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354 responses to “Talk Amongst Yourselves”
I booted up black ops on the wii yesterday, and it had more players online than battleborn!
My favourite version of cod too, lots of waggly fun, has way cooler dogs than Riley.
Ouch. That’s rough.
I finished Zentatta, but I’m on Mobile and too lazy to link it. It’s on my twitter.
Looks Good Scree https://twitter.com/scree06/status/800277892798156802
Thank you! It’s too hot to put on my pc
That’s wicked. Nice work!
But is it 4-5 months worth of nice work?
I’m going to take a break before I start on the next one
It’s not quite my thing, but my Mrs does cross-stitch which takes months to complete something like that too. It’s well worth it in the end according to her.
Also, you’ll have to forgive my ignorance as I haven’t been following the project, but is that an actual window?
No, it’s an illustrator artwork. It’s designed to be a poster.
Plus, you’ve been around Tay enough that you should know I always have many projects going on. So many projects =P
Started Pokemon Sun after not having played Pokemon since the Yellow Cartridge.
Really enjoying the experience.
Just pondering if it is worth my effort to try and bring my old Pokemon across. I even have Mew and others.
From an original Gameboy? Or from the DS Virtual Console version of Yellow? Unfortunately you can’t bring Pokemon over from the Gameboy. My Mew and living Pokedex are stuck there forever. =(
Why yes, I do speak of the old GameBoy cartridges.
I actually collected some of the other games for laughs but never got to playing them. Not to sound sill by it is there a way to migrate Pokemon from the old cartridges via the other DS games?
In the very least, I’d like the critters on flash based memory and not the battery based version in the original cartridges.
There are ways to transfer from everything except for Gen I (Red/Green/Blue/Yellow) and Gen II (Gold/Silver/Crystal). Those generations have remakes with FireRed/LeafGreen on the GBA and HeartGold/SoulSilver on the DS so technically you can get those Pokemon from the correct region. If you’ve got an original DS you can transfer from Gen III (Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald/FireRed/LeafGreen) to Gen IV. Once you’re onto the DS/3DS you can transfer cart to cart but you need a second DS and you have to pass them through a game from each generation (so HeartGold to Black to XY). I think in all cases you need to have beaten the league champion. It’s a long and frustrating process when you’re trying to play catch up.
If you’re only after a handful of Pokemon you can resort to various tricks. By messing with the DNS settings on your DS you can convince it to connect to a bootleg server, where you can generate a Pokemon online and pass it to the more recent older games (I think it worked with Black/White). That’ll let you skip a few steps on the transfer but it’s not very satisfying to cheat and get Pokemon you didn’t have. I did that to bring over my original Bulbasaur.
OK, I’ll give the idea a miss then. I only have up to Pearl which is where I stopped.
And I will admit, I got my Mews (you read right) from a friend who used the old trick of unplugging the Link Cable before the transfer completed.
Got four from him and all he wanted was all three legendary birds and I threw in a Ratatta to balance the numbers.
Don’t get me wrong, I am fond of what I have but at the end of the day, they are just data. They don’t breath like the very real cat that is sleeping on my bed right now.
I got my three from the original event (three carts) which sort of makes them special to me, but yeah, it’s way more trouble than it’s worth. I was tempted to get the Virtual Console versions so I could get a Kanto Mew but it’s not really the same.
I used the same cart 3 times and got 3, haha. Loved Pokemon Yellow.
I’d not played since giving up halfway through Ruby, iirc, and came back fro X/Y, and looked into it then.
You can (with the right tools) migrate anything from GBA onwards… A DS-Lite with GBA and DS cartridge slots will let you transfer from the Ru/Sa/Em/FR/LG games to Di/Pe/Pl (iirc), then you can transfer from Di/Pe/Pl to B/W 1 or 2, from there to X/Y via the Poke Transporter, X/Y to the Poke Bank and from there straight to S/M, from what I can tell. They said something about making it a bit easier, but haven’t really looked into it recently.
I had plans to try to get all the starters from every generation into my latest game, and found some good deals on the old ones on eBay… but for some reason trading on Black requires beating the elite four, so kinda stopped after getting halfway through Black. It’s a lot of work, even if Black is the best game of the old gens.
Definitely giving up on this. While I do have the hardware I don’t have the time. Maybe that is why my memories are so fond; the battery almost makes them finite.
It won’t help with your OG GB carts, but there are apparently plans to update Pokemon Bank to work with the VC versions of Pokemon R/B/Y, which will be awesome. At least you can chase Pokemon from the original games and shift them via Pokemon Bank to the newer games.
Don’t know if they still make these anymore but I am tempted to take a gamble and get the GameBoy adapter that lets one copy the contents of the cartridge to the PC.
Don’t know if they are even still made anymore though.
This is mostly for laughs for @dogman, @os42, and @ynefel
While looking at my DS pile of shame (I actually have one for each platform, gah!), I found my copy of FireRed hiding in it.
With work being quiet I fired it up ….. on my GameCube connected to a Onkyo Amp and an 60″ 4K TV.
Not the craziest thing I’ve done; I connected an Atari 2600 to it last year for sh*ts and giggles, 😛
That aside, it is nice to go back the original formula even though there are some tweaks and changes to make it compatible with Ruby and Sapphire (at the time).
Mornin’ TAY. Pretty chill weekend, cooked some delicious ribs on Friday, finished The Blood Mirror by Brent Weeks and played some Civ VI and Don Bradman Cricket 2014.
I’m mostly having fun with Civ VI. The game is far more involved in the first 100 turns that previous iterations, as the barbarians are far more threatening and the AI does have the occasional tendency to rush (and cities are far weaker, so that’s a threat too). I’ve always enjoyed Civ the most when I can science-rush my way to gunpowder and use that sudden tech jump to start a domination victory. That seems a whole lot less certain in Civ VI, as I’ve been stuck without niter on quite a few occasions, even with a reasonably large empire – that’s a worry, because it’s down to the RNG whether or not you get access to those strategic resources and, if you don’t, you stuck with crossbows and pikes.
I was lucky to find DBC14 sitting in a bargain bin at EB last year for $5, it’s always fun for a few games. Picked up the career player I was using last year and player a bit more of his first English county season – expecting selection for the next Australian Test team with my first class bowling average of 8 and batting average of 55. Jeez, the IRL team could do with that guy.
Bleh. Woke up at 3am due to the accursed heat.
Now I feel all yuck.
Hola Tayberinos
Busy weekend. Gave blood Saturday Morning, then made my way to Supanova to sit on the stand for the Terry Pratchett fan club. Had lots of people coming up to chat- lots of people saw us and went “OH MY GOD YOU GUYS ARE A THING” which was nice. Talked a lot about the Australian Discworld Convention, which is next August in Adelaide, which you should all come to
Went out Saturday to a buck’s show, drank and danced until about midnight then decided to be responsible, because Sunday I was back on the stand again. Sunday was a bit of a drag, less overall traffic and the whole pavilion it was in got a bit warm and humid.
Because I shouldn’t be allowed to have money ever, bought a book and got it signed by one of the authors there, and also bought some dice including the funky metal level up dice I looked at at PAX. It’s one D6, probably over paid, but it’s about the only thing I “collect” on the basis of just acquisition so I rationalised it.
Vidya games, played a little Dishonored 2 on Friday, cracked the riddle
to open Jindosh’s lock in the Dust District. Felt really smart. I found laying stuff out in a logic puzzle grid like this http://www.logic-puzzles.org/ was the best way to go, then just trying a couple of iterations helped a lot. Still going to explore the rest of the level to get dem runes.Also, finally finished the first season of iZombie last night. What a great show, but then again, I loved Veronica Mars so I’m hardly unbiased.
A monday morning question: Are you coming to the Australian Discworld Convention? @tigerion need not answer 🙂
That reminds me, when I gave blood on Friday there was a poor first timer there – he was in his school uniform, he was in the chair when I went in for the interview and still there once I finished donating. Bleed faster, guy.
Ooh, Fresh Blood.
I give platelets/plasma, so I’m always in the chair for a while, but I’m told my platelet cycle is fast by their standards (50 minutes) because I have a super high platelet count, which is also the weirdest compliment I have ever received
Hehehehe. Used to give blood before I was diagnosed with high blood pressure (the medication rules me out).
But back then I didn’t have a car so I had to walk from the bus stop to the centre. So I got some exercise and it speed up the donation process, :-).
I really want to! Terry Pratchett’s books (haven’t read all of them yet, don’t hate me) was some of the first books I read fully in English and am very fond of them (First ever book was the Wee Free Men, because the Nac Mac Feegle are fucking amazing) and since been going through (slowly) Discworld starting with Colour of Magic.
Unfortunately, while I enjoy them, i’m terrible at remembering many of the situations within the books so I never come off as a “proper” fan 😛
You should come! There’ll be lots of things to engage with at the con that won’t be “I am a super fan” level
The answer is Probably 🙂
Given I know you and Anton are connoisseurs, there is a wine tour planned for the monday as well (at cost)
GetDrunkwithRedday? Sure that sounds like a good day 🙂
You always make me feel bad when you tell people to go give blood. I can’t because I always have low iron. D=
Sorry. My intention isn’t to make people feel bad, but it is to jog people who can give but don’t into action.
I haven’t looked into platelet donation. I probably should. I used to donate but fell out of it when I started the whole parenting thing. I’m healthy again, but getting into the mobile locations is so much harder than it used to be because they don’t have enough staff to handle walk-ins.
I get free parking for 3 hours in the city when I donate, so it’s a good excuse to go in and go to nerd shops.
I know, but I would like to donate, but can’t. D= I don’t have much money, and I don’t have much iron. I just can’t do anything ^^;;
Low iron isn’t a good thing. Have you had it checked out by a doctor?
Yeah, I get it checked pretty regularly, like between every 3-8 months, depending on if I feel really tired or not.
This new Pokemon game is really fun! I spent about 10 hours playing it over the weekend, which is unusual for me when it comes to a new game; I generally take things slow with the games I play. Having said that though, I know a few people who have already beaten the game. Now Pokemon games are never really difficult, but the sheer number of hours they sunk into it over a weekend is insane o.O The characters this time around actually feel like characters for once, instead of blank mannequins that spout semi-useful information rather flatly, so I don’t mind that there are way more cutscenes than usual in a Pokemon game.
So besides that, I also went to a Smash Bros tournament again yesterday, and I got rooooolled 0-4 in my round robin pool. I played better than usual though, since I took games off players I had never beaten before, but a 1-2 loss is still a loss!
And now I will melt back into my bed because gosh it is hot today in Sydney.
So much Minecraft this weekend… Playing a slightly tweaked version of FTB Infinity LIte (added in Psi and a couple of little utility mods), fiddling around with Blood Magic, Mekanism and Psi. Have a fairly basic ore-tripling setup (want to upgrade it to quadrupling, but that’s a lot of effort and I’m not really hurting for resources yet), a chest-piece that will give me Regen II for 2 seconds when I take damage (and occasionally murder me horribly), and I’m now at the point I need to start killing withers and visit the End to progress… but I want to find some better armour first (also, have no idea where the ender portal is :P).
My Blood Altar is coming along nicely – the addition of the incense altar makes filling it much easier than it used to be, tho the process of making runes to upgrade it is still pretty dull. It’s at tier 4, so next step requires four beacons… hence I need to kill some withers. Might have a look at getting a couple of sets of living armour – one for combat, one for bloodletting.
I… built a Wooden Ship once…
Then Steve-o dropped a bucket of lava on it…
I’m good at Minecraft!
I started playing way back in the 1.6 beta… but found the progression really shallow, so I’d end up making a world, getting diamond tools within a couple of hours, building a small wooden house and… stopping until the next patch. I never felt a reason to build anything complex – why build a huge impressive mansion when there’s nothing to put in it? Then I discovered the modding scene. The Technic pack for 1.2 consumed a couple of months of my life, during which I built a nuclear reactor deep underground and used it to power a huge factory that processed the output of an automated mine.
