Home of DJ and technophile Jonathan Puddle (aka J Puddy)
Video Games
Changing the DHCP range for Internet Connection Sharing in Windows 7
Nov 11th
ICS, or Internet Connection Sharing, is a simple method to share the internet connection on your computer with other local computers. It’s fairly simplistic in it’s approach, and not a lot of configuration is available. Which is by design, it’s not meant to be a robust routing solution. One drawback is that the DHCP range is not easily configurable (the range of IP addresses your computer gives out to the network). This is a problem if your existing home network uses the same IP range as the ICS range… or in my case, if your work VPN uses the same More >
Awesome game: World of Goo
Oct 22nd
I came across World of Goo this week, because it was featured in an article on Slashdot. For its1 year anniversary, the makers of the game decided to sell it for a limited time, at the price of your choice. It’s basically donation-ware. This proved so successful that they’ve extended the “pay what you want” period till October 25th… and I highly recommend you get this game. I paid 5$.
In World of Goo, you get a certain number of goo balls in each level, and you must build a goo structure, by linking the balls together, to reach the pipe More >
Knowing your role – DRM and video games
May 2nd
I’m posting a quick shout-out to Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock (video game publisher). They made waves recently by announcing a new title would be completely DRM free, and the sales figures seem to indicate this has been a decent approach. Here’s what he had to say, and why I’m giving the man respect:
“Yep. Demigod is heavily pirated. And make no mistake, piracy pisses me off. If you’re playing a pirated copy right now, if you’re one of those people on Hamachi or GameRanger playing a pirated copy and have been for more than a few days, then you should either More >
Developing games with pirates
Aug 16th
There are a serious lack of pirate themed video games. There really is. If Bungie ever follow through on their famous joke to produce a call called “Pimps at Sea,” I will be in rapture. Dirty dirty rapture.
But that’s not what this is about. Cliff ‘Cliffski’ Harris, owner of Positech Games (a small indie games developer), formerly of Lionhead Studios (much respect), has caused a bit of a stir recently by publicly asking game piraters why they pirate his games. He’s just published a letter summarizing the responses, and how he plans to adjust his methods and games based on the More >
30 dumbest videogames ever
Mar 28th
CNET UK has a well funny article on the 30 dumbest videogames ever made.
Back in the saddle
Mar 6th
In at least 3 ways.
1. Back in Finland. Toronto was great, got a lot of good work done, hung out with *almost* everyone I wanted to, and generally had a productive and fun time. Brought 2 suitcases back of belongings for Maija and I (go Monopoly and Risk!)
2. I foolishly left the power adapter for my laptop in Toronto, and have had to use Maija’s MacBook this week. Which pains me, literally and figuratively. But thanks to the speedy and remarkably cheap shipping of Spring Global Mail, I have my power adapter again! W00t.
3. I bought a voltage converter in More >
Dangerous toys for dangerous boys
Jan 29th
The US army has recently received a fully functional rail gun. RAIL GUN!
Instead of relying on chemical propellants — such as gunpowder — a rail gun uses magnetic “rails” to launch a solid, nonexplosive projectile at incredible speed. Theoretically, rail guns would be able to precisely strike targets at extreme ranges, and would negate the risks associated with carrying around tons of explosive ammo.
For those who find the Maglight doesn’t provide enough bad for your ass, you could try the flashlight that burns things.
The Torch is the world’s brightest and most powerful flashlight. It is capable of melting plastic, lighting More >
More links to others’ creativity
Nov 25th
Functional exoskeleton. Looks crazy. I want one.
Guitar Hero 3… will it blend? That is the question.
The 10 wildest gamers you have EVER seen. Tetris and Mario impress me the most. I pooped myself while watching this.
My own gaming took a sudden turn for the better, followed by a decisive turn to the nonexistent, just a few hours ago. Our neighbors brought a projector over and we watched Little Miss Sunshine (hadn’t seen it in 6 months). I suggested he might let me keep the projector for the weekend, and upon his answering to the affirmative my 360 was immediately unpacked.
The More >
EA aquires Bioware, Pandemic
Oct 12th
First reaction… I’m nervous. Haven’t we all seen EA put out identical sports title year after year after year? Obviously they do a lot of other games, but I’m still worried about this.
I suppose it’s not so different from when Microsoft purchased Bungie, and that seemed to work out in the long run.
Congresspedia and video game laws
Oct 12th
Little bit for the politicos.
Congresspedia is a US congress related wiki. They recently launched a project called “Wiki the Vote” where you can read, add, and edit the profiles of all US congressional candidates. I think is absolutely superb.
Senator Leland Yee is a hated figure by many in the video games industry for the bills he’s been pushing to restrict video games sales. Here’s an interesting interview with the man, who seems pretty level headed to me.
Bungie leaving Microsoft
Oct 6th
Holy wow. This is everywhere.
Without reading these articles, I’m speculating: 1. Bungie wants to move on from Halo. They’ve had a great time, but they know Microsoft’s tendency to beat a dead horse. So they’re out. 2. Related to point 1, they want to try something new. If you look at Bungie’s history, they used to develop Mac games, then they moved to PC, then they moved to Xbox… at the same time they moved from FPS to Strategy to FPS again. Microsoft might not give them the freedom to try something else. 3. Surely they’d be taking in a More >
Writing process used by Bioware
Sep 16th
I found this article quite interesting. It’s about Bioware, the company who makes Knights of the Old Republic, among other games. Knights is an RPG game, with a load of conversation. How a game with this much conversation and changeable morality based plot lines is actually planned out and written, is something that has intrigued me.