Scott David Brown's Blog, page 8

Beta Testing Evolve This Weekend

I’m one of the lucky ones who is going to be beta testing Evolve on Xbox One this weekend. It’s available for Xbox players today and will run through Sunday. Starting tomorrow, other platforms will be added. I’m planning on broadcasting the game every day until Sunday. I’m not sure when exactly I will be playing, but I will be using twitch, so you can always catch the recordings. I’m going to start playing in a few minutes, so you might want to pop on over to my channel. It’s sdbmania on twitch.tv. This will be my first non-test broadcasting and I will post it to YouTube. Enjoy!

Mac Mini 2014 Review

So last week I decided to get a mac after being without one for two years! Finally, Apple decided to refresh the mac mini. Sure, it’s not a huge improvement over previous models, but it is $500 now. It also has a more recent intel processor and 4 USB 3.0 ports. Instead of just simply writing about it, I decided to make a video review! I’m bringing back my video blog and hopefully I will make more videos in the future. I’ve said that before, lol! I’m planing on doing a weekly video post. I’m probably going to take down my Mii of the Month section and replace it with the video blog. That way, all my video’s will be in once place.

P.S. I also talk about the Logitech C270 HD webcam.

OMG Ebola Virus!

There seems to be a lot of talk about the Ebola Virus these days. Why, turn on CNN, MSNBC, and other news networks and there is a strong likelihood that you will be hearing about it. Here is a good article about what I’m talking about:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/10/06/story-that-went-viral-are-media-scaremongering-on-ebola/.

Yes, that is a fox news online article. Did anyone just see that flying pig outside!? The news coverage to me feels like there is some effort to make a big deal out this. It’s good to have so many experts weighing in and saying that there is almost a zero percent change of an Ebola outbreak here in the U.S. Hopefully most people here are starting to realize that there is no real cause for concern. Yes this is a real and terrible virus and yes we need to take its presence seriously, but that doesn’t mean we should give into mass hysteria.

As far as I can tell, I don’t know of any instances where people are going crazy of this, other than perhaps having it covered too much in the media. I do know there have been a few politicians using Ebola to score some points. That could very well change. I do hope that the coverage will start to die down. It’s getting less coverage on MSNBC now. As long as the coverage is fair and is not stoking fears I think it’s ok. I just don’t see the need for wall-to-wall coverage.

One Year With Wii Fit U

Two days ago I noticed a battery indicator flashing on my Wii Fit Meter. I realized it was time to get a new battery for it and I researched what I needed to do. Come to find out, it’s been about a year since I got Wii Fit U . The software was free since I bought the meter and already owned a Wii Fit board. The replacement is easy to do, it takes a 3 volt watch battery, a CR 2032 type. Unscrew the back and it comes off. Then press on the old battery and pull it out. Then put the new battery in. You have to put one end in and then press down on the other end. The top part is where you put the new battery in and then push down on the bottom.

After replacing it, I’m thinking I will have two years until I have to buy another battery. The pack I got at Target had two batteries. Also, make sure you transfer your data from the meter to your Wii U BEFORE you replace the battery. I noticed that my record got erased when I changed the battery. It still had my calorie goal and the time was correct. Everything else gets wiped.

Looking back on my year’s progress, it looks like I’m at just about where I started. I gained some weight by the time I got Wii Fit U. I wasn’t exerting often back then. I do tend to have trouble sticking with it, but since my first physical exam from my doctor, I’ve lost about 10 pounds. That was 6 months ago. I have been able to keep up with it and now I have added The Iron Gym to my workout. I feel like my workout is more complete. I’m happy that I can use Wii Fit U for aerobics, yoga, and lower body strength training and use The Iron Gym for upper body. I’m unstoppable! Haha, well, not yet. ;)

BlockBuster Dreams

Tiger from San Diego Wild Animal Park

Science shows us that dreams fit a very important function. They keep our mind active while we sleep. The human brain does not really ever shutdown. It’s always active, sort of like a power plant. If the brain were to completely shutdown, there would be no way for it activate again. You can think of it as like a computer going into sleep mode, ;).

Dreams are fascinating though, because there are theories that dreams serve more of a purpose then just keeping the brain active. Some say that dreams are a window to the subconscious. The crap that we don’t deal with does seem to come up in my dreams. They could be fears, pain, happy memories, and many other things. People spend a lot of time trying to understand dreams and it can be difficult to do so.

