All posts by Atomm

Quake

Quake Wars: Enemy Territory Character Class Review

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At first, I was not paying attention to the new Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. The initial information I received made it sound cheesy. Having recently received more details, I can honestly say I am excited to see how this game turns out.

It is being developed by the guys who created Enemy Territory for Wolfenstein. Based partially on Quake: Team Fortress and sharing some concepts with Battlefield 2, this game is poised to be a big hit. That is if they can actually pull off everything they are talking about. With vehicles, deployables, artillery calls, objective based large maps, this game looks to combine the tactics I enjoy in Battlefield with a slightly SciFi experience.

For a list of the current classes for both the Global Defense Forces and the Strogg, click Read More… Continue reading Quake Wars: Enemy Territory Character Class Review →

Movies

Track List Revealed For Underworld:Evolution Soundtrack

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The track listing has been revealed for the upcoming soundtrack to the film “Underworld: Evolution”, check it out below:

01 – Puscifer (Maynard James Keenan of Tool) – “The Undertaker” (Renholder Mix)
02 – Chester Bennington (of Linkin Park) vs. Julien-K – “Morning After”
03 – Hawthorne Heights – “Where Do I Stab Myself In The Ears” (The Legion Of Doom Remix)
04 – My Chemical Romance – “To The End” (RnR Cheryl Mix)
05 – Slipknot – “Vermillion Pt. 2” (Bloodstone Mix)
06 – Alkaline Trio – “Burn” (Alleged Remix)
07 – Aiden – “The Last Sunrise” (Dusk Mix)
08 – Senses Fail – “Bite To Break Skin” (The Legion Of Doom Remix)
09 – Atreyu – “Her Portrait In Black”
10 – Trivium – “Washing Away Me In The Tides”
11 – Mendozza – “Eternal Battle”
12 – Lacuna Coil – “Our Truth”
13 – Gosling – “Cat People (Putting Out The Fire)”
14 – Bobby Gold – “Why Are You Up”
15 – Meat Beat Manifesto – “Suicide”
16 – Cradle Of Filth – “HW2”

The album is due out on January 10th via Lakeshore Records. Puscifer is a side project of Tool/A Perfect Circle frontman Maynard James Keenan.

Television

Finally, The Digital Revolution Is Really Here!

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There is something interesting happening right under Microsofts nose. I wonder if they even realize it. M$ has been trying to get into the Entertainment industry for quite some time with Windows XP Media Center Edition. I wouldnt call it a success, but a few people like it.

However, the little company that could, Apple, has done something to thwart M$s endeavor into the world of Computers in the Home Entertainment Theater. Look around and you will see recent announcements that Apple is adding even more content to their Itunes Video offerings. Shows like Battlestar Galactica, The Office, Surface and classics like Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Adam-12 and Knight Rider (Raze, your dreams have come true!).

For $1.99, you can legally download episodes you missed to your Video Ipod. But wait! Who would want to watch tv on a tiny 2 inch screen for $1.99 an episode? You are missing the point. Its not about the Ipod. Its about being able to download TV shows for a reasonable price legally. In fact, nothing says you have to play it on an Ipod. You could play it from any computer using Quicktime and pipe it out to your big screen TV. I have S-Video on my laptop and I can push the video to my 42” TV just as easily as I can watch it on an Ipod. That is the beauty of this whole situation. Without buying Windows XP Media Center Edition, Apple has given me an easy way to use my everyday laptop as a Media Center computer without paying the Microsoft Tax.

Another company that should be paying attention is Tivo. Its rumored that Apple is going to launch a DVR next. Imagine that? You can record your favorite TV shows for free, but miss an episode and for $1.99 you can grab it outside the normal delivery cycle. I love my Tivo, but if the price was right, I would buy an Apple DVR and put my Tivo on Ebay.

The thing that really gets me about this whole situation is the only people that understand the digital revolution is about cheap and easily acquired digital content is Apple and a few Hundred Million PC users. Are you listening RIAA? MPAA?

Read more details at ArsTechnica:
Apple Adds New Television Shows To Its Lineup
Apple Gaining Corporate Mind Share for Video Distribution

World of Warcraft

Gekozen enters Raid Alliance with NRC and Lawless

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As the members of Gekozen have noticed, many folks are reaching level 60 and wondering what to do after the level grind is over. Many members want to see the end game content. With this in mind I have contacted the leaders of Northrend Cartel and Lawless guilds, and they have agreed to bring us into their raiding alliance. But I need your feedback? Visit the Gekozen forums and tell me what you think.

GR1 Heavy Metal

Server Downtime

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You may be wondering why our website has been unavailable for the last day or so. Unfortunately, the server we were on decided to have a massive Raid meltdown. Given two choices of restoring the backup or trying to rebuild the massive Raid system, we chose to go with yesterdays backup.

