I’m addicted to Guild Wars again

My lesson learned over the past year is that new games aren’t always better than old games.

I’m such a gearhead that I gravitate towards the new and shiny.  But in the MMORPG world, new and shiny typically means incomplete, buggy, unbalanced and disappointing.

Over the past year, I’ve tried the following MMORPG’s:

• Age of Conan – My favorite of the newer games and I’ll probably return one of these days.
• Warhammer Online – My biggest disappointment.  Combat is just so clunky that I couldn’t stand it, even though I love PvP and RvR.
• Atlantica Online – Turned based combat is interesting, so I still have it installed on my computer to give it another try.
• Free Realms – Cutesy, but far too casual for me.
• Runes of Magic – Not bad, but not good either.
• MapleStory – I don’t understand the popularity.
• Runescape – WTF.  I guess it’s good for people playing in their browser while pretending to do work?
• Pirates of the Burning Sea – Interesting change of pace, but sea combat was too slow and land combat was forgettable.
• Mabinogi – Pretty nice F2P game, but didn’t catch my attention after a few hours of play.
• The Chronicles of Spellborn – The absolute worst first impression of any MMORPG I’ve played.
• Shin Megami Tensai: Imagine Online – Just like playing a PlayStation 2 game on my computer…hopelessly outdated.

There were more, but I already forgot what they were.

After months of vainly searching for a new MMORPG home, I’ve found myself hopelessly addicted to Guild Wars again.  It really is an incredible game.  I can spent hours fiddling with my skills and outfitting my heroes.  Since I tend to be an altaholic (I keep rolling alts), I haven’t finished all the content yet.  I’m nowhere near achieving any of the crazy titles or reputation grinds, but that kind of stuff never appealed to me anyways.  Once I finish through the content, I think I’ll join a serious PvP guild.

Once I’m done with Guild Wars, I’m planning to return to City of Heroes, Everquest II and maybe even World of Warcraft.  I was never very hardcore about any of these games and there is so much content I haven’t played.  There is no question that they provide a far better gaming experience than any of their newer competition.

I’ll still give upcoming AAA titles a chance, like Aion and Champions Online, but I’m not holding my breath.  MMORPG’s need time to mature into a great game.

The Sims 3 is too easy

The Sims 3 is supposed to be a simulator?  A toy?  A virtual sandbox?

Is it supposed to be a life simulation?  If so, please tell me how I can get that life.  It would be such an easy life.  Unfortunately, I think I’d get really bored.  Everything I do in the Sims world is accomplished with such ease and lack of stress that there is no sense of achievement.

I started off with one Sim (I didn’t know what to expect from the game) and kept adding more and more Sims to the household, hoping it would provide more challenge.  Nope.

She’s been leader of the free world and she’s now the head of a corporation and a best selling writer.  She’s overflowing with cash.  She has dozens of best friends and it takes minutes for her to make another best friend.  By the way, these relationships don’t weaken with time.  Most of her skills are maxed.  She’s bought most of the life achievement awards.  Now she spends her time training her family to become superhumans as well.  There is basically nothing left for her to do except die.

There are so many things in the game that make it far too easy.  For example, while you are at work, you can tell your Sim to socialize with her coworkers or kiss up to the boss.  You don’t even have to bother with the relationship minigame.  Your sim will automatically make best friends.  One of my sims just goes out to the park and plays guitar all day long.  She automatically makes dozens of friends as well.

I’ve tried setting up little scenarios, like rivalries, love triangles, enemies, etc., but everything is accomplished far too easily.  I tried the minigames like fishing and gardening, but those are rather boring.

Making money is no challenge, except during the initial stages of the game.  Writing a book and painting brings in tons of cash.  Investing in businesses in town is just overkill.

Getting promoted and reaching the top of the Sims profession is a piece of cake.  It takes a day or two to get a promotion.

The Sims 3 is a wonderful game, but the fact that it’s too easy basically ruins it.  Games, just like life, need to be challenging or else there is no point in playing them.

The Sims 3: I couldn’t resist

I try not to be a pirate, but I simply could not resist downloading The Sims 3.  The official release date is June 2nd, but it’s been available (via warez) since yesterday.  That’s two weeks before launch!  In my defense, I resisted about 12 hours before succumbing.  Two hours later, it was downloaded, installed and running silky smooth on my new computer (no problems running on Windows 7 64).

Electronic Arts (EA, the publisher) is kinda screwed.  There is no doubt that TS3 is going to be one of their biggest games.  Piracy was already going to be ridiculous, but with this crazy early warez release, it’s going to be absolutely rampant.  Spore and The Sims 2 were the two most pirated games of 2008.  The Sims 3 will definitely be one of the most pirated games of 2009.

I’m not a Sims junkie like so many people, but there is something really relaxing about playing The Sims that I enjoy.  I’ll definitely drop the cash to pick up the game once it gets officially released, but this won’t be true for tens of thousands (maybe even millions) of people who will download TS3 in the coming months and years.  Like TS2, TS3 will probably have a nice hook into their online services to make buying the game more attractive.  Even so, TS3 is going to get pirated like crazy.

In any case, I’ve been playing TS3 for the past few hours and having a great time.

My first impression was disappointing.  I expected more from the next game in the series.  For the most part, it feels just like playing TS2.  That’s not a bad thing, but I really wanted the game to take a big step forward, instead of simply adding new features.

In a strange way, I was also disappointed because playing this game reminds me just how far away we are from realistic life simulators, photorealistic graphics and true AI.

It is extremely polished and well made.  It runs perfectly on my computer and I’ve heard many people say that it runs better than TS2.  It’s a pleasure to play a game that works so well.  I have some minor complaints about the controls, but anyone familiar with the series should have no problems.

Okay, enough blabbing for me.  My sim need to go smooze more people on her way to becoming the leader of the world.

Plants vs Zombies and Defense Grid are awesome!

The first time I played a Tower Defense game was a few days ago. I didn’t know what they were.  I didn’t even know they existed.  (They are strategy games where you defend an area from invaders by building and upgrading towers.)

Now I am thoroughly addicted to them.

I’m usually not a fan of casual and repetitive games.  I have friends who have logged ridiculous numbers of hours playing Tetris, Bejeweled, Peggle and similar games and I always felt like they were just wasting their time.  While Tower Defense games definitely fall more into the casual game category, the added level of complexity adds some much needed strategy that makes it more than just a typical timewaster.

Defense Grid

What is even better is that Tower Defense games are really cheap.  Plants vs Zombies is $10 on Steam.  Defense Grid is currently on sale for only $5.

Plants vs Zombies is the latest creation from PopCap, the ultimate geniuses at creating addictive casual games.  It takes a crazy, hilarious concept (plants vs zombies???) and turns it into a great Tower Defense game.

Plants vs Zombies

4ghz: Overclocking my Core i7 920

Yay!

I got my Core i7 920 running at 4.0ghz!

My i7 920 is running at 4.0Ghz

I’m not a hardcore overclocker, but I wanted to see if my processor could reach the 4.0ghz milestone. Wow, I can’t believe it booted up successfully into Windows 7.

I had to set the voltages higher than I like (my BIOS warned me that the voltage would reduce the life of my processor).  My idle temperatures are too high for my comfort as well (45C-50C idle).  I’m sure I could get a better idle temperature if I fiddle with my heatsink and jack up the speed of my fans.

I prefer being conservative with my overclocks and having a computer as silent as possible.  So I’m bringing it back down to 3.2ghz for my usual day to day work.  Next year, when I start to get dissatisfied with my computer’s performance, I’ll overclock back up to 4.0ghz and do it properly so it’s stable for day to day use.

At 3.2ghz and my GeForce 8800gt 512mb, I can happily run Left 4 Dead at 1920×1200 with max settings and 16xQ antialiasing/16x anistropic.  I have no problems running any of my MMORPG’s or single player RPG’s.  I can’t really ask for much more than that right now.

