Friday, March 11, 2005

Pondering the Imponderable -- 11:09 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

I saw (and downloaded) the Episode III trailer last night. This movie looks like it is going to be suh-weet. I'm going to see it with my wife before I decide if any of my kids can see it in the theater. I'd really like to see at least one Star Wars movie on the big screen with my kids, but I don't want to freak them out either (any more than they are already freaked out about being my kids).

I've done some testing with Half-Life 2 in Cedega 4.3. I'm pleased to report that DirectX 8 rendering works faster with fewer anomalies than before. There are still a few rendering bugs and it's not exactly a speed demon, but it is playing better. Being able to lose the crappy DirectX 7 renderer makes it like a whole new game. That's a good thing since I forgot to back up my saved games before dusting my drive.

I've been playing quite a bit of Ratchet and Clank: Going Commando on my PS2. It's even made me overcome my Burnout 3 addiction, if you can imagine. Any game that has a gun that allows you to turn your enemies into sheep is worth the price of admission for me. The levels are quite varied and there are enough weapon options to give you something to think about. I like the ability to trick out my ship, although I must admit that the space battles are my least favorite part of the game by far. I highly recommend that you rent one of the R&C games if you haven't tried them already.

I've been very pleased with my Logitech Cordless Action controller for my PS2. Control has been every bit as good as using the standard Dual Shock. I'm even still using the original batteries from when I bought it on January 31. That's with rumble on all of the time too. I'm not sure how much game time that is, but it has to be over the 50 hours that the say the batteries should be good for with rumble on. It isn't cheap, but if you want a high-quality PS2 wireless controller, look no further.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Star Wars Ep III Trailer Tonight -- 7:04 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Don't forget that the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith trailer will be shown during The O.C. on Fox tonight. We're taping it since I couldn't bear to actually sit through that show.

Cedega 4.3 Released -- 6:30 pm CST, Update by A.T. Hun

Transgaming has released Cedega 4.3, the latest version of their gaming fork of WINE. You can check out the full release notes as well. Supposedly there are quite a few shader improvements. It also enables you to play Star Wars Battlefront, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, and Sid Meier's Pirates! Live the Life. I resubscribed to check it out. I'll let you know if I find anything interesting.

Wisconsin Taxing Downloads? -- 12:44 pm CST, Update by The Master

Check this BS out: WI governor proposes state sales tax on downloads (arstechnica). There's also an article on this over at Milwaukee Journal Sentinal online.

That's right. Doyle wants to apply a 5% sales tax on internet downloads. On the honor system. Good grief. Let's just see that one work out. Okay kids, let's try some fiscal responsibility to balance the budget, instead of trying to apply a tax to everything. I'm sure the next one will be a breathing tax.

A.T. Hun comments: Doyle seems committed to driving the state into the ground. He is a classic tax-and-spend Democrat. We need to throw him out and get a real, bona fide fiscal conservative in there. And no, Tommy Thompson wasn't a fiscal conservative either.

The Master comments: Actually, historically, I don't believe Wisconsin has ever had a fiscal conservative. I believe budget issues and overspending are part of the Wisconsin political fabric. I believe it might be time for a good wash and rinse.

A.T. Hun comments: Or a good, old-fashioned swirlie.

J.t.Qbe comments: The Master knows his history. And A.T. sure knows the solution.

Past Two Days' News

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