IcIrIs Tech Group

New Site

2008-04-09T10:24:00.003-07:00

I have been busy working so that I can get a few more toys and by the looks of it I am going to be pimping out both the site with a possible new host and integration into a forum for tech help.

I will be getting a Xbox 360 ASAP possibly within the next few days. After this point I will be purchasing some web space for a year and seeing if I can get the Data Stream Gamers network back up again.

My new Xbox/Windows Live tag is (Dark666Dante)*

*Without the Brackets

Heres hoping for the future!

Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock (PC)

2007-11-21T22:35:00.000-08:00

I got the game today, and I am very upset that my controller is at a friends house because now I need to play with my 360 controller or my mouse and keyboard. The controller has its ups and downs and the keyboard+mouse has been working out the best.

The game still needs a guitar because half the game is playing on the guitar, otherwise its just a rock version of DDR.

I really enjoy the song list that they have, some of my favorites include, Black Magic Woman - Santana, Even Flow - Pearl Jam, Through Fire and Flames - Dragonforce...

I will give it more of a review once I am able to retrieve my controller.

**UPDATE**

I was almost complete the career mode using my mouse and keyboard but unfortunately when I turned the game on this morning it said that the saved game was corrupt and that I would have to continue without loading a saved game. I am back to square one.

IcIrIs is Back!

2007-11-20T22:16:00.000-08:00

That is right people, I am back again. I have been working and such and it has made my website posting life a little more difficult to find time for.

With work I am now able to buy more toys for myself and get a lot more games an I already got.

Here are some new games I have purchased since the last post.

Call of Duty 4 (PC)
Need for Speed Pro Street (PC)
Gears of War (PC)
Guitar Hero III (360)

Games I plan to purchase soon:
Guitar Hero III (PC)
Unreal Tournament 3 (PC)
Assassins Creed (PC)
Half-Life 2: The Orange Box (PC)
Crysis (PC)
Soldier of Fortune: Payback (PC)
Super Mario Galaxies (Wii)

Out of the games I have been playing Call of Duty 4 the most. I have found it to be one of the best games I have ever played. Once I started playing Singleplayer I was hooked. I played the entire campaign (although short) from start to finish including the hidden level at the end of the credits. (All of which I did on Veteran)

Gears of War I got but I have been getting stuck at parts because I try and play co-op and a lot of the time the person doesn't know what they are doing and then leave so I have to start again from the last check point.

Need for Speed: Pro Street I got but got part way though and went back to COD4 for now. I will defiantly finish NFS:PS just not yet. My goal is to unlock the P90 in multilayer in COD4 which isn't unlocked till rank 40, I am only rank 19 thus far. (with work and all).

Guitar Hero 3 I bought because I wished to play it when ever I was at my friends house and the PC version was not out yet. So I got the 360 version and played it at my friends house. I am now going to get the PC version once payday comes around so that I can learn how to do some of the songs on Expert.

Unreal Tournament 3 (PC) - I will be getting this game at some point maybe not at launch but close to it. I always get the new Unreal games however I never keep them for very long, I end up selling them or trading them in at EB.

Assassins Creed (PC) - I was so upset when this game was pushed back however they need to do what they need to do. If it makes the game come out with a few less bugs and less patches to download fine by me. I would rather companies take a few extra months and come out with something stable than me buy an incomplete game.

Half-Life 2: The Orange Box (PC) - I have been hearing nothing but good things about HL2 Episodes 1-2 as well as Portal. So eventually I will be picking this game up and I wish to try out Team Fortress 2.

Crysis (PC) - I have been waiting to see if my dad will buy this game so that I can play the single player. I have no desire to get this game for the multilayer. I will however get the game if he doesn't get it before I finish Gears of War and Need for Speed: Pro Street.

Soldier of Fortune: Payback (PC) - I have been waiting for them to come out with a new and improved SOF just so that I can quench my blood thirst every once in a wile. Other than that I have no desire to play much of the game.

Super Mario Galaxies (Wii) - One of my best friends owns a Wii, and if he does not get SMG I will end up getting it so that I can play it. A lot of my friends have been raving about the game and I figured if its that good its worth picking up some time.

Well that is it for now, I hope to get back to posting regularly. Maybe down the road getting a much better web cam so that I can start another Video Blog.

Totally Late Post

2007-08-21T02:29:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to start posting things on my blog again, however I have just been forgetting to do so. So well, lets play catchup.

New games list:

(PC) DiRT
(PC) Lost Planet
(PC) Shadowrun

I am going to be writing full reviews asap but here is the just of it.

Dirt: Highly addictive ultra realistic racing game. I love rally racing a ton, and have always loved playing the Collin McRae games, but they have really done a good job with this one. The physics is absolutely amazing, the entire environment is destructible or if it isn't able to be busted up it busts up the car you are driving. I am using a 360 controller with the game and it works great, have yet to get the urge to install my steering wheel again since I have been reinstalling windows and got my 360 controller.

Lost Planet: Great scenery, the storyline would make a great movie, and all around awesome game play. On my computer the game would bug out on the main menu and run really slow which was quite annoying but made me play it more then one level at a time before taking a break because I didn't want to exit the game. It did however have very low replay value, I beat the game and only go one every once in a wile to replay some of the boss battles but not continue playing hardcore.

Shadowrun: Crap, I absolutly hated what they did with this title, sure it had some cool things you could do, with the teleporting through the walls, but it just had such a wanabe CS feel mixed with the Shadowrun RPG that it just turned into crap. As well as if someone did not have a 360 controller the controls are retarded. I would not recommend getting this game to anyone.

BF2 Achievements: I have not been playing this at all since I have been getting a whole slue of new games constantly that have been keeping my busy, and with the release of BioShock once I am done DiRT 100% (Yes I will finish 100% of the races) I will be starting BioShock and by the looks of it I might be stuck playing that game over and over again.

BioShock: I am downloading the demo ATM but I would expect even before playing it from what I have heard and the videos that I have seen, I will be getting the game for sure, however the demo will hold me off till I get it, I will probably play the demo 3-4 times easy without getting bored of it.

Online Communities: As most people know I visit a lot of online communities, and I have to say that it is nice to be able to talk to someone when you are on the computer late at night and no one is on msn. I know it is sad that I visit them regularly but, eh, what can I do (I live in a small town). Anyways, on the one, I am starting to get uber popular. I don't know how many people know but on Nexopia if you are a member and you post in the forums you normally get flamed at unless you are a hot chick. Well anyways, I have gotten to the point that I am regular enough that I do not get flamed on.

Reviews for games coming soon....

Gamespot Emblems

2007-07-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

As it is I have the following Emblems:

Registered Member
Neighborly
Pushover
PC Aficionado
Reader's Choice 2005 Chooser
Vote Rocker
Public Access
Turkey Day
I Voted
Virtually There: E3 2007 Microsoft Conference
Virtually There: E3 2007 Gamespot Show Addict

This is all fine and dandy but my problem is not getting the other two that I am entitled too. I watched all of the E3 coverage, I woke up to make sure I saw it all. I should have the Nintendo one as well as the PlayStation. If out of the two I was not to get one it would be the Nintendo one because it was the opening of the day and I missed the first half; for sure I should have the PlayStation.

Not that it really means anything I just am annoyed that I am one of the only people that I know of that watched E3 like I was the E3 addict.

New Computer

2007-07-11T22:43:00.000-07:00

I decided to go with the Sapphire HD 2600XT 256MB Edition as my video card, it is crossfire ready so down the road I can get another one and run it in crossfire.

