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  • Gaming Video Capture

    There are lots of people, including me, that post gaming videos on YouTube. The trick is to figure out how to capture the video. On a PC, we can use utilities like FRAPS to capture frames and make a movie from it. This works, but burdens the system a bit while you are playing the game. Another option is a capture device to capture HDMI or component video (we’re talking HD here, none of that low-res SVideo or composite junk). An internal card, like the Blackmagic Intensity Pro, can capture either HDMI or component and has a pass-through so you can play the game with no delay (capture devices always add a delay because they are busy compressing your video), but the HDMI capture is not useful for PS3 (or Blu-Ray players) because of HDCP encryption.

    I chose an external USB device, the Hauppauge HD PVR 1212, which has component input and pass-through, as well as optical audio in and out, SVideo and composite inputs, and front and back analog audio inputs and pass-through). It captures straight to H.264 compressed video with 3 different wrappers, one that plays well on XBox 360, one for PS3, and one for general video editing. The software can apparently make DVDs that will play back HD in Blu-Ray players, though I haven’t tried that. The unit itself is a plastic rectangle a little bigger and taller than a Mac Mini and it has funky blue “bling” lights that glow when recording (can be turned off). The software is minimal, but seems quite functional, and that’s what matters. The great thing is that the hardware does the compression into H.264, so you can use a laptop or other weak PC to control the unit. I’m using an Atom&Ion-based “Nettop” computer to record the files from the HD PVR and it works great.

    I also discovered that my NVIDIA GTX 280 card in my PC has component video output, so the HD PVR can record 1080i from my PC. I am uploading videos as I write this showing the results. They aren’t great, because of the analog capture and interlacing, but they seem pretty good and it didn’t slow my PC like FRAPS would have. I do think the captures from the PS3 look better than from the PC, perhaps because of better cabling or perhaps because the lettering and such on the PS3 are made for TV viewing so are bigger and smoother, while PC text is small and sharp on a digital monitor, but not as great on analog component video.

  • Star Ocean Plot

    I’m still really enjoying the battles and exploration of Star Ocean:The Last Hope. I was also getting into the plot, thinking how imaginative and interesting it was, until last night when the plot took a right turn to reality. Whichever game designer thought up this moronic scheme to deny the SRF existed is severely stretching the bounds of credulity. And this criticism is coming from a Star Trek fan, where all sorts of crazy plot devices are used all the time. Anyway, that crazy idea has not ruined the game play, but it does make me wonder about what other silliness will be forthcoming…

  • Duke Nukem Forever? Really?

    There are stories today that Duke Nukem Forever is in production, again, and may actually be released. I wonder it that is really needed by the gaming community. Now I enjoyed Duke Nukem 3D and was looking forward to Forever a long time ago, but I’m not overly enthused now. Oh well, perhaps it will be good…

  • Monopoly on iPhone

    Monopoly for iPhone was only 99 cents at the App store, so I bought it. I’ve wanted it for a while, but couldn’t justify the $5 that it normally was.

    The game seems pretty good. It has nice animations for movement. The dice roll animations are a bit much and tedious, but we can all probably live with them. Many App store reviews claim the AI player cheats. In my experience playing the game for about 20 minutes last night, I’d agree. The AI player got many double rolls, while I got none, and it seemed to get better rolls and positioning in general. It was still fun anyway. Well worth a dollar!

  • New Star Trek Online Content

    The folks that run Star Trek Online are doing their best to keep us from becoming bored and to draw gamers in. Now they have added some new weekly episodes, plus some daily repeatable missions that involve fighting the Breen. On the ground, the Breen use freeze grenades and things to slow or freeze you, while in space, they are tough cookies. They are also introducing each episode with a Star Trek-looking title as you warp into the system. Pretty nice! The first episode is up now, and I’d guess the next will pop up in a few days, so I’m looking forward to it!

    I also has a fun mission against the Borg last night with lots of fun ground combat. Somehow, fighting the Borg in ground combat seems more fun than fighting Romulans or Klingons. Perhaps it’s that they keep beaming in more to fight!

  • More Epic Citadel

    The tech demo looks pretty awesome even on my iPhone 3GS.

