Manipulative music

Music can be full of soul or manipulation;

Thoughts on the iPhone and thoughts on stereoscopic 3D

I think it's a testament to mankind that we have come to this weird point where upon witnessing new and impressive technology's we are unimpressed by the impressive. The iPhone is a great example of this I believe. Here we are in the year 2010 and I essentially have the entire collective knowledge of mankind in my pocket, and people go "yeah", like it's a everyday sort of thing. We are cold to the amazing prowess of what we are capable of creating. I no longer use my desktop (or my non-existent laptop) to surf the web. With the next iPhone OS4 update i could theoretically connect a Bluetooth keyboard to my phone and comfortably type this blog post out without any need for a desktop or bulky laptop (forgetting that the screen would be a tad small (not really a problem for me...)).

My phone has become a organ of sorts, I use it to extend into the "collective whole" of mankind, or to look at cute pictures of kittys! Without this organ I feel naked, like a insect missing its Antenna. I am cut off from the world, forced to communicate in a prehistoric fashion; vibrating air molecules with my mouth like a cave man, waving my arms around to get peoples attention through photons like a jester rather than beaming electrons up to the sky to a satellite to do my bidding.

A new iPhone draws near and while the one I have is quite functional there is a matter of convenience that comes into play with these types of devices. The GPS app I have could benefit greatly from some extra power, the web browser could store a few extra tabs, and running background apps would spare a few seconds at least. There will be a certain point where it almost won't matter how much power you throw at these things; it will be a matter of software over hardware.

Being one of the few owners of a LCD 3D display I am interested in what the general population's opinion of stereoscopic imagery is. Its actually been pretty surprising to me how many people haven't seen the effect in action. As a kid I was often taken to the science center, be it by my family or school, where i first saw many anaglyph films. Avatar 3D has of course made the effect far more widespread with a bearable method, but even than it seems like people are confused by what it means for something to "pop" out of the screen, or for the screen to be more of a window.

Destructoid and Gizmodo's community reaction to this technology was a bit surprising to me. Many people seemed to see it as a fad, they felt that wearing glasses was too much of a burden (these people apparently don't have prescription glasses or use sun glasses), that it caused eye strain, or that it made them look dumb. Other issues brought up were that many people had just made the move to HD displays and would be reluctant to buy yet another new TV.

Has far as i'm concerned wearing glasses for this effect is a non-issue, i'm in the house, I can let my guard down. Are we really that self conscious of ourselves that we would rather deny display freedom before we were seen in these?

The issue of eye strain is an interesting one and it's something that retailers are going to have to struggle to over come. You have to train your eye for 3D, 3D vision allows you to adjust convergence and depth to your liking, however, other types of closed media do not allow for such freedom. Avatar 3D had a set depth that was very low because the audience had probably never seen this effect before, but even than many people complained of eye strain. Once you've trained your eyes for this effect it feels quite natural, but how do you convey this to someone who only walks into the store and looks at a television for 30 seconds and finds it uncomfortable?

The thing is when I spend a large amount of time gaming on my computer in stereoscopic 3D I find it somewhat odd to return to the old 2 dimensional display. You have to imagine depth you realize, and it suddenly becomes a chore of sorts. You notice you have been relying on visual cues to make sense of the picture. The 2D picture is clean and simple in your mind compared to the impressionist 3D counterpart which is screaming with intricate detail that would require a large amount of time to absorb.

3D is going to be a tough sell for a lot of people, I think we are quite a ways off before this technology becomes even remotely mainstream (however i'm betting it will boom in the handheld industry). I think it's going to continue revitalizing PC gaming for years to come and that is where it will remain for the time being. You won't see it that often on consoles because of the sheer amount of graphic power required to achieve this effect, and it's pretty obvious that this generation of consoles is going to stick around for awhile.

Final Fantasy 13

Final Fantasy, like a lot of people, has a special place in my heart. It was the first RPG series that I had played, and it was a very confusing and strange game to me at the time. Now I understand that the series is tied to tradition (or technical limitations) but as a kid it was very strange to think that my entire party was compiled within one character, or that I would get into random battles with enemy's I could not see. A lot of imagination was required.

