Just watch the video. This video makes me want an old bike realllly bad!

I.D.W.P from Edwin Europe on Vimeo.

I signed up for a gym membership at World Health last week, and had my first training session on monday the 19th. I hope to have this as a great way to continue to get in shape over the winter, as I have been slacking on the running this summer.

I hope to see some really good results with a combination of eating right, cardio, and weights.

I already feel amazing, and it’s only been a week!

-Dav

I got a knock on my door this morning from the upstairs neighbor.. he informed me that my bike was laying on it’s side. So I went out to the back and it had been pushed over on to the gravel in the back, in front of my Jeep. I don’t know how it happened, and it sure as hell wasn’t me.. my only guess is that some drunk came along last night and thought it would be cool to sit on it or something, and dropped it. :(

It was dropped on the opposite side of the kickstand, so it wasn’t soft ground that was the cause, and the weather was good all night, so it wasn’t wind.

I’ll have to talk to the insurance company tomorrow to find out what my options are.

Damage: Cracked fairing in two places, scratched mirror, scratched bar end, scratched front brake, dented exhaust.

Click the images for a larger view.

I also just wanted to share this video, because it mixes dubstep and motorbikes.. and it’s AWESOME!

Here it is. I think it turned out really good. Please watch it in HD.

Our trip is done! We had an amazing journey, and the weather cooperated pretty well for us.. As much as we can ask for in June out in BC, anyway. I created a pretty intricate map on motowhere.com that includes all our rest stops, gas stops, sleeping places, etc. You can push the “next point” button and basically follow along on our route, or you can just view the maps “google maps” style, and zoom around and have a look.

If you want to view the map full screen, click here to go to the motowhere site.

I can’t wait to go back. :)

Edit:

I finished a video of the weekend! Make sure you watch in 720p! It really looks terrible in SD :(

My 2nd update:

Here’s what I believe is a final drawing of the fender eliminator. The bend lines should give you an idea of what it will look like.. hopefully I can get it cut at work tomorrow.

The two holes at the very bottom are where the license plate attaches, then up from there, the 4 holes that have bends right near them attach to each other with a bolt so it will swivel.

——————————–

My 3rd update:

It’s done! Here’s a few pictures of the progress and the final product.

Being laser cut:

Cut complete:

After I formed it, and fit it together (I found it to work better without bending the one line on the drawing.. looks perfect without it):

Installing it:

Lights on:

Final shot!

The license plate lights are really bright, and they look really nice. They don’t light up the plate too much though. If you’re interested in the same lights, these are the ones I used (The satin dome style). They cost me $24 cdn from a local shop. They are meant to plug right into 12v, so you don’t have to do anything fancy. Just cut the existing wire for the plate light, and wire these in.

http://www.designengineering.com/category/catalog/design-engineering-inc/led-lighting-products-speed-tape/led-plate-kits

After picking up a couple stainless bolts/nuts/washers to attach the two parts, the total cost was about $28.

I want to put a fender eliminator on my bike, also known as a license plate holder. You remove the stock fender on the back that contains reflectors, the plate, and a bunch of plastic, and replace it with a much smaller holder for the plate. These can be had aftermarket for about $75 USD give or take $10-$20. I figured I could make one at work with the laser table for free, and get to design it myself! I started by removing the fender on my bike, and discovered that the 4 fasteners on it have an aluminum plate sandwiched in-between them and the plastic fender! This is a great thing to measure off of to make my bracket.

I started off by removing the aluminum sandwich plate and bolting my fender back on, bolts right to the plastic. At this point I don’t care if the fender is not meant to be held on there with just bolts as I’m not concerned about wrecking it. I then downloaded Google Sketchup which I have worked with in the past, but I haven’t used it in roughly a year and a half.. I was able to take the stock sandwich plate from Suzuki and duplicate it in about 35 mins with no trouble at all! Fuck I love Sketchup!

