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Aug. 14th, 2007
I recently tried a program called Orb which allows you to view media (including video) from your computer on your TV, if the TV is net-enabled. Since the Wii has a net connection, I gave it a try. I've been hoping to watch Ultraviolet (the cool British TV vampire/detective show) with Teri; I have it on the computer, but not in a format that can be burned onto a video CD.
It worked, but unfortunately it was very laggy. Every ten seconds or so it froze and waited for buffering. So it's basically useless.
It worked, but unfortunately it was very laggy. Every ten seconds or so it froze and waited for buffering. So it's basically useless.
I recently tried a program called Orb which allows you to view media (including video) from your computer on your TV, if the TV is net-enabled. Since the Wii has a net connection, I gave it a try. I've been hoping to watch Ultraviolet (the cool British TV vampire/detective show) with Teri; I have it on the computer, but not in a format that can be burned onto a video CD.
It worked, but unfortunately it was very laggy. Every ten seconds or so it froze and waited for buffering. So it's basically useless.
It worked, but unfortunately it was very laggy. Every ten seconds or so it froze and waited for buffering. So it's basically useless.
I forgot to write much about the two carnivals we went to.
The first one was very close to us - walking distance, if we'd wanted to spend half an hour walking in the heat. It's a yearly thing, in a lot opposite the North Smithfield Stop & Shop. "Our Lady Queen of Martyrs" were the sponsors, and it was run by Rockwell Amusements. It's pretty small, but it had a bunch of fun rides including a Ferris wheel; of course Sebastian loved it, and he and I went up in it two or three times. We couldn't quite see our house because the view was blocked by trees, but we could see a long way - "all of Woonsocket", Sebastian said, and he may have been right.
He also loved going on the tall slide, and the motorcycle ride. We went on the day they opened, Wednesday, and then again on Sunday when![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
stairflight visited us. That day we all had dinner there.
The food was pretty good; I had a dynamite, and it was definitely up to Woonsocket standards. And to make it a really regional meal, we all had frozen lemonade.
Oh, Sebastian played a fishing game and won two little stuffed tigers on Wednesday. He named them "Speckles" and "Freckles". Then on Sunday he played the game again and won a little stuffed penguin, which he named "Pengy".
That was last weekend.
This weekend on Saturday evening we went to a wedding on Cape Cod. The traffic was horrible; the JP himself was more than an hour late, which threw everything off. The wedding was on the beach, on part of the "arm" facing west, so we saw the (for us) rare sight of sunset over the ocean - not something I'm used to seeing! The ceremony was lovely. Unfortunately Sebastian got very tired, so we had to take him home before there was any dancing and even before the cake was cut. Still, Sebastian was very good, overall.
On Sunday after we dropped Teri off at work I took Sebastian to the Cumberland Fest at Diamond Hill State Park. It was much larger than the other carnival. There were many more rides, although unfortunately they didn't have a Ferris wheel. The slide, however, was considerably bigger - Sebastian went on it three or four times. They also had a motorcycle ride, and he rode on that several times, too. Another ride he loved was a kids play area. It started with a climb up a rope net, then a walk high up on a tightrope (with rope handrails and a net underneath), a spiral slide down and an area packed with plastic balls. Sebastian loved it; he pretended to be drowning in the balls, and practiced flopping backwards into them. Lastly there were a couple of large punching bags to hit before exiting. He went through it three times.
Incidentally, the rides were owned and run by Fanelli Amusements, so it wasn't the same people as the previous carnival.
There were a lot of little tents selling different things: posters, airbrushed tattoos, candy, real estate, jewelry, home parties for selling all sorts of things (I hate those), and pretty much anything else that you can think of.
The National Guard had a bunch of recruiters swarming the place. They had a Hummer and some huge military vehicle on display; they were trying to get young men in particular to climb up in the vehicles. I found that rather horrifying. It was also disturbing to see recruiters circulating all over the fair, trying to pick up prospects.
There was an archery range which had bows and paintball guns. Next to that was a haunted house, but it wasn't going to open until dusk - and it had some very scary looking plastic statues in front which made Sebastian very nervous (they were not appropriate for a carnival attended by small children, I think). Across from the haunted house was an 18-year-old horse in a stable, available for patting. Sebastian wouldn't pat her at first, but later on he surprised me by not only touching her nose (which was very soft), but also stroking her neck.
A classic car show was going on opposite and a little down from the horse. Of course we have those downtown every Wednesday night, but some of these cars weren't ones we'd seen before, and they were pretty cool.
Near there I saw a sign for a tethered hot air balloon ride. Unfortunately that's ALL I saw; I think that must have been only on Friday or Saturday, because I never saw a balloon.
Incidentally, throughout the day bands were playing live music at the pavilion.
The "food court" was huge - I won't even try to list everything for sale there. There were all the usual Rhode Island favorites, and I was intrigued to see a huge smoker the size of one and a half mini-vans. It had its own car wheels, a chimney, and looked very much like an old-fashioned locomotive. In fact, that's what Sebastian told me it was when he saw it.
Sebastian pointed out that it was just like a food court at a mall - there were even lights in all the trees! I hadn't noticed that before. They looked really weird, but cool.
