The Opposite of Reality

X-mas ... you beast

2010-12-21T14:18:00.000+02:00

X-mas is an interesting time of year, especially if you're a gamer. You know what you'd like as gifts (often the newest, best games) and you know what you'd like to get your friends (the same ;) ), but with games costing so much, you find yourself resorting to more mundane gifts.

That's why this year I've decided to rather get people cheaper, older games that are on special on services like Steam. This let's me get them games that they want, but never got around to aquiring, but also, given the vast geographical gulf between me and many of my friends, let's me give them gifts wihout being near them or worrying about packages shipping in time or getting lost in the mail.

The other thing that can get you down about x-mas is not having a significant other. It's one of those things that is crap all year round, but really stings at x-mas, with all the gatherings and family get togethers. Hopefully the vast swath of humanity moving thru Cape Town for the holidays will provide some single ladies to have fun with during the holiday season :P

MLG weekend is the Starcraft equivalent of Superbowl Sunday

2010-11-07T12:25:00.000+02:00

So this weekend was going to be a 'Starcraft' weekend, because of the local PolarFluke: Overmind Over Matter tournament. Playing in these is always fun, and I managed to make it in to the final 32 bracket, so there's more playing for me today :) Add to that all the 'practise' of playing bunches of ladder matches, and yeah ... definitely a 'Starcraft' weekend.

Then I found out if was Major League Gaming's Pro Circuit finals this weekend, and the whole thing is streaming live ... and suddenly I think I understand why people go crazy over their 'Superbowl Sunday'. Watching these guys play is amazing. The control, the tactics, the sheer foresight that they can show is incredible ... and tons of fun to watch.

The only thing that could make it better would be being able to watch it from the couch on a big screen!

I want to talk to you about Castlevania

2010-11-03T02:39:00.000+02:00

Now, as you might know, there are a few things that 'define' a Castlevania game.

Open world
Un-accessible parts that require unlocked abilities to open
A need to return to to past areas with said new abilities

The new Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, has none of these things. Well ... maybe a little of number 2, but still, it's not a 'traditional' Castlevania. Despite this, it's a damn fine game. It meshes story, great visuals, amazing combat, and tons of content into a package that I can wholeheartedly recommed.

The only caveat is that, should you choose to play it on the hard difficulty setting, you had better be a fan of Ninja Gaiden ... because boy are you in for a beating.

The combat in Castlevania may look reminiscent of God of War, but it is a far more technical system. Attacks are fast, and combos chain together quickly, but can be interrupted at a moments notice in order to block or dodge. Airing enemies can give you some breathing room, but staying up there can also make you a target. The nuances of the system will only really become apparent at the higher difficulties, but it's a system where mashing won't get you out of trouble, and you'll be duly rewarded for 'perfect play'.

The combat is made even more technical by the magic system. Killing enemies, or charging up a streak meter (dealing damage without getting hit) will cause neutral magic orbs to drop. You then decided, with a click of either thumbstick, whether you want to absorb them into your light or dark magic mana pool. This dichotomy is where the real finesse of the system lies, as activating light magic will heal you when you deal damage, but activating dark magic will deal extra damage to enemies. So choosing to forgo healing to gain damage means you have to take less damage ... but at the same time, you need to sustain 'perfect play' for less time.

There are more nuances, like secondary items, and the changing effects they gain under magical influence, or the expanding move list that keeps the combat fresh throughout. I could talk about them for hours ... but it's late, and I need to get some more Castlevania in before bed ;)

On Tutorials and Displaying Text

2010-11-01T20:41:00.000+02:00

So today I had the unenviable task of trying to further the tutorial structure of Desktop Dungeons. Needing to disable features on command is something that will show you whether the code you wrote is general enough ... often, it won't be. So it means finding out where that something is made, and deciding whether the default should be it appearing, and then trying to get rid of it just for the tutorial, or whether it should not appear, and then make the base version of your normal code include it.

And then there is displaying text.

Word wrap, text coloring, line spacing ... these are things that we all take for granted.

We shouldn't ... they are hell. Getting text to display correctly under all conceivable circumstances is one of the most arduous tasks a person can live through. It will drive you to the edge of insanity.

And then you'll have to change it all, and I do mean all, in order to add just one more feature.

Zombie Walk

2010-11-01T01:24:00.000+02:00

Kinda bummed that I missed the Zombie Walk to the waterfront yesterday .... oversleeping and lack of suitable makeup are the real culprits here.

Also didn't attend any Halloween party type things ... also due to lack of costume.

As you can see .. lack of costume is becoming something of a theme.
That's why I've decided, that every month, I'm gonna try get another piece of steampunk gear. Not only are they great individually as talking points in clubs etc, but put them all together and they'll (hopefully) make a great steampunk costume :D

They Fucked with the Wrong Mexican

2010-10-31T22:29:00.000+02:00

Step 1 : Get a bunch of random geeks together.
Step 2 : Force them (probably not hard) to go see Machete.
Step 3 : Look forward to an awesome time :D

Machete, if you don't know, started out life as a trailer in the original grindhouse films by Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino. So beloved was the trailer, that the fan outcry got the film made ... and even though the original trailer had no storyline whatsoever, they managed to fit almost every scene from the original into the full movie.

If you liked grindhouse, then go see Machete ... it's gory, it's crazy ... and it's awesome :D

StarCraft 2, finally

2010-07-30T19:00:00.000+02:00

It's finally here! It's like geek christmas if it only rolled in once every 12 years!

StarCraft 2 is out, and it's delicious.

The single player missions are varied and interesting, none of them so far have been a 'build up army, kill huge enemy base'. They all seem to introduce little twists to how you'd normally play StarCraft. One such mission has you mining from the low ground, but every 3 minutes, it gets flooded with lava! Add to this the fact that you have to build up a certain amount of crystals to win, and that none of the patches are particularly high on crystal, and it makes for a very interesting mission ^_^

Then there's the Multiplayer .... what can I say ... sublime.
I managed to qualify for gold league, which is only 1 away from platinum, the highest league you can qualify into. Hopefully i can climb fast and hit that soon. Playing online is always challenging, and seeing the different strats evolve is gonna be awesome.

Thanks Blizzard .. I'm having fun :D

Screenshots as Art

2010-07-15T13:49:00.000+02:00

Pippa Tshabalala, a gamer friend, linked to an article on Kotaku about game screenshots as art, and I was so blown away that I just couldn't help but post some here.

The site is called Dead End Thrills, and it's all about the art of 'photography' in games. From their 'about' page:

Dead End Thrills is a website dedicated to videogame photography, an emerging art form that’s as far from the average screenshot as it is the average photograph. In the virtual worlds of modern 3D games, the snapper has something their traditional counterpart does not: a supernatural level of control. Light, gravity and time are just toggles, sliders and developer commands. The rules of the game can change.

The game I'm currently slavering over is Transformers: War for Cybertron ... so I couldn't help but check out their flickr gallery for the game .... and man was I not disappointed. My appreciation for the game has risen *even higher* (if that's possible) after being able to see the care and detail that went into so much of the environment.

Thank you High Moon Studios, for making a great game, and that you Dead End Thrills for taking awesome photographs of it!

Getting the Gamers Going

2010-07-06T02:55:00.000+02:00

So, after that post about the multiplayer bubble, I have a little story.

Our little gaming group had fallen into that pit where only 2 people have latest-game-x, while another two have latest-game-z, etc. So that means no unified big firned only lobby. This is pretty natural, as peoples tastes differ, and wallets scream for mercy.

With the thought of getting the group playing on one server again, (and getting my chainsaw on) I decided to push for "Gears of War 2" night every tueday and thursday. This worked for the first week, until I couldn't make one night .... then no one played.

