Wednesday, March 23, 2011

post://2350774821227249358/

I got my hands on Crysis 2 for PC yesterday. I was very excited having seen it and played it on multiple machines at PAX East several weekends ago. It came on one disk, which was good in regards to time to install, but I'm still impressed by GTA IVs 2 DVDs / 18G worth of textures and data.

I started it up and it was 4:3 by default... no one plays in 4:3 anymore, so straight to the options I went. The first thing I noticed was the lack of settings, though with some further reading I have heard that the display config file is editable. You can change the resolution, and the quality, so Low, Medium, High, and Ultra - though they all have their own special names like "Gamer" and "Extreme" for the top two.

I went realistic and set to 1920 x 1200 (basic 1080p at 16:10 aspect ratio) and Extreme, figuring I'd need to set it down once the game started. I have an AMD Phenom II x4 @ 3.2ghz, Dual Channel DDR3 @ 1600mhz (don't get me started on available SLi / TriChannel ram options for AMD chipsets) and 2 x EVGA 285GTX FTW 2G cards so based on the previous games (Crysis, Warhead) I assumed I'd still be a little behind the curve. That was not the case, all in all the game worked at a steady 60+ fps, no vsynch at 1920 x 1200 and a good 45fps at 2560 x 1600 in the Extreme setting.

I started the game and was treated to a phenomenal opening sequence, followed by a brief gameplay escape which cut to the intro credits and the initial introduction video. It set the scene for an ominous situation in the NY of the future (complete with completed Freedom Tower, I noticed) plagued by a widespread alien infection.

You start inside, murky warehouse windows, moderate light shining through. No light beams, and moderate grimy textures, nothing specifically too impressive, though it all looked good. You get outside pretty quickly and realize you've emerged onto a seaside warehouse roof with the city skyline in front of you. The ocean, trees, and ship in the dock is all obscured by heavy ansiotropic filtered light, a major part of the effects.

Another point I want to note was my test of the artifacts, the bullet holes and debris left by explosions. I shot a car, I didn't see any bullet holes, I got a bit closer... they appeared in strategic locations, not in others - there was nothing on the car window, or the back of the mirror, but there was several in the door. I shot them again close up, some appeared but as I backed up to (a virtual) 5 feet away, they went away. I shot the tire, it popped, stayed popped. I shot the hood with a smiley face pattern I didn't even get to half the smile before the eyes disapeared. This is on Extreme quality, mind you - that sort of stuff should be no problem to leave, especially for me with 2G of video RAM (with SLi you only get the video ram of 1 card since it uses the same amount for both cards). I then shot at an awning that was swaying in the breeze. I was impressed that the bullet holes appeared, cloth ripping is not really new, but physx is normally an afterthought - Batman uses it well with the cape, cloth tearing and uses it for some immersion. This was no physx. The awning moved again in the breeze and the bullet holes went away, as soon as the "cloth" breezed back to the 0 degree Y plane, the bullet holes appeared, and disappeared again as it breezed past it. I know I'm being picky, and this may pass on consoles but not for PC, especially with many other games that show it can be done well.

All I keep reading regarding the PC reviews about this game is "what do you mean, this is the best looking game to date!" Maybe for a console, but this is on PC - we're used to ports on PC, we put up with them, but this was originally a PC game and more is expected. EA bought it, pushed it for the money maker and this is what we get. My only hope is the hubbub about the DX 10/11 post-release patch. I don't know as that's going to do anything for the textures, but it seems silly that they'd limit the textures as (I'll use GTA IV in this example) other games have 2560 x 1600 textures to start, and they're reduced in size for the console version, and even the lower quality texture tiers on PC. This results in a better image overall because if you design the detail, reducing it actually smooths it out as well as saves GPU power / memory.

The story is cool so far, the gameplay is cool - nowhere else can you get a FPS that plays like this. It's truly gratifying to run up on someone in cloak and slit their throat, break their neck, or kick them in the back... sneaking, cloaking, shooting, and cloaking again is a little harder as it's designed so your energy has not regenerated enough in most cases so you still need to have some cover. Speaking of cover, there is a new method of cover I have not seen in any other game, counters and corners allow you to hold a key (or a mouse button) and move the mouse to "look" around the corner, it's more of an arc around / over the obstruction, which is very very tactical.

Story: Excellent
Sound: Amazing
Gameplay: Impressive
Graphics: Excellent for DX 9 / a year ago, low quality textures (above 1920 x 1080)
Technology: No x64 (yet?) no DX 10 / 11 (yet?)
Multiplayer: Broken (not available on launch day) - EA - Estimated Availability

All in all I have to fault it for the graphical shortcomings but I'll be playing the shit out of this game.

