Jay

The illustrator of Penny Arcade shares his thoughts on the Studio:

When I first saw the device months ago in that secret room at MS, they asked me what I thought. I said, “Well I have no idea if anyone else will want it, but you have made my dream computer.” I recognize that not everyone needs or wants a computer they can draw on. Some people do though and I will tell you that the Surface Studio is without a doubt the best digital drawing experience I have ever tried.

Apple has been ignoring creative professionals with their Mac updates and focusing largely on phones and tablets, and after they bombed yesterday with an overpriced laptop lineup, I’m sure Tim Cook is doing a lot of thinking today. Even though the Studio isn’t a mass market device that will sell in the millions (too expensive, too niche), it just established Microsoft as the frontrunner in the creative space, and there’s something to be said for statement pieces.

I still think OS X is the best choice for developers and UX designers because the whole ecosystem is so centered around it, but Microsoft is making real headway there as well. They certainly have my attention.

Tyrphanax said:

dahmage said:

Thanks Jay. btw, did the ‘banned’ version of the avatars get dropped recently? I just see his normal looking avatar.

It seems to work in comments (I just saw it there), but not in thread titles.

This will be fixed in the next update, which is coming soon.

I will say that if all we get at the announcement today is a spec bump and a “Touch Bar” for MacBook Pros, Apple will come away looking like chumps compared to what Microsoft just announced. Apple has definitely been resting on its laurels when it comes to the Mac lineup.

Edit: Terrible presentation from Apple today. Gimmicks instead of real features and a geriatric “pro” desktop that will continue to age disgracefully. My current gen MacBook Pro is fine for now, but I might be going back to Windows next year (or building a Hackintosh).

Even for Off Topic, this is shitty.

Banned.

Believing that an expensive iMac clone with a touch screen running Windows is the thing that will draw creative professionals to Microsoft products kind of demonstrates that you don’t really get it.

Professionals performing pro work for pro clients don’t want large touch screens with pens and dials. They don’t want iMac clones running Windows 10. They don’t want iMacs either, for that matter. They want high-end upgradeable hardware with lots of ports, pro GPUs, and ECC RAM that allows them to crank through tasks like rendering digital cinema masters without encoding errors that are unacceptable at a certain level and might show up on typical consumer hardware. Fortunately for Microsoft, Apple’s biggest fuckup in this space was ditching their beloved cheese grater Mac Pro tower and replacing it with the cylinder we have today.

Unfortunately for Microsoft, Apple fans with $3K to spend aren’t buying this thing if they need a PC for pro work. They’re buying workstations from PC manufacturers that — surprise! — cost the same as the Mac Pros they’re replacing. And if an iMac or MacBook Pro will do the job, they’ll buy the Mac to avoid Windows. Nobody must use a Mac for creative endeavors, but it should tell you something that so many creative people choose to. And saying it’s because they don’t know any better and you do is pretty condescending.

Here’s my favorite recent PC vs. Mac article. Hard numbers based on tens of thousands of deployed computers at one of the largest companies in the world. And it reflects my experience at every company I’ve worked for in the last decade. Macs are cheaper than PCs to deploy and maintain over a typical hardware lifecycle.

All that said, I applaud Microsoft’s latest efforts across all fronts because they’ve really stepped up their game. Let’s not forget who forced them to do that, though.

Admiral Motti said:

all other websites

All?

Apologies, but a first-gen Kindle Fire is ancient and runs on a very old version of Android. Best advice I can give is upgrade your browser (if that’s even possible on the Fire, I don’t know).

Guys, knock it off or everybody gets a time out.

Looks like somebody signed up to the test site (that URL has the test subdomain in it) and sent you a PM there. Nothing fake about it, just confused 😃

I’ll keep the test site shut down when not in use. Sorry for the mixup.

TV’s Frink said:

I’ll stick with my Android. I just think the need for an adapter is ridiculous.

I think cables are ridiculous.

My guess is that Android will follow suit within the next few years as people get used to the idea and realize how silly wires are.

TV’s Frink said:

Because I want an unnecessary adapter.