I bought a burger, cheeseburger and fries from Firehouse Chow at Sebastian's request. They were not good at all: the burgers were old, dry, tasteless, and small. The fries were tolerable, barely. But we didn't get to finish our lunch.
There were a LOT of wasps flying around, including some really huge ones. Every time one came near Sebastian he'd start to panic and cry. Finally one came right up to his face, and he completely freaked out. So we left and went home.
Teri called soon after; work was dead quiet, so she was ready to come home. With some difficulty I got Sebastian into the car, and we picked her up and took her back to the fair with us.
She was starving (she hadn't eaten lunch), so she tried a pulled pork sandwich from that smoker. It was actually a bit odd; it had a sweet cinnamon taste, and while it was smoky, I've definitely had better.
On the other hand we had a free sample of hot kettle popcorn that was really good.
While we were eating a wrestling ring was being set up nearby. But we didn't stay to watch. Instead, Sebastian went on a lot more rides. He also played Whack-A-Mole (after much begging), and the proprietor got the three of us to play for the price of two. The one other person playing won, but she very kindly let Sebastian have the prize. He picked out a medium-sized stuffed white Siberian tiger, which he immediately named "Whitey Gray".
After some ice cream we headed home. There were going to be fireworks at 10 PM, but that was much too late for Sebastian. We put him to bed, Teri read to him from "The Hotel Cat" by Esther Averil, and he was asleep. It was a busy but really nice weekend.
The first one was very close to us - walking distance, if we'd wanted to spend half an hour walking in the heat. It's a yearly thing, in a lot opposite the North Smithfield Stop & Shop. "Our Lady Queen of Martyrs" were the sponsors, and it was run by Rockwell Amusements. It's pretty small, but it had a bunch of fun rides including a Ferris wheel; of course Sebastian loved it, and he and I went up in it two or three times. We couldn't quite see our house because the view was blocked by trees, but we could see a long way - "all of Woonsocket", Sebastian said, and he may have been right.
He also loved going on the tall slide, and the motorcycle ride. We went on the day they opened, Wednesday, and then again on Sunday when
stairflight visited us. That day we all had dinner there.The food was pretty good; I had a dynamite, and it was definitely up to Woonsocket standards. And to make it a really regional meal, we all had frozen lemonade.
Oh, Sebastian played a fishing game and won two little stuffed tigers on Wednesday. He named them "Speckles" and "Freckles". Then on Sunday he played the game again and won a little stuffed penguin, which he named "Pengy".
That was last weekend.
This weekend on Saturday evening we went to a wedding on Cape Cod. The traffic was horrible; the JP himself was more than an hour late, which threw everything off. The wedding was on the beach, on part of the "arm" facing west, so we saw the (for us) rare sight of sunset over the ocean - not something I'm used to seeing! The ceremony was lovely. Unfortunately Sebastian got very tired, so we had to take him home before there was any dancing and even before the cake was cut. Still, Sebastian was very good, overall.
On Sunday after we dropped Teri off at work I took Sebastian to the Cumberland Fest at Diamond Hill State Park. It was much larger than the other carnival. There were many more rides, although unfortunately they didn't have a Ferris wheel. The slide, however, was considerably bigger - Sebastian went on it three or four times. They also had a motorcycle ride, and he rode on that several times, too. Another ride he loved was a kids play area. It started with a climb up a rope net, then a walk high up on a tightrope (with rope handrails and a net underneath), a spiral slide down and an area packed with plastic balls. Sebastian loved it; he pretended to be drowning in the balls, and practiced flopping backwards into them. Lastly there were a couple of large punching bags to hit before exiting. He went through it three times.
Incidentally, the rides were owned and run by Fanelli Amusements, so it wasn't the same people as the previous carnival.
There were a lot of little tents selling different things: posters, airbrushed tattoos, candy, real estate, jewelry, home parties for selling all sorts of things (I hate those), and pretty much anything else that you can think of.
The National Guard had a bunch of recruiters swarming the place. They had a Hummer and some huge military vehicle on display; they were trying to get young men in particular to climb up in the vehicles. I found that rather horrifying. It was also disturbing to see recruiters circulating all over the fair, trying to pick up prospects.
There was an archery range which had bows and paintball guns. Next to that was a haunted house, but it wasn't going to open until dusk - and it had some very scary looking plastic statues in front which made Sebastian very nervous (they were not appropriate for a carnival attended by small children, I think). Across from the haunted house was an 18-year-old horse in a stable, available for patting. Sebastian wouldn't pat her at first, but later on he surprised me by not only touching her nose (which was very soft), but also stroking her neck.
A classic car show was going on opposite and a little down from the horse. Of course we have those downtown every Wednesday night, but some of these cars weren't ones we'd seen before, and they were pretty cool.
Near there I saw a sign for a tethered hot air balloon ride. Unfortunately that's ALL I saw; I think that must have been only on Friday or Saturday, because I never saw a balloon.
Incidentally, throughout the day bands were playing live music at the pavilion.