This morning I had two dreams that I remember. We had a cat that looked like a tiger, like the one in the picture above, only in a  house cat size. The second dream had a reoccurring theme, one that I am sometimes loathe to experience. It returned me to a time when I still had a job, one that wasn’t really good.

I worked for Blockbuster Video for almost 10 years. When I started, it was a good job and it was a fun place to work. Viacom eventually sold the company as the internet reared its ugly head. They knew something was coming, lol! Yes the internet broke Blockbuster Video, but ultimately it was the people in charge that led to bankruptcy of the company.  It wasn’t a happy job in the end.

I was transferred to a store where the store manager eventually wanted to get rid of me. He was certainly not a nice guy, at least to me, but part of it was all the pressure to sell, sell, sell, I’m sure. Mangers were under a lot of pressure. This was something that I was reminded of when I had my final dream of the morning.

I was back in a Blockbuster store. I have some strange Blockbuster exam that I had to finish that was a take home test. I hadn’t finished it, but it was no matter. I was supposed to do my job now and the test had to wait. In the dream I am reunited with an old “friend” from high school who never worked for Blockbuster in real life! She visits my dreams very rarely these days, though she used to be more frequent years ago. The manager wasn’t happy with my work and then begins the uncomfortable part. In this case, I defend myself, feeling that I’m being picked on unfairly. I try to do my job better, but nothing seems to help.

The dream is a reminder of how I felt working for the company during the last year I was employed there. I lost my job unfairly, I was supposed to be transferred, but that never happened. I suppose it worked out fine, you won’t see a Blockbuster Video store anywhere now. I would have lost my job eventually. Still, it affects me to this day, even though it’s been about 5 years since. It wasn’t the worst dream I ever had, but Blockbuster dreams can sometimes be painful. The happy ones are nice, even though they are few and far between.

Haha, it used to be strange to be complimented on my work. Now that I am working at the hardiness lab at the University of California, Irvine, the atmosphere is much different. The lab leader called me awesome for some research I did to help on a study we’re developing. It’s certainly much nicer than being told you suck!

The negative experiences from working at Blockbuster do tend to make me want to avoid retail employment like the plague. I’m job hunting, have been for the last several months, but now I’m looking in new places. My position at the lab is volunteer work, but it’s good experience. It could lead to a paid job or a foot in the door to a PhD program. I sometimes worry about entering another work environment like the one I had when I worked for Blockbuster. You never know, but you still have to take a chance. Besides, retail usually sucks anyway. ;)

Week 1 Review of The Sims 4

A definite Scott Brown pose.

I’ve had The Sims 4 for about a week now and I feel like my opinion of the game hasn’t changed. I’m taking a short break from the game. After all, there are other games that want my attention! The Sims 4 is a satisfying game with enough to do to occupy my time if I pace myself. Ultimately, there is a significant lack of content if I compare it to The Sims 3. However, that is mainly because of all the expansion packs. Since we only have the base game for Sims 4, it’s not really fair to complain about lack of content when compared to Sims 3, in my opinion.

Of course, there still is the matter of no toddlers or pools. I get the frustration with this. I’m still hoping Maxis is secretly working on putting toddlers in the game soon. Right now I have deactivated aging, so that I can get more acquainted with the game. I can live without pools, but it’s too much fun watching toddlers bug their parents! I heard a rumor that story progression might be coming back, another feature that I’d like to see in The Sims 4.

Recently, one of my families had twins! As far as I can remember, this is the first time I’ve witnessed it. It’s a feature that has been in the other games as far as I know, but this is probably the first time I’ve seen it. What luck and my first time having kids in Sims 4! Infants are much more realistic in this game, especially with the sounds they make. Here’s a quick sample:

There are also a lot more interactions that you can do with them. I really like that there is a breast feed option for moms. That seemed like a long time coming! Of course, dads don’t have that option when clicking on the cradle. ;)

My main concern with the game so far is that there isn’t a lot to do in town. Sure we have libraries,  bars, night clubs, and gyms, but we need more! It would be nice to have restaurants again and maybe some other venues. I spend a lot of time in this game staying home and visiting other sim’s homes. So, it will probably be ok for a while, but I do think I will get tired of the same old places to visit, eventually. Why not have a “downtown” neighborhood where it’s mostly business and maybe a couple of homes?

