I used to game a lot more than I do now, due to school projects, reports etcetera. A few days ago the shooter genre sparked my interest again, so I decided to browse my hard drive for shooter games, and found Unreal Tournament 2004.

I used to play it a lot, but only after I completed Metroid Prime: Hunters, on my Nintendo DS. And in that game I had a particular problem – I wasn’t able to aim well when standing still. And if you’re after some relaxing play, then not being able to aim well when standing still is a problem.

But I mustn’t complain, or at least not that much. The only real complaints I had, and have, are my problems with not being able to shoot well with any other kinds of weapons, and the lack of ammo. Sniper weapons are generally high powered, and thus they have low ammo. And of course, sniper ammo is usually found near sniper spawns, and sniper spawns are more often than not only found at sniper spots. And those, in turn, are at the top of levels, which equals a lot of walking to them.

So, when the game starts, I try to run to the sniper spots as soon as possible, collect the loot, and the strafe my way through the map, scouring for targets. And more targets. And more targets. Oh wait, out of ammo. So, then I switch to the next weapon, preferably some kind of beam-weapon or at least something which shoots straight, and then I strafe back to the spawn, hoping I have enough ammo left for the other weapons to be able to defend the spot long enough for the ammo to spawn again.

And, it works! It’s fun too, because I seem to head-shot about 90% of the targets in single player and 30% in multi player, which gives nice sound effects, bonus points, or just plain the rush of owning somebody. And again. And again. You just don’t want to have a lot of lag in online play, because then the accuracy drops down immensely, and hackers are immune anyway and kill everybody, so you can’t win then either.

I wonder if anyone else has these kind of problems with shooters, though. I seem to be the only one in my group of friends; it’s just a shame that we can’t play online more often. Good times.

These are from a school project. The majority of the content is custom made. We decided to go for an outdoor environment set on a glacier. We also wanted a fairly large vehicle map. I may rework this into a Warfare map at some point.

I was the lead designer for this project. In addition to the overall design I constructed the terrain, lighting and atmosphere.

Unreal Tournament 2003 or UT2003 is a first-person shooter video game designed mainly for multiplayer gaming. The game is part of the Unreal franchise’s series of games, and is a sequel to Unreal Tournament (UT99).

The game set a record for the number of downloads (1.2 million) when the demo was released, which is a reflection of the popularity of the original UT.[2] In addition, the game engine has been widely licensed for games such as the Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six series, Splinter Cell, and America’s Army.

Download :

cd1

http://hotfile.com/dl/14260991/ace0505/U_T_.2003_CD1_By_Burimi007.part1.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14261006/23c6406/U_T_.2003_CD1_By_Burimi007.part2.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14261064/bf2e471/U_T_.2003_CD1_By_Burimi007.part3.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14261062/4161831/U_T_.2003_CD1_By_Burimi007.part4.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14261070/8d81377/U_T_.2003_CD1_By_Burimi007.part5.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14261081/ed5f54e/U_T_.2003_CD1_By_Burimi007.part6.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14261086/3b62e22/U_T_.2003_CD1_By_Burimi007.part7.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14261049/42a5244/U_T_.2003_CD1_By_Burimi007.part8.rar.html

cd2

http://hotfile.com/dl/14261255/9beb7d0/U_T_2003_CD2_By_Burimi007.part1.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14261256/47117cd/U_T_2003_CD2_By_Burimi007.part2.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14261273/7f51792/U_T_2003_CD2_By_Burimi007.part3.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14261280/6486c8e/U_T_2003_CD2_By_Burimi007.part4.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14261277/9c71fba/U_T_2003_CD2_By_Burimi007.part5.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14261278/8e916e7/U_T_2003_CD2_By_Burimi007.part6.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14261286/392d2e2/U_T_2003_CD2_By_Burimi007.part7.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14312028/f060bd0/U_T_2003_CD2_By_Burimi007.part8.rar.html

cd3

http://hotfile.com/dl/14312047/c3fb12a/U_T_2003_CD3_By_Burimi007.part1.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14312181/768a9ef/U_T_2003_CD3_By_Burimi007.part2.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14312373/c2baa38/U_T_2003_CD3_By_Burimi007.part3.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14313022/69c7b73/U_T_2003_CD3_By_Burimi007.part4.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14313063/f3f4bb2/U_T_2003_CD3_By_Burimi007.part5.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14313120/a75f1b4/U_T_2003_CD3_By_Burimi007.part6.rar.html
http://hotfile.com/dl/14313126/4fe5cf9/U_T_2003_CD3_By_Burimi007.part7.rar.html

Please Say Thanks , It takes 2 seconds …

.via

Sony hat eine Umfrage unter Planetside-Gamern gestartet. Mit dem Ziel, ein zweites Game im Planetside-Universum zu schaffen. Eine coole Idee, schliesslich ist das MMOFPS-(Massively Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter)-Genre ziemlich unterversorgt. Der Crossover zwischen FPS-Action und der sozialen Interaktion eines MMORPG ist aber auch ne ziemliche Herausforderung. Für die Gamedesigner, genauso wie für die Gamer.

Trotzdem: Versucht es. Baut einen neuen Online-Shooter für Gefechte mit mehreren hundert Spielern und einem komplexen Erfahrungs- und Berufssystem dahinter. Den würde ich mir dann sofort anschauen. Schliesslich bin ich immer etwas traurig, wenn ich UT spiele. Nicht wegen der vielen Toten (die respawnen ja), sondern weil es jenseits von Onslaught-Maps keine noch viel grössere, und vor allem keine persistente Spielwelt gibt. Klar, Neocron 2 ist noch da, und inzwischen kostenlos, aber ich kenn das einfach zu gut, also wünsche ich mir was Neues in diesem Bereich.

( via rockpapershotgun)

]]> http://leviathans.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/gratis-unreal-tournament-3-questo-fine-settimana/ Thu, 17 Sep 2009 12:35:08 +0000 Leviathan http://leviathans.wordpress.com/2009/09/17/gratis-unreal-tournament-3-questo-fine-settimana/ http://mthec.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/the-great-linux-project-part-three/ Sat, 12 Sep 2009 22:02:32 +0000 M_the_C http://mthec.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/the-great-linux-project-part-three/

Yes, it’s late again I know, but I think you’ll agree that it was worth the delay.

