Pauls Rants and Revelations

For a truly humorous review on the most popular video games, check out The Escapist mag reviewer Yahtzee below.

-Cheers

Well, what can I say about this weekends festivities? Only that they were a lot of fun and am really sore from it all.

For those of you without dirty minds, I was at an archery festival in Vulcanfelt (Union Gap, WA) and was shooting archery all weekend. Aside from the fun and games I got burned in the day and smashed at night (I blame the fellow who brought the rum). As for the competitions go, I got second place in the Clout shoot which is shooting at a stick 180 yards away, sucked at the royal round, and did an abysmal job in the York. But at least I had a great time doing it.

And now, Monday has come again and it is back to the grind.  But at least now I get to use a pimped out new Macbook Pro.

-Cheers

I’m a big fan of free stuff. I’m a bigger fan with that stuff is actually good. I came across this site offering up all kinds of freebie information and reviews about various tech items and gadgets and services that people use or will use. I read up on the dedicated server post he made (having one my self its always interesting to see different and possibly better services).

It was all a pretty interesting and informative but I had to cut it short as my bedtime is coming up (marriage, you know). Anyways, for free stuff including but not limited to reviews, info, and games, check out Adams free stuff blog. You wont be sorry.

-Cheers

I came across this game on Digg and gave it a go. Its a somewhat good distraction from work if you need a break.

http://www.awfulgames.com/games/planned/

The directions were slightly confusing but once I got to playing I found it even more confusing and dam frustrating getting everything connected.

Anyways, the instructions are easy to read but you wont understand them until you start playing. Leave a comment and let me know what lever you get to. As I have to run, I only got to Level 4 but Ill give it another try after work.

-Cheers

I just finished the C&C3 demo and I was really quite bummed. I mean, just when its getting good, the demo ends. What the hell? I was just about to see how we respond to the Philadelphia exploding and then, and then… nothing. Erg. Now I have to wait until end of March to see how it all plays (literally) out.

Oh, you wanted to know what the games is like? Sorry, went off there for a bit. Anyways, the game itself is the best C&C that EA has come out with yet. It has the overview (also know as the God view) of the battle field just like all the other C&C games (with the exception of Renegade)  and an almost the same, but totally redone and upgraded player interface with all of the really nifty bits like the Ion Cannon, Jump troopers, and a whole host of new Nod trumping goodies conveniently placed with large buttons on the left side of the screen.

There are, of course, new unit additions like the Zone Trooper, Commandos,  and Grenadiers (for the personnel of the GDI side) and a really great new vehicle called the Mammoth.  This mammoth is not the same as the one in Firestorm as it is a treaded ground vehicle. But it is more powerful than the old mammoth and, guess what? You can build more than one of them. In the skirmish demo I build a whole army of them and it was really great to watch them plow through the city destroying everything.

The game play itself is much the same although much smoother and the user interface is much improved once you get used to it.

The graphics, oh the graphics, are probably the greatest improvement. Where before you had pre-rended out sprites of the vehicles and troops, this time everything is rendered in real-time. The buildings, vehicles, even the ground troops are all 3d models rendered in great detail in game.  Kudos to EA for that as it is just plain kick ass to watch as well as play.

In the demo I didn’t get a chance to  see what kind of new Nod stuff there is. Until I captured their construction yard (tee hee). I played a skirmish, left an enemy power building unscathed, and took over their construction yard. Seeing as I spoiled some great new things about the GDI side, I’m not going to give away whats new in Nod town. But if you get a hold of the demo you can take over their constructor and see for yourself.

:You can get it here if you subscribe to FilePlanet 

:You can get it here if you just want the game without download restriction from Gamers Hell

Overall, I cant wait for March 28th. I am really interested (fanatically interested actually) about whats in store in the later levels and what the Scrim are all about. You can also pre-order the game here directly from EA Link (which is similar to Steam from Valve for those who don’t know) when it comes out. Im not sure about using the EA Link as it feels like a knock-off of Steam. Its the same basic principle just a different company and its hard, being a Steam user for a few years now to use something so similar from another company. Call me crazy.

