Gambit’s Blog

I had a problem which needed solving.

I’ve just bought a Dell 2709w Monitor which takes DVI and has 5.1 output using the standard PC solution of three 3.5mm jacks, coloured Green, Orange and Black. I had hooked up my Xbox 360 via HDMI to the monitor, and the sound comes out of these (unfortunately only in Stereo since it’s in Dolby Digital, but that’s another story). This would be great, however there is no similar input, meaning that I have the issue that I had to keep swapping the jacks on my subwoofer if I wanted to get any sound from my PC or the Monitor. Having carried out much searching on the internet, I was unable to find a box that does this, and while many people seem to have similar problems, very few people have a solution.

My first test was to simply try a headphone splitter in reverse on each individual subwoofer channel. This didnt work, since the computer’s output always took presedence over the monitor’s output. It was then that I came across the following article on Bl3nd.com - 5.1 Audio Switch. It’s at this point that I decided to contact Joey Hazlett, the owner of the site to get some information and increase my knowledge on building such a device, with a mind to do it myself. I have to say that Joey was masses of help and the following guide wouldn’t be possible without him.

Joey’s guide was good, however in the UK I was struggling to find many of the parts. It was then I decided to use three switches to control each channed independently. So, here i a guide to building a box like I have now got…

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Before I go any further, I want to state that these are my best games of 2007. I am not saying that they are necessarily the best over all, but they are the games that I have played and enjoyed the most this year. There is a severely limiting factor in this - I don’t own an Xbox 360. The reason this is limiting is that I am pretty certain that there would be at least 2 games that would make my list had I been able to play them - Mass Effect and Assassins Creed. However, I cant comment, as I haven’t played them.

So, without further ado… My top 5 games of 2007:

1. Team Fortress 2

So the winner is… TF2! I decided to separate out the Orange Box since it is a collection of distinct games that can be purchased individually. Team Fortress 2 is by far my most consistently played game, and I would really struggle to put anything else here. It’s high paced action that is simply the most fun that can be had on the net. Now all I have to do is wait for the Team Fortress 2 Quiz Mod to come along

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2. Super Mario Galaxy

I am in a unique position when it comes to Mario. I’ve played the originals, but I never got around to playing the highly acclaimed Mario 64 (in any of its incarnations), and while I look forward to it on my DS (when Amazon finally get them in stock), it managed to pass me by. Bring on Sunshine, which try as I might, I totally didn’t enjoy. So my hopes weren’t high for Galaxy. I watched the trailers and unlike some people, wasn’t blown away. But it’s Mario. And it’s an Nintendo console. So I had to get it. And, having collected 87 stars and well on my way to finishing Super Mario Galaxy, I can say that is is the most fun that you can have with a plumber. Period. And the most fun on the Wii. Very deserving of the second place.

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3. Portal

Do I really need to say anything about Portal?! All you need to know is that the cake is a lie. Oh, and it’s the best, most puzzling 4 hours of you’re life that you’re likely to have. I’d say that I wish it was longer, but I think if it had been, the game would have lost its charm. Thank god that there are lots of people developing custom maps to keep us going. Long live the weighted companion cube!

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4. Bioshock

Bioshock must be the most talked about game of the year, and when it’s as good as it is, why not?! I must admit, I still haven’t finished it, but my first new year’s resolution is to get my ass in gear and get to the end. I think a key word when describing Bioshock is the atmosphere - you really do feel like you’re there. My only complaint is that there’s no Anti-Aliasing, but that’s the Unreal Engine’s fault, and not Bioshock.

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5. Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaro’s Treasure

When I started Zack & Wiki, I thought I’d be returning it fairly sharpish, it looked childish and I didn’t necessarily think it would be my cup of tea. However, after playing the first level I realised that at it’s heart it is a modern day recreation of the Gobliiins trilogy. Level based puzzlers, that have humor and fun combined with lateral thinking. If you haven’t played it, don’t knock it until you have!

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Honorable Mentions
Resident Wii-vil (aka. Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition) - Ok, it was on the Cube, but the addition of some great controls and the fact that I haven’t played it before give this a mention.
Link’s Crossbow Training - Not a great game on it’s own, but combined with the zapper and a couple of friends, this turned into a lot of fun. At a bargain price as well, who can complain?!
Peggle - Not you’re traditional game, Pop-cap Games have developed a really addictive little game. Download it, play it, buy it. Simple.

When the Wii came out, I was the first to buy one, I was the first to sing it’s praises, and when push comes to shove, I was the first to become a Wii fanboy. Now that some time has passed, and I have sampled a good proportion of the Wii’s gaming offerings, I’d like to assess how it has changed my gaming life.

The biggest change that I think the Wii has made to my gaming life is that I want a 360 and a decent PC. I want a 360 NOW. And if I hadnt just bought a new decent PC and I could afford a 360, I would have one.

This may be a strange thing to say that the Wii has caused, but the reason for this is that I want to play some decent games. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great games on the Wii. Some great games that I can count on one hand. To date I think I have played approximately 50 games on the Wii, and I can safely say that I have played every single one of those until it bored me. The hand mentioned above consists of these games: Zelda, Wii Sports, Wario Ware, Mario Strikers and Resident Evil 4. But what have these games actuallygiven me?

