My recent spate of Halo games online has taught me one thing:
Americans are the most rude and demeaning people to play with.
A broad statement you might say but so far of the hundreds of people I’ve played online with I’ve only gotten swearing and demeaning comments from Americans. What makes it worse is that nine times out of ten these are young children that are swearing up a storm for no discernible reason. They also seem to display a terrible lack of knowledge when it comes to countries other than their own. So far I have been identified as an Asian and a New Zealander and been called some real choice names that i would rather not repeat here 
Thank goodness that Bungie has foreseen this and decided to include an option to mute all voices other than those of your friends and party members. At least now you can chat merrily to your friends as you play without having to worry whether you are been called something unsavoury by a 5 year old 
Its quite disconcerting that parents would allow there young children to act in such an obtuse way but it would seem that this has become the norm nowadays. At least the fun thing about being a South African online on Live is that you can merrily swear back in Afrikaans without them having the foggiest idea of what you are saying. So if you see me online feel free to chat to me but please make it something civilised. 
This past week version 2.4.0 of OpenOffice.org was released for download. Changes include the following:
New features include 5 PDF export enhancements, text to columns in Calc, rectangular selection in Writer, bug fixes, performance improvements, improvements supporting the growing library of extensions such as 3D OpenGL transitions in Impress, and much more.
Grab a copy from the following location: OpenOffice.org
This is the last version before the September release of version 3 which will see a major revamp of the interface and GUI as well as the ability to load and save Microsoft Office 2007 file format support and support for ODF 1.2 as well as PDF importing.
Apologies for the recent lapse of posts on my blog. Its all come about as a result of a deterioration in the quality of my broadband signal quality over the past 2 weeks. Whenever I turn on my PC in the evenings after coming home my ADSL signal will just cut out and take several hours to regain any sense of stability. This of course means that any hope I have of working on the internet in the evenings is dashed quite early. Trying to get help from Telkom’s support desk has also been a bit of a trial in patience. My first call took a mere 45 minutes of waiting through an endlessly repeating song till I reached my first human voice only to be told that according to them my line and router were all fine and that the problem would have to lie on my ISP’s side. Unfortunately this makes no sense as my ISP provides internet access and not the actual signal, but to satisfy the bright minds of Telkom I phoned Mweb as well only for them to confirm my suspicions that the problem is indeed on the side of Telkom. So the next morning I once again ran the gauntlet of Telkom’s support line and finally managed to get through to an operator and convince him the they would need to monitor my line for the next few days to determine the exact cause of the problem. I’m hoping that I can get this problem sorted once and for all as its driving me crazy. I’m unable to get any surfing done at night, my blogging has also fallen along the way side.
One good thing to have come from this is that I’ve rediscovered my joy of reading and I’ve also managed to get down to watching some of the DVDs I’ve had lying around. I’ll be posting my thoughts on two boxsets in particular; Twin Peaks and Blade Runner Final Cut in future posts. I’ve also managed to start completing my single player games with Call of Duty 3 being the first one to reach a successful conclusion. Hopefully I can now get done with Mass Effect, Assassin’s Creed and The Orange Box which are all clamouring for my attention. as an interesting side note there was an article recently on 1UP dealing with the ever growing tendency for gamers to not finish games. Makes real interesting reading and hopefully Craig might notice that I’m not the only one who hasn’t finished all my games
So at long last my next review is up and live on IOL Technology’s website for all and sundry to read. Hop on over to the following link to read it:
SOCOM Tactical Strike review
I’ve finally seen some good news with regards to my favourite IM client, Google Talk. If you’ve been using it for any length of time you’d have seen that Google has focussed their development on the web based versions of their IM network. So those of us who prefer to use the downloadable client have actually been left with a piece of software that has had no major updates for more than a year with the only notable upgrade having been to add Vista support. As per the ZDNet article:
It sounds like there is a new version of Google Talk in the works — fears loomed that the client had all but been abandoned since the last update was over 16 months ago, and it was just to add Vista support.
