Random Fact

Microsoft has sold 3.9 games per Xbox360 sold.

Quake 4

I have just been playing through Quake 4 and I did wonder why a lot of the reviews had been negative because I was playing through a brilliant game, but then that character mutation thing happened and the game went down hill fast. Q4 goes from intelligent fictional representation of what is happening in the story and gameplay to a mindless Serious Sam like slugfest as soon as your character becomes mutated.

Half-Real

I got Half-Real another game theory book through today and this thing starts out excellent. Been busy today Christmas shopping so haven't even gotten past the first chapter yet, but seems a very good book and so far I only disagree with him on one point, and that is I think the fictional element in games like the setting or the characters can help gameplay where as Jesper doesn't see a connection.

Xbox360 Extreme Edition

Some guy has modded a 360 and put it Up For Auction On eBay.

The thing I like most is the glowing controlpad buttons, but the whole thing is so cool.

Dead or Alive and Halo Crossover

As if being able to play as Link in Soulcalibur 2 wasn't a cool crossover already Bungie has just Announced that they have been working with Team Ninja to incorporate a Master Chief looking character named Nicole into the game.

Cultural Differences

I think the slow takeup of the 360 might have something to do with the culteral differances that eastern and western people take to work and gamming.

In the west we will do anything to get out of work, or get rich by doing as little as possible, but in the east there is a strong workethic that says you should always do the best you can and through hard work you will be rewarded.

Where as westerners probably like having the world evaluate their gamming efforts publicaly and have their score directly evaluated besides their friends, this might be something hard for easterners because this opens them up for chritasism from their gameplaying efforts. So if I was not playing as much Kameo has my friend was then they would probably critasise me for slacking, being lazy or just being crap.

Really this is just me guessing, but there has to be some cultural reason why the 360 is flopping in Japan. And this is the best I can comeup with. It also might suggest why Nintendo and Sony have not considered online as worth while.

69,865 Consoles (32%) Less!

In Japan the Xbox360 has sold 62,135 consoles in the first two days of sale.
Originally in Japan the Xbox sold 123,000 consoles in the first three days of sale. Meaning that at the moment the 360 is an even bigger flop in Japan than the Xbox was.

I have no idea why the 360 has sold less, but I don't think this can be all down to DOA4 not being a launch title. DOA3 was an Xbox launch title, but common! LESS! Nobody was sure of the Xbox before it was launched, the console was the size of a house, the controller was big and horrible, Live wasn't working and nobody was sure about having a hard drive in their console or what Microsoft wanted to do with it. In retrospect we can look back and see that Microsoft changed everybody's perception of what a console can be, leaving Nintendo and Sony playing technological catchup, but the Japanese haven't honoured that.

I really have no idea on this one. I see flying to Japan, kidnapping a few gamers there and interrogating them as the only option in this matter.

I did think it was safe to say that the PS3 will outsell the 360 in Japan even if the PS3 is a pile of shit, but I also thing everybody was expecting the 360 to at least be able to compete against the PS3 competitively. Sales will probably pickup and it is longterm sales that Microsoft will be looking at, but still, LESS!!!

F.E.A.R. (Completed)

FEAR reminded me a lot of Doom3. Nice graphics, scary atmosphere and research project gone wrong. Doom3 was a game that a lot of critics didn't like because it's flashlight switching scary combat was too tireing, but they liked FEAR. I on the other hand liked Doom3, but did not get on with FEAR at all.

To start with the story is about a physic general that gives orders to his troops by thinking about it. This is supposed to allow him to know what is happening on the battleground, but the game shows no evidence of this because the guards show no idea where you are at any stage of the game and expend a considerable amount of resources trying to find you.

FEAR has some of the most boring level design I have seen for years (since Halo). Most of the game happens in an office block (goes on for ages), then there is a short warehouse bit and a slightly longer research facility bit.

The developers (just like in Doom3) have tried to keep the player on edge and breakup the action by doing a flashing light thing. In Doom3 this signals demons teleporting in or a vision of something horrific, but in FEAR it signals a ghost sighting for which I soon realised has no threat to the player's life at all. You might hear a little girl laughing or see something, but it is certainly nothing to fear.

Weapons are good, plenty of ammo after the start of the game (not sure why there is an ammo scarcity at the start, probably to make you feel on edge more).

Bad guy AI is good, nothing spectacular as all encounters are scripted.

Story is poor and very predictable. The hinting actually gets annoying as the backstory to your character is so obvious (ripped straight from Metalgear Solid).

More variety in level design like a shorter office section at the start/middle/after, more variety in enemies and a richer story would have gone a long way making the game a more interesting.
2/5

The Greatest Car Ever Made

I just finished watching Top Gear on BBC1 and OMG! The Bugatti Veyron is the greatest car ever made.

Clarkson's Excellent Review in The Times puts it quite nicly.

I also cannot tell you how good this car is. I just don’t have the vocabulary. I just end up stammering and dribbling and talking wide-eyed nonsense. And everyone thinks I’m on drugs.

Model Bugatti Veyron 16.4
Engine 7993cc, 16 cylinders in a W
Power 1001bhp @ 6000rpm
Torque 922 lb ft @ 2200rpm
Transmission 7-speed DSG, manual and auto
Fuel 11.7mpg (combined)
CO2 574g/km
Acceleration 0-62mph: 2.5sec
Top speed 253mph (370ft a second)
Price £810,345
Rating Five stars
Verdict Deserves 12 stars. Simply as good — and as fast — as it gets

It is faster than an F1 car, from topspeed it has the stopping distance of a third of a mile and if you where to fillup it's one hundred letter fuel tank and drive it at top speed, you would runout of fuel in twelve minuets (or fifty miles).

