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Google’s Web Vitals helps websites put visitors first
Google's new developer tool will help achieve optimal performance for websites.
Google wants to help developers make better websites
Developers already have access to a number of tools that let them see how real-world users experience their websites, but until now they weren't able to see how their website user experience compared to others. Enter the Chrome User Experience Report, a public dataset of key user experience metrics gleaned from Chrome users who have opted in to usage statistic reporting.
The Daily Grind: What's your favorite fast travel gimmick?
Fast travel is ubiquitous in MMOs nowadays, but not every game goes the extra mile to make it an immersive experience. Star Wars: The Old Republic does, at least in my opinion, and I rediscovered as much when I logged in for a few minutes over the weekend. I picked up my Imperial Agent on Corellia where I'd left off some months before, but I'd forgotten about that spiffy sci-fi tram that speeds you to and from the planet's various quest districts. It's almost like a cutscene, and there may be some zone loading going on in the background, I don't know, but it's much better than a static transition screen with an image. What about you, Massively readers? Do you have a favorite fast travel gimmick? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
Nintendo video shows off Wii U speed improvement coming in April update
Nintendo's Wii U has faced complaints over slow loading and switching between menus since launch, but the company has promised a pair of updates will help the situation. Tonight it posted a video on YouTube (embedded after the break) that shows off the difference before and after the April update side by side. Showing off how quickly it can return to the home menu from a game of New Super Mario Bros. U, the updated console is ready to go in eight seconds, compared to the current software's 20-second delay. There's no mention of the other update to improve the speed of launching software, but hopefully that will be shown off soon as well. More than halving the main menu's load time is nothing to sneeze at, although it's still not exactly a snappy experience. We'll see if these tweaks -- once they arrive -- do anything to improve the console's position while it waits for the improved software lineup President Satoru Iwata is expecting.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution PC update cuts down loading times
Fact: nobody wants to sit through long loading times. Today's PC patch for Deus Ex: Human Revolution should cut down the time. According to the patch notes on Steam, some machines have seen load times decreased by over 50%. On top of the load times, a start-up crash affecting certain AMD/ATI hardware configurations has been addressed. Mouse sensitivity has also been tweaked, which should hopefully alleviate that problem you had where you would keep running up to dudes and punching them in the face, over and over again. Oh, wait, that's how you're playing the game? Well, carry on then.
LittleBigPlanet 2 online players report 'infinite loading' glitch
Much like its predecessor, LittleBigPlanet 2 is experiencing some technical difficulties during its first few days in the would-be capable hands of its creative community. Some players have reported that when they attempt to connect with other players online, they hit what's being colloquially referred to as the "Infinite Loading" glitch, which freezes the game on a neverending loading screen. (And that, as you might imagine, is kind of a bummer.) The exact cause of the issue is unknown, though there's a quick and dirty workaround (which worked for us, when we experienced the glitch): If you get stuck on the loading screen, turn your controller off, and the level should actually load. Once you're in the level, you can turn your controller back on and get back to whatever it was you had set out to do -- probably slapping around your fellow players and being generally unhelpful, you jerk. Media Molecule had not responded to our request for comment as of publishing, but a recent tweet from the developer seems to indicate that a freezing glitch has been cornered and a fix is in the works.
The Daily Grind: Are load screens a deal-breaker?
So you're adventuring along, minding your own business on the huge, expansive world map, when you reach a cave. That cave connects you to where you need to go, so you eagerly jump through it only to find... a load screen. Well, no matter, you're on the other side of the cave and in a brand new area! All you have to do now is reach the entrance to this dark, scary forest so you can find... a load screen. Ok, well, you're in the forest. Now the quest log says you have to lift up a rock, jump down a hole and slay the... load screen. Grinders, are load screens a deal-breaker when you consider purchasing your next MMO? Do you look for games that consist of one huge, open world, a la World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online or Fallen Earth? Or are you willing to put up with heavily loaded games like Star Trek Online and Pirates of the Burning Sea? Or, third option, do load screens even matter to you at all? Take your words, put them in the comment box, hit the submit button, and let loose. You know the drill.
