It’s funny, every fourth year everyone suddenly seems to become a sports fan. OK, maybe not everyone, but certainly people seem to discuss sport a great deal more than usual during this time.

I rarely watch Olympic events but do make an exception for sports I might watch anyway. The exception to my exception so far has been brief but has included the table tennis final (mostly because it’s the Chinese Olympics, and China was in it, and it was on after something I was already watching) as well as the tennis final.

Other sports I’ve watched, and watch every now and then include boxing and cycling. Track and field, gymnastics and the even more obscure “sports” (dressage, I’m looking at you) are right out.

For me, though, the Olympics has really been another football (futbol, soccer, whatever) World Cup. The aforementioned viewing comes to maybe a couple of hours but I’ve watched at least three or four football matches. Mens, womens, whatever.

This evening, Argentina and Brazil play in a semi-final with the winner playing one of Nigeria and Belgium (who are playing this very moment; I suspect Nigeria will win). The Argentina/Brazil match will be, I expect, the highlight of tournament and probably more interesting than the likely Argentina/Nigeria final which will probably result in Argentina winning (again).

So, bring on the 2012 British Olympics World Cup!

RTS (Real Time Strategy) games were once one of my most favoured genres. I’ve never been close to the top tier of players, and was often quite handily beaten in most LAN events. I still enjoyed the games, but I think more for the city-building and was the sort of player that “turtles” (builds large defensive structures rather than being on the offensive).

I was quite excited to hear that Starcraft 2 is in development and due out later this year, but I can’t help but think I won’t really enjoy it. The last few RTS games I’ve played have been almost exactly the same as the others, with minor changes cosmetic such as character units and setting. The missions are usually quite similar and generic, and the whole thing gets pretty old, pretty fast.

Supreme Commander was the last such game I installed, and although I haven’t played it a great deal, I just can’t find myself getting excited by what seems to be a “been there, done that” experience. The whole strategy in these sorts of games seems to lie in finding the fastest way to crank out as many units as possible. There doesn’t ever seem to be a huge amount of tactics involved.

Sure, you can make two or three groups of units and send them off in different directions to pincer the enemy in multiple fronts, but once the units are together the AI is not particularly intelligent and micromanaging each unit seems more a chore than interesting part of the game.

One game I did play and enjoy a while back is Company of Heroes (I haven’t gotten into the second yet, but plan to) as even though it’s an RTS it was focused on missions with smaller units and less on churning out as many units in as short a time as possible. This is, I think, the direction that the games need to take (even though it is a well-done rehash of the Commandos games).

Starcraft 2, on the other hand, will be a massive, micromanaging clickfest. And it will sell millions. Mostly because I’m not the intended target audience (one, I’m not Korean and two I’m obviously not a hardcore RTS gamer). I’d really like to see more RTS games with no or limited bases with a focus on different style of gaming. What? I’m not sure, anything I could think of has probably been thought up before and already failed. I just think the current style of game needs to evolve. Shooters have; RPGs have. Why not RTS?

Since I don’t post nearly enough on this site, I thought I might discuss my opinions on Assassin’s Creed, which I’ve been playing for the last week or so. The game came out on Xbox 360 and PS3 last year, but just came out for PC.

Being a PC gamer (not primarily but still regularly) I was at first surprised to see no options for resolution (least that I could find); as I’m using a 1920×1200 LCD and the game ran with a slight letterbox at 1920×1080, this isn’t a big deal. The other strange thing is that I was unable to set anti-aliasing options despite my rig being more than capable of handling such options — it was there, just greyed out.  Admittedly I only played the DirectX 10 version so DirectX 9 may support this; I didn’t even think til now to check!

But onto the story: Set during in the first crusade (12th century), and simultaneously in a future but undisclosed time, you play a character who has been “sent” back in time to relive the life of an Assassin using a device called an ‘Animus’, similar to the plug-in chairs in the Matrix series of movies. But that part of the story is wasted on me — though clearly one of a multi-part series, it’s useless in at least the first game. That’s not really important. What’s important in the game’s context is that you’re there to perform nine assassinations on major targets (loosely based on real-life figures at the time).

And now onto the game: Before you perform each assassination, you must gather intelligence on the person’s whereabouts, situation and a likely strike point. The setup is similar to a Need For Speed game: you perform a number of small tasks (in Need For Speed they are race types — drag racing, drifting, point-to-point, etc; in Assassin’s Creed they are obviously different — eavesdropping, pickpocketing, assassinating guards, destroying merchant stalls) and then move on to the major target.

A lot has been spoken of the repetitive nature of the investigations you perform, and I agree: they do become repetitive. Especially the less-interesting ones such as eavesdropping or pickpocketing. Because the game allows you to roam anywhere (except for a daft decision which puts large walls in parts of the city to stop you entering ahead of time) you can make of it what you will. Some of the most enjoyable experiences were when things went wrong.

