I was surprised, WoW was not number 1. Even Everquest wasn't, though I'm not sure EQ should be above WoW. But, when I saw the number 1 spot, I had to nod my head. Yeah, that one got everybody I knew, back in the 90s, even my parents and grandparents, nongamers to the last of them.
Read what MSNBC considers the 5 most addictive games.
This was the first computer game I ever owned. My Grandpa Bill gave it to me on a 5 1/4" floppy in 1983 or so. It was he who set me down the gamer path to this day. Thanks, Grandpa Bill.
Mobygames says about the game -A set of 8 (TEN! -G.B.) games that are designed to be played on the original IBM PC computer of the time. Most games are replicas of other popular games from the early 80s, such as a Moon Lander and a Pac-Man clone. Everything uses ASCII graphics, so it even works on the MDA adapter. Of course, an easy-to-access Boss Key is included and it pops up a nice histogram with Friendlysoft-related data.
Screenshots -
Gas Bandit Gaming is now part of my new Banditry Conglomerate, which I am using to merge all my various projects into one launching URL. Check out http://www.gasbanditry.com and see what's there.
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Brings new meaning to that pretty red-headed cleric saying "hang on, I need to buff the party."
From mmorpg.com-Read Full ArticleFresh off the presses at the Games Convention in Leipzig, MMORPG.com has learned from a reliable source at Funcom that characters will be able to have sex and will receive a buff for the action. That is not to say, however, that there will be explicit sex in the game.
Anyone who has followed Robert E. Howard's creation knows that sex has been a prevalent theme in the Conan IP, which Funcom is doing their best to honor.
Age of Conan, as has previously been announced, will carry an "M" rating.
At PAX, Warcry got a few questions in - these questions in specific -
WarCry: Last we heard, you had the Greenskins and Dwarves playable in the beta, and that was it. Has that expanded yet?And MMO-Gamer talks to WO's Online Combat and Career Lead Adam Gershowitz, to tell us about what he does and why you should jump ship to Warhammer Online. Read Full Article
WarCry: We hear a lot about these great public quests. Is there only one per zone, or many in each area?
WarCry: Public quests are designed for a lot of players working together. Are the encounters dynamic or scalable? What happens in a few months when there aren't very many players in the newbie area? Can a player then still do a public quest?
WarCry: What kind of rewards are there for public quests? What's the point of doing them over normal quests?
WarCry: Can you explain a bit about how exactly the Morale system works? How do you gain it and use it?
WarCry: So we have seen the Orcapult working in game now, are any other siege weapons in the game yet?
Ha ha ha... wonder if the X-Wing soundtrack is soon to follow?
I remember "Fat Man," he was the name of names for video game music back in the 90s. He did all the music to "The Seventh Guest" if you remember that little bit of creepy Myst-in-a-haunted-house goodness that was one of the first games (other than myst, obviously) to make use of the unprecedented space afforded by the burgeoning CD-ROM media.
((LINK))
From the "well, duh" department, via heise online-
Read Full ArticleAccording to an online survey by Valve Software, only one in fifty players who access download service Steam has a DirectX 10-compatible graphics card and Windows Vista installed. In an interview with heise online, Gabe Newell, president of Valve Software, said that Microsoft made a terrible mistake releasing DirectX 10 for Vista only and excluding Windows XP. He said this decision affected the whole industry as so far only a very small percentage of players can use DirectX 10.
When developing cross-platform games which are also released fo Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, developers look for the smallest common denominator. And since neither Microsoft's nor Sony's new consoles support Shader Model 4.0 for DirectX 10, only few games use it, he said.
In addition, Newell bemoaned the increasing lack of input device diversity in PC gaming culture. He would like to see controllers like the Wiimote or the Guitar Hero guitar, but since DirectX support for devices like these had increasingly been reduced over the last few years, developers didn't dare implement these expensive innovations.
Between the DRM fiasco of Bioshock and various other crap that has been going on for years, I've often railed against how current software copy protection schemes do nothing but inconvenience or punish bona fide users while simultaneously encouraging the very piracy it is meant to prevent, but this takes the cake.
Apparently, Microsoft is having a wee bit of trouble with their WGA "tattle" servers, so until they fix it, every single person using non-cracked versions of XP and Vista risks product deactivation with every moment they are online, living in fear that their operating system will revolt when it can't successfully "phone home."
From Ars Technica:
Late last night we started receiving reports from readers experiencing problems with Windows Genuine Advantage authentication. Users of both Windows XP and Windows Vista were writing to say that they could not validate their installations using WGA, and one user even said that his installation was invalidated by the service.
