Can I dip a toe in the water please?

[yinkin]

I would very much like to apply for part time (Ally) membership of the seniors (or SNoRes as I like to think of them) so that in times of trouble when the chips are down and your backs are to the wall, I can hold your coats. KInda like Switzerland in world war II, but with less Toblerone and lilac cows.

Anyway, my name is Stephen, I am 40, I live in the MIdlands and my wife is a fan of all kinds of crap movies which no doubt you will hear at times coming over my comms, so for that I apologise now. I have recently rescued a kitten so karmically deserve ally status just for that.

I have been a gamer ever since they invented it, from the rubber keys and attribute clash days of the zx spectrum where I played such classics as Academy ( the sequel to Tau Ceti), manic miner and Jetpac (the 16k version of Lunar Jetman). I later moved onto the Commodore Amiga where I loved such games as Hired Guns, Powermonger and Bubble Bobble (which I very nearly completed). I consider this in some ways the golden age of gaming, everyone was trying out new ideas and although their reach often exceeded their grasp there was some truly awesome gaming to be had. Lemmings, worms, M1 Tank platoon, there was real variety To be had.

So then it was onto the original playstation which was good fun with classics like Doom and tombe raider. I then had a PS2 and later because of the option of LAN gaming (I coudn`t get broadband at the time) I had an Xbox which I must say was much better than the PS2, although not as well built. But then I moved onto the pS3 and the rest as they say is history.

My preferred gaming choice is something where I have to blow stuff up, cars, office blocks, myself, it doesnt really matter what as long as it goes bang. Games I currently enjoy on PS3 are Killzone 3, Uncharted 3, Littlebigplanet2, Battlefield etc. I am currently looking forward to Counterstrike although I suck at reaction shooters, Borderlands II and maybe the Last of us.

Anyway I await your reply.

 

[HaloJ]

M1 tank platoon! Cripes I remember that one. There was talk about them pulling both it and Gunship together into a "realistic" war game. That idea is no doubt where the birth of Battlefield actually began.

With regards comms I often actually struggle to hear you in Killzone although you're fine in Uncharted and Battlefield where we can play guess the movie.

 

[yinkin]

M1 tank platoon was one of my favourites, considering the limitations of the platform it did a great job of simulating tank warfare and I really wish we had an updated version, Battlefield doesnt really capture the feel of tank warfare, it feels somewhat arcadey, I want something a little more simulationalist (is that a word). I used to love hopping from hill to hill trying to spot the soviet formations and outflank them, classic gaming.


You probably cant hear me because , I tend to keep the mic sensitivity down so You cant hear the tv, or at least hear it as much. It is one of the perils of having two tvs in the same room, otherwise though we would have to share 1 tv and so i would never get to be online. It has been suggested that I should move the TV elsewhere in the house, but that would be impractical not mention antisocial towards my homelife, so its two tvs, uninterrupted gaming and somewhat muffled comms, about as fair a compormise as I can make.

 

[HaloJ]

I remember reading something on OAP about surround headphones and chat, maybe that's a solution for you rather than moving to another room?

 

[yinkin]

I did have a read on the site, I can see the surround headphones being great for listening to my tv, but thats not the issue, I am not sure they would solve the chat problem where they could still possibly pick up the other tv in the room via the mike and it seems like a lot of money to spend to find out.

 

[HERMAN_JELMET]

I remember reading something on OAP about surround headphones and chat, maybe that's a solution for you rather than moving to another room?

I have a pair of Sharkoon X tatic 5.1 digital surround sound headphones, Excellent, I think Col will agree

 

[HERMAN_JELMET]

I did have a read on the site, I can see the surround headphones being great for listening to my tv, but thats not the issue, I am not sure they would solve the chat problem where they could still possibly pick up the other tv in the room via the mike and it seems like a lot of money to spend to find out.

The way the mic works It should cut out the other TV as that's the set up I use, 2 TV's In the same room.

 

[Martok]

Welcome, Mr Yinkin!

I would very much like to apply for part time (Ally) membership of the seniors (or SNoRes as I like to think of them)

Are you calling us boring? Cheeky young whippersnapper!

so that in times of trouble when the chips are down and your backs are to the wall, I can hold your coats. KInda like Switzerland in world war II, but with less Toblerone and lilac cows.

Or maybe it'll be the other way around.

