It's New Year's Eve... and what am I doing...well, I'm working, and although I thought there was a shot we'd be able to go home early, it's not looking likely. It is definitely a lot busier than it was on Christmas Eve, so probably be working til 6... and of course, we have dinner reservations at 6... soooo i'll be late for that as well, super.
I got to bed last night at 9:30, which is unusually early for me, and I haven't been feeling the greatest, still recovering from a horrible sinus infection, but today, thus far, have been feeling good... I think that extra sleep helped out, who would've thunk it?... (except everyone who's always said to get plenty of sleep...) maybe they are on to something.
VR... I couldn't let a post go without talking about VR, so yes, I will talk about it, thank you.
I've gamed a bit over the weekend in the Oasis-sphere, had some good times, was in VRChat a bunch, some Altspace, and played a couple other games like Pistol Whip and some others... Hope to get back in sometime tonight or tomorrow since we're off work tomorrow, and definitely this upcoming weekend, whenever that comes (I'd be willing to bet in like 3 or 4 days.)
Oh yea, Dallas won easily over Washington on Sunday, was a good game... but it was the last... the only way we would've stumbled into the playoffs was if the Eagles lost and of course, they won... so the stupid Eagles will be heading into the playoffs this year, we shall see what happens with that.
Anything else? Sure. The kids are both sick, upper respitory infections or something like that, poor babies, hopefully they get well soon... especially since Syd is set to go to Longwood Gardens on Thursday with my parents for 2 nights. That's a nice break and gives me and Jen some needed alone time!
We keep looking into new houses as well, there are a couple that have jumped out but there's always some kind of hurdle. The one that I really liked would pretty much require a $16,000 down payment... which is just a bit outside our price range. Therefore the hunt continues.
I guess that's all I wanted to spill for now, Happy New Year to all, I expect 2020 to be an amazing year! And don't forget #Trump2020
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Friday, December 27, 2019
Happy Holidays!
Another Christmas has come and gone - it was a good time for all and to all a good night.
The kids excitedly opened their presents, got things they always wanted and things they didn't know they wanted, things they didn't want and things they didn't need, but it was a great time. I got some wonderful things myself, mostly money, which never hurts, especially when trying to save for a house. Got an awesome handgun safe, some Switch gear, some new clippers, underwear and some other goodies!
Dad got his Oculus Quest, which we really didn't set up or play around with until the day after Christmas, just due to the abundance of people around and things going on. I think he's going to absolutley love it the deeper he gets, and of course, sharing the joys of VR got me once again into the obsession. It also seems my earlier year prediction was fairly accurate - looking online it seems that A LOT of Quests were given as gifts, hell the backorder date is into late Januray/February now because stock everywhere is depleted. It's about to be MAINSTREAM, Baby!
Sorry to spin this write-up in the VR direction again, but that's exactly what I'm doing.
This may very well be the kick-off to a huge new audience which will only spread. VR has been peaking and valleying since 2016-ish, and now with amazing games, apps and experiences in the library, game-changing games coming soon (Half Life: Alyx) and headsets gaining prominence as well as prices slowly coming down, the adoption is going to grow exponentially (it also has me looking into what companies will be potentially prospering and looking into buying some stock.)
'Ready Player One' isn't far away and as developers start making more advanced, and smaller form-factor headsets, we are currently looking into the future and it looks bright!
I guess that's all I wanted to really say about VR... for now. Have also lately been listening back to OLD episodes of Video Game Outsiders, starting in 2006 when the crew was John, Michelle and Kyle... and they still mostly referred to each other as Blackdog, and Jerk... Michelle has always been "Michelle"... :P... although sometimes, Me-Shell. John just started saying "You Muthas!" and the highlights of the time are Animal Crossing on DS, Xbox 360 gamertag and achievement points, and talking about HD TV's, which none of them had yet (Michelle might have had one actually.) Fun times, love this gang!
Anything else happening? Nah, not really... this week kinda was rough because Christmas fell on a Wednesday, which chopped up the work-week and made it a pain in the ass, but today is Friday, so after this day is complete, get to enjoy the weekend with my brand new toys, muahaha. Going to defiitely hit up some of the VR social spots, VRChat and Altspace to see how things are with all the newcomers. Will try to help my dad as well with more of his Quest set-up. I do want to try to get him into something like VRChat maybe and meet up with him online, although it can sometimes be awkward enough being in person, not sure that's a good idea, but technically speaking, I could have the whole family in VR and meet up in Cyberspace... ideally Altspace would probably be a good idea. We'll see how it goes.
That's all I got for now... might write up more later. Might not.
The kids excitedly opened their presents, got things they always wanted and things they didn't know they wanted, things they didn't want and things they didn't need, but it was a great time. I got some wonderful things myself, mostly money, which never hurts, especially when trying to save for a house. Got an awesome handgun safe, some Switch gear, some new clippers, underwear and some other goodies!
