Since losing my last monitor to a Pizza Fetching Calamity*, I've been using a 17" Samsung TFT. It's done me pretty well but I'm hankering for something bigger and better.
*Pizza Fetching Calamity isn't quite what it sounds. The monitor worked before I left the house but when I got back 15 minutes later, all it would do was give the Tick Of Doom. No picture, no nuffin. RIP monitor. (If Snow Queen or The Boss are reading, yes - I still have it). Not good considering I'd be ensconced in front of a monitor the next day for a Warcraft raid. Cue trip to the local PC World.
What's up with the current monitor ?
Viewing angle. This is the thing that Really Bites with TFT (thin) monitors. The way most of them work is that there's a White Light* at the back which has polarising filters in front of it. The filters turn the White into Colour by taking away the Colour that's not needed. (That's techtalk best left for a different site.) The polarising causes an issue where if you're not looking bang on at the centre of the screen, it'll fade out and you'll lose brightness and definition.
*(LCD tellies have 1 White Light, LED tellies have Lots - they tell us there's a good reason for it)
On my 32" big telly, that's not a problem because tech development means the viewing angle on modern screens is outstanding. My PC monitor is a bit old though. Its best viewing angle is about 6 inches above where my eyes usually are ...
Size. It's a 17" old style screen, with a 4:3 ratio. That's not a massive problem, I actually prefer 4:3 for work because it suits my desktop style (lots of overlapping windows) much better. But for a machine that's used primarily for gaming, widescreen 16:9 works better. Things like Eve where you can have more screen real estate devoted to the huge numbers of chat channels that tend to be open. The ship interface works better too with more width. Warcraft gives a more panoramic view.
Oh. A newer monitor is more SHINY !!!!!
Always consider shininess in equipment buying.
What I'm having trouble with though is considering what to buy. This was a very simple choice a few months ago, as I was going to go for a decent sized touchscreen. At Novatech*, the only 2 touchscreens of an acceptance price (<£250) are an Iiyama and a Viewsonic. And I like the specs of the Viewsonic better.
*(Novatech are a classic example of Start Small, Earn Reputation, Gradually Grow company with an excellent reputation for getting bits to buyers cheaply. They come hugely recommended from anyone who's done business with them.)
Trouble is, I've abandoned the touchscreen idea due to being Fickle so I have huge choice now. And with choice comes procrastination. What to buy ? What tech is out there ? Who's the reliable people ? I've had no problems with Samsung screens but I'm open to options.
The problem I have is in finding trustworthy and relevant reviews of kit. The electronics industry marches on at a ferocious pace. I don't want to read reviews from 2007 because the kit under test would have been discontinued by 2008. I hate wading through irrelevant rubbish. It's worse enough having to decipher which reviewers can be trusted and which reviewers have been bought by a hardware manufacturer.
If a review site depends on handouts by hardware manufacturers to survive, if it sells kit on its site or if the adverts are slanted a particular way, it can be reasonable to assume that they have more in their heads than "how good is this kit actually ?" Bit like certain games magazines (one of which has now closed) who say a game is BEST GAME EVER only to come back 6 months later and admit that it was bugged to hell. In the meantime, loads of gamers will have wasted cash on a product not fit for sale with that decision being based on what was in the review.
Hobbyists who review stuff because they can are the most trustworthy people around in my opinion when it comes to kit. Bit like TotalBiscuit and his game reviews. He just loves gaming and it always brings out a grin listening to him go at it. However, at the same time, he's also giving an honest opinion on whichever game has his attention at the time.
So, there we have it. New monitor wanted*, dunno what to buy, not getting any intel worth a damn from the internet. One thing's for certain, it will be big enough to make me think about a new pooter desk to allow my PC speakers to fit.
*(I don't "need" it but I do "want" new Shinies)
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
Wednesday, March 09, 2011
When it doesn't feel like a game any more
I wrote yesterday about a game called Mass Effect.
I have other games too, one particular favourite is a game called Jagged Alliance 2. It's a mix of high level strategy combined with an excellent tactical layer. It's one of those rare games that hits its mark just right in terms of gameplay. The sheer scope of what it allows you to do is remarkable. Pretty much anything you can think of, like making motion detectors or tripwire explosives, you can do. (There are limits)
The basic premise of Jagged Alliance 2 is that you're a mercenary who's been hired by the supposedly dead ex ruler of a banana republic country called Arulco. His country has been taken over by the evil Queen Diedranna who is ruling with an iron fist that smashes any dissent. You and a band of intrepid mercenaries are to liberate the country, ushering in an era of freedom and prosperity (making cash along the way). Tying it all together is a streak of black humour.
The difficulty scales quite well, at the start all you have are handguns which means you have to get close to get the bad guys. The Queen doesn't take you too seriously at the start either, so the fights are even. Later on, your guys can use sniper rifles, heavy machine guns, mortars and antitank weapons. And you need them ...
I've been thinking for a while of starting off another JA2 campaign and these campaigns tend to be epic. Arulco is a decent size country that doesn't liberate itself and there's plenty to see along the way.
However
Turn on the news right now and what do we see ?
The headlines at the moment are full of what's happening in Afghanistan, the Middle East and North Africa. And they are terrible things.
Game - the rebellion is attempting to unseat an evil dictator
Real life - there's rebellions in several countries trying to unseat their leaders
Suddenly, it doesn't feel like a game any more. The "get the bad guys" on screen are real people. The person speaking out against their leaders on the radio today may be dead by tomorrow.
Yes. It doesn't feel like a game any more.
I'll stay away from JA2 for a while. That's made easier by other games being good fun at the moment. There's Warcraft with a bunch of people who are Awesome. I may have another look into Eve at some point and there's the space action stuff too. I can save the one that's a bit too close to home until things calm down a bit.
I have other games too, one particular favourite is a game called Jagged Alliance 2. It's a mix of high level strategy combined with an excellent tactical layer. It's one of those rare games that hits its mark just right in terms of gameplay. The sheer scope of what it allows you to do is remarkable. Pretty much anything you can think of, like making motion detectors or tripwire explosives, you can do. (There are limits)
The basic premise of Jagged Alliance 2 is that you're a mercenary who's been hired by the supposedly dead ex ruler of a banana republic country called Arulco. His country has been taken over by the evil Queen Diedranna who is ruling with an iron fist that smashes any dissent. You and a band of intrepid mercenaries are to liberate the country, ushering in an era of freedom and prosperity (making cash along the way). Tying it all together is a streak of black humour.
The difficulty scales quite well, at the start all you have are handguns which means you have to get close to get the bad guys. The Queen doesn't take you too seriously at the start either, so the fights are even. Later on, your guys can use sniper rifles, heavy machine guns, mortars and antitank weapons. And you need them ...
I've been thinking for a while of starting off another JA2 campaign and these campaigns tend to be epic. Arulco is a decent size country that doesn't liberate itself and there's plenty to see along the way.
However
Turn on the news right now and what do we see ?
The headlines at the moment are full of what's happening in Afghanistan, the Middle East and North Africa. And they are terrible things.
Game - the rebellion is attempting to unseat an evil dictator
Real life - there's rebellions in several countries trying to unseat their leaders
Suddenly, it doesn't feel like a game any more. The "get the bad guys" on screen are real people. The person speaking out against their leaders on the radio today may be dead by tomorrow.
Yes. It doesn't feel like a game any more.
I'll stay away from JA2 for a while. That's made easier by other games being good fun at the moment. There's Warcraft with a bunch of people who are Awesome. I may have another look into Eve at some point and there's the space action stuff too. I can save the one that's a bit too close to home until things calm down a bit.
