Doctor or Companion turns up next year (or somebody just as interesting, like Peter Molyneux), I won't be going again.

Why I will never deal with EB Games again.

2009-03-11T10:27:00.005+13:00

Seven weeks ago, I went into EB Games in Cuba Mall, Wellington, looking for a copy of Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation. They only had a pre-owned copy, so I asked if they could get a new copy in. They looked in their computer, and found that the only new copies in all New Zealand were in Invercargill and Johnsonville. The bloke behind the counter called Johnsonville, and found that their copy was scratched. So he called Invercargill and asked for their copy to be transferred to Wellington. That done, I was told it might be a week or two because they were "in the middle of their stocktake".

Two weeks later, having not heard anything, I went back to Cuba Mall EB and ask what was happening. Without even looking at the computer, the bloke behind the counter (the same one who took my original order) told me it would be a week or two because they were "in the middle of stocktaking."

Another two weeks pass, and I go in again. This time, there's a different chap behind the counter, who helpfully tells me there's no record of my order. Annoyed, I ordered the game again, and once again, it'll "be a week or two".

Two weeks later, I go in. The order is in the computer, and the game is in transit -- should be in "next week".

Finally, I get a call yesterday saying that my game has arrived. When I went in to pick it up, it's a pre-owned copy (remember, I went through all this because I didn't want a pre-owned copy) with a battered case. Admittedly, they only wanted $85 for it (plus another $5 for "scratch insurance"), while it's selling for $120 new.

I did buy it -- and the damn scratch insurance -- because (a) I had a $25 voucher for EB, courtesy of my sister-in-law, and (b) I want to play the game, and didn't want to wait any longer. But I will never, ever again buy a game from Electronics Boutique, or even visit any of their stores.

My recommendation for buying games: MightyApe. We've had nothing but brilliant service from them, and their prices are usually on par -- or better -- with bricks-'n'-mortar stores. They also do books (the Watchmen comic for under $50.00? cool!), DVDs, and other odds and ends. And free delivery within New Zealand if your order is more than $50.00.

Grrrrr.....

2009-03-06T20:41:00.003+13:00

As we were leaving Johnsonville tonight, we got on the motorway and accelerated up to 100 km/h. Just past the J'ville on-ramp, bright orange flash.

I'll be seriously annoyed if I get a ticket -- it was a 100 km/h zone, my speedometer was reading 100 km/h, and the Tomtom GPS was reading only 94 km/h. (When I go past those little info boxes that tell you how fast you're going, they always say I'm travelling around 5 km/h slower than what my speedo says.)

Ugh!

2009-03-06T13:52:00.004+13:00

Wandered into the Electronics Boutique in Cuba Mall at lunchtime to see where a game I'd ordered 6 weeks ago was. Hasn't arrived yet -- will hopefully be here next week -- but at least they haven't lost the order like they had two weeks ago.

They also had posters up for the red X-box 360 (a limited edition bundled with Resident Evil 5), and it looks revolting. The Xbox looks really nice in black or white, but this is just plain icky.

New blog

2009-03-05T18:08:00.004+13:00

I've decided to create a second blog for all my game dev stuff.

Pixellated violence can be educational, too

2009-02-24T13:01:00.005+13:00

Neat story on BoingBoing about a dad allowing his son to play Call of Duty on the condition that he adheres to the Geneva Convention. Really warms the cockles of my heart (what the heck are those, anyway?) to see a parent finding out what the game is about, and using it to educate his son -- much better than a kneejerk "no-it's-too-violent" reaction.

Stop the press! Common sense breaking out!

2009-02-23T20:03:00.008+13:00

So the infamous Section 92A of the Copyright Amendment Act is having its implementation "delayed". I didn't vote for National -- I don't trust them -- but I'm delighted to see John Key et al take a step back from implementing a poorly thought out law that (a) won't do what it's supposed to do, (b) breaches the fundamental innocent-until-proven-guilty principle that underpins our entire justice system, and (c) props up an irrelevant business model for the recording and movie industries, who seem to be led by people too lazy or too stupid (or both) to find an alternative.

And who's to blame for this? The former minister, the "Hon." Judith Tizard, who put Section 92A back in, even though the select committee had taken it out, and lectured anybody who dared suggest it might be a bad law, and generally looks like the recording industry's stool pigeon.

