Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Cosplayer - Francesca Dani


[Via http://mikelash.wordpress.com]

Sunday, March 21, 2010

My Favorite Twitter Feeds, Plus Live-Tweeting the Bruins-Rangers Game

Feel free to follow me on Twitter this afternoon as I live-tweet the Bruins-Rangers game, a contest that is crucial to both teams as the NHL approaches the stretch run of the regular season. Also, check out this list of my favorite Twitter feeds, most of which are related to my beat (which the Bruins game, unfortunately, is not):

  1. GuardianMusic: The feed for acclaimed British publication The Guardian. They keep me up-to-date on most of the bands I like to follow, as well as provide me with potential new music to get into. I am always looking to consume new music, and The Guardian is one of the first places I go to for that.
  2. GuitarWorld: The best guitar magazine in the world, in my opinion. They are always up-to-date with equipment news, which I am always interested in, and always highlight the hottest new guitar-driven bands, which I love. Their Q&As are always good reads.
  3. RollingStone: The most comprehensive music news organization on the planet. They are a legendary magazine and they’ve truly earned it. They always have the best sources on their stories, are often the first to break big news, and always write great reviews. I don’t know what I’d do without Rolling Stone in my life.
  4. The Onion: They aren’t devoted entirely to music, and by no means are they a serious news organization…But their “A/V Club” is one of the few legitimate areas of coverage for their site, and I always count on them for quality music reviews.
  5. Metallica.com: I am still a big fan of Metallica, despite them growing into old men. their website is usually good with updates, and I’m always interested to know if they’re working on new material.
  6. Guitar Center: This is the only legit music store we can find. The little privately-owned shops might be good to look for hidden gems, but if you want real-deal merchandise and any kind of accessory you need, you go here. And they always have great sales, which I frequently take advantage of.
  7. Total Guitar: The British equivalent of Guitar World, Total Guitar is another strong guitar-driven publication. They tend to give their two cents on news stories in the feed as well, which is usually entertaining to read.
  8. Digital Music News: Just like I like to keep up-to-date with news of the music itself, I also like to know the latest stories and trends in the realm of digital music. Since the industry is likely headed toward becoming a purely digital medium, I like to stay as far ahead of the curve as I can.
  9. Pitchfork Media: This is likely one of the most polarizing music news organizations in the World. They deserve credit for having critics that are very well-educated in music and have heard a myriad of different styles from which to draw their opinions. But their reviews border on snobbery, and they tend to favor electro pop and indie rock more than any form of mainstream music, which may leave them appearing biased. But I love reading their reviews for the depth to which their reviewers go in analyzing pieces of work.

[Via http://theaxegrinder.wordpress.com]

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Transformers The Game

Hello!!!!

Transformers: The Game is the name of multiple versions of a video game based on the 2007 live action film Transformers, all of which were released in North America in June 2007. Home console and PC versions were developed by Traveller’s Tales for the PlayStation 2, Xbox 360, Wii, PlayStation 3 and PC. A different PlayStation Portable version was developed by Savage Entertainment.

Transformers: Autobots and Transformers: Decepticons are the Nintendo DS versions of Transfomers: The Game. Vicarious Visions, who was tasked with bringing the adaptation to the Nintendo DS, chose to adapt the DS version into two separate games. Autobots follows the heroes’ perspective while Decepticons follows the villains’. Unlike games with multiple SKUs such as Pokémon which feature only minor differences between versions, these are two separate games, sharing some basic similarities, but with unique characters, missions and locations.

System Requirements:

ATI Radeon 8500 Series Intel Pentium 4 2GHz or AMD Athlon 512 MB RAM Download Linkz:   Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4   Enjoy!!!!

[Via http://gamingpassage.wordpress.com]

Wazzup! JS1 here. (that's what I've b ...

Wazzup!
JS1 here. (that’s what I’ve been calling myself in the hours I’ve used the oh-so-wonderful Touch of Death Forums. Yea, that’s what I’ve been doing lately. MMO development. I’m also going to set up an indie site. And that’s what I’m going to teach you how to do today. For absolutely no cost to you. Here’s how you do it.

Domain Name Registration

First, we need to register a domain name. You can do some survey stuff for a dotcom (hey, don’t blame me if you get scammed) or you can use Co.CC. Co.CC lets you register a domain name suffixed by co.cc, sort of like co.uk, but free. For example: jschilli1.co.cc, or pixelcraft.co.cc. Now you may notice (excuse me if I get off-topic) that niether of the aforementioned sites exist. That’s because I tried to register a cool sounding domain, but then I realized it was really a stupid sounding domain, so I deleted it. Thing is, Co.CC only lets you register one free domain, the rest are like $4.99 or something. So I’m going to try to wait it out or something of the nature. Maybe you can only have one at a time, and their servers need to update. Oh well. Off-topic. Anyway. Go to co.cc (yes, that’s the site) and register for an account. Once you’ve registered and got finished with all the setup stuff, proceed to the hosting part of this tutorial.

Hosting

First, go to 000webhost.com, and register for a free account. While registering, enter your Co.CC domain name in the “I have an existing domain” box. You now have a hosting account. But here’s the merging part.

Linking Them Together

Once finished, you should be redirected (or directed to go to) the CPanel (control panel). Now, here, you’ll se something about DNS or ns01.000webhost.com or something. Go to your Co.CC control panel. Click on the setup button. Click on the Domain Server option, and enter the two DNS addresses found on the $0.00 WebHost control panel in the Domain Name Server 1 and Domain Name Server 2 textboxes. Click update or save changes or whatever.

Sprucing it All Up

Now that your domain and webhosting services have been acquainted, you can use any of the free options found on the $0.00 WebHost CPanel to build a site. View other tutorials on this, as this is beyond the scope of this post.

And there you have it folks. A place on the web for nada. And I don’t even have one ;)

-JS1

[Via http://jschilli1.wordpress.com]

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Robot unicorn attack!

Robot unicorn attack is a cute online platformer in flash. It features all things bliss, unicorn, rainbows, faries, shiny things and heavenly music from erasure!
It’s rather twitchy, repetitive and you can never win, but still brilliant in it’s execution!

Robot unicorn attack -screenshot

Robot unbicorn attack -screenshot

Play it now at http://games.adultswim.com/robot-unicorn-attack-twitchy-online-game.html or just listen to the music:

Erasure live - Always

[/caption]

[Via http://netgoon.wordpress.com]

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

The LTR thinks she's a bad person

Yesterday, the LTR said to me as I walk in the door, “I’m a bad person.”  Immediately several answers pop into my head.  The supplicating answer is, of course, “No, you’re not.”  I didn’t answer that way.  I could have said, “Yep, I know” or something along those lines, but I thought that might have been a little too flippant without finding out further information.  So I went for the knowing smile and replied, “Really?  What did you do now?”