So as it stands currently my computer specs are as follows:

CPU: AMD Opteron 148 Running 2.5Gig (Thermal Right XP-90 Heatsink)
Mother Board: Asus A8N-SLI
Video Card: Sapphire HD 2600XT (Core 850 Memory 1175)
Ram/Memory: 2x512 Corsair 3200PT 2.5 2 2 8
Sound Card: Creative Audigy 2 7.1 ZS
PSU: Mushkin 550watt SLI
Case: Thermaltake Armor Jr. Black W/ Window
DVD Burner: Samsung 18x Duel-Layer
Hard-Drive: Seagate 250 Barracuda Sata
Input Devices: Logitech G11 Keyboard, Logitech G5 Gaming Mouse
Monitor: Philips 17" 107T
Sound Output: Logitech X-530, Sennheiser HD570

As it comes to over clocking the video card it is maxing out at 857 core and 1179 for memory because of a hardwired limiter on the card itself. On Oblivion with the settings the way I wanted them to be at most scenic spot I was getting 20FPS then with the upping of the Memory to 1179 I was able to get it up to 32, then I turned on temporal AA it jumped up to 40 FPS in the same spot.

The CPU I have not tried much more passed 2.5GIG up from 1.8GIG however later on tonight I will be playing with it some more after doing some more reading. I am crossing my fingers that I will be able to get passed the 2.7GIG mark and maybe even 2.8GIG for a true 1GIG over clock. I am going to see how much of a frame increase I get if any. The CPU heatsink with the 90mm fan on it is working very well.

The Thermaltake Armor Jr. has to be one of the nicest cases that I have seen, the hard drive tray could have been designed so that the cords face out the back however for a much cleaner look. I bypassed that by putting the HDD in backwards and putting the cords out the back anyways. The other flaw that it has is when you try and get the PSU in it is a very tight squeeze due to the output panel on the top of the case (Firewire, 2x USB2, Sound Jacks). The fans that came with it are nice looking especially with the green glow from the 120mm fan on the Mushkin PSU. The front 120mm Blue fan with the matching blue power light really give it a nice touch. The screwless ports needed a little jimmying when it came to the Video Card due to its heavier weight.

The other thing I have to do is plug in the top of the case sound jacks into my sound card, I completely forgot to do that because the computer was almost done and we were just waiting on the Video Card and when it arrived we got overly excited and well now the top ports aren't plugged in.

Upcoming Games, Computer, And More

2007-07-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

There are a few games that I am looking forward too at the moment and can not wait for them to come out. I will go through them and say what GameSpot (My Gaming New site of choose)

(360/PC) Fallout 3 - After years of secrecy, the next big role-playing game from the makers of Morrowind and Oblivion.

As it is I am glad to see that they are keeping most of the original feel of the game and just updating the graphics and adding new features. Because over and over again I have seen it happen; they take an awesome game and ruin the game thinking they are making it better. (If it ain't broke don't fix it) From the screenshots that they have already posted on GameSpot I am stoked for it just from the fact that they are keeping the old school look with a new school touch.

(Wii) Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles - Capcom is taking the classic survival horror series in a rather unexpected direction on the Wii.

I never really liked the first few Resident Evil games because of the very annoying cameras, where you are fighting someone take a step back and then you are pointing in the wrong direction. This was fixed with the new Resident Evil 4, and it camera angle will be completely removed because the new RE will be FPS with the arcade feel. You will be able to purchase a gun holder for your Wii-motes (Which my friend has already gotten). The game will have you continually walk through and you will shoot the people with the gun mote, and to reload you shake the gun. They demo video showed the use of the pistol, shotgun, and sub-machine gun. They also have the herbs back for healing. Looks great and I can not wait till it comes out.

(Wii) Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Duke it out with your favorite Nintendo characters in Super Smash Bros. for the Wii.

I have always had a ton of fun beating the crap out of my friends using different Nintendo characters. So I expect that I will not be disappointed with the next version of this great game. There is not much to say, it looks pretty straight forward but I am wondering how they are going to incorporate the new Wii-Mote.

(360) Grand Theft Auto: IV - The best-selling freestyle crime series is brought onto the new generation of consoles with Grand Theft Auto IV.

This game needs basically no introduction. Everyone and there dog is waiting for this game to come out. I am glad to see that it will be back on the streets of Liberty City meaning that I may not need to learn much of the city over again thanks to GTA3, but I highly doubt that due to the fact that they are going to need to expand on the map size even more after what they have done with GTA:SA. The one thing I am always curious to see is if they are going to have real car names in the game.

-----------------------------------------------

Computer

I am going to be upgrading my computer, I know it is not going to be the latest and greatest but it is going to be quite a bit of a step up for me. It is coming as a Graduation present and we need to wait on what video card to get as the 2600 looks tempting at the price. I will post more when the time comes.

-----------------------------------------------

With the end of my High School life I will now be looking for a job and that means that I will have money to spend on toys. I have a few things that I need to save for and a few items that I wish to buy. The list thus far goes as follows:

36"+ LCD TV (This is for my room and it ties in with a few of the other things I am going to get)
Xbox 360 Elite
Nintendo Wii
Logitech Z-5500 Digital Speakers (These are for the consoles when I am playing them)
Ton of New Games
Good Web Cam (So I can do my video blog again and save my fingers from typing so much)
Car (Unknown what kind I wish to get but hey, as long as I get some wheels)

Gaming Update

2007-06-19T22:04:00.001-07:00

Oblivion: I have started playing Oblivion again due to the fun things that in the expansion after my friend came over and wanted to play and discovered. So I have put in another 10 hours into the game getting my character up another level and getting a ton of new items (Even though I did not need any because of the wicked things I already have)

Battlefield 2: I am now ranked Corporal meaning that I have gotten two new unlocks, I chose the G3 (Assault) and the L85A1 (Medic), and I am on my way to being a Sergeant 1,083 of 2,500 points that are required. Then I will get another unlock, in which I will be choosing the P95 (Sniper). I have almost completed getting all of the basic combat badges, with only the engineer and anti-tank left to get. I also got my first Gold Star, and my First-aid and Resupply badges. Although I have not been able to put in as many hours due to exams that are coming up I have been able to get a total of 09:20:23 time in. Once the exams are over I plan on putting in quite a bit more time and I expect that I will be getting my other things that I am shooting for.

Battlefield 2 Goals: Basic Engineer Badge, Basic Anti-Tank Badge, Veteran Medic Badge, Explosives Ordinance Badge, and get my rank up to Sergeant. Within the next 10 Hours of game play.

Dirty Work [1998]

2007-06-19T22:02:00.000-07:00

Dirty Work is about two people Mitch Weaver and Sam McKenna (played by Norm MacDonald and Artie Lange) who do other peoples dirty work for a living so that they can get the money they need for their father's heart transplant.

It is a classic comedy movie with some more crude humor for its time. I remembered renting it when it first came out and saw it again recently and so I got it. I defiantly think it was worth it. The humor is well put together and can be shared by almost everyone, even though it is quite slapstick.

Rated PG-13 for crude sexual humor and language.

7.5/10

Shooter [2007]

2007-06-13T22:21:00.000-07:00

A marksman (Wahlberg) living in exile is coaxed back into action after learning of a plot to kill the president. Ultimately double-crossed and framed for the attempt, he goes on the run to track the real killer and find out who exactly set him up, and why. - IMDB

Ex-Military Gunnery Sargent Bob Lee Swagger is summoned by an organization to stop a plot to kill the president. There is good convincing acting by all of the actors, and the effects are good. There were a few small errors that I saw in the movie but thats what happens in film making, if you are not supper keen on spotting things in a movie then the chances are you will not notice them.