Some forums posts will be missing and the review I spent two hours on yesterday is also gone. That will teach me to make a local copy. Everything should be back to normal.

Up Yours

Sony/BMG Patching Music CDs

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Now I am really pissed off. If you havent heard, Sony/BMG has started including software that can bypass all security systems on Windows in order to prevent you from making a legitimate copy of your legally bought music. While this is nothing new, it has allowed game cheaters to bypass cheat detection software completely.

http://www.securityfocus.com/brief/34

What does Sony/BMG do? In the grand fashion of Microsoft, they released a patch. Think about that for a minute. They released a patch for software embedded in music CDs. What the hell is this world coming to when you have to run a patch for a simple music CD? When are the idiots that are running the music industry going to learn the harder they push, the more they will alienate their customers and complicate matters. I really wish someone would hurry up and come up with an Internet based record label that understands how the music industry could thrive through digital music delivery. These idiots deserve to go out of business.

Alright, I am going to bed. Enough rambling tonight….

Censorship

Glad I Dont Live In China

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When you think about it, everything in this world is screwed up. I could find something wrong with every game, every company, heck even every part of the government. However, as screwed up as things are in the good ole US of A, I am glad I dont live in China.

Take a look at this quote. It is from an article examining the Financial statement of the company that has licensed World of Warcraft in China.

“The online game industry in China is highly regulated by the Chinese government. Various regulatory authorities of the Chinese central government, such as the State Council, the State Press and Publication Administration, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Public Security, are empowered to issue and implement regulations governing various aspects of the online games industry.“

Come on! Its a freaking game for f#$*s sake. Ministry of Culture? What do a bunch of old bald mao se tung communist bastards know about the youth of their country?

To make matters worse, check out this quote.

“Although private sector Internet service providers currently exist in China, almost all access to the Internet is maintained through state−owned telecommunication operators under the administrative control and regulatory supervision of China’s Ministry of Information Industry. In addition, the national networks in China connect to the Internet through government−controlled international gateways. These government−controlled international gateways are the only channel through which a domestic Chinese user can connect to the international Internet network.”

Does it scare you that these are the same guys who are pushing to get the UN control of the Internet from ICANN? It should.

So where am I going with all this? Hell, I dont even know, but as much as things are screwed up around here, it still looks a lot better than the crap going on the opposite side of the Earth. My only hope is someday, gamers of China will come to power and put an end to this monopolist regimes control of its people. Wouldnt that be a hoot? I can only image explaining to my grandson some day about the fall of communist China being brought about due to the rise of power of gamers.

While Im at it, China Gamers, I love your enthusiasm, but your government sucks.

Free Tibet! Long Live The Republic of Taiwan! YEAH!

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft: Burning Crusades Official

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Its official, the new World of Warcraft expansion is titled Burning Crusades. The official website is up and confirms a lot of the rumors we originally posted.

From the official website:

World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade is the exciting new expansion to Blizzards award-winning massively multiplayer online role-playing game. It expands the game by tremendous bounds, adding new races, lands, Battlegrounds, professions and items, and more. Here is just a partial list of what you can expect from the World of Warcraft expansion:
An increase in the level cap to 70
Two new playable races, including the magical Blood Elves
New starting zones in QuelThalas and beyond
The entire new continent of Outland, reachable through the
Dark Portal
Many new high-level dungeons to explore in Azeroth,
Outland, and elsewhere
New flying mounts in Outland
Many new and dangerous monsters, including epic world
bosses
Hundreds of new quests
Hundreds of new items
A new profession: Jewelcrafting
Socketed items
And much, much more…

World of Warcraft

World of Warcraft Expansion Info Leaked?

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I have no idea if it is true, so what better way to help fuel rumors than to help spread them. This info is being reported on multiple websites. What do you think? Is it real?


* The name is Burning Crusade.
* Takes place in the Outlands.
* Level cap raised to Level 70.
* 2 new races, Blood Elf (Horde) and TBA (Alliance).
* No new classes.
* New profession, Jewelcrafting, which will allow for slotting and modding items ala Diablo 2.
* New BE starter area and zones north of the Eastern Plaguelands, Silvermoon (their Capital City), Ghostland, and ZulAman.
* Epic FLYING FREAKING MOUNT useable only in Outlands.
* Small upgrades to the graphics engine (BE will have 20% more polygons than original races for example).
* Weather effects added.
* Exploring how to add in cross server Battlegrounds.

Here are supposedly wow screenshots from the new playable Blood Elves race. Interesting…..

World of Warcraft

Where Has all The Gold Gone?

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My friends are always bragging that they bought gold online. “Hey man I bought 1000 gold yesterday for $60.” It got me to thinking. Who has time to make 1000 gold in WoW, and then sell it. Oh how naive I was. It is a $500 million dollar industry. The folks over at Electronic Gaming monthly recently got the scoop on these corporations who run sweatshops to do nothing but farm gold. Check out the article here .