A guy she used to know back in high school, went on a few dates with, and who she’d given the “Let’s Just Be Friends” speech to years ago, had contacted her via facebook a few months ago.  I knew this at the time because he’d written her a long heartfelt message about his life in the eastern U.S. where he didn’t like the people and was so lonely.  The LTR had shown me the message when it came in and read portions of it to me to get a guy’s take on the contents.  The LTR’s description of this guy back in high school was that he was the dreaded ‘nice guy.’  Good enough to hang out with, but no girl would ever let it go beyond that.

The LTR was a bit creeped out by this guy’s message.  To me it was the ultimate in DLV communication.  Everything he said seems to push him farther and farther into the social outcast/omega end of the male social spectrum.  I wanted to physically shake the guy and tell him to wake up.  I wanted to tell him he would remain lonely and feeling like an outcast if his primary communication was one big advertisement of how pathetic his whole life was.  I can’t fathom that there are guys who think they should be a gigantic pussy in order to get female attention, but there you go.

Fast forward to yesterday.  This guy sends my LTR another message via facebook.  For a variety of reasons, he decided to move back to the Big City.  His family is here, so there’s some support there.  There are also a lot of his old friends here.  In his message he asked my LTR if she was available to meet for lunch to reconnect and catch up sometime this week.  To which she replied that she was not interested.  This made her feel guilty and she was looking for reassurance from me that she wasn’t a bad person for telling the guy ‘no thank you.’

The LTR tells me that she doesn’t want to see the guy and finds his attention just a little bit weird.  The word creepy get’s used again.  She asks me if I know what she means.  I told her I did.  I do understand the underlying message of her words.  This poor man has sunk into Omega territory.  She doesn’t want to have anything to do with the guy.  He has become a woman repellant, 100% active ingredients.

The LTR proceeded to email her closest friend whom she has known since high school.  This woman also knows this man.  The LTR also wanted female reassurance that she was not a bad person for slamming the door on this guy.  This female friend was quick to reassure her that she had done nothing wrong.  Funny enough, her email back to the LTR was a half dozen paragraphs long of justifications.

Is it over?  I don’t know.  Stay tuned.

[Via http://seasonsoftumultanddiscord.wordpress.com]

Idea 1 - Project Statement (02.24.10)

Project Statement

(1st paragraph: what is intended; 2nd paragraph: why)

Taking inspiration from game developer thatgamecompany, most notably their games Flower and flOw.

input mic from space that measures noise level and corresponds with an increase in red shown through LED lights. This represents the activity level and if there is too much the structure will start to lose air and die unless those people present act upon the structure to try and help it.

Moral decision.

The project is about archiving impact through the measurement of our interaction within environments. This project creates the ability to be aware of the responsibilities we have towards our environment.

By creating a space where a user (of a particular simulated space) can interact with an environment and register their impact through visual display and auditory awareness the user is able to read, comprehend, and then manipulate their environment by actively acting within it responding to the complexities that arise from their presence within it.

The archiving process is the process of collecting the knowledge of the user’s space and time and processing the information acquired and becoming more knowledgeable of the impacts we have short and long term and what we have to do to maintain balance and the energy required to harm and help these environments.

The constitution of a game provides this medium for understanding through individual and group moral decision making. This simulates a large and small scale real world response.

One iteration of this might be noise sensors that monitor levels and to “fix” the problem when there is too much noise there might be poles in the room that X amount of people must hold onto and squeeze thereby preventing further movement and committing them to solving the problem through direct action. The solution otherwise is to leave the room of quiet the room down minimizing the impact upon the environment in the room.

[Via http://mediascapes2010brianpace.wordpress.com]

Sunday, March 14, 2010

GDC 2010 Impressions: Everything you know is wrong Sid Meier!*

Mr Meier’s keynote speech at GDC was an interesting one, I was drawn to its promise “everything you know is wrong”, that and the fact that I really enjoyed a game of Civilisation back when I had any significant amount of spare time. I liked the idea that I’d learn something about myself as a gamer and how that’d impact development; the psychology of gaming, contentious, yet interesting stuff indeed. Sadly, it didn’t seem as if the talk really gave what it was supposed to, here are my impressions on it.

The catalyst to the speech was that when Sid first started to design games he didn’t consider what was going on inside the gamer’s head, instead he was trying to pursue some purist goal of fidelity to his chosen area with the assumption that this would make a good game. Now Sid, having been designing games since I was probably being potty trained, has had enough experience to know that realism is a fickle mistress, there is a difference between was is realist and what is perceived to be so by the gamer. Shame he couldn’t just say that really. Instead he sets out to outline various traits of the player, which whilst sounding good on paper, didn’t really come together all that well on the day. I won’t try and outline them all because they are scatter-gunned, but I’ll point out those which I found most important here. There is the egomaniac tendencies (i.e. The player thinks they can create “a civilisation that can stand the test of time”), they think they’re better than they are. This also leads into “The winning paradox”, the utopian ideal with games – you (basically) always win. Obviously this is has real founding in life, it comes with wins and looses, Sid used the NFL and NBA to illustrate this, only one team out of 20-odd will win. This creates the first major problem Sid is describing, a search for realism overshadowed by a lust for victory.

Amongst other things, Sid outlines (and patents) the term “unholy alliance” in reference to the pact which gamers and developers have to make in order for them to both enjoy games. Gamers have to pretend its real – therefore devs have to promote this. This is based on a number of different factors, but is essentially based on “suspending disbelief”, which should be pretty evident by now. This though, is problematic and that is because of what Sid discussed when he started the speech – his quest for realism. Because he’s a mathematician first and foremost, his games are created with equations and coding, rather than narrative and emotion. So, when he presents a player with a battle whose odds of winning are 3:1 it is perfectly fair, he says, for the player to loose one in four of the fights – i.e. Expect to loose gamer! However, not everyone can appreciate this, or perhaps they find the potential mathematical uncertainty frustrating and “cheap”, but for what ever reason Sid said a 3:1 chance of winning (for his typical gamer) should mean a win every time rather than three in four (because 3 is a bigger number than 1, ergo big beats small every time). So, humouring the player he made the odds “fairer”, however this isn’t enough. Sid then outlines a number of other odds in which the player shows a lack of knowledge for probability and logic and essentially how his games have had to change because of this. This section probably should have been titled “why the player is stupid”, Sid appeared to be a little bitter at this behaviour.

The following few moments are remarks on things he is sorry about over his career, the list might seem to contain some welcome admissions for the die-hard fans including things like “real time Civ,” the randomised tech tree, natural disasters and not making “the Dinos game”. I believe elements in his next section however, should probably belong on his “my bad” list. Sid goes onto describe how to make “AAA games on a shoestring budget”. Firstly this was probably here to make people happy that he’s mindful of financial difficulties, although I can’t help be think Sid may have lost it, just slightly. His points here are based on two things, leave out expensive graphic design and don’t bother writing extensive narrative, just rely on cultural memory. I think I should explain this a bit better for those who haven’t seen it. The first point was based on the fact that in Civ Revolution they illustrated riches from one empire being bestowed on the player shown simply as a line of text, i.e. “you received seven dancing bears”. Apparently the fact that the player will read this and then imagine the dancing bears will be enough, no need to go to the expensive of showing it, simply telling it will be fine. I’m not going to patronise people with the “show, don’t tell” argument, it just seemed really strange that in 2010 a game designer was opting for text approach. The second point was a lousy one really, that games can simply rely on stereotypes to tell the story rather than paying someone to write something advanced, detailed and well thought out. If you see a pirate with a black, curly moustache and a sword you can tell that he’s evil – no need to write some complicated reasoning for it. Okay, I know this is money saving we’re talking about here, but this is lazy on a shameful level, whilst stereotypes can be useful for limited purposes, I hardly think you can base antagonists, protagonists etc on them (although some games do still try and come off worse for it).

