Hardly A Review: Olympus Has Fallen (2013)

In a rare turn of events i have a chance to actually write about a film before it is on general release here in the UK! I was lucky enough to win two tickets a preview showing last night of  "Olympus Has Fallen" which is due out on general release tomorrow, Wednesday 17th.

After having taken the US Box Office by storm (which is an apt saying considering were talking about a film where the white house is taken by terrorists) "Olympus Has Fallen" has arrived in the UK and i must say i really enjoyed it and feel it is well worth a watch.

Nosh Builds a PC: Update - The shift from OnBoard to Discreet Graphics

Now i know what you're thinking can this actually be a fresh post after so long. Yes, it's true i have finally managed to persuade myself to actually write something, it isn't that i don't have enough time or things to write about; I'm just Lazy!

So confessions and apologies aside i will get on with actually writing something of worth (i use the term loosely). I have recently built a new PC (see first post) for those who have visited the blog before and didn't get accidently directed here from some slightly dodgy looking Russian websites, BTW it's not us it just seems to happen every so often. However when i built my PC it was at best basic as it consisted of reclaimed parts for the large part with a scattering of new components to take it a few steps above a giant paper weight. It did however have a few glaring holes Physically (as anyone who has seen the pics in the previous post can tell you) as well as technologically.

Drum Roll please i have now plugged some of those gaps in both senses with a graphics card. About time you may well say and i agree it has been a long time coming. I can now play actual games and have a frame rate in the double digits. You may or may not know i am broke so you may be asking where this new addition came from. Well like much of the rest of my PC it isn't new, it came 6 months old from a friend and fellow gamer who was upgrading and gave me mates rates on his old card (check out his YouTube Page: Ratchet34321).

What is the card you may be asking and to be honest a good question as we are 3 paragraphs in and i haven't mentioned it yet! It is a Saphire Radeon HD6850 1GB. Can be seen here to buy and for specs

So an AMD card which is fortunate as my motherboard supports CrossfireX but not SLI i believe. Gives me a chance to add in another card when i have some cash if i so choose. How has it been so far? Well the step up from the onboard graphics of my I3 3320 processor has been stratospheric, i can now run many games at full or nearly full settings comfortable including Planetside 2 which before ground to a halt if there was even one person near me, League of legends is looking much nicer with the settings on high, Metro 2033 is looking really rich and detailed now. All of these running at respectable frame rates and actually enjoyable to play opposed to headache and rage inducing slowness and poor quality.

Now this wouldn't be a post by Nosh if there wasn't still a problem or new ones occurring  Well you would be correct, when putting the card in i did manage to set the resolution too high on all outputs so i couldn't see anything when i booted which was problematic for a day or so. I have also found the monitor i have "acquired" is a none standard size/resolution, with its maximum being 1280x1024 and this has proved unhelpful when trying to record anything, as it just becomes garbage on any one with a normal ratio screen (so pretty much everyone else in existence!).

So what else is there to upgrade/fix you might be asking. In all fairness everything is ok at the moment but money is available a decent monitor, SSD and an Optical drive are on the agenda. So if you have any tips/suggestions for any of those fell free to leave them in the comments section.

Nosh, Signing Out. 

Typing on Touchscreens - A touchy issue!

Now, i know we have been somewhat erratic of late (always) in our writing and posting of stuff but as the only person without full time commitments it has fallen to me to do most of the donkey work, and to be honest I've been lazy.

However i have finally got around to writing something again so here you go, enjoy!

I came across an interesting product/concept for those that love their touch screens, in particular tablets etc bigger than phone size, but who find typing on them to be an issue. the solution from Tactile a company in the US is that of one where the keyboard suddenly appears out of the flat surface of the touch screen itself! At first i thought it was a joke or some hideous kind of add on/overlay, however it is actually a nice looking (albeit slightly creepy) idea/product. At the touch of your finger the keys just suddenly appear before your eyes and finger tips.

How can this be done you ask? Well it is done using a see through liquid layer applied to the surface of the touch screen which is pumped through channels to make the keys appear as if by magic. There are multiple settings for firmness of the keys from slightly squishy bubbles to much more solid "proper" button feel. i am unsure whether it is the case that it will always rise even when you don't need it or not but we shall see if it ever becomes main stream i guess. The company currently only has one partnership to implement this technology and it is with Touch Revolution, who make touch screens. Nosh, Signing Out. 