And here's an interesting factoid. According to TorrentFreak, here are the top 10 most downloaded movies of 2008, along with their worldwide grosses (from Wikipedia):

1. The Dark Knight (US$1,001,082,160)
2. The Incredible Hulk (US$263,427,064)
3. The Bank Job (US$63,754,550)
4. You Don't Mess With The Zohan (US$201,780,186)
5. National Treasure: Book of Secrets (US$457,363,168)
6. Juno (US$229,911,304)
7. Tropic Thunder (US$188,056,525)
8. I Am Legend (US$585,349,010)
9. Forgetting Sarah Marshall (US$105,173,115)
10. Horton Hears A Who! (US$297,041,149)

Yup, piracy's killing the movie industry....

President Obama's Inauguration

2009-02-08T16:28:00.003+13:00

Some awesome photos here, courtesy of boston.com.

And off we go again...

2009-01-28T20:24:00.004+13:00

Two more days, and then it's off to Bali. If at all possible, we'll keep this blog updated again.

Bloody Pachelbel...

2009-01-24T14:44:00.006+13:00

Ever wondered why some pieces of music sound the same. Rob Paravonian has a theory...

Longer than Windows...

2009-01-20T15:16:00.005+13:00

So I rebuilt my PC over the weekend, and I now have a new appreciation of the number of expansions and stuff packs for The Sims 2. One base game, eight expansion packs, nine stuff packs, and three hours it took me to reinstall everything! Even Windows didn't take that long!

Oh well, it was worth it. Without all the rubbish cluttering the system, it runs quite smoothly now. Even loading takes a lot less time than before.

A rap song I actually like...

2009-01-14T19:51:00.003+13:00

Warhamster

2009-01-13T11:29:00.016+13:00

Had my first Warhammer battle in many years on Sunday, against my mate James: my Tomb Kings vs his Skaven (skeletons vs ratmen), 2200 points a side.

It was quite a slow game, with constant references to the rulebook to figure out how to do one thing or another, but in the end it was a minor victory to me (I won by 347 victory points -- if I had won by less than 300, it would have been a draw).

Much mirth and merriment had by me and James (and looks of bemusement from Juliette and James' partner Sarah), especially when:

My piddly little unit of 10 skeleton archers wiped the floor with James' Rat Ogres, which he'd sent down my left flank in an attempt to chew through the archers and get behind my army. Admittedly, the archers had poisoned weapons....
James forgot to ring his Screaming Bell in rounds 1 and 2.
Ringing said Screaming Bell in round 5 lead to James losing his Grey Seer general, the Bell, and two clanrats for good measure.
My Ushabti smashed through his slave unit, and overran into a clanrat unit.
James' warp lightning cannon doing little more than painting green light on various units.
Heavy cavalry skeletal steeds did more damage than their riders.
Chariot-pulling skeletal steeds did more damage than the chariot crew.
James forgot to deploy his plague censer bearers.
My chariots got slaughtered by James' giant rats.
Both my heavy cavalry and James' stormvermin got caught up in the terrain, and didn't contribute a lot to the battle.

Lots to think about for the next battle. My chariots have never been particularly effective, so I might replace them with a bone giant....

It's been how long?!

2009-01-08T12:40:00.005+13:00

Just had a look at my profile on Battletracker: the last time I played Battlefield 2 was 17 May 2008.

Almost as bad for Battlefield 2142: last played on-line on 19 May 2008.

It was about that time that Juliette discovered Facebook. Since then, darn near every waking moment, Facebook's been hogging our bandwidth. Kind of hard to make a sniper shot when you're stuttering along at 2fps!

Happy New Year!

2009-01-03T21:15:00.006+13:00

2009, eh? What can we expect?

Hopefully, I'll finish my undergrad studies at VUW.
Mafia II!
Possibly start thinking about trying for kids...
More D&D rulebooks...
Idiot right-wing policies from the National-led government (you know, like fixing the economic crisis by giving more money to the twats that caused the problems in the first place).
Mafia II!

I'm sure there's more, but that's all I can think of now.

Edit: Add "many more games of Warhammer" to the list.

Not the way I like to start Boxing Day

2008-12-27T20:21:00.010+13:00

So Christmas dinner was at my wife Juliette's parents' place. Just a small affair -- about 20 or so people, only a two-turkey dinner.

We finished eating dinner about 9:30 (my mother-in-law's pavlova is to die for), and by 10 my stomach was starting to hurt. No worries, I though, it's only indigestion. I figured I'd do what always works -- take some antacids, and lie down with a hot-water bottle. Couple of hours later, I'd be fine, yes?

No.

The antacids got thrown up. So did the painkillers. And the next lot of antacids. And the whole time, I was in agony.

By 4am, Juliette was sufficiently concerned that she managed to convince me to go to the hospital. The nearest one is Kenepuru, which had -- fortunately -- recently started running its 24-hour emergency service. The doctor told me that there was a couple of nasty stomach bugs doing the rounds that cause severe abdominal pain, so they tried what normally works.

No dice.

By now, they were worried that in might be gall stones, bladder stones, pancreatitis, or some combination of the three. The 24-hour clinic doesn't have access to x-ray or blood-test facilities at night, so I got a shot of pethidine (in the bum) and referred to Wellington Hospital. They offered to get an ambulance to take me, but warned that it could take up to half-an-hour to get one. By that time, we could have driven into Wellington, so Juliette drove me in. I remember getting on the motorway at Porirua. The next thing I remember is going around the Basin Reserve. I was extremely tired, but the pain had kept me awake. The pethidine had dulled the pain enough that I was able to doze off in the car.

We got to Wellington Hospital's A&E, and despite the signs warning of 30 minute waiting times, got seen within 5 minutes. I got poked and prodded, and IV line put into my elbow (after an abortive attempt to put one into the back of my hand -- ouch!). They drew some blood for tests, and sent me off for chest and stomach x-rays.

After I got back, the nurse told us that it would be another 90 minutes before the blood tests would be complete. Suited us, I think I went to sleep on the gurney before she'd even finished talking! Juliette had bunched up my jumper, and was using it as a pillow, sitting in a chair leaning against the wall. We got woken up a bit later, to be told there wasn't anything on the x-rays (so probably not gall or bladder stones). I was a bit uncomfortable -- the pethidine was wearing off -- so they gave me a shot of morphine. Back to sleep!

A while later, the nurse woke us again to say that nothing had shown up in the blood tests. Apparently, in 90% of patients presenting severe abdominal pains, they never know what was causing it -- just what wasn't causing the pain. A prescription for codeine, and we were on our way home. By now it was about 10am, so while Juliette drove, I was calling the rellies telling them I wasn't dying.

Haven't had any problems in the last 24 hours, so fingers crossed...

Off on our big adventure!

2008-11-13T14:42:00.001+13:00

Going to be away for a while, full details here.

The list grows ever longer...

2008-09-02T22:19:00.009+12:00

I don't know whether to scream with joy, or weep for the state of my credit card. I pick up one issue of Australian 360, and the list of games I want just explodes.

Top of the list is Mafia II, due out sometime in 2009 from 2K Games and 2K Czech. I am a huge fan of the original Mafia: City of Lost Heaven, easily spending hours in Freeride mode, just driving around and enjoying the immersion: it really feels like 1930s America (not that I know what 1930s America feels like, I'm just sayin'...). Mafia II looks just as immersive, though set in post-War America.

Next on my list is Fable II from Lionhead. I enjoyed Fable: The Lost Chapters on the PC, and as a completely unrepentent Peter Molyneux fanboy (I've never met a Molyneux game I didn't like), I'm slavering for Fable II.

There are plenty of other games on the list: Ace Combat 6: Fires of Liberation, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, Call of Duty: World at War (back to World War II and the Pacific theatre), Diablo III, Far Cry 2, The Force Unleashed, Fracture, Ghostbusters, Half-Life 2: Episode 3 (Everton nil), Jet Thunder, The Sims 3, and Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X..

That's 14 games... at roughly NZ$100 a pop... yikes....

Update: As of 27 March 2010, I have Fable II, Ace Combat 6, Brothers in Arms: Hell's Highway, The Force Unleashed for the Xbox (which just died), and The Sims 3 and Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. for the PC (which is also a bit green about the gills these days); Mafia II, Diablo III, Half-life 2: Episode 3 and Jet Thunder have yet to be released; Fracture and Ghostbusters have been disappointments, so I haven't bothered to get them; and Far Cry 2 and Call of Duty: World at War are no longer on my wish list.

Okay, I admit it,....

2008-08-18T12:03:00.003+12:00

I caved. I surrendered to the Dark Side. I can no longer sneer at console owners. I am one.

I've bought an Xbox 360.