Sid then goes on to give another almost basic lesson which is “listen to the gamer” and interpret the answers to work out what drives them, rather than taking it at face value. I can only speak for myself when saying this but this isn’t anything new, even coming from Mr Sid Meier himself. The final moments are spent describing the process of making the epic journey of games, more epic and the apparent holy grail of gaming, replayabilty. This is down to choice making, progression and apparently Word of Warcraft does this well (seems like over 11 million people can’t be wrong). I couldn’t help thinking that all I already knew about games and the gamer wasn’t wrong, so the premise the speech is based on is perhaps a little thin. It might seem like I have ripped on Meier rather heavily here, that is not to detract from what was a very interesting speech, just a shame it seems to come from one of dinosaurs of games design, someone we should learn from, but ultimately someone who will be/has been surpassed – I think the remarks at the conference, no matter how well received, are a sign of this.

*Alright, I know that my title might seem a little hyperbolic, but so was Sid’s!

Chr15 6r33n (Follow me on Twitter at chrisgreen87)

[Via http://rr0d.wordpress.com]

UUUUUGHHHHH.

Being sick is terrible. Probably the only two reasons I made this blog were that I was sick (and therefore bored)  and a girl on House the other night had a blog. Yeah. I’m pathetic, aren’t I?

But, more on topic: congestion. It STINKS. Your nose (Or in my case, my right nostril. EVERY TIME.) is clogged and YOU CAN’T BLOW IT OUT. Feeling sick is just your body trying to kill germs (Germs can be fungi like mold and mushrooms and stuff but smaller. Doesn’t this make being sick even more “extra special fun”?), so WHY DOES IT MAKE YOU FEEL LIKE CRUD? My theory: Bodies are emo. I swear to god, mine has been trying to kill me for a week or so, ’cause I’ve been tripping over every GOD-DARNED THING THAT EVER EXISTED. Except valuable things. Or things I want to find. RAWR. So, next time you get sick, you can thank your body for making you feel that bad! NOPE! Not the germs! Your body itself. Kinda like when a country self-destructs itself funding a war. Huh. Wow.

On a completely unrelated note: Did you know that Bing’s name stands for “Because It’s Not Google”? How desperate is Microsoft, anyway?

On a somewhat related not to the previous note (Yes I do this a lot): HOW DO YOU USE MACS? I swear, you CANNOT minimize windows on Mac computers. If you do, you will never see them again. I also don’t get the maximize button. I can NEVER get it to work. Also, Steve Jobs, if you’re reading this: RIGHT CLICK, DUDE. Everyone else has one, and for good reason. Like their keyboards, though. Mac should just make keyboards and iPod Touches. And earbuds. NOTHING ELSE. EVER. Nintendo should have learned that lesson with the Zelda games by now. Zelda II: They changed the formula. FAIL. Phantom Hourglass: They changed the formula. FAIL. Majora’s Mask: They fiddled with the formula with that 3 days crud. FAIIIIIIIIIILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL. Spirit Tracks: The train: FAIL. People, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Though, for the US government, if it IS broke, DON’T FIX IT (I.E. Bail it out). Really. It’s their own fault they went down in the first place.

Which reminds me: YES. A bit PG-13 at times, BuuuuuUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUuuuuuuuuuuuuuut… Hi. Larious. Play it NOW. Especially the level Capitalism: The Game.

Wow. I sure can type. 390+ words already. I’m-a see it I can bump that up any.

Let’s see here…

Survivor! Great show. If you don’t watch it, you should. But not this season. Russel is still here. Don’t worry. I’ll tell you when it’s safe to start watching.

Russel is a TROLL. I’m serious. If you looked at the cast pages before the start of this season, they had questions that they asked each person, one of which was: “Which previous Survivor player do you respect the most?” and another of which was “Which previous Survivor player do you respect the least?” GUESS WHAT RUSSELL SAID. He said “I don’t respect any of them.” DUDE! NOT COOL! Then, in his first season, his WHOLE strategy was to be a jerk. LITTERALLY. HE SAID IT HIMSELF. Not in those *exact* words, but, still. THEN! Then he called all the blond girls on the show (There are always about 2 million of ‘em) his “Dumba**” Blond Girls”. NO! YOU DON’T DO THAT!Then, at the end of that season, one of said girls BEAT HIM! YES! Poetic Justice at its finest!

And then they brought him back for another go. STUPID. PRODUCERS. RAWR. AND! This season, they are doing NOTHING but wrestling challenges. I sewar. This season must have set a record for the most injuries. EVER. It’s like World War III out there.

Well, word count is up to 622, and Star Wars is on, so I’m about done for now.

Peace
–Lync

[Via http://3feettotheleft.wordpress.com]

Friday, March 12, 2010

Doctor Who on Nintendo Wii?

Is Nintendo developing a Doctor Who game for their Wii console? We think yes, The Sun reports that BBC Worldwide have secured a multi-million (10 Million pounds to be precise) contract with Nintendo to develope a Doctor Who game for their two main consoles, the Wii and DS.

The game is said to be in the early stages of production and will feature Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor with monsters and villians such as Cybermen, Daleks and Silurians. A BBC insider has said ”This has been in the pipeline for years. We’re delighted to have finally nailed down a deal. We went with Nintendo as they have huge appeal for families and Doctor Who is very much a family brand.” and ”The Wii console is key for us as it’s something families play together.”

The Inside added “BBC Worldwide, which licenses BBC shows, has been trying to find some way of doing it. But you can’t have Doctor Who blowing things to bits with a laser gun. That would massively change the nature of the show”.

Also The Sun talked  to 10th Doctor David Tennat about the issues involved with it being kept from coming out before now was the treatment of the Doctor’s charater. Tennant said that “The video game was quite actively developed, but it’s difficult to nail as the Doctor doesn’t blow things up. He’s not Batman, who goes around smacking people in the head.”

It has been said that the production will be kept close under BBC supervision in the key production stages from becoming to violent.


[Via http://dwnd.wordpress.com]

Thursday, March 11, 2010

First Hours of Final Fantasy XIII

Well, after a few days of getting some solid time in on Final Fantasy XIII (outside of work and begging for Big Screen time hah), here’s my first thoughts on this game.

