OK guys, I know, consumer electronics is a cut-throat business, but it wasn't that long ago that I held up LG as a no-buy... so, why, Vizio, why are you so intent on one-upping their crappiness? I mean, bad enough you're also "opting in" people to your spying schemes without their consent, but analyzing displayed content, regardless of source, to better feed advertisers, and tying that information to the IP address where the TV is in use, the better to let advertisers use that info to shape ads for other devices in the house... "intrusive" doesn't begin to describe it.
At this point, I almost hope more manufacturers take this track, if only to create sufficient market for a "dumb" TV to flourish again.
Monday, November 9, 2015
Sunday, October 25, 2015
Steam Link and Steam Controller
If you haven't guessed from my other posts, I'm a big fan of computer games and video games, back from the days of the Atari 2600 on one side, and my friend's PC with the "turbo" button that raised the clock speed from 8 to 14 MHz (as memory serves) on the other. However, for all their similarities, they've always been separate categories to me, what with one side's performance leapfrogging the others over the years, and the spaces they've been designed to occupy (living room and office) have been fairly well separated as well. Certainly, they've grown closer over the years, first with things like laptops, and then with common digital interfaces, but they're each still pretty much their own thing... that is, possibly, until now, with this pair of devices.
Steam Link
The dream for many a computer gamer over the years has been to be able to set aside the desk, table or wherever they usually use their computer, for the comforts of a den or living room. To date, the best answers for that would be a laptop (where you sacrifice screen size and possibly get burned in uncomfortable places by the heat they produce), or connecting a PC directly to your TV (which has aesthetic issues, including fan noise, plus the need to connect input devices to the PC reliably, no small feat with some wireless keyboards/mice). Now, the Steam Link provides another inexpensive ($50) option, in the form of a small box you connect to your TV, with three USB inputs for whatever devices you want to hook up to it. Using your PC's Steam client, it then connects to your PC over your network, letting you see and control the games you run on your PC at your TV, while your PC's fans howl in another room entirely, if you so desire.
That's not to say this is a perfect solution, by any means... no matter how fast your network, there is still a very small element of lag involved. That lag wasn't noticeable to me in most games, but in some "twitch" titles, it's very noticeable... for example, when I played Rocket League, it threw my timing off enough that I had more problems than usual connecting with the ball on anything other than a driving-straight-at-it course. On the other hand, things like Borderlands 2 worked quite well, once I turned off hardware stream encoding (apparently, there's an issue with AMD hardware drivers at the moment)... it might be worth trying higher-speed games once hardware encoding is working reliably again, but, as of this writing, that's the real limitation.
So, for this device, if you want to play your computer games on your TV, but don't want a PC cluttering up your living room, this is an excellent choice, especially at the price.
Steam Controller
Of course, whether you've got a PC hooked up to your TV, or you're using a Steam Link, you're still, by default, stuck with wrangling a keyboard and mouse (or trackpad or whatever) on your couch, and maybe a game controller as well, depending on the kind of games you like to play. Compared to the spartan simplicity of a game console's controller, that's a mess of hardware to have to handle (and keep clear of the snacks/beverage of your choice, in most cases). The Steam Controller is an attempt to answer that problem.
The good thing about the Steam Controller, and its greatest weakness, is that it's designed to be reprogrammable, giving it a wide range of things it can do, without doing all of them particularly well. In support of that goal, they replaced the d-pad and right analog stick with large touchpads (the left one with d-pad "grooves" for a little tactile feedback), and added grip controls and gyroscope functionality. To use a tool analogy, if the standard XBox/PlayStation controllers were screwdrivers, the Steam Controller would be a Leatherman multitool... you can use it to turn that bolt or screw, but you'll never get the stability and torque you would get out of a basic screwdriver. On the other hand, try using that screwdriver to cut, hold, file, saw, or open a can, and the Leatherman will outshine it handily.
So, enough analogy, here's what I found, playing briefly through a few types of games. As far as emulating a game controller goes, it's mediocre at best. Mapping a touchpad to act as a right analog stick is possible, but in anything that requires limited motion of that stick (think aiming your weapon in your favorite first-person shooter), it's pretty useless, due to no useful feedback as to how far off-center you are (and in what direction) beyond what the game shows you. On the other hand, games like twin-stick shooters where you're using the stick at full travel could benefit, with a bit of practice, because the larger diameter of the touchpad makes for the potential for better resolution/aiming using the outer edge of the pad. Then there's the d-pad emulation on the left touchpad... at least as shipped, the "click" feature of the pad is just too stiff to work well with the d-pad mapping, so using that in a fighting game is pretty well right out. I actually found the left analog stick to work fairly well for my limited needs there... and I believe somebody could probably get pretty good setting up a "no-click" d-pad on that touchpad, but it would take a lot of practice that your average casual player wouldn't even attempt.
Outside of any "standard" controller setup, though, that's where this controller really starts to shine. Sometimes, what you can do is limited by the game you're playing... in Skyrim, for example, you have to choose explicitly between game controller and keyboard/mouse input, and the right analog stick is near-useless for that, so you have to settle for keyboard movement controls mapped to your left analog stick if you want the precision/control of a "trackball" control on the right touchpad (which works surprisingly well, thanks to the haptic feedback clicks the controller gives you). On the other hand, Borderlands 2 will happily let you run a left analog stick from a controller with a trackball-touchpad for aiming, giving you the best of both worlds (the only issue with which is that the game gives you prompts based on the last kind of control it sensed you using, but as long as you know the buttons to use for OK, Cancel, etc., it doesn't much matter what the game calls them at the moment).
Then, of course, there's all those games you couldn't play with a controller at all before, with mouse/keyboard controls involved. I understand there may be some games that don't fare as well as with a "regular" mouse (real-time strategy games come to mind), but some of that may just come down to familiarity with the controller... I can't say, since I don't play that sort of game much. But slower and turn-based games with mouse controls aren't any issue, from what I've seen... and, if you've got a game with more controls than you can/want to map to buttons on the controller, there is also a virtual keyboard available that uses the trackpads for input which, while not as good as a "real" keyboard, is quite sufficient for limited use.
My verdict, then... as another $50 toy, if you're looking to play games on your TV that aren't optimized for a "real" game controller, this is a pretty good choice, as long as you don't mind fiddling with different controller configurations. If you don't want to deal with the fiddling, wait a few months... between community-shared configurations (I've even done a few myself) and "official" configurations put out by game developers (saw one from Firaxis for Civilization V last night, for example), the cream should rise to the top for most semi-popular games by then. Of course, the real fun will be to see what new games support, now that this option exists... but don't let wondering about the future stop you from enjoying the now.
Steam Link
The dream for many a computer gamer over the years has been to be able to set aside the desk, table or wherever they usually use their computer, for the comforts of a den or living room. To date, the best answers for that would be a laptop (where you sacrifice screen size and possibly get burned in uncomfortable places by the heat they produce), or connecting a PC directly to your TV (which has aesthetic issues, including fan noise, plus the need to connect input devices to the PC reliably, no small feat with some wireless keyboards/mice). Now, the Steam Link provides another inexpensive ($50) option, in the form of a small box you connect to your TV, with three USB inputs for whatever devices you want to hook up to it. Using your PC's Steam client, it then connects to your PC over your network, letting you see and control the games you run on your PC at your TV, while your PC's fans howl in another room entirely, if you so desire.
That's not to say this is a perfect solution, by any means... no matter how fast your network, there is still a very small element of lag involved. That lag wasn't noticeable to me in most games, but in some "twitch" titles, it's very noticeable... for example, when I played Rocket League, it threw my timing off enough that I had more problems than usual connecting with the ball on anything other than a driving-straight-at-it course. On the other hand, things like Borderlands 2 worked quite well, once I turned off hardware stream encoding (apparently, there's an issue with AMD hardware drivers at the moment)... it might be worth trying higher-speed games once hardware encoding is working reliably again, but, as of this writing, that's the real limitation.
So, for this device, if you want to play your computer games on your TV, but don't want a PC cluttering up your living room, this is an excellent choice, especially at the price.
Steam Controller
Of course, whether you've got a PC hooked up to your TV, or you're using a Steam Link, you're still, by default, stuck with wrangling a keyboard and mouse (or trackpad or whatever) on your couch, and maybe a game controller as well, depending on the kind of games you like to play. Compared to the spartan simplicity of a game console's controller, that's a mess of hardware to have to handle (and keep clear of the snacks/beverage of your choice, in most cases). The Steam Controller is an attempt to answer that problem.
The good thing about the Steam Controller, and its greatest weakness, is that it's designed to be reprogrammable, giving it a wide range of things it can do, without doing all of them particularly well. In support of that goal, they replaced the d-pad and right analog stick with large touchpads (the left one with d-pad "grooves" for a little tactile feedback), and added grip controls and gyroscope functionality. To use a tool analogy, if the standard XBox/PlayStation controllers were screwdrivers, the Steam Controller would be a Leatherman multitool... you can use it to turn that bolt or screw, but you'll never get the stability and torque you would get out of a basic screwdriver. On the other hand, try using that screwdriver to cut, hold, file, saw, or open a can, and the Leatherman will outshine it handily.
So, enough analogy, here's what I found, playing briefly through a few types of games. As far as emulating a game controller goes, it's mediocre at best. Mapping a touchpad to act as a right analog stick is possible, but in anything that requires limited motion of that stick (think aiming your weapon in your favorite first-person shooter), it's pretty useless, due to no useful feedback as to how far off-center you are (and in what direction) beyond what the game shows you. On the other hand, games like twin-stick shooters where you're using the stick at full travel could benefit, with a bit of practice, because the larger diameter of the touchpad makes for the potential for better resolution/aiming using the outer edge of the pad. Then there's the d-pad emulation on the left touchpad... at least as shipped, the "click" feature of the pad is just too stiff to work well with the d-pad mapping, so using that in a fighting game is pretty well right out. I actually found the left analog stick to work fairly well for my limited needs there... and I believe somebody could probably get pretty good setting up a "no-click" d-pad on that touchpad, but it would take a lot of practice that your average casual player wouldn't even attempt.
Outside of any "standard" controller setup, though, that's where this controller really starts to shine. Sometimes, what you can do is limited by the game you're playing... in Skyrim, for example, you have to choose explicitly between game controller and keyboard/mouse input, and the right analog stick is near-useless for that, so you have to settle for keyboard movement controls mapped to your left analog stick if you want the precision/control of a "trackball" control on the right touchpad (which works surprisingly well, thanks to the haptic feedback clicks the controller gives you). On the other hand, Borderlands 2 will happily let you run a left analog stick from a controller with a trackball-touchpad for aiming, giving you the best of both worlds (the only issue with which is that the game gives you prompts based on the last kind of control it sensed you using, but as long as you know the buttons to use for OK, Cancel, etc., it doesn't much matter what the game calls them at the moment).
Then, of course, there's all those games you couldn't play with a controller at all before, with mouse/keyboard controls involved. I understand there may be some games that don't fare as well as with a "regular" mouse (real-time strategy games come to mind), but some of that may just come down to familiarity with the controller... I can't say, since I don't play that sort of game much. But slower and turn-based games with mouse controls aren't any issue, from what I've seen... and, if you've got a game with more controls than you can/want to map to buttons on the controller, there is also a virtual keyboard available that uses the trackpads for input which, while not as good as a "real" keyboard, is quite sufficient for limited use.
My verdict, then... as another $50 toy, if you're looking to play games on your TV that aren't optimized for a "real" game controller, this is a pretty good choice, as long as you don't mind fiddling with different controller configurations. If you don't want to deal with the fiddling, wait a few months... between community-shared configurations (I've even done a few myself) and "official" configurations put out by game developers (saw one from Firaxis for Civilization V last night, for example), the cream should rise to the top for most semi-popular games by then. Of course, the real fun will be to see what new games support, now that this option exists... but don't let wondering about the future stop you from enjoying the now.
Sunday, October 11, 2015
That took a while
I just put out the final version of my previous post... I expected that to take a month, maybe two, but certainly not the better part of four months to complete. Apart from the regular suspects of "life in general", I specifically blame the Humble Bundle, which is a wonderful way to get games you have a passing interest in on the very cheap (and oh yeah, support charity while you're at it). No, I'm not going to blog about all of those games I got... in fact, I may learn my lesson here and not do another "Steam sale booty" post in the future, and restrict myself to blogging about games that really grab my attention (for example, Rocket League is some good, stupid fun, if I haven't mentioned it before... multiplayer online rocket-car soccer!).
Not that I'll run out of things to post about... I expect to get my Steam Link and controller here in the next couple of days, which should help boost my PC game-time somewhat (cats in laps and keyboards/trackballs just don't work together all that well).
Not that I'll run out of things to post about... I expect to get my Steam Link and controller here in the next couple of days, which should help boost my PC game-time somewhat (cats in laps and keyboards/trackballs just don't work together all that well).
Monday, June 22, 2015
Steam Summer Sale 2015
Another 6 months, another batch of games to report on... there's enough of them this time around that I'm just going to post this now, and come back and edit with my thoughts on individual games as I play them. Of course, if somebody's particularly interested in my thoughts on a particular game, leave a comment, and I'll push it up the queue.
Apotheon - So, you know those Grecian urns, the ones that tell stories with characters around the outside in the glazing (and I'll leave the "what's a Grecian urn" jokes to your imagination or Google skills)? What if somebody brought something like that to life, in the form of a beat-em-up platformer? This is that game... I played through the first level of it, and enjoyed beating on sea raiders well enough, and there were plenty of weapons and items to pick up and play around with. Of course, that first level ends with you getting tasked by Hera to challenge certain gods to get your lives back on an even keel... not the goddess I would think of as "benevolent", so there's probably a setup for betrayal down the road in the story. At any rate, it seems to be a decent enough little game, if you can snag it on the cheap.
Banished - OK, so I've only played the tutorials so far... because, odds are, when I pick this back up, it will devour my time for a while. Pre-industrial Sim City, but with scads of normally-glossed-over details built in (like, dietary diversity affecting the health of your residents, for example). Very much an "if it's your taste" sort of game, but if it is, snag it.
Crypt of the Necrodancer - Rogue and its many variants have always held a place in my heart, and it heartens me to see the peculiar directions that base form has evolved along. In this case, the designers decided to mix a little rhythm-game action into the mix, and it works surprisingly well. Catchy soundtrack, and a fun little game to boot.
The Depths of Tolagal - A peculiar take on the "roguelike" genre... simplified in that you don't have classes to worry about (you're a butcher, tracking down your apprentice), and you only have limited equipment options (by default, you have 3 "active" item slots for a primary weapon, off-hand weapon, and a recovery item), but complicated in that, when you have visible monsters on screen, you switch to an action-point-based move/combat system. I've descended into the depths a few levels, and generally enjoyed it, but I'm a bit concerned about the lack of loot and monster variability I've seen so far... in fairness, the monsters, at least, seem to be tied to the story the game is trying to tell, so it may open up a bit further down. I'd say, worth checking out, if you can find it for cheap.
Epic Battle Fantasy 4 - To my surprise, this apparently is an actual (albeit expanded) version of a four-so-far Flash game series. From my playtime so far, it's a mechanically-bog-standard JRPG with cute, anime-inspired artwork (not pixelated, yay!), and a tongue-firmly-in-cheek story... for example, the story starts out something along the lines of "in the last game, the heroes defeated the bigbad who threatened the world, since when they've made their living by plundering the world." The start's a bit abrupt, but not surprising for an actual sequel, I suppose, and I'll doubtless play with it a bit more, while the humor holds me... but even so, I'd say wait for a sale before you snag it (or, see if you can find the Flash games on the free/cheap).
Ether One - A neat concept that's been attempted at least once or twice before (I'm thinking of an old Amiga game whose title eludes me), where you "dive into" somebody's mind to try and fix what's broken there. This title does this as a first-person adventure game. Adventure games depend on puzzles, and in my mind those puzzles fall into one of two camps: logic puzzles, and guess-what-the-developer-was-thinking puzzles. Unfortunately, in the short playtime I endured, I ran across too many of the latter type to want to keep playing more... plus, there was a bit of the old motion-sickness starting to develop. If you have a higher tolerance for both of those, give it a go, otherwise give it a pass.
Fez - I'm frankly surprised that I never blogged about this game before, since I originally bought it for the XBox360. Neat little indie platformer with a (literal) twist... your little 2D guy gets the ability to shift his world around in 3D, letting him access otherwise inaccessible stuff, all while attempting to save the... world? Multiverse? At any rate, it's also notable for the many non-glaringly-obvious hints and tips scattered throughout, whether that's a key for the invented writing system done up as a physical embodiment of a well-known phrase, or a QR code that links you to a website with the info you need, just as a couple of examples I recall from my last playthrough. Definitely worth a look.
Gauntlet - For any of you who played Gauntlet back in coin-op days... well, this isn't that exactly, but they took pretty much every concept from that long-ago game and used that framework to design a modern, wonderful game. If you liked Gauntlet back in the day, definitely snag this... if you have no clue as to what Gauntlet was, but a (basically) top-down twin-stick hack-n-slash dungeon romp sounds like fun, snag this, too.
Grim Fandango Remastered - If you've never heard of Grim Fandango, it's one of those rare games that I think deserves to be called a "classic", doing a film noir take on the Land of the Dead. The "remastered" touches do a great deal to make it palatable to modern audiences... but, at it's heart, it's still a more-than-decade-old adventure game, with all the inevitable baggage that comes with that (like fixed camera angles, non-intuitive puzzles, and some very-low-polygon-count characters). If you can look past those issues, it's still a gem of a game... and, unlike Hollywood films, it's not like it's likely to get a full remake anytime, ever.
Hive - A computerized version of the tabletop game of the same name... frankly, I bought it to get the flavor of the game without shelling out for a physical copy. In that respect, it's a smashing success... the whole "pieces as gameboard" idea works pretty well, but it's less fluid than I expected. Didn't grab my interest hard enough to make me want to venture into the online component, but, as always, your mileage may vary.
In Verbis Virtus - If you're anything like me, after you first heard stories about wizards and the like manipulating reality with a few magic words and phrases, and maybe the odd gesture, you wanted in on that game. Well, this game tries to scratch that itch, and does a fair job of it... but I probably won't be coming back to it. Obviously, it requires a microphone, and I dislike wearing a headset... but worse, it's another one that induces motion sickness in me when I play. If neither of those are an issue for you, by all means, check it out.
Kami - OK, for a buck, this isn't a bad little puzzle game. Basically, it's a batch of 3-color paint-fill puzzles, whose claim to fame is the art style it's accomplished with (filling an area with color animates as unfolding squares of paper, which, in Japanese, is 紙, which is pronounced "kami"). Good if you're looking for something to lay back and rack your brain a bit instead of your reflexes.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - With the caveat that, with this sort of game, it's hard to really know how good it will really be after a short playtime... this looks to be a wonderful game. JRPG of the phased-combat-strategy variety with nice, anime-flavored visuals, my biggest gripe is that it's not a Disgaea game. Apart from that, if someone wanted to boost the production values that one last step, it would be to replace the MIDI music with live (those MIDI horn sounds...). Unless you just don't like this type of game, go get it.
Little Inferno - From the same people that brought you "World of Goo", it's... well, more of a toy than a game, really. Buy stuff from the mail-order catalog, and burn it in your Little Inferno fireplace. Good flame modeling, and an amazing variety of oddities to burn, just in the first couple of catalogs I completed... the flavor I get from the game is that there's going to be an environmentalist and/or anti-consumerism bent by the end... but honestly, I'm having too much fun burning things and finding combos to set up to be too concerned about that at the moment. I actually stopped for a bit because I got a "free hug" coupon, that I need to decide whether it should be burned or not... so, yeah, the game's unlike anything I've played with before, and keeps your interest, so definitely worth a go.
Magicmaker - Wonderful little pixel-art game, where you, a desperately unemployed wizard in a world of wizards, end up taking a job as a security guard at the local community college, mostly facing off against an embittered ex-employee who's teaching the monsters to use magic. Mechanically, it's cool because you use the various loot drops you get to improve and personalize your magic... so, right now, for example, my guy has a light attack that acts like a laser, burns through small obstacles, and bounces off targets to hit more targets; a heavy attack that "multi-balls" after launch, knocks back enemies, and summons minions at the point of impact; and robes that produce projectile shields and a damage area-of-effect, as well as an increase in speed. Unless any of that sounds boring to you, get this game!
PixelJunk Eden - Another one I'm surprised I've never blogged about before, this is a game that originally came out on PS3 (back when I still played that system). It's... unique, but in a good way. You play as a tick-spider-fairy... thing, who's basically helping gardens grow... strange, neon-and-pastel gardens, but still. Fun, and also generally relaxing... the only beef I have with this PC port is that you have to manually enable game controller support, and even then all the tips they give you are keyboard-and-mouse specific. Definitely worth a look.
Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages - I haven't played nearly enough of this to say if it's "really good", but I like what I've seen so far. In single-player, the game has a story to tell, about a person (you) who wakes up on the operating table, with a piece of brain removed and replaced by hardware with an AI, severe memory loss, and no time to work things out, because the ship/station he's on is under attack! Grabbing a small ship from the hangar, he does his best to escape, and drama ensues. Mechanically, it's an arcade-like 2D overhead space shooter... it's not perfect (limited top speeds and relatively small "zones" to fly around and shoot in), but it plays well for what it is, and the further you get in the story, the more bits you unlock for multiplayer games (I believe, just saw the unlock messages, didn't dive into multiplayer at all yet). Certainly worth a look on the cheap, at least.
Space Pirates and Zombies - Another 2D overhead space shooter that I like the first few hours of, at least. If I compare and contrast with Ring Runner, it's better in that it's got a more open-world feel to it, thanks to its RPG elements and a freely-explorable stargate system, but that's counterbalanced by a bit of grind through a limited set of side-mission types. Also, this game is mouse-and-keyboard only, which isn't to its benefit. So, much like Ring Runner, it's good, if you like this style of game already, and worth a look on the cheap otherwise.
Spaceforce Rogue Universe HD - Ah well, they can't all be winners, hey? Judging from the opening cut-scenes, the designer had grand plans for a space-opera story told through a cockpit-view space-combat sim, but... that opening cinematic was bad, as in not-quite-bad-enough-to-be-so-bad-it's-good bad. A crap story could be overcome by excellent gameplay, but mouse-based flight controls and a barrage of windows telling you that keyboard controls for key functions exist (without telling you what those controls are) isn't the way to showcase that possibility. Then, to top it all off, your first mission dumps you into a dogfight without any weaponry on your ship, at all. If I was kind, I'd call this game disjointed, and hold out hope that it gets better with time... I'm not that kind. Steer clear of this one.
Transistor - "Style over substance" is the phrase this game evokes with me... it's very stylish, with its jumbled Blade Runner/Tron world setup. It plays... okay, although giving you a "super" queue-commands mode that renders you otherwise helpless until your super recharges severely limits your playstyle choices. That is, of course, if you can get it to start at all... in my case, I found that I could only get the game to run immediately after a full reboot of my Windows 8.1 machine, so something's not entirely right with the code. If it weren't for that, I'd say it's good on the cheap, but now I'd have to say steer clear, unless you're using Steam and can get a refund if it fails to work properly.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - On starting, the first thing this game tells you is that it's not going to hold your hand for you. The first thing I'm going to tell you is that, well-intended as that sentiment may be, it's a mistake for this type of game. It's a very pretty "walking simulator" where you play the part of a psychic detective, following up on a letter you received from a boy named Ethan Carter who has since disappeared (and as far as I can tell so far, so has the rest of his town's people). You have your own, limited psychic abilities, and there's an occult element in play... both of which have a "cool" factor to them, but neither of which are explained at all, so it's on you to figure out how they work (or, find a spoiler site or watch a YouTube video). Beyond that, you have the basic problem of adventure games from decades past of being able to miss key pieces of puzzles, hidden in the beautiful artwork of the game... it really does come down to another adventure game where you're guessing at what the developer intended, rather than purely what the evidence before you dictates. If I come back to this, it'll be with a walkthrough on a tablet beside me, so I would have to say pass on this one.
Apotheon - So, you know those Grecian urns, the ones that tell stories with characters around the outside in the glazing (and I'll leave the "what's a Grecian urn" jokes to your imagination or Google skills)? What if somebody brought something like that to life, in the form of a beat-em-up platformer? This is that game... I played through the first level of it, and enjoyed beating on sea raiders well enough, and there were plenty of weapons and items to pick up and play around with. Of course, that first level ends with you getting tasked by Hera to challenge certain gods to get your lives back on an even keel... not the goddess I would think of as "benevolent", so there's probably a setup for betrayal down the road in the story. At any rate, it seems to be a decent enough little game, if you can snag it on the cheap.
Banished - OK, so I've only played the tutorials so far... because, odds are, when I pick this back up, it will devour my time for a while. Pre-industrial Sim City, but with scads of normally-glossed-over details built in (like, dietary diversity affecting the health of your residents, for example). Very much an "if it's your taste" sort of game, but if it is, snag it.
Crypt of the Necrodancer - Rogue and its many variants have always held a place in my heart, and it heartens me to see the peculiar directions that base form has evolved along. In this case, the designers decided to mix a little rhythm-game action into the mix, and it works surprisingly well. Catchy soundtrack, and a fun little game to boot.
The Depths of Tolagal - A peculiar take on the "roguelike" genre... simplified in that you don't have classes to worry about (you're a butcher, tracking down your apprentice), and you only have limited equipment options (by default, you have 3 "active" item slots for a primary weapon, off-hand weapon, and a recovery item), but complicated in that, when you have visible monsters on screen, you switch to an action-point-based move/combat system. I've descended into the depths a few levels, and generally enjoyed it, but I'm a bit concerned about the lack of loot and monster variability I've seen so far... in fairness, the monsters, at least, seem to be tied to the story the game is trying to tell, so it may open up a bit further down. I'd say, worth checking out, if you can find it for cheap.
Epic Battle Fantasy 4 - To my surprise, this apparently is an actual (albeit expanded) version of a four-so-far Flash game series. From my playtime so far, it's a mechanically-bog-standard JRPG with cute, anime-inspired artwork (not pixelated, yay!), and a tongue-firmly-in-cheek story... for example, the story starts out something along the lines of "in the last game, the heroes defeated the bigbad who threatened the world, since when they've made their living by plundering the world." The start's a bit abrupt, but not surprising for an actual sequel, I suppose, and I'll doubtless play with it a bit more, while the humor holds me... but even so, I'd say wait for a sale before you snag it (or, see if you can find the Flash games on the free/cheap).
Ether One - A neat concept that's been attempted at least once or twice before (I'm thinking of an old Amiga game whose title eludes me), where you "dive into" somebody's mind to try and fix what's broken there. This title does this as a first-person adventure game. Adventure games depend on puzzles, and in my mind those puzzles fall into one of two camps: logic puzzles, and guess-what-the-developer-was-thinking puzzles. Unfortunately, in the short playtime I endured, I ran across too many of the latter type to want to keep playing more... plus, there was a bit of the old motion-sickness starting to develop. If you have a higher tolerance for both of those, give it a go, otherwise give it a pass.
Fez - I'm frankly surprised that I never blogged about this game before, since I originally bought it for the XBox360. Neat little indie platformer with a (literal) twist... your little 2D guy gets the ability to shift his world around in 3D, letting him access otherwise inaccessible stuff, all while attempting to save the... world? Multiverse? At any rate, it's also notable for the many non-glaringly-obvious hints and tips scattered throughout, whether that's a key for the invented writing system done up as a physical embodiment of a well-known phrase, or a QR code that links you to a website with the info you need, just as a couple of examples I recall from my last playthrough. Definitely worth a look.
Gauntlet - For any of you who played Gauntlet back in coin-op days... well, this isn't that exactly, but they took pretty much every concept from that long-ago game and used that framework to design a modern, wonderful game. If you liked Gauntlet back in the day, definitely snag this... if you have no clue as to what Gauntlet was, but a (basically) top-down twin-stick hack-n-slash dungeon romp sounds like fun, snag this, too.
Grim Fandango Remastered - If you've never heard of Grim Fandango, it's one of those rare games that I think deserves to be called a "classic", doing a film noir take on the Land of the Dead. The "remastered" touches do a great deal to make it palatable to modern audiences... but, at it's heart, it's still a more-than-decade-old adventure game, with all the inevitable baggage that comes with that (like fixed camera angles, non-intuitive puzzles, and some very-low-polygon-count characters). If you can look past those issues, it's still a gem of a game... and, unlike Hollywood films, it's not like it's likely to get a full remake anytime, ever.
Hive - A computerized version of the tabletop game of the same name... frankly, I bought it to get the flavor of the game without shelling out for a physical copy. In that respect, it's a smashing success... the whole "pieces as gameboard" idea works pretty well, but it's less fluid than I expected. Didn't grab my interest hard enough to make me want to venture into the online component, but, as always, your mileage may vary.
In Verbis Virtus - If you're anything like me, after you first heard stories about wizards and the like manipulating reality with a few magic words and phrases, and maybe the odd gesture, you wanted in on that game. Well, this game tries to scratch that itch, and does a fair job of it... but I probably won't be coming back to it. Obviously, it requires a microphone, and I dislike wearing a headset... but worse, it's another one that induces motion sickness in me when I play. If neither of those are an issue for you, by all means, check it out.
Kami - OK, for a buck, this isn't a bad little puzzle game. Basically, it's a batch of 3-color paint-fill puzzles, whose claim to fame is the art style it's accomplished with (filling an area with color animates as unfolding squares of paper, which, in Japanese, is 紙, which is pronounced "kami"). Good if you're looking for something to lay back and rack your brain a bit instead of your reflexes.
The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky - With the caveat that, with this sort of game, it's hard to really know how good it will really be after a short playtime... this looks to be a wonderful game. JRPG of the phased-combat-strategy variety with nice, anime-flavored visuals, my biggest gripe is that it's not a Disgaea game. Apart from that, if someone wanted to boost the production values that one last step, it would be to replace the MIDI music with live (those MIDI horn sounds...). Unless you just don't like this type of game, go get it.
Little Inferno - From the same people that brought you "World of Goo", it's... well, more of a toy than a game, really. Buy stuff from the mail-order catalog, and burn it in your Little Inferno fireplace. Good flame modeling, and an amazing variety of oddities to burn, just in the first couple of catalogs I completed... the flavor I get from the game is that there's going to be an environmentalist and/or anti-consumerism bent by the end... but honestly, I'm having too much fun burning things and finding combos to set up to be too concerned about that at the moment. I actually stopped for a bit because I got a "free hug" coupon, that I need to decide whether it should be burned or not... so, yeah, the game's unlike anything I've played with before, and keeps your interest, so definitely worth a go.
Magicmaker - Wonderful little pixel-art game, where you, a desperately unemployed wizard in a world of wizards, end up taking a job as a security guard at the local community college, mostly facing off against an embittered ex-employee who's teaching the monsters to use magic. Mechanically, it's cool because you use the various loot drops you get to improve and personalize your magic... so, right now, for example, my guy has a light attack that acts like a laser, burns through small obstacles, and bounces off targets to hit more targets; a heavy attack that "multi-balls" after launch, knocks back enemies, and summons minions at the point of impact; and robes that produce projectile shields and a damage area-of-effect, as well as an increase in speed. Unless any of that sounds boring to you, get this game!
PixelJunk Eden - Another one I'm surprised I've never blogged about before, this is a game that originally came out on PS3 (back when I still played that system). It's... unique, but in a good way. You play as a tick-spider-fairy... thing, who's basically helping gardens grow... strange, neon-and-pastel gardens, but still. Fun, and also generally relaxing... the only beef I have with this PC port is that you have to manually enable game controller support, and even then all the tips they give you are keyboard-and-mouse specific. Definitely worth a look.
Ring Runner: Flight of the Sages - I haven't played nearly enough of this to say if it's "really good", but I like what I've seen so far. In single-player, the game has a story to tell, about a person (you) who wakes up on the operating table, with a piece of brain removed and replaced by hardware with an AI, severe memory loss, and no time to work things out, because the ship/station he's on is under attack! Grabbing a small ship from the hangar, he does his best to escape, and drama ensues. Mechanically, it's an arcade-like 2D overhead space shooter... it's not perfect (limited top speeds and relatively small "zones" to fly around and shoot in), but it plays well for what it is, and the further you get in the story, the more bits you unlock for multiplayer games (I believe, just saw the unlock messages, didn't dive into multiplayer at all yet). Certainly worth a look on the cheap, at least.
Space Pirates and Zombies - Another 2D overhead space shooter that I like the first few hours of, at least. If I compare and contrast with Ring Runner, it's better in that it's got a more open-world feel to it, thanks to its RPG elements and a freely-explorable stargate system, but that's counterbalanced by a bit of grind through a limited set of side-mission types. Also, this game is mouse-and-keyboard only, which isn't to its benefit. So, much like Ring Runner, it's good, if you like this style of game already, and worth a look on the cheap otherwise.
Spaceforce Rogue Universe HD - Ah well, they can't all be winners, hey? Judging from the opening cut-scenes, the designer had grand plans for a space-opera story told through a cockpit-view space-combat sim, but... that opening cinematic was bad, as in not-quite-bad-enough-to-be-so-bad-it's-good bad. A crap story could be overcome by excellent gameplay, but mouse-based flight controls and a barrage of windows telling you that keyboard controls for key functions exist (without telling you what those controls are) isn't the way to showcase that possibility. Then, to top it all off, your first mission dumps you into a dogfight without any weaponry on your ship, at all. If I was kind, I'd call this game disjointed, and hold out hope that it gets better with time... I'm not that kind. Steer clear of this one.
Transistor - "Style over substance" is the phrase this game evokes with me... it's very stylish, with its jumbled Blade Runner/Tron world setup. It plays... okay, although giving you a "super" queue-commands mode that renders you otherwise helpless until your super recharges severely limits your playstyle choices. That is, of course, if you can get it to start at all... in my case, I found that I could only get the game to run immediately after a full reboot of my Windows 8.1 machine, so something's not entirely right with the code. If it weren't for that, I'd say it's good on the cheap, but now I'd have to say steer clear, unless you're using Steam and can get a refund if it fails to work properly.
The Vanishing of Ethan Carter - On starting, the first thing this game tells you is that it's not going to hold your hand for you. The first thing I'm going to tell you is that, well-intended as that sentiment may be, it's a mistake for this type of game. It's a very pretty "walking simulator" where you play the part of a psychic detective, following up on a letter you received from a boy named Ethan Carter who has since disappeared (and as far as I can tell so far, so has the rest of his town's people). You have your own, limited psychic abilities, and there's an occult element in play... both of which have a "cool" factor to them, but neither of which are explained at all, so it's on you to figure out how they work (or, find a spoiler site or watch a YouTube video). Beyond that, you have the basic problem of adventure games from decades past of being able to miss key pieces of puzzles, hidden in the beautiful artwork of the game... it really does come down to another adventure game where you're guessing at what the developer intended, rather than purely what the evidence before you dictates. If I come back to this, it'll be with a walkthrough on a tablet beside me, so I would have to say pass on this one.
Sunday, June 7, 2015
Learn Japanese on the (relatively) cheap
So, you've decided that you want to learn Japanese, but finding/scheduling for a class is a pain, and the only other option you see is multi-hundred-dollar software from companies like Rosetta Stone. Well, buck up, there's ways to get your feet wet at a fraction of the cost (free, even!), and, while I'm still learning myself, I think I have a good grip now on what works, what doesn't, and why. Worst case, you won't be out of pocket much if you try things this way... for simplicity's sake, I'm going to round prices to approximate dollar values, as of the time this was posted. So, first...
Know why you want to learn Japanese
This may seem obvious, but I hear radio ads and the like talking about learning another language as a self-betterment tool. Frankly, if you approach it from that angle alone, you're almost guaranteed to fail... leaning any new language is a bit tricky to begin with, and Japanese has many features that make it especially tricky. You will have to learn vocabulary and grammar, things that all but require study and repetition to "take".
Work out what your base reason is for wanting to learn Japanese, because that will almost certainly be your best source for inspiration and practice. If you know someone you want to talk to, trying to talk to them is a great way to practice what you've learned... if you have a trip upcoming, that approaching deadline can help keep you on track. Or, like in my case, if you happen to watch anime and want to better understand what's going on, you can use that to practice listening "at speed" and see what you catch, versus what the subtitles say.
The fast path, or "straight up the mountain"
I'll say right out, this isn't the way I think most people want to go... yes, if you succeed, you will end up with a fair command of Japanese grammar. However, you will also likely have a limited vocabulary to work with, and, from what I've seen so far, a very rudimentary understanding of kanji, the tricky part of the Japanese writing system. Also, the source material is fairly dense, so it'll be a bit of a slog... that said, if you're looking for some basic ability in the language prior to a trip next year, this might be your best option.
For starters, any way you go about it, you need to learn hiragana and katakana, the easy parts of the Japanese writing system. There's likely other ways available for even cheaper, but the one I found effective is a little book called Japanese Hiragana and Katakana for Beginners ($9 on Amazon). Think back to grade school, where you learned your alphabet by tracing over the shapes of the letters... that's the sort of book this is, and the act of writing out the characters helps you remember the shape of the characters, however much writing you do after that.
After that, well, go check out the website Learn Japanese. It's free, but I did snag the Kindle version (A Guide to Japanese Grammar) for $5 recently. Pretty much everything you need to know is there, including many slang references, but it's pretty sparse... a little vocabulary, some brief examples, and all the grammar you can eat.
The easy path, or "the switchback trail"
This is the way I would recommend learning Japanese... not surprising, since it's the way I've learned so far. In an ideal world, you would want a tutor to teach you all the aspects of Japanese on your schedule, testing you on what you've actually learned, and patiently going back over anything you didn't quite get earlier... that's the ideal that language learning software tries to approach, but with mixed results. Most of your "big name" software is designed for teaching European languages to English speakers, after which other languages are shoehorned in to fit... and Japanese is a particularly bad fit. Luckily, there is software that focuses exclusively on Japanese learning to be had, and at a fair price, as well. My method of choice is Human Japanese ($15 on the Windows store for PCs, $10 for Android, plus other systems/purchase options, and free trials available), which teaches you hiragana and katakana, some basic vocabulary and grammar, and some cultural elements, including "polite" Japanese (as in, what you would use to talk to random strangers). I would still recommend getting a copy of Japanese Hiragana and Katakana for Beginners, since you'll still be wanting to write them out to learn, but Human Japanese is a wonderful introduction on its own.
If you're still interested in learning more after you get through that much, lucky you, there's so much more to learn. For starters, get a copy of Human Japanese Intermediate (same basic pricing structure as Human Japanese), which gives you more of the same, including some more "familiar" Japanese (like you would use with friends) and some introductory kanji.
This is also a good time to start working on vocabulary and kanji a bit outside of what the software teaches you... after all, full proficiency in kanji involves knowing about 2000 different characters, and that's easier done over time, naturally, so the sooner begun, the sooner done. Basically, what you really want is a source for kanji that you can "milestone" in some way (whether that's a book with kanji in a fixed order, or flashcards you can separate into an "I know these" and "still learning these" piles), preferably with included examples, stroke orders, and so on. You want to pair that with a "learner's" dictionary of some sort... the basic idea being, each week, you review at least some of the kanji you've already learned, learn a few more, then look up the sounds those new kanji make in the dictionary, and see whether you can find any other interesting words with those kanji in them. In the process, the more kanji you learn, you'll also stumble upon words that you didn't know you already knew the kanji for. As far as materials go, if you want to go with a kanji book, you could do worse than Essential Kanji ($15 on Amazon), which is what I'm using at the moment... although The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary: Revised and Expanded ($32 on Amazon) looks like an interesting possibility as well. If you want flashcards, Japanese Kanji Flashcards, Series 2 Vol. 1 ($22 on Amazon) are a good bet, although further volumes get increasingly spendy. On the dictionary end... well, at the moment, I'm using a copy of Merriam-Webster's Japanese-English Learner's Dictionary I got as a gift, mainly (under $1 used on Amazon). A better cheap option might be Kodansha's Furigana Japanese-English Dictionary ($18 on Amazon), if only because it doesn't use "roumaji", from what I gather.
Kanji aside, suppose you get through Human Japanese Intermediate? Well, unlike the name suggests, there is no Human Japanese Advanced as of this writing. If that's still the case when you reach this point, now would be a good time to go back and check that Learn Japanese website from the "fast path" section. You'll find that a lot of it is review material now, but with very useful sections sprinkled throughout, just because they take a different approach to teaching the material.
Either way, pace yourself and have fun
Learning a new language is no small task, and the oddities of Japanese (which, incidentally, is related to no other living language on the planet) make that task at least a little harder. That said, it's widely used by over 100 million perfectly average people, so it's quite possible for you to learn as well. It'll take time, so don't rush unnecessarily, but certainly don't stop... keep your eye on the prize, keep pushing, and, eventually, you'll get there.
Know why you want to learn Japanese
This may seem obvious, but I hear radio ads and the like talking about learning another language as a self-betterment tool. Frankly, if you approach it from that angle alone, you're almost guaranteed to fail... leaning any new language is a bit tricky to begin with, and Japanese has many features that make it especially tricky. You will have to learn vocabulary and grammar, things that all but require study and repetition to "take".
Work out what your base reason is for wanting to learn Japanese, because that will almost certainly be your best source for inspiration and practice. If you know someone you want to talk to, trying to talk to them is a great way to practice what you've learned... if you have a trip upcoming, that approaching deadline can help keep you on track. Or, like in my case, if you happen to watch anime and want to better understand what's going on, you can use that to practice listening "at speed" and see what you catch, versus what the subtitles say.
