Guitar Hero III

Okay, I know I am supposed to be a PC enthusiast and all. However, that Wii is something else. For my recent Birthday (yesterday), I was taken to Best Buy and allowed to pick something out for myself. This was a very painful choice for me. I mean what computer nerd/video game jockey can go to Best Buy and pick out one wishlist item. On top of that, I didn’t really know what I wanted.

So after walking around for about 45 minutes and looking at literally almost everything in the store, I finally came to pause in front of the Wii section. There it was in it’s long cardboard box with a cartoon Slash looking out at me. I flipped a coin between that and a surround sound headset with USB sound card that might have made gaming and voice chat alittle more enjoyable. The headset even won the coin toss. Something just didn’t feel right about getting it just then.

I had played Guitar Hero II on New Years Eve. Atleast I think it was II. I’m not really sure, I got really drunk that night. Anyway, it was a blast. We were taking turns between three of us and man I really stunk. I couldn’t finish a song. It was a lot of fun anyway. That’s probably why I asked for it for my birthday. I guess the going to Best Buy part was sort of confirmation of whether or not I really wanted it. As it turns out, apparently I did.

For anyone who’s been to Walmart, Best Buy, or any other big box store, if you’ve ever been near the video game isles, you’ve probably seen the demo display and seen how silly people look with this plastic guitar slung around their shoulder. So I’m sure you can imagine my wife’s amusement New Years Eve when we were trading this thing back and forth and rocking out. It was probably a sight.

So I brought home Guitar Hero III last night and immediately fired it up. I wanted to see if my parents would get into it. They weren’t able to stay long enough to play it but my mother was fairly amused. I was having a ball. Then after my parents leave my wife picks it up. She wanted to “try a song.” She ended up playing something like five or six and advanced way further into her career then I was. So I took it back from her claiming my turn. She fell asleep as I caught up to her and got hung up in my first guitar battle. It took me ten tries to figure out how to win. I still didn’t win till this morning but I ended up going to bed around 1 AM last night because of it.

So I wake up and the first thing I want to do is play Guitar Hero. So I played some more. I didn’t get to play very much because my mom brought her Wii Wheel. She and my wife played Mario Kart for a bit cause my mom had never used her wheel before. After that my parents left and it was all Guitar Hero from there. Of course we took breaks to take care of our child and go to the store and stuff. But man I’ve beat something like 25 songs in single player and then went on to play 9 in a row in multiplayer. My hand is still sore from it. 

I guess the point of this one folks is that this game is worth having. It’s taught my son the word “guitar” and has me and my wife spending time together. She even confessed that she secretly hoped I would get it so that she could play. She purposely didn’t tell me cause she thought it would influence my decision. It’s a lot of fun to sit and watch each other play. Critique their methods, enjoy the songs, cheer each other on. If you shell out for the extra guitar you can even play with each other or against each other. We haven’t gone that far yet but we are putting it in the budget. So if you have a used one you’d like to get rid of, let me know. But then reconsider because this is definately a game to hang on to.

 

 

Suspicious little White box.

Anyone else notice how suspicious it is that the Nintendo Wii looks much like the Mac Mini? Notice how everything is white? Notice how the Wii Menu sort of resembles Mac OS 10? No? Me either. Sometimes when I am using it though it feels awfully Mac-centric. It always reminds me of a cushy, no user customization Mac. I guess that’s not always a bad thing. Some things are great with limited function. Like I’d want to spend hours dinking with all the details like I do on my computer. I mean, I already spent all that time on my computer. When I use the Wii, I don’t wanna have to think about it, I just want it to do what it’s supposed to do.

Anyways, besides the information being presented in the new Mac commercials about Apple getting more computer sales lately, did you hear about the good news? Nintendo is now offering WiiWare. That’s right. There are now thirdparty software applications availible for download straight to your Wii. This all costs a fee of course. So far there are only a handful of games and they are Java-esque in quality. I’ve only bought two of them and for the few dollars I spent (but I did already have the points to spare left over from my last purchases) they seem well worth it.

Game one I purchased was Defend Your Castle. Anyone on the internet these days knows this game with the stick figures and the castle building. However I like the Wii version better. Why? Because the Wii remote’s grab throw abilities are much more intuitive then click and slide your mouse PC controls. Also the Nintendo version is much more forgiving. I had gotten to level 40 before I died and on the computer version that means starting over again. With the Wii’s, you get infinite continues. I know that kinda takes some of the fun out of it, but I feel that seeing what level I get to before my arm goes numb is mindlessly entertaining and downright fun for a stretch.

The next game I downloaded was that TV Show Quiz game show. I was very impressed with this game. We played through a few rounds of the multiplayer quizzes and so far we have not had any duplicate questions. The play mechanics and scoring are pretty decent.