So far this year has been fairly dry for action movies, and this along with Next are the best I have seen all year. Definatly one that you should go out and rent if you have time.

Rated R for strong graphic violence and some language.

9/10

Knocked Up [2006]

2007-06-09T10:14:00.000-07:00

For fun loving party animal Ben Stone, the last thing he ever expected was for his one night stand to show up on his doorstep eight weeks later to tell him she's pregnant. - IMDB

Comedy / Drama / Romance

Seth Rogen plays Ben Stone, you might remember him from 40 Year Old Virgin. He is one of 5 room-mates that are trying to get a website started where they tell you which actors show their tits in which movie and at what time into it. Not much to support a child on considering that means that he makes nothing.

The movie had its funny points, but ends up being a love story as well. They touch base on a few things that I personally have never seen in a comedy such as funny stuff in the gynecologist's office.

If you enjoyed the crude humor of 40 Year Old Virgin then this will entertain you, do not expect to laugh the whole way through however, because it is after all a comedy/romance.

Rated R for sexual content, drug use and language.

7/10

Back to Battlefield 2

2007-06-06T22:16:00.000-07:00

Now that I have the game running smoothly on my computer I do not mind playing it again, it is a really fun game. I also found a few servers that I really like. Well any servers that is playing 24/7 Karkan with Infantry Only and FF Off. If you are good and fast enough you can get 150-200 points a round, especially as support or medic.

I made a new account for the game because my old one was hard to judge my advancement aprx time. The accounts name is l-IcIrIs-l those are "L's" that are on the outside of the name if you are looking for me.

My stats can be found at: http://bf2s.com/player/101557263/

Next [2007]

2007-06-03T22:33:00.000-07:00

A Las Vegas magician who can see into the future is pursued by FBI agents seeking to use his abilities to prevent a nuclear terrorist attack. - IMDB

The magician named Cris Johnson played by Nicholas Cage is able to see into the 2 minutes into the future, which makes him the perfect candidate for the job of tracking down a nuclear bomb that is located somewhere in the United States. He runs into problems that he solves with his strange ability.

There are some neat visual effects that accompany the being able to see into the future as well as a few make you think moments that made the movie worth wile watching. Most people know that I am not a big fan of Nicholas Cage, even thought he lands a lot of big rolls in big movies. Due to the fact that the movie was started as a Novel and then turned into a screenplay the storyline was well drawn out, and they left the ending open for a sequel.

Defiantly a good watch, even if you are a major Nicholas Cage hater. That was the only draw back to the movie.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of violent action, and some language.

8.5/10 (Lost 1 Point for Cage)

School for Scoundrels [2006]

2007-05-28T20:06:00.000-07:00

An unlucky meter reader enrolls in a confidence-building class so he can win the love of the girl of his dreams. The class turns out to be something quite different when it becomes clear to the young man that his professor has his sights set on the same girl. - IMDB

The main character is Jon Heder from Napoleon Dynamite so you know its going to be silly. With Billy Bob Thorton as the trainer in the confidence-building classes. The acting fit well for a comedy with a little bit of a twisted ending, like all movies they had a twist at the end, which I can't tell you, even with a comedy. There were a few slapstick funny moments, and a good cameo from Ben Stiller.

Overall the movie had me laughing from beginning to end, so I have to give it a good score.

8.5/10

Rated PG-13 for language, crude and sexual content, and some violence.

Sublime [2007]

2007-05-27T00:21:00.000-07:00

Admitted to Mt. Abaddon Hospital for a routine procedure, George Grieves discovers that his condition is much more serious and complicated than originally expected; and as his own fears begin to manifest around him, he learns that Mt. Abaddon is not a place where people come to get better... it is a place where people come to die. - IMDB

Most people thought of this as a horror but I would classify this movie as a psychological thriller, with a different ending. Which got revealed a little to early for my taste which enabled me to predict the ending a little sooner than I think the movie should have allowed. The movie over all was very anti climatic and I would only recommend this movie if you are a die hard make you think thriller move.

6.5/10

Rated R for disturbing violent content, language and sexuality.

2007-05-26T01:41:00.000-07:00

Back to XP....

That is right I am back to XP. I thought that I had gotten rid of the BSOD by unistalling my ATI drivers but it was not the case. After a long period of testing I was unable to find the source of the BSOD, so without much hesitation at all I will be switching back to XP SP2. It has to be the best operating system that I have ever used, it is fast easy to use and generally has no errors once you have things installed correctly and do not mess around with too many things.

It is a good thing that I have a second hard-drive or else I would be royally screwed with all of this installing and reinstalling of Windows. Expect to see me gaming again tomorrow afternoon if I finish up the yard-work quickly. I have been craving driving a virtual car for the last four days.

Harsh Times [2005]

2007-05-26T00:27:00.000-07:00

Jim Davis is an ex-Army Ranger who finds himself slipping back into his old life of petty crime after a job offer from the LAPD evaporates. His best friend is pressured by his girlfriend Sylvia to find a job, but Jim is more interested in hanging out and making cash from small heists, while trying to get a law enforcement job so he can marry his Mexican girlfriend. - IMDB

I have to say that the story was really well done, it is close to what I expected from the description. Not as much action as I expected but a good storyline that draws you in, and makes you want to find out what happens in the end.

Acting was a well done and very believable, and the the Mexico location was very beautiful in my opinion.

I recommend this movie to anyone that enjoys an action drama.

8.5/10

Rated R for strong violence, language and drug use.

2007-05-25T22:15:00.000-07:00

I have gone through some of my movies and I am going to watch the ones that I have not seen yet. Most of them are movies that my dad has got and I didn't notice till now. On the list for movies to review are:

Sublime
Harsh Times
Night in the Museum
School for Scoundrels

This will be the first time that I have done written movie reviews and I hope that you are not disappointed with them.

I will be making sure that they are not just off the top of my head by keeping track of them with Google Documents which is plugged into my BlogSpot account. That way the information is direct and I do not forget anything important.

Back to Vista

2007-05-24T07:10:00.000-07:00

I have had the opportunity to get my hands on a copy of Windows Vista Ultimate. I have to say it looks nice especially with the animated backgrounds. It is like the Enterprise edition however it runs with around 20 less processes at startup.

I did however start getting BSOD shortly after installing my drivers. I was determined to think that it was my sound drivers because it crashed wile I was installing them. So I tried uninstalling them, installing different ones, reinstalling. However nothing worked. So I uninstalled my ATI drivers and I have only had one crash since and that was me trying to play Test Drive Unlimited without video drivers installed, and this was expected just to prove that it was my ATI drivers.

Which brings me to the matter of the new Vista BSOD (Blue Screen Of Death) it does not tell you what is wrong like the original ones with Windows 95+. It is just literately a blue screen and your computer ceases up on you and you are forced to cold boot. Windows should have left it, because when I used to get the BSOD with older operating systems at least you had an idea of what caused it by the information given in the error message.

ATI really needs to get some stable drivers going for Vista, at least for the X800 XTPE that is. I have the idea that they are more worried about getting their new cards to be compatible with the operating system but when I looked at the Valve survey results the most used card by people was the X800 card. This would cause one to believe that it would be the card that the companies try and have everything working for first.

I have not had a chance to install and do some testing of the games much, but when I was able to play Test Drive Unlimited with the drivers that crapped out on me after a wile I did not notice any hold back of the frame rate even with it maxed out which is more than I can say for Vista when I was running Enterprise.

I would still not recommend that people switch till SP1 for Vista, but I will be doing more testing and keeping logs of what I do so that I can post results for programs that I have problems with and guides to getting others working.

IcIrIs Out!

