GINick Blog

Postmortem: Casio's Exilim FH100

2010-06-30T17:13:00Z

This month’s Gear features the fantastic Exilim FH100 from Casio. Best described as a point-and-shoot with DSLR abilities, the FH100 is a great tool for photographers that want to ditch the gear bag. Along with shooting in RAW (more info here), the little beast also shoots 720p video and more interestingly high-speed video up to 1000fps. While this thing cannot match the awe and wonder of the Phantom camera, it is a pretty fun way to spend an afternoon.

Before I dive more into the high-speed video results, here are some pros and cons on the camera overall:

+ The camera can shoot RAW files in the Adobe friendly .DNG format
+ Shutter is fast and reliable, something most point-and-shoots struggle with
+ HD video quality is surprisingly good and even has stereo sound (most point-and-shoots have mono)
+ Independent record video and shutter buttons are helpful
+ Full manual control is awesome for the hardcore
+ High-speed video = fun, fun, fun
+ While heavy, the outer case feels very durable
+ Solid battery

- RAW processing slowish even on fast SD cards
- RAW photos stuck at ISO 200 or lower so dim lighting is tough
- Higher high-speed framerates have pretty awful resolutions and image quality
- Burst shot mode is unpredictable and hard to use
- Non-standard USB cable

You can also check out this sample shot set in a controlled environment. Some of the post processing is a bit weird but overall really a solid result.

Click here to see the full original.

And here are some out in the wild shots.

But the real fun with this camera is the ability to shoot high-speed. While you cannot shoot in HD when in this mode and the video quality drops as the speed goes up, it’s still a blast. I’ll let the videos speak for themselves.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

The E3 2010 Super Photo Blog

2010-06-16T21:36:00Z

Hey everyone! It's E3! That means there's tons to see and do. So to share my show floor exploration, I've brought along my trusty camera. I plan to update over the course of the rest of the show. Come along.

I stumbled upon a Marvel VS Capcom 3 tourny. Winner gets a kickass shirt.

This is a real zombie. Capcom paid big bucks for Dave the zombie.

Meet the Nintendo 3DS. I spent some time with it and it's very impressive. Love the glasses-free widescreen display and the graphics look great.

The line for 3DS is the biggest of the show.

Best of Show: Costume Design

I walked out of an Xcom demo and into a Redman and Method Man concert.

This happened.

Somebody stole part of this car.

I met actor Michael Rooker who was one of the stars of Days of Thunder. He was super stoked to play his own game.

Fallout!!

Stay tuned for more during the rest of today and tomorrow!

The Deskside: Episode 201

2010-05-20T23:58:00Z

It returns with a bang blip.

You And Your Subwoofer

2010-05-19T21:28:00Z

The world has a strange obsession with bass. There's even a whole competition series of people who pack as much into a car as they can. Because of this, there seems to be a "more is better" attitude when people bring their first subwoofer home and hook it up to their home theater system. Stick it next to the couch and crank it right? Sure, but you're missing out if you do. Instead, there's a really simple technique find the sweet spot in your room for the best bass possible without have to crank it.

The goal here is to get your bass omni-directional. This will let the one driver envelop the whole room and if you do it right, you won't even know where the sound is coming from. You'll just hear it everywhere. To start, move your coffee table if you have one and make sure you have a nice, long RCA cable for your subwoofer. Next place the subwoofer where your coffee table (or if you don't have one, near the listening position) was. For the next part, you're going to need a high-quality source for smooth bass. Hip-hop is a good choice as long as it's not too punchy.

This next part requires a little physical effort. With your subwoofer in place and your bass source pumping (not too loud, but at a decent level), get down on your knees and start crawling and listening. What you're doing is what many call "crawling for bass" and it will help you identify a good place for the woofer. What are you looking for? A place where the bass sounds smooth and filling. As you move around, take note of the way the sound changes. The better it sounds, the closer you're getting to the sweet spot. Depending on the material of your walls, there's a good chance it will sound nice near or at a corner. One you've found this sweet spot, move the subwoofer there and you will have given a nice +1 to your home theater experience. Obviously, you may have to work around other furniture or general feng shui. No one wants to trip over a subwoofer in the middle of the room. Good luck!

