The Cake is NOT a Lie

I wished for a Portal cake, and my beautiful wife and three youngest delivered it to my work today.

Aperture Science and GLaDOS have nothing over you, sweetheart. Thanks for a wonderful gift; you rock my world!

The Return of Abe and Oddworld!!!

I posted about this on the Friday Night Gamers blog; but I have to talk about it here too.

Abe is a part of my past. A part I almost recently revived when I was cleaning up my office some and ran into my Abe's Exoddus CD. These games will have you in stitches as you help Abe rescue his friends from slavery and impending doom.

Failures in the game are almost as fun as successes; and you'll find yourself repeating them for laughs as you go through the game. You interact with the friends to get them to team up to help you past obstacles. Depending on your actions... your friends will react in different ways (including getting into slap fights...)

The slap is useful when your friends seem "punch-drunk" from happy gas ... and speaking of gas... the games are loaded with farts.

Demos are available for both Oddworld games, so get downloading now... then go buy it, play them and come back and tell us what you think!
Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee (demo)
Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus (demo)

Old School RPG Gaming

Going through some pictures today, I discovered some pictures I had taken of some maps I'd drawn up while playing through a couple of Role Playing Games (RPGs) I was into right after I married Gwen.




It's a fun kayak trip down the Nostalgia Nile... and I tell you, it's certainly not like it used to be anymore. In the old days, half the fun of the game was drawing up these things while you played through. Sure, walkthroughs were available on Bulletin Board Systems (BBSes) but the maps weren't.

The map above is of a game called Times of Lore. Incidentally, while looking around for links to the game, I found these maps... puts my maps to shame, but I still think mine are cool (no matter how inaccurate they might be compared... Hey, they got me through the game, so they're good for something!)

The map below is of an area of Phantasie III (screenshots), a game I used to play tons in high school with my friend Russ.



Now with the advent of Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games (MMORPGs), especially World of Warcraft (WoW)... there is such a wealth of information online about the game (including character stats, guild forums, etc.) that the "world" of the game involves much more than actually playing the game. It's much more involved (and costs a lot more money) than I'd care to indulge in... but it's enough for millions of others.

For the record, I don't care what anyone says, I had some mad map-making skillz back then. :)

TrackMania Forever!!!

TrackMania United Forever - Quiet Ride Down a Country Road at Night

Many people dread April 15th (at least if they live in the United States and they owe the Government taxes...) but not me.

No way, April 15th 2008 (April 16th in France) was one of the best days in video-gaming history for me.

That's right... TrackMania United Forever (TMUF) and TrackMania Nations Forever (TNF) were released today; the latter being the free version.

Nadeo, the game's creator, took the United engine for the Stadium environment and put it into TMNF. Basically, Nations Forever is like taking Stadium straight out of United and put in a standalone game. What makes this great is that owners of TMUF (which contains an additional 6 environments spanning the entire TrackMania series) can connect to TMNF servers without having Nations Forever installed (prior to this release, one had to install both TrackMania United (TMU) and TrackMania Nations (TMN) to play both.)

That's the first really exciting piece of goodness I discovered when I updated my game to TrackMania United Forever... but wait, there's more!!!

Some of my favorite additions:

• Easier Player/Server search functionality


• The TrackMania Original (TMO) environments have all had major graphics engine revamps done to them and they're incredibly beautiful. I'll post pics when I get some time.


• We can now change video settings in-game; which we've been dying for!


• Rumor is there are two new block types: a blue block in Stadium that makes it easier to carve a turn; and a "rainbow turbo" that is timed to be 100% power for 1 second, then amp up to 150% for 1 second, then 200% for 1 second, then cycle back to 100%, etc. I haven't seen these yet, but am looking forward to them. An "Engine Killer" block was added to TMU and it added a whole new dynamic to the gameplay; so I look forward to these two new blocks.


• Tracks seem to load faster (though that might be due to the new hardware some too...)


• All environments seem to play smoother and look prettier (even the ones that didn't get the face-lift seem to have better lighting, etc.)