Update

2007-04-23T19:23:00.000-07:00

I am sorry for the readers that have been missing out on new articles for the last little wile. I have been working on things for both school and side work that have taken up my time and any spare time I have been getting I have spent biking and recovering from muscle injuries from that.

I am going to be working on a few things in the next little wile. I will be working on getting a Clan/Gaming web site going. So I will be looking for members who are 16-18+ preferably older due to the fact that I have had quite a few issues with members younger than that no matter what, unless they are the child of one of the older members. I want to start more of a gaming community of a tight nit group that enjoy playing and talking with each other. Expect to see more information on this as time goes on.

As it comes to movies I have not been watching as many lately due to the time issues, however I am going to be trying to set aside some time either each night or every other night to watch a new movie to write a review on it. The video reviews however have been put on hold until I am able to purchase a new video camera, I dropped my web cam wile I was cleaning and it has not worked since.

Movie Reviews 2

2007-02-23T16:10:00.000-08:00

Coming Up Movie Video Review

2007-02-17T18:59:00.000-08:00

My Next Movie Video Review will include:

Man of the Year
The Departed
The Pursuit of Happiness
The Marine
George Carlin - Life is Worth Losing

Video Review 1

2007-02-17T00:56:00.000-08:00

I am going to be posting more of these as time goes on now that I found out how much easier it is to use my web cam vs typing everything out.

YouTube Video 2

2007-02-12T20:28:00.000-08:00

Very cool trick that I saw on YouTube, it was very well done.

Weekly Update 3

2007-02-06T23:23:00.000-08:00

Sorry about the late update but I have been busy gaming and completely forgot about the site.

As it is in Oblivion I have finally reached level 21. I have completed just about all of the Daedric Quests. I have yet to finish the main storyline in my current game however that will be my next task after I complete the Daedric ones. For some reason in my game even though I am at a high level I am unable to find the set of armor that I want. However since I am now at level 21 I will be wanting to get the Daedric set. The sword I got from one of the Deadric quests is the one that I am currently using, the Ebony Blade (Fast and Deadly).

I have not reinstalled NHL07 since my installation of XP, so I have made no progress in this.

Need for Speed Carbon works again since I reinstalled XP, and that has been a good pass time when I am taking a break from Oblivion. I started a new game and have an old one that I can play on. I have not gotten very far in the new game since it is very very repetitive. The main thing I like to do in the game is design cars with the Autosculpt mod.

XP is running great just like it always did. I am not saying that I am going to stick with XP the whole time, but as it is their are to many things that could be improved on Vista. I will be waiting for the first Service pack before I give Vista another go.

With the new semester underway I now have two extra days off in which I will try and get more gaming in. Wednesdays and Fridays. I want to see if I can pick up a new game. I am wanting to shoot for Neverwinter Nights 2. I personally loved the first one and I played the complete storyline (With all of the official expansion packs) 3 times through, and have yet to even set my fingers on a copy of NWN2.

Weekly YouTube Pick 1

2007-02-02T14:55:00.000-08:00

I am going to try and pick out a video that I liked each week and post it.

This weeks video is going to be one of the people I bike with doing his thing. It is actually his promo video, he is looking at getting sponsored. Hope you enjoy!

I've Done It....

2007-02-01T07:13:00.000-08:00

I finally brought myself to switch back to XP. My friend and I were playing Oblivion when I got tired of the lower frame rate due to the bloutware that they have on Vista. The reinstall only took a few hours and I already have Oblivion running maxed out at 1028x768, with an average frame rate of 35fps vs the 18fps that I was getting with Vista on the same system.

I think this may have something to do with the fact that all of the drivers for Vista are still in beta stages. I will try Vista once more after they fix up all of the drivers and get things working smoothly. There is still a computer in our house that has Vista on it so when I see a dramatic increase in gaming performance I will try Vista once more.

NHL07 Status

2007-01-30T17:29:00.000-08:00

Well I just played my 56th game in my season on NHL07 and these are my stats and lineups thus far.

Top 6 Players (By Points)

NHL Teams (By Points)

Current Lineup

I will be working on getting screen shots of Oblivion. Currently my Character is level 14 however by the time I finish the quests I want to do I will probably advance another 2 or so levels.

How To Use Torrents

2007-01-29T23:51:00.001-08:00

I have been getting asked a lot about how to download things with torrents.

First of all you need to understand what a torrent is. A torrent file tells a torrent client how to set up the files on your system and where to connect to a Tracker. A tracker then send you the information on the clients that have the files that you are trying to download and gives you their IP addresses, the client program then tries to connect with the other people to obtain the file.

Once you have done this then the file will start downloading, the speed of the download will depend on your settings on the torrent client, and the availability of the file.

There are many torrent clients that you can choose from. I personally use one called UTorrent. UTorrent's web site is located at: http://www.utorrent.com/. Once you download the client you will then need to get a torrent file for the item you wish to download. There are many torrent websites around the Internet. Some of them better then others.

The one site that I use a lot is called Torrent Spy. (http://www.torrentspy.com/) You then can browse the website and find the torrent file that you wish to download. Keep in mind that there are two things that they tell you in the information bars. The number of Seeders, and then number of Peers.

Seeders are people that have finished the full torrent and have all of the information available for download. Peers have only parts of the file. You want to find a torrent that has a lot of seeders and peers, other wise it will take you a long time or you might not get it at all.

Once you select the file that you want you open the torrent file with the torrent client that you have chosen. There will more then likely be a few windows that open asking you where you would like to save the files to, you save them to a location that you want them and then wait for it to start downloading.

Please note that wile you are downloading the files will appear on your system, however they are not the full files until they are done, they are incomplete and parts are missing so they will not work.

I have given you a starting block, you will need to learn the rest for yourself.

IcIrIs's Recommended Programs

2007-01-29T20:32:00.000-08:00

Music

MediaMonkey - This program is the best audio program that I have come across thus far. I prefer it over Music Match and I Tunes. You are also able to upload to I Pods with it.

Movies/Videos

VLC - This has got to be one of the greatest video programs out there and it is totaly free to use.

Office Work

OpenOffice 2.1 - Works great, and it is free.

Web Browser

FireFox 2.0.0.1 - Greatest browser I have ever used!

Image Manager

Picasa 2 - This is another great freebie from Google. You can do simple edits and manage your photos with ease. It also comes with free hosting if you have a Google account.

Torrents

Utorrent - Simple, small, fast, and easy to use. Is there much else to say about it.

P2P

Limewire - I stay away from these P2P as much as I can but if I really am looking for a rare song that wont be on Torrent then this is the next best thing.

DVD Ripper

DVD Shrink - This program works great and uses the drivers installed for other discs. I use it in conjunction with Nero Burning Rom 7

Burner Program

Nero Burning Rom 6 - There are newer version out however I have found no bugs that I needed to upgrade, it is the most stable that I have used thus far and it is Vista Compatible.

Text File Viewer

EditPad Lite - The free version of a very easy to use tool.

File Compression

Winrar - The most versatile file compression program available, it will open almost any file.

Dos Emulator

DosBox - When you want to play those old games it has to be one of the best dos emulators available.

Weekly Update 2

2007-01-25T19:21:00.000-08:00

Well its that time of the week again. I am sitting at home browsing the net looking at mindless things that I find. Most of my time well spent on YouTube (I do not know what I would do with out you YouTube).

At school I have only 2 out of 5 blocks to finish this semester, and I have been working on tying up lose ends at the end of the semester and get ready for the next one. So I have had quite a bit of time to do things on the net and play old DOS games on the school computers. Mostly I have been playing Commander Keen 4, however I we have also gotten Doom95, with the startup program which allows us to play multilayer with the school's network.