I guess if you're the galvanising force behind getting a game going, and you disappear, it'll fall apart.

No worries tho, the Gears seems to be going strong ... only issue now is ... I want to play Transformers: War for Cybertron

What are the chances everyone will actually buy that game?

Yeah ... thought so :P

The Multiplayer Bubble

2010-06-26T16:55:00.000+02:00

I’m not sure if it’s a ‘South Africa’ thing, or just a ‘Gaming Group’ thing, but there seems to be a bubble around the multiplayer aspect of a new game. The bubble is fragile, and can be burst by a number of things … and as with real bubbles, the longer it goes on, the higher the chances it will burst.

Now I know that there’s generally a large community playing a game even after my particular friend group has abandoned it, and even though some of my friend group will still be playing it, it’s not the entire-game-list-consuming multi-fest that it is during that first bubble. I must also admit that few things give me as much joy as playing a game and having the entire lobby filled with my friends.

So there are a few things that seem to be able to burst the bubble.

A new multiplayer game. Something that almost everyone has picked up, so everyone is playing it.
No multiplayer progression. Since Call of Duty: Modern Warfare popularised persistant multiplayer leveling, any game that doesn’t offer that kind of thing seems to fall out of favour faster.
Glitches/Exploits. If some players start abusing the rules of the game to get ahead, it turns off tons of normal players
In the case of sequels, any perceived difference from previous game mechanincs seems to turn people off. Probably the very same people who complain that most sequels don’t have enough fresh content/gameplay to be worth while.
A map pack is released. Often the price you pay compared to the content you get is pitiful, so some people will buy it, and others will pass, fragmenting a game’s community.

Sometimes the bubble lasts for months, sometimes, it’s a few days. With more and more games being released that have roughly half their content in multiplayer, choosing which games to spend money on becomes very difficult. With the rising price of games not helping the situation either.

There are notable exceptions, but they are very different models from the norm. Like Team Fortress 2. It has consistently had new, free content added after launch, drawing in a bunch of new players every time, and bringing back lapsed players back to see what all the new stuff is about.

No matter how it’s done, everyone seems to be trying to push the bubble to the limit, and prevent the burst for as long as possible … but in the end … it always pops.

[Originally published on qcfdesign.com]

A Sunday Well Spent

2010-06-21T11:38:00.000+02:00

On a whim, I decided to go see some friends yesterday (sunday). And I was rewarded with a great time :D Even got an amazing shot of the CT skyline from their house at dusk.

Talking about games with a fellow gamer, but one who only has a PS3 (but isn't a fanboy) is always interesting. The PS3/Xbox 360 exclusivity barrier really is a huge mistake in my opinion. I think everyone should be able to play everything, and I find it annoying that you have to have so many different pieces of hardware to achieve the same end goal: "Playing Fun Games"

Even games that both of us own on our respective consoles, can't be played against each other because the stupid hardware manufacturers are having a big corporate pissing match. Imagine a combined friends list across PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. And interplay between the same games on all three platforms! How awesome would that be?!

When what you hear in music belies your mood

2010-06-16T12:54:00.000+02:00

Listening to what I ages ago labeled as the 'chilled' playlist, I find it interesting that my mood now is happy, and I'm relaxed. Some of the songs in here, a couple months ago, would have had me feeling depressed and lost.

Our minds have a way of picking out what we want to hear, and given such a vast variety of music, it becomes a fedback loop. All the music could re-enforce those emotions, and the emotions make us pick up on those themes more in the music.

What this makes me realise is that I'm truely over it. And I'm happy again. All that emotion, purged. Not wasted, not misspent. Just replaced ... with happyness.

Go forward, always with a smile. That way, the new people you meet will want to smile aswell.

Workday, Ice Cream, Beach

2010-06-02T18:04:00.000+02:00

One of the greatest things about working for yourself is that, if it happens to be a great day in CT, you can go down to the beach and have ice cream while discussing work.

This is what happened yesterday. The weather was amazing, so we drove over Kloof and along the coast to Hout Bay. Got Cinnamon ice cream, and walked along the beach barefoot while talking about work.

Yes, working for yourself can be stressful, and you find yourself working really hard for much longer times than most people. You also never really 'leave' work. But I think the small freedoms that come from that are worth it. That and ice cream ^_^

Zoo City Launch

2010-05-26T16:45:00.000+02:00

So yesterday was the launch of Zoo City, the latest book by South African Super-Author Lauren Beukes. I attended and, since the book deals with people who do bad things being bonded to animals, I was accompanied by a blue unicorn ... gained by stealing someone's kidney ;)

The launch was great, snacks were all black & white to match the cover of the book, and the reading from Lauren was great, moving the anticipation for reading the whole thing up a notch. The Book Lounge, where the whole thing was hosted, was packed to bursting, showing just how excited people are for this book.

Probably the best thing about the launch was meeting all the interesting people who were keen to get there hands on a signed copy. Having 'first meatspace twitter meeting awkwardness' and 'wait, you are a freelance illustrator/musician/flangwombler' conversations with random people is tons of fun ... and will hopefully lead to more encounters of the same.

Several Things

2010-05-19T22:51:00.000+02:00

First. Killing zombies is awesome. Killing zombies with friends in Left 4 Dead 2 is one of the best uses you can make of an hour of your time. Nothing quite like being covered in zombie entrails after you mow them down by the hundreds with a chainsaw!

Second. Working for yourself is awesome. Working from home more so. Knowing where your next paycheck is coming from is even better when you know you're not getting paid only a fraction of what a boss would charge clients for your time. It's also incredibly hard to and quite frightening. But still awesome.

Third. I'm pretty much the best guy you'll ever meet. I am an amazing boyfriend. I'd never cheat, I'd never lie, and I'd try my damnedest to make my girlfriend happy. But ladies ... figure out what you want, and TELL PEOPLE! Saying you want one thing, and then craving another is NOT HOW YOU GET WHAT YOU WANT.

Fourth. Being a gamer is great. It's especially great when you have other gamers to socialise with. Meeting gamers in Cape Town is proving to be tricky ... but I'm working on it. The fact that LANs are decreasing (or devolving into leechfests), and internet gaming is rising is killing the 'meet up to play games' vibe that we used to have in yesteryear. Guess what? LANning is not just for networking! It's for hanging out too. Wish we could get some of that old vibe back.

Fifth. I miss my friends. I guess that last point makes it obvious. I really wish i could just drive to one of their houses tonight and play a board or card game. Some are in Gauteng. Some are overseas. And some are beyond. I miss you guys, all of you.

Sixth. Um. I guess that's it for now.

This is not how the world ends.

My mind is a minefield

2010-05-12T03:24:00.000+02:00

Traverse it at your own peril.

Parts of it remain untouched, and the question is:
Are they pristene because they are surrounded by death,
or because no one wants to be the first to sully them?

Parts of it are blasted and ruined.
You can see that many people have been there,
left a mark, destroyed it a little more.

Parts of it are built up, urbane.
Definitely shaped by human hands,
but beautiful none the less, made to withstand the storm.

This is where I live, in the blasted, pristine, civilised, minefield.
But I know where the mines are.
And you do not.

Do not presume that you can enter here, and leave unharmed.

But when you realise all that this minefield is capable of
You might reconsider peeking in, asking me what I think.

So Tomorrow is Another Day

2010-05-06T01:46:00.000+02:00

And we'll all trudge on as we normally do.

Nothing special will happen. No amazing revelation will present itself.

Nothing.
Will.
Change.

Not unless we do something different. Something that we didn't do yesterday.

