My boss was in Europe last week for what's called a user group meeting. Basically, our largest customer wanted to bring in a lot of the people within their organization who use our software, and get a bunch of feedback from them to find out what they would like to see as far as system enhancements and performance improvements go. It all sounds very boring, I'm sure. Trust me -- it is.
The side effect of this meeting is that it's probably going to mean a lot of work. Not all of the news coming out of this thing was good. I won't get into the details about that, because anything I say would be pure speculation on my part, anyway. And it's, again, boring.
The entertaining things that came out of the meeting were that the release notes that our team re-wrote got rave reviews by the customer. It probably embarrassed the hell out of the person who originally wrote them, and I find that very entertaining. Also, the project plan I compiled for the customer acceptance testing also got rave reviews.
It's humorous, because these are all things that everyone else in the company said was unnecessary and a waste of time. In yo face!
Also, I think the hundreds of thousands of records that I'm scripting into the database are starting to drive me insane. Today I saw some records with the notation "River Craft". This sent me off on a tangent:
"River Craft? Who the hell calls a boat a river craft? It's like something a snooty rich hipster would say. 'Yeeeesh, our cah-go was broot in on the river crah-ft. But you've probably never heard of it."
Then, a little later, I was reviewing locations in Switzerland and came across one called "Verde". So of course that led to this:
"Have you heard? Verde is the word!"
And you know the rest.
See, my plan is that if I keep the rest of my co-workers questioning my sanity, it'll work to my benefit. So far, so good!
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Monday, December 12, 2011
Friday, December 09, 2011
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Okay, you may remember that a few weeks ago I posted a YouTube video for the song "If I Had a Gun" by this band. It's a good song -- something you can sing to. I'd like to talk a little more about the band now, though.
First of all, if you aren't privvy to your 90's British rock, Noel Gallagher is pretty much one half of arguably the most famous rock band of the 90's: Oasis. (Damon Albarn of Blur would probably like to have a word with me regarding that statement, I'm sure.)
In any case, Oasis has come close to breaking up about 500 times since their inception, and this time seems like the most serious of splits. Both of the brothers have new bands now, and that's a first. So there you have it.
To me, Liam was always the one who in my eyes was Oasis' lead singer, even though the two of them shared the responsibility. I always liked his voice better -- he's the one singing Wonderwall, Champagne Supernova, and pretty much every other Oasis song that was a major hit. I didn't like Noel's singing, at least not then.
Oddly enough, almost any list of "The Greatest Oasis Songs" will list "Don't Look Back In Anger" as the -greatest- Oasis song. Likewise, any list of simply the greatest rock songs will have that song on the list as the highest ranking Oasis entry. I say it's odd because that song is sung by Noel. It was the first time he was the lead vocals on an Oasis track. I never liked that song much. Certainly not as much as Wonderwall or Champagne Supernova...or Go Let It Out for that matter.
So I was surprised when I actually liked "If I Had a Gun...", which is the first song that I heard from Noel's new band. He wasn't singing like the Noel from Oasis. Quite honestly, he's singing more like the -Liam- from Oasis. Ironic, that. It was one of those cases where the song was good enough that I knew I had to hear the rest of the album. It was almost a guarantee I would like something else from it.
The thing is, when I listen to this album, I hear Oasis. Depending on which hipster music guru you listen to, it's possible Noel had all these songs written even before Oasis broke up. So there's really nothing aside from the band's name that doesn't make them Oasis to begin with. It's a shame, really.
Anyway, this is my favorite song off the album (thus far):
The intro is the best part. All the way up to "I'm gonna take that tiger outside for a ride..." What a brilliant line.
First of all, if you aren't privvy to your 90's British rock, Noel Gallagher is pretty much one half of arguably the most famous rock band of the 90's: Oasis. (Damon Albarn of Blur would probably like to have a word with me regarding that statement, I'm sure.)
In any case, Oasis has come close to breaking up about 500 times since their inception, and this time seems like the most serious of splits. Both of the brothers have new bands now, and that's a first. So there you have it.