But there was a reason (not temporary insanity): too many good games either out already, or coming out soon, that are console only: GTA IV (and yes, I know there's a PC version coming in the next few months -- I didn't know that when I ordered the Xbox), Force Unleashed, Fable II, and Fracture, just to name a few.

And I really like being able to go into EB Games, and look at two walls of the shop :-P

Do I think PC gaming is dying? No. The PC is too versatile, and my experience with Perfect Dark Zero leads me to the conclusion that first-person shooters are still better on a PC (mouse and WASD beats analog joysticks). And games like Spore and "proper" flight sims are still PC-only.

4th Edition

2008-08-10T00:11:00.004+12:00

Had a chance to play with Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition today. I admit, I was a little apprehensive -- I've been playing D&D since 1st edition (the original AD&D) -- and while I'd liked the changes made for 3rd Ed, 4th Ed looked "too different".

Still, open-mind and all that: got together with a couple of friends, and ran through the adventure in the back of the DMG. Constant referrals to the rulebooks followed through three combat encounters, but that was to be expected. And we thoroughly enjoyed it. There seems to be more emphasis on teamwork now, with powers that smash enemies and heal allies (the paladin's divine judgement was well appreciated).

And it's tougher! Our party of six 1st-level characters (as this was testing the rules, we each had two characters and shared the DMing load -- not something we'd ever think of do if we were playing "for real", as it were) had real trouble with kobolds. Kobolds!

Only gripe really, was that it was sometimes tricky to find where in the rulebook a particular rule was: the index, particularly in the PHB needs overhauling.

"Jar Jar, you're a genius"

2008-07-04T19:29:00.002+12:00

Go to Google, and search for the phrase "Jar Jar, you're a genius" (including the quotes). This phrase -- that hadn't existed anywhere on the Interweb before 3 July, for some strange reason -- first appeared in Darths & Droids episode 122. It's now on Google's hot trends list.

Feed the frenzy! Search for the phrase, and blog about it!

Woohoo!

2008-07-01T21:22:00.002+12:00

Diablo III!

Battlefield: Bad Company

2008-06-25T18:38:00.006+12:00

Ahh, the grim poetry of the battlefield...

Really cool video clip

2008-06-23T00:41:00.006+12:00

14 months, 42 countries...

On a side note, we did go to see Indy IV tonight, and really enjoyed it. Several people "warned" us that it wasn't as good as the previous movies, but I don't know what movie they saw. The one we saw was terrific (maybe not as good as Raiders, but definitely better than Temple of Doom, jury still out on whether it was better/worse than Last Crusade). It did everything we ask of a movie: we went in, and when we came out some two-and-a-half hours later, we had been thoroughly entertained. So yah-boo-sucks! to all you naysayers! :-P

SWCCG -- the madness resumes

2008-06-22T02:46:00.006+12:00

As I said a week ago, Forge's MTG: Forge, errr, Card Warrior, has inspired me to actually start work on a similar project based around Decipher's Star Wars Customizable Card Game which gobbled more time and money than I care to think about from about 1995 onwards.

As a good little Comp205 graduate, I'm going to do a bit of design work before I start putting code in IDE. A bit of work here can save a lot of heartache (and retyping and refactoring) later -- and I'm talking from experience here. Just try doing a group project where everybody goes and does their little part, but come integration day, nothing integrates -- because there was no overall design, there was no agreement on how the parts would work together. I fondly (NOT!) remember the night before integration day (when we had to show our progress to a tutor), a pair of us staying in the labs until well past 1am getting four people's code to cooperate. My wife wasn't too impressed, but the tutor was...

Relax!

2008-06-22T00:08:00.003+12:00

Okay, that last exam was a bee-atch, but it's over now. Two whole weeks before semester two starts.

And then the merrygoround begins again....

Magic: The Gathering

2008-06-13T01:00:00.005+12:00

I never really got into Wizards of the Coast's Magic: The Gathering card game. I think I bought a sum total of one booster pack. But GameDev.net recently had a thread pop up on the forums about a blog called "Computer Programming and Magic: The Gathering".

It's a good read, especially if you're interested in the AI (which, by the way, has beaten me more times than I care to say -- but I'm putting that down to inexperience with M:TG). I've yet to go through the source code (it's done in Java): that'll probably have to wait until after my last exam of the semester (on 21 June), which is coincidentally on AI.

