Its been a long time – GLaDOS

Portal was one of the best puzzle games in 2009. Possibly the perfect mix of game for the acerage geek. Puzzle action and humour, add a dash of geek referance and geek nostalgia and there you have it. It looks like the developers are taking the sequel to a whole new level.

Just have a look you will be amazed on how valve have put this teaser together.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Portal used to cost money. Until May 24th, it’s free. End of story.

Valve is now giving Portal away for free, Under a new campaign to promote there new steam client for the Mac. If you already own a game just simply follow this link to gain your free copy

Aquaria, Gish, Lugaru HD, and Penumbra Overture .. AWESOME !!!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Note, the games will be “free as in ‘free speech’, not as in ‘free beer’”: see each license for the full, finalized details as they come out very hopefully this week — stay tuned. It is the underlying code that will be made available to everyone.

Please support this project. The games are free now (Or about to be free) however shouldn’t we be contributing. The answer is YES we should be contributing to such a generous offer from the developers. There generous offer will hopefulyl start a trend, a trend that I can only hope goes beyond the initial outlay. Buy one for yourself, one for your friends. Sheesh, a late mothers day present. Just get off the couch and do it.

As a geek when someone mentions RPG’s there are a few things that come to mind. The chances are however that Diablo is one of the first things to pop into your head.  So when I finally got my hands on Torchlight I wasn’t surprised at the look or feel of the game. To say the hack and slash click frenzy was reminiscent of Diablo might be considered an understatement of the most extreme kind. Diablo II like game mechanics and the  atmoshpere and simplicity of the original experience of Diablo mixed with a pleasant and classic graphical style all mesh for simple, fun and streamlined experience with Torchlight. Calling something  clone is ussually a negative factor but the Diablo’esque fell comes from the Team, a group of former Blizzard North members working with Runic Games and doing a damned good job.

With a small footprint and very reasonable spec requirements Torchlight is a unique game and at it’s bargain pricing (Steam 19.95 AUD) it’s a hard gem to look over.

With solid RPG game mechanics hidden under simple yet charming graphics you’d be forgiven for expecting a strong story line filled with lavish quests and extensive exploration. The real game is all about building your character. With a brief and linear plot line just wrapping around an exceptionally fun dungeon hack ‘n’ slash, grind ‘n’ horde game. You start with some wet behind the ear’s RPG Archetype his pet and a quest, not to save the city of Ember (As the story line would have you believe) but rather to find the most awesome and intimidating armoury with which to slay the biggest and baddest monsters from the deepest and darkest places under the mountain. I can’t think of anything more suited to an hour block of my time after a long day’s work.

Some people might get a little chalky about the shallow storyline  but lets be honest, action RPG’s are the Geek’s Barbie Doll. We don’t care if Grimnak ‘The Immense’ has saved hundreds of orphaned children and built houses for widowed wives (Of course you might care, in that case might I suggest a game from Bethesda !) I want to know what colour armour he’s wearing and how many DPS can he push while wielding dual swords of Uber Flamyness +12 with sockets. Did I mention sockets? more of that Diablo’esque coming to the fore. A side note is character building and the lack of a forced skill structure. Your three archetypes are standard, Warrior, Mage and Rogue however there is no forced system. With a little creativity and some carefully game play your Rogue can DPS like any warrior and your Mage will happily wear any armour you throw at it. I guess it’s just one more way the slick and simple structure of this game shines through for a fun experience.

The retro feel graphics, offer a slick gaming experience for most users and it even boast’s a net book mode. I have yet to try this but i’d love to hear from someone who has. Still retro or not the effects are great with spell’s firing from all angles while Boss’s hurl splitting arc’s of lightning and Ghoul’s radiate Poison clouds of death. Simple allows a great overall feel since the machine simply pushes through the most dramatic of battles losing nothing to stuttering or overly complex layers of particles fighting for your attention. Style and class all the way.

Of course lacking a real story would usually hurt a games re playability, in this case it’s simply not true. Torchlight work’s of that age old system of addiction. It took me about 2 hours to have a personal chest fool of goodies, it wasn’t enough. Torchlight’s true strength lies in the truly random nature of the dungeons. Of course your likely to notice the set pieces that are put together, traps become obvious after you’ve set of a few (Especially in hardcore mode, dieing is always more painful when it is permanent.) however the sheer number of unique weapons and monsters you will face is astounding. I found my dog was carting my gear back to the sellers so often he could hardly assist me in the fight. Running through the game is a brief campaign, however truly relishing the hunt for greatness and glory is a time honoured tradition for RPG players of any genre. This game keeps you coming back for more, more monster’s, more loot and plenty fun.

Torchlight is a great title well worth adding to any RPG collection, the new take on a old classic system is something that might just help hold us all over while we wait for Diablo III. My only real peave with this game was the lack of a co-op mode, it’s almost criminal. Still with the modding tools released we might see something in the works soon. Thank you Runic games for giving me just a little taste of the glory day’s of gaming.
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Well the past few days I have been trying to get the beta version of the mod working and finally some success. The mod offers a MechWarrior game utilising the crysis engine which adds up for a great game. Some minor issues I had where not having some of the mod files in the right areas as some of the installation guides were not the most comprehensive ones I have seen, still with some thinking and many reinstalls of crysis later I finally got it up and it does not disappoint.
Follow the link below for the download.

http://www.moddb.com/mods/mechwarrior-living-legends/downloads/mwll-beta-v10

All the required infomation like the key map and installation guide can be found here

http://www.mechlivinglegends.net/content/view/396/1/

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Those of you who have played COD 4 will have undoubtedly appreciated in both console and PC form. Being that PC is my preferred gaming media device I will say COD4 on PC was better than COD 4 on Console however the experience is legitimately arguable. COD 4 brought real fps gaming to the Console. None of this uber jump and sniper pistols, no Zombies’ or Alien’s or Alien Zombies in fact not even forgetull pathing ai’s. COD 4 was plain and simple a tactical modern combat game across all consoles. ( It could be argued that COD 2 and COD 3 were pc/console equivalents. They weren’t!)

COD6 is that and more.

I’ve just finished the Call of Duty – Modern Warfare 2 single player campaign on normal and I can only describe the experience as the single most intense and absorbing piece of entertainment media I have ever had the pleasure to be a part of. ** please note full article may have spoilers. Though if you have been reading the news or have any interest in the game you’ll know what I’m talking about already.

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Full review to come. At the moment I am simply to stunned by the awesomeness of the single player story to even comment. Just simply Awesome.

First of all, Mass Effect 2 is gritier, darker (in both theme and lighting) and ultimately larger then ME, with the promise of sprawling worlds and lots of content actually being delivered. I picked up the SE boxset down at EB Games, and the product description lists the Hard Drive usage at between 12-25 GB. That’s around the size of World of Warcraft and Aion (put together if it tops out at 25 gb). So it looks like they’ve delivered on the promise of a sprawling universe.

The second thing that makes my day is ME2 actually gives you the opportunity to carry on your ME character into the gleaming new world that is ME2. Now on my PC, I’ve played ME over and over again, every class in both male and female I’ve leveled to 60. So, if I can take my lvl 60′s and own up in ME2 I’m champing at the bit.

But where is the real revolutionary aspect of this game you ask. Well simply put the story line revolves around how you talk and treat your party members, they will mutiny if your an ass to them, and not only that but you can KILL off characters that piss you off. But remember in at least one of the story lines, Shepard dies, in fact most of the story lines end don’t have happy endings. ME2 has pitched your adventure as a suicide mission, and only along one gleaming possibility do you survive, intact and not a head case. ME2 has literally thrown down the gauntlet, the combat might or might not be easy, but it brings back the thrill that I used to get playing The Witcher, in which even the tiniest decision had a larger consequence. ME2 looks like it’s going to provide me alot of replayability. Which is something very few non-mmo games  have these days.

Onto actual combat and mechanics. ME2 has an improved physics engine, with one of your party (of course it’s the Krogan) being a charge-aholic. Biotic powers have been redone with at least 1 new power added, your team mates AI has been improved, with a psychotic Biotic and a Krogan who head butts everything in site at range.

Ok, now you’ve got the general idea, why should you pre-order. Well if you do, you get access to special ingame equipment. A Desolator type weapon that fires mini-black holes, and the Terminus armour, a very very sweet looking peice of combat gear. in fact I’m going to give you a little taste of it right now.

Once you’ve finished looking at that, you’ll have access to some of the myriad of trailers out there. I recommend looking at the Garrus Gameplay trailer.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Some extra retro for your daily intake of oldskool.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Don’t forget our free games pages. A quick note: I’m looing for an old skool geek to manage the free games page. Perks included. Leave a Comment If your intereted.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Unfortunately I haven’t finished the game yes and until I do i can’t give a proper Review but at this stage I’m happy to give it a 4.5 stabbity’s out of 5.

So after realising my finances were stretched (As they always are) I came to the conclusion I would not be getting anything over the $200 AUS mark (About $180 USD now days). This is a severe limiting factor. Before I could wail too much I had to accept I wouldn’t be getting an all aluminium case. When looking for a decent case that won’t cost an arm and a leg there are a few brands that stand out.

Cooler Master, is one of my preferred brands to point customers towards. Offering a good range of well built steel chassis design’s and maintaining a decent pricing structure. With that in mind I had a little browse around the site and came across this little gem.

The Cooler Master Scout is a Mid Tower Steel Chassis ATX Case. As is often the case it comes in any colour scheme you want as long as you want Black with Red lighting.  The scout isn’t exactly your smallest Mid ATX chassis at 22 cm (219mm) in width and 49 cm (489mm) in height it’s possibly just a bit larger than average added it’s steel construction and you have a reasonable weighty product at 8.7 kg /19.23 lb. Still considering the 5 stealth 3.5” drive bays and the 5 stealth 5.25” bay’s it’s a small price to pay.

Features

• Fierce exterior design inspired by military weapons.
• Reinforced carrying handles for fast and efficient mobilization.
• Menacing all black interior and window side panel for striking visuals.
• Stealth panel for tuning your lights.
• StormGuardTM – ground-breaking security system for safeguarding your gaming peripherals.

Introduction

CM Storm deploys Scout, the True LAN Gaming Chassis. Mobility, security and 20 years of advanced technology converge in one rugged portable mid-tower chassis. Every Scout is engineered with Storm Tactics: a dedicated focus on Strength, Security and Control. The Scout blends into the darkness with a menacing all black interior showcasing your internal hardware.

An automotive tinted side window with dual fan exhaust brings efficient cooling with subtle transparency. A single button triggers stealth mode deactivating cooling fan LEDs. This covert outlook is complimented by innovative internal designs allowing swapping CPU coolers without motherboard removal. Inside, intelligent cable management maximizes space while supporting internal 2.5″ and 1.8″ SSD bays. On top, a rugged, steel reinforced handle allows the Scout to be easily wielded in a single hand

Of course I can’t give a proper opinion until i get a unit. Anyone with any ideas on what to work into this case. I’ve been considering a water cooling system forever I simply can’t get over the concept of water, in the system.

** As a side note, the Cooler Master Scout retails for $179 AU however my local store (Have A Browse) is doing them for $155. None in stock but can be shipped overnight so. Always nice to know there is some ok pricing locally.