Vista “Enable Advanced Performance” Benchmark

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I was doing some upgrade work on my Vista machine last weekend. Once I was done popping in some more ram and updating all my drivers, I decided to check out some of the Vista performance tip guides available on the web. They all highlighted roughly the same features, but one that stood out was a little checkbox in the hard disk management properties that let you “further improve disk performance” at the expense of “increasing the risk of data loss if the disk loses power.” No problem, that’s what my battery backup device is for.

I started looking for benchmarks, and found none. My search string was pretty similar to the title of this post. That’s on purpose, because I want to help anyone else looking for a benchmark on this feature.

THIS FEATURE DOES NOTHING EXCEPT RE-INTRODUCE AN OLD WINDOWS BUG.

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Portal Guns are a Game Condiment

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Valve’s Portal has been reviewed to death. It’s time to stop talking about the past and looking to the future. Is Portal a seminal game in our field? If so, how can we apply its ideas going forward?

Step one is to stop thinking that portals (the warpy things themselves) are things that can be used only in Portal (proper, the game). In the same way that ketchup can make a burger, or fries, or scrambled eggs taste better, portals can increase the delectability of our current genres. Portal showed us how the gun can be used in a puzzle or action genre, but there are many genres that make up our industry.

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Making Players Listen to Your Dialogue

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This one is simple. If, during the early stages of the game, I talk to a character on my own free will and get rewarded with something worthwhile, I’m much more likely to talk to other characters looking for more handouts. A steady stream of dialogue rewards enforces this likelihood throughout the entire game.

If you’ve spent a good deal of time on your writing and truly believe your characters are saying things that your player would enjoy hearing (because you’re funny), this is a good way to motivate a generation of jaded gamers into giving your dialogue a chance. Since the reward is instant, players are already happy. And at that moment you have their attention, so if you’re going to sell your dialogue this is the time.

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