You’ve probably noticed at this point that the website (again) looks different. Over the past few months I have been installing, customising, tinkering and fiddling with Wordpress to get it”just so”.

If you are a technically-minded user, you may also be wondering why I chose to go with Wordpress versus my own blog that I wrote a couple of years back. The answer to that is both “interoperability” and “functionality”. Since we are going overseas soon (I’m sure you’re all aware of that now), I wanted an easy way to update while away.

Wordpress has an email-to-blog function which means all I need to do is to send an email, wait a bit, and have it posted. I’m sure I could have coded it myself, but it would have taken a while and Wordpress already has it. There are a bunch of other great features I’ve introduced including Gravatars (which allows you to have a picture beside your comments), Flickr integration (whenever I post a photo from Flickr, the data is read as well as the comments on that photo — this is my attempt to integrate both my blog and photoblog) and a bunch of other stuff designed to make it easier to get in, read what you want and find more content that makes you want to stick around.

At this point, I will step back and give a quick history of bludger.org, since the old site will soon come offline and I won’t have pictures of it any more; indeed, I only have pictures of the most recent versions of the site.

• 2000 - bludger.org is registed primarily for me to have an email address I never have to change again.
• Early 2001 - The first blog is created, though I didn’t know it as a blog then. A gaudy bright orange and dark blue colour scheme are used (based on a Microsoft Access database running with ASP, hosted at www.brinkster.com).
• Late 2001 - The site switches to mike.bludger.org as I’d decided to create a “global” website and a personal one. As well as a blog, it also had book, movie and restaurant reviews (still on Microsoft Access and ASP).
• 2002 - 2003 - Not a lot of blogging goes on, but I was attempting to revamp mike.bludger.org. It never really materialised.
• Early 2004 - My first use of software I didn’t make. I used PHPNuke after setting up a Linux server at home. The server was a paltry P133 and couldn’t really handle running Apache, mySQL and PHPNuke together.
• Mid 2004 - After 4-6 months of using PHPNuke I decided to again build my own site. I used mySQL and PHP this time and created a simple site with a “blog of doom” and “links of peril”. A dark blue colour scheme with the first appearance of the couch.
• Late 2004 - I decided to recode the entire blog from scratch as blogs are becoming more popular and I decide to make my blog more “blog like”.
  
• 2005 - A few problems with the style sheet on the new site prompt me to change the look and feel again. These problems are mostly due to Internet Explorer’s poor handling of transparencies.
  
• 2006 - A small visual refresh of the look/feel to the site.
  
  
• 2007 - (Where we are now) I install Wordpress, create my own custom Flickr integration using PHPFlickr as well as creating my own custom Wordpress theme.
  

This is actually not the first time I have installed Wordpress. I installed it late in 2006 with the intention to moving across and using lots of AJAXifications, but became bored with the look and feel of the site I’d come up with.

Getting the data in posed a problem, as I had to take my data from my database and change it around to suit the database structure for Wordpress. Since I’ve done plenty of database stuff both at home and work, it wasn’t particularly taxing but was time-consuming. Speaking of time consuming, I went through every single post and painstakingly added tags to each one. Some are better tagged than others, but they’re all there.

Since I have been working mostly on this site, I decided to simply ignore my other site. I was updating both simultaneously for a while, but thought getting you to read a number of older posts might be a good way to get you to explore the site.

So there you have it! Explore, enjoy and let me know what you think.

That little bludger.org in history thing on the right-hand side is great! I was on the site to fix up the search functionality I created a couple of years ago and get it working properly since the big site move of 2006, and happened to glance at the posts from around this time last year.

One was where I was talking about how we’d some house cleaning and I mentioned later in the post that I was hoping we wouldn’t be living in the same house at this time next year (well, we are) as Winter would be sucky (well, it is).

It’s interesting, because at that time we had no idea that Justine would be going back to school this year, and that the lower rent here would really help out our finances. In fact, I’m pretty sure that at that time, we hadn’t even thought about it. Well, I hadn’t at least.

So, it’s not just there to fill up space and make it look like there’s more here than there really is (that’s part of it, sure), but it’s a great way to see what was going on in the past. It’s almost like a time machine! Except without the coolness of actually being a time machine.

