Just noticed that my Google e-mail address has been given 6 invitations. I don't know what to do with 'em and I'm in a good mood at the moment, so if anyone reading this wants a FREE Gmail invitation, shoot a mail to theknightshift@gmail.com and the first six ones that come in will get an invite sent to them.
Thursday, September 02, 2004
Doom 3 review: Once again, "the sanest place is behind a trigger"
It was a hot, sultry Tuesday evening in May of 1994 when Doom first entered my life. My good friend Johnny came by the house so we could drive together over to the nearby community college for an American history class we had one evening a week. Before we left he gave me a box that he picked up for about two bucks at the local K-Mart. “Here, try this. It’s pretty wild,” he told me.
I didn’t actually install the game ‘til about 2 the next afternoon and when I finally looked at my clock after that it was darn nearly 7:30 PM. Dad came by my room earlier, just after I’d first discovered the chainsaw: I pulled it out and ran toward a Former Human Sergeant: “watch that raw meat fly, Dad!!” He just shook his head and walked away with a wry grin, saying he’d never seen anything THAT gruesome before.
Good lord, how many nights did we lose to that game? I did four things that summer: bussed tables at a restaurant, traveled some, played TIE Fighter when it came out, and played Doom. Lots of Doom. The original shareware episode wasn’t enough: I wound up mail-ordering away for the complete game. Then I heard that people had started modifying the game, adding on levels and changing the monsters. And then it got worse…
This wasn’t long after I first discovered online bulletin board systems (we didn’t have full-blown Internet yet). There was a BBS in Kansas City that was dedicated to nothing but Doom files. I racked up a forty-dollar phone call to the thing one night, downloading nothing but Doom stuff. But at least I got to transform the Baron of Hell into Barney the Dinosaur to show for it.
Doom 2 followed in October of 1994: basically the same game but with more monsters and larger maps. The hardware demands also ratcheted up a bit: my snazzy lil’ 486 SX at 25 MHZ was doing so well… until the Icon of Sin in the final level. That damned grinning goat skull spat out so many monsters out of its exposed forehead that my computer slowed down to about 10 frames per minute. When I got a faster system a few years later I was finally able to take it down (and didn’t even have to do the “turn no-clipping on so you can walk behind the wall and shoot at John Romero’s head on a stick” trick either!).
I haven’t shown it to Johnny yet but if he thought that was rough he’ll probably scream and poke his eyeballs out when he takes a gander at Doom 3 the next time he comes over. Ten years, the Quake series and countless times of being asked “is it done?” later, id Software last month finally released the follow-up that may have had only slightly less anticipation than the Second Coming.
Other than the original I never played any of the Quake games, but everyone I’ve spoken with has said that Doom 3 is the strongest effort yet that id has poured into an actual plot for one of its games. It’s not a straightforward sequel but actually a retelling of the original Doom story, but apart from a few details the story’s basically the same: a hundred and fifty years from now you play a hardened space marine that’s been assigned to duty on Mars. Specifically, at a research facility run by Union Aerospace Corporation (think of the nefarious “Company” from the Alien movies and you’ll know already where this is going). Seems that the UAC has been doing some experiments in teleportation and matter transfer, and then decided to get really ambitious. So it is that just after you arrive and have finished up some introductory levels on moving around the game, that something starts pouring out of the gateway at the mysterious Delta Labs complex and everything, literally, goes straight to Hell. From that point on its you as the space marine on a quest not only for your own survival but also to turn off the portal to Hades lest it damn not just the bad dead folks, but the good live ones too.
I upgraded my system after this past Christmas so that it could effortlessly run Star Wars Galaxies. Even so, Doom 3 is so hoggish on resources that I’m forced to run the game on medium settings. However, after “tweaking” the configuration file in the Doom 3 directory (there’s a bunch of resources online on how to do this, on sites like Doom World and Planet Doom) I got it averaging about 45 frame per second on a 2 GHZ AMD system with a 128 MB Nvidia card. Only at 600x800 resolution mind ya, but even there… the graphics are stunning. And scary.
