- Most of the quests involve people bitching about someone else or require lots of killing. So far in twenty eight hours I have only had two quests that do not involve slaughter. The first is someone who is pissed off about somebody in another town that looks like them (who turns out to be their twin brother, but that quest later requires some killing) and the other is the thieves guild initiation quest where you have to steal a diary (specifically without killing anyone).
- Took me ages to figure out how lockpicking truely works.
- The speechcraft thing where you can persuade people to like you is add and experience breaking. Fallout did an excellent job with it's talking heads by having multiple toned speech options and depending on how you communicated with the NPC influenced their opinion of you. With Oblivion you just select a keyword and that NPC will tall you what they know. There is no actual conversation, they just talk at you. And then if they don't like you, there is a little puzzle game you can play to get them to like you. I just think this feels odd.
- Controls and menus are excellent.
- A walkthrough for almost any quest is unnecessary because the quest description tells you what to do step-by-step. It says stuff like "you should talk with" or "you should follow" or even "go to wherever and kill whoever" which is a common one.
- the game is filled with bugs, as is traditional for RPGs. The game has locked-up once and I have had three CD read errors that required me to restart the game so far.
- Most of the quests do involve a lot of killing. I walked into a tavern once and the first thing the bar maid said to me was "THAT [insert name] MUST BE KILLED NOW!" and that turned out to be a Necromancer who I went and killed.
- The music is the same everywhere so all the towns have the same feel to them.
Friday, March 31, 2006
Oblivion 28 Hours In
This is what I know:
Random Thought: Great Dance Club Music
The difference between dance music and club dance music is that the club stuff will enhance any drug trip you are on while listening to the music.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
Tuesday, March 28, 2006
Random Idea
I think this one is good enough to make it to my black book, but it's not technically a game idea.
Have cameras fitted in every room of your house. Then wear a headset with LCD screens so that all you can see is the output from those cameras. Then you have an instant fixed camera third person view of your life. I really think it would be cool because you would actually be abandoning the standard first person viewpoint of human living for something else. Imagine trying to make breakfast or go the toilet like that! And could you extend that to other areas like driving!?
Have cameras fitted in every room of your house. Then wear a headset with LCD screens so that all you can see is the output from those cameras. Then you have an instant fixed camera third person view of your life. I really think it would be cool because you would actually be abandoning the standard first person viewpoint of human living for something else. Imagine trying to make breakfast or go the toilet like that! And could you extend that to other areas like driving!?
Michael Jackson Composed Sonic 3's Music
This is one of thoes crazy theries that actually Stands Up Very Well.
Monday, March 27, 2006
GameSpy Daily: Fargo's Impression of GDC2006
Was just checking my email and Fargo who writes the very small daily column in the email had this to say about this year's GDC:
In the coming days I'll likely write up a full editorial about this, but this year's Game Developers Conference (see our GDC coverage) had a very different spirit than years past. There was a lot of hope in the air. In previous years a pall of gloom had almost seemed to descend over the place. Everybody was talking about the bad news: spiraling development costs, lack of innovation, difficult work environment, lack of opportunity... But this year, the outlook was positive.And I would have to agree with him. I am once again a console gamer. There are actual gammes once in development that I want to play. So there is something changing and I think it is the abandonment of the cash cow squeesing that had been going on for so many years.
Several factors were at work. Both Nintendo and Microsoft were fostering warm fuzzy feelings of innovation and outreach -- Nintendo with their unusual experimental wide-appeal games, and Microsoft with Xbox Live Arcade. (The latter looks to prove that small developers now have a platform to release simpler titles on and still turn a profit, and the company is really hungry for experimental games.) Meanwhile, Will Wright's talk last year spawned off a flurry of talks about prototyping at this year's show, along with other new ways of developing large games while still remaining flexible and innovative. In the past, attendees would complain that new and different game ideas were unseen by the masses and could never achieve success. This year, students showing off crazy game concepts could boast about millions of downloads and the Independent Game Festival was absolutely outstanding.
There were no big announcements at this year's show, no groundbreaking headline-grabbers. Despite that, I found this year's show to be inspiring for game creators from all over the spectrum.
Extremely Large Game Collection
An Interview with the videogamecollector who possibly has the worlds largest game collection ever (well with the exception of the New Mexico Desert of course).
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Cheaper Microsoft Points
I have been looking for a way of getting cheaper Microsoft Points and here is the best I have come up with.
From Live each MP is worth £0.0085 nomatter which package is bought from Marketplace.
If however I got to Game and buy their 2100 points for £17.50 pack then it works out at £0.0083 per MP.
