Unterra Blog

Best GTA IV moment so far (no significant spoilers)

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 09:02:30 GMT

The "kick" button and the "jump/vault" button are the same. Locking on to a target activates kicking; if you're not locked on, you jump. It's a reasonable design choice, but of course the control scheme can only be as good as the person using it.

After a couple hours of eschewing random acts of violence, I overheard an obnoxious cell phone conversation and decided the chump needed to be taken down a peg. Imagine his surprise when, in the middle of a pleasant stroll through a little park, Niko Bellic came up behind him and favored him with a barrage of punches and kicks.

But imagine his far greater surprise when Niko suddenly turned away from his prostrate body to the park railing next to them both, vaulted over it, and plummeted to his death on the street 30 feet below. (I'd forgotten about the need to lock on for kicking.) It was absurd and hilarious. So my first death in GTA IV is also my favorite moment so far.

Second favorite moment: taking my first taxi ride and rubbernecking all the way to the destination.

Fun with cultural relativism

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:28:09 GMT

I would have bet good money that I'd already posted this in the past, but according to a search of the blogs and the forum, I didn't. So here you go.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_James_Napier

A story for which Napier is famous involves a delegation of Hindu locals approaching him and complaining about prohibition of Sati, often referred to at the time as suttee, by British authorities. This was the custom of burning widows alive on the funeral pyres of their husbands. The exact wording of his response varies somewhat in different reports, but the following version captures its essence:

"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."

Damn, I love that story. Rule Britannia!

So it's Earth Day.

Tue, 22 Apr 2008 10:24:32 GMT

Today we celebrate the nurturing love of our mother Gaia, and so forth.

Don't be fooled by all the sentimental anthropomorphizing claptrap. Earth is often beautiful, yes. But remember that to Earth, we are smaller than fleas on a hound. And remember too that if you get in its way, Earth will kill you without a second thought.

"That was special."

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 08:42:07 GMT

I'm back! Howdy everyone! I had a good trip and got my most powerful sunburn in years. If you're in Akron or Cleveland this week and you spot a man whose skin has the texture of a deep-fried pork rind and the color of Spam, that's probably me.

Yesterday I decided to start Crackdown from scratch. I'd forgotten just what a good game it was, and how funny the Agency assistant can be ("That was special" is one of his lines for the times when you fail badly). Between Crackdown and actual work (including a new Dream Makers thingy in progress) I should have enough to keep me distracted between now and next Tuesday night.

UPDATE: I think this is my gamertag, right?

http://live.xbox.com/en-US/profile/profile.aspx?pp=0 &GamerTag=gughunter

Adios

Sat, 12 Apr 2008 05:51:08 GMT

Dear BYONDers,

By the time you read this, I will be gone. Please do not shed any tears for me. I know the road ahead will be challenging, but God willing, I shall enter into a new life... in Mexico! For a week, anyway. So, see you in a week! (Or maybe before, if I rent a computer.)

If you have any good stuff you've been thinking about submitting to Dream Makers, please do it in the next few days so our staff will have something to post!

A tip for fan game makers

Mon, 31 Mar 2008 20:03:21 GMT

I'm retreading some old ground here, but since BYOND is always getting eager new developers, this bears repeating.

Check out the link below. These fellows expended considerable effort to replicate a game they loved, only to be shut down (at least for the moment) by the copyright holders.

http://www.teardown.se/ (click the "News" link)

The copyright holders are within their legal rights to insist that the game not be distributed. However, note this distinction carefully: graphics, music, characters, and text can all be copyrighted, but gameplay CANNOT. This is a well-established principle, but if you don't believe me, look at all the clones of Pac-Man, Asteroids, Pong, etc. out there -- or look at the 360 game Saints Row, which swipes gameplay from Grand Theft Auto III and its successors.

(Saints Row did make some notable improvements to the control scheme, and added clever new side missions such as Insurance Fraud, plus other distinctive features like GPS-style pathfinding and dialable phone numbers. Recent previews suggest that GTA's creators are about to return the favor by incorporating many of those improvements into their newest installment. When video game programmers try to one-up each other, everyone wins!)

The currently-inert game linked above would have been untouchable if, instead of "Space Hulk," it was called (for example) "Space Flotsam"; if instead of "Genestealers" it referred to "DNA Eaters"; and if similar substitutions had been made throughout. Something to weigh carefully before you commit months of your life to programming a fan game, however respectful and well-intentioned it may be.

Like school in the summertime

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 18:49:02 GMT

...no class!

I'll admit I don't have much warrant to talk about class -- I'm basically just a redneck who can spell. And I will at least give the people described in the linked article some amount of credit for not physically harming anyone.

That said, how screwed up do you have to be to think that going into a church on the single holiest day of the Christian liturgical year[1] and spraying the congregation with fake blood is a useful form of protest?

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ chi-easter-protest-24-webmar25,1,3001091.story

[1] Interesting side note: after writing that, I looked up Easter on Wikipedia and the first sentence also uses the term "liturgical year," which I don't think I've ever used before. "Easter, also called Pascha, is the most important religious feast in the Christian liturgical year." (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Easter)

Star Wars gets hip

Tue, 11 Mar 2008 07:12:57 GMT

This is safe for work, but it's still very wrong.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z25t-PQDn5A

R.I.P, E. Gary Gygax

Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:28:43 GMT

Shave thy heads in mourning, ye who play Role-Playing Games of any stripe, be they on computer monitor or tabletop!

(Warning: link may use profane language and inside jokes.)
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/257035.php

"Well, yeah, I learned basic probability, but more important was the vocabulary. Gygax wrote with a style that would be called archly pretentious, except it wasn't arch; it was just him. However, yeah, I was exposed to a lot of SAT builder type words just browsing through his defensive explanations of why fighters only got one attack per minute.

"And so too, from an early age, I wrote i.e. and e.g. and always knew the difference between them. In law school I had to explain to people the difference. I knew it from seventh grade, because of the Dungeon Masters Guide."

You can pick up a copy of the 1st Edition DM's Guide for $20 or less on eBay. I recommend it, whether or not you ever actually play a single session.

I apologize in advance

Sat, 01 Mar 2008 16:51:47 GMT

For this link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtFotf7NEWg&feature=related