Spring Releases (and onward!)

Posted in Resident Evil, Uncategorized, Ys on January 28, 2021 by slateman

COVID has run amok throughout the world, thus changing release dates on so many different things. Despite the sporadic nature of 2021, there are some items to look forward to. As always, this is more for personal reference than for any other reason.

Music
21 Feb Empyrium: Über Den Sternen
26 Feb Einherjer: North Star
26 Mar Liquid Tension Experiment: LTE 3
23 Apr Bodom After Midnight: Paint The Sky With Blood
21 May Amorphis: Live At Helsinki Ice Hall
28 May Alestorm: Live In Tilburg
28 May King Of Asgard: Svartrviðr
18 June Fear Factory: Aggression Continuum
18 June Helloween: Helloween
2 July At The Gates: The Nightmare Of Being
Summer Exodus: Persona Non Grata
Games
02 Feb Ys IX: Monstrum Nox
25 Feb Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection
29 Apr R-Type Final 2
07 May Resident Evil Village
11 Jun Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Unknown Far Cry 6
Unknown God Of War: Ragnarok
Unknown Horizon: Forbidden West
Unknown Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga
Movies
12 Feb Saint Maud
05 Mar Raya And The Last Dragon
05 Mar Coming 2 America
31 Mar Godzilla Vs. Kong
30 Jul The Green Knight
30 Jul Jungle Cruise
Unknown The Matrix 4

Sometime in the future

  • Dead To Me
  • Atypical

Mixup Cube Algorithms

Posted in Algorithms, Blog, Cubing on January 17, 2021 by slateman

This puzzle was a curious one and I required a helpful tutorial to solve it. Just some quick algorithms to help me solve this cool cube.

Step 1: Return to a cube

First, you’ll get offset centers lined up with an edge piece sloped downward above it. Here, you move the center piece 45° to the right, then perform a R, U’, R’ before returning the center. You then keep repeating this process. If you’re stuck with a flipped edge, just bring it down to make it a center and repeat.

Step 2: Restore centers

Just prep centers. This will swap front and right centers. When you have a pair to exchange, move your center 45° to the right, then R2 and return. Super easy.

Step 3: Solve F2L

Solve the first two layers are you would on a normal 3×3.

Step 4: Last-Layer Parities

If you get the classic 4×4 parity, you can bring down your front edge 45° (an M slice). Then F2, an E (turn left as you look at it), F2, and return the E and return M’.

This will mess up three layer 2 edges which can be fixed easily apparently. Place the proper piece on bottom/back and whip out a: B2 M B2 M. This should fix it.

If you get a parity where your final two edges are swapped, place the flipped edge in front. A M’ here is a 45° upward.

M’, R, U, R’, U’
M’, U, R, U’, R’

I’m finding a problem where this doesn’t necessarily solve it all. But for now, it’s a good start. Perhaps I’ll edit this again in the future.

Clover Pyraminx Algorithms

Posted in Algorithms, Blog, Cubing on January 15, 2021 by slateman

This puzzle looks cool, turns wonderfully and appears simple enough. While it’s effectively just a 3×3 shape mod, I simply cannot visualize it as such. This tutorial helped me whittle the whole thing down to something digestible.

Step 1: Solve two-colored edges

These act like corners, so just find the proper plane and solve all three two-colored edges. This is an easy step and no image is necessary.

Step 2: Flatten Petals

Now you will be faced with one of three situations. If the two pieces are beside one another like shown here, place them on the right plane. Move this right side down, then move the bottom/left layer (here, the other green petal) down, then back up and up (R’, L, R, L’)

The second scenario is when the two incorrectly-placed pieces are on adjacent faces. Hold the tip of the triangle at you and the upright petals on the top-left and top-right. With the one stickered side facing you positioned on the left, turn this layer down 90°, then the right layer a full 180° and return the first face. I’ve included a video here for easier reference.

A third scenario exists where they’re on adjacent layers but on the same pivot. In this case, move one side away so it mirrors scenario #2. I believe this will be an easy fix.

Step 3: Solve all Petals

This step will involve either a two or a three-cycle. For the latter, hold pyramid tip at you, this swaps far left, top center and far right. Shown here, it’ll exchange the left red piece, the top yellow and the right blue. Do 180° flips between the two layers (DDUU – L2, R2, L2, R2). This is kind of intuitive and while it may involve commutators, for your basic purposes, it’s not difficult.

Now, sometimes you will encounter three that you can’t easily swap. You have two options here. A three-cycle may work (for instance, swapping two blues at once). But if you’re lost, which I often get, you may benefit from some two-cycles instead. Here, bring a face down with a 90° turn. This will look like a person wearing glasses looking at you (see pic). Now, your three-cycle maneuver (clockwise or CCW based on your needs) will cycle these just as you’d hope. This is a really-quick fix as, like before, you can swap the same-colored pieces to maneuver what you want without much thinking.