I’m not really too creative but I love the logistical nightmare of automating everything, and making a building that can contain it all (hell, in 1.2 I tried to organise the world – to build a massive sorting system that would put each and every item in the game into its own chest in a giant vault – which turned into building the same redstone circuit about 120 times, so it never got finished).
I’ve found Blood Magic to be pretty cool as a “build huge, cool-looking things” tech-tree, too – gradually building an altar with very specific structural requirements with an appreciable power gain at each new tier, going from just the blood altar block itself to this… It gives Minecraft a bit of much needed structure, at least for me.
That’s okay. Remember someone was stalking Steve-o and was freaking him out
I’m very swiftly starting to play Titanfall 2 more than BF1.
The UI in BF1 leaves a fair bit to be desired, plus the rubberbanding I get semi-regularly is annoying, and it’s really difficult to get into an Operations match (or so I’ve found…)
Where as Titanfall 2 has the networks feature with chat rooms, so I can typically “Invite Network” into a match and fill up a “Mixtape” lobby pretty damn quick (though they’re 12 players vs 60+ in BF1). Plus the progression/levelling in TF2 feels a hell of a lot better than BF1.
Ok that is the first time I have seen the TF2 acronym for that and realised it is going to get annoying real fast
Hahaha, yeah, a few people on Reddit have said the same thing. Only time I use it is in context, having used the full name earlier in the paragraph.
TAY RPG Pathfinder on tonight at 7:30pm AEST, 8pm ACDT, and 8:30pm AEDT. Starring:
@redartifice @tech_knight @freezespreston @beeawwb
The redcaps have been slain and Abelas has a new cap. What next for the Monday Knights?
Let me know if you guys can make it tonight.
I’ll probably only wear said cap to antagonise further redcaps.
Though they did kick the shit out of me.
Oh Hooray. surprise $2000 on car repairs *Dies*
I played in my first X-Wing tournament on the weekend. I didn’t place very well but I wasn’t dead last and I only made two huge mistakes, so I’m pretty happy about that. I used Biggs a bit too aggressively in my first match so he died early instead of tanking properly, and in my third match I had a chance to block the main ship in my opponents squad in a way that would have resulted in half his points flying off the table, but instead of a hard left it I accidentally put a hard right on the dial and let him through.
On the plus side even though I screwed it up being in position was more than a fluke. He made a big mistake by forgetting that I could deploy my shuttle so it was mostly on him, but I recognised that thanks to the low pilot skill on my shuttle it could deploy and land in a spot that would block the only place his ship could move. Nothing super impressive but it’s a move I wouldn’t have picked up on a week ago.
Aside from that most of my problems were with target priority and going up against better, more focused lists. I think with a bit more hands on experience I can improve both my target priority and my squads ability to do it’s job against stronger lists. Really looking forward to playing tomorrow with the new batch of refinements I’ve made to my squad.
Today’s the day! *check’s EB’s postage tracking – attempted delivery failed, redirected to Post Office.* … Tomorrow! Tomorrow’s the day!
I finally got package #5 from the other week’s order today. Though am now waiting for a sixth one that I had to ring up an SA store for, after those items got cancelled and ship-from-store got turned off 😛
When I put in this preorder, “Pickup from store” wasn’t even an option, and there didn’t seem to be a way to change it easily afterwards. If they’d told me they were going to ship it from QLD, I’d have cancelled the preorder and just picked it up in the store on my way home on Friday.
Shut-in weekend. Didn’t get to sleep at all Friday night for some reason, then spent most of Saturday taking advantage of the Overwatch free weekend. And the rest of the weekend 😛
Ended up with somewhat of a frankenstein setup – rather than using my Xbone controller or even bothering to attempt mouse and keyboard (yuck :P) I fiddled around and got a setup going with my dual joysticks. Had those running through TARGET to act as a single stick, which then ran through x360ce to act as an Xbox controller, meanwhile I had the game running in 3D Vision’s red/cyan mode and was wearing the glasses inside my Rift while playing the game on a huge virtual screen 😛 The colours made it kind of hard to see things properly (tried using colourblind settings for a bit but they only helped so much) before ditching it and going back to flat play. Really really wish it was in 3D though. Also despite not actually being VR, I kept finding myself turning to look to my side whenever I heard things there 😛
But yeah, I still have little idea what I’m doing but I’m somewhat competent now. And after giving the sticks a -2 s-curve in TARGET I’ve mostly killed the inbuilt deadzones the game adds to the right stick input on its exponential settings so can actually do fine aiming, though there are still some small zones there so may have to try -3 as well. Lv23 I think, I like most of the characters except Genji. Though don’t think I’ve tried him again since fixing the joysticks, that helped overcome my dislike of Tracer who I can now use without just dying constantly. Still undecided whether I’m actually going to buy the game at the end of all this 😛 It’s very addictive and I can easily waste forever on it, though I don’t know that I would lay down $90 for it. Also feel like I probably more enjoy Splatoon still. I dunno.
Also continued to message convo with Setup Girl through Sunday, successfully showed off Zangief without scaring away so things must be alright.
I enjoy both splatoon and Overwatch. Overwatch has pretty much filled the gap that splatoon left.
This tiny Noctua low profile cooler I got for my NAS/PLEX Server is awesome. I added an 80mm Noctua fan to the case because I noticed airflow kinda sucked it’s running at 1200 RPM & the CPU fan is at 1800 RPM I haven’t seen the CPU get any hotter than 32°C at idle and low 50’s at load and it’s all whisper quiet. So nice.
Which one? I’ve got an old desktop PC that I built up as a file server, but it’s horribly loud and runs hot as hell due to 9x 1TB disks in it.
I’m tossing up saving for a HP Microserver (so I can play around with VMware & iLO etc at home) or just going for a Raspberry Pi with external disks so I can have a really low power NAS device.
The cooler? Is the NH-L9i for an Intel socket, there’s also an AMD one, there’s cheaper low profile coolers out there that are just as good like the Cryorig C7. But I just like Noctua lol.
The 80mm fan I got is an NF-R8 Redux, picked it up for $12 off eBay from some person who didn’t want/need it. Wish they had more cause that was half price and it’s brand new heh.
Edit: I should clarify I have that cooler on a Skylake i3 6100 so it’s only like a 54w chip lol.
Ahh, right, I think mine’s got like a Q6600 or something really old in it!
Ooh yeah, that was a pretty good CPU back in the day and tbh it’s still relevant today for budget gaming funnily enough. But yeah, that low profile cooler wouldn’t be able to handle the 105w that CPU puts out sadly.
*ahem* Today’s the day! Also, screw this heat.
Also also, I think I’ve figured out how I’ll be able to kill some withers with a bit of prep work – just need 15 stacks of obsidian, 13 stacks of iron, and 13 stacks of coal. Hardest part will be getting the skulls… but Looting 3 is easy enough to get, if I can find a couple of diamonds.
Overwatch weekend over, managed to get another few hours in this morning. And then it seemed to go an hour later than expected. Meant I got to hit lv30 before it ended, woo 😛
Now I’ve got one friend who added me for a couple of this morning’s matches, and Wingman’s looking to get it after giving up on the PS4 version. And they’ve got the game down to$54 til the 28th. The temptation to continue is strong.
You should commit, you won’t regret it. It’s the first game I haven’t gotten bored of after a month or so. I have put in at least 10hrs a week (usually more) since the game was released and still going strong.
Given how much time I pumped into it over the weekend, I may just regret it 😛
Also I just found that x360ce has an anti-deadzone setting. Now I feel like I need to buy the game just so I can play it with “proper” joystick sensitivity and see how I go.
Haha nice! I was initially going to play it with the Steam Controller, but wanted to put in as much time as possible over the Stress test weekend and the Open Beta and didn’t want to learn new controls. So I ended up just getting really good with mouse/keyboard and that’s all I use now. Then again, I play mainly DPS so really need the control that the mouse gives me.
And never regret! You had fun, that’s all that matters!
I’ve never liked mouse and keyboard, but even on top of that I have two keyboards and mice in front of me and the games machine is the rear set, so I don’t really have the physical space to try playing that way 😛 I used the controller when I tried out the beta for a bit and didn’t really have the time to try and fiddle around with getting alternatives to work, but did a little searching in the lead-up this time and had stuff prepped. Definitely feels like I can be much more competitive than I could with a straight gamepad last time, and ESPECIALLY once I took steps to kill those massive deadzones. Seeing kill cam footage from other players though, I can’t stand how jittery the movement is with mouse controls and don’t know how anyone manages to see anything. I’ve never had motion sickness from a flatscreen game, but that seems to come close.
But yeah. Next step in alternative running would be to try figure out how to get it to run in side-by-side 3D 😛
Wait, when did you get back in TAY?!
HI, BUDDY!
Hey man! Long time no speak! I’m not really back as such. I still lurk on Kotaku a lot, but work doesn’t give me much of an opportunity to jump in here. I had some free time so jumped in.
How are you going?
Okay so I leveled the floor in the Kitchen. Huzzah. I have hurt so many things doing so though. ^^;; Now I just need to replace the flooboards, lay the masonite, add the edging and do all this around the plumbers as they fix up the pipes tomorrow.
I had an awful weekend.
Family stuff. Complicated and sad. Struggling this week.🙁 that’s not good to hear, i’m sorry. Here’s hoping things improve for you soon!
Sorry to hear! 🙁
Complicated family stuff always suck!
You know that if you need to vent/talk about stuff you have people to lean on! 🙂
*Hugs*
Sending all of the hugs.
This is mostly for @weresmurf but other Trekkies feel free to chime in. And truth be told I did try to post this shortly after the Web site changes but I think both attempts became trapped in indefinite moderation (I’m not even going to bother to see if I’m wrong).
And no, this time I’m being nice; I’m not stitching you up this time like before, Weresmurf.
So far, I have finished season 4 of TNG but I have seen the first six movies and a mix of the Original Series.
One element has had me pondering for a while now. Data is often saying he lacks emotions, etc. But the more I watch, the more I’m convinced he’s actually the opposite.
Not to sound silly but I think from the get-go, Data has in fact had emotions. What he lacks is the ability to understand and process them.
Sorry in advance if this is answered in a later episode but it doesn’t hurt to share ideas at times.
Anyhow, I think it best if I keep to the episode order.
First case in point is The Naked Now, effectively a remake of the Original Series episode, The Naked Time.
In both cases there is a contagion that (long explanation short) has an alcoholic like effect on everyone. Including Data!
For a long time, I though the contagion was simply causing shortages in Data’s brain but having recently seen the TOS episode I’m not so convinced.
In one scene, Spock is seen crying as he wrestles to keep is emotions suppressed. His control over his emotions has been weakened.
And I think the same happened with Data. Just recently, ATi was caught red-handed for using software hacks to hide extra regions of memory on their new line of graphics cards.
I think Data’s creator, Soong, did the exact same thing and the contagion (for a short time) allowed access to regions Soong tried to keep hidden.
The next hint is in my favourite episode so far, The Measure of a Man. There is a huuuge hint here but I’ll go with the minor one first.
The bulk of the episode revolves around Data going to court to fight disassembly. To paraphrase his objections; Data is not convinced that if his head is disassembled and put back, he would still be there.
Now, if Data had no emotions he would just run on logic and probability and maybe even allow the disassembly.
But no, he may have not admitted it out right but Data expressed severe concern that something that cannot be measured would be lost if they pulled his brain apart.
But even dismissing this, there is still the big hint.
Near the end of the trial, Picard opens the bag Data packed earlier when leaving the Enterprise. The items include a book, service medals and (most of all) a hologram of Yar.
There is no logic to this; Data was emotionally attached to her. No amount of logic would have ever reached an endpoint of him keeping it.
The next hint I see is in Legacy where Yar’s sister talks to Data.
The interaction sticks out to me as Data admitted he noticed her absence. Seriously, unless there was some form of emotional attachment, Data would not have been able to feel (no other word for it) that absence let alone describe it.
The next hint is in The Offspring. If I may digress, while not my favourite episode it has my favourite line:
HAHAHA! Someone finally put No-Pants Riker in his place, 😛
But back to the topic, the overall premise is Data creates an android of his own (in his own image) called Lal. Near the end, she develops emotions and her brain shuts down due to being unable to process them.
