Hi all
So I was looking for a HUGE new LCD TV when I cam across this cool website that made it really easy.
flat screen tv reviews
They basically do reviews and other give other tips that you would never have thought of yourself. Big thanks to everybody at flat-screen-tv-review.net

Logitech G19 Review

So my Logitech G19 arrived today and I already love it!

I bought a G15 when they launched and I really liked it, it broke and I ended up using a normal keyboard for a while the point is that I now realized how much I have missed some of its features. Being able to view progress, pause, skip, mute, stop and change the volume while a song is playing a game without minimizing rocks.

The G19 has a different feel to it than the G15 did. The G15 had way too many G buttons that nobody used. They improved on this with the G19 as they cut the amount of G buttons in half and by doing so reducing the size of the keyboard to something much more acceptable.

This time round the illuminating lights can be set to pretty much any color you desire, this is really cool, I guess it does not have any real use but it just makes the keyboard feel more personal. The voice wheel turned into a new voice wheel that scrolls up and down not round, they also improved the audio manipulation buttons they are bigger and are better placed in my opinion.

Then of course it also features and fully colored LCD screen, this might seem as over the top and maybe it is but it is still cool to have. I don’t really like the clock they provide I prefer a digital clock. The media Display looks really nice this time round. The Performance monitor also looks much better. I quickly and easily set up the RSS feeds and it works amazing, I just leave it on the RSS and read every once in a while. It can play any video with surprisingly good quality. You can even watch YouTube videos on it. I tried getting some extra applets for the LCD but they are nowhere to be found I found like 5 but I do home this increases soon.

Overall I really like the G19 and can’t wait to use it some more.

How to play Star Wars knights of the old republic (kotor) on Vista

I recently re-installed one of my favorite games of all times Star Wars KOTOR. I truly think this game is much better than Mass Effect. The side missions are better and the conversation are sometimes extremely funny.


Anyway I installed it and found that it does not work on Vista. So I googled around a bit and came across some answers and even some people that claim that it is impossible to play it on Vista. I have played over 12 hours and I am not planning to stop soon.

Here is what I did.

Step 1
If you have the game installed uninstall it.
Now insert the CD but don't let it auto play.
Right-click on the CD and click "explore".
Right- click on the setup and go to the "compatibility" tab.
Click on the "Run this game on compatibility mode for" check box and select "Windows XP ( Service Pack 2)". Also click the check box at the bottom that says "Run this program as an administrator". Apply this and install the game using that setup exe that you just changed.

Step 2
Download the latest patch v1.03 here.
Run the patch.

Step 3
Make the same compatibility changes too the game exe that you did with the setup.exe

Step 4
First of the game crashes randomly. This sounds worse than it is. I have played over 12 hours and the game randomly crashed 4 times in total. What I do is I quick save allot. Simply hit f4 and the game is saved then hit f5 to load. If the game crashes you can launch the game and continue playing in under 30 seconds.

Any other problems feel free to ask. When I finish KOTOR I will play KOTOR 2 again as well, I have heard there is some problems with it but I will let you guy know when I get there.

Awesome game worth the minor problems with Vista. Enjoy !

Logitech G35 and Logitech G19

So I just order the Logitech G35 and Logitech G19 :)
My G15 broke a couple of months ago ( like 6-7 ) and I have been waiting for the G19.
Both of these looks amazing. I will fully review them when I get them.
For those that have no idea what I am talking about.

Logitech G35 Surround Sound Headphones


Now hear this.

• 7.1 surround sound powered by Dolby® technology: Delivers a detailed soundfield—hear your enemies before they see you.


• Ear-enclosing design: Shields you from distractions and immerses you in the game.


• 40 mm laser-tuned speaker drivers with neodymium magnets: High performance components deliver crisp highs, lows, and everything in between.


• Unidirectional, noise-canceling microphone: Focuses on your voice and reduces background noise.


• Full-speed, all-digital USB connection: Delivers clean, clear audio and lets you keep your desk speakers plugged into your sound card.

Marathon-gaming comfort.

• Three swappable, contoured headband pads: Choose the one that fits best, because one size doesn't always fit all.


• Plush ear pads: Relieves pressure points for long-lasting comfort.


• Precision headband adjustment: Slide for the perfect fit, every time.


