Blog

Updated as often as I can manage

Sunday, November 23, 2003
It's all sports-related today, but the headliner isn't football. Or basketball. It's rugby. Now I actually don't like rugby at all, and certainly not the 15-a-side variety. Hong Kong has a big Rugby Sevens tournament, and that's quite fun to watch since it's really open, simple and short -- though I realise how insulting this probably is to a real rugby fan. If someone was to tell me that the only football they like is a 5-a-side indoor variety I'd probably think they were mad. Still, I think rugby in general has a few, erm, "balance issues" -- it really could do with more tries and fewer penalties -- but I have been taking a passing interest in the Rugby World Cup.

The Final was this Saturday, with England meeting Australia. You all probably know by now my feelings about living in the UK (I hated it), and that I don't support the England football team (I'm not AGAINST them per se, but I've always supported Italy), but I was firmly in the England camp for this game. I guess it was a bit of British nationalism stirring in me, because after all the jibes and insults and general put-downs Australia always fires England's way with justification after their continual domination of English sport in every way... well... the stage was set for revenge. And it was in Sydney to boot. What followed was an absolutely thrilling match. Every sport has their moments, those key matches which totally define the game, get you caught up in the moment and make fans out of even the hardest sceptic. The World Series of 2001 between the Yankees and Diamondbacks did that for baseball, the 2002 Superbowl between the Rams and Patriots did that for American Football (even Kavi enjoyed it), and the 2002 Ryder Cup did it for golf. The 2003 Rugby World Cup Final did that for rugby.

It was an outstanding encounter, with Australia scoring an early try, then England piling on the points for a big half-time lead. The game should have been put to bed then (England were the heavy favourites), but they got nervous, made silly mistakes, and the Aussies came back. It was one of those moments where you could almost predict what was to come when Australia knocked over a last-minute penalty to send the game into overtime. Where again, England lead, but Australia knocked over a late equaliser again... except this time they did it in the second-last minute. England then somehow drove forward and with thirty seconds to go smacked over the winning drop-goal. Wonderful drama, wonderful tension, and just overall a fantastic game to watch. And the right result, too.

One funny thing though was that I was chatting to an Aussie friend online while the match was on, and when Australia equalised to send the game into overtime I was trying to apply football logic to "predict" the outcome. In football, teams that equalise late seem to carry over their momentum to win the game -- Man United did it in 1999, France in 2000, and Liverpool in 2001. What I didn't remember until a few minutes later though was that in England's now-mythical 1966 World Cup (football!) triumph, they survived a late West German equaliser before finishing them off in extra-time. People have been comparing this 2003 rugby team to the 1966 football team, the last England team to win a major trophy, and as ludicrous as it seems (the 1966 team will always remain as legend due to football's stature -- 10 million watched the rugby final, whereas 26 million watched England get knocked out by Argentina in the SECOND ROUND in 1998), there is one similarity at least.

Anyway, the only football news to report is Liverpool's 0-0 draw with Boro. We need wins, damnit. The other point of note is that for the fourth game in a row, Florent Sinama-Pongolle was involved in a penalty incident. He came on against Fulham and (rightfully) won a penalty, started against Blackburn and (wrongly) won a penalty, came on against Man United and (rightly) should have had a penalty, and against Boro also (rightly) should have had a penalty. It's an odd string of events and I'm worried he'll get a reputation for diving -- even though three out of the four incidents were fouls.

Either way, if we were winning I'd probably shut up.

Posted at 11:22 PM

Thursday, November 20, 2003
Quickie today. After posting my WORLD RECORD feat yesterday in Project Gotham Racing 2, a colleague of mine at Ziff-Davis, Axel Strohm, decided to challenge it. He smashed it. I wasn't about to take that lying down, so I downloaded his "ghost", raced it, and after many tries beat him to set the record. Then he went off and after half an hour or so beat my time to set another record. Then I went off AGAIN to try and beat his time... and finally, finally set another record. The funny thing is, we actually raced each other earlier in the day and as much fun as that was, we had SO much more fun trying to beat each others' top times on that one track... it helped too that the "winner" would hold the world record. The competition has been tons of fun and I'm hoping he comes back to break my record tomorrow, because having someone else along to push me means we're setting times I scarcely thought possible before -- Axel and I have pushed the record down by FOUR SECONDS since we started this. Tons of fun!

