Thrik

Haha, dear god: And with that budget?

Yeah there are some nice improvements, but I was overall feeling quite underwhelmed by Ghosts' visuals and it's kind of reassuring to know that they're not really that representative of what the next generation has in store as it's basically a current-gen game with a bunch of general shaders and effects on top. It's going to be fascinating seeing what developers can get out of this hardware when building from the ground up with no compromises.

Wow, look how similar the current-gen and next-gen versions of Ghosts look: To me it looks like a great-looking current-gen game but an unremarkable next-gen game. I'd even argue that in some cases the current-gen version looks better because (bizarrely) they're using different colour grading for the next-gen version. Going to be exciting to see how much better games look once they stop trying to work on current-gen too.

Great interview, they're good dudes over there. Regarding your choice, at this point what's spooking you? It's a categorical fact that the PS4 is more powerful than the XBone, the specs and teraflops (lol) alone make that clear — and now the games are providing the evidence. If graphics and performance are your main priority, get a PS4. When looking at that aspect alone there's a clear winner. It's no longer accurate to say it might be more powerful. As an aside, based on past history I think the PS4 operating system, controller, and exclusive games will be better too. But that's still opinion right now.

I have not once in my entire life had a good experience as a console early adopter, whether home or handheld. My advice would be to just wait because: It'll be cheaper You won't feel compelled to play games you wouldn't ordinarily touch with a barge pole because there's nothing else Inevitable early hardware/software issues will be ironed out You'll have plenty of games to play when you get one Price cuts won't piss you off so much Literally the only downside is you don't get to be in on it when the hype is high. Whether or not that actually bothers you is a personal thing. I personally learn towards more games and value for money.

Somehow missed that one of my favourite electronica artists released a new album this year. His previous one from 2010 remains a cornerstone of every playlist I build, alongside a select few others like Gorillaz's Demon Days and Royksopp's everything.

Moby still manages to bowl me over from time to time.

Aw, cute kitty. Fur looks like a mess.

Another day, another shitty CSS bug. https://medium.com/design-ux/dd6eb44541fc

Bit of C2C vibe off this guy: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiPWSKpo9OQ C2C of course being behind one of my favourite albums in years.

Tapped Out is disgusting. Stop playing it.

Read that as you eating the gas stove. Laughed.

Nice. My ending was a bit more extreme than that:

I disagree. If people are talking about PSN compatibility, there's a 99.99% likelihood they're referring to games. I think most people would be dumbfounded if other kinds of content weren't carried over, considering Sony's focus on having a cross-platform store (i.e. PS3 and Vita). We already know that Gakai will render many if not most PS3 games accessible on the PS4 in 2014, so I take this tweet as clarifying that games you already own will be usable without having to buy them all over again — something that's been a big question mark for months, hence the interest in this answer.

I'm still going to try it because, shit, I've played Johnny Cage's last two. I'm actually not too bothered by what I've heard about the mechanics because I've never been that turned off by super-linear games. What does concern me is all the criticism about the story though, because Heavy Rain seemed like it was more on track after the absolute train wreck that Fahnreheit's story became during the second half of the game. It still annoys me that a game that started out so well and was literally oozing with atmosphere became such a mess. It looks like a lot of the hallmark Quantic Dream things are in place, though: walking around apartments, doing mundane shit, and generally just not experiencing a whole lot of action. That's actually something I've found really attractive about their games as those elements build up a lot of atmosphere and sense of place. I don't want spoilers, but be honest: does Beyond go as batshit crazy to the point of ludicrousness like Fahrenheit? I don't mean in the sense of supernatural elements being used (that's fine), I mean in the sense of being a total splurge of poorly written sci-fi that doesn't really go anywhere.

It's going to be an interesting test to see which handles FPS, RTS, and simulation games best: Valve's track pads or built into the main pad. I can see both potentially working very well, although I imagine the fidelity of a thumb is always going to outmatch that of two wrists. Also the touch pads can truly simulate a mouse whereas the pointing would need to do the stick thing and start auto-moving when you aim too far in either direction (unless overall direction is handled using a stick still) — not a problem for top-down games, but not ideal for shooters.

Aaaaand the nude shots are all over the web. Classic David Cage!

The rapid thumbing when aiming in Portal definitely looks weird, but it's worth bearing in mind that a lot of people use a mouse in the same way. Unlike a thumb stick which can turn indefinitely, there'll always be a limit with mice and track pads. Fortunately, this is why sensitivity is generally configurable in PC games — people who want to be able to do a 360-degree turn in a tiny flick can do, both with mice and touchpads. This compromise is just part of having the accuracy of such devices.

I'm not impressed by Watch Dogs. The first trailer was full of promise, but everything I've seen since has been increasingly lacking in both graphics and compelling-looking gameplay (unless you really loved LA Noire). I hope it's just a case of bad marketing because that original trailer still sticks in my mind, but it should be worrying those responsible because people seem to be widely getting quite lukewarm towards it.

My memory of Full Throttle is it lasting like an hour. I just can't consider it a classic in my head because of that despite everything else. I was surprised by how much was cut from Grim Fandango, though. That game is already long as knackers, although that partly comes from there being so much incidental stuff to look at/talk about. I wouldn't have minded meeting Manny's alcoholic brother!

Haha. Yes. That puzzle has led to me having the title beneath my name for the past nine years.

Well, let's be clear — it's pretty much double the performance of what the next-gen consoles will be offering. The Titan GPU alone shits all over the PS4 and XBone. Obviously only talking about the more powerful variation of course. If they can get these out at a reasonable price that it's going to be very exciting indeed.

Bloody hell. Much more than I was expecting.

I'm just going to interrupt this thread for a moment to mention that I've gotten Grim Fandango working perfectly with 32x anti-aliasing on my laptop, which is connected to my TV via HDMI and I'm using a PS3 pad connected via USB. It actually looks better like this than it ever has on my main PC because the distance and TV scaling seems to hide the low-resolution nature of the game's graphics, and the anti-aliasing (which finally works properly thanks to ResidualVM) takes care of the jaggies. This is — quite simply — sublime. I've spent all damn evening on it and the dialogue is still the sharpest in any game I've ever played. There's more wit in every scene of the game than most writers manage to put together in a career. I am now reminded why I once and continue to consider this the highest point that adventure gaming ever reached.

Looks great. I think a nice bit of bloom would make the more vivid scenes come alive though, take a trick out of Nintendo's book. Here's a quick example: