by Matt | Nov 28, 2002 | Imported Entry
Well, Thanksgiving was “interesting” as always with the Perrys. We’re a very odd family but atleast we’re entertaining. Food was tasty and all that goodness. I’m still having stomach trouble but I can at least eat now. I get nearly instant indigestion but at least the food isn’t finding it’s way back up. Damn, this thing really did a number on me.
Not much going on around here either. I’m sitting in my PJs at my dad’s computer watching my brother play RalliSport Challenge on my rig. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get the cable modem hooked up to mine and I can check some email.
Speaking of tomorrow… I’m not leaving the house… unless someone has a damn fine reason (such as paying for me at a movie or something) for me to do so. Driving past WalMart there was already a crowd forming to the “Day after Thankgiving” shopping binge that 20-60 year old women seem to enjoy. AT WALMART!!! Something is wrong with this picture people! You should NOT be camped out at WallyWorld waiting for a sale. THERE’S NOTHING THAT IMPORTANT AT WALMART. In my opinion there’s really nothing at any store thats important enough to camp out for but hey, that’s just me. So, if WalMart is packed I can only cringe in fear at what the shopping-malls will look like. And if you’re not shopping, what else are you going to do with your day off? See a movie, that’s what. All the fathers and sons who aren’t out shopping with the ladies are going to be out at the movies, so that’s out of the question. And what are hungry shoppers going to do? Eat out of course. That makes going to a resturant a joke. So, no shopping-malls, retail stores, movies or food. Unless of someone can think of something to do that doesn’t involve any of the above, I’m not getting out of my PJs.
Ok, so, as we stand, I’ve got to internet and no email but plenty of games and DVDs to keep me busy. If anyone would like to come over and play a game or two (PC or PS2) or watch a DVD I’m more than up for that. Otherwise… what would you like to do on Saturday? Not that it’ll be any better shopping wise but I can’t really hide in the house all weekend fearing the wrath of some over caffinated, over shopping, soccer moms who can’t find “the perfect something” for little Timmy and are willing to spend all weekend trying anyway.
Alrighty, I think it’s time for a piece of pie. Mmmm, pie. Then I think I’ll play some RS Challenge followed by some Mafia and maybe some NeverWinter Nights. Oh well.
Oh, and I’ve got a few stories about my shitty drive home that I’ll share with you later since I’m sick of typing on my Dad’s shitty keyboard. Remind me to share.
Matt out.
by Matt | Nov 26, 2002 | Imported Entry
I would like to take a moment and send a big “fuck you” out to whatever ass-hat decided to stock a downtown gas station with horrible near-death causing hot-dogs. Fuck you sir and the ass-hat you rode in with.
You see, I have food poisoning. How do I know? Because I’ve had it 5 times and this is by far one of the most “fun” experiences a person can have. It’s right up there with getting your teeth knocked out by Tie Domi. I’ve been puking since 2am and there’s no end in sight. I’m doing my best to do nothing. I’m eating salteen crackers and drinking ginger-ale graciously provided by my wonderful Lauren. Who, without being asked, stayed up with me all night to make sure I was ok. I love her. She’s the greatest thing to ever happen to me.
But, what about your classes Matt? Interesting point but I’d have to say that they’ll just have to get along without me for once. Lauren went downtown to ask my History professor (my 12:00) how many absences I’ve had (we’re allowed 4 max, 5th one and we fail the class). I think I had 3 which means I have one to burn and I’m in the clear. I also have a 3:00 photo class but the odds of me staying for the whole thing are next to nothing. Optimally I’ll walk in, drop off my stuff and walk out. Worst case scenerio, I’m out by 5:30. Depending on when I get out is when I’ll leave. I’m pushing for 6-7 as a leaving time mostly because I want to say goodbye to Lauren and I want to make sure I’m rested enough to drive 18 hours without sleep.
I’ve only packed clothes at this point, puking kind of but the kabosh on any more packing last night. I’ll pack up the computer either after “lunch” (more crackers) or when I get back. It’s pretty much the only thing I’m taking. A bag of clothes, my ‘puter and accessories and myself. It should be enough to only fill the back section of the car leaving me the whole middle seat to turn into a bed. Actually, that’s a fantastic idea. Anyway, my dad gets here in about an hour and so I should probably be disconnecting this thing. I’ve got to find my graphics card box. I always take out my GeForce 4 when I move the case any further than across town. The last time I left it in it got bounced around and a few of the sodder points snapped.
