Signed Up

So I went along to uni today with Adds (Adam) to see what societies or clubs we could join. Chris didn't come because he had already gone home for the weekend. He will regret that decision early next week because both me and Adds signed up to the Rock Society (Chris's thing). Not sure if I will bother actually going to anything because they basically just go to clubs that play very loud music and mosh.

Not sure if moshing is my thing, but I am not going on my own, and Adds says no. So that's probably a no go. I feel Chris has really missed out on signing up for something he would love, and meet people who share interest (hasn't been socialising much, and that's odd because he works in a bar).

Adds also signed upto Tennis and I signed upto the LGB Society which is another clubbing thing, but it will be a lot of fun because LGBT people are always dead friendly, so I am sure I will make some new friends.

There was loads of other stuff you could sign-up for like Badminton, Diving, Rock-climbing, Games Society (Warhammer 40K stuff), American Football and loads more, including Taekwondo which I am kind of wondering if I should have signed-up for because I have always wanted to learn a martial-art, but I should meet plenty of people in the LGB society anyway so I am happy either way.

Wanadoo's 1.1Mbps Service

Upload is 256Kbps, so that's a quarter of the download capacity. In real terms that's 120K/s down and 30K/s up.

I didn't think surfing the web would be quicker, but the Trailers Over At Apple can start playing really soon now and it's kind of like streaming them because even on large they download faster than they play. Plus if I am on a site like IGN looking at one of their Photo Gallery Pages with FireFox I can open loads of windows and they all load very quickly, even though each window has a big high res picture on.

Earth And Beyond = Dead

I was a beta tester for E&B and it would have made a good singleplayer game, but as an MMO there was simply no reason for player to player interaction. Other plays exsisted in the game world, but you didn't need to interact with them and frankjly there wasn't any reason to or even any advantage or easy way of doing it. And so E&B Is No-more. It's probably for the best.

Not Just Me

No it's not just me being pissed about with. Foofly might have been kicked off his course and possibly crawled back onto it purely because he put the wrong course code on the assignment. And that's a very easy mistake to make.

The guys (Chris and Adam) can't have the internet in their rooms because they would have to pay BT to connect them with phone lines first and they aren't prepared to do that.

I didn't miss anything interesting last night, but Adam's main concern is that he is finding it difficult to meet people at the mo, as his basement buddies (he is on the ground floor, but it feels like a basement) aren't exactly the friendly types and are really keeping to themselves.

And Chris has a different timetable to us so he might be all on his own in lectures, labs and stuff.

Hell Uni And Back

So I had my introduction day, today and frankly I am appalled. Nobody knows what the course title is and everytime I ask I get a different answer. I might get into Artificial Intelligence IF I' am lucky. And whoever I talk to is in no authority to do anything about anything. So I just have to hold onto my student card and pray everything is ok.

I never got sent a 'welcome to the course' letter so actually I am not even sure if I am actually on the course, but there was a timetable left attached to my student card at the student support center. Although that has written on it:

The following 1 module has no timetabled activities: COMP2007/y

What does THAT mean!?
It's not AI because that's CSCI2412, but that's the one that's not on my timetable! So have they signed me upto the wrong module or do I have the wrong timetable!?

When It Rains It Pours

Funny kind of day.

• I finally have my 1Mbps connection. Which I ordered on the 6th.
  
  
• I have my new watch which my Mum bought me for my birthday. Also ordered about the 6th.
  
  
• Fund a carpark in Leicester that does all day parking for £2.50, but closes at 6pm so I am more likely to use that one on Dover st that charges £3.70 because I can park there all day and get my car whenever I want. Although the cheapest option for getting to Leicester in the car is still the Park And Ride at £1.50!
  
  
• Phoned up Adam to see if him and Chris where doing anything since they have just moved into residence for uni. And they are going out someplace later. AND THEY DIDN'T INVITE ME! How rude! I was only across the road at the time.
  
  
• Also got through to the Student Loans Company and they said my application had been stalled because the name of my course on the UCAS database and the name I had given was different. On UCAS it's 'Business Information Technology,' but when I was filling the form out I phoned uni to asked what the name of my course was (they actually laughed at me over the phone), but that was confirmed as 'Business Information Technology And Computing.' Plus I confirmed the UCAS code with them. So it's UCAS and their stupid database that's wrong, or the person who gave UCAS the wrong course title. Either way I did my best and still messed up the form!
  
  So an eventful day, and right now I am just going to relax while I see if I have 512Kbps upload or like NTL with their 1Mbps service 256Kbps upload.
  

Hunt For The Payment Schedule Letter

I finally got through to the Student Loans Company, only to have an automated message say that if I lived in either England or Wales I should have phoned a different callcenter! Why that message was apart of the queuing system and not the first thing I heard when I got through I don't know.

And to top that they sent me a leaflet with the number for the Scotland callcenter on! I mean they obviously know where I live and that the number in there, is going to be of no use to me!

So I phoned 08456077577 to get through to the correct place, and they don't open until 6am.

Full Spectrum Demo

I have to say This Demo made me very angry. See I am listening to the tutorial guy (the tutorial is most of the demo) and the guy is very quiet. He must have worked in a library before being promoted to training guy, because he is so very quiet.

Immediately after completing a training action like set a fire zone. The training guy starts yabbering away about the next training instruction as you would expect, but my Richeous Warriors Of Freedom (yes I am being sarcastic) keep talking over him with with classics like:

Starting to piss me off!

