Wicked JAVA Game, GTA Style

Now I have played some JAVA games in my time, but This stands out.
Primarily because the AI feels right.

Stories Always Have A Beginning, Middle And An End

I remember always being told this all the way through school. Stories have three parts, a Start, Middle and an Ending. All my teachers told me this and at the time I agreed.

This fact is true when you consider that stories are all fundamentally just journeys, but when you consider that the best endings are always new beginnings, it is false.

For example the end of the first Matrix film is a phone conversation from Neo (with his new awakened abilities) telling the Machines that there is going to be some changes. Then he steps out of the phone-box and does his Superman thing. This allows the audience to imagine how things might change as the credits roll and it is a great way to make the audience keep thinking about a film (or whatever) long after they have seen, read or experienced (whatever form of medium it is).

This post for example is finite and has a distinct ending because it only has one running thread, that is me having a conversation with you. If however I was to have multiple interacting threads like for example characters, then I could construct personalities or traits for those threads and that would allow you to become connected with them and then I could construct a continuing future for those threads beyond the ending of the text, kind of like I did with my Coding A Feature A Day post.

This text however has an even more basic link to you, me talking through your internal reading monologue (yes the voice inside your head) and that can be used for you to question ideas or fill in missing ____ of txt. I can't see a way of doing the multiple thread thing in this post, but if I was to talk about a night-out and introduce friends and then talk about what happened to those friends, then the multiple thread thing would happen and I could leave it open for you to dwell on the outcome or continuation. So the end of a stories text doesn't have to be the end of the story at all.
Rant over, you can go and look at some porn now, OW! Puppies!

Star Wars Republic Commando (Completed)

My Commentes About The Demo are accurate about the most negative aspects of the full game. The command bits do work well, but you can either choose a good strategy or the wrong strategy so there really isn't much room for personality.

The story isn't very involving at all, you basically fight the same selection of units all the way through the game, even at the very end. And the game is TINY! It makes Contract JACK look like a good sized game (although JACK is still a smaller game).

Essentially this is a rental by design. And as a rental you will rent it for two days and complete it 4/5, but as a retail game.
2/5

I don't care how much it cost to make, there simply isn't much of a game to play. And as production costs increase don't be surprised if you start being charged £5 for an hour of game.

Coding A Feature A Day

Most artist's blogs inevitably have an entry where they talk about drawing at least one picture a day, just to keep their skills active. Well I have decided to do the same thing, but with my programming skills. So from now on I am going to code one feature a day into an application.

Here is my little app (Below). She is a System Up Timer that will keep track of how long she has been running for. She is an ugly little thing at the mo, but if I keep coding her she will eventually grow into something useful.



This-morning I fixed a bug where she was loosing one second for every minuet she clocked and tomorrow I hope to improve here system memory usage, and probably make her look a little nicer, poor thing.

Possible big future features include multiple custom countdown timers, running from the system tray as just an icon, alarm functions and possibly even a line chart one-day showing session times and stats like average system running time.

I am coding in Visual Basic 2005 Express (Beta1), which compiles into .Net framework 2.0 code. Nothing but the latest SDK, primarily because I like the intellisence coding in the 2005 edition. Which effectively allows me to insert code by selecting it from a list, instead of hunting through documentation to find an example of the code I am looking for.

The Ball

I will probably do a big Innovation and video games post in a little while, but Dyson has just innovated it's vacuum cleaners in a new way by replacing the wheels with a ball (like he did with his wheel barrows). It Looks very different, but allows you to actually steer the cleaner instead of doing all that pulling and pushing you normally have to do to get it round a corner.

It's Cuz He Is Black

VCats has an interesting take on Sega's new Shadow The Hedgehog Game.

Peter Molyneux Speaks

GameSpy has interviewed Peter about Fable for the PC and B&W2. The video is downloadable on FilePlanet in WMV, QuickTime [Low] and QuickTime [High].

The poor fellow is obsessed with this perfect RPG/strategy/GOD game of his. He keeps reinventing the same game over and over again, but always falls short and settles for something smaller in scope (due to technological restrictions). You can see it in every singe one of his games and he is obsessed.

I have seen reacuring patters in my own design diary and it took me a long while to shake it off, but poor Pete can't even keep his gob shut about his aspersions. So now none of his fans believe a word he says about his upcomming games.
Poor fellow, yes yes, 5000 troops VS 5000 troops. I will believe it when I see it.

Star Wars Republic Commando

Even though I hated the demo I have started playing SWRC and it is a tiny game like so many new games, but its kind of fun too.

I think the problem with the demo is that it starts you out on the last level and so it was too much, too soon for me, but the actual game introduces concepts like planting mines gradually, and actually explains things on the first level, like the numbers above your squad-mate's icons aren't their health levels, but instead their unit designation.

Extremely linear and I can't see any reason for replay, but I am having fun.

Loony Tunes Makeover

Resources: The Flash, The MOV File and the MSBC Article (with a video link to the news broadcast).

Warner Brother's says that it's an updated set of new characters descended from the original Loony Tunes characters, set in the future as crime fighters that will appeal to todays new technology and anime focused kids.

Initially I didn't mind the look of the new characters when I first seen them. They remind me of the reimaged batman they did a few years ago, that was very dark (not cool, just dark). Plus the crime fighting thing reminds me of the Power Puff Girls or even the Teen Titans. And after realising that, I know WB are really following what everybody else is doing instead of innovating something niche (niche marketed that is).

But to say this is Anime focused disgusts me. Maybe it has a fleeting resemblance to such crap as Battle Of The Planets, but nothing more. When I look at this I just see WB trying to claw a new series out of a classic, without effecting people's perception of the original. Kids will watch it if it is on, but i don't think they will be replacing their Power Puff lunchboxes anytime soon.

Random Fact

I have been running this blog for about nine months now and I still can't remember the URL.

New Black & White 2 Screens

Some of These new screens look brilliant.

GDC 2005 Coverage

The three day industry event is now over and I am still downloading the Microsoft presentation, but GameSpy has a good Dedicated Section for everything that happened and even videos of the Nintendo and Microsoft (the one I am downloading) keynote speeches.

Plus AIXGaming has some Photoes of the GDC show floor.

Disney's Herbie Fully Loaded, Movie Trailer

Lindsay Lohan!
I wasn't expecting a new Herbie film, but Lindsay Lohan too!
O' ye, Here is a link.
Lindsay Lohan!

