Working for (on?) the weekend
I spent a chunk of this afternoon finalizing the Alice update and readying it for a new CD pressing, which meant burning and testing new CDs. I managed to get it done just under the wire, so I'm pretty happy about that. She's needed a good solid hole plugging for a while now, and I'm relieved to finally be able to do the deed. I still need to do some standalone updater apps, but that's small potatoes. As a side note, I can't believe Aspyr is selling this for just $10. That's a lot of bang for your buck, if you ask me, even if it was recently called one of the most overrated games of all time. (It remains to this day one of my favorite ports that I've worked on just on atmosphere alone.)
I also managed to kill some EQ bugs this evening, so that's one less thing to worry about as well.
...and speaking of things that drive me totally crazy, I don't know what I was thinking, but I waited all the way until Friday to pick up Jedi Academy for my PC. I mean, honestly - what's come over me? On the plus side, I'm pleased that I didn't order it from the LucasArts web site, because if I got the license plate frame, well, that'd probably be a sign that I've gone over to the Geek Side.
...and speaking of whoring myself out, Aspyr also has Alien Crossfire listed for $5. Another bargain, but what's this? They're not selling Alpha Centauri any more, so sucks to be you if you don't have the original. It's noteworthy that the cheapest game on their entire website is one I worked on.
Comments
As I've said at Tikkabik, my feeling is that GameSpy's overrating on Alice isn't due to the game itself as much as it is due to American McGee's hubris to put his name on the box. To that end I can't disagree -- even Carmack doesn't stick his name in front of Doom or Quake.
Posted by: flargh | September 29, 2003 04:39 AM
Indeed, there was lots of silly hype over Alice - as often happens in the industry - and that probably ruined some of the games initial appeal, but it's still a favourite of mine. I recently fired it up with my new Radeon9800 and wow, I mean it always looked perty, but its just gorgeous with the 3D overrides on HQ. Gorgeous graphics, great psychedelic atmosphere and definitely one of the more interesting uses of the Q3A engine IMHO. Nice to hear brad's still playing..erm...patching it ;)
For $10, buy it, ditto for SMAC and SMACX.... plenty of stock of all three over in the UK, but alas nowhere near as cheap.
Posted by: hotblack | September 29, 2003 07:19 AM
I read an interview with American McGee while I was working on Alice. He said that the main reason his name became part of the title was due to EA's worries over copyright (or in this case, lack of) now that Alice in Wonderland was in the public domain. They wanted something to differentiate it, and his name was bizarre enough to appeal to them. I'm not sure how accurate his telling of the story is, so take that for what it's worth. :)
Posted by: Brad Oliver | September 29, 2003 12:13 PM
>> She's needed a good solid hole plugging for a while now
Now I know I have a dirty mind, but when I read that I had to stop and think "What kind of 'maintenance' is Brad doing here?!?,and does Beth know about it?"
Posted by: Glenda | September 29, 2003 06:40 PM