Every RPG I've enjoyed has given me a certain feeling; this is the exact feeling i seek when i purchase one of these games. There is this moment, many hours into the game where your party faces a difficult foe; you feel the weight they carry, their problems and goals, and every strike they make to the enemy is felt ten-fold as though you yourself are making the attack. The music crashendos and you feel completely apart of their goal. This is a moment i have never felt in a movie or in a book, it is exclusive to this genre of games.

This moment is rare and it requires more than just a well orchestrated game, you have to be willing to open yourself up to the story or be captured by it. As i grow older it becomes harder for me to do this but every now and than a game comes along that tickles just the right parts of my brain.

Encouragement, New PC, Geforce 3d Vision Glasses, Playstation 3, iPhone gaming

Encouraged by a friend to continue writing I am once again faced with the task of trying to think of something worth writing about. Since my last post I have been busy gaming (and studying) with a host of new toys. This post is purely mechanical and almost soul-less, merely here to get shit up to date.

The iPhone, PlayStation 3, a powerful new computer, and Nvidia 3D vision glasses have come into my possession since my last update. This is the first time I've had the luxury of playing every game released across all platforms.

The PC has taken center stage for me. Considering the tone I carried with my previous posts about the PC slowly being fazed out of the picture this is a welcome development. My PC has a Intel Core i7 processor, a Geforce 285 GTX video card with 2 gigs of video ram, 6 Gigs of Ram, and a terabyte of hard-drive space.

Gaming in 3D does not give you a dramatic advantage over 2 dimensional displays. First Person Shooters are considerably more immersive, however, the increased depth does not really make the act of shooting any easier. Identifying what direction you are being shot at is easier since you get a better impression of where the bullets are coming from.

Technically the image seems cleaner, which makes sense, you are essentially doubling the resolution by mashing two images into one.

While I thought that First Person games would benefit the most from depth, it is actually Third Person games that seem the most pleasing to my eye. By default Nvidia drivers disable the ability to adjust convergence, that is, where "within" the screen things are center. Things behind the "center" point appear to stick out of the screen. Enabling the ability to adjust convergence is easy and necessary in order to enjoy the full benefit of this technology for Third Person games (for First Person games you do not want to adjust convergence at all). I ended up replaying Mass Effect 1 in 3D which, despite the odd visual problem, looked fantastic. When my character was behind cover bullets would literally fly past my character.

My quick impression on the PlayStation 3 (the first Playstation I have owned) is that it is a worthy and at times more impressive competitor to the 360. Killzone 2 was a cool, Gears of War in First Person, shooter. Uncharted 2 was one of the best games I played last year and infamous was a kick ass open world game that I enjoyed more than Assassins Creed 2.

The iPhone as a gaming platform has a lot of technical issues to over come. There are games that feel right at home on the device like Real Racing, Space Invaders Infinity Gene, and Beneath a Steel Sky. There are also games that "work", like N.O.V.A and Eliminate Pro. In the end it mainly boils down to learning to deal without physical buttons; something I don't really have a problem with thanks to the iPhones responsive touch screen. Virtual d-pads work fine and virtual analog sticks are manageable once you learn to "roll" your thumb on the screen rather than drag it.

Despite owning a DS and a PSP (modified with emulators even) i'd still rather just use my iPhone to game portably at this point purely for convenience reasons. With games like Grand Theft Auto: China Town Wars arriving on the device for 10 dollars it is becoming a true competitor.

Silent Hill Shattered Memory's for the Wii was a refreshing change of pace I recently played through. The game is a showcase for narrative driven experiences in video games that I'd like to write about more thoroughly. Dead Space Extraction, a light gun like shooter, was also a nice distraction. I missed out on the arcade craze so it was a fun novelty for me.

So there we go, shit's up to date! There's a lot of games I played last year that I wont bother posting about. Frankly I was beginning to feel fatigued with gaming, maybe it's the lack of originality in most main stream games, but there are still gems being released.

