Ross Scott

Yep, but I don't know if I can talk about it. All I can say it's looking promising, even if it may take some time (hey at least I can get new videos out finally). Alright between this thread and emails here are the recommendations I've received on gaming headsets: -Turtle Beach Ear Force P11 -Turtle Beach Ear Force X12 Gaming Headset -Turtle Beach Ear Force X32 -Creative Fatal1ty Gaming Headset -Razer Blackshark -Razer Electra -Razer Carcharias -Razer Kraken -Steelseries 5H V2 I haven't done any research on these yet, but feel free to chime in. To narrow it down here are some things to consider: Mandatory Requirements: -Must be resistant to mic puff (I should be able to say "Peter picked a peck of pickled peppers" into it without a problem) -Must not pick up much besides my voice (so if there's some noise in the same room, it's unlikely to get much of it) -Must be able to handle me being loud (this is more than just recording levels, some mics simply clip if you're shouting into them at any recording volume) Preferred Items: -Good headphone quality -Have some sort of metal core for the headband so it can be reshaped (as opposed to a pure plastic one which inevitably snap on my head) -Good comfort -I prefer 3.5mm jacks over USB connection. -I prefer wired headphones -Good durability in case they get dropped

Blip.tv link (this one helps me more) (Downloadable copy will be up a later date) Freeman's Mind continues, this time with no singing. This is a slower episode, since the game directly dictates the pace of them, but I think it came out pretty well. For the purists complaining that one of the game sequences never triggered, you can blame Half-Life: Source, I didn't do anything to disable it. Please continue to spread the word that Freeman's Mind is not dead, it was just being held hostage in a basement at gunpoint, but managed to escape and is now at a new location. I plan to continue the informal schedule of having a new FM episode about every two weeks. In the extra time between releases, I'm still working on multiple side projects, a few of which will come to fruition within a few weeks from now. In any event, you can expect a lot more stuff to come out this summer.

I tried to find every source I could and wasn't able to mute out the grunt sounds from the WAD. I did mute the secret found sound, the OTHER pain sounds, and the extra brutal doom dialogue. It's almost like there was a secret level in there or something.

Unverified, but it looks like the Kinect may have the ability to shut down what you're watching / playing if there are too many people in the room and try to charge you for an upgraded license! Source Before it was announced, I was giving them a 50-50 chance they were going to call the Xbox One just "Xbox." Looks like I wasn't too far off the mark.

Hey people, I have some new updates and a minor promotion to make. As I've mentioned before on the blog, I am still for hire if people want to pay me for voice acting, writing, or something else related. Well one group actually approached me about "hiring" me to play a game with them for a commentary series they're doing. I have to admit, the concept of charging people for me to play a game with them never even occurred to me and it would seem pretentious if I had come up with the idea myself. I would feel guilty about this if I haven't been so busy with various projects that I've had very little time for gaming myself. Also, I decided I am ABSOLUTELY fine with establishing a precedent that I will play games for money if somebody wants to pay for it. I just don't want people to think that I feel entitled to some sort of payment for playing a game. On the contrary, I enjoy interacting with fans (even if I'm months behind on my email replies) and will always do so for free, even though there can be delays. The way I see it, what I'm being paid for is for time I would normally spend working on something else and I'm unfortunately very busy these days. Anyway, part of the deal was some extra publicity for their new series, so here it is: UwOgCKQXgfE It's just myself running around with the creator "Loremaster Nojah" and his friend "Sarahon" trying to get through the old mod "They Hunger" running Sven Co-op. It goes on for a few hours, split into different episodes. If you need to kill time, these guys have you covered. This video may also gives you an idea of why Freeman's Mind is not done live. This whole video is extremely casual with a minimum (if any) amount of editing. When doing things impromptu, my ratio of saying something entertaining is more like once every 3 minutes rather than once every 10 seconds the way it is with FM. Also my microphone quality is pretty poor in this video as I normally use a handheld mic to record videos, but I just used a webcam mic I had for this so I could play hands-free. On that note, if anyone has recommendations for a gaming headset with good mic quality for hands-free recording (especially with low mic puff) in the future, please feel free to email me at [email protected]. - - - In other news, I've made a lot of updates to the website to the different sections, with updated information the FAQ, donations, subtitles, etc. I've also added an entire "Ross For Hire" section where you can now see some of the jobs I've taken so far freelancing. Not all of the mods / videos are out yet however, but feel free to browse. Finally, I'm aiming to have the next Freeman's Mind out sometime Tuesday. While I am making no promises, it's my aim to have a new FM out approximately every two weeks after that (with more stuff coming out in between later on). ADHD version: Ross plays games with some dudes! Website has more words on it! Next FM episode will probably be Tuesday!