To me, Liam was always the one who in my eyes was Oasis' lead singer, even though the two of them shared the responsibility. I always liked his voice better -- he's the one singing Wonderwall, Champagne Supernova, and pretty much every other Oasis song that was a major hit. I didn't like Noel's singing, at least not then.
Oddly enough, almost any list of "The Greatest Oasis Songs" will list "Don't Look Back In Anger" as the -greatest- Oasis song. Likewise, any list of simply the greatest rock songs will have that song on the list as the highest ranking Oasis entry. I say it's odd because that song is sung by Noel. It was the first time he was the lead vocals on an Oasis track. I never liked that song much. Certainly not as much as Wonderwall or Champagne Supernova...or Go Let It Out for that matter.
So I was surprised when I actually liked "If I Had a Gun...", which is the first song that I heard from Noel's new band. He wasn't singing like the Noel from Oasis. Quite honestly, he's singing more like the -Liam- from Oasis. Ironic, that. It was one of those cases where the song was good enough that I knew I had to hear the rest of the album. It was almost a guarantee I would like something else from it.
The thing is, when I listen to this album, I hear Oasis. Depending on which hipster music guru you listen to, it's possible Noel had all these songs written even before Oasis broke up. So there's really nothing aside from the band's name that doesn't make them Oasis to begin with. It's a shame, really.
Anyway, this is my favorite song off the album (thus far):
The intro is the best part. All the way up to "I'm gonna take that tiger outside for a ride..." What a brilliant line.
Thursday, December 08, 2011
It looks fine!
Modders: Y U SO OBSESSED WITH GRAPHICAL IMPROVEMENT MODS?
Also, I can't see a difference between your mod and the original game. U mad?
Also, I can't see a difference between your mod and the original game. U mad?
Monday, December 05, 2011
I'm Batman. Again.
Alright, so I started Arkham City just now, and played about 30 minutes of it. (I tend to do that with new games -- a short playtime the first night, and then delve more into it from that point forward. It's my thing.) Basically, I did one mission.
Things look really good from this little bit of exposure. Graphics are in the same noir-y style of the first game, but you can certainly see the improvements. Also, the city is...well, daunting! Right after I got my suit and got my first mission, I just sort of looked around going, "Ummm...WTF am I doing?" I had no idea where to go, what to do, or anything. Then I was like, "I'm Batman. I can do whatever the hell I want!" And then I started jumping from building to building. It was glorious.
Well, if there's any sort of video that I should show you regarding my short playtime this evening, it should probably be putting on the suit. I would like you to pay very particular attention to the MUSIC in this short clip. Because it is very good. Allow me to set this up for you: Batman had a plan regarding Arkham City, but it went a little...Strange. (OH I'M SO PUNNY.) Anyway, Bruce Wayne was arrested and thrown into Arkham City, so you spend the first 15 or so minutes as the billionaire playboy. This video is where he gets his suit on.
Here's a short amount of screenshots as well.
This first one is my first view of Arkham City itself. (You can see that I'm still Bruce at this point. I had just won a little brawl with the Penguin's goons. Ol' Cobblepot isn't happy with me.)
Here's Harvey Dent (or Two-Face if you prefer). It looks like they took the design choices from The Dark Knight film when they designed him, and I think he looks fantastic. His voice is very similar to how Aaron Eckhart did it in the movie, too. Very good choice there.
And here's Batman and Catwoman having a little chat. Interesting enough, the first time you're in control of the game itself, you play Catwoman for a little scene. She steals some kind of location data chip from Two-Face, which sets up him capturing her (from the screen above).
I feel quite overwhelmed by this game. I'm not sure yet if it's a good thing or not -- we'll see. However, I have a feeling that once I get my bearing in this game, it's going to become fantastic. Stay tuned.
Friday, December 02, 2011
Seriously Finished
I finished Serious Sam 3 last night. I'm sure you're very happy about that, because it means an end to the corny blog titles with the word "serious" or some form of the word thrown in. Seriously. In any case, the game didn't disappoint in regards to all the promises it made. In other words, it was a triumph. I'm making a note here: HUGE SUCCESS. It's hard to overstate my satisfaction.
