Author: Andrew

Yearly Update

This is apparently what has turned into a yearly update for this site. I haven’t done much posting. Busy with work. I’ll be sure to post the things I’ve been working on when they get released.

My gaming PC is still holding up good. I’ve played a lot of games in the past year- Fallout 4, GTAV, as well as several racing games. I recently got a nice mesh chair, it is awesome!

VR has certainly heated up. The Oculus, the Vive, PlayStation VR, etc. Decided to wait until at least the second hardware iteration. It’s too niche/expensive right now.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out. What did you guys think? The general consensus was it was awesome, and I agree. Couldn’t have asked for a better return to form for the series.

I’ve started a band in the past year. We played our first show recently and it went very well. Will be writing some more originals and hopefully gigging more. I’ll be sure to post music once it is recorded. We’re mostly pop-punk. Sounds like Offspring, New Found Glory, A Day to Remember, etc. I’ve also gotten into pedals. Maybe I’ll post a blog about my current setup.

Maybe I’ll try to get back in the habit of posting updates more frequently. Until then…

March 2015 Update

Apologies for lack of updates- I started a new job and moved. I’m finally settling in and finding free time to get back at it.

Quick update on projects-

I recently built a custom gaming computer, and started streaming (www.twitch.tv/aosx182). The VR headset project has been on hold, but now that I’ve got a more powerful computer, I will pick that back up again. I’ve got some videos recorded for it that need editing. Be on the lookout for new music as well.

Cool.

E3 2014 Thoughts

E3 2014 was a bit toned down overall from E3 2013. There was a bigger focus on actual games. Here are some of the announcements that excited me the most.

More info on Civilization: Beyond Earth. I’ve got hundreds of hours in CIV:5 as well as other 4x space sims like M002, Gal Civ, and Alpha Centauri. I’m excited to see a modern take on those classic games.

GTA5 for PC. Admittedly, I probably won’t buy it straight away, due to the initially poor port from GTA IV. But I’ll be excited to play once they release bug patches and the like.

Halo Master Chief Collection. Being a long time Halo fan, it was awesome to see this get announced. I’ve already got the Combat Evolved anniversary. I actually never got to play Halo 2 online (local only). The playlists feature sounds fun too. I really didn’t enjoy Halo 4 . But this might be the game that makes me get an XBox One.

Star Fox Wii U. I’d love to play a modern Star Fox game. While Starfox 64 is my favorite and I still play it quite often, it just looks worse and worse each time I play.

Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Lord of the Rings with the combat from Arkham series? Sounds good to me.

Tom Clancy’s the Division gameplay looked pretty fun.

I was pretty disappointed with the Battlefront 3 footage. It was nice that the studio seems to be taking it seriously, but I would have rather seen some actual gameplay.

Best for last: No Man’s Sky. This was definitely my favorite. Loved the art style. Procedural galaxy with planets you can land on? With space dogfighting? Yes please. Galaxy on Fire, FTL, Space battles from Battlefront, all wrapped into one. Can’t wait for it to come to PC.

What did you think? Let me know below.

Apple, Beats, and the Lightning Connector

This is pretty interesting.

http://9to5mac.com/2014/06/03/apple-introduces-mfi-specs-for-lightning-cable-headphones-support-arriving-in-future-ios-update/

The TL;DR? It seems like the point of this would be to power headphones that need juice for things like ANC. Developers would also be able to have headphones give input for their apps. And overall better quality audio, with the possibility of losing the 3.5mm jack.

Do all of those features sound worth it at the cost of yet another Apple-specific connector? I guess Apple will find out.

New Star Wars Episode VII “leaked” photos

Here is a gallery on The Escapist-

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/gallery/view/26/135002/2606.1

Today we get more leaked Episode VII photos. We can see the same beast from the first set of photos. The big thing in this one though is the Millennium Falcon. You can also see a couple pictures of a new X-Wing design.

Heres the real question though. What I’m wondering is where is the on-set security for stuff like this? There HAS to be some guards around making sure people don’t take pictures right? There’s no way a multi-million dollar AAA movie production doesn’t have airtight security when it comes to leaking stuff. Which makes me think that they are releasing these on purpose to drum up hype and speculation. What do you think?