My First Time Playing Battlefield 3 (on PC)

As I recently got myself a gaming PC, I also was finally able to play Battlefield 3. So here's my first round:

I think I did alright, for playing BF3 the first time with a keyboard, rather than a gamepad.
If you noticed, that I already had some points at the end, let me tell you, that I already played one round before on my laptop, which barely could handle the game.

Project: Backlog is still going strong. I'll post an update on it soon!

I finally joined the Master Race!

What was more of a spontanous buy, made me join the so called master race, in plain english:

PC Gamers

I finally upgraded to a gaming PC, or rather what I was able to buy with my money.
Here are the specs:
- Intel i7 processor
- 8GB RAM
- Nvidia GeForce GT545
- 2TB HDD

I also got a 24 inch Samsung LED monitor with a 1920x1080 resolution.

I'll upgrade the GPU, when I have the money, but till then, I'm happy with what I got.
Those graphics man...those graphics...

Since that PC is finally able to handle more programs and is generally faster, I'll try recording some stuff with Fraps. We'll see how it turns out.

Rumour: Valve works on a Console

Sources: 
http://www.theverge.com/2012/3/2/2840932/exclusive-valve-steam-box-gaming-console
http://kotaku.com/5890275/is-this-a-photo-of-valves-rumored-console 

Rumours have appeared about a console, made by Valve. Nothings clear yet and all is just speculation, but some things are said to be true. For example, the specs of the console have been "revealed", having a Core i7 CPU, 8GB of RAM, and an NVIDIA GPU. This seems to be true, because an employee of Valve posted a tweet on the 2nd November last year, with a picture.

"Built this tiny PC. i7 quad core, 8GB ram, Zotac Z-68 mobo w/ onnboard Nvidia mobile gfx. Runs Portal 2 FAST."

Apparently, the so called "Steam Box" will be made, because Valve wants to establish a new standard in a gaming service, pushing other developers, to create new and innovative gaming devices.

I'm kind of excited for this. Valve pushing boundaries again. But still...couldn't I just buy a normal PC then? It's not a real gaming console after all, but rather a PC, made for gaming. I'm looking forward to more news on this.

For more info, visit the sources mentioned above.

My First Time Playing Modern Warfare 3 (Multiplayer)

The Modern Warfare 3 multiplayer was free to play last weekend, so I though, why not check it out. Lucky for you guys, I recorded my first EVER match in MW3, I ever played. It pretty much shows, why I don't like the game. Not to mention all the hackers, that weren't in this video.

That said, I of course played the game more than just that one match and I have to say: It's not that bad. It was fun to play for that weekend and I can understand, why people play it. But still: I can have all that fun in the older Modern Warfare games too. Not much has changed and the third game feels much like the first one (CoD4).
What I hate about this game though and I think it shows in the video, are the killstreaks. They are stupid and overpowered. The whole game is fun, till someone has to use e.g. the helicopter and be the Terminator in person. That's why I like the Pro Mod in CoD4MW more, than any of the other games.

Ubisoft DRM Madness

Source: http://www.guru3d.com/news/why-guru3d-probably-never-will-review-ubisoft-titles-anymore/

Ubisoft takes their DRM even further. What we knew was, that you have a cd key, which you can use on three different PC's to play your game. It's stupid, but kinda okay. Now, the DRM gives your PC a number, based on your PC specs, so it can identify it. If you change one part of your PC, for example replace the graphics card with a newer one, the number changes, using one more of the three possible activations. While the guys in the source now got their key unlocked, so you can activate more often, normal players will still have that problem.
Ubisoft driving their paying customers into piracy. I don't think that's what they intended.

100$ for a virtual car. Really EA? Really?

Source: http://asia.gamespot.com/news/ea-rolls-out-100-car-for-need-for-speed-world-6347632

This story's a little old, but it doesn't make it less ridiculous.
EA announced on 15th December the "Koenigsegg CCX Elite Edition", which will cost you 100$ to drive in the free racing MMO "Need For Speed World". Till 21st December there was a 25% discount, so it did cost 75$. Still something I wouldn't pay. I mean, I played World of Warcraft for 2 years or so, which cost me about 300€, but it wasn't just a car, but a huge world that evolved. This is just a car...that you don't physically own.

Steam Holiday Sale

It's that time again!

The annual Steam Holiday Sale started again today (or yesterday, I don't know). While there are numerous games on sale, there's also the Achievements we already know from the Steam Summer Camp. Finishing one of the Achievements gets you a present, which can have free games, coupons, or coal. With the coal you enter a chance for the grand prize giveaway. The grand prize are ALL games ever on Steam. That's right! But only one person can get it. The more coals you have, the higher is your chance to win. If you don't want the coal, you can combine seven of them to get another present, which will have either a free game or a coupon. No coal.

Spend your money, or don't. I didn't ;). But there might come that one deal, that takes it all again...like the last few times...GAAAAAAAAABBBEEE!

Serious Sam 3s DRM

Now THIS is how you deal with piracy!

Something I miss...

Game demos

Back in the day, there always were game demos. It either was on demo discs for consoles, or you could download them from the internet.

Today? Not so much.
I'd like to think, that every major game studio knows this problem, but apparently they don't. You mostly get demos on consoles, but not on the PC. And even then no AAA titles. If I consider buying a game for my PC, I want to know, if it runs well. Your stupid requirements that are on the box or on the internet don't help me. So if the minimum requirement says, I can run it, it doesn't mean, it will run well on lowest settings, NOOO, it means it runs...not more. You can get the exe to start, but that's it. While not encouraging pirating games, that seems to be the only way to find out, if a game works on your computer, because there is no game demo, with which you can test it.

I just hope one day they will acknowledge this problem, but of course they won't, because they won't get the money from people, who bought the game to "test" it then.

Just my 2 cents, Alucard

AMD versus Intel? Not anymore...

Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/AMD-Not-Competing-With-Intel-Anymore-Goes-Mobile-237103.shtml


Apparantly AMD wants to stop working in the PC segment and focus more on mobile phones...
This pretty much means Intel will get a market monopoly on computer processors and can raise the price how much they want.

I've got a bad feeling about this...