Yet Another CS assignment took me until four in the morning to complete. This time I was coding in Smalltalk, and thankfully, it was also the last one I had to do.
Let's talk a bit about Smalltalk, shall we? Its object oriented, and if we are to listen to its fans, it is the best kind of object oriented. The kind where everything in the language is an object, and you have to pass messages to those objects to make them do things. Seems simple enough, and it is, once you've written enough code. What isn't so logical is the seemingly random way in which punctuation (or a lack thereof) is used throughout the code. There you are, trying to understand what's in front of you, and Bang(literally) ! There's an exclamation mark, and you don't know why. Now there are two exlamations. Maybe Smalltalk just gets really excited. Actually, it is used to define the end of functions (or blocks of functions) in a class. Why a '!' of all things? No clue friends.
Then of course we have periods, no periods, parens and pound signs being used for what seems to be no reason at all. Sometimes you need a colon, sometimes you don't. If you are a good coder, you'll figure it all out. Smalltalk will finally make some sense. This is when you remember all the tutorials you looked up where feverish, adamant SmallTalk advocates sung its praises to the heavens, claiming that their language of choice is at the very top of the OOP mountain. Java? Its nothing compared to ST. C and C++? They never mention it! (coincidence? I think not) . If you were to listen to these Smalltalk fans, you'd think there was no reason to code in any other language. They're like die hard Mac fans (no offense) of the programming world. But they're wrong. Oh yes they are.
Smalltalk is an interesting language. It can do a lot of great things that C++ can't. But there are so many ridiculous aspects of the syntax that feel as if they're different for the sake of being so. Having code that reads more like english is great. Obfuscating it with so many oddities isn't. One thing I know about C is that no matter what you're writing, each piece of code generally looks the same, and it just makes sense. Perhaps that is why it is still so popular after so many years.
I also got to play with some old Lego Mindstorms kits for A.I. final project. It reminded me of why I used to love the little bricks when I was a kid; with enough pieces and a big imagination, there is little that you can't do. It also reminded me as to why Lego sales have been horrible in recent years; they forgot the spirit of the company. Legos are all about freedom. Sure you can build the set, but you can also take it apart and make your own. Hell, the instructions even included new ideas on the back cover! These days, however, Lego kits come with so many intricate and specific pieces that aren't meant to be used out of context. Rather than being construction sets, they've become fragile, expensive toys.
There was one more thing I wanted to comment on, and I will, but it will require a seperate post. Its just that big a deal.
Monday, December 12, 2005
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Rise and Fall
Let us all mourn the passing of one of the greatest comedic legends of all time, Richard Pryor. The world just got a little less funny.
...On a brighter note, last night there was the first ever Loyola dodgeball tournament between the Computer Science and Math departments, and C.S. came out on top after coming back with 3 victories in a row to win the best of five. There is no better precedent that could have been set for future competitions, though I would be lying if I didn't say that the Math dept. put up an incredible fight. Can't wait to do it again next year.
There are a lot of reasons to love Valve software, but they never seem to stop giving us more. First they announced Darwinia being availible on Steam, and now they're making the Source engine even better than before. They just don't seem to rest on their laurels, and to me this is a good thing. Out of the three major game engines to come out of 2004, one is being replaced (Unreal engine), another has only been used by its own creators (Doom 3 engine), and one is being used by multiple 3rd parties and is constantly being upgraded and tweaked for much less of the cost of writing something new from scratch (Half Life 2 and Source of course). We need a lot more of the third example if we are to prevent game prices from continuing to rise to $60 and beyond. Good show Valve.
On a final note, the only flash game I've ever enjoyed has been given a sequel. Field Command 2 is here, and it is bigger, flashier and deeper than ever before. If you like military strategy and good music then you should check it out.
...On a brighter note, last night there was the first ever Loyola dodgeball tournament between the Computer Science and Math departments, and C.S. came out on top after coming back with 3 victories in a row to win the best of five. There is no better precedent that could have been set for future competitions, though I would be lying if I didn't say that the Math dept. put up an incredible fight. Can't wait to do it again next year.
