Category: General

I thought that I would post about this before I forgot everything I learnt while looking for a rental.

There are a number of websites that advertise rental properties. The Australia-wide ones that we were familiar with (from our rental search in Sydney) are realestate.com.au and domain.com.au. Listings often appear on both sites, but realestate.com.au doesn’t accept independent (non agent) listings whereas domain.com.au does.

We were also fairly frustrated with domain.com.au sometimes because of a few “zombie listings”. We ended up contacting agents for places that were already leased (but still listed on domain.com.au). I suspect that the domain.com.au software requires manual de-listing whereas the realestate.com.au software is an integrated solution for agents.

For Western Australia, the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA, reiwa.com.au) is a good resource (although the website doesn’t permit opening listing in new windows for some reason). This website is also a good resource for general information on renting.

Finally, we also found that a few big real estate agents (like LJ Hooker) are not part of the realestate.com.au or reiwa.com.au networks, so we started checking individual websites as well. Then we found that many of the missing real estate agents can be found at homehound.com.

However, after all that we ended up finding our place in the paper. How “ironical”.

So to keep your bases covered, be sure to check out:

• reiwa.com.au
• realestate.com.au
• domain.com.au
• homehound.com
• the newspaper

Probably in that order.

Update: Just added a bit more information and the list of links.

My mum’s birthday is coming up and we decided to present her with “the gift of gaming”.

She has always been very into Puzzle Bobble (aka. Bust-A-Move), but hasn’t been able to play since I took the consoles with me when I left home a few years back 🙁 Soooo, we decided to get her a portable version: a Cosmic Blue Nintendo DS and Bust-A-Move DS.

I even made a special card. I hope it gives just enough of a hint as to what’s inside the box before she opens it!

Outside:

Inside:

I mosaiced out the signatures (there wasn’t anything lewd!)

I made a late afternoon snack that (for a vegetarian household) looks suspiciously like meat :

It’s grapefruit by the way… and I need to get a tripod.

Does anyone out there know if the “FOR HOME USE ONLY” clauses on some DVDs and video games are actually legally enforcable in Australia?

To me, it seems to be a form of EULA (end user license agreement) and the legality of those is untested in many places and questionably enforcable. If it is enforcable, it makes me wonder about stores that rent games or sell second-hand games. Do they need licenses to do that?

Do I need a license to lend a game to a friend? … hmmm… I think that I’ll write to Sony and ask for authorisation.

Update: e-mail sent

http://www.dyingduck.com/sotc/making_of_sotc.html

This article covers a lot of technology including: HDR effects, level-of-detail, stencil-buffer shadows, motion blur, collision detection, inverse kinematics, and fur rendering. A very, very good read.

It’s rare to see a detailed technical article like this from such a high profile game developer on the web. I strongly recommend that all the games/graphics programmers reading this check it out.

Update: It’s interesting to note that the main character is modelled as a sphere for collision detection.

I just realised that I had a major typo on my previous post about the Microsoft phone interview! It’s now been corrected. I told them that I was not looking for work at the moment.

While on the subject, shortly after I e-mailed them back I got a polite response asking me to consider sending an application after I have enjoyed a long break.

Heidi and I went to Clancy’s Fish Pub in Fremantle for “trivia” last night.

The host was great. He was quite entertaining (although a little manic) and would lay into anyone who was taking the event a little too seriously (and irritating everyone else). The questions were well-balanced and everyone won something (we scored a pack of marshmellows and a dessert).

Heidi noted that the event was run by Fame Trivia, which is the same group that runs trivia nights at a bunch of places in Sydney. They train quiz masters and everything, so that defines a certain standard.

Conclusion: A good night out.

Over a week later and we’re still waiting on our air conditioner.

Thankfully it’s been fairly cool recently. Oh wait a minute, it hasn’t! In fact, it’s been stinking hot and today it’s humid as well (although admittedly not as hot).

Here’s a brief timeline of events that may make you reconsider buying large items from eBay:

• February 13: Win bid and inquire about shipping costs.
• February 20: Finally get shipping costs and pay immediately.
• March 8: Unit still hasn’t arrived. Last possible day given 10 day maximum (3-4 days expected) shipping.

We probably wouldn’t so be irate if there weren’t such big delays in communication; 7 days to get a shipping price!? Plus, our recent e-mails have gone unanswered. Who knows what is going on…

Although almost unheard of on eBay*, we’re definitely giving negative feedback.

* Seriously, I’ve seen people give neutral feedback with comments like “sent to wrong address 2 weeks late”.

After my last post on the Gameboy micro, some of you might be wondering why I avoid EB like the plague. Well, it’s due to a little something I like to call “The Zelda Collector’s Edition Scandal” (aka. “EB blantantly milks money from its customers”).

When Zelda: The Wind Waker first came out in Australia it was bundled with an exclusive bonus disc containing both Zelda: The Ocarina of Time and Zelda: Majora’s Mask and sold for $99.95 (RRP). On launch day at EB games across Australia, there were amazingly none in stock! However, there were plenty of “second hand” versions selling for $99.95 without the bonus disc, and the bonus disc was being sold for $49.95 “second hand”.

All this on launch day! Did they seriously expect us to believe that there were people who bought the game before the store opened and immediately returned it at the less-than-25%-of-the-price that EB will give them just so that EB could sell the game for 150% of the RRP. Bastards! Absolute Bastards! I remember other people complaining about it at the time and a quick google reveals a couple more reports.

Do yourself a favour and buy online or from local franchises like Game Traders (they even get import games in!). If EB does have something at a good price, you can make use of the “lowest price guarantee” offered by many other stores (eg. Big-W, Target, Kmart).

Note: For those from the U.S.A., that’s around $73 US!

I first saw them for $99 (platinum and black only) at EB, but then looked around to find it elsewhere (or ask somewhere else to price match). I avoid EB like the plague! I finally found them for $98 at Big-W and at that price, I picked up a red one 😀

So that’s my mini-review of the Gameboy micro. It looks cool, feels nice, has a nice screen, and is very cheap (at the moment). Is it worth buying if you already have a Gameboy Advance SP? Probably not, the screen is smaller and the shoulder buttons aren’t as nice. Is it worth buying if you don’t have a Gameboy Advance or an original Gameboy Advance? Yes. At this price, yes it is.

Conclusion: Recommended (if you don’t already have an SP).

More details and images after the jump.

Continue reading “Gameboy micro only $98 AU!”