only to recently recognize that even today they can help maintain Registry hygiene.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Friday, September 25, 2009
Linden Scripting
I've been dab
bling in Second Life a little recently. I always wanted to see what was out there on the Second Life grid, since I'm fascinated with video games of all kinds (though my friend insists "second life is not a videogame!" ). When people talk informally about second life, they usually tell you about seedy virtual strip bars and walls covered in phallic imagery. While Second Life is probably the only game where you can buy a fully functional avatar "Penis with HUD" in actual fact the main "grid" has much more interesting content, like the Chernobyl exhibit and Lost Gardens of Appolo and one of my personal favourites, Da Vinci Isle. Second life does look dated compared to the beautiful graphics in more modern video games, but that's kinda missing the point. The whole game is organic, user created content. If you enjoyed exploration games like Metroid or Tomb Raider, you can certainly waste plenty of time exploring around Second Life.
What really caught my interest was the Linden Scripting Language. Objects in Second Life can be manipulated by attaching scripts to them. The language is C like in its syntax, but obviously without things like pointers and suchlike. Bizarrely there's no arrays either, instead it's possible to create type agnostic lists, which can store any kind of variables (except other lists). Though the syntax for working with them is a little fiddly. What it does give is the sort of instant gratification that you used to get when you programmed in BASIC on the old 8-bit machines. Being able to instantly see an object react to your code is much more rewarding than a boring old console window that most beginners start with. It makes me wonder if anyone has studied how effective LSL or something similar is at getting people interested in programming. Certainly I've heard lots of people put off just by loading something like Visual Studio. Any barriers we can dissolve that prevent people getting into programming are good. Yes I know, LSL is far from perfect, especially when we get onto bigger projects. Then again you could hardly describe C, C++ and Java as perfect either.
What Second Life also encourages is the kind of cooperation and teamwork amongst people with different talents. Those who can forge the shapes and scenery often need people who are skilled in scripting to bring their visions to life. This kind of cooperation is of course vital on larger software projects, particularly games.
Second Life is certainly an interesting community and though the games interface can seem a little clumsy at times it's easily mastered. I'm not sure at the moment if I'll be bored with looking around on there in another couple of weeks or if I'll be going back more often than that, but it's certainly worth a look.
bling in Second Life a little recently. I always wanted to see what was out there on the Second Life grid, since I'm fascinated with video games of all kinds (though my friend insists "second life is not a videogame!" ). When people talk informally about second life, they usually tell you about seedy virtual strip bars and walls covered in phallic imagery. While Second Life is probably the only game where you can buy a fully functional avatar "Penis with HUD" in actual fact the main "grid" has much more interesting content, like the Chernobyl exhibit and Lost Gardens of Appolo and one of my personal favourites, Da Vinci Isle. Second life does look dated compared to the beautiful graphics in more modern video games, but that's kinda missing the point. The whole game is organic, user created content. If you enjoyed exploration games like Metroid or Tomb Raider, you can certainly waste plenty of time exploring around Second Life.What really caught my interest was the Linden Scripting Language. Objects in Second Life can be manipulated by attaching scripts to them. The language is C like in its syntax, but obviously without things like pointers and suchlike. Bizarrely there's no arrays either, instead it's possible to create type agnostic lists, which can store any kind of variables (except other lists). Though the syntax for working with them is a little fiddly. What it does give is the sort of instant gratification that you used to get when you programmed in BASIC on the old 8-bit machines. Being able to instantly see an object react to your code is much more rewarding than a boring old console window that most beginners start with. It makes me wonder if anyone has studied how effective LSL or something similar is at getting people interested in programming. Certainly I've heard lots of people put off just by loading something like Visual Studio. Any barriers we can dissolve that prevent people getting into programming are good. Yes I know, LSL is far from perfect, especially when we get onto bigger projects. Then again you could hardly describe C, C++ and Java as perfect either.
What Second Life also encourages is the kind of cooperation and teamwork amongst people with different talents. Those who can forge the shapes and scenery often need people who are skilled in scripting to bring their visions to life. This kind of cooperation is of course vital on larger software projects, particularly games.
