Allright then, mellow out
In my previous blog I wrote about how much I deeply hated Half Life 2's installation routines. Now, to be fair and balanced, I'll write about HL2.
I run it on a S3 graphics deltachrome s8, which has all the latest pixel shaders and visual whiz bang, it is however somewhat lacking in framerate.
CPU is xp2400 and ram is 512 mb.
I run the game with all the settings to max, 16x anisotropic, no antialiasing on a 32" JVC 100 hz widescreen TV in 800x600 via the s-video cable. Framerate is sufficient.
I have also tried higher resolutions on my 17" monitor, it certainly looks cool but having the picture big on the TV is so much cooler. The card doesn't have framerate enough for those resolutions anyway.
The game starts off sort of like the first one. It is quiet, conversations you hear around you fills you in on the background of city 17 where you're at and the general despair of the populace. It seems evident that humanity will be erased and that some of them have forged an alliance with the alien invaders.
Only you can save mankind.
Image quality in this game is gorgeous. Not only because I've been watching/playing GTA san andreas on ps2 for awhile(horrendous resolution, draw distance, anything you'd expect from a 5 year old tv game platform).
It looks so different from any other game I've seen that it is hard to call it anything but the next generation. Away with all the flatness of old, this game has an extreme dynamic range much akin to reality. Reality I think about a lot when watching this game, the reality is stunning -breathtaking even. Augmenting the image quality is a physics system that is very good, also better than anything done in any other games yet. It all adds up to a deep suspension of disbelief combined with truer interactivity than ever before. Running through shoot-outs scared out of my wits I realize that I am in total control of the dynamic of the fight. It all depends on me. Exactly how I choose to blow these bad guys away. And that feels great.
The game, like its predecessor, is a horror game. And it really works, I get really involved and when I met my first zombie I almost jumped through the roof. And there's many a chance to jump through the roof in this game. Sometimes I just have to stop cause my nerves are all shot and I need a something friendly like an episode of Seinfeld to calm down with. Sometimes I play through the entire night, glued to the screen. Like a pageturning novel I just *have* to see the next scene, the next level, it *can't* wait till tomorrow.
I haven't finished it yet, soon -very soon.
But I can't wait to play it again -and again.
All my favourite games have replayabilty, meaning they're better the second and the third time -or the eleventh, than the first.
First time through a great game is exciting, but next time you have a more knowing cool, you can take the time to have fun with the system instead of just rushing to find the next level. And after that you start enjoying the little subtleties of the story, the social commentary on our present day world hidden in mannerisms and gestures. In all, the little things that make the whole.
This is the first game I've played on the TV and I very much like the experience. It is way cooler to sit in my armchair, keyboard on lap and mouse(trackball is my preference) on armrest in front of a big screen. As opposed to office chair next to a desk with a small screen(even 19" looks small next to the 32").
The problem with the TV is resolution. It's okay and 800x600 works fine, I even get some free antialiasing because the TV blurs the signal slightly.
But I really want more resolution. So my next screen will have these minimum stats
More than 40"(bigger the better)
Atleast 1280x768 resolution(not complaining about 1920x1200).
Cost less than $/€1000.
16:9 format
I know alot of people dislike back projection for all its flaws, but it looks like the best(cheapest) bet for now. 7th generation LCD is coming online this year and maybe they'll make a big hi-rez display cheaply.
Projectors are nice but getting one with enough resolution, brightness and contrast cheaply just isn't possible yet. Although I might try THGs guide to "build your own projector" -though I would need a 1280x1024 panel to satisfy minimum requirement in resolution. Why? 'Cause I wanna see 1280x720 HDTV movies without having to scale them.
Which reminds me, while a was a working in an office with paperwork I realized why the paperless office hadn't arrived.
My computer monitor was 17" but I routinely worked with multiple pieces of paper at the time. To have it on the screen instead of on paper the screen would need to be the size of my desk and have enough resolution to display atleast 8 A4 documents with enough resolution to show the small print without having to zoom in.
In fact, my entire desk should have been a screen, touch sensitive.
Maybe we're finally going there, I hope so for in my time in the office I must have consumed entire forests with all the paper I was generating.
anyway, I digress
bangskij
I run it on a S3 graphics deltachrome s8, which has all the latest pixel shaders and visual whiz bang, it is however somewhat lacking in framerate.
CPU is xp2400 and ram is 512 mb.
I run the game with all the settings to max, 16x anisotropic, no antialiasing on a 32" JVC 100 hz widescreen TV in 800x600 via the s-video cable. Framerate is sufficient.
I have also tried higher resolutions on my 17" monitor, it certainly looks cool but having the picture big on the TV is so much cooler. The card doesn't have framerate enough for those resolutions anyway.
The game starts off sort of like the first one. It is quiet, conversations you hear around you fills you in on the background of city 17 where you're at and the general despair of the populace. It seems evident that humanity will be erased and that some of them have forged an alliance with the alien invaders.
Only you can save mankind.
Image quality in this game is gorgeous. Not only because I've been watching/playing GTA san andreas on ps2 for awhile(horrendous resolution, draw distance, anything you'd expect from a 5 year old tv game platform).
It looks so different from any other game I've seen that it is hard to call it anything but the next generation. Away with all the flatness of old, this game has an extreme dynamic range much akin to reality. Reality I think about a lot when watching this game, the reality is stunning -breathtaking even. Augmenting the image quality is a physics system that is very good, also better than anything done in any other games yet. It all adds up to a deep suspension of disbelief combined with truer interactivity than ever before. Running through shoot-outs scared out of my wits I realize that I am in total control of the dynamic of the fight. It all depends on me. Exactly how I choose to blow these bad guys away. And that feels great.
The game, like its predecessor, is a horror game. And it really works, I get really involved and when I met my first zombie I almost jumped through the roof. And there's many a chance to jump through the roof in this game. Sometimes I just have to stop cause my nerves are all shot and I need a something friendly like an episode of Seinfeld to calm down with. Sometimes I play through the entire night, glued to the screen. Like a pageturning novel I just *have* to see the next scene, the next level, it *can't* wait till tomorrow.
I haven't finished it yet, soon -very soon.
But I can't wait to play it again -and again.
All my favourite games have replayabilty, meaning they're better the second and the third time -or the eleventh, than the first.
First time through a great game is exciting, but next time you have a more knowing cool, you can take the time to have fun with the system instead of just rushing to find the next level. And after that you start enjoying the little subtleties of the story, the social commentary on our present day world hidden in mannerisms and gestures. In all, the little things that make the whole.
This is the first game I've played on the TV and I very much like the experience. It is way cooler to sit in my armchair, keyboard on lap and mouse(trackball is my preference) on armrest in front of a big screen. As opposed to office chair next to a desk with a small screen(even 19" looks small next to the 32").
The problem with the TV is resolution. It's okay and 800x600 works fine, I even get some free antialiasing because the TV blurs the signal slightly.
But I really want more resolution. So my next screen will have these minimum stats
More than 40"(bigger the better)
Atleast 1280x768 resolution(not complaining about 1920x1200).
Cost less than $/€1000.
16:9 format
I know alot of people dislike back projection for all its flaws, but it looks like the best(cheapest) bet for now. 7th generation LCD is coming online this year and maybe they'll make a big hi-rez display cheaply.
Projectors are nice but getting one with enough resolution, brightness and contrast cheaply just isn't possible yet. Although I might try THGs guide to "build your own projector" -though I would need a 1280x1024 panel to satisfy minimum requirement in resolution. Why? 'Cause I wanna see 1280x720 HDTV movies without having to scale them.
Which reminds me, while a was a working in an office with paperwork I realized why the paperless office hadn't arrived.
My computer monitor was 17" but I routinely worked with multiple pieces of paper at the time. To have it on the screen instead of on paper the screen would need to be the size of my desk and have enough resolution to display atleast 8 A4 documents with enough resolution to show the small print without having to zoom in.
In fact, my entire desk should have been a screen, touch sensitive.
Maybe we're finally going there, I hope so for in my time in the office I must have consumed entire forests with all the paper I was generating.
anyway, I digress
bangskij
posted by bangskij at 13:19
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