Maybe something bold?
Maybe something stupid?
Maybe something unexpected?

Maybe all three?

So now I have a plan. Do something that I was thinking of doing, but had been busily talking myself out of. Worst case scenario, I lose nothing but a little time and effort ... and the goal I want becomes more unobtainable. Best case, I move towards a goal that I've set, and that I know I want to achieve.

Sure I'm probably going about it ass-backwards, and it'll more than likely not get me the result I want ... but fuck it. I've done stupider things, and apparently fortune favors the bold.

Let's do this.

The Devil You Know

2010-05-04T12:07:00.000+02:00

It's very easy to fall backwards.

We do it all the time. We make changes to our lives because we know "this is good for me" ... but it can be hard. Often at the first sign of trouble we fall back into the old habits, the old problems.

Oh, we tell ourselves "Not ME!", and tut and sigh as we see others doing it, but everyone is susceptible. I could easily fall back into eating absolute junk and being a couch (well , PC chair) potato. But it's important that we push forward, if only to stop from sliding backwards. Eventually we'll have displaced enough scree to create a new, higher baseline. Ok ... so that metaphor seems to have fallen apart.

The devil you know is all the things you know are bad for you (or at least not helping) but you do anyways cause it's EASY. Not exploring the new stuff, stuff we know will be good for us. Just because they are 'unknown'. Just because, at the first sign of trouble, we know we'll run. Just because we tried once, and it was hard, so we're scared to try again.

Now I'm not saying I don't do just that. We all do. There's no way to avoid it. But just think about it. The next time you're about to give up when the going gets tough, when you're trying something new that you know will be awesome in the future. Don't give up. And if you do, that's ok ... but don't let that stop you trying again.

Don't let the devil you know get you.

Kick-Ass!

2010-04-27T13:19:00.000+02:00

Went to see Kick-Ass last night ... and it did not disappoint! Based on a comic book, it's about how incredibly fucked up you'd get if you tried to do what comic superheroes do. But takes it further and shows that even then, it might be the right thing to do.

Kick-Ass does some awesome juxtaposition of amateur and professional fighters, making you at once laugh at the hilarity of two people going at each other who don't know what they're doing, and cringing as two people who do know what they're doing really hurt each other.

Funny throughout, but also very violent, it's great to see such a great comic turned into such a great movie.

Go check it out ... I promise it delivers on it's name.

Are they really friends?

2010-04-21T13:22:00.000+02:00

Seth Godin wrote an inspired little post called Maybe you need new friends. And it goes like this:

Real world friends are hard to find and hard to change.
But virtual friends?
If your online friends aren't egging you on...
If your online friends don't spread the word about the work you're doing...
If your online friends aren't respectfully challenging your deeply held beliefs...
If your online friends don't demand the best from you...
Then perhaps you need new online friends.

The last two lines struck home quite hard. I know people whose online friends don't demand anything from them. They are just there as a rationalisation machine, spewing forth platitudes no matter the decision or consequence.

... maybe they need some new online friends

The Memory Remains

2010-04-13T23:21:00.000+02:00

Besides being a direct rip off of a Metallica song that happens to be playing the the background right now (mmmmmhhhhhh Metal), memory is an interesting tpoic of discussion.

While talking to a friend who I miss tons today, the idea of memory came up. His view is that memory is not so much 'storage' as a way for us to take our consciousness back to the past ... and I'm inclined to agree with him.

When we remember we move through time, as if we are back in that place. We can experience that place again, and all the emotions and sensations that come with it. The experience is imperfect though. Noise in the signal, if you will.

What does it all mean? For me, it means that just because some things that made me happy are not happening anymore, I can't remove the happyness they brought me at the time ... and I shouldn't try. I can relive those happy times, and they will be good. And the greatest part? I keep making new memories to travel to .. so I might as well make them good ones. That way, in the future, I can revisit them too, and be happy.

Oh man 'The Day That Never Comes' just started playing (also by Metallica). What a great song. Rock on.

Random Rhyming

2010-04-08T23:22:00.000+02:00

Thrumming through a view askew i hand my mind a tilted pew. A few too few if only knew, what awaits you should you choose.

----

What right to push thru to the fight the dark the light a damn dead blight, stab the heart of hope delight so that you can but sleep a night

----

Eliminate exterminate why the hate reverberates. Rise to the bait push back the fate it would be great and consummate

The Steel Remains

2010-03-26T02:54:00.000+02:00

Just finished reading The Steel Remains by Richard Morgan, and I loved it. Morgan has a way of growing characters with a past that is amazing. You pick up bits and pieces along the way, while the current story moves forward. It's a pleasure to read as you try to figure out just what happened in their past, while seeing what's going on in their present.

So if you;re in the mood for a different, but very engaging fantasy read, pick up The Steel Remains

This is pretty scary

2010-03-25T19:58:00.000+02:00

I don't really follow american politics much, but when a comic writer decides to mention something this bad in their blog, it seems like it might be turning into a big deal.

from Least I Could Do:

There’s little in life that scares me, or has me worried (aside from Vomit, Choking and Ninja Leprechauns) but the current political climate does both of those things.

Some would call the debate going in the US ‘heated’ or ‘impassioned’. I call it dangerous.

You can argue a point with someone without hating them. You can disagree with everything they say without throwing a brick through their window.

Can’t you?

Look at someone like Glenn Beck, who is so full of spite and anger, and incites his viewers into a frenzy. On paper, the Tea Party Movement is a peaceful group who opposes government spending. In reality, the Tea Party Movement are extremists filled with hate who are on their way to becoming vigilantes, attacking anyone on an opposing side.

I’ve listened to senators, congressmen and governors say things I wouldn’t utter in while in a drunken stupor in a bar.

The worst part of all of this, is that the majority of what people are slinging is not based on facts, but instead on assumptions, hearsay and whatever hate-speak is being published/produced as ‘news’.

This needs to be stopped before it gets worse. A country should be led by debate, facts and bi-partisanship.

Not a mob carrying signs and pitchforks.

The fact that news is starting to turn from reporting into entertainment is a very worrying trend.

Is it bargain week?

2010-03-18T13:55:00.000+02:00

Today I woke up to two pieces of amazing news.
1 - The PS3 slim is selling at amazing prices in some stores
2 - Mweb is going to launch super-cheap uncapped ADSL

The PS3 sale is for R2299, which is about R1500 below normal retail, seems to be 'while stocks last' at Pick 'n Pay, but apparently Game and some other stores will beat any price you can prove to them. Cheaper gaming is never bad news :) (source: http://www.lazygamer.co.za/ps3/bargain-of-the-century-120gb-ps3-slim-for-just-r2299/)

Mweb giving us cheap ADSL ... now this is a huge deal. Mweb have notoriously been overcharging people for ADSL for a while now, so seeing them make the best uncapped deal has been met with a fair bit of scepticism. If all reports are correct tho, they'll be launching uncapped home DSL for as little as R219 per month! I know of at least one household that'll be very glad to hear this. (source: http://mybroadband.co.za/news/adsl/11819.html)

Moar Power!

2010-03-16T22:55:00.000+02:00

Earlier this week we got a note in the mail from Eskom "You will lose power from 15:00 to 17:00 on march 16th".

Bit taking this warning lightly, we dutifully powered down all the equipment, and took a drive around signal hill to grab lunch in Camps Bay. Greeted by a wind that made every grain of sand a projectile weapon, we found some cover from the elements and had a nice leasurely lunch on a couch in a 'sun room' at the Kauwai in Camps Bay.

