Update: K-Lite Codec Pack Full

Free-codecs has version 4.3.4 of the K-Lite Codec Pack full. Details HERE. This version produces the best audio clarity so far. Disco! Disco!

Speaking of clarity...

It was all so clear...

I wouldn't have embarked on a "journey" no matter how the thing went down but the event should have been something that we all could have looked back and smiled at. I wanted coconut trees in the distance as my dinghy floated away into the great blue beyond. I wanted birds in the sky soaring as the gentle lapping of the waves lulled me to sleep. Instead...

... someone took a gun and started shooting. It's all gone and there's nothing left but glass shards and blood on the floor. I never wanted it to have a conclusion like this. When I said to someone I just wanted to teach that someone how to row and find that person's island --- an island without me on it --- I. Meant. Every. Word.

And yes, the above are all video game screenshots.

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My Wife

These past few weeks for some very disturbing, weird-f**** reasons, this video reminds me of my wife:

Yes baby, when in "Selos Mode," you are the ultimate weapon. You. I love hyu Light of my Life!

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GameSpot's List of Freeware Downloadable PC Games

GameSpot has published "Cheaper by the Dozen," an article showcasing prominent freeware downloadable PC games. The freeware Windows games are mostly first-person shooters (FPS) with hybrid strategy games thrown in. While the list of freeware downloadable PC games is a solid one, consisting of Nexuiz, Alien Arena, Allegiance, and Tremulous just to name a few, I'm surprised they didn't include freeware Windows games War Rock and UFO: AI.

These two Windows XP freeware games are good ones that gamers shouldn't miss. War Rock --- while essentially a Battlefield 2 clone, is a superb shooter that touts decent enough graphics and an array of realistic War Rock weapons to make an arms depot proud. UFO: AI on the other hand is a Quake 2-powered turn-based strategy game that is reminiscent of X-com, which is widely considered to be a gaming classic, if not the greatest game of all time.

Two player-controlled Tyrants assail a Terran marine base in Tremulous, one of the Windows XP freeware games featured in the article.

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CCleaner Download - Download CCleaner v2.14.750 Now

CCleaner, one of the best freeware utilities for Windows XP, has just been updated to v2.14.750. This new version of the freeware utility that optimizes PCs and cleans the registry supports Windows 7 and has been tweaked to better support Google Chrome. You can download CCleaner from HERE.

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Guru3d - Leaked Video Controller Drivers for XP

Guru3d has made two video controller drivers for XP available for download on their site. These are not ATI drivers but are Nvidia drivers, namely:

GeForce ForceWare 180.60 XP (32-bit)

ForceWare 180.70 XP (32-bit)

Please read the lists of Nvidia GeForce video cards they support before downloading them. Also these are BETA video controller drivers for XP; Nvidia doesn't support them. INSTALL AT YOUR OWN RISK.

I will be doing video card benchmark tests using ForceWare 180.70 XP (32-bit) within the week.

An Armacham Leviathan power armor airdrops into an arena in F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate. I wonder how this game will look with the video card benchmark tests I will be conducting...

Here's my video card benchmark test results for previous drivers.

>>>Click here to read more...

At Least I Tried

This was done in under 10 minutes and is unedited. I don't know if I'll refine this or not but I hope somebody will enjoy reading this. :P



"Well, at least you tried." Roflarx chuckled. The last of the Mark VI prototype's armor plating fell off, clanging hollowly in the stillness of the foundry. The gears, now exposed and unsupported, soon followed in a rain of circular metal pieces that pitter-pattered on the plates lying helker-skelter on the stone floor. Soon only the mana powerstone remained, a glass cube that powered the golem's actuators. It hung suspended inside the mass of metal that was the golem's frame; all semblance of the construct being a war machine now gone.

"Meh," Deermalx, the gnome artificer replied, sticking out his tongue,"I told myself it wouldn't work but I fooled myself." He took a playful swing at his companion with a bottle of lambanog but the latter dodged this with ease, laughing at the artificer's failure all the while. Sticking his tongue one last time at Roflarx, Deermalx climbed up the scaffolding surrounding what remained of the machine and snatched the glass cube from its housing. Instantly, all lights winked out and only the forges' fires illuminated the small gnome-made cavern.

"It's time to house this in another construct I suppose." Deermalx said with cheerfulness. Roflarx however, noticed the tinge of wistfulness in the other's tone. He didn't let that drag on however. He bopped the lead gnome on the head and the two soon chased each other around the foundry like two little children who just destroyed a sand castle.

"At least you tried haha!" Roflarx laughed in earnest, and ran out of the foundry and into the midday heat of the bustling streets of Praetoria.