Here’s a pic of the product and the copy, before I modify it to work as a new fender eliminator for my bike. It’s not an exact copy as you can see by the top tips on mine being a little sharper, but I can go back in and modify that later.

Once I do a bit more research on how I’m going to light the plate, I can go ahead and finish the design, and get it laser cut and powder coated. The final product will have bolts on the side so it can pivot as well.

I’m sitting here in Timmies on Whyte ave waiting for Trav to stop by for a coffee. There are lots of bikes out in the parking lot as usual. I figured I would try out this wordpress program for the blackberry. :)

My bike surpassed 2000km today, and I stopped into Riverside Cycle to book my 1st service for next friday.

Woohoo!

I picked up my bike yesterday afternoon!

I was really nervous about my first ride, and was damned near shaking as I put on all my new gear, ready to go out for the first time on this bike. The bike had 0km on it, and the only distance it had traveled was my salesman bringing it around front, from the bay door in the back of the shop.

I took my time sitting on the bike, letting it idle.. I went from 1st and back to neutral a few times to make sure I got the hang of that.. then I set off slowly, to do a few laps around the parking lot of the bike shop. I found it almost immediately comfy and easy to maneuver slowly around the parking lot.. surprised at how agile and light the bike felt.

After a few laps I set out on the road, and once again the nervousness was replaced with an almost innate feel to the bike.. easy to ride, easy to handle, and easy to keep the power under control. I rode about 3-4 hours around town last night, and spent almost all day today riding it, and I almost feel completely comfortable with the bike. It’s been a blast, and I can’t wait to spend more and more time with it.

About the vlog thing.. I really want to do it now. I am going to look into the costs and methods to set it up this week.

I’ve got a tank protector to install, but I need to remove the warning stickers first.. and I also have a set of frame sliders on order.

I bought a bike last thursday (march 31st)! I haven’t got it yet, but I *might* get it this weekend. They are building it this week, and if I get all my insurance/registration stuff sorted out, I could possibly be riding all weekend!!

Here’s a picture of it. It’s a 2010 Suzuki GSX-R 750.

I’m really excited about it, but at the same time, I’m shitting myself, too.

I’m new to bikes. This is the first motorbike I have owned since I was a kid, and I’ve done a very limited amount of riding since then. I know most people think it’s not smart to hop right onto a sport bike without training on a smaller bike first, but I’m confident in my knowledge, skills, and intelligence to believe that I will be able to handle it just fine.

I have an idea of a video blog (vlog) of my trials, learning to ride a machine like this. Almost like proof.. whether it’s proof that I can buy a gixxer 750 and be safe, or proof that I am an idiot for doing so, is yet to be determined. Anyway, money permitting I will hopefully end up with a small camera and start recording my journey.

Wish me luck!

We just sent Dan on a sausage run, I don’t think he will be coming back alive. Good-bye old friend.

Love+ is a small platforming game with a “pay what you want” price tag.

It’s a short game though, taking me roughly 20 to 30 minutes to play through it’s 11 levels, but it’s really worth seeing. The controls are fast and precise, but because there is a lack of keybindings for the game, I had to use my logitech software to map my gamepad to keystrokes.

The sounds, levels, music, and gameplay are really well polished and you won’t be disappointed.

You can download the demo and purchase the game here.

Check out a review of it here.

Nimbus is a 3D platforming/puzzle/racing game, all based within a 2D plane. That is to say that while the game is all 3D graphics, you only move in two dimensions. The graphics are very crisp and clean, and look nice and polished. All the objects and pick-ups are easy to spot, easy to recognize, and serve the game perfectly. You control an airship of sorts, that has no way to self-propel itself, so you glide around using gravity and the various objects in the game world, to propel yourself to the finish line of each level. Within the levels are all sorts of objects that can propel you. Cannons, arrows that pull you along a path, boost blocks, bump pads, gravity direction changers, and a few others. There are also all sorts of platforming object such as spikes, moving platforms, physics puzzles, keys, switches etc.