The wind picked up and blew a scooter on it's side, causing passers by to stand, awestruck in the middle of the road .... guess that's the most exciting thing they saw all day :P

Sometimes, a power outtage lets you take a great break ;)

Communication

2010-03-05T12:33:00.000+02:00

I realise why people always say 'Comminication is the secret to a good relationship'.
I felt neglected recently ... and keeping that all inside was not helping my mood.
At first I didn't say anything, becaue I thought it would simply make me sound 'jealous' or 'selfish' ... but then I realised: No one but me knows that I'm felling neglected.

... So I told her.

And you know what ... It made me feel tons better. She's still super busy, and I probably won't get any more of her time than I would have this week , but letting her know, and telling her it was ok, that I'd not put any extra pressure on her, made me feel better.

So thank you PinkHairGirl, for understanding that I can be a silly boy sometimes too. Thank you for being as awesome as you are. Thank you for loving me with all my flaws.

I love you.

Mass Effect 2

2010-02-22T20:04:00.000+02:00

So this morning I finished Mass Effect 2.

I can easily say that it was a damn great experience. The combat was visceral and fun. The story was engaging and interesting. The characters were believeable (for aliens :P ) . And the finale was awesome.

Without spoiling too much, there is a threat that you need to deal with, but before you can you must put together a squad, and get them in shape to take on the threat. This will take you deeper into their lives than you might want to go ...

Throughout you can be either a paragon of goodness, or a renegade .... or a mixture of both. And this is where the game really let's you 'role play'. As you shape your version of Captain Shepard the way you want. I personally went for a hardass to my enemies, who is very good to her crew.

If you have an xbox or a PC, Mass Effect 2 is a must ... and if you've played the first game, then you're probably already playing the second ;) enjoy

Just Fake It

2010-02-17T01:39:00.000+02:00

Read a blog post recently about being reassured as to your direction in life, and I found myself thinking: How do you know if you're good at what you're doing? Just because you enjoy something, that doesn't make you good at it. I mean, I enjoy singing, but I know I'm never gonna be the frontman for Iron Maiden.

It occured to me that perhaps we never really know. I constantly feel like I'm faking it. Seether wrote a song about this, that seems to mirror my ideas on the subject: Fake It. The important bits are:

Fake it, if you're out of direction.
Fake it, if you don't belong here.

Then again, looking at the other lyrics, maybe that song isn't the best example (still a great song though!) ... anyway! to get back to the quickly disappearing point:

Does 'faking it', and the astonishing lengths we'll go to in order to make our 'faking it' convincing, show how commited we are to getting where we want to be. How much faking until you really 'are' doing what you want? Or maybe that's just a feeling ... maybe you are actually doing well, and that little voice talking in the back of your head is just lingering self-doubt from the years of torment you experienced while in the prison we call 'the education system' ... but I digress.

I wonder if authors 'fake it' until they actually have a book worth reading? I wonder if game designers 'fake it' until they make a hit game. Sometimes I hear the way investment bankers talk about the vehicles they've created to make money out of nothing ... and I think that somewhere, someone faked it the first time ... until enough people believed it was real.

If you're willing to fake it, and make that fake convincing enough to be passed off as the eal thing ... what's to say it's not. Just follow that dream, and fake it until no on can remember that you can't do it.

Hiding Desires

2010-02-14T14:28:00.000+02:00

Consciously we try to keep
the things we want from those we meet.
We try to shelter our desires
and our wants from prying eyes.

We don't know why they bring us shame.
Society must be to blame.
For making things that we all want
too taboo to talk about.

Yet interestingly we find
others of a likened mind.
No disapproving shaking head.
No leaving us and having fled.

So great to find the one like you.
The one who loves the things you do.
You find them when you aren't looking.
They find you too and life is rocking.

Now who cares what the others say.
To them respect you need not pay.
They do not care, if you're content.
They simply want to feel contempt.

So thank you, lover, for being you.
For loving me, without some cue.
For feeling all the things I feel
my love for you is truely real.

Sometimes, you find awesome waffles

2010-02-13T21:30:00.000+02:00

Last weekend, we decided to take a drive to Cape Point. We went down the western side, passing through Kommetjie, and saw a whole bunch of the coast that side. It seems to be quite the destination for wind and kite surfers.

We would have gone all the way to the point, but R75 for 5 or 10 minutes seemed a bit steep. So instead we drove back along the eastern side of the point, passing thru Fishoek and Simon's Town. We came to rest in Kalk Bay, ostensibly to eat at The Brass Bell ... but that turned into a wash. Tons of open tables, all booked. We decided then to go to take a walk to a local bakery, and on the way our minds were accosted by a shop called 'The Home of Waffles and Pancakes'. This needed investigation.

Turns out that having sweet chilli beef strips on a belgian style waffle is a great idea. Wash it down with a Black cherry milkshake (with real cherries!) and you have a damn good reason to visit Kalk Bay again. There was even a waffle or pancake with lemon merangue on it! We were going to split it for desert ... but the initial waffles turned out to be filling enough that desert was a long gone thought.

Finally, on the drive back, I decided to practise my photography skills a bit, and get some shots of the mountainside. I also wanted to get some shots of trees wizzing by, just for fun ... and those actually look pretty cool if you ask me ;)

The future of sex

2010-02-11T02:23:00.000+02:00

Pink Hair Girl linked me to a talk given by Violet Blue, about the future of sex. The most awesome thing about this is that it's basically all pulled from Science Fiction!

She talks about four basic categories:

Instant Orgasms
Sex with robots
Virtual Sex
Promiscuous new friends

Two of those categories I find quite interesting. Sex with robots is fascinating because, technically, people have been doing this for a long time ... in the form of vibrators (made and female). I find it interesting because they're not percieved as robots. So where do we draw the line between tool and robot? It's an interesting question ... and with some interesting current things going on. Like Andy, which Violet talks about, is a fully posable android, with what sounds like tons of technology put into it's production .... just so people can get off.

The other is virtual sex. Violet talks about them from the game perspective, which obviously interests me, and goes into quite some detail. The virtual sex described is very much the cybersex that we know goes on today, but she also talks about (but doesn't quite name it) teledildonics. The really frustrating part is that the 'virtual hole' she talks about has no website or information to follow up on ... so we will have to live without teledildonics for longer.

The most interesting thing that I noticed, and Pink Hair Girl pointed out, was that is seems like in the future, we'll be having sex with everyhing but other people ... weird huh ;)

Happiness in Pink

2010-02-06T00:24:00.000+02:00

It's a funny thing ...
Finally finding what you didn't even know you were looking for.

And then it turns out to be Pink ;)

A pink haired girl to be more precise. What started out as just acquaintance soon turned into something infinitely more interesting. More rewarding. More loving. More physical.

It's amazing how this kind of thing can happen. Finding such comfort in someone so quickly ... but only after you've decided to move across the country! Sounds crazy right? Probably is ... but damned if I care. I found something that I think about every day when I wake up, and every night before I go to sleep. Not gonna give that up for mere distance!

So ... the pink haired girl. Sally-Jane in real life ... but then also pink haired in real life.

What a pleasure to find someone who is so happy to stand out. How amazing to find someone who can carry a conversation. How lucky to find someone who is so attractive, and so attracted to you. How unexpected, to find someone who falls in love with you, and who you can't help but fall in love with.

I've already gotten used to having her next to me at night. Waking up to her smile. Falling asleep with her in my arms.

I recently spent a week in her exquisite company, and took as many pictures as I could, so that I'd be able to see her even when she's not around. I share this with all you, because I want you to know how happy I am. Enjoy, a gallery of PinkHairGirl

Global Game Jam 2010

2010-02-02T11:40:00.000+02:00

So this weekend was the Global Game Jam 2010, Where people from all around the world are challengesd with making a game, from scratch, in 48 hours.

