![]() You'd be surprised how little additional information is needed to match and surpass the quality of 4xMSAA. The way we solve it is to allow the user to apply some amount of super-sampling. The usual problem with analytical approaches still applies - there is no sub-pixel information to correctly estimate pixel/fragment coverage. "The side effect is that the picture is always anti-aliased to some extent. Please enable JavaScript to use our comparison tools. There is no way for the user to disable analytical anti-aliasing any more, due to the way it is deeply integrated into the pipeline," says Shishkovstov. "We merged ideas from our previous implementation (AAA) and FXAA to both have larger search window and deeper per-pixel control, like micro-blur and/or micro-sharpen. The frame-rate killing 4x MSAA from Metro 2033 is now a thing of the past. 4A's approach is to combine super-sampling with a post-process technique - FXAA - for optimal results in terms of both performance and image quality. The problem with SSAA is that it's very heavy on the GPU since so many more pixels are being internally rendered. Super-sampling is the new anti-aliasing technique of choice from 4A - and it's literally the process of rendering the frame at a higher pixel density and then downscaling it to fit your chosen resolution, smoothing away the jaggies. "For example, Metro: Last Light is very playable on Intel HD 4000 hardware in DX11 mode (yes, lower quality settings only, but still - it runs) and we run extremely well on the next-gen Intel Haswell GPUs, while still bringing to their knees the high-end cards like GTX 680 and the HD 7970 in high-quality modes with extreme super-sampling." "We are extremely proud of the scalability we achieved," Oles Shishkovstov, chief technical officer for 4A Games tells us. Metro: Last Light developer 4A games has shared some of the technological enhancements added to its bespoke engine since the release of Metro 2033 three years ago, going in-depth on its new approaches to DirectX 11, tessellation and anti-aliasing while promising a great gameplay experience across a range of hardware.
0 Comments
![]() Secondly, you can print directly from the X100T to Fujifilm's Instax Share Printer. The X100T has built-in WIFI, which is great for three things: first of all, you can send images to your phone to process them or put them online. And as I shoot RAW + JPG, I still record the full colour sensor data anyway! 8. In other words, having an EVF helps me with my composition. Finally, I love the fact that I can set up different aspect ratios or film simulations (I love Classic Chrome and Black + White) and that I can preview exactly how a specific aspect ratio or film look would work. Instead, I see the image I just created in my EVF, free from the glare of the sun. I also love the instant feedback and the fact that I no longer have to chimp. I'll do a separate blog post on the advantages of an EVF, but suffice to say for now that I like the fact that the EVF shows me the image that I will wind up with rather than the image I think I will wind up with. Well, in the case of the X100T, you actually still have one but as mentioned earlier, I only use it on specific occasions.įor the rest of the time, I happily use the EVF (Electronic ViewFinder) and I have grown so used to it that I actually miss having one on those rare instances when I still pick up a DSLR. When you first switch to mirrorless, one of the harder things to adjust to is no longer having an optical viewfinder. ![]() It's great for people with decision-making problems like myself! Well, with its fixed lens, the X100T makes your mind up for you. So you grab a camera body, a lens, another lens and before you know it, you need a sherpa to carry all the extras because you cannot make your mind up what to bring. You know that feeling when you go out the door for a family stroll or a quick bike ride and you want to take a camera with you, just in case. It's my favorite 'get out the door quickly' camera But the X100T's retro style, contrary to some of the what I would call 'faux-retro' cameras out there, is actually functional retro. Furthermore, you can add ISO to one of the function buttons so you can still easily set it without taking your eye from the viewfinder. Retro is hot, nowadays. Only the ISO has to be set from the camera's Quick Menu, although you can minimise the need to change it by using the camera's auto-ISO functionality. ![]() The X100T's got them all: an aperture ring (now also with 1/3 increments), a shutter speed dial and an exposure compensation dial. I don't understand why at some point camera makers stopped adding aperture rings to their lenses. As an avid fan of the E-M10 series and the X100 series, you can't really go wrong with either.