The "food court" was huge - I won't even try to list everything for sale there. There were all the usual Rhode Island favorites, and I was intrigued to see a huge smoker the size of one and a half mini-vans. It had its own car wheels, a chimney, and looked very much like an old-fashioned locomotive. In fact, that's what Sebastian told me it was when he saw it.
Sebastian pointed out that it was just like a food court at a mall - there were even lights in all the trees! I hadn't noticed that before. They looked really weird, but cool.
I bought a burger, cheeseburger and fries from Firehouse Chow at Sebastian's request. They were not good at all: the burgers were old, dry, tasteless, and small. The fries were tolerable, barely. But we didn't get to finish our lunch.
There were a LOT of wasps flying around, including some really huge ones. Every time one came near Sebastian he'd start to panic and cry. Finally one came right up to his face, and he completely freaked out. So we left and went home.
Teri called soon after; work was dead quiet, so she was ready to come home. With some difficulty I got Sebastian into the car, and we picked her up and took her back to the fair with us.
She was starving (she hadn't eaten lunch), so she tried a pulled pork sandwich from that smoker. It was actually a bit odd; it had a sweet cinnamon taste, and while it was smoky, I've definitely had better.
On the other hand we had a free sample of hot kettle popcorn that was really good.
While we were eating a wrestling ring was being set up nearby. But we didn't stay to watch. Instead, Sebastian went on a lot more rides. He also played Whack-A-Mole (after much begging), and the proprietor got the three of us to play for the price of two. The one other person playing won, but she very kindly let Sebastian have the prize. He picked out a medium-sized stuffed white Siberian tiger, which he immediately named "Whitey Gray".
After some ice cream we headed home. There were going to be fireworks at 10 PM, but that was much too late for Sebastian. We put him to bed, Teri read to him from "The Hotel Cat" by Esther Averil, and he was asleep. It was a busy but really nice weekend.
I forgot to write much about the two carnivals we went to.
The first one was very close to us - walking distance, if we'd wanted to spend half an hour walking in the heat. It's a yearly thing, in a lot opposite the North Smithfield Stop & Shop. "Our Lady Queen of Martyrs" were the sponsors, and it was run by Rockwell Amusements. It's pretty small, but it had a bunch of fun rides including a Ferris wheel; of course Sebastian loved it, and he and I went up in it two or three times. We couldn't quite see our house because the view was blocked by trees, but we could see a long way - "all of Woonsocket", Sebastian said, and he may have been right.
He also loved going on the tall slide, and the motorcycle ride. We went on the day they opened, Wednesday, and then again on Sunday whenstairflight visited us. That day we all had dinner there.
The food was pretty good; I had a dynamite, and it was definitely up to Woonsocket standards. And to make it a really regional meal, we all had frozen lemonade.
Oh, Sebastian played a fishing game and won two little stuffed tigers on Wednesday. He named them "Speckles" and "Freckles". Then on Sunday he played the game again and won a little stuffed penguin, which he named "Pengy".
That was last weekend.
This weekend on Saturday evening we went to a wedding on Cape Cod. The traffic was horrible; the JP himself was more than an hour late, which threw everything off. The wedding was on the beach, on part of the "arm" facing west, so we saw the (for us) rare sight of sunset over the ocean - not something I'm used to seeing! The ceremony was lovely. Unfortunately Sebastian got very tired, so we had to take him home before there was any dancing and even before the cake was cut. Still, Sebastian was very good, overall.
On Sunday after we dropped Teri off at work I took Sebastian to the Cumberland Fest at Diamond Hill State Park. It was much larger than the other carnival. There were many more rides, although unfortunately they didn't have a Ferris wheel. The slide, however, was considerably bigger - Sebastian went on it three or four times. They also had a motorcycle ride, and he rode on that several times, too. Another ride he loved was a kids play area. It started with a climb up a rope net, then a walk high up on a tightrope (with rope handrails and a net underneath), a spiral slide down and an area packed with plastic balls. Sebastian loved it; he pretended to be drowning in the balls, and practiced flopping backwards into them. Lastly there were a couple of large punching bags to hit before exiting. He went through it three times.
Incidentally, the rides were owned and run by Fanelli Amusements, so it wasn't the same people as the previous carnival.
There were a lot of little tents selling different things: posters, airbrushed tattoos, candy, real estate, jewelry, home parties for selling all sorts of things (I hate those), and pretty much anything else that you can think of.
The National Guard had a bunch of recruiters swarming the place. They had a Hummer and some huge military vehicle on display; they were trying to get young men in particular to climb up in the vehicles. I found that rather horrifying. It was also disturbing to see recruiters circulating all over the fair, trying to pick up prospects.
There was an archery range which had bows and paintball guns. Next to that was a haunted house, but it wasn't going to open until dusk - and it had some very scary looking plastic statues in front which made Sebastian very nervous (they were not appropriate for a carnival attended by small children, I think). Across from the haunted house was an 18-year-old horse in a stable, available for patting. Sebastian wouldn't pat her at first, but later on he surprised me by not only touching her nose (which was very soft), but also stroking her neck.
A classic car show was going on opposite and a little down from the horse. Of course we have those downtown every Wednesday night, but some of these cars weren't ones we'd seen before, and they were pretty cool.