Dislekcia, Nandrew, Squid and I decided to team up and deprive each other of sleep. After a hectic 6 hours of throwing out ideas and trying to figure out how 'Deception' (the theme for this year) could work in a game context, we came up with this little gem:
YouDunnit: A murder mystery in space. But you're the murderer. You play the game in 1 hour 'sequences' (they only take like, 5 minutes to play) that run backwards in order. So the last thing you play is killing the captain, and stashing the murder weapon.

The entire time you have to keep track of who doesn't an alibi (so you can frame them) and what things you need to do to keep your story straight. Sounds a bit crazy ... it is ... sleep deprivation will do that to you.

The other game made locally that I really liked is ~press tilda (spelled wrong! wth?!). A game about being able to 'edit' the world on the fly with the almighty tilde key. It's quite fun to play, and with some more work could be awesome for quite a bit longer :P
It is also the game that took first place at our leg of the Game Jam, with ours comming in second place :)

I'm really proud of what the locals managed to make in 48 hours. Can't wait to see if one of these makes some international press.

Adaptability: The Human Supertrait

2010-01-28T15:39:00.000+02:00

It's amazing how fast you can get used to something.

Live for a week in different circumstances, and things that were unthinkable before become the norm. We humans move in a near constant transition state, we can stand to adapt to almost any climate, schedule or situation. This is one of the reasons we have populated such diverse regions of the planet.

People live in deserts, tropics, icy tundra and everything in between. We are able to survive atop mountains and on the open sea. Yes, we create technology to help us survive, but that's all part of the adaptation. We adapt technology to let us go farther, faster, and for longer.

It's going to be amazing to see, what such a race will do when pushed to the edge. At some point, our planet will become inhospitable ... and I bet we'll find a way to survive. Will we find a way to terraform our home back to it's former glory? Will we make artificial life boats that can keep the race going indefinitely? Will we populate the stars, spreading and finding new planets to live on? Who knows. We'll do what we must though, and our ability to adapt will lead the way.

Origin of the phrase: Blow Job

2010-01-27T07:09:00.000+02:00

Given this post on PinkHairGirl's blog, I got to wondering: "Where did the phrase 'Blow Job' originate". Hoping to tap "blow job origin" into google and get a simple single answer turned into an info safari through the lands of legend and hearsay.

Most of the time you come across blowing an instrument and blowing off steam as the starting point for blow job. The term was apparently used by prostitutes and brothels from the 1930s, but the origin remains clouded in mystery.

Some of the more interesting theories are:

Lou Paget, author of How to Give Her Absolute Pleasure says: "Jazz musicians in the 1950's referred to fellatio as 'playing the skin flute', and that's where the term originated"
In Victorian England, "blow" was slang for ejaculate. So, getting a blow job meant creating an ejactuation in the man. Thus, "blow job" is from the masculine perspective of what happens to the man
Samuel Clemens (a.k.a Mark Twain) is rumored to have mainstreamed the phrase "below job." Whether he actaully coined the phrase is uncertain. Nonetheless, by Mississippi riverboat parlance, as in "get b'low" ("get below" [deck], it was pronounced, "b'low job." It is the reference to where the administering head winds up when delivering the oral sex. "B'low job" has since become the un-punctuated, "Blow Job."

While it seems doubtful that this mystery will ever be solved, it's still one of the more interesting things to try and track down. There really are hundreds of different theories ... perhaps one of them is actually true! Maybe next time I'll try to find the origin of the word 'fuck'

And the beat goes on

2010-01-24T08:44:00.000+02:00

The beat starts.
The universe is born.
The stars form.
The first life blooms
And the beat goes on.

The civilization starts
The farmers shape the land
The aggressive start wars
The empire falls apart
And the beat goes on

The person starts
The happiness is exhilarating
The sadness is humiliating
The death is final
And the beat goes on

The conversation starts
The wrong thing is said
The apology never comes
The relationship changes
And the beat goes on

The fear starts
The failure emboldens
The rejection saddens
The risk is taken
And the beat goes on

Teledildonics, why have you forsaken us!

2010-01-19T00:55:00.000+02:00

So, you have a long distance relationship. You wish you could have sex with your loving partner, but the physics of distance simply do not allow it. You've probably had phone sex, maybe even some cyber sex. Maybe you even used skype for the wholly unintended purpose of watching each other get off. The problem is, you want more. Sure, it is much better touching yourself with your partner watching ... but you wish you could interact.

Enter Teledildonics. Controlling dildos/vibrators over the internet.

Oh what a boon that would be. You could log into a control panel, and control the sensations your partner was feeling! Or better yet, you could use a fleshlight type device to transmit your every thrust to your partner! "What a fantastic idea" you say "when will such marvels of technology be available?". And here's the sad news ... they were. But the company that ran the whole thing, Sinulator, has gone under.

Even after being mentioned in wired magazine, it seems like there just weren't enough people into the idea of controlling a remote dildo. It's too bad really. I thought it was a good idea when I initially read about it, and I still think it could be put to use now. Problem is, if the first company to do it failed, who's gonna try the same thing?

It's a shame really

Exploring Llundudno and Sandy Bay

2010-01-18T01:05:00.004+02:00

Waking up to a bright lovely sunday, it was decided that taking a drive to Camps Bay for lunch was a damn good idea™.

Here's Camps bay in the early afternoon, nice and busy.

From there the drive took us past Llundudno and, having never been there, we took a little detour.

Exploring the heights of Llundudno showed us a little beach, and a path along the mountain. All this a little way down the coast ... or over the neck from Hout bay.

This little beach is supposedly a nude beach and, looking at where it's located, you can understand how it could be. There's no easy road access to it, and you have to go for quite a walk just to get there.

We just had to know how to get to the beach, so we drove round to Hout bay, and saw how far roads would take us up the neck. Right at the saddle we hit a dead end, so we decided to take to foot and go for a walk.

One of the cool things we found was a wind path that had created a dune on the saddle of Sandy Neck.

It was decided that we'd give the 'maybe' nudist beach a skip ... we were afterall, not dressed for the occasion. So instead we followed the path out around the headland.

As we got around the headland, we saw an interesting strut of land ... which I now really want to go have a picnic on. We also saw what looks like a wrecked oil rig ... which I now want to explore.

The whole trip ended with ice cream in Hout bay :)

What a great way to spend a sunday.

Chaos!

2010-01-16T02:52:00.002+02:00

Ah Chaos! That marvelous thing that makes life unpredictable. Imagine how utterly bored we'd get without it. Always knowing what was going to happen, always able to predict everything. But luckily we have Chaos!

Chaos is what makes other people great. You never know what they're going to do. You can try and predict, but even that person doesn't know what they'll do given a certain situation ... not until they actually do it. The chaos of different thoughts and stresses make every decision a chaotic one. This gives rise to astonishingly useless drivel, and astoundingly moving prose ... and everything in between ;)

Chaos exists intertwined with Order, the Yin to order's Yang. Systems that work on order, but use feedback loops, are almost entirely unpredictable. The Chaos inherent in them is only possible because of the simple ordered rules that the system starts with. This is known as the butterfly effect. Check out this video to see it in action.

Where do you see Chaos? Is it a ruinous force, or a marvel? or, Chaotically ... both :P

What I'd do if I didn't have to worry about money

2010-01-14T22:13:00.004+02:00

The first thing I'd do would be to write a book called "What I'd do if I didn't have to worry about money" ;)

I'd release it as an e-book, with only the first chapter "unlocked". Every thousand sales, I would release the next chapter. The first chapter would be "If I didn't have to worry about money .... I'd release this e-book" ... detailing how the e-book unlocking would work. Subsequent chapters would include such diverse subjects as: "I'd Rick Roll the N1 highway", "I'd go to job interviews and offer my interviewers a job", "I'd see if I could talk my way into a CEO's office" and "I'd pay a group of actors to spontaneously break into song in the middle of a mall".