It is one of the nicest looking cars evermade. Just checkout Google Images. And if you can imagine this Picture with a streaking red light on the front of the car, it would easily beat KIT in coolfactor.

Dating a Developer

I thought This Account by Emily of her experience with dating a software developer was interesting. A lot of women struggle to understand why their hubbie spends so many hours looking at a screen instead of them, but Email has some lighthearted advise.

Prince of Persia The Sands of Time (Completed)

Good game, the story is good, music isn't emphasised probably enough. The controls are nice and intuitive (with the 360 controller it was anyway), but the game has some camera issues and the combat isn't great. I didn't think the combat system is bad, just that sometimes the combat goes on for far too long. It is just placed to breakup the levels, but I restarted the battle between between the prince and his undead-farther several times because I thought I was doing something wrong, but no, the battle is supposed to be long and tiering.
4/5

Dynamic Motion Synthesis

Animation in CGI is traditional achieved by an artist sitting infront of a computer animating or motion capture. These both work well, but take time and a lot more time to makes alterations.

Endorphin tries to solve this time consuming aspect of animation by using a combination of physics and character intentions (called behaviours) that can be applied to a character to generate realistic movement. So for example if a character falls down some stairs the model can be told to protect a part of their body like his head, try to stop the fall with his hands or just spread his arms around as if he where unconscious.

The Demo Page has some great examples of characters interacting with objects dynamically. Demo seven for example shows how a character can be told to catch a ball simply by selecting the behaviour, the ball and the character's hands because everything in between is generated by Endorphin.

At the mo this isn't applyable for realtime use in games, but as a productivity tool for animators this looks great.

Prince of Persia The Sands of Time

I bought Prince of Persia The Sands of Time earlier this week and just started playing it today. I haven't bothered with POPSOT before because I found the very first fighting bit in The Demo to be too difficult on the keyboard (I died multiple times), but I wanted to play a game that really needed a controlpad.

The 360 controller is easy to setup from the game's option menu and I am thoroughly enjoying it (just brought the city defences online).

Phase Test Result

Just as a followup to my Phase Test Post. I got 78% from the test, and that is 7.8% of my total module grade (I need to get 40% to pass).

Xinput

I have been looking into a way of getting more out of my 360 controller by writing somekind of app and it turns out that in the October release of the DirectX SDK there was an addition called Xinput that allows added functionality specifically for common controllers (at the mo that means the 360 controller).

Xinput allows a programmer to receive input from the controller and to output to the two rumble devices inside the controller. With this Microsoft is giving a big helping hand to developers. It even has events in for when the controller is unplugged or not detects. Plus it can address upto four controllers. This is exactly what I was looking for.

And I found this in the FAQ:

How do I disable ALT+TAB and other task switching?
You don't!

So there you have it, Alt-TAB should always be supported. Can't think of any games that disable it at the mo, but they do exist.

UPDATE: The documentation isn't detailed, all the samples are in C++, nothing will compile and I don't seem to be able to find the correct DLL to write an application. So not exactly the best of starts.

Random Fact

For ever 12 to 14 people you know, at least one of them is gay. This number would be higher if it wasn't so easy for women to deny their sexuality.

Microsoft's Xbox360 Controller For Windows

The 360 is out today and I am not getting one yet because I need the money and my final year project would be better completed without the distraction, but I have bought a Windows 360 Controller because I have always wanted a good gamepad for games like Beyond Good And Evil which are better played with a gamepad.

The controller itself is the most comfortable gamepad I have ever held. The buttons are all well placed and the build quality is excellent. The guide button in the middle has a metallic paint with a graining effect on it that makes it look like it was machined out of metal. The 'B' button is at a slight angle to better follow the edge of the controller and the 'L' and 'R' buttons press in and to the left or right depending on which side of the controller they are on instead of directly inwards to make pressing them more comfortable.

This controller is supposed to be a common gamepad for Windows to fix the problem of Windows having too many generic controllers for games developers to support one configuration. I phoned the support number that was given (0800 5871102 which is the UK 360 support line) and they had no idea if any games specifically supporting the controller, but I am sure with time some might.

I have tried gamepads for my PC in the past, but they have always been impossible to configure adequately and windows never quite recognised all the pad's buttons. Windows does recognise all the buttons with the 360 controller and all the analogue sticks because of the drivers that come with the controller, but unfortunately game support is shaky at best and as of yet I have only managed to get one setup correctly and that was F.E.A.R. which requires a little more precision than the controller can give because F.E.A.R. doesn't support analogue control on the 3D sticks, but they do work. The worst offending game is Half Life and Half Life 2 which doesn't have any gamepad support at all.

Right now I am looking at DirectInput tutorials in the hope I can write an application that will translate input from the controller to game input that looks like it came from a mouse or keyboard. That way I can use it with games like Half Life.

If you have a 360 wired controller and want to use it with your PC then you can get the necessary divers Here.

Microsoft's Boomerang

They look vaguely similar and apparently the Microsoft's Sidewinder pad didn't sell very well, but wither that is another reason to think the PS3 controller is a bad idea or not I don't know.

Halo2 In HD

IGN has a Video of Halo2 running in HD on the Xbox360 and it looks great. Not sure if running it on the 360 removes the texture popup, but it looks great.

Bloody Sony UK

I want to get the guys at the flat a joint present for them all so I wouldn't feel guilty about not buying them anything individually for their recent birthdays and Christmas.

The two games I was deciding between Shadow of the Colossus and Katamari Damacy aren't viable choices because one isn't released until next year and the other wasn't and won't ever be released. The sequel to Katamari Damacy will be released in the UK, but not until next year!