ĭo you have suggestions for a similar setup to the X100V? Leave your ideas in the comments below.I love manual dial controls. The bottom line is that you can spend years waiting for an X100V to come back in stock, or you can pick up a similar setup, save money, and start shooting today. While Fujifilm certainly makes it easier, Holden has pushed, pulled, and painstakingly tweaked his way to making Olympus files look like Fujifilm files, and shares them in the video above. One of the things that Holden points out is that many folks love the color simulations offered by Fujifilm cameras, and while I've always been a fan of the "classic chrome" look from the X-trans sensors, Olympus has a set of art filters all its own that can create a variety of different looks. Simply put, I enjoyed the act of shooting Olympus and Fuji, even if they weren't necessarily technically superior cameras. Either of those two cameras brought me significantly more joy in shooting. The eye-detection autofocus, image quality, and overall capability of even something as silly and small as my Canon EOS M50 Mark II is leagues better than my E-M10 Mark II of X100T cameras were. I've been singing the praises of Olympus cameras for a while, and having owned both an X100 camera and an E-M10 camera, while they operate quite differently, both offer a sort of "analog" feel to shooting that's absent from everything in the lineups from the big three (Canon, Nikon, and Sony). And, even if you go with a newer model that I've linked above, it will still come in under the price of an X100V with more flexibility overall as an interchangeable lens camera. The premise of the X100 series, including the latest X100V, is a retro-looking, small, pocketable street camera that sports a fast-aperture 35-ish millimeter lens, and while photographer and YouTuber George Holden's suggestion of an Olympus E-M10 and Olympus M.Zuiko Digital 17mm f/1.8 Lens doesn't have the neat party-trick of Fujifilm's switchable electronic/optical viewfinder, it certainly is small, pocketable, street-able, and definitely retro-looking. You can also earn other bonuses, including free bombs, collections, and coin barrels, simply from landing a bunch of ice cubes in the plumber’s pants in a row. The straight up and down swipe is the easiest for earning the Spine Rider bonus too, which dumps 15 extra coins on you. If your swipe is too low, you’ll hit his or her jeans and miss. If your swipe is too high, then you could end up missing and sending the ice cube right over the plumber’s head. Your swipe should end right in the middle of the screen, or slightly above it. So theres never any chance of anything showing. ![]() I tuck in my undershirt, and whatever Im wearing for the day goes over that. The easiest way to score a ton of coins, and therefore a ton of crack bucks, is simply to swipe straight down to up, over and over again, up the very center of the screen. High rise underwear if you don’t want to change your pants fit. For that reason, it is much easier to rack up a higher score and earn more crack bucks when you choose the male plumber. Also, he tends to hit his head on the sink that he is working on, while the female plumber doesn’t really do that. The female plumber is slim with a big butt, but the male plumber is big and wide all the way around. There are two different plumbers who you can choose from to throw ice cubes at, and those are the male plumber and the female plumber. You can use them to buy different clothes for the plumber, as well as different items to throw into the plumber’s butt, and various new game modes such as time attack. The cubes you toss earn more coins and crack bucks, with 100 coins equaling a crack buck, as well as various bonuses. ![]() Loose items of clothing could get caught in the machine and this. Plumbers work with all types of machinery. Although this seems like something that would fix the issue, this could potentially be hazardous to the plumber. Plumber Crack can be as addicting as crack, for fans of simple games that you can just play forever and ever. Another suggested option on how to fix plumber’s crack is to tie a flannel around their waist. Plumber Crack is a simple little game for the iPhone that has one premise: You toss ice cubes, or other unlockable items, and try to land them so that they end up going down the plumber’s pants and into their plumber’s crack. ![]()
Or rather, the knowledge that you need to circumvent the stealth segments is hidden behind those stealth segments (at which point you don’t need to go back, unless you’re achievement hunting). The one area where Echoes of the Eye lets itself down is by including three segments which require stealth to navigate, with no way around them. A big part of the marketing campaign, but what even is this thing? The Flaw The puzzle I was then presented with left me feeling the smartest I have since That Moon. The final piece of information I learned before reaching the conclusion is one of Outer Wilds’ greatest discoveries. ![]() The discovery within the expansion is still fascinating and as wonderfully giddy as the base game. This can mostly be chalked up to not having as much space as the base game – Echoes of the Eye took me about half as much time to complete as the base game (which is still great value for an expansion!) The information still spreads out from a single point before collapsing back into a single point by the story’s conclusion, but it doesn’t quite have the same feeling of multiple threads gradually pulling together that the base game does. Echoes of the Eye uses a lot of what you learn in the base game (though some of it only very briefly) and still manages to surprise you with the new “mechanics” it introduces.