Then, using profits from the book sales ... I'd actually do all the things that I'd written about, adding the results to the ever growing e-book.

Going over the mountain on X-mas day

2010-01-02T11:13:00.005+02:00

We walked over Table Mountain on x-mas day :) It was tiring but fun!

A game in 48 hours

2009-02-10T13:25:00.002+02:00

Recently Nandrew, Dislekcia and myself decided to "enter" the South African leg of the Global Game Jam, a 48 hour game creation marathon. I put "enter" in quotes because we couldn't actually be on location to make a game ... so we did it here in our house, and sent it in via the intertubes.

The theme for the game jam was "As long as we're together we'll never run out of problems" and the theme word was "patriotism".

This naturally caused us to creat a game about a war where nobody comes out well.

enjoy 48hr War

Let's get things started ... again

2009-02-10T13:15:00.002+02:00

A friend of mine who is currently touring the country has decided to start a blog .... and I foolishly decided to take up this blogging thing again to show him up :P

I think perhaps I should go thru the archives here and delete some things. After that, I'll try posting at least once a week ... so be afraid.

GeoSphere Generation

2008-08-25T10:19:00.004+02:00

Creating a Geo Sphere is very interesting. It involves taking a basic shape (say, a cube) and cutting up the faces until you have enough to represent a sphere, and then rounding out the positions of all the vertices. The interesting part is how quickly the number of vertices escalates every time you split the faces. Doing it 4 times still works quickly, doing it 5 times, you'll wait about 10 seconds for it to load.

I battle on the field of rotated vectors, slaying pixels and vetices of the shader clan !

2008-08-12T23:43:00.004+02:00

I've just finished creating the particle system for our Dream.Build.Play. entry. Most of the work was inside the vertex and pixel shaders .... I honestly never thought I'd be able to work with those types of things .... turns out I'm pretty good at them :D

OMGWTFBBQ

2008-02-28T22:45:00.003+02:00

ha !

i completely forgot i even had a blogger blog !

started a new blog called updates frequently (even thought i'm pretty sure it won't) basically just to keep nonsensical podcasts about things like Bread, and Smurfs.

So i found this blog again .... maybe i'll start posting to it ?

Factions Goodness

2006-03-25T09:18:00.000+02:00

Just finished the content download for the GuildWars:Factions Beta weekend. Wow .. what a pretty opening scene :) ..... here it is for you to see.

I'll post more screens later.

-Aequitas

technorati tags: Games, GuildWars,

Teh Job

2006-03-22T13:54:00.000+02:00

So, started a new job today. Joy. I get to figure out how everything around here works while I sit around being bored for the first 2 weeks.

Oh well .. at least I'm getting paid ;)

Most likely I'll do alot more blogging now that I have a net connection during the week again.

-Aequitas

Shadow of the Colossus

2006-02-25T09:14:00.000+02:00

I just got my hands on 'Shadow of the Colossus'

Awesome ... that's the only word that describes that game .... and mabye also "Breathtaking"

No other game lets you grab onto a HUGE stone bird as it swoops over the surface of a lake.

If you haven't played it DO SO NOW !!!!

-Aequitas

technorati tags: Games, Shadow of the Colossus,

Serenity

2006-01-05T19:41:00.000+02:00

I started watching the DVD of Serenity (the movie based on the series Firefly) last night at 1:30 AM, thinking I'd just catch the first 10 minutes or doze off ... but apparently not. I only got to bed at 3:30.

What a great movie.

Go see it ... NOW

technorati tags: Movies, Serenity, Firefly

Sony Home Theatre System

2005-12-31T11:46:00.001+02:00

Wow .... in a bizarre twist of fate, I won a Sony Home Theatre System .... just WOW

It consists of a 68cm Flat Screen WEGA TV, a DVD-RW recorder, a FM/AM Tuner/AMP, Full 5.1 Surround Sound System (Speakers that stand to my belly !!!!)

I won this by entering a McDonalds competition, so from now on if anyone gives me shit about McD's ... I'll kick there ass ... or laugh at them :P

-Aequitas

technorati tags: McDonalds, Sony

Let the hunt begin

2005-12-29T21:17:00.000+02:00

So ... the main reson for not posting in so long is that I haven't been online in a while. This was precipitated by the ending of my contract. So now I am jobless.

Thus the title to this post is about job hunting.

I will in later posts regale you with tales of how damnably difficult it is to get a programming job in South Africa.

In other news: Geri got me "God of War" (PS2) and Logitech x-530 (5.1 surround) speakers for christmas (very cool).

Clawy got me a bag for my portable HDD, but unfortunately it was a little small for the drive cage, so he's gonna keep looking.

I got to play Soul Calibur 3 with all sorts of different ppl, and now I just need to get them all in the room at the same time.

Otherwise, things are good.

Merry Christmas/Kwansaa/Hanuka/other made up holiday
-Aequitas

technorati tags: Holiday, Job Hunting, God of War, Soul Calibur 3

Lord of War

2005-12-12T08:35:00.000+02:00

We went to see "Lord of War" last night and I must say ... that wias one very good film.

Just something about the tone of the movie made you really think about what was going on with wars and gunrunners.

The movie uses some really good visual effects e.g
The film starts with a pan low over a road .... a road COVERED in spent shells ... great imagery there.
The intro sequence shows a bullet going from manufacturing to being fired, with the camera attached to the end of the bullet the whole way. Also very good imagery.

The movie runs you through the wringer as far as emotions go. From laughing to cringing to disgusted .... just mixes it up.

Go watch it ... it's really good

-Aequitas

technorati tags: Movie, Lord of War

The reason I haven't posted all weekend

2005-12-12T07:11:00.000+02:00

It's simple really ..... Prince of Persia !!!!!!

What I can only say is the best game in the trilogy ... and it makes a stunning end to the series. Yes .. I finished it. I just couldn't put it down ... the game is so damn good.

There is jsut so much to talk about with this game I don't know where to begin.
Here goes:

New movement options:
The new movemet options are awsome and give the game a wierd paradigm shift in figuring out puzzles. The diagonal jump plates are awsome and let you jump diagonally off a wall while wallrunning ..... too cool.

New traps:
Some devious new types of traps make you understand that in the previous games there was a window to timing the traps ..... in this version there is either "timed right" or "failed miserably"

The dark prince:
Brings a whole new fighting style with the daggertail. Lots of fun to use :)
He also introduces a new way to move through the levels, using the daggertail as a swing whip. Also adds great internal dialogue with the prince.

The story:
It picks up from the alternate ending of warrior within and re-introduces some awsome characters :)

The humor:
So very funny dialogue and situations ... even among the disasterous surroundings

The speed kill system:
Easily the best new addition to the game. Beware, this is not the easy "I've snuck up behind the enemy and can now kill him with one button" type system. It can be very, very difficult. But the greatest thing about it .... they use it in every boss fight to awesome effect.

Now run, don't walk, to your nearest retailer and BUY THIS GAME !!!!!

-Aequitas

technorati tags: Gaming, Prince of Persia

The Matrix: Path of Neo

2005-12-06T09:47:00.000+02:00

I decided to splurge a little and buy myself a copy of "The Matrix: Path of Neo". Now the shop I bought it from has a 24 hour no-questions-asked return policy. This lets me try the game and if it sucks ass I can return it and get something else (they sell CD's and DVD's aswell so there is always something I can count on).