I don't know what I am going to do now because the guys have a terrible habit of buying games and then realising that they are bad only after they have bought them. So Shadow the Hedgehog for example is currently on their list of most wanted.

I might say I will ow them a present, but it will be almost February before I can get it to them. And it's all Sony UK's fault.

Xbox360 Merchandise

If you wish you had a 360 or have one and just want to showoff then XboxGearStore.com has a good deal going. They sell clothing and other stuff all branded with the Xbox360 logo.

My personal favourite is This Mug with inhaled sides.

N-Gage Is Dead

Nokia Have Said that they are nolonger going to be making any new N-Gage category phones.

I don't want to flame them for trying something new so I won't rant, but here are just a few reasons why it failed:

1. Overpriced games
   £30 per title vs free or very cheap (£3 per title) games that will run on almost anyphone you like.



2. Limited Title Selection
   The lack of a Killer App to persuade buyers to get an N-Gage made getting customers difficult.



3. Expensive Entry Level Device
   For a customer to get their fist N-Gage and then later hopeful become a loyal customer cost too much (£200+ I think).



4. Crap Controls
   Any gamer looking to buy it as a gaming devise would soon realise after playing on one for less than two minuets that the controls where rubbish and the N-Gage is a phone first and a games system second.



5. Side Talking
   The fist N-Gage required the user to talk into the phone against their head widthways making the N-Gage look like an oversized ear. This certainly didn't give it any street cred as SideTalkin.com shows.



6. Crowded Market
   The Competition was too much. Free Java games all over the internet and Publisher/Developers like GameLoft making their own quality titles for every phone on the market, made it difficult for any casual mobile phone playing gamer to desire anything more. Especially not when the latest Java games look comparable to the overpriced N-Gage titles.

Just One More Turn

Been playing the full version of Civilisation 4 now and it is undoubtedly the best civilisation game yet. There are a few minor distractions like not being able to play on those ultra large maps and I can't play the game windowed, but other than that it is excellent. The best thing about it is that because of all the little click saving improvements turns in a large game even in the later stages of the game can be completed in less than ten minuets.

Civilization 4 Demo

I have just been playing the Civilisation 4 Demo and I am impressed. The tutorial has a talking head of Sid himself taking you through the basics of the game (has his voice too), but the one thing that has annoyed me more than anything about the previous games is that they have required an excessive level of mouse clicking to conduct the simplest of tasks and Civ4 seems to have eliminated most of that. Plus the game seems less complex from an interface standpoint. And that inturn should make later stages of big games much more enjoyable.

Xbox360s On eBay

The 360 is selling for quadruple the recomended retail price on eBay.

I have no idea who is paying that kind of money for a console, but it must be important to them.

Phase Test

I have a practical test tomorrow for Systems & Simulation whereby I will sitdown infront of a software program called Arena and create an accurate simulation for what is described on the test sheet. The whole thing lasts an hour and is only worth 10% of the module grade.

I mentioned to one of the guys that I would have a look at a couple of tutorial exercises tonight and he said he wouldn't bother because it was easy. Now that might be true and it is only worth 10%, but honestly that makes no difference to me. I am being tested so I will revise. Not a lot mind you, but revised I have.

Plus it is an open book test so we are allowed to take in notes, and I have made some just incase I forget something stupid. 10% might not sound a lot, but sometimes it is.

Six Degrees Of Wikipedia

There is a theory that you can link any two actors in the world in six steps or less purl by what people they have worked with. Now apply that theory to Wikipedia articles and you get the Six Degrees Of Wikipedia web tool.

I did manage to find one that is 7 degrees of separation by linking Magnet and John Lennon.

Random Fact

Tragedy + Time = Comedy
Comedy + Time = Tragedy

White Phosphorus

The BBC has an interesting Video Report on how blogging is making the US Military and journalists in general look bad.

The US attacked Iraq under the false pretence that Iraq had biological and chemical weapons. And now the US (hypocrites) uses chemical weapons themselves!

Random Fact

There is no scientific evidence to support Intelligent Design.

The Toilet At The Yahoo! London Office

Yahoo makes a good search engine, but not a good company bathroom.

Mouseover the images for more info.

The Door

The Unisex Sign

The Soap

The Towel Dispenser, Bin, Hand Drying Unit Thing

The Towel Dispenser, Bin, Hand Drying Unit Thing Again

And Again

Hot Or Cold Taps

The Splashing Tap

The Problem

Imagine two different brands of washingpowder. Both are priced the same, but one has flashy packaging, where as the other doesn't. The one with the flashy packaging doesn't get any stains out, but the one without the flashy packaging does.

In this instance anybody buying the washingpowder with the flashy packaging would soon realise how crap it was and try a different brand. Probably the one without the flashy packaging and then become a regular customer to that brand.

This model of "The proof of the pudding is in the eating" does not apply to gaming. If a game wants to sell well it has to have flashy packaging. Regardless of wither the game is actually any good or not the publisher still makes a sale. Customers don't associate crap merchants with poor products. So even if a gamer hated the last five games they bought from Electronic Arts, then they will still buy another.

This is the problem with the games industry and there are several ways of fixing this. One is to start producing games as episodic content. Two is to offer additional paid content for that game through a micro payment (XboxLive Marketplace will do this) and there is the third method that I am exploring in my final year project.

I would like to talk more about what I am doing, but I am afraid someone might try it first, make a mess of it and destroy any possibility of success that it might have. Still I can say that it is going well at this moment and even my nonegamming supervisor has gotten the vision.

Darwinia on STEAM

Introversion has Announced that Darwinia will be available for purchase over STEAM from the 14th of December, priced at $19.95.

