the-inbetween.com

World Cup

It's late August. It's the summer. The Summer Olympics are still going full steam. Naturally, it's the perfect time to start thinking... hockey!

The World Cup of Hockey is especially important this year as it might be the highest level of hockey that we will see for a long time.

While Canada has lost its first exhibition match to the USA, it's worth remembering that the Canadians are terribly slow starters in international tournaments. It's also an exhibition game, so it means nothing. Hopefully everything will go fine and we'll be able to celebrate a Canadian sports win this summer...

Because, as we know, there is a lot more disappointment than cheer this summer. Far too many falls (hurdles, road cycling, triathlon, to an extent), too many disqualifications (rowing), too many scoring inconsistencies (vault), far too many blown leads (beach volleyball, baseball), too many misses (diving), and too many weak performances.

They should have lacrosse at the Summer Olympics. We'd take that.

On second thought, we'd probably blow that too.

Jaws: The Game

Jaws, the "classic" for the Nintendo Entertainment System, is one of my guilty nostalgic pleasures. The game wasn't particularly grand and the movie tie-in was loose at best, but there was a certain thrill to sailing the seas and, uh, collecting conch shells. Conch shells that you could trade in to buy a submarine. Ok, so it wasn't particularly good either, but when you're that age you have to deal with the cards you have been dealt. And at that age, I had Jaws for the NES.

The reason that Jaws has endured with me is simple: it was the only game that had I had lost possession of without my own doing (trade, sell). To be precise: it was stollen. Not from me but from a friend that I had lent the game to. He got robbed and lost my copy of Jaws along with his 50 or so games. Bummer. With that, it was hard to care about Jaws being lost. The grieving was all about the many superior games that were unjustly taken from us.

With such a connection with the video game version of Jaws, I really, really don't know what to think of Majesco's new Jaws game announcement:

In Majesco's Jaws, players assume the role of a Great White shark driven to a predacious frenzy by the sonic emanations of underwater oil drilling equipment. To defend their underwater territory, players undertake a campaign to drive the raiders away while simultaneously solving a series of action-based puzzles designed to thwart the player.

What!?

A Jaws game, 20 years after the movie, where you take control of the shark Ecco the Dolphin style to defend the environment from undersea raiders where you, as a shark, have to solve puzzles?? I haven't been this confused about a game announcement since Seven Samurai 20xx.

In the context of the current market, the game versions of Scarface and The Godfather make a modicum of sense. Still tactless and stupid, but hey... if the games industry knows how to do one thing well, it's how to rehash successful ideas. But Jaws!?

I'm going to bet that the 30-second, re-enacted by bunnies, version of Jaws will be a hundred times more entertaining.

I remember only for an hour

You have to admit that since the launch of the GameCube, Nintendo's marketing strategy has become far more savvy. The "Who Are You?" campaign was the one that kick-started it all. I liked those ads, and while I don't know how much they have contributed to Nintendo's sales numbers (if at all), I have no doubt that they are helping to restore some of Nintendo's tarnished public image.

I like the current GameBoy campaign too, especially the NES Classics ad. It has a certain modern coolness to it, yet with the right choice of music -- Yaz(oo)'s "Situation", which initially seemed like a really odd tune to grace a Nintendo commercial -- it perfectly evokes the retro nature of the game series. It just works.

What I'm curious about, though, is how Nintendo will market the DS. We geeks, we know a lot about the DS already. We have a feel for what it is, what it's supposed to do, and who's supporting it. But how will Nintendo sell it to everyone else? How will they convey the features and benefits of the DS in a 30 second spot? Or with a print ad?

I'm curious.

Splurge Blues

Dudes. I just so totally bought all six Cowboy Bebop DVDs. It was a real spur of the moment indulgance, but at 40% off I couldn't pass it up. I'm not sure how many days this sale on Bandai DVDs has left, so if you have the slightest bit of an itchy trigger-finger on this kind of shit, I advise you not to follow that link. Especially if you have Cowboy Bebop in your crosshairs. Those other animes? I know squat about them. But I do know that Cowboy Bebop is worth it at that price.

They also have a 50% off Hentai deal, but, er, animated porn interests me about as much as Yiddish Opera. Sure, it might have some cultural relevance and it might be interesting from an anthropological viewpoint, but it sure as hell ain't turning my crank.

I also made the following image which I think is clever, but only adequately executed:

The only event worth participating in.

The figure in the pictogram looks moderately awkward though. A position like that can't be too comfortable for an extended gaming session. Then again, I can't imagine a position like that to be comfortable for a short rowing session, and yet that's the origin of this figure. I tried to find a more relaxed dude, but the only other image that could have worked was the Table Tennis one -- but that would have only worked if I drew in some Sambas instead of a controller. That's not as ubiquitous. So a rower it is.

I'd link to the Athens' Olympic pictogram page to elaborate on this with the use of diagrams, but the completely fucking idiotic hyperlink policy prevents me from doing that. Oh wait... shit... ILLEGAL!!1!

Summer Olympics

I've always liked the Winter Olympics best. They're more focused and the events are more interesting than the Summer equivalents. Nonetheless, there are a few events in the Summer that are worth a bit of attention. So, Mike Nowak's Events Most Worth Watching at the Summer Olympics (for various reasons):

• Boxing
• Canoe/Kayak Slalom (white water)
• Cycling, Track (short sprint and individual pursuit)
• Beach Volleyball*
• Athletics (100m, 200m, 110m hurdles)

Additionally. Events that might be cool but I have no idea because they're never shown on tv: Table Tennis and Handball.