Įchoes of the Eye is slightly more linear than the base game, having “chunks” of information you need to complete before you can really progress to the next “chunk”. It presents a bittersweet contrast to the base game story and leaves you with an ending you don’t realise will hit as hard as it does.īeing an exploration game with minimal mechanics, there isn’t much to say for the gameplay. Echoes of the Eye almost takes you through the five stages of grief as you uncover its story, but the word which comes to mind when I think about its conclusion is “pity”. The base game uses hopeful messages to lead you through a tale of sorrow and finally leaves you feeling proud whereas Echoes of the Eye shows you a tale of despair (and even briefly anger) only to leave you feeling remorseful by its conclusion. ![]() If the base game is about exploring and embracing the unknown, Echoes of the Eye is about the opposite. The story of Echoes of the Eye is even more “show don’t tell” than the base game, with absolutely no text to tell you what’s going on, relying entirely on images and your interpretation of them. It answers a question from the base game that I didn’t even consider, but which in hindsight seems like a major plot point Mobius Digital set up for themselves. The StoryĮchoes of the Eye expands on the Outer Wilds universe in a way I didn’t expect, and yet it makes perfect sense. The way each track fades in and seems to crescendo just as the player reaches a major revelation will never cease to amaze me.Įven the beautiful moments are dark and eerie. From the awe-inspiring to the downright terrifying, the music only ever adds to the experience. The music only enhances the emotional heights that Echoes of the Eye offers. ![]() The MusicĪ brief note on the music, which is a major player once again. That said, if you can survive Dark Bramble, you can survive Echoes of the Eye. This doesn’t feel cheap, either: everything from lighting to music to furniture is used to make you feel uncomfortable and nervous to turn every corner.Įchoes of the Eye feels a lot creepier than the base game, and definitely earns that title with some of its sequences. The expansion does really well to make the player feel unnerved and afraid again, even with a complete understanding of the base game. Simply discovering the expansion is a journey in itself, and the first time you see where the expansion takes place is a breath-taking reward that almost makes you forget the sun is about to explode. It encapsulates the awe of the base game as you discover new things, enthralling the player with spectacular horizons and beautiful details. The ambience of Echoes of the Eye is nothing short of incredible. ![]() The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, and the heart of kings is unsearchable. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter. ![]() These are also proverbs of Solomon, which the men of Hezekiah king of Judah copied out. So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth and thy want as an armed man. Yet a little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to sleep: Then I saw, and considered it well: I looked upon it, and received instruction. And, lo, it was all grown over with thorns, and nettles had covered the face thereof, and the stone wall thereof was broken down. I went by the field of the slothful, and by the vineyard of the man void of understanding Say not, I will do so to him as he hath done to me: I will render to the man according to his work. Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause and deceive not with thy lips. Prepare thy work without, and make it fit for thyself in the field and afterwards build thine house. Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer. But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. He that saith unto the wicked, Thou are righteous him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him: It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment. For their calamity shall rise suddenly and who knoweth the ruin of them both? My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change: For there shall be no reward to the evil man the candle of the wicked shall be put out. ![]() Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him. Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: For a just man falleth seven times, and riseth up again: but the wicked shall fall into mischief. Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous spoil not his resting place: So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul: when thou hast found it, then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off. My son, eat thou honey, because it is good and the honeycomb, which is sweet to thy taste: If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works? If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death, and those that are ready to be slain If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men. He that deviseth to do evil shall be called a mischievous person. Wisdom is too high for a fool: he openeth not his mouth in the gate. For by wise counsel thou shalt make thy war: and in multitude of counsellers there is safety. A wise man is strong yea, a man of knowledge increaseth strength. And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches. Through wisdom is an house builded and by understanding it is established: For their heart studieth destruction, and their lips talk of mischief. Be not thou envious against evil men, neither desire to be with them. They have stricken me, shalt thou say, and I was not sick they have beaten me, and I felt it not: when shall I awake? I will seek it yet again. Yea, thou shalt be as he that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth upon the top of a mast. Thine eyes shall behold strange women, and thine heart shall utter perverse things. At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder. Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. They that tarry long at the wine they that go to seek mixed wine. Who hath woe? who hath sorrow? who hath contentions? who hath babbling? who hath wounds without cause? who hath redness of eyes? She also lieth in wait as for a prey, and increaseth the transgressors among men. For a whore is a deep ditch and a strange woman is a narrow pit. Bible, King James Version Bible, King James Version Send it off to e-waste, because according to Apple's policy and your policy, it can no longer be assured to be patched for vulnerabilities as they are discovered, because it can't run Ventura. The other is a Dell or a Thinkpad or something with then-current Windows 10.Īs of today, that Macbook needs to go. You buy two computers for two different employees. You're a corporation with a typical IT policy that says, basically, "Any PC with an OS that isn't getting patches must be upgraded to a supported version or retired." A sensible and standard policy. I'm truly struggling to see the actual problem here. But no OS developer is going to commit to fully supporting every version of its product for a full decade, because of course not. So it is with Windows, too - as just noted above, Microsoft doesn't support its minor version releases for longer than three years, and you need to update to the latest version your machine can support to take advantage of new updates. ![]() Older Mac OS versions still get critical security patches, but aren't regularly updated the way more modern versions are. It seems like Apple is being held to a standard here that other OEMs aren't really held to. Either support these old OSes properly, or don't pretend to do so. Promoted Commentsįrankly, this is a shit policy for a trillion dollar corporation. But if you believe you're being specifically targeted by attackers, you have another reason to make sure your software (and hardware) are fully updated and upgraded. We've asked Apple to be more upfront about its security communication, and this is a step forward in that regard. And Apple's documentation doesn't change anything about how it updates older software it merely confirms something that had already been observed. Most people running an up-to-date Big Sur or Monterey installation with an up-to-date Safari browser should be safe from most high-priority threats, especially if you also keep the other apps on your Mac updated. That said, this probably shouldn't dramatically change your calculus for when to upgrade or stop using an older Mac. Software like the OpenCore Legacy Patcher can be used to get the newest OS versions running on older hardware, but it's not always a simple process, and it has its own limitations and caveats. This means that every year, there's a new batch of devices that are still getting some security updates but not all of them. This is relevant for Mac users because Apple drops support for older Mac and iDevice models in most upgrades, something that has accelerated somewhat for older Intel Macs in recent years (most Macs still receive six or seven years of upgrades, plus another two years of updates). Intego Chief Security Analyst Joshua Long has tracked the CVEs patched by different macOS and iOS updates for years and generally found that bugs patched in the newest OS versions can go months before being patched in older (but still ostensibly "supported") versions, when they're patched at all. This confirms something that independent security researchers have been aware of for a while but that Apple hasn't publicly articulated before. Advertisementįurther Reading Some Macs are getting fewer updates than they used to. Apple currently provides security updates to macOS 11 Big Sur and macOS 12 Monterey alongside the newly released macOS