Monday, October 31, 2005

Comment spambots eat turd

I have enabled some thing in the comments field so that the spambots can get fucked. I figured when it got to three comments on a post that were all the spam fuckers that enough was enough.

Virtual gamers reveal themselves.

For some reason they didn't include my submission?

BBC article about something.

Sunday, October 30, 2005

The Proposition

is being marketed as a quaint, poetic Australian film set in colonial times, with script penned and soundtrack yodeled by crooner Nick Cave.

It is in fact a gritty, violent western, set in the darkest depiction of colonial Australia ever printed to film. Do not see this film with a girl. I went with my wife, who chose it, and I thought it was going to be a bit gay. Instead it's harrowing. It will go down as an important Australian film, and will get a lot of attention overseas, which is good as the Aus film industry needs all the help it can get.

The guns are LOUD, like they would be in reality, and the performances are fantastic. I really liked this film. Nick Cave is a wanker, but if you like Westerns, particularly darker grittier ones, you will love this. You have been warned, if you take a girl, brace yourself for gore, and do not expect to get any grope action going in the cinema, because she will be busy watching the film from between her fingers and whimpering.

ROAD HOGS

Skaffen I won an ebay auction for a book I needed (a secret weapon book I've stashed to use later) and it came with Road Hogs, so I have a spare copy I will mail to you when I get a care package of comics and music etc prepared for you.

Avalon is still happening, but we started a game with just the 11 year old, in Road Hogs - using After the Bomb, which is the 2nd edition of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles RPG, with the road hogs supplement which is mad max with anthropomorphic rabbits and shit.

When we were camping on the school holidays it rained a bit one day and we started rolling up Avalon characters. I'd brought the Road Hogs supplement also, and we started chatting about that setting - next thing you know, the 11 year old had just about completely made up his character, bar actually rolling anything up and writing anything down. Anyway he's a Tasmanian Devil, and in the Road Hogs book the Tassie Devil is like Taz the cartoon (yanks wrote the game.) He has to eat protein 4 times his body weight daily, sleeps a lot after eating, and has heaps of attacks and is strong as fuck. Anyway he's a bounty hunter in an armoured 4wd he put together during his truckie/auto mechanic apprenticeship, and has on a high interest loan a GUNNY robot who can slot into the armoured turret on the roof, which currently sports a light machine gun. The robot (I made up) looks like the magic pudding, it's a large pot with little arms in front which can drive, and big spider legs out the back. I have to do some home brew robot rules. For now it can drive cars and fire artillery only, but for $ could be programmed to use pistols and do other stuff.

So we finished the character after 30 minutes here and there over the last few weeks, and had our first mini-session today, as we both need to get the hang of the system. I had him driving down a highway and I just took the encounter straight from the vehicle combat example in Road Hogs. The funny thing is he got around the truck which was backing out trying to cut him off, but then failed his control roll and spun the 4wd out onto the dirt and ended up in a ditch (for 10 melees) just as the 5 bikes, stationwagon and sports car pull out onto the road ahead. And then we had to stop.

So the road hogs (evil bikies) on bikes will dismount and fire from cover behind the armoured station wagon, while the sports car will wait behind the station wagon in case the Tassie Devil gets the 4wd running again. He'll have to choose what to do - he can have Gunny fire on the road hogs while he works on getting the 4wd going, and good drive/mechanic rolls might lower the time from 10 rounds (by a few, if he makes good rolls), but unless Gunny's machinegun fire from the roof turret blows up the station wagon and maybe some bikes, the Tasmanian Devil is going to be under a LOT of fire, and he might start picking targets off with aimed shots with an assault rifle through the gun slits in the windows - but this means the 4wd is well and truly stuck until the end of the firefight. And all that's not taking into account the truck. I think at some stage he should notice someone on the roof of the truck lining him up with a rocket launcher on their shoulder.

It's pretty cute watching him play - he's so new to all this and has no idea what to do, so I lead him a little but mostly give him options. He's finding it very exciting and we are both having a wow of a time.

We talked a bit about (assuming he survives) what would happen after he prevails. I suggested throw road hog bodies and bikes into the back of the road hogs truck and drive the lot to the nearest town, with Gunny driving the 4wd. The sports car will be worth some $ if intact. But I am hoping for at least one road hogs vehicle to go up in a ball of fire, preferably starting a chain reaction. We'll see how it pans out.

Fire! Fire!

Friday, October 28, 2005

Yoda

Wednesday, October 26, 2005

Running apps from USB key storage?

I'm not supposed to take my laptop in to nightshift anymore - anyway I've been wondering, and today saw the new Verbatim 2.1Gig USB Sttore'n'Go in Atomic, and thought I'd ask you dorks:

If I install an app, say Lightwave or something, to a USB memory key (even a 216Meg or whatever) could I plug that into the work PC and run the app from the key? I don't mind if it's sluggish, as long as it works.