This Retirement Thing

I know that I said I was retiring from being a gamer. And I did for a good two weeks, but gaming has crept back into my life. I have stopped spending so much time playing games now, but I still do all the other gamer related activities that I used to, minus the checking of some news sites (IGN, EvilAvatar etc).

As much as I have tired to avoid gaming related stuff I can't do it because I am the kind of person that finds an interesting avenue of reading and then leaps in every time to findout how far it will take me. And the fact is that gaming is such a funky topic means that I can't help myself.

I have learned that I should probably put gaming second to everything else because rushing to complete a game so I can get on with an assignment that is due, isn't the best way to manage a workload or even my personal life. Darwinea took me twice as long as it should have to complete, but that’s because I actually stopped playing it when I had other stuff to do. Hell I used to complete most games in just two play sessions is how bad it got.

So I have changed the blog description to describe what I actually talk about. ‘Gaming, The Video Games Industry and Stuff’

Shadow the Hedgehog

I was thinking about Sonic earlier today and wondering when Sega would give the franchise another airing. And Sega has just released This which was shown at GDC.

Looks like Sonic adventure, but with Shadow instead of Sonic, and they have given him a gun.

State Of The Blog

I originally setup this blog to understand what motivates bloggers and to understand what the social implications or even the dangers of blogging are. So that's what these 'State Of The Blog' posts are really about. Recaps on this research process, but the recent addition of comments has made me realise that people actually read this rubbish and it has made me very conscious of what have been posting.

I have occasionally written a post and saved it as a draft post (yes you can do that with Blogger.com) instead of posting it, usually because the post didn't have a final point to it, but since I enabled comments, most of my posts have been draft posts because I have been so conscious of what I have been writing and I have been more busy trying to think of acceptable content to post, than simply continuing with the flow of this blog.

So this has put me in an odd position where I am reading back through my older posts trying to understand what style I used to post in and why I posted what I did. And looking back the common trend seems to be short posts about whatever was on my mind at the time (like this one).

When I titled this blog I expected to write the odd bit of hateful deprecating journalism that just makes the writer look bad, like the Nintendo Has Lost The Plot post, but I haven't written as many of those as I was expecting and for reference my crappiest post to date, I think was my post about Half Life 2, but I don't find these hateful posts interesting to write about. They have been few and are simply just posts to get something off my chest.

So expect more short rants about programming and obscure rubbish in the future.

New Legiond Of Zelda Trailer

The new Legiond Of Zelda was one of the games show at GDC and I think This new trailer proves that Nintendo hasn't completely lost the plot, but they have really got to get-it-together.

Nintendo Has Lost The Plot

I am honestly astounded by This interview with Reggie Fils-Aime (Nintendo US Marketing guy) over at 1UP because it is painfully obvious that Nintendo has failed to learn from their past mistakes.

As I see it Nintendo has lost third part support and is staying alive by producing a handful of good games every few years. Mario 64 was practically the only driving force for people to buy an N64 and even now with the DS, owner are starting to get fannie sores because Nintendo isn't releasing any good titles. Personally I haven't bought a DS yet because the grey case is ugly and there are more titles that I want on the PSP than the DS.

Typically Nintendo releases a few titles at launch then gamers have to wait for months before anything new is released and this was brought-up in the interview:

1UP: OK, they're coming, but do you feel like you might have missed an opportunity with that six-month window. Maybe if Mario Kart was here in January, could you have done it better?

RFA: I'll frame it this way: Would I love to be sitting here on a pile of 100 great DS games, and be metering them out, once per month? I'd love to do that, unfortunately that's not the way this business works. [Snip]

As first party vendors I would say it is their job to make sure there is a steady stream of good titles to keep owners happy, but Nintendo just doesn't have that kind of internal motivation or external support to make that happen.

The Most telling question was:

[Snip] But you could say that same thing about past-generation Nintendo systems: That you have the best software. But in the end, it comes down to a lot of brand-power, and your marketing and your image. Everyone could say GameCube has a TON of great games that you can't get anywhere else, and yet the PS2 still kicks its ass in terms of hardware sales, just because it's a cooler, slicker machine. It's a mainstream machine, people get it. It's out there, involved with the entertainment industry in various ways that the GameCube isn't. It's likely the PSP will achieve similar success, because it's a cool, slick machine. And you guys are obviously going for an older audience with the DS, what happens when Sony comes along with this movie-playing machine, this MP3-playing machine, and it outsells you guys, becomes the cool thing to own, and you come in second place in handhelds?

RFA: That's a lot of "ifs" in that question. [Snip]

Apart from that fact there isn't a single 'IF' in that statement, he responded saying that they will do clever marketing to grab as many sales as they can. He also talks about working with the Hip-hop community and the interviewer asks:

1UP: Can you do that with Mario Kart, and Princess Peach, and Yoshi?

RFA: I think you can definitely do it with Mario Kart. I think that you can definitely do it with Metroid Prime Hunters. I think you can do it with Advance Wars. Yoshi, Princess Peach, nuh uh. It's a different consumer. But quite frankly, we want that consumer just as much as we want the 21 year-old.

So he admits that Nintendo has lost the audience that they once held so strongly. Even I realise now that Nintendo isn't a company that gets me existed anymore. I just look at them now and hope they get better because I have a soft spot for them and they deserve better.

This next quote from Reggie is kind of interesting:

[Snip] because we're pushing the envelope on innovation, it is a tougher proposition for licensees to support our systems

Now if you checkout GameSpy's coverage of Microsoft's Presentation at GDC (Game Developer Conference), the guy doing the presentation J. Allard (XNA Chief Architect) says that Microsoft is avoiding the "Science Fair" that is normally associated with new console hardware. They have identified one of the console industries key flaws. Which is that when a new console is released, developers have to work with it for a few years before they get all they can out of the system. And Microsoft has hit the problem on the head with a big hammer by implementing standardised tools (XNA, more later).

The 1UP interviewer talks to Reggie about how developers only use all the console's power at the end of the products lifecycle and asks if Nintendo has any plans to help change that. Reggie responded with a simple, we are working on it answer. And Microsoft has XNA which will revolutionise console development with standard tools that allows developers to write games in managed code! (I will probably do a post later on the significance)

I liked this closing comment by the GameSpy writer on Microsoft’s strategy:

Since it's nearly a certainty that it [Microsoft] will lose the hardware horsepower race to Sony, it's wise for the company to emphasize features like personalization, customization, and ease of use. While jaw-dropping graphics will definitely draw a crowd, upping the accessibility of console gaming might help Microsoft reach new consumers.

