Author: David

Categories
Video Games

Rock Band 3 details

There’s a whole bunch of stuff that’s come out of E3, but given my fixation on Rock Band, this one sort of requires its own entry. The big news, of course, is the official announcement of Rock Band 3 features.

Gameplay

Some pretty nifty stuff here. Harmonix has recognised that RB and GH excel most as party games, and as such are adding more social dimensions. Although not bleeding edge, drop-in/drop-out will be helpful for those Endless Setlist sessions that I keep trying to organise.

There will apparently also be a party mode which includes playlist management, party shuffling, and mid-song difficulty adjustments.

With the new instruments (below), there will also be a new “Pro” mode where those of us bored with poor plastic simulations will get a much more authentic experience.

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Categories
Tech

Paranoia and Google

If you’ve been following my Twitter or Facebook accounts you know that I’m more than mildly alarmed by their cavalier attitude towards privacy. Let it not be said that I unfairly and blindly focus on one target. I use far more Google services than I do Facebook, and they’ve had many more years of practice at collecting and collating personal information.

I will occasionally go through a privacy binge and find things to remove from my account. For those of you of a like mind, I found this thoughtfully put together article on Computerworld: The smart paranoid’s guide to using Google.

There’s some generic stuff in there about blocking ads. Overall, I have no issue with ads on the web, because they’re the only thing keeping it free. However, these ads do track our behaviour and build identifiable profiles, so it may be worthwhile using a browser plugin to block them.

Likewise, you may want to review exactly what Google is remembering about your searches:

Google uses this information for a number of benign purposes, such as fine-tuning its search algorithms and determining wider patterns in Web searches for its Google Trends page. But however useful it is to the company, it’s probably a safe bet that you don’t want anyone to see every search you’ve ever done.

I strongly recommend a good read, and applying at least some of the recommendations.

Source: Lifehacker

Categories
Movies and TV Video Games

Mass Effect on the big screen

Mass Effect

Film School Rejects is pointing to a press release that Legendary Pictures is developing a Mass Effect cinema release. Legendary are the folks behind Dark Knight, 300 and Watchmen, so the franchise would be in good hands.

Obviously it’s still early days — no director has been attached — but I’d be curious to see who could potentially get cast for the film. Would you go with the game’s voice actors, or someone else?

Categories
Movies and TV Video Games

Rock Band 3 might make you bang on the keys

Fresh off my morning feed reading, Giant Bomb is reporting that Rock Band 3 might have keyboard support:

… downloaders of the Green Day: Rock Band demo…received something of a tease after finishing the bite-sized, two-song offering. After hitting “exit,” they were greeted with a big old Rock Band 3 banner that displays pictures of two guitars, a set of drums, microphones … and a keyboard right next to the “3” logo.

If true, this would be both awesome and frightening. One thing that has bothered me while playing many of the classic rock tracks (and I have a lot of them) is that the guitarist is often required to cover the keyboard or organ part. Given that the instruments approach runs and melodies differently, it feels unnatural and sometimes outright difficult, especially when you consider that the RB guitar is really a poor approximation of the instrument.

On the other hand, being a trained pianist, I’m aware of exactly how complex keyboard parts can be. And there’s no way Harmonix can escape using a real keyboard with real black-and-whites. I’m interested to see how notes will be tracked on screen, since I’d definitely prefer a treble clef. Finally, can I bring my own? I’ve been looking for an excuse to buy a new keyboard, and this would definitely be an opportune moment.

Update: Ars reckons it’s a keytar!

Categories
Food

Pea and ham soup

I made my first-ever batch of pea and ham soup today. It was a lot easier than I thought. I found a basic recipe on the web, but rather than go through the modifications, I figure I’ll go through it all step by step again since the original is a bit flaky.

See below the jump for the recipe.

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