Far too much crotch in that news post pic..

Anyway!  There be a reworked HTSF intro, and all new end of set outro.

Calm down!  You’ll bust both left and right nuts, especially upon hearing you can see the full HTSF intro background picture by clicking read more!

Here she be!  It’s 2.2 meg, so the bandwidth shy have been warned.

And here’s the video, in-case ya missed it.

Yep, it took fuckin’ hours to add all the tape! HOURS!

Why’ve I reformatted, or more importantly, why would one feel the need to tell anyone about such a unspectacular event?

Windows 7 evaluation copy dun broke!

Or it will in 2 weeks time anyway…

You have to give Microsoft some honest praise for once, they’ve done a good job with Win7, and an even better job by letting people effectively have a copy for free for the past 9ish months.

I tried it, I liked it, I’ve got it as my primary OS again without a second thought.

They’ve even been very lenient when it’s come time to get those evaluation copies off people’s PCs (in my opinion, not everyone agrees).  A warning popped up to me yesterday, saying in 14 days time, the PC would begin rebooting every 2 hours until I upgraded to a retail edition.

They’d made it clear from day one that from the beginning of March, you’d need a retail copy of Win7, or to go back to yer old OS, but it’s nice to have that reminder.  Hell, even if you wait till March, the worst that’ll happen for a month is the bi-hourly, non work saving shutdowns, before Win7 will outright refuse to work at the beginning of April.

Win7′s been available to buy for a long time now, so there’s no real reason to keep whoring the RC version to the point of being anywhere near those shutdowns, hence, imo, it’s very lenient, giving people that don’t want to format and just upgrade, plenty of time and ability to do so.

I’d really recommend Win7 to anyone wanting to upgrade from XP.  Don’t get me wrong, I was a pretty big XP fanboy, but Win7, despite looking like Vista, is nothing remotely close to Vista.  It’s a solid successor to the aging XP, and short of your PC not being powerful enough, and hence better to stick on XP for the rest of it’s lifespan, I see no reason for Windows based users to move over to Win7.

Win7′s biggest problem for me, was programs like Nero/Vegas and 1 or two other things that didn’t have Win7 compatability last year.. those issues have been long since rectified now, and I think you’ll honestly struggle to get anything that would work on XP or Vista, to not work on Win7.

Hell, if yer CPU is new enough and supports it, you can run an XP visualisation (I think that’s what they call it, seems like an XP emulator that needs a specific CPU feature to me) for those fairly rare programs that demand only XP.

Highly recommended, but don’t forget to put Win7′s theme to Windows Classic so you can get that good old XP vibe!

After a rather unfortunate experience with Global Agenda (horrid fames per second, their problem not mine.. something to do with the UT3 engine on certain hardware), which was gonna be my primary game for the next unspecified months, I sought another game to fill the void.

I’d watched through the Star Trek films recently in their entirety, yep, even the crap ones, so Star Trek Online didn’t have to convince me much.. buy now play the beta? sold. (note, the beta ended Tuesday.. headstart for preorders begin Friday)

So, STO, any good?

Logic (be prepared for an onslaught of geekery should I do any vids on STO, it’s already repelling Claire) would have me wait until release for a full verdict, and that’s exactly what i’m doing.

STO seems both story driven, but also very re-roll unfriendly. There’s only 3 starting classes, Tactical Officer, Engineering Officer and Science Officer. Now, those rolls can be customized quite wildly, from a huge array of skills to a huge array of uniform/ship/even race customization, but at first glance, it doesn’t seem like you’d develop ‘class envy’ as you would in a regular MMO, and be rerolling said class in order to taste the greener grass.

As such, i’ve limited how much i’ve played the game, as i’d far prefer to wait a week until the game’s full release rather than repeating content, so do bear that in mind in my preview, as i’ve only clocked in about 5-6 hours.

Players of City of Heroes/Villains, or Champions Online, will recognise the artisans of STO (as well as the engine). Cryptic do either a great, or terrible job at MMOs, depending on your taste. For me personally, I think they’re a great company that’re skilled at making MMOs without the use of a cookie cutter, and for someone like me that’s seen and played practically every MMO during the past 13+ years, then they’re a welcome MMO developer.

