This is the first of, most likely, many parts on my adventure in building a crazy ass arcade box.  This section will be my idea, implementation, and primary thoughts.  Throughout the time I will probably be changing things about my thoughts, etc.  The reason that I started this project is that I have a excess of computers within the household now, and I decided that something needed to be done with the oldest of them.  The honor bestowed upon this machine is to become the most popular machine in the household.  
    The components that I need for the box are; computer (check), moniter (kinda check), mouse/keyboard (check), wood/plexiglass (not check, until I find a tree), and the final issue the arcade controller.  My first decision is if I am going to build a tabletop, upright, or bar style arcade box, right now I am leaning toward the retro but always stylish upright arcade.  There are multiple websites with plans on how to construct a box, but that whole situation is for another part.  The arcade controller I found is most popular amongst the "homebrew" arcade community is the X-arcade, there are many models but I am opting for the two player with trackball, just in case I can find golden tee somewhere around the world.
    After I had realized that the components should, in theory, be easy to attain, the next question is what games I will play on it.  The first thought was using emulators and roms, however as we all know that is all very illegal.  After searching for a while there were a couple options; first, there is a free arcade fighting emulator out there called M.U.G.E.N this is an interesting program.  M.U.G.E.N is a open source arcade fighting program where the community creates characters, stages, music, and all of the other parts of fighting games.  The idea of a open source community creating these parts produces a conundrum, while there are many "created" characters there are also many characters that are developed to be copyrighted characters, this in itself is an illegal act considering that many of the characters in the game are created as copyright materials.  Other than using the illegal parts of M.U.G.E.N it is a good option, however there are other games, than fighting, that attract me to the Arcade experience.  For the rest of the games I will plan n using Gametap.com.  This is a fantastic idea, especially when dealing with a very old computer.  Gametap offers hundreds of arcade games to be played, for a monthly fee, this fee will come into play once I start in on that section of the process.  Both of these options are viable and have a great amount of potential, it will be interesting to see how accessible they are.
    The options on how I am going to create this seem endless, and it also feels like it will be very hard to screw it up (which means it is a great project for me)  I feel like there is no inherent need for a gameplan so I will take it one week at a time, next week I will hopefully be installing the files, and prepping the computer box for placement within the box, as well as ordering the controller.  So please look forward to the next posting with more pricing details, more prices, and hopefully some ultra sexy pictures, and just to tease you here is an ultra sexy picture to get you all revved up for Ultimate Arcade Building Awesomeness.

Message to Squaresoft: Bring Back Chrono

In 1995 Squaresoft released Chrono Trigger; a game about a teenage boy named Chrono and his friends who caught a glimpse of a bleak future and took it upon themselves to change the future fate of their world. The game was an absolute hit and to this day is considered one of the best RPG games ever made. I've personally lost count of how many times I've played through the game but it still holds out to be my favorite RPG. I originally played the game via an emulator on my computer since I didn't have Super Nintendo and, even if I did, the game would have easily cost me up to $80 to purchase on Ebay. As soon as I found out that they came out with a version of the game for the Playstation I went out and grabbed a copy for myself to play on a crappy used Playstation that I had purchased for the sole purpose of playing Chrono Cross, Trigger's successor. The PSX version of Chrono Trigger had added animated cut-scenes done by the same person who originally came up with the character designs: Akira Toriyama. Some of the cut-scenes help to better link Chrono Trigger to its "sequal" Chrono Cross. The only unfortunate part of the PSX port is the load times. On the SNES and on the emulated version, there are no load times. Despite the fact that there couldn't be much information to load, the PSX version still suffers from horrible load times. The port to the PSX also lost some of the vividness of color present in the original but I love the animated cut scenes so I'll be forgiving.

After I had played through Chrono Trigger countless times on the emulator, I found out about the sequel that came out for it called Chrono Cross. Chrono Cross is about a young teenager named Serge (I always read it as "surge"), who gets thrown into an alternate dimension where he had actually died when he was younger. During the course of trying to discover how to get back to his own dimension and to learn more about the effects of his death in the alternate dimension, a character named Lynx antagonizes Serge and during a battle, switches bodies with him. The story continues with many plot changes along the way as well as tons of playable characters to choose from. Overall the game's storyline wasn't as straightforward as Chrono Trigger's but just as epic. Like Chrono Trigger, 'Cross did very well despite criticism from fans that it wasn't a true sequel since it didn't relate much to Chorno Trigger. Many die-hard fans consider Chrono Cross more of a side-story than a sequel, but after playing through both so many times I really feel that since the events of Chrono Cross essentially end up being due to alternate dimensions created by the events of Chrono Trigger, calling a sequel isn't a mistake (though supposedly Squaresoft now officially considers 'Cross to be a side story... whatever).

The point of me bringing these two games up is that Squaresoft (Square-Enix) has a two-game franchise wherein both games have been very successful and received excellent reviews. They both have a dedicated fan base that continually calls for another game to be made in the series (myself included) and have numerous legendary game designers who want to make another Chrono game. Despite having every possible reason to make another Chrono game, Square has done little more than contemplate a couple story ideas. Rumors of a possible sequel called Chrono Break got my hopes up for a couple of years until I discovered that the copyright on the name ran out, and Square had pushed back development of the game from starting in the near future, to starting indefinitely, if ever.

Square can come out with some pretty amazing stuff, but that doesn't mean that as a corporation they are all that bright. The company is being handed an opportunity on a silver platter, and it seems like they are holding out for one offered on gold (24kt with diamonds to be sure).  I realize that there have been changes to Square as a company since Chrono Cross was released, but I would find it difficult to believe that those in charge are even remotely aware of what their fan base wants.

So to whom it may concern at Square-Enix: Yes, great Final Fantasy games are awesome, keep them coming, but do something unprecedented and try and do something worthy of being called epic again. The opportunity is at your doorstep and you are locking the door. Bring the Chrono franchise back into the spotlight and diversify your fan base again. Do it for your fans, do it for the gaming industry, and do it for yourself.

    The image above was taken in a style called Light Writing, this style is a fun way to look at an ordinary environment and create something never seen.  My goal is to give you enough information to go out and do some writing.  I will be following this article up with more advanced methods that will go deeper into what is actually happening.  But for now, lets just take some pictures!

Equipment:
•    Digital Camera - I use a Canon Rebel XT, but if you don't have a digital SLR, all hope is not lost.  To be able to go writing, you will need to be able to set how long the shutter stays open.  My old Kodak EasyShare DX7440 has fully manual modes along with shutter priority and aperture priority modes.  If you camera has a shutter priority mode, this will be the best way to shoot, all you have to do is set the shutter speed for the amount of time you need to draw and the camera will take care of the rest.
•    Tripod - Since the shutter will be open for a very long time, any shakes that happen to the camera during exposure will blur the picture.  I am going to strongly suggest getting a tripod.  However, if your camera does not have a tripod mount, you could simply find a sturdy ledge or place to set the camera.  A tripod mount will be on the bottom of the camera and it will be a threaded hole.
•    Light Sources - I like to use bright LED flashlights.  I found that glow sticks are not bright enough to do anything special.  This is the part where you get to be creative: sparklers, lighters, flashlights, or anything else that shines a bright light.
•    A Friend - Because the best time to do this at night, it is a good idea to bring a buddy along with you.

About the Image Above
    The image above was taken with a 20 second shutter speed and set up on a tripod.  The light source was an LED flashlight that had 3 LEDs in line.  The person doing the drawing does not show up in the picture because they are moving the entire time.  Before we took this picture I did two things.  I set my camera up to see just the background and made all of my shutter settings.  This allows us to properly expose the background while overexposing for our drawing.  The second thing I did was having the drawer stand at the distance away from the camera that they wanted to draw.  Then I had them shine the flashlight onto their body or face so that the camera would have a place to focus.  We need to do this to ensure that our drawings come out clear and in focus.  All that is left is to take the picture!

