working on tech

working on tech

Mission Statement

This blog should be a safe place for anyone who wants to talk, read, listen, and experience technology in safe GOD fearing way. I am a believer and follower of JESUS CHRIST MY LORD AND SAVIOR WHO I BELIEVE CAME DOWN AS GOD IN THE FLESH TO SHED BLOOD SO WE MAY BE MADE RIGHT WITH GOD AND HE WILL ACT AS WITNESS ON OUR BEHALF BECAUSE NO MAN CAN GET TO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN BUT THROUGH JESUS CHRIST and it is those who believe mission to spread this message of love to all people for GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD! I strive to live righteously and I pray you do to and understand that we should do that in all that we do even when we are enjoying my favorite hobby, all things tech! that's why I am a techie in CHRIST I am a tech nerd that is grounded in the LORD. GOD BLESS !
Showing posts with label steam. Show all posts
Showing posts with label steam. Show all posts

Monday, August 25, 2014

I left pc for xbox one,,put the torch down and listen!

Yeah so about that stuff I said about PC gaming being superior,,,i guess that xbox one is pretty cool. 

I was in the midst of using my pc in steam big picture mode with my son when I had to go help my wife bring the groceries in. I come back in the house only to hear my 3 year old son call me nervously admitting that my computer is broken. It was not broken ,,,well at leaste he didnt break anything, the game stopped because adobe wanted to restart after the update... I restart the pc into big picture mode but uh oh, ,,the connected bluetooth adapter was trying to reconect, have to fix that now. where is the close button, its off screen because my graphics card didnt render to fit my tv,,,,"ok son let me fix this really quickly". Now my son sees an icon for street fighterIV , ,I go for it but oh no they need me to copy n paste the code into the program, registry error, uh oh, this is not a true steam game.................................... ok you get the point. 

The only slow download so far...

I go to my pal +Alex Glover house and he is playing his ps3, my son grabs the controller and comist to playing the game, an hour later, yep everything is fine. His attention wains and he request netflix, no problem , just a press of the button , and "walla" 

Wow the 2nd paragraph went so much smoother, so I decided that enough was enough. The last reminant of my personal use of Windows has now ended after selling my pc, surface pro, and laptop. I now tote a macbook pro, imac, ipad, iphone, and Xbox one! 

I went for the xbox one because as a Husband and father , I need to maximize my gadgets. I have my Xbox one hooked to my main tv and being able to have Uverse pass cable through the HDMI is a plus. I can seemlesly go between tv and gaming. I love that I am able to watch tv in snap mode while still playing my game! I love being able to watch WWE app on the side , while my kids watch a cartoon ,and I can just switch screens on the go. I love how smart glass enables me to use my iPad as a keyboard when I'm browsing on the xbox one or just navigating its menu. The difference is, I can do all this with standard apps, and not have to try hard to find solutions that inevitably require maintenance and unfurtanetly often at the wrong times. I also love the ease of the remote, not having to worry about connection issues when rebooting my xbox one. I also love how the games load in the background while Im watching tv and the notification pops up letting me know its ready. I do not have to keep wandering into my office to look at my pc for Steam's slow download progress. 


Now before the pc fan boys grab the torches let me issues some disclaimers. I know most of the games I will get including my most played game (Lego Marvel Heroes) can be played on PC. I also know Xbox One graphics cant compare to a mid to high level GPU in a PC rig, evidenced in Diablo, Tomb Raider, Battlefield, etc. I also know that PC has a fully featured browser and XBMC opening access to any form of movie, tv and music, from legal and nefarious means. I agree with all these things, I wrote a previous article stating just that and shown off picks of my triple monitor eyefinity set up in the men cave, BUT and that's a big BUT, Gaming PC's are for a niche audience. 

I am a 30 something with a wife and kids. The TV is no longer mind, the "man cave" is a storage/ laundry room with a door that my children feel is a perfect tool to bang on to get my attention accompanied by the yells of "daddy! what ya doing in there". I don't have time to seclude myself into 3 monitors and get lost in the digital battlefield. I do have time for a quick campaign that can switch to my kids Cartoon as they come running downstairs. I need to justify the $550 purchase by telling my wife that its a family entertainment device. No keyboard shortcuts, you can yell what you want to do, my 1 year old screens watch tv and heart fills with joy as the screen switches. I smiled with satisfaction as my youngest watch "team Koizumi" on the Amazon app and falls asleep on my lap. I grab the controller silently and switch to Battlefield, awesome! 
I traded in my personal trophy in which I talked about more than having the opportunity to play due to glitches, family, and work. In return I received a family machine that plays the games I want in quick enough time to do it!

