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AusGAF IV - A No Hope, Government - Double the price, region locked and now adults
- Thread starter VOOK
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Yesterday I started a long-awaited revisit to Uncharted 2. I got up to chapter 15 and would gladly have played more were it not getting close to midnight! This followed a recent playthrough of the first Uncharted a fortnight ago when I laboured through a game I remembered enjoying, but only in parts this time around.
Uncharted 2, as expected, remains an incredible experience. The improvements over the original are impressive and numerous. For the outside observer, the two games look and play very similarly, but there are a lot of subtle tweaks to the core gameplay of Among Thieves that makes the game an altogether different experience. What is eventually apparent on subsequent plays of UC2, however, are the cinematic intervals masquerading as gameplay. You know what I mean those parts of the game where it isnt quite a cutscene and isnt quite gameplay as you hold down the analog stick and push Drake in a fixed direction as explosions and cool things happen around him.
On the first play, when everything is fresh, those parts are exciting and engaging. The second time around, Im more compelled to just grind through the game and pay minimal attention to cutscenes. As such, the constrained nature of those guided intervals stands out. Sure, theyre a neat little way of driving the story forward without pulling the player out of the game entirely and the cohesive manner in which Naughty Dog tie those sequences together with raw gameplay deserves commendation. Im not saying I didnt enjoy those parts, just that the limited gameplay is more apparent on the second play when the player is already aware of what happens next. The games linearity affords a straightforward but face-paced popcorn experience which guarantees thrills but if you try to steer from the path youll soon notice the well-concealed tight rails that the game is built around.
Whether that design consideration excites or annoys is entirely dependent upon the player. I can totally understand why some gamers might get bored of that approach.
I for one, enjoy the hell out of it and will happily take more.
Uncharted 2, as expected, remains an incredible experience. The improvements over the original are impressive and numerous. For the outside observer, the two games look and play very similarly, but there are a lot of subtle tweaks to the core gameplay of Among Thieves that makes the game an altogether different experience. What is eventually apparent on subsequent plays of UC2, however, are the cinematic intervals masquerading as gameplay. You know what I mean those parts of the game where it isnt quite a cutscene and isnt quite gameplay as you hold down the analog stick and push Drake in a fixed direction as explosions and cool things happen around him.
On the first play, when everything is fresh, those parts are exciting and engaging. The second time around, Im more compelled to just grind through the game and pay minimal attention to cutscenes. As such, the constrained nature of those guided intervals stands out. Sure, theyre a neat little way of driving the story forward without pulling the player out of the game entirely and the cohesive manner in which Naughty Dog tie those sequences together with raw gameplay deserves commendation. Im not saying I didnt enjoy those parts, just that the limited gameplay is more apparent on the second play when the player is already aware of what happens next. The games linearity affords a straightforward but face-paced popcorn experience which guarantees thrills but if you try to steer from the path youll soon notice the well-concealed tight rails that the game is built around.
Whether that design consideration excites or annoys is entirely dependent upon the player. I can totally understand why some gamers might get bored of that approach.
I for one, enjoy the hell out of it and will happily take more.
Marshmellow
Member
Bernbaum said:
Nom Nom. Bring UC3 on.
FYI Bern, i recently also replayed/watched a mate play UC1 and 2 and i think it made me enjoy the experience more again by witnessing someone else enjoying it too. Hence why i shall be embarking on my UC3 journey probably controller swapping with a mate.
codswallop
Member
If your parents have a bit of tech know-how, they can just install and use Virtual Router - http://virtualrouter.codeplex.com/ Assuming they're on Windows and don't mind leaving the laptop on when the iPad needs the Internet, of course.ClivePwned said:
I used it a few months ago and it worked fantastically.
Fuuuuuuck yeeeaaaahhhhh.
Want 360 one for multiplayer and possible speed wheel support, want PSN one for bonuses and possible DFGT support. Anyone know when the PSN one comes out here? If we're stuck with the Euro release date, I'll be upset
Want 360 one for multiplayer and possible speed wheel support, want PSN one for bonuses and possible DFGT support. Anyone know when the PSN one comes out here? If we're stuck with the Euro release date, I'll be upset
ClivePwned
Member
codswallop said:
a lot of assumptions but...
-they're not not tech savvy. My dad is 70 and when he turns off the TV he turns off the Foxtel and leaves the TV running with a black screen.
-They have a very old white macbook. fantastic computer for them since they've had so few issues compared to the windows laptop they had before.
- they turn their mobiles off after every call so they don't wear it out, etc
they aren't stupid. Just not tech savvy.
codswallop
Member
WHS 1 does this, and it's a nice safety net, but the Drive Extender slows it down horribly. WHS 2 doesn't include the Drive Extender at all which means it's not in my radar at all. You can't present multiple disks as one.evlcookie said:
The Synology "RAID" (it's not RAID) I think works similar to the Drive Extender underneath it all. If you designate one spare disk, then it copies files from that disk onto all the other ones, so if you lose a disk it just recopies stuff back. I actually already experienced it because I had a faulty drive, and I didn't lose any data. Supposedly they're just ext4 disks so you can recover data using any software that reads ext4. Supposedly.
