A week or two ago, I was browsing Reddit and came across a post from a developer who had some leftover codes for a game he had made with his friends. He was nice enough to pass a code to me as well as a few others. Feeling that no good deed deserves to go unnoticed, I felt that this game needed some light shone upon it. Behold to thy open eyes Cavemen VS Aliens.

Now before you get all gun ho on me, I don’t want you thinking of Cowboys & Aliens as that is a movie, has different letters in the title and was a complete waste of Daniel Craig’s talent. No, Cavemen VS Aliens is a simplistic RTS from the Xbox Live Indie Game section developed by WeAreColin. In the midst of working and being sick, I finally had a chance to play a few levels. Gameplay is broken down to this. There are four Pterodactyls. One carries cavemen to spots,One takes them back, one supplies them with rock and one with health. Each has a cool down time, so sometimes it is strategic to move men if you can’t heal them. You have to bring them to different zones to help capture the territory or defend it. Hold enough territory for a certain amount of time or kill all the attacking aliens and you win the round. Do I need to tell you that the aliens are bad and want turn the planet into a giant communication repeater that would kill all life? NO? Good!

Now I know what you are thinking, that this incredibly well drawn game sounds just too easy. Well I tell you that it is not and that I certainly struggled. As of right now, I have not made it very far at all, having only conquered the first three levels. My mission right now is to attack more points and, I think, leave the forest area. There are a few other types of environments and supposedly they affect gameplay, but I cannot tell you how yet. You see, even though I have a super powered caveman named Colin (the chief’s top hunter son who you can’t let die) I still seem to be overpowered. I haven’t figured out how many cavemen I need to placed in the zones before I attempt to take them over. Hopefully you do better. At least while doing so I am not looking at some horrendous art or listening to crappy music. No my friends, WeAreColin does not make you suffer visually or auditory.

So if you are thinking you want to pick this game up with a Pterodactyl of your own, swing by the Xbox Live Indie section and snag it for a $1 (80Msp if they haven’t changed the currency yet.) I found it fun and will continue to work towards redemption of my failure to complete it. Also, I’ve got my eye on the developer that dropped the loot in Reddit. He stated that besides being busy working on 100 player crowd games, he was about to release something for WP7. Ooh, mysterious.

If you had read the earlier article I posted, you would have know that last Sunday, the 29th, there was an online record attempt to have the most players online in a first person shooter. I myself was sick and woke up only few minutes too late to join in, but I think I would have had to been ready to click the button to join for hours as MuchDifferent filled all their slots fairly quickly, only shy of 1000 players during the duration, but well past the amount needed for a record. The CEO Christian Lönnholm had this to say, “It was amazing. We did not imagine the amount of interest that this game would generate, so the system went down shortly after we had reached the peak of 999 players. Within minutes we were able to adjust it, and the battle continued for about two hours more. Almost until the end we were averaging around 980 players at any given moment. It was a blast! Obviously, this would not have been possible without the players, so I’d like to send a special warm and loving ‘thank you’ to them! Thank you for bringing such creativity to both the battlefield and to the chat. You had me laughing, giggling and spilling coffee throughout the event!” It just goes to show that I missed out on a great event, but I look forward to seeing who picks up and uses their server technology in future games. They say it can be used in any game engine, but I wonder if any console developers would ever plan to use it. Here’s hoping!

While I agree that spreading the word about SOPA and PIPA is a great idea, I definitely do not agree with a complete blackout of the most widely used reference site. If I were running Wikipedia, I would have made it so users would have to click a button to continue to their information. Wikipedia itself has said that this is not a total blackout, as they are still making the site completely accessible to mobile users. Of course, who wants to look up that information on a tiny screen? (Unless you have a tablet of some sort.) Sort of changing information in Firefox to access the mobile version, I stumbled across a much easier way. I found it on a Dropbox users page and the site is HERE. However, here is the jist of it. Wikipedia is just using some CSS to cover the page you need. With a little javascript, that CSS can be blocked. So you just drag the javascript link on the DropBox site into your booklet or bookmarks on Firefox, and when you get to the wiki with a SOPA/PIPA blackout, just click it and it takes care of the hard work for you!
Enjoy, but do not forget the dreadful, evil thing that is hanging over our heads.

On Sunday January 29th at 7am Central time, I will be on my computer patiently waiting at MuchDifferent’s website trying to get into their world record attempt. First announced last year, the developer has finally said that it is time to participate in a record breaking event. The attempt takes a direct stab at record holding games such as MAG, which allows a max of 256 PlayStation 3 players online, and also Planetside, which can allow 399 players to be in the same zone at once. Now, they haven’t created a PS3 or PC game exactly, the match will take place via web browser only utilizing the newer Unity player with their simple game entitled Man vs Machine.

You might ask, “How is a 1000 players possible?”, and the answer is almost simple.  Well just a few years back, MuchDifferent was looking to solve technical challenges brought up by their friends at CCP and DICE, and came up with a way to scale virtual worlds. Their solution is the new PikoServer, a dynamic traffic router and load balancer that divides the battlefield between game servers and then stitches the results back together for the users. In fact, the world record attempt of 1000 players is only going to be spread across 8 servers all together.

Now here is something that I haven’t mentioned yet about Man vs Machine. The players will be split between gamers and developers. The gamers take on the side of  Man and will have a projectile that explodes with splash damage. Developers will play as machine, firing lasers that require precision aiming. Not only is this a once in a lifetime chance to help set a world record (there is no sequel planned), but also a chance to take devs down a notch or two.  Check out the trailer below and if you’re interested, be sure to be HERE when the timer runs out. Also, the game is free, but if you think this is going to be wildly popular and hard to get into, you can also purchase a ticket for $200 that guarantees you access as long as you are there when the timer runs down. The $200 goes directly to Engineers without Borders and is available on that site here. Hope to see you there!

So it came to pass that I had to do another G450 install on a Windows 7 machine, and when I went to Matrox’s web site, I still did not see drivers listed specifically for Windows 7. I did do some digging however, and found that this non-WHQL driver package works perfectly. It was listed as supporting “Windows Server 2003 x64, Windows XP x64, Windows Vista x64, Windows Server 2008 x64″. If it supports Server Win2k8 R2, it should also support Windows 7.

As luck would have it, the install went smoothly and I have a pair of the cards working in a brand new Core i5 machine as I type this.




Good luck!

Like an adventurer on a quest, we were sought out and eventually found in our unkempt chat room and were delivered the message of Dungeon Overlord. I have long since shot the messenger with an arrow to the knee and sent him to an early retirement. Of course, since then I have been stuck online like glue to rat fur playing my way through this new Facebook game from Night Owl Games.

Dungeon Overlord sets you as a dungeon keeper, starting you with a small lair deep in the mountains of the world. Of course, you are not alone as many other start in the same online world as you. Several other dungeons sit next to yours and hundreds of mountains and worlds exist. On the surface are townships and you evil leader are trying to conquer ALL of them. It is not often that a game puts you in the place of the megalomaniac evil villain role. Your first goal is to build up your dungeon and take down your nemesis that left you with just a few goblins to work with. This is the most clever way at a tutorial I have seen. Your first nemesis quest line gives you all the walk-throughs and rewards you could ever need to get started learning the game.

Soon you will be well on your way to understanding the mechanics of the game. How many goblins it takes to mine your ores and what tiles you need to build to upgrade a room. Resources do not come easy in this game and after attracting new minions you’ll need to send them to the surface to raid Elvish settlements in order to get the extra items you need. This will take time so sit back and look at what you can research next.

I know I am being vague about the game. It can be complex at times both to describe and play, yet the mechanics are simple enough that you will be finished with the tutorial mission in just a few days. I’ve been hooked on it for 3 weeks now and I can’t seem to find a reason to quit. It is just one of those perfect games that you can come back to time after time when you have a moment to check your Facebook. I honestly feel like I am so far behind from others who have already started well ahead of me. I’ve yet to join an alliance, but eventually I will be able to start one. I’m hoping I can rope my friends into playing and have them help harvest my farm and collect my gold for me. If I leave it laying about somebody might try to steal it from me. Luckily enough, I have one neighbor in my mountain that has called a truce with me and nobody else seems hostile yet.