My Computer Graphics Assignment

One of the modules that I have taken this year is Computer Graphics. It is about 3D computer generated objects and how the computer tracks scaling, positioning and rotation in 3D space. The module sticks very well to the basic theory of how it works and I probably know enough right now to create my own very rudimentary 3D engine using a couple of 2D lines and a grid.

As a practical side to the module we have been instructed to use a free 3D graphics program called POV-Ray. POV-Ray is different to other 3D design tools because it doesn't have a graphical designer, instead the user has to programmatically generate objects. The advantage to this is that the designer can create objects that are based on mathematical principals like These or These. And I myself have found being able to design one object and then generate thousands of duplicates in under eight lines of code to be very useful.

Anyway the limits of my skill doesn't extend much further than this:

#include "colors.inc"
#include "textures.inc"
#include "stones1.inc"

camera {
location <10, 5, 10>
look_at <0, 3, 0>
}

light_source { <10, 8, 3> color White*2 shadowless
spotlight
radius 40
tightness 5
point_at <0, 3, 0>
}

plane { <0, 1, 0>,0
pigment {
checker color Black, color White
}
}

box {
<-1.7, 0, 1.7>,
<1.7, 0.5, -1.7>
pigment {Gray}
texture { T_Grnt16 }
}

box {
<-1.2, 0, 1.2>,
< 1.2, 0.5, -1.2>
pigment {Grey}
texture { T_Grnt16 }
translate <0,0.5, 0>
}

cone {
<0, 1, 0>, 1
<0, 5, 0>, 1.0
pigment {Gray}
texture { T_Grnt16 }
}

sphere{
<0,6,0>,1
pigment {Pink}
}

Which when rendered looks like this image below:



The assignment I am expected to produce for my practical is This. I know POV-Ray is capable of doing Very Nice 3D Work, but I don't think I am going to be able to do the picture justice. Still my limited skill should get me a pass at least.

Keyboard and Mouse Adaptor for the Xbox and PS2

Yep, SmartJoy has an adaptor that will allow you to play a console game with said keyboard and mouse.

I so want to know if this is makes people play better.

Xbox360 Backwards Compatibility

You can view the published list of all the games that will be supported at launch Here, but eventually all Original Xbox games will be supported. As long as you have a hard drive that is because the original Xbox has a built in hard drive and Microsoft can't make the original games aware of the presence of a hard drive or choose not to use it.

A couple of nice benefits is that all the Xbox games running on the 360 will be running in 720P, have antialiasing and if they support multiplayer allow you to play multiplayer with people playing the same game on the original Xbox. All downloadable content will be available for download from the Live marketplace and I think Microsoft has done a cracking job.

Buzzy Buzzy

I had a look in Game today and there must have been at least three new games that I haven't played yet. This is bad because I want to play them badly, but I don't have the time. Especially not since I got myself a good project supervisor and he is helping me achieve my own vision for my undisclosed project instead of just letting me do what I want and sign stuff off as needed.

I am hoping to setup my own site to dump all my little .Net crapplets on, and maybe some sourcecode. I have chosen a name and a host, but I don't have the time to create a good looking site so I am currently looking for solutions to that.

The Cybermen Are Back

The BBC has Released the first picture of the new Cybermen costume.

I like it, but wither the Cybermen will use the phrases "You will be made like us" (or something like that) and "resistance is useless" which I am convinced was stolen for The Borg in Star Trek. Especially since both are cyborgs and create new Cybermen/Borg through a proses called cyber-conversion/Assimilation against the will of the poor human.

Anyway if you see a Cyberman in a dark alleyway you have few options, but if you do happen to have something made of gold then you can clog the cyberman's respiratory system with it by rubbing it against the Cyberman's chestplate (never did quite get that one).

Kameo Podcast

To promote Kameo Microsoft and Rare have started doing a Kameo podcast. The Official Website has More Information about what they have planned, but the first episode is simply a well produced narration of the backstory.

If you have iTunes open, just drag This RSS Link onto the podcast screen and you can get the first cast right now.

Girlz Don't Exist On The Interweb

I found This article by Whitney Butts about her frustration with guys on he internet funny. She talks about online gaming and how girls don't exist on the internet.

Free Copy Of Visual Studio Express

I have gotten confused in the past few days about all this and you can't buy it at retail yet, but Visual Studio Express is out right now and you can download a copy right now for free!

This is how it works. Until November the 6th 2006 Visual Studio Express Basic, C#, C++ and J# will be free to download and register from Microsoft as a special offer to get more people using .Net. After that period you will have to spend $49 to register an Exspress copy. I am assuming they are doing this to promote VS2005 because there are a lot of VB6 developers who are scared of .Net and a lot of other developer that are only just discovering .Net, so this free offer does make alot sense from a future business perspective.

You can download and register a free copy right now from The Visual Studio Express Homepage.

Right now I am recompiling my apps, testing and looking for site hosting so I can shove a few of my apps and sourcecode up onto a website.

WARNING: If you currently have Visual Studio Beta software install you must uninstall the software and THEN the Beta 2.0 Framework. If you do this the wrong way around you will have to format your computer to get Visual Studio to work again.

How To Manage Geeks

I don't normally read management material, but This piece by Eric Schmidt CEO of Novell, is a very interesting article about getting the best out of your companies geeks.

Visual Studio 2005

Looks like it isn't out until November the 28th now. Well according to This Amazon page anyway. Maybe I got confused with today being an MSDN release for subscribers or something.

The page cannot be displayed

Frigging university email system.
I have email to send!

It wouldn't be so bad if I could use my primary yahoo account to send mail from (had that since 1995), but the university system sees all email from that as spam.

Even when the stupid thing is working it will log me out as I am typing an email and flatly refuses to send any email with more than one attached file. Ye it will allow me to attach the files, just not send the email.