There are a lot of reasons to love Valve software, but they never seem to stop giving us more. First they announced Darwinia being availible on Steam, and now they're making the Source engine even better than before. They just don't seem to rest on their laurels, and to me this is a good thing. Out of the three major game engines to come out of 2004, one is being replaced (Unreal engine), another has only been used by its own creators (Doom 3 engine), and one is being used by multiple 3rd parties and is constantly being upgraded and tweaked for much less of the cost of writing something new from scratch (Half Life 2 and Source of course). We need a lot more of the third example if we are to prevent game prices from continuing to rise to $60 and beyond. Good show Valve.
On a final note, the only flash game I've ever enjoyed has been given a sequel. Field Command 2 is here, and it is bigger, flashier and deeper than ever before. If you like military strategy and good music then you should check it out.
Wednesday, December 07, 2005
Doomdiddy Doom!!
I got to watch the last 25 minutes or so of the Doom movie last night. Here are my thoughts.
- The dialogue is hokey and forced. The kind of lines that you know must be said, but can be written (and delivered) in a better way. The best performance was from the Rock, but even that was just par for the course in Hollywood.
- ridiculous story. Something about finding a magic portal that leads to a city on Mars (how that is explained, I can only guess), and experiments are done on people that have something to do with the 24th chromosome. Now I need a Biology expert to back me up on this, but isn't that just Downs Syndrome? On the other hand, Doom's target audience is probably the last group of people who would care about that.
- I didn't get to see much action, but I did catch the First Person Scene. I'll be honest with all of you; it was pretty neat. The game is the first person shooter. Why the hell not have an homage to it? The only problem I had with this part is that I think it could have been done better. It felt slow and plodding, when it should be fast and intense.
So were the cool nerds right about the film? Yes in that Doom is not a piece of incredibly fine cinema. But I think a lot of people were overexaggerating about how bad it is. Despite everything I've said about it, Doom is no better or worse than your typical summer action film. And considering the source material, I don't see how anyone could expect it to be anything more than that. This is Doom people. Its not exactly the most gripping narrative in the history of gaming. While I do think that it would have been better if the story revolved around opening the gates of hell, even this wouldn't have made it that much better. And if you compare it next to House of the Dead or Alone in the Dark, I'd say the Doom movie did well enough for itself.
I'd place Doom in the same category as Advent Children; lots of crazy setpieces, some stuff to please the fanboys, and not a lot of strong story or characters. If that's all you expect, you won't be dissapointed. And if you expected more, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe you should read some manga or something?:p
- The dialogue is hokey and forced. The kind of lines that you know must be said, but can be written (and delivered) in a better way. The best performance was from the Rock, but even that was just par for the course in Hollywood.
- ridiculous story. Something about finding a magic portal that leads to a city on Mars (how that is explained, I can only guess), and experiments are done on people that have something to do with the 24th chromosome. Now I need a Biology expert to back me up on this, but isn't that just Downs Syndrome? On the other hand, Doom's target audience is probably the last group of people who would care about that.
- I didn't get to see much action, but I did catch the First Person Scene. I'll be honest with all of you; it was pretty neat. The game is the first person shooter. Why the hell not have an homage to it? The only problem I had with this part is that I think it could have been done better. It felt slow and plodding, when it should be fast and intense.
So were the cool nerds right about the film? Yes in that Doom is not a piece of incredibly fine cinema. But I think a lot of people were overexaggerating about how bad it is. Despite everything I've said about it, Doom is no better or worse than your typical summer action film. And considering the source material, I don't see how anyone could expect it to be anything more than that. This is Doom people. Its not exactly the most gripping narrative in the history of gaming. While I do think that it would have been better if the story revolved around opening the gates of hell, even this wouldn't have made it that much better. And if you compare it next to House of the Dead or Alone in the Dark, I'd say the Doom movie did well enough for itself.