I still have short loading times. It’s such an improvement in my mind. The longest load time is when I’m loading a household from the main menu. It’s a bit shorter when I’m visiting a new lot. Getting to the main menu is really quick and loading my save takes a couple of seconds. While some complain about having more loading screens, the short load time means you can get into the game and play faster than you could in The Sims 3. You are giving up the open world of Sims 3, but Sims 4 still feels open. Still, it’s true that it’s not the same as Sims 3, where you could go anywhere without loading screens. Overall, I don’t miss the open world, I’d rather have the faster load times and Sims 4 doesn’t feel all that different from Sims 3 as far as visiting lots. Public areas are still accessible without loading screens, so the park in the desert town is a rather large area to explore without having to sit through a loading screen.

With all the negativity around the game, I feel like people ignore the new stuff. So far I stand by my earlier opinions about the new content. Multi-tasking is a big deal and it really makes things easier. Being able to talk, eat, and watch TV helps satisfy sim needs better then in the older games. Sims are much more expressive and animated now. Having different walking styles and seeing expressions on their faces more clearly adds a level of intimacy to the game. I really feel more connected to these sims than I have in the past. Seeing a sim happy makes me feel happy. Their accomplishments are more impactful and when a sim get’s rejected by a romantic interest, well it’s easy to relate to! Having more in-depth emotional states motivates you to try to help them feel better when they are sad and excited for them when they are inspired or confident. Geeze, confident sims really do seem to be more successful in social situations, reminds me of real life. ;)

The Sims 4 community is a great place to chat with fellow simmers and the Maxis staff are active there too. They ask for feedback and suggestions. It makes me feel like they really care about this game. I like that and I feel more connected with the Sims 4 community than I have in previous games. For now I’m pretty active on the forums. Hopefully I’ll stick with it, but with me you never know how long it takes before I move on to something else. Heck, I’m not that active on reddit!

Bottom line: if you are a fan of The Sims buying this game is probably a no-brainer. It’s a fun game that pulls you deeper into the lives of your sims. It is focused on sim life and not on customization, so some people should probably hold off if they like customization. Custom content also doesn’t exist in this game right now. That’s fine with me, I’m not really interested with creating worlds or custom objects. If that doesn’t bother you, then you’ll probably like this game. I spent $70 for the deluxe version. I understand why some complain about the price, but I couldn’t wait! The price will go down eventually and you will see expansions for this game, so you may want to wait for a combo pack. If money isn’t really an issue and you enjoy Sims games, then go for it. Overall, I don’t think you will be disappointed.

 

Free Forza Motorsport 5 Xbox One Weekend

Starting this morning, if you have a Xbox One, you can download Forza Motorsport 5 for free. You can play as much as you want until Sunday night. It’s a full game trial. At first I was hoping it was a special deal and I’d get to keep the game, but I figured it would be like renting it. You have to be a gold member to try it.

Since my last review of The Sims 4, I thought I’d write another review of Forza. This is my first impression of the game as I just played for a little bit. The game feels a lot like it’s predecessors. I have Forza 2 for Xbox360. It’s a racing game that focuses on simulation. The handling can be tricky to get used to if you usually play arcade racers. You start with an easy difficulty mode which you can change.

Probably the biggest change in Forza 5 is that there are no longer any traditional AI racers. The drivers you face are “real” people in that you play against other people’s driving habits. Every time you race your data is collected and after a certain amount of races that data is used to create the drivers that other people race against. It’s similar to AI since you aren’t racing against actual racers in single-player and you aren’t racing against “ghosts.” The drivers are simulated from real players.

It may sound like the game is harder, but because you get to chance the difficulty, you can still race against these drivers without too much trouble. I will say that I had trouble trying to get first place in the races, but I always finished in the top 3. You earn credits and as long as you finish within the top 3 you basically “win” the race. That takes some of the pressure off.

The graphics are very nice, crisp and clean. I feel like I’m really in the driver seat and the backgrounds look so real. The only time I am reminded that I am playing a game is when I see characters or people. Forza has always been good when it comes to graphics and visual performance. The game runs steady at 60fps. There are plenty of cars to choose from and there is a lot of download content. Some of it free, most of it will cost you. :)

I like the game and it’s nice to use the Xbox One controller instead of the Xbox360 controller in a racing game. The controls are nice and the driving is pretty fluid. Also it’s nice having the rumble in the triggers. Ultimately I probably won’t be buying this game as I just spent a nice chunk of change on The Sims 4. However, I am likely to pick up Forza at some point. I recommend trying this game while you can for free and seeing how you like it. Oh and yes my profile is online now, so you may face a driver named SDBmania. That would be me. ;)

The Sims 4 Initial Review

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really excited when The Sims 4 was announced way back when. In fact, I was still enjoying The Sims 3. I thought it was too soon for a new Sims game. This was intensified when I heard there would be no toddler stage in the game! I didn’t care about pools really, so what? But toddlers?