Nimbus appeals to me in a lot of areas. There is a game map that is similar to Super Mario World, including alternate routes that can be discovered by finding the alternate finish to some levels. The puzzles are very real and sometimes extremely difficult. You can find up to 68 gold coins scattered around in the levels in mostly hidden or difficult-to-get-to areas. You can unlock new ship models, and new smoke trails for your ship to leave in it’s wake.

The gameplay itself varies from slow, precision movement of the ship, to balls out, boosting all over, extremely fast racing style levels, to difficult puzzles with keys and switches to hit. Each level has a lasting impression to leave, and the style of play never gets boring. I believe the level design is what really sets this game off, and it’s clear that a lot of time, play testing, and care went into making most of the levels. The developers have already released a free Christmas theme level pack, and the amount of levels in the game is truly astounding for the price of the game. They also included a “scrapyard” that unlocks when you complete the game, which is a collection of maps they didn’t feel “made the cut” with the release of the game. Some of these scrapyard levels are frustrating, poorly designed, *extremely* difficult, or just not really very good. They are, however, interesting.. and some of them are also my favourite levels in the game.. they are a welcome bonus.

The controls in the game didn’t take getting used to for me like most reviews claim. I found them to be natural, simple, and generally very good. I did actually find them to be a little twitchy at times, but this is a necessary evil. Fast and precise movement really is needed in this game, as you need to make split second moves and decisions to avoid obstacles or race around the levels. The twitchy-ness in the controls never really bit me in the ass until the last three levels in the scrapyard (after I had completed the game). These last three levels are meant to be mind-numbingly difficult, so this doesn’t really take away from the game much at all in my opinion.

Nimbus is a great ride. From the very first tutorial levels I was smiling, and I stuffed the whole game into a couple days because like a good book, I could not put it down. Nimbus is a very well thought out game, and the best deal in gaming I have seen in a long time. This game will stand out as one of the great puzzle games in my mind for a very long time, and I can see myself revisiting it regularly for way longer than $10 should allow me to.

Pros:
- Fast, addictive, refreshingly new, puzzle play
- Great graphics
- Good music, and excellent sound effects
- Global leader boards, all accessible in game
- Difficult puzzles will make you work for your good times and bonus coins
- Great final boss battle

Cons:
- Slightly confusing button remapping
- Twitchy controls (while necessary can provide some frustration)

Verdict: 9.5/10

Update: I have finally cleared all the levels including the scrapyard ones on the hard difficulty, earning me the last of the 17 achievements. If I had to guess, I would say that Scrapyard 4-3 took well over 1000 tries to get it done!

You will understand the name, VVVVVV, when you play the demo, or watch a video. I’ll just start off this little mini-review by saying that you need to at least try the demo or watch the video on the steam page. Just go do it right now..

VVVVVV shows an initial load screen that is a direct spin of the loading screen from old Commodore games. The screen flashed all colours, and it has the exact same blue colour and font for “Loading…”! I was please and already smiling, before I had even played the game. The game controls are very flicky, fast and a little tough to get used to, but by the time I has played through a bit of the game, I realized that this is a necessary evil, to complete some of the levels. The game is completely based around one really simple trick, changing gravity at will up and down (hence the name). It’s a one trick pony, but takes this concept and stretches it to pretty much every puzzle imaginable with that one button press.

The game has a short simple story line tossed in which is nice, and adds a little bit of humor. You play as a captain of a ship, saving your crew members and bringing them back to your ship, via teleporters you must discover. There are no real “levels” to speak of, just an open world to explore with a map to guide you, with 6 hidden crew members to rescue, and 20 hidden “orbs” to collect. Each single screen you pass through has it’s own set of puzzles and challenges, ranging in difficulty from very easy tutorial-like, to extremely difficult twitch-moving action. There is a wide range here, and if you like a challenge this game will definitely give you that. It does however have checkpoints literally on almost every screen, so you won’t be repeating content.

