Technology's looking for more cash ...

I think the technology is looking for me to spend a little more cash on it. I have the pictures all sorted out but the sound is taking a little more doing.

Actually, the physical stuff too - I still need to move the telly into what would be its final position. Need a volunteer to take my old one away first though I think :-) I reckon the physical stuff of playing games on the telly is doomed though, had a reaction today to a decent "research" session yesterday. Due to an accident quite a few years ago, I've been left with a dodgy shoulder (more info on link). The short form of what that means is that on bad days I have restricted blood flow in my right arm. That leads to a low level pain ache in the shoulder itself, stiffness and knock on effects down the arm. The worst of that is wrist and tendon RSI, feels sometimes like there's a bag of gravel and glass in my wrist when I move my hand.

Anyway - I was enjoying a pretty decent gaming session yesterday and I've been getting the reminders today that I should have been doing something more productive ;-)

Ok - that's enough whinge, what was the gaming like on the big telly ? It looks spectacular, having the gaming pics on a 32" screen running 1080p. To the credit of my (cheap!) Samsung series 530 telly, it handles the game images extremely well. With telly stuff, I can see a little bit of motion blur with cricketers swinging their arms around. I don't see that with the PC hooked up to it. World of Warcraft looks great on it and I can even read the text chat. I have trouble reading the button chat though (more below). Mass Effect looks spectacular. The picture is sharp (although Mass Effect's visuals are enhanced by a Fuzzi-Fier) and they keep up with the action.

I can have the keyboard, mouse (mice! I have 2 in telly gaming mode) and I also have sound coming over but it's not a particularly comfortable position. Leads going across the floor is something that would get me slapped if someone else lived here but it's not something I'm bothered about :-)

Yep - looks great, how does it affect playability ? This is where the telly gaming may be a bit doomed. Mass Effect plays well, it was intended to be on consoles as well as PC so part of its design has it being set up for tellies. Warcraft doesn't work so well, as the different screen size makes it tricky for me to track what's going on with the character. Tricky to describe it but I mentally map locations on screen and keyboard so I can be more precise and efficient with controlling the character. Attack of the Hard Core gamer ! So the gaming test didn't last long with WoW.

Doh - confession time, with my Eve account getting hacked (disappointed that I've heard nothing from the people who run that game) part of my password changing knee jerking was to change my Warcraft password. Which is when I noticed that they were offering me a 7 day free pass. So I had the chance to say hello to the VR mob again :-) They're a fun bunch to be around - that's the key to all Massive Multiplayer Online games, a good community makes the game transcend the single player experience. The VR people never forget they're in the game to have fun.

Of the two, Eve has the more stunning visuals. Warcraft is more accessible. Eve's changes are gradual, Warcraft's are cataclysmic. Eve has an immense learning curve but if you read around the game then knowledge, tactics and technique overcomes skill. Gear doesn't tend to have that much effect outside of gaming Rock Paper Scissors, which is intentional on the part of the game design. Warcraft is far easier to play but skill in that game tends to be in learning what buttons to press in what order. Outside of handling the scripting, there's not much in the way of tactics. Oh - the most important thing is that Eve is a persistent universe with the map being actively changed by its players, whereas the Warcraft universe is static with the only significant changes coming with expansion packs.

I'm a fan of both games but because I'm not heavily involved with the management of the communities I'm a part of (that's not a bad thing), I tend to drift in and out of Eve and WoW. When I was in the Mercs back on the Maelstrom, I played WoW far more than I ought due to feeling obliged to keep the guild going for its members. I don't have that pull in Eve or WoW. The WoW people definitely don't need it, their leadership has a great handle on what their guild needs to be. They have an excellent balance between Play Fun and Play Work. The Eve alliance has strong leadership as well but possibly a bit too strong. They have a direction they want the alliance to go in but they have issues with trusting people with knowledge of that direction.

Bit of a shame that my Eve account disappeared before I had a chance to see what it would have been like on the big screen. Thoughts - I think it would have handled it better than WoW because it's less of a twitch game. There's more thinking and planning in Eve than the button mashing of WoW. Chat text might have been a bit tiny though :-)

Uhoh. My "You're a rambling fool" alarm is going off.

Gaming on the telly - interesting and has lots of potential. The images look spectacular on the big screen. But I think it would tear my arm apart if I did too much of the telly gaming. It has me pondering buying stuff though, which gets me back to the original subject ...

See how I digress ? It's gotten me through 1.5 Stargate episodes so far !

Shopping list :
Surround sound amp cos I've given up with my current one - £270
Surround speakers cos mine aren't up to the job - £200
Stands - £50 minimum (probably more)
Cables - £50 minimum
Big Widescreen monitor for pooter

Not really researched the new monitor as it's far down the priority list. It'll probably only happen when my current monitor breaks, as I'm far more interested in better sound. My gaming addiction has been replaced by music and movies addictions ! But because it's expensive, I'll hang around for a bit and live with stereo.

Still sounds great, the Samsung looks great, shame my arm doesn't appreciate it !