Back!

Not only am I back from vacation, and back to playing Xbox, but the blog is also back to normal!

I can only hope that what ever happened last time dosn't happen again. I'm still not sure what happened, but from what I can gather, the site where the layout I used was pulled from ran over it's limit for CSS using.

For now, we are back to our "Theme." Hope you enjoyed the brief flashback! The new layout also now includes a "Search" function that kinda works. I didn't do it (it came with this theme), so don't complain to me about it's problems!

Where Am I?

As I continue my week long vacation down my the beach, I thought I'd update with a sort of virtual tour of where I've been. So, without getting in your car, lets head out to the beach and take a tour...

Friday, Day One
Today we head out. Cheek into Villas. Walk around Fashion Island. Eat at CA Pizza Kitchen.

Saturday, Day Two
Go to Crystal Cove Beach.

Sunday, Day Three
Out on rented boat. Balboa Fun Zone.

Monday, Day Four
Hang out around pool

Tuesday, Day Five
Aquarim of the Pacific in Long Beach. Joe's Crab Shack.

Wednesday, Day Six
Whale Watching off the coast. Dinner on beach.

Thursday, Day Seven
Not sure yet...

Friday, Day Eight
Return home. Play Galaga!

Away at the Beach

Ahhh, life is good. I'm blogging this while sitting in a nice, cool room overlooking the beautful Pacific Ocean. And I'm here all week. Sure, I'll miss the release of my favorite retro game of all time (Galaga) and will have to wait to finish Prey and Far Cry (the second story)...but alas, life is good.

On a side note, Prey is a lot more, different? That's not really the right word...but it's not exactly what I was expecting. However, it's "hella" cool.

On another side note, "hella" is a word I learned while at Davis. Apparently, "hella" is a word craze sweeping Northen Califorina right now, and the five or so guys I hung around with all said it, just about as much as So-Cals so "like". Odd. Funny, annyoing, and odd.

Anyway, there might be fewer updates this week, unless of course I get board, in which case there may be more.

Not Sure What's Wrong

I'm not sure what prompted the blog to go crazy during the last few days. I was away at UCD doing Summer Advising, and when I returned, the blog had suddenly rearranged itself into...well, some crappy layout.

Let me be clear: the changes you saw yesterday were not meant to happen. For the life of me, I'm not sure what the hell is going on. So, for the time being, I've reset the blog back to the "Classic" Style of Minima Black. Hopefully this well just be for a few days until I can get the code fixed. However, I leave for a week long vacation on July 21, so I don't have much time.

Until than, enjoy Frogger, because I am! Also, there is a rumor that an NCAA demo will go uo today or tomorrow; however, the two teams they picked suck, so not much to talk about here (Somewhere from some southern state called Florida...where the heck is that? Never heard of it before :) )

Summer Time Blues

It seems like the world has steped into a doldrum for this summer, and I'm getting pretty boared. Not a single Arcade game in 60 days, and the last game I bought was Far Cry...and tht was back in March! Prey is coming in a week, so that should help give us something to do, but still, where the hell is everyone?

In other news, I will be gone for most of the remainder of the month. On Saturday I leave for a 4 day trip up to visit Davis, and then that Friday I'm off to the beach for a week long stay. Luckily, I doubt I'll be missing much on the video game front.

Finally, as far as Halo: The Lost Man, I think I'll be uploading the JAVA version sometime this week, and the full source code shortly after. Stay Tuned, as if you care.

BTW...The Prey demo rocked, and anyone else who says differently is a complete fool who dosn't know what awsome is. I fully intend on getting this game the day I come back from Davis. I'm even thinking of pre-ordering it, but thats just not by style. Besides, what would I really do with a little pewter alien? No clue.

Until next time, which might be for a while (besides the aformentioned TLM Updates, and Audio),

star

AP Grades Are In

UC Davis just posted my AP grades (or, I just found my AP grades, might have been there before). Here's what I had hoped for (Posted back in May):

APCS: 3
Lit: 2/3 (Does not really matter for my college)
Gov: 5/4
Econ: 3

And here is what I got:
APCS: 4
Lit: 3
Gov: 5
Macro: 5

I am pretty schocked about all this. Mostly the 4 in APCS. I figured maybe a 3 might sneak by, but a 4 means, well, I geuss I actually knew something about what I was talking about. The Double 5's are also re-assuring. Poli Sci Major here I come!

