Gaming

Ranc bought a Nintendo Wii the other day, chipped and everything, ready to run, and let me tell you right off the bat, that thing is FUN. He had gottan a free Xbox 360 from work somehow, and while it had nifty graphics, and some decent enough games (he borrowed 5 games from some dude) it just didn't catch on with either of us. Also, it made a helluva noise, what with the cooler and harddisk in the console.

The Wii, however, doesn't make a sound hardly. And it's smaller, more compact, and has a motion sensitive controller. That's right. Motion sensitive. When I started reading about the Wii back in the days, when the King of Spades was still a knight, and the Queen of Hearts hadn't lost her virginity yet, I was well skeptic about this motion thingy those pesky japanese had invented. "How the hell does it work? I bet it lags something fierce, and doesn't respond well", a then more ignorant version of me was pondering to himself. However, I was positively suprised. That thing is f00king amazing. It's precide and responds to the least of touches. It came with Wii Sports, which is a fun little collection of 5 sports games, all playable with the motion thingy.

Mere minutes after plugging it in and booting it up (a process that went completely problem free) it had already beat the Xbox in amusement points. The Xbox may have superior graphics... same goes for PS3, but the Wii is just too damn cool, and the fun with the motion controller just never really stops. Had a look over the list of games that are out or will be out soon, and my little geeky gamer-brain was overloaded with pictures of me laughing and having fun. Now, the truly enlightened of you will now be thinking: "Wait a cotton picking nanosecond... here I was thinking Dalif was, hands down, the coolest guy on earth, and now he's gone all pear-shaped over a console? This is blasphemy... this is MADNESS". But let me assure you, dearest of readers, I am still the insanely cool and low-key guy you've grown to love and respect and hold dear. I'm just living a boyhood dream of consoles... something I never had. And also, who the hell wants to grow too old for motion sensitive controllers? I mean, they are pretty much the coolest object around. Give the Wii a go sometime. You'll be pleasantly surprised.

First day done with... let me tell you folks, I wish I had gone for the head against a brick wall option yesterday... I was bored shitless. Couldn't focus. I got, as tradition would have it, shit assignments, and while I started one of them, I just couldn't be arsed to finish it or work a lot on it.. I have three weeks for this. I think I can handle that.

On a slightly related note, my cousin sent me an email today, regarding a job at EA Games.. as a games tester. Now, this might not be what I had in mind, but it's not a totally bad idea, that's for sure. I meet the requirements (yes, there are actually requirements), but I've a hard time figuring out what exactly the job is about, and where.. as far as I can read, it's in Spain. Granted, Spain isn't like my favorite country in the world, but I'd not mind going there for some time, to work in games testing.

It's not something I'll go after for 100% sure, but taken the first paragraph of this post, and a LOT of other post into consideration, I'd say it was safe to say I'd like out of my current employment. It's grinding me down, to be honest, and I'm not liking that one bit. Going to Spain for like a few months or perhaps half a year, might be a breath of fresh air. Especially if I'd be working for EA, testing computer games. Can any of you imagine a better habitat? Surely I can't grow tired of that.... or can I? Oh well, it's something to consider.

Yeah.. I bought a new comp today. After having this bad boy I'm on now for just over 4 years, it's time to cave in, and fork out some dough for a new one. It's gonna be thousands of hertz of Processor goodness, coupled with some killer graphics, some nice memory and a spiffing case to keep it all in. Yup, the start of a new era. But I'm gonna miss this old one tho.. it's been like a brother to me. Always there when I needed it, and to be fair, I haven't had problems with it for years. It's the most stable install I've ever had. Runs like a doozy... most of the time. After a defragmentation of me old harddrives, I've gained like 40% speed back. 

Anyway, the new box will arrive Friday, which means I'll be occupied for the weekend. I'm off work for 4 full days, and it's just needed bigtime. Just going to bed at night, and knowing I don't have to wake up at a specific time the morning after. mmmmm one of my favorite feelings in the world.

On a slightly related, but not really, note; I've considered starting to play poker, just so I'd have something to do when I was at home anyway. Online that is. But I'm not sure I'd enjoy it a whole lot. Also, when I get my new box, coupled with this new LOVELY monitor, hopefully I'll be able to do a lot more 3D modelling at home. And that's gonna be swell. Should keep me busy at night, I hope. I'll pot pics and updates on the gear, as soon as I've got it. Cheers!

I'm chalking this one down on a few categories just for kicks. 

Anyway, I bought a new monitor the other day. So far it's been my 19" Samsung 930BF that I got for Christmas in '05 along side my old trusty Sony Trinitron 17". The 17" from Sony was the first monitor I ever bought while actually caring about what I got, and it's served me for 6 years now. It had a brief 1 year hiatus, where I thought I had lost it, but on the very day I was going to throw it out, I decided I might as well yank the backcover off, and have a look inside if I could fix the problem. Turned out, I was able to fix it afterall. Messing around a bit, I found a little fuse that I figured I'd try changing. Lo and behold, the monitor worked like a charm after that. But now, it's over... and I'm gonna miss it. Had some good times with that monitor.. good times indeed. Remember when I wanted to watch an episode of Scrubs, and the monitor played it for me? Yeah I remember too.. like it happened yesterday. Good times.

Anyway, the 226BW 22" monitor from Samsung will pick up where old Sony left off, and so far things are looking splendido. Found out tho, that I only have one DVI and one VGA exit on my gfx card, so.... when I buy a new comp, I need to make absolutely sure the fucker has two DVI exits.. because running vga on a nice tft monitor just doesn't quite cut it.

I'll post an image later on, when I've decided it's time to yank up the old cam and snap a pic. Got around to vacuuming the place, and I must admit, it sorely needed it. So now that I have a new monitor for working with 3D, step 1 in my masterplan to better my skills have been completed. Step 2 is a little more daring, as it requires me to fork out quite a load of cash, but I daresay it's for the best. Step 2 is buying a whole new comp. I'll update you guys on the specifics later on. For now, I'm gonna marvel at this gem... crystal clear image, crisp colors and a sleek design. Yeah.. I'm happy.