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Gaming

Angry Art, Gaming
Do n00bz dream in colour?
11.26.10 | Permalink | Comment?

That’s what a cobra hiding on a rock looks like just before he strikes.

Enjoy the nightmares kids…
Fuck Microsoft, Fuck Sony, Gaming, Photos, Video
Cobras <3 COD:BLOPS art
11.26.10 | Permalink | Comment?

As I previously mentioned, I’m loving COD: Black Ops and all it’s new features. Yesterday I played a few matches before work (as I usually do – I love to kill dudes while I’m drinking my coffee) and I managed to max out my character. I decided to “Prestige“, then spent a few minutes messing about in the Theater. I made a montage of a killing spree I went on (7 or 8 dudes I think!) but didn’t realize it had to be shorter than 30 seconds if I wanted to upload it to my Youtube account. Oh well…

Here’s my first screen shot. It’s me calling in a mortar strike on hostile territories my squad is attempting to capture (just after killing those 7 or 8 dudes mentioned above), and not me trying to order a new pair of pants from Sears because I pissed myself (it kind of looks like I pissed myself). Clicking it will take you to the full version.

Here’s my first video. It’s just a short clip of me diving (my new favourite thing to do in COD) into a prone position, and neutralizing a hostile tango attempting to capture and destroy an allied headquarters. I swapped the audio with some lame techno song offered on Youtube. Enjoy!

This clip is my first successful attempt at making a montage of clips in the COD Theater. Think of it as a trailer or ad for a killer for hire, showcasing my awesome skills and battle tactics, set to some beautiful melody provided by 2 seconds of search in the Youtube audio swap “instrumental” libraries. I think it fits just fine. The kill at the end of the clip was a game winner / ender by yours truly. Unfortunately when you render the clips so they upload to Youtube, some of the details are left out. For example, that car I dive beside… it was on fire and smoking like mad in the original clip, making it look infinitely more bad-ass.

The top photo is my Player Card Emblem. I designed it, and it’s proudly sported on all my guns. I’m guessing a million people have seen it by now, since it flashes up on their screen while I’m dipping my nuts in their mouth after killing them.
Gaming, Random
Cobra COD BlOps
11.20.10 | Permalink | Comment?
While Holly and the boys were away at Disney, I went one night and stood in the cold for 2 hours at midnight in a lineup of virgins I couldn’t wait to teabag with my virtual nuts later that night. I did this because we were all really looking forward to the release of Call of Duty: Black Ops, and our pre-ordered copies were finally available. The wait was worth it. I’ve played every COD game since COD 3 and can honestly say this one is best. Every complaint I had about previous itterations has been rectified.

Today was the first chance Holly and I got to sit and play around all day, aside from playing the odd round of zombies whenever we’ve got a bit of free time. We started out playing zombies shortly after she woke up, but had very little luck getting anywhere. After getting frusstrated, I asked her to attempt some of the new “Combat Training” mode with me. She obviously loved it since we played for just over five hours in total today. I’m glad she likes it, and I’m hoping that with the right amount of practice she’ll be comfortable enough to play online with me. I would love to hear her trash talking noobs while she teabags them.

Above is a somewhat related image. The newest COD includes the ability to record screen shots and short in-game clips, then retrieve them off the COD website. I, however, have had zero luck linking my COD webID with my PSN ID, and thus wrote an email requesting some help. I felt it necessary to add a little ASCII Art signature which I think will now become my fulltime signature.

Or maybe just this:
```
                8""""8
                8    " eeeee eeeee  eeeee  eeeee
                8e     8  88 8   8  8   8  8   8
                88     8   8 8eee8e 8eee8e 8eee8
                88   e 8   8 88   8 88   8 88  8
                88eee8 8eee8 88eee8 88   8 88  8
```
Gaming, Sketchup
Perks for all you jerks
11.04.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Aside from a few minor things, I’m really happy with how these models and renderings turned out. The only real major disappointment was the way the top half of the speed machine blends with the background and loses it’s definition. I’m not sure if it would have improved had I left it rendering longer, or if I needed to change the properties of the colour I used for the whites of the machine. I had to stop it in order to carry on with work as planned today, but to be honest I’d much rather have just left it and spent the whole day hanging with the new kitty.

Last night I started modeling a Quick Revive machine, but was forced to stop when I realized I don’t have the required font, nor do I fully understand how the machine is intended to operate based on pictures alone. The other two were pretty easy to figure out. I’m not even sure where the money goes in, and the bottle comes out. I’ll leave that model on hold for now, until I have the time / motivation to figure it out. Today is all about laundry and work.
Gaming, Sketchup
Maybe with speed I have time for blog before bed
11.02.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Today I did some work after Roan left, then took a break and submitted my hours. I was supposed to play a round of Zombies with my TonyMike, but he bailed so he could go see some band (I use to go see bands… when I was 8!). I decided to play with Sketchup and see if I was inspired to build anything. I decided to model some props from our favourite game – Call of Duty: World at War.