Tuesday, March 08, 2011
Game or interactive novel ?
I have something that I'm highly tempted to add to my A to Z on books thing that I'm doing this year.
In the early days, games were restricted to a very limited scope. Pacman was an "eat all dots, avoid ghosts" game, nothing more. Beat 'em ups were "last man standing". Shoot 'em ups were survival or get to the end of the level. Apart from role playing games, there's been very limited scope for games to really tell a story that engages the player more than just getting the most powerful character or getting through those levels.
Role playing games broke the mould because there was a path to their story. Your character started out weak and inexperienced and by the end of the game, you were MegaMage, Ninja Warrior or SecretSquirrel Thief. You'd saved the galaxy for its people or defeated the Evil Overlord only to take their place. You'd done every single side quest or barrelled straight through to finish as quickly as possible. Your character had gotten the girl, the boy or both (take a bow Dragon Age)
However, even the most open ended games failed to really engage the player like a good novel can. That's been changing lately ...
I'm a firm fan of games produced by the Bioware development house. Over the years, they've consistently made their games transcend the "it's just a game", such that playing through them feels like you're in the middle of a series like Babylon 5, absorbed in an Iain M Banks novel or munching popcorn in front of a movie.
The latest one of these is the Mass Effect series. It's a space scifi shooter that's got role playing aspects tacked on. At the start, your character struggles through opening encounters as you get to grips with the tactics and duck and cover gun play. By the end, you're a hard bitten warrior capable of sniping the fingers off a Geth at 1km away. But ... whereas most shooters have the player given a set of rails to follow, this game is much more open ended.
And most shooters don't have character interaction the way only Bioware games seem to have. In Dragon Age, you can be rushing through town on your way to the next bit of story (or just exploring) and your companions will start having a chat with each other. In the case of Alexander and Morrigan, that's usually a touch of bickering that ends up guaranteed to pull out a grin as one or the other (usually Morrigan) gets the upper hand. In Mass Effect 1, your companions will chat to each other while in the lifts. It's a little thing but that random conversation pulls you in.
Yes - there's a series of encounters that you have to follow in order for the game to progress but you can go through those in whichever order you pick. This is where game starts to transcend novel. You're not just playing through the encounters, you choose the order of those encounters. You pick how your character interacts with the world. Do you punch the bigoted reporter or outflank them with words ? Do you rescue the Blue Lady first or save that for the end ? (If you wait, it changes the encounter)
Wait - what's the game I'm talking about ?
It's Mass Effect and its sequel, Mass Effect 2. I've played through both of these several times now and I'm highly likely to go for it again sometime reasonably soon. The third in the trilogy is expected in November, somehow I doubt whether I'll be able to wait until then. It's a space opera game, where your central character is flying around saving the galaxy on a starship called Normandy.
The Normandy is your home for the entire first game and up to a point, you can freely roam its interior. So when you're walking through SR1 Normandy in the early part of Mass Effect 2 when the ship comes under fire, you can imagine the player's reaction when you look up to where the command bridge ceiling should be and see ... stars.
You only get Impact if you care about what's going on. Bit like rooting for the Lost Fleet and feeling a tinge of sadness when they list the ships that didn't make it through an engagement in those books. Like when the drone from the Culture that's been the supporting act for the main cast member gets damaged.
The story, characterisation and voice acting is that good. In fact, I'll repeat the phrase from earlier, these games can transcend books. With a book, when you've read it you're unlikely to go back for years if you do re-read it. Even though it's just a couple of weeks since closing out the last Mass Effect 1+2 play through, I could head back in there now.
(At least, if my main PC was in game mode !)
Yes. I'm tempted to add Mass Effect 1 + 2 to the books A to Z under M for Mass Effect or K for Drew Karpshyn (lead writer ME1). However, I'll wait until I've read Mass Effect Retribution, a book that's in my pile of books to read soon. That will wait until after Inversions by Iain M Banks.
Right - that's enough worship of Game for tonight, or is it ... I can feel the Normandy calling ...
PS Have a look here (ME1 cast list) and here (ME2 cast list). I knew some of the higher profile voice actors, like Jennifer Hale who possesses a voice that is probably a key reason why I keep coming back to this game. There's also Tricia Hale playing an AI (shades of the Cylons ?), Seth Green as the hotshot pilot and a series of other cameos. I never realised Dwight "Murdock" Schultz played the navigator or Armin "Quark" Shimerman played a couple of roles. Even Michael "Worf" Dorn takes a turn at the mic.
In the early days, games were restricted to a very limited scope. Pacman was an "eat all dots, avoid ghosts" game, nothing more. Beat 'em ups were "last man standing". Shoot 'em ups were survival or get to the end of the level. Apart from role playing games, there's been very limited scope for games to really tell a story that engages the player more than just getting the most powerful character or getting through those levels.
Role playing games broke the mould because there was a path to their story. Your character started out weak and inexperienced and by the end of the game, you were MegaMage, Ninja Warrior or SecretSquirrel Thief. You'd saved the galaxy for its people or defeated the Evil Overlord only to take their place. You'd done every single side quest or barrelled straight through to finish as quickly as possible. Your character had gotten the girl, the boy or both (take a bow Dragon Age)
However, even the most open ended games failed to really engage the player like a good novel can. That's been changing lately ...
I'm a firm fan of games produced by the Bioware development house. Over the years, they've consistently made their games transcend the "it's just a game", such that playing through them feels like you're in the middle of a series like Babylon 5, absorbed in an Iain M Banks novel or munching popcorn in front of a movie.
The latest one of these is the Mass Effect series. It's a space scifi shooter that's got role playing aspects tacked on. At the start, your character struggles through opening encounters as you get to grips with the tactics and duck and cover gun play. By the end, you're a hard bitten warrior capable of sniping the fingers off a Geth at 1km away. But ... whereas most shooters have the player given a set of rails to follow, this game is much more open ended.
And most shooters don't have character interaction the way only Bioware games seem to have. In Dragon Age, you can be rushing through town on your way to the next bit of story (or just exploring) and your companions will start having a chat with each other. In the case of Alexander and Morrigan, that's usually a touch of bickering that ends up guaranteed to pull out a grin as one or the other (usually Morrigan) gets the upper hand. In Mass Effect 1, your companions will chat to each other while in the lifts. It's a little thing but that random conversation pulls you in.
Yes - there's a series of encounters that you have to follow in order for the game to progress but you can go through those in whichever order you pick. This is where game starts to transcend novel. You're not just playing through the encounters, you choose the order of those encounters. You pick how your character interacts with the world. Do you punch the bigoted reporter or outflank them with words ? Do you rescue the Blue Lady first or save that for the end ? (If you wait, it changes the encounter)
Wait - what's the game I'm talking about ?
It's Mass Effect and its sequel, Mass Effect 2. I've played through both of these several times now and I'm highly likely to go for it again sometime reasonably soon. The third in the trilogy is expected in November, somehow I doubt whether I'll be able to wait until then. It's a space opera game, where your central character is flying around saving the galaxy on a starship called Normandy.
The Normandy is your home for the entire first game and up to a point, you can freely roam its interior. So when you're walking through SR1 Normandy in the early part of Mass Effect 2 when the ship comes under fire, you can imagine the player's reaction when you look up to where the command bridge ceiling should be and see ... stars.
You only get Impact if you care about what's going on. Bit like rooting for the Lost Fleet and feeling a tinge of sadness when they list the ships that didn't make it through an engagement in those books. Like when the drone from the Culture that's been the supporting act for the main cast member gets damaged.