The other thing is that I saw Episode 4 of 24. I said it was ramping up last time around, but it REALLY REALLY went all-out in this one. The third season finally has an episode that can rival the happenings in the first and second seasons, with cool twists and an amazing set-up for next week. I have no idea how they're going to top this next week!

Posted at 11:07 PM

Wednesday, November 19, 2003
I was too pissed to talk about it yesterday, but I also got Project Gotham Racing 2 direct from Microsoft. Despite the name, it's the third in the series of city-based racers from Bizarre Creations, old friends of mine (and the first developer I ever visited -- aww). The first was Metropolis: Street Racer on Dreamcast, which had a LOT of good ideas but just didn't do it for me. The two main innovations in the game were the Kudos system and the tracks. Kudos points are basically "style points"; ie, it's nice to drive the fastest, but you're also rewarded for driving with style. Powerslides, jumps, etc all contributed to your Kudos. And the tracks were essentially the main draw, because Bizarre were the first to accurately and completely model a city and use those real city locations for tracks. And they didn't just set one or two tracks in each city (San Francisco, Tokyo and London), but well over 30, from tiny stunt loops to huge endurance races. Unfortunately, it was punishingly hard and suffered from myriad other annoyances that despite the promise didn't do it for me.

Project Gotham Racing, a cleaned-up version of M:SR with New York tracks thrown in, did. It fixed everything I ever disliked about M:SR and was an incredible game to play. So when they announced Project Gotham Racing 2... and announced that it'd be fully playable online... and said that among the 10 cities was HONG KONG (something I had personally been lobbying the folks at Bizarre to include since the days of M:SR, though I doubt that factored into their mind when picking it!)... well, I was happy. And now that I have it, I'm ecstatic. It's amazing.

Aside from the tight control and super-cool tracks (set around the Convention Centre, Wan Chai and Admiralty), I love the integration with the Xbox's online service, Xbox Live. It's making the game really enjoyable, and not just in multiplayer racing... because I haven't actually raced anyone online yet. Xbox Live is all over the SINGLE player game, too. Whenever you finish a single player race, it immediately shows you the worldwide ranking board for the track you just finished and where your Kudos total places on it. I went to the Time Trial mode to check out a few Hong Kong tracks and noticed that you could download the "ghosts" of the top times on the board. "Ghosts" are basically recordings of someone else's lap; basically, you see a translucent version of their car re-tracing their exact route during their record-setting lap. It is SO MUCH EASIER to try and beat a top time when you can see it in front of you (you don't have to "visualise" a gap of .013 seconds -- you can see it). So I set to work trying to break into the top times on the Hong Kong tracks because, well, Hong Kong is my town. I have to master my own city. And after placing in the top 10 in two tracks, I finally broke through and my time is the #1 time on the Hennessey Road track. Yeah, it's early days and will likely be crushed by other, more skilled racers, but there is something incredibly cool about knowing that right now, I am the King of Hennessey Road. And that somewhere, people are downloading my own "ghost" to try and beat me. There is nobody on the planet better than me at this track.

Mind you, there are 92 tracks...

Posted at 11:48 PM

Tuesday, November 18, 2003
I am not happy.

I'm not depressed, mind you. This is no tale of woe. I am instead ANGRY.