* Particularly women.

Dextre: Hubble Rescue

A while ago, it was announced that Hubble might not be serviced anymore. It will eat through its remaining battery power and become an orbiting piece of junk. Scientists cried. A lot. So, not too long ago, there came news that NASA was reconsidering.

Since the shuttle is grounded, sending a manned crew up there to fix it is pretty much out of the question. The news over the last week has been that NASA is considering sending up a robot -- the Canadian Dextre (Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator). Dextre was designed with the Space Station in mind, but it is apparently capable enough to service Hubble on its own. It looks capable enough.

However, something about the design of Dextre seems to stick out for me. Here we have this robotic body with a tool holder and a "latching end effector", two seperate arms and, er, an "Orbital Replacement Unit". I don't know if it's intentional -- and I feel sorry for even thinking this -- but that ORU looks like a giant robotic penis. Everytime I look at it, I can't help but see this "unit".

Canada: the world leader in extraterrestrial appendages!

Of course, the latest news is that NASA has no such formal plans, but as Dextre is still scheduled to go up to the ISS next year, consider the recent news pre-launch hype. It's just too bad that it can't go up and fuck around with Hubble. A good servicing is exactly what it needs.

Retro Computing Shows

In the same vein as CBC's 1993 story A Network Called "Internet", there are three new retro computing talk-show clips posted to archive.org: Battle of the Browsers, from 1997; Spreadsheet Wars from 1988; and DOS to Mac and Back from 1989.

I love retro-geek stuff like this. Unfortunately, the clips are two gigs each so I won't be seeing them anytime soon. Consider this a "save it for later" post. (Edit: the Spreadsheet Wars clip has a smaller, low-res version. After the spreadsheet stuff, they get into a news segment where they talk about the brand new Mac, with 4MB of RAM and a 80MB hard-drive for only $7000!).

Doom 3 impressions

ha! Kidding. I can barely run Half-Life. The likes of Doom 3's combined texture powers will, quite likely, cause my laptop's good ole' CPU to implode.

The hype -- the massive, massive amount of unnecessary hype -- has left me thinking about an upgrade. But not for Doom. What I've seen of the game isn't worth spending hundreds of dollars for. Not when you can just rent Riddick or something (at least that game has a gun with an attached flashlight by default. While there are hacks to fix the flashlight/gun switching issue, the fact remains that this was a concious design decision by id. A really stupid one). It's more the talk of upgrading that has me thinking about, uh, upgrades than any actual Doom 3 talk.

No. I need to upgrade for reasons of work and productivity.

Anything else is bonus.

Doom 3. A couple of guys at work installed it on their machines on Friday. It is awful pretty -- albeit terribly dark -- but that appearance feels superficial. I mean, I watched the dude toss a grenade onto a nicely animated and crisp looking computer screen. Not a dent. He then shot at a cardboard box of Botox with his pistol. Didn't move. I guess it's easy making it pretty when you toss the whole idea of environmental interaction. Oh well.

Week and a half

The last week and a half was brutal. During that time, I worked through the weekend, worked late hours and, er, even later hours. I'd have been stuck downtown (or at least forced to take a really expensive cab) on Thursday at 2am had it not been for some saving graces (thanks!).

The worst part of this period is that throughout it all, I had an annoying and painful tooth ache. Once the four day long weekend hit, my first day off was greeted with an early rise and a drill in the mouth. Not my idea of fun and not an ideal way to welcome Simcoe Day weekend (or is it Civic Holiday weekend?)

Despite my enormous distrust of dentists and despite the fact that I haven't been to one in nearly six years, all went well. The pain is mostly gone, replaced by a somewhat awkward temporary filling of sorts. Apparently, the problem stemmed from one of the fillings that the last dentist installed. It had gone loose. It had created a "hole" in my tooth (and by "hole" I mean cavity bacteria magnet). It was putting pressure on my gums. It was, for the most part, bad. That has not eased my dentite-distrust.

After that, the weekend really hit and I've been chilling the fuck out. Sleeping, swimming, playing Chronicles of Riddick, and watching a lot of tv/movies.

I swear, after the week that was it felt really, really keen to float around in the pool (beer at hand), watching the stars show up one by one, listening to the crickets, and watching the bats skim off of the surface of the water... ok, that one's a bit weird, but the experience as a whole was quite soothing. And after that, nothing hit the spot quite like blowing through a jail in a heavy tank.

It's been ages since I rented a game; and just as long since I plowed through a game beginning to end. I did this weekend. First off, let it be known that I do not care for the Riddick mythology, the Riddick movies, the Riddick character and, especially, Vin Diesel. In that sense, Chronicles of Riddick annoys the hell out of me. On its own, though, it's a good, quick ride.

The stealth aspects of the game were done well (your stealth-level is indicated by a change of colour rather than Splinter Cell's stupid "shadow meter."), but they still suffered from the same problems that stealth games generally suffer from: lousy AI and too many trial-and-error scenarios. The use of colour also greatly reduced the amount of unnecessary UI clutter, which helped the game's immersiveness.

I'm glad I gave the game a shot. Not sure if it's a keeper (maybe at a budget price), with its short story and lack of extras, but it's definitely a fun little game to go through when the pains and stresses of the working world press you down.