Like a true evil genius, I am well on my way to claiming the mountain as my own and start charging rent. (Just like your parents will eventually due to your room.) For now, I am working towards my 20th level which will gain me my second chance at another dungeon and expand my empire even further. Night Owl Games has a FAQ if you need it and there is a forum available where people have shared tactics and knowledge if you want to learn more about the game. Check out the trailer below and then start playing at http://apps.facebook.com/dungeonoverlord. Warning!: This game is addictive and I will NOT be held responsible for your eventual unemployment due to playing at work nor any relationship dissolving. Play at your own caution!

There are 800 posts consisting of type this crap in terminal and you will have XBMC:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install xbmc

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade

 

Well sure, that was easy. Except when you try to run apt-get update you will notice a 404 on the sources you have added  that is because the lights are on but no ones home. Simple solution. Open up update manager, open settings, click on other software, and change your distro type from ‘oneiric’ to ‘maverick’

 

So here it is:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc

Change distro(see above oneiric to maverick)

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install xbmc

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade

 

You should be all set.

In the true spirit of what I used to do for my own blog, here is a code from Subway to play the multiplayer for Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception on the PS3. This is only good until 10/31 and then the early access will close up as the game revs up for retail sales.

D9JJ-KAN2-47??

Oh yes, I’ve left two of the letters hidden to make this somewhat fair for those that come across it a later than others, unless of course someone is just really smart.

Hint: LEAF the vowels behind.

Blackwater, aka Xe Services, is the private military firm that provides services the the United States government is such locations as Iraq. To me, that is a fancy way of saying “organized mercenaries”. Anyways, it might be fun to play as them, so 505 games is rolling out a Blackwater themed game that will give you the control free use of the Kinect on the Xbox 360. Here is a quick trailer that seems to show how intense the game play could be.

The TV cartoon Ugly Americans tends to be one of my secret pleasures. If I spot it on, I’ll generally flip to it and watch the crazy antics of a guy trying to be a monster social worker. Not to mention the fact that it is kinda cool that his girlfriend is a demon. His co-worker is a wizard who more often than naught acts like a drunken stage magician (probably because more often than naught he IS drunk). Of course, I hadn’t realized just exactly I would be in for by picking up my PS3′s controller and firing up Ugly Americans: Apocalypsegeddon.

A small intro plays that basically tells me that the world is doomed and I have to save it. Standard everyday crisis, right? Anyways, you’re given a weapon that fires anything you put into it and that means ANYTHING. Baseballs, paint-cans, tennis balls, and wrenches will all become your weapons of monster fighting destruction. My first case I took on, playing as Mark the social worker, was to stop the man birds. I made the mistake of playing this while in the company of my fiancee, who was promptly disgusted by the man birds. The man birds walk around flinging filth, dropping shit bombs and  curse the daylight out of anyone in their presence. Such vulgarities as “suckmacoch”  and others forced her to flee the room. Mission successful.

The graphics and auditory enhancements stay true to the series, as well it should. These are the same voice actors as the show has and I would be curious to know if the developer, 345 games, hired any of the animators to help. I question that simply because they nailed the animation style. The story line takes the same trepidations and offensiveness that the show puts out. Quite frankly, it is apparent that this is one of the secret pleasures that should stay secret in my household. I like that I don’t have to keep it secret if I have like minded friends, as the game allows for 4-players.

If you’re a fan of the show, this game is a must for you to get. Enjoy your zombie, demon, and man bird fighting either on PSN or XBLA for only $9.99. Simply put, if you don’t buy it I well send you a man bird to raise as your own and wreck havoc on your social life.*

*This offer is not valid as man birds do not exist, but you get the point!