Tao of Mac

Aug 15th 2004 · 2 min read

Odds and Ends of Digital Warfare

It's summertime, and leisure is a relevant topic all of a sudden. I'm more partial to reading and listening to music these days, but my gaming past manages to catch up with me sometimes.

  • The Razer Viper (review) is on sale at FNAC, which I found curious. I always fancied getting myself a Boomslang or its spawn, but these days I don't play enough to warrant spending that much cash on a simple mouse.
  • I'm seriously considering getting rid of my Xbox. That is, as soon as I finish Xbox/Oddworld: Munch's Oddyssee, since Halo made it plain that I can't play FPS games in consoles - the controller is simply crap when compared to a mouse and keyboard. Not that I've used it any more than I have my (i.e., once this year), but the has that Sony mystique - I mean, have you ever thrown away a piece of Sony gear, no matter how cheap?
  • Reading about the Quakecon talks, it looks like Doom 3 will be out for the Xbox before the version is up to scratch. Yes, current video hardware needs some updating (which the new will do, surely). No, I won't go out and buy a G5 to play it, but then I don't really think I'll be buying an Xbox version of the game.
  • The other day, being swept up in the Doom hype, I unpacked my custom install into my , cranked up the video settings as far as it would go (not much, my iBook manages better) and proceeded to get the shit kicked out of me by a bot. A bot, mind you. I started feeling obsolete when the score was something like 6-2. Then I got hold of the railgun and magic happened again (cunning and old age are better than raw reflexes, but a bit of all three makes for some fancy shooting).
  • If you can't get a decent video card for your work PC, here's the lamest excuse so far.
  • This amazing scam made me look into EVE Online. MMORPGs these days are like nothing I remember (the graphics sure beat classic descriptions like you were eaten by a grue.)
  • I used to be quite keen on war games, but can't remember what happened to the (make that Cocoa) port of T.E.G.. Was I only dreaming, or is there really such a beast?
  • Melo reminded me of the demos page. Hours of fun included.

Update: While idly clicking through Amazon UK, I came across the Quake IV pre-order and this absolutely hilarious promotion:

(Yes, it's a gaming in-joke: DN4Ever has been "nearly done" for half a decade now... So it and Q4 sharing a launch date and being bundled as a promotion is friggin' hillarious...)