« October 2004 | Main | December 2004 »

November 26, 2004

What In The Hell?

*** !! WARNING: POSSIBLE HL2 SPOILER !! ***

I was playing through HL2 again to see what I might have missed when I was caught up in the game. I found something I definately missed. When you're chasing Breen from his office after he steals the blue gravity gun, you go up an elevator with Alex. Once the elevator reaches the top, you run down a hallway until you reach a door with a force shield that Alex disrupts. While you're running down the hall, you can see something weird on the monitor. As Alex lowers the shield, the monitor turns off and Breen makes his get-away once again.

I captured as many screenshots as I could as I was running up the hallway this time. I took the screenshots and made it into an animated GIF, which you can see below. After looking at this thing what seems to be a zillion times ... I've concluded that the image on the monitor could only be one thing: the benefactor(s). What's even more unusual is that they look like giant grubs or maggots ... something in a larve stage that's just nasty to look at. It also looks like it's wearing some kind of face mask or something to that affect, but I really can't be too sure about it. The scene goes by so darn fast that it's really hard to make everything out. What I *can* determine is that this thing is big ... and it's ugly.

As you can see, this thing is fucked up...

I'd love to know what someone who has beaten the game thinks about this. I have a few ideas formulating in my head of what this thing could be, but I want to see other people's thoughts on it before I go and throw out my own. I will give a hint as to what I'm thinking ... the Alien movies. Hmm... hope that doesn't give my thought away too bad. Either way, this 5 second piece of the game could lead to a whole plotline for Half-Life 3 ... assuming that the Gman allows you to come back and help out. Afterall, he did say that there were other interested parties wanting Gordon's services based on his performance with the Combine.

~out...

Posted by ed at 02:16 AM | Comments (0)

November 20, 2004

Oh ... My ... Gawd - Part 2

Okay, I have played through Half-Life 2 and can now offer my "official" thoughts on the game.

1. The graphics.
By far, this is the most amazing game I've ever played when it comes to graphics. It looks so good that I found myself several times forgetting where I was and being drawn into the game. Everything is so damn crystal clear, and has you progress through the game you find that you're actually tilting your head in the direction you're moving your mouse to look. When I made my character look up, I would tilt my head back as well ... quite freaky actually when I now sit and think about it.

2. The story line.
As with the original Half-Life, there is tons of story and plot to keep this game moving forward. I was kept guessing most of the way through the game, which is good because I typically can guess the end to things like games and movies after I'm about a 1/3rd of the way into them. I had no clue how in the heck this thing would end, and I must say that the ending left me wanting to play Half-Life 3. The characters kept me interested and I actually found myself caring about what happened to them without realizing it. There's a point in the game where you go "Do what?!? Holy Cow!! What happened to so-and-so?!?" Definately some good story telling here by Valve.

3. The puzzles.
The puzzles in the game really frustrated me from time to time, as I would often overlook something pretty obvious and spend an hour looking for a solution when it was sitting there in front of me the entire time. While I may have been frustrated, this by no means mean that the puzzles were too much. As a matter of fact, they were just about right for me. Not too many that were extremely tough, nor was I able to just blow through all of the puzzles set before me.

4. The AI.
Holy shit, they're smart! The AI in this game is stunning. Not only are the enemies complex (grouping, stalking, etc), but those that assist you are extremely intelligent as well. Not smart enough to keep from getting killed ... but definately an intelligent AI (is that redundant?) I wish I could explain more here, but I'm afraid I might give away some of the things that the enemies do later in the game that end up surprising you.

5. The interactive vehicles.
I loved the boat. I hated the buggy. I loved the crane. Man ... the crane was FUN. Overall, I think the boat made for part of the best adventure in the entire game.