Lets start with the story.  So far the story has kept my attention very well.  I found myself at first really fighting to understand each of the factions and what they are doing.  However, it cleared itself up aside my fear.  It’s looking like it’s covering 4 groups.  The citizens of Cocoon who live in utopia, the people of other villages, the Sanctum who ‘protects’ Cocoon, and the fal’Cei who provide to humans.

At some point the fal’Cei of a town called Pulse, goes against human kind, and begins marking humans to serve them.  Fulfilling a ‘focus’ and becoming a crystal, or fail and become a mutant.  You and your fellow heroes join in the story trying to stop the Sanctum from ‘purging’ citizens.  Quickly however discovering alternate plans to save someone from the Pulse fal’Cei.

Overall, so far the story is keeping me interested, however at points it becomes redundant.

The characters are great.  I love the personality and story behind each one so far.  Many tragic and many interesting.  Lightning is just plain awesome on the battle field, while being torn to her soldier like mind when facing relationships.  Snow is a gun-ho resistance leader who keep on a tough face to help others around him.  Vanille is a cute over cheerful character who may have a dark past.  Hope is a lost child who loses everything and tries to hide from it with fighting.  Sazh is the ‘down-to-earth’ person with a funny personality.

The Graphics are amazing.  It doesn’t seem at any point that they cut the graphics short.  Every landscape is beautiful, spell casts are vibrant, and the overall animation is stunning.

Now on to the important stuff.  Where all this is put together and presented, because let’s face it, this is a game not a movie.

The gameplay and battles are fast pace.  At no point are you bored finding something to hit.  However this comes at a price.  I figured the path running and combat sequences were just part of the opening battle.  After several hours and many zones later, I found that to be a repeated thing.  So I begin to question if this is the game in it’s entirety.  Running down narrow path after narrow path after narrow path constantly.  It’s gone from a promising action packed game to a linear repetitive action game.  Like an old school Contra in 3-D.

The battles were very well done.  The transition from initiating a battle was quick.  No loading issues.  The battles themselves are fast pace but still contain commands to keep the Final Fantasy feel.  The bosses were interesting and involving.  You can’t just mash them to death, but you also can’t remain defensive.  So you juggle to keep alive while dealing a chaining damage.

First attribute that makes the battle interesting is Paradigms.  You can essentially create battle modes such as “relentless assault” or “war and peace.”  As well as each character has roles they can fill.  These include things like healing, fighting, protecting, casting, debuffing, and buffing.  Depending on how you set it up, each battle mode you select assigns your characters to specific roles.  Example being, if I select Relentless assault, everyone will go on offensive with one person commanding chains.  If I select War and Peace, one person will heal while other attacks.

On top of that, you have to chain and stagger enemies by focusing attention on them.  More damage you chain on the enemy, the more damage multipliers are added on them.  At a point, you’ll reach a stagger point which will stun the enemy or slow them down.  All of this coupled together makes for a very interesting and fast pace combat system.

Character progress is a bit dry.  I noted that there is no levels.  Instead all you do to progress your character is a grid system called the Crystarium.  Here’s a bit of a double edged blade.  First off you’re capped on how far you can progress your Crystarium.  Beating certain parts of the game unlocks further progression.  Essentially this capping prevents you from overpowering or out leveling enemies.   Which is cool in respect that you can never make the game easier, but only harder.

Now, why is this bad?  You essentially have no control to “progress” your characters.  It makes you think you are, but in fact you’re always filling out your Crystarium each time you’re allowed to raise it.  Thus, I wonder, what’s the point?  Why not just fill that info in automatically?  It’s not like you can customize or push forward.  You’re always being directed and controlled to a linear path.

Well, there you have it.  A beautiful game with linear running down a narrow path, awesome battle fights, great characters and story, terrible customization, and.. oh ya.. did I mention narrow linear running down of repetitive paths?  Jokes aside, I am enjoying it.  The story and character builds are very interesting.  The gorgeous graphics and animation keep me going.

[Via http://cabbitwolf.wordpress.com]

Mafia Wars Most Money - Find Out How Pro's Make So Much Mafia Wars Money

Mafia Wars Most Money
Mafia Wars is one of the most hot social networking games to date. It begun in 2007 on the latterly built FaceBook platform as a project by Zynga. Now in 2010, it has over 25,000,000 engaged players on the FaceBook version of the game alone. As a result, Zynga has now extended it’s breadwinner onto other platforms such MySpace and the iPhone as well as publishing new games such as Farmville which is now FaceBook’s most used application.
In order to become a successful Mafia Wars player, one must engage many different illegal activities such as thieving and killing in order to make money and growth in-game stats. However, getting money by completing jobs is by and large quite slow and boring. Another option Zynga offer in order to fast track your earnings is to finish some of their “special” offers. However, this definitely won’t be for you unless you’ve got rich pockets as it costs a fair total (generally $5-20) to complete said offers. A touch of hope does exist though. We’re now offering you, for a limited time only, access to Mafia Wars money cheats that will allow you to generate as much money as you want in just a couple of minutes.
Want to become a real boss in Mafia wars? We can assure you this is undoubtedly your best bet. No need to spend a 1 minute to get them regular work.
Mafia Wars is undoubtedly the most favorite game of social networking open play. One of the many bonus game social game like Mafia Wars is that you get to see many people from around the world have the same interest.
Overall, we have decided to recommend to you an insight into our free mafia war money cheats. Make it quick, as we have the website may change at any time.

[Via http://tendenctjon.wordpress.com]

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Autodesk visit and Aika online

So today, the Technical Sales Manager of Autodesk came to my school. For those of you who aren’t in the development side of gaming: Autodesk is the creator of popular 3d software packages like 3D Studio Max, Maya and Mudbox. They also have software for animation and AI. The Autodesk guy gave a presentations about the different assets of 3d use in games. He gave some examples, talked about some game history, etc… and he ended by talking about 2 of the software packages from Autodesk I didn’t know yet, but who seem interesting. The first one was HumanIK. It’s a software that easily integrates your character animation with the game engine. Kynapse was the second program. Though I didn’t knew it yet, according to Autodesk’s site it’s the “leading artificial intelligence (AI) solution for game development and real-time simulations”. It has been used for more than 80 AAA game titles.

Aika Online
The next part of this blog entry is about the beta of a game I have been playing recently. I have already been in a few game beta’s this year. Command and conquer 4 and the Battlefield Bad Company 2 beta for example. I was disappointed by C&C and haven’t played Battlefield enough to judge it (I have bought it and will review it once I have). The beta that I enjoyed the most is Aika Online. It’s a free mmo, with the well known concept of an item shop to fund it. Don’t worry though, they have announced that no items will be sold that can’t be found in game. So there will be no overpowered people with gears you can’t get if you don’t want to pay.

While playing through the 1st and 2nd closed beta fase, I wasn’t impressed by the quests and story of the game. They were not bad, but didn’t do anything innovative, though the dialoges contained quite some humor. There were several quests that advised to use a party, so the players were encouraged to interact with each other.

