Supreme Commander
Chris Taylor is an evil genius. That's a term of admiration and jealousy I use to describe people who do things that make me slap my head and say "Why hasn't someone else thought of this?" Other members of the league of evil genius' are: Joss Whedon, Gene Roddenberry, Larry Page and Sergey Brin.
After playing the release version just a couple of nights now, I can say that it has impressed me a great deal. I won't go into all the details of the game, as you can read reviews of it just about everywhere.
One of the features I really like about GPGNet (the multiplayer service for the game) is that it provides a mechanism for downloading and viewing game replays from other people. I always liked the original Tribes and Myth for this feature. Nothing can improve your game strategy like watching how better players win games. These replays are very small to download, and can be quite a kick to watch.
A replay gave me one of the most chilling experiences I've had in a video game. I was watching a 2vs2 game with four very good players. It was a very long game as everyone was going for the highest tech before fully committing to any battles. I watched from the big picture view and tried to follow what was going on, but there was just too much to see everything that was being built. The action was just beginning to heat up with some Tech 3 weapons struggling to gain the upper hand in the middle of the map.
All of the sudden the game kind of goes silent, and a female voice comes up very calmly and says "Strategic launch detected."
I literally felt the hair on my neck stand up. I quickly scrolled the view back out to the strategic view and sure enough, there was a nuclear missile already coming up through the upper atmosphere. In fact, the top of the arc was so high it wasn't possible to keep it in view from the highest view angle. After a bit the missile started to drop towards the enemy rear area, and there was another eerie silence as it made its final descent. The results were spectacular. A portion of one players base was wiped out in a spectacular fireball.
However, due to the number of units and size of the map, the nuke didn't end the game. I could feel the tempo of the game shift, however, as the opposing side went into a frenzy of activity. The big thing they did was begin building strategic missile defense systems. For the next few minutes it was an arms race, as the one player sent first single, then double, and finally triple salvos of missiles towards the opposing bases. However, the opposite player had built his defenses quickly, and the game moved back to the ground war, and bigger and nastier weapons were built. In the end, the game was won by the guy who didn't build nukes, but it was clear that the wrong defense would have lost the war very quickly.
I highly recommend trying out the demo. The game is nothing short of spectacular.
Friday, February 16, 2007
Monday, February 05, 2007
NVidia no work on Vista?
Just a quick followup to my previous post on why power gamers should not be upgrading to Windows Vista. It seems that a set of disgruntled NVidia customers are considering a lawsuit against NVidia, claiming that the video card manufacturer has misrepresented the current drivers. Bottom line, it sounds like if you have an NVidia graphics card you had best hold off on upgrading to Vista until this gets sorted.
Just a quick followup to my previous post on why power gamers should not be upgrading to Windows Vista. It seems that a set of disgruntled NVidia customers are considering a lawsuit against NVidia, claiming that the video card manufacturer has misrepresented the current drivers. Bottom line, it sounds like if you have an NVidia graphics card you had best hold off on upgrading to Vista until this gets sorted.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Logitech G7 Laser Cordless Mouse
I was recently experiencing considerable problems with my current wireless mouse. I have to admit that on my main gaming rig I have for years used a fairly inexpensive wireless keyboard and mouse combination. I know wireless can be laggy, but I just can't accommodate any more cables on my desktop. However, the problem was getting worse, with constant mouse freezes and buttons being pressed and never registering when I let go. I had replaced the batteries and done a number of tweaks to improve things, but it was obvious that the mouse just wasn't up to it any more.
My original plan was to purchase another keyboard/mouse combo when I read somewhere that this may in fact be the issue. Due to the fact that both keyboard and mouse are sharing the same USB connection, there can be odd behavior similar to what I was seeing during heavy activity in modern games.
So I decided to take a look at the options for good quality wireless mice that could be run separately from the keyboard. It had been several years since my last purchase, so I was surprised by the number of innovations that had come out; laser precision, high DPI, and in at lease one case, a high powered 2.4 GHz transmitter. That is in the new Logitech G7 Laser Cordless Mouse mouse. The technology allows a very high rate of tracking even over fairly large wireless distances. I really liked this feature, as I have often found myself pulling my wireless transmitter closer to my mouse pad to eliminate interference.
The mouse is based on the same Laser engine as the Logitech G5 wired mouse. This mouse provides adjustable resolution up to 2000 Dots Per Inch (DPI) with 3 settings by default (400 DPI, 800 DPI and 2000 DPI) which can be adjusted on the fly with a pair of buttons below the mouse wheel. This means you can have very fast response when needed, and slow down the response when greater precision is needed, for instance during sniping in an FPS game.
