Posts Tagged ‘Gaming’

Hey all you loyal Flyninja readers! As you can see some changes have been made to Flyninja, one is a new theme…which I have a tendency to change from time to time.

I just want to let you know that we will be launching a new forum soon. This will be a free to join forum, no worry about being invited as the last one. Here members will be able to discuss all things hackery, geek, and gaming. Members will also be invited to discuss and get involved in some of the Flyninja projects such as foamy, scatterchat, and a new one that is yet to be announced.

Along with the regular discussion boards, I am planning to implement a VIP section. You all know what kinds of things can be shared in VIP, so I am not going to get into explaining it all. VIP membership will cost a small fee, this fee will be used for all things Flyninja, including cooperative projects with our affiliates.

To prepare for the new forum, I just want to specify some ground rules in the beginning. Let me get to the point.

1. All links to anything (sites, files etc…) other than affiliate sites have to be coded, and not linked.  This will keep us off referral lists…
2. Hot flames will not be tolerated in the main discussion forums, we want to provide a resourceful and helpful community.  Trolls stay out please.  VIP boards flaming will be fine.
3. Be aware that you should search for your questions before asking them.
4. Post to the correct board, and use descriptive thread subjects for readability…We don’t want to see any lame ass 13375p34k on the board…really, your best English is encouraged.
5. Your encouraged to participate in the board, if you do not think you will, don’t sign up.  Inactive accounts will be flushed out after a yet undecided amount of time, unless its a VIP account.

These rules are just a few that come to mind off the bat.  Some may come and go based on their effectiveness and need.

Let me tell you something to do if your thinking about getting one of those nifty new hi tech HD 50in + screens. When you get it, throw a fucking party. Earlier this week a good friend of Flyninja.net and myself went out and bought himself one, and a fancy surround sound system to go with it. And last night he threw a party to celebrate. Now I know what some of you are thinking, kinda cliche’ right? Wrong. The party was a lot of fun, and it was great to see how many people came out. The booze was cracked open, the surround sound was rigged up, the 360 was plugged in and the shouting over the gun shots in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare were spat. Fight Night: Round 3 was almost similar to a recap of the opening scene of Grandma’s Boy, only with a lot more people.

Not only were people playing video games, some of us also enjoyed playing some pool. And some of us were simply content with standing around and guzzling beer after beer, and attempting at being as careful as possible while eating pizza without a plate underneath…fan-fucking-tastic.

So if you go out and get a new big fancy television, make sure to clean the house, and invite your friends over for food, smack talk, video games, and some great fun, especially if it’s starting to get cold outside.

Ok as you all have been able to tell, I’ve been slightly absent the past few weeks.  Honestly I can attribute a lot of this to EVE Online, yet another portion of it has been checking out new games.  New games are always exciting, especially if you’ve beat the last one ,or as in my situation, need something else to do while you wait for your skill training to complete in EVE.   So I have garnered a couple of games here I have not mentioned before for you to check out for yourselfs.

Diablo III….Yeah, you heard me right.  The game was recently announced by Blizzard and already they have flooded their sites with the announcement and fan fare.  A pretty sweet cinematic trailer is available on the home site, pretty intense, but what would be expected from Blizzard.

If your a fan of the series then you know that Diablo 2 was a huge success. I hav’nt spent much time in the forums and site to actually find out whats going on, but if you remember that one guy whos name happens to be Deckard Cain, well, let’s just say he’s in it again, and really old.  Nonetheless fans of the Diablos should be happy that its newest title will be playable over Battle.net free as with other versions.  Also Starcraft 2 is on its way as well, seems Blizzard has been working pretty hard getting some new stuff out.  However from what I can tell there are no plans to release a new MMO like World of Warcraft, though I have heard rumors about a Starcraft MMO in the works.  Guess we will have to wait and see.

