Thrik

Dawn of War, God of War, Act of War, Gears of War... man, they sure know how to come up with winning titles. Kind of interesting that three of them were superb, genre-defining games, though!

Canada Europe? Eh? Anyway, here's a component switcher like I was on about above: http://www.audiovisualonline.co.uk/dynamic/eshop_products.set/ref/1343/from/froogle/avo-automanual-component-video-switcher/display.html Also lots of stuff on eBay if that's too expensive. You can also get fairly cheap SCART switchers: http://www.lambda-tek.com/componentshop/index.pl?origin=gbase11.2&prodID=B81669 You seem to be able to get a lot of things like this by just searching for X switcher on Google Products or eBay.

So he may be gratified by knowing you wasted your time. :tup:

Yes. It might be worth looking out there there for some kind of splitter type thing that acts as a middle man. I've got a nice thing for my audio leads (red/white ones) that plugs into the target unit's normal red/white audio jacks, but on the other end has a box which has about five more jacks, numbered from one to five. You can then go ahead and plug five device's audio leads into these, and then use a switch on the top to choose which one you want to circuit through to the target unit (in this case, the television). No idea if something like that's been created for component cables, but seeing as they've been around for ages I'd be surprised if at least one doesn't exist. Component is still analogue so the general concept should still work.

I never even finished Metroid Prime 1, but I have to agree that the exploration side of it is pretty cool. It wasn't even that long ago, but I have good memories of stumbling across crazy new areas and finding obscure passages that end up leading into massive stretches of ruins and whatnot, and thanks to excellent art direction and general ambience workmanship the atmosphere really sticks in my mind. The downside is that it takes so long to get through the game (including about 50,000 hours per boss) that I just can't take the time to do so, what with all this job nonsense and all. If opinions indicate that Metroid Prime 3 hits an equal or higher level of the feel I poorly described above then I'll probably give it a go.

It is frying your components as it gives them the hardest workout ever.

Teee, it has to be said I really don't think I've ever known anyone to be as generally critical and dissatisfied with games as toblix. Not that it's necessarily a bad thing (it's your own play time), but man you are hard to please.

Heh, yes, it's pretty confusing these days. The Intel processors used in the dual cores are derived from Pentium M processors (or something), which aren't really comparable to the single-core Pentium 4 processors that preceded them as the market standard. Using the ghz rating for judgement is a bit tricky. I'm not sure what line the BioShock requirements refer to exactly, but it sounds like you're probably in the right ballpark for performance. One thing Vista genuinely had the right idea with is the game performance rating. Every 'Games for Windows' game has a performance score like this: It gets your own system's rating by running a bunch of intensive tests, kind of like 3DMark except without the pretty show. I think it's a great idea, and because the maximum score is indefinite (ie: the maximum you can realistically get right now is around 6.0, but this will rise as hardware progresses) it means it can work well equally as indefinitely, even if the meanings of processor numbers change, etc.

Yes. I'm expecting later patches and GPU drivers will improve the game's performance, but the demo is the best benchmark possible.

That green circles one is really nice. If I had a 360 I'd love it to look something like that; whenever I see a 360 in someone's house it always looks pretty shit with its plain front, and since most people tuck it into some kind of cabinet the fact it isn't a particularly badly designed piece of kit isn't too apparent and it just looks like some kind of futuristic bone.

That is true (and what I originally pointed out elsewhere a few days ago), but regardless of what they designed it with the field of view is definitely smaller than is seen in the majority of FPS games, and apparently this has even led to some people getting motion sickness (HL2 had a similar problem). It may be how the game looked during development, but it doesn't mean the net result isn't a more limited view than usual, and that it can't look better with an adjusted field of view (according to the majority who've used the patch it does improve the feel). The upcoming official patch will be giving widescreen users the choice of a wider field of view that's more in line with genre conventions, and they even gave the lucky fuck who released the unofficial patch with the same functionality a free GeForce 8800.

That faceplate is great. I approve of the whole idea of face plates, even though they've had a surprisingly low amount of chatter about them.

Hee, yeah I found the NVIDIA driver thing quite amusing too. I always keep up with the beta drivers as they are invariably better than the officially released ones that've been through QA and everything, but the fact I actually have to do this (and have done for years) speaks very badly for the hardware driver scene in general. And they definitely should have tried to time the BioShock-optimised drivers' official release with the game itself. Nobody likes to be told they need to download beta drivers to play a game affiliated with the graphics card producer properly. I won't be playing BioShock until my holiday ends in a couple of weeks, but I'm not too bothered as hopefully an official patch will be out to fix any of the lingering crash issues, and they've also said they're going to officially implement the hack that lets you use a more optimal widescreen (at the moment they just literally zoom in and consequently cut off top/bottom of the screen, moving the HUD and gun around to compensate). Maybe new beta NVIDIA drivers too that pump up performance even more, as they tend to come out once a week.

