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| Cluster Shout Box Link » /matrix/cluster.asp/15 |  suibhne (65) Mar 19, 2007 - 06:58 am » Edited on Mar 19, 2007 - 08:31 am
| As palindrome said, pretty much everyone above 65% or 70% dropped 3-5 points last night, across the board. I wouldn't worry too much about it, particularly as the judge's scores count most heavily anyway. Unless the formula has been tweaked, in fact, judge's scores will count (relatively) more this time around than in Round 1, because the number of advancing entrants will be much smaller.
I didn't see much evidence of systemic downvoting, honestly. If someone looks only at his score, it's tempting to see this problem because it can be frustrating to watch your percentage decline - especially when you're not given much constructive feedback by readers. Looking at the whole field, though, the downward trend was pretty general. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/62074/300 | suibhne (65) Mar 18, 2007 - 01:18 pm
| | Don't worry too much about your score, Mishkin. The editors have a lot of weight, and page-views and number of ratings matter as well as your actual numerical average. Good luck. :) Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/11053/274 | suibhne (65) Mar 16, 2007 - 02:57 pm » Edited on Mar 16, 2007 - 03:00 pm
| | I do think it's interesting that there's no performance hit. That confirms that the scaling for dual-display mode is pretty much entirely due to GPU demands, not additional CPU load. Maybe not too surprising, but good to know. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61983/312 | suibhne (65) Mar 16, 2007 - 01:59 pm » Edited on Mar 16, 2007 - 02:05 pm
| | Criticism heard and noted - I'm clearly guilty of being a geek for gaming history and theory. ;) I tried to keep it confined to the 3 paragraphs in the separate history section near the beginning, where uninterested readers could skim ahead; everything outside of that section deals with games from the last few years. (Halo and MGS2 are the oldest, dating from 2003.) I can try to compress it further in the future. With another format than the FS mediablog, though, I would've made that history section its own distinct sidebar, to add context for interested readers but remain easily skippable for others. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/12941/278 | suibhne (65) Mar 16, 2007 - 12:39 pm » Edited on Mar 16, 2007 - 12:41 pm
| It wasn't meant to be a major criticism - I just wanted to clarify its generally-accepted meaning. Just to be certain I wasn't dreaming, I checked around at four prominent sites (Anandtech, HardOCP, Sharky, and Gamespot), and all three employ "enthusiast" in the sense that I mentioned.
It's often used to connote high-end hardware with lots of flexibility for "tinkerers" - self-builders, overclockers, and the like.
Doesn't detract from your piece at all. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/11053/274 | suibhne (65) Mar 16, 2007 - 12:24 pm
| Your additions were helpful.
One question occurred to me on my second read-through: did you test larger maps as well as "Winter Duel"? How did dual-display performance compare? If it's primarily a GPU hit, then large maps may perform no worse than small maps when using dual-display mode. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/12941/278 | suibhne (65) Mar 16, 2007 - 12:18 pm
| Fyi, "enthusiast" usually refers to the high-level stuff. The 8800GTX is an enthusiast-level videocard, for example, and expensive high-speed DDR2 for overclocking is the enthusiast stuff. Your card was enthusiast-level at one time, but not in recent memory. ;)
This is a clear introductory tweak guide, but I missed the level of detail included in most tweak guides. You listed many options for testing, but you didn't provide a description of what they actually accomplished within the game. "Material detail" or "Atmospheric detail", for example, are not immediately obvious. Even something as universal as "Draw distance" may have somewhat different effects in this game than in others, and that would be helpful to point out. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/18926/279 | suibhne (65) Mar 16, 2007 - 12:07 pm » Edited on Mar 16, 2007 - 12:07 pm
| Good job enumerating some of the most significant new features of DX10.
Notwithstanding the first Crysis quotation you provide, there's no reason Crysis in DX9 cannot handle effects like depth-of-field. Shader Model 3 can already handle some of that stuff without difficulty, and I've seen no definitive word about the specific featureset differences between DX9 and DX10 for Crysis. Indeed, Cevat Yerli has also said: "If you have a high-end DX9 card with an equal level of CPU and memory--basically today's "gamer rig"--you will enjoy Crysis with close-to-D3D10 fidelity. Don't forget that for a long time, we ran the game only on DX9 hardware, even though people thought it was D3D10."
Have any comparison screenshots been released, as they were for Age of Conan?
There's plenty of reason to be wildly enthusiastic about Crysis, but it seems like the jury's still out on DX10's full effect on the game. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/62192/281 | suibhne (65) Mar 16, 2007 - 11:47 am » Edited on Mar 16, 2007 - 11:50 am
| Your style is a little messy - not, well, stylish. ;) You clearly present plenty of information, though, so there's a lot of helpful context in the review.