Here’s the kicker though; her brain is a copy of Data’s. If he didn’t have emotions then it would have been impossible for them to develop in Lal unless he took his own design further but the episode clearly states she’s at best a copy and if not that a sub-set of Data.
Post is running long but I’m almost finished.
Second last hint is in The Most Toys. Kidnapped by a obsessed collector, Kivas Fajo, Data eventually tries to escape with the help of an aide, Varria.
Unfortunately, Fajo finds out and corners the two. After killing her and claiming her blood was on Data’s hands, Data looks ready to retaliate but is beamed back to the Enterprise.
Once onboard, Chief O’Brian remarks an inconsistency in the beam. O’Brain claims the weapon Data is holding went off and Data claims it to be a mis-fire.
Mis-fire my foot; if O’Brian had been a few seconds late, Data would have shot and creamed Fajo. He was than enraged.
But the biggest hint of all comes from Brothers.
In that episode, Data is influenced by a homing device to hijack the Enterprise to another planet where Soong is waiting for him.
To Soong’s surprise, Lore shows up as well and it is the interactions between those two that pretty much confirm Data having emotions.
Lore is older than Data but as his emotions developed and Lore became resentful of Soong, Soong shut him down.
Soong eventually states that he activated the homing device so he could install an emotion-chip (salvaged from a PS2, jk, :-P) into Data before he (Soong) died.
During the conversation though, Lore kept pleading with Soong, “Why won’t you fix me?”
Notice the keyword, ‘won’t’.
Personally, I think Lore was never broken but misguided. And he became misguided when he proved too much trouble for Soong which is why Soong shut him down in the first place.
Again, I still have a lot to view but from how I see it rather than guide Lore though like a father would a teen through puberty (seriously, is there any difference in Lore’s emotional state and most teens?), Soong used the off switch and made Data who had emotions but he (Soong) had any ability to know of them and understand them removed so Data would be far more convenient to Soong.
Anyhow, phew, at the end of my theory. $5 says it will all be busted two TNG episodes later but hey, food for thought?
I always had the theory that Data had the capacity to function with some emotion, even a limited range, without his full knowledge of doing so. Due to Lore’s ability to do so, I felt that Data must be able to, as
Lore had an ’emotion chip’. I believed Data had access to this as well in a more primitive form that at least allowed him some basic semblance of it as well. I do understand the writing on STTNG while good, was never what I’d call consistent and never reached the consistent levels of DS9 (which itself, was never greatly consistent either), and gave its characters ‘abilities’ or ‘devices’ based on what they needed to do each week (Hey look what Odo can suddenly do this week!). Data was the same, this week he suddenly learnt to do this, this week he can suddenly float, this week he suddenly is heavier than a 10 tonne tank, this week he can shoot lasers out his butt etc etc (ok maybe not the last one but you get it). But all up, I do think too that he had some basic ability to process emotion, he just never could get it functioning correctly, but you’ll see why by the end of Descent in season 7 🙂TNG Season 3 special feature; blooper reel showing Data as he discovers 20th century anime, specifically the works of Dr. Ozamu Tezuka, :-P.
Might be a while. Call be insane but I’m taking a break. Four seasons in around three months. That’s a bit of a heavy binge. That that is not just TNG. I’ve seen some TOS and the first six movies.
I have seen a certain DS9 episode which I think you can easily guess based on my earlier post.
Side note, I’m not playing around. Ozamu Tezuka was actually a fully licensed doctor and held a medical license.
Which certainly explains why all the AstroBoy reboots while configured to certain environments had some sense of anatomical correctness that may have worked in the real world.
No doubt. Early, early Astroboy was *the shit* and wouldn’t be aired today. I still remember one particular episode, where a teenage boy thought he was human, only to find out he was a robot. He grabs a razor and slices his wrist, only to see no blood, just rubber skin. Back then it was everyday, but I showed my son and he was mortified. Imagine that onscreen now.
Early, early as in the 1960s?
Same story was played out in the 1980s series but yeah, the fun police and anti-imagination squad wouldn’t allow such things today.
Sorry, didn’t see the last part about your post. Apologies in advance if I’m going to far asking this but is your son OK?
No lasting effects I hope.
Yeah, he got straight back to watching Ash Vs Evil Dead after that LOL
Yeah. As fun as theories are there were writing issues with Data. The absence of emotions only really applied when they were making a point of him not having emotions. The rest of the time he was making decisions that were motivated by emotions but it flew under the radar because we think of them as logical reactions.
Still a great character though. When you’re doing stuff that explores humanity the way Star Trek did it’s so handy to have character that can question the stuff we all understand. Data being not just emotionless but young and curious meant that he could ask questions that a Vulcan couldn’t. A Vulcan can’t ask ‘why are you sad’ at a funeral because they understand the concept already and even if they’d rather not be sad. Data on the other hand can ask anything.
This is what happens when I don’t read TAY, I miss a discussion on one of my favourite shows of all time. Are you watching the original TNG or the digitally remastered episodes? Normally I’m not big on remastering (thanks George Lucas) but they did a great job with the TNG remasters for the Bluray release.
I’m also doing a TNG marathon at the moment for probably the eighth time, using the remastered release as an excuse. And I also happen to be at the start of season 5, funny how coincidental that is.
Yeap, it’s the BluRay release. Finally got a working set after the forth try. No joke, the first three had a different bad disk each time and when the forth happened I simply got another copy of Season 4 as I had given up finding a complete working set.
I also love how they basically rebuilt/recomposed every episode using fresh scans from the raw materials.
Though DS9 and Voyager may not get the same treatment as apparently they used more CGI and allegedly the source computer files are either unusable or have been lost.
TNG didn’t escape either. Some scenes are still upscales because they couldn’t find the raw material at the time or the footage has been lost. And the crystal entity had to be redrawn as nobody saved the source computer file. Owch!
But overall, I’m enjoying the ‘journey’ and to keep it fresh I have been bounding between it and the original series (actually helps put some events into context).
Side note, S5E2 (Darmok) is one of the best episodes of the entire series. If you haven’t seen that one yet, I think you’ll like it.
Saw it, liked the idea where something stumped even Data and the universal translator (formerly known as Google Translate, :-P), but I still think The Measure of the Man is the best.
Basically watched eight episodes of TNG yesterday (more on that in a sec) so I’m up to Season 5, Episode 10 but I might give it a rest after that binge.
But I had the time to do so; I pretty much have only the one client and said client is based in the US. I got all the current work out of the way before the Thanks Giving holiday started so I ended up with a quiet long weekend that I rounded off with a TNG binge, 🙂
I’ve been playing Sunset Overdrive. I have a few gripes. Combat can be difficult. Trying to shoot the OD while moving about so much is bloody hard. Even worse when it’s scabs.
The vat cooking segments are tedious at best.
Other then that, I’ve been really enjoying it, especially the humour.
Try increasing the controller sensitivity and using blast-y type weapons. Shotguns, bombs, etc allow you to be loose with the controls which is a lot of fun. The deployable stuff can be cool too.
I have been trying to use the flaming compensator and TNTTeddy more
It’s taken me 2 bloody weeks to get over this gorram PAX Pox! And I still have an annoying persistent cough, so i’ve really been slacking off with my running 🙁
On the plus side, my SKL/BLT build in Bloodborne is going great! So much fun getting to try out new weapons I never paid any attention to on my first playthrough (Rifle Spear is deceptively effective). I’m aiming to end up with the Reiterpallasch (or Rakoyu but effort!) in the end because I like to play around with the melee/gun combo weapons. Good fun.
Only just got to the
Forbidden WoodsAs I have been really exploring all the little areas around Yharnam. Such an amazing place to move around in.
Onwards, good hunters! Go out and kill a few beasts, It’s for your own good. You know, it’s just what hunters do!
Aside from that, I’ve just been cruising around the galaxy in Elite (Really liking space trucking again for some reason, while listening to audio books :P) and Fallout 4 has been beckoning me as well for some reason so slowly moving through that as well.
Hope everyone else is going OK too?
Still coughing with the PAX Pox here. Been able to do slow parkruns and that’s about it (#97 this weekend!)
I’ve several paths open in Bloodborne at the moment, but I haven’t played a lot lately, because Batguy has been playing Dark Souls 3.
But last encounter was
Darkbeast PaarlAnd I reckon I can take him in less than a dozen attempts, then back to the
Shadow of YarnhamPaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarl. Use fire damage and a weapon with a blade, not a club weapon like the tonitrus.and the Supremes! My advice: Gank the mage first, keep mobile, get the pillars in the level between you and the fireballs, and divide and conquer.
I have a nearly maxxed out Axe – I nearly got Paaaarl on my second attempt, so spin to win should work fine. I’m struggling a bit more with The Supremes because the spin attack is a bit too slow with the three enemies. That one is just going to take more work, I might actually learn how to pull off the one-two combo with the pistol and one-handed axe. Unfortunately it’s such a long way from the lantern, it takes sooo long just to get there.Pretty sure there’s a shortcut you can open that leads to a lift near the lantern.Yeah, got the shortcut open, and there’s a point you can jump down, but it’s still a snake-laden hike to the boss 😛I seem to recall a gate near the boss you could open. I also recall running through the woods to get there.I’d kill Paarl first anyway.
Also, sing out if you need a jolly cooperator.
I will probably be up to this area tonight, so indeed sing out!
Also @redartifice, we will need to organise another night of trying to take on that bloody parent-less child! I just need to get up to that part again (my old hunter is now in NG+ and haven’t even made a start yet)… But i’m keen on getting that guy taking down for you.
@pixel_the_ferret_viking Yeah, we do. Haven’t been in a Bloodborne mood for a while.
Yeah from memory there should be a way you can take where you just pass 2 pigs and you’re there… I’ll have to check tonight 😛Hypogean Gaol still has one of my favourite atmospheres in the entire game. The Snatchers, the music, the creepiness of the unseen village… SAH GOOD!Oh my yes!
The music has such a big impact on the atmosphere – it’s so dark and foreboding with the chanting that when you finally break through to Paarl and it’s silent, it’s a relief!The detail about the chanting I love the most is that it get’s louder/quieter as you move around the gaol.Like there’s an actual choir in there somewhere chanting away… so eerie
I still remember the first time I came up against Gascoigne. Was my first real ‘OHSHITOHSHITOHGODOHFUCKOHGODOHSHIT’ fight, and the music for Gascoigne is just incredible. Made the whole fight an experience. Still my favorite track off the OST too, which if you don’t own, you need to own. Right now. It’s gorgeous.
You may not have seen this mr deletes-his-twitter-every-ten-minutes, but https://twitter.com/redartifice/status/795027644056121344
NEF APPROVED.
I’m still….. around. I have TAYbies on Steam/B.net/justabouteverything, so I’m never far away.
In the bushes….
At your windows….
Watching.
Waiting.
EDIT: Had a quick browse at Twitter in general, without signing in.
SJWS! POLITICS! VIDEO GAME RAGE! CENSORSHIP! NAZIS! MISOGYNY! TRUMP! ALTRIGHT! OFFENSE! RANDOMTHINGTHATUPSETMETODAYIFEELTHENEEDTOTELLEVERYONEABOUT!
*remembers why not on Twitter, returns to desk, content.*
I fucking miss you guys, but I just can’t handle the fuckery that inevitably filters through, somehow.
We miss you Nef Nef!
Soundtrack is god damned amazing…
Although, I have a sweet spot for the “First Hunter” track.
Seriously made the entire fight with Gerhman such an emotionally loaded experience.Also
Ludwig the Holy Blade is such a strong piece of music!But yes, Gascoigne’s music is top ace as well.
Apart from it just being an amazing core game, the visual design and soundtrack really just completed it as an overall experience. I still tout it as my top PS4 title.
Also picked up the Bloodborne Official Artworks book a month or so ago. It’s in Japanese, but has English labels for things as well – it’s gorgeous. Recommend it – picked it up off JP Amazon for like $60 delivered.
I found I went for angry sword man first. Just pillar the mage’s fireballs while you’re doing it. He’s easy to maneuver because he pretty much chases you incessantly. Parry/visceral him down, the go for mid/flamethrower guy, then mage last.Sword guy makes life difficult when he’s just charging you constantly, but he’s insanely easy to parry.
Awesome, my 6100 which only lasted for about four days when I powered it up again the other week has now made it through an entire week before dying.
I logged into the XBOX store to check the FFXV release date, but ended up getting distracted and buying a bunch of Black Friday sale games. I’m such a sucker… =(
Ugh I know right. My wallet has gone as far as Wasteland 2 on PS4 so far, but I imagine PSN has a new sale upcoming.
Afaik, PSN sale starts Thursday.
Plumber couldn’t come today, resheduled to Friday. It gives me a chance to lay some of the floorboards.
Also, Melbourne weather is insane. 22, 38, 17, 16. That’s the temperature of the last 4 days. And it rained most of Yesterday. Silly weather.
Melbourne weather makes me happy. It’s unpredictable, and utterly insane at times, but I love it. The variety can be fun.
Normally it doesn’t bother me, but it was just extra insane
New Pokemon is a pretty cool guy.
Haven’t even made it to beach bum professor’s lab yet.
Had my “pretending to be a programming tutor” day today, for my friend’s little brother. I think I helped a little bit, so woo 😛 Super awkward about accepting money for it though.
It’s a good way to sharpen your skills. I used to help kids learn to program and it meant that I had to spend a lot of time deep in the stuff you can normally learn once then never really think about again. It’s not directly useful but it strengthens the foundation of everything you do.
Helping people debug is a nice challenge/exercise as well. I tend to just do things, but when I’m guiding someone through solving their problem it forces me to slow down my thought process and examine how I do things and how I can do them better.
When you work with very young people it’s also nice to see them transition from programming as a series of commands they’ve memorised to actually speaking the language. It’s very rewarding to help someone cross the line from colouring within the lines to actually crafting their own art.
I think my main concern here (other than just having nfi what I was doing) was getting too advanced for him, since he’s still only just starting out and there’s so much that I know without realising I know. Especially when starting to delve into object-oriented stuff, which I don’t think they’ve really covered much/at all. It’s so easy to just start rabbiting on and let them get lost in the dust.
…just bought Overwatch by accident. Intended on deliberating further, but the paypal info was still in there from earlier, so when I thought I was clicking to type in the password and stuff it instead came up with “thanks for purchasing!”
Welp 😛 Guess I can test those anti-deadzones now.
Good job
This is for the likes of @zombiejesus and other developers here.
As my posts attest to, I’m a Mac user but my main line of work is .NET development. While I could boot camp the machine I use a VM to hold my environment. The reasoning is simple.
First, I use the checkpointing feature before software installations or Windows updates so I don’t lose a working environment for a prolong period if something goes wrong
Second, I have full control over the networking which makes testing easier and also helps isolate my VM if I’m trying to debug something.
Finally, if my physical machine dies, I can just install my hypervisor on another machine and I’m up again in a couple of hours.
Since going Mac four years ago I have been using Parallels. Now for a long time it has been a good piece of software.
Sadly those times have come to an end; the latest update no puts a restriction on the number of cores and the amount of RAM a VM can have. The limit is now 4 cores and 8 Gigabytes of RAM.
My dev environment which has VS 2013 and SQL Server has 8 cores and 16 Gigabytes of RAM (I use a Mac Pro Trashcan).
So imagine my shock when I updated, went to boot up my VM only to get a popup saying I needed to get a yearly subscription to Pro to continue using my VM as is or dial down its resources.
The worst part is Parallels (the company) only made notice of this restriction in an unannounced knowledge base article and in obscure sections of their manuals. I received no warning about (for lack of a better term) a standard feature being removed from the desktop version.
I was lucky as I simply used my Time Machine to wind back but given the non-disclosure and Parallel’s attitude to customers complaining about the unwelcome restriction (link is at the end of this post), I am planning to move to another VM solution next year.
Doesn’t help either that I got Version 12 just a couple of months ago and the 12.1 update basically cripples a perfectly good piece of software.
The problem I’m having is which to choose? Currently I’m thinking of just going to Virtual Box but does anyone here use VMware Fusion? I just wanted to get a fell from users here what it is like and if it is worth the cost.
I basically want something that will let me do the three points I listed above without hassle. But above all I want the product to be a one off purchase (no subscriptions) and be able to work without an online connection.
The last point is a strong sticking point with me; earlier still I had to change from Sophos for Kaspersky because their latest version of macOS sierra has no native client controls. This basically means for me to turn it off for trouble shooting purposes I have to log in to a Web portal via a browser and control my local instance from there.
If anyone has experiences to share with Fusion, my thanks in advance.
https://forum.parallels.com/threads/12-1-kills-ram-allocation-8gb-for-non-pro-version.338853/
I’ve never tried Fusion, but VMware in general is pretty solid and flexible. You can make VM’s with up to 64gb of ram, and even dedicate up to 2gb of memory to graphics, which means you can actually play some 3d games (I know that’s not what you’re after, but it demonstrates the power at least).
Given you have Parallels already, you can actually do a paid upgrade to Fusion, or Fusion Pro too, which should save you a bit of $
I have seen that mentioned on the Parallels forums but I’m not seeing the upgrade option.
And truth be told I have been think of VMware because I used to use it religously during my PhD days. I especially loved it back when they upgraded VMware Player to version 2 and added the ability to create VMs in it.
While there was cygwin, research file processing was so much easier with a copy of Ubuntu (back when it was good and not the mess Shuttleworth has made it now).
I think the upgrade option is found on the VMWare site, not Parallels
/edited to include link 😉
http://store.vmware.com/store/vmwaus/en_AU/html/pbPage.fusion-vs-parallels
I was looking at the VMware Web site, but the link provided on the form was for the US and I kept getting redirected to the AU version.
But thanks for providing the link. Might get Fusion to try out.
I haven’t used VMWare in about a decade so I can’t really comment on its recent incarnations. I use VirtualBox personally at home, and these days companies I’ve worked for use either VirtualBox or blade servers with dynamic allocation. I imagine large companies probably tend towards VMWare for legacy reasons but I’ve never had a problem getting VirtualBox to do what I want. Even managed to get a VM that simulated Android and specifically the Galaxy S5 without any trouble.
That sucks that Parallels added a paid restriction, that reeks of bait and switch to me.
It’s not just that it is the handling of the matter that has put me off. Just look at the thread; Parallels is blaming everyone but themselves and is trying to put everyone on a Pro subscription.
One user went digging and found out that in accepting a conversion to a paid Pro subscription all software keys said user has bought become invalidated and the license behind them void.
I have serveral keys as I’ve been upgrading since Parallels 8 and even used to have two instances.
Before I got the Mac Pro I used my Mac Laptop and an older mini; work VM on the Mac, SQL server on the mini.
Needless to say I consolidated since getting a Mac Pro but I still have (currently) valid keys.
Overall it is a trainwreak and I’m starting to think it wise that I move on as there is not telling what the next update will be like.
I use Workstation Pro and Fusion Pro – both are fantastic. Expensive, but fantastic. I just write it off on tax because I use them at work quite a bit. I’ve never used Parallels, but VMWare is great. I started off with VirtualBox, which is brilliant for a free program, but I’ve had some hiccups with it.
I don’t do anything super advanced with them apart from create and use VMs on my laptop for work, and home desktop for testing, as well as connect to and manage some ESXi hosts we have at work, but I’ve never had any issues with Workstation Pro or Fusion Pro. I’d recommend them, just depends on how much you want to spend.
Don’t plan to integrate with ESXi so vanilla Fusion might work for me.
I like that the one license can be used on three machines.
Parallels are a fucking scumbag company. They disable your shit constantly if you keep up to date, and OSX being a piece of crap and having hardly any good software available means you really need a Windows VM so they’ve basically got you bent over a barrel. So glad I ditched Apple.
FWIW, I work on Windows at Microsoft, which means my dev box gets internal windows builds pushed every couple of days. Aside from the annoyance of having my machine force-rebooted and losing my debug sessions periodically (which drives me nuts) I haven’t had major compatibility issues ever. The worst that I’ve had was when I was running insider builds on my home desktop and Skype stopped being able to see my webcam, but that was a software conflict between the new Modern App Skype client and the old one.
I’m also super biased in saying this, but since you mentioned Sophos / Kaspersky… are you running that in the VM? IMO if I was virtualizing Win10 on OSX I wouldn’t run a heavyweight AV solution like that in it, I’d just use Defender (I work on Defender though so very biased).
I have Kaspersky on both OSX Sierra and in my Win10 VM.
It is heavy weight I know but the VM is still technically its own machine thus the guest can be used as an attack vector against my host.
While it may have improved over the years, Defender is still only a short term solution that is viable only when the OS is being installed and common sense says one puts a proper product in place once Windows is working and activated.
No offence intended for your work but for me it is just not enough. I need anti-viral and a strong firewall as well.
In terms of OSX not having good software, I think it depends on what one does. I still do some graphics in my UI mockups and Pixelmater (despite the price going up) is a good alternative to Photoshop without the Adobe scale price tag.
The MS Office products are also OK (caveats such as Outlook not being able to use the hard drive aside).
Then again, I’m one of those people who is completely agnostic. I use OS X, Windows, and BSD Unix on my machines.
OS X for my office work/book keeping. Windows for development, and FreeBSD for my servers (mostly for ZFS as I want to minimise my data loss).
But I digress.
Like you, I have not had any major issues but I prefer to practice as I do now and not need to roll back rather than have something go wrong and wish I had.
Parallels isn’t the only solution and like others I just bought Fusion. I’m liking what I see so far but I also keep a copy of VirtualBox up to date incase the sh*t hits the fan and that is my last option.
Defender is definitely more viable than just protecting during installation, but I guess if you don’t mind compromising performance and stability for marginal increase in security there’s nothing wrong with running Kaspersky. I wouldn’t personally want it running in a VM is all.
This is the thing, Kaspersky despite the tools it offers is very light weight.
Just wish the same could be said for the Mac version.
Made the mistake of commenting on a reddit thread.
Why do i comment on the internet?
I should just stick to TAY and Twitter… people are much nicer.
I stay well away from most of the big subreddits, they’re uniformly toxic. Mainly stick to the Magic, RPGs, Commander, Board Games and sometimes Australia.
Just stay here, forever and ever.
That’s the plan! the real internet-world is scary!
Good. No one is ever allowed to leave. Ever.
Welcome to the Hotel California?
But with games and karaoke
So steam awards, that’s kinda interesting
Had a quick think about it and having categories outside the normal best strategy, best action, best puzzle is kinda cool.
Game with emotional impact. Game that blew your mind. Game that keeps you up past your bed time. Random categories like best use of farm animal.
Will be curious about the outcome in some of the categories, hopefully they gave a top 10 for each one or similar
Actually, yeah, that is a great idea. It means you’re not having the same games int he same catagories all the time.
*kicks door in, strides inside, thumbs in belt*
‘Sup fuckers!
Uh…
I mean… Hi.
It’s that time of year again.
Who wants Secret SanTAY this year?
Email me.
binoter where the mail is hot.
Make sure to include your address to save a bunch of follow up emails.
#talklikespaghett
I sent an email…
I think I even sent it to the right address!
go me!
I got an email but it was from some Finnish sounding person so I assumed it was spam.
A wise choice!
Pixel
rudely demandedwas gentlemanly enough to remind me to lay out rule reminder again.Random draw and randomly assigned a fellow internet random. No more than $20 (SOOO MANY PEOPLE BREAK THIS RULE SO IT’S A GUIDELINE, OKAY) and try to get it there by Christmas.
My job is to facilitate said pairings and secrecy and to promise not to use your details to sign you up to too many amputee midget donkey show mailing lists. I believe the previous few years I’ve done this people have been satisfied with the number of them.
