The Multiplayer Gaming Atmosphere Of ThisGen

  There's only one thing (and also three things) I want to say about it: I don't like it, it sucks. These are the three reasons I am looking forward to the great games of 2o1o and beyond because of their SINGLEPLAYER experience and not the multiplayer one. [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

1) Online vs. Pass-The-Pad
Ever since both versions of multiplayer modes found their way into existance I liked to play both of them. Of course, if you played a game offline via pass-the-pad you had to deal with limitations. For example you had two to four (or sometimes eight) players playing at the same time while the persons who were present exceeded the number of available player slots so you had to pass the controller and play the games in turns - which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Seeing each other face to face while laughing at a hilarious bit that just happened on screen is just so much funnier than instead just listening to one another over the headsets. It may also have been the case that you might had to share your screen with your friends via split-screen or a, what I might call, "group camera". Of course, you don't have all that limitations online now but who said that the online version had to substitute the pass-the-pad version. The problem isn't simply that we gamers grew older and don't "meet to game" as much as we used to when we were younger (although that might indeed be a factor) - there are simply not that many games out there anymore which are made for that purpose. Instead almost every new game that doesn't feature an online mode is automatically treated as "outdated".

2) Match-Making vs. Dedicated Servers
Who follows the gaming industry a bit (and particularly the gaming news industry) knows about the recent "Modern Warfare 2" controversy that is related to that very topic. For everyone else: in a nutshell, instead of using dedicated servers for the PC version of that game it has been decided that the game relies solely on a match-making system that creates a group of players dynamically. The good thing about it (for the developers, I guess) is that you don't have to have servers running 24/7. The bad thing about it is that you get thrown together with RANDOM people each time you enter a lobby. This includes Newcomers, Noobs, overwhelmingly skilled players and worst of all ill-mannered players. Let me come to them in a bit. The thing about dedicated servers is: they never even existed on ThisGen. Since the launch of the PlayStation 3™ and Xbox 360™ online play was realized through match-making. We gamers never even had the chance to choose a server and gather our own experiences so that we could decide where and with whom we wanted to play.

3) The Gamers
If you happen to encounter players who you can actually play with - "okay" players who know the drill and play fair, who might even see the same thing in you and send you friend requests - then that's something special. The more common experience is that you will either be slaughtered or castrated. Because either you get in a room where everyone in the opposing team is better than you - not just in the acommodation phase where everything is new - or where lots of people don't play fair. Although that's not really a new thing. Gamers camped, cheated and spawn-killed since the dawn of age and they will for all eternity. But the thing is, nowadays kids just play games that have worldwide ranking lists and want to be on top of that. So, when they encounter something like a glitch or the slightest aspect of unfavourable balance these Exploiters simply take the fun out of it.

I mean ...

<<
question: are we allowed ot WSG when getting cake for the princess

I don't do it if we agree no WSG, but I was wondering if we should make an exception here, since we're glitching with cake not the princess
>> Source: Playstation.com Boards

(WSG = warrior shield glitch. Whatever that is) What's the fucking problem with them? Have they never learned that to play honorable is better than to "pwn n00bz" at all costs, even it means to exploit a glitch or two. Or this. Why would you jump up those hills and snipe all the other players? Where's the fucking fun in it?
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Gaming in Twenty Ten & VG MOY 09

 I predict: there will be three major impacts on the world of gaming that will happen in the year 2o1o. Also I'll quickly pinpoint my Videogame Moment Of The Year 2oo9. [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

1) Project Natal
Don't get me wrong - I'm not hyping that "project", console or add-on, or whatever it will be in the end. Hell, I don't even know if it will be working as they say it will be, because I haven't seen anything other than a "target-render-like" video or two, the type with a high "big promises"/"actual footage" ratio. Oh yeah, and the mini-games - yaaaaaay \(-.-' )/. All I'm saying is that it will change the way games will be played. Probably not for hardcore gamers. My guess is that it will be just a gimmick for them ("us" actually), if developers try to implement it into their games "by force", like the Sixaxis functionality of the PlayStation 3™. But for the casual market - it will probably be a big hit, if you ask me.

2) OnLive
OnLive is said to deliver high definition videogaming for multiple platforms, with high internet bandwidth, including playable-demo- and spectating-mode-features among many other things (also playing the actual full length game, of course), all in one box, via the use of Cloud computing. Now, naturally, I don't know if this said "project" will turn out to be as profitable as the makers wish it to be, but even if OnLive fails to fulfill its promises, I think that a competitor might come along and succeed with its own product that makes less promises - for example it may have all the same features but standard definition or whatever. What I think though is that Cloud computing itself will have an impact on the gaming world. Probably not a very big one but still noticable.

3) 3D Gaming
Okay, maybe I'm a little bit early on this one but since James Cameron has pushed "the new" 3D into cinema with his movie "Avatar" (not to be confused with the other Avatar movie, the one that I'm actually excited for), a newer version of 3D that's supposed to not cause headaches like the "3D era" in the eighties and nineties did, I'll just go for it regarding the gaming world. So far there may have been nothing more than a few news articles pointing out the possibility of 3D on ThisGen's PS3 but I think there will be a lot more news articles to read about this topic in 2o1o. In fact, there will probably be so many news articles that a lot of videogame journalists and developers might already believe in it long before 3D will actually hit the homes of us gamers.

there's even a vid

Source: PS3 Maven.com

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]

-) The Videogame Moment Of The Year 2oo9 is an easy one. There could have been a chance for Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2™, with its addictive multiplayer mode - even though it didn't grip me in the first play hours - but as this one is a sequel I actually saw it coming. No, no. This year belongs to someone else.

Normally I'm a collector gamer type. I like to explore environments and discover secrets, secrets that other gamers might pass by unknowingly. Especially when there's a built-in checklist in the game I'm all the more gonna catch 'em all. This was the case for Uncharted 2: Among Thieves™ as well, of course. (I tried hard and I think it's safe to say now that there are no spoilers within the next paragraphs). Its hidden treasures demanded my full attention. When I brought the game over to my brother - that was before I finished the single player campaign on my playthrough - I experienced once again that he's not this kind of gamer, not at all. He "rushed" through the chapters in a pace that probably is to be deemed more appropriate for this game than my pace is, picking up a few of the treasures very occasionally.

Later that week I picked up the controller and continued where I left off. That was in Chapter 16 "Where Am I?". I played just the way that I usually do. I climbed every rooftop, every ledge, rock and cliff (in the later chapters), I stopped and turned the camera, looked in almost every possible direction and searched for that pulse raising sparkle in the grass, snow and mud, close by and also in the distance, a sparkle that always reveals the position of the well placed treasures. The goal for me is always to try and find as many collectables in a game, already during the first playthrough, so that I get rewarded with a high percentage in the game results screen, or a list with many filled or checked lines, an inventory with many filled item slots or anything of this sort, which satisfies the needs of the hunter buried deep within my psyche.

But at some point in this game, your temporary "safe camp" gets assaulted and you will be confronted with a big load of action. There are still a few treasures hidden in this part of the game, and I managed to grab one or two, but the action gets so tense, the enemies keep coming and the "enemy types" shift from "infantry" to "vehicular" ... I looked less and less for treasures and just advanced to the next thrilling scripted event, only to be pleased with an awesome car chase, one that I've never seen in this form before. When the game returned to a more calm moment in the beginning of the next chapter, where you have to (or rather have the option to) advance stealthily which normally goes neatly hand in hand with my already described treasure hunt, something had changed in me.

I did try to progress with stealth and search for treasures at first but when that didn't work out so well, I noticed that I played the game more like my brother did. I did not make this decision, actively, but I just played it different. Time flew by and soon I was desperately trying to complete the challenging final chapter. What an impressive act! The game was so overwhelmingly thrilling in its action-packed sequences, so appropriately calm in its pacing when it served the rhythm of the gameplay, so stunningly beautiful in its environments, so astoundingly convincing in its voice acting and motion capturing that the game literally dragged me *out* of my gaming routine and *into* its compelling narrative and gameplay experience. This year's videogame moment of the year is the point where I realized that I had so much fun playing Uncharted 2 although I played it entirely different than I'm used to.
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wooden.forcedRemodeling(); ?

 I recently read that Geocities is closing which is why I am concerned that some stuff of this website won't work anymore. Frankly I don't remember which file is stored on which account and website so theoretically everything related to my blog could, you know, EXPLODE \(O_O )/ *poof* Thy End Is Nigh!, leaving nothing but a devastating crater in the vast hinterlands of the internets - but I'm confident in my ability to err. [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

It seems that only this photo section documenting my Games Convention 2oo5 visit is affected by this (Yaaay, how stupid of me to link there, when I know it's dead! ... or .. will be soon). But I guess you didn't even know it existed. Right here in the links section. You didn't know there was a links section on this blog? Well, I'll admit, the link is tiny and easy to miss, the section itself is out-of-date, just like many other parts of this website - I guess I'll have to force myself into a design update. Hmm, I wanted to clean up some of the code anyway.

Anyway, I did my job and warned you before it was too late. Toodloo!
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The Curious Case Of My Malevolent Machine

 I had a problem, a problem with the internet. Or maybe the internet had a problem with me - either way, my online options were pretty restricted, but curiously not fully. That's what troubled me for the last few weeks: how could I connect to the internet just a little bit?

Long story short: a new router fixed the problem - so I guess the old router was broken? Anyway, luckily I had a spare machine that was catching dust for over a year. One hardware reconfiguration and one dreaded call later I could access the wide space of the iNets again. With all my machines.

