Sunday, August 29, 2010

The verdict is in...

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Ok, after my much awaited first foray into the world of Borderlands went today...The verdict is now in...Ladies & Gentlemen...Borderlands is awesome! I am waiting to level up some more before pairing up with any other players via co-op. But so far so good.

Do I believe that the SecuRom DRM may (if not already) have pushed would be players away? Yes, I firmly believe this is so. Game publishers please listen as we gamer's want to voice that we don't want or need software that is so difficult to install and use. I understand the reason's behind DRM...But really, there has to be a better way.

Anyways, until next time, feel free to catch up with me in Borderlands. Happy weekend all!

Saturday, August 28, 2010

SecuRom, Borderlands, and lost sleep...A story of woe.

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Ok, just everybody knows, this will not become habit. However, I am going to use my little corner of the world-wide-inter webs to ventilate. That's right, hang on tight.

It all started yesterday afternoon as I was browsing at our local Walmart. They were running a sale on 'Borderlands' for the PC. It was on sale for $20 bucks. I went home and browsed around the web and found that as of that time, that was the best price I could find on the game. So, I made the jump and went and bought it. Fast forward a few hours later to when I attempted to install it.

Ok, first and foremost, my mistake was not fully reading the box. This game contains SecuRom DRM. Personally, not a DRM fan. From my experience it hurts those who actually pay for their games. Ok, enough of that. My DVD drive died some time back. I am cheap. So rather than replace it, I simply made ISO images of the disc's I use regularly and mount them from my external hard drive. Most of the time it is for testing Linux Live CD's. So I haven't really bumped into SecuRom as of late. No big deal, right? Wrong, it's an act of congress to get the game to run from an ISO image. After spending several hours trying to research on ways around it so I can run the game I paid for without resulting to questionable means, I realized I was beat.

Finally I broke down and got a DVD drive from a friend, and am now reinstalling for the third time. Time will tell if it will finally work. From what I read, the steam version had some issues too, but they were easier to resolve.

***Ok, update: final install worked. Running without any drive emulation software active. Looks like I'm finally up and running. After 6 hours of research and failed attempts I can now play my $20 game. Looks as though if I had a working DVD drive in the first place I would've been playing a long time ago...oh well.

Friday, August 27, 2010

New Features Coming Soon!

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As a new feature to the TechieSmarts Blog, I will be putting together some quick free instructional videos covering some things which have personally caused me to do some research.  I can also now do video reviews of software like Linux distributions and installs, etc.  Look for this coming in the near future!  If you have any topics that you'd like to see covered, feel free to drop me a line in the comments below.  Happy Friday!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Checkout My New ShopIt Store!

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Checkout my new ShopIt Store, where we have listed the Live Linux CD's available:
http://shopit.com/techiesmarts

Saturday, August 21, 2010

iPhone Game Review: Street Fighter IV

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  As a long time fan of fighting games on the consoles such as: Mortal Kombat, Tekken, and of course Street Fighter. I was somewhat hesitant to try out the iPhone/iPod Touch port of 'Street Fighter IV'. And to be fair, I have yet ton play this game on the console as well. Literally, the iPhone verism is my first hands-on experience with this title. And let me say up format, it does not disappoint.

I have a hard time purchasing apps from the App Store that cost more than $3 or $4 dollars. But after reading good things about this app, I couldn't hold out any longer. Even at $9.99 from the App Store, I knew I'd have to check it out.  After starting up the app I was immediately blown away by the awesome intro scene. The artistic flare it showcases is simply amazing. The sound is great, and I am loving the "stylized" type of graphics the devs went with for this title.

Ok, first things first. The sound is spectacular, the themes are catchy and the fighting sound effects are dead on with the actions. The in-game graphics are definitely impressive. The gameplay graphics carry over the "stylized", cartoon type graphics that the opening scene shows off. Personally, a lot of games are going for a realistic look; however, games like Street Fighter need to keep the originality by staying unrealistic. And they have definitely pulled that off here.

Second item to cover is controls. The game is played via an onscreen game pad. The buttons are semi-transparent by default and can be adjusted even more in the options menu. The controls can hang some, but that is to be expected. Controls aren't always air tight on console fighters either. Some of that may be my iPod Touch, it is a little behind on updates or possibly the fact that it is a 2nd generation model. Anyways, it plays just fine. And the game is currently optimized for iOS 4.

With plenty of game modes and characters to play as, I don't for see this title getting old anytime soon. A lot of games for the iPhone/iPod Touch have limited replay quality. But I have found myself jamming away at this title and having fun that is reminiscent of the good old days playing my friend's Sega Genesis during a Street Fighter 2 marathon.

The fighters returning to this title are your maim staples of the Street Fighter ga,es over the years. Including Ken, Ryu, Chun Li, Cammy, Blanka, M. Bison and several more. The game features a practice mode, single player campaign, and even Bluetooth multiplayer. It would have been nice to have the capability to play against other people via a wifi network connection, but hey; beggars can't be choosers, right? :)

Overall, this is a great title from the App Store. A little pricier than my usual app purchases, but I'm definitely happy with it. If you own an iDevice and love a good fighting title, check this one out!



App Store Link: http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/street-fighter-iv/id354655665?mt=8
Cost: $9.99
Rating: 5 out of 5.

 *Screen captures taken during play on my 2nd Generation iPod Touch.

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

MMO's: The States of Our Games

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The MMO scene has been very volatile as of late. With well-known games going F2P (free 2 play), the upcoming WoW expansion (Cataclysm), and even more news about Guild Wars 2. Anyone who has ever played an MMO (or any MMO's for that matter) can identify with the current environment we are seeing amongst the games we play.  And it is exciting.

A couple of years ago I started checking out F2P MMO's. I was interested in getting into an MMO with a good community and have some fun. This of course led me through the ranks of most of the popular free MMO's. Started with 'Last Chaos' and kept trucking through a little bit of Dungeons and Dragons OnlineRappelz, Atlantica Online and every other one in between.  Recently found a hidden gem in Allods Online, which even though I have had limited time in game; what I have played has been pretty fun. 

Turbine had converted Dungeons & Dragons Online to F2P, many people thought this was a brave move, and it could have went either way for the company.  How did they do it:  the gave the game away as a free download.  Implemented a cash shop where gamers could purchase items, character slots, new playable races, and mission packs that would unlock other parts of the game.  There is still a subscriber version that includes the mission packs and some other perks.  But for people starting out in the game and maybe limiting their cash spending for games.  This was a great solution.  And it worked for Turbine.

Worked so well for them that now they are taking 'Lord of The Rings Online' free to play as well.  Personally, I'm excited about this one.  I've wanted to play LOTRO for a little while now, and I just couldn't bring myself to another monthly subscription.  Subscription based games are fun, but they come with a sense of obligation.  Either I play a lot and get my monies worth, or I don't play and I lose the money.  That being said, I have spent extensive time in game in Warhammer Online, World of Warcraft, and Champions Online.  And each of these games are fun in their own rite.  However, after playing through the handful of starter levels I tend to find myself not having as much fun.  Because I know that to keep playing (usually past my first 30 days), it will cost me.  Maybe I'm cheap.  But I tend to think my gaming habits aren't constant.  I have several games that I like to play.  And don't like to dedicate any certain amount of time to any one certain game.  I play what I want to play, when I want to play it.  That's it. 

LOTRO isn't the only title going to F2P either.  Also recently announced was Everquest 2 (which will have some hyrbid F2P stuff going on) and Alganon are among the latest.  Which titles are going to be the next to conform to F2P?  Who knows.  But evidence shows, F2P isn't going anywhere, anytime soon.



The other hot topic right now is ArenaNet.  These guys have been pretty quiet about the upcoming sequel to Guild Wars until a few months ago.  They've been teasing us with concept art and concept visuals.  Then they released info on the playable races (which include the Charr this time around), and then they started teasing us with playable classes that are available.  Most recently they have released the 'ArenaNet MMO Manifesto'; which shows off all kinds of gameplay goodness.  From Charr's with guns, to Asuran's piloting Golems, to underwater gameplay footage.  On top of crazy combat visuals, and gorgeous environments, better graphics and the introduction of a persistant world (whereas the original Guild Wars was instanced outside of towns and outposts).  I know one thing for sure...When Guild Wars 2 finally hits the streets, I'll be in line to get my hands on it.

But until Guild Wars 2 hits, you can find me back in the original Guild Wars.  Until next time!  Happy surfing!