So... it's 2am... and I'm blogging!?

Well I figure since it's 2am what's another 10 minutes??

Today has been a bit of a joyous day . I've just finished packaging up some fixes for a customer's system that's in UAT (for those less involved in software development, which could be argued slight better off, that User Acceptance Testing). There were a few issues (more than I expected but that was probably just wishful thinking) some were product, some design, some confusion between design and requirements, some were miscommunication in the doco and some were just self inflicted. I could start off on a long story about all the fun of the UAT results from today, but I'm trying to limit myself to 10 miutes so I can get to bed.
I've been in training all week, for which I have an exam tomorrow and for which I've done no preparation because I've been working on the fixes. Hopefully it's not as painful as the last exam... Although I'm not liking my chances the way the end of this week is turning out.
On the brighter side I've discovered some tracks on the MD that I ripped before I left for Snowy last week that I didn't even know I owned :), me thinks I need to get a better CD cataloguing system...
Also as we're on the brighter side... The problems with UAT at the customer does mean I get to come home a day early from Sydney, which means I get to see Ness before she goes on Soccer Camp!

Well it's 2:09 so it's off to bed. (at least I'll be too tired to be stressed about the exam)

Oh, maybe not bed yet... just remembered I need to pack as I'm going home tomorrow! :(

Arcade Addiction here we come

So after a long time being addcited to the arcades and managing to break habit, Nintendo have gone and tried to lure me back! In October of this year Mario Kart Arcade GP is due to ship to Australian Arcades.

The unit will come as a two-seat unit standard, but can be linked up with other units for additional fun. There are twenty four courses of varying difficulty in all - almost a record for an arcade machine - with additional challenge stages. It allows you to take a picture of yourself, so that other racers know just exactly which racer you are. Handy. Naturally, Mario Kart Arcade GP has the same crazy gameplay that the series has become famous for, with coins for
additional speed, lightning bolts, stars, shells and a heap of secret moves.
From PalGN

Looks like I'll have to be saving up my coins to be feeding the arcade beast again... At least I might find someone who'll want to challange...

Cold, Wet and Raining.... again

The run of nice days that I had in Cooma has well and truly ended and
the grey, wet days in Sydney (actually they're more like Melbourne
days) have well and truly set in here. The only problem is I really
didn't pack for this sort of weather

Addictive games are bad for your sleeping habits

Curse you Advance Wars!

Bad Days for Photos

I had a nice mini holiday with Ness over the weekend. We took a drive up from Canberra to Sydney (possibly one of the most boring roads I've ever travelled). We spent the weekend in Sydney before Ness flew home tonight (and I have to stay for work). We had a great time but I tried to take some photos with Ness's Pentax camera but was continually thwarted by the weather. I did manage to get an ok photo of the Harbour bridge (how embarassingly touristy) at sunset as we ferried across to Manly. I'll eventually put them up on Flickr.com once I've got a faster than 28.8k connection (yes I'm back to dial up while I'm stuck in this hotel all week, and hence the lack of posts... it's just so painful trying to upload stuff!)

edit - As my post appears to be a bit misleading (according to Mick anyway) I'm still in Sydney until Friday.

I think I broke some speakers :(

I picked up a FM transmitter for my trip back from Cooma to Canberra. Not by any stretch of the imagination a piece of Hi-Fi equipment but it works pretty well for getting the signal to the car stereo. The only problem was I listened to a few tracks from Rhibosome, Katalyst and FDEL that were a bit too much for poor speakers in the Pulsar (that I hired) to handle and they had quite a few rattles by the time I'd made it Canberra. That however wasn't the only bad thing about the Pulsar. People complain about the build quality of Hyundais, but this Pulsar was terrible. The fact that putting the sun shade up made a horrible tin vibrating sound as it hit the roof like it was sheet of tin. There are heaps of Pulsars that are quite good, but I'd stear clear of the current generation!

Last day in cooma!