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A new game currently in Pre-Open Beta stage called Combat Arms by Nexon is sure to interest you if your into the first person shooter genre of games. This game sports some nifty features such as character customization such as choosing your cammies (desert, snow, urban, green etc…)  and offers over 30 real world gun types.  Weapon modification is also pretty sweet allowing players to add scopes, suppressors and extra magazines to their weaponry, as well, as you play the game you progress in experience points, gaining ranks.  And if your into clan warfare Combat Arms allows players to create and join game clans, or message their friends with an in-game messaging system.  I’ve been playing the game for the last day and I must say that it is extremely fun to play.

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Pretty soon, Square-Enix is going to come out with a brand new Final Fantasy game.  I don’t have any insider information, but I do have experience which tells me this:  It’s going to suck balls.

The reason I expect it’s going to suck balls is because the history of the Final Fantasy franchise has consistently indicated that Square-Enix is now run by a bunch of marketing people with the collective artistic taste of a Vogon.  The two people who “made it happen” left the company after Final Fantasy 7 and since then, the company has gradually lost its soul.  By the time Final Fantasy 10 came out, they actually thought it would be a good idea to base a combat- and reading-oriented game, around dress-up dolls for girls.

I say, force them to bring in the right brain power.  Send the message by buying a classic FF game instead of FFXII after the new game comes out.

In case some of you are of the “fan lite” variety here are some reasons to boycott the new game without bankrupting the company – signature quotes that remind us Final Fantasy was once more than “just” a video game, it was high art:

20 of the Most Inspired Quotes from Final Fantasy

#20.  Cyan Garamonde (FF6): “You just have to show technology who’s boss!”

#19.  Irvine Kinneas (FF8):  “You’ve all heard this before. How life has infinite possibilities. I don’t believe that one bit. There weren’t many paths for me to choose. Sometimes, there would only be one. From the limited possibilities I faced, the choices I made have brought me this far. That’s why I value the path I chose… I want to hold true to the path that HAD to be taken.”

#18.  Terra Branford (FF6):  “It’s not the net worth of one’s life that’s important. It is the day to day concerns, the personal victories, and the celebration of life… and love!”

#17.  Shadow (FF6):  “In this world are many like me who’ve killed their emotions. Don’t forget that.”

#16.  Barrett Wallace (FF7):  “I know you got problems… hell, we all do. But you gotta understand that there ain’t no gettin’ offa this train we’re on, till we get to the end of the line.”

#15.  Squall Leonhart (FF8):  “I hate having nothing to do. It gets me thinking too much.”

#14.  Edgar Figaro (FF6) “Look, don’t you have a family? Just shut up and take it.”
Said by a king, after being told his money was no good by a loyal merchant

#13.  Cloud Strife (FF7):  “Looks like I’m always going to be facing crises all my life…”

#12.  Setzer Gabbiani (FF6) “Why not? I don’t have anything to lose but my life… and I got that for free!”

#11.  Barrett Wallace (FF7):  “A promise is a promise!”

#10.  Cloud Strife (FF7):  “No one lives in the slums because they want to. It’s like this train. It can’t go anywhere except where its rails take it.”

#09.  Tifa Lockhart (FF7):  “People have many things pent up inside of themselves. So many things they can never forget. Strange, isn’t it?”

#08.  Reeve Tuesti (FF7):  “Something bothers me. I think it’s your way of life. You don’t get paid. You don’t get praised. Yet, you still risk your lives and continue on your journey. Seeing that makes me… it just makes me think about my life.”

#07.  Cid Highwind (FF7):  “You start worryin’ and there’s no stoppin’ it! Things just start fallin’ apart and get worse and worse.”

#06.  Cid Highwind (FF7):  “Shut up! Sit your ass down in that chair and DRINK YOUR GODDAMN TEA!”

#05.  Vincent Valentine (FF7):  “Too much hope is the opposite of despair… An overpowering love may consume you in the end.”

#04.  Reno (FF7):  “A pro isn’t someone who sacrifices himself for his job. That’s just a fool.”

#03.  Cecil Harvey (FF4):  “I guess it’s my fate as a dark knight. Soon, I won’t even feel any remorse for my actions.”

