I couldn't hold back. I wanted to draw them for so long and I finally did it

Weekly Update

Nothing to report.

I had a big ol’ ripper of a rant, but it was pretty much everything I’d already said in therapy. Y’all don’t gotta take that on. So I’m gonna let it lie where it ought- with a professional.

I’ll just say I hope everyone had a good holiday weekend. I miss everyone a lot and I hope we can game together soon.

Video Games

Holy smokes did I play some games or did I play some GAMES. (I played some games). Gonna do my best to recap everything I did below. 

Crusader Kings 3 (PC)

Crusader Kings 3 is a grand strategy game about facilitating a royal line in the medieval world and leading it to ever greater heights of fame and power. Eventually, you’ll see your humble bloodline climb to the highest echelons of the lite.

Crusader Kings 3 is a grand strategy game about overseeing a perpetual house fire of family turmoil in the medieval world and watching over the course of hours and days as it burns itself straight to the ground.

Both of these things are equally true. And shockingly, both are equally fun.

I played about 30 hours of this game over Thanksgiving break. And although my first royal family was more of the house fire variety, I can’t deny that my experience was memorable and deeply enjoyable.

In Crusader Kings 3 you play as a king- not a kingdom, but the actual ruler. You have stats and abilities and traits, and the decisions you make throughout your reign affect them in dramatic ways. You also oversee an entire family of individuals who you can similarly affect with your actions. 

While the game itself also has traditional strategy concepts such as war and economy, the real meat and bones are in the simply click to choose narrative bubbles that pop up throughout your playthrough. Will you attend the ball, or slink away into the night? Will you charge the rampart or let your knights serve as your shield? Will you marry the unskilled heir of a powerful ally, or commoner with the brilliant stewardship abilities? Every decision ensures that your playthrough will be nothing like anyone else’s.

It is a complex and robust system, demanding you take on an encyclopedia’s worth of terms and vocabulary to fully understand what is happening. Everything- and I mean EVERYTHING- has a stat modifier attached to it. War is unforgiving and often devastating, and economic buildup is fragile and requires immense patience. This is a slow experience, to be sure, one that makes games like Civ or even Endless Space seem lightning paced in comparison.

There aren’t many folks I could recommend this game to. The few I know who have tried it have given up after a couple hours, discouraged by the obtuse volume of systems and intricacies that I won’t even pretend to have a full grasp of as of this writing.

But what I will say is that it is rare for a strategy game to be so accepting of ignorance and mistakes- and if you’re willing to give Crusader Kings 3 the time to open up, it will reward you. 

My first king after the starter king died at 33, half-insane, wounded and tortured to death after an ill-fated war against a neighboring county who happened to be best buds with the King of England- a much, much stronger kingdom than I. But I kept going, and by the time I’d hit the 5th and 6th kings in my succession, my rulers were regularly living well past 55 years of age, occasionally winning wars, but more importantly, staying out of unnecessary ones, and making plenty of gold for kingdom improvements.

Granted, this all came crashing down after an opportunistic neighbor declared war on me as I was in the midst of my own expansion. They captured an incredibly valuable county from me, and my kingdom never recovered. I watched as my territory disappeared claim by claim until at last my army of less than 100 was wiped out, my last city captured, and my bloodline swiftly ended via jailing and executions.

But...it was a thrilling end to over 200 years of royal drama, and I was immediately plotting how I’d do better next game.

Hitman 2 (PS4)

So when I said I played some GAMES, I mostly meant I got deep into a couple of games that require a lot of investment and focus. I’ve put in over 150 hours with Hitman 1 and 2 combined. I maxed out the mastery level of every mission in the first game- twice, so I could unlock the old equipment for the new game- and have been working my way through total mastery on the second game ever since.

If someone were to ask me what I think the best game of the PS4/XBONE gen is, I’d say, without hesitation, Hitman. It’s rare to find a game that is so rewarding of your time, so dedicated to presenting you with a thoughtful and clever world as this. Every level is a perfect puzzle. Every solution is both humorous and karmic and deeply satisfying. The rewards are many and you earn them often enough to keep you coming back. There are more side-contracts than I could ever possibly play. There’s even a co-op mode that I haven’t touched, not to mention the custom contracts. There’s even more than that, but if I go on I’ll start to sound like a back of box summary.

I finally finished the Isle of Sgail this week. A massive, sprawling castle with multiple layers of security and triggered events, it took FOREVER to learn. In fact, it was so massive that I gave up on it several times before finally resolving to finish it.

Now, I’m a deeply obsessive Hitman player. I don’t move on from a level until I’ve maxed out its mastery rating and unlocked all of its items for my inventory. But had I not wanted to do that? I could have moved forward at any time. And that’s the joy of Hitman. It doesn’t force you to stick around longer than you’d want to. If you want to play every single hit the same way, you can! If you want to just walk into every single level, shoot your target in the head, and leave- it might be a bit tricky, but it isn’t impossible, and you could do that and conceivably play every single level in the course of maybe a week.

But if you want to take your time and really memorize these brilliant layouts over the course of weeks, months, or in my case- years? You can do that too. Either way can be the right way to enjoy Hitman. 

I’m guessing these games will go on sale a few more times before 3 drops. If you can pick up 2′s premium edition, which includes 1, I’d highly recommend it. It is rare that you will find a title with so much pure single player content. Years worth, if you want it.

Depending on how the devs handle inventory and progress crossover for 3, I’ll have a big decision to make on what console I choose to play. I couldn’t care less where the story is going, but then, has anyone ever? These games have been an absolute joy to play, and that’s what matters.

Also...a Bond game from the same devs?

Sign me up!

Link’s Awakening (Switch) 

I always told myself I’d never pay full price for this. Because Nintendo’s gonna Nintendo, I had to wait a full year before I could catch any sort of break on this price. 

Eventually picked up Link’s Awakening and so far it’s pretty much been exactly what I expected. My muscle memory carried me through 2 dungeons in less than 90 minutes. The visuals were gorgeous, the music delightful, and my continual nostalgic recall at times overwhelming. This really is the same game we all played on our Gameboys, brought back to life for a new gen.

There’s nothing new here to go over. However, if you have a child or a partner who didn’t grow up with this? I’d recommend picking it up for them. Link’s Awakening has always been one of the least intimidating and most accessible Zelda games out there, and this reboot (or remaster? idk!) is an absolute charmer.

Premium Bowling (Oculus Quest 2)

So it’s come to this. Bowling. The more things have changed since the Wii, the more they stay the same. Bowling is still the most satisfying motion activity you can do, it seems.

Premium Bowling is exactly what it sounds like- a game about bowling. You have a few different alleys to choose and no shortage of pin set ups. The added ability to track not just your hand motions but your steps is really cool- and I like to hope my actual bowling form has improved as I play this. I get a good light workout in and the ball and pins tend to behave the way I feel like they should.

Not much else to say here. The price tag is a bit steep for a bowling experience, but far as I can tell this seems to be the main, if not only, one out there, and the reviews are overwhelmingly positive, even as I have to admit the announcer bugs the daylights out of me.

Anime

Folks- I did the damn thing. I got out there and I watched some anime! FINALLY.

I don’t know what I keep avoiding this stuff. There are so many good and interesting stories out there at my fingertips, and I just keep ignoring them to go watch wrestling or bet on Spriteclub. It’s awful!

Well, no more. This week, I got to catch up on some stories. Here’s what I got so far.

Note: For titles I haven’t written about previously, I’ll provide a short summary. For others, not so much. For my more critical thoughts- my experiences are my own and not a judgement of others. Maybe you loved one series or hated another. That’s totally fine! Everyone should love what they love without reservation. As always, I love hearing about what you love. If you think I missed something, or just want to share something about your experience that really made an anime click? Hit me up! Also, I am ALWAYS taking recommendations- and I will almost always follow up if I give something you send my way a shot :)

Fire Force

Fire Force’s season 2 is finally, after what feels like an eternity, winding down. It’s still a gorgeous show and certainly one of the most on-brand shonen out there. It’s also, for me, one of the most uneven.

Season 2 has been all over the damn place this year, introducing countless characters and following no small number of random threads before finally coming back to Shinra and the 8th’s mission to determine the cause of human combustion. 

The past couple of eps in particular have been brutal, with actual character death and mutilation taking a front seat- things I was not necessarily expecting from a fairly gung-ho shonen.

I still enjoy the world that Fire Force has built. It’s an undeniably cool aesthetic. I’ll be curious to see what, if any, cliff-hangers the writers leave us as the heroes close in on the evil Evangelist.

Jujutsu Kaisen

Speaking of shonens, this particular title about a possessed teenager with a death sentence has really come into its own in its first season. Its lore is absolutely lovely, and the more I learn about curses and those who hunt them, the more I want to know.