• Zelda - great game, but havent I played it umpteen times before?!? And now that I’ve finished it, when will it be back in the blue illuminated slot of my Wii?
• Wii Sports - again, great, but really only one for when you have the mates around
• Wario Ware - i played this on the gameboy, then on the Gamecube. See Zelda and Wii Sports.
• Mario Strikers - frustratingly hard in the later stages on single player. Great with the mates.
• Resident Evil 4 - see Zelda and Wario Ware.

My point is, the truly good content on the Wii has been done before. I know what I’m hearing you say, “but you are missing x game”, but think about it, how many of those games that you put in the x space there havent come out on either the PC or the 360 in a BETTER version. And by better, I mean both Graphically, and CONTROLS.

But arent the Wii’s controls it’s selling point?! Yes. But they are also the bain of my life.

Take Rockstar’s Table Tennis for a case in point. This was a good, fun, easy going game on the 360. Stick it over onto the Wii and “Oooh, there’s waggly controls, we MUST use this”. No you must NOT. Just because the controls are there, does not mean you have to use them. Of if you must, at least give us the option to use it as a normal controller, or plug in a Gamecube pad or something. I dont want every gaming session to feel like a marathon. This is just one example, but there are hundreds of others.

Let’s get back to the 360. I want to play decent games. I want to play Bioshock. I want to play Gears of War. I want to play NBA Live 08… What, NBA Live is out on the Wii?!? I know it is. It just has POINTLESS waggly controls. It is not fun. And that’s what games are supposed to be! I want to play it the way I enjoyed it on the Gamecube. [nb. before the arguments ensue, I am well aware that it is a crime to group NBA Live 08 alongside the other two games listed]

And this is what it boils down to. There just isnt the content for Single Player gaming. The waggly controls work well for multi-player games and minigames, but what happens when you want to play on your own?

You get out the 360 or the PC, thats what you do.

So, to all you Wii/Nintendo fanboys out there, I’d ask you to assess your situation, and ask if Nintendo is really thinking of us gamers anymore, or is it thinking about our mums, sisters and or mates. I don’t know, but I hope that they get us back on track sometime soon.

So until Mario Galaxy proves to be as much of a let down as Mario Sunshine, and until Smash Bros. Brawl comes out, I’m off to play Bioshock, Half-life and Gears of War. Preferably without having to get armache.

I’m in the process of planning the building of a new computer, and the first item that I have bought, is arguably the least important. However, Scan had the keyboard in its Today Only offer, and I couldnt refuse.

So, I am now the proud owner of a Logitech G11 keyboard. And my first impressions are good.

It was a hard decision for me to make, but there were two main features that eventually ended up with me choosing the G11: Backlighting and Macro Keys. There are numerous keyboards that have backlighting - Saitek Eclipse II being the main one I was considering - however, this didnt have any macro keys, and they are a feature that I have used in the past, and couldnt really live without. There are also many boards with macro keys, but this was the only board I found in my price range which had both.

One thing I was scared about losing was my wireless, however, I realised that I don’t use the wireless functionality all that often, and having recieved the keyboard the wire is plenty long enough!

The backlighting has three modes: low, high, and off - and is subtle enough not to interfere, but high enough to be useful!
The keys have just about the right feel - light enough to require little effort, but clicky enough not to feel awful like one of those laptop keyboards! There are a couple of points on the board which don’t seem to be properly lit - just above the left shift key (the arrow lights, but the word doesnt), a similar thing on the tab key, and a few tiny discrepancies on other keys, however, none of these stop you finding the keys since at least most of them is lit.

The macro keys (G-Keys) on the whole are great, there are 18 of them and three different banks, so 54 in total and they’re really programmable. I have noticed a few things that havent been possible, or needed a bit of thinking to get them to work - you cant give Ctrl-Alt-Delete to a G-key, and you cant directly program them to open a folder. I found a workaround for the latter - setting it to open explorer with an argument of the folder you want to open, however I couldnt find a way to get Ctrl-Alt-Del to work. You can set timings in the macro’s, as well as just setting a keystroke, but neither worked (even though it did recognise the keystrokes.)

Finally there are a set of media buttons to control your various media players. These would be great except for one thing - they dont seem to work when your media player is in the background. They apparently work with Windows Media Player in the background, but who uses that these days?! Itunes and Media Player Classic both can’t recognise the buttons when they are in the background, which is, to say the least, a bit of a bummer. With any luck, this will be solved by somebody at some point, but who knows - it’s not like the keyboard hasnt been around for a while. (I suppose this could have something to do with the fact that I still have the old logitech drivers installed, but I’ll comment on this when I get my new computer.)

There are 2 USB ports on the back of the keyboard, although i’m unsure of how useful these are at the moment. I tried plugging in an Xbox 360 pad, and there wasnt enough power for it. My USB key worked, but at a slow speed. I do currently have the keyboard plugged into a hub, so that could be what’s causing the problem, but again, I’ll test this when I get a chance on my new computer.