Count me in
Same details as last year
Last year I was subscribed to mailing list also containing horse shows, please restrict purely to donkey shows this year
*tiglet finds dad’s emails*
TIGLET: “Look daddy! Pony!”
TIGS: “Yes Dear now let’s just shut that window down…”
With how my world works at the moment
Tiglet: No Dear Let’s shut that window UP!
HI FREEZE! I WILL EMAIL YOU, YES!
Also I might drop by and see you in the next few weeks, probably harass you at work cause my days off are usually when you’re working from memory 😛
Freeze! I would say I’m in, but I’m pretty scant this year. =( Mind you, I found that Virus really loved the Virus plush I gave him last year
Maybe I should. I dunno.
That little dude is awesome! He sits with all my other cool stuff people have gotten me over the years like the guitar with Slash painted on it that @freezespreston got me when he went to err Bali (I think) one year 😛
I’m just glad that I managed to get you something meaningful under the $20 range
Done.
https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-admin/admin-post.php?action=view_notification¬ification=1
Neat 😛
So that takes me to an article about the Mini NES…
Yeah, just found it interesting that the profile page now gives you notification links rather than comment links, and that they’re open to everyone. So we can see where the first one was.
Oh right. I see what you mean, yeah that’s interesting.
Tempted to buy a Steam Link from EB Games especially since it comes with a $20 Steam gift card.. But I don’t think I need it + I haven’t really played a PC game in close to a year.
I’ve been more focussed on the Steam Controller, but I might wait a bit for one.
Both are on sale from Amazon atm. Steam Link $41 AUD shipped Steam Controller $61 AUD shipped. Still like $30 cheaper than EB for the controller not bad.
Don’t. It’s much cheaper on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Steam-Link/dp/B016XBGWAQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1480299555&sr=8-1&keywords=Steam+Link
I know. But I don’t have AC wireless & a wired connection isn’t possible so I won’t bother lol.
More Overwatch talk – last night I tried dialing the settings up to max and playing it on my screen again and despite the increased clarity and stronger colours, it just felt annoyingly small and constricting versus playing on a huge virtual screen that takes up my full field of view in the Rift. Which is really strange since I don’t recall having similar feelings when chopping and changing between the two for playing Elite. There it’s more about weighing up head tracking versus clarity and performance, I think.
Those Violent Soho guys aren’t bad. After seeing so much funny shit from them from music sites thought i’d give them a listen, yeah I can get into this.
Welp, going to trade my 360 in for an Xbox One this evening.
Good thing Killer Instinct has cross-buy.
😀
I wouldn’t expect much trade value. 30-40 bucks if you’re lucky. Personally I’d just keep it.
Already done.
Got the Xbox for a pittance, and bought an extra controller, along with Rocket League.
Fair enough. Rocket League is lots of fun.
I just received my favourite payment confirmation ever.
It is a full screen screenshot of picture viewer with a rotated full screen screenshot of a scan. So there are windows start bars at both the top and bottom, it actually took me quite a while to figure out how they even managed it
Went with Mrs Spadge for the first ultrasound. Everything normal. Very exciting. Baby squirmed on camera. Now, somehow, I’m supposed to concentrate on work.
I just found out my friend’s wife is pregnant, first trimester I think he said. Always had kind of a little brother type relationship with him which is hard to shake even though we’re all not actually kids any more, so weird to think he’s gonna be a dad 😛
Oh, has anyone else been reading the Lightbringer series, by Brent Weeks? Blood Mirror has created so many more questions. Probably two years for the next book as well.
Has anybody used Amazon Pickup locations when ordering from amazon. Does it save you much?
I didn’t know they even existed in Australia.
Seems like there are specific places that act as bulk shipping locations, rather than actual amazon stores.
Although when I went to try and use one it said the stuff I was ordering couldn’t be shipped to that location so I didn’t dig any further
Are people interested to see the kitchen transformation? I don’t have a full “before” photo as I only started taking photos after bits of the green cupboards were ripped out.
I am. I like those kinda things 😀
Alright I’ll keep taking photos
title: Rikard’s Gamble
“The game is dead-eyed molly,” Rikard sat at the table with a pair of dice balanced on the back of his left hand and smiled as he emptied a pouch of its gold into a large wooden bowl at the table centre. “And the buy in is ten gold royals.”
“Not a farmer’s game tonight.” Franz of Armstead dropped in a pair of Thyatian Platinum pieces into the pot instantly raising eyebrows. “Found them in the mud under the docks on Fogor Isle. Just the two.” At the suggestion of freely availiable coins a few patrons slipped out through the door into the night.
“And there go half your patrons.” Leaf Beatenbow laughed at the desperation of men as he dropped ten gold coins of varying nations into the bowl. “My gold is as good as any.”
“I’ll be representing the farming guild tonight Tavern-master Rikard.” Farmer Miklos surrendered a mix of gold coins to the bowl belonging to various owners currently crowded in the room. “If you dont mind us buying in.”
“I take anyone’s gold,” Tomin Creary deposited his coins. “so long as they are offering.”
“Sorry I’m late.” Eben Rhily smiled, pulling up a chair as his gold coins dropped in the bowl. ” I believe my gold makes the pot sixty.”
Everyone nodded and stared at Rikard expectantly as he lifted the dice and dropped them across the table.
“House rolls first.” Rikard swore as the dice settled on a pair of ‘ones’. “Dead-eyed molly.”
“I’m next.” Franz retrieved the dice and invoked a blessing as he unleashed the dice. A safe roll and franz breathed a sigh of relief allowing the elf at the table to claim the dice. “No cursed dice tonight.”
“I am a leaf on the wind.” Leaf rolled the clay destriders across the wood only to watch the second pair of ‘ones’ appear for the evening. “And a dead leaf it is.”
“Dead-eyed molly.” Farmer Miklos rolled his turn and smiled at having remained in the game. “Cheer up, I hear Elves live forever.”
“Not so Farmer.” Tomin rolled safe. “That would be dragons.”
“You are both wrong.” Eben Rhily rolled safe. “Only the Immortals live forever.”
“Wrong on all counts.” Franz reached across the table for the dice and dropped them again for a safe roll. “Anyone hear of the Rain of Fire?”
“I heard a Story written by a dragon.” Miklos rolled safe. “It ended with…and the sky burned with infernal rain and all the kingdoms fell.”
“I heard a kobold rhyme. There was a Dragon Egg so dark and evil, he ruled the world without hatching.” Tomin rolled safe. “and something…I forget the rest…but it mentions a bad rain.”
“Pity.” Eben Rhily rolled safe. “It sounded interesting.”
“Hah!” Franz rolled a one and four. “Not as interesting as me winning.”
“T’is interesting though.” Miklos a one and five. “these different tales of a rain of fire.”
“Not relevent at the moment though.” Tomin rolled a six and two and smiled at his fortune.
“I hear Bargle was seen near Threshold.”
“Lets not curse the dice with talk of that villain shall we.” Eben rolled two and two and looked at Tomin. “The last thing we need is to start rolling pairs.”
“Indeed.” Franz winced at the rather close call of a two and a one. “They punched through into a forgotten dungeon beneath the Tarnskeep.”
“Bloody dungeons are everywhere.” Miklos rolled a four and three. “Can hardly dig in a field without falling through into one.”
“So,” A one and two tumbled from Tomin’s hand. “what did they find under Tarnskeep?”
“Probably undead.” The group looked at Eben as though he had spat on lady Aleena as his five and three settled on the table. “What?”
“They found a stairs going down.” a pair of ones appeared from Franz’s roll. “Bugbear shit!”
“That’s dead-eyed molly to you.” Miklos fetched up the dice and released them on the table for a pair of sixes. “shit.”
“Nasty.” Tomin rolled a pair of two. “looks like its catching.”
“Lets hope not.” Eben rolled a four and three. “You were saying you cant dig a field without finding a dungeon.”
“Aye. Vigo across the river broke through into one just this morning.” Two and two. “Got him self a nice stone cellar now.”
“Any doors or stairs?” Tomin dropped a four and six. “Might be worth a look in the morning.”
“Beware!” Eben said the word in a scary voice rolling a four and one, drawing the gaze of every superstitious man in the room. “Sorry.”
“Didnt have any doors.” A pair of ones reduced the number of players to two. “Bitch.”
“Dead-eyed molly,” A five and three granted Tomin another chance. “Thats her name.”
“I might be up for exploring a dungeon.” a one and four spared Eben from poverty. “How about you?”
“Pass me the damn dice!” Tomin Creary eyed the pot filled with the wages of several men who had gone home penniless this evening as his hand closed around the dice dropped into his palm. “If you think I am going home penniless like those poor sods you are in for a rude surprise.”
“Come on my lovely!” Tomin unleashed the contents of his hand and the ceramic dice tumbled across the heavy timber table jarring and flipping against the edges of its uneven timbers until they halted, each a single upward facing mark.
“Dead-eyed molly!” The voice of his sole remaining opponent exploded with joy at the victory. Eben Rhily smiled and reached out across the table for his winnings. “Thank you gentlemen for a lovely evening.”
“Not quite yet Rhily.” Tomin reached into the folds of his cloak and pulled a piece of paper from the hidden pocket that had kept it safe tossing it on the winnings. “One more hand.”
“What might that be when its not being a scrap of paper then?” Eben considered the scrap of paper. It was old. Thats all he could tell as he reached out to examine it.
“Its a title deed to some land.” Tomin grabbed Eben’s hand preventing him from touching the document. the dice.” Tomin pulled his hand free and considered the man. He could very well be bluffing. That sort of thing had happened before and it always ended in violence when the bluff was exposed.
“All right.” Eben picked up the dice and allowed them to tumble from the palm of his hand across the table, his eyes fixed on the man across from him until they no longer made the characteristic sound of dice on wood. His opponent gritted his teeth indicating Eben’s winnings were safe. “Your roll I believe.”
“Best not get too settled Rhily,” Tomin retrieved the dice and with a spill of his hand dropped the dice getting a good roll. “I never loose my land.”
“I have enjoyed a winning streak all night.” Safe. “You on the other hand have lost once already.”
“The only way is up.” Tomin rolled a five and four. “and you are due a comeuppance.”
“Perhaps,” Eben rolled a three and a one. “but not tonight.”
“I know so.” Tomin rolled a one and two. “Your roll.”
“Matter of time.” Eben rolled a four and two. “just a matter of time.”
“Still,” a pair of fives tumbled from Tomin’s hand. “Vigo’s cellar is a thought.”
“Agreed.” three and one landed on the table. “We can take a look after I win.”
“You mean after I win.” A pair of ones and the game was over. “Damn.”
“Dead-eyed molly.” Eben snatched up the land title and unfolded it. The Seal of Baron Sherlane declared the holder of the paper owner of fifty acres north of Lake Windrush including an old stone barn. “Bloody Hel, thats a good piece of land.”
“Aye.” Tomin already felt the loss. “It is.”
“Drinks to my good fortune Tavern-Master!” Eben dumped a handful of his winnings in front of Rikard and began dumping the remaining coins in an empty pouch.
“Drinks all round it is.” The crowded tavern cheered at the prospect of a free drink as Rikard got to his feet and headed for the bar.
“Well then gentlemen.” Eben leaned forward across the table. “It seems we can investigate this doorless stone cellar of Farmer Miklos’s aquaintance at sunrise, move on to exploring these stairs discovered below Tarnskeep if the Baron is of a mind to allow us after lunch, and retire for the evening to my fine stone barn north of Windrush with a mind to camp out under the stars and cook some fish.” Eben looked across their faces. “What say you?”
“Aye!” They nodded in unison rapping the table top, and Franz smiled as the singing mood washed over him.
“I knew a lass named molly.” Leaf next. “but she had naught but eyes for you.” Miklos took the third line. “A cruel love if ever there was,” Tomin took the fourth line. “as she took your gold and flew.” A thunderous aplause rose from the patrons drowning the tavern.
“Now,” Rikard dropped drinks on the table as Eben noticed a problem. “How do we get across the river?”
I haven’t read it, but I noticed you tend to always post as a guest. Why don’t you make an account?
