Torchlight – Game Review

November 21st, 2009

First, let me say that I think the comparisons between Torchlight and Diablo II are reasonable, but also giving Diablo too much credit.  The dungeon-crawling genre has been around since the turn-based, randomly generated hack-n-slash fest, Rogue (and all its derivatives).  I will grant that Diablo and Diablo II took the genre to a new graphical and real-time direction.  Since the phenomenal success of Blizzard’s bloodfest it has been inevitably copied and rehashed over and over again.

This most recent reiteration of the genre comes from the people that originally made Diablo and the most recent successful reincarnation, Fate.  With this pedigree it is not surprising that the hack-n-slash gameplay is spot-on.  However I am surprised at the lack of innovation in the title.  This is not to say the game is bad or not worth the $20 price tag… far from it… but it is a little light on the cutting edge for a genre that needs innovation.

Torchlight is pretty.  It does not go for the gruesome realism route of modern games and amps the characters and creatures to cartoonish levels.  If you want a more realistic-looking successor to Diablo II, go try Titan Quest.  This is more like the World of Warcraft version of fantasy.  The textures and models are crisp and support most modern resolutions (something Diablo II has not aged well with), without overwhelming even modest integrated graphic chipsets (I use an Intel GMA 4500MHD).  The game flows well and moves seamlessly between integrated story scenes and the game.  The level designs are randomly generated, but flow very well together, even containing some multiple heights components.  This is probably the most prominent innovation in the game.  Fate used a similar system, but always felt less organic in its level design, more grid-like than the general flow found in Torchlight.

Some of the features that the reviewers have been fawning over baffle me, since they are found in Fate or Titan Quest prior to this game.  The game companion is a direct copy of the feature in Fate, even down to the shapeshifting fish and remote loot sales.  Fishing in the game is also found in Fate as are most of the game’s town locations and merchants.  The only significant gameplay differences I found from Fate were the inclusion of specific classes (similar to most other crawlers, going back to the D&D roots of the games) and the inclusion of loot that works as groups (found in Diablo and Titan Quest).  These elements are nice and make the game feel different than Fate to enough of a degree that I could justify buying the game.

VERDICT – This is the classic pick-up-and-play dungeon crawler.  You only mean to play for a couple of minutes and find hours have vanished in your quest for just one more level.  It isn’t deep in story or mechanics (go play Fallout 3 for that), but it infinitely replayable and viscerally satisfying.

PROS -

  • Smooth graphics that run on even low-end machines with aplomb, but look nice on competent machines.
  • Character classes allow for distinct styles of gameplay and give distinct, varied upgrade paths.
  • All of the good parts of Fate are here.
  • Mechanics are simple, but addictive
  • Cheap

CONS -

  • Lacks any significant innovation of the genre

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Smishing

November 15th, 2009

Just as a informational post I thought I would write about this.  I am not a big text message user, usually only the occasional grocery list to or from my wife, but apparently this has become the new battleground for scam artists.  I woke up this morning to an SMS on my phone “from” my credit union saying that my account was locked.  All I had to do was call the toll-free number and verify account details.  It was a pretty obvious phishing attack (called smishing if it comes through text messages I learned), but I sent a notification to my credit union so they could alert others.  Always be leery of unsolicited texts or emails out there, I would hate for any of you to get your identities stolen through some clever scheme.  Having had my ID stolen a few years ago (through a skimmer at a restaurant), I can tell you it is not a pleasant experience to get over.

*cross-posted on my JCC blog for safety concerns*

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Vaccines

November 6th, 2009

It is that time of the year when I get my annual dose of frustration. Even with the overwhelming evidence supporting the value and safety of both childhood and influenza vaccines the vocal and irrational advocates of the antivaccine movement have come out to spew their vitriol in the media. The recent media frenzy over the Wired article by Amy Wallace and the half-informed “discussions” by various TV “news” personalities about the H1N1 vaccine only show the power this uninformed group has over a national health priority. The problem is that the whole movement is driven by fear and a fanatical belief that remains firm even in direct opposition to cold, hard facts.

Let us start with the most obvious fact, children have been vaccinated against multiple diseases since the 1960s (with the MMR vaccine licensed in 1971) and yet the rapid “increase” in autism cases doesn’t appear until the 1990s. Is it more likely that the increase is due to vaccination protocols that have been used for decades before the perceived rise (even though vaccines were added to the schedule, others were removed) or to the increased diagnosis of a confusing and heterogeneous spectrum of related disorders. Likewise, the idea that the preservative thiomersal is responsible for the rise in autism rates does not hold up under scrutiny. The preservative, while present in some of the influenza vaccine preps, was voluntarily removed from childhood vaccines during the 1990s, yet we have continued to see dramatic rises in autism rates. Again, we are forced to ask the question of whether it is more likely that the rate is due to the limited chance of receiving thiomersal in the annual influenza vaccine (which has a significantly lower use rate than childhood vaccine) or that the preservative is not a causative factor (an idea supported by multiple studies directed at this specific question).

