the grunter

其實已經沒留意那些「發售前最後追加」資料了, 反正過幾天自己親手玩過後便自然清楚. 現在留意的反而是SE的宣傳攻勢, 還有一向出色的TVCM和新trailer. 今天有一個新的三十秒CM登場:

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最近上LIVE, friends list裡面十個有八個都在Modern Warfare 2中.

換了以往的我, 一定會在推出之日不計成本買下, 開心地放在DVD架上, 一放就是半年.. 但最近我醒覺了, 要堅持自己不亂花錢之餘, 買回來的遊戲也要至少先破關一次才會考慮購買新的. 時常提醒自己要玩game, 不是儲game. 所以雖然本能是想立刻玩到MW2, 我拿出至少半年未動過的Modern Warfare並將之前半途而廢的veteran難度攻關完成. 自從360推出的第一日, 我選擇了買Call of Duty 2作為跟機遊戲, 兩個星期後normal難度給攻破了. 之後便進行了地獄式的veteran難度攻關了, 雖然完成後自虐的感覺揮之不去, 這個攻破veteran難度的傳統在COD3推出時也貫徹實行了. COD4: Modern Warfare剛推出, 我幾天內破了normal, 再攻veteran時到了大概一半可能是因為實在吃不消或者是被其他遊戲分心了(已經忘記), 一直就放下不管.

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Spent a good few weeks wrestling with this one, started off casual and eventually I found myself needing more than my one hour of lunch time to play on everyday. Not because it’s too much fun, sadly, but because I had to restart races so many times. At the end I gave up on “winning” the game and settled for reaching level 50. I don’t plan on winning the game anytime in the future. Here are some details:

• Great to see the NFS series taking a shot at realism instead of going for more street racing/drifting/modding/running away from cops.
• Great visuals and detailed car models, whenever I used a new car I always made sure to switch to the interior view to check out the details first (I normally stick to the behind-the-car view).
• Good supply of race tracks and events.
• The combination of collecting badges (when you perform certain certain actions), stars (obtained by performing race-specific requirements) and level-up system (from gaining racing experience) make the game richer than a typical race->win->money routine.
• Rim upgrades are free!
• Easy-to-learn car upgrade system as well as an in-depth tuning settings.
• Mastering corners and comparing track time with your friends in a real-time manner in game makes the game more approachable.

Boo:

1. Cars in races once Tier 4 is reached are barely drive-able, as the slightest touch with other cars or driving off track will result in infinite spinning unless you floor the brakes to a near complete stop. To a non-hardcore racing gamer like me this brought frustration since I had to keep pausing the game and select “Restart Race”.
2. The so-called “supercars” are one-million helicopter blades except for the Lambo Gallardo.
3. Upgrade system not making gamers feel flexible. More specifically, no upgrade decisions needed to be made (e.g. choosing between sacrificing higher acceleration or max speed). Keep pouring money on getting each and every single upgrade and all the attributes will be high, making it less of a big deal which car you pick to start with (within a same tier).
4. Balancing: You simply can’t win in the final head-to-head battles with any other car than the one that is the highest rated (in most cases the most expensive) in the tier. What’s the point of upgrading and tuning, or even buying my Audi R8 if it would just get its ass kicked by the head-to-head battle unless I also use a Lamborghini Gallardo? Fortunately the regular races with multiple opponents are more fair because your enemy cars types are dependent on your model and the installed upgrades.

And finally:

? Do drift cars have their own tier simply because you can’t even drive a straight line with them?

? For the love of Christ, is it an industry requirement that racing games have to have lame soundtracks? It’s not the first time I had to mute a racing game after the fifth time playing it.

This car can’t race for shite, but man is it gorgeous.

一個月前忽然心血來潮(aka屁股癢)突然覺得家中電腦運作時發出的聲音越來越大, 心想是否有暗病?

初步診斷機箱內溫度過高導致裡面風扇相應溫度而提高轉數. 初初把一些堆在機箱上面的雜物, 為機箱提供一個有利散熱的空間. 感覺差不多. 把機箱側面面板拆掉, 裡面的塵埃清一下. 也是感覺未良好. 碰巧那時有幾隻Dx10遊戲面世, 試玩一些如Arkham Asylum的遊戲時竟然發現有過熱導致主機自動shut down的情況. 嚇壞了.

用的顯卡是eVGA的8800GT, 是出了名高溫的. 就怪自己當初功課做不足. 嫌隨顯卡的風扇太小不夠力, 拿去買顯卡的相熟店換了個大的DuOrb

回家一試, 自動shutdown不再出現了. 但噪音仍然大.. 不過既然shutdown問題已經解決, 只是將系統靜化我反而有膽自己做. 所以就在空餘時間在網上找出噪音源頭. 發覺原來除了顯卡的風扇外, 一般主機內部存在的風扇就只有兩把 – CPU扇和電源PSU扇(舊型號的底版在south bridge還有一個小扇, 但新的都用heatsink代替了). 好! 同時發現自己懶做功課的另一個惡果, 就是年頭選擇用作升級的CPU, AMD Athlon 64 x2 6000+又是一個小熔爐. 把頭探進機箱一看, 那個CPU風扇小小的, 會不會時發出噪音之餘, 搞不好連先前的自動shutdown它也是幫兇?! 於是在運作情況下用手指按下風扇中間把之停止(Don’t try this at home!), 看看噪音有沒有改善.. 好像沒有! 換言之PSU風扇 – 就是你!

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To be more organized is something I always wanted to do for my blog, not that it has a large amount of useful information right now, but still it’s always better to have an easier way to track down posts.

So I’m coining “Work and play” and basically it will conclude things that happened in my gaming world (which has been a microscopic one as of late) as well as my work. Hopefully once a week I can find the time to share these things to the 2 audience that are reading this blog :)
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