Mai Me Arai
It means 'nothing'
That ‘New Undies’ Feeling
Feb 25th
Yesterday I was thinking about some of the things Oui and I need to do before we leave Thailand, one of them being buy new clothes. I instantly thought of underwear because I need some new ones, which lead me to thinking about the experience of wearing a new pair of undies. I’m not talking about any old pair I bought in a six-pack from Kmart, I’m talking about the nice ones that cost too much.
I got to thinking about the experience of when I first wear such a pair of undies, where I’d be prancing my way around thinking I’m king-shit because I’ve got my awesome new undies on – despite the fact that noone has a clue about my new undies. It made me smile that something so inconsequential can have such an affect on your mood, and now I’m trying to convince myself to somehow have the new undies feeling all the time! It’s all in my mind!
My train of thought can take me to strange places sometimes. Is anyone else like this?
Yet More Assassin’s Creed 2
Feb 23rd
I’ve been reading a lot about how Ubisoft’s new DRM which will first be rolled out in Assassin’s Creed 2 is designed to combat piracy but I think people have it wrong.
Everyone knows that such a massive change would piss of their customers and be completely ineffective, even Ubisoft (they’ve acknowledged that it will be cracked). Piracy is a nice big easy scapegoat for them to use so as to avoid having to address the real reason they’re doing this, which is to stop second-hand sales and rentals. The new DRM stops second-hand sales and rentals completely.
More Assassin’s Creed 2
Feb 22nd
Generally when a PC release is delayed after a console release we’re given something extra to compensate. For Assassin’s Creed 2 we have to wait longer for DRM that noone wants which forces us to constantly be online or the game will be interrupted (and sent back to the last checkpoint). We get the two pieces of DLC (which are parts that were left out of the original game) but they make us pay extra for them.
Their DRM will save games to their servers and this is apparently a feature we want (which Steam already has). For the record, I didn’t care about this when it was Steam. They say we won’t need a disk in the drive to play the game but even if I was planning to purchase a physical copy I could live with putting the disk in the drive if it meant going without this idiotic DRM. I was going to buy it on Steam anyway, which also has this idiot DRM on top of Steams.
I’m trying to see a positive here, I really am. How is any of this good? Is there any paying customer that any of this would benefit? I only care because I want to play Assassin’s Creed 2!
I’m Ashamed of Myself
Feb 21st
Last night I stayed up until 3am reading about different SSD’s (Solid State Drives) and basically drooling over getting a new PC when I’m in Sydney. I was planning how I might organise my data, probably buying one big and very expensive SSD for my OS and programs while having a regular drive for my data, where I would put the swap file, etc..
It was interesting reading about the quirks of SSD’s. I didn’t know that performance drops based upon how much free space they have, below 15% being quite dramatic, but reading about windows booting in 20 seconds or applications launching instantly has me in nerdvana.
I’m also planning to have the newer ATI video card in crossfire configuration with two monitors, though I won’t be using the Eyefinity tech they have which turns multiple monitors into a single display because I don’t think it suits an even number of displays (the seam would be directly in the middle). Maybe this would be a good excuse to get three monitors? Imagine playing WoW on that!
I’ve already gotten the go-ahead for going all out on my new pc, so long as we have the money (which I will ensure we do). I need more reasons to be excited about the move to Sydney.
EDIT: I neglected to mention that I’d been thinking about how SSD’s are the tech that is exciting right now and that it’s been a while since we’ve had anything like it which can dramatically change our computing experiences.
I recall when 3.5″ floppy drives became mainstream, then harddrives, cdroms, dvds, 3d video cards, various cpu and memory tech, USB, and now SSD’s. It’s an exciting time to be a geek! I wonder what it would be like to put an SSD in my PS3…
Preparing Documents
Feb 21st
Oui and I were each preparing our letters about our relationship tonight, which are required as part of the documentary evidence for his permanent residency visa application.
Thinking back to the circumstances of how we met it’s not unusual that people might consider our meeting to be destiny. I mean, if I hadn’t been walking to Pantip Plaza at that time he never would have seen me and called and we would never have met. Further proof that Pantip Plaza, home of all that is technology, is awesome.
Destiny?
We’re very close to submitting the documents, which means I am going to be leaving soon. I’m not even going to have a computer, or by proxy WoW. Is it a sign of addiction that Oui was asking me if my mums computer can run WoW?
Internet Grammar Lesson #1
Feb 19th
I’m as guilty as anyone for making grammar mistakes when writing something, at least mine are from constantly revising the text, but there seem to be regular mistakes I see that need attention.
lose != loose
lose [looz] verb, lost, los·ing.
-verb
- to come to be without (something in one’s possession or care), through accident, theft, etc., so that there is little or noprospect of recovery: I’m sure I’ve merely misplaced my hat, not lost it.
- to fail inadvertently to retain (something) in such a way that it cannot be immediately recovered: I just lost a dime under this sofa.
loose [loos] adjective, loos·er, loos·est, adverb, verb loosed, loos·ing.
-adjective
- free or released from fastening or attachment: a loose end.
- free from anything that binds or restrains; unfettered: loose cats prowling around in alleyways at night.
-adverb
- in a loose manner; loosely (usually used in combination): loose-flowing.
-verb
- to let loose; free from bonds or restraint.
- to release, as from constraint, obligation, or penalty.
Ubisoft DRM
Feb 19th
If you hadn’t heard, Ubisoft will be releasing Assassin’s Creed 2 with restrictive DRM that will require you to be online at all times to play the game. If you go offline for whatever reason the game will pause and try to reconnect, at which time it will then send you back to your last checkpoint.
The game is also being rebranded to accomodate the restrictive DRM.
Now, I know what you’re thinking, why does a single player game that has no online function require a constant internet connection? Stop asking sensible questions that are too hard to answer silly!
Apparently the Steam version will include the same restrictive DRM despite the layer of DRM already part of the platform, so as you might expect this has brewed quite the shitstorm (titstorm?).
Anyway, the game will work perfectly, so long as all of the following criteria are met for 100% of any play-session:
- Your internet connection remains up
- There are no outages between you and the Ubisoft servers
- The Ubisoft servers are up
- Ubisoft as a company still exists (they say they’ll patch it if they close down but I’d rather not need to count on their assurances)
See? You drama queens are taking it too far!
Future updates to the DRM will download all of your personal files so that Ubisoft staff can laugh at embarrasing photos of you.
The Brains of the Family
Feb 17th
My brother’s old CRT television miraculously died recently just after they’d bought a PS3 so he went out and bought a huge Sony HDTV that puts my puny 32″ (which I’m going to sell shortly since I’m leaving) to shame.
I’d forgotten that a lot of regular free-to-air television in Australia is in HD because of how crap it is here, so this is one of the few things I’m genuinely excited about returning home for. Even better, Darren and Kim just got Tivo which I didn’t even know was available in Australia. I’m going to be in geek heaven!
Anyway, my brother was telling me recently that he’d told the kids they couldn’t play PS3 one Sunday because he was going to watch the cricket. A short while later the twins came to him with the manual for the tv telling him it had picture-in-picture and explaining how to do it.
When I heard this it reminded me a lot of what I was like when I was a kid. Even today I love reading product manuals and it makes me happy to know that my inner geek will live on :)
Time is Running Out
Feb 16th
With our departure from Thailand drawing ever-closer, Oui’s hype-level has gone astronomical. Our friends get a little bit of an idea that he’s excited but they have no idea of how truly thrilled he is. Like anything that you have to listen to constantly, repeatedly hearing about Australia stuff gets tiring.
I imagine our trip home something like this:
Going home, Indiana Jones-style
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