I'd place Doom in the same category as Advent Children; lots of crazy setpieces, some stuff to please the fanboys, and not a lot of strong story or characters. If that's all you expect, you won't be dissapointed. And if you expected more, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe you should read some manga or something?:p
Tuesday, December 06, 2005
Pure as driven,,,
We got the first major snowstorm of the year today. When I say major, I mean just enough to cover the ground up without melting by the next morning. I'm thinking classes will be canceled tomorrow....
It was rather beautiful coming out of class today. If was around 4:30, and the flakes had just begun to fall. The sky was that dark gray that would vanish into night in just mere minutes. The Christmas lights strewn about campus and the lamps above the street gave off a soft glow that gives the whole scene that strange, dreamlike feeling. I'm not a huge fan of winter (its far too nasty and depressing, especially back home), but this time right around the start of the season always seems so...nice. It puts me in a mood where I feel good about the end of the year, something that is much needed during crunch time.
Sorry to get all poetic there. Actually, that wasn't even poetry. All the better then. Would you like to own a piece of Acclaim? You can if the price is right. Here's a nice article that diffuses some of the Xbox360 hype for some honest answers. And of course, the big question: is Rare back in business? If their two new games are an FPS that still plays like an N64 game and a shinier collect-a-thon platformer, I'm going to go out on a limb and say no.
Off to bed now. Here's something to help you drool at night.
Edit: Wait, I lied. Those specs are not good. I'm already waiting for every major gaming editor/pundit/lunatic webcomic artist to hammer Nintendo's final nail into the coffin. Like Tycho said: "I forgot that innovation was measured in texture passes."
It was rather beautiful coming out of class today. If was around 4:30, and the flakes had just begun to fall. The sky was that dark gray that would vanish into night in just mere minutes. The Christmas lights strewn about campus and the lamps above the street gave off a soft glow that gives the whole scene that strange, dreamlike feeling. I'm not a huge fan of winter (its far too nasty and depressing, especially back home), but this time right around the start of the season always seems so...nice. It puts me in a mood where I feel good about the end of the year, something that is much needed during crunch time.
Sorry to get all poetic there. Actually, that wasn't even poetry. All the better then. Would you like to own a piece of Acclaim? You can if the price is right. Here's a nice article that diffuses some of the Xbox360 hype for some honest answers. And of course, the big question: is Rare back in business? If their two new games are an FPS that still plays like an N64 game and a shinier collect-a-thon platformer, I'm going to go out on a limb and say no.
Off to bed now. Here's something to help you drool at night.
Edit: Wait, I lied. Those specs are not good. I'm already waiting for every major gaming editor/pundit/lunatic webcomic artist to hammer Nintendo's final nail into the coffin. Like Tycho said: "I forgot that innovation was measured in texture passes."
Saturday, December 03, 2005
It cannot be
....or can it? A new review coming tonight? After months of nothing?
Oh. Hell. Yes.
Finishing that paper certainly got me out of that writing slump, and so I decided it was time to get back to some reviews, starting with one for Onimusha on the PS2. I'm still a little concerned about the overall quality of my review skills, so this one's a bit small so as to ease my way back into it.
There's also a new twist; the review has no score. That's right, I'm ditching the idea of using a score system. I found that in attempting to write several reviews in the last few months, I was more concerned about what score I was going to assign certain games than what I was going to say about them. Far too many gamers look to the final score of a review to be the sole indcator of the quality of a title, and since so many major gaming sites tend to have scores that are skewed on the high side, I have gotten some criticism by friends that my scores are far too low. In fact the very first opinion I ever got about a review was someone telling me that I was an idiot for not liking Max Payne, because said person didn't realize that a 3/5 is not at all a bad score by me. I've also been told that my reviews are sometimes wishy washy, which I beleive may be caused by me trying to fit the writing to the grade.
