13/10/2014 – Virus Riddled Music Visualizer

So I’m sick. I’ve been sick since August and coming back to Hull I got even sicker. The problem is that it’s no more than a common cold, although I had flu this weekend. On top of this, despite only having a week’s worth of classes, I’m slightly behind on work.

Now let me tell you an interesting story. I have never programmed a music visualizer, or done any real sound engineering. So doing a music visualizer as my 3rd year is probably the smartest thing I could probably do. But that’s not the point. When starting off my research I decided to look for FFT libraries in C# that would help me build this thing, and I found a few, and figured “I’ll keep these saved until later once I get closer the the year starting” (This was around July). Upon coming back and doing more research, I find out that the libraries are old and will not do the task.

From there I looked at more common audio libraries like FMOD. New problem; not in C#.

And then, like a fucking fish in the face; during one of my lectures last week, the lecturer mentions that OpenTK (OpenGL wrapper for C# and the graphics library PlayStation Mobile uses) has a bunch of audio tools as an add on from OpenAL (The audio library stuff from old OpenGL – 1.1-ish). So here I am, stunned, that the thing I wanted to get was right there in front of me this whole fucking time, and I wasted several days of my life looking for shit I already had.

Fuck this shit sometimes.

Anyway, my first week was alright. Even if I am down with the sickness.

OOOO-WA-AH-AH-AH!

In completely unrelated news, this laptop I’ve had for about a year is apparently a toaster. Opening up multiple Chrome tabs seems to push the CPU towards the highend, and most 3D games released 8 years ago struggle to get an ideal framerate on this thing. Even low-end Unity games have issues. So I ordered an ITX PC. I should have it within a week or so, but there might be a problem with the order.

Anyway, see you later.

-Adam

ADMAN’s Den – 09/08/2014: Life with a 144Hz Monitor, WiiU & PS4 thoughts.

144Hz

A monitor like this has been something I’ve wanted for about a year or so. Since hearing John Carmack’s Keynote at QuakeCon when he talked about the benefits of a 120Hz monitor and how it significantly improved response rate. Finally, I managed to find one for less than £200 from a well-known brand. It’s a AOC G2460FQ.

First problem with it, it comes with a HDMI cable, however the cable is not cable of doing anything over 60Hz. Secondly, I had to purchase a new DVI cable to actually get it working properly. Once both of those issues were taken care of, I noticed an immediate difference in moment from the mouse alone. It’s incredibly smooth. I have two monitors, and the other is my old main 60Hz monitor from Acer. So I notice the difference quite clearly. Mouse moment is significantly choppier and stiff by comparison.

As for games.. I haven’t really been playing anything that takes full effect of it yet. I was tempted to try GRID Autosport, but I didn’t feel like playing it. I did play a lot of Deus Ex Human Revolution, and I can certainly say it seems smoother in parts.

Other than that, with adjusted options, this monitor is on-par visual wise with my old main, which was already an excellent monitor in regards to the contrast ratio and colour output. I still think my old one looks shaper, but the colours are less vivid.

All in all, I really like this monitor. Maybe I should boot up Quake.

WiiU

Let me be honest, outside of Uni and the other crap I’ve been doing, the reason I put off giving my impressions of this thing for so long is because I haven’t had much to play on it outside of Wii games. I mean I fucking love the fact that it is backwards compatible, but still.

Although I should start off with that. It is basically a Wii when it comes to backward compatibility. Wait no, it is a Wii. It’s not emulating it, it is one. Anyway, any Wii game works and all the controller stuff works fine (Except GameCube stuff, but I don’t have any of that). Only thing I wish it would do is have some filtering options, better scaling, and maybe some AA. Other than that, everything looks fine.

In terms of actual WiiU games, I’ve only got 4:

  • Windwaker HD
  • Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
  • Wonderful 101
  • Mario Kart 8

Windwaker looks pretty good and runs perfectly. Wonderful 101 has it’s charms and barely ever drops below 60FPS. Mario Kart 8 looks really good, but that’s probably more to do with the art style choice of the tracks than actual graphical ability. It does the job. No, it’s a fucking power-house, but the games I have look and run perfectly fine.

One thing I ended up doing on it was using it to watch stuff on YouTube and Amazon Instant Video, along with other things in the browser. The web browser is pretty fucking impressive, and is easily the best web browser I’ve used on a console. As for Amazon Instant Video, it woks, but the UI can be kind of choppy at times.

Frankly, that’s my one major complaint about the system, the load times on the menus for fucking dreadful. I’m sometimes sitting there for a good 10-20 seconds waiting for thing to load, and this is after all the patches. I know there’s one released super-recently which might improve it more, but I haven’t installed it yet.

