11/04/06

28/03/2004 12:00pm

Check out the new Earth: Final Conflict page!!!

Ever wanted to see how crappy digital zoom is? Now's your chance:

Some random pictures because I was bored and like to use my camera:

1. The Kitchen Pantry:

2. My Computer Desk:

3. View from the sun deck

My New Avatar at http://www.gpforums.co.nz/

I also added some more pictures of my Enterprise model by BANDAI.

Yesterday I purchased Counter-Strike: Condition Zero. Here is a mini-review:

Counter-Strike: Condition Zero (CS:CZ) has been made with the Half-Life engine, all they have done to it is added a few higher-res textures, some more detailed models and weather effects like snow, rain and fog. All the original maps are there, and they have also re-done some of the maps (like de_dust, cs_office - cs_office has been really well done).

The New cs_militia_cz: Frankly I don't care for it and prefer the original...

The new cs_office_cz: This map has been really well re-done. A good map to play on.

Basically there are two modes: Normal CS:CZ and CS:CZ Deleted Scenes. "Deleted Scenes" is the mission mode, where you go to various places on the planet and stop the evil terrorists from the completing their plans. So far I have survived a helicopter crash, aka Black Hawk Down, and prevented a nuke from being launched in Russia. Why they decided to call it "Deleted Scenes" I have no idea, as this is mostly what CS:CZ is about.

The World Map: Here you can see previous missions, and choose the mission you want to play.

If you just choose to play regular CS:CZ, you can play against all the maps vs some pretty good bots, which generally follow your orders and try to complete the missions, be it hostage rescue or defusing the bomb. You can play all the maps in a fashion similar to UT or Quake 3 where successfully playing through one set of maps unlocks the next set etc. I found this mode really fun, the bots make quite good enemies.

The "Tour of Duty" screen. This is similar to UT/Quake3 single player where you unlock missions.

The guns do not have their proper names anymore. Even though the MP5 is there, it is called something retarded which has no meaning. Non of the guns have their proper names, which does spoil the game slightly.

CS:CZ has also been "steam-ified", the interface is Steam and so are the option pages etc.

Multiplayer is via Steam as well, which I don't like. Also at the moment there are about 20 CS:CZ servers out of 20,000 Half-Life servers.

Would I recommend this game to anyone? Well... I give it...6 and a half out of 10. Mainly because it has all been done before, and the Half-Life engine is not up to the task of providing excellent graphics today.

What's in the Box: CD's, Manual, and a CD full of preview movies of Half-Life 2.

The other day my new model of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701 Refit arrived! So over the past 2 days I built it. Click here for the pics!

New Endorsed products added!

scottg26.com has received a great honor today! That's right, scottg26.com was awarded a Golden Web Award!

"Congratulations!

        scottg26.com has been reviewed

        and chosen to bear the 2003-2004 Golden Web Award."

I'd like to thank all the people who have visited scottg26.com, and who have made the site a sucess.

Last night I got home from work, and guess what I found? A lesson in how not to park! Click here for the goods.

Another awesome picture of a sunset today:

Nature Watch! Today I found this Praying Mantis in my bedroom. Click on the pictures for a bigger version.

Today I finished Tails and Knuckles on Sonic Adventure. Compared to playing as Sonic it was quite short, and the story is the same, you are just playing it from different characters perspectives.

Here's another picture of a sunset from today:

New best song EVER: Metallica - Enter Sandman. The live version sucks however.

My 3dfx Voodoo 5 5500 arrived today! (second hand)

Click on the pictures for a bigger version:

I have been playing Sonic Adventure DX for the PC all day. IT ROCKS!!!! I have finished playing with Sonic, so now I will move on to Tails. The game is awesome. I love everything about it except for the few graphical errors. Bad clipping, distant objects have severe Z-Buffering issues, etc. Positional audio is excellent, my 4 speakers all output the correct sound so it sounds great. You owe it to yourself to buy this game immediately. And pick up a Logitech WingMan Rumble Pad at the same time, it is awesome and makes the game so much better.

I will post a full review when I have finished the game. I really hope Sega releases Sonic Adventure 2 for the PC as well.

Dark Reign and it's expansion finally arrived, I bought it off Trademe.co.nz. I'm not sure how much I really like it though. The graphics are worse than I thought they were, and the units don't look different enough so I don't know what's going on. I might give it another try now.

Had some amazing Brown Rice and a Sealord Tuna Heat and Eat meal tonight. You see, if you add a little bit of oil (I use Extra Light Olive Oil), it makes the rice taste a lot better.

- scottg26

Excellent news! I finally replaced my Alcatel One Touch Easy DB piece of shit phone with a Nokia 6100! Here is a comparison picture between the two:

I also bought Sonic Adventure DX for PC and a Logitech WingMan Rumble Pad. I have been wanting to play Sonic Adventure ever since I played it on a Dreamcast once. It is awesome. The controller is great too, I can recommend it to anyone. It is very comfortable and the buttons are very easy to reach and well placed.

Here is what I had for dinner the other night, a Pasta Bake frozen snack, mashed potatoes and 2 sundried tomatoes.

Some great pictures of the sunset tonight. Click the pictures below for a larger version...

Look what arrived today!

It's the Star Trek Encyclopedia!! I bought it second hand from TradeMe.

Yesterday I discovered a virus on my computer. What it did was infect all the .EXE and .SCR files on my computer. Most files could be cleaned properly, but some couldn't, like executables that check the size of themselves before running. But oh well, I restored my latest backup - from the 7th of January 2004! Damn, guess from now on I will ALWAYS have a Virus Scanner running (currently McAfee VirusScan 6 ), and I will do monthly backups from now on. I will buy another 3 DVD+RW, so I will have 4 DVD+RW's for backups, and rotate them on a monthly basis.

You can find all the new from February 2004 on the News page or by clicking here.

Also my flatmates decided to have a party last night. Click on the picture for some more pics.