PS3!

Yep, I finally took the plunge and got myself a PS3. Best decision ever. The starter pack that is available in Europe, Australia and New Zealand includes the standard console pack, an extra PS3 controller, as well as two games (Motorstorm and Resistance:Fall of Man), all for the same price as the PS3 console by itself. That amounts to about $280 of saving in Australia. The first thing I did when I got it unboxed was to format the hard drive to set aside 10GB for Linux (Sony allows 3 options when formatting, All for GameOS, all but 10GB for GameOS, or 10GB for GameOS). Since I primarily wanted this for gaming, but wanted to play around with a Linux distribution, something I had not done up to that stage.

Next, was to update the system firmware to the highest level, ensuring that I got all components from the newer version (upscaling for DVD/PS1/PS2 and updated backwards compatibility especially). Next was to try one of the games. I decided that Motorstorm would be the best thing as it was a more pickup and play style game with short, defined levels that would be easy to share around (some friends had come over to watch a movie, so a lengthly session was out of the question).

After the Motorstorm trial run, next I tested out the network operations. I have wireless in my house so I went through the wireless setup to find that it was as easy to set up as on the PSP. The setup for a Playstation Network account was a little lengthly, however it was simple. Next stop was the Playstation Store, which is the download centre for the PS3, with games, demos, movies and trailers just a few clicks away. Background downloading is a great feature, as it will download your item while you continue surfing the internet, watching a movie or even playing a game. It will only download one item at a time, however you can queue many items up so that when one finishes the next one will automatically start, which is a nice feature.

Other features include Folding@Home, a protein folding program that is part of the distributed computing program. Whenever your PS3 is on but not being used you can run Folding@Home to help advance science. A nice feature, however one that most users will probably not spend much, if any, time looking into.

There are many more features that I have not covered here, if there is anything that you wish me to explain in further detail, or something that I missed completely, post a comment and I will do by best to answer your question.

All in all, the system surpassed my expectations. With the games coming out in the next few months (Heavenly Sword, Warhawk, The Orange Box, Assassin's Creed & LittleBigPlanet to name a few) the PS3 will begin to step up in sales.

Simply Awesome.

So long since posts (again)

What has kept me away this time? Just the best console and games available.

only 3 weeks ago I picked up a Playstation 3 starter pack (console, extra controller, Motorstorm & Resistance:FoM). Many late nights and tired days have followed, all well worth it of course. Resistance is an awesome looking game with great gameplay. The online mode is so much fun.
I also recently finished God of War. What an amazing game. Works well on PS3 too, with the software emulation.

I will expand upon all these later, just an update to say I'm still here.

Flash Games

Ok, we all have our own little flash games that we love to play, so now is your chance to share then with us all. I will post some of my favourite/most frustrating flash games that I play, hoping that you will give them a change. If you know of any great flash games that eat up hours of your time then please, post a comment with a link for all of us to enjoy.

First is one based upon something I first played in Warcraft III. Tower Defence. This simple yet hard game asks you to stop blobs from getting from one side to the other. You build towers to stop them, with the best results coming from a maze, causing the blobs to take the longest time to reach the exit. More money is gained from every kill, while there are multiple towers to choose from each with upgrades.

Next is a different type of tower defence, Element TD. Similar concept however you cannot maze, you just have to arrange your towers in the best way to kill the mobs as fast as possible.

Now a mind bending one, the aptly named Irritating Game, where you have to stop two balls from falling. One bounces breakout style, while the other is on a sew-saw device. My best is just short of 40 seconds, see how you do.

And the best time waster of all, Line Flyer. This game is easy. Draw lines for a guy to slide down. Different iterations are around, with different vehicles but the original is a motorcycle. Addicting and so hard, just an awesome game.

Now that I've shared my favourite four, why not give them a try, and share your own. I love wasting time trying out addictive flash games.

Blizzard's Version...

Long time no post.