I’ll spare the rundown on what this show’s about- I’ve gone over it in previous blogs. Suffice to say those who are after a more mature shonen with a darker plot will dig this one a lot.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

A young adventurer named Bell becomes an adventurer- not to kill monsters or earn glory, but to find true love. Eventually, he finds it, but not in the way he expects. After getting cornered by a monster way above his level, he is rescued by a beautiful warrior named Ais. The story follows Bell’s quest to get stronger so that he can impress Ais- and stand with confidence amongst other adventurers.

Only watched the first ep of this. It was charming, well animated. I hear it’s picked up a lot of steam in its third season. I don’t know that I can say the hook really grabbed me, but it’s a very cute show.

One-Punch Man

Saitama has a problem- he’s trained so hard that he’s now TOO strong, and can finish every fight with just one punch. He’s now bored and despondent, as the hobby he took up for fun now lacks the spark that he once felt before. Dealing with these feelings and seeking a challenge that shakes up his low-stakes, humdrum day to day life- that is the story we follow in One-Punch Man.

So I’ve read the manga for OPM. I loved it. I thought, and still think, its animation is superior to the anime. When I first tried OPM I couldn’t get past that, and I eventually gave up. 

I also thought that a lot of OPM stories had kind of a weird tone- it’s definitely a loner/outsider story, and a lot of the villains and antagonists that get set up are absolutely poking fun at the typical things you’d expect an angry loner story to poke fun at. I won’t get too into it, but when I first tried OPM that weird undercurrent really made it hard for me to get into it the way a lot of other guys I knew were.

A few years later, I’m giving it a shot again. And overall? 

I don’t hate it. 

I think I’m looking at the protagonist, Saitama, in a different light. His boredom, his lackluster deference and his blank stares all play to a place that I find more familiar than I’d like to admit.

But also- the animation is fine and I’m a dummy for giving it grief. And the music is just super rad as well. 

I think I’ll eventually finish OPM now that I have both more distance between the manga now and now that I’ve kinda settled down on what throws me off, content-wise, in a story. I’m going to give OPM the benefit of the doubt and keep watching. I’ll report back when I finish.

Mob Psycho 100

A lot of folks I know have ranted that Mob Psycho 100 is the best darn thing to happen to anime in ages. I guess the visuals, much as they did for One-Punch Man, sorta dissuaded me from seeing what all the hype was about.

And I guess they still kinda do. I...I guess Mob Psycho is pretty in its own way. It’s definitely not the visual aesthetic I go searching for in an anime, but I’m trying to do a better job of not judging that too harshly.

Anyway, Mob Psycho 100 is about a kid named Mob who acts as a powerful exorcist on behalf of his bumbling and powerless teacher. Together they take on demons as a for-hire service.

I feel like I’ve heard this show is hilarious? I don’t know. I didn’t find too much to chuckle about, but it was well-done and it certainly had no shortage of chaotic energy and visuals.

I’ll probably finish it, if only ‘cuz I’m mildly intrigued about just what so many others see in Mob as a protag, and ‘cuz I’m also curious what so many folks are drawing from the series as a whole. But so far, I haven’t found myself hooked.

No Guns Life

The main character has a gun for a head. Honestly? That was weird enough to make me pass over the thumbnail for months.

Recently though, I’ve been rewatching Solty Rei, and it got me in the mood for weird sci-fi noir stories. So I thought what the hell, I’ll give the gunhead a try.

I’m so, so glad I did.

Of all the titles I tried out this week, No Guns Life is the best. It is dark, brooding, gorgeous, but also knows when to have fun. 

In a future world where prosthetic replacement has been normalized- if not popularized, a mercenary named Juzo is handed a case by a desperate “Extended” (the term used for more advanced cyborgs) who asks him to look after a boy that was just rescued from a corporate lab. Juzo takes the case, and his life immediately becomes more complicated- and dangerous.

It’s a classic noir hook that feels both familiar yet fresh in thanks to the series’ inventive visuals and intricate lore. Further, the voice acting is just pure hard-boiled goodness, whether you watch it in English or the original Japanese.

Do yourself a favor and give the first episode a try. You might just love it.

The Millionaire Detective Balance: Unlimited

An honest and earnest blue-collar detective is paired up with a new recruit at his precinct- a recruit who turns out to be the richest man on the planet!

That’s it. That’s the show. It is not trying to hide anything- that’s its premise and it’s sticking by it.

And a few times, I even laughed at its brazenness. 

At one point during a high speed chase, the millionaire successfully resolves the chase by...telling his butler to pay everyone to get out of the way- at “twice the market value”. Which. What even...

The Millionaire Detective’s power is literally that he is rich and can afford anything. When he accesses his balances, they are listed as “unlimited”. He buys everyone off. Pays for every damage he causes. He can make city utilities such as traffic lights and draw bridges do anything he likes. At one point, the Millionaire Detective stops a foreign dignitary in the middle of the street and buys the dignitary’s vehicle on the spot so he can continue his chase. It’s...well. It’s the logical conclusion of the series title. I’ll give it that much.

No idea if I’d finish this. It has some funny ideas. I like that the eps end with a balance sheet that tells you how much was spent. 

Uzaki-chan Wants to Hang Out

A loner in college is constantly shadowed and harassed by an indomitable girl named Uzaki who, true to the name of the series, wants to hang out.

I watched one ep of this show. I didn’t dislike it! I’m a sucker for low stakes slice of life comedies like this where the biggest conflict is whether or not the protag gets to go to the movies alone.

It’s not as clever as other slice of life anime I’ve seen, but it’s not abrasive. The namesake character Uzaki is a bit manic, and the loner is a bit of a bore, but there’s chemistry I could see following for a few more eps. I also just enjoy observing Japanese culture as it unfolds in stories like these. There’s so much to pick up in these kinds of stories, so I may continue on with it, if only out of curiosity. 

The Rising of Shield Hero

A guy gets transported to a world in dire need of heroes. Everyone who is brought to the world is assigned a weapon which they will use to save the kingdom. Our protagonist gets the Shield- considered the weakest assignment. Derided by his allies and cast out after no small number of misunderstandings, Rising of Shield Hero is the story of one man’s drive to do the right thing and save the kingdom that never wanted him in the first place.

This is my second try with Shield Hero. I gave up once before. But now...I’m giving Shield Hero another shot.

I tried this title about a year ago. I was really harsh on its opening ep’, which hinges on a false rape accusation and a typical loner outsider isekai protagonist. Its “best girl” is a character who is introduced by way of being literally purchased from a slaver. None of this was presented in an especially egregious or even disrespectful format, but at the time I was watching it, I just lacked patience for it.

But time is a funny thing. We grow, we re-evaluate, and we make ourselves open to change.

I think I’ve had time to chill out since my first experience with Shield Hero and not be so bothered by the particulars (that, and...well, my experience with Goblin Slayer really put some shit in perspective, ugh). Did I think some of ep 1 was unimaginative? Yes. But was any of it actually a dealbreaker? Nah.I know a lot of good folks who I trust that have really resonated with Shield Hero as it has unfolded. It’s worth giving it another try.

Shield Hero’s setting is beautiful and its characters are certainly drawn to create an emotional investment. We want to root for the the Shield Hero, because he is quietly determined and righteous. We want to protect Raphtalia be cause she is vulnerable and kind. We want to see the antagonists fail because they’re all huge jerks. This aint rocket science, but I’ll grant it is effective and I want to be a part of the ride like so many others are.

I’m going to keep working through this, if only because I know season 2 is a damn event in anime and I don’t want to miss out. I’ll let you know if things keep improving. I’ve done episode 2 thus far, and I liked it more than ep 1. So we’ll see if that trend keeps up.

