Dota 2 Workshop Set Completed - Undeniable Jukester

So recently after a long spell of soul searching and travelling with my family and gf, I decided to really pursue my passion as a creative in the video game industry.  I have started work on my own game from scratch, however the possibility of making a living off of that is very far away.  I decided to put that on hold for now and attempt to hone my skills with some 3D modelling for more immediate use in an established video game.  My girlfriend helped me with the concept, drawing up the set before I got into the modelling.  The importing process was easier than I thought and since I use Blender there are some great tutorials on YouTube from HellJumper that made it really easy to learn.

Here is the result:

You can find the workshop collection here: Undeniable Jukester's Set. The idea is based off the written lore that Rubick used his spell steal to pit an alliance of mages against each other.  A reputation like that would have to spread really quickly and so I thought about how he could continue to have his mischievous style of fun without deterring those he would like to battle with.  So I went with a disguise and what better than a Jester to go with his quirky movements and animations?

My next items are already in the making.  Thank you to all those who have supported me on the Dota 2 workshop!  It's now in the hands of valve to get it put in the game.

Till then!


Much thanks,
Mig

The Last of Us Multiplayer Censored - How it undermines the new R18+ rating in Australia

The subject of video game censorship has been something that Australians, as of late, are no strangers to.  Our country has one of the most backwards outlook on video games.  They are seen as kids play things.  Yet they aren't.  They are a creative medium of entertainment and should be given the same treatment as a book or movie.

If your version of any Sony published game is listed in the XMB before launching as Name (Europe) or Name (UK)  then most likely you've gotten a censored version.

The startling thing about The Last of Us' censorship is (and this is the point that really cuts to the bone) is that there was no mention of it at all.  Yes its just the multiplayer but we pay for the whole package.  When Twisted Metal released news coverage was widespread that all PAL regions got a slightly modified version because of Germany's strict laws.  Series creator David Jaffe was not shy about his discontent saying that it was an entirely Sony decision and if he had his way everyone would get the same version.

That game didn't sell as well as it should have and Sony's decision to prevent any mention of a censored version of The Last of Us might have been justified from a sales perspective.  But it was going to happen regardless of Twisted Metal's revenue.  A more recent title like God of War Ascension had bits censored (despite much gorier scenes being uncensored).  There was no official mention of censorship and Sony couldn't have cared less about publicising any changes as long as the title could sell.

Censorship is here to stay in one form or another but what has happened here is not as simple as what has happened to say, Saints Row IV or State of Decay.  Those were submitted in full with all content first, THEN they were knocked back.  For drug use and sex toys.  Not violence.  What Sony has been doing is pre-emptively censoring gore and violence before submission to ratings boards.  What does that get them?  It saves them the resubmission fee they would have to pay if a censored version is the only option after its refused classification.  But the old saying goes that the customer is always right and the customers have become victims of tiny savings (that may not even exist) on Sony's end.

The fact that there was no submission of the full uncensored version completely removes the ability of the customers to try and make a difference.  Here in Australia, we had so many quality titles being banned.  We rallied and made a difference.  We voted and got the R18+ rating that should have been available to video games in the country a long time ago.  Sony has taken away our ability to make change by presuming the worst whether it happens or not.  Would the uncensored version have been refused classification in the first place?  In Germany maybe.  But with the new R18+ rating in Australia there wouldn't have been a problem.

Shame on you Sony.  You've sidestepped 5 years of progress on Australian shores by making the R18+ rating obsolete.  I can't imagine how the rest of Europe feels.  We can only hope that publishers like Deep Silver keep fighting for the right to offer all customers complete content regardless of the fees they could incur.

To Naughty Dog:  Grow some balls and stick up for your product.  Generic statements about unified European standards (that aren't even a real thing by the way) and that you can't do anything about it are what separate you from the David Jaffe's of the industry.  He made us aware and gave us the choice to import all because he had a voice and loved his product for all it was worth.


If you would like to get some more information about the censorship or join in with the discussion please visit the official Playstation forum thread here:

The Last of Us Censorship Compared

Multi Console Arcade Fight Stick

So after watching a few of the grand final matches from the Evo Tournament I decided to look into fight sticks.  After looking for a multi console solution for Ps3 Xbox 360 and PC, I was almost dead set that the stick I would eventually get would be either a Qanba Q4 or Eightarc Fusion, or an Omni Korean Edition.