    Remember; be creative in all aspects, the lights, the locations, what you are drawing, and what you are drawing in. 

When the Xbox 360 came out I was excited, but not nearly excited as when I had found out about achievements in the 360 games, as well as Gamer score.  I am a naturally competitive person, sometimes overly competitive, but that is more of a blessing than a curse.  Ever since the dawn of the digital era there were high scores, and along with that competition for the highest score.

"Sup Son, what you been up to lately"
"Nothin, just kickin' back in the arcade knockin down some phat monkeys in that new Donkey Kong action"
"Word bitch I got that crazy high score at the A-town hustle-cade"
"Damn thats crazy Mother F#*ker . . ."
"Oh yeah, and I F*cked with your girlfriend last night . . . she was eating balls like Ms. Pac-Man . . . ZZZZing . . . Out"
    
    That would have been a common dialog when having the high score was a popular thing to do, however since the recession of the communal arcade, and the popularity (in previous console generations) of the console sans online play was around.  This put a serious funk on competitive gaming, even though competition was still very much alive in the video game world there seemed to be something missing . . . long term gloating.  Now that we have that idea back on track I feel as if my competitive gaming lust is rejuvenated.  Once I was playing games just to conquer them, no more, I play games to conquer them and gain more points on my Gamerscore, hence getting a higher score than my Xbox Live Acquaintances, therefore having the high score.  Achievements also give the player another reason to thoroughly explore the game, while letting everyone else know that you are thoroughly exploring the game, as well as other things like; beating the game on the hardest difficulty etc.
    High scores are also being helped along by the online world in that most games now are being played over the Internet as well as being tracked online.  This is good, but having the fastest time, or being the best at a certain game really only becomes competitive when you get to the top ten or twenty in the nation/world, so for this I give the online gaming props, however for the uber-competitor he/she must focus on the game from release until they reach the top.  This is difficult for a casual gamer, but the high score was not meant for the casual gamer it was bred for the hardcore.  Now that the pissing match is back in style we can begin to humiliate and demean eachother, which is what I believe video games were meant for.
    Although many will disagree that the high score never died, thanks in part to bar top arcade games, and Golden Tee, I would disagree with that.  The idea that the elusive beast that is the high score was hiding all along in dark, dirty corners of bars speaks to how much it has become an outcast animal or feral child (Nell?).  What else do we find in dark corners of bars; Date Rapists, That Ugly Woman, Drug Dealers, Dead Bodies, and many more unspeakable horrors.  I couldn't be happier with the state of the high score, we have brought it out of that dark corner and into the expansive field that is the Internet, and it is grazing and happy, waiting to be hunted down by those with the sagaciousness and initiative to find, stalk, and conquer this elusive beast . . . the high score.

5 Ways to Shorten Your Forza 2 Lap Times

Here it is in a nutshell:  Forza 2 only takes a few minutes to learn but can take you hours upon hours to really master.  I've got five hot ways that have helped me beat those really tough races and get my racer leveled up in no time.  

#5:  Don't Drift

Look, this game isn't Fast and the Furious.  It's not Mario Kart.  When your car slides out, all the traction that your wheels have disappears.  That, coupled with the time spent regaining traction and trying to get back up to speed, will eat up a lot of seconds over the course of a winding race.

#4:  When Turning, Ease Up on Braking and Acceleration

This is one that I didn't really apply until recently.  The thing is that if you accelerate hard and then crank on the steering wheel, it's going to be tough for the front wheels to use that traction.  This is due to the physics of the game, for better or worse.

When accelerating, most of the weight of the car is on the back wheels.  If the front wheels start turning left or right, then there isn't a lot of down force for the car to use for turning.  Another example is when you turn and floor a RWD car, the ass end kicks out and you end up eating gravel while the competition passes you by.  

#3:  Learn To Tune

Races bound by class and races based on specific models can get tricky if you have just been upgrading your car to pass previous races.  While that trick doesn't work so much here, you can certainly push your car to the edge of the class and then do some specific tuning to give you a big edge in the races.  Most of the levels you can adjust are better when you change with some moderation (maximizing or minimizing tends to negate other factors and you end up with a completely screwed up ride) and it's something that you can get a feel for.  Read the descriptions!

#2:  Make It Tough

While this may not specifically make you win races faster in the short run, it helps out a great deal in the long run.  Consider all the races that you enter and then think about what would happen if you had 50% more earnings and points.  I know for me, my driver would be much further along, my racing technique would be better and I would have many more cars unlocked (and thus available to use in the advanced races).  Now I have to sit and grind out already completed runs or boring circuits so that my driver can level up.  Lame!

#1:  Slow In, Fast Out

This is kind of an extension of the first one but it's worth repeating.  Slow down when you're entering the turn!  Here's an example of a recurring situation that *used* to happen, when I was just a beginner:  I'd end up barely in second place, heading into a hairpin turn.  The guy in first place brakes for the turn on time (as he should) and I wait a little longer before putting my brakes on.  Instead of overtaking the racer on the turn, I end up flying past him while he cuts behind me and burns me out of the turn.  

The best thing you can do is maximize your speed out of the turn.  The key to this point is that the 360 triggers allow you to put on a tiny bit of gas or almost full throttle (obviously no gas and floored are options).  For me, it was easier to go into turns really slow and practice exiting the turns.  Once you learn how to speed out of them, then you can fly into the turns and then tone down from there.  Then from there, you need to change the methods depending on which car you're driving.  Slow in, fast out is something that originated from real life racing instruction, so it only makes sense that it gets applied to the racing sims like Forza 2 and Gran Turismo.

As with many other things in my life, when it comes to pop-culture music I was very much a late bloomer. Up until my high-school years I didn't really listen to much else other than classical music. Sure I listened to radio stations other than just the Public Radio stations growing up, but I never got into the alternative music scene that became a defining part of pop culture in the closing decade of the twentieth century, until friends of mine quite literally forced me to listen to other music (along with not allowing me to tuck my shirt it, but that's a whole different story). Before all that happened, however, aside from classical music I listened to a lot of sound tracks from movies. These were probably my biggest gateway into non-classical music, which really isn't saying much. Even before high school, however, and before my friends decided an intervention was in order, I got a little taste of an alternative band that would eventually come to help define my taste in music: The Smashing Pumpkins.

A friend was over one afternoon and put Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness into my CD player while we were working on a school project. I had myself a listen and decided that I liked it so much that I copied the CD to Tape so I could listen to it on my own. While I finally had an introduction to the alternative genre, the biggest hurdle for me is that I didn't really know where to go from there. Other than the one album I had on tape, I didn't know what other music to try out. My brother listened to Metallica and ACDC at the time, and for me at the point in my life they felt a little too hardcore (yeah I know, pathetic). Put simply, however, The Smashing Pumpkins are what really made me receptive towards a new kind of music that I previously hadn't really given much thought to. Despite how much I enjoyed Mellon Collie, it would be years before I purchased my first Smashing Pumpkins album.

After a few year hiatus from the Smashing Pumpkins while I worked on opening myself up to new listening horizons I finally thought it was time for me to explore the Pumpkins again. Nowhere in my hometown could I find Mellon Collie so I did the next best thing and just grabbed a random album of theirs: Siamese Dream; I was absolutely blown away. I started grabbing up more Smashing Pumpkins songs (Napster was helpful at the time) and really got to liking the band's music as a whole. Unfortunately for me the year was 2000 and the Smashing Pumpkins broke up and I had no new albums to look forward to.