Visual Studio 2005

Tomorrow Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 should be out. No mention on Amazon.co.uk, and only a "subject to change" mention on amazon.com. So I don't know if I am going to be able to get a copy next week or not because nobody seems to be stocking it.

I will try and have a look around PC World tomorrow after class, but since I have been waiting four months for this and it is a major platform release for Microsoft, I am a little surprised that Amazon.co.uk doesn't even have it listed.

Ctrl + Alt + Delete Makes Fun Of Sony

Recently The Official Playstation Magazine Reported that Sony weren't going to invest in a competing service to Microsoft's XboxLive service. I think that might be because they can't afford it, but Tim Buckley made a great comic of it over at Ctrl + Alt + Delete.

Memories Of Guild Wars This Halloween

If you missed this Halloween's GW event then you can still Download The Video showing all the loverly treats.

I Bought No Fireworks!

Remember remember the fifth of November
gunpowder Treason and Plot
I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason
should ever be forgot.

The Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion Presentation Video

FilePlanet has a great video presentation of Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion. This is apparently the same presentation that has shown behind closed doors (maybe at this years E3, but i am not sure).

The whole thing looks stunning, the character animations could be smoother, some of the voice acting could be better and the botmapping could be better too, but it still looks stunning.

The BBC Sucks At Technology Coverage

So I watched the program that I Talked About Earlier and it turned out to be a Money Program report and the whole thing was bad. I know the BBC doesn't do technology coverage very well, but having young mothers giving their opinions on the 360 was laughable at best because the mothers had no clue what it was, they aren't gamers, they weren't interested in gaming, there wewen't gadget or technology orientated epople, they probably don't have the time for games because they have young kids and so are probably a hardest demographic to market gaming to. Probably more so than grandparents even because at least grandparents have the time to play games. Young mothers barley get enough sleep and expenses like new TVs or a wardrobe are usually put on hold because they are trying to adjust to the added existence of having a new child.

There wasn't a single mention of Nintendo in the program and there was a perceived assumption from the program makers that the PSP and 360 are in the same market, when we all know that the handheld and home console markets are very different and that most gamers aren't advesre to having one of both because they don't have to share the same space in the living room, whitch home console systems do.

Anyway there was an interesting comment by the Sony European guy who when the interview was conducted (pre PSP launch) said that he fully expects the PSP to be this Christmas's number one gift. And I find that highly unlikely, but if Sony does a last ditch marketing campaign then I think they could at least compete against the 360 for that spot.

Something On Tonight

DOCUMENTARY: Microsoft's Big Games Gamble
Channel: BBC 2
Date: Friday 4th November 2005
Time: 19:00 to 19:30 (starting this evening)
Duration: 30 minutes.
Documentary which follows a team from the world's biggest hi-tech company as they launch a new version of their Xbox games console to take on the Sony Playstation. It is a huge gamble, but the potential rewards are enormous. The new consoles can play music, store photos, and let you contact other people online, so whoever wins the battle could become the gatekeeper to the world of home entertainment. But can Microsoft get their new consoles into the shops in time for Christmas?
(Widescreen, Subtitles)

Excerpt taken from DigiGuide - the world's best TV guide available from http://www.getdigiguide.com/?p=1&r=2943
Copyright GipsyMedia Ltd.

A Revolution Like Controller

Someguy has put This Video together showing a gyro mouse and thumbstick being used in HL2 Deathmatch.

That Xbox Space In Japan

That Xbox Lounge in Japan opened today. And my god the Food, Drink and Deserts that they are serving there all look fabulous.

I have no idea how they are going to handle the number of people wanting to use the lounge, because it it was me I would be in it all the time.

OMG

I seriously have nothing to talk about.

Project is going well and I have a meeting with my new supervisor this Thursday. Programming wise I have developed almost half of the knowledge that I need to complete it.

It's Halloween In Guild Wars

The city of Lion's Arch in Guild Wars has a very distinct Halloween feel to it at the moment.

Mysterious Xbox360 Accessory

I was just watching This Video over at Team Xbox. The video shows off some of the 360's accessories. The video features several accessories rotating around a carousel and it stops to cover them individually, but there is an accessory on the carousel that is not covered by the video or that I have seen before.



Additional: This mysterious accessory also does not appear on Xbox.com's Accessory List.

Additional: Turns out that it is a battery recharge station.

.Net 2.0 Framework Is Here

The .Net Framework is the most significant product in Microsoft's recent history and version 2.0 is available for download right now (from the links below). It isn't yet available from Windows Update, but that should only be a matter of time.

Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package for (x86)
Windows 2000; Windows 98; Windows 98 Second Edition; Windows ME; Windows Server 2003; Windows XP

Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package for (IA64)
Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition for 64-Bit Itanium-Based Systems; Windows Server 2003, Enterprise Edition for Itanium-based Systems; Windows XP for Itanium-based Systems Version 2003

Microsoft .NET Framework Version 2.0 Redistributable Package for (x64)
Windows Server 2003, Datacenter x64 Edition; Windows Server 2003, Enterprise x64 Edition; Windows Server 2003, Standard x64 Edition; Windows XP 64-bit

Half Life 2 Lost Coast Completed

The level does not liveup to the hype, it is too Short for that and the technology doesn't inpact gameplay in anyway. HD looks nice in parts, but I think I prefer playing with it off because the light blooms far too much throughout the level and that makes a lot of my screen too white for too long.

The level is full of bugs, but it is also full of commentary icons like in Chronicles Of Riddick Escape From Butcher Bay which is nice.
2/5

Half Life 2 Lost Coast

STEAM has just updated with the HD Half Life 2 Lost Coast map and technology.

