EricBall

The difference between work and play is one you get paid to do and the other you do because you want to. I admit that it's been a long while since I've done any 2600 or 7800 coding. Maybe someday I'll dig out the source code to one of my projects and relearn what I've forgotten.

After you get your PS3, spend some time downloading demos from the PlayStation Store. I don't think there's one fore MNR or BP, but I know there's one for Split Second and Blur along with a lot of other driving games. I'd also recommend considering upgrading the harddrive before you start putting lots of stuff on the drive. It's a license challenge so mods aren't possible, and I don't think it's possible to mix & match tires (at least I wasn't given the option when I put slicks on my Yaris).

Yep (S-Video). I can select various levels and ratios of stretch, but I can't turn off overscan entirely.

This past weekend my step-brother-in-law gave me GT5 and a steering wheel and I've been playing it every evening. And although I'm not a hardcore racing sim driver (Mario Kart is more my style - foot to the floor) but I am having fun along with some frustration. I'm currently up to level 8 and my current effort is trying to get around the Nuerburgring in less than 11 minutes. I'm within 10 seconds and that's with a few bounces off the Armco barriers. So I'm confident I'll get there with practice. The same can't be said for the final International C license challenge which is a 2 lap race on a street course in Rome in an older Ferrari which handles like a go cart - it likes to spin out turning at high speed or turning while braking. So it's very easy to spin out and bump the barriers, which is an immediate fail. (So's hitting or being hit by another car.) Part of the difficulty is the Intec steering wheel, specifically the pedals. Stepping on the gas, the game shows full throttle when the pedal is less than halfway down. This makes it more difficult to do less than full throttle. GT5 itself doesn't help either as the controller configuration menus don't provide information about what various options do and what can be changed. A big part of GT5 is acquiring and tuning cars. This is enforced by races which require certain cars. Fortunately I was able to complete (and win) the first few races with Nissan mm-R prize car I got completing the A License. But then I tried the Vitz Race with the Yaris prize car and was promptly passed by the field. No matter how well I drove into and off the corners I'd lose ground on the straightaways. But once I bought race tires, a turbo and a engine management upgrade I again won handily. (Although the upgrades cost more than I won.) But... the next two races require cars I don't have. So I have to either complete another event to get a prize car which meets the requirements or buy one, assuming one is available to buy from the "Car Dealer". (Fortunately there are lists on the Internet which will assist me.) I'm just hoping that most of the races are more like the Nuerburgring challenge - achievable with practice; not requiring ultimate skill & tuning to eek out on a perfect run.

For my Tosh XF I have scaling turned off for HD sources (PS3/Blu-Ray and OTA) and I occasionally see a line or two of VBI junk. I'd have it off for all sources but it won't let me for SD. The funny one was one the NFL games this past weekend where some of the cameras had the VBI junk while others didn't. The thing which annoys me is the NTSC didn't add 2 bits to the VBI data for SD and ATSC to indicate to an HDTV how to upscale SD and for converters to downgrade HDTV to SD.

There are a couple of Saturn homebrew games. However, it appears that you need a modified Saturn to play them on real hardware rather than via an emulator.

Yeah, I've notice that none of the Star Wars Blu-Ray announcement issues makes any mention of what post-theatrical (77 or 81) "enhancements" would be included. Personally, I have the LE DVDs and I see no reason to replace them with a Blu-Ray edition which includes anything more than cosmetic changes.

Do you have any reel-to-reel recordings? I mean, good score, but magnetic tape will die of sticky-shed-syndrome sooner rather than later. So if you do have some rare recordings, you probably should invest some time and money in making highest quality digital recordings.

I can't say as I've ever heard of Frisky Tom before. Maybe one of these years I'll get back into MAME and will remember to try it out.

I forgot to mention, one problem with a 3D film is the "center of attention" can't be to far from the edges. I found the couple of times I turned my head that the 3D effect went bad. Now, this might vary depending on whether active or passive (and linear or circular) polarization is used. I also tend to sit fairly close to the screen so the picture fills my vision.

If the ball is moving more than 1 pixel per frame, but less than one tile per frame, then you first do a simple bounding box to see if the ball is inside the tile. Then you do a line intersection between the line the ball is moving along and each of the tile's sides.