Of course all of this means the mouse is a big drain on batteries, even the lithium-ion batteries provided by Logitech. The specs state that the mouse can be used for 7 hours of continuous usage in games. So what do you do when you hit the limit in the middle of a game? Just change the battery and keep playing. Fortunately Logitech has provided the G7 with two batteries right in the packaging. While you are playing with one, the other is charging in a charging base that gets its power from your computers USB port. When it is time to change, the battery is quickly ejected with a small but easy to use eject button in both the mouse and the base charger.
The same base also has a USB port for the transmitter dongle. You can use it there, or plug it into any other available USB port you have handy. One thing to keep in mind is that if the charger is plugged directly into your computers USB ports or a powered USB hub, it can pull more power. This means that the charger can be used in a higher charging mode Logitech refers to as "Boost" for faster charges of the battery. In the normal mode, the batteries take up to 10 hours to charge, in "Boost" mode, they charge in 2 hours. However, "Boost" mode can play havoc with other USB devices on the same port, so keep that in mind if you find you are having unexplained problems with other USB devices while charging with this unit.
In practice, I have found that a single battery lasts an entire day of heavy usage for me. This is because the mouse goes into an idle low power state when you aren't using it for a few minutes, and can also be powered off entirely by means of a power button on the bottom of the mouse.
As to the the operation of the mouse, I find it is a very nice piece of technology. The weight, including the batteries, is sufficient to give a very positive feel to the mouse when I move it. The mouse has six buttons, although two of these are used by default to adjust the DPI as mentioned before. They can be reprogrammed with Logitech's SetPoint software if you choose to do so. You can also change the specfic DPI of each setting, or change the number of DPI settings settable (from 2 to 5.) I prefer the settings as they are, so have not used the additional software. Besides the standard two buttons and mouse wheel with button, there is also a thumb button placed close enough to be useful, but high enough that it doesn't get pressed by accident in practice.
The mouse has a small thumb rest which keeps the thumb from dragging on the mouse pad in use. This isn't as pronounced as the thumb rest on the Logitech MX-Revolution, but it fits my hand quite well. The mouse "feet" are high tech non-skid surfaces, not the cheap plastic things that you usually find on most mice. My G7 glides across the mouse pad effortlessly, and there are no more stuck buttons or jerking reactions in any of my games.
The mouse also has a set of LED's to display useful information. During standard operation, a number of LED "bars" show the current DPI setting (low, medium or high) and when idle for a short time the LED's show battery charge remaining. When completely idle, the LED's turn off to save power. There is also a separate power LED on the bottom of the mouse next to the power button, to show that the mouse has been powered on or off. This is useful because the Laser does not provide light that can be seen like the standard red LED on most optical mice.
The big downside (you knew it was coming) is the price. Get ready to lose a cool $100 ($99.99 retail) unless you can find it discounted. So the G7 is strictly for the serious gamer who wants wired mouse stability without the wires. I give it a big thumbs up if you have a need for a mouse without wires, and are serious enough about gaming to spend some extra money. Given what you payed for that top end gaming rig, how can you scrimp on the most important input device?
I was recently experiencing considerable problems with my current wireless mouse. I have to admit that on my main gaming rig I have for years used a fairly inexpensive wireless keyboard and mouse combination. I know wireless can be laggy, but I just can't accommodate any more cables on my desktop. However, the problem was getting worse, with constant mouse freezes and buttons being pressed and never registering when I let go. I had replaced the batteries and done a number of tweaks to improve things, but it was obvious that the mouse just wasn't up to it any more.
My original plan was to purchase another keyboard/mouse combo when I read somewhere that this may in fact be the issue. Due to the fact that both keyboard and mouse are sharing the same USB connection, there can be odd behavior similar to what I was seeing during heavy activity in modern games.
So I decided to take a look at the options for good quality wireless mice that could be run separately from the keyboard. It had been several years since my last purchase, so I was surprised by the number of innovations that had come out; laser precision, high DPI, and in at lease one case, a high powered 2.4 GHz transmitter. That is in the new Logitech G7 Laser Cordless Mouse mouse. The technology allows a very high rate of tracking even over fairly large wireless distances. I really liked this feature, as I have often found myself pulling my wireless transmitter closer to my mouse pad to eliminate interference.