Second Life is certainly an interesting community and though the games interface can seem a little clumsy at times it's easily mastered. I'm not sure at the moment if I'll be bored with looking around on there in another couple of weeks or if I'll be going back more often than that, but it's certainly worth a look.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Weekly auto blog post (weekly)
We need to repeal 12 years of vile laws attacking our liberty
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Weekly auto blog post (weekly)
YouTube - Microsoft BOB - A tour of Microsoft's forgotten desktop "enhancement"
What is Microsoft BOB? In this Youtube exclusive I'll show you one of Microsoft's failed experiments with alternative user interfaces.
WirelessKeyView: Recover lost WEP/WPA key/password stored by Wireless Zero Configuration service
Recover lost WEP/WPA keys stored by Wireless Zero Configuration service
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Weekly auto blog post (weekly)
Good simulation of the old Amiga Workbench, and free chip tunes too!
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Weekly auto blog post (weekly)
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, August 01, 2009
Weekly auto blog post (weekly)
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Weekly auto blog post (weekly)
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, July 18, 2009
Weekly auto blog post (weekly)
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Weekly auto blog post (weekly)
ProcessLibrary.com - The online resource for process information!
Connect My Car - Experts in hands-free car kit sales and installation
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Is Radiant Silvergun really dated?
I've been playing a lot of Radiant Silvergun lately. It's sad to notice my Saturn stuttering more and more on those grainy but great MPEG videos in the game. The game really is a work of genius, its levels bathed in colour as they sweep and swirl around the screen, its bosses spectacular and challenging, its soundtrack mesmerizing. There's no doubting it's place amongst the greatest shooters of all time.
It's hard not to mention Radiant Silvergun without thinking about it's spiritual successor, Ikaruga. Ikaruga is, of course, also a stunning shooter. Its pace even more relentless than Radiant Silvergun, it demands constant attention and focus and is as brutally unforgiving as its older brother. Of course, we've had a stunning port of Ikaruga to Xbox live, but it looks like we'll never see Radiant Silvergun on anything other than the Saturn and the ST-V. I for one think this is a shame. The real reason we will never see a port is probably due to the effort it would take. The Sega Saturn had some very esoteric hardware, quite alien from anything in circulation today. Radiant Silvergun would certainly have been written in non-portable Saturn-optimised assembly code. Emulation would probably be out of the question, since the Saturn was so unusual that accurate emulation is probably impossible even for the Xbox 360. Basically, creating an Xbox live version would most likely mean starting from scratch.
Imagine if that were to happen, a high definition, widescreen Radiant Silvergun sounds very appealing and yet, it would never be Radiant Silvergun. It might even be a better game in its own right, but Xbox Live Ikaruga is Ikaruga through and through, but when the last Saturn in the world finally dies, Radiant Silvergun will die with it.
Personally, I think that is a shame. Treasure CEO Masato Maegawa recently said, when asked if we could look forward to a port of Radiant Silvergun for Xbox Live Arcade, "If you play Radiant Silvergun nowadays, it's certainly aged in assorted ways, and I'm not sure they're all good." Not counting aesthetics, in my opinion very little has aged in Radiant Silvergun, particularly not the game-play or level design. The game plays out like an epic space opera, its bosses stunningly varied and challenging, its pacing swaying between fast and slow, but never anything less than intense. In comparison, Ikaruga is a rock concert, its frantic, adrenaline pumping levels topped by an even louder, more intense boss battle at the end. Really, the two games are quite different, both brilliant and more than worthy of any hardcore gamers attention.
Even after all this time, there's not been a shooter that has come close to being a better Radiant Silvergun. There really isn't another shooter like it that I am aware of (please mail me if you know of one!) Let's hope that in two or three hundred years time, if humanity is still around, there's still some way of playing Radiant Silvergun. Be attitude for gains!
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Weekly auto blog post (weekly)
vxSniffer is a complete network monitoring tool for Windows CE-based devices.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, June 06, 2009
Weekly auto blog post (weekly)
Laptop Repair Help » HP Compaq laptop manuals with step-by-step disassembly instructions
Service manuals for Compaq/HP laptops
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Weekly auto blog post (weekly)
ReadBleach.com - No waiting. No archives. Just Bleach Manga, Right Now!
GameSpot Forums - Ikaruga - Quotes (spoilers?)
I will not die until I achieve something.
Even though the ideal is high, I never give in.
Therefore, I never die with regrets.
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Weekly auto blog post (weekly)
Mark's Blog : Registry Junk: A Windows Fact of Life
- Interesting contrast to Ed Bott's opinion - post by buckoa51
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
Saturday, May 09, 2009
Weekly auto blog post (weekly)
Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.