I've been looking forward to The Beatles' Let It Be... Naked album for a while. I really didn't like the original version of The Long And Winding Road, complete with overwrought symphonic accompaniment, so the chance to hear it without that junk (and get a new version of one of my favourites, Don't Let Me Down) was one that I could not pass up. In my haste to grab the CD and buy it, I didn't actually notice the sinister little sticker on it saying "Copy-Controlled CD". I saw that later... and played it in the car without problems. On the back, it says it'll play on my Mac fine. So I was vaguely hopeful that I'd somehow be able to run it, and even if it's got some protection there will hopefully be ways around it.

Not for Macs, there aren't. All you can do is use the included application to play the music. You cannot play it through Apple's wonderful iTunes. You cannot rip it to your hard disk. You cannot burn copies of it. You cannot play it with your other songs or use it in playlists even with other Beatles songs. And most damning... you cannot transfer it to your iPod.

I'm not too angry about the Mac-PC thing (there ARE some apps that get around the copy protection on PCs). I'm angry that this has been done in the first place. I really, really don't care about CDs in general. For me, audio CDs are like the CD for Microsoft Office -- it's just a delivery mechanism. I buy CDs with the sole purpose of ripping the MP3s to my hard disk, not to play them. I do not own a stereo of any sort. I also do not own a standalone CD player (the only CD players I have are my Xbox, PlayStation, Power Mac, iBook etc). The CD itself means nothing. I want the music, and I want to play it on my computer. I want to listen to it in rotation with all my other songs. I want to be able to mix it with other tracks in a playlist. And I want it on my iPod. Most of my listening happens on-the-go via my iPod. Not being able to put music there is absolutely criminal.

To be frank, I don't believe in CDs. They are still useful, but their time is coming to a close. Oh, I'm sure they'll still exist, but the digital revolution means that the traditional use for CDs -- in Discmans, in stereos, in cars -- is ending, and ending fast. CDs were a great leap over tapes, but a lot of their advantages are trumped by MP3-based media. The Discman... honestly, when was the last time anyone you knew bought one? Compare that to the last time someone you knew bought an MP3 player. Stereos are still of course plentiful, but with PCs living in bedrooms now you also see more and more kids just hooking their computers to their stereos and pumping music out from there. And in the car, CD changers are clunky, big, and usually hard to access. And they're SLOW. MP3s allow you to totally mix up what you listen to... and if you want to switch tracks, it's generally a lot faster than a CD (even faster if you're on a different CD and need to access the changer).

And now, as we turn to MP3s and digital media, what happens? The recording industry wants us to keep our music in one place and keep using CDs. I'm sorry, but this is utterly unacceptable. I know there are serious disadvantages to the digital format, in particular copying. But look at the big picture here: Copy-protected CDs are ripped ANYWAY. The advantages of digital media and online music sales (see the wild success of the iTunes Music Store) -- not to mention the user-friendly angle I covered above -- are incredible. They are not listening, though. They are determined to hobble us, and it is working to their detriment.

So now we have this utterly absurd situation right here where I had to go off and search the dark corners of the Internet to download MP3s of an album I ALREADY OWN. I paid for this album. I have a right to listen to it in whatever form I wish. I do not have the right to share it, so I will not share it. I also will never buy another CD from EMI Music so long as it carries that Copy-Controlled logo on it, and I feel that I will not be alone in this endeavour. I'm sure there are many others out there bemoaning this ridiculous situation and saying the same thing. I'm also sure that some of them will ask themselves why they have to buy the CDs when they're going to have to download the music off of the Internet anyway...

Posted at 11:47 PM

Sunday, November 16, 2003
Weekends exhaust me more than weekdays. Since the only time I can do ANYTHING are weekends, I stay up all night trying to do everything. I still have this huge stack of downloaded TV shows to watch, new games to play, and new DVDs to watch. And that's just new stuff -- there are a lot of old games I'd like to play (and FINISH), old movies I have the itch to see, and old books to read. Oh, and people to be with.

