Here’s some MMO love for you guys. I used to play Age of Conan. It’s a wonderfully beautiful game, and fun to boot. I stopped because, well, I’m kinda broke, and I could find nobody to play with. Well, my buddy code has been activated. The buddy code will give you a free trial of the software for 14 days, I think. Anyway, I don’t need it, obviously, but I would be more than happy to give it to someone. So, if you know someone, or you yourself want this code, just shoot me a message and I’ll send it out to ya.

Ok, Brenda! I’m downloading it now! :) I speak of course about the Sauerbraten Game Engine. Brenda has recommended this twice, and the first time I just let it slip into the comment void. I’m downloading it now. What did it for me this time was the map in the picture. That’s FACES!!! You old school Unrealers out there know what I’m talking about. HOURS of fun on that map. So, I will have to check it out. If you miss old school Quake, Unreal, or have a machine that can’t run Crysis (I so have to get that game), then give this one a shot. Or give it a shot even if you don’t meet those criteria. It’s free for shit sake!

Listen up, Soldier! Looks like there’s a new game on the radar! Were you a fan of Planetside way back in the day? It looks like there might be an MMOFPS on the way to take the long held crown from Planetside (granted, no game has come along to challenge the crown). Anyway, I’ll let you check it out for yourself. The really good thing about this is the specs are low, and the pricepoint is very attractive — FREE. I worry about how they will get their money, but that is their problem. Anyway, follow the link below to check it out!

Battlefield Heroes!

Life has been pretty busy lately, and I haven’t had as much of a chance to write as I would have liked. So, I will give a quick update to things goin on in my life.

Happy Dad’s day to all the dads out there. I had a pretty good day — hung out with family and just tried to relax. Heidi and Rhys got me a really nice Fossil watch, so that was freakin awesome! Rhys did a very good job keeping the secret from me, much to our surprise. He mentioned that he had a “surprise” to give me on “Mother’s Day” a few times, but never gave away the secret. :)

I’m still not smoking! WOO HOO! I have a few patches left to go if I want to finish out the program, but honestly, I’m pretty much done with it. I tried to put a patch on today and it didn’t stick very well, so I just tossed it. I think I’m truly done with the whole smoking thing! Feels good to be done with that shit. OMG. I still get cravings, but I have enough will power to fend off the cravings this time. I just gotta keep my exposure to smokers limited for a time, else I know I will fall.

I have been thinking of taking up online poker again. It’s an online game that 1) I like to play, 2) takes little time, 3) doesn’t have a monthly cost, 4) can actually win money! So, we’ll see. I noticed that Poker.com seems to have turned into a portal of sorts. I used to play there when it was a gaming site. I know the US Govt has frowned on online gaming, so I will have to check into the current laws, etc… BOOO

That’s about it for now. I’m gonna get to work, and try and enjoy the day! Chat at you guys later!

There was a time when I would definitely call myself an avid gamer. I’d still like to call myself that. But, lately every game I play seems to fall short of that proverbial mark — whatever that mark is. Perhaps the problem is I am not aware of the mark I am trying to hit.

I just LOVE Massively Multiplayer Online games. I’ve loved them since the days when we mudded on terminal screens at the University…

I’ve played a lot of MMOs since those days: EQ2, Planetside, Dark Age of Camelot, Eve, Tabula Rasa, Guild Wars, Second Life, and now Age of Conan… Some of these did well to capture my attention, some did very poorly. However, lately, it’s as if no games are capturing my attention at all! Not sure what that is about. I mean, the latest MMO I’m playing is Conan… Yeah, CONAN! I should be all over that like white on rice, but somehow I’m not…

The reigning theory is that the heat is rolling in and we all feel a bit lethargic. Gotta love the oppresive summers here. Well, I have thirty days on Conan and we’ll see how it goes. I might just stick to Angband… ;)

Yep, I’m installing Windows at home again… Fret not, it’s just for gaming. I mean, that’s what winders is for, right? I need some gaming fix and I need Windows in order to do it in a non-stressful fashion. So, here we go.

First XP CD I found produced a blue screen when trying to start the Windows GUI for installation. Not a good start. Though, I thought it an appropriate welcome back to the neighborhood.

The second CD I found installed just fine. But, look at this, no video driver, no ethernet, no SM Bus, no “PCI Device”, no “USB Device”, and no 3D video controller… So much for plug and play. But again, I imagine it would be much the same as returning to Korea after all these years and smelling the wonderful open sewer system again. Oh yes… I remember that…

Ok, now we’re in driver hell. Yes, folks, no matter what Billy-boy would have you believe you do need to fetch drivers for XP most of the time. Kinda sad that it didn’t have the network driver built in, however. That little bit of fun makes it particularly difficult. So, I use my trusty laptop to download the necessary drivers. I installed the video, network, and chipset drivers. I was installing the video drivers lastly and when it came time to be done it asked me as per usual, “Restart Now?”. To which I was going to say yes. But, no… USB had died. No PS2 ports for keyboards, or and don’t you love how there is no CLI (especially a remote CLI) to enable a graceful shutdown. Looks like this reboot will be medieval style.

Well, FINALLY all the drivers are good. Had to step back the nVidia driver because the newer one was borking up. Other than that, we’re good. Doing the Update - Reboot dance now. Rhys is begging me to install the Sims…. I can’t wait to install some Counter-Strike tho. ;)