Top 5 Things Techies Like To Argue About

Join us as we retreat to a safe distance…

1 MP3 Vs Vinyl

If we were to say either one of these was better than the other, you can guarantee we’d get ‘letters’, informing us why we’re wrong. Those on the side of vinyl will say it’s a true reproduction of the source material, while MP3 is merely a compressed sample. Digital fans will point to the high quality of lossless formats, while also mentioning the flaws in vinyl. Never, though, will they concede ground to the other side. We say put the dance floor in no man’s land and enjoy the tunes in whatever format they arrive.

Destiny: The Taken King

The sweet, sweet taste of Exotic loot just got a whole lot sweeter

It doesn’t matter how heavily entrenched you are into the booty systems of this trail-blazing shared-world shooter. It doesn’t matter how deeply you’ve delved into the hidden corners of lore laid down over the last 12 months, nor how keenly you’ve picked the bones of Year One’s two raids, endless PvE arenas, or elite PvP events. No matter how much you might have played Destiny up until now you will, amongst the millions of others as enamoured with the series as you, have come up with some way – likely many ways – that Bungie’s all-conquering blaster could be improved.

Nevermind

It’s not all in your head

Imagine a horror game that knows when you’re afraid, and makes the experience more stressful the faster your heart beats. Then imagine that game being set in the mind of a victim of intense trauma. Good, now if you could just tell us what you see in this inkblot? Is it Nathan Drake eating an icecream or Master Chief on a unicycle? Hmm, let’s move on.

Perception

An echolocation thriller using Bioshock tactics

Horror hides best in darkness. Nightmares lurk in the shadows under our beds, or inside wardrobes, where the glow of a light bulb just doesn’t reach. But now, imagine a world only of darkness – a world without sight. This is what Perception’s blind heroine Cassie is faced with, but she sees in another way, through incredible hearing and an echolocation technique that fills in the world with shifting, glowing outlines. Sound like something special? It is.

Hitman

You could say we’ve been working on it for 15 years,” says the game’s director Christian Elverdam. “The process for this new title began with a desire to try to distil the essence of the previous games, and the 15 years of evolution, to create the best possible game. We’ve taken the best bits of those past five games to build this new one.” From Blood Money comes large, sandbox levels filled with opportunity. From Absolution comes the increased fidelity and more complex AI behaviour. From Codename 47 comes… well, to be honest there probably isn’t much being carried across from Codename 47.