2-Player Text Adventure!

Yes, Japanese class is *this* boring.

EYE OF THE TAUNTED CHICKEN
A text adventure by fugi and eowyn

2:17:52 fugimax: You are in an open field. In front of you is a small cave. To your left is a cliff. The wind is blowing gently.
2:18:06 eowyn197: fly a kite
2:18:22 fugimax: I do not understand. press ? for help.
2:18:33 eowyn197: go in cave
2:19:17 fugimax: You go in the cave. It is pitch black. You can see nothing but the entrance behind you.
2:19:26 eowyn197: light a candle
2:19:39 fugimax: light a candle with what?
2:19:44 eowyn197: matches!
2:20:37 fugimax: You light a candle with the matches. You can now see the cave. In front of you is a wall with an ancient drawing on it. To your right is a hole.
2:20:47 eowyn197: examine the drawing
2:21:17 fugimax: The drawing reads "el gonzo waz here."
2:21:33 eowyn197: go in the hole
2:21:53 fugimax: You go in the hole. 1 year later you emerge in China.
2:22:08 eowyn197: order some lo mein
2:22:21 fugimax: Chicken, Pork, or Cat?
2:22:28 eowyn197: cat
2:22:56 fugimax: A kitten has died. You receive your Cat lo mein.
2:23:05 eowyn197: eat lo mein
2:23:46 fugimax: You eat the lo mein. You feel refreshed.
2:24:08 eowyn197: order some tea
2:24:23 fugimax: What kind of tea would you like to order?
2:24:28 eowyn197: fresh
2:25:12 fugimax: Tea type not available. Possible responses are: green, iced, brisk.
2:25:26 eowyn197: green
2:25:51 fugimax: You received green tea.
2:25:56 eowyn197: drink tea
2:26:06 fugimax: You drink the tea. You feel warm deep inside.
2:26:10 eowyn197: dance
2:26:52 fugimax: You dance around China. Natives throw rocks as they believe your actions are threatening.
2:27:13 eowyn197: daaaaaaaaaaaaance daaaaaaaaaaaance
2:27:15 eowyn197: REVOLUTION
2:27:33 fugimax: The natives become restless. Your head is torn from your body. You are dead.
2:27:40 eowyn197: O_o
2:27:45 fugimax: Play again? (y/n)
2:27:50 eowyn197: y
2:27:53 fugimax: FUCK NO
2:27:57 eowyn197: awwwwwwww
2:28:00 fugimax: :D
2:28:03 eowyn197: *pout*

PSP Web Portal

If you have a PSP, set your Primary DNS server to 67.171.70.72 -- I've got a portal of sorts up. Set your secondary DNS to your router so if my IP changes or my machine goes down, you'll still be able to access the internet. Then just fire up Wipeout and head to the downloads section, you should see this:

Those without a PSP, you can still check it out here.

Update: I've added a URL bar to the bottom so you can type in a URL and go wherever you want. Enjoy.

Another Update: All links including launching from the URL bar now use php to put a "toolbar" across the top so you can enter new URLs without returning to the portal. Thanks to MomDad for that.

If you'd like to make any kind of donation ($1, $5, whatever..), here's a way you can do so: It's certainly not necessary to donate, but it would be appreciated.

Browsing the Web with PSP

Did this a few days ago, but just posting about it now..

Browsing the web on your PSP:

1. Setup a DNS server (i.e. Bind)
2. Re-map "ingame.scea.com" to a webserver on your local network via your hosts file
3. On your webserver, create /wipeout/index.html (Can contain links of sites you'd like to see)
4. In network settings, point your PSP's primary DNS @ your DNS server
5. Fire up Wipeout Pure and go to "Downloads" -- you should see your index.html you created.

fin.

Grad School Decisions -- fin.

So I got the last of my three graduate school decision letters today..

University of Michigan: Accepted

Georgia Tech: Accepted
Carnegie Mellon: Accepted

3 for 3 -- w00.

I'll probably be staying here at CMU, but I'd like to at least give Georgia Tech a chance. I plan to visit sometime in April. For those not familiar with any of this, I'm going to be going for a Masters in Human-Computer Interaction. CMU and Georgia Tech are pretty much the best schools for HCI (CMU slightly edges out GATech I believe).

PSP Navigator

Since I got Wipeout Pure I've been messing with the PSP packets flying over my network.

I was able to extract the HTTP GET information from a packet requesting the "Coming Soon" image you see when going to the "Downloads" section in Wipeout:

GET /wipeout/US_holding_page.jpg HTTP/1.1
Accept-Charset: iso-8859-1;q=0.01
Host: ingame.scea.com
User-Agent: SCEJ PSP BROWSER 0102pspNavigator
Date: Tue, 22 Mar 2005 01:53:40 GMT
Accept: text/html, image/png, image/gif, image/jpeg, */*;q=0.1
Accept-Encoding: identity
Referer: http://ingame.scea.com/wipeout/index.html
Connection: Keep-Alive

Hacked a perl script together to output the result of that request from a socket..

and voila, here's the "Coming Soon" image..