STO plays exactly how I expected a Cryptic game to.. very unorthodox. Two thirds of the game take place in space using very simplified (thank god) space sim esque controls/mechanics. Considering it’s Star Trek, you’d expect it to be very technical and probably difficult, but I can guarantee it’s much simpler than you’d imagine. The last third takes place on foot, which plays like your typical MMO with a bit of toned down Champions Online thrown in there.
Ground combat is satisfactory, nothing amazing, but it’s quite entertaining and streamlined. Space combat is where the game shines however, though I think it’s more fun to play than to watch, as Claire seemed almost in tears due to boredom. I find it very strategic for an MMO, which is a breath of fresh air. Diverting power to the area of shields getting pounded, moving so that you can keep focusing on the side of their ship you’re damaging and break through their shields (while they try to force you to hit a side that has a fresh shield), switching power priorities between offense/defense/speed/etc as well an array of other tactical mechanics make the space combat quite engaging for me. It’s a nice balance of gameplay vs complexity that doesn’t get too complicated, which usually turns me off space sims.

The geek in me goes in to overtime when playing the space game though.. you’ll see what I mean when the videos start emerging, and then be thankful you’re not Claire and have to put up with it constantly.

Sanity integrity breached! Divert all power to forward eyeballs!

Graphically, STO is no surprise to me. It utilizes the Champions Online engine, which, other than excessive amounts of lighting in Champions, I had no problem with. The engine is slick running, visually acceptable for modern standards and does the job just fine. What was also not much of a surprise, was how nice space looks in STO. For some reason, I find how space is depicted in games (such as Eve Online) really beautiful, and i’m prone to just floating around randomly, taking all the sights in.

Moving on to PvP, there’s not much I can say about it from first hand experience. You have to be a certain level before you can queue for PvP, which I never reached (don’t worry though, it’s not a high level, I was probably about 30-60 minutes short of being able). I watched a fair few videos on YT though, and the PvP seems to follow the PvE in regards to having ship and ground based PvP.

The ground based PvP looks mildly Warcraftian, with it’s arenas/battlegrounds, seeing the Federation square off against the Klingons. For the space PvP, the same factions go at it, in what appears to be a very Arathi Basin affair (capture the points to increase the speed your team gains points up to a certain limit). So it all looks good so far, though i’ve heard problems about Klingons being underpowered, and hence not many people play them, leading to very long PvP queue times for Federation players.

I’m 100% sure STO will have it’s share of problems/questionable mechanics once I get my teeth really sunk in to it (the learning curve/lack of clarity on where to go sometimes is one that instantly strikes me), which will be this Friday once the headstart weekend for preorders begins.

After i’ve got some time and experience under my belt, i’ll be sure to write up a full and proper review.

Make it so!

Little did the SNES know however, a real giant of gaming was about to dethrone it, and every future console. (continued from part 2)

During the last few months of the SNES’ run, something had caught my interest, and I was chasing it as rapidly as a whippet does a fake rabbit.

The PC.

The PC seemed all powerful, yet mystical at the same time.  It had the utility of the Amiga/a computer, yet it also appeared to have better games than the SNES.  How had a home device gotten better gaming than a SNES without me knowing about it?

Well, nobody knew about PCs.  There wasn’t many PC mags at the time, and you sure as hell didn’t see PCs in yer average store.  Home PCs were in their infancy, as was PC gaming.

So, the X-mas when I was 10 (3 parts and i’m only 10?), I got my first PC.

Now, I was a master of present guessing.  One look, or worst case scenario, one shake of a wrapped goodie, and i’d tell you exactly what it was, or certainly in the ball park.  Knowing this, my parents made me sleep next door X-Mas eve at my best friends.  Talk about shit?  Who wants to sleep at someone else’s house on Christmas?

I knew something was afoot, and afoot it was.  The PC was so epicly large, one huge box for the flatbed, and 1 huge box for the monitor, that i’d have smelled the PC without even seeing it had they put it under the tree.. or rather, put the tree on top of the PC.

So, on X-mas morning, I opened the 1 present they’ve given to take with me.  It was a PC magazine, so I was super stoked knowing a shiny PC was awaiting me next door.