The only thing I am not too fond of us the randomness present between rounds with the prize wheel where you can steal, lose, win, or go bankrupt. It’s not really fair when someone can answer all the questions correctly and the fastest but yet can still lose it all on a bogus spin. However to be fair, you can opt out of spinning but everyone else still gets to. But, I guess for those that might not be the best at quizzing, this mode still gives them a way to make it interesting and even out the playing field. However, if you are really good at quizzing and really lucky, nobody will want to play with you more than once…

So that’s it. I know these Wii Ware games are just glorified Java games but those can be fun too. I love to go to Mini Clip every so often and check out the latest. Some of them are worth the time, atleast for me. I’m a big fan of quick and dirty games that are somewhat entertaining. Even the crappy ones are fun to try… once.

 

Apple, Google, or Freedom?

What is going on with Google? I am loving it. Free software? Hurrah! I mean what can’t you do with Google these days? We are even exploiting the hell out of their calendar beta at work. I don’t even think Google cares. If they did, wouldn’t they be charging us for it?

I heard a story on NPR today that kind of made me nervous but then I shrugged it off. I don’t usually listen to On Point but this one had my geek juice flowing. It was about the internet and the corporate take over of control on it. The host highlighted Apple’s Steve Job’s speech during the release of the iPhone. I can’t remember the exact quote but to paraphrase Jobs basically said that they were going to control all of the applications written for and released on the iPhone. What was pointed out was that Apple’s sucess was originally based on the release of the Apple II (we had one!!!) 30 years ago and how two private and unassociated software programmers came up with the worlds first spreadsheet software that ran on it. So Apple’s original success came from the fact that they had a platform that allowed creativity to flow freely and allowed people to do whatever they pleased with it and now they are controlling everything that comes across their pathetic hard drives/flash memory. I had to throw in pathetic because I hate Apple products.

Apparently recently, and I don’t really keep up with Apple news (again, because I hate them), Jobs recanted on his earlier declaration and Apple released a software developer’s kit for the iPhone so that everyday people can custom create applications for their phones. The catch is that anything created with this SDK must be submited to Apple, approved for distribution, and will be sold exclusively through the Apple Online Store. Of course Apple will take it’s cut from sales of your software. What a mother f*ing joke right? Even X-Box Live allows for freeware distribution.

This really isn’t an anti-Apple rant. As much as I hate them and do everything I can to promote non-iPod MP3 players and try to persaude everyone I come in contact with away from even thinking about buying an iMac or iBook that really isn’t my point tonight. The point is that it’s not just Apple that is putting the controls on software content for their products. Look around. Some included examples were OnStar, my beloved Nintendo Wii, and even Microsoft’s X-Box. Basically the point is that while there is online content for these devices, platforms if you will, this content is controlled by the companies that have created these platforms. Your everyday Joe cannot write software for the Wii. You can’t choose which carrier will make your connection when you press that blue button in your car. The show really brought up an interesting point. Do people really want custom content that is prone to a 99% failure ratio? The other point was that the 1% that comes out as successful product usually turns out to be golden and changes the world. Look at Google. Look at Ebay. Look at Apple. Where would any of these companies be if someone didn’t take some sort of open platform and design something for it. For Google and Ebay it was the internet. For Apple it was the personal computer. Now these companies are turning on their very nature and locking down what made them so great in the first place. 

Point number Two. Is this really a bad thing? I mean, don’t we want our $600 cellphones to work? I’d say yeah. Don’t we want to make sure that our emergency is handled when we pay for that years contract to OnStar? Um… YEAH. A lot of good can come from these finished, highly tuned products.

Point number Three. Is this the end of creativity and the free and open internet? My opinion is hell no. PC’s aren’t going anywhere. I mean despite the fact that you are pretty much locked into a Microsoft operating system, amd yes I acknowledge that Linux and similar OS’s are are gaining steam in the consumer market, PC’s are still very much open platforms. There are dozens of programming langauges out there that can be used to create new software and people are doing it every day. May distribution is changing a bit but that can be a good thing. Why should world changing software be dependant on a big box store picking it up? Now software developers barely even need publishing companies. They can simply distribute online and reduce the costs for packaging and shipping. Is this not also a wonderful thing? I think so.

Bottom line. Great finished products are a wonderful thing. An open and free internet is a wonderful thing. The ability to create new and innovative products out of thin air and some code is a wonderful thing. So I will end this with a very famous quote. “Can’t we all just get along?” I’m going to hope so.  

 

For the Sims 2 in all of us

Actually I just wanted to write a brief post to address this issue on the off chance that someone actually catches my blog in some sort of perversely random internet search engine search. I bring this up as my wife’s tech support staffer and not as a player of this game. Though if I did play, I would not be ashamed as I have seen my wife do some pretty cool things in this game.

