dsm

Current status: Fate has given me the my second niece, this time the most likely proud sibling that brought me this little miracle is my sister.

I'm going to visit them at the hospitable tomorrow - I haven't spoken to either parent yet, so I don't know anything else than what my brother (himself a father) has told me so far, which is that the new 'recruit' is a girl and that the birth supposedly went well.

I'll get back to this tomorrow.

Ok, this is just plain strange.

Background info: My nose sucks. It has a really nasty habit of starting bleeding at the slightest provocation during some "seasons". I will go through months where nothing's wrong and suddenly, my nose will start bleeding if I as much as touch it or even if I just drink from a fucking bottle. It's really insane.
Today..or should I say, yesterday (friday 13th) I had three fucking nose bleeds at work.

But on the bright side, I got Doom 3 today and WHAT A GAME!

Anyways, what this blog is really about:

A little while ago, I was playing through the Alpha labs of Doom 3 for the first time - got the chaingun and apparently it and a few other awesome moments got me so geared up on adrenaline and tensed up that my freaking nose started to bleed. It started bleeding so aggresively (out of both nostrils) that I had to stop playing (stuffing my nose withcotton wool couldn't keep it in as it bled right through).

Goes to show how tensed up you get from playing Doom 3.

I just want to add in closing that Doom 3's blood looks fucking real.

I have to admit I've had a few wacked out dreams from time to time, but I haven't before felt the urge to share 'em. Usually, I don't recall enough details anyway.
But this here dream...it's just funny somehow. I'll tell what I can remember:

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I don't remember the details of the first part, but I think it was one of those "I'm inside DOOM" dreams. I'm playing DOOM, only I'm actually moving inside the game world. I'm dodging monsters (don't recall if I shoot any) and basically my objective is to get to some sort of tower building.
Basically, the "level" seems like a heavily souped up map30'ish (Doom 2) place, except much, much larger with "tiers" with lava/blood pools to traverse and narrow walkways and shit.

I somehow get there and this marks the first change of the dream:

I find myself in a barricaded room inside the tower, together with the pathetic remnants of huddling human survivors (families and assorted people). It's interesting to note that the environment is like taken straight out of the game (textures, glass-less windows etc.), yet I feel like it's a real environment because I can smell the air, feel gusts of wind and the humans seem like real humans.

The other people are not people I know in real life, but in the dream I know them personally - I care for them. They're virtually defenseless as they huddle with their kids, cry and whimper and basically appear really pathetic and weak. And through the glass-less windows, we can see the demons gather for an attack on this tower (the demons are classic DOOM demons - they look like in the game).

I realize, I'm the only one in this group who can at least stall the demons when they attempt to overrun us, so I prepare my weapons: I sling a machinegun and a shotgun over my shoulders so I carry them on my back (both weapons are - get this - the DOOM 3 versions!) - then I lift a beefy chaingun (also the DOOM 3 version) off of the floor. The chaingun feels like a big, badass gun (and it feels like an actual weapon), yet it's light. It feels like it's made out of lightweight plastic.
At first I have a bit of difficulty getting the right grip on the huge gun, but I soon learn and it rests well in my hands. I remember that I need to have a lot of ammo readily available because I figure that once the demon rush sets in, I won't have time to reload, so I attach the cartridge belt dangling from the chaingun to a succession of ammo boxes with chaingun cartridge belts (linking the belts together) so that when I'm done, I basically have enough ammo to mow down the entire invading Allied forces of the Normady beach landing during WW2.

I can hear the demons gather - I know they're coming very soon. I feel tense, nervous, but I'm not sure if I'm really afraid. I'm worried about the demons overpowering me and then slowly gutting me or otherwise torturing me, but I feel confident that I can end my own life in a painless way should I run out of ammo (I feel confident that I can keep them out as long as I have ammo - I mean, I have a fucking minigun dammit!). Aside from the nagging worries, I am kinda excited about the prospect of mowing down scores of monsters. In my mind, I see waves of possessed soldiers, imps and pinkies collapsing in their own insides and blood before me).

Then the attack sets in. The barricades are being hammered on and they slowly budge. As the barricade falls, I grit my teeth, all ready to unleash the wrath of the chaingun, I can feel my heart pounding and the adrenaline rush.

Nothing happens.

Then a few measly bugs, yes fucking BUGS, crawl in. They're oversized and colourful (like e.g. a blood red ant at least ten times the size of a regular ant, but still small and somehow non-threatening). I fire at them, because I suspect foul play (I don't remember exactly, I just opened up), and surprisingly enough, I can actually HIT the damn bugs. The chaingun flattens them - a single ant survives the hail of bullets, but is left wounded and immobile, so I squash it with my boot.

Then "the assault" ceases and we somehow know that there are no demons anywhere. The other survivors cheer, but I am left feeling both relieved and dissapointed as I had looked forward to at least getting some satisfying zombie kills.
The demons were apparently dispatched back to Hell because the Doomguy killed the Icon of Sin or something (I assume, 'cause the dream never explained where all the demons went - applying any logic to a dream is usually challenging if not impossible)

And this is where things change entirely...

I'm no longer actively in the dream, just passively watching as I see a bunch of wayward terrorists showing up and doing some killing (my memory here is rather hazy). I somehow know that the terrorists have risen in the wake of the events described above and I somehow just think: "Sick bastards - how can they do that!? Humanity is almost totally extinct and yet these fucks KILL people!?". I see that some sort of faggot elite force tries to intercept the terrorists (they're dressed like male strippers in sailor's clothing - somehow this seems faggot-like to me), but the terrorists are way too smart and ambush the poor special forces dudes and brutally kill them off.

I realize that I'm looking at a trailer of sorts - a trailer of a game taking place after Half Life 2 which sorta combines Half Life with Counter Strike. There's a narrator talking about those damn terrorists (don't recall what he says, but it's probably something about the terrorists being unstoppable) and I see a bunch of armoured vehicles with terrorists on them. Then suddenly two armoured vehicles explode - it looks like a wind swipe just made them explode but it turns out that it was Gordon Freeman with a rocket launcher blowing them away. Gordon blasts yet another two APCs (I like how his rockets can kill TWO vehicles with one blast), before the other vehicles hightail it.
Then I hear animal-like snarling and a beefy, blond guy with a crewcut and a rocket launcher rushes out from behind a fence nearby and rushes at Gordon who blasts him twice with his rocket launcher (I swear, this sequence looks like something that could've been made from Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project), but blondie is sort of like a boss, because he just shrugs off the explosions (no doubt he took damage, because he flinched briefly and lots of blood came off him).
Anyways, Gordon has used his last rockets up, so he engages in cheesy martial arts combat with Blondie, kicking him in a swimming pool (don't ask!), but Blondie climbs up and they fight some more. Gordon gets beat up quite a bit, but is smarter and lures his enemy into a number or traps and dishes out a few kicks and punches from time to time.

The dream ended before the fight reached a conclusion, but I think Gordon would've won since he got a head start with two rockets to Blondie's face :-]

I dunno what exactly this dream means, but perhaps I should get my head examined :-P

I'm bored, so I guess I'd just kick around a few of my ideas on what a new Wolfenstein game should be like (Id stated a while ago that there would be yet a return to the Wolfenstein universe - after RtCW that is).

*Warning: this post is ridiculously long*

Interface:
Let's face it (heh), RtCW's interface is horribly bloated and complex which is completely the opposite of Wolf3d.

- You only need two movement speeds: sneaking (silent but slow) and running (fast but noisy), toggled by *one* key.
I am, however, partial to the stamina bar and I'd like to go the "Doom 3 way" of slowing the pace a little (I'll return to that later).

- Scrap the option to lean around corners. I admit that I kinda liked it, but again, it clogs up the interface and it really doesn't add to the basic fun of shooting Nazis.
I'd suggest instead that enemies won't notice you immediately when you stay partially hidden behind corners, so that you can briefly "peek" around corners that way, then duck back before the enemy realizes that you're not German. If that's possible, it'd be much simpler and seem more realistic.

- Keep the 'use' key, but change its functions. Replace most of its original functions with Doom 3's GUI system.
The GUI system is used primarily to operate switches, machines and most devices that don't get in your way while battles are raging. I'm considering whether the GUI system could be used to open doors with as in: you walk up to the door, face the door handle and your gun is lowered so you can "operate" the door handle. Clicking on the handle will make you turn the handle and the door will open a slight notch. Once the doorhandle is turned and the door opened a few inches, you raise you gun again and all you need to do is move against the door to push it open (silently of course, unless you run against it).