Today's my last day in Cooma! I'm heading back to Canberra tonight. It was no where near as cold this time, I never needed to wear more than 2 layers the whole time. A bit of a change from the -4 to 3 temperatures that I had earlier in the year.
I'm considering a fm transmitter for my Hi-MD player because i'm not sure I can sit through an hour of racing calls or country songs until I can get triple j. I didn't bring any cds with me so at the price of cds here, for about the price of one cd I can get a the little gadget.
The other contributing factor is i'm driving up to Sydney tomorrow so it will be nice to listen to some of my fav tunes.

Nothing better than service

I haven't been travelling for ages but this week I've been shipped off to Cooma in the snowy mountains. All in all it's not too bad except that I had to spend Vanessa's birthday here.

!!! Happy Birthday Ness !!!

On the bright side though I'm staying in a place that is the friendliest I've ever stayed. Although this sounds like it's turning into an ad, but the people here have been great they make me feel like a long lost friend. (and on a geek note have free wireless broadband! Well all except tonight because they're having provider issues) The only problem is they cook the biggest roast meals for dinner every night!
It will be back on the bike for me when I get home! So if you have to stay in Cooma, I'd recommend the Cooma Motor Inn!
On a side note, how bad is Las Vegas! Why didn't I bring any dvds? I think the DS is going getting workout tonight, lucky Advance War 2 has more playing hours in it than Astroboy, grumble grumble....

The day Nintendo goes to the dogs!

Today is Nintendogs release day. It will be interesting to see how the sales go against the PSP, especially as the GBA seems to be dominating the sales charts at the moment. Despite my reservations about the game being corner stone title for the handheld, I've come around on that front because they're just such cute puppies! And I know that I'm going to get such a hard time if I actually get the game (I'm looking at you Valavien!) I'm still concidering it. It's also been announced that there will be another version release at the end of the year.

Where is the ad skip!?!

I didn't realise how much the way I watch TV on the PVR had become standard. Being away and having to watch TV (because there isn't much else to do in Cooma) I found myself reaching for the remote to press the ad skip button ever time the show moved to the ad break. The other thing to note about ads in Cooma, there seem to be heaps more "Meet someone new! Call Now!" than I notice in Brissy... especially when it's only 8:30 at night... maybe it's just lonely (and cold) out here in the mountains.

Advanced Warfare

Having finished Astro Boy: Omega Factor (for the second time) and trying to have a break from the Italian Plumber (after getting a third of the stars in the title), I pulled out a title that has been sitting around my GBA for ages but I never got into playing it. After trying to play the first few training missions a few times and getting bored/frustrated. I took a bit of time out last night and pushed through to the main campaign. I can now see why everyone raves about this title on the GBA and are so excited about the release of Advance Wars: Dual Strike. The best description so far is like a portable version of Command and Conquer, something that would really benefit from the touch screen. I've only played about the first few missions but it's really starting draw me in!

Viva la Revolution!

Possibly one of the biggest annoucements in the marketing for the next-gen consoles happened on Friday. Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, unveiled the mysterious controller for the Nintendo Revolution. I must admit I was a bit confused by the images when I first saw them. Fortunately the video released showing people using the controller in different genres managed to clear it up. Now I can't wait for it to get here! The most exciting scenes from the video have to be people using the controller like a sword (presumably in a Zelda Title) and as a gun (in a Metroid style game). To use a long forgotten gaming term, it's like bringing basic Virtual Reality to the home console market (without the helmet). However it does remind me a fair bit of Mattel's run at this kind controller the PowerGlove, another innovation for a Nintendo Game system.
However, the choice of design for this new controller being so close to a remote control, which will make it much more accessible to the general market. Obviously it will ultimately be how this integrates with games that will determine the success of the system. Personally it holds much more excitement for me than just be bigger/faster next-gens from Sony and Microsoft. (but then again I've always been a Nintendo fan!)