6. The weapons.
Out of all of the weapons available throughout the game, I found myself using the shotgun and pistol the most. The rest of the weapons were good at certain things, but the handgun was good for taking out the enemies early on while the shotgun did its thing later in the game. I really didn't use many other weapons unless I ran out of ammo. There is an exception to these two items ... but I don't really consider it a weapon as such ... but more of a tool that you use throughout the game: the gravity gun. This thing is totally bad-ass. You can move cars, pick up heavy ass shit and toss it at your enemies, stack stuff that you couldn't normally stack, and pull things from extremely far distances or that are just plain out of reach. Again ... totally bad-ass.

7. The glitches.
Throughout the game, I noticed a few glitches here and there, but there was nothing really big that stood out. The biggest problem was some clipping issues when using the gravity gun. An example is below. See how it stretches the wall out to a point?

It looks pretty weird tho. Additionally, I found that the game would stutter from time to time for absolutely no reason. I heard that this had happened to a few other people who have the game, but it wasn't anything too terribly annoying. The screen would freeze for a second and I would be right back into the game.

8. Favorite enemy.
I guess my favorite enemy would have to be those undead things with the crabs on their heads. Not the zombies, but the things with no skin, where you can see the tissue and bone. Totally freakish looking and they scared the shit out of me several times. There's definately places in this game that you shouldn't play in the dark like I did. Heh.

9. Favorite friend.
Barney. He offered me a beer. :)

10. Favorite overall moment in the game.
The ending. I was in awe and extremely frustrated at the same time. Let me say this ... they did an awesome fuckin job setting this thing up for Half-Life 3. Let's hope that it doesn't take another 5-6 years to come out. Considering how great this Source engine is, I think they should be able to turn around another decent game within the next year or two since they have the physics and everything worked out. After all, Valve doesn't have to start from scratch with a brand new engine for HL3 and learn how to use it.

Posted by ed at 10:41 PM | Comments (0)

November 16, 2004

Oh ... My ... Gawd

Half-Life 2 was released today. It will most likely take me several days before I can think of the appropriate words for what this means to modern PC gaming. The first words to come to mind when I first loaded it up this morning were "Oh ... My ... Gawd". But don't listen to me, look at the screenshot I took of part of the game this evening:

Or better yet ... go buy the damn thing at your local game store. Or even better yet, go to http://www.steampowered.com and download/install Valve's content delivery gaming system called Steam. You can buy the game online for either $50 (bronze package), $60 (silver package), or $80 (gold package). The pricing structure is explained at the Web site and in Steam itself.

GO! BUY THIS GAME!

Posted by ed at 08:27 PM | Comments (0)

November 14, 2004

The case for digital media backup

Kyle and I were having a discussion yesterday evening about the ability and the legality of backing up ones own DVD collection. I have personally built a rather extensive library, has has Kyle and his family.

The problem stems with the law known as the DMCA, or the Digital Millenium Copyright Act. While there are good purposes for this law, the biggest problem is that the definisions for this law are way too vague. In certain instances, items that were once considered "fair use" are now considered illegal. Creating a backup of any digital media that requires circumvention of a technology that prevents copying is considered illegal.

Now, with the more specific problem: scratched DVD and CD discs. I am a personal believer that if you purchased a copy of something, regardless if it's a movie, an album, a game, etc ... that you should be allowed to make as many different backups of that media as you want, as long as its for your OWN personal use. The problem that I've run into thus far is that Amanda and I play our DVDs and audio CDs on a regular basis, and they get scratched and worn out. So, even though we've payed our money for our legal copy of our disc, we must fork out another $10-50 dollars for another copy because we're not allowed to copy our media. That we bought. With our money. We have it here in our home. We can provide proof that we own it.

I just wish I knew what in the hell happened to "fair use" in this country. I also wish I knew why corporations have the ability to lobby for crazy laws like the DMCA. It just doesn't seem to be very American to me, as I'm not feeling particularly free at the moment.

~out...

Posted by ed at 12:31 PM | Comments (1)

November 13, 2004

Half-Life 2 and the Source engine

After waiting around 5 years, Valve Software is ready to release the sequel to its hit game, Half-Life. Many people, including myself, have been waiting for this moment since the day that they beat the original game. Who knew it would take so damn long for them to come out with it?

