Submitted by Ritesh Raj Sarraf on Sun, 08/07/2011 - 10:41
Wrestling (WWE) is entertaining. The way the ww[ef] superstars (Especially the ones like Undertaker, Triple H) are presented is fun to watch. Or the kind of high flying maveuveurs the wwf superstars are able to perform, it really is super cool. The only catch is - it is not a sport. The feuds are all pre-defined to juicen things up.
I recently came to know of UFC. I hope some day they start airing it in my part of the world. I'm still getting acquianted to MMA, but it really is an awesome sport. This is one forum which does show size does not matter. Was watching Royce Gracie's matches from UFC 4. Awesome matches clearly showing the skill with which one can beat any size or power. The final was in between a pro-jiu jitsu vs pro-wrestler. Gracie won it but was given a tough fight by the wrestler.
I downloaded this demo some time back but never played it. Only after the recent interest in MMA I looked back at this demo. The demo was good enought to convince for the full version. The gameplay primarily comes in 2 modes: 1 x 1 fighter mode and a Career Mode.
If you start with the 1x1 fighter mode, you'll very soon be beaten out. Just like The Fight, this game does need some practising and getting a hang of the game controls. Uncommon - Attacks are triggered by the R1 key, with L3 as the modifier for kicks.
In career mode, you can create your own custom character and start from scratch to becoming a fighter. You start off with the basics, learn the standards tactics on how to Clinch, Take Down, Block and Submit your opponent. With these skills learnt, the game starts to becoming a real fun. But the real gem about the game is in the Stamina. The developers ensured that this is not just another "who's the better button masher" game. You need to be careful to not run out of stamina. The stamina is the biggest key to winning in this game, just like in real life fighting. If you run out of stamina, you can't even submit your opponent even if you have a full body mount. To beat down the tough fighters you will need to master the key combinations with great speed. Be fast enough to Jab + Jab + Hook + Side Kick, all of this with minimal stamina spent.
Overall, a great game to have if you like Mixed Martial Arts.
Submitted by Ritesh Raj Sarraf on Wed, 07/06/2011 - 02:24
I have been thinking of this topic for some time. I am a happy owner of the old Phat PS3 Model. At one time, I use to do a fair amount of gaming on my computers. So when Sony marketed the PlayStation 3 product, it was cool to see a machine that did:
Gaming
Movies, Music, Pictures
Blu-Ray
Ran Linux
I convinced myself to buy a PlayStation 3, that I'd use it for playing with Linux apart from gaming. The regular gaming did not excite any more, perhaps it had to do with the limitation of time. On running Debian on it, was when I realized that the Linux support was merely a joke. The Linux support included running a Linux distribution in a VM with not much access to the full hardware resources. Not a Great Experience
Soon, as many would be aware, Sony did the meanest thing. They pulled off the Linux support citing security concerns. To ensure further updates, most users were left with no choice but to update the firmware. This was Not A Good Thing as they had advertised the Linux feature during marketing of the product. Losing the Linux support made the PlayStation pile up more dust, as I am an occasional gamer.
But then came the good thing. Sony announced the PlayStation Move product, its answer to the Motion Gaming. This is the best thing they did and they did it good. The PS Move product was well priced and is an awesome product. The level of precision in the PS Move is told to be the best by most of the reviewers that I follow.
The Sports Champions demo came bundled with the PS Move kit. The disc houses 5 - 6 games on it of which Table Tennis, Sword Fight and Archery are very good.
The good part about these games is that they start off with easy levels but eventually (the Champions Cup) get tougher. Playing the Champions Cup level is going to be both, Fun and Tiring. It is surprising that this game was given just a 7.5 rating, I think it deserves a 10/10 The folks at Zindagi Games did an awesome job.
The Fight started off with a different impression. First of all, Sony did not push a demo for this game on the PlayStation Network. Even with low ratings, I took the plunge to buy the game. The game was not responsive. It wouldn't react to the moves I made physically and that'd lead to the opponent beating me. Game development rules are very simple: Don't make a game which people can't win, you'll lose your gamers. Also don't make a game which is just too easy to win, you'll still lose your gamers. A good example is the Prince of Persia game. Was disappointed with The Fight until I read this well done review by Pace J Miller.
Both Sony and Coldwood Interactive did a bad job in marketing this game. I think Sony should pay Pace for doing the right review. The Fight is a good game. It expects the user to train in the system. A user cannot just walk-in into the game and start beating the opponents. The Fight forces the users to earn points (which can be used to improve health, stamina and fighting skills) before they can be a fighter fit enough for fighting the in-game opponents. Points are earned through sparring sessions and working out in the gym.
