This morning before I returned them, I gave my old set another try, and the clicking noise was gone from the mic. My recommendation would be to only get a Razer Carcharias if you don't care too much about the microphone and plan to only use it for gaming with the occasional communication through steam, ventrilo or teamspeak.
Friday, April 29, 2011
Razer Carcharias Test
Two days ago, the audio in my stream had an obnoxious clicking sound that I was able to trace to the microphone input. I've been using a cheap $20 headset and mic that I got more than 3 years ago so I figured it might be time to upgrade to something a little better. I read a bunch of reviews online and decided that the Razer Carcharias would be worth trying out so I went to Best Buy and picked one up. The headphone part was fine and was definitely nicer than what I had at home. However, the problem I was trying to solve was getting a better microphone sound for my stream. It turns out that the microphone on the Razer Carcharias is worse than the one on the cheap set and does a worse job of picking up my voice. In addition, I found a lot more static in the signal coming from the Carcharias mic, so I decided to return them.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
What the Birds?
I was looking at the iOS app store today and I noticed that of the top 5 paid games, 2 of them are Angry Birds and 2 of them are games with icons that look very similar to Angry Birds. I think if you want to get a top selling iOS app these days, the best way is probably to create an icon for your app that has a cute chubby bird on it. That gives me a good idea for yet another project to work on when I can find some time...
Monday, April 25, 2011
Nintendo announces Wii 2
So I guess today Nintendo announced the Wii 2. Sounds like a good idea to me except for one or two things. First of all, the name doesn't follow Nintendo's regular naming scheme for consoles. Until the Wii, they'd always used Nintendo somewhere in the name for the console. The only time they reused the name of their previous console was in the Super Nintendo (SNES). This time, they seem to have followed the pattern set by their competitor, Sony, by just adding a number to the end. Come on Nintendo, couldn't you come up with something original? It sounds like you're just saying, "We too." I'd even settle for it being called the Super Wii over Wii 2.
Actually, I can't really come up with anything else to complain about other than the name, especially since there really aren't that many details about it yet. We will definitely get to hear a lot more about it at E3 this June and then I might have more to say. I've always liked Nintendo, and I'm sure this system won't be a big disappointment, especially since I already have a 3DS and they will probably do some things together.
If you want to read more about it, here is a list of recent blog posts about the announcement: ZDNet, PCMag(talks a little about hardware), 2D-X, T3, NDTV
Update: It appears that the official name of the project from Nintendo is Project Cafe, which is much less silly than the name that is being reported in most of the media.
Actually, I can't really come up with anything else to complain about other than the name, especially since there really aren't that many details about it yet. We will definitely get to hear a lot more about it at E3 this June and then I might have more to say. I've always liked Nintendo, and I'm sure this system won't be a big disappointment, especially since I already have a 3DS and they will probably do some things together.
If you want to read more about it, here is a list of recent blog posts about the announcement: ZDNet, PCMag(talks a little about hardware), 2D-X, T3, NDTV
Update: It appears that the official name of the project from Nintendo is Project Cafe, which is much less silly than the name that is being reported in most of the media.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
ryAnime Texture Pack
My friend Tharesan recently made a texture pack for Minecraft that I thought I should show off. The pack can be downloaded from his page on planet minecraft. The change that you notice most immediately is that fires from furnaces and torches are blue instead of red, giving the lighting a cooler feel. The major changes are with the items and the skins for some of the mobs. Bows and arrows instead show up as shurikens. Swords have different blades and handles depending on the material, and all of the armor feels much more like it's out of some anime, with holes in places that reduce the practicality of the armor but make it just that much more awesome.
In terms of the changes to mobs, wolves have different skins, and tamed wolves look like huskies, but I wasn't able to find any wild wolfs in my short test to see what they look like. Skeletons look like bandits or ninjas wielding shurikens and are definitely fearsome. All in all, it's an enjoyable texture pack that leaves most of the terrain untouched for people like me that enjoy the look of terrain, while changing the feel of the items to keep the game fresh and engaging. Good job Tharesan! Check below for my video review.
In terms of the changes to mobs, wolves have different skins, and tamed wolves look like huskies, but I wasn't able to find any wild wolfs in my short test to see what they look like. Skeletons look like bandits or ninjas wielding shurikens and are definitely fearsome. All in all, it's an enjoyable texture pack that leaves most of the terrain untouched for people like me that enjoy the look of terrain, while changing the feel of the items to keep the game fresh and engaging. Good job Tharesan! Check below for my video review.
Thursday, April 21, 2011
What is missing from motion-controlled shooting games
When I got my Wii way back when it first came out in November of 2006 I was really excited for the new gameplay possibilities it would provide. In particular, I believed that shooters would finally be playable on consoles. No offense to anyone that exclusively plays shooters on consoles, but a mouse just provides much better accuracy and control than a thumb-stick ever will be able to. With the Wii remote, you can just point at the screen and pull a trigger to fire, much like gun-wielding arcade games.
