And the text review (just a more formal version of what I say in the video):
After I pretty savagely reviewed gm_beachplay, I was worried that I'd been too harsh and would have offended Samurai Jack - but no, he bounced right back and let me know that he had taken all my criticism on board and was working on a new map which would be much, much better. It was made under the working title "Abandoned Field" and was released recently as gm_nightfield. At first glance it seems to be a great improvement on Samurai Jack's previous work, especially in terms of detailing and lighting. There are some very atmospheric areas and it's obvious that a lot of time and effort was put in to give this more of a sense of place - rather than just a level in the middle of nowhere. Well, I say that, but while it's definitely an improvement that there is a 3D skybox at all, it's very minimalistic and doesn't have any ground, so the world still just falls into the sky at the edges of the playable space and buildings are almost pitch black. Lights work in the skybox as well, so use them! There are also a few bugs with the skybox, for example this group of trees which seem to be fullbright. There is plenty of playable space, and even some football goal posts for games although I'm not entirely sure where that idea came from considering the rest of the map seems to be based on some sort of oil refinery. It sounds like a Billy Connolly gag - a football pitch in the middle of a working class factory. Annoyingly though, unlike beachplay, the sky is quite low in nightfield removing any chance of tall constructions, which is pretty surprising considering how tall some of the structures in the map itself are. This platform, for example is only a few metres under the limits of the sky. Texturing is pretty bland throughout, and I think that now you've gotten really good at lighting, you should concentrate on improving your texturing. There are some pretty odd choices for some textures like the bottom of the ramp which looks pretty terrible or the water next to it which I'm pretty sure is DX7 water considering it doesn't seem to cast any reflections. Even in some of the best looking parts of the map you can see texturing issues. Take a look at this for a second. You've got this neat, seemingly Portal-inspired area and the metal block texture the walls are made of is divided into squares which fit neatly in the Hammer grid, yet you've cut this big hole out of them in odd places when aligning it to the edges of the texture would have been fairly easy. Displacements are quite jaggy in places, and here they don't even come close to touching the ground and seriously - what is up with these stairs? That's just lazy. Once again there're no AI nodes, so NPCs are pretty useless and can you tell me what is meant to be casting this light? There are just a bunch of really obvious bugs that leave this map feeling unfinished that should have been noticed during testing. I? Hmm? Uh, so as I was saying - this is probably the best Gmod map I've ever played. The interactive bits are great, like the totally over-the-top teleport system which sends the player flying out of the building and the floodlights with Crossfire-esque alarm system. Really nice touches which give the map a real edge. The lighting outside is really atmospheric and I can see this being really fun to play on with a bunch of mates. There's even a bunch of easter-eggs to find and more places to explore than you can shake a stick at, although I feel the subtle art of stick shaking is somewhat lost in Garry's Mod. Seriously, though. This is a pretty damn good map - it just needed to be tested more before release.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
Commented 13 years ago2011-02-16 14:30:14 UTC
in journal: #7048Comment #55216
I tend to have more bus-crazies than train-crazies, but I've had similar experiences. Don't feel bad for not getting involved - you could have been hurt.
Commented 13 years ago2011-02-07 07:07:10 UTC
in journal: #7026Comment #53634
Heh, I was going to mention Need for Speed but you beat me to it. Hot Pursuit is such a broken, consoletarded game I genuinely regret buying it - and I very, very rarely regret buying games. I've ranted and raged on the official forums, as well as sending official support tickets about utterly game-destroying bugs, crashes and basic problems and they never reply with anything useful or even show that they've taken the information on board. For example, the recent patch absolutely wrecked compatability with a large number of logitech steering wheels resulting in them not differentiating between turning left and turning right. Hundreds upon hundreds of people have been complaining for the past week because they can't play the game (It's not worth playing with a keyboard) and there hasn't been a single official acknowledgement of the problem.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
Commented 13 years ago2011-02-01 09:42:36 UTC
in journal: #7016Comment #62141
Women are great, just avoid the bipolar psycho variety unless you find yourself stuck with one. In that case, stick a cock in their mouth - if they can't speak, they can't cause problems.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
Commented 13 years ago2011-01-21 19:32:02 UTC
in journal: #6996Comment #57273
Yeah, it really does look pretty exceptionally terrible. And yet I'm probably still going to buy it, as are several million other gamers. Brand power is an amazing thing.
Commented 13 years ago2011-01-17 06:35:06 UTC
in journal: #6988Comment #48059
Tom Francis, I think it was, of UK's PC Gamer magazine wrote a feature on doing this. It was incredibly funny. I'll try to dig it up and post it here.
Also, you're not the only one. Mafia 2 devs noticed people doing this in GTA, and added a limiter button to all vehicles which will constantly change to match the speed limit of the road you're driving on. Of course they then added police who give chase if you go 1mph over the limit which sounds cool and realistic in theory, but in practice just means that driving becomes a chore .