Ventura, and in the past, it has released security updates for older iOS versions for devices that can't install the latest upgrades. In other words, while Apple will provide security-related updates for older versions of its operating systems, only the most recent upgrades will receive updates for every security problem Apple knows about. "Because of dependency on architecture and system changes to any current version of macOS (for example, macOS 13)," the document reads, "not all known security issues are addressed in previous versions (for example, macOS 12)." Updating from iOS 16.0 to 16.1 or macOS 12.5 to 12.6 or 12.6.1 is an update. So updating from iOS 15 to iOS 16 or macOS 12 to macOS 13 is an upgrade. ![]() Throughout the document, Apple uses "upgrade" to refer to major OS releases that can add big new features and user interface changes and "update" to refer to smaller but more frequently released patches that mostly fix bugs and address security problems (though these can occasionally enable minor feature additions or improvements as well). ![]() Further Reading PSA: Apple isn’t actually patching all the security holes in older versions of macOS ![]() Enemy attacks are warned via an onscreen prompt, allowing you to time your next move perfectly. Combat is simple you can attack with your sword, roll to dodge incoming attacks, and use special spells to aid you. Regardless, these quests won’t take up most of your time in Cat Quest, as that is instead spent on battling mobs and clearing dungeons. ![]() It’s frustrating to have to put off finishing a side quest due to this system. For example, one of the questlines in the starting town will begin as appropriate for a Level 1 character, but the final one as you progress may lock you out as it has a much higher level requirement. These missions offer a good balance of fun and challenge, bringing very little frustration if you were to fail, but there is a flaw in the system where many questlines will level-gate you from completing them, meaning that later missions will get much harder and possibly higher than your level allows. As you venture further north, more difficult enemies will turn up alongside higher rewarding quests to complete.Įach questline is divided into individual tasks, which can be anything from a simple fetch quest to fighting a boss. Set in a kingdom populated by anthropomorphic cats, your task is to rescue your sister who has been catnapped by the evil Lord Drakoth.įrom the beginning, you are immediately thrown into a world where you are free to explore, clear dungeons and complete side quests to level up and gain better equipment. ![]() In lieu of this current trend of indie studios reinventing traditional genres, The Gentlebros – the team also behind last year’s Slashy Hero – has released Cat Quest, a 2D adventure RPG that borrows inspiration from classic games such as the Fallout and Legend of Zelda series. Reviews // 6th Dec 2017 - 5 years ago // By Olly Smith Cat Quest Review This allows you to create things such as buttons and labels that change appearance depending on the component's state. Both the electronic components and the traces support multiple input and output connections.ĭecorationCustomize the appearance of circuits by drawing in the decoration layers that override the component's default colors. Simulate with a frequency of up to millions of updates per second.ĪssemblyAssembly editor where you can define your own instructions to create a program that will be assembled to a Virtual Memory that can be accessed by your circuits.Įditing and SimulatingWorking in VCB is separated in two modes, while editing you can use the drawing tools to modify your circuit and the assembly editor to write programs, and during simulation you can see your circuit running, interact with it, and watch the assembly instructions being executed.ĭrawing-based InterfaceBuild circuits by drawing color-coded entities like logic gates and traces, and use the specialized tools such as the Array to optimize your workflow by drawing multiple traces simultaneously. Powerful SimulationHigh-performant deterministic simulation with adjustable speed and the ability to pause and advance by steps. VCB's development philosophy is aimed toward delivering a fresh sandbox experience for players who already have some basic knowledge about logic gates and circuits. Trusted by Families Worldwide With over 50 million sold, ThinkFun is the worlds leader in brain and logic games. SmartGames creates out of this world challenges with IQ Stars To play any of the 120 included challenges simply set up the board based on your challenge. ![]() Set your own goalsIn VCB you will set your own goals of what and how you want to build, it does not comes with tutorials, levels, or challenges, and it will not teach you digital logic or assembly. All of it designed to give you the freedom to build and experiment with logic circuits to your heart’s content. Virtual Circuit Board, or VCB, is a sandbox-only drawing-based logic simulator featuring an assembler and a