In order to try out the motion-controlled shooting experience, I got a game called Elebits. The aiming at the screen works well, and the player quickly becomes accustomed to pointing to get the cursor to move. The one big downfall of this targeting scheme comes when the player needs to change the direction of the camera. The only way to move the camera is to move the pointer to the edge of the screen and wait there until the camera has moved far enough and then return the pointer to the center of the screen. This method of controlling the camera is just as bad as using a joystick, and in fact a little bit worse. For instance, if you move the cursor just a little bit past the edge of the screen and leave the screen entirely, the sensor no longer knows which direction to turn, so it either turns the wrong way or doesn't turn at all. Maybe that's why all the shooting games in arcades are rail shooter (a game where the camera control is scripted, and the action is always where the camera is looking). Unless something is done to improve the current state of motion-controls for consoles (and most arcade games), rail shooters are the best kind of motion-controlled shooters we will have.
The way I would implement a motion-controlled shooter to make the controls non-frustrating and intuitive would require hardware that is more expensive and perhaps less practical to have in one's living room. Most importantly, the player would need to have a surround display system. I mean that a set of displays, or one large, curved display, would need to be placed around the player to allow for a 360 degree view at all times. The player could then point the wand/gun/whatever in any direction and use a joystick to move relative to that pointing direction. The result would be an intuitive, accurate, and easy to control shooter with motion controls. The only downside is that the display technology is much more expensive than people are willing to pay. One might also want more displays to look up and down in addition to the horizontal directions.
In order to try out the motion-controlled shooting experience, I got a game called Elebits. The aiming at the screen works well, and the player quickly becomes accustomed to pointing to get the cursor to move. The one big downfall of this targeting scheme comes when the player needs to change the direction of the camera. The only way to move the camera is to move the pointer to the edge of the screen and wait there until the camera has moved far enough and then return the pointer to the center of the screen. This method of controlling the camera is just as bad as using a joystick, and in fact a little bit worse. For instance, if you move the cursor just a little bit past the edge of the screen and leave the screen entirely, the sensor no longer knows which direction to turn, so it either turns the wrong way or doesn't turn at all. Maybe that's why all the shooting games in arcades are rail shooter (a game where the camera control is scripted, and the action is always where the camera is looking). Unless something is done to improve the current state of motion-controls for consoles (and most arcade games), rail shooters are the best kind of motion-controlled shooters we will have.
The way I would implement a motion-controlled shooter to make the controls non-frustrating and intuitive would require hardware that is more expensive and perhaps less practical to have in one's living room. Most importantly, the player would need to have a surround display system. I mean that a set of displays, or one large, curved display, would need to be placed around the player to allow for a 360 degree view at all times. The player could then point the wand/gun/whatever in any direction and use a joystick to move relative to that pointing direction. The result would be an intuitive, accurate, and easy to control shooter with motion controls. The only downside is that the display technology is much more expensive than people are willing to pay. One might also want more displays to look up and down in addition to the horizontal directions.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Should I return to LoL
I recently decided to take a break from League of Legends. This happened at the time I made my previous blog post about competitive gaming. I uninstalled the game because a particular interaction I had in the game got me quite upset, and I didn't like how I felt. Since then, I haven't missed the game very much, and I've gotten much more interest in my stream from playing Minecraft. However, I do still think the game has good things to it, and would like to play it again at some point. Recently I've been trying to think about the things that would need to happen for me to be able to handle playing again.
First, I think everyone would have to only focus on the good things during the actual gameplay. This focus would be much more positive and help everyone on the team to be friendlier and more supportive of each other. Second, after the game ends, I'd be willing to accept comments about how everyone who played could improve, but I don't believe most interactions with the enemy team would be useful. I find that almost all the time, conversations with the enemy team are just a stream of insults and destructive to the morale of everyone. However, even when bringing up areas for improvement, I think there should be a clear message that good things did come from that player, and that they could be just a little bit better with this change or that change.
The primary motivation for these changes is to keep myself motivated and prevent me from getting so angry again. I will admit that my anger wasn't fully justified, but I also had many stressful things coming up in my life that kept me from keeping as level a head as I normally try to maintain. I also think that these changes will make me a more enjoyable team mate, and a better person at life in general.
First, I think everyone would have to only focus on the good things during the actual gameplay. This focus would be much more positive and help everyone on the team to be friendlier and more supportive of each other. Second, after the game ends, I'd be willing to accept comments about how everyone who played could improve, but I don't believe most interactions with the enemy team would be useful. I find that almost all the time, conversations with the enemy team are just a stream of insults and destructive to the morale of everyone. However, even when bringing up areas for improvement, I think there should be a clear message that good things did come from that player, and that they could be just a little bit better with this change or that change.
The primary motivation for these changes is to keep myself motivated and prevent me from getting so angry again. I will admit that my anger wasn't fully justified, but I also had many stressful things coming up in my life that kept me from keeping as level a head as I normally try to maintain. I also think that these changes will make me a more enjoyable team mate, and a better person at life in general.
Monday, April 18, 2011
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