At this point, I was pretty sure I wasn’t getting this game. Then I got my first taste of the gameplay from a Maxis live broadcast and it changed everything! There are few games that make me so excited like with GTA and my friend Mark. Zelda is one I usually pre-order as soon as it’s announced. Pretty much any Mario game will do the same. Then of course it’s The Sims. Ever since I played the first Sims game I’ve been hooked. This year was the first time I actually thought about not pre-ordering.

In the live broadcast, I saw things that made me feel better about the game. I slowly changed my mind and now I’m sitting here with my Origin digital copy, writing this review and thinking about how long I might play today! An all day Sim fest might be in order. I’ll first start by saying what I like and then what I don’t like or think needs fixing. Then I’ll add a short little summary, how bout that? Oh and for those of you who were wondering, the short video is Mark Mushakian showing off his dance moves to hopefully my future bride. Ahh, I mean in the Sims game. ;)

To me, there are four main features that make this game a huge improvement to The Sims 3. First of course is the graphics. If you compare Sims 3 to Sims 4, you can tell they have similar styles. I notice objects and background art the most in terms of improved graphics. Sure the sims themselves look better and if you did a side by side you would notice a difference, but I feel that the objects and backgrounds in The Sims 4 are more noticeably improved. The game is mush more colorful and vibrant. Kind of reminds me of Plants Vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare.

I love bright colors and I feel the “cartoon” look the series has used is much improved in The Sims 4. We aren’t really talking about the graphical jump from Sims 1 to Sims 2, but it’s still significant. The game runs pretty well on my two year old Alienware laptop, so you really won’t need to buy a new computer unless you are still using Windows 98. Another neat thing is that since the game uses DirectX 9.0, you can play the game on Windows XP.

The second thing that I think is big is how emotions work in the game. Now your sim can express emotions in a much more life-like way. You feel sad, your actions relate to that sadness. Another cool thing is that you can try to cheer up a sad sim. Susan, one of my sims, is friendly and outgoing. She likes to cheer up sad sims and it’s fun to do. She’s pretty good at it too! Certain emotions unlock different behaviors and there are some actions you can’t do. I like this as it makes the game more realistic. As a student of psychology, I love seeing how sims interact with each other when in different emotional states. Some people may scoff at advanced emotions being over-hypped, but for me I think they make the game more immersive.

Third, multi-tasking. In The Sims 3, there were some instances where it looked like Sims were doing two things at once. In The Sims 4, almost any activity allows your sim to also talk to another sim and sometimes do a third thing. This applies to almost any action, so it feels more realistic. I can talk to someone, eat, and watch TV. So can my sim! They also move around much more realistically. They look and feel more animated, more human. I haven’t really stopped and let the autonomy system do it’s thing yet. I like to control every part of the lives of my sims! Eventually I’ll be able to see how well they make their own decisions.

Finally, the fourth thing I think is really a big improvement is the loading times. I understand that having more loading screens seems like a downer, but I feel it’s a big improvement. Even on this computer, it takes about two to three minutes to load my Sims 3 save. In The Sims 4, it’s less than a minute to get to the main menu and load my save. I can get into the game much faster. Yeah, there are loading screens anytime I want to visit a new lot, but they are pretty quick. Just a few seconds. Granted I have a hybrid SDD drive, but I think even with a standard hard drive the loading times should be quick. It’s a good trade off. I don’t want to wait too long to get into the game, even if it means I have more loading screens. Plus, this means the computer doesn’t have to load the whole town at once, so the game runs smoother.

Ok, now on to the few problems I’ve run into. Like usual, there’s clipping, when a sim passes through an object or wall. I’m pretty used to this as it’s been in every sims game. So far it’s been light, so it’s not a huge deal. In a perfect world, there would be no clipping at all, but I don’t think it’s game breaking. As far as sims clipping each other, I saw it happen twice in my game so far. Most of the time the sims make a good effort to move around each other. I had Susan on the side walk talking with some neighbors and there was a lot of activity. All the sims passing by managed to move around Susan and her neighbors. At this time, it seems like clipping is a minor issue. It could change as I play more today, so we’ll see.

