Ranting Kenya

I had this bizarre issue for the last month or so. One day, I could no longer stream anything to either of my two Xbox 360s from Windows Media Center. All that would happen is instead of the actual playback, I would just get a black screen for any live or recorded tv.

I googled the net quite a bit, searched through various user forums, re-installed the extender a number of times, called Xbox technical support (pointless and frustrating), and nearly re-installed Vista.

Before I did that however, I did post in a couple forums my problem. And what do you know, I got response that worked.

Here’s the thread: http://www.digitalhome.ca/forum/showthread.php?p=887638#post887638

Here’s the fix: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/811259/en-us

Turns out the solution was simple. Just reset the Winsock. Even though the auto-check showed no problems, and I could see all ten of the entries listed, I did the manual reset anyway. It worked.

Thanks to BadLag of the Digital Home Forums for the help.

So I finally got the speakers I’ve been drooling over for a couple years now. Nice black finish, top notch in every respect. All the positive reviews I’ve read about these speakers have been totally accurate. These things are pure quality.

The only thing I’d add to the comments and reviews that I don’t recall reading is that at low volume levels, you probably won’t notice a vast difference between these and some other relatively good computer speakers. But if you like to turn up the music a bit, these clearly stand apart from the others.

I recently upgraded my computer’s main hard drive. I didn’t want to just add more storage on a separate drive since much of my storage is taken up by Vista Media Center recordings. My music and videos are on a separate drive already. I just wanted a huge main drive.

So in the end, I’ve moved from a 250GB drive to a 1TB drive. Now cloning everything over wasn’t as easy as I had hoped, but it wasn’t too bad either. I thought I’d post a little bit about what I did and, which products I used to hopefully streamline someone else’s experience.

So let me list the stuff I used:

• SATA Source Drive (250GB Seagate Barracuda)
• SATA Destination Drive (1TB Western Digital Black)
• Windows Disk Management
• GParted
• Easeus Disk Copy
• InfraRecorder

Here’s the order of what I did:

1. Added new drive physically in computer, changed nothing on original. With SATA drive you don’t even have to configure a jumper or anything. Just find an empty bay and plug in the power and data cables.
2. Booted computer (Vista Home Premium in my case, though all of this would be the same on XP), and opened up the disk management tool.
3. Activated the new hard drive.
4. Downloaded both Easeus Disk Copy and GParted iso files, and burned them to CDs with InfraRecorder.
5. Booted from the Easeus Disk Copy disk I just created. Copied the whole drive sector by sector to the new disk, existing paritions and all.
6. Once Easeus is done copies, you have identical partitions on your new hard drive. There will also be the remainder of the free space on the new larger drive unallocated.
7. Rebooted the computer with the GParted disk is the drive. Once GParted is up and ready to go, I select the main parition on the new drive and choose the “grow” option. I drag that partition to fill the rest of that “unallocated space”.
8. Once that was done, I shut down the computer, disconnected the old drive, I swapped the data cables (not sure if this is necessary or not), and rebooted again.
9. When windows is starting back up, it’ll want to run some disk checks. I let them finish, and the computer rebooted normally.

And that’s it. Doesn’t sound like it takes very long, but the copying, formating, and growing of partitions each took over an hour on my machine, which is pretty powerful.

All in all, I’m pretty happy since I don’t have to hunt down all that software all over again and re-do all my personal settings.

Finally. Coming to Calgary soon I believe!

http://www.digitalhome.ca/content/view/3406/280/

Don’t let the title fool you, this isn’t a list. I’m just going to tell the story of my latest Telus internet experience. I post this not to speak poorly of one provider or another, but merely to report my most recent experience. I would also like to say that Telus has provided me the product I originally ordered without fail for nearly 3 years now. Also, writing this will help me remember all the events for when I call Telus to cancel my connection.

My debacle started back on January 19. I noticed on the Telus website that I was paying the price for their top speed DSL connection (6Mbps down, 1Mbps up), but receiving a connecting so inferior they didn’t even offer it any more (1.5Mpbs down, 256Kpbs up). So I called Telus to ask for their top service. I was fine paying what I was paying, I just wanted more speed. Nice of them to just upgrade my service for me. The CSR on the line was very helpful, everything was going great. They asked me if I wanted one of their new gateways to replace my modem and router. I asked if it was needed for the need speeds, he said no, so I said I’d keep what I have since it works exactly the way I want. At any rate, expect my service to be up to full speed in 24 hours.

