Cottingham Lights

Cottingham has really good Christmas Lights. So tonight I took the big camera out for a walk and tried to capture them. Next time I’ll take the tripod too.

This is the middle of the village

And this is Santa.

Watching Progress Bars

I’ve bought a replacement disk for the SSD that has failed. I’ve got a Samsung one instead of the OCZ one that I used to have. It went into the desktop at around lunchtime and by mid afternoon I had Windows 8 back and running fine. Now I’ve been re-installing all the software and trying to remember just what I used to have on the machine.

And don’t tell me I should have made a backup – I had done, but Windows 8 refuses to recognise it. I made the stupid mistake of thinking that the Windows 7 backup tools that are present in Windows 8 could be used to restore a backup into Windows 8. What I probably should have done (although I’ve no way of knowing this) is install Windows 7 and then restore the Windows 8 backup from that.

Hull Global Game Jam is Coming

How many of these folks will sign up I wonder? All of them, I hope.

People, keep the weekend of the 26th and 27th of January 2013 clear. If you are a Hull student this is the perfect way to celebrate the end of your inter-semester gap week. We are very pleased to announce that Hull will be taking part in Global Game Jam. This is a bit like Three Thing Game, but better and with more people. We are working in conjunction with the Platform Expos folks to put together something really special. If you are serious about writing games and want to make lots of new friends and learn stuff, then you must, must, must come along.

We had a meeting today where we moved things forward and I got to meet some of the wonderful folks who are going to make it all work.

More details soon. V. excited.

Mending Stuff

I’m now officially fit enough to mend things. Today it was the turn of the doorbell. I did ask someone to come round and fix it but that didn’t end well. Apparently they turned up earlier this week but didn’t think there was anyone home (Old Joke Alert).

I’ve replaced the batteries in both ends and now it seems to work. Of course what I really want is one of the new fancy doorbells that plays MP3 files when someone presses the button. I could have some real fun with that….

Wii U Fun and Games

I swore I wasn’t going to get a Wii U. Of course not. Silly idea. Another console under the telly. Why would I want to do that?

Indeed.

But it is very nice. A lot nicer than I expected. And even better after the enormous update that it insisted on performing just after I’d plugged it in. Actually the thing that got me excited in the first place was the potential for media management that the device brings. The large controller with a screen is a great way to browse for and view media, and you can also use it to turn your telly on and off. If Nintendo play their cards right (historical fun fact – they used to sell playing cards before they sold video games) they could make this into a proper media hub with the benefits of dual screen that the controller brings. Microsoft have “Smart Glass” which is a big step in the same direction, but Nintendo sell you a complete solution all in one, rather than relying on you bringing a Smartphone to the party. If it all comes together, say in three or four enormous updates, I can see folks in the family really appreciating the ability to find and play media on Netflix, Love Film and the various iPlayeresque services.

The hardware is impressive. The remote screen is very good and there is no noticeable lag between it and the main screen. The fact that it is a resistive touch screen doesn’t cause problems, and even makes it easier to use a stylus where required. The worst thing about the shiny black devices is that they really do attract fingerprints and dust. However, we finally have a Nintendo device with proper video output. The HDMI plug just goes straight in and produces nice looking video and surround sound.

The games are great too. If you get a Wii U you must get NintendoLand. No ifs, no buts. You’ll also need to dig out 4 Wii controllers too (preferably with Motion Plus) to get the full five player action, but it is worth it. The “asymmetric” games are great. My favourite is the one based around Luigi’s Mansion where you have a ghost (who uses the big controller see where everyone is) sneaking up on players who have only got there torches to see what’s around them. I don’t think NIntendoLand will have the same long term appeal as Wii Sports did, but it will really make all your Christmas parties go with a swing.

We also had a go at Zombie U, which is quite frankly terrifying, Super Mario which brings Mario into high definition and adds some very interesting variations with players able to use the controller to change platform the environment and finally Tekken, which is, well, Tekken.

One surprising thing about the Wii U is the number of launch games available. The actual arrival of the console has been fairly low key in my opinion, perhaps because they haven’t made a huge number, but the range of games available is very impressive. Some of them (step forward EA with FIFA 13) are just Nintendoised versions of their offerings on other platforms (and in the case of FIFA it’s FIFA 12 too) but some look very interesting.

If you want a glimpse into an interesting video game future then the Wii U is well worth a look.