Not much cheaper but that means for every 60 points I buy from Game, I save £0.01. Whitch also means that by buying from Game instead of Live with that pack I get 35 FREE points!!!
Not a lot I know, but it's the best I could come up with.
From Live each MP is worth £0.0085 nomatter which package is bought from Marketplace.
If however I got to Game and buy their 2100 points for £17.50 pack then it works out at £0.0083 per MP.
Not much cheaper but that means for every 60 points I buy from Game, I save £0.01. Whitch also means that by buying from Game instead of Live with that pack I get 35 FREE points!!!
Not a lot I know, but it's the best I could come up with.
Battlefield 2 Modern Combat on the 360
Xboxyde has a Video of BF2 for the 360 and it looks great. Rather than doing a standard port the team had replaced all the graphics in the game and it shows. In fact I think it looks better than Oblivion.
Elder Scrolls IV Oblivion: Master Lockpicking Guide
I have been playing around with Oblivion's lockpicking and discovered a few things that I haven't seen mentioned elsewhere. So I present this mini-guide that will help you defeat all locks in the game, overcome the need to carry hundreds of lockpicks and shy away from difficult locks.
The tutorial for lockpicking in Oblivion only tells you to toss the rails up into the upper part of the lock. The FAQs so far on the web talk about timing, but I have found a slightly better way of describing how successful lockpicking works.
A higher security level will make lock picking easier. Lockpicking works by tossing a rail up into the upper half of the lock and pressing the 'A' button on the 360 pad (or by left clicking with the mouse on the PC version). Once all rails are locked in the upper half of the lock, the lock becomes unlocked. If you don't press the 'A' button at the right time the rail will come crashing down, break your lockpick and you will have to start again with a new lockpick.
What nobody will tell you however is that there are different speeds to the rails. If you push a rail upwards the game will take your security skill, lockpick skill and luck to calculate a rail speed. If you are better than the lock, the rail will rise slowly and then fall slowly making it easier to pick. If however the lock is better than you, then you are going to have to keep tossing the pick up until the rail rises at the lower speed. The trick is to listen to the rails noise because the lower speed makes a slightly different noise to the faster tosses. I have managed to pick locks on noise alone. Simply toss each rail a few times until you are confident you can lock it, once it raises at the slower speed, lock it, don't bother with the faster tosses. With this technique I have managed to pick Hard locks without loosing a single pick and I am only level four and I am not even playing a thief character either (in fact I haven't yet managed to successfully pick pocket someone yet). And the auto-lockpick breaks all my picks too, so taking your time really does payoff.
One last thing, if you want to break into a house without being seen or chased by guards, go into sneak mode next to the door you want to open, wait until the eye in the centre of the screen goes dark and then activate the lockpicking mode. Time is stopped at this point so you can take as much time as you like. Once the lock is open you will be inside, but because you where in sneakmode when you picked the lock and nobody was watching, no guards will be looking for you. The only thing you have to be concerned about is the homeowner.
The tutorial for lockpicking in Oblivion only tells you to toss the rails up into the upper part of the lock. The FAQs so far on the web talk about timing, but I have found a slightly better way of describing how successful lockpicking works.
A higher security level will make lock picking easier. Lockpicking works by tossing a rail up into the upper half of the lock and pressing the 'A' button on the 360 pad (or by left clicking with the mouse on the PC version). Once all rails are locked in the upper half of the lock, the lock becomes unlocked. If you don't press the 'A' button at the right time the rail will come crashing down, break your lockpick and you will have to start again with a new lockpick.
What nobody will tell you however is that there are different speeds to the rails. If you push a rail upwards the game will take your security skill, lockpick skill and luck to calculate a rail speed. If you are better than the lock, the rail will rise slowly and then fall slowly making it easier to pick. If however the lock is better than you, then you are going to have to keep tossing the pick up until the rail rises at the lower speed. The trick is to listen to the rails noise because the lower speed makes a slightly different noise to the faster tosses. I have managed to pick locks on noise alone. Simply toss each rail a few times until you are confident you can lock it, once it raises at the slower speed, lock it, don't bother with the faster tosses. With this technique I have managed to pick Hard locks without loosing a single pick and I am only level four and I am not even playing a thief character either (in fact I haven't yet managed to successfully pick pocket someone yet). And the auto-lockpick breaks all my picks too, so taking your time really does payoff.
One last thing, if you want to break into a house without being seen or chased by guards, go into sneak mode next to the door you want to open, wait until the eye in the centre of the screen goes dark and then activate the lockpicking mode. Time is stopped at this point so you can take as much time as you like. Once the lock is open you will be inside, but because you where in sneakmode when you picked the lock and nobody was watching, no guards will be looking for you. The only thing you have to be concerned about is the homeowner.
