Gaming
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Monday, February 26th, 2007Today has been an IT heavy day. My old 802.11g wireless access point died so I bit the bullet and upgraded my entire network. I now have only gigabit ethernet for my wired connections (both the router and the hubs) and 802.11n to go with my Macbook for fast data transfers and longer range.
After getting this little corner bookshelf to act as my ‘network hutch’ and contain the many pieces of networking equipment began the multi-hour saga to get it all set back up, all my ports forwarded correctly, and everything else working like butter. Sadly I couldn’t get the old AP working so I’m 802.11n only for right now - no more free wireless for my neighbors until I go pick up another cheap AP.
The mail was also kind to me today: it delivered my Wii component cables. Unfortunately there is something weird going on with my receiver and I couldn’t get it to pass through the component signal so I have a somewhat janked setup right now with the Wii going directly to the TV (still). At least I was able to route the audio through my main AV setup and the big speakers.
All in all I’m somewhat frustrated having spent nearly 3 hours fighting with network equipment, but it all seems to be working now (sans 802.11b/g for the Wii to connect through), and I should be set for fast happy networking bliss.
“Network domination” by sparktography
Sunday brunch
Sunday, February 25th, 2007
My friend Alissa (pictured above - another shot is here) has a crepes brunch at her house today. It was simply delightful! I got to meet a lot of her friends, as well as hang out with my old recruiting buddy Ron for a while. Everyone brought a crepes topping and we all talked, took photos, and played Settlers of Catan for about four hours.
After the brunch I had Mike and company over for some video games, bad movies, and pizza - all in all a very satisfying end to my weekend. We played some Crackdown and watched the worst movie in history: Mazes and Monsters.
Speaking of Crackdown it’s a fantastic - if not short - game. I beat the final boss today and discovered it’s twist of an evening. I kind of wish they had delayed the launch slightly and added more content - but that can’t be helped. It was well worth the money I spent on it to get a week of fun running around on the rooftops causing chaos.
“Sultry Alissa 02” by sparktography
Crackdown!
Wednesday, February 21st, 2007I have to say: I’m impressed with Crackdown. It’s the great game - the polar opposite of Grand Theft Auto and other similar games. Rather than playing a thug you get to play a genetically modified supercop charged with ridding the city of it’s many crime bosses and gangs. Mind you - the more violent the approach to ridding the city of crime the better. Having a license to kill rocks!
Normally I detest shooter games because I lack the ‘twitch factor’, but Crackdown features a unique targeting system that lets you focus more on movement than on aiming. This combined with the matrix style running (think jumping from rooftop to rooftop during a firefight) makes for a fun and addictive gaming experience.
The downside: I’m so addicted to the game that I haven’t posted a POTD since I got the game. Hopefully in a few more nights I’ll be able to tear myself away from Crackdown long enough to go shooting and take some more shots.
MEGA POST (now with more Pirates!)
Saturday, February 17th, 2007It’s been a while since I’ve posted - after updating the site design to the blog on Tuesday everything became rather busy. Wednesday night was the most romantic possible of valentines: I did usability testing for my friend Troy’s upcoming Pirates MMO, and then went home to drink wine and cuddle with Skype.
Pirates of the Burning Sea actually looks like it could be quite a fun game. I most likely won’t get sucked in (I’m not the MMO kind of guy) but I mean who can argue with Pirates? The game still needs a little UI polish (they are not even in beta yet), but it’s got a solid base for a good combat system and what looks to be a giant world to run (sail?) around in.
Thursday continued my Pirates theme with a showing of Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man’s Chest with Ken at Le Cinema Sparks. I really do have to admit that the special effects are simply amazing - regardless of the sheer ridiculousness of the rest of the movie. ILM used a new technology called iMoCap (Image Based Motion Capture) which allowed actors playing the pirates to be replaced in near realtime with CG characters using motion capture technology. This is way cool and an indicator that within a few years actors as we know them will likely be replaced with the infinite tweak-ability of computer generated actors.
Thursday also brought the first day that my jaw really felt better. The antibiotics are working a number on the infection and my bowels at the same time. I’m certainly glad they are working and I won’t have to have surgery, but the constant search for more bathrooms is starting to get old. Oh well - it could be worse: my jaw could have swelled up more and left me horribly disfigured for the foreseeable future. In other news my pills are more than half gone:
Friday brought laundry, cleaning, and way too much laziness. I spent the entire evening getting ready for the weekend. Below is a shot of my pants drying in the bathroom. I had hung them up to dry and was just getting ready to go to bed when I noticed the shot and had to go get my gear together really quick so I could shoot it. I then got sucked into Photoshop playing with various treatments until I finall came up with the below. GO PANTS!