Here's some movies / screenshots:
































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posted @ 10:19

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Tuesday, July 20, 2010

post://2833144171902749930/

I know I'm going to regret trying to type something out on this laptop. I always hit the touchpad and sometimes even jump up and delete entire paragraphs if I'm not paying attention. In any case I'm writing this on my laptop because I didn't include my northbridge (MCP) temp on my monitor when I was overclocking. I had pretty good CPU temps but the northbridge got heated up way too high when the computer decided to come out of sleep for whatever reason and sit there baking in a 90 degree room with no A/C turned on.

Once I got wise (after it happened for like the 5th time) I would shutdown instead but it had already done it's damage. It only got hotter after that and would freeze more and more frequently. First I could have the A/C on, then I could only play for 3 hours or so before it would overheat, then 2 hours. I wasn't looking at MCP so the relatively high CPU tempts I assumed were the culprit. I clocked down the voltage, speed, everything back down to stock but the freezing / overheating remained. By this time I was watching the MCP and it was climbing higher.

The CPU was roughly 45C at idle and up to 55C at load overclocked from 3.2 to 3.9ghz - it's a 4 core Phenom II 955. The board is an ASUS M3N-SLi with built in heatsink for the memory (memipe). I had it tweaked up pretty good, and the extra oomph game the ceiling I needed for GTA & Bad Company 2. I had no more CPU ceiling in those games, but it took it's toll and eventually baked the heatsinks on the board. I haven't actually taken them off yet. Instead I elected to sell my old RAM and CPU (a Phenom 9950 4x 2.6ghz) along with my old video cards (2 x EVGA 280 GTX 1G) to finance an updated board.

I replaced the CPU a month or two ago - AM2 to AM3 - which I was impressed was possible with the AM2 motherboard, but my thirst for power was too great. I still have my old CPU so selling that with the memory to someone else with the same board seemed to make the most sense. I have OEM SuperTalent memory - undocumented overclocking gaming memory 5-5-5-15 Dual Channel DDR2 @ 1066mhz so there's even some special voltage settings to get those to work right, that was a good month or so of testing to get that solid but damned if they ain't the most that can be gotten out of 8g of DDR2.

So I had to settle for a not so great motherboard because I wanted DDR3 & SLi. If I had two ATI graphics cards I would be fine, there are tons of offerings out there for AM3 DDR3 Tri Channel Crossfire but with what was available for SLi left me with a choice of SLi or Tri Channel DDR3 - I already have 2 x EVGA 285GTX 2G cards so had to say bye bye to my Tri Channel Dreams. I will do something in the future, and when the next video card choice comes along I will need to make my decision. I have been with NVidia for quite some time now and don't plan on moving... AMD might have to go bye bye to make way for Intel and intelligent choice of what I want in a motherboard. If they don't do something with the selection I'll have to abandon AMD.

So the new system will be Dual Channel DDR3 with the Phenom II chip and SLi - got a new case while I was at it, I was tired of trying to make it all fit and cursing the case evertime I had to touch it. The stuff should come tomorrow, but not sure I'll touch it yet.

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posted @ 19:32

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Wednesday, December 16, 2009

post://624288174965906696/





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posted @ 10:18

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Tuesday, December 08, 2009

post://2179114379212042377/







I had downloaded Battlefield 1942 for the PS3 a while back, shelled out the $15 and it's relatively good. Destructable environments basic gameplay on what Battlefield should be (not Bad Company) and decent graphics for a console.

I was especially excited about the prospect of battling cross-platform. PS3, XBOX, and PC all in the same realm? Sign me up to scalp them with my mouse! In any case the PC version was still forthcoming, but after trying the demo I am abhorred by what they provided for the PC version.

No widescreen resolutions, vile texture quality, simplistic scenes, it's like playing original Battlefield 1942, stunted! I don't even think it looks as good on the PC as the original Battlefield would look if I installed it right now, but enough of me hemming and hawing, let the pictures speak for themselves:

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posted @ 20:21

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Saturday, September 19, 2009

post://1549686946649553205/

PhysX has been added to the PC version of Batman with the v1.1 update. It does not ship with PhysX settings out of the box. Once installed you are provided several options for PhysX - Off, Normal, or High with various card recommendations.

