Fine...

...i'll just pick one. In the interest of getting this damn thing up and running to a point that it is updated and usable, I have simply decided to pick a stupid pre-made template and use that. With that in mind, look forward to new posts here soon.

Working...

Yeah, I am still working on it. I might just have to stick with one of Blogger's templates. We shall see.

Project halted...

So, in some interesting news my company is going to be wiping the work machine I bring home with me and use as my personal computer. Everyone needs to log into the servers to use their machines starting Monday. There will be no more local accounts. It makes sense to me and I would have thought as a company it would have been done a long time ago. It makes things more controllable and keeping track of everything that is happening with your company assets is a snap.

The issue is, and why I was using it as my personal machine, I went from three computers three months ago to zero. One of the G4 towers I had wasn't really mine and I was asked to give it back when the person who owned it went into financial crisis. To help him out, I gave him an even older G4 tower I got for free as "interest". While that computer was a hunk of complete junk, it did work, which is more than can be said of my fiver-year-old Dell. I figured I could fall back on my PC, which I tried. I set it back up, but after a week the machine would no longer POST (won't boot). So here I stand, a Technician without a computer. My virtual world in purgatory. It's like a jockey without a horse. A cashier without cash register. A school janitor without the orange-smelling-sawdust to clean up puke. Exactly the same.

Alright, I am being dramatic. But it does suck and it means that the project to get this blog to a state where people might read it is on hold. Anyhow, while this does nothing for anyone who reads it now (not that is was getting updated in any consistent way), I promise some day it will be worth reading and some form of entertainment will be gleaned from it. Until that time, enjoy some Gizmodo.

Construction...

Pardon my dust–

Ok, I hate that saying as well. I am working on this blog trying to make it better. Please bear with me.

Mappel...

So this was a video that was great but FOX has managed to remove it from every website. It was the Simpsons making fun of about 20 years of Apple history. If you can find it, watch it.

Super Turbo HD...

Yeah, the full name is Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo HD Remix. But even the old game was called Super Turbo for short.

The original Super Turbo was, like many 2D games at the time, a masterpiece. Even today, there is no fighting game other than other incarnations of the SF franchise that stand up to the strategy and skill level of this game.

Well, they remade it...in HD...and it costs about $15. It's awesome.

They hand drew the new HD sprites. It is gorgeous. The main developer, David Sirlin, made many balance changes to the characters in the game based on his own championship experiences and those of fellow SF champions. All the of the same strategy applies and can be played online against opponents throughout the world. This is truly a masterpiece.

It should be noted that despite the graphics changes, they did not change how the game plays at all. Each frame has been carefully preseverd so the original game lives on. On top of that, if the chnages to the game are too much, it can be reverted back to Super Street Fighter 2 or Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo rules and the game graphics can be switched back to the classic on the fly. I have found the new game to be perfect, however, so I don't really see the need.

Somehow, amid the high-intensity, more-realistic-than-life graphics, 10-hours-or-less gameplay games of today, this remake seems to be a breath of fresh air. I miss side-scollers and this brings back a lot of memories. Spend the 1200 Xbox points and download it. This game is well worth it.

Below is a decent example of the old sprites and the new HD sprites from Wikipedia (save for the fact that the old sprite is about 1/16 the size in a real comparison).



And an even better example showing the true resolutions.

When you know you play WoW too much...

...you just know. How do you even play the game?

Uh oh...

Lord have mercy. I just set the ol' PC back up. How dare I—

Ok, I have never been truly an Apple fanboy. I like the ease of their operating system but that's about where it stops. I will always recommend them for people that don't understand computers and just expect them to work, an Apple is about as close to that as you can get.

Time to check out some of the old games... Diablo, here I come...?

Gears, Again

I BOUGHT my Xbox 360 because of Gears of War. When that game came out and I got the chance to play, it sealed the deal as to which system I should buy for this generation. It had never been done before and, despite being story-light, I couldn't put the game down. It was just so fantastic and so rich. That combined with the amazing combat and cover system and I was hooked. It is still my favorite 360 game...

UNTIL NOW.

Gears of War 2. How in the hell could the sequel be any better than the original? It's a sequel. It's just not possible. Except that it is. This game is amazing. Where to begin. Well, they used the Unreal Engine 3 and the graphics, physics, and capabilities are amazing. On top of that, there are new game modes, new weapons, new co-op opportunities. I cannot describe it.

And if that wasn't enough, they fixed the issue from the last game, story. While still not an epic love story or drama, this game is a classic war story of men fighting for their lives. There are a enough twists and turns in the story to keep it interesting and you feel as though you have a reason to be somewhere instead of just moving from area to area killing things.

If you have a 360, this game is a must buy for sure.

Mario Piano...

Crazy guy...