Video Games

As Jezston mentions I think that's just for streaming across your home network. Effectively using the tablet as a controller and display while your actual computer does the heavy lifting.

Whereas the Razer is a fully functioning handheld computer that's basically a gaming-focused Surface Pro. I'd hate to see what battery life they get, I get about 2-3 hours of gaming on my SP2 before it needs recharging, and that's with the Power Cover.

I think shield apps are also streaming of games from online servers. It sounds like it's nearly there

Really? Shit. It was a £120 android tablet that was well reviewed. I didn't pay attention to the gaming stuff because I am #wasd4lyf. Hmm....could be perfect for my Renowned Explorers learning curve.

Random question:

Anyone with Doom Xbox One disc version?

Interested in buying or borrowing the game (for beer or two/coffee) just for the single player campaign.

Thanks!

Anyone playing BF1?

No but after seeing clips/reviews of it, probably yes very soon.

Got it yesterday. Playing through the story mode first. Not that thrilled so far, but the multiplayer looks good.

Picked it up on Origin last night. Played the first proper campaign in single player (There's an initial intro campaign and then a proper one) of about 6 all in. Very impressive. Haven't tried MP yet but it's on the cards after I finish SP.

I imagine on a busy map it will be very intense.

Had one bug with a tank where it didn't move and had to restart checkpoint, couldn't fly a certain flying thing (no spoilers) in the first campaign to save my life and wondered if it was bugged as well as I was a good/decent pilot on BF3/4.

Note to @chrisbmx116 and anyone thinking of picking it up for bootcamp: you may need to do a regedit to get it to work. Even a brand new graphics card isn't supported for some numb-nuts reason so:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oNIrgTGh6w

I'm getting my arse handed to me in MP pretty consistently.

Sure is pretty though.

Pretty is the word. Kind of astonishingly so.

And getting decent frame rate seems relatively optimised even for bootcamp douches like myself.

Prettiest of all are the cut scenes - the facial models are astounding, particularly of the lead characters. They've also done a srs job on the grade. I thought I was watching an HBO film for a while.

Ha, cheers for that BRO, I really wish Apple would switch back to Nvidia, the 775M and 780M cards they used in the pre retina iMacs still hold their own, imagine a 1070 (could even be desktop) in an iMac.
Hows the retina version working out for gaming? Are you running things at half res? how does it look? not too soft? Any chance of a screen grab?

If I can figure out how to screen grab in windows 10, then sure.

Looks fine. Tend to run at very high or ultra and get between 40-60 depending on the game. Nothing looks soft. Usually run at half res (2.5k of 5k). The fan comes on but it doesn't get too hot, have done temperature testing and all seems OK. Nothing gets sluggish.

Won't be nVidiaing for a long time I imagine. Espesh not with the prospect of delving even deeper into the AMD rabbit hole the day after tomorrow.

Working my way through the BF1 campaigns before launching into MP. Anyone able to explain the roll of the Field Manuals and Codexs in multiplayer? I've found about 50% but concerned as it tells me they're needed for MP stuff?
Agree with above regarding the visuals, it's superb

Should be f12.
I'm not too hot on res but I know when I run my non retina at lower (1080) it looks soft as hell, but I think its something to do with multiplication of native res? Running at 2.5k sounds wise. With rumours of iMacs delayed until next year (what) then i'll prob hold off (shouldn't buy 2 new Macs at once).
Sounds like you are getting solid performance.
Nvidia have been hiring folks to work on an Apple based product, so you never know...

Soon...

In other completely unrelated news, finally got round to setting up the steam link last night. Actually very surprised with the performance and overall latency, although this is admittedly with ethernet (15m worth) connected via a new gigabit switch. Very occasional frame drops but no tearing or other artefacts, and image quality is great. In hindsight what little lag I did feel might have been because I'd not set the TV to game mode.

On the other hand, initial impressions with the steam controller weren't great. Build quality feels a bit cheap and it's not great ergonomically. In particular the right pad thing is a very poor replacement for a thumbstick for camera control. There is loads of customisation available (you can rebind each button to pretty much any controller button, mouse button or keypress. Plus loads of more advanced options) so there could be room for improvement. Haven't tried it with the xbox one controller yet but if that has the same options it could be the way to go.

Steam Link is fine for some stuff I think, but I can really see a difference between Witcher 3 on the PC and over the Link. Compression really kills a lot of the detail. It also feels like it may be running at 30fps (which meant playing The Crew was much more difficult - first time I've really noticed how big of a difference "faps" over 30 make).

Controller is taking time for me as well. forcing myself it use it with (again) Witcher 3 to see if I can get used to it. Not terrible, but when there's a keyboard and mouse near by it's hard to convince myself it's worth it.

It also feels like it may be running at 30fps.

That's just bad optimisation of The Witcher

More please. This was mostly noticeable with The Crew, which isn't running through Steam but it's screen streaming stuff. Witcher 3 is definitely not as nice though. So, do you mean there's something I can do to make it better, or it's something in the back-end?

It isn't if your PC is capable of running it at 60fps.

faps over 30, not just for teenagers...

And yep, steam controller takes ages to get used to but works like a mouse when on Desktop which is great if you are using it on a HTPC.

I already use the xbox one controller for all 3rd person games anyway, even sat at the PC. WASD for movement feels archaic in comparison.

For sure, but you'll have to have a pretty beefy gpu to get 60+ fps at high settings.
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2730705/low-frame-rate-witcher-gtx-980.html

Your archaic.