  • Epic Citadel Demo

    The new demo of the Unreal Engine running on the iPad and iPhone is pretty amazing. It competes with engines like that of Morrowind and Oblivion for detail and the reflections seem even better. Take a look.

  • Dragon Age:Origins

    One of my favorite games of the last year was Dragon Age:Origins. It is a tremendous RPG with good graphics and a great story (to be expected from Bioware games). It is almost an old-school RPG, like Neverwinter Nights, but simplified and not using D&D rules. In the game, you can choose your origin, whether you are a mage, dwarf noble, dwarf commoner, wood elf, city elf, or human noble. Each of those six backgrounds has a deeply compelling origin story that is universally sad and filled with unjust death (and more) that sets the stage for the game. The origin story and some of your subsequent actions make various interactions later in the game very different (i.e., you really want to kill Arl Howe if you’re a human noble).

    You control a party of yourself and 3 others that are controlled by the computer (or you can choose to control one of them and let the computer control your character). Each character has a simple set of customizable rules that you can set to make them a healer or ranged or a magic damage dealer, for example. Battles take place in pausable real-time, so you can pause, issue commands to your party, then resume very intuitively. The battles are immersive and great fun.

    I played each of the origin stories at least once, and played the game through three times as different characters (it’s much faster the 2nd and 3rd times, because you don’t have to watch all the cutscenes). I made different choices each time, some of which I regretted later, but that’s part of the fun. I think mages are the most powerful, particularly when they get to be Arcane Warriors. The scout/assassin class is also really good once you level up a bit, with regular insta-kills and the ability to avoid damage through dexterity. Warriors are just boring…

    Highly recommended for great fun!

  • Star Trek Online

    A game that I’ve been playing on and off for a few months is Star Trek Online. Because it is Star Trek, I signed on early, during the beta period, and even bought a lifetime subscription. Even back then, the space combat was quite good, though it is only partially 3-axis. Remember that these are big starships, not little fighters, so they turn slowly and it is really a game of “facing” (which weapons can be brought to bear on the target). The ships can’t roll over or flip upside down, which is different from many space games, but consistent with the Star Trek universe, where ships are always facing “up” unless they are drifting.

    Because it is an MMO, some missions are played with other players, so together, you can split targets or gang up on one. Each player only has a single target at a time, so half the weapons may be idle because of facings (certain Bridge Officer powers allow multi-target firing). All in all, the space battles are fun and look good.

    In the early days, ground combat was horrible. Since then, it has vastly improved, but is still much weaker than the starship battles. In ground combat, you and four of your computer-controlled Bridge Officers (BOs) go up against groups of enemies spread throughout a mission area. You fight Klingons, Jem Hadar, Cardassians, Romulans, Borg, and more, and each has their own characteristics that affect how much damage they do and how much damage your weapons do. The ground battles can get quite frantic and are sometimes fun, but are usually a chore. But they are somewhat Star Trek-ish, so it’s okay.

    There are also a few large group battles both on ground and in space, and, as with other missions, the space ones are mostly fun, while the ground ones are a pain. The exception is a mission to defeat a Crystalline Entity (remember that from TNG?) – this is a terrible space mission that I have never succeeded in. Just stupidly hard, particularly when other players make mistakes that heal the damn thing.

    Overall, I like Star Trek Online and think it is good fun. If you have any interest in Star Trek, check it out. The price on Steam and elsewhere has dropped to only $20, I think, then there’s a monthly fee after the first month.

    You can look my characters up in the game. My captain page is here: http://www.startrekonline.com/character_profiles/user_characters/TallGuyCalif

  • Still Enjoying Star Ocean

    I am quite enjoying the plot of Star Ocean: The Last Hope. Edge has just met up with his old pal Crowe and things are starting to get even more interesting. My party seems filled out and Faize has just left (which is okay – I worry that he may not be a good guy by the end). The cut scenes are incredibly long, but mostly okay. The really slow voice acting of Sarah is quite annoying. Someone should give her a cup of coffee.

    I’ve never played a game with cut scenes as long as this one, though I hear Metal Gear Solid 4 also has long ones. I’m beginning to appreciate the artistic style of the game, and some of it is rendered beautifully (particularly the charaters), but other times, the blockiness and aliasing hurt my eyes. The music is very good and sets the mood well.