Another bug I encountered was that at some point I noticed that Susan was carrying a spoon in her hand every where she went. At first I thought since her aspiration was to become a chef and that she was in the culinary career track that it was intentional, but then she started cooking again. The spoon flew around the kitchen while she cooked and I could tell it was a bug! I’ll see if the spoon is still there when I play today. Hopefully I just need to delete the cache files to fix it!

Another thing that I have noticed is that sometimes my sim (that’s the sim version of me) comes over to Susan’s and after staying a while he will say, “Well I should get going,” but doesn’t leave. Perhaps it’s because I had a social action with him cued up at the time. Other times when sims say they are leaving, they leave. There are little things like this that confuse me. I’m not sure if this is a bug or is intentional. I also notice that if you say goodbye to a guest, he or she will not leave until you “ask them to leave.” Saying goodbye to your guest should be a hint. ;)

The last thing I will say is how much I wish toddlers were in the game! That’s right, they are annoying and whiny, but so much fun! I loved seeing infants and toddlers wake up their parents and then seeing the parents yelling at their kids for waking them up. I loved pushing the toddlers in strollers and teaching them stuff. It’s really the only missing feature that I actually, miss. I certainly don’t miss the attraction system and hearing about every sim who is attracted to me. I won’t miss the constant phone calls with sims asking me out on dates (though might not be so bad in real life!). I won’t miss pools for now, would like them eventually, but I can live without them for a while. But, please give me toddlers!

The bottom line? While I haven’t explored much of the game world yet (the first few hours I spent at my sims house and visiting with neighbors) I have to recommend this game. As a caution, I’ve only had the game for a little while, so this is my first impression. If you are a big fan of The Sims series, then buying this game is a no brainer. If you are on the fence, I’d say get the digital version on Orgin. You can try it for up to 24 hours and if you don’t like it you can get a refund. Not a bad deal since there is no regular demo of the game.

I think this game has real potential and it can only get better. I feel that so far there aren’t a lot of bugs for a newly released game, though this could change as I continue playing. Having emotions and seeing how they effect sims is fun and the multi-tasking feature is very much welcomed. Also, the user interface is a major improvement. I forgot to mention that, so really there are FIVE things that are huge improvements in The Sims 4! I haven’t experienced most of the game yet, so my opinion could change, but I’d say the good outweighs the bad.

Hot Dog Dancing Mark Mushakian

 

As I am sure you all know, there is a man by the name of Mark Mushakian. Is he famous? Yeah he is. Is he loved by all? You betcha! Is he hell of a lot better at life than me? You bet he is! Why, ah, well anyway let me get to the point of this blog post.

I’ve recently got back into The Sims 3 and I realized that I didn’t have my best friend Mark in the game. EA did a super cool thing last month and gave away a free copy of The Sims 2 ultimate edition.  Mark ended up getting a copy and started playing. It was the first time he ever played a sims game as I recall. Well, he put me in the game and gave me a hot wife. To repay him for his generosity, I put him in my Sims 3 game.

So far, Mark has become a paparazzi, met my family, switched to the sports career track, and is now friends with Apple Brown. Apple is cousins with Simon Brown, my son. Of course, I’ve been dead for several sim years, but I have a feeling I will be reincarnated within the family in the future!

Anyway, Mark Mushakian was invited to a Spooky Day party at Simon’s house recently. What’s neat is that you can throw a costume party in The Sims 3 and there are a variety of costumes, though there is bound to be some overlap. Apparently Mark chose a hot dog costume. What you see in the video is his dancing style, which seems pretty hip to me. You can tell that he really enjoyed the party!

Yet Another Blog Post About Spam

Website news: 8/2/2014

I tend to get these from time to time in my e-mail inbox. On a blog my friend created, markmushakian.com, he wrote about spam messages he received. I was inspired! I’m pretty lazy when it comes to dealing with spam comments, but for a while some of them sounded like they could be genuine. However, you can tell it’s a spam comment by looking at the name of the “person” who left it. You can see in the above picture that it is a good example of spam. Now sure, there could be a real person named “a2z Health and Wellness” and maybe he or she was giving me an honest comment. Somehow I doubt that!

I can assure you that I do get an occasional real person posting a comment on here. When that happens, it’s quite obvious that they are responding to the post I wrote. I do keep those on my site. So, in essence, if you are a real person and want to leave a comment, it stays on here. If you are a bot or some automated spammer, I’m starting to delete those regularly. It’s just getting to be a bit much. Oh, here is one of my favorite spam comments so far:

Umm, this was a post about the Kindle Fire HDX?