So, all in all, it’s a really good keyboard, at a really good price of just over £30
My only regret is that I couldnt stretch to get the G11’s older brother, the G15, which is identical, but has a programmable LCD screen. The extra £15 is just a little bit too much for me to justify, but if you can stretch to it, I would say it was almost certianly worth it! The keyboard is marketed as a Gaming Keyboard, and after a long stint on Quake3 last night, I can say that it definately responds well in that environment. However it’s also great as a non gaming keyboard too. You can program macros for different programs too (such as Photoshop), as well as for games, and it types great - I am using it now, and I love it.

So, now time for my rating:

Through a random series of events unfolding (thanks John), and a few e-mails being sent, I last night attended the launch of the pivate beta of a new website - LocateTV.

In their own words: “The idea behind LocateTV is simple - to let you find TV shows available where you live in the world, be they on broadcast TV, online or on recorded media (DVD, HD-DVD etc).”

The project is still in the beta stages - and rightly so - there are still a large number of bugs, but the basic concept is definately an interesting one, and one that I personally feel has a lot of potential. With the release of the BBC iPlayer (for better or worse), 4onDemand and various other online TV watching choices, it is soon going to be common place for people to go online to watch their favorite (or not so favorite) TV shows. With so many services all pumping this stuff onto the net, how are you going to know where to look for it? Maybe it isnt on the net yet, but is going to be on Freeview in 2 days time? The idea behind LocateTV is to group all of this together in one easy to search location. And for the most part, it works. In addition, if the show you are looking for is not on TV any time soon, it’ll allow you to price check the best DVD prices.

It’s not exhaustive at the moment (I couldnt find The Tomorrow People on there) - but it’s not finished. In addition, the search needs a bit of work - searching for Angel gives me a lot of people named Angelica, but not the TV series I want, and sometimes you will get two versions of the same site - but these are all kinks that will be ironed out over time, and hopefully in time for the launch.

There is also an option to embed all this information on your own blog/forum/site using a standardised dynamic graphic, that will update to track your favorite show, actor or whatever. At the moment, this is a large clunky graphic, but I was told last night that there will be multiple options made available!

In my mind, once the kinks get ironed out, this will be an excellent resource that I will use almost daily (especially if the add RSS feeds, which are sadly lacking at the moment… nudge nudge…). At the moment, to get close to all the information that they are supplying I have to flick between a number of sites - TV.com, IMDB, Radio Times, and FindDVD, where as this will give me all this information (albeit to a lesser level of depth) under one roof.

In summary, I think it is a great idea, and once the kinks are straightened out, it will definately be a resource worth using. I’ll be using it over the coming months, and will post about any major developments that I feel are worth mentioning!

So, in the meantime, keep your eyes peeled, watch the blog, sign-up for the e-mail updates, and wait patiently - it should be worth it

Ok, this is crazy - the BBC have just posted a news item saying that the iPlayer has been warmly recieved.

After my post the other day, I tried again to get it to work… unsuccessfully, and have now totally given up on the service. And I am not alone in disliking it.

Sort it out BBC, and DONT LIE JUST TO MAKE YOURSELVES LOOK GOOD!

…it’s crap.

Here is my experience exactly as it went…

1. Load up Thunderbird and recieve mail from BBC saying i’d been accepted onto the beta.
2. Load Firefox, log in, select an episode of Hyperdrive to test it.
3. Told that I need IE. Grrr… Still, i’ll accept it.
4. Load up IE, log in, select episode of Hyperdrive.
5. Get the following message:

All of which i have (hence the ticks… - i got a cross next to IE when i was in Firefox)! I know you’re in BETA BBC, but thats crazy! Sort it out! For now i’ll have to stick with my PVR and other methods - lets hope that eventually this will be a viable solution! Who knows - the quality may be rubbish anyways…

Well, most of you know that i’m a bit of a Nintendo fanboy, and on top of this I really think the Playstation is a hunk of junk, especially at it’s new price tag! On the other hand, I’d quite like a 360 if i could afford one (which I can’t).

Anyways, came across this site, Next Gen Wars, which tracks how each console is doing worldwide.

I’m batting for the Wii, but more than anything, I want the PS3 to fail!

So remember… DON’T BUY A PS3!

Today, i got a new hard disk. It didnt work, so i ran a diagnostic tool for Western Digital drives. It came out ok, but I decided to write 0’s to the drive at the start and end to clear it, just in case. Who knows why. It shouldnt have been a problem. But it was. I had the wrong drive selected. Instead of running the test and the clear on my new disk, it was running on my old hard disk, the one I boot from. This is a Western Digital drive too. Crap.
Now I have no windows boot partition.
Im an idiot

I know, i’ve gone quiet again… but this time with good reason! I’ve been spending my time working on my new website - http://www.andrewanderson.co.uk - which I will be using as my main website for my new career as an actor (Andrew Anderson is my professional name).
Its still under construction, but please feel free to take a look! If you spot any errors please let me know!

Anyhow, i’ll start posting regularally again soon…