6/28/2003
AMD announced changes in the Athlon64 and AthlonXP. Most pertinent for now is what they're going to do with the cache of these systems:
In the Athlon64 line, for instance, the 3700+, 3400+ and 3100+ chips will initially come with 1MB of cache. In the fourth quarter, however, the underlying structure of the 3100+ will change: Its clock speed will substantially increase, but its cache will be reduced to 256KB, or one-quarter the original size. By increasing the clock speed but decreasing the amount of cache, companies can shrink the size of the chip yet keep performance constant. As these chips are smaller, they are cheaper to make--saving money for the manufacturer. But the balancing act may prove difficult to pull off.
Personally, I think I'd prefer the larger cache.
And a note to Verizon. Showing the voice of Darth Vader dancing around while pimping your wares is definitely not the way to get me to subscribe to your DSL. To his credit though, James Earl Jones moves all right for a man who's 70+.
6/26/2003
If you're old like me you remember a simple 2-D game with some funky graphics that allowed you and your friends to blast each other to pieces sitting in tanks and using actual physics to make trajectory shots called Tank Wars. Well, those days are back
6/25/2003
Unlike other sites that report no matter what, I'm sick and so it ain't happening today.
6/24/2003
Oopsie, even the Carmack has server woes every once in a while. From BluesNews
"We wanted to update you that id Software's Internet server is currently down and therefore all master game servers are currently down. The guys are working to restore connectivity, which is intermittent presently. They intend to resolve the issue entirely and restore order fully as soon as possible. They wish to thank everybody for their patience in the meantime."
So, if you can't find a server try All Seeing Eye or even GameSpy3D.
Wouldn't it be sweet to wake up each morning with a bright red dot staring at you? I think it would. "Good morning, Sphinx."
Ok, I thought that US was the most powerful economy on the planet. But, gotta give props to our cousins across the pond. First, Harry Potter is beating up on book copy sells and e-commerce transaction sales. Second, quick!! Who's the most popular athlete in the world? If you said Tiger Woods or Shaq? Lightweight economic pansies! It's David Beckham of Real Madrid Soccer Club (formerly he was on Manchester United). Do Shaq and Tiger appear in Buddhist temples? No way. Congrats chaps. Pip pip cheerio to your economic strength. But work on the food.
6/23/2003
From the big Yawn Department. Scott McNealy flappin' his gums again. Next thing ya know Ellison will start advertising network centric PCs again. Double yawn.
A French based Fire Department game? Ok sure. The fire equipment is second rate, you gripe about having to work, you wear a massivly disgusting mustache, and when the fire does break out you run away and ask for support. That enough stereotypes? Good.
6/22/2003
Well, not too much in gaming news today. But, Monday is the 20th Anniversary of the DNS system. All you admins go over to your DNS server and give it hug. Cause if that wasn't there we'd still be stuck with LMHOSTS and HOSTS file. Ugh...
6/20/2003
Well, the NDA for Star Wars Galaxies has been lifted. Just to be sure I can get my quote put on the box-art, here we go. "In a word: Tedious." There we go LucasArts and Vivendi! Just make those checks payable to cash. After all, the hardest hard core MMORPG have a huge desire to be bogged down in spells, inventories, towns, and other stuff. They will eat up the tedium.
6/19/2003
Shame on Marvel for locking down on skin creation. Heck, that was half of the fun of Freedom Force! Hmmm, I sniff a bunch of skins appearing on Peer to Peer networks.
And from the "nosy stupid neighbor category," someone shut down a little girl's lemonade stand! What, she wasn't union? Speculation in a chat board: it was some creepy old lady.
6/18/2003
Ah nothing like nasty corporate takeover to make everyone feel like they're in the 80's again.
"The point is ladies and gentlemen that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of it's forms - greed for life, for money, knowledge - has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed - you mark my words - will not only save Teldar Paper but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you."