2010 shows a lot of promise, 3D has rejuvenated even the simplest games for me. I hope to see more 3D ready games this year (there are currently 4 games that support it fully, but most games work well with it regardless); thanks to Avatar I get the feeling Nvidia will sell a few more 3D vision kits. A lot of people may see it as a gimmick; I see it as a compliment to what we already have. Frankly I feel it is in the same league (in regards to gaming) as the HD push was. The technology could use some improvements (ghosting is a bummer) but all in all i'm excited to see what people will do with it in the future.

Grand Theft Auto 4 and impressionism

One of the many things that I really like about Grand Theft Auto 4 is its art style, it reminds me of impressionist art.

The textures are just detailed enough that if you squint your eyes you can see something real.

There are very obvious technical limitations to the draw distance of objects in the game that i can justify has the characters actual point of view. What i mean is; when you look off into the distance in the real world and you see what appears to be a person only to move closer and see that it's actually just a tree shaped like a person i imagine that "mirage" to be the same as an object or texture popping into the games world. It's simply the character getting a clearer impression of the object. It's seeing from an outside perspective another impression of a world.

Mirror's Edge

I've been trying to figure out why I liked Mirror's Edge so much and I think it's the same reason I enjoyed Oni. Oni was not exactly the most high acclaimed game, however it was and still is unique. It had its fair share of issues but it's one of those games that stays with you despite popular opinion. Perhaps due to my little phobia of popular things it was actually a incentive to enjoy it more? Either way I enjoyed what they executed.

In my previous post I had stated that Mirror's Edge was the sort of direction i want games to be headed in and i think i should probably clarify why. Simply put, the first person perspective is my favorite kind of way to experience video games, but, at the moment there is not a lot of effort being put into making you feel like you're an actual entity in the world. One of the only things that bothers me about my beloved Half-Life series is exactly the lack of an actual body. Am i suppose to imagine that Gordon Freeman is turning the wheel of his hovercraft despite the fact that i see no appendages on the wheel?

In reality you actually have to exercise quite a bit of imagination in video games. For example, I'm suppose to imagine that my character is looking through crates in Fallout 3 when in reality I'm simply looking at a list of items inside the crate. I look forward to the day when my character is animated to pick up the crate, open it, look at the items inside, reach his hand out to pick up his item of choice, open his backpack, and place the item inside a pocket that would represent a slot in first person. To some this may seem excessive, to me this is exactly what i want.

I imagine that sort of environment interaction is probably not that far off. My point is that adding physicality to the first person genre added a lot to the game for me.

There are other aspects of the game other than the physicality that spoke to me, for example the music was fantastic, but the sound design has a whole spoke to me. The ambiance was blindingly loud (if sound could be blinding) to, at least to me, simulate the sense of blinding reality. The games setting of a super clean city allowed for some very highly detailed textures, i think they are the highest I've ever seen, and it really let that "blinding reality" impression hit home for me when you mixed the games character physicality, sound design, highly detailed textures, and PhysX object interaction together.

If the developers had went for a more Half-Life-like continuously uninterrupted experience without "levels" and forgot about using the animated cartoon to tell the story i think i would have been more enthralled and the game would have stuck more closely to what i think the game was attempting to go for, which I interpreted to be reality.

On a final note, it looks like Mirror's Edge will get its sequel. Fuck yes.

Mirror's Edge, Super Street Figher 2 Turbo HD Remix, Metal Slug 3

Before heading off to work today (I work at a Superstore Deli) I saw that Mirror's Edge was released on Steam. I found the game sitting on my Hard-Drive when i returned home and quickly jumped into it tonight. It is now 4am and i figure i should write my first impression.

Right away I settled upon a gamepad/trackball hybrid for controlling Faith; the gamepad in my left hand for analog movement and the trackball in the other hand for precise aim. I turned off runner vision and the reticle in the center of the screen (the reticle is still on for the weapons however) because these are the kind of things I don't find necessary for this game. Also, you know, immersion. The game is strictly played with my nice headphones.

