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jimmyb
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Homepage: http://wwww.jimmyhasablog.com
Posts by jimmyb
Portal: I Like Cake!
Aug 15th
I guess I came pretty late to the Portal fanclub. The first time I tried Portal I gave up within 10 minutes. I believe the game required me to think a bit too much at the time. However, last night I finally got it re-installed on my Mac (yay Steam now works on OS X), and tried it out again. This time around I think I paid more attention to the instructions and really had a lot of fun. My whole dislike for Portal because it’s far to complicated has completely 180′d and now I really enjoy this game. It’s extremely unique and original. Once you get your head around how the Portal and Portal-gun work you’ll really get hooked.
Basically, you’re a test subject of Aperture Science and you need to make your way from test room to test room using these portals. Some of the maps provide obvious solutions while others really require you to think and devise a plan of escape. Throughout the levels you’ll use your portal gun to not only help you get from room to room, but also to active lifts, move weighted companion cubes onto switches and more. The main goal is to complete the testing courses and get the cake. Yummy!
I actually felt like a smarter person when I finally completed the 19 maps. You actually have to think about how to get to the end of the level rather then just blast your way through it. The humorous dialog in the game made me not walk away as well. Instead of getting frustrated I found myself just laughing at some of the commentary and continuing to work my way out. The game actually had a completely different ending then I thought it would, which made it all the more fun. I am definitely looking forward to a Portal 2! One thing I didn’t understand though is why it takes up 5GBs of disk space for 19 maps. While extremely detailed that’s quite a lot of space. Either way, I really enjoyed the game, and I even picked up my own Companion Cube from the Valve Store as well!
Jolicloud 1.0
Aug 7th
The other day I got an email from the Jolicloud team stating that my account was ready to be upgraded to version 1.0 of their software. Relatively excited I hopped on my HP netbook and upgraded. It was a quick and easy process however what I was left with was certainly not something I’d have upgraded to if I had known what it was. Upon initial login you’re presented with a nice looking HTML5 driven menu or rather dashboard. Your applications are listed here. At the moment it only seems that “Jolicloud-apps” are listed here and getting to any native system applications requires a bit of extra work. I have yet to actually figure out how to do this without launching them from command line.
While I actually don’t really use many native applications, there is one that is very important to me so not being able to easily access it is definitely an issue. That application is Terminal. Fortunately you can access Nautilus and I ended up searching for the application. There is however a bit easier method to accessing it which is to simply hit Alt+F1. I did do a bit of searching and it looks like native applications aren’t quite integrated into their Dashboard yet, but they’re working on it. However I did notice Google Chrome made it onto my Dashboard somehow, but I couldn’t figure out how to add my own.
To be fair, Jolicloud is certainly a one of the best netbook operating systems. It installs very easily and it’s very simple to use. Heck, I’d even toss this on my parents netbook or laptop (if they didn’t already have a new MacBook). It allows easy access to popular websites and applications. You can easily install applications from Jolicloud’s large list. The social aspect is still there (how I have zero friends so it’s pretty useless to me). Jolicloud 1.0 now supports synching of applications across the computers you’ve attached to your profile, so I thought that was pretty cool.
Overall, the update is not for me. They seem to have simplified things a bit too much and took away some of the Linux. I do however think once they allow native Linux applications to be added into the Dashboard that bit of annoyance will disappear. I really like Jolicloud, but they could have made sure native applications work previous to releasing this update.
Removing WordPress’ Automatic Character Formatting
Aug 4th
While this doesn’t pertain to this WordPress blog, it does apply to another one I use to store notes for my job. As a Linux Server Administrator I store tons of commands and snippets I use often in a WordPress blog. However when pasting from the blog into my PuTTY command window I notice the characters don’t come across correctly. This is because WordPress is formatting them on the fly a bit differently then I’d like it too. Fortunately there’s a quick fix for this. Basically you just disable the function that does it in your theme. What you need to do is open your themes functions.php file and place in the following two lines:
remove_filter('the_content', 'wptexturize');
remove_filter('comment_text', 'wptexturize');
The first line kills the function from running on the content of your blog posts and the second one on the comments for the blog post.