I'm sure this is just the tip of the iceberg; as I only got to play for a couple of hours tonight.

I will say this: Nadeo has put a TON of time and effort into enhancing this game and it shines like the sun. I can't believe they made it a free upgrade. I'd pay for it... in fact, I'm considering making a donation to the cause anyway; the enhancements are more than worth it.

I can't wait to see what else lies ahead as we play TrackMania Forever... you know where you'll find me late Friday Night! (Dang I need to get some time to update that site... holy old...)

Rumor was that the people in the USA that bought TrackMania United from Steam wouldn't be able to get the Forever update yet... but I pointed the update installer at my "Program Files\TrackMania United" folder and it worked fine... then when trying to launch TrackMania United from Steam after I played TMUF from the manual update, Steam decided to update the game automatically in its install folder... I just hope it didn't overwrite my car skins and gamepad configuration :)

See you at the races...

(By the way, if you're interested in getting into the world of TrackMania; contact me first... TMUF has a feature where I can invite friends to get the game... and if you get it from the invite using the same email for your account, I can be your sponsor. I'm not sure what that means, but I'd like to find out... so let me know.)

The World of TrackMania Just Keeps Getting Better and Better!

Nadeo announced, in an interview with TMX that they will be releasing upgrades for their popular TrackMania Nations and TrackMania United franchises; called TrackMania Nations: Forever and TrackMania United: Forever.

Nations lovers will be happy to know that the Forever upgrade will still be free; though the ladder will be reset (which has been needed for a long time anyway.) Nations players will also look forward to getting the updated Stadium engine enjoyed in TrackMania United.

United lovers will enjoy some enhancements as well; one of the majors being a truly No-CD system without the 3-install crap we had to deal with through the online distribution apparatus so many of us have come to know and not love. Steam resolved this for players in the USA thankfully, as well as provided an inexpensive license to the game.

United lovers will also be happy to note that the TrackMania United: Forever (TMU-F) upgrade will also be free.

Nadeo also mentioned they had originally planned two new environments called "Toy" and "Moon"; and holy crap how fun would those be?! My mind starts racing when I think of what kind of tracks those would bring.

Sadly, they need to use the talent that would've been putting those together in other arenas for now and there is no scheduled plans of making these come to fruition. We'll just have to keep begging for them to still be born in a future release; I'd so love to see them!

United lovers that enjoy Stunts mode will enjoy knowing that there will be a Single-Player Stunt campaign (and hopefully an easier way to launch Stunt tracks in multiplayer when starting a server from in-game; as opposed to a dedicated server.)

There is a buttload of information on the upcoming changes in the interview, so I'll leave you to go research on your own. I'm stoked for the new releases and will continue to enjoy TrackMania in all forms until then.

Read the Interview

CrackMania Forever... ;)

Portal - Energy Ball Fireworks

It's 4th of July time at the Aperture Science Enrichment Center! (Note: No Weighted Companion Cubes were harmed during the making of this film...)

BTW, this film brought to you by the ultra-cool custom level for Portal called "Weighted Companion Cube Map" by MrCow (hosted by myApertureLabs.com)

The map contains some anti-gravity beams that are part of the puzzles of the level - it's really quite cool. Download it and enjoy - I highly recommend it!

Portal: First Slice - Free Demo for nVidia Gamers

Copyright Valve Software - used without permission

I can't believe this is my first post about Portal since the game's release... probably because what little free time I finally get in the middle of the night is spent playing it. :)

Portal is a unique game where you run an android through a test center course armed with only a gun that shoots blue and orange portals. When you enter one portal, you're ejected out the other; and you must use these to navigate your way through interesting puzzles in order to advance to the next level.

Portal is based on a fabulous free game created by Nuclear Monkey Software called "Narbacular Drop" which I raved about last March.

For those that own nVidia graphics cards, Steam will detect your card when you click the image above and confirm you have nVidia, then allow you to download FOR FREE: Portal: First Slice demo, Half-Life 2: DeathMatch, Peggle Extreme and Half-Life 2: Lost Coast. Pretty generous (and good bait to get you sucked into buying Half-Life 2 as well...) :) Smart move, Valve.