All VR Headsets of Spring 2019 Compared: Prices and Specs Review

if you're in the market to finally dive into VR or if you're ready to have a headset and want to upgrade spring of 2019 is going to be crazy awesome there is so many your headsets lined up for release which one should you buy let's take a look at all the specs of everything new this coming out and decide and the very first headset I would like to talk about is the one that I'm very excited about and will likely get for myself and that is oculus quest we don't know when exactly this headset will be shipping but the announcement will likely come at f8 at the end of April this headset is going to cost 399 US dollars and this is a completely standalone system that is you don't need an expensive PC to run VR it's gonna be completely wireless with six degrees of freedom with inside out tracking let's take a look at what's under the hood of oculus quest first things first because it's not going to be connected to an expensive PC so it's not going to be able to run on an expensive GPU what its gonna have inside is a CPU the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 now it is a bit of an older mobile CPU but that should be enough to run the games what we're going to have is 1440 by 1600 / a resolution on this headset which is already larger than the original ripped or vive the only thing is that the refresh rate is not going to drop to 72 Hertz oculus rift CV 1 HTC vive usually right mind you hurts we're also losing the intuitive headphones and getting the integrated speakers instead which personally I don't mind for mobile system and you can always plug in your own headphones if you'd like what this headset is keeping though is the hardware IPD adjustment that goes from roughly 58 millimeters to 72 millimeters just like rifts ev1 and it's going to have the same field of view as the original rift at roughly 100 degrees the tracking of the quest controllers as well as the headset itself is going to be done with a new insight system and that relies on four cameras usually for inside our tracking systems like for Windows mix reality you only have two cameras but this one will have four there's already a whole list of interesting games that are gonna be coming to the quest and I have my own favorites picked out for the next video but we are confirmed to be able to have cross play within the stores as well as cross buy options depending on the developer allows for it for example something like DC where you will be able to play them both on the quest and the rift and you possibly don't even have to buy it anymore if you have it in the oculus store already I'm very excited for the oculus quest to come out because now I don't have to be tethered to my actual gaming PC I can go anywhere in the world and showcase VR to anybody that I want out there so far the only headset that can challenge that that we know is coming out this spring is via focus plus now this one is a very very special case it is coming out mid-april actually April 15th is its release date but it comes at $800 price tag just like oculus quest it will have Qualcomm Snapdragon 805 processor with 1440 by 1600 resolution for each eye the refresh rate is a little bit higher at 75 Hertz compared to 72 on quest and it does to have the hardware IPD adjustment although we don't know exactly what is the measurement for that this is an enterprise-level headset though so I don't think many gamers will be interested in it particularly because we know it has a lot of tracking issues based on the reviewers from a CES and double the price for oculus quest this particular has it just makes no sense to buy the only other similar interesting offering from wife is vive cosmos that is built as a VR for everyone with an easy setup a comfortable design and modular capabilities and it says the device Kosmos goes beyond everything you could want in one device that is a selling tagline but we know almost nothing about this particular headset we don't even know when it's coming out so I'm not gonna discuss it in this particular video it's not going to be coming out this summer at least as of making of this video if something changes I will make a video out cosmos by itself so we're gonna just disregard cosmos at this point in time but speaking of enterprise level headsets HP is throwing his hat in the ring as well with an awesome HP reverb that's gonna be available at the end of April and it comes at a $600 price tag it is primarily enterprise hardware but it will come as a consumer Edition at $600 as well as the professional Edition at 650 dollars in a consumer version you get the washable face fabric cushion and with the professional edition you get the leather face cushion smaller cable for a backpack VR laptop and a commercial warranty this is a tethered headset so it has to be plugged in to a VR capable DC does come with integrated headphones although they are removable if you want to have your own headphones now wear this headset really shines is that it's going to have 2160 by 2160 resolution per eye that is unheard of in all of the headsets available so far and it will have a 90 Hertz refresh rate this beast of a headset will require DisplayPort 1.3 to handle all that video bandwidth and it is said to have the field of view of 114 degrees although this is still a Windows mixed reality headset the design of the headband has shifted to that of the rift cv1 there is they dish to the halo band in favor of this strap in the middle nowhere this headset starts to fall short is that it doesn't have any hardware IPD adjustment the lenses are fixed and 63 millimeters apart and the software adjustment is exposed to accommodate from 55 millimeters to 71 millimeters but I think the biggest downside to HP reverb is the fact that it only has a 2 camera inside out tracking which is quite standard for the Windows mix to reality but still that is not enough to precisely track your controllers as well as your headset and hands-on reviewers noted that you do tend to lose your controllers now and then if they are out of the view of the cameras still though the amazing resolution that HP Weaver will provide left a lot of people hoping that that is exactly when the next iteration of rift will go but oculus rift s went in a bit of a different direction it has been announced a bit of a lukewarm reaction but this is still quite a formidable headset in my opinion just like Aquos quest is going to cost 399 US dollars and likely likely we're gonna get an announcement about the shipment days once again at the end of April at f8 although model that has been confirmed that is just my situation for both Quest and the rift and as you start to compare oculus quest and rift as you start to see the roof test is kind of a downgrade in several instances particularly the resolution on rift test is going to be 1280 by 1440 per eye that's quite a downgrade from the 1440 by 1600 pariah on quest the refresh rate is going to be 80 Hertz which is above the oculus quest 72 Hertz but still below the 90 Hertz which is available on the original rift cv1 and the field of view is said to be slightly larger than that of the rift which is 100 degrees but we don't know the exact number for the rift has just yet just like with quest we are all losing our integrated headphones and getting the integrated speakers instead but the main thing that we are losing on roof tests from both the quest and the original rift is that there's going to be no hardware IPG adjustment you can check out my whole video about that in a link in the description down below but basically now the lenses are fixed at sixty three point five millimeters apart which is gonna be optimal for users with an IP G from sixty one and a half to about sixty five and a half but there is software adjustment that is supposed to accommodate 58 to 72 millimeters IPG the good thing in my opinion is now rift as is ditching the whole constellation sensor tracking system is going to use in site tracking just like the quest but it will have five cameras so for in the periphery and the fifth one on top for better control tracking that simplifies the whole setup for the rift and it's almost reason enough to upgrade aside from the fact that resolution is now gonna be better at 1280 by 1440 per eye compared to rift cv1 and all the hands-on reviews coming in so far point to the fact that this is actually a very good headset and I'm almost ready to upgrade almost if it wasn't for one little thing and of course the elephant in the room is the fact that valve index has been announced now it's very tough to talk about this particular headset because so little is known about it except for the fact that it has been leaked but confirmed by valve that the pre-orders are gonna be happening in the early may after the official announcement and the shipment is targeted for June so technically this headset is coming out in spring 2019 this is why it is in this video I could not not include it and actually if you're curious about all the rumors surrounding the valve induce you can check out my video that's once again linked in the description down below right now we don't know what the price of this headset is going to be there's been no hints whatsoever all we know that it will be available for purchase just as a headset itself with the valve knuckles now called index controls being sold separately as well as the lighthouse system sold separately as well or you can buy the whole thing as a package no prices have been announced for anything in particular I believe right now the average that people are predicting is going to be between 700 and 800 US dollars from the hole set but we only have a few more weeks to wait before the actual price will be announced now the whole thing in my opinion is quite a shot across the bow of oculus with rift as everything from the teaser picture featuring the hardware IPG adjustment slider to the timing of the announcement confirmed to be on May 1st which follows exactly f/8 which happens between April thirtieth and May 1st it looks like valve is targeting oculus directly so now many are dubbing valve index as a rift to of course everything I'm about to say our pure speculations none of this has been confirmed all of these are pure speculation based on rumors leaks and suppositions so valve index will be coming with valve knuckles and it will have the outside tracking lighthouse 2.0 system it will very likely have the minimum resolution of 1440 by 1600 per eye and have a refresh rate of 90 Hertz its field of view is supposed to be 135 degrees which is much larger than any other headsets I discussed in this particular video so there's a big debate right now where the valve will be competing in price against oculus or vive that'll really determine the price of the valve index I highly doubt that they're going to be trying to undercut oculus at its 399 price per headset but they might match the price of vipro or even go below it the current way believe I Pro had said to cost 799 dollars that's just what the headset alone without the controller's or the lighthouse system so maybe valve will bundle everything for 800 at least that is my speculation at this point in time so as when personally I'm definitely jumping on the oculus quest system I cannot wait to see where the good mobile solution for VR will take us so many amazing games have already been confirmed for quest and although you can expect some dumb grades and graphics when you compare the same game with quest toward the one played on rift still I think the portability of the headset itself is gonna be quite good for growing the VR industry and as much as I would love to upgrade to rift as from my current rift system I will hold out and wait until wealth index confirms some of the specs and releases more information about their headset so with that in mind what kind of had said would you purchase I'm kind of curious to hear your opinions on the whole spring 2019 lineup of hm geez thank you so much for watching I'm real and I'll see you in my next video

