Introducing Roll | A new technology that enables rolling everywhere.

Rolling, Rolling, Roooolling... 

Star Wars Jedi: Survivor - mini review

Last night, after the 3-hour installation/update (which had been going on and off all day), I played Jedi: Survivor. The (~60FPS) Performance mode was like someone had smeared vaseline over my TV, so the 30 FPS Quality mode is the only way to play on a console. It's probably the best and most Star Wars-looking game yet. It's not perfect and I'm still on the early levels, but it's quite amazing to walk around Coruscant. I didn't exactly imagine it looking like LA from Blade Runner, but it's still a nice Star Wars experience. I wish it was more immersive (clearly nobody on the dev/design team played Halo ODST), but overall it's good and I expect it can and will improve. The music works (very) well; soundscapes aren't as immersive as they could be. Again, there are so many other games and films that did this right, so it's strange that the developers somehow dropped the ball on these "basic" game world creation/development/immersion aspects. The combat (fighting gameplay) is fun and rewarding... I plan to play more soon and will add to this mini review as I go along.

I have played for a few days (~6 hours), and I can say that if this game had not been set in a well-presented Star Wars universe, I would have deleted it and been done with it. As it is, I enjoy experiencing the Star Wars aesthetic, the music is good and the (core) combat is fun. Unfortunately, the level design, storytelling and dialogue are mediocre at best. The levels and environments have a feeling of amateur design that fails over and over again to communicate where to go and how to get there; including the awkward map. The jumping puzzles are just bizarre nonsense; how did the stormtroopers get into the temple/structure or areas that I just opened? And yes, it was all locked for centuries or so the story tells me. It is clear that the writing and the design teams had little or very poor communication. There are already endless areas of total nonsense; you can jump on this ledge, but this other ledge of the same height or lower you cannot. Areas that a five year old could climb are impossible to access for seasoned Jedi that can do endless jumps and walk on walls. There are just too many inconsistencies in this game-world. 

But now I can truly say that Horizon Forbidden West is a Masterpiece and I am thinking of getting back to finishing it so I can play the Burning Shores DLC story continuations.

If there is a wrap up, it would be; Unreal Engine 4 may have been the wrong engine for Jedi: Survivor, or at least the development team was unable to harness its potential. I can only imagine what Guerrilla Games or an experienced developer using Decima engine could have done with a (jumping/climbing puzzle, story, combat...) Star Wars game. It is sad to see an amazing IP like Star Wars die a miserable, slow death. And unfortunately, Jedi: Survivor is yet another one of the thousand cuts...

Introducing Spatial Audio | Apple Music

For those who are interested in Atmos and/or Apple Spacial Audio… or just (great) music production in general. 
 

Paul Mauriat - Love Is Blue (1968)

Terry Riley Interview and Concert - Shri Camel - Holland Festival 1977

nice little interview... 

Gilles Peterson @TheLotRadio

Will Music Streaming Services Ultimately Fail?

I know the person in the video is making some bold statements, and from the point of view of music makers, he is 99% spot on. I also think he is quite cynical (rightfully so). Some points that he is not putting into perspective are that Apple Music's main point is to push Apple hardware and keep Apple users in the Apple ecosystem. To that point, Apple could easily change their percentage share policies and pay the highest percentage to musicians and bands directly, at least the ones that have not signed their digital rights away, be it for a signing bonus or just to get on a particular label.

There is also the high-resolution streaming market, which includes services like Qobuz, which streams and also sells music in lossless and high-resolution formats. There are also HDTracks and a few other audiophile services that, in a way, operate outside of the streaming percentage payments system that is in place now and pay more reasonable percentages to the copyright holders.

I know there are a lot of solutions and ways to fix or bring fairness and transparency into the music business. It is up to us to support the services/platforms, no matter if we are makers or listeners.

There are also ways to use the current (unfair) low percentage services to point listeners to the more fair services like Bandcamp.

a response video addressing a few of the issues...