Windows Hololens..Fap Fap Fap

If you have not heard of the new Windows Hololens device, then you must be under a rock somewhere. This device is so fucking cool. This contraption that you wear on your face basically is an Augmented Reality device, it displays images on the glass in front of your eyes, to make it appear that the images are holograms. This thing works with Windows 10, it has retina location software, voice recognition, all kinds of cool things. From what they have shown in the Youtube videos, there is a lot of application for what I would consider to be Professional use, 3d design, modeling etc.

 The items they show for personal use, like the Netflix, Skype, etc look really cool but I can see the limitations like the Skype you can see them but they cant see you presumably and that was the whole point of Skype. They have a Minecraft type game that overlays your furniture and seems like it interacts with your environment, make a waterfall run off the coffee table for example. I really think this device is cool, but people have already said that if you wear glasses it is really uncomfortable, and when watching people demonstrate the device the hand gestures and voice commands seem like they have to be so deliberate, that is kind of a turn off to me. I want to be able to play my PC games in a new way that really pulls me in, I want to watch Netflix on a crazy huge virtual screen before my eyes, I believe that I will have to strap one of these bad boys to my face to really fall in love with it. Hololens is a cool device, and is going in the right direction.

 On another note this guy(Alex) Microsoft got to narrate the demonstration has to be the strangest little man I have seen in some time it seems that he really has a hard time with public speaking, his voice constantly cracks like a teen boy, and his interaction with the demonstrator is really disingenuous, he just sounds fake, like when he says "OOO i like it" in response to something the demonstrator says, sounds really fake.

Demo Video Funny Voice Crack 2:03

People are saying Oct 2015 for release, and guesses are ranging from $500-$1000 for price point.  We shall see.

Nvidia I'm Sorry, you're awesome, I'm a twat

So a few months ago, I wrote a blog post that was quite possibly the best hatchet job with the least amount of information available about the Nvidia Shield Portable.  At the time of the posting I had a friend who had actually held one of these contraptions, and he repeatedly told me "John, if you had one you would love it." With denial seething through me, this pretty much sums up what I had said about it.

"The initial price on this contraption was $299, If you show me someone that paid this, I would slap them, price cut down to $249, you bought this, I would cuss you in the street, now it is down to $199 you bought this I would awkwardly avoid your phone calls.  This is just not worth it! (Original price before release was $349) ."

I am happy to say that after above mentioned friend gifted this item to me very generously at Christmas, either out of a deep caring and mutually felt internal bromance, or that once he had it in my hands he knew that I would have to first eat fucking massive amounts of crow, then slap myself, then cuss my self, and awkwardly avoid phone calls from myself.  He also kindly reminded me to update my blog about the Nvidia Shield, savoring the moments for when I hit publish.
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I really don't know where to start, "Grid" gaming comes on the Shield this is like the Netflix of PC games, Borderlands 2, Batman, and about 30 other games are available to play from the Grid service, right now this is free, but in June 2015 Nvidia will start charging for the service, interested to see the price point on this.  While streaming from the Grid I have noticed almost no delay, or stuttering in game play, and what I did experience was most likely due to my WiFi signal strength.

Streaming from my PC while took some troubleshooting and downloading the BETA of the Grid app, is absolutely amazing, I am playing Shadows of Mordor on the couch.  I no longer have to lock myself in the back room strapped to my computer desk, it is just bad ass.  I keep looking through my game collection to see what to load up on my comp, so i can play them again.

When I get home this thing doesn't leave my side, maybe it was the price point I was hating on, or some hate that I have developed for Micro-Android consoles.  The Nvidia Shield Portable, is powerful, accessible, and an absolute pleasure to play. In closing this is a really cool device, and I feel is a must have for pc gamers.