VVVVVV is deceptively simple yet refined, refreshing and most importantly of all, very fun. Don’t expect a long game, there are unlockable game modes, and a room with “trophies” to get after you get all twenty orbs, but generally I would expect the game to last a few hours if you don’t go hunting for all the achievements. This is indie gaming at it’s best. Cheap, fun, and a fresh idea all wrapped into one game. It’s well worth it’s price on Steam, and now that it’s on sale for $2.50, you shouldn’t really think twice about it. It’s easily worth more than the price, and that is not an easy find nowadays.

Pros:
- Fun, fast, simple, refreshingly new
- Good controls, they take a bit of getting used to
- Cheap

Cons:
- Short

Verdict: 8/10

I like games like this. I am a huge fan of indie puzzle games like this. Armadillo Run, Switchball, Pontifex/Bridge Construction Set, Marble Blast, Nimbus, to name a few of my favs. This means I have a little experience in the area, and this game could be compared directly to Switchball and Marble Blast, as a sort of new generation of Marble Madness.

The physics are good. Realistic in a lot of ways, but lacking in ease of use. I mean to say that the controls and moving about feel cumbersome and heavy.. there is a way to pull off “heavy”, and Switchball did it very effectively.. the game had real weight, but it only added to the feel of the game. In this game, it’s sort of a speed based game, similar to Marble Blast, but the weight of the ball throws that off somehow, and carries it over to the difficult-to-move-around side of things, which strips off the fun.

The gameplay elements to making a great game are there. There are jump pads, buttons, speed boosts, collectables (glorbs), and objects to move and push around. I feel like a lot of these gameplay elements are implemented in a hurried way. Let me rattle off a few examples for you.

1: The buttons are only a small step up onto the little 3d model, but it’s so cumbersome to get up onto them sometimes, that you’re sitting there rolling around it, nudging into it for like 20 seconds.. why not make it concave, so you roll into it with ease?

2: There is a speed boost on one of the very beginning levels that you have to jump up into, and it will toss you through a wall into the next portion of the level.. being that this is a beginning level, you would think it would be fairly simple. It took me a good 20+ tries to get it!

3: Time limits. Why? The times are all uploaded to a central server and published in-game for everyone to see. The times themselves would self-police and motivate people to be quick, completely eliminating the need for time limits at all. The time limits only serve as a way to make you play the game more than once. If you are an achievement hunter, you will have to play the game all the way through no less than three times. (Once for collecting Glorbs, once for speed on hard difficulty, and once or more for “The Impossible” achievement.) It takes away from the freedom of the game, and kind of ruins it.

4: Glorbs (the collectable items). They are scattered around in ridiculous places, making you completely change route or stop the flow of the game to collect them.. quite often you have to avoid the end portal completely, dance around it and collect three or four of them right by it, then go into the portal.. this removes the “blammo” fast finish that makes the ending of the levels fun. In Marble Blast, you would often get great speed built up, and fly through the finish line, giving you a huge sense of a real finish line that is quite awesome.

5: There is lava scattered around some of the beginning levels but it doesn’t hurt you. If you fall “off” the map into the lava, you can roll around down there with no penalty other than not being able to get back up to the play field. You then have to commit suicide to respawn back at your last checkpoint. Just make the lava hurt!

I decided to try out the gamepad to see if it would help with the controls. I went into the controls interface, and chose to use the gamepad. I then tried to map my dpad to up/down/left/right, and couldn’t. I decided it must want me to “save” the fact I want to use a controller, then go back into that screen and add my remappings.. when I chose gamepad then clicked “back” nothing was mapped. The game completely removed *any* way to move about the menus, and now the game is completely useless unless I can find some way to remap them through an .ini file or something. I’m not sure at this point that I should even bother.