Near there I saw a sign for a tethered hot air balloon ride. Unfortunately that's ALL I saw; I think that must have been only on Friday or Saturday, because I never saw a balloon.
Incidentally, throughout the day bands were playing live music at the pavilion.
The "food court" was huge - I won't even try to list everything for sale there. There were all the usual Rhode Island favorites, and I was intrigued to see a huge smoker the size of one and a half mini-vans. It had its own car wheels, a chimney, and looked very much like an old-fashioned locomotive. In fact, that's what Sebastian told me it was when he saw it.
Sebastian pointed out that it was just like a food court at a mall - there were even lights in all the trees! I hadn't noticed that before. They looked really weird, but cool.
I bought a burger, cheeseburger and fries from Firehouse Chow at Sebastian's request. They were not good at all: the burgers were old, dry, tasteless, and small. The fries were tolerable, barely. But we didn't get to finish our lunch.
There were a LOT of wasps flying around, including some really huge ones. Every time one came near Sebastian he'd start to panic and cry. Finally one came right up to his face, and he completely freaked out. So we left and went home.
Teri called soon after; work was dead quiet, so she was ready to come home. With some difficulty I got Sebastian into the car, and we picked her up and took her back to the fair with us.
She was starving (she hadn't eaten lunch), so she tried a pulled pork sandwich from that smoker. It was actually a bit odd; it had a sweet cinnamon taste, and while it was smoky, I've definitely had better.
On the other hand we had a free sample of hot kettle popcorn that was really good.
While we were eating a wrestling ring was being set up nearby. But we didn't stay to watch. Instead, Sebastian went on a lot more rides. He also played Whack-A-Mole (after much begging), and the proprietor got the three of us to play for the price of two. The one other person playing won, but she very kindly let Sebastian have the prize. He picked out a medium-sized stuffed white Siberian tiger, which he immediately named "Whitey Gray".
After some ice cream we headed home. There were going to be fireworks at 10 PM, but that was much too late for Sebastian. We put him to bed, Teri read to him from "The Hotel Cat" by Esther Averil, and he was asleep. It was a busy but really nice weekend.
The first one was very close to us - walking distance, if we'd wanted to spend half an hour walking in the heat. It's a yearly thing, in a lot opposite the North Smithfield Stop & Shop. "Our Lady Queen of Martyrs" were the sponsors, and it was run by Rockwell Amusements. It's pretty small, but it had a bunch of fun rides including a Ferris wheel; of course Sebastian loved it, and he and I went up in it two or three times. We couldn't quite see our house because the view was blocked by trees, but we could see a long way - "all of Woonsocket", Sebastian said, and he may have been right.
He also loved going on the tall slide, and the motorcycle ride. We went on the day they opened, Wednesday, and then again on Sunday when
stairflight visited us. That day we all had dinner there.The food was pretty good; I had a dynamite, and it was definitely up to Woonsocket standards. And to make it a really regional meal, we all had frozen lemonade.
Oh, Sebastian played a fishing game and won two little stuffed tigers on Wednesday. He named them "Speckles" and "Freckles". Then on Sunday he played the game again and won a little stuffed penguin, which he named "Pengy".
That was last weekend.
This weekend on Saturday evening we went to a wedding on Cape Cod. The traffic was horrible; the JP himself was more than an hour late, which threw everything off. The wedding was on the beach, on part of the "arm" facing west, so we saw the (for us) rare sight of sunset over the ocean - not something I'm used to seeing! The ceremony was lovely. Unfortunately Sebastian got very tired, so we had to take him home before there was any dancing and even before the cake was cut. Still, Sebastian was very good, overall.
On Sunday after we dropped Teri off at work I took Sebastian to the Cumberland Fest at Diamond Hill State Park. It was much larger than the other carnival. There were many more rides, although unfortunately they didn't have a Ferris wheel. The slide, however, was considerably bigger - Sebastian went on it three or four times. They also had a motorcycle ride, and he rode on that several times, too. Another ride he loved was a kids play area. It started with a climb up a rope net, then a walk high up on a tightrope (with rope handrails and a net underneath), a spiral slide down and an area packed with plastic balls. Sebastian loved it; he pretended to be drowning in the balls, and practiced flopping backwards into them. Lastly there were a couple of large punching bags to hit before exiting. He went through it three times.
Incidentally, the rides were owned and run by Fanelli Amusements, so it wasn't the same people as the previous carnival.
There were a lot of little tents selling different things: posters, airbrushed tattoos, candy, real estate, jewelry, home parties for selling all sorts of things (I hate those), and pretty much anything else that you can think of.
The National Guard had a bunch of recruiters swarming the place. They had a Hummer and some huge military vehicle on display; they were trying to get young men in particular to climb up in the vehicles. I found that rather horrifying. It was also disturbing to see recruiters circulating all over the fair, trying to pick up prospects.
There was an archery range which had bows and paintball guns. Next to that was a haunted house, but it wasn't going to open until dusk - and it had some very scary looking plastic statues in front which made Sebastian very nervous (they were not appropriate for a carnival attended by small children, I think). Across from the haunted house was an 18-year-old horse in a stable, available for patting. Sebastian wouldn't pat her at first, but later on he surprised me by not only touching her nose (which was very soft), but also stroking her neck.
