SirPoonga's Blog - 2old2play

Hmmm, it's not Vista 64bit...

I've been having problems with my computer and I assumed it was becaus eI was running Vista 64bit. A couple of weeks ago i downgraded to 32bit Vista. All of the same problems occur.

First, my computer will randomly blue screen with the same error. It appears Vista doesn't like my onboard network card. This is why I assumed it was a 64bit problem as Vista 64bit is known to have hardware issues.

Second, when I open hotmail in IE it opens opens a ton of windows. On my XP laptop it doesn't do that. Again, I thought maybe it was the 64bit version of IE. This is on a fresh install with only trusted software installed (virus scanner, spyware remover, AIM and Messenger clients, Visual Studio 2008 Express, and SQL server).

Third, my video card driver would randomly crash during games. Again, doing research I found Vista 64bit doesn't completely like my video card (xfx 8800GTS 320meg).

So at the risk of not being able to use all of my 4gig of memory I downgraded to Vista 32bit. Well, all of the same problems have occured. For the video card and network card I think the hardware may not be functioning properly. As for IE I have no idea why it does that. It doesn't do it on my work machine with is a Vista machine. I have a theory. I need to test it out after I install each bit of software. I have a feeling the problem is the virus scanner or spyware remover since those interact with the browser. I will do a fresh install. Then after each program I install I will check hotmail.

So now I am debating about going back to Vista 64 so I have a reason to test this.

[4 Comments]

...and you will go blind.

[4 Comments]

My Gears Review and other ramblings

Overall it isn't that much different from Gears 1. However it is different enough to warrant buying it.

I didn't play multiplayer much on the first game because of two major issues I had with that. First is the artist direction of the game. With everything being shades of grey or brown everything looks the same. I had a difficult time distinguishing friend from foe. They solves this in Gears 2. the Gears have a distinctive blue color scheme, the locust have a red scheme, and the levels actually have color. That's one thing I noticed about single player, especially once I got to the palace. There's a bunch of color. It isn't as bright as UT3 is but it is enough to not look dull.

The other issue I have with Gears is the weapon balance. UT3 has great weapon balancing. You'd think from the same engine and makers Gears would. Nope. They didn't fix it in Gears 2. I have two problems with the weapons balancing. The power weapons are so powerful people rush to them. The team that has control of hte power weapons usually win. The other is the default weapons have a huge difference in power. I unloded an entire lancer clip into someone. Yes, the entire clip, not a bullet missed. The perosn was in cover but I was on the same side of the cover as him. He got up, turned to look at me, and one burst of the hammershot and I was down.

However, this time around Epic did do some major improvements. First the party system and general menu mechanics is awesome. It's really easy to get people together and setup games. The "What's Up" view of your friends list is awesome because it highlights the people currently in the game. It lists everyone else as greyed out. However, anyone online and not in the game will be listed first. This makes so much sense I think other games will copy this.

I love the addition of bots. If you want to play with a couple of friends but do not want to deal with the public bullshit you can. The bot AI is pretty good. This isn't surprising considering UT3's bots are pretty good (once you bmp the difficulty up).

One feature I have always complained about with most games is when you set the room to private it is invite only. Your friends cannot just join. In Gears 2 a private room is open to friends joining at will. This needs to be an option. I don't mind friends joining my game when they want, I do mind friend of friends joining though. Resistance 2 has a great party system. You can set it up so it is invite only along with only allowing friends, clan members, or public. That's how it should be.

A slight subject change: 360 needs clan support. Several PS3 games have clan support. Warhawk's clan support is decent. Socom's clan support isn't finished, they are going to patch it. Resistance 2's clan support could be the template for other games to follow.

LittleBigPlanet for the PS3 has a cool invite system. You can either invite friends or ask a friend if you can join. When you select a friend from your friends list you have the option to Join or Invite. If you select Join your friend will get a message. If the friend accepts you will join.

In the theme of comparing features of PS3 games and 360 games Socom allows you to sort your friends list. In a lobby you can bring up the friends list to invite people. At first there is no order to the list, it seems very random. However, you can highlight any column and sort by it. So if you want to sort alphabetically you can. If you want to sort by people in the game or not you can. With Gears 2 having a similar feature and not using the guide's friends list I could see other 360 games doing the same thing. While Microsoft did provide the basic tools needed this is a great example that if you give the developer enough space they can come up with something better yet still work with the existing system. Sony needs to learn that they can provide a basic toolset to the developer to handle online games so there is consistancy yet it can be open enough so the developer can do what they want.