The full Portal game (only $19.95 on Steam or comes with the various versions of The Orange Box that Valve sells...) comes complete with the Source SDK which means custom levels can be made.

I found some cool sites for obtaining custom Portal maps, but the best one I've seen so far is myApertureLabs.com

The game is highly addicting and has gained quite the following. People everywhere are chanting "The cake is a lie..." and mimicking cool female computer voices that remind you that the companion cube cannot speak; but if it does, the Enrichment Center urges you to disregard its advice.

Give it a shot, then buy it, play through it, and hit up myAperatureLabs for more Portal goodness.

And remember: "There's no use crying over every mistake; you just keep on trying til you run out of cake... and the science gets done and you make a neat gun for the people who are still alive."

EDIT: It looks like Portal: First Slice is the first 10 levels of the real game. You don't get to play with the Orange Portals, but you get enough of a taste for how the game works to want to play through the rest of the fully enjoyable levels. I highly recommend purchasing the game as it unlocks 9 more levels (the last being quite a bit longer than the rest) as well as challenge versions of the original levels, and the ability to import custom maps made by other players. Start thinking with Portals!

TrackMania United Only $22.45 Until 02 January 2008!

Buy TrackMania United on Steam before 02 January 2008 and get it for only $22.45!

This (along with Motocross Madness 2) is the coolest PC racing game made-to-date. Nadeo has done a fantastic job bringing unlimited replay value by creating an easy-to-learn track editor with really cool features.

They even include a Puzzle mode that allows you to have fun while learning how to build tracks.

I highly recommend this game. Go buy it and join FNG for some high-flying, fast-driving, non-stop good times!

Wii Rock!

Brennan and Kimmie have excelled at Bowling on the Wii.

Below is a picture of Brennan's 278 game; it won't be long before he bowls a perfect game! Congrats, Brennan!


Here is Kimmie's latest record for "Power Throws." Power throws mode is a mode where you start with a set of 10 pins and get one throw at them. It goes through several rounds, providing more pins to throw at each time (21, 34, and so on until 91.)

For each pin you knock down, you get a point. If you get a strike, you get double the points for that round.

Kimmie earned her gold medal and now holds the family record for highest score on "Power Throws." Did I mention she's three?!!?

Newb Daddy hopes he can catch up... :) Way to go kids!

Reason #42 Why I Hate Windows Vista - Some CDs appear blank to Vista's Windows Explorer, but read fine when done from a Command Prompt window

Ok, most of you have heard my gripes about Windows Vista verbally, so the title doesn't make sense to those of you that haven't.

I've decided I'm going to start ranting about the problems I run into with Vista here in hopes that if enough people do the same (and believe me there are plenty out there...) Microsoft will get some of this crap fixed.

I have two older video games that I've tried to get to work with Vista that have previously worked with older Windows operating systems.

Two of them exploit a very interesting anomaly in Vista. If I put the CD in, it's name won't show up in the Vista Windows Explorer interface; though it will show the size used on it. If I try to Open/Explore the CD, I get the blank CD dialog that asks how you want to format the disc.

If I open a Command Prompt Window, on-the-other-hand, and do a "dir" command; I can see the files just fine. I can then proceed to launch the install of the game.

How did I find out about this? Luck of the draw... does it mean the given game will work? That I'm not sure... I'm installing one as we speak (Star Wars: Jedi Academy.)

The other I've tried is Titan Quest. Titan Quest works until I click on a merchant. Once I do that, I get booted out of the game and to the Windows Desktop without warning or reason why it did so. I'm not sure if that is a related bug, but I can reproduce it consistently on my laptop and find it equally annoying.

I'd love to hear from others who have had similar experiences; and to hear from those that don't have the same issue with their Jedi Academy and Titan Quest discs.
I have an Asus G2S-A1 laptop with Vista Home Premium.