But then I realised that might not be worthwhile since the new consoles are just a few months away and an interview on Joystiq had Mad Catz stating that current fight sticks will be incompatible with the new consoles.  I then stumbled across a little PCB called the MC Cthulhu.  Not only was it PC, Ps3 and Xbox 360 (an x360 controller's guts and Imp V2 required) compatible, but it also had the ability to work with many different classic consoles. 

The main draw here was Gamecube compatibility.  Not so much because of Smash Brothers Melee (though that in itself could be justification enough for some) but because of the potential to work with the Wii U.

There are some extra steps required for gamecube compatibility as soldering is needed along with an old gamecube controller cable.  On top of that you would need something like this Gamecube to Wii U adapter that plugs into a wii mote which might result in some lag.  But it does seem like the all in one solution I was after.  Add in the fact that the MC Cthulhu is firmware reliant, it could very easily be updated to include PS4 and Xbox One support.  Even if there might be a requirement to tear open some next gen controllers and do some more soldering, at least the possibility is there.

There is a way to make using multiple consoles a lot easier and I've found a video that demonstrates it quite well.

Looks like this might be the perfect opportunity for me to practice soldering and hardware modding.

Phantom Custom Keyboard arrived

So my gaming keyboard I mentioned before has finally arrived.  Typing this post is the first time I'm actually using the board to type an actual message and I have to say that I'm really liking the browns as modifiers.  The slight tactility is great and I find myself exerting much less force with my left pinkie because of it.  I must also note that the most awkward thing for me at the moment is getting used to the feel of the Cherry stabilisers as opposed to the Costar's I had before. 

The Costar stabilisers give off a distinct ringing sound upon being pressed.  The Cherry's are much quieter and bring a more uniform feel to all stabilised keys.  I have yet to use them for gaming but will provide an update once I do.  I'll take it for a spin on Call of Juarez Gunslinger later today. 

The keyblockers that hoggy from geekhack sent me are almost perfectly flush with the white Filco case and match the colour exactly.  It's great to know that should I go winkeyless, this Filco case will look almost as good as a custom Korean board. 

I currently find myself using the windows key more often than I usually do due to a lot of screen splitting between programs using Win + Arrow left/right.  I opted to go with some flat keys from Pimp My Keyboard which also match perfectly, give the look of a winkeyless board, but also allow the windows and function/menu key to be pressed.

I'll try to get some mx locking keys in for Scroll and Caps Lock eventually and I'll have to figure out the firmware modification for that.

Here are the pics =D

 

   
Big thanks to these wonderful geekhack members:

• WhiteFireDragon - I cannot thank you enough for putting it all together and proxying for me.  You are as legendary as your name suggests!
• AriesX - I missed the initial group buy order but he allowed me to take his place, allowing this all to happen.
• hoggy - For sending me the key blockers (and more) out of his own pocket.
• bavman - For starting this group buy.
• litster & PrinsValium - For designing the Phantom and allowing all us ordinary folk to have a great customisable/programmable keyboard.

Custom Gaming Mechanical Keyboard

So I decided I would jump in on the custom keyboard scene by getting myself into the Phantom PCB group buy.  Unfortunately I have not had much practice soldering and its construction was a bit daunting for me to attempt on such a valuable kit.  WhiteFireDragon from the geekhack forums has put in the work to build this beauty for me using a Filco TKL White case. 

The idea behind my switch selection were that I loved the feel of reds for the WASD keys as they're very soft and quick to actuate.  Gaming gets intense sometimes and pressing a harder key causes finger strain.  Coming from a rubber dome where I have often had finger cramps my current CM Storm Quickfire Rapid just feels so much gentler.  I went with red for all the alphas as I wanted to ensure typing felt consistent.

For the number row I went with whites for a soft click.  Numbers are often used for switching weapons so a pronounced tactile click will let me know I've hit the key long before the switch animation finishes.  Again for consistency I went with a full row, except for the tilde and backspace keys which are used a little more often.  I chose whites over blues because the louder click would get annoying when switching weapons often is required.