What the fuck. Just got a letter from Centrelink via MyGov & it’s all “We need you to confirm your employment with Dan Murphy’s, EB Games & The Electoral Commission” from 3 fucking years ago.. Uh, right. It won’t even let me do it anyway. Typical Centrelink.
Their favourite trick with me used to always be “Attend a meeting at your local office and bring pieces of information, A, B and C”, only for me to then arrive at the meeting and sit down with the interviewer for “Okay, do you have A, D and E?”, “Uh, I was told A, B and C”, “No, that’s not right. You’ll need to schedule another appointment before Wednesday and bring in D and E, otherwise your payment will be suspended.”
Get. Fucked.
Thing is I did away with Newstart almost a year ago & I’ve been out of their system for over 9 months now.. So fucking stupid, it’s even more stupid it’s relating to something that isn’t my current job..
Don’t tell them that. You’re either in their system and you owe them paperwork, or you’re out of their system in which case you owe them money due to a mistake they made.
They know that. I reported everything correctly and as soon as I got my current job I received $0 from Centrelink after I used up my working credits. This is about jobs I had years ago which again, income was always reported correctly. They’re just morons.
That weekend was brutal. Can I order a proper one for tomorrow please
Picked up my Xbox One on Friday night, spent the weekend playing Rocket League and Killer Instinct on it.
Wee, got my Wither kill-room finished. Overprepared a bit in terms of resources, but didn’t realise that dark steel takes sooooo long to smelt – that alone took most of an afternoon. Set up a chest/hopper to keep the alloy-smelter stocked, connected the smelter to an auto-crafter stocked with obsidian, and went to play Pokemon for a few hours. That evening, after 3 hours in a Nether Fortress, I managed to get just enough resources for three skulls… and built the room. Kinda glad I decided to build it away from my base… the holes I left in the bottom to poke him through does let his spawning explosion tear holes in the surrounding landscape… but other than that, it worked like a charm. Just need a better way to get more wither skulls – Looting-III didn’t do much for skull drops…
Page 2 after a Week? Dear gods TAY.
Had a quiet weekend. Went to a wedding on Friday, enjoyed myself, but woke up Saturday morning utterly exhausted. Decided to have a hermit weekend. Picked up Wasteland 2 in the PSN sale, so spent all of Saturday playing that, really enjoying it, even though the PCs have no personality I feel like I’m giving them personality through their skills.
Sunday I spent an entire day watching Penn and Teller: Fool Us on Netflix, it’s such a fun series. Good magic tricks always make me laugh, they’re so much fun. May have also gone on to book depository and bought some magic books, I kinda want to learn sleight-of-hand for coins, cards and dice for fun. Practicing my French Drop.
A Monday Morning Question: What little skill are you practicing at the moment? What would you like to learn?
Skills, eh?
Sewing is definitely the skill I’ve been working on the most consistently, and now that PAX is out of the way (I was pretty happy with my Hunter Coat in the end) I have a few more small projects that need to get done, such as turning some black pants that don’t fit very well into a pair of shorts for work, and making some new skirts. I’ll probably make a few small projects as christmas gifts too. Last year I made Pyjama Eaters for my nephews, they were lots of fun!
My other long-term project is running. This year I ticked off a new parkrun PB, 2 half marathons and I’ll join the parkrun 100 club before Christmas. Next year will probably be another City-2-Surf, another half (the Nike Women’s Victory Tour was actually lots of fun, would do again) and maybe do an interstate run like the Gold Coast Half, or the Melbourne Half.
Come to SA, do the Pichi Richi! https://www.runningcalendar.com.au/event/pichi-richi-marathon/
Actually, that looks pretty good!
Port Augusta is kinda eh, but you’re on the edge of the Flinders Ranges up there which are pretty, and not far from Yorke Peninsula and Clare Valley.
The skill I really want to get back to working on is cooking and in particular baking
Have a christmas pudding cake I’m planning for next month so at elast that is something
I guess because of all the sales and word of mouth there were new players in Titanfall 2. But the best thing is that these players had no idea what they were doing. I was winning Attrition matches with double their scores. I saw groups of players camping on top of buildings, meekly looking over the sides to shoot something. All it took was a hover and a cluster missile from my Northstar to get a quadruple kill. Or I just use Stim, launch myself up and run through with an SMG.
Although I did sometimes get them on my team. Plenty of players would accidentally grab a battery and then run off to deliver to the opposite team while I was trying to get their attention while in my Titan.
I picked up Tomb Raider cheap and started through that. The gameplay is really good and the collectables are fun. Although it’s way too easy to gather resources, I’m constantly full for all weapons.
One thing that’s bothering me is that the story is so rushed. There’s flashbacks to Laras reasons for her current adventure but they’re not that fleshed out. It also feels like there’s a chapter or two missing from the beginning. Think of reading the first Harry Potter book and starting from his first train ride. It’s still early enough in the story, but you do miss out on some important steps.
Another thing also bothered me,
very early on you see a friend of Laras getting strangled to get her to talk, she stops him and reveals that she was a secret undercover agent working against her! Problem is that it’s so early, I didn’t even know her name or even recognise her at first. I’m supposed to give a damn about this betrayal but it’s not earned at all.I’m still enjoying the game, but the pacing and story really feel like a step back.
I picked up Titanfall 2 yesterday after seeing the PSN price, but have no intention of touching the multiplayer. Was somewhat miffed that the console said it was ready to play after 16GB downloaded, tho I could just play one short loop around a training mission, with a guy standing in the corner a constant reminder that the rest of the game wouldn’t be ready for another four hours. Did give me a chance to play around with the movement a bit… and I’m having a hard time seeing how anyone could be in any way accurate while wall-running, unless there’s a way to turn off the aim assist that I missed…
In multiplayer, there’s a perk that allows you to stick to walls while wall running when you aim down the sights.
I finally have some good news! Got a phone call from work today saying I still have a job, and I can begin my graduated return on January 9th! w00000t!
Still a ways off, which means the struggle endures for a little longer, but yay for finally having a solid outcome! Future is looking brighter! Shall be a good start to the new year!
FUCK YOU 2016! DON’T COME BACK YA CUNT!Just finished Inside. Awesome game. Really should go back and play Limbo now.
That last section, the escape… wow. Completely changes the tone of the entire game – loved it. Did you go back and solve the puzzle to open the room under the corn fields?Yeah I did, had to cheat though.So good. Can’t wait for Playdead’s next masterpiece (whatever that may be).
Same – wouldn’t’ve put the radio and the four-way switch together in a million years. Worth it, tho. 😛Can’t wait! 😀
Holy fracking shite, who dis guy? ^^
I mean, sure, i’m not around a lot either so yeah, but hey, missed you man!
Also, really need to get Inside, because:
1. It looks awesome
2. It’s made by a Danish studio 😛
3. Limbo is one of my favourite game experiences
Would you say it’s as good as Limbo?
I’m a mess without you. I miss you so damn much! I miss being with you. I miss being near you. I miss your laugh! I miss your scent. I miss your musk… When this all gets sorted out, I think you and me should get an apartment together!
Edit: I need to get back on the Twitters again. I miss talking to all the old TAYbies.
Oh, and by the way, I can’t really compare it to Limbo because for whatever reason I’ve never really played it. Don’t know why I’ve got it on both 360 and Steam, hence why I said I need to play it.
I highly recommend Inside though. It’s top notch.
Fairly quiet weekend, mostly just played more Overwatch. Tried to get chatting again with Setup Girl but didn’t get much back, guess that’s dead. I don’t get it.
Went out for dinner last night for Mum’s birthday, took her to the restaurant of an old family friend, son of the guy who ran the restaurant across the road from her parents’ fruit shop where she grew up. Really good Italian food, those arancini were amazing. Awesome pizza, pasta, and man those desserts. Definitely have to go back again.
mmmm just reading that made me so hungry!
When I was in primary school, one of my friends mum’s owned an italian restaurant. It was so good! They had a big glass window between the kitchen and the dining room so you could look in and see them making the food too! Damn shame they closed it down many years ago. I miss that place
Can I finish Resident Evil 4 twice before Final Fantasy XV is released? No, but I’m going to give it a shot anyway.
Think I might do a Neill Blomkamp marathon tonight. All three of his films in order of release, District 9, Elysium and then Chappie.
Good idea. I might do that next weekend.
BIRTHDAY WEEEEEEEEEEK!
@crazyguy1990
Oh, you…
*blushes*
Hello. I’m in Cyprus so not much gaming at the moment (although I did horrify my wife when I pulled the PS4 out of the suitcase… 😀 ). Briefly jumped into Destiny to look to see if my one missing Iron Lord artefact turned up in rotation. It didn’t.
Been cruising about mainly looking at castles and other Old Stuff. Bunch of Crusader castles and roman stuff too – Allison was astonished by the ruins at Salamis and Kantara Castle.
My dad’s 80th birthday on Friday so we’re here for that then back to Oz next week.
Sitting in a hotel in the mountains by a log fire. Very pleasant. Off to Kourion (roman city ruins) tomorrow.
This guy, always off with the exploring…
Disappeared for a week for Thanksgiving and such. Had my parents and sister here and there was Ten Days of Feasting or something for my Dad’s 60th, followed by my 32nd (which technically isn’t until Thursday but whatever).
Parents tried the PSVR. Were amazed. My mother couldn’t figure out how to put it on her head though, ended up positioning it so that she was basically peering through the gap between the headband and the actual headset and complaining that she couldn’t see anything, which had us in hysterics.
We didn’t do too much around Seattle due to bad weather and my Dad getting gastro. 🙁 Visited the Pacific Science Center with some friends (great place to take kids) and went to some nice restaurants. Also went to the Seattle Museum of Flight and that’s pretty fucking rad. Especially the M-21 Blackbird they have on display (difference between it and the SR-71 is the M-21 had the little drone attached to the back). Would say that that’s a must-visit if you’re at all interested in Aviation and are in Seattle.
In other news, FFXV tomorrow and I’m kind of excited despite everything so that pretty much means it’s going to be shit, since anything I anticipate or get excited for in games is. Sorry everyone. 🙁
So far it’s better than the demo. I’m playing with real time combat and it’s great against a single target. A bit too frantic against multiple targets but I’m hoping it’s something I adjust too after a few more hours. I’d definitely recommend spending thirty minutes doing the boring tutorial (the lore tutorial isn’t bad either, but I was tired so I skipped half of it).
I’m not very far in but so far the world is really open and nice. I’m sure there are tight, linear story driven sections but so far it’s very SNES/NES JRPG in that it’s a giant map full of towns and vendors. It’s a bit weird to say it because it’s quite modern but there’s a classic element to it. It’s almost like an alternate timeline where FFVII didn’t redefine the JRPG genre.
There’s work to be done on the combat, but after playing it for a while I’m hopeful this is going to be the signature engine for main entry Final Fantasy games.
TBH nothing about what you’ve said there sounds remotely appealing to me, nor does it sound like what I want from a FF game. Though at this point it’s been so long since I enjoyed one that even I don’t know what I do want from one.
Playing Titanfall 2 last night, I realised why low-fov games tend to make me feel ill… My subconscious keeps saying “I should be able to see more” so I lean forward. When the FoV doesn’t change by moving my head closer to the ‘aperture’ it screws with my brain. TIL: my subconscious is an idiot. That aside, I’m getting a handle on the movement and aiming… ish.
Also played the first few missions of Watch Dogs 2 – holy crap. It’s like they heard “Aidan Pierce is a boring, unlikable, blank protagonist” and responded by creating his exact opposite. In fact, most of the members of Deadsec wouldn’t seem out of place in a Saint’s Row game. Some of the missions, too, actually…
Holy crap! This is cool, but there’s no way in hell I’d pay $300 for it. Goddamn collector’s edition’s are getting too damn expensive these days. I used to buy them a lot when they were in the $150-$200 range, but it’s just getting ridiculous now.
https://www.ebgames.com.au/xbox-one-224028-Resident-Evil-VII-Biohazard-Collectors-Edition-Xbox-One
I dunno, I found the $150 to $200 range was never high enough for them to justify more than a happy meal toy. I’d buy them all but they never really had anything great in them. At $300+ you’re not guaranteed high quality but I think the odds of something worthwhile being included are better. It’s much easier for me to pass on that $300 collectors edition than a $125 version that comes with a DLC costume and a 50 cent lump of plastic, so ultimately I spend more but waste less.