The perils of wireless gaming

So you're sitting parked in your car waiting for, what ever it is your waiting for. You're about 15 mins early so you pull out your DS and start to give Bowser the beating of a lifetime (well at least this lifetime any way). As you finish a level you glance around to notice that the car on the other side of the street where there is someone else with the same idea. DS illuminating the cabin of the car, stylus in hand frantically trying to win what ever it is he is playing. Here comes the dilema... How do you let the other DS owner that they are near a DS that's willing to play multiplayer games? (other that waving your hands around madly and point at your DS like a mad man...which from all experience doesn't work)
Would be a nice feature if the DS were wireless aware enough... obviously there are all sorts of technology issues with this (using too much power having the wireless continually broadcasting etc) but it would be a nice feature....

In the world of Technology there is always something new

A few months ago I started looking at a few projectors as the next step in the evolution of my Home Theatre setup. At that stage one of the front runners was the Panasonic PT-AE700. However that is all about to change, as is always the case with technology new versions come out at an every increasing rate an the Panasonic PT-AE700 has now been replaced by the Panasonic PT-AE900. The new projector boasts a contrast ratio of 5500:1 with a native HD panel. According to the digital producer the people at Panasonic have put a lot of effort into making the picture look just right.

The company and Hollywood Colorist David Bernstein (Molin Rouge, Unfaithful, Phone Booth) got together three years ago with the predecessor to the PT-AE900, the AE700. For example, Bernstein took issue with the way the AE700 was outputting blacks, and Panasonic engineers worked to correct this with the AE900. The practice in getting a colorist to work with Panasonic to develop a projector is based on Panasonic 's goal to ensure that the color fidelity that the viewer sees via the projector is as close as possible to what the director of the film intended.

As the Panasonic PT-AE700 was placed as one of the best projectors on the market for film like pictures it's successor should be very impressive.

How to make any gathering antisocial...

Just add a couple of Nintendo DS consoles

And everything that wasn't about gaming!

Although from my previous post it looked like I did nothing but sit glued to my Gamecube all weekend, it wasn't entirely true.

Managed to catch up on a couple of movies. Something I hadn't seen before (which has amazed everyone) was Police Academy. A pretty mindless watch, but it was hilarious! In the vain of mindless watches I also picked up a cheap copy of Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow.

From all the reviews I'd read and the reports I'd heard I really wasn't expecting much from the movie, but in the end I really enjoyed it. It's very much a switch you're mind off at the door, but it was still a pretty good way to spend an hour and a half.
Lastly I discovered that the Encel Stores in Brisbane are closing down and are having a floorstock cleareance. This is always dangerous, particularly when you find an unusual and bargin set of speakers.

The Klipsch Heresy II is a Floorstanding speaker from their Heritage series which boasts a 12" driver as well as efficient high frequency and midrange horn drivers. Being from the Heritage series they have a very retro feel and would be right at home belting out tunes from my turntable.Hifi World Magazine describe them as

Horn and infinite-baffle hybrid with power to spare. Phasing and frequency accurate beyond belief.

Their most impressive statistic though is the fact that they've been reduced from $5499 to $1999...

A weekend with the little black box.

This weekend's gaming with the Gamecube really came to the fore. (although nihtendo in general got pretty good representation with Ness's new found addiction to her DS)
With the release of the new Mario party gone on the horizon I got together with a few friends to play Mario Party 5. Which resulted in a lot of yelling and fist shaking. There is nothing complex about the game or the game play but once you put 4 people in charge of a controller with only their button mashing skills to get them by it results in a whole lot of fun!
The Kongas also got a thorough work out, AJ and Tom came over to work on some more things with their wedding. This of course was punctuated with Donkey konga battles and unlocking more levels in Jungle beat. Even managed to fit in a few Melee rounds of smash bros. (AJ and Tom are now officially the Only people that will play me)
Much of last night was spent blasting my way through the star wars Universe. Having finished Bard's Tale I was looking for a long playing title for one of my consoles. I had decided that RE4 would fill the role but it's proving a hard title to find!
In a moment of weakness I saw Rouge Leader: Rebel Assault, a game I'd wanted when it was released. At $20 It was hard to go past. The first thing I noticed was the difference in difficulty over the last Rogue Leader title (eg. it didn't take me 176 goes to get the medals in the first stage) that said it's still challenging. The added first person levels are a nice touch and integrate well into the flow of the missions.
My favorite aspect though is getting to fly a jedi star fighter and use the sonic charges! (hang on weren't they the weapon on the bounty hunter ship? Oh well they still cool!)