Incidentally, both games work without these issues in Windows XP Pro and Windows 98SE (Jedi Academy) on multiple desktops in my home.

EDIT: Looks like Jedi Academy seems to work fine so far... I played some multiplayer with Brennan and had good luck... we'll find out later how Single Player fares.

Fun Motocross Madness 2 Screenshot

I was looking through some old FNG (Friday Night Gaming) screenshots this morning and had to post this one. It's from Roswell stunt quarry. Close Encounters of the Nac-Nac Kind

Yes, there was a crash... the UFO didn't fly away quick enough.

Do Try This at Home...

Oh yeah, there's not much better than a good hour-or-two long round of high-flying, speed-rushing, nausea-inducing TrackMania United action!

If you haven't tried it yet, you're seriously missing out. It's on Steam now for only $29.95!

TrackMania United - Released on Steam

Ok, I know I'm late posting about this... but did I mention, I'm on hiatus?!

After playing the wild-goose chase for months checking GameSpot's website and all other vendors it lists as USA distributors for Nadeo's fan-freaking-tastic game, "TrackMania United" - I finally find out on the TrackMania Forums that it's been released to the USA via Valve Software's Steam engine.

Steam is Valve's way of offering their games through online distribution. What's really cool about this is that anyone can download the game for $29.95 US Dollars. What sucks, is that I've been waiting to get my 2nd copy in DVD format. So here I sit, still going insane, with no news in sight about when the DVD version will come out.

Get TrackMania United (TMU) on Steam Now!

I can still get the TrackMania United (TMU) English UK DVD via GoGamer.com but it's $37.90; so I'll wait a little longer and see if an official DVD version is released in the USA.

If you haven't read it before... I HIGHLY recommend this game. (did I mention fan-freaking-tastic?!)

Starcraft II Announced

A few weeks ago, I'd heard Blizzard Entertainment was going to be making a huge announcement in Korea.

Korea, incidentally, is where the still popular video game Starcraft is massively played. It's so popular there, they televise tournaments for it.

Naturally, it was my hope that being the 10-year anniversary of the release of the original Starcraft the announcement would be about a Starcraft II.

I'm happy to announce that Starcraft II is indeed a reality; and it looks to be incredibly cool.

One thing I'm really excited about is the fact that Blizzard states in their FAQ that they're shooting for a "T" rating on the game. Morals seem to be decaying with increasing speed in the entertainment industries, so I'm hoping this will be kept relatively kid-friendly.

I don't care for the swearing (Starcraft had it too) but I can handle it if it's kept to a minimum.

There is a picture on the artwork page that has me slightly worried, and I hope that kind of thing doesn't make it into the game; a picture of Kerrigan (a genetically manipulated Terran "Ghost" woman that was assimilated by an alien race called the "Zerg") and became the "Queen of Blades."

What the picture depicts is interesting though. I was hoping that if Blizzard did a sequel that the plot would offer a way that the Terrans find a way to reclaim and return Kerrigan her former self. The picture suggests this may very well happen in the game. I just hope they depict it in a more tasteful way that doesn't involve mostly nude shots with strategically covered parts... it's really not necessary.

Aside from that, the game looks incredibly cool and I can't wait to see what all they're going to do to the game.

Our Friday Night Gaming crew still enjoys the original game on several occasions; it's a classic.

Kudos, Blizzard for not solely dumping all your eggs into the World of Warcraft basket and leaving them there. Hopefully you'll resurrect the Starcraft: Ghost project that got shelved a time ago too.

Wiijected

Curse you Sam's Club employee that lied to me!!! Curse you!!!! I now have a broken-hearted child on my hands with shattered dreams of interactive goodness.

My wife was informed a few days ago that the Sam's Club near our home would be receiving a shipment of Nintendo Wii's. We were instructed to call in each day to see if they'd come in yet.

Every day we're reminded about as many times as my son takes breaths to call Sam's and find out if the shipment came in.

