Horizon: Zero Dawn Impressions

I'm playing a game with a strong female protagonist in an apocalyptical open world where humanity faces an uncertain future while fighting a horde of mysterious machine controlled by an unknown force that threatened its existence.  Nier:Automata Horizon: Zero Dawn has been consistently rated as the top game for the PS4 in 2017 if not the top video game for 2017 overall.

My SO told that it was time for me to move pass Nier:Automata and 2B so I looked for another game.  Horizon: Zero Dawn has been on my list for while so that's what I chose to play following Nier and while I was obviously poking fun that I went from one game to what might seem to be another similar game I just want to clarify that these two are completely different games that's only superficially similar in that it uses the post-apocalyptical world as a setting. 

Comparing PS4 Pro and Xbox One S

I got a Playstation 4 Pro this past holidays and after a few  months of playing I thought that I'd compare it to my XBox One S.

I was initially attracted to the XBox One S for it's hardware.  It supported 4K and 4K Blu-Ray and it had an HDMI-pass through input option.  The price was a bit cheaper then the PS4 Pro and there were enough games on it that I was interested in even if they weren't exclusives to the console (sports games like Madden, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy XV, etc.).  I don't use consoles as a media hub even though that is a feature that Microsoft has touted about the Xbox One.  What I wanted was a gaming system for someone like me:  a casual gamer but one who grew up with video gaming.  While I was overall content with the Xbox One S, I wasn't always so motivated to play it.  Start-up time was slow especially for some of the games.  It doesn't support CEC-HDMI so I had to always find the remote to turn on the TV and speakers which is surprise given this is suppose to be a media and entertainment hub for both hardware and digital content.

Nier:Automata Is a Great Game

I finished Nier:Automata (PS4) early this morning, but it isn't a game that one can just finish and immediately put away.  Its haunting story, characters and music stays with you even after you are done.  It wouldn't be a surprise if you went on Youtube afterwards to find out more about it because you don't feel ready to walk away from the world that Nier creator, Yoko Taro, has presented so beautifully.

Intel NUC from CES 2018

As I try to get over a cold at home, I'm glancing at the different products people are talking about at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show.  One item that caught my eye is Intel's new NUC named Hades Canyon which will include AMD graphics rather then integrated graphics.

It's being touted as a VR-capable computer, but that's not what I'm looking for in a PC nor do I plan to do much gaming on it.  Instead, I look for small form factor PCs that can last many years, drive dual 4K monitor setups and have dual gigabit Ethernet.  The max memory is limited to 32GB which is one downside.  I would prefer it supporting 64GB and I don't know how loud the unit is.

It's something I'll be watching for when it goes on sale in the spring.

Upgrading to Fedora 27

Upgraded to Fedora 27 from Fedora 26.   The upgrade itself went quickly and without issues.  On the first boot, everything seems to work but I did get a bunch of SELinux prompt which I haven't looked into.

Note that the end-of-life for Fedora 25 was Dec. 12, 2017 now that Fedora 27 is released.

Super Mario Odyssey First Impression

I'll admit that historically I've not followed Nintendo and their games.  I owned an NES as a child but then didn't get another Nintendo system until the Gameboy Advanced.  Basically, while I've played the occasional Mario Kart at friends' house, I'm fairly lukewarm when it comes to Nintendo titles.

However, I started Super Mario Odyssey over the holidays and found myself enjoying it a lot more then I expected.

Nier:Automata First Impressions

My first PS4 game is Nier:Automata, the sequel to the 2010 PS3/Xbox360 video game Nier.  Nier is a spin-off from the Drakengard series, but I'm going to leave the explanation of the series to more qualified and dedicated Drakengard historians.  After playing it over the final week of 2017 and completing the first run-through, here are my first impressions.

Starting a New Year!

Happy new year to everyone!

2017 is now in the rear view mirror and we're onto 2018 and this is exactly how I feel about it:

from Sarah's Scribbles