My CPU is just 0.1GHz below the minimum system requirements, so I think I should be able to run it. More on this once I have tried it.

Xbox, Xbox Live and Bungie On Channel9

I could link to Channel9 (Microsoft's effort to show that they are human) everyday, but usually the interviews are very long, technical and very ranting (these videos are no exception), but they have just posted three videos you might be interested in:

Xbox.com Forums
Larry Heyb (Major Nelson) shows off the new Xbox.com forums.

Xbox Hardware
Yet another video of the hardware. Nothing much new, but I didn't know about the merkury switch in the ring of light.

Bungie Programmer Interview
This is an interview with Mat Noguchi who is a tools programmer at Bungie. He talks about what it is like to work as a programmer for a games company.

I am SO Bad At Word Games

Anagrams, Scrabble or even crosswords I am hopeless. This isn't some recent revelation, I have always been bad at word games, but something just hit me after watching the new Path Of Neo Trailer. And that is, NEO is an anagram of ONE, as in The One. And to think I call myself a fan of the first film.

Perfect Dark Zero Website

It's launched and it's Here. Not that it seems very good.

Super Mario Brothers

Yahoo is some of the classic 80's Super Mario Brothers cartoons up for streaming Here.

I remember watching this as a kid. I also remember doing the dance at the end.

How much?

My blog is worth $1,129.08.
How much is your blog worth?

I just wish my recent content was better.

Store Wars

It is a sad day when organisations have to use a cheap Star Wars clown to make consumers change negative buying habits, but it's Here.

Look What I Just Made

Bill Said he wanted this. It will save text to wav file with a synthesised voice, but people pay good money for this stuff (I have seen £60). And it was coded in less than an hour. I could add support for previewing, changing the voice used, speed the text is spoken and stuff, but maybe later.

Text To Speach

I just got the text to speech working in a separate thread for my project. This is great because now I can get any application I want to say (with a synthesised voice) whatever I want. Now I just have to get the Lexicon thing to work so I can get it to say unique or made-up words.

One of the limitations with TTS is that it has to be taught how to say words. So when it sees 'hood' for example, it looks in it's dictionary and finds 'HH UH D' which it then says and it sounds like 'hood' to the user. I need to be able to add my own.

Sucky Sucky

I once knew a girl named Suchinda, but everybody called her sucky. Anyway my posting has been terrible of late and I am not just talking about the grammar. Most likely it is the fault of my university timetable, for making me go in everyday and getup too early.

I wanted to do some more prototyping on my project tonight, but I am tired and have a headache. I want to sitdown and just code, but stuff keeps getting in the way. I might force myself after having a look at the new Open Office 2.0 which is currently installing. This post sucks so bad. Am tired and it's only ten.

Additional: Open Office 2 looks more like Microsoft Office than any other previous version.

Xbox Live Downtime

Xbox Live will be down for 24 hours on the 24th (Monday) so the service can be upgraded for the 360.

Doctor Who Spinoff

Apparently the BBC is going to do a Doctor Who spinoff called Torchwood. Staring Captain Jack the series is supposed to be a very adult orientated drama with sex and stuff.

That Crazy Frog

Just when you think that stupid frog has gone for good, he goes and makes a Video Game.

Space Odyssey

The first two minuets and fifty seconds of 2001 A Space Odyssey is just a black screen with creeping music. Then you get the MGM logo and this great shot of the sun rising up over the earth.

I am only watching this because first time, I didn't think it was very good, but since then many years have past, I have watched many more films, my taste in everything has changed and I want to see if I see anything different.

Update: I enjoyed the film and this time I understood what was going on. That is until Discovery reached Jupiter and then everything fell apart in a mess of hippie colours.

Random Number Generation

Nothing much to talk about. Just me sitting here trying to understand random number generation for use in simulation (simulating processes like bottle factories and call centres).

Would be ok if it was just rolling a couple of D20 dice, but instead we are using statistical tables.

The Best Xbox360 Experience

Just watched an interview over at Channel 9 talking about the Xbox360 and XP Media Centre Edition and on that they said that if you are buying a new TV for your Xbox360 (not that you need to) then you should get one that supports 720p resolution natively (this is if you are getting an flatpannel that is). From what I have read this means that the flatpannel TV won't have to convert the resolution from the 720p resolution that the Xbox360 produces to what the TV uses to display the picture in, because this sometimes produces lag and that can effect gameplay.

Plus they mention getting Dolby Surround sound with optical-in, because the Xbox360 supports optical-out for reduced signal interference on the cables to your speakers.

They also mention that the Xbox360 only supports the 'a' wifi standard because it is immune from interference. Where as all the others ('b' and 'g' for example) can be effected by electrical interference like Microwave Ovens, 'a' is more reliable.

Microsoft Does More Viral Marketing

Another mysterious countdown timer has appeared on hex168.com. Team Xbox has just a little bit more info.

Stupid Technology Journalists

Be warned this is a vent post.

Some newspaper and magazine journalists write utter crap, but especially John C. Dvorak who recently wrote This Charming Little Bit Of Crap about Microsoft's OneCare program.

OneCare is an Antivirus product that Microsoft will offer as a subscription service. Dvorak has taken the stance that Microsoft is charging people for flaws in Microsoft's software, and OneCare could be seen as that, but he completely fails to mention that Apple and Linspire already offer similar subscription services.

Microsoft could offer the service for free, but Microsoft prices products by the number of features they have. So the price of Windows would have to include a five year subscription for Antivirus updates (not good if you don't want or need it, better to give people the option).

The guy is an idiot and so is Mary Jo Foley for writing such crap as The 'Dirty Little Secret' About Longhorn where she talks about how Vista isn't built using .Net. Yet She fails to mention that nobody every said or implied that it would be built using .Net.

