It’s that time again, time to review some of my cherry picked smaller stories of the week for those that might have missed them. This time round we’ve got an Adobe Flash update that doesn’t suck. OK, sucks a little less. Flash 10.1 beta was unleashed to the willing public with GPU video acceleration for certain Nvidia cards on Windows, but perhaps more importantly reduced CPU usage across all platforms. What does this mean? YouTube that doesn’t make your Mac or PC red-line that’s what. A step in the right direction Adobe, maybe Flash isn’t a lost cause after all. I’ve certainly seen some improvements on my netbook and Mac.

Talking of YouTube, Google introduced skippable pre-roll adverts this week to YouTube in an effort to finally make some meaningful money from its enormous purchase. It’s not the first time Google’s tried pre-roll adverts however, with previous efforts seeing a 70% bail rate before the video actually starts. Google’s hoping with skippable 15 second ads it will be able to see which ads fit and are acceptable with which content. Google also started the roll out of 1080p video for all the content that’s been uploaded in full HD. Couple this with the improvements Adobe is making to Flash and you might even be able to watch them without having to pack a Core i7!

Swindon is set to become the UK’s first free Wifi town rocking free WiFi across the entire city. Dubbed the ‘Swindon Mesh’, the £1 million wireless network will allow all residents completely free access to the internet. Residents who want greater speed, ‘up to 20Mbits’, will be able to pay Digital City UK for higher bandwidth, but a vast majority should be set with the free service. Those passing through will also be able to hook up via a PAYG scheme in which prices have yet to be set, let’s hope they’re at least competitive. Work starts December and Digital City UK is expecting to roll out the service to all Swindon residents come April 2010. Great, but sorry Swindon I still don’t want to live there, do you?

Talking of Wifi towns, the MPAA shut one down. Yes that’s right, the MPAA shut down a whole town’s municipal wifi after it detected a single copyright infringement. That’s what happens when you give companies the power to crush the little guy without due process or trial. So, if you’re expecting to connect for free in Coshocton, Ohio, sorry you’re out of luck for the foreseeable future just like the 100 or so active residents.

So we’ve seen the Beatles unleash music on apple shaped USB drives, but how about movies on flash drives? OK, you’ve got the odd movie distribution service via SD card, but I think novalty shaped flash drives with your favourite movies on them tops a lowly SD card. Yes that’s right, I’m talking about JJ Abram’s Star Trek hitting the small screen courtesy of some fancy flash drives. The movie comes pre-loaded onto a flash drive shaped like the new Star Trek logo so once you’re done watching the movie you can proudly display it as a piece of Star Trek memorabilia next to your model of the Enterprise and Warf’s head. Michael Bay fans haven’t been left out either with Transformers 2 set to follow soon on appropriately shaped flash drives. Yours for the bargain of £17.99 a pop. Think I’ll stick with the Blu-Ray but maybe that’s just me.

This week has also seen the shuttering of the Pirate Bay torrent tracker. Now it’s not all bad news for those amongst you who use BitTorrent as they’ve set up a Magnet link repository. For those uninitiated, BitTorrent has evolved to support a decentralised structure using the DHT and PEX protocols. Now what that means for you and your, umm, linux downloading friends is that you no longer need a .torrent location file to find and download files over the p2p network. In fact if you’re running one of the more up-to-date clients such as uTorrent or Azureus, you’ve had the magnet-link capability for a while and probably didn’t even know about it. The Pirate Bay is so certain that it’s search engine and magnet-link repository is the way forward for BitTorrent that it’s been canvassing other torrent trackers in an effort to get everyone to move over to the decentralised system. Whether this is a sinister plot by the Pirate Bay’s new owners or an honest to goodness evolution of piracy (and legal p2p) is unclear at this stage. What is clear is that this is an end of an era for BitTorrent and I don’t see it going away anytime soon.

Facebook, everyone’s favourite stalker hangout has made yet another move to conquer your life away from the computer this week. The PS3 saw an update that includes a somewhat weak browser based Facebook integration a rather rushed effort on Sony’s part to match the Xbox 360 which has proper Facebook and Twitter integration. OK, you might want to brag about your Achievements or Trophies to your mates on Stalkerbook or Twatter, but seriously, who is going to sit in front of their TV and use this on an 8-foot interface? I mean the Xbox doesn’t even have a web browser so how are you going to check out the links and pics that your friends send out via TwitFace?

