Wednesday 5 December 2012

Chatia RETURNS!! Plus my thoughts on OBS, plus the BOI League

Hey guys,
I know my casts have been non existent lately, mostly due to some fairly significant family/other IRL issues.  Work has also been crazy lately, leaving me with little energy to start up a cast at the end of the day.  However, I am looking to change that!  As evidenced by tonight, there will be some interruptions still as family issues have to take precedence, but I've made it a goal to get a cast going most nights.  I really miss you guys and I want to get back into it.

Open Broadcaster Software (OBS)
I did a practice cast with OBS and I have to say I'm really impressed with it.  Keep in mind, it's still in alpha or beta, and there's still plenty left to work on.  For just straight up casting of PC games, I find OBS far superior to xsplit with regards to CPU usage.  As I haven't looked at my actual CPU usage numbers, this is a very subjective (and unscientific) opinion.  I am basing this off the fact that the computer I was casting with can barely handle most PC games, let alone cast them, yet I was able to cast Lego Batman 2 with no difficulties (Sonic Generations sadly proved too stronk, however I only have the required specs for that game, not recommended). I do plan on trying some other beefy games with OBS such as Batman Arkham City and Darksiders.  If I am able to cast these games with relatively little difficulty there will be no question in my mind that OBS is the superior PC casting platform.

Now, having said that, I haven't tried a webcam or greenscreen. Some people, most notable Neohart, indicated to me that there are some sync issues with a web camera; once I test that I will pass the results along.  From what I understand the capture card integration is also still lacking, so you will have to wait if you want to cast your consoles.  Overall I'm really impressed with OBS and as they add more features it is only going to get better.  The interface is very intuitive, and if you are familiar with xsplit it will take you no time to figure out OBS.  Lets not forget the best feature of all.. IT'S FREE!!

Download OBS here
Crumps2, a great caster on twitch (who you should follow) has done a really great tutorial on how to use OBS, you can view it here

The Binding of Isaac Racing League
As some of you know, I have also joined the Binding of Isaac racing league.  Basically once a week I race another Twitch caster to Mom's heart, best 2 out of 3 wins.  This past week I raced Awaken_Smoke and got my butt handed to me, mostly because both of us kept getting bad luck and dying!  It took forever for us to get our first Mom kill.  This next week I believe I face CyanideEpic, but we need to work out when the race will be taking place, so stay tuned to my twitter for more info.
My participation in the league is for fun only, I'm up against people who have platinumed Isaac, where I haven't even killed Isaac yet, so my chances or winning are slim.  Having said that, it's Isaac, and anything can happen!
Go here to see the standings and schedule!
Big thanks to Crumps2 for setting all of this up!