I did it. I bought an X-Box 360 yesterday.
They did a LOT of work to make it better than the original. The controller (wireless) is great. The X-Box Live Arcade is a really good thing, too. It’s great for the “casual gaming” aspect. I’m at work so this all sounds ridiculously choppy.
I mean, Mom, it has Zuma even 
It’s entertaining stuff if you’re a gamer. The initial quality of the drawings…. well, it gets significantly better. My brother ought to appreciate it 
The following is in regards to Silent Hunter III - A WWII submarine sim that I’m hooked on, even if it does take ages to get places at 10 kts.
My fourth patrol - the second in my new Type VIIB - put to use its greatly extended range over the IIA on which I had served my previous command. We were to patrol grid AM51, off the western coast of Ireland and Great Britain. Certainly a better opportunity to find a convoy and other large targets than the eastern coast!
I chose the northern route around Scapa Flow and Scotland rather than dare the dangerous waters of the Channel. The weather was against us, too, with crystal clear skies that meant many tense hours scanning the horizon and the sky. Air patrols were light, but they appear so quickly and with so little warning that their appearance is always a nervous affair. We were spotted a few times, but their aim was off and we suffered no damage. I am not anxious to seeing what their bombs will do to my hull.
We did run across a couple of lone merchants and sank them, though perhaps I should ignore those smaller targets in rough seas when the deck gun is useless. As easy as they are to pick off, perhaps I should save my fish for convoys and larger ships.
As we approached our grid we received a report of a large convoy south east of our position. Curse our luck, we were too far away even at flank speed to catch them. A few hours later and we entered our patrol grid, quickly establishing a patrol pattern and settling in for the routine. There were no reports of anything for the next day and a half, so the merchant’s appearance after 36 hours was a welcome distraction, but didn’t herald anything more enticing.
After patrolling AM51 for 40 hours we went searching for more prey along the route to Liverpool. While slipping past a couple of British destroyers our sonarman caught the distinct sound of a merchant’s propeller. As I had expected, we were in a good position to intercept shipping heading out of Liverpool. We quickly dispatched 3 more merchants, making for a total of 7 ships (3 enroute, 1 in Am51 and 3 more here). At this point we were nearly out of torpedoes and I decided to begin the trek home, planning on stopping by Hartlepool on the way to sink any ships docked with my 3 remaining torpedoes and the deck gun (weather permitting).
High seas and driving rain were perfect weather for a full-speed transit, though it was hellish on watch. The storm and fog continued unabated for 2 days and we cruised right past the destroyers patrolling the entrance to Hartlepool during the night. As we closed on the harbor, we submerged and began to watch cautiously for the docks. We’d been here before and so had some decent charts, but we could barely see past the bow of the boat.
We slid in quietly and waited for daybreak. The horrid weather worked against us for the moment, since we could not see far enough to determine if there were any ships at anchor. Once dawn arrived, we were able to make out the shape of a C2 cargo ship. My original plan was to surface and take her out with our deck gun, but the seas remained too rough and we were forced to spend our last torpedo to take her down. I must admit to gloating as the unprotected ship sank in the shallow waters.
My greed and arrogance as we waited to make sure she sank proved to be our undoing, however. I had heard the call from the watch that we were being engaged, but we were taking no fire due, I imagine, to our proximity to the harbor. I ordered full speed and periscope depth, but to my horror as the watch dropped through the hatch they caught sight of a destroyer steaming full-speed towards us.
“Brace for impact!” I yelled as the destroyer bore down on us. Under my breath I whispered, “Scheiße.” I could see the scenario unfolding even as I prayed it would not.
My precious boat, U-47, was not diving fast enough and it was too shallow for a crash dive. Nor were we turning fast enough to get out of the path of the destroyer’s prow. There was nothing more I could do except hope for the best. The deafening sound of the destroyer plowing into the stern, near the diesels, was overwhelming and the ship wobbled like a child’s toy from the force of the impact. Immediately the crew reported flooding, but before I could even respond we had sunk to the bottom. The speed of the flooding was too great, there was nothing I could do…. all hands lost.
Fortunately this isn’t real-life, so I’ve reloaded and successfully completed my 4th patrol. This time I did not have any torpedos left to entice me to venture into a temptingly vulnerable port. I did manage to be too deep in some extremely shallow waters, however, and take some very minor hull damage (the internal damage was quickly fixed by the crew).