powerful simulation engine. “I will constantly gather feedback and interact with the community to fine-tune Virtual Circuit Board to the players' needs.” How are you planning on involving the Community in your development process? “The price might increase depending on how much new content is added to the game.” Will the game be priced differently during and after Early Access? ![]() “The game is fully playable and it is possible to create and simulate complex circuits, although overall stability is expected to improve during Early Access.” What is the current state of the Early Access version? “Upon reaching full release Virtual Circuit Board will have its drawing tools along with its other features fine-tuned to give the best circuit design and simulation experience.” How is the full version planned to differ from the Early Access version? “It is difficult to give an estimate time frame since the community feedback will guide the development, but since most of the core features are already in place I estimate it should take no longer than a year, although this estimate might change as I learn more and better understand how players experience the game.” This community feedback allows me to fine-tune the game features to match the ideal sandbox experience for designing, programming, decorating, and simulating logic circuits.”Īpproximately how long will this game be in Early Access? ![]() Now you can download and play this game for free on this site.“Early Access allows me to better understand how players interact with the game by learning what they create, how they use the available tool set, what they might need to improve their workflow when creating circuits, and so on. ![]() Despite all that, it is very entertaining to experiment and do things like screens, memories, adders, and whatever you can think of and we hope the developer continues to work on improving it since it is in early access. It still has its bugs and problems, you have to restart if components are moved in a certain way, the delayers do not work as expected (you have to keep the pulse for x cycles to activate) and we have not been able to make flip flops work. If you already know electronics basics or have played with Minecraft’s Redstone (the developer said there will be tutorials in the future). The logic world is an amazing experience so far. This is a Minecraft for red stone lovers without unnecessary functions and with normal wires. ![]() But in simplifying the label, the designers decided that the word “Harpoon” was enough, that a silhouette of an actual harpoon was unnecessary, Storey said. I wanted to use more munich and victory but the color was getting too dark. There were some great IPAs out in the Pacific Northwest, but no local IPAs on the east coast. Read More We started brewing this beer as a summer seasonal in 1993. Join us for a 50-minute private tour of Harpoon Brewery where youll learn all about the history of the Harpoon brand, experience the entire craft brewing. There were some great IPAs out in the Pacific Northwest, but no local IPAs on the east coast. Add your phone number to get notified once it becomes available. ![]() Victory is commonly used in most clones Ive seen. Harpoon IPA IPA - American We started brewing this beer as a summer seasonal in 1993. We did the beer tour (5) and got to hear about the history of their most. Along with the third malt, a 2-row pale, I interpret that has munich, victory, and 2 -row. Top ways to experience Harpoon Brewery & Beer Hall and nearby attractions. While its recipe hasn’t changed, Harpoon IPA is getting bold new packaging. When co-founders Rich Doyle and Dan Kenary started the company 29 years ago, they wanted a name that had some connection to the Boston area, and one that could be easily represented in a graphic image, Storey said. One adds a toasted flavor and another a malty flavor. BOSTON Harpoon Brewery announced today that it’s giving its flagship IPA a makeover. Hopefully, our brand franchise is strong enough that our consumers won’t be confused by that or be turned off by that.” it would have meant waiting a little longer,” Storey said. 6 Harpoon Beers to Reach for After a Workout - Archived - May No Longer Be Relevant 1. The next beer to change will be Harpoon’s Take 5 Session IPA, in March, and the last will be the Winter Warmer, in time for next fall’s release. Storey said Harpoon executives liked the design so much that they wanted to get it circulating as soon as possible, even though other Harpoon beers will still have the old look. Harpoon IPA 6.56 - 59.99 4.6 (9) Harpoon Juicer Hazy IPA 8.99 - 29.98 4.3 (29) Harpoon Seasonal Variety Pack 14.59 - 29.99 4.8 (51) Harpoon Rec League Pale Ale 6.29 - 29.99 4.5 (6) Harpoon Season Pass Variety Pack 9.99 - 40.00 Harpoon Octoberfest 7.99 - 31.99 4.1 (41) Harpoon Seasonal Series 7.99 - 59.99 4. The new look was developed in-house, with help from brand strategy agency Catapult Thinking of Boston, and announced in an email to customers on Thursday. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |