Month: September 2004

A fun little game you should definitely try out is TSS Demo, as seen at the foremost computer wizardry convention known as Assembly04. Only 10MB, it emulates a Grand Theft Auto-type immersive world of fast cars and vast landscapes for havoc.

I’ve had so much fun with it, I made a few modifications to the configuration files and soundtrack. Therefore, I am proud to present TSS Demo: quantaMod 1.1.

Since there doesn’t seem to be a way to contact the original authors, this is my attempt to work with the initialization scripts and sounds to enhance the gameplay. However, I can only tweak what Aukiogames has already implemented in the binary code; I cannot add any new features. I hope Aukiogames releases an update version of TSS for the public to enjoy!

All models, animations and game engine are the creations and property of Aukiogames.

New Features

* Day/Night Cycles (but not as fast as NullZilla’s)
* More cars, all drivable!
** Big Coupe, Small Coupe, Semi Truck, Rolls Royce, Police LandRover
* Names of cars appear when you enter a car
* Player Model (Guy with afro) is also a pedestrian
* New camera views:
** Chase view
** Slot view (high chase view for tall vehicles)
** First person view (doesn’t work in semi well)
** Wheelcam view
** Goodyear blimp view
* New Radio Music
** The original 4 tracks, 4 new tracks by NullZilla, and 7 new tracks by quanta!
* New crash sfx
* Easier to get inside houses (by NullZilla)

Installation

# Download and unzip TSS demo.
# Download and unzip quantaMod into the same folder, overwriting files as needed.
# Run Config.exe to set up video options.
# Click Game.exe and play!

If you want to improve your overall outlook on life, you may want to dissect a Magic 8-Ball. For the rest of us who just want to get through the day with the email-and-kitchen-sink app known as Microsoft Outlook, here’s a couple free add-ons you might be interested in.

# Lookout is a search engine that can search all your Outlook folders at once and display results in a matter of seconds. It was recently bought by Microsoft but still sports its open source license. So maybe you should download it ASAP before it’s all gone.
# DateLens is a spiffed up Calendar written by the University of Maryland and Microsoft Research. It allows you to zoom in and out of appointments, allowing you to rapidly switch from a birds-eye view of your month to a microscopic perusal of your day. It’s hard to describe; take a look at their demonstration video.

Both apps require at least Outlook 2000 and .Net Framwork 1.1. But they’re worth it.

In Thief: Deadly Shadows, one of the Keepers’ proverbs is, “You may have found the lock, but do not assume yours is the only key.”

So it’s kind of amusing in a shaudenfreudeish way to discover that most Kryptonite bike locks, the Cadillacs of U-shaped bike locks, can be opened with the end of a Bic ballpoint pen. The circumference of the Bic matches that of the circular keyhole.

I sorta wish I learned this five years ago; I wouldn’t have to resort to cutting my rusted-out bike lock with a dremel.

We’ve also learned that Kensington computer locks can be picked open with a paper clip.

Of course, no lock is perfect, and it seems that Kryptonite is now investigating the issue. Until then, fellow bikers, perhaps our Kryptonites are best used to club would-be bike thieves in the head.

The gamers were in abuzz last night over some comments from Take-Two executives during a shareholder call. Take2 CEO Rich Roedel erroneously mentioned that the perennially delayed Duke Nukem Forever was using the DOOM3 engine, and before you can say “pepperpots at an ice cream social”, most of the Internet gaming sites posted the news as factual.

Changing 3D rendering engines midway is a titanic pain in the programmers’ collective ass. If this fact was true, would mean even more costly delays for this game.

George Broussard of 3DRealms, the developer of Duke Nukem, mentioned that only one gaming news source, GameSpot, bothered to even double check this decidely improbable piece of news with him or his team. Not that they were any more scrupulous, as Broussard remarked to Shacknews:

“When they ran the story about the engine change, they ended it with “Attempts to contact 3D Realms for comment were unsuccessful as of press time.” The news story was posted 35 minutes after I received an e-mail from them requesting confirmation.

Gamespot, I apologize. Your e-mail came in at 10:04pm and I was working elsewhere in the building. I will try to be more accessible to you in the future.”

Makes you wonder how many other news stories you read every day are completely false, just for the sake of rushing the newsflash out the door.

“$35,000 of rocket is now a whole lot of primo Armadillo Droppings. There are a few pipe fittings that survived, but that’s about it. It’s a good thing Doom 3 is selling very well…”

– John Carmack’s assessment of the crash landing of his X-Prize contender. Carmack works at Armadillo Aerospace as well as id Software.

“I used to have this chat-up line, my only chat-up line, as a little test: Imagine you’re walking on a path – what’s the path like? Imagine you go to the woods – what does the forest look like?”

– Peter Molyneux, creator of simulation games such as Populous and Black and White, on his innovative strategy in picking up women.

“Ask kids in the back of a car on a two-hour trip, ‘Hey, would you like to have your videos there?’ My kids would. I guess Steve’s kids just listen to Bach and Mozart. But mine, they want to watch ‘Finding Nemo.’ I don’t know who made that, but it’s really a neat movie.”

– Bill Gates, pointing out the advantages of the Portable Media Center vs. Apple’s iPod music player. Finding Nemo was made by Pixar, of which Steve Jobs is CEO.

Just chilling at home, although apparently the airspace above said home is the flight path for the planes from the CNE Airshow. Have been “buzzed” liberally throughout the afternoon. Kinda creepy hearing jet planes barrelling past you, especially when you’re watching CNN.

A funny thread on Neowin: Posted on Saturday, September 4, 2004Categories techLeave a comment on Turbine engines and fanboys