I actually have a like on YouTube.
It started yesterday when I noticed I had 50 views on my videos. 50! I'm still reeling about it! They all occurred on Sunday for whatever reason. When I checked today, I noticed that someone from Greece had liked a video. YAY!
Really, when I look at these videos, I wonder what there is to like. It's just the campaign footage from Halo Wars with no commentary! Yet there it is, one like!
I've got a blog post on Destiny I need to finish, but it probably won't get done until Thursday or Friday when I get some more time to play. It basically goes over the public perception of Destiny and likens the game to a trip to the mall. Also, I have a usb cable coming in tomorrow that should allow me to record destiny game footage onto my computer and upload that. Hopefully by grabbing the latest game play and posting it to YouTube I can gain more subscribers.
Tuesday, September 16, 2014
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
Video Recording
Success!
Yesterday I played around with Adobe's Creative Cloud Premiere software, and I was able to get a video that had been recorded a few weeks ago using an Elgato Game Camputre HD processed and uploaded to YouTube. It's video from a recent game of Halo Wars that a good friend and I played. Up to this point when I would upload the video from the Elgato into Premiere the audio track for the video would end up around 10 seconds late. Going online, it turned out that because the Elgato outputs the video as .mp4, you have to enable file extension view in the folder options of your control panel and rename the .mp4 to .mov. I don't know why it works like that, but after doing so the video was able to process and sync audio and video just fine in Premiere.
After figuring that out, I started the video processing, and quickly decided that I need to invest in a better heat sink and fan system. My processor ended up maxed out and was over 70 degrees Celsius for about an hour. As far as I can tell there was no damage to the processor, but sustained activities at those temperatures are not good for a computer.
Another odd thing, after finishing the video Premiere decided to dump it back out as a .mp4. I didn't think much of it until I attempted to load that video to YouTube and it failed. Same trick however, after changing the video to .mov and trying the upload again, it worked like a charm.
The thumbnail for the video was another cool trick. In the Game Capture software I found a screen shot from the video I liked and clicked on the screen shot button near the play button of the software. After clicking there, the screen shot was put on the desktop. The picture was actually too large for YouTube, so a quick wash through Photoshop to change the file extension got the picture to the right size.
From here I have a few more video projects to add to my channel. The video for mission 5 and 6 of Halo Wars needs trim'd and posted to YouTube. Tu1kas and I still want to finish off the campaign and post those videos. Additionally, I need to troubleshoot and figure out why I can't get mic audio to play through the Xbox.
Lastly, this morning I decided that it would be good to record some of Gruuler's (my gamer tag in xbox live) play through of Destiny, Bungie's latest game. It comes out on September 9th and should provide some great game play moments to record and share. Hopefully as I keep at recording and postings of videos, I'll learn a few more in's and out's of the process to speed up content uploads.
-Cj
Yesterday I played around with Adobe's Creative Cloud Premiere software, and I was able to get a video that had been recorded a few weeks ago using an Elgato Game Camputre HD processed and uploaded to YouTube. It's video from a recent game of Halo Wars that a good friend and I played. Up to this point when I would upload the video from the Elgato into Premiere the audio track for the video would end up around 10 seconds late. Going online, it turned out that because the Elgato outputs the video as .mp4, you have to enable file extension view in the folder options of your control panel and rename the .mp4 to .mov. I don't know why it works like that, but after doing so the video was able to process and sync audio and video just fine in Premiere.
After figuring that out, I started the video processing, and quickly decided that I need to invest in a better heat sink and fan system. My processor ended up maxed out and was over 70 degrees Celsius for about an hour. As far as I can tell there was no damage to the processor, but sustained activities at those temperatures are not good for a computer.
Another odd thing, after finishing the video Premiere decided to dump it back out as a .mp4. I didn't think much of it until I attempted to load that video to YouTube and it failed. Same trick however, after changing the video to .mov and trying the upload again, it worked like a charm.
The thumbnail for the video was another cool trick. In the Game Capture software I found a screen shot from the video I liked and clicked on the screen shot button near the play button of the software. After clicking there, the screen shot was put on the desktop. The picture was actually too large for YouTube, so a quick wash through Photoshop to change the file extension got the picture to the right size.
From here I have a few more video projects to add to my channel. The video for mission 5 and 6 of Halo Wars needs trim'd and posted to YouTube. Tu1kas and I still want to finish off the campaign and post those videos. Additionally, I need to troubleshoot and figure out why I can't get mic audio to play through the Xbox.
Lastly, this morning I decided that it would be good to record some of Gruuler's (my gamer tag in xbox live) play through of Destiny, Bungie's latest game. It comes out on September 9th and should provide some great game play moments to record and share. Hopefully as I keep at recording and postings of videos, I'll learn a few more in's and out's of the process to speed up content uploads.
-Cj
Friday, August 22, 2014
Weapon placement on models
Well, I messed up my Land Raider.
When you play with vehicles, you measure from the barrel of the weapon for distance to target. If the target is within the max range of the weapon, then you get to fire at it. While making the vehicle, I followed the instructions that have you set the turret in the back window slot on the side, without realizing that you could put it in the front bay as well. Since I was going with the heavy flamer variant, this means I've lost two inches from my frontal range due to the weapon being placed two inches farther back on the hull.
Honestly, it could make a difference if/when I play.However by moving it back you gain additional coverage along your side. Since the weapon has a 45 degree arc this means that models approaching from the side will be flamed before they can get close.
One other thought, since I wanted to run the Centurion setup, it probably would have been better to set up the Hurricane bolter variant since the tank will be staying a ways away from danger, lessening the impact of the heavy flamer. Since I've already set up a turret, it's off to ebay to see if I can't find someone selling spare side turrets.
-Cj
When you play with vehicles, you measure from the barrel of the weapon for distance to target. If the target is within the max range of the weapon, then you get to fire at it. While making the vehicle, I followed the instructions that have you set the turret in the back window slot on the side, without realizing that you could put it in the front bay as well. Since I was going with the heavy flamer variant, this means I've lost two inches from my frontal range due to the weapon being placed two inches farther back on the hull.
Honestly, it could make a difference if/when I play.However by moving it back you gain additional coverage along your side. Since the weapon has a 45 degree arc this means that models approaching from the side will be flamed before they can get close.
One other thought, since I wanted to run the Centurion setup, it probably would have been better to set up the Hurricane bolter variant since the tank will be staying a ways away from danger, lessening the impact of the heavy flamer. Since I've already set up a turret, it's off to ebay to see if I can't find someone selling spare side turrets.
-Cj
Thursday, August 21, 2014
Land Raiders and Ruby
Everyone needs a good tank.
We sold some more Magic cards recently and I had enough money from the cards that my wife let me purchase some more Warhammer 40k sets. Now, I know that I don't have much time during the day to play Warhammer. There is a store about 10 minutes away that hosts games, so I'm hoping that some Saturdays I can slip away and play.
This is not a new situation however, since our last place was located 10 minutes away from a hobby store and I still did not get the time to go play. In reality, I just like the models. I never end up with the time or energy needed to go play. Plus, for some strange reason the lighting in stores makes me sick.Anyways, this one is a Land Raider Redeemer. Well, at least parts of one. They are categorized as the heaviest tanks my Space Marines can field. They are armed fairly well, and armored even better. While this tank does come in 3 variants, I prefer the Redeemer as it comes equipped with duel heavy flamers, a great close combat weapon designed to burn through infantry. You can also equip it with a Multi-melta, a great anti-vehicle weapon for a tank that can take on both armor and troops. The draw back is that it looses some capacity, down to 12 from 16 that you get from another Land Raider variant. That variant comes with hurricane bolters, a good weapon that boasts a farther range, but weak enough that I'm not overly fond of it.
With the amount of capacity this variant of Land Raider comes with, you can pack quite a punch inside it's thick armored hull. That's 12 normal models for Space Marines, 6 bulky, or 4 very bulky troops. That's enough troops to cause problems for anything that gets in the land raiders way. Since it is an assault vehicle, any troops inside of it can charge out of the vehicle and assault the next turn, ensuring troops get close enough to make a difference. Terminators, some of the nastiest assault units in the Space Marine list, can assault right out of this tank. Centurions, a new unit that boast incredible firepower, last much longer if you pack them inside this can. Move them out, and order them out to pop any armored foe that gets in your way.
