Sunday, July 16, 2000

Hey! A.T. is right! -- 9:49 pm CST, Update by J.t.Qbe

It really is a slow news day! Even Linux Today is reposting old stuff. But old isn't necessarily bad. Today they linked a September 1998 article from Performance Computing/Unix Review by Thomas Scoville, titled The Elements Of Style: UNIX As Literature. This is a great analysis of the reasons why Unix is so appealing to literate, liberal arts types (like A.T. and me). This article is part of the reason why I'm a Unix administrator today. Highly recommended!

Pondering the Imponderable -- 4:41 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Just when I thought the news today couldn't get less interesting, it did. /me yawns. The only thing I even remotely thought about linking was a profoundly bad interview which managed to redefine the words "sycophantic" and "sophomoric" (time to bust out the dictionary). Makes me proud to be a webmaster.

Anyway, I plan on writing some more PalmOS-related stuff this week, which I'm sure you'll all be waiting for with bated breath. I recently turned off "beam receive" in the preferences in my Visor and my batteries do seem to be lasting longer. Unfortunately, I haven't done any tests to determine if it is a real phenomenon or just a figment of my imagination.

OK, this is pretty entertaining too: User Friendly lists British Columbia's Public Enemies Nos. 1, 2, and 3.

Saturday, July 15, 2000

Caveat Emptor -- 11:03 pm CST, Update by J.t.Qbe

For you knuckle draggers out there, that's Latin for "Let the buyer beware." (Ok, you might remember it from a Brady Bunch episode too.) I while back I wrote about my last (and I do mean last) experience purchasing a copy of PC Gamer mag with CD-ROM for $8. The CD didn't work. I requested a new CD via the PC Gamer web site, which said that one would arrive within 2-3 weeks. Guess what? Today marks 5 weeks, and I haven't received a CD or heard anything from PC Gamer at all. Thanks guys! Way to build customer loyalty! This is the last issue I'll ever buy, with or without a CD.

However, I did manage to dig an old CD-ROM drive out of the closet and read the files I wanted (a bunch of classic games) so I did get some of the data, though it was an inconvenience. I'd forgotten how much fun X-COM is. Be careful, next time you're tempted by that PC Gamer CD-ROM edition. I've had this problem several times before, and so have many others. PC Gamer apparently uses low quality CDs, and apparently doesn't care about those who get stuck with bad ones!

OMF: Battlegrounds Shots -- 9:03 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

GA Games has some screenshots from One Must Fall: Battlegrounds. I played an awful lot of One Must Fall: 2097 back in the day. I liked it better than almost any other fighting game out. If you aren't familiar with this great game, I suggest you check out the official website: OMF.com. Maybe OMF:B will see the light of day soon? Thanks Evil Avatar.

Gamespy on Linux Gaming -- 8:54 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Gamespy has an article up, comparing Windows 98 and Linux for suitability to gaming. Overall I'd say it is a pretty good article, even though it glosses over some subjects rather quickly (although a general topic like Win98 vs. Linux could be written about ad nauseum).

The same author also has a quick overview of Linux posted which provides a decent introduction to current goings-on with the OS. Qbe? Any thoughts?

J.t.Qbe comments: Awww, you know I try not to have any thoughts over the weekend! Since you asked, though. . . I read the article and think that he has some good points. However, keep in mind that Linux wasn't designed as a gaming platform, while Windows has strongly driven and been driven by the gaming industry. There's far more to Linux than gaming, but not much more to Windows. It's somewhat the same with drivers--most hardware is designed for Windows, so of course Windows will have better driver support!

One other point: although Loki has done some amazing work porting games to Linux, there's far more to gaming (on any platform) than just the newest and flashiest shooter or RTS. Unix games have been around since Bill Gates was in diapers (well, maybe not that long). Some games may lack the flash and eye candy of the latest Windows ports, but more than compensate with depth of play. I've been having a great time playing the demo of Exile III for Linux--what it lacks in graphics and sound, it makes up in depth. Lots of fun! And don't forget Freeciv, Pysol (why wet your pants over "Eric's Ultimate Solitaire" when Pysol is free?) and Angband (which beats Diablo/DII hands down, except for graphics and sound), to mention only a few. Linux/Unix gaming has a lot to offer. Sure, the eye candy games help lure in Windows users, but let's not belittle what's already there!

Daikatana Patch -- 8:34 am CST, Update by A.T. Hun

At long last, ION Storm has released the 1.1 patch for Daikatana (44M), John Romero's frog-whackin' masterpiece. Blue has a list of mirrors. The list of changes and updates is lengthy, so I won't copy the whole thing. Sadly, I see no new "unsuck" option. You can check out the full list here. Oh yeah, you'll lost all your saved games too.

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