The final level was quite insane. The precursor to the final boss fight was running through a winding cavern while killing literally thousands of enemies. It had to be thousands. I'm thinking there was between 200-300 of each type of enemy in the game charging at me through that cavern at some point in time.
After that insanity, it was time for the final boss fight. His name was The Guardian of Time, and naturally he was as tall as a skyscraper. The fight started with him wrestling with the large sand worm creature that had existed in every level throughout the game. (It's designed so that if you leave the designated level area and wander out into the desert, the big sand worm would come out of the sand and eat you. That way, you stayed on course. It's basically how the developers made it so the desert LOOKED endless, but you couldn't go walking out into it, thus eliminating the need for invisible walls. It was a good thing.)
So anyway, the Guardian of Time is wrestling the huge sand worm. (Sam comments, "Are you two having an ugly contest? Well guess what, you -both- win!") It took me a bit of time and many deaths to figure out this fight. It was a large area with several small huts filled with ammo -- mostly the ammo for the most powerful weapons. Also, the entire time, endless waves of enemies were spawning -- primarily the most powerful ones. I assumed that I simply had to whittle down the boss' health while keeping the endless wave of enemies to a manageable level.
The problem was that the boss' health regen'd faster than my most powerful weapon could damage him. And that was when I would focus ONLY on the boss and completely ignore the spawning enemies. So in other words, it wasn't working at all. I didn't know what the game wanted me to do. I saw these large javelins on the ground that I could pick up and throw (just like a spear, really), but I didn't see a place to hit the boss with them. It was very confusing until I accidentally hit the jump button at one point. When I did, I went flying up into the air.
I had a jetpack and didn't even know it.
Looking back, the jetpack must have been sitting among a pile of ammo that I had picked up, and I just didn't notice it. And just now I remember hearing Sam, at one point, say "Who needs a chopper?" That must be when I picked it up. I just didn't see it, nor would I have noticed it on my back -- I'm in first-person so all I see of Sam are his hands and the weapon he's holding. But in any case, I figured it out! I had to grab a spear, jetpack up while the boss wrestled the sand worm, and throw the spear at the soft fleshy area on the creature's back. When the boss wasn't distracted by the sand worm, I had to strafe away from it while thinning out the hordes of spawning enemies. It all fell into place once I learned what I had to do.
The game ended just seconds before the very first game begins. (It's a prequel, after all. The full name of the game is Serious Sam 3: BFE. Everyone assumes BFE stands for "Before First Encounter". Since the first game was called "Serious Sam: The First Encounter".)
I have a very, very strong urge to play the other games now. I own them, and they are the HD versions. But I must resist. I have Batman and Assassin's Creed to play.
Also, I mentioned in my previous post that I had two other videos to share regarding a few amusing bits of gameplay. I've linked them below. Enjoy!
The final level was quite insane. The precursor to the final boss fight was running through a winding cavern while killing literally thousands of enemies. It had to be thousands. I'm thinking there was between 200-300 of each type of enemy in the game charging at me through that cavern at some point in time.
After that insanity, it was time for the final boss fight. His name was The Guardian of Time, and naturally he was as tall as a skyscraper. The fight started with him wrestling with the large sand worm creature that had existed in every level throughout the game. (It's designed so that if you leave the designated level area and wander out into the desert, the big sand worm would come out of the sand and eat you. That way, you stayed on course. It's basically how the developers made it so the desert LOOKED endless, but you couldn't go walking out into it, thus eliminating the need for invisible walls. It was a good thing.)
So anyway, the Guardian of Time is wrestling the huge sand worm. (Sam comments, "Are you two having an ugly contest? Well guess what, you -both- win!") It took me a bit of time and many deaths to figure out this fight. It was a large area with several small huts filled with ammo -- mostly the ammo for the most powerful weapons. Also, the entire time, endless waves of enemies were spawning -- primarily the most powerful ones. I assumed that I simply had to whittle down the boss' health while keeping the endless wave of enemies to a manageable level.