Unreal Tournament 2004

Introduction

I’m assuming most of you reading this have heard of Unreal Tournament in one of it’s incarnations even if you haven’t played one of them.  They’re all more or less the same, an FPS that focuses on multiplayer action with some very nice ‘bots’ for off-line play.  A survey by Epic Games actually showed that around half of all players never even go online (fifth paragraph) which is a testament to the quality of their AI.  I have written several bits and pieces about the UT series (Bombing Run, SlaveMaster, Convoy, Jailbreak and Betrayal), I don’t play either 2004 or 3 very often now but they’re still fun to go back to once in a while.  The reason why I’ve placed so much importance on UT2004 today is that there is a native Linux version of the game already on the disc.

‘Native’ refers to the fact that the developers have created a version of the game that will run on Linux without any assistance from third-party programs such as Wine.  Ultimately this is the dream for Linux as a gaming platform, the Wine developers have put in some amazing effort but inevitably there will always be issues with running Windows apps in Linux and with every new version of Windows new issues will crop up.  It also means that the program’s capabilities are limited by Windows, now I’m not saying that Linux is better than Windows because that isn’t true, each have their advantages and disadvantages, but this does mean that in areas where Linux is more capable the programs will not be making use of that advantage.  The problem with native versions of games is that they require more money and resources to develop.  At the moment most developers and publishers do not think it is worth the extra effort, this does create a no-win situation whereby they won’t make the games because they don’t see the demand, but without the games to buy there can never be any demand.  However there are some developers who are trying to make it a more level playing field.

This post was originally meant to be about commercial Windows games that have a Linux native version.  I will do this at some point but until then you can take a look at this list, not all of the games on list have a free installer like UT2004, some have been ported by a third-party developer so you have to buy it through them.  I’ll look into a proper list at a later date.

Windows

UT2004 is a big game and takes quite a while to install.  When it comes to updating there is a nice big Mega Pack which contains everything you need.

Original version – Download the Mega Pack

Editor’s Choice – Download the Mega Pack

Unreal Anthology – See Here

You can also download the Mega Pack from the usual download sites.  (Useful for if you get slow download speeds.)

Linux Installation

I own the Original DVD version of Unreal Tournament 2004 so this walk-through will be written as such.  If you own the CD version the situation should be the same (bar the changing of discs), I have heard it is best to copy the installer to your hard drive to avoid problems.  For those who own the Unreal Anthology things are a little more difficult since the installer is not on the disc.  A detail walkthrough is beyond the scope of this post, especially since I do not own the anthology version, but fortunately someone has written a guide for a manual installation of UT2004 which can be found here.  You may also wish to install the 64-bit version, follow this tutorial instead.  (But please come back. )

The Linux installer can easily be found on the disc, but before we get started you have to do a little preparation work.

Firstly of course you need the nVIDIA or ATI proprietary drivers, but you should know that already.  If you haven’t got these installed (or you don’t know) follow the official instructions of your particular distribution.

Next there are two packages you need to install, libstdc++5 and openal.  The UT2004 installer gives the option to install openal but I did not select it (default option) on my first run.  There could be benefits to having your package manager control it instead of the installer, but for getting the game up and running it’s a personal choice.  If you are running a distro. that has an installer that doesn’t use the command line (e.g. Synaptic in Ubuntu) then simply search for the package names and install them.  In Arch type:

sudo pacman -Sy libstdc++5 openal

Now that the groundwork is complete it’s time to start the installer.  Unfortunately for those who dislike the command line (I personally like it for some tasks) it is required, there possibly is a GUI way around but it’s just simpler this way.  First change to the directory of your disc drive, depending on your distro. this can be in several different places, usually:

cd /media/cd

or

cd /media/cdrom0

The installer is on the top level of the disc, you need to run it using sh.  Now depending on your distro. and your particular setup you either need to use the sudo command or log in as root.  Using a root account isn’t advisable unless you know what you’re doing (and even then…), so I’m just going to do it the sudo way, chances are if you’re using a root account you know what to do anyway.

sudo sh linux-installer.sh

The terminal windows should now change into the UT2004 installer, if you get an error I’ve read you may need the libgtk1.2 package, I didn’t need to do this in either Arch or Ubuntu.

Throughout this installation you will mostly just choose the default options but I’ll go through them anyway, select OK to continue.

The EULA, either agree and continue or don’t and stop reading.

Installation path, use the default.

Symbolic links, oh go on then.

Installation Options, if you didn’t install openal at the start make sure to select the box now (spacebar).

Menu entries, set as you please, we’ll be creating an icon later anyway.

Enter your CD key, you can’t have mine.

Now just wait, as in Windows this can take quite a while.  You may get errors popping up over the screen, unless the installer actually stops you can safely ignore them, most of mine were related to non-existent disc changes.

Once the installation is complete DO NOT START THE GAME.  The installer is using root privileges (Windows equivalent is Admin privileges) and if you run the game now you will run into permission errors which can be annoying to clean up.  If you do accidentally start the game from here this command should clear things up:

cd ~/
sudo chown -R yourusername:yourusername .ut2004

The last thing to do before playing the game is apply the updates.

Download the Mega Pack from here (or search for your favourite).

There isn’t an installer like the Windows versions, but all you have to do is unpack it an copy the contents.  You can either give your File Manager root privileges, press Alt-F2 and type:

gksudo nautilus

for Gnome, or

kdesu dolphin or konqueror

for KDE

Otherwise you can use three simple commands in a terminal:

cd ~/*replace with file location*
tar jxfv ut2004megapack-linux.tar.bz2
sudo cp -r * /usr/local/games/ut2004

A quick explanation because I think people should understand rather than just copy\paste (like I did ) :

• tar – Is the unarchive program
• j – bzip2 (archive type) x – extract, f – file, v – verbose (lists files as they’re copied)
• cp – The copy command
• -r – Recursive, copies folders and their contents, * – all

The game is now installed and patched, the only thing left to do is start playing.  The UT2004 installer should have created an icon in your menu (Applications>Other in Gnome, I just searched in KDE) you can copy this to your desktop or simply create one yourself.    The installer created icon has come strange settings I don’t quite understand (but it’s not harmful) so I just created my own as in Part 1.  The path is:

/usr/local/games/ut2004/ut2004

There is also an icon picture located here called ut2004.xpm.  Now on to my experience running the game.

Arch Performance

I ran into quite a few problems running UT2004 but they were all down to problems with missing packages.  I have written these into the above section so if you have followed it you should not encounter them.

