Be Excellent To Each Other

I'm trying to remember the ins and outs of how I've got everything connected up to mine but I do know it works properly and I get full 5:1 from both the PC and the 360. In fact come to think of it I might have them both directly connected to the twin optical inputs on the speakers, and use the optical passthrough on the telly for something else - I honestly can't remember, and I don't suppose it really matters

(Buying a media centre PC with an optical out was a whole extra level of fun in itself, and we're going back a few years here too when it was far from standard. IIRC I had to go several steps up the range to get one that didn't just have normal 3.5mm jacks.)

But anyway, yes, it's a good telly and I'm in no hurry to replace it whilst it still works.

I think my PC has an optical out port.

Amount of times I've used it? Zero.

I've got a 4K telly. It's lovely despite not being able to play anything in 4K on console or PC alike. ("Totally legal") films are great though now we're starting to see some be ("released").

TV Master Race looking down on the peons who use a 720p rig.

We have one of these. It was £250 3 years ago from ASDA's Black Friday. Might get a new one but that would mean making a decision.

Plas-ma? Never heard of it.

http://nintendotoday.com/switch-app-matchmaking/

You fucking what, mate?!

Voice chat and "matchmaking and lobbies" are done via a phone app?!

Bomberman for Switch is £50.

Bomberman.

Also hands on previews suggest that the current build drops frames quite a lot, despite being capped at 30fps.

Bomberman.

What?!

DONE VIA A PHONE APP

That and paid online, and expensive games, and not being able to use your existing controllers for multiplayer... Nintendo seems intent to make the Switch worse than the Wii U in every way.

Nintendo in comedy online efforts shocker

I'm guessing that the phone app won't be available on the Windows Phone either. Oh well, voice chat in games is overrated anyway.

If you have to use your phones anyway, you could just use WhatsApp.

Depressingy, as they were getting better with that with the Wii U – usernames instead of "friend codes", stable multiplayer for games like Mario Kart 8, some movement towards a proper account system. The Wii U working with the popular streaming services was a decent bonus too.

Don't get me wrong, I realise Nintendo are crap at online, but I didn't think that they'd be that crap.

At first I thought this was a good idea but then I wondered how you'd play with strangers? You'd have to get their mobile numbers somehow... Perhaps Nintendo can release an app to help with this?

Maybe Nintendo are planning on releasing a phone that uses a similar architecture and plays all the old games as standard and has all these things built in.

A Nintendo phone? That'll probably be supported less than the Windows phone but still.... Where do I sign up and to whom do I send my money?

I'll take your money!

Oh yeah, point.

I don't really play with strangers, so I didn't consider it.

I'm not sure Nintendo will support voice chat with strangers anyway.

Oh my - it seems like the Wii version of Super Mario Bros. is actually a pirated ROM that they got off the Internet and used

HDMI carries a lot of sound signals that don't fit (bandwidth wise) down an optical cable, so at least sometimes when this happens there's a good reason.

That was the 20th or 25th anniversary edition wasn't it? That was a pretty rubbish celebration of Mario really.

£40 for Zelda
http://savygamer.co.uk/2017/01/20/the-l ... tch-40-10/
Only available at that price today.

I always thought optical cables had massively more bandwidth than wires. Why else did they ever even bother with optical cables?

I've a suspicion it was because they looked cool.

IIRC optical can carry stereo PCM uncompressed (i.e. CD quality), but for multi-channel, it has to be compressed (e.g. Dolby Digital, DTS). If you have an amplifier that supports it, HDMI is the way to go. E.g. I can play 5.1 FLAC or WAV files from my PC or laptop into my amp, without having to encode them to to DD/DTS, and can play Blu Rays with uncompressed 5.1 soundtracks. (Not saying I can always tell the difference between PCM and DTS-MA, mind you, but that's my ears/brain at fault, rather than my cables.)

You need optical ears

If you have to compress/decompress it's best to have your cables running down slightly from the source to the amp to decrease lag.

For the gravity assist?

Absolutely. A little vaseline on your banana plugs helps too.

Want to look at the Switch OS? You boring dick. Oh alright, here it is.

https://vid.me/oQkO

I've resisted all these videos and gifs so far because I want it to be exciting and new when I get mine.

Next week I'll be able to say that the Switch is out next week! Exciting... I just need to pay for the damn thing first.

No, it'll probably make me despair.

Nintendo haven't made a decent front end. Ever.

(if I could just turn off the sodding music, it might make me less pushed off. )

The Gamecube front end was ace and the music made it even better!

Given how we low updates usually are on the wii/wiiu/3ds making it play some kiddy plinky - plonky muzak whole doing it was... Less than great.

And don't forget the hidden music too

See? Brilliant!

I like the 3DS music too.... and the Wii music. It's something different isn't it?

I'd take the 3DS front end over the Xbox One front end any day so there is that.

https://youtu.be/VlmDPC6ai4Y

edit: also https://youtu.be/rjEsXf3SJ6o

Well I've learnt something new today. That was great.

Anyway, I'm not a fanboy or nowt but I much prefer the plinky poorly Wii/WiiU music on the home page and stores etc than the PlayStation. Sony should offer choons with their shit themes (looking at you The Last Guardian) (TLG music would be awesome on the home page.)

Calm down, fanboy!

Shut it, you dirty fanboy.

Menus and interfaces should be silent apart from a tiny, subtle, preferably haptic feedback response to selections

Indeed.

Although I don't mind that they chose to have kiddy music, I do mind that they don't give you an option to mute it without muting everything.

Look at the state of you.

Starless.

Huh. It's quite a lot smaller than I thought it would be.

I don't do these often... but, Title.

Title