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We contacted our sources at Microsoft, who told us off the record that the company is aware of a major WGA server outage affecting users across the globe. The Windows Genuine Advantage support forum has exploded with complaints, as a result, and Phil Liu, WGA project manager, says that he won't sleep until the problem is fixed. Windows Vista and XP are affected, 32- and 64-bit versions.
...
How does this affect you?
If you use Windows, do your best to avoid anything that requires a ping to WGA. That means you should stay away from patches and add-ons until the coast is clear. WGA will not reach out across the Internet and deactivate your copy of Windows, but you should avoid talking to a WGA server for any reason.
For those of you doing installations and upgrades this weekend, we recommend that you avoid activation at this time. Remember that you can run Windows legally for 30 days without activating.
If you attempt a validation and it fails, your install may be marked as non-genuine, which could lead to several annoyances. First things first, do not reboot a Windows machine that has been marked as non-genuine. Once you do so, you will lose functionality and the Aero interface. It would be best to wait until this problem has been resolved.
Read more in the source article.
So there you have it. Sucks to be you, the next few days, if you don't happen to be using a cracked copy of XP Pro Corporate SP2 with WGA disabled.
...(shifty glance).
So almost a week into the launch of BioShock, and all is not Rapture in the underwater city (heh heh, you see what I did there? Gawd I'm clever).
Turns out the DRM/Copy protection on Bioshock makes HL2 look like that copy of sopwith you gave to all your friends back in middle school on 5 1/4" floppies. First of all, the thing *infects* you with SecuRom, probably the most odious corporate rootkit ever. Then it insists on checking in over the internet with every installation. If you're not on the internet, you're just hosed, fyi. No Bioshock for you... even though the game is exclusively single player. Then to add insult to injury the damned thing tries to keep track of how many times you install it, and if it exceeds TWO installs, you're out of luck and can't install any more. Oh sure, they claim all you have to do to get an "install token" (what a putrid word, having to invent an imaginary coin to represent how many times you're allowed to install software you bought) back is to go through the uninstall... but show of hands out there... who's ever actually gone through an "uninstall" process all that often? Anyone? No? Of course not. You just head on into c:\program files and delete the sucker out. But that's a one-way ticket to Bonedville with Bioshock.
But wait, there's more!
Most people like widescreen monitors because they show you more of what's to the sides, right? Because every single game in existence that supports widescreen does that... takes the standard 4:3 ratio and adds more to the sides, yes? Not so with bioshock. To adapt the 4:3 ratio to widescreen, 2K Games apparently decided to TRIM OFF viewable area from the top and bottom of the 4:3 screen and then enlarge the remaining letterbox to fill your widescreen monitor.
Let's get back to the DRM for a minute though... would you like to know what you have to do if you somehow screw up and lock yourself out of your copy? Would ya? Huh? Well, it's simple...
Read up on the matter -
http://kotaku.com/gaming/pc/bioshock-widescreen-+-the-sad-conclusion-292269.php
http://kotaku.com/gaming/son-of-sad-panda/levine-responds-to-bioshock-copy-protecton-woes-292834.php
http://kotaku.com/gaming/xbox-360/levines-replies-to-bioshock-widescreen-cropping-292071.php
http://forums.2kgames.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6750
If you are reading this, somehow I find it unlikely you haven't heard of them already, but I wanted to draw specific attention to a couple webcomics that came out today because they made me particularly guffaw.
Regard today's entries at /GU Comics and Penny Arcade.
Like so much else, I read it on bluesnews.
New York, NY - August 21, 2007 - 2K Games, a publishing label of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: TTWO), announced today that BioShock is now available in North America for Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and Games for Windows®, and will be available in Europe beginning August 24. Developed by 2K Boston and 2K Australia, BioShock is a "genetically enhanced" first-person shooter that lets players do things never before possible in the genre.Read Full Article
Gamers enter the game as a castaway in Rapture, an underwater utopia torn apart by civil war. Caught between powerful forces and hunted down by genetically modified "splicers" and deadly security systems, players have to come to grips with a deadly, mysterious world filled with powerful technology and fascinating characters. No encounter ever plays out the same and no two gamers will play BioShock the same way.
"With the release of BioShock, we are redefining the shooter experience by providing players with the freedom to decide how to proceed and which actions to take," said Christoph Hartmann, President of 2K. "The teams at 2K Boston and 2K Australia have captured the essence of this underwater world and brought it to vivid life in the art design and open-ended storyline. Welcome to Rapture."
In the decaying art deco underwater city of Rapture, players can turn everything they encounter into a weapon, biologically modify their body with plasmids, hack devices and security systems, upgrade weapons, craft new ammo variants, and experiment with different battle techniques.