There is one possible issue you may run into with audio, when I started UT2004 everything ran fine except there was no sound.  This is because UT2004 uses OSS (Open Sound System) to control the sound, this isn’t supported much anymore and most systems use ALSA instead.  I did find some instructions for getting UT2004 to use ALSA but they were quite complicated and there is a nice simple solution.  Make sure you have the alsa-oss package installed, then go to the UT2004 icon and add aoss to the start of the command:

aoss /usr/local/games/ut2004/ut2004

This will convert the OSS sound to ALSA.

Apart from that the game played the same as in Windows, I didn’t run into any more problems and had a nice little Onslaught match against the bots. The only difference is that it uses OpenGL instead of DirectX, more on that later…

Ubuntu Performance

Things did not go so well in Ubuntu, on the positive side I didn’t run into any sound problems, but that old graphics problem popped up again.  At the menu it was flickering once every few seconds (very off-putting) and it was also switching from full screen to viewing the taskbars with the game in a large window. There was also a problem with the mouse (which you can’t see because the screenshot app. hides the mouse), as well as the blue triangle created by the game there was a black mouse.  This wouldn’t have been too much of a bother except that they both moved at different speeds, if the black one hit the edge then the blue wouldn’t move and that was the one that had to click things.  Eventually I did managed to wrangle my way into a match where the problem remained and made it impossible to aim past certain directions.

Sadly I still haven’t found a solution, in the past I have been forced to use EnvyNG (not a bad thing in and of itself) to install the graphics driver, it has been a while since I first used it so I thought it might be worth trying the standard drivers again, after all lots of other users run fine with them.  I tried uninstalling the EnvyNG driver and installing a fresh one manually, this just resulted in me never reaching X, I switched to the open-source nv driver and got back into Gnome so that I could reinstall the driver with EnvyNG.  Ubuntu now ran fine but I still had the same problems with UT2004.  You would have thought this meant there was a conflict somewhere between my monitor, graphics card and driver but Arch runs fine, in fact it runs better than fine and only took a few minutes to install.

I think I may have to just reinstall Ubuntu (the newest version probably), the thing is I wanted it in it’s current state so that it could make a fair comparison of a well used system (rather than a fresh install like Arch).  You shouldn’t run into any of these problems, I know the game ran fine because when I got into a match everything was fine except for the issues I have mentioned above.

Testing

Now we come to the interesting part (and the main cause of the delay).  As I said in Part 1, without FRAPS I didn’t have anything to measure the FPS in games which makes any observations about the graphics performance highly subjective.  UT2004 has built in benchmarking tools however, in fact if you want to give it a try and do not own a copy of UT2004 you too can run benchmark tests using the demo.  There is an external benchmarking program available for UT2004 called UMark, however I wanted there to be no doubt as to the figures so I decided to stick with the launcher commands.  Here is a quick run through of how I performed the tests.

There is a tutorial available here, which runs through the creation of various files which help you perform a benchmark test.  I could not get the timedemo to work in Linux however, this is slightly annoying since that would have allowed me to create (or download) a demo which would mean both Operating Systems would run in exactly the same conditions.  What I did find out how to do though was run a bot match, by using the same map, same number of bots and same amount of time it has hopefully produced an accurate enough mark for comparison.  Observing the matches they all ran fairly similar with just a different choice of main character and different interactions with the other bots, they moved around similar areas and used similar weapons.  I decided to run the test five times to help average out each score.  In Linux I started the terminal and went to the location of the ut2004 launcher, there are quite a number of options you can add after the launcher to run a series of tests, this was the series I used:

./ut2004 dm-rankin?spectatoronly=1?numbots=12?quickstart=1?attractcam=1 -benchmark -seconds=90

This runs a 12 bot match on DM_Rankin with the camera following as a spectator, this results in a nice range of close up and distance views.  -benchmark records the average FPS to a file along with settings and system specifications, in Windows this is located in the installation folder UT2004>Benchmarks>Results, but in Linux it is saved in your home directory to ~/.ut2004/Benchmarks/Results.  The average FPS results are also added to benchmark.log in the Benchmarks folder.  The seconds option is self-explanatory, it specifies how long the test will run for.

In Windows it didn’t like running from the launcher, it ran but never stopped, so I had to create a .bat file in the UT2004 folder with the contents:

.\System\UT2004.exe dm-rankin?spectatoronly=1?numbots=12?quickstart=1?attractcam=1 -benchmark -seconds=90 -exitafterdemo

As far as graphics settings, I put everything on maximum in the options menu.  I didn’t use any .ini tweaks except to enable OpenGL in Windows, the only difference between settings for DirectX and OpenGL was that DirectX had one higher option for shadows, Off, Blob, Full.

So, now for the results:

Quite interesting I think you’ll agree.  There was only a one frame difference between Arch and Ubuntu, this was mostly down to one bad mark of 76 which lowered Ubuntu’s average.  If you look at the decimal points Arch was around 79.7-9 and Ubuntu was around 79.5-7, statistically insignificant though.  When it came to Windows however it beats them in both DirectX and OpenGL (enabled through .ini) modes by more than 30FPS.

A resounding win for Windows then…or at least it would have been had I finished last night and started writing up, but then I had an idea.  I decided to run the game once more in Wine to see if there was any difference, it didn’t like running in DirectX but once I switched to OpenGL everything seemed to run fine.

Wow, that’s quite a difference.

Conclusion

There’s a lot more data to consider this time around.  Native gaming is of course a great thing, it means less compatibility problems and better integration with the OSs capabilities.  Ignoring the installation time, which is common to the Windows version too, it doesn’t take long to get it up and running, and only requires a few simple commands.  One day we might get a native version of a commercial game that uses a GUI installer (all the games I’ve tried required some command line copy\pasting), it’s not that it’s beyond most people’s capabilities but just simple ease-of-use.  Apart from my Ubuntu issues the nVIDIA drivers are nice and easy to use and run the games well, I can only hope performance is as smooth for ATI owners.