Where's the Prey Demo?

Where is it? I have no clue...and apparently neither does 3D Realms:

"Again. If we knew something, we'd tell you. We're as much in the dark as you are, and we're not terribly happy about it. What the heck more do you want us to say? Do you think we're sitting on our asses doing nothing waiting to hear news? We're trying to find out, constantly. We're not getting any info."

Chromohounds Demo: NOT in US

A new demo of Chromohounds is up on the Marketplace; however, not in the greatest country in the world. Oh, well...don't want to play this piece of shit anyway!

Penny Aracade Rips UBI a New One

Here's something that will make you smile for today: Penn Aracade once again going after UBI, this time for the over-priced GRAW content.

LINK

And they should. I will NOT be paying $15 for this crap they call "New" Content. I'm not stupid UBI, so don't count on me falling in the same trap as other, less-educated, Live members have. I have better things to do with my money!

COD2 Map Pack This Thursday

The final COD2 map pack will hit the marketplace eariler than expected, and for less. The pack will consist of five NEW maps (not "re-lit" shit a la GRAW) and will go for only 800 MS Points. The content is supposed to hit the Marketplace sometime this Thursday, June 29, 2006.

In other news...Xbox Live will be down tomorrow morning from 2 AM to 6 AM PST for server updates.

Audio Post From Vegas

"Click" Review

Today I caught a showing of the new Sandler flick called "Click." Luckily, I don't agree with all of this. The movie was actually very funney, and I thought it did a good job of keeping me entertained. Sure, this is no Wonderful Life (which it tries to re-do), but I've certainly seen worse flims lately in the box office (Spanglish is one of them!).

Overall, it's a Sandler movie...so go in expecting that. If fart jokes and gential size worries are that big of a set-back for you, than this probably isn't the movie for you. The comdey here isn;t of the level of Sideways but more of Spongebob. But hey, it's still fun, no matter the age expectations.

If your looking to go see a move this weekend, and have alreadly exhausted Cars (which, on a side note, is not much better than this flick) than this is the one to go see. Sure, the man in red and blue will take over next week (I pre-ordered my tickets today for it!) as well as a devil in fashonable shoes...but for now, it works, and it works damn well.

Score: 3/5

GRAW Content Now Up

Chapter 2 content is now up on the Marketplace. It costs a whooping 1200 MP (that's $15). I'm not sure if the content is really worth it. On paper it seems like alot...but basically it is 4 new maps and 5 new weapons. Sure, there are new "faces" (who the hell cares) and 8 new "re-lit" maps (THESE ARE NOT NEW!!!)

UBI has a pretty made history of dealing with premium content, and that reputation has earned them the Worst Developer of the Year STAR award in the past. So far, they are of to a great start to reclaiming their award this year.

In other news, I've added a new counter on the top of the site that counts every day that has gone by since a new arcade game has came out. Today, it's at 44 days....and it only looks like it will grow. The last game to come out was UNO on May 9, 2006, so that makes 44 long days.

Let's all join in one huge, load corus of:

WHERE THE F*** IS SF2!?!?!?!?!

'Prey' Demo Slated for Tomorrow

The five level demo of Prey is slated to be released tomorrow on the Marketplace. Here's something interesting though: 3D Realms has gone on record stating that any hold up is entirly Microsoft's fault. So, in the likely event that it gets held up, all blame can be fowarded to one place.

I'm taking bets for the probability of a release tomorrow: 25:1 odds that it will hit before midnight tomorrow. I geuss we'll have to wait and see.

But on that note, I'm getting tired of waiting. the last aracde game to hit was UNO back in May, and before that, it was well into April that a title showed up. So much for the 2-3 a month talk, eh? I geuss Microsoft just wan't good enough. I sure hope they step it up, a handful of PC flashports won't be able to contend with the pormised Nintendo Network. Forget Street Fighter II...where are some orginal games to hit the aracade? So far, I can not think of one game that is exclusive to XBLA. That's just sad.