https://youtu.be/odNhruvTR1M

Free Online Cooking Games Exposed

Blade 720 Drone We look pleased with ourselves and thrust the knife in again, seemingly oblivious towards self-inflicted nightmare which will be acted on. As if we all being clever or a certain method. You should start by finding some keywords that describe every bit of internet site. You should choose specific words and you'll want to include some for every section. Another part of one's research---you appear around give at sites that will help with these meta tags. Once you have your tags in order, analyze a test page or your index page before you add these types of every page on internet site. These as well as men women will be best at boasting. You understand how you emphasize tips attributes at a professional moving into a application? In your resume, may well be skillfully boasting. To become a online dating profile making use of the driver method is like an experienced guitarist resume, excluding your makeup. Speak about the points that drive everyone. Chat about your likes and dislikes, your life triumphs and things may are satisfied with. If you still do not decide for you to express, take a your parents bragging a person to other parents. Precisely what do people say? Were you always a smart student? Have you been the best sports player on your team? Lament how your mother and father bragged with regards to you, then think the items you're personally pleased with, and soon, you'll possess a driver type profile. DisneyQuest Indoor Interactive amusement park is a one-of-a-kind gaming experience as Downtown Disney area. Discover 5 floors of cutting-edge technology, Virtual Reality Headset and 3D encounters fueled by Disney innovation and imagination. Whether possess a virtual team of 1 or a hundred, your virtual team are a lot more employees. Subjected to testing your young partners. They are truly your support beams that assist you bridge the gap between the brick and mortal reality and VR Headset. When the importance someone works together with you in the distance, their level of commitment, intimacy if you will, is much bigger. In the end, are usually only seeing from the point of view among the mind, its ideas, concepts, and decision. As a result, we aren't free; all of us prisoners of this oculus rift until we recognize it for which it is actually. Now I am not saying this is bad, to be able to how we were made to operate. But to live our lives only seeing through the equipment is denying ourselves on the list of greatest gifts that Spirit has provided us with. We had no Federal Tax. We got that change too. We'd all the rights our "forefathers" willed to us so some time past when the "old" nation was devised. But that is all over now! As well as more amazing, we put with the taking of associated with them! How crazy is that? Today all to keep rights are almost completely gone. And worse yet, the planned changes likely to come for us by design is not over!

Eye tracking for gamers: seeing is believing

http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=16976 Eye tracking for gamers: seeing is believing - http://www.internetunleashed.co.uk/?p=16976 Gaming with an eye tracker feels like virtual reality-lite. It’s cheaper, easier to set up, and is already available in some of your favorite games. It offers some of the same features as VR, too: you can swivel the camera by moving your gaze or turning your head, for example.But can it fundamentally change the way you play? And what’s next for the tech? Tobii is the largest company in the space, so TechRadar tried out its flagship eye tracker – the 4C – and spoke to its head of gaming to find out. The Tobii 4C The 4C is much larger than I expected. It’s a black bar that stretches 13 inches across the bottom of your monitor, which is most of my laptop screen. It’s chunky enough to stop you closing your laptop when you’re finished playing, but it does at least have a discrete, sleek finish.It plugs into your laptop or PC via a USB cable, and you attach it to the bottom of your monitor with a sturdy stick-on strip. It’s easy to set up, and after some quick calibration you’re ready to jump into one of the 120+ games that support it. The list includes everything from sprawling RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance to space sim Elite Dangerous. Tobii has especially close ties with both Square Enix and Ubisoft, which means a lot of the games those studios publish or develop are compatible, including Assassin’s Creed Origins, Final Fantasy XV and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided. The Tobii 4C eye tracker The tracker has two main components: cameras and illuminators. The illuminators shine infra-red light into your eyes, while the camera take pictures. Among other things, the camera is looking for the 'twinkle' of the screen’s reflection in your eye, and measures the angle between that spot and your pupil to work out where you’re looking; it’s taking 90 pictures a second to make sure it stays responsive.The results are reassuringly accurate. It picks up my eyes from a variety of angles and distances away from the screen, and it works even if I sit off-center. When I turn on ‘gaze trace’, which traces where the system thinks your eyes are looking on screen, my point of focus is always within the boundaries of the white circle. If you turn on 'gaze trace', the Tobii 4C will display where it thinks you're looking, shown by the white shape on the right of the screen here It’s never bang in the centre of the circle, however, which means that it sometimes makes mistakes. When I try to select an option in the Tobii desktop menu, for example, it occasionally thinks I’m looking at the option below or above. Tobii says it expects slight variations in accuracy because “everyone’s eyes are just a little bit different”, which might explain the discrepancy. Within 10 minutes of playing Hitman I’m glancing up at the sky and through windows without even thinking about it. But it’s more than good enough for gaming, which is what I’m really interested in. Supported games will each offer different features, but the one that’s most common is ‘extended view’. Essentially, this lets you move the camera with your eyes: if you look at the edge of your screen, the camera will move that way. It won’t fully turn – it’s more of a gentle pan in that direction – but it’s a useful way of taking a glance at anything that’s just out of shot.I expected it to be a gimmick, but it’s natural to control, and makes me feel more present in the game worlds. Within 10 minutes of playing Hitman I’m glancing up at the sky and through windows without even thinking about it. Some games also let you turn your head to move the camera even further. It works, but it feels a lot less natural, like I’m turning my head further than I ever naturally would when sat in front of a monitor.You can see both features at work in the video below, recorded in Hitman. After walking down the steps, I don’t touch the controls at all. The first pans – to the four corners – are controlled by my glancing at the edge of the screen, and then I turn my head to left and right for bigger swings. That clip also shows off perhaps my favorite eye-tracking trick: the game will hide bits of the UI when you’re not looking at them. That means the mini-map in the bottom left is transparent during normal gameplay, and only fills in when you glance in its direction. I love minimal UIs, so I’ll take anything that makes my screen less cluttered.But the best features come when eye tracking is more integral to a game’s controls. The best example I’ve found is in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, where you can move from cover to cover using your eyes. You simply look at the spot that you want to go to next and press a button to send Adam Jensen scurrying off, as you can see in the clip below.  It feels smooth and intuitive. As with a lot of eye-tracking features, it’s especially useful if you want to play with a controller rather than mouse and keyboard. A mouse can give you the fine control that a joystick often can’t, so being able to point with your eyes is a good compensator. I’m still not sold on the act of aiming a weapon with a glance, though. That’s another common feature, which I try in Human Revolution, Hitman, and co-op hack-and-slash game Vermintide 2. In the first two, your weapon will snap to wherever you’re looking if you press the aim-down-sights button. In Vermintide 2, you can aim the wizard class’s fireballs with your eyes: you just click the fire button and he’ll shoot them wherever you’re looking.It sounds cool, but it feels alien and awkward. In Vermintide 2 my fireballs are accurate, but aiming away from the center of the screen doesn’t look right, and I much prefer using a mouse or game pad, while aiming down sights in Hitman and Human Revolution is jarring because the camera instantly snaps to the spot you’re looking at. Take a look in the clip below. 'The sky's the limit' Tobii’s head of gaming, Martin Lindgren, tells me the company is constantly trying to improve both the tech and its integration with games. The earlier Tobii gets on board in a game’s development, the deeper it can embed eye-tracking mechanics, and so it’s constantly building up relationships with developers. Lindgren says “the sky’s the limit” when it comes to the number of games that could implement eye-tracking, and he expects more and more developers to adopt it in the coming years. “The more games we do, the more integrated we get into the core of the games, the more we can affect the gameplay,” he adds. “The more games we do, the more integrated we get into the core of the games, the more we can affect the gameplay.”Martin Lindgren, Head of Gaming, Tobii As I’ve found, some of the current uses feel lightweight, but the camera panning is particularly impressive. I try it out in racing sim F1 2017 too, and it works well, letting you look into the corners as you round them. Lindgren says it’s his favorite eye-tracking feature too, specifically in space sim Elite Dangerous.“When you play space simulators, which I play a little bit of, with joysticks, you have no way of controlling the camera, it just looks in the direction you steer,” he says. “But with our eye tracker, you can decouple the camera from the movement of the ship. So while you’re flying around you can look around freely while still piloting it.”If Tobii can work with developers to add more tricks that feel as natural as extended view, then it will make an eye-tracking kit much more desirable. Refining the tech Away from speaking to more developers, the next step for Tobii is to make the trackers smaller and faster, Lindgren says. It’s also working with eSports pros and broadcasters to track where players eyes are looking during a match, which could improve our understanding of what sets the best players apart.Foveated rendering is another innovation Lindgren is excited about. Because an eye tracker knows where you’re looking, it’s possible to reduce the resolution of the rest of the screen, where your eyes won’t notice the difference. Then, when your eyes move, the image could shift so that wherever you look is always displaying in high resolution. Like a lot of the innovation in eye tracking, it’s probably coming to VR headsets first. Oculus plans to have moving lenses within its next VR headset, and the suspicion is that will involve some sort of eye-tracking camera. For Tobii’s part, Lindgren will only say that the company has “discussions with everyone in the VR ecosystem”. Watch this space.For now, much like VR, eye tracking feels like a luxury item, and that’s reflected in the 4C’s price tag of around $150 / £125 / AU$200. And just like VR, for now its lack of killer applications means it’s not an essential piece of kit for PC gamers. But it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on.  TechRadar's Next Up series is brought to you in association with Honor Source link

Eye tracking for gamers: seeing is believing

New Post has been published on https://www.etechwire.com/eye-tracking-for-gamers-seeing-is-believing/

Eye tracking for gamers: seeing is believing

Gaming with an eye tracker feels like virtual reality-lite. It’s cheaper, easier to set up, and is already available in some of your favorite games. It offers some of the same features as VR, too: you can swivel the camera by moving your gaze or turning your head, for example.

