The Hidden Blade Assassin's Creed in Depth

What happened to Draco?

It's going to take some time getting used to seeing some of these new names...Patrick.

Mhhm, I recognize people by their avatar, I never really check their names. Now let's hope they don't change their user picture.

Well, I guess that's true. I did change mine recently.

So EA56 is now EA17?

the day i was born november 17

What was the 56?

it was random

I have lost so much respect for Epic MealTime. Granted, I have had nights like this, but I did not film them, make an ass of myself in public (though I came pretty damn close), and rant about getting Internet money.

Next time, we unsubscribe (ba dun, tss)

WTF sadness

Draco went away on his own. His account is in good standing should he ever want to return.

Say what you will about Draco but at least he respected authority. Whenever Ian or I gave him a warning he'd make a wisecrack about having "received a feather" and then he would shape up.

Which makes it all that more confusing that "He Who Shall Not Be Named" didn't just knock it off. It's hard to believe somebody needs attention that badly.

Subject 18 was okay at first wasn't he? It was only when EA56 (EA17) joined that he became an attention-seeking grammar Nazi...?

I actually talked to him in chat one day for awhile and he seemed pretty normal. Not sure what set him off, but it was something that went on for a couple of weeks.

And that's why THB is the best forum site to be on. We don't take sh*t from trolls!

The real issue here is that everyone in Epic Mealtime is now a sellout. Asaic needs to head over to downtown Montreal and slap the sh*t out of them.

We seem to be losing a lot of members who helped start up the site. Asaic, Ian, Trig, DAZ, even Rob isn't on here as often.

I've been wondering about DAZ. His last post was in late November...?

http://thehiddenblade.com/user/70/track
The last post I remember was in my Fight Aiding with Vigilantes vid. He told me I had a cool voice.

On a much more important note, today is AWESOMEDAY, because two of the most AWESOME (that has to be in all caps, yes) people to have ever existed have their birthday today. One of them is Ezio.

I'll leave you to guess the other one.

well. i log in almost every day, but i just don't write anything.
sorry about that.

it's mainly that i get so easily bored with all the Assassin's Creed discussions, and that is freaking everywhere

What interests you Rob?

i like this place and the people but the thing is, when the AC discussions creeps over to General, this very thread or the few times i'm in chat, it just makes me cringe (is that the right word?) because i have nothing to say on the subject.
i still try to read most of it, but right now for example the Revelations board has 474 unread messages

although i might make a topic today that i wanna get out

and with that, it seems that i just killed the spam-thread

That's the same reason I never go to the Presbyterian Fair. There's too many Presbyterians there.

HA

What would you do with it all? You probably have all the AC dlc's and it's not like you avatar has changed for the past few years. Don't ask me how I would know that (I'm not a stalker, I'm not a stalker). But there are some pretty good outfits in the avatar marketplace, and not just for AC. I even saw a shirt that said "stab" on it.

Your telling me. Likody is also a great member who helped (just look at some of the first posts), but now she's only to be found in chat. And as for Ian, well, it's kind of obvious since we all know how he looks like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9tGJ0hca1w&feature=player_profilepage#t=...

Username change!!!!!!!! .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL_UHPMvMDI&feature=related

Seems like I started a trend.

Viva revolucion!

Ugh, it's really hot. It's 21:20 here and the temperature is 32 degrees Celsius, or 90 degrees Fahrenheit. Add to that the fact that I'm sitting in front of a 27 inch LCD screen and you might understand how I'm feeling right now.

Where is here?

Netherlands.

You aren't the only one, Phi.

Humidity (supposedly we're having a heatwave) + the refusal for God to create a rainstorm + 2 hours of football = a disgustingly clammy feeling right now.

The results from the first round of my programming contest are in. I did not expect to do well on this round because my program scaled poorly with multiple threads (it actually got slower with more threads according to my tests). There were bonus points available for finding optimal solutions, regardless of speed, but my program didn't even attempt to find optimal paths.

I did much better than expected thanks in part to a generous scoring system. Out of 28 contestants I placed 7th with 142.75 points. The winner only got 169.37 points so I'm well within striking distance for the grand prize over the final two rounds. Here's the breakdown of my score:

• 50 points for submitting an entry (door prize!)
• 50 points because it compiled, ran, and solved the sample problem
• 25 points for posting 5 or more comments in the contest forums (I like to talk)
• 12.75 points for having the 4th fastest program overall (mine came in second place on three of the hard problems)
• 5 points for finding the optimal path on one of the problems (even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while)

The biggest surprise in the way it was scored is that finding the optimal solution was worth just as much as having the fastest program. If I would have known that in advance, I would have submitted a slower version of my program that always found the optimal path and earned a cool 175 points. I had actually written such a version but decided not to submit it because my understanding was that speed would be weighted more heavily in the scoring.

The two people with the fastest programs finished 3rd and 6th. First and second place went to guys who participated in the contest forums and wrote programs that usually found optimal solutions. That seems wrong to me but I can't complain about the position I find myself in. Rounds 2 and 3 will be much better for me.

Haha. Nice one, stab.

I have very little idea what you're talking about but I still want you to win!

Stab I have a programming question for you! Well, not really, it's more of a hardware question, but both topics have to do with computers, I guess...

Anyone else can answer this too, considering I'm generally not very good with hardware (which is interesting considering I work for a telephone company, but I digress...)

Anyway, the processing power of my netbook is starting to make me angry and I want to upgrade its RAM. Right now it has roughly 1.5 GB of RAM on it, and I want to boost it up to somewhere around 4 GB and 8 GB, preferably the latter.