Then a thought occurred to me.  You’ll remember in a previous part, where I said my Dad always made me have 1 pc/console at once, not multiple.  If I wanted something else, I sold/traded my old thing to go towards it (which is fair enough imo).  So I thought, “What about the Amiga?” (this was probably the first time i’d thought about it in over a year).

It was at this point, I noticed some of the presents under next door’s tree.  Some of the shapes looked familiar.. real familiar.  Disk box familiar.

My brow raised, having almost pieced together the puzzle/fate of the Amiga.  It was going to my friend, who’d grown weary of the Amiga at the same time I had (due to him being round my house a lot during those years), and would not have been amazingly stoked to be getting my old computer, let alone when I now had a PC.

I’ll never forget how it went down.

He started opening one of the disk boxes, and I could tell he had his suspicions by now as well.

“You havn’t.. you havn’t.” he said, peeling more paper away, until he saw my disk box full of games, labeled in my hand writing.

“You have.” was the disheartened sentence upon full realisation.

An old Amiga, with a printer that barely had enough ink left to print a page or two, and though a staggering library of games, they had been played to death long since.

One of, if not THE best X-Mas for me, was one of his worst, through no fault of mine, though certainly connected.

I say it was one of his worst X-Mas’, because the poor guy had a worse one (off topic much?).

The X-Mas previous, he got a lamp.  A bit harsh for a kid for sure, but what was even harsher was our school teacher.

The teacher was going around the class, asking what we’d gotten for Christmas.  Everyone said their thing, until it got to his turn.  Originally he refused to say, but the teacher forced it outta him.

“I got a lamp.”

The class lol’d, and I outright pissed myself (rotten ass kids) at that point, barely struggling to contain myself during the inquisition already due to knowing the answer/probable result.

“No, what was your main or best present.”  she continued.

“I just got a lamp.” he replied.

At this point, the teacher was furious.  The guy had already annoyed her daily, being a bit of a class joker and all, and she saw this as yet another joke to get a laugh outta the class, and promptly told him to get out the class so she could yell the shit outta him in the corridor.

I’ll always be the first to admit, I had a lucky/great childhood.

To get back on topic, I rushed around to my house as soon as they’d let me, to find the two monstrously sized boxes containing the PC, and a couple of games.

Just put in the game and it’ll play right?  WRONG.

It’d been a while since i’d handled a computer requiring long winded/complex commands (the Amstrad) to get anything running.  Everything since the NES/Amiga days had just been ‘put the game in and play’.

I spent the first day fumbling around in DOS, barely managing to get games to run.  Thank god the PC magazine had demo disks, and instructions on running them, otherwise i’d have been clueless.

It got to the second day, and my Mum was curious to the new device, and sat down to give it a try.

To this day, i’ve no idea what she did, or what happened, but that PC never turned on again.  I don’t think there was anything she could have done to cause that, and was probably just a hardware problem.

Either way, the PC went back, and I spent a few days awaiting a new one.

It was worth the wait (kinda), as the new PC was a 486 Packard Bell (yuck), compared to the original 386 no brand.

That Packard Bell was problematic from start to finish.  It had to go back to the shop like 3-4 times during it’s life, and made my parents comment on how they’d never have got me a PC if they’d have known the trouble it’d be.

Fair enough, it was a pain in the ass for sure, and Packard Bell were just useless/clueless.  Even to this day, i’d steer anyone that asks me away from a Packard Bell.

The PC was seriously powerful by the way.  We’re talking 400 MB hard drive and 2 meg of RAM powerful, with just a disk drive (no CD drive) and PC speaker sound!  Awesome stuff, but I knew no better at the time, nor was there much better.

Games were handled entirely in DOS, even though Windows 3.11 had come in.  Windows was loaded only for file management and the odd other task, and wasn’t really that useful for a gamer yet.

DOS, though I have nostalgic fondness of, was an utter nightmare at the time.  Running games/navigating around became second nature, but certain things, such as needing a specific amount of a specific type of memory (EMS/XMS) was a real bastard.  Setting up hardware, such as a mouse, or sound card, wasn’t a 5 second task either.

These days for me were the slow start of something that still dominates my daily life today.

I’d spend a lot of the time on the PC, but my SNES still had a place, as even though games like DooM and such were awesome, the overall polish (sound, control, visual quality) wasn’t quite there yet.