Planetside Reserves
Sony Online Entertainment has just launched Planetside Reserves witch is a free version of Planetside with some scaled back features.
It is obvious that they are hopping to repopulate Planetside, but because you can't win or loose in the game, that makes it a very limited MMOFPS Video Toy.
It is obvious that they are hopping to repopulate Planetside, but because you can't win or loose in the game, that makes it a very limited MMOFPS Video Toy.
Saturday, March 25, 2006
Got Oblivion
So I got Oblivion today. I put the game disk in and then I played a little (nine hours) and I like it. Not sure if I would call it the greatest game ever of all time, but it's up there.
Friday, March 24, 2006
Gaming Hub > Metroid Prime Hunters Highscore
Looks like I EAT POO is at the number one spot in Metroid Prime Hunters Leaderboard.
Nintendo GO Features Sega Games
Nintendo GO (that's the Revaluation's new name) will feature over 1,000 old classic titles from Saga's old systems and TurboGrafx. This is great, but old titles are old titles and if you don't care about the law you can already find sites that allow you to download and play these games already in emulators. So what the long term appeal factor is in this and wither the GO will sell better than the Cube is yet to be seen.
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
hmm
Was thinking about doing a mini review on all the Live Arcade titles, but one of the fun things about arcade is the ability to try all the games. So mini reviews would be a bit pointless.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Oblivion Post Development
One of the Oblivion developers has Posted about how developing the game has affected him. Certainly worth a read.
Starforce Just Went Too Far
Starforce one of the many copy protection systems that publisher put on game disks to prevent piracy, has decided to start forcing immediate reboots on users computers if anything suspicious is detect by their embedded software. No word on what a suspicious action might be, but because I don't like my system rebooting without my consent or notification (making me think there is something wrong with my system) Here is A List of games that I am now boycotting (I am going to impose a new level of boycotting for these and refuse to acknowledge their existence).
To see if Starforce has installed it's driver level DRM copy protection on your system (like it was on mine):
To see if Starforce has installed it's driver level DRM copy protection on your system (like it was on mine):
- Right click on My Computer from the desktop and select Properties.
- Select the Hardware tab at the top and click the Device Manager button
- On device manager click View -> Show Hidden Devices
- Then scroll down to see if you have anything with Starforce inthe name.
Battlefield 2142
When EA said that the next Battlefield game would be set in the future the general reaction wasn't positive, but that's before anybody seen The Trailer. Now it looking to be one of this year's hottest titles.
Final Year Project Progress
The bastard program works! Finally I can get on with it. The bug has kept me at bay for six weeks and I have just fallen further and further behind with the whole project, now it is fixed and I can play a game from start to finish with all the game logic working just as it should.
It wasn't even one bug either, but at the time I was writing the code to finish it I was doing so many hours on it that I didn't know what I was writing. All the logic was there just that I had gotten confused about what I was doing. And then when I made repeated attempts to fix it I didn't understand what I was doing because of the sheer number of methods that where being called.
The odd thing about fixing this is that I think by completing my Compilers assignment last week, that might have actually contributed to giving me the skill necessary to find and fix the faults with my project because that dealt with loads of loops, passes and obscure seemingly random errors.
It wasn't even one bug either, but at the time I was writing the code to finish it I was doing so many hours on it that I didn't know what I was writing. All the logic was there just that I had gotten confused about what I was doing. And then when I made repeated attempts to fix it I didn't understand what I was doing because of the sheer number of methods that where being called.
The odd thing about fixing this is that I think by completing my Compilers assignment last week, that might have actually contributed to giving me the skill necessary to find and fix the faults with my project because that dealt with loads of loops, passes and obscure seemingly random errors.
Monday, March 20, 2006
XNA Asset Tracking
Just finished watching the XNA Overview and the most interesting part of that is they took Mech Commander 2 (purely because they where allowed to release the source code for it) and had a look at it's asset usage in XNA Studio. They found that 40% of all the textures that the game loads where never used.
Play and Charge
Handed in my Compilers work today (woke up at 11, think it needed to be in for 12 got there at 11:45) and on the way back got a scart adaptor from Curries, had a play on their 360 display unit and if I had a memory card unit I could have downloaded an exclusive Burnout Revenge car that is only available from the demo kiosk. Just a shame I don't have either Burnout or a Memory unit, maybe if they had something going on a kiosk that I really wanted I might get one. Then went over to PC World to see what their demo unit was like, same disk, but the unit kept freezing so I had a look at their new flat panel screen display and they where all running some grainy Driver game trailer (it was a very poor quality encode).