As far as the games I want. I am to busy thinking at work and raising a family to think for fun. I know it sound crazy but I know one of my readers understand. I want to veg out, not strategic. I like to play Lego Marvel free play mode. Walking around living vicariously through my favorite superheros. I want to play Madden which is starting to get too hard, but that dumb game ism't on the PC. I want to veg out to WWE 2k15 when that comes out but once again, not on pc. I want to play the next goofy platform, usually not suitable for PC guys who most often use keyboard and mouse. I also want to fire up a silly dance game or fake ride a ski jet. 

In summation , if you cared to come this far, I left PC for Xbox one for the ease of use, and the availability of 3rd party games more suitable for the controller. I am happy with the decision. GOD BLESS 


Thursday, December 19, 2013

Why I am waiting on next gen Consoles, and sticking with my PC: A former console player.

I went to best buy to further research my newest tech toy I plan to get. (Best Buy is the go to place for hands on preview). I was looking at the surface 2 when I thought, "maybe I should go check out the ps4". I was under the impression I was going to be amazed once I actually get my hands on a PS4 for the first time. I was not amazed. Sure the controller felt awesome, premium in fact liken to something Apple would make if it did video games. I guess Sony has its swag back from the days when Steve Jobs said he wanted Apple to emulate Sony. The adolescent sells guys came by and said , "its awesome right" I responded , "yeah I guess, I mean I am a pc gamer , and got caught into the hype but now that I see it ,,,ummm" he laughed with the interjection, "yeah I'm a pc gamer too". I am now thinking , I am so glad it was sold out when I first wanted it, because now I think I will wait! Sitting at home playing on my pc I got to thinking of why I can wait, hope it makes you think as well.

Most games I play are on P.C. anyway.- I looked at the shelf for games I am interested in getting. The only one that stands out to me is the COD. Well thats not good because I can get that on my pc with arguablly better visuals. I defenitly dont want knack. On the xbox side , I hear that ROME is repetitive and boring, I am a FPS guy who pretty much play blockbusters to add to the conversation with my peers. I also play 2k , but once again thats on pc, I know its a port of the xbox 360 but I dont think graphical improvement on the game I own , will push me to a console. I mostly run steam games in big picture mode and sit in my living room using my xbox controller. Yes I know most pc gamers live by the keyboard and mouse, but I am a long time console player who is just used to the controler. I basically have the xbox one in terms of games with windows first console, the computer!

PC games are cheaper  after intitial investment. I know people make a big hub bub about  how much it costs to build a gaming rig but its overblown. Console makers sell at a lost because they know they will make it up with portions of game sales. Many will point out how you have to keep upgrading your graphics card but I have a hd 7770 purchased for $180 a while back and I can still get 50- 60 fps on my 1080p tv screen. Reviews of graphic cards usually involve powerful monitors, but if you are used to console gaming, 1080 resolution is not taxing on even budget cards. Most games are $59 and that price is pretty constant for most of the year. One of the best things I like about gaming on the pc is the cheap games. Its common place to get fairly new games for $30. I took this screen shot for example ..
As you see even big games like Batman , and Bioshock is at rock bottom prices! Earlier I mentioned Call of Duty, here top and bottom, the prices are different. During major Steam sales like in the summer and during cyber Monday, you can download blockbusters for $10 like I did for BF3 and Bioshock Infinite. 

Lets not forget the large quantity of cheap indy games. I don't play it but I like to know I could. 

I have all my media on my tv connected to my PC . XBMC is my xbox live. I was initially enticed by the media capabilities of the Xbox One. When I came home defeated from a failed attempt to purchase a Xbox One due to it being sold I whent to research how to turn my computer into a home theatre pc. Then I discovered XBMC. WOW . I used it with a combination with a program called PlayOn. The Playon lifetime subscription was less than the price of 1 year of xbox live and it enables me to connect, ESPN, Disney, Cartoon Network, Netflix, Hulu, etc. to any device. In this case xbmc pulls it up. XBMC also allows me to view live tv because I have a antenna hooked through my tv tuner card installed on my pc. The customization's of the media services with XBMC is amazing and too much to talk about here. I will make a post about this later. Of course if you don't have time to do all that you can just bookmark hulu, Netflix, etc to your web browser. I have a remote app on my phone giving me Xbox glass type control of my media. Its awesome! 

One less device to plug up! I know this is a little week but in a post Steve Jobs/Current Jonny Ive World, minimalism of gadgets is all the rage! I know I hypocritically have a huge desktop which is anything but minimal but I was going to have a pc regardless, why add to it? I also have the pc tucked behind the wall in the next room so all I have my tv visible. 

Now i know im missing probably the most praiseworthy feature of the Xbox One , the Kinect Voice commands. I do feel like I am missing out on the voice commands. To tame my envy by summing the feature up as a novelty that would prove to be worthless in the end, but if I am being honest, the little boy in me who watched the Jetsons will love for his dream to come true. Well if I keep tinkering maybe I can get a way for my pc kinect to do the same for me. The voice is still not enough to negate my first 3 reasons. Im not saying I will never get a next gen console but Im not loosing sleep trying to get one. Let me know what you think. GOD BLESS