I've created a monster!

I went to trade in my old Gameboys in on some new games. The best part was that I'd discovered I had enough trades to get another DS and thought it was only fair to get Ness her own DS. I pick up the DS and a copy of Yoshi Touch & Go. The side effect however was an addicted Ness. She's played it with almost every spare moment.

Must fight urge to buy...

In the traditions of the shine to consumerism that this blog is this is just about the coolest toy going (other than the DS which is obviously the coolest) Apple released their new iPod nano. I've been fighting off the need to go to a portable mp3 music for a while with Hi-MD but this new iPod is so cool I may just have to own one of these. The thing is just sooooo small only 9 x 4 x 0.7 cm and 42 grams!

Ds frowned on in the work place?

I'm a bit on the bored side at the moment. I'm supposed to be doing an install to production today but the tech that I'm to be working with is busy. As a result I'm sitting at the customer's site waiting... The worst part is the DS is sitting or standby in my bag about a minute away from another star! Would it really be that bad to play? Obviously it would... but....

How to beat of some steam

After my not so pleasant day today I just felt like blowing off some steam with some gaming. I was planning on playing a bit of Counter Strike to get out the days frustrations, but in a moment of genius I got out Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat. There is nothing like getting through a fast paced platform game by bashing a set of konga drums. The only problem is after about an hour you've got to stop, my back and hands were aching from hitting the drums so hard...

I love rework...

Today has been a wonderfully productive day. I've just spent most of the day creating dashboards (like real time reports presented in a pretty manner) for a project because the project manager decided the ones that were developed were too  too complex to use because of the amount of information that was displayed. I told him that there were no specific requirements in this project around the dashboards, we had committed to provide dashboards showcasing the available functionality to users. However the project manager insisted that they were too complex and to make new really simple ones. So I removed all the old ones, replaced them with his new ones. Once this was completed he called the customer to announce the good news about the redefined dashboards and was told the dashboards were fine and leave them the way they were. So I'm now recreating the old dash boards :) Yay!

 

Testing, Testing...123

Doing a lot of testing this week (especially after last week) which is in itself not the most fun of tasks... However, my testing partner doesn't really see the point or concept of testing so this 'effectively' makes it a much longer and more arduous task. The whole point of testing is to check for elements of functionality to ensure they don't function other than expected.... I could go on but I think I'm going to end this rant here 'effectively'.... for everyone's sake.

2 Stars 1 Bus trip

Super Mario 64 DS has kicked in as my game of choice. I was wondering if the levels would prove too long to get through in a bus trip, but as I managed to knock off another 2 stars on the way in, it proved not to be the case. Astro Boy: Omega Factor has kinda fallen off a little as I've finished all the stages of the main game, which allows you to 'traverse time' basically so you can go back over earlier levels and do things that you missed the first time. Although this is kind of fun... for a while... it does get a little thin once you've already finished the levels. It's still fun just to button smash your way through a few levels here and there.

Great (and really cheap) Jazz CD

I found this CD in the ABC Shop on the weekend. ABC JAZZ / JAZZ WITHOUT BORDERS is a sampler CD released showcasing the variety of artists in the ABC Jazz label. The most amazing thing is the cost! $4.95 is cheap in anyones language and it's a beautifully recorded compolation.
The opening track No More Blues - THE IDEA OF NORTH (A.Jobim arr. N. Crellin) is an awesome vocal arrangement. I've only had a little bit of time to listen and managed to get through the first 4 or 5 tracks but it's been a joy to listen! I would recommend picking up a copy, especially at the great price.

In other music related news I hope my new neighbours like Muse! I was relatively grumpy on Saturday morning and as a result decided I needed a bit of Muse - Absolution soul cleansing. The process is pretty much playing the CD at pretty high volumes and singing as loud as you can (usually trying to be louder than the stereo). By the time you've go to the Butterflies and Hurricanes track you're back in a happy place. So if my neighbours haven't heard the album before... they sure have now!

