lateral motion detected

Thanks to some readers for the kind words, but have no fear, this site is far from being abandoned. Personal details ahead: The wedding went perfectly, lots of visiting with family, the gifts, the money - I couldn't be happier. The better part of the last week has been spent moving, so expect this site to go offline sometime in the next couple of days while it's in transport. But don't bother asking what I think of married life yet, because to be honest it hasn't really sunk in for either of us.

Some news on the gaming front - in the wake of the Half-Life 2 source theft, the game might actually be delayed until April 2004. Take Reuters' report with a grain of salt, however, as this may not actually affect the North American release. This is all around a really shitty situation, as Valve were so careful to keep its release secret from the gaming masses. Now we're probably looking at an indefinite delay, since there still has not been any official word from Valve. Piracy of retail games is one thing - but breaking into a developer's computers for unfinished code only to distribute that? It just doesn't make any sense, because it's ultimately the gamers themselves that lose by making an industry that seemed to be just starting to accept its fans into the development process. This set the company back more than I think we all realize.

Gearbox released another patch for Halo PC. This is really looking good on the part of the developers - I may have to pick this one up. I haven't heard much negative fan reaction since the game's release (including rave reviews), and Gearbox appears to be pre-emptively addressing any problems with the game before they become major issues.

And with much hot air and fanfare, the N-Gage was finally released this week. But does anybody care? Not at $300 CDN and that god awful design. Pass me my GBA-SP, please.

new slang when you notice the stripes