Yeah, most of the time the pack-in with a CE isn’t even remotely worth it. Periodically there’s CEs that have great extras (eg I wasn’t expecting the Bravely Second CE to come with a translated copy of the Japanese artbook that I imported for $50 or so) but most of the time they’re dumb toys that aren’t remotely worth the premium. I’d prefer to get the game cheaper and then if I really feel strongly about it, go buy a properly-made figure or something.
I’d love to see them team up with some of the good merchandise makers to bring exclusive, well made stuff. Hell, if the Capcom store just said ‘spend this much, get a digital copy of Dead Rising 4 free’ I’d almost certainly find something worth buying.
I’ll take either of the Mass Effect Andromeda Nomad ND1 Collector’s Editions over the ME3 inflatable sword.
http://www.biowarestore.com/mass-effect-andromeda-collectors-edition/mass-effect-andromeda-nomad-nd1-model-collectors-edition-game-bundle
http://www.biowarestore.com/mass-effect-andromeda-collectors-edition/mass-effect-andromeda-remote-control-nomad-nd1-collectors-edition-bundle
I feel like Square Enix are the only ones that often put some effort into their CEs. The problem there is that they often overcharge for them, eg the FFXV super deluxe CE has a very good figure (Play Arts Kai stuff go for upwards of $80 individually, very well made) but it had like a $50 premium over where it should have been, price-wise.
I do kinda want that USB finger…
I’m sure there’s got to be someone out there selling severed finger USB sticks for $10. If not I’ve got a great idea for a new product.
The mansion replica is also pretty cool, but it’s not $300 cool. Like if they had an official OST on the finger and if the art book is full size, then I would probably consider it.
I bought the RE6 collectors edition. But that was $200 and it had a hoodie. Most comfortable hoodie.
I just remembered, I think I have a replica t virus and antidote somewhere in my house.
I have too many collectables
Those sweet blue and green helix canisters? I love those.
Yeah, but I have no idea where they are. I do remember buying them.
Don’t worry, nothing bad ever happened as a result of misplacing a T-Virus sample.
I should probably stop squirreling my collectables away and actually display them…if I had room
So given the posts about collectors eds, what video game collecting thing are you engaging in atm? I’m trying to limit my game collection to just Art Books
Not too much but I do have an Ezio Pop Vinyl figure being shipped to me
Those bloody figma (and/or similar higher quality figurines) keep appearing. Should’ve just kept to the games themselves like I used to.
eeeeeeeee go buy the Bloodborne Book from Japan.
do eet.
Waiting for a translation.
Next one might be the new Dishonored one, or another Magic the Gathering one.
Neh, it has English labels on just about everything anyway.
I kinda want the new Titanfall 2 artbook. I also picked up the Udon Valkyria Chronicles book a while back, and it’s gorgeous.
My favourite is probably the Magic the Gathering: Innistrad one, all the horror art.
Actually, my favourite of all of them is not actually a video game one, but the accompanying one to the David Bowie Is exhibition from last year, which I’m still so happy I made the time for.
I need to look at some of those MtG art books, some of those cards have some outstanding artwork on them.
The Kaladesh one comes out in Jan I think, but it depends what you’re into. the Zendikar one had some cool stuff in it
I try to stay as far away from collectables as I can. If I open that flood gate I’ll be drowning in junk by the end of the week. It’s bad enough that I play X-Wing. I know by the end of the night I’ll have at least one more ship that I don’t really need.
Collectables are the fucking devil.
Nendoroids especially. 🙁
I’ve got a fairly decent artbook collection.
I have so much shit ;_;
I have a lot of gaming collectors editions. Usually Soundtracks and Artbooks are what get me. Monsters.
I also have several statues. Metroid prime 3 dark Samus, Midna and wolf Link, Marcus Fenix and the bird from bioshock infinite
Same. I’m a sucker for game soundtracks.
I just collect the WoW Collector’s editions. I started in Cataclysm and have them all since then. Considering just getting CE bundles with used codes for the first 3 so I can have a full set.
I’ve just realised that I’ve lost three of my most favourite t-shirts. As far as I can tell I *think* they would’ve been the three I took down to PAX last year, but only have pics of myself in costume from then. Also they’re not in the bag I took down for that.
How the fuck do three shirts just go missing, I would’ve had to wear at least one of them home.
Yeah as far as I recall you didn’t spend much of PAX last year with a shirt on.
CRISIS OVER
Somehow they ended up in one of the back piles of my drawer, with a bunch of novelty/promo shirts that never get worn. Dunno wtf they’re doing there, since I never would have put these shirts in the drawer at all let alone there, nor would anyone else. Weird.
Cleaning ghosts obviously
Morning.
Woke up twice during the night, and I’m feeling rather tired.
So, after seeing Lost Castle at Pax this year, Nob ending up buying a copy for me and himself. We played it last night.
It’s a hack and slash brawler. The controls are better suited to controllers but it’s still playable on keyboard. Just takes a little getting used to.
One of the best things is the variety of weapons and the randomly generated hair
My favourite hairstyle so far is the sweet afro.
Also, the controls are so bad for keyboard. Definitely going to find my controller before tonight.
I quite liked the pompadour you were sporting at one point
I’ve been jumping back into Warframe for the last few nights, they’re still updating the darn thing with new content! Cripes it keeps changing, so much new content I have no idea what even a quarter of it does. 7+GBs of downloading later…
Most importantly I’ve now experienced the Arch-wing since I finally got the resources I needed to build it. Gotta say, pretty darn fun to fly around like a Gundam shooting enemies out of the sky, while I’m not being swarmed and quickly destroyed (I’m guessing the arch-wing doesn’t use your standard warframe’s stats otherwise I’d be fairly tankier than this). Seems to be easier to collect the resources I need than before, either that or the UI update has made it easier to figure out where I can go to get what resources and also what resources I need/have when buying blueprints. I love the new mission menu where it’s showing points on a planet and there’s also quests on how to unlock the next planet, where you have to defeat the equivalent of the black knight guarding a bridge, except not as hilarious.
I saw an add pop up on steam about it and was very tempted to go back in. I liked what I played of it when I got a chance. Unfortunately a lot of the time the game would throw a high level player on my team and they would just run ahead and kill everything without the group.
I understand and completely agree, this is why I play solo which is a matchmaking option you can set. Only time I’d ever tag up with others would be during Alerts/Events that are higher leveled so I can grab the rewards. Sadly this issue even happened when I tagged up with some TAYbies back in the day, it was literally a race along the map and if you fall behind you miss out on all the action. I like exploring and looting all I can so I fell behind a lot. When I play solo I can take my time exploring and finding some rare drops too.
Why don’t you two play together then?
Work secret santa questionnaire: “My favourite colour is:”.
My entire team is putting absurd answers in, because that’s what you get when you ask a group of engineers what their favourite colours are. Guy next to me googled a list of the most obscure colours, I’ve answered Hooloovoo, the hyper-intelligent shade of blue from the Hitchhikers Guide. Some poor sap in HR or sales is going to get us and be really confused.
“Blue! … no, Ye–“*hurled into pit*
Someone should definitely try answering the entire questionnaire with Monty Python quotes.
Oh yeah, I wanted to ask, who would be interested in a cosplay Bingo for pax next year? Everyone gets a bingo card and the first to fill it out gets a prize?
I would also run a Harley Quin cosplay spotting contest. Whoever gets photos of the most unique Harley Quinn cosplays (So two of the same person cosplaying it counts as one for instance) gets a prize 😛
I was playing count the Harley Quinns and count the D.Vas this year.
“Vault Suit”
“Costume with sweet LEDs”
“Lara”
“Costume from an anime I can’t recognise”
“Obscure but funny”
Shirtless Gooky
I really have to go to that next year.
Just for cosplay bingo? Should have done this sooner
Lol. I mean for PAX and PAXmeat.
Awww D=
Pretty excited about the announcement of “Nintendo themed lands” coming to Universal Studios theme parks.
So, a question. What attractions would you like to see? Personally, Mario Kart themed Go Kart tracks would be at the top of my list.
The Captain Toad Rollercoaster would be a good one.
Been listening to some Lovecraft readings the past week or so during commutes (Wayne June FTW :P), and on a whim decided to make a trip to Kinokuniya yesterday after work to pick up a collected works volume. Haven’t had much time to actually read in quite a while, and the reading I’ve done was mostly eBooks these past few years.
So I finished reading the second half of The Lurking Fear (which I’d started listening to that morning), and oddly, given the subject matter, slept really well. Might need to get back into the habit of reading actual books…
I’ve been considering buying all my books in audio form for a while. Between work, spending time with my son, video games and watching movies/tv shows there’s just no time for reading.
I’m attempting to read The Dark Tower series by Stephen King before the movie comes out next year. I’m still on the first book after a month and it’s only 200 odd pages. Also been trying to read the first book of A Song Of Ice And Fire (A Game Of Thrones) for the last two years.
Audible subscription is your friend. $15 a month, one credit a month, yours to keep if you terminate it. Listened to some good stuff this year.
Cheers. I’ll look into that.
Definitely a convenient option, if you can find readers you like – it’s so much easier to fit in the time.
Got Final Fantasy XV and an Xbox One controller charger.
Good thing I don’t have to buy any extra controllers. 😀
Doing some writing for an RPG campaign, and I’m trying to think of a good name for a group of mages retained by the king (or by Dukes, or other powerful figures perhaps). I recently read the Powder Mage trilogy, and I quite liked the idea that each kingdom had a royal cabal. So, how can I steal that idea, without entirely stealing that idea?
Steal that idea.
No one cares if it’s stolen, as long as it’s fun. File the numbers off and it’s yours now, because even if someone has read the book it’s based on, you can shade it.
For some reason that makes me picture a mage law firm, so it has to something ridiculous like Shadowscale, Deathslate & Smith or Bloodstorm Partners.
That totally makes sense – more experienced mages using less experienced ones to do research and collect magical reagents.
You realise this exactly how the Unseen University works in Discworld. Wizards with tenure don’t have to do anything 🙂
His Majesty’s Index.
The Dewey Crew.
The Rufous Toffs.
Among today’s news is the fact that Australia’s academic results have slipped (specifically, year 4 and 8 science and mathematics), and we’ve been overtaken by Kazakhstan. Journos then identify just how fucking stupid we all are, by clarifying that Kazakhstan was that country from Sasha Baron Cohen’s movie, Borat.
Kazakhstan is a major mining economy. Biggest Uranium producer in the world.
Kazakhstan also eats more sheep than any other country on earth.
Very nice! Great Success!
I blame @thecracks
Also @alexwalker is there a way to ignore case sensitivity in mentions?
Because if I say @theCracks it doesn’t work but if I say @thecracks it does
I’ll ask!
-_-
Another random question for TAY. Anyone know where I can track down some speculaas moulds? They’re not really speculaas unless they’ve got windmill impressions.
I’d try ebay first. Although honestly, Aldi satisfies speculaas cravings most of the time.
Actually, out of curiosity, I’ve been looking and they’re not that easy to find, at least here in Australia. There are some Australian online Dutch Stores that import things, you could try asking them if they can order one for you. Otherwise, it seems to be etsy, or somewhere like this, which might work out to be $$$, but you’d get something pretty special: http://www.cookiemold.com/Index.html
I have 3d-modeled a windmill stamp. Just have to run it through a slicer now and fire up the 3d printer at work. Not quite a mould, I’ll roll the dough out and cut it into rectangles then stamp them.
I like your style! I’d love to see how they turn out.
http://cookiecuttershop.com.au/products/windmill-cookie-cutter-c1196 ?