Talking of Facebook, if the fuzz ever comes a knocking, your inane status updates could count as an alibi. Yes, you heard right, a 19-year old Harlem resident was cleared of charges resulting from a mugging in Brooklyn by an alibi provided a status update made on Facebook from his Dad’s house at the time of the crime. Am I the only one who could see this as being really easy to fake? You could just automate a status update, VNC into your computer or just get someone else to update on your profile for you from your computer. Still the courts subpoenaed Facebook for the IP address of the computer that made the status update, which of course pointed to his Father’s house where he claimed to be at the time of the mugging.

Last but not least from my picks of the week, Google Chrome OS. OK, it’s basically an OS built inside Chrome browser. I’m not surprised, that’s exactly what I thought it was going to be. What I am surprised about is that it won’t run on everything, Google doesn’t even support HDDs! I get that it’s meant to totally rely on the cloud for all data and applications, but not even supporting HDDs for local storage? Let’s just say it’s probably not aimed at me, or you reading this for that matter, but perhaps, maybe those non-tech-savvy buying netbooks might get used to it, I’m not sure though.

The ATI 5870 series

In recent years, few graphic cards have managed to capture the imagination of the PC building community. The recent release of the ATI 5800 series has turned the market on its end and people are lining up to get their grubby little paws on the latest iteration, the 5870 series. Its the first card on the market with native DirectX 11 graphics technology, the card boasts 2.15 billion 40 nanometer transistors, pumping out 2.75 teraflops of power,  1600 stream processors, a memory bandwidth of 153.6GB/sec and a clockspeed of 850mhz. The graphics powerhouse supports up to 3 displays simultaneously with independent refresh rates and resolutions or they can be combined into one large display using the new ATI Eyefinity system. Dual-Link DVI and displayport with a resolution of 2560×1600 is included as is HDMI 1.3 with a native resolution of 1920×1200.

5870

The 5870 can support up to four cards in CrossfireX mode for an incredible boost in power. This beauty definitely has the hunger of a beast, requiring at least 500 watts (600 is recommended for crossfire) to run a complete system. It also requires two six pin PCI-E connections. This baby is fantastically powerful, vastly outperforming its brethren, but this greatness comes at a terrible cost. Finding one of these beauties for sale has proven difficult. Retailers like Microcenter and Newegg have had a hard time keeping the cards in stock and with good reason; ATI has had major supply issues trying to churn this thing out. With demand well outpacing production, we may not see another large shipment of the 5870 till very close to the holidays. While this powerhouse does exist (and exist very well it does!) it certainly doesn’t feel like it does. Overall ATI’s new top dog very much lives up to its own hype and is king of the pack when it comes to graphics processors. Nvidia, the ball is in your court.

So patch 3.3 approaches. Icecrown awaits. It is more than likely the final content patch of Wrath of the Lich King, if history holds true.  While this expansion was the best content Blizzard has released to date and probably the best expansion any MMORPG has ever seen, I can’t help but get the same, predictable end-of-expansion blues I’ve not yet managed to dodge in all of my years in this genre.  EverQuest, DAoC, WoW… When each of these games approaches an expansion, I am at once thrilled by the promise of new, amazing content and yet standing in one spot, sporting my now outdated Tier 8.5 set going “So wait, WTF am I doing this for, now?”  I have an answer, I think.

That answer being that I keep playing for love of the game itself, not the cheesy “I PLAY TO LOVE MY FRIENDZ” answer every asshat in the game gives.  No, I don’t play WoW to make friends.  Yes, I do play WoW WITH my friends and we have a damn good time doing it.  But they aren’t what ties me to this game, to this world.  The game itself is.  The mechanics, the UI, the classes and their interactions are all what keeps me coming back for more.  Pride in what I’ve built.  I know there are 10,000 other Mages in WoW who are “better” geared than I, but I take pride in my Mage.  I’ve built him from some rag wearing bear parts peddler in Eversong to being a well oiled machine of fashionable fiery death.

But as predictable as taxes, death and post movie theater popcorn bowel movements, the late expansion blues have hit me square in the gut.  You’d think I’d have learned to move, by now.  The dread feeling of “Now everything I do, all the hours I raid are for nothing” sets in.  And so I slack.  I slack hardcore, I spend more time in other games.  But I pine for my home on the interwebz always.  Any game I play, be it MMO or not, I am constantly comparing their features, classes and shortcomings to my beloved World of WarCraft.  It is only temporary, as it always is and always has been.  More a product of my own mind than anything the game is sending my way, I’d suppose.  Perhaps a little burn out, as well?

There are some things that can be done to combat this type of burn out, because that is exactly what it is.  You can do a number of things, all of which I am currently doing to keep my passion for WoW in some sort of mental cryostasis.