I started reading about CD-ROMs (lol), and how they were like 600+ meg compared to the meagre 1.4 meg diskette, and so games could be put entirely on to one CD (as opposed to like 10+ disks), as well as being much larger/better.

Sound cards were also kicking off, with cards like the Sound Blaster 16 decimating the competition/sound cardless PCs.

So one day, my Mum took me to a shop, and bought me what is probably the best overall bundle of stuff i’ve ever had.

It was some kinda Creative mega pack, containing a Sound Blaster 16, a 2x CD-ROM drive (TWICE as fast as old CD-ROM drives!), a PC joystick, and about 7 games.  The price?  200 quid, or so my Dad was told.  It was actually 300 quid, EX VAT.  You can get a full quad core pc for that nowadays ;)

In one instant, i’d gone from multiple disk, restricted in quality games, to FMV sporting/power game CDs.  It’d also brought me from PC speaker beeps and boops, to full blown 16 bit music/sound.

PC gaming had now not only caught up the SNES, but hugely surpassed it at the same time.  The sound was the same/better, the graphic capability was already superior, and it now had CDs, with fancy cut scenes and completely unique games the SNES could only dream of/fail to replicate properly (Theme Park for example).

The SNES had followed the same path as the Amiga, and was packed away until it was eventually donated.  The Gameboy followed the same donation path, except after the SNES strangely.

The PC had got me good now.  It’s fangs had sunk deep, and it’s jaw was made of the strongest steel.. it was never gonna release it’s grip.  17 years later, and it’s only become tighter.

I could go through a history of my PCs.. the jump from 486s to Pentiums, the advent of 3D acceleration in games, the glory days of Quake leading into online gaming, as well as all the consoles i’ve had during the years and even gaming sponsorships.

The article however, as the title says, is the beginning of the end.  Everything prior to the PC, was setting up a stage and nurturing a fascination of computers and gaming.  Once the PC came, the show had both started, and finished at the same time.  Never again would I look elsewhere for my primary entertainment, not even the newest released consoles, which were usually bought only for very specific and a very low number of games.

PC gaming today is stronger than it’s ever been, and even with piracy and companies preferring consoles, it’s not going anywhere soon.  Even if PC gaming does decline, the function of a PC overall will not.

That’s why I love the PC more than I can ever love a console.  It doesn’t just give me the best of gaming, it gives functions than consoles can only dream about, and I don’t just mean web browsing (which still isn’t great on a console).  There’s a list of functions a PC can do, that’s not only long, but doesn’t need me to spam.

A person will get as much out of a PC as they want to get.  I’ve always strived to get as much as I can alongside of a gaming passion, which is thanks to my Dad.  Without him, i’d not be writing this, I wouldn’t have bothered to find different ways to utilize the PC (video making/etc) and you’d have never met me.  My life would have been different in ways I can’t even imagine, other than the fact everything I am, everyone I know, and everything i’ve done wouldn’t be the same or even close.

I suspect there’s something about me that naturally draws me to gaming and computers, but my Dad’s hindsight to nurture that, has given me my current lives entertainment, intelligence, some morals and a creative outlet.

I’d thank him for that, and shake his hand if I could, as you can’t be given better, or more, from a parent.

Here’s to another 23 years of gaming!  It wouldn’t surprise me :]

To the SNES days! (continued from part 1)

The SNES days was easily my favourite console era, hands down.  From the moment I got one, it shelved my Amiga for the rest of the time I had it (i’ll mention how I ‘parted ways’ with it later).

My Dad was originally against me getting a SNES.  I think he figured it’d do exactly what it did, and make the Amiga collect dust.  I mentioned before that he was an advocate of me using computers, for the ability to not just play games, but to utilize everything else (paint programs, music, typing etc), so pure gaming consoles never sat as well as a computer did with him.

So almost a year passed by since the SNES got released, and I wasn’t happy!  That was the least of my concerns though, as 1 week before Christmas, my Dad had gone to the Isle of Wight (a small island just off England) to visit my brother and his family.  A couple of days in, he had a heart attack (not the first by far, nor the last), so me and my Mum had to go down there to see him in hospital/spend x-mas there/come back home with him when he was well again.