Commented 13 years ago2011-01-16 13:23:08 UTC
in journal: #6986Comment #57233
Archie's 2 cents:
A pre-recorded vlog from several hosts is, in my opinion, far more challenging logistically to produce for the following reasons. First and foremost - it means one person is stuck with editing several people's footage and awkward, pre-recorded audio. Not only is this a pain in the ass to edit, but also the seemingly simple task of getting this media to the editor will be a challenge due to predictably high file-sizes. A further problem is that Americans will be recording with NTSC 29.9fps while most of the rest of the world uses the PAL 25fps system. Frame dimensions also differ between the two, resulting in more grief during the post production process.
Also, on Steam you were saying you just want pre-recorded screen-captured footage with voice-over? This will be dead boring with dead robotic sounding audio. See any of the early TWHL motm reviews for an example of how boring it can be.
Your original idea, I think, is much more interesting and probably much more entertaining. Several hosts being recorded live (audio at least, although I think it would benefit from some webcam face-time) with footage of the map/mod in question being cut into it at relevant moments will result in far more humorous dialogue and far more relevant information being conveyed during the reviewing portion, as there would be a live point;counter-point scenario (one person makes a point, another can say why they disagree/agree.) This makes reviews much more balanced and relevant.
Further benefits would be that if one person is recording everyone, we don't have the issue of varying video formats, and if the person recording is the person editing, we also don't have to worry about transferring massive files.
It could still be presented as a 'TWHL Weekly' - there's no need to use a livestream or anything, but the format of a live show is far more engaging to viewers - even if they're only watching a recording of it - than any simple scripted voice-over would be.
edit: I think I gave you 5 cents too many.
editedit:
Think of it like Top Gear. The show is awesome because of the banter between the hosts. It has some recorded voice-over over footage of the cars being reviewed, of course, but if it was just that, nobody would watch it.
This comment was made on an article that has been deleted.
Commented 13 years ago2010-12-24 20:12:07 UTC
in journal: #6949Comment #43012
Urby is so similar to Ben "Yahtzee" Crawshaw that he's actually outright plagiarised him in the past. However, Urby maintains that he brought Trilbies back before Yahtzee did.
Commented 13 years ago2010-12-21 22:21:01 UTC
in journal: #6945Comment #66285
I have a 360, but it's just a less powerful PC. Practically everything on 360 is also on PC, or has a better alternative on PC. I honestly haven't used it in about a year. Literally. There's nothing wrong with it except for the fact it's pointless.
For that reason I'd consider a PS3. There's quite a lot on it which isn't available for PC. Still probably not going to buy it, and I want to sell my 360 (although I'll probably be lucky to get even ?30 now that the new slim 360 is out.)
So basically if you're primarily a PC gamer, get a PS3 because the xbox can't do anything your PC can't.
Commented 13 years ago2010-12-21 22:16:43 UTC
in journal: #6946Comment #42995
"This journal was the size of a small book" Your definition of a small book is distressingly minimalistic.
"the actual contents (Minecraft) made it worse." Minecraft was voted PC Gamer's Game of the Year up against giants such as Bad Company 2, Black Ops, Starcraft 2. If you don't like it, you haven't experienced it properly.
Commented 13 years ago2010-12-21 08:03:26 UTC
in journal: #6943Comment #48036
Mine's neater and doesn't look like tacky plastic shit, Ant. Oh, and mine probably cost half of what yours did, while still being just as powerful, if not more-so. Ouch, Ant. Ouch.
Here's the video review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tu_cbgB25FE
And the text review (just a more formal version of what I say in the video):
After I pretty savagely reviewed gm_beachplay, I was worried that I'd been too harsh and would have offended Samurai Jack - but no, he bounced right back and let me know that he had taken all my criticism on board and was working on a new map which would be much, much better. It was made under the working title "Abandoned Field" and was released recently as gm_nightfield.
At first glance it seems to be a great improvement on Samurai Jack's previous work, especially in terms of detailing and lighting. There are some very atmospheric areas and it's obvious that a lot of time and effort was put in to give this more of a sense of place - rather than just a level in the middle of nowhere.
Well, I say that, but while it's definitely an improvement that there is a 3D skybox at all, it's very minimalistic and doesn't have any ground, so the world still just falls into the sky at the edges of the playable space and buildings are almost pitch black. Lights work in the skybox as well, so use them! There are also a few bugs with the skybox, for example this group of trees which seem to be fullbright.
There is plenty of playable space, and even some football goal posts for games although I'm not entirely sure where that idea came from considering the rest of the map seems to be based on some sort of oil refinery. It sounds like a Billy Connolly gag - a football pitch in the middle of a working class factory.
Annoyingly though, unlike beachplay, the sky is quite low in nightfield removing any chance of tall constructions, which is pretty surprising considering how tall some of the structures in the map itself are. This platform, for example is only a few metres under the limits of the sky.
Texturing is pretty bland throughout, and I think that now you've gotten really good at lighting, you should concentrate on improving your texturing. There are some pretty odd choices for some textures like the bottom of the ramp which looks pretty terrible or the water next to it which I'm pretty sure is DX7 water considering it doesn't seem to cast any reflections.
