happy birthday, my old friend
Wow, this came out fifteen years ago.
In other news, holy crap I’m getting old.
Lame side note: My very first day at GameFan had me watching one of the guys play through an early version of the game; I could hardly believe what I was seeing. And, after all these years, it still remains as one of my favorite gaming experiences of all time.
fantastic
Finally started reading Mark Millar’s run on F4 the other day, neat stuff. A copycat world created for the rich, future super heroes, a machine that costs a billion dollars a second to run, the death of no less than three major Marvel icons (not to mention an entire parallel universe of heroes), Doom’s master… It’s borderline madness - the outlandish, almost comically (har, har) larger-than-life plots and crazy hyper science seems more like something out of Grant Morrison’ mind than Millar’s, but it works.
Hot damn, it works.
hanging around
Small touches like this make me really want to like Homeland.
But then I remember how much I love invisible walls and low res textures and endless spawning enemies, and I come to my senses. Trying to beat the fifth level on the hardest difficulty is ten times more frustrating than Call of Duty: World at War ever was on Veteran. And that’s saying tons.
ipad 2, still cool
After a few days with it, yeah - the new iPad is rad. The weight is great, and the power boost is more than fantastic. I can actually use certain programs without gnashing my teeth (what’s up usable OmniGraffle?), and nearly everything else is speedier, from launches to loads.
I also added a few new apps that are making this machine just that much more awesome for work / productivity.
Adobe Ideas - Yes, this has been around for a while, but paying for the layers upgrade makes it my new favorite visual mock-up tool.
Index Card - The best iPad tool for writers? Yes sir. And the fact it syncs with Scrivener makes it extra worth it.
jobless, one month in
That title’s not exactly fair - I’m “employed” for a while longer, but not in the same capacity as before.
It took a small while to adjust. Not really the fact I’m not going into work anymore, but more to the fact I’m no longer seeing the people I once did on a near-daily basis. They became a family of sorts, and it sucks when that type of situation changes. Anyways, bah.
The funny thing is time seems all screwed up. Weekends, Monday, Fridays, whatever; days no longer have the same meaning, and they pass by in this ultra strange fast-forwarding slow motion. It’s been a super quick, leisurely month. Huh.
Things that have been taking up my time:
Exercise. I started this a week ago, and am still going, which is a miracle for me.
UDK. Having fun learning new things.
Writing. Stuff.
Helping peeps with cool things.
Selling / sold tons of old games, bought a new laptop.
Organizing things.
Slowing coming to terms of becoming a dad in a few months.
Things I should be doing:
Japanese. Need to get back into that, yo.
Programming. I need to be studying this much more.
Worrying about the future. Heh.
Playing more games. Bulletstorm left me a little dry, hopefully Homefront and Yakuza 4 will get the drive going again. Speaking of which, I need to finish up Yakuza 3, dammit.
ipad 2
After a few hours of playing around with the sucker, this is what leaps to the front:
Goods
It’s zippier. Actually, a lot zippier. Apps fire open, pages swipe silky smooth, etc, etc. Reminds me of the upgrade from a 3G iPhone to a 3GS; all the lag I never really noticed is gone, and the entire experience is better for it.
It’s lighter, omg lighter. Now, a large part of this comes from the fact I used the Apple case with my last iPad (effectively making it a full two pounds), and this one is 40% lighter even with the smart cover on. Not to mention way thinner as well.
The button is less stiff and clicky. Which is a good thing.
I think it works better. I’ll know for sure after more testing, but Battleheart levels load way quicker and it looks like OmniGraffle is no longer a laggy mess. Which alone makes the purchase worth it.
Bads
I miss the old case. I’m normally not a case person (4 iPhones, and the only case I’ve ever used was the free one they sent to everybody), but I loved (loved, loved) the Apple-made iPad one. Yes, it added to the weight and “covered the beauty”, but I liked the fact it turned my iPad into something I could throw into my bag without worry. The smart case is cool, but not safe, and I can totally see myself breaking down soon and buying a 3rd party one.
Crap camera. Yes, I never expected to be taking awesome stills with this, but man… The wife and I had some serious fun with FaceTime, but the artifacts on the shots made them look like ten-year-old cellphone pictures. This is a bit of a mar on such an otherwise advanced piece of kit.
I had more than a few friends wonder why I upgraded - especially seeing this was an incremental upgrade rather than a total refresh - but once I read about the upgraded components it was in the bag. I used my old iPad like nuts, and being able to use it better is a great reason to take the plunge. Plus the price I got for my old 64-gig version and downgrading to a 32-gig one helps a ton…
Oh, here I was when only 40 or so people were ahead of me:
click to embiggen
The line had people stretching way around the corner on the right side, nuts.