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View Full Version : Toys, toys, and more toys!


Charlie Wiederhold
06-13-06, 12:59 AM
Where to begin!

Life is settling down into the post-DNF era finally, with all eyes on what will be happening next. Can't really say what that will be yet as nothing has been decided, but the amount of opportunity and options out there has been flattering and staggering. I wanted to thank everyone who contacted me with well wishes and your thoughts. Drinking red wine by the pool and getting a tan is really wearing Kyle and I out though... I can assure you. ;)

I've put up pictures from the annual Sushi-a-thon as well as our skydiving trip from the same weekend. Skydiving can't even be described, but we're going to be doing it many more times in the future (already did our second jump a week later), so we'll see if I can find the words eventually. Head on over to check them out if you are interested. (http://www.gamingisstupid.com/pictures/20060601_sushiskydive/)

Now as for toys... I picked up a Nintendo DS Lite on day one to help pass the time on the upcoming plane trips. This is an amazing system and makes me bubble over with anticipation for the Wii. I haven't felt this excited about a gaming system like I am for the Wii since I rode with my parents to the store in elementary school to pick up my NES. I grabbed about 10 games so there should be no shortage of stuff to keep me busy on the planes. Unfortunately Brain Age simply doesn't accept my pronunciation of "Blue" or the way I draw "9". Bah! Texas accents and crappy handwriting is my birthright.

Something that caught me completely off guard while speaker shopping is the off the wall Saitek A-200 (http://www.saitekaudio.com/en/a200.asp). It is tiny, light, and completely portable. Obviously it won't provide the quality of sound of a 5.1 speaker system, but it can't be beat if you want to play music in all sorts of places from all sorts of sources. For example, we hooked up my Creative Zen Vision:M (http://www.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=213&subcategory=214&product=14331) outside while swimming and playing card games, then moved it to play from my PC, then took it upstairs to hook up to that PC, then hooked it up to the DS Lite, and I'll be taking it with me for the hotel room while traveling both for music and for the DS Lite. It sounds good, gets pretty loud, and is also made by Saitek. I had no idea such a thing even existed and sure enough, the company that has given me my favorite game pads and keyboards comes through for me.

Oh, and finally a new desktop (http://www.gamingisstupid.com/images/desktops/). This time from my brand spanking new home computer. No dual monitor setup yet. That's for the next round of toy purchases. Sadly I didn't keep track of the ones from January till June, which is a bummer because there were some great ones in there that had... amazingly enough... nothing to do with Natalie Portman for a change!

Micki!
06-13-06, 07:46 AM
Cool...
I miss your old desktops with the DNF stuff on them... :nipple: :(

Well, i can live with that...
This pic made me laugh...
http://www.gamingisstupid.com/pictures/20060601_sushiskydive/Sushiathon007.jpg
Looks like Keith is going to shoot someone with his laser-eyes... :D

Charlie Wiederhold
06-13-06, 12:52 PM
I miss your old desktops with the DNF stuff on them... :nipple: :(

Heh... well I think someone might have a very valid complaint against me if I still had stuff like that. :)

This pic made me laugh...
http://www.gamingisstupid.com/pictures/20060601_sushiskydive/Sushiathon007.jpg
Looks like Keith is going to shoot someone with his laser-eyes... :D

That's not red-eye from the camera, btw. Keith really does have laser-eyes!

He got them implanted to help keep his kids under control. :p

Kristian Joensen
06-13-06, 01:33 PM
Nice to finaly see a new update to the site. What are the specs like on that home computer of yours ?

Micki!
06-14-06, 04:51 AM
^^
Yeah, i'd like to know that too...

You said you'd deffenately do this again right..? (sky diving)
Next time, do you think you could get some guys to take photos from mid-air..? I mean, in the middle of the jump, having a camera with them...
I think that would make some cool pics... :)

Keith scares me now, makes me think, that his hair is in reality tentacles, and some of them got lost in battle... :nipple: :D (judging from old photos, where he didn't looked as "bald" as now)
Man, we need a different :embarrased: smiley... I always use the "Nipple" as an alternative...

Charlie Wiederhold
06-14-06, 07:04 AM
I'm gonna be out of town until Sunday. *Should* have internet connection when I arrive later today so I'll bug you guys again then.

There is video and photos from the air, but I just gotta get them in a format to post on the PC. Gotta rip the DVD video, and believe it or not they used real film for the photos. I had almost forgotten what a 35mm film cannister looked like. :)

The PC isn't anything special. Gotta run to the airport though, so will try to remember what all it has when I've got more time.

Vroom vroom!

Theseus314
06-14-06, 01:23 PM
This is an amazing system and makes me bubble over with anticipation for the Wii. I haven't felt this excited about a gaming system like I am for the Wii since I rode with my parents to the store in elementary school to pick up my NES.

I totally agree. I've been having a blast working with it so far :love:

Asmodeusz
06-16-06, 03:20 PM
Yeah, the Wii will be a must have for me too.

And all that sushi made me hungry :(
I'll have some shrimps I guess :)

Charlie Wiederhold
06-20-06, 01:13 PM
I totally agree. I've been having a blast working with it so far :love:

Curse you you lucky bastard! ;)

Wound up not having as easy access to internet as I had hoped while I was travelling. Back home and rested again... which means time to properly enjoy summer some more.

Kyle and I are going to do our first solo skydive jump this weekend. Other people go with you at first, but once the parachute is opened you are on your own and have to steer and land all by yourself. :eek: But it will be so cool to finally jump without anyone else attached to me.

As for the computer... a few of us went and got them together and opted for value over power. So we just got stuff that is good enough to work on and will last a little while, but not cost as much as a small car. Fry's had a great deal on a Compaq AMD 3500+ (about a 2.2 ghz... but 64 bit so faster than an Intel 2.2) with a gig of ram. Already upgraded to 2 gigs, and put in a Radeon X1300 pro, flat screen monitor and a printer. All together it came in less than $1000 and if we send in the rebates it will cost less than $800 and runs Oblivion on the highest detail just fine.

So it's good enough to program on and level design on... and certainly good enough to write a resume on. Which I haven't done in something like 10 years. Tough to accurately describe 8 years of work when you can't show any of it or talk about specifics. :)

pjohnsonjr1984
06-21-06, 09:33 PM
It's easy...

"Work Experience:

Duke Nukem Forever: 1998-2006
Job Duties: A man of many hats
Example Work: When it's done... You're gonna have to wait like the rest of us! :P"

Asmodeusz
06-22-06, 12:46 PM
lol!
Haha, that will be a pain in the ass. Maybe Charlie should ask George or Scott for references instead. :)