The Wine results were very interesting and added a lot to the picture.  If I hadn’t run that last test an argument could have been made that Windows runs better than Linux, it wouldn’t have been a very good argument, basing an argument on the results of a single game is hardly a good foundation, but it could have been made.  Wine uses OpenGL, so when it runs a DirectX program it takes the instructions and turns them into OpenGL instructions, which it can then pass onto the OS as normal.  When it runs an OpenGL program however it effectively (I’m not sure how it works) passes the instructions straight through, that is why quite a few programs that have problems in DirectX mode run fine if they can also use OpenGL.  Wine doesn’t improve upon Windows’ instructions, just translates them and OpenGL instructions are passed right through so it must mean that the difference is in the program.  Or it is all a big conspiracy…

So what have we learnt?  Well not that much really, this is just a single game so it proves nothing when discussing Linux as a gaming platform.  But specifically about UT2004 it does show that the Linux version isn’t as well written as the Windows one.  That’s not really surprising, Linux has been relatively unexplored when it comes to programming for games and for a developer known for their programming capabilities in Windows you can hardly fault them.  It’s quite possible there are other factors such as development software used, how long they spent working on the Linux version or it could all down to driver performance.  If you read the release highlights for nVIDIA drivers they are often (although not at the moment) touting increases in performance, once I even saw a claim of 30-40% improvement.  It’s quite possible the Linux drivers never see this kind of increase.

So would I be happy playing UT2004 in Linux?  The answer is a resounding yes.  I might consider running it in Wine instead of native, but ultimately since the average FPS is always over 70 the difference is hardly noticeable.

Icons

The icon that comes with UT2004 is nice but if you are after something different there are quite a few options available, here are some of the highlights:

Source

Source

Source

Thanks to:

ChartGo – For the free chart making tools.

Ubuntu forums & Arch forums

Ubuntu Gamers Arena – For the tutorial.

With my brother in town visiting for an extended stay, I’ve started looking into games that we can both play together online off the same 360. He’s into competitive games (especially fighting games), while I’m more into co-operative games, so I figure we can meet in the middle with games that we can play against other people while still being on the same team. The trick is finding these types of games that allow for us to both play together on one console and still fulfill those requirements!

It’s slim pickings but here’s the list I’ve compiled:

Halo 3
This is probably the highest rated and most popular game of this list that allows for both of us to go online and play adversarial modes off the same console. Of course, you either like Halo or you don’t. I’ve come a long way in that I don’t find Halo 3 as bad as the first couple, but ultimately, I’ll always end up choosing a Battlefield or Call of Duty game over it if I were playing online alone.

Gears of War/Gears of War 2
I believe that both games allow for us to play on the same console in adversarial matches, as well as the Horde mode in Gears of War 2. Unfortunately, I’m not a fan of the adversarial in the Gears of War games (too imbalanced since the gameplay design doesn’t work well for multiplayer) and my bro isn’t too into the Horde mode (he finds it too mindless).

Left 4 Dead
Every mode is available for us to play online with split screen, but I don’t enjoy the Versus mode so this is more co-op friendly than “co-op adversarial” friendly. The problems I have with the Versus mode is that it doesn’t really reward skill as much as it does figuring out where all the glitches and optimal “smoker pull spots” are. In other FPS adversarial games if you just go in completely new, you actually stand a chance based on your FPS skills alone. But in Left 4 Dead Versus, if you don’t know all the glitches/spots or how to deal with them, you’re done before you even started.

Unreal Tournament III
The 360 version is the only one with split-screen online, allowing us to play adversarial modes. Unfortunately, there’s no matchmaking in the game and the userbase is tiny. No one plays ranked anymore, and for unranked games, you’ll be lucky to find one or two matches. Game is practically already dead.

Age of Booty
From the same guys that did the matchmaking code of the Halo games, Age of Booty is an Xbox Arcade title that I felt my brother and I would enjoy. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a big following for the game so practically no one plays it online anymore, just like Unreal Tournament III.

In short, it looks like very slim pickings. I would have loved to see one of the Call of Duty games or Battlefield games offer split-screen online, or even older titles like the Rainbow Six games, the GRAW games, Team Fortress 2, and Shadowrun. Maybe we will have to get back into Halo after all, since it’s the best of what’s available. Perhaps it’s a good time too since Halo 3: ODST “drops” next month.

This should be a super fun post as opposed to the last one which was super not fun and super never should have been written.

This one is an observation about a movie poster! Popular culture! So, here’s the poster (Or one of them) for Inglorious Basterds a movie I actually really wanted to see. It has everything that sounds like it would make a fun movie. It has nazi’s, seems to be full of dumb jokes, and has THAT GUY in it.

And yes I’m aware there are other ones of these posters… But the ones on all the bus stops around here are this one. This one riight here… I think actually the bus stop one might have more characters on it, but it is pretty much this and well, this one has twice the moustache! MOUSTACHE!

Fig 1. The poster

And now this is what my point was: Every time I see this on the bus stops I am reminded of an image from a while ago now, an image that just so happens to be the cover for…

Fig 2. Unreal freaking Tournament III.

The composition is almost the same! The colour, the “paint streak” style background style (Obviously the movies streak ends with Brad Pitt, while UT3’s goes on. There’s a major character in the middle of the thing, only of course once again in the movie poster Brad is the sole focus. In the version with more characters, he may only be in there once, but he’s right dead centre as ever. What a guy. But I’m going to stop talking about him since I am not Perez Hilton.

Honestly if I made the movie poster for that movie, I would have totally used more scenes from the movie. I would have pictures of lots of nazi’s and a huge swastika and brad pitt in the side or something but a bit less of him, mostly just the moustache really…

And if I made the cover for UT3 well, okay that cover is good. Maybe could do with more guns and explosions. The first UT had the trophy for the cover which made sense since it was a Tournament, the second had pictures of two totally badass dudes who have no intention of rescuing the president with the giant U logo. This one… Actually this one isn’t as good as the others. It doesn’t have the same feel, and oddly enough neither did the damn game.

Anyway, just saw District 9 and quit my thesis. What a day! But I want to make a comic of it, and don’t want to have spoilers for all those non-readers out there. I do plan on linking this blog up to something eventually (Soon, when I design my comic page properly! This will be the news feed!)

Okay I should get on that!

So very very tired. This is quite a fun hostel but it’s not a very conducive evironment for the act of sleeping. In my room there is a big fat French couple who snore like walruses, an exhibitionist Finnish couple who keep falling out of bed drunk while completely naked and a Japanese fella (that looks like the geezer from ‘Oldboy‘) who sleeps fully clothed next to his netbook. Add this rather loud lot to an ever slamming door, a light forever going on and off, a load of Latvians singing rousing traditional music complete with instrumental accompaniment (to 3 in the morning), a perpetual drip from the ceiling and a thumping techno beat (to 7 in the morn) from God knows where and you get the idea.