Nintendo says they are on a different development path, but to what! Microsoft is trying to produce the best product they can for consumers and developers, so I don't know what Nintendo is trying to do or what direction they are taking, but the fact that Microsoft was at GDC and actually talking directly to developers clearly shows their commitment. Nintendo on the other hand is as tight lipped as usual.

Edit: Nintendo's president also Spoke At GDC, but he only talked about wi-fi and something about building on what they already had, which is good because of their strong existing franchises.

XBox2 Points and Versions

I was going to post this earlier, but I was round Bill's stealing his music collection.

I was reading GameSpy's info on the XBox2 earlier today and This second part about live support sounds great. Basically all games have to support a new points system. You will be awarded points by doing things in game, like completing it on easy, medium and hard or killing so many people in an hour. From there you can use those points to buy downloadable content over XBox Live.

Currently there is some content on Live which must be bought to be played, but this takes Nintendo's points system that they have been using, where you get points for buying Nintendo products for free rind-tones and crap, to the next level and a little beyond anybody else's reach because Microsoft is the only one that has a fully functional, integrated online experience and I can't see Sony or Nintendo getting anywhere near where Microsoft is for at least the next five or six years.

Another thing people seem to be forgetting is that the XBox2 will come in three different versions:

• A cheap one without a hard drive.
  
• One with a hard drive.
  
• And one with a copy of Windows Media Centre Edition which will seriously rock the boat because Nintendo didn't integrated DVD into the game cube, saying that to blur the line between gaming and other devises was wrong. Well WMCE integrates everything you connect it to, and gives it a glorious funky interface. You can findout more from the horse's mouth at Channel 9, but this one feature could explode Microsoft's market.

Battlefield 2: Explosive Trailer

*Grown* not another war based FPS, but This is a great trailer.

Darwinia (Completed)

Darwinia by Introversion is a strategy game much like Populous, who's sequel Populous In The Beginning also used 2D spates on a 3D background and required the player to travel around a big map from mission to mission killing the other coloured guys. This game is certainly inspired by Peter Molyneux's work, right down to copying the gesture system from Black & White (more on that later).

Darwinia opens with an amazing sequence that immersed me right into the feel of the game. Dr Sepulveda welcomes you to Darwinia and explains that a nasty virus has infected this virtual world and is killing his life's work, the Darwinians. The supposed result of genetic algorithms.

It is your job to create units, and retake Darwinia one area at a time (tis a ye-olde-strategy game). The graphics are nice, the sounds are original (inspired by 80's gaming soundtracks) and the interface is workable. I say workable because to create units you must use a simple mouse gesture system. This is all good and nice, but I don't see the advantage over a traditional button system. You could argue that it frees up the gaming screen (like it did in Black & White), but to use the gesture system you have to access an alternate screen and then draw the gesture with the mouse. Frankly it would have just been simpler for them to have shoved some buttons on that screen instead. I didn't have a problem drawing gestures, but in the heat of battle getting a gesture wrong is a minor annoyance.

The game's levels look great, the art direction is splendid and seemingly original, although the engineer units look like those big flying things from Tron and that stuck with my through the game, because in Tron they are the bad guys and i couldn't shake the notion that I was the invading force in Darwinia.


Tron


Darwinia (Engineer Unit)

Based of that I can't say that Darwinia is a completely original game, although they where very close to creating one and i am not sure a 100% original game is what they had in mind.

Darwinea's difficult is ramped up through the levels by increasing the number or units you face. Later on they introduce machines that produce enemy units on a massive scale and since you can't die or lose a game, it is just a matter of time before each level is completed. This sounds stupid and it is because some of the levels initially look like long slogs and they are, each level is just a matter of time.

I don't want to spoil anything, but the last level in the game is either incredibly easy or impossible depending on which island you attack first and this is all because of those enemy respawning machines, so I guess you could argue that they did think about balancing the game, but I don't consider increasing the number or enemy units to be a particularly fun or intelligent way for games to increase level difficulty because it always ends with horde-killing.

One-thing that made me taken aback was the inconsistency in the story. When you first arrive in Darwinia Dr Sepulveda says he doesn't know what happened, but at the start of the last level he reveals to you that he actually knew exactly what happened, and he doesn't acknowledge that he lied! It's kind of like "No I don't know he killed your dog" then "he had an evil look in his eye when he did it", WTF!
And in the end-sequence he mentions the Soul Destroyers! THE WHO!
I can only assume he is referring to the virus, but I have no idea and frankly inconsistencies in story are normally unfortunate, but appalling in a game this small.

Darwinia is not worth £30 (too short). Darwinia is partially fun, partially rewarding, but as an overall experience I question some the the team's design decisions.
3/5

The Funniest Webcomic On The Planet Returns, Hazza!

I have been reading Digital Purgatory for ages, but the updates stopped and that was a sad time, but the strip is back now and we can all rejoice again. For anybody who doesn't know DP is basically about a couple of software support guys, no fancy sets, no political commentary and nothing game related. Just a poster of a female model's body with Mr Bean's head on, stuck on the wall and a double act.

State Of The Blog

If you note at the top right corner of this page it says 'Anime and Stuff', that is supposed to be the description for this blog, but I haven't talked about anime much at all.

In other new1s the first episode of brand spanking new Dr Who has been leaked onto the internet. I did rent a few Dr Who episodes on DVD a bit ago and the old black and white episodes are far better then any of the crummy Mc Coy ones. Partly because the Mc year's cliffhangers always involved some alien jumping out or pyrotechnic explosion, and Ace shouting "DR!" *cut to music*

So when Dr Who was cancelled, rather than a death, it was really just the Dr disappearing, to reappear later with a completely different production team, and in an age where special effects don't have to involve rubber, model kits or smoke bombs. Dr Who has always been ahead of it's time (even now), but I truly believe that this time the BBC will be able to do it justice for generations to come. Fingers crossed anyway.

eXeem 0.22

Apparently they have sorted out the server stability problems now. So Here is a link to 0.22.

Fuckit

I have turned comments on. I think the emotional reason why I have left them off is that I have no control over what people post and that it will remind me that nobody reads anything I type.

Saturday's Eurovision Selection

This is kind of a belated post, but I actually think we are in with a chance of winning or at least scoring this year.

