So I'm perusing my stack of 500+ floppy disks for reasons unknown and on one of the few that hasn't completely lost it's data I find a little shareware gem for dos called "Hexxagon".
I can't believe I forgot about this game. It was one of my favorite puzzle games, if "underrealized", and it is surprisingly addictive. Basically it's chinese checkers meets othello. You can either have any piece you control on a board made of hexagons generate into a nearby square, or make it jump a few more squares (up to a distance of 4). Land a piece next to an enemy piece and you turn it to your side. Basically it's a competitive puzzle game but it is very addictive. It also has a level editor so you can design your own boards. Further, the thing is fully playable on XP on my hardware. I was even able to activate sound blaster mode no problem. Sad to say not every DOS game has this level of future compatibility. Only issue is a small amount of sound crackling when the game first starts.
If only it was more than 2 players... Anyway, fun stuff and if it weren't for that company fading into nonexistance (Software Developers inc or something like that), I would fully expect this to be yet another awesome puzzle game for the DS.
I'm sick of "H2" Hummer drivers, "pimped up rides", the plethora of sports cars and "off road" vehicles no one will ever take off road.
The ONLY cool vehicle to ride in, EVER, is a motorcycle! Think about it. Who do you see behind the wheel of that gigantic hummer? Soccer mom driving to practice with 4 or 5 kids (and 10 or 15 of their various friends all packed in too). Who do you ever see riding a motorcycle? One person, ONE! That person is a loner and has the vehicle to prove it! You just aren't cool if the vehicle you are forced to get has more than one seat!
And those "pimped out" rides? Pfft, they think they are awesome because they have a juicer in there and a disco ball? Well I hope you don't break a nail Ms prissy pants! That's not "cool", that's being a spoiled brat who can't stand to leave the house without it's entire contents in portable form! I hope you die while chocking because you laughed while watching "Everybody loves Raymond" on your rearview mirror mounted HDTV, you moron! Oh and great job with those rims and the hydrolics! That's exactly what you need! First of all the bouncing actually sort of messes up the centrifugal force of the rims and they slow down fairly quickly, WAY TO PAY ATTENTION IN PHYSICS CLASS! Second off do you have any idea how ridiculous those spinning disks look? I hope you choke on a bagel! "Cool" doesn't have hanging bits that fly all over the place wildly, unless it's hair!
And by the way, a mo-ped or a "two seater" motorcycle, or any motorcycle hooked up to a "side car", is no longer a motorcycle! Only a motorcycle is a motorcycle! You see that motorcycle cloud road? That thing was boss! That thing was boss HOG and it defined cool, except it wasn't real. Also, if your motorcycle lacks a flaming skull, it isn't cool. Now I'm wondering if this isn't just the rebel of suit and tie wearing jack in his 50's having a mid life crisis "escaping" with a motorcycle his wife would only let him have because it was painted a solid metallic blue or "cobalt blue".
No, a motorcycle is the only cool vehicle and there's only one cool way to ride one, covered in heavy metal artwork and ridden by a highway robber/pirate!
The trick is when you mouse over it, it loads another image. Not that big a deal, until you move your eyes and realize that "true color" image you thought was there is not black and white.
This is not an animated image. It's a JPEG so that's completely impossible. Focus on each spinning circle and you'll see for yourself. So, either the computer is sensing your focus and freezing each circle, or there's yet another glitch in your visual system being taken advantage of!
If you needed any more evidence that our brains are essentially computers that store data "holographically" (not literally a holograph like on star trek!), here it is. Look at the crosshair and not only will the surrounding magenta dots vanish, they will vanish SEQUENCIALLY as the "green circle" (actually just empty grey space where a magenta dot used to be) crosses over it, then they fade back in, then out again sequencially, all rythmically so you can time exactly how long it takes for your brain to "figure it out".
My problem with this one is it has never worked for me. I always see it as concave. It might simply be because I've seen this since I was like 3 so my brain knows what it's seeing at this point.
So basically, with illusions like these tricking us so completely, it's small wonder I don't really bother trusting the average gaming site's review of "slight motion blur" without more evidence than mere testimony.
Well, at least I can play Silent Hill 4 on it, I guess.
Not Silent Hill 2 mind you, but 4 (and 3 was never ported to XBox, annoyingly enough, as I would have liked Xbox level load times for that one too).
So let's see. Of the games I have, these are supported:
Jade Empire
Knights of the Old Republic
Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
Halo 1
Halo 2
Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Fable: Lost Chapters
Ninja Gaiden Black
Silent Hill 4
And those that are not supported:
Silent Hill 2
Panzer Dragoon Orta
Prince of Persia: Warrior Within
Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones
Blinx 1
Marvel vs Capcom 2
Lord of the Rings: The Third Age
Mech Assault 1
Time Splitters 2
Shenmue 2
So yeah, that's about half and half. They better make "the rest of my list" work right.
I wonder how they'll make that one game with the GIGANTIC control center accessory you need to fully and "realistically" control a giant city smashing robot work? That was a game that was too rich for my blood anyway though.
