Back to work...

So the Bad Company demo was vaguley interesting. Good presentation and solid gameplay, but nothing really stood out for me. The destructible environments are cool, but it was nothing to write home about. Then again, I hear that multiplayer is where this one really shines, so I guess this one just isn't for me. Too Human felt... Well... I didn't mind the camera or the cinematics, but the game just didn't gel for me. I had too many questions about everything from the plot to the controls, little direction, and minimal satisfaction. Perhaps a quick training level and some more cohesive storytelling would've helped me, but it's just not coming together yet. I think there may be something interesting going on in Too Human (reminds me of Unreal Championship 2, actually), but it's not in the demo.

I got back into some freelance work recently. Salvaged some data from a G5 PowerMac, replaced the bad RAM that was causing hard drive issues, and reinstalled OS X 10.4; cleaned a particularly annoying spyware infection from a home office machine (DON'T OPEN RANDOM E-MAIL ATTACHMENTS!!!); picked up most of the parts for that system I mentioned in my last post:

• Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450
• EVGA 132-CK-NF79-A1
• 512MB BFG GeForce 8800GT OC
• Linksys WMP300N
• Two 74GB Western Digital Raptors (WD740ADFD)
• Two 500GB Seagate Barracudas (ST3500320AS) in a RAID 1 array
• LG GH20NS10 SATA DVD-RW
• Seasonic S12 Energy Plus 650W
• Antec P182 Mid-Tower

I've been trying to secure 8GB of DDR3 (either 1333MHz or 1600MHz), but there seems to be a shortage in this city. Speaking of shortages, I'm pretty sure I found the last 790i Ultra-based motherboard in the area... Anyway the idea is to be able to upgrade to a 1600MHz CPU, 2000MHz DDR3, and a three-way SLi setup down the road; client's idea, not mine. Accommodating that upgrade path didn't raise the price too much though, so it's not a complete waste of money.