Ok, well in case you didn’t notice the big ol’ post, the second part of the story is out. Enjoy
As for Orbiter — well, if you’ve got a PC and are interested in space, orbital mechanics and space flight, then check it out. My only gripe would be that, when in the cockpit or in the atmosphere, there is no sound. I’m sorry, but there is a lot of sound during, oh, say a Space Shuttle launch.
Anyway, it is very cool if you’re into that sort of thing.
Well, Halo 2 came out yesterday and I wisely beat the insane rush by going before all the kids and their parents got home (that is, I went at lunch).
It was actually rather amusing, because there was almost no one at the store at 3 in the afternoon. There was a tension in the air, though, from the sales people that knew. They were just waiting for the shoe to drop.
Also started downloading the client for the Open Beta for World of Warcraft. I don’t know how much I’ll get to play it, and I don’t know if I’m going to buy into it. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great game. But it’s a bit pricey ($12.95/month if you subscribe for 6 months — more if you go with a shorter subscription) and I’ve got many other interests (most of which require financial commitments as well).
I’m definitely going to give it a shot. I was in the "original" stress test and it was a very fun environment. Plus Blizzard’s a pretty great game company with a strong commitment to online gaming, good content and strong support of the Mac platform.
Guess time will tell. In any case, it’s a good time to be gaming, what with The Sims 2, Dawn of War, Halo 2, Fable, Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, World of Warcraft, Doom 3…. that’s a lot of AAA titles there.
Been quite a long time since I posted last. Well… tough.
It’s not intentional that I haven’t posted, it’s just been one of those things that keeps slipping past.
Been seriously enjoying Fable and The Sims 2, so if you’re looking for a X-Box or PC game, those are two good choices. Dawn of War also appears to be a good choice for the PC if you like RTS-type games. I’ve only been playing the demo, but given that the demo doesn’t have a lot of variety available and I’m still playing it (after weeks), I’d say it’s a good bet that the rest of the game is equally fun.
Shocker, really… I mean, I’m sure that you were sitting there in your chair going “Well, hell, what day of the week is today?”
My apologies to anyone who checks this place out daily (hmm… I doubt there is such a beast, but none-the-less). I actually had thoughts to post throughout the past week, too. Of course, they are mostly missing right now.
In gaming news, Doom 3 has gone Gone Gold. It’s also been confirmed for the Mac, though at a somewhat delayed date. Mac-native ports of the two Neverwinter expansions have been announced, though their appeal is probably somewhat narrow. You could always have purchased the PC expansions and installed those with your Mac version of NWN.
So you may have noticed that I’ve got WWII Online in my links. You might deduce from its presence that I am a fan, if not an active participant.
Indeed, I am an active participant. I almost exclusively play in the French Army, sometimes also in the French Air Force and Navy. Don’t ask why French and not British (or German for that matter). I started playing in the French quadrant and like it there.
Anywho, I just started taking AFVs out for a spin. I found that I’m probably not worse than most of those that I’ve gone up against and might actually be better.
This screenshot is a recent sortie I was out on in a Panhard, which is an armored car. For those who don’t know what an armored car is, you can think of it sort of like a more heavily armed Humvee (and if you don’t know what a Humvee is, they are the military vehicles that the Hummer and H2 SUVs [if you can call them SUVs] are based upon).
To relate it to its opponents, the PzKpfw IV D is a full-blown tank, PaK (any variety) are anti-tank guns, Flak are (as the name implies) anti-aircraft guns. Sappers and SMGs are infantry units.
You’ll notice a number of damages that aren’t listed as kills. What will often occur is that a mortally wounded unit will "despawn", especially if close to one of its bases. They may not be counted as dead, but the effect is often similar.
Anyway, the hahah of the post is definitely the two PzKpfw IV Ds (Panzerkampfwagen is the German word for tank) that I killed. They heavily outclass my vehicle (the Panhard — yeah the site is Russian, but it’s for the picture) and I basically killed two of them.
It gets better though. My driver was killed moments after arriving on station, so I was a sitting duck. I was on station for a good 15 minutes (the drive out was long). It took them 15 minutes to kill a totally immobile armored car. Hahahahah
I’ve been informed that I don’t post enough lately.
True.
Hmm… let’s see. Interesting stuff. Well, I’ve been playing World War II Online recently. I’m a captain in the French army now, which basically means I’m supposed to take some responsibility for organizing defense/attack/etc. That’s nice in theory, ‘cept I don’t want to take responsibility for the fact that it looks like we’re (currently) losing, despite very hard-fought battles.
What else. Not really anything else right now. Maybe I’ll think of something.