Posts by Thrik

So, it's out. It took all night but I got it onto my iPhone 4S last night. I have to say, it's lovely to use. The flat style works very well on a relatively small screen in your hand, even if I still don't like that Safari icon.

Forgetting the style though, what I really like are the many small improvements to the stuff I do every day. The camera app is much faster and has finally caught up with Instagram, etc; Safari supports more than eight tabs; the UI when making a phone call is much better (I do a lot of conference calls so this is invaluable); texting is slicker; the calendar works better; home screen folders now have sub-pages so they're almost like mini-home screens; transitions are universally better (including stealing Android's lovely fade when turning the screen off/on the notification bar is finally truly useful; and basically there are just improvements to the ease-of-use and presentation of information everywhere.

So yeah, apart from the style it's definitely a case of iteration over big new features, but I would argue that end-to-end refinement of the UI is something that's been needed for years now.

Space.

You should be OK with Amazon anyway, they let you return anything unopened for like 30 days (in the UK at least).

As usual, Eurogamer has that question pretty well covered with 100+ comparison shots, a video, and analysis:

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/digit…auto-5-face-off

Their overall summary:

Quote

It's apparent that the PS3 version has an undeniable advantage in one area: even to the naked eye, ground textures on 360 are blurred as a result of what appears to be unoptimised asset streaming. Glitch or not, this basically amounts to concrete and grass textures appearing fuzzier beneath the feet of Trevor, Michael or Franklin, while the PS3 version's remain crystal clear. The 360 does command a minor advantage in frame-rate during synchronised play, but for shoot-outs and high-speed hurtles down the city streets, the PS3 can sometimes pull ahead in these metrics - though the difference is rarely perceptible either way. Since all else is identical across the board, the PS3 version is recommended on the grounds of image quality if you have the option.

Other highlights:

Quote

With most late-generation Face-Offs, the best way to put differences into context is to start with the assumption that everything is otherwise the same. For Grand Theft Auto 5 this is very much the case - and overlooking some nitpicks, just about every single geometric detail and effect across Los Santos is like-for-like between PS3 and 360. However, there is one glaring contrast throughout our tests that can't be ignored.

[...]

Despite each console's mandatory installs - 7.8GB for 360 via a separate disc and 8.4GB on PS3 - it quickly becomes clear that there's an asset-streaming issue on Microsoft's platform. This essentially manifests as blurrier textures in a number of spots, particularly for ground assets like concrete, grass and dirt. Whether you're at the city centre or in the wilderness, ground assets beneath Trevor, Michael or Franklin's feet are a pixel-perfect match for the PS3 version equivalent, but the quality dips off noticeably a metre ahead in the player's field of view on 360.

[...]

Running straight from disc, then, there's little to distinguish the PS3 and 360 releases when it comes to object detail, but there are some curious catches. Flying the Cuban 800 plane around shows up variations in grass placement, but more striking is the presentation of palm trees regularly sighted around the city. Their more flourishing look on 360 is unusual given the parity elsewhere, though we notice the upshot of this is a nasty pixel-crawl across their tops during slow pans, suggesting alpha-to-coverage dithering in concert with the post-AA producing the unwanted effect. Also falling within nitpick territory is a slight difference to reflection map resolution while in front of Franklin's bedroom mirror - the PS3 delivering a lower-quality, pixellated alternative to the 360's reflections.

[...]

The target this time is 30fps for both platforms, and it holds at that point for most areas. Overall the PS3 puts out the lower frame-rate for synchronised in-engine cut-scenes, typically by a matter of two frames-per-second and rarely much more. Curiously, the 360 version is the only one of the two to drive upwards from the 30fps target on occasion - far from being ideal, this produces a judder effect due to the frame-rate no longer operating as a multiple of the 60Hz output signal. Regardless, the readings for both consoles stick together like glue during dips below the line, with each going as low as 20fps.

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Looks good, just seems like the dark areas aren't getting dark enough so it appears washed out.