You Don't Need Apps

2010-04-21T21:20:00Z

Not that they’re really all that new (see the last 20+ years of computing), but the world of technology is obsessed with “Apps”. Everything has apps now. Phones, printers, TVs and even your fridge. And these apps come in all forms, from full-fledged applications like Adobe Photoshop to bite-sized widgets like Alert Thingy. Originally, I planned on showing you how one could get through life with Adobe Air, but I soon realized even that wasn’t all that necessary. Instead, I’m here to tell you people out in computer land, whether you’re on Windows or Mac, a desktop or netbook, Firefox is all you will ever need. Please take note that I mean that for the general audience: If you’re a professional video editor or something, yes I realize you cannot run an Avid system via Firefox.

Here we go!

First off, you need Firefox. Forget your silly allegiances to other browsers. Seriously. Firefox wins because it has everything you need and nothing you don’t. If it doesn’t have it, there’s an add-on for that.

Get Firefox (And while you’re at it, get the Flash 10.1 RC for smoooooth 1080p video playback)

Be Social
Next, let’s move on to the easy stuff: social networking. Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace? They’re still just websites, so bookmark ‘em and you’re set – but you can do more. I know Tweetdeck is an awesome Air application, but HootSuite is more powerful and runs in a browser. There’s even a few add-ons that extend the functionality a bit. With Hootsuite, you can watch nearly every major social network all on one screen, with a bajillion options and stat tracking.

What about chatting and IM? You’re covered. You can go ahead and uninstall those IM clients and just open up Meebo in Firefox. Meebo is an all-in-one IM client that’s web-based and supports more chat systems than you probably knew existed. They even provide a desktop style UI that allows you to manage all of your chats easily. You can even send files and video chat. What more could you want?

Get Work Done
Whether you’re a student or budding professional, you can run your entire busy life from Firefox. Already, pretty much everyone and their grandma uses Gmail or another web-based system. Through add-ons, you can turn Firefox into a productivity machine. Gmail users also have access to Google Docs, your one-stop-shop for everything you need to get work done. From word processing to presentation to even managing your life via the calendar, Google is a great place for free, web-based life management. The best part is that all of their systems contain APIs that developers use to bring these systems to phones and more. You can even step it up to Google Apps, which supports custom domain names if you run a website or just like having your own little pocket of the web.

Get Creative
Adobe has been fighting the piracy battle since the beginning of time. I’m going to just flat-out tell you that you do not need Photoshop. At least not for what most people actually use it for. Use the web! Adobe already has their great photoshop.com service. But there are also sites like Flickr and Picnik which offer basic photo editing tools. But if you want to start diving in deep and MS Paint just isn’t working anymore, check out Splashup, a very powerful online image creation and editing tool. Everything from layers to smudging to image filters are there in a familiar editing desktop. Totally free.

There’s a whole world of this out there. More than I can list. But this will get you started into browser-based bliss. All of your daily needs are here and you can find hundreds more. Get good with your bookmarks and it will become your new Start menu. If you want to explore more, hit up greatwebapps.com or web.appstorm.net.

A Tech Nerd's Mobile Setup

2010-02-25T23:03:00Z

So I thought that I would kick off my new tech focused blog by pulling everything out of my pockets and showing the world what I carry around. After all, it’s only fair for me to prove my love so you don’t think I’m faking the funk as it were. I’ll go into the stuff I have sitting around the house in a future post, but for now the focus will be what I carry around (for the post part).

Apple iPhone 3GS
OK, I’ll admit that I like my iPhone. But I really love the Google platform, and until the Nexus One came out, I hadn’t seen a reason to switch. Now my mind often wanders to the awesome little device so easily. The tough part is that I’ve invested a lot of money into the App Store on games and such. And the 3GS is also third generation hardware so it’s really a solid piece of technology. My want to jump from the fast moving iPhone train comes from the fact that the platform is so closed off. You can read a bit more of why I don’t like this approach in my iPad coverage. But day to day, my iPhone gets it done (I guess).