A classic car show was going on opposite and a little down from the horse. Of course we have those downtown every Wednesday night, but some of these cars weren't ones we'd seen before, and they were pretty cool.
Near there I saw a sign for a tethered hot air balloon ride. Unfortunately that's ALL I saw; I think that must have been only on Friday or Saturday, because I never saw a balloon.
Incidentally, throughout the day bands were playing live music at the pavilion.
The "food court" was huge - I won't even try to list everything for sale there. There were all the usual Rhode Island favorites, and I was intrigued to see a huge smoker the size of one and a half mini-vans. It had its own car wheels, a chimney, and looked very much like an old-fashioned locomotive. In fact, that's what Sebastian told me it was when he saw it.
Sebastian pointed out that it was just like a food court at a mall - there were even lights in all the trees! I hadn't noticed that before. They looked really weird, but cool.
I bought a burger, cheeseburger and fries from Firehouse Chow at Sebastian's request. They were not good at all: the burgers were old, dry, tasteless, and small. The fries were tolerable, barely. But we didn't get to finish our lunch.
There were a LOT of wasps flying around, including some really huge ones. Every time one came near Sebastian he'd start to panic and cry. Finally one came right up to his face, and he completely freaked out. So we left and went home.
Teri called soon after; work was dead quiet, so she was ready to come home. With some difficulty I got Sebastian into the car, and we picked her up and took her back to the fair with us.
She was starving (she hadn't eaten lunch), so she tried a pulled pork sandwich from that smoker. It was actually a bit odd; it had a sweet cinnamon taste, and while it was smoky, I've definitely had better.
On the other hand we had a free sample of hot kettle popcorn that was really good.
While we were eating a wrestling ring was being set up nearby. But we didn't stay to watch. Instead, Sebastian went on a lot more rides. He also played Whack-A-Mole (after much begging), and the proprietor got the three of us to play for the price of two. The one other person playing won, but she very kindly let Sebastian have the prize. He picked out a medium-sized stuffed white Siberian tiger, which he immediately named "Whitey Gray".
After some ice cream we headed home. There were going to be fireworks at 10 PM, but that was much too late for Sebastian. We put him to bed, Teri read to him from "The Hotel Cat" by Esther Averil, and he was asleep. It was a busy but really nice weekend.
Scooby Doo Unmasked!
Aug. 14th, 2007 10:51 amSebastian has a couple of GameCube games which I dislike: a Willy Wonka game (based on the Johnny Depp movie) and Scooby Doo Unmasked!. They're remarkably similar to each other, in an annoying way.
I ended up getting sucked into the Scooby Doo game. Part of the experience was so annoying that - well, let me see if I can explain.
The game is sort of 3D. You can rotate the camera view - sometimes, when it suits the designers. At other times (lots of them), the camera view is fixed.
And that's what makes the game hard. There are times when the only thing that makes the game difficult is that the designers force you to play while viewing from the worst possible angle. For example, in the medieval level there's a point where you have to jump from one hand-hold to another. There are intermittent jets of poison between some of the hand-holds, so you have to time things carefully.
Here's the problem. First of all, you need to swing Scooby back and forth to build up momentum, so you can release a handhold and fly forward to the next one. That means you need to have Scooby swinging forward when you release - and you need to move the joystick to "push" him in the right direction.
But you're forced to view the action from the side, and it's not clear if you need to push the joystick forward and back to get Scooby swinging properly - i.e. from Scooby's perspective - or left and right, which is the way he's swinging from your perspective. The controls are vague enough that even with a lot of testing and thought, I couldn't figure out which way was right. That is, assuming that ANY way was right, which I sometimes doubt!
Over and over Scooby would suddenly stop swinging properly. Or he'd swing properly, but then on release he'd fly backwards, or straight down, and die. Over and over and over.
Another issue was that because we were being forced to look at the action from the worst possible angle, I was unable to judge distance and depth. Yet distance and depth were being used to kill me, over and over.
Viewed from the side, it was almost impossible to determine where Scooby was in relation to the handhold. Height was easy enough, as was left-right, but back and forth were impossible. So Scooby would jump, but he'd be completely out of place in the depth plane - and would plummet to his death.
Which was fine by me - I've come to hate that stupid dog - but I got obsessed, and frankly pissed off. It's not right to design a game in which the real challenge is to overcome the deliberate viewing handicaps installed by the designers!
I eventually won the game, of course. After all, it's designed for children.
But the experience made me think a lot about the whole issue of 3D in games and entertainment. I think I'll work up an article of sorts on the subject soon.
Oh, one more thing: the ending of the Scooby Doo game was pretty lame. Some games have great endings; Super Mario 64, for example, or The Twilight Princess. But this one was quick and dull.
There were a few neat concepts, specifically machines that gave Scooby one of three special costumes that gave him different powers. But the options were much too limited. You got each costume precisely when you needed it, and lost it as soon as you were finished doing that task. There was never an option to choose which costume you were going to use. All in all it was a limited and annoying game.