• Spring steel-core headband: Lightweight and flexible, yet incredibly durable.

Take control.

• Three customizable G-keys: One-touch command over music, voice morphing, and more.



• On-ear audio controls: Quick access to volume, microphone mute, and surround sound adjustments.


• Real-time voice morphing: Select from six voices–Troll, Mutant, Alien, Giant, Cyborg, and Space Squirrel.


• Rotating mic boom with auto-mute: Microphone mutes automatically when rotated up and out of the way.


• Microphone mute light: Glows red when mic is muted.


• Cable management wrap: Don't need all 10 feet of cable? Wrap it up and keep it out of the way.

Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard

Control

• Tiltable, color GamePanel™ LCD: The (320x240) display shows unprecedented levels of information—both in- and out-of-game—including game stats, system information, VOIP communication data, video playback, image slideshows, and many other items.


• User-selectable backlit characters: Personalize the keyboard to better fit with the rest of your computer and gaming equipment, and easily locate keys—even in the dark.


• Twelve fully programmable G-keys with three macros per key: Program up to 36 single keypresses or complex macros; use the MR key to record new macros on-the-fly.


• Multi-key input: Use up to five keys at once to perform multiple complex actions.


• Game/desktop mode: Disable the Windows/Context Menu keys so they won’t interrupt your game if pressed accidentally.

Convenience

• Two powered Hi-Speed USB 2.0 ports: Transfer data to and from peripherals—such as MP3 players and flash drives—while also charging battery-powered devices.


• Intelligent cable management: Keep mouse, headset, and other cords out of the way by routing them through channels on the underside of the keyboard.


• Instant media access: Use the convenient one-touch controls for volume and media playback.

Infamous and Prototype

I finished Infamous yesterday and I must say I really liked it. Many people compare Infamous and Prototype but the actual gameplay is very different ( I have finished both ). The reason for the comparison is mainly because of the similarities in some areas. For example

• Both cities are quarantined.


• Both game features a super powered main character ( awesomeness) .


• Both games features flash movies for the cut scenes.


• Both are open world NYC inspired environments.


• In Both the streets are in total chaos.


• In both you are not in the military or ‘other’ team, you fight for you and whoever you want to help.


• In both you can’t drive cars (don’t worry you don’t need to! ).


• In both you can Consume/Bio leach people to regain health.


• Both have some kind of shield.


• In both games the main character tells the story.

With all of these similarities it might seem that these games are very similar but they are not.

Movement
Alex from Prototype is much faster than Cole from Infamous, in fact he moves through a city faster than Spiderman himself. While Alex can run up vertical walls Cole has to climb (but he climbs fast). Both can fall from incredible height and not be damaged. The impact the fall creates looks much better in Prototype, when Alex falls from great height the cars and people that are close to where he lands are blown away with great force where in Infamous your fall barely has any impact on them. In both games you can jump from rooftop to rooftop to get around quicker. In Infamous there are power cables that you can slide on to move faster, as you progress more cables are installed and this enables you to move faster from area to area, you can also slide on the train tracks. In both games they jump high but Prototype is more extreme, you can charge your jump and jump insane heights. Ok Infamous might seem slow when compared to Prototype but when compared to other games out there it is very fast. Moving around in both games are really fun and will provide many oooow moments.



Combat
The fighting is where these two games drift apart. Infamous if more a shooter type game ( although you can’t use guns). Your main power is an electric blast that does not require any energy (that works like mana), like a pistol with never ending bullets (but much more powerful and looks way cooler). Then you get an ability to zoom in and slow time a little bit to shoot enemies from a distance, like a sniper rifle. You also get a more powerful attack that explodes on impact, like a rocket launcher. You get an attack that drops an energy ball and it explodes after a set time, like a grenade. Infamous also features a cover system. All this said the combat in Infamous is different and fresh, it really doesn’t feel like the other games out there. Prototype is more a melee fighting game although you can use guns. You get a selection of melee weapons like big hands a claw and a blade. You can shoot with guns in Prototype but it is never really necessary except some rocket launcher parts. Prototype is much more brutal and bloody than Infamous. Alex can also consume his enemies and then disguise as them for stealth purposes. One thing that I like about Prototype is that you can hijack Tanks and Helicopters. For health Alex consumes people where Cole can Bio leach people for health or he has the ability to heal by absorbing electricity from anything that needs electricity even like a TV.