On a final note, MiiVerse is a cool idea. Too bad no-one gives a damn about it.

SoVeryLonely

Look at all these friends I don’t have.

Overall, it’s not a bad console to be honest. The things it does well are enough to justify it. Backwards compatibility are a good selling point seeing as you’ll probably want to check out the few JRPGs the Wii had. And the games it currently has work fine and are fun. It’s a good console. Also, the Pro Controller is pretty damn good and has an insane battery life.

PS4

Now that you’ve skipped ahead to the point you actually want to read, let me tell you about the PlayStation 4.

It’s shit.

Nah, just kidding. But there is more promised potential than it actually has features right now. Games wise, I’ve got MGSV Ground Zeroes and InFAMOUS Second Son on disc, and Resogun as a downloadable title. I have more download stuff, but it’s the only one I’ve played. Anyway, I’m satisfied with graphics improvement that the PS4 offers. It’s not amazing, but it is an improvement. What I’m most looking forward to is a heavier use of custom shaders to get some cool effects. However, the problem InFAMOUS and MGS have is draw distance. InFAMOUS has some really bad moments where the other end of a street can look untextured and blurry. I kind of expected it though.

Another thing I hope for is more photo modes like InFAMOUS, look at these:

inFAMOUS™ Second Son_20140708141659 inFAMOUS™ Second Son_20140708010456 inFAMOUS™ Second Son_20140707175340 inFAMOUS™ Second Son_20140704201841

I’m not sure how many people agree with me, but I think that shit looks cool. Which brings me on my next point, the Share button.

Now, people like me have use for this thing because I like taking pretty screenshots of games or recording interesting moments. And while the screenshot feature works as intended, I’ve been having issues with the video stuff. Basically, it isn’t saving any videos whenever I press the button for first time booting up the console, so whenever I need it to work, it doesn’t. I’m not sure if anyone else has this problem, but it annoys the shit out of me. Another thing, the quality when streaming from the console is awful, even with HD selected. Frankly, you should get a capture setup if you are actually serious about streaming. It’s not like those are terribly expensive anyway.

I mentioned before how much I like the PS4 controller from a comfort perspective, but actually using it with a PS4, still the best controller out there right now. I don’t like the materials on the sticks, but other than that. From a functionality stand point, CAN DEVELOPERS STOP USING THE TRACKPAD FOR BOTH START AND SELECT FUNCTIONALITY? Fucking Hell. Use the options button for the Pause Menu, and the trackpad button for what used to be known as the “Select screen”, or “Map screen”, or whatever the fuck games used it for. MGS has this problem. Whenever I try to get the pause menu, he pulls up the I-Droid shit. But pressing options is just pause, and no menu. Why would you do that? Holy shit.

Another thing, let me decide if I want sounds coming out my controller or not, don’t force them on by default. The only way to get around it in InFAMOUS is to stick headphones in. As for the lightbar, well I usually sit with my legs crossed, leaning back into the chair, so my legs block the light from the controller glaring the screen. Even still, the light from my window gives a more significant glare than the controller does.

Vita Remote Play works for the most part. I tried a little bit of InFAMOUS and it seemed to work fine, give or take 50ms or so of latency. You just have to be careful of the connection. I lost connection while using my Vita, and the game no longer registered regular controller input, the console then had a hard crash which required me to unplug it because it wouldn’t turn off via the switch.

Applications like the PSN Store and Amazon Instant Video are much smoother on the PS4 than they were on the PS3. Especially the former. Trying to use the store on PS3 is a nightmare. It’s slow and really unresponsive at times.

Miscellaneous things like friends lists, profile view, and trophy lists have been improved in various ways, mostly from a UI perspective.

Overall, there are a lot of things I still want, mostly MP3 support and custom backgrounds. But for what’s there now… It’s good, but I wouldn’t recommend buying one unless you really want to play something on it RIGHT NOW.

I would usually talk about anime stuff now, but it’s been so long since I did this type of blog that it would take a really long time. So instead here’s a link to my MAL account. It should give you an idea of what I’ve been watching lately. If there’s anything specific I feel like talking about, I might post about it.

Only anime related thing I feel like talking about in any sense is Monogatari. To which I say; I looking forward to Hana next week.

Later

-Adam

 

 

31/07/2014 – Summer So Far

As I thought would happen, I’m going to have to do two resits later in August. I’m not surprised, I’ll just have to manage my time better.