Quote from JeanPaul

Just get one of those chairs where you sit on a wire-like mesh so you can fart without turning the goddamn thing into a stink sponge

Yes I have noticed that the cushion on my chair has slowly but surely started to develop a faint smell of stale ass to it. Think I need to throw it in the wash.

There's a tip going around btw, only install the 'install' disc on the 360. You can install the 'play' disc too but it causes more pop-in and frame rate shit.

I still use an outdoor chair that cost me like £50, I kid you not it's the comfiest chair I've ever used after years of £100–£200 computer chairs. I also started just using a meeting/visitor chair at work. I prefer the back support and shit.

If you're keeping to a budget you get better value for money with traditional chairs rather than computer chairs (which tend to feel really crappy when cheap). Even a basic-ass wooden chair can feel great.

Good point about the monitor. At work we have Dell docks which have a 24-inch monitor, keyboard, and laptop plugged into them. You simply put the laptop on top of it and a connector on the bottom basically turns it into a desktop unit. Pretty much indistinguishable from using an actual desktop, but of course mine isn't geared towards gaming. I guess the GPU will always be the hardest thing to max out in a laptop.

Not sure what that SSD thing is, seems like some kind of external hard drive slot? Not big enough to really install Windows on so it probably wouldn't be much benefit really, but SSD is arguably a luxury anyway (even if sweet).

14 inches might not be amazing for gaming but that's still a pretty big and heavy laptop, good to bear in mind if you plan to move it around.

It was this one:

http://www.dell.com/uk/business/p/latitude-e6430/pd

Although you have to customise it to get the precise model I got, as mine has the quad core i7 and an SSD which takes the price up to about £1100. I got it for about £600 if I remember correctly, with the only fault being the rubber rim around the screen was coming loose and needed sticking back in — a small thing to deal with for the savings.

And yeah, you have to keep an eye on these things. The good deals aren't always up and when they are they go fast, as it's literally a case of how many happen to have production faults. I know some people are totally against buying anything that's imperfect and there's a slight gamble to what the superficial problem is (one colleague had a deep scratch on the casing) but fuck if I'm paying so much for the same hardware pretty much.

Clearly the Curiosity experiment went to Molyneux's head and now he thinks the more clicks the more successful a game.

Yeah I know I just made this point in another thread but my god is an SSD worth it, especially on a laptop.

One thing to note is the Dell UK Outlet sells near-perfect models that got cosmetic damage during production for much cheaper, I got a powerful development laptop for like half the normal price that way. I think Amazon and Apple do similar schemes.

Sadly yet to upgrade, as I've been preoccupied with some other financial shits that've come up during the past few months. I'm aiming to do it early next year once I've got one next-gen console under my belt.

After switching to an SSD as the primary HD on my work laptop, there's no doubt that an SSD is a must-have. Seriously, the speed it adds is insane. I can launch Photoshop after a reboot and it's open within five seconds. The same for Visual Studio and any other application I use. It adds so much speed to basically all OS operations it's not even funny.

[Blocked Image: http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/firstthoughts/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/cat-man-lg.jpeg]

I don't really have the spare cash to be buying both, considering all the money I'm going to be spending soon on new consoles, games I need to catch up on, etc. I'm OK with waiting because I still have things like The Last of Us and BioShock Infinite to get through, and I would kind of prefer to experience it with higher fidelity anyway.

Shit, I'm still nowhere near done with Skyrim anyway. I really should get back to that... I got a bit burnt out after doing that god damn vampire DLC.

Fuck, I almost didn't want this to happen but it looks like evidence of PC and PS4 versions has been found in the leaked code. Now I'm going to have to wait.

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=678177

Also, lmao:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za2Dh817ZyM

Quote from KoKo5oVaR

As being not extravagant, i wonder in how much time an AAA game will be out calling this its key feature. Probably coming from ubisoft i guess

Probably marketed as the SuperShot™ System.

I like it TarrySruman. Only things that immediately catch my eye:

• Lighting seems a little too lacking contrast
• The sand texture looks really repetitive, the tiling is incredibly obvious in the first shot

As a random aside, it reminds me a little of the (cut) Half-Life 2 wasteland for some reason.