That went well.

I'm glad that the lecturer we have for linguistics is different to the one we had last time; the previous one had some weird kind of a speech impediment that she seemed to refuse to acknowledge, where as our current one just has a strong accent from his home country,  which would be Africa, I think.

And in half an hour, my first Introduction to English lecture begins ~

Structure of Language ( Linguistics )

I'm sitting in CLB on the lower ground level waiting to go into my first linguistics lecture of the year. 

Some of you may remember that I tried thus in 2010, but because of ending up four weeks behind in all of my subjects, dropped this one, so here I am attempting it again in 2012.

Tomorrow is the last day before the weekend before 0 week (I guess that makes this week -1 week) :P

I'm looking forward to 0 week, actually, as there's always very high spirits that week =]

Anyway, right now the computers on Level 2 of the library (strangely, the ground floor), are used infrequently enough that it's relatively easy to find a spare one, however, when 0 week starts, all hell breaks loose, and there'll be a long queue of people waiting to book a computer, which they will then wait for until such time as an automatically designated becomes available.  (You can only use the computers for an hour, max, so at the end of your session, whether you used the whole hour or not, the computer is designated to the next booking in line.

The only real solution is to have your own laptop/netbook/tablet ... but then it's a matter of finding a place to sit.

F-ZERO vs. Wipeout (A Practice Essay).

Note:  Before I start, just let me say that I'm well aware that Wikipedia isn't considered a 'reliable source' for academic purposes, but keep in mind, this is nothing more than a 'practice essay', so I'm keeping it simple for now.

This essay is going to compare the video game franchises F-ZERO (Nintendo) and Wipeout (SONY), and argue whether or not Sony's Wipeout is indeed a 'shameless copy' of Nintendo's F-ZERO.

F-ZERO was a launch-title for Nintendo's popluar system, the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (henceforth referred to as SNES), released in Japan in the year 1990, and was, ground-breaking it terms of using what Nintendo called Mode 7 (crude replication of a seemingly three dimensional world), giving players, for the first time in video game history, a well-simulated, high speed racing game.

Wipeout was released on the PlayStation, in 1995, a year after the PlayStation's launch, and five years after F-ZERO.

Both games feature "flying cars" in worlds that race on unique mag-lev/anti-gravity technology for their tracks, as opposed to racing on a more traditional road.

In the original F-ZERO you could choose from one of four cars, each different slightly in weight, speed, acceleration and handling.  However in the original Wipeout, you could choose from one of four teams, each team having two cars each, giving the player a total of eight cars from which to choose, again, each car having its unique pros and cons.

The designer of Wipeout, Nick Burcombe, admits that he "took inspiration" for the car designs from games "like [...] F-ZERO and Mario Kart"

F-ZERO, although ground braking for the time, was limited by the at-the-time inability of the SNES to emulate a true 3D world, meaning that the tracks were, save for a few jumps, entirely flat.

 By the time the first Wipeout game was released, video game technology had improved in leaps and bounds, allowing this game to exist more naturally in all three dimensions, with tracks offering the likes of banked curves, tunnels, loops and corkscrews (something that wouldn't be seen in the F-ZERO franchise until three years later with the release of F-ZERO X, on the Nintendo64).

Wipeout also offers, on some tracks at least, the ability to take an alternate route to the finish line, where as F-ZERO almost exclusively sees all racing participants holding steadfast on the one track.

As far as game-play is concerned, while both can be considered "arcade racers" (as opposed to racing simulators), F-ZERO encourages competition strictly through racing, where as Wipeout offers it, much like in Mario Kart (another popular Nintendo franchise, which also pre-dates the release of Wipeout, this time by three years), through the gimmick of items you can use to hinder your opponents progress (without rendering them helpless nor out of the game completely).

CONCLUSION:
Given that the designer for the Wipeout franchise openly admits that he got his 'inspiration' from games "like [...] F-ZERO and Mario Kart", and that Wipeout was released so long after the release of the original F-ZERO, it is plain to see that Wipeout is nothing more than a 'shameless copy' of Nintendo's F-ZERO.

- Ian Hollis.

So it's 2012, and I'll be moving back to Sydney earlier than expect.  Why?  Because I found a place.  A place that I thought if I let slip by, I might not get as good of a place in as good of a location at as good of a price if I waited to move at a later date.  It's an upstairs bedroom with an upstairs bathroom, for $200/wk.

I'll me moving on  Wed, Jan 18, 2012.

There's a family that lives down stairs.

It's 'central' in that it's around a half hour walk to either the university, or the nearest shopping centre (Westfield Eastgardens), except that they are in opposite directions to one another.

And, just so you know, I am now enrolled in the following subjects:

Introduction to English
Introduction to Film
The Structure of Language
Educational Psychology

I'm still keen on doing ESL (Teaching English as a Second Language), but I'm in the wrong program, or something, so will see one of those student guidance people to see what I can do about that.

And now that I'm moved this blog to the same central location as all my other blogs, I'll hopefully be updating a lot more often from now on!

Enjoy My Life as a Student, 2012!

Bye bye! XD

New enrollments for 2012.

My enrollments to return to UNSW next year open, for me, on Nov. 30, and while this is late, most likely because I am an under achieving student, I hope that I am able to secure places in the subjects I choose, which are:

• EDST1101 Educational Psychology 1 (6 UOC)
• EDST1104 Social Perspectives in Educ. (6 UOC)
  Creative Writing - ENGLW23403
  Linguistics - LINGA24054

I've got this funny feeling about Linguistics, I don't know why, but I do ~

As for the other three, I'm actually looking quite forward to them.

Korean final spoken test.

I did so abysmally at my final Korean test, that the lecturer allowed me a second chance (because he didn't want to fail me).

So now I've been studying like made to get myself up to scratch by the 17th of June, 2010, which is when the final exam will be, with a mock one on the 11th, and a review of my answers on the 7th.

I hope all goes well.

Personally, I would've been all too accepting of a fail.

I won't be taking up Korean again next semester.  Japanese 1B it is! XD