[Episode 46] Hardware Rock

[Ravenlock]

http://image.colonyofgamers.com/imcast.png (http://www.immortalmachines.com/)

Colony of Gamers user LiquidRain joins us for a brief discussion of hardware and peripherals. We endeavor to answer a listener’s questions about the merits of the upcoming Razer Onza gamepad, which predictably touches on PC gamepads in general. We also discuss chic mechanical keyboards, and why you might (or might not) want to spring for one. And speaking of input devices: motion controls for PC? It’s more likely than you think.

Of course, we couldn’t let one of our resident hardware gurus get by without picking his brain about some of the high points of current hardware, especially the latest graphics cards.

In our opening minutes, we not only cover what games have been in the rotation for our heroes, but also revisit why Minecraft – greatness aside – wasn’t ready for the GOTY awards. Eric also gives us an Indiecast bonus round with the indie titles that tickled his fancy lately, like the little game that could, Magicka.

Start hopping to the Hardware Rock (http://www.immortalmachines.com/?p=611).

Hosted and summarized by James [Vigil80]
Participants are Eric [Ravenlock] and Rob [LiquidRain]
Produced by Clayton [Voodoo]

Direct Download (http://www.immortalmachines.com/public/podcast/HardwareRock.mp3)

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[Vigil80]

Pertinent threads
Recommended PC Hardware (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=115)
LiquidRain's rig (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=17876)

Peripherals links
Razer Hydra
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/106792-Exclusive-Version-of-Portal-2-Developed-for-PC-Motion-Controller
http://www.tested.com/ces-2011-razer-hydra-motion-controller/47-252/

Razer Onza
http://www2.razerzone.com/onza/

Das Keyboard
http://www.daskeyboard.com/

[Ravenlock]

And the Magicka thread (http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/showthread.php?t=21385), for any of you who might not yet know about it. ;)

[nabokovfan87]

I got a Filco Majestouch for christmas/birthday last year, here (http://geekhack.org/showwiki.php?title=Island:4370) is a comparison of it and the Das keyboard which heavily swayed me to reconsider.

It is also one of the very few places where you can choose black switches (illegedely better for gaming). Unfortunately they aren't being restocked, which is a bummer.

There is something I was suprised isn't on anyones radar, the new stick from saitek, the 500 dollar "doesn't move" (but actually is supposed to move 1/8") replica f22/f16 flight stick. http://www.saitek.com/uk/prod/x65f.html

On the topic of controllers, it wasn't necessarily the nintendo "cross" style d-pad, but the 4 seperate buttons I was looking for. I need a d-pad for racing games, more specifically one where I push left and it doesn't go down and to the right (MS 360 pad). The Saitek/Logitechs have a better shape and actually work, but they really aren't the best out there compared to the ps1/2/3 stuff. I am hoping the onza is released soon as well as the ps3 motion wand crap coming to pc eventually resulting in a pc ps3 official driver or better hack driver. Essentially, if you have a driver for another controller installed the ps3/pc driver hacks typically don't work and bluetooth dongles can be extremely finicky about whether they decide to work or not.

Thanks for answeing the emails, very cool to hear everyones stories and histories on the topics.

P.S. Here is one of the few vids I have found to show off how the analog sticks actually work and the range of difference between tight and loose. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S370RuvSjM4

[LiquidRain]

Whoops, I removed the pictures of my "life support" laptop rig. If anyone's interested to see it in its latest incarnation I'll gladly take some more.

Was fun to hang out with you guys for an hour. I am in dire need of improving my podcasting skills, though.

In my defence, at one point in the podcast my brother's birds started shrieking and my mind totally left the podcast space to wonder if the microphone was picking them up. :o

[Ravenlock]

I'm sure listeners will notice, btw, that James has some distortion over his audio and that I start jumping on everybody else's words a little bit into the recording. We were using a new recording software, and at some point my audio track got about a half-second de-synced from the others. As with everything, it's a work in progress and we'll be refining as we go. ;)

In my defence, at one point in the podcast my brother's birds started shrinking

How small did they get? :p

[nabokovfan87]

Only thing I noticed was someones mic was about 1 or 1.5 seconds delayed or something like that. I forget whose microphone it was, but yeah, didn't hear the popping or distortion.

