@TigerDX: I tried your link, the text loaded in fine, with the fade and zoom.
SnakeSDR's forum posts
I have this problem, but only after the browser has been open and sitting there idle for about 20 minutes or so. Basically when I open chrome (tried this with fresh installs of current stable version and the beta version) the Whiskey sites open fine, a little slower then I'm used to, but they work. After doing some browsing of other sites, chatting with friends, playing a game etc. I will go back to the whiskey page and try and reload the homepage to see if there are any new videos or news items, and the page either doesn't load past the logo and tabs, or it shows a messed up, artifacted version of whatever I was looking at previously (other whiskey site, game window, desktop) and becomes unresponsive. When I refresh it gets an 'Aw Snap!' error. I have followed google's recommendations for the 'Aw Snap!' error of clearing my cache, making a new user profle, reinstalling, running in incognito mode and so on.
Nothing has helped. I even tried disabling facebook and twitter support for the pages and it still happens. I haven't had any other graphical issues with games or sites, and these are the only sites that become unresponsive on chrome. I have no issues on IE 8, Firefox, Safari or Opera.
I am running an older system, but not ancient.
Specs:
OS: Windows XP Pro SP3
CPU: AMD 4200+ 2.2GHz
RAM: 2GB DDR2
Video: Nvidia 8600GT 256MB GDDR3
All drivers are up to date.
P.S. I will try and get a screenshot of the pages when they screw up and add it to this post, just to give a clearer picture of what is going on. Also if I google giant bomb and a topic e.g. Giant Bomb Metal Gear, I will be able to go to the page with no issues, even after the homepage has screwed up. However if I have several pages up from the site, and then go to the homepage, it kills all the pages that were open from that site.
EDIT: Just discovered that firefox doesn't support H.264 video playback lol, silly me. Still, it's broken on chrome.
I am having this problem too, with both beta and the current stable version of chrome (I uninstalled and reinstalled the stable), as well as the latest firefox (firefox is different, for html 5 it states 'Sorry, your browser does not natively support H.264 video playback.' only on the new videos on html 5). I have been having other issues with chrome over the last few weeks, only with whiskey sites, but this one only started today. Progressive and Streaming video work fine, HTML 5 starts to play (can hear the sound at the beginning) and then gets an 'Aw Snap!' error message. This happens regardless of which quality setting is activated.
P.S. No Extensions, incognito mode
Windows XP Pro SP3
AMD 4200+ dual core 2.2GHZ
2GB DDR 2 RAM
Nvidia 8600GT 256MB GDDR3
Pacifist was not frustrating for me (it's pretty easy to avoid killing really, but only if you play stealthily) and neither was Foxiest of Hounds. However, that said, I actually enjoy the process of doing an entire level 'perfectly' and reloading saves constantly to do so, it does not bother me. It depends on your patience really.
On another note, I did not have anybody die from a tranquiliser shot, even from a headshot, but I have definitely heard of this happening to others (some PSN friends of mine included). I did have one incident where in a tense firefight, I knocked out a whole bunch of dudes with my stun gun while cloaked and then a mech appeared. I used an emp grenade on the mech and it was disabled, which caused it to initiate a self destruct, which happened to kill an unconscious soldier nearby. I can't confirm whether or not this indirect kill would have had an effect on the trophy, but I wasn't going to risk it. So watch out for the self destruct on the robots if you go to disable them, and also be careful of stunning guards near electrified water, I did that once and it did not end well for him.
P.S. As others have said HACKING, it's the bomb. I also invested in abilities like wall punching and the high jump, as well as dumping a bunch of points into cloaking and moving silently (silently sprinting while cloaked is rad).
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood.
I'm going to the midnight launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops tonight at my local EB Games and I'm pretty keen for it. It's not even getting the game that's that exciting, as I will likely just get home and go to bed afterwards. I just like to go out to these things and mingle with other folks excited about gaming. Sure it will be a pretty geeky affair and there will probably be at least one douchebag that thinks hes god's gift to the world of online gaming, but it should be a fun experience none the less. Anyway I thought this would be a good opportunity to start up the blog again. I haven't posted on here for a while because I haven't had a lot to talk about regarding games. My PS3 has been crapping out the last month and a half, which has limited my console gaming fairly extensively. My 360 is still functional but I don't have as many games on it and due to saving to replace my PS3, I haven't had the opportunity to buy any new games for it.
However the PS3 seems to be going a little better (it's only crashing from to time to time now, rather then every hour) and should be able to handle Black Ops, at least until I replace the PS3 in a few weeks.
