I’ve had a bunch of different ideas floating around in my head over the last little while and I’ve decided to stick them up here so I don’t have to remember them anymore!

So the first one is to do with water use around the home. 

Water has become a precious commodity these days.  Drought is apparently the norm now and I haven’t seen a full water catchment dam around here for the last decade at least.  Working on that basis, ie. ‘we had better get use to it!’  I’ve decided that a couple of changes to how the typical family home handles water are worth looking at. 

But first, I wasn’t too sure just how worthwhile tackling water usage issues in the home would be - I mean, I hadn’t really checked on what percentage of water usage goes to household use?  Then I saw the NSW or was it the Sydney water saving TV ads, there it says that household use accounts for (can’t remember) 2/3 or 3/4 of overall use… and of that 2/3 or 3/4 is indoors.  I just did a little checking and it seems of total water consumption, household use accounts for around 8%.  So I guess the figures in the campaign might be for the Sydney metro area.  What that means is if we work on saving water there, at least the cities will be more sustainable in their local regions.  Though it will probably not make a big difference to the big river flows and lakes in rural areas.

That’s no reason not to make a few changes though! 

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Took a bunch of pictures of the storm last night.  Hope you like them!

See the collection by clicking on the thumbnail!

Ok so, it’s a silly title, but it’s also the final part to my little series on the future of computer gaming.

In the first 2 parts, I took a slightly critical look at computer games today and remembered which games I had really enjoyed playing over the last 20 years or so.  Trying to figure out where things might or should go next, I looked at entertainment as a whole.  Since, I guess that would usually be the primary goal for any computer game. 

It all came down to my little list of criteria for an enjoyable game.  That was all very well, but does going through that process actually help in creating an innovative game?  I mean by trying to achieve all the criteria listed at once - in one game?  So I thought I would give it a go to see what came of it!  The title of this post was the title of the game I came up with.

Like any idea, they usually don’t come out of thin air; they are usually triggered by something else.  So I’ll fess up and say, I did have that Spore game in mind, and probably Stalker & Bioshock as well.  I would have liked the idea to come out of thin-air but it didn’t happen.  My key targets were immersive life experience, creativity, freedom and uniqueness of game-play (no 2 games alike).  I felt that those things would tick most of my boxes.  My other feeling was that life experience (thinking about movies here) are more interesting when they are not ones you will otherwise be able to experience.  I guess you could add ‘Fantasy’ to my list of criteria.

So what’s the game?  (I thought of all this a week or two ago, now reading it, it sounds a bit dicky!)

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Now on to ‘Part 2′ of my little series.

As I was going on about - The Future of Computer Games?!  I decided that I should start from scratch and think about entertainment and what I found entertaining.  Once I had that sorted, then move on to how a computer game could fit into that puzzle.

At first I thought of other forms of entertainment - I mean Movies & TV etc, sports, artistic endeavours, shopping/collecting, and card games etc. (By the way shopping sounds better if you think of it as collecting!)  I’ve since thought of reading - although I don’t do much of it, it is enjoyable when I do.

That was all very well, but what did I actually enjoy about those things… they’re all quite enjoyable, but why?
So I came up with a list of more basic attributes that make those things enjoyable to me. Here they are:

1. Freedom & Creativity
2. Thrilling & Adrenalin
3. Mystery & Suspense
4. Challenging & Competition
5. Spectacular
6. Achievement

(Have I missed any - let me know!)

So now I can breakdown each form of entertainment into the various items in the list … like ticking boxes.   For instance movies are good at 2, 3 & 5; sports good for 2, 4, 6 and a bit of 1; art 1 & 6 and so on.  So how does a modern computer game stack up then?  Lets consider HL2, I suppose it does 2, 4, 5 & 6.  That’s not too bad but it’s missing 1 and 3.  Some people may argue that there is some Mystery and Suspense there as well… so let’s say it is mainly missing “1.  Freedom and Creativity”. 

Flipping that over, computer games are out there that feature freedom and creativity and they do very well.  I’m thinking here of Sim2, and many of those MMORPG’s and say Second Life as well.  However, those games are then missing some of the things that make HL2 enjoyable.  Plus they do have some negative aspects that I haven’t considered in my analysis, but come up sometimes to make things less enjoyable.  I suppose, ease of use, exertion and time constraints are a few of those things.  So to sum it up, I’m not entirely sure, but I can’t really think of any computer games that ‘tick off’ all of those attributes.