[Vigil80]

I think I heard quite a bit of sibilance from me, but that may just mean I need to talk better. :p

[LiquidRain]

How small did they get? :p
I wish they shrunk to the point of becoming singularities. Goddamned little assholes.

(they were shrieking - loudly)

[nabokovfan87]

Here is a vid of the "latest" in flight stick tech from a plane that is 10 or so years old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mu_fEl0TOsg

[Count Elmdor]

Good timing with this cast! I'm about to look at the hardware thread; I'm probably going to upgrade from my 4850 in time for Battlefield 3 and Skyrim.

[Ravenlock]

Two indie strategy games for you in this edition of the IndieCast, though they resemble each other in almost no way save belonging to the same rough genre. Variety is the spice of life, no? Let’s dive in.

Shrapnel Games (http://www.shrapnelgames.com/) has been around for more than a decade, and has become well known for their extremely deep war and strategy titles. Dominions, in particular (no relation to the card game Dominion), is a long-running and very well thought of series that still commands more than $50 per copy (http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Illwinter/DOM3/DOM3_page.html), nearly unheard of in my experience for an indie PC publisher.

The game of theirs being examined this time around, Bronze (http://www.shrapnelgames.com/Dreamspike_Studios/BRZ/BRZ_page.html), bears little similarity to their other offerings. Playing much more like a tile-based board game than a traditional turn-based strategy title, Bronze demands a lot of careful tactical planning and a solid understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the units available to you and your opponent. It’s also a bit pricey at $30, but there’s an extremely large free demo available that I can’t recommend trying enough. I was quite taken with it, as you’ll hear in the show.

On the other side of the investment spectrum (both price-wise and time-wise), Auralux (http://www.emcneill.com/auralux.html) (originally “Aurora“) is a casual real-time strategy game by Edward McNeill that takes strong influence from games like Eufloria and Galcon, asking you to take a single planet that generates units at a constant rate, and expand from there to eliminate your enemies and conquer the galaxy. I’ve got a few concerns about the exploitability of the game design, and certainly if you’re looking for the next Sins of a Solar Empire, you’re not in the right neighborhood here. But for $5, it’s an enjoyable, sort of puzzle-like diversion, and since it too has a free demo, why not give it a try?

As usual, our expanded thoughts about both titles may be found within.

Direct Download (http://www.immortalmachines.com/public/podcast/BronzeAndAuralux.mp3)

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[nabokovfan87]

Good timing with this cast! I'm about to look at the hardware thread; I'm probably going to upgrade from my 4850 in time for Battlefield 3 and Skyrim.

I'm in the same boat as you (512 mb 4850) and I am going to wait for the 7xxx stuff from AMD/ATI. I like the Nvidia 460/560 fermi stuff, but I want to see what the "next big thing" will be. Ever since the whole 3 monitor and 6 monitor stuff, I have been heavily disappointed just because that stuff is vastly outside my price. I am hoping the next batch of beasts will be able to run Metro 2033 at a proper 50+ FPS without SLI/Crossfire and that should be plenty for the new stuff as well.

The 4850 is holding me back though, having to keep on the old stuff and can't play anything released in the 2nd half of the year it seems or just something with a lot of textures and large maps.

[Fatal_Papercut]

I enjoyed the podcast as always, and the focus on hardware was a refreshing change of pace. I've always been a deeply involved in PC hardware, but it's not too often that I can get involved in a good discussion on the subject with someone that knows what they're talking about.

I'm very satisfied with my current rig; by anyone's standards, it falls into the "high-end" category. As such, I can't imagine that I will need to (or even want to) spend any money upgrading it this year. I don't think that there will be any "must-have" games released this year that would beg for such expenditures. Perhaps I'll build a new rig a year from now, when there will likely be significant hardware advances all around that will get me excited to build a new machine, and my current rig will make a nice dedicated server.

[Voodoo]

I'm still rocking my laptop with its 8800gs as my primary gaming machine; patiently waiting for a AMD Fusion replacement.

[Doogie2K]

I liked how LiquidRain measured time in hardware cycles, not years. ;)

[LiquidRain]

Haha that's totally how I think. :)