I've spent every free second (when I'm reheating midnight snacks, etc) re-reading Harry Potter, for instance. I haven't touched any of them since reading Order of the Phoenix for the first time in the summer, and figured I'd go through it again now that I've had more than enough time for my initial thoughts to settle on it. And when I finished it, I realised that I hadn't read the other four in ages, so started on them again. Oddly enough, just as I started reading Prisoner of Azkaban the trailer for the movie came out. I mentioned it and the new director last time out, but reading the books has me more excited especially since the previous movies followed the books to the letter, but the trailer alone for Prisoner of Azkaban shows new scenes and heavy modifications for older scenes. There's a change to the general atmosphere too (love the way the uniforms aren't "perfect" anymore -- anyone who's gone to a British school will like the way ties and shirts are horribly untidy now) and it looks slightly more surreal and stylistic. I can't wait to see more, especially since little was shown of the new characters. Sirius Black was given a brief outing and doesn't look bad (even though I STILL think Sean Bean would make a PERFECT Sirius), and Gambon's Dumbledore has the briefest of looks, but there's nothing of Emma Thompson's Professor Trelawney (ironically the best casting job since Kenneth Branagh as Gilderoy Lockhart), Paul Whitehouse's Sir Cadogan or one of the most popular characters in the series, Professor Lupin. June 4th is a long time to wait... but then again, I've been waiting for The Incredibles' November 2004 release ever since the teaser came out in May, so it could be worse.

In DVDs, I managed to score the big bad Special Extended Edition DVD of The Two Towers, complete with an extra disc on the creation of Gollum and a neat Gollum statue. It's not as cool as the Pillars of Argonath that came with the Fellowship of the Ring, but it's still superbly crafted -- hell, the whole set is superbly crafted, right down to the little paper insert that lists the chapters. In most DVDs, it's just one side of paper that lists chapters. This one not only lists the chapters, special features AND shows them in a menu tree so you know how to access each feature without pecking through the menus... it's also printed on brown paper that has the look and texture of an ancient, faded document. It's such a small thing, but it shows the attention to detail evident in the whole series. Mind you, I'm not planning on watching the DVD any time too soon: I've resolved to save it until the day when I can watch the Fellowship of the Ring Extended DVD, then Two Towers Extended DVD, and then run to the cinema to watch Return of the King. Sad? Probably. But I'm not alone. My friends and I pretty much agree that Return of the King will probably be the best movie we've ever seen. It's unfair to heap that much expectation on a film, but really... can you blame us? Can you blame us when the first two were fantastic, and that even the mere TRAILER for the last one gives me goosebumps?

Speaking of goosebumps... I saw episode 3 of 24's third season. It's finally ramping up. The first two episodes introduced a lot of new characters and a lot of interesting plot threads, but were effectively treading water in 24 terms. There was little urgency or tension. Not anymore. It's all kicked off now, the twists are coming thick and fast, and the general tension level has gone way up. Episode 4 comes out on Tuesday...

Aside from working on a super-secret special project (totally unrelated to work!), I've also been playing a lot of Mario Kart: Double Dash!! on GameCube. And I reviewed it for 1UP on Friday. You can find the review here. I'm a bit miffed about that Second Opinion (which I was totally unaware of until it went up), not because it differs from my own -- that's what a second opinion is for, after all -- but because it's nonsensical flamebait. "Recycled crap" with no depth, fixed gameplay and primitive graphics... that's straight 5.0-7.5 (ie, "average" to "above average") material? That doesn't make any sense, and is indicative if anything of someone unloading on a game to spark heated debate. In any case, my review didn't quite spark off the same firestorm as the Kirby Air Ride review, which in some ways is a bit of a pity because I rather enjoyed that! Incidentally, something else to enjoy on 1UP are these classic reviews from EGM of Super Mario Kart in 1992, Mario Kart 64 in 1997, and Mario Kart: Super Circuit in 2001. I love that Super Mario Kart review... it tells you virtually nothing. How times have changed, eh?

Posted at 11:22 PM

Thursday, November 13, 2003
OK, I haven't posted in AGES, but I have an alibi. I think.

