deKay’s Blog

Whilst looking for gaming bargains in Asda this evening, my wife pointed this £1 PC game out to me. I didn’t buy it as, sadly, it looked crap.

I found this today. I knew I had it, but had completely forgotten how small it was. Like, 24×17x4cm. Which is VERY small.

Shame it only has a 233MHz CPU and no built-in network card.

The Canon MV930 is a cheap MiniDV camcorder. We buy a couple of camcorders at work each year, and they’re normally Canons. So this one arrived last week.

And nice it is too. It’s got all the features we need, and it records onto SD cards and stuff, and is reasonably rugged and simple to use.

However. It has one glaring problem. You see the big white button on the back? That’s the Record button. You press it, and it records. You press it again, and it stops recording. Fine, yes? Well, no.

If you look through the viewfinder with your left eye (as I generally do as I have a weird eye phobia thing which is far too silly to discuss here), your nose presses the button. And the recording stops (or starts). Amazingly, your cheap DV camcorder becomes a working model of the Heisenburg Uncertainty Principle. Excellent!

No, I didn’t sneeze. According to “resident” of #spin (a super top-secret geeky IRC channel, for super top-secret geeks, and me) Tom-Cat:

Galaksija is a Z80 based computer built in ex-Yugoslavia during the best computer years (80’s ).

I have no idea what it is. At all. Anyway, Mr Cat (I’m not really on first name terms with him) has written a Galaksija emulator. For the Spectrum. As you do. I downloaded it, read the Readme (which didn’t really throw much light on, well, anything really), and fired up SPIN, my Spectrum emulator of choice.

Loading the Galaksija emulator gives you a black screen with a command prompt. Having absolutely no clue as to what to do with it, I did exactly what all kids-of-the-80s would do in John Menzies or Tandy. I did this:

I saw this when stuck in traffic today. Well, I thought it was funny, even if it didn’t have black hair and a self-hate complex…

Ten years ago, blogging didn’t exist. Well, it did, but not in any way the same form as it does today, and certainly the term hadn’t been invented then. And who would want to read a load of rubbish about what you did today and stuff?

Well, in 1997 I found a program for my Amiga called, I think, Captain’s Log. It was a simple journal program where you just type stuff and it timestamps them. You may recall that a few weeks ago, I fished my Amiga out of the loft to transfer everything off the hard drive before it dies of old age. One of the reasons for doing this was to find my old journal software on it, but sadly, couldn’t find it.

Today, however, I have exciting news. I was backing my Mac up to my PC, and the backup software failed to back up a few files as they contained colons in the filename. One of these files, was my Captain’s Log! Amazing! I don’t have the actual software, but the data file is just plain text, so I can easily open and read it. And share it with you!

So, here it is, complete and unedited. It might help to know that it starts when I was in my first year at uni, doing my Chemistry BSc. It’s not very long (I kept forgetting to update it), and it’s surprisingly dull, but exciting (for me) nonetheless:

Sunday 09.02.97, 23:21

Today, I installed loads of new stuff on my new hard disk. Bargain!
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Sunday 23.02.97, 16:02

Really should do some work today. Got loads of stuff to do.

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Sunday 23.02.97, 17:18

Ok, well. I’ve done the tutorial work for tomorrow now. I’m just going to have something to eat, and then I’m going to make a start on my physical chemistry write up. Ho hum.
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Sunday 23.02.97, 19:17

I’ve now had a HUGE dinner, and I suppose I really should do the rest of my work now. Or maybe I’ll just go and have some Angel Delight instead. That sounds like a better idea.
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Sunday 23.02.97, 19:37

Ok. I WAS going to do some work, but, um, didn’t. I haven’t even eaten the Angel Delight yet. Never mind eh? It’s only 7:37 anyway.
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Sunday 23.02.97, 19:49

Still not done any work….

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Sunday 23.02.97, 20:38

I’ve had my Angel Delight now. But I’ve still not done my work. And I’m about to go and wash some tea-towels too. Oh well. There’s always tomorrow.
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Sunday 23.02.97, 20:45

Well, that was fun. Work now I think.
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Sunday 23.02.97, 22:45

I am DEFINATELY going to do some work now. I’m just about to stop faffing around on this computer, playing silly games and actually do my bloody write up. ANY MINUTE NOW, I will. I really will. Honest.
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Sunday 23.02.97, 22:47

Actually, my room looks quite messy. I think I’ll tidy that.
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Sunday 23.02.97, 23:50

Done it!
Well, some of it anyway. I didn’t actually get round to doing the Physical Chemistry write up, but at least I’ve done some work. I should really go to bed now, I suppose. I don’t think I will just yet though.
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Monday 24.02.97, 00:26

Hmm. I should be asleep by now. But I’m not.
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Monday 24.02.97, 00:58

I’ve decided. I’m going to bed. Or at least, I’m going to get ready for bed.
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Monday 24.02.97, 01:02

I am. Honestly.
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Monday 24.02.97, 01:04

No, really. Any second now.
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Monday 24.02.97, 01:34

Now I am off to bed. I’ve done my diary and stuff. I’ve got to be up at 8:30 as well.
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Monday 24.02.97, 01:40

Grr! I can’t… seem… to drag… myself… away… from the computer…!! Nnnnngh! It’s not working! I keep finding things to do on it, which seem really important, like scanning my hard disk for viruses using four different programs. And whats worse, is that I’ve spent time typing this too! ARRRRGH!!
Good night then.
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Monday 24.02.97, 01:43

