One thing about Shannon is that the friendly locals are always willing to offer exciting opportunities and ways of spending an afternoon. Sprawled on the side of Supermacs in big writing was: "Steve May will bum you 4 spare change".
Classy.
Thursday, November 27, 2008
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
FIFA'09 bug
Playing FIFA'09 against a mate when something very strange happened. Rooney killed an opponent from behind, but advantage was played for about 10 mins of the 90, then when the ball finally went out of play, Rooney got a "second" yellow, and then a red.
He never got a first yellow card, and remained on the pitch after being shown the red. I guess the tackle was so bad it deserved a straight red, but the ref only gives yellows after the ball goes out of play? I dunno.... never came across such a massive screw up before.
He never got a first yellow card, and remained on the pitch after being shown the red. I guess the tackle was so bad it deserved a straight red, but the ref only gives yellows after the ball goes out of play? I dunno.... never came across such a massive screw up before.
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Barrack O'Bama
This is a very funny tongue in cheek song about Barrack Obama. A lot of Americans claim to be Irish through long lost relatives (etc, etc) and Obama actually has long lost roots in Co. Offaly, so we'll claim him. Its well worth a listen - clicky, clicky:
Barrack O'Bama - Irish Funnyness
The main line goes as follows: "O'Leary, O'Reilly, O'Hare and O'Hara, there's no one as Irish as Barrack O'Bama!!!"
The main line goes as follows: "O'Leary, O'Reilly, O'Hare and O'Hara, there's no one as Irish as Barrack O'Bama!!!"
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Mirrors Edge Demo
The Mirrors Edge demo is very good. The demo is ~1GB to download for the 360 and ~900mb for the Playstation. It basically plays exactly as any of the trailers portrait.
You are basically jumping around roof tops, using everything you come across to get to your destination in a very, very nice looking environment in first person. Anything that you need to use in order to get to your destination glows red. There is a lot of tapping LB though, as you pretty much use it for most actions. Some of the moves, like rolling in order to avoid a nasty landing require pretty good timing.
The demo is pretty short (played through it twice) but it gives you enough of a hint as to what the final game will be like. This quick clip from YouTube walks through a tiny part of the demo. As you can see, the visuals are unreal
Mirrors Edge gameplay
You are basically jumping around roof tops, using everything you come across to get to your destination in a very, very nice looking environment in first person. Anything that you need to use in order to get to your destination glows red. There is a lot of tapping LB though, as you pretty much use it for most actions. Some of the moves, like rolling in order to avoid a nasty landing require pretty good timing.
The demo is pretty short (played through it twice) but it gives you enough of a hint as to what the final game will be like. This quick clip from YouTube walks through a tiny part of the demo. As you can see, the visuals are unreal
Mirrors Edge gameplay
Xbox360 Motion Blur With HDTV
For a while now, I have been noticing a lot of "motion blur" with my 360 on my 26" Samsung HDTV. I know the reason for most of this is because I'm using 1080i (the i standing for interlacing). When i change the 360 to use 720p (the p standing for progressive) then this gets rid of 95% of the motion blur.
The only problem being - the 360 looks like crap on 720p compared to 1080i. I mean, there is absolutely no contest what so ever. I'm not sure whether this is the tv itself, or the 360.
Moving to 720p isn't a option because the quality is so poor. If its rubbish quality vs great quality with motion blur, while neither of them are ideal, I know the winner! While playing the mirrors edge demo on 1080i, while panning the camera left or right while in the room looking at one of the doors, I can clearly see a ghosting of the handle (black outline) against the wall while panning right. In FIFA 09, while running in the shadow at Old Trafford with Ronaldo, any quick movement or turns, he leaves behind a red blur as does the red diamond above his head.
All this seems very, very noticeable (especially during the first 30 mins of play).
It seems that the following reduces the motion blur as much as possible:
Xbox360:
1080i - 60Hz (select no when asked if it displays properly at 50Hz)
Samsung HDTV:
Mode: Dynamic
Contrast: 93
Brightness: 61
Sharpness: 44
Colour: 48
Tint: G50 - R50
Color Tone: Cool1
Backlight: 8
Size: 16:9
Digitial NR: Auto
Active Color: On
DNIe: On
The only long term solution is to buy a 1080p tv/monitor...but none of us are made of money!
The only problem being - the 360 looks like crap on 720p compared to 1080i. I mean, there is absolutely no contest what so ever. I'm not sure whether this is the tv itself, or the 360.
Moving to 720p isn't a option because the quality is so poor. If its rubbish quality vs great quality with motion blur, while neither of them are ideal, I know the winner! While playing the mirrors edge demo on 1080i, while panning the camera left or right while in the room looking at one of the doors, I can clearly see a ghosting of the handle (black outline) against the wall while panning right. In FIFA 09, while running in the shadow at Old Trafford with Ronaldo, any quick movement or turns, he leaves behind a red blur as does the red diamond above his head.