At the moment I’m probably averaging about 3 hours a night, not good. I think I might check in to the Hilton come Lithuania. I’ve to change room today so Lord knows what awaits.

I’ve just been on the free (well, tip based) walking tour of Riga and it was 3 hours of complete boredom, if the Berlin one was an 8 or 9 out of 10 this was a 2 or 3. I find it hard to believe they were the most interesting buildings or events to occur in the city. I only went on it because I’m again short of time. Still only 3 Lats spent so no harm done, plus there were a couple of lads from Wolverhampton on it who had good wit so maybe I’ll see them for a drink later.

One thing I did pickup on the tour was a tiny bottle of Riga Black Basalm for just over a Lat, it’s their most famous drink apparently and is based on a recipe over 2 centuries old. It’s basically some ridiculously high volume alcohol that’s vile tasting and is (or at least was) considered a cure for any ailment you could care to mention. Snakeoil basically.

No sooner had I got back than I had to rush straight out for the shooting thing. It was me and 3 French guys doing it. It was all over pretty quick (7 or 8 shots on each weapon) but it was a good experience and I enjoyed it. The pleasantries were thin on the ground and I got the feeling the ‘instructor’ had killed people. All very Soviet, all very what I wanted.

One of the French fellas had a bit of a tick and to my shame, I thought I didn’t fancy being next to him with a shotgun. As it happened he turned out to be the best shot amongst us with a particularly ace headshot with the pump-action being the highlight. I done okay, not ‘Man From U.N.C.L.E‘ standard, but pretty solid shooting with the target in my backpack to prove.

Half past 5 and my 2 meals of the day have been bags of crisps. My diet of the past couple of days has been ruddy awful but it has been down to circumstace rather than choice so hopefully things will pick up shortly in that respect. Now even, Latvian cusine defo this time! Though it may require a bit of sprinting as Riga has been having Mancunian like heavy downpours all day.

One thing I do like about this hostel is their penchant for giving out free beer. I got 1 at check-in, 1 after the shooting and another after I had to check-in all over again for the room change. The stuff they give you is Zelta (gold is the translation).

So Riga is okay and it’s a good place for a group of lads to come away to but I’ve been to a lot better places culturally and architecture wise. This is part of what this tour is all about though, I’m making mental notes about places I want to come back to and explore further in the future. Of the cities visited on this trip, Belin is probably the only one that falls into that catergory, there are a few others though from previous short European adventures.

над.

Swego czasu lider formacji Iron Maiden, Bruce Dicknson śpiewał: “I’m not a prisoner, I’m a free man!”. W podobnym tonie mógłby wypowiadać się niejaki więzień nr 849 gdyby nie fakt, że zerwanie kajdanów z jego kończyn okazało się równoznaczne z podpisaniem aktu o wzajemnej agresji w stosunkach ze Skaarj, mało sympatycznymi najeźdźcami Na Pali.

Poszło o surowiec…

Skaarj pewnie nigdy nie zaprzątaliby sobie głów planetą Na Pali oraz jej mieszkańcami nazywanymi Nali gdyby nie fakt, że zasłynęła ona z bogatych złóż Tarydium, kryształu o cennych właściwościach. Pacyfistycznie usposobieni Nali szybko dali się zniewolić, a kontrolę nad Na Pali przejęli Skaarj, którzy – chcąc, nie chcąc – na Na Pali nieco zabawią, gdyż ich statek uległ zniszczeniu… zresztą nieopodal gęstych złóż wspomnianego Tarydium.

W tym spopielonym klimacie odnajduje się nasz bohater, więzień nr 849 statku kosmicznego Vortex Rikers. Trudno o domysły co też uczynił on niegodziwego w przeszłości, ale kierunek Vortex Rikers to więzienie, oddalone o miliony lat świetlnych od Ziemii. Gdyby nie fakt, że Vortex uległ awarii nieopodal Na Pali to naszego bohatera czekałaby kosmiczna katorga. Zresztą… patrząc z jego perspektywy naprawdę trudno przypuszczać co byłoby lepsze, bo po drugiej stronie będzie musiał zbawić Na Pali i przeżyć wiele spotkań bliskiego kontaktu ze Skaarj…

To właśnie te agresywne kreatury stoją za sponiewieraniem resztek załogi Vortex Rikers. Więzień nr 849 tylko cudowi zawdzięcza to, że uszedł z życiem. A przynajmniej do czasu, bo właśnie w tym momencie rozpoczyna się nasza rola, naczelnego rozpierdalatora Na Pali.

Ile Skaarj zmieści się na główce od zapałki?

Podczas naszego tournee po Na Pali spotkamy całe mnóstwo postaci i poczwar.

Do naszego tyłka dobrać się będą chciały liczne odmiany Skaarj, a wśród nich m.in.  Skaarj Assassin, Skaarj Lord, Skaarj Sniper czy Skaarj Berseker (zresztą mój ulubiony, bo zupełnie odmóżdżony – czyt. atakuje nawet swoich), które zgodnie z hierarchią posiadają inne umiejętności (hierarchia kończy się na Królowej…). Na samych Skaarj lista naszych przeciwników się nie zamyka, bo te pomysłowe stworzenia albo werbują w swoje szeregi inne jednostki (np. UMS Space Marine), albo idąc tropami dra Mengele sami je tworzą, hodując rozliczne wymyślne twory.

Poza tym chęć na nasze życie będą miały jeszcze potworki, które ze Skaarj nie mają zbyt dużo wspólnego. Ot, drapieżniki jak Devilfish, Gasbag czy jaszczurowaty Slith.

Jednak Na Pali to również zupełnie neutralne jednostki, a także sporadycznie takie, które gotowe są nieść nam pomoc (rdzenni mieszkańcy planety). Jest ich nieporównywalnie mniej od naszych przeciwników, ale nikt przecież nie mówił, że Unreal to spacerek.

…a czym będziemy robić z nich padlinę?

Czym byłby dobry FPS bez całej palety giwer? W Unrealu takiej nie zabrakło!

Do dyspozycji mamy 10 typów broni. Zaczynamy co prawda ze skromnie wyglądającym pistolecikiem na wiązki elektryczne, ale już kolejna broń do dyspozycji – AutoMag – to prawdziwy niezbędnik każdego twardziela. Strzela szybko i celnie. Równie użyteczna jest wersja Stingera rodem z Na Pali, ładowana… kryształami Tarydium.