Over the next seven years I broadened my musical tastes even more, getting into a lot of alternative bands that I had missed out on when they were at their prime. I finally got Mellon Collie on CD for the first time, and really tried to experience the full spectrum that The Smashing Pumpkins had to offer. Word came around that the band was getting back together and another album was in the works. Part of me was unsure if I should believe it or not, and another part of me was worried I wouldn't like it. Billy Corgan's stint with Zwan was all right, but was never something I really got into. What I was really hoping for was something that harkened back to the days when the Smashing Pumpkins were in their prime.

I was at work one day when one of my coworkers mentioned that they had heard the new single on the radio. When they informed me that they thought it was just "alright", my hopes sunk a little bit. Despite the not-so-favorable review from my coworker the first thing I did when I got home that day was jump on iTunes and purchase the single Tarantula. I listened to it once and while I liked it, it wasn't what I was really hoping for. I gave myself the night to sleep on it before making any decisions on the song, putting it on my iPod before going to sleep. I listened to it on the way to work the next day, and then again on the way back, and decided that not only was it not half bad, but also pretty damn good. I was officially looking forward to the release of the album.

July 10th 2007, Zeitgeist rolled out, I bought the album off of iTunes and burned it to CD before heading to work that morning. First impressions of the album after listening to it once weren't bad by any means, but also weren't raving. I decided to let my car's new CD deck get broken-in so I listened to the album a few more times and found that I didn't really want to go back to listening to random songs on my iPod. I've officially lost count of how many times I've listened through the album, but am happy to say that it is by no means a let down.

What's key to note about Zeitgeist is that it is somewhat of a new sound for the Smashing Pumpkins, but after a seven-year hiatus that's to be expected. The album has enough familiarity to the Smashing Pumpkins before their 2000 breakup that it doesn't feel foreign, (thanks in great part to Billy Corgan's unique sound) yet at the same time is unique enough by itself that it doesn't feel like The Smashing Pumpkins were stuck in the past. While I've greatly diversified my musical interests since the group initially broke up I never forgot how much I enjoyed their music. Zeitgeist certainly does the band's reputation justice and has earned its way to my "top albums" list. Welcome back Smashing Pumpkins, its good to have you back.

Alright I'll admit it, I'm an avid Star Trek fan that has actually enjoyed most of the series'. It's a show that I grew up with and used to watch religiously with my father and my brother every night that we could. Don't get me wrong, I liked the show a lot and that totally makes me a dork, but I never dressed up and only ever went to one convention, and didn't even get in because I was too weirded out by the cosplayers. Watching the series' I always wished that I would be able to do more than just watch, and my little Star Trek Micro Machines just weren't cutting it anymore. As great as an imagination can be, there's something to be said for video games that essentially let me see my imagination come to life. For some reason, however, Trek games have always had difficulty pulling this off.

My first computer that I have any memory of was an Apple IIe, which had some simple yet addicting games. No Star Trek games though... those I wouldn't have access to until a nifty little game for the Macintosh called Net Trek. I never was entirely sure what the point of the game was, but it was Star Trek and I got to fly around a very small universe in a space ship so I was happy with it. Net Trek was one of those simple yet addicting games. In theory you could even play against friends over Appletalk; Apple's version of a home network at the time. Unfortunately for me we only had one Macintosh computer at the time so network games weren't even a possibility. Still, until recently I don't think I've ever had as much interest in a Star Trek game as I did with Net Trek... granted I was like eight.

The next game I played after that was Star Trek 25th Anniversary for the Game Boy. It was a side scrolling space shoot-em-up that I put a decent number of hours into. It was a decent game, but lacked substance. Star Trek the Next Generation for the Sega Game Gear was the next game in the franchise that I dabbled in. Problem was it belonged to a friend of mine so I didn't get too many opportunities to play, which turned out to be all right because the game kind of sucked.

Finally shortly after entering high school my parents decided we should have a windows PC. While I was raised on, and still prefer Apple computers, I couldn't deny the fact that my gaming horizons broadened substantially. The very first PC game that I owned was Starfleet Command; I got to fly around on a somewhat familiar looking spaceship (most were not ships that ever appeared in the series). In the game you sat behind whatever ship you were flying and you were flying and shot at pretty much anything that moved. The graphics were alright for the time, and the skirmish mode was decent (though overall not as satisfying as it could have been. The real issue with the game was the elaborate controls and keyboard shortcuts needed to be even remotely decent at the game. There was hardly a time where I didn't have to pause the game and look up the controls so as much as I wanted to like the game it got old faster than I wanted it to. SFC II wasn't really much different from the first, it even took place in the same era which to me made it pointless to get... so I didn't. SFC III I had some hope for, but it turned out to just be a Next Generation version of the first and second ones.

I tried the Star Trek Voyager: Elite Forces games, and though they got all-right reviews they reminded me too much of Quake so I didn't really get into the game too much. The next shot I gave the series was Star Trek Armada I & II. The Armada series was an overhead real time strategy much like Warcraft, Command and Conquer, or Age of Empires. They were fun for a while, but even after numerous updates were released they were buggy programs that in all honesty were too much like other Real-Time strategy games of the time. Since I purchased SFC: III I had pretty much given up hope of finding a simple and enjoyable Star Trek game again. Don't get my wrong, SFC: III had it's bonuses like adding the Reman Scimitar to the game, but it still suffered from the same horrible controls as it' predecessors. Finally my wishes were answered through Star Trek Legacy.

There are so many improvements in Star Trek Legacy it'll be impossible to name them all. What I can say about the game, however, is that it's far more enjoyable than any other Star Trek game I've played. From the outside the game itself looks like a graphically improved version of SFC: I - III. Play the game for five minutes, however, and you realize how much better of a game it is. Starting with the biggest hurdle, the controls are dead simple compared to the controls in the SFC series. Instead of having to coordinate 40+ keyboard shortcuts plus mouse movements, Legacy uses the "WASD" keys to move the ship around.

Perhaps the best way to look at ST Legacy is to see it as though someone combined SFC, Star Trek Armada, and Star Trek Voyager: Elite Forces. You can easily control up to four different ships in the game, has the same perspective as the SFC series (behind the ship) but the controls and overall feel of a FPS.  Rather than spending twenty minutes learning only basic controls for the game, the controls were very intuitive, and there are far fewer to remember. Add to this the ability to control multiple ships at a time (and each individually as needed) and a ship library taken from the Star Trek: Enterprise era, all the way through The Next Generation movies.

So why promote Star Trek Legacy so much? Well I'm guessing that there are quite a few Star Trek fans out there that wanted to enjoy Star Trek games, but just couldn't do to the (usually) mediocre quality of the games. Star Trek Legacy isn't intimidating to start playing, but at the same time isn't so simple that it gets boring. The game is wicked fun and though it's been out for less then a year, it already has quite a few unofficial expansions and total conversions made for the game by avid fans. So if you're a fan that gave up on games for the series, it's time to give it another shot.

    Recently I've become more concerned about how we are generating, using, and wasting energy.  I have thrown a lot of thought into this issue and it only helps that I have a bachelors in Electrical Engineering.  I am going to start doing more in-depth analysis's about the energy and the world around us, but I would like to start with an overview of some of my thoughts.  Expect to see longer and more scientific explanations of some of the short topics below.

Computers
        As a geek I love my computers.  About 3 months ago I personally had 3 desktop computers running in my apartment (and this doesn't include my roommates).  However, I recently reduced my computing footprint down to one laptop, my new MacBook.  Not only does this machine provide me with more horsepower than my old desktops, it also consumes less power.  The charger for my laptop draws 60W where as my three desktops could draw around 1000W (for all three systems), both of these figures are at peak draw.  Even if we assume the average desktop consumes 150W, that is still 450W being replaced by 60W.  With the MacBook I can comfortably virtualize most OSes that I need.

