pc – Page 2 – Adam's Blog

October 20, 2014October 20, 2014

Upgrading old PC for The Evil Within challenge

What is The Evil Within Challenge you say? Its a challenge created to test how far can I push my 7 year old PC. True, I upgraded the graphics card sometime back but that was the only thing I did. I will be getting the game on Xbox One in the near future but a PC version is a must so why not have any fun while doing it? I have ordered the final upgrades for this rig as I will be building a new one soon. Bellow is what I got:

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.40 GHz CPU, an upgrade over my Core 2 Due. Now I realize I could have gone with Core 2 Extreme but reading incompatibility stories as well as not a huge boost made me go with this. While many of you will lough, I manged to play Batman Arkham Origins with everything on high on a decent resolution. I will not be gaming on 4K or even 1080p so that’s no big deal. It did say it needs a 4 core CPU ;D

4 GB of DDR2 is a must. An upgrade over my 2 GB of current Ram. Nothing unusual here seeing as 4 GB is becoming the standard new days.

EVGA – GeForce GTX 750 Superclocked GPU. I have heard great things about this card despite being a budget card, an upgrade over my 250 GTX. The card supports direct X 11.1 and that should be more than enough for the time being. Keep in mind I will not be doing 4k so this should do its job fine. As a bonus, it will not be needing a additional power as its energy efficient. Lets see how far this baby can go.

Now while the above may seem like a joke, I assure you I am very serious in finding out how far I can push things, hence this test. I am not trying to pretend that I will be running the latest games just fine or sell that I can achieve the impossible. I like proving my point and test things out and with the news that The Evil Within’s specs were exaggerated, I took it upon myself to see how things really are. I will be doing a video play through on my YouTube channel as soon as the parts arrive so stay tuned.

October 15, 2014October 15, 2014

The Evil Within first impression

Now that the most awaited game of our era is out, I managed to grab it for my brother’s Xbox One while missing the chance to grab one myself. Why you ask? I still did not decide if I’m going with the 360, PC or Xbox one but at any rate, I’m grabbing the 360 version very soon. Now that my sad rant is over it is time for my first impression.

Keep in mind that I watched my brother play it up to chapter 3 so my first impress will be about the first two chapters.

Installation

After retrying the installation for the second time, the game started downloading a 7 GB day one patch. Strange and disappointing although we were given permission to play while download. What amazes me is the size, 7 GB day one patch? Why? and for what? Gone are the days when I can slide the disk into a console and start playing and came the days of a late 90s PC problems.

Graphics

Truth be told, the graphics look good. Some aliasing is there but nothing game breaking. Everything looks good and detailed. The atmosphere it self is realistic but you cant help but notice the Hostel movie inspiration in the first chapter. All good, nothing to complain although some may argue that the graphics are far from next gen, for me personally everything looks good. Yes, this is a last gen game ported to Xbox One and PS4 and yes, PC can pull better graphics but consider the full package and not just one part.

Gameplay

Resident Evil meets Metal Gear. This is what Resident Evil 4 should have been so Capcom please take note. Ammo is nowhere to be found so running, stealth and environment traps is the way to go. The movement looks realistic and smooth and many Resident Evil like stuff are in like memos and burning the corpses. The game itself feels like a Resident Evil we never got.

Sound

.The sound effects and music is good, fits right in the game. The gun firing and burning sounds along with everything else is a job well done

Conclusion

.I am yet to play it myself but from what I’m seeing, the game is amazing. Will pick it up today for deeper review but you cant go wrong with this game

October 1, 2014October 1, 2014

My thoughts on Windows 10

Microsoft surprisingly announced Windows 10 totally skipping the 9th version. Technically windows 8.1 is a stand alone windows so that could be counted as 9 but oh well. Any way, my opinion on why Microsoft made the decision to drop the 9th version name and jump straight to 10; Corporate market.

But before I get into that I would like to bring forward my two main reasons to upgrade.

Resources usage: I had XP for God knows how long before upgrading to 7 skipping Vista (Well I tested it but nothing serious). When I upgraded to 8 I noticed increased performance and smoothness in games. And since my main usage of the PC is gaming (I know I sound stupid but it is what is its) I welcomed the upgrade with open arms. Now will the same apply to Windows 10? I am yet to discover.

Compatibility: Software and games. Drivers seems to auto load and games and software that I have all supported. Nothing to complain about.

Now why did Windows 8 do so horrible or should I say not as expected on the corp side? Ignorance and touch phobia. See, Microsoft made a huge and stupid mistake of auto loading the touch interface with every restart and that scared the corps away. The problem with most corp including our own is that they fear change, especially when the current setup is working fine.