Microsoft Zune HD
When the first Zune was announced, I didn’t give it a thought. But when I saw the specs of the Zune HD, I had to pay attention. The Wolfsen and Nvidia Tegra chips driving this little media machine are like nothing a PMP has ever seen. Add a 16:9 OLED and capacitive touchscreen and I’m in tech heaven. Sure, it doesn’t have the apps that the iPod Touch has, but I already have an iPhone. I really care about what this thing does best: music. The fact that this little guy processes MP3 files (which ultimately suck) so well makes a big difference for any music lover.

Ultimate Ears 700
To go along with my iPhone and Zune and because I’m the type of person who never takes off their headphones, I carry around a pair of Ultimate Ears 700. Sure, they are spendy, but for someone like myself who puts a lot of music time in during the day, it’s an investment. They also have great noise cancelling abilities which come in handy for flying or drowning out Tim when he starts talking about Sonic.

Nixon GTO
Gotta tell time! I’m a big fan of Nixon products and the GTO has been on my wrist for years.

Dell XPS 1530
This little workhorse gets me through the day when I’m out of the office. It’s got a nice, hi-res widescreen display, tons of ram, and enough juice to edit HD video for the site. The other nice part is that for a PC laptop, it has a pretty decent form factor.

Nikon D90
And finally, my favorite. The Nikon D90. No, it’s not a top of the line D3s or something but it really is the perfect camera. It has a kick-ass image sensor in it that really does take amazing photos. I even took the new staff photos (found here) on the D90.

So what about you? What gets you by in this nonstop, technology-focused world we live in?

This post is part of Technick, a column by Editor Nick Ahrens about the wide world of technology and just how cool it can be.

The iPad, A Little Bit Later

2010-02-01T23:14:00Z

Before going in to the Apple event, I kept wondering if there was some sort of elite country club for people who cover these. May I’d get some brushed aluminum hipster keycard that opens a door to a room made of white lexon plastic. I’ve been to more press conferences that I can possibly remember at this point. Being at an Apple one felt just like all of the others, except smaller. For as much hype and as much attention the company gets, the conferences from companies like Microsoft and Sony for gaming are significantly bigger. Actually, now that I think about it, I can’t really think of anyone else who goes bigger than the game companies for these things. But still, Apple’s ability to get something hyped with little to no effort is astounding.

So where am I going with this you may ask? Well the hype is my point. After I’ve had a few days to let it sink in and think about what I was holding, I feel like a have a good view. Is the iPad a game changer? The answer, at least in my view, is not possible with a yes or no. This thing is going to sell. With the aggressive price point and contract-free 3G plan, Apple has a fool-proof marketing plan. A lot of the press was pretty ‘meh’ on the overall product opinion but the reasons they point against the iPad are reasons I think a lot of consumers will either not care about or not know about when they buy it.

+ Nice Hardware: This is very true. It’s light, crisp and has the Apple touch.

+ The Apps: Apple was smart to make the iPad work with almost (we still don’t know what almost means, possibly the GPS apps) every one of the 140,000 App Store products.

+ No Contract 3G: This is awesome (even if it is AT&T, gross) because you can just buy what you need. You could just live off the WiFi until you travel and then just buy a month of data.

+/- Do I Need It: Well, do I? I really want it and can think of good situations where It would come in handy. But do I really need it?

+/- Games: While some games are awesome like Field Runners or Civ Rev, a lot of them just dont work without a controller.

+/- No USB Ports: The device uses Apple’s 30 pin connector so it’s stuck syncing with iTunes. There is an adaptor but it’s for videos and photos (and it’s easy to assume .jpg only).

+/- 10 Hour Battery: It would be awesome but Apple is notorious for over promising on the battery life.

- No Multitasking: This is the major buzzkill for me. I cannot think of a single reason to exclude this. None.

- Closed Platform: Basically if they don’t like an App, they can kill it. Apple fans have long yelled at companies like Microsoft or Dell as being evil empires but Cupertino’s on-going stonewall against open development is starting to show on their faces.