Sony To Rockstar: We Don't Need You

In yet another chapter of Crazy VideoGame Idiots, a Sony exec recently said that GTA has not helped sell Playstations "at all." Actually, it's much funnier if you read what exactly came from his own mouth:

From Team Xbox:

The interviewer asked Tretton if not having an exclusive on the next installment of the GTA franchise could hurt the PlayStation 3. Here is what Tretton said:

There's no question that having the Grand Theft Auto franchise helped us a lot and helped us sell some units, but I don't think the battle would be any different with or without Grand Theft Auto.

Just like you, the editor didn’t believe Tretton’s words and asked explicitly if Sony thinks that not having an exclusive on Grand Theft Auto doesn't hurt the PS3 at all; to what Tretton responded:

No, I don't think it hurts us. No, I really don't.

Back Compat Update

MSFT releaed a small Back Compat update today, which now allows Doom 3 and Lego Star wars to play on the Xbox 360. 19 other titles are also now back compat; however, MSFT managed to yet again find even more titles that no one cares about. And you said they couldn't do it.

TOP FIVE XBOX GAMES WANTED TO MAKE BACK COMPAT*:
5) Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
4) Finding Nemo
3) Cars
2) Nick Party Blast
1) Shrek SuperSlam

*as seen by Xbox 360 Back Compat Dev team

With any luck, one or two of these great titles may become back compat within your lifetime! Yeah, BC!!!

BOTTOM FIVE FOR BC*
5) Forza
4) Conker Live and Reloaded
3) Counter-Strike
2) JSRF
1) RTCW

**again, as seen by MSFT dev team.

It's unlikely that any of these titles will ever become BC, because we, at this time, do not see the deamnd for an update. Besides, who cares about BC anyway?

Grad Day One: Final Day of School

Tomorrow, June 13, 2006, is my final day of school. 12 long years since I began my journey, I am now finally able to call it quits, and exit with my head held high. I offically graduate on June15; however, Wednesday and Thursday are simply rehersal days and such.

At thuis point, I'm not sure what to think My time at YHS has been great, and for that I am eternally greateful. I know that I have been bleased to have been surrounded by the best techers and the best of the best freinds. At the same time, I'm ready to move on with the next chapter in my life. I feel ready to head of to college. Sure, a part of me is sad that I will never see about 90% of these people ever again, and, if I do, everything will be deferant. But a large part of me right now thinks that that's OK.

So, as I sit here, waiting for the begining of the end, I can't help but think, "Bring it on." The past has been great...but I have higher hopes for the future.

Again, CR will serve to function as recording of my life. As such, events in my senior year are posted as I see fit. Stay tuned for daily graduation coverage.

Halo: The Lost Man Update

Here's an update from the fabled Halo: The Lost Man project.

Coming July 1, 2006, you will be able to download a demo of the full game. At this time, the demo will contain most of the full game, however, with some features missing.

The full game will be coming shortly therafter. In truth, this is more of a "beta" test, however, some fetures will be left out on purpose. The full game looks like it will be out four sure by July 31/August 1.

The hold up? The game right now is very, very, very close to being done, however, it is coded in Java. I think C++ will make everyone much happier (or at least me...it's too hard to code Java for open source, i.e. to run on everyone's PC. C++, on the other hand, automatically makes all files a .exe, so all I have to do is upload it). Right now, I'm simply transfering the code back and forth, which is pretty much a simply switch from:
System.out.println("Halo: The Lost Man.");
to
cout <<"Halo: The Lost Man\n";

Xbox 360 Dash Update Coming Soon

Several forums users found a few articles over at the main Microsoft help page that explains features of the new auto-update to the dash. The highlights:

• Update was supposed to go out May 23. Geuss that didn't happen.
• Update allows for downloading to take place in background. Will suspend download while online playing.
• Update allows to start-up right to dash, even with a game or DVD inside. This feature can be toggled off or on.
• DVD updates, including the above boot to dash. May include more, not postive.

Hitman: Blood Money Demo Now Up

There's a new demo up for "Hitman: Blood Money". It's pretty nice; it's of the first level of the game and serves as a training mission/ I'm now looking foward to this game with a little more "umph."

I think the game comes out May 30, 2006...but that's not offical.