mDuo13

I built my current computer, Trace, in November of last year (2009), which means that it's now a grand old age of 10 months old. This day, as I upgrade Trace's hardware for the first time, I feel somewhat nostalgic, and I'll take this opportunity to reflect and memorialize my last computer, Arcueid -- not even because of a special letter I received today from 5 years ago. Along the way, I'll talk about my experience migrating to Linux, the odyssey of driver support leading me to the eventual concenssion and purchase of a new nVidia GTX 460, and I may as well do like all the cool kids are doing and chat a bit about StarCraft II before it becomes passe.

→ Read the whole thing

At work, a few developers recommended Flash Switcher, a Firefox extension for testing with different Flash versions easily. And it occurred to me: this extension is hosted on "sephiroth.it". You know what that means to me? It means that the generation of people who are out there doing web development and making games right now is the generation for whom Final Fantasy VII was a defining gaming experience.

God help us.

I recently acquired and played Metroid: Other M. (Aside: you have no idea how weird it feels to type that in <em> tags.) When I first heard that Team Ninja was going to be making the next Metroid game, and I saw the trailers, I was worried. I've blogged before about the gradual corruption of the Metroid formula and all signs indicated that this game would accelerate that loathsome trend. Yet, being as I did have an interest in how the series' plot develops, I wondered if Other M might be an enjoyable game in its own right. Having finished it, my relationship with the game is a bit hard to describe in short, if you can forgive my longwindedness, please read on.

→ Read the whole thing

Below is the full body of an email from my coworker Tay, a Build and Release Engineer:

I haven't forgotten about you, but I'm still putting out fires. It's pretty much what I do all day. The cloud is awesome!

I've been watching a show lately called Asobi ni Iku yo! ("We're going to play!") which is an unbelievable show, in the sense that I'm both always and never surprised by what happens next. In any case, the show makes no apologies for its low-brow-ness, which will turn many people off, so I am compelled to share some of the sheer amazement that it entails in a brief text format. Warning: the rest of this article contains major spoilers for episodes 1-5 of the show!

→ Read the whole thing

Since I'm currently updating this website with long-overdue changes, I might also note that I've added to my link list a friend from college, whose recently-started blog is both an entertaining read and highly indicative of his personality. It's called The Zeppelin Diaries and his tagline is, "I like my coffee black, my dames classy, and my dialogues fictitious. Updating Daily with posts about D&D and related hobbies!" If that doesn't pique your interest, maybe you should re-evaluate yourself. Taking a little inspiration from his style, I felt like commenting on RPGs. I'm currently running a game of Orpheus, a little-known spinoff RPG by White Wolf from all the way back in 2003, which puts players into the shoes of grim-present ghostbusters and part-time (or full-time!) ghosts themselves.

→ Read the whole thing