Dad got his Oculus Quest, which we really didn't set up or play around with until the day after Christmas, just due to the abundance of people around and things going on. I think he's going to absolutley love it the deeper he gets, and of course, sharing the joys of VR got me once again into the obsession. It also seems my earlier year prediction was fairly accurate - looking online it seems that A LOT of Quests were given as gifts, hell the backorder date is into late Januray/February now because stock everywhere is depleted. It's about to be MAINSTREAM, Baby!
Sorry to spin this write-up in the VR direction again, but that's exactly what I'm doing.
This may very well be the kick-off to a huge new audience which will only spread. VR has been peaking and valleying since 2016-ish, and now with amazing games, apps and experiences in the library, game-changing games coming soon (Half Life: Alyx) and headsets gaining prominence as well as prices slowly coming down, the adoption is going to grow exponentially (it also has me looking into what companies will be potentially prospering and looking into buying some stock.)
'Ready Player One' isn't far away and as developers start making more advanced, and smaller form-factor headsets, we are currently looking into the future and it looks bright!
I guess that's all I wanted to really say about VR... for now. Have also lately been listening back to OLD episodes of Video Game Outsiders, starting in 2006 when the crew was John, Michelle and Kyle... and they still mostly referred to each other as Blackdog, and Jerk... Michelle has always been "Michelle"... :P... although sometimes, Me-Shell. John just started saying "You Muthas!" and the highlights of the time are Animal Crossing on DS, Xbox 360 gamertag and achievement points, and talking about HD TV's, which none of them had yet (Michelle might have had one actually.) Fun times, love this gang!
Anything else happening? Nah, not really... this week kinda was rough because Christmas fell on a Wednesday, which chopped up the work-week and made it a pain in the ass, but today is Friday, so after this day is complete, get to enjoy the weekend with my brand new toys, muahaha. Going to defiitely hit up some of the VR social spots, VRChat and Altspace to see how things are with all the newcomers. Will try to help my dad as well with more of his Quest set-up. I do want to try to get him into something like VRChat maybe and meet up with him online, although it can sometimes be awkward enough being in person, not sure that's a good idea, but technically speaking, I could have the whole family in VR and meet up in Cyberspace... ideally Altspace would probably be a good idea. We'll see how it goes.
That's all I got for now... might write up more later. Might not.
Monday, December 2, 2019
Communication and VR
Getting back into VR and thinking how amazing it truly is, especially looking back at technology and communication in general. It's crazy! Allow me to expound on these thoughts!
At one time, the only communication was face to face interactions, people from neighboring villages or tribes or whatever, were confined to know only what was happening right around them and their connection with the outside world was minimal if at all.
Evolving to eventual symbols and an alphabet opened things up, but were still restricted as far as sending messages via carrier pigeons or by slow means, such as the pony express. It could take weeks or months before one group would know what was happening elsewhere in the world.
Newspapers and Telegraphs opened up things even more, getting more information out to more people at quicker speeds. With Newspapers, a huge amount of information could be disseminated to a large number of people, and telegraphs, namely morse code, could get information out quickly, although that was primarily used by military or higher up, important people.
Radio broke open another evolution and gave people the ability to mass transmit information in real time and shortly after that, telephones became the norm, connecting people to other people across vasts distances.
It wasn't long after that that television became the mainstay form of information (and entertainment) and soon it became widespread and almost anyone who could afford it had a direct link to information, news and entertainment. This truly began connecting people all over to one another, although it was a regulated source of information and wasn't truly a direct back and forth flow of information.
The next big breakthrough in communication which began breaking the standards of being force-fed what one source chose to feed you, was the Personal Computer, the internet and email. With these innovations, anyone could now communicate to anyone else willing to listen/read their thoughts. The good comes with the bad, but this was absolutely the greatest evolution thus far for communication, enabling everybody the ability to convey their thoughts.
An off-shoot of the internet has been cell phones, text messaging and the invent of social media, which gives people more and more direct and immediate connection with others. There is no longer a waiting period for information, news, entertainment, or just communicating with a friend. Most people have phones on them at all times, and can instantly connect with these things, at any time or search through the infinite ledgers of knowledge available.
Virtual Reality, which is what sparked this chain of thoughts in the first place, is somewhat a branch of the internet and computers and cell phones and information and news and entertainment and in a lot of ways it brings things full circle by giving people those face-to-face experiences of old...sort of. There are games/apps (like VR Chat) that allow you to go into a virtual world and communicate with people face to face, although these people may be from different states, countries or continents.
The reality of Virtual Reality is that the potential is enormous and the bounds are few... We are still in the early stages of "True VR," and as it progresses, the abilities will only expand. When we get to a point where VR Goggles are as portable as sunglasses with hours (or more) of battery life and uninterupted internet connections, VR will truly be a turning point for technology, communication, information, entertainment and more. The book (and movie) of Ready Player One paints a VR experience that is not a matter of "If" but a matter of "When," and I can't wait.
At one time, the only communication was face to face interactions, people from neighboring villages or tribes or whatever, were confined to know only what was happening right around them and their connection with the outside world was minimal if at all.
Evolving to eventual symbols and an alphabet opened things up, but were still restricted as far as sending messages via carrier pigeons or by slow means, such as the pony express. It could take weeks or months before one group would know what was happening elsewhere in the world.
Newspapers and Telegraphs opened up things even more, getting more information out to more people at quicker speeds. With Newspapers, a huge amount of information could be disseminated to a large number of people, and telegraphs, namely morse code, could get information out quickly, although that was primarily used by military or higher up, important people.
Radio broke open another evolution and gave people the ability to mass transmit information in real time and shortly after that, telephones became the norm, connecting people to other people across vasts distances.
It wasn't long after that that television became the mainstay form of information (and entertainment) and soon it became widespread and almost anyone who could afford it had a direct link to information, news and entertainment. This truly began connecting people all over to one another, although it was a regulated source of information and wasn't truly a direct back and forth flow of information.
The next big breakthrough in communication which began breaking the standards of being force-fed what one source chose to feed you, was the Personal Computer, the internet and email. With these innovations, anyone could now communicate to anyone else willing to listen/read their thoughts. The good comes with the bad, but this was absolutely the greatest evolution thus far for communication, enabling everybody the ability to convey their thoughts.
An off-shoot of the internet has been cell phones, text messaging and the invent of social media, which gives people more and more direct and immediate connection with others. There is no longer a waiting period for information, news, entertainment, or just communicating with a friend. Most people have phones on them at all times, and can instantly connect with these things, at any time or search through the infinite ledgers of knowledge available.
Virtual Reality, which is what sparked this chain of thoughts in the first place, is somewhat a branch of the internet and computers and cell phones and information and news and entertainment and in a lot of ways it brings things full circle by giving people those face-to-face experiences of old...sort of. There are games/apps (like VR Chat) that allow you to go into a virtual world and communicate with people face to face, although these people may be from different states, countries or continents.
The reality of Virtual Reality is that the potential is enormous and the bounds are few... We are still in the early stages of "True VR," and as it progresses, the abilities will only expand. When we get to a point where VR Goggles are as portable as sunglasses with hours (or more) of battery life and uninterupted internet connections, VR will truly be a turning point for technology, communication, information, entertainment and more. The book (and movie) of Ready Player One paints a VR experience that is not a matter of "If" but a matter of "When," and I can't wait.
Back to the VR
Ok, so I'm back in the VR mindstate - mostly due to the purchase of an Oculus Quest for my Dad for Christmas. I gifted my parents an Oculus GO many months ago, and he absolutely took it over and uses it almost every night. He loves it (this is a very technically challenged man btw.)
My Wife, Mom and me decided to pool together to get him the Quest, which I imagine he'll love, so in preparation I've been checking out all the games and apps that I think he'll use, which in turn has got me back into VR. It doesn't hurt that the recently announced (although not out until March) Half Life: Alyx is looking like it will be THE GAME to get, and may in fact inspire a huge surge in VR adoption in general, it certainly hyped me up a bit.
This feels like a great time for VR... it was slowly building up since 2016 with the original Rift and Vive, and has had some peaks and valleys since, but with the release of Rift-S, Quest and the Valve Index, and now Valve making the move of releasing a VR-Only Half-Life, it feels like a new breath of fresh air for the platform. I also think, as I keep saying and predicting, that the Quest sales this Christmas will take it to a new level as well. Very exciting times!
That's the majority of what I wanted to write, so now I'm just going to talk about some of the games I intend to get/try soon and some that I am looking forward to.
Here's some of the games that have been out, and recommended to me, that I want to try sooner than later:
Horseshoes, Hand Gernades & Hot Dogs: I'm not entirely sure of the exact premise, but it seems to be a shooter or target practice/range type of game with quirky and funny twists.
I Expect you to Die: Sort of a puzzle/room escape type of game. I've seen some online vids of people playing and it looks rather fun, it gets recommended a lot.
Pavlov: I don't think this was as highly favored when it first came out, but again, lots of people rave about it now, so maybe they had some crucial updates or something. Seems like a classic FPS of some kind.
Blade & Sorcery: The most I've seen played of this was from Pewdiepie, and he had tons of fun with it (knees!!.) Looks pretty decent, not sure if there's much story there, I might have to research that a bit more.
Subnautica: People talk about how amazing this game is... you do have to play it with a controller I believe, which takes away from it somewhat, but I keep hearing people talk about it, so maybe I want to try it, maybe.