It adds like 2 inches to your existing headphone cable. Just snap it in place and leave it there. They’re $9 if you need more than one, which shouldn’t be a consideration if you’re willing to shell out $700+ for a phone.

Or just stick with a 6s. It’s not like the 7 is a major upgrade.

Jeebus said:

LOL! The iPhone 7 isn’t going to have a headphone jack, once again proving that Apple either don’t care or don’t know what they’re doing.

There’s an adapter in the box. I don’t see the big deal. I’m happy to say goodbye to headphone cables, which are supremely annoying.

And the idea that Apple don’t know know what they’re doing is laughable. Their balance sheet indicates otherwise.

I’m saying this as someone who’s been giving serious consideration to switching back to Windows.

For me, it comes down to the vibe and atmosphere. Fallout 3 feels post-apocalyptic. Style-wise, they nailed it.

New Vegas is bright and colorful. Never gave me a feeling of fear or dread.

Lord Haseo said:

Sometimes more is just more. I never once felt while playing Fallout 3 that it didn’t have enough of something. I had plenty of fun just exploring the wasteland and didn’t need more story lines to push me in any direction.

Maybe I’ll give New Vegas another try since it’s cheap, but I still haven’t played Fallout 4. Not sure I have the attention span to do both.

Pagination has been fixed, but the error you experienced is a different issue that I’ll have to resolve later.

yhwx said:
John pointed out all the things that Marco did wrong, which I mostly agree with. But there’s still some valid criticism there: The “graphics driver crashed but it has recovered” message is totally unnecessary. You shouldn’t have to worry about activating Windows.

Apple said:
Your computer restarted because of a problem.

This isn’t much better, and incidentally, I see it way more often these days since OS X’s famous stability has gone downhill. Also, MS has traditionally been a software company, not a hardware company, so giving away the OS doesn’t exactly fit their business model. I get why it requires an activation key and phones home to register.

It’s like you didn’t even listen. Marco pointed out the game his wife was trying to play was Inside, not No Man’s Sky.

I played it at 2x. It was like listening to paint dry. Now I know what it’s like to listen to nerds talk about computers, so I think I’m done with this thread. I’ll also never talk about computers again in front of anyone else, because I think the U.N. could classify it as torture.

yhwx said:

More on why Windows is terrible:

https://overcast.fm/+CdTNu0Vk/44:04

Is that Marco Arment’s podcast? It’s Mac users like those that help explain why PC users think we’re all smug morons who can’t use any consumer product without an “i” in front of the name.

And that’s even before getting into the technical aspects they don’t understand. No Man’s Sky, which they purchased for Windows because it wasn’t available for their PS4 and they didn’t want to buy an Xbox, is available on…PS4, not Xbox. I don’t feel sorry for anyone who spends a day trying to get Windows running because they didn’t spend 30 seconds researching the game first. Dur.

Also, lol at trying to run any current game, let alone that game, on a 5K display with iMac graphics hardware and expecting good framerates. Double dur.

And lol again at installing Windows via Bootcamp on an external drive on a MacBook Pro, then acting surprised that it needed to install different drivers when connected to an iMac. Do these people even know how computers work?

^ Rhetorical question

Tyrphanax said:

Steam’s ancient HTML-based client sucks and is really starting to show its age.

Yeah. GOG’s client is pretty decent for a beta.

yhwx said:

Jay said:

My take: if it’s official promotional material, it’s not a spoiler in the classic sense. If trailers were to count as spoilers, we’d have:

The Official Rogue One Spoiler Thread
The Official Rogue One Non-Spoiler Thread
The Offical Rogue One Trailer Thread

…the last one being for people who want to discuss the official trailer without being exposed to real spoilers and leaks, while not revealing trailer content to people who don’t want to see it.

That would be silly.

I’m not sure how that would be silly.

This distinction between “real spoilers” and “not real spoilers” is silly. Any hint at plot that could hamper your ability to enjoy the film in a certain way is a spoiler.

