Objective for February

    School started in the first week of January and my goal among many things is to fully cut back on gaming. This also means spending more time to myself and not trying to run amuck doing things for others and maybe cut down on hanging out when I should be doing productive work. Since the start of the 2012 I have taken things in positive light.


    We all underestimate how important it is to get the right amount of sleep. We try to burn the midnight oil thinking that we need to cram as much information into our head before we sleep. That usually does not work out because you end up impending your short-term memory. Your brain is working on fumes and is not able to recall functions as fast. The more work a person uses their mental energy consciously and/or subconsciously they will feel more drained when they do not get the appropriate amounts of sleep.


    My goals for February is to get into bed by 10pm on the weekdays and probably 11pm or 12am the latest on weekends. Depending I might just keep it at 2200 across the board. It doesn't matter if I feel like I didn't do enough work. On the long run you want to carry your energy over instead of expending it all and running dry.
Cutting back on gaming and getting the proper rest is required. With that said, I shall go sleep.


Shroker

School!

    I have been pretty busy with school lately and still trying to work out the whole getting to bed thing and just knowing when to ignore people and getting into bed myself. One can only do so much but never comprise yourself too much. Especially when you know its an issue.

    Quantum Creativity is my little blog/journal thing I started up last month. When I get around to it I usually write in my journal and decided that some of them I might write into here and expand on the topic. I sometimes will just write what is on my mind or my feelings. Sort of similar to my Xanga but different in a way. Anyways, I hope my project continues to grow and create a place for friends and friends of friends to find interestin artciles to read about. Pictures that I might put up of my own or others or even music and other art related things.

    Shroker's Corner will hopefully grow once I get it going. I know its not as grand as I make it out to be but I can hope right? I know I have some friends who enjoy the stuff I put up so who knows!.

Shroker

Dead USB Host controller

Two nights ago, I woke up in the morning to find my computer not waking from the monitor sleep.
I figured maybe my computer crashed.but nope!.

I might overhaul the system all together while I wait for the warranty board.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

      I hope everyone had a good Christmas holiday and got some gifts and gave gifts to friends and family.
For those that don't celebrate Christmas, I hope you enjoyed your holiday and got to take some time off your everyday things. I was out of town this weekend and just came back today around 1700 PST.
Received a lovely gift from my which I will talk about later.

Anyhow, take care everyone!,

Cheers,
Austin

Forza Motorsports 4 pt.2

       Last post I talked about Forza Motorsports 4's recent image-based lighting update, game mechanics, Turn 10's partnership with BBC's Top Gear UK and Pirelli reform of Forza 3's tire data. Turn 10 didn't just stop at reworking the game physics and car models. They have gone and revamped the sound engine to the game. Forza Motorsports 4 has brand new engine sounds recorded directly from the vehicul they represent from the real world. One of many things I initially noticed when I began playing this game was the attention to details in the sound effects.



       The above sound clip is recorded from the in-game sounds and is all part of the gameplay. Setting the game fx to "Car" emphasizes the engine and exhaust sounds. The player can hear the different accents and tones of the engine. Hearing the resonance and echo as the player accelerates and then letting go of the throttle. You feel lively and in the spot light as you aim to clip the apex in the corners. Each car has had this sound treatment and thus very enjoyable to drive. A variety of flavours to suit  the different type of personal preferences people will have. On the other hand, in the audio settings there is the option to select tires as the sound effects focus. This shifts tire screeches and grip sounds as the main focus for those that wan to hear how their tires on on the road to get a sense of lock-up. Although I feel once you play enough with the car you sort of know where that grip limit / lock limit is. However, in the end, it is mostly personal preference and does not effect the gameplayy in any form.

       Forza Motorsports 4 introduced a new multilayer community function called Rivals mode. The underlying basics of Rivals mode is your traditional leaderboard time attack. However, instead of simply trying to fight your way up the time board to wherever you seem fit. You continue to earn exp and credits from performing racing feats (like perfect turns or how well you do a turn) or by completing the race after least completing a lap. Being able to gain experience and credits makes grinding a lap time a bit more rewarding. There are monthly challenges for the rivals mode and also static ones.

     In addition to your typical online racing modes there are fun modes which include car bowling, tag and soccer. Each to their own exciting moments but care-free chaotic insanity will ensue. Especially with fast cars zipping around trying to score a soccer ball or attempting to tag the remaining "non-it" drivers.
All in all, Forza 4 Motorsports enhances and updates from its previous series while maintaining a fun playing field for all types of player levels.

Forza Motorsports 4 P1.

    Forza Motorsports 4 by Turn 10 released on October 11th 2011. Now, I have been waiting for this game for quite some time. As the time went on and various trailers and videos were released the passion and drive for racing, automotive sports and driving kicked into full gear. I should say I started my first impressions with the couple of gameplay trailers and TV commercials.

 First impressions began with their updated imaging-based lighting system. Forza 4 improves on what Forza 3 built and ironed out the details. Graphically the game feels very familiar as the base of the engine still remains the same I believe. The added lighting system, improved textures and rendering presents the overall package as a new, refreshing but very familiar game. Taking a sharp corner going full throttle and then being blind sided by the sun glare is something players will often come across until they feel the groove and know where the corner is. 

    A new feature to the Forza Motorsports line is the Autovista gallery. The Autovista gallery features 24 cars from the game in high graphical detail. Ranging from specific car components such as wheels, engine, aerodynamic flaps and cockpit design. In addition to the regular voicing for Autovsita, Turn 10 signed a long-term contract with BBC TV showhosts Top Gear featuring Jeremy Clarkson. Each Autovista vehicle has a description written and voiced by Jeremy Clarkson in their very own show-host style and personality. For those that have watched Top Gear UK or is a fan of Jeremy Clarkson will enjoy this addition of humor but may seem distant for those that have never heard of either. With that said, Autovista can be used with the Xbox Kinect feature allowing users to move around the car and open up the door, trunk and engine hood with their hand motions.

   Kinect allows headtracking in Forza 4, allowing users to look left and right into their corners or checking their sides when pulling through a corner. Although I have not fluently tested out the usage of the Kinect with the game I look forward to using it in the near future. 




  Turn 10 partnered up with Pirelli to rework Forza 4's tire data by introducing a consistent and dedicated set of tests for the game. Instead of using a combination of different tire information and results; Pirelli has provided all the tire information allowing Turn 10 to directly put the data into the game engine. The result is cars now feel responsive and provide better detail and feedback. In addition to the tire data is update suspension mechanics which takes in account for AWD, FWD, RWD, and different car suspensions between American muscle cars and a Japanese AWD car. The combination allows the player to feel the grip from cold tires to prime temperatures as one races through hairpins and fast corners.


   The second part will consist of the rivals system and new multilayer features.
Stay tuned. 


Shroker


  

Forza Motorsport 4 Limited Collectors Edition Pre-order

       Two weeks ago I was browsing Forza Motorsport 4 videos with a friend of mine. This motion rallied up our energy for the inevitable release of the game under half a month from that point. Tomorrow the game releases in North America and from August to the last week of September I have been pondering if I wanted to pre-order the Limited Collectors Edition or not. During the period I checked, I wanted to order from Gamestop but I was not able to find it on their website. I can only find the regular edition. Amazon sold out of there Limited Collectors Edition and had only a few left but were marked up to $199 CAD instead of $79.99.

      During the last week of September, I went to check the store listings for Forza 4 LCE and discovered that Gamestop and Bestbuy had them listed. I got excited because I can order from Gamestop although a little bit disappointed I had to shell out $80 bucks for it but it will be well worth it. Then I had a epiphany about my $50 BestBuy giftcard from BestBuy. This made me super excited because it meant that I could fully buy the collectors set without any worries.

      I kept double checking the product page to make sure I was adding the right item to the checkout cart. Selected express shipping, entered the gift card price and got the price down to sub 40 something after tax and everything. I got excited and was like "Sweet!;. Then it said my shipping was free and I think for some reason it was set to ground shipping again. This disappointed me as I want Forza 4 as soon as possible. Doesn't matter now though. The game goes live today in North America and will be expecting to see more reveiws in addition to IGN, Gamespot and a few other individuals / groups.

    There are some major updates to the game which I will talk about in a different post but as many have stated. Those coming in from Forza 3 will have a familiar yet rejuvenated feeling to the game. Those that are new to the series will have plenty of fun as the difficulty ranges from the essentials of a beginner to hardcore drivers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvimE0aNFOg - Forza 4 "Endangered Species" trailer voiced by Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcQu73d3Z2E - Forza 4 Opening Cinematic voiced over by Jeremy Clarkson.


Take care and Happy Thanksgiving dinner to Canadian folks!.
Happy Monday to the US and other parts of the world.

Shroker