Easily Distracted

UFO2000

So for the last month or so… some friends (one, in particular) have been nagging me to get UFO 2000 to work. If you’re not familiar with XCOM: UFO Defence or XCOM: Terror From the Deep, they’re really awesome turn-based strategy/simulation games originally released by Microprose in 1993, for the PC. My friends and I would huddle around a 15″ CRT and play hotseat with this single-player game by naming and customizing our squad. We would control our own dudes, watch them improve and get better equipment, then plead for the game to be loaded when a favourite takes one for the team. (That got ridiculous, and we eventually had to agree that we would do no loading of saved games for that purpose.) Anyway, UFO 2000 is an open source project based on X-COM, and currently (only) supports 2 player multiplayer. Each player builds a squad according to set rules and money allowed, then places their their team on a randomly generated map, and go at it, exploratory style. The UI is atrocious, and unless you’re running Windows or Gentoo the setup might be a pain, but the game’s pretty awesome.

I documented the steps I went through to get it working on Ubuntu Feisty in the site’s forums here. However, I wasn’t able to see my friend on the server, so I still haven’t been able to play! :’(

Point and Click Adventures

If you’re into dry sarcastic humour and point-and-click adventure games, you might want to check out these (also 100% free!):

• Spooks
• King’s Quest 3 VGA! Remake

I tried using WINE to run them, but the performance wasn’t acceptable, and there was no sound. Damn. Even so, I played the first bit of Spooks and it seems well written. I’ve played King’s Quest before and they’re pretty fun. Space Quest was my favourite Sierra Adventure game, though….

Some videos

I found these videos entertainingly simple and accurate:

• procrastination
• how to break up
• making contact
• Lev, the author
• his website

Website

I did take a quick look at a modified kubrick theme I had been working on a while back. One of the main changes is the menu on the right, and when I looked at what I had done in IE… wow, do I have some work to do! hah. Wait, that’s not funny….

I finished Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii), the other day. After beating the game and watching the ending cinematics, I thought about the overall experience. It’s an extremely long game, but not terribly difficult. Yes, some of the puzzles stumped me for a while, and when I figured them out, they were thus a little more rewarding. Well, that’s not entirely true. Sometimes, it was more of an “Oh my god, I just wasted my time on that!?” kinda feeling. This usually occurred when I missed something obvious, or the game failed to make something obvious.

But I had almost no troubles at all surviving. I can think of a few moments that were intense, but I had trouble recalling if I actually died. Ever. I had to load up my game and let the nearest baddy kill me to see if I recognized the death sequence. I did, so I must have died at least a few times. The boss in the Sky Temple (3rd last dungeon), I beat without even getting hit. The final boss I got hit quite a bit, and I think I even used a fairy (maybe two), but I did not die. There’s a place called the “the Cave of Ordeals” in the desert, which contains a long series of levels (50, actually) filled with increasingly difficult enemies, and rewards at every 10th floor. I went in a little cocky and very nearly died on the last couple levels, making it very intense. I had to use 2 fairies and a fairy tear. I was down to just a couple hearts at the end. This was possibly the hardest part in the game, it’s completely optional, and was very satisfying. The desert temple boss is awesome. I didn’t die, but it’s very fast paced and exciting. There’s also a moblin camp outside the temple that is quite difficult (and fun) if you charge through it. It’s very difficult to balance difficulty of the game with frustration of the player… and the difficulty must come from the game, not from the crappy controls. Zelda has awesome controls & game play, by the way. It looks like the New Super Mario Bros (which I thought looked awesome) may suffer in a similar way.

I enjoyed the story of Twilight Princess, and I could even feel a little emotion swirling around in my hollow interior during the ending sequence. But I feel a lot of the characters and relationships could have been fleshed out a little more. A lot more. Without giving away spoilers, I’d say the Ooccaa are a prime example. I got the feeling that the game was rushed in parts. Being originally created as a Gamecube game and ported to Wii in time for its launch, it very likely was. Here and there it seemed to lack the Nintendo polish that I’ve come to expect. But overall, it was still an awesome game.

I broke down and downloaded Gunstar Heroes for the Wii Virtual Console. 800 of my precious points… gone. About $10 CDN. I’d say that’s way too much for a Genesis game, but the game seems pretty good and is most definitely not too easy. So who wants to spend a night playing GSH w/me? gameplay clicky!

Tofino

Alright, so I’ve returned from my fishing trip. Actually, I returned like a week ago. ^_^ I went to Tofino with my Dad, his girlfriend, and my brother. I caught the biggest fish both of the trip (my dad hooked it, I reeled it in), and of my life: a 22.5 pound Spring Salmon.

Altogether, we kept 13 fish. A good variety of Halibut, Rock Cod, Spring and Coho Salmon.

Tofino is also a well-known surfer hangout. I’d never been to Long Beach before, and it was really beautiful. After seeing so many people enjoying surfing, I think I’d really like it. Anyone up for a surfing trip? I’m 25 now, so I can finally rent a car. We could camp on the beach, rent a couple snowboards and wetsuits, and we’d be set! Aw yeah! Seriously, let me know if this strikes your fancy.

More photos.

Links

Software

Great UI stuff, if you haven’t seen ‘em!

• multi-point touch screen
• Extending the desktop metaphor with physics
• GL File Browser Bling

IEs 4 Linux. Amazing. Scary, but amazing. Good for testing websites.

Blog of Adobe guy (team?) working on Macromedia Flash player 9 for Linux. (What isn’t odd with that sentence?) Here.

Games! Total Annihilation Reborn! Twice! Here and here.

Videos (not related to software)

Kids in the Hall Classics

• Saaaausaaaaagess…
• My Pen!
• Wigging out

Colbert Roasts Bush (entire conference also available via… google)

Funniest commercial. I LOL’d.