• Level an alt.  Not in the typical fashion, either.  Make it a class, race or even faction you’ve never tried for whatever reason.  Try a new server type for the alt.  I’m currently leveling an Alliance Priest.  Swore I never would, which makes it almost taboo exciting!
• Stop raiding.  I’m just about there.  Four nights a week in a time zone that is not my own for what feels like, to me, very little return is, well, not fun.  So I’ve been slowing my raiding to a slow trickle.  To a point where I feel I’m only putting in what I get out.
• Try some other games.  I mean of all varieties.  Try another MMO, like WarHammer or Aion.  You’ll find your love for WoW rejuvenated as you realize WHY it is as big as it is.  Try other genres to fill your time.  I’ve recently given my soul to League of Legends and I love it.  32 – 1 – 9 with Evelynn, yeah baby! =D
• Dust off some old games.  Fallout 3 and L4D have been getting extra attention from me lately.  Good times with good friends.

All that aside, WarCraft patch 3.3 is looking to be an insane new level of fun.  After watching the preview videos for Icecrown Citadel at Blizzcon, I have to say, I cannot wait to step in there and start kicking ass.  Arthas, to me, is perhaps the most compelling villain in the history of gaming.  His story arc is the most human I have seen gaming produce in a long time, and to see this particular story come to an end… No, not just come to an end, but to do so at MY hands?  I feel that situation will truly be worthy of the word “Epic”.

The class and cosmetic changes in the patch look meaningful as well as just plain fun.  You can find the patch notes here, and they will be updated throughout the PTR process.  Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a dirty bastard named Ryze I need to go beat the ever living snot out of, damned overpowered ultimates….

I leave you with a visual reminder of why Worgen Druid Aquatic forms are going to fail.

LOL AQUA LYCANZ GONNA NEED A BIGGAR BOAT!!11!

I’m not the type to try to advocate products or companies, normally.  I’m not sure why, I just don’t do it.  I’ll make an exception this time.  Anyone who is in the market for a new gaming rig has only ONE place they need to visit.

www.doghousesystems.com

I just received my new desktop machine from them last week.  I got the Armor VS model.  Tossed 8 Gigs of RAM in that baby and she was still under $1,200.  Having just had a baby recently, I drooled over getting an awesome gaming PC for that price.  But I figured hey, its entry level price, the PC will probably be middle of the line at best.  I couldn’t have been more wrong.  This thing flies.  I mean flies.  In WoW at peak times, in Dalaran, maxed settings, I get over 60 FPS.  Over 60 in 25 man raids, as well, again with everything maxed out.  I get almost 75 in maxed settings Left 4 Dead.  I is a happy panda!  I don’t have any of the super high end games like Crysis to test it with, but I can only assume I would find similarly pleasing results there, as well.

My little setup.

Again, I can not describe with how happy I am with the performance of this machine.  No “Optional” trial software, no crap running in the backround I don’t need, these guys at DogHouse ARE gamers.  They know how we want our PCs to arrive.  It came with WoW Pre-installed and Pre-Patched.

If my pleasure level with the machine itself was a 10/10, then my review of DogHouse’s customer service would be about a 12/10.  It started early, too.  When I ordered the machine, I had to call their sales department to ask if 8G of RAM was possible in an Armor VS, since the choices on the order form were 2G and 4G.  After a moment, they came back and not only told me 8G was possible, but to reload my browser.  I reloaded my browser, and lo and behold, in that moment, they ADDED a choice for 8G.  If that isn’t prompt shit, I don’t know what would be.

The excellent service continued throughout the next 2 weeks.  They emailed me, letting me know the PC’s status, asking a few setup questions so that upon arrival, I could simply uncrate my glorious machine and get to pwning n00bz.  So it is roughly 2 weeks after I placed me order that FedEx arrives with my big box of joy.  Now, if I love DogHouse Systems, I fucking hate FedEx.  I watched the dude carry it from his truck to my door, dropping it once and hitting the door I opened for him with it.  Twice.

I get it to my little Nerd Lair, set it up – Which by the way, if you’re computer retarded, DogHouse sends a full color, lamens terms, very well labeled instruction binder on how to set it up – to find out that the bumbling idiot from FedEx managed to bend the housing on the top case exhaust fan.  What the fuck, FedEx?  So I call DogHouse, let them know my problem, and while I am far from computer illiterate, I’m not confident enough to go digging around in my new PC trying to fix this, so a gentleman named Sina walked me through getting the fan unhooked until they could ship me a new one.  Thats right.  FedEx fucked up, and DHS is fixing the problem.