About 10 minutes into the game I thought: "Oh hell, this is crap, I'm taking this back tomorrow" ... but since I was boared I kept playing. Some 2 hours down the line I'm enjoying the hell outta this game ... it 's one of the most stylish, cinematic games I've played in years ... and the combat is AWESOME!!

Needless to say, I did not return it :) If you get your hands on this game, my advice is: Just stick with it ... it gets WAY better and is worth the play thu.

-Aequitas

technorati tags: Gaming, Matrix, Path of Neo

2 Mayhems in a row

2005-12-05T06:40:00.000+02:00

Because of a weird coincidence, mayhem November and mayhem December were only 1 week apart. This meant a lot of gaming for the past 2 weekends.

Mayhem November:
This mayhem was mostly just Quake 4 deathmatch ... and a bunch of leeching :) I had to leave at 15:00 cause there was a braii to get to at Matt and Meri's place.

Mayhem December:
This mayhem was more Quake 4, but also lots of Call of Duty 2 (which is awsome in multiplayer) and F.E.A.R.
Quake runs like crap on my machine if there are more than 6 people in a server, upgrade here we come.
Call of Duty 2 actaully runs quite well even with 32 players. The included the 'trench gun' (come on ppl ... it's a shotgun ... wtf call it a trenchgun ??) which kill with extreme prejudice.
F.E.A.R. is crazy in sloMo DM ... especially when you run around with only pistols and grenades .... and then still come 4th ;P

I also grabbed a bunch of new games ala x-men legends 2, gun, the movies. I haven't had time to play them yet ... but I'm hoping they will be fun :)

-Aequitas

technorati tags: Mayhem, Quake 4, Call of Duty 2, FEAR

Be free ... in space

2005-11-22T20:44:00.000+02:00

A friend of mine, Clawy, recently got himself a new Logitech freedon 2.4 joystick. This, naturally, catalised an afternoon of space jock gaming :)

The game of the day: Freespace 2

If you've ever played a space-flight sim you will know that just about everything is completely out of proportion. Capitol ships are only about 20 or 30 times your size (where they should be 100 or 200 times) and corvettes are about 20 cm bigger than a figher. Freespace 2 is still one of the only games where scale is truly astounding. You see a carrier at what you think is attack range ..... and then it takes you about 10 minutes to get near it at full speed ... insane.

If you have never played freespace 2, I suggest that you head on over to underdogs and download a copy. This is still one of the difinitive space jock titles IMHO.

-Aequitas

technorati tags: Gaming, Space-FLight Sim, Freespace 2

A reason to upgrade

2005-11-22T07:14:00.000+02:00

Well .. technically 2 reasons: F.E.A.R. and Quake 4 .... but only for the multiplayer really.

Let me elaborate:
This weekend was quite interesting, saturday was spent alternately watching Battlestar Galactica and playing GuildWars (so that went quite well).
Sunday was spent lanning with Brett, Nelson and D. We decided to try some Quake 4 ... and ended up playing almost exclusively that the whole time. The game is just excellent: a fluid, Quake 2 feeling, movement system, with about the speed of quake 3, and the new Quake 4 looks and weapons ... and a remake of my favourite Q2 level "The Edge", now called "Over the Edge".

Getting back to my original point: Quake 4 runs fine in singleplayer in 1024x768 on High Quality, but in multiplayer I have to tone down to 800x600 medium quality. Strage thing is I get a similar phenomenon in F.E.A.R. ... and thus my original point: Upgrade your machine if you want to play either of theses games in multiplayer.

technorati tags: Gaming, Quake 4, F.E.A.R., Hardware

Battlestar Galaaaaaa..... the bastards

2005-11-22T07:07:00.000+02:00

Battlestar Galactica.... all in all a great series: good acting, great CG, screws with your head story. These are all good things. The one thing that is SUCKS at, however, is having a conclusion !!!!

At the moment the series is in a holding patern from season 2 episode 10. No new episodes have come out since then and they (obviously) just set up for an insane cliffhanger.

Please, I beg you, anyone with a brain at SciFi channel: Continue production on Battlestar Galactica and Stargate Atlantis ... please !!

-Aequitas

technorati tags: SciFi, Battlestar Galactica, Stargate Atlantis

It's wanted

2005-11-22T06:53:00.000+02:00

Need for speed: most wanted has just come out and while I'd LOVE to go grab a copy, but geri has already promised to buy me one ... so I can't :(

Graphically the game is stunning, with some HDR type stuff trown in to really make your eyes water ... *glee*

Finally you get to try and evade police again. This is something that was sorely missed since hot persuit 2 and many fans (including myself) are happy to see it return.

Also back is the massive amount of car licenses (BMW M3 gtr ... mmmmmmhhhhh) and visible vehicle damage ... especially on the cop cars :)

If you liked the customisability of underground and the cop running from hot persuit, most wanted will not dissapoint.

-Aequitas

technorati tags: Gaming, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Racing

GuildWars for President

2005-11-17T20:08:00.000+02:00

Wow .. lotsa guildwars news today:

First off, I've been playing alot lately and have a little story to tell:
There is a storyline mission in the Crystal Desert called "Elona Reach". This mission is regarded as very difficult and is filled with casters (ouch).
I first entered with henchies (which ppl will tell you is a seriously bad idea) and my Mesmer/GeoMancer build ... this did not go very well. I just couldn't do enough damage without completely depleting my energy and the enemies had healiers !!!

So I decided to go to my good old pure Mesmer anti-caster build (with two anti-physical spells for good measure). What happened? I hear you ask ... I friggin ACED it .... bonus and all. Moral of this story: There is nothing as devastating to your team cohesion as a good mesmer. And here is a pick of the end cinematic for Ellona Reach

Moving on: One of the nw classes for the GW expansion has been announced : Assasin. I almost fraked out in the office when I read this .... Awsome. The image here is a scan of the sass and she's carrying, omg, throwing knives ... again Awsome. I imagine a medium/close range fighter with insane dodge and insane damage skills and mabye some single enemy barrage type stuff .... yet again Awsome
.

Just playing recently has made me aware once again how beautiful and detailed guildwars is. I found some cool paintings in Ascalon and decided to put them up here :)

And also a TINY but very detailed butterfly

And a great shot of a valley bordered by a ridge in the shiverpeaks

-Aequitas

technorati tags: GuildWars, Gaming

This week on "The Weekend"

2005-11-15T07:40:00.000+02:00

Many things happened: There was a siege, a War,a Drink (of CREAM), a Hernia, a Battlestar, and a Griffon.

Allow me to ellaborate.

The Siege:
Me and Geri started playing Dungeon Siege II Multiplayer on friday. She still has to get the hang of it, but so far she's a quick study .... and she loves to summon the Kraken !!!

The War:
D came around and we tested whether GuildWars could support 2 ppl playing over a single modem ... which it can. I also played GW a little on saturday, sunday and mnday (which I'm VERY happy about), so it seems that Mweb has opened port 6112 for me ... YAY.

A Drink:
On Saturday Evening we were supposed to go out with D and Illona, and some of D's cousins. Needless to say the cousins decided that they were "too tired". We were thinking of going to Zeplins (Metal/Alternative/Goth Club) but the godawful afrikaans band "Vokofpoliesikar" was playing, and I refuse to be within a 1 km radius of that shit. So instead we went to Manuka instead where, to my chagrin, I ordered a drink which is basically the equivalent of a tub of alcoholic cream ... yuk.

A Hernia:
We went and played squash on sunday ... but this is not where the afformentioned hernia occured. It happend afterwards at Clawy's place, playing Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3, cause when the characters power up, it looks like they are popping a hernia ;P

A Battlestar:
I got Battlestar galactica from Clawy on sunday aswell and have just finished watching the miniseries and the first episode .... pretty good stuff.

