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I'll just save myself and Akatosh some time and quote his post from last year, which quoted my post from the year before that:

"It's that time of year again.
Is anybody going to be attempting it this year?

For anybody who doesn't know NaNoWriMo is National Novel Writing Month and is held from November 1st - 30th and the idea is for participants to try to write a novel (well 50,000 words) in that space of time.

It's a great creative exercise though and I reckon we should all have a go and talk about it in this thread.

http://www.nanowrimo.org"

I haven't got time this year, but I'll probably still start something and see what happens

Nothing is going right for me lately.
Now My Norton 360 is being a tosser.
I only renewed my subscription 3 days ago at a cost nearly £70.
Now it tells me it wont load because of some error and recommends that I run the removal tool and reinstall the program.
So I do that, follow the intstructions, and then it immediately uninstalls itself again and tells me to restart the computer and try again.

Any ideas what's causing this?

A while ago my computer gave me problems not long after having installed my webcam.  I was forced to restore my computer to an earlier time before I installed the webcam...

but now, when I try to install the webcam again, it thinks it is already there and gives me this message:

"This software version is already installed on this system. To re-install this software, you must remove it first, and then run Setup again
from the installation media. For information about removing a program, see Windows Help."

The thing is... it is not in my add/remove programs list and there are no files on my computer apart from some readme thing that got left behind.  How can I remove something that is not there?

How do I tell my computer to let me install the webcam again without thinking it is already installed?

Thanks.

[edit]
If it helps, the model is LifeCam vx-1000.  And I'm using it on Vista... on my Advent 5301 Laptop... wearing a red Stranglers T-Shirt and thinking about making a cup of tea.

Right.  First things first.  An admission... I've never downloaded a torrent in my life. At least not knowingly. I've certainly never used a client.  In all honesty I'm not entirely sure what torrents are nor what the difference is between them and any other file sharing system.

I've come across a file I need in .torrent format and I suppose now's as good a time as any to join the 21st Century.  So where should I begin?  I obviously need a client.  I've found a list of about 80.  Which ones do you guys use?  I'm not after any fancy features, I just want a safe and effective way to download this file.

Cheers all.

PS. I also don't use an mp3 player (well I do, but I use it as a memory stick for files - there are no songs on it)
PPS. I also have only burnt 2 CDs in my life.. and that was only a months ago, when I finally got around to backing up the recovery files on my computer.

man, for someone who has been an internet dweller for over ten years, I'm pretty shit at the internet.

I know the general concensus here is that laens flare is bad... but...
try this neat little trick on facebook:

up up down down left right left right B A then press enter (classic cheat code)

Who here has a Twitter account?
Do you use it?  Do you find it useful, or just another bandwagon that'll soon disappear up the lane?
I've recently made an account, and I find it interesting to follow certain people, but I don't personally have much to offer, myself.

If anyone wants to follow me, I'm StuartForbes

I'm already following a handful of AGSers and some other adventure game related folks  it's quite fun at the moment, but I can't help feeling the novelty will wear off soon.

Use this thread either to share your username so we can follow you, or just to discuss pros and cons of Twitter.

Not really sure where to post this but:

http://www.adventuregamestudio.co.uk/games.php?action=detail&id=1157

I might be wrong, but I dont think this is a game.  It claims to be a Lindsey Lohan Sex Tape and  uses a Ben Jordan screenshot to prove this point.  This is either a bad case of spam or some kind of in-joke that I've missed.  In any case, I thought I'd bring it up.  I won't be risking my computer on those links.

I could've just PMed CJ but I figured he or one of his minions will read this first and delete the offending item...

I just came across this quite interesting article.  Haven't finished reading it yet, but it discusses one topic that arises on these boards every one in a while... why some games just seem to lack any decent puzzles.

It's quite a nice essay in a similar vein to Vince's 'Why Your Game is Broken' series. Then goes on to make case studies out of a nice selection of commercial adventures.

It's in two parts.
http://www.metzomagic.com/showArticle.php?index=851
http://www.metzomagic.com/showArticle.php?index=852

Sorry if this is old for anyone, but I'm finding it interesting and thought I'd share it.

Some may remember a little while ago I threatened to make an AGS game loosely based on 'How to be a Complete Bastard'.  Well I plan to resurrect this little project over summer while I've got a bit of spare time.  But I need your help:

The puzzles all basically consist of the main character doing really nasty and annoying things to people.  He's a jerk... a complete bastard... but I don't want to just steal ideas from HTBACB.  I've come up with a number of original puzzles based on traditional pranks and some toilet humour (nothing too disgusting, I want it to be a fun (and if possible, challenging) game, not a gross-out fest.

But I thought I'd give you guys the chance to come up with some original and creative ideas for pranks, and general anti-social behaviour to include in the game.  Any ideas? Leave them in this thread and if I like it I'll write it into the design.