Also, while my PS3 has been continuing to drag itself along as it slowly succumbs to the terminal heating issues from which it suffers, I got to bugger around with the new Red Dead Redemption DLC, Undead Nightmare. I have to say, this is easily the best DLC all year for me, I thoroughly enjoyed Lair of the Shadow Broker for ME 2 but this takes the cake for me. It's just a solid piece of content, theres heaps to do, it makes great use of the entire world of Red Dead Redemption and captures the campy horror atmosphere perfectly. It manages to feel like Red Dead while feeling like an all new game at the same time. It's not enough content to be it's own game though, it does get repetitive in parts and the story, although funny and fairly interesting, is rather thin at times. But hey, it's fun to shoot zombies, and it's even more fun to see a world you know transformed into a post-apocalyptic zombie-infested nightmare. If you own Red Dead, you should check it out.
I will likely hammer through Black Ops tomorrow morning, knowing how I typically play those kinds of games, which should work out well for getting out a reasonably timely review. I feel like posting up an actual review on here for once rather then half reviewing something in my blog post. It should be up withing a couple of days, but I will see how I go, I have a terrible habit of getting halfway through writing something and then spending days procrastinating over it and rewriting what I have already written rather then just completing a draft.
Well that's all I have to say today, well except that I have God of War: Ghost of Sparta and I'm having the Peace Walker problem I had where I can't seem to motivate to play my PSP, even though I really want to play the games. So I shall come back with a review of Black Ops soon, or at the very least some impressions. Also, to those who are also going to a midnight launch of the game, have a good time.
I've been hanging out for some more Red Dead Redemption to sink my teeth into for the last few weeks. Mass Effect 2 has had me quite occupied, and will continue to suck up some hours over the coming weeks as I finish of some DLC and side missions I didn't attack in my main playthrough. But I really have a hankering for more Red Dead, especially more single player content. Unfortunately the Liars and Cheats pack coming out tomorrow, as well as the last two releases, are more multiplayer focused. I still enjoyed them quite a bit however, being one of a surprisingly active online community for that game. Still it's the single player experience that made me fall in love with the game, and I wish that was a bit more of a focus for them. It will be interesting to see how the Undead Nightmare pack turns out with its apparent single player focus. Anyway I will probably drop a short review of the Liars and Cheats pack on here after I spend some time with it, assuming I haven't finally ventured out to buy Halo: Reach before then. Am I the only person not playing that game?
I'm glad you enjoyed it ^_^" Judging by the title of this blog, I thought it was related to Doug Stanhope. Alas, it was not, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. Even though it was a fairly long read about a game I don't care about released on a console I don't own, I read it all and felt as if I came away with an impression of the game - enough to maybe purchase it for my nephew this coming christmas. Thank you for sharing. "
@xyzygy said:
" I really liked the whole "Adam giving orders on when you can use new items" thing. It not only serves as a means to unlock new upgrades, but it fits the story as it shows the respect and loyalty Samus had for Adam. At the start of the game, he didn't want her using her weapons and he told her that she needed to follow his orders on this mission - and she did. Also in terms of the whole Ridley thing, they were trying to show how Samus feels about Ridley, which is something that none of the other Metroid games have touched on at all. If Samus would have just had a "Not this again" attitude towards Ridley I think that's what would have been underwhelming, because we've never really known about how she feels about Ridley before. But thanks to that scene, we now do. "
The story did make a fairly decent effort at explaining Samus' choice to obey Adam and the history they have together. Their back story was interesting and it made it easier to put up with the "Adam authorised it" unlock method as the game progressed. However I just don't feel like it made enough sense for every one of her abilities to be unlocked from the get go, in a purely logically sense. Why can't she use her Varia Suit, Grapple Beam or even the Gravity Suit? Weapons upgrades, the speed boost and the spin attack all make reasonable enough sense if you consider the possible dangers more powerful weapons and abilities may have on the environments without scoping them out first. But the suit upgrades and grapple beam would only serve to assist in carrying out Adam's orders to explore the different sections of the Bottle Ship. I have a tendency to over state how much something annoys me, or how poor a particular element of a game may be in respect to all other video games.
" providing the most profoundly ridiculous reason for losing your characters abilities from a previous game that I have ever encountered" I thought this particular line from my blog might have been an example of this, but on reflection I stand by it. It wasn't 'completely' inexplicable like I stated prior to this comment, but the reasoning for the disabling of Samus' abilites was not solid. They made an effort to find a way to incorporate the 'metroided' process into the narrative in a way that makes sense and I appreciated them trying a new approach. It just wasn't convincing enough for me, looking at these holes in the logic of it all. It makes sense from a gameplay standpoint to disable those abilities until certain points, thats the Metroid experience. Their method just doesn't cut it for me I'm afraid but that is my opinion.
SPOILERS AGAIN!!!
I agree that it was interesting to see Samus' feelings towards Ridley in Other M, because as you said, it isn't something that has really been explored yet. My issue is with the timing of it in the story. It's tricky, if she had just brushed it off as just another day at the office, the scene would have lacked impact, but I can't buy someone with as much experience as Samus would just freeze in front of her enemy and not be able to fight back for a couple of minutes. Honestly if they had explored the emotions she felt towards Ripley, while having her still defend herself as a highly trained and accomplished bounty hunter would, I would have no issue. It's just fact that she almost literally cowers like a little girl at one point that frustrates me. That being said, I loved that encounter. When Ridley's theme music kicked in I was flooded with all the fond memories I have of the series and basically solidified it as a true Metroid game for me.