If it's got the Big Daddy statue then it's definitely what's considered the "Collector's Edition" over there. From what I've gathered in the UK (and going into GAME earlier), there is: Normal BioShock, a bog standard DVD case Limited Edition BioShock, the same as the above but with a DVD case-sized tin case Collector's Edition BioShock, which is the big box o' goodies pictured above I'm guessing terminology changes, but you can identify them pretty easily with the above info.

For those who have an ounce of taste actually liked the video, a direct feed HD version is available now: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/23998.html

I only pre-order if it's online, so I don't have to worry about pissing around with any shops; stocks are usually good, and in the case of some like Twilight Princess I got it delivered the morning of the release day which was pretty nice. Shop pre-ordering is absolute bollocks and is to be lambasted at any opportunity.

Excellent. Same animals with a different word tacked on, then. I am presuming it isn't just a nod to the older fans and there is actual meaning in the storyline for these psychotic robot-like things being named after FOXHOUND members. Looking forward to the story. Only complication now is needing to get a PS3, which in turn needs a decent HDTV to be optimally enjoyed.

Hee. :~ A good thing that came out of the latest video is that Kojima confirmed the AI in the gameplay demo(s) shown is set to 'easy' to limit the chances of Snake getting bummed in the gob during demonstration. Since the MGS games have all had good AI in the past and in fact got soul numbingly difficult when set to 'hard' (their sight and hearing essentially becomes as good as you'd expect from a real person), it'd have been insanity for it to degrade in MGS4. I fondly remember spending about three hours trying to get past one room in MGS1 set to 'hard', almost in tears; man was it satisfying when I eventually got a perfect run and swiftly and stylishly took out every fucker in there in a systematic fashion though. Kind of like a 3D version of the Commandos games, in that I spent ages studying their movements. Of course if you don't like that kind of thing, MGS in hard mode is quite possibly the worst thing in history.

I really don't think it is that bad at all. All they are is soldiers with roboty bits built onto them, designed to be animalistic; Kojima said that the reason the robots in the game in general make animal noises and are designed as such is, in the game world, to psychologically fuck with the guys they're going after -- it's not a purely superfluous addition, looking like Final Fantasy villains for the sake of looking like Final Fantasy villains. The video in itself does seem crazy, but I think just like always it'll work well in the context of the whole game. Swords and all that shit aren't new to MGS4, and indeed vamp was just as much a ridiculously agile and immortal bastard in MGS2. I replayed that recently and the way he moves around is insane. Running on water, man! I just see the videos see more of the same, albeit increasingly mental to reflect the fact that the world is a wartorn bag of insanity and with more futuristic technology.

Yeah, definitely bosses from what I read earlier. I still really like them. As you say, it's not like Metal Gear Solid is the most grounded-in-reality game in the world, and MGS1 and MGS2 were significantly more full of this stuff than MGS3 (both being set closer to MGS4). The big boss () in MGS2 had a tentacle suit thing quite similarly to the one in that video. MGS bosses are in general pretty crazy, and for the most part have supernatural elements to them; in fact, these ones are weirdly amongst the more realistic of them as they seem to be entirely machine-based. However, they always somehow fit into the world and don't compromise the overall atmosphere that's been present in all three predecessors. The bit I liked most was when Snake looked up at the one based on a mantis in the sky, which most MGS1 fans will immediately recognise as a reference to the legendary Psycho Mantis of MGS1 (who manipulated the environment and took people over supernaturally, rather than presumably through technology like the one in the video): I can't find any good screenshots, but he always used the same crazy 'arms out like a nutter' stance. I guess this might of off-putting to those who didn't play the past games, but I can't see too many fans of the whole series being bothered much by the video. I'm certainly not, anyway!

Not me. I especially love the fact that they're all named after the original FOXHOUND members.

I think it's fair to assume there'll be more variety in locations and enemies than what we've seen in the demo. As awesome as it is, it'd get a bit old if it were the same enemies and environments throughout. I expect some surprises and hopefully won't be disappointed.

What a great demo. I kind of got bummed in the gob time after time during enemy encounters, but I realised afterwards it's because I tried to kill them all traditionally rather then using bits of the environment. Oh well. Incidentally, if anyone's wondering what the difference are, here's a big bag o' 360 vs PC screenshots: http://forum.teamxbox.com/showpost.php?p=9819449&postcount=729 Looks like the PC version does indeed have higher resolution textures, as well as fancier DirectX 10 shaders and improved lighting across the board. BTW, if you're setting the graphics options, although most of them are intuitive the 'Force Global Lighting' one actually wants to be set to 'OFF' for maximum quality, as it gets rid of a lot of the nice dynamic lighting and such.

God. I absolutely hate surveys that have about five answers to everything. Out of protest I just limited it to the 'Disagree', 'Dunno', and 'Agree' options. Appropriately reminds me of game review scoring. :fart:

An interview with Ken Levine that exudes quality at a respectable level. He even mentions Grim Fandango and Psychonauts!