I didn't agree with your lack of detail on the game benches. 30fps is great for Company of Heroes and adequate for Oblivion, but playing HL2:DM or CS:S online with that performance can be more frustrating; simply listing "less than 30fps" or "not less than 30fps" doesn't provide the level of granularity needed. You also didn't explicate how you tested, so I couldn't tell whether you explored online situations with crowded servers - the typical gaming situation for some of us. In other words, at least for the kind of gaming I might do on the road, your review provided no indication whether this laptop could be suitable.
It might be interesting to compare this laptop with others actually marketed for gaming. You can still compare featuresets and discuss tradeoffs even if you don't have one of those Alienware brick ovens to test. ;) Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/62187/285 | suibhne (65) Mar 16, 2007 - 11:22 am » Edited on Mar 16, 2007 - 11:23 am
| Grammar and style are rough around the edges, but it's pretty clear and straightforward. In fact, it was a helpful introduction for me, personally, to the NWN2 toolset that's been sitting on my drive unused for the past three months. :)
You mention single-player modules only once, and I think they deserve some attention in your introduction. Most users of Electron will probably create SP modules, not larger and more complex Persistent Worlds, so I started this article with the assumption you'd be dealing with that. Despite your focus on PWs, it would still be helpful to acknowledge SP modules (particularly since your step-by-step tutorial is also applicable to those). Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61866/303 | suibhne (65) Mar 16, 2007 - 10:58 am
| | Don't worry about it - this is still a strong piece. Between you and Millroy, I'm honestly getting interested in picking up one of these controllers, and I've never been a racing fan. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61902/298 | suibhne (65) Mar 16, 2007 - 09:59 am » Edited on Mar 16, 2007 - 11:11 am
| The benchmarking was fairly simplistic, and this topic has already been done into the ground (including good stuff here at FS). As others pointed out, software support (particularly drivers) in Vista is still immature, so it's currently difficult to compare the two OS's across the board. It's also worth noting that Vista's memory architecture is fundamentally different from XP's. What I missed was a look at not merely why the frame drops occurred, but whether and how they might be mitigated in the future - i.e., which are due to architectural changes in Vista and which are simply due to Vista being brand-new and not yet adequately supported. This is obviously a tall order, and some of these questions can't even be answered yet.
Your presentation and writing were admirably clear. Sure, there were a few errors, but they were obviously the exception rather than the norm. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61849/302 | suibhne (65) Mar 16, 2007 - 09:46 am
| Good response, obsolete - confirming again that you have a thoughtful approach to this problem.
I definitely didn't mean to preach to you about quitting those danged games that kids are playing these days. I just meant that, for some people with severe or advanced symptoms, quitting might be the best option.
Incidentally, I developed very mild RSI issues from competitive gaming last year, and it helped to switch to an ergo keyboard at my office. Your article made me start thinking about also getting an ergo mouse. The more neutral wrist orientation looks like it would be far more comfortable to use during a long workday! Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/62074/300 | suibhne (65) Mar 16, 2007 - 09:39 am
| We've ended up with a lively debate over fps and human perception, but not so many comments on the article. Here are a few.
Little grammatical errors were sometimes intrusive (e.g. "runs very good" instead of "runs very well", "were shut-down" instead of "were shut down"). I also wonder if, in your comments about some of the games, you attributed to the engine what might have been due to the individual game's design (e.g. criticizing the graphics for organic units vs. inorganic).
Overall, tho, it's an interesting choice of topic - definitely off the beaten path, in a good way. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/62074/300 | suibhne (65) Mar 16, 2007 - 08:39 am
| Fwiw, my response wasn't just to you, jacobvandy, but to the whole discussion.
That said, 30fps is very much an issue in competitive gaming, even if it's a constant 30fps with no fluctuations. Tracking movement is extremely important, and motion is noticeably smoother at 60fps or higher than at 30fps. Sure, 30fps in a single-player brawler like God of War can be 100% satisfying, and even works very nicely in a game like Oblivion or in Splinter Cell titles, but fast-paced twitch games like UT2k4 are pretty challenging at that performance level even without wide fluctuations.
But yes, it's silly to say that 30fps is necessarily choppy. It's all about context. :) Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61831/301 | suibhne (65) Mar 16, 2007 - 08:12 am » Edited on Mar 16, 2007 - 08:14 am
| Clear writing and explanation. More nuance could always be better, as some of the other comments expressed, and some of the numbers need a little reworking...but we were all under the gun for this round. ;)
Keep in mind that not all games will adequately stress the GPU vs. CPU. For example: I haven't tested Oblivion, but Bethesda's preceding game, Morrowind, was notoriously CPU-dependent. The recent 3DMark titles, on the other hand, tend to lean heavily on your GPU - but they're synthetic benchmarks and don't tell your readers much about real-world game performance. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61849/302 | suibhne (65) Mar 16, 2007 - 07:47 am » Edited on Mar 16, 2007 - 08:17 am
| The score seems kind of random - the article doesn't clearly establish what it represents - but this is a very good article overall. Like Millroy said, this subject doesn't get much attention and you did a great job with it. Your personal experience also adds a lot.
