Journal FortKnox's Journal: A Wild Day 10
Hey, I've had a wild day yesterday.
Wife & I decided to look for apartments that are a bit cheaper so we can save to get into a house faster. We live on the north side of Cincinnati, so we looked on the east side. Both are "good" sides of town, but on the east side we found an apartment complex in a heavily wooded area (we live in a brand new complex that has absolutely no trees and is in the middle of a field) that has a nicer community the same size apartment (ok, we're missing 25sq feet, but that's hardly much), has an oversided tub for the wife, and is $200 a month cheaper!! Not to mention the fully stocked lake (even large mouth bass is in it!).
Anyway, we signed the lease almost immediately (we have been looking for the past few weeks, and accidentally stumbled onto this property. It was far superior to ALL the others we looked at). So it looks like we'll be in a new place by September.
I've been dying to pick up Deus Ex and go through it again. My friend's been telling me about playing it for the first time, and gmhowell has mentioned it a few times in his journal (hey, wanna try an online game?). It is my second favorite game (to System Shock 2), but I couldn't get it running on XP for the life of me. Yesterday, I tried one last time to get it running, by disecting and changing the INI file. If anyone else has wierd "GalaxyAudio Initialization" issues, gimmie an email, and I'll tell you what I did to fix it.
Joey has changed his routine lately, also. Much to our dismay. He's always slept at least a good 7 hours at night, making it cake to sleep through the night. Well, lately, he's been going to sleep early (like 7 or 8), then wakes up at 11 to eat, and is waking up 2 more times at night.
I know I can't complain much, after all he's now "normal" like all the other baby's that keep their parents up all night, but we had gotten used to his lazy ways.
Wife & I decided to look for apartments that are a bit cheaper so we can save to get into a house faster. We live on the north side of Cincinnati, so we looked on the east side. Both are "good" sides of town, but on the east side we found an apartment complex in a heavily wooded area (we live in a brand new complex that has absolutely no trees and is in the middle of a field) that has a nicer community the same size apartment (ok, we're missing 25sq feet, but that's hardly much), has an oversided tub for the wife, and is $200 a month cheaper!! Not to mention the fully stocked lake (even large mouth bass is in it!).
Anyway, we signed the lease almost immediately (we have been looking for the past few weeks, and accidentally stumbled onto this property. It was far superior to ALL the others we looked at). So it looks like we'll be in a new place by September.
I've been dying to pick up Deus Ex and go through it again. My friend's been telling me about playing it for the first time, and gmhowell has mentioned it a few times in his journal (hey, wanna try an online game?). It is my second favorite game (to System Shock 2), but I couldn't get it running on XP for the life of me. Yesterday, I tried one last time to get it running, by disecting and changing the INI file. If anyone else has wierd "GalaxyAudio Initialization" issues, gimmie an email, and I'll tell you what I did to fix it.
Joey has changed his routine lately, also. Much to our dismay. He's always slept at least a good 7 hours at night, making it cake to sleep through the night. Well, lately, he's been going to sleep early (like 7 or 8), then wakes up at 11 to eat, and is waking up 2 more times at night.
I know I can't complain much, after all he's now "normal" like all the other baby's that keep their parents up all night, but we had gotten used to his lazy ways.
SS2 (Score:2)
LV
Re:SS2 (Score:1)
I'm sure you shouldn't have much trouble with it, though. I think it uses directX, and as long as you don't have legacy video/sound card, you should be fine.
Looks like things are looking up for you. (Score:1)
Deus Ex et al. (Score:2)
Unfortunate for you with Joey. Joseph took about 6 weeks to start sleeping 7+ hours at night. And he hasn't looked back. The really great thing is that for the first couple of weeks, my wife was breast feeding (gave it up for various reasons) so I only had to deal with middle of the night foolishness for maybe a month:)
I've come to the conclusion that there is no such thing as 'normal' when it comes to child development. I imagine that there is a bell curve, but I imagine it's a wide, sloppy one.
Oversized bath tub. (Score:2)
Good luck with the new Apt. I've been considering buying a new house. I bought the one I'm currently in for practically nothing, and it's in a great neighborhood, with great schools, etc. It needed some work, and, being somewhat of a handman, I have managed to greatly increase the property value. The only reasons I have to move are to 1) be closer to work and 2) be closer to water. I grew up on the river, and I miss looking out my window and seeing water. There are several houses for sale on the river that are within 30 minutes drive from where I work. I went to look at one of them, but she's asking about $75,000 more than it is worth. Not that I could afford it if she would take what it's worth, but still... I guess it's long drives for a while. Oh well, at least I have a lot of friends close by my current house. Although I would imagine they would drive the extra milage to come see me at the lake. :-)
System Shock 2 (Score:2)
Hopefully Doom3 will be closer to SS2 than the typical iD game, and will offer more in the way of environment interraction than with a shotgun or a BFG.
Another device that worked well in SS2 were the "data disks" that you had to read to learn various details about your surroundings. Other games have tried to imitate this, but none so effectively as SS2.
Hopefully (and I know the Software house that did SS2 is gone, but as I have already stated, I wish to be irrationally optimistic on this point) there will be a System Shock 3.
If not, I may have to replay my copies of the series, figure out what made it work so well, and write my own.
Re:System Shock 2 (Score:2)
System Shock, the idea behind it all, is Warren Spector. He's also the brains behind the Theif series and did a hell of a job on Deus Ex (the only other "Half FPS, Half RPG" game out since SS2). If you haven't tried DeusEx, go get yourself a copy. Its story is as encapsulating as SS2.
Also, the key with SS2 was the sound. The datadisks are a good example of this. When you hear how afraid the people are, and how they talk. Freaky. And do you remember the first time you heard a matron mother talk? *shiver*
SS2 is the only game to ever scare the bejesus outta me.
As I understand it, a lot of people are writing SS3 from the mod community. I've heard about a SS3 mod out of Deus Ex, and others that are out of UT. What's needed is a solid set of writers to make an excellent story, then a ton of professional voice actors to fill in the sounds.
If Eidos ever released the source of SS2, or at least the "dark engine" (engine behind SS2, Thief, and Thief2), I'd be all over the idea to code a sequel.
Re:System Shock 2 (Score:1)
Re:System Shock 2 (Score:1)
You get voice actors, writers, good experienced mappers, and skinners, maybe an experienced coder or two, and I can whip somethin up as far as a sequel is concerned.
Re:System Shock 2 (Score:2)