Not sure how many people read this (if any) but moving this rather infrequent blogging to a hosted Wordpress site as well, Blogger has not really gotten any serious reworks for a modern web browsing experience (look at the website on a mobile browser, jeez)
So I am migrating my past blog posts over there, I will still leave my old content up on blogger for the time being.
Another year of EGX under my belt which brings this to four times I have been Eurogamer since 2011 (could not make 2014) but, we now have a new venue to judge and compare to Earl's Court!
Earl's Court was not bad itself as a location but the building was long overdue to have something done to it and it seems to have gone down the demolition route. The NEC on the other hand is modern and large for a venue. (the hall segregation is weird though)
Down to the EGX @ NEC Review! four basic sections:
Pros
Cons
Requests
Conclusion
Pros:
The signal attenuation, If you have been to Earl's Court...I don't really need to say anymore, Earl's Court was a black void (Not sure if the building had bad signal attenuation or something) for any communications signal however, at the NEC, no issues what-so-ever and the free WiFi is usable.
Location is almost perfect (more on that in the cons), Easy access to the rail station and airport with surrounding airports (They are practically connected with direct routes.
The Subway outside of the rail station has franchise prices!
Flat Escalator!
Cons:
Travel to Birmingham is somewhat more awkward for me (I live in Swansea) resulting in more changeovers in the routes so fitting times and keep costs low is difficult.
Size, EGX has gotten bigger yet, the hall size did not feel adequate to accommodate the amount of people there, chill areas were packed during peak hours and you would often get cut off by the massive queues and crowds. (Battlefront was a big offender here)
Queues, I am not sure what the major issue was here...the above, EA's odd video presentation sessions? I did not really need that hand-holding, I do like it if demos or staff nudge me if I am stuck with something but seriously or misjudgement on the part of which games would be popular as was the case with Mirror's Edge, single row of machines and a video presentation session.
In addition, I think it was also down to the fact it was three narrow halls that further complicated the layout for the queues.
Noise was an issue for the dev sessions as they were held in a raised curtain area so no sound isolation either, it is fine but considering that Earl's Court had areas for this, it does feel like a step backward.
Prices are insanely high in both the NEC (Earl's Court was the same) and the airport, it is a miracle the subway has sensible prices (though it is often out of every bread naturally)
Tornado energy drinks, I am neither for nor against energy drinks but, it is not cool when there are empty and spilt cans all over the place, The staff tried to keep on top of the issue but, either there needs to be more visible bins or people need to stop being lazy.
Sessions not having there own designated area, would of reduced noise level and allowed people to cut across easily from one session to the next in another area rather than having to traverse though the hell queues.
Booking for the HTC Vive and Sony VR, The major reason I went to EGX and managed not book either of them. With Sony VR, booking was not up when I checked on the Friday and was in work afterward, came out of work and checked, fully booked. I am not sure how that system worked but, I am positive it got abused. As for the Steam Vive, that was a lottery for a booking yet despite signing up for all times and days, I also failed to get that.
Now, I am going to buy a VR headset but at the moment, only Occlus Rift has actually presented a fair chance for me to have a go at EG 2013 and I think 2014 was also just show up and queue (suffer a horribly long queue at EG 2013 and having your mate bail on you since he is not sold on it granted but it was open and just go)
I miss cybercandy!
Requests / Suggestions:
Gauge queue prediction and sizes better to properly account for how popular something is going to be, survey when buying a ticket? with the preamble of something like, the more data we get, the better we will be able to properly account for queue size for each game.
Seating in the queues shaped in the same pattern as the barriers but with two continuous rows on each side with basic padding?
Time predictions for queues, got a few wildly inaccurate estimates when asked
A hall for sessions so they can have their own isolated space, the idea is to have each session area in each of the corners of the hall (Developer, Rezzed, Gamesfair and Cosplay)
An information kiosk in the centre of the hall showing on large LCD displays the times and the presentations themselves.
Branching out of the information kiosk would be four corridors (Plus sign area that is left over from the session areas), these would become chill out areas with the addition of being able to watch any session (each corridor would be dedicated to each session area) and would have headphones/headphone jacks to allow you to patch in to the audio while you are sitting the chill out area for corridor designated for that session. Screens in that corridor at both ends for the session it is dedicated to and that is that.