When it comes to home gaming, I have not really been doing all that much this week, it has been a relatively slow week. I have done a few games on NHL 07, and I haven't really touched Oblivion or Counter-Strike Source.

One of my friends game to visit and he ended up playing Oblivion on his game for quite a bit, and we watched Saw 3 and DOA: Dead or Alive. Saw 3 had a lot more storyline compared to the other two, and the killings were not as bad as the other two. However it was still a good movie overall. DOA was just a really pointless fighting movie with some really good fight scenes; I really only watched it because I played the game.

It looks like it is going to be another slow weekend at home with nothing but me and a computer, maybe I will be able to get some gaming in. I plan on getting at least 10 more quests done on Oblivion, and get another 10 games done in NHL 07 by this coming Monday. I also have Monday and Tuesday off due to finals. So I have an awesome weekend lined up. Sleep in Friday morning, then only have one class then skating in PE, then I don't have school till Wednesday, SWEET.

Well I better get started on those quests and those hockey games, I will defiantly have to post screen shots of my status in both. On top of the 10 questions I am also going to finish the main storyline, I have finished it on another game but I want to do it with my new character.

Peace Out

Weekly Update 1

2007-01-19T23:18:00.000-08:00

I can not wait for the official world wide launch of Windows Vista. As it is right now there are so many companies that have not gotten their act together and come out with either drivers or patches to make things work on Vista, and it is really starting to get on my nerves. On said company would have to be Electronic Arts. They have done a really bad job making sure that things run stable on Vista, Carbon being my biggest disappointment, but hopefully things will be changing really soon as the launch time gets closer and closer.

I have been spending more and more time watching things on YouTube to pass the time away when I bumped into a Video Cast/Pod Cast that goes by the name NoobToob. I have to say it is really well done, they come across as gamers verses some of these pod casts that are really... whats the word for it... I dunno, conservative. They speak to the gamers from a gamers point of view. I don't know it could just be me, but I like it. Check them out at http://www.noobtoob.com.

Some of the people that game with me might have noticed that I have not been on CSS that much as of late. That is because I have really started working on getting my season done on NHL 07. Some of my friend know me and they know that when it comes to hockey games, as soon as it is on I can go hours upon hours without taking a break (What can I say I am Canadian, even though I am playing as an American team.)

To bring you up to speed on Oblivion (Ya I know its kind of old news now, old game, and a lot of people are further then me) I still have yet to redo the pilgrimage so that I can wear the cool armor that I got from the Knights of the Nine. I really have not been doing much other then attempting to finish the Mage guild quests. I unfortunately got kicked out for accidentally punching some Mage member's rat. Really retarded I know, but I was taking a drink and my finger slipped on my controller.

Another thing that I have been doing as of late, is playing some of the older games that I used to play now that I have found a cool application called DosBox. What it does is allows you to play old Dos games on the newer operating systems. I got good old Keen 4, and one of my personal favorite old school arcade style fighters One Must Fall: 2097. I am also in the process of getting one of my other old time favorite games that I still haven't beet because when I was younger I scratched the disk (This was before I knew about proper care of games); Full Throttle by Lucas Arts. I will let you know how things go with that.

If you want more information on DosBox check it out at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DosBox

Xbox 360 Controller on PC

2007-01-17T18:09:00.000-08:00

I know that I have been playing games on my computer and you just keep getting the feeling that it was designed around a console. I had no idea before hand that you could get a Xbox 360 controller and plug it into a PC and go. So I was talking to my dad about how much better NHL07 is with a controller so we went and got one. I plugged in the controller and it detected it and it worked. Went into NHL07 and it detected it and set up the controls just like you were playing on a Xbox. So I started wondering if I could get other games to work with the controller.

I downloaded a profiler designed around game controllers called Pinnacle Game Profiler. It automatically detected the 360 Controller and detected what games I already had on my system and installed the profiles with the information built in. You are able to change what each button does so if you do not like jump being Y in Oblivion then you can change it. However most of the time the game designers have come up with the easiest to use control system.

The only problem that I have found with playing FPS games on PC with a controller vs a Console was that in almost every console FPS they have Aim-Assist. What most people do not realize is how much this helps you until you play on a PC without it and you need to try and be dead on accurate with a control stick. To give you a little incite into this, out of my friends I am probably in the top 2 of them at Call of Duty and I can kill people left and right, but then I try playing Counter-Strike Source on PC with a game pad and I can only beat bots on normal difficulty and on-line play is practically impossible unless you are playing a ton of noobs.

You can get the controller to work perfectly with CSS and other FPS games however you need to be really good at sniping people without the accuracy that you get when you use a mouse and keyboard setup.

The one game that isn't sports related that I enjoy playing more with the controller is Oblivion. I have never played on the 360 however I have an idea of what it is like now that I have played with a controller, and I know that they were doing something right when they used the controller, I prefer it over mouse and keyboard 100%. The only time I do not use the controller now is when I am playing in windowed mode because a lot of people are messaging me on MSN. I used the profiler and downloaded a member of their forums unofficial button mapping which matched up with the 360. The only problem you are going to bump into is if you do not already know the buttons then when you are going through the game from the beginning then you are not going to know how to do some of the stuff.

So what do you need to get this setup? If you are from Canada then you are going to want to go to Wal-Mart and pick up the controller because they have the cheapest next to London Drugs. A computer with either XP or Vista. If you have Vista then you do not need the drivers because they are built in. If not then you need to go to http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/gaming/download.mspx and get it. Then you need to either play games that were geared already for controllers or get Pinnacle at http://www.pinnaclegameprofiler.com/ you can either use it for 30 days then reinstall it or pay the 20 dollars and get product with out the 30 days.

The Review

When it comes down to it Xbox has always had in my eyes the best controllers around other then the first one when it was like 3 sizes to big and then they made the mini version and have been on the right track ever since. They are ergonomically correct, they have a nice layout and the way that they use triggers is great (Glad to see that the PS3 adopted this). It gives it an awesome overall feel when you are playing games that require some more control over the action that is place with the triggers (Such as racing games when you want to give it just a little gas).

There currently is no force feed back using the rumble effects that you get with a 360 however I am going to be doing some more testing and experimenting with other drivers to see if I can get it going.

The great Xbox button does not work on the PC for very obvious reasons. If Microsoft wants to do us all a favor (by Us I mean people using a 360 controller on a PC) they should have that button programed to go to some menu like they have on the 360. I would personally love to see it be geared to Vista's side bar and have it just kinda appear over top of the game or application so that you can use the MP3 player or check the time or any of the other cool things that they have on the side bar.

Overall I think this was a great investment considering I love playing NHL07, it is just a much higher quality controller over the ones that I have seen come out in the past and they are practically indestructible; however I hate seeing a button not being which next to the lack of rumble capabilities is the only other downside.

Coming Soon

2007-01-14T19:16:00.000-08:00

I am going to be working on a review and guide for the Xbox 360 Wired Controller working on Windows. I currently have purchased it and have got it working with at least one game, but I am working on a guide for getting a lot of games working, and what I think of it overall.

NHL07 Review

2007-01-02T23:08:00.000-08:00

This Years Matchup: NHL2K7 VS NHL07, and the winner is.... NHL07.

Click Here to read more.

Windows Vista Compatibility

2007-01-02T18:10:00.001-08:00

I have had Windows Vista running for some time now; since December 12^th and I know some people have the same questions that I do about compatibility with programs and driver related problems.