Still one of the most brilliant performances on film in the past 30 years. I need to be an actor like that so I can hook up with a hot Welsh woman.
BattleField Vietnam to be developed? Interesting. Do you have to lose every time if you're the Americans? If all else fails call in the napalm strike. Instant loss if you have Olver Stone on your team.
6/17/2003
Apologies, used wrong date yesterday.
Star Wars Galaxies will ship out in nine days. Here's the part that confuses me:
"A special collector's edition, which includes a book of game-related art, in-game wearables, pewter figurine, lapel pin and patch, and a signed manual, will be available for a suggested retail price of $79.95."
Now I won't criticize anyone for buying a special edition of anything after I bought the tin cigar box that Wolfenstein came out in a few year or two ago (why I did that, I don't know. I just did. I'm stupid. Sue me), But what the heck is an "in-game wearables?" A strap on pleasure droid? A bounty hunter jet pack? Please tell me. If it's a device that any woman would love then I need to first buy this game then meet a woman. I did the beta for a while but, I'm sorry, I guess MMORPG's just bore me.
How much did UGO get paid to write this drivel that I saw Blues took a snippet from?
"So it's clear that the story is a little more involved than, say, the riveting plot behind Doom, but that's not all that sets XIII apart in this increasingly crowded FPS genre. At first glance, the game looks like no other FPS before it, all thanks to cel-shading...To the layperson, it looks like Ubi Soft has replaced ones and zeroes with pen and paper, and that's just really cool."
Words that spell a game's demise from a game writer: "At first glance" (translation, "We can't tell what this was until we ate some mushrooms), "the game looks like no other FPS before it" (translation, "Ok, it was cocaine, not mushrooms"), and "That's just really cool" (translation, "We really think this is going to suck harder than Black & White but we got paid a ton to say good stuff about that piece of crap game too. Stupid monkey.")
Finally, if you don't visit Astronomy Picture of the Day, you need to do so. Just dang fascinatingly cool pictures and info there if you have any inkling of interest in space and stuff.
6/16/2003
I read this weekend that Microsoft won't be making a browser anymore for the Mac since the one built for the Mac in the OS is "enough." Plus, they stated that the browser is just an integral part of the OS anymore why add to it. In other words, they are trying to argue, again, what was proven in Federal Court on how a browser can be separated.
Sneaky gaming criminals are stealing projectors. I've thought many times about using the one from work but haven't really needed it yet. I'm speculating that gamers are getting into more teamplay stuff (Wolf, Battlefield, whatever) and are making tactics and such with their online playing buddies. In other words, computers are help socializing and not detracting from it. Parents, encourage your kid to take a proejctor and bring their friends over for a LAN party!
And on a personal note.. Screw it. I'm eating red meat and junk food non-stop. Now vitamins are bad for me? Make up your dang mind science people!!!!
6/15/2003
Well, happy Father's Day out there to any and all dads. Not seeing much to post about today so go outisde and have fun today instead!
6/14/2003
In the age old tried and true tradition of squeezing blood from a rock, another EverCrack expansion is coming out soon.
Here's part of the interview:
GameSpy: "So what's your goal in this, the 300th expansion to EverQuest."
Shawn Lord: "Yo fo' shizzle my nizzle, I got's to get paid. I gots to keep hookin up the teenagers with the dope fix yo."
Gamespy: "What new and exciting features are expected."
Shawn Lord: "Check dis out cuzzin. The other box art had red, blue, and green backgrounds. This one is the illest box cover we ever had. It's pimpadelic canary yellow, yo!"
Gamespy: "And new levels and creatures"
Shawn Lord: "Shiiiiiiiiit fool. We just retexture-ized some old monsters, gave some old armor new names, and created some dungeons. It's off the hizzy. It took us about 15 minutes to make this. Now get outta my face sucka. I gots to go count my bling."
Now, here's interesting news though. Homeworld 2 news!
