It seems as if some time today there's going to be a multiplayer demo of Devastation released. The game has also apparently gone gold as well. It looks like it's yer bog standard FPS based on the Unreal engine and it doesn't seem to be promising anything new.
The 'Game info' bit of their web site is basically a technical feature list rather than telling you anything unique about the game. So that doesn't really bode well but the screen shots do look nice. It might be good for a laugh if nothing else.
I just took a look at video of it. It looks like, surprise, Unreal although it's got a present-day military feel like CS or something. Anyone hold hope for this not sucking donkey dick?
Sunday, 16 March 2003
Friday, 14 March 2003
Teh Xbox paradox ooh ehh ooh eeh [slim]
So like I've said, I think the xbox is a bit fucking silly as I've already got a pc and that, but now I own one I find it's got loads of games I want to play, and that is good. Tomorrow is the (official) launch of xbox live, where you pay forty quid, get a headset and some demo's in return and get to play a (very) few xbox games online with a robotic enhanced voice. The pitiful selection of games are mostly available on the PC anyway, there's no online rpg's at all and the servers are mostly shitty peer to peer, and it costs. So it's inferior to PC online gaming in pretty much every way, except the ability to play it on sofa. And yet I'm going to buy it. Why? Fuck knows. I've a ton of PC games and an everquest sub that I never play, yet I'm going to buy xbox live. There must be some kind of subliminal messaging going on here, I can't fucking explain it. Can you?
Thursday, 13 March 2003
Holy Carshit Batman! [slim]
I know, I know, it's an old game, but I've only just started playing it after picking it up from HMV for a tenner. Why did they call it Project Gotham? Anyway, its MSR, but fixed, which is a big woot. I remember just how cracklike MSR was on the dreamcast until the glaring holes in the Kudos logic became apparent allowing you to sail through the thing without any challenge. It's easier if I just list what they fixed over msr, which was already a fucking top game:
1. The kudos is fixed. YOu can no longer cheat your arse off by complying with the victory requirements on lap one, then fuck around for hours earning kudos on lap to by driving up and down. Easy fix: a timer, don't complete a lap before the time runs out, end of game.
2. It's got a slightly different structure than I remember in that the single race, arcade race and time trial shit also earns kudos and cars etc. I don't remember this being in MSR, was it? Anyway, it's cool, it means you can jump off the campain mode for a quick race and still progress the game.
3. There's a subtle difference to the way kudos is scored, but it makes a huge impact on actual play. When you earn kudos, it doesn't go into the bank right away, it hovers for a few seconds. If you hit a barrier or a cone, you lose that kudos. Play it clean for a few seconds and the kudos is banked. Means you can't just blast around and not care how much you bash the car up, you need to drive clean as well as raw to earn those points. Completely changes the way you drive it, puts the emphasis back on good cornering and sliding as it should be.
4. You no longer lose kudos from being rammed...hurrah!
5. There's an extra city. No biggie really, many of the tracks are the same as msr's, but it had so many fucking tracks that it doesn't really matter.
6. Visuals are improved a lot. It was already a looker but now it's a stunner.
So that's it. You prolly all know this, cos PGR was an xbox launch game that any xbox owners played and completed. Still, I get there in the end :)
BBC gives Sky the arse! [lurks]
One of the things that always fucked me off about the BSkyB Murdoch empire is the stranglehold on satellite in the UK. I have no truck with someone setting up a satellite system as complete as Sky, they should be congratulated on that. And much as it annoys me, I must also take my hat off to them for coming up with the proprietary encryption system Videoguard and, thus far, keeping it secure.
What fucks me off is the fact that the regular terrestrial channels have been bundled on the Sky model. A hell of a lot of people have been virtually conned into signing up to Sky because that's where you've had to go for the regular channels via satellite. It's particularly ridiculous when you look at the fact they still charge for their base package which is essentially comprised of content paid for by adverts and your license fee.
Well, tonight I got blindsided by the news that all that is set to change. See at the moment BSkyB is plonked on satellite transporters whose signal footprint targets quite a lot of Europe. So... the BBC (and ITV and Channel 4, 5 etc) has paid BSkyB millions of pounds to use those transponders. Then they all get encrypted with that annoying Videoguard stuff to keep Johnny Foreigner from watching the Beeb wot they didn't pay for, you with me?