Here are my system specs:
CPU: AMD Barton Mobile running at a true 2.5 with a PR of 3.6

Video Card: Sapphire X800 Pro VIVO running 525 Core 560 Memory
Motherboard: Asus A7N8X 2.0

Memory: 2x512 Corsair PC3200 PT

I will post a list of my programs that I have installed or have tried installing.

Programs that Work Fine: (All of these programs were installed without any complications either during installation or during the use of the applications)

3DMark06

AC3Fliter

Adobe Photoshop CS2
Alcohol 120%

ATI Catalyst Control Center

Battlefield 2

DivX Codec

EA Link

Half-Life 2

Java Runtime Environment 6

JGsoft EditPad Light 6.1.2

Logitech G11 Keyboard Software 1.03

Logitech Gaming Software (Steering Wheel)

MediaMonkey 2.5

Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.1

Need for SPeed Most Wanted

Oblivion

Oblivion Nights of the Nine + Addons

OpenAL

OpenOffice.org 2.1

Picasa 2

Shockwave

Steam

SwiftDisc 1.96
UTorrent

Ventrilo Client

VMware Player

Windows Live Messenger

WinRAR Archiver

Programs With Slight Problems:

ATITool – ATI Tool works fine however it does not have permission to startup at Windows startup, I was able to bypass that by switching my user to True Admin.

Azureus – It worked fine for a wile but for some reason it has just decided to not work anymore, it isn't that it doesnt work, but I do not get to see the status of my torrents or live updates, I know it is still downloading because in Statistics it shows that there is activity for the current session.

Crative Audio Console – Works OK, however I can not get the effects to work wile I am on the desktop, I like to listen to music, however sence it is not in 5.1 format it plays in 2.1 and normally you can use a filter called CM2 to make it play in a virtual 5.1 environment.

DVD Shrink 3.2 – Shrinks the DVD's fine however windows has a bug where it does not refresh the DVD Drive when a program is using it, thus when I stick a blank in after compressing my favourite movies it tells me that the DVD is blank and that the write process has failed. I counter this by taking the data and burning it manually.

Logitech ImageStudio – Works for taking picture with my Logitech QuickCam 3000 but crashes when attempting to take videos, I was hoping to use my Cam to make a Video blog about Vista.

Logitech QuickCam Software – Does not recognize my Web Cam however the software does run.

Logitech SetPoint – Same problem as with ATITool

Nero Suite – Works other then it keeps popping up with an error message saying that Windows Vista is not compatible with this software and if I would like to continue anyways.

NHL07 – Works great however due to an issue with the drivers it is stuck in 640x480 mode.

PowerISO – Works other then an error message that appears ever once in a wile stating that the drive is unaccessible.

VideoLan VLC Media Player 0.8.6 – My dad has gotten this program working on his computer but I am having no such luck, I get sound but no video. Which stinks because on one of my videos I can get get Video but no sound with Windows Media player.

Programs that Do Not Work:

Battlefield 2142 Full Demo (1 Month Full Trial) – I can sometimes get the game to run for a short period of time however it is inevitable that the game will crash shortly after getting into the game.

Need for Speed Carbon – Wont work, even with the posted work arounds that people have tried. (Please read my NFSC review for a little more insite Here)

Feel free to ask me any questions that you have.

Need for Speed Carbon Review

2007-01-02T17:41:00.000-08:00

Another Need for Speed, that brings it to one a year for the last four years. Each time they took a step forward, however this year I think they took a step back.

The graphics were OK, however....

Click Here to read more.

Knights of the Nine Review

2007-01-02T17:15:00.000-08:00

Great, but I expected it to be longer or harder, please read for details.

Click Here to read more.

Happy New Year

2007-01-01T00:23:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone, I hope it was a good one. :D

Damn Quest

2006-12-28T18:25:00.000-08:00

It is not that the Knights of the Nine is hard, I have had no problems doing the parts of the quest, it is how long it takes to do it. I just got all of the armor and the sword and talked to the preacher dude and got what I need to do next, but then I go to put it on and it says I have sinned or what ever and need to go on a pilgramig... meaning I have to go on another one hour run fest. Oh Joy!

Name Change + Update

2006-12-27T22:50:00.000-08:00

My current online name has switched from Aft3rM4th to Dark-Dante-Disciple you can find me playing CSS on the N00b Slaying Grounds | Deathmatch server.

IP: 8.6.3.56:27015

Besides this I have been working on finishing Oblivion 100%, I am currently working on completing the Knights of the Nine expansion. I will post pictures of my character and my stats soon and show list the quests that I have completed.

I have abandoned my article Lower Class Video Cards For Better Gaming due to the fact that I do not have a secondary computer to test with. I am attempting to find a work around. The other option is to find someone who wants to help with this.

NHL07 Update: For those of you that know me, you know how much I love hockey meaning I play a lot of NHL07 and watch a lot of games. I am playing as the Pens and have gone 22-2-0 both loses were to the Islanders of all teams but for some reason they are able to beat Marc-Andre every time.

Unfair Christmas

2006-12-27T17:39:00.000-08:00

I was talking to my friend Alex just before the holidays about the Canadian Governments decision to ban “Merry Christmas”, and it got us talking about how if Christians are not allowed to express their religion then the other religions should not be allowed to express theirs. I do not care what it has to do with their side of the religion. If Christians are not allowed watch their Jesus centred Christmas specials on TV, then I do not want to see Hanukkah on the air, if they are not allowed to have Christmas trees in offices then I do not want to have to see people wearing turbans, why is it always that the Christians are getting the blunt of all of these attacks from organizations.

Do not reply to this with you are just ignorant, I feel that it is everyone else that is being ignorant.

Logitech G11 Review

2006-12-27T17:34:00.000-08:00

I finally got my Logitech G11 keyboard, I have had it a wile however I needed to wait till Christmas before I take it from under the tree. I have to say my first impressions were good, I had no problem installing the XP software into my copy of Vista and having full compatibility. The micro keys so far have come in handy I am using them to simplify my typing by programing presets into them for MSN, such as “LOL, yeah, eh, sup” and so on.

The keyboard has backlit keys which are nice because I personally play in the dark most of the time with nothing but the glow of my monitor and it makes it easy to see what key I am pressing, even though I do not look at the keyboard for typing I still need to look when I am going for the G keys.

There are two USB ports on the front of the keyboard. I am using one for my G5 mouse which works great together and frees up another USB slot in the back of my computer enabling me to leave everything plugged in now.

The keys are fairly firm when you are typing but if you are really checking the keys you can notice a little bit of play in them, however I quite like this because some times with my old keyboard I would press the key from a weird angle and it wouldn't go down, it would just stay there stuck and I would need to press again. The volume control is fairly cheap feeling in the sense that it has no grip other then a little indent.

There is also another small thing that they have on both the G11 and the G15 and that is a switch from desktop to games. When in games it disables the Windows key. I do not know how many times I have accidentally pressed this key in the middle of a gun fight and gotten killed because of it.

The programmable G keys, oh how I am starting to love these keys already. You are able to program them to do what you want through their software and profile manager. I currently play CSS but I am playing on a death match server, and the buy menu is changed because of that so just scripting keys to the buy commands doesn't work, however I am able to program it to do the equivalent of pressing keys in order. For instance I need it to press “1, then 3, then 2” so I programed it to do just that and it works great. There are also on the fly programing where you press the MR button then the G key you wish to program then you start pressing away on the keyboard and it remembers what you do and then when you are done you press the MR button again and when you press that specific G key it does it again exactly the way you just did it.

The overall appeal of the keyboard is great, I switched from a Logitech wireless keyboard that I got out of the Wireless Duo package and I am not in the closest regretting it at all. The only feature that I would like to see is having your headphone jack and mic jack built on to the keyboard in the next Gen of the Logitech G series.