There may be something similar for Mac, but I don't have one so have never had to look...ClivePwned said:
I built my parents a perfectly fine computer 2 years ago (Dual core AMD; 2GB RAM; 7600GT; WinXP). Partially built from leftovers from my old PC, it isn't a performance beast but suits their needs perfectly.
I visit home and it's a sluggish piece of shit with multiple antivirus programs all running at once, a system tray filled with a million processes for every camera/printer/scanner they've ever owned and their only browser - Internet Explorer - is bloated with toolbars and horseshit. They use the computer for browsing, emails and backing up photos - literally nothing else.
Dad says he thinks it's time to get a new computer and I just have to bite my goddamn tongue.
I visit home and it's a sluggish piece of shit with multiple antivirus programs all running at once, a system tray filled with a million processes for every camera/printer/scanner they've ever owned and their only browser - Internet Explorer - is bloated with toolbars and horseshit. They use the computer for browsing, emails and backing up photos - literally nothing else.
Dad says he thinks it's time to get a new computer and I just have to bite my goddamn tongue.
reptilescorpio
Member
What? Uncharted sells much better than Demons Souls right? Uncharted is a system seller. As in people buy a PS3 in order to play it. Same with Gran Turismo, and by extension Forza. The Uncharted fanboys over the last few days have been no less annoying than the Zelda fanboys back around Twilight Princess back in the day. Happens with big franchise releases. Halo 3 launch was suffocating in my group of friends at the time.viciouskillersquirrel said:
Nail head. The SP is certainly a one hit playthrough just like a great popcorn flick. You go back to it in a few weeks time to enjoy the experience again but the main impact is that first hit.Bernbaum said:
Another big performer for them.jambo said:
My mate got us into the Crown Plaza in Torquay for $100 a night which is super awesome. Will have some free time on Sunday or Monday available.Shaneus said:
Bernbaum said:
use the carbon footprint argument eg: shipping parts from taiwan and sending an otherwise useful old computer to the dump is like bashing a baby seal in the head with a mallet.
Most older folk are practical enough to see the benefits of reusing.
or lie (reinstall windows and just say you put in new parts)
the placebo effect will do its job.
reptilescorpio
Member
This right fucking here.Bernbaum said:
Doesn't matter what I do to their computer they always fuck it up somehow out of nothing.
Giving them my current PC next week and will be blocking off access to damn near everything but Word, MYOB, Chrome and iTunes. Actually fuck it, maybe I will uninstall iTunes too. No chance in hell they will be allowed to download anything from the net either. System folder? Hidden.
Sweet. I could be up for a drive down to Torquay on either day (providing I score Monday off, which is likely) so maybe we'll take this discussion elsewherereptilescorpio said:
My folks are actually pretty good with theirs. If anything, they're overly cautious with what they install on their PC. Although my old man is starting to talk eBay and I'm wary that he doesn't quite have the nous to navigate it without getting screwed.reptilescorpio said:
codswallop said:
Yea that sounds about right. I think because it uses it's own controller you might be up shit creek putting it into another system. It's one of those odd things with raids, stupid things.
I believe flexraid for windows is sorta what drive extender was, Not too sure if it's worth it just yet, Could be something to mess around with.
I think i would just like to have it as a learning machine. I can fuck around with different OS's and software configs on old hard drives, see which gets me the best throughput speed and reliability. Find the solution that really fits my needs for now and hopefully in the future when i'm living on my own.
It is only $250, Which isn't too bad for a potential file server to stream all my media to whatever devices in my dream house. Plus a learning tool that i hopefully won't get bored of after 2 weeks, which i probably will.
Ugh. Random daily rant.
The games industry is obnoxious beyond belief right now. MS refusing to acknowledge hacking problems. EA lying about BF 1943. Viral marketers attacking review outlets. Press junkets for overinflated scores so that unaware customers get misled. All that other stuff I was complaining about weeks ago.
Things were so much easier when it was Sega and Nintendo.
The games industry is obnoxious beyond belief right now. MS refusing to acknowledge hacking problems. EA lying about BF 1943. Viral marketers attacking review outlets. Press junkets for overinflated scores so that unaware customers get misled. All that other stuff I was complaining about weeks ago.
Things were so much easier when it was Sega and Nintendo.
Parents/old people and technology is always good for a laugh. The weirdest thing is that my mum was an IT exec at a bank, but she really struggles with computers in general. Her excuse is something like "I don't know desktop, I only know programming systems". My dad is getting better though. He recently got a Galaxy S2 and he kinda gets it after I stripped the front page down to stuff he uses.