The next big conspiracy movie. Looks good.

Other

The VPL hold music! Yes!

Update

Almost forgot! Happy Canada Day! Woooh! Now, I must go celebrate by punishing my liver. I suggest you do the same.

Okay. Apparently, my last blog post was in March. If that’s true, … well, that can’t possibly be true. Let’s just forget about that.

I finished my 8-month internship, last Friday, and have now returned to school. yay for me. Actually, I’m only taking one course for the first term, so it should be pretty relaxed. A math course; if all goes well, and it should, this will be the last math course I have to take. Ever. After this summer, I think I’ll need just 8 more courses…. ugh. it’s… never… ending.

Last week was actually pretty eventful. Aside from completing my internship, there was a Co-op Japan reception, and that was pretty cool. Free wine and sandwich meats! I definitely drank too much wine, however. Work was extra long the following day. It was good seeing everyone again, though. なつかしかった。

Went to an open house put on by a game development studio. I’ve always been interested in developing games, be it programming, designing, or art, it’s one of the primary reasons my interest in computers sparked. I wasn’t actually looking for employment, I was just… curious. So I didn’t feel like I fit in with a huge crowd of “recent-graduate-networkers,” but the experience was still enough to rekindle a bit of a spark. Plus, the spicy shrimp kebobs were fricken delicious! I bet you’re thinking, “Steve, aside from the shellfish, what made your interest grow again?” In a word: passion. These people generally love what they’re doing. On my last internship, I felt I had to poke some of my coworkers with a stick just to get a “good morning” out of them. They’re not bad people, but they’re just there to do their job – they don’t necessarily enjoy it. I’m still not sure exactly what I want to do, but being around passionate people would definitely be a huge plus.

Speaking of video games, E3 is this week: Wii will rock you. … C’mon, that was funny. Seriously, though, I still have complete faith in Nintendo’s new system. There’s some pre-E3 stuff on the net now. And I guess it’s starting, today. I’ve already watched all the cool videos I could find. DSLite is coming out June 11th. Wii will arrive sometime by the end of the year. And there’s two versions of zelda being released at the same time, one for Wii, and one for Gamecube; not sure how that’s going to work….

Oh yeah, also on the video game thread, I bought Resident Evil 4. New. For $30. I’ve been waiting forever for that game to go down in price. Now that I’ve got it, I’ve played it quite a bit, and it is fucking great. That’s all there is to it. Action packed. Total 3D. It’s WAY better than any other RE game. Ever.

Wow, would ya look at the time. I’d best get to sleep.

Update (25/05/06): The pictures from the CJP Wine & Cheese.

My Laptop! Got my laptop back, on Thursday. Amazing, it was almost exactly 2 weeks after I dropped it off that they called and said I could pick it up – exactly what they predicted. Turns out the PCMCIA was just loose, so they just fit it back into place and everything works again. New machine would have been better, but this is fine w/me. Goodbye warrenty.

Visited Ben & Mayu after work, on Friday. Had a relaxing evening of wine, sushi, and the food network. I should stop by more often, they’re practically on my way home from work. Oh, and Ben lent me Tanpopo. I’ve wanted to see this movie ever since we were given a 5 minute teaser scene at the Co-Op Japan orientation at UVic (3 years ago?). Its uniqueness drew me in, and I couldn’t stop. What initially started as a 10 minute “I’ll just see what it’s like” session, turned into a 2 hour “I must completely consume this movie” session. Yeah, a little bit of a pun (the movie’s all about food); I’m allowed one.

TV Stuff

24. After fervently getting through the first season, I understood why everyone liked it. Currently awaiting the completion of the 2nd and 3rd seasons. Oh marathon, here we come. And House is one I got interested in during its 2nd season, so now I’m watching the first. Awesome show. The main character is constantly playing psychological games with his staff and patients. Plus, he has a DS.

The DS

Metroid Hunters looks pretty awesome. Wireless handheld classic Deathmatch. Yummy. And I haven’t actually tried playing it, but the control looks like it is much closer to mouse aiming than analog sticks. And the new DS (Lite) looks way better. Nintendo’s gone and sexed it up some good. I’m not sure how popular the DS is in North America, but I had no idea it was so popular in Japan… so popular that some retailers are actually “buying units back from customers to support the shortage.”

Also… Zelda DS (check the vid – music gets me pumped every time) and the New Mario Bros. DS look pretty sweet. Couldn’t find a good (recent) video of Mario DS….

Lastly, I must pimp Lux and mention that I’m now on book 7 of WoT. (Holy crap, when will this monster end?!)

Oh yeah, 8 comments needing moderation since adding that “kindergarten” question, nearly 2 weeks ago. Well, off to bed. Another week begins.

First, some links:

• Japan Comic (good for people that have been)
• Oh, Penny Arcade, thou art funny. (Scared gamers making “the switch”)
• JS Debugger Venkman for Firefox 1.5 (normally has dependency issues for modern versions)

Made a small change to my blog. You now have to answer an incredibly difficult skill testing question when making comments. The idea was to reduce comment spam. I made the change a couple (or maybe it was only one?) days ago, and I’ve only received one comment spam since (versus 10-20/day), so it seems to be working. yay.

I’ve been super tired, recently. Waking up later. Getting to work later. Staying at work later. Getting back later. Eating later. … It’s a vicious cycle. I finished WoT book 6 on my way home, today. Good stuff. Now, I think I’d like to fool around w/my Zaurus a little… try a different environment while I’m in between books (since that’s mostly what I use it for – reading). Side note: holy crap it was cold outside! Not a good night to miss the bus and have to wait 1/2 an hour!

Now, about that sleep….