These guys have my future business for all PC purchases and I can not stress enough how pleased people will be ordering from them.  If you need a new gaming rig, whether you’re looking to spend $1,000 or get the absolute top end shit, this is the place to go, geeks.  Keep up the good work DHS.  You guys rock.

This weeks release list is quite surprising. Especially considering that 2 Rad Super Manly Movies is finally hitting Blu Ray. If Gladiator wasn’t enough there’s Braveheart to back it up. Then follow that up with a great list of Video Games this week including Soul Calibur for PSP, which honestly I don’t really care about except that there’s Kratos as a playable character. Let us not forget that this week will also have yet another version of Guitar Hero. Which begs the question is there more Guitar Hero Games then Tony Hawk?? It should be getting pretty close. Anyways just like before if I miss something please drop a comment. Or just plain drop a comment.

DVD
Sept 1st
Ben 10: Alien Force, Vol. 4
C.S.I. Crime Scene Investigation: The Complete Ninth Season
Desperate Housewives: The Complete Fifth Season
Disney Nature Earth
Heroes – Season Three
Shaun the Sheep: Little Sheep of Horrors
Supernatural: The Complete Fourth Season
TMNT Season 8

Anime Dvd
Sept 1st
Ah My Goddess Complete Collection: Volumes 1-6
His & Her Circumstances DVD Collection (Anime Value/Kare Kano)
Kaze No Stigma, Vol. 2: Fire
School Rumble: 2nd Semester – The Complete Collection

Blu Rays
Sept 1st
Braveheart
C.S.I. Crime Scene Investigation: The Complete Ninth Season
Disney Nature Earth
Fire and Ice
Gladiator
Heroes – Season Three
M*A*S*H
Puppies & Kittens
State of Play

Video Games
Cabela’s Outdoor Adventure – PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii
Champions Online – PC
Guitar Hero 5 – PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, Wii
Soul Calibur: Broken Destiny – PSP
IL 2 Sturmovik: Birds of Prey – DS, PS3, Xbox 360
Raiden IV – Xbox 360
Muramasa: The Demon Blade – Wii

Theaters
Sept 4th
All About Steve
Carriers
Extract
Gamer

Codemasters announced the system requirements for the latest installment in the Operation Flashpoint series and they are no joke.

The game is boasting impressive graphics but the real system hog will be the scale of some of the battles you will be fighting in, with hundreds of soldiers and vehicles dotting the landscape.

Here’s what you’ll need just to be able to run the game:

Minimum requirements

Operating system: Windows XP SP2 or later

• GPU: DirectX 9.0c GPU: Shader 3.0 (GeForce 7900 GT / 256 MB VRAM or higher)
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
• 1 GB Memory: 1 GB
• 8 GB Hard disk: 8 GB
• CPU: Dual Core CPU 2 x 2.4 GHz
• DVD-ROM DVD drive: Dual Layer DVD-ROM

And here’s what you’ll need to be able to run the game and actually enjoy it:

Recommended System

• Operating system: Windows XP SP2 or later
• GPU: Shader 3.0 (GeForce 8800 GT / 512 MB VRAM or higher), DirectX 9.0c
• Sound Card: DirectX Compatible
• Memory: 2 GB
• Hard disk: 8 GB
• CPU: Quad Core CPU
• DVD drive: Dual Layer DVD-ROM

Just for a comparison Crytek recommended running Crysis with a Core 2 Duo @ 2.2GHZ.

So dust off your meth labs, you’ll need the money for some upgrades to your rig if you want to pimp this game. For realz.

I don’t know about you but here at PixelatedGeek we’re pretty excited by what we’ve seen of Command and Conquer 4 so far. The teaser trailer looked awesome and these screens look great. So enough talking and hit the jump for loads more (click for 720p).

First-Person Shooters are a dime a dozen these days. Call of Duty, Halo, The Orange Box, Resistance. You can’t walk into a game store with slamming face first into a dozen FPS games, so announcing a new FPS title will probably be met with a resounding “meh” unless something about the title screams innovation or originality. And such seems to be the case for PhantomEFX’s Darkest of Days.

While the game itself seems to be your standard FPS war game at first glance, Phantom EFX and developer 8monkey Studios have designed an interesting time-traveling war game. The game begins at the Battle of Little Bighorn, where the player takes command of soldier Alexander Morris. After a grisly battle, in which Morris is nearly killed, he is ripped from the battlefield and transported into the future by time agents, who offer save his life on the condition that he work for them.