The most insidious manifestation of autism is late-onset, where abilities regress suddenly. This happens at around two years of age, about the same time as the end of the US vaccine schedule (first part) and coincidence equals consequence to people desperate for an answer to why their child has been affected. Unfortunately there is no simple answer as to why autism occurs. So many disorders are listed in the autism spectrum that a simple etiology is impossible and it is likely that most of them are due to multifactorial causes (a mixture of genetic, environmental, and/or infectious factors). While I empathize with these parents, I temper my empathy with the realization than regular and consistent vaccination of the children in our country has prevented at the very least thousands of deaths and countless incidents of hospitalization and needless suffering. I also recognize that these diseases are not eradicated (a feat only ever accomplished with smallpox) and that as vaccine rates drop due to the anti-vaccine fear-mongering these diseases will reemerge. It is already apparent that this effect has hampered the worldwide effort to eradicate polio and has slowed the eradication effort for measles (a virus that has a 30% fatality rate in developing countries).

There is no illusion that this is an argument that a single blog post can win, but it is important that those who understand the science speak out. I might not be a Hollywood celebrity or a faux news personality, but I have read the studies and I have looked at the facts and it seems abundantly clear that the evidence points to the safe and effective use of vaccines.

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School Tech – Fall Semester 2009 Edition

September 22nd, 2009

I have made a few changes to my tech line-up for the new term.  In some respects I have slimmed down the kit I carry and in others I have substantially upgraded my kit.

Backpack – Targus Laptop Backpack – Same reasons as last time.

Primary Computer – Dell Studio 15 (Best Buy Edition) – Again, repeat from the last list

Secondary Monitor – HP 20 in Widescreen LCD (1680 X 1050) – I have moved to using my primary laptop as my primary computer in my office.  To help with file and window management I have taken to using my old 20 inch LCD monitor as a second monitor in the office.  This serves as the primary monitor and the laptop screen in an extended desktop for things like Outlook or heaven forbid Facebook.

Phone/PDA/MP3 Player – iPhone 3GS – I have finally succumbed and purchased an iPhone.  With the latest hardware and software I find it to be a ready upgrade to my Zen/Axim/SE phone triad of before.  Now if they would just get Flash working on it…

Camera – Nikon D5000 – I have started to get into more visual work for my courses and needed to upgrade from a point and shoot.  I find the Nikon D5000 to be an excellently balanced DSLR that allows for ease of use and complete control when desired.

Software – Same as before.

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Multimedia Techie Heaven

August 30th, 2009

We just rearranged the living room and my wife wanted me to get rid of the computer armoire we had housing the desktop.  I like my desktop, it is my gaming machine and very current with tech, and was loathe to get rid of it.  I decided to retask the machine as our new multimedia computer.  Our HDTV has a VGA input so it is an easy connection and the modern black motif of the HP computer matches well with the Ikea media table we got.  The upside is that the desktop came fully equipped as a multimedia machine with a MCE remote and tuner card.  The machine works great for the lower cable channels, music, and DVDs, though it takes some tweaking for other multimedia.  A quick search of the web led me to plugins that allow me to directly access Hulu, BBC, IPTV, and different video formats (including my favorite XviD).  Now I can directly access all my multimedia with a single system (except the higher cable channels).

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Quarterly Linux Round-Up

August 10th, 2009

As much as my school makes it painless to succumb to the siren song of Microsoft with free OS updates and Office loads I cannot get past my love for the open source Linux platform.  Usually I use my new Dell Studio 15 for work (Vista with Office 2007) and I am quite happy with its performance, especially the battery life, but I still take the time to try out new linux distros.  I load them onto my old Compaq laptop as a test of how well the new distros run on less than new machines and how much they rejuvenate the systems.

The system I use has the following specs.

  • Dothan Core Pentium M (1.5 GHz)
  • 786 MB RAM
  • 40 GB HDD (5400 RPM)
  • ATI Mobility 9200 (64 MB)
  • WSVGA 15.4″ Monitor

I chose three new distros this round to compare to my current favorite Ubuntu 9.04.  First I chose the XFCE spin of Ubuntu, Xubuntu 9.04, to try a leaner variant of the original.  Second, there is OpenSUSE 11 (with the XFCE environment).  Finally, Fedora 11 the most often hailed competitor to Ubuntu.

