Month: May 2016

I Review Everything: Day 143 – Filming in the Rain

My group assignment’s deadline is coming up fast, and we haven’t had the necessary time  to shoot efficiently. The final shots we needed were done tonight, but not without hardship. It was raining.

In all fairness it wasn’t too bad. Just, annoying. The rain was off and on, so we attempted to film in one of the short gaps we had available. The shooting went fine, and the footage we got is good. No better than good; good enough.

The annoyances came from single drops of water running down my back an the sprinkles of rain that dashed my face. It wasn’t enjoyable.

We got what we wanted in the end. And I am one day closer to finishing university for good.

5/10

I Review Everything: Day 142 – Studying to Bad Lecture Slides

I have a test tomorrow. It’s not really a big deal. Well, at least according to our lecturer. All semester he has glossed over the fact that we have even have a test worth 30% of our grade. It is just as important as every other assignment in this class, yet he doesn’t seem all too worried about telling us.

I have been to most of the lectures, most. He isn’t the most interesting lecturer. He does try, really, he just has a boring voice. I mean yeah I enjoy talking about superhero films with him. His age and academic training give some pretty interesting insights into the films that I wouldn’t have picked up on. They were great conversations. But listening to him talk about colour for an hour is coma inducing.

What makes it worse is the lecture notes he has only just posted for us to look at. They’re fine really. They get the point across. They have pictures. Sometimes video. They have words. A lot of words. That’s a pretty weird colour font over that background. What the hell does “criative” mean? I thought this was a university? I thought I was supposed to learn at lectures, not internally edit every mistake to the point where I can’t pay attention.

When a classmate and I last asked him about the test, all he had to say was “oh you guys don’t need to worry about it. You two will do fine.” I’m not entirely sure what he meant by that. But it doesn’t give me hope for the quality of the test tomorrow. I’m contemplating just skipping studying and wing it. At least I will be able to spell properly.

2/10
I’m trying to be criative but it isn’t helping.

I Review Everything: Day 141 – V Pure

I don’t think people who drink energy drinks really care about how ‘natural’ what they’re drinking is. That doesn’t stop us from trying the new stuff though.

Frucor have recently released V Pure into their product line, a V made from completely natural products. Of course it comes with a hefty price tag, and no real incentive to buy other than the insatiable curiosity that overcomes and destroys lives.

It doesn’t really taste like V. It tastes like sour apple juice. It does in fact have apple juice in it, lemon juice as well. But no V. Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t bad. Not good either, just a little confusing. To me, all drinks in a product line should have a similar taste that sets the brand apart from others. All Coca-Cola products have that vicious bite. All Pepsi products are somewhat bland. Every V has that sweet yet unnatural linger, except for V Pure. It doesn’t taste like any V I have before.

I’m not going to buy it again. Mainly because of the price though. I don’t care how natural it is. $4.20NZD is far to much for 330mL of a slightly above average beverage.

I Review Everything: Day 140 – Uncharted 4 Libertalia Edition

I missed out on the collector’s editions of both Uncharted 2 & 3. Due to monetary reasons I was only able to get special editions. I’m thankful I got to play the games at all, but I don’t doubt that it would have been awesome to get those fantastic bundles.

When Naughty Dog announced that A Thief’s End would be the finale, I was dead set on buying the collector’s edition. It was my last chance to buy any Uncharted collector’s edition, leaving a bittersweet taste in my mouth. Just as playing the game will be sad in it’s own way, opening the Uncharted 4 Libertalia edition was slow, as I put off what would be the last time I ever got to open a new Uncharted game.

The box is big. Not the biggest collector’s edition I’ve bought mind, but big enough for people to stare as I carried it home. The box is covered with fitting visuals related to the game’s narrative hook. It also details what you get in the box. All standard stuff.

Opening the box was actually slightly difficult, with the tape ripping the paper from the box. Annoying more than anything. The first sight once opened was the art book. Similar in style to The Last of Us book, and other any collector’s edition really, the book is small, but feels professionally made. The cover is smooth and firm, the pages glossy and full of rich colour. I didn’t look through much of the book, as they are always filled with rotten spoilers.

Next game the spectacular steelcase. Honestly it is the best steelcase for a game I have ever seen. The artwork is phenomenal, the metal is well the same as every steelcase, but what really shines is the retro film poster style they went for. It genuinely looks as though it could have been released as a 70’s movie. And that’s awesome.

With the game came a bunch of codes for multiplayer content, and some nice stickers. Usual Naughty Dog stuff, but fun nonetheless. It’s funny though, I never end up using any stickers I get in collector’s editions. I guess I’m just not a sticker guy.

Finally I was up to the statue. Common features of modern collector’s editions, statues make up most of the cost, and provide the means to display your money making skills to all your friends who never come around because they’re too busy playing Uncharted 4 in their room.

I was firstly surprised by the size of the statue. I was honestly expecting smaller, this thing won’t even fit in my figurine display. So it sits on top instead. Looming over my room, awkward face in hand. The statue is good quality, but definitely not perfect. The face is decent, the paint job is genuinely great, and the pose is nice. The problem is how it feels. Of course I won’t be touching it often, but it does leave me uneasy when I feel how lightweight the model is. It feels as though it would snap under minor pressure, and that a small drop would destroy it’s body. It’s a decent looking figurine, but I do have serious worries about the physical quality of it’s hollow feel.

This is the last time I will ever play an Uncharted game for the first time. Which is a sad, and scary thought. My life is quickly coming to a close, all my favourite things are becoming old, and my life isn’t really worth all that much. But I do have the collector’s edition of Uncharted 4. And for now. Well it’s good enough right?

7/10

I Review Everything: Day 139 – Playing Overwatch until 4am

Oh wow, it’s 4am. I swear it was midnight just a while ago. Overwatch is beginning to take over.

