Why the fake internet wins:
By BraindeadRacr 11 Comments
Fuckin' A.
By BraindeadRacr 8 Comments
I got a call earlier today from the fella' who's fixing my PC. He said he was done repairing it and I could pick it up if I paid a 20$ repair fee. I figured what the hell and drove down to the guy's shop. And something happened in there... I don't quite know whether it was funny, or just sad... Lemme recap our little talk:
I walk in there, and considering the skinny prick and I are somewhat buddies he welcomes me into his amazing shop. A small room with two work tables and three employees. A big whoop-di-doo there. Nontheless he begins talking about what he repaired and what could've been the cause...
"See, I installed XP again for you. Also got Service Pack 3 for you again... Oh right, you also asked if you lost all your files this time around, luckily I managed to salvage Windows XP for you without having to swipe the hard-drive."
After showing me some official documents that came with SP3, which SHOULD'VE fixed the errors I came across, by giving him a list of error-codes I had.
"That Kernel-disc thing is fixed, this one... The zero-E one..."... As he gets interrupted by something. The thing locks up on him. Followed by a blue screen. "Wait a second... Shit... This ain't good... BILL!", as the little monster yells for his middle-aged co-worker. I couldn't help laughing at the smooth comeback this Bill guy gave... "Heh, what the hell did you do Eric?". So, the guy finally admits that shit hit the fan. A PC, which was only "repaired" for literally SIX minutes, just shit itself inside out while the both of us stood there.
I just stood there, watching these two guys fighting about what the hell just happened. At some point I interupted both and asked "Do I still have to pay the 20 bucks?". He said that I didn't have to, but it's not like I would've paid anyway. I then asked "So... What you gonna do with the thing this time around?". He promised me that he'd double-check the hard-drive for any boot-volume viruses and double-check if all the wiring is done properly.
... For free.
Still, in the end... I don't know what the heck I should think of this. It's funny and sad at the same time. I still had all my files, and it was repaired. Then shit hit the hyperdrive and the thing went blue-screen followed by Sir Zits-R-Us with King Dork duking it out on who was to blame.
I think it's time to just buy a whole new machine.
When Christmas TV Specials don't do it for you...
By BraindeadRacr 9 Comments
There's always Steve Wilkos. My Christmas is now filled with a six foot tall ex-Marine verbally bitchslapping a very Southern-looking fella'. Say what you want about the overdoing of the insults: The Steve Wilkos show only airs when the entire half-hour is filled with Big Bear beating the living hell out of Moron. I love American TV.
It's Judge Judy on steroids.
Also...
You know better than to sit on my stage. (Thank you Bruce for showing me this God a few months ago)
Bummer, man...
By BraindeadRacr 7 Comments
I got my little Christmas present from UPS, a 25$ giftcard. So I figured I'd spend it right away and ordered that Half Life set with all the original Half Life games, expansion packs and the like. Not including Counter Strike 1.6, the shallow pricks.
Buuuuttt... They ran out of stock, strangely enough, a day after I ordered it. So my order is put on hold 'til Mid-January for whatever reason. Ah well, that box of chocolates I ordered for 4 dollar will be awesome. I love the internet, prime Belgian chocolate, those sea-shell things.
But still.
Short-haired skinny lab scientist with a trademark beard, with a trademark crowbar, killing trademark facehuggers.
DENIED.
(Also, I'm getting my PC back this Sunday... Finally I can stream me pr0nz again. Without the ladyfriend finding out. MA PRONZ)
My Top Ten GotY of '08 - 7, 6, 5 and 4.
By BraindeadRacr 10 Comments
To be honest, I had to actually save the boxart of a few games in order to keep my mind from drooling off and live in the past. Well, cause... I say the games that those hellish publishers spewed out last year were a ton better than they are in this year. Hell, I actually had to find a last GotY, cause I only really have nine.
But yes... I lost all my files, and I'm attempting to write this out on my girlfriend's laptop, who's keyboard feels like it's made for people with matchsticks as fingers. This thing is worse than one of those insanely small Nokia cellphones. (8400-model, silver, made in the late 90s, was even too small for a 2 year old, remember).