Enjoy the demo if you choose to wait through the 1.2 gigabyte download, or wait for the game to come out on March 28th to same all the excitement.

-Cheers

I came across this design for a desktop size trebuchet and I though “That is so awesome it should be illegal”. Anyways, I have yet to build one myself but I am considering building one for my boss since he has to work in an office (I work from home). Might be nice to break up the dullness around the office a bit. From the site:

Wooden Desktop Trebuchet
The trebuchet is a medieval invention originally designed to lay seige to fortresses and castles. The largest of them could hurl immense stones hundreds of yards. Now you can have one to play with in your own home. The whole device stands about foot tall when unloaded and flings various things ten feet or more. Moreover, this is a nice introductiory woodworking project that you can do with mostly basic tools. Make sure to check all of the images. A lot of the details are in the notes there.

You can view the entire process on one page here: Desktop Trabuchet

There are also a lot more instruction for pretty much any project you can think of. Check out some of the other one if you have a moment.

-Cheers

Dude, as if I would ever be bored with Half Life 2, valve went and released Half-Life 2: Episode 1. This extension to the original HL2 game takes place shortly after the end scene of the single player game. It came out on June 1st, but I was working late so I couldnt get to it. But I downloaded it today (the 2nd) and played it straight through.

In all it took me about 6 hours to complete it. I was slightly (and only very slightly) disappointed that my $20 only bought me so much game, but I think overall it was worth it. After all, I can always play it again.

Other than that, it was as freaking awesome as the parent game and made more so since it continued the story line from the originals ending. Valve plans to make 2 more extensions (Episodes 2 and 3) that will be available probably in the next 6 months or so since they said that the series will be completed by Christmas 2007. I, personally, can hardly wait.

On a side note, I wish they would remake Team Fortress Classic. That game would kick so much ass run under the HL2 engine. Maybe I should write an email to Valve and ask…

Anyways, if anyone is interested, here is the link to the new episode on Steam Powered
Cheers

OK. So I know that it isn’t exactly new news that Valve put out Half Life 2. In fact, its been over a year since the games introduction into the community, but I was only able to scrape up the cash for it in the last few weeks.

First off, I had Steam installed, so the purchasing phase was about as painless as possible. Then it took a few hours to download (even on broadband) and install. Once that was all done and running, I began to play the single player game.

Un. Fucking. Believable.

I played the whole thing in about 3 days (I did have to work you know). Every second of game play was insanely in-depth in detail but also pulse pounding-ly action packed and deeply immersing. From the second you step off of the train to the last energy ball you shoot off at the enemy portal, this game is as intense as it is beautiful to look at.

I played it on normal setting so as not to die too quickly, but I’m going to go through it again on Hard setting just to see how hard it really is (Ill probably die in the first 15 minutes).

In other areas, one of the greatest and most used is the multi player. I played Team Fortress Classic primarily (engie or heavy was my choice) so the Team Deathmatch intrigued me right off the bat. I was expecting something like the HL1 multi player with physics and better graphics. I got what I expected, but I failed to realize just how much of a difference those graphics and physics additions made in the multi player.

The MP environments were insanely great with realistic shading and highlights and movable (and throw-able) objects. In the first 10 seconds of my first HL2 multi player match, I get killed by a flying toilet. While not too bad in itself, I saw that the kill indicator had an icon of a flying toilet! I later realized that this only meant that I was killed by a thrown object; it didn’t necessarily mean a toilet. It could be a barrel, a box, or even a helicopter rotor blade (rock).

I played MP for a few hours and experience a whole new realm of hyper-realistic gaming. Every detail was about perfect and the game play was superb. I know this has been said before (since I read the review of the game), but this is the greatest game to come out of valve to date. In fact, one would be hard pressed to find its match anywhere. Two thumbs up from me!

You can check out (and buy coincidently) Half-Life 2 from Valve here: http://www.valvesoftware.com/

If you want to go direct to buy, check out Steam at http://steampowered.com/

Cheers