But how do you recognize that it's the routers fault and not the one of the application, server, user, cable, driver, et cetera? To remind myself of this colorful event and maybe to aid those who have similar problems with their internet connectivity I decided to blog-psot about it. Well, short story long: what follows are my notes that I created in the process of dealing with this freak situation. [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

Symptom [....]:
It didn't happen over a single night. It happened very slowly, during the course of one week or so. At first, I just thought IGN would load slow - but how wrong was I. It turned out that my whole connection was in trouble.

Symptom [...·]:
Http-browsing is slow as hell. Websites load forever. Often they spend up to 2 min. at the white screen phase and if (if, not when!) it succeeds to load past that stage then it's not getting quicker. But IRChatting and listening to iRadio is not affected by this. At least not that I know of.

Update: It got worse. They are affected now. If I can connect with one of these two programs, mIRC and Winamp, then the connection doesn't stay for too long.

Update-Update: Well, it varies. On some days I can chat for hours without any problems.

Symptom [..·.]:
Ping request timeouts. A lot. Today on these websites but not on those, in a few hours on other websites and tomorrow on even more different websites. Here's the ping logging:

[show/hide ping logging]

<<
C:\Documents and Settings\someguy>ping www.gametrailers.com

Pinging a580.g.akamai.net [195.50.164.202] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 195.50.164.202: bytes=32 time=16ms TTL=60
Reply from 195.50.164.202: bytes=32 time=16ms TTL=60
Reply from 195.50.164.202: bytes=32 time=16ms TTL=60
Reply from 195.50.164.202: bytes=32 time=16ms TTL=60

Ping statistics for 195.50.164.202:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 16ms, Maximum = 16ms, Average = 16ms

C:\Documents and Settings\someguy>ping 192.168.1.1

Pinging 192.168.1.1 with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254
Reply from 192.168.1.1: bytes=32 time<1ms TTL=254

Ping statistics for 192.168.1.1:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 0ms, Maximum = 0ms, Average = 0ms

C:\Documents and Settings\someguy>ping www.amazon.de

Pinging www.amazon.de [87.238.87.36] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 87.238.87.36:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\someguy>ping www.paypal.com

Pinging www.paypal.com [64.4.241.49] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 64.4.241.49:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\someguy>ping www.gametrailers.com

Pinging a580.g.akamai.net [195.50.164.208] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 195.50.164.208: bytes=32 time=17ms TTL=60
Reply from 195.50.164.208: bytes=32 time=16ms TTL=60
Reply from 195.50.164.208: bytes=32 time=16ms TTL=60
Reply from 195.50.164.208: bytes=32 time=15ms TTL=60

Ping statistics for 195.50.164.208:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 15ms, Maximum = 17ms, Average = 16ms

C:\Documents and Settings\someguy>ping wii.uk.ign.com
Ping request could not find host wii.uk.ign.com. Please check the name and try a
gain.

C:\Documents and Settings\someguy>ping www.playauditorium.com

Pinging www.playauditorium.com [70.32.121.171] with 32 bytes of data:

Reply from 70.32.121.171: bytes=32 time=162ms TTL=45
Reply from 70.32.121.171: bytes=32 time=161ms TTL=45
Reply from 70.32.121.171: bytes=32 time=162ms TTL=45
Reply from 70.32.121.171: bytes=32 time=161ms TTL=45

Ping statistics for 70.32.121.171:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
Minimum = 161ms, Maximum = 162ms, Average = 161ms

C:\Documents and Settings\someguy>ping www.deutschlandklickt.de

Pinging www.deutschlandklickt.de [93.89.14.11] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 93.89.14.11:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),

C:\Documents and Settings\someguy>ping www.ebay.de

Pinging hp-intl-de.ebay.com [66.135.210.64] with 32 bytes of data:

Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.
Request timed out.

Ping statistics for 66.135.210.64:
Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 0, Lost = 4 (100% loss),
>>

Update: Now sometimes instead of "Request timed out." it will say "Hardware error" ... :^/

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]

Symptom [..··]:
Rapidshare downloads are slowed down from ~3oo-7oo kB/s to ~6o kB/s at average and ~1oo kB/s at peak speeds. I think Torrent-uploads are slowed down, too, often to kB/s values below 1. Could it be that the iNet *up*stream is either affected most or most responsible for the bad connection?

Also have a look at this picture - I think you can see a pattern in the download speed. See those mountains? I wonder if my connectivity is slowed down to mere short impulses instead of a steady flow.

Symptom [.·..]:
I noticed it only today. Sometimes the "network cable unplugged" (or "no connection") icon is visible in the system tray - but only for a second and then it's gone and the connection is good again. I mean "good". Here's an ipconfig comparison, the first being called during a normal connection, the second being called in that second where the icon appears.

<<
C:\Documents and Settings\someguy>ipconfig -all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : woodrow-vs1shd0
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Connection-specific DNS Suffix . :
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : ULi PCI Fast Ethernet Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : TH-IS-IS-SE-CR-ET
Dhcp Enabled. . . . . . . . . . . : No
IP Address. . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.33
Subnet Mask . . . . . . . . . . . : 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
DNS Servers . . . . . . . . . . . : 192.168.1.1
67.138.54.100

C:\Documents and Settings\someguy>ipconfig -all

Windows IP Configuration

Host Name . . . . . . . . . . . . : woodrow-vs1shd0
Primary Dns Suffix . . . . . . . :
Node Type . . . . . . . . . . . . : Unknown
IP Routing Enabled. . . . . . . . : No
WINS Proxy Enabled. . . . . . . . : No

Ethernet adapter Local Area Connection:

Media State . . . . . . . . . . . : Media disconnected
Description . . . . . . . . . . . : ULi PCI Fast Ethernet Controller
Physical Address. . . . . . . . . : TH-IS-IS-SE-CR-ET

C:\Documents and Settings\someguy>
>>

Symptom [.·.·]:
The "renew ipconfig" feature doesn't work anymore. I mean, I never tried it but I guess it should work. I had the exact same thing with the not properly working WLAN of my mother in the past days:

<<
C:\Documents and Settings\someguy>ipconfig -renew

Windows IP Configuration

The operation failed as no adapter is in the state permissible for
this operation.

C:\Documents and Settings\someguy>
>>

Symptom [.··.]:
Only this PC is affected by it. I can still use the PS3 to go online and play online, and I even can use its browser and surf "those troublesome" (actually all are troublesome) websites (GameTrailers, eBay, PayPal, etc.) without any delay.

Symptom [.···]:
I can receive eMails, to be precise, I can download the mails that are stored on the webserver (more or less) easily: it may take a while but certainly not as long as surfing the web needs. Sending a mail however needs several attempts (up to more than 1o) due to massive timeouts. This only further confirms my suspicion about a blocked upstream.

Symptom [·...]:
If there is now download limit in jDownloader then I get these "impulse download speeds" (s. that already mentioned picture up there or click on this link), but if I put in a download limit (i.e. 110 kB/s) then the flow is steady again! At least in this application. But the ping still timeouts. Mysterious.

Symptom [·..·]:
I don't know about how netstat works and should work but if I closed any program that uses iNet connectivity just seconds ago (like Thunderbird for instance), netstat will still list the program under "Active Connections" for quite some time, sometimes for a minute and more.

Symptom [·.·.]:
I don't know if this means anything at all but when I tried to upload some JPEG file the size of 89 KB to my Freenet account, the transfer repetetively freezed at 17% (16 KB). It freezed in a fashion that forced me to rename the file and try to upload it again. Eight times in a row (then I gave up) at the very same point in the transfer, namely 17% - what a strange coincidence.

Symptom [·.··]:
I don't know enough about Ubuntu to know for sure whether or not it should be different than I experienced it, but: I just tried surfing the web using my Ubuntu Live CD (6.o6 LTS) and after setting up my static IP I could, indeed, ping my router. But that was it. I neither could ping www.google.de nor could I surf it using Firefox (same goes for other websites).

*Note - not Symptom*
At this point I managed to install Windows Service Pack 2 (humongous "Yay!") but as it turns out installing it has no effect whatsoever on my bad connectivity issue. Which is a bad thing but also a good thing, because normally I further destroy my PC when I try to fix things.

*Checkpoint*
I tried to install "that other" router again, but I still can't figure out the proper WAN-username and -password data. I'll have to lynch Mika for that one. In the process of accessing the router and testing internet connections I disabled the WLAN-settings of my PS3. And now suddenly my PC can browse all those sites with no delay whatsoever. Let me repeat that: I CAN BROWSE AGAIN! But pinging sites has gotten worse. Now I have 1oo% package loss everywhere except when I directly ping the router. No ping at all but still full http-surfing capability? I don't know how I did that. Furthermore now the PS3 can't go online. I think that's even worse than before.

Update: Yeah, I thought so. It's slow again. I don't understand anything anymore.

*Finally fixed*
In retrospect, it seems the router was causing the trouble. Luckily I had a spare router dusting around next to it. One dreaded call with my ISP and everything's fixed now. Even the PS3 can go online again, although I merely did a quick test there. Maybe I'll have a more stable connection on that machine in the future. Frankly, the instability of the PS3 connection should have been a symptom, too. I'm such a moron. Anyway, fortunately, unlike the old one, the new router features static DHCP, so .. Yay! Can do "stuff" now. Finally! Like maybe going online with my Nintendo DS™? Maybe I can re-approach that Wacom-NDS-project now. Oh, the possibilities ...
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Finding a DVD on eBay

 I very recently bought two Jackie Chan DVDs that can be found in the so called "Armour Of God Pack" and, again, I did those nasty mistakes that I tend to do when I buy a DVD via eBay. I hope, in the future I can avoid these mistakes if I sit down for once and write them down. [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

Always check the description of the DVDs and check them twice. Search for Language information, Region Code information and whether or not Extras like a Making Of are contained.