The modifiers are brown to give that soft tactile feedback for keys that are usually kept held down.  This was a choice based on my brothers observation whilst testing my QFR.  He said he couldn't tell when he had pressed shift due to it being so light.  The lightness of the browns keeps the pressure consistent with the reds but their slight bump in actuation would ensure each user would know when the switch has actuated.  I went ahead and picked them for all the common modifier keys that are held during both gaming and typing.

The function row and 6 key cluster are using ergo clears for a nice pronounced actuation bump.  These keys are rarely used so having a more pronounced bump means there won't be any accidental keypresses.  The only exceptions are the Prt Sc key (green switch to simulate a loud camera click) and scroll lock (grey switch for a harder actuation force).

I've also gone with grey switches for the more obscure keys that I don't usually use.  Caps Lock, Windows and Fn keys use the much harder Grey Switch.  This is to make sure I don't hit the Windows key during gameplay, or SIMULATE YELLING when typing during in game chats.

I use the arrow keys a lot during Photoshop editing for fine pixel perfect movements.  I've gone with blue as the loud click helps me keep count of how many pixels I'm moving each way.

Finally blacks for escape and space.  Space for jump usually means I'm striking that key a little harder than the rest subconsciously.  Black switches are smooth like reds but much heavier to actuate.  It'll help alleviate the impact on the switch by using a heavier spring.  The escape key is black just because it's used more often than the rest of the function row and often hit consecutive times so a linear switch just makes more sense.



Thanks again to WhiteFireDragon!
You're too awesome!

The Right and Wrong way to get into the Video Game Industry

I was reading a few interesting stories on my Pulse News Reader the other day and coincidentally read 2 very different experiences of starting (or attempting to start) a career in the video game industry.  I happened to read them one after the other despite having starkly unrelated headlines.

The right way can be found through Eurogamer here: The Right Way

The wrong way can be found here through Kotaku: The Wrong Way

Personally I had never attempted to contract as a tester myself, although that may be due to the very limited opportunities in Australia in the first place, but I do feel like it would definitely be the wrong way to go about starting a career.

Finding bugs in video games takes skill for sure, but less obvious bugs are often addressed in post release patches these days.  That leads to one very harsh conclusion.  As a game tester you need to be happy to play games FOR FREE.  Therefore getting paid, however little it may be, is simply a bonus.  If you think about it for a second, game breaking bugs are often found immediately or require only a handful of testers going through 1 play-through to find.  Anyone could do it.  Why place value on somebody working a position that anyone could do?  It sounds harsh but it's the brutal truth that can be seen in almost every industry.  Working hard might help but when less obvious issues are left to the release's player base to report. Your hard work then becomes like lending somebody some cash on their way to an ATM.  They don't need it but they'll gladly take it before paying you back, leaving you with nothing more than what you started with. 

Making mods on the other hand, have been a tried and true method for breaking into the games industry.  Some notable individuals and studios that entered the industry this way include Minh Le and Jesse Cliffe (Counter-Strike), Garry Newman (Garry's Mod), IceFrog (DOTA) as well as the interviewee in the above article, Adam Foster (Minverva: Metastasis).

Why? How? When?  To answer Why and How, they added extra content to an existing game for free whilst utilising assets within the original game that helped solidify the prowess of the original developers.  They would have contributed a great deal to the sales numbers of the games they modded without seeking any reward.  An employer sees value where the revenue gained equates to no expense.  To answer When, they were all hired at a point where their particular skills became abundantly obvious in terms of delivering content, and adhering to the player-base's requests.

The most important difference between the right and wrong way was the passion shown between each example.  The right way shows a sincere love for making games, whereas the wrong way had the mindset of anyone working a temp job.  "This is only temporary, I won't be here forever".  Anyone who finds themselves thinking the latter will find themselves in limbo for longer than they intended.


For me in Australia, the best way to get into video game development is through the now thriving indie scene.  I am working on a little something special in my spare time, and I'll hopefully be able to share it with you soon.

NVIDIA Facial Tech Demo offers realism and a true meme face!

This is the face that Activision was showing off as a tech demo for next gen facial technology.  Compressed to a moderately downloadable size of about 400mb, it can now be run in real time.

As I shuffled through its many facial expressions, there was one that absolutely had me in tears.  It is shown above in all its glory!  Let the memes follow!!!

