Server Time!

FLEABttn    2:37 AM

I finally got my server today. Let me tell you, this thing is interesting. It's dual processor Pentium III 550 MHz, 512 MB PC100 RAM, 9.1 Gig SCSI 10,000 RPM HD, dual power supply (not because it needs it, it's for redundancy), and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting. It's really awesome, but it could use a few upgrades, specifically: -A couple of (what I'm assuming are) 120 mm case fans, the quieter, the better. The old ones are worn and LOUD. -At least one more hard drive. After installing SP2 and Steam dedicated servers, it's got 2.31 gigs of space left. I want a pair of 18.2 gig drives (bringing my total to 45.5 gigs) -A better video card. It has a built in one that only does 1024x768 if I want 8 bit color. Also what would be nice for it to have would be: -One of those IDE expander PCI cards, so I can run IDE hard drives in there. -A gigabit ethernet card (it's going to be a file server for the roomies) And at some point down the line: -a pair of 256 sticks of PC100 RAM (must be ECC), bringing the total to 1 gig The main priority at the moment is to get this thing to be quiet cause I can't even describe with words just how loud this thing is.

Wednesday, October 27, 2004

Nintendo is efffed in the A!	FLEABttn    10:48 PM
Sony's PSP is announced at 19,800 Yen with a launch December 12th! That converts to $185, a mere $35 more than the technically inferior DS. Nintendo needs to pull off some serious shit to stay alive in the market now.

Thursday, October 07, 2004

Awesomeness

FLEABttn    11:35 PM

As you may have guessed from the word I have made up, awesome things are going down. First off, in the same week, two demos of two hot PS2 games hit the shelves, and being the player that I am, I picked up both. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater in one hand, Killzone in the other, I came home prepare to kick some asses, take some names, and play these games. Metal Gear Solid really needs no introduction. It's 2004 and if you have no idea just who Solid Snake is or what it is that he does, you need to do me a big favor and slam your head into a wall repetedly. Anger set aside, Metal Gear Solid 3 takes a slightly different approach than the first two. Instead of sneaking around bases or buildings the entire time, you wander the forests of some place near Russia that I can't pronounce. This really changes the dynamic of the game. No longer can you hide behind corners and dash out quickly; the beloved box defense died. Forests usally contain this thing called nature, and your actions must refect this fact. A visibility meter resides in the upper right hand corner which tells you how much you blend in with your surroundings. You can raise or lower this meter by changing your BDU's. Back to the point though: because you have grass and trees to hide in, you can't really play at a medium speed. You either need to slow down or play more aggressively. Perhaps even both. As cool as the demo is, it does have its share of issues. A problem that most people will notice is that you'll have to play the demo at least twice, and not because you want to. Konami, in their infinite wisdom, put a time limit on the demo even though it was limited by terrain anyway. If you listen to what everyone has to tell you, you won't have enough time to finish the demo. Believe me though, you don't want to skip these dialogue scenes. They rock hard. Another issue is the load times. For some reason, transitions to and from the codec screen are very rough. When I first hit the select button, I thought the game had froze because nothing happened for a good 15 seconds. The last issue, one that I will forgive because it's a demo, is that Snake doesn't sleep with the Para-Medic. She's hot, and if Snake does not tap that, I will be sad. Killzone is a grity first person shooter developed by Guerilla (formilly Lost Boys). Don't let their track record get to you; Killzone will not disipoint. Various media outlets will try and have you believe that this game is a Halo 2 killer. I'm going to squash this now: Killzone is no Halo 2 killer, not because I don't think Killzone is high quality, but because I think that the two can't be directly compared. Halo 2 is a sequel to the critically acclaimed, although highly flawed Halo. Killzone is more akin to Medal of Honor in terms of gameplay style (the linear level style). Not to say that's bad, the game is highly enjoyable. Sony's Playstation 2 is clearly not the leader in terms of graphic capabilities, but this game looks good, be it the interesting art direction, or the dirtiness of the environment, from even how the light comes down on certain objects. Killzone also has interesting AI. Even though the AI is not groundbreaking (well, the demo is over 2 months old, Guerilla said they've really tweaked the AI since), it is sufficient, and moreover, agressive. It's clear that the Helghast want me dead, and they will force me to use cover wisely if I want to live. A nice feature they've included is the ability to play through most levels with different characters. One level in the demo let me use a regular guy, a heavy weapons guy, and a stealth character. The regular guy is pretty self explanitory; the heavy weapons guy has a large machine gun and can take a lot of bullets, but he can't run so fast, jump, or climb latters; the stealth character can run fast, is very silent, can take different routes through stages, but is very easily damaged. Enough on the console front. Counter Strike Source was officially released today. You've probably know more about this game than the other two because it's Counter Strike with pretty graphics, so I'll keep this simple: yes, it's more fun than the original, yes, one of the hostages does look like Bush, and no, there aren't any new maps. Hell, they took a bunch out. I think they have a whole 8 now. My job transfered to the one screen theater up where I live. There's not much to say other than: the stakes at this job are higher, the job is easier, and I love money. I have a project in the works right now. I love Sergio Leone as a director. He has an great style, and thus, I have seen his two great trilogies (Man with No Name/Dollars trilogy, and Once Upon a Time Trillogy). I have yet to see his second movie in his second trillogy "Duck You Sucker". A DVD for this movie does not exist in America. An English DVD does exist, but it's not complete. A complete DVD does exist, but it's not in English. My project is to make the ultimate English DVD for this movie. Hopefully it turns out well. I'm really tired, so if my English/Syntax/writing seems funny, that's why. I am REALLY, REALLY tired. Forgive my spelling mistakes, they will be fixed in time.

Original layout and pictures by Jandaman. New pictures by Gilbert Hernandez. Site up kept and ran by Tyler Ash.