Now, my Granddad was a real champion.  His generosity and kind heart was always noticed and I really couldn’t have asked for a better role model.  I think him and my Dad had spoken about the SNES, my Dad knowing i’d ask my Granddad for one for X-Mas, and my Dad also knowing my Granddad would get one for me without a second thought.  However, the circumstances were altered a bit by a kid’s X-Mas not only being ruined, but having his Dad in hospital (quite seriously ill) as well, so he caved.

Upon being surprised/presented with a SNES, which included Star Fox (aka Star Wing in Europe), my jaw hit the floor so hard it left structural damage.  It certainly took a lot of the bite outta my disrupted X-Mas, meaning my only worry was my Dad getting better.

So I had a day of playing my shiny (and given early) SNES, before it was off to the Isle of Wight.

I saw my Dad in hospital, played some games with Jason (my bro) and other than getting probably the worst sore throat ever due to attending midnight mass (the first and last i’ll ever go to) with their stupid amounts of incense, it wasn’t too bad an X-Mas.  My Dad got released soon after, and we came back home.

I’ll always remember me and Jason being on a SNES game rental rampage, to the point he even bought an American converter just to play some games (it was some kinda weird game import/rental/trade store).  I’ll also remember the look on my Dad’s face when he found out I had a SNES.. ‘you crafty bastard, lliam’ was the impression I got, and in a way, he was right.  Even then, my love for gaming would make me grasp at any chance to obtain or play a console/game, regardless of the morals or wishes of anyone.

I was a kid though, and slack should be cut as such.  That kinda thing is featherweight compared to what kids do nowadays.

Anyway (back on topic), the SNES was gaming entertainment in it’s purest form.  The platformers were fantastic, the RPGs were engaging and the fighting games were the best I had access to (and though inferior to their arcade counterparts, they were more than satisfying).

The SNES ruled supreme for a long time, and I enjoyed everything about it, down to a loyal monthly acquisition of any SNES magazine (perticularly NMS, Nintendo Magazine System).

The SNES lasted from my primary school, into the first few months of high school.  I remember sitting in some kinda aptitude test (so they could figure out what ability set to put you in for each subject.. like 1-3, 1 being for pros, 3 being for noobs etc), and throughout most of the test, I was looking out the window, engaged in thought, trying to solve a serious conundrum…

I know I need a grappling hook for Samus (Super Metroid), but where the hell is it?  I’ve been everywhere!

Indeed it was a perplexing issue.  On a side note, I scored in the top tiers for those tests.. somehow.

During the SNES era, I was lucky enough to go to Florida twice, once at 9, once at 10.  Most kids would save up to buy toys there, or spend it on crap.  Not me though, I saved up with just 1 intended goal…

To go to the Florida mall, and spend every last buck on SNES games, which is exactly what I did both times.

The first time I went, if memory serves correct, I bought Mortal Kombat 2 and Chrono Trigger.  They weren’t even released in the UK yet, and even when CT was released, finding it was fucking hard.

The second time, I got Yoshi’s Island 2 (s’alright, but not an all time classic), and Super Street Fighter 2, which just ruled, nuff said.  Super Street Fighter 2 was a bit funny though, and had some kinda regional protection on it though.  I couldn’t get it to work with my converter, so I took it to exchange it at a shop, hoping they wouldn’t notice (lol).  The guy knew the protection on that cart, and said to me about a new converter that works with these kinda games.

At that point, due to actually wanting to play SSF2, I had to look a bit silly and say that in reflection, i’d rather not trade it now and instead buy this fancy converter you speak of.  Transparent would be the word.

The most memorable games for the SNES era for me, would have to be Secret of Mana (I still love that game to death even now), Chrono Trigger (exactly the same as SoM in regards to timeless love), Zelda 3 (if the previous 2 games were 10/10, Zelda 3 only just fell short, at a 9.5/10) and Mario All Stars (due to me missing out on a lot of the NES Marios, All Stars brought me up to speed).

On the subject of timeless love for CT/SoM, you know you had some of the best times of yer life with a game (that might be lame, but true), when you remember a game, and it makes ya feel good, almost as if the game has implanted some warm memory of that time to be recalled at will.

Little did the SNES know however, a real giant of gaming was about to dethrone it, and every future console. (in part 3)