NeoTokyo – Review
by Kireas on Feb.01, 2010, under Games
Part of the One Hundred Plus Games Review.
NeoTokyo is one of my favourite SourceMods; a game that runs off of Valve’s HL2 engine, the Source Engine, but I haven’t played it since release due to a lack of interest in the game past the first week. So, I was quite excited to play the game again after all this time, so I dusted it off and set off to get some hours in.
...
Oh. Well, there are two public servers with people, let’s try the first!
Sweet, at least I can play somewhere.
Uh…
Right. How about the other server?
…
Alright…I get it. How about an empty server, I’ll invite some people I know have the game installed!
Server not updated I see. And the others?
*Alt-F4*
The iPad – Sorry Apple…what?
by Kireas on Jan.28, 2010, under Complaints
So, the Apple iPad has been announced, as expected. They really can’t keep a secret, can they, but I suppose that’s the point.
Thing is, Apple, I’m just going to say this. This is starting to look like you guys are running out of ideas. The iPod was brilliant, albeit technically a hard drive with a screen, and the majority of its subsequent incarnations pretty good as well. Your iMac’s are good computers, although the non-upgradable nature of them is a pain. The iPhone, took a few tries (and got you a ton of money in the process), and while not actually very good in comparison to other phones, especially not now Android is out there, the sheer hype of the iPhone opened up the industry to the power of mobile computing.
The iPad, however, is pointless. Before I go any further, I’m just going to show you all two things.
First of all, Wozinak’s statement that for actual working tasks, the iPhone is better than the iPad. The iPad is apparantly a ‘media portal’. So…an e-reader that does colour video. Well, so’s the iPhone, just a smaller screen.
Second of all, this is a graphic tablet. A graphic tablet is a screen you can touch for your computer. There are lots of models, most use stylus’ for drawing, for design work, but many can also just use standard fingers. All Apple has REALLY done is pack the computer into the screen, which is hardly ground-breaking. After all, Microsoft did it first. And they did it years ago.
I’ve been perusing the specifications and features of the iPad, and, ignoring the hype and marketing in the features section of the Apple website went to their Tech Specs page. Where I had to again ignore all the hype and marketing, so I went over to Wikipedia, and watched the Keynote.
A 25 cm display is pretty small. Get a standard ruler. Now lose 5 cm. That’s the display diagonally. But that’s okay, it’s all about the interface in the end, right? The screen itself is pretty good, the technology allows for a wide viewing angle. So all the bloody showoffs can show off.
A 1 GHz processor? Uh…right. Less said about this the better, but…this isn’t a computer, it’s a netbook. It’s not even a decent netbook, it doesn’t have a keyboard – I know you can purchase one for extra, but…you shouldn’t have to. And I read this hilarious comment about how keyboards were out and how you had to adapt to touch-screens, and how your grand-kids would be laughing that we used keyboards, but to these people I say: Tactile feedback, and the ability to type with my eyes shut even if someone bumps into my computer. Until we get touchscreens that change how they feel beneath our fingers, there’s no excuse for a computer larger than the palm of my hand to not have a full QWERTY keyboard. But back to the processing power – that’s a wee bit low for a ‘media portal’.
1024×768 resolution. Hang on a tic, did Apple say this could play HD?
The large, high-resolution screen makes iPad perfect for watching any kind of video: from HD movies and TV shows to podcasts and music videos.
That’s interesting. High-res screen can play High-def movies. Technically true, but they aren’t really HD any more now, are they? 720i doesn’t count. Oh, and it outputs to TV’s at the standard 576i/p and 480i/p. If you count that as HD, you have a Wii and a composite cable to go with it. Wait, I have a Wii and it’s composite cable. Nonetheless.
There are three choices of storage, 16, 32 or 64 GB. All flash storage. Again with the flash? Well, there will be no annoying buzzing, and fast load times, but OH MAN will that be pushing Apple’s already high price tagging up higher. Let’s check this, shaalll weee?
Model 16 GB 32 GB 64 GB iPad Wi-Fi $499 $599 $699 iPad Wi-Fi + 3G $629 $729 $829
Ouch. Oh, yes the Wi-Fi. Essential. The 3G? Useful, but…another tie in to AT&T? On silly-expensive rates? What is this, a large version of the iPhone? Oh, wait…
Oh, yes and where’s the camera apple? Going to release it as a new model next year? Bastards.
Oh, and:
- No USB/Firewire ports
- No multitasking ability (bet you it’ll kill the battery)
- No Flash support
And my personal favourite; the iPad is locked down the same way the iPhone and iPod Touches are – you can’t just install applications, they have to go via the App Store. That means no Skype, by the way. And no GUI customization.
By the way, if you were thinking of getting one, have a look at the Dell Latitude XT2, or the Eee T91. Hell, just type “Touchscreen Laptop” into Google.
Better luck next time, Apple?
On MMO’s and Instances
by Kireas on Jan.21, 2010, under Games, Musings
I’ve recently had the pleasure of playing in the Star Trek Online open beta, thanks to a pre-order I’ve got on the game. I wasn’t aware before the pre-order if the game was subscription or not (it is), something most MMO’s are. I however find myself wondering if it has the right to ask for a subscription as the gameplay stands at the moment.
Me in Star Trek Online. Feeling a little lonely in my instanced mission.
My main MMO is is EVE Online, a space sandbox more commonly referred to by its players as ‘Spreadsheets in Space’. EVE is what I imagine in an MMO, a large, persistent universe which is truly massive, with all its players operating in one version of reality, where your actions are permanent, and there is a loss to your actions. In essence, a massively multi-player game in which what you do actually affects the game. This is only possible with persistence.
However, most MMO’s, most notably World of Warcraft, instance most regions of the game. An instance is a sealed bubble of the game which a small number of players go to do a mission or dungeon, and the what you do in the instance is kept inside that little sealed bubble – a new group of players won’t see anything you’ve done, and they’ll have exactly the same experience of the game whether you were there or not. Now, this is understandable for games like WoW, as they wouldn’t function very well without it.
With Star Trek Online, however, I find myself automatically drawing comparisons to EVE, and finding STO failing. STO isn’t an MMO – there’s nothing massive about it. You can only be interacting with around 50 players at once with the current instance system, and that is an upper limit. That’s not massive, I know two or three FPS games that have larger player counts in a round than that. I can understand that there are lag issues, god knows STO is laggy enough at the moment during beta, but EVE proves that this doesn’t need to be an issue, it just needs planning.
I say avoid instances where you can, MMO designers. Otherwise you’ll be less of an MMO and more of a single-player game with optional co-op mode.
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