But can it fundamentally change the way you play? And what’s next for the tech? Tobii is the largest company in the space, so TechRadar tried out its flagship eye tracker – the 4C – and spoke to its head of gaming to find out.

The Tobii 4C

The 4C is much larger than I expected. It’s a black bar that stretches 13 inches across the bottom of your monitor, which is most of my laptop screen. It’s chunky enough to stop you closing your laptop when you’re finished playing, but it does at least have a discrete, sleek finish.

It plugs into your laptop or PC via a USB cable, and you attach it to the bottom of your monitor with a sturdy stick-on strip. It’s easy to set up, and after some quick calibration you’re ready to jump into one of the 120+ games that support it. The list includes everything from sprawling RPG Kingdom Come: Deliverance to space sim Elite Dangerous. Tobii has especially close ties with both Square Enix and Ubisoft, which means a lot of the games those studios publish or develop are compatible, including Assassin’s Creed Origins, Final Fantasy XV and Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.

The tracker has two main components: cameras and illuminators. The illuminators shine infra-red light into your eyes, while the camera take pictures. Among other things, the camera is looking for the ‘twinkle’ of the screen’s reflection in your eye, and measures the angle between that spot and your pupil to work out where you’re looking; it’s taking 90 pictures a second to make sure it stays responsive.

The results are reassuringly accurate. It picks up my eyes from a variety of angles and distances away from the screen, and it works even if I sit off-center. When I turn on ‘gaze trace’, which traces where the system thinks your eyes are looking on screen, my point of focus is always within the boundaries of the white circle.

If you turn on ‘gaze trace’, the Tobii 4C will display where it thinks you’re looking, shown by the white shape on the right of the screen here

It’s never bang in the centre of the circle, however, which means that it sometimes makes mistakes. When I try to select an option in the Tobii desktop menu, for example, it occasionally thinks I’m looking at the option below or above. Tobii says it expects slight variations in accuracy because “everyone’s eyes are just a little bit different”, which might explain the discrepancy.

Within 10 minutes of playing Hitman I’m glancing up at the sky and through windows without even thinking about it.

But it’s more than good enough for gaming, which is what I’m really interested in. Supported games will each offer different features, but the one that’s most common is ‘extended view’. Essentially, this lets you move the camera with your eyes: if you look at the edge of your screen, the camera will move that way. It won’t fully turn – it’s more of a gentle pan in that direction – but it’s a useful way of taking a glance at anything that’s just out of shot.

I expected it to be a gimmick, but it’s natural to control, and makes me feel more present in the game worlds. Within 10 minutes of playing Hitman I’m glancing up at the sky and through windows without even thinking about it. 

Some games also let you turn your head to move the camera even further. It works, but it feels a lot less natural, like I’m turning my head further than I ever naturally would when sat in front of a monitor.

You can see both features at work in the video below, recorded in Hitman. After walking down the steps, I don’t touch the controls at all. The first pans – to the four corners – are controlled by my glancing at the edge of the screen, and then I turn my head to left and right for bigger swings.

That clip also shows off perhaps my favorite eye-tracking trick: the game will hide bits of the UI when you’re not looking at them. That means the mini-map in the bottom left is transparent during normal gameplay, and only fills in when you glance in its direction. I love minimal UIs, so I’ll take anything that makes my screen less cluttered.

But the best features come when eye tracking is more integral to a game’s controls. The best example I’ve found is in Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, where you can move from cover to cover using your eyes. You simply look at the spot that you want to go to next and press a button to send Adam Jensen scurrying off, as you can see in the clip below. 

It feels smooth and intuitive. As with a lot of eye-tracking features, it’s especially useful if you want to play with a controller rather than mouse and keyboard. A mouse can give you the fine control that a joystick often can’t, so being able to point with your eyes is a good compensator. 

I’m still not sold on the act of aiming a weapon with a glance, though. That’s another common feature, which I try in Human Revolution, Hitman, and co-op hack-and-slash game Vermintide 2. In the first two, your weapon will snap to wherever you’re looking if you press the aim-down-sights button. In Vermintide 2, you can aim the wizard class’s fireballs with your eyes: you just click the fire button and he’ll shoot them wherever you’re looking.

It sounds cool, but it feels alien and awkward. In Vermintide 2 my fireballs are accurate, but aiming away from the center of the screen doesn’t look right, and I much prefer using a mouse or game pad, while aiming down sights in Hitman and Human Revolution is jarring because the camera instantly snaps to the spot you’re looking at. Take a look in the clip below.

‘The sky’s the limit’

Tobii’s head of gaming, Martin Lindgren, tells me the company is constantly trying to improve both the tech and its integration with games. The earlier Tobii gets on board in a game’s development, the deeper it can embed eye-tracking mechanics, and so it’s constantly building up relationships with developers. 

Lindgren says “the sky’s the limit” when it comes to the number of games that could implement eye-tracking, and he expects more and more developers to adopt it in the coming years. “The more games we do, the more integrated we get into the core of the games, the more we can affect the gameplay,” he adds.

“The more games we do, the more integrated we get into the core of the games, the more we can affect the gameplay.”

Martin Lindgren, Head of Gaming, Tobii

As I’ve found, some of the current uses feel lightweight, but the camera panning is particularly impressive. I try it out in racing sim F1 2017 too, and it works well, letting you look into the corners as you round them. Lindgren says it’s his favorite eye-tracking feature too, specifically in space sim Elite Dangerous.

“When you play space simulators, which I play a little bit of, with joysticks, you have no way of controlling the camera, it just looks in the direction you steer,” he says. “But with our eye tracker, you can decouple the camera from the movement of the ship. So while you’re flying around you can look around freely while still piloting it.”

If Tobii can work with developers to add more tricks that feel as natural as extended view, then it will make an eye-tracking kit much more desirable.

Refining the tech

Away from speaking to more developers, the next step for Tobii is to make the trackers smaller and faster, Lindgren says. It’s also working with eSports pros and broadcasters to track where players eyes are looking during a match, which could improve our understanding of what sets the best players apart.

Foveated rendering is another innovation Lindgren is excited about. Because an eye tracker knows where you’re looking, it’s possible to reduce the resolution of the rest of the screen, where your eyes won’t notice the difference. Then, when your eyes move, the image could shift so that wherever you look is always displaying in high resolution. 

Like a lot of the innovation in eye tracking, it’s probably coming to VR headsets first. Oculus plans to have moving lenses within its next VR headset, and the suspicion is that will involve some sort of eye-tracking camera. For Tobii’s part, Lindgren will only say that the company has “discussions with everyone in the VR ecosystem”. Watch this space.

For now, much like VR, eye tracking feels like a luxury item, and that’s reflected in the 4C’s price tag of around $150 / £125 / AU$200. And just like VR, for now its lack of killer applications means it’s not an essential piece of kit for PC gamers. But it’s certainly worth keeping an eye on. 

TechRadar���s Next Up series is brought to you in association with Honor

A flaw-by-flaw guide to Facebook’s new GDPR privacy changes

Facebook is about to start pushing European users to speed through giving consent for its new GDPR privacy law compliance changes. They ask users review how Facebook uses data around the web to target you with ads, sensitive profile info they share, and facial recognition But with a design the encourages rapidly hitting the “Agree” button, a lack of granular controls, a laughably cheatable parental consent request for teens, and an aesthetic overhaul of Download Your Information that doesn’t make it any easier to switch social networks, Facebook shows it’s still hungry for your data.

The new privacy change and terms of service consent flow will appear starting this week to European users, though they’ll be able to dismiss it for now, at least until the May 25th GDPR compliance deadline Facebook vowed to uphold in Europe. Meanwhile, Facebook says it will roll out the changes and consent flow globally over the coming weeks and months, though with some slight regional differences. And finally, all teens worldwide that share sensitive info will have to go through the weak new parental consent flow.

Facebook brought a group of reporters to the new Building 23 at its Menlo Park headquarters to preview the changes. But feedback was heavily critical as journalists grilled Facebook’s deput chief privacy officer Rob Sherman. Questions centered around how Facebook makes accepting the updates much easier than review or changing them, but Sherman stuck to talking points about how important it was to give users choice and information.

“Trust is really important and it’s clear that we have a lot of work to do to regain the trust of people on our service” he said, giving us deja vu about Mark Zuckerberg’s testimonies before congress. “We know that people won’t becomfortable using facebook if they don’t feel that their information is protected.”

