Dust Storm.org

My first post has been made over at my new tech blog and I’m happy to say that’s a pretty good one for anyone who’s computer savvy.  As I described in my previous post, I’m segregating all my stuff out and my profession related stuff will be at The Dusty Bit from now on.  My first post is about getting SSH to work on a server where the SSH executable is either not available or disabled.  This blog will be more for my gaming audience and other little random nuances.

As part of my on-going organization effort, I have bought a new domain that will be the source for all my programming and tech related posts. It’s currently being setup and I’m waiting for the changes to the Namespace Servers to take effect before the site goes live. The new site is http://www.dustybit.com and should be available soon. For all the people that got here from my friend over at Spare Clock Cycles, this is the site you’ll want to go to when it’s up and running. This blog will be more of my personal blog where I banter about gaming and other random stuff. I have two posts that are ready to be drafted on the new site when it get’s up and running, so check back in a day or so to see them.

I’ve been looking into reorganizing all my web content and I’ve decided to segregate it all away from this blog. For a while, this domain has just been my junk bin where I put everything, but that is changing. Since I have a new point and shoot that I used in my last video blog, I will be doing more of those, and I will leave those on YouTube, since that typically attracts a different audience. My forums have been removed from here and will be put under another domain as soon as I purchase it. All my machinima related stuff will reside there when it’s up and running. I’m still not quite sure what I will talk about here, but it will most likely be opinions and technology-related things, along with my coding projects. With this organization, I should be able to keep things updated on a regular basis (which I’ve said before, so we’ll see how well that turns out).

Taking almost two full college course loads has been quite hectic lately: the main reason I haven’t posted anything in a while. This week has been nice since the homework load has been somewhat lighter. It’s given me some time to re-allocate time to do some other things. I will be doing some more Achievement Videos and Campaign run-throughs for Halo: Reach later this week.

About a month ago, I posted about someone putting together an animated dance scene of TF2 characters. Turns out, he finally completed the work and the full scene with everyone in it is finally done. You can find the video on YouTube here.

Every once in a while, there’s a collection of fans from a specific area of gaming that have the talent and time to create some awesome theatrical content that is very convincing and what would turn out to be a fantastic production. This one I found from a friend posting on Facebook (thanks porkchop) and I have to say that I was really impressed with the trailer. It’s not a planned production, but for being a fan-made trailer, it’s gotta be one of the best. The original HD Trailer can be found on YouTube and is posted below. There is an interview on Shogun Gamer with the producers which is a nice read.

So I haven’t been able to play Halo: Reach much because of a backlog of homework.  After cutting on sleep to get homework done, I am now sick.  I did, however, get my Limited Edition Halo: Reach Xbox Console in and it’s currently re-downloading purchases.  I still have lots of homework, but at least I’ll be able to play some Reach: mainly campaign going for achievements.  I’m also planning to upload my last few Halo 2 and Halo Reach Beta clips to Youtube.

Well, I’m at my local GameStop waiting for Halo: Reach, and I’m seeing a good number of un-accompanied minors.  I thought GameStop was liable in enforcing age restrictions for games (since Reach is an M-rated game).  This is a little worrysome.

They also have us lined up here at 11:10p so they might release it early again like they did for ODST.  Too bad I really won’t be able to play it for a few days because of homework, so I’ll express my frustration in a spoiler: everyone on Noble Team except you dies during the campaign.

3D seems to be the new direction the video game industry is trying to pursue. So far, we have 3D TVs with PS3 supporting 3D game play and the 3DS.

Hawty McBloggy posted a video earlier today a YouTube video that actually lets you see 3D from a regular 2D video in a nice Reach Montage. You cross your eyes to get both images of the video to line up together, and then let your eyes naturally focus on the mixed image. The result: a surprisingly good 3D image. Now I’m just wondering how long it took this guy to record all the right angles, especially with the moving camera parts of the montage.
Remember to watch in HD. It’s easier to get the cross-eyes down with the higher resolution.

Yes, I’m still here. I’ve just been living under a rock while school starts this semester.

So I was watching Inside Gaming today and they always have “the best video ever” at the end of their episodes. In their latest, they have a clip of someone who animated the Scout and Soldier from TF2 to “dance”. The video they used is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY476OfuCgg. There’s a newer version that adds some value to it. This guy definitely has talent. If you like TF2, I suggest you subscribe like I did.

This one is obviously very late, due more or less to computer maintenance on my desktop, even though I type these up on my netbook before I go to bed. Anyways, on to the good stuff.

I finally nuked Windows on my desktop and reinstalled. I was having so many issues trying to install hardware and getting software to run, that I just had enough. I was hoping to hold out to the end of the summer. Look how well that turned out. I was having read error with my OS RAID, but those have seemed to disappear with the reinstall. My webcam and new TV Tuner work properly now too.

You heard me right, new TV Tuner. I got the ASUS PHC3-150 which is working quite nicely, when I can get my wire for an antenna to get reception. Seems like the only channel that is somewhat tolerant of me not having a digital over the air antenna is NBC. But I’m picking up nice HDTV, which will work great when I get back to school and can actually record shows on TV.

I also got a new graphics card: the NVIDIA GeForce 460 GTX. I have to say that with benchmarks that I’ve done, it’s performing at least two times better than my old 9600 GSO, but I have some more stress tests to do later. Also bought bigger and quieter fans for my case. I’m still surprised on how much dust those things can accumulate.

I’ve managed, twice now as of today, to get membership discounts at Giant (the local grocery chain) without being a member. The cashiers have simply asked for my phone number and I’ve gotten the membership discount. Just a little odd, but worth noting.

Last thing before I’m out cold, I saw Despicable Me two weekends ago, and I enjoyed it very much. I wasn’t really sure what to expect before seeing it, but for all you families out there, this one is a must see. I have about 4 more movies to see this summer as well.

That’s all for now. Time for sleep.