I ended up getting sucked into the Scooby Doo game. Part of the experience was so annoying that - well, let me see if I can explain.
The game is sort of 3D. You can rotate the camera view - sometimes, when it suits the designers. At other times (lots of them), the camera view is fixed.
And that's what makes the game hard. There are times when the only thing that makes the game difficult is that the designers force you to play while viewing from the worst possible angle. For example, in the medieval level there's a point where you have to jump from one hand-hold to another. There are intermittent jets of poison between some of the hand-holds, so you have to time things carefully.
Here's the problem. First of all, you need to swing Scooby back and forth to build up momentum, so you can release a handhold and fly forward to the next one. That means you need to have Scooby swinging forward when you release - and you need to move the joystick to "push" him in the right direction.
But you're forced to view the action from the side, and it's not clear if you need to push the joystick forward and back to get Scooby swinging properly - i.e. from Scooby's perspective - or left and right, which is the way he's swinging from your perspective. The controls are vague enough that even with a lot of testing and thought, I couldn't figure out which way was right. That is, assuming that ANY way was right, which I sometimes doubt!
Over and over Scooby would suddenly stop swinging properly. Or he'd swing properly, but then on release he'd fly backwards, or straight down, and die. Over and over and over.
Another issue was that because we were being forced to look at the action from the worst possible angle, I was unable to judge distance and depth. Yet distance and depth were being used to kill me, over and over.
Viewed from the side, it was almost impossible to determine where Scooby was in relation to the handhold. Height was easy enough, as was left-right, but back and forth were impossible. So Scooby would jump, but he'd be completely out of place in the depth plane - and would plummet to his death.
Which was fine by me - I've come to hate that stupid dog - but I got obsessed, and frankly pissed off. It's not right to design a game in which the real challenge is to overcome the deliberate viewing handicaps installed by the designers!
I eventually won the game, of course. After all, it's designed for children.
But the experience made me think a lot about the whole issue of 3D in games and entertainment. I think I'll work up an article of sorts on the subject soon.Oh, one more thing: the ending of the Scooby Doo game was pretty lame. Some games have great endings; Super Mario 64, for example, or The Twilight Princess. But this one was quick and dull.
There were a few neat concepts, specifically machines that gave Scooby one of three special costumes that gave him different powers. But the options were much too limited. You got each costume precisely when you needed it, and lost it as soon as you were finished doing that task. There was never an option to choose which costume you were going to use. All in all it was a limited and annoying game.
Scooby Doo Unmasked!
Aug. 14th, 2007 10:51 amSebastian has a couple of GameCube games which I dislike: a Willy Wonka game (based on the Johnny Depp movie) and Scooby Doo Unmasked!. They're remarkably similar to each other, in an annoying way.
I ended up getting sucked into the Scooby Doo game. Part of the experience was so annoying that - well, let me see if I can explain.
The game is sort of 3D. You can rotate the camera view - sometimes, when it suits the designers. At other times (lots of them), the camera view is fixed.
And that's what makes the game hard. There are times when the only thing that makes the game difficult is that the designers force you to play while viewing from the worst possible angle. For example, in the medieval level there's a point where you have to jump from one hand-hold to another. There are intermittent jets of poison between some of the hand-holds, so you have to time things carefully.
Here's the problem. First of all, you need to swing Scooby back and forth to build up momentum, so you can release a handhold and fly forward to the next one. That means you need to have Scooby swinging forward when you release - and you need to move the joystick to "push" him in the right direction.
But you're forced to view the action from the side, and it's not clear if you need to push the joystick forward and back to get Scooby swinging properly - i.e. from Scooby's perspective - or left and right, which is the way he's swinging from your perspective. The controls are vague enough that even with a lot of testing and thought, I couldn't figure out which way was right. That is, assuming that ANY way was right, which I sometimes doubt!
Over and over Scooby would suddenly stop swinging properly. Or he'd swing properly, but then on release he'd fly backwards, or straight down, and die. Over and over and over.
Another issue was that because we were being forced to look at the action from the worst possible angle, I was unable to judge distance and depth. Yet distance and depth were being used to kill me, over and over.
Viewed from the side, it was almost impossible to determine where Scooby was in relation to the handhold. Height was easy enough, as was left-right, but back and forth were impossible. So Scooby would jump, but he'd be completely out of place in the depth plane - and would plummet to his death.
Which was fine by me - I've come to hate that stupid dog - but I got obsessed, and frankly pissed off. It's not right to design a game in which the real challenge is to overcome the deliberate viewing handicaps installed by the designers!
I eventually won the game, of course. After all, it's designed for children. But the experience made me think a lot about the whole issue of 3D in games and entertainment. I think I'll work up an article of sorts on the subject soon.
Oh, one more thing: the ending of the Scooby Doo game was pretty lame. Some games have great endings; Super Mario 64, for example, or The Twilight Princess. But this one was quick and dull.
There were a few neat concepts, specifically machines that gave Scooby one of three special costumes that gave him different powers. But the options were much too limited. You got each costume precisely when you needed it, and lost it as soon as you were finished doing that task. There was never an option to choose which costume you were going to use. All in all it was a limited and annoying game.