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How to Take Screenshots in Windows Media Player 11

Taking screenshots in Windows Media Player 11 is a breeze. See the instructions below. (Now you won't have to ask WMP 11 the question "What good are you?")

Ever wondered how to take screenshots in Windows Media Player 11? Want to make one of those ultra-cool 501st Legion Clone Troopers your YM avatar? Simple. Use the screenshot feature of FRAPS.

Launch the program, play your favorite DVD and take a screenshot in Windows Media Player 11 with just a simple click of whatever keyboard button you have inputted in the "Screen Capture Hotkey" field.

Taking screenshots in Windows Media Player 11 the easy way without having to disable overlays.

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Xtreme-G 180.42 Video Card Benchmark Test

I did some video card benchmark tests with the Xtreme-G 180.42 video driver and I have to say the IQ this driver churns out is simply astonishing. It's leaps and bounds ahead of earlier versions of the Nvidia GeForce video drivers; terrain details in RTS games are so sharp I'm noticing minute details that I haven't before.

The numbers my video card benchmark tests outputted are not something to write home about however; except for the maximum framerate --- which has been a steady 85 way back Nvidia GeForce 178.15 --- every other framerate in F.E.A.R. suffered minor hits. (Framerates below 25 FPS have risen by 3% while framerates between 25-40 have gone down by 1%. Also, video card benchmark test framerates above 40 FPS have gone down by 2%.)

To make matters worse, I've run into serious bugs as far as visual tweaking is concerned --- moving the Contrast, Digital Vibrance, and Brightness sliders messes up your display. It will look like you've moved the Image Sharpening slider all the way up. (Restarting the PC will solve this however.) This is the sheer height of irony as the Image Sharpening slider is still inoperative --- as it has been since when? Nvidia GeForce 177.92? (Nvidia should really fix this; I miss the 4% adjustment that produces even more stunning clarity.)

Still, video card benchmark test results and bugs aside, this driver is phenonmenal --- the hits in the video card benchmark test results are negligible and who needs operable sliders when the IQ makes you think you actually own authentic Warhammer 40,000 figurines? Zoom in on any RTS game and you can almost imagine you can reach out and pluck those ultra-sexy Eldar Banshees from your screen.

It's that good.

This is one ghost you don't want to pluck however.

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XbitLabs' Cheap LCD Monitors Roundup

I've been pondering about buying a cheap LCD monitor for months now but I never got around to doing it.

Why am I still using a CRT? Simple. I like the colors that CRT monitors offer. I am (was?) a digital artist and I'm very picky about monitors. I've seen monitors from various cafes including my cousin's and heck, not one of those cheap LCD monitors they have can perform at par with my CRT. Weak blacks, small viewing angles, slow response times, the list of cheap LCD woes goes on and on.

I tried searching for LCD reviews and found XbitLabs' cheap LCD monitors roundup. The article provides LCD review for cheap LCD monitors that have 19" screens. Hopefully one of the cheap LCD monitors there will be a good enough purchase in the coming months.

>>>Click here to read more...

Update: K-Lite Codec Pack Full

Free-codecs has version 4.3.1 of the K-Lite Codec Pack full. Details HERE. I'll install this new version tomorrow and see if it fares better than its predecessor.

Arf! Arf! TAKE THAT SPOTTY! (I lied. Sue me.)

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CollegeHumor's "The Matrix Runs on Windows"

The last line is hilarious:

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Definition of Video Card

A lot of persons judge video cards by the size of their VRAM in megabytes. "Hey man, I just recently bought a 512Mb ATI video card." When asked what model: "It's an X1550."

Gods of gaming.

Before delving into video card drivers or whether what one has bought is an Nvidia video card or an ATI video card, perhaps one should have tried to research the definition of video card; this would have saved the consumer from the ignominy of having been tricked into buying badly-designed video cards that can't even utilize the huge amounts of VRAM they come with.

Forget video card benchmark tests or video card drivers for the moment. It's high time that you should learn the basics. Here's a Tom'sHardware article that discusses all the basics of the definition of video card.

Don't be tricked into buying derelicts; learn!

>>>Click here to read more...

Penumbra: Overture

New game!

Dead Space really set the horror geek in me salivating so I decided to install and play Penumbra: Overture. (Sorry SWAT 4!)

This looks promising...

Added:

Dark. Creepy.

Darker. Creepier...

And no, that's not Spotty.

>>>Click here to read more...

How to Change Graphic Drivers for PCI and AGP Graphics Cards

NOTE: I've been using this procedure for well over three years now (Driver Sweeper is relatively new however) and so far I've yet to encounter problems. However, I won't provide tech support in case something goes wrong with your PC. Use the procedure at your own risk.

