I’ve spent most of the day dealing with out-and-out frustration. I’m experimenting with some website code for a project I have in mind, and while the bulk of the work turned out not to be too difficult (with some very good help), there’s one part of it that’s driving me bonkers.

I’m trying to get a few hundred small text files turned into entries in an existing database. Nevermind why, just understand that this has turned out to be non-trivial for a non-programmer type such as myself.

Ah well. You can’t win ‘em all, can you?

Dear Spike TV:

When, in the future, you want to air a two-hour video game awards show, please feel free not to include musical numbers by artists who bear no relevance whatsoever to any video game ever made. I understood your including of Four Bits, or Two Quarters, or whatever that rapper’s name is who has a game out with his name on it. I don’t like rap, but at least that made sense.

Def Leppard, however, looked truly pathetic and had absolutely no business being there. Wow. Their performance served only as a bitter reminder that those of us who grew up with rock bands of that vintage are getting along in years.

The less said about Missy Elliot and her dancers, the better. Trust me.

So please, in the future, consider the tortured psyches of the audience you’re trying to reach with a shindig like the one you put on a while ago (and later televised). Your parade of (generally) relevant presenters was about as good as one would expect. The overall quality of the show was good, albeit appropriately cheesy given that it was an awards show, let alone one about video games. The music sucked, though. There’s no two ways about it.

Won’t someone please think of the gamers? Thank you.

One of the gaming activites available to our usual Sunday evening group is that of “create very large battlemechs and blow things up with them.” We do this virtually, of course (darn it all). Our “MechWarrior” of choice is MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries with the MekTek Pack installed for added blowing-things-up goodness.

MekPak version 3 came out recently, so this weekend we gave it a whirl. Among the usual improvements (more mechs, for instance) we got a really big new toy to play with: The railgun. Only two mechs can even mount it, it’s so big. So of course we all had to try it out. (“Seven slots? Good grief! 56 points of damage? I want one!”)

After a few normal rounds of play, we noticed that one of the maps is a target range. Ooooh, nothing but flatness! It’s perfect for those of us (like myself) who like the long-range game. We did moderately terrible things to the AI mechs and generally had a… dare I say, blast? Of course I dare.

Why yes, my stress has been relieved. Thanks for asking!

The kids and I, along with the kids’ Uncle Evan, poked around in Soul Caliber III this afternoon. We discovered that the character generation system is decent but not fantastic (we’re possibly spoiled by such fare as City of Heroes in that respect), and the RTS game mode is far better than I originally feared. Evan was given cause to consider that maybe leaving his Gamecube at the kids’ place for months on end, thus giving Alex ample opportunity for practice at Soul Caliber II, may not have been the best idea he’s ever had. (Let’s not even get into how badly I got thrashed by the boy. Le sigh.)

I’ll be leaving the game system over there for a couple of weeks so they can play around with that game. This also gives my daughter a chance to finish up the first Fullmetal Alchemist game. What a good dad I am, eh?

Ever since Entercom Portland moved into its current facility, lo the many moons ago, I’ve tried to run a sort of “news blog” webpage to help catch people up on what’s happening, geek-wise. It lived on the server named “Mihoshi” for a few years, and then transitioned to “Washuu” a few years back, which is when the site took on the name, “The Lab.” No matter where it lived or what software I used, however, it never really took off. Forget about issues of demand, the supply just wasn’t there. What can I find to write about in a news-snippet format that would be useful, let alone interesting, on a regular basis?

A few months ago I started a little side project. I built a wiki, and experimented with migrating things like the FAQ data from another subsite, soliciting content from one of the building’s department heads, and so on. Instead of trying to be flashy and new all of the time, the focus was on providing mostly-static, useful information in an easily-updated format.

This afternoon I flipped the switch and turned the “Lab Wiki” into “The Lab” proper. I’ve work yet to do, tidying up and rewording some things and so forth, but so far… I’m quite happy with it.

Give it a look-see, won’t you?

The Lab (Wiki)