Regarding the language, with Jackie Chan I was lucky because I really don't want much more languages than the german version - it's good to have cantonese but I probably will never look that, not in a Jackie Chan movie - but still, watch out for these traps. Besides, despite the fact that a "Digitally Remastered" tag might look and/or sound good, as I've seen now it actually can turn out quite bad. The "Digitally Remastered" version of "Armour Of God I" for instance was annoyingly enhanced by comical goof sound bits during almost every hit, kick and jump. I absolutely don't think that was appropriate. I'm glad you can switch from the embarassing "Deutsch DD 5.1" to the unharmed "Deutsch DD 1.0". Maybe I should have read and searched about this version in forums before I decided to pay money for it.

Another thing to look out for is the tag "Uncut". With a movie that old this doesn't necessarily mean that scenes of gore or nudity were cut out but instead it might mean that there are scenes included now which don't have a voice over at all but subtitles instead - right in the middle of the otherwise dubbed movie. Yeesh.
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Awgust oh nein

 I went to the GamesCom this year (which is 2oo9, which makes it GamesCom 2oo9 - yay, now I can find this article by searching for "GamesCom 2oo9" ...) and I took .. some photos. Initially I thought and I hoped I'd do more but there really wasn't that much that appealed to me, visually. Except for the booth babes who sometimes surprised me by turning away whenever I produced my camera. I thought it was their job to let the conventioneers take pictures of them - among other things. Whatever. Maybe they didn't want ME to have a photo of them in scantily clothed fashion. Again, whatever. Maybe I lost it, "that certain sight" that helped me see things, special things, and take photos that I like, photos that I once in a while courageously tag as "cool". Or maybe I never had it ... [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

On top of that I'd like to add a quick memo to myself: gaming conventions only look cool when read about in an article. Or the "internets". IMHO. Actually being there can turn out to be very boring quite fast - especially if you have to wait in line all the time. And by "all the time" I mean several hours for a single line and several times for the really interesting venues - like the booths that displayed God Of War 3 or Modern Warfare 2. And then it's not even new stuff, levels you already know from the past E3. Or just a video trailer. You don't really get that when you read the articles or see videos about the games that were shown there. You don't actually find a video in the iNet that shows how long you wait in line to see such a game. Well, this is certainly true for most conventions. So, whenever I might find a portal again that is capable of throwing me into this strange and fascinating dimension of odd time progression I might re-read these lines and reconsider my chances of actually having fun ...

Well, to return to the major point of this psoting, I would upload said sparse photos if I hadn't found out recently that my new PC monitor (which is now my primary monitor out of two monitors in a dual monitor setup), you know, the monitor I used to edit images in photoshop for the last few weeks, has a major green tint. Major! Yes, in retrospect I screwed up so many images in that time that I don't even want to open photoshop anymore. I don't even know if it's the monitor, the DVI cable or the graphics card that is the source of the problem. I feel like I'm in school again where this constantly happened to me. I'm so fucking tired.

Anyway, to round shit up let me tell you what to do if you have a Wii™ game (most assumably a WiiWare or Virtual Console title) that loads up the preview image / animation for its channel in the Wii™ Main Menu but reboots the console when you click on start. Tales Of Monkey Island: Chapter 1: Launch Of The Narwhal (or TOMI 1 for short) has been one of these games for me. Technically you could say, the console needs to be updated, but don't be afraid of bricking because properly updating is far from difficult. Just never use out-of-region updates for your specific region, you know, the ultimate ever-true rule of Wii™ homebrewing. In fact, there are a ton of links and forum threads out there that relate to this topic. But anyway I went off-topic.

I found this very interesting site that explains the "mechanism" behind the different IOSes a bit which is what made me realize that I need certain IOSes for that game to run on my console. After I googled around to find out which ones I needed, I got them and installed them via the WAD Manager and now the game runs smoothly. Well, as smoothly as it can run. The Wii™ obviously doesn't seem to be the primary platform this game was created for (don't enter the Pause Menu at the docks after the green cloud appeared) ... hm, maybe I'll do a review for that game. Just maybe.
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Problem Solver

 Many problems have accumulated over the past weeks and now I solved them all in almost one single day. Also there was some need for a memo or two to myself. Most of it was PC related though so ... meh! [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

[···] Problem: the printer idled although there were jobs in the queue. And cancelling (= deleting) them actually worked, that's not an expected reaction to my orders so I list it as a symptom ;^p

My solution: in my particular case the printer was just paused. I don't know what caused it - I definitely didn't do it, neither manually nor intentionally. But entering the printer folder with the Windows Explorer and resuming it via right-click did the trick.

If you came here by Google or so and exptected or need a more sophisticated solution try one of those that I found during my research:
- You could re-install the drivers of the printer or re-install the printer software.
- You could shutdown the PC, reconnect all cables and reboot. For this guy this seemed to work:

<<
Ich hab in den Gerätemanager reingeguckt. Es lief alles okay. Dann hab ich den Drucker einmal den Strom genommen und den PC heruntergefahren. Dann hat er wieder funktioniert. Ich habe allerdings vorher auch schon den PC neu gestartet. Na ja, hauptsache es funktioniert wieder alles :cool: !
>> Source: Computer Hilfen.de

[··.] Problem: the Nintendo Wii can connect to my router but the Nintendo DS can't (Error #51099).

My solution: none.

It never will be able to because my router features 8o2.11g and 8o2.11g only - I just keep forgetting that and repeat looking it up in a two-year-interval:

<<
The Wii can connect to any router supporting 802.11b/g but the DS only supports 802.11b, if the router is set to only 802.11g mode the DS will not even see it. The Wii also supports more secure encryption like WPA - PSK (TKIP), WPA - PSK (AES), WPA2 - PSK (AES), and the not so secure WEP. The DS only supports WEP however, the router would have to be set to use 802.11b/g mixed or just 802.11b and only WEP to allow both to connect. [...]
>> Source: Tech Forums of Nintendo.com

It's because the NDS is so much older and the guys at Nintendo developed the Nintendo Wi-Fi service. The real solution stays the same: if I really want to make it work I have to buy the USB Nintendo Wi-Fi Dongle and convert my PC into an access point. And 3o bucks are too expensive for that, IMHO.

[·.·] Problem: I tried to play the PAL version of Klonoa on my Wii which should work but I was encountered with a black screen - no error at all (which is a well known error, well known to the homebrew scene and to me as well - I'm just describing it).

My solution: I will just say, the "Error #002 fix" solved this problem for me. Which is odd because as I said I got no error code at all. You may find out yourself how to do that fix.

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]

[·..] Problem: Two or three days earlier my Wii didn't start Boom Blox which I already had played months ago at that point.
My solution: so it seems I keep forgetting how to start my games. Which is why I want to write down a memo to myself: start NTSC games with an english system language. No need to change the TV Hz settings.

[.··] Problem: Wad-titles for the Virtual Console can be installed on the Wii and are displayed properly but they print this error to screen: "This channel can't be used.".

My solution: you might convert them to the proper region (either that or directly no region at all) and if that doesn't work (black screen after hitting "Start") then it can't be helped. Get the proper region right from the start the next time.

And if you can't even install them with the WAD Manager due to "-1020" errors then I fear you have to downgrade the console to 3.2 - personally I think that's not worth the effort.

[.·.] Problem: I wanted to watch a certain video file on the big TV screen, for once because it's a (hopefully) cool movie but also because my PC is too weak - it's an HD video. The size of the file is 4,3 GB but I can't copy it to my external hard drive to watch the video on my PS3 because the HDD is formatted in FAT32. FAT32 doesn't support files bigger than 4 GB. NTFS does so but the PS3 doesn't support NTFS.

My solution: use your PC as a media server. I utilized this PS3 Media Server application. Normally I would defend the elegance of the external HDD approach but for one video this nasty I chose to make an exception.

You could also use the Windows Media Player 11 - I know it works, I used it myself on my old Windows setup. But it's hard to install, IMHO.

Strangely enough the first time I tried to play the video file my PS3 said it was corrupted. But my stubbornness proved useful as the file could be played on the second attempt - although not fluently yet, not at all ... maybe something for the next weeks. I guess if the video is too hi-res to just play it on the PC itself, the CPU might be overwhelmed by the additional task of streaming it. So, no solution possible for this video file :^(
# top #

JS Code Of The Week: DoBlockScroll();

 Have you ever had a frustrating mouse wheel experience where you scrolled a <div>-container, but when you reached the end you accidentally scrolled the whole page? Well, I certainly have had my "fun" with this annoyance, for a very long time now. But today I stand tall and I proudly say "NAY!" as I present my JavaScript Code Snippet Of The Week called "DoBlockScroll()". [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

Now, when I say "DoBlockScroll" it is meant to be a question, as in "do block scroll or do not block scroll?". I always do that with my boolean returning functions, I give them "DoX" names. And it is a boolean returning function that I'm presenting you because that is the hardest part: finding out when to do it. I thought I would also need a How To for the blocking part, but no, the blocking itself roots down to a simple return false; as you may see further down below. I even made the function as general as possible so you could probably just copy'n'paste it to use for your own stuff.

As long as you're an Opera user. I didn't test it with FireFox or IE and I know that it should not work for them the way they are now. Alone the event call is handled differently in FireFox as far as I know. But frankly I don't give a shit about javascripting for FireFox or IE. I guess though, that it's probably simple enough to alter the code for other browsers. I'll let someone else have the fun.