- iTunes Only: So we can expect slow syncing with no ‘kosher’ alternative. Great.

- No Flash Support: This is bad because while Flash may be an unstable platform that is CPU heavy, it’s a standard that cannot be ignored. So no Hulu for you. HTML5 aims to replace Flash/Silverlight but it won’t be anytime too soon.

When I first laid my hands on the iPad, I was in lust. But now that I think about it, I’m glad that I wasn’t at the store because had I taken home a device centered around the web that didn’t support of the most common browsing plugin out there, I’d be pretty displeased.

My Top Media Fives

2009-12-22T00:22:00Z

At the end of every year, all of the radio stations, websites, newspapers and magazines build top 10 lists for whatever they cover. And yes, as you can expect like we do every year, Game Informer will also have our own top 10 lists. But I thought, hey why not make more lists?! So here it is, ten lists of 5 for 2009 from around the world of media. Keep in mind that these are pretty heavily tailored to the crap I’m into.

Top 5 Albums of 2009
1.    P.O.S – Never Better
2.    Solid Gold – Bodies of Water
3.    Lookbook – Wild at Heart
4.    Ladyhawke – Ladyhawke
5.    Modest Mouse – No One’s First and You’re Next

Top 5 Movies of 2009
1.    District 9
2.    Star Trek
3.    Taken
4.    The Men Who Stare at Goats
5.    Up in the Air (OK listen, I haven’t actually seen this yet, but George Clooney is in it so I’m sure it will be amazing and my Clooney fanboyism is forcing me to do this.)

Top 5 TV (Fiction) Shows of 2009
1.    Battlestar Galactica
2.    Fringe
3.    Burn Notice
4.    Sons of Anarchy
5.    It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia

Top 5 TV (Non-Fiction) Shows of 2009
1.    Top Gear
2.    Myth Busters
3.    The Universe
4.    The Colbert Report
5.    Survivor Man

Top 5 Internet Videos of 2009
1.    Someday, Almost Every Day
2.    Gymkhana 2: The Infomercial
3.    Beatles 3000
4.    Michael Cera Flips Out
5.    True Color Trailer

Top 5 Artists of the Year
1.    Superlover (Justin Maller)
2.    Electric Heat (Nigel Evan Dennis)
3.    Biomushroom (Julija Shoronova)
4.    Velendil (Peter Nowacki)
5.    Daniel Bray

Top 5 Logo Designs of 2009
1.    Killed
2.    Mister Cutts
3.    Look
4.    The Color Cure
5.    Half

Modern Warfare 2's Akimbo Troubles

2009-12-10T19:59:00Z

For those of us knee deep in the world of Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer, knowing that a patch for the Javelin launcher glitch is coming brings a sigh of relief. But even more than that, the game seems to be plagued even worse by the Akimbo perk mixed with the 1887 shotgun. To see what I mean, check out the montage video below (mute for sanity) to see them in action. Rather than go off and complain, I thought I'd let the community do the talking by surfing the web and Twitter looking for what people are saying. It's pretty obvious.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Here's what the world has been saying with many of these directed at developer Infinity Ward via @fourzerotwo

"@fourzerotwo Please can you do something about akimbo 1887s? They're seriously overpowered."
"@fourzerotwo Whats your take on the Akimbo 1887's man they are killing us too easy with those!"
"@fourzerotwo Just wondering have you guys considered changing stats of the 1887's due to their stupid range etc? expecially in Akimbo."
"*** off akimbo 1887s, you *** *** of a thing"
"@fourzerotwo is there anyway to nerf model akimbo? its kind of a game ruiner (alomst :>)"
"So first there was Akimbo Rangers killing me from a mile away... Now there's the Javelin glitch... MW2 seriously needs to be patched!"
"@fourzerotwo What is IW's stance on the prolif. of akimbo shotty's. Nerf, tweak, or live with?"
"@fourzerotwo Two words. Akimbo shotguns. These have ruined your game. Far too powerful, far too long ranged and far, far too common."
"@fourzerotwo -I'm seriously hoping this update arrives before the weekend. Plus Akimbo + 1887 (Range/Power issue) epidemic needs addressing."
"I think the 1887s are even worse. The Rangers can lack range but the 1887s are far too powerful, even akimbo"
"U would have had fun with the akimbo 1887 they are good but quite possibly a lil 2 powerful the range on them is quite long 2"
"I hate those darn Akimbo Mo-fo's.. Running around like they Gangsta."
"@fourzerotwo sry but those akimbo shotguns are the dumbest and cheapest thing in #mw2 and any video game ever. Everyone spams them, no skill"
"@fourzerotwo any idea if model 1887's will get adjusted due to there balance issue when used with akimbo?"
"Shotguns Akimbo'd.. hmm, just remove them. They can be silly."

