Create Team Fortress 2 Weapons and Hats!

I heard about this on a podcast a couple of weeks ago (I think it was the PC Gamer Podcast, but don't quote me on that).  And I was blown away.  The guys at Valve have done it again.  They are constantly doing things to Team Fortress 2 to spice it up.  On top of the Steam Achievements, they have added all of those random weapon drops to the game.  Which include better weapons for about every class in the game.  Then they started giving us hats to replace the original headwear on the game models.  So, what next?

How about letting us design our own weapons, hats, and avatars.  Valve said 'Sure'.  So check it out: http://www.teamfortress.com/contribute/.  That's right, pretty cool.  According to their site, the submitted weapons will be for the model only. The game's devs will then work the model into the game in way 'that makes sense' to help keep the game balanced.  They also have posted the requirements for submitting an item to the for approval. 

Keep up the great work Valve!

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Team Fortress 2 Fun!

Hi,
Just a quick note, this afternoon I was playing a little Team Fortress 2.  Usually I stick to the stock maps (2Fort, Turbine, SawMill, etc.).  I usually don't deviate too much into community made maps (of course I haven't played TF2 in a while anyways).  But this afternoon I figured I'd give another map a try.  When I loaded up the game (PC Version) I clicked on 'Find Servers' and scrolled down to the bottom of the list and I found a handful of people playing a map called '2Fort-2012'.  This picked my curiousity.

After jumping into the map, I immediately loved it.  I'm a big fan of the original 2Fort map, and I must be honest.  I haven't played any of the custom 2Fort maps.  But this one was fun.  As you can see from the pic above the maker(s) of the map did quite a bit to change it up.  The signature covered bridge from the original 2Fort has been twisted sideways.  But that's not all.  They also killed the lights on much of the map making it a lot fun to play as a Spy.  The usual load of Snipers and Scouts are still present because the map is in fact identical to the layout of the original 2Fort map.

The Hayroom has a Spy lodged in the floor from where a cross beam from the ceiling has fallen on him.  There are also casualties of the '2012' disaster all over the map.  From dead medics and engineers outside the Intelligence rooms on each side, but also a Medic impaled on a telephone pole as well.  There are also scenes of destruction from within the hallways of each base.  There is now debris littered about the area and a couple nooks and hiding places that have been blown away during the disaster.

While playing this map, I heard a lot of people in the game complaining about the level's darkness and the debris causing issues with moving around the map.  Personally, I didn't experience any of that.  The map is dark for a reason (to set the mood) and the overall redesign was a much needed change from the same-old-same-old.  If you play TF2, check it out sometime!

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My First Gameplay Footage Uploaded to Youtube Today!

As a result of being bored last night, I started playing around with FRAPS ( an awesome screen recording tool).  This afternoon I decided to play some more 'Crysis: Warhead'; which I have been trying desperately to finish so I can move on to another game guilt free.  And while playing with FRAPS active I caught a bug in the game purely by accident and at the time I had just started recording with FRAPS.



I located this bug during the Mission 5: Below the Thunder;  towards the end of the 'Find The Loading Terminal' assignment.  One of the last KPA encampments you encounter before starting down the Terminal corridor (this encampment is right at the end of the mine/cave you are in.  There are several conveyor belts around this area and heavy mining equipment.  There is also a small weapons cache right in the middle of this room (during the clip I am standing right behind the weapons cache.  If you take 2 to 3 steps to the right of this spot, you'll fall through the floor.  After falling through it, I went back to verify that there is floor there, and there is.  But it isn't solid.  The second time ended much the same way.

I'm having a blast playing with FRAPS, and I look forward to bringing a review shortly (after I've had time to make some more video clips to get the feel for the program).  Enjoy!

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Screenshot of the Week: Crysis Warhead

While playing Crysis Warhead this evening I thought I'd take a couple random screen captures using the good old 'Prt Scr' key on my keyboard.  During one of the cinematics I happened to unintentionally catch Sergeant 'Psycho' Sykes striking a pose.  Check it out:

Crysis Warhead is a standalone expansion for the original Crysis.  I picked up the Crysis: Maximum Edition several months ago.  The Maximum Edition includes the original Crysis, Crysis Warhead, and Crysis Wars (for online fans).  In my opinion I have gotten loads of fun out of that $40.

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This Month's Free 2 Play Game Review: Runes of Magic

As promised, I have spent some time in Frogster's Runes of Magic.  I had been hesitant to jump into 'Runes of Magic' for one simple reason, I had read a lot of reviews and comments on the game and everybody seemed to have the same impression, that it was attempting to be a WoW clone.  I had even tried out the game a while back (during the summer of 2009) and I just couldn't seem to get into the game.  So I left after playing for a few days.  Now I have returned to Taborea to give it a fair chance.  And I'm glad that I did.  After spending the last 20 or so days running around ingame and doing most all of the missions in the starting area and picking my second class I think it's fair to say that I have been able to actually see what the game has in store for new players.  Click below to see read my impressions of the game!

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Captain Forever! Awesome Free Game!

Ok everybody, one last post for the night then it's off to bed for me.  This evening I stumbled upon a crazy addictive game.  It's called Captain Forever.  It is a browser based game with an extremely simple concept.  Build a ship.  Check it out.  This screen is from the start of the game.

The red block with a heart in it is your 'player'.  You then click and drag the green blocks towards your player.  They will 'fuse' to your player and become part of your ship.  The blocks are 'Girder's and allow you to increase the size of your ship.  The small bracket shapes are boosters and allow your ship to speed up.  The smaller 'star with a stick' (seen floating just above the player in the screen to the left) are weapons. 

As you encounter other ships you get into firefights with them.  To destroy them you have to hit the red 'enemy player' that makes up the heart of their ship.  Once destroyed you can collect any other their remaining blocks that weren't destroyed in the fight.  Allowing you to upgrade your ship.  As you can see the blocks in the picture are green.  Green is the weakest set of blocks you can find.  They have ranging durability determined by color (green, yellow, purple, red, etc.)

In the picture to the right you can see my ship in a fight with a much smaller ship.  I won by the way.  One of the interesting things about this game is the way it demonstrates a type of physics.

If you have a ship that has two blocks on each side, much like in the picture.  And you place one booster on the end block, and don't place any other boosters on the ship.  It will start to 'pull' to one side and eventually turn accordingly.  So the player has to balance the structure of the ship while fighting other ships and expanding.  And in the heat of battle, if you happen to loose a weapon, adding one during a fight can have you on the edge of your seat.

Long story short, if you're looking for a simple time waster.  Drop by: http://www.captainforever.com/captainforever.php and give it a try.  It also has Facebook features as well.  Check it out!

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Dark Void Demo Review

After playing through the 'Dark Void' PC Demo.  I've come to a few conclusions.  First, let me say that this review is purely for the PC Demo of this game.  Not the console versions.  I have an Xbox 360, but to be honest I have been too lazy to try it out on the 360.  From what I have read, it plays very well on the console.  But personally, I cannot attest to that fact.

The basic plot of the game is that your character got lost in the Bermuda Triangle and was pulled through a void which dumps him into another dimension, where his plan proceeds to break down.  He stumbles across some refugees who want to get back home to our dimension.  But these creepy robot creatures called 'Watchers' stand in the way. And somewhere in the mix Nikola Tesla makes an appearance.  (Unfortunately, most of this isn't seen in the demo).

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Free 2 Play...

This month I have decided to startup a monthly feature based on Free 2 Play games. What kind of game qualifies as 'Free 2 Play'? Any game which offers a free client to download (or in some cases browser based), and does not charge a monthly subscription fee to play. Games that offer a 'Cash Shop' or 'RMT Transactions', but still offer a free game client/no subscription fees will be reviewed as well.

My goal is to go out and try a new game every month which falls under the 'Free 2 Play' category. Then I will come back and post my impressions of the game (good and bad) and other info that might help the gamer on a budget make up their mind as to which game they should look into. As well as giving a quick insight into how the community within the game handles new players.

These games will be pulled from every popular genre available (not just MMO). There are plenty of online first person shooters, racing games, and fantasy MMO's out there for just about anybodies taste. With times as tough as they are for many fellow gamers, I'm here to try and help.

By the end of the week, I will post the first in this series. It will cover my month in 'Runes of Magic'. So check back soon for more info!

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Is That A Webserver In Your Pocket...?

I have recently found myself in a position where I needed a way to edit a website/CMS solution when offline. I have a friend who has asked me to lend a hand on designing their new website. So instead of throwing up a half-finished website online and progressively working on it, I needed a way to do testing on the design and the CMS (Content Management System) that they will be using. The people who will in turn be updating the website aren't website designers. So they need a simple means to an attractive solution.

Enter XAMPP. XAMMP makes it extremely easy to setup and use an Apache Webserver and utilize PHP and MySQL features. Therefore simulating a webserver environment. Great idea! Offline testing for a web design. Next project, make it portable.

Again; no worries here, XAMPP has a 'lite' version that makes installation to a USB Flash Drive extremely simple. All you need is a USB Flash Drive (or external hard drive), a computer, and XAMPP lite. For sake of being simple, I downloaded the XAMPP Lite self installer package. Once the download is complete, locate the saved file and double click it.

The XAMPP setup will start. Make sure your flash drive is connected to your computer, and when the XAMPP setup applet starts you'll be prompted to 'Choose A Destination Folder'. Use the 'Browse' button to locate the flash drive's directory you wish to install to.

Then click 'Install'. That's it. After a few minutes, you'll be in business with an offline webserver that you can take with you.

Once you get the XAMPP Webserver setup, I found it handy to setup a shortcut to the 'xampp-control' app on the root directory of my flash drive (i.e.: E:/xammp). Especially since I use my flash drive for other things as well. This keeps me from having to search for the program to start up my webserver when I want to use it.