The setup I used this for is a table within a div-container. The table features lots of data while the purpose of the div-container is to present this data neatly dosed. Something like this:

<div style='overflow: auto; height: 400px;'><table id='TableX'></table></div>

The objects don't have to be tables and divs, they just need to have this auto-overflow-attribute and the id - I guess they even don't need to be two separate objects. My assumption is that if you alter the upcoming variable IsLowerEnd even that adventure should indeed prove fruitful. Needless excursions brused aside, next comes the call of DoBlockScroll() which either looks like the first version if you implement onmouse* events dynamically (for whatever reason) or like the second version if you decide to directly write it all down.

(1) document.all.TableX.onmousewheel = function(){ return !DoBlockScroll( this, event ); }
(2) <table id='TableX' width=100% onmousewheel='return !DoBlockScroll( this, event );'></table>

Don't forget to give the table a width=100% attribute so that it spans over the entire width of the div-container. Otherwise you may wonder why the scrolling won't be regonized. Anyway, this (1) is what an onmouse* event looks like when you define it dynamically. Onmousewheel creates a mouse-related variable called event as all onmouse* functions do. Just in case you were wondering were the hell that came from. With this however you may google it yourself if you don't know about it.

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]

The basic idea behind DoBlockScroll() is to check three conditions that result in the wish to block the scrolling: is the user scrolling up although the scrollbar is already at its top? Or does this occur for the lower end of the scrollbar? And is the mouse over the object altogether? As this description already implies the code handles only a vertical scroll situation. Naturally, horizontal is possible, too.

/*
determines whether to block a scroll event or not; returns boolean
PARAM.: Tab is the table within the div object which has an overflow attribute
the objects don't have to be tables and divs.
PARAM.: event is the bequeathed onmousewheel event
*/
function DoBlockScroll( Tab, event )
{
// first search Div
var Div = Tab, Bool = false; // Bool returns false as default;
// don't search too far && it's not the one yet
while ( ( Div.nodeName.toLowerCase() != "body" ) && ( Div.style.overflow != "auto" ) )
Div = Div.parentNode;

// if found
if ( event && ( Div.nodeName.toLowerCase() != "body" ) )
{
var Cond1 = false, Cond2 = false, Cond3 = false,
IsUpperEnd = Div.scrollTop == 0,
IsLowerEnd = Tab.offsetHeight == eval( Div.offsetHeight + Div.scrollTop );

// on scroll up when Tab is already as up as it can be
Cond1 = ( event.wheelDelta > 0 ) && IsUpperEnd;
// same for bottom
Cond2 = ( event.wheelDelta < 0 ) && IsLowerEnd;
// is mouse over object
Cond3 = IsChildOfObject( event.srcElement, Tab );
Bool = ( Cond1 || Cond2 ) && Cond3;
}
return Bool;
}

Of course, you also need IsChildOfObject(). I already had that one.

// recursively checks for a (grand)parent-child-relationship
function IsChildOfObject( Ch, Obj ) // Child element
{
if ( Ch == Obj ) // super special case: you can't be your own child
return false;
else
return IsChildOfObject_sub( Ch, Obj );
}

function IsChildOfObject_sub( Ch, Obj )
{
// termination condition
if ( Ch.tagName.toLowerCase() == "body" ) // this is by far too far
return false;
else if ( Ch == Obj ) // this is just right
return true;
else // this is 'not found yet'
return IsChildOfObject_sub( Ch.parentNode, Obj );
}
# top #

WLAN Config (unsolved)

 I've had trouble with my WLAN for quite some time (over a year, actually) but today I tried it again and I solved this problem. Or so I thought!

Initially my WLAN configuration once stopped working and couldn't be restored in my XP environment. So I moved to using a cable that was layed through the apartment. Very ugly. I don't understand either how this happened. It just stopped working - there really wasn't anything special that I installed (although my PC and IT knowledge tells me that there had to be a reason for this sudden problem). [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

The USB dongle uses its own software, so it needs Windows to not handle the WLAN config. If not deactivated (as stated here: "Bei Windows XP müssen Sie die systemeigene Konfiguration für drahtlose Netzwerke ausschalten.") the user is confronted - when trying to open the software - with an error message much like this: "Bitte deaktivieren Sie zuerst die systemeigene Konfiguration fuer drahtlose Netzwerke ...". But it was troublesome to deactivate it if Windows doesn't even show the wireless network connection in the Network Connections folder (where it should be found) so I deactivated it manually, by accessing the Windows Services (Run > "services.msc") and stopping and disabling the 'Wireless Zero Configuration'. This made it possible to open the ZyXel software that came along with the USB dongle.

But still I couldn't see any WLAN networks if I searched them within the software. Also I couldn't access the router via the browser (by entering the IP) - although a simple on/off-reset of the router took care of that. I found a guy on a messageboard who seemed to have the same problem and solved it himself without understanding it but I don't understand his notes on it:

<<
724flash · 16.08.2005, 00:33
In den Treibern war die Region auf USA gestellt...

Was das mit meinem Problem zu tun hat? Ich weiss es nicht, aber nach der Umstellung auf Europe lief alles wie geschmiert.

Hier kann zugemacht werden ;)
>> Q: Forum Chip.de

Where can you set the region settings of a driver?! Anyway, ignoring this matter of incomprehension I tried to install the newest driver from the website of the manufacturer like he did (as it actually is a good idea) - and of course I didn't know that it was better in this case (for this particular software) to uninstall the old one first but actually this made things one step worse again: I couldn't open the software anymore. Also at the 2nd time the installer didn't let me change where to install the program so now I had two folders. That is why I uninstalled both drivers/versions of the software and installed the new one again. But to no avail. When I tried to update the driver (hoping that some spiritual magical driver could be summoned from nirvana) I got the error message "The device cannot start (Code 10).".

And now I quit. There's only so much I can take. More and more error messages and install problems - and the wireless connection never showed up in the Network Connections folder. I'm beginning to assume that the dongle itself is damaged somehow. Although partially functional. I'll probably try my luck again next year but that's it for now. I'll rather mentally prepare myself for the upcoming E3 press conferences now ...

# top #

Lost Soul ... or just lost?

 Recently I've finished Soul Reaver for the PS One™, part one that is, and I must say it really was some experience. The motivation was me waking up one morning with an incredible lust for this retro-cultural two-piece saga. It was not the first time I was hit by nostalgica-lust; a few weeks ago I felt the urge to replay Jak & Daxter, and also Beyond Good & Evil. Additionally I listened to the soundtracks ANUBIS: Zone Of The Enders and Shadow Of The Colossus: Roar Of The Earth which also made me reach for the discs. So I did gather them and actually created my nostalgia stack ... now I laugh at the people who suggested to sell the good ol' PS2™ ... [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

Of course I've had in mind that ancient masterpieces like Soul Reaver weren't made to be exhibited on a TV set as big as mine so I wasn't all too suprised with huge video artifacts and oversized polygon models but there were certain other things that I haven't had in mind and that made this experience so special. For instance I completely forgot that the default controller for this oldschool console was indeed pre-Dualshock (and pre-Nintendo-Trident most obviously) meaning that the (now somewhat self-evident) analogue sticks came later. Thus, all camera control the player had just had to be realized via the shoulder buttons L2/R2. Being able to push both buttons at once to create a first-person-perspective-mode therefore was quite big at the time.

Another thing I've observated about programming videogames in the "old age" was how often I completely lost track of where I had to go. I absolutely got lost, several times. There were so many times I didn't know which of two paths to go and when I did know which one of the two it was, I was already inmidst of a boss battle or something similar. There was this tutorial dude/force that seemed to accompany Raziel and give his comment every now and then, especially after earning a new ability, but it was either a rough hint to the next dungeon (which was good) or a story-related comment. Nothing in-dungeon, no short-range-ish advice. By the time I fought against Kain for the last time I hadn't activated half of all the portals. And besides the portals, I vaguely remember having had the ability to forge your Soul Reaver blade with a new color/element. And I'm sure it was already featured in this first part because I ran into an oddly isolated fireplace that had this very purpose. There was also this temple where I didn't know what to do so I left again, and all these glowing icons on the floor where I didn't know what to do either - long story short, I missed a lot of goodies, when I replayed the game this time around. I mean, I actually wanted to skip some optional stuff but I don't think that I really chose this option the way I played the game and got lost that often.

Anyway, when I look now at games like and trailers of Killzone 2 I think it's really sad that the graphics were pushed so hard over the last couple of years. I mean it's nice to look at but if you compare it with what might have be achieved instead - better AI, better gameplay mechanics, better sound, better camera AI - that would have really altered the experience we have right now.

I still wait for the game where you fight one single boss in a huge epic battle and eeeeevery single experience is totally different. Because the boss - the game - actually learns. Real artificial intelligence and not some pre-decided causes, animated pre-renderedly using pre-performed motion capturing and pre-recorded sound effects, that are falsely called "AI". I mean it could even borrow this online database aspect of spore. Well .... a boy can dream, right? ;^)

Next up, Soul Reaver 2.
# top #

JavaScript Code Snippet Of The Week

 I'm so hooked by this small code snippet that I could scream for hours. For some programmers this may be old cheese but I just found out about it today. And I already thought about programming something like this on my own - because I often needed to know the exact term of a property or I didn't know which properties do exist. [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

Ever wondered How do I loop through properties in an object?