Find it here: NVIDIA Facial Tech Demo

SuperSSpeed S301 64GB review

So this review is a long time coming.  It's been almost 3 months but finally I've had time to get everything in order and get some solid results.  

Unfortunately I don't have the reliability of using the Intel RST drivers dedicated to a native Z77 motherboard so I'm using the non native RST that are currently being distributed to allow TRIM and RAID 0 on X79 boards.  Therefore the results may be even better on a Z77 board.  To give a better measurement of the type of performance we can see from this drive on various systems, I've utilised both the X79 Intel SATA III port as well as the LSI SAS 2308 port.  Results of the Intel will be on top and LSI beneath:

HD Tune Pro

There are 2 screens for each controller here.  The first screen is the read performance followed by the write performance.

There was a weird anomaly with the LSI controller having a slow start that climbed almost immediately and stayed steady causing an average much lower than the sustained level of read and writes.  LSI was performing a lot better across the board if not for that little hiccup.

 

 

 HD Tach

 

The last test to wear the drives a little before formatting the drives for further benchmarks.  Incredible burst speeds here.  Well and truly above MLC levels.

 

AS SSD

Incredible sequential read and write speeds.  There are faster drives out there but remember this is a 64GB drive.  The LSI port takes a little lead in sequential read and writes but takes a big dip in 4K-64Thrd writes causing an overall lower score.  Remarkable scores either way from a very small drive.

 

ATTO Disk Bench

Here the drives show similar performance throughout regardless of the controller used.  Intel seems to take an early lead but the LSI has a 14000 write points lead by the 8192 mark.

 

Anvil's Storage Utilities

There are 2 screens for each controller here.  The first screen is the compressible performance followed by the incompressible performance.

Here we start to see a little bit of a difference in how the controllers are performing.  The Intel ports seem to be struggling with the incompressible writes a lot more than the LSI.  With compressible data the Intel shines and pushes the S301 drive to its peak performance in these tests.  Again there are better results from other 128GB SSDs but only at the top end.

CrystalDiskMark

Again here there are 2 screens for each controller.  The first screen is the compressible performance followed by the incompressible performance.

Some very strong numbers again with the LSI controller when running incompressible tests.  Still a peculiarity in the lower numbers of the 4K writes though.  Overall another very strong performance from a 64GB drive.

PCMark Vantage

Intel

LSI

Intel comes out on top during the vantage tests.  At this point the drives have been worn down from all the bench marks and yet still provide decent results.  Intel does have working TRIM running in the background so I'd assume the difference comes down to that.  A secure erase would most likely bring the LSI close to if not surpassing this score.

PCMark 7

Intel

LSI

A massive score here for a 64GB drive. 10 points here goes a mile.  The very best SSDs reach around 5600.  In comparison, a 240gb Sandforce SSD gets around 5400.  This notches that by around 50 points.  Very very impressive!

 

Conclusion

From the results seen above, the 64GB edition of the SuperSSpeed S301 is no slouch when compared to the competition.  Only the very best of the best (the 128GB version of the S301 included) will have a noticeable performance increase over this drive, and even then it would almost be negligible in day to day use.  When I say the best of the best I'm also talking about 120-256GB capacity drives.  It is a sequential writing beast and boasts great benchmark scores that put most larger capacity drives to shame.  Being an SLC NAND flash drive makes it perfect for running in RAID setups that don't support TRIM either.  Its in a class of its own as a small storage solution and I see it holding that crown for the foreseeable future.

PS.  Here's an 8 way RAID score for those who were wondering:

The slow start seems to be consistent with the HD Tune and HD Tach results and their initial low numbers before levelling out.  It may also be responsible for the incredibly low 4K read and writes.  Either way the sequential numbers are extraordinary and as a multimedia and games array it really does feel as good as it gets.



















NOTE: I am in no way paid for this review and do not regularly review SSDs at a professional level.  These are simply my results from personal testing without the strict procedures that other commercial tech review websites use.  Therefore, please do not hold my results as a complete measure of what to expect if you purchase this drive, nor should you regard it as highly as results from trusted websites such as Real World Labs or Tweaktown.

Crysis 3 Beta Anti Aliasing Modes analysed

 EDIT:  I noticed my labels were wrong.  They are now fixed.