Points wise, this is a huge investment, so it's not something I'll take against every list. The centurion setup alone runs 600 pts, a massive amount when compared to other solutions that give you the same level of firepower. In addition, this setup can be countered fairly easily if you can disable the tank. Still, it's something I'd love to try against my friend who runs Tau.
Anyways, that's the latest 40k news from me. Ruby development is coming along, but today it got about 3 times more complicated than planned. I still will be attempting to learn Ruby on Rails for the next few months, but now I've found that it's not one, but 4 languages (Ruby, Rails, CSS, HTML) I will need to master. Shoot.
-Cj
Thursday, August 7, 2014
Ruby on Rails
Well, schools out for the next week and a half, and it's been nice. However, we've been so busy with moving into our new place that I haven't had any time to work on models.
My new pet project during this school break has been Ruby on Rails development. My poor wife, she has to put up with me switching hobbies every few months! It's a little different this time around, as the attempt with RoR is to hopefully design a better website and blog for all my mutterings. I know, I know, I hardly write or post anything these days. The goal with this project is to give me a unified platform through which I can post videos to Youtube, blog, and collect and make available URLS that I come across in my hobbies. In essence, i want to learn a business skill that's sell able, that will also cross all my different experiences into one unified site.
My new pet project during this school break has been Ruby on Rails development. My poor wife, she has to put up with me switching hobbies every few months! It's a little different this time around, as the attempt with RoR is to hopefully design a better website and blog for all my mutterings. I know, I know, I hardly write or post anything these days. The goal with this project is to give me a unified platform through which I can post videos to Youtube, blog, and collect and make available URLS that I come across in my hobbies. In essence, i want to learn a business skill that's sell able, that will also cross all my different experiences into one unified site.
Tuesday, July 22, 2014
What a Year
I hadn't realized how long it's been since I posted on here. Life's been really crazy this year. Early on in the year, we found out we were expecting and I spent the first 3 months of 2014 wondering what the heck I had gotten myself into. Eventually my panic and depression gave way to optimism and hope, and in two months our baby girl is expected to arrive!
I've thought a lot about how this is going to affect our lives. The first year of my daughters life is going to be filled with me attending school and missing out on a lot of important events. It saddens me to think that I will miss her first word, her first step, and a multitude of other firsts. But there is a trade off there, one that I can't avoid. Either I put the time into school, to get a better life for our family, or stay for those moments. But I can't help but feel some level of sadness at the thought that I will not be very involved for a while.
I'll leave you with this painting of a Space Marine Captain, one of the limited edition releases for now. The few white spots on his armor have been touched up since this photograph was taken, and he has now become my official showpiece. Besides, this is my hobby blog after all,
Thoughts from there start turning to the lack of time for hobbies, gaming, and everything else I like to do. Those actives are distractions in our lives, sure, but they are still a part of who I am. I have several projects however that I can maintain for the time being, things to keep me distracted. Even in the midst of a busy schedule, you still find time to painting and game. One of my cooler purchases this past year was an Elgato Game Capture HD device that I am intent on using to produce videos and content from new and old video games. I'll link to those Youtube videos once I get a good collection up.
I'll leave you with this painting of a Space Marine Captain, one of the limited edition releases for now. The few white spots on his armor have been touched up since this photograph was taken, and he has now become my official showpiece. Besides, this is my hobby blog after all,
-Cj
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
Happy New Years!
Happy New Years everyone!
Jessica and I got talking about the blog last night on our way to a party, and I realized it had been a while since I had blogged. I got to thinking and figured this would be a good opportunity to write about some of the games and what not I had played this last year, and some thoughts on them. Because I don't have much time now, I think I'll start off with X-Com and try to use time throughout the next few days to write several blog posts
X-Com: Enemy Unknown
So this game hands down ended up taking the most of my gaming time this year. I've clocked about 100 hours into it, which may seem like a lot of time, but when you factor in the 5 college classes, getting married, and working full time, it seems like even more. Yikes!
What drew me into this game was the science fiction setting of aliens attacking earth. Events start out at about the time we are in now and take place over the course of the next few months to few years. Each month you gain money from countries that you offer protection from abductions. You provide early warning assists in the form of satellites, each one guarding a particular country. Get enough satellites over a region and you gain some sort of bonus including quicker interrogations of captured aliens and cheaper upgrades. You use the income resources to purchase equipment for your soldiers and expansions to your base.