If you have a gripe with the trailer having Vader in it, then your gripe is with the studio, not with people who want to discuss the movie and official material related to it.

I don’t think anybody here has a gripe with that. If they did, their gripe should be directed at themselves.

Pretty sure that’s exactly what Frink is upset about. Not sure what thread you’re reading.

Trailers have ALWAYS provided hints at plot and showed the characters in the film. That’s the whole point.

Trailers aren’t spoilers. Consider that official forum policy if it will end the debate and let people get back to discussing the movie.

My take: if it’s official promotional material, it’s not a spoiler in the classic sense. If trailers were to count as spoilers, we’d have:

The Official Rogue One Spoiler Thread
The Official Rogue One Non-Spoiler Thread
The Offical Rogue One Trailer Thread

…the last one being for people who want to discuss the official trailer without being exposed to real spoilers and leaks, while not revealing trailer content to people who don’t want to see it.

That would be silly.

If you have a gripe with the trailer having Vader in it, then your gripe is with the studio, not with people who want to discuss the movie and official material related to it.

Picked up No Man’s Sky yesterday from GOG and played it for about 5 hours last night. I’m apparently one of the lucky ones who isn’t having major performance issues with the PC version. Some occasional hitching, but fairly solid framerates with all settings maxed out.

I feel like I should be bored out of my mind just flying around and exploring with no clear goals, but I’m enjoying it quite a bit. I spent most of my time in games like Fallout 3 and Skyrim dungeon crawling and spelunking with no real purpose other than to kill things and gather loot, so I guess it makes sense.

Anybody else here using GOG? Definitely my favorite game store.

LexX said:

It really felt like a Dark Forces type movie.

Yes. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but this sums it up perfectly. This is a desperate time for the galaxy and not a fun romp through space.

What did you think about the “reveal” at the end? I got spoiled with that some time ago. I shouldn’t watch any SW videos on my account because then I get “recommendations” for dozens of people who talk about their SW feelings, who cares. Anyways, I think we are allowed now to talk about it, right?

I understand the desire to avoid spoilers, but prohibiting the discussion of trailer content seems excessive to me.

I’m happy about the reveal because the character’s appearance in the PT was brief and wasted.

Great trailer, but I said the same thing about TFA’s trailers and was pretty meh about the actual movie. Looking forward to this, though.

dahmage said:

question: http://www.howmanydaysuntilstarwars.com/ (it has a cast picture, pretty sure that won’t spoil anyone, but don’t click it if you don’t want to see the cast)

answer: 125 days. it would be cool to get a coundown clock on this site again, i really liked that for TFA.

Yeah, I need to get on that.

Lord Haseo said:

So I had my first encounter with Deathclaws today…fuck them…fuck them to the 10th circle of Hell.

Nothing says “you are not ready for this area” like Deathclaws.

Jeebus said:

New Vegas is better in every way

This is the first time I’ve read this on the entire internet.

moviefreakedmind said:

I just couldn’t figure out what to do or where to go. I also couldn’t stand the fighting. I grew up on Doom, Duke Nukem, Wolfenstein, and later Goldeneye, so I prefer the point and shoot types.

Fallout 3 is an RPG that looks like an FPS. If you go in expecting expecting Doom-like play mechanics, you’re bound to be disappointed. It rewards exploration and doesn’t do much to push you in any particular direction; if you talk to NPCs and follow their hints, getting through the main storyline shouldn’t be much of a problem, but “finishing” the game isn’t necessarily the point and is entirely optional. I spent most of my time exploring the wasteland and only wrapped up the main quest when I finally got tired of playing.

moviefreakedmind said:

Every now and then I’ll play a deathmatch on Doom I or II. I like it old school, but I’ll be buying Doom 4 sometime soon. I really like the looks of it.

The single player campaign is amazing, but if you’re getting it for the MP, don’t. It’s dumbed down, especially with the loadouts (tons of players bunny hopping and blasting the entire map with rocket launchers at random because you can spawn with pretty much whatever weapons you want except for the chainsaw and BFG). And the cheating is infuriating.

UT4, dude. Seriously.