Other than that, there's issues with games they "already made compatible", in terms of the odd skipping in movie files in a couple games, and the odd skipping in the game play in a few others. I wonder if they'll resolve those issues or if they consider those games "done" for good?
And there's the issue of letting the system's memory manager copy XBox game saves to memory cards, and letting the games actually SEE the memory cards (those that supported them) at that. Sure it'll be limited slots (two compaired to a maximum of 8 on the original), but they can just map the two built into the 360 to be the A slot on controllers 1 and 2, respectively (anything in "B" might mess up compatibility with the microphone since that was used in the B slot, and due to grooves could ONLY physically fit in that slot).
The last issue is one I REALLY wish they would resolve and I know exactly how they could do it. I want to COPY/MOVE ALL MY SAVED GAME FILES TO MY 360!
They can't do it with hardware. You can't use the original memory cards in a 360, and there's not a USB slot to be found on the original system, and the controller slots (both on the "breakaway cables and on the system) are incompatible. But, there's one compatibiliity, the networking cable. They don't have to waste bandwidth on XBox Live for this either (if that's the concern). It could support a direct network cable connection between the system (and one fellow needing to switch the video output back and forth between systems, or use two TVs, but I think a little uncomfortableness will be worth it).
The plan is simple, but it'll take adding the software support to BOTH system's OSes. You turn on your XBox, it updates it's software via XBox Live (the last update ever released for the old system), and a new option appears in the memory manager. When you select to "move" or "copy" a saved game, it gives a new selection, XBox 360. Select it and it'll see if one is connected (either directly or connected on the network via a router, both are supported already as I know by my experience with playing Halo 1). If it can't find one, it'll tell you it can't (and you get to play network doctor, but oh well). If it can, it'll "negotiate" with the XBox 360 (which you should also have updated on Live before you started this, because during it only one system will be able to be connected on one account at a time anyway) and send the data over. The 360, programmed to be able to connect with an XBox in this fassion (for security purposes, they should probably force you to confirm access on the 360 end (and also on the XBox end for sending the files the other way) and give you a system option to ignore such requests to prevent spamming of them over a network. (You see? I got it allll figured out.)
Once this is done, the XBox will send the file, The 360 will create the save on it's end, process over, everyone's happy, the day is saved.
One last thing. The XBox patch should resolve one little issue with Bioware (and a few other company's games) saved data. Namely, some just can't be moved, at all. It's not a memory card limit. I've seen files that are bigger than my XBox mem card max storage capacity, they STILL have a copy/move command. I'm talking Bioware's saves for both Jade Empire and Knights of the Old Republic that are flagged as "immovable". There's no reason for this flag! You can "cheat" by making as many backup saves as you want ANYWAY, and there's no chance of someone "stealing" the game by taking save files. I can understand why downloadable content can't be moved betwixt systems, some of that has to be paid for. I'm not expecting that because I can easily just redownload that content the second I play the game on the 360 anyway. Anyway, the patch should make it so that unless the saved data is one of those green checkmarked "downloadable content" items, it can always be copied and/or moved.
As I move into my new apartment. I'm not getting internet access right away, perhaps for a couple of weeks, so I won't be here or on MSN for a while. I will still check in sporadically at my parents house or whereever else I may happen to get internet access, but for the most part, my activity is going to drop for a while. Once I'm moved in and hooked up, I'll let you all know. Until then, stay sane without me :D.
P.S. to Ryan, about your computer, once I'm back online and have Paypal access, we can begin from there, kay?
Quote:Take Two recorded a $50.2 million dollar lose for last quarter as shares slumped 17.53 percent. The filing also mentions some Duke Nukem Forever release date rumors and incentives:
According to the 10-Q, March saw Take-Two and 3D Realms renegotiate the original contract for Duke Nukem Forever, which began back in 1997. Under the original deal, 3D Realms was to receive some $6 million from Take-Two to develop the title. Now, the Texas-based developer will receive only $4,250 for the oft-delayed game, when it is completed.
When will that be? Well, 3D Realms now has a fairly large incentive to get Duke Nukem Forever done by the end of the year. The 10-Q also reveals that Take-Two has offered the studio $500,000 in the form of a promissory note if the game sees "commercial release" by December 31, 2006. The deal applies only to the PC version of the game, although it was announced for the Xbox and the PlayStation 2 in 2001 and is rumored to be in development for the Xbox 360.
We'll see, but I'm doubtful it'll make that date... :)
Actually, I hope it doesn't. You see, they started early development in February 1997... it'd be a shame to release it so close to its 10th anniversary of non-completion! :D
Seriously, I know that 10 years is a long time, but if they rush the last part to try to finish it by the end of the year, it would be sad... 3DRealms has made or helped make a lot of great games, and this one has been their main project for a really long time now. They need to prove that it was worth the effort and that this is indeed the great FPS that it could be and that lives up to the legacy of Duke 3D... (and Duke 1 and 2, but as side-scrollers they play very differently, making the comparison less relevant)
