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Sat 1st May '10 : Employed at last
Finally, 8 months since my graduation, I can now say I have a job! At
the beginning of last month, I started working for a small web
development company here in the North East of England. It's going well
so far, working on a new website project from scratch. Some time later
this year I may re-do this website since it's had the same design for
a few years now... DC
Sat 9th Jan '10 : A New Decade
Looking back, this last decade started with me almost two years from starting my GCSE work and finished with
me graduating from uni with first class honours last summer :). Now a new one is upon us! What will happen in
these next ten years? Well, a new job would be a nice start... DC
Wed 8th Apr '09 : All work and no play etc...
Three weeks now of doing uni work every day for a final year project and four different assignments...
aaarrrggghhh... DC
Mon 2nd Feb '09 : Why So Serious?
Almost a year since my last post already? I have thought what else I could put on my website homepage, but
since I can't think of anything, these occasional random wibblings will have to stay! Right now I'm starting
my final semester of uni... not long now to graduation! My final year project, creating a web-based monitoring
and control system for a KNX-enabled smart home is going reasonably well, so
only that and a few assignments and exams to do.
Back at home, I'm getting well into Fallout 3, another excellent RPG from Bethesda. The vastness of the atmospheric, post-apocalyptic setting, the
sometimes amusing quests and the hilarity of the V.A.T.S. combat system (especially with the 'Bloody Mess'
perk) have me addicted. Also worthy of mention is The
Dark Knight, which I re-watched on Blu-ray recently. The IMAX sequences (filmed with 70mm film, rather
than 35mm) are simply stunning at 1080p. Just to see this fantastic film at its best is a great excuse to
invest in a Blu-ray system if you haven't already. DC
Mon 18th Feb '08 : The cake is a lie
It's been a good while since I last posted on here, and in that time I have completed just over half of my
university work placement. On the upside, I'm getting some good experience from it, the downside is my free
time is at an all time low. Most weekends though, I have managed to get some PC gaming time in. DirectX 10
hasn't exactly lived up to the hype generated before supporting games came out, but performance is gradually
being improved through patches and updates.
Since my last post, I've played BioShock (great setting and story line), Half-Life 2: Episode Two (excellent continuation), Portal (short, simple and weird, where's my cake?!), Crysis (the new benchmark for amazing top-end graphics) and Unreal Tournament 3 (very detailed maps, nice update over UT2004
[though I miss some features], pity about the OpenAL problems though...) DC
Thu 12th Jul '07 : Ready for DirectX 10!
A few things have happened since my last post, mostly within the last six weeks. I've finished my second year
of uni and I've now got a placement for the next year, starting at the end of August! Also, just last week I
finished upgrading my PC to be fully ready for the onslaught of DirectX 10 games coming in the next few months.
The spec includes an Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 and a NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra: should keep everything
running well for the next three years or so! The first DX10 title I'll be getting will be BioShock on August 24th, but for now I'm getting the benefits in
my existing, DirectX 9 and OpenGL games. Oblivion running at a frame rate rarely
below 50fps with all the settings on full, HDR lighting, 4xAA and 8xAF is just brilliant to what my previous
setup could do (medium settings, bloom lighting, no AA or AF, outdoor frame rate of 20-30fps)!
DC
Wed 7th Mar '07 : Under The Iron Sea
Went to see Keane performing in Newcastle's Metro Radio Arena last
night. A fantastic performance - the arena was full to capacity and the atmosphere was brilliant, especially
during "Bedshaped" at the end, where everyone sung along to the chorus. And I now have an unusual sized, 5ft
tall x 1ft wide poster featuring their latest cover art as a memento. :) DC
Sat 16th Dec '06 : Finally, a break!
Almost 12 weeks since my last post and the Christmas break has just started, at last! They've been a stressful
few weeks, getting several university assignments completed in time for various deadlines. It's been months
since I posted in any of the forums I usually frequent, so if you're from one of them, I am still here! :)
DC
Wed 27th Sep '06 : Back to uni...
Yeah, the summer vacation only lasts so long and now I'm beginning my second year at Northumbria, studying Computer & Network Technology. And the process of
applying for an undergraduate placement next year has started already - who knows where I'll end up and who
I'll be working for... DC
Thu 31st Aug '06 : 11,852.4 miles
That's the distance travelled so far by Roffles, the
official bear of the PC Format Forums, who I'm hosting this week.
He's been travelling from one forum member to another since March, visiting places all around the UK,
including a quick trip over to the USA. He'll be updating his blog with what he gets up to while he's here,
and you might even see him on the webcam when he's not doing anything else... DC
Thu 10th Aug '06 : "No let stranger escape..."
