December 23, 2005
Almost a month, but not quite. I do have something to show for it this time, though: Check out the brand new Anime page. In other site-related news, I've linked to Concerned, a web comic about Half-Life2, and Tile World, an emulator for the tile-based puzzle game Chip's Challenge which I used to play a lot when I was a child. Also new for the Links page is smaller images. I have slowly realized that not everyone runs 1600x1200 quite yet.
In meatspace news, I've been running dual monitors for some time now, and it's wonderful. If you do the same, I recommend you check out UltraMon which lets you customize your monitors to your liking.
I have read two books and one manga series since last time. Check Books if you're interested.
I've been hanging in two IRC channels for some time now. One is #swhack on irc.freenode.net which has its own web site, and the other is #bilge on irc.talkcrap.net. The former is composed of a conglomeration of nerds of all types, and the latter is composed of the same, only in fewer numbers and focusing more on game development. If you enjoy reading my site, then head over.
Speaking of my site, I'm well aware of my recent blogging trend. One explanation is that I'm under the firm conviction that almost everything and everyone in this world are almost infinitely more interesting than I am, and that accordingly I should speak little and listen much. Some of my friends think I should update more often. I'll certainly try, but the fact is that I don't have overly much to speak of all the time.
There are two games that you absolutely must play, and those are Prince of Persia: The Two Thrones and F.E.A.R. PoP: T2T really saved the series for me. Now, I didn't particularly dislike the previous game (Warrior Within) like a lot of people did. I disliked the Prince's badass attitude and all the stupid backtracking that you had to do, but I welcomed the revamped fighting system after Sand's of Time's monotonous combat. The fighting system in T2T is more or less the same as in WW, but with an added stealth element: If enemies aren't aware of you, you can silently dispose of them by sneaking up to them and, in an animated sequence, hitting the attack button at just the right intervals. That's very nice and all, but it's too easy, even on the hardest difficulty. It would be awesome if, on the harder difficulties, there were multiple buttons to hit, corresponding, perhaps, to the different angles at which the Prince attacks the enemy in the animated sequence. Still, the game is incredibly fun, and if you like Persian ninjas, you should definitely play it.
The other game you must play, F.E.A.R, is just unashamedly badass. Some of the levels are pretty ho hum, but it's more than made up for by a sweet, sweet AI and the liberal use of expletives. ("Fucker's got an appetite", a phrase describing the cannibalistic nature of the game's antagonist Paxton Fettel, is my favorite line.)
I'm learning C++ from Steve Heller's C++: A Dialog because I can't call myself a geek and not know how to program. I do know PHP fairly well, so I already know some concepts (like variables, functions, and scope) while others currently elude me (I still have no idea what object-oriented programming really is).
The web comic project will unfortunately be put on ice until further notice. We have some sketches and meager attempts at inking and coloring (which I think are quite nice), but not nearly enough to start the comic. In apology for this, here's a sketch of my alter ego, Akil, that I think turned out fairly well:
