Gaming, Music, Video Editing.....

So yeah, I won't lie about it: I've been playing computer games on the computer since the infancy of the entire industry - meaning Windows 3.0 (which is probably older than most of my readers), with pixel images, in an era when 28.8 kbps modems were considered ULTRA SUPER TOP SPEED, and IRC, and ICQ were (and still are) AWESOME!

Now as all PC based gamers love to do, when comparing who's the elite of the elite amongst the circle of gamers: We start by comparing computer to computer specifications. Anyone who can is welcome to try and better this particular 5,200USD (Yes, the currency is correct. Yes I know I am insane) build with compliments to FactorGaming:

 

• 17.3" (16:9) Full HD (1920x1080) LED-Backlit Display with Super Clear Glare Type Screen [0.00]
• Intel® Core™ i7-990X Processor Extreme Edition ( 12MB L3 Cache, 3.46GHz, 6.4GT/sec QPI, 6 Cores ) [+790.00]
• Dual nVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M GPU with 2GB GDDR5 Video Memory + Opt out additional AC Adapter & Power Converter Box [+1395.00]
• 12GB Triple Channel DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz - 3 X 4GB [+100.00]
• 500GB 7200rpm SATA 300 Hard Disk Drive [0.00]0]
• Microsoft Office 2010 Professional Edition - Plus Publisher & Access [+349.00]
• Genuine MS Windows® 7 Ultimate 32/64-Bit Edition ( 64-Bit Preloaded ) [+190.00]

For the sake of clarity: The Graphics Cards, and OS were upgraded from their original a couple of months back.

So in terms of games. well.... to summerize what I play I'll start with Genres: RPG, RTS, FPS. That said what are my all time favorite games? I'll go by genre just to keep things simple. For RPGS I have to start with the first game that hooked me in to RPGS: Dungeon Siege was the first, followed by Neverwinter Nights franchise followed by Assassin's Creed as my favourite of the RPG/open world/action adventure games. Far Cry 3 comes in quite high on the list as well but I've just not had enough time to sit down and play it, or Sleeping Dogs that much either.

Real Time Strategy: For me there are only three game franchises worth mentioning: Command And Conquer, Starcraft, and of course the Total Annihilation (TA). It was TA that got me in to RTS originally given the near MANIC speed and micromanagement required to win the game and that was the challenge that I found repeated in C&C and Starcraft which I just love. You can also add to that Age of Empires, and the Total War series as well. But I have to be honest: Command and Conquer 4: TIberium Twilight should have NEVER EVER SEEN THE LIGHT OF DAY. My hatred of Tiberium Twilight is described in detail in another post which you can link to here.

On a side note - cos it sorta fits in: The Civilization Series (Civilization 3 is as far back as you can go online) is also an excellent franchise for those who are looking for a slightly slower pace (given that its turned based) but incredibly indepth game with layer upon layer of micromangement that will satisfy or torture the (non)existent control freak within you.

The other one that deserves a mention here is definately X-Com: Enemy Unknown. I actually remember spending too much time levelling up my troopers in the original X-Com and the being forced to use suicide tactics in the final mission to win the game... Sigh... anyways. The remake by XXX is simply awesome, capturing the feel, tension and drama of the original with slick graphics and a soundtrack to die for.

Lastly, we come to the First Person Shooters... that's an easy one to start with: COUNTERSTRIKE! I have spent too many hours of my youth just massacring and getting massacred in Cyber cafes and LAN Parties across Asia and Europe to count, and have had the privellage of facing off against some of the premier clans way back in the early 2000s... Sigh... I'm getting misty again. But moving on: Front Line Fuel of War, Modern Warfare (linked to Modern Warfare 3), and Crysis are some of my personal favorite FPS games.

Now personally, I think that my taste in music is pretty diverse and pretty darn strange.... Ask anyone unfortuante enough to have taken a ride in my car and they'll probably agree with you: I've got everything from Pop, Rock, Rap to Hip-Hop, Techno, the Classics to Skrillex, and the works of some (IMHO) truly awesome YouTube artists such as The Piano Guys and Lindsey Stirling. Having lived abroad, my musical tastes also cross over in to those in other languages including French, German, Spanish, and Russian. The screenshot of my current running playlist probably makes more sense than me blabbering on







Now as to what I regularly listen too, it's really dependent on my mood. A lot of people have learned to associate the music blasting to the mood I'm currently in. For those who can't tell the difference between "Have a Nice Day" and a "Thrift Shop" Cover... well:

 

Now perhaps last of all, the whole vidoe editing/movie editing thing... I'm a YouTube Addict (I did the test, passed it, got a 115% out of a possible 110%). So what got me back in to the whole video editing thing I blame squarely on YouTube. Here's what happenned: I was watching or rather listening to Lindsey Stirling's cover of the Assassin's Creed 3 soundtrack, and then I went across and watched Devin Supertramp's Live Action Assassin's Creed 3 video. Now considering that BOTH artists have worked together on a number of different projects. The question arose from the chaos within my brain: WHY has Lindsey's music been combined with Devin's video? so yeah... I wound up going ahead and doing that, the result of which is linked here.

Of course in the past, I have messed around with a number of different video editing programs, but given that what I neede to do back them was ridiculously basic... well... I used a ridiculously simple program to do it all: Windows Movie Maker. In my defense this was WAAAYYY back in 2002-2004. I sorta stopped and then never touched video or movie editing again until the above question arose in my mind... Tragically, I can't find those videos anywhere - but given that they were taken about FOUR Laptops, TWO External Hard Drives and back home in Switzerland.... well I doubt I'll ever find them unless somebody from my EHL Days of Mispent Youth has a copy? Maybe?  

 

That about wraps this up. See ya all next post!