Step 4: Solve Centers/Corners

Any inverted (jutting out) centers here signify a hidden piece under a pyramid tip. Find it! OK, now leave it hidden in the tip of the pyramid. You are now going to swap this hidden piece with one that is jutting out, making sure the inverted piece is on top, also shown here. You’ll reveal it w/ a 90° right turn upwards (like shown in this image), then the usual algorithm (R, L’, R, L) but you’ll do this three times. This will also swap the two lower-layer centers as well, FYI. Do this as many times as necessary. You may get lucky and solve the puzzle this way. If not, move on to step #5.

Step 5: Swap Centers

Now that everything is flat, we can swap centers. You’re going to use the same algorithm as in step 4, but you don’t want to kick out those inverted pieces. First, find two centers you want to swap. (If you have more, just choose two and then repeat this step). Place these in front of you on the bottom as shown here. In order to prevent bumping out those inverted pieces, turn the top layer 90°. This way, those inner pieces will harmlessly swap. Do the same algorithm as before (again, three times) and your two bottom centers will be exchanged.

PSVR: This Truly Is A Step Forward

Posted in Blog, Games on January 14, 2021 by slateman

Virtual Reality is something everyone would like, but it would be nice if their neighbor got it first – you know – just to check it out. I’ve been curious but, like countless others, the high price tag kept me far away. That is, until my daughter convinced my wife to get me one for Christmas. Long story short? I’m totally and utterly convinced.

Let’s get the bad out of the way first as there are absolutely downsides. The mess of wires is something my wife is not fond of and setting up is a routine of many specifics working both in harmony and in tandem. The visuals certainly take a hit in VR and the glasses fog up rather easily, though this is just an inconvenience that clears up quickly. Motion sickness is not something unique to Sony’s VR unit, but it can be jarring and difficult to work through.

Okay, with my gripes aired for all to see, what remains is simply extraordinary. Without hands-on experience, the true extent of VR’s punch can never be appreciated. It just can’t. The fact that your brain believes what it’s seeing is something that cannot be conveyed. When enormous setpieces pop up in Astro Bot or when a bullet flies at your head in Superhot VR or your car flies through the air in Trackmania Turbo, you are utterly convinced it’s reality – and all the joy and elation come alongside of it. Genuine fear, thrilling elation, nervous dodging – it doesn’t matter if the visuals are realistic or cartoony, the experience is an unbridled delight.

I’ve pondered these things more and more as my decades have passed and I find myself always returning to the concept of novelty. With so much really just being iterations of the same thing, so rarely are things truly new. I keep trying to think back to when something I’ve played was this impressive. A quick peek of Game Of The Year lists show that Shadow Of Mordor had the nemesis system back in 2014. Portal 2 was rather brilliant in 2011. How many others were sequels? Or sequels of sequels???

Is it possible that VR is the biggest step forward since sprites moved into the 3D realm? I hardly think that’s an overexaggeration. On the downside, I wonder if there’s enough of a flow of games to keep it a viable platform moving forward, but with a few new games in my library, I have a wide variety of experiences:

  • Astro Bot Rescue Mission
  • Superhot VR
  • Blood & Truth
  • Everybody’s Golf VR
  • Wipeout Omega Collection
  • Trackmania Turbo
  • Star Wars: Squadrons
  • Iron Man

What a great roster of titles. Moss, Rez Infinite and Tetris Effect are on the ‘to-buy’ list alongside a few others, With a few more out there, I look forward to a promising future of the platform with support continuing until at least a successor is announced.

Petal Pyraminx Guide

Posted in Algorithms, Blog, Cubing on January 1, 2021 by slateman

This little puzzle isn’t altogether too difficult, but it’s a good-enough challenge. As always, I need a little help to push myself through these and I will inevitably forget it all. For the sake of posterity, here are the instructions I’ve worked with, alongside some help from this tutorial.

There are only really four major steps to solving this puzzle: two on the Pyraminx portion and two on the inner circles. Step 1 is just matching the tips. This is easy. Step 2 gives me trouble sometimes because, unlike a Pyraminx, you can’t just rotate the tips when need be. Here’s what I do:

Get one face. Once done, you will have either all edges solved, 2 wrong (flipped) or 3 wrong. Usually it’s the latter.

Move the 3rd side to the bottom (requiring two turns) / Then do a standard d/d/u/u / Move the 3rd side back.

If you did it right, all will be properly positioned. However, many times you’ll have two edges flipped. Holding them on the left and right, do L/R’/L’/R – then U’/R/U/R’. This is the normal Pyraminx alg.

