Still using MovableType 3.2, but I've upgraded the design a bit while I've had a little extra time around the house. We're now using MT-Notify which enables commenters to subscribe to an article so when people add comments, you're sent an email. We're also using Gallery2 and have integrated a random image on the sidebar. The Gamercards are on the sidebar too, they were too much of an eyesore prominently displayed in the header. I think it feels a lot cleaner. I ultimately want to draw a banner image of the family instead of the picture of the four of us before Jax was born.
May 2007 Archives
In case you've missed it, the premise for Stuntman: Ignition is that you are a Hollywood stuntman performing vehicle stunts for various movies, commercials, etc. There are several "movies" in the game and so far, THQ has released 3 movies to the press prior to our launch late summer 2007. The latest movie we're showing off is Strike Force Omega. It's set in an outlander/desert type environment with quite an obvious similarity to an 80's cult classic. Each movie has its own musical score, and I think this one is probably the best. Here is a gameplay video with commentary.
By the way, THQ is an acronym for Toy Headquarters.
A near final version of the Stuntman trailer has surfaced on EBGames. It's an amazing game trailer THQ execs have said is the best THQ has ever done. Watch out world, here we come! Look for a huge marketing blitz weeks prior to our August 28th street date... Everyone here at Paradigm is extremely pumped about the amount of support we're receiving from THQ. Look for us at the Taurus Awards on Spike TV May 18-19.
The first trailer has been on on the XBox 360 Marketplace for a while now, but the Heavy Weapon trailer was just released. This really looks to be a fun game. Heavy Weapon's facial animations are great, his mouth is keyframed to his words just right. I wonder if this is also done during gameplay.
I've played the demo and it looks pretty good. I'm very impressed with the amount of functionality they've been able to cram into the controller. I wonder if the game would support even more control with the IM keyboard mentioned eariler. It's surprizingly only $49.99 at Fry's for a limited time, one more day actually. Now that beta is finally here for us at Paradigm, maybe I can get stuff done around the house and enjoy some downtime with Supreme Commander or Company of Heroes on the PC.
You here so much about it, multiple Apple commercials have targeted its problems, but Vista's negatives are finally starting to outweigh its positives for me. First it was our soundcard, Creative Audigy 2 ZS, that doesn't output though its center channel properly. Then, the network driver, Broadcom NetXtreme 57xx doesn't keep its settings after reboot which causes performance issues with our Xbox 360 extender. But this last issue is probably going to cause me to remove Vista for good. Forget about Ubuntu or OSX, now that I know what the problem is with our extender, I'll put XP back on it.
Last night, Karen told me that she had to start recording House manually 3 times on Media Center within Vista Ultimate. I looked around in the log files and found that the TV stream evidently had a flag that Vista's Media Center uses to block recordings. Here is the error in the Media Center log:
Recording of House began as scheduled on 05/08/2007 19:58:02 and was stopped because the recording was of Copy Never content.
Tivo has been struggling with this for sometime while we've been immune on our ReplayTV and MCE 2005. I found this article describing the exact solution, but I can't allow the broadcasters to have so much power on our DVR. How in the world can they get away with this???
Should I bite the bullet and reinstall XP when there is nothing stopping Microsoft from shoving an update on top of MCE 2005 to do the same thing? Should I contact our local stations everytime this happens???
I just emailed our local Fox station, if they can't fix the problem then it's goodbye Vista, sad to see you go. Really...
This is what I left. So true, so funny... There was even a corporate software app that would chime the Intel Bong at specific intervals during the day to remind you to get up and stretch. Even the CEO has a cube. I saw it, I saw Andy Grove's too. At least their buildings could withstand earthquakes like the one we had in Washington. If the wind blows too hard in my current office building, I'm afraid the whole place could crack apart.
Conan is so funny, and that's totally me with the pens. I'd go around different areas and snag the best pens and pencils from other groups. It all comes from the same place, right?
Update: YouTube took the Conan video down. So sorry, it was so funny.
I've changed security on the blog to use the SCode MT Plugin. Comments don't require email addresses anymore and are instantly added if you provide the appropriate CAPTCHA security code. I couldn't get the GD libraries setup on my windows machine for testing, thankfully all required modules were already on my host's Linux server. Hopefully that'll eliminate spam from the comments, but I also need to install CCode/TCode reduce trackback spam. I might completely move over to CCode so that I can cross-platform develop more easily.
I have successfully been implanted! The first implant surgery took place March 29th and the second 4 weeks later on April 26th. After the first surgery, I still had to wear glasses, which Shawn made fun of me because I had one giant eye and one small eye. But after the second surgery, I haven't had to wear glasses. I need them to see the small details of things, but It a wonderful not having to have glasses or contacts. Because of the estigmatism, I will be having the PRK surgery sometime in July. After that, I'm free and clear of it all! Our parents have been wonderful. Mine came in for a week for the first surgery and Shawn's came in for the second. I don't know what I would have done with out them.
Shawn's plate is still full with work. He had to work on Saturday and didn't get home till after midnight. Hopefully, in about six weeks, this schedule will be over and we can spend nore time together. I know he's enjoying every minute of it. Every now and again I hear him say, "I'm a game developer!"
The kids are doing great. Rachel has 2 weeks of school left before summer break. She and I have a Mother's Day Tea tomorrow in her classroom. Jax is getting so big. He's trying really hard to get the words and sounds to come out right, but they just aren't yet. It's funny watching him, especially when he's trying to say M & M's.
Some friends, from Washington, were in town a few weeks ago visiting family while he was on his R & R from Iraq. Bryan and Candice Herken and their two adorable kiddos came over for a few hours. It was the first time for us to see baby Lara. She was born the day we left Washington. I'm hoping to be able to come out to Washington sometime in August. From what I 've gathered, I will have disappointed people if I come without my kids, so I'm thinking about bringing them. I was really wanting a mommy vacation, but I understand. If I'm going to visit friends, I should bring the kids. I guess I can plan a mommy vacation to a beach or somewhere and have my friends meet me there, Anyone up for it?
Well, Shawn just came in and scared the crud out of me. I wasn't expecting him till later. I walked out of Jax's room and he was standing in the dark and asked where Rachel was. Doesn't sound scary, but it was! Good thing the kids were still awake, I screamed so loud that the neighbors probably heard it. Of course, Shawn laughed! Anyway, more to come later. I'll post some pictures as soon as Shawn has a minute to get them off the camera. I don't like messing with his stuff you know!
THQ has just announced that Big Huge Games is going to create a RPG game for the XBox 360, PS3, and PC in 2009. It appears that BHG is still a Microsoft Game Studio, but just creating an RPG for THQ. I guess Microsoft didn't want to pony up for the development costs for their first foray into the RPG market. Ken Rolston of Elder Scrolls fame will take on the lead designer role for BHG.
One of the best PC games ever may be getting a 360 port...I still have my original Speedball 2 box.
http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php?article_id=75931