Since my last post Blizzard has implemented there own version of a character sharing site, The Armory. This allows others to search for you and check out what gear, buffs, talents, reputation etc that you have upon logging out. This basically renders all other attempts redundant, since you can imbed the information into another webpage as well as being able to look for gear upgrades that you can get, and where they come from. A good attempt by Blizzard that is getting updated regularly enough to come back to it time and time again.

P.S. my armory page is Zakharov

Awesome Character sharing site.

I discovered an awesome site for sharing what gear, stats, reputation you have with others.

http://ctprofiles.net/

It has a list of alot of items, including expansion, which you can equip to show you what your current stats are. You create an account, then simply select the spot you desire to add armour/gear to, select what you have in that slot (has a long list, clicking on one shows the stats).

I found this website and created an account straight away, took less than 15 mins. That included trying to remember what gear I had (thottbot helped alot with quest rewards), since I was away from a computer with WoW (argh, the perils of work.)

Here is what I have.

Valentines Day <3

It is the day of love (as far as Hallmark is concerned). People everywhere are getting/giving chocolates, flowers, cards, soft toys, dinner. The list goes on. I just want to say a big I LOVE YOU to my girlfriend, Bindi. I may have to work, but that doesn't mean that I still can't spoil you. <3

So angry!

With Oscar fever in full swing, I decided to watch a bunch of movies that were nominated for various categories. There were some great movies, some good movies, and some movies that just make me so mad. I want to talk about the latter, a documentry. Jesus Camp. This is about a group of kids going to Jesus Camp, a camp run by a (somewhat insane) lady for conservative christians. It is worth a watch, simply to see how fanatical people can be. Not to give too much away, but at the camp they seem to do some normal camp things, go-karting etc, while also doing extreme things, like getting kids to smash cups (with hammers) with the word government on them, as well as shaking and speaking in tongues. It is quite disturbing to see the adults do to the children. It can easily be described as brainwashing.

It shows not only the adults but also the kids perspective, which shows the result of the years of training by the adults. With debunking of science (global warming), displays of anti-government, the list goes on. This movie makes me angry, made my friends angry, as it should. Some people may say that it only shows the bad bits, that it is biased. There are some cleaver shots that seem to suggest that. However, the woman running the camp saw the movie before it was released at thought that it was great, that it was an accurate representation of her faith.

One last thing to remember. These conservative christians believe that god created us, that we didn't evolve. That is fine, I respect that, there are many things I believe that others don't. One reason I have heard them say against evolution is that if we evolved from monkeys, why are there still monkeys (aside from the fact that everything evolved from the same single-celled creatures, so only humans would exist under their reasoning). They just make me mad.

P.S. If you're anything like me, you will feel like sinning, ALOT, after seeing this movie. Keep that in mind and maybe have a way of sinning handy at the end.

More PS1 games on PSP

One of the most exciting features of the PSP, for me atleast, is the ability to play some great, clasic PS1 games on it. The downside is that you need a large memory stick (can't really get around that), as well as a PS3. That is the real killer. A $1000AU purchase just to play old games on a great handheld. Another thing is that only select games are available, and need to be downloaded. Why is this? Why not, since you need a PS3 anyway, allow users to put their legal PS1 games into the system and allow them to be copied to the PSP. Or, give a discount to the download prices for having the original. I don't know why, when I have an original PS1 game infront of me that I have to pay for it again, just to play on my new system.

Sony, I love your systems, please treat them, and their users, properly. We are your customers, without us there would be now PSP or PS3. If you don't fix this, there may not be a PS4.

Archer Maclean's Mercury Review

This review is written from the point of view of the author, with no intent to persuade readers to or away from buying a particular game. This is intended as a guide only.

One of the release games for PSP (in Australia at least), this game has plenty of great moments. A challenging puzzler with an inventive idea (not surprising, considering Archer Maclean's past efforts). You control a 3D world, which you can rotate by using the analogue nub. A blob of mercury rolls around, with the aim to get a portion the blob from the start to the finish. There are six worlds, each with twelve levels, which makes for quite abit of a challenge. There is also a bonus world (with only 6 levels), which is quite harder than the normal worlds. Even unlocking them is a real challenge. There are five level types, with a mix of them on each world. Race, percentage and task levels are the main ones (three of each for each world), with combo (two) and boss (one) also making an appearance, so there is a variety to keep you from getting bored. There is also a bonus level for each world, which can only be unlocked by getting the high score on every level on that world, quite a challege.