Anyways, I just wanted to mention that the Sims 2 actually requires a fairly beefy system to play it properly. It always makes me twitch when I hear that someone “only plays Sims 2″ and then find out that they have a piece of shit name brand computer with factory hardware. I only say this because I built my wife’s computer mostly from my own previous gaming hardware and it struggles to keep up with that game. And as each expansion pack adds in more features such as shops, pets, and weather and allowing more charactors and items to be on the screen and interact at the same time. The toll all that AI and 3D rendering takes on a system can be quite severe.

My wife runs an Athlon 64 4000+ at 2.5GHz with a 1GB PC3200 Dual Channel Kit and a Radeon X1600 512MB and she has been forced down to medium settings at best with all of the action going on at any given time. It still looks pretty enough but there is nothing like turning a game up to max settings and enjoying it the way it was truly created. The interesting part of it all is 3 or so expansions ago when I ran all that hardware myself I could run the game at max settings.

So beware, the more you pack on there with downloads and expansion packs, the more computer you’re going to need to enjoy it all. Unless you like long load times and stuttering gameplay that is. If that’s the case, by all means, load em all up on your E-Gateway-Hewitt-Comaq-Machine. Otherwise prepare to buy more ram and update that video card. Don’t forget, the Sims 3 is right around the corner and I can only imagine what sort of ridiculus requirements that game is going to have. I’m willing to bet it’s going to look stunning though.

http://thesims2.ea.com/

http://thesims3.ea.com/home.php?languageCode=1

Lock up your scrolls

Does anyone use the scroll lock key anymore? I mean for what it was actually designed for? I just wiki’d it for fun after a conversation my wife and I had regarding the IM program XFire and it’s use for the scroll lock key. According to what I read at Wikipedia there is no original use for this key anymore.

My question for keyboard manufacturers. Why not call it something else by now? I mean there are three buttons, Print Screen, Scroll Lock, and Pause Break (WTF a Pause Break!?) that are absolutely useless in modern computing. Everyone has taken it upon themselves to use these keys as they see fit. KVM’s use it as a switch activator. XFire uses it in conjuction with another key to activate it’s IM client in game. There are many uses for this button however none of them actually involve modifying the arrow keys to scroll the screen instead of the cursor. It is a completely obsolete function.

So what do we do with the Scroll Lock key then? My suggestion is that the answer is already out there. Other people are already assigning many functions to it. Why not call it the Mod Key. Or more precisesly, Mod Key 2 as the Print Screen key should rightfully be renamed Mod Key 1 which might encourage programmers and software designers to start considering it for mapped functions. Seriously, having extra keys on a keyboard that are open for custom mapping is a completely useful fuction. Why not? Hasn’t anyone else ever double mapped something in a game because you couldn’t find an open key to set a function to because you don’t feel like reaching to the otherside of your keyboard to select your grenades. Or you don’t want to accidently activate your push to talk because it’s right next to your use key and you don’t always push the right button? I just feel that we should call them what they are and that maybe it’s time to let go of our terminal based past.

 

 

 

Hyper-Threading the Devil?

 

Is Hyper-Threading Evil? What is your take on it? I have yet to see an application that doesn’t completely choke on it. I mean, if you want a dual core processor, buy a dual core processor right? Or at the very least, buy a dual CPU motherboard and two CPUs. I mean come on, lets artificially break up all the code and pretend we’re a dual core processor? WTF?

I know I know, this rant is much too late. Dual cores are now the mainstream and Hyper-Threading is the way of the manitee and the spotted owl. I only bring it up because apparently 3/4’s of the computers sold in my territory were P4 2.8-3.2GHz with HT and now it’s byting (pun intended) me in the ass. The application that we sell and install at work is very finicky and most of the time it’s ok, but as a general rule of thumb we have been trained that if we discover two process streams in the task manager and the sticker doesn’t say Core2Duo, to go into the bios and immediatel deactivate that wonderful monstrosity Hyper-Threading. And nine times out of ten, the computer immediately becomes about twice as fast. How wonderful is that for a miracle cure?

I just wish it had never been released into my terroritory. I mean, I have never heard a good word about it. Have you? Seriously, let me know if their is an applicable use for this waste of resources and maybe you can change my mind. Until that happens I’m going to go on HT bashing and turning it off where ever I may find it like Batman taking on the Joker’s clown croanies. Sorry, I just saw a preview for the new Batman movie coming out.

Bottom line… If you’re running a P4 rig or supporting one, if the lil sticker says HT on it, make sure it’s OFF. I can almost gurauntee a 100% performance increase in over system response and in single application use. If you notice a slow down in multiple application use, add more ram. It’s cheap and effective. You can never go wrong adding more ram. Okay, that’s not true, but it’s typically the rule of thumb, especially in the cookie cutter 512MB business environment. Seriously business owners, managers, CIO’s, who can get by on 512MB of ram anymore?