Yes, it is 2005 and yes, the 2005 comp results were just posted. I really meant to get last year's reviews up before that. I did, I swear. Better late than never, right?

2004 IF Comp Reviews

With very little public acknowledgement, President Bush signed the "Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act" on 10/26/05, which blocks lawsuits against gun companies for the criminal misuse of their product, as long as the company followed the law.

National Shooting Sports Foundation press release

While there was in the media about the House and Senate votes and passage, there seemed to be almost no recognition in the press about it actually being signed into law. Perhaps we'll hear more about it when the few lawsuits that still cling to life are finally put out of their misery.

I'm in the process of playing Prince of Persia: Sands of Time. This game was well received when it came out. And I can definitely see the appeal. But gripe gripe gripe it has some of the same port problems that so many other console->PC conversion games have. Mainly, some really bad camera controls, much like Beyond Good and Evil (which I still haven't finished). The problem is that console controllers are not precise and are aided by the game "helping" the player by deciding on camera movement. The mouse is a precision instrument and does not need the game to extrapolate where it thinks the player needs the camera. The player (me) is quite capable of deciding that on his own, thank you very much.

Whoever ports these games just doesn't seem to get that, unfortunately. So you end up with areas where the camera won't go to where you need because it intersects with a wall and instead of zooming closer to the character, it shuffles you back to where you didn't want the camera in the first place (with a loud "wooshing" sound). Or you're running along by holding the Forward key and you charge through a doorway, only to have the camera position unexpectedly change to one of those "cinematic" angles and now "forward" is in the opposite direction, so your character slides to a stop and sprints off right back out the door you just ran through.

At least the save points are close enough together to alieviate any frustration caused by having save points to begin with. And I like that my progress is shown to me on the save/load screens, giving me an idea of how much of the game is left to see. I've never felt lost for long, nor have I had to resort to a walk-through or strategy guide, thanks to an innovative "foreshadowing" vision shown at every save point. It really just offers brief glimpses of what needs to be done in the next area without giving too much away. A nice touch.

Update: Okay, all done. So, plenty more camera and control issues. In addition, there are plenty of uninteresting 3 or 4 opponent fights throughout the game where each enemy you kill is immediately replaced. These combats go on way too long before monsters start staying dead. And there's one railroad spot where a bridge crumbles beneath you, dropping you into a chasm. Err, except I control the Sands of Time, so why wouldn't I reverse time to undo it? You know, like all the other times I fell to my death. Of course later on, after I lose the dagger, there are jump puzzles that require multiple perfectly-timed jumps and a single mistake is instantly fatal.

Probably worth playing through if you can get it in the bargain bin.

Last night my friends and I went to see Serenity last night. As a Firefly fan, I really enjoyed this movie. Joss Whedon truly knows how to manipulate the audience with alternating waves of drama, humor, tension, and action. Not to mention surprises. I can't guarantee that people who have never seen the series Firefly will love the movie, considering my own perspective, but I've heard from a number who did anyway.

So, yeah, 2 thumbs up on Serenity.

And check out my new wallpaper.