This is quite possibly the most realistic computer game yet published. Project lead John Carmack intended from the getgo that Doom 3 would have realistic lighting and he succeeded wildly: the Doom 3 graphical engine calculates light sources and surfaces (the bulk of the processing requirements). In layman’s terms it means that everything in the game casts a shadow or reflects light, exactly as it would in the real world. Go inside the restroom during the first minutes of the game and you’ll see yourself reflected back in the mirror (return there later and you’ll see… other things… reflected back also). Walk into a blackened room later on and you’ll genuinely hesitate, wondering just what the heck could be lurking in there that you can’t see yet, if at all. The effect is enhanced by having a flashlight to illuminate darkened corners with: try not to scream when you see something jumping out at you from the edge of the cone of light that it casts.
Fortunately, that’s not all you have as you navigate the dark recesses of UAC’s Mars City. Prior to your first mission (during which Hell erupts) you are issued a pistol. But soon you complement that with real firepower: the classic shotgun. Along with the rest of Doom’s signature armaments: the chaingun, the plasma rifle, the rocket launcher, and for the first time you can throw (or drop) grenades. There is also something called the “soul cube”, but any more on that would be major spoilerage. And of course, the BFG 9000… and the legendary chainsaw, which for the first time in a Doom series you finally come to understand why it is that chainsaws have been left laying around Mars to begin with.
That bit of info, along with many others, comes to you via one of the innovations that makes Doom 3 such a treat for the single player: you are armed with a personal data assistant (PDA) that you can call up anytime in-game, to read your incoming e-mail or watch videos that you download during the game. You can also read the PDAs of other, less fortunate characters that are found laying around the corpse-strewn facility. Make sure to read all the PDAs – and listen to the audio logs on them – as you move ahead, as they not only progress the story but give you much-needed information that you’ll need later on (like locker combinations and clues on defeating the baddies).
Most of the classic Doom enemies have returned for this retelling (but not all: sorry, no Spider Mastermind this time but that never seemed very demonic to me anyway). Most of the humans in the facility have been “zombified” by the outpouring demons so don’t feel too bad about capping them full of lead… they sure won’t hesitate to do the same (or worse) to you. This time though the former humans do not look identical to each other: you really do get the impression that these are hapless individuals that got turned undead (okay, apart from those really really fat zombies walking around that look pretty much the same: however good the UAC is at colonizing planets, they suck bigtime at combating morbid obesity). They come in a bunch more flavors this time than just “Former Humans”, “Former Human Sergeants” and “Chaingun Dudes”: there’s former human civilians, scientists, maintenance workers, security guards, marines, commandos… everyone but you and a few brave souls that escaped the holocaust that you meet along the way.
And then… the rest. Remember the Imps, those brown spiky guys that threw fireballs at you? They’re back, with more eyes and a LOT faster! They’ve also brought their cousins the Wraiths with them. The “Pinky” demons have been brought back for another round, albeit bigger and nastier than before. You’ll also have to once again contend with Revenants, Lost Souls, Cacodemons and Arch-Viles (but thankfully they don’t seem to have as much “resurrection power” as they did in Doom 2) along with an entire horde of new demons (like the spidery Trites, which look a LOT like the “Norris-things” from John Carpenter’s The Thing). Possibly the most beautiful/horrifying redefinitions have got to be for the Mancubus (the big waddling fat guys with plasma launchers for hands from Doom 2) and the new take on the Cyberdemon. But so far as new bad guys go, the Cherubs take the prize for most disturbing addition to the Doom canon: think tiny little babies. With claws. And insect wings. That scream “ma-ma”. Whoever thought up these things is one disturbed sicko. I pray he seeks counseling from a good therapist somewhere.
And if you do disturb easily, you might seriously wanna consider whether you really want to play Doom 3. The guys at id included a pamphlet in the box that suggests playing the game in a darkened room with the door locked and the sound turned up (I haven’t even begun to describe the haunting work that went into the sounds for this game) and that’s exactly how I played this for the week and a half that it took me to finish the game, playing mostly at night. There are things in this game that once you see, you can’t “unsee” if you know what I mean. After awhile it begins to SERIOUSLY play games with your head: strange lights in a dark corner that disappear when you get closer, things that move for no reason, things thrown at you but no assailant visible, and a disquieting woman’s voice enticing you to come “over here” before telling you that “they took my baby” (there’s more, but I don’t wanna think about it right now).