1. Is this possible?
2. Will Windows RAM cards built for laptops also run with netbooks?
3. Do you recommend any 4GB or 8GB laptop RAM cards? (My budget is somewhere around $150)

Any help is greatly appreciated!

1. Yes, it's possible, but the speed of your Netbook is not only dependant on your RAM. It also depends on your bus speed (the bus is the thing that connects all parts of your netbook together), harddrive speed, processor speed, etc.
2. I don't think so. Netbooks (and other laptops) are pretty hard to upgrade. You'd have to take it to a store.
3. No recommendations for you. I've never felt the need to upgrade my RAM. I also own a Mac, so I've never bought RAM to assemble a computer.

Questions about recording devices:

1. Are there any devices that somehow allow recording while playing on my television? It's awkward for me to play on a tiny laptop/computer screen. So far, I haven't seen anything like this for consoles.

2. I know Ian uses a dvd recorder. Is this an easier way to record gameplay? And has he or anyone else made videos about the process of connecting one to a gaming system?

3. If I made multiplayer videos, I'd have to use the television in my living room, and I won't want to keep that room to myself for hours hooking up wires and recorders for a video that might or might not work out the way I planned.

I hate trying to hook up my webcam to my laggy laptop, that of which doesn't provide sound from the gameplay. And the crappy video quality doesn't help.

I'd enjoy making some multiplayer videos (with THB guest stars every week?) providing either games I'm proud of, showing how to get achievements, tips, exploits, etc.

I'm able to finally get the equipment to record good-quality gameplay, so I'd like to get all video-makers to bestow me with their recording knowledge...ness...ss... :3

Well, I plan on using my DVD recorder in the future.
It's pretty easy to hook up. Just get an Xbox-composite cable and run that to the recorder. Then run a SCART cable (or whatever it is you use at the wrong side of the Atlantic ocean) from the DVD to the tv. Hit record, fire up your game and you're good to go.

You're a computer programmer and a runner, Phi? We have a lot in common. If you also play the drums that will complete the stabby trifecta.

I ran Cross Country and Track as an early teen. Here's a picture of me leading a one mile race at a varsity track meet:

Some of my personal best times are
1 mile (track): 4:56
2 mile (track): 10:40
3 mile (cross country): approx. 16:30, can't remember
10K (road): 38:08
marathon: never competed

I retired from competitive running at age 15 after a sports injury (tendinitis of the hip) kept me sidelined for much of a cross country season. Now I run for my health... slowly.

I looked up articles on DVD recorders with xbox 360's and found out that I just need to get a DVD recorder and a couple of rewritable DVDs. Shouldn't be too difficult to find. I already have several blank CDs. Would they still work? Probably a stupid question...

Any certain types of recorders I should look into?

But the Ironman is hosted in Hawaii! We need to get you in the animus. With Altair's speed and strength and Ezio's ability to swim, you'd finish miles ahead of the competition!

DVD recorder is what I've been using to create my videos all along. I happened to already have a DVD recorder in my entertainment center so there was no initial cost. The downsides are manageable:

• You have to play in standard definition while recording (unless you have a BluRay burner, which aren't exactly commodity items yet).
• Some people complain of a "lag" when routing video through the recorder, and that this throws off their gameplay timing. Either my lag time is minimal or I've become accustomed to playing with it.
• You need software to rip the DVD on your computer before it can be edited and uploaded. I use Magic DVD Ripper ($35, not particularly good). Ian uses DiVX (free for non-commercial use, puts watermark in corner of video).

You need blank DVDs, not CDs. They look about the same but DVDs have a higher capacity designed for video, not just audio.

There are two formats: DVD-R and DVD+R. I recommend getting a recorder that accepts +R media (although most burners nowadays are "combo drives" that accept all formats). Then buy yourself a spindle of DVD+R blanks. You can either get the regular DVD+R which can only be burned once, or the more expensive DVD+RW that you can burn over and over. I own both kinds but have had bad luck with the +RW. So I continue to use DVD+R as disposable media. I literally throw them in the trash after ripping a video.

The other thing to look for in a recorder are input jacks. You need at least one composite input for the Xbox's standard-def output. What if your mom wants to record a TV show to DVD? Better to have a second input jack so you're not always recabling the damn thing.

I hope the lag isn't too much. If I'm making multiplayer videos, I'll need the least amount of it as possible. I saw a couple of videos that showed the gameplay being recorded while the player played on the tv screen. Should have bookmarked those...

My next paycheck is going towards a new laptop, so I may try DivX and see how that works. If I get tired with the watermark, I'll look into the Magic DVD Ripper.

Piano and bass, actually. Currently on conservatory entry level for piano. I taught myself bass, so no exams for that one.

I don't run nearly as fast as you do, though. I figured 5:45 was pretty impressive. I'll try and get it down to 5 minutes. However, one of my mates told me he wanted to get 5km down to 20 minutes, so we're doing that on tuesday. Problem is, he likes to talk, so he talks while running and then gets exhausted because he can't get enough air. XD I'm also not a competitive runner. I run because I like to run.

Joey, why don't you ask Shenmue or Rainie or someone else who makes MP vids how they record?

Also, I'm thinking about starting a Project Euler thread on here, posting my solutions, getting people interested. I've solved 51 problems. 1 to 38 and some other random stuff that was easy.

This is more of an open discussion to anyone with any knowledge of my questions. I figured someone would get me some tips.

Yay! I win!

Ehh...No.

You mean as fast as I did. My personal records are all from when I was 15 years old. It's a shame that hip injury made me retire so young. My times were improving every year.

It is! I wish I could still run even a 6 minute mile. Nowadays I seldom run a mile in less than 10 minutes.