I took a risk and tried a new character. Lucio. I’ve loved playing him. Actually getting to effectively contribute to eliminations is an awesome change of pace, but I still get to heal, I still get to do what I love doing. Sure he may not be as strong as some offence characters, but actually defending myself is a big draw.

The tricky part has been getting his ultimate down. Knowing when to use it is tough, and it takes so long to generate that it’s always a risk to use it. So I end up holding on to it, barely making use of the fantastic shields.

I wasn’t expecting to stay up this late. But it doesn’t matter, I don’t have plans tomorrow. Apart from more Overwatch.

8/10

I Review Everything: Day 138 – Watching a Video of Myself

It’s horrible. Seeing myself on camera urks my stomach. It’s an odd sensation, seeing how I really am. It’s much worse when I’m trying to act.

I’m not an actor, nor do I want to be, but we needed someone to do it. I just happened to be the one.

I am doing my best, but rewatching the clips is embarassing every time. Editing them is even worse. Constant repetition of the same horrendous scenes. It just sucks.

I await the day I can stop watching, but for the next week i’m screwed. Being this aware of my facial expressions is an extremely odd situation for me. Seeing exactly how the expressions I worked out in my head look in real life. I genuinely just don’t seem convincing. I don’t how anyone believes anything I say, my facial expressions are so ridiculous. Years of practising in the mirror apparently didn’t help me at all. My smiles still look fake, my anger unconvincing, and my sadness feigned.

I am now constantly aware of my face. I am paying attention to every movement I make, and practising will commence again. As long as the project is on my mind the problem will remain. But in a few weeks, when it’s all done, i’ll go back to normal. I’ll forget that my facial expressions are wrong, and i’ll accept that people seem to understand me anyway.

It’s worked for this long anyway.

6/10
Oh that’s right, I was supposed to be writing a review.

 

I Review Everything: Day 136 -Free Mother

I wanted a Mother, but I didn’t want to walk out of my way to get one. I was on my way home to play Overwatch. There just simply wasn’t enough time.

There was a vending machine on my way out though. I’d seen it before, but never used it. It has $3 Mothers. Not a great price. But a decent one. I usually say that $3 is the most I’ll pay for a Mother.

The machine also has eftpos support, I think it may be the first time I’ve ever seen that.

I flopped my card in, it thought about it for a bit, and told me to select my drink. I selected Mother, it popped out the bottom, and I thought I was done. I reached out to grab my card back when I noticed the screen flashing.It read: card payment not currently available.

I was a little confused. I was already holding the drink, what was I to do? I just went home. I checked my bank account online, and no money was taken out. It has been several hours as well. Maybe it only takes out money at designated times. Maybe I got a free drink.

Either way. This is Mother is really good.

8/10

I Review Everything: Day 135 – Community

I’ve started watching Community again. I think it’s like my seventh time now. Well I say started, but it’s actually been a week since I started. I mainly watch it when I’m eating a meal. But I sometimes watch more than one.

I thought it might be stale this time. I thought, maybe I’ll get bored of it. I haven’t. I’m not even close. Every episode is still a joy to watch. Favourites are only becoming stronger. It is still as perfect as it was the first time around.

Especially season 2. Dear god season 2 is absolutely amazing. Every episode is ridiculously good. They begun to finally hone in on what every character’s role was, creating some of the best interactions the show ever sees. D&D, conspiracy’s, blanket forts, stolen pens, season 2 has it all, and does it all exceptionally well.

I’m really glad I decided to watch it again. It’s so inspiring to watch again and again, only for it to get better. It’s the kind of quality I strive for in everything I do. I don’t reach their level yet, but one day hopefully I will.

10/10

I Review Everything: Day 134 – HTC Vive

After only a handful of short experiences, I am sold on the Vive. It’s making me wish I had bought one in the first place, instead of ordering the never-arriving-Oculus. Everything was  far better than I had expected, even after using a DK2 for so long.

I was immediately impressed by the resolution. The jump to 2160 x 1200 is fantastic, with fine print now readable, and long distances much clearer than the DK2. And the visuals were sharper than I was expecting, even on games with low quality graphics.

The room-scale feature of the Vive is amazing. If anything has made VR feel real for me, it’s walking around a small virtual office, picking up flowers, and making coffee. It added so much depth to the immersion, that changed the way I think about VR. The problem I see with roomscale though is the simple fact that I don’t have that much room. Because of that, these awesome features will go wasted on me.

The controllers are fantastic as well. They sat in my hands comfortably, with an intuitive control panel usable with ease. The tracking was silky smooth, it felt as though they really were in front of me.

It wasn’t as heavy or large as I was expecting, the comfort was great, and the visuals fantastic. But even when tightened it felt a little loose, and the lack of headphones make it a bit awkward to use at times.

There wasn’t much to play game wise, but I got to experience shooting zombies, firing bows, simulating an office job, even shooting drones. My favourite game sat far above those though. Music games are a passion for me, so Audioshield has been a big draw for me. I was extremely excited to play it, and I wasn’t disappointed in the slightest.

I played two songs, an electronic remix of the imperial march, and Intuition by The Contortionist. I was told to play on hardest difficulty, due to the game being relatively easy, and I had no trouble at all. Both songs were a lot of fun, especially because they were so different in style. One static 4/4, the other messing around with time. The rhythms thrown at me were significantly different, showing that the algorithm is even better than before. Swinging my arms in time with the music was a joy, as I protected myself from binary coloured balls of light. It was a lot of fun. Audioshield is a game I will have to buy as soon as possible.

I am super satisfied with the Vive, and am now awaiting my Oculus far more eager than before.

Maybe next gen I’ll switch to the Vive.