All of this makes for what is easily the most engaging, involving game experience that I’ve ever known for a single player. If there’s anything more that I wish it could have, it would be that most of the levels could have been larger, longer, and seeming not quite so “linear” in gameplay: one of the original Doom’s charms was just running around finding secrets or working your way through any sorts of puzzles that blocked your path. Those are still here also, but not nearly as hard to figure your way through (which, when you have demons on your tail makes the time that much more nerve-wracking… and fun). Most of the rooms seemed too “confined” also, and not as open as the original Doom games had them.
But the good news is that as with the originals, id Software has embraced the open-ended architecture that has made the Doom series so legendary (“Doom will never die, only the players,” as one of its programmers put it years ago) but to a far greater degree. Doom 3 comes complete with a built-in editor that’s accessible through its command console (hit CTRL plus ALT and ~ to bring it up) and already there are several user-written editors on the way. id is also set to soon release – for free – its Doom 3 developer’s toolkit, including the devised-but-not-used player-driven vehicle. And already there are numerous player-driven projects involving Doom 3 in the works, including at least two sequels (both called “Hell on Earth” by the way) and a reworking of the original Doom using the Doom 3 engine. Whatever faults the game may have, they will no doubt be soon eradicated by an army of dedicated Doomers.
Who knows: maybe someone among the new generation of Doom designers will create an updated version of Barney the Dinosaur for me to slaughter with my chainsaw again.
Zell Miller's speech last night
I've spent roughly the same amount of time watching the Republican National Convention as I did watching the Democrat National Convention a few weeks earlier: meaning, none at all. Nor have I really kept up with any coverage about it, except that the Bush twins told some really bad jokes and Ah-nuldt stopped short of bringing Dana Carvey back for a "Saturday Nite Live" sketch.
But a little while ago I read Zell Miller's speech from last night and, though I've yet to be convinced that Bush should be trusted again with the Oval Office, it must be said that Miller is by far one of the most passionately effective speakers of our day. He should get bigtime props for last night's speech no matter where ya are on the political spectrum (even from those of us off of it).
Zell Miller is pure Georgia boy. I first heard about him when he spoke at the Democrat National Convention in 1992 but don't think I really understood his charm until I began driving over to Georgia on a regular basis to date the girl who later on became my wife. Every now and then Zell Miller would come into conversation between someone down there and myself and it made a real impression on me how beloved a figure he is. I've now come to understand why that is.
Agree with him on some things or not, Miller is still one of the scarce few statesmen in this country who sincerely means what he says and has enough confidence to let the chips fall where they may. Whatever he believes in, he's not a pretender about it. It's a shame that most other politicians/statesmen/whatever don't feel compelled to follow his example, or that of Ron Paul or Tom Tancredo or a few others that are in high office today.
But a little while ago I read Zell Miller's speech from last night and, though I've yet to be convinced that Bush should be trusted again with the Oval Office, it must be said that Miller is by far one of the most passionately effective speakers of our day. He should get bigtime props for last night's speech no matter where ya are on the political spectrum (even from those of us off of it).
Zell Miller is pure Georgia boy. I first heard about him when he spoke at the Democrat National Convention in 1992 but don't think I really understood his charm until I began driving over to Georgia on a regular basis to date the girl who later on became my wife. Every now and then Zell Miller would come into conversation between someone down there and myself and it made a real impression on me how beloved a figure he is. I've now come to understand why that is.
Agree with him on some things or not, Miller is still one of the scarce few statesmen in this country who sincerely means what he says and has enough confidence to let the chips fall where they may. Whatever he believes in, he's not a pretender about it. It's a shame that most other politicians/statesmen/whatever don't feel compelled to follow his example, or that of Ron Paul or Tom Tancredo or a few others that are in high office today.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Playing around with photos...