Look how easily you can display all your properties with this:
<<

 // given an already declared <div>-tag with the id "output"
  var Out = "";
  for ( x in document.all.output )
    Out += x +"<br>";
  document.all.output.innerHTML = Out;

>> # top #

o8/o9 News from the wooden lands

 Despite the title I don't have very much (and new) to tell you, I'm just here to say that I'm still here. Somehow I made it through 2oo8. I don't know how though - I just sat here ;^p  Didn't move a muscle. [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

Recently I've heard about this new game that's about to be released in the near future, it's called Let's Tap. It's a rhythm game for the Wii™ that doesn't need any new peripheral - except for a cardboard box. At first I feared you needed a special box that came shipped with the game. Nintendo making money with the simplest most rudimentary peripherals again. But no, oh no, you can use any box. Apparently the box is just needed to transport the vibrations of your tapping on the box. The peculiar thing (to me) is that the Wiimote, that is to be laid on top of the box, doesn't have a microphone to process the tapping. It is solely using its motion sensor technology - how incredibly sensitive is that thing? After playing Wii Sports and other games I found the Wiimote to be rather inaccurate about the angle input. Well, it's not inaccurate about its movement input, I guess.

But I shouldn't have been all too surprised about that after having seen the scientific art of Johnny Chung Lee. Have you seen his usage of the Wii™? Maybe you have - I've wanted to tell you about his works for a very long time ...

Head Tracking for Desktop VR Displays using the WiiRemote

sent by Mika77

As we can see each year the tradition of reflecting the last three hundred and sixty or so days around this time of the calendar you can see how the gaming community (or a gaming community) elected Grand Theft Auto IV to be the best Game Of The Year 2oo8 - come on!! The game was good but not at all the best one. Especially not the best PS3 game. But what's my opinion worth anyway?

Anyway, as we are already here we might as well go the last step and discuss (lol) my very own VG MOY (that's Video Game Moment Of The Year for ... well, for everybody, I guess). For me personally there haven't been that many, only two to be precisely, and both originate from the same game: Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots. Expect me to spoil.
For once, there was this gorgeous scene when you enter Shadow Moses and "The Best Is Yet To Come" by Rika Muranaka & Aoife Ní Fhearraigh commences, triggering wave after wave of nostalgia, both visually and auditive, mixed with the graphical new version of Shadow Moses. That was a very touching moment for me, and also quite impressive: in-game nostalgica features.
The other scene was the ending. Simply the ending. The end of this game which was also the end of four games (at least), a testosterone-laden ending that matched the preliminary action, an ending full of story twists, climaxes and conclusions. An orchestrated cutscene-feast. It forced you to push Old Snake through an ridiculously dangerous hallway of "microwaves" while you see in the split-screen the battles of your comrades, until he reaches the graveyard-like server room of Outer Haven where he passes out only to fight Liquid Ocelot on top of the giant submarine - but not right away. As if the game heard me say "Don't let me play the boss battle right away. The preceding cutscenes built up so much momentum - it would only destroy the atmosphere." the game listened to me and started with a cutscene version of the boss battle which only lead to the inevitable clash of the titan seniors that you had to control - followed by another long memorable dialogue scene on another graveyard - a real one this time - which culminates in the most incredible version of "Here's To You" (by Lisbeth Scott, originally by Ennio Morricone) that I've ever heard.
That - finishing MGS4 - was my most remarkable Video Game Moment Of The Year 2oo8 that no other game even came close to.

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]

[End of MGS4-Spoilers] Not even the new Prince Of Persia. I mean ... considering POP once made a personal VG MOY I was expecting quite a bit. Strangely enough I wasn't as thrilled of the visual look of the game when I saw it in-game (as opposed to in a trailer). I even disliked it at some moments while at others I adored the beauty of the corruption. But it's still a very good game. I just happen to be done with it because I got the platinum trophy. I'm just mentioning because it's my first one. Sorry ;^p  If you're playing it now or in the future, here's a tip: take the green power lastly and heal the land in front of the Warrior's black gates at the very end. I think the game is a bit easier that way.

Talking about videogames, a pal of mine, Foifur - one of my few loyal readers - is playing Secret Of Mana at the moment. Every now and then he asks me for advice which I then give him eagerly. Since then I feel this itching inside me .. this longing for nostalgic greatness that this game embodies, IMHO. I want to play it like I used to and re-live the joy I've had back then in the old days. I know though, that this is not possible ...

Just like with Street Fighter II: Turbo. There's this new version called Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix (or SSFIITHDR for still-long-but-short) that is basically a refined version of this old game. But, oh refined it truly is: Capcom actually approached the fans over at OverClocked ReMix (okay, professional fans) to do the soundtrack for the game - because they would have remixed it anyway (>< ). Fans doing the soundtrack for a full-fledged videogame?!?! The mere thought of this is so awesome that I temporarily lose my eyesight, blinded by the joy of the little kid inside me. And it's completely for free! And it's online, the game I mean. It's an online version of a Beat 'em Up game that I liked, that I actually played back in the days, often too - that I actually *owned*. Yes, it was one of my "exclusive" six Super Nintendo™ titles. Oh, those were the days when you didn't have the money to buy them all.
The online part of the new game is even allegedly decent so I was indeed considering to buy it ... but to be true it would have been a waste of money. There's no way that I could play a Street Fighter game as joyfully and enthusiastically as "once". It's over ... ( ´.`)

But hey, look at the future: there's a new Street Fighter movie in the making featuring Kristin Kreuk, and it's called Street Fighter: Legend Of Chun-Li. It will probably be a disappointment just as many other videogame-to-motion-picture-conversions before but I sure as hell know that I'm going to check it out anyway. Here's a trailer. Judging solely by this footage I'd say it looks like an Uwe Boll movie, but if it was really was one it would have been his best (although I must say that I haven't seen all of his "work").

Another thing I might write (without having a gun being pointed at my head) is how cool Tycho from Penny Arcade is, IMHO. I mean, he's not just eloquent but his perspective on videogames has often surprised me one way or another, too. It's almost as if he could see right through the haze that distorts the image with which games are sold to the masses and pinpoint a big aspect of the core of a game that I often miss. Man, I wish I was like him. His "thing" is even more obvious with spoken words, I think, which is why I like their podcasts so much. My favourite so far is the one where they talk about how funny the idea of merging two specific universes is which ended up in this comic strip.
Also, I liked Jerry & Mike playing Dungeons & Dragons. I can't wait for the next round with Wil Wheaton.

This might be enough for now. Maybe I'll add something a little later. Now I'm headed to a thing called "Shadow Of The Colossus OST". # top #

I fucking pwn!

 There are few tales of success that I can read in my book of life but this one certainly points out. At least for a few seconds ... [...]
(show me)(don't show me)

I'm talking about a JavaScript issue. I wanted to highlight certain parts of text but these parts are dynamic and user-created. Also case-insensitive - but only in search! I had no intention to replace case-insensitively. That was the tricky part.

An ordinary string1.replace(/Var/gi, "highlight enhanced replacement-text"); wouldn't do because the replacement-text, the output, contains the input with variing casings. And also because variables wouldn't be recognized as variables with this method. That's why you normally have to use the RegExp constructor: var re = new RegExp(Var, "gi"); str.replace(re, Var);. But that would replace all occurances of the content of var with lower case versions of var. Example: if I searched for "scr" the String "JavaScript" would be replaced by "Javascript". That's not what I wanted.

Normally you'd have to use parantheses now to memorize your matches - but this would make things only worse. Somehow the constructor ignores the parantheses and doesn't memorize each matches. Whatever, I found a workaround ;^)

This snippet is from a useful website that I found during my hour-lasting search for skill. It does exactly what I wanted - but the code is so badly written that I kept looking up JavaScript code with each new line. I know that it also does a little bit more than what I wanted but basically this is it. What follows is my shorter version.

<<
var r = new RegExp( s, f.cases.checked ? 'g' : 'gi' ),
h = d.createElement( 'span' ), i = 0, j, k, l, m, n=0, t;
h.style.color = '#000';
h.style.backgroundColor = '#'+( times%2 ? ''+hex(((times+1)%5)*51)+'ff' : 'ff'+hex((times%5)*51)+'' )+'00';
[...]
{
r.lastIndex = 0;
l = r.exec(m.nodeValue);
if( l !== null ) {
k = l[0].length;
if( r.lastIndex > k ) {
m.splitText( r.lastIndex - k );
m = m.nextSibling;
}
if( m.nodeValue.length > k ) {
m.splitText(k);
o[i++] = m.nextSibling;
}
t = h.cloneNode( true );
t.appendChild( d.createTextNode( l[0] ) );n++;
m.parentNode.replaceChild( t, m );
}
}
>>

<<
Out = Out.replace( eval("/("+ Term +")/gi"), "<span style='background-color: yellow;'>$1</span>");
>> # top #

Oddities, Stupidities & Brick-o-Wiis

  Recently I had trouble with two specific problems, one regarding a rather odd Photoshop error, the other one regarding Wii NTSC Backups. I spent several days trying to fix them but only today I (sort of) solved both of them within two hrs. Eureka! .. or so they say.

[...]
(show me)(don't show me)

First of all, talking about Photoshop, it was really odd. All I did was save an image I had worked on (although my fingers flew so fast over the keyboard - there might have been an intriguing first appearance of this program error which I didn't see that should have put me in alarm mode early on). After I couldn't find my saved image I decided to do the work all over again (it was merely a matter of few minutes anyway) but for some inexplicable reason, when I used the brush tool with a size bigger than 1o and/or hardness below 1oo%, Photoshop confronted me with a quite useless error notification that went like this: "Could not complete your request because of a program error.".