The removal of the Start button was another disaster which angered me personally for about 3 days and then I moved on with my life worrying about other stuff. Corps didn’t like that hence another reason to hate Windows 8. Another valid reasons is that some legacy software is not compatible with Windows 8. In-house software development wasn’t big on 8 and so we never moved.

Now did Microsoft do the right thing jumping to 10 to further itself away from 8 as much as possible? My answer is yes and no. Yes for the corps that know nothing but counting and 10 seems further than 9 so they might give it a chance especially that the Start button is returning. No, as hatters gonna hate. Many may see 10 slimier to 8 and skip it all together regardless.

At the end of the day, companies upgrade and will have to jump to the next thing as support ends for older windows so we will see how things play out. My concern; make it as smooth and less system demanding and I’m sold. Let me know what ya all think. Adam signing off.

September 26, 2014

Bethesda’s The Evil Within System Requirements reviled

Finally after months of speculating and guessing the system requirements for the upcoming horror game are live and they are NOT what everyone expected. Note that these are the only the recommended high requirements and anything lower is NOT supported.

64-bit Windows 7/Windows 8
i7 with four plus cores
4 GBs RAM
50 GB of hard drive space*
GeForce GTX 670 or equivalent with 4GBs of VRAM
High Speed Internet Connection
Steam account and activation

So not only will you need to upgrade, you will need to be a hardcore PC gamer upgraded with dedicated knowledge and budget to play this game. Now I know that so of you will say: PC gaming was always an expensive hobby. Im sorry but since when did PC gaming became a no choice platform? PC gaming was always about choice. You have a low hardware? No problem. You have high end hardware? Good for you.

Asking people to upgrade this insainly is an open door to hell. Suppose I sell my arm and leg to get this and the game still is having issues? The game should be optemized to the max and make you feel that it is using every bit out of the hard earned upgrade or otherwise whats the point? I can easily get the Xbox 360 version and call it day but I want to have the best experience and experience the best gam play and graphics aka PC version.

I have a feeling the game will be poorly optimized hence the reason for such a high upgrade like the many before it namely Watch Dogs and GTA 4. A 64 bit Windows 7 or 8 only? Really? Bethesda, you are asking people to spend allot of money on something, make us feel that the spending was worth it.

I may be wrong but so far this is the only game that is requiring such a powerful hardware with nothing else supported so I hope to God that Bethesda knows what its doing.

Waiting for more news and possibly a demo or a batch mark in order to confirm or disregard my fears.

September 16, 2014

Why I switched to OneDrive

As a long time Dropbox user, the switch was hard and not even on my radar until I found out about the new Microsoft offer. While Dropbox’s 1TB for $10 was a good move, that only gets you an amazing sync tool with 1TB of online backup storage. Microsoft on the other hand offers the same space along with a few important extras:

1 year subscription includes the latest full Microsoft Office applications1
Share your subscription with up to four members of your household4
Office on 5 PCs or Macs plus five iPads or Windows tablets3
Easily access your docs with Office Mobile apps for iPhones, Android, and Windows phones
1TB OneDrive storage per user, for up to 5 users
Call phones in over 60 countries with 60 minutes of Skype calls per month2

A great offer indeed considering I am a heavy office user. A free 60 minute skype credit is a great bonus for the people that can use it, too bad Ukraine is not supported.

My experience so far

Upon syncing all my camera roll, I only got 1 error which was fixed by re syncing. The web interface looks good and works good. Not sure if my work PC or auto refresh is not working but everything seems fine.

I will be testing Office once I am home and the 5 PCs share option is great considering I have 2 and my brother can use one as well.

There are a few privacy conference as Microsoft might be monitoring for porn and other unacceptable materials but I have nothing to hide so no worries here. Will also start using OneNote as its part of the package. Great deal, well done Microsoft.

September 12, 2014September 12, 2014

Microsoft could be buying Mojang

Latest latest rumblers claim that Microsoft will be buying the minecraft creator, Mojang. If that is true I expect it to go Xbox One/360/PC exclusive as it makes sense to put it on Microsoft controlled hardware except the PC which is running windows as a gaming platform.

What will the shift mean to all the mine craft fans if true? A logical solution is to keep the already out game updated but add exclusive worthy updates or DLC to the Xbox, even make it free or cheaper like Steam is doing with Left 4 Dead 2. Microsoft is a multi billion company and needs money to stay at the top and buying Mojang must have been about business and not ego.

We wait for more news and or conformation regarding this.

September 3, 2014September 3, 2014

Adam plays Sonic 4 Episode II

I‘m on fire; after completing episode I, I started and completed Episode II in one go and boy, was I surprised. This game is what episode I should have been. Everything is improved, definitely a better episode.

Graphics

The graphics are improved with better textures and colors. The options now allow for higher resolution as well. Not to say this is running on another engine but things has improved.