Woohoo... Standby!

I discovered a new feature on my DS this morning. I was trying to catch a few more stars in Super Mario 64 DS and as a result arrived at my bus stop much quicker than I'd anticipated. In my haste to get of the bus I just closed the lid of my DS threw it in my bag and jumped off the bus.
About an hour later I remembered that I had left the DS on and in my bag. To my surprise when I got it out of my bag it was in a standby mode. When you're playing a DS game closing the lid results in the system going into standby (basically saving progress) until you open the system again.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Got together with a few friends today to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I only really have 5 words to say about the movie :-

Brilliant! You must see it!

Anything else just wouldn't do the movie experience justice. In fact what are you doing sitting around reading this post... shouldn't you be out seeing this movie? My only suggestion would keep in mind concepts like "Adults at Kids Prices" when picking a session time....

Missing DVDs!

After a recent spree of DVD loans I looked at my DVD stand and noticed that there were more gaps that I thought their should have been. So, as you do at 11pm at night, I thought I'd do a resort and check of the list. Turns out it wasn't any where near as many loaned out as I thought.
Out of my whole collection I've only got about 24 not on the shelf (I could have sworn it was more!) Of that 2 are missing and have been a long time and only 4 are out without knowing their where abouts!

Alien Vs. Predator (Special Edition/ Widescreen)
Bourne Identity (2002/ Special Edition/ Widescreen)
Catch Me If You Can (Widescreen)
Fifth Element, The

Hopefully they turn up sooner or later...

My First DS Title (and a bit of a games shuffle)

After much deliberation over the title I was going to get for my DS, I finally came to a decision.
I thought it was fitting to get the game that symbolises Nintendo as my first full title for the Console. Super Mario 64 DS is a rework of the existing Nintendo 64 title. The game also includes a series of mini games (that you unlock during the course of the main game) which are every bit as addictive as Wario Ware, Inc: Mega Microgame$. With only 150 stars to collect it should be a fairly long playing title (as with all the games from the Super Mario Series and one of the reasons I picked it as my first title) especially as I've only got 4 so far!

On other gaming fronts I managed to finish Metroid: Fusion during my last few bus rides. It was a highly involved side scrolling shooter. Partly one of the reasons that I finished so quickly was the inability to put it down. The completion of every stage spurs you on to get that bit further through. They've combined the unlocking of new components perfectly with the completion of stages to get that urge to try out your newly unlocked feature leading to an endless cycle. With the end of that GBA title I started on Astro Boy: Omega Factor. It's more of a side scrolling beat'em up with a few shooter elements. It's pretty easy to push through the stages (I completed 7 in the first couple of times I played it) but it's fast paced action and regular check points makes it a great "pick up at the bus stop" game.
I've also moved on from Zelda: Four swords and I'm mucking around with the Kongas on Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat. It's worth pulling out just to see people trying to play a platform game with a set of Konga Drums!

Paralysed by choice

Despite my best efforts to be a good consumer and support my console, the combination of being grumpy and not being aimed with reviews resulted in no new games. I was keen to try out ridge racer or nfs: Underground. Ridge Racer was one of my favourite titles on the N64. I wouldn't mind an arcade racer, watching Ben get slowly addicted to Burnout3: Takedown reminded me how good these can be.

that's it I'm going shopping.

You know when you've had a bad day and you're just happy that it's over so you can go home and find something to make it go away. The obvious prerequiset to this is keys to get in.
This is something that I don't currently have. So I'm over it and I'm going to the shops and buying a game for my ds! (Tomorrow better be a better day!)

...into the fire

Today looks like it's going to be unpleasant. My first major project with this new system is nearing go live, and as is often the case with UAT it's starting to get messy. Being a new system we really didn't allow enough time for testing and as a result we're starting to find a few more things now. Some of the standard functionallity of the system, which we didn't test because of time constraints, turned out not to be working. Today I have a meeting with the project manager on their side and I can just feel a grilling coming on. I would be looking forward to the weekend at this point, but I know I'll be doing bug fixes so I'm not so excited :(