The nVidia drivers allow you to change the PhysX settings - turning optimization on or off as well as the ability to choose which card handles the PhysX acceleration. I had thought offloading PhysX from my 2 x 285GTX2G cards working in SLi to the built-in 980a/780a would make things faster:



However, after applying the v1.1 w/ patch PhysX Batman, Normal PhysX was enabled. I was suddenly getting very low framerates (15fps). I turned on the "Show SLI Indicators" in the 3D settings menu so I could see how hard each of the video cards were working. They were both very low, indicating the cards were not working up to their ability, yet things were still slow. CPU usage hadn't spiked high enough to be a bottleneck and memory was free and clear.

It appeared having the PhysX on the older (and slower) chipset was slowing everything down. To test the theory I turned off PhysX and was getting framerates in the high 50s. It certainly was PhysX related.

I turned PhysX back on, normal setting and in the nVidia control panel I changed the setting to enable PhysX on the 285s instead of the 980a/780a. When I tried it again PhysX was visibily running, fallen leaves moving under your feet accompanied by smooth framerates between 55 to 60fps.

Based on this experience it appears that having PhysX enabled on an older chipsets may actually decrease performance over having PhysX enabled on the same video card(s) doing the graphics processing.

Here is a video of Batman running @ 2560 x 1600, Very High Detail, comparing PhysX - Normal to PhysX - High

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posted @ 19:49

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Monday, September 14, 2009

post://2466185940127249611/

Here are some pics of GTA before and after.
Both are playable at 40 to 45fps.

Vista is overclocked video chip / mem ~ 745mhz / 1265mhz
Win7 is stock video chip / mem ~ 705mhz / 1215mhz

Vista .5
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Vista 1
Win7 1
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Vista 2
Win7 2
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Vista 3
Win7 3
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Vista 4
Win7 4

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posted @ 14:20

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Saturday, August 15, 2009

post://3422656839146403744/

Batman Arkham Asylum DEMO doesn't launch correctly on 64 bit versions of Windows. You get an int32 error when launching which appears to be a misdeclared variable in the HTTP based launcher. The developers are aware of it but if you're looking to play the DEMO now here's a work around:

You may need to change your INI files around a bit, I tried to crank it with a 10 for the quality and a 5 for the effects, I don't like too much motion blur, I appreciate the cinematic effects but also like to see what's going on even when there is high motion.

In any case here are the files, you'll need to place them in your [Batman Demo]\BmGame\Config folder:

From what I've gathered UserEngine is your main INI:

[Configuration]
BasedOn=..\BmGame\Config\DefaultEngine.ini

[SystemSettings]
Fullscreen=True
UseVsync=True
AllowD3D10=True <- needed if you are running VISTA
ResX=2560
ResY=1600 <- this is your resolution, X by Y
EffectsLevel=5 <- I am not sure how high this goes, it might go to 10?
MaxMultisamples=1 <- this might be AA
DynamicLights=True
DepthOfField=True
LensFlares=True
Bloom=True
DynamicShadows=True
MotionBlur=True
Distortion=True
FogVolumes=True
DisableSphericalHarmonicLights=False
AmbientOcclusion=True
DetailMode=10 <- again, not sure how high this goes, I set to 10
MaxShadowResolution=1024 <- this was originally set to 512, I set higher to improve performance
IniVersion=5.8

[Engine.Engine]
PhysXLevel=1 <- I am not sure if a higher number (5? 10?) might improve PhysX, runs well as is but I didn't find much for a physics in the demo
Language=int

[DevOptions.Shaders]
bAllowMultiThreadedShaderCompile=True <- this appears to be only a debug option but I set to True to possibly increase multi-threaded performance

Here is the first pass I did with the default INI from the boards:


...and then with my current INI available for download:

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posted @ 18:36

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Saturday, February 14, 2009

post://5313472958211376515/

I just downloaded the largest demo ever: 2.9 gigs, and it turns out that's because it also has the full game in it. When you go to install it you are presented with 2 buttons: Install Trial or Install Full Game, naturally I chose Install Full Game where it presented me with a spot to put in a registration code from EA. I didn't have one but I did see that it's $39 at the EA store so you can download the demo and turn it into the full game.

I thought game companies did away with this sort of thing. Isn't it a little too tantalizing to have a carrot dangled in front of a hackers face of being able to download the full game right out the box or are they confident that their downloadable game technology is safe?

In either case it's kinda cool to be able to download the demo, figure out if you like it and then click a button and input a code to get the full thing. Also cool if you know how to crack I suppose. If it's good I might just consider paying them the $39 though, I like to support good ventures and there's a shortage of racing games in the PC world that don't have hokey dialog (now that they've turned NFS into a bad 2Fast movie).