After this holiday season I will say that the PS3 is really close to being as good as the 360 online. Because it is completely up to the developers on the PS3 how you play online games is inconsistant. However, if the developers put the work in they can come up with some really good multiplaye systems. All the PS3 really needs to allow now is voice messages and private chat.

[3 Comments]

Geocaching and the COG search

If you like searching for the COGs you should look up geocaching. I happen to have one of the original yellow Jeep Wranglers.

[1 Comments]

I can watch the Packers at home today. WOOHOO!

I hope time Warner and FOX can get their differences settled. Glad the game is on CBS today

[1 Comments]

I am thinking about selling my computers

I have a cheap laptop and my gaming/development PC.

The PC specs are (off the top of my head)
MSI motherboard,
E6600 2.4ghz Core2 Duo with an Ultra 120 heatsink
4gigs of memory
500gig hdd 7200 rpm WD Bevs
xfx 8800GTS 320Meg video card
Corsair 540W PSU
Antech P182 case (view quiet)
After market fans to make it quiet. It is a view quiet PC.
5.1 Logitech speakers
Vista 32 and 64 Home Premium disc

How much do you think that rig is worth these days?

I am thinking about selling both computers and getting a high end laptop. I don't game as much as I use to on the PC but I still need a powerful one for development. Sager has a $600 sale on their lowend 17" laptop which is still bigger than my desktop.

I am keeping my 21" monitor, I use it for more than just the PC.

[2 Comments]

Gears of War PC vs 360

I just picked up Gears of War for PC for dirt cheap. It's interesting that I have the settings maxed out and it is stressing my system. Most of the time it runs smoothly but there are some framerate issues. Also there are loading times. WTF! For example, remember in the first act after you fight off the 4 emergence holes from the round fountain you have to plit up into two groups? I tool the right side like I normally do. As I ran up the hill to the hallway right before I rounded the corner to shoot the locust on the troika I had a loading screen. How does co-op work with this! Tank or Zorbs, we need to do this.

I haven't played a fresh Gears since the first time I played it on the 360. But on the PC version Act I and Act V are available. Why is Act V available? Is that where the Brumack battle is?

I am using my 360 controller with this game. Since this is a slow paced game it really doesn't benefit much from mouse aiming.

I didn't look at a multiplayer yet because I just don't care. I think Gears is one of the worse multiplayer games made.

[5 Comments]

PS3 vs 360 revisisted

Remember that article I wrote for this site earlier this year? Well, now that I have had my PS3 for several more months the article is a little out of date. Even after my article there are still steretypes and misconceptions about the consoles. I still love having both consoles.

1) There is a stereotype that the PS3 doesn't have good games. This is not true. I think this stereotype comes from360 owners who are only looking at PS3 exclusives. The PS3 has COD4, RB6, EA sport titles, and several good exclusives. Uncharted, Hot Shots Golf (casual, same people who made Mario Golf), Metal Geard Solid 4, and hopefully the new Socom are good. The PS3 also has many good downloadable games. Right now I am addicted to The Last Guy. It's like pacman meets snakes.

Edit: The PS3 folks have been getting smart. They've been putting out demos of the downloadable games. This is one thing that the 360 has a huge advantage on, every downloadable game has a built in trial.

Yes, the 360 has more exclusives. But then the 360 is a year older. If you compare the two years the PS3 has been out with the first 2 years of the 360 the stats are surprisingly similar. Similar amount of exclusives, similar sales, etc...

2) Home is going to be a competitor to Live. No, it isn't. Home is a virtual world. It's more like a virtual world version of the new party thing the xbox is going to have. Yes, you can get a group of friends together and chat and play games and other stuff. The xbox party thing will do that but in a 2D setting. You can start a game together in home, which the xbox party thing will do. However, there is still one flaw with the PS3 that will keep it from competing with Live - no voice communication.

