Just a quick tip, I was annoyed that my 8x DVD+RW writer would only burn at half that speed and sometimes even less than that. A little Googling around, and I found out that you need to enable ultra_dma for your DVD device:
# hdparm -d 1 /dev/hdd
Where hdd is your DVD writer, of course (use dmesg to know which it is). I hope this helps a few people.
Do you want to know what I miss about my old job at Merck? Car pooling. My dad and I were picked up in the morning by a couple from Ontario who drove us to and from work. It was nice for multiple reasons:
If you can car pool, do it. I really miss it personally
What causes violence? Video games some say, but if you look at this video that I found on Dvorak’s blog, I think that it’s much worse than video games, don’t you agree?
Well, it’s finally here, the day where Canadians go to the polls to elect a new government. According to the latest polls, the Conservatives should form a minority government. I want to remind everyone to go vote as $2.65 per vote is given to all parties. Also, don’t sit by while a very important decision for your country is being made: go vote, let your voice be heard.
Have a nice day!
Is this video a fake, or is Blizzard really going to release a sequel to Starcraft? That would rule!
Update: it seems it’s a mod for another game. Damn!
There was a post on Lambda The Ultimate about a year and a half ago about a video on Erlang. The direct link doesn’t work anymore and the torrent is down. Does anyone still have that movie around?
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My friend Etien bought a DS yesterday! We are planning a Friday night of Mario Kart DS. This is going to be so cool.
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Friday, my friends Etien, Peej and myself went to EB Games to check out a few games. I decided to buy an adventure game for the Nintendo DS called “Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney”. I had seen the name of the game on Game Spot, however, I hadn’t stopped to read the review. I just recalled that the game was pretty well rated and the graphics on the box’s cover really appealed to me My friends first mocked me when they heard I was buy a lawers game, then they pretended they didn’t know me when I joked with the clerk and another client that it was cheaper than going to university.
I played the game when we got back to their appartment (with some delicious coffee and donuts from Tim Hortons! Hmmmm…) and it took about 12 seconds for me to get completely hooked! You take on the role of a fresh new defense attorney, Phoenix Wright, and your first case is a murder case where you must prove the innocence of your childhood friend, Larry Butz.
The graphics for PW:AA are very nice, exactly what I’d expect for an adventure game, drawings with some animations (eyes, lips) and multiple poses. The graphics work very well for the game. The animations when characters are mad are pretty funny too (check out Butz, with his evil looking teeth!). You don’t need the XBox 360’s graphic capabilities to have a fun game.
The sound is also what I’d expect from an adventure game, no spoken dialogs, you must read the conversations and testimonies, and that’s a good thing for two reason: 1) it saves space on the cartridge, so they can do longer, more involved stories and 2) they can highlight things in dialogs that are important in a different color. When characters speak, it’s the usual sound you heard in games on the NES, Genesis and SNES, however to clearly mark when a character is angry or surprised, the screen shakes and flashes while you also hear a bang or slashing sound. Work very effectively. The music is pretty repetitive (and sometime even annoying), but when there’s tension, the music will have you on your toes!
The controls are great. You can either use the D-Pad and the buttons or the touch screen. I started with the buttons, but after a while, I used the touch screen exclusively. You can control the entire game with just your stylus (expect to suspend and save, in which case you press the “Start” button), from interrogating witnesses to examining evidence. The buttons are large, so you don’t risk click besides them. Using the touch screen allows me to play lying on my side in my bed. Talk about comfort!
The gameplay is pretty nice. Your first mission is basic, you’re in the court room and you just need to find the flaws in the witness’s testimonies (yes, plural). The next three missions add more to the game play: in addition to just the court room, your lawyer plays the role of a detective as you look for evidence for the upcoming trial. During the trial, you also just don’t present evidence, sometimes you need to press the witness for more information, sometimes you need to point out (with the touch screen) where a certain event occured or where a certain flaw can be seen. And finally in the fifth mission, in addition to all that, you can inspect all objects you have in more detail. Some you can rotate and examine closer, you can use a fluid to look for blood, finger print powder and more. The missions also become longer and more complex as you progress. The last mission took me an entire day.
The puzzles are not terribly hard, in fact, the game is pretty easy, however, as with most adventure games, it’s linear and you might get stuck at one point for not asking a question or for not showing an object to someone. That can be frustrating at times, however you should try your hardest not to go directly to GameFAQs to know what to do, you’ll just hate yourself later on.
As with all adventure games, my only complaint is that replayability isn’t really there, because once you know what to do, there’s no more challenge left. You’d think after all these years, they’d have figured a way to make the game replayable. How about if people could create their own missions? Would that be feasible?
In conclusion, this game is a must have if you are a fan of adventure games; I know I haven’t liked one so much since I played Runaway (can’t wait for Runaway 2!) It should keep you busy for a good 15-20 hours. You’ll also laugh, the game is funny: at one point, you ask that a parrot takes the stand to testify in a murder case.
Rating: 9.5/10
Wilkes Joiner created a short screencast showing how you can modify a running Smalltalk applications, without using an special trick. Notice how he uses the debugger to code his new method, that’s not something you see in usual C++ or Java environments.
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I got a beta pass to test Dabble! I’ll let you know how it goes!
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Posted by gnuvince 