Thanks for reminding me! I forgot to mention that they're aiming to sell 1 BILLION copies of the Xbox One! Not a joke! My opinion on the Steambox is that it will probably be underwhelming at launch. They have a gargantuan task ahead of them trying to convert as many units as possible to Linux. I don't see it being a success right away, but if they just keep at it long enough, the more and more titles they can move over, the better it will start looking. If they're persistent and can make deals with game companies, this could potentially start toppling Microsoft's grip on PC gaming. Also if you're ever inclined, you could literally build a small formfactor system that's more than functional than the Steambox for any price point you're interested in, although that would take some customization and time setting up. One of the advantages consoles have always had over PC's is being able to just start it and go, something Xbox One seems to be losing with all its authentication systems.

I've been following the drama regarding the upcoming Xbox One with a lot of interest, almost like some people do towards celebrity gossip. It's ironic since I'm generally just a PC gamer, but it can't be denied how much consoles affect the entire game industry now. For me, the news on the Xbox One has been GLORIOUS. They've alleviated my biggest fears for the platform. My biggest concern was that they Xbox would enforce DRM by requiring online connection to servers with NO PLAN for the games years from now after they shut down. I was worried they were going to do this, but do a great job on all other fronts, so people would grudgingly accept it, creating a precedent for other platforms to do this. I hate this practice and don't like the idea of ANY game requiring a connection with a centralized server in order to play it. With very few exceptions, it's been proven again and again the companies don't care what happens to the game later on once it's no longer profitable to run the servers. I think it's an awful practice. Fortunately, the Xbox One has far exceeded my expectations by pushing so far in this direction that it's like to cause blowback across the industry. Seriously, I give them a B+ for making perhaps the most unappealing console possible. Here's how I see it: Positives: +Heat and power consumption are likely to be low due the chipset being used. +improved graphics over the Xbox 360, setting a decent baseline for cross platform games +x86 architecture is more standardized Negatives: -Internet connection required every 24 hours (or as I call it, Xbox parole check-in), so offline play will not be a feasible solution -Unable to loan games to friends -Unable to get low used game prices (you'll have to pay a premium to Microsoft even if you "own" the used game) -No backwards compatability with Xbox 360 games.* -No backwards compatability with Xbox Live Arcade Games.* -No indie titles will be allowed on it that don't already have a publisher -Kinect is now mandatory and must be always online for the xbox to function.** -3GB of the 8GB shared RAM is reserved by the OS (that's more than Windows) *Don Mattrick of Xbox has even gone far as to say backwards compatibility is "backwards thinking." He also says that the backwards compatability market is negligible. I'm assuming he's basing this data on Xbox Original compatibility on the 360, not for the 360 itself, which had the longest console cycle in history. I can't think of a better arrogant statement than calling Xbox 360 loyalists who want to continue playing their games "backwards." **Germany and Australia consider it a surveilance device. And of course the reveal itself couldn't have been better, with it being filled with corporate PR fluff, glossing over gaming, and focusing on the wrong demographics. I DARE you to watch the first 90 seconds of it without groaning or turning it off: http://uk.ign.com/videos/2013/05/21/ign-live-presents-the-next-xbox-reveal Glorious. Anyway, feel free to discuss anything about the Xbox One here, I might be their biggest fan right now, for all the wrong reasons. Some more fun media: Xbox reveal summary: KbWgUO-Rqcw Angry Joe rant: 9ekOtn7L1N0 Keep it up Microsoft, just keep it up.

