A slight problem became apparent while working on a recent project; how could I order my query results by a pre-defined string that is dynamically built? I was running two queries. The first query grabbed a control document which stored numerous document ids in their desired order for that week’s featured articles. The second query then used those document ids to pull the individual articles themselves. SQL, though, defaulted to ordering the records by their published date, not their string order....read more

Here I am, reviewing the very game that I borderline condemned a few mere months ago. The war between my mind and heart waged for far too long and ultimately my heart won. I love the Dead Space series. I love the horror, the brutality, and the necromorphs. Surely, I was reading into the rumors and press releases too deeply. I mean Visceral Games did develop two games I hold near and dear. I shouldn't be so quick to write them off without even playing Dead Space 3 first hand....read more

Welcome to the new DanYuschick.com! It kind of feels like I do this more often than I should. What can I say though? I get a routine itch to redo my site with the latest things that I have learned. I really feel like I pushed myself on this new design not only into a new direction with layouts and content design but also from a development standpoint....read more

A common feature we see frequently in the web now-a-days is the live searching capability which has been gorgeously enhanced by the likes of Amazon and Google. However, this feature can be a nice addition to mostly any site with a good amount of content. So for that reason, I wanted to put together a small write up explaining how you, too, can build a quick and simple live search....read more

During a recent project I wanted to have a customized dropdown menu. Given the general limitations of this input type and styling, I looked elsewhere for ideas and options. Ultimately, I settled on creating a faux dropdown menu using divs, CSS and JQuery....read more

Well, now that was a fun weekend. After work on Friday, I flew out to visit my sister just south of Los Angeles. I've been to southern California a few times and love it every time I am there. There's always plenty to do and never a shortage of interesting sites and experiences. This weekend was certainly no different....read more

Borderlands 2 has been released to great praise. Coincidentally, my evenings have twirled their hours down the drain as my friend and I rummage and pillage our way through Pandora for a second...err...fifth(ish) time. Gearbox has not only managed to yet again fuse two drastically different genres of gaming together with its RPG / FPS hybrid, but it has also managed to incorporate more of everything that made the original release so much fun. Gearbox has conducted itself with this release in a way more studios should; paying attention to and appreciating their fans, understanding their audience and believing in their product fundamentals....read more

Yes, you. You are ruining video games for the rest of us. The majority of players don't even complete game campaigns and only concern themselves with deathmatch multipayer scenarios so they can low-level host and p0wn n00bz.......errr something. After reviewing completion rates for the games in my Gamercard profile, I have found an average of 49% of people even complete the very game they have started. Bump the difficulty level up to normal or, God forbid, hard or higher, and that completion rate absolutely plummets to an embarrassing level....read more

It doesn't take long for Silent Hill: Downpour to really set its eerie and disturbing tone. The unsettling melodies echo through the opening credits only pausing for a brutally unfair slaughter. Given just enough of the story to truly reel you in, you're off to Silent Hill via a flipping prison transport bus. The first ten minutes of the game remind you so fondly of the Silent Hill games of yesteryear but it also defines itself as a slightly new take on the classic formula....read more

I began building a new feature that would allow users to search for documents in real time and then drag them into a 'Featured' list of content. This meant I needed to use the JQuery draggable plugin. Upon re-ordering the list, the new docIDs needed to be compiled. This was done smoothly:...read more

From the video game novelists who have brought us the amazingly impressive and immersive games such as "Indigo Prophecy" and "Heavy Rain", comes a new entry into the catalogue of Quantic Dream, "Beyond: Two Souls". The E3 trailer reveals absolutely stunning graphics and details that only enhance the vague introduction to the storyline and gameplay of the upcoming title....read more

The mind of game legend Suda 51 seems to work in a similar manner to how I approach food; if I like pizza, bacon, M&Ms and Yuengling, surely mashing them all together into a last-meal-worthy feast would be epic; right? Right. Suda 51 concocts some brilliantly demented ideas that seem to mesh everything in life that is awesome. In his latest title, Lollipop Chainsaw, you play as Juliet, the peppy and school-spirited cheerleader who is equipped with a malicious chainsaw as she dismembers, beheads and slaughters her classmates turned zombies....read more