The game itself is stable. The PhysX stuff works surprisingly well, it doesn't seem to tax my computer nearly has much has i was expecting. The physical objects themselves are deliberately placed so that you notice them. In a subway, for example, there were a series of banners placed on both sides of the track, every time a train passed by (once every 15 seconds or so) the "wind" from the train would ruffle the banners separately. Another example was a sheet of clear plastic that was hanging from the roof, clearly placed so you would be forced to jump into it, thereby seeing the impressive reaction has it brushes over your head. There is of course the higher quality textures, higher resolution shadows, and anti-aliasing that ultimately makes this version the superior one, assuming you don't mind the missing achievements.

It's a real shame the game didn't sell well on consoles, hopefully people give the PC version a chance, it deserves some kind of recognition for effort. The PC version is a pleasant surprise after the spotty port of Dead Space anyways. It's highly unlikely i will ever get my hands on a sequel, i should finish the game before i even think about that, but regardless it's nice to know that at least in some form we will see this type of physicality in future titles.

I said to a friend recently that Fallout 3 is the exact direction i want video games to be headed in. I can easily say the same for Mirror's Edge. There was this one moment in the game, i was simply running through a office building while being chased, it was a moment that will stay in my mind for a very long time.

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I finally broke down and purchased the HD remake of Street Fighter 2. It's mostly just going to go to waste, i can only competently play has Ryu and i generally get my ass kicked online. I think i'll stick to Soul Calibur 4 mainly because i really like the character creation. From the sounds of it Street Fighter 4 doesn't have any kind of character creation, however, I'll probably still buy it out of obligation.

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Also i bought Metal Slug 3 in a drunken haze while a friend was over so we could both play something new. No complaints.

Army of Two, HDTV acquired

I purchased a gift for my buddy on Christmas; a copy of Army of Two. Well, 2 copy's actually. It was a decent idea i think anyways, even if the game was mediocre (my friend does love achievements after all).

Picking up the box, naturally, surged me with thoughts of Contra and Metal Slug. The end result was not far off. It was good fun, you're playing co-op with a buddy, it's kinda hard to mess that up.

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I have a respectable television now. It's a 37 inch 1080P Sharp, matched with some newly purchased PC speakers and a subwoofer, since television speakers generally suck. Perhaps i will lean more towards the 360 from now on? Perhaps...

The void filled

It's interesting, I actually get to talk to people, in person, about video games. Up until this point video games had been a secret passion i tried to keep to myself.

I've rewritten this next paragraph many times. Talking about the old town is strange, and hard. How do i articulate my feelings of alienation without appearing to have a superiority complex? In fact I've written in the past how I feel bellow average, at least academically, so hopefully i don't come off has smug.

I felt very deeply that the "electronics are for weird nerds" philosophy was ingrained in the culture there. This had a large effect on me which has almost completely evaporated after moving here (traces remain with my family). The result is lively discussions with little being held back, and it's honestly staggering to me.

I don't define myself by video games of course, that's silly, but it's an insanely interesting medium that i could talk about for hours, and I finally get that chance.

Plok

Some impressive 16 bit music from the SNES game Plok.

Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason, Prince of Persia (2008)

Greg Kasavin made a comparison on his late blog about Stalker feeling very punk rock, it always stuck with me, if Stalker has taught me anything it's that Russia demands attention.

Cryostasis seems to have come out of thin air and I am genuinely interested. From what I've read on forums the game makes extensive use of PhysX to the point where actually having a dedicated video card for PhysX is ideal (though a patch is in route to alleviate these high demands).

I don't know too much about the game to be honest (just what's in the gamespot preview), if it turns out to be something "important" like Stalker than it's probably best i go into it without much knowledge (similar to Stalker). I was subconsciously aware of the game actually, but for some reason I didn't really acknowledged it until i read about it in this article about Russian gaming. I did know that PC gaming is still huge in Russia however i was not aware of the Russian juggernaut known as 1c.

