Posts by Thrik

  • New 3Dmark Vantage

    I think the '3DMark thing' is truly over now. It was getting kind of lame when they reused the scenes in the previous two editions, but the facts that this new edition has hardly any tests, is a bit ugly, and you can only run the basic tests in the free version once seals the deal.

    I guess it's now nothing more than something for total enthusiasts and professionals to use. I only really got it for the awesome demos it used to have — I'd never pay for it.

  • How hard have you pushed yourself because of your work?

    I was going to point out that the money itself isn't as relevant as the purchasing power of that currency in its own country. As such you simply cannot look at numbers alone and compare them between countries — their economies are completely different.

    The most obvious example in the world right now is the ability for anyone to take a UK pound and immediately double its purchasing power by going to the US. That is, if I had enough money to buy GTA 4 in the UK, if I flew over to the US and took my money with me I would have enough to buy it twice. Yet that doesn't imply I'm more wealthy than my US counterparts — in the context of my own country I can't afford any more or less than they can.

    But whatever the case, £10/hour isn't a bad wage at all in the UK. Two or three hours work gets you a game.

  • TF2 update released, free weekend incoming!

    Eh, that's to be expected though. You can't do something drastic like introduce new weapons without everyone wanting to try them.

    I'm sure after a short while the wannabes will lose interest and go back to playing whatever class they did before, and those who're serious about the Medic will get to play it in new ways. I think the overall benefit will be positive, similarly to like when teleports were introduced to TFC years after it came out.

  • TF2 update released, free weekend incoming!

    I bet Valve patches a fix for that within a day though dux. Don't know if the code allows them to backwards-engineer it so it doesn't affect people who caught the achievements legitimately, though (They may just reset everyone's Medic achievements!). Depends on how it's programmed I guess.

    Talk about oversight of the century, though.

  • TF2 update released, free weekend incoming!

    Heh, well I guess if people really want to be lame like that you're never going to stop them. Pretty much every game with unlockable weapons has had exactly the same issue.

    I guess it's fortunate that the unlocks don't give you an advantage, but instead just allow you to play the game in a different way. These stat padding dicks aren't going to find it any easier to kill you if you're a superb player with the ordinary equipment.

    Not too excited about the Medic unlocks myself, though. Looking forward to the Demoman and Engineer unlockables much more.

    BTW here is a huge change list that was also effected today. Some pretty good stuff in here, especially the ammo in the 2Fort basement (My biggest problem when I build sentry/etc stuff in the enemy basement is a total lack of metal!):

  • [TF2] CP_YEEHAW_BETA

    Very nice.

    My favourite part is that the style is a bit distinct from your typical TF2 look. I think a lot of Valve's TF2 maps are really looking samey (it was OK at first, but Dustbowl, Badlands, and Goldrush are sooo similar-looking).

  • So I finally watched War of the Worlds

    IMO any celebrity loses their allure when you know too much about their personal life, beliefs, etc. I find it harder to take their character seriously as I need to disassociate it with their real-life persona (freaky in Cruise's case).

    I feel sorry for Cruise though as he's just another in a long line of people brainwashed and manipulated by the Scientology cult, who love the money and publicity he brings to the cause and will be doing everything within their power to use him as a puppet.

  • Grand Theft Auto IV

    Quote from Cybbe

    You're thinking about this one: http://www.metacritic.com/games/platfor ... theftauto4

    The other is for ps3.. Why metacritic has a score for each platform I don't know. But it boggles me more that they're different. Isn't it the same game?

    Some sites review the different versions separately, to account for the graphical issues, etc. In fact, if there're issues specific to one version of the game I'd imagine they all make a note of it in the review, even if the rest of it is the same.

    There's also the complication of some games being completely different on the various platforms (eg: GRAW on the consoles is nothing like its PC counterparts, and is in fact a totally different game).

  • Grand Theft Auto IV

    Yes, I believe that's the case — that it's post-processing. I think you can get a roughly equivalent effect by just fucking with your television's saturation and contrast. It might actually look more realistic without the colour changes though if your television is high-quality and has naturally vibrant colours of its own (cheaper/older HD televisions tend to have washed-out colours and grey-ish blacks).

    Gametrailers.com usually does a side-by-side comparison of multi-platform games so it might be worth checking back there soon.

  • Grand Theft Auto IV

    I think the chief concern should be whether or not you're planning on playing multiplayer, and if so which console you'll have most friends on. I remain a bit cautious about the DLC as nothing's really been confirmed other than that both the 360 and PS3 will have DLC, and that Microsoft paid a lot of money to keep theirs exclusive. I've heard everything from "the 360 DLC is an entire new city" to "the DLC is just little missions throughout the normal game such as helping wives sort out their cheating husbands".

    Everyone's assuming the 360 DLC will be much better than the PS3's because Microsoft paid a lot for it, but it's really just speculation. Indeed, we don't even know whether or not Sony also paid Rockstar for some exclusive DLC. And seeing as we won't see the DLC for quite some time anyway, I'd be more concerned with the immediate advantages (ie: getting the best multiplayer experience by playing with friends).

    Incidentally, it would seem that the PS3 version is the technically superior one based on what I've read on various sites. Things I've picked up are that the PS3 has faster load times, less pop-up, and slightly better graphics. I've not read anything about overall framerate on either console, or how much each version slows down during the insane action that always occurs in GTA. I guess this shouldn't be surprising though as the PS3 is an indisputably superior console hardware-wise.