Fredescu said:
Yeah, reading up on it it looks like the end of 09 it was sitting around 300k WW, then the US numbers went up to 500k over the next 12 months
reptilescorpio
Member
Eh, my point was that Uncharted is a flagship series for the PS3 along with Killzone, Ratchet & Clank, Gran Turismo and God of War. The games that are usually used to promote the system, usually though advertisements by Sony. Hell, even Uncharted 3 has been doing the rounds on stuff like Jimmy Kimmel.jambo said:
Marshmellow
Member
commanderdeek said:
My parents are OLD(70's) even though i'm fairly young(22)
They have never bothered with technology and the only reason my father is even slightly competent with a computer is because he uses one at work. I still remember the days of Warcraft 1 and spending over a year straight begging and trying to convince my dad that i needed a pc upgrade.
Nintendo having a 90% strangehold on the market and using that to get away with horrible business practices? Developers only being allowed to make a certain number of games every year and being censored to hell and back?RandomVince said:
Sega owning Australia's only gaming magazine, controlling what you read about, and charging $80 for a game that took you two hours to complete?
Things sucked back then too.
Everything about the C64 was perfect
That was the sweet thing about being the only tech-savvy person in the house - you could hide shit on the computer and no-one would know. Doom was banned in the household once mum saw me chainsawing a demon in the face. I wouldn't play it often, but found a way of hiding it away from prying eyes.Marshmellow said:
Gazunta said:
Not in the 16 bit days it wasnt like that. 8bit Ill grant you, but 16bit was damn close. Plus Amiga 500 which was better than C64 by miles.
You had Treasure making games that sold well, Sonic games were good back then, and the publishers were only hostile to each other, not the gamers.
Choc said:
How many hookers?
codswallop
Member
The big thing for me with the Synology box was that it's small, pretty quiet and doesn't use much power. And the DS1511+ can be expanded to have 15 disks. Because I had the WHS box and my own desktop on 24/7, with my desktop downloading stuff and the WHS box just serving stuff, I've now consolidated that all onto the Synology box and put my computer to sleep when I'm not using it. So two computers off, one of them no longer needed, and the one remaining device is low powered and quiet.evlcookie said:
At this point I really wanted something that wasn't obnoxious and would just sit in the corner and do it's job. The only problem I've had (besides the DOA HDD) is that it doesn't have drivers to share my printer and it doesn't seem to work with my UPS (in that it can't detect when there's been an outage and shut itself off, the UPS will still provide power if the power's out).
codswallop said:
That's pretty much what I wanted from this box. I intend for it to be my downloading box and serving box for xbmc or whatever setup i use. That way i can turn my gaming machine off the 20 hrs of every day and just turn it on when i get home from work for steam chat and no gaming.
So this little thing will just sit in the corner minding its own business. I've even thought about setting up WOL to just turn it on and off at specific times, Since it doesn't need to actually be online 24/7 either unless I specify it.
It's certainly bigger than the synology and probably more annoying to setup but I do like the idea of learning what the fuck raid is, how it works, how to fix issues that may arise with whatever software i chose to go with and so on. However i am lazy!
codswallop
Member
The Synology one has a schedule you can specify, as well as working with WOL. What it doesn't do that I'd love is allow it to send WOL packets from the device, but I can live without that.evlcookie said:
Pretty interesting article on the rise of cocaine use in Sydney:
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/score-chop-snort-sydneys-cocaine-blizzard-20111025-1mhpt.html
http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/score-chop-snort-sydneys-cocaine-blizzard-20111025-1mhpt.html
reptilescorpio
Member
Who DID get the PC code aside from the little crappy sites? How come Eurogamer and RPS were looked over?Choc said:
Wait, wouldn't that make you like 5 years old when Warcraft was out?Marshmellow said:
I feel old again.
Marshmellow
Member
reptilescorpio said:Who DID get the PC code aside from the little crappy sites? How come Eurogamer and RPS were looked over?
Wait, wouldn't that make you like 5 years old when Warcraft was out?
I feel old again.
Ahh but i would have played it much later lol. when i was like 12 maybe.
1st stuff i ever played was PSX games, when i was 7 years old and i invested 500+ hours into a single Final Fantasy 7 save. i still have my old memory card with the save on it
Thankfully, I'm one of the people where it has a similar effect on me as my current ADD medication, and not the superman effect most people have. People with ADHD in general won't get the effects that others do, so any time I tried it (it was only a few times a couple of years ago) I kinda just pretended to get the same buzz anyone else hadlegend166 said:
Strangely enough, I don't hear many stories of it around Victoria. At least in Geelong, people are sticking with the "lower-class" drugs of weed, meth/speed/ice and occasionally (from what I can tell) G.
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