Well what's happening is that the Beeb has given the finger to Sky and they're moving to a new satellite which has transponders tightly targeting the UK. Different satellite but pretty much the same orbital position of 28 degrees East so no one needs to move a dish or anything. As a result of that, they'll be going 'clear' or Free to Air. No viewing card necessary, no satellite receiver with decryption hardware necessary either. A practical upshot will be you can watch all the BBC content and even capture the raw MPEG2 to hard disk in your own PC-driven PVR solution. The same will doubtless be true of the commercial terrestrial channels too.
Of course the BBC will still have to pay Sky to keep the channel details on the EPG. That's the Electronic Program Guide, the thing you see on your Sky when you hit the tv guide button. See since Sky basically supplied the vast bulk of the digital receivers, they run a data service which contains a list of channels. Each channel with the appropriate frequency, horizontal or vertical polarization and the data rate or symbol rate. Oh and what's on that channel now, next etc.
Everyone needs to be on that and of course Sky have their own ideas on what should and shouldn't be on it. There's actually quite a lot of stations you can get on a Sky digibox by feeding in channels manually because they're not on the EPG. It seems likely they'll try play hardball, especially given the extra demands the BBC will place on the EPG via the shit load of extra regional versions of the BBC which they want to get on satellite (half the point of this move). So then the BBC will most likely have to go to the regulators.
However the BBC will be paying only £30K a year for that instead of the £85 million quid they were paying Sky for the 'privilege of being encrypted specifically for Sky's viewing hardware.
So this is all a 'good thing' really. Finally we'll be able to use PCs as PVRs for the main channels. Of course you'll always be SOL if you want a Sky-only station on your PC but then no one ever said Murdoch was a swell guy. Except for all the newspapers he owns of course.
What fucks me off is the fact that the regular terrestrial channels have been bundled on the Sky model. A hell of a lot of people have been virtually conned into signing up to Sky because that's where you've had to go for the regular channels via satellite. It's particularly ridiculous when you look at the fact they still charge for their base package which is essentially comprised of content paid for by adverts and your license fee.
Well, tonight I got blindsided by the news that all that is set to change. See at the moment BSkyB is plonked on satellite transporters whose signal footprint targets quite a lot of Europe. So... the BBC (and ITV and Channel 4, 5 etc) has paid BSkyB millions of pounds to use those transponders. Then they all get encrypted with that annoying Videoguard stuff to keep Johnny Foreigner from watching the Beeb wot they didn't pay for, you with me?
Well what's happening is that the Beeb has given the finger to Sky and they're moving to a new satellite which has transponders tightly targeting the UK. Different satellite but pretty much the same orbital position of 28 degrees East so no one needs to move a dish or anything. As a result of that, they'll be going 'clear' or Free to Air. No viewing card necessary, no satellite receiver with decryption hardware necessary either. A practical upshot will be you can watch all the BBC content and even capture the raw MPEG2 to hard disk in your own PC-driven PVR solution. The same will doubtless be true of the commercial terrestrial channels too.
Of course the BBC will still have to pay Sky to keep the channel details on the EPG. That's the Electronic Program Guide, the thing you see on your Sky when you hit the tv guide button. See since Sky basically supplied the vast bulk of the digital receivers, they run a data service which contains a list of channels. Each channel with the appropriate frequency, horizontal or vertical polarization and the data rate or symbol rate. Oh and what's on that channel now, next etc.
Everyone needs to be on that and of course Sky have their own ideas on what should and shouldn't be on it. There's actually quite a lot of stations you can get on a Sky digibox by feeding in channels manually because they're not on the EPG. It seems likely they'll try play hardball, especially given the extra demands the BBC will place on the EPG via the shit load of extra regional versions of the BBC which they want to get on satellite (half the point of this move). So then the BBC will most likely have to go to the regulators.
However the BBC will be paying only £30K a year for that instead of the £85 million quid they were paying Sky for the 'privilege of being encrypted specifically for Sky's viewing hardware.
So this is all a 'good thing' really. Finally we'll be able to use PCs as PVRs for the main channels. Of course you'll always be SOL if you want a Sky-only station on your PC but then no one ever said Murdoch was a swell guy. Except for all the newspapers he owns of course.
Wednesday, 12 March 2003
Trying to resurrect webby... [lurks]
Given all the hard work we've put into building this site, I don't really want to see it die due to lack of Blog updates. :( So, err, here's an update on a couple of cool things I got in the last week or so. Firstly, I needed a digital camera. I needed one cheap, for eBay shit and arse all else. Well, maybe the pub. I've got one of those tiny L'Espion ones before which was what made me realise the way these things are going. A digital camera on a keychain that costs a coupla score!
