Heroes over Europe appears on shelves.

It is very weird to see a product you had a hand in creating appear on shelves in a local brand name retailer.

I randomly went into EB Games on Swanston Street tonight, just around the corner from my apartment, and saw this on the shelves.

Admittedly these are just empty promo boxes but it is still weird to see Heroes Over Europe on shelves.  Especially since the project has been a marathon effort from hell for all those involved.

For better or worse I played a large part in the creation of the mission editor for this game. So if the missions suck, I’m at least partly to blame.  My heart goes out to all my awesome ex-coworkers at Transmission Games who are feverishly beavering away to finish it.

Filed under: Gaming, Personal, Programming , ebgames, heroes-over-europe

Amplitube is awesome-itube.

Today I went into Allans Music and bought myself a Stealth Plug electric guitar to USB 2.0 DAC. This device came with a copy of Amplitube Live 2.0.

Amplitube, made by IK Multimedia, is guitar amp and effects modeling software. Basically it makes you guitar sound awesome. As if you’ve spent thousands of dollars on amps, stomp boxes and the like. It plugs into all the usual pro audio software that you might have.

I’m a rank amature when it comes to playing the guitar and even more so when it comes to audio production software. But plugging this little widget in to GarageBand and playing along to Smoke on the Water by Deep Purple and having it sound right just puts a giant shit kicker grin on my face.

Filed under: Computing, Entertainment, Personal , amplitude, Guitar, Music

Snail Mail Spam

I received an actual bona fide snail mail chain letter today. It even came with 5 cents taped to the top of it.

I have no idea who sent it to me. I didn’t recognize any of the 5 names printed in the letter. I imagine that it was some someone, now quite literally, 5 cents short of a dollar. Probably someone I sold something to on eBay. I doubt anyone I know in real life would be foolish enough to send me such a thing.

After marveling in bewilderment at the utter hilarity of the idea for a moment, I pocketing the 5 cents and tossed the letter. At least I can say I did make some money off the pyramid scheme. Perhaps not the millions promised. But every little bit helps.

Filed under: Humour, Personal

6 degrees of separation.

I’m late to the party but I’ve just discovered LinkedIn. It looks to be an excellent resource for building ones professional network and maintaining an online resume.

Filed under: Computing, Personal

My fecking iPod Nano has died.

Less than a year old and my iPod Nano is dead. Battery won’t hold a charge. Great. But I was wise and bought an extra warranty from Myer. So i’ll take it back and they should fix/replace pronto. Or at least I hope they do. Now where did I put that warranty card…. {rummage rummage}

Filed under: Asides, Personal

The God Delusion

James, since you don’t allow comments on your blog I’m going to have to comment on your “Vexation, but this time no rest” post here. (You don’t even support trackbacks)…

I’ve not read any of Richard Dawkins books but I have recently seen his documentary, “The Root of all Evil?” which is basically The God Delusion in 90 minutes. The content was somewhat concerning. Recently Wired ran an article called “The New Atheism“. After reading it I decided to re-embrace my Atheism with renewed vigor. The present rise of radical Islamism and Evangelical Christianity needs to be addressed. I plan on confronting peoples misplaced non-thinking religious dogma with a good, well argued, response where I can. Hopefully I won’t piss too many people off. Though I need to study up on that a little. I should probably pick up Richards books, and perhaps one or two by Sam Harris too.

For your viewing & listening pleasure, some stuff on YouTube.

• Man videos of and about Richard Dawkins.
• A good talk by Sam Harris sponsored by The Long Now foundation.

And some podcasts.

• The Science show interviews Richard Dawkins on ABC Radio National (Australia)
• Skepticality – A skeptic Podcast.

Filed under: Personal

Alive after two mile fall – Crikey

It seems a bloke survived a two mile fall out of a plane over Taupo, New Zealand. I grew up in Taupo. Given the number of people who jump out of aeroplanes over Lake Taupo this was bound to happen at least once. There have certainly been a few who have not lived to tell the tale as well.

Filed under: Asides, Personal

More abuse of the “Metal Hand Sign” spotted in the field.

More abuse of the “Metal Hand Sign” has been spotted in the field. The Metal Council would not be please. Good party though. Happy b’day Ray.

Filed under: Asides, Personal

100 Bullets

A couple days ago I finished reading volume 1 of the 100 Bullets comic trade paper back. It was really rather good, so I’ll no doubt pick up more. I remember reading quite a while ago about a 100 Bullets game being developed but it seems that that particular game got dusted when Acclaim went under. But it now appears that the property has been picked up by another developer/publisher and is headed for a 2007 release. Hurrah.

The premis for 100 Bullets is quite cool. If you had been wronged and someone offered your a gun, 100 Bullets, the irrefutable proof of who wronged you, and a license to kill that person, would you take your revenge? A completely implausible contrivance yes, but a fun read non the less.

Filed under: Asides, Gaming, Personal, Reading

IGN: E3 2006: PS3 20 Gig Missing Features?

With the announcement of two versions of the PS3, it appears that Sony will be following Microsoft’s lead in promoting what is effectively a turd of a device in a desperate attempt to have the PS3 appear cheap enough for the average consumer to buy one. However at a $100 USD premium to the top of the line XBOX 360 package this crippled PS3 looks about as enticing as a Victorian era whore. Keep away sailer, keep away.

Filed under: Gaming, Personal