Bloody jernalists that don't research or even backup what they are talking about.

City Of Villains Impressions

The game falls into the same potholes as The Matrix Online. The game is clunky, the city is boring and the missions are limited (go there kill that, go there get that), but at least the environments are varied and the missions follow a loose story.

Character creation isn't anything special although you can create thousands of variations, the colour control is not very good so most people running round the world look like they where dumped in florescent paint.

Didn't get as far as getting my own layer, I think that happens when you complete an islands missions.

If you like City Of Heroes or The Matrix Online then you will like this.
1/5

City Of Villains Early Impressions

Plays very much like Matrix Online.

The whole gameworld is too quiet. The only sounds are the game's music and battle sounds. I am always disappointed by the lack of voice acting in MMOs, but this is silly, there isn't even an intro.

While I was doing the first tutorial missions, it all takes place in a prison break. And while I am trying to read the tutorial text there is this stupid siren going off. I wouldn't have minded if it wasn't so repetitive, but it is just this siren and the game's music. This is a prison break, you would have thought there might be other sounds.

City Of Villains Licence Agreement

I just had a read of the COV licence agreement and it is just your standard licence agreement. There is a part that could be interpreted to mean that I can't take screenshots, but the document hasn't been formulated specifically as an NDA. Unlike The Matrix Online Agreement.

So it should be safe to talk about it.

City Of Villains Tomorrow

Tomorrow at 11am I will be able to play City Of Villains, but I have a lecture at 1pm so I won't be able to post anything until much later. And as far as I am aware, there is no NDA.

An Approved Project

One of my project ideas the go ahead. Should be brilliant when it is all working. Got a good project supervisor too. Not sure if I should post what it is yet, but I will when the time is right.

Open Source In Education

There is a growing movement in education to use open source software over proprietary solutions (Windows) because licencing is a huge expense. So I did a bit of reading on the subject because I have had a few bad experiences with Open Source software and I don't think your average educator could cope.

The only pro is that the software is free. Moving to Open Office seems to be a very good idea for education because Microsoft Office is expensive and Open Office covers everything that most users would want to use. A complete Open Source computing infrastructure however is a mistake without an experienced and motivated IT coordinator.

The current procedure for setting up computer labs is to pay a company to supply computers and then the teaching staff will setup the machines themselves. With Linux this isn't possible because the machines have to be configured, there are no easy setup solutions here, some config file editing is required to get each machine running. And then there are also issues with installing applications because you have to get software that is specific to your Linux distribution and version. I have experience with this and most of the software I have tried to install has failed because I have downloaded the wrong version.

This picture (see below) is me trying to install Mono (Mono will allow you to programme and run .Net applications in Linux when it is done) today. The installer doesn't work, I don't know why and the Help Text is not helping so I gaveup. As a windows user I only see an installer fail when the file is corrupt. Maybe that makes me spoiled, but after trying this I installed it on XP without a single issue (then I findout that the software is far from finished and I can't use it).


A lot of companies do offer technical support for Linux based networks, but open source communities prefer to offer forum based support for issues and so do not have telephone hotlines for queries or problems. So software does require some trial and error to get installed, setup and used.

This whole issue comes down to commitment on the part of the organisation. If a school wants to save money then Open Source is a good route, but they will have to hire some IT staff to do a lot of legwork because the amount of work required to get a system setup is greater than that of a Windows based network. For some organisations however like Universities the move simply isn't viable because Universities have a commitment to teach students industry software that simply won't run on systems running anything other than Windows.

I have heard people talk about the move to Open Source like somekind of Utopian vision, but the only benefit is that the software has to offer is that it is free. I myself do not see that as very Utopian idea, especially not when I consider the amount of extra stress that it causes the IT staff.

Chasing Project Coordinators

I am currently chasing a Lecturer to be my project coordinator, but finding a time where I can meet with him where we are both free is impossible. It is so bad I am starting to think that he is avoiding me.

I know I want to do something using voice recognition because I have gotten it working and have a few project ideas in that area, but I need to talk to a lecturer about them. This is the problem.

Random Fact

Bill Gates has been on the frontpage of Time Magazine seven times.

City Of Villains Isn't Letting Me In Yet

Turns out that I am in the stress test that runs from the 14th to the 16th. So I won't be telling you what COV is like just yet, but I can tell you that it has a very traditional patching system (this is a bad thing).

City Of Villains Is Installed

I was getting a little suspicious with the corrupted zip file because each time I would try to repair it and each time only one file, the same file each time, would be saved. Now I assumed the ZIP file was corrupted because the windows XP's extractor said it was, and so did the latest version of WinRAR, but turns out that it is a WinZip 9.0 encoded thing and requires WinZip 9.0. It extracted fine once I tried using that. If you go to the Download Page there is a note there telling you that it requires WinZip 9.0, but I didn't see it.

The ZIP file is the same size as the extracted files. They have only zipped it into an archive because there are multiple install files and they probably wanted to keep them all together instead of making people download multiple files. The only problem I have with this is that it requires WinZip 9.0.

City Of Villains Download Progress

I am now downloading my fourth copy of the installer because all the previous have been corrupted. I have tried repairing the ZIP file the installer comes in (why would you zip an installer!), but that doesn't work and I have only managed to get one of the files successfully extracted.

City Of Villains Here I Come

Looks like I have been invited to the City Of Villains beta. Downloading the 2.52GB install now. Usually when I download a file this big from FilePlanet the file will be corrupted several times so will require several downloads, but with the new download client and my faster connection I don't think that will be necessary.

Will give you and update on what it is like later, unless there is an NDA of course.

