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There was an RTS named Total Annihilation. It was released prior to the well-known Starcraft by a company named Cavedog. Though those who found it (including me) found it to be superior to Starcraft, it died out as Cavedog went bankrupt.

Now there is Supreme Commander, a game which is considered to be the ’spiritual sequel’ to TA, as it was made by some of the same people. I also have played Supreme Commander and find it retains the same amount of difficulty as TA, the same habit of non-satisfactory campaigns, and a LOT better multiplayer than the first.

However, before SupCom was released, there was a project. Known as TA Spring! (now simply Spring) it’s goal was to replicate the type of gameplay as TA, while offering it for free. Recently the project has moved away from being a copy of the gameplay of TA, and is now starting to develop and be a fun online game. It has mods (eg. StarWars mod), good 3D graphics, deforming terrain. It’s got many new features, all for free:

Spring Homepage

Overall, after testing it again, I can see it’s become better than ever. I’d definitely suggest it to any fan of TA, or SupCom. Though, newbie be warned, metal resource management is quite hard.

Coming up tomorrow, several games to try out while I get the main site up and running proper (search engine for games, game database, etc.),

-Dravailo

I’ve been browsing and just saw the Mythbusters web-cast of Ninja questions, in which they had the person from AskANinja.Com on. Here’s the youtube video:

Anyway, that reminded me to check out AskANinja.com again. Checked it out, funny new material. For those who don’t know, people send in questions to Ask A Ninja and a ninja (or so you think) answers them, in very funny ways, via video podcasts. There’s about 40 episodes, the more recent ones are funnier. Still, I’d recommend classics like “Ninja Skills” and “Ninja Dogs” (or Caninja’s, as the ninja calls them). Very funny site, well worth watching.

Also, on a completely unrelated note, I’m starting to try and have lucid dreams. Again. I’m too busy right now, but during summer I’ll have a lot more time and (hopefully) several lucid dreams. Lucid Dreaming is, simply put, becoming conscious that you are dreaming while you are dreaming. May sound pointless, but this gives you a whole world, which can be more vivid than life it self, in which you have control. You can actually affect things by willing them to happen. This includes flying, walking through walls, talking to your subconscious, shapeshifting, whatever. Whatever you can think of that doesn’t go against your beliefs (since your subconscious creates the dream world, deep beliefs often prevent some things from occurring) is usually possible.

If you want to learn to have lucid dreams, a few things are great resources. One is a podcast from Erin Pavlina. Another is the DreamViews site and forums. The best book on the subject is Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming by Stephen Laberge.

-Dravailo

Well, I’ve been using Vista for a little while now. The first thing you’d notice while using it would definitely be Aero glass, the interface change. Basically, it makes window borders transparent and has other little effects that make everything look better. If your computer cannot run Aero, however, the ‘Aero Basic’ theme looks really bad, so I’d change it to XP theme.

Past the new interface, Vista is basically XP. It does have changes, like User Account Control (UAC), but it other than UAC it’s the same operating system (OS) with minor interface changes. There’s a search bar added to the start bar, better background-image-control, some more customization options, but it is mostly the same OS. There’s no major need to upgrade if you’re using XP just fine.

Onto other subjects, I just got Battlefield 2142 and gave that a whirl. Aside from no widescreen support, the game is a lot of fun. Conquest mode is basically the same from the previous titles in the series, but Titan mode is brand new. Basically, there are two giant air craft. They have a shield around them that only friendlies can pass through. There are also several silos, usually 3-7, on the ground. Standing near one for a little while will convert it to your team’s side, in which case it will periodically fire missiles at the opposing titan, weakening its shield/hull. Once the shields are down, you can directly fly people over and land on the enemy ship. They can infiltrate inside the ship and destroy the ship’s core a lot quicker than external attacks.

Overall, I am very impressed by 2142’s new Titan mode. The rest of the game is really similar to Battlefield 2, though helicopters don’t use rotating blades and are a lot easier to fly. Still, it doesn’t seem much like the year 2142. You’d think they’d have thought of new things instead of still using tanks and dune buggies. Either way, I give it an 8.6/10.