As E3 draws to a close, so do the soppy memories relayed from my keyboard. We were actually talking about this one the other day, it was the catalyst for the last few posts so why not include it here?

Back at high school, in years 11 and 12 (1995 and 1996) we had as much control over the computer systems as we needed. The administrator account — admin — password was batman. I don’t remember how we found it out, though I do recall looking over one of our teacher’s shoulders as he typed it; not sure if that was after we already knew it though. At one point, mid-year, they changed the admin account’s password. Pity though, that instead of renaming the administrator account to admin, they simply copied it. This meant that instead of using admin, we simply used administrator with the good ol’ batman password. The password for the Unix machine’s root account at Chisholm was toucan, if you’re interested. I definitely know I found this one using the same look-over-the-shoulder method. I initially thought it was topgun since the teacher typed it rather fast, but figured it out after a short while. A good lesson to make your passwords complicated and not real words! But I digress.

So what did we do with the system now that we had full control? Why, we installed (and played) games! In year 12, we played (for almost the entire year) Duke Nukem 3D (I expect the sequel will be played by my kids when they’re in year 12). Since the systems were running some sort of Novell Thin Client with Windows 3.11, all we had to do was to install a game in a directory once, and it was available to all!

Eventually, the teachers cottoned on to this, and started deleting the games. No matter, we starting using our favourite compression tool at the time — ARJ to compress the games as an archive. We would name the games things like dn3d.dll or win.dll and “hide” (i.e. move) them in the Windows installation directory. Then, we created batch files similarly obscured which extracted them to a directory so we could recover them when they were deleted.

But it didn’t stop there, since we didn’t want just anyone playing games, myself and another student wrote two similar programs in Turbo Pascal; these programs had a hard-coded password (that we’d change and recompile every few days/weeks) which had to be entered to execute a renamed .exe file. Of course, you could just rename the .exe and run it but we never told more than a few people about this.

Obviously we “beat” at least one of the teachers, because eventually he just let us play which ever games we wanted, even during class. The most popular games were Duke Nukem 3D (as previously mentioned) and Stunts. I remember at one point the Stunts password being schumacher, which was great, because even when people knew it they couldn’t spell it! Later in the year the shareware version of Quake was released; luckily the computers were Pentiums (I believe they were the 100MHz ones) so they could run it, unlike my home PC of the time.

As we have since found out, the teachers had no idea about our obscured games, even the next year! Stephan’s younger brother, Simon, was told the “secrets” of the games on the school computers, and proceeded to continue our legacy.

That’s enough nerdy gaming memories for now. I have a lot more I’m sure I could tell, but I’m sure I’ve bored you all enough this week. It was fun for me, though!

Enough of these namby-pamby console diatribes, it’s time for a PC-related video game for me to whinge about. Besides, I don’t feel like spewing another post about my feeling, yuck.

Many “computer” gamers love the Ultima series. I believe Ultima four is considered the high point of the series, though it may be six or seven (there were nine games, not including the online ones, for those not in the know). Besides the ninth game, which was really quite awful mostly due to bugs, many consider the eighth game to be the low point of the series. Personally though, I have absolutely no idea why Ultima fans dislike it so.

It may be that the game doesn’t “fit” into the rest of the series. This is probably quite correct. Given that it was actually the first in the series that I remember playing, I had no preconceptions of the series. Ultima VIII allowed the player to run free in the world of whatever-it-was-called. This age of games like GTA III, where players are demanding freedom is nothing to many who player computer games in the 80s. Some enjoyable things that could be done include stealing from shops, killing innocent people, moving almost anything (chairs, small tables, cushions, etc) where ever you wanted, walking on fences, and pretty much anything else you care to think of (within the limits of the game, of course).

If I recall correctly, I was in year nine or ten when I played this game most. At the time I was heavily into this game, I would daydream all day whilst at school thinking about what I was intending to do in the game when I got home. The walk home would generally be quite brisk, and the first thing I’d do when I got home was boot up the PC, and I’d play until I was unable to play any longer (most often because I was told to get off the computer). There was a long period where I didn’t play the game, but I eventually got back into it, and managed to complete the game. The ending, though short, was nicely rendered and made me feel as though I’d actually accomplished something worthwhile. So there you go, another great game; thinking about it takes me back. Actually, I want to go and play it right now…

I was going to post a non-Nintendo video game memory today, but since Nintendo released images of their new console today, I think I will recount a Nintendo-related memory.