The 'use' key is more of an 'action' key which is context sensitive. If you face a breakable object, you can press the 'use' key to kick the object, breaking it (including enemies!). If you face an item you can use as a weapon (such as a chair), you can pick it up by pressing the 'use' key. Using certain weapons (such as a rifle), facing an enemy and pressing the 'use' key will make you wack them with the butt of the gun.

- Picking up chairs was ridiculously difficult in RtCW. This time it should just be necessary to face the chair, and press the 'use' key. When this happens, you will lower you gun (you can 'cancel' the procedure while this happens by backing away) and grab the chair. While holding the chair, you cannot select any other weapons until you drop the chair again (by pressing 'use'), but the chair can be used to smack enemies by pressing the 'fire' key.
The same applies for other possible "alternate melee weapons" such as pipes, torches and assorted objects.

Nostalgia:
RtCW had a number of "nods towards Wolf3d", but sadly, it failed to incorporate what a large number of Wolfenstein 3d fans used to think of when they thought of Wolfenstein 3d.

- We need heavy steel doors that slide open with a metallic, rumbling noise and slam shut with an ominous, clanking racket, echoing throughout the hallways. The game doesn't need to be crammed with them, but a few here and there would do. These doors are noisy and often attract attention.

- We need freaking DOGS! And I'm not talking shitty robot dogs either. The Germans used trained dogs to track and attack intruders during WW2, so it makes perfect sense to include them. Plus, we need them to make it feel Wolfenstein'ish! Dogs should be kept weak, but they should move faster than the player (hence the slower player speed).

- Castle Wolfenstein itself needs to have a lot of intermingling, confusing hallways - this is how I always imagine a Castle of Evil and this was what Wolf3d did for me.

- Maybe it's just me, but as much as the Lopers and zombies in RtCW rocked, I still missed Wolf3d's zombie mutants. I'd like a fairly faithful re-interpretation of these guys as in: thin, grey-skinned zombie-like creatures with a gun sticking out of their torso (either their stomach or their chest - I don't care which). Should move as fast as normal humans.

Weapons:
I have to admit that I love RtCW's selection of weapons. The guns are well-chosen and most of them are fun, but a few of the guns were made redundant/useless either because of the amount of ammo you got (too much ammo for e.g. the MP40 and nowhere near enough for the Thompson) or because they were ridiculously under-powered (the pistols). So I'd like a few changes here.

- The knife's "rate of stabs" should be slower. It's simply too unrealistic so fast BJ can stab repeatedly.

- The pistols' damage rating is ok, but the enemies need to FLINCH when they take hits - I'm tired of enemies that seem incapable of feeling pain, you're supposed to be shooting them with a freaking gun, not a pea-shooter! Most importantly, a successful hit should render them briefly incapable of returning fire - remember that the pistols are horribly inaccurate. For nostalgia's sake, I'd prefer the Lüger to be wielded with both hands (BJ holds onto the gun with both hands).

- The Mauser rifle should be as powerful as its "sniper mode" in RtCW at all times - not just when you get the scope; it should be able to kill most basic enemies with one shot. That gun is too underpowered otherwise. Also, it should be better animated - it should give a cruel kickback when it fires (the screen even shakes briefly) and we should be able to see BJ pull the bolt back after each shot. Hell, the Mauser rifle should be Wolfenstein's answer to Doom's shotgun.

- The Snooper rifle should work a little more like a real M1 Garand (play MoH: AA to get an idea). That is: Twice as fast as the Mauser, but only half the firepower (that's right, I want it weaker than the Mauser).
It should also be upgradable - you start out with no silencer or scope, but you gradually pick up first the scope, then the silencer or vice versa.

- Hand grenades should be better animated (both priming and throwing), you should be able to carry more pineapples.

- Pick a more interesting rocket launcher than the Panzerfaust - one that has a neat, but slow reloading animation after each shot. My money's on the Allied Bazooka. Oh and make it so that you can carry a little more than 5-6 rockets - ten would do.