By the way, I don’t know how or why, but I can play Left 4 Dead (a first-person shooter) without getting virtual motion sickness.  It’s sweet.  I’m absolutely horrible at it, but it’s great to play a FPS for a change.  By the way, Left 4 Dead is on sale for $24 on Steam right now.  It’s easily one of the best games of the year, so now is a good time to check it out.

UPDATE 1:

High voltages are what reduces the life expectancy of a processor and the various components.  As a result, I’m going to run my computer at the highest stable overclock I can accomplish without increasing the voltages.

Right now, my lovely i7 is running at 3.5ghz at default voltages.  My memory is running at 1400mhz with 7/7/7/16/1 timings.  Torture testing my system with Prime95 results in temperatures around 70C.  I could spend more time fiddling with my computer, but I’m completely satisfied with her performance.  I couldn’t be happier.

I’ve been doing a bit more research and I found that 3.8ghz appears to be the average maximum overclock using air cooling.  4.0ghz has been reported by many people, so it’s possible, but typically requires much higher voltages.

Building my new Core i7 gaming rig! Part 2

Day 3&4

UPS dropped by my house a couple times leaving behind some very nice packages for me.  As any gadget freak knows, half the enjoyment of buying online is the anticipation of the delivery, receiving and opening boxes, removing the shrink wrap, unwrapping the product packaging and finally reaching in and appreciating how great technology can be.

My living room is a total mess.  I ransacked the packages and ripped up packing material, empty boxes and useless manuals are strewn all over the place.

Here are my first impressions of the various components:

• Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66ghz Quad-Core processor

What a gorgeous piece of hardware.  I actually expected it to be much bigger, considering Intel somehow squashed four cores into one processor.  One huge plus is that the processor doesn’t have a multitude of small pins on the bottom that interfaces with the motherboard.  There was always the risk of bending them by mistake and ruining the processor.

• Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P motherboard

It’s not the prettiest motherboard I’ve seen.  Gigabyte put too much effort into color coding, which ruins the overall aesthetic.  The heatsinks and various parts seem very solid and well made.  Like any $200+ motherboard, it’s jam packed with features.  There are no cheap LGA1366 motherboards.  They are all premium parts loaded with extras and top notch components.  SIX ram slots.  EIGHT SATA ports.  EIGHT USB ports.  Support for THREE graphics cards running in triple Crossfire or SLI.  Ridiculous.

• 6GB OCZ DDR3 PC3-12800 1600mhz RAM

These sticks are almost gaudy with gold-colored metal covers.  I love the idea that I’ll have SIX gigabytes of memory at my disposal.  If I want, I could get three more sticks and have TWELVE gigabytes.  I have no idea why I would need so much memory, but I love having the option.

• Corsair 650w TX power supply

Corsair is renowned for making some of the best power supplies and this one appears to be no exception.  Solid and heavy construction with a buttload of wires, each covered with a black fabric mesh.  It’ll be easy to do a good cable job that doesn’t look too messy.

• Cooler Master Centurion 534 Plus Mid Tower Case

For a $50 case, this is a well made product.  Unfortunately, I’m used to playing with $100+ cases and I can see where Cooler Master made compromises.  It looks very nice, expensive and clean.  Definitely not one of those gaudy, overdesigned cases made for gamers who have no sense of style.

I have a major problem with the hard drive bays, unfortunately.  The hard drive cage only holds three drives and they are all squashed together.  That means it only holds two drives, if you care at all about cooling.  There are two 3.5″ drive bays, but they are an extremely tight fit and not made for hard drives.  I tried sticking a dead drive into one of the bays to see if it fits and it required far too much force, scratching up the drives completely.  The case comes with FIVE 5.25″ drive bays.  Why the heck would anyone need FIVE??

There are three locations for 120mm fans, which is good, but none of the openings in the case have dust filters.  I’ll have to patch together some homemade filters.