I may never become a great Magic player, but it's inspired me to restart a project I'd briefly looked at over the (southern hemisphere) summer, making a single-player (that is, player vs. computer) version of the old Decipher game, Star Wars Customizable Card Game. That's the only CCG I really got into (although I dabbled briefly with Middle-Earth: The Wizards, Bablyon 5, Aliens vs. Predator, and Lord of the Rings), but finding anyone to play against is next to impossible. Ages ago, I found a mirror of the old Decipher website that had the images of all the cards, so I have all the card images, and getting the basic game up and running shouldn't be too much of an issue (that is, basic mechanics with none of the cards' special rules implemented).

I'll keep you posted.

Awesome article

2008-06-06T22:06:00.001+12:00

Okay pollies, read this and make damn sure you remember it next time you feel the urge to jump on your soapbox (courtesy of the Guardian).

MiG-29 shooting down a drone

2008-04-22T22:59:00.005+12:00

The Georgian government have released amazing footage taken from a UAV of its own last minutes (courtesy of the BBC).

It's clearly a MiG-29 "Fulcrum" firing an air-to-air missile at the drone as it flew along the Abkhazian Black Sea coast. However, neither Georgia nor (theoretically) the Abkhazian rebels have MiG-29s -- in fact, the only ones even close to the area with the type are the Russians, who have been supporting the Abkhazians (and the South Ossetians) in their attempt to break away from Tbilisi.

According to radar tracks, the MiG took off from an airfield in Abkhazia, flew over the Black Sea, shot down the drone, and then flew to Russia.

The Abkhazians claim it was one of their own L-39s that shot down the drone, but given the plane in the video is clearly a twin-tailed aircraft (as opposed to a single tail L-39), this claim is laughable.

But why would the Russians risk being filmed blatantly violating Georgian airspace. Two theories spring to mind:

The drone was not in Georgian airspace -- but nobody's denied the drone's position.
There was something else that the drone could not be allowed to film.

Starting to get a bit Tom Clancy-ish, eh?

So I'm not maladjusted? Hooray!

2008-04-19T18:02:00.005+12:00

Interesting study that's been done (courtest of Techdirt):

And another....

2008-03-19T23:22:00.002+13:00

And not even two weeks later, the great sci-fi author Arthur C. Clarke has died, aged 90.

And who says 8-bit is dead?

2008-03-14T20:14:00.002+13:00

Seriously cool clone of Guitar Hero... on a Commodore 64 (not an emulator either, but an actual C64!). Thanks to Intelligent Artifice for the heads up:

A mighty totara has fallen

2008-03-06T14:26:00.004+13:00

You've probably already heard that the Father of Dungeons & Dragons has died, but I just want to add my thanks to Gary Gygax for his contribution to the world of gaming, and send my condolences to his family.

Been a while

2008-03-05T18:42:00.005+13:00

Yikes! Managed to go all February without making a post. Baaaad crispy-bacon!

I guess the combination of finishing my internship at Innaworks, and starting back at university gives me some excuse though.

Anyhoo, stumbled across this awesome looking flight sim called Jet Thunder. Based around the 1982 Falklands War, I definitely adding this puppy to my collection when it comes out.

One for the "must get" list

2008-01-29T12:04:00.001+13:00

Thanks to Intelligent Artifice, I've found out about a book from Hiive Books, The ZX Spectrum Book - 1982 to 199x.

The Speccy was the second computer I ever owned (after a Dick Smith Electronics VZ-200). These two computers -- especially the Spectrum -- were the main reasons I learned programming. I didn't have a reliable tape recorded to save or load programs, so if I wanted to play a game, I'd have to type it in. Of course, the listings were often hard to read, and I'd make typos, so before I could play the game, I'd have to fix all the bugs first.

Ah, memories....

Nifty game

2008-01-29T00:02:00.001+13:00

Thanks to ...on pampers, programming & pitching manure, I've stumbled across a neat (though slightly bizarre) game from indie developers Dejobaan Games, called The Wonderful End of the World. Give it a go, and support indie developers!

Exciting morning

2008-01-28T08:03:00.001+13:00

Woke up early on Sunday morning (about 6:30 -- which is very early when you didn't go to bed until 3am) to the dogs barking, and what sounded like a truck running its engine. On investigation, found two police cars, two fire trucks and an ambulance attending a van that had somehow managed to roll onto its side.

Looking at the skidmarks on the road, looks like he lost control coming round the corner at the top of the hill. Only saw one person being taken away in the ambulance; hopefully, he's okay. Haven't heard or seen anything in the local news about it, which leads me to think that the driver didn't suffer any serious injuries.