I am glad I bought The Fight. After reading Pace's review, I have been thoroughly enjoying this game. It is a great game and at the same time a very great way to get away from lethargy. Be prepared to sweat like hell when playing The Fight
Despite all the debacle Sony went through (1. pulling off the Linux support 2. PS3 Compromised 3. PSN Compromised), they still have the best product in the market for the Motion Gaming experience
The information below was gladly sponsored by European tax payers. The money went to a Dutch company for doing social research among developers. People doing this kind of research deserve a financial compensation, of course.
The start point of the research was a questionnaire for developers, asking about demographical information, orientation, motivation, earning and employment.
The typical nerd
The survey started with a description of the typical geek or nerd that can be expected in a developer environment:
The subject is male.
If not home-sticking, then at least computer-sticking.
Only interested in computers.
While some will say otherwise, it is generally believed they earn relatively high incomes.
The friends of a nerd are other nerds.
Nerds generally know their friends only by E-mail or IRC since they never go out.
The working day of a nerd usually starts when yours end. They live on cafeine, nicotine and other -ines.
They are single. Since they never go out.
A large part are still students.
Or, as the dictionary puts it: geek: a carnival performer often billed as a wild man whose act usually includes biting the head off a live chicken or snake, which translates as "not the sociable kind".
Yes, it's true!
The actual survey was about checking if the above is all true. Most of it is.
And so much for the better. Geeks are typically at the perfect age for reproduction and fun. Only one fifth is student, but all of them are 98% male. But don't we all love a typical man with just a slight touch of the female nature? Macho's with a soft spot?
Another advantage is that only one fifth of the geeks are married. That's probably not the same fifth that are students, but that still makes over half of them possible dates. Except if you love the risk of going for young boys or married men, in that case you still have the full choice.
My general impression is that women like to have a partner they can respect, somebody intelligent, and that women will give up an attractive partner for an intelligent one. Now, your average nerd is not very attractive, but they do have the brains, all consolidated in PhD's, university or highschool degrees and various certificates. So I'm quite sure that geeks or nerds are OK, guru's on the other hand are not good candidates in my opinion. It seems that you have to really spend an awful lot of time behind your computer in order to achieve guru status, while you can be a nerd by more or less keeping up appearances. This can be done, specifically in the case of Open Source activists, by spending a couple of hours a week on your projects. Most people really don't do more than that, so there's plenty of time for building relationships.
Also on the financial plan you're quite safe with a nerd: unemployed nerds virtually don't exist. Except the students, but if you go for the young boys option, you should be prepared to grab your wallet from time to time. It's a well-known fact they don't have anything at all. The average geek on the other hand makes a fair and reliable monthly income, enough to sustain wife and children and a nice house in a nice neighbourhood.
Free/Open Source developers vs. closed source developers
The above statements should of course be revised if we are to compare Open Source developers with closed source developers. There's an equal amount of both, but I would advise to try an Open Source developer if you have the choice. Open Source developers are generally more satisfied with their work, so consequently they will be more agreeable human beings. As an extra, they suffer less from time pressure, so they have less stress, and a longer life. About that last statement we don't know anything yet, because geeks are commonly too young a group for producing this kind of statistical material, but it is my guess this will become clear in a couple of decades.
Since Open Source developers clearly seem to enjoy what they're doing, they don't usually think that money is all-important. They usually have a healthy attitude towards balancing earning and spending money. Expect your presents in hardware, of course. But hey, if he buys your laptop, all the more for you to spend on make-up, new clothes or whatever you like!
Other nice side effect of Open Source is the motivation and energy these developers have. And not only about their software. They will also be very enthousiastic about you, guaranteed! And they want to make things better - almost sounds like Philips, what more can you want? Plus they are innovative and funny and generally not the kind of guy that wants to stay in his ivory tower.
To a certain (large) class of Open Source developers, programming is an art. They have an eye for aesthetics. They will tell you when you look too fat in your dress, but when asked to observe, they will notice you changed your hair colour.
Open Source people are also the kind of guys that usually have elaborate ideas about politics and freedom, and are generally peace-loving. Not the kind of husband that beats up his wife - maybe because they usually don't have the physics for it to start with, but even if they would, you're safe.
Conclusions
You might not have thought of it, but your true Jacob might be a geek...
More information can be found at infonomics.nl. The survey was published in the Autumn of 2002 and apparantly was also referenced in SlashDot.
Submitted by Ritesh Raj Sarraf on Sat, 02/26/2011 - 09:13
Fishkeeping is a very common hobby and an easy one to start. What's challenging is is to be able to continue the hobby. Very often most people give up on fish keeping.
Reasons being:
Water - Gets contaminated too soon.
Fish - All of a sudden they start dying and you'd hate to see that happen
Cleanliness - Sometimes, it just becomes a burden cleaning the tank
All the points above are inter-related. If you can crack 1-2 of them, you might have a better experience with your fishkeeping hobby.