After installing XAMPP to my flash drive, I was able to test it by first going to: http://localhost/xampp/ which is the XAMPP setup page to use after installing XAMMP. From here you have access to 'phpMyAdmin' to setup the databases that will be used for your CMS.

In my case I wanted to play around with Wordpress. So I downloaded the Wordpress CMS software from: http://wordpress.org/. Once the download is complete, simply unzip the contents of the ZIP file to your XAMPP directory's 'htdocs' file. This will act as your 'WWW" folder. Once unzipped, edit the 'wp-config-sample' file with your MySQL database username and password. Then follow the next couple of prompts to complete the Wordpress setup.

Other Content Management Systems will be setup using the same basic process. Log in to phpMyAdmin and setup a database for your desired CMS, then use that database information for your CMS. Then you can test your site, site theme, and site's functionality without uploading to your webhost.

Please note, there are a handful of programs just like XAMPP out there, XAMPP is the one I choose to use and have become familiar with. Also, it's free! Enjoy!

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This Week In Techie News

This week in the news we have several stories that have hit pretty big.
- Apple Itunes and 'The Cloud' could it be?
-Skype Rules...Long Distance Sucks.
-Ubuntu 10.04 Alpha is now available.

First up, a few months ago Apple 'acquired' Lala (a streaming music service). This led to a whole bunch of speculation for Itunes user's. The most popular being that Itunes would support streaming audio now. According to an article over at AppleInsider word on the street is that Apple may instead take a 'cloud based storage' approach to user's Itunes library. Making it simple to use Lala's technology to upload a user's music/media library to their dedicated section in an online storage area devoted to Itunes users. This would allow that user to login to a 'web based Itunes' from any computer with an internet browser, and be able to playback that stored media.

Great idea, but a couple of things to think about. Most Itunes user's have a massive amount of media stored on their machines. This would essentially take a long time to backup online. Also, how would files not purchased via Itunes fair during this backup process? Food for thought. For more info, checkout this article.


Next up, Skype rules. Yep, we knew that. Skype is a fun program to use. It's versatile and cheap. For those who don't know, Skype offers a VOIP (Voice-Over-I-P) telephony service. You can make calls through Skype to other Skype user's free of charge. You can also setup a Skype-Out account which grants you access to voicemail features, calling to landlines and mobile phones, and several other handy features. Best of all, it's extremely cheap. Great for keeping in touch with family, and to use when traveling.

And according to this article at the Washington Post, Skype is the leading provider of over seas communications. And with many new cellphones utilizing Wifi networks as well as 3G Data networks, many people are able to use Skype's mobile offering to save money in the long run via their mobile phones. Great news for Skype, and it's users!


And finally this week, for all of the Linux fans out there. Ubuntu 10.04 Alpha is now available. So go check it out if you like: http://distrowatch.com/?newsid=05868

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Dark Void Demo is Live

Hey everybody,
Just a quick note to let everyone know that the DarkVoid demo is now live. So go and download it. It is available for the PC, Xbox 360, and Playstation 3!

http://www.darkvoidgame.com/demo/

Look for my first impression in a day or so, after I've had several chances to play through the demo.

Enjoy!

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Minutes to Midnight..And the Wii

This morning at 10:00a EST (3:00p GMT) there will be a live streaming event from the New York Academy of Sciences, looks as though the hands on the Doomsday clock are being moved again. Which way will they go? Tune in to find out. The streaming event can be found at: http://www.turnbacktheclock.org/

When the Doomsclock was first setup it was set as as icon upcoming world catastrophe by nuclear threat. That was in 1947. And since the clock has been moved less than 20 times. Now the clock is more a symbol of threats such as nuclear, global warming, and other such threats. For more information on the history of the clock, check out this really good article which was featured on Google News this morning. ABCNews: Doomsday Clock to Be Moved


And on a lighter note, all you fans of the Nintendo Wii and Netflix. Rest assured, you have not been forgotten. Now that the 360 and PS3 both have Netflix streaming features, so do you. Looks like this spring, Netflix members will be able to stream to the Wii console. Article

Ok, great. But one request Nintendo. Before the end of the world, could you please release a firmware update that unlocks the Wii's dvd player without having to do a softmod? It just makes sense.

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New Goals for This Year

Just a real quick update of some features I hope to implement over the next month or two here on TechieSmarts. Please feel free to leave comments and let us know what you think.

-Each month I plan on giving an in-depth review of a Free 2 Play game. Why? Well, with the job market the way it is, there are a lot of people who simply cannot afford (or like me, just refuse to) pay a monthly fee for a game. And with so many Free 2 Play games out there, it's confusing to find a good place to jump in. So I will do my best to help clear the water's on this genre of games. I've already started with this month's game, so check back in a week or so for my review/impressions of 'Runes of Magic'.

-Continue the weekly news segments, and increase coverage of Open Source Software and why it is the way of the computing future.

-Podcast reviews for great Tech Podcasts for fellow Techies.

If anyone has more/better ideas I would love to hear them.

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