The story, characterisation and voice acting is that good. In fact, I'll repeat the phrase from earlier, these games can transcend books. With a book, when you've read it you're unlikely to go back for years if you do re-read it. Even though it's just a couple of weeks since closing out the last Mass Effect 1+2 play through, I could head back in there now.
(At least, if my main PC was in game mode !)
Yes. I'm tempted to add Mass Effect 1 + 2 to the books A to Z under M for Mass Effect or K for Drew Karpshyn (lead writer ME1). However, I'll wait until I've read Mass Effect Retribution, a book that's in my pile of books to read soon. That will wait until after Inversions by Iain M Banks.
Right - that's enough worship of Game for tonight, or is it ... I can feel the Normandy calling ...
PS Have a look here (ME1 cast list) and here (ME2 cast list). I knew some of the higher profile voice actors, like Jennifer Hale who possesses a voice that is probably a key reason why I keep coming back to this game. There's also Tricia Hale playing an AI (shades of the Cylons ?), Seth Green as the hotshot pilot and a series of other cameos. I never realised Dwight "Murdock" Schultz played the navigator or Armin "Quark" Shimerman played a couple of roles. Even Michael "Worf" Dorn takes a turn at the mic.
Tuesday, March 01, 2011
More car thoughts
I'm getting closer to actually 100% owning my car now.
I got it 3 years ago in a bit of an emergency buy. My previous car (a Ford Puma) had given me quite a few years of excellent service but it hit its wall at about 70,000 miles. Before that, hardly anything needing attention at the annual service. After that, all sorts of mechanical mayhem started happening. Power steering pump was the start but by the end, the braking system was totally shot with something weird happening with the anti-lock system and a complete failure of the handbrake. Not good if you park on a hill at work (other car park to the one I use now).
So, a couple of years after it started to collect faults, I switched to what I have now. My Focus isn't a bad car, it's actually been pretty good. However. It's bigger than I like a car to be, so the 2 litre 170bhp engine doesn't actually turn into much Go. At the same time, those 2 litres gobble petrol. The little things are starting to go too, like a rear wheel that leaks air. That's not so bad, I have a compressor to pump the tyre up when it goes flat. I may also be allergic to the car. Weird as that sounds, weird is a total fit for me.
The big thing that shattered my confidence in my Focus was the inlet manifold failure last year. You don't expect car stopping failures in modern cars, although you probably should because of the increase in built in complication. What was the response from the garage ? I bought a supposedly all in warranty with the Focus and still had to pay the £550 for the fix. I'll put this in Big Letters :
Buy a CARCRAFT extended warranty and it will mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Everything that breaks will be classified under "fair use", which translates to "You Pay".
Very disappointed, I will not be returning to Carcraft after the last paid for service.
So - what's next ? I'm keeping an eye on the Green Car Site. The people who run that collect as much information as they can about electric cars, biofuel cars, green cars and most interesting for me, hybrid cars. It's a decent mine of information, with just enough in there to let you know what's around. I've pretty much decided that my next car will be a hybrid. I'm very much interested in being as efficient as possible and the energy storage thing that comes with hybrid cars.
There's just one problem. Hybrids are currently coming in 2 categories. Slow and highly efficient is the first, that's where Toyota's hybrid flag bearer (Prius) fits in. The other category is Hot Muscle Roadburner. That's cars like the upcoming Infiniti M35h, looking on Greencarsite they're claiming 0 to 60 in 5.5secs while still doing more miles to the gallon than my Focus and also kicking out less nasty CO2.
I'd love a car like that ! Or the Lexus G450h (link to Lexus site) which is on the market now. Just one problem, I'm not going to spend £46,000 on a car. I'm very wary about spending up to £20,000 on a Honda CR-Z.
That's what I will probably end up with - Honda's CR-Z (Honda site). The raw numbers suggest it's not as fast as I would like, plus the reviews are mixed. Some are stellar, some are poor. I'll treat them with the respect I usually give to reviews, I'll make my own mind up judged on what I think of the reviewer. I miss my Puma, it was an excellent little grownup go-kart. The CR-Z promises to be something similar.
We shall see ! I have 2 more months now until the loan finishes and then I'm free to move from Speculation to being more free about checking stuff out.
I got it 3 years ago in a bit of an emergency buy. My previous car (a Ford Puma) had given me quite a few years of excellent service but it hit its wall at about 70,000 miles. Before that, hardly anything needing attention at the annual service. After that, all sorts of mechanical mayhem started happening. Power steering pump was the start but by the end, the braking system was totally shot with something weird happening with the anti-lock system and a complete failure of the handbrake. Not good if you park on a hill at work (other car park to the one I use now).
So, a couple of years after it started to collect faults, I switched to what I have now. My Focus isn't a bad car, it's actually been pretty good. However. It's bigger than I like a car to be, so the 2 litre 170bhp engine doesn't actually turn into much Go. At the same time, those 2 litres gobble petrol. The little things are starting to go too, like a rear wheel that leaks air. That's not so bad, I have a compressor to pump the tyre up when it goes flat. I may also be allergic to the car. Weird as that sounds, weird is a total fit for me.
The big thing that shattered my confidence in my Focus was the inlet manifold failure last year. You don't expect car stopping failures in modern cars, although you probably should because of the increase in built in complication. What was the response from the garage ? I bought a supposedly all in warranty with the Focus and still had to pay the £550 for the fix. I'll put this in Big Letters :
Buy a CARCRAFT extended warranty and it will mean ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. Everything that breaks will be classified under "fair use", which translates to "You Pay".
Very disappointed, I will not be returning to Carcraft after the last paid for service.
So - what's next ? I'm keeping an eye on the Green Car Site. The people who run that collect as much information as they can about electric cars, biofuel cars, green cars and most interesting for me, hybrid cars. It's a decent mine of information, with just enough in there to let you know what's around. I've pretty much decided that my next car will be a hybrid. I'm very much interested in being as efficient as possible and the energy storage thing that comes with hybrid cars.
There's just one problem. Hybrids are currently coming in 2 categories. Slow and highly efficient is the first, that's where Toyota's hybrid flag bearer (Prius) fits in. The other category is Hot Muscle Roadburner. That's cars like the upcoming Infiniti M35h, looking on Greencarsite they're claiming 0 to 60 in 5.5secs while still doing more miles to the gallon than my Focus and also kicking out less nasty CO2.
I'd love a car like that ! Or the Lexus G450h (link to Lexus site) which is on the market now. Just one problem, I'm not going to spend £46,000 on a car. I'm very wary about spending up to £20,000 on a Honda CR-Z.
That's what I will probably end up with - Honda's CR-Z (Honda site). The raw numbers suggest it's not as fast as I would like, plus the reviews are mixed. Some are stellar, some are poor. I'll treat them with the respect I usually give to reviews, I'll make my own mind up judged on what I think of the reviewer. I miss my Puma, it was an excellent little grownup go-kart. The CR-Z promises to be something similar.
We shall see ! I have 2 more months now until the loan finishes and then I'm free to move from Speculation to being more free about checking stuff out.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Need a game ...
Been busy in the evenings lately but probably busy at all the wrong things :-)
I've been gaming a lot lately and also trying to keep up with all the recorded stuff lately. Babylon5 off dvd has taken a back seat while I try and stay ahead. After a little flurry of book reading, I've stalled after starting Inversions by Iain M Banks. It's not the author's fault, I've just gone SQUIRREL and got distracted by other things.