The web-based version of the application has gone through many incremental changes since the desktop client stopped updating — that is a pretty good sign itself that the project isn’t dead. The new desktop version will likely incorporate many of the features you can now find in the web client, including group chat, invisible mode, AIM integration, better emoticons, and more.
Google Talk was a winner of the “Founders Award” when it first launched, so we know there is a pretty good team behind it. I’ve got high hopes for the new client — including the ability to make voice calls to land lines and tight integration into Grand Central.
I’m holding in my hands right now a small bundle of joy. This newest addition to my family is cherished and loved like none before it. I am now the proud parent of a DS Lite. Even though I also have a PSP I nonetheless am a proud DS Lite owner. Its because the DS has so many differences when compared to the PSP. Yes, it might not have the media capabilities of the PSP or the graphical prowess of that system but it has FUN tattooed all over its games library.
In addition to the usual gamut of Mario games such as Mario Cart and New Super Mario Bros. there is also a wide selection of truly original games such as the Phoenix Wright series in which you play the eponymous role of the attorney Phoenix Wright as you battle your way through cases Sounds boring right? Who in their right minds would want to play a videogame where you are a lawyer? Fear not though. There’s ample Japanese humour and sumptuous anime cut scenes that drive the game along and the cases aren’t your run of the mill ‘ordinary’ cases either. the series has become so popular its spawned two sequels as well as an offshoot by the name of Ace Apollo.
Then there’s Elite Beat Agents. Here you take the role of a cheerleader squad, but not your typical USA pom pom cheerleaders, rather you play as a group of tough Japanese guys as they go about their duty of cheering on individuals who need their help. According to Wikipedia:
The main characters of Elite Beat Agents are members of a fictional government agency responsible for helping those in need. When someone facing a crisis reaches the end of their rope and cries out for help, the agents arrive on the scene to help them succeed. The agents never help the person directly. The agents encourage the person through their dancing and the people they assist are instilled with motivation that helps them overcome various obstacles.
Most recently of all Guitar hero has even been announced for the DS with a peripheral that attaches to your DS with the fret buttons. Its no wonder that the DS has rightfully become the fastest selling handheld console of all time. I’m looking forward to some great fun with my DS Lite in the years ahead.
Published on
18 March 2008 in
My Life.
In a way I’m dreading the coming move to our company’s new offices in Bellville. Why may you ask? Well its because a friend of mine, Roger, has determined that he shall be grinding me into the ground with some hectic gym session at the gym close to my new offices.
I’ve already had a taste of his cruelty with a Sunday gym session that left my arms incapable of any movement for 3 days afterwards. Well maybe my general level unfitness was a contributing factor as well but still!! A good 1 and a half hours later I emerged from the gym feeling fitter than ever and brimming with confidence only to discover that the next morning a was a quivering bundle of muscle tissue that could no longer do mundane tasks without pitiful squeaks of pain emerging from my lips. This was much to the amusement of my coworkers who laughed themselves silly at my ineptitude the next day.
Roger has also been kind enough to lend me his Men’s Health Book of Muscle which I must really sit down with and read through. Its apparently a great source of fitness advice and even easy enough for a gym newbie such as myself to understand. Who knows, I might even purchase it myself in the coming months
I actually quite enjoyed the gym session I had with roger and am looking forward to having plenty of more with him in the coming months. Its always better to have a gym partner so that you feel more motivated to get off your ass and gym a bit more regularly. Roger was a great partner and managed to even stop laughing at my clanking skills when it came to lifting weights. Hopefully with the shift to our new offices which are closer to work and home I’ll be able to make my gym membership work overtime with more regular visits. Maybe in a few months I can even attempt approaching a beach without fear of Greenpeace activists trying to push me back into the ocean. 
Published on
17 March 2008 in
My Life.
My recent spate of Halo games online has taught me one thing:
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