I ended up getting sucked into the Scooby Doo game. Part of the experience was so annoying that - well, let me see if I can explain.
The game is sort of 3D. You can rotate the camera view - sometimes, when it suits the designers. At other times (lots of them), the camera view is fixed.
And that's what makes the game hard. There are times when the only thing that makes the game difficult is that the designers force you to play while viewing from the worst possible angle. For example, in the medieval level there's a point where you have to jump from one hand-hold to another. There are intermittent jets of poison between some of the hand-holds, so you have to time things carefully.
Here's the problem. First of all, you need to swing Scooby back and forth to build up momentum, so you can release a handhold and fly forward to the next one. That means you need to have Scooby swinging forward when you release - and you need to move the joystick to "push" him in the right direction.
But you're forced to view the action from the side, and it's not clear if you need to push the joystick forward and back to get Scooby swinging properly - i.e. from Scooby's perspective - or left and right, which is the way he's swinging from your perspective. The controls are vague enough that even with a lot of testing and thought, I couldn't figure out which way was right. That is, assuming that ANY way was right, which I sometimes doubt!
Over and over Scooby would suddenly stop swinging properly. Or he'd swing properly, but then on release he'd fly backwards, or straight down, and die. Over and over and over.
Another issue was that because we were being forced to look at the action from the worst possible angle, I was unable to judge distance and depth. Yet distance and depth were being used to kill me, over and over.
Viewed from the side, it was almost impossible to determine where Scooby was in relation to the handhold. Height was easy enough, as was left-right, but back and forth were impossible. So Scooby would jump, but he'd be completely out of place in the depth plane - and would plummet to his death.
Which was fine by me - I've come to hate that stupid dog - but I got obsessed, and frankly pissed off. It's not right to design a game in which the real challenge is to overcome the deliberate viewing handicaps installed by the designers!
I eventually won the game, of course. After all, it's designed for children.
But the experience made me think a lot about the whole issue of 3D in games and entertainment. I think I'll work up an article of sorts on the subject soon.Oh, one more thing: the ending of the Scooby Doo game was pretty lame. Some games have great endings; Super Mario 64, for example, or The Twilight Princess. But this one was quick and dull.
There were a few neat concepts, specifically machines that gave Scooby one of three special costumes that gave him different powers. But the options were much too limited. You got each costume precisely when you needed it, and lost it as soon as you were finished doing that task. There was never an option to choose which costume you were going to use. All in all it was a limited and annoying game.
Wii Roundup
Aug. 14th, 2007 02:55 pmHere are the games we've bought online for the Wii so far:
I think that all of this shows that the Wii is headed towards the top of the console market. Whenever I read a story about the Wii vs. other consoles, inevitably there are some furious comments from Xbox 360 or PS3 fans screaming that the Wii is only a fad, a gimmick, with pathetic graphics - surely once everyone realizes how superior the Xbox or PS is they'll come crawling on their hands and knees, leaving the Wii behind them.
Bullshit! As someone pointed out, Nintendo has gone beyond the hardcore gamer market - they're no longer dependent on competing with (and beating) Microsoft and Sony, they're actually reaching an entirely new, untapped market of former non-gamers. Look at me - I haven't bought a new console in a long time, and the only reason I have a GameCube is because Teri bought it for me to play while I was recovering from surgery. Yet not only do we have a Wii, but we're buying games from it. The nostalgia market is yet another one that Xbox and the PlayStation haven't tapped into.
The hardcore gamer market is miniscule compared to the potential market for the Wii. And don't even get me started on the stupidity of selling a game system at a loss in order to make it up on the back end! Well, actually it does work, of course (or rather it can), but if your competition is actually making money on every system they sell, you're in serious trouble.
And since 95% of the responses to those grumpy hardcore gamers are inevitably pro-Wii, I think the majority of people agree. :D
Donkey Kong - I got this mainly for Sebastian. Frankly, it's a disappointment; it's the old console version, NOT the arcade version. It lacks the later levels, and gameplay isn't the same.
Military Madness - This is hands-down the BEST strategy video game ever made. I played it way back when on the TurboGrafx-16, still own it, and have an emulator to boot - but I jumped at the chance to get it on the Wii. What an awesome game! I hate strategy board games, and I'm still a huge fan of this one.
Super Mario Bros. - The classic old side-scroller that I used to pump quarters into in college. What fun.
Bonk's Adventure - An absolutely great old TurboGrafx game, with one of the best endings I've ever seen. This was the first in the Bonk series, and I think it's the best. I can play this one through from start to finish in less than an hour, but it's still great every time.
Bomberman '93 - This is an update of the old Bomberman game that I played on the TurboGrafx. It's definitely more complicated than the original, which I frankly miss. Unfortunately the original isn't available on the Wii yet.
Super Mario 64 - When my roommate Scott first brought this home and started playing it, I went insane. I dreamed this game for years afterwards. It's the definitive 3D game. I sometimes wonder what made it so incredible: was it the ease of control? The clarity and bright colors? The depth of play? Maybe all of that. In any case, we've already collected over 90 power stars and are working our way towards 120 and a rooftop meeting with Yoshi.