A Griffon:
I got the Family Guy movie from D this weekend ... funny stuff. For those who don't know, the Family Guy characters are the Griffon family .. and thus the reference :)

Geez ... my weekends are always so packed ... I think I need a weekend from my weekend

-Aequitas

technorati tags: Gaming, Dungeon Siege 2, GuildWars, DBZ, Battlestar Galactica, Family Guy

You WILL hear something new

2005-11-11T09:03:00.000+02:00

Pandora - Discover Music

This is just too cool. You type in the name of a song or band that you like .... and pandora finds similar music and streams it to you ... for FREE.
If they play a song that you don't like, you can tell it and it will change the selection to suite your tastes !!!!

in the immortal words of DeathKhrist669: "T3H AW50MN3SSS !!!!!1111eleventyone11!!!"

-Aequitas

technorati tags: Music, Technology, Pandora

Gotta love that swarm Logic

2005-11-10T09:29:00.000+02:00

So ... Phoneswarm = awsomely random. Only problem is that calling US number from good old ZA will cost about ....1 billion rand ??

We need to try and get a phoneswarmZA going ... heh, that would be cool.

technorati tags: Phoneswarm

Prince of Persia 2.5: The long wait

2005-11-09T19:40:00.000+02:00

So I've preordered 'Prince of Persia 3: The Two Thrones' ..... and now I get to wait for it to be released. I already own Warrior Within but I never did get a copy of Sands of Time .... so I've ordered that along with TTT :)

So in the mean time I've been TRYING to play Guildwars ... no luck there. I also downloaded the installer for a free MMO called 'SilkRoad online', but since my UDP traffic is non-existant ... I can't play that either :(

technorati tags: GuildWars, Gaming, Games, Prince of Persia, SilkRoad

Metamorphasis of Prime Intelect

2005-11-04T09:39:00.001+02:00

Go and read MOPI ..... it will make you think (this is a good thing)

- Aequitas

Technorati Tags: MOPI, Roger Williams, SciFi, Books

Future games that already happened

2005-11-04T09:39:00.000+02:00

Just Finished watching the trailors for "The Matrix: Path of Neo" and "Star Wars: Empire at War" and they both look awsome.

Interestingly enough, the events in star wars are set 'a long long time ago in a galaxy far far away' and the events in the matrix have already happend (since you play through what already happened in the movies ... not new content)

In Path of Neo, it seems like you get to play through everything that happens to Neo, starting where the first movie starts and ending where he dies .... pretty cool :)

Empire at War lets you play commander (in space and on the ground) of either Empire or Rebels, and lets you even change the outcome .... sweet ;)

I'm pretty amped about these games ... hope they don't take too long to come out.

-Aequitas

Technorati Tags: Gaming, Matrix, Star Wars

Makes Fucking Sense

2005-11-03T06:28:00.000+02:00

So the internet at work is 'filtered' by WebSense ... it will disallow ANYTHING even remotely interesting on the net (blogs, flickr, gaming, gmae news) except online comics. But of course because pedantic fucks rule this company, being seen reading any comics (even on your lunch break) is almost like suicide.

I really hope websense goes down soon, as it sometimes does. Perhaps if I can find a MASS of small files to queue for download I can overflow the system ...

-Aequitas

Technorati Tags: Assholes, Comics, WebSense

The War is closed for today

2005-10-31T20:49:00.000+02:00

Gah !! There is only one expalination for when you can access any webpage on the net, but not download from FTP or connect to Guild Wars .... port shaping/blocking.

Either mweb or telkom has decided to fuck my net connection and not let me play Guild Wars tonight .... and I really wanted to play with the halloween stuff !! I also promised Buzz we'd try out a couple builds for taking out giants tonight, so those plans are shot to hell :(

This friggin country NEEDS a second national operator A.S.A.P.

-Aequitas

Update: So far, neither Telkom or Mweb seems to be working on the problem... and it's wednesday already :( I wait for about 7 minutes just changing areas. I wish a plague on them all !!!!

Technorati Tags: Gaming, GuildWars

Halloween: Guild Wars Style

2005-10-31T13:20:00.000+02:00

So this weekend ArenaNet springs a surprise halloween present on us ... by Drastically changing the scenery of some of the outposts in Tyria. How friggin cool is that ??

I like the fact that alot of the chnages are genuinely creepy (and not silly like much of halloween) and actually give a whole different atmosphere to the towns.

Unfortunitely for me , the internets were slow this weekend due to Telkom being a bunch of jackasses :( But hopefully I'll be able to play tonight.

Here are a couple of screenshots that I managed to snap in Lions Arch. Once this is all over I'm gonna revisist those areas for comparison picks :)

-Aequitas

Technorati Tags: GuildWars, Gaming, Halloween

DirectX Hotlab ... or GameDev Talkfest

2005-10-30T23:37:00.000+02:00

So me and D went thru to Microsoft in Johannesburg for the DirectX Hotlab .... and ended up talking more about GameMaker and GameDev than DirectX :)

The next hotlab should be more DX focused tho, which is cool cause I'd like to play with DX a little.

Here are some shots of Microsoft (sorry for the blurry).

Technorati Tags: Microsoft, DirectX, Gaming, GameDev, Programming

Of Tooth and Claw

2005-10-29T07:32:00.000+02:00

Played WereWolf with Meri, Matt and D last night ... till Midnight !!

Now you must understand that, in the spirit of roleplaying I made a character who (when he was still human) was a doctor. This choice apparently made him COMPLETELY USELESS AT HAND TO HAND COMBAT. So in our previous session I was given a skill point in firearms (yay) and so last night managed to pull a Miracle Shot™ ... which was promply dodged by a damn Azlu :( I am at least slightly consoled by the fact that said Azlu could stop a fast moving 800 pound crate with one hand.

If you haven't roleplayed before, I suggest that you give it a try, just make sure to get an experienced DM ... it helps.

-Aequitas

Technorati Tags: Desktop Roleplaying, Gaming

Monk/Ranger .. built for bait and trap

2005-10-28T13:53:00.000+02:00

A great Guildwars build if you are a secondary ranger who wants to Solo in Northern Shiverpeaks.

Dual Shot
Apply Poison
Ignite Arrows
Troll Unguent
Dryder's Defenses
Storm Chaser
Barbed Trap
Dust Trap

The Great Thing about this build is that it is mostly "Wilderness Survival" and "Marksmanship", so you can really pump high attribute points for them

Technorati Tags: Gaming, GuildWars

Gadgets of function BEEP

2005-10-28T09:22:00.000+02:00

A very funny quote from an article that get's you thinking a little.

I could go on -- clothes driers, watches, computers -- but you get the point. The people who make all these things obviously think we're idiots. That without their constant, irritating reminders, we'd go wandering off, our minds blank, to drool down our shirts or spend 30 minutes tying our shoes.

Wired News: You Know What? Just Shut Up

READ IT !!!

-Aequitas

Technorati Tags: Wired, Technology

Because it's all in your head

2005-10-28T08:48:00.000+02:00

That's right ... nothing happening to you is real to anyone else ... except you.

Well, there are 2 reasons for starting this blog:
1) I want to try out all the Features of Flock
2) The Bosses at work said that I can't use my 10 minute smoke break to view webcomics !!! (the bastards), and since I don't smoke I'm just expected to work while everyone else gets a 10 minute break every half hour .... BULLSHIT !!

This blog will be about gaming and the alternate reality of my mind.
enjoy ... or be terribly afraid (YMMV)

-Aequitas