August 6th 2006
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Gaming, Internet, Technology
I wouldn’t call myself a gamer, let alone a hardcore gamer. I play games periodically and only recreationally - not professionally. If I do play a game, it’s either Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory or America’s Army on the PC and I survive playing demos and PGR3 on the Xbox 360; not really a professional gamer. But, there are two games that I’m really looking forward to that appear to be coming out next year in 2007: Spore and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars.
Spore
Spore has been created by the same man who created the SimCity and The Sims video games. I used to play SimCity quite alot and also used to play the latter on the GameCube every now and then (although the music annoyed me). Even though the first glimpse of the game was back in 2005 at the Game Developers Conference, it’s come a long way since then. Spore is a massivley single-player simulation slash strategy game. There are several phases in the game; these are:
- Tide pool phase
- Creature phase
- Tribal phase
- City phase
- Civilization phase
- Space phase
Basically, you start off as an insignificant amoeba and work your way up through the evolutionary chain. In the creature phase, you get to design your own creatre with an extremely powerful customization tool that allows millions of different combinations so your creature is always unique. I love these sort of games and the screenshots and videos that have been posted make it look even better. The fact that it seems you can go online and live in a universe population by other players make it even better. Also, it’s been said that Spore is to be ported for the Nintendo Wii. If this happens it will really boost sales of the the console and it would certainly make me a very happy man.
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars
Bringing together the gameplay theology of the Wolfenstein series and the graphics and physics of the Quake universe, Enemy Territory: Quake Wars looks awesome. You fight as the GDF (Global Defense Force) against the Earth invading Strogg and complete a series of objectives working in a team towards a common goal but completing your own individual tasks which are dependant on which class you are. The makers of the game have reworked the game physics with networking in mind because this game is an online-only multiplayer game. Because they’ve designed the game in mind with networking they’ve developed some interesting technologies. One is the ‘Mega Texture’ technology. This technology allows for one huge texture to be applied to the maps so every part of the terrain is different - no tiled textures. Also their ‘Geometric Texture Distribution’ technology automatically adds the small details to maps such as moss on rocks, snow on mountains at certain heights and other things like weathering effects like cracks in rocks near rivers. This makes it a lot more internet friendly and also makes making a map a little bit easier for developers. Yesturday I watched a video about Enemy Territory: Quake Wars from QuakeCon 06 that tells you nearly everything you wanted to know about this game. Check out the video and the site. I think I may have to upgrade my computer to play this unless they bring out a console version (obviously not the Wii because the graphics need a lot more power).
Both of these games have had some hype about the on gaming sites. I for one am looking forward to them.
August 1st 2006
Blogging, Gaming, Internet, Life, Misc., News, Programming, Technology
Excuses
Although I’ve neglected my blog in the past, this time I have a valid excuse. I’ve been working on a new project for the past two weeks and have got involved with it. I’ve bought the domain name, managed to aquire a free professional hosting package from the kind folks at expert-hosting, delved into the PayPal API (although I found that I really didn’t need to) and have managed to write some nice PHP without pestering Khlo for help. It should launch around the start of October, but I’ll update you in early September.
Customer Support
Recently my Logitech MX1000 mouse stopped working. To be more specific it stopped charging. This has meant that I’ve been stuck with a spare optical mouse I found in a draw but the other day I finally said bugger it, and contacted Logitech customer support. Within three days and through 3 people they’ve sent me a replacement free of charge. Should be here by Friday. Just thought I’d mention this with another story about a person who had trouble with Google Checkout and got sent a goody bag.
Holidays
So, this year, unlike previous years I’m not going anywhere during the summer. Whether this is good or bad, I’m not sure but it is a downer it’s so cold :P. Well, if you call 35oC cold :D. I’ve discovered a new device that lurked in the corner of my room: the wireless. Facinating object, is the radio. Because the FoxFM internet stream appeared to be out of service, I turned to the dusty device to satisfy my entertainment needs. I found that it satisfies that need, especially if you like listing to Orson twice every hour. Oh, and I’m still job hunting. I find it pretty rude when companies don’t contact you to tell you whether you have a job, or don’t. What am I meant to do?! Flip a damn coin!?
Microsoft, Nintendo Releases
With the news that Microsoft is to release a new ‘portable media experience slash mp3 player’ device before Christmas called ‘Zune’ (atleast in the United States anyway), I find myself thinking that with the departure of Bill Gates as a main figurehead of the company, is Microsoft moving away from software and deeper into the hardware market. They’ve also brought out two web cams. What next? Also, apparantly new details on the Wii have been ‘leaked’. I’m really looking forward to Nintendo’s next console and hope you are too. Nintendo are to reveal more details in September.
Stardust@Home
A new BOINC project, Stardust@Home, is starting today. At 11:00 CET (18:30 BST?) the registration process will be opened. I’ve been waiting for this for a while and it’s finally here! The Stardust spacecraft brought back particles from the tail of comet Wild 2 in January of this year. This new program wants volunteers to go through images of what was collected and spot particles within the ‘AeroGel’ that caught them. I hope to participate; check it out.
July 4th 2006
Gaming, Misc.
Just out of interest I had another look at the official Nintendo Wii website from Nintendo and they’ve updated it. They’ve some nice videos that you can watch that showcase the launch titles for the new console - though make sure you say you’re over 18 because otherwise you can’t watch them due to crappy American rating laws. Anyway, some nice information on Nintendo’s new console. Check it out.
http://wii.nintendo.com/
June 24th 2006
Gaming, Misc.
A Nintendo fan(atic) has built a Nintendo Wii mockup out of card and taken photos against other Nintendo and non-Nintendo products so we can get a glimpse of it’s size. If the comparison chart that Joystiq posted on wasn’t exciting enough, we can really see how small the Nintendo Wii - there will be no Nintendo Wii Lite this time.
Via Joystiq, which is via DigitalBattle which orginated from GameFAQs; some of the photos are below.
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