6/12/2003
In what's certain to turn the entire local economy around, or at least the bar's near Ritual in Downtown Dallas, Elite Force II has gone gold. Lock your doors and hide your young daughters as Levelord and crew will probably be out and about now.
Microsoft getting into Antivirus software? I don't care. TrendMicro still rules them all. Though their tech support apparently is housed somewhere in the Asia Pacific area. Yet, I still talk to someone with a Filipino accent named, "Bill."
A tax on games and junk food? Sounds sorta regressive for me. Doesn't make much sense to me. You know what company's are making good money despite the rest of the economy being in the tank? EA, Activision, and so on. So, penalize people even more during an economic downturn. Dummies. A game costs $30-40 and gives you several days, if not weeks, of entertainment. A night out on the town easily can run you that plus a wicked hangover.
6/10/2003
There's nothing like a little crazy young girl to make a good starting point for a game. And if you're going to make a game, why not use the craziest. In this case, Joan of Arc. I really hope they include some way for you think you're talking to a higher power and hallucinate.
And more Quakecon news. There's an open call for speakers at the event. Last year's focused on technologies directly related to id but this year appears to be an attempt to open it up more:
Workshops must hit the sweet spot and focus on topics that resonate with the fans," said Todd Hollenshead, CEO, id Software. "Speakers have to compel gamers to leave the BYOC LAN area, step out of the exhibit area and take a break from tournament action."
6/9/2003
/. has an article about a 4-d based Rubik's Cube. Interesting read.
Quakecon registration starts tonight. Get in there. Our team might be trying out for it.
Now this is interesting. Vanderbilt eggheads are using the Q3 engine to test some modeling of the prefrontal cortex. It apparently helped the bots learn to adapt. Fun to read.
What's better than sci-fi? Only cheesy 80's sci-fi!! Yes my friends.."V" is coming back!!
6/6/2003
Quakecon Quakecon Quakecon!!! Yes Yes Yes!! A truly awesome event and now there's going to be even more RtCW this year and it's moving to downtown Dallas rather than the friggin' cowtown of Mesquite. For all of you non-Dallas people, the Adams Mark Hotel is in downtown Dallas and I believe the Dallas Light Rail System runs near it. Please don't confuse our rail system here for a real subway though. DART, which runs the system, has often been compared to man's first attempt at the wheel. The result: A square.
And even more tourney info. Unreal this time, again sponsored in part by Nvidia
6/4/2003
Ok, so big gaming story today is that Vivendi has signed a deal with Metallica to develop a game around the group.
"The new title -- a high action, third person vehicle combat game packed with fully customized vehicles and weaponry, endless terrain and desperate, murderous opponents -- will include voice-overs from band members, incidental background music and other exclusive content from Metallica."
But, there's more. The band released their own statement
Given our well publicized public dispute with many file sharing programs systems such as Kazaa, Morpheus, and Napster, we have determined that Vivendi and all it's software subsidiaries are in the same league as these blatantly illegal file sharing systems. Vivendi intends to take our likeness, our unique sound, and splatter it across millions of box art designs and have the audacity to use the same medium (CDs!) that people burn our songs onto after downloading them from those dirty evil Peer-to-Peer systems. Therefore, we demand that once the game is done and we are paid, Vivendi will not release the game. This will prevent the game, it's box design, or it's documentation from being released without our final consent. We also demand that all persons, except Metallica, who were part of the design process be shot and executed. Preferably by James or Lars when they're sober. Screw Napster.
Vivendi then countered:
Given Metallica's well publicized public dispute with many file sharing programs, we've determined they are right. Therefore, we're pleased to announced that the new Metallica game will go gold next week. Customer's will be able to purchase an empty cellophane shrink wrap sheet that the box art and game would have been in if we didn't agree with Metallica's viewpoint. But we do, so the MSRP for this shrink wrap will be $39.95.