Like ?
I've been back in Warcraft now for the last few months and have been enjoying it far more than my various spells in Eve. The spacer MMO (Eve) tends to be a long tedious grind to support Player V Player (PvP) action. The trouble with Eve's PvP is that you have to go looking for it. Unless there's territorial stuff going on (which happens more in the alliance we're in now), looking for PvP means joining a gang that then goes looking for trouble. Problem there is, trouble either gets caught in the open and annihilated or trouble runs away. The "Rush" that comes in an even fight is quite rare. I don't find 20 vs 1 fights challenging or interesting.
Warcraft's PvP is structured differently, at least on the server I play on. It's based primarily on battlegrounds, which have strict limits on how many can take part. Warsong Gulch is 10 a side and you have to capture the enemy's flag from their base and take it back to your's 3 times to win. Arathi Basin is 15 a side and is based on dominating 5 control points. It's well designed and makes for a dynamic and engaging sequence of play where the "Who's going to win?" can change very quickly.
It's the kind of gaming that gets me drawn in and checking when the next Tol Barad (another domination type battleground with 40 a side Total Mayhem) is going to be. It gets the blood flowing.
Oh - it probably feeds the addiction prone tendencies due to the buzz from winning through Burning Stuff. My character plays with Fire and has talents like Firestarter and Pyromaniac. The people who know me personally will have just hidden in concrete flameproof bunkers.
There's just one problem with Warcraft now - I think I've taken my main character as far as it'll go from what I can do on my own. (1 more upgrade to come) I could hit the dungeon queues to get more Stuff but that tends to lead to frustration due to having the wider Warcraft player base inflicted on you. Most of the players of Warcraft are under the age of 20 and like to act like they're younger than 10. That "Rush" does funny things to the mind.
That's why I like to stick to just doing things with the guild, it's a collection of people who play the game a lot like I do. They play hard but are also prepared to have a laugh. Always have to remember that you're playing a game, taking things too seriously can put a definite dampener on things. That's a good attitude to take to everything, always be prepared to laugh at the work in full knowledge that the world will not hesitate to laugh at you if you let it. The Warcraft people are better than the Eve people. Eve people like to think they're a better class of player but it doesn't show when playing with them. Except for the Volition Cult corp, they break the mould by being good to be around.
Laughing at our mistakes helps us pick ourselves up when we're down. Plus it helps reinforce a bit of "yeah, I'm whinging but I'm not whinging at you". A few of our people at work are getting a lot of stick right now because we've just introduced a new information management system which wasn't ready. Not their fault but they're the closest people to us so they're the ones who get their ears bent over it.
Need a game ?
I've hit that point again where I've got a bit bored with the games I have and need something new. I have my Formula that beats Settlers IV. My Krogans are unbeatable in Moo2 if the start is good, my Sectoids are even better despite the start they get. Civ 4 is too big scale a game to play casually. Just finished another Mass Effect run. Warcraft is good but too much of a good thing makes the good thing go stale.
Starcraft II is looking like a contender, I've gone big into real time strategy games in the past. Plus there is also a case for letting the brain cool down a bit by reading a book instead of having to keep up with twitchgaming.
Ha - it'll cool down even more in the summer when cricket comes round again :-) I'm smart but when I start running around something happens in my head that means I have trouble counting even to 6 (balls in an over). Or I let the random thoughts spill out of my head like in a blog post like this one :-)
One thing I will hope to do is have fewer late evenings getting home. That's not just work, it's things like heading off to the Mall for emergencies. But it would be good to have 6 hours to myself in the evening instead of just 4 plus what I sneak in after midnight.
How long until the next Tol'Barad ? Must go check :-)
I've been gaming a lot lately and also trying to keep up with all the recorded stuff lately. Babylon5 off dvd has taken a back seat while I try and stay ahead. After a little flurry of book reading, I've stalled after starting Inversions by Iain M Banks. It's not the author's fault, I've just gone SQUIRREL and got distracted by other things.
Like ?
I've been back in Warcraft now for the last few months and have been enjoying it far more than my various spells in Eve. The spacer MMO (Eve) tends to be a long tedious grind to support Player V Player (PvP) action. The trouble with Eve's PvP is that you have to go looking for it. Unless there's territorial stuff going on (which happens more in the alliance we're in now), looking for PvP means joining a gang that then goes looking for trouble. Problem there is, trouble either gets caught in the open and annihilated or trouble runs away. The "Rush" that comes in an even fight is quite rare. I don't find 20 vs 1 fights challenging or interesting.
Warcraft's PvP is structured differently, at least on the server I play on. It's based primarily on battlegrounds, which have strict limits on how many can take part. Warsong Gulch is 10 a side and you have to capture the enemy's flag from their base and take it back to your's 3 times to win. Arathi Basin is 15 a side and is based on dominating 5 control points. It's well designed and makes for a dynamic and engaging sequence of play where the "Who's going to win?" can change very quickly.
It's the kind of gaming that gets me drawn in and checking when the next Tol Barad (another domination type battleground with 40 a side Total Mayhem) is going to be. It gets the blood flowing.
Oh - it probably feeds the addiction prone tendencies due to the buzz from winning through Burning Stuff. My character plays with Fire and has talents like Firestarter and Pyromaniac. The people who know me personally will have just hidden in concrete flameproof bunkers.
There's just one problem with Warcraft now - I think I've taken my main character as far as it'll go from what I can do on my own. (1 more upgrade to come) I could hit the dungeon queues to get more Stuff but that tends to lead to frustration due to having the wider Warcraft player base inflicted on you. Most of the players of Warcraft are under the age of 20 and like to act like they're younger than 10. That "Rush" does funny things to the mind.
That's why I like to stick to just doing things with the guild, it's a collection of people who play the game a lot like I do. They play hard but are also prepared to have a laugh. Always have to remember that you're playing a game, taking things too seriously can put a definite dampener on things. That's a good attitude to take to everything, always be prepared to laugh at the work in full knowledge that the world will not hesitate to laugh at you if you let it. The Warcraft people are better than the Eve people. Eve people like to think they're a better class of player but it doesn't show when playing with them. Except for the Volition Cult corp, they break the mould by being good to be around.
Laughing at our mistakes helps us pick ourselves up when we're down. Plus it helps reinforce a bit of "yeah, I'm whinging but I'm not whinging at you". A few of our people at work are getting a lot of stick right now because we've just introduced a new information management system which wasn't ready. Not their fault but they're the closest people to us so they're the ones who get their ears bent over it.
Need a game ?
I've hit that point again where I've got a bit bored with the games I have and need something new. I have my Formula that beats Settlers IV. My Krogans are unbeatable in Moo2 if the start is good, my Sectoids are even better despite the start they get. Civ 4 is too big scale a game to play casually. Just finished another Mass Effect run. Warcraft is good but too much of a good thing makes the good thing go stale.
Starcraft II is looking like a contender, I've gone big into real time strategy games in the past. Plus there is also a case for letting the brain cool down a bit by reading a book instead of having to keep up with twitchgaming.
Ha - it'll cool down even more in the summer when cricket comes round again :-) I'm smart but when I start running around something happens in my head that means I have trouble counting even to 6 (balls in an over). Or I let the random thoughts spill out of my head like in a blog post like this one :-)
One thing I will hope to do is have fewer late evenings getting home. That's not just work, it's things like heading off to the Mall for emergencies. But it would be good to have 6 hours to myself in the evening instead of just 4 plus what I sneak in after midnight.