This way, you have the option of going into the session area or staying in the designated chill area to watch each session as it comes up as that is what I tend to do once I have played all the games I have wanted to. Bonus business opportunity of having a reason to buying headphones there if there is only a jack and you want to listen to them in the chill out area!
A rather ambitious and overtop suggestion but, I think it still would be the greatest thing to happen to EG and may do a diagram as I am not sure on my explanation.
Conclusion:
EGX has moved to a suitable venue that has most certainly improved in some ways over Earl's Court but I think some things have be lost in the transition and have gone backwards in what Earl's Court used to offer (thank god the connection issues are gone) but, given that it was the first time there...there are bound to be transitional fubars a long the way so here is hoping that next year will be even better!
HDD Guardian is a piece of software that provides a Windows front-end for smartctl, a utility which monitors your hard drive(s) and SSD(s) for health status, taking advantage of S.M.AR.T. as well as allowing for running self-tests on the drives.
Out of all the remote desktop software I have used, only teamviewer really has been consistent in always achieving a stable connection and comes with a variety of handy features if you happen to need to assist someone rather than just managing computers remotely plus it comes with two factor authentication to boot. Free for personal use, any commercial use requires a licence. EMET: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=46366
An extremely useful tool kit that allows you to enforce Microsoft security techniques on applications that have not been complied to take advantage of them and block/prevent some exploits that exist in a number of applications like Java and Adobe Air.
A great WAMP package to a get a development web server up and running on your desktop for testing site changes and just general learning of how a web server works.
Allows you to push and receive notifications, files, text etc. from any device I.E. get an SMS on an android device and receive it as a notification toast on a Windows PC.
Will be adding more at some point but just an initial list to use for finding great software and a reminder to me to make sure I have everything set-up if I happen to reinstall Windows.
Convert any document from one markup to another via any format you can think of including the most obsurue and not widely known markups. Has a large amount of documentation and useful extras for various purposes.
I went ahead I got an FX8350 which saved me upgrading the motherboard also as I have decided to wait out until DDR4 becomes mainstream and see how Mantle/DX12 develops. There were plenty of hitches as per usual:
1. Made a mess of the thermal application on the IHS and off the IHS.
2. Despite carefully trying to ease the heat sink off the CPU, still managed to suddenly rip the CPU out of the socket with the heat sink (Thankfully no bent pins so need to break out a card)
3. Fitted the 8350 after updating the BIOS (oddly my 1090T still booted with the BIOS only intended for the 8350) however, no POST after a few reboots but, thankfully, it booted after a reseating of the CPU.
Also, moved my RAM over to a slot further away from the heat sink as my D14 managed push off the heat sink assembly on the closest RAM stick (That was fun to put back on)
Overall however, All up and running at 4.7GHz (could push it higher but content at the moment)
Original:
PC upgrade time! I am looking into upgrading my PC and trying to maximize the best bang for buck but, unfortunately it is not as straight forward as you would think.
My current system specs:
CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1090T
Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair IV Formula 890FX
RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR3 2x4GB
GPU: XFX Radeon HD 7970
PSU: Corsair 750AX
SSD: OCZ Vertex 3 120GB
Case: Antec 1200 v1
First up is the CPU which has served me well, over-clocked aggressively and still going on 4-5 years so no complaints there but, I feel now is the time for an upgrade in that department and my upgrade paths are not simple.
AMD to start off for the CPU and it would be an FX-8350 which is a not a bad chip and I could just drop it into 890FX motherboard (unofficially supported and less power features/lower HT rate though) but, it is now a 2012 chip, of AMD's previous architecture and the single-threaded performance is shockingly low (AMD have tried to correct this based on their own findings/community suggestions but something still seems to be holding it back in the latest Steamroller architecture)
A slight variation of the FX-8350 would be one of the FX-9000 chips which are still based on the older Pile driver architecture and have a whopping 220W TDP (In the past, I would of been all for it though, I have become increasingly more invested in reducing my power consumption and in general, green computing)
The last AMD option would be a 7850K APU which would also mean getting an AM2+ motherboard. The APU itself has the latest Steamroller architecture which improved single-threaded performance, way lower TDP and has some nice innovations from AMD supporting it (Heterogeneous Computing, Mantle) but, these are still things which might take the computing industry time to adopt if at all, AMD has signed on at least 40 developers for Mantle so the prospect is looking good and their Heterogeneous Computing initiative has some well known semi-conductor corporations supporting it.
