David's Blog

I finished Half Life 2 this weekend.

This game is old by video game standards (it came out in Nov 2004).

It is one of 5 games on "The Orange Box."

The first game I played on "The Orange Box" was "Portal," and I loved it. It is one of the best games I've played in the past 5 years.

HL2 is huge. I spent much of my time in awe over the expansive environments and the effort involved creating props that you sometimes just fly by. The attention to detail is amazing.

I certainly enjoyed it...but it may have been too easy. I never felt like any part was really challenging using the default settings. In some ways that is good...because I never got too frustrated...but when I finished the game, I didn't feel any sense of accomplishment that I normally feel when I beat a difficult game.

I'm guessing most people have played this already...but if you haven't, it is worth checking out...it holds up well for an "old" game. This game feels like an interactive movie.

Now I'm on to playing HL2 Episode 1.

The Orange Box is a great value and full of great games...definitely a must have (and I still have 3 more games to try).

Technorati Tags: Xbox 360, The Orange Box, Half Life 2

Posted on April 28, 2008 12:36 AM | Permalink| Comments (1)

Here is some new HD footage (run this full screen) of the The Force Unleashed in action.

The whole show is 21 minutes with lots of great video and reveals about the game. There is also talk about the voice of Darth Vader by "Chad Vader", the new TFU toys coming out, and the Wiimote lightsaber addition. Definitely worth watching the whole program.

Technorati Tags: Star Wars, The Force Unleashed

Posted on April 13, 2008 12:23 AM | Permalink| Comments (0)

This is pretty good (thanks for the hook up Alan!)...

Technorati Tags: Reporters

Posted on April 10, 2008 11:51 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)

Today, LucasArts announced the U.S. release date for The Force Unleashed as September 16.

Also, Spike TV is going to show exclusive game footage during its screening of all 6 Star Wars movies starting this weekend. Here's the schedule for the game footage:

• April 6 at 7:58 p.m. ET/PT - between the premiere of Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones and Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith
• April 11 at 10:52 p.m. ET/PT - At the end of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
• April 12 at 12:00 a.m. ET/PT - throughout an episode of GameTrailers TV with Geoff Keighley filmed at LucasArts' headquarters in San Francisco
• April 12 at 5:06 p.m. ET/PT - before Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope
• April 13 at 5:06 p.m. ET/PT - before Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back

Technorati Tags: The Force Unleashed, Star Wars

Posted on April 3, 2008 11:24 PM | Permalink| Comments (2)

I tried to update to SP1 last week via Windows Update, but I kept getting an error:

Some Updates were not installed

Failed: 1 update

Error(s) found:

Code 80070246

I tried using Dell support, but none of their suggestions worked and they told me I should work with Microsoft and gave me an 800 number.

My brother pointed me to this article that says Microsoft is giving free support to anybody having problems with installing SP1. I could have used the 800 number Dell gave me, but I prefer email, so I used this support page suggested by the article.

Microsoft had me run the System File Checker tool (SFC.exe). It is supposed to repair system files.

To run SFC.exe...

1. Start->All Programs->Accessories
2. Right-click "Command Prompt" and choose "Run as administrator"
3. At the command prompt, type "sfc /scannow"

When I ran it, the scan quit before it reached 100% with an error...

Microsoft then suggested I do the following:

Given this situation, I suggest we continue the following steps to troubleshooting:

1. Click "Start", click "All Programs", click "Accessories", right-click "Command Prompt", and then click "Run as administrator". 
2. In the User Account Control dialog box, click "Continue". 

3. Input the following commands in the DOS Prompt window and press ENTER at the end of each line:
REG   ADD   HKLM\COMPONENTS   /V   STORECORRUPTTIMESTAMP   /T   REG_SZ   /D   "0"   /F
REG   DELETE    HKLM\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWS\CURRENTVERSION\CHECKSUR\
Note: You can copy the above commands, right click in the opened command window, and then choose Paste. Press ENTER and you will receive a message "The operation completed successfully". You may receive an error message indicating that the related registry key does not exist. Please continue to perform the remaining steps.
4. Please download and run CheckSUR tool from the link below according to your System Type:
CheckSUR tool for Windows Vista 32-bit
http://download.microsoft.com/download/5/0/4/504c8468-9e77-4331-9327-1dba0b43ccd1/Windows6.0-KB947821-x86.msu
CheckSUR tool for Windows Vista 64-bit
http://download.microsoft.com/download/4/e/b/4eb4efa7-a893-4fb7-aac7-2db2003972d5/Windows6.0-KB947821-x64.msu
5. Double click on the downloaded file to run the CheckSUR tool and restart the computer to check the results.

Can we install SP1 now?

After I did these steps...I was able to install SP1!

I tried running sfc.exe again, and it now completes successfully...

I was pleasantly surprised at how helpful Microsoft was. When I initially submitted my request for help, I got a response the next morning. I went on vacation and could not try their suggestions for a few days. I got an email everyday asking how things were going and what my status was.

I'm not sure what caused my system to be non-SP1 friendly, but all is well now.

*UPDATE 1/3/08*

Here is more information about CheckSUR (the tool that fixed my problem). From the link...

What is CheckSUR?

System resources, such as file data, registry data, and even in-memory data, can develop inconsistencies during the lifetime of the operating system. These inconsistencies may be caused by various hardware failures or by software issues. In some cases, these inconsistencies can affect the Windows Servicing Store, and they can cause a Windows Vista update to fail. When the update fails, it blocks the user from installing updates and service packs. CheckSUR addresses this issue.
When Windows Update detects inconsistencies that are related to system servicing in system files or in the registry, Windows Update offers CheckSUR as an available update package. The package titles are as follows:

• Update for Windows Vista (KB947821)
• Update for Windows Vista for x64-based Systems (KB947821)

Note This Windows Update or Automatic Update package will only be offered if such inconsistencies have been detected on the system. CheckSUR should run automatically after it has been installed from Windows Update.

What does CheckSUR do?

Currently, CheckSUR verifies the integrity of the following resources that can affect Windows Update in Windows Vista:

• Files that are located under the following directories:
• %systemroot%\Servicing\Packages
• %systemroot%\WinSxS\Manifests
• Registry data under the following registry subkeys:
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\COMPONENTS
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Schema
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Component Based Servicing

Note This list may be updated at any time.

When CheckSUR detects incorrect manifests, files, or registry data, CheckSUR may replace the incorrect data with a corrected version.

Technorati Tags: Vista, SP1, SFC

Posted on April 2, 2008 8:23 AM | Permalink| Comments (5)

I grew up with the Muppets...I love 'em. I got this at work today...some outtakes from the Muppet Show...never seen anything like this before...

Technorati Tags: Muppets

Posted on April 1, 2008 11:58 PM | Permalink| Comments (0)