Story
To me personally Infamous has a much better story than Prototype. In Infamous depending on the choices you make you become good/evil. It really makes a difference, the story changes, you get different powers, you look different, and people react different towards you and even the color of your lighting changes. This really boosts replayability of the game, for instance right now I want to play the game again just to see the difference. The story is mainly told through flash movies that looks pretty cool but real animation would have been better. I choose evil the first time round because come on the games is called Infamous! The story in Prototype is just not that hot. I think they focused more on the game itself. The story is also mainly told in flash movies that look good but not as good as the Infamous ones. In Prototype you tolerate the story for the awesome gameplay where in Infamous the story and characters draws you into the world.



Overall
Overall I think these games are completely different. I tried to choose one but I can’t, they are both fun and if you think they will feel the same you are wrong. I do hope they create sequels for both these games and that these games inspires more “Super hero with a twist” games in the future. If you have to choose only one you have a hard choice ahead and just know that whichever one you choose you will miss an awesome game.
Make the right choice and play both you wont be disappointed.

Virtual Reality for the masses a sooner than we think ?

Think about it when the current generation ( Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii ) was introduced Sony and Microsoft mainly focused on making their consoles more powerful when Nintendo took the world by surprise and introduced its Wii-mote with motion sensing capabilities. Because of this the Wii sold like crazy and is arguably winning the current generation with a non-HD console.

Now Microsoft introduced Project Natal and Sony introduced their “wand” to try and “catch up” with Nintendo. This is all old news but think about what all this means for the next generation. Sony and Microsoft are launching their new toys NOW , they are not waiting for the next generation.

So what does the next generation hold? All 3 parties now know they can’t simply improve the hardware they have to bring something “new” to the table. This “something new”, like the Wii-mote was for this generation, could mean more than any hardware improvements and could literally mean victory for their console.

This leaves us with a very bright future. Nintendo, Sony and Microsoft are going to be hard at work (they probably already are) figuring out what the “next big thing” is going to be. What the next big thing is going to be only time will tell but if there is one thing I know is that the first party to launch some form of virtual reality will get my money.

Why all the hate ?

Back when I was in school it worked like this. The kids that owned one console hated the other console. For example in the current generation I guess the kids that own a Xbox 360 hate the PlayStation 3 and the Wii and PlayStation 3 owners hate Xbox 360 and Wii and Wii owners hate Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

When I was in school I thought that this was incredibly stupid. The "hate" was not because of what games the console had or the hardware or whatever reason it was simply because whatever you have you love and what you don’t have you hate and push against.

I never bought into these mindless arguments. If I didn't have the money to buy all the consoles and latest games I would swap consoles with friends and rent games. This way I played,and still do, all the greatest games.

Then I grew up and I though this child-like hate would stop and I would enjoy all games on all console with everybody, but I was wrong. There is still hate for whichever console people don't own. Don't you see how stupid this is? Do you know of how many awesome games you deprive yourself of because of a dumb argument based on nothing? Looking at the current generation every single console has awesome games that the other does not.

Wii- Zelda
Xbox 360- Gears of War
PlayStation 3- Metal Gear Solid 4

These games alone justify owning every single console. When come across a 'hater' I think of all the cool games he/she is missing.

Please let’s stop this stupidity and enjoy all the amazing games out there.

Force Unleashed

Not my comic, just think it is funny.

The Mouse Trap

Team Fortress 2

I Love Team Fortress 2. Multiplayer madness doesn't get any better than this. Nothing beats the feeling of backstabbing that heavy that is raining hell on your team or headshotting that rival sniper for the tenth time in a row or backburning that heavy to the ground or almost killing the entire enemy team with strategically placed sticky’s or or or or or.

Let me tell you how I got into Team Fortress 2. I bought The Orange Box when it launched. I played Team Fortress 2 a bit but didn’t really get into it I rather focused on all the other awesome games on it. Later on my non gaming friend told me that he saw this game that looks fun. Now when I say non gaming I mean no games at all, he will maybe play a little bit when he is at my place but wont install it on his own pc. Well he ended up buying the game and called me and said I should join him. So I installed it again and once I “got” the game it hooked me. What made it even better was that all my friends who had The Orange box but never really played it started playing because we would talk about our "awesome moments" all the time. This game single handedly turned my friend into a gamer.