  1. Situate tri-color tips so they’re all aligned.
  2. Solve the 6 two-sided edges to match those tips.
  3. Solve small inner-circle triangles.
  4. Solve large inner-circle triangles.

The tutorial shows how to swap those large triangles around. It’s not super intuitive for me and this is the hardest step for me. Here’s the timestamp in the video where he discusses this, but he places the swapped large triangles on the top of the front layer, and on the left of the top. You’ll perform this using the right layer of the side facing you. When you do it, this must bring the large triangle you want to swap up with it. If not, something is wrong and it won’t work. In this photo, the triangle is positioned properly.

Up, Circle Right
Down, Circle Left
Up, Circle Right
Down, Circle Right
Up, Circle Left, Down

All the circle rotations are done on the top layer, FYI. Good luck!!!

Makaimura Returns / Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection

Posted in Artwork, Best / Worst, Blog, Games on December 12, 2020 by slateman

I’ll admit I’m disappointed it’s currently at Switch exclusive, but I’m psyched Capcom has revisited this classic series. The stages are familiar but the visuals are outstanding and this new piece of art is simply remarkable. Here’s hoping for a Playstation port (along with Hades, please!)

Gaming In 2020

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games, Resident Evil, Skyrim, Tony Hawk Series with tags on December 9, 2020 by slateman

Another year down and another year in which I missed out on more of the biggest titles than I played. Before hitting upon what I have experienced, I figured I’d look at what I didn’t get a chance to dive into.

  • Final Fantasy VII Remake
  • Ghost Of Tsushima
  • Hades
  • Immortals: Fenyx Rising
  • Last Of Us – Part II, The
  • Ori And The Will Of The Wisps
  • Sackboy: A Big Adventure

I’ve skipped out on Cyberpunk 2077 and some others. Of those games, my interest is genuinely piqued by Tsushima and Hades. The former will eventually be in my collection, the latter will have to wait for a Sony port. I’ve no interest in playing that on the Switch.

OK, now to the older games I’ve experienced. Titles with an asterisk are ones I’d played before. Underlined are ones I beat.

  • Death Stranding
  • Dark Souls: Remastered
  • Days Gone
  • Detroit: Become Human
  • Doom
  • Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, The (*)
  • Far Cry 5
  • Fighting EX Layer
  • Ketsui
  • Minecraft Dungeons
  • Modern Warfare 2: Remastered (*)
  • Shadow Of The Colossus
  • Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Remastered (*)
  • Ys VIII

Not forgetting Skyrim is a remaster, that’s a lot of updated old games there. I spent most of quarantine lockdown replaying Skyrim and actually progressing farther than I had during my initial playthrough back in 2012. I beat Shadow Of The Colossus for the first time, after bailing on both the PS2 and PS3 versions in years past. Another Uncharted 2 run was a reminder of how that game is still top-10 ever. (I’ll eventually get around to posting my list). Others were things I dipped my toes into but came far from completing.

Far Cry 5 was the expected, entertaining romp and I do endeavor to get back to Days Gone and Detroit. Most of these games were good; few were great. Next up: 2020 games, finally!

  • Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla
  • Astro’s Playroom
  • Borderlands 3
  • Bugsnax
  • Demon’s Souls
  • Resident Evil 3
  • Spelunky 2
  • Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2

So, obviously, I beat THPS, writing an entire chapter on it in the revised edition of Tony Hawk’s Gaming Domination. Just as quickly, I dropped off of that one.

Spelunky 2 was a frustratingly-difficult but enjoyable journey. Each run was different and my kids and I laughed our asses off far too frequently. It’s about the same as the first, but pretty fantastic and there’s zero chance I’ll ever actually complete it. Speaking of kids, they played the crap out of Bugsnax, just finishing it today. I haven’t completed Demon’s Souls and suspect that’s a long journey ahead.

Resident Evil 3 was a short affair, but one I never traipsed through on the PS1 original. I enjoyed it, beating it a few times. That’s the good, but I don’t envision diving back in, despite my enjoyment.

And then we get to the year’s best. Astro’s Playroom won’t win any awards, but damn, that was fun. It was a spectacular history lesson, peeking at Sony’s legacy as well as being a showcase of the new console and its features.

So, as of the second week of December, I am so enamored with Valhalla and its beauty, that I must declare it my tentative 2020 Game Of The Year. It’s the most vibrant and diverse world I’ve ever played in. The gameplay loop is enjoyable enough and the sound design is top notch. It’s possibly the best-looking game I’ever witnessed and the 60fps/often-4k visual upgrade has just left me speechless on numerous occasions. The dynamic lighting is superb, dialogues and story are wonderful and the scope is simply remarkable.

I suspect this opinion could change…but as of today, this is it. This could be the first Assassin’s Creed game I actually complete, much like GTA V in 2018.