    The big thing that helped this transition was that I quit playing World of Warcraft and most PC games for that fact.  I have started to focus my gaming time to console games.  I know that someday there will be a PC game that I have to play.  However, when that day comes, my gaming PC will not always be on.

Cars
    I am guilty of having an inefficient car; I feel that I am lucky when I get 28 mpg on the highway.  However, I remember when I was young and my Dad had a 93 Geo Metro.  While this isn't exactly the best car in the world, he would average about 50 mpg.  Why can't the automakers make a car like this today?  A common response to that question is that the Metro was unsafe.  I will not dispute that, but I think that in the last 15 years of advancements, they could have made the car safer and kept the efficiency about that high.  Other people tell me that the consumer now a days doesn't want to drive a Metro.  I for one would love to drive a Metro-like car.  If I could get 50mpg while commuting to and from work, I would love it!

Home Energy
    There is a seldom known fact in the US power system.  If you were to generate energy at home and if you put that energy out on the grid, the utility has to pay you for what you produce, either through cash or credits.  I mention this because one of the things I want to do when I become a homeowner is to cover my roof in solar panels.  My plan requires no batteries, but instead a special inverter that looks at the power needs of your house.  If you are creating a surplus of power, the excess is put onto the grid and you are making some money.  If you are not producing enough, energy is taken off of the grid to compensate and you are spending money. You could go as far as putting up a small wind farm along with the solar panels to ensure that you can always be making power.

    I realize that the process to create solar panels is a dirty one, however I would be interested if the benefits of the solar panels out weigh those of the negatives.  Personally I think wind is the way to go, a windmill is essentially an electric motor with a propeller.  Instead of pushing power into the motor to spin the prop, the prop spins and generates energy.  However, it seems that some neighbors are not windmill friendly, however I feel that will smaller mills this issue could be better handled.

What you can do today?
    The first thing I think everyone should do is switch out all of their incandescence light bulbs with compact florescence lights.  Secondly, when you are out buying that new HDTV or that new Computer, take a second and look at the power consumption of the device.  When comparing specs of a product, add power consumption to that list of specs.  Finally, always question the world around, just as I asked myself why is it special that the new Honda Civic is getting 40 mpg when 15 years ago my familiy had a car that would get 50 mpg?  

    While some may argue that our situation is not as dire as some of the loud voices say it is; it doesn't mean that we can't start taking better care of our earth.  I don't want people to drastically change how the live, but small changes can add up to large impacts.

Now that E3 is over there are a million of websites that are recapping, and to keep up with the Jones' and all of the other blogs I decided to take a look at what I am excited for.  Since I own every F'ing current video game system I feel I have authority to speak about what I am looking forward to, hate, or "meh..." about.

    I'll start out with my current favorite system at the moment, the PS3/PS2.  I lump these two together because they are essential the same thing, to me, and it is just easier this way.  There are lots of exciting things that are going to  happen for the PS3, the main big announcement at E3 was that Metal Gear Solid 4 was going to be exclusive on the PS3, there was no specifics on whether it is timed exclusive, or complete, however just being exclusive is good enough for me.  Another exclusive that was announced that I am excited for is the new Ratchet and Clank game, Tools of Destruction, R & C games are always awesome, and this one should be as well.  I did not hate much about the announcements for the PS3 however there was no real talk about force feedback, but I would categorize that as a "meh..." situation. 

    The PSP is the next system to talk about.  First up, the announcement of the PSP Slim, boasting a smaller size, and faster load times due to an increase in RAM, it is more of a "meh. . . " for me, personally.  I thught that I would be irritated by this because I had recently purchased a PSP, however the upgrades are so minimal that it really does not matter.  They did not change the screen or the control scheme, so other than that a minimal reduction in size is not a huge announcement.  In the game area for the PSP there were a few announcements that were fantastic.  First the official announcement, and trailer, for the God of War game for the PSP, Chains of Olympus . . . AWESOME.  More than God of War I was excited about the announcement of a new Final Fantasy Tactics game, The War of the Lions.  I love Final Fantasy games, and I love Final Fantasy Tactics games even more, to add to all of that I am obsessed with my PSP, so all of those components plus wireless multiplayer, co-op and versus, this game is looking to be fantastic.

    Next, Nintendo Wii, I am really not that excited about anything that Nintendo had to say about where the Wii was going.  Outside of more information on Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl it felt as if the Wii had the "Wiikest" lineup of the whole convention (sorry about the play on the name it was irresistible)  The one irratation that I am having with Nintendo and the Wii is that they are starting to put a real focus on games that further the player as a person; Wii Sports, Brain Age, and now Wii Fitness, if this trend continues we are all going to become strong and smart athletes . . . right? 

    I have a personal affinity toward portable gaming, I love my DS and PSP, traveling just would not be the same without them.  So for the Nintendo DS this time around there were a few strong announcements, it definitely felt stronger than the Wii.  I am most excited for Final Fantasy XII:  Revenant Wings, after finishing Final Fantasy XII I realized how much I love Fiinal Fantasy and the more games Square pumps out the better.  Although we had known about Contra 4 before E3 more details came out, and the excitement is only growing more powerful in my loins for it.  Lastly for the DS further announcements were made pertaining to Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and most of the impressions were very positive about the game, so I will pray that I like Phantom Hourglass more than Twilight Princess, or I may just give up on Zelda all together.

    Finally I can talk about the 360, this was my first "next-gen system" so there is always a place in my heart for it.  Of course the most important announcements at E3 surrounded Halo 3, there were positive things said about the game, but I just can't shake how not excited I am for Halo 3.  After playing Gears of War I realized that Halo has been knocked of of the hill that is first person shooters, so there is not much more to say about that.  There were a a**load of games that had announcements that I am excited about, however I can only talk about the few I am most excited about.  More information was brought out on one of the best RPG franchises in the world, in my opinion, Fallout 3 will be awesome, I don't even care if I am contributing to the hype, fallout 1 was neat, fallout 2 was spectacular, and the Bethesda team is not straying to far from the "Fallout Formula" which is great, too many software teams are taking great licenses and turning them into big piles of poop.  The last game I am excited about is Bioshock, again we have had a lot of information about Bioshock before E3, however more was talked about and it was all good.

    The upcoming year is going to be similar to a all night sex romp, it will start out with a little foreplay, but not too much, because both of us (me and the video game industry) are way too hot and bothered to be fondling each other.  So after that we will turn on a little music and "get down to business", because it is the first round it will go fast but it will feel sooooo good.  After the first session we will take a little break, no talking, just sitting, maybe we will turn on CSPAN and watch The House argue about things.  Then we will get back to the deed continually going at it again and again until I am exhausted and passed out from overly imbibing on the ambrosia of the gods and the needs of my passionate loins.  Those are my thoughts on E3, please let me know what you think.

[here are parts one and two]

In this last part, we're going to be talking about laying a logo onto the image that we previously created.  We're not going to be doing anything special with creating our own letters, we'll just be using a freely available font off the internet and some of the gimp features to make things pop.

For this one, just have your previous work open in a different window and create a new document with the same width as the original.  The height doesn't matter too much, since we're not going to be using it all anyway.

Grab your font and create a new layer for the text.  Make *sure* that all the layers you create from here on are transparent.  The font we're going to use is labeled as "progenisis Not-Rotated".  You can look around the web for free fonts that suit your taste and style [I looked here: here], just make sure that you have the rights to use them.