Stormlands: To be honest, not much of a clue what this game is about, I believe you fly around or zip line around or something with hot-air balloons, but I could be wrong.
The Under Presents: This is some sort of social/performance piece, kind of game, with a live aspect to it and time travel or something. It is made by the same people who did Virtual Virtual Reality, so I anticipate it will be a bit mind-bending and entertaining.
Vacation Simulator: Job Simulator was fun and I hear this one is very similar. Not as highly favored, but seems like the kind of game I will enjoy.
As well as all of these listed, there are a couple games that I am looking forward to... although it's mostly just, Half Life: Alyx. I've been a fan of Half Life since Half-Life 2, shortly after it was released... I've gone back and played through a majority of Half-Life 1, but it never really captured my attention. Also have played through a lot of Half Life: Episode 2. I absolutely love and beat multiple times both Portal games, and Valve in general just does things right. The fact they are dedicating the next Half Life saga to VR specifically, and judging from the trailer it looks absolutely amazing and engrossing, but also, makes me worry that my computer will even be able to run it. I maxed out my PC when I built it, but that was over 3 years ago, and the only upgrade since was to my graphic card about a year ago (980 ti.) so I think I can run it OK, but now I'm thinking about upping my CPU and getting a 2080 ti (just to be safe.) I'm foolish, I know, but it's stuff like this that excites me, so might as well splurge occasionally. We'll see.
In conclusion... VR is breaking ground, it's a great time to jump in because we're at a good spot and it's only going to get better.
My Wife, Mom and me decided to pool together to get him the Quest, which I imagine he'll love, so in preparation I've been checking out all the games and apps that I think he'll use, which in turn has got me back into VR. It doesn't hurt that the recently announced (although not out until March) Half Life: Alyx is looking like it will be THE GAME to get, and may in fact inspire a huge surge in VR adoption in general, it certainly hyped me up a bit.
This feels like a great time for VR... it was slowly building up since 2016 with the original Rift and Vive, and has had some peaks and valleys since, but with the release of Rift-S, Quest and the Valve Index, and now Valve making the move of releasing a VR-Only Half-Life, it feels like a new breath of fresh air for the platform. I also think, as I keep saying and predicting, that the Quest sales this Christmas will take it to a new level as well. Very exciting times!
That's the majority of what I wanted to write, so now I'm just going to talk about some of the games I intend to get/try soon and some that I am looking forward to.
Here's some of the games that have been out, and recommended to me, that I want to try sooner than later:
Horseshoes, Hand Gernades & Hot Dogs: I'm not entirely sure of the exact premise, but it seems to be a shooter or target practice/range type of game with quirky and funny twists.
I Expect you to Die: Sort of a puzzle/room escape type of game. I've seen some online vids of people playing and it looks rather fun, it gets recommended a lot.
Pavlov: I don't think this was as highly favored when it first came out, but again, lots of people rave about it now, so maybe they had some crucial updates or something. Seems like a classic FPS of some kind.
Blade & Sorcery: The most I've seen played of this was from Pewdiepie, and he had tons of fun with it (knees!!.) Looks pretty decent, not sure if there's much story there, I might have to research that a bit more.
Subnautica: People talk about how amazing this game is... you do have to play it with a controller I believe, which takes away from it somewhat, but I keep hearing people talk about it, so maybe I want to try it, maybe.
Stormlands: To be honest, not much of a clue what this game is about, I believe you fly around or zip line around or something with hot-air balloons, but I could be wrong.
The Under Presents: This is some sort of social/performance piece, kind of game, with a live aspect to it and time travel or something. It is made by the same people who did Virtual Virtual Reality, so I anticipate it will be a bit mind-bending and entertaining.
Vacation Simulator: Job Simulator was fun and I hear this one is very similar. Not as highly favored, but seems like the kind of game I will enjoy.
As well as all of these listed, there are a couple games that I am looking forward to... although it's mostly just, Half Life: Alyx. I've been a fan of Half Life since Half-Life 2, shortly after it was released... I've gone back and played through a majority of Half-Life 1, but it never really captured my attention. Also have played through a lot of Half Life: Episode 2. I absolutely love and beat multiple times both Portal games, and Valve in general just does things right. The fact they are dedicating the next Half Life saga to VR specifically, and judging from the trailer it looks absolutely amazing and engrossing, but also, makes me worry that my computer will even be able to run it. I maxed out my PC when I built it, but that was over 3 years ago, and the only upgrade since was to my graphic card about a year ago (980 ti.) so I think I can run it OK, but now I'm thinking about upping my CPU and getting a 2080 ti (just to be safe.) I'm foolish, I know, but it's stuff like this that excites me, so might as well splurge occasionally. We'll see.
In conclusion... VR is breaking ground, it's a great time to jump in because we're at a good spot and it's only going to get better.
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