#02.  Squall Leonhart (FF8):  “Right and wrong are not what separate us and our enemies. It’s our different standpoints, our perspectives that separate us. Both sides blame one another. There’s no good or bad side. Just two sides holding different views.”

#01  Celes Chere (FF6):  “You want to live in this world the way it is? No? Then do something about it!”

There, I’m convinced anyway.  I think when the new Final Fantasy comes out, I’ll buy a PSP and one of the games I didn’t beat yet, either FF4 or FF6.  That’ll give ‘em some tough love.

So we have Vendetta-Online, great space combat sim MMO – spectacular when it comes to being in first person mode triangulating bots in a skirmish as fast as possible…but if there is one game out there that is fucking deep its EVE.  EVE takes you into space with really sweet in game capabilities such as character implants and just a wide array of ships, equipment, guns rockets, boosters, warp drives and even insuring your ship in case it explodes!  I’ve been playing around in-game and I’ve got to say, small ships to huge ships – and a REALLY REALLY REALLY BIG UNIVERSE.  Unlike VO each system your in is’nt made up of sectors its made up of Constellations, Solar systems, Planet/Star Orbits – I mean the damn game is deep, very deep.

EVE-Online is vast, and requires some patience.  The ingame economy is pretty decent, and there are a whole lot of ways to make money, but acquiring skills in certain areas of the game can take time, luckily you can skill up when your logged off.  That says alot when you want to skill up, but your out doing something else for a time.  Another feature that is pretty nice is auto pilot.  You choose a destination, wherever it may be, hit auto-pilot and it will travel to the system your looking to get there for you, which if you have to go eat or make something to eat is great beacuse by the time you get back all you need to do is warp to the station, asteroid belt, star base, accelerator gate, moon, planet, or person you need to.

Honestly I can’t really describe the level of detail this game has, its a must see for yourself and experience it yourself type of deal, the screenshots in this article were taken by me in game, just to give you a little look inside of it.  EVE also features a web browser that you can surf the web from.  Yes I did visit Flyninja, no it did’nt look like it does now, but thats because the game does have some settings when it comes to viewing web pages. Perhaps if i get more and more into the game I’ll do a section specifically for viewing on your mobile device and within the game, if it’s requested, I will do it, just for all of you.  So if you want to get into a really popular Space MMO get into EVE-Online, it’s a little bit more for a subscription than Vendetta-Online, but its’s well worth it’s weight.  They offer a 14 Day Free trial so you can try it out first.  If your running Linux they do have a supported version of the game, however I had some difficulties getting it to run correctly, so I set it up using Wine (you can also set it up nicely in Cadega). Head over to their website EVE-Online for more information, if you decide to jump in shoot me an email and we can shoot through the stars.

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Mr.Gamer take a seat and strap yourself in. If you just so happen to be browsing the net reading up on game reviews, opinions and all that jazz you may have come across one of the hottest, and even more so, coolest vixens to ever grasp an Xbox controller. Her name is Britini Martini, and before checking into your Halo multiverse make sure to check your gear because she will likely spank you all the way out of your mommas basement and into the skin burning sunshine with a reality check.

I came across her bloggings about a week ago while I was just URL surfing and the site Gamegirl.com just made me click through. I was struck by a bolt of lighting (enthusiasm would be a better description) seeing these cool albeit good looking girls who are hardcore gamers. Now I will admit that I feel ashamed of my negligence when it comes to the amount of gamer girls out there, I haven’t met many, but I will not say that I disagree with girls pwning us guys in any of the various game worlds developed…by right, if I suck at a game – then I’m straight up fair game to anyone regardless of sex. Anyways…

If you want to catch up on some of the great stuff she has blogged and reviewed head over to Gamegirl.com and read up. Her [interview with N0M4D] and the N0M4D controller setting for Call of Duty 4 is inspiring as well as interesting. If you don’t know who N0M4D is, he’s a pro Rainbow Six Vegas player at MLG and has a rare condition known as Arthrogryposis which restricts the use of his arms and legs. He plays with his MOUTH! So since N0M4D has this condition that limits his ability to play games like most people, the guys over at Infinity Ward worked with him to create a COD4 controller setting so that he could experience and use every aspect of the game. Very cool indeed, not just that N0M4D disregards his condition and is a pro gamer anyways, or that you can play games using only your mouth and face, but that it goes to show the possibilities of gaming without your hands. That, my friends, is real gaming and real dedication.