John Prescott Is A Fuckwit (Acording to google)

If you go to Google, type in fuckwit and press the 'I am Feeling Lucky' button, you get John Prescott's homepage at number 10.

A Game For Mother's Day

I went Morrison's to pick something up and they where completely out of flowers. Just a green skeleton of a flower stand remained. Thats was ok though because I hadn't gone there for flowers for my Mum because I got her flowers the last two years running and I don't like being predictable. No for my Mum it was a nice bottle of red wine that I know she likes.

It's interesting to see how some shops put on a big spread for mothers day and others just don't bother. Maybe the gaming industry could one-day promote games for mothers day, and that will probably happen in the future, but the industry is still lacking that kind of content that would be suitable for such an occasion.
Yes I know the kind of game i am talking about has never been made, but people buy films as thoughtful gifts, chocolate, clothes, flowers and even wines, but games are not yet romantic, thoughtful or considered a good gift for mothers day. Shame on the gaming industry I say.

Random Fact

One in ten people are not heterosexual.

Cheapest Place To Buy Darwinia

I wouldn't normally link to shop sites for bargains, but Darwinia retails for a whopping £30. So if you want a cheaper copy I can point to PowerPlay Direct who are selling it for £17.99.

The game is actually very good, it just takes some work to get into.

Darwinia Update

I got past the Yard level and now the game has started to open up a little. Maybe Yerd is just a bad level then, because this is shaping up to be quite the game of strategy. Although I still don't see how anybody can loose, so with enough time invested the only outcome is a win.

And yes I know I am supposed to be a retired gamer, but this is made by Introversion, probably the most successful recent indie-developer. So this is not some manufactured product, or some middleware compiled rubbish from some company that churns out Sports titles year on year. No, this has been hand coded by people that eat, sleep and dream this one game right from the first design meeting.
So that's why I have temporally come out of retirement, so i can sample Introversion's fine fruits.

Darwinia, The Hard Slog

I have to say for the first few hours of gameplay I was more than just a little impressed with Darwinia. The fact that the game doesn't even have a main menu is very innovative. It just goes seamlessly from the intro into the game.

The problems with the game stem from the fact that you can't loose, meaning that to provide the player with a challenge many of the levels are just long stints of blowing stuff up. The story progresses well from level to level, but I have just lost interest after hitting the Yard level. Simply put, after a few upgrades the interface becomes awkward and there are so many enemies to kill that the gameplay looses pace.

I will probably play some more tomorrow, but right I just don't feel like playing monotonously destroying stuff.

Connection Down (well it was)

In an attempt to get Google to list my site more I am going to cover some deeper technical stuff occasionally that aren't usually found on websites, like this little incident today.

Got home, turned on monitor, found computer disconnected (happens occasionally), restarted and then I was unable to reconnect! At this point I knew something was wrong.

I kept clicking connect, but I would immediately get disconnected. Then Microsoft AntiSpyware poped-up and said something about the LSP (Layered Service Provider) which allows programs like Anti-viruses to have a higher custom level to network access.

So I phoned Wanadoo and the guy said it was my phone extension cable.
So I phoned again to try and get someone half competent and got a guy who knew what I was talking about.

He basically got me to reset the LSP settings by typing
'netsh nt ip resetc:/resetlog.txt'
at the Run screen.

I then restarted and all is fine now. So I give Wanadoo technical 4/5 for getting it right the second time and not making me wait either time I phoned (I stick to ISPs with good technical support even though it costs me more).

I don't know what caused the LSP error or corruption, but I am currently scanning for Spyware and afterwords I will do a full virus scan, but I know I won't find anything.

Comments OFF!

Now I remember why I took the decision to not bother having comments on in the first place. They either act as nob polishing with everybody telling me how good my posts are, or people flame me and I question why I bother posting at all.

Comments ON!

Just for now anyway.

Eurovision 2005 Making Your Mind Up

The 50th Eurovision Song Contest will be held this year in some European country, I don't really care which and I am sure you don't give a fuck either, but I am actually finding myself looking forward to this year's Eurovision because there where a few entries last year that where actually quite good. Specifically "Dragostea Din Tei" by O'ZONE, but the whole album last year was rather enjoyable, and I never thought I would be saying that about a Eurovision album.

Anyway Saturday BBC1 at 5:45pm is the live show appropriately titled "Eurovision Making Your Mind Up" which is the live poll to pick this year's UK entry. Not that it will make any difference to the voting, but last year wasn't as crap as before, so I kind of feel like following this year's with some optimism for once.

STD Dating Service

Got a sexually transmitted disease?
Want to date someone who doesn't mind!?
Look no further than DTS Dating.

Since condoms are widely available, I don't see why people should still put their health at risk through unprotected sex.

Quiet Night In

Just a quiet night in with the TV showing the top 100 Greatest Cartoons. I am actually enjoying the four hour show and my only fear is that The Simpsons will be number one.
Just has Inspector Gadget at 46 and Pokémon at 45, this is actually kind of fun and I never say that about TV.

Edit: Bloody Simpsons was number one. Invader Zim was nowhere to be seen, but Akira was in the top 50 and South Park was number 2, so that was a nice surprise.

XDrive Technical Support

They aren't very helpful because they have basically said that it is because their program isn't compatible with my hardware.

Spot The Odd One Out

I love google's image search, but This is silly. Can you spot the odd one out?

Backup Solution

Disaster recovery is one of the most important things with system security because without it, your protection is like an eggshell. It is one-thing to prevent a disaster by having a powerful anti-virus, firewall and even drive maintenance tools, but if something happens and all your data is lost then all that expensive security isn't going to get your files back, but if you have a disaster recovery solution like a ZIP dive or backup tapes, or CDs you have made of all your important files, then it usually doesn't take long for you to quickly get back to where you want to be.

XP once deleted an entire hard drive of all my important stuff. I even have a nice picture I took with my digital camera at the time, with XP deleting everything. I think what happened is that both file tables on the NTFS drive where damaged, and XP just removed what it seen as damaged data. Unfortunately I wasn't skilled in the ways of data retrieval at the time and I was panicking, so I did end-up loosing everything. And since then it has bothered my that I haven't had somekind of dedicated backup system.