D3 Publisher: Puzzle Quest 2 won't have Galactrix's load time issues
As exciting as the prospect of Puzzle Quest in Space might have been, the excitement offered by Galactrix was completely derailed by the game's outrageously lengthy load times. However, in a recent interview with Kotaku, D3 Publisher's Michael Cerven claimed that the recently announced Puzzle Quest 2 won't be plagued by the frequent intermissions, as developer Infinite Interactive "rebuilt the DS engine from the ground up to be fast and perform smoothly with very quick load times as opposed to retrofitting the lead SKU code for the DS." If Cerven's claims are true, we suppose this is good news for the impatient puzzle-solvers out there. However, we got so much stuff done during Galactrix's near-constant loading screens. We even learned to speak Esperanto! Ĉi tiu estas rakonto pri videoludoj!
Fox dreaming of a future where Blu-ray movies load faster, are judged by the content of their character(s)
At least someone is (seemingly) listening to our Blu-ray gripes. /Film hit a Fox hosted press summit and heard exactly the things we've been waiting to hear: a future where "advanced" Blu-ray players can do what DVD players have done for years: automatically resume play where we left off on all players, dramatically reduced load times and a live demo of the IMDB Live Lookup feature available on the Wolverine release. The company has nabbed a researcher from Panasonic, Joe McCrossan, who is heading up the efforts to improve viewer's experience and tossing around long promised buzzwords like iPhone connectivity and Digital Copy along with the previously mentioned features under development -- if he succeeds on making them reality we'll rename an Engadget editor Joe in his honor, and it might not even be the one already named Joe. [Thanks, chevelleman]
Philips "fastest" BDP7300 Blu-ray player launches this month in the UK
Leave it to Philips to make these kinds of claims now that its hardware isn't coming over to the U.S., but apparently its still yet-to-launch BDP7300 Blu-ray player is the fastest loading one yet. No word on exactly how fast that is, but several UK sites are reporting the claim for this hardware, scheduled to hit shelves sometime later this month. What we do know is included is all the usual features like BD-Live, Dolby TrueHD and DTS MA, DivX and AVC HD playback, but until someone lays down £249 and grabs a stopwatch, just how fast it is will be a matter of contention.
Is your Roku Netflix Player stuck on one-dot streaming?
Call it coincidence or call it fate, but it seems something is afoot in the land of the Roku Netflix Player. Out of seemingly nowhere, a fair amount of users are finding that their once beautiful downloads have turned to pixelated iterations of their old selves, and to no fault of their internet connection. As the story goes, some users have found that their box is forcing streaming at "one-dot," or the lowest quality selection available, rather than the four-dot connection they were using just last week. As you'd expect, the quality of the one-dot stream is rather dreadful, and for those who've tried forcing a higher quality setting, they're stuck waiting eons for buffering and such. Have you too encountered this issue? Or are the internet elves looking out for you?[Image courtesy of PreGameLobby, thanks Tyler]
Eurogamer examines NXE's game installation
With two different storage mediums in hand, the fine folks at Eurogamer have done what any gadget-loving geek would and should do: pit them against each other and fill numerous tables with the numerical results. The scintillating statfest concerns the loading times of Xbox 360 games, most of which seem to show a notable, albeit unimpressive, improvement when installed to the hard drive via the New Xbox Experience.Interestingly, it's The Orange Box's Half-Life 2 component which benefits the most out of all the test subjects, with initial loading time cut down from 44.5 seconds (wow, really?) to 25.5 quiet, whoosh-less seconds. Another notable game is shoot-teh-alienz epic, Halo 3 -- it actually fares worse when installed to the hard drive. Which is just as well, really, since we'd rather have the drive noise drown out the 13-year-olds killing us. Repeatedly. Curious about the New Xbox Experience? Check out our ridiculously informative nine-video feature, covering everything from Avatar creation, Netflix integration, and the 8-player party system to installing games to the hard drive, the new Marketplace, the Blade-like "Guide" interface, and more!