Hardly A Review - Pitch Perfect

In the current trends of modern movies we have experienced a resurgence of first dance based films with films such as Step Up following on from such 80's classics as Flash dance, Footloose and Dirty Dancing. However now we have the rise of musical, in particular films showing vocal prowess. this seemed to first start with films such as High school musical, but i think we can fairly lay the blame/commendation at the foot of Glee and its phenomenal rise to almost cult status, bringing musicality to the masses and making singing and choirs cool.  Don't get me wrong there is nothing wrong with a visual audio expression of the human condition and journey we call life.

So having made that introduction clear i can round the business to reviewing the actual film i went to see, which was Pitch Perfect. It wasn't a planned excursion to the cinema nor my choice of film, more of a mission of mercy on behalf of my sister so she didn't have to see the film alone after the arrangements with her friends fell through. however it didn't cost me anything as the ticket had already been paid for, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth i agreed to see the film.

Nosh Builds a PC - And Rises from the Dead!

To all and sundry who have followed the shambles that is HardlyAChannel for any length of time will know that i (Nosh) have been using what could only loosely be termed a PC. I am of course referring to the loving known "Hunk of Junk" that was my laptop. It is safe to say it was never meant for gaming and in fairness it was never meant for it either. However i valiantly tried to put its poor inadequate silicon coated ass through its paces and unsurprisingly it failed miserably.  It's greatest success was being able to play LOL with almost every setting at minimum.

I bring you news of both great joy and sorrow, the laptop is dead! Don't mourn for it as i shan't, in it's later months i had more BSOD than i could possibly count and it had to be propped up on four candles to even manage to stay on for more than an hour. However, from the ashes of the laptop and a few new parts a ugly miss-shapen phoenix has arisen! I won't lie it isn't pretty and it won't be winning any awards for cable management or sheer power. It does on the plus side work and has only BSOD once since i painstakingly built it without frying anything with static two weeks ago. 

View Inside: No Cable managment

A New Year - Go as you mean to go on!

They say you should start the year as you mean to go on, so i felt i better write something today or already doom 2013 to the scrap heap! Lets hope it isn't too literal that saying as i had curry and a cupcake with coffee for breakfast.

What can i say about 2013, not a lot so far. However i can look forward and muse over what will be and might be. Where to start, well the long awaited upgrade from the hunk of junk laptop which required fork handles (four candles, for those who didn't get the Two Ronnies reference and if you didn't then shame on you and see it here) to keep cool, is now imminent with the new desktop PC being built next week hopefully. Now before you all get your hopes up that i will have some all singing and dancing gaming beast of a PC, in true Nosh fashion it is only a half baked PC in need of more bits. I am cannibalizing an old case, disk drives and the Hard drive from my laptop as I'm too poor to get new ones, however they are on the to buy list when i have some money along with a graphics card, which does mean i am still using onboard graphics but they should still be better than my laptops.

Project Fiona - Go Hardcore or Go Home!

What the earth is project Fiona you may be asking? Well it is about to rock your world and change the market again in terms of what we think of as a PC and what we think of as a tablet etc. As far as i understand it, it is tablet-esque in design but aimed at Gamers. Now i can imagine you saying weve heard this all before and all we can play on them is app based games, now whilst they may be great for 5 minutes when your on the loo or stuck on a long train journey. However they do'nt really resemble anyone who plays decent PC games would consider a game and therefore don't have any real interest in them for "real" gaming. 

 

Ultra HD - The reason your new HD TV is already on the way out!

Recently changed to HD? Just bought a nice big flat screen TV and have had all your friends/family and neighbours over to have a look. Well I’m here to tell you it’s old tech and on its way out. Now before you start crying and rue the day you signed that agreement on easy monthly payments for 5 years with high levels of interest! It is ok, its successor has only really just started to emerge on the commercial market and isn’t actually expected to be commercially viable and prevalent in homes before 2015-2020 apart from in China and Korea who are hoping for 2013-14 time frame.

How can HD be Beaten?

What could possibly be better than the “Michelangelo in motion” HD TV sitting in your lounge you must be asking yourself, well it is Ultra HD! Ultra HD I hear you shout how can that be, well I aim to introduce those new to Ultra HD to the world post HD in all its many pixelled glory. Ultra HD has actually been being developed since the early 2000’s and comes in two internationally recognised sizes 4K and 8K, or 3840 × 2160 (2160p) pixels and 7680 × 4320 (4320p) pixels respectively. This means in the case of 8K Ultra HD there 16 times the number of pixels in your current 1080p HD TV! What is the point in extra pixels, well it means greater depth of colour in each part of the picture bringing it ever closer to trying to show the scene exactly as if you were there yourself.

Is it expensive? Where can I buy it?