So, speculaas isn’t usually cut into windmill shapes, but have scenes (often windmills, but sometimes Christmas related things) impressed on them. I could use a cookie cutter to stamp them, but I’ve modeled something with wider edges to stamp more effectively. Might start off easier this weekend and bake pfeffernusse.
http://www.daringgourmet.com/2015/12/20/pfeffernuesse-german-iced-gingerbread-cookies/
I feel like you should also look at somewhere like Etsy – seems like something that people might carve and sell themselves.
Holy bloody shit bits, Ulcerate AND Gorguts are playing a Sydney show together in March.
How did they know I’ve been patiently waiting?
Edit: Marduk (seriously, Marduk), Mgla, and Départe will also be present, in case the audience feels a hankering for black metal.Double edit: Ticket get! First show since Beyond Creation, almost a little excited.This is mostly for @welbot, @negativezero and @zombiejesus.
In terms of my shift from Parallels, I have taken up VMware’s offer and have Fusion 8.5 running. So far, all is good; like what Parallels used to be.
Truth be told, when I went Mac in 2013, Parallels was the leading offering in virtualisation. Sad how things have gone; my motivating factor is just how the fiasco was handled, more than that unannounced restrictions.
Needless to say, I will be importing my dev Parallels VM to VMware but I am thinking of doing so in the new year before new work starts.
But thanks for all your input, everyone. If Fusion tanks later, at least there is still Virtual Box to try. Sticking with the brand that basically made a lot of my PhD days go smoother for now.
Glad to hear it’s working out for you so far 🙂
What @welbot said. I’m sure VMWare is a good tool, I just haven’t used it in a decade.
Two days of work left, then 3 weeks off. Going back to Hong Kong for 2 weeks next Tuesday.
Motivation levels are tanking at a catastrophic rate.
Sounds sweet man! I essentially have a “holiday” until Jan 9, but I won’t be going anywhere. Wish I could go to Hong Kong! Only ever had a stop over there so far. A little jelly!
Time off is still time off! Relax and enjoy, my friend.
haha well it’s not really any different to my year. I haven’t worked at all since like.. January!
Reason I say it’s sort of like a holiday, is cos I finally have confirmation that I have a job still, and will return then! So a load of stress has been lifted. Doesn’t really change much else, but kind of a holiday from worry 😉 I will enjoy though I reckon. Gonna get busy with some music!
Wow. I just happened to log in to an XBOX forum at the right time and someone gave me a FFXV King’s Tale download code. Today started off awful but now it’s better.
Wow, nice pick-up. Let me know what it’s like.
It’s pretty basic but for the most part it’s a fun little brawler. The idea of a pixel brawler seemed a little gimmicky to me, but it actually has some depth to the design.
I swear I spend too much money on my dog at times. Just bought her another harness because the previous one I got she hadn’t finished growing so it fit her great at first, but now it’s small & kinda awkward on her. So just splashed out some money on another EzyDog Harness a little expensive but they’re excellent quality & their customer service is amazing. They’re also local to me which is nice.
Also it’s kinda sad that a family owned local animal supplies store is way cheaper than my local Petbarn/Best Friends for that harness & the flea/tick/worming compound I buy for Chilli. So by buying those & the harness from them I saved over $50 than if I bought those from Petbarn.
Edit: Also I get free postage from the local business (they’re an online only company) where as Petbarn if I buy online they wanted me to pay $20 postage. Nah that ain’t cool for spending over $200 should be free postage or cost which would be $7.50..
I will be makIng a Christmas hat tutorial for puppers. Will link you when it’s done
Sorry autocorrect
Ooh that’d be awesome 😀
So, Final Fantasy XV. Surprisingly I don’t hate it. Feels vastly improved from that first demo, though it still has a lot of the same problems. The camera is still ropey as fuck, gets in dumb places and makes it quite hard to maintain any situational awareness. Game doesn’t seem to call out the location of monsters very well, so I often get blindsided by something off-screen. Attack animation still has priority over defense which sucks (and also I don’t feel comfortable with Square being defense and Circle being attack, feels really off – may see if I can tweak it). The AI seems much better though and I don’t feel floaty and disconnected from the action any more. I was playing via Remote Play (PS4 Pro supports 1080p remote play and it works surprisingly well) so some of the remaining floatyness may simply be input lag introduced from that. But overall, I’m liking it. It’s not bad at all.
More importantly it got me thinking about the FF7 remake. That’s going to have the same combat style, right? I mean presumably they’ll have some differences since everyone should have fixed weapon types (it’d be super weird to see eg Cloud killing stuff with daggers or Tifa throwing around the Buster Sword) so presumably instead they’d be making it so you can control any character in the party and swap between them on the fly? Because that could be very rad and give it a kind of Ys Seven feel where you’re controlling the character that’s most appropriate for taking a certain enemy.
Basically I’m seeing XV as a bit of a tech demo for the new direction they’re taking for 7 and in the future and I’m surprised that I’m actually pretty okay with this. It immediately feels miles better than XII and XIII did to me as well, which is nice. XIII always felt like an action game that had gotten trapped inside a turn-based one.
Looking forward to getting a bit further in (I’m 3 hours in but I barely played any story content, was just fucking around) and hopefully unlocking more abilities and getting more used to the defense and stuff.
Oh also, last night I was driving around with the FF8 soundtrack on. Blue Fields is fucking perfect in that context and made me wish they were remaking 8 instead of 7.
Yeah. I’m not sure what changes they did with the combat from demo to release but it all feels so much smoother. Finding myself actually actively seeking combat instead of just avoiding it like the plague (as I usually do in turn based combat).
Also liking just driving around in the game. It told me about a fast travel system but I haven’t even bothered with it so far.
I think they sped it up. I remember it feeling like it took forever for the game to react in the demo.
It doesn’t hurt that they ease you into it better in the game than in the demo. The demo wasn’t super hard but I think kept the pressure on just high enough to make it hard to process what we were learning.
I’m tempted to jump back into the demo just to see how it plays side by side.
Woke up four times last night with diarrhea.
Thankfully I made it to the bathroom each time.
Horrible feeling but at least no mess. Feeling better this morning?
A little bit.
On another note, the notifications appear to have been updated somewhat.
Yeah, if you click the little envelope it shows you the list of notifications without needing to view the full profile page first
Really? I didn’t know that. Pretty handy.
I mentioned above that PS4 Pro remote play to my PC was okay except sound issues… turns out it’s my PC that’s got the sound problems. They’re occurring while doing everything. Random bursts of noise, like when signal drops in a skype call.
My worry is that this kind of suggests my Motherboard might be on the way out, since I use on-board sound.
That’d be my first guess. But couldn’t you just install a sound card and disable the on-board. Probably be cheaper than getting a new motherboard (dependent on which sound card you choose obviously). Not only that, but personally I don’t see the point in replacing the whole motherboard if only one thing isn’t functioning properly.
I’ve had other issues.
But a reboot seemed to fix it so \o/
I use xbox remote play and occasionally get sound issues. Everything sounds like stuttered. Stopping streaming and restarting seems to fix it. Might not be your board.
Was happening with everything, not just with streaming. But a reboot seems to have fixed the issue.
If you’re using win8 onwards. Try find the manufacturers driver for your sound rather than the windows one.
If you’re using win8 onwards. Try find the manufacturers driver for your sound rather than the windows one.
Nah, it’s not a driver issue.
Fucking hell Australia Post. They allegedly attempted to deliver some stuff to me this morning, but just left a card because opening the front gate is too hard apparently. I also know it wasn’t the normal bloke he’d either call out & make Chilli bark or just leave my stuff inside the gate out of sight.
Then they make you wait until the next day to pick it up. Had a guy on the postie bike drop a card in my box once. Yeah he’s going to carry parcels. Especially overnight parcel.
Have you lodged a complaint? I did it got ignored. I pushed the point with their complaints people and eventually got a refund on freight.
Turns out the courier dropped it off at the post office pretty early so I was able to get it before they closed, but still! Funny you should say that about your complaint. Last complaint I lodged got completely ignored and that was over tampered mail where the contents were missing.
Australia Post has long had an atrocious reputation. It seems like they get worse all the time and they just keep on jacking up the price. I don’t think they’re long for this world. Once enough complaints are made with the places people order their stuff from they will eventually shift to more reliable delivery providers.
Yeah not impressed with them in the last 6 months. Like the 2 pairs of pants I bought online from Dickies were shipped out Monday same day I bought them, I only got them today, the warehouse they came from is 30 minutes up the road at Molendinar >_> Or like the LED strip I bought off eBay from Sydney took almost 3 weeks to get to me. Nothing is arriving in the allotted time frame any more. They need a kick up the arse for this shit.
I live in a town about 3 hours from Melbourne and I was told by someone I work with whose husband works for Auspost that all local mail has to go to Melbourne first and then it gets sent back for delivery and it can take up to a week. It’s basically quicker and probably cheaper to just hand deliver it yourself. Friggin’ ridiculous.
Yep. One time I watched the tracking of a parcel that was on the Gold Coast about 30 mins from me go from Southport to Sydney & then to me in Tweed Heads, that took 5 days. I’m like 1,000km from Sydney. Yet only like 40km from where it started its journey so freaking stupid.
The problem is PO boxes. I stuck with Australia Post for a lot longer than I should have because so many people use PO boxes as a solution to dodgy Australia Post deliveries. Retailers refuse to move because customers refuse to move because retailers refuse to move.
The other side is that in online sales you’re expected to lose money on the freight and Australia Post minimises that loss. I found it wasn’t worth the time and effort involved in using them, every other week there would be a new driver who drove straight past my warehouse instead of picking up the outgoing mail, but if money was tighter Toll wouldn’t have been an option.
I’m actually sort of tempted to open my own local hybrid PO box/mail forwarding service. I know a lot of people who would pay for a PO box that takes incoming mail from any courier, and for an extra fee re-delivers during a time period they select. Sort of like DHL’s ‘before noon’ option, but the receiver selects it themselves from a wider range and pays for it. I’d love to be able to choose to get my deliveries on Saturday or between 6PM and 10PM on a weeknight.
Trying to play Plants Vs. Zombies Game Of the Year Edition on Steam and my Anti-Virus won’t let me. Everytime I try and launch it it immediately exits the game and I get a pop-up saying that popcapgame1.exe was blocked and has been put in quarantine. I restore it, but it still blocks it every goddamn time. I was able to play it a few weeks ago and I haven’t made any changes to my internet security, so I don’t know why it’s blocking it now. Not sure how to fix it.
@welbot
Which antivirus are you using?
Bullguard
Er supposed to be reply for @evilmonkey
From a quick look, it seems like it’s something caused by the steam in-game community.
Disabling the In-Game Community should stop the issue according to several people.
Too do that:
Click on View > Settings.
Go the “In-Game tab.
Uncheck “Enable Steam Community In-Game”
Can’t see an option for “Enable Steam Community In-Game”
Can only see
“Enable The Steam Overlay While In-Game”
“Use The Big Picture Overlay When Using a Steam Controller From the Desktop” and
“Use Desktop Game Theatre When Launching Desktop Games While Steam VR Is Active”
I unchecked the Steam Overlay one and it still doesn’t work.
Edit: Tried unchecking all of them, that didn’t work either. Also, checked my firewall and it’s marked as allowed.
Edit 2: Tried deleting it, exiting Steam and re-downloading it. It downloaded ok, but it said it requires an update. when I try to update it the update immediately stops and it says “missing file privileges”.
Keep replying using the wrong window 😉
Since disabling the overlay doesn’t work, are you opted in to any steam beta stuff?
Also, have you tried verifying the integrity of the game files using steam?
Lol. Not that I’m aware. Tried verifying the integrity before re-downloading and it came up fine.
also, see my edits above.
Hmm missing file priv…
Have you rebooted lately?
If not, might as well try. Might even be worth removing the game, reboot, then re-install and see if it does it again.
If it does do it again, where it is trying to install the game?
Also, feel free to chat through steam. might be easier!
Gonna try rebooting and re-installing now. It’s installing to my secondary hard drive (data). Got my OS installed on a SSD and everything else on the other one.
.
Mechwarrior 5.
Mechwarrior 5.
MECH. WARRIOR. 5.
It’s officially happening.