Finally, I’ve blogged previously about Garry’s Mod 10 (Gmod10). However, I was recently contacted about where to download Gmod9, the version prior to Gmod going commercial. So, I checked Garry Newman’s site, but he’d taken down the Gmod9 downloads. Then, via http://forums.facepunchstudios.com, the official forums, I got a filefront link. However, filefront requires registration to download files. Instead of registering, I used BugMeNot to get a public username and password. Basically, BugMeNot is a useful site where people submit username-password combinations for sites that require registration. Then, other people can use said site without registering. I’d recommend it for any sites where you aren’t going to do much after downloading one file/reading one article.

As for Gmod9, I gave it a whirl again. I tried searching for pirate gamemode, but it doesn’t seem there are as many servers for that anymore. Overall, Gmod9 is a major step back from Gmod10, and I’d still recommend the new version over it. After all, it’s only $10.00 if you already own a Source Game (CS:S, HL2, etc.), or $24.99 bundled with Counter-Strike:Source.

-Dravailo

 The Pursuit of Happyness. Yes, that is happiness with a y, and this movie is something to be seen.

So, just tonight, I watched this movie. I was expecting something that was pretty joyful, upbeat, and altogether a happy movie. Though this movie definitely shows the pursuit of happiness,  it does not show what I expected. And that’s in a good way.

The Pursuit of Happyness is about Chris Gardner (Will Smith), with his family. This includes Linda (Thandie Newton) and his only son, Christopher (Jaden Smith, Will’s son). The movie is about the conflict they endure from day to day. Chris had invested in these expensive bone-density scanners, which he then finds difficult to sell to hospitals as it is seen as unnecessary and expensive, being only slightly better than current x-ray machines. The rent is becoming harder to pay, he has parking tickets piling up due to repeatedly parking near hospitals, and is experiencing family conflict. Eventually Christopher and him move out, to explore the world and pursue the ultimate happiness.

The movie is about 2 hours long and is very heavy to watch. You won’t be watching it over and over again with kids, like Finding Nemo. However, ultimately this movie is a lot more rewarding and carries much more meaning than almost any Pixar or Disney film. It has funny scenes, such as his interview with the broker company he is looking at employing at, as well as sad scenes, such as his conflicts with Linda.

The Pursuit of Happiness is about just that, the pursuit, and the ultimate rewards of perseverance. I would definitely recommend it to almost any audience, at least above 13 years old. It is a touching and inspiring movie that should not be missed.

-Dravailo

Well, I just purchased a new computer so as to keep up with gaming requirements. One of the more debatable decisions was whether to have Windows Vista Home Premium installed or Windows XP. I had heard that Vista still had a lot of problems with it. However, knowing that soon most games would require DirectX 10 (Vista only), I chose Vista. I also put trust with The Secret (see previous posts) that it would work.

And work it did. I got an HP Pavilion DV9231CA from Best Buy, cost about $3000.00 CAN after taxes. I had to get the display model since it was the only they had, but that was no concern to me. I’ve got it here and it’s running smoothly. Vista has had very few problems, mostly just an annoyance with the UAP (User Account Protection) which, though I keep for safety as I did with Ubuntu linux, is a little too paranoid. Heck, after  confirming to delete a file it then pops up saying ‘Microsoft File Operations’ is potentially unsafe.

However, it does seem to run pretty well. It did mess up and crash while I was writing this, but that’s because of experimental software I tried and got rid of. Overall, it’s a great Operating System (OS). I’ll still be pushing it and testing it, so as to write up a review soon.

Anyway, a great improvement from the new computer is the speed. I didn’t think I’d care about the speedy-aero interface, but I do. And the major games, like Gmod and Half Life 2, they take on a whole new life. It’s so crisp, HDR (High Dynamic Range) is enabled, everything’s on high; in short, it’s amazing. I’ll post a video soon.

And with that, I’m off. I’ll put up a review of Vista in a few weeks, maybe I’ll use Fraps to record some Gmod. With my previous computer, Fraps would kill it. But now I’ll use it, because my computer can take it! Or, if it can’t, I’ll use Source Recorder.

Until next time,

-Dravailo

Hello,

This is a notification that there are now contributors being added. They will be able to write posts for the blog as well as Dravailo. Also, to those who got a subscription email, it will, if you wish, notify you of any new posts.

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