Hey, I know her....

2008-01-17T06:40:00.003+13:00

Techdirt is reporting on a story about a lecturer at the University of Brighton who has banned her students from using Google in writing their papers. Prof. Brabazon has claimed that too many students were taking the easy way out and regurgitating the first few search results for their assignments.

This seems to be another case of blaming the technology for what is really human laziness. If a student can't be bothered to research their assignments properly, then they should get poor grades. Then, they'll either fail the course or learn to research properly.

Banning Google and Wikipedia is not the answer. When I did history at Victoria University (in 1994), the first assignment was on how to use the library. We had about 20 questions, and in finding the answers to those questions, had to learn the layout of the library, the call number system, etc.

The solution to Prof. Brabazon's problem would seem to be an assignment designed to teach students how to use tools like Google and Wikipedia, making sure that students learn what these tools are not -- an alternative to thinking, or to proper research.

I was a little surprised when I read this story. Prof. Brabazon took the final third of Hist105 (waaaay back in 1994), and I always thought of her as a more technologically clued up lecturer (who once used an episode of Fawlty Towers to demonstrate a point).

Blame the interweb!!!

2008-01-16T12:44:00.001+13:00

An article's turned up on Yahoo!Xtra news' Top Stories list, about a Fijian woman attacked by some scum she met on the internet.

Unfortunately, these kinds of assaults happen all the time, but this particular assault is apparently worth mentioning because the people involved met over the internet. I'm sure many other woman were attacked by men they met by "conventional" means -- in the pub, through friends and family, at school -- on the same day this particular woman was attacked, but because the internet was not involved, they did not get mentioned in the "Top Stories".

Yes, this was a tragedy for the woman. Yes, the scum should be locked up for a very long time.

But honestly, it shouldn't get "top story" status just because they met on the web. That's just wrong. It's not the internet's fault this b*stard decided to attack this lady. I'm sure that if he met her in the pub, she'd still have been attacked.

When will she learn?

2008-01-16T12:07:00.001+13:00

J.K.Rowling is, once again, setting her lawyers on her biggest fans, this time a l exicon of the Harry Potter universe that wants to publish a print version of their website. As Tim Wu smoothly points out, there are many reasons why Rowling deserves to fail in her attempt (via Techdirt).

One day, Rowling -- and others who seem to turn to the lawyers at the drop of a hat -- will learn that they're only harming themselves and their IP. It's free promotion, for goodness sake!

Part of the problem, I think, is the litigious nature of Western society. Lawyers are ubiquitous, and the lawsuit is the primary tool in their toolbox. "When your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail." Unfortunately for IP holders, not every so-called "infringing" item is a nail (i.e., something to be sued out of existence). The sooner they realise this -- and embrace the possibilities -- the better off society will be.

Reminds me of the old joke: What do you call 500 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? A good start.

NB: I should point out not all lawyers are bad (especially the one that's my sister-in-law). Just the ones who look for opportunities to sue as the be-all and end-all of the lives.

Star Wars revisionism

2008-01-14T10:48:00.000+13:00

An interesting look at the events of A New Hope in light of events in the prequels (via Intelligent Artifice).

Warhound, Turning Point and Crysis

2008-01-11T21:56:00.003+13:00

Stumbled across a new game that looks interesting. Warhound is a new FPS from Techland, following the reliably popular anti-terrorist story line. Graphics look very nice, and it's promising some serious AI, interactively destructable environments, and quasi-role-playing elements (increasing skills, etc.). Looking forward to it, due to be released sometime this year (fingers crossed).

Turning Point: Fall of Liberty, by Spark Unlimited and published by Codemasters takes an alternative history, postulating that Winston Churchill did not survive an accident, so never became Prime Minister of Great Britain. World War II still happened, but because there was no effective leader against Hitler, the war in Europe was over before the US became involved. The game opens in 1952, as Zeppelins drop Nazi troops into New York. Again, nice looking graphics (using Epic's Unreal 3 engine). Another one on my "to-get" list -- due Spring 2008 (that's Autumn 2008 for you weirdos in the northern hemisphere).

On a side note, here's a clip of someone with Crysis and far too much time on their hands:

What rotters :-)

2008-01-11T10:34:00.000+13:00

The meanest thing that Gizmodo did at CES... where can I get one?