And

That's what I' am talking about.

So although I have completed training. I have missed probably a third of the audio.

The game itself is very linear. It might base itself on military tactics, but all you do is move from one corner to another, use covering fire, and shoot people. There isn't anything interesting. And after you have played a mission once it becomes very easy second time round. So you could say it's very much like a watered down version of Commandos, but with more yelling. Hooah!

Valve vs Vivendi

Last week I did A Post about Half Life 2 and how getting a game launched can strain the relationship between publisher and developer.

Well it Turns Out that Valve and Vivendi have been in a legal dispute.

Valve sued Vivendi back in 2002 because they where distributing Half Life to Cyber Cafés and refusing to pay Royalties (among other things).

And Vivendi has a lawsuit against Valve because Valve assured them that they weren't interested in digital distribution (STEAM) and where assured that any efforts would only promote the sale of CDs. Big Porkies I am sure you will agree, because STEAM (and other services like it i.e Direct2Drive) looks to be the beginning of the end for buying games at retail.

I don't know if this will effect HL2's launch. Some people seam to think it will, but I don't think so because that would equal loose of revenue for both companies and that's something that can be clawed back through lawsuits later-on. And on-top of all of this Vivendi is hoping to keep it's contracts intact with Valve, so they can still publish an agreed fourth title.

Student Loan Barcode

When I go to uni they are apparently going to want to see a barcode on a Payment Schedule Letter, that I should have received from the SLC (Student Loans Company).

This barcode (when scanned) will deposit the first loan payment into my account. I haven't received the letter yet. So I phoned the number it told me to, when you don't received the letter at least 14 day before the start of my course (7 days left). And the automated system just says:

Sorry, we are experiencing a high volume of calls, please try again later.

And hangs up.

Random Joke

A cucumber, a pickle, and a penis were all sitting around one day talking about how much their lives sucked. The cucumber said, "Man, my life sucks. Whenever I get big, fat, and juicy, someone cuts me up and puts me in a salad." So the pickle looks at him and says, "You think you have it bad? Whenever I get big, fat, and juicy, someone puts me in vinegar, puts spices on me, and sticks me in a jar." The penis glared at them both and said, "You guys think you have it rough? Whenever I get big, fat, and juicy, they put a rubber tarp over my head, stick me in a dark room, and bang my head against the wall until i throw up and pass out."

Sleepy Sims 2 Update

Alex and David had a public WooHoo in a changing room. There is some old guy after Alex. And after quitting his job as a thief (terrible hours), David is doing well in his new job as a postal worker.

My Username Is Koorb And I Have A Sims 2 Addiction*Polite Clapping*

Firstly I would just like to say that I didn't like the original. I had a family of three in the original and the only bed sharing the father would do, was with his daughter! Plus anything they did, they did because I told them. So I really didn't have much fun at all. And I could never understand why it was 2D, even then.

In contrast with The Sims 2 I don't need to be in front of the computer for my Sims to function. They can make themselves food, go to work, got to bed, get out of the way of other Sims, have a shower, clean the shower, interact positively with each other, make friends, go to the toilet and most importantly flush the toilet! All by themselves!!!

I started by setting myself the challenge of having a gay couple and from thinking it wouldn't happen, to seeing both David and Alex go into the bedroom all by themselves and both WooHoo with each other. Five hours after starting the game, I have to say I am impressed.

It's just a really great, fun game. You can try having an objective, but it's too much of a good sandbox game for anyone to want to play it competitively. The only thing I with they had done differently is the sex. Frankly I find the kissing more erotic than WooHoo. And that has shattered dreams of selling pictures of my Sims as porn.

Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance

I would have given this a 5/5 if the ending hasn't of talked my ear off. And I missed the first fifteen minuets of The Enforcer last night because I was stuck watching one of the overly long talk-o-ramas.

And ARG! My keyboard doesn't vibrate! So I can't play any of the Snake Tales!
I so want to know if Snake and Otacon manage to catch that sea-monster so they can open that Zoo.

University Again

I contacted Uni about my enrolment and I am enrolled, but they didn't have any of my unit choices. Even though I remember filling the form in for them. So I did that over the phone.

The choice is either Database & Analysis (evil) or Artificial Intelligence (something I haven't done before). I have no idea what the database module covers, but I know for AI you work in a group to program a little robot with AI, so it can find it's way through a maze (sounds like fun I know).

1Mps Where Are You!

Since it is day 11 of my 10 day wait for my upgraded 1Mps connection. I phoned Wanadoo (number 5 on my speed-dial). Wanadoo said that because of demand the period is now 14 days. So I should be upgraded by Monday.

Spawn Of Splinter Cell

April 18, 2002 Splinter Cell Announced
May 21, 2003 Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow Announced
May 10, 2004 Splinter Cell Chaos Theory Announced

*Looks deep into Crystal-Ball*
Hmmm Looks like Splinter Cell 4 will be announced about May-time 2005.

Half Life 2 Might Be Finnished

Apparently A Release Candidate has been sent to Vivendi (HL2's Publisher).

For anyone that doesn't know, when the developer (Valve) has finished their product (Half Life 2) a Release Candidate of said product, is sent to the publisher (Vivendi) for approval. If the publisher is happy with the product then it is sent to the printers. Otherwise it is sent back to the developers with a report on what needs altering or tweaking before the publisher will permit the product to be launched.