In terms of projects, there’s two I’m working on. One is a music visualizer, which I’m doing for my dissertation next year, and the other is a instant messaging program that doesn’t suck. For the former, I’m currently in the process of getting my head around FFT (Fast Fourier Transform) which I’m using to get the frequency of sound every 20ms or so, and then producing that as an image on screen. I haven’t done much in the way of note taking so far, but I have found a library for it which I might use to save time on development.

As for the instant messaging program, I’m more or less doing it as a test for more networking stuff. I never got my head around it as much as I would have wanted, so I figured doing more stuff on it would help. I’m still figuring how much stuff I want to put into it for the prototype. I’ll definitely give an update later on once I start making some more progress. The more worrying thing about it at the moment which I haven’t looked into is security. That should be fun.

In terms of other things, I’m working my way through my Gaming Backlog. Currently jumping between Deus Ex Human Revolution DX, Yakuza 3, and Ni No Kuni. Although recently Tabletop Simulator became available, and I’ve been looking forward to trying that for a while. Somewhat related, I bought a 144Hz monitor, and it is fucking sweet. Everything is super smooth now. I might boot up Quake Live and see if it makes a difference.

I also played some stuff on my PS4, so I might give some impressions on that console at some point, along with the WiiU which I promised to do ages ago.

On a sadder note, MGC is shutting down. I will probably archive the History of MPU stuff on this site. The podcast will stay up though, but I’ll rename it with MoA stuff in mind. The Steam group is also unaffected.

It’s a very sad thing to close down something that a long line of people have kept alive over the years, and it was fucking awesome talking to every one from MPU, and helping start MGC. I wasn’t there for MPC, but everything about it sounded great, and speaking to the people who have stuck around since that time gave me a lot of perspective on the whole thing. But everything must come to an end.

That’s it for now. See you when I see you.

-Adam

06/06/2014 – You Should Listen To The Pillows

It really has been a while since my last post. Fuck it, I’ll stop taking notice.

So yeah, I’m done with my exams and coursework for this year. It’s been tough. Last couple of weeks before the exams were a nightmare. Partly my fault though, I spent far too long trying to get my 3D coursework working that I neglected my other work. Unfortunately, I’m probably going to have to do a resit for at least one thing. That being Advanced Programming, which mostly consists of C++ work, which I had barely used until I decided to start my coursework. So yeah, that was great. If all goes well though, I should get my shit together properly for next year. I’m taking all my stuff back this Summer, so I’ll have less distractions.

I FINALLY MADE SOMETHING OF SOME POSSIBLE USE. I made a Magic Eight Ball program, which depending on what kind of life you live; may become useful. Personally, I’ve been using it to decide on what food to order.

I might have mentioned this before, but you should listen to The Pillows. They’re a really awesome Japanese rock band. I spent quite a bit of money getting a few of their albums. I’d embed an example, but my WordPress stuff is kinda fucked up right now. I’m probably going to rebuild it in the next few weeks after I get back home.

So about the Summer. Basically my plan, like last year, it is try and periodically make blog updates about things I’m working on. This year should actually work out seeing as I have coursework to do, but also have a good idea of software I want to make. So hopefully you’ll get something on that. Hopefully.

That’ll probably do it for now. I’ll make a games and anime focused post later next week or something. Also, E3 is happening, so look forward to that I guess.

Later.

-Adam

21/02/2014 – “So, What’s The Craic?”

University life continues.  Exams have been out of the way for a while now, although I’ve never cared much about the results of those, seeing as I care more about what I’m learning versus some arbitrary number grade. But anyway, the second semester started and I’m looking more into networking, 3D graphics, and a continuation of AI. Prolog isn’t proving to be that bad yet, understanding recursion is probably the most difficult part, but once you’re past that, it’s relatively understandable. At least so far.

As for networking, understanding the theory of how that works is really interesting, learning a lot of the protocols, systems, and whatnot that we all take for granted. However the implementation networking through C# code has not been easy. I’ve had to ask for help from a friend of mine on multiple occasions. This is partly due to the pretty hideous layout of the coursework specification and non-explanation of what the fuck I am doing. Finally 3D graphics is OK. That one is sort of on the back-burner because of the networking coursework.

So how have I been? OK I guess. I really need to exercise more, and I was pretty sick a week or so ago. Actually oddly enough, I had a pretty awful nosebleed Thursday last week. Blew my nose after waking up and my hands were covered in blood. Not great.

As for things I’m working on… Well I guess I should write up my impressions of the WiiU at some point. I’m also working on a novel with a friend, it’s still early on that. And these days I’m playing “Bravely Default”, “Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc”, and a copy of “YS: Memories of Celceta” turned up this morning. I also had a good crack at the “Titanfall Beta”. It was fun.