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I finished Prince of Persia last night. It seemed very likely that I was going to be left with a Assassin's Creed like ending; where the credits roll yet you're still left with a confined environment with many hidden secrets. Assassin's Creed never actually "ends" in the normal sense.

Prince of Persia has more in common with Assassin's Creed than I'd like to admit, it's "choose your own path" approach means the difficulty can't really scale. I almost didn't think of Prince of Persia has a game, at least not in the classic sense. The fact that it's SO easy, that you're basically just queuing actions (thoughts of World of Warcraft actually came to mind), mixed with the fact that a large portion of the games dialogue is entirely optional left me with the feeling that i was playing an experience, not a game.

It's coming to the point where that's almost what I'm actually looking for. My colleague at work expressed great displeasure towards most of the game, citing that he skipped the dialogue, didn't care for the combat, and was severely disappointed with the platforming in comparison to the trilogy of the last generation. Perhaps I didn't have an attachment to the last iteration of this series simply because of the versions i played, however, i definiatly walked away from this game looking forward to more.

EA on Steam

Okay that's a good step. The only problem I have with this new move is that now I have the crappy Direct to Drive version of Dead Space while a nice self updating version laughs at me on Steam. Sure, I can add it to the games list, but it's nice to have everything in one place. Oh well, these are small issues.

Why EA failed

I was listening to the Gamers with Jobs podcast (mainly because Shawn Elliot was on it) and heard Jeff Green let slip that EA was unhappy with the PC sales for their games and it was likely that they would not be supporting them anymore (or something along those lines). It's pretty clear that when you are putting a game like Dead Space out on the PC it's not going to sell very well because the game is designed with a specific set of hardware in mind; it's not made to run on that average World of Warcraft computer everyone has lying around their home.

The ugly truth is that games like Crysis are a thing of the past. Crysis did not play the same with a gamepad, it supported it wonderfully, but many key features were missing. You could not go prone (only crouch) and you could not lean left and right (vital if there is foliage obstructing your view). FarCry 2 is a game that could have used these controls on the PC version, however it was excluded because the number of buttons on the controller wouldn't allow it, therefor the PC version suffered slightly. The lack of control in FarCry 2 is a shame, however the game was still very much superior on the PC and I think it's a great example of what western games with big budgets will look like on the PC from here on out. The upcoming Mirrors Edge and Burnout Paradise PC versions further my point, Mirrors Edge will support PhysX (and apparently have a set of modding tools) while Burnout Paradise will have higher quality textures among other things (here's to hopping i can find a way to make my dual monitors work with the game).

Most PC gamers I would assume also own consoles so chances are high that they will buy the console version of Dead Space over the PC version since there is no incentive to buy the PC version other than the control scheme. The PC version of Dead Space is great (trackball for lyfe) but I can't even set the AA higher than X2. Why couldn't they include higher quality textures for the PC version? People with both sets of hardware (I'm guessing the majority of PC gamers) need to be enticed to own the PC version, Dead Space clearly didn't do that which is why it didn't sell well.

You're going to drive the enthusiasts away if you don't do anything to take advantage of the open nature of the PC. Valve, Blizzard, and CD Projekt are living proof that PC gaming is alive and thriving despite piracy, and i think it's safe to say that Bethesda also has the right idea when it comes to supporting the PC. If EA wants to back away from supporting the PC that's their choice, but in all honesty they never really did support the PC and its strengths, they simply tried to move the console experience over to the PC and that is clearly not why we maintain this hardware.

My computer

Prince of Persia (2008)

I picked up Prince of Persia on Steam last night (I always seem to hold off on pre-ordering Steam games even though they always have great pre-order bonuses). Apparently other than Steam the game has no DRM which is a good thing i guess. The game runs like a dream, it boots and closes (and minimizes) within seconds and I'm able to run the game in 8X AA with Vsync on without slow downs. It's a great version of a great game.

