Mood:

After finishing the Neverwinter Nights expansion Hordes of the Underdark, I went over to Neverwinter Vault to find some other modules to play.

After quickly giving up on poor remakes of Pool of Radiance and The Temple of Elemental Evil, I settled on Blackguard I – Dreams of Destruction. You play an evil character, and other than a couple problems finding well-hidden quest items, it was a great solo module. I just started Blackguard 2 last night. Took me less than a week to finish the first part, but I’ve been playing quite a bit lately.

Mood:

D&D players!
At first I thought this was a parody, but it’s real! WTF?

Mood:

Knights of the Old Republic 2 is coming!

Mood:

For the 10th anniversary of the Elder Scrolls series, Arena has been released as a free download! Though there’s a link to the DOSBox emulator so you can run this old DOS game in your Windows, you’ll probably also want to download D-Fend, a front-end for DOSBox that’ll make things easier.

And, seeing as though I’m posting all these links, why not check out my old GameSpy Hall of Fame writeup for the Elder Scrolls series?

Mood:

On Saturday, I took a cold hockey ball to the head (nice shot Dave!). My head still hurts when I touch it…ouch…

…um…uh…

On Saturday, I took a cold hockey ball to the head (nice shot Dave!). My head still hurts when I touch it…ouch…

…um…uh…

On Saturday, I took a cold hockey ball to the head (nice shot Dave!). My head still hurts when I touch it…ouch…

…um…uh…

On Saturday, I took a cold hockey ball to the head (nice shot Dave!). My head still hurts when I touch it…ouch…

…um…uh…huh?

Mood:

All right!
I’ve found what was wrong with my Dance Dance Revolution dance pads: by default, the pads think they are emulating an analog joystick, which cannot have opposing direction combos (left+right, up+down). The PSX->USB adapter can be told to go into dance pad mode by holding down Start+Select+Up for 3 seconds, then the pads will emulate buttons instead of joystick axes! After reconfiguring the pads in DDR to use the new “buttons”, we’re up and dancing.

For others who are doing Internet searches for this resolution, the adapter I have is from BNSUSA. I purchased the bundle from Buy & Shop. $60 USD for 2 controllers + adapter + software is a good deal!

The Buy & Shop page mentions the need to use the Start+Select+Up combo, but I had neglected to put in the drivers that came with the adapter (XP detected the game controllers just fine without them), so that combo didn’t seem to have any effect.

Mood:

In addition, it seems that there is an open source DDR clone out there called StepMania, and it has the ability to turn off the controllers’ Z Axis, which seems to cause the multi-button combos (left+right, up+down) to work properly. You can download songs, images, animations and movies to extend the coolness of the product.

Mood:

Well, I got my DDR. However, the pads don’t seem to be registering combo steps properly, so if you press left and right together it seems to only count as left. Hrm…

On a lighter side, the instructions for the dance pads are in Engrish:

- There is maybe have some white powder on the surface of the product, please wipe off by a piece of soft, clean cloth.
- Make sure to pave the cushion.
- Don not put it near the furniture and other odds and ends.
- Young children must be guided to use it or need parents and teachers to accompany, in case to be tumbled by it.
- High technology product,do not apart,separate or fix it anyway.Or the damage can not be guaranteed.
- Do not keep it in the quite high or low temperature environment,especially far away from fireplace.
- If this product can’t work well,please connect with your supplier directly.
- This product is made for indoor games only.Do not use it outdoors or in other occasion.
- When using this product, pay attention to keep your feet safety..
- Strong jump or shake may cause influence to the video and audio output.
- Please do not jump strongly that may bring troubles to the other person.

Mood:

OK, OK…I’m updating my blog…

I played Dance Dance Revolution last night for the first time. While I appeared to be having an epileptic fit part of the time, I was able to get pretty good scores after a bit.

That got me thinking (dangerous)…it was fun, and good exercise. I don’t have a gaming console, but was there a DDR game for my PC? Yes, there is, and unlike most of the console versions, you can download additional songs and content. My ATI All-in-Wonder allows me to output my computer screen to my TV, too.

So, yep, my order for DDR with 2 dance pads is now on its way. Let’s see if I can get back in shape, and maybe my wife will get into it too!

Mood:

Strangely, after the Punkbuster anti-cheat software was integrated into Battlefield 1942, I now seem to do better at the game…fancy that!