Xubuntu 9.04

The Ubuntu family has been around for a while and has been very good about providing spins of the OS in each of the dominant desktop environments (KDE, Gnome, and XFCE).  I typically use the Gnome variant, but wanted to try the XFCE version due to its lighter memory footprint.  Installation was the typical graphical Ubuntu affair, meaning very user friendly and easy to work well with other partitions.  To give each OS its best chance I always install them fresh on full partitions.  I am slightly disappointed that the Ubuntu family still sticks with the ext3 format instead of the newer ext4 format, but there has been talk of some incompatibilities with the new ext4 format and older programs.  I will assume that the new Karmic Koala (9.10) release will address this.  Installation took around twenty minutes and went without a hitch, autorecognizing everything on the system and allowing full use.

The system boots smoothly and relatively quickly, though not any quicker than the Ubuntu version.  The desktop for Xubuntu is a little disappointing in that it reminds me more of a minimal Gnome desktop versus a real XFCE desktop.  I don’t mind the look, but that is because I am more a Gnome guy myself, but those looking for a minimal desktop will have to do some tweaking.  Fortunately XFCE allows a lot of tweaking and it doesn’t take long to get the desktop to whatever look you want.

The selection of software is good, but has some holes in the default install.  I love Abiword and Gnumeric for general office work due to their small memory footprints and excellent responsiveness, but they are not an integrated package.  The most glaring omission is that there is no presentation software (i.e. PowerPoint or Keynote).  While you can argue the benefits of presentation software, but they are necessary.  In the end you will have to add OpenOffice just to get a complete office package.  Fortunately the 9.04 version comes with OO 3.0 so it is a fairly peppy version.  This is one of the places the Ubuntu family shines, the ease of adding new software.  The builtin ‘Add/Remove’ function is second to none and makes it easy to add anything you need.

Overall the system felt peppy and had very little lag on my slightly older machine.  However there are some problems with compatibility to simple programs I need like Dropbox.  Finally, though Thunar is a good file managment system it lacks network compatibility like Nautilus and makes it a poor business model.

Final Verdict: Good and runs well on my antique, but lacks anything to pull me away from the Gnome version.  I would recommend it as a basic system for low-end systems, but still prefer the Ubuntu version.

OpenSUSE 11

I have always heard that I should try the open versions of the thousand pound gorillas in the Linux world, SUSE and Red Hat, so I started with the OpenSUSE release.  Previously when I have attempted to work with the OpenSUSE distro I have run into major compatibility problems (usually wireless problems) and have dismissed them as immature in execution.  Now that there is a new release I downloaded the new DVD image and tried it out.

The installer for OpenSUSE has matured quite a bit and does a decent job graphically.  I enjoyed the benefit of getting to choose from a number of desktop environments (even some less common ones) and I chose the Gnome environment (of course).  On the downside I found the partitioning system to be inadequate in its flexibility.  It took me a while to get the hard drive in the proper shape and I would say this is something that the developers should work on in the next round.

Once installation was complete the system booted just fine.  While compatibility has drastically improved since the last release it is still not perfect.  The flaw this time is mainly with small things such as the trackpad and ancillary controls.  While none of them are game-killers it is still an annoyance that should exist for a machine as old and commonly equipped as mine.

The default software load is spartan to say the least, but at least most of the additions you need are on the DVD and do not require network access.  I would still argue that the deafult load should be a little more complete to compete with the other distros.

Performance was adequate, but in no way special.

Final Verdict: OpenSUSE still needs to mature and really is still not a top notch distro for those looking for a good easy to deploy solution.

Fedora 11

Red Hat is one of the real monsters of Linux.  In the Open Source community Fedora is the Red Hat branch.  I always have high hopes the Fedora spins, but have yet to be won over.  In the end this release did nothing to change that assumption.  Installation was good, though suffered the same issues that OpenSUSE had, poor partition control.  Why neither of these commerical derivatives cannot learn this leasson I will never know.

The system booted fine and recognize all of the systems components.  The Gnome environment was well laid out but in no way unique and performance was standard.  The install was standard and adequate for most business uses (my personal measure).

Final Verdict: Adequate and good.  If its installer was better it would be on par with Ubuntu, but to rise above it there needs to be some wow factor, something that Ubuntu doesn’t offer.

In the end I will be sticking with Ubuntu for the time being.