Why haven’t I heard about this, will they be available to buy? The answer is yes, commercial Ultra HD TV’s have begun to appear from the major companies such as LG, Sony, Toshiba and Sharp. However as this technology is still really only just beginning to enter the market there are the usual problems for early adopters to consider, few models so small amount of choice and highly expensive. How expensive can it really be you ask? Well models starting to become available in the later half of this year in the US market have been around the $20,000 mark! So it is really only for those with far too much money burning a hole in their pocket at the moment.

Can I see Ultra HD anywhere?

Well if you had been in London, Glasgow or Bradford during this summer’s London 2012 Olympic Game’s you would have had the chance to watch some of the world’s finest sports stars compete in Ultra HD, as the BBC put up 15m wide screens showing it. Korea’s major TV networks have said that they will be beginning to trial filming in Ultra HD, so with the BBC the world’s largest broadcaster having already invested and publicly demonstrated it during the Olympics, the rest of the world especially the US and Asian tech giants can’t be far behind the inevitable transition.

Does that mean my DVD’s/Blu Rays etc have had it?

Unfortunately your DVDs won’t be upscaleable currently to Ultra HD but HD video in 1080p or 720 would be able to be brought up to Ultra HD quality. This is much in the same way Videos and VCR player are still useable currently but the quality isn’t as good as on a DVD or really even comparable to HD on a Blu Ray. However don’t despair the first wave of Ultra HD TV’s look to be equipped with HDMI connections so your DVD player and other devices should still be able to connect and be useable.

I hope you enjoyed this brief look at the future of TV tech in the form of Ultra HD. I will probably revisit this topic and write another article once they actually start to be sensible money and available to the masses.

Thanks for reading.

Nosh, Signing Out.  

Links

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra-high-definition_television

http://www.t3.com/hot100/4k-ultra-hd-kit

http://www.itproportal.com/2012/11/30/lg-releases-23000-84in-ultra-hd-4k-tv-in-the-uk/

Objecty - The 2D game developers kit of the future!

So I was reading through my local paper in an elusive search of a job that I either am qualified to do or is interesting enough for me to not hate every living second of it, when I stumble across an article about a local independent game developer (SKN3) seeking funding through Kickstarter. I thought to myself, finally something of interest both personally and professionally (Try not to laugh, I know I don't get paid for this but here's hoping one day it will make me some beer money).

What was this product you ask, well SKN3 had looked at the developer kits and tools for creating games from scratch and found them to less than helpful! So Johnathon Pittock and his 2 employees are seeking funding for a project called Objecty, it seeks to become the go to tool for 2D game developers. It isnt a game engine but rather a set of tools to let you build 2D games using any Game Engine, SDK or Framework you have access to. Not being technically minded in this area I have borrowed this table from his Kickstarter page.

Steam Group

Would just like to let everyone know that we've had a Hardly a Channel steam group for some time, but I'd like to see it do a bit better than it's currently doing. It's open to anyone to join and we're looking to see if we can use it to get a couple of gaming sessions together every so often. Just look for the "Hardly a Channel" group on Steam. We look forward too seeing you there.

Jamie out xoxoxo

Films from Games - Always Bad?

I have often thought when playing some new game that this would make an awesome film. Well it seems that those in Hollywood agree, with the announcement from Ubisoft that they are releasing a film version of Splinter Cell staring Tom Hardy as the lead character Sam Fisher. Not only Splinter Cell is getting the silver screen treatment as we can also look forward to an Assassins Creed film with Michael Fassbender starring. We can look forward to both hopefully reaching our screens in 2013.

However exciting and promising news this is for fans of the games who have for years called out for film adaptations, we must remember that this isnt the film industries first foray into film adaptations of games. i mean who doesn't wish they hadn't bothered with the Prince of Persia film! It was about as close to a worthy homage to the original game, as a punch in the face is to a handshake! We can also look at adaptations of board games, with the critically slated Battleships (2012).

Either way we can just only hope that the makers of these films have learnt from the lessons of their predecessors, and we shall judge them on their own merits when they are released.  

Nosh, Signing Out.

New YouTube Series!

After a longer than planned hiatus from posting YouTube videos we return this week with not One but Two! new series for you. They are Shank and Batman: Arkham Asylum both being played and commentated by the talented Jamie. A new episode of each will be available on YouTube at 9pm and 9.30pm respectively GMT each day this week with hopefully more of the same going forward over the coming weeks.

We also are hoping to have a new Nosh plays Retro Series starting this week if he ever gets of his lazy ass and does some recording, so you should hopefully have that to look forward to as well.

We hope you enjoy them and please like them and comment to tell us what you think (or most likely why Jamie sucks at these games!)

As always we are Hardly A Channel, Wasting our lives so you don't have to!

Video Links:

IPad Mini- What's the point?