Sorry about the 2-3 month gap, I honestly forgot about it and had quite a lot of stuff to do. Till next time I guess.

-Adam

11/12/2013 – Humbug, and DualShock 4 Impressions.

The first semester is coming to a close. That JavaScript work I was talking about really was a pain in my arse, I very much doubt I passed that coursework. Luckily I can probably make up a good chunk of the marks on the exam.

But soon I will be going back home and enjoying the ownership of a WiiU, which I promise I will do some livestreaming with.

But anyway, the DualShock 4. Let me tell you something. Do you have a 360 controller for your PC?

You do? Well that thing is hot fucking trash compared to this thing.

The greatest improvement is the latency. Both the 360 controller and DS3 suffer from generally latent inputs, leading to sub-par responsiveness. This is amplified when you start using those things on the PC where the frame-rate and other performance improvements really point that shit out to you. This is not the case with the DS4, it is a very noticeable improvement from other devices, reacting very quickly to inputs.

Well I’ve been playing Assassin’s Creed IV with the DualShock 4 and I don’t think I can go back. The feel of it, the latency (As mentioned), the buttons, and the material used are just fantastic. And before you ask, yes, the analogue sticks are great too. I’m not one of those people that hated the sticks on the DS3, I actually preferred the looseness. But the slight tightened feel is good. The dead-zone for that stuff is not as atrocious as the 360 pad is, so that’s good. The only thing that kinda bugs me is the light-bar, but when using it on PC, it is never turned on (Except with the use of custom drivers).

If you want a replacement for the fucking crap that is the 360 pad, the DS4 is pretty great so far.

Yeah, pretty short this time. I’ll try and make a more significant post before I head back home for Xmas, or maybe I will do a quick write up on the WiiU. Whatever works.

Later.

-Adam

20/11/2013 – I don’t like JavaScript very much, amongst other things.

So I’m two months into Uni at this point and coursework deadlines are approaching. I feel like I got back into the swing of things rather easily, probably due to a improved lecture timetable that doesn’t have huge gaps for no reason.

So since coming back I’ve been learning some new programming languages, notably C++, JavaScript, and Prolog. The last of which has been described to me numerous times as being “Bullshit fucking hard”. Oddly enough, it’s JavaScript I’m not particularly fond of at the moment. Following the class tutorials, this is what I have currently made:

JSwoek

Some of the image got cropped, but you get the point. To be fair, I am better at it now. Once I noticed that all the things in the scene can be dealt with as if they are objects makes it much easier to deal with.

C++ is pretty standard, the syntax is different and there’s a whole bunch of stuff to do with assembly; but the basic stuff is very similar. Of course, I’m getting beyond basic level stuff now.

Currently I’m getting coursework done and trying to set up a placement for next year.

As for everything else in my life that is going on, it’s getting cold and my general eating habits are not doing me any good. I’m trying to work on it.

Small gaming mention, I ordered a WiiU and that’s currently back home in Northern Ireland. So look forward to some streams of that. Speaking of streams, by upload-speed is actually worth a fuck now at the place I’m staying at, so I should start doing more streams soon.

And a small anime mention, I watched FLCL and it was awesome. Made me question why the Universe exists in the way it does at times with how fucking dumb it gets, but it is very entertaining. Sucks they only made 6 episodes.

That’s all you get for now. I’ll continue to try to post more, but no promises.

-Adam

ADMAN’s Den – 28/10/2013: “Hey, Video Games! And Anime! And Manga! And Stuff!”

In case you couldn’t tell by now, I am brilliant at keeping personal deadlines. Oddly enough, it has been exactly over 2 months since I last did this, and I have since decided to expand the subject matter.

Video Games:

Two months is a relatively long time, although it can pass quite quickly depending on what you’re doing. Especially when you got a ever-growing back-catalogue of games like I do.

Hey, ever wanted to play the video game equivalent of a pantomime? Well Puppeteer is probably for you. OK, marketing-esque speak aside; I am genuinely surprised by this game. It’s a solidly written (For the most part) platformer with a unique look and play-style. The gameplay is pretty standard, but the way it flows it quite different to how you would expect, partly due to the heavy use of the scissors as a mechanic. It leads to a far more organic way of moving through the environments and interesting transitions into different levels.

To explain, large chunks of levels are made out of paper, which is the most common material that scissors cut. Using that, you mash your way through the material which keeps you suspended in the air, or following a string path, and so on. It’s pretty cool early on. My only gripes with the game are that the writing dips to being annoying at times, it heavy use of QTEs (Especially on bosses), and that it becomes quite repetitive near the end of the game. Although a lot of the environments and boss fights are really different and interesting. If you have PlayStation Plus maybe wait for it to hit IGC, or get it cheap.