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My Adventures in Telecommuting

June 18th, 2009

For the past several months I have been able to do a portion of my work through telecommuting.  While not everyone has this option, it is a growing concern in the business world for the cost savings it enables.  I teach at the post-secondary level so telecommuting involves the addition of online classes and the use of electronic collaberation systems to connect with my students.  In this environment it is easy to only see the plus side of the equation (I can work in my PJs), but a little thought must be taken about the concerns and adjustments that must also be made.  Below is a short list of the items I have encountered so far.

  • Always have a backup connection – At home I have a fairly reliable cable modem that gets a good 5-10 Mbps on average.  I haven’t had any major problems with it, but it only takes one bad storm to ruin your internet access for quite a while.  If you are going to telecommute you need to have at least two backup plans in place for high-speed access (no dial-up doesn’t count) before you need them.  For me my first plan would be any number of local free WiFi locations around my house (Panera Bread is a godsend, but local colleges or libraries also usually work).  If the local WiFi gods are not smiling down on me I have it set up so that in a pinch I can tether a cell-phone through my computer to get a decent DSL-like connection (usually around 300-500 kbps) which is good enough for my work.  The more bandwidth dependent your gig is the better your backups need to be.
  • Telecommuting is not free child-care – I have a young daughter and both my wife and I work.  In the beginning I figured that the telecommuting would cut down the cost of childcare since I would be home, boy was I wrong.  If you are telecommuting, you are working, it is that simple.  The fact that you have to change a diaper is not an excuse clients want to hear.  I am fortunate that my telecommuting work is mainly asynchronous and therefore can be pushed to late night hours (after the little angel is in bed), but if you are not so fortunate spring for childcare if needed.
  • Work machines are not for games - As soon as I started thinking about telecommuting I knew I would need a new laptop (I was running a 1st generation Centrino).  Of course part of this was tech envy, but the other part was the practical realization that my old machine wasn’t designed with current broadband in mind and I didn’t want to be chained to my desktop.  So like a kid with a huge wad of Christmas money I went out looking for a new laptop.  At first I was drooling over the latest and greatest power laptops (sure Alienware makes great business models), but after a little while I realized that I was buying a machine for a job, not for my leisure time.  I ended up going with an entirely different set of specs than I originally thought about any emphasized the feature that make telecommuting so pleasurable: comfortable keyboard (sorry EeePc), decent screen size, great wireless card (mmm, N class how I have lusted after you) and battery life (who needs a stinking power cord).  I am very happy with the Dell Studio 15 that I purchased and the only other option I could think of would be a 3G wireless card, but those plans are way too pricey.  As a side benefit, it is a lot easier to justify the purchase as a business expense if it doesn’t have the guts of a gaming machine.
  • Communicate your expectations clearly with both your clients and your supervisor – In my field this means my students and my dean, but the same premise holds true with any field.  Your clients should know exactly how much personal interaction they will be getting through the arrangement.  For me this involves things like how long of a turnaround will there be on student emails.  With my supervisor it has been a growing experience of realizing, on both sides, that telecommuting is not less time spent on task, but rather different time spent on task.  You get no benefit from the arrangement if your supervisor say wants your to telecommute but also expects full face-to-face time from you.  These problems are easily solved through open communication and honest discussion, usually.
  • Realize you will no longer be 9 to 5 – Some people hate this aspect of modern life, but the more your work environment becomes virtual the less you are constrained to a 9-5 schedule.  This is both an advantage and a disadvantage.  On the negative side, you must always realize that your clients or supervisors will be keeping very differing schedules (especially if they are also in a telecommuting mode) and by human nature will expect you to match them.  To allieviate this clearly communicate your definite ‘on’ times and set limits for when you will be ‘blacked out’ so that other can plan around you, just as you plan around them.  In my case I have definite virtual ‘office hours’ where I am freely available to my students through a chat client and a definite turnaround time.  On the plus side it means that I can spend my telecommunting days with my daughter and then do my work at night.

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Oooo, new phone envy

June 7th, 2009

I just found out that AT&T may be carrying the new Sony Ericsson C905a slider phone.  It will be a huge coup for the carrier, since it would be the only significant high end camera phone they have.  The C905a is a 8.1 MP cyber-shot phone and recently I have found myself using the camera function more and more on my phone.  Supposedly this phone will be released on June 9th, but we will have to wait and see.

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Open Request to Sony Ericsson

June 4th, 2009

I love my SE z750a.  It is a great phone I have written about before and I have found very little reason to upgrade back to a smartphone (i.e. WM or the dreaded iPhone).  However, I would like to talk about a few things that SE could do to convince me to upgrade.  First, get support from domestic carriers, unlocked is nice but the price is too high for unlocked phones in the US.  Second, actually move the specs up.  The most logical upgrade from my current z750a right now is the upcoming z707 (although this may not be around anymore) or w518 (AT&T).  The only notice upgrade in either of these is a 1 MP bump in camera resolution and gesture or motion controls, neither is a big selling point to me.  Here is my wish list.