How long until the next Tol'Barad ? Must go check :-)
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Priorities
Just how do you work out what to do next ?
Thinking about work here and how we get through all that work that we need to get done. I work in a post with a work profile that can be best described as having a baseline of work that we need to get done so the project moves forward. On top of that, we get questions coming in that are usually on a very tight timescale and require some techie/engineering braincells to figure out :
Where to look to get the information
What information is needed
When info is "Too Much" and clouds the issue
Figuring out what the question actually means ...
People can ask one question but they're really meaning to ask a different one. However, they can't ask the question they're really intending to because they will either dictate the answer or it will be an answer that no one wants to hear. Or they're not really sure what the question should have been in the first place.
Anyway, back to the original thought. Priorities. With a heavy workload, what do we decide to crack on with first ?
I dunno how I look from the outside but my inner scheduling tends to reflect my thought processes. That would be thought processes that rebound between utter chaos and absolute order. I'm capable of thinking in the absolutes of computer logic but can also come out with the off the wall longitudinal thinking (longitudinal thinking = even more obscure than lateral) directions that no one in their right mind would go to, usually because the radical thought has been trained out of them.
(I just wish the chaos could be a bit more controlled and spontaneous, I'll often think the inspiration thought quite some time after the moment has gone)
What kind of jobs do we tend to do ?
Baseline repetitive tasks we can do without thinking
Deep Thought investigations
Quick 5 minute jobs
Jobs that if we sit and stare at them, they will never get done
Things that need an Idea Foundation before you can start
There's more to it than that but you get the basic idea. Those 5 minute jobs are usually things where people say "no need to do it now". I like to get these out of the way asap. If I don't, in 5 minutes I'll have gonSQUIRREL (name that film) when the pretty blonde lady* walks past and completely forgotten what they'd asked me to do. And in an hour or so, the fella who's asked for the 5 minute job gets as embarassed about reminding you as you do about forgetting.
*(we are blessed with pretty dark haired ladies who work for us too)
Yep - get 'em out the way quick.
The difference between the Deep Thought stuff and the baseline stuff is curious. I enjoy the Deep Thought stuff as it lets me harness my brain some more. It's new and interesting and tends to be open ended. Your result depends on how smart you are at digging out information. And I get a kick out of finding stuff out. But the baseline stuff still needs to get done or we miss dates and people give our bosses a hard time (which then gets passed on). It's much easier to say "Yep, all done on my end" than "Ummm, will get to that soon".
That last one is a thorny one. It's those tasks where a lot of inspiration is needed to get something made. Inspiration isn't something you can force, it has to come naturally. I used to produce certificates for people who leave the project and I'm doing one again as a bit of an emergency job. They're custom made for the leavers and pick up highlights and lowlights of their stay with us. If you sit and stare at them, the inspiration to fill the template doesn't happen. But if it's sitting minimised behind the word document you're reviewing, those random thoughts have a habit of tapping you on the shoulder.
That job's almost done now after just a day of incidental thought on it. And it's got some things in there that are sure to provoke the guffaws. Muahahaha.
Everyone will have their own way of prioritising their workload. I think mine works reasonably well as a fit for how my brain works. I fall back on the baseline load when there's no fastball investigations to do, or when baseline starts to pile up. I get the quick & easy tasks out of the way before my Goldfish memory makes me forget. The inspiration tasks benefit from the chaotic part of my brain ticking away in the background.
I also like to get the preparations out of the way the evening before. I'm not a quick starter in the morning, so doing that prep the day before allows it all to get done efficiently. Doing it in the morning only leads to PANIC and huge potential for distractions (like Pretty Lady with task only You can help with - yes, I'm a sucker for that) meaning your prep is rushed and flawed.
I've not mentioned training yet. We have to do a certain amount of training each year. It's a necessary evil that helps us be more efficient. And with a flexible working hours system, less hours needed for a task means more chance to disappear on the Friday afternoon. Why spend hours doing something the hard way if a training thing would have shown you the quick and easy way ?
Being more efficient doesn't make training interesting though ...
Right - time to wrap up and see what the Next Game will be after finishing the Mass Effect series again. Tomorrow (after Teacake Raid!) will be more baseline task, this time with a difference as I'm checking the evidence behind what we're accepting, which means learning how to interpret that evidence. I can do that because today I got the fast task done which was promised complete by the end of the week.
LOOK ! SQUIRREL !
Thinking about work here and how we get through all that work that we need to get done. I work in a post with a work profile that can be best described as having a baseline of work that we need to get done so the project moves forward. On top of that, we get questions coming in that are usually on a very tight timescale and require some techie/engineering braincells to figure out :
Where to look to get the information
What information is needed
When info is "Too Much" and clouds the issue
Figuring out what the question actually means ...
People can ask one question but they're really meaning to ask a different one. However, they can't ask the question they're really intending to because they will either dictate the answer or it will be an answer that no one wants to hear. Or they're not really sure what the question should have been in the first place.
Anyway, back to the original thought. Priorities. With a heavy workload, what do we decide to crack on with first ?
I dunno how I look from the outside but my inner scheduling tends to reflect my thought processes. That would be thought processes that rebound between utter chaos and absolute order. I'm capable of thinking in the absolutes of computer logic but can also come out with the off the wall longitudinal thinking (longitudinal thinking = even more obscure than lateral) directions that no one in their right mind would go to, usually because the radical thought has been trained out of them.
(I just wish the chaos could be a bit more controlled and spontaneous, I'll often think the inspiration thought quite some time after the moment has gone)
What kind of jobs do we tend to do ?
Baseline repetitive tasks we can do without thinking
Deep Thought investigations
Quick 5 minute jobs
Jobs that if we sit and stare at them, they will never get done
Things that need an Idea Foundation before you can start
There's more to it than that but you get the basic idea. Those 5 minute jobs are usually things where people say "no need to do it now". I like to get these out of the way asap. If I don't, in 5 minutes I'll have gonSQUIRREL (name that film) when the pretty blonde lady* walks past and completely forgotten what they'd asked me to do. And in an hour or so, the fella who's asked for the 5 minute job gets as embarassed about reminding you as you do about forgetting.
*(we are blessed with pretty dark haired ladies who work for us too)
Yep - get 'em out the way quick.
The difference between the Deep Thought stuff and the baseline stuff is curious. I enjoy the Deep Thought stuff as it lets me harness my brain some more. It's new and interesting and tends to be open ended. Your result depends on how smart you are at digging out information. And I get a kick out of finding stuff out. But the baseline stuff still needs to get done or we miss dates and people give our bosses a hard time (which then gets passed on). It's much easier to say "Yep, all done on my end" than "Ummm, will get to that soon".
That last one is a thorny one. It's those tasks where a lot of inspiration is needed to get something made. Inspiration isn't something you can force, it has to come naturally. I used to produce certificates for people who leave the project and I'm doing one again as a bit of an emergency job. They're custom made for the leavers and pick up highlights and lowlights of their stay with us. If you sit and stare at them, the inspiration to fill the template doesn't happen. But if it's sitting minimised behind the word document you're reviewing, those random thoughts have a habit of tapping you on the shoulder.
That job's almost done now after just a day of incidental thought on it. And it's got some things in there that are sure to provoke the guffaws. Muahahaha.
Everyone will have their own way of prioritising their workload. I think mine works reasonably well as a fit for how my brain works. I fall back on the baseline load when there's no fastball investigations to do, or when baseline starts to pile up. I get the quick & easy tasks out of the way before my Goldfish memory makes me forget. The inspiration tasks benefit from the chaotic part of my brain ticking away in the background.