A friend told me the other day that Blogger now has a photo hosting thingy that you can upload pics with through an instant messenger client. So I thought I might give it a shot and post something with a bit more lively color to this otherwise dreary dull blog...
It's me and "Weird Al" Yankovic from August 2003, after a concert that he gave at Carowinds.
It's me and "Weird Al" Yankovic from August 2003, after a concert that he gave at Carowinds.
On leadership and humility and history
My first article for The Washington Dispatch was posted on that site a little while ago. Titled "George W. Bush and History", it examines the flawed perspective that the man is taking in regards to his place in history: not exactly a throwaway thing when we're dealing with the President of the United States, after all. Anyway, I've long believed that the greatest leaders were those with the most humbleness and didn't try to make more of their lives than what God has given them already. They're the ones who don't try to frame the world in reference to themselves, because they understand that they are just one small part of it, and not the whole.
Too bad that the modern American celebritocracy tolerates nobody but those who really do believe that the world revolves around themselves.
Too bad that the modern American celebritocracy tolerates nobody but those who really do believe that the world revolves around themselves.
Saturday, August 28, 2004
Hanging it up, clearing the boards, looking to the horizon...
My last blog was dated June 2, 2004. In the almost three months that have transpired since then, I have...
- Attended a concert where Howard Shore conducted most of the score from "The Lord Of The Rings" movie trilogy.
- Stood on the corner of Constitution and 15th in Washington D.C. to watch President Reagan's procession to the Capitol, and then waited in line for seven hours throughout the following night to visit the Rotunda, witnessing one of the last changes of the guard that took place during the public viewing there.
- Earned two technical certifications in website design and management.
- Given myself a thorough self-education in how to use Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects.
- Started teaching myself Macromedia Flash.
- Spent three days shooting footage for my upcoming short film "Forcery" and several more preparing it for the final product.
- Began learning how to play the guitar.
- Began what I hope will become a successful small business.
- Played and beaten Doom 3 on the "Marine" setting.
- Started getting more serious about my personal times of devotion in prayer and Bible study.
- Finally earned the rank of Master Artisan with my character on Star Wars Galaxies.
- Leg-pressed 500 pounds.
- Started writing another screenplay, and finally was able to begin work on an original idea for a novel.
- Attended a Catholic church service for the first time in my life.
- Laughed a lot. Cried a lot. Thought a lot.
This summer is going to end with me having, I like to think anyway, quite a bit more enlightenment on the way things are than I did when it began. To put it tersely: I've a lot of things to do in this life, and not a lot of time to waste.
On January 22, 1999 I first began posting online, first at FreeRepublic.com and then two years ago at LiberyPost.org, as "Darth Sidious". I took the screenname from the villain of the first Star Wars prequel, still four months away at the time. Not because I'm a BAD guy per se, but because I liked the character and because I've been a Star Wars nut for almost my entire life.
Back then I really believed that online political discussion forums were going to be the seed from which a new renaissance of American liberty and responsibility would blossom from. I now feel utterly foolish and ashamed that it took the present set of circumstances, as despicable and nasty as they have become, to finally convince me beyond any reasonable doubt that... I was very, very wrong about that.
The modern American political mindset demands that we buy into the paradigm that there are two and only two valid camps: the Democrats and the Republicans. One has to choose between one or the other to be considered a full citizen, according to conventional wisdom. That's how I used to see it too, before I first began getting shaken from that mental stranglehold four years ago.
Modern American politics is two cages full of rabid insane monkeys throwing excrement at each other and either one claiming superiority for it. I'm a thirty-year old guy, and I do not want to waste my life or what reputation I have by watching monkeys throw excrement at each other... much less associating with them.
Bush has done some very evil things with the responsibilities he was trusted with. I've no doubt that Kerry is going to do some evil things also if/when he is elected President. Maybe I'm being too old-fashioned and disaffected by things, but the lesser of two evils... is still evil. Electing a man to office knowing fully well that he's going to lack principles, humility and character and yet believing that he's going to do some good... is insanity. And no matter how loud the monkeys scream that they're holding diamonds... that's still shit in their filthy paws.