I can see it working. After all, Kiss: Psycho Circus was just so darn good.. Pppth
6/3/2003
So yeah, Enemy Territory. Right now there's a lot of people who don't know what's going on or how to play or asking silly questions. Understandable and I can appreciate that. At least you're trying so it's all good. Please though, when you first get into the game and see this screen:
Don't spam the server asking, "Ok, what do I do to get started?" Hmmm.. Perhaps press the Friggin' L Key?!?!
Biggest problem I'm having right now is with the mortar. Great idea, but I'm pretty sure that even though the mortar didn't work right in the beta they stated it would in the final. By working right, what do I mean? Well, in the beta, a Covert Ops or Field Ops could use their binoculars to mark a spot so the mortar carrier could know where to aim. The mortar carrier sets up, and his HUD displays a vertical and horizontal bar with angular degrees on it. In theory, if you know your stuff, you can turn the mortar to a certain bearing and then elevate it to a certain bearing and then you get to gibbing.
Well, the problem though is that RtCW and Enemy Territory, the characters don't move at real life speed. People can jump continually and they have a sprint bar to make them move pretty fast. Plus, a lot of competition players make a change to their config where if the change the maximum number of FPSes that the game will run on their vid card (something like 43,75, or 125), then they can jump further and higher.
So, in the Beta documentation it was stated that in the final release the markings that show up on the azimuths of the mortar carrier would correct not only for horizontal but also vertical.
However, now in the final, only the horizontal correction still works. I queried this issue on the Splashdamage forum and one of the Splashdamage folk (or would it be blokes since they're British) simply said, "That was a typo." Riiiiight.
So bascially, the mortar carrier is now limited in his usefulness. If you get in a big public server then a mortar can be a lot of fun. Just find a spot to sit in, bracket some key points on the map and let 'er rip. I've done it and it's quite fun. My teammates and I who I play in CAL with were getting a laugh as the mortar rounds wound squash some unsupecting Engineer or as I would spawn camp the other team (yes, we're not very friendly).
However, if the vertical azimuth correction were to be fixed the mortar could become a lethal tactical weapon. In it's current state though, your team is just down another body that could be utilized a lot better if he or she carried a panzerfaust or was a medic to heal his other teammates.
More importantly it would be an appealing alternative for 56kers out there. There's no real need to get into circle strafing fights (which a modem user will lose every time against a LPB) plus he/she would get to play what is without a doubt one of the best multiplayer experiences out there. It's definitely worth the price of admission. $0!!!!
6/2/2003
Not a bad weekend here at the asylum. Looks like I might soon have another visitor in the form of that wacky idiot Eric Rudolph who bombed clinics and espoused a whole lot of nasty things about people based on what I'm sure was good solid evidence in the same vein that the Nazis used in their attempt to exterminate an entire group of people. What a tool.
On the plus side, here in the States, people are allowed a trial by jury of their peers. So, he's going to Alabama where the juror pool is overflowing with anti-anything-but-Caucasian-and-Christian people. And once again we see the "three part name" for conspiracists and assassins coming into play here. What's up with this? Is it to make him seem even more evil than he already is. I mean, I'm convinced.
Hmm... gaming news. Nah, nothing there. On the plus side, this weekend I was able to pick up Viking Invasion and play some more. Ransacked those pesky Saxons and took all their farmland. But why were my troops all running into the barns and coming out laughing and the sheep looked dazed? I probably don't want to know, do I?
6/1/2003
BluesNews has this link regarding an A-10 pilot returning her jet after having battle damage. It's my wish that they'd make an A-10 simulation again. There was supposed to be one a while back but it was scrapped. Bummer.
And given that Microsoft just settled things with AOL, this news story regarding IE shouldn't come as much of a surprise. It seems to me though that it flaunts the settlement with the Justice Department. Here's a great quote:
"Legacy OSes have reached their zenith with the addition of IE 6 SP1," Countryman said. "Further improvements to IE will require enhancements to the underlying OS."
And therefore you have to shell out more money. Wonderful. Where's my copy of Opera?