Wrath of the Lich King login screen
While we've had some fake Wrath of the Lich King login screens before, this one is the real deal. It's being reported on by numerous sites, and several people have confirmed its authenticity. The image itself is of a ice fortress. You can see the version, 3.0.1, along with the latest build number and date: July 15, 2008.Many people will notice that you have to sign in via an email address. This is part of a new system that Blizzard has put into place for the Wrath beta. Essentially, you'll have to create a new "Blizzard Account" to log into the beta. This account is separate from your retail WoW account, however you still have to have a retail WoW account and a beta key to get one. There's not a ton of information out on the new account system they are using for this, but when we have more information on it we'll post it.For now, enjoy your new login screen!
The Daily Grind: How do you feel about load screens?
We've all experienced them: long and short loading screens. Some MMOs have just one when you log into the game and maybe one or two extra on the rare occasion. A great example of this type of MMO would be World of Warcraft or Lord of the Rings Online where you have your initial load screen and additional loading screens only for specific instanced content (Dungeons, Battlegrounds, etc) or whenever you move between large bodies of land. The other example would be City of Heroes or the recently released Age of Conan. These games contain several loading screens, some examples being first entering the gameworld, whenever you enter or exit building, dying and choosing to revive as a rez point, moving between a zone, etc.Certain players would contend that they prefer an open world, as that type of experience feels more engrossing to them -- or in other words it helps maintain interest in long play sessions. While other players are willing to forgo such a world for gussied-up graphics, faster combat or some other game enhancement a multi-instance world offers. So which do you prefer: the large-scale worlds or the heavily instanced worlds?
Player vs. Everything: Loading...
A few weeks ago, I was reading an Age of Conan interview with Shannon Drake where he was discussing several of the features that would be present in the game. One of the questions he was asked was why Funcom made the choice to use world zones for AoC instead of a seamless world. If you haven't heard the terminology before, games with world zones are games like EverQuest, EverQuest 2, and Guild Wars, where you have a loading screen when you pass from area to area. Seamless worlds include games like World of Warcraft, Lord of the Rings Online, and Vanguard: Saga of Heroes, where you can pass between different game areas without a loading screen. Seamless worlds still have loading screens, of course-- just not for most major zones that you'll be traveling through. Shannon's answer was interesting. He admitted that their choice was partially due to the trade-offs required when designing a next-gen game (graphics are a major resource hog), but then he also talked about immersion and world design. Although Hyboria was supposed to be an enormous landmass, they didn't want to make a game that took forever to walk across. On the other hand, they didn't want to reduce the epic scale of the world by reducing a cross-continent journey to five minutes. Now, maybe that's just their canned answer to keep the fans happy with loading screens, and maybe it really was part of their game design-- probably a nice helping of both. Either way, it's worth considering. Do loading screens really help your game immersion?
New LotRO screenshot contest more rewarding than the last
A couple months back, Turbine booted up a screenshot contest in which players of The Lord of the Rings Online were encouraged to submit screenshots showcasing the new graphical features that were available to users running DirectX 10. While the selections turned out to be pretty nice, there wasn't a worthwhile reward for the winners.Now a new contest has begun, this time with an actual incentive; the winning selection will be the backdrop for a new loading screen! So if you want your screenshot to be seen by literally every single LotRO player, read the rules and send your submission to Turbine by the 29th of February.
Is it time to get your joystick on?