The demo of Dark Messiah of Might and Magic was released on
Tuesday, and after being impressed by its gameplay videos a couple of months ago, I just had to download and
give it a go myself. For a short two-map demo, it's a hefty download at 1.38GB, but the last part is very
replayable. I've lost count of how many times I've played through the wooden platform area containing the
orcs. There's just so many ways of attacking your foes, using your own combination of melee weapons, magic
spells, stealth, special attack moves (many of which are satisfyingly gruesome!), and the various traps
littered around the map.
Arkane has pretty much nailed
first person movement and combat, which they've dubbed "full body awareness". Of course, it also looks great
using Valve's Source engine and its HDR rendering for more life-like lighting, and full environmental physics
come as standard. The game is not due for release until October, but the wait isn't so bad now that we have an
excellent demo to mess around in until then! DC
Fri 23rd Jun '06 : We are next
The Prey Demo was released yesterday and I played
through it last night... fantastic. Weird trying out the various features for myself for the first time after
watching the videos that have been released over the last year. No other PC game I've played is able to be so
disorientating at times with the wall walking and gravity flipping, and the portals are brilliant - very
seamless. I also bought The Elder Scrolls
IV: Oblivion this week, so I'm getting involved in various quests and exploring the countryside and towns
of Cyrodiil. I'm not usually an RPG fan, but after reading numerous recommending reviews, and checking out the
demo videos, I decided I must buy it. I'm
enjoying it and I can see I'll be playing it for some time to come, as it's so vast... DC
Wed 31st May '06 : The Story Continues
As I write this, the official countdown states that Half-Life 2
Episode One will be playable in just under 19 hours. PC gamers around the world are waiting for the release at
10:00 PDT (18:00 BST) of the first in a series of three games continuing the story where Half-Life 2 left off. I've seen the
teaser trailers and I'm all preloaded on Steam, so I'm one of those
ready and waiting for 18:00 tomorrow. :) DC
Mon 15th May '06 : Do you know the true meaning of F.E.A.R.?
I know the game is a few months old now, but I've just uploaded a new screenshot page for
F.E.A.R., just to share a few of my comments on it and show of some of the screenies I managed to take.
Talking of which, its expansion pack "Extraction Point" was announced recently, hopefully coming this autumn.
:) DC
Sat 13th May '06 : Something Wicked This Way Comes Came
Last night I was in Carlisle to see Derren Brown at the Sands Centre. You've probably seen him in one of his numerous
one-off specials and series on Channel 4; if not check out his website if you haven't heard of him. All I need to say really is
that it was a very unique and entertaining show, involving various audience members throughout. He also
performed something that he's not allowed to do on TV for insurance reasons, and that part of the show was
quite incredible... DC
Tue 2nd May '06 : Loads of updates...
Over the last two days, I've made several updates and changes to the site's pages. The vast majority of the
photos in the Photos section have now been resampled from the originals, and four of the
pages now feature enlarged versions of their photos (I've been meaning to add these for over a year...). In
the PC Gaming section, I've added two new pages, one containing Quake 4
screenshots and another showing photos from the LAN with PC Format last month (Same
photos as posted on the PCF Forum, but forum threads usually only last a few months before being pruned!).
I've also made a few other changes here and there but they're probably not that noticeable. ;)
DC
Sat 1st Apr '06 : LAN Bash in Bath with PCF!
Just got the rest of my tickets through this morning for my journey down to PC Format's offices in Bath on
Tuesday 4th. If you read March's issue (or their website), you'll
know about their competition to win a day in their offices, travel expenses paid, and become part of an
article in June's issue. Well, I entered and only managed to become one of the 10 winners. :o So, yeah, it's
going to be a long day, but it should be worth it, trying out some high-end PC gaming hardware and meeting the
PCF team, of course. :D DC
Sun 5th Mar '06 : Earth's saviour doesn't want the job (apparently)
Out of the few PC games I'm planning to buy this year, Prey is the one I'm most looking forward to. It doesn't
just look great graphics-wise, but some of its features, such as gravity flipping and portals that you can see
through in real time look damn cool and should make for some unusual and original gameplay. The official
website at www.prey.com has several screenshots and videos (the 11min E3
2005 trailer is a good one), along with a producer journal,
which gives an interesting insight into what's happening in the game's development at the moment.