Team Fortress 2 Mayhem

On a recommendation from a friend, I decided to download Team Fortress 2.  This is a Multi-player shooter, where a player can choose from a multitude of servers ranging from Minecraft style arenas to Shopping malls with wrestling rinks in the middle to battle out objectives or just death match till you cry for a power failure to stop the madness.  There is also a spread of characters for the choosing ranging from Pyro, who sprays enemies with a lethal plume of fiery goodness, to the Medic, who will keep his companions alive with Uber charged healing.

If you choose to watch the 20 minute video above it is pretty entertaining, personally favorites are the Pyro intro, and the Black Scottish Demolition man, who recognizes his own rarity, lol.  The video above goes through all the character classes that are available in the game. The game play is very fast, and un-rewarding for beginners, for me at least, in the first 15 minutes I was ready to uninstall.  But that is mostly because I hate to lose, and I was losing a lot, after switching to medic I started to find my groove, if I cant be a killer ill be a healer. 

You really have to give this game a bit of time to get acclimated to the explosions and death surrounding you. I liked the game, after I found my niche and started playing with a friend,  Cool game but will not have a permanent home on my hard drive.

Coin Wallet, I don't even know what I've Backed now

So just got a message that My Coin, the device that promised to replace all the plastic in my wallet with one simple device, is not going to be scheduled until Fall of 2015, buh.

 This is the first push back of the release date that I know of, and isn't that bad, but the thing I don't understand know is that when my wife sent $50 bucks to the Kickstarter campaign, I was looking for a finished device, but from my understanding that now only for the BETA version of the device, and I was going to have to buy the actual finished product at full price? Now since the ship dates have been blown, i get this apology email, which is all fine and dandy.

 Updated* Now if you opt into the BETA program you will get the finished product at no cost to you, when it finally ships which is God knows when, and this small article isn't just bitching about COIN, though it seems that after some backlash, they decided to actually do the right thing and pucker up for what will be the longest ass kissing any of them has ever had to endure; but more so of a cautionary tell of Backer, crowd funding, etc. 

Look at any type of backing of a company as a donation, if you are not comfortable giving your cash to these start ups,then please don't.  "This shit" as a friend told me "Is the Wild West, we are entering a new age of how companies get funded, and it is bringing some power back to the people."  Backing a project is fun and exciting, more and more people are going to Kickstarter, crowd funding, etc to get their ideas off the ground, but just be weary, there are more people that would be just interested in taking your money and running.

Ducky Diapers Would you Back this Project?

Beta Brigade: Zombie Monster Robots

New game is coming out, its called Zombie Monster Robots, I have been playing the Closed Beta for a couple of days now and here are some thoughts.

First of all this game is an FPS, the controls are very simple following the traditional WASD for movement, Mouse for Aim, 1234 to change weapons, space bar for duck/cover application as well as dash, jump from cover.  E is used to use an item, and F for Grenade.  This game can be played in two styles PvP or PvE.  You can group up with random people or bring your clan to the battle in either PvP or PvE.  Match lobbies are numerous and if you are soloing you can always find a place to go, or just simply create your own match and wait for folks to join in.

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Matches
The matches are fun, seriously fun.  I really have been enjoying this game.  Don't get me wrong there are some downsides, and Ill get to those in a bit; but being able to log in grab a match and pound out your enemies in 20-30 minutes matches is something that fits into my lifestyle perfectly. The maps all look good, plenty of natural obstructions to hide behind use for cover etc.

Baddies
The enemies in PvE can be tough, and once you played a time or two you start to recognize which baddies require a sense of urgency (Warmonger) and which you can just mow down.  Now with this being said, I have played one Hard mode in PvE and while I am sure my skill have improved since then, but I got owned by the baddies rather quickly.  An in-experienced group in Normal mode will still get wiped from time to time, so this game will challenge you in your FPS skills.  Speaking of being wiped you can revive falling comrades by moving to their location and holding space bar, if you actually die, you or teammates can revive you by using 1up tokens earned through the reward system.