Yes, there is in game voice communication. I am talking about private chats while in game and voice messaging. The PS3 doesn't have it, Home isn't adding it - at least in the beta. I doubt they will ever have it in the next couple of years. The problem is the PS3's software and hardware were not designed together. Jack Tretton (CEO of SCEA) said at E3 that was their major mistake and it does cause limitations. Sony is a hardware company, they didn't think the software through. A recent firmware update added in-game XMB, that's like the dashboard and guide on the 360. However, the game has to support it and it isn't always available. MGS4 has in-game XMB except when you are in a multiplayer match.

3) They have comparable graphics. I don't think this is true. I think games on the PS3 look better. I don't have many but hte few cross platform games I have played and the few demos the PS3 has better graphics. I'm a type of person that prefers gameplay over graphics, but I have to say UT3 on the PS3 looks MUCH better than the 360 verison. I think the games that have comparable graphics are the ones where the developers didn't spend extra time on the PS3 version. They made the 360 version and ported it to the PS3. UT3 is the opposite and it shows.

4) There is one thing I like about playing online games on the PS3 over the 360. To the PS3 owners, when you setup a multiplayer match on the 360 you can go to public games or setup private matches. Some games let you assign a number of private slots. However, with most games you have to invite someone to your game to fill those private slots. I'd love to see the option that friends could just join with no invites. To the 360 owners, to make a private match on the PS3 you setup a password. In 2old2resist we use the same password. What's nice about this then is someone can just join the game if they know what the password is.

5) My pet peve with the PS3 is the controller and headset. I am not going to use a USB headset. Though I am seeing more and more people in 2old2resist get USB headsets because of hte issues using a bluetooth headset. The bluetooth headset has two problems for the gaming environment. First, the sound quality. Since most people on xbox live use the headset that came with the system the sound quality in games is consistant. No so much with the PS3. It's dependant on the quality of the bluetooth headset the individual has. Second, recharging the headset. I've had this happen several times. My headset losed charge in the middle of a game. Well, I screwed then. I have to charge it so I won't have voice communication then.

6) The XMB is fast when compared to the guide or dashboard. One thing I hate on the 360 is how slow opening and closing the guide is. Let's say a friend messaged me and I am in a lobby with a 30 second timer. It's actually difficult to open the guide, read the message, and close it before that timer goes off. The guide is just insanely slow. I wonder what will happen when the guide becomes the dashboard in the next update.

7) Since my article the PS3 added trophies. It is copying the achievements from the 360, however, there is no gamer score attached. This is how I view achievements on the 360 anyway. To me the gamerscore is meaningless. Since the trohpies came out well after some games have been made many of the developers of those games are not going to add trophies to the game. The only game I have right now that they updated to support trohpies is Warhawk, a game I don't like that much. Yes, the PS3 is stealing the idea from the 360. However, remember the 360 is getting the ability to install games to the hard drive, what system already does that if needed?

So really there are two things I think the PS3 needs and it will be a good system for gaming. It's needs voice communication. Pulling out a keyboard or using the on screen keyboard is annoying and slow. It also need these feature available at all times, evne during multiplayer matches.

[2 Comments]

Why did the LAN have to end?

Work sucks. Gone for one day and everything goes crazy.

[8 Comments]

Woohoo Microsoft

This is probably not going to interest many people on the site and it will show how much of a geek I am. Visual Studio 2008 service pack 1 came out today. Also .NET 3.5 SP1 came out. This also includes SQL Server Compact Edition service pack 1.

I have a really good reason to be happy about it though. At work we've been moving from Visual Basic 6.0 (yuck!) to C#, .NET 3.5, WPF. To help learn this newer technology quicker I've come up with a project to do at home. One thing I want to do is take an old 50s wood radio and make it a modern mp3 jukebox. I want to find something like the following where I don't have to change the outside. I can put a touchscreen in place of the turntable.

There's jukebox software out there already, but I am going to make my own. I don't learn well by just reading a book. I need a project, a reason to use the stuff. This projectis perfect and will have stuff that is analogous to the business world.

So, why I am excited about these service packs. There's something with SQL Server Compact that has been annoying me, it had no TOP command. I am using SQL Server Compact because then I don't have to install anything extra. It's part of .NET 3.5. Yeah, it's limitted but I am not making a business application. I just need to keep track of songs. It's a simple database. What TOP does is limit the amount of data that is returned. Sometimes you don't need everything. I have such a case.