Red Dead Redemption
Aug 2nd
When I first head about Red Dead Redemption a month or two ago, I just shrugged it off and put it towards the bottom of my games list. However about two weeks ago or so, I popped it into my Xbox just to try it out. Almost instantly I became hooked. Previous to playing it, people would explain and describe to me the game and said it was like Grand Theft Auto but in the Wild West. I would certainly agree to this, but I think Red Dead Redemption has something more then what Grand Theft Auto has to offer. To me there seems to be more meaning and depth and emotion in Red Dead Dead Redemption.
The game itself plays very similarly to Grand Theft Auto. As John Marston you’ll meet new people and run through various missions. Even the controls in the game are just about the same as those found in the GTA series. One big difference in the controls is how you access your weapons. In RDR you hit the Left Button and you can see an overview of the weapons you have as well as you’re able to select which one to you. I find the fact that Rockstar kept the control scheme the same really nice as it’s just one less thing which I need to learn and remember (and to likely confuse with another game I’m playing at the moment).
Red Dead Redemption doesn’t have an exceptionally amazing, super outstanding story-line, but I really enjoyed it. Even though it followed the same outline that most GTA games use, the fact that it was in a completely different setting then most any games I’ve played made it really fun and enjoyable to play through. The last western game I remember playing was GUN which I too really enjoyed. The biggest thing about Red Dead Redemption that I liked was the fact that I could just hop on my horse and just ride out into the middle of nowhere; a personal real life dream that I hold and hope I can do one day. Riding out under the stars in the middle of the desert was absolutely amazing and looked beautiful on my 1080p projector. The sound and graphics in this game are top-notch and really sucked me in and make me feel like I was really there riding alongside John.

The game itself focuses on getting your family back from the grip of the US government. They’ve basically taken them hostage (John’s wife, Abigail and son, Jack). They ask that you take out your former gang-mates to clear your name. 95% of the game you spend tracking them down and killing them (there’s only 3 of them) and for the last bit you get to spend with your family working on a couple fun missions with them. I think the fact that they included these end missions instead of ending it when you finish off the last of John’s gang is great. You feel even closer to John and it solidifies the bond you have with him as a person. To be honest, this actually feels like it could be a true story. I really felt like I spent time with John out in the wild west, fighting off badies, breaking horses, hunting animals, helping people in need.
The game did have a few frustrating moments. My horses tended to jump over fences or low walls when I really didn’t want them too. The crouching position and hiding behind a crate or wall had some weird effects and got me killed a few times. John also seemed to have delayed actions when I wanted him to popup from hiding to shoot at an enemy resulting in almost death multiple times. I also had some issues with hogtying enemies. He would rope them but they would just stand up and proceed to shoot at me quicker then I could rope them again or switch weapons resulting in death a few times. I also found a few of the missions to be a bit tedious and some of them really left me quite a long way off from the next mission. I definitely found myself wondering why John continued help people in the game when they would be obviously no help to him. I wish it would have been possible to tell them to piss off while still being able to proceed further in the game.
The range and variety of places you can go in this game astound me. Everything from the hot deserts of Mexico up into what seem to be the cold snowy Rockie mountains. The way they ease you into each temperate zone is really well done too. It’s smooth and realistic even though it’s rather quick when you think about it. I am very impressed with the graphics in the game. The textures are really well done. I should mention I did run into a couple instances where some textures were not rendered leaving a pretty bland looking building or landscape.
I think one of my most favorite things besides just riding out under the night skies was to break horses. I really felt a sense of accomplishment after breaking a wild horse and taking it as my own. Overall Red Dead Redemption is an outstanding game. This is one game you definitely want to try at least once. I’m actually looking forward to playing some of the free roam mode as well as the new downloadable missions. While I won’t go into details to how the game ended, I must say, I think I would like to see a sequel. Rockstar really did a fantastic job with this game.
Crackdown 2: Yup It’s Badass
Jul 19th
I managed to get my hands on Crackdown 2 a couple weeks ago, but I’ve just now found some time to write about it. The first Crackdown was really fun. It combined a lot of the Grand Theft Auto styles and included some of it’s own. In fact I am pretty sure that this game includes some of the developers and team members from Grand Theft Auto, however I could be wrong.