For example, I was tasked to kill 3 guards without being found out. I killed the first two and as I hunted for the third ran around a corner hastily and bumped into another guard; instantly the guard gave chase. Soon after I had more than a dozen guards chasing me over the town’s rooftops. I stopped on the sloping roof of a church to fight, but was quickly surrounded — the fighting is simple, but can be quite fun (and luckily the guards only attack one at a time); I killed off a few but decided to run. I grabbed a guard, shoved him into a couple which fell off the roof as I bolted in the other direction with only a few left.

It’s the moments like these that really make the game. When it works, it’s as exciting as all hell. When you complete an assassination you still have to escape, but all the guards are on alert. My favourite assassination had me chasing the target through the city streets and when I finally caught up to him I jumped on his back and managed to complete my mission in front of a number of guards (and large crowd of people) who instantly gave chase. Brilliant.

Because it’s an open sandbox, you can tackle things however you wish. I had to escape a city — and when they’re finally unlocked, the cities are big, you can run for ages without hitting the walls; the viewing distance when up high is also amazing, you can see the whole city as well as the massive crowds of people therein — in one of the later missions, but the city entrance was guarded. From a safe point on a roof I assassinated a guard which drew the attention of the other guards. Jumping to a building closer to the exit I then jumped across the beams above the unaware guards before dropping to the ground, stealing a horse and making my escape. If I’d wanted I could have instead joined a group of monks and used them as cover to pass the guards unnoticed.

Sure there are a ton of faults — falling in water is instant death, and there’s a level set in docklands which requires you to jump from ship-to-ship to find a target; the guards are as good as climbing or jumping from roof-to-roof as you; the guards forget what you looked like even though they were chasing you two seconds ago; having to ride a horse between towns is uninteresting and time consuming — but the stuff that’s done right was most certainly enough to keep my interest and to be honest I wish there were to the game (or at least optional sidequests that aren’t “kill templars” or “find flags” — boring) because I wanted to continue playing when the credits rolled.

I usually hate stealth games (or stealth sections in games) with a passion, mostly because they are “instant fail”. That is, if you get found out you have to start again. Assassin’s Creed however, works because you can stuff up and it lets you get out of it. That said, trying some missions over and over is a bit silly. As is the fact that to perform most of the assassinations you have to be out in the open in front of dozens of people or guards. So, even though I despise stealth games I found myself wanting more stealth options in this one.

There are almost as many faults in the game as there are great moments that it’s easy to see why people were divided on it’s initial release. There’s an incredible, amazing, enjoyable, exciting game in there and it’s let down by some dumb or lazy decisions. I’ll certainly be interested to see when the second one is released.

I know this was long, and many of you don’t care, but that’s what blogs are for, right?

Right, so Justine has a new job; this new job means she’ll be travelling into the city via train instead of driving.  After a little bit of “umming” and “ahhing” we decided to get an iPod Nano (8GB).

I like iPods, from a hardware point of view.  They’re small, nicely designed, feel pretty robust and are extremely easy to use.  However, that’s about where it ends.  Being forced to use iTunes just so I can put music on my device is silly.  Ford may as well tell me I can only use Caltex Premium in my car.  I’m planning on using YamiPod anyway since it sounds like it’ll work how I want it, but first I need to sync once with iTunes.

I’ve never used an iPod from an owner’s point of view — I’ve listened to them, I’ve helped people install iTunes and have helped people sync their units when they weren’t syncing.  However, I’ve never had the whole end-to-end iPod experience, until now that is.

We ordered the unit on Wednesday morning, and it managed to arrive here all the way from Shenzen, China in under 48-hours.  Pretty good so far.  I picked up the unit from our mail room on the way out from work today.  While driving home (when stopped at lights!), I opened the box — about the size of 3 or 4 DVD cases — and inside was a tiny little case about the size of a packet of cigarettes.

The case opened easily and though the iPod was wedged inside tightly, I notice the diagram indicating that I bend the plastic to get it out.  I did and it worked.

I’m surprised at the diminutive size of the unit, it’s tiny!  No wonder, since it’s just flash storage.  Still, it’s light and looks nice.  The engraving on the back (”If you can dream it, you can do it” — ’twas Justine’s choice to put this Walt Disney quote on the back) looks quite reasonable too.

Right, so I get home and unpack everything.  I configure all the settings to my liking (no doubt Justine will change them, since it’s her iPod) and plug it into the computer.  Why didn’t Apple simply make it a USB “B” cable like almost every other device I have?  Now I have to take care of this cable — which probably costs an arm and a leg to replace — instead of simply using a cable available for fifty cents anywhere.  Oh well, it’ll stay in the one place anyway, I bet.

I can’t find a setting on the iPod to make it just a “data storage” device simply allowing me to transfer files across.  Also, it seems that no software was provided.  I suppose I’ll download it… 75MB?!  Oh well here we go.  Why not include a 128MB USB stick in the box, they’re ludicrously cheap now.  I guess I’ll install iTunes… on my work laptop.

I need administrative priveleges just to install *iTunes*?  Software I buy for work that costs thousands of dollars and installs device drivers all over the place doesn’t do this.  Whatever, it’s a non-issue since I know the password anyway.  Here we go, iTunes is installing.