Later that evening my internet connection went down completely. All the lights on my modem were still on (as in functioning correctly), so I assumed that they were flipping the switch. I was pretty happy with how things started to move so quickly, and I went to bed excited to try the new speed the next day.

I wake the next morning to no internet. That’s ok I suppose, the guy on the phone did in fact say 24 hours. So I went to work, and then I came home to no internet. Now I’ve decided to call tech support. As I’m dialing, I decided to do what I do for everybody when troubleshooting net connection, I power cycled the whole deal. Modem, router, and computer. Before I can get to an agent to troubleshoot, my whole system is back up as it was before to no net connection.

So I start working with the tech support guy. I hear all the usual stuff repeatedly. “Unplug the modem for a few seconds”, “Now unplug the router”, “Plug the computer directly into the modem.” Of course I do all of these things with no avail. Now I get put on hold while he contacts some other support someone. He comes back, we do all the same things again, plus add renew the IP on the computer etc. No internet. I get put on hold again. This time however, the agent spoke to someone who did something, now I have internet. Excellent.

So I do a speed test at speedtest.net. I’m on their 3Mpbs down service, not the full 6. I mention this to the tech, he’s says he doesn’t see their top service on my account, so I should call the CSRs again to re-order. Ok fine. So I do that. Everything should be ok. Later that night, my internet goes down again.

Now repeat the story with tech support again the next day, which is now Wednesday. This time however, I don’t have to re-order the high speed, they’re going to send a technician out to me on Friday. What time? They don’t set times, it’s an “all-day appointment”. How convenient. Then I remember since I’m in a townhouse that they generally do work at some common box for the whole set of units, so they probably won’t even need access to my house.

Anyway, I take the appointment and the day off. The guy comes by, and the internet it back. Not at the speed I ordered. He says to me he say that I ordered it and it should be in on monday. So I wait. By tuesday, still not the speed I ordered. So I call again, they say they didn’t see the top service on my account, so I re-order again. And again that evening the internet goes down.

So, a couple more phone calls to tech support, same issues, and in the end they want to send a tech guy to my house again. So I hold out for 3 or 4 days with no internet for the tech guy. I explained when I made this appointment that an “all-day” appointment is unacceptable. They agree to send the guy to me after 4pm. So I race home, get there at 4 to find a note on my door saying that he’s did something but was unable to get into the house to check the modem so upload may not work properly. I also says he was there at 2:50pm in the afternoon.

So I check my connection, I’m not getting my full down speed (just over half actually), and now I have the worst upload ever in my life (roughly 100 Kbps). So then I called Shaw to get cable internet.

So the cable guy was supposed to come to my house between 1 and 3pm. He was there early. He had everything he needed. We didn’t power cycle everything a million times. He brought the modem, signal amplifier, cables, splitter, everything and did all the work in probably 30 mins. Now I’m receiving service that faster than anything Telus even provides, and I’m pretty much hitting the advertised marks (they advertise 10 down 1 up and I’m getting like 98% of those numbers). He also informs me that in a couple months Shaw will be moving to Docsis 3 and I’ll be in for a nice surprise.

I would also like to note that he didn’t try to give me some stupid gateway, he just plugged the modem into my router. I’ve put DD-WRT on my router, and it has all sorts of crazy setting so that 2 XBox 360s, 5 computers all work correctly for streaming and Windows Media Center. He never even said the word router, he just plugged everything in. That’s exactly what he should do. Get a working connection to my house, let me handle what I do with it afterwards.

I haven’t cancelled Telus yet, I’ll be doing that later today. Perhaps that will be a seperate post.

On the single player side of things, do the same. It was a perfect length, you did unique things in unique places, it had very unexpected storylines, had an awesome intro, great set-pieces and was just a blast to rip through. If Infinity Ward can keep me on the edge of my seat again, then that would be perfect.

As somebody who has played a lot of COD4 multiplayer, here are my ideas for the second interation.

Overall, don’t change it. It’s intense, fast, gripping and satisfying. I’ve played this game to the complete detriment of many of high quality titles. It’s very very good, and it’s very not Halo (and other like titles). Keep it that way.

That being said, there are some things I’ve noticed with COD4 that could be tweaked for the sequel.

