Xbox 360 #5 died yesterday evening with the red ring of death, two days before the launch of Halo 3…
I am not amused! :/
Another one bites the dust
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Category Archives: general
This is a post I had to write…
What’s happening?
Work is keeping me fairly busy (preparing for a conference in Toulouse), and not that much terribly exciting has happened. I (un-)am patiently waiting for my Mac Pro (having chosen a decent 3D card as well as 802.11 has moved the ETA to mid-September), Rhythm Tengoku (Rhythm Heaven) is great (I am still looking for the song from the festival-stage), and Chromehounds is regularly taking up my evenings.
This game has gotten very unfair reviews, founded on its mediocre single-player mode, but the squad-based persistent online war redeems it (although there still are a number of annoying bugs left to be ironed out by the upcoming patch). The way in which it encourages teamplay is cleverly designed, and it is the main reason I play. There is nothing else like it. If your are looking for a twitch-shooter, stick to Halo 2, but if you’re lusting for something more strategic and substantial (with endless options for building your own mech), this might be for you. Some comments from Penny Arcade might help explain what makes this game good. 🙂
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (again!)
I’ve been reading the more recent chapters of the Yokohama Shopping Log manga by Ashinano Hitoshi this evening. It made me cry (again!). Thus, I have to implore you — whoever you may be — to read it and be moved. Because it’s just that good. It isn’t for everyone, but you ought to have at least tried.
There is an excellent Wikipedia article that can give you an idea of the series. If you’re still interested in reading, start your journey here and then move here for the more recent chapters.
Crash (2004)
Crash is a great, “serious” film, but not without humour, exhibiting many tightly interwoven stories revolving around racial stereotypes and miscommunication. It feels a bit reminiscient of Magnolia in its way of story-telling, but in a good way.
Touching and very recommended.
Internet in fast.
A fast connection is really nice:
I’ve been playing a bit of “God of War” recently and it feels very epic. Still waiting for my “Killer 7” from Play.com (which is taking 9 days now :().
Have also started dabbling a bit in Cocoa (with Aaron Hillegass‘ book). The current plan for applications is something to convert the escaped international names generated by BOMArchiveHelper to proper unicode, maybe port my wavelet image compression code, and for testing out CoreData an anime fansub collection database / management app. Time permitting, of course… 😉
The argument
I just saw a good argument for high frame-rates / instant feedback on Charles Bloom’s Rants Page. I think this is one the reasons why Gran Turismo 4 (to me) feels much better than Forza Motorsport:
[T]he response to every action is instantaneous. This is not a minor detail; Joe Ybarra used to love to talk about this with frame rate – the difference between 40 fps and 60 fps, and more exactly, the latency, is not some small numeric difference, it’s not like getting 40 chocolate chips vs. 60 chocolate chips – there’s something dramatic that happens when your interface is smooth and responsive and perceptually instantaneous. Suddenly the device is like an extension of your body & mind – it’s not some external apparatus that you’re fighting with and compensating for, it’s your tool and it’s doing your wishes and it suddenly tickles some loving part of your brain.
This is a lot of truth to that very unscientific statement (and I sincerely hope that next-gen consoles will not raise the details to a level where we are again stuck at <= 30 frames / second).