A quick but important note needs to be made on my history with Nintendo consoles. The first one I had, like many video gamers my age, was the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). Sure, we had computers in our house before that, but it was my first console, and it was mine. I was given the Deluxe Set, which included the “Zapper” light gun (the original grey version, not the later-released orangey-red version) and R.O.B. the “Robotic Operating Buddy” (and there’s not much good information on R.O.B. on the web, surprisingly).

I remember reading an EGM “1990 Buyer’s Guide to Video Games” over, and over, and over, which had a comparison on upcoming consoles (most of which never came to Australia), including the Megadrive (which I’ve covered recently) and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), which blew me away. The Super Mario World article had me enthralled with the possibilities of the SNES; the amazing graphics, Mario with a cape! Incredible!

Again, Dad decided to pony up the money for me to get another video game console. I think he was almost as excited as I was when getting a new console, even though he barely ever played them. My memory’s a little hazy on this one, but I believe I picked up the console on it’s release day. I still have the unit (and the Megadrive, though I sold the NES to Stephan for what was probably too much money, or too little; I loved that unit). I do remember taking the bus (again) to Myer, picking up the SNES for around $350 — bargain! — and taking the V-Line train home at around 7:30 at night.

So, onto the real “memory”, then:

I’m going to talk about on of my favourite games ever, Legenda of Zelda: A Link to the Past. I had played through the brilliant Legend of Zelda on my NES, and owned it’s sequel Adventures of Link. The sequel was no way near as good as the original, though it was still an enjoyable (and far, far more challenging) game. When I saw there was a new “Zelda” game coming, I could barely contain my excitement. Given that I didn’t have a lot of money of at the time I was heavily into renting games from the local video store. A Link To The Past blew me away from the outset. It was just like the original, but the graphics were better, you could do more stuff and the story was much more engaging.

The first few minutes of the game grabbed me by the shoulders and didn’t let go. The beginning of the game has Link’s father rushing out of the house during a huge storm, wielding a sword and shield. Being the curious child, Link jumps out of bed (would’ve been a short game if he didn’t) and give chase. Shortly after, Link sneaks into a castle, watches his father die, picks up the sword and shield and carries on his father’s quest.

Even though I didn’t manage to finish the game the first time I rented it, I tried again and again. Sometimes I’d rent the game a few weeks after returning it to find my save games still on the cartridge! Finally, I managed to cross over into the game’s “dark world”, which is around 3/4 of the way through the game. That rental period, I managed to finish it.

Of course, that didn’t stop me from renting the game a number of times even though I’d finished it. Occasionally, when the nostalgia bug hits me, I’ll play the game on my Xbox via an emulator. It’s not lost any of it’s original charm.

All of this nicely segues into me linking to the new trailer for the new Zelda game: Twilight Princess. From what I’ve heard, Twilight Princess is a manga adaptation of the 80s film Ladyhawke. In the new game, Link turns into a wolf, though details have not yet been released. Now is the time for me to finally finish Ocarina of Time!

OK, I couldn’t leave you hanging for another thrilling journey into my memory.

The year was 1991 and I was trying to pay off a Megadrive via layby. Dad decided to pay off the Megadrive for me rather than dishing out the money slowly in the form of pocket money. We took the bus to Cranbourne, and picked up the unit. Unfortunately, the unit I’d been paying for didn’t actually come with Altered Beast as had been advertised; it turned out I was a week or so late for that package. The bus trip home was a particularly quiet one for me, as I knew my awesome new purchase wasn’t particularly awesome without a game to play on it.

We got off at the Karingal Hub shopping centre (which was about 4 stops before our house) and Dad kindly agreed to buy me a game; the game I wanted more than any other was Sonic the Hedgehog. Dad waited outside with the Megadrive while I eagerly went into Toyworld (the only place with games at the time) and browsed their limited selection, which was on shelves behind the counter.