I was worried about picking up the PC version of Prince of Persia because in the past the series "ports" had been absolutely horrendous. I had picked up the disc version of Warrior Within for the PC which had massive issues with the sound being FAR out of sync with cut scenes (I'm talking 5 seconds behind) and constant slowdowns during gameplay. I played the game on 3 different sets of hardware (starting with intergrated video, moving on to the Geforce 7600GS video card, and now my current Geforce 9600GT video card), it ran the exact same every time. I played through the entirety of the PSP port Prince of Persia Rival Swords, which still had sound syncing issues and in-game slowdown (which i could forgive a little more given the platform).

Needless to say I was even more reluctant to try Prince of Persia(2008) on the PC since it runs on the same engine that Assassins Creed does, and seeing videos of the PC version of Assassins Creed was a big deterrent.

I'm happy to say that is definitely not the case here.

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

The perfect MMO in my mind would have a fighting system similar to Soul Calibur or perhaps the first person shooting that Huxely strives for. At the moment i can enjoy what World of Warcraft has to offer simply because there is new land mass for me to explore, eventually i will get bored of its constrained combat system.

I know how boring it can be to listen to someone talk about a MMO so i won't talk about World of Warcraft very often.

It took me awhile to get around to it but i ended up picking up a copy of Wrath of the Lich King in classic disc form, so I'll probably be playing that for awhile. My old crew is still there (since i was a officer in the guild for a long time I've got a place secured in a nice 25 man raiding guild), so it will be nice to get in touch with them again.

All in all the thing that sold me on the game was the improvments to the Druid class, for example, apparently at some point Blizzard decided that Druids should be able to rez freely... Also my beloved tree form can now use Healing Touch which is pretty nice i guess, I was okay with the way it was before but i'm not complaining. I'm a little late for the party but maybe that means that things won't be so crowded at the newbe zones.

I played World of Warcraft right from the get go, and i ate the shit out of Burning Crusade but at some point i just grew tired of its gameplay, it's too restricted by connection speeds at the moment, queueing attacks can only be fun for so long before I want something a little less riggid.

The idea of a MMO is amazing, but at what point will the genre take another step forward? What will it look like? Could the jump from EverQuest to World of Warcraft really be concidered a generation jump, or was it more a mastering of the technology currently avaliable? When can I dodge and swing my sword in real time? When will my character feel like an actual entity in these worlds and not a floating box?

When connection speeds increase.

TED

Besides Wikipedia, no other site on the internet has the power to inspire me the way TED does.

Gears of War 2, Black Mesa

Gears of War 2 felt somewhat unbalanced to me. Keep in mind the meat of the game for me was its single player campaign and i also played through it on the Hardcore difficulty setting. So like, the death ruts i would get stuck in were more or less exclusive to scripted sequences and vehicle sequences.

I agree with Shawn Elliot when he says: "Trial-and-error gameplay isn't inherently evil", it's just that it's somewhat jarring to die to a scripted sequence when you have a firm understanding of your characters capability's in relation to the capability's of your enemy. I understand that i should always keep an eye on the space behind me to fall back on incase a boomer closes in on me, I don't understand the specific timing required to dodge a falling pillar that abides by the developers timed script. If said pillar were bound by the in-game physics on the other hand, i might stand a better chance of knowing when it would fall since I am familiar with the games physics vs. the developers intention on when the pillar should fall and when it shouldn't.

I'm not condemming scripted sequences, after all, what is Half-Life without its trip-wire like scenes? It's not the worst thing in the world, but like i said, it's jarring, it brings you out of the simulation because it does not follow the rules of the world.

I REALLY enjoyed everything else in the game, exploring the locust caves was a blast, the increadable vistas in the game required several minutes to take in, I wish i had a HDTV to fully appreciate the amount of detail Epic put into the inside of that giant worm (the coolest moment in the game in my opinon).

I watched the Black Mesa trailer yesterday, i've held out on playing the first Half-Life specificaly because of this mod. Everybodys been saying this; but i honestly can't understand why Valve hasn't bought this yet, i'd easily pay money for this.