So tonight, because it's time to move on to bigger and better things, and because I've come to realize how futile and meaningless an exercise it is to spend my time and energy arguing ideas to the best of my understanding to people who seldom desire either ideas or understanding, I'm retiring from posting as "Darth Sidious" to political discussion sites. It was a fun ride, for the most part. I met a lot of good people and made a LOT of new - and now lifelong - friends. It did lead to some very neat things in my life. But whatever vitality they once had is gone now, and I'm going to seek out greener pastures elsewhere. The passion and energies I used to pour into that can be MUCH better spent in writing to this blog, or anything else creative that I bend my mind toward. In the end, I'll be a much better person for it, without all the grief of suffering the inane babblings that passes for "intelligent discourse" from the idiots among the BushBots or the KerryKadre.
Darth Sidious: January 22 1999 ~ August 28, 2004
It was fun. Now, let's see what else is out there...
- Attended a concert where Howard Shore conducted most of the score from "The Lord Of The Rings" movie trilogy.
- Stood on the corner of Constitution and 15th in Washington D.C. to watch President Reagan's procession to the Capitol, and then waited in line for seven hours throughout the following night to visit the Rotunda, witnessing one of the last changes of the guard that took place during the public viewing there.
- Earned two technical certifications in website design and management.
- Given myself a thorough self-education in how to use Adobe Premiere Pro and After Effects.
- Started teaching myself Macromedia Flash.
- Spent three days shooting footage for my upcoming short film "Forcery" and several more preparing it for the final product.
- Began learning how to play the guitar.
- Began what I hope will become a successful small business.
- Played and beaten Doom 3 on the "Marine" setting.
- Started getting more serious about my personal times of devotion in prayer and Bible study.
- Finally earned the rank of Master Artisan with my character on Star Wars Galaxies.
- Leg-pressed 500 pounds.
- Started writing another screenplay, and finally was able to begin work on an original idea for a novel.
- Attended a Catholic church service for the first time in my life.
- Laughed a lot. Cried a lot. Thought a lot.
This summer is going to end with me having, I like to think anyway, quite a bit more enlightenment on the way things are than I did when it began. To put it tersely: I've a lot of things to do in this life, and not a lot of time to waste.
On January 22, 1999 I first began posting online, first at FreeRepublic.com and then two years ago at LiberyPost.org, as "Darth Sidious". I took the screenname from the villain of the first Star Wars prequel, still four months away at the time. Not because I'm a BAD guy per se, but because I liked the character and because I've been a Star Wars nut for almost my entire life.
Back then I really believed that online political discussion forums were going to be the seed from which a new renaissance of American liberty and responsibility would blossom from. I now feel utterly foolish and ashamed that it took the present set of circumstances, as despicable and nasty as they have become, to finally convince me beyond any reasonable doubt that... I was very, very wrong about that.
The modern American political mindset demands that we buy into the paradigm that there are two and only two valid camps: the Democrats and the Republicans. One has to choose between one or the other to be considered a full citizen, according to conventional wisdom. That's how I used to see it too, before I first began getting shaken from that mental stranglehold four years ago.
Modern American politics is two cages full of rabid insane monkeys throwing excrement at each other and either one claiming superiority for it. I'm a thirty-year old guy, and I do not want to waste my life or what reputation I have by watching monkeys throw excrement at each other... much less associating with them.
Bush has done some very evil things with the responsibilities he was trusted with. I've no doubt that Kerry is going to do some evil things also if/when he is elected President. Maybe I'm being too old-fashioned and disaffected by things, but the lesser of two evils... is still evil. Electing a man to office knowing fully well that he's going to lack principles, humility and character and yet believing that he's going to do some good... is insanity. And no matter how loud the monkeys scream that they're holding diamonds... that's still shit in their filthy paws.