The leveling is quite fast in this game, but this was on purpose. The gameplay is heavily dependent on PVP. Every player in the game can be the citizen of one of the five nations. Each nation has a leader, which is the guildmaster of the guild who won the last castle siege. Guilds can work together to either help or attack the ruling guild when the next siege begins. Of course there don’t exist 5 nations to have them fight among each other. The ruling leader of a nation gets access to a special chat which allows him to easily contact his entire nation. He is supposed to be the military leader and can assemble his nation to go on a raid. The main reason why raids are done is to steal relics from other nations. The relics can be stolen by breaking through the defenses of the enemy temple and taking the relic to your own nation’s temple. I don’t know yet what kinds of defenses those temples have because I only once joined a raid, but it was unsuccessful. We had been defeated when we almost reached the temple.

That should give you a first impression about Aika Online. I have not discussed all features of the game at all. Dungeons, crafting, enchanting are just some of the other features. I might give a full review later, we’ll see about that. I’m ending this with some screenshots I took during my time in the game. There are some pictures of the raid I did. That was an unprepared raid that was formed in half an hour. The game should be able to handle battles with thousand people. I did not have any lag in that raid.

Links:

  • Autodesk in games: http://www.autodesk.co.uk/adsk/servlet/index?siteID=452932&id=12390389
  • Aika Online: http://aika.gpotato.com/

(try to grab an Aika beta key for the next beta which will be either closed beta3 or the open beta. My ingame name is massi or massenic)

[Via http://massenic.wordpress.com]

Fraps v3.1

Fraps

Fraps is a universal Windows application that can be used with games using DirectX or OpenGL graphic technology. In its current form Fraps performs many tasks and can best be described as:

Benchmarking Software – Show how many Frames Per Second (FPS) you are getting in a corner of your screen. Perform custom benchmarks and measure the frame rate between any two points. Save the statistics out to disk and use them for your own reviews and applications.

Screen Capture Software – Take a screenshot with the press of a key! There’s no need to paste into a paint program every time you want a new shot. Your screen captures are automatically named and timestamped.

Realtime Video Capture Software – Have you ever wanted to record video while playing your favourite game? Come join the Machinima revolution! Throw away the VCR, forget about using a DV cam, game recording has never been this easy! Fraps can capture audio and video up to 2560×1600 with custom frame rates from 10 to 120 frames per second!

Click to download

[Via http://rdportables.wordpress.com]

Home for the Duke Game

Rusty red corollas, murky gray sedans and midnight black trucks swarm together on the three-lane highway enclosing a rivalry unmatched since the Civil War. Honking horns, swerving tires and screeching brakes hum brilliantly like a symphony of old train whistles.

The wheels of my blue Toyota Camry inch forward, making the road toward Odum Village still beyond reach. I silently curse my boss for keeping me at work, believing he hates UNC enough to make my 20 minute ride home an insufferable hour and 15 minutes, thus far. With music blasting, I crack my window half-way to let the cool breeze in while trying to minimize the bickering banter of Blue Devil fans implying our team is lacking in the anatomical department.

A Duke fan in the lane to my left tosses an unmistakable blue jersey out the window and his chuckles echo in my ears. My teeth clench and my fingers find the volume bar, increasing Coldplay’s Clocks, sending musical interludes into the mix of reverberations. The last stop light before Manning turns apple green and a smile creeps to my mouth—I’m almost there. But no one moves.

A dove gray pick-up truck in the right lane accelerates and brakes with quick stops dripping oil on the asphalt like melting butter.

A man dressed in a mixture of periwinkle and pale blue paint rolls down his mud-stained window and leans hard on the wheel—a clamorous persistence that UNC will win, echoed by Tar Heel decals and a glowing blue UNC #1 license plate. His cheeks glow red as he screams, “Suck it, Duke!” A car next to him, a black Chrysler with Blue Devil streamers blowing from the side windows, coasts alongside the perceived enemy and cuts him off, barely missing the front bumper.

The light turns yellow and my frustration builds. My palm presses the horn with gentle pressure—a middle finger reflects back at me from the Duke fan. The smell of burning rubber lingers after he makes a wide right turn onto Manning. The light turns a burning red. I pop two migraine pills into my mouth, swishing the tablets with old, warm water resting in my cup holder.

The sun melts beneath the North Carolina horizon with an expectation that each new day begins and ends with the same sky radiating the colors of the rainbow. But on this night, fading so slightly from the light blue sky of the afternoon into the pinks and yellows of sherbert, the streaks dip closer to a dark blue, almost as though the stars and planets have breathed truth into this game—a game that defines identity and fervent admiration.

The light turns green and cars roll past, children sipping juice boxes wave flags from back seats and my foot presses the accelerator, the gears churning in mechanical rhythm on my journey home. Bright orange cones bleed into view as bands of dark blue and light blue sweatshirts zig-zag through crowds approaching the Dean Dome, crossing the street with whoops and hollers.

Apple green welcomes me to Hibbard Drive. Weaving around the curves and gravel of Odum Village, my dashboard clock reads 8:47 p.m. and I breath a sigh of relief as my parking spot inches into view.

© 2007

[Via http://iwantaboringlife.wordpress.com]

Sunday, March 7, 2010

My Fav Genre of Game

Game RPG.. atau dalam bahasa Indonesia adalah “permainan peran”, sudah tidak asing di telinga kita. Ya, permainan yang dimainkan oleh 1 orang ini sudah sangat terkenal di seluruh dunia. Ada banyak sekali permainan-permainan bergenre RPG. Contoh yang sudah sering kita ketahui adalah Final Fantasy, Suikoden, Dragon Quest, Legend of Zelda, dan masih banyak lagi!

Namun, karena game RPG adalah permainan yang di desain seperti sebuah cerita, maka butuh waktu cukup lama untuk menyelesaikan game RPG. Banyak orang mengatakan bahwa game RPG itu tidak menarik, game RPG itu membosankan, game RPG itu tidak ada manfaatnya.. semua itu salah! Bisa saja orang-orang yang mengatakan hal itu belum pernah sama sekali bermain game RPG. Padahal, jika dicermati, banyak sekali manfaat dari game RPG. Tapi, seperti pepatah mengatakan, ‘tidak ada manusia yang sempurna’, untuk game juga sama, tidak ada game yang sempurna. Jadi, selain manfaat, game RPG juga memiliki dampak negatif.. tapi hanya dikit banget kok hehe..

Coba aja deh, main game yang bergenre RPG!!dijamin seru bangetttt… ggaaaaaaaakkkkkkk bohoooonnngggg ;D

//

[Via http://raihanfinalfantasy.wordpress.com]

Mass Effect 2

If there’s one word I can guarantee that I will avoid using when I write about Mass Effect 2, it’s ‘disappointing’.  I also promise not to mention ‘marmalade’, but that’s hardly relevant.