Make your text big enough so that it fills up most of the width of your new document.  Anchor it on a new layer so you don't get stuck on the background if you have a color there.



Next, create a new layer and call it "medium outline".  Right click on the image and go to the "select" menu, and select the "grow" option.  Grow the selection by 3 or 4 pixels, maybe more if you have a funny font.  Remember that you are going to add yet another outline behind this one as well.  Fill this layer selection with the medium dark color from before.  Position this medium layer under the light layer, so that an outline appears, like so:



Create a new layer and title it "dark".  Alpha-to-selection the medium layer and grow this by 1 or 2 pixels.  On the dark layer, fill this with the dark color we created in the previous work.  Position this layer behind the medium layer and you should end up with something like this:



Now go back and select your light layer and do an alpha-to-selection.  Set up your colors so that the light and medium color are your foreground and background colors.  Select your gradient tool by typing the 'L' key.  Go over to your main window and do a FG to BG gradient.  Turn the shape to "radial" so that you can get something that comes from the inside.  With your alpha selection still active, click from the middle of the text to the outside.  Play with the lengths until you get something like this [you might have to reverse the gradient]:



Head over to deviant art and look around the custom brushes section (make sure it's gimp brushes and not photoshop).  We're going to be using the "Papersweets" brushes from Angeles.  Change your foreground color to the dark color from the original work and select your fuzzy brush tool.  On your "light" layer, do an alpha selection and use your fuzzy brush to make some cool designs on the text.  Be careful not to overdo it because we already have a lot of stuff going on in the image.  Once you're satisfied, merge the layers down until you have the background and your logo on seperate layers.  [note, if you want, hit up the drop shadow under the script-fu -> shadow menu.  This is a neat effect and actually looks good!].

Copy your "new layer" and bring it over to the original work.  Paste it in there and position it over something that isn't too detailed.  I'm not that happy with the way the top of the glass turned out, so I'm going to stick our logo up there.  

As a final step, crop your image using the "canvas size" tool under the "image" menu.  This is the final version of how the piece turns out:



There are tons of different techniques available to those who only want to use freely available tools for imaging software.  This style can be used to create a bunch of different graphics, so keep it in your toolbelt.  Let's see what our readers can do with it!

A little over three months ago I built myself a bran-spankin' new computer with the intention of being able to play games that my computer at the time could only barely handle. When I was getting together everything that I needed for the computer I never thought too much about the operating system that I would be running. I had a Windows XP Pro license that I had gotten while a student at the University of Minnesota. I was no longer going to be using it on the PC I was replacing so it just made sense to put it on the new one. After I threw everything together and was blown away by how well all my games played, the thought occurred to me that I had a computer that was vista-capable.

Even after this realization I probably put about two seconds of thought into whether I should upgrade to Vista or not. You see I worked at Best Buy Geek Squad and from the moment Vista rolled out to when I put my computer together months later I disliked Vista. I knew long before it was released that it would be a memory hog, but the redesigned interface was sleek and darn sexy so I wasn't too surprised or upset by that. Then came the Vista release date and working as a Geek Squad agent I got to set up my first Vista computer. After that day was over I decided I'd wait for the first Vista Service Pack before purchasing the system, and advised any customers who asked about upgrading to do the same.

As most can attest to every new operating system comes with a multitude of bugs pretty much standard, and Vista was certainly no exception. Working at the Geek Squad and setting up new computers, it was rare to have a new PC setup go without having Vista crap out on me in some way or another. To its credit, it's not as buggy as the first edition of Windows 98, and certainly not nearly as buggy as the absolutely horrid WindowME that came with my college computer, (damn you Sony for no upgrade option!). But Vista is far from perfect; I'd say it borders more around being almost acceptable. The more I used the system the more frustrated I became with it. Every day that I had to do anything with Vista just encouraged me even more to wait to purchase the upgrade. Then all the CompUSA's in Minnesota went out of business and I was able to get the Vista Premium upgrade for less than half of the standard retail cost. I couldn't pass this deal up because I was planning on getting the system anyway, so it just made sense.

Like anyone else that gets into computers as much as I do, I couldn't buy a new operating system and not install it the first chance I got. Before I decided I would install Vista I looked back on the experiences that I had had with it up to that point. The vast majority of all the computers I did any Vista-related work on were crappy HP/Compaq computers, low-end Sony or Toshiba, or ultra crap-tastic Acers. Looking into it a bit more, the majority of my Vista experience had either been on mediocre computers that shouldn't have Vista on them, or totally craptacular computers that shouldn't have it on it. There were a few computers that actually ran it well for the 30 minutes they were in my hands. So after thinking about it for a short time I decided that Vista deserved a shot. After all, the computer I would be running it on would be more than capable and I hadn't gotten around to putting much on it yet upgrading should go easy. I was correct on both accounts, but still wish I would have just stuck with XP.
Like I said, the initial upgrade went quickly and smoothly. The only problem I had initially was that my Creative Soundblaster 5.1 card didn't have any drivers for it, but I also knew about that issue ahead of time. The first major annoyance that I had to deal with was the Vista security. Pretty much every single action that moderately accesses the systems requires approval from the user. Usually if you install something that asks for approval once, you'll get asked again before the task is complete. On an average day-to-day basis this isn't that big of a deal, but when you're installing the system for the first time it gets hugely annoying. The feature can be turned off, but it isn't like Mac OSX where you can scale the security up and down, with Vista it's either on and really annoying or off and giving no protection whatsoever.

Even combining the issue with the sound card and the annoying security approvals, there's still not enough reason to fully justify wanting to go back to XP. Unfortunately for me, however, my Vista problems hadn't really even started yet. Driver support in Vista for any hardware out there cannot yet be considered "good". Driver support all around is fair at best, and seemingly random at times. Like in XP, Vista always prefers to install drivers that are digitally signed by Microsoft even if they are older. This fact was beaten into my head with my Linksys wireless card. I downloaded the newest driver's from Linksys's web site and Vista refuses to use them. Apparently, (and according to Microsoft Vista), drivers from 2005 that are digitally signed for windows XP are a better choice than the drivers Linksys made for Vista in June of 2007. Every time that I install the new drivers, Windows keeps the old ones installed and there's nothing I can do about it. I've tried uninstalling the old drivers but it downloads the old drivers and won't accept the new ones. Vista flat out, will not let me install the drivers that the device should be using. I'd like to say that his is a fluke, but my roommate has exactly the same problem. Despite the fact that my wireless is less than reliable, (which this issue most likely plays a part), I can still get my wireless working enough that it isn't yet worth restoring to XP for just that reason. But oh, there are lots of other reasons to consider.

Both Creative and Microsoft had said that there would be no driver support for the Soundblaster card I had. Sure enough Creative doesn't have any Vista drivers on their site for my card, and I wasn't getting any from Mircrosoft's Windows Update either. Again, I knew this to be an issue ahead of time so I just use the built in 7.1 audio on the motherboard. Even then, I was only getting sound out of three of the six speakers hooked up to my computer (Front L&R, and sub-woofer). I thought there was something wrong with the driver at first but then did some research into the issue and found that this apparently is a "feature" of Vista. Microsoft had changed how the OS outputs sound by default. With XP, if you told Windows you had a 5.1 system and the music or program you were using was only 2-channel audio, XP automatically emulated the sound to the other two speakers to simulate 5.1 audio. This was completely automatic and if the source of the sound was 5.1-channel by default then XP automatically turned off the emulation. With Vista they took out the automatic switching and now refer to the manual switching as a feature. So for those keeping track, Microsoft had an automated feature in XP that they turned into a manual task in Vista that's poorly documented and hard to find, and called it an improvement.