And the list goes on. What do you think?

5 Games That Stole My Life

2009-11-25T20:25:00Z

Originally, I was going to try and write my top 10 favorite games of all time. But I could not pick. I just kept changing my mind and I will end up editing this post a million times. So instead, I looked back at a few of the games that took a lot of time up in my life. I figured it’s a great way to build a solid list based on stats rather than trying to choose. I’ve also included some memories of that time spent with each title.

The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Xbox)
Ahh yes. While I cannot be totally sure, I’m thinking this is the game I’ve logged the most amounts of hours in. I’m pretty sure I explored every nook and cranny that world had to offer. Sometimes I was good, doing noble quests and helping my fellow citizens. I even cleared a rat or two out of some cellars for a modest price. But let’s be clear, I was also a huge turd. I even murdered a poor old orc lady for her house so I could store all of my crap. The sheer amount of content in the game not only meant that I had plenty to do and see, but also plenty of items and customization to obsess over. I’d also like to give Oblivion a special shout out for sucking me back into the same world of time burning.

Battlefield 2 (PC)
Really for me, BF2 is the apex of multiplayer awesomeness. I don’t mean this to sound like I think it’s the greatest multiplayer game of all-time, but more that for me as a fan of FPS games online, this had the biggest effect. A close friend of mine and I would spend hours, upon hours running as our faux gaming clan known as The Handsome Male Actors or <HMA> and I played as GeorgeClooney and he played as Brad Pitt.

Final Fantasy VII (PS1)
As cliché as it may be, this is my favorite JRPG. I love it. Everything that made this game a success like the epic story, innovative graphics and great battles cause me to become an instant fan. I even played hooky from school for a pretty long time just to play it. Sorry Mom!

Super Mario World (SNES)
II think the Super Nintendo is probably my favorite game system. And when I got one with a copy of Super Mario World, I could have just played that forever and been fine. The platformer was never outdone in my mind. There have been many greats since but in the end, it all comes back to 16-bit Mario.

SimCity 2000 (PC)
How could this not be on there? The hours upon hours I spent tweaking every aspect was insane. And that doesn’t count the times I would leave it running to earn tons of cash while I slept (it usually ended in disaster). I always named my cities something like Nickland or Nickville. Pretty original, I know. I’d also always take my mayor’s house and put it on a private island surrounded in trees with a moat. Only the best for the emperor of Nickland I guess.

The Deskside: #2

2009-11-06T15:00:00Z

Find out the answer to an age-old question in issue #2.

The Deskside: #1

2009-11-04T01:41:00Z

Welcome to my brand-new, unreliably updated webcomic! This first issue deals with some pretty tough issues like helmets and stuff. Enjoy! (Disclaimer: Yes, I realize how unfunny I am.)

Rock Band iPhone: I Kinda Dig It

2009-10-22T23:22:49Z

I like the occasional iPhone game. If you know me well, then you know that I think the world of iPhone gaming really revolves around tower defense. I love it. But my stupid bias isn't always flipped on and I branch out. Late the other night, i opened the App Store to check for updates and there on the new tab was Rock Band. Interesting, I thought. Ten dollars later, I had portable rock and roll in my pocket. I have tried a lot of the other rhythm games on the device like Tap Tap Revolution but the song selection was never really that great (except for Protest the Hero, woot!) and the gameplay felt kinda flat. But Rock Band, as limited as the gameplay is, feels polished like you would expect from Harmonix.