Two Days With The Playstation 5 – Thoughts

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games on December 1, 2020 by slateman

The day has finally come! It took about three weeks to arrive: going to Chicago, then Wisconsin, then across the Atlantic to Naples Capodichino, then to the American consulate, then finally home. After a lengthy setup process, I went into the process of downloading Demon’s Souls and Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla. While doing so, I dove into the utterly phenomenal Astro’s Playroom. It was then the console’s new features were put on display.

However, as the first day ended, it was easy to get the sense that this may be the smallest leap between generations. From the DVD drive in the PS2 to the Blu-Ray player in the PS3, to the visual leap to the PS4, this has fewer clear bells-and-whistles. But at the end of day #2, I felt clear – I love my PS5.

Load Times
Booting into AC: Valhalla took about 80 seconds and loading into the game itself, another 100. Quick traveling was a solid two minutes…each and every time. With the Activity Cards feature on the Playstation 5, I can skip that initial 80 seconds altogether. A direct comparison:

Doing? PS4 Time PS5 Time
Into Menu 80 0
Into Playable 180 50
Fast Travel 120 10

It’s that last one that’s startling – and altogether awesome. It’s between 9 and 10 seconds typically. The difference is simply amazing. Bouncing between two or three fast-travel locations saves serious time and it’s hardly enough to look at my phone before Eivor is back, ready and perched atop some chapel or archaeological site.

3D Audio
I’ve marveled at sound design in recent years, simply awed at how good gritty footsteps, rubbing clothing and rustling of leaves sound. However, running through medieval England and hearing birds and pigs, the wind and people’s voices all around me. Each came from a different quadrant, with rain realistically sounding like it was falling in so many different places at once. Just astounding.

The DualSense
I read all the reviews and heard all the praise. It was only when Astro’s Playroom resisted my shoulder triggers before releasing in a satisfying click that it felt real. When the sensation of sand and wind and ice and rocks all came through the controller, I felt that joy of next-gen. The game is fun in its own right, but the controller is the real hero here. It’s spectacular.

60 FPS
I have to admit, the 4K upgrade wasn’t as pronounced as I had hoped, but when I got Valhalla running at 60 FPS, I smiled with joy. Having the choice between the two is something I missed in the PS4 Pro era. I first appreciated the importance of the higher frame rate with Metal Gear Solid 5 but having a direct comparison has truly opened my eyes. It’s buttery smooth and the way life ought to be.

App Integration
Signing in was a breeze, installing apps is simple, notifications about app preparedness is welcome and on it goes. I’m hoping they keep up with the features and ease of use. Ideally, having snapshots available on mobile (like Microsoft) would be sensational.

The Dislikes
It looks, feels and sounds great. That’s what you want in your $500 purchase. While the system needs some work, I don’t see anything that can’t be fixed with some firmware tweaks. The UI is good, but it’s clunkier than the PS4. Fixes like separating games and media is great, but there are fewer titles in the list. The PS button menu is fast and the overlay is nice, but it feels cluttered and things like turning the console off are harder and more obtuse than before.

P.T. – The Most Frightening Gaming Experience Ever?

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games on November 1, 2020 by slateman

It was 2014 and the Playstation 4 was still quite new. Out of the blue, this strange demo drops which doesn’t really have much gameplay. It was mysterious and curious and I’ll never forget the first time I saw her. Nowadays, a quick search will reveal all its secrets, but then, no one knew anything: why this happened, why that didn’t happen, etc. But it was such a thrill going through its nonsensical hallways, marveling at its pristine sound design and lighting effects.

My nine-year-old son has been itching to play/watch something scary. He’s too naïve to realize he’s absolutely not ready. So, I decided tonight to boot up the good ol’ P.T. and walk down some hallways.

It wasn’t 30 seconds later when he asked me to turn it off. Nothing happened: just one right-hand turn and a dirty bathroom. But it reinforced my original idea that this Playable Teaser was just about as frightening as I remember it being the first time through.

Now to see if my 12-year-old daughter is up for the challenge!!!

Playstation 5 – Anticipation

Posted in Best / Worst, Blog, Games on October 28, 2020 by slateman


January 1997: Playstation alonsgide Street Fighter Alpha 2
October 2000: Playstation 2 alongside SSX
November 2007: Playstation 3 alongside Resistance
November 2013: Playstation 4 alongside Killzone: Shadow Fall

I didn’t get the original Playstation at launch. I may have gotten the PS3 late as well. But I’ve been with the Sony brand for over 20 years and I am so tremendously excited about this new entry. My planned launch games are Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and probably Demon’s Souls.

At such an exciting time, I can’t wait to get my hands on the new console: to tinker with the controller, view the UI, witness 4K for the first time. Playing Ghost Of Tsushima is another one I’m excited for. Just can’t wait.