Unfortunately it was a bit shit, not image quality (who gives a shit for the web) but the fact that it just refused to take a picture in low light. Which is useless for the pub and pretty stupid given it's a CMOS sensor so it can do it happily. Worse yet, if the AAA battery ran down (and it did all the time), you'd lose your pics.
Enter the Che-Ez Splash! Stupid name but basically it's a micro camera in the vein of the L'Espion that is actually practical. It's a fraction bigger but it's a vast improvement in many ways. How shall we count them? It's got a metal case, metallic chain holder (chain provided), look-through viewfinder, tripod mount screw (heh!), macro focus switch, better lcd status (on the back), 8mb of internal flash mem, 640x480 capture res, good quality USB cable and... get this... a dinky little snap on flash unit!
It takes 54 second AVIs, 219 pics on high compression, 155 on normal. It'll also do full rate video in web cam mode. And this really works, I used it to take a load of pics of my FM transmitter. It even comes in a cute metal tin. Basically it's the best thing evar and it only costs £50 from Amazon! Just the sort of thing you'd keep for the pub even when you've got a proper digicam.
Hmm I was gonna say what else I got then I realised no one would be interested them... Oh yes, maybe this. I'm forever bitching that there's not enough light in my lair when I want to find something or do some electronics work or something. I didn't want to get a big nasty 150W bulb since I'm a bit of a greenie and all that, so I plumbed for one of these compact florescent jobs. A new one which is rated at 22W, supposedly equiv to about 110W of a normal incandescent bulb. Fuck me it is too. We've got one in the bedroom and that's cool but this one is *really* bright. I like the soft start of these things too - especially when you flick on in the middle of the night. :)
Unfortunately it was a bit shit, not image quality (who gives a shit for the web) but the fact that it just refused to take a picture in low light. Which is useless for the pub and pretty stupid given it's a CMOS sensor so it can do it happily. Worse yet, if the AAA battery ran down (and it did all the time), you'd lose your pics.
Enter the Che-Ez Splash! Stupid name but basically it's a micro camera in the vein of the L'Espion that is actually practical. It's a fraction bigger but it's a vast improvement in many ways. How shall we count them? It's got a metal case, metallic chain holder (chain provided), look-through viewfinder, tripod mount screw (heh!), macro focus switch, better lcd status (on the back), 8mb of internal flash mem, 640x480 capture res, good quality USB cable and... get this... a dinky little snap on flash unit!
It takes 54 second AVIs, 219 pics on high compression, 155 on normal. It'll also do full rate video in web cam mode. And this really works, I used it to take a load of pics of my FM transmitter. It even comes in a cute metal tin. Basically it's the best thing evar and it only costs £50 from Amazon! Just the sort of thing you'd keep for the pub even when you've got a proper digicam.
Hmm I was gonna say what else I got then I realised no one would be interested them... Oh yes, maybe this. I'm forever bitching that there's not enough light in my lair when I want to find something or do some electronics work or something. I didn't want to get a big nasty 150W bulb since I'm a bit of a greenie and all that, so I plumbed for one of these compact florescent jobs. A new one which is rated at 22W, supposedly equiv to about 110W of a normal incandescent bulb. Fuck me it is too. We've got one in the bedroom and that's cool but this one is *really* bright. I like the soft start of these things too - especially when you flick on in the middle of the night. :)
Sunday, 9 March 2003
Raven Sheild SP demo rocks woot! [slim]
The sp demo is out - and it doesn't suck piss, woot! It's back to the Rogue Spear stylee this time out, with a planning stage and indoor maps and whatnot. The planing stage is superb, very detailed and with a little preview window of the area your planning through, top. The game itself is very like the old game, but with sooper unreal 2 graphics engine making everything look very sexy indeed. Tiny niggles are some ropey transition animations, spoiling the loverly team models, but apart from that it's all hot as hell. Woot!
Ooh oh, and they've changed the threat indicator again. In RS it was ok, you had to select it, and it showed a blob on a radar. In Ghost Recon it was on all the time, and sort of showed the directionish of the threat, it was a bit shit really. Well here the threat detector is heartbeat sensor goggles, which show through walls and shit where folks are. It's perfect
Ooh oh, and they've changed the threat indicator again. In RS it was ok, you had to select it, and it showed a blob on a radar. In Ghost Recon it was on all the time, and sort of showed the directionish of the threat, it was a bit shit really. Well here the threat detector is heartbeat sensor goggles, which show through walls and shit where folks are. It's perfect
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