1. Don’t take away any of the current weapons. I am very familiar with almost all the weapons in COD4. I know what they are, how to use them correctly, and I have my preferences. Rather than tweak the current weapons or remove them all together, just make sure any new weapons fit in the current selection.
2. Allow another perk and/or split some apart to allow a fourth. I understand that splitting the perks into their groups allows for balance (for instance, stopping power and juggernaught being the same perk class, which I agree with). But I fail to understand why putting a grip on a RPD takes away Perk level 1 that has Grenade x3. Or why Matrydom removes the possibility of Deep Impact. I’d like to have a fouth perk option so that players are more customizable. Most people play with a small group of perks.
3. Slower knifing when being shot. This is something that drives me nuts. You pop around a corner and you start shooting somebody. You’re already hitting them. Then they knife you like you aren’t even there. They should still be able to knife, but the action has to be slower. You have to give the advantage to the person who deals damage first. I can’t imagine it would be easy to pull out a knife after taking your hand off your gun then actually knifing someone when you’re being hit with bullets.
4. Include the old mp levels. Please take the Rockband 2 model. You paid for the variety pack, you have the original disc, let us keep playing those maps. I’m happy with COD4, but I want more maps. If you’re going to make me buy another $60 game, let me keep those levels and ease the learning curve for the new game.
5. Add some options for beginners. It is very hard for beginners to get the feel for the game when they’re getting sniped by a level 55 that they didn’t even know was there. If there was a beginner playlist, or “similar skill only” playlist, this would allow beginners to learn the maps and have a chance against the other players. It’s pretty much common for new players to score 1 kill and 15 deaths for their first 100 games. More people will play it if they can learn it at a reasonable pace.
6. Spawn position tweaking. The spawning in COD4 was good, but it could be exploited by a knowledgable team. Probably everyone’s played a game on Downpour where your team was either annihilated, or was annihilating. With little cover on the lower side of the map from helicopters, if the killing team keeps their distance just enough, it’s like shooting fish in a barrel. The other team really has no chance. Also, sometimes when you’re killed, you get spawned so far on the other side of the map it takes to forever just to get back to the action, only to be sniped just as you get there to start the process over again. And occasionally, you’ll spawn right behind the person that killed you for an easy kill.
7. Seemingly strange hit detection at times. Sometimes, and I’m not the only person who’s noticed this, your bullets seem to be doing nothing. I’ve had many times where I’m playing well, leading the team in kills, then all of a sudden in the next game I can’t kill anyone. I’m shooting them, the “x” that appears when you’re making contact is there, but you’re dying everytime. It really feels like you’re shooting blanks. I suppose it could be a connection issue, but it’s like night and day from one game to the next. I’ve certainly played the game enough to know when I’m playing well, and to know how things react, and when this happens it feels like you had no chance at all.

Hopefully, Modern Warfare 2 will address these concerns/ideas plus improve in other areas that I had not considered, and then I can play that game everyday instead.

Just a couple youtube vids of that meteor.

Again, let me start by saying that I have not played it. I have however seen the reviews, watched some videos of people playing the game etc.

So why don’t I want it? Basically because there’s no reason to.

One of the big issues with Call of Duty 3 developed by Treyarch was that COD 2 from Inifinity Ward was so good, that any differences and/or short comings were going to get jumped on by the community. There’s really no reason to think that Treyarch couldn’t create an excellent shooter in the COD franchise.

So even though I don’t believe that Treyarch deserved the skeptism they’ve received prior to releasing COD: World at War, I none the less feel that everyone’s concerns were accurate.

So, looking at what I’ve seen of their new release’s multiplayer, I can see that they have done everything possible to lose the “not as good as the other one” argument. In fact, from what I can tell, the game is basically the same only with WWII weapons and perks. Even the menus that I’ve seen in the videos look just like COD4′s.

Therefore, yet again, there’s no reason to pick up this title (unless you’re way obsessed with WWII weapons, or never played COD4). So although Treyarch did what they could to “be as good as”, the problem with that is they are “only as good as” COD4.

So Activision, forget the yearly COD releases and just let Infinity Ward handle it. The fans will accept no less.

I haven’t read any reviews of Gears of War 2, but I have listened to a few podcasts that talked about it quickly. Hopefully my thoughts will be unique. I haven’t played it online yet, haven’t played co-op yet, and I haven’t finished it yet.

And I will start with a common theme among what I’ve heard. It is the same as the original, just better. More enemies, more executions, bigger levels, better visuals etc. It is the same game. If you liked the first, you’ll like the second.

To me the story is better, not great. I’m not really playing Gears for the story anyway, so the improvements are fine. There are sections in the game where I’m quite interested in what’s going on in the story arc. It doesn’t change how you play the game (if you could skip the cutscenes, it wouldn’t change anything about how you play, just take cover and shoot stuff). There was one particular section that was quite creepy and really interesting, but I haven’t seen or done anything along those lines since. I’m unsure if that part of the story will be completed in this game. I’m going to assume there’ll be a Gears 3 since it’s a successful franchise (I’d bet as a launch game on the NEXT xbox console).