Having just retruned from seeing it in IMAX 3D, and being a fan of the original (which I rewatched a couple of days ago), I have to say I enjoyed it. I'm not sure about what it would be like in non-IMAX, but I loved the OMG bass during the initial Recognizer scene. The aspect ratio also seemed a little squarer than a standard widescreen movie. I don't know whether the edges were clipped or the top & bottom opened up. I agree that the de-olding process looked a little off. And although he looked like the younger Jeff Bridges, he still sounded and had facial ticks like the older. My only complaint was they didn't treat the vintage grid cycle better. And yeah, the master plan plot was a little huh, but I had a bigger problem with the geography, I thought it was in the city.

Via slashdot Team Twiizers (now known as fail0verflow) has made some significant strides in demolishing the security of the PS3. (By discovering a flawed crypto implementation - allowing the private keys to be recovered.) It makes me wonder if it is possible to implement a truly unbreakable anti-piracy mechanism.

I've just played through the StarCraft2 demo for the n'th time. Part of me wants to like it, but I can't get past the basic nature of RTS - having micromanage everything in real time. I have to say I never played the original StarCraft. The closest RTS I've ever played was Pikmin. But the resource management on that one is pretty minimal and there's no need to protect your base. Anyway, although I like the single player storyline, I'm just having problems trying to optimally use my base and my troops at the same time. While I focus on my base, my troops are sitting idle or taking fire. While I walk my troops toward the next objective, my base or SCV finishes it's build queue and stops producing fresh troops or buildings. I really wish there was a co-op option, so one player could focus on the resource management and the other on the troops. Of course, if you have multiple battle groups then someone would still need to multitask. The troop controls also are frustrating. Right click selects a unit then left click sets a destination to move to or attack, even if they are attacked along the way! But if you press "A" then right click the unit will return fire if attacked en-route. So the default action is the one I don't want and the buttons aren't consistent. And although you can group units together, they don't arrange themselves so the healers aren't in the front ranks taking the brunt of the attack. There's also no way that I'm going to play enough to get skilled enough to play the multiplayer. I've given up on CivRev because I can beat the AIs even on the highest difficulty, but I get killed online to people who have far higher playtime and skill. And there's no way to bridge that gap without losing a hundred games. So I'm going to resist buying it. I really don't have the free time to play anyway.

In Atari 2600 homebrews converted to ColecoVision Pixelboy suggested Skeleton+. If a CV programmer wanted to try, I could provide the source code. Of course there would be a lot of work recoding 6502->Z80, TIA 160x192 -> TMS 256x192 graphics and TIA -> SN76489A sound.

Hoo-boy! There's a whole bunch of filings last week. First, it appears no decision has been made (yet) regarding the November 4th hearing for motion to dismiss. Second it appears Sony is playing dirty. They've requested a huge amount of information and physical property from the plaintiffs (forensic copies of their PS3 hard drives, and every PC they owned since 2006, the actual PS3 and peripherals, and lots of "non-privledged" correspondence). And Sony Computer Entertainment America is saying the decision came from SCEI (i.e. Japan) so they can't provide the information the plaintiffs have requested unless they agree not to name SCEI as a defendant. Third, the plaintiffs counsel has seriously upped their legal mojo. Lots of references to precedents. I dunno. Sounds to me like Sony doesn't feel their case is strong enough without trying to disprove each of the plaintiff's claims. e.g. they want the PS3 & PC hard drives to show whether the plaintiff's actually used their PS3 in lieu of their PCs.

Oddly shaped, like not a circle? I suspect those are pretty rare because they won't work in lots of CD players (anything slot loading and anything where the motor speed control is tuned for 8cm CDs).

My younger brother took his life in 1994. If you can, think back to '94. Think of all of the things which have occurred in the world of technology since then. (Or just see the entries in Wikipedia, which didn't exist in '94.) Everything he missed (including becoming an uncle) because he wouldn't seek help to improve his hope for the future.

You need to code in bitmaps of the cheesy prizes you win.

When pride is the main motivation instead of profit you tend to get better results. Some of the earlier games (i.e. Skeleton+, I'll admit & accept it) may also be ranked higher than they would be today. (This is normal. Something which was exceptional in the past may only be average today.)

