Archive for the ‘Hardware’ Category
Open Source Games
I’m sure there has been a lot of incidents where you have cursed your most recently acquired game, be it anything from a silly to annoying bug, the lack of a feature that would have made playing more heavenly for you or even something as small as better detail on some object on screen.
Now what if the game were open source, to the fullest extent rather than just the “Extend”. You don’t like the character’s tail, you contribute an idea in form of a feature-request or by getting into the development yourself. So do million others. Together you can, over time, form a completely different game than the one you were being unsatisfied with!
Yo Frankie! - An open source game in active development.
The usual way of extending a game would be to add in map and skin packs while letting the functionality of the entire game remain constant. What if the game evolves with time, adding in new moves, more pick-ups and extras, and more elements to the game, such as weapons or collectibles?
Though these are present in some of the games alive today, it would be greater if the game were or went open-source, opening the game’s code to a world of never-before imagined possibilities and also getting in tons of optimization over time. Of course, building a game big enough like the heavyweights we have today requires the work of a large active team behind it, but once done with its release, getting in additions to the code would we amazingly easy were it supported by a good version-tracking system!
Playing such a game would mean endless hours of fun, repeated every couple of months for a completely different experience while still remaining the old charms that a player liked. New innovative concepts implemented by avid code-enabled gamers would add in more and more goodies, much like how Compiz-Fusion is today, an idea being born a day and implemented almost as fast.
Yes there would be a point where it would hit a roadblock and this is where the next game development has to begin. Ideas found in the older version could be tried out across a multitude of other genres, and what a learning experience would it be for creating that “ultimate” game many always dreamed about!
I hope some biggie in gaming gets onto this OSS bandwagon, with atleast a half-baked title cracked open, and pretty soon, since the game market is losing out on ideas really, and thats cause ideas are limited to them in the closed confines they live in.
You’d say what of the OSS games we have today, and I’d point at their evergrowing success till date. No game has ever been given a cold shoulder and kicked out of existence, right from Nethack to Nezuiz. Though this post was inspired by a particular game known as Yo Frankie!.
Undesirable Power Situation (UPS)
I’ve never felt the need of a UPS for nearly two years until now. 
Was gaming early at around 12:30 yesterday with Karthik and suddenly my Zebronics SMPS (400W PSU) goes *Bang*. Just like a balloon bang under a water tank, yeah that kind of a resonating noise. No sparks, no fire but it definitely blew up! Oh I did have the very irritating burning smell though.
06:00 AM - I didn’t pay much attention then as I was feeling sleepy and had college to go to but my dreams, they already started showing me the new rigs I might get if this one conked out entirely.
05:00 PM (After College) - A friend of mine, Jayahari, agreed to help see whats wrong and dissected the SMPS (He does this pretty fast for any hardware :P) and noticed some capacitors bulged and some stains on the circuit. Ok, so its definitely SMPS’s fault we thought and moved to Richie Street and got a new 500W PSU (The former was 400W).
07:30 PM - Hooked up the new SMPS and it still didn’t boot. Ok this is wrong, very wrong Then I noticed that none of the devices connected to my spike strip were functioning so I checked its fuse and it was kaput too. Damn, so it wasn’t my SMPS’s fault all the way, it was TNEB’s!
08:00 PM - Pulled out a newer spike strip from my electrical repository 
and used it to boot the PC, and it did fine. Jayahari couldn’t seem to forgive himself for not checking the power first rather than the SMPS. But he hooked the old SMPS to the main power, and it sparked out again, which made him quite content.
Now - Back online and need a new UPS to avoid another one of these *Bangs*
More:
Not one shop in Richie Street had any of the foreign brands Kalpik and others had recommended me to get. I had the budget and will to buy it while I had gone there but I just didn’t find any. 
All seemed to be selling “Premium” Zebronics when asked about higher range stuff. 
Microsoft to buy Logitech?
Curse me kilts if that happens!
According to Reuters, rumours are circulating that Microsoft will launch a takeover bid for Logitech at 48 Francs ($43) per share, representing a premium of 38 per cent.
Such a move would leave Microsoft the largest peripherals manufacturer in the world.
But of course, nothing beats a TVS mechanical keyboard. Only if it had some multimedia keys on it
Some day, some day soon, I’ll get you Optimus Maximus. You’re all mine 
The new Transcend T.sonic 650 music player
A while ago I blogged about my purchase of a Transcend T.sonic 630 4 GB Music Player here.
Now Transcend has given it a complete looks overhaul and has released the newer Transcend T.sonic 650 players!
Here’s how they look: (Very delicious looking, and curvy compared to my 630!)
If you ask me, its just the same 630 in features, with a 610 style 2-Color OLED screen. All the other features as seen in this Press Release by Transcend are exactly the same as the T.sonic 630 except an additional memory for 10 FM stations. (The 630 has 10 slots, the 650 has 20)
Comes only in 2 GB (The White one) and 4 GB (The Black one) variants.
Microsoft and Drinks - and Halo 3
Remember the Windows Vista drink?
Well here’s another to that, a Halo 3 ultra mega special limited edition ‘Game Fuel’ drink. Yeah, right.
Its a Mountain Dew which pretty much looks like ugly orange fuel in itself (The default is cow pee, as we usually say), and has the Master Chief printed across its curves. You can look at its pictures and the IGN people’s reactions to it here.