I haven't had one because they are all too expensive and I couldn't be bothered burning all my data to CD every week. I have said it before and i will say it again, burning a CD is an EVENT and not a very convenient way to store data. I generally use USB flash drives and Floppy disks for important stuff, but I am always using my flash drives and floppy disks don't store much data so I basically haven't had any recent backups of anything for quite a while.

Today however I signed upto XDrive an online backup solution. They run a secure internet based file storage system. It's the cheapest one I can find and although I have tried and rejected it before I really do need someway of backing up my files. They give you 5GB for £5 a month and really considering how disastrous a hard drive failure would be at the moment, this is a bargain.

I have been trying to get their client interface to work all day and all I can muster is this (see below) error.



A lot of people tell me that I never seem to have any problems with my computer and that is partly true, but that is only because when I get an error (like this) I get it fixed. So an email has been sent with this screencapture, logfile and details about my system and what I did, to their customer service team. If this isn't fixed by the end of the week. I will give iDrive a go, but whatever happens I have to get somekind of convenient backup solution. Otherwise next time it happens I will be more devastated than last time.

That Feeling When You Just Want To Hit Someone

I really feel for This Guy.

Product Brand Recognition Afterthought

White headphone leads are associated with an iPod. Two in three muggers prefer them.

Snow Day

With news yesterday that today was going to be a blizzard of snow for 24 hours, all the staff where looking forward to closing the school for the day, but it just didn't happen because all the roads where clear, even though it practically snowed constantly. ARG!

Some of the teachers, including me where more than a little disappointed.

And contrary to me thinking this placement was just going to be changing ink cartridges and refilling printers for twelve weeks, things just got a bit more interesting today with I started yet another project for the school.

Why Windows Automatic Update Doesn't Interrupt Important Transfers

One of the excuses some people use as to why they don't use Window's automatic update service, is that it will eat all their bandwidth when they are playing multiplayer or doing something else like watching streaming media and just be annoying, but Windows Update uses Microsoft's BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service) program. So it only uses the bandwidth that isn't being used.

So when somebody (usually Microsoft people) says there is no reason why anybody should not have auto update on, they really do mean it.

Product Brand Recognition

I was thinking last night a little bit about product recognition, in regards to costomers recognising what company maked the product and I noticed something fairly obvious.

Almost all products are recognised by their brand, so you know that a pair of trainers is a pair of Nike trainers by the Niki tick down the side. We all recognise Sony products by the Sony logo stamped on the side, and Microsoft products by the Microsoft logo and that is a fact with almost every product in existence, but there is a product that excises that doesn't have a visible logo, and one that is recognised simply by it's design, and that is Dr Martens boots and shoeware. I have always worn them since I first wore a school uniform, simply because i didn't like any of the other styles, but when I walk in a room (for example) anybody looking at my boots will realise that they are Martens, yet there is no external logo anywhere on them. To me that is a very impressive thing, the kind of thing that probably every company in the world would pay millions to have, but they can't have it because their varying products won't allow for them to have such distinguishing design features that make a product like my boots recognisable.

I keep trying to think how a company could engineer something like that, but I honestly can't think of a way. I mean the PlayBoy bunnies are internationally recognised too, but I am not sure if it is something that could be engineered on purpose and then benefit the brand.

Enjoying Retirement

All this extra freetime is kind of cool. I don't feel stressed about having to constantly balance my workload around gaming anymore. I didn't realise just how much time I spent actually playing games until now.

I came home at 3:30, wrote an email to my tutor, listened to some music, sorted through some files, checked all my news sites (minus gaming sites) and Neighbours isn't even on telly yet.

It's quite refreshing to take a step back and look at how I live my life. I have always used gaming as a means to get away from it, but there is a lot of good going on.

Today I showed one of the teachers (at my placement) my Mouse Skills program (designed to test the kids mouse skills) and he was very positive about what i had done, so I am going ahead and doing more work on it. And my Health and Safety records database I am doing for the head is coming along nicely too, although I went a little over the top on the planning so it is probably a little more complicated and sophisticated than it needs to be.

Random Screencapture

This capture from Genshiken cracks me up everytime I look at it.

New Speakers

After just over a year of perfect operation, my Creative speakers died yesterday. So now I am looking for a new 2.1 set, but its not easy. Most of the reviews are very vague or I don't understand the speaker specifications. The customer reviews are few and waver dramatically from loving them after two hours of use, to hating them because of some odd reason about mid-range sound or something. I am a little hesitant to get another Creative set because I consider a one year operating lifetime to be a little short, but at the moment they are my best option.

I am going into Leicester friday for coffee with a friend, so I will probably browse the shops then. The thing that irritates me more than anything about all this is that the manufacturer descriptions for the top of the range models and the cheap nasty ones, all read the same, from stylish design to their descriptions of the sound quality. I just want a pair of great sounding speakers that I like, just like my old set before they died.

It's A Phase

I have decided to avoid playing any form of video game for the next couple of weeks because they all depress me. I haven't had a rewarding gaming experience in ages and I need a break otherwise I am going to become suicidal with all the crap that I have been playing.

Status: Temporarily retired gamer until further notice.

Random Fact

The internet connection at my placement has a downstream bandwidth capacity of 240KB/S.

Holiday Pictures To Be Proud Of

I think that is going to be my objective whenever I go on holiday now, after looking at There.

I haven't been on holiday for years, but next time I go, I will be sure to get some interesting pics.

Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic 2 Continued

Bitch bitch bitch
I will complete it, but this is horrible. And I am sick of hearing those stupid Jedi babble on for hours about their stupid ways.
"The path is clouded, darkness looms ahead"
"No, that leads to the dark side, the side that is very.. dark!"
FFS!

Product Recall: XBox Power Cables

UK residents should go Here and fillout the details of their XBox to see if their cable needs replacing or not.

Microsoft Helps Parents With !337$p34k

This Guide for parents is quite informative.

Supposed XBox360 Details

Kotaku supposedly has some credible information about the XBox360.

Changeable covers would be excellent. The wireless pads are probably done via Bluetooth, so hopefully there will be built in Bluetooth system-link too. I don't know why Microsoft would still be having problems with backwards compatibility, but the XBox360 will suffer if it doesn't have it. Positively however Microsoft could offer such functionality as a free download over Live, thus leveraging more people to signup.

Changing Trends: Awareness Bracelets

The BBC has a Guide On These, but the trend is taking off in a big way. The basic idea is that instead of a pin-badge to show your support for something like a poppy-badge on remembrance day, you get a coloured bracelet.