"The development team has been working on BioShock for years to push the limits in every way possible, so we are excited for gamers to finally experience BioShock as we've always imagined it," said Ken Levine, President and Creative Director of 2K Boston. "We delivered on our promise of bringing gamers a unique and enriching first-person shooter experience that not only challenges their capacity to adapt and survive, but tests their values and commitment to the inhabitants of Rapture."
--From GameDaily BIZ
Blizzard's vp of game design Rob Pardo has revealed to GameDaily BIZ that a new Warcraft RTS will be "one of the ideas on the table" after StarCraft 2 ships. He also said that to bring WoW to consoles "would be a Herculean effort that would only take away from our ability to serve our current customers."Read Full Article
--Source
Blizzard Poster/ Community Manager Vaneras on the WoW Europe Forums finally gave word that Guild Banks will be in the 2.3 patch. Currently though, it is still being worked on by the developers. Hopefully, they will make good on their promise of introducing this since a lot of guild members in the WoW community have been complaining about lack of space for their items.Read Full Article
Found an interesting article over at Ten Ton Hammer:
(Read Full Article) Read Full Article
Here’s a two-part rhetorical situation for the Ten Ton Hammer readers out there:1. Suppose somebody offers you a free hamburger. This could be some random schmoe down the street or your next door neighbor. You’ve had one of these burgers before; you know they’re of average quality. It’s a hamburger, but you’re not salivating Homer Simpson-style. Do you take it? Why or why not?
2. Now suppose Burger King decided to give away free hamburgers. Like the previously mentioned hamburger, this is a known quantity. You know what Burger King hamburgers taste like and they are probably no better than the free burgers that were being offered by your neighbor. Do you take this hamburger? Why or why not?
For many of us, if we saw a “Free Hamburgers!” sign outside of a Burger King, there would be a mile-long line outside the door, waiting to get their Whopper on. Are all of these people hungry? Probably not. Do they like Burger King Whoppers? Maybe. But the temptation of a “free” hamburger that once carried a price tag is sorely tempting. Yet when we’re offered free hamburgers by our neighbors and our friends, and we often pass up those opportunities because we know that the burgers are free and will remain free. These free items don’t attract our attention like a Burger King hamburger would, simply because we don’t feel like we’re saving or gaining anything for the exchange.
Man, is the name "Atari" cursed or what? Seems like it won't be long now, in my opinion, before it's gone again. From Gamasutra:
Read Full ArticleAtari Halves Office Space, Gets Second Nasdaq Warning
Following last month's warning that the publisher was in danger of being delisted from Nasdaq, Atari has received a second notice, as it also discloses that it has amended its lease to halve its New York City office space and reduce yearly rent from $2.4 to $1.2 million.
Atari announced that its first delisting notification from NASDAQ last month, as it had yet to file its Form 10-K fiscal 2007 annual report pending determinations on accounting entries on "certain severance matters."
The company now has received a second notice as it has yet to additionally file its Form 10-Q quarterly report for the period ending June 30, 2007. The publisher has said it will use its previously arranged meeting with Nasdaq to attempt to settle both matters at once.
In the meantime, the company has taken new measures to reduce costs in amending its lease with a new landlord to reduce both the size and cost of its Fifth Avenue offices in NYC by half.
The company has disclosed in a financial filing that its lease will drop from $2.4 to $1.2 million a year, starting December 31st through the end of June, 2011, which will be raised to $1.3 million for five years following, and $1.5 million for five years after that.
The last filed reports for the company showed losses of $71.3 million for the fiscal year ended March 31st, compared to a loss of $69 million in the previous year. In May, the company cut its overall employee count by 20 percent, including a 26 percent reduction in administrative positions.
Owners of PCs with Intel's 965 chipsets can finally download drivers that will immediately improve the performance of games running on those systems.
The 965 chipsets were supposed to be a dramatic step forward for integrated graphics performance. Most PCs come with graphics technology built right onto the chipset that connects the processor to memory and the rest of a PC. Serious gamers opt for discrete graphics made by Nvidia or AMD's ATI division, but most people save a little money and get the basic graphics.
Intel wanted to make an integrated graphics chipset with more powerful graphics performance that would allow basic PC users to play some of the latest and greatest 3D games when it shipped the 965. But it has been unable to write the drivers needed to enable that performance until now.
Windows XP drivers are available here, but if you're on a Vista PC with Intel's 965 chipset, you'll have to wait a little longer. Intel put together a video here that shows the improved performance of PCs with the new drivers.
Ok, I'm probably going to have to explain that headline. It's referencing Sammy Hagar's "I Can't Drive 55" song about the speed limit, but 670,616,629 mph is the speed of light.
This is my oh-so-clever way of introducing this article where a german scientists claims he's gotten a particle to move faster than the speed of light for 3 feet.