Then on the way out I had a look to see if they had any play and charge kits in stock and they did, and they where £14.99. So I bought one because that matches the best price that I have seen online (not often I see that from PC World). I was going to try using the same rechargeable batteries that I use for my digital camera, but that would still interrupt gameplay if my batteries ranout.
Then on the way out I had a look to see if they had any play and charge kits in stock and they did, and they where £14.99. So I bought one because that matches the best price that I have seen online (not often I see that from PC World). I was going to try using the same rechargeable batteries that I use for my digital camera, but that would still interrupt gameplay if my batteries ranout.
A Few Days of 360 Action
I know everybody said the 360 was good, but actually owning one is SO much better. To my mind whatever Sony or Nintendo does will be inferior. Not because their products won't be good, but because they won't have the heritage that is prevalent in the 360. The 360 builds directly on to where the original XBox left off. It is progressive in the true sense of the word. Plus new innovative features into the mix like the integrated Gamer Cards don't just put the bar up a notch, but a whole generation ahead.
Before I received my 360 someone on the Evil Avatar forums said the 360 was XBox 1.5 and I couldn't argue because I say the same thing about the PlayStation2 as it came out a year earlier than the Cube and Xbox. And you could see it in it's graphics capabilities that it wasn't truly last gen. Well the 360 is next gen, so next gen that makes me weak at the knees to think of what delights we will be subjected to over the next five years.
Well done Microsoft you deserve every bit of future success that is coming to you.
P.S
I still don't have actual game disk to put in this thing, BUT I DON'T CARE! WHOO!
Before I received my 360 someone on the Evil Avatar forums said the 360 was XBox 1.5 and I couldn't argue because I say the same thing about the PlayStation2 as it came out a year earlier than the Cube and Xbox. And you could see it in it's graphics capabilities that it wasn't truly last gen. Well the 360 is next gen, so next gen that makes me weak at the knees to think of what delights we will be subjected to over the next five years.
Well done Microsoft you deserve every bit of future success that is coming to you.
P.S
I still don't have actual game disk to put in this thing, BUT I DON'T CARE! WHOO!
Saturday, March 18, 2006
XBox360 Hacked
It took the guys four months to hack it, but The Specialist has been credited with the hack. As far as I know it is something to do with the drives firmware and the hack allows the 360 to run backed-up games.
Also this supposedly works on both DVD drives types. The guys aren't going to release the hack because this would allow modified games to run on Live (as far as I can tell anyway). If you read the thread lookout for comments by TheSpecialist and robinsod.
Also this supposedly works on both DVD drives types. The guys aren't going to release the hack because this would allow modified games to run on Live (as far as I can tell anyway). If you read the thread lookout for comments by TheSpecialist and robinsod.
Friday, March 17, 2006
IGOTMY360!
It came thismorning and it's birthday on the serial strip is two weeks ago. Been playing Outpost Kaloki X which is a game I almost bought for the PC, but it was just a little too much for what it was worth, but with arcade I think it was only £6.
Out of box experience for the 360 is excellent, not like opening a Microsoft product at all and my hard drive came with twelve music tracks, an Adidas and Warren Miller Films ads. Plus Hexic HD which isn't my kind of game, but it was a nice surprise. There are a couple of things which aren't perfect with the 360 like how the console is effectively useless while it is downloading content. And the console and powersupply does seem to run very warm, but I truest Microsoft have looked into this closely.
I had a play around with the Media Connect and that is excellent, but for all this cool stuff I still don't have an actual game disk to put in the thing. Not that it matters because I have been playing demos and Outpost Kaloki for the past few hours. If Sony can match the quality of the 360 then I will get a PS3 too because the level of craftsmanship here is amazing. Plus with Live there is always something to do and I don't think I will ever be board of the games I have with this as there is so much here.
Anyway my GamerTag is Decompiled feel free to send me a Friends Invite if you haven't already. Now I am going to download some more demos and finish my Compilers assignment. Wanted to do that thismorening, but woke up late and got distracted.
Out of box experience for the 360 is excellent, not like opening a Microsoft product at all and my hard drive came with twelve music tracks, an Adidas and Warren Miller Films ads. Plus Hexic HD which isn't my kind of game, but it was a nice surprise. There are a couple of things which aren't perfect with the 360 like how the console is effectively useless while it is downloading content. And the console and powersupply does seem to run very warm, but I truest Microsoft have looked into this closely.
I had a play around with the Media Connect and that is excellent, but for all this cool stuff I still don't have an actual game disk to put in the thing. Not that it matters because I have been playing demos and Outpost Kaloki for the past few hours. If Sony can match the quality of the 360 then I will get a PS3 too because the level of craftsmanship here is amazing. Plus with Live there is always something to do and I don't think I will ever be board of the games I have with this as there is so much here.