Googling for it prooved to be just as ridiculous as assumed. If you have a program that emits "some error" without an error code of some sort then you have to deal with an unknown unspecified program that could have its roots anywhere. Let me use a metaphor. Imagine you're sick and you see a doctor to help you find your disease. But the only symptom that your body displays is an uncomfortable pain in the belly. Now, he treats you with an injection because he thinks you've got a flu and because the patient before you has shown the very same symptoms and was successfully cured with an injection. But you don't have the flu - you're bleeding internally which your body only expresses via the pain in the belly. The next morning you die.

... *sigh* anyway, "enough of this frustrating development issue" I thought to myself. I tried to ignore the problem that I had to search in a pile of unrelated issues with the same program error and continued: "Let's move on to find a solution." This is when I found this thread:

<<
chelsie-ox · 12-Jan-2008, 03:06 PM
I'm having a problem with Adobe Photoshop CS, Whenever I try and use the paintbrush when its bigger than 10px a box comes up saying 'Could not complete your request because of a program error', As in I can use the paintbrush when its 10px or less but if i want a bigger brush it won't work. I've tried uninstalling/reinstalling about 8 times with no luck and I've tried adobe forums but they don't have any answers. I'm using Windows XP. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[...]

chelsie-ox · 13-Jan-2008, 12:58 PM
It's ok, I've found a way around it, Thanks

[THREAD CLOSED]
>> Q: Tech Guy.org Forums

.... okay that was helpful. Why not share your workaround? Or dear forum admin: why not try to get him back via email to readress the issue and be a helping hand in the darkness of desperation - nooo, nooo, too much trouble. Just close the damn thread. And normally admins on forums wonder why so many people don't use the search function of their forums ...

Anyway, let's cut the crap. My "solution" is that I don't have any. But I found out that only the pictures in that particular folder are concerned. Big deal. Totally strange and inscrutable but .. I just ignored the folder. Was sort of done with it anyway.

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]

The other thing that bothered me for more than a week was 'how to make my PAL Wii play an NTSC backup'. When it originally did not work I tried to mess around with the WiiKey config, then sidetracked an update issue that was totally not a problem after I activated my desperate brain again. The original config was fine, my SSBB import confirmed that. Was it the TV - set it to another frequenzy? Issues from the past, actually, with an HD TV in my living room. Well, to keep things short, I just had to set the Wii language to english. I'm kind of embarassed that I forgot to check this possibility. But on the other hand, when was the last time that this was the key problem? But who cares, it works now.

Although, on my quest to find an answer I was confronted with and confused by Wii region and brick issues several times. 1) A friend said he installed an NTSC update on his PAL Wii and could now play the game. Just duplicate channels. 2) According to this thread that action should absolutely be avoided because of the guarantee of a bricked console.

<<
[GUIDE] How to Protect From Region Brick
Any PAL/NTSC(U)/NTSC(J) Wii can be bricked or semi-bricked if you play an out of region game disc on your Wii + it has a region update on it.

Below is a guide to follow when playing a Game Disc that has a firmware update on it.

NTSC(U) Game + NTSC(U) Wii = No chance of a region brick
PAL Game + PAL Wii = No chance of a region brick
NTSC(J) Game + NTSC(J) Wii = No chance of a region brick

---------------------------------------------------------------------

NTSC(U) Game + PAL/NTSC(J) Wii = Brick is possible if Wii is not updated with latest firmware + Wii Brick Blocker.

PAL Game + NTSC(U)/NTSC(J) Wii = Brick is possible if Wii is not updated with latest firmware + Wii Brick Blocker.

NTSC(J) Game + PAL/NTSC(U) Wii = Brick is possible if Wii is not updated with latest firmware + Wii Brick Blocker.
[...]
>> Q: Loving Wii.com Forums

Now I don't know what to believe. But that is my problem.
# top #

The WiiKey Experience

 Well now, my little children. I want to tell you - at this late hour - a tale of confusion and miracles, a tale of how my desire to play Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots uncensored and in an unaltered way, the one and only way videogame designer and snake-father Hideo Kojima has intended it to be, made it happen and made me modify my Wii™. Not by myself, of course, but instead by talented professionals. And OF COURSE by "Wii™" I'm not referring to my genitals but to my videogame console. But first things first. [...]
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I wanted to play MGS4 really badly. But what about censorship? Games and movies have always been altered when released in this country of Germany so I did some research and found out that its predecessor Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater has been indeed victim of minor censorship. Actually as it's only minor censorship I should have been able to ignore the possibility of the successor being just as slightly censored but then I realized what a crime it is to alter content of Hideo Kojima in the first place. A friend of mine has imported games from Canada for a while now and I decided that it was about time for me to start it, too.

Accidentally, on my way through the virtual halls of videogame supermarket-dom, I discovered Super Smash Bros. Brawl being 1o Euro cheaper than in Germany. Besides, this highly anticipated, highly hyped and highly nostalgic game was released in North America almost three months ago - whereas it still had to be launched here! So I tucked it along with Old Snake into my shopping cart and started waiting for it to be shipped.

The next day I tried to converse triumphantly with my pal Daemon about me never waiting for an unfair Europe release for a Wii™ game ever again when occasionally he mentioned the regional restriction for Wii™ games. Having played with my Nintendo DS™ for over a year now (and also recently with a brand new PS3™) I completely thought games being restricted to either PAL or NTSC was a LastGen-feature. Immediately I tried to cancel my shopping plan but to no avail. Now I had to decide whether to sell my canadian Wii™ game - and who would buy a canadian game in Germany? - or mod my Wii™ which I planned to do for a long time but postponed because of many reasons. One was me being lazy. Another one was an unclarity about several modchips being on the market and not knowing which one was best. Oh what a fool I've been.

I could have domested my ignorance right away by doing some proper research. But nevertheless after a bit of for and back it was settled that I commenced the modding. What followed was a chapter I can sum up pretty quickly although I like to euphemize "my purchase of the WiiKey™" as "a chapter of how I travelled vast lands and ended up playing DS in my car". In the parking lot, of course. It was there - in the shop, not the parking lot - that I was told that this modchip was the only one availble for my type of Wii™ anyway (launch model). So much for "which one should I take?".

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]

Back home - after some hrs. of relaxation - I tried to start my imported game only to find out that it's still not working. Was I tricked? Was I doomed? Was I idiotic? It was the last answer, of course. The iNet told me that there are updates for the WiiKey™ right there on the first google hit. And there's even a setup disc with which it is possible to make some changes in the settings for the featureful modchip, like region override. I burned quite a lot of DVDs (not too cheap ones, btw) because unlike the update disc the setup disc was as unreadable for the Wii™ as the import game which forced me to test various possibilities.

After one CD, six DVDs and about four hrs. of googling around I finally managed to unveil a history of its own concerning the WiiKey™ and SSBB. This game was quite special just as Super Mario Galaxy and other AAA-games because of Nintendo trying to fight the mod-scene and letting updates rain upon Wii™ players like an autumn rainfall on innocent big-eyed kittens. But it was special as well because it's the Wii™'s first Dual Layer Disc game. One player (european, btw) couldn't wait for the europe release so desperately that he modified his Wii™ in a rather unique way (sent by Foifur). This is a history in which the developers of the WiiKey™ eventually stayed superior, a history I wouldn't have caught up on if I had downloaded the latest version of the update and config/setup disc right from the start instead of some version of somewhere in between. Now my import game plays as smoothly as sun bathed butter and now, never again will I have to wait three full months for a game to be released in this sometimes quite disappointing country.

As the brawling has commenced now on my end, face my undoubtedly threatening Super Smash Bros. Brawl Friend Code: o345-o689-739o. In case you ever feel the urge to beat the shit out of me. Most peacefully, of course.


On a side note Super Princess Peach for the Nintendo DS™ surprisingly amazes me. There is a slight possibility that this is a 2D Mario-esque game for ladies - but actually that has never been an argument to halt my curiosity. Princess Peach has a remarkable set of moves to perish the vast horde of evilish inhabitants living in the Mushroom Kingdom: she might not jump as high and flexibly as Mario but there is a lot she can do with her umbrella, and even without counting the boating, gliding, duck'n'covering and smashing she can do with it - even ignoring the four main control moves of the game, those emotional ones - the ability of hers to slide makes her somewhat sporty in my eyes. Not even Mario can slide! -Ack, stupidities enthrall me again, forgive me my dear readers. One last thing: the music's good, too!

So I quickly give Super Princess Peach a 8.6 out of 1o and disband you back to your naughty spare time activities.
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JavaScript Oddities

 Sometimes I could choke someone - if not everyone - who worked on the creation process of JavaScript! [...]
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I was searching again for a long time to find an error in my code. But even after I (quickly) managed to find the line in err I couldn't understand the wrongness in it. I tried different possibilities, different improbable possibilities but simply could not find an answer. Then - it was only a matter of statistics and time after all - I found the improbable way to alter my code.

Long story short: don't write "If" in your JavaScript code with a capital "I". It may work for most of the time or most of your codes / programs but if you use a certain function, doom is certain. (I surely don't know which - there're probably more than one anyway).

*shiver*

Here's an example of code not working because of "If":
<<
// checks if an object is a string
function Is_String()
{
If ( typeof arguments[0] == "string" ) return true;
else If ( typeof arguments[0] != "object" ) return false;
else return ( arguments[0].constructor.toString().toLowerCase().indexOf( "string" ) != -1 );
}
>> # top # | Q (original code): Planet PDF.com

Confessionada Fetishismo

I have a confession to make. I don't know if I should really psot it here because as most confessions usually tend to be this is rather personal but .. as this is a place for void receptions anyway I think it's more or less safe to say that ... [...]
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... I am a shoulder fetishist. I didn't know that this fetish existed and I didn't find any companion fetishists out there in the whole weird wasteful world wide web - or "sixle U" - but this is a part of me. It always has been, I guess. Not that it would change anything ...