The first rule of taking panos is to rotate the camera, not yourself, to avoid parallax problems with near-field objects. Does the iPhone have gyros/accelerometers? The app may be using them to try to automatically determine yaw, pitch, and roll. Okay if they are accurate, bad news if they aren't.Oh, and almost any view which you have to turn your head to see is a good subject for a pano.

Interesting. If I'm reading it right, his statement is the Wii gobbled up enough market share so the royalty profit for Sony & Microsoft hasn't been enough for either to want to sink money into developing a new console. He may be right, I haven't looked at the Sony & Microsoft balance sheets. I'd argue that core of PS2 (147M) & Xbox (24M) owners migrated to the PS3 (42M) and 360 (47M) while the Wii (76M) expanded the market. Software sales are more likely impacted by the general economy.And although Sony & Microsoft may have claimed "10 year" cycles, those statements were made very early so are subject to interpretation.

Cnet published an article discussing that the Xbox 360 has reached its 5th birthday with no successor for it or its competition in sight. The answer is simple: it's all about the money. Microsoft and Sony initially sold their consoles at a loss to gain market share. Now they make a profit, so the more they sell now the more profit they make. Microsoft also rushed the Xbox 360 to market, which got them initial share but cost them in reliability and replacement. Microsoft and Sony have also just released significant add-ons for their systems (Kinect & Move) and I'm sure they are watching them closely so they can be integrated into the next generation console. Sony also has to deal with the uncertain future of the IBM Cell processor. At one point Intel's Larabee was suggested, but that project has also fizzled. The general economy hasn't helped, both in expected sales (especially for a new, high priced console) and willingness to invest heavily in a future product. Developers are probably happy to remain on the current platforms. Their tools are mature, although there still is some power to be tapped. A new console would just increase costs while reducing the target market. Finally, I bet Sony and Microsoft are waiting for 3DTVs to become more common. Both the Xbox 360 and PS3 were design for HDTV and it only makes sense that their successors would be made for 3DTV. (Yes, the PS3 supports 3DTV, it will be interesting to see how much content takes advantage of it.) However, it might be argued that Nintendo is farther behind technologically so needs to release an HD Wii to maintain market share. But Nintendo is releasing a new console in 2011 - the 3DS. And although it is handheld, the $300 price tag puts it in competition with consoles. Plus, since it has a 3D display, it will allow developers to learn how to make good 3D games.

The PS3 is an excellent Blu-Ray player, although it doesn't have multi-channel audio outputs except via HDMI. There are lots of demos available for free from the online store, so you may be able to try before you buy. Check avsforum.com for lots of info about the various HDTVs. Just remember that there are only a few panel manufacturers and they are prone to develop problems just after the manufacturer's warranty runs out (not that extended warranties help much either).

Now this is interesting. On November 4th Judge Seeborg heard the motions to dismiss etc from Sony. However, the transcript of that meeting isn't available online until February 14! It is possible to view it in person. Anyone in San Francisco willing to view the transcript and report? Transcript of Proceedings held on 11/4/10, before Judge Richard Seeborg. Court Reporter/Transcriber Katherine Powell Sullivan, RPR, CRR, CSR, Telephone number 415-794-6659/[email protected] Per General Order No. 59 and Judicial Conference policy, this transcript may be viewed only at the Clerks Office public terminal or may be purchased through the Court Reporter/Transcriber until the deadline for the Release of Transcript Restriction.After that date it may be obtained through PACER. Any Notice of Intent to Request Redaction, if required, is due no later than 5 business days from date of this filing. Release of Transcript Restriction set for 2/14/2011. (Sullivan, Katherine) (Filed on 11/15/2010) Minute Entry: Motion Hearing held on 11/4/2010 before Richard Seeborg; Matters Submitted. (Date Filed: 11/4/2010) re 97 MOTION to Dismiss [Memorandum of Points and Authorities] MOTION to Dismiss [Memorandum of Points and Authorities] filed by Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc, Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC, 96 MOTION to Strike 76 Amended Complaint [Class Allegations; Memorandum of Points and Authorities] MOTION to Strike 76 Amended Complaint [Class Allegations; Memorandum of Points and Authorities] filed by Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc, Sony Computer Entertainment America LLC. (Court Reporter Kathy Sullivan.)(cl, COURT STAFF) (Date Filed: 11/4/2010)