aNiall8 - database geek

Settlers of Catan (XBLA)

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:27:41 GMT

I mentioned Settlers of Catan (SoC) in a recent blog. I have been playing it for the last couple of nights. People familiar with me know that I am a bit of an achievement junkie. SoC contains a combination of achievements split between carry out an activity for the first time (playing the game, creating/entering a multiplayer lobby, building a town, etc.) and repeat activist (winning 10 games, largest army 10 times, gathering 100 victory points across all games to date).

Ambassador of Catan is a 10 point achievement for being in a multiplayer lobby with another player. There is just one problem - I have yet to see another player ever on the Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) network.

So, last night, I plugged in a wired controller (which does not switch off after a period of inactivity), started up SoC, create a new multiplayer game that others could join. Then, I went to bed. Next morning, the Ambassador of Catan achievement was gained. Whoever it was that joined my game probably got the achievement also.

There are 2 other multiplayer achievements (500 & 1000 victory points in multiplayer play). To achieve both of these, you must play at least 100 multiplayer games and the game does not support multiplayer on a single console. Since I have never seen another multi-play player, I guess that these will remain a pipe dream.

Again, I have mentioned previously that I have owned the board game prior to purchasing of the XBLA version. While I studied the rules, I had never played the board game due to a lack of players. Fortunately for me, the AI in the XBLA version allows me to play despite the continued lack of players!

Board Games on XBox Live Arcade

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:04:27 GMT

I bought 'Ticket to Ride' today from XBox Live Arcade (XBLA). I felt a little foolish spending €10 for the online version. Particularly, when my sister had bought the Ticket to Ride Europe Edition for me a couple of years ago and yet I have only managed to play it a handful of times. It rests on the bookshelf behind me as I sit here.

But the limited number of plays is the very reason that I bought the XBLA version...

Copies of Settlers of Catan & Carcassonne also reside on that bookshelf. Carcassonne is really popular with the kids but the pieces are easily lost - in my house, there is a high probability that the small squares become an addition to the puppies' dinners. Settlers of Catan has yet to be played due to its perceived complexity and the limited attention spans of the kids.

While I bought the XBLA versions of Settlers of Catan & Carcassonne last year, I still did not play much more than the tutorial. But I returned to them recently - they have the advantage of being playable at any time I choose. Even the choice between challenging players anywhere in the world, or just to using the AI is so convenient. My time becomes my own late in the evening and XBLA board games fit the bill for a short challenge at the end of the day.

I look forward to similar classic board games to be released on XBLA.

WHERE UPPER(xyz) = xyz

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:25:00 GMT

I tried finding SQL Server users whose userid was in uppercase characters as such :

SELECT name

FROM syslogins

WHERE name = UPPER(name)

ORDER BY name

However, my SQL Server was case insensitive and this returned all users regardless of the case of the characters of the user name string. So, a quick search of the internet yielded Craig Bailay's site at http://blog.craigbailey.net/2005/11/sql-compare-case-in-where-clause.html where he demonstrated the solution :

SELECT name

FROM syslogins

WHERE CONVERT(VARBINARY,name) = CONVERT(VARBINARY,UPPER(name))

ORDER BY name

Sweet - it works a dream!

Transferring DRM between XBox 360s

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 12:20:49 GMT

Microsoft has finally produced a tool to migrate your DRM licences from one XBox to another (http://www.xbox.com/drm).

When my Xbox 360 developed a fault and was replaced 2 years ago, several of the games stopped working for other players on the replacement xbox. If you buy downloadable content (DLC) onto your machine, anyone on the machine can play it but, also, you can play it when signed on to any other machine. If you replace your machine, then the DLC would remain locked to the old machine, & only you could continue to use it on subsequent machines.

Today, I used the tool to see how much content was assigned to each machine that I have. I have 2 machines currently. The older machine has been replaced twice (free of charge). Most content was linked ot this machine. However, the second machine did have some content assigned to it. The original machine (now gone) had over 90 DLC associated with it - most of this was probably freebies, demos, trailers, & such like - but some was that DLC that I had lost.

The tool does not allow you to split content between machines - you must choose one - and once you do, you cannot change your mind for another 12 months. It also does not tell you which content is assigned to which machine - only a count of the content assigned is provided. There is more that this tool could do to make our lives easier but it is a good start. An FAQ is available at the link above that answers most questions.

Most Valued Professional

Tue, 10 Oct 2006 20:55:27 GMT

I came back from England at the weekend to find that Microsoft had recognised me as an MVP or Most Value Professional for my technical community work with SQL Server in Ireland.

Though I am honoured to have been awarded, it has consolidated my reputation as an uber-geek.

David Gemmell RIP

Mon, 02 Oct 2006 20:38:43 GMT

My wife just finished the 2nd book of David Gemmell's Troy saga and was now anxious to get details of when the 3rd book would be available. To our surprise and sadness, we discovered that David Gemmell (http://www.davidgemmell.com/) had died earlier in the summer. He was the author of some of the most enjoyable and easily readable books - bar none. Our thoughts are with his family. Many will miss is great work.

Photo Album: 2007-07-14 (Ali experimenting)

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 06:40:09 GMT

2007-07-14 (Ali experimenting)

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Photo Album: 2008-05-11 (Birds)

Sat, 14 Jun 2008 06:13:46 GMT

2008-05-11 (Birds)

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Photo Album: 2007-05-12 (Birds)

Wed, 07 May 2008 11:30:46 GMT

2007-05-12 (Birds)

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More photos...