So tonight, because it's time to move on to bigger and better things, and because I've come to realize how futile and meaningless an exercise it is to spend my time and energy arguing ideas to the best of my understanding to people who seldom desire either ideas or understanding, I'm retiring from posting as "Darth Sidious" to political discussion sites. It was a fun ride, for the most part. I met a lot of good people and made a LOT of new - and now lifelong - friends. It did lead to some very neat things in my life. But whatever vitality they once had is gone now, and I'm going to seek out greener pastures elsewhere. The passion and energies I used to pour into that can be MUCH better spent in writing to this blog, or anything else creative that I bend my mind toward. In the end, I'll be a much better person for it, without all the grief of suffering the inane babblings that passes for "intelligent discourse" from the idiots among the BushBots or the KerryKadre.
It was fun. Now, let's see what else is out there...
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Staying busy is a good thing... right?
Whew... why is it every time I get started on "blogging" again that this pesky thing called life rears its ugly head and throws a kink in my plans? Ahhh well... at least it's not the usual BAD stuff, right?
So I've been studying up bigtime to take the exam for Microsoft CIW certification (45 needed out of 60), take that tomorrow. Hope it goes better than a month ago when Dad and I drove out to Nashville so I could try out for Jeopardy! Am pretty sure I missed passing that exam by two questions and I'll be the first to admit that I know nothing about obscure 17th century Italian opera!
We also finally finally FINALLY started principle photography on my film "Forcery". The idea came in early September 2001 (a little over a week before 9/11) after a crazy incident at Dragon*Con in Atlanta that a parody of Stephen King's "Misery" except with George Lucas would be hilarious! So, seven script drafts, six casting changes, approximately 20 props found on eBay, a "production re-alignmment" and untold headaches later, we're making it at last. Go to the official site above for some still photos of the day we shot the Skywalker Ranch scenes.
Speaking of Star Wars, I'd wanted it for Christmas but Santa must have forgot, but a week or so ago I finally got Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic for computer. It's not only the most beautiful Star Wars game I've ever seen, it's by far one of the most immersive role-playing games for computer that I've seen also. When it comes to my idle hours it's become the one thing that's detracted from my interest in Star Wars Galaxies.
My blog entry "People Who Should Be Shot When The Revolution Comes" from April got around. Quite a bit, actually. Don't worry I haven't been visited by police or Secret Service (yet anyway) but it does seem to have struck a chord with a bunch of people. I might write a sequel later, 'cuz some other people worthy of wrath at the appointed time have come to mind (but bear in mind it was a parody to begin with, and will be a parody again).
Okay, that's enough for this time. Me go eat now.
So I've been studying up bigtime to take the exam for Microsoft CIW certification (45 needed out of 60), take that tomorrow. Hope it goes better than a month ago when Dad and I drove out to Nashville so I could try out for Jeopardy! Am pretty sure I missed passing that exam by two questions and I'll be the first to admit that I know nothing about obscure 17th century Italian opera!
We also finally finally FINALLY started principle photography on my film "Forcery". The idea came in early September 2001 (a little over a week before 9/11) after a crazy incident at Dragon*Con in Atlanta that a parody of Stephen King's "Misery" except with George Lucas would be hilarious! So, seven script drafts, six casting changes, approximately 20 props found on eBay, a "production re-alignmment" and untold headaches later, we're making it at last. Go to the official site above for some still photos of the day we shot the Skywalker Ranch scenes.
Speaking of Star Wars, I'd wanted it for Christmas but Santa must have forgot, but a week or so ago I finally got Star Wars: Knights Of The Old Republic for computer. It's not only the most beautiful Star Wars game I've ever seen, it's by far one of the most immersive role-playing games for computer that I've seen also. When it comes to my idle hours it's become the one thing that's detracted from my interest in Star Wars Galaxies.
My blog entry "People Who Should Be Shot When The Revolution Comes" from April got around. Quite a bit, actually. Don't worry I haven't been visited by police or Secret Service (yet anyway) but it does seem to have struck a chord with a bunch of people. I might write a sequel later, 'cuz some other people worthy of wrath at the appointed time have come to mind (but bear in mind it was a parody to begin with, and will be a parody again).
Okay, that's enough for this time. Me go eat now.
