GRG's Miscellany

I had forgotten how much I hate PC games for this type of crap. So I pre-ordered Battlefield 3. It finally arrived (3 days late - thanks Amazon/Royal Mail), and I started the inevitable and interminable installation. I have to install 'Origin' first (EA's equivalent of Steam). Sucky number 1. Then, I have to install an update that's required for Battlefield 3. I PRE-ORDERED THIS GAME!!! How come it needs an update already?! Sucky number 2. At that point I'd created an Origin ID, logged in to it and all it can say is 'No Games Detected'. Sucky number 3. So having followed the install instructions to the letter, I now have Origin installed which I did NOT want, but no Battlefield which I DID want. ULTIMATE SUCKAGE. And then, guess who didn't think to check that it supports Windows XP? >_< So a few days later, I install Windows 7. Problem solved? No. I had to try the install 4 times before Origin would recognise that I actu...

Recently, my Ubuntu install felt the need to corrupt its own package install database and refuse to start up. Having good backups and little patience, I decided to go for a clean install. I thought I'd try Debian for a change. Ubuntu is Debian-based so I figured they'd be similar, and I use Debian for my server so I thought I'd be able to handle any differences easily. The first warning signs were when I wanted to install the video drivers. Ubuntu makes that so very easy. Debian makes you take a few steps through. Not ideal, but not arduous either. Installing compiz-fusion was more of a pain, but still manageable. Again, this is a piece of cake on Ubuntu. More similar niggles followed, but I figured I was just being soft. Then I tried installing wine and Sketchup and I quickly became enraged. I had managed this task on Ubuntu with only a little hacking, and no undue fuss. Here's the breakdown of the process under Debian: 1: Install wine ...

A while back, I set up a minecraft server. Having had previous internet-visible machines hacked, I decided to have the server sitting behind a dedicated router (actually an old P3 machine). The router has teh smrts, which gives me more confidence of the server's security. The real reason I'm mentioning it is the case I made for it. 'Case' is really a misnomer, as you can see, but it has allowed me to have two PCs in a small space, and taking up only one plug socket between them. It's made of many smallish pieces of corrugated cardboard, stuck together in three layers (with the corrugations at right angles from one layer to the next). This allowed me to use up some old packaging, while also providing a fairly rigid and strong sheet material to mount the components on. The motherboards are fixed to a vertical sheet, which is mounted on a horizontal base sheet. The end sheets are pretty much just to keep the vertical sheet upright, but one end also helps ...

I've finished my PGCE, finally. I've also finished the two-and-a-bit weeks of my first teaching job. So far, it seems like I'll be able to pull through an NQT year, which is a refreshing feeling. I'm liking my new home town, too. It's refreshing rural, and without the commuter mayhem (it doesn't even have a railway station!). Especially pleasing is the amount of time I've been able to put toward coding. I've made some important progress these last two weeks, and hopefully that can continue. I'm still trying to stay focussed on the goal of producing a decent prototyping engine. I'll be like a pig in sh*t if I can get the engine to a state where a new game idea could go from zero to playable in a weekend. Ah, the dreams... Game-playing-wise, I've been mostly absorbed by Battlefield 1943, especially the Air Superiority game (which I've suddenly discovered I'm not so bad at), and the original Rock Band, which I play with my w...

I've been playing some Dragon Age. I've quite enjoyed it so far, but I can't put my finger on exactly what is fun about it. General impressions: I've not used many adventurer-party combat systems, but this one is accessible at least. It mostly does what I feel it should be doing, and the action looks pleasing. The levelling up doesn't mean much to me and hasn't given me any 'Wow! Now I can do THIS!' moments. Maybe they'll come. The conversations offer some decent choice - I haven't felt like there is no option my character would choose. It feels a little disconcerting that my character is mute. Totally understandable from a practical point of view, but still disconcerting. Main reason for post: I met an encounter I couldn't win, no matter what I tried. It was a pivotal story moment, defeating a monster at the top of a tower. I made many attempts, with various combinations of party tactics, but just couldn't do it. Was th...

I bought this game because I wanted a plausibly realistic racing experience without the obligatory grind of Gran Turismo or Forza. I'm a sim fan, ready to face some demanding challenges where practice is required and Race Driver: Grid seemed to fit the bill. It offers an in-car view, with car damage, and even debris left on the track. I would never pay full dollar for a Codemasters game, so I bought it pre-owned. It was a wise choice - there are some serious flaws to this game. My first impressions are that it knows what it wants to be: an aggressive, demanding, plausibly real racing game. To me, it's always a good sign when a game knows what it wants to be. I always find it easier to overlook a game's flaws if you can see what it is trying to achieve. Race Driver does make it difficult though. The most annoying flaw I have noticed so far: No practice mode. I mean, it's a demanding game, which will require practice, so practice should be an easy part of the...

Having played COD: World At War and enjoyed it, I was quite eager to get stuck into Modern Warfare 2. The promise of tactical manouvres in squad-level combat with modern weapons really got me excited. The reality, however, falls far short - at least in single-player. I expected the inane machismo and the inevitable betrayal of characters I don't care about, by characters I don't care about, for items/plot points I don't care about. What I didn't expect was them to take the confusion levels to such heights as to eliminate the tactical element almost entirely. It really is reduced to the level of "I'll try running here....Oh I died. I'll try running to a different spot next time"....and repeat. In order to make tactical decisions, you need to either be given information directly, or time in which to gather that information yourself. You get neither here. But confusion in battle is surely realistic - it's only part of the immersive expe...