Cheers guys.

I don't think anyone was really expecting anything amazing but what is amazing is just how bloody awful it is.

A moment of silence if you please

Red Dwarf

1988-2009

Has anyone read this yet?
Brought a smile to my face.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/4344890/Virgin-the-worlds-best-passenger-complaint-letter.html

Hey guys and gals.
I just been playing around with photoshop, after a long absence and decided to make a spot-the-difference puzzle.

There's two reasons for this thread, really:
a) For crits (hence posting it here) -  How can I improve my technique to make some of the changes look more natural?
b) For ideas -  I'm thinking of compiling a bunch of say 15-20 of these into a playable .exe using AGS, but I need some ideas, perhaps a theme... I'm sure you'd all prefer to play it if the pictures were a bit more exciting than generic market place stockphotos

Feel free to play along aswell as giving me crits, but if you do, please put your answers in spoiler tags.

Unfortunately photobucket shrunk the final image so it's about half the size it should have been, but all the differences are still noticeable if you're looking in the right places.

There are ten differences overall.

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f349/Captain_Stu/AGS/Market.png
(original image courtesy of FreeFoto.com)

I have a question I want to ask but I didn't feel it was important enough to warrant it's own thread clogging up gen-gen.  So I thought I'd create this thread for all those niggling questions which pop up from time to time.

You know when you can remember parts of a film or a song but can't for the life of you remember the title?  Things like that.

So if you think about it in the future and have a niggling question which you don't feel deserves it's own thread (often the query is solved within the first few posts, anyway), then remember this thread lingering around waiting for your posers.  You guys are normally pretty good at these kinds of question.

-------------------------------------------------

So anyway.  Here's my question.

Back when the net was young, you would type in some random website names such as "www.ilovepizza.com" or "www.rhubarbandcustard.co.uk" and it would take you so a website who provided free email addresses based on hundreds and hundreds of such domain names...  I'm assuming they bought the domain names first and then dished out the corresponding email addresses for users... for example I could request "stupot@ilovepizza.com"

I can't remember what the actual website was called, I used to just type in random URLs and i'd eventualy find it...  But this was 10 or so years ago and I havent seen this website for ages...

Can anyone else remember the site that I am thinking of and does it still exist?
If not, what happened to the hundreds of URLs they owened?

cheers

A few days ago a mate of mine gave me a book he had just read and he couldn't stop talking about it.  In it, he said, are the 12 steps to being able to bed any woman you desire (or at least get her phone number).  When it comes to women, I am a self-confessed no-hoper, so I was intrigued by what he had to say.

The book.  The Game by Neil Strauss.

Strauss was once a fairly plain looking man.  A music journalist with almost Zero experience with the ladies.  Until he got involved with a society of Pick-up Artists and began joining them at seminars and workshops learning all the tips and tricks they had to offer.  He is now arguably the most succesful PUA in the world.

Some of the stuff in the book is rather morally dubious... for example it talks about using Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) on a woman to play with her mind, make her think she is attracted to you, etc.  I'm not quite sure I agree with that side of things, but there is certainly a lot of material in this book and in the wider community to get any no-hoper (or AFC - Average Frustrated Chump) like myself on the road to success.

I'm only about a quarter of the way through the book but I still had a go at trying out some of the tips when I went out on Saturday.  And, by gum I think it was working... I mean, granted, I didn't get laid, or kissed or even any phone numbers, but I actually approached some girls and made conversation, which is something I have always found difficult.

One of the techniques I tried was what the book refers to as "group theory"... the idea that it is best to go up to a group of 2 or more people rather than a lone girl.  Then you start chatting to the group not paying much attention to the girl... she will think you are interesting and want to be part of the conversation, that way you have her attention without having made any direct come-ons.  This wasn't really successful if I'm honest, but that is largely due to me being a shite conversationalist and not being able to hold the group's attention for long enough to have the desired effect.  Something I will be working on in the near future.

The second thing I tried, with slightly more success, is what the PUA communtiy refer to as the "neg".  Say something ever-so-slightly negative about the girl you are sarging.  Either to her face or better still, to the group, in front of her.  For example you might say 'ooh you've got lipstick on your teeth'  or ' hey, nice dress... I saw another chick wearing that a minute ago'... the line I tried was 'wow, you're really short' and carried on talking to her friend (to be fair she was tiny, but gorgeous).  Supposedly this has several effects.  For a start she's not used to it; all the other guys dish out the same stale compliments and they bore her... and on top of that she now feels the need to redeem herself despite whatever negative quality you pointed out.

The chick carried on chatting to me despite me calling her short so it seems it might have worked... but I won't pass judgment until I've tried it out some more...

This might sound really sad, and you all probably think I've fallen for some whackjob Self-help guru tosh.  And maybe I have... but if anything can give me the confidence to approach women in a bar or wherever it may be, then it must be doing something right.