Oodles Of Google Logos

This website has oodles of Google logos.

Star Wars Knights Of The Old Republic 2

I have started playing kotor2 and the game's start is much better than any part of the first game. So it started out on a high, but that is all. Talking to Jedi pisses me off because you can't persuade them to do anything and their stupid speeches take hours, and that is annoying if you want to exit the game and do something else (Me - PC - Gamer, - Koorb - Saves - When - Koorb - Wants), but I get stuck in speech loops!

I have noticed a lot of glaringly obvious bugs in the game, like infinite darkside points when you talk to the Handmaiden who asks you about feeling the force. And other things like doors you shouldn't be able to open, but you can by hitting them, or patthing points that you become slightly stuck on. I am only 20% through the game and it is already getting on my nerves and completely ruining anykind of immersive feeling I could possibly have form this game.
I think the statement "Lucas Arts used to make great games" serves my point.

Matrix Online's NDA Has Been Lifted

Without the NDA I can now tell you how crap it is. And it is crap, I find it hard to believe that anybody would enjoy it even if they did fix all the bugs and made it run crystal smooth, which it most certainly isn't (and I had it set for maximum framerate). When a trial arrives have a go by all means, but please don't wast your money on this without seriously considering the longterm play experience that this doesn't offer.

Nintendo Shows Signs Of Getting It's Finger Out

Yep the normally slow and forward thinking yet seemingly little doing Nintendo, has given up its position on keeping gaming platforms separate from everything else by Purchasing Some PDA Software for the DS.

I was disappointed that the DS wasn't launched with a calender, calculator, reminders, notes or address book function built in, but then I kind of expected that from Nintendo because they have always said that gaming platforms should be used for nothing else. So I was quite prepared to wait for a third party to do this, but now Nintendo has done it all by themselves!

The touchscreen is the most obvious advantage the DS has over the PSP so this is a great move, but you are still going to have to wait until E3 before it is even shown officialy to the public. Personally I would release the damed thing as fast as possible because the longer they wait the more sales they will loose to the PSP and anyway we will be entering into a media deadzone in the runup to E3 soon, so that would be a good time to give people something to talk about. These functions aren't big, but for a lot of people having something with them that they can take notes on or set reminders is very important, plus it can encourage existing DS users to take their console out and about more.

Just Let Star Trek Die, PLEASE!

In Star Trek's history it has been cancelled a few times, but always the fans have fought bravely and the studios have chosen to continue production. And after last week's Announcement the fans once again went into action.

One of the things EnterpriseFans is doing, is taking out an AD in the LA Times (PDF). And I encourage all these fans to just let it drop for once. Star Trek has had a full life and tarnished the image of Sci-Fi enough for once. Sci-fi has always been one of my lasting loves, but whenever I say that it sounds tacky because most people immediately think of dorks cosplaying as aliens with pointy ears or even dorks running round with Lightsabers, but sci-fi has a long rich history that isn't appreciated. Maybe that because of years of shaky sets and tacky clothing, but in the future I am sure people will look on it differently. At the mo it is still almost shameful to love sci-fi and I blame Star Trek and its legions of dorky followers.

Futurama Completed

I am talking about the TV series and it is a very mixed bag.
To watch this I got a copy of all the episodes and just watched them in order one after another.

Series 1
Just a general good standard, but its hard to be critical with a shows first series.

Series 2
Some episodes better than others. Some mundane storylines like the episode where Bender becomes a wrestler, but still an ok series.

Series 3
The longest series and it is all utter crap, I almost stopped watching at episode three, but I kept on watching until episode nine where I also seriously considered using my time more constructively. Luckily I kept on watching past all this rubbish.
I don't quite know why I found series three so crap, but I think it has something to do with the introduction of too many new characters each episode just to provide plot points.

Series 4
Good series with more information about the characters pasts, giving depth and greater understanding to the audience about the characters. Even Bender possibly the shallowest of all the characters is given more depth when he floats off into the abyss of space and becomes god to a very small alien civilisation.

Series 5
Exceptional, every episode was great and it even ends with an opera.

Cancellation
Futurama is now cancelled, and I think that is a good thing because a lot of the episodes weren't poetically good and the best series they did was created knowing that there wasn't ever going to be another series. So maybe the TV executives deserve more credit for their decision.

XBox 2 On My Christmas List

Just been thinking about this and whenever I had a console for Christmas as a kid, the system would have already been out a year because in Europe consoles are always released in the new year.

Now there is no way Nintendo's new rig or the PlayStation3 will be out before Christmas in Europe, so if the XBox2 is, then Microsoft will have a huge marketing advantage, as it will be the only next gen console available for purchase in time for Christmas and the only next gen console the anybody can have on their Christmas lists.

Random Tshirt

There are geek tshirts, but This is an ubergeek shirt.

MacWorld 1984

This cracked me up, but what you have to remember is that people at the time where used to black and white screens with only a command line interface. There was some mouse stuff, but it was very simple. So what you see here in this video is a milestone in computing history.

Full Body Floss

This Video.

One More Reason Why Not To Use Symantec Products

There is a security vulnerability in all Symantec products from Norton Antivirus to their Firewall on all supported operating systems (Windows, Linux and OS-X etc) that allows an attacker to execute code, Apparently.

So if your system was secure before, then installing a Symantec product will effectively introduce an exploitable (open to the public) backdoor.

Symantec are denying that there it is a vulnerability because nobody has exploited it yet, but that just proves what kind of professional attitude they have.

Halo 2 Surprise

You might remember This post from last year about a special message at the end of the credits for Halo2 that read "Coming February 9th."

Well its February 9th today and Bungie's gift to the world is "it was a hoax."
Ha ha ha ha that is so funny. You had me going on that one guys, remind me to never take you seriously ever again.

XBox2 Will Suffer Without HD-DVD

I was looking through a few of the sites owned by IGN Entertainment and I noticed that Team XBox has a poll asking wither the XBox2 will suffer without a HD-DVD drive. I voted no, but then I was shocked to find 66% said it would (see picture).



Now the statement about hardware power is a little untrue because wither the XBox2 supports HD-DVD or not won't effect its graphical capabilities directly, its available processing power or its online support. The XBox has never had a multi-disc game and already supports upto 9GB, so I don't see a need, but there is the argument however that the more available storage space available the better games will be because developers don't have to put the size of the game as a high priority. Maybe Microsoft has removed the CD-drive completely so it can do digital distribution or maybe they have gotten a better solution, but then we will just have to wait and see.