Let me give you a brief history of Half-Life:

Over the years, there has been some great modifications released for the original Half-Life game that has renewed interest and kept it popular over all these years. The first mod release was a remake of a very popular Quake mod called Team Fortress. Valve hired the mod designers and had them port it to Half-Life. It was released as a free add-on game (called a MOD) from Valve, and was called Team Fortress Classic.

TFC was such a huge hit that Valve decided that it was worthy of making a sequel to. It was hyped by every game magazine and by Valve themselves ... publishing photos of what the next TF would look like. No one knows exactly what happened to it, but TF2 was pushed back so many times and promises made were never kept, thus interest in the game deminished.

Around this time, another Half-Life MOD took center stage. Called Counter-Strike, it surpassed the popularity of TFC almost immediately. Valve ended up purchasing the rights to the mod and hired the designers of the game. Since that time, Valve has released several versions and updates to Counter-Strike on both the PC and on console platforms.

As the popularity of Counter-Strike increased, other multiplayer FP shooters suffered, such as Quake 3 (which coincidentially is the engine the original Half-Life is based on) and Unreal Tournament. Even after the updates and re-releases to those games, and despite the aging technology behind the game, Counter-Strike continued to remain a strong player in the multiplayer FP genre. So much, in fact, that on an average day you could find at least 10x more people playing CS than any other multiplayer FS shooter.

Over the years, Valve has continued to make improvements on its original game and the way that players connect to servers. Additionally, they have worked to improve the way they distribute content to consumers. Recently, Valve released a 600K program they call Steam, which is a content distrubtion system unlike anything seen in the market today.

Users who have older Half-Life and its following releases, can use their game keys to unlock game content on Steam. No longer does a gamer have to keep track of their media. Instead, by creating a user account on Steam, your license follows you no matter where you go. So now you can visit a friends house, install Steam, login with your Steam account, and download games like TFC in a matter of minutes and begin playing.

Now, Valve had recently announced in October that HL2 had gone gold, and was ready for shipping and distribution. As steam is now their primary content distribution and authentication system, users are able to purchase and pre-load any new games by Valve. This includes Half-Life 2 and the modifications based on the new Half-Life 2 engine called Source.

Valve is planning on releasing a vast majority of it's existing content based around the new Source engine. So, you will be seeing Half-Life: Source, Counter-Strike: Source, Day of Defeat: Source, and possibly even Team Fortress: Source (this may even be TF2). Last night, I finally was able to purchase my Silver license of HL2. And while HL2 may not be out yet, Valve has released the Source version of Counter-Strike, and man is there ever a difference. The physics in the game are stunning, as are the graphic improvements. The game has alot of the same boards that classic Counter-Strike has, but they have been brought 5 years up to date.

Here's a picture I took while hanging around one of the CS: Source servers:

Pretty impressive, isn't it? Of course, a picture just doesn't do this game justice. What's really nice is that despite the fact that I don't have the latest and greatest hardware (it's over 2 years old), the game still looks great and has a rather decent frame-rate at 50fps @ 1240x1080 with AA X4 and high level and character mapping.

I can't wait for Tuesday, which is the official release date of HL2. I thoroughly enjoyed the first game, and I'm hoping that the second will be just as good. I may even play the first game, based on the Source engine, first so I can remember the storyline exactly.

EDIT: I found the following story, and thought it was a fantastic read about the ups and downs of Valve and the development of Half-Life 2. Definately worth a read.

~out...

Posted by ed at 04:14 PM | Comments (0)

November 09, 2004

A Great Day for Web Browsing

A day I've been waiting for has finally arrived. Firefox, version 1.0, has been officially released to the masses. The Firefox team is hoping to hit 10 million downloads of the browser, and has even purchased a full page ad in the New York Times.

To show my support of Firefox (and other browsers that support the Gecko engine), I am officially dropping support for Internet Explorer on my site.

As those of you who've been here before can see, I've finished my layout modification and moved to using PNG files instead of JPEG and GIF images. Since Internet Explorer doesn't support Web browser standards, my site doesn't look nearly as good on MSIE. If you look at the site via Firefox, on the otherhand, it looks great.