Watching the 2 small gameplay clips they put into the trailer it "almost" looks like they added head-bob to your movment. It's hard to tell if it's trailer magic or if it's simply being caused by getting shot at/explosions, but if they did add it all i can say is "good". The one thing that's always bothered me about Half-Life is the fact that your a set of floating hands, even then, when you add vehicles to the mix you're not even that (seriously, Valve couldnt add some freaking hands to hold the steering wheel?). Of course if the Black Mesa team did actually add head-bob it wouldn't be true to the original or any other game in the series, so i'm putting my bet on it being trailer magic.

I've been following this mod for a long time now and I honestly can't wait to get my hands on it, i'm more exited for this mod than I am any other release, and the fact that this team is making this "game" almost entirely through the internet makes it all the more amazing. I'd love to hear what Valve thinks of it once its done.

Song, Bioshock, Fallout 3

So yeah, I haven't really played my Guitar much since the last song i recorded. I'm still getting used to having a job like a normal person, so my desire to play has diminished some. I think it's safe to say that I'll never quit playing Guitar, i'm not great or anything but i feel that i can create something worth listening to from time to time, trying to set a deadline is a bad idea.

I'll continue to post songs here, but only when i feel that I've actually created something worth listening to.

I've noticed that games like Bioshock and Fallout 3 are able to open my mind to different eras of music because of the isolation. Moving through hostile enviroments alone allows me to appreciate anything peaceful (a nice looking vista, movie posters, a simple message scribbled on the wall...ect), so when I hear music my mind is open to appreciate it more. It would be cool if i could find more music from whatever era Fallout 3 gets its music from to import into said game. That game needs more music for the radio stations.

Gears of War 2, Fable 2, Left 4 Dead, Mirrors Edge, DRM

I've sort of been reunited with my 360 recently. It didn't really go anywhere, it's just that for a long time now I had been restricted to playing my 360 on my computer monitor, which meant every time i wanted to play a game i had to reach behind my monitor, unplug my computer, plug in the 360 VGA cable, unplug the computer from the speakers, plug my speakers into the 360, than plug the network cable into the 360.

Now that doesn't sound like much but when you have to do that EVERY time you want to play something it suddenly turns into a special occasion. However i finally decided to break down and move my 360 back to the standard def television which has reinvigorated the room that i occupy the most (sadly (maybe not that sad) the basement of my parents home). Since i watch television shows through the internet almost exclusively (The Daily Show being the exception) the television had basically become background noise.

So yeah, I've been playing a lot of 360 lately. I picked up Gears of War 2, but haven't play too much of it on account of it refusing to load my save file. Epic released a patch recently, i know, it's possible the issue has been resolved, but since a friend lent me a copy of Fable 2 (It's kinda "meh" (Love the dog though!)) I'll have to hold off on Gears 2 until i burn through the main quest.

I saw a trailer for Mirrors Edge showing off the PC version which apparently uses PhysX. I had heard that the PC version was going to take advantage of the platform but i didn't think they would put that much effort into it. It looks awesome! I'm happy to see that EA is making an effort to support the PC which is why even though it doesnt really make much sense (i'd get achivements if i had bought the 360 version of Dead Space for example) i still continue to support PC releases. DRM be damed.

DRM is still a hot topic (suprise), just today i read an article about the PC version of GTA 4 having SecuROM. I'm really not suprised, and being a (I think) hardcore PC supporter my stance on this issue is that i actually don't care. I started gaming on the PC around 2001 (XP had just come out), so maybe i haven't been around long enough to see this issue materialize into something horrid, but i just havent seen anything bad come of SecuROM yet.

Honestly, it's never bothered me. Ever.

And yet the uproar is something to behold. A comment on Reddit for example shows my point: "After being fucked recently by several games with SecuROM, I will not be buying this game. I will download it." I've asked this person to go into detail, hopefully he will help me see things from his perspective.

Also something quick, played through Left 4 Dead (360 verison, since i have more friends on the 360 vs. the PC), fucking loved every bit of it. Could have used one more chapter to lengthen it out a bit, hopefully valve supports the 360 version. If not, maybe i'll grab the PC version (since i kind of like having the complet set of Valve games on their lead platform) when it goes for 20 bucks.