My experience with audio drivers in Vista got even more bizarre when I left my machine on one weekend when I went to visit my hometown. I came back and my sound no longer worked on my computer. No one had touched my computer while I was gone so I was a bit baffled. I was going to reinstall the drivers for the built in audio on my motherboard when I discovered Vista had automatically installed Creative drivers and switched to that hardware as the default hardware. When I attempted to switch the default back to the built in card, Vista crashed on me. I shut down the computer and decided that just for shits n' giggles I'd switch the cables over to the Soundblaster card. Sure enough, sound came out of the speakers like it was supposed to. I'm still unable to find any documentation saying that Microsoft is supporting the audio card and Creative certainly still doesn't have any drivers for it so I have no idea where these magical drivers came from! On top of that, I can't even update World of Warcraft without giving administrative permission for it first, so how is it that Vista installed new drivers and changed the default playback device without me?!

These are just some of the many issues I've been having with Vista. Some issues are smaller than others but also are no real fault of Microsoft's. For example, nVidia doesn't have all the same features available on their Vista drivers that they have on their XP drivers. Features such as desktop scaling for HD televisions so the desktop doesn't go off the screen are missing in the Vista version even though present in the XP version. The "My Pictures" screen saver in Vista (which I've always had as my screensaver) has more display options but is incredibly choppy with transitions. This isn't a huge deal, but it was a bit of a disappointment since every picture transition is incredibly choppy. Added to this, for some reason if I set my computer so that it puts my monitor to sleep after a certain period of time for energy saving reasons, when I wake my monitor (computer is not asleep at this point) Vista kicks my internet connection. The connection stays on the entire time my monitor has been asleep, but when it wakes my monitor it then drops the Internet connection. How does that work!? Two completely unrelated parts of the system yet one messes up the other.

Overall Vista has gotten to the point where it's stable enough that despite having issues with it, there's just barely not enough reason to keep it on. Supposedly Vista Service Pack 1 is on it's way to the testing phases come end of July so I may just try and wait for that. Until then I'll continue to go week from week wondering when Vista will randomly do something annoying for no apparent reason again. It happens enough that it's almost a weekly expectation at this point. For those of you reading this article trying to decide on upgrading to Vista or not, my recommendation is to wait until Service Pack 1 comes out and then maybe decide if you want to spend $200 on a Vista upgrade, and even then probably only upgrade if you have to. It's been three month's of Vista for me, and I really miss the incredibly reliable Windows XP.

    Yesterday we discussed screen size and aspect ration (link), but now we get to move to the fun part . . . converting the xvid movie my friend made to the proper h.264 movie.  For this guide I am going to be using ffmpegx (link) for Mac OS X.  Windows users, all is not lost, this guide still maybe useful for the fundamentals, such as what all the settings mean.

Step 1 - Open the File ::
    Open ffmpegx, the screen when it opens will look like this:
To open the movie, you can either click the 'Open...' button in the upper left corner or you could drap and drop the movie in the 'From' box in the 'Source format' section.

Step 2 - Pick the 'Target Format' ::
    Under the 'Target Format' option there is a box labeled 'To', if you click on the downward pointing arrow you will be presented with a slew of options.  We are looking for the option called 'iPod h.264 640w.'  By selecting this option, all of the settings will be set for you to make sure that it is playable on an iPod (or iPhone).  However, we are going to add a few steps to get a smaller and more efficient video.

Step 3 - Figure Out Aspect Ratio and Bitrate::
    Now, lets switch tabs.  You will find a row of six buttons; click the second one labeled 'Video.'  The screen will look like this:
Yesterday I sad that our movie is 720 x 400 and that the iPhone's screen is 480 x 320.  Based on our calculations we want to reduce the move to be 480 x 266.66667.  With these two numbers there is one mandatory requirement and one optional requirement.  First off, each number HAS to be divisible by 2.  Secondly, each number SHOULD be divisible by 16.  480 does meet both of these requirements, however 266.66667 does not.  To figure out the best way to round take a look at your number and see if the two closest meet both of the requirements.  Our options are 266 or 268, both are devisable by two, but neither is devisable by 16.   So I will pick 268 (even thought 266 makes more sense, I made a very minor mistake ooops!).

    In the section labeled 'Video Parametrs' make the following settings:
    1.    Video Size: 480 x 268 (or whatever make sense for your movie)
    2.    Autosize: Unconstrained
    3.    Framerate: (Leave this section alone)

    Now in the sectional labeled 'Bitrate calculator' press the button named 'Best.'  This section will select the best bitrate for your video based on the video parameters, codec, and numerous other settings.  For the iPhone, I've typically seen settings from 250 kbit/s to 450 kbit/s.  The combination of reducing the video size and the video bitrate, we will be able to get our video that was originally around 1.5 GB down to 300 MB.

Step 4 - Encode ::
    All that is left is clicking on the 'Encode' button in the lower right corner.  This will spawn a new window that will show you the progress of your conversion.  Enjoy!

NOTE ::
    If the aspect ratio of your movie does not make sense, open the video in QuickTime.  Under 'Window' there is an option called 'Launch Movie Inspector.'  This will spawn a new window where you can see the displayed video size and the original video size.  The displayed video size is also another way to figure out what the aspect ratio is.

    My buddy just sent me a video he made of a bunch of us out at the bars.  There is a lot of cool stuff on it and I wouldn't mind carrying the video around on my iPhone so that I can show it off to people (the video not the iPhone ;) ).  Unfortunately, my buddy encoded the movie in xvid and not the required h.264.  I did a lot of searching and found a lot of guides on how to convert video for the iPod Video.  However, the software used either cost money or the guide didn't talk about how to preserve aspect ratio.  And for me, when it comes to watching movies, I am incredibly anal about the aspect ratio.  This guide is going to be split into two parts.  Today we are going to go over aspect ratio and screen size and some of the math required to preserve aspect ratio.  Tomorrow I will cover the conversion process.

    To achieve the goal of preserving aspect ratio, we will need to learn some math about the relationship between screen size and aspect ratio.  An older standard TV typically has a 4 x 3 aspect ratio and a new widescreen TV typically has a 16 x 9 aspect ratio.  The left hand number is how many units moved in the horizontal space while the number on the right is how many units moved in the vertical space.  Lets take a look at some examples of common aspect ratio math.

Example 1:
        We have a video that is 640 x 480.  If we divided 640 by 480 the result would be 1.33333 (640 / 480 = 1.33333).  Now, lets turn 1.33333 into a nice fraction;
1.33333 = 1 + 1/3 =  3/3 + 1/3 = 4/3
This means that our 640 x 480 movie has an aspect ratio of 4 x 3.  If you have a 16 x 9 screen, you will see black bars on the left and right of the image.

Example 2:
    We have a video that is 1280 x 720.
    1280 / 720 = 1.77778
    1.77778 = 1 + 7/9 = 9/9 + 7/9 = 16/9
This means that our movie has an aspect ratio of 16 x 9.  If you have a standard screen (4 x 3) you will see black bars on the top and bottom of the screen.

Example 3:
    We have a DVD, the back of the case shows that the aspect ratio is 2.35.
    2.35 = 2 + 35/100 = 2 + 7/20 = 40/20 + 7/20 = 47/20
Because the aspect ratio is greater than that of a 16 x 9 screen, you will see black bars on that screen top and bottom of the screen.  However, the black bars will be smaller than those on the 4 x 3 screen.  You would need a 47 x 20 screen to see this movie without any black bars.

    The iPhone has a screen size of 480 x 320 pixels, which means that the aspect ratio is 1.5.  The screen is neither widescreen nor standard, meaning that almost all video playback you will have some form of black bars, if you want to preserve the aspect ratio that is.  I will assume this is the case.