Alrightly, wish me luck. Later.
by Matt | Nov 25, 2002 | Imported Entry
Hey guys, lots of stuff to cover so I’ll get to it quick. Since Chris called me the other day and other people have been wondering, heres my schedule for the next few days.
My trip has been moved up from driving all day Wednesday to driving all night Tuesday. Instead of leaving at 4am Wednesday morning like we planned, I’ll be leaving the afternoon (7ish) the day before so that I can beat an east coast snow storm up the coast. Apparently it’s supposed to last all day on Wednesday and I’d rather not be stuck on some random stretch of i95 in a snow storm.
Tomorrow, early AM, I’ll be putting my car in for an oil change. From there I go to class. Lauren is picking up my dad for me at 11:00. After my 12:00 I go to my 2:30 for a quick critique and then home. I eat, I pee and the we leave. Somewhere in there I’ve also got to buy a few KMXs or Red Bull as I’ll be driving ALL NIGHT. Hopefully I’ll make it home sometime before noon (or around noon) on Wednesday. At which point I will call Lauren to tell her I made it home and then go immediatly to sleep. Thursday I gorge myself with de-feathered bird and stuffing and then sleep some more. From that Friday until Jan 1st I’m available to do stuff, give or take a week for a visit from Lauren.
Tonight I have to pack clothes, this rig, various cds and etc, prepare my work for critique tomorrow and help Lauren pack. I was planning on cleaning the house, washing the car and downloading games to play over break but I guess that won’t be happening. Anyway, back to work. I’ll see everyone (in NH) this weekend.
Have a great T-day everyone. I’ll probably set this thing back up on Friday and tell everyone all about my drive.
Matt Out.
by Matt | Nov 22, 2002 | Imported Entry
I figured I’d pull this out of “comment land” and actually talk about it. Chris makes some very valid points, and for the most part I agree. Except….
“video game piracy for the consoles and computers costs these games companies billions of dollars a year, and that is the reason for the banning these modded boxes from the network.”
I have no doubt that it is, thats actually what I figure the real reason was when I read the article, but it’s a little backhanded to say that your reason is to quell/prevent cheating when you’re really trying to stop piracy.
“The thing about identification and trusted computing is that it has both good and bad sides. obviously, you are siding with those that see it as a bad thing. at the same time, there are many different technologies in place that currently use unique identification to keep things running smoothly, such as cabe modem access, who map MAC addresses to accounts so that they can control access should things go awry. hell, the IP system is essentially a way to identify and control network and internet connectivity.”
True, but my IP address doesn’t know/contain the serial number of my harddrive, the amount of storage it has on it, if I’ve over-clocked my processor or not and what games I might be playing.
“ultimately, the people who will shape the future of computing will be the customers. It happened with the pentium III serial number issue. customers didn’t like it, they made an uproar. they didn’t buy it. Intel and all the manufacturers freaked out, and disabled it. While it didn’t make sense to customer, this was a perfect fit for the corporate customers, who use asset management to make sure that the IT infrastructure at the workplace is all sound.”
I agree completely. I think that hardware IDs might be a great idea for government offices, the military, game companies with leakable demos placed haphazardly on laptops (Doom 3), places with sensative information and so forth. If I’m a government office and information gets leaked about something important, I want to be able to find out where that information came from and stop the spy in my midst. But I hardly need or should need a valid hardware ID number to send my girlfriend a file across a network.
“things like uinique IDs many times don’t make sense to the individual, but when you look at the big picture (which anyone trying to make money through these types of ventures does), you’ll see that a lot of these things make a lot of sense. It’s all about protecting investments.”
Again, I agree, but consumers aren’t trying to make money from themselves so why bother signing everyone up for an ID number and making sure everyone’s in line… unless of course all consumers are being treated AS EMPLOYEES and they’re “protecting their investments” by making sure I don’t have any illegal programs installed. In that case, where’s my software for free and where’s my damn paycheck? 🙂
IDs are good in a corporate setting where things are based off the information that hardware or software happens to hold. They’re about as good for consumers as ATM fees. Sure, giving your bank $2 is great… if you’re the bank, but when you’re just trying to buy some food with the $20 you paid $25 for, it’s a little stupid. It doesn’t help anyone but the bank. I guess that’s my main concern. Not ID numbers, not software, not spyware, but just some basic consumer appreciation/rights/love. I mean, we are the ones paying for all this. We ARE the source of income that the corporations are trying to get at. Why not treat us a little nicer? The consumer gets screwed so many countless ways today that it’s just sickening. Whether it’s because people are more stupid now or they’re just not noticing, I don’t know. But it’s at a level that we’ve never seen before. I just want a little appreciation given back to the people that make this sick capitalistic machine run… US.