I also like to get the preparations out of the way the evening before. I'm not a quick starter in the morning, so doing that prep the day before allows it all to get done efficiently. Doing it in the morning only leads to PANIC and huge potential for distractions (like Pretty Lady with task only You can help with - yes, I'm a sucker for that) meaning your prep is rushed and flawed.
I've not mentioned training yet. We have to do a certain amount of training each year. It's a necessary evil that helps us be more efficient. And with a flexible working hours system, less hours needed for a task means more chance to disappear on the Friday afternoon. Why spend hours doing something the hard way if a training thing would have shown you the quick and easy way ?
Being more efficient doesn't make training interesting though ...
Right - time to wrap up and see what the Next Game will be after finishing the Mass Effect series again. Tomorrow (after Teacake Raid!) will be more baseline task, this time with a difference as I'm checking the evidence behind what we're accepting, which means learning how to interpret that evidence. I can do that because today I got the fast task done which was promised complete by the end of the week.
LOOK ! SQUIRREL !
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Just read : Helsreach
It's another of the Warhammer 40k Space Marine battles books ...
Happy to say it continues the standard set down by Rynn's World. Actually, it's a better book because it paces its action well but most important, it doesn't lose its action focus. You know when you're reading something or watching something and you suddenly go "How the hell did that happen ?" You feel as if you've missed something critical, you've blinked and you've missed something important. That's what I mean by Action Focus, when a narrative loses that the reader/watcher starts thinking "what did I miss ?" instead of "what's coming next ?"
Helsreach is set on the Hive World known as Armageddon in a Hive City called Helsreach. In the Warhammer 40k world, the Hive Worlds are those where the population has grown so much and the world has become so polluted due to industry that they have to collect together in cities with numbers in the upper millions. That said, conditions on Helsreach seem better than the Orestes Forge World of Titanicus.
Anyway - the Orks are coming again (just like Rynn's World) and a contingent of Space Marines from the Black Templars are going to save the day. Or at least allow the defenders to hang on grimly until the bitter end. The Titans are also in play here, which is one of the subplots running through the book. When you have the elite superhuman warriors of the Space Marines and the Princeps of a 80 meter tall Titan, who's in charge ?
The character at the centre of the book is Grimaldus, a Space Marine Chaplain recently elevated to effectively being the right hand man of the Chapter leader. Let's just say he's having a confidence crisis. Matrix quote : "Don't think you can, Know you can". Grimaldus doesn't even think he can justify himself being in the Reclusiarch (religious leader of the Chapter) position and firmly believes he won't survive the assault on Helsreach. A confidence deficit like that can be highly infectious ...
We have our supporting cast for Grimaldus, which includes crazy Andrej, the Major and the Adjutant, the Crone, the priest and the various members of the Guard and Grimaldus' squad. The author (Aaron Dembski-Howden) does a good job here. The Space Marines are a little more Human too. In other books, look at a Space Marine the wrong way and they'll kill you. And these are the troops charged with being the first and last line of defence of humanity. The Black Templars want a good fight but they know what they're fighting for. A common fault with a lot of books is that the characters are all the same. Not so much here, there's a good selection of disparate characters struggling for survival.
And that's what this book is. The definite message coming through here is that in war, there are no winners. There's just the survivors and the dead. And the survivors may not have much to look forward to after the war ends. With that kind of message, it's all the more important for the author to keep the reader interested in a way that Turtledove's WorldWar series fails to do. There's only so much depression a reader can take ...
Bah - I'm rambling again ...
This is another book I raced through quite quickly. It's paced well, it's not too predictable. As is usual for WH40K books, the body count is catastrophic ... The epic scale of the campaign is dealt with admirably, with the Action Focus being retained all the way through. I'll be looking out for more from this author :-)
Happy to say it continues the standard set down by Rynn's World. Actually, it's a better book because it paces its action well but most important, it doesn't lose its action focus. You know when you're reading something or watching something and you suddenly go "How the hell did that happen ?" You feel as if you've missed something critical, you've blinked and you've missed something important. That's what I mean by Action Focus, when a narrative loses that the reader/watcher starts thinking "what did I miss ?" instead of "what's coming next ?"
Helsreach is set on the Hive World known as Armageddon in a Hive City called Helsreach. In the Warhammer 40k world, the Hive Worlds are those where the population has grown so much and the world has become so polluted due to industry that they have to collect together in cities with numbers in the upper millions. That said, conditions on Helsreach seem better than the Orestes Forge World of Titanicus.
Anyway - the Orks are coming again (just like Rynn's World) and a contingent of Space Marines from the Black Templars are going to save the day. Or at least allow the defenders to hang on grimly until the bitter end. The Titans are also in play here, which is one of the subplots running through the book. When you have the elite superhuman warriors of the Space Marines and the Princeps of a 80 meter tall Titan, who's in charge ?
The character at the centre of the book is Grimaldus, a Space Marine Chaplain recently elevated to effectively being the right hand man of the Chapter leader. Let's just say he's having a confidence crisis. Matrix quote : "Don't think you can, Know you can". Grimaldus doesn't even think he can justify himself being in the Reclusiarch (religious leader of the Chapter) position and firmly believes he won't survive the assault on Helsreach. A confidence deficit like that can be highly infectious ...
We have our supporting cast for Grimaldus, which includes crazy Andrej, the Major and the Adjutant, the Crone, the priest and the various members of the Guard and Grimaldus' squad. The author (Aaron Dembski-Howden) does a good job here. The Space Marines are a little more Human too. In other books, look at a Space Marine the wrong way and they'll kill you. And these are the troops charged with being the first and last line of defence of humanity. The Black Templars want a good fight but they know what they're fighting for. A common fault with a lot of books is that the characters are all the same. Not so much here, there's a good selection of disparate characters struggling for survival.
And that's what this book is. The definite message coming through here is that in war, there are no winners. There's just the survivors and the dead. And the survivors may not have much to look forward to after the war ends. With that kind of message, it's all the more important for the author to keep the reader interested in a way that Turtledove's WorldWar series fails to do. There's only so much depression a reader can take ...
Bah - I'm rambling again ...
This is another book I raced through quite quickly. It's paced well, it's not too predictable. As is usual for WH40K books, the body count is catastrophic ... The epic scale of the campaign is dealt with admirably, with the Action Focus being retained all the way through. I'll be looking out for more from this author :-)
Monday, February 14, 2011
Valentines Playlist
It's been a while since I did a music post, so here goes (all links go to Youtoob) :
First up, I blame this song for giving the idea for this post :-) I listened to the Alisha's Attic Illumina album yesterday and The Incidentals is the opening track. And what an opener. If anyone's looking for that special Valentines track, look no further.
Second one is much newer, from Paramore's latest album. It's The Only Exception. Now in official video with decent (not a concert phone recording) sound to do it justice !
Number 3 is a classic by Seal. Come the future, may we all live in a Future Love Paradise.
Hopefully there will be a few people out there lucky enough to see The Look Of Love tonight.
Or maybe that special person is your Number 1.
Hopefully you don't have a stalker like how Lily Allen is going in this Who'd Have Known video :-)
Seventh is an old one from the Making Movies album. Love the video, it's Romeo and Juliet.
Can I be someone's Man In The Moon ? I probably talk even less :-)
I've been run aground .... Oh to be washed ashore at Martha's Harbour.