The problem was that the boss' health regen'd faster than my most powerful weapon could damage him. And that was when I would focus ONLY on the boss and completely ignore the spawning enemies. So in other words, it wasn't working at all. I didn't know what the game wanted me to do. I saw these large javelins on the ground that I could pick up and throw (just like a spear, really), but I didn't see a place to hit the boss with them. It was very confusing until I accidentally hit the jump button at one point. When I did, I went flying up into the air.
I had a jetpack and didn't even know it.
Looking back, the jetpack must have been sitting among a pile of ammo that I had picked up, and I just didn't notice it. And just now I remember hearing Sam, at one point, say "Who needs a chopper?" That must be when I picked it up. I just didn't see it, nor would I have noticed it on my back -- I'm in first-person so all I see of Sam are his hands and the weapon he's holding. But in any case, I figured it out! I had to grab a spear, jetpack up while the boss wrestled the sand worm, and throw the spear at the soft fleshy area on the creature's back. When the boss wasn't distracted by the sand worm, I had to strafe away from it while thinning out the hordes of spawning enemies. It all fell into place once I learned what I had to do.
The game ended just seconds before the very first game begins. (It's a prequel, after all. The full name of the game is Serious Sam 3: BFE. Everyone assumes BFE stands for "Before First Encounter". Since the first game was called "Serious Sam: The First Encounter".)
I have a very, very strong urge to play the other games now. I own them, and they are the HD versions. But I must resist. I have Batman and Assassin's Creed to play.
Also, I mentioned in my previous post that I had two other videos to share regarding a few amusing bits of gameplay. I've linked them below. Enjoy!
Thursday, December 01, 2011
This is getting Serious.
Let's chat a bit more about Serious Sam 3, because I feel it rather deserves it. First, I want to point out a throw back from the days of old school shooters. Try to think back to the likes of the original Half-Life. Doom 3. Quake 4. And pretty much any pre-2005 shooter worth it's salt. Do you remember what would happen about 50-75% through the game? Hopefully you do. I'm talking about the infamous point where you're either captured or knocked out, and you lose all of your weapons. Then, you pick them up again one by one in a sort of sped-up version of how you started the game. I freaking love that! Serious Sam 3 just did it to me. They were telling the truth when they said their game was "a glorious throwback to the golden age of first-person shooters where men were men, cover was for amateurs and pulling the trigger made things go boom."
Ok, next! Do you remember in my previous post, I mentioned a new enemy? Well, here's the bitch right here:
I -hate- her. She hovers in the air, and she's telepathic. If you are in her line of sight when she appears, you will be stunlocked until she disappears again. So difficult to fight! Rockets work best.
How about a few more screenshots?
Remember that other screenshot with the monster sitting on a throne, and I said if the thing had been alive and moved I would have shat myself? Well, the monster above was sat in a throne and moved when I approached. I shat myself.
I got the portable cannon tonight. (That actually reminds me -- I haven't gotten it -back- after I was stripped of all my weapons. How strange! I'm sure I'll get it back soon enough.) The cannonballs got a lot larger than previous games -- look at them!
That's a whole lot of kleers charging at me. Luckily, I have a minigun.
Mmk, next I would like to introduce you to the space monkeys. These little bastards are incredibly fast, and cleaning out a room full of them is actually one of my favorite things to do in this game. They're hard to hit, and I like that! It's a challenge sometimes. In any case, I can't really explain them to you properly with screenshots. Therefore, I have made a video of me cleaning out a roomful of them. Enjoy!
I thought I had also recorded a cut-scene that I wanted to share as well, but unfortunately I must have pressed the record key twice. Therefore, instead of getting the scene I wanted, I got footage of me going through the game menu to exit out. Balls!
BUT, I do have two other videos to share. They'll have to wait, thought -- they're not done uploading to YouTube yet. I'll probably post them tomorrow or something like that.
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