Show your support of a great Web browser and download FireFox version 1.0 now!

Posted by ed at 03:20 PM | Comments (0)

November 08, 2004

Episode III

Good to see that 3PO got himself a spit shine for Episode III.

I hate the current state of Star Wars.

The first movies, aka 4-6, have always been a cherished childhood memory. Episode 4, aka the first Star Wars, will always be my favorite of the original movies. It had drama, action, suspence ... you name it. Episodes 5 and 6 each have a special place in my geek heart as well... but nothing can top el numero uno.

With that said, I've put up with the total pile of dogshit that are Episodes I and II to get to this point. I truly thought that Episode I was a total piece of garbage. Episode II was a little bit better, but Hayden's acting killed it. I'm now egarly awaiting the conclusion to the first three films, Episode III. All I've got to say about it at this point in time is this: Episode III better wrap things up nicely, or else I'm done with this franchise for good.

I can't stand how the original collections have been bastardized for the sake of Lucas's "vision". The CG Jabba in Episode 4 was vile, at best. The Cloud City in Episode 5 made up for that ... but barely. But the straw that broke the camel's back was on Episode 6 in the DVD release.

Ya know the ending ... the Empire has crumbled and everyone is partying with the Ewoks. Luke is alone in the corner after setting daddy ablaze, when he suddenly sees two ghosts: Obiwan and Yoda. Now, in the original movie, Anakin's ghost (the older guy under the helmet) appears next to the other two and everyone is happy. In the DVD version, however, has removed the older Anakin and replaced him with Hayden. I can't begin to express my outrage at this bastardization of the movie.

I feel betrayed. Penny Arcade really sums up my feelings in one of their comics:
This Isn't Your Father's Trilogy

~out...

Posted by ed at 09:27 PM | Comments (1)

November 05, 2004

TGIF

Thank goodness this week is about over.

I need a nap.

Posted by ed at 10:19 AM | Comments (1)

November 04, 2004

The Marriage Amendment

I was just reading Troy's site and thought that his rant on Gay marriage ban really hit the nail right on the head. I knew people that voted for and against the Gay marriage ban. The people who voted for the ban always said the same thing: "I believe in the sanctity of marriage, one man and one woman." The people who voted against, on the other hand, had many different reasons for doing so. The breakdown of those who voted nay is as follows:

1. Those who believed that gay people should be allowed to marry.

2. Those who were intelligent enough to read how the ban would affect others beside homosexuals, instead of voting blindly to keep gays from marrying.

3. Those who believe that no one person has a right to tell another person how their lives are to be lived, regardless of beliefs.

4. Those who believe in a separation of church and state.

Now, to me, all of these reasons to vote against the ban are extremely legit, and here's the reason why I think so:

1. Gay people want to be able to share benefits with their partner, have the right to make decisions about their partners health, have children, and so on and so forth. They just want the same things that the rest of the nation takes for granted.

2. The people who understood what the ban was about acknowledged that the scope was far too broad. Not does it affect homosexuals, but it also affects male and female domestic partnerships. Amanda and I have a domestic partnership. We can't get married until she graduates from college, otherwise she won't be able to use the free ride that she's currently on from the government. Since this ban was passed, the same things that are denied homosexuals are denied to Amanda and myself as well. I would like to say to each and every one of you who voted for this ban: thanks for being so fucking blind and ignorant.

3. I've always believed that no one should be able to tell another person how to live their life. Just because you disagree with the way someone chooses to live, doesn't mean that you have ANY right to challenge their decision and try to make their lives more difficult.

The way I look at this is simple. Imagine if you will that someone came up to you and told you that they don't like the way you're raising your child. Although your child is happy and healthy, they believe that the way you're going about raising that child is all wrong. They want you to raise the child their way. How would you respond to this?

4. This country was founded on several basic principals that are very black and white, however there are many people in the nation that see it to be very gray.