The texture poping that was quite prevalent in the original is still there, but rather than sudden changes from no texture to full texture, there’s a subtle fade effect so it doesn’t catch your eye unless your looking right at it.

They have added some interesting things so far. One particular scene that I thought was interesting was a section where you and Dom must carry something together while fighting. I felt that section was something new and fun I hadn’t seen in other games before.

The boss battles have been quite fun. And there’s certainly no shortage of new bosses. Nor is there a shortage of new enemies. One thing I’ve noticed, and I could be completely wrong since I haven’t played the original at all in probably a year, is the difficulty of the enemies feels different to me. The normal guys (the drones and grenadiers, the ones that you’ll kill millions of) seem to be harder to kill than previous incarnation. This is good. The enemies from the last game were textbook bullet sponges. The fresh units still take a lot of bullets to kill, but they seem harder to hit. Plus, many times they’ll just go down, and one of their teammates will revive them. Conversely, the tougher enemies like the Boomers, seem quite easy to take out this time around. Maybe it’s because I’ve learned how to attack them properly, but even some of the new similar style enemies seem to be easy to take down as well (save the Bloodhounds, those things require your attention).

Another good example of expecting a bigger problem than you’ll actually have is the section where you fight 3 corpsers at the same time. I died a couple times quickly, but once I did what I was supposed to do, I killed all three in 5 seconds. Victory there was just too easy, especially with the setup that section receives.

Which reminds me of the one scene in the original where you face the Brumak (I didn’t play the pc version). I can’t tell you of how many Brumaks I’ve dispatched already. Four or five by now I think. That just seems weird.

Now I realize it really sounds like I’m complaining about the game, but I’m really not. I’m really enjoying it. And I’ll be playing it a lot the next couple days. Then I’ll start to dig into the multiplayer, which I hear is awesome. We’ll see if it can pull me away from Call of Duty 4′s online multiplayer.

Update
I’ve beaten the whole game now. For those of you that would complain about the final boss battle, I think you’re thinking about it wrong. It’s not a boss battle, it’s an interactive cut-scene. That being said, I felt a little underwhelmed myself.

Therefore, go play Horde mode with 4 friends. That is pure sweetness.

So I finally finished HL2: Episode 1 this last weekend, and now I’m digging into Episode 2. This game is magnificent. I had kind of forgotten about the Orange Box for my 360 that I had yet to complete (basically because of COD4). Never the less, I really really really like the gameplay.

I’m playing on the hard difficulty, which means to need to be on your toes when 3 hunters and a bunch of combine soldiers pop out of nowhere. Anyway, what I like most about the game are the sections where you need to stop and think. Of course, this is nothing new to Half Life.

I can remember Shawn Elliot talking on the GFW podcast way back (at least a year ago, probably a bit more) about Episode 2. He was referring to a specific section of the game where a grenade jump is needed to reach some locked up weapons and ammo. And as Shawn pointed out, only Valve could create such a puzzle (especially on the console). Now I didn’t realize I was in the room he was referring to until I had figured the puzzle out for myself.

***SPOILERS***

Basically, I will re-hash in my own words what I did and what Shawn said on the podcast. You enter the room, you have some items you want, a box of grenades, and a metal sheet that’s hinged on the floor that covers a 1 foot deep slot in the floor. In addition, there’s a switch up on a catwalk that is seemingly inaccessible that will unlock the loot you want.

And as Shawn said, once you figure it out, you’ll realize that as usual, Valve has provided you with all the necessary tools and info to solve the puzzle. Most developers will force you one way or another to walk somewhere (or give you a point on a radar) and will tell you to “hit A to activate” or some other garbage like that. No thinking involved.

Well, in this case, the metal sheet is hinged up, revealing that the area where it would cover has a blast mark on the floor. It took me a while to figure out that I need to fold the metal down, drop a grenade underneath it, and then stand on the metal sheet to grenade jump up to the switch to free the rocket launcher etc.

Valve had literally provided me with everything I needed. And my sense of accomplishment when I successfully figured out the puzzle was awesome. Sure there are plenty of other puzzles in the game that I solved, but this one was different because never before have I ever seen a developer purposely put a grenade jump into their gameplay.

I only wish that other developers would be bold enough to let their users figure out their own solutions to games, rather than hold their hands through ever single process.

Really looking forward to Episode 3 now. Hopefully the wait will soon be over.