Yes, I'm an American citizen. As for different legal systems, that's something to consider, however the issue in question on Machinima's part is relatively straightforward. Without revealing any details (I don't know if I can or not, I'm not sure), I'll say they clearly have violated the contract I have with them, repeatedly, over a period of years, without ever informing me (I only discovered this just recently). This creates a very strong precedent for me regaining the rights back on a lot of my videos, I'm hoping I can get it for all of them.

Hey everyone, while I'm guessing most of the people who watch these videos aren't lawyers, I wanted to at least see if there were any out there who would be interested in giving me a hand. I've been trying to contact Machinima.com for about a week and a half regarding some important matters and have not only been unable to get a reply from their legal department (which this concerns), but I can't even get a DATE when I can expect to hear from them. The last time I showed patience with Machinima.com it didn't work out very well, so now I'm trying to expedite the process. I'm not even sure what I can reveal about this situation publicly, but I'm looking for some legal advice regarding my video rights and Machinima.com engaging in what I would call "less than legal" activity that's affected me personally. I am not looking to go to court over anything, in fact I wish to avoid that if possible, however it's looking like I might need some sort of legal notice sent to them otherwise it could be months (again) before anything gets done. Unfortunately I do not have a lot of money, so I would either need some pro bono help or at some sort of discount. Someone who has experience in contract law would probably be best. Anyway, if you think you might be able to help, please contact me at [email protected]. Everyone else: I'm still working on more videos!

Works for me. I figure a combination of that and me making more videos will hopefully net as many people as possible wondering where the new episodes are.

I can fix that at any time, Machinima always made those anyway. It's just one more thing on my "to do" list. Speaking of thumbnails though, I've fixed ALL the links and info on ALL the episode pages and ALL the thumbnails. Took me 6 hours!

Christopher_AC: Just look up "modern major general" for the original song. Here are the lyrics I added: " I can fire at a target and hit it at least half the time or graph out an electron path while using only numbers prime I calculate the fall rate of a bullet shot a thousand yards and perforate the thick heads of a hundred military guards. I can make a simulation of an atom bomb and build one too or flank a dozen men and ambush ten of them out of the blue from SMGs to RPGs I carry quite an arsenal and skip around a warzone like a subatomic particle every solider out here wants to kill me for my curiousity I wage war on the whole damn world because of my tenacity in matters combat tactical and physics theoretical I am the very model of a modern major general " It was tricky getting the rhythm to match between each line, I think even the original cuts corners there, "about binomial theorem" in particular seeming to break the flow when I was practicing it. not as many as I'd like, but 46 is done dialogue-wise, just some minor editing needed. I'm going to try and aim for 2 weeks. That's still very much underway and is taking up a good chunk of my time, but has an end in site. And no, I haven't announced it at all yet. It could be, I never realized TGWTG had its own network and was accepting people, that was a direct result of what I read here in the forums.

I may have changed my mind on that since that will be hours or archiving work, plus Machinima didn't go as draconian as they could have regarding me leaving, so I'm thinking it might be best not to rub it in further. I am however, having NEW problems with them regarding them distributing the old videos, collecting money from it, and never informing me, so I'll have to see how that plays out. It won't affect future episodes at all however. TGWTG works differently than Machinima. The idea is I submit which day it will go up on and odds are it will go up by then. The thing is that they link to the channel on blip, so it needs to be up before they post it. This means all videos in the future will appear here first before TGWTG. I no longer HAVE to wait on anyone before posting them, though I'll probably try and coordinate it to the same day as TGWTG.

