Octal Fm

Jalada and Sefran chat about six of their favourite genre-defining real-time strategy games.Related reading from the show:Real-time strategy on WikipediaMetagamingAge of Empires 2How to play it: Try Age of Empires 2 HD, the 2013 remake.HomeworldHow to play it: Homeworld Remastered is a beautiful remake and comes complete with the sequel and a refined multiplayer experience.Rise of NationsHow to play it: Pick up Rise of Nations: Extended Edition, the 2014 remake.Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of WarHow to play it: It’s work getting some of the expansion packs for Dawn of War, so pick up the Master Collection.World in ConflictHow to play it: World in Conflict multiplayer servers have been shut down but you can still pick the game up complete with expansion from GOG and it still has local multiplayer for your LAN party!Populous: The BeginningHow to play it: Populous doesn’t work well on modern PCs (Sef couldn’t get it running) but you can pick it up on GOG.Intro & outro music: JACKS – Runaway

In this ‘The Best Ever’ episode, Jalada and Sefran try to agree on which game in The Elder Scrolls series is the best; Oblivion or Skyrim?Related reading from the show:IMDB page for OblivionIMDB page for SkyrimProcedural terrain sculpting in OblivionEnemies in OblivionEnemies in SkyrimMorrowind speed-run using game breaking spellsOblivion AI fail (one video of many out there)Horse armor reception back in 2006Intro & outro music: JACKS – Runaway Fashion

Jalada and Sefran discuss voice-activated home assistants. We have a chat about what they are, how they work, and where we think the technology is going in the future.The two main devices we talk about are Amazon Echo* and Google Home.We also reference Apple Siri and Google Assistant.For more information about why understanding speech is hard for computers, read about “AI-complete” problems.We almost forgot to mention Microsoft Cortana.Amazon Echo can be used to control Nest and Tado thermostats.Sefran pointed out that banks like HSBC and First Direct already use voice pattern detection.Intro & outro music: JACKS – Runaway Fashion*Links are affiliate links. Proceeds go towards helping out OctalFM.

In this episode of Octal FM, Jalada tells Sefran what he thinks of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD for the Wii U.Spoiler warning: Contains minor spoilers about Twilight Princess and a general discussion of the Zelda timeline.Related reading from the show:The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, and The Wind Waker HD.Zelda teaser trailer from Spaceworld 2000 (linked video is actually a longer cut than the one we used to watch).The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia (affiliate link).Copy of the Hyrule Historia timeline.Jadusable Wiki, the official database for the Haunted Majora’s Mask Cartridge story (Elegy of Emptiness creepypasta).Twilight Princess Wii, Gamecube and Wii U graphics comparison.Issues when you force Dark Souls to run at 60fps on PC.Music:Intro: JACKS – Runaway Fashion.Outro: Life of a Bowling Pin by Hylian Lemon for ocremix.org.

Welcome to Octal FM! After introducing your hosts, we dissect the PS4/PC game No Man’s Sky.Related reading from the show:FreelancerStar CitizenElite: DangerousJourneySporeProcedural generationNo Man’s Sky stats on SteamSpyDiablo 3Diablo 3’s loot 2.0 patch (sample of media coverage for context)Please let us know what you thought by Tweeting @octalfm, or using the email address in the show.Intro & outro music: JACKS  – Runaway Fashion