Every time I think that I have had enough they release a new update and by update I don’t mean some bug fixes sure they do fix some bugs but they actually update the entire game by adding new maps adding new guns and tweaking the gameplay so that the game stays fresh.

Valve is truly a company of extreme high standards. I mean this game was launched in 2007 as part of The Orange Box and Valve is still releasing major updates. Just the other day they released and update that added some weapons and maps. For those not yet playing Team Fortress 2 Valve does not charge any subscription or any hidden costs. You buy the game and that is it (not to mention that Team Fortress 2 is included in the best deal of all time which is called the Orange Box containing 5 AAA titles for the price of one) they update, maintain and improve it free of charge. Other gaming companies can really learn a thing or two from Valve.

Announcement about an announcement

These days making an announcement isn’t enough anymore. You often hear that some gaming company just announced that they will be making a big announcement on a specific date or they put a timer on their website that counts down to an announcement. They are trying to create an even more hype.Just make the damn announcement. What’s next? Maybe a timer that counts down to announcing an announcement that is going to be made about an announcement.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots

Ok so I just finish playing Metal Gear Solid 4. Yes yes I know it is a bit late and I don’t know why I took me this long to get it as Metal Gear Solid is one of my favorite game series of all time. Because I loved all the previous titles my expectations for Metal Gear Solid 4 were extremely high and I am glad to say that, like its predecessors, surpassed it and blew my mind. Playing Metal Gear solid has always felt different to me, it doesn’t feel like any other game I have ever played before. It feels more like an interactive movie to be honest. This game has achieved what little other games have achieved, it grab my attention so much that I finished it in just 2 days!

I must say that if you have not played the previous games; Metal Gear Solid, Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty and Metal Gear solid 3: Snake Eater you will not appreciate Metal Gear Solid 4 as much as you should. So don’t just grab it because it is new and got good scores, rather do yourself a favor and play the others first ( don’t worry they are just as awesome ). In fact you won’t understand what the hell is going on if you don’t play the others first.
If you played them all in order, as I have, you will realize that this could be one of the greatest stories ever told in a game. There are so many twist and turns that you are constantly surprised and amazed. You almost have to play every game twice to fully understand every little detail. Hideo Kojima went into extreme length to give each and every character a highly textured and unique personality. When you finish the last game Metal Gear Solid 4 you feel like you know the people and you are almost sad that you are not going to see them again ( If you haven’t kept up with the series you won’t know what I am talking about ).



I will try and not give any spoilers so if you have already played the game some details will be left out for the sake of the new players in fact I myself had a “media blackout” when it came to this game and it was totally worth it.
So let’s get to the game. In Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots you once again play as Solid Snake but you are now known as Old Snake. Although it has only been 5 years since the Big Shell incident Snake looks like an old man. The reason behind this is revealed later in the game. The game starts of in Middle Eastern urban battlefield as Snake sets out to find and kill Liquid. You soon meet up with Meryl Silverburgh from the original Metal Gear Solid and shortly after that you meet the new “supernatural warriors” called “The Beauty and the Beast”.





You will see some of the familiar faces return like Metal Gear Sold 2 star Raiden and of course Otacon and even some unexpected ones make a return. The boss fights are clever as they have always been. The cinematics are even more awesome than the previous games. Obviously the cinematics looks allot better than the previous games because of the power of the PS3 ( The game runs at 1080p). The sound is done very well and the cinematics does not feel “rushed” at all ( some games when you watch the cinematics it tends to feels like they are in a hurry to finish it ).
The game play consists of some of the usual stealth levels and some run and gun areas. What changes this game a little bit from the previous ones are that you are in the middle of a war but you are not there to fight the war, you are on your own side. This gives you the ability to “choose sides” temporarily, for example: let’s say you want to break into a certain building, then you help the attacking side a little bit to make your job of breaking in undetected easier. You have a cool new suite that dynamically transforms its texture based on your surroundings, they really did allot of work on this as every time I see some cool texture I change my camouflage to check what it looks like.



There are loads of guns to choose from. In Metal Gear Solid 4 all the guns are id tagged so you can’t use them at first. But you meetsomebody that is able make the guns usable but at a price of course. You get money by selling guns that you pick up that you already have and worry this is all done automatically with the help of your own little Metal Gear.

Overall this is an amazing game. Unlike The Matrix the story ties up all loose ends that you might have though they have forgotten about ( remember to wait until the end of the credits). Great game play, great graphics, great cinematics, great level design, great sound and an amazing story. What more do you want? If you haven’t already played this game you are in for a treat.

F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin (PC)

A brief FEAR history

I loved the original F.E.A.R, must have finished it like 3 times. Then came extraction point, the game play was good but the story was kinda lame. Mission: ” Get to the extraction point” Play entire game just to get there and then ,in a predictable event, the helicopter explodes. No progress in the story at all. The reason they had to do something that doesn’t really obstruct the real story is that extraction point and Perseus Mandate was not created by Monolith ( The creators of the original ). Then along came Perseus Mandate where you actually play a different character which gave them the ability to explore further into the FEAR universe while leaving you wondering what happened to the point man. The Perseus Mandate story was much better than extraction point but still wasn’t up to par with the original.

Then Monolith announced that F.E.A.R 2 continues from the original F.E.A.R and that Extraction point and Perseus Mandate never really happened and should be ignored when playing F.E.A.R 2( Although the stories would fit it well for most parts).

Along came February 10 2009 and F.E.A.R 2 is released. Lots of people ( including me ) had some initial sound problems. I merely installed the new version of DX9 and it work 100% but I know some people had to wait for the patch that was released about 2 weeks later. Although the launch version was not really Hard on the Hard setting they increased the difficulty with the same patch that fixed the sound problem. I recommend that if you have the game, or want to buy it, to patch it before playing it, the game is much better when it is a little harder.

…………..and finally we get to the actual game. It’s simple, the game rocks. The game starts a couple of minutes before the explosion in the first one. Which means that you get to see and updated nuke that obviously looks better than the one in the first game ( That I thought also looked remarkable ). You are not the point man anymore ( the guy in the first game ). Instead you play as Michael Becket a Delta Force operator. In the first level you don’t have slow-mo but quickly acquire it, how that happens you are going to have to find out for yourself.

The game has amazing graphics and level design. Nothing beats a slow-mo grenade exploding right underneath the enemy ;) But what surprised me the most is the load time which is virtually non existing. I am serious it loads ridiculously fast. I have a 9800 GTX and I played it on full graphics with no problems. I hooked the game up to my 47” HDTV ( which I do with allot of pc games these days, in fact I am on the 47” right now ;) ) and it looked amazing. The slow-mo effect looks marvelous as expected. The AI is excellent, I heard some people bitching that it is not as good as the first one but I enjoyed it all the way. What is like about Monolith is the detail of their levels. When you see a corpse you can actually see how he died by observing the surroundings. Also everywhere you look you see something “bizarre” happen like someone being forced through a hole a little bigger than my foot. This gets me to another point, this is a violent game and if you don’t like violent games you won’t like this game. The dialog is funny as hell and the story go’s much deeper than the first one. Sometimes you feel like the bastards deserves Alma’s killing spree after what they did to her. F.E.A.R has always had a unique game play. Sure there are other games that also have slow-mo but F.E.A.R just feels different. Dodging bullets has never been this fun. They have re-designed the grenades, you can now hold the grenade in your hand for a while to make the delay before it explodes shorter. This comes in very useful ( and it is fun as hell ) when done correctly. It is also worth it to mention that grenades doesn’t explode on impact with the enemy anymore. This was disappointing at first but it inspires you to try the new delay system that works just as well. The guns are just as awesome as the originals and we see a return of some of them and actually a gun from Perseus Mandate. A metacritic of 79% ( at the time of writing ) is a joke.

Anybody that gave this game less than 80% can’t be called a reviewer, in fact 90% is more the kind of score this game deserves.

Start game

Hi all.
I would like to welcome you all to my blog.
First off let me just say that I talk about games and gaming news that I like. I don't care if the entire world hates a specific game if I like it I write about it.
I play all games on all platforms, I am not a fan boy, I play all great games with an open mind.
If i misspell something don't even try telling me because I really don't give a shit.
My next post will be about FEAR 2 so be sure to check it out.
So for now peace out homies

(btw this will NOT be a blog that just copy/paste all the latest news, everything that will be posted will be hand written, we are not looking to be "just another gaming news site" )