    The video my buddy made is 720 x 400 pixels or a 1.8 aspect ratio.  Because the iPhone is only 480 pixels wide, we can reduce the video size.  We kept the width of the iPhone and not the height because the aspect ratio of our movie is greater than that of the iPhone.  By reducing the size of the video we will also reduce the amount of space it will take up.  However, 1.8 is not a common aspect ratio, so we are going to have to do some more math.

    720 / 400 = 480 / y
    400 (720 / 400) = 400 (480 / y)
    720 = 192,000 / y
    y (720) = y (192,000 / y)
    720 y = 192,000
    y = 192,000 / 720
    y = 266.66667

Ok, that was a lot of steps, but I wanted to lay out the math the long way first.  Now, onto the short method.

    720 / 400 = 480 / y
    y = ( 400 * 480) / 720 = 266.66667

Awesome, that is a lot easier.  Lets check our math to make sure we got it right.

    480 / 266.66667 = 1.8 - it checks out!

If we convert our video based on 480 x 266.66667 the aspect ratio will be the same as the original, however our video will use about half as many pixels.

    Tomorrow I will go through the actually conversion process, however knowing these fundamentals can translate to transcoding movies for any devices.  Check back tomorrow, I will be explaining how to use ffmpegx on Mac OS X to optimize this video for iPhone playback.

In the process of moving out of the state, graduating college, starting my career, getting my cholesterol down and generally managing my life it is hard for me to find time to play video games, read stuff, and watch movies. So for this week I decided to figure out what I am playing, reading, watching and doing this whole season that is the summer.

            The game that I have been enthralled with, since the beginning of the summer, is Final Fantasy XII.  Ever since I gave up World of Warcraft I had been yearning for a RPG.  I had decided to make a return to the Final Fantasy series.  It had been a while since I had played a Final Fantasy, and the last one that I had played was Final Fantasy Tactics for the Nintendo Gameboy Advance.  The settings for these games were similar (Ivalice, and hot ass bunny people), so it was helpful to know the background of the game, but I wanted a traditional RPG, and so far that is what I have got.  On top of Final Fantasy I am taken a well deserved trip to Katamari land and Loco Roco world.  These two games are fantastic, much like sugar, they are unbelievably sweet, but if you eat to much you will probably go into diabetic shock.

            For movies that I watched, and am excited to watch, there is a cornucopia of delicious movie fruit.  Everything this summer, so far, was good; Knocked Up is hilarious.  Ratatouie is quite the feel good movie, as is Evan Almighty.  Lastly, I felt as if Transformers was the perfect action movie of the summer, and the perfect Transformer movie.  That brings me to a point, I discovered that I actually like Michael Bay Movies.  I enjoyed Transformers, The Island (Although it is a good rehash of Logan's Run) and Bad Boys I and II.  None of his movies were that bad, they were only cursed by the "Hype".  Anyway, I am much more excited about a few movies that are soon to release.  The comedy Hot Rod, starring a guy from SNL that I can never remember (Andy Samberg) The movie that I am most excited about; does not have a title, but its project code named Cloverfield.  Cloverfield, if you haven't seen the preview, it is a giant monster movie by J.J Abrams (Writer for Lost, and Armageddon) that focuses on (surprise) the end of the New York, or we assume, from the perspective of a small group of people.  Other than its release date (1-18-08) and a shitty website (www.1-18-08.com) we do not know much more about the movie, except for that there is a party for Rob in New York on the day of the movie release.  I know Cloverfield is not a summer release, but I am just so excited about it.

            It is hard for me to find time to read anything, and when I do it is mostly on the computer.  My blogs and podcasts have been my source of news and entertainment for the last few months, and it seems that they will continue to be for quite some time (considering those blogs I am an expert at celebrity and adult video gossip), since I have now packed away all of my books, and will soon be getting rid of the television.  Other than the occasional magazine article, I have been trying to get through the Marvel: Civil War collection.  As much as I am enjoying this comic collection, I think it may have been over hyped for me (Much like a Michael Bay movie) it feels like I should be enjoying it more than I am. I did leave one novel out, This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald, mainly because I got half way through and forgot to keep reading, it seems to be a bad habit of mine, but I will finish it by the end of summer.

            Lastly I had recently made the switch from Verizon back to T-mobile.  I used a Sidekick about two years ago and I was really impressed by everything about it (The Sidekick and T-mobile) so I decided to get back to my first love in communicating.  Once I got to the T-mobile dealer I realized that a Sidekick may not be the most professional looking phone, so I decided to opt for the Blackberry.  The verdict, for me, is that I love the stupid thing.  I had forgotten how much I love smart phones, and being able to surf the internet all of the time as well as getting e-mail like a text message, so convenient.  The Blackberry will continue to invest itself into my life and eventually destroy it.

            So between all of these things that I have to do and all of the other stuff it will be hard to fit much more into that part of my life.  That is a good thing because I may be cutting it close on funds this summer, and we all know that being a gadget whore, video game addict, movie buff, or comic reader gets real expensive real quick.  I always find time for bike rides, sitting in front of a screen is nice, but after about two hours I start feeling like I'm pregnant with morning sickness, but that is probably just me.  I start thinking about "What if the computer wasn't here? I bet I would look like an idiot staring into the wall for so long."

Despite what you might think by looking through my game library, I haven't always had an interest in the RPG genre of video games. Until a few years ago I never really understood the interest of RPG's. Sure Zelda looked all right but I wasn't ever able to get into it much either, I was really only interested in more action-oriented games. It wasn't until my freshman year in college when an anime-nut introduced me to Chrono Trigger, that I finally understood what I had been missing out on.

After playing through Chrono Trigger about four or five times I discovered that there was a sequel out for it called Chrono Cross for the Playstation. As soon as I could afford it I went out and got myself an outdated, used piece of crap Playstation for the sole purpose of playing Chrono Cross, at which point I broadened my RPG possibilities. I had never had a system where I really wanted to even try RPG's until I got my first Playstation. I never had a Nintendo or Super Nintendo. In fact with the exception of having a Donkey Kong Game & Watch and a Gameboy growing up I never had a gaming platform until college. Because of this I never had a chance to play the RPG franchise that originally defined what it meant to be a video game RPG: Final Fantasy.

A few years ago I decided to give Final Fantasy a try. I went out to the nearest Game Stop with the intent to buy Final Fantasy VII; one of the most famous RPG's out there and the most successful of the Final Fantasy franchise. They didn't have it in stock... but they did have Final Fantasy VIII in so I just grabbed that. After all, though I hadn't heard anything good about the game, I certainly hadn't heard anything bad about it either. And besides, I figured aside from story line there probably wasn't a huge difference between the games as far as quality goes so it should be a safe buy. Not surprisingly, I was wrong and the game would leave a bitter taste for anything final fantasy related for years to come.

Ok, so FF-VIII really isn't that bad of a game but it also really isn't that good either, and it certainly isn't epic like the Chrono games or Xenogears. To begin with after putting twenty hours into the game there still wasn't anything in the game that really grabbed my interest. On top of that the characters really weren't that interesting and I found myself not caring what happened to them. So after twenty hours I still didn't care about the game at all. While it may still be a decent game once you finish it (I've given up on it for awhile) it did a horrible job keeping my interest and just wasn't worth my time. I was so unimpressed that I lost any desired to try other Final Fantasy games.