It’s a shame really. I had a good feeling about the game at the start, and it turned out to be a title that feels like it was never actually play tested. There are lots of glaring problems and stupid ideas that were left in the game for no reason. This game kind of sucks. :(

Pros:
- Good visuals
- Good sound

Cons:
- Poor gameplay and controls
- Needs playtesting and patched before it will be fun
- Time limits on the levels don’t make sense. Ranked, and timed is more than enough to encourage speed

Verdict: 4/10

A while back I found a wallpaper site that scrapes images off 4chan. This means the amount of wallpapers available on the site is tremendous, and also sketchy at times. There are a lot of nude ones to sift through, but you can browse with a bunch of different filters including colour, sfw (or not), size, etc.

Check it out, it’s the best wallpaper site around if you ask me.

There have been others in the past that do the same thing, but this one is the better one.

http://www.humblebundle.com/

There is a great deal going on that you shouldn’t pass up. The Humble Indie Bundle II is a group of 5 independent games being sold for whatever price you deem it worthy. They are all cross platform, and carry a normal price of around $80! The proceeds are split between the developers, some charities, and a tip for the people arranging the bundle.

I’ll be picking up my copy soon.

edit: I bought it, woo!

I’ve been into watching speedruns for some years now, and there are always new and interesting videos to be found on the ‘net.

Here are a few I watched this weekend that I thought were interesting. If the video has a (TAS) tag on it, it means it’s a Tool Assisted Speedrun. That is a video that was made by playing the game with an emulator and making use of save states, game glitches, etc, to make the run as fast as possible. If it doesn’t have a (TAS) tag on it, it means it’s a normal speedrun, performed without “tools”.

Zelda: A Link To The Past (TAS) (1:16:11.05) – This one is pretty awesome if you’re a fan of the game. It’s a full run of the game, completing every dungeon in about an hour and a quarter.

Super Mario 64 (TAS) (5:04.57) – This is a zero star run of the game, as fast as possible. Not much else to say.. it’s basically breaking the game in any way possible.

Portal (9:25.567) – This is a new video of the game completed in under ten minutes. This is a multi-segment run, meaning he played each level (or segment) as many times as needed to get the fastest time possible. It really is incredible what can be done to break the game mechanics and get a time like this.

Jumper: Redux (11:08) – I’m posting this because it’s clear that it is incredibly hard to get a time like this for this game. While I have never played the game, it was still really entertaining to watch. It’s a single segment run, all done in one sitting, no reloading levels/saves etc.

If you enjoy the videos, check out these sites.

http://speeddemosarchive.com
http://tasvideos.org

Enjoy!

Moved into the new place at the beginning of the month. I’m super excited. So far I’m really enjoying being roommate-less, cats aside.

I am looking forward to buying some nice things for the place, like a TV, couch, etc.

Last week I got fed up with Winamp and it’s sluggish, bloaty behavior. No, I don’t want 50 free mp3s and your stupid ass winamp agent!

I set out to find a decent replacement. I wanted something that was skinnable so I could use a minimal skin, and have something that took up as little or as much screen real estate as I wanted. I tried out a few others, MediaMonkey, CoolPlayer, Foobar, and a while back Sonique.

XMPlayer is what I eventually settled on. I found a fairly small listing of good skins for it, but they are good, and there are several very functional “windowshade” type skins.

I also discovered a nice little plugin for it that will act as a wrapper for winamp visualization plugins, so I was able to get my favourite vis plugin running with hardly any effort.

Here’s how I have mine set up now.

It’s only been a year+ since an update.. oh well.

I’ve still been running, just not updating my diet/exercise page here. I took a break from running, but got back into it more heavily than before. I’m using a GPS watch now, and am mapping and logging all my runs. You can see my profile on the endomondo site here.

On the endomondo site you can see the runs I have done lately as well as maps of them, heart rates, pace, elevation etc. GPS is fun. :)

Going to Mexico in a few hours! Ciao.