The solution to all of this seems clear; if there is no score to worry about, then readers have to actually do some reading to judge if they'll like the game, and I can worry about nothing more than what it is I want to discuss about it. I've also tried to shy away from always doing the "all comprehensive" review where every last detail has to be tackled. If the story isn't worth mentioning, or the graphics are just average, I may not give them much attention. Hopefully this will make things a lot less boring.
Will all of this work? I can't really say for sure, but its worth a shot. As always feedback is appreciated, and expect the review by midnight (hopefully!).
Oh. Hell. Yes.
Finishing that paper certainly got me out of that writing slump, and so I decided it was time to get back to some reviews, starting with one for Onimusha on the PS2. I'm still a little concerned about the overall quality of my review skills, so this one's a bit small so as to ease my way back into it.
There's also a new twist; the review has no score. That's right, I'm ditching the idea of using a score system. I found that in attempting to write several reviews in the last few months, I was more concerned about what score I was going to assign certain games than what I was going to say about them. Far too many gamers look to the final score of a review to be the sole indcator of the quality of a title, and since so many major gaming sites tend to have scores that are skewed on the high side, I have gotten some criticism by friends that my scores are far too low. In fact the very first opinion I ever got about a review was someone telling me that I was an idiot for not liking Max Payne, because said person didn't realize that a 3/5 is not at all a bad score by me. I've also been told that my reviews are sometimes wishy washy, which I beleive may be caused by me trying to fit the writing to the grade.
The solution to all of this seems clear; if there is no score to worry about, then readers have to actually do some reading to judge if they'll like the game, and I can worry about nothing more than what it is I want to discuss about it. I've also tried to shy away from always doing the "all comprehensive" review where every last detail has to be tackled. If the story isn't worth mentioning, or the graphics are just average, I may not give them much attention. Hopefully this will make things a lot less boring.
Will all of this work? I can't really say for sure, but its worth a shot. As always feedback is appreciated, and expect the review by midnight (hopefully!).
Friday, December 02, 2005
Guitar Hero
Perhaps you have heard of Guitar Hero, the newest rythm game on the market. If you haven't, you should, becasue it looks like one of the coolest things to come out this year.
So what makes GH so different than say, japanese favorite Guitar Freaks? Several reasons have been given by the game's fans:
1) two more fret buttons to play with, which leads to many more possibilities.
2) Controller shaped like a Gibson
And most importantly, 3) A soundtrack full of classic American and British rock. This is what I find most appealing. I've played my fair share of DDR, but the main reason I have is becuase of the challenge, not the music. There are very few songs there that I can honestly say I really enjoy playing to (anyone who's played with me knows I never pick the songs. Now you know why). The whole "Japanese for the sake of being so" style of the games also doesn't do much for me. Being able to play some of my favorite songs in Guitar Hero just sounds that much more appealing.
I don't think its a question of "if", but "when" I get around to purchasing this game (not for a while though; Shadow and Dragon Quest 8 sucked up my game reserves). I only hope that next time the DDR gang gets together they don't mind me blowing them to the back of the auditorium (or trying to at least. I never have played guitar).
So what makes GH so different than say, japanese favorite Guitar Freaks? Several reasons have been given by the game's fans:
1) two more fret buttons to play with, which leads to many more possibilities.
2) Controller shaped like a Gibson
And most importantly, 3) A soundtrack full of classic American and British rock. This is what I find most appealing. I've played my fair share of DDR, but the main reason I have is becuase of the challenge, not the music. There are very few songs there that I can honestly say I really enjoy playing to (anyone who's played with me knows I never pick the songs. Now you know why). The whole "Japanese for the sake of being so" style of the games also doesn't do much for me. Being able to play some of my favorite songs in Guitar Hero just sounds that much more appealing.
I don't think its a question of "if", but "when" I get around to purchasing this game (not for a while though; Shadow and Dragon Quest 8 sucked up my game reserves). I only hope that next time the DDR gang gets together they don't mind me blowing them to the back of the auditorium (or trying to at least. I never have played guitar).
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