Their limited selection did not include Sonic the Hedgehog.

Despondent, I walked from the shop and told Dad there was no Sonic to be seen. He asked if I still wanted a game — of course I did! The only other game that interested me was a Disney game (I forget if it was Castle of Illusion or World of Illusion; I suppose it was the former, given the release dates); I’m not sure why I was so intrigued by a Disney game, but I’ll try and regain some dignity by saying that it had good reviews at the time.

Dad walked into the store while I guarded the boxed Megadrive with my life from the evil inhabitants of the shopping centre. A few minutes — which seemed an enternity — passed and eventually he emerged from the store with the game in a white plastic bag.

I sighed for a moment with my audible disappointment as I opened the bag to read the manual for the game I would surely enjoy anyway.

It was Sonic!

As the person in the store picked up the Mickey Mouse game, the last copy of Sonic in the store had revealed itself. Now that is a positive gaming memory.

I recall playing Sonic until the wee hours of that (Saturday) night, barely sleeping and getting up at around 6:30 just to play more Sonic. Since I didn’t want to wake anyone up, I used my crappy headphones and connected them directly to the console — wow, stereo! Every time you picked up a ring, the sound would swap from one ear to the other. Running down a hill: left, right, left, right. Picking up speed: leftrightleftright. Great stuff.

The 2005 Electronics Entertainment Expo (E3), which starts tomorrow in the US, is shaping up to be a big one this year. Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony will all be showing their new consoles in one form or another, which means lots of information to digest and even more hype to sort through.

In the spirit of gaming, I thought I might relay some of my fondest gaming memories (plus it’s an easy way to post something, since it’s been a bit deserted around here recently). So, away we go:

I’d had my NES for a couple of years, and had heard about this fantastic new system coming out called the Megadrive. It provided 16-bits of power, as opposed to the measly 8-bits the NES could provide. Obviously, it must be twice as good!

A K-Mart catalogue arrived at our house one day, advertising the Megadrive at a bargain-basement (compared to everywhere else) $295 with Altered Beast. Since the nearest K-Mart was in Cranbourne, and I wanted to save as much money as possible, I took the bus and put the console on layby. Over the next few weeks I made my way to Cranbourne to put some of my hard earned pocket money on the layby.

One Saturday, I got off the bus, paid off a bit more and wandered around Cranbourne for a while. Since I had no pockets (and I have no idea why I had no pockets) I put the layby slip in my shoe. My bus ticket was a 3-hour ticket but just my luck, I missed the last bus that fit into the time I was allowed to use the ticket. Since I didn’t have enough money for another bus ticket, I decided to walk home. It’s not a particularly long walk — it only takes a few minutes in the bus — so it shouldn’t be too tough, right? The day was warm but not hot, so I used my paltry amount of remaining money to buy a no-name brand can of lemonade.

As I walked home, it became apparent that it was a much further walk than I’d anticipated. After about 2-3 kilometres, I realised I couldn’t feel the layby slip in my shoe. It must have just moved around the shoe, right? Wrong! The layby slip was nowhere to be found. So what’s a boy to do? Head on back, that’s what! I must have been the luckiest person alive that day, since I found the layby slip under a bench on which I’d been sitting almost an hour earlier. I have absolutely no idea how the slip fell out of my show, but there it was. Thank the stars, and head on home!

As I walked the sixteen kilometres home (don’t forget to add the six just mentioned) I had to ration my warm can of generic lemonade so I didn’t overheat in the sun. It wasn’t that hot, but since I was in my all-black phase, it was doing a good job of warming me up.

So I finally managed to get home, and collapsed on the couch for all of five minutes — just enough to start relaxing — when I realised that a video I’d rented from the second-nearest store (about 2km each way) had to be returned before 6pm. It would have been about 5:30pm as I was sitting on the couch. I asked Dad if he’d be willing to return it and made a point to tell him I’d walked from Cranbourne. No luck… stupid responsibilities. So, back on the road to return the video. I finally made it home at about 6:20pm and vegetated for the rest of the weekend; I probably didn’t even move that night. And people wonder why I don’t like walking!

Next time I’ll actually write about a video gaming memory which has something to do with video games.