The side panel has an air funnel for the CPU and a side fan, but both will have to be removed to make room for the monster CPU cooler.

• Scythe Mugen-2 SCMG-2000 CPU Cooler

Comparison with stock heatsink

This thing is a beast!  I’m a little worried it’s not going to fit into my case, even though I did all the research beforehand.  One thing I love about Scythe CPU coolers is that they are some of the best performers, but somehow they aren’t ridiculously overpriced.  Some CPU coolers are $70+ dollars and many of them don’t deliver.  On the downside, the way Scythe attaches the fan to the heatsink is really cheap and ugly.  The baseplate has a mirror finish, which means hardcore cooler freaks shouldn’t have to do any extra work trying to get the cleanest connection between the heatsink and the CPU.

The BUILD

ARGH!!!  ARGH!!

That’s all I can say right now.  It took me six frigging hours to do this build…by far the longest and most frustrating build I’ve ever done.  Luckily, I didn’t have any dead parts, but somehow I managed to entangle myself with what felt like every possible mishap and mistake.  I basically built dozens of computers today because I kept putting it together and ripping it apart trying to troubleshoot every little problem.

Here is a sampling of some of the problems I encountered.  Some problems, I had no idea how to fix, so I ripped the computer apart and put it back together again, hoping it would magically work (it did!!).

• 

  Motherboard with huge heatsink

  The Scythe CPU cooler requires a weird and complicated installation and I messed up several times.  The first couple times, I didn’t screw down hard enough to make a good connection between the CPU and the heatsink, resulting in 70+ celsius temperatures and immediate shutdowns.  I’m getting good temperatures and the Mugen-2 is a cheap product, but I don’t recommend it unless you have a lot of patience.

• I have a lot of experience with ASUS and DFI motherboards, but this is my first Gigabyte.  With the Gigabyte, I had to manually reset the CMOS over and over again.  I’m used to a motherboard that automatically reboots to the last working configuration.  I’m not happy with the Gigabyte motherboard right now.
• You won’t believe the variety of error sounds that I got from the motherboard.  Long screeching noises that made me think the computer was going to explode….
• Numerous times, after doing yet another rebuild, I would forget to plug one power connector, resulting in yet another error message and more time wasted.
• Since the hard drive bay doesn’t have rubber or silicon parts to minimize vibration, the drives make far too much sound.  I had to fudge together a craptastic fix to muffle the noise.
• When I finally got to the Windows 7 installation, I kept getting a Linux GRUB error message.  I was booting from the Windows installation CD so it made no sense whatsoever.  I tried various boot discs (Windows 7, Vista, XP) and even swapped out the DVD for an old fashioned IDE drive.  No luck.  It finally turned out that my Raptor (hard drive) had an old Linux installation, which I completely forget about it.  If I’m booting from the DVD, I don’t know why it would get an error message from the hard drive, but it did.  I eventually formatted the drive using another computer.

Finished!!

In any case, the build is done and Windows is running so smoothly, it brings tears to my eyes.  No problems with drivers.  No problems with incompatibilities so far.  It’ll take me a while to get everything reinstalled and working the way I want, but I’m ecstatic.

I’m not that anal about doing a perfect wiring job, but it looks pretty good to me.  In case I need to go in and fix something, I don’t want to zip tie anything or put too much effort into hiding the cabling.

For now, I’m letting the Core i7 run at stock speeds and using the Gigabyte software (EasyTune) to overclock.  It’s at 3.2ghz right now.  Honestly, I’m not sure EasyTune is even working, but everything is really fast and snappy.  Everything loads so quickly.

Things I would do differently

Overall, it was a fun build (maybe a little frustrating, but the challenge is what makes it fun).  I learned a lot and I’m sure my next build will be far more successful.