All this seems very, very noticeable (especially during the first 30 mins of play).
It seems that the following reduces the motion blur as much as possible:
Xbox360:
1080i - 60Hz (select no when asked if it displays properly at 50Hz)
Samsung HDTV:
Mode: Dynamic
Contrast: 93
Brightness: 61
Sharpness: 44
Colour: 48
Tint: G50 - R50
Color Tone: Cool1
Backlight: 8
Size: 16:9
Digitial NR: Auto
Active Color: On
DNIe: On
The only long term solution is to buy a 1080p tv/monitor...but none of us are made of money!
Football Manager 2009 Demo
I've no idea why they have decided to release a demo on a Sunday, but who cares. You can download the demo using the links below.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MF1OVFMA - PC Version
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=QE32WICM - Mac Version
Anyone who links the Football Manager series will be guaranteed to like this iteration as its largely similar to previous versions. The menus are laid out similarly (but this can be changed with skins). There are a few nice improvements....
The match can now be viewed in 3D, but this isn't like watching a game on Fifa Manager which basically uses the Fifa engine. Its a more primitive, but its perfect for a management game. It certainly doesn't require an incredibly expensive graphics card to run. It seems to work the exact same as the old match engine, with player playing nice patterns of passes. It doesn't seem like Fifa Manager where you get the feeling that the match will have two completely different outcomes if you play it in text mode or in 3D. The only minor annoyance about the match engine is the fact that you can't see any stadium around the pitch. You can always revert to the traditional top down, 2D approach. Another nice addition here is that your assistant will tell you a whole range of things about the game. Whether he is right or wrong probably depends on his stats for each aspect.
Press conferences actually take place now rather than before a game, you just answer one question and thats it, this time around you answer a series of questions, you can choose to select one of the answers, decline to comment or storm out. When you answer a question there is also an option to enter text (free form) as well as your selected answer. I'm not sure what effect (if any) this might have. (I haven't tried it as entering text is a little buggy - probably intentionally so - duplicates of letters you type, etc)
Interacting with players also sees a slight improvment. For example, when interacting with Wayne Rooney, I can ask him, or tell him a series of things I'd like him to focus on. One of which made me laugh - "Ask Rooney to stop blasting the ball towards goal!" and another one "Ask Rooney to stop throwing himself into tackles!". Theres a lot more detailed things...and the range of options depends on the player. For example I can ask Nani to try and riffle free kicks or to stay in the channels.
The player ratings aren't just a flat 6, 7, etc any more which is nice. Before it was difficult to know that if a player is playing 7 out of 10, would he go up to 8.... etc. Its a lot easier to tell when your dealing with decimals.
If you liked any of the previous Football Manager games, then you will definently like this one too.
Release Date: 14 November 2008
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=
Anyone who links the Football Manager series will be guaranteed to like this iteration as its largely similar to previous versions. The menus are laid out similarly (but this can be changed with skins). There are a few nice improvements....
The match can now be viewed in 3D, but this isn't like watching a game on Fifa Manager which basically uses the Fifa engine. Its a more primitive, but its perfect for a management game. It certainly doesn't require an incredibly expensive graphics card to run. It seems to work the exact same as the old match engine, with player playing nice patterns of passes. It doesn't seem like Fifa Manager where you get the feeling that the match will have two completely different outcomes if you play it in text mode or in 3D. The only minor annoyance about the match engine is the fact that you can't see any stadium around the pitch. You can always revert to the traditional top down, 2D approach. Another nice addition here is that your assistant will tell you a whole range of things about the game. Whether he is right or wrong probably depends on his stats for each aspect.
Press conferences actually take place now rather than before a game, you just answer one question and thats it, this time around you answer a series of questions, you can choose to select one of the answers, decline to comment or storm out. When you answer a question there is also an option to enter text (free form) as well as your selected answer. I'm not sure what effect (if any) this might have. (I haven't tried it as entering text is a little buggy - probably intentionally so - duplicates of letters you type, etc)
Interacting with players also sees a slight improvment. For example, when interacting with Wayne Rooney, I can ask him, or tell him a series of things I'd like him to focus on. One of which made me laugh - "Ask Rooney to stop blasting the ball towards goal!" and another one "Ask Rooney to stop throwing himself into tackles!". Theres a lot more detailed things...and the range of options depends on the player. For example I can ask Nani to try and riffle free kicks or to stay in the channels.
The player ratings aren't just a flat 6, 7, etc any more which is nice. Before it was difficult to know that if a player is playing 7 out of 10, would he go up to 8.... etc. Its a lot easier to tell when your dealing with decimals.
If you liked any of the previous Football Manager games, then you will definently like this one too.
Release Date: 14 November 2008
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