Please be aware that I own an Nvidia GeForce card and hence use Nvidia graphic drivers.

My procedure:

1. Uninstall the old Nvidia graphic driver.


2. Reboot to Safe Mode

3. Run Driver Sweeper (make sure to check "Nvidia - Display" ONLY). This freeware will delete all registry entries that have been left behind by your old Nvidia graphic driver.



4. Reboot

5. Run RegCleaner.

6. Reboot again.

7. Make a restore point using Windows XP's System Restore tool or ERUNT. (Just in case you're installing a third party tweaked driver or a beta driver; restore points are handy in case something goes awry.)

8. Install the new Nvidia graphic driver.

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Dead Space Trailer

What is it with the profusion of games that feature anatomical damage nowadays? Fallout 3 has it. Dead Space, a horror-sci-fi third-person shooter for the PC, takes it to the next level --- headshots won't do much good in this game; you have to dismember your opponents to incapacitate and finally kill them.

For months, I have been blabbering about "I have a mountain of games I have yet to install and finish. Why should I buy a new PC?" A few of my friends have been derisive about it, thinking I am sourgraping but yes, I do have a mountain of games (not to mention truckloads of freeware like Nexuiz and UFO: AI) that I have yet to install. Now though I'm starting to feel the itch for a new system. You have to see this vid to see why:

Stirring music, great sequencing, solid color composition --- this is a must-see trailer.

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F.E.A.R.: Project Origin's 3rd Official Trailer

This has got to be one of the coolest trailers I've ever seen. (Or maybe it's just the fanboy in me gushing? Lol!)

Will she stop doing that? She's n@k3|) again! Now how am I going to get scared?

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F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate - Leviathan Encounter

Perseus Mandate

I may have finished the game but my hard drive's full of F.E.A.R. videos and screenshots. Here's one of the best firefights of the game: an encounter with an Armacham Leviathan (Good thing Nvidia GeForce drivers provide options in their Nvidia control panel that improves PC performance otherwise this scene would have stuttered like hell):

A Replica REV8 Leviathan fires rockets in Extraction Point.

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Tribes: Vengeance Fan-Made Military Science Fiction

This is a sci-fi short story I made that's set in the Tribes: Vengeance universe:




You freefall for several meters and land on a slope, spinfusor rounds exploding ineffectually all around you. You ski down the mound, your repulsors defying gravity even as your 500-pound power armor easily shrugs off enemy fire. You jetpack up another hill, gathering momentum as your telemetry sensors tell you the objective is close.

Somebody armed with a chaingun is chasing you, judging from the staccato you hear several meters behind. You pay the enemy soldier no mind; the objective is all. You crest the hill, activate your energy pods, and catapult through the air. You look down and you see the enemy base, naked --- naked like your love the day these blackguards landed on your country while their capital ships rained down tactical nuclear rounds on your world.

You close your eyes that have suddenly brimmed with tears and you see brown skin swathed scantily in red sheets; lips that moaned, sighed, and murmured your name; and a lithe body that moved with you gently, slowly, in that steamy room so long ago.

It was your honeymoon but they chose that day to burn away your home, your family, with particle cannons and nuclear bombs.

Your energy pods run out of juice and with the sun behind you, you freefall again, a falling Angel of Death come to slake its thirst for retribution.

"This is for Mary you m*****f*****s," you whisper, thumbing down the trigger. The mortar you're holding quietly coughs out a round, which arcs lazily down, screaming promises of dismemberment and obliteration...

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F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate - Nightcrawler Firefight

Perseus Mandate

SPOILERS!!!!

I've uninstalled F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate yesterday. I said my goodbye to the series that provided me a level of after-work catharsis unprecedented by any game in my collection. Superb AI (better than Crysis' so I've heard from forums and officemates), awesome physics, and good graphics make this series a true classic for me.

I'll be playing it again when (hopefully) I'll get a new PC in the coming months.

I'll be playing Perseus Mandate and the entire F.E.A.R. series again when I get a video card upgrade sometime in the ("FAR!!!" - my wife) future. >)_)

Here's the video (This is one of the hardest levels in Perseus Mandate where you get to fight a swarm of Nightcrawlers --- a free-standing army of mercenaries tasked to recover the DNA of Alma Wade and Paxton Fettel. While it may look like cakewalk, I died 4-5 times before deciding to choose a chokepoint in the level, laying turrets on it, and then laying mines on the area across the general area where I stood my ground.):

F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate at Extreme Difficulty. No SloMo.

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