Given how unauthorative my Film tutor is, tomorrow I'll be sitting in on another tutorial to see whether or not it's my tutor's distinct lack of "presence" or if it's something inherently in me making me want to drop this particular subject. Then again, I never was particularly functional at 9 am.
Sunday, 18 March 2012
Monday, 5 March 2012
I skipped two lectures today! (Not because I didn't feel like going).
I'm a part of many social clubs here at the university which I attend, and one of those groups is a Japanese-related culture group, and today, students from Kyoto University, who are here for two weeks studying English, came to be shown around campus, after which we went into the city.
The previous paragraph was certainly a long sentence! (No, I'm not going to edit it ... well not much, anyway).
Anyway, I made the choice to help out with part of the tour (and later, Sydney sight seeing) instead of go to lectures (which I can catch up on later on my page on the university's website).
We finished the day up with a trip to French Riviera (Here's a blog about it: http://grabyourfork.blogspot.com.au/2008/01/french-riviera-sydney.html) eating a rather tall ice cream, of which I didn't particularly like the flavouring (It's hard to describe, but the flavouring of this ice cream was somehow to different to your average, run-of-the-mill ice cream)
I think some of the others may have gone off and done other things after that, but I for one came straight home (because I'm like that).
Tomorrow, the first film from Introduction to Film (I know not yet what it is, but I'll tell you tomorrow).
- Ian.
The previous paragraph was certainly a long sentence! (No, I'm not going to edit it ... well not much, anyway).
Anyway, I made the choice to help out with part of the tour (and later, Sydney sight seeing) instead of go to lectures (which I can catch up on later on my page on the university's website).
We finished the day up with a trip to French Riviera (Here's a blog about it: http://grabyourfork.blogspot.com.au/2008/01/french-riviera-sydney.html) eating a rather tall ice cream, of which I didn't particularly like the flavouring (It's hard to describe, but the flavouring of this ice cream was somehow to different to your average, run-of-the-mill ice cream)
I think some of the others may have gone off and done other things after that, but I for one came straight home (because I'm like that).
Tomorrow, the first film from Introduction to Film (I know not yet what it is, but I'll tell you tomorrow).
- Ian.
Sunday, 4 March 2012
My homework for this week.
Well, I have to read the first 22 pages of "Cognitive Psychology" for Educational Psychology, and some poems for English, but I'm not sure when I'm meant to start reading The Tiger's Wife, and I'm not 100% sure what I'm supposed to do for Linguistics ~ I think I log onto my page on the universities website "Blackboard" and it tells me there somewhere ...
Looks like I have to buy the latest edition of the text book for Linguistics, because apparently some chapters ~ a whole two of them ~ have been "extensively revised". Do you think it's a coincidence that the two "extensively revised" chapters are the ones that we'll be using the most?
Fuck!
Everybody go watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww4m8GUK69E
Looks like I have to buy the latest edition of the text book for Linguistics, because apparently some chapters ~ a whole two of them ~ have been "extensively revised". Do you think it's a coincidence that the two "extensively revised" chapters are the ones that we'll be using the most?
Fuck!
Everybody go watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ww4m8GUK69E
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
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.
Wednesday, 15 February 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.
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.
Wednesday, 25 January 2012
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.
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.
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