Apart from surpassing the previous installment in every way possible, ME2 has cast an apocalyptic shadow over its inferior (and obese) relative Dragon Age: Origins.  I can certainly target some flaws in the gameplay, and I will, but what game, with the possible exception of Planescape: Torment, doesn’t have flaws?  The fact is that there are a hell of a lot of good things to say about ME2, and it ought to be recognised as the pinnacle of film-like storytelling in gaming today.

Like most games, ME2 has taught me a valuable lesson, and that is that I can be seduced very quickly.  Not very easily, mind you; it takes the right set of atmospheric conditions, long, flowing hair over supple breasts, or an array of well kept, high calibre firearms to get me in the sack.  But if you’ve got those things, or something similarly alluring, you can have me remarkably fast.

In the case of ME2, the allure to begin with was the third-person shooter combat.  This was something I was looking forward to from the myriad gameplay trailers produced by Bioware before the game’s release.  It stands in stark contrast to the combat in ME1, which felt a little crude and contrived even at the time.  Now we have a Gears of War-esque model, featuring a fully developed cover system and a proper emphasis on the value of headshots.

In time I settled into it—the rhythm and structure of fights.  It became normal; part of the wonderful scenery.  But at first it was a thing of sheer joy.  None of the hype had prepared me for how natural and exhilarating it feels to take such intimate tactical control of Commander Shephard’s actions.

It’s a funny thing, because in truth the mechanics at work are no more sophisticated than those in Gears of War.  What makes it so impressive is that it creates an immediate sense that this is how Shephard really fights.  In ME1, the character of Shephard—whether paragon, renegade or a bit of both—was expressed only in conversation; this time around you get to be Shephard the strategist, the marksman, the warrior.

Or more accurately, Shephard the vanguard, my chosen class, imported from my ME1 save game, which reminds me to note briefly that the slight concern I had about the import feature—a selling point advertised at the game’s announcement—was unwarranted.  It worked flawlessly and instantly—a quick copy and paste—and I was away.  And I was pleasantly surprised by how many of my actions in the previous game were taken into account.

In the two years that have passed since the Geth machine race and their master, the reaper Sovereign, were destroyed, much has changed in the galaxy, and the decisions you’ve made have had time to take effect.  The long term consequences which were only hinted at before are repeatedly stressed.

For instance, I sacrificed the council to bring down Sovereign (the big boss of ME1)—what I thought was a necessary act at the time—and in ME2 the council has been dominated by human representatives.  Where previously it was a balanced authority over galactic affairs, it’s now sparked a creeping xenophobia amongst the populace.  Humans have become used to treating aliens like second class citizens, and many aliens resent what they perceive as a machiavellian takeover.

Apart from these basic political facts, plenty of smaller narrative threads are picked up on.  Most of these don’t have an immediate influence on the central plot of ME2, and although some of them are too minor to be anything other than a pleasant reminder of good deeds done, I strongly suspect a few will be carried over and brought to conclusion in ME3, or perhaps beyond.

The choice you made on the Noveria mission in ME1 between exterminating or liberating the Rachni Queen, for example, is explored at great length (at least it was for me – a dyed in the wool liberator), and I strongly suspect there will either be hugely positive or horrifically negative ramifications to come in the next installment.  Bravo to Bioware for creating a sense of continuity while at the same time allowing ME2’s central mission to play itself out.

It’s a spectacular mission, and, as plots go, quite beautiful, in the sense that it can be fully explained in the course of a few sentences, and that explanation would in no way spoil it.  I’m tempted to do that now to prove my point to those among you who haven’t played it yet, but I won’t.  I will say instead that it’s the personal stories of your crew (alternatively known as your party)—which blossom and transform as you progress—that elevate what would otherwise be a medicore action thriller into an epic symphony.

Yes, there is the mission—essentially to save the galaxy (again)—driving you forward; that’s the end goal.  But what occupies the majority of the 30-40 hours of gameplay, if you play properly, is the long recruitment process.  It’s made very clear to you up front in your briefing with the enigmatic Illusive Man (voiced by Martin Sheen in case you haven’t heard) that Shephard is doomed to failure without an extensive and well prepared squad.

Only 2 of the 11 characters available to join you are members of your old ME1 crew, namely Garrus and Tali, although the rest of the old bunch—Wrex, Ashley Williams/Kaidan Alenko and Liara—still make their obligatory cameo appearances.  Liara, the fragile asari archaeologist, is as dull a character as ever, unfortunately, but meeting Wrex in his new situation was a wonderful dramatic moment.

It’s a telling sign of Bioware’s prowess that that first thing I did after the opening mission was search for Ashley (my previous romantic interest) out of a sense of duty.  Her brief section of dialogue is rewarding, but also reminded me of Shephard’s changing circumstances.  He was the first human spectre, and revered as an Alliance poster boy.  Now, he’s wavering on the outer fringes of the political spectrum.

The characters who join you, including Garrus and Tali, are once again superbly voice acted, but things have been taken up a notch in ME2.  It’s a noticeably more adult oriented experience, and not in the cheap sense that there are big, bad swear words and shocking moments of violence—although there are some A grade shockers in store if you’re inclined toward renegade choices.

The galaxy of ME2 is more morally ambiguous than it was in ME1, and there’s plenty of noir backstory in the loyalty missions.  To explain, each party member has his or her own loyalty mission, which begins when they mention—typically in a fairly urgent tone—that some dark element of their past has resurfaced and must be dealt with.

You’re given the option of turning these missions down in favour of pushing forward in the main story, but that would be foolish.  For one thing, you’ll miss out on unlocking an extra outfit (usually a Matrix-style jet black look) for each character.  Reason enough, surely?  But most of these missions are well worth pursuing for the narrative flavour they add.  It has to be noted that some are clearly better than others, but the best ones—like salarian xenobiologist/commando Mordin Solus’s search for his old pupil gone rogue, or Tali’s troubled return to the migrant fleet—are exceptional.

Mordin’s mission is particularly noteworthy.  At its core is a more ethically challenging theme than most games will manage to incorporate in their entire duration.  Genocide and racism are on the menu, and the numerous exchanges between Shephard and Mordin can spiral into chilling, emotionally fraught debates, or not, depending on the dialogue choices you make.  Mordin is an entertaining chap to have around regardless, but these verbal tussles expose him as being far more complex and intriguing.  Perhaps he’s a well meaning and brilliant thinker, or perhaps he’s a psychotic and morally bankrupt villain; it’s not easy to say.

Praise must be given not only for how Bioware have bolstered the series’ existing strengths, but also for the bold action they’ve taken in cutting out weaknesses.  Gone is any recognisable form of inventory system, which for some is objectionable; for me, a masterstroke.  I’ve no love for sorting items anyway. Even where inventory screens are bearable they’re inevitably tedious, and detract from the pace of the rest of the game.  The inventory in ME1 distinguished itself as a major irritation, and removing it in ME2 has shifted the spotlight away from the boring and repetitive and on to what matters: shootin’ up galactic scumbags.