Anyway my GamerTag is Decompiled feel free to send me a Friends Invite if you haven't already. Now I am going to download some more demos and finish my Compilers assignment. Wanted to do that thismorening, but woke up late and got distracted.
It's Coming!
We are pleased to inform you that your order for has been dispatched by our team in Basingstoke.MSoft did say that the shortage would be sorted by the end of the month and it looks like they where right.
Thank you very much for ordering from us here at gameplay, you should receive your package in 1 working day.
This dispatch contains the following:
Xbox 360 Console - Premium Pack
As far as this impacting work goes it shouldn't because I have gotten the habit of working from 7pm to whenever I go bed. Compilers should be in tomorrow, then I just got to start my Service Strategy report and catchup with my Final Year project which will either be something very quick or take all of next week.
Thursday, March 16, 2006
Everything Could Change Next Week
Monday is the start of the GDC and Microsoft will be showing off XNA and a demonstration of how cool Managed XBox360 programming is (been lots of movement inside MS for that). Hopefully this will get developers off their needless addiction to C++. The senior programmers need to just faceup to the fact that Managed Code is just better in almost every way and the ways in which it isn't better aren't worth worrying about. Plus I won't go into the industry as a programmer unless they move to Managed code. That alone should be enough of a reason for them all to switch. 
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
Microsoft's iPod Boxart
Turns out that the parody video of Microsoft making the iPod Boxart was Made By Microsoft.
Good Times For Nintendo & Microsoft
So Sony announced that they will be delaying the the PS3 until a November release date because of standard issues with the copy protection for the blue-ray drive (and people criticised Microsoft going with DVD). November is possibly just the Japan release so expect 2007 for the US and Easter 2007 for the UK and Europe.
The thing about this is that in most generations of consoles most users only buy two of the home theatre consoles. Portable is a little different, but if Nintendo can release before the PS3 then they stand a very good chance at being everybody's seconds choice.
For Microsoft this means that they will have free time to do whatever they want for much longer and have more time to create a presence in Japan. This announcement will probably mean that it will be longer until Microsoft drops the price of the 360, but expect a global price drop just before Christmas. By November there will likely be about 72 titles for the 360 as Microsoft has been releasing six new titles a month.
Sony will probably still be able to show something playable at E3 because this is just and issue with the copy protection (supposedly anyway). There is now way that this can be positive for Sony as many people that where weighting for the PS3 will now buy 360s while they wait.
UPDATE: Turns out that the launch will be in all territories this November.
The thing about this is that in most generations of consoles most users only buy two of the home theatre consoles. Portable is a little different, but if Nintendo can release before the PS3 then they stand a very good chance at being everybody's seconds choice.
For Microsoft this means that they will have free time to do whatever they want for much longer and have more time to create a presence in Japan. This announcement will probably mean that it will be longer until Microsoft drops the price of the 360, but expect a global price drop just before Christmas. By November there will likely be about 72 titles for the 360 as Microsoft has been releasing six new titles a month.
Sony will probably still be able to show something playable at E3 because this is just and issue with the copy protection (supposedly anyway). There is now way that this can be positive for Sony as many people that where weighting for the PS3 will now buy 360s while they wait.
UPDATE: Turns out that the launch will be in all territories this November.
Large Shipment Of Xbox360s
Microsoft did say that they where shipping consoles on a weekly basis to retail partners, but EBgames.com has a notice that says:
In the UK it is possible to get a Core system, but not a hard drive. Where in America it is possible to get a hard drive, but not even a core system. So not sure if this is a global push or regional.
Just been listening to IGN's first Insider Podcast about their predictions for next months E3 and the consensus seems to be that Microsoft will be showing off some sweet games and unless Nintendo and Sony actually show some gaming then they could be letting Microsoft get away with murder.
Limit 1 per customer. Due to high demand orders may not ship until March 24, 2006.So that suggests a big shipment at the end of this month.
In the UK it is possible to get a Core system, but not a hard drive. Where in America it is possible to get a hard drive, but not even a core system. So not sure if this is a global push or regional.
Just been listening to IGN's first Insider Podcast about their predictions for next months E3 and the consensus seems to be that Microsoft will be showing off some sweet games and unless Nintendo and Sony actually show some gaming then they could be letting Microsoft get away with murder.
Lost Planet
There is also a HD trailer for Dead Rising on This Page, but please take a look at Lost Planet because that looks great too.
Monday, March 13, 2006
First Signs of A Xbox360 Redesign
Apparently Microsoft has replaced the DVD drive from release with a quieter model. Pics are included on the page to see whitch you have.