Trouble At Each Step Of Facebook’s Privacy Consent Flow

There are a ton of small changes so we’ll lay out each with our criticisms.

Facebook’s consent flow starts well enough with the screen above offering a solid overview of why it’s making changes for GDPR and what you’ll be reviewing. But with just an ‘X’ up top to back out, it’s already training users to speed through by hitting that big blue button at the bottom.

—

Sensitive Info

First up is control of your sensitive profile information, specifically your sexual preference, religious views, and political views. As you’ll see at each step, you can either hit the pretty blue “Accept And Continue” button regardless of whether you’ve scrolled through the information. But if you hit the ugly grey “Manage Settings” button, you have to go through an interstitial where Facebook makes it’s argument trying to deter you from moving the info before letting you make and save your choice. It feels obviously designed to get users to breeze through it by offering no resistance to continue, but friction if you want to make changes.

Facebook doesn’t let advertisers target you based on this sensitive info, which is good. The only exception is that in the US, political views alongside political Pages and Events you interact with inform your overarching personality categories that can be targeted with ads. But your only option here is either to remove any info you’ve shared in these categories so friends can’t see it, or allow Facebook to use it to personalize the site. There’s no option to keep this stuff on your profile but not let Facebook use it.

—

Facial Recognition

The Face Recognition step won’t actually give users in the European Union a choice, as the government has banned the feature. But everyone else will get to choose whether to leave their existing setting, which defaults to on, or turn off the feature. Here the lack of granularity is concerning. Users might want to see warnings about possible impersonators using their face in their profile pics, but not be suggested as someone to tag in their friends’ photos. Unfortunately, it’s all or nothing. While Facebook is right to make it simple to turn on or off completely, granular controls that unfold for those that want them would be much more empowering.

—

Data Collection Across The Web

A major concern that’s arisen in the wake of Zuckerberg’s testimonies is how Facebook uses data collected about you from around the web to target users with ads and optimize its service. While Facebook deputer chief privacy officer Rob Sherman echoed Zuckerberg in saying that users tell the company they prefer relevant ads, and that this data can help thwart hackers and scrapers, many users are unsettled by the offsite collection practices. Here, Facebook lets you block it from targeting you wih ads based on data about your browsing behavior on sites that show its Like and share buttons, conversion Pixel, or Audience Network ads. Here the issue is that there’s no way to stop Facebook from using that data from personalizing your News Feed or optimizing other parts of its service.

—

New Terms Of Service

Facebook recently rewrote its Terms Of Service and Data Use Policy to be more explicit and easy to read. It didn’t make any significant changes other than noting the policy now applies to its subsidiaries like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus. That’s all clearly explained here, which is nice. But the fact that the button to reject the new Terms Of Service isn’t even a button, it’s a tiny ‘see your options’ hyperlink shows how badly Facebook wants to avoid you closing your account. When Facebook’s product designer for the GDPR flow was asked if she thought this hyperlink was the best way to present the alternative to the big ‘I Accept’ button, she disingenuously said yes, eliciting scoffs from the room of reporters. It seems obvious that Facebook is trying to minimize the visibility of the path to account deletion rather than making it an obvious course of action if you don’t agree to its terms.

I requested Facebook actually show us what was on the other side of the that tine ‘see my options’ link and this is what we got. First, Facebook doesn’t mention its temporary deactivation option, just the scary permanent delete option. Facebook recommends downloading your data before deleting your account, which you should. But the fact that you’ll have to wait (often a few hours) before you can download your data could push users to delay deletion and perhaps never resume. And only if you keep scrolling do you get to another tiny “I’m ready to delete my account” hyperlink instead of a real button.

—

Parental Consent

GDPR also implements new regulation about how teens are treated, specifically users between the ages of 13 (the minimum age required to sign up for Facebook) and 15. If users in this age range have shared their religious views, political views, or sexual preference, Facebook requires them to either remove it or get parental consent to keep it. But the system for attaining and verifying that parental consent is a joke.

Users merely select one of their Facebook friends or enter an email address, and that person is asked to give consent for their ‘child’ to share sensitive info. But Facebook blindly trusts that they’ve actually selected their parent or guardian, even though it has a feature for users to designate who their family is, and the kid could put anyone in the email field, including an alternate address they control. Sherman says Facebook is “not seeking to collect additional information” to verify parental consent, so it seems Facebook is happy to let teens easily bypass the checkup.

—

Privacy Shortcuts

To keep all users abreast of their privacy settings, Facebook has redesigned its Privacy Shortcuts in a colorful format that sticks out from the rest of the site. No complaints here.

—

Download Your Information

Facebook has completely redesigned its Download Your Information tool after keeping it basically the same for the past 8 years. You can now view your content and data in different categories without downloading it, which alongside the new privacy shortcuts is perhaps the only unequivocally positive and unproblematic change amidst today’s announcements.

And Facebook now lets you select certain categories of data, date ranges, JSON or HTML format, and image quality to download. That could make it quicker and easier if you just need a copy of a certain type of content but don’t need to export all your photos and videos for example. Thankfully, Facebook says you’ll be able to now export your media in a higher resolution than the old tool allowed.

But the big problem here was the subject of my feature piece about Facebook’s lack of data portability. The Download Your Information tool is supposed to let you take your data and go to a different social network. But it only exports your social graph aka your friends as a text list of names. There are no links, usernames, or other unique identifiers unless friends opt into let you export their email or phone number, so good luck finding the right John Smith on another app. The new version of Download Your Information works exactly the same, rather than offering any interoperable format that would let you find your friends elsewhere.

A Higher Standard

Overall, it seems like Facebook is complying with the letter of GDPR law, but with questionable spirit. Sure, privacy is boring to a lot of people. Too little info and they feel confused and scared. Too many choices and screens and they feel overwhelmed and annoyed. Facebook struck the right balance in some places here. But the subtly pushy designs seem intended to push people away from changing their defaults in ways that could hamper Facebook’s mission and business.

Making the choices even in visible weight, rather than burying the ways to make changes in grayed-out buttons and tiny links, would have been more fair. And it would have shown that Facebook has faith in the value it provides, such that users would stick around and leave features enabled if they truly wanted to.

When questioned about this, Sherman pointed the finger at other tech companies, saying he thought Facebook was more upfront with users. Asked to clarify if he thought Facebook’s approach was “better”, he said “I think that’s right”. But Facebook isn’t being judged by the industry standard because it’s not a standard company. It’s built its purpose and its business on top of our private data, and touted itself as a boon to the world. But when asked to clear a higher bar for privacy, Facebook delved into design tricks to keep from losing our data

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ps4 vr games out now in St James's

For any individual who has yet to experience Virtual Reality, I urge you, seek a Virtual Reality experience of some summary. Whether Google Cardboard or Oculus Rift, it will certainly be wonderful. Why else would certainly everyone who's any individual be speaking about it being the future?

When it involves top quality Virtual Reality becoming a living room fact, however, there are numerous inquiries. Will the public buy into (essentially) the idea of these headsets being a tool for the living room, rather than one for Celebrity Trek followers? Will there ever before be a reason to?

In the meantime, the fate of Virtual Reality relaxes upon one headset: Playstation Virtual Reality. Unlike the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive - both of which have actually been available for a long time - Sony's initial headset does not require a ₤ 1000 supercomputer, neither is it extremely overpriced (Rift: ₤ 549, Vive: ₤ 800). Rather, Sony's PlayStation 4 is needed, costin ₤ 250 and being the globe's very successful console given that the Nintendo Wii. The headset is likewise relatively economical, beginning at ₤ 350 (yet calling for a ₤ 40 Playstation Cam and optional (yet not really) Playstation Relocate controllers, valued at ₤ 30 each (you'll desire 2)).

In overall, therefore, a PSVR gear prices around ₤ 700 and that's the cheapest method to access Virtual Reality - not consisting of those that make use of a mobile phone. That's a dreadful great deal of money, yet luckily there are a lot of PS4 owners out there currently.

A lot more importantly, as soon as players have actually invested, the Virtual Reality experience is something really special. PSVR looks extraordinary, the headset is comfier than both competitors, and currently it has a considerable catalogue of games. Emphasizes include; Batman Arkham Virtual Reality, which places you in the body of Batman; GEARS, where you play as someone wearing big mechanised combat armour (a little bit like Titanfall); and Job Simulator, where you're a human doing everyday 20th-century work. Then there's Battlezone, PSVR Worlds, and Driveclub Virtual Reality, all enjoyable in their very own right. Gadgets and tech information in images

However, there's one major disadvantage. Due to the fact that after you've invested ₤ 350 in a headset, ₤ 40 in an electronic camera, and ₤ 60 in controllers, the last point any individual wants is to spend hundreds on in fact playing the damn point. Yet, that's specifically what players are needing to do. The abovementioned Batman video game, as an example, will certainly establish players back ₤ 15.99. That might not appear excessive yet, for a game that lasts little over a hr and a fifty percent with barely any kind of replay value, that's a fair whack.