Another blight on the otherwise great ME1 experience were the vehicle sections, in which Shephard approached each objective in an armoured buggy, the Mako.  These could’ve been executed better to say the least, and I’m overjoyed to see them disappeared in ME2.  Now there are no pointless preambles; your three man team lands in a shuttle and dives straight into the combat.  And because firefights and plot advancing sequences flow seamlessly into each other at a refreshing gallop, once you’re in, you’re carried away with a sense of urgency until the thrilling climax.

The lost vehicle sections served another purpose in ME1, and that was to open up the galaxy—the planets and moons in particular—for exploration.  Roving a planet’s surface in the Mako presented various (limited) opportunites, namely the discovery of ore deposits to work toward achievements, and a few extra experience points, but it was never enjoyable.  It was in fact little more than a filler between missions.  A filler of the chewy, rotten kind that wants to be spat out as soon as possible.

In ME2, this kind of prospecting has been shunted in favour of the now infamous scanning mini-game.  Zoom in on a planet—any planet that’s not set aside for a specific mission—and something akin to a Geiger counter pops up, monitoring for ore deposits.  The game boils down to holding the right mouse button to scan, keeping your eye on peaks that appear on the counter, and launching probes which scoop the ore on to your ship.

It’s markedly more tolerable than the hours spent in the Mako, but still a chore.  And what’s more, you’re punished later on if you don’t collect the resources, which you can spend on upgrades to your squad and the ship’s systems.  This makes it a small evil, and a strange anomaly, given that so much effort has been put into jettisoning other time-wasting garbage.  It also hurt my hand after a while.

Slightly less lame but still a pointless diversion, the hacking mini-games, which alternate between a patronisingly easy version of matching pairs and a basic pattern recognition task, are frustratingly frequent.  The motivating factor in this case is that hacking is (as far as I can recall) the only source of credit income, credits being required for yet more squad and ship upgrades.  As with the scanning, there is literally no challenge in these games at all, and they’re not even slightly enjoyable.

The lesson Bioware need to learn for ME3 isn’t that they need to improve or expand upon these vomit machines, but that they should save themselves time and money and lose them entirely.  Sure, you could draw inspiration from winning arcade games like Peggle or Bejeweled, and maybe succeed in designing a mining game which is genuinely fun, but I really think that if people want to play Peggle, they’ll play Peggle.  When I boot up ME2 I’m not looking for an arcade game to break up the story; I just want the story.  If I get bored and want something more lighthearted, I’ll quit and play World of Goo.

A heavy chunk of the character development options have also been cut.  In ME1, no matter what class you chose, you had more than enough skills to spend points on.  For instance, I specialised in shotgun and pistol use, which meant that my Shephard was a magnificent retard when it came to assault and sniper rifles.

This time around, your options are strikingly thin on the ground, and although you’ll still need to make a choice as to which of the six (at least it was six for me) skills you neglect, there’s no room for defining a sub-class.  If you choose to be a vanguard, that’s what you are.  You can’t be a shotgun specialist close quarters vanguard, or a pistol marksman vanguard.

The most you can do is power up cryo rounds (which are awesome by the way) instead of incendiaries, or vice versa, or forsake the pull biotic (effectively force pull as in Jedi Academy) in favour of shockwave (an uber force push).  These choices don’t redefine the way you fight, but they do subtly influence it, to the extent that some tactics will become more or less workable than others.  And I can understand why this is a significant downer for some, but for whatever reason it doesn’t bother me in the slightest.

When I wonder why it doesn’t bother me, I’m reminded of why I love ME2 so much, and why it had me proclaiming within the first half hour that it was the best game ever made.  On paper, it looks like it’s been given something like the Deus Ex 2 treatment: interface massively reduced, avenues for defining your character and class cut in half, etc.  But none of those things were what made ME1 great.  What made ME1 great was the way in which it made me believe that games really can be as good as films.

At bottom, the story of Shephard versus the big bad aliens is no more complex than your average Hollywood blockbuster action movie: Independence Day for example.  But when you play it, it’s not like Independence Day; it’s like The Fifth Element, albeit without the joys of Chris Tucker as an ultra-camp pest in a skin-tight pink suit.

The Fifth Element is a wonderful film, not because of its plot—which is basically solid and dependable—but because for an hour or two, it lets you live in and explore a radically altered universe: quirky, multi-layered, dangerous, fantastic, and teetering on the edge of being obliterated. ME2 achieves that level of escapism too, but unlike a film, it naturally does it far more literally.  It’s as close to living in a film world as you can get right now, and that means it can easily withstand the loss of some fairly sizeable chunks of gameplay.

As it stands, it’s a titanic masterpiece, but who knows if it could’ve been even better had some more bits and pieces been given the chop?  Who knows if ME3 might pillage the entire galactic map and run you through the story in a completely linear fashion?

All I know is that I trust Bioware.  If any developer has proven its ability to make radical game improving decisions other than Valve, it’s them.  The only problem now is that RPGs released in 2010 are going to have to aim for a bar set so high that the gods of Mount Olympus are presently using it as a foot scraper.

P.S. That’s right, I’m doing a P.S. in a review – deal with it!  I would be remiss without mentioning a couple of flaws that have only occurred to me since writing the above splurge of adoration.  These, unlike some of the small issues I’ve already discussed, are what I consider to be real, substantial problems with the game.

The first is something that bugged me in ME1 too – the character animations.  Don’t get me wrong; the animation in ME2 is thoroughly decent.  It’s certainly some of the best in the genre, and occasionally Bioware do get it just right.  Indeed, even at his worst, Shephard looks infinitely more believable than any character you care to mention in an earlier Bioware title like Knights of the Old Republic.

But there remains a great deal of awkwardness and uncanniness in the way ME2 characters move.  This is most obvious in conversations, not that one should therefore dismiss it.  Don’t forget that you’re going to spend something like 50% or more of the game speaking to people.

It’s actually uncomfortable to watch sometimes: Shephard lowering himself down on to one knee for the duration of an emotional dialogue, arms dangling by his sides like a rotund ape, for example.  Bioware have lazily, and rather painfully chosen to recycle some animations from ME1 too: the way that so many characters like to take a stroll from one side of the screen to another half way through a sentence, and then return to a stop, standing motionless for a couple of seconds like a gymnast ending a routine.

These and many other gestures are horribly fake, and all they do is make the player aware of the fact that you either couldn’t, or didn’t want to spend time thinking through the mood and motivations of the characters speaking, and extending those aspects into their movement.

I really want to see a major push on this front in ME3.  I won’t deny that some small improvements have already been made, coming from ME1, but what’s needed is a new paradigm: the kind of attention to detail normally reserved for cutscenes adopted as a standard for acting in-game.  Imagine that, and you’re imagining my dreams.

Second up is an issue that is perhaps less tangible.  It occurs to me, in retrospect, that I almost never suffered any negative outcomes from my actions.  ME2 is built on choices in a way that ME1 was to a somewhat lesser extent.  It takes the paragon and renegade metric and expands its jurisdiction to spur-of-the-moment so called ‘quick time’ events.  You’ll be asked to decide whether to let a party member take revenge on someone, or whether to intimidate some upstart by shooting him in the foot, as opposed to using non-violent persuasion.