Looks Bad for Sony in the News
Sometimes things all come at once and after watching the presenters on Channel 5's The Gadget Show say Sony's TV in their HD comparison was horrible I checked the news to find these:
Appeal Denied
Sony Has Lost it's appeal against Immersion's intellectual property suit forcing Sony to stop selling "Dualshock controllers and a few dozen games, including Vice City, Final Fantasy X, and Metal Gear Solid 2".
Better Design
A Design Blog compare Sony's PS3 design to one some designer did in his spare time. The writer does highlight a few issues with the PS3 like Sony's abandonment of it's iconic PS2 logo for some Spiderman text.
Following The Pack
It is known in product development that whenever your products start imitating your competitor's designs then it is time to spend some money in R&D because you will racing to keep up (see Red Queen Effect). Well there are Rumors that Sony will be following Microsoft and possibly Nintendo in the digital distribution race.
Good News
And finally some good news IGN has Reviewed Syphon Filter Dark Mirror for the PSP and given it a 9.3 rating and looking at the videos it does look great. However this title is probably too late to boost interest in the PSP.
Still at least the PS3 is going to be released this spring and pawn the competition, right!?
Appeal Denied
Sony Has Lost it's appeal against Immersion's intellectual property suit forcing Sony to stop selling "Dualshock controllers and a few dozen games, including Vice City, Final Fantasy X, and Metal Gear Solid 2".
Better Design
A Design Blog compare Sony's PS3 design to one some designer did in his spare time. The writer does highlight a few issues with the PS3 like Sony's abandonment of it's iconic PS2 logo for some Spiderman text.
Following The Pack
It is known in product development that whenever your products start imitating your competitor's designs then it is time to spend some money in R&D because you will racing to keep up (see Red Queen Effect). Well there are Rumors that Sony will be following Microsoft and possibly Nintendo in the digital distribution race.
Unnamed sources claim that Sony has been discussing the technical requirements needed to provide this service, and in turn, investigating the possibility of remastering select PS2 games so that latter parts of a game can be streamed over a network while earlier segments are being played.That is what Valve tried with STEAM Beta 1, but it resulted in very long load times and an unstable service so they switched to full game downloads (load times now significantly better).
Good News
And finally some good news IGN has Reviewed Syphon Filter Dark Mirror for the PSP and given it a 9.3 rating and looking at the videos it does look great. However this title is probably too late to boost interest in the PSP.
Still at least the PS3 is going to be released this spring and pawn the competition, right!?
It's DONE!
Just finished my compilers assignment. Yes it's too early to be up and no it isn't in tomorrow, but that's how committed I am to making sure my studies don't get in the way of Oblivion.
Just got to write the report saying how wonderful it is now. No set length either.
Just got to write the report saying how wonderful it is now. No set length either.
Sunday, March 12, 2006
Oblivion Soundtrack and Final Year Project
I got the Oblivion soundtrack from DirectSong to tide me over until the game is released. And listening to this, I realise what my final year project could sound like if I had enough time. I haven't said on here what my final year project is because it is an idea I am developing. Needless to say my project involves a lot of audio, but the quality of that audio is at the moment is horrible (because of time and complexity). If I had more time to get it to the level of the Oblivion soundtrack then I really think it could change peoples perception of gamming and storytelling. A place we have been, but abandoned over flashy graphics.
Maybe I will develop my system further once I have graduated to try and get it to a higher standard, but with that and a job it would be a very slow process.
Still working on my compilers assignment (finishing touches). Turns out the three algorithms that I implemented that I thought where a was of time, weren't because after I implemented Table Compression I created another algorithm that used one line of code from one of my first three techniques to reduce the final datasize by about 20%. Not sure what my lecturer will make of it because the enhancement is so obvious, but it isn't in any example of Table Compression that I can find so this might be something new.
Maybe I will develop my system further once I have graduated to try and get it to a higher standard, but with that and a job it would be a very slow process.
Still working on my compilers assignment (finishing touches). Turns out the three algorithms that I implemented that I thought where a was of time, weren't because after I implemented Table Compression I created another algorithm that used one line of code from one of my first three techniques to reduce the final datasize by about 20%. Not sure what my lecturer will make of it because the enhancement is so obvious, but it isn't in any example of Table Compression that I can find so this might be something new.
Friday, March 10, 2006
Potential Xbox 360 Production Issue
Some German modding guys bought a 360 and modded it out with some lights and stuff, but then two to three weeks later the box stopped working, so they opened it up to see what they could find.
What they found on the bottom of the GPU heatsink is a protective foil (no word on wither it is plastic backed or not) covering the thermal pad. The whole story can be found in English with a link to the german video Here.
Certainly it is a film covering the GPU, but it could just be conductive foil.
