Goodbye Blogger.com

After 4 and a half years and a hair away from 300 posts, I took the very hard decision to move to another Blogging service.

After a lot of searching and trials, I chose Tumblr. This decision was not an easy one. Blogger.com has its perks, but I needed something different for the new year. A new blogging adventure that's much more "content" focused and much more "me" focus as well. The blogging-tools on Tumblr and Tumblr's own philosophies are much more geared towards accomplishing this goal of mine.

New year, new blog, new "image". For this new endeavor, I finally created myself a personal logo. I previewed it in my Christmas wish post.

You can continue following me on...


http://martinbreault.tumblr.com/.

Merry Christmas

3DS, PSP and PS Vita Battery Comparison Video

//via @TristanGeoffroy on Twitter

Thinking of moving...

After four and a half years here, I'm thinking of moving my blog. I don't know if I can really move my blog a third time, though. I really like Blogger, but another service is attracting me.

I still haven't decided yet. Keep checking until the end of the year to see if I have taken the decision.

Samsung Galaxy S II - Stop USB Connection Drop

I recently got myself up-to-date in Mobility with a new smartphone - Android, of all things. My weapon of choice, the Samsung Galaxy S II.

This phone is not only replacing my old "not-so-smart" phone, but my old iPod Touch as well. Music is an important part of my life and it's so great to be able to carry everything I need in one device. If you are a Samsung Galaxy S II owner, you probably have one little problem: The USB connection likes to drops a for a lot of people (although not everybody). This is especially a problem if you're transferring a lot of data in one go through the traditional method (Plug your phone in, copy files through Explorer... no second thoughts). Yet a very simple fix exists: Don't just plug it in!

Keep This Quote in your Mind

Your purpose in life isn't to arrive at a destination where you find inspiration. Just like the purpose of dancing isn't to end up at a particular spot on the floor. The purpose of dancing and of life is to enjoy every moment and every step, regardless of where you are when the music ends.

---Wayne W. Dyer

Solo

This post is a few days overdue. Better late than never. Last Monday, I tore down a massive wall as a musician.

I have played quite a few classical solos on the flute when I was learning about 10 years ago. I always played them with accompaniment. It was always a rush because you were the musical highlight of the piece. Last Monday, I had to perform a traditional Celtic/Swedish Air alone. This was my first solo on the Irish Whistle. Perfect time to showoff my Tuneable Chieftan Whistle in the key A. Also, I was alone for this piece. This put a lot of pressure on me, but I practiced with confidence.

First traditional [Celtic-style] solo and first solo alone. I was so excited and anxious about doing it. It wasn't perfect, but I performed with feeling. Everyone was moved. I'm very proud of accomplishing this. It's a huge milestone for me as a musician.

For the curious, the tune I played was the Jim Good/Flook version of Glass Polka, a tune written by Ale Möller. You can check the ABC Notation after the jump.

So Far in the Land of Skyrim...

(In no perticular order and as Spoiler-free as possible) In about 35 hours of Gameplay of The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, I...

Living - My Skyrim Impressions

Dragons are bad for your health... really...

As you saw from my previous post, I've been playing The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim a bit. I have clocked in 25 hours of game-time so far and I can't even say that I've just scratched the surface. I can't even scratch the thing.

Skyrim and Mead

Yup. That's The Elder Scrolls V with a bottle of Mead.

Managing Mid-Back Pain

Those of you that follow me on Twitter (either officially or through this blog's sidebar) know that I'm afflicted with mid-back pain. In this post, I am to share my experience and what I do to manage as part of Canada's Pain Awareness Week.

When I was a kid, playing video-games, I would sit leaning forward. Not just a little. To the point where my back was almost rounded. My parents would come up to me and say "Sit up straight! You're going to have back problems later". As a kid I was comfortable that way and didn't believe them (Ah, kids!). Many years later, more or less 15 years later, in my old apartment I had a loveseat (small couch). One Sunday afternoon, I fell asleep on it. When I woke up, this is when it started. Pain like I haven't felt before.

Deus-Comfort

In video-games, I do not dislike very specific styles or genres. But there are specific things that will push a game outside my comfort-zone.

With Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Eidos Montréal has been complimented on their ability of staying true to the Deus Ex IP while still resulting in making the game they wanted, the passion and research behind the development, and so on (you've read them all). But there's one thing that's not often mentioned that I think is really important. Something that probably contributed a little bit to the Critical and Consumer Reception it received.

Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim's Live Action TV Spot

Fresh out of the official Elder Scrolls Website is Skyrim's Live Action TV Spot. It's pretty darn sweet!

Speaking of which, I did something lately that I had done only once other time before: I pre-ordered a game. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is coming out on a statutory holiday here in Canada. In most provinces, including New-Brunswick, stores are closed on that day. A local game store is doing a midnight-release because of this. I will be there.

All-4-One

Resurrection

My laptop is now alive... don't know for how long. The repair could last 6 days like it can last 6 years.

While my laptop was out, I was able to finally finish a Disgaea: Afternoon of Darkness playthrough. This doesn't sound impressive, but I've had this game for years and before that I had the PS2 version. With about 200 hours between the two, I never did finish it... until now.

Currently cleaning out some of the pre-death mess in my laptop. If I can't be sure how long it will last, might as well make it run as good as it can. In the meantime, I'm plowing through Mass Effect 2. Pretty far in the game (clocked at about 41 hours). I'm hoping to finish this soon, so I can play a bit of Deus Ex: Human Revolution before Ratchet & Clank: All-4-One comes out.

Dead Laptop

Well, projects such as Precision are going to be put on the back burner. My online presence is also going to get relatively smaller. My personal laptop has died. Feels like a motherboard failure.

Going to try to find someone to backup the data before I try to get it "resurrected" (repaired).

Horrible timing, really...

Precision - In Progress

I know I haven't been posting about working on 3DBuzz stuff in a while, but if you're one to pay attention to the tiniest details, you must've seen the progress bar increasing.

Yes, I've been slaving away minutes here and there for a few months. The final project of 3DBuzz's XNA Xtreme 101 volume 2 is going along pretty well.

I have a controllable player, spawning enemies, collision check, game states... it's really coming along nicely.

I have also taken out the masteringMaya: The Fundamentals bar. I have no interest nor motivation to continue on. I'm still fascinated by 3D Modeling, but I have realized that I cannot do everything, and I have turned the page. I do have plans to pursue other training videos on 3DBuzz after XNA Xtreme 101, all around programming and Web development. Don't be surprised to see a new bar or two one of these days.

Death to my Backlog

I've talked about this before and I've changed position multiple times. I don't want to force myself to play a game through completion and then having videogames feel like a chore to me. I also don't want to just start games without ever finishing them. Balance?

It became obvious to me that I needed to have an overlook over my completion-rate. Heck, might as well have an overlook over the games I own and have played. For this, I have decided to finally register and use Backloggery.

My completion-rate is not as bad as I thought it was. There's some work, but now I know a bit more where to put a little bit more focus. I completed Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep yesterday as a result of this.

You can check out my backloggery here.

Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep - Completed

After a combined 61 hours of gameplay between the three characters and including the Final Episode, I can finally say that I have fully finished Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep for the PSP.

The ending was very moving. I was struck with the feeling that many questions that were brought up from the original Kingdom Hearts were finally answered, but many more questions were raised.

I am very happy to have completed another game out of my collection. Even more so that the experience was very enjoyable.

Happy [Early] Birthday to Me

My birthday is only a few days away, but I still got an early birthday gift from Stéphanie.