On a side note, I had a look at Second Life - hardly a computer game as such… more of a chat room with visuals and economy.  I did find it interesting and sort of fun.  Mind you, I’m not sure how I would enjoy it over the long haul.  You are constantly waiting for things to download into your world which takes a bit of the shine off, not sure if caching improves things there with time… I guess I have to spend more time with it before I can say whether I will get into it… Which I think is part of my problem with those games.   Hours and hours have to be spent to get to grips with what’s going on - to become one of the ‘in’ crowd - to find it satisfying.  I suppose there’s a certain amount of gratification that comes from achieving that goal and in the process.  (On a side note of a side note - I have been taught that a economy based on no real tangible value is a false economy and will one day pop! - it seems that property value inside Second Life has to be one of the most literal examples of “no real tangible value”! but anyway it’s a fun ride for those who have tickets I suppose)

Back on track and I’m wondering if the future for computer games involves ticking more and more of those attribute boxes I listed, 1 through 6?  By doing so, will that mean success for such a game?  Naturally, various games will come out that will move the benchmark up for each thing, more suspense, more spectacular, more action… but is it possible to come up with something that will tick all boxes…. and will that be a breakthrough?  

In my next and possibly final part to this little series, I’ll look at what happens if I apply a bit of each of those attributes to the design of a computer game…  we’ll see what comes out; and if it sounds any good!    

I was recently looking at a bunch of game reviews and was also prompted by a job ad I saw to think critically about various PC games, or console games for that matter.  This post is I guess ”Part 1“ of the conclusions I came to.

So I started to wonder where I think computer gaming should go?  Considering the developments over the last few years and the current crop of games under development and those due out shortly, (some of which, sound great), I did find it difficult at first to think of something better.  So while I tried to break free of the usual ideas, I started to think about the gaming past.  

Looking back at the past decade of computer games.  Apart from the huge development in game graphics, the games themselves have not actually changed all that much.  Turning points that stand out, off the top of my head, might include the rise of FPS’s, online gaming, and MMORPG’s.  Although there have been refinements along the way, not to mention the refinement of older game genres eg. racing sims, sports games, dictator sims.  I could, unfortunately, not think of anything that you could call revolutionary.  I find that a bit disappointing.  So I went on to consider my personal favourite gaming moments so far.  I would probably have to list them as; Op Flashpoint, HL2, Racing Destruction Set, Elite, Interceptor FA-18, Test Drive 2, Mafia, Civ III … 4D Driving (it had another name at the time), Max Pain and ummm well I guess I could think of a couple more but that’s enough.  So what can I say about those, well the release date has little to do with how good they are.  Having said that, the level of detail in the newer games is amazing, but boy I miss some of those old games.  

Something that makes my point in a rather strange way:  How much did I spend on my last graphics card, and how much did I spend on my last CPU?  Heaps on the graphics card, and not much on the CPU… hence how powerful is a graphics card next to a CPU - very!  Why have I spent so much on a graphics card - well the latest games look real nice with a good card.  Why haven’t I spent more money on a CPU, well a better CPU doesn’t make the games play any better at all.  I left wondering what sort of games I would be playing if the demands of the game on the CPU had risen along with the demands on the graphics card!  Unfortunately, it is relatively simple to make a game better by making it prettier, and a bit harder to use some imagination to achieve the same thing. 

Still trying to discover a future direction for computer gams, I decided to watch a trailer for a FPS currently in the works.  Not sure if this will help, but I came up with a list of nit-picks.  They’re sort of specific, but there’s a general concept behind each one which is more important.

1.  Every character is a cloned throughout the game.  Every monster ‘X’ looks identical to every other monster ‘X’.  Not even the colours change!  The computer has the power to alter each one a little, so why not?  Must everything thing be set in concrete the day the game ships!

2.  Linear game play.  There was a time when games started to look like moving away from this, but it seems even the best games around are still run along a singular path from ‘the start’ to ‘the end’. 

3.  The player has no personality.  I mean that regardless of how I act in the game the results are the same.  It is nice that some games allow the player to move through the game using different techniques, but that’s just scratching the surface.  Every payer is different… why not use that to effect in the game?  (I think Stalker makes some inroads here!)

That list is really aimed at FPS’s, other genres do take up some of those ideas and apply them nicely.  However, it’s time that all games regardless of what genre they fall into, try and incorporate a wider variety of techniques and ideas into their game play.   Get those CPU’s doing something, not just physics calculations either… 

Computer games are ridged… it’s about time they were a little bit more fluid. 

Ok, there was actually another part of this process I went through first… that was to ask “What do I find entertaining?”  Which after all, ought to be the reason why I might want to play a computer game in the first place!  I’ll go into that in my next post.   

I’ve put up a few more pictures of other glass projects I’ve done.  One thing I have learned from this is that photographing glass is not as simple as you may expect.  I think I need studio lights to do it properly.

In the new gallery you can see gifts I’ve made for people and little object for the around the house.  It’s not very full at the moment, but I have a bunch of little things I’ve currently working on, so it should fill up over time.

I should also thank Gordon and Sally at Divine Glass for all their help with these… none of it I could have done without their help.  Thanks!

By now I expect you’re wondering “if he will make a custom designed piece for me?”  The answer is yes… so if you like something here, more than likely I can do one for you.  How much it would cost I can’t say, but asking is a good way to find out!