I understand if this seems to be just another article from me railing at Apple products and their users, but even they must be question the point and worth of an IPad mini? In fact i know there isn't the usual mile long queue around Apples flagship London store in Regent Street, is this a sign that Apple have actually made something even their devoted Appel-ite's don't want?

Don't get me wrong, in of it's self there is nothing wrong with the IPad mini, it looks nice and functions as desired. However when considered in terms of the rest of the Apple product range it is sort of the runty ugly Crab apple of the Apple product orchard. It just makes no sense in relation to the IPhone, IPod and IPad as it is too big to be useable as a pocket device such as the IPhone or Ipod but too small to be really that usefull in comparison to its bigger brother the IPad. I mean who honestly looks at their IPad and goes you know what would make this better is making it smaller; so it therefore is less useful for all the reasons the IPad is its current size! Yet you cant even stop carrying it by putting it in your pocket!

I'm sorry if you disagree, if you can enlighten me on what it's point is feel free to comment and enlighten me.

Links:

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/no-ipad-mini-queue-london-walk-buy-one-110500165.html

http://www.apple.com/uk/ipad-mini/overview/

Nosh, Signing Out. 

Hardly a Review: The Five Year Engagement (2012)

This film has been subject to mixed reviews and I can see why, it’s marketed as a Rom-Com which it is, but not in the straightforward mindless way that most go for the predictable mundane plots and stock gags. I think the best way to view this film is to not think of it as a rom-com, but more of an exploration of a relationship between an engaged couple.

The plot begins where most predictable rom-com's end, with the lead couple getting engaged. That is really the last time it follows the usual conventions of a rom-com relationship, it takes the device of the inevitable “issue” that arises and is overcome before the protagonists marry, and applies a darker more realistic exploration of how a relationship works and changes.

We meet Tom (JasonSegal) and Violet (Emily Blunt) just as they get engaged, we then follow them over the intervening 5 years as their relationship and circumstances change causing them to put off their wedding on numerous occasions. The film explores the theme of equality in relationships and the effect of making sacrifices on the dynamic of the couple. A successful kitchen manager of a good restaurant Tom decides to give up his job so that he and Violet can move across the country, so she can take up a post teaching psychology at a university. However as Violet begins to thrive in her new job and environment, Tom struggles to find a chef job and is forced to take a job in a sandwich shop.



As time goes by Tom begins to feel frustrated at himself for being unable to do a job he feels proud of and begins to blame violet for forcing this situation. As a fish out of water and an outsider Tom begins to spiral and becomes ever distant from Violet and the rest of society. The film looks at how the relationship changes as Violet becomes successful and Tom begins to resent her for making him lose his life as it was before. As Tom begins to let himself go and live on the fringe of society, Violet despairs and begins to seek comfort in the arms of her boss. The relationship reaches breaking point and they split, starting separate lives which leads to them both being successful but ultimately unhappy, especially in their relationships with new partners.

Meeting again at the funeral of Violets grandmother they begin a casual relationship, before deciding that they have wasted too much time and that it is being together that means more to them than their careers which they can accommodate in each others lives. I realise that sounds cheesy and a little clichéd but that is more my summary than the way it works in the film.

An underrated film that examines what it is like to be in a real life relationship not a Hollywood view of one. It doesn’t take its self too seriously and doesn’t go for the easy laughs and predictable plot of most rom-com’s. Uses dialogue to explore what it really means to be in a relationship and how life is never simple. Definitely not your standard Romantic comedy but that’s a good thing, I recommend watching it if you’re a fan of other off beat rom-com’s like Elizabethtown.

Nosh, Signing Out.  

Hardly A Review: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012)

I watched this after it landed on the hall floor from Lovefilm, didn’t really know what to expect. So with some trepidation and a couple of hours to kill having already watched all the TV series I watch (Perks/Curse of being unemployed), I sat down to watch this.

What did I find you ask? Well, what I first mistook to be just a different angle on the Rom-com genre, substituting pensioners in the place of the usual preppy 20/30 something’s. Turned out to be an irreverent comedy following a group of British pensioners who decide to see out their golden years in India at the newly renovated Marigold Hotel, they go seeking opulence, sunshine and elephants.



However what they find after arriving is more Kevin McCloud and Grand Designs than the Ritz, not as in beautiful open plan living spaces with snazzy appliances, in what would be otherwise unaffordable postcodes. Nope the kind where they have no idea what they are doing and by the projected finished date have nothing but a shell and no money. The Marigold Hotel fits clearly in to this category as what they are confronted with is dusty shell filled with junk and rooms with a bed and door if they’re lucky!