More 3D objects in the backgrounds, jumping back and fourth inside the picture makes the game feel more 3D while keeping the 2D game play intact. Once again, not a game changer but a welcome addition to an already improved game.

Score 5/5

Gameplay

The picture above is something I wanted ever since Sonic the Hedgehog 2, finally introduced in Episode II. You can now tag along with Tails “controlled by the game or player 2” and preform combined moves like flaying and destroying enemies.

The stages look better and smother as well as the whole game. Each stage looks unique and well designed and unlikely episode I, interesting. Sonic now runs in a much believable way unlike the first episode. New type of enemies and stage obstacles were one of the welcomed additions as well. There is one annoying part however, just like episode I; some parts of the stage are very hard. Don’t get me wrong, I love challenging games but these parts feel over powered and annoying. Rest assure, they are in small number and rare.

Apart from that, the game looks good and plays good.

Score 5/5

Sound

The game sounds did not change, however the music is better and have Sega feel to it like the nights into dreams alike stage above. Nothing significant to report here.

Score 4/5

Conclusion

A much better Episode than the first. A must play for any Sega Sonic fan. Unlikely Episode I, this game looks and feels like a new chapter and not a mega drive Sonic remake. Get it dirt cheap on any platform including the IOS which I will review sometime in the feature.

September 2, 2014September 2, 2014

Preorder The Evil Within now on Steam

The preorder on Steam is live; secure your digital special edition for $59.99 as well as the season pass for $19.99 and get the Fighting Chance pack for free.

The game should be out on 14 Oct 2014. Personally, I will preorder mine but not sure about the season pack yet.

August 26, 2014

Twitch acquired by Amazon

The rumors were ~~true~~ false, Google will not be buying Twitch after all. Instead, Amazon will finalize the deal soon to acquire the games streaming giant. I am happy that it is Amazon instead of Google and before you call me anti Google crusader let me tell you this:

I have never broadcasted anything on twitch although I am planing to. The likely scenarios if Google managed to buy it would have been:

Google shuts it down and merge it with YouTube. or
Ruin it to the point of no return much like the YouTube.
Google +

Amazon on the other hand has a vision, to become the best and with the ongoing company innovation and services I can easily trust Amazon over Google any day. Don’t get me wrong, I love Google but in this case; not so much. You can read the announcement bellow:

On August 25, 2014, it was reported that the rumored Google deal had fallen through, and that Amazon.com Inc. was in talks to acquire Twitch for at least $1 billion.[37][38] The acquisition was confirmed by Twitch executive Emmitt Shear shortly after. The deal, valued at $970 million, will be finalized within the remainder of 2014.

Twitch will be operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc, with Emmitt Shear remaining as CEO. Shear touted the Amazon Web Services platform as an “attractive” aspect of the deal, and that Amazon had “built relationships with the big players in media” which could be used to the service’s advantage—particularly in the realm of content licensing. The purchase of Twitch marks the third recent video gaming-oriented acquisition by Amazon, which had previously acquired the developers Reflexive Entertainment and Double Helix Games.

August 23, 2014

Ultra Street Fighter IV reaction

Capcom is one of my all time favorite developer with amazing games over the years, the problem is; they don’t know when to stop. This is like the 4th street fighter 4 and with the latest rumors it wont be the last. I am all up for updating games and good DLC but this is stupid. Releasing boxed version for the 4th time with only a minor change will make you look desperate and just want to milk the game to death.

screen 1

Now this edition actually has a few extra characters instead of skins so its worth mentioning all the changes:

Ultra Combo Double allows players to choose both of their character’s Ultra Combos at the cost of doing less damage. This gives players more options in their tactics and play styles.
Red Focus Attack is a Focus Attack that absorbs multiple hits. By holding the usual Medium Punch and Medium Kick buttons, plus the Light Punch button, the player’s character will flash red as they charge their Focus Attack. It is still subject to the same weaknesses as the former with Armor Breaking moves and throws.
Delayed Standing (similar to “Tactical Recovery” from Capcom vs. SNK 2) allows players to alter the timing of their character’s wake-up, when they are getting back on their feet. By pressing any two buttons when the character is slammed down in a hard knockdown (similar in the fashion of performing a Quick Stand), the character will take a few extra frames to get back on their feet, disrupting the wake-up game of the attacking opponent.
five new characters: Rolento, Elena, Hugo and Poison.

screen 2

My take on the whole thing is, this should have been the first upgrade/DLC for street fighter 4. Like I said, releasing that many with more to come make you look desperate and I’m not even sure if the upgrades can sell that much considering you know that the next upgrade will be released in the near future.

Let me know what you thing, thanks for reading.