Ok here is a picture of how it stands now.  I cut it up a bit as I said and put it back together again.  I also put the clear top section on so you can see it now as I planned it.  The top bit had a few cut-out shapes separating 2 sheets.  That process trapped bubbles and gave the top section an undulating surface… which is sort of nice and should distort anything I put below it.

Next step is to do a drawing to go under it for when it’s framed.  My original intention was to have a simple pencil drawing under there, but I’ve since been thinking about a red and gold one instead.  Mainly because our red and gold cushion looks good under it.  The thing I like about this is I could potentially swap it out later on if I changed my mind.

Just in case you were interested in seeing some photos from our trip up north with some friends.  Head over to the gallery where they can be found.  (click on the picture to the right!)

What do I mean by that?  Well I think the time is right, the technology is ready personal computing technology can start to evolve into something coherent and clever.  (don’t get confused – I’m not talking about the old-fashioned PC !)  

Although technology is racing into this area, it always bugs me that the use of it takes another decade to evolve into something you could actually call ‘clever’.  So what’s the current situation?

Let’s take a look at what we can currently load into some typical geeky pockets.  Mobile phone, that’s now the most basic necessity, but for some people, they like to have something that works a bit more like a mini computer as well; so we add a PDA.  Next, if you like a bit of music you’ll want a MP3 player, even though your PDA probably plays music, and maybe your phone as well, but a MP3 player looks cool and you can compare colours with your friends etc, oh and it produces better sound right!?   What next, maybe you’ve got a digital camera.  Even though you’re PDA has one, and your phone and your MP3 player as well, you’ll want a proper camera as it takes much better pictures, oh and it has a flash, the other’s don’t - right?  Yeah it will really bug you taking photos at concerts if you don’t have a flash! 

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Right after my last post about the s725x I did a bit of looking around the web for ideas of how I could bring all the things I want in a cycling companion together into the one gadget.

Well I quickly found that Garmin (popular GPS makers) have already responded to people like myself and have a range of products out for sports and the like.  Hence, I would like to intorduce you to the Edge 305!  (Garmin should be paying me for this I guess!)

It’s a lovely little (well, sort of) device that pretty much does what I was wanting in my previous post.

Lets look at it’s basic functions for a moment:

1. GPS receiver
2. Barametric altimeter 
3. Optional heart rate monitor
4. Optional wheel speed and cadence sensor
5. Programmable way-points
6. All sort of time measurements - lap times, splits.
7. Virtual training partner etc.

There’s more too, but that will get you across the general idea.  In fact you can go to these good reviews here and here.

But before I get onto my little question about how it works.  I want to quickly mention the website that Garmin has put together for those who have got one of these things.  It’s called MotionBased, and it’s excellent!  Once you’re a member (it’s free) and upload your ride or run data to it, you can then share it with everyone else who is a member.  It shows your track on various types of maps and replays your trip with a little red spot, plus all sorts of more detailed info too.  It can even output the path to a Google Earth file. 

The part I like about MotionBased is it’s an accurate way of learning about nice rides, trips or whatever really that might be in an area you are visiting, or just around the corner from home for that matter.  You can search for rides by location, then download another person’s ride and stick it on your Edge gadget where you can then follow them around guided by GPS.  They have in mind that you use it to compare your fitness level with others and compete against them virtually, but I think it would be a great way to go sightseeing in a new place.  Or even just share a really great ride.  Much better than reading vague directions with lines like “you can’t miss it!”  Yeah, well I’ve missed it many times!  This would be an end to that. 

Now back to my little question; I’m particular about having good distance measurements, so it would be nice to know whether the GPS part measures your trip distance accurately or whether the optional wheel speed sensor does it much better?  I’m thinking here of those tight tree covered trails where you might go around 10 turns in 20meters!  Does the GPS alone track that sort of thing accurately?  Some of the trails around Canberra would be about 10km shorter if you took all the tight twisty turns out of them! 

What it comes down to is about $90 to have the cadence and wheel sensor included.  I suppose, by comparison to the overall cost of the basic unit (about $400, hmmm does that include the HRM?) and extra $90 is probably worth it.  I mean if you don’t mind spending $400 then, you probably don’t mind spending $500!  Still that’s quite a lot of money to spend, but if it motivates you to get out and exercise more, maybe your health is worth it?

In my first post about this, there was something deeper eating me away about the current state-of-affairs with regard to all the little CPU’s and gadgets sitting around here.  The fact is many of them are sitting doing nothing for most of the time.  What I wanted to do is put something to use which I already have sitting in my pocket that has to the power to do all this cycle computing stuff!!  But, instead I’m forced to buy yet another gadget. 

Can someone make a Bluetooth heart-rate monitor and wheel-speed sensor?  I already can get a GPS card for my PDA so don’t worry yourselves with that one, but the other 2 would cap it off nicely.  All this will have to go under a heading of Personal Computing Devices.  Maybe this will need another post to explain what I mean.