If you liked Total Annihilation, I reckon you would take a shine to Supreme Commander. It’s practically the same kinda thing. Yes, I only played the first couple of missions in TA. But it’s still good fun…enough fun for me to forget the time. Yeah, it’s one of those games.

On another note, this story makes me sad…although I suppose it’s inevitable for the obvious and not-so-obvious reasons. I mean, reviews in these kinds of magazines are ultimately influenced by the companies that purchase ads in their magazine space (and finance their payroll).

But I still want to do it.  

I was playing some Max Payne 2 and Double Agent last night (now that I think about it, I’ve been gaming waaay too much) and suddenly I detected the faintest hint of crackling in the sound. Grr.

I remember the Audigy had this issue, and it was mainly to do with resourcing conflicts. To me, IRQs always seemed to be just mysterious numbers that popped up on the POST screen.

So I dug up some articles on the subject:

• From Microsoft’s point of view
• From AMD’s point of view (down the bottom if you want to get to the point)
• Why IRQ sharing can be bad (in layman’s terms)

I remember having to stuff around with these to get sound working in old DOS games. Now, when I get home, I’m going to have to do a bit of BIOS tweaking…or just move the card. Meh. Aah, laziness.

On another note, I’m thinking of turning the spare room upstairs into a den. I’m hoping to get a TV in there and hook up the HTPC and maybe a console in the future. Yet another harebrained scheme on my part.

Finally, Mum called me up this morning and asked in a funny voice if she could use my computer, because the market was falling. It wasn’t until early this arvo that a workmate showed me how bad it was…

First off, happy b’day to JT who is turning 22. He called me up while he was tipsy in the city, and seemed much more giggly than normal.

Next order of business - he’s planning on holding a little shindig at the Bavarian Beer Cafe next Tuesday, on the 6th of March (which is the actual date of his birthday). I’m sure he’ll fill you in on the finer details.

If I had to make some suggestions:

1) I’d make a booking for Friday, maybe Saturday night (will be packed either way). I wouldn’t mind getting nicely toasted after my meal (and follow it up with a 6-pack of Kirin ) and not have to worry about the morning after when I’ve got a morning meeting.

2) I vaguely remember going to the Bavarian Beer Cafe. After looking up the website, I remembered going there for an informal after-work pissup (I think we may have ended up going to Scruffy Murphy’s afterwards and then I met Augi and Nora at Sharkies). In terms of food, we’ll be hard pressed to get decent kitchen service at Bavarian - some of the guys ordered food and it took a fair while. May be a different story on a Tuesday night, but just putting it out there.

Personally I suggest going to Beer Cafe, then head over to Lowenbrau for a Dunkel and a line of shots, and then make our way towards George Street (333, Privilege and EQ) or Cockle Bay wharf (Pontoon, Cargo and Wallaby…j/k )

Just throwing suggestions out there. Even if JT’s bday doesn’t work out that way, we should do it anyway if people can be bothered. Chop and Kaiza, if you can’t do Friday > Saturday then maybe we should consider Saturday > Sunday.

We shouldn’t need an excuse to have a good time anyway…

Some of my mates were trying to run Rainbow 6: Vegas for a bit of Hamachi action, when it came to a grinding halt.

The OCAU forums pointed me in this direction, which states that it requires Shader Model 3.0. So, um, they might need to upgrade.

Kinda short-sighted how a game isn’t developed to run on less than cutting-edge hardware. Effectively cutting out a huge chunk of the gamer market.

1915

After a bit of digging around, you may not need said Shader Model 3.0:

May be worth a shot if you’re keen?

Woo!

Once I finished my damned PDF, I want to try some rainbow six over Hamachi…or online, either way

I also came across some interesting reading in my inbox…it’s a combination of a couple of my favourite topics: Psychoanalysis and Silent Hill. I want to try out Resident Evil 4 as well…if Chop won’t mind letting me borrow his PS2 for a week or so

Finally, I’m doing a write up on my Bluegears b-Enspirer, expect that either this weekend or mid-next week. I should also do some write ups on the games I’ve been playing…maybe the Two Thrones and Chaos Theory next. I know, they’re old, but I’m still looking at getting new stuff.

Everyone is at different stages in life. Yeah, I think I’ve said this before.

Kinda weird, though. I always expected us to go through each stage of our life together. Boy, was that way off the mark.

It’s good in that everyone is going through life at their own pace - it makes for more interesting conversation. I can see us, about 30 years from now, meeting up for some occasion, and suddenly everyone is wondering where the hell the time went.

Well, whatever you’re doing, it must be right, because you’re still alive.  

Performance appraisals are coming up. 

I’ve got to write an essay’s worth of words to prove to the business that I actually can interact with clients, and that I am concerned with revenue models and income streams for the company. It’s just a way to separate the wheat from the chaff, to weed out those that actually give a shit and are willing to put up with the bureaucracy and the red tape.

Oh, did I mention it’s due tomorrow?

I’ll take a look at it in a bit and type up some words.

I know, it’s all too easy to think, "I’m not going to stick around here for too long anyway, why bother trying to climb?"

I guess all I can say is, "I can’t be sure of that."

On another note, some random links:

• Final specs for AMD’s answer to the Nvidia 8800 chip
  
• Average frame rates for Supreme Commander on a variety of graphics cards
• Dodgy place where you can buy it? Either that, or…here.
• Australasian Conference on Interactive Entertainment is calling for proposals if you have any good ideas on the backburner
• Some reviews on God of War II - looks suspiciously good.