Take a look at the following screenshot. I am working on how to do the song selection. The following screenshot show the albums in order of artists. I only have one database table which stores all the songs. To make that screenshot I ask for the unique artist/album combinations from that table. Basically in return I get a list of all the albums, no song information. However, to get the cover art I need to get it from one of the mp3s. Before the service pack there was no way to ask for a single song that matches the album and artist. Currently I just take the first song in the list that is returned and use that mp3 to get the cover art. However, returning all of those songs takes up memory and extra processing cycles. Now with TOP being supported I can have the database return only the first song (Top 1) instead of all the songs in the album. With today's computers you won't see a difference in a small change like this. But I think most of today's programmers have become lazy. Doing a bunch of small improvements like this will affect the system as a whole.

(Click for actual size)

Interesting tidbit. The look and feel is programmed using WPF (Windows Presentation Foundation). This is a new thing Microsoft is introducing. It;s what Vista's interface is programmed in. It's vector based which basically means it will look the same at any resolution. That window is 800x600 but the contents are in a 640x480 box that is being stretched. doesn;t looked stretched, does it? That's vector graphics for you.

[11 Comments]

Thinking about selling my computer

I pieced it together on newegg and if it was new parts it would be worth $1300. Think I could get at least $1000 for it? If so I'd sell it. If you search my blog you can fin the specs otherwise I will post them if someone is interested. Screw it, I did a search. The motherboard is a MSI Neo-F since the Asus tanked.
http://www.2old2play.com/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=37011

I am thinking about geting a desktop replacement laptop. I have been using my cheap laptop a lot lately. I don't think I have turned on my desktop in a couple of weeks. I just recently turned it on to install .net 3.5, update C#, and install Windows SDK so I cna learn WPF programming for work.

I've been researching laptops. It would be between Dell M1730, Alienware m17x, and HP HDX. I tried to configure them as close to the following as possible since it is close to what my desktop is.

17" screen (HP has 20")
2.4ghz T8300
4gig memory
8800M GPU (alienware only has dual so I did 8600M)
400g hdd (this ends up being 2x200 at 7200, alienware only at 320g)
Vista Home Premium 64bit
No other software
Regulr DVD burner, though Dell did not mention LightScribe which I use

Dell - $3,199
Alienware - $3,009
HP - $1,965

Notice something? I saw this and I first though HP must be crap then or I am missing something. As far as I can tell they are all configured as closely as possible. I put allt he windows up side by side and I don't see any significant difference. I did look at Toshiba and theirs is not configurable. The closest laptop they has was mostly they same except the cpu had smaller cache and a smaller hdd. Their website is currently down but I think it was like $2100.

But after reading reviews of the HDX and seeing youtube reviews it seems like it is a very good system. It has a 20" monitor so it is huge. It have a tv tuner built in with a remote built in. It has a couple more ports than the others do. Add $350 for 1900x1200. I am happy with the 1650x1080 my desktop currently does so I left that on the HP. The other only do the higher resolution. But still, it much cheaper at that resolution.

I'm not going to use this like a laptop. I've just been using my cheap laptop a lot lately because it sits on the end table and and I don't need a lot of power to surf the web or email. I'm will be doing more programming at home because I need ot learn WPF for work. I installed the tools on the cheap laptop but it isn't fast enough. It's nice to program on the sofa while watching TV.

Do you guys know any brands that aren't huge name brands. Falcon Northwest is expensive also. Gateway is tempting, they have one that has those exact specs and it is $2000. It has a LabelFlash drive though and I have a ton of LightScribe dvds. From what I can tell in the pics it has only one USB port, but it has esata. Asus has a similar one also for $2000 but it has the 8700M.

And theere is this Acer on Newegg. N82E16834115475. I wonder how a 9500M compares to a 8800M.

[5 Comments]

Must have for your home theater

A couple weeks ago I lost the remote for my receiver. Usually when something like htis happens if I stop looking it will show up in a couple days. Well, it hasn't. I looked online for an OEM replacement, the only one I could find was at remotes.com and they want $97. Sorry, way too much for a remote for an eight year old receiver.

Last weekend I visited my parents because they wanted help buying a TV. While at Best Buy I picked up a Harmony 550 remote that was an open box item. This remote rocks! When I lost my receiver remote I eyed the Harmony One, but that was too expensive. Looking up on Logitech's site I knew they supported my receiver so I wouldn't need my remote to program it. This remote does everything!

