Doug’s Blog

Cables Galore

I’ve done some more work for my dad, this time a shopping cart-based IPN script for use with Paypal. Basically, a person clicks the “add to cart” link on one of his client’s sites, then it, well, adds to their cart. Then they can checkout using Paypal and it automatically sends them a dynamic download link to the e-book they bought. Anyway, pretty nice project–I like working with PHP. It’s something I enjoy doing, and I get paid for it.

This time my payment was a bunch of cables. I know you’re thinking that I’m lame, but hear me out: These cables are so I can play and record console games on my computer. I plug the console into a splitter, and basically one end goes to the monitor and another goes to a tv tuner card to record/broadcast. Pretty neat, I think. Took me a while to figure out the best way to do it, too. For that reason, I have provided you an expertly-made diagram. Yes, it’s Paint.

All in all: I bought an XCM composite to VGA adapter, component coupler, and two component cables. I also needed to get an s-video cable so I could record/broadcast my PC without lag by plugging the GPU directly into the tv tuner, but I forgot. I also forgot the RCA audio y-splitter, but I can just pick these up at any Radioshack anytime. Total, this hit me about $130; but I had $45 left over from when I returned my original 360 VGA cable, so it actually run me $85. Pretty good investment if you ask me, 1080p on my monitor and the ability to record for machinimas and broadcast for shits a giggles–it’s all good, it’s all good! TV tuner was quite cheap, too; only $30. Component tuner cards usually $60 or more, around $100 if you want to get a good one–so I got a good deal there. I had to order everything from different sites though which really sucked, it’d be nice if I could’ve gotten them all from just one site but oh well, couldn’t find them. Only downside is multiple shipping charges, as well as the fact that everything will arrive in ‘pieces’. Should be coming in late this week or early next week, though, so don’t fret; you’ll be able to watch me play old games on a Justin.TV stream real soon.

Anyway, for the upcoming holiday season and my birthday in February, I’ve compiled a list of games I’d like. I also put in a PS3 since I don’t have one, but I’m pretty sure I won’t be getting one. And for that reason, none of the games on the list. LittleBigPlanet looks awesome though. The problem is that it’s not worth getting a $400 console just for one game, and nearly all of the other good games for the PS3 are multiplatform with the 360 or aren’t even out yet. Meh. I don’t know about Sonic Unleashed for the 360 though, as most sonic games since SEGA disbanded sucked. Hopefully it’ll break the cycle, though. As for the Wii, I’m really disappointed in Nintendo right now. So much shovelware, so little good games.

360

• Dead Space
• Fable 2
• Gears of War
• Gears of War 2
• Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts
• Bionic Commando
• Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
• Indiana Jones
• Sonic Unleashed
• Tom Clancy’s H.A.W.X.

PC

• Far Cry 2
• Left 4 Dead
• Call of Duty: World at War
• Mirror’s Edge
• Diablo III
• StarCraft II

Wii

• The Conduit

PS3

• a PS3
• LittleBigPlanet
• Infamous
• Velvet Assassin
• Killzone 2
• Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune

Server switch

I can’t believe I haven’t made a blog post in so long, it amazes me. So much has been going on that would be blog worthy, yet I haven’t made a post–is it laziness or forgetfulness? In no particular order:

• Got Spore, played that for a long long long time and it pwns
• Tried the TFU demo, liked it but hated the targeting system
• Played GTA IV on XBL for a while with PP, XBL trial expired and I haven’t been arsed to renew it
• Got a new server, it’s amazingly fast, moved everything there
• Played the Battlefield: Heroes beta, enjoyed it
• Drooled over all the awesome new games coming out soon
• Finished EXRP Lite, put EXRP back up
• Redesigned sites (somewhat, still in progress)
• Couldn’t be arsed to reupload all my huge videos via FTP, rehosted them all on Vimeo
• Dropped the 18th century MMO idea for now, going with the sci-fi FPS
• Played a lot of games, enjoyed all of them except the crappy ones
• M3DS broke, using tape to fix it until I can get a new R4.

Slowness

I got GTA IV today (actually, by dad picked it up for me this morning), and it’s amazing. That’s the only word to describe it. It’s a lot like San Andreas, of course, but it’s much, much more. All the quirks have been fixed, and pretty much everything’s been redone. The graphics are what you’ll notice most at first, but the game mechanics too are improved. One thing that I noticed was that it’s now a lot harder to drive a car, but you get used to it after a while, and then suddenly driving a car is just so much more fun. There’s a challenge to even driving it down a simple street–albeit at high speeds. As far as the story goes, I never bothered to play through the first level on SA. On IV, however, it’s really easy to get attached to Niko’s character and want to know what his past was like and what happens to him along the road. The missions are a lot better, as well. Much less repetitive and much more fun to play. These are just my first impressions, mind you, as I’ve only played for about 5 hours so far.

Other than GTA IV, I bought a new sound card and some new headphones yesterday. My old sound card was a crappy integrated one, so that definitely had to go. I got a Creative Audigy 2. The headphones I had before were USB, which doesn’t plug into a sound card, so I had to get some new headphones too. I got the Creative Fatal1ty ones–they’re a tad bit expensive, but extremely durable and have excellent sound quality. If I watch a movie, I can feel the bass in my head. It’s great. I can also have Fraps record from my sound card now, so my videos can actually have sound (finally).

Anyway, that’s pretty much it. Sorry, but not too much coding. Just tweaking–the sound card and GTA IV have been holding up my time these past few days. Also, Hitman: Blood Money. That game is an instant classic. Never gets old, too! I tried the opera level on Pro, and it was near impossible. I tried stripping a guard in the bathroom, but he turned around too soon and I accidentally killed him. Then he screamed and the whole security force came after me. Thank god for dual longslide silverballers!

I finally gave in

As you might’ve known, I had been doing a lot of programming work lately. Well, today I got paid, and I finally gave in; I got an Xbox 360.
It came with two games, Forza Motorsport 2 and Marvel: Ultimate Alliance. They seem like pretty good games, unlike some packages back in the PS2 days. I also got Halo 3 and Assassin’s Creed, which I think will be the main attractions. I’ll get back soon with a review of Assassin’s Creed, as I have yet to open the box. (Just got home, will open after writing this.)
Anyway, I’ve just realized how amazing good statistics are. I got a nice little statistics package (in PHP) for EXRP, and the results are quite amazing. It’s far more accurate than Google Analytics, and it has a few more statistics logging.
I’ve also made some statistics for in-game actions on the server, and while some aren’t too useful (like deaths per minute, bans per hour, etc…), they’re still pretty neat to look at. I originally made it to see some map population statistics to see what maps are more popular, but then I went crazy and added a buncha other stuff. Meh.
That’s about it for now. It’s time to try out Assassin’s Creed.