I think that all of this shows that the Wii is headed towards the top of the console market. Whenever I read a story about the Wii vs. other consoles, inevitably there are some furious comments from Xbox 360 or PS3 fans screaming that the Wii is only a fad, a gimmick, with pathetic graphics - surely once everyone realizes how superior the Xbox or PS is they'll come crawling on their hands and knees, leaving the Wii behind them.
Bullshit! As someone pointed out, Nintendo has gone beyond the hardcore gamer market - they're no longer dependent on competing with (and beating) Microsoft and Sony, they're actually reaching an entirely new, untapped market of former non-gamers. Look at me - I haven't bought a new console in a long time, and the only reason I have a GameCube is because Teri bought it for me to play while I was recovering from surgery. Yet not only do we have a Wii, but we're buying games from it. The nostalgia market is yet another one that Xbox and the PlayStation haven't tapped into.
The hardcore gamer market is miniscule compared to the potential market for the Wii. And don't even get me started on the stupidity of selling a game system at a loss in order to make it up on the back end! Well, actually it does work, of course (or rather it can), but if your competition is actually making money on every system they sell, you're in serious trouble.
And since 95% of the responses to those grumpy hardcore gamers are inevitably pro-Wii, I think the majority of people agree. :D
Wii Roundup
Aug. 14th, 2007 02:55 pmHere are the games we've bought online for the Wii so far:
I think that all of this shows that the Wii is headed towards the top of the console market. Whenever I read a story about the Wii vs. other consoles, inevitably there are some furious comments from Xbox 360 or PS3 fans screaming that the Wii is only a fad, a gimmick, with pathetic graphics - surely once everyone realizes how superior the Xbox or PS is they'll come crawling on their hands and knees, leaving the Wii behind them.
Bullshit! As someone pointed out, Nintendo has gone beyond the hardcore gamer market - they're no longer dependent on competing with (and beating) Microsoft and Sony, they're actually reaching an entirely new, untapped market of former non-gamers. Look at me - I haven't bought a new console in a long time, and the only reason I have a GameCube is because Teri bought it for me to play while I was recovering from surgery. Yet not only do we have a Wii, but we're buying games from it. The nostalgia market is yet another one that Xbox and the PlayStation haven't tapped into.
The hardcore gamer market is miniscule compared to the potential market for the Wii. And don't even get me started on the stupidity of selling a game system at a loss in order to make it up on the back end! Well, actually it does work, of course (or rather it can), but if your competition is actually making money on every system they sell, you're in serious trouble.
And since 95% of the responses to those grumpy hardcore gamers are inevitably pro-Wii, I think the majority of people agree. :D
Donkey Kong - I got this mainly for Sebastian. Frankly, it's a disappointment; it's the old console version, NOT the arcade version. It lacks the later levels, and gameplay isn't the same.
Military Madness - This is hands-down the BEST strategy video game ever made. I played it way back when on the TurboGrafx-16, still own it, and have an emulator to boot - but I jumped at the chance to get it on the Wii. What an awesome game! I hate strategy board games, and I'm still a huge fan of this one.
Super Mario Bros. - The classic old side-scroller that I used to pump quarters into in college. What fun.
Bonk's Adventure - An absolutely great old TurboGrafx game, with one of the best endings I've ever seen. This was the first in the Bonk series, and I think it's the best. I can play this one through from start to finish in less than an hour, but it's still great every time.
Bomberman '93 - This is an update of the old Bomberman game that I played on the TurboGrafx. It's definitely more complicated than the original, which I frankly miss. Unfortunately the original isn't available on the Wii yet.
Super Mario 64 - When my roommate Scott first brought this home and started playing it, I went insane. I dreamed this game for years afterwards. It's the definitive 3D game. I sometimes wonder what made it so incredible: was it the ease of control? The clarity and bright colors? The depth of play? Maybe all of that. In any case, we've already collected over 90 power stars and are working our way towards 120 and a rooftop meeting with Yoshi.
I think that all of this shows that the Wii is headed towards the top of the console market. Whenever I read a story about the Wii vs. other consoles, inevitably there are some furious comments from Xbox 360 or PS3 fans screaming that the Wii is only a fad, a gimmick, with pathetic graphics - surely once everyone realizes how superior the Xbox or PS is they'll come crawling on their hands and knees, leaving the Wii behind them.
Bullshit! As someone pointed out, Nintendo has gone beyond the hardcore gamer market - they're no longer dependent on competing with (and beating) Microsoft and Sony, they're actually reaching an entirely new, untapped market of former non-gamers. Look at me - I haven't bought a new console in a long time, and the only reason I have a GameCube is because Teri bought it for me to play while I was recovering from surgery. Yet not only do we have a Wii, but we're buying games from it. The nostalgia market is yet another one that Xbox and the PlayStation haven't tapped into.
The hardcore gamer market is miniscule compared to the potential market for the Wii. And don't even get me started on the stupidity of selling a game system at a loss in order to make it up on the back end! Well, actually it does work, of course (or rather it can), but if your competition is actually making money on every system they sell, you're in serious trouble.
And since 95% of the responses to those grumpy hardcore gamers are inevitably pro-Wii, I think the majority of people agree. :D