I got my new ATI card in the mail last week.  Pure awesomeness.  However, the technology in my old PC's old enough that I just had to do some major upgrading. (or, at least this was as good an excuse as any) 

Since this was technically my fifth machine, and I was disassembling an old one, I felt it best to christen this one, the Johnny 5.  Because I'm just that geeky.  80's references aside, I should point out that this is a milestone for me in many ways.  This is my first system with a video card fully certified to handle 3dsmax, Maya, and pretty much all the other 3D packages.  This is also my very first dual-boot machine.  That's right.  I'm no longer a Windows purest.  I now own a very intimidating Vista/Linux dual boot system.  Or...it will be when it's done.  I've still got to install Ubuntu, but once it's complete, I'll have my production station up and ready to go.  w00t!!!

Well, we finally got our little blurb on CGW.  You can view it here.  Pretty sweet!  More exposure!

Besides that, not a whole lot has been happening lately.  Jeremy Birn released a new lighting challenge today, so I'll be working hard on that and his previous ones until classes start on the 15th.  More outdoor lighting, which means more practice before I dive into my outdoor environment, professor willing.  It's funny.  I've been anticipating and preparing to start this project for weeks, but I still don't know if the professor will approve it.  Eh, I might come up with a backup plan just in case.  Might.

I'm also working on effects these next two weeks.  Unreal 3's Cascade editor is pretty cool.  Steam, small explosions, and rain are all within my grasp.  Bwahahaha!  But enough evil genious talk.

I played Metal Gear Solid 3 for hours on end last night.  PS3 backwards-compatibility is nice, but without a special adapter, you can't hook up your memory cards.  Starting over from the beginning was a pain, but it did give me a chance to re-live some classic MGS3 moments.  Ocelot's pansey call for help:  "Mrwawr!", Snake's constant staring and taste for every animal in the entire jungle: "Yea, yea, but how's it taste?", and who can forget the cheezy 007-esque "Snake Eater" opening sequence...45 minutes (if you're slow, like me) into the game?

Well, done, Kojima.  Classic.

Well, I beat the Campaign Mode of Resistance: Fall of Man Monday night.  Wow.  Three days.  Haven't done that one in a while.  Overall, great game.  I'm still playing multiplayer online.  Won't be getting away from that for a while.  In the mean time, I've started going for all the skill points.  It really is addicting.  Not many people outside of Insomniac fans know that Skill Points were around long before the Microsoft in their infinate wisdom deemed it necessary to bring in Achievements for the 360.  I loved it in the R&C PS2 games, and I still love 'em.  More importantly, I love the little quip titles that allude to their use.  "Chicks dig eyestrain" << Find 10 Intelligence folders.

Some of you may remember me raving about my new Wii in my first few posts. (Does anyone even read this blog!?)  I covered the fact that my parents essentially started gaming because of the Wii's intuitive controls and simple games.  Well, now that I have a PS3, I'm beginning to notice that I haven't played the Wii in over three months.  In fact, I have very little interest in purchasing any new games for it.  When my parents heard this little bit of information, my mom surprised me by saying, "How much do you want for it?"  I was dumbfounded.  Not only were my parents never gamers until this past year, I never thought in a million years that they'd try to purchase a console, least of all one I already had.  But it's true.  My parents want to buy my Wii and all my games. ('cept Trauma Center, which I don't blame them for)  I at first was going to sell them the console alone and take the games to EBGame/Stop, but my mom stopped me.  Even though they really would only play it for WiiSports, they said that they can keep the games for my niece to play when she comes over.  My mom then turned to my dad and said, "See, dear?  Now we can get Wii Fit!"

I never knew hell could get this cold in August. 

Sony announced a few new things this week at Leipzig 2008.  First of all, the PSP 3.0 is being released this fall, complete with a Playstation button.  No word yet on whether or not the new R&C:Size Matters bundle will be 3.0, though.  Also, the next PS3 is going to be a 160Gb system.  Normally, I'd be totally excited, were it not for the fact that it only has 2 USB ports and no backwards compatibility.  On top of all this, various rumors have finally been confirmed.  The Metal Gear Solid 4 80 Gb bundle packs are being discontinued.  The sad part about it is, they appear to be the last backwards-compatible PS3s for the forseeable future, and they're going away!

Now I see Sony's strategy in this, because I finally know what will make me break down and buy a PS3: the fear of no backwards-compatibility.  It was majorly effective, because I immediately went to the local stores after work to see if I could find one.  I went to three places before I finally found any.  When I got to Best Buy, I was shocked to see not one or two, but FIVE MGS4 bundles on the shelf.  Seeing this as a sign, I casually picked up the closest one, inspected it, and grabbed a Greatest Hits copy of Resistance: Fall of Man for $29.99.  It felt so rewarding to finally step out of that store with my recently-purchased PS3 in tow.

It's so shiney, too!

I've spent the past few days playing Resistance to try out the system.  It's far better than I imagened.  The story is really well written (not surprises, here) and it plays naturally.  After going through the first few chapters or so, I decided to try multiplayer, not expecting anything new or exciting.  Man, was I wrong.  Honestly, not a whole lot is different in Multiplayer mode than it is in the Campaign.  But I have to say, this is where the gameplay shines.  I never was that big of a FPS multiplayer fan.  I played Goldneye and Halo back in the day and had fun in competition matches, but it never really stuck with me.  I'd always get beaten badly and eventually not want to even touch the game.  This is totally not the case for R:FOM.  I still get my butt whupped by a bunch of people, but I just can't get enough of it!  It's so fun and just the right pace for me.

And MGS4?  I still haven't played it, yet.  Actually, I still haven't finished Snake Eater, yet.  I suppose I should finish it before I play 4, but it looks like Resistance might be a huge distraction from that.  Decisions, decisions, right? 

Well, I got back from SIGGRAPH on Sunday.  I could spend a lot of time re-iterating what I've said elsewhere about the conference, but I won't!  I was one of four people who were selected to report on new technologies, innovations, and other exciting news from a SIGGRAPH Student Volunteer's perspective for FireUser.com.  I posted daily blogs of the events as I saw them.  These posts are being featured on FireUser.com, OpenGL.org, and are supposed to go up on CGW.com soon.  I'm very excited to get this opportunity.  Here's a direct link to all of the SIGGRAPH blogs.

In sad news, I think my Call of Duty 4 disk is dead.

I bought my 360 off of a friend, but didn't see this problem until after he had already left for the summer.  The multiplayer runs with no problem, but the single player campaign only gets to the loading screen for Part 2 of the Prologue, and then displays the infamous "Unreadable Disk" error.  I'm going to make sure it isn't the memory or hard drive before I give up on it, but it's upsetting because I really want to continue the game.  Guess I'll either play multiplayer or Halo 3 if that doesn't work.