I digress, I’ve spun off onto some wild tanget about capitalism. I should probably stop. Actually, I’m about to engage in on of my more capitalist activities… video games. Now, admittedly, I don’t buy every game that I play. I also don’t buy every album that I have an MP3 for. So be it. I’m a bad person. But I treat these things as demos or previews anyways. Obviously an MP3 of a song isn’t going to sound as good (it doesn’t, except it) as it’s CD counter-part. On the same coin I don’t expect a game I “found” to play as well as it’s retail version. Hell, I don’t even expect it to be playable half the time. But with your average “1 level, 2 enemies” demos these days, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into when you buy a game. BUT I do buy the games I truely enjoy. I played Battlefield 1942, Medal of Honor, Civ 3, Unreal Tournament, GTA 3 all as warez copies before I purchased them. I’m glad I did. Medal of Honor crashed every time it loaded a level but it was so entertaining that after 20 minutes I was on my way to Best Buy. The games I don’t buy I just don’t play. Seriously, I downloaded The Thing last month, played 2 levels and thought “sweet jebus this game blows”. I just saved myself $50. You can’t return opened computer games anymore and demo levels are inadequate. I also buy CDs that I’ve heard first on MP3. If it weren’t for Chris’ DJ Tiesto MP3s I never would have found such a fantastic DJ. I’ve purchased 4 of his CDs in the past 6 months. I think that’s a pretty good track record. If people would stop making such crap, like The Thing, then I wouldn’t have this problem. I digress again, I’m not at all on target with my ramblings today. I was actually going to mention some games that I’ve either played and will be purchasing any moment now or games that look so damn tasty I’m just going to buy them the moment they hit the shelves. Why don’t I just shut up and do that…
No One Lives Forever 2. The first game was so much damn fun that I can only assume a follow up would be nothing less. I don’t know why more people didn’t get into this game. It had one of the best, if not the funniest, FPS (First Person Shooter) experiences of 2000.
Tom Clancy’s Spinter Cell. Someone (Chris) is going to have to tell me how the XBox version is because the PC version doesn’t come out until January. For everything I’ve seen, this is a prime contended for Game of the Year for next year. Take Metal Gear Solid, James Bond, Ghost Recon and Rainbow Six, but them all in a blended and hit “liquify” and this is the tasty treat you’ll come up with. Check out some of the screen shots and notice the beautiful T&L in game rendering. Holy Cow.
RalliSport Challenge. Now, admittedly I suck at racing games. This struck me as a nifty game after playing the demo the other day. It’s not realistic (Grand Turismo or Sega Rally) to the point of being unplayable and centers more on “fun, arcade style racing” which I can be in the mood for every now and again. After power sliding into a snow bank and wrecking my Subaru WRX I can say the if anything, it LOOKS fantastic. Snow, dirt, sun glare, all that fun stuff is there. Drivers heads turn, cars take damage, all the usually. This one really takes advantage of computer hardware and makes it more than just an XBox port.
Medal of Honor: Spearhead. Ok, I know it doesn’t count as a new game but any expansion pack to my personal “Game of the Year” is an obvious purchase. If you haven’t played MoH yet, check out the bargain bins because it’s probably about $20 at this point and it’ll be the best $20 you’ve ever spent. Hell, even multi-play is fantastic, especially if we’re comparing it to it’s WW2 game rival Wolfenstein. I’m sorry, the flame-thrower might as well be call the lag-cannon. MoH all the way.
Lastly, C&C: Generals. I’ve never actually played any Command & Conquer games but everyone that doesn’t can’t shut the hell up about them. The thing that sucked me into wanting this game was simply the screen shots. Damn! Have you people seen this thing. It’s like Total Annihilation on crack! I don’t know how C&C games “play” but I should probably find out before I get myself to pumped for it. But if it’s a RTS (Real Time Strategy) with kick ass graphics and fast game play I’m probably all over this one like white on rice.
Thats about it for now. Thanks for listening to my mindless ramblings over the past few days and I quite pleased with can have a very thorough discussion of this stuff. It makes me feel better. There’s not to many geeks down here at SCAD and talking this stuff over with you guys makes me feel like I’m not alone. Alrighty, time to get cleaned up for the day. Lauren and I have a party to go to tonight and she has some more work to do this weekend so I’ll be trying to help her as much as possible. Later.
Matt out.
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