Unfortunately, multi-core performance in an APU is lower thanks to the loss of 4 CPU cores on the die to accommodate the 4 GPU cores and the fabrication process used was a new one designed for APUs which lowered the clock rate compared to the previous gen APU. There is no traditional consumer CPU in the AMD roadmap at the moment for the Steamroller architecture despite AMD stating that they are not retiring the FX line.
There are rumours that AMD might be moving on to a new x86 architecture which will have a full SMT implementation like Intel rather than a partial CMT/SMT one but, at the moment, just a rumour.
Now as for the Intel CPU route, I have pinned down to 3 options: a Haswell Refresh/Devil's Canyon or wait for Broadwell.
The Haswell Refresh is essentially the same as normal Haswell but, with slightly higher clock rates and Devil's Canyon is an over-clocker focused refresh with improved heat spreader package and cherry-picked CPUs.
As I do tend to over-clock, the choice will be between a 4670k and 4770k Devil's Canyon though Intel does charge a premium for being able to over-clock via their K variant chips and Z chip-set motherboards. Performance wise, the 4670k should more than adequate for every game as only a small few take advantage of hyper-threading offered on the 4770k.
Finally, the wait for Broadwell which will not be out until sometime in Q1 2015 and the move to 14nm is an improvement but also has diminishing returns so not as much of an improvement as say 32nm to 22nm.
A little background before I begin my rambling on Windows 8.
Windows 8 is one hell of a radical change with the implementation of a touch UI (Metro) which is the UI platform that Microsoft seem determine to implement for all of it's products and services.
As such, Microsoft want to completely phase out the traditional start menu and desktop environment that mostly every GUI desktop OS uses today.
This has kicked up a lot of controversy since the Developer Preview and following Consumer Preview have been tested over the past months in that most people are taking sides.
One side likes the change and would rather the Metro UI then proceed to criticize others for not accepting and adapting the change.
And the other side states that it is a total step-backwards in terms of a desktop GUI and the experience is really jarring, intended for touch, not ready which also leads to criticizing how blindly people believe in the Metro UI for a desktop environment.
Now here is what I think:
My experience has been jarring, switching back and forth from the Metro UI and normal desktop that I would rather one or the other, not a mash-up of two platforms then there is the massive tiles that represent my applications in the metro start menu.
I know this will be intended to be "Live Tiles" but where is the customization? Why are they so huge for normal applications? Why must I now learn shortcuts to do things? (I know they are more efficient but feels like I don't have the option between the two now).
(Tiles only 3 rows on 40 inch display 1920x1080)
This might change in the Release preview but for now, not really doing it for me so I use Classic Shell to bring back the start-menu and the recent applications list with customization.
The focus seems to be entirely on touch and I know touch is great for it but I am not exactly going to run out and buy a couple of touch-enabled displays to use it. (I might of if it did not cost 3 times as much to replace my current set-up with a touch panel)
I can see touch being used in the future for sure and the Metro UI touch interface is great for that but at the moment, it has major issues and for me, it is really a step backwards if they think it is gonna be usable for desktop users with a keyboard and mouse.
Much in the way that cloud computing applications have entered the scene, their interfaces and features are somewhat limited or spartan compared to their desktop counter-parts.
The Metro UI and applications are looking like they are taking the same route even though it might be early days for development, it requires yet another shift in Windows development much like when Microsoft decided to move to their .Net framework which was followed by them totally dropping support for VB6.
Though I do think change is great as when Microsoft released Windows
Vista debuted back in 2006, the changes and features that Microsoft
brought with it were a step forward even though it had it's fair share of
controversy due to being somewhat unstable and under-performing for most
low-mid spec computers.