Clerks 2 Video Log

[Listening to There She Goes]

Kevin Smith in a vain attempt to look as good as Peter Jackson, has started a Video Log (RSS) for the production of The Passion of the Clerks.

Change Around

I filled out the form today to change a module. I didn't think that I would be doing that because all the modules had their own merrits, but the module I wanted to do the most, security management, I didn't get. Not a compleat loss, I mean I only wrote two major projects on the subject, but after being boared and confused with XML (the presentation wasn't good) I filled in the form.

I could have done the XML module, but it required learning SQL and I need to be able to blitz through module work this year so I can concentrate on my project. Plus I want to have a security something on my degree certificate.

A History Of Microsoft From A Mac Perspective

If you like watching video's making fun of Microsoft or just want to see Steve run up and down the stage one more time, I strongly suggest you watch This Video.

Xbox360 X05 Trailer Pack

FilePlanet has a subscriber exclusive Trailer Pack of all the trailers shown at X05 (these will be made available to all through other networks) and here is a little overview of what is included:

CallofDuty2_X05.mov
Looking good, but the grenades look a little weak

Condemned_X05.mov
Meh, more melee combat footage.

DeadRising_X05.mov
Best Dead Rising Trailer yet!

FIFA06_X05.mov
Individual blades of grass! Yet still we have 2D crowds.

FullAuto_X05.mov
A Burnout/Carmageddon clown with destructible terrain.

GearsofWarFootage_X05.mov
Some new gameplay footage.

GearsofWarTrailer_X05.mov
A cinematic trailer.

GUN_X05.mov
Wild west RPG.

KameoFootage_X05.mov
Some new footage, nothing special.

MotoGP2006_X05.mov
Meh I played a demo of a MotoGP game back in the 90's and this doesn't look any different.

NeedForSpeedMostWanted_X05.mov
Does not show any gameplay.

OblivionTrailer_E32005.avi
That same E3 trailer again.

PerfectDarkZero_X05.mov
The lackluster trailer.

ProjectGothamRacing3_X05.mov
Looks good.

Quake4Trailer_E32005.mov
The E3 trailer.

ResidentEvil5_X05.mov
Ok, never been into RE games, but looks different to the previous games.

SplinterCell4_X05.mov
A shaky cam video, but an interesting teaser anyway.

TooHuman_X05.mov
Graphics looks good.

X05 Conference Overview

I had a look at IGN's X05 Coverage earlier, I did try to find something on GameSpot, but they have diddly squat. And I have listened to Major Nelson's Audiofeed from the keynote so I guess I can do somekind of overview now.

• Perfect Dark Zero is a prequel.
  
  
• Gamers won't have to rip CDs to put music tracks onto the 360 because you can copy from either a device or PC.
  
  
• Live now supports custom leaderboards. So there is a leaderboard for each game that will only list you and other gamers on your live account. Plus there is the global leaderboard so you can always see your global ranking.
  
  
• Some new games where announced. Crackdown, Too Human, Mass Effect and superman (to be released mid next year when the film is released).
  
  
• Peter More called Football, football and not soccer, that is an A+ in my book for presentation.

And here is some new media from the event (still waiting for an event keynote video):

New Too Human Gallery

New Perfect Dark Zero Video (this video can be described lackluster at best)

New Perfect Dark Zero Screens

New Gears Of War Video

Random Fact

I am the most prolific Blogger.com blogger in the entire of Leicesterhisre.

Just a shame the quality hasn't been so good recently.

X05 Tomorrow

Microsoft is holding a big press event in Amsterdam tomorrow showcasing all the launch titles for the 360. There isn't one killer app there that will sell the console like the N64 had with Mario 64 for example, but everything is looking nice, even if the visual quality between titles is a little rocky (some titles could easily look better than what they do, but at least they will all have a good framerate).

Microsoft and all it's partners are racing to get everything out the door intime for launch. Perfect Dark Zero for example has cut back on the 50 player multiplayer to 32 in order to make launch.

Random Fact

Fear is the mindkiller.

Comment Spam

I have been gettig a fair ammount of comment spam today so I have turned on the word verify thing, but this spam is so lame.

This blog is awsome! Checkout my Penis Enlargement Review Site.

I wouldn't mind if it was related to the post.

Longer Than Ever

I broke my Old Record today for how long my system has been left on for by one day, two hours, twenty nine minuets and eitghteen seconds.

I only restarted because my dad was having trouble with the net on his computer (it is routed through this one) not because XP was acting funky at all. And I was just thinking, this install of windows has been on this system for well over a year now. So it just goes to show that a little care and attention can go a long way in keeping your system working nicely.



I have had some people ask me for my System Up Timer application, but it currently runs on the beta version of .Net 2.0. So when that is released at the start of November I will consider releasing it. I want to setup a website for my final year project anyway so I might have a good place to host it.

Make iTunes Faster

Here is something odd. I am currently subscribed to twenty six podcasts and if I open up iTunes and hit the Update button iTunes.exe starts using up all my CPU cycles, it takes about six minuets to check all the feeds and some of them fail to update (just done it now and fourteen of them have failed).

If however I press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to get into the Task Manager, right click on iTunes.exe and set it's priority to low. Not only does it do the whole podcast updating thing in twenty seconds, but they all successfully update.

I don't know why it acts like this, but it's odd and needs fixing.

In Recovery

Went out last night with Lindsey and a few of her dorm mates from uni and had a GOOD night out.

I watched the first episode of Star Trek New Voyages thismorning. I have seen a few nasty fan made productions and this isn't one of them. The guys over at New Voyages really seem to have a desire to create new episodes of The Original series and they are doing a good job. The only problem I have with it, is that I was never much of a fan of The Original series. kudos to them though.