The only thing I wish it had was bluetooth so I could control the PS3. I don't expect to see anything like that for a while. Dumb move on Sony's part to not have IR for universal remotes.

The software to program this can be easy to use but some stuff is difficult. The initial wizard will setup most everything and start you off with basic activities (like watch tv or watch dvd).

You see on the screen it shows 4 items with a button next to each item and buttons below the screen to page through screens. I have my first screen setup to Watch TV, Play 360, Play PS3, and Turn On All. I have more activities but I don't do those that often.

The first three the wizard setup and it works great. I press Play 360 and it turns the TV on switching it to the proper input, turns the receiver on switching it to the proper input, turns the 360 on, and volume is set to adjust the receiver. If I press Watch TV it will turn off devices it doesn't need. So it would turn off the 360 and receiver and the volume buttons will then control my TV volume.

The Turn On All activiy I setup from scratch. It will turn the TV, PS3, 360, and receiver on. Then when I am in the activity my 4 buttons on the screen are setup as 360, PS3, TV, Fav. the 360, PS3, and TV options will switch the receiver and TV to the proper input. Fav will let me go through my TV's favorites. It took a while to set this up. When I select 360 I setup the button on the remote to control the 360, same with the other ones. I do have all of the systems on at the same time sometimes. Like when I am downloading a demo on one I will switch to the other.

One cool feature of the remote is if it didn't do something correctly you can press the help button. It will then step through the process and ask you what's turned on and stuff. Every once and a while it won't turn my 360 on so I have to use that.

I think the remote detectes motion because this morning I put when I picked up my cell phone which was next to the remote the remote lit up.

You can control individual devices also. It's a pain. For example my receiver remote had a lot of buttons. Butons to set input, buttons to setup the speakers, buttons to setup the surround mode, etc... What the remote does is list all action in the screen. So you see 4 actions at a time, alphabetized. When I select my receiver it has 27 pages of actions.

The remote has a sound and picture button at the bottom. Those set the mode of the remote. For example, let's say I set it up so my TV's sound goes through my receiver. I don't do this now because I only have a couple of HD channels that are 5.1. My TV speakers are really good with voices. Anyway, if I wanted to change the input on the receiver or the TV I could press Picture and then the input button would control the TV, or press Sound and it will control the receiver.

If you want a remote like this watch ebay for the Harmony Advance. It's just like the 550 but has the 360 buttons on the remote. It tends to be cheaper then the 550.

[6 Comments]

Quote of the Day

"The coolest thing about these cars is the noise...Forty-three electric cars rolling by going 'weeeeeee' just isn't all that cool."

-Darrell Waltrip in this article.

That's why electric motorcycles are not going to catch on. Well, you'll see a bunch of smaller electric motorcycles and scooters that will get you to and from work. But you won't see a highway cruiser go electric and be popular in the US. I wouldn't mind an electric bike to go to work with.

[3 Comments]

Pics from Yellowstone

Here's a handful of pics.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v472/SirPoonga/yellowstone/

Just a note: There is more than one page. I see photobucket has changed their layout since I used it last. It wasn't obvious for me.

[3 Comments]

PS3/360 and Yellowstone

Lately I have been getting pissed off at my PS3. I think the bluetooth unit is going bad. Many times my controller won't sync.

Listening to a recent Major Nelson podcast there is a little feature of the 360 I take for granted. The rich presence text. The PS3 only tells you what game a friend is playing. The 360 can give you more information, depending on the developer. I use this often. Usually siddd05 is playing sports games. If he is playing MLB I will wait until I see that he is in the 9th inning before I send him and invite to a game. Many times I will wonder if a person is playing single player or multiplayer. If they are playing multiplayer I will see if there is room otherwise I might play a different game. I've been doing this a lot lately. If I don't see anyone playing a multiplayer game I will continue my GTA4 story. It's not a major feature but it is one that would be nice on the PS3.

I am getting annoying with the 360 context sensitive toasts. It's a cool feature but it has been getting in the way lately. I may want to go to the guide but then a bunch of people pop online. So I can't get to the guide until I wait for all the toasts to disappear.

Last week I was at Yellowstone. It was fun. The first two days it was 70s and 80s. The next two days it snowed. It's a beautiful area. Saw some cool animal. Happen to see two rattlesnakes mating. I loved the Badlands and Custer park area. I will take a motorcycle trip out there at some point.

[2 Comments]