Part of the reason is that nothing much has really been happening... nothing interesting, anyway. So I waited until I had enough material. And then when I did, I was struck with a case of too-depressed-to-blog.

Alright, firstly Mario Kart. It still rules. I wrote a set of impressions up for 1UP here, and over the weekend I bought a second copy of the game, two GameCube Broadband Adapters and about 20 metres of Ethernet wire. The plan? To link the GameCube (with Mario Kart) in my room to the GameCube (with Mario Kart) in the living room. Why? For eight player Mario Kart, that's why! And it works a treat... well, only in the sense that you can play eight player Mario Kart. There are some limitations though, like not being able to choose your character. It's frustrating, but I suppose just being able to play eight player Mario Kart is good enough...

What else... I've been filling my new hard drive with some cool programs. The Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoon shorts are awesome. Basically, Lucas called on Cartoon Network to produce a set of four-minute cartoon shorts telling the story of the actual Clone Wars (which we saw kick off in Episode 2). They're really well done... short, sweet, to the point, and full of Star Wars goodness. There's also the trailer for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban out, and that looks great. The new director (Alfonso Cuáron) has made some changes to the formula, and it looks great... different, but great. I absolutely cannot wait for that.

So, the depression. On Saturday, Liverpool lost to Man United in absolutely AGONISING circumstances. It's just ridiculous. People say we need to attack more. So we do! We play well! We attack! And Man U score twice! And win 2-1! WHY GOD WHY?

Humour does help you get over bad things like that, so all bloggers and blog readers alike MUST READ this hilarious entry from the always-hilarious Onion. That's just insanely wonderful right there.

Posted at 11:58 PM

Friday, November 07, 2003
I finally managed to catch a Laker game... and it was a close one, but LA beat San Antonio 120-117 in double overtime. I'm a little worried that the Spurs managed to push LA that hard without Tim Duncan or Tony Parker, but then again sometimes it seems the Lakers slow down with "easy" games (let's face it, this is as easy as San Antonio will get) and steamroll through the hard ones. And I guess that Kobe's still fresh, Payton is still getting into his role of running the offence, and Karl Malone needs to work on getting in the triangle.

And there were some positives from the game. Malone and Payton are REALLY making a difference, and with LA's role players absolutely collapsing (Derek Fisher was the ONLY player to score for LA from the bench) it's vital for someone to step up, and those two guys are great at that. The fact that Manu Ginobli lit the Lakers up with good outside shooting in a high-profile game will finally get the message through that LA needs to brush up on perimeter defence (hopefully, anyway). And Shaq had a monster game. He took advantage of the lack of Tim Duncan doubling up and absolutely beat up on Rasho Nesterovic, pouring in 35 points and grabbing 20 boards. The remarkable thing there isn't so much that he managed to annihilate a second-string Spurs team inside, but that he had to do it while battling his own teammate, Karl Malone, who also managed to snag 19 rebounds. The two of them alone damn near outrebounded the Spurs.

What really bugs me though is... Kobe. Same old Kobe. Last year, Kobe took a lot of the last-second "clutch" desperation shots -- you know, the final shot to win the game, etc. And even though I still say Shaq is the Lakers' main man, Kobe is built perfectly for that situation. Shaq is usually double or triple-teamed at this point, and you need an athletic player with a good shot who can take on and go past opponents or even just squeeze that little bit of space to get a look at the basket. And you need an iron will to win. Kobe has all of that. The problem isn't so much that he knows it, it's that everyone in the league knows it by now, too. It's not "special" anymore that they're shunning Shaq in these situations and going with Kobe, so he too is attracting double coverage. Unlike Shaq and his unique ability (for a centre) to get a good pass out of a double-team -- Kobe sees it as a challenge. The more defenders, the better. He tries to take them all on, and when he fails, tries to force an impossible shot down an impossible alleyway nonetheless, searching for that game-winning glory. It was tiresome last year, but this year it's downright insane. Last year, you could understand Kobe's intentions. Who was he going to give it to? Shaq's in a double-team. Horry shot bricks all season (and, remarkably, in the post-season too). Fisher was hobbled by injury and inconsistent. Fox is not a reliable scorer. And Devean George... well. That was last season, though. And this is a new Laker team. But it's still the same old Kobe.

