I was wanting to play Doom on my Windows 2000 computer one day but I couldn’t get any sound, not even with VDMSound.  So I looked for a fix and I eventually found out that Doom has been ported sevarl times to almost any system you can think of.  So I waded through the 50,000 ports you can download and found a really great one: JDoom.  JDoom is actually an extension of something bigger, the Doomsday Engine.  Not only does it port Doom to Windows, but it also adds 3D models to the game.  (See the screenshot) JDoom is available for Linux, Windows, and Mac OSX.  Long live Doom!

The Doomsday Engine

Upon hearing of the creation of Microsoft’s new console I thought it would immediately be a failure, but I was wrong.  It has long been a fact that first person shooters are best played on the PC, so what changed with the XBOX.  Nothing.  A mouse and keyboard still smokes the XBOX’s dual analog controller, and the keyboard adapters don’t really work very good, although they do give the edge.  Not to mention that the hardware is pathetic compared to the modern video cards and Pentium 4s.  Halo is bearly playable on the XBOX, so why is it so popular?  I have one word, marketing.  Microsoft ground the XBOX and Halo into the minds of people everywhere.  You have to give it up to Microsoft to be able to sell something that is utter crap.  Maybe with the XBOX 2 MS will get it together and make some sort of keypad/mouse combo, for those of us who can’t use the dual analog controller, which is a craptacular way to FPS.

Suffice it to say if I buy a console, I will be buying a Gamecube, if/when the Legend of Zelda comes out, but never a Microsoft console, I’m glad I didn’t waste the money.  Besides, which other games are popular on the XBOX?  I can count on one finger the only other game, Halo 2.  I think Microsoft should’ve named it “Halo Game Series Console”.

Again, you have to hand it to MS for making a craptacular product so popular.

After being subjected to a month of near-constant talk about World of Warcraft (WoW), I finally broke down and bought the game. I don’t even like Warcraft.

But, apparently it has broken all sorts of sales and concurrent user records. None of my friends can stop talking about or playing it, it seems. One friend of mine runs a videogame store and actually bought a new PC and is getting a broadband hookup, specifically to play WoW. Now it seems that is all he does.

The game had better be worth the trouble I went to get it. Although, to tell the truth, I am a little excited. This is the first Massively-Multiplayer game I will ever play, and I think it will be a unique experience.

Many moons ago, when the Half-Life 2 alpha build and source were leaked, I managed to aquire myself a copy and play through the playable levels. I quite distinctly remember thinking to myself (and I can probably dig up IRC logs to confirm this, too) that the game feels like it’s still running on the Quake engine like the original Half-Life was. I also remember thinking this while playing through the final verion of the game, over a year later.

Now, in John Carmack’s latest blog entry, we find this quote:

“There are still bits of early Quake code in Half Life 2”

awww yeah, who called it?

All of us here at Deep Thought would like to wish each and everyone here a Merry Christmas, and a Happy Holiday season to you and your family. And remember, the holiday season for us Mac users doesn’t end with New Years; we have Macworld Expo in early January!

Peace, love, and Macintosh be with you all,
The Deep Thought Team