3D Gamers Merge With IGN Entertainment

Despite some sites preaching doom and gloom about the merger (they will remain linkless because I don't link to crap). IGN Entertainment and 3D Gamers Say they are going to keep the download systems of FilePlanet and 3D Gamers separate.

RIAA Sues Dead Woman

RIAA was sent her death certificate by her daughter when she received the threat letter, but they still filled This.

Google Maps

I am very impressed with This. It's not only easier to use than other mapping sites its also quicker, and makes it so easy to manipulate the map. Just a shame there isn't one of the UK yet.

D.I.C.E. Post Edited

Click Here or just scroll down.

Much Improved Darwinia Demo

I like the intro bit and it actually tells you how to make units and how to compleat the level. I am not sure if there is any game win screen yet, but its late and I need sleep. You can download the new demo from Here.

D.I.C.E. Talks

D.I.C.E. is now over and GameSpy has a summery of two of this year's speakers.

Tim Schafer (Grim Fandango, Full Throttle)
Talked about how developers need to take more risks instead of leeching off of franchises and only sticking with safe games. And I think he has a very valid point, but he needs to tell this to the publishers, not the developers.

Stan Lee (The Comic Industry)
Talks about creating great new characters that players will love. He doesn't say a lot, but the fact he was there to emphasise characters is good because we haven't had any new strong new franchises for years.

Edit: Additional

Mark Ecko (Fashion Designer)
GameSpy have made a right mess of their coverage of D.I.C.E. so I missed this one earlier. Anyway he says that games need to be targeted towards an audience. And that developers should stop talking about code. I think he is a nutter, but the article reads positively about his talk.

STEAM Breaches Consumer Rights

I was expecting something like this sooner or later, but I wasn't expecting Multiple Infringements.

I am still pissed off with the fact I can't loan games and that if I get banned for attempting to hack a HL2 file all my games are blocked irrespective of wither they are HL2 or not, but Valve hasn't handled STEAM intelligently that's for sure.

War Of The Worlds TV Spot Trailer

Quite Short.

Random Fact

Anime is produced using a combination of drawn and computer animated techniques.

Firstly the contents of the scene are drawn and scanned into the computer. From the digital image it is coloured and sequenced digitally against the other completed frames. Them a background is added and from the completed animation the voice acting is recorded. And it is as simple as that.

Playboy The Mansion

Continuing from my post on Gay Gamers, Playboy The Mansion is not a gay gamer friendly game. You play as Hef and although you can have relationships with girls, the option is completely muted for the boys. Making it is impossible to play as a gay Hef and ultimately ignores gay gamers and forces them to play as a straight character.

I know Hef is straight in real life and I know it could cause a little controversy to have Hef sleeping with guys, but the developers could have done somekind of workaround surly. I mean what about girl gamers, they are forced to play the opposite sex and they might not want to.

I am probably reading too much into this because the game plays as an historical documentary on the history of the magazine, but I would love to see more gay friendly games, so common developers get the rainbow flag out and sniff a few poppers (note i do not condone or indorce the use of mind altering chemicals and/or drugs).

Nintendo Comments On Revolution And E3

Quote

E3 will be the starting point for the Revolution. [We haven't decided] whether we will show the real machine, videos, or unveil the concept. ... We want to receive some level of evaluation, but releasing too much information is also another issue. We don't have the slightest intention of making a machine that follows the same path as conventional game hardware. Right now, we are thinking of how we can accurately convey to people at E3 the different path that the Revolution will take and how it will change the way that games will be enjoyed.

As my dear Grandmother used to say (well she still does) "Stop playing silly buggers".

Yep Nintendo should quit pissing about and actually do something that makes everybody take them seriously. Hmmmm, but if only there was an upcoming trade show to do that... Well if they could steal the show when they are up against not competing, but displaying alongside the XBox2 and PS3 then they would certainly shift a couple more units and probably secure their future.

Console Vs PC Graphics Preformance Lifecycle

This is a hate post, but I will get to my point of writing this later.

The PC's graphical splendour lifecycle is gradual. Every year a new generation of GPUs are launched with a new range of graphics cards from both ATI and Nvidia. This means that developers have to be careful about supporting the new cards and features because they might alienate a lot of systems by putting their requirements to run the game, too high. Developers can help gamers running older cards by offering them varying quality settings to suit their varying hardware. So all in all the graphical splendour of PC games is gradual and progressive.

Consoles on the other hand are only launched once every four to five years and their graphical performance is fixed. So an XBox bought at launch will have the same graphical capabilities as one bought today. The relevance this has on games is that developers can tailer their requirements directly to the console's configuration and use-up all the graphical capabilities available. So when a new console is launched it generally has the latest in graphical technology, to give it the best looking games. With this model developers don't need to be concerned with supporting older hardware because all their gamers will be running the same setup. That is unless it is a multiplatform game of-course. The only thing that limits a console's graphical capabilities is the cost of the hardware at the time the specification was put together because not everybody can afford £1 billion super computers. So all in all the graphical splendour of Console games comes in leaps with every new generation of consoles.

Now I would like to apologise for having to cover what you already know, but every four to five years some stupid fuckheads start writing articles titled Xbox 2
More powerful than a PC!?. And of-course the new generation of consoles are going to have more graphical capabilities than the PC because it is the technology lifecycle they follow, but still every few years people start preaching doom and gloom for the PC. I call them stupid fucks, but most people don't seem to see things that way. And it pisses me off because these people are so obviously short sighted. Some also say that one-day there will be no consoles because PC technology will be so advanced that there will be no need for consoles to exist, but even this opposite viewpoint is ignorant, because it ignores brand-naming and marketing. People get told by adverts what to buy. And since we are a consumer driven society this will never change. So as long as Sony (for example) keeps making games consoles, people will keep buying games consoles because this is how marketing works. The product doesn't have to be any good, but as long as the product can make people desire it, it will sell (prime example jewelry).

So next-time somebody starts preaching about this Console killing PC shit, just tell them they are stupid. Don't go printing their shit on websites like most gaming sites will in the run-up to E3. Work units and gaming units will not always be completely separate entities, but work units will never be dedicated gaming platforms and gaming platforms will never be dedicated work units.

Random Fact

At my placement in year 2 there is a girl named Emily Booth (this is not her, but she has the same name).