Znacznie ulepszoną wersją pistoletu jest ASMD, który wypluwa całe mnóstwo wiązek elektrycznych odrzucających rywali na duże odległości albo tworzy ogromną chmurę elektryczną, której nie sposób się oprzeć. Kolejne w dyspozycji: Eightball Launcher i Flack Cannon to już klasyki broni ciężkiej, potężne w użyciu i idealne na, odpowiednio, dalekie starcia i starcia z bliska.

GES BIO Rifle wypełnione jest zieloną masą powstałą w wyniku przetwarzania Tarydium. Nie jest to bynajmniej masa do upieczenia placka, ale śmiertelna, fantazyjna broń. Zresztą fantazyjności nie można odmówić też Razor Jackowi, kolejnej broni, w której amunicję stanowią elementy słynnego surowca, który przy tej broni stanowi rolę noży do wycinania… głów.

Minigun to udoskonalony odpowiednik Auto Maga, a nasz bohater do dyspozycji ma jeszcze klasyczną snajperkę.

Cały ten arsenał, czasami wspomagany pojazdami bojowymi (swego czasu – absolutna nowość w grach FPS) ułatwi nam dogłębną penetrację nieprzewidywalnego świata Unreal. A bęcie co penetrować, bo przyjdzie nam walczyć w ponad 35-ciu misjach!

Kolory Unreala

Tak zwany Unreal Enigne zaoferował całą masę zmian w FPS-ach. Fakt, że straciły one klimat walki w betonowej dżungli, ale za to zyskały niesamowitą grafikę i niezliczoną ilość bajerów, które z każdej karty graficznej potrafiły wycisnąć ostanie poty i spowodować krótkie spięcie. O grafice Unreala i silniku tej gry mówi się jako o przełomowych, które popchnęły elektroniczną rozrywkę ku ewolucji.

Pierwszy Unreal to także zmiany w udźwiękowieniu. Fakt, że muzyczki nie były tak zajebiste jak w mającym się ukazać niedługo  Unrealu Tournament, ale co ważne były już zapisywane nie w klasycznych midi, ale w nowym typie plików mod.

I to wszystko, zarówno nowy unikatowy silnik i nowa jakość muzyki w grach, jak i wciągająca historia oraz bogaty wybór giwer i różnorodni przeciwnicy, sprawiło, że Unreal podbił świat i stał się inspiracją dla przyszłych FPS-ów. Aż trudno sobie wyobrazić co by było gdyby Unreala nie było…

Stare, dobre czasy w wydaniu XXI-wszo wiecznym?

Musisz sięgnąć jeśli… chcesz wiedzieć w jaki sposób ewoluowały FPS-y.

Skaaarj!

Screeny pochodzą z:

www.gry-online.pl

For years, South Florida and pretty much the east coast in general has been neglected when it comes to video game conventions. Thankfully that has changed over the past few years. We now have PAX New York, GenCon, Wizard World, NY Comic Con, and a few others. The last time I remember anything decent coming nearby was The World Cyber Games in Orlando back in September of 2007 and before that was when E3 was in Atlanta back in 1998. So here is a quick rundown of the details.

The convention will be held October 23-25 at the Doubletree Miami Mart Hotel and Convention Center. The convention will open at noon on Friday, going through 10 p.m. The rest of the weekend’s hours are 10am-10pm Saturday, and 10am-5pm Sunday.

Pre-registration is available for the event at the Infinite Bits website. It costs $30 for a three-day pass.  Attendees can also pay at the door. It will cost $35 for a three-day pass, $30 to attend Saturday and Sunday, or $20 for a one-day pass.  Con-goers who wish to haunt the convention throughout the entire weekend can get discounts at the Doubletree Miami Mart Hotel. Check the website for full information.

via CBS4

$30 isn’t that bad for a three day pass. Most of us live near or at least within reasonable driving distance of the airport so even if we only go for one day that’s only $20. So why would we want to go to this event?

Interactive Video Game Museum

BitCade – BitCade, will have retro classics, fighting games, and more, all on free play.

Game Rooms -

• 32 networked Xbox 360s.
• The Arena, filled with fighting games.
• Party Room, including crazy matches of 10-player Bomberman. [My favorite!]

Twin Galaxies World Record Competitions – Twin Galaxies will be officiating over multiple competitions.

Unreal Tournament 3 Level Design Contest – Create your own Unreal Tournament 3 Level.


Dealer’s Area

Panels and Games

Video Room – Movies and Saturday morning cartoons, documentaries about video games, speedruns of the classics and more.

Tournaments – Halo 3, Gears of War 2, Call of Duty, Rock Band, Street Fighter 4, Tatsunoko vs Capcom, and more.

Nintendo World Championship 1990

Rock Band

Tabletop Gaming – Tabletop, pen and paper, and collectible card games.

Costume Contest

Live music Friday and Saturday Nights.

Guests include I Fight Dragons, Todd Rogers, Benjamin Heckendorn, Aaron Pabon, and the Console Alliance.

I didn’t even know Miami had a geek comedian. I’m going to try and grab a press pass and cover it for my blog, and the Gamers With Jobs forum. If any media outlets would like me to cover this convention for them, hint hint, either comment or email me so we can talk.

via Miami – Riptide 2.0 – Miami’s First Videogame Convention Coming in October.

Revisions:

7-30-09: Initial release.  Added another section for Underground Gamer requests.
7-31-09: Added World in Conflict and Warcraft 3 gamer request.
8-01-09: Added No One Lives Forever 2 gamer request, Far Cry 2, and Gears of War.
8-02-09: Changed the game request section slightly.  Now it has a “Known to work Straight Up” part of it.
8-3-09: Added notes to the games section for quake 3 and call of duty 1.
8-7-09: Added Worms Armaggedon and Worms World Party to games section.
8-8-09: Added hamachi channel. I hope I am not going to regret this.
8-11-09: Added Call of Duty 2 and Gears of War to verified games list.
8-13-09: Added install Tunngle demonstration video.
10-31-09: Added a long list of games: Battlefield Vietnam, Borderlands, Demigod, Duke Nukem, GTA IV, Killing Floor, Left 4 Dead, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Shift, and Underground 2; Red Faction Guerilla, Resident Evil 5, Section 8, Serious Sam – The SEcond Encounter, Splinter Cell – Pandora Tomorrow, Starcraft, Street Fighter IV, Titan Quest, Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3

Foreword:  I am very excited.  This is definitely one of my favorite posts for 2009, and as you read further, you will understand why.  This guide is clearly not illegal.  It is simply another method to enable users to play their LAN enabled games over the Internet with friends.  No longer are you bound to be in the basement with your PCs to play LAN games! There is a reason why I spent two long nights working on this guide and the excellent video!  ~ Versatile

If you follow this blog, or know anything about VPN programs, Hamachi is a great program that people can use to play LAN games with each other.  In short, Hamachi was the king for implementing LAN games to play over the Internet.  How it worked is people would join these networks, and Hamachi gives each user a unique IP address.  When you launch a game, the game is tricked into thinking that everyone in the network is on the same LAN, and hence, you can see each other to play the game.

