Andy Laub they call me "The Solution"

Despite the advice of Gamespot.com, I went ahead and bought the Getaway anyway. My main intention was driving around london instead of Miami or somewhere else, and it had some added appeal in that it used licensed cars (ie Lexus, Rover) instead of making them up. But I have to say that after completing the game over the weekend (it loses some points for shortness), I am looking forward to the next installment. The driving is average, and the cutscenes are sometimes ridiculously long, but it remains fun to play, and less frustrating than others when it comes to the combat side of things. And I think that combat is where this game really shines over its peers, the sole reason being Stealth Mode. More things should have stealth mode. Anyway, stealth mode is a neat little series of actions that allows you to (easily) strafe along walls, and crouch behind boxes. It is this feature alone that makes me really relish the combat in the game instead of dreading it. Things are straightforward instead of being overly complicated, which seems to be a theme. It doesn’t have you doing side missions and have big plot twists, and I think it works without them. I also really enjoyed the detail and accuracy of the game. Abe and I were actually able to find the dorm he stayed in when he lived in London for school, which is pretty neat. The only thing I could really ask for is more length to the game, and also more interior environments, which will hopefully be remedied by Black Monday.

So yeah, on to the part that sucks. The weather here has been absolutely terrible for about 90% of this month, so far. According to the forecast for the rest of the week, it’s either going to be cloudy or raining. I guess that’d be fine if I lived in Seattle, but then again I wouldn’t have to deal with excessive cold so it’d be a nice trade. Here I get both. Yay.

I watched Kill Bill again yesterday, and it was still awesome.

At some point earlier in the year I started to go through motor vehicle withdrawal (I abandoned my poor car when we moved, since I live just across the river from my job). Abe has been obsessing on and off about scooters since a couple of years ago. He’s been anticipating the purchase of one in June of 2005, when he finishes his master’s. I’ve always just gone along with it, but I’ve been longing for a vehicle with an engine more and more. A scooter seems to be the solution, since I know I couldn’t trust myself with an actual motorcycle (and I couldn’t afford one anyway). So then the question was: which one?
There were a few formidable options. I really liked the Aprilia Mojito and SR50, but we don’t have a dealership around here, and I didn’t want to deal with getting one home. The SR50 was just too pricey, anyway, albeit really, really handsome. With locality factored in, the competitors were narrowed down to just two: the Honda Ruckus, and the Yamaha Zuma. It was a tough decision. Here’s what I figured out.

Advantage : Ruckus

Well, it’s a Honda, and you know how I feel about those. As a matter of fact, the whole spur of this scooter craze was the Honda Metropolitan. The Ruckus has a great look to it. The finish is great, and it’s a downright cool vehicle. The sheer utilitarianism makes it really fun. The gage finish is also strongly utilitarian, similar to that of an old tire pump. It was comfortable, too, and very quiet.

Advantage : Zuma

Well, the Zuma has pretty much every other advantage. What it lacks in appearance (which is subjective), it makes up for with performance. Acceleration and top speed are noticeably better than the ruckus, and the exhaust note is a little more aggressive. It has a nicer cockpit, despite a cheaper gage finish, in that it has a separate gas gauge. There’s an extra storage pocket in front of the left knee (nice for a cell or sunglasses), and the under seat area is enclosed and lockable. Stopping is also faster thanks to a front disk brake, and the wheels are alloy as opposed to steel. The body panels seem to be easily unbolted which would make for a seemingly easy repaint, since the available colors are somewhat cheapened by the ultra-glossy plastic.

The Decision

I wanted the Ruckus. I really did. But I needed/wanted a scooter that wouldn’t struggle to maintain the speed limit. As a result, we now own two red Zumas. I’d really like to refinish mine, ideally in a neutral color. It might be fun to do a flat color with a clear coat, and perhaps get some decals before clear coating it as well. We’ll see where it goes from here.

To test the basic functioning of all of the switches in a chain, a special “test” number was reserved that consisted of all 5s (555-5555) – half-way up and in on each bank. The “555″ exchange was never assigned any real numbers, which is why today’s TV and movie shows use 555-xxxx numbers for their phone numbers. That way there is no possibility that a fake number from a show will actually reach someone.

http://www.wordiq.com/definition/Telephone_exchange

So I finally got a chance to sit down and get in some quality time with Gran Turismo 3. Problem is, it doesn’t seem to be an improvement over the plain ol’ GT2. Granted, the graphics and sound are both much improved, but the game play really isn’t. To begin with, it has less camera angles than the previous game. Whereas before you had two third-person views, there is now only one, plus the requisite first-person, in-car view. Problem is, this view is completely inadequate. The camera sits too low and too close behind the car – to the point where the road ahead is sometimes obstructed by your vehicle, usually when a turn is immediately ahead.

Another feature that this game is noticeably lacking is some kind of brightness adjustment. Shaded areas of the track tend to wash out to the point where, again, you can barely tell what’s happening, if at all. I am very pleased with the current settings of our WEGA, and I don’t think it should be necessary to adjust the brightness just for this game. The game I’m comparing this to which shall remain nameless does have brightness options. Thankfully, GT3 does at least have an aspect ratio option.

Game play is up to par with the others in the series, not noticeably different (which is a good thing). What GT has yet to nail down is their segues between races. GT2 had the unavoidable automatic replay. So far in GT3, all I’ve done is the licensing tests, but that’s enough to drive me insane. If you fail one of these, the most awful music ever begins playing, and the game just sits for 5 or 10 seconds before relinquishing control to you. This means that you’ll probably want to pause and restart instead, which is instantaneous. I’d like to see Gran Turismo take note of the not-quite-so-popular Vanishing Point.

See, Vanishing Point has similar tests, but if you run into something that would cause you to fail, the action immediately stops. Two or three options pop up (I think quit, retry, and replay) and the camera begins to pan around the car, so you can see what hit where. You can watch this if you want or you can immediately try again. There’s a bit of ambient music and noise, but it doesn’t sound as though the game is celebrating your defeat.

Overall, GT3 is still a fantastic game, marred by little things that may really irritate some people (ie: me). I may be writing this out of bitterness out of the licensing tests, but the truth is, I really do like the game. I will probably pull out of this mood after those are completed, but these are still issues that shouldn’t show up in a game with these production values. I look forward to seeing how GT4 compares.

And that means warmer weather is all but upon us. That is a blatant lie, since it’s only 40 outside right now. Anyway, May May May. I did that reboot thing but I’m not sure I got a lot out of it. I suppose I’ll do it next year if for no other reason than to redesign the site again.

We saw Abe’s new nephew (Soren Joseph Gabor) on Saturday. He is about as cute as babies get. He is in that “wow, he’s so tiny” stage and not the “he is adorable” stage. Meaning that Abe is still physically unable to refer to him as a “he” and not an “it”.

Anyways, I don’t have much to gripe about (except the weather) which is pretty impressive for a Monday morning. That means I don’t have anywhere else to go with this so I may as well end it now before it goes downhill like it is right now.