Sequelling: "2nd"-Sequels

 I was bored once, so I thought about which "part two"s of any series, be it movie or videogame or whatever, actually are better than its predecessors, very much unlike how it is nowadays. Staying in the comparison between "one" and "two" I always ignored all further parts, even if the series is longer and the "threequels" or other continuations are better, and also I only considered those that I've experienced myself (read, seen or played - both part one and two). And by "better" I mean "far better", not just "slightly better" or "almost the same" as in the "Back To The Future"-Trilogy or the "Die Hard"-Quadrilogy. Besides, I love listing things ;^)

Of course, these reflect merely my humble opinion.

Also look forward to another upcoming blog psoting (slightly related to this one) where I'm going to reveal another pack of new movies mixed with old movies that I didn't know so far. Movie information retrieval can be so much fun! ;^) [...]
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//---- WHITELIST ----//

[1987] Beverly Hills Cop 2 ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   >   Beverly Hills Cop ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

The sequel had a great story and an incredibly well "investigative thread" which is extremely interesting, if not exciting for detective wannabes like me. Not surprising after I found out that there have been at least 6 writers involved!

[1991/1992] Street Fighter II ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   >   Street Fighter ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

Great gameplay and balancing, plus characters who became the trademark of the game, like Chun-Li or Guile.

[1954/1955] Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers ^[Wiki]   >   Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring ^[Wiki]   (Book)

I really had to fight my way through the first book for which I needed about half a year but I only needed a few weeks or months for the second book of the trilogy. That one really sucked me into the universe.

[1984] Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   >   Raiders Of The Lost Ark ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Somehow I always thought the first Indiana Jones movie to be the worst one. This sequel was a major improvement in the franchise.

[1986] Aliens ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   >   Alien ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

This is what a sequel should look like if you're going for "more". More horror, more creepiness, more thrill - more of what defines Alien.

[1989] Back To The Future Part II ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   >   Back To The Future ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Lives more up to its name than its predecessor because of the funny future sequence. It was also very hilarious how the predecessor was re-used or rather remade and somehow made fun of. The most consistent time traveling story yet.

[1991] Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   >   The Secret of Monkey Island ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

I absolutely love both games but the second part was not only better by a small pint but by an oversized monkey head. The gameplay felt as if it was expanded in every way - at least in my eyes.

[1991] Terminator 2: Judgement Day ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   >   The Terminator ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Bigger explosions, more impressive visuals .. even funnier.

[1993] Maniac Mansion: Day of the Tentacle ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   >   Maniac Mansion ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

This was a true ascend from the LastGen to the NextGen of that time. Better graphics while containing the essence of the predecessor.

[1993] Secret of Mana (Seiken Densetsu 2) ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   >   Mystic Quest ("Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden" aka "Final Fantasy Adventure") ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

Actually I've never played the predecessor so right now I'm doing the worst thing a journalist could do, but as you can see here "Secret Of Mana" is my most favourite game of all conditions and I can't imagine that a game with only two colors and no multiplayer support is actually any better than this.

[1994] Drunken Master II ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   >   Drunken Master ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

It was more serious and also darker. Darker is always better.

[1994] Super Metroid ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   >   Metroid ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

Actually I never played the first part (*).

[1995] Desperado ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   >   El Mariachi ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Apart from the better cast it was realized more professionally as a whole than its predecessor.

[1998] Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets ^[Wiki]   >   Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone ^[Wiki]   (Book)

All sevens books are great and with every single one I'd say they top the previous one. This is the case with this pair why it's written here.

[2oo1] Aliens versus Predator 2 ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   >   Aliens vs. Predator ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

This sequel had absolutely more multiplayer gameplay value. Both games are better MP- than single-player-games if you ask me, but hunting humans or fleeing from the predators while jumping from tree to tree in the sequel was hell fun, yeah! x^D

[2oo2] Star Wars: Episode II - Attack Of The Clones ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   >   Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

I don't know for sure here. Maybe I'm wrong and ep.1 is better but actually I don't care .. they are both pretty low for Star Wars movies, each seen as a whole. I think I liked the Kamino species a lot and I didn't like young Anakin .. but on the other hand the so-called "love story" is even more thick-layered than in Dirty Dancing ...

[2oo3] X2: X-Men United ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   >   X-Men ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

More interesting characters and more background info on Wolverine.

[2oo3] Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   >   Zone of the Enders ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

More style, more exciting battles, impressive visuals. But definitely awesomely more style ;^D

[2oo4] Ghost In The Shell 2: Innocence ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   >   Ghost In The Shell ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

A successful fusion of the old and still interesting universe and the updated looks of the characters and philosphies from the series.

[2oo4] Half-Life 2 ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   >   Half-Life ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

Again, this is how you ascend fomr LastGen to NextGen. Better graphics and especially physics.

[2oo6] Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   >   Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

More effectively copied from the Monkey Island series even if the filmmakers don't admit that, stunning visuals and with Davy Jones one of the best and imposing characters on the big screen since the new Batman played by Christian Bale.

(*) And this is when I realized that I've overdone the fun with this list. "Overkill" you might call it (^^ ) But I didn't want to waste all my effort so here's the rest of the list - handled a lot more roughly. Also I think there are some doubles ...

Hm, just as I thought there're more "bad"s than "good"s.

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]


//---- BLACKLIST ----//
Not better / blocked from that list / disappointments:

[1963] From Russia With Love ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Dr. No ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

From Russia is .. different than any other James Bond-movie imho. He doesn't do very much spy work here.

[198o] Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

I always thought Tatooine was more attractive than Dagobah and Bespin together. But still, this is one of the movies I definitely don't want to miss.

[1982] Airplane II: The Sequel ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Airplane! ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Just a weak attempt to ride the wave of sequels.

[1982] La Boum 2 ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   La Boum ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Sometimes I really don't like how girls grow up ...

[1983] Psycho II ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Psycho ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

I've only seen the first twenty/thirty minutes of this sequel but it was everything but being close to building up suspense.

[1985] Rambo: First Blood Part II ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   First Blood ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

They were both aweful but back in the days I had quite a good time laughing about Stallone's quirky face at the end of Rambo 2 x^D

[1986] Count Zero ^[Wiki]   <   Neuromancer ^[Wiki]   (Book)

Neuromancer alone is so gorgeous it could be made into a film while Count Zero somehow needs the whole Sprawl Trilogy to be understood fully.

[1987] Teen Wolf Too ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Teen Wolf ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

I barely can't remember the sequel which means that I already disliked it when I watched it for the first time over 1o years ago when I was so small.

[1988] Crocodile Dundee II ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Crocodile Dundee ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

"Wildsman in the city" - interesting concept but in the end his first appearance was more entertaining.

[1988] Powaqqatsi: Life In Transition ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out Of Balance ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

I learned something about myself when I watched this sequel: I not only like to observe people, I even prefer observing people of the city over people "under the sun".

[1989] The Fly II ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   The Fly ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

No question, Eric Stoltz was no match for Jeff Goldblum. Also it's this horror expectation thing again.

[199o] Gremlins 2: The New Batch ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Gremlins ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

It works better in a small village than in a skyscraper. It really does. Just look at how many horror movies take place in a skyscraper to see what I mean.

[199o] Predator 2 ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Predator ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

It was like a B-movie for the action genre, this type of bad. Unprofessional, no mentionable story, much too bright for a Predator movie. Nah.

[1991] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret Of The Ooze ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Tokka and Rahzar were just too much, but IIRC apart from those two annoying characters the sequel was actually better than the predecessor. So you see? Never underestimate the shadowy power of annoying characters. Greetings from Chibiusa.

[1992] Batman Returns ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Batman ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

No Offense, Mr. De Vito, but no one can beat the Joker - especially the one played by Jack Nicholson ;^) Kim Basinger may be partly responsible for this decision, too ;^)

[1992] Home Alone 2: Lost In New York ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Home Alone ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

The same robbers meeting the same boy from the first movie in a totally different city - I could never buy that.

[1994] My Girl 2 ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   My Girl ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Did I mention I have a deep antipathy to Bishônen

[1994] The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   The Land Before Time ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

The first movie was so beautiful that there was no need for a sequel - especially not twelve sequels.

[1995] Ave Ventura: When Nature Calls ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Ace Ventura: Pet Detective ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

This one is fairly obvious, I think. The story of the sequel is so weak that no Jim Carrey can hide it.

[1997] Mortal Kombat: Annihilation ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Mortal Kombat ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Okay, the first movie was already pretty bad but the second one was so bad that I only endured watching it while fast forwarding the tape ... now how bad is that?

[1997] Speed 2: Cruise Control ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Speed ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Like with Home Alone if it happens to the same person I just can't buy it.

[1997] The Lost World: Jurassic Park ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Jurassic Park ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

A sequel to Jurassic Park could have worked but unfortunately, the they did it, it didn't work. All the more when they entered San Diego, it just was too much. It didn't fit at all, imho.

[1998] Turok 2: Seeds of Evil ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   <   Turok: Dinosaur Hunter ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

This sequel was definitely far too twisted to be good. Besides that, it didn't deliver the tech improvements it claimed to do, IIRC.

[1998] U.S. Marshals ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   The Fugitive ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

The first movie is a classical. It's not hard to fail here, we understand that.

[1999] Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Both- in fact the whole trilogy is hilarious but I didn't like Heather Graham in that role very much. Too Barbie-like. Brunette is rather my type anyway.