I enjoyed having these choices pop-up, and then watching the hilarious or shocking theatre that ensued.  But that’s all these events have to offer: theatre.  I couldn’t escape the nagging feeling that none of the decisions I made were having any lasting impact.  They always made me feel good, either in a comforting “I’ve just rescued someone” way, or in a more instantly gratifying “I’ve just set you on fire by shooting up a fuel canister under your feet” way.  I never regretted what I did, or looked back and recognised a flaw in my moral logic.  If Shephard is a paragon, everyone loves him for his generosity and kindness; if he’s a renegade, he gets his way and people praise him for cutting through red tape.

In reality, someone who cuts corners, ignores legal restrictions and scraps moral values will often succeed, yes, but this isn’t the rule.  These proud pragmatists can be made to realise, by the consequences of their actions, that those rules were in place for a reason.  And on the flip side, well intentioned people can make fatal errors in judgement which lead to tragedy.  None of this nuance, which we can all accept, is explored in ME2.  Things are pretty much always rosy whichever side you pick.

In ME3 I’d like to see good and bad side effects of Shephard’s grand crusade.  He’s never going to be evil in the classic sense; that would be a betrayal of his personality.  But surely some of the things he does should be thwarted?  Like any human with limited faculties, he can’t forsee the precise nature of every ripple effect.  Some people he chooses to save should turn out badly, and sometimes when he draws his gun in a hostage situation it should result in a death.

Even Jack Bauer screws up every now and then.

[Via http://onemoreturn.wordpress.com]

Saturday, March 6, 2010

To all the Star Wars RPG Fans.

Hey To All You Rp’ers….
Hey all, I am out here to put out the word on a fairly New Star Wars RPG.
http://www.swheroesandscoundrels.com/portal.php

This is a forum based play by post RPG. It is completely Free to play. No subscriptions or fees.
The creators and administration team are very helpful and willing to get you started and set up.
The system is based off the Saga Edition rules and guild lines, and very easy to grasp.
It is an open galaxy system to where you write the stories and adventures that will become the histories of the future.
So come join us and be the Pirate, Trooper, Spy or Jedi you always wanted to be.
John GWolf.

[Via http://johngoldenwolf.wordpress.com]

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Hidden Identity Chicago Blackout - Explore various Chicago locations and find out who you are!

Hidden Identity Chicago Blackout
You awake with amnesia in a Chicago hotel room and can’t remember your own name. Who are you? And how did you get here? You’ll need to keep your wits to solve this riveting hidden object game!

Explore scenes from your past and find hundreds of cleverly hidden objects, which offer clues to your forgotten identity. Find the clues quickly and earn special speed bonuses. Then uncover the secret notes that you left behind, and solve unique mini-games to jog your memory. Will you unravel the mystery, and discover your true identity?

Uncover all the secret notes that you left behind and solve 5 different types of mini-games that will help jog your memory.

Download Hidden Identity Chicago Blackout and Uncover your true identity today!

Hidden Identity Chicago Blackout Game Features

  • Explore 25 City Scenes!
  • Solve 5 Intriguing Mini-Games!
  • Find 50 Secret Notes!
  • Earn Speed Bonuses!

Hidden Identity Chicago Blackout game screenshots

Hidden Identity Chicago Blackout game screenshot

Hidden Identity Chicago Blackout game screenshot

Hidden Identity Chicago Blackout game trailer

[Via http://besthiddenobjectgames.wordpress.com]

Valve Software is up to something. More cake likely.

It’s been a crazy week for fans of the Portal that have been following the gaming press. After last patching the game with minor fixes in June 2009, Valve have pushed two cryptic updates live for the game this week, both of which made changes to the game itself.

The first added several radios to the game’s levels in addition to the ones already present in the game. Usually these just play some fairly crazy, mexican sounding musak, but several forum-posters on various sites have found that placing these radios on the various red buttons scattered throughout the game as part of the game mechanics, causes them to broadcast a new series of signals.

Things only get crazier from there. Portal fans from a bunch of fan forums, bless ‘em, have examined the transmissions and managed to decode them into morse code and images of security camera footage from Aperture Labs – the installation the game takes place in. The rabbit hole went further, though, as an MD5 hashed phone number for an old-school Bulletin Board Service was found in the images which itself had MORE cryptic images.

Kotaku’s Michael McWhertor has a great write-up of the findings.

I love that Valve put this stuff out there knowing that their fans are crazy enough to do the work. I guess that’s what happens when you have to wait so long for sequel announcements! Episode 3

The second update to the game, which JUST went live actually changed the game’s ending – albeit very slightly.

I’m not going to spoil it for you, but if you HAVE finished the game, you can see the updated ending over at Giant Bomb.

All of this looks like it points to an announcement for Portal 2 at the GDC next week where Valve’s Gabe Newell is receiving the Pioneer Award for the Game Developers Choice Awards 2010.

Oh, yeah. It also looks like we might have a Mac version of Steam soon. Awesome.

[Via http://amnesiablog.wordpress.com]

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Man in Blue

One Man Army, the wait is worth the fame
Don’t need no secondary, I rape just the same
Reload so quick and aim so fast
Got that Sleight of Hand to pop caps in yo ass

I run like the wind, they call me Marathon King
But when I slow down, they get blinded by my Bling
I’m a Scavenger whore , I’ll be taking all your ammo
So many headshots, I make my own camo.

[Via http://harrishudson.wordpress.com]

Global MU Online Patch 1.03O


Global MU Online was developed in 2003 by Webzen, and since then has been enjoyed by millions of players in over 100 countries. With a level cap at 400 and over 100,000 possible item combinations, Global MU is arguably the most potent, richly developed, well supported hack and slash adventure ever created.Gamers First is clearly in effect with Global MU Online. The game receives constant, close attention, and the MU Masters (the MM’s, Game Masters for Global MU Online) take great pride in listening to their players and responding to their feedback.Global MU Online is free to download and completely Free2Play. Players can explore practically all of the game’s areas and experience most of the events at no cost. Premium services are available that increase the frequency of regular events, grant access to special events, and offer many game enhancements.Community is truly amazing in Global MU Online. The game boasts a highly active and passionate group of players, and MM’s frequently interact with them both in game and in the official Forums. The most impressive demonstration of community in Global MU Online involves the game’s unique events. The organization, planning and cooperation executed by players make this game what it is. Events such as Castle Siege span weeks, and over 1,500 players go at it in the same battle.Global MU Online gives players a great deal of content. There are many amazing armor sets, and players are able to create 30 different builds with the five existing character classes.With a huge global community, weather effects, character wings, mounts, and many other fantastic features, Global MU Online offers players the adventure of a lifetime.Make sure that you always use the newest Global MU Online Patch
Download

[Via http://thecastex2.wordpress.com]

Round 5 New UFC Figurines

[Via http://fighttime.net]