I know I probably don't need the spoiler tag, but I feel better if I don't spoil it for the possible 'one' person out there that wouldn't see it coming haha.
Anyway, thats my standing on it, I can appreciate yours and I'm glad you had some input on my post. In the end it's a fun game and despite my bitching I did really like the game.
I would stab a baby for one of those codes... Not really, I love babies... Not in a creepy way... I'm gonna go now.
I played Metroid: Other M recently, and despite some minor issues, I thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It felt like classic Metroid in all the areas that count, regardless of any stilted dialogue our heroine might utter or any minor difficulties the limited control scheme may present. Now that I mention Samus' dialogue, I may as well start there.
The voice actress for Samus Aran is woeful. I can understand the developers wanting the character to sound like devoid of all emotion -- After all, she is a galactic bounty hunter that works alone, and has been through some serious business to boot -- but that doesn't excuse the actresses wooden performance. In fact, actress is a bit generous, line reader is a more adequate job title, she is given lines and she reads them out loud. Okay I'm being a little bit nasty, it's most likely the voice over director's fault or maybe she delivered the exact performance the team was after, It's hard to say. All I know is that it made a poor first impression on me for the story and character side of things. Fortunately I did feel like the story did a reasonable job, and I found Samus' voice tolerable after playing for a couple of hours. I wasn't bothered as much by the portrayal of the Samus as some people were, but I did find one particular moment kind of moronic.
When the inevitable return of Ridley occurs about half way into the game, Samus is petrified, so shocked that he could come back from the dead a fourth time -- speaking chronologically in Metroid lore, not game releases. Three times, sure, that makes sense since every arch nemesis returns about three times, but god forbid a fourth. So players have to watch as a stoic, highly trained and vastly experienced bounty hunter, a woman who has laid waste to countless monsters over multiple systems, remains frozen at the appearance of her greatest rival. It would make sense if it was her first encounter with Ridley as an adult, he was the douchebag that killed her family when she was just a child, but having it happen now is borderline offensive. Samus is better then this. The game even goes as far as to have her appear as a cowering child in one shot, at the mercy of the space dragon pirate.
Alright, now that I have filled my bitching quota I can continue.
Wait hold on, theres more.
Being 'metroided' has become a common game mechanic ever since the early Metroid and Castlevania games. Typically the cause isn't terribly creative and may even feel a little arbitrary in the overarching story, but its rarely, entirely inexplicable. Metroid: Other M seemed determined to change that, providing the most profoundly ridiculous reason for losing your characters abilities from a previous game that I have ever encountered. She doesn't want to use them. She wants Adam to say when shes allowed to. Fuck that.
The game tries to justify it through the story and it's almost convincing, but there are moments -- where an ability isn't enabled when it should be -- that just defy all logic and reason. The clearest example of this I can recall is a moment early on where I had to run Samus through an unstable, lava-filled environment, that was emanating enough heat to start burning through her suit. Where after making my way through most of the sector Adam finally decides to authorise the use of the Varia Suit -- an upgrade that would have prevented all that unpleasant burning alive business. It's also worth noting that having Adam say "You can use this now!" isn't quite as satisfying as traversing hostile environments to procure the upgrades yourself. The knowledge that you have them in your suit, laying dormant, is actually quite frustrating and it put a bit of a damper on my experience.
Enough of this negativity though, what did I actually like about the game? Well it might be slothful of me to say that pretty much everything I haven't dumped shit on I enjoyed, but It seems a fairly accurate statement. I found myself quite content with the control scheme after getting used to it, and the automated dodge and aim functions during combat felt appropriate and reasonably well implemented. The combat was largely enjoyable, minus a couple of enemies that feel as though they require a touch more punishment then they should. Bosses were appropriately big and nasty looking, as well as providing welcome doses of fan service throughout the game's duration. Finally, the most important aspect for Metroid fans, collecting stuff is still cool and backtracking to use unlocked abilities to see where you get to go next is still as exciting and addictive as ever.
So, it took about five paragraphs to talk about what was bad about the game, but only one to explain why it is ultimately a good game. I think I might need to work on balancing out my negative and positive opinions.
Anyway, writing all this has left me with a couple of questions:
1. Should there be another story driven Metroid game ?
or
2. Should Nintendo stick with what it does best and just continuously remake the games you love with some shiny new extras?
I feel like the story worked out alright in Metroid: Other M, there were some genuinely interesting developments for the Metroid lore and it's characters. However I don't know if it really needed a more prominent story. It would have been interesting to see how a new 2D metroid game would have done critically rather then them trying to shake it up a bit. I am glad they didn't just make another Prime though, that trilogy feels just right as it is.
Anyway, I should really get to bed. I have made this post long enough already. I might consider writing some proper reviews soon, since this pretty much is one. I will see how I go.
Ciao.
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