System Shock 2 Intro (PC Sci-fi Survival Horror)

I wasn't able to post the guide I promised last night [EDIT: I've already posted the guide. Click here: "How to Install System Shock to a Windows XP (32-bit) PC."] so here's something to tide you guys over: the intro to one of the best PC Sci-fi Survival Horror games of all time, System Shock 2. (Tweaked with VirtualDub. I may have bumped up the brightness too much though.)



Bought this one for a little over a dollar. :D Some dude RMA'd his disc thinking the CD was busted.

Nothing after the jump.This line is not shown in the main page

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FEAR 2 Multiplayer Gameplay Videos

Uploaded two videos to YouTube last night; "FEAR 2 Multiplayer Gameplay - Fun w the Laser" and "FEAR 2 Multiplayer Gameplay Team Deathmatch."

The laser owns. Here I made a 4-kill streak with it:



The "FEAR 2 Multiplayer Gameplay Team Deathmatch" video after the jump.Playing at 250-300+ms ping:

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How to Install Advanced Melee AI (AMAI) a Downloadable AI Mod for Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne

Advanced Melee AI is a third-party AI mod for the realt-time strategy game Warcraft 3: Frozen Throne. It greatly enhances Warcraft 3's AI's micromanagement abilities. While it's nowhere as good as Warcraft 3 pros, it does provide a sufficient challenge for casual players of the game.

>>> See videos of how the AMAI behaves in a match.


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Please note that I did not create this AI mod. While I have played with this AI mod for Warcraft 3 for several months now and have suffered no problems, I cannot provide any technical support if Blizzard suddenly invalidates your CD key and bans you from Battle.net. Install at your own risk.
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1. Download AMAI Player Edition from HERE. Choose AMAI Player Edition. (I chose the Player Edition as it has installation instructions that I deem to be "safe." The reason? Read on.)

2. Unzip the file.

3. In your Warcraft III\Maps folder, create a sub-folder. Label it with something informative like "AMAI" or "Amai maps."


4. Copy (CTRL+C) maps that you would like to play against the Advanced Melee AI mod in. Paste it in the sub-folder you have created. This guarantees that the maps you use in Battle.net won't be modified. This is also the reason why I like the Player Edition better.



5. Run AMAI.

6. Browse to where you have put the maps you would like to play against the Advanced Melee AI mod in. Select the maps (CTRL+A).


7. Click "Install AMAI."

8. Start a Single Player Custom Game. Navigate to the sub-folder you have created and choose a map to play in. Enjoy! If you are new to Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne, prepare to get your ass kicked! >)_)

>>>Click here to read more...

Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne 1.23 Advanced Melee AI V2.54 Gameplay Videos

I recently asked around in the WCReplays forums if someone has developed an "advanced AI" mod for Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne that's also compatible with the recent 1.23 patch. Well, someone did. Below are videos of me playing against the Advanced Melee AI, which is being developed by someone named "Strategy Master":















>>>How do I install AMAI? Where do I download it from?

>>>Click here to read more...

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.

>>>Click here to read more...

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.

>>>Click here to read more...

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

Perseus Mandate

Extreme Difficulty. No SloMo (I accidentally pushed the button somewhere at the last part though. :P). SPOILER!!!

No Armacham Replica soldiers were left alive in the making of this video.

>>>Click here to read more...

F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate - Boss Battle (Nightcrawler Commander)

Perseus Mandate

Here's a video of me taking on the Nightcrawler Commander at Extreme Difficulty without using SloMo (It's dark at first but the Commander soon turns on the lights.) :

GameCam does eat up system resources so the frames are terrible. I had fun spraying lead though. >)_)

>>>Click here to read more...

F.E.A.R.: Perseus Mandate - Close Encounter with an REV6 Power Armor

Here's a video showing me duking it out with a Replica REV6 Power Armor. I like this firefight; I didn't know the mech could go through the door!

"Take that you test tube m****rf******s!" - Douglas Holiday

>>>Click here to read more...

Download Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne 1.22 Patch

Those guys at Blizzard never cease to amaze me. Five years after Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne got released, they're still releasing patches for the said game. If that's not support, I don't know what is.

Download Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne 1.22 patch from Gamespot. The patch weighs in at 57.3Mb and given that an incremental 1.21b-1.22a was released last July, this new one might be a stand-alone version of the previous patch release. The page of the downloadable Warcraft 3: The Frozen Throne 1.22 patch contains a ReadMe that shows a list that's nearly identical to the previous patch so it all checks out.

This is giving me the itch to install the thing again.

>>>Click here to read more...

F.E.A.R. Videos - Playing at Extreme Difficulty Without Using SloMo

UPDATED: Added two more video links of intense PC first-person shooter firefights. See the last two vids.

WARNING: Videos contain graphic details of soldiers in firefights.



Video clips of me playing the PC first-person shooter game F.E.A.R. (First Encounter Assault Recon).

There's no audio but I hope you'll like the action (perhaps I'll register my GameCam copy one of these days to unlock the audio feature...) :

"Fail." Here an AI tries to vault over a counter.

Two replica soldiers die successively to exploding barrels. FEAR's AI is not so smart when it comes to passing through dangerous objects. :P

One of the things I like about PC first-person shooter is how its AI oftentimes hides and tries to fool you that there are no more enemies left. Here, an AI pops out prematurely, then tries in vain to run for cover.

Another AI runs for cover in this video this. If I were the programmers though, I'd have coded them to stay put and spray lead; I think there's a better chance of the soldiers surviving. At this distance, running from automatic fire was not a good idea.

Shotgun action without using F.E.A.R.'s SloMo feature:

>>>Click here to read more...

FEAR - Playing at Extreme Difficulty

WARNING: LEVEL LAYOUT SPOILER; BLOOD


Man! I won't be getting tired of this game anytime soon!

The AI is just so advanced as to be jaw-dropping sometimes. Their tactics change whenever you replay a level. The second time I went through this LZ firefight, I was stuck in the room on the second floor, killing anyone who came in. This time, the AI waited below.

In this game, no firefight replays the same.

Take note of how one of the soldiers vaults over a vent and ran for cover. Those guys at Monolith (makers of the game No One Lives Forever and its sequel) ... geniuses.

(Sorry for the frames --- GameCam and other video recording software tend to be resource-hungry affairs. My gameplay is smooth when I'm not recording.)

"Take that you test tube m***f***s!" - Douglas Holiday

>>>Click here to read more...

F.E.A.R. Screenshots Part 2

WARNING: BLOOD AND GORE

Screenshots I took using FRAPS:

Life must be hard being a Replica soldier in the employ of Armacham. You have to sleep while on your feet. While holding your rifle.

No they're not here. They're in the barn. Asleep. Like horses.

Take your time?! What do you mean take your time?! He's not getting up any time soon! And no, I didn't do that!

"Specialist my foot." You're lucky this game doesn't have friendly fire.

Look I finally have feet at last! And I can kick! I'm a real boy! (And the blood? No, I didn't do that either. Honest.)

>>>Click here to read more...

F.E.A.R. Screenshots

Here's some screenshots from my ancient PC:

My second encounter with a Replica soldier in heavy armor.

Well, it's been a fun week, thanks to Lee and the rest of my dice-rolling barkada! Like that soldier, I'm hitting the floor. Gotta sleep!

>>>Click here to read more...

Tribes Vengeance: How to Install Vanilla_b1

Saying hello to an old friend


What do you do when you can't wield War Rock Weapons nor stalk in War Rock Maps? You play your other games of course.

I downloaded this replay of a match played by someone named Odio who is renowned in Tribes: Vengeance circles as one of the best players in the first-person shooter PC game that has players using jetpacks and skiing across humongous maps. Problem was the replay won't play without a couple of files. One of these was a package named "Vanilla_b1;" I had difficulty playing this file and want to share these tips for others who might be experiencing the same problem.

1. The vanilla_b1 file found in Rapher's site (http://www.rapher.net/tribes/blogs/) is the package's source code. Do not use this one.

2. Download from some other sources like http://peacekeeper.biz/Gaming/BEML/Server_Stuff/?S=A

3. It will come in a compressed file and will contain two files. Put them here:

Tribes Vengeance > Programs > Bin

Enjoy watching replays/playing in maps where vanilla_b1 is required!

>>>Click here to read more...

Men of Valor

It was a Sunday and it was Tet and it was raining.



Last Sunday I was hyped up to play the last eight hours or so of my leased equipment in War Rock Philippines.

Unfortunately, it rained like it was June.

Imagine my chagrin when I first laid anti-personnel mines and immediately noticed it took about three seconds for the animation to show up on screen! Sighing, I rounded a corner, saw a fellow engineer and filled his chest with 5.56s. Problem is, he was still up --- and then 5 --- FIVE!!! --- seconds later, his death registered on the screen as text. The lag was so great I never did see his body crumple to the ground as I was running away before I learned of his death.

And then things got ugly for me. I kept dying. First-person shooter hell I tell you. Doomed.

"@#%$ wifi!"I cursed. I exited from the game, dug up one of my old games and inserted its CD in my PC.

Men of Valor is a game set in the Vietnam War. As with any other first-person shooter PC game, it does have its pros and cons. To summarize:

Pros:

• This game offers REALLY intense gameplay! Uphill combat, fighting from foxholes, and river ambushes offer nearly unparalleled firefights.
  
• Combat chatter. I know it has the phrase emblazoned all over its box but the gimmick really immerses you in the game. Viet Cong soldiers also sound like Viet Cong soldiers (even though I do not know what they mean haha!)
  
• Jungle fighting!
  
• Varied gameplay --- gun down Charlie from choppers, crawl in tunnels, man emplacements, and fight in foxholes.
  
• Good effects. Concussion blur, fire, explosions, debris --- the game can run all these decently.
  
• Squad-based combat. You'll rarely fight alone.
  
• Old weapons! If you like realistic, decades-old rifles, you'll dig this.
  

Cons:

• Some combat chatter are reused time and again.
• Some audio effects are not so convincing. The ingame M16 doesn't have the same sound as the real M16 I fired years back.
• In long-range firefights, I noticed some VC reinforcements make a beeline for locations where other Charlies that preceded them got shot down. (They WILL engage and gun you down if you get in the way however.)
  
• This is the most annoying --- you have to hear "Dear Mr. and Mrs. Shepard" everytime you die. You have to push ALT to skip the letter and the succeeding screen to go back to the game each time you die. Either I missed it, or there is no mention of how to do quick loads in the instruction manual. Major bummer.
• Relatively speaking, the game is heavy on the PC resources; I can run Doom 3 with higher settings than this one. I suppose it must be the sheer amount of vegetation.
  
• Team AI --- you'll rarely fight alone that's true, but man, the "options" in Gradius fire way faster than these guys. They don't get stuck but they're slow on the trigger and their detection's a bit shabby. Nothing serious though but annoying in protracted firefights nevertheless.
  
• Old weapons! If you don't like realistic, decades-old rifles, you'll dig a grave for this.

Well, what do you know?! It's alive! I went online for a bit and found no less than six players duking it out! I quickly quit though; my connection was killing me in War Rock to begin with. (I killed two but I don't know what's with that "34" --- even if there's no respawn invincibility, getting killed 34 times in one minute nineteen seconds is well nigh impossible in a medium-sized map with nooks and crannies.)

Quiet night. Too quiet.

This swamp's tranquility is shattered by mortar rounds. I find it odd my weapon didn't blur. Programmer oversight?

Defending a hill from a Viet Cong attack. This reminds me about that movie about Firebase Gloria.

The water effects are none too shabby. The game is not as optimized as I would have liked it though; I had to lower several eye candies before this game could run decently for me.

Start of the Tet offensive. Here US marines scramble to battle stations as a full-fledged NVA assault begins. Fun.

City fighting the morning after the Tet offensive.

>>>Click here to read more...

Warcraft III: Frozen Throne Micromanagement Resources

Run Forrest! Run!


One of the things that Frozen Throne owes it success to is its successful implementation and heavy dependence on "microing," ---formally known as micromanagment --- the skill needed to pull out critically wounded troops out of the heat of battle to save resources and deny enemies from gaining experience and scoring a decisive stroke on a player's army.

This alone makes Warcraft an all-time favorite for those who favor microing or an overly complex game for those who don't. I was one of the latter.

Right now I still favor Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War as, because of its implementation of squad-based "units," the game requires less hand dexterity than its Blizzard-made competitor. But still, there's boundless fun to be had in watching your fingers fly as you frantically "staff" (Staff of Teleportation) that bear away from a fight or run your dying Demon Hunter away as your range troops put up a token resistance and kill a few footmen before disengaging to fight another day.

Here are some resources that may improve your microing skills:

Kitae's Micro Wars 1.2e Balanced - This is a small, downloadable, map for Warcraft III: Frozen Throne, which pits your army against the AI's for 24 consecutive matches. There is no base-building, just a series of skirmishes. After each one resolves, you and the AI respawn with a different set of troops that belong to a different race. Handy! I hope there will be another version of this map, one that lets you customize what race you want to control for the entire 24 matches and the option to dictate what race the AI can use for the series of skirmishes.

Please let me know if there's a new version of this map; I tried Googling but found no other source for it except Epic War. (Note: As with any unofficial site, please scan the files with your anti-virus software before using them. Download and use at your own risk.)

Battle.net Article: Sixen's Compilation: "The Ultimate Micro and Macro Guide"

>>>Click here to read more...

Resources: In-depth History of Warcraft, Blizzard's Trend-setting RTS

"For Nazjatar!!!" --- Battle cry of the Naga Sea Witch


Now I know what Nazjatar means. For those who are not so familiar with the background story of the world of Warcraft, Nazjatar is an underwater city made by the Naga --- former Highborne night elves who were "cursed and transformed" when the first Well of Eternity exploded following Azshara's failed attempt at letting the dark Titan Sargeras loose upon the world.

(Lest people who personally know me raise their eyebrows, no, I have not flipped. I still am not going to play MMOs.

There are only three MMOs that so far have attracted my attention and I am listing them here along with the reasons why I do not play them:

• RYL - This is the only game where I witnessed a lot of running and pulse-pounding moments from my friends screaming (not unlike lost schoolgirls lol!) "Don't kiiiiil meeee!" when a group of enemy players staged an ambush. CON: I've heard that races now can co-mingle? Boring. Also, I can't seem to find the official website. They folded?
• Guild Wars - I saw this in action way back in the Open Beta of the first one. Magnificent. Plays like an offline game with quests and varied terrains. CON: Can't find a supplier here and I'm not going to pirate.
• World of Warcraft - I read Gamespot's review and wow, this one takes the cake. It doesn't penalize players for not playing everyday, which is a major bonus. CON: Hefty subscription fee. FOR ME I hate the idea of continually paying for something as trivial as a game. I am a gamer but when my hobby starts to intrude on my RL priorities, it makes me pause and oftentimes quit. (Our CEO provided the same reason so I'm not crazy. Or maybe we both are haha! Peace Gus!)

Universal reason why I don't play MMOs: This is for another article. )

Last night, for the first time in about three years, I was at a loss on what to play. With my videocard fried, all my games won't run. But then I spotted some CDs in one corner of my room and remembered that one of my cousins gave me his (old) Warcraft games.

I played Warcraft I, cheated, and blazed through the orc campaign in less than an hour. I was only interested in the story as the game is now considered very unwieldy. (No drag-select and control groups anyone?) I then started the human campaign and encountered the name "Lothar," which rang a million bells.

I searched the net and hit paydirt:

• Wikipedia entry: Warcraft: Orcs and Humans
  
• WoWWiki.com: Warcraft: Orcs and Humans entry - contains various resources including "Chronicles of the War of Azeroth," "Destiny of the Orcish Hordes," and descriptions of the two races and the creatures of the land.
• Chronicles of the War in Azeroth
• WoW entry: History of Warcraft - Contains the entire history of the world of Warcraft. The entire first chapter is also in the Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos manual but has been revised here and there.
  

>>>Click here to read more...

Empire Earth II "First" Impressions

... Yes, under a rock. For two years. Me.

After lying in my cabinet collecting dust for almost a year, I finally installed my copy of Empire Earth II. I bought it for only 200 Php and I must say, it's head and shoulders above "not bad" and by far the deepest RTS I've ever played. It doesn't have the heavy micromanagement skills requirement prevalent in games like Warcraft III (where most units are so fragile that individual troops or even groups need to be "danced" away from harm). This game, in my opinion, places more emphasis in the macromanagement as there is more than a truckload of technologies waiting to be researched and a whole slew of buildings that need to be constructed. It goes without saying that this fact alone will make or break the game for different players.

It's not the Great Wall, but it's still an impressive looking one nonetheless. Outside, an AI ally's fortress stands watch for any hostile forays into our borders.

Yes, walls are needed in the game and this for me, is the only one that made me feel like those stone- and wood-depleting things are indeed serving a purpose. Make do without them, and you just might feel the pain of what catapults can do to your universities, city center, markets, and temples.

As surreal as it sounds for a real-time strategy game, Empire Earth II uses markets and trade routes; you can send trading vessels across oceans to trade and everytime they do, you gain money proportional to the distance traveled. Sometimes they earn you technology points too, which let you unlock improvements for your military and economic sectors of your civilization. Astounding depth really.

We will cut a swath through their ranks. Or maybe not.

The combat is where this game falls short of my expectations. I felt it when I first plowed headlong into enemy ranks but at that time, I couldn't put a finger on it. Then I read forum posts and started really noticing that the game doesn't implement the tried-and-true RPS (rock-paper-scissors) scheme really well. Unlike in games like, say Warhammer 40, 000: Dawn of War, where you could really feel --- and see!! --- troops with anti-personnel armaments cut through infantry like scythes through corn stalks, here in EE2 counters really don't do significant damage than their comrades.

RPS in this game is a bit faulty: those siege engines will eat up those barracks much faster than those macemen can take down that Korean house but macemen and archers seem to be equally adept/inept at taking down a given kind of enemy infantry.

Crossover?

I am still tackling the first campaign of the game, which puts players in the role of the person who founded Korea but "battle through the ages" is the slogan of Empire Earth games and I've seen in the manual mech units that are named "HERCs."

Hmmm, of Starsiege fame? (but isn't that from another developer --- that is now defunct ---?) This may get interesting as the weeks pass!

>>>Click here to read more...