[Buy the Game]
[Download the Demo & See Screenshots]

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posted @ 08:16

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Sunday, January 25, 2009

post://6816059569584533463/

So I've spent the weekend... well, I guess that could be extended to the past month, doing computer stuff. I placed the hardware order on December 31st (so I could include it in the business costs for 2008) and received them on the 7th or so.

From there on it's been computers, computers, computers. I upgrade my own to free up a power supply and memory for my new Media PC for the living room. I took all the old stuff I had and got a brand new media pc case for it all. It's about the size (amazingly close in size) to my receiver and now have it all nicely arranged in the new entertainment center.

The original order started with Jamie. Her computer was up to the gill in spyware and antivirus and she was looking for a way to record TV. Since the existing setup couldn't quite pull that off I came up with a solution for her - a Media PC / desktop. That got me thinking about an actual media PC for myself and lead to me ordering the new case and replacement parts for my desktop so those old parts would be available for the Media PC.

In any case I came up with a really nice Thermaltake box case (like a shuttle case on steriods) and TV card arrangement. I waited on the TV card for myself until I could confirm if Comcast is QAM in my area. Per my experience with Jamie's PC being plugged into my cabe I can confirm it is not. They give me one digital channel in high quality off the line and it's always an add for a Wrestling PPV. So the only channels on my network are analog and most of those have that little known property that Comcast actually just got fined for - many of the channels say "this channel is still available on the digital teir" to try and entice the $13 a month-ers.

So I was working on 3 computers, more upgrading 1, making another from old parts in a new case and building a new system. Then Joe from Finishline called me. I haven't done business with him in a while - over a year in fact. It got where I was spending a lot of time supporting him over the phone with questions and the like and not getting anything from it. I finally started charging him for phone support and he didn't pay those invoices. I took the loss and moved on but he recently started calling me again when "his computer got stolen". He had taken it to a local shop for repair and they closed up and took his computer with them. They didn't return it and wouldn't return his calls. He ended up getting it back but it had been in the middle of a system refresh and was apart all over the place. He was in a bind and I'm planning on charging full price, so I agreed - that made the 4th.

So here I am in the office all weekend, with multiple computers on a KVM going back and forth between them, installing, downloading drivers, tweaking, and loving it. Of course, my ADD (or so the pamphlets would have me believe) never lets me focus for very long so I'm in and out of the office as things format and download so I'm not completely holed up the whole time. As a matter of fact I even had dinner with my wife last night, then we watched the office (had to resort to Hulu due to the cable issues) and then caught up on the Kyle XY finale from last year (we'll probably check out this season tonight). I then had Nicole try out Civ on the PS3. It's a pretty good game, and she didn't experience anywhere near the performance problems I had. She won via domination but to be fair she was building the United Nations... it just happened that Abraham Lincoln got his panties in a bunch before it could get completed.

So though I've been busy this weekend, but all in all it's been fairly enjoyable. The only thing I might like more is if the office was clean, but I can get around to that once I'm not using it to build. I so need to sort through my stuff and throw out the old parts(PIII and under). As it is I could never receive purely professional customers.

Side note - found this while browsing: The Unwanted Blog
It's got a lot of very cool general interest stuff as well as technological and historical items. A great blend of all things I'm interested in.

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posted @ 13:35

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Wednesday, December 10, 2008

post://1480953871889639729/

So this shows a few issues with Rockstar's "video editor" in GTA IV for PC.
You'll notice you don't see any fire after the first clip or two yet some vehicles tend to blow up for no reason. I'm a little disssapointed considering it took me over 40 minutes to encode this "web quality" video. Other options are 720p and 1080p. Last time I tried 1080p I crashed. Go fig.

Anyhow, take a look at my GTA 'fire storm' video here.

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posted @ 23:23

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Friday, December 05, 2008

post://2095755929140285485/





Latest Benchmark3DMark06 - 11059
2.0 PCI Ex Motherboard3DMark06 - 10879
1.0 PCI Ex Motherboard w/ 2 8800 GTX3DMark06 - 10674

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posted @ 04:21

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Thursday, December 04, 2008

post://1960250936291300007/

Ya know... sometimes I hate PC gaming and then other times.