I just think Microsoft is jumping the gun a bit by trying to make Windows a touch-centric OS too soon in that, it should really complement both Touch users and Mouse+Keyboard users and not annoy the hell out of Mouse+Keyboard users.
Windows 8 has been a blast to use for general use and stability (The
experience in terms of stability, refinements to windows explorer, file
copy/paste prediction etc.)
There is also WDDM 1.2 as well which is rather long winded to explain but it is an improvement over how GPUs are handled and managed so in theory, better performance and efficiency with certain things.
Total War: Shogun 2 has been the only game/application not working since it updated recently with the expansion update and the Android ADB does not function on it.
Which brings me to my final points, if you enjoy using the Metro UI and keyboard short cuts then it's great you managed to adjust to it however if not and you would still like to use Windows 8:
It's either a start menu and desktop for me or a no go for now.
Classic Shell: (A great and customizable start menu, explorer and would even recommend it over
the Windows 7 one).
Start8: (Mini start-menu version of the Metro UI screen though it performs strangely and not
really adequate in my opinion yet).
Does it repeat the same fantastic experience as when the very first Lumines launched on the PSP or it is just a minor iteration of the Lumines series?
Recap: Lumines
For those of you out there who don't know what Lumines is, it can be thought of as another take on the ever so popular "Tetris" style gameplay (blocks fall down, you got to match them in a certain way and clear them before it reaches the top or it's game over).
The mechanic works in that tiles which are made up of 4 squares drop down the screen which may be made up of various colors in any of the 4 squares and the idea is to match 4 colors around each other so it makes 1 tile of 4 squares with the same color.
The additional mechanic in the original Lumines is that you get a special colour square which will send a chain reaction throughout the colour it is and clearing them all.
For example: A red square with the special icon (which looks like a + sign imposed on the colour square) will clear the red square it touches side by side and any squares which are further connected side-by-side hence why it has it's name, Chain Reaction.
Lumines does not only just have this puzzle aspect to it but it also ties in a very strong emphasis on a music aspect in which the game has a very epic Electronic/Dance soundtrack and every stage (skin) has been specially designed to respond to the rhythm and beat of the track playing.
This works as the rhythm and beats of the song playing control how the blocks are cleared by the use of a line that pulses over the block lines and clears any blocks you matched as it passes over it.
There are also additional visuals in the background which also visualize in sync with the music.
This fusion of puzzle and music/visual effects gives an energetic, engaging experience to what would otherwise been an extremely lifeless block clearing puzzle game.
You advance the stage by clearing blocks which in turn also advances the song, sound effects are played when you move or match a block or finish placing it and these are the same beat as the song playing.
This is the stage that was set! Can Lumines: Electronic Symphony improve upon that and make yet another epic gaming experience?
Visuals/Graphics
The graphics of the original PSP game were good but with the PS Vita and that amazing 5 inch OLED screen, has Electronic Symphony also evolved with it?
Damn yes it has, the background visuals are even more engaging and completely varied per song...no more static images with lights on them, the entire screen comes alive with various visualizations tailored to the song itself. (My favourite has to be Played A Live which has a giant robot in the background attacking a city with choppers attacking etc except the robot dances to the beat of the music!)
The squares themselves have a more in-depth and 3D look to them as you move them across the screen they pivot to face the angle you push them in, giving a very nice 3D effect.
However, this can be distracting as my brother who also tried it out found the backgrounds to distract him a bit more and with me, I ended up focusing so much on the game itself that I completely blanked out the background (not completely though, the Played A Live skin was extremely hard and impossible to not get captivated by it.)
Audio
The audio is one of the most important aspect of a Lumines game and this one has a combination of some of the best Electronic music from the 1990s! Q? Entertainment really listened to the fans on this one as in addition to this, the track listing went up early and the soundtrack is available this time around!
The advancement of the music as you clear blocks and the sound effects of the blocks themselves are more fluid and transition superior to the original game.
I also discovered some fantastic electronic tracks I have never heard before.