The 2.1gig store'n'go sounds fun, it has a 4200 RPM microdrive. They go for $200. If I picked one up when I get paid out for this 3D gig, would I be able to load one of those puppies up with games and apps and run them on the work PC on nightshift?

Sunday, October 23, 2005

URBAN DEAD

"The city is dying. Some months on from the first reported outbreak, military quarantine units have closed Malton's borders, and are moving in to eliminate the looters, to forcibly evacuate those civilians who still refuse to leave their homes.

The city is dying, and the urban dead are filling its streets.

Urban Dead is a browser-based, grid-mapped, free-to-play multi-player game where you play the survivor or victim of a zombie outbreak in a quarantined city centre."

I am a dork, but this is browser-based and I'm at work. I think after about 12 minutes I am already addicted. My name on there is "Leggy Dalton", I am a military dude and I cannot hit a zombie with my pistol for shit.

Monday, October 17, 2005

Independant games development?

Read this and then part 2.

We have our work cut out for us :)

Friday, October 14, 2005

Fishtank anyone?

A fair while ago I was thinking about turning that perspex case I had into a fishtank case-mod, with a layer of fishies in water between you and the functional pc. It was either that or a lava lamp.

Anyway, now I find this site and I am sorry I never got off my arse and did something about it.

Oh yeah, some ghey fags are making jewelery of sorts too.

Thursday, October 13, 2005

Musicals... (I am NOT gay!)

"Location Free"

Okay, I am still not entirely sure what this is, but I think I am getting some idea. Have a look at the site and see what you think.

From what I can tell it's an appliance that controls your media appliances at home, but it has the ability to stream any media you have over the internet, to your PSP. (As long as you have a decent wireless pipe nearby.)

Does wnyone know if America etc are so saturated with free wireless internet that this kind of things actually makes sense? Or is it a fucking joke for now?

GOSH

Skaffen I have a sneaking suspicion you might appreciate the galleries on this 3D and 2D art site

Today is the greatest day in human existence



I haven't even read the specs of this yet, I just don't want to get beaten to the post. & with my burpday coming up in a few weeks. I think I know what Steve jobs will be getting me

Wednesday, October 12, 2005

NICE RACK !

It's late...

...and for some reason I stumbled across Just Fucking Google It.

Don't ask me why, but I ended up reading the mail the guy has received, and stumbled across this beauty.

UFO Maps, dot com.

Funny.

Fucking Americans.

Monday, October 10, 2005

I CAN SEE EVERYTHING!!

NOTHING ESCAPES MY OPTIC NERVE

Thursday, October 06, 2005

Michael Jackson at Wild Wadi?

I just saw on Foxtel a story that Michael Jackson hired out a "water theme park in Dubai" where he and family and friends spent a day - apparently Jacko had on a white lycra bodysuit covering everything except his eyes nose and mouth, scared of exposure to the sun.

Lucky he hired the whole joint out because when we were there people were pretty fucking rude. They all bump you hip and shoulder trying to cut in line, and when you tell them to fucking calm down and turn to get served their arms come in over the top with their ticket or whatever, waving at the girl behind the counter still trying urgently to be served first. Mostly expat arabs behave like this over there. Xmas day at a hotel dinner they had free presents, it was like a fucking riot, with screaming matches, shoving and kids nearly getting trampled by adults. It was quite disgusting and depressing.

It's one of those funny cultural things. Being stared at over there by Indian labourers is one thing - guys who don't think it's rude and really don't mean any offence, they're standing around with a finger up the nose minding their own business (anyone who thinks I'm being racist doesn't know me well, those who do will testify that I have my finger deep in my nose for a large part of the day) and some wierd dude walks past, so they stare. But this other thing is just a bizzare lack of courtesy. There is a perception that the English are particularly pompous, but I think AUstralians, while perceived as being fairly relaxed, are a bit pompous too in the sense that we are taught that to be rude is shameful. Even yanks don't mind talking loudly over tourguides while the rest of the bus is trying to hear what's going on, on this tour they paid money to go on. It's not that we're inherently more polite, it's that we would feel ashamed if we behaved rudely in that way. It's the kind of thing you might do if you were drunk.

Wednesday, October 05, 2005

That gay thing on the right should say some stupid stuff about how much gaming I have done to date. (i.e. none right now cause I only just installed it.)

Anyway, this XFire thing appears to handle things like:
-download manager that automatically pauses downloads when you start an online game
-in game chatty function regardless of who's playing what, even if you're not gaming you can tell me I am gay and stuff
-other funky shit I never thought of

I suggest checking it out, just because.

My username is tentaclemonster, someone please try it out and see if you can get a hold of me in game.

Trauma Center: Under the knife

Awesome, truly awesome ideas for the DS. Interactive surgery operations with cute nurses and gory innards. Cool!

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Rockets... with wheels... racing...