The fast path, or "straight up the mountain"
I'll say right out, this isn't the way I think most people want to go... yes, if you succeed, you will end up with a fair command of Japanese grammar. However, you will also likely have a limited vocabulary to work with, and, from what I've seen so far, a very rudimentary understanding of kanji, the tricky part of the Japanese writing system. Also, the source material is fairly dense, so it'll be a bit of a slog... that said, if you're looking for some basic ability in the language prior to a trip next year, this might be your best option.
For starters, any way you go about it, you need to learn hiragana and katakana, the easy parts of the Japanese writing system. There's likely other ways available for even cheaper, but the one I found effective is a little book called Japanese Hiragana and Katakana for Beginners ($9 on Amazon). Think back to grade school, where you learned your alphabet by tracing over the shapes of the letters... that's the sort of book this is, and the act of writing out the characters helps you remember the shape of the characters, however much writing you do after that.
After that, well, go check out the website Learn Japanese. It's free, but I did snag the Kindle version (A Guide to Japanese Grammar) for $5 recently. Pretty much everything you need to know is there, including many slang references, but it's pretty sparse... a little vocabulary, some brief examples, and all the grammar you can eat.
The easy path, or "the switchback trail"
This is the way I would recommend learning Japanese... not surprising, since it's the way I've learned so far. In an ideal world, you would want a tutor to teach you all the aspects of Japanese on your schedule, testing you on what you've actually learned, and patiently going back over anything you didn't quite get earlier... that's the ideal that language learning software tries to approach, but with mixed results. Most of your "big name" software is designed for teaching European languages to English speakers, after which other languages are shoehorned in to fit... and Japanese is a particularly bad fit. Luckily, there is software that focuses exclusively on Japanese learning to be had, and at a fair price, as well. My method of choice is Human Japanese ($15 on the Windows store for PCs, $10 for Android, plus other systems/purchase options, and free trials available), which teaches you hiragana and katakana, some basic vocabulary and grammar, and some cultural elements, including "polite" Japanese (as in, what you would use to talk to random strangers). I would still recommend getting a copy of Japanese Hiragana and Katakana for Beginners, since you'll still be wanting to write them out to learn, but Human Japanese is a wonderful introduction on its own.
If you're still interested in learning more after you get through that much, lucky you, there's so much more to learn. For starters, get a copy of Human Japanese Intermediate (same basic pricing structure as Human Japanese), which gives you more of the same, including some more "familiar" Japanese (like you would use with friends) and some introductory kanji.
This is also a good time to start working on vocabulary and kanji a bit outside of what the software teaches you... after all, full proficiency in kanji involves knowing about 2000 different characters, and that's easier done over time, naturally, so the sooner begun, the sooner done. Basically, what you really want is a source for kanji that you can "milestone" in some way (whether that's a book with kanji in a fixed order, or flashcards you can separate into an "I know these" and "still learning these" piles), preferably with included examples, stroke orders, and so on. You want to pair that with a "learner's" dictionary of some sort... the basic idea being, each week, you review at least some of the kanji you've already learned, learn a few more, then look up the sounds those new kanji make in the dictionary, and see whether you can find any other interesting words with those kanji in them. In the process, the more kanji you learn, you'll also stumble upon words that you didn't know you already knew the kanji for. As far as materials go, if you want to go with a kanji book, you could do worse than Essential Kanji ($15 on Amazon), which is what I'm using at the moment... although The Kodansha Kanji Learner's Dictionary: Revised and Expanded ($32 on Amazon) looks like an interesting possibility as well. If you want flashcards, Japanese Kanji Flashcards, Series 2 Vol. 1 ($22 on Amazon) are a good bet, although further volumes get increasingly spendy. On the dictionary end... well, at the moment, I'm using a copy of Merriam-Webster's Japanese-English Learner's Dictionary I got as a gift, mainly (under $1 used on Amazon). A better cheap option might be Kodansha's Furigana Japanese-English Dictionary ($18 on Amazon), if only because it doesn't use "roumaji", from what I gather.
Kanji aside, suppose you get through Human Japanese Intermediate? Well, unlike the name suggests, there is no Human Japanese Advanced as of this writing. If that's still the case when you reach this point, now would be a good time to go back and check that Learn Japanese website from the "fast path" section. You'll find that a lot of it is review material now, but with very useful sections sprinkled throughout, just because they take a different approach to teaching the material.
Either way, pace yourself and have fun
Learning a new language is no small task, and the oddities of Japanese (which, incidentally, is related to no other living language on the planet) make that task at least a little harder. That said, it's widely used by over 100 million perfectly average people, so it's quite possible for you to learn as well. It'll take time, so don't rush unnecessarily, but certainly don't stop... keep your eye on the prize, keep pushing, and, eventually, you'll get there.
Monday, April 13, 2015
...and a new round of fun begins
Not that it's any great surprise to anybody, but, now that the new FCC Net Neutrality rules have been published in the Federal Register, starting the clock on when they become active/enforceable, the first lawsuit has been filed. Time to see whether the defenders of the status quo can do anything effective against the new order (and, oh, I sincerely hope not).
Thursday, February 26, 2015
Good on ya, FCC!
Amazingly, nay, near-miraculously, the FCC actually followed through and regulated Internet access today. Of course, I've still got an element of "be careful what you wish for, 'cause you just might get it" lurking in the back of my mind, but I'm just pleased that, for once, on one major issue, the will of the people (in the form of over 4 million comments to the FCC) actually won out over corporate lobbying and greed. Given the response so far from the ISPs and their congressional mouthpieces, I can't help but think there will be more good than harm from this... where I hear complaints about how this will limit investment and reduce innovation on the ISPs part, I can't help but hear "we had some good scams planned, and you're getting in the way!"
Of course, now we're almost certainly in for another round of legal wrangling, especially since the legislative option is effectively locked up for a couple of years (thanks, Obama!), but it sure feels nice to have this moment, at least, where options exist, should Comcast misbehave sufficiently, other than getting inferior service through my phone company's craptastic DSL.
Of course, now we're almost certainly in for another round of legal wrangling, especially since the legislative option is effectively locked up for a couple of years (thanks, Obama!), but it sure feels nice to have this moment, at least, where options exist, should Comcast misbehave sufficiently, other than getting inferior service through my phone company's craptastic DSL.
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