Of course, Hamachi has other useful purposes such as being a great secure chat medium, as well as being an alternative as a safe VPN to tunnel into your PCs and transfer files or encrypt remote transfers or remote administration.

See you are praising Hamachi?

Just like any program in life, everything has its downfall unfortunately. Hamachi is a great program, but when you try to play LAN enabled games over the Internet, it is not an exact science.  I harp a lot about the importance of VPN alias, and I thought that was the holy grail to make games work, but that is not true unfortunately.

Although you do the VPN alias for the user, it turns out that sometimes it doesn’t make the server show up in the game.  You may have to disable encryption, and instead of having the the first 3 octets of the IP address same as host and the last octet the same as the client’s last octet, you may have to change the method where the last octet of the VPN alias is one number higher than the client’s last octet.

For example:

Host IP: 5.156.23.333

Client IP: 5.142.69.449

The traditional VPN alias for host would be:  5.156.23.449.  Sometimes not all games will work properly, and through error and trial, you find out the VPN alias should really be 5.156.23.334.  Get my drift?  It is not an exact science.

Plus, there are claims that in Vista and Windows 7 that the UDP traffic that Hamahi used is not being routed properly in the OS so that is why you may not see a game in the LAN menu.

Well frick man.  How about Garena?

I’m glad you reminded me about Garena.  Don’t get me wrong, Garena is a great program to. Hamachi is limited in the sense that in order to play your favorite game, you need other people online at the same time in your network.  Since the network is limited to 16 players, you constantly have to kick people to get new people inside.

When using Garena, this is not the case anymore.  Garena is almost like Valve’s Steam in the sense that it has a game browser.  It has multiple network rooms, where the max limit of each room is 225 players.  Garena takes care of the VPN alias in the background.  All you need to do is make sure your game is the latest version as the other players, host a game, and then people can instantly join you through the multiplayer aspect of the game in question.

The problem? Garena has a small list of games. The hottest games they got going on right now is Left 4 Dead, Killing Floor, Starcraft, and the Warcraft 3 series.  It is funny that they have COD4 and COD5.  Although its nearly empty for USA rooms, its vastly popular in Brazil and Europe networks?  What gives? >_>

If you have a LAN game like Diablo II, there is no way you can make that work in Garena.  You can try to make it work in Hamachi though, but you will have to mess with the VPN alias, and making Hamachi the primary adapter in Windows, which I have guides on already.

This is why I am so glad to find a new program called Tunngle.

All right, you got me.  What is Tunngle?

Tunngle (pronounced as “tung-gle” – I hope that is right pronunciation) is another VPN client program like Hamachi or Garena.  However, it is vastly compared to Hamachi because of its feature set.

Take a look at the chart below, thanks to the source, and major props to Brioche.

As you can see, Tunngle blows Hamachi out of the water.  It has an interface that is a cross between Steam and Garena.  It has a list of game networks that you can join and its very easy to play a game.  Zero configuration which I will talk about later in this guide.  It truly is the holy grail that all the hardcore PC gamers have been waiting for.  Oh yea, and if a game is not on the Tunngle network, you can go to a misc network and play your game there!  It has sexy written all over it.

You are killing me with anticipation.  How do I get started with Tunngle?!

Haha, keep your pants on. Here is the guide you have been waiting for in easy to follow steps:

Note: The program is made by German programmers, and it is still in beta.  They are working on an English translation, which I hope is released soon!

1) Go to www.tunngle.net.  Download the program and install it.  Make an account at the website and fill out the required information.  Make sure to confirm the email message.

2) Launch the tunngle.net program.  It will look like the screenshot when you first load it.

3)  After awhile a message will pop up below.  Say “Ja”.

4) Type in your account and software password.

It will take about a minute to connect and it looks like the screen below.

5)  Here you are at the main screen.  Click on community, then network, then go to browser.

6)  On the left hand side, is all the categories. If you select any particular category, you can break it down to the specific games.

7)  Enter into any game room.  Now minimize Tunngle, and launch your game.  When you go to the LAN portion, you should see servers if anyone is hosting.  Likewise, you can host and others will see it.  No configuration.  No need to mess with VPN alias or other settings.

Pretty cool right?  Let’s say that your favorite game is not in the Tunngle game browser.  No worries!  Just go to any game room, although you can go to one of the rooms under “misc”.  Host your game there with your friend, and Tunngle takes care of the rest.

OMG, this really is the holy grail!

Of course it is. If you do not realize the beauty of this program, then I ask you leave or reconsider why this program is a breakthrough. Easy to use, easy to setup, and best of all, it works with all games with LAN functionality.  Screw you Garena.  Hamachi can rot in hell when your favorite game is not working, but yet it works great in Tunngle!

The only problem is right now like 98% of the user base in Tunngle are Europe/Asia game players.  There are hardly any USA players, maybe 0.05% are USA/Canada players.  My goal is that this article, coupled with my Youtube video, will open up other peoples eyes to get onto the Tunngle network.

I will definitely be visiting the Tunngle network to share my story as well as this article and see if I can help with promotion of such a fine program. Thank you Tunngle.  You are a blessing.

Timeless Video Tutorial – Learn how to use Tunngle.

After recording this video at least 10 times, I finally have a version that I am satisfied with.  (Well, being that it was like 12:30 AM in the morning may have played a factor in it too.  Haha).  Enjoy!

Tunngle Install Video – Start to Finish

Underground Gamer Requests

Tunngle is still in its infancy stage.  With that said, as more and more people read about this article, I want you to let us know what games you have that you want to play on Tunngle.  As more and more people comment, we will have a special list for everyone to contribute to!