  • Total Geek request – develop an app for the SE phones to support DRMed BBeB (Sony Ereader) books, much like the Kindle on iPhone App.  The current SE phones support Mobipocket already and frankly it makes a great quick and dirty ebook reader.  Go to the logical next step and integrate your company product line, heck any allow syncing of the libraries.
  • Slider model with a QWERTY keypad or BB Pearl style keypad, something to improve texting on the phones, this is the only hardware dependent flaw in the SE line-up, no text-heavy models.  Even Nokia has noticed that this is a significant market and aimed a few of the upcoming models at it.
  • Change to support open standards (micro USB, micro SD, etc).  I was glad to see that the newer lines are eliminating the M2 slots for microSD, but go all the way.
  • Force carriers to stop disabling the usuable features of your phones in their custom OS layers (notably the excellent email client that is baked in, AT&T’s mobile email sucks in comparison).
  • Get a usable Java program repository in the US.  It is doable with GetJar, but it should be a more clean-cut and straightforward process.
  • Use a single Walkman and Cybershot interface on all media phones, stop having the customer choose which multimedia is more important or using one that excels at neither.

If SE meets even half of those ideas I will be looking for a new phone, but until then I’ll just stick with my z750a.

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Geek Gear, 2009 Edition

May 22nd, 2009

As a devoted techie I regularly update my tech gear.  Since I am in education I work most my tech around items that can help me communicate with my students or generate content for them.  Here is my current edition.

Bag – Standard Targus Backpack - I like this backpack.  Not only does this backpack have a significantly padded laptop pouch, it is just chok full of little pouches and cubbies that help me organize the ancillary equipment.  In addition to tech duty, the bag also makes an excellent daypack and diaper bag for those tech free days with my daughter.

Primary Laptop – Dell Studio 15 (Best Buy edition) - I picked this laptop up earlier in the year as a replacement for my first generation (Dothan era) Centrio Compaq notebook.  This laptop is my primary work machine (though not my gaming machine) and as such its primary characteristics have to be connectivity and battery life.  The innards of the machine are pretty standard Centrino 2 fare (though not labeled as such due to Dell’s propriatary wireless card) and it preforms smoothly for all of my major tasks (office work, multimedia production, web editing, etc).  The wireless card is phenomenally good at both reception and speed (even with my ancient home wireless router) and the Dell extended battery gives me a solid 6-8 hours of casual use.

Secondary Laptop – HP tc4200 Tablet PC – I recently purchased this laptop refurnished to help with presentations and serve as a digital whiteboard.  The machine is a Sonoma era Centrino laptop that I have upgraded to 1.5 GB of RAM and Windows Vista (so much better for Tablet PCs than XP).  This is a great machine for its purpose and serves well as a lightweight laptop when I don’t want to carry the larger 15 inch Dell.

Old-Fashion Tech – Steno Notebook and Papermate Pen - Something about the split Steno pads fit my note-taking style to a tee.  The Papermate pens are cheap and write beautifully.

Presentation tech – IOGear Wireless USB to VGA kit - This wUSB addon gives me a range of about thirty feet on a standard PowerPoint presentation yet still allows for easy wireless access during the talk (wireless connection systems always screw this part up).  This together with my tablet gives me a large amount of creative freedom during presentations.

Transfer – SanDisk Cruzer 4GB USB stick as Backup to Dropbox

Cellphone – Sony Ericsson z750a (AT&T, hacked to original SE OS) - Even though this isn’t a smartphone it has many of the features I need in a small package with a long battery life.  The original SE OS has an excellent POP/IMAP client built-in (AT&T replaced this with a neutered Webmail App) and with the java GMail client (which can process Office files) my quick-email connections are covered on AT&T’s network.  Adding Mobipocket for java allows me to use my phone’s QVGA screen as a quick and dirty ebook reader.  The only downside is the lack of a dedicated keyboard, but with prerecorded responses I can handle probably 90% of student emails.  In a pinch the phone also can serve as a modem for either of my computers or as a backup MP3 player.

Office Software – Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 – I like Office 2007 and the fact that I get a free load from work doesn’t hurt.  One of the best programs is OneNote, since it makes for a great digital whiteboard that can be downloaded to the students as PDFs.

MP3 Player – Creative Zen 2 GB with 4 GB SDHC card – This little player has fabulous sound, light weight and allows for exanpsion.

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