I can rap off a few other things that would put this girl in my Top 2 coolest gamer/geek girls alive and gaming category, other than that she digs the Xbox 360 and likes Assassins Creed, but that she is a devoted gamer, attends game conventions and tournaments, and she hates walks on the beach (as stated in her myspace). It’s in my opinion that walks on the beach are overrated as is, I would rather sit on the beach and let the water come to me instead. She also hates Jack Thompson (which any gamer should acknowledge the same feelings) who is one of those government voices against “violent” video games. What a fucking douchebag…if us gamers and geeks wanted non-violent video games…us gamers and geeks would MAKE them. Jack Thompson GTFO and STFU.

You can catch Britini Martini surfing around Myspace, Gamegirl.com, pwned,com and hoopledoople.com a rising adult live gamer community whom she just recently teamed up with. Keep an eye out for this one fellas, Britini Martini has likely got you within the crosshairs.

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Well here I am sitting at my desk with a shitty ass keyboard. The damn thing is loud when I type and just isn’t the best hardware I would prefer to use. I used to have a Zboard, which I was quite fond of, however I spilled some soda on it and it brok-ed.

Pitiful. I know.

So I decided to go with buying a new keyboard from the Razer Gaming Line.

So far I am completely satisfied with my decision. The keyboard is designed for M$ Windows, which almost swayed me into reconsidering since I only run Linux. So I got the new hardware home opened up the box and sweeeet…stickers. I don’t know about you but I love stickers, so that was a plus. The keyboard overall is very lightweight and sleek. The main layout between the key sections is glassy and somewhat reflective. The keys are slightly soft, and the clicking is not as loud as my previous piece of junk. Yea my desk is at the moment messy…

Now I haven’t tested using the adanced features of the keyboard yet, simply because I’m running Linux and I don’t know what kind of issues may come about using the WINE Windows Emulator with the packaged software that came with the keyboard. The buttons located at the top right are actually a touch pad, with the lighting button which allows me to switch through either the lights being off, the WASD cluster or the whole keyboard being lit. My primary reason for getting this keyboard is because I wanted something lightweight and lit up, so now all those late nights I’m up typing away, I’ll be able to see my keyboard if I need to look at it. Heres a Vid

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Ok, so we all know of the 3 Red Ring of Death problems that plague Xbox 360 owners. Another plague of the console is the Black Screen of Death. You have a black screen or, theres no video just a bunch of white dots, lines discolorations etc…yet you still have audio. Well it’s no guess it’s a video problem, and any real gamer normally checks their cables before saying anything to anyone. I simply hate that! You have a thread on a forum where theres all these people talking about this one problem and some shmuck comes in there and says ‘check your cables, try a different TV, try different cables and yada yada’, BULLSHIT! I can understand there may be one or two dumbasses out there that don’t try that, but c’mon lets be real here, it’s more than likely they’ve tried it.

Recently Flyninja received a donated Xbox 360 console that has the so called ‘Black Screen of Death.’ Now I don’t want to say that any of us here are Xbox experts, and can fix them everytime, but I will say I am intrigued by the system for hacking purposes. Of course I started to troubleshoot the console by checking the cables etc. Ok so its not my cables or my TV.

Next I tried the towel method and was able to get the system to play games for a limited amount of time. This still did not show any kind of permanent results. So I went and opened the blasted thing to have a look around.

 

So after opening the console, I ran a game – worked…I played a movie – worked. The console has been running uninterrupted for about 4 hours now.

Just thought I would give everyone an update to this bugger and I hope that this insight may help you in the future.