The separation from church and state is there to keep the state from influencing the church so that everyone can have freedom of religion. It's also there to keep the church from influencing the state with blind "morality". After all, we're a country with many different religions, the biggest being Christianity. Is it fair to have Christianity influencing our laws, our schools, and our children when there are Muslims, Jews, and so many other religious beliefs out there?

You know... out of all of this nonsense, I did hear ONE good argument about the ban on gay marrage. A friend of mine asked me a few weeks ago the following question:

"If gays were allowed to marry and take on benefits, how would this affect the health industry? Would our premiums go up as a result?"

The answer would most likely be yes. But, if that helps my friend get married, then by damn I'm more than willing to support their cause and put a few extra dollars towards my premium to ensure that EVERYONE has the same rights that I do.

Now THATS American.

Posted by ed at 08:32 PM | Comments (2)

November 03, 2004

Site update in progress

I've gotten tired of the standard Moveable Type color templates ... so I'm messing around with the style sheets to give my site its own look.

If you come across a weird looking page, try refreshing it a minute or so later. Odds are that I'm working on something and testing the look out.

Posted by ed at 09:28 PM | Comments (3)

John Kerry bows out

It's official. John Kerry has conceded defeat to President Bush, and is now in process of addressing the American people with his concession speech.

It's finally over.

Posted by ed at 02:08 PM | Comments (0)

Damn it all ...

Seems I was wrong to state that there wouldn't be a repeat of 2000 this year. Figures Ohio would be the problem state. Personally, I just want it over and done with.

That being said, congrats to the Bush camp for a hard fought victory for the Presidency.

Posted by ed at 08:44 AM | Comments (0)

November 02, 2004

Election night ...

... sucks big monkey balls.

I'm going home in roughly 4 minutes. Beginning countdown...

Posted by ed at 09:54 PM | Comments (0)

November 01, 2004

Election time is upon us

Tomorrow is the election.

I've heard from several people that the Republican party is getting nervous. Apparently there are rumors that the undecided people are leaning more towards Kerry, in addition to Bush supporters from 2000 making a move to support Nader.

It's amazing what you hear the day before a big election like this. It's down to the wire and the speculation and rumors have come to a head. It's put up or shut-up time now. I'm just curious as to what Wednesday will be like for those on the loosing end of this ordeal. Both sides are extremely passionate about their candidates, and loosing is going to be heartbreaking for them.

Boo freakin' hoo ... get over it.

Kyle and I have put the final final final touches on the election center at the station today. Debbie had us moving a few things around here and there ... some of it didn't exactly make much sense considering we followed the exact same plan that we had exactly a year ago. Apparently some of the setup wasn't the way she wanted it and we had to re-wire some things. Oh well, as long as it all works out for the best, then I'll be happy.

Kyle and I were able to do some clean-up of the election scripts this afternoon. We fixed a few minor issues that were lingering with the on-air full screen rotations, which had been a sore spot for me for a few days now. Seems that I messed up on the script just a tad ... had too many endif's in one spot and not enough in another. This is the reason why I hate scripting. It's just too damn hard to keep track of if you didn't write the damn thing in the first place. Guessing what someone else was trying to do just gives me a headache. But, it's fixed now and we're good to go visually for tomorrow evening.

I was hoping to get some USB keyboards today for our data entry people on the election stage. I went to Best Buy to purchase 6 cheap USB keyboards, but found none. This just amazed me. If I wanted a USB keyboard, it would have to be a minimum of 70 bucks and wireless. This isn't exactly a huge production that needs top of the line equipment ... all I needed was some cheap USB keyboards like the one I'm typing on now. I purchased it for 10 dollars at Office Depot 2 years ago. No fancy buttons or bells/whistles to charge extra for. Just a standard keyboard with a USB plug. These keyboards just don't exist anymore, apparently. Needless to say, I left Best Buy empty handed.

Well, it's getting late now. I guess I should head to bed ... try to get some rest for tomorrow. It's going to be a hella long day. Here's to the victorious party that wins the Presidency tomorrow.

Posted by ed at 11:06 PM | Comments (0)