- The flame thrower should work differently. I'd prefer that the game introduces "flame specific damage" which, when accumulating a certain value, puts enemies (or the player for that matter) on fire. The flame thrower should not be the only weapon which can 'torch' enemies - fiery environments should be able to do it too.

- Better distribution of ammo. Fewer enemies should carry MP40s (more should carry Mausers which yield very little ammo), you should get more ammo for Allied weaponry (like, have a mission set in a warzone with recently killed Allied soldiers that have dropped their weapons and ammo).

Sounds:
While RtCW had some nice background environment sounds, lots of other sounds sucked. I'd go as far as to say that even the screams emitted by Wolf3d's brown guards were far superior to that weak 'moan' that enemy soldiers would emit in RtCW.

- Enemies should let out varied screams when they die and these had better be cool and loud.

- Human enemies should shout a variety of German phrases LOUD and CLEAR whenever they spot you - I don't care if it's flawless German or not as long as it doesn't sound strangely muffled. I'm ok with the Nazis speaking English when they idle-talk, but as soon as they don't, they had better talk German and not shout those clichéed sentences at you in English.
Also, different enemies would shout different things (the officer should certainly reprise his old line: "SPION!" and SS soldiers should shout "Shutzstaffel!").

- Inhuman creatures should sound more monstrous instead of letting out fake hisses. They don't need to sound as scary as Doom 3's monsters, but they should sound a bit more interesting.

- Some of the weapons could do with improved sounds. Examples are:
1. The mauser should sound a tad beefier and the bolt-action should sound more metallic and pronounced.
2. there should be a sound of spent bullet casings being ejected - not just the sound of the casings hitting the floor.
3. The rocket launcher needs to sound more powerful when it fires. Like a huge roar, followed by a sizzling noise as the rocket propelled grenade streaks at its target.
4. The venom gun's firing sound needs to be louder - it's firing armour-piercing rounds goddammit! There also needs to be a pronounced sound of several bullet casings hitting the floor.

- It'd totally rock if you can hear bullets whiz past you.

I better stop now, or the post will become too long. Might add other ideas later in this thread if it lives that long.

...Imo.

Just in case some of you enjoyed it and can't find it again or if you haven't seen/heard this before:

http://viswiz.imk.fraunhofer.de/~steffi/madcow/madcow.htm

Note: you might want to read everything on this awesome page as a sort of mental preparation for the following.

Some things I hate:

Dumbasses who don't like Doom
People who think Doom sucks should be whipped to death with spiked chains because they're not people.

People who think Doom is "all about hordes of monsters"
WAKE UP DIPSHITS! Doom ain't about hordes of monsters - even Doom 2 had only a meagre max of about fifty enemies on-screen at once and it didn't occur very often - just because the engine allows for hundreds of monsters and just because people make custom wads exploiting this doesn't automatically apply the same attribute to the original. Two. Official. Games.
People who think hordes of monsters is what Doom is all about should be hauled into a pit, have gasoline poured on them and set on fire.

Slow-witted anti-abortion mongs
Oooh, a girl decides to kill her unborn child, LET'S HARASS HER ASS!!!! But ignore all the innocent people we kill in our "War on terrorism".
Cram these winners into an airtight container and lower it into the sea.

Dancing
Why do people like to jump around and look like total halfwits? Sheesh.

STUPID newbies
Morons who don't read FAQs, ignore advice from veterans, don't do research (or at least try) on the forum etiquette of a particular site (such as this).
What's the matter with these people!? Can't they fucking read!? I almost miss the ol' days where Mac and Fox killed newbs on a regular basis - I coulda used that treatment when I was a n00b myself; might of made less of a crybaby out of me. I want to kick them in the balls everytime they ask a dumbass question without doing a bit of research first.

Screwheads who don't know when their online personality isn't funny or acceptable
I fucking hate 'em. They start pointless flamewars, wreck otherwise interesting threads, act obnoxiously retarded as if they own the forums and piss on people in general.
I'd like to haul their own entrails outta their asses and cram them down their own throats afterwards.

Using public transportation
Sadly, it's about as good as it can possibly be in this worthless country - screw it, I still hate it!

sometimes I hate Myself
- die.

Don't like what you read here? well tough shit! Those are just a bunch of totally random opinions of mine I felt like writing down to try doing something unlike me.