Pros:
Blacklit Keys
Programmable G Keys
USB Ports
Windows/Gaming Switch
Look

Cons:
Cheap Feeling Volume Control

Up Coming

2006-12-23T23:44:00.000-08:00

I am going to be working on remaking this website and intergrating it into other free hosts. I plan on showing off what a person with good knowledge base of webdesign can do with free hosting from diffrent companies.

Blogspot
GooglePages
InvisionFree
And More...

Busy

2006-11-25T21:39:00.000-08:00

I have not been posting lately due to the amount of things that I have had to deal with lately. I am going to be working on new things soon.

Some of which things include:

Cheaper Cards Better For Online Killing
G11 Review
And More

Sub-woofer Songs

2006-09-26T21:51:00.001-07:00

I have been listening to more techno and rap because I have loved the quality of the bass that my headphones can produce. To give you an example, when I listen to songs with really high bass I can actually feel my headphones vibrating on my head. For those that do not know I am running Sennheiser HD570 off of my Creative Audigy 2. I also if I want to feel the bass run my 6” computer sub wile using my headphones, I can not hear the lower quality sounding bass but I can feel it more on my chest which is a really nice feeling.

My dad will not let me play around with his audio setup in his room. He is running a Sony AMP, 2 Polk Tower Speakers for Fronts, 12” 650 watt Klipsch sub. His Polk speakers actually have 10” passive subs built into them so there is a ton of bass that is capable of coming out of that system. However for the time being he has rewired it so that his Polk speakers are running off of his Phase Linear 500 amp and Phase Linear 5000 Pre-Amp. And has the sub going with the JBL speakers as rears and an unknown brand in the front but they are better quality then the JBL speakers.

Well I am starting to put together a list of tracks that I have found to have a nice clear sounding bass that would be good for testing out sub equipment.

Almost anything by DJ Quicksilver is good. However these tracks in particular stuck out for me.

DJ Quicksilver – Eye of the Tiger (Techno Remix)

DJ Quicksilver – Thunderdome Megamix Trance

Here are some songs that are good as well:

50 Cent – Just a Lil Bit (This song has very low bass some systems may not be able to take full advantage of its lower range)

Usher – Yeah (Instrumentals) (I personally do not like the rap lyrics all that much so I listen to the instrumentals, this is another song where I can hear the low bass on my headphones because they have a better range then my Logitech speakers so you need a good system)

I will update this list when I have time tomorrow at school.

Sold Computer

2006-09-20T09:42:00.000-07:00

I sold a computer recenctly to Tyler, it wasn't a top of the line but it was still a great computer for the price.

Amd Athlon XP 3200+
Asus A7V-333 with Onboard 5.1
D-Link 10/100 Mbps
Sapphire X800 XT PE (520mhz Core 560mhz Memory)
2x512 Samsung 2700 (333mhz)

The case is what I liked the most. We took on of our server cases so it is an oversized case and stripped it down, then we painted the parts. We went with blue and black. The intirior I painted black aswell as the back pannel of the case. The exterior was painted blue and the drives I painted the face plates black for a really good contrast. It turned out better then I expected.

High-End Headphones = Rip Off?

2006-08-31T14:53:00.000-07:00

I am starting to wonder if paying bigger and bigger amounts for headphones is worth it.

I bought some Sennheiser HD570 and I was looking at the HD595 because they are one of the highest class of audiophile headphones without an outrages. Then I started looking it the specifications between the HD515, HD555, and HD595. The only difference other then the stamp on it is the range of sound that it is able to produce. The HD515 and HD555 also have a <0.2%>

HD515 – 14Hz-26,000 Hz
HD555 – 15Hz-28,000 Hz
HD595 – 12Hz-32,500 Hz

Now with that in mind let’s look at the hearing of a human. There are sounds that we can hear and can not due to the level of frequency. The sounds that we can not hear are infrasound and ultrasound, infrasound is too low and ultrasound is too high. So what is the frequency range of a human?

Well there have been many studies on it here are the results of three and then we will average out the findings to have a semi accurate account assuming that the research they did is accurate.

Cutnell, John D. and Kenneth W. Johnson
Physics. 4th ed. New York: Wiley, 1998: 466.

They found that the hearing rage was 20-20,000 Hz

"Ear". Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. 2000

States that the level is 15-18,000 Hz

Caldarelli, David D. and Ruth S. Campanella.

Ear. World Book Online Americas Edition. 26 May 2003

State that the level of hearing for a human is in the 20-20,000 Hz range.

So if we average out the three we find that the average lowest frequency is 18 Hz and the highest is 19,333 Hz.

With that in mind lets look back at the at the lowest of the three models its response is 4 Hz lower then human hearing and about 7,000 Hz higher. Thus with their lower model you are getting more then you can hear. So why should you pay more for sounds that you can not hear.

The MSRP for each of the products is

HD515’s $109.95 USD
HD555’s $169.95 USD
HD595’s $289.95 USD

So if the 515’s are already above my hearing then how do they expect me to pay an extra $180 for sounds that I can not hear?

If you know a scientist or a person who works with audio equipment and is well educated that would be able to give me facts about this and lead me in the right direction please let me know.

Aft3rM4th Is Back

2006-08-25T23:57:00.000-07:00

Guess who is back, that is right, Aft3rM4th is back. With the switching of computer components I have needed to reinstall and I left best for last and I am reinstalling Counter-Strike Source. I have been playing F.E.A.R for my multiplayer fix of FPS as well as a little Call of Duty 1.

I have to say that F.E.A.R is really fun for the price, and that price was free. It is really fun and it runs really nicely on my computer. The graphics are interesting and for just getting into the game I am almost always in the top rankings on the server that I play on.

However, I want to get some CSS back in, there are things that playing in games brings to the table. You play one game and the skills that you use in the game end up transferring into the other games. So I want to work on putting together COD F.E.A.R and CSS skills. With the fast pace of FEAR and the COD style map strategy mixed together should bring my CSS game up to a new level.

I do however need to re-write all my binds and scripts.

I will post my binds and scripts and more information on how I try and give myself the edge.

Once I get the game going I will do a round, and take a screenshot of my frist round back sence I reinstalled.

Getting the Most Out of Azureus or Other Torrent Clients

2006-08-23T15:34:00.000-07:00

To be honest with you I was not totally pleased with my Torrent sharing experience till now. I was always reading about people downloading their “Demos” at speeds of up to 400kbps and that was very high sounding for me considering some of the highest speeds I ever saw for downloading big “Demos” was around the 40-50 maybe 60-70 if I was lucky. So I started doing my research into the subject of P2P and computer settings.

Here is what I am running network wise; a Shaw Cable-Cable line, and with Linksys routers and switches. As it is we have 3 computers on the network two used for gaming which both of us use torrent downloads to get a lot of our files and another machine that is used in the kitchen for sending emails and msn for the less computer savvy people in the family. The network is running 10/100mbits, so there is no bottleneck there.

I am currently using Azureus 2.4.0.2 even though there is a 2.5.0.0 version out currently.

The first thing that I have noticed that effects my download speed is my upload setting, it turns out that some clients are able to set the maximum you speed you are allowed to download off them based off of the speed of your upload, so having your upload bigger actually is better; however to do not want to have it too high as it will effect the overall net performance of your download as well, from all of the articles I have read it seems to be that 80% of your maximum upload is the magic number. To get your max speed, test it with a bandwidth tester. I myself use http://www.speedtest.net/ as it is easy on the eyes and almost anyone can use it.