I looooove it:
[ 1st Try, beloved MMA10 ERROR ]
[ GTAIV 01 ]
[ GTAIV 02 ]
[ GTAIV 03 ] *
[ GTAIV 04 ]
[ GTAIV 05 ]

* = driver upgrade mmmm hmmm

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posted @ 21:44

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Saturday, November 08, 2008

post://2455176128710699342/

I saw a link when I published for "add gadgets to your blog"
I'm still using a template and I like i that way. I have my own ways of adding things to the page but I don't have the time to do it. That's why the scrolling links page has been a white box slapped on top of everything else for so long. I know what I want to do with it, but haven't gotten around to it.

In any case I thought Google's new gadget APi looked like a pretty cool idea.

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posted @ 12:34

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Monday, November 03, 2008

post://3136412013318335276/

Hummina humina - Fallout 3 is fabulous. It's everything I wanted it to be. It plays similarly to Oblivion with all the awesomeness of Oblivion & Fallout combined.

The combat system is your run of the mill point and shoot... until you activate VATS which stops the action and allows you to choose which body part of which target you want to shoot, with a very RPG % likeliness of hitting each body part.

You can shoot the gun out of their hand - or blow the arm off completely - and to accompany these shots is an awesome (VERY bloody) camera shot in bullet time. Slice their head with a knife, break their leg with the bat, or shoot off their gun hand - it's great.

Here are some screenshots:

Here is a video montage (sans music?) I made of a few attempts at VATS:

Fallout3 Screenshot 01
Fallout3 Screenshot 02

I was limited to 30 sec with trial version of FRAPs but only took me like 10 takes, so here are the 3 best sequences :)
Fallout3 VATS System Preview Video

**UPDATE** I gave in and got the full version of FRAPs and it was TOTALLY worth it, check it out: Video: VATS Killshot

Coming soon - "killing in the name of" soundtrack

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posted @ 12:29

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Monday, October 13, 2008

post://7660891626207946375/

I've been loving 2560 x 1600 for all games lately with the latest version of nVidia drivers and now I took some video. First one is 25fps, other 2 are 60 fps but I belive Windows Movie Maker does 15fps for WMV 720p. They were originally recorded at 2560 x 1600 but the compression doesn't really do it justice.

In any case, have fun viewing:



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posted @ 21:58

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Thursday, October 02, 2008

post://2317820311472832986/

nVidia has finally gotten around to upgrading their cards with PhysX. They bought Agea a while ago, and it's been a long time coming. Any nVidia card that is an 8 series or above is able to be upgraded, which means no separate PhysX process is required, the firmware update uses the GPU to do all the cachunking of the (previously) dedicated physics chip.

This means towers that can be taken down, realistic wall destroying, and many other items only possible with a physics engine. Just like GPUs advanced the graphics, Physics processing will advance the gameplay and realworld feeling of video games.

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posted @ 19:44

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Thursday, June 26, 2008

post://8714019405679459031/

I submitted a photoshop to'day. It's only using paint... so I guess it's a paint-shop. In any case check out the submission. I've also got the original.

Only 3 more days to watch "Back to You" on Hulu!

I found I really liked it once I checked it out - turns out it's because it comes from the creators of Frasier and Just Shoot Me, working together. Don't get too attached to Gracie... I still say they're mad for changing (ie: "...going in a different direction.")

Oh yeah... catch up on your ALF!

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posted @ 19:11

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Sunday, June 01, 2008

post://2279815248762638880/

If you thought Crysis was cool:
Video: First look at FarCry2

They did it even better with FarCry 2, without aliens.

Top 100 Best Tech Products - top 10 are right on... minus a few (like Facebook, XP?!!). I had never heard of the SD card that turns your camera into a wifi device.

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posted @ 09:24

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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

post://2241580024027101468/

This whole review is good, but this part about Bioshock DX9 vs DX10 screenshots is pretty apparent that it's not worth another $800.

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posted @ 18:42

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Thursday, August 23, 2007

post://6468140070894410466/

I played BIOSHOCK last night - loved it, in fact, here's another bioshock screenshot I got "on the way down".

I purchased it on the way home today. It is a very very nice looking game. I enjoy the concept, and I LOVE the art deco. The artists who created this masterpiece should be congratulated and hugged.

I'll be posting more of the interesting screenshots as I go. I'll be replaying the demo levels so I'll know when to snap. Hopefully XFire grabs them this time - last night it didn't want to work so I had to use print screen which doesn't always work how you want it to.

Oh... forgot something - XBox controller. It was designed around it - so I can sit back and I don't have to be all up in the piece that is the keyboard and mouse.

Love... it.

downsides:
Widescreen <-debunked via www.cultofrapture.com (official site)
Online Activation - can only activate 3 computers, must be online to activate

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posted @ 17:47

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