Virtue’s Last Reward does right was Bioshock Infinite did very wrong. If you haven’t played either or 999, skip this segment and start reading SMT: Devil Survivor.

<SPOILERS>

So anyway, VLR is one of the best games I have played on my Vita. Had I not played P4G, it probably would have taken first place. It’s a puzzle-adventure game at it’s core, with the story being delivered in a visual novel style. You play as a dude named Sigma who has been kidnapped and put into a sick game known as the Nonary Game. And you wake up in an elevator with a young girl named Phi. Upon escaping the first room, you meet the other contestants in this so called game. I won’t say who they are because that kinda spoils a few things, also you technically should play 999 first.

Apparently a figure known as Zero created this game as an experiment, and set down rules. It should be mentioned that each player has a bracelet (Just like in 999) that has a number on it. However, unlike 999, this number changes each round of the game. The player who reaches the number 9 on theirs can open the door and escape. Should their bracelet reach zero or they break a rule in the game, the player dies via an injection of a strong muscle relaxant from their bracelet.

Now let me get to why this game is significantly better than Infinite in terms of it’s idea. So the ending of Infinite tries to point out the idea of string theory, and references the divisions in the game as a point to this, however the choices never actually matter because it is a linear game. Well VLR isn’t like that at all. You make choices, very subtle ones at that, that can have dire consequences later on. The game presents a flow-chart with all of the possible outcomes and endings so that you can see how you affect things.

VLR goes really out of it’s way to point out to you why the choices here matter, certain people distrust others, different places can only be explored by going through a certain combination of rooms, and certain people will die or be saved based on that. Then to top it off, you travel into different versions of the same reality to gather information relating to particular puzzles or questions. The game even goes as far as to lock you out of story threads completely if you haven’t seen a particular set of endings yet.

Speaking of which, there’s over 20 endings to this game. There are a few repeats, but for the most part, they are all as crazy and weird as the next one. There’s one specific example where after talking to a character for a while, you end up following them out of a room, only to find them and every other player of the Nonary Game all dead in a room having each of them committing suicide using a scalpel, at which point you follow suit (There’s an explanation for this action).

999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is the earlier game in the series, with a lot of the same ideas, names of mechanics, and so on. Difference being the environment, which is an old cruise ship supposedly the sister ship of the Titanic. Unlike VLR which stuck to an underground base. Also, the way players are killed for breaking rules is far more violent. They outright explode from a bomb placed in their bodies. You get taste of that right early on. There’s not much else to say that can’t be said of VLR, other than the puzzles are more challenging and the main character is hallucinating half the time.

One thing both games do is explain a lot of philosophical, physiological, and scientific ideas that give a general basis upon which the fiction is set. Even though it is a very super-natural game, the theories and research it presents are very much real, and intrigues further research into ideas like Quantum Physics, psychotropics, mental disorders, and so on. Again, something Bioshock just made up for it’s own fiction and a lot of players moronically accepting it as something that actually existed in real-life, especially a lot of the political stuff, which it often got VERY, VERY WRONG.

Basically, if like adventure games, go fucking buy both of these games right fucking now. And leave a few screenshots I took:

Phi being Phi.

HELLA WACK, YO!

</SPOILERS>

In regards to SMT: Devil Survivor Overclocked, I’m still really early in it. About 5-6 hours into the story and still on the “First Day” of events. But my first impressions of the game are that is shows some interesting ideas. The auction house for demons on top of being able to fuse them being kinda cool. They last for about 5 seconds and you have to try and out-bid AI opponents to acquire new demons to mess around with. Other than that, the grid-based, turn-based gameplay is more or less what you would expect from an SMT game, but that’s perfectly fine as it still works perfectly.

The story is kind of interesting, although the characters you run into are not the best. It doesn’t help that the game only features English voice acting, with no option for the Japanese original. Luckily you can turn off voices completely, which has lead to me playing my 3DS completely muted. So yeah, it seems cool, but I find it hard to talk about off the top of my head. I should really start taking notes while playing games if I’m gonna talk about them in this fashion.

Rayman Legends is both very, very fucking awesome; and quite annoying at the same time. First off, I played the game on the Vita, which (At the time of writing) is missing a large chunk of levels from the game, and Ubisoft has yet to deliver on the patch. However, the levels that are there are really creative and fun. It is far more forgiving than Origins was and the controls have been significantly tightened, leading to a much more playable game than before. The problem is the touchscreen stuff they have added.

Put it this way, you’re in the beginning portion of a level, getting into your grove. Then the game puts a wall in your face and says “STOP PLAYING. IT’S MURFY TIME!”, then you start controlling a fairy as you interact with pieces of the level and watch an AI character navigate through these environments instead of you. On top of that, the AI for said character is very stiff, going along a very deliberate path. There is some good news, you can turn on multiplayer and have someone else do the Murfy stuff while you navigate the levels. But honestly, I would prefer it if none of that shit was present, it just seems annoying to me, I want go through these levels! I want to enjoy them and have the satisfaction of overcoming a challenge, not some narrow-thinking AI incapable of emotions.

Other than that, the end-world levels are absolutely amazing. The first one is exactly what they showed at E3 a few years ago, but later on they start playing versions of songs like “Black Betty” and “Eye Of The Tiger”, either as covers with the original instruments, or just go nuts and play the entirety of the song in a Mariachi band style. It is the most awesome shit. Of top of that, the levels practically turn into rhythm game, with enemies and obstacles popping up to the beat of the song. Definitely one of my favourite games of the year, albeit with some issues.

I already a fair amount about Muramasa: Rebirth already, but I figured I would give a small update. I start playing with the male character, and the game is still very much the same. Different bosses and story line, but it plays exactly the same. The swords are very similar also. And I am aware of there being lot more to this game now outside of the main story line.

Another Vanillaware game; Dragon’s Crown seems pretty interesting. I’m usually not a fan of brawlers, but this showing some promise for me. The use of RPG mechanics seems like a nice fit for once and actually adds new moves and options for combat. Another nice feature is the ability to have AI party members, so I don’t have to be alone when going through the game, a major help when not many people I know have the game.

Also, it’s a gorgeous looking game. You might have opinions on the character art, and that’s fine, I’ve seen way more fucked up shit in art galleries when it comes to representing humans; so the designs in that regard don’t faze me at all. But everything about the world from the background art, animations, lighting; it’s fantastic.

As for another game that is astoundingly pretty, but unfortunately lacks the same depth or fun; Remember Me has a really unique concept, the idea of going into people’s memories and changing them to alter their opinions of the world around them and even to manipulate their motivations. Neo-Paris is a stunningly beautiful environment, both the slums and the upper-class areas are well-detailed. The concept art in the game also opens up the ideas that the developer has, showing even larger parts of the city with huge landscapes and environments to climb around in.

The problem with the game is, it falls flat in terms of mechanics. It relies very heavily on combat, without giving a ton of variety in terms of enemy encounters, and when there are new enemies to fight, they are not very well designed, and combat scenes end up lasts way longer than they should because of certain enemies like the guys that hurt you whenever you strike a hit at them, or the invisible mutants. Not very fun in that regard.

The Memory Remix is a really cool idea though, and I personally wish they made more of them throughout the story of the game.

Shadow Warrior is both cheesy as Hell, and kinda dumb fun. I don’t even know why they give you guns, the sword is so awesome to use to cut dudes up into especially tiny pieces. Yeah, the level design could be better and there should be more enemy variety early on; but I still find it quite enjoyable. The amount of 90’s movie/song references is pretty great too.

Right, now let me tell you about ARMA III. It is both the most realistic military shooter a civilian can get their hands on, and the dumbest fucking fun you could ever have. Allow me to explain. You could have a well thought out plan to attack an enemy base, and capture it without alerting the enemy players… Or, you could get a tank, turn on direct comms, and then blare out NWA songs while steamrolling towards their front gate with the full intention of fucking their shit up. And that’s why I love this fucking game. Wasteland is a really fun game mode to play by the way, although it needs fixing at the moment.

Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon seem pretty great. I only played an hour though. Same with Tomb Raider. I’ll try and play more of both, I promise.

StreetPass. Now that is a thing. I honestly wasn’t too hot on the idea before I ended up back in England for Uni. But know that I have people to actually StreetPass with, I’ve come around to it. Don’t get me wrong, it is a dumb through-and-through, but it is very much engaging nonetheless. So much so that I spent money on those extra games that they made.

So what are my thoughts on the games? Puzzle-Swap is a no-brainer. Pass people, get pieces of an image. As for the StreetPass Quest, it’s more of a game, a very basic strategy game, but still more of a game than the Puzzle-Swap thing. You basically go room to room, clearing out enemies and getting hats.

Now the paid games is where it gets interesting. First off, I paid fucking money for a fucking gardening game… And I’m enjoying it! Growing plants, organizing my garden, selling the seeds I get; enthralling as Hell. Next up in the StreetPass Battle thing, where you build an army of Mii characters you collect. It sounds cool in concept, but in actual fact you spend more time building you damn army through just StreetPassing then logging in and ending your turn than you do actually fighting. Kind of a bummer in that regard.