The overarching plot of the game centers around time agents from the future, who have begun noticing that somebody is going into wars of the past and killing soldiers who were supposed to have survived in an attempt to change the future. The time-travelers the main character represents are attempting to stop that, taking soldiers who were listed as MIA (missing-in-action) and bringing them into the future, building an army to stop enemy time agents from killing war survivors.

This part of the plot plays into the core gameplay of Darkest of Days. Your aim is not only to fight, but to ensure that those meant to survive the battle do indeed survive. Soldiers who are supposed to survive are marked by a blue aura. While killing one or letting one die may not affect things too drastically, killing enough will enable enemy time agents to lock onto your location, freezing time as the appear to take you out. Also, as you are sent to many historical battles, drastically changing the outcome of the battle will cause a change in history, causing the player to have to go back and fix things, presumably from the other side of the battle.

Also, aside from just participating in historical battles, the landscapes you are dropped into also allow for a certain level of exploration, which is rewarded by being given futuristic weaponry from other time-traveling allies you may come across. The only downside with futuristic weaponry is that, although it is quite powerful, its ammo will be limited. And, perhaps, this is for the best.

While we seen time-travel First-Person Shooters in the past, TimeSplitters comes to mind, the whole aura system and need to preserve the past. According to Aaron Schurman of Phantom EFX, historical accuracy is something that the developers were striving for when developing Darkest of Days. The game itself spans several historical battles, such as the aforementioned Battle of Little Bighorn and the Battle of Antietem, as well as the practically mandatory World War II level, taking the player on a trip through humanity’s darkest days, hence the game’s title. 8monkey Studio’s newly developed Marmoset engine was specifically designed to handle 300 characters onscreen once in order to provide massive battles for the player to partake in.

The game is set to launch next month on September 8th on Xbox 360 and PC. Sorry PS3 owners, but it seems you won’t be getting this one. Till then, this game definitely seems interesting. Can’t wait to see what it’s like.

After the wonderful playthrough of Sam N Max I’ve been itching to get into another Point N Click Adventure. My requirements were pretty high as I wanted that lovable charm and twisted sense of humor that was Sam N Max. After various failed attempts at getting my old copy of Full Throttle to work I had all but given up. Avast, Tales of Monkey Island of the port bough? Oh yes it was time for Guybrush Threepwood Mighty Pirate™! Though to my dismay Vista had to give me just a little bit of shit. After sitting there “patiently” and updating my flippin Direct X Drivers it was time to set sail. How does this game hold up against one of the most beloved Point N Click Adventure series.

Gameplay

Let me start by saying TellTale delivers again. I don’t know about you I really liked Sam & Max but I felt it was a bit hard to control with just Point N Click. With Tales of Monkey Island you use the Mouse to Point N Click and the WASD to move Guybrush around. I felt this worked really well with the genre. Almost an evolution of controls. Clicking on things constantly to move your character can be a bit annoying. Luckily they added both options, so you can still click for navigation if you would like. Giving you the best of both worlds. Next up is the inventory screen, I was really impressed how the whole package felt very user friendly. Essentially you have small screen that pops up to show you inventory. On the left hand side there is a combination area. Simply drag and drop items and click plus to combine. Felt really simple, you also have the ability to examine Items using the Magnifying Glass. This comes in handy especially when items contain other items. The overall gameplay is much like you’ve seen in other Monkey Island games. You guide Guybrush through many different puzzles and try to save the day while taking in the some odd humor.

Graphics

I have to be honest I wasn’t really to sure on how the art style was going to fit the Monkey Island series. Seeing Guybrush with facial hair made me a little concerned. I buckled down and booted up the game and was wowed by the transition to 3D. I’ve seen Monkey Island 4 and it’s attempt at 3D but it never felt right. Right off the bat though everything felt so alive with this version. From the awesome character models to the more the gorgeous backgrounds. Everything just looked right. I was also amazed with the Lip Syncing. All the character models seem to really be delivering their lines. With great facial and body expressions.

Sound

Again with the booting up of the game. Within a couple of minutes I was whistling away to the Theme Song. All the SFX sounded fantastic and really brought a nice atmosphere to the game. With the great lip syncing was a top notch voice acting. I really liked how the characters sounded especially with the combination of the expressions. It just gave this game that very alive feeling.

Overall

I think this is a great addition to the Monkey Island Series. From the Art Style to the Graphics this is a true Monkey Island game. If your looking for a great laugh and enjoy oddly styled humor this is your game.

Some Great News for all those Monkey Island Fans out there. Get ready for some Grog and some Pointing and Clicking cause Monkey Island Special Edition is getting ready to set sail for both PC and XBLA. PC version will be available on Steam. While the XBLA version will be on XBLA… No price point yet here is hoping for $10.

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