That was over a year ago. Since then I haven't played much for standard RPG games though I have put a significant amount of time into World of Warcraft (and played through Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross again) but all the while looking for another RPG to get into. I tend to be relatively picky in choosing what video games I purchase so I wasn't having the easiest time deciding on a new RPG and not even considering anything with the words Final Fantasy as part of the title made the search slightly more challenging. During this time I made a few more additions to my gaming consoles that would broaden my horizons including a Nintendo DS Lite and a Xbox I found in the dumpster and got in working order again.

I still haven't done much with the Xbox aside from getting it working again, but the DS has done a terrific job of keeping me occupied on the go. The DS allowed for more versatility and interaction with gaming, but also allowed companies like Square (producers of Final Fantasy) to re-release classic games that though outdated, have stood the test of time. One of these games is Final Fantasy III, which despite being released originally for the Nintendo, made its first international appearance on the DS with completely redone graphics. The game was exactly the type of game I was looking for with the DS: something I could pick up and play, but put down on short notice if needed (in other words, great for bringing to work). Despite this, it had something significant going against it... it was still Final Fantasy

After reading countless reviews and talking to friends and coworkers who had played it I decided that perhaps it was time to give the Final Fantasy franchise another shot. The first thing I noticed about FFIII was that for the DS it was a damn pretty game. Square completely redid the graphics for the game and they did a damn fine job with them as well. Graphics, however, do not make the game (though they can certainly help), what was going to be the real test of this game for me was whether or not it would keep my interest.

The plot line in RPG's is absolutely essential so it was with high hopes that the story line would be killer. Well it wasn't, or at least it hasn't been. I'm about 23 hours into the game currently and it doesn't appear that the story line is going to have much flare to it. It seems like just another "Save the world because you've been chosen to save the world" type of RPG. No plot twists, just save the world. Thankfully, I find myself not caring one bit. FFIII for the DS uses simplicity to its advantage and in a way I never thought I'd find entertaining yet here I am entertained.

This is my first experience with a class system and while at first I didn't think I would like it, it is one of many factors that keep me playing. In almost every battle one of the four main characters either increases job level or increases in stats level. On top of that there are countless hidden items and places to go finding. There's so much that can be done that it seems it would be nearly impossible to find everything without a guide. Added to all of this the game has lots of little changes that only add to the desire to play. I'm on my 4th freakin' mode of transportation!

All in all I'm glad I gave the Final Fantasy franchise another shot. I may never finish FF VIII because of the bad taste it has left in my mouth, but I'll certainly give some others a shot. Final Fintasy VII and Final Fantasy Tactics are on the list of games to play but first I've got finish III. When I get around to playing other Final Fantasy's I'll be sure to keep more of an open mind now that I've had a Final Fantasy experience worthy of note.

Yes, it is official, I am a hypocrite.  I just filled a bowl with my words, poured the milk on top of them, and I am spooning them into my mouth.  However, the words are not bitter, they do taste sweet and do satisfy me deep down in my soul.  For everyone that read my article last week, I dismissed the iPhone as a closed platform, neh garbage!  However, as of Tuesday, I am an iPhone owner.

Hypocrite.  This I know, I will happily eat my words.

I have noticed that most iPhone reviews focus on the negative sides of the iPhone, yet, the iPhone is still getting good scores.  I am going to take a different approach, I am going to write about what I like about the iPhone and why I think it is one of my all time favorite gadgets.

I remember getting my first iPod, a 20GB third generation, and I remembering hearing about how using the device was intuitive.  This really wasn't the case, with my first iPod it took some time getting used to the minimalist button scheme.  This is not the case with the iPhone.  When I first picked up the device, I just new what to do.  Moving around the device becomes second nature very quickly.

Using your finger to move through lists on this device is easy.  The acceleration effects are right on.  The fact that if you do a quick long swipe, the list will continue to scroll, then you tap your finger down the list stops made me very happy.  That is exactly how I imagined it would be if this list were real thing.  The other effect that convinced me this device was the bomb was that if you try going up or down on a list to far, it will let you go to a point, then spring back to the end/beginning.  This is the kind of attention to detail that I love in a user interface.  It feels so organic and real.

All features that is present in the iPhone work very very well.  This is not to say that there are no missing features (ahem, an IM application), I would like to cover what is on the device.  Safari is the best cell phone browser that I've used.  Using it today I was able to look some baseball scores, check movie times, and then read some video game reviews; all without feeling the eye strain I tend to feel on small devices.  While their mail application is not flashy, it works well and was very easy to set up to check my GMail account.  The Google Maps program, in my opinion, steals the show.  Don't get me wrong, the iPod is awesome, video playback is awesome, however to search a map, find your location, and then from within Google Maps call that location, this is a dream come true.

I am going to report more on the iPhone after some more heavy use.  But, after my first day and a half of ownership I have no regrets.  While the price tag is heavy, I feel that it is worth the cost of admission.

Happy Independence Day!

Happy Independence Day.  Hopefully you all are relaxing, grilling, and watching some bitchin' fireworks today.

This geek plans on spending his 4th of July weekend (yup, I don't go back to work till Monday) playing video games and reading.  Currently on my 'to play' stack, I am working through God of War, Gears of War, and Odin Sphere.  I am thinking that with the two days of anti-work I should be able to finally beat God of War and Gears.  As far as my 'to read' stack, I have the 'Complete Joy of Homebrewing', 'Fast Food Nation', and 'The Zombie Survival Guide'.

So if you have some time this weekend and are looking for a good game or book, those would by my suggestions.  However, whatever you do, make sure you sit back and relax.

[part one  and  three]

The Foreground (kind of):

Since all four of us here at tech-shui enjoy drinking a beer or twelve, it only seems natural that a full beer mug would be the main object in this picture.   Start by heading to your favorite free commons website and find a picture of a beer glass.  Mine looks like this:



Open up the beer mug in GIMP and select the "Create and Edit Paths" tool (or press the "B" key).  Rather than using the lasso and having to redo steps over and over when your mouse freaks out, we'll be using this guy.  

This part is pretty simple, we want to cut out the beer glass for our other layers.  Just click the edges of the glass until you have the whole image selected and then click the "select path" button.  Copy this and paste it into a new document.






Copy this to (another) new document.  You're going to be creating three layers here from the main beer picture.  For the first one, paste the cutout beer onto a new layer into the newest document.  Select the beer layer and do an Alpha-to-selection.

Right click on the picture and go to "Tools", then "Color tools" and then to "hue-saturation".  Turn all three levels to the lowest (so the picture looks grey).  Next go to the Brightness and Contrast dialouge (again, through tools, color options).  Turn Contrast all the way up and turn the brightness all the way down.  You should just see a silouette of the beer glass.  

I think the base background layer of our foreground object should have an outline and since we have a dark background, we'll be going from lightest to darkest in our layering for the glass.  To get an outline going, go to "select" and "grow", and then grow by 3 pixels.  Create a new transparent layer and fill it in with a light color that goes with your other two colors (I picked this light light green/tan, below).  Fill in your selection and paste it into a new layer on our original work:



Close the document with the single layer of light tan/green.  Go back to your beer cutout and do the hue-saturation method again.  After this, return to the Brightness-Contrast option and turn "Contrast" all the way up.  Play with the brightness levels and try to find a middle ground between all black and no black.

You might have to do it in sections (I did for this picture) because of the different light levels on the different areas.  Use the "Select Regions by Color" option and click on the black areas to select all the black in the picture.  Create a new layer and fill the selection with the middle color.
Go on for a bit and it should eventually look like this:





For the final layer you're going to do the exact same steps but fill in with a darker color and make minimal marks.  The concept is to have three distinct layers that build on each other and give depth to the object.

For now, we've got the main object built and our next steps are to add the tech shui logo and some splashy stuff in the background (between the beer glass and the green concrete).  Until next week, good luck!