Discuss!

Nobody has posted this yet so I will.

http://www.homestarrunner.com/dangeresque.html

It's a pointy clicky Dangeresque (ie Strong Bad meets 70s cop drama) game.

So, who has seen this yet and what did you think?

The reason I ask is because I'd spoken to a lot of people who had seen it before I went yesterday and the majority of them said it was crap... so I went in expecting it to be so... but I loved it.

Yes, granted it wasn't quite as good as Casino Royale, but then that was the Best Bond Ever so that doesn't automatically make QoS a bad film...

I think a lot of people had a problem with the fact that some of the plot threads follow on from the previous film which is something they have never done in past Bonds.   But it is still a perfectly good film in its own right... it has a new villain, a new story, new Bond Girls and quite frankly, some AMAZING action sequences.   Bond has always been about these things and QoS was no different.

Some people are peeved off because 007 is actually showing some emotion for a change... oh nooooo what shall we do? They've tried to give a character some depth!!!

Is this normal?... I'm suspicious... Possible virus?
Hi there... I have just found a folder in my computer files (in the same window as my 'Documents', 'Pictures', 'Downloads', etc folders). The folder was called {924b7121-fd22-485b-adb2-ac19e7f5d6b5} (including wobbly brackets)...

The weird thing is that when I tried to click on it an alert came up telling me

"You don't currently have permission to access to this folder.
Click continue to get access to this folder."

How can I not have access to this folder... I'm the only user and administrator of my laptop...

And the language of that ( "don't" and "get access" ) seems to me a little bit unrealistic for something official... especially as when I click continue I get the dark screen asking me if I want to allow something called "Edit Security", supposedly a Windows thing, to access my computer.

Am I beng paranoid or could something be amiss?
I haven't given the thing permision yet because I don't trust it.
Does anyone know what it might be and if it is okay?

Some of you may have noticed I have recently started an adventure games blog.  The aim is to try to keep up to date with the genre as well as harking back to the days of yore, covering the indie and freeware scene as well as the popular commercial releases.  But lack of time and funds means that I can't beef up the blog by myself, so this is just a little polite request for any original reviews, walkthroughs, ideas for polls, features or essays on the genre.  Anything really.

If you have anything original and previously unpublished or if you are willing to come up with something fresh especially, then I would be ever grateful.  Of course you will be duely credited and I will include a front-page link to your own website/blog or whatever you prefer.

Thanks in advance for any help.  Please PM any content to me or email me: stu@toxicsock.co.uk

If you would like to be a regular submitter, let me know, that would be awesome.  But at the moment I'm just hoping for a quick burst of content to beef the blog up and give it some substance.

Thanks again

The following passage is a paragraph taken from my review of Broken Sword 4: The Angel of Death, which I've only just got around to playing.  I really enjoyed the game but I had a fair few complaints, and they nearly all stemmed from the fact that the game is in full 3D.

The Gameplay itself is... passable. It doesn't help that my computer is low-spec so the animations were excruciatingly slow and the cursor took sometimes up to two or three seconds to obey me. I remember having the same problem with The Sleeping Dragon, the third game in the series. This isn't so much a flaw in the games as a reminder that I should splash out a bit next time I go to PC World, but it does beg the question... do such adventure games NEED to be fully 3D? You shouldn't need a hi-spec PC to play a point and click adventure... should you? And even if you have got a half decent computer, in my experience such games have always lost a certain magic when making the transition from pre-rendered backgrounds to full 3D. As well An attention to detail is so vital to games where the player is constantly looking for clues and items, but because a fully 3D game can't afford to fill the space up with intersting tidbits and red-herrings, you end up with lots of empty space and its always glaringly obvious what can and can't be clicked on or picked up.

To me, the whole nature of any good adventure game is in the details of the surroundings.  If you have a fully 3D engine, you can bearly afford to have anything on screen that doesn't need to be there.

As well as this, if you're not being shot at by thugs, razzing it round a racetrack or blowing up tanks, then you have more time to admire the scenery.  Pre-rendered backgrounds can fit in a lot more eye-candy, and to me they better suit the slower, methodical pace of a logic-based point and click adventure.  Surely a game doesn't have to be 3D just to prove that it's modern.

What are your views on this? 

This is going to be another one of those posts where I really show my ignorance, but I have a little query and I'm sure someone here will know the answer.

So, I've just installed SP1 on my laptop.. everything seems to be in order... and interestingly... I seem to have about 15GB MORE free space on my hard drive than I did before I made the installation.

It went from about 55GB out of 100 to almost 70...  Not that I'm complaining... extra space can't hurt but I just find this weird... Is this one of the functions of the SP? Does it delete unneeded windows files and stuff as well?

Cheers.