* Posts by Simon 81

8 publicly visible posts • joined 20 Jul 2009

Rockstar confirms Grand Theft Auto V

Simon 81

Still loving GTA IV

The new car physics certainly took a lot of getting used to after GTA III based games on the previous generation consoles, but, I find them far more expressive and with far more entertaining results when you loose control of a fast vehicle. The main difference is a more accurate inertia model, you have to start braking a lot sooner when travelling fast to not overshoot the turn, but, you get used it - just dab the handbrake about half way through, nudge the steering wheel to get sideways, then counter steer and apply power to leave the slide into the new direction :) The difference in handling between different types of car is a lot more pronounced in IV too. Not many cars can brake very well, especially in the wet.

After playing it, a lot, for nearly a year and a half now, I think its one of the best games ever made. The depth of experience, the fantastically varied and funny things that can happen by accident, and the quality of the script writing and voice acting, not to mention the unbelievable environment, cars and people, just make it an amazing 'place' to play in. Its not without its flaws and annoyances, but overall, it is truly groundbreaking.

I liked that they took away the fitness and food nonsense of San Andreas, and I love New York as a setting, I think its where the franchise belongs, if for nothing more than blasting a Lamborghini (lookalike) off a steep hill and hoping you land on all 4 wheels. Or not. :)

Console modders attempt to bypass Xbox Live ban

Simon 81

@rincewind

2... 1.... rincewind....

You are moving the goalposts of the argument by talking about SecureROM on the PC, nothing to do with this thread, or consoles at all.

You provide no justification for why you 'backup' your Wii games, and state yourself original discs are tough enough to last.

You pirate console games. I would respect that more if you copped to it, what annoys me is the faux innocence, the palm up shrug of 'I just need to protect my investment' - its not true. I've bought lots of console games, ONE broke, it was a good game, so I re-bought it, for less cost than modding and burning lots of 'backup' DVD's, and the cost of my time to do this, even at minimum wage.

The only economic case for such behaviour is if you never bought the original game you are 'backing up' - then it makes perfect sense, and we can have a *different* discussion about the rights, wrongs, motivations and morality of piracy.

'Backups' is a nonsense argument, it doesn't hold up to inspection, modding is for piracy. Always.

Simon 81

'Backups' = Stolen software. Always. 100% of the time.

Ah, the old justification of 'Backups' - my dog ate the disc (actually used in this thread) and 'My kids mistake DVD's for bread and spread Jam on them'.

Bullshit.

You are stealing games, and you know it, thats the ***ONLY*** reason you modded. I've never modded, and never pirated, and I wrecked one disc (Lego Star Wars) buy moving the console when it was playing - it buried the laser into the disc and completely destroyed it while making a really nasty sound.

So I bought it again, and didn't do that again.

Big fracking deal - one replaced disc out of dozens and dozens. I have kids, and if they scratch a disc beyond repair, or spread Jam on it, they pay for the replacement from their pocket money, or don't get to play that game again, and it teaches them the consequences of their actions with valuable items.

Regarding pets, well, don't leave the discs lying around, they are really expensive to replace, so look after them. I remember the same bullshit rhetoric on the PS2 too.

Backups my arse.

*cue* whining and pleading justification for "backups" in 5... 4... 3...

Apple Time Capsule catches plague

Simon 81
Jobs Halo

Also glad I went for the Airport Extreme and a USB HDD

My 2x Airport Extremes have external PSU's - don't know if thats still the case - and the Time Machine over AirPort to a USB Drive is really convenient for a laptop, it starts its incremental backup without me thinking about it, or having to plug anything in. I wanted a TimeCapsule, but it is so overpriced for the drive capacity, I never got one. Glad I didn't now!

I repaired a Dell motherboard with blown, oozing, caps, thanks to the Bad Caps website and its guides (it's a really helpful site) that stopped a machine going in the rubbish bin, and it's still going strong, large caps are easy to repair, as they have not gone surface mount (yet).

I really like my pair of AirPort extremes, and it was easy to create a wireless bridge so my wired 360 can sign into Live without needing a cable trailing from the front room to the kitchen (where the router is) creates the same local subnet, wired and wireless, at multiple points around the home, with no room to room wiring required, overall I'd say it was a good product, hope Apple does the right thing over these failures.

Dumping exclusivity could double iPhone sales

Simon 81

Fido used to be a separate company

The Canadian government (CRTC) allowed Rogers to buy Fido in 2005~2006 creating a monopoly for GSM phone providers in Canada. All the other providers are squabbling over CDMA users. It looks likely they will all move to GSM for the next generation (after 3G) then we might see some actual competition in the GSM / iPhone compatible space.

In all fairness, Fido (as a brand of Rogers) has managed to differentiate itself from its parent company with some slightly better pricing deals, but never as good as it was pre buyout.

There is zero possibility of having a canadian iPhone officially unlocked at this time, although all iPhone contracts are 3 years, and we only got it when the 3G launched, so there is still another 20 months or so before those start expiring. I still think there will be zero chance of an official unlock then too.

iPhone MMS hits US on September 25

Simon 81
Heart

Makes Rogers in Canada look good!

Wow - I didn't realize AT&T were /that/ bad! Makes Rogers/Fido in Canada look good - which is an amazing feat indeed. MMS from the off, and Tethering at no additional charge on the $30/6Gb iPhone 'enthusiast' plan. I find myself Tethering more and more when out now, preferring it to WiFi, even if available, and not limiting my choice of cafe / restaurant based on internet access anymore. Umm, Yay Rogers?! (Really?! - wow!)

Windows 7 versus Snow Leopard — The poison taste test

Simon 81
Thumb Up

Looking forward to Boot Camp'ing Windows 7

I'm pretty excited for Windows 7, and see it 'completing' my Summer 2009 MacBook Pro with both OS'es available at boot time, I'm already running XP with VMWare for various things, but would like to play some DX10 games too.

I have a question for the more informed PC'ers here - should I go with 32bit or 64bit?

Toshiba to back Blu-ray Disc with player launch?

Simon 81

VHS -> DVD -> BluRay -> H264 HD Downloads

For action movies, there is no comparison, BluRay is stunning and makes DVD look soft and murky - its not just the resolution, but the compression too, but romantic comedies are just as stomach churning on both formats.

I've been using a NetFlix like service (postal service) to get all my BluRay's - I've vowed never to buy another movie, in any format, after doing the VHS -> DVD rebuy, and not fancying doing it again to BluRay - I just don't watch them often enough to justify a purchase at any price, so I have my massive list of titles I want to see online, and slowly work through them as they turn up in my letterbox.

I've also been using iTunes rentals for non action films, where the quality isn't as important, since upping my bandwidth such that iTunes rentals can start playing 30 seconds after purchase, I've found the convenience pretty compelling - the breadth of titles isn't there yet, but along with the postal service, I'm fairly covered. When Apple TV supports 1080p I'll buy one, for now I'm using a computer.

And, because I'm not making any investment in any format (by only ever renting movies) I don't care if it changes again. I think in time it will go download, but even HD downloads are nothing on BluRay right now, BluRays are very very good, if you have the right kit to enjoy them, those opening city vistas are breathtaking.

I do feel sorry for Tosh though, they played by all the rules and still lost, the whole format debacle was painful for consumers too, I think there is a good chance legal HD download will become viable before BluRay hits critical consumer mass (iTunes, XBox, PS3, NetFlix STB etc.), and BluRay is destined to be another LaserDisc, despite 'winning'.