[1999] From Dusk Till Dawn 2: Texas Blood Money ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   From Dusk Till Dawn ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

This movie - very much unlike its predecessor - is a perfect example of why I don't like zombie movies in general: the story is just so damn stupid that it even tops the stupid characters. And what's with the weird camera angles? From in between a spiral telephone cord?! *shakes head* (-.- ) ( -.-)

[1999] Gran Turismo 2 ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   <   Gran Turismo ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

Honestly, after the very first part of the series each following piece of software became less and less attractive to me. It's beacause I'm not such a automobile freak as the games target at. After all, the first part played very differently than the very last one, "Gran Turismo 5 Prologue". Besides, I don't like the fucking concept of adding a Prologue game in the game queue so that they have more time to develop their games. That's pretty shitty for the players' point of view, IMHO.

[1999] Grand Theft Auto 2 ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   <   Grand Theft Auto ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

The sequel had slightly better graphics but this game series wasn't about graphics after all, at least at the times when it was still played from the bird's-eye view. And so it was just another clone, in the end.

[2ooo] Mission: Impossible II ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Mission: Impossible ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Somehow this sequel missed its point. And me too - it was so visually overloaded that I didn't follow the story much.

[2ooo] Perfect Dark ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   <   GoldenEye 007 ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

Being not an official but merely a spritual sequel "GoldenEye 007" was one of the best games available for this console, the Nintendo 64™, even the best first-person-shooter of all consoles, IMHO. So, it was a hard time trying to top that game. And, naturally, the developers failed with that one. But it still had great gameplay value.

[2ooo] Taxi 2 ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Taxi ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

I didn't like the story at all. And the humour. Plainly bad writing - although it's penned by Luc Besson! I guess there's too much "french" in this one. But don't get me wrong. Both movies are great, the sequel's just not better.

[ Woody's Checkpoint: # top # ]

[2oo1] Rush Hour 2 ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Rush Hour ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

I can only repeat myself here (s. Shanghai Knights).

[2oo1] The Mummy Returns ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   The Mummy ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

This sequel was the first movie where I could predict almost the half of the movie during the course of it. Boring. Waste of money.

[2oo2] Blade II ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Blade ^[IMDB]   (Movie)

I didn't like the distinguishment of the vampires into further species.

[2oo2] Cube 2: Hypercube ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Cube ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

The characters became weirder and the story was added by an unnecessary excursion into science. Probably a incoherent one, too.

[2oo2] Men In Black II ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Men In Black ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

The cash cow again. Understandable that this sequel came out but just as understandable that this sequel sucked. It's always the same. When will they ever learn it ...?

[2oo3] Bad Boys II ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Bad Boys ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

In Bad Boys II there was too much emphasis on cars, action & special effects instead of character development which I think was wrong. Bad Boys is all about Marcus and Mike being detectives and not action heros.

[2oo3] Final Destination 2 ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Final Destination ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Because of the aforementioned horror expectation of sequels, imho, the purpose of the predecessor was to shock while the purpose of the second movie was to impress. And actually I want to watch horror movies to be shocked and not to be impressed.

[2oo3] Final Fantasy X-2 ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   <   Final Fantasy X ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

How bizarre to list this one ... anyway, the linear story was for just as troublesome as it was to many other players. Also there were these many jobs. It's something the old Final Fantasies have done but it's nothing I like particularly.

[2oo3] Infernal Affairs II - Abstieg In Die Achte Hölle ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Infernal Affairs - Die Achte Hölle ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

You can't top a story like the one of the predecessor, so the mere attempt is already an insult.

[2oo3] Jak II ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   <   Jak and Daxter: The Precursor Legacy ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

Now, this sequel was a real let-down. Instead of continuing what made the prequel so much fun - the jump'n'run aspect - a whole new aspect is added destroying the whole atmosphere of the game's universe: weaponry. Yuck.

[2oo3] Shanghai Knights ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Shanghai Noon ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Shanghai Noon was probably the last big worldwide hit of Jackie Chan while everything after it was either only in some regions more or less successful (like New Police Story) or - like this sequel - pretty disappointing for a Jackie Chan movie.

[2oo3] The Matrix Reloaded ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   The Matrix ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Though the "Burly Brawl" scene from Reloaded is one of my favourite scenes of the whole trilogy the first movie wasn't that .. "weird". It was plain awesome cyberpunk like it was supposed to be, no matter how heavily it was stolen from Dark City.

[2oo4] Kill Bill: Vol. 2 ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Kill Bill: Vol. 1 ^[IMDB]   (Movie)

Although it was one movie, actually, I assimilate to everybody else and treat it as two separate films. Of which I liked the first one more, although both are undoubtly great. Must be the higher japanese influence.

[2oo4] Shrek 2 ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Shrek ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

There was no other reason to pull a sequel than to milk the cash cow. Abominable.

[2oo4] The Bourne Supremacy ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   The Bourne Identity ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

The first movie was quite okay - but where the hell did the demand for a sequel come from?! Stupid cash cow marketing strategy ...

[2oo5] Saw II ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Saw ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

There have been some equally shocking scenes like in the predecessor but on the whole it felt more like a teeny horror movie. Bad director of photography maybe ...

[2oo5] The Ring Two ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   The Ring ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Horror sequels are always harder to make because the audience now knows the parameters, knows what to expect. That was the case with this one, too, I think.

[2oo6] Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Basic Instinct ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Although I'm glad there's no Michael Douglas nudity in this one (no offense ;^) at the same time I'm disappointed that the movie lacks so much erotic. Well, maybe I've just grown up a bit ...

[2oo6] Kingdom Hearts II ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   <   Kingdom Hearts ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

I already explained it before, so, in short, I think it was even more oriented for kids than its predecessor, storywise. I mean the way how the game delivered the story. It was very repetetive ... I dunno, I just think I grew out of it.

[2oo6] The Butterfly Effect 2 ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   The Butterfly Effect ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

The only good thing about the sequel were the se- oh, err nude scenes. Besides it totally abandoned the road its predecessor has carved in.

[2oo7] 4: Rise Of The Silver Surfer ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   Fantastic Four ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

The original movie had Jessica Alba being more nude (hehe) buuuut actually the sequel was really bad compared to it so it's more than just a cock-driven decision. At least mostly. This series is just right for watchion on DVD but definitely too much for the big screen imho. Sadly! I really would have liked it to be more successful but ... just look at this shit!

[2oo7] AVPR: Aliens vs. Predator - Reqiuem ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   <   AVP: Alien vs. Predator ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

Oh come on, that was such a waste of money ...

[2oo7] God Of War II ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   <   God Of War ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

This sequel was very disappointing to me. I was thrilled when I played the first game and I was thrilled to hear of a sequel after I played the first game, but I wasn't thrilled at all when I played the sequel. It was pretty much the same as the first one, just different in terms of story / lvl- and monster-design. That's sad.

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//---- GRAYLIST ----//
Can't decide which is better --(slightly better / almost the same):

[1983] Mad Mission 2: Aces Go Places (Aces Go Places 2) ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   =   Mad Mission (Aces Go Places) ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

By now I was too tired to add a reason.

[1988] Police Story 2 ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   =   Police Story ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

By now I was too tired to add a reason.

[199o] Die Hard 2 (Die Harder) ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   =   Die Hard ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

By now I was too tired to add a reason.

[1995] Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   =   Donkey Kong Country ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

This one was actually not that bad but definitely not as good as the first part. But at least it was trying to be different very much unlike the sequels of today with a new character (actually two!) instead of the old character with a new "story" hiding the same or very similar gameplay.

[1995] Earthworm Jim 2 ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   =   Earthworm Jim ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

Actually they were both great.

[2oo1] Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   =   Metal Gear Solid ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

It's hard to say why I like the predecessor of the sequel a tiny little bit better. It could be the fact that it came out first, it could be the fact that it was not as exaggerated yet. I can't tell. But who cares at this point, right?

[2oo2] Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   =   Star Wars Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

By now I was too tired to add a reason. this is a hard one as the second part of the series was the first game with "Jedi Knight" in the title.

[2oo4] Metroid Prime 2: Echoes ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   =   Metroid Prime ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

By now I was too tired to add a reason.

[2oo4] Ocean's Twelve ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   =   Ocean's Eleven ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

By now I was too tired to add a reason.

[2oo4] Prince of Persia: Warrior Within ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   =   Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time ^{[Wiki] [IGN]}   (Videogame)

Similar to "God Of War II" this sequel was just a continuation, except that the gameplay was hardened by a more complex combat system. But unlike "God Of War II" it did the story-telling still interesting enough. Or maybe it's jus more my type of game, as it is more jumping and less hacking'n'slaying. Although this sequel did go more into this direction, more than its predecessor.

[2oo4] Spider-Man 2 ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   =   Spider-Man ^{[Wiki] [IMDB]}   (Movie)

By now I was too tired to add a reason.

Those are the remaining items that I was too lazy to add the URL to. Basically every single item in this "Graylist" has the reason "I really liked both" ...

Ice Age 2
Naked Gun 2½
Leathal Weapon 2
ICO 2 aka Shadow Of The Colossus
Analyze That
Bill & Ted
Bridget Jones 2
Ghostbusters 2
Hot Shots 2
Transporter 2
Wayne's World 2
Onimusha 2


btw: have a look at this. Wikipedia sure can be useful sometimes. Well, most of the time, actually ...
Film crossovers
Film series
Character-based movie franchises
Film decologies and larger series

And dbl-btw: Five Reasons Game Trilogies Suck (PC)

Now, I'm exhausted ... ;^p
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