Now that it’s saturday I’m wearing slightly damp pants, and finishing my preparations. I’m actually rather proud of myself for waking up early enough today that I could take Skype to the dog park and still have time to finish cleaning. He had a blast running around this morning (too fast to shoot sometimes) and now is being cooperatively lazy - hopefully that will continue through the evening with my company.
In a few hours a ton of my friends are showing up for movies. I finished cleaning this morning and went to the liquor store to pick up enough booze to sedate an entire frathouse. I forgot mixers but after making a few calls I think that problem should be taken care of by my friends when they show up.
“Shot of pills” by sparktography
“Skype with ball” by sparktography
“Jeans” by sparktography
Flash Element TD
Monday, January 15th, 2007
Flash Element TD: the most addictive flash game I’ve found yet. It’s a simple concept, featuring a seemingly endless stream of enemies which you must keep from your castle via building towers of various kinds.
Just… one… more… turn…
Sunday, December 24th, 2006Damn Civilization 4 is addictive. It’s got that “just one more turn” mentality. Even in the face of competition for my attention from such things as my brand new Wii, Twilight Princess, and hanging out with a bunch of friends Civilization 4 has won! I’ve spent almost the entire last two days playing nothing but it.
Turn after turn of nurturing my civilization from the most meager of beginnings to a culturally sophisticated and dominant force to be reckoned with. It shares some of the best qualities of Sim City, Sim Earth, and Age of Empires - a great AI and automated queueing system, detailed control structures and play mechanisms, and a great interface.
At least I a managing to get out of the house a bit - I just got done having brunch at Charlies with Brien and now we are headed up to Northgate to brave the wilds of consumerism and find him a HD-DVD player. Want, buy, have! Merry Christmas!
Wii!!
Friday, December 22nd, 2006It’s been almost a week since I’ve had a chance to sit down and post to my blog. I’ve been super busy and exhausted at work, and when I’m not at work I’ve been feeding my video game habit. Things have been kind of crazy at work trying to get things ready for the holidays, and managing a project that got handed to me that’s mid cycle. Luckily the project ships in a few months and hopefully I’ll be able to go back to working on a project start to finish.
Earlier in the week I got Civilization IV for the mac and found myself hopelessly addicted to it. It’s a well thought out turn based strategy game. As proven by my recent Gears of War experience I’m not much for twitch based games, but on a game that’s 100% turn based and entirely self paced is awesome. It’s very strategic and makes you think about how you want to grow your civilization from being a hunter-gather based society to the stars.
As excited as I am about CIV4 I won’t actually be playing it much over my 4 day weekend I suspect: I finally got my Wii! I haven’t had that much time with it, but I got it set up and spent a little time this afternoon playing with Wii Sports and Twighlight Princess.
I have to say for the record that I’m impressed. The Wii’s graphics are decent (not good), but their gameplay is fantastic. Having a controller that is so motion based is highly intuitive and makes even simple games fun.
More on the Wii soon I promise - gotta go play it now!
“Wii!!” by sparktography
Dragons Quest 9: shaping up to be AWESOME!
Saturday, December 16th, 2006Just watch this video. It’s in Japanese, but lends credence to Squaresoft’s statement that DQ9 will be “the best game we have ever made, for the DS or any other platform”.
The game play looks interesting, the player control very touch driven - I love the clothing/armor demo of dragging various styles on to the hero - if the whole game is that intuitive it will certainly go down in history as one of the gaming greats. Not to mention if the story is half as good as DQ8 I’ll be hooked.
I’m v. excited and can barely wait. Hurry it up Square!
Gears of war, or why I’m not in the Army
Wednesday, December 6th, 2006God I suck at first person shooters. I couldn’t beat the first level of Halo 2, and now that Gears of War is out I’m not faring any better. A friend picked me up a copy at the Microsoft company store and I sat down to play it. An hour later I had died 40 times and still was not out of the tutorial.
I guess I just lack that part of the brain that can aim, walk, and shoot at the same time. When I try to aim from cover enemies shoot me. If I try to stay in cover I get shot anyway. Basically the game boiled down to me getting shot over, and over, and over again - all before I started the game proper anyway.
Picking flowers for alchemy in Oblivion is more my speed. If only Oblivion had not betrayed me I would be diving back in right now. I need to find a good RPG to settle into - perhaps digging back into Dragon Quest 8 again?
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