The set backs experienced help to bring his group of aging strangers together but I know how clichéd you say but it is the experience of being changed by the culture and each other that makes this film worth watching. The stellar cast give superb performances which are often understated, allowing them to convey real emotion and sensitivity to problems and issues ranging from death of a spouse, through to homosexuality and racism.

A film worth watching with a great cast, if nothing else to understand how poorly I have probably described it. A film that tries to show that the past isn’t what defines the future and that when you let go of it, life and love can be found at any age.

Nosh, Signing Out. 

Welcome to the Magpie Society!

They tell me that I’m too young to be jaded and cynical about society, but let’s be honest if no-one else is going to be then we are at the beginning of the end. You would be forgiven for thinking that you had stumbled across the post of a pretentious counter-culture blogger, moping around inside with almost translucent skin from lack of sunshine.

However I am a lover of culture in its many forms including technology and our apparent ever growing symbiosis with it. Yes, technology is great and has revolutionised almost every part of our everyday lives, but we are now reaching a point where technology has become a new culture in an almost quasi-religious form. Apple and their devoted following of Apple-ites get a lot of stick in the press and on the internet by those not so symbiotically reliant on the next “i-Innovation”, however I do not feel they are alone in this problem and it is spreading throughout other areas of entertainment technology.

The best example of this at the moment is that of the iPhone 5 and the ‘New’ slimmer PS3 console being released. What is wrong with these you may ask, well it isn’t the products themselves that there is anything wrong with, but more the fact that people will so readily change from their perfectly functioning predecessors for a newer shinier version of what they already have with little noticeable advantageous technological gain. 

 

The Cylons are here!

For as long as there have been video games and consoles there has been a driving force in  new games to be increasingly more realistic, both in the quality of the worlds the characters inhabit but also the characters themselves. With each successive generation of consoles developers have been given greater and greater resources to create the nirvana of the real world perfectly represented in a game. This can be seen to be reaching dizzying new heights in photorealism in such games as Crysis 3 for spectacular visual surroundings and physics, or LA Noire for facial movement realism to the point where you can tell when a character you’re interacting with is lying to you. This realism of facial expression has been taken to a new level surpassing even that of LA Noire, this has been done by using in depth facial motion capture, as can be seen in the video below. 

 

 

Update: Cloud Gaming - OnLive on way out?

Just a quick update to my article on Cloud Gaming which can be seen here.

It has been reported by Engadget that OnLive is cutting up to 90% of its workforce after being forced to file for a Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors due to expanding its business without the necessary rise in customers (Economics 101: Laws of Supply and Demand seems to have been forgotten here!). Those losing their jobs are out by 4pm local time today after being informed in a meeting at 10am this morning. if its not bad enough to come to work to find out you and almost everyone else is being let go, they won't even receive any severance pay due to the legal state of the company, as they have entered a state allowing it to shake off millions in debt (including $40 million investment by HTC).

At $5 million a month to run the service and with the average concurrent user number for the service at 1,100 to 1,500, peaking at around 1,800 on a given day it is highly expensive with not anywhere enough users to cover the costs.

In a final bizarre twist Know Your Mobile reports that the company has been sold to its self (Technically a new start up company but owned by them) in an attempt to avoid bankruptcy and maintain supply to the end users, all be it with no investment and half the staff but most of the others to be rehired as consultants.

This is obviously a sad day for Cloud Gaming and completely a step in the wrong direction, but is a shining example of the old adage "Don't run before you learn to walk!" and why basic economics needs to be taught to businesses as they seem to have forgotten.

Links:

http://hardlyachannel.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-future-is-looking-cloudy-but-this.html

http://www.engadget.com/2012/08/17/source-onlive-undergoing-acquisition-in-wake-of-dire-financials/  

http://www.onlive.co.uk/

http://www.knowyourmobile.com/blog/1547381/onlive_sold_and_restructured_but_remains_onlive.html

Nosh, Signing Out.

The future is looking Cloudy (but this is a good thing!)

Regular listeners to the Podcasts may have heard me (and the other Hardly Boys) talking about this topic before but I think it’s a topic worth discussing further.

This topic is of course Cloud computing and its progress within many areas of computing and technology. With its uses far ranging within different areas of the industry, from data storage to backroom software handling, through to real time graphics processing. This rise can be at least partly attributed to it having been championed by both Google and Apple, who are tripping over themselves to offer you all the space and services you could possibly want to move to the Cloud.

Hardly a Podcast - Episode 12: I've Seen Spaceships

This week, Jamie talks E3, Nosh talks Cloud Gaming, and Simon talks about his bowel movements.

Music is credited to bosonHavoc, KtA, CyberSon and Progress105.