The mouse is based on the same Laser engine as the Logitech G5 wired mouse. This mouse provides adjustable resolution up to 2000 Dots Per Inch (DPI) with 3 settings by default (400 DPI, 800 DPI and 2000 DPI) which can be adjusted on the fly with a pair of buttons below the mouse wheel. This means you can have very fast response when needed, and slow down the response when greater precision is needed, for instance during sniping in an FPS game.
Of course all of this means the mouse is a big drain on batteries, even the lithium-ion batteries provided by Logitech. The specs state that the mouse can be used for 7 hours of continuous usage in games. So what do you do when you hit the limit in the middle of a game? Just change the battery and keep playing. Fortunately Logitech has provided the G7 with two batteries right in the packaging. While you are playing with one, the other is charging in a charging base that gets its power from your computers USB port. When it is time to change, the battery is quickly ejected with a small but easy to use eject button in both the mouse and the base charger.
The same base also has a USB port for the transmitter dongle. You can use it there, or plug it into any other available USB port you have handy. One thing to keep in mind is that if the charger is plugged directly into your computers USB ports or a powered USB hub, it can pull more power. This means that the charger can be used in a higher charging mode Logitech refers to as "Boost" for faster charges of the battery. In the normal mode, the batteries take up to 10 hours to charge, in "Boost" mode, they charge in 2 hours. However, "Boost" mode can play havoc with other USB devices on the same port, so keep that in mind if you find you are having unexplained problems with other USB devices while charging with this unit.
In practice, I have found that a single battery lasts an entire day of heavy usage for me. This is because the mouse goes into an idle low power state when you aren't using it for a few minutes, and can also be powered off entirely by means of a power button on the bottom of the mouse.
As to the the operation of the mouse, I find it is a very nice piece of technology. The weight, including the batteries, is sufficient to give a very positive feel to the mouse when I move it. The mouse has six buttons, although two of these are used by default to adjust the DPI as mentioned before. They can be reprogrammed with Logitech's SetPoint software if you choose to do so. You can also change the specfic DPI of each setting, or change the number of DPI settings settable (from 2 to 5.) I prefer the settings as they are, so have not used the additional software. Besides the standard two buttons and mouse wheel with button, there is also a thumb button placed close enough to be useful, but high enough that it doesn't get pressed by accident in practice.
The mouse has a small thumb rest which keeps the thumb from dragging on the mouse pad in use. This isn't as pronounced as the thumb rest on the Logitech MX-Revolution, but it fits my hand quite well. The mouse "feet" are high tech non-skid surfaces, not the cheap plastic things that you usually find on most mice. My G7 glides across the mouse pad effortlessly, and there are no more stuck buttons or jerking reactions in any of my games.
The mouse also has a set of LED's to display useful information. During standard operation, a number of LED "bars" show the current DPI setting (low, medium or high) and when idle for a short time the LED's show battery charge remaining. When completely idle, the LED's turn off to save power. There is also a separate power LED on the bottom of the mouse next to the power button, to show that the mouse has been powered on or off. This is useful because the Laser does not provide light that can be seen like the standard red LED on most optical mice.
The big downside (you knew it was coming) is the price. Get ready to lose a cool $100 ($99.99 retail) unless you can find it discounted. So the G7 is strictly for the serious gamer who wants wired mouse stability without the wires. I give it a big thumbs up if you have a need for a mouse without wires, and are serious enough about gaming to spend some extra money. Given what you payed for that top end gaming rig, how can you scrimp on the most important input device?
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Why you won't be upgrading to Vista anytime soon
Windows Vista launched earlier this week for consumers, and by the looks of things, most people ignored it. After doing some searching around, I can say that's probably the wise thing to do.
First of all let me say that I tested Vista during the Release Candidate phase, and was unimpressed by the features I saw. Nothing about the new OS from Microsoft gives us a compelling reason to upgrade from XP. More importantly, Vista is just plain bad for gamers. Here's why:
Performance
Benchmarks around the Web are showing that upgrading to Vista will cause most games to run slower. In some instance as much as 30% slower! Most power gamers that I know will spend hundreds of dollars to upgrade their system to get a few percent more performance. Spending hundreds of dollars for on OS upgrade that downgrades system performance isn't going to sell well.
More information can be found over at Tom's Hardware Guide, as well as many other professional hardware sites.
Lots of people are speculating on why this is, but it appears to me that the big problem is all of the extra processes that Vista runs for security reasons. Good for security? I don't know, but Vista is bad for games.