Research takes place after you defeat your first aliens and includes researching different devices, like strange alloys and power sources. Biological research leads to interrogations of alien subjects, which give bonus' of their own, usually a decreased research time on different weapon, armor, and other research paths. Research speed is dictated by the number of researchers you have working for you, which you can gain more of through completion of mission assignments and from countries you protect.
Missions are fun and tactical, involving a turn based system where you issue squad orders, and then the aliens get to issue their own. This can lead to some really bad situations, for instance if the random map generator decides to place tons of enemy's right where your troops spawn, your in for a really bad time. This leads to two complaints of mine, the first being that the spawn system is a bit bugged, and secondly that the random number generator is in fact not random at all. I should take that back, it is semi random, but it's a seed generator that weighs each action you take in planning out the next action of the AI. So, if you save your game and then shoot at an alien, you will always get the same result if you decide to reload the game and shoot at him again. If you reload the game, then have a soldier move, you will get a new seed and thus a different outcome on your shooting. This can lead as well to some interesting situations, like if you reload a turn before and complete your actions in the exact same pattern, then the aliens on their turn will move the same and shoot the exact same.
However, aside from the bugs, I really did enjoy the game. The tactical nature of the turn-based combat system really makes this game shine. The nature of character deaths as well adds a unique spin on the genre. If you loose a squad member during a firefight, they are gone for good. Survive, and they gain experience levels unlocking new power ups and abilities. This ends up giving you quite a the incentive to have your soldiers survive, and makes it personal when they die.
Every now and then you'll find X-Com on Steam for under $10, like at the time of this writing. If your looking for a great tactical shooter, I'd recommend picking this one up ASAP!
-Cj
Jessica and I got talking about the blog last night on our way to a party, and I realized it had been a while since I had blogged. I got to thinking and figured this would be a good opportunity to write about some of the games and what not I had played this last year, and some thoughts on them. Because I don't have much time now, I think I'll start off with X-Com and try to use time throughout the next few days to write several blog posts
X-Com: Enemy Unknown
So this game hands down ended up taking the most of my gaming time this year. I've clocked about 100 hours into it, which may seem like a lot of time, but when you factor in the 5 college classes, getting married, and working full time, it seems like even more. Yikes!
What drew me into this game was the science fiction setting of aliens attacking earth. Events start out at about the time we are in now and take place over the course of the next few months to few years. Each month you gain money from countries that you offer protection from abductions. You provide early warning assists in the form of satellites, each one guarding a particular country. Get enough satellites over a region and you gain some sort of bonus including quicker interrogations of captured aliens and cheaper upgrades. You use the income resources to purchase equipment for your soldiers and expansions to your base.
Research takes place after you defeat your first aliens and includes researching different devices, like strange alloys and power sources. Biological research leads to interrogations of alien subjects, which give bonus' of their own, usually a decreased research time on different weapon, armor, and other research paths. Research speed is dictated by the number of researchers you have working for you, which you can gain more of through completion of mission assignments and from countries you protect.
Missions are fun and tactical, involving a turn based system where you issue squad orders, and then the aliens get to issue their own. This can lead to some really bad situations, for instance if the random map generator decides to place tons of enemy's right where your troops spawn, your in for a really bad time. This leads to two complaints of mine, the first being that the spawn system is a bit bugged, and secondly that the random number generator is in fact not random at all. I should take that back, it is semi random, but it's a seed generator that weighs each action you take in planning out the next action of the AI. So, if you save your game and then shoot at an alien, you will always get the same result if you decide to reload the game and shoot at him again. If you reload the game, then have a soldier move, you will get a new seed and thus a different outcome on your shooting. This can lead as well to some interesting situations, like if you reload a turn before and complete your actions in the exact same pattern, then the aliens on their turn will move the same and shoot the exact same.
However, aside from the bugs, I really did enjoy the game. The tactical nature of the turn-based combat system really makes this game shine. The nature of character deaths as well adds a unique spin on the genre. If you loose a squad member during a firefight, they are gone for good. Survive, and they gain experience levels unlocking new power ups and abilities. This ends up giving you quite a the incentive to have your soldiers survive, and makes it personal when they die.
Every now and then you'll find X-Com on Steam for under $10, like at the time of this writing. If your looking for a great tactical shooter, I'd recommend picking this one up ASAP!
-Cj
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