• Skip Gigabyte and go with an ASUS motherboard.  Gigabyte recently held an overclocking competition and they picked the GA-EX58-UD4P as the platform.  So obviously they think it’s a great overclocking board, but I don’t think it’s a very novice friendly board.  I went with Gigabyte because I wanted to try a different brand, but I would recommend ASUS motherboards.
• Get a better case.  The Cooler Master Centurion 534 is a good case, especially for the price ($50).  But I am really picky about noise, vibrations, fans and dust.  So I need a case that is better suited to my needs.
• Get a more user-friendly CPU heatsink.  The Scythe Mugen-2 is a great heatsink, but it’s so difficult to install.  My other choice for a cheap, but effective heatsink is the Xigmatek Dark Knight ($40).  It also looks much better.
• Consider upgrading to SSD drives (Solid State).  They are still really expensive, but soon enough, it will be affordable for the average person.  The cheaper SSD’s ($100-$150) have too many problems right now.  For many computers, especially at the high end, the hard drive is the weak link.  With quality SSD’s, the difference is enormous.

Free Realms is too cute…

Sony Online Entertainment’s Free Realms launched yesterday (really, really late yesterday).  As expected, they flubbed the launch.  The official website was basically down the entire day, providing absolutely no information for impatient players.  SOE did set up a Twitter feed, so there were little dribbles of information coming out, but I’m sure plenty of people were annoyed as heck.  Eventually, the game did launch around 11pm EST and it’s been smooth sailing since then.

I spent a couple carefree hours running around the world, playing mini-games (cooking, card games and racing) and engaging in the rather simplistic combat system.  I have to applaud Sony for making a very polished and slick game.  The entire experience was smooth, simple and trouble free.

I knew from the beginning that Free Realms is targeted at the kiddie demographic and parents.  They definitely succeeded in creating a kiddie friendly game.  Unfortunately for me and most adults, it is just too cute and too dumbed down to seriously play this game.

It is worth checking out just to see Sony’s latest MMO, though.  You don’t need to download a huge file to do a test run.  Sony did a great job streamlining the installation process.  It’s not quite as simple as a browser-based flash game, but it is fast and easy.

From what I saw, Free Realms definitely has the potential to be a success.  For the most casual players, there is plenty of free content.  If you want to upgrade the account (small monthly fee) or use the microtransaction shop, it looks like it could be worth the money.

While I won’t be playing Free Realms ever again, it gives me a lot of hope for Sony’s upcoming MMO, The Agency.

Building my new Core i7 gaming rig!

Image via Wikipedia

Day 1

I’m feeling ecstatic, jittery and exhausted.  Yesterday, I finally decided that it was time to get a new gaming computer!  I’ve been up all night researching product after product.  When I finally clicked the ‘Submit Order’ buttons on my two favorite online shops (Newegg and Amazon), I have to admit that the pleasure of buying all these new components was quite overwhelming.  Yes, I’m a gadget freak and an online shopping addict.

I usually do a major upgrade every two years.  In between, I do smaller upgrades like adding a new graphics card or more memory.  Any parts that don’t get used in my primary gaming rig get installed into one of the many computers in my house or I give away to family and friends.  I prefer doing regular upgrades rather than buying a brand new computer every 2 to 3 years.

Since I’ve been back from Peru, I’ve been waiting for AMD to release a product to compete with Intel’s high end processors, the Core i7 quad cores.  I was hoping that AMD would force Intel to lower their prices.  Unfortunately, it’s now clear that isn’t going to happen anytime soon.  AMD’s Phenom II competes very well with Intel for the midrange market, but I want something better.

My uber (kinda) Gaming Rig

• Intel Core i7 920 Nehalem 2.66ghz Quad-Core processor
• Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P motherboard
• 6GB OCZ DDR3 PC3-12800 1600mhz RAM
• eVGA GeForce 8800GT 512mb videocard (taken from current gaming rig)
• Corsair 650w TX power supply
• Western Digital Raptor 74GB 10000RPM hard drive
• two Western Digital 1TB hard drives
• Cooler Master Centurion 534 Plus Mid Tower Case
• Scythe Mugen-2 SCMG-2000 CPU Cooler
• Logitech G15 keyboard and MX518 mouse
• Windows 7 RC1 x64 (Release Candidate 1, available via warez)

Since I’m taking parts from my current computer, my total cost for this upgrade is about $900.  If I bought all these components, the total cost would be closer to $1600.  This is not a budget computer.  It’s hopefully a high performance computer for a great price that should easily provide a couple years of gaming bliss.