Games we want you to have to play with us.  Games with an * means modification may be needed.  Just go to the tunngle server, host a LAN game, and people can join without special instructions!  All games below are verified to work unless noted below:

• Battlefield Vietnam
• Borderlands
• Call of Duty*[best if you use the windows 1.5 private server crack to defeat "awaiting cd key authorization" method]
• Call of Duty 2* [Use the 1.3 private server crack to defeat "awaiting cd key authorization" method]
• Call of Duty 4* [Use the 1.6 private server crack to defeat "awaiting cd key authorization" method]
• Call of Duty 5* [Use the 1.7 private server crack to defeat "awaiting cd key authorization" method]
• Call of Juarez
• Demigod
• Duke Nukem 3D
• Far Cry 2
• Gears of War* [See special tutorial here]
• Grand Theft Auto 4
• Half-Life
• Halo 2* [requires special steps. See tutorial here]
• Killing Floor
• Left 4 Dead
• Need for Speed: Most Wanted
• Need for Speed: Shift
• Need for Speed: Underground 2
• No One Lives Forever 2
• Quake 3: Arena  [better if you turn on dedicated server, then join it to fight lag]
• Quake Wars: Enemy Territory  [needs verification]
• Rainbow Six Las Vegas 2
• Red Faction Guerlla
• Resident Evil 5
• Section 8
• Serious Sam – The Second Encounter
• Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
• Starcraft
• Street Fighter IV
• Titan Quest
• Tony Hawk Pro Skater 3
• Warcraft 3: Reign of Chaos
• Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne
• World In Conflict
• Worms Armaggedon
• Worms World Party
• UT 3
• UT 2k4

Hamachi Channel

Want to play with us and know when we play? Join the hamachi channel. We clean it out almost every single day to play halo 2, quake 3, worms, call of duty, whatever we want!

• Network name:    Jewbacon’s Kosher Kastle
• Password:  333

If you got more, leave a comment!

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Brought to you by the McDonald's Angus Burger!

Lusipurr, Bup, and Ginia discuss the merits of The Sims (there are none), consider advertising for McDonald’s Angus Burgers (denied), and perform woefully in the Lusipurr.com Game Show (Nate wins). News? What news?

Alien Arena es un juego de FPS de accion en primera persona tiene los modo de juego al estilo de Unreal Tournament y con el Motor grafico de Quake III: Arena.

Lo mejor de Alien Arena 2009 es que es codigo abierto(es decir que es completamente gratis y si eres programador puedes modificarlo y expandir su escenario.)

DESCARGAR: Alien Arena 2009

new GL1TCHG0R3 tune for the Razorblade Nimbus album…

“Überlastung” – GL1TCHG0R3

-enjoy the insanity

Alien Arena är ett FPS (First Person Shooter) spel där man som namnet antyder skjuter just utomjordningar. Spelet påminner om Unreal Tournament och Quake III. Det finns både Singeplayer och Multiplayer lägen. Mer bilder samt en video finns tillgänglig på deras hemsida här.

Den nya versionen innehåller en del nyheter (Jag tänker inte översetta detta till svenska av självklara anledningar):

• GLSL per-pixel lighting on meshes (now all surfaces).
• OpenAL 1.1
• Ogg-Vorbis support.
• GLSL post process framebuffer effects.
• New scoreboards.
• New HUD.
• Stereo music files.
• Seven new maps.
• Two new player characters.
• Voice taunt system.

Jag kunde inte hitta systemkraven för den nyaste versionen men för Alien Arena 2008 är systemkraven:

• 1GHz CPU
• 256 MB RAM
• 500 MB hårddiskutrymme
• 3D stöd

Spelet är självklart baserad på öppen källkod och är platformsoberoende. Du laddar hem spelet här.

Ich weiß, ist schon etwas älter – ich glaube aber immer noch aktuell. Zudem ein schönes Beispiel für ein überzogene Berichterstattung im Allgemeinen und zum Thema Killerspiele im Besonderen. Ja, das Wort gibt es schon bei Wikipedia, sicher auch im nächsten Duden.

Erstaunlich wie sicher immer wieder Experten vor der Kamera ihr Wissen verbreiten. Achtet mal auf die Aussagen und ihre Richtigstelllung.

Vorlage:

Folgebeitrag:

Bueno pues ya es viernes y este fin de semana toca cotorrear y darse un tiempo para jugar y rascarse los webos. Algunos ya de vacaciones, otros en la recta final y los demás chambeando pero ni pedo así es esto y hay que seguirle, pero regresando al tema ¿Tu que estás jugando este fin de semana?

Yo me encuentro jugando Unreal Tournament 3 ya que lo compre hace como tres meses pero ni lo había pelado hasta hace unos 4 días y la neta para estar ruco si me ha traído diversión, por otra parte estoy descargando Trash Panic patrocinado por un cuate de la PSN, en cuanto lo juegue les platico que tal estas, ¿Ustedes que están jugando?.

Throughout these last few weeks of Semester 1, I have been quite busy with my final assignments, preparing for exams etc…so basically just the normal…

After a solid 12 weeks of uni, I must say that I now have a greater understanding of what my degree involves, compared to the first few weeks (when I wrote up my 1st blog!) as a 1st year student.  It has been quite hectic, but definitely rewarding as I have gained invaluable skills regarding Architectural design.  We have been using a range of softwares and programs throughout the courses, including Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, Unreal Tournament and Google Sketchup.

A major assignment I did for BENV1080 Enabling Skills & Research Practice involved designing and putting together an A1 & A2 panel (poster) with text explaining a specific theme of interest regarding the Sydney Opera House, which was also accompanied by a 3D extruded model of a section of the Opera Theatre.   It was the first time I had ever made a model!  I found it extremely fun, as I have always had a strong passion in craft and modeling…but at the same time, I discovered that it was terribly time consuming.  The main aim of this assignment was for us to integrate our Academic, Visual and Computing Literacy skills acquired throughout the duration of the course.

When I first started the course, I was clueless with these programs as I had never had much contact with them.  However, through tutorials and lab sessions, I was provided with an overview of the basic tools in each program, which had allowed me to produce these final posters.  On a side note, through this course, I have achieved a greater appreciation of the Sydney Opera House.

Right now, I am looking forward to Semester 2…as I am sure that it will be as enjoyable and rewarding as what I have experienced so far at UNSW.