X-Box Turismo

05.12.2005

It's felt like it's been a while since I've spent quality time with one of my gaming machines, so I went out and got myself a new play-purdy (ah, my truck driving heritage comes out!) Tuesday. Forza Motorsport seems to be the X-Box version of Gran Turismo - it's not a driving game, it's a simulator. The best part of this gam simulator, is that even though it has half the cars of Gran Turismo, but still over 100, Forza has damage modelling. Run your car into a wall, pieces come off, the paint gets scratched, it'll pull to one side!

Like Gran Turismo, you work your way through winning series of races to unlock newer, faster, cooler cars. I'm not sure how long I'll stick intently to the game, but so far at least it feels like a good game to pick up and go through a couple of races every once in a while. Maybe it'll have some good longevity because of that.

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Connected Once Again

05.11.2005

Last night I finally got around to installing my replacement network card on the home PC. For some reason, the PC didn't like me puttin the new card in the old slot - it never recognized the card. Hoping that it was just something quirky and not the beginning of "time to replace the motherboard", I switched around the audio, video, and network cards in their slots. Luckily, through the magic of not really knowing what I was doing, it actually worked and I could once again find teh interweb from home! The only drawback from all the switching around of cards was that I had to re-install the audio and video drivers. I guess new card slots are treated as completely new devices and the old drivers that I was reloading from cds weren't good enough. And that's why I make web pages for a living - I don't know diddly about how these things work these days.

It also seems that my old network card was slower than my cable modem connection. The new card can handle up to a gigabit, and I swear it's loading pages way faster than the old card (well, when the old card was working). Vroom vroom on the internet!

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Post Mothers Day Monday

05.09.2005

I managed to run off and see my mommy on Friday to take her to a pre-Mothers Day lunch. It turned out to be a good trip. I've always dreaded the time when it would become my responsibilty to go off and see my parents (instead of them being just around the corner... or in the same zip code), but I think I'm doing pretty good. My new years resolution was to do a better job in going to see both mom & dad, and so far I've been doing a good job!

The most amazing part of my trip to see mom, especially for anybody that knows what a homebody I am, was that we ended up sitting outside in the shade on a swing for about 3 hours, just chatting and relaxing. It was nice. Almost toooo relaxing. It almost makes we want a swing. And some trees to go along with it. Ooh, and a hammock!

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Cinco De Mayo, 200-Cinco - Hutz!

05.05.2005

So, it's 05/05/05. It should be one of those special days that you remember where you were, just because of some numerical goofiness with the date. Well, the main thing I will remember about today is how uncoordinated I felt during karate. We're learning different methods of taking someone down, and I can force pretty much anyone down, but I'm having a hard time getting my body to cooperate in learning the smooth methods taught in how to elegantly force someone to become one with the ground.

Jerry was my hapless victim as I tried to learn to sweep his foot while he was walking toward me. Oh, I could sweep and he would fall, but it's just because I was being bigger and pretty much shoving him down. The first time I swept at the right time, I ended up sweeping both his feet to send him falling.

And being big, I didn't even notice until he told me.

There are certain things that a 6', 380 lb body can't do. Well, not safely and without hurting the person I'm applying said hold to. There are things that a 6'2", 180lb Jerry can't do that our 5'7", 160lb instructor can. We're getting to the point where we're learning some cool moves in class, but they're also becoming more dangerous if we screw something up, and I'm not confident enough that I'll screw up without making someone's brittle body part going *POP*.

But I'll keep trying. At least until we get a Big & Tall Karate class started.

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Car Wars: The Return

05.04.2005

Back in the 80's, Jer and I formed a long and lasting friendship based on the sharing of a Dragon magazine and mutual destruction through Steve Jackson's Car Wars. Car Wars was a substantial part of our interaction - we killed each other for the better part of 10 years playing that game.

I miss playing Car Wars. Looking around, it seems most of the groups that I knew as players have dwindled away. Most of the rules are no longer in print, or at the very least seem to be undergoing a revamping (I remember a card game version coming out at one point). The only drawback of Car Wars, for me, was the time involved in creating the car. Space, weight, weapons, armor, speed; It was all a grand math problem. Oh, it was fun, but it took 2 to 3 hours to make the perfect car.

Tangent for one of Jerry's favorite stories: We spend a couple of hours creating motorcycles for an off-road duel/race. After we've designed, we start the game. On the first turn, Jerry pulls ahead of me, fires 2 flechettes to my front tire, causing critical damage that causes my motorcycle to magically transform into a fireball. 2 Hours designing. 3 minutes playing. I was pissed. I'm still pissed. A decade later the phrase "2 flechettes to the tire" still causes my blood pressure to rise.

There are different aids to help design the cars, but I've never really liked them. Something always seemed to be missing. I'm not sure what, but I guess they never really felt complete. So, after thinking about it for a while, and even unsuccessfully trying it a couple of times, I'm going to try and make the Car Wars Construction website. Yes, I am going to try to make a tool for a game that pretty much nobody plays anymore, including me. Why? Well, it's just one of those things I've always wanted to do, and I think I finally know enough (programming wise) to do a good job of it.

The first step is setting up a super cool database that can hold everything, yet be smart enough to allow for the different types of weapons and components the game uses. My database powers have grown greatly in the past few years, so I get a little wood when I think about this (much like Jerry and his lists). Once the data is set up, I envision the actual user interface for construction working like a car site. Much like building a car at Ford lets you pick your options and see the results as you go, I think it would be neat ot do the same things for the Car Wars car. But that's later. I've got a database to make.

And I've got to make sure Steve Jackson won't sue me.

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