…no. Only kidding.
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Monday 24.02.97, 09:43

I should have gone to bed earlier last night, as I’m really tired. And today is going to be such fun too - I’ve got from 10am to 6pm without a break.
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Monday 24.02.97, 12:59

I seem to be skipping my lectures… I do feel a bit ill though, so thats my excuse. Just got a parcel too, containing 5 CDs! I was quite impressed. I am going to my other lab at 2pm though.
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Monday 24.02.97, 13:52

I’ll just have a quick pint of Guinness first.
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Monday 24.02.97, 14:16

I’m off now then.
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Monday 24.02.97, 19:43

Well. That was fun. The lab only took about an hour and a half. Went to CPC for a bit. Decided to do some work, but actually had dinner, rang home, and sat about for a bit. I’m up for it now though.
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Monday 24.02.97, 20:48

I seem to have managed to not do any work again. I’d best do some now.
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Monday 24.02.97, 20:54

Actually, I think I’ll ring Philip.
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Monday 24.02.97, 20:57

Oh. He wasn’t in.
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Tuesday 25.02.97, 00:15

Did some work. Watched some TV. Phoned Philip again, but he still wasn’t in. Best go to bed now, I suppose.
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Tuesday 25.02.97, 01:08

Write out 400 times: “I must go to bed, I must go to bed”.
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Thursday 10.07.97, 19:22

Now I realise that this is several months after the last entry, but I just decided not to use this program for ages. Today I got myself a job cleaning at Mums work. I start in about a week. Currently I’m waiting for Caroline to ring at about 8pm.
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Thursday 10.07.97, 20:42

She rang. Now she’s gone.
Damn.

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Tuesday 15.07.97, 14:01

Once again I’m bored to the point of using this silly program.
Incidently, I’ve got DOpus up and running properly now too.
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Tuesday 15.07.97, 15:28

Just found AWeb on my hard disk… where did that come from?
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Monday 21.07.97, 15:16

Since finding AWeb, I’ve mostly been writing a new website to replace my old, not very good, one I have at uni. I’ve got some pictures on it of my friends and stuff too.

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Thursday 31.07.97, 16:03

I’ve been loads of stuff for my website recently. I’ve got about eight or so pages now. Not very exciting really.

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Sunday 22.11.98, 01:51

Coo. I’ve come across this program again, as I seem to do periodically. So I’d best add something to it.

But I can’t think of anything to write.

Bum.

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Sunday 22.11.98, 01:52

Oh actually, yes I do. I could say about all the Exciting Fun I’ve been having this evening. All the stupid bloody games I’ve been playing. And the fact that I’ve quite cunningly not managed to do any work again.

A student’s life eh? Who’d have one?
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Sunday 22.11.98, 01:53

Incidently, why an I still awake at this time of mornuftw-#i#i#jjtgibkzwh
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Sunday 22.11.98, 01:54

I meant, awake at this time of the morning, but forgot how to spell and took it out on the keyboard.

So thwere you oh ARSE!
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How did this happen? I’ve always liked Castlevania games, and was quite excited about 18 months ago when Dawn of Sorrow came out, even though I hadn’t really played a Castlevania game since the SNES one about 12 years previous. But good as it was, it didn’t propel me into buying any other, older, Castlevania games.

Last year, however, when the first details of Portrait of Ruin for the DS were filtering onto the internet, I thought I’d best pick up the three GBA Castlevanias (yes, there’s actually four, but I mean the GBA only ones). After all, it’s the sort of game that just becomes impossible to find after a time, and as a result I had difficulty finding a copy of Circle of the Moon. Thankfully, Konami had seen fit to re-release Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow together in a single cartridge, so no problems there.

But I still didn’t play them.

Then Portrait of Ruin actually came out (or at least, was reviewed and “leaked” on the internet), and at the same time, the SNES game Super Castlevania IV was released on the Wii’s Virtual Console. I bought the latter. I started playing Circle of the Moon in parallel, and in anticipation of PoR. I was hooked.

And I still am. Although the SNES title isn’t quite the same as the “Metroidvania” games, it’s still great, and I really enjoyed it despite being seemingly impossible. Eventually, I did it, however. Circle of the Moon was different, although somehow, the same. Harmony of Dissonance was great too, although it took me half the game to realise it. And now I’ve begun Aria of Sorrow, and I’m loving it already.

Yeah, so all of the modern Castlevanias are the same. Castle, map, Dracula. But they’re all so good it doesn’t matter. Clearly it doesn’t matter, as I’m playing them all consecutively.

And the future? Aside from Portrait of Ruin, there’s nothing on the horizon that’s new. However, I missed out on so much Castlevania between 1994 and 2005 that, thankfully, there’s stuff to fill the void. Not least the Xbox 360 Live Arcade version of Symphony of the Night, the first proper “modern” Castlevania. And then there’s the PSP version too, complete with a remake of Dracula X, another title I’ve not played. Then, of course, there’s the NES originals that I could go back to (I even have a GBA version of the first one, albeit Akumajou Dracula - the Japanese version), and then N64 and PS2 3D Castlevanias.

Long may I be playing this great series!

Well, now you can! We’ve got a Samsung VHS-to-DVD recorder at work, and on some of the on-screen menus you’re asked to press any key. Helpfully, the remote includes an Any Key for those people who wish to take the request literally.