TenTonHammer's daily Loading... column is usually scribed by John "Boomjack" Hoskin, but today's blogisode ("Get your joysticks ready") is written by Managing Editor Cody "Micajah" Bye. I like Cody's point of view (not that I don't like Boomjack's) mostly because he and I seem to share a lot of the same game likes and dislikes. Much like my fellow bemoan-er of sword and sorcery games here at Massively - Samuel Axon. But I digress...Cody tackles hype. A topic that could easily be taken up as a doctoral thesis at any major college. In particular though Cody addresses the over-the-top game hype surrounding "better known" games like Warhammer Online, Age of Conan, Stargate Worlds, and The Agency. That my friends is only four of the 5..6..7..8... oh hell, I lost count. Well, the innumerable MMO's slated to come out this year alone. Can you say: saturation point?However, as Cody points out there's one game that has slipped quietly under the radar (much like Michael Jackson has over the last few years). And it's left both of us wondering why. That game? NetDevil's Jumpgate Evolution. Oh sure, NetDevil might have slammed headfirst into a concrete wall with Auto Assault, but Jumpgate has been around much longer. NetDevil's just reimagining it, much like the Sci-Fi Channel did to Battlestar Galactica, and based on what I've seen thus far I expect the same out of nowhere, smash hit experience.But what really got me stoked while reading Cody's article was this comparison: "Jumpgate Evolution may finally be the game that reaches out to those gamers who cut their teeth on products like X-Wing vs. Tie Fighter or the Wing Commander series." Oh sweet mother! For those of you old enough (like myself) to have played any of these games (X-Wing and TIE Fighter are usually on many veteran PC gamers top ten games of ALL TIME list) when they originally released - then you have truly lived. One of gaming's great mysteries has always been why LucasArts never bothered to redo or expand on them. So if NetDevil can turn Jumpgate Evolution into the space flight experience those phenomenal games offered, and morph it into an MMO... well, as the title says, it really will be time to (dust off and) get your joystick on!
New Activision Hits Remixed screens released
Back when we first posted about Activition Hits Remixed's existence, Andrew told you about the game's "modernized front-end graphics." Well, Activision has just released a ton of new screens from the game and even some that show off those fancy schmancy front-end graphics.The game packs more than 40 Atari 2600 games onto one UMD. And while I'm sure Activision probably could have fit a lot more, Gamespot said "these properly emulated golden oldies will be wrapped up in a visually appealing and easily accessible package with some nice goodies thrown in on the side."Besides the game having no load times (Thank you, God!), Remixed features unlockable content like old-school commercials, songs, box art, manuals and even an achievement system similar to the Xbox 360's. Get ready to be rocking with Thwocker come Nov. 14.
PSP load times analyzed
Long load times have been a concern for PSP owners ever since the system was released. But just how bad are those load times exactly? Gamespot decided to find out, measuring the time from system start-up to actual gameplay in more than 80 PSP games.The results show the average PSP game clocking in at a whopping 103.4 seconds of load time, compared with sub-30-second load times for the average DS and Game Boy Advance game. Sports games were the worst offenders while puzzle games tended to be quicker on the draw. At just over four minutes, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2006 had the single worst load time in Gamespot's tests, a fact that should be unsurprising to anyone who's seen this video.Interestingly, PSP games rated 9.0 and above by Gamespot had shorter load times than any other scoring range. Does this show that reviewers appreciate short load times, or just that better games tend to be designed to load faster?While the tradeoff between loading times and storage space is always a tough one, we have to believe that a wait of close to two minutes is too long for a quick, portable game. What do you think? How long is too long to wait for a game to start?(Thanks, HaloBreaker)
New NFL Street 3 screens released
The only things certain in life are death, taxes and never-ending sequels from companies like Capcom and EA that mainly include little to no worthwhile upgrades other than a few more characters or new rosters. Having said that, I'm happy to tell you EA plans on bringing NFL Street 3 to the PSP Nov. 5, and Gamespot has just posted a cornucopia of new screens for you EA boys to drool over.Hopefully, EA has taken the time to fix the loading issues and the ridiculously over-powered running game that plagued NFL Street 2. (Via Gamespot)