Finally (for the positives!), if you end up in the Dog House, sometimes that's not so bad if you're The Man Of The Hour. (Norah Jones)
On my own tonight for Valentines, like most nights for the past few years. I'll console myself by diving into game later (Hawaii 5-O and munchies for now) where I'll see what the guild is getting up to. Thinking of the Swedish, time to close on an Anti-Valentine :-)
I wrote a week or so about the distinctive accent the Swedish Girls in the guild have. That's not a negative, it's more of a contrast to how native English people speak. Whereas the natives will slur and blur the syllables together and generally mangle the language, the Scandinavian accent introduces distinctive clipping and intonation. It's a much purer form of English. I have an iTunes Originals collection album for The Cardigans, with the introduction to And Then You Kissed Me being read by Nina Persson. One sentence is "it builds slow and then it's like someone creeps up behind you with an Axe". That Swedish accent really puts bite into that Axe.
Hopefully your Valentines evenings turn out better !
Actually, I'd argue for spending the Valentines as a quiet night in with your loved one. What happens when you hit the restaurants ? They're packed with other people doing the same ! Why be a slave to 21st century corporates telling you what you should be doing. Share your Valentines dinner with a crowd or save the night for when it can be Special. For that matter, why is this night special and not all the others ? Is it important for a reason specific to you or your's or is it following the crowd ?
If your loved one needs a bit of TLC or some spoiling, you shouldn't need Valentines day as an excuse. Treat 'em when they need it. A day labelled "special" shouldn't be the only one in the year where you make someone feel special.
PS Wonder if that Scandinavian accent is why I like bands and singers like the Cardigans, Lisa Miskovsky, Bjork, Lene Marlin and ABBA. Sometimes different is not just good, it's incredible.
First up, I blame this song for giving the idea for this post :-) I listened to the Alisha's Attic Illumina album yesterday and The Incidentals is the opening track. And what an opener. If anyone's looking for that special Valentines track, look no further.
Second one is much newer, from Paramore's latest album. It's The Only Exception. Now in official video with decent (not a concert phone recording) sound to do it justice !
Number 3 is a classic by Seal. Come the future, may we all live in a Future Love Paradise.
Hopefully there will be a few people out there lucky enough to see The Look Of Love tonight.
Or maybe that special person is your Number 1.
Hopefully you don't have a stalker like how Lily Allen is going in this Who'd Have Known video :-)
Seventh is an old one from the Making Movies album. Love the video, it's Romeo and Juliet.
Can I be someone's Man In The Moon ? I probably talk even less :-)
I've been run aground .... Oh to be washed ashore at Martha's Harbour.
Finally (for the positives!), if you end up in the Dog House, sometimes that's not so bad if you're The Man Of The Hour. (Norah Jones)
On my own tonight for Valentines, like most nights for the past few years. I'll console myself by diving into game later (Hawaii 5-O and munchies for now) where I'll see what the guild is getting up to. Thinking of the Swedish, time to close on an Anti-Valentine :-)
I wrote a week or so about the distinctive accent the Swedish Girls in the guild have. That's not a negative, it's more of a contrast to how native English people speak. Whereas the natives will slur and blur the syllables together and generally mangle the language, the Scandinavian accent introduces distinctive clipping and intonation. It's a much purer form of English. I have an iTunes Originals collection album for The Cardigans, with the introduction to And Then You Kissed Me being read by Nina Persson. One sentence is "it builds slow and then it's like someone creeps up behind you with an Axe". That Swedish accent really puts bite into that Axe.
Hopefully your Valentines evenings turn out better !
Actually, I'd argue for spending the Valentines as a quiet night in with your loved one. What happens when you hit the restaurants ? They're packed with other people doing the same ! Why be a slave to 21st century corporates telling you what you should be doing. Share your Valentines dinner with a crowd or save the night for when it can be Special. For that matter, why is this night special and not all the others ? Is it important for a reason specific to you or your's or is it following the crowd ?
If your loved one needs a bit of TLC or some spoiling, you shouldn't need Valentines day as an excuse. Treat 'em when they need it. A day labelled "special" shouldn't be the only one in the year where you make someone feel special.
PS Wonder if that Scandinavian accent is why I like bands and singers like the Cardigans, Lisa Miskovsky, Bjork, Lene Marlin and ABBA. Sometimes different is not just good, it's incredible.
Wednesday, February 09, 2011
More book - Storm Front
I'm almost through my next book ... And that's after finishing the first in another series at the weekend.
The latest book to finish is Storm Front by Jim Butcher, which opens the series of Harry Dresden crime novels. It's not a genre I often go for (I prefer sci-fi) but I got caught by a rather wonderful series from a few years ago.
Yep - these are the books the Dresden Files series was based on.
The central character is a Wizard, struggling to make a living as a private investigator and part time police consultant. It's set in Chicago and we have a colourful cast in there which includes Murphy the police Lieutenant, a mob boss, sexy reporters, tenacious vampires (maybe I got confused on those last two) and all manner of fantastic creatures. The writing style, character and setting have a lot in common with the Mike Hammer shows which I watched 20 years ago, with a little bit of extra magic sewn in.
The magic is what makes these special, it opens up all sorts of possibilities that set Dresden apart from being A N Other crime series. Looks good on telly too.
What's the difference between this and the telly series ? Firstly, the first book (Storm Front) was shown in the middle of the run of 12 episodes instead of being at the start. I guess that's down to the scope allowed in a TV series. At 300 pages, the book can lead you in to the characters and the world of Dresden's Chicago. That's a bit optimistic for a 42 minute TV show. There are differences in the characters too, with Bob being a spirit of air and not a long dead sorceror.
You can recognise certain scenes from the TV series, although the scope is a bit lower to make it affordable. In a book, it's your imagination that translates the words on the page to make them come alive. On TV, your imagination takes a back seat to the skill of the director and their pocket book ... Must watch the TV series again soon.
This is another book I got through fairly quickly, with the dry humour carrying the reader along. Various threads interlace and intertwine throughout with Harry often being the fall guy. Most importantly, the narrative stays consistent with the rules that become apparent as things move forward. Sticking to rules makes the difference between you going MEH or leads you to believe in the fantasy escape. When the rules get ignored or rewritten (like in series that are well past their sell by date), that's when the reader gets lost.
After one book, I'm looking forward to getting some more :-) Only a fiver each from Amazon (although I'll be checking out bookshops in Bristol centre "soon") which will be well worth it.
Must watch that series again soon too.
The latest book to finish is Storm Front by Jim Butcher, which opens the series of Harry Dresden crime novels. It's not a genre I often go for (I prefer sci-fi) but I got caught by a rather wonderful series from a few years ago.
Yep - these are the books the Dresden Files series was based on.
The central character is a Wizard, struggling to make a living as a private investigator and part time police consultant. It's set in Chicago and we have a colourful cast in there which includes Murphy the police Lieutenant, a mob boss, sexy reporters, tenacious vampires (maybe I got confused on those last two) and all manner of fantastic creatures. The writing style, character and setting have a lot in common with the Mike Hammer shows which I watched 20 years ago, with a little bit of extra magic sewn in.
The magic is what makes these special, it opens up all sorts of possibilities that set Dresden apart from being A N Other crime series. Looks good on telly too.
What's the difference between this and the telly series ? Firstly, the first book (Storm Front) was shown in the middle of the run of 12 episodes instead of being at the start. I guess that's down to the scope allowed in a TV series. At 300 pages, the book can lead you in to the characters and the world of Dresden's Chicago. That's a bit optimistic for a 42 minute TV show. There are differences in the characters too, with Bob being a spirit of air and not a long dead sorceror.
You can recognise certain scenes from the TV series, although the scope is a bit lower to make it affordable. In a book, it's your imagination that translates the words on the page to make them come alive. On TV, your imagination takes a back seat to the skill of the director and their pocket book ... Must watch the TV series again soon.
This is another book I got through fairly quickly, with the dry humour carrying the reader along. Various threads interlace and intertwine throughout with Harry often being the fall guy. Most importantly, the narrative stays consistent with the rules that become apparent as things move forward. Sticking to rules makes the difference between you going MEH or leads you to believe in the fantasy escape. When the rules get ignored or rewritten (like in series that are well past their sell by date), that's when the reader gets lost.
After one book, I'm looking forward to getting some more :-) Only a fiver each from Amazon (although I'll be checking out bookshops in Bristol centre "soon") which will be well worth it.
Must watch that series again soon too.
Sunday, February 06, 2011
Thinking - high def and 3d
I was watching Resident Evil 4 (Afterlife) the other night, which was making me think even more about switching to 3d stuff.
It's a bit too early for 3d yet though, as the technology is still in its early stages. Not "very early" as there are 3d displays available commercially now. Not just PC displays, those have been around for years but it's breaking into domestic television displays now. Just one issue with them - I already wear glasses, so having to wear another set to make the 3d work is something I'm not even going to tentatively consider.
There's light though, as 3d tellies that don't need glasses are starting to come to the market. So, armed also with the knowledge that I'm likely to switch my blu-ray player for one that can play dvds, I felt happy to pay another £2 for the 3d version of Resi Evil Afterlife.
After the opening scenes, I was starting to drool for a 3d setup. Looks incredible and that's backed up by the sound as well. They just keep making well watchable Resident Evil films. They're not for everyone, as they are very action heavy and video-game silly with the T-virus science stuff but I enjoy them. And that's what counts at the end of the day. I'm a big fan of Milla Jovovich as an actress too.
Anyway - Resi Evil Afterlife - incredible looking film that definitely took the superslomo action thing to heart. May write more about it at later date because I feel the need to watch it again.
(the 3d blu-ray has an option to play in 2d as well and refuses to play 3d unless you have 3d kit - buy now for promise of more later)
How about stuff that's more in reach to the average person ? That would be High def vs Standard def. This isn't nearly as clear cut as the difference between TV sound and proper cinema sound. The difference there is stunning, with £500 worth of cinema sound amp and speakers giving a mind blowing upgrade. It's not really the bass to back up the action, it's the clarity and placement of incidental noise that makes you feel as if you're in the scene. On the other hand, HD vs SD is one that will be with the jury for a very long time.
I can genuinely see the difference that HD makes in blu-rays like Iron Man 2, where the scene in the greenhouse dome brings out the extra detail available. But ... do you really want to pay loadsamoney to see sharp pictures of grass ? No. Didn't think so. Most of the time with broadcast stuff, I wouldn't know I was watching HD unless I hit the Info button that tells me I am. I have 2 examples there :
1 - cricket on Sky at the moment. Sky Sports isn't something where I get the HD for free, I'd have to pay an extra £7 a month for it. Looking at the quality of image I do get, I can tell it's not HD because there are the compression artifacts (blocky pixels) that follow the ball around. When the camera is moving a lot, the ground goes fuzzy and then sharpens up when the camera stops. That's how video compression works, by cheating with giving a little less information on the bits that don't change much.
2 - Formula 1 coverage from last year. It actually looked sharper than some HD transmissions, even though it was coming in standard.
I'm still unconvinced by HD. A lot of it depends on the quality of the transmission. The cricket and motor racing above were getting excellent transmission quality, watching not so old reruns tend to show the bad as the networks skimp on the quality. I don't get the sport or movies in HD because I ain't gonna pay that extra £7 a month but I do get a few other channels free. Guess what I record in given the choice ?
Yep - even though I don't think there's much difference between high quality SD transmission and HD signals, I still set the recorder for space hogging HD :-)
I'll shelve the 3d upgrade plans for now until it becomes usable and affordable but I'm glad I got the (cheap!) high def telly. I suspect it's making some SD stuff look far better than it should do ... although that could be partly down to a Cable TV box that gets more out of the signal than the satellite box did.
PS Blip count = 0 since playing 2 dvd's on the Xbox and 1 blu-ray.
It's a bit too early for 3d yet though, as the technology is still in its early stages. Not "very early" as there are 3d displays available commercially now. Not just PC displays, those have been around for years but it's breaking into domestic television displays now. Just one issue with them - I already wear glasses, so having to wear another set to make the 3d work is something I'm not even going to tentatively consider.
There's light though, as 3d tellies that don't need glasses are starting to come to the market. So, armed also with the knowledge that I'm likely to switch my blu-ray player for one that can play dvds, I felt happy to pay another £2 for the 3d version of Resi Evil Afterlife.
After the opening scenes, I was starting to drool for a 3d setup. Looks incredible and that's backed up by the sound as well. They just keep making well watchable Resident Evil films. They're not for everyone, as they are very action heavy and video-game silly with the T-virus science stuff but I enjoy them. And that's what counts at the end of the day. I'm a big fan of Milla Jovovich as an actress too.
Anyway - Resi Evil Afterlife - incredible looking film that definitely took the superslomo action thing to heart. May write more about it at later date because I feel the need to watch it again.
(the 3d blu-ray has an option to play in 2d as well and refuses to play 3d unless you have 3d kit - buy now for promise of more later)
How about stuff that's more in reach to the average person ? That would be High def vs Standard def. This isn't nearly as clear cut as the difference between TV sound and proper cinema sound. The difference there is stunning, with £500 worth of cinema sound amp and speakers giving a mind blowing upgrade. It's not really the bass to back up the action, it's the clarity and placement of incidental noise that makes you feel as if you're in the scene. On the other hand, HD vs SD is one that will be with the jury for a very long time.
I can genuinely see the difference that HD makes in blu-rays like Iron Man 2, where the scene in the greenhouse dome brings out the extra detail available. But ... do you really want to pay loadsamoney to see sharp pictures of grass ? No. Didn't think so. Most of the time with broadcast stuff, I wouldn't know I was watching HD unless I hit the Info button that tells me I am. I have 2 examples there :
1 - cricket on Sky at the moment. Sky Sports isn't something where I get the HD for free, I'd have to pay an extra £7 a month for it. Looking at the quality of image I do get, I can tell it's not HD because there are the compression artifacts (blocky pixels) that follow the ball around. When the camera is moving a lot, the ground goes fuzzy and then sharpens up when the camera stops. That's how video compression works, by cheating with giving a little less information on the bits that don't change much.
2 - Formula 1 coverage from last year. It actually looked sharper than some HD transmissions, even though it was coming in standard.
I'm still unconvinced by HD. A lot of it depends on the quality of the transmission. The cricket and motor racing above were getting excellent transmission quality, watching not so old reruns tend to show the bad as the networks skimp on the quality. I don't get the sport or movies in HD because I ain't gonna pay that extra £7 a month but I do get a few other channels free. Guess what I record in given the choice ?
Yep - even though I don't think there's much difference between high quality SD transmission and HD signals, I still set the recorder for space hogging HD :-)
I'll shelve the 3d upgrade plans for now until it becomes usable and affordable but I'm glad I got the (cheap!) high def telly. I suspect it's making some SD stuff look far better than it should do ... although that could be partly down to a Cable TV box that gets more out of the signal than the satellite box did.
PS Blip count = 0 since playing 2 dvd's on the Xbox and 1 blu-ray.
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