How does NetFlix on the 360 work exactly? Ok, so when you sign up on NetFlix, you get access to the gigantic vault of movies and TV shows they have built up. Each piece of media on the site can be one of a few things: an instant play, a DVD, or both. It is important to know that the instant collection is nowhere near the girth of the DVD collection.
On the NetFlix site you will have two lists, your Instant Queue and your Standard Queue. In the Standard Queue goes movies you want to obtain through the mail on DVD. The Instant Queue is what you will be able to see on your Xbox 360. Perhaps they will change this in the future but you can only see what is on the Instant Queue.
Why is it important to know this? Because the instant collection rarely contains newer movies. You will usually not be able to get a movie on instant until a few months after its DVD release if not a few years.
Furthermore, if you plan on playing NetFlix over HDMI be sure you have a compliant monitor or TV because DRM will be used. Currently I am having a lot of problems getting it to work on my Dell 2408 even after it worked 2 weeks ago. Hopefully it is fixed by NXE launch.
Today I decided to do a little bit of cleaning on and in my computer. Mainly clearing dust out of the box and trying to fix a rattling noise. I didn’t realize this would happen on a modern heatsink but boy was the [stock] heatsink on my Q6600 (read: the beast) cluttered with dust. After all said and done I was able to lower my CPU’s heat by 7C! By the way, the rattling noise? A loose fan in the front of the case; glad it wasn’t something important.
So remember to clean out your case at least once a year or more.
Get it while it is hot! CNN has a ton of money and have hologram technology:
What’s next, the Death Star?
I have decided that I should give my opinion about the game. Why? Because this is the internet and if I don’t, who will? This review will not give out a score and is not going to simply list the pros and cons of the game. Rather I am going to give reasons why the game is good or bad and then argue with myself.
What’s good about Fable II?
- Simplicity
- For: For those that know me, it is no surprise to hear that I am not a huge RPG fan. I never actually completed Fable I and the only other RPG games I have played include Diablo II, KOTOR and Oblivion. Thus I thoroughly enjoy the simplicity of Fable II. The controls were very easy to pick up and the aiming for combat is incredibly easy. Just point, slash, dash and bash! But the simplicity doesn’t stop there: the best part is the quest trail. I hate games that just expect you to know where to go and Fable II fixes that with a dotted trail that shows you the way.
- Against: I am going to have to disagree. Although the simplicity of controls is good, the fighting leaves a lot to be desired. I wish games would employ both simplicity and depth. Allow those who want to spend time learning controls do so by giving them advanced moves via combos. But the lack of depth and complexity doesn’t always have to be about fighting. The lack of any sort of mini map is incredibly frustrating. The lack of a more complex potion setup is also very painful. Because the game picks potions for you, you could end up munching on fatty foods that suprise suprise, make you fat!
- Short But Sweet
- For: The game has a perfect length without having to resort to tons of fetch-it quests. The worst thing about modern RPGs is in the name of providing an open atmosphere they just include tons of extra side quests that turn out to be nothing more than walking across the world to get an item for someone. The best part about the questing in Fable II? Some of the side quests fit in with the story and make sense. The second bad thing about modern RPGs is fetch-it quests that just do not make any sense.
- Against: You couldn’t be more wrong! Fable II is the shortest RPG ever made and it is so short it is actually painful. You know a game is bad when you can spend more time mucking about in town than you do finishing the main story. Furthermore, I do not believe a game has to resort to fetch-it quests at all. Fable II makes good use of interesting quests with side stories that are awkward, funny, and even a bit frightening. They should have spent a litle more time extending it!
What sucks?
- Glitches!
- For: There is no excuse for game ending glitches whether it is joining a coop game of someone who hasn’t made it to the main game or not being able to get out of dialog. I will go as far as saying that anything dealing with the A button is glitchy. It doesn’t matter, even putting away your weapon doesn’t work sometimes!
- Against: Yep, no excuse and no argument here!
- Lack of depth
- For: Why are there so few weapons? So few clothes? So few spots to discover? The world is small, the clothes are boring, there is no armor and there are no weapons to really find except for the legendary ones. Fable II pales in comparison to games like Diablo II where there are almost endless possibilities.
- Against: Why do you need so much depth? It made sense for Diablo II because the game was about farming. It was a hack and slash where you played just to get better items. Fable II is not about that; it is about the story! If there were more weapons, it isn’t as if you would be using them. You would just get the best and that would be it.
- For 2: That is true! Perhaps they should try making multiple types of weapons with different looks that all do the same damage or have the same attributes. That way players can at least customize their looks. A game like Fable II needs to support gamers’ desires for being unique.
I am having so much fun with the game whether it is spending money on hookers, beer or scaring the townsfolk. That’s right, I went evil with my first character…
I was working in Photoshop CS2 tonight on a theme for a website and discovered a problem. When I uploaded the image to the web and opened it in Google Chrome and IE8, I noticed a significant problem with the colors.
Left: Photoshop CS2, Right: Saved JPEG in Google Chrome
Full Design Image
If anyone understands what is going on here, please let me know. I know it has to do with the Color profiles of the image. When I change the profile to “Dell 2408″ in CS2, they are the same. But this begs the question: what will it look like on other peoples’ computers?
So a helicopter definitely just landed at the highschool that is through my backyard. I drove over and there is like no one there except a firetruck. I am assuming it is some test for an emergency landing at the highschool but WHY AT TWO IN THE MORNING. On a Sunday night no less…
I was introduced to Fruity Loops Studio recently by someone in the #xna IRC channel. I knew this software existed but only quickly glanced over it because I figured that I wouldn’t be able to do anything worthwhile. Although that is still true, I decided to actually give the demo a run for its money.
Although what I produced is pretty bad by any standard, I at least know that with some time invested into learning music theory, I could actually learn to use this program and start writing some music for my own games. Here is a little track I wrote for the intro screen in my games.
Seems as though I am going through a new theme every couple of days. I really liked the last one, but it would have taken a tad too much work to get it to work well with putting code in posts. This one seems a little better suited for that.
I hope my reader[s] (?) like it! The other one was a little too simple and boring as well as dark. Who knows how long this one will last…
General | John Sedlak | 
November 17, 2008 5:37 pm | 
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