So, let's get it on.
Numbers seven through four. Weird huh? Think of it this way... This gives me a nice oppertunity to squeeze the three of my favorites in somesort of blog around Christmas. Okay... I couldn't make up my mind on whether to smack number 4 in this one, or in the top 3, or make a whole blog dedicated to it. So what the hell.
7 - MIDNIGHT CLUB: LOS ANGELES
Rockstar Games/Rockstar Games San Diego, Oct 21 08
Consider this game to grab a little from all recent racer games, and still stand on it's own grounds. Cockpit view ala PGR4. Vinyl editor ala Forza Motorsport 2. Insane sense of speed ala Burnout Paradise. And in the end, still having it's own trademark gameplay goodies. Well, not necessarely goodies... The insane difficulty, the hordes of traffic(literally), the trees that act like 40 inch thick lampposts.
For the... while I enjoyed the game, it's great fun. But they somewhat got rid of the "push" many gamers need to progress. Aside from gaining the reputation to unlock new vehicles and parts, there's no push there. Not a single shred of motivation there. I guess this is such game that falls under "Great now, still could've been better".
Pros:
- Simply beautiful graphics. The cars, the city, everything.
- As always, the game's open to be roamed completely. Day and night.
- Cop chases are fun at times.
- Quite indepth modification of vehicles.
- Rockstar has proven that a open L.A. works flawlessly for racing games.
- Damage is quite nice.
Cons:
- AI is brutal. Even on the "Easy" races, they put up a hell of a fight. On the "Normal" races, most races end in you winning by half a second, or the AI pissing over you.
- The AI also seems to dodge vehicles at all times unless wrecked into one by you, and take 90 degree turns without having to slow down somehow.
- Could've used more vehicles.
- 3 bikes, WTF?
- What is it with Rockstar Games and trees that put a vehicle to a complete halt, but lampposts flying apart like toothsticks?
- No motivation to keep playing.
6 - BURNOUT PARADISE
Criterion Games/EA, Jan 22 08
Ahh Burnout. How I love you. How I love games where you're told to break all traffic rules and piss on the local DMV. Wehh...whaaht? Oh yes. How I also hate you for changing what you were. Meh, flow breaker.
So yes. Throw out nearly all but the basics, raid the Rockstar Games HQ and see what those pesky masterminds have designed. Freedom, drivers with a passion to drive like shit and the drivers turn invisible.
In the end, half the Burnout basics put together with what seems to be an apocalypse setting and give the fool driving like hell all the freedom he wants. Who's clever idea was it to call this Burnout Paradise? It's Burnout Theft Fallout IV: The Grand 3.
Strange formula... But it works, and it was fairly enjoyable while it lasted.
Pros:
- Freedom is good.
- Loads of cars is good.
- Quite a big city is good.
- AI drivers who all drive like Lindsay Lohan on crack-cocaine, is good.
- The wrecks... Oh, the wrecks...
Cons:
- No restarts isn't good.
- The Invisible Man-driver. There's no damn drivers visible. That's not good. It would've been in The Backwards Man was driving. Hell, even Flatout: UC has drivers.
- Game clearly has proven that EA cares too much for ratings.
- In-game advertising ftl. CompUSA has been bankrupt for almost a year and the Obama ads... Jesus fuckin' Christ.
- Game should've been renamed to "Mapchecker", cause you'll be reading your map for accurate navigation more than you'll actually drive accurately.
- Slow-motion crash-cam should die and burn in the fiery pits of Hell.
5 - RAINBOW SIX VEGAS 2
Ubisoft/Ubisoft Montreal, Mar 18 08
The game isn't as tactical as it's described. There's no specific array of tactics but "STAY THE FUCK BEHIND A WALL, NUMNUTS!". You can go silent, or Rambo on any mission. Unlike in Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter, another Clancy title similiar to R6:V2 - If you'd yank out a beast of a rifle and start unloading it into dudes; You're gonna get turned into Swiss cheese faster than they are.
Also worth noting is that the devs really paid attention to the fans while making the game. Fixing and changing all what we didn't like or want back from the Rainbow Six Vegas days. For instance the spawn-camping the game got famous for; Remember LVU Campus and the Alpha side? Open room where ALL EIGHT players always spawned in? Lovely.
Pros:
- Lives by the rule "Don't fix that what ain't broken, just fix the broken stuff, just add new shit and call it a day.".
- The XP system which was online only in R6V, works for both Campaign and Online.
- The ACES system works well, keeps players motivated from the first minute to the last.
- The game has a shitload of weapons, really a ton.
- Terrorist Hunt ftw.
Cons:
- The game uses too much from the original; Props, voices and skins are all recycled.
- Some horrible framerate issues.
- Many missed the original R6V maps that didn't make it over to R6V2.
- The online counterpart is a tad flawed. But mainly caused by the players just not willing to work together.
- In addition to that; I would've loved a "Infinite Respawn" option.
4 - LEFT 4 DEAD
Valve/Turtle Rock Studios, Nov 18 08
Doesn't sound like much, but it does work very well. Just like Counter Strike when summing it up, doesn't make much. It's still one of the best games ever made.
Pros:
- Brings "Work together, you selfish bastards" to a whole new level.
- AI Director does a hell of a job keeping you playing the few levels over and over.
- All four campaigns feel completely different from eachother.
Cons:
- Yeah, just four. Which in total only lasts four hours.
- The game has less weapons than Gears of War had, there's six. Not including explosives.
- The game doesn't punish team killing as it should. The online is populated with Satan's hellspawn, teamkillers and morons that run ahead who always end up getting slaughtered by a special zombie and then blame us for not being there.
- The AI is a bit too generous with their health packs.
The top three can be expected around Christmas.
DISCUSS NAO, MY MINIONS.
YES, YEESSS! I WINNN!!!!!
By BraindeadRacr 6 Comments
WINDOWS/SYSTEM/WIN64/CONFIG/WINDOWS.SYS
The file could be missing, or is damaged. Please enter your Windows XP setup disc and press R to attempt repairing damaged or missing files."
YES! YES! YEEESSSSS! I AM INVINCIBLE!
*all computers fail and I get engulved by FTL*
I lose all my files once again. Maybe the zit-riddled asshole was right, maybe he was wrong. Windows shat itself inside out too soon to find out. Shoot me God, I only had the thing 16 days, dammit. You cold bastard.
My Top 10 GotY of '08 - 10, 9 and 8.
By BraindeadRacr 13 Comments
Mid-December's a nice point to kick it off... I guess I'll keep it like this, keep a few days between every blog. Also, reason I started doing these in mid-December is because I won't buy another game this year. If I were to believe American Express, I spend 450$ on video games since late October, so there. Also, if you're wondering why you're seeing, and only gonna see Xbox 360 and PC games - Well, bud. I don't have a PS3, and there won't be a chance in Hell I'll have a GOTY related to the Wii.
So let's start... 10, 9 and 8, for this time.
10 - CRYSIS WARHEAD
Crytek/EA, Sept 18 '08.
When it finally DID run properly, maintaining a good framerate, while maxing it out - It was a hell of a game. Much more powerful story, while indeed shorter - It was only 30 bucks to begin with. The game itself closely relates to Crysis, cause afterall it's a expansion-pack. All in all, the game was a great experience that I personally loved to play over a couple of times.
Pros:
- Sykes' a badass. 'Nuff said.
- The storyline's way colder, more brutal and picks up on a few lose ends that Crysis left.
- There's more action going on.
- AI's vastly improved.
- 30$ price back in Sept.
Cons:
- Enemies still behave as bullet sponges before dying.
- 'Optimized' my ass.
- Hasn't got much of a ending going on.
- The slight bit of freedom Crysis had is now turned into a point-A-to-B-shooter.
9 - FAR CRY 2
Ubisoft/Ubisoft Montreal, Oct 21 '08
The game itself promised alot, and still delivered alot. But was more or less a time-to-time experience. The sense of freedom Ubisoft promised damn sure got delivered, cause you got nothing but freedom. You have to drive miles, miles to reach your destination. The overdoing of realism screwed alot of games up, including Far Cry 2...
But it somewhat gets justified with the fact that the game has great gunplay, aside from the unnecessary weapon jamming... It feels good to go Rambo on people with an AK47. And killing, there is plenty of in the game.
Pros:
- A huge, huge open land.
- Lots of guns, which all put out a brutal load of bullets.
- You're given all the freedom you want, no limits.
- AI is superb.
- Graphics, especially on the PC are great. The X360 visuals are still breathtaking.
Cons:
- Fire is overrated. Just like Alone in the Dark kept riding that leg...
- Too much driving, felt like a traffic simulator.
- Voice-acting is worthless. Truely worthless.
- AI is a bit too good at times... They can see you hiding in a bush in the middle of the night.
8 - WORLD OF WARCRAFT: WRATH OF THE LICH KING
Blizzard/Activision, Nov 13 '08
I put this up from a point where you simply can't deny that it delivers. A new content, up to 20 new instances, 2 new battlegrounds, a crapload of new raids, a heroic class for players that wanna start over with a mighty powerfull class, thousands of new items, new races, new systems used in the game, you name it.
Pros:
- A shitload of new stuff to do. Which with MMORPG's ofcourse... is... good.
Cons:
- Up to a thousand new ways for players to mentally and physically sabotage their lives...
- You need to have sold your soul to Satan.
- ... And having played half your life.
- Basically, the expansion pack shouldn't be bought for players that don't have a lvl 55 character in the game, or something close to the 70. If you do buy it, well... Sell your life while you're at it.
YES, ALOT OF CONS. But 18GB worth of content overshadows it. We're all minions of the Blizzard conspiracy.
Seven, six and five in a week or so. We'll see.
DISCUSS.
Â
Great American Titties in 1280x1024, cousin. They biiiiiiiig.
By BraindeadRacr 7 Comments
KENT B!
By BraindeadRacr 6 Comments
Christmas Spirit ftw.
(Also, a little side-note... Salute to the GameSpot employees that lost their jobs, goodluck and hope everything goes well)
And so I lost respect for Rockstar Games...
By BraindeadRacr 4 Comments
I bought Grand Theft Auto IV for the PC earlier today, cause afterall... A mindless fanboy must do mindless things. Such as skipping on what-should-be-todays-standards security checks:
Buuuut, yes. I'm a mindless Rockstar fanboy, and will not skip on a single one of their games. Aside from sports and Wii games, ofcourse. And so, I went out earlier today and bought the game. For the PC. It's not the first time that I bought a PC version of a game which I already own on the X360. Oblivion, Command & Conquer 3... Limitations of the console make a man dream, freedom of the PC make a man live.
And even while my PC only works... sometimes. I bought it anyway, I figured the hell with it. I wanna get rid of the cops by disabling them through data-files, and I wanna have a bundle of joy screwing about.
Now, the question stands - How is it?
... Well, I wouldn't have a fuckin' clue. The game is glitched beyond imagination.
All games start out on the PC, ofcourse. Now this game was made with the console in mind, as we can see. Cause they rushed it back into a PC port. They rushed so fast, that not just the game is glitched and bugged beyond belief - Even the installer is sincerely fucked. I'm stuck installing the game, cause it CAN'T VERTIFY my copy. In other words: the disc-security(DRM) is, again... Screwing us all.
I got it past that point a couple of times, though. But then it hangs at decripting the CD files.
Many managed to get past this part... But got this, and I'll quote a bunch of topics from GTAForums.com:
Hell, things have gone this bad - Steam offers a re-fund for dissapointed buyers, using these instructions.
Meh, no game's perfect. But they ran five miles back with GTAIV's port to the PC. Never knew that more glitches, bugs and freezes occur if you clone source-material and port it. All we can do is wait for the endless hordes of patches.
In the end - Yes, I lost alot of respect for Rockstar Games. No, I understand - No game is perfect. But this goes far into the extremes. It seems as if there was no testing at all whether the game was ready or not for PC gaming. Once I can get this game working... I'll be really fuckin' happy... But quite honestly - I could've waited 'til early spring of '09 to get a game that I can actually install. -_-
Log in to comment