Sorta Nightly Open Thread
There are reasons to avoid student loans.
To which list can now be added the following: unpaid student loans could mean that you or your loved ones wind up on the receiving end of a SWAT team.
Essential facts about the gaming industry.
Who plays games? What sorts of games do they play? How old are gamers? How involved are parents in the gaming habits of their children? These and more answers contained in a dryly-named but visually well-presented report!
Turn-Based vs. Real-Time Combat.
The CRPG Addict reflects on the difference by comparing Pool of Radiance (on PC) to Dragon Age: Origins (on Xbox 360).
Full disclosure: The combat in Dragon Age: Origins is one of the things in this world that I really, strongly dislike in a manner that flirts with outright hatred. I still haven’t passed the game, because every time I try, I get annoyed with the combat and quit.
They are extending the service; it’s coming to Android tablets and the iPad this fall, apparently.
Gamers will be able to use the devices’ touchscreens or OnLive’s new Universal Wireless Controller to play. The OnLivePlayer App also integrates with HDTVs so subscribers can use their tablets as touch/motion controllers with their display.
The app will feature full voice chat-enabled multiplayer. OnLive says it will provide “the exact same functionality” on Apple and Android smartphones, too, allowing them to be used as game systems themselves or as controllers with an HDTV or PC.
Furthermore, the company revealed a 10 gigabit cloud-based browser or iPad, Android, and HDTV, which is designed to to deliver online content through the 10 gigabit/second web connections on its cloud-based servers.
So if I got an iPad…could I play Mass Effect on it?
Oh, and hey…there was a massive CME this morning!
CME, in case you weren’t familiar with the acronym, stands for Coronal Mass Ejection…it’s when the sun belches forth a massive cloud of its coronal particles and gasses.
Sweet explodyness.
The peak of the eruption took place at approximately 1:41 AM Eastern Time, just for the record.
I’m actually pretty excited for Apple’s new revision of their mobile OS, since it seems as though they’ve introduced almost every feature to it that I would otherwise jailbreak my phone for.
Is the Internet killing comedy?
Or is the Internet simply a new medium to which performance artists must adapt, lest they perish?
Did any of you hear about that webcam spying scandal at that school in Philly?
The thot plickens, apparently.
Battlefield 3 still looks awesome.
I really hope this beastie turns into the Call of Duty-killer it certainly looks like it ought to be.
Google Maps will get an offline mode this summer.
This. Is. Awesome.
In December the Android [Google Maps] app received an update that cached routes and the surrounding areas, but without a data connection you still couldn’t enter a new destination. A source inside the Dutch telco industry said that Goog[le] would removing the requirement for coverage — an obvious next step for the nav tool, especially with Ovi Maps bringing its turn-by-turn prowess to WP7. The move is also bound to be another thorn in the side of standalone GPS makers like Garmin and TomTom. After all, it’s tough to compete with free.
I use Google Maps a fair bit when traveling; having an offline version capable of searching out routes would be handier than I can convey with words.
Tonight’s post brought to you by free frogs:
Obvious course of action.
Stewart Lee is a master of his art, but he is firmly entrenched in his routine, and won’t change for anybody (which is a very good thing!).
He’s done a couple of TV series for the BBC in the last year, called “Stewart Lee’s Comedy Vehicle” and they’re as good as I’ve ever seen him really. Worth a look if you can access them anywhere.
Now to get to the RT vs. TB combat issue, my thoughts have always been that I’m fine with Real-Time so long as my companions act of their own accord (as in Ultima VII) or I’m the only character (Ultima Underworld). Turn-based is my preferred method for controlling multiple characters (early Ultima games, X-COM, Jagged Alliance).
The halfway house of the Infinity Engine games worked to a certain extent, and best in Baldur’s Gate I feel. In the BG games, there was very little micro-management required during a battle. All that was really required was choosing your offensive spells, target selection and healing. Everything else can be dealt with before/after battle.
With Origins, the combat felt like a bad version of the NWN2 combat, and required a bit more management, in particular for special abilities and spells.
I’ve often felt that there is too much focus on combat for me, I’d much prefer a game where there were fewer fights but they required a bit more thought.
I’ve never real found of the semi real time/rts approach Bioware used in their games.
I thought it was okay in infinity engine games… it was clear enough to devise some tactics and all. I feel it’s a total mess when going 3D… combats in NWN2 and DAO felt awefully confusing in both, you barely understand what is happening on screen and I just dislike it on the whole.
I actually feel it works better with the KOTOR/DAII approach since you generally has ot focus on controlling a single character.
As far as combat goes, if it’s real time I honestly prefer a more action-ish approach like Underworld, Oblivion, or even Gothic use – I’m okay with not having control over my companions, it’s actually more immersive this way.
If I have a party to control, I prefer turn based. But as it is no for games like DAO and NWN2… I basically ended playing in easy so my character can rampage through all monsters with little to do, this way I don’t have time to be bored 😛
PS: I’m aware of the irony of doing an Ultima with a game I hate the combats, but I didn’t chose NWN2 for its combat engine.