Posts by Thrik

  • Metal Gear Solid 4

    Quote from Zete

    I liked the voice they were using for him before better.

    Eh? Snake's had the same voice in all four MGS games.

    Also, those screenshots above are awesome. Particularly awesome is that it seems to definitely be Eva in that third image. Can't wait to see how the storyline revolves around her meeting Snake (seeing as the one she actually knew was a different bloke who should be dead).

  • Metal Gear Solid 4

    Yeah, I'm really excited. If there's one series that's continually delivered fucking amazing experiences for me, it's MGS — even MGS2! I just love the depth to the characters and writing, which is something increasingly rare nowadays. I almost feel like I know Snake, man. I mean I can see how the long cutscenes and narration could turn some people off, but I love it. Just adds so much to the overall experience.

    MGS4 in particular also looks fantastic. It's meant to be extremely big and thorough, truly concluding the story. From what I've read and seen it also looks like they've done what they did with MGS2 and cleverely only shown footage from a relatively small part of the game, whereas in actuality it seems to take place in some snowy place (

    Quote

    Shadow Moses from MGS1

    ), in some European city, on a boat, in the Middle Eastern place we've seen, and who knows where else.

    Going to be epic I think. I can very easily see this being my game of the year — and I have played GTA4.

  • They Wonder Why People Don't Make PC Games Any More

    You'd have a hell of a hard time getting it outlawed. Being able to trade what you own is a fundamental part of western economy and culture, and making it illegal would also have horrifying implications for the many collectors out there.

    Additionally, people who no longer want something would have to destroy it in order to stay within the law, which would be quite sad if it were a limited edition classic that's almost impossible to find or something. While it would help in some ways, it'd screw things up in other ways.

    The better way to fight it would be to provide more incentive to buy it during the launch week rather than waiting for a second-hand copy. Limited editions and whatnot are obviously a good start, but so are free gifts and other such goodies. Maybe even a discount.

  • HD Televisions

    It is true plasma cells degrade, but they've not been short-lived for a while now. Ones from the past year or so will easily manage over 20 years if used for 6-10 hours per day, and that's not even total death — that's how long it takes for them to operate at half their original brightness. That's well above and beyond expectations IMO, and they're pretty much on par with what an LCD (and a CRT) manages on an hour-by-hour basis.

    It should be noted I'm not a total proponent of plasma televisions. They have their own drawbacks, mainly their inability to be produced at smaller sized satisfactorily and their higher power usage — I wouldn't recommend a plasma for anything below 42 inches.

    However, plasmas did receive a lot of negative press in their earlier days that's still etched into people's heads despite not being true anymore, which causes them to overlook some of plasma televisions' key advantages. I'm just making sure everyone understands those advantages. The old criticisms of plasmas not being able to produce bright images and that they die early are simply not true. LCD isn't the only technology that's moved forward dramatically during the past few years.

  • HD Televisions

    Another thing I forgot to mention is that when looking at contrast ratios, try to find out if it's native or dynamic.

    A dynamic contrast ratio basically lowers the actual light behind the panel to achieve darker blacks, which has the side-effect of also darkening everything else. They try to balance it so you don't notice, but with stuff like game HUDs it's usually quite obvious (or they can screw it up as the TV's algorithm will always see that big, light HUD and stop it from going darker).

    A native contrast ratio is how well it can display contrast between black and white without any special tricks, which is definitely ideal. Dynamic contrast ratios aren't to be avoided, but it's good to aim for as high a native ratio as possible. A TV with a dynamic contrast ratio will also have a native contrast ratio, of course.

    In general, most LCDs have dynamic contrast ratios and plasmas have native ones. This is because LCDs are inherently not so good at producing true blacks without severely compromising detail or whites, while plasmas can do it quite comfortably nowadays — even rivalling/beating CRTs.

  • [TF2] CP_YEEHAW_BETA

    I've just scheduled an event for this map at 6:35 GMT today here:

    194.154.191.8:27017

    Hopefully will fill the server up. Come join if you see this.

    Edit: Went pretty well, got about 20 people in there. Just left it after an hour with 10 people still playing. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, and more importantly knew where to go and what to do. I did notice soldiers hurting me through the start-up gate when it was closed, though. Gorion mentioned a bug too, although he didn't say what.

  • Post bands you like but nobody else knows!

    Ayreon. Prog metal that covers all sorts of genres from folk to space metal depending on the song and album.

    Stolen samples below with the closest mood/style/genre/whatever next to each. Long intros are common in the genre so be prepared for that.

    I like Frie's State Radio suggestion too, and will be looking into those further.

  • HD Televisions

    Basic stuff:


    • [*:1xo98olg]Cheaper and more obscure brands/televisions will have poor black levels, which completely ruins dark scenes in films and games as what's meant to be black really looks dark grey
      [*:1xo98olg]Plasma has the best blacks, period
      [*:1xo98olg]The Pioneer Kuro (plasma) has the best black levels of any television, but is probably out your intended price range
      [*:1xo98olg]The Panasonic VIERA sets (plasma) have the second-best black levels of any television, and there're more affordable models
      [*:1xo98olg]Sony and Samsung are definitely leading the LCD side of things; seeing as they both have a range that covers many budgets, you're probably best off sticking with those if you're not going plasma
      [*:1xo98olg]Plasma is at its best in darker conditions, LCD is at its best in lighter conditions (helps to hide inferior black levels)
      [*:1xo98olg]Pay close attention to the specified resolution of a television; just because one is 'HD Ready' and supports 1080p doesn't mean it can actually show it in its full glory — if the television's resolution is only 1280x720, any 1920x1080 (1080p) images will be resized down

    Hope those tips help steer you.

    If I were in your position I'd be looking at a Samsung or Sony LCD for anything below 42 inches, and a Panasonic VIERA plasma for anything of 42 inches and above.

  • Breaking News: Doom 4 announced!

    I couldn't disagree with you more. If iD wanted to make a repetitive, boring rehash then they did indeed succeed. I wouldn't even put it in the same league as Half-Life 2, never mind consider it as better. Whether or not it's the game iD wanted to make is entirely irrelevant; the audience decides whether or not it was actually any good.

    Doom 3 was good for two or three levels. They clearly had some good ideas, but had no idea how to keep it going for an entire game. After even the first couple of hours I'd felt like I'd seen most of what the game had to offer, which was average shooting and cheap scares.