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Ask Engadget HD: Does Dolby, RealD or someone else offer the best 3D movie theater experience?
In case you hadn't heard, there's a pretty high profile 3D movie coming to theatres near you this weekend, and assuming one actually has multiple multiplexes to choose from, who has the best technology? RealD and Dolby have been fighting it out to ramp up 3D theater installs over the last couple of years with other competitors also mixed in, but our friend Kevin wants to know if there is a noticeable difference from location to location: A question I have every time a new 3D movie comes out: We have two theaters here that offer 3D movies. One lists them as "Digital 3D"; the other as "RealD 3D". What are the technical differences, and do they end up producing noticeably different final results? Or am I getting the same experience at both theaters? Thanks for your help! We know a few of you must have grabbed a pair of glasses and checked out flicks form the Toy Story series to Coraline and My Bloody Valentine, do you have preference on where to go to see 3D? Got a burning question that you'd love to toss out for Engadget HD (or its readers) to take a look at? Tired of Google's blank stares when you ask for real-world experiences? Hit us up at ask at engadgethd dawt com and keep an eye on this space -- your inquiry could be next.
Skill-based MMOs: Passive vs. active gain
There are two main progression models in MMOs: Level-based and skill-based. In level-based MMOs, you kill things and complete tasks to earn experience. This experience leads to new levels and the new levels generally lead to newer and more powerful skills. In skill-based MMOs, it isn't you who "levels up," but your skills. The more you use a particular skill (e.g., swimming, shield-blocking, axe-slashing, etc.) the better that skill becomes. At a basic level, both models are just different interpretations of the "experience point" system.While traditional, level-based MMOs don't usually allow you to earn XP while logged off, some skill-based systems do. EVE Online, for example, has a passive skill-leveling system, where players choose a queue of various skills that level up in real-time whether they are logged in or out. On the other hand, Darkfall uses an active skill-leveling system. The more you slash with a one-handed sword, the better your skill with one-handed swords becomes. If you switch to a two-handed hammer, you won't be as good until you start using it more.Syncaine has started an interesting discussion on his blog about the pros and cons of passive versus active skill gain in MMOs. While the original article favours one over the other, the comments really show both sides of the argument.
Defensive pets a little more jumpy
A guildie of mine discovered this last night, and reader Theronis sent us a note today about it -- after patch 3.0.2, defensive pets act a little differently. Before the patch, they would only attack an enemy automatically if they attacked you first, which made things a little tough with casters -- pets in defensive mode wouldn't actually move to attack until the first spell actually hit you. But after the patch, pets are a little bit quicker: now, they'll move to attack as soon as you attack something, so you won't have to wait around until you get hit before your pet springs into action.However, this can be a drawback as well -- while Theronis says it's a good change and that his pets are smarter, my guildie had a problem: whenever he wanted to pull one mob out of a group, the pet would run in and pull them all. Anything you attack will get pounced on by your pet in defensive, and that might bring some unintended adds along for the ride.Personally, I always keep my pets in passive -- it only takes a split second to hit CTRL-1 to send them attacking, and I can much better control, both soloing and in instances, what my pet is up to at any given moment. It can hurt my DPS a bit if I'm not careful (since I'm a BM Hunter, my pet is a big part of my DPS, so if I forget to send him, that's a bigger loss), but the tradeoff is that I can be careful about pulling adds and I have control of my pet all the time. If the "smarter" defensive works great for you, good, but if you find your pet springing in a little too early, you might try switching back to passive and just staying there most of the time.