Yep, it turns out my sister's pregnant, so sometime in October, she will hopefully be promoted to the coveted (but tough) rank of "Mum" (or "Mom" whichever you prefer).

They haven't found a name yet, but they DID purchase a little baby bathtub :-P

Well, which is it and why?

I'm asking because I didn't find an answer to my question when I searched the forums - probably didn't use the right keywords.

This noon at 0917 my sister-in-law (not really, 'cause they ain't married yet, but it sounds better to call her that :-P) gave birth to a 50 cm tall girl (I assume it's the baby girl's height anyway).

Mother and daughter are both ok and hopefully they won't find any problems with the baby.

Tomorrow, I'm gonna say hello to the new recruit of the family :-)

So I finally got around to trying out the Painkiller demo (omg timeline or something!) - that's the three-level demo (I'ma gonna try out the second sp demo at some point) - and amazingly enough, liked it a lot.

What I like:

* The theme - it's somehow like Blood and Doom in one (two games I like a lot), only a lot more serious like Doom. Somehow, I like the idea of playing a character who dies and go to purgatory - I know it's not an original theme but a long shot, but it's a theme I haven't explored much in a video game.
I guess killing demons is what I like the best.

* Physics - I don't give a crap if they're exaggerated, the physics make enemies seem satsifyingly vulnerable, something I've been missing in first person shooters ever since Doom.

* Some of the weapons - it's awesome to nail stuff to walls with the stake gun for instance and I also liked that spike shooting gun (fires a burst of electricity in alt fire mode).

* Most of the enemies so far - while nothing spectacular looks wise, I like their attacks and the variety in them.

* The atmosphere in the medieval town.

* collecting 100 souls and turning into a demon - I love the glow effect on the enemies.

What I don't like or what I like less:

* I haven't quite yet decided whether I really dislike this, but the fact that demon souls seem to be the only health objects means that you have to hurl yourself headfirst into crowds of enemies to get a soul each time you kill one montser - something I wouldn't do under normal circumstances, because it's rather suicidal.
This makes the frantic in a way I don't like - it's a paradox really, because I love the frantic battles.

* Linearity - I usually don't mind linear games too much (because I hate getting lost or exiting a map with the knowledge that I most likely didn't clear the entire map), but this is linear in the extreme which is too linear even for me. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the final game will be less linear but I doubt it.

* Gold coins disappear - yes, I know it's a retarded thing to complain about, but I find it frustrating if I see a gold coin and it disappears right in front of my nose. Along with collecting souls before they expire, this forces me into rather suicidal "dives" for stupid items (of course, I could just ignore the gold, but then I wouldn't be enjoying the game as much).

----

So in short: I think I'm gonna get this baby when it's released.

http://www.winternet.com/~mikelr/flame65.html

Interesting site - *might* give you a better idea on how certain online people think.
I believe I've seen a few of those in my time on internet forums (and a few of some other types as well, but I'm too lazy to pull them all out to show 'em).

- You are breaking the law if you leave a mannequin naked in a store window in New York City.

- It is illegal to quack like a duck in the city of Stark, Kansas.

- In London, England, it is unlawful to kiss in a movie theater.

- Sleeping in your day clothing is against the law in Boston, Massachusetts.

- In Baluchistan, a province of Pakistan, a man can legally acquire a wife by exchanging his sister for the woman he wants.

- A Pennsylvania law once stated that a husband could not beat his wife after ten o’clock at night.

- In England’s north country, a miner has a common-law right to take his wife to market for sale with a halter around her neck.

- In Saudi Arabia, if a man does not keep his wife supplied with coffe, she can divorce him.

- Donald Duck comic books were banned from libraries in Finland because authorities felt that it wasn’t good to show children a hero who ran around without pants on.

- In Sweden it is against the law for parents to insult or shame their children.

- It is taboo, or forbidden, for Greenland Eskimos to mention their own names.

- In Wisconsin, it is against the law to feed margarine, rather than real butter, to prisoners.

- In Michigan, a fourteen-year-old can sue his parents for the right to wear his hair long.

- New York City horses are entitled by law to a ”cofee break.” For every two hours of work, they have a fifteen minute break. And if the temperature goes above 90 degrees Fahrenheit, they get the day off.

......

This is taken from one of my books appropriately titled "It Is Illegal To Quack Like a Duck".