Next couple of games are the StreetPass Mansion, which is a dungeon-crawler/puzzle-piece/timing-based combat game. It’s interesting and kinda deep in places, although if you don’t pay attention to what you are doing you can get killed very quick, which happened to me because I was too busy talking to people or watching something. It has a bunch of levelling up and weapon upgrading you can do if you’re into that. And the last one is a space-shooter where the Mii characters you have turn into a variety of weapons. It’s fun but kinda time consuming. To be fair, with all these games now, I barely have time to play other games on my 3DS because I’m too busy StreetPassing- OH GOD HELP ME!

I’m still playing Persona 2: Innocent Sin and Persona 3 Portable. They’re not really worth talking about here because I’ve already talk about them to death. As with Metal Gear Solid: Digital Graphic Novel, it’s a novelised version of the original story. It’s not bad, but you already know what it’s about.

As for Battlefield 3, well fuck the console version of that game, it’s unplayable. The PC version might be superior in every way, shape, and form; but aspects of that game are still not great. I still think persistence in a multiplayer environment in relation to levels and content locks is a terrible idea that very much turns off late-joining players.

The Battlefield 4 Beta was unplayable for me due to the fact I didn’t really have a PC while it was out for the most part, and even when I did get my computer back, it still had horrible frame-rate issues.

I went into Syndicate with an the expectation that it was a game with a specific style and idea that failed to deliver appropriately. And it met that expectation perfectly. The world is extremely stylized, much like Remember Me, and the music is a highlight; with a powerful dubstep driven soundtrack. What is poor about the game is the fact that is fails to execute any of it’s coolest ideas in a fun way, often using a mechanic once and then never giving you a reason to use it ever again. Although my more pressuring issue with the game is just how much of a console port it is on the PC.

Getting to the point, the FOV is complete crap and will ruin the game unless one is to mod the files to increase the field. It truly is sickening while playing the game, especially with all that stylized camera use that Starbreeze is known for. That being said, this isn’t a disappointing game, as long as you go into it with the right expectations of knowing that it’s a very stylized, but still kind of generic shooter; there is some fun to be had with it.

I started playing and enjoying Saint’s Row 4, then I got to a point where it kept crashing on me and I got reverted to an old save and haven’t played it since. As for GTA V, well you’ve probably played it and enjoyed it. I liked it too. And it is not worth repeating why because you already know the answer.

3D Dot Game Heroes is fantastic game idea that I really wish got released on the Vita. It basically a love letter to Zelda. As a matter of fact, it pretty much is Zelda. Even down to some of the sound effects being the same. Anyway, I finished the first dungeon and worked my way through the rest of the world, it’s really fun and filled with references. You should play this.

Now, I’m not the biggest fan of Pokemon.. Actually I’m not a fan at all, but I still bought Pokemon Y after some very light persuasion from a couple of friends. Well, it’s exactly what I thought it was going to be, another Pokemon game. You collect, train, and fight with monsters. Yep. And you know what? It’s good, and I’m enjoying it. What more do you want from me? I’ve certainly taken my time with it, I’m 16 hours in and I’ve only just finished the second Gym Leader, now I’m just grinding up my main Pokemon into the level 40s.

Also, when I found an Evee, I lost my proverbial shit from just how adorable it was.

And finally on the games front, The Stanley Parable. Do not not not not not not (DO) play it.

3DS Impressions

So I’ve had a 3DS for four months now. My general impressions of the system are mixed. Put it this way;

  • Yeah, the 3D works, but it’s a pointless feature.
  • The sound and visuals are terrible for most games.
  • The console is quite uncomfortable to hold in my hands for long periods of time.
  • The system is more cute than it is functional.
  • The eShop is joke.
  • The friend system is the worst.
  • The touchscreen is poor.

But then there’s this:

  • StreetPass is a cool feature. Dumb, but cool.
  • It might be more cute than functional, but it’s kinda joyful in that regard.
  • Digital Releases of all 3DS games.
  • SD Card slot.
  • Dual-Screens are alright depending on how they’re used.
  • There may not be a ton of great games, but the ones there are, are of a fairly high quality.

Take from that what you will, I know I’m not going super in-detail like I did with the Vita, but that’s because I really don’t have a ton of time to write a lengthy comparison right now. I like the system, but the Vita still stole my heart in this regard. But I have plenty of room in my bag for both.

I promise to do a more in-detailed comparison of the two in the future.

Gaming On A Laptop

It sucks. Don’t do it. Ever.