Sound Support
I was astonished when I tried a late Release Candidate and it did not support my Creative Labs Audigy 2 sound card. I was even more surprised to find out that the week that Vista released Creative still didn't have supported drivers for Vista for their sound cards. Creative does have Beta drivers for Vista, but they are currently estimating March 2007 for certified drivers. Many people are reporting sound problems in games with Vista. A big reason for this is that Microsoft, again in it's wisdom, dropped DirectSound and DirectInput from Vista. They instead went with a new driver abstraction layer ported from XBox 360. Ok, porting games is one thing, but porting console drivers? I don't even know where to start.
Did we mention Security?
Another problem that early adapters are reporting is that Vista security is causing numerous problems with online games. In particular many of the MMO games are having problems because Vista doesn't want to give these games access to the Internet. That seems like it should be easy to fix, but I have heard of cases where the work around was to actually run some games in Windows 95 compatibility, not Windows XP compatibility, but Win95/Me! Go figure. In some cases the games have to be run with elevated administrative rights. So much for security.
Price
Assuming you can decide on a version of Vista that will suit your needs, you will be paying anything from US$199 to US$399 to upgrade to Vista. If you can wait until you need a new PC, that price can be hidden, but it won't disappear. As for myself, I don't expect to need a new PC for a couple of years.
So lets sum up, for a few hundred dollars you can purchase a new Operating System that makes your games play slower, reduces or completely eliminates your sound and can make it hard or even impossible to play online games.
I think I'll pass.
Does that mean I won't ever get Vista? Of course not. Unfortunately Microsoft's monopoly in the desktop software Operating System space makes that impossible. At some point the games I want to play are going to require DirectX 10, and that means we have to use Vista. Is that extortion? Of course it is, but that's par for the course with Microsoft.
In the meantime, I may even purchase a new copy of XP Professional, just to give me a backup plan if one of my computers completely fails.
For now, just say No to Vista.
Windows Vista launched earlier this week for consumers, and by the looks of things, most people ignored it. After doing some searching around, I can say that's probably the wise thing to do.
First of all let me say that I tested Vista during the Release Candidate phase, and was unimpressed by the features I saw. Nothing about the new OS from Microsoft gives us a compelling reason to upgrade from XP. More importantly, Vista is just plain bad for gamers. Here's why:
Performance
Benchmarks around the Web are showing that upgrading to Vista will cause most games to run slower. In some instance as much as 30% slower! Most power gamers that I know will spend hundreds of dollars to upgrade their system to get a few percent more performance. Spending hundreds of dollars for on OS upgrade that downgrades system performance isn't going to sell well.
More information can be found over at Tom's Hardware Guide, as well as many other professional hardware sites.
Lots of people are speculating on why this is, but it appears to me that the big problem is all of the extra processes that Vista runs for security reasons. Good for security? I don't know, but Vista is bad for games.
Sound Support
I was astonished when I tried a late Release Candidate and it did not support my Creative Labs Audigy 2 sound card. I was even more surprised to find out that the week that Vista released Creative still didn't have supported drivers for Vista for their sound cards. Creative does have Beta drivers for Vista, but they are currently estimating March 2007 for certified drivers. Many people are reporting sound problems in games with Vista. A big reason for this is that Microsoft, again in it's wisdom, dropped DirectSound and DirectInput from Vista. They instead went with a new driver abstraction layer ported from XBox 360. Ok, porting games is one thing, but porting console drivers? I don't even know where to start.
Did we mention Security?
Another problem that early adapters are reporting is that Vista security is causing numerous problems with online games. In particular many of the MMO games are having problems because Vista doesn't want to give these games access to the Internet. That seems like it should be easy to fix, but I have heard of cases where the work around was to actually run some games in Windows 95 compatibility, not Windows XP compatibility, but Win95/Me! Go figure. In some cases the games have to be run with elevated administrative rights. So much for security.
Price
Assuming you can decide on a version of Vista that will suit your needs, you will be paying anything from US$199 to US$399 to upgrade to Vista. If you can wait until you need a new PC, that price can be hidden, but it won't disappear. As for myself, I don't expect to need a new PC for a couple of years.
So lets sum up, for a few hundred dollars you can purchase a new Operating System that makes your games play slower, reduces or completely eliminates your sound and can make it hard or even impossible to play online games.
I think I'll pass.
Does that mean I won't ever get Vista? Of course not. Unfortunately Microsoft's monopoly in the desktop software Operating System space makes that impossible. At some point the games I want to play are going to require DirectX 10, and that means we have to use Vista. Is that extortion? Of course it is, but that's par for the course with Microsoft.
In the meantime, I may even purchase a new copy of XP Professional, just to give me a backup plan if one of my computers completely fails.
For now, just say No to Vista.
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