The songs are pretty awesome like Cherub Rock from Smashing Pumpkins and Everlong by Foo Fighters. Obviously the developer is tapping from the already huge list of songs that they have rights too because these songs are already in previous Rock band games. There's also a neat take on World Tour mode that offers a single player run, online multiplayer and a song store. The gameplay is pretty much what you would expect. Hit the color when the gem falls. Guitar, bass and drums play the same and vocals have a similar style but with a new view. I definitely suggest playing in hard mode if you're even slightly experienced with music games as easy and medium offer little in the way of a challenge or excitement. You can also show off your scores via Facebook with the game's social connect option which is pretty neat.

Really though, this just makes me long for Harmonix to bring Phase to the App Store. That game was really sweet and allowed you to play with your own music that you had stored on your iPod. The system would scan the song and make note charts on the fly. It wasn't perfect but it was pretty cool. There was also a really addictive element where every time I would try a song, I would think: "Oh crap, I bet this song would work even better!" Eventually I had like 500 songs in my Phase list and I was a pro. (It's too bad I'm a total moron and left my old iPod at the airport.)

Yeah, I Also Took Photos Of My Desk

2009-10-16T22:52:00Z

So yeah, I also decided to take photos of my desk. But I cheated. Since I'm the resident photographer, I used big camera trickery to make it look cooler than it really is. I actually cleaned it to do this and Reiner missed out on the chance to take a photo of it when it's in its true form: messy. So enjoy the small adventure that is Nick's desk.

This is all Photoshop. I removed all of the papers and junk or something.

Rock and/or Roll!

So much HD!

FashionTrooper

This guy looks at me more than Jeff.

So. Much. Fun.

Ahh! Look out Bronzed Dom!

It's only fitting that I have the one-of-a-kind GI skatedeck.

GI Protip #2: Image Tools

2009-10-14T19:25:00Z

Stop right there. You know that copy of Photoshop you’ve got in your Torrent folder is not legal right? Most of the computer users out there think they need Photoshop. Not so much. While Adobe’s flagship product is undeniably amazing, many users can achieve what they want for cheap or free. So save that $700 or possible lawsuit and read on to find a better, easier way.

Things like hero images, avatars and blog posts are pretty cool here on gameinformer.com, but how do you get there? That’s a question I hear very often both by email and through the forums. Below is a list of tools that are either free or cheap and they all are very powerful.

Gimp
Free – Windows, Mac, Linux
Ahh Gimp. The most popular on the list, this open-source alternative is a great tool with a ton of community support. While the interface can take a bit to get used to, it’s worth it. The best part is that it’s available for pretty much every computer on the planet. If you’re looking for something more on the hardcore spectrum, take a look at Gimp.

Pixelmator
$59 – Mac
Another app for the hardcore, this Mac exclusive may cost money, but its worth it. Pixelmator has pretty much every major tool that Photoshop has. The program also features a super sleek design interface, something designers will appreciate.

Paint.NET
Free – Windows
The nerd’s editor. Paint.NET is a favorite among programmers for its fast startup time, very low resource usage and versatility. The layer system is really handy and Windows users will find that it does much more that the apps that come built into your computer.

Photoshop.com
Free – Browser
It’s pretty obvious that Adobe created Photoshop.com to try and curb the high level of piracy that they battle daily, but it doesn’t mean it’s not a great tool. In fact, it may be my favorite on the list because it’s browser-based. Users can login and pull photos from Facebook, Flickr and more. There’s also a generous amount of storage space given for free to each user. There’s also an iPhone app.

Picnik
Free – Browser
Picnik is basically an alternative to Photoshop.com and also features a great toolset and pulls photos from a ton of social networking sites. This is also the editor that Flickr uses for their users.

That’s All? Nay.

Here are some sizes that may be helpful to get your page and posts looking really awesome.

Profile Hero Image: 940px x 324px
Profile Avatar: 128px x 128px
Blog Post Images Width: 610px (Hint: For perfect 16:9, use 610px x 343px)