At the end of regulation, Kobe got the ball and decided to drive inside along the baseline past TWO Spurs and flip the ball in from virtually behind and under the basket rather than pass to a WIDE OPEN Gary Payton (Kobe missed, to no great surprise). Seriously, isn't that basic basketball skills? If you're doubled, find the open man? It's not like Payton can't shoot. He's a freaking All-Star, future Hall of Famer and damned fine shooter... and he was wide open. Unbelievable. As it is, the Lakers got away with it because the Spurs couldn't do anything with the 0.7 seconds Kobe gave them (though they came really close) and LA closed it out in double overtime, but the game could have been won right there.

I don't have qualms about Kobe deciding that he's the best option and gunning for the basket late on in games -- it shows admirable confidence and belief -- but I DO have a problem when someone else has a clear shot. It makes you wonder really just how Kobe can call Shaq selfish when he pulls stunts like that.

Posted at 11:42 PM

Saturday, November 01, 2003
After a couple of weeks of managing not to spend money, I think I blew my November budget within 24 hours. On Friday night, I saw Finding Nemo on DVD for sale at Blockbuster a good four days before the official release and bought it (this is a no-brainer if you know me: I love Pixar films, loved Finding Nemo, and it didn't help that the 2-disc set was only around US$15). On Saturday, after picking up a printer for my sister's new iMac (NOT with my own cash, thankfully!) I figured I'd go buy that new hard drive I've been itching to pick up. While in Sham Shui Po, I saw a bunch of new (fake) games I rather wanted, and picked up a stack of them. I tend to make a weekly trek out there, but there hasn't been much new lately so I've been holding off on buying anything. There didn't seem to be much new now either. I figured I'd browse casually anyway when I saw it in a random shop window: Mario Kart Double Dash!! It's not actually due until NEXT Friday, but for some reason these guys had it early. And so I bought it, and am utterly delighted for it. Mario Kart games are always good, and this one is no exception. The only problem is that when you add that unexpected purchase to the hard drive, the stack of games, Finding Nemo and the fact that I was out on Friday night... well, it's not looking good for the month already.

I saw the second episode of 24 last night. It didn't seem to be a finished copy, because there were some placeholder graphics and odd dubs here and there, but 95% of it was perfect so I'm assuming that once it's been cleaned up it'll air just as I saw it. It's building slowly but there are a lot of interesting threads developing and an absolutely killer twist at the end. The only problem with watching this episode early is that now I have an extra-long wait for the next one!

One last thing I've really neglected to mention was that the Lakers won in superb fashion on Tuesday. Gary Payton was awesome and I admit -- sorry Pat! -- that I never really gave him his dues. He's being tipped by a lot of people to be LA's key player this year, which is really saying something given the stars out there. It's not just the names though, but the way they were playing was fantastic... and this without Kobe. Incidentally, my take on the Kobe versus Shaq feud: I'd prefer for them to both sit tight and play together, but Kobe needs to wake up. It's Shaq's team. Kobe is easily one of the best players in the league, but Shaq dominates games like nobody else. Even when he's quiet, he's still drawing double and triple teams, freeing Kobe (and now Malone and Payton) for open looks. Shaq simply cannot be replaced, while you could sub T-Mac in for Kobe without much fuss. I'd much rather it not go to that at all -- I generally like Kobe, his ball-hogging tendencies and big mouth aside -- but when he leaves (it's not an "if" anymore, but a "when"), he can be replaced. Bottom line is that Shaq shouldn't be shooting his mouth off about Kobe, even if some comments are ringing true (as some of Kobe's comments are), but Kobe is in the wrong here. Shaq is the man. Deal with it and get in line.

Posted at 11:05 PM