MajorNelson: Halo 3 Coming September25th
Nice to know I won’t have to freeze for this release’s midnight launch!
Category Archives: GeekStuff
Got Skillz?
WM6 Tip: Voice Commander Via Bluetooth Headset!
Earlier this week I upgraded my Dash from Windows Mobile 5 to Windows Mobile 6. The flash went flawlessly and I didn’t have to install as many apps to get going, but I did mourn the fact that while Voice Command 1.6 would let me voice dial, I couldn’t do it from my Bluetooth headset – just from the handset. After some asking around for help, I’ve been handed the following workaround and it works for me!
The only remaining hiccup that I can’t seem to fix is that of Outlook Reminders: they fire visibly and they vibrate but there’s never any sound for the alert. When I get a new email message I get sound – even if I use the same file for reminder alerts, it just won’t fire. An odd yet minor annoyance.
Read on for the registry fix for Voice Command 1.6 on the T-Mobile Dash, running Windows Mobile 6.
Continue reading WM6 Tip: Voice Commander Via Bluetooth Headset!
What’s In A Name?
I’m not sure what’s gotten into the Microsoft product name generator, but first Silverlight and now [according to the interwebs the TID is being called] Chatpad? Maybe someone realized that short names that can be tied to the product are better than a four or five [or six] word title that describes the product… I mean I hear Silverlight, I picture the swirly logo. When I hear AppleTV, I picture of a small Mac mini looking thing.
Fact: I don’t know which either product does but I know what the products are. Way better naming than normal, for us. And I like this trend.
A lot.
The Quest For Shiny
T-Mobile releases a software flash for my phone – the Dash – that would upgrade the thing to Windows Mobile 6. Have you seen WM6? It’s very, very sharp looking. Enough to make me keep on checking the TMo web site every few days for new news on the bits… when they popped late last week I grabbed and even came home early to get the thing updated. I have to say that I find that with each new WM release I have to install less and less extra software to get the thing into a “usable” state. This time especially – I set up a custom home screen, swapped out a couple of vile pink T-Mobile images, and that was it.
And that’s when I noticed that there were no more Voice Tags on the phone… and so begins the complaint.
Continue reading The Quest For Shiny
Definition Of An Interesting Weekend
This very well may be the best questions I’ve ever been asked from some one in IM:
“did u go to the anime palooza yesterday??? is your hair blue???”
True story, even if the answers are No and No.
Xbox 360: MLB2K7
Wild stuff. I’ve been playing a few games of MLB2K7 [from TakeTwo] between Guitar Hero II sessions. Yeah, I know, but it’s so much better to play than 2K6 – really, it is. Besides, I thought I had noticed some neat things about the players, but since I haven’t seen a whole lot of baseball on TV lately, I thought I’d confirm what I suspected… so I set up a game with the Mariners vs the Yankees in The Bronx.
Confirmation: it’s far more realistic than I gave it credit for.
Not only does Ichiro show his trademarked sleave-tug stance while at the plate but you can clearly hear the Bleacher Creatures from the right field bleachers in the top of the first inning.
Out-freakin’-standing!
Sakura-Con: Saturday Afternoon
OK, now I’m po’. Not destitute but the freakin expo center put a huge dent in my fun fund. Although, I did end up working a booth for a while. Yeah, I know, it sounds odd to me too, but I was wandering the lobby, some hot cosplay chick was holding a “Help Wanted” sign, I didn’t have anything pressing at that moment, they told me they’d pay me in merchandice, I swooned and spent 3 hours selling manga and anime to customers. Was actually pretty freakin’ fun, for the first stab at working retail in over a decade. Especially since the entire [humans in cosplay as the] cast of Bleach walked by at one point…
Funny thing: there were two perfect adaptations: one was Yachiru who even had the red blushed checks done and another woman as Orihime who, um, well, I don’t think she was at all padded. ^.-
Sakura-Con: Saturday Morning
Talk about feeling under dressed… yeesh. and while I couldn’t tell you what makes the diference there is such a difference between cosplay and dress-like-a-slut.
Anyway the line for registration was at least 150 deep at 8:30am – I <3 pre-registration ^.^
Cross Platform X-plorer Controller? Yeah, We Got That
Yes, that’s a new Xbox 360 Guitar Hero II controller plugged in and very much alive on my Windows Vista PC.
Now the question is how many awesome things will people put together with XNA Game Studio Express for the 360 and for PC-based games that can take advantage of the new hardware?
Help Wanted
In the past I’ve talked about being an SDET, specifically for on of the teams in the Developer Tools division at Microsoft. Over the last year I’ve mentioned a few things about working for Microsoft Game Studio and more recently working for XNA Game Platform Extensions. Interested in what I’ve done? Want to know what I know? Or better yet, want to know about upcoming things like the Elite before most mammals do?
I’ve got a job opening for an SDET on my team and I’m looking to fill it with someone that’s passionate about gaming, passionate about testing, and knowledgeable in native C++ and any combination of C# or managed C++. Yes, there’s a ton of coding involved in this type of position along with a ton of test casing and the ability to drive products to their completion – either in a green 360 game case on a store shelf or in the Xbox SDK that enables other people to produce titles.
Interested? Continue reading for the full job description and information about how to submit your resume…
Continue reading Help Wanted
Xbox 360 Elite?
Xbox 360 Elite? News? Sure it is. New to me? Sorta – I’ve know about a lot of the pieces thanks to beta testing and other tidbits. I’m rather proud of myself for keeping a secret this well, especially since it doesn’t hit the street until April-29.
Will I buy one? Probably. Even at $479. Why? It’s got a bunch of stuff in there: the black console with HDMI (and an HDMI cable). Black controller w/ black headset. Plus the 120GB HDD and a month of Xbox Live Gold? That’s a lot of stuff for $80, considering the current prices… Will it cause me to buy a new TV with HDMI? Probably not, but if I got a receiver that switched HDMI I might do some HDMI-DVI stuff to it.
After all, I’ve already got a black HD-DVD Drive that was a special edition for employees – this would compliment it so very well…
xna: More Than Visual Studio
Now that GDC has come and gone, life is slowly returning to normal. As part of that, one of things that I noticed at GDC was the response that people had when I handed them one of my business cards that had XNA on it… the first and most popular response was “Oh! What part of VS did you work on?” The other often heard comment was “Oh! You guys are in that bar upstairs, right?” because XNA sponsored the bar in the lobby of Moscone North. Consequently, I made it a point to talk to people about what XNA was to both Microsoft and to the gaming community…
What is this XNA thing anyway? A product? A technology? A group?
got junk?
JunkDepot.com: Junkdepot is a marketplace to find materials for your home wither personal or professional.
Stumbled across this the other day… reminds me of eBay but without hell of last-second-suckout auction experiences. Since it hooks up to Google Base and EdgeIO, it should have pretty far reaching buying power – it just launched last week, but I expect it to fill up quick.
Of course now I’ll have to justify buying an older vending machine…
Update From GDC
Just an updated short update and some numbers, since this is being posted from the Dash a PC, after the Women in Games party.
Continue reading Update From GDC