Welcome to the longest delayed episode of Freeman's Mind ever made! This video was actually completed last year, but is only just now finally free to go up. If you're wondering why this took so long or if the series had died, you can read more about it here. Future Freeman's Mind episodes will no longer be appearing on Machinima.com. They will go up on my own long-neglected Youtube channel, my new blip.tv channel, and also on thatguywiththeglasses.com. At some point in the future I may delay the newest episodes going up on Youtube, but nothing's decided yet, I'll have to see how this all plays out. In the meantime, please feel free to spread the word of where the new videos will be since I imagine a lot of people will still be looking on Machinima.com. If some of you are watching this series for the first time, be sure to check out the episode page on the site here to see all the previous videos. It's still a work in progress and will look better in the future, but all the links SHOULD be functional by the end of the day. As for the episode itself, I'll warn everyone right now that this one contains some singing. It's not that I especially like singing actually, it's more that the song sung in this video is considered notoriously hard to do, so I thought it would be a good challenge for Freeman, plus it semi-fits the circumstances in the video. In any event, I have NO plans for future videos with singing in them, so you can rest easy. Even though most of the situation was out of my control, you have my apologies for such a long delay on this episode, I plan for something like this to never happen again. Also while I won't promise release dates in general, it's my goal for the foreseeable future to have at least two FM episodes coming out a month from now on. I'm also gearing up to be producing even more videos and other content in addition to that. I'll have all updates here on the site.

Guys this isn't the kind of forum I'm looking for. If you're not mature enough to stop insulting each other, moderators will start banning people. T-6 hours

NEW FREEMAN'S MIND EPISODE WILL BE UP HERE IN APPROXIMATELY 16 HOURS FROM THE TIME OF THIS POST My stance on the ads is this: I hate ads too and I don't like having to subject people to them. But on the flipside, this will actually pay money and can help me pay rent. For now, the videos will appear on Youtube and Blip.tv, but in the future, ones on Youtube may be one episode behind. And I do intend to keep posting downloadable copies of the videos with a delay, so if you're patient, you'll never have to view any ads to watch the videos. I think that's about the best compromise I can do given the circumstances.

The copy I sent was fine, I'm not sure why they couldn't play it. I'll be sure to test it out once things go through.

News update: Blip replied, apparently they couldn't play the audio at all, so it was an automated message triggered. I encoded it to h.264 MP4 with 192kbps MP3 audio, but apparently that gave them issues, I asked what format they would prefer it in, waiting on a reply. No. Yeah, that came as I surprise to me actually, since Machinima.com never told me about this and these were never reported in my views, I'm currently contacting them about this (though this won't impact future episodes). I don't know how that would change anything. It's ALL about the contract signed. I don't think it matters what anyone else says unless they're his attorney. I am involved with a side project that might provide an outlet for stuff that's NOT locked down with Machinima, but that's further down the road. TGWTG people have only been helpful, this isn't their doing.

Yeah, this is really getting frustrating, although I think it's because I'm new on blip. I've updated the post to list what's happening. Apparently it's been reject from blip on the basis of "poor audio" and no other explanation. The volume balancing may not have been aggressive enough or they may just not like stock HL1 sounds, I have no idea. I'm trying to get an answer from them, their email said 24-48 hours for a response. Believe me when I'm saying I'm going as nuts as some of you are trying to get this out already.

I'd love to upload them elsewhere, but I probably won't have any legal grounds to do that unless Machinima.com takes their copies down. I'm afraid you have to read more than the ADHD version of the post to answer your question. Yeah, I read another article recently too, the last page of it perhaps gives some more hints in the direction they're heading in: http://www.wired.com/gamelife/2013/02/ff-you-are-watching-machinima/3/

Here's the situation on that. Yes, I will continue putting downloads up, but since I'm going to be more dependent on the view-based stuff, I was considering delaying releases on the downloadable copies from the streaming one so they'll have a chance to get a foothold first. Let me know what you guys think of this or what you think a good time period would be. Also episodes 43 and 44 are not part of that plan, I was waiting on Machinima for that, now I just need to make some time and process those copies. I'll try and get those up soon. I won't know for certain until I get videos up, but my guess is it will be like a time reversal on that Youtube graph from the last post. It's only going to be for newer videos, it's like having to start over. So for the short term, no, but I'm hoping I can build things back up over the next few months, I really do have a lot of things planned. Leaving Machinima has felt kind of like escaping from prison and now having hundreds of miles of forest to get through.