Now Not Tempted To Get A PSP

I just looked at the price of the PSP on Amazon and it is priced at £179.99!!!

It looks good, it has some nice looking games and some that I think I would genuinely enjoy, but it's price is just a little too high for my taste.

On the other hand the Nintendo DS is priced at £94.99 and is released in about a month (on Red Nose Day). So very tempted by that, but I don't like the gray styling.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Metal Gear Acid

I have seen bits of Metal Gear Acid (for the PSP) from time to time for a while now, but I have always dismissed it, but after watching This IGN Insider presentation Acid is looking like the kind of game I could play for weeks. It reduces snakes world into a turn based game and that is great tactically because it allows the player to actually spend time thinking about a specific situation. And i like that kind of gameplay because it is relaxing and progressive.

So yes I am now tempted to get a PSP.

Star Trek Enterprise Cancelled

Star Trek has always had threats of cancellation and has always been saved at the last minuet, but I don't think that will happen This Time.

Star Wars Republic Commando Demo (Completed)

I am not convinced by the demo. Although the game presents different attack strategies, the environments are so tight, and most engagements so short that it doesn't lend enough gameplay for me to feel as if I command the action. Instead it feels like the game suffers from tunnel vision, only showing you the way forwards and offering no-other possibilities. Not even in the imaginative form of eye-candy. I see a wall on the left, a wall on the right, a locked door behind me and a staircases full of bad-guys in front.

Squad mates are intelligent, shame the enemy isn't too.

Weapons are good, but you can only carry three (ye its more realistic, but in the heat of battle I always end-up fighting with my weapon selection buttons).

Story element could be interesting, but the gameplay seems very linear.

Star Wars Republic Commando Demo Available

Please be good.

Places to download:
FilePlanet
FileShack
FileFront

Board Board Bored

I am in that kind of mood where I really want to play something, but I don't know what to play.
I could play a game (that I can't mention the title of), but it requires a stupid amount of mouse clicking to play, and I just can't be bothered.

My English Grammer book is great (is being the linking verb), but I can't be bothered right now.

There is Counterstrike Source, but the bots are too predictable and playing online is a pain because all the small sized servers are full and the big ones place far too many people on the map for it to be interesting.

I could write some of my placement report, but that isn't due in for ages and all I can do right now is write the section headings. Anyway I wanna have some fun.

I might start reading some of my new Project Management book then.

STEAM Fixed

Click to enlarge.

Random Fact

This is post number 412.

My Usage Of Amazon.co.uk

I recieved another large order of books yeasterday, but something I rearlised today was that I buy books from Amazon without questioning wither I am getting a bargain or not. I just assume that the price I pay will be the cheapest I could get them for. Then I wondered wither I should question the ammount I spend there, but then I rearlised that last time I chacked the price of a book on amazon against a shop (my universitiy's book shop) Amazon was £5 cheaper.

Random Accompanying Fact
I am currently reading English Grammer For Dummies.

STEAM Login Problems

Most people seem to be having a login problem with STEAM at the mo. STEAM is online, but the problem is with login.

Contract JACK (Completed)

The prequel to No One Lives Forever 2.
Reviewers gave it a meh.
And the gaming community said it was terrible because of it's mindless hoard killing.

I quite liked it.

It is essentially a console FPS on the PC. The auto-aim is so high on easy setting its like playing with an aim-bot, there are hoards and hoards of bad guys to kill. I mean it is so bad it seems as if Zap Branigan has been advising the bad-guys on attack strategy and it almost puts Halo to shame, not quite because the levels are interesting, so at least there is a sense of the 'passage of time' here.

Unfortunately the 'passage of time' thing is an issue. I completed this in one sitting and that sitting was only three hours long. I have played demos that have lasted longer than that. And this is a two disc game!

The comedy element usually present in this franchise is not that funny and there isn't any of those discarded documents to find in any of the levels which usually add more depth to the environment, but I liked most of the levels and the weapon selection is good.

I liked Contract Jack, but the game is shockingly short.
3/5

Random Fact

Penny Arcade is no longer funny.

Darwinia News

Quote:

We are aware that a lot of people have been very confused by the demo of Darwinia, with no clear idea of what they're supposed to be doing.

THAT is what happens when you don't include an introduction or documentation of any kind.

We have to admit to being slightly suprised by this, but we've obviously misjudged the amount of help that games players need.

THAT is what happens when you don't do observational playtesting.

We are working on a new demo that will include a detailed tutorial that explains the concepts of Darwinia.

YAY! I mean I managed to compleat the demo, but I still don't understand how anybody could enjoy a game where the levels are so easy.

In the mean time, we've uploaded some basic help of our own which you can read Here.

So that's what was going on!
WOW, so I am like an Anti Virus, cool!

Hot Or Not Firefox

Everybody seems to be praising Firefox as a better alternative to Internet Explorer, but I am not so sure.

Firefox has an odd memory leak where after being open for a few hours it will consume system resources like a dog with meat products. Plus the only difference between an updated version of IE and Firefox is that Firefox can do tabbed browsing.

I like Firefox, but IE is more stable and it makes me wonder if people are just being snooty about the whole issue.

Adrenaline Management

It is not often that I visit gaming forums because they are full of fanboys and people just wanting to argue, but This post on Adrenaline Management is very interesting.

I already understood about the pacing of games and that too much for too long was bad, but to think of it as Adrenaline Management is a different approach for me.

Sheer brings up some excellent examples and I too was one of those people who got terrible annoyed and tired with the flooding Flood in Halo AND Halo2 (I can't believe they did it twice) the Flood isn't so bad in Halo2, but WHY!

This is an interesting subject to consider, but regulated gameplay is boring. So Adrenaline Management isn't about making sure there isn't too much or too little action, or even using that as a gameplay element like in the survival horror genre, but instead making sure a game doesn't do anything stupid like Bungie did in Halo2, or like ID did with Doom3.

Blizzard Responds To Penny Arcade

Blizzard Responds To Penny Arcade With A Dignified Response.

Nothing anybody can really say because its a new game and of-course there are going to be problems.

In 1997 Microsoft had similar Problems With It's Website so these things are nothing new.

Anatomy for Beginners

I watched it and I agree with These Guys, it was uncomfortable to watch, but I couldn't help myself. As far as anatomy demonstrations go it was very much for beginners. We learn all this stuff in school even before we are supposed to be old enough to watch past the watershed, so the justification for making the series seems fairly shallow.