Job Simulator - as high as I like the experience - is essentially four, half-hour interactive experiences without any replay value. With a price of ₤ 23.99 on the UK Playstation store, that's a fair bit. Then there's RIGS, among the only games to give me major nausea: ₤ 49.99. Customers have actually been keeping in mind the similarities with Rocket League - a personal favourite of mine - yet that was offered completely free on PS4 for a month at launch. For nearly ₤ 50, players ought to rightly anticipate the following Undiscovered, not a fairly frustrating semi-shooter. Read more PlayStation Virtual Reality review: A great intro to Virtual Reality'

Most awful of all is EVE: Valkyrie, the multiplayer space-set dogfighter embeded in the EVE Online world. On PC, the video game obtained middling reviews at best. On PS4, things are no better and there's a price tag of ₤ 54.99 prior to in-game purchases (not necessary, yet they exist) which allow your character to level up quicker. A pay-to-win video game that sets you back upwards of ₤ 50. Insanity.

Regardless of my helpless exhilaration for PSVR, these prices - wherefore in most cases are just pietistic demos - will surely avoid casual players. That's the opposite of just what PSVR is about. If Sony wants to offer headsets, these prices are mosting likely to need to go down, otherwise Virtual Reality in the living room will certainly take one more big action in the wrong instructions. http://ps4vrgames.com/ https://scheer53229114.tumblr.com/post/169231923747/ps4-vr-games-out-now-in-covent-garden

ps4 vr games upcoming in Charing Cross

For anybody who has yet to experience Virtual Reality, I urge you, seek a VR experience of some description. Whether Google Cardboard or Oculus Break, it will certainly be mind-blowing. Why else would everyone who's anybody be speaking about it being the future?

When it pertains to quality Virtual Reality ending up being a living room fact, however, there are numerous inquiries. Will the public buy into (essentially) the suggestion of these headsets being a device for the living-room, as opposed to one for Celebrity Expedition followers? Will there ever be a reason to?

In the meantime, the fate of Virtual Reality rests upon one headset: Playstation Virtual Reality. Unlike the Oculus Break and HTC Vive - both of which have actually been offered for a long time - Sony's initial headset does not require a ₤ 1000 supercomputer, nor is it hugely overpriced (Break: ₤ 549, Vive: ₤ 800). Rather, Sony's PlayStation 4 is called for, costin ₤ 250 and being the world's best-selling console because the Nintendo Wii. The headset is likewise relatively cheap, beginning at ₤ 350 (however requiring a ₤ 40 Playstation Electronic camera and optional (however not truly) Playstation Relocate controllers, valued at ₤ 30 each (you'll desire 2)).

In total amount, for that reason, a PSVR rig costs around ₤ 700 which's the most inexpensive means to gain access to Virtual Reality - not including those that use a smart phone. That's a horrible lot of loan, however luckily there are a great deal of PS4 proprietors available currently.

More importantly, once gamers have actually spent, the Virtual Reality experience is something extremely unique. PSVR looks incredible, the headset is comfier than both competitors, and currently it has a considerable catalogue of games. Emphasizes include; Batman Arkham Virtual Reality, which puts you in the body of Batman; GEARS, where you play as someone using massive mechanised combat armour (a bit like Titanfall); and Job Simulator, where you're a human doing daily 20th-century jobs. After that there's Battlezone, PSVR Worlds, and Driveclub Virtual Reality, all fun in their own right. Gizmos and technology information in pictures

However, there's one major drawback. Since after you've spent ₤ 350 in a headset, ₤ 40 in a cam, and ₤ 60 in controllers, the last point anybody desires is to invest hundreds on actually playing the damn point. Yet, that's precisely what gamers are having to do. The abovementioned Batman game, for instance, will certainly establish gamers back ₤ 15.99. That might not appear extreme however, for a video game that lasts little bit over a hr and a half with hardly any type of replay worth, that's a fair whack.

Job Simulator - as much as I enjoy the experience - is generally four, half-hour interactive experiences without any replay worth. With a price of ₤ 23.99 on the UK Playstation shop, that's a fair bit. After that there's RIGS, among the only games to give me serious queasiness: ₤ 49.99. Reviewers have actually been keeping in mind the resemblances with Rocket League - a personal favourite of mine - yet that was made available absolutely free on PS4 for a month at launch. For practically ₤ 50, gamers must rightly anticipate the next Undiscovered, not a fairly disappointing semi-shooter. Learn more PlayStation Virtual Reality evaluation: A superb introduction to Virtual Reality'

Worst of all is EVE: Valkyrie, the multiplayer space-set dogfighter set in the EVE Online universe. On COMPUTER, the game obtained middling reviews at finest. On PS4, points are no much better and there's a price tag of ₤ 54.99 before in-game acquisitions (not needed, however they exist) which enable your personality to level up quicker. A pay-to-win game that costs upwards of ₤ 50. Madness.

Despite my helpless exhilaration for PSVR, these rates - for what in many cases are just glorified demonstrations - will definitely put off informal gamers. That's the reverse of just what PSVR has to do with. If Sony wishes to sell headsets, these rates are mosting likely to need to drop, or else Virtual Reality in the living-room will certainly take another massive step in the incorrect instructions. http://ps4vrgames.com/ https://almazan19820132.tumblr.com/post/169231804279/ps4-vr-gamestop-in-charing-cross

ps4 vr gamestop in London

For any individual who has yet to experience Virtual Reality, I beg you, look for a Virtual Reality experience of some summary. Whether Google Cardboard or Oculus Break, it will be mind-blowing. Why else would everyone who's any individual be speaking about it being the future?

When it comes to quality VR ending up being a living room fact, however, there are several questions. Will the general public buy into (literally) the concept of these headsets being a gadget for the living room, as opposed to one for Star Trek followers? Will there ever before be a reason to?

In the meantime, the fate of VR relaxes upon one headset: Playstation VR. Unlike the Oculus Break and HTC Vive - both which have been offered for a long time - Sony's original headset does not call for a ₤ 1000 supercomputer, nor is it extremely overpriced (Break: ₤ 549, Vive: ₤ 800). Instead, Sony's PlayStation 4 is called for, costin ₤ 250 and being the globe's very popular console considering that the Nintendo Wii. The headset is likewise fairly low-cost, starting at ₤ 350 (yet calling for a ₤ 40 Playstation Camera and optional (yet not truly) Playstation Relocate controllers, priced at ₤ 30 each (you'll desire two)).

In total amount, as a result, a PSVR gear costs around ₤ 700 which's the most inexpensive way to accessibility VR - not including those that make use of a cellphone. That's a dreadful great deal of loan, yet luckily there are a great deal of PS4 proprietors around currently.

A lot more importantly, when players have invested, the VR experience is something very unique. PSVR looks unbelievable, the headset is comfier than both rivals, and currently it has a big brochure of video games. Highlights include; Batman Arkham VR, which puts you in the body of Batman; GEARS, in which you play as someone wearing big mechanised battle armour (a bit like Titanfall); and Job Simulator, where you're a human doing daily 20th-century jobs. Then there's Battlezone, PSVR Worlds, and Driveclub VR, all fun in their very own right. Gizmos and technology information in pictures

Nonetheless, there's one major disadvantage. Because after you've invested ₤ 350 in a headset, ₤ 40 in a cam, and ₤ 60 in controllers, the last thing any individual desires is to spend hundreds on actually playing the damn thing. Yet, that's exactly what players are needing to do. The previously mentioned Batman game, for example, will establish players back ₤ 15.99. That might not seem excessive yet, for a video game that lasts bit over a hr and a half with barely any kind of replay value, that's a fair whack.

Job Simulator - as high as I like the experience - is essentially four, half-hour interactive experiences without any replay value. With a cost of ₤ 23.99 on the UK Playstation shop, that's quite a bit. Then there's GEAR, among the only video games to provide me major nausea or vomiting: ₤ 49.99. Reviewers have been keeping in mind the resemblances with Rocket Organization - an individual favourite of mine - yet that was made available for free on PS4 for a month at launch. For almost ₤ 50, players should appropriately anticipate the following Undiscovered, not a reasonably frustrating semi-shooter. Learn more PlayStation VR review: A superb intro to Virtual Reality'

Worst of all is EVE: Valkyrie, the multiplayer space-set dogfighter embeded in the EVE Online cosmos. On PC, the game obtained middling reviews at finest. On PS4, points are no much better and there's a price tag of ₤ 54.99 before in-game purchases (not essential, yet they exist) which permit your character to level up faster. A pay-to-win game that sets you back upwards of ₤ 50. Chaos.