These are Perks-a-Cola machines. For those who don’t know, they dispense awesome refreshments that make you stronger and faster. There are two others, but really these are the ones that matter. I spent maybe an hour on the first model, and about half that on the second (Juggernog was first). Right now I’ve got the Jugg’ rendering on my other machine, and I think I’ll leave it going over night.

This is the point in the blog where I mention how badly I wish I had a rapid prototyper and feel sorry for myself.

My friend (code name: ROACH) sent me some intel at around fourteen hundred hours today, regarding zombie presence in the Pentagon. Yesterday there was a trailer (and spoilers) released showing some Black Ops Zombies running at a brutal frame rate (I’m sure it was the video, not the game), and today there was a much longer, much better clip. I’m getting excited for new zombies. I am definitely looking forward to having Black Ops to occupy me while Holly and the boys are away. Plus, I’m going to have time to finish the single player game (which apparently is still required to unlock the zombie mode) without Missy Impatient Aggravation nagging at me cause she wants to play.
Angry Art, Book stuff, Gaming, Life, Sketchup
Cobras, computers, contradictions
10.15.10 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Once again it’s been a while since I’ve updated my blog. This time the main reason is my growing hatred of all things computer, mixed with my recent acquisition of Dead Rising 2 (contradiction?). Since my last post I have been paid in full and this morning I sent off a freshly revised edition of the entire first book (two versions actually – one has photo spreads that will go in the middle, but in an effort to save money in printing costs of student copies for editing the other has no photos). I actually sent a copy off last night, but literally 5 minutes later James called to tell me he found a mistake he missed until now. I told him to disregard the email I had just sent, and that I’d revise and resend it in the morning.

I really hope this is the last time I have to make major changes to any part of that project. I still have to wait on James to sort out the ISBN number (is that like saying ATM machine?) and UPC code (again, redundant??) for the back cover. I did a fake back cover for now. It has a listing of all the books that are intended to be in the “Master’s Guide Collection”, and then I hid this little logo at the bottom.

I should probably register that name. Maybe I’ll end up doing lots of this type of work if I can’t find a job building, and then it will come in handy. I should also just make a website where I can post all my stuff. If someone stumbles upon it and wants to offer me work, then I’m game.

If all goes well with the next two projects, I should be looking for a new job soon. Maybe by this time next year, I’ll be teaching at the ISBA. I still have to finish the lessons I had begun before my whole laptop data dump debacle. There was almost 200 pages of step-by-step images for building a basic post and beam structure within Sketchup. Maybe this weekend I will spend some time writing that stuff since I can do it on the copies Holly printed for me and avoid the computer for a little longer.

I’d like to have the title of instructor, but I also want to make lots of money and build Holly and I a sweet house. Maybe I’d be better off spending my time resume writing. I’m just so bad at it.
Angry Art, Food, Fuck Microsoft, Gaming, Life, Sketchup
Cobra custom crafts continue!
09.13.10 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Holly and I went to St Catharines on Saturday (turns out she doesn’t hate me) to find some of those diodes Shawn needed to jtag my xbox. Then we went to the market and got some local fruit for us and eccle cakes for my dad. We had to kill some time before we could drop off the diodes to Shawn, so we had lunch at Strega before heading to Welland. We gave Shawn the diodes, then hung out for a bit. We smoked a joint and played with his new dog, until a giant spider caught my attention and we started throwing huge mosquitos at it’s web, watching it race over and wrap them up before they got away. I left my camera in Holly’s purse, which she left in her car, so I didn’t get any photos or video. Shawn’s mom brought her camera out, but I couldn’t get it to focus very well. If he uploads them to youtube I’ll post a link to them. It was pretty neat.

We left Shawn’s and headed over to my parent’s place to drop off the eccles and pick up the saw. I decided to show my dad the renderings I did of the first shelf, and he seemed pretty impressed with both the design and the renderings. I showed him a few other things I’ve posted here, but didn’t show him the blog (he still doesn’t know about this site, or my bad habits and it’s probably better that way). He really liked my little robot I call Goggles, and even asked me to send him links to it so he could show it off to someone else. I’ve decided I should get another domain where I can host a portfolio of all my work.

I also mentioned to my dad the possibility of me designing more furniture similar to these shelves, and compiling my own $5.00 ebook for D.I.Y. crafters to download. I’ve already got two different (although highly similar) shelf designs, complete with dimensioned shop drawings. I can easily think of a few other small projects I could include to make it worth someone paying $5.00 for. Although I’ll be holding off until I prove that this design works by building it for real.

My dad was a bit worried that I had posted the shop drawings online in case someone uses them for free, but I would be flattered if someone thought my design was worth stealing. I also did give the go ahead in a previous post. So I’m going to share this redesigned version too and if someone decides to also make it, I’m fine with that. I just ask that you send photos.

