one little cog

So I’ve finally finished the first course to web programming with many more to go!  I just hope I’ll have more time and energy when I take the second course.  But then again, it will likely be a little more active rather than reading and writing.

I survived 20 nights of zombies, can you?

So with some time to breathe, I am wasting time and reading blogs or catching up with whatever I haven’t had time to do over the past week (*ahem* … studying?).  So I wander over to Darren Barefoot’s site again and he found yet another great game!  Not as addictive as the last one, but nonetheless pretty spiffy, I guess it’s a good start in preparing for Resident Evil 3.  Darren Barefoot mentioned 28 Weeks Later (the sequel to 28 Days Later) and I had no idea they were bringing out a sequel so it sounds interesting, however I hope it will be better than the first one.  I thought 28 Days Later was rather bland, mainly after the few stranded survivors were brought to the safety of the remaining bunch of “elite” and “disciplined”soldiers at some camp who thought they were the sole survivors and apparently there were no other women in the world (or so they thought … even though it’s only been 28 days and apparently they see a female survivor and all moral judgment fails?).

Speaking of zombie games, Darren inquired on his blog as to whether or not there are any good zombie games out there, ones that aren’t first person shooter.  I ran across this article from IGN, listing out the Top 10 Zombie Games (PC and console).  I hadn’t heard of a number of those games, but Hunter: the Reckoning is one heck of a great co-operative zombie killing game.  It actually deserves to be better than listed as #10.  Dead Rising is listed as #1 and according to my friend, it seems like it is worth checking out.  Another new game on the horizon that may be of interest is Left 4 Dead, which I am not sure whether will be a first or third-person game but it has potential.

I noticed IGN listed #4 as Zombies ate my Neighbours which I had totally forgotten about but would love to play again!  Sure it’s old, but this game is a classic!  I wonder if there’s a port for the PC or something.  Screenshot below courtesy of Rotten Tomatoes.

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On a more productive tone, I ran across an interesting article by Mark Hinkle of Enterprise Open Source Magazine that noted a question that a guy by the name of William Hurley of posted concerning the ability for open source software to continue to be truly viable.   Hurley makes a good point that there are a lot of people and organizations who simply leech off of the open source community and re-sell the software as “improved” on their own without contributing these improvements back to the community.  The idea of open source is about working together to develop a better software that everyone benefits from.  There are likely features that are likely to be initially proprietary and held back, but these should be released into the open source realm after a time period.  At least, that’s my perspective.  Other less major features, but more so fundamental improvements on the backbone or structure of the software in development should be released immediately.  In agreement with Hurley, those who hold back their own developments thinking that it is beneficial from a personal or proprietary standpoint should realize that the return they get from releasing their “improvements” into the open source realm is substantial because fellow contributors will be able to help build upon your idea and improve or enhance it.  You gain, they gain, and you gain again.  It’s almost cyclical.  I was about to say circle of life, but perhaps that may be a little grand…

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