I have not delved into the world of PvP as of yet, but for the sake of experiencing what the game is like I postponed being called a newb, and having my face peeled Back by automatic gun fire.

Loadouts and Extras
There are all kinds of Guns, Side Arms, Bats, knives that you can outfit onto your char.  You can purchase additional space on your char so that additional can be carried, as well as opening more locker space (Bank) to hold more personal inventory.  This can be done in one or another, by using in game gold earned during matches or by purchasing EMP with actual money.  One of the things I dislike is the purchasing system you can buy guns, mods etc with in game gold for 1-day, 3-day, 7-day increments.  After the days are up you have to re purchase the item.  This is annoying.  There are some items that can be purchased permanently but you have to spend actually money on these items, this seems to fit into the Micro-Transactions the gaming industry has grown so fond of, I understand these folks have to make money but by god, in ZMR the shop menu is almost overwhelming, with all the different ways you can purchase items, VIP cards, blue cards, and a ton of other options.

All and all the game is pretty fun, I would see playing this game for an extended amount of time being hard if you don't group up with friends or join a clan, maps get a little repetitious, I am sure they will expand on this after the BETA. The game is worth a download.

Phil is probably right

Currently there is a rather dumb debate about what Phil Fish said about YouTubers and others streaming, recording games in their entirety, and how some a large amount of royalties made from these recordings should be given to the developers.

First in this conversation I know that not everyone will not buy a particular game because they saw it in it's entirety on Youtube etc, They might say "Wow that looks awesome I gotta have it!"  At the same time the other side of that is true as well, If a streamer unfolds the entire story to you, some people will be just satisfied knowing what happens in a series, and they will not buy the game, or they decide the game is horrible and not buy the game.

No matter how you look at it whether you say it is free PR, or your user experience playing the game cannot be copyrighted, trying to warn gamers of a bad game, or whatever stupid reason you may have defending streaming games in their entirety, its crap, the announcements that this game is awesome and is a must have, can be done with a regular review, with gameplay segments, screenshots, etc, and guess what it is Federally protected under Fair Use!

And guess what, dumb asses that say, "Well My stream, had commentary! Its protected by Fair Use." No no its not idiot,

Fair use is a limitation and exception to the exclusive right granted by copyright law to the author of a creative work. In United States copyright law, fair use is a doctrine that permits limited use of copyrighted material without acquiring permission from the rights holders. Examples of fair use include commentary, search engines, criticism, parody, news reporting, research, teaching, library archiving and scholarship. It provides for the legal, unlicensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author's work under a four-factor balancing test.

The key word being Limited here, There are Four test that this argument must pass.  Purpose and character, Nature of the Copied Work, Amount and substantiality, and Effect upon works Value.

Please Gamers stop being idiots, understand laws and how they work, you wouldn't want someone scabbing your work don't do it to developers.

New Amazon Fire Phone

The new Amazon Fire Phone is set to release July 25, 2014, you can pre-order it now HERE.  With a qualifying new line of service with AT&T you can make it yours for $199.99.  The phone features Dynamic Perspective for the lock screen and the map application, this makes it look somewhat 3D when you tilt the phone in different directions.  Other features include the Fire Fly app that allows you to take a picture of book, magazine, or product and Amazon will find the same item within their site show the price etc, so you can do comparative shopping. It will also pick out phone numbers, email address if you take a photo of something that has that info on the page.  If you pre-order the phone you get a year membership of Prime, which is pretty cool.

But honestly, I am completely not excited about any new phone that is released, I looked at this phone and actually thought, "I do not want this."  That feeling has actually extended into almost every new phone I see come out.  Maybe I am desensitized because there is a new phone every six months, it is like I do not even see these phones as new technology, I am completely uninterested.

The last time i got excited about a phone, I was watching the Matrix and when Neo's phone slid open, I immediately bought the horrible reproduction of this mod and snapped it onto my Motorola .  Wish I could be excited maybe someday I will.