More Friends

Square Enix is proud to present a new concert for the popular FINAL FANTASY® video game franchise to be performed in Los Angeles at Universal Amphitheatre. “More Friends—Music from FINAL FANTASY—With Special Guests” will be presented just one year after the first stateside performance of composer Nobuo Uematsu's award-winning music in “Dear Friends—Music from FINAL FANTASY.” The addition of special guest performers including Uematsu's own band, The Black Mages, will offer a brand-new experience to the “More Friends” audience.

Purchased my tickets today, I'll be sitting here:

Orchestra Section 4, Row EE, Seat 9

Can't wait :)

Games

Picked up some new games this week..

Doom 3 (Mac)
Yes, it finally came out for the Mac so I picked it up at CompUSA yesterday. While it's fun so far, I have to complain that the performance is pretty sad. The framerates that can be pulled off on my system are about half of what they should be (versus PC). I blame Apple's shitty GF6800 Ultra driver.

Yoshi Touch & Go (DS)
I've only played this one for 20 minutes or so, but I'm enjoying it. It's a really unique game in terms of gameplay, but seems to be very shallow in content. Basically there are randomly generated levels you must guide Yoshi & Baby Mario through without getting clobbered by baddies while collecting as many coins as you can. You guide Yoshi by drawing clouds with the stylus that he can walk on; you can also make him throw eggs to hit things. It's fun, but I hope some other modes open up soon.

Twisted Metal: Head-On (PSP)
This is my first game for PSP. I imported my PSP back in December, so I've been itching for new games for a few months now. This version of Twisted Metal is basically a TM2/TM:Black hybrid that has online play. The online play is great. Granted, there have only been 3-4 people on at any given time, but that's to be expected as PSP hasn't launched here in the U.S. yet. I experienced no lag or problems whatsoever.

Wipeout Pure (PSP)
Just picked this up today and haven't played it yet. It looks fast and fun from the videos I've seen. The soundtrack also looks like a nice collection of electronica. The thing I'm most excited about is the downloadable ships and music they're going to be releasing every month for free. Hopefully it's worthwhile stuff.

iTunes Phone Delay

According to Engadget, Motorola has delayed their phone capable of accessing the iTunes music store and playing purchased music as well as mp3s. The reason? Wireless carriers not wanting to carry the phone because *they* want to be the ones selling music to their customers.

I love when capitalism stalls technology.. :/

Physics Processing Unit (PPU)

The most exciting news out of the Game Developers Conference so far this year has to be the introduction of the Physics Processing Unit from a company called AGEIA. It's basically what the GPU does for graphics -- it offloads physics processing from the CPU into it's highly specialized instruction set geared at physics. Apparently the performance it is set to offer is huge; some choice quotes:

" Such cards can give some life to collision detection and can for example make a character go through grass and move every single grass while walking, adding a higher lever of realism into the scene than ever before."

" We also saw some liquid simulations, where you could see blood spilled more realistically than ever before. It's especially good when you blow up a house into the smallest infinitesimal pieces, or bricks and mortar as the INQ calls them. It actually looks out of this world. I cannot imagine this in a war game. It will blow your minds. It almost looks like Bosnia and Herzegovina 12 years back."

"When we talk about fluids, such cards [PPUs] can handle up to 50000 rigid bones. A CPU can do a couple hundred at the most."

Sounds crazy. Hope to see this stuff soon.

Another Auction

I'm also selling my ATI 9600 XT for Mac.

The auction is here.

eBay Sale

Selling some stuff on eBay...buy it!

Here's a list..

Apple iPod 15GB - 3rd Generation

Gamecube Games
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Paper Mario: The Thousand Year Door
Mario Power Tennis

Xbox Games
Burnout 3: Takedown

PC
Command & Conquer: Generals - Deluxe Edition

Electro Plankton

This quirky new Nintendo DS title coming to Japan in April looks awesome...

It's basically an art/music "game." From the website, it appears as though you just make music with different environments using the touch screen, etc. The game appears as though it is designed by Toshio Iwai -- a famous Japanese artist also responsible for SimTunes and a cancelled SNES game also about music and art.

I'll definitely be importing this, as I'm not sure it'll ever make it here.

Of NiN Leaks

Three songs have leaked so far from the upcoming Nine Inch Nails album. It's kind of a shame to see this happen, but with the "digital music revolution" in full swing, it's no wonder. The album isn't due out until May, but it has already been finished.

I've had the chance to listen to all of them, and while many have their own opinions of Nine Inch Nails these days, I think they're pretty good. That being said, my experience has kind of been ruined or experiencing the album when it comes out. If artists/record companies were smart, they would just release the album in digital form over the internet if a leak occurred. That way they can curb any potential lost sales by offering up high-quality versions for purchase rather than people downloading shitty radio rips and getting a bad impression of the music.

But whatever...lost money to the RIAA is nothing I'll lose sleep over.