Nvidia 8800GT

Nvidia has issued a press release. Will post more when I’ve got the time.

Well, after reading opinions about this card from numerous sources, I can only assume that this is the refresh to end all refreshes. emoticon People seem to be falling over themselves to sing this card’s praises. "The Only Card That Matters". "Guys, the 8800 GT is da bomb." "The GT is a solid choice in video card value."

Tech writers and reviewers are notoriously good for stirring the crowds and shovelling coal into the hype train. The sheer amount of kudos that is being showered on this thing is frightening.

But having said that, I still want to see one in action in my king rig case.

And they look deceptively thin…quite svelte. I’m still going to stick that vf900 I’ve got lying around if I get one, though. Apparently they get uncomfortably hot.

Just like this freakin’ summer will be. 

So what are we doing for the rest of this year?

If you needed reminding, MEGATONik has presented the most anticipated games of 2007.

Personally, I’m looking out for Ace Combat 6, Kane & Lynch: Dead Men, Crysis and Assassin’s Creed. Shame I can’t play Crysis until I get my new rig…which won’t be until mid-next year at least. :\

 

Angel-A

Well, to tell the turth I wasn’t really expecting to see Luc Besson to make a film like this.

The storyline is fairly run of the mill, with the whole "angel falls from heaven to help some poor schmuck and suddenly wants to be with humanity" storyline. There were a few things that I did like about it, however.

The first was the dialogue. It wasn’t Oscar-winning but it was pretty compelling. The scam artist without the hand was suitably bitter and the slutty bitch-angel was suitably girly. And I liked the way she kept dropping shit on the guy - it was amusing. Oh, and I liked her height. And her dress. Well, what’s left of it.

The second was the presentation. There’s something about black and white. There’s something else about combining black and white with French. Oh so very chic.

And the third was its simplicity. It was deceptively easy to watch. And it was feel good. After watching two really, really depressing movies beforehand, it was a welcome change of pace.

Damn I’m good

I just finished my essay - nothing like churning out 6 pages of drivel to pass an afternoon. ;)

So now I know all about "the ethics of war reporting".

War is bad…….mmkay?

Still Alive

Okay, so you’ve finished Portal and you’re itching to know about the end song.

Well, I can tell you that the composer is a Mr. Jonathan Coulton and he’s supplied the lyrics and a guitar tab for your pleasure.

You can also get it here. Steam will probably release it as an official download in the near future.

Now…to find the radio alarm clock version for my phone…

Enjoy your delicious cake.

So, I’ve been playing Portal for a few hours, and I can safely say that it has met my expectations.

I especially like the voice. Without giving too much away, it somehow reminds me of either SHODAN or Xerxes from System Shock 2. Not exactly the same, just…similar.

To be honest, you can only take out so many sentry guns and fall through so many unending holes before you start to think, "Is there something more worthwhile that deserves my time?" Chances are the answer may be yes, but it’s a good distraction.

And yes, I feel a bit dizzy after some manoeuvres.

Purchasing over Steam

I never really appreciated Steam as much as I should have. It’s always been this annoying extra-door-I-have-to-find-the-key-for type of obstacle for me. I’m always one for a more elegant solution - clicking on another couple of buttons to get my game started via some resource hogging bloatware (all 12mb of it ;) ) was never going to go down well with me.

It was a bit short sighted of me not to realise that it was a half decent games delivery platform.

I clicked on the "Buy Now" link for Orange Box, a few mouse clicks later and I was downloading the package within minutes. Backing up the files was also quite nifty, as well as prioritising the download speed for a game when I tried to open it. Speeds were also quite respectable as I believe I was downloading from the GameArena network.

Given the amount of mods and expansions for Half Life 2, it makes sense to consolidate them into a single platform. There is even an option to add non-Steam games to the list, which is pretty nifty.

So yes, Steam is actually quite a good distribution platform. Elegant? Open to debate. But it’s good.