That said, Crackdown 2 takes a bit of a turn and introduces a bit of a different gameplay then the first game. An organization, The Cell has taken over most of Pacific City and has shutdown all the reactors which you need to reclaim. When you reclaim a section a beacon is then deployed which you need to activate. The game also introduces a new breed of hell dubbed “the freaks”. These mutants are a product of the organization you work for. With each beacon activation you clear out the freaks from that section of the city.
Basically your objectives in the game are to reclaim the reactors, activate the beacons and get rid of the freaks. There are also points in the city controlled by The Cell which you can reclaim as well. The game keeps true to it’s original version by including agility races and car races each which when won boost your driving and agility abilities. The abilities ‘leveling’ is something that I really like and could even be considered a reason as to why I like the Crackdown series over Grand Theft Auto. It adds another element to the game, and makes it a bit more fun and rewarding.
There were a couple difficult and frustrating parts within the game. I found myself having to play a few areas multiple times because of poor camera angles or odd controls or unusually difficult enemies. The most frustrating parts I think were a few of the beacon activations as well as some of the end level areas. I would get a bunch of enemies that surrounded me and each of them would have
a rocket or grenade launcher and would be continuously firing on me so I could never stand up to move or run away. I also found the last mission to be a bit of a pain. I think I must have played through that one 10+ times before I finally got it right.
Overall I am very impressed with the game. It was a lot of fun to play. The world of Crackdown 2 is huge and a real pleasure to play in. The game includes a bunch of new weapons and cars. The story line was a nice change from the usual ‘track down bosses and beat them to win’. I for one am definitely looking forward to a Crackdown 3!
My New iPad
Jul 8th
Today I finally got my hands on my very own iPad. I ended up trading my MacBook for a 32GB WiFi iPad. It was actually from a person on Craigslist and I was happy with the transaction (even though I did get a bit lost meeting up with him). While I did have a bit of trouble getting the iPad to work out of the box it wasn’t something I couldn’t resolve. I guess working for Apple (er a reseller) and being a huge fan of Apple and a complete geek helped. The iPad at first just wouldn’t boot into the system. It was stuck at the Apple logo and refused to move anywhere. I placed the device into recovery mode and just restored the system. This resolved the issue and I then proceeded to install some of my favorite applications. More >
Zombie Wonderland for iPhone
Jun 30th
I found this game while perusing the App Store for iPhone. It actually didn’t have very many ratings so it seems not many people have found it yet. Even now it seems to be pretty low-key. However, I can see it getting bigger shortly. The game itself is pretty fun. Basically you’re to protect the homes of a few residents in your town from the zombie outbreak. There’s a few different types of zombies as well as various methods you can use to protect your home. Zombies range from normal ones to giant zombies and even screaming old granny zombies. You’re provided with wooden boards and even a machine which can help fend off the attacks. Another neat twist in the game is that if a zombie does make it inside the house, you’re still able to kill them, but the zombie will leave a trail of guts which needs to be cleaned up in order to successfully complete the level.
The game includes some achievements as well. It probably only took me an hour or so to complete the whole game, which is a bit saddening. It would have been nice to see more levels, I believe there’s really only 4 (with 4-5 parts to each level). It would have also been nice to see a wider variety of weapons and ways to protect your house. The variety of zombies could have been a bit more as well. For only 0.99 cents you can’t go wrong through.
Google Chrome for OS X (in Blue)!
Jun 18th
I’ve really been enjoying Google Chrome on my Windows workstation, so I figured I would give it a shot for OS X. I should also mention it’s my web browser of choice when using Linux as well. I really dig it! Now it’s really simple to install for both OS X and Linux. Google offers up installers for both. You can snag your own copy from the Chrome site.
The one thing I didn’t like about the OS X version is that the default theme is not that blue one you see with the Windows and Linux versions. I guess this is nice, since the default blends in with the OS X UI a bit better, but I much prefer the blue theme. Fortunately you can install this by downloading and opening the downloaded file from this guys website! The result is as below and I love it!