I dealt with RSI as a performing musician, and the only thing that troubled me about your article is lack of detail about the topic in general. I think a lot of gamers suffer from mild to severe symptoms, and the most logical advice in many cases isn't to purchase a mouse like this but rather to STOP GAMING. You've approached this very thoughtfully in your own life and gaming is clearly important to you (academically as well as for leisure), but eliminating games altogether might be the best option for some others with severe symptoms. A truly ergonomic mouse may be part of a treatment approach for some, but with a medical issue like this I think it pays to advise gamers to be cautious; it's not worth the potential of permanent damage. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61707/308 | suibhne (65) Mar 16, 2007 - 07:10 am
| (Reply to Dron's message below)
We have three UTComp TDM servers Stateside - Purgatory, Fractionary, and the Ti clan's server. The first two are more popular. Only six months ago, they'd often both be full, but now it's rare to find more than one full at a time. :( Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61707/308 | suibhne (65) Mar 15, 2007 - 06:09 pm » Edited on Mar 15, 2007 - 06:09 pm
| | You crazy Euros play the game differently than us across the pond. ;) The pub experience over here is often pretty uneven; many servers can go from a crowd of noobs to high-quality players in only two or three maps. The few TDM pub servers with UTComp tend to be much more consistently competitive, but the crowd is much smaller. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/62074/300 | suibhne (65) Mar 15, 2007 - 03:33 pm » Edited on Mar 15, 2007 - 03:36 pm
| The 30fps myth is often mentioned, perhaps inspired partly by television, but it is just that - a myth. This is especially true for any images in motion. There's plenty of scientific research on the subject - in fact, I'm surprised to see the article claim that the research tends in the other direction - but you can easily test it for yourself without diving into abstruse accounts of rods and cones: fire up your favorite FPS that allows decent .ini editing and cap the framerates at different levels. If you can't perceive a significant difference between moving images at 30fps, 60fps, and 100fps, you're an unusual human being. ;)
That doesn't mean 30fps isn't nicely playable, especially if it's consistent as you mentioned. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61866/303 | suibhne (65) Mar 15, 2007 - 03:22 pm » Edited on Mar 15, 2007 - 03:22 pm
| | Maybe the best piece I've read so far. Your style is great and your first-person narratives are engaging. The overall piece was dragged down a bit (at least for my internal editor) by little ungrammatical quirks; this could shine more brightly with a bit of polish. Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61869/305 | suibhne (65) Mar 15, 2007 - 03:07 pm
| | Good overall presentation. I felt like it was a little heavy on the "how to" angle, with less emphasis than I would have liked on analysis or criticism. On the other hand, there was a kitty. :) Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/61707/308 | suibhne (65) Mar 15, 2007 - 02:53 pm » Edited on Mar 15, 2007 - 02:59 pm
| The tool I've used is usbmrs, but I haven't seen any tools which allow overclocking different USB ports selectively. Are you certain this is possible?
I noticed a clear difference in smoothness of mouse tracking when I jacked up to 500Hz for my MX510. I'm skeptical of your testing methodology, tho. I also compete in TAM, and I'm usually shooting between 30-35% LG in matches, but pub play (like what you tested) is all over the map for me. Facing off against less experienced players, for example, my percentages can be much higher - and sometimes the opposite when I'm outclassed. ;) Your general approach is good, getting as large a sample size as possible, but with more time I think your article would benefit from adding another week or more of data. Pub servers just vary so widely that you want those variations to vanish over time.
Do you play with a clan? Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/62619/310 | suibhne (65) Mar 15, 2007 - 01:45 pm » Edited on Mar 15, 2007 - 01:46 pm
| When it comes to games like TF2, I wonder whether the Falcon wouldn't be a disadvantage. In competitive online gaming, it pays to strip out anything extraneous; people alter their .ini files to remove ambient sounds and even their own footsteps, and I have a hard time believing they'd put up with an input device that got in their way for the sake of realism. In single-player games, on the other hand, I can see this being pretty interesting.
Your write-up raised a lot of questions for me. Most of them are for the future, but there is one I wish you'd answered: how exactly does it work? :) Flag this | Edit this post |
| Matrix Blog Link » /matrix/blog.asp/62001/311 | suibhne (65) Mar 15, 2007 - 01:39 pm » Edited on Mar 15, 2007 - 03:00 pm
| This is an important topic and you took an effectively broad look at it. Readability suffered a bit from lots of minor grammatical errors (trivial stuff like hyphenating "very-much" can quickly add up) and particularly your lack of carriage returns. I'm guessing that the latter problem was related at least partly to the mediablog system's lack of tabs, which makes formatting a bit more of a challenge, but it's pretty tough to perceive your paragraph structure here.
I liked your narrative opening, sort of "gonzo games journalism". Flag this | Edit this post |
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