This whole process goes with patches too, and sometimes the publisher can be very stubborn at this stage. Even to the point where the Publisher to Developer relationship is severely strained.

Letter From University

Dear Student

Bla Bla Bla
If you haven't pre-enrolled, turn up on the 20th, but if you have, come on the 23rd.

Your Sincerely
Dr Pamela AC Watt
Course Leader

Now I remember filling out a form for my unit choices, but I can't remember filling out any-kind of enrolment form, and I certainly haven't received a 'you have been accepted' letter. So it looks like they will be hearing from my mouth again tomorrow.

Rollercoaster Tycoon 3 Demo

27th Apparently.

N Is Also For National Security

Which we seem to be lacking right now.

It must have been an inside job.

N The Ninja

It's been years since I last played a Good 2D Platformer, but N is fantastic.

You play this little Ninja guy, on a none scrolling 2D area and you just have to get to the exit. I have been playing it all day and it's great. You can even get replays of the top scoring Ninjas from the Highscores screen.

Peasant's Quest

Peasant's Quest is a flash based RPG, that spoofs the old Kings Quest series.

I got to six points before reaching for the Walkthrough, but I am glad I did because the whole game is quite a nice experience.

University Said

We are sending the letters out today.

Happy Bithday To Me

I don't want to be 21, I liked being 20.

University Keeping Me Informed As Always

I know (by way of rumour) that my enrolment date is the 20th. And with a week to go, my academic institution still haven't sent me a single letter or anything telling me that.

Yes this makes me nervous, but they will be hearing from my mouth tomorrow.

My Prison Bitch Name

Is Sugar Pussy :P

Alcohol 120% Alternative

So after Alcohol 120% changed I have been looking for a good alternative. And today I found the good alternative I have been looking for in DAEMON Tools. Small and very good is what I like, and DAEMON Tools is both.

Being John Carmak

My friend Bill, showed me This Blog by the guardian. And that contains a link to This Blog containing all of John Carmak's '.Plan' files since 1997.

I think he is working on Quake2 when the log starts, but it's a good read, even if he does rant about performance and game architecture from time to time.

Random T-Shirt Idea

Ask me about great shagging opportunities.

Random T-Shirt Idea

I want a shirt that just says 'Pull Me' on the front.

Hipocritical Christian Site

I like to read game reviews on Christian Fundamentalist websites because they are always a good laugh. Generally anything with magic is blamed by them, but then Evil Avatar linked to This review of Doom3. The guy didn't like the game because you kill demons (occult reference), but I was expecting that.

Then I spotted This interview with a so called Christian developer. About a game called Eternal War: Shadows of Light. A FPS where you kill demons!

Surly I am not the only one that finds this more than a little hipocritical. So rather than the reviewer of Doom3 hating it, because of it's demon killing slaughtering, surly he/she should have been praising it like they have with Shadows of Light (Which incidentally looks like the Quake2 engine, but they claim it to be their own).

What Pre-1985 Video Game Character Are You?

I am Kung Fu Master. I like to be in control of myself. I dislike crowds, especially crowds containing people trying to kill me. Even though I always win, I prefer to avoid fights if possible. What Video Game Character Are You?

This Whole Royal Navy Windows Kafuffle

There has been this guy from someplace Making Noise about how the Navy shouldn't start using Windows instead of UNIX in the navy's new Type 45 Destroyer. HMS Vanguard is apparently already running Windows 2000, but I don't know wither what the guy is saying is factually correct or just opinion based.

Ok Windows isn't exactly the most secure OS, but it's easy to develop for and very user friendly, but then I have absolutely no idea what the Navy would want to run on it, because they are obviously switching over for a reason. As switchovers like that cost a lot of money. So you don't do something like that unless you have a clear reason (not that Microsoft would be complaining either way).
*sight* Well as long as Windows doesn't error and fire a nuclear missle at France I suppose I can still sleep at night.

The Crappy Test

Everyone seems to be giving that Penny Arcade Test a go, and since the server is now working again.
I got 38 out of, 30 questions?!

Random Fact

Every once in a blue moon a Smurf is born.

Someone Just Reminded Me

A bandwidth cap of 30GB a month, is a limit, not a target. (^_^)

An Enlightening Day

Today I learned something that has eluded me, ordered something that I have wanted, and later will watch something that I have both wanted and that has eluded me, at the same time.

• For the past three years I have been trying to grasp what inheritance is in programming. This seems silly to me now, but nobody ever sat me down and explained it to me bluntly. And everytime I asked I would always get some garbelled answer with the word 'constructor' in there somewhere, but actually just in the last fifteen minuets I got it! And if somebody had just said, "Modules that you can store and duplicate under different names in memory", I would have understood. Instead I have spent the last three years avoiding inheritance, because it was always such a headache everytime somebody brought it up. And now I can actually see the advantage, and even easy-use for such a thing.
  It took you 17 chapters to get there, but thank you my Microsoft Press Book!
  