The next big thing that effects your upload speed is the availability of your computer to the net, by this I mean that your computers ports that Azureus is using need to be open and ready to use. For people that are not running off a router and are going directly into your internet line you have nothing to worry about. However if you are running off of a router or some type of hardware firewall you will need to check to make sure that your “NAT/Server Port” is open. With Azureus you do these by clicking “Tools>Nat Firewall Test> Check” if the test comes back that it is open and working then great then you are ready to go, but if not then you need to change your hardware firewall to forward that port to you. There are many guides on the net for doing this I am not going to write any down as there are a vast variety of different firewalls and different ways of dealing with each.

Now for settings; let’s start with the transfer settings since they are the ones that will affect your transfer speeds. My currents settings are as follows.

Max Global Upload Speed: 25
Alternate Rate for Seeding [ ]
Max Global Download Speed: 0

Max Number Upload Slots per Torrent: 2

Alternate Default for seeding: [x] 4

The rest of the settings on that tab are set to 0, or unchecked.

Another big speed increase, and I can not stress this one enough, it is where I saw my biggest boost is with changing your TCPIP.SYS, no you do not have to do it yourself there is a tool that does it for you. What happened is with Service Pack 2 they have changed the number of Max TCPIP connections to 10, which means that you will only be able to download from 10 clients at a time per port. The address can be found at the bottom of this article.

I did a test to see how much of a difference this made; I put the setting back to the stock 10 with the same settings, restarted my computer and turned on a torrent. It was downloading at an average of 40 KBPS, what I was used to seeing. So I switched the setting to 100 max connections, restarted and waited a wile for the torrent to level off and it levelled off at about 140KBPS that is a 3X increase.

So I hope with some of these things the less advanced users of torrents can start experiencing torrents at the way it was meant to be experienced.

http://www.lvllord.de/?lang=en&url=downloads – TCPIP.SYS utility.

Snakes on a Plane

2006-08-16T21:17:00.001-07:00

When a young man witnesses a brutal mob murder, it falls to FBI agent Neville Flynn to escort his charge safely from Hawaii to Los Angeles to testify. But in an act of self-preservation, the crime boss facing prison smuggles hundreds of poisonous snakes onto the commercial aircraft in a crate timed to release its deadly cargo halfway over the Pacific. Flynn, along with a frightened flight crew and passengers, must then band together in a desperate attempt to survive.

- Flixster Synopsis

Man, not only does the trailer tell me that it is going to be very repetitive. “AHHH, there is a snake over there!”; “AHHH, there is another snake in another location. We are all going to die!.” But they could have come up with a different title like Venom Plane, or Plane of endless snakes with no storyline that is going to be boring as hell.

Till the next time something comes up. I’m Logging Off.

CY4

My PC Overclock

2006-08-16T19:12:00.000-07:00

Ok, I know it isn't the best system, but I am only 16 years old so don't get me down.

CPU: AMD Barton Mobile 2500+ OCed My settings for CPU are: (12.5x200(For a true 2500))
Memory: 2x512 Corsair 3200 DDR400 running in Dual channel
Video Card: Sapphire X800 Pro VIVO (Bios Flashed to XT PE for 16 Pipes) (OCed running at 520 core 560 memory)
Motherboard: Asus A7N8X

Till the next time something comes up. I’m Logging Off.

CY4

What, PS3 to Take Sale Title in 2011?

2006-08-16T18:45:00.001-07:00

Who's the lucky company? Despite widespread unhappiness with the PlayStation 3's high price, the Yankee Group predicts that Sony will come out on top. "Microsoft is off to a fast start, launching the Xbox 360 nearly 12 months before the PlayStation 3," the company said in a statement. "However, by the time third-generation consoles reach market maturity in 2011, the PlayStation 3 will once again be the market leader."
- GameSpot’s Tor Thorsen

I personally do not think that the PS3 will kill the Xbox 360 that much. Lets take one game as an example; Oblivion. The people at Bethesda Softworks said that it will only be coming out for the Xbox 360 and PC due to the computing power that is required to run the game. Well if the PS3 is going to be better then the Xbox 360 then wouldn’t we expect to see this awesome title coming out for PS3 as well? You really have to ask yourselves this question.

Till the next time something comes up. I’m Logging Off.

CY4

Firefox 2 Delayed

2006-08-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

According to an article on TechWeb Firefox 2 is getting postponed till October this is ok, I was just hoping that I would be able to use the new one sooner.

Till the next time something comes up. I’m Logging Off.

CY4

TechWeb Article
http://www.techweb.com/showArticle.jhtml?
articleID=192100053&cid=RSSfeed_TechWeb

Phantom Overhauled

2006-08-16T11:48:00.000-07:00

Originally, the Phantom was announced as a console that would bring the PC experience to the living room. After several delays and much mocking from the gaming community, the company rebranded its product as the "Phantom Game Service." While it still involved a special box hooked up to the TV, management emphasized that it was developing a subscription offering for streaming games and was not a competitor for Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo.

- Quote from GameSpot Editor Brendan Sinclair

They have also change the site up. What it looks like is they have officially switched to selling a special keyboard and a service to play games if you already own a computer. But let’s think about this one for a minute. You are going too basically try and start running your PC system as a console for $129.99 American. So that you can play with PC games that you have bought and use their fancy system. But Wait; if you already own a PC and you are playing PC games, then why would you need to spend close to $130 to play the same games, when you can play them without the Phantom Gaming Service. The idea of downloading games off the net has already been used by Direct2Dive created by GameSpy so the only thing that would possibly interest me is their keyboard with the mouse pad. It is a very neat idea. Me personally however already own a good mouse and am getting away from wireless. I own a MX700 and a Logitech Wireless Keyboard if I wanted to use wireless, but I am switching to the G15 and I already own a G5.

Any smart gamer is going to see the Phantom Gaming Service and burst out laughing right away, well that is if they got two brain cells to rub together.

Till the next time something comes up. I’m Logging Off.

CY4

New Phantom Website
http://www.phantom.net/home.html

Direct2Drive Website
http://www.direct2drive.com/

Why Two Copies of New Games?

2006-08-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

What I am having a problem with is a game company coming out with the same game but then making an add-on calling it by a different name and charging you the extra fee. Neverwinter Nights 2 is coming out with the standard version of the game and the limited edition of the game. With the limited edition of the game you are going to get some extras such as a cloth map, and the art book. Then on top of paying 60 dollars for that you can get an extra add-on that adds some features to the game for only an extra 10 dollars. Don’t get me wrong if they want to do this then I guess that there is nothing that me as the consumer can do other then complain.

The message that I get from them is that they want to charge us for something extra that should have come with the game. So if the going price for this game is going to be 70 American if you want to have it the way that they wanted you to play it then I am going to be stuck with paying approximately $100 Canadian for a game that I do not even know if I will like just because I think it will be nice to have some extra things that at even $60 they should have already thrown in.

Again don’t get me wrong I love Neverwinter Nights with the expansions however I do not think that off the launch I should be paying extra for a package that they have already come out with and could have easily added into the game so that it does not cost me extra.

Another great example of what I am talking about is with Need for Speed Most Wanted and Need for Speed Most Wanted Black Edition. I personally got the Black Edition for the fact that I thought that I could go cruising with a 68 Camaro however it didn’t mention that the only time I got to drive one of my most favorite muscle cars was when I was either getting chassed by the most annoying of the pursuit modes or if I was racing. However since both editions of the game came out at launch why didn’t they just come out with only one, I can see them coming out with the first one and then waiting till half-way between the launch of there new one and the old one coming out with an expansion pack to give the people that love the game something new to do with it then I can see myself paying the extra money for it.

Till the next time something comes up. I’m Logging Off.

CY4