OK, in all seriousness, if you have a good surface to place it on you’ll be set. And provided it’s powerful enough, it can probably get by. I just wasn’t having a good time with my laptop because I wanted to play stuff like BF4 and a few other high-end games, and couldn’t.

Anime:

Seeing as I’ve watched so much of this stuff this year, I’ll just give you the lists I’ve created.

Stuff I watched:

  • Cowboy Bebop
  • Cowboy Bebop: The Movie
  • Persona 4 The Animation
  • Persona: Trinity Soul
  • Devil Survivor 2 The Animation
  • Samurai Champloo
  • Kids Of The Slope
  • Attack On Titan
  • Watashi Ga Motenai No Wa Dou Kangaete Mo Omaera Ga Warui! (WataMote)
  • Black Lagoon
  • Eden Of The East
  • Ghost In The Shell
  • Howl’s Moving Castle
  • My Neighbour Totoro
  • The Girl Who Lept Through Time
  • Paprika
  • Perfect Blue
  • Summer Wars
  • Grave Of The Fireflies
  • Lupin III – Castle Of Cagliostro
  • Akria
  • Death Note
  • Valkyira Chronicles
  • Spirited Away
  • Voices A Of Distant Star
  • Nausicaa Valley Of The Wind
  • Ghost In The Shell: Arise (Pt 1)
  • Millennium Actress
  • 5cm Per Second

Planning To Watch:

Ghost In The Shell: Innocence

  • Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex
  • Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood
  • Serial Experiment Lain
  • Sword Of The Strangers
  • Shigurui
  • Hellsing Ultimate
  • Metropolis
  • Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion
  • Nodame Cantabile
  • Darker than Black
  • Macross Plus
  • Laputa – Castle In The Sky
  • Porco Rosso
  • Whisper Of The Heart
  • Shinsekai Yori
  • Freedom
  • Persona 3: The Movie
  • Girl und Panzer
  • Mardock Scramble
  • Ghost In The Shell: Arise (Pt 2/3/4)
  • Kill La Kill
  • Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet
  • A Letter to Momo
  • The Place Promised in Our Early Days
  • From Up On Poppy Hill
  • Colorful
  • Gurren Lagann
  • JoJo’s Bizzare Adventures

Manga

Similar situation with the anime stuff. I could describe my feelings in more detail, but honestly, you could just check them out yourself.

  • Shingeki No Kyojin (Attack On Titan)
  • WataMote
  • Black Lagoon
  • Kids On The Slope
  • Cowboy Bebop

Attack On Titan and WataMote are the series that I am following at the moment. I purchased all the Black Lagoon volumes they’ve put out, and I’ll read them whenever I get back home.

Other Stuff:

Windows 8 Sucks

Yes, it’s the worst. It is an OS for people who clearly have no idea how computers work, but also fails to cater to the people who do know. It makes even the most basic customisations that you would usually be familiar with a complete hassle, and the “Metro” interface to totally pointless. I haven’t had a chance to update to 8.1 yet, but I doubt it fixes my issues.

There is one thing I like though, when you have dual-monitors (Much like I do), you can have a collection of single-monitor wallpapers, and you have both monitors shuffle through different pictures at the same time, instead of specifically creating dual-screen wallpapers like before because it used to just repeat the same image on both screens unless you went through the hassle of making them yourself.

PC Status

MY PC IS WORKING AGAIN. ALL IS GOOD.

Yeah, it was just transit damage, but I still didn’t have the tools to properly fix it, so I ended up paying someone to do it for me. They also gave it a damn good cleaning which was nice.

Anyway, this blog is finally written. Make sure to check out the latest MGCast, where we shoot the usual shit. I’m out! Later!

-ADMAN

04/10/2013 – Couple Things To Rabble On About…

So quick update on my PC; I decided that after realizing that I lacked the time or resources to properly evaluate what the Hell is wrong with my PC, I caved a got a computer-repair service to come take it. That’s about as far as that update goes, I haven’t heard anything since I handed it over yesterday.

Second thing I feel like discussing is that I’m finally considering rebuilding this site, although whether I do it myself or pay someone to do it for me has yet to be seen. I definitely looked at few HTML5 templates I could use, but I feel like PHP might be the better option. We’ll see how things go.

In other, completely unrelated news; I’m still watching way too much anime and Breaking Bad ended. Now I can focus on work till Game Of Thrones starts up early next year. In terms of games, well I’ll probably make a post on that soon. Maybe tomorrow.

So as far as my first week back in Hull goes; it’s been kind of literally shitty, but I got to see my classmates again and that was fun.

-Adam