EDIT 2:  Upon further inspection, MSAA adds an ugly outline effect to the edges of certain plants, pipes, and doorways of indoor areas on the Airport Map.  The museum map seems unaffected so I'm hoping its a bug in the ambient occlusion for indoor environments that will be fixed in the final release.  As I'm unsure if this is affecting others or is just a result of my setup, I would still advise the conclusions below for what I believe to be the better quality options available.  For those experiencing this issue, switch to SMAA 1x or SMAA 2XT as they are unaffected by this flaw.

[/EDIT]

So I did a quick screenshot comparison in the Crysis 3 MP Beta.  Take a look below.  Open each in a new tab to cycle through and compare.  Apologies for the greyscale, jumping into an empty server was the only way for me to screencap all the different settings without someone sucker punching me in the NOMAD (see what I did there =P !!)

No AA

FXAA

SMAA 1x

SMAA MGPU 2x

TXAA 2XT 1

TXAA 4XT 1

MSAA 2x

MSAA 4x

MSAA 8x

My conclusions:

First thing I noticed was that for the new nvidia drivers is that you need to jump into nvidia inspector and add the beta/demo .exe to the existing crysis 3 profile, otherwise you don't have working SLI.  A side effect of this is that you lose 2 SMAA options in 2xT and 4x.  What you do get is a new SMAA MGPU 2x option.  I have made a comparison of the 2 single GPU SMAA options here but they aren't an exact match to the above screens.  (I tried my best to match them but then the once empty server suddenly got flash mobbed).

SMAA 2XT

SMAA 4x

Second thing I noticed was that FXAA seemed to be broken or unimplemented at the moment.  There seems to be very little between it and no AA at all.  The next big issue are the power lines in the distance.  With no AA the power lines aren't there.  Naturally, the AA methods that rely solely on post processing frames aren't able to magically make the power lines appear so only the mixed mode methods that incorporate MSAA bring them back.  Funnily enough, only 2xMSAA could make them appear.  4xMSAA and 8xMSAA seem to smooth them out so much that the vanish as well.  This translates to TXAA as well as TXAA 2XT uses 2xMSAA so they remain in tact, whilst the much higher taxing TXAA 4XT uses 4xMSAA so they vanish.

A summary of the methods that make them visible or remove them are as follows:

Power lines gone:

No AA
FXAA
SMAA 1
SMAA 2XT
TXAA 4XT
MSAA 4x
MSAA 8x

Power lines visible:

SMAA MGPU 2x
SMAA 4x
TXAA 2XT
MSAA 2x



So my final verdict?

In terms of the best visual quality, it would have to go to SMAA 4x.  I think its a little bit of a shame that it disappears from the options once the proper SLI configuration especially since its so taxing that 1 GPU is not enough to be running everything on very high settings along with it.  It is also a compromise of reducing temporal aliasing (although not as much as TXAA) and keeping things crisp (although not as free from blur as the other SMAA modes).

Next would be TXAA 2XT.  I know there are a LOT of haters of the blur that comes with these methods, but my reasoning behind trying to run AA on every game I play is that aliasing makes it quite obvious that I am playing a game.  FXAA and TXAA were developed to simulate film and TXAA especially does a fine job of keeping you immersed in the game without being distracted by temporal or shader aliasing.  To be honest there really isn't that much of a clarity dip in this game anyway, and the reduced pixel crawl from temporal and shader aliasing means that whatever you see moving in the distance is not merely a side effect of rendering quality, but rather, the intended animation of the environment (or an enemy creeping slowly in the distance).

Anyway that leaves SMAA MGPU 2x for those who don't like the blur.  Unfortunately its only available to multi gpu users.

For those wanting the best performance to quality ratio running a single card and don't care about the power lines, SMAA 2XT runs quite well whilst also covering a lot of the edge jaggies and makes enough of an impact to temporal aliasing so that it isn't so distracting.

Goodies from trip to HK.

So I picked up a little something in HK that I would've had a hard time getting anywhere else. Can't wait to get home and slip these bad boys into an 8 drive RAID 0 array on my Asrock Extreme11.

Funnily enough, these 64gb versions are in the Tweaktown Chris Ramseyer Edition blue colour that was a nice surprise.