Good reads if you’re interested in the gaming industry: RPG Vault takes a look at alternative revenue models for massively multiplayer games (other than the semi-ubiquitous monthly subscription fee), and Eurogamer has a glimpse of what the online services for Xbox 2 might look like.
Oh yeah, grab the latest patches for Star Wars: Battlefront and Doom 3 while you’re still thinking about games.
Here’s a game you won’t see on Jay Bibby’s site anytime soon: ROFLAttack.
Hard to describe, ROFLAttack is a flash game with ASCII graphics that pits you as an elite ROFLer who must destroy LOLerskaters and LMAOplanes, armed only with your ROFLcopter’s ROFLcannon, WTFbombs, OMGmissles, and the all-important BBLshield.
(First seen on on the MESH DiaWebLog.)
I have been known to enjoy a vodka martini from time to time. So it was with great interest that I rushed to read Slate’s vodka round-up, but I was a little disappointed. The judging methodology was a bit off the mark for a martini drinker (straight shots followed by Russian appetizers), and one has to question the judges’ ability after sampling all of those vodkas in a single sitting.
Ultimately, the winner was Chopin, a not altogether horrible choice. Interestingly, Grey Goose was derided for being too smooth and subtle - which I suppose is a bad thing if you’re doing shots, but exactly why it’s a great vodka for making flavored martinis.
I would be interested to see how a couple of other vodkas would have fared - one of Desiree’s favorite restaurants swears by Vox for its martinis; personally, I’ve been enjoying Effen recently. Not only is it an excellent vodka, but you also get the guilty pleasure of saying “gimme an Effen martini!” as though you’re being surly but stopping yourself just short of being profane. As chance would have it, both Vox and Effen (as well as Ketel One and Van Gogh, which makes wonderful flavored vodkas, if you’re into that) are all products of The Netherlands - who would have guessed that the Dutch could make such fine spirits?
As I’ve mentioned before, I’m getting a new system to support the next generation (and hopefully beyond) of computer games.
Well, the video card I had originally ordered (the nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra Express, 256MB DDR3) is hopelessly backordered, so in the interest of getting my computer before Half-Life 2 comes out (not to mention actually enjoying my copy of Doom 3), I’ve jumped ships.
Yes, that’s right folks, I have gone over to “the dark side”. (Perhaps I should have mentioned ATI vs. nVidia in the geek debates I wrote about earlier today.)
I had originally selected the nVidia card because of its more robust support for OpenGL-based games and a preference (familiarity?) with the Detonator/ForceWare driver line. I knew the ATI card would have a slight performance advantage for most DirectX games, but I figured that the OpenGL-based Doom 3, Quake 4, and games from iD licensees would likely be the games I’d be more into. Plus, I have heard horror stories about some of my favorite games that I’ve played effortlessly on my nVidia hardware being, to use a polite euphemism, less than 100% compatible with the Catalyst drivers for ATI cards.
However, Desiree’s (admittedly old-ish) nVidia 4600Ti recently conked out on her, causing random intermittent reboots. (Driver problems were ruled out and the problem stopped when the card was replaced with an older one.) Plus, while Doom 3 is by all accounts impressive as a technology display (I wouldn’t know - I use a 4600Ti currently as well), most reviewers have not given it high marks for gameplay.
My decision was made easier by the fact that I’ve found fun in some unexpected places - I have really been playing a lot of Joint Ops - and I realized that a good game can come from anywhere, not just an iD licensee. Most developers are going to opt to use DirectX due to the low barriers to entry. While OpenGL is technically superior (never doubt the Carmack when it comes to 3D programming), Microsoft is continually making it more and more compelling (and easy) to use DirectX - especially when you’re not trying to crank out the extreme performance of an FPS because you’re making games in other genres I like just as much, like RTSs and MMORPGs.
And, oh yeah, Half-Life 2.
So my new baby will be sporting an ATI Radeon x800 XT PCI-Express, 256MB DDR3. I guess it was time for a change!
I still haven’t tried out the last batch of demos, and yet here we are with some new ones:
Making their way around the blogosphere:
The RAND Corporation’s 1954 mock-up of what they thought a home computer would look like in 2004 - now with convenient teletype!
There are many geek religious wars - MacOS vs. Windows, Windows vs. Unix, Linux vs. *BSD, vi vs. emacs, Kirk vs. Picard, the Avengers vs. the Justice League, etc. One of the key arguments for the ages is Star Wars vs. Star Trek - in a battle between the Empire and the Federation, who would win? Many die-hard fans have made empassioned arguments one way or another on various newsgroups and message boards, but fortunately, someone has taken the time to do the math.
It seems the computer gaming world didn’t put itself on “pause” while I was away! (I’m miffed.)
Things one or both of us will be checking out - and hey, maybe you should too - are:
As mentioned in my previous post, the ilovebees ARG has more or less consumed my productive free time. Believing (foolishly) that the fastest way out of this obsession is to plow through it, I invited some of the smartest and friendliest people on the Unfiction Haunted Apiary Forums to form a little think-tank. We call ourselves the Fireflies, and you can see the fruit of our labor on our read-only wiki.
(By the way, CF, don’t think I failed to notice that you enhottenated an axon!)
Some of the Fireflies have their own websites/blogs too - check out:
(My apologies to the other Fireflies if they have sites that I’ve forgotten to mention!)
Ok - so I’ve taken some time off from blogging in order to focus on some other things; I’m in the process of getting some major things accomplished at work (which, of course, I shouldn’t really discuss here) and Desiree and I are in the midst of selling our house and buying a new one. This is all very time-consuming, and in the bit o’ spare time I have, I’ve been playing a whole lot of Joint Operations: Typhoon Rising when I don’t want to think and I’ve been spending an unholy amount of time puzzling through the “I Love Bees” stuff when I do.
Desiree, though, has no excuse (beyond the house-selling/buying), so feel free to taunt her as needed. 
Powered by WordPress :: All content copyright 2002-2005 extrasonic.com. All rights reserved.