UPDATE:Apparently it is supposed to be there.
What they found on the bottom of the GPU heatsink is a protective foil (no word on wither it is plastic backed or not) covering the thermal pad. The whole story can be found in English with a link to the german video Here.
Certainly it is a film covering the GPU, but it could just be conductive foil.
UPDATE:Apparently it is supposed to be there.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Oblivion Screens
Yesterday Bethesda posted This beauty, but that left me questioning wither Oblivion could do proper woodland. Well today they posted This which looks even better and answers my question.
Am very looking forward to getting my 360.
Am very looking forward to getting my 360.
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
Feeling Down
Spent five days working very hard on my Compilers assignment, haven't done anything today, but my hands still hurt because of all the typing I have been doing. I was feeling very positive about the whole assignment and things where going great, then I realised that everything I had done was wrong and I had completely wasted my time.
It's not like I don't know now what to do to rectify the problem, it's not like I don't have ample time to do it in as I started early, or that I can't use what I have done to show something that doesn't work and say why, but that good feeling I had is gone and it's left me on a bit of a down. A few weeks ago I tried to verify my work before I started implementing to try and avoid this very situation, but I couldn't find any supporting material so I went off from what I thought was correct and now I can see clearly that I was wrong. Will take half a days worth of typing to sort it out, but my hands still hurt and I have so very much work to do.
It's not like I don't know now what to do to rectify the problem, it's not like I don't have ample time to do it in as I started early, or that I can't use what I have done to show something that doesn't work and say why, but that good feeling I had is gone and it's left me on a bit of a down. A few weeks ago I tried to verify my work before I started implementing to try and avoid this very situation, but I couldn't find any supporting material so I went off from what I thought was correct and now I can see clearly that I was wrong. Will take half a days worth of typing to sort it out, but my hands still hurt and I have so very much work to do.
Monday, March 06, 2006
Xbox360 on Order
So I ordered a Premium Xbox360 with the loverly guys over at Gameplay. I would like the console to arrive before Oblivion then I could have a play around with some of the arcade titles.
I have Heared a Rumour that Microsoft has fixed whatever production problems they where having in the second version of the 360. Which would make sense, I just hope that it's true.
Most consoles go through several versions without consumers being aware and the only time I have ever heard anybody being aware of the different versions was with some generation one XBox owners who couldn't run Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. And if you want to get your console modded then you will have to be aware of the different versions because each new iteration brings better copy protection, but most people never notice as the motivation for doing a new iteration is to reduce production costs. If there was any advantage in having a newer version then it is marketed as such like Nintendo does with each new generation of GameBoy.
I have Heared a Rumour that Microsoft has fixed whatever production problems they where having in the second version of the 360. Which would make sense, I just hope that it's true.
Most consoles go through several versions without consumers being aware and the only time I have ever heard anybody being aware of the different versions was with some generation one XBox owners who couldn't run Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic. And if you want to get your console modded then you will have to be aware of the different versions because each new iteration brings better copy protection, but most people never notice as the motivation for doing a new iteration is to reduce production costs. If there was any advantage in having a newer version then it is marketed as such like Nintendo does with each new generation of GameBoy.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
Dull Little Boxes
Apple has redone their Intel advert. The Origenal Advert uses the phrase "dull little boxes", but there is a rumour that this upset Dell who is one of Intel's biggest customers. And Apple just released a New Advert simply referring to the Intel chip "spending years inside PCs".
This got me thinking because before the PC Vs Mac (for which the Mac is a PC) when they where doing Dull Little Box Vs Mac, as a gamer a Mac is the Dull Little Box. As a gamer I can't justify a Mac because it is overpriced and has VERY few games for it. Looking at the Apple Store they only have 81 games and that might sound a lot, but this includes a lot of classic legacy titles. So from a gamers perspective the Mac is a dull white box as even it's new titles are still last year's PC titles.
It's funny that Halo was going to change all that, but Bungie got bought by Microsoft because they needed a killer-app for the XBox. And Apple's best selling title Age of Empires II (lol, ye two not three) is published by Microsoft. The two the newest title for the Mac are Myst V: End of Ages and Doom 3.
This got me thinking because before the PC Vs Mac (for which the Mac is a PC) when they where doing Dull Little Box Vs Mac, as a gamer a Mac is the Dull Little Box. As a gamer I can't justify a Mac because it is overpriced and has VERY few games for it. Looking at the Apple Store they only have 81 games and that might sound a lot, but this includes a lot of classic legacy titles. So from a gamers perspective the Mac is a dull white box as even it's new titles are still last year's PC titles.