In spite of my hopeless excitement for PSVR, these rates - wherefore in a lot of cases are simply glorified demonstrations - will certainly postpone casual players. That's the opposite of what PSVR has to do with. If Sony wants to market headsets, these rates are mosting likely to have to go down, otherwise Virtual Reality in the living room will take an additional big action in the incorrect direction. http://ps4vrgames.com/ https://www.reddit.com/r/u_Brown42795768/comments/7nlv10/title/?submit_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DY38no8ci4DQ&already_submitted=true&submit_title=ps4+vr+games+list+in+Charing+Cross

A flaw-by-flaw guide to Facebook’s new GDPR privacy changes

Facebook is about to start pushing European users to speed through giving consent for its new GDPR privacy law compliance changes. They ask users review how Facebook uses data around the web to target you with ads, sensitive profile info they share, and facial recognition But with a design the encourages rapidly hitting the “Agree” button, a lack of granular controls, a laughably cheatable parental consent request for teens, and an aesthetic overhaul of Download Your Information that doesn’t make it any easier to switch social networks, Facebook shows it’s still hungry for your data.

The new privacy change and terms of service consent flow will appear starting this week to European users, though they’ll be able to dismiss it for now, at least until the May 25th GDPR compliance deadline Facebook vowed to uphold in Europe. Meanwhile, Facebook says it will roll out the changes and consent flow globally over the coming weeks and months, though with some slight regional differences. And finally, all teens worldwide that share sensitive info will have to go through the weak new parental consent flow.

Facebook brought a group of reporters to the new Building 23 at its Menlo Park headquarters to preview the changes. But feedback was heavily critical as journalists grilled Facebook’s deput chief privacy officer Rob Sherman. Questions centered around how Facebook makes accepting the updates much easier than review or changing them, but Sherman stuck to talking points about how important it was to give users choice and information.

“Trust is really important and it’s clear that we have a lot of work to do to regain the trust of people on our service” he said, giving us deja vu about Mark Zuckerberg’s testimonies before congress. “We know that people won’t becomfortable using facebook if they don’t feel that their information is protected.”

Trouble At Each Step Of Facebook’s Privacy Consent Flow

There are a ton of small changes so we’ll lay out each with our criticisms.

Facebook’s consent flow starts well enough with the screen above offering a solid overview of why it’s making changes for GDPR and what you’ll be reviewing. But with just an ‘X’ up top to back out, it’s already training users to speed through by hitting that big blue button at the bottom.

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Sensitive Info

First up is control of your sensitive profile information, specifically your sexual preference, religious views, and political views. As you’ll see at each step, you can either hit the pretty blue “Accept And Continue” button regardless of whether you’ve scrolled through the information. But if you hit the ugly grey “Manage Settings” button, you have to go through an interstitial where Facebook makes it’s argument trying to deter you from moving the info before letting you make and save your choice. It feels obviously designed to get users to breeze through it by offering no resistance to continue, but friction if you want to make changes.

Facebook doesn’t let advertisers target you based on this sensitive info, which is good. The only exception is that in the US, political views alongside political Pages and Events you interact with inform your overarching personality categories that can be targeted with ads. But your only option here is either to remove any info you’ve shared in these categories so friends can’t see it, or allow Facebook to use it to personalize the site. There’s no option to keep this stuff on your profile but not let Facebook use it.

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Facial Recognition

The Face Recognition step won’t actually give users in the European Union a choice, as the government has banned the feature. But everyone else will get to choose whether to leave their existing setting, which defaults to on, or turn off the feature. Here the lack of granularity is concerning. Users might want to see warnings about possible impersonators using their face in their profile pics, but not be suggested as someone to tag in their friends’ photos. Unfortunately, it’s all or nothing. While Facebook is right to make it simple to turn on or off completely, granular controls that unfold for those that want them would be much more empowering.

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Data Collection Across The Web

A major concern that’s arisen in the wake of Zuckerberg’s testimonies is how Facebook uses data collected about you from around the web to target users with ads and optimize its service. While Facebook deputer chief privacy officer Rob Sherman echoed Zuckerberg in saying that users tell the company they prefer relevant ads, and that this data can help thwart hackers and scrapers, many users are unsettled by the offsite collection practices. Here, Facebook lets you block it from targeting you wih ads based on data about your browsing behavior on sites that show its Like and share buttons, conversion Pixel, or Audience Network ads. Here the issue is that there’s no way to stop Facebook from using that data from personalizing your News Feed or optimizing other parts of its service.

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New Terms Of Service

Facebook recently rewrote its Terms Of Service and Data Use Policy to be more explicit and easy to read. It didn’t make any significant changes other than noting the policy now applies to its subsidiaries like Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus. That’s all clearly explained here, which is nice. But the fact that the button to reject the new Terms Of Service isn’t even a button, it’s a tiny ‘see your options’ hyperlink shows how badly Facebook wants to avoid you closing your account. When Facebook’s product designer for the GDPR flow was asked if she thought this hyperlink was the best way to present the alternative to the big ‘I Accept’ button, she disingenuously said yes, eliciting scoffs from the room of reporters. It seems obvious that Facebook is trying to minimize the visibility of the path to account deletion rather than making it an obvious course of action if you don’t agree to its terms.

I requested Facebook actually show us what was on the other side of the that tine ‘see my options’ link and this is what we got. First, Facebook doesn’t mention its temporary deactivation option, just the scary permanent delete option. Facebook recommends downloading your data before deleting your account, which you should. But the fact that you’ll have to wait (often a few hours) before you can download your data could push users to delay deletion and perhaps never resume. And only if you keep scrolling do you get to another tiny “I’m ready to delete my account” hyperlink instead of a real button.

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Parental Consent

GDPR also implements new regulation about how teens are treated, specifically users between the ages of 13 (the minimum age required to sign up for Facebook) and 15. If users in this age range have shared their religious views, political views, or sexual preference, Facebook requires them to either remove it or get parental consent to keep it. But the system for attaining and verifying that parental consent is a joke.

Users merely select one of their Facebook friends or enter an email address, and that person is asked to give consent for their ‘child’ to share sensitive info. But Facebook blindly trusts that they’ve actually selected their parent or guardian, even though it has a feature for users to designate who their family is, and the kid could put anyone in the email field, including an alternate address they control. Sherman says Facebook is “not seeking to collect additional information” to verify parental consent, so it seems Facebook is happy to let teens easily bypass the checkup.

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Privacy Shortcuts

To keep all users abreast of their privacy settings, Facebook has redesigned its Privacy Shortcuts in a colorful format that sticks out from the rest of the site. No complaints here.

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Download Your Information

Facebook has completely redesigned its Download Your Information tool after keeping it basically the same for the past 8 years. You can now view your content and data in different categories without downloading it, which alongside the new privacy shortcuts is perhaps the only unequivocally positive and unproblematic change amidst today’s announcements.

And Facebook now lets you select certain categories of data, date ranges, JSON or HTML format, and image quality to download. That could make it quicker and easier if you just need a copy of a certain type of content but don’t need to export all your photos and videos for example. Thankfully, Facebook says you’ll be able to now export your media in a higher resolution than the old tool allowed.

But the big problem here was the subject of my feature piece about Facebook’s lack of data portability. The Download Your Information tool is supposed to let you take your data and go to a different social network. But it only exports your social graph aka your friends as a text list of names. There are no links, usernames, or other unique identifiers unless friends opt into let you export their email or phone number, so good luck finding the right John Smith on another app. The new version of Download Your Information works exactly the same, rather than offering any interoperable format that would let you find your friends elsewhere.

A Higher Standard

Overall, it seems like Facebook is complying with the letter of GDPR law, but with questionable spirit. Sure, privacy is boring to a lot of people. Too little info and they feel confused and scared. Too many choices and screens and they feel overwhelmed and annoyed. Facebook struck the right balance in some places here. But the subtly pushy designs seem intended to push people away from changing their defaults in ways that could hamper Facebook’s mission and business.

Making the choices even in visible weight, rather than burying the ways to make changes in grayed-out buttons and tiny links, would have been more fair. And it would have shown that Facebook has faith in the value it provides, such that users would stick around and leave features enabled if they truly wanted to.

When questioned about this, Sherman pointed the finger at other tech companies, saying he thought Facebook was more upfront with users. Asked to clarify if he thought Facebook’s approach was “better”, he said “I think that’s right”. But Facebook isn’t being judged by the industry standard because it’s not a standard company. It’s built its purpose and its business on top of our private data, and touted itself as a boon to the world. But when asked to clear a higher bar for privacy, Facebook delved into design tricks to keep from losing our data

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