Being a blob, and not a solid object, the mercury can be split up into smaller pieces, squished and stretched. The downside is that small bits of mercury may fall off the platform, resulting in a lower score. There is a minimum amount to mercury needed to activate the finish line, so trying to get the best score is a balancing act between best time and most mercury left. There are objects that the blob can interect with, both good and bad. They can change your colour, transport you to a new area, or squish you to remove some of your precious metal.

All in all, this game takes quite a bit to finish. For the completest there is a high score table, which is exceedingly difficult to top in the later worlds.

Now for the things I would've liked in this game. The high score table, while good, is different for every user. That means going between profiles to compare best scores on levels. This isn't overly bad, just something I would have liked to see implemented (similar to Lumines, with one score table for the game, so you can easily prove your dominance, or lack of). As all PSP owners know, the analogue nub also leaves room for improvement. This is a fault with the system, not the game, but it deserves a mention, especially when it can mean the difference between top score and no score.

Overall, this is an inventive game that makes good use of the PSP's widescreen and portable nature, with just a few niggles to drag it back. Mainly aimed at the puzzler crowd, this will be overlooked by many as a simple, childs game. It is so much more.

7.5/10

So many choices, so little rep...

After getting a mage to port me to Org (a quest also required me to go there, hence my choice) a shameful, overpriced yet worthwhile 2g, I get my first set of expansion skills. However, I could have got them earlier. A whole level earlier. It seems that from lvl 60 onwards, there are new skills every level, not every second (for everyone except Rogues, it seems they get nothing new at 63 or 65). Maybe this is a ploy by Blizzard to get us going back to Azeroth more often. Whatever the reason, the fact remains that either more trips are required, or just getting more skills when you do make that trek back. I got my first new expansion skill, Fel Armor (Armour, damn Americans), which gives increased healing from spells/effects and increased damage. The downside is that only one armour type can be active at one, meaning that Demon Armor cannot also be used. So, extra armour and health per 5 for PvP (Demon), with extra spell damage for PvE (Fel).

I finished all the quests in Hellfire Peninsula (PvP repeatable quest done numerous times), so I needed to decide where to go next. I went with Terokkar Forest to explore first (instead of Zangarmarsh), mainly since Shattrath City is located in that region. Shattrath is the main city in Outlands, the only one with a bank, as well as having portals (one way) to every major city in Azeroth. This seems like a good place to set my hearth to. Central enough that flying will never cost too much, while portals back to Azeroth has many gains (no more money for you, Mr. Mage).

An interesting feature of the new city is split factions. There is the main faction, for which doing any quest within the city will gain rep, while there is also the Aldor and Scryer factions. These two factions both love the city but detest each other. You must pick which faction to join with. Doing quests for this faction will increase your rep for them, but lower your rep with the other faction. The faction rewards are different, so it is worth checking out all options before deciding who to form an alliance with. WoWWiki has a good comparison guide showing the items side by side and helping you to choose which faction best suits your class/playing style. I went with the Scryer.

With the discovery of a new area comes new rep to gain, areas to explore and mobs to grind on. Until next time, brave adventurers, remember, the only good Hellboar is a dead Hellboar.

Lumines score.

I've done it. A new high score along with two new skins. The new score to beat (among anyone trying to compete with me) is 125,751. I know there are probably many people who can beat that, but it's a start. I'm the best that I know of, can any of YOU beat me?

Monster loot in RPGs

I read an interesting opinion about the loot that monsters drop in RPGs. How a spider or boar can drop a magical sword and how often the quest items you need (such as boar livers) don't drop of every boar, or how blood is already is nicely sealed containers.

To finish off, a joke I once read on a sidebar add (can't remember site or product advertising).

Robbing hood takes from the rich and gives to...