Even in some of the best looking parts of the map you can see texturing issues. Take a look at this for a second. You've got this neat, seemingly Portal-inspired area and the metal block texture the walls are made of is divided into squares which fit neatly in the Hammer grid, yet you've cut this big hole out of them in odd places when aligning it to the edges of the texture would have been fairly easy.
Displacements are quite jaggy in places, and here they don't even come close to touching the ground and seriously - what is up with these stairs? That's just lazy.
Once again there're no AI nodes, so NPCs are pretty useless and can you tell me what is meant to be casting this light? There are just a bunch of really obvious bugs that leave this map feeling unfinished that should have been noticed during testing.
I? Hmm?
Uh, so as I was saying - this is probably the best Gmod map I've ever played. The interactive bits are great, like the totally over-the-top teleport system which sends the player flying out of the building and the floodlights with Crossfire-esque alarm system. Really nice touches which give the map a real edge. The lighting outside is really atmospheric and I can see this being really fun to play on with a bunch of mates.
There's even a bunch of easter-eggs to find and more places to explore than you can shake a stick at, although I feel the subtle art of stick shaking is somewhat lost in Garry's Mod.
Seriously, though. This is a pretty damn good map - it just needed to be tested more before release.
Let's see... 1833? That makes you 178 years old? Congrats!
But slightly different"
I've run the numbers. He's right.
I'll be tuning in next time.
Hot Pursuit is such a broken, consoletarded game I genuinely regret buying it - and I very, very rarely regret buying games.
I've ranted and raged on the official forums, as well as sending official support tickets about utterly game-destroying bugs, crashes and basic problems and they never reply with anything useful or even show that they've taken the information on board. For example, the recent patch absolutely wrecked compatability with a large number of logitech steering wheels resulting in them not differentiating between turning left and turning right. Hundreds upon hundreds of people have been complaining for the past week because they can't play the game (It's not worth playing with a keyboard) and there hasn't been a single official acknowledgement of the problem.
Here's how it's done:
TWHL Podcast Beta
Also, you're not the only one. Mafia 2 devs noticed people doing this in GTA, and added a limiter button to all vehicles which will constantly change to match the speed limit of the road you're driving on. Of course they then added police who give chase if you go 1mph over the limit which sounds cool and realistic in theory, but in practice just means that driving becomes a chore .
A pre-recorded vlog from several hosts is, in my opinion, far more challenging logistically to produce for the following reasons.
First and foremost - it means one person is stuck with editing several people's footage and awkward, pre-recorded audio. Not only is this a pain in the ass to edit, but also the seemingly simple task of getting this media to the editor will be a challenge due to predictably high file-sizes.
A further problem is that Americans will be recording with NTSC 29.9fps while most of the rest of the world uses the PAL 25fps system. Frame dimensions also differ between the two, resulting in more grief during the post production process.
Also, on Steam you were saying you just want pre-recorded screen-captured footage with voice-over? This will be dead boring with dead robotic sounding audio. See any of the early TWHL motm reviews for an example of how boring it can be.
Your original idea, I think, is much more interesting and probably much more entertaining. Several hosts being recorded live (audio at least, although I think it would benefit from some webcam face-time) with footage of the map/mod in question being cut into it at relevant moments will result in far more humorous dialogue and far more relevant information being conveyed during the reviewing portion, as there would be a live point;counter-point scenario (one person makes a point, another can say why they disagree/agree.)
This makes reviews much more balanced and relevant.
Further benefits would be that if one person is recording everyone, we don't have the issue of varying video formats, and if the person recording is the person editing, we also don't have to worry about transferring massive files.
It could still be presented as a 'TWHL Weekly' - there's no need to use a livestream or anything, but the format of a live show is far more engaging to viewers - even if they're only watching a recording of it - than any simple scripted voice-over would be.
edit: I think I gave you 5 cents too many.
editedit:
Think of it like Top Gear. The show is awesome because of the banter between the hosts. It has some recorded voice-over over footage of the cars being reviewed, of course, but if it was just that, nobody would watch it.
Win7 64
For that reason I'd consider a PS3. There's quite a lot on it which isn't available for PC.
Still probably not going to buy it, and I want to sell my 360 (although I'll probably be lucky to get even ?30 now that the new slim 360 is out.)
So basically if you're primarily a PC gamer, get a PS3 because the xbox can't do anything your PC can't.
Your definition of a small book is distressingly minimalistic.
"the actual contents (Minecraft) made it worse."
Minecraft was voted PC Gamer's Game of the Year up against giants such as Bad Company 2, Black Ops, Starcraft 2. If you don't like it, you haven't experienced it properly.
so did Urby, but you've given the game away now.
Anyway, my lips are sealed. What is HL:HS? Never heard of it. Who are you? Get out of my house.
type 11 or 14 in the chat, if memory serves.