01 February, 2002 Now you'll never get a MAUI backend to SDL *OR* 256 color SC3U! Loki is dead. All is not lost, just a couple months of my life. 21 January, 2002 It's been almost 3 weeks, time for a .plan update. If you haven't seen my homepage recently, you might want to check it out. I've developed some innovative new user interface techniques and they're on display there. Okay, I've developed one new user interface technique, but it is good enough to count for about five. Pie menus, eat your pie-filled hearts out. I just ordered 6 older games from http://dragon.ca for under $15 total Considering I can't run a single one of them on Linux, that may be a rather strange thing for me to do. Truthfully, I ordered them for a couple reasons. Firstly, two of them were Raven Games (Mageslayer and Take No Prisoners) that used Raven's experimental, in-house 3D top down engine. I'm a fan of Raven and their other games, so I figured these would be nice to have on hand. Secondly, I wanted to see how many games I could buy for the price of a DVD. Considering that I had at least some interest in all of these games, and that none of them cost over $5, I think I came out on top. Another thing I'm happy about is that I no longer have to use wine to play Return to Castle Wolfenstein. If you've followed my comments on online forums, and yeah... I know you're reading this Don, then you know that I've spoken out against wine a bit. For what it's worth, it ran RtCW fairly well, but not well enough to get me over my rational fear of running software with it. Also, if you've followed my comments on online forums and I don't know you by name, I am officially scared of you. 04 January, 2002 Okay so I was wrong about the Commander Keen thing. Good thing you didn't believe me anyway. Now to the real reason for this .plan update. With the news that N'Sync members will be making cameos in Star Wars Episode 2 (as reported at http://www.vh1.com/thewire/content/news/1451630.jhtml), I have no choice but to assume that George Lucas intends the entire prequel to be a social experiment. I theorize that George Lucas is attempting to make the worst movies possible within his ethical limits. He is giving the movies as many bad titles, bad actors, and bad cameos as possible without attracting too much notice. This was evidenced by the inclusion of Jar Jar Binks in Episode 1 and the inclusion of Jar Jar's close relatives, N'Sync, in Episode 2. George is trying to see how far popularity alone will take a series of movies. By including as little intrinsic values as possible in these new films, he is ensuring that the only fans of the prequels will be fans left over from the original Star Wars series. So here is my advice to the general public: just as George Lucas is laughing to the bank, laugh to the theater and back. These new Star Wars films were never meant to be taken seriously. When you watch them, remember that every scene is a half-hearted attempt to convince the public that these are actual movies. When you watch them this way, they probably will even make more sense. However, some may not like to pay $6.50 to be part of a clandestine social experiment. It is a choice I leave to you. 29 December, 2001 First of all, I hope you all had a great Christmas. I got RtCW, among other things, so hopefully that will keep me busy after I get back to school. When I'm not studying, of course. Right. I acquired a CD of some Myth 2 mods today. As of today I own 3 copies of Myth 2, and I hope to bring my Myth 2 install up to around 2.5G soon. I predict a Commander Keen source release on January 1st, and a working Linux port by the 17th. 13 December, 2001 I decided last night that recreational reading is a habit I'd like to redevelop. I'm starting off with Stephen R. Lawhead's "Pendragon Cycle." The second and third books in this series are two of the best books I have ever read. The rest of the series is not as good, but still worthwhile. After those, James Gleick's "Genius" is next. I'm amazed at anyone who can write a biography and not make it boring. 3 December, 2001 I bought Raptor: Call of the Shadows yesterday. (http://www.mking.com) It's great to see old games getting ported to Linux. I encourage you all to part with your hard earned $13 and buy this game, if only to support Linux. And don't complain about it being more expensive than the Windows version. 3D Realms sells this game for $15. While you're buying Linux games for Christmas, buy Kohan. It's one of the best Real Time Strategy games to come out in the last couple years. Also, we need more people to play with online. Hexen 2 release sometime within the next two days, keep your eyes open. 23 November, 2001 I have obtained a tiger. Happy Thanksgiving. 13 November, 2001 Hi my loyal fans, I decided to make this an actual .plan file, so no more humor for you. I can hear the cries of sadness now, but realize that there are funnier things on the Internet. Like Simpsons mpegs. Go find some. Anyway, I'm working on Hexen II again. It is looking nice. Hexen II actually plays apart from the mission pack now, though I very much doubt it will work over the net with a Windows Hexen II client. However, that is what HexenWorld is for, no? Until I get real Hexen II source, you can all just deal with it. HexenWorld port is on my list of things to do.