“You cannot install iTunes as a newer version of Quicktime is already installed.”  Huh?  No one said anything about iTunes, and why can’t the newest version of iTunes work with the newest version of Quicktime I already have installed?  Fine, I’ll uninstall Quicktime, I never use it anyway, although I suppose I now will since iTunes needs it.  Here we go (again), iTunes is (again) installing.

Success!  iTunes is on.  Bugger restarting.  Time to run it for the first time.  “Configuring… Please wait.”  Shouldn’t any configuration have happened when, say, it was installing?  Especially if it has to do it once the first time I run it.

Uh, oh, I’m going to miss my hairdresser’s appointment, this is taking a lot longer than I expected…

…OK, now my hair’s shorter but I still don’t have a working iPod.  Time to see where I was at.

“iTunes Setup Assistant”  I guess installing, then configuring, means that it wasn’t setup.  Maybe it’s different for each user so I’ll give it a break this time.  “Find Music”  No thanks, I know where they are.  No thanks again, I’ll organise my music the way *I* want it, not Apple.  No thanks yet again, I already have music, that’s why I bought an iPod.  By the way, can I use my iPod yet?

Alright, I can see iTunes.  Does this mean I can listen to music on the device that’s not the computer?  Guess not.  No thanks, I don’t want a mini store.  What’s that in the background?  Windows is telling me my hardware is ready to use, but the iPod still doesn’t have any music on it for me to listen to.

Wait, iTunes has changed again.  I don’t want to register, license agreement?  Haven’t I already answered “Yes” to two of those so far?  Cancel.  Wait again, I see iPod in Windows Explorer, maybe this means I can put music files on it after all!  Oh, no.  There’s an “iPod_Control” folder, and within that a “Music” folder, but there’s a bunch of “F00″ type folders.  I might be able to delete them but nothing has told me what to do yet.  I guess I’d better leave that alone for now.

I’ll try dragging a song onto iTunes to import it, since YamiPod tells me I just need to have one song on it anyway.  Muse, you’re the lucky first.  Ahh, there it is in iTunes.  And I can play it.  Now, how to get it onto the iPod?  Right-click?  No.  All, there’s a “Sync” option under “File”.  But it’s disabled.  What do I have to do to get that enabled?  The iPod says it’s Connected.  Maybe it already copied across?  I can’t use the “Eject” button that the manual told me to, so I’ll just unplug it.

Nope, still no music.  Let’s plug it back in then, maybe I can get that setup screen that was on before back.  OK, fine, I agree to whatever I agree to.  It’s just my work laptop, anyway.  Why do you need my phone number?  Are you planning to call me?  Oh well, we’re hardly home anyway and it’s the home number.

Stop forcing me to use the iTunes store.  “Skip this step.”  Right, I get to name it.  Time to shine, self, think up a snazzy name she’ll think is funny and love you forever.  Diamonds might be forever but a cool name on an electronic device, I’ll be set for eternity.  Even better, it’s appearing as a “Device”.

Let’s copy that one song across now, and sync it.  Now the eject button is working.  Hurrah, it’s only taken almost two hours (with a haircut in the middle, I feel like I shouldn’t have stopped for that haircut) but I can listen to this one song.  But I’m not finished here, oh no, I want lots of songs!

How do I get to see it again in iTunes?  OK fine, I’ll disconnect and reconnect the cable.  Which means I have to unplug the headphone.  That’s annoying but I doubt we’ll be listening to it much in this manner.  Ah ha, there it is again.

You know, this is not as bad as I expected.  I really thought I would have to sync, watch all my files disappear or be renamed and make a pact with the Devil to get this to run smoothly.  It’s not so bad considering I can just use iTunes to copy the files across without even needing the library.  I still loathe iTunes and don’t really like the iPod interface, but it’s not mine.

We’re sitting here watching Futurama this evening (episode: The Honking), and the number of nerdy-type jokes in such a short amount of time forced me to blog about it.

One of the characters, “Tandy”, is wearing a t-shirt with the label “Euro TRaSh-80″, which refers to the TRS-80 (also our first computer).  Later, one of the paintings in the haunted castle bears a painting of an ship’s captain, “Commodore LXIV” (Commodore 64 — also our second computer).  Shortly after, evil writing on the wall is 1010011010 which, once translated from binary to decimal is “666″.

Very clever, very nerdy.  Can’t believe I never noticed these small jokes before.

Last night, Justine and I went to TGI Fridays to see someone from Justine’s work off as she’s leaving.  Even though I didn’t want to go, don’t know the person and was basically forced to come along, dinner wasn’t too bad (I had a Jack Daniel’s burger).

The thing I don’t like about most work outings is that if the significant other doesn’t know the work people very well, they usually end up sitting around being totally bored.  Also, unless there are lots of significant others (which there weren’t last night) then you don’t usually have anyone to talk to.

But I digress; when the girl was taking our drink orders, I was carded!  What the heck?  I was easily the oldest person there (besides the owner of the store at which Justine works) by a large margin.  Maybe it was because I’d shaved recently, maybe it was because I’d had my hair cut over the weekend, maybe it’s getting really annoying.  Even stranger, I was the only person at the table of around 15 people to get carded… least that I saw.  Apparently I look younger than a bunch of 18 and 19-year-olds.