The Core i7 920 is well-known as a massive overclocker.  There are plenty of reports of people getting the 2.66ghz clocked up to 4ghz on air cooling alone.  That’s a 50% overclock!  It’s ridiculous and makes me quite happy because it means my investment will last me even longer.  It’s unlikely I’ll ever get it up to 4ghz (I’m not an expert overclocker), but I’m sure I’ll be able to achieve an acceptable overclock.  My current computer has an Opteron 165 (1.8ghz) overclocked to 2.5ghz (40% overclock), but I think I got lucky.

By the way, I’m not upgrading my videocard at this time because the GeForce 8800GT is still a great videocard.  The bottleneck on my current computer is the CPU, not the 8800GT.  I also noticed that there are plenty of 8800GT’s for sale on eBay at cheap prices.  It could be a cheap upgrade during the next year to add another for a SLI (or even a tri-SLI) setup.

I’m going to put together a short buyers guide for Core i7 overclocked rigs that explains all my choices.

Day 2

Sigh.  My credit card company is sometimes overzealous when it comes to protecting customers against identity theft.  They denied half of my credit card charges and I didn’t realize it until a day had passed.  That means I have to wait another day until my UPS guy delivers all my packages.

On a positive note, Amazon is incredibly fast.  My order with them is going to arrive later today.  It is amazing that such a huge retailer can fulfill orders so quickly.

I love Dexter!

After discovering this TV show a few weeks ago, I’ve been doing marathon runs, watching entire seasons in one or two sittings.  It’s been a long time since a TV show has grabbed my attention so completely.

It’s about the life of a serial killer, from the perspective of the serial killer.  Dexter is very much an anti-hero, which is a hugely refreshing change from the typical.  How much better can TV get than that?  It’s smart, funny, thought-provoking, dramatic…I can go on and on with the superlatives.  Michael Hall is an absolutely amazing actor.

As much as I love the TV show, it does bother me that nothing in the show disturbs me.  I am so desensitized to violence that it’s rather sad.  I can eat dinner while watching bloody murder sequences without any problems.  Hacked up body parts, ritual murders, enormous blood splatters…nothing.  Should I be worried?

On a gaming related note, they are making an episodic game for the iPhone coming out this summer.  When I first hear rumors about a Dexter game, I was rather skeptical.  I’m still skeptical, but since it’s a mobile game and not one for a major gaming platform, the standards for quality are much lower.  Based on this article, the iPhone game looks quite good.

It looks to be primarily an adventure game with stealth elements, which fits the TV series.  I have to say that I’m rather torn on the idea of playing as a serial killer.  The game includes the ritualistic kill sequences and gives you access to a cleaver, knife and bone saw.  I’m fully aware that most action games basically puts the player in the role of a mass murderer.  On any given day, I probably kill dozens, if not hundreds of virtual humans.  But doing it in the shoes of a serial killer is another story.

I love Sam & Max!

I absolutely love the Sam & Max series of episodic adventure games.

Insanely clever and hilarious writing, stellar voice acting and simple but fitting cartoonish graphics combine to make the perfect point&click adventure game. I’m laughing and giggling the whole time while I’m playing, which makes me look like an idiot, but I don’t care. I often replay conversations and sequences because they are so damn funny.  The puzzles are just hard enough to make it satisfying when I solve them and the logic behind the puzzles makes sense in terms of the S&M world.

It also makes me wonder why so many other games have such horrible voice acting when the S&M series has so many characters who are all perfectly voiced.

Grim Fandango is still my favorite adventure game of all time, but S&M is a close second tied with the old school Monkey Island series.