Man, setting up mySQL on the Linux server really blows. I keep getting errors and the documentation online stinks. Nobody ever gives a step by step answer on how to fix it. They just assume the person posting the question knows everything except that one step even if the person posting says 'I'm new to mySQL' at the beginning of their post.
And then I got this stupid mySQL Bible book and the frikkin author uses a bunch of screenshots of the stuff he is doing but it's like looking at a DOS window and you can't even see half the characters. Brilliant! I have a bunch of Bible books but the mySQL one sucks. If you're looking for a book on SQL, avoid this one at all cost.
A couple of people on the Deathcon crew have picked up Half-Life 2. Maybe I can get one of them to write a review on it for the Deathcon website. There were a couple of e-mails going back and forth about how they had to turn down the quality and screen resolutions on their computers to get the game to run smoothly so I know I won't be playing it or even Doom 3 any time soon. I don't have any plans to upgrade in the near future and even if I did, my interest in gaming hasn't been too hot lately. I think I may have already retired from the gaming scene and I just haven't realized it yet.
Here's an update on the big initiative I finally finished on Tuesday. The site launched at 7am Wednesday and at 7:08am I got a call from my producer who was freaking out. The site went live but a required javascript file seemed to be missing. I was only like half way to work so I told him open a trouble ticket with the control center so that when I got there a webmaster would hopefully be coming online at the same time. Got to work and tried a couple of things and about half an hour later the site was live and working. Seems the caching servers didn't want to give up the old version of the javascript file so the webmaster had to manually flush it. Site's fixed and there was much rejoicing because it was just in time for a big press conference.
Then Thursday morning I am about half way to work again and frantic producer calls me again. The site is now the 'coming soon' site with an expired countdown clock. I told him to open another trouble ticket and I'd be there in about 15 minutes. Get in and after a quick discussion we decide to just push the whole site again because the site is big news and morning news shows are talking about it. Push the whole thing live and all is right with the world and there is much rejoicing. Turns out this time the webmasters have been working on a new deployment server and it had cached some sites some time probably last week. The server was left unattended with a live site connection and when it went out and saw that the files on the internet were not the same version it had, it sent it's version live. At least one news agency had grabbed screenshots of the site in it's broken state and broadcast them as part of it's newscast. We're not sure if there were others.
Aahhh well. At least it wasn't me that was responsible.
And then the contractor came out today and put in the windows in the server room. I said get me a couple standard windows like what's on the house already. I came home to two huge windows like twice the width of a normal window. Auuugghh!! Don't people know computer geeks hate lots of light?!!!
Check out a new clip from 'Blade: Trinity' and official trailers for 'High Tension' and 'Assault on Precinct 13' on the DOH! Network Spiff Trailers Page.
Ahhhh! Finally the big initiative at work is approved and ready for a 7am launch tomorrow. I can get that off my back and get on to some other stuff and maybe get home on time again.
The guys over at Seven Oh Five finally posted the full length version of Virtual Date 3.0. It's some funny stuff and definitely worth checking out.
Doh! Another weekend gone. besides being stuck late at work on Friday, my Saturday was spent getting a big website initiative ready to go live on Tuesday or Wednesday.
The drywall guys are done with their part of the server room so I was able to move at least the server in there but there's still a bunch of work to be done before it's official. I believe the windows are going to be added some time this week and then I need to do something with the floor and paint the walls and ceiling. I'll have to take some pictures when I have a free minute.
Ok, I spent some time messing around with 'FlatOut' and they have a really interesting file called a Readme.txt. Turns out it tells ya how to get the game working. Go figure. I think all games should come with a Readme.txt. They could be very helpful. Anyway, the readme file says FlatOut requires DirectX 9.0c and I didn't have it. A quick download thanks to my DSL Extreme 6 meg download and install and the game booted up. And with that I will now do...
Johnny Leche's Spiff 'FlatOut' Review
Once inside the game I had the option of one car and two track plus one mini-game. First stop, the forest race track.
The handling is good. Not Driver style but close to it. It will take a little getting use to but is not too far off. You can totally pitch it sideways into the turns but on the dirt track, traction is limited and it's real easy to find yourself spun completely around. The car is kind of slow but in the full version more cars are available as you move up and you can customize your cars for better performance.
I was kind of bummed that there aren't a lot of spots where you can really launch the car but some of the crashes can be pretty spectacular. Not to say there were lots of places in Driver to really launch yourself unless you were playing San Francisco with some of the top end cars. This was only two tracks though so there is still hope.
The checkpoints are hard to see sometimes so it's hard to find any shortcuts without missing one of the check points. I was only able to find one shortcut that I could make without getting penalized.
The destruction is great. Along with losing exterior parts you can even mess up the interior. In one race, I had a view into the passenger side of the car and the passenger seat was twisted backwards. A nice touch is when the front end comes off the radiator fan can be seen spinning in the engine compartment. Road side obstacles aren't safe either. Billboards and tire barriers will explode onto the track if you hit them at the right angles. A little bit of a disappointment is the fact that once some objects are on the track, they don't have any affect on passing cars. Like a pile of lumber may cause your car to fly off the track on the initial hit but the next time around you can drive right over it like it's not even there.
The graphics look great. Dare I say better than 'Need for Speed'? I do. You can actually go off the track and drive behind buildings where as in 'Need for Speed' you can only see what they want you to see.
The tracks are nicely designed. I noticed on the forest track if you go around some barriers there are sections where the track continues. Hopefully when they say the full version has 45 tracks they are actually 45 tracks and not the same track with an extra turn added in.
My opinion of the demo:
• The demo shows off the game nicely with an offroad and on road tracks plus the bonus mini-game.
• I would have liked to have seen another car selection to see how the differnt cars compare on the two tracks.
• It would have been nice to be able to free drive in the mini-game to try some of the other ramps. You're limited to doing the one jump only but you can see all those other tasty ramps just asking to be jumped and have no way to get to them.
• The ejected driver gets kind of annoying. Hopefully the full version lets you disable that.
• There's no multiplayer mode in the demo. This would be a great game for the next LAN but I don't think I could talk all my friends into going out and buying it without a sample first.
That said, I like this game a lot. I'll probably add it to my Christmas Wish List even though it won't be out for the PC until some time next year.
Word on the Internet is Atari may be planning to not release Driv3r for the PC as there is no mention of it in Atari's fiscal 2005 second quarter and six-month financial results. It was supposed to be released in October but the launch date has been pushed back to March 2005 now. We'll have to wait and see. I think Atari shot themselves in the foot waiting this long to release it since the PlayStation 2 had it like three months ago and reviews were not good.
There may be a subsitute for Driv3r though thanks to Bugbear Entertainment and their new driving game 'FlatOut'. I'd like to give an official review of it but the demo doesn't work on either of my computers. Their site isn't very informative and hella slow to load so you can check out videos and screenshots over on 3D Gamers and the demo download from there or File Planet is a lot faster than the developer's download site. The game looks to have similar handling characteristics and destructable environments where no tire barriers are safe. Check it out.
Don't you hate these websites where the author is depressed and they show what song they are listening to and it's a hella depressing song? Maybe your problem is you are listening to depressing songs. Next time you're feeling down, try listening to something a little more upbeat like Stereogram's Walkie Talkie Man.