Good intro BTW.

Wow, I remember Jetpac and Lunar Jetman! I thought they were great at the time. Lemmings I played on the Acorn Archimedes running from a floppy disc if I recall.

So, will you be joining us tonight for some UC3 and tomorrow for KZ3?

 

[Slaine]

Hi Yinkin. My son swears by his headphones. The only thing is he has them a bit loud so ends up shouting over his comms.

Welcome!!

 

[Dogstar]

Hi Yinkin, good to see you over here.

I'm happy to vouch for Mr Yinkers (I only use this as I know he hates it! )

He's a fine fellow and plays with me regularly - ooer missus! Besides, as you say you deserve karmic points for rescuing a feline in distress, even if you lose more points for the name you gave it!

See you on Uncharted 3 tonight maybe?

 

[Jkrohn1]

That's where I know yinkin from duuurh see you on UC3 layer hopefully

 

[yinkin]

Hi Yinkin, good to see you over here.

I'm happy to vouch for Mr Yinkers (I only use this as I know he hates it! )

He's a fine fellow and plays with me regularly - ooer missus! Besides, as you say you deserve karmic points for rescuing a feline in distress, even if you lose more points for the name you gave it!

See you on Uncharted 3 tonight maybe?

what is wrong with calling the Kitten Pibby? it started out as Pain In Butt, and ended up as Pibby

yeah may see you online later

 

[Dogstar]

what is wrong with calling the Kitten Pibby?

Hmmm, where to start?

 

[ColSonders]

Firstly, great to see you here Yinkin!

Secondly I can't praise the Sharkoon X-Tatic Digital headset highly enough. Had mine for two and a half years now and they are quite frankly superb, sound quality is on par with my ageing entry level surround system, better than the cheaper Onkyo sound systems I'm! And the surround from them is amazing (no surprise since they've got 4 speakers in each ear cup) which has saved my ass in online gaming on more occasions than I care to admit.

 

[OAPboba]

Secondly I can't praise the Sharkoon X-Tatic Digital headset highly enough.

I have these too and Mrs Boba cannot praise them highly enough

 

[Jkrohn1]

I really want a set but just over £100 and I can't justify it

 

[roger947]

Firstly, great to see you here Yinkin!

Secondly I can't praise the Sharkoon X-Tatic Digital headset highly enough..

They do get good reviews and i did consider a pair however, i bit the bullet and stumped up £200 for a pair of Astro's.

I now understand why so many people rate these as the best gaming headset you can buy, and why they are the headset used by pro gamers for tournaments.

They are superb and the amount of in-game noise that you can pick up is quite astounding.
I can tell exactly where the sounds and footsteps are coming from, although this can be extremely confusing when you use them for the first week or so, due to the fact that there is so much going on.

If you can make do with what you've got for a little longer, then do that and save just a little more for the Astro's.

You won't be dissappointed

OH! nearly forgot.

enjoy your time here at the SNR's

 

[ColSonders]

I'd actually be interested to compare the Astro's directly to the Sharkoons.

I know the surround effect on the Astro's won't be as good as the Sharkoons and I've read that the actual headset of the Astro's is better replaced with another one, but the decoder box is excellent.

It seems that these two headsets should be comparable, but unless you've tried them both I guess it's hard to tell. One things for sure though, if your headset fails it's a whole lot easier to replace the Astro one than the Sharkoon one as the Astro one is simply a stereo headset and the surround effect is pumped into it, I can plug a stereo headset into my Sharkoon decoder box...but I get stereo sound, I did toy with the idea of getting a PC headset as a replacement when mine gave up, but so far it's rock solid.

 

[yinkin]

Just to be clear, would the headset solve my main problem which is sound from the other tv being picked up on my mic and transferred to everyone else in the game, or is the recommendation of a surround sound headset based only on the quality of the sound they deliver to you ears, because I do not have a problem with hearing the sounds from the game or hearing other people on the headset, what bothers me is that the tv at the other end of the room is disturbing my fellow players by bleeding onto their comms.

 

[HaloJ]

As we're all feeling Yinkin's love it's an easy add to the Allies group. Revive you later on Killzone, I presume?

EDIT : I can't answer the surround headphones question but I can attest to Col's dulcet warm tones caressing my inner ear with na a sign of his favourite romcom in the background.