Updated!
I updated my stepmania box to include 2 missing DDR mixes: DDR Extreme (arcade) and DDR 4th Mix Plus. Also got some sweet new themes for it.
I’m also considering picking up another Ignition pad, so those of you that like DDR have no excuse for not playing anymore 😛
leaves
they blow around and crinkle under my heavy feet. |
This is what I get for letting Brian use my laptop unattended… 😛
A wise man once said…
Jay: well
Jay: it’s like how there’s lesbians, then there’s butch lesbians
Jay: lesbians you’re like “Awwww how cute, lesbians”
Jay: then butch lesbians you’re like “PMG DONT HURT ME PLZ”
Marbol
Crpytic Allusion‘s latest game, Marbol, is now available for the Mac! It’s a very fun game, you mac owners should all go check it out here, and support a fellow independent game developer.
Ex-teacher given 4 years for theft
So, they finally sentenced my old boss:
Ex-teacher given 4 years for theftBy LINDA STEIN Gambling and drinking may have led a former technology director for the East Windsor school district to steal computers from the school district, an assistant prosecutor said. Robert Parker, 60, who was sentenced to four years in prison yesterday, kept his head bowed and did not speak as he stood before Superior Court Judge Maria Sypek. Parker, who pleaded guilty to theft by deception in March, had taken nearly 100 computers that belonged to the school district and resold them to teachers, pocketing the money, said Assistant Prosecutor Doris Galuchie. Galuchie said an investigation showed that Parker had lost $64,000 at the Atlantic City casinos in the last five years and that six bottles of liquor were found in his desk. The school district paid $120,000 for the computers which Parker sold for $92,000, Galuchie said. Parker, of Georgetown Road in Hamilton, will be required to pay $80,000 in restitution to the district, Sypek said. Noting that Parker had been teacher for 29 years, Galuchie said, “He has been a role model, which is pretty scary.” District Superintendent Ronald Bolandi told Sypek that Parker had been “in a trusted position” and had “deceived the district.” Bolandi said the thefts had hurt the children. “I could have had a (computer) lab in every building,” Bolandi said. “I’m just appalled.” Parker’s defense lawyer George Yuska requested that Parker be sent to a minimum security prison due to his health problems including heart disease, diabetes and arthritis. Before the thefts were discovered, many students called Parker their favorite teacher, Yuska said. Since his arrest he has suffered “shame and humiliation.” “This is a tragedy,” Yuska said. |
http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-0/111545681296020.xml?times?ngx
rawr
Your Birthdate: November 13 |
Being born on the 13th day of the month should help make you a better manager and organizer, but it may also give you a tendency to dominate people a bit. You may be more responsible and self-disciplined than you realize. Sincere and honest, you are a serious, hard working individual. Your feelings are likely to seem somewhat repressed at times. You are apt to be much more practical, rational, and conscious of details. Your intolerance and insistence on complete accuracy can be irritating to some. |
I’m metal!
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Your Element is MetalYour power colors: white, gold, and silver Your energy: contracting Your season: fall You are persistent (and maybe even a little bit stubborn). If you see something you want, you go for it. You have a lot of strength, and it’s difficult to get you down. Very logical, you tend to analyze everything going on in your life. Find the Love of Your Life |
Skies of Arcadia: Legends
Alright, so Gil finally convinced me to play Skies of Arcadia: Legends, the GameCube remake of SEGA/Overworks’ Skies of Arcadia for the Dreamcast. I played the original Dreamcast version years ago, and I loved it. This version apparently adds more back story to the characters.
Anyway, I had read some comparisons between the Dreamcast and GameCube versions before, and I’m trying to keep an open mind with the GameCube version, but.. the soundtrack is garbage! It’s obvious that it’s using MIDI, and on the GameCube you can tell it’s using MIDI. One of the things I really miss about the Dreamcast was its MIDI patch set. A lot of games use MIDI instead of ADX for the soundtrack, and you can’t tell. But ugh.. the GameCube trumpet sample is terrible, I cringe every time I enter a battle in the GameCube version and hear it during the intro of the battle song. Their bass sample sounds pretty artificial, too. Some of the sound effects, most noticeably the sound when you use an item in battle, also sound odd because of the change in instruments.
The other thing I noticed right off the bat was the enemy death animation. On the Dreamcast, the enemy fades into a translucent red figure (all the polygons lose their texture, they just turn translucent red), and then they fade into being completely transparent and disappear. On the GameCube, they just fade to being transparent and disappear, no red step in the middle. Not really a big deal, but it was a neat effect and I wish they’d kept it.
It does have its good points too. Loading times are much shorter, since the Dreamcast’s GD-ROM drive isn’t very quick, and is very very loud, and the GameCube is the opposite. On the DC, I could tell when a random battle was coming, ’cause you’d hear the GD-ROM start seeking very loudly. No such luck with the GC.
Another good point is the lack of an epilepsy warning on the title screen. The Dreamcast version makes you read it for 2 seconds before it’ll let you proceed.. every damn time you turn the game on! I’m glad they removed that from the GC version 🙂 Also, the rumble feature in the GameCube controller isn’t nearly as violent as a Dreamcast puru-puru pack. When that Dreamcast controller starts shaking, you’d better hold on tight or you’ll drop it! GC is just a mild vibration.. not sure which I like better. GC is less distracting, but DC is more engaging. When the Valuan ship passes by in the intro on the DC, you see and hear it on the TV, and you feel and hear it in your hands. On the GC, you just feel it in your hands.. no sound of the motors or the analog stick shaking.
Finally, Loading / Saving is much quicker on the GameCube, although the background on the load/save screen is much less interesting to look at. They both show an image of the memory card, but the GC memory card is just a little square of plastic, as compared to the Visual Memory Unit for the Dreamcast, which has an LCD screen, a d-pad, and 4 buttons.
Music issues aside, the game is pretty well done so far. For anyone that’s only played the GameCube version, I recommend at least trying the Dreamcast version just to hear the sound track. It’s not supposed to suck as much as it does on the ‘cube! 🙂
My other ride is YOUR MOM
I saw the coolest bumper sticker on my way to CompUSA today, it said:
The christian right is neither |
Well, Brian and I found it amusing, anyway.