Last night when I returned home from my sojourn on the "Trail to MCPD" - I was immediately inundated with requests to make that day's status call. I called and was told they were in... I asked how many they had. "We still have a lot left."

There was much rejoicing...

... That is, until I got to Sam's Club and picked up 2 cardboard "tickets" to use to purchase a couple.

I decided to ask one of the helpful Sam's Club employees if they also carried any games for the system. "Let me go look, but you're aware we don't have any of the systems yet, aren't you?"

"Umm, no... I called an hour ago and one of your co-workers told me you were stocked."

"We were supposed to get a shipment today, but we didn't... we've had people lingering around the store all day waiting for them."

What was I to tell my son?! So I asked, "Well, I can go pay for them, and just pick them up when they arrive, correct?" (hoping this would ease the blow when I arrived home sans-new-game-system.)

"No, you can't purchase them until we physically have them here."

Great...

Well, we needed to make a trip to Lowe's (who has somehow attached a siphon hose to my bank account recently) ... I decided to call and give my wife advanced warning of the pending doom that would befall our home when my son found out I couldn't deliver.

My son, being faster than the speed of light (only when the phone rings) and knowing how to read Caller Id... hit the talk button at the same time my wife did; but didn't say a word... just listened in hopes I was calling to ask what game(s) I should purchase with our newfound treasure.

Needless to say, when the sounds of discontent emitted through the phone, I realized advanced warning was not to be. Dang it! (Did I metion, "CURSE YOU, SAM'S CLUB LIAR EMPLOYEE?!")

So the hunt begins again... if you hear of any hitting the Salt Lake area anytime soon, hook a brutha up!!!

"Narbacular Drop": Predecessor to "Portal: The Video Game"

I'm really excited about a new puzzle game in the works by Valve Software called Portal.

I found out today from my friend Rich that the game is based on an earlier game made by Nuclear Monkey Software called Narbacular Drop.

The game is incredible and so much fun. Download it, get addicted, then curse the fact that Portal won't be released until late September of this year (or later if the deadline gets moved back.)

The good news... The nice folks at Nuclear Monkey Software have given us a level editor, and their site contains links to a bunch of already created ones for your enjoyment to help tide over until Portal is released.

I highly recommend this and thank those that have put a lot of hard work, heart and soul into such a simple yet incredibly complex game.

Check out the Portal Trailer:

Why TrackMania Will Never Get Old

Yes, that is a track ... yes, it's a commode ... and yes, it's really made with TrackMania United track pieces. For more info, check out the track at the TMX (TrackMania Exchange) website.

FNG Turkey Bowl 2006 (happened in 2007)

My Friday Night Gaming crew held our annual Turkey Bowl for 2006 a little later than normal (had to postpone twice from the original scheduled date in 2006.)

It was a fun time despite only having three of the seven committed riders there. Hopefully we'll be able to do a rematch later; especially on the Accelerate track.

The Accelerate track is a figure eight that goes very fast and has a high probability of collision with a bunch of players riding at the same time. There were a couple other tracks with a lot of crossover points as well.

"Bail Jumper" has some high-flying fun to it and despite its horrible spline (the method used for determining the track's boundaries so people stay on the track and don't take cuts...) was deemed the FNG favorite new track for this year's bowl.

We definitely had better luck with connectivity this year... which is good considering the first bowls had many people failing to connect or dropping out of the game prematurely due to connection issues and game crashes. Maybe having the Turkey Bowl on a weekend other than Thanksgiving weekend is a good idea. :) We'll have to rename it.

Anyway, check out the recap over at the Friday Night Gaming site.

FNG - Motocross Madness 2 - Pepsi Max to the extreme

This was one of the most fun and exciting races we've had on this track in FNG history. Despite several stupid mistakes resulting in big wrecks, I still almost took Tsam ... until my last fatal mistake near the end of the third lap.

The spring-loaded jump through the finish is phenomenal ... the best one I've ever pulled on that part of the track.

Good times!!!

TrackMania United: Laser Beams of Love

Don't mess with FNG_ThatOneGuy ...