Tensei

The reason a piano roll is more suited for electronic music than sheet music notation is because it gives you control of velocities (which are different from dynamics, mind you) and other midi data that is required to have a sampled instrument play a realistic performance. Finale really only is a notation tool, because afaik there are no string libraries that can accurately interpret musical notation to the same degree as a piano roll and midi controls. Like, if you have a violin part written that starts off as legato, then tells a player to play a few notes staccato, an actual violin player will interpret that accurately, but most sample libraries would have to load up an entirely different sample set of staccato samples. It's not really worth it to write in finale if your primary goal is to get it to sound good through samples because the more complex notation won't translate accurately to samples anyway.

This game is terribly mediocre.

Ghost Recon was getting 8 out of 10 on most review sites as far as I can tell. Then again, I guess it depends on what you consider 'not doing so hot in the review scores department'. You're right that no game so far has gotten a 9 or above though.

I don't really get this thread: I mean, it's not like we can really discuss the plot or anything since everyone and their mom has played the game already. It's kinda like making a thread for Chrono Trigger DS. I'd also like to contest the "only one good game for the system" thing because Ghost Recon is actually great.

I've been laughing my ass off at this series of vids.

While it's true that we've pretty much reached the level where in-engine cinematics trump most pre-rendered stuff, there still is some room for improvement, especially in terms of shading, foliage, etc. I think certain parts in The Witcher 2 are a good example of what we might expect from the next console generation graphicswise. So it's not so much the fact that games have reached their pinnacle in terms of graphics (because people have been claiming this for years), but more the fact that throwing money at faster processors, better GPUs, etc. just doesn't improve the graphics enough to warrant it. I mean, if the Wii U really has 50% more power than a PS3, the gains from that will probably be minimal; it will run games more consistently at 1080p, it might have smoother anti-aliasing, room for better textures, but it won't be nearly as much of a leap in visuals as the difference between a gamecube and an n64.

I'm by no means an expert, but I think that the reason Nintendo's first party games look a lot better than third party games is that, aside from the obvious familiarity with the hardware, most of the games you listed go for a very stylized, smooth look, as opposed to the attempted gritty realism from games like The Conduit. They basically play to the strengths of the system, as opposed to trying to make it compete with the PS360. I also think that if the Wii U really is 50% more powerful than the PS360, it should be able to compete with the next gen to some degree. Sony and Microsoft seem to be shifting the focus to peripherals rather than straight-up hardware improvements, and I think we are seeing increasingly diminished returns in terms of investment in better hardware vs. visible improvement in graphics, so it's possible that the next generation won't be as much of a technological leap as PS2-> PS3 or Xbox->360 was.

On the subject of new heroes, I'm really liking Aluna and Myrmidon (or should I say Soapiadon) so far. Martyr and Ra seem quite powerful as well. I haven't been too impressed by Empath but maybe she does shine more in 5v5.

Also why is everything panned to the middle?

Actually I'll vouch for Kidd Cabbage being completely amazing at Codex Scout as well as a hilarious guy to have on your team.

What's so funny about that? It's hard to deny that Nintendo is the most innovative of the three companies in terms of console design. If this is about a lack of new franchises, remind me again of how many first-party franchises Microsoft and Sony have launched in recent years. Stuff like Uncharted, Gears of War and God of War are all third party titles.

Never send boys to do a woman's job~ But yeah that looks pretty awesome.

I'm really getting the itch to play again, but on the other hand I also know that it's a timesink once I get hooked, so I might as well just wait for DotA 2. LoL never appealed to me for a number of reasons, and though I like bringing up the denying thing, the most egregious issue for me is the fact that players who have played more get an inherent advantage (beyond skills) with the summoner spells. On the other hand, I heard that the matchmaking system is quite good about that, so who knows.

Pokemon Snap really had no business being as enjoyable as it turned out to be (I mean, come on, "Pokemon Spinoff game based around photography" doesn't exactly scream game of the year). I think it's basically the perfect rental game, because despite the short length it was graphically pretty impressive for the time, and the gameplay was tons of fun. I would love to see it return on Wii U. On a similar note, Fatal Frame would be great as well.

The way I see it, there's basically three things you can do when laning: - Attacking/last-hitting enemy creeps - Attacking enemy heroes (harassing) - Denying That's not exactly a lot of options, and removing any of those three out of the equation limits what you can do even further. Denying definitely does NOT allow you to shut down another player entirely, no matter the skill gap. What causes players who are better at the game to 'win' at laning vs. worse players is that the worse player will usually misjudge his own health, damage or positioning and die, or maybe the more skilled player will be able to take a calculated risk and towerdive, netting him a kill. This is a much bigger factor in shutting down the other player than denying ever will be. In fact, given enough of a skill gap it's way more beneficial for the better player to be lasthitting everything instead of focusing on denies because he will be able to basically farm freely, which in the long run makes much more of a difference than preventing an unskilled player from farming. Focusing on denying is an option for a support hero to slow down an opposing carries farm, and it generally just allows for more tactical versatility in the laning matchups.

I have used FL for ages and I have literally never noticed this. Then again, the first thing I do when starting a new project is turning everything down so I might have never run into it. That said, doesn't stuff in FL just clip if it's too loud?

if nekofrog can get his grubby hands on enough consoles to make a $1500 profit, you must be doing something wrong if you can't even get one, just sayin. I had no problems getting mine early either. Silly tangent aside, I'd like to reiterate that I don't think it's very likely at all that we'll get a repeat of the Wii shortage when the Wii U launches.

I find it boring because it simplifies what is already the most tedious part of the game even further

It's literally capitalism at work. What are you, sum kinda communist? Jokes aside, I doubt the Wii U will be as hard to find as the Wii was. Nintendo will probably have to drive the price up a bit to account for the new hardware features + the controller, and if the 3DS launch is anything to go by, they have learned from the Wii and made a lot more units available at launch.

I think the main reason the default config sucks is because the limiter is set to boost by like 5.5 dB which is completely insane. It's fine if you just turn down the gain to 0 and set the threshold to -0.2 (which is pretty much the standard). If it's not the default limiter like you're claiming, then I don't know what to say. You're probably doing something else wrong.

lol more like NO DENIES AMIRITE

http://homestuck.bandcamp.com/album/strife Original music, in very much the same style as my Chrono Trigger remix.

I am so furious man you have no idea i just wanna go out on the internet and call people rapists and sociopaths like whoah is French... ?Now you actually got me interested though, like, more interested than all the rape and sociopathy and stuff. Why do you keep on making (what you think are) allusions to my native country? It just seems so arbitrary to me. Are they supposed to be insults or something?

Ah yes, keeping it classy. When rape accusations don't do the trick, switch to sociopathy. Armchair psychology aside, I don't really understand the point you're trying to make in the first part of your post. You put down the rhetorical question "Why is music and software different" and then proceeded to...not answer it. So is there any chance you could put it more succinctly? Why IS music and software different? The second part of the post is almost entirely about me and how I have proven myself to be a complete sociopath, which I feel goes a bit beyond the scope of this thread, so it might be best to leave stuff like that out, since it really does clog up the thread and prevents meaningful discussion from happening. Since you apparently feel that there is a fundamental difference between music and software piracy, how do you feel about me pirating a game like, say, Anachronox then?