  
• I was reading a newsgroup Post with someone asking if their local broadband supplier was charging too much. And in an attempt to answer their question I went to Wanadoo's pricing page and realised that all their packages said 1Mps!!!
  Now apart from currently being on a 512Kps package and paying the same price as the top end 1Mps. I didn't realise there had been a package change because I don't receive my Wanadoo newsletters, because frankly I have enough addresses to check as it is, but after a quick phone conversation it turns out that for a £20 administrative fee and a new 12 month contract I can be upgraded.
  So my broadband it now getting upgraded from 512Kps to 1Mps.
  I haven't agreed to a new 12 month contract, but they are connecting me anyway. \(^o^)/
  
  
• Since I was in High-school I have had this mission to watch every Sci-Fi film ever made. Considering Hollywood doesn't like Sci-Fi that's made this an easier job, but there has been a film that has eluded me for years, Battlefield Earth. The trailer looked amazing at the time and I missed it at the cinema, but since it's apparently such a bad film that didn't bother me because I thought, I could would rent it later. Anyway several hundred films later I find-out that the film is based on a Bestselling Book and that the author was actually the guy that founded the Scientologists! Who are a modern religion, much like the Jehovah's Witnesses in that as a member you have-to sign over all your money and possessions when they join. And if you have ever watched that episode of the Simpson's where the family joins a cult. Well that's a reference to Scientology.
  The founder L Ron Hubbard has also written books on Dianetics and Brainwashing (you can read a copy Here and Kenneth Goff is his real name). Anyway I digress, because of this history behind the writer, and his best seller, this placed the film high on my list of films to watch, but I haven't been able to see it. The film was so bad I can't get a copy (just like you won't be able to get Starship Troopers 2 in a bit).
  Well it's on TONIGHT!

Star Wars Galaxy Thing

It seems like people are still riled about how SOE has been treating players (nothing new), but while reading up on the latest developments I spotted This. It's a thread on a SWG fan site that is offering free trials of EVE Online, to disgruntled SWG players.

Apart from being shocked that the EVE guys are trying to move players from SWG to EVE, I have to say it's a genius piece of marketing because EVE is twice the game SWG is, and the fans that try it will love it. And hopefully be able to Finnaly Leave one of the worst MMORPGs I have every played. Yes I am talking about you, Star Wars Galaxies.

Game Stars Live

Twas in London, I didn't get to go because I am having a slight Financial management problem (been spending too much). Anyway both GameSpot and my friend FooFly went. So you can read what they have to say if you like.

Natural Selection Beta 5 Client

There seems to be a lot of changes in favour of the Aliens, but I don't know because I am still downloading.
Mirror

BBC Iraq Documentry

So I was watching this one hour and half documentary and I occurred to me that the Americans are doing nothing to win over the people and the people are just getting angry. At one-point Sean (the guy filming) showed some of the reconstruction work going on in Iraq. This consisted is only security walls and blockages. He explained that all the water and electrical services had just degraded and broken because the American forces are just concerned with rooting-out terrorists.

Frankly I find the idiocy of the Americans strategy appalling. They had secured the country in the name of freedom and instead of then concentrating on infrastructure and returning the country to a productive environment for the people of Iraq, they just spend all their time raiding houses and trying to maintain an occupation that nobody wants. And the amazing thing is that even after loosing occupation of several cities to the rebellion, they refuse to change strategy. And so they just keep loosing ground in a war that should have been won already.

Tribes Vengance Beta

First I created a server with a password just so I could run round the maps and learn the controls. And quite frankly this is the best tribes game made yet (I hated the others), but when I connected to play multiplay, I kept getting some very nasty lag.

The End

HL2 Riddle

Go to half-life2.com and visit the Media page. Move your mouse over the pictures until one turns into a picture of the G-man and click it.

Type 'nova' for user and 'prospekt' for password. View the source of that web page (View > Source). Scroll to the bottom of the source code and copy the web address. Add this copied address to the end of the 'half-life2.com' web address and hit enter. Now you will see a picture of a barnacle. Go back to the black web page with the white box and type in 'barnacle' in the empty field.

Enjoy :)

The Logitech MX 1000 Laser Mouse

A few people seem to be raving about this and Logitech seems to be making a lot of noise, but frankly after looking at The Promotional Website I don't see what all the fuss is about.

A conventional optical mouse works much like a digital camera. It takes pictures of your mouse mat and tells your computer what the mouse is doing by matching the changes between the pictures it has taken.

No idea how the laser works, but it takes higher resolution pictures and so in theory should be more accurate, but after reading the thoughts of Gary Krakow over at NBC this improvement seems negligible. Probably because our current level of optical mousing technology has reached a universally satisfactory level.

I won't be buying a MX 1000 however because:

• It's wireless (I will only remember that when the battery runs out).
  
• It's one of those mice that will make my hand sweaty because of it's molded body.
  
• Too many buttons means I will keep telling my computer to do things I don't want it to (I had an MS Explorer mouse once, so I have experience with this).
  

Spoof Site

Before someone posts this on Slashdot and then all the other news sites start running round like headless chickens. I would just like to point-out that This website is not official, and that the 15th of Jan release date is made up.

Steam Fixed

If you like me have been having the "Server Unavailable" error (even when trying to start the Half Life 2 preload), just delete the ClientRegistry.blob file and Steam will work again.

I actually remember deleting this file a few months ago, but with a different error.

New Expert Minesweeper Score

266 :)

A Nation OF Courage

Imagine me watching the news and seeing Bush supporters waving signs reading "A Nation OF Courage." This makes me angry because America didn't attack Iraq or Afghanistan out of courageousness or because it was right, but because they where afraid, and impatient with normal diplomatic channels.

Just Silly.Net

If I do this:

Dim i as DateTime
i = #9/14/2004 1:00:00 PM#

That's good, but if I do this:

Dim i as DateTime
Dim x as String
x = "9/14/2004 1:00:00 PM"
i = CDate(x)

That's bad, because the CDate method reads my system default and recognises the date format as DD/MM/YYYY instead of the .Net standard of MM/DD/YYYY!!!

Evil Demo

I loved it, but it's only a small part of the game. I' am really looking forward to the full version (Oct 1st).

Tip: Since you are constantly under attack in the demo. Put your base on red alert and you won't need to tell your guys to defend the base.

Mirror Mirror Evil Genius Demo #2

If like me you have had a problem downloading from FileShack because of Internet Explorer's crappy downloader. You can now get it from FilePlanet too.

Mirror Mirror Evil Genius Demo

GameSpot was supposed to have exclusivity on this demo for a few hours, but now FileShack has it.

Evil Genius Demo Is OUT!

GameSpot has started distribution with their DLX system. And you can get if from that host Here, but if like me you can't get the stupid DLX thing to work, then we only have a couple of hours to wait. :)

Deus Ex3 Plot Continuation

There has been people discussing the new Deus Ex3 game and frankly I can't see how the plot will deal with the multiple endings of the second.

See in the first game you could either, join the Illuminati, merge with the big supercomputer or destroy the internet.

The second game added onto the first by saying that JC Denton eventually merged with the supercomputer and caused a global collapse of all technology. It's a bit flimsy, but there is a possible fit to all the endings.

Now at the end of the second game you can either join with JC and make the whole world think with one mind. Join with the Illuminati and continue as if nothing happened. Join the Templars and renounce all technology. Or kill everyone and allow the Omar to takeover the world, but ensure humanities survival into infinity by changing the race into cyborgs.

How the hell the plot of the third game is supposed to allow for everyone to change into cyborgs and discover new technologies, while denouncing all technologies and returning to a medieval like lifestyle is impossible. However I am sure the third game with whatever they do with the plot will be far better than the second because frankly the second game was crap, although I did enjoy it.

Steam Service Lockup

I thought Valve would be using some dedicated servers for the Half Life 2 preload, but it turns out they aren't, and so nobody can download Counter Strike or any of the other playable Steam games, because the servers are engaged uploading textures for a game nobody can play.

Edit: This was actually an error with my client, more Here.

Still No Demo

It's going to be one of those late night releases, I just know it.

Comedy Connections tonight (BBC1 10:55pm) is doing the complete history of Red Dwarf. Covering what all the actors and writers did previously before the show and what they are all doing now.

Still No Demo & Something Else We Have Been Waiting For

Just finished watching Jeepers Creepers 2. Not a bad film, but nothing amazing either. I think I preferred the first one.

There is a Thread over at 3DRelms with a history of Duke Nukem Forever developments. Started in 1997 and now scheduled for a 2005 release. During the DNF development lifecycle the two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity were proposed, authorised, announced, designed, launched and successfully landed upon Mars.

Plus Thief, Thief 2 and Thief 3 where all developed and launched. That's an entire franchise! And the same goes for the entire Grand Theft Auto Series. So it had better be more than just a good game because they have had more than enough time to not only perfect it, but write a few sequels too.

No Demo Yet

I am so glad I didn't stay up waiting for it, because I would still be waiting. And without my twelve hours sleep.

Half Life 2 Gold Tomorrow

I thought this was fairly funny because Gabe Newell (Founder and Managing Director of Valve) was the one responsible for loosing the Half Life 2 sauce code last year by using the company network to check his public email account, with an unpatched version of Outlook (I know major stupid), but a couple of days ago there was a post by Gabe saying that HL2 would go gold Monday (tomorrow). The post was fake and that's because someone guessed his password. And that password was *drum roll* 'gaben'!!!!

As in Gabe (his first name) and N (the first letter of his last name). I am actually surprised that somebody didn't get the password sooner it's THAT dumb. For a secure password you need to use a combination of letters and random numbers for the password to be effective against wordlists and crackers (proper name for people gaining unauthorised access to systems, not the term hackers).

Maybe Gabe is going to make this an annual event because this is two years running, and anyway daddy wants a copy of Team Fortress 2.

Just Beat My Minesweeper Score :)

Just push my score down to 401 seconds on expert.

EA Challange Everything

If that's their slogan, why do they make so many half-hearted crap games!

Plan For Tomorrow

Find and play the Evil Genius Demo/Trial (officially it's referred to as a trial, but I think it will be just another demo).

Deus Ex Invisible War Mini Review

It is so easy to hate this game. The biggest annoyance for me thought the game was the loading times, but this is confounded by the fact the levels are so small. For example the last level in the game is Liberty island, (the first level from the original Deus Ex) and it has both been shrunk, and split in half! Plus you can't even explore the statues base anymore. So the levels are endanger of feeling claustrophobic.

There are only six weapons in the game, a pistol, shotgun, SMG, sniper rifle, rocket launcher and an experimental rifle that can shoot through walls. I suppose it's an ok selection, but you can now only apply two upgrade mods per weapon. There is also a good selection of grenades, but you don't have room for them in your inventory unless you upgrade your character's strength.

The personal upgrades for your character are a joke. You get to pick five from things like health regeneration to cloaking devises, but you can only upgrade each three times, so once you have picked up fifteen upgrade canisters you are maxed out. And this happened to me very early on.

The level exploration and problems faced with a hostile facility are basically all gone because the levels are so small. I remember exploring facilities and picking off the occasional guard, hiding their body and then finding the next guard. This isn't even necessary anymore as their is probably only seven guards in the entire facility, so any use of a grenade is overkill.

The endings where all a disappointment, and I think I spent more time watching load screens than actually playing, but I did enjoy it and I don't know why. Maybe it was the characters or maybe the war between the different factions, made it interesting, but in the end, not as good as the original, not by a long shot.

Random Fact

Ornithologists in America are called Birders.

Olympic 2008 Swimming Pool

Just spotted This. It's a cinematic video showing the building that will house the 2008 Olympic swimming pool. And very nice it is too. Actually I wouldn't mind going to china. And I have no idea what I will be doing in 2008 work wise, so I might actually go and see this.

The company that designed this has an ok Website, but their designs are all excellent.

FilePlanet Replies

This is odd because it's company policy not to reply to feedback, but anyway they said.

Hi there,

It's stated twice on the sign up form http://www.fileplanet.com/betacenter/wow/stress_test/

"Blizzard Entertainment and FilePlanet bring you the opportunity to participate in a one-week North American World of Warcraft closed stress test beta"

"As a North American FilePlanet subscriber you are guaranteed a space in the World of Warcraft Stress Test Beta"

As well as in the FAQ's here: http://www.fileplanet.com/betacenter/wow/stress_test/wowfaq.shtml#15

"Why is this stress test only for North America?
Due to multiple time zone and language differences, we have decided to limit the stress test participants to the United States and Canada."

Sincerely,

Dana Bryant
Lead Accounts Support
IGN Entertainment, Inc.
dbryant@igngamespy.com

No idea why she is telling me that. Maybe she thinks I am a North American customer or maybe Dana is doing drugs, I don't know, but sometimes I do wonder if people in customer service should have a cap on the number of emails they read, because I do get some of the strangest responses from costumer service people.

World Of Warcraft Fileplanet Stress Test

I was going to do a post saying why I wasn't going to bother with the test, but then I found-out it was only for North American residents and Canada. "Arg!" I thought, and after some research (reading the FAQ) I found.

Why is this stress test only for North America?
Due to multiple time zone and language differences, we have decided to limit the stress test participants to the United States and Canada.

So I sent Fileplanet some feedback.

The reasoning behind excluding other English countries (i.e. England) from the World Or Warcraft stress test because of a language barrier is ludicrously pathetic. And the reasoning behind the time zoning is also just as pathetic, because the US is a time zone split country.

If the reasoning for the exclusivity was because of network performance and ping times you should have said that, rather that giving pathetic snivelling excuses that portrays an image of incompetency amongst your organisation.

Yes, I am a tit.

This Whole Steam Preloading Buisiness

I can't understand why people are getting so worked up over this. It's only the art files (sound and textures) so it's not enough to play the game and even if it was you still can't because it's all encrypted.

There even appears to be conflicting reports between either a September or November release date now. So I think everyone needs to take a chill pill or somthing, because it's just going to endup in tears.

My New Favoritest Loop

I used to use a lot of While loops in VB6, but not any longer. Now I am using a lot of Do Until loops. See with while, the loop runs while a condition is true. For example, while the value of X is less than 20, but now with the new Until loop, I can tell my loop to run Until the value of X is equal to 20. Not much of a difference, but I have found myself using Until loops all the time now. So they are my new favoritest Loop type. :)

And you thought my other posts where geeky.

Frscape Returns *Gasp!*

This Trailer suddenly appeared (well I wasn't expecting it) and after some research it turns out Farscape will be starting a new series on SciFi from October the 17th.

So if Farscape is back, maybe there is a chance that other dead TV series that begins with an 'F' like Futurama.

Why The Mars Rover Broke

ExtremeTech has a news article about it. And from the sounds of it, a third party program onboard the rover wanted to shove some data from the non-volatile memory (like your hard drive) into the volatile memory (like your RAM) probably to speed up access times or something, but the program didn't take into account the size of the file allocation table. So it was then trying to access files in the volatile memory that weren't there, and hence the nasty error.

To me this is a school-boy error, but then I haven't ever worked on an embedded system like this so I have no idea what kind of technical limitations or challenges that throws at people.

This Web site hates me

20 Questions to a Better Relationship

You are magnetic, charming, and impossible to resist. You have no problem with approaching the opposite sex -- it just comes naturally to you, and the thrill of warming up a stranger is one of your great drives. Still, very few people really know you. You don't just *feel* misunderstood -- you are. You are probably nursing a heartache that you never let on.

You're calm in a conflict (almost *too* calm -- a more emotional partner may wonder why you're not more engaged) and quick with affection. Fighting makes you uncomfortable, but as you avoid direct conflict your frustrations can manifest in the cold shoulder and passive-aggression, which is no better! Still, you make a loving, doting parent -- giving more love than discipline -- and your children prefer you.

Like an XSYG, you put so much thought and effort in what you give to your partner that you feel dismissed and unappreciated if you don't get the same in return. You also give and think so much that you can also talk yourself into cheating -- physically or emotionally -- and this can lead a cycle of conflict, guilt, conflict-avoidance, chilly atmosphere and then more cheating. But you'll stay with your partner in the long run from guilt and a desire to please.

Previous Total War Games

I was watching an ING Insider Interview with the creators of Rome: Total War, and it occurred to me that they had made a few precious games based on the historical RTS theme. ARG! I thought, and lept into research mode, to have a look at the previous titles.

I can't remember Medieval: Total War, but I do remember playing the demo for Shogun: Total War. It was a horrible game, and I can even remember why. They was no real tutorial (i.e. guy talks you through a battle telling you how to control your forces) and I played it over and over trying to win the same battle, but never could. You fought with these silly little 2D men (very uninspiring) and I had no idea about the units I was fighting with so I just uninstalled the demo and wrote it off as crap, but my hat goes off to the developer for running with their idea and making a good game. That I will most likely run out an purchase from my local.

Rome: Total War

This is a good game. Not one of those silly RTS games with Orcs Vs Space Snargs or whatever, but a proper historically based RTS, that we should have probably had years ago, but it's hear now. And I like it.

My Visual Basic.Net Librery

Ok now finally my review of all my Visual Basic books that I have been buying ready for when I go back to uni.

• VB.Net Deluxe Learning Edition
  In this pack you get Visual Basic Step By Step (a book) and VB'Net Standard 2003 (software). The book is excellent, and honestly the best self learning language book I have ever read. The software you get in this pack is essential because it IS the VB.Net language tool. Some languages like HTML and Java can be programmed using any kind of word editor, but with VB you really do need to used the official development platform, although the new version is so good I can't see anybody having a problem with that.
  
  
• Visual Basic.NET Complete
  I had one of these for Visual Basic 6 and it was good, so I got one for .Net too. It's basically one of those crappy learn it yourself books, but there are three of them all together and with a big reference section at the back, referencing to all three books, so it's kind of handy.
  
  
• Visual Basic.NET Language Reference
  Now this is an interesting book. It's the official Microsoft reference and it's purly referance material (to the exstreme). Like there are two page with just a big list of all the possible properties an object can have. No descriptions on what they are, just a big long list of them all. Another section has a table of all the variable conversion types (like integer = val(String)). I don't understand a lot of what's in there, but it's a reference book so that's ok. Apparently all the stuff in the book is available through the MSDN Libraries, but I never liked using that. I'am one of those people that prefers having a book I can look through and make notes (yes I write on my books, but with pride).
  
  
• Visual Basic.NET Programmer's Cookbook
  I wish I had of had this book for VB6 because it's simply invaluable. It's basically a code library with all it's code samples being carefully chosen. You can see the contents page Here and honestly there is loads I could have used in the past. I haven't done any .Net projects yet, but I am sure when i do this will come in handy. While flicking through it the other day I found an algorithm (can't find it now) that will allow you to verify a credit card number. It even has a whole section on security and cryptography, showing you how to encrypt a file and even create a random number that can't be reverse engineered by a malicious user.
  
  
• Managed DirectX 9
  Apparently this is a kickstart guide to using DirectX, but I haven't gotten-round to reading any of this yest because I am still not 100% upto speed on .Net (I been slacking off).

Bush Vs Bush

This is kind of funny because it directly shows how Bush hasn't stood by what he has said in the past, and probably moved his moral ground to play with the US public. Not that that's even new or original, but it's still funny.

Evil Genious Goes GOLD!

That means it's done. And now the final code will sit on a shelf and wait for it's September 28th release date, but you won't have to wait that long because a game trial (not demo?!) will be out on the 30th this month!

Netscape Returns

I don't know why, but AOL has seen it fit to return Netscape, but they have. You can get it Here, but if you read the page you will realise that it's just a re-branded copy of Mozilla. I know there will be people shouting from the rafters how good it is, but even when Netscape was still in development they hadn't had a good version since 4.2 (I think).

Yay For Amazon!

I got all my books through now. And by using third party sellers I managed to save about £17. Will probably do a writeup later, but at the mo my dad is hastleing me to go bed because he knows I am awake. It's not that he can hear me, but just him thinking I am awake is enough to keep him awake. I tell him he has sleeping problems because he sleeps for at least four hours when he gets home, but he doesn't seem to believe me. "But I am knackered!" he bellows, but hes just an old fool who's stuck in his ways.

Moths!!!!!!

FFS!!! The first one just flew in!!!

I am going to get one of those ultra-violet machines-o-death. See how they like that!

Hoty tired and pissed off

It's too hot. I have the door closed because I don't want to wakeup my dad and my computer is making the room like an oven. I have prickly heat already, but if I open the window all the moths and shit will fly-in. And the last one of those just died today from the last time I did that.

Arg! guess the only option is to turn the light off, open the windows and keep going as long as I can before my eyes start to bleed, then I will have to stop.

In other news, I So Would.

Killing Phantoms

This is the result of hitting a phantom with a baseball bat.

It's just a PC in a cheap case!!!
I got one of those in my bedroom.

URU

I just completed URU and I have to say I am disappointed. Not many puzzles where logical and a lot of the time I would end up looking through a walkthrough for the obscurest of answers. See, with a lot of puzzle-games when I reach for the walkthrough, I will then go say "I see" and move on, but with URU it's more of a "How the hell is anybody supposed to figure that out!"

One of my books still hasn't arrived from Amazon. Not sure if I should send an email or not. Probably give it another week just to be sure.

New Evil Genius Trailer

Yep, and I so want this game. When I sit at home and feel like playing a game, Evil Genius is the game I think about. Yes, even over Half Life 2.

A Tale in the Desert 2 Beta

Not my kind of game. It's too much effort to play, you need to talk to people to progress and socialising with AFGCAPs isn't my idea of fun. Plus the actual game is just one repetitive task after another.

Surly they know me by name now

I just bought Uru Complete Chronicles and Myst 4. So it looks like I will be looking for walkthroughs very soon and even more walkthroughs in October when Myst 4 is released. I completed Exile with very little help, and I only needed help with that pollen puzzle, in the jungle age.

Exile was good, but it didn't feel epic. The story revolved around Atrus's sons past, where as Myst4 deals with the future and expands the story forwards. Plus Myst4 is on DVD as opposed to CD. So this will be my first Myst experience where I haven't had to change discs between ages.

Myst IV Revelation Demo Compleat

That has to be one of the shortest demos I have played, but well worth it. I will definitely be buying the full game. One recommendation to anyone playing it. Deselect the distancing focus option in the option menu. That will make distant objects sharper.

The only criticism I can see at the moment is that the transition from ingame graphics to FMV and back again still isn't seamless, but that's a technology limitation and nothing anybody can do about.

Myst IV Revelation PC Demo

It's finally Here!
I have been waiting all day for this and it's now available for download (mine is currently at 26%).

Windows XP SP2

It's out and you can download it from Microsoft Here.

Below is a list of stuff I have noticed in the past fifteen minuets:


• Internet Explorer is a bit more zippy (like Opera used to be).
  
• The built-in popup-blocker is the best popup-blocker I have ever used.
  
• The silly little popup messages on IE irritate me and I have no idea what ActiveX control it is complaining about because it won't tell me (I have been forced to allow all ActiveX controls).
  
• Doesn't recognise my Anti Virus or Firewall (even though I use industry leading software). So I have a big yellow marker instead of a green one on the security center screen.
  
• The auto hide and show taskbar icons setting screen, loads it's list of icons significantly faster.
  

Dog-toy Or Marital-aid

Still no Myst 4 demo, so I found This. And I only got two wrong on each page! :P

We Invade Caneda At Dawn!

I can just imagine President Bush shouting that just after being reelected.

Finished That Stupid Sherlock Demo

A bit ago I mentioned a Demo Of Sherlock Holmes and The Silver Earring. Well I finally finished it, with the help of a Walkthrough and a Solve for the stupid questions you get asked at the end.

Having completed the demo, my opinion of the game had dropped because after completing a case you have to answer related questions by matching supporting evidence, to your answer. This is all ok, but if you get any one answer or piece of evidence wrong, Holmes tells you something is wrong, and you have to do it all again, but what's even worse is that some of the pieces don't match! Like the Colonel Patterson says he knows what type of gun was used because he hared it, and so that's supporting evidence, but the guest list says he has poor hearing and eyesight, so his evidence can't be trusted.

I think the developers should have Holmes mention what answer is wrong, as opposed to just saying it's not correct. At least that way you could find the answer by trial and error.

Must Sleep

It's hot, I am tired, why can't I sleep!

I got one of my Visual Basic.Net books through today. Can't be bothered writing anything about it now, but when I get them all I might, just might. Do a writeup on them all.

Myst 4 Demo Already Out!!!

For the Mac!

Mysterium (a Myst Fansite) has a link.

Myst IV Revelation Demo

Apparently we will be seeing the demo for the newest Myst game Monday!!

If you haven't seen the game yet, (and you know who you are) Check It Out.

Additional: Actually they have a really good Promotional Website going on. It's not developed by Cyan so this should be very interesting to see another developers take on the series.

Book Blowout

I just spent £75 on Visual Basic.Net books. I have really gotten into the language and so I decided to get some books ready for when I get back to uni so I can challenge anything they throw at me (programming wise).

My dad thinks it's a wast of money, but that alone makes him an idiot. He never understands, or even tries to.

New version of Mozilla Fire Bird Fox

I downloaded the New Version Of Mozilla FireFox (0.9.3) and the install says 0.9.2, so I got confused and downloaded it again, but it is 0.9.3, and not 0.9.2 as the installer says.

Bit odd, but a detail like that is going to confuse a few people.

DOOM3 Benchmarks Don't Reflect Card Performance

Just had a look at the Benchmarks (yes it's a little old now) and I think people are missing something. See the new Nvidia cards (and excuse me if I don't spend two hours looking for a link) have an optimisation where if a part of the screen is black (i.e #000000, black black) then, rather than rendering the whole environment and colouring it all in, it only renders the parts that aren't black. So if you are in a dark room and the only thing you can see is a panel across the room, than that is all that's being rendered. So say there was a big machine is over to your right in the dark, that won't be rendered and so boost rendering time and framerate. So in an unusually dark (VERY dark) game like Doom3, the new Nvidia cards have an unfair advantage. And that brings me to my point.

Doom3 is an unusually dark game. So this optimisation will probably only be used while playing Doom3. And so, to use Doom3 as a benchmark tool is wrong and you can't trust these graphs for card performance on next gen games.

Social Situations I Can't Handle

The most interesting thing that happened to me to day was a knock at my door. It was a kid from down the road (probably about seven years old) that had been playing football and he got some oil on his ball from my car (it was some kind of black greese).

I told him it would probably clean off, but other than that I had absolutely no idea what to say. At this he just stood there and looks at me. I said something about getting my dad to have a look at the car (and I will mention it), but I have absolutely no idea how to handle these kinds of situations. Not when there is nothing rational to say and the poor kid just keeps looking up at me with his cute little face.

Thinking of it now, my dad would have probably cleaned his ball for him, and that's probably what I should have done, but at the time I was dumbfounded.

P.S. Apparently Doom3 has been leaked. And I think that goes to show that developers should take internal security more seriously.