I've been an aquarist for just about 2 years. I've been a victim of all the 3 above bulleted problems. But now, I have kinda worked it out and haven't had any trouble.
Tips: You'll find plenty of online information on do's and don'ts on this topic. Here's my thought derived from them and with my 2 years of observation.
Never empty the tank in trying to clean it. That just disrupts the eco-system of the tank and leads to, all of a sudden, of all fishes dying. Freshen like, half of the tank's water. That is enough.
What is important is to clean the bottom of the tank. That's where all the waste gets accumulated. The best solution to it is to use a suction pump. Nothing fancy - a simple one will do. The suction pump does a pretty good job of sucking out all the waste from the bottom of the tank and also sucks of some of the waste from the gravels.
Fish. Never over-populate your tank. Too many problems. Not enought space for the fish. Too much of waste they'd generate. And too frequently you'd be required to clean your tank
Snails - My experience has been that snails are a must to your aquarium. They do the awesomest job of keeping your tank's bottom and the sides clean. I have like 5 snails in my tank and my tank is cleaned up by them round the clock. I love this slug which works for me all the time without demanding any wage. On the internet, I've read many people mentioning the challenges they've had when snails have sneaked in into their tanks. That they increase in numbers very quickly and that it becomes a nightmare of cleaning them out. Fortunately, for me that never occured. For whatevery reasons, that I don't know, my snails have never copulated (or what that species' equivalent is). So I've not had to deal with that situation. If you can figure out the reason OR if you can deal with that situation, I highly recommend having some snails in your tank. They keep your tank very clean and help you do what you actually want i.e. watch your tank.
Submitted by Ritesh Raj Sarraf on Tue, 06/01/2010 - 19:15
So this past weekend, me and my friend, went on a drive to Yellagiri Hills. It was exciting driving on the highway in an entry level Indian car, Maruti Suzuki Alto.
Unfortunately, we couldn't make it to the destination. 5 kilometers before the destination, while we were uphill, the car b0rke down. On one of the hair-pin bends where we had to cut down the speed to zero, switch to the 1st and 2nd gear failed. Hmmm!! At that point, we were on a very steep road, with the car stalled and the gear box (for 1st and 2nd) broken down. Nice!!
Somehow we did manage to turn the car back (Don't ask me how) and reach down the hill with the slope. That's when we started "thinking". Now what. Still another 200+ kilometers to go.
Called up the Maruti "On the Road" pick-up service. Being Sunday, the contact was unavailable. Nice!!
We took the plunge and drove the broken car. How ?? The 3rd, 4th, 5th and Reverse gears still work. So we somehow managed to reach near to "Vanyan Badi" at a restaurant and asked for help. Luckily we did get a resource to help us out. Unfortunately, the resource was not resourceful enough. He recommended us drive down the b0rken car all the way back home. Nice!!
With not much choice left, and with all the Cats & Dogs rain (ah!! Yes. I will talk more about it in a while), we decided to move on with the b0rken car. Plan was: worst case, we dump the car and catch a cab (hopefully).
As soon as we started, we were welcomed with a very nice and heavy rainfall. Heavy enough that the water was near to on the road, the speed breakers were not visible and a very good amount of water was clogged at the sides of the road. Well! Fuck happens. We continue.
We did hit a big breaker which went unnoticed because of the water clog. Apart from that, otherwise, there weren't any issues. We covered 3 toll gates full of traffic with out b0rken car and reached back home safely. Then hunted down for food/booze, ate/drank and CRASHED.
So, when your car goes b0rke and you are just a bunch of dudes stuck, don't worry. Fuck it. It ain't gonna screw you that bad.
Submitted by Ritesh Raj Sarraf on Sat, 10/25/2008 - 15:01
For all NFS Old Timers...
Many must be aware of the older Need For Speed games that EA produced. One among them was High Stakes. IMHO, the uniqueness of High Stakes was its Damage Mode feature which could be very well felt in the game. The more the car's engine/steering/suspension got damaged, the more difficult it was to handle the car then. I could never find the same game play in the later versions of EA's NFS.
Looks like I wasn't the only one that admired High Stakes. Thanks to people on the internet, even though EA has completely discontinued High Stakes, High Stakes is still available. And it has been hacked upon to run on Windows XP. It is a good old 1999 game and I am still enjoying it now (2008).
Submitted by Ritesh Raj Sarraf on Thu, 04/24/2008 - 09:06
Last weekend I went to a pub here (In Bangalore). Boozed a llittle.
Two things to think about
A unique drink that I had, Lambroghini. Lambroghini was a special drink served with flames. Had to sip the liquor from the flames while the liquid was on file.
When returning from the restroom, the waiter told me that I had broke-in into a Ladies Room. Unfortunately no lady was there.
The folks at 
Unfortunately no lady was there. 
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