And would you know... Venom Games will be bringing Prey to the
Xbox 360 console. I actually pass quite close to their premises every weekday on my bus journey to and from
uni. :o DC
Wed 8th Feb '06 : 0118 999 881 999 119 7253
The IT Crowd, premiered on Channel 4 last Friday, and last
night I got around to watching my recording of it. I've got to say, there are not many other sitcoms that have
me laughing pretty much from beginning to end - excellent stuff. I'm now looking forward to the rest of the
series. Meanwhile, you can watch the next episode on its website in low-res WMV, but I prefer to wait for the
proper, DVB version. Just don't forget the new emergency services phone number... ;) DC
Fri 27th Jan '06 : window.open()
A couple of small improvements: First, Flash games launched in fullscreen mode now completely fill the window
that is opened, rather than having a 50px border around them. Although the window size depends on the size of
your browser when it is not maximised (due to a limitation in JavaScript), you can maximise the game window
and then press F5 to make the game fill the screen. The other change is to the windows that open when you view
an enlarged screenshot in the PC Gaming section: they are now opened to the exact size of the image, making
them much neater. If your screen resolution is below 1024x768, then scrollbars will appear in these windows so
you can scroll around the enlarged image. DC
Fri 16th Dec '05 : "There's something behind me, isn't there?"
Tonight (i.e. Thursday evening, being 00:50 now) I saw Doom, the movie based on the FPS video game. I had read
various people's reviews of it, some saying it was very good, to those who said to "avoid at all costs". Well
either way, I had to go and see it, being a fan of the game since the original. I've seen some bad films in
the past and this definitely isn't one of them in my books. A lot of things have been realized quite nicely
from the game (moreso Doom 3, being the most recent), such as the UAC interior, the creatures (only 3
different ones feature though), computer interfaces, weapons (BFG, oh yes!), teleportation, the research into
the ancient civilization, and the first person POV sequence towards the end. One major thing though: genetic
mutation - where did that come from?!! But I suppose they had to fill in the plot somehow when they were
prevented from using hell themes in the movie, and it isn't badly done either. Throw in some nice special
effects and comical lines and you're left with a largely good film imo, as long as you enjoy films of a
similar genre. Overall I give it 4/5. DC
Sun 30th Oct '05 : Up a cliff
HL2: The Lost Coast was released on
Thursday, free to download for all HL2 owners. It's basically a short single map that demonstrates HDR
rendering, which makes light more realistic-looking in the game, and also takes a good chunk off your normal
fps rate, being quite demanding on your graphics card. I got round to playing through it today, and it's not
bad: the best looking bit imo is probably in the church where the light comes in through the stained glass
windows. Now, Valve, where's this "Aftermath" thing you were talking about? ;) DC
Fri 30th Sep '05 : Off to a meetup!
This weekend I'm heading down south to Essex meeting a dozen or so other people from the PCF Forums. It should
be a load of fun - we're even having a bowling competition on the Saturday night! First I need to get there
and it's going to involve getting up at 5am and a trip on a bus, metro, plane and taxi. If you are one of the
few going - cya there! DC
Tue 20th Sep '05 : Enrolled!
Yesterday was the big day of getting enrolled at uni, which mostly involved long queues (especially the
library card queue) and form filling. It's all sorted now though, apart from getting a student union card,
which I can get anytime this week. After yesterday, the only other timetabled induction events are on
Thursday, involving presentations, meeting tutors and programme briefings - which is when I'll find out what
my weekly timetable will be like! Next week is when things start proper... DC
Thu 18th Aug '05 : The results are in!
Today I've finally found out the results of my A levels, and I'm pleased to say they're very much as I
expected, apart from one which is a bit below what I had hoped for, but it doesn't really matter. I'm quite
certain I have my place at Northumbria - I'm just waiting for the confirmation now and then I'll be starting
there on the 19th September. I'm looking forward to it. :) DC
Wed 3rd Aug '05 : Halfway
Well, at the moment I'm half way between sixth form and uni in a long holiday. Results come in on the 18th -
hopefully they will be what I want, if not, they shouldn't be too bad. I've written a couple of PHP scripts in
the last week, one is an image thumbnailer and the other is a mailbox reader so I can access my mail away from
home. I've even written a WAP mode into it so I can use it through my mobile and IMO, it's better than
mail2web's service (which is what I used previously) since e-mails aren't split into tiny five-line fragments
per page. DC
Mon 28th Mar '05 : Interoperability
After two days of recoding every page on the site and sorting out an organised stylesheet, the website is now
in fully valid XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS (apart from the games and images that open in a new window, which are
valid HTML 4.01 Transitional where possible). What does this mean? Well, it means I've eliminated any sloppy
coding and the site should now look identical in all common browsers. You can validate any page using the
links in the footer. If you come across a page that isn't valid or doesn't look right in your browser, let me know and I'll try to sort it out. DC
Wed 9th Feb '05 : As mentioned by Mack and Mesh
Just been watching video 5 of "Mesh Does Half-Life 2" (great stuff), in which Mack and Mesh answer some of the e-mails that they received. I sent one
a while ago explaining how they could use the font built into the game for their video titles... and they read
it out (23:25 into the vid) mentioning this website aswell. Cheers guys! :D DC
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