Monsters. How else does a level 5 spider get that much gold.

Ding!

Yay, all done. lvl 62. After much questing and mob killing (I think the hellboars are glad to be rid of me), I finally hit 62. Now the big question, how on Azeroth am I going to get back to a trainer without long travel times. Pay a mage for a port (average 2.5g on my server)? My hearth is already set to Thrallmar, so I believe the best plan is to try and get a port on the cheap, or fly back to the Dark Portal, go through it and fly there from Stonard, Swamp of Sorrows. Then, once I'm all done in Azeroth, hearth back to Outlands, to continue my never-ending desire to remove all hellboars from the face of the planet... or just if my quest log requires it.

One down, nine to go.

After much questing and, surprisingly, little grinding, I hit lvl 61. This happened some time on saturday, about 2 days ago. I have replaced many more of my blues with greens, while even managing to get myself an outland blue, yay. To me, there seems to be less grinding needed to complete quests, with only once thinking that a drop rate was too low (felblood from the terrorfiends in Pools of Aggonar). Discovered some new herbs with great buffs (30 health per 5 just for picking some Dreaming Glory).

The incentive to participate in world PvP is also good, with marks being given for the main towns upon completion of a repeatable quest. These marks are redeemed from reasonable rewards from the main town in Hellfire Peninsula. I had a brief look at the next area, Zangarmarsh, which also looks quite interesting and pretty. The unofficial true on my server also seems to be over, with PvP happening on a more regular basis away from the world PvP areas.

I have yet to try out the new battleground, I think I will wait for a few more levels before trying it out. Then there may be more people doing it, plus I will be more able to hold my own. Oh, be careful with quest items. One quest requires you to go to Cenarion Refuge in Zangarmarsh to get some wine to seduce a Blood Elf. I did that, but on the way back I accidentally drank the wine myself when trying to eat to regain health. That means a long trek back to get more. Bugger.

Still enjoying the quests, with enough variety to make the same old 'go here, kill x of that, collect y of these' quests seeming fresh. I'm sure that won't last, so I'm enjoying it while I can.

So many problems, so little time.

Why do software makers have to make their software difficult to implement in a way other than they intended. I don't mean in a illegal way, just collaborating with other software. I am currently in the process of writing an application, with the problems being rather immense, mostly with compatability issues.

The basic premise is that I am building a Domino server to serve electronic forms built using IBM's Workplace Forms (written in eXtensible Forms Description Language or XFDL). To get maximum functionallity out of the forms they must be viewed with the Workplace Forms Viewer. Understandable. This is not feasable since I need people to access the forms over the internet who may not have the viewer installed, nor do they want to pay for it to use these forms. To get around this, there is a Java Servlet Page (JSP) which detects if the local machine has the viewer installed. This is running from IBM WebSphere. If it does, it uses the viewers browser plug-in to display the form, else it renders it in HTML. All good so far (a few problems with getting the form from the the url that Domino was serving, rather than from a file, but that was overcome). The next step is to allow submission of the form, for processing and use by Workflow Express. This was more difficult than anyone could possibly imagine.

The main difficulty was in the version of the forms. The processing of the submitted form was working fine with forms written under the Pureegde Designer 6.5 (XFDL 6.5). The newest version is the IBM Workplace Forms Designer 2.6 (XFDL 7.0). The forms are also encoded, so the only way to view the source code was to open them up in the designer. To open the forms written with 6.5, they needed to be upgraded to 7.0 first. Once they are upgraded, with no other changes made, they were no longer submitting properly. The difference was in the information contained within the header of the form. The time I spent figuring that out, well, I dread to think of it.

So now submission of forms works when using the Viewer. The submitted form has the relevent data retreived, placed into a corresponding Domino form, for viewing over the web, with the original form in Domino as an attachment. Great.

Try this with HTML. Errors fly left and right faster then the eye can see. Reason? I have figured out that in order for data to be extracted from the form, it needs to be XFDL. Simple enough. But it is now HTML, not XFDL. This problem I have yet to overcome.