It's funny that Halo was going to change all that, but Bungie got bought by Microsoft because they needed a killer-app for the XBox. And Apple's best selling title Age of Empires II (lol, ye two not three) is published by Microsoft. The two the newest title for the Mac are Myst V: End of Ages and Doom 3.
Saturday, March 04, 2006
Gosh Darn It
Been looking at the online shops for 360's and everybody has core systems and no premium. Simply Games (never used them before) says on their page that they have a two month waiting list.
I think this now requires a little investigation into wither the retail stores that are selling bundles actually have any premiums in stock or wither it just appears that they do.
If I was to buy a Core system, a Hard Drive and a wireless controller for which I want a Premium for, then I will be wasting £32.98, but nobody seems to have any Hard Drives in stock either so logical course of action would be to simply place a reorder for a premium and wait, but the normal place I do that Amazon isn't actually taking any orders themselves. So that means I would have to preorder from somebody where I can't track the order status online and to findout what is happening would require the use of the phone and maybe some social hacking.
Still in other news assignments are going well to very well and if I don't get a good mark on all of them then I will be annoyed. Everything I have produced so far this year has been way above my normal standard. Bob my current and third final year project supervisor thinks I can get a 2-1 Degree, but I don't care about that, I just want Oblivion, the assignment work helps keep my mind off it.
I think this now requires a little investigation into wither the retail stores that are selling bundles actually have any premiums in stock or wither it just appears that they do.
If I was to buy a Core system, a Hard Drive and a wireless controller for which I want a Premium for, then I will be wasting £32.98, but nobody seems to have any Hard Drives in stock either so logical course of action would be to simply place a reorder for a premium and wait, but the normal place I do that Amazon isn't actually taking any orders themselves. So that means I would have to preorder from somebody where I can't track the order status online and to findout what is happening would require the use of the phone and maybe some social hacking.
Still in other news assignments are going well to very well and if I don't get a good mark on all of them then I will be annoyed. Everything I have produced so far this year has been way above my normal standard. Bob my current and third final year project supervisor thinks I can get a 2-1 Degree, but I don't care about that, I just want Oblivion, the assignment work helps keep my mind off it.
Random Fact
The word 'Naff' used in the 1970's BBC comedy Porridge as a replacement for the word Fuck. 'Naff off' the guards in the prison would be told, but naff is a Polari word. Polari being a language used by gay subculture in Britain mainly between the 1950's and 1960's. And before 1967 when homosexuality was decriminalised in Britain, naff meant in polari, Not Avalible For Fucking, used to indicate a straight or heterosexual individual.
The antonym of naff is tbh (pronounced t b h) which means To Be Had.
Another interesting fact about word usage in the 1960's is that when homosexuality was decriminalised 'Fag' and 'Dyke' was largely replaced with 'Gay', originally meaning 'promoting a feeling of cheer'. This is interesting because up until the decriminalisation, homosexuals where seen to be very sad and lonely individuals.
The antonym of naff is tbh (pronounced t b h) which means To Be Had.
Another interesting fact about word usage in the 1960's is that when homosexuality was decriminalised 'Fag' and 'Dyke' was largely replaced with 'Gay', originally meaning 'promoting a feeling of cheer'. This is interesting because up until the decriminalisation, homosexuals where seen to be very sad and lonely individuals.
Friday, March 03, 2006
Pre-Ordered
So I just preordered Oblivion and I think I can definitely balance that and my final year project because by the time Oblivion is released my final year project is all I will have left to work on.
The 360 Core is easy enough to find, but procuring a Premium looks it is going to be a challenge. All the online retailers are out of stock or charging ridiculous prices (£350+). And all the retail shops require me to purchase a bundle.
Going to wait and see if the situation changes in a few days, but that isn't by choice. If the situation doesn't get better (which Peter Moore said it would) than I will endup with a game I can't play.
The 360 Core is easy enough to find, but procuring a Premium looks it is going to be a challenge. All the online retailers are out of stock or charging ridiculous prices (£350+). And all the retail shops require me to purchase a bundle.
Going to wait and see if the situation changes in a few days, but that isn't by choice. If the situation doesn't get better (which Peter Moore said it would) than I will endup with a game I can't play.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
SHIT
Oblivion is out the end of this month (20th in the US, so expect an EU date very close to that). So my final year project is going to suffer bad. I have already doubled my effort on everything and set clear goals for when something is defined as finished. I am making great progress and should have two more assignments done by Monday (one week early for one, two weeks early for the other), but with this news it isn't going to be enough.
I even skipped a lecture and a tutorial today to spend more time on my Compilers easement, but it simply isn't going to be enough.
I even skipped a lecture and a tutorial today to spend more time on my Compilers easement, but it simply isn't going to be enough.
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