I’ve posted a new article in the written portion of the site. The article can be found here.
Additionally, I modified how the visual gallery works: you can now click on the image to be taken to the larger version. The previous method was counter-intuitive.
I’m back from DC, more on that (and the wedding) in an upcoming post.
A minor (but important) bit of site maintenance today… I finally got around to learning how to turn off email address links in the comments section. They were already protected from basic spambots, but were still viewable to the general public.
I’m still not allowing fully anonymous comments, but now the email address is not viewable to the public (and more importantly, to the webcrawlers out there). I’d been meaning to do this for a while, but only just recently had a chance to implement it.
If you really want a way to have people get in touch with you from a comment you leave on this site, leave a URL to your website.
I finally got around to putting up more images into the images gallery. I will be doing some more in the not too distant future, as well. I had been hesitant to put up that many images until I knew what I was going to do for a watermark system… I now have that set up and automated, so each image has a little translucent “www.nadreck.org” in the lower right corner.
You can find them here.
This is hardly a full list of games I wish would be created, but it is certainly a start.
1. Mega Man as a console first person shooter, ala Metroid Prime and Halo. Think about all the cool weapons and interesting enemies that could be done with this franchise. Far better this than the current rehashed dead-end currently being developed.
2. Starship Troopers as a MMOG. Universal ranking system, platoon “clans”, a combination of rpg elements, FPS, and RTS (at the command level). Something similar is being done currently called “Planetside”, which looks decent, but there is always room for improvement, and this universe is a perfect choice to build from.
3. Third Person MMORPG with graphics and gameplay reminiscient of Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past. The graphics in that game were non-photorealistic, which is part of what gave the game its charm. The drive for “realistic” graphics (lots of detail, dark gory characters, ala Warcraft, Diablo, EverQuest, Quake) is in my humble opinion a poorly thought out fad on the part of developers, and needs to go back to being A graphics methodology, not THE graphics methodology.
4. A reassessment and revamp of the concept of “role playing game.” There is a difference between console-rpgs, and pc-rpgs (this is a generalization, there are console style games on the pc, and pc style games on the console), and the difference primarily lies in the design philosophy applied. Originally in console-rpgs, you were essentially playing an interactive book or movie. You were essentially starring in a story, and the steps you take (with the exception of a few optional side quests) are both predetermined and storyboarded. PC-rpgs tend to leave a lot more ambiguity as to the progression of the story, leaving the player with a lot of freedom to develop as he so chooses, doing (at least in theory) what he wants. The PC-RPG seems to be in the lead in terms of number of games coming out, with really only a few (the Final Fantasy series, Xenosaga, Wild Arms, a few others) operating in the console arena. I want to see more games where the emphasis is on the story and characters, cut scenes and all. I have a suspicion that if we want the console-rpg style to survive, it needs to be redefined and delineated from the pc-rpg style.
Heh, ranted a bit more than expected on that last one. Wasn’t even a particular game I’d like to see made… it’s more of a general “I wish THIS would happen in the gaming industry!” So I guess it’s close enough to be on the wishlist.
It is official: I’m a geek. I now have all three of my consoles connected to the internet. Not only that, but it’s WIRELESS. Here’s how:
The three consoles (my GC broadband adapter just came in today) are plugged into a switch which is plugged into my ethernet converter, which communicates wirelessly with my airport station, which also acts as my router for my cable modem. Ta-da, no running cables all over the house.
Of course, I haven’t tested the Auto Modellista online capabilities yet through this set-up… I was on the beta and had connection problems, which they said they were going to fix. So when the actual game gets released, I’m like “woohoo! Online cell shaded racing at its finest!” Flip open the manual to discover that it (supposedly) requires a direct connection to the cable modem, and will not work over a NAT’d router.
What the hell kind of shit is that? Who pays for broadband in order to SOLELY connect it to the PS2? BAD Capcom! No biscuit!
I’m going to test that after I get back from my residency… too busy at the moment.
I’ve been muttering about switching to an external (and thus dynamic) links file for my list of links, and it has finally been implemented! It was really easy to do. PHP is your friend. Of course, PLEASE LET ME KNOW if you find a broken link. I’m pretty sure I got all of them, but you can never be sure.
Umm, I don’t really have much else to say in the way of an update at the moment. Expect more (visible) changes/additions in the near future.
You’ll also note that I removed Exploitation Now from my links list, and added both Diesel Sweeties and Goats. I did this because Exploitation Now is over (he ended the series, went off to do other stuff), and both DS and Goats are FREAKIN’ HILARIOUS.
Okay, so I got my new drive (thanks LaCie!). It is the same size as the old one, but slightly better… the previous one had been FW&USB, this one is FW&USB2. Hey, I’m all for it… especially since the recovery attempt failed, so the unexpected bus upgrade helps cheer me up.
The recovery attempt cost me $200. When they opened the drive, they discovered that the reader head had broken off and physically shredded the platter, completely eradicating my data. Nothing to be done. At least now I know. If another drive fails in the future, I’ll probably use DriveSavers again… they were expensive (most are), but they were cool enough to not treat me like an idiot.
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I will now relate to you exactly why multiple backups is SUCH A GOOD IDEA:
Back in January, I was feeling like my desktops were cluttered, and decided to clean house a bit. I created a backup drive using my LaCie 30GB PocketDrive, and transferred all my files to it.
I was extremely busy, and did not get a chance to get any but a few files (my Eudora folder, for instance… 200MB of email) off it at the time. About a week goes by, and I sit back down to finish the process… and the hard drive stops working.
Six YEARS worth of data, gone. 12GB of personal images. It’s my own damn fault for relying on one drive, but it still hurts a lot. Hoping it was just the bus (the firewire ports et cetera… the stuff that makes your drive something more than an internal drive stuffed in an enclosure), I sent it to LaCie. They were very cool about the whole thing. Unfortunately, it turned out the drive itself had gone bad. They suggested DriveSavers, which I then sought out. They are going to be sending me dvds of the data… for somewhere between $500 and $2700 (they won’t narrow the estimate more than that).
This is going to be a very painful process, I can already tell. I’ve sent a request to DriveSavers that if it looks like it is going to spend more than $1000, then to contact me… I may have to tell them to stop the process at that point. I’m making a “Donate to PayPal” link at the bottom of the page… if anyone is willing help me defray the costs (whether out of the kindness of your heart, or because by doing so will ensure that I’ll have that data to use for content for this site), I’d really appreciate it.
I finally got around to posting an entry onto the written blog. Be sure to check it out, if you are interested in what I’ve been doing over the past few months.
Just a quick post to say that I just upgraded the Movable Type blogging system (becoming more and more a CMS every version… makes me happy), from 2.5 to 2.63. The upgrade seems to have gone smoothly. Please post a comment if you find something has broken, though.
Not REALLY related, but: I am planning on revamping the site (again) at some point in the not too distant future. I’m still not satisfied with the level of involvement necessary to update minor things on the site, and I think there is an easier way (possibly using PHP). It shouldn’t change the interface much (as I still find this interface to be pretty clean, overall), but will make it a bit more dynamic and easily changeable (for instance, a dynamic php file for my links, so I can easily change them for all pages).
We’ll see if I can find time to do that in the coming weeks. I’m also finishing up my semester right now and am more than a bit crunched for time. The only reason I upgraded MT right now is because it took 5 minutes over breakfast. I guess that’s enough of an update for now… I’ll try to write again soon.