Click on the shop drawing for a bigger version that is easier to read.
Fuck Microsoft, Gaming, Video
Cobra consoles come back with a vengeance
09.10.10 | Permalink | 1 Comment

That video right there, that’s my original 360 – the one that was given to me personally by Silicon Knights for being the best gamer in all of St Catharines (and for being one of the 4 actual fans of Too Human) which I then had modded by The Shawnz only to have it RROD a short time later and subsequently suffer a failed flash resulting in a bricked disc drive. After sitting on a shelf for nearly five years (wow, seems like it hasn’t been out nearly that long) it has been successfully repaired (minus the disc drive) and with any luck, it will have a Jtag installed before the weekend is over.

Shawn was recently motivated to get his 360 back up and running due to the upcoming release of Dead Rising 2, and he decided while he was in there fiddling he might as well look into installing a Jtag. Luckily for me, he’s super handy and always willing to share his skills with me. He called and asked if I still had my box (which I recently almost tossed – thank god I didn’t) and said he wanted to try fixing it. If it works, the boys will be stoked. They’re constantly going nuts when they get into a hacked game. I’m confident Shawn can get it working (as is he) but that doesn’t mean we’ll be able to modify games. It will mean we can do some other fun things though, and we’ll have a second working xbox.

Tomorrow morning I want to go look for the 2 diodes Shawn needs to finish the install, then I’m off to look at MDF at the Home Depot because someone hates me.
Gaming, Video
Coach Cobra’s crash course in cheating
07.18.10 | Permalink | Comment?

Last year, when I was staying with Jeff and Dawn in Vancouver, Jeff and I would regularly play Nazi Zombies on his PS3. We never had much luck, rarely ever getting past the second round of dogs. Back then we had no strategy. Now I play with Holly almost once a day. Her and I can get to round 25 or so without any major problems, and just the other night set a new record of 33 rounds survived! One of the things that helps us survive so long is that we exploit a glitch which gets you a third gun.

I have been playing with Jeff in the mornings a lot lately, now that I have my headset back and a working PS3. Jeff and I regularly die before round 5. Once or twice we made it as high as round 18, and I convinced Jeff to attempt getting a third gun. He failed and his gun (along with his interest in playing) was lost.

Today Holly and I made a video of me getting a third gun, and I posted it to Youtube. I sent a link to Jeff, and hopefully he sees it. If any of you Cobra Comrades are tired of killing meat sacks with only 2 guns, just watch the above video tutorial.

*Special thanks to Holly for her excellent cinematography (it only took two takes!).
Animals, Gaming, Life, Photos
From Niagara Falls to Vice Beach
05.16.10 | Permalink | 1 Comment

Yesterday was a busy day. Holly and I killed some zombies, then I sorted through some tools I got from the storage locker a few weeks back. The tools came from my Nan’s house, and I hadn’t looked in the box until yesterday. I found a bunch of neat stuff my brother could use, and also a bunch useful things for me that I didn’t realize I owned.

I was looking for auger bits for the boring machine Mary brought me and I found a bunch, unfortunately they all had square tangs and won’t fit. I could cut the tangs off and use them, but then they’re going to be pretty short, as well as no longer fit in my hand auger (which is what the bits are intended for). I also found a set of four corner clamps, tons of pliers and cutters, and a collection of rasps.

I realize now, I need a large tool box (as well as a large workshop).

In the afternoon, my brother came by and we took Roan and his friend Josh hiking at the gorge. We hunted for salamanders and climbed up lots of rocks. On one rock Roan and I found some pretty flowers. He picked this one for his mom, then tossed it on the ground 30 seconds later when he decided he didn’t want to carry it.

On top of salamanders, we found some neat centipedes and a fairly good sized millipede.

Watching my brother and Roan pick this thing up made me think of my old pet millipede that died on me the first time I went out to BC. Her name was Angelina, and I always loved having her crawl on me. I think if I could find one, I’d get another.

The centipede we saw was different than any I’d ever seen. It might not even be a centipede for all I know, but it was definitely a ‘pede of some sort, and it looked more like a centipede than a millipede.

It’s hard to tell, but this guy is about two inches long.

We cut our hike short so we could head home for pizza before our trip to the casino water-park. Holly promised Gage that for his birthday he could have a bunch of friends sleep over, and we’d all go to the water park. All but one of his friends bailed, so Roan brought Josh and the six of us went.

When we got there the water park was pretty empty. The boys ran off to go line up for water slides, and Holly and I made our way to the outdoor pool since it was completely empty. We thought we could get away with swimming out there alone until it was time to go, but a short while later some kids and their basketball ruined those plans.

We came back in and soaked in the hot tub for a bit, then lounged on some patio chairs while the boys pissed Roan off in the wave pool.

When it was time to leave we wandered around the parking garage for 30 minutes, because the labeling of the levels in the garage are weird, and therefore we got confused/lost. We finally made it out, then headed home for Dairy Queen.

I took this picture from the rooftop pool deck, and I felt like I was in Vice City. I was in a rooftop pool, with palm trees, and there was a helicopter flying by. I miss Lance Vance.