Track Listing:
• “4 AM” – Kaskade
• “Aganju” – Bebel Gilberto
• “Always Loved A Film” – Underworld
• “Apollo Throwdown” – The Go! Team
• “Automatons” – Anything Box
• “Autumn Love” – SCSI-9
• “Bang Bang Bang” – Mark Ronson & The Business Intl.
• “Celebrate Our Love” – Howard Jones
• “Close (To The Edit)” – Art of Noise
• “Disco Infiltrator” – LCD Soundsystem
• “Dissolve” – The Chemical Brothers
• “Embracing The Future” – BT
• “Flyin Hi” – Faithless
• “Good Girl” – Benny Benassi
• “Gouryella” – Gouryella
• “Hey Boy Hey Girl” – The Chemical Brothers
• “Higher State of Consciousness” – Wink
• “In My Arms” – Mylo
• “Kelly Watch The Stars” – Air
• “Moistly” – LFO
• “Never”* – Orbital
• “Out Of The Blue” – System F
• “Pacific 707” – 808 State
• “Played-A-Live (The Bongo Song)” – Safri Duo
• “Rocket (Tiesto Remix)” – Goldfrapp
• “Sunriser (Publicmind Remix)” – Ken Ishii
• “Superstar” – Aeroplane
• “The Future of the Future (Stay Gold)” – Deep Dish
• “The Sun Rising” – The Beloved
• “What’s Your Number” – Ian Pooley
• “Windowlicker” – Aphex Twin
• “Wolfgang’s 5th Symphony” – Wolfgang Gartner
• “Wooden Toy” – Amon Tobin
• “Yesterday, When I Was Mad (Jam & Spoon Mix)” – Pet Shop Boys
Gameplay
Gameplay remains true to the foundation of what is considered "Lumines" however it does refine and add upon it!
A new special block has been added which when it is placed, will randomize the color of every square currently on-screen which can lead to a very large number of block clears saving you from losing a game or doing completely nothing.
The animated avatar now has the ability to trigger the next block to have a special in it when you hit the avatar, great for a last resort to recover a game that is almost about to end however it will be put on a recharge after that (0-100%) which is filled either by block clears or by rubbing the back touch panel.
Implementation of the touch panel above is a tough one as most PS Vita games have kinda poorly implemented the touch panel, it is extremely awkward to use it as I found in Electronic Symphony.
It took too much out of controlling my blocks and found I was messing up with block placement trying to rub the back to recharge the meter.
Touch control is available for the placement and adjustment of the blocks however the D-Pad or Analog Stick is still the best for utmost control and precision.
Something else I noticed is the clear line smartly clear blocks now! as in any blocks that get cleared by a special but the clear line has past over it will not get cleared, the same applies if you get a block match as the clear line pasts over the mid-section of it, only the blocks ahead of the line will get cleared.
The game also now has a level up system, the more blocks you clear...the more experience you get.
Each level unlocks avatars which have their own specials such as a chain reaction block, remix block, stop the line, pause the block drop etc.
The last 2 modes are a stopwatch mode (clear as many blocks in a certain amount of time) and master mode (the blocks drop faster as you progress though each level and this mode is especially difficult).
Connectivity
Lumines also has Avatar and Skin sharing over NEAR as well as a world block mode where every block you clear contributes to clear one gigantic cube of about 900,000 squares contributed by everyone who has submitted the blocks they cleared for that day.
It only has an ad-hoc mode for dueling with other players in a split screen setup where each player has to keep ahead of each other and avoid their play area filling up to the top.
The great thing with this, is the avatars have an additional ability to use on your opponents to mess them up when they are in a dire salutation with their blocks.
Finally, it has the typical Leader-board scores among the world and friends.
Conclusion
Did Lumines: Electronic Symphony live up to expectations and deliver yet another epic puzzle fusion journey? Hell yes and not only that but this is the best Lumines game ever.
The price may be steep but if you look at the tracks, the visualizations, the synchronization and you just know that a lot of time and development went into this that they even run out of time to do a full on set of trophies! (they might do a more extensive trophy set with a platinum in the future).
Lumines Fan: Buy
Never played Lumines: Buy/Trial/Rent
Did not like Lumines on the PSP: Trial/Rent
