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AMD and Intel Rant

 Articles, The Rant  1 Response »
Jul 302002
 

Update May 12, 2004:

After originally posting my AMD and Intel Rant on July 30, 2002, many items touched on have become extremely out of date. I decided to take a “second look” at what both AMD and Intel has accomplished recently and hopefully provide a vision for the future. Read more…

Why no AMD?

Some people have asked me, “Even though you have a few computers, why are NONE of them AMD based?!?”

Simple. I do not like AMD.

If you feel you cannot handle what is contained in this document, by all means, do not read it.

I have, sort of, avoided this topic for sometime. Since initially posting the No Hacks, Cracks and Cheats Rant, I have received many Flames from some very voiced individuals. I am also well aware of the devoted following of AMD users. Whether those people are out to get the “best-bang-for-buck” performance, believe the marketing hype (PR Rating), always went for “the little guy,” or just gave-a-go for something different and enjoyed the result: AMD users can be… rather… Persistent or I would like to say, closed-minded.

I am not out to piss anyone off, nor slam someone’s beliefs in a product, but what I am going to do is answer the “why” I (read me, Black Viper) do not personally own any AMD products. It is not because I decided last week that I am not going to get one… It has been a long time coming. This Rant, as with the other ones, may contain some rather random and fragmented thoughts, and many of the “facts” are my observations and beliefs. Do not be discouraged. Read on.

Stability

Intel has always been more stable (IMHO) and I feel that stability is a major concern. No one can get ANYTHING done if a computer crashes all of the time. It is some hardware and some software problems, but when the majority of programs run “well” on an Intel platform, that is what I am going for.

Why does this happen? I think that since Intel is the “big dog,” they have more available resources to work with the other Monopolies on the planet (M$) to have “better” support for their products. This is not a bad thing, but
sad for the little guy to get support of their products.

This is just my opinion.

Power Use

AMD also has a history of high power usage and heat dissipation problems, which in turn contribute to stability issues. Sure, it may be a little bit more than Intel, but when it comes to keeping the inside of your case cool in the summer time, it is best not to have a fire running in it.

Pentium 4 CPU’s tend to require a bit more power, now, but I like the RAMBUS memory style and it will be my next choice
of PC.

Update 13OCT2003:

And RAMBUS memory was my next choice of PC. However, since this article was drafted, I built another system based on PC3500 memory.

AMD Performance

I remember back when AMD (and the other CPU makers) were struggling to keep up with Intel’s performance and superior floating-point instruction set. I enjoy high performance hardware just as much as anyone else, but I am also willing to pay for it.
Cheaper is not always better… in fact, I cannot come up with a “Cheaper is better” example, but I can come up with plenty of inferior examples. The AMD CPU’s were cheaper because they performed “under” the more expensive,
comparing MHz, Intel CPU’s.

I had a Cyrix CPU in my first “real” PC. I thought that the 133 MHz speed would smoke anything on the planet… but in fact, I was very wrong. My good friends P90 performed “better” than my value 133. Since, at the time, the CPU prices were exponential, a “comparable” Intel CPU that was 133 MHz was obscenely expensive, but the Cyrix was “cheap.” It was cheap for a reason. It did not perform well. I was upset. I then went to a “rather expensive” P166 later on and it was like night and day for “only 33MHz.” Yeah, right. I learned that MHz is not always a good indication of performance really early on.

The AMD Athlon was going to “blow anything Intel could put out” away. They were so much better, that no one should even think about any other possibility of getting a different kind of computer! That, as you may have figured out, was not always the case.

On AMD’s Site, they state that MHz is not everything. That is very true, as sited in my previous example… Nevertheless, they went a little too far in trying to “adjust” the publics’ perception of “how” performance should be measured with their “PR Rating.” I will state it now and again later: The PR Rating is the single reason I currently do not own AMD products. More later.

Example:

I remember when PC100 and a P2 that supported it was just hitting the streets. People were benching the “highest at the time” P233 with PC66 memory and pitting it up against an (again) obscenely expensive P2 300MHz with PC100. Wow. Not much comparison. Of course, the P2 won out… so “PC100 performed better” than PC66 did… not to mention, the computer having almost 25% more MHz behind it… That is how, I feel, the “AMD is better” comparison surfaced… after many years of the fans laying in wait. Finally, they can come out of the closet and express that “AMD IS BETTER” to all of those “Intel loving sellouts.” Wow.

“But it LOOKS like it can go 300 miles per hour!”

As with the Athlon XP, the “blah+” rating was marketing hype to attempt to compete with the MHz (well, now its GHz) battle. AMD’s “PR” rating was the final straw. Think about this: If a car company placed “V8+” on a four-banger, even though it “performs like a V8,” wouldn’t that raise some eyebrows? I was considering building a multi-processor system that had AMD’s Athlon MP CPU’s. The more I thought of the “2000+” model spec with “Quantaspeed” operating at “blah MHz” and the more I thought of how the “uninformed” is swayed by these numbers, the more I leaned toward Intel. People have E-mailed me stating that the “PR Rating” actually is not comparing to P4′s at all, but previous architecture AMD CPU’s.
Funny thing is, that type of comparison is not in any QuantaSpeed white paper or FAQ. In fact, I could not find out “what” the actual meaning of the model number spec is!

Update 25FEB2003:

AMD recently announced the addition of the Athlon XP 3000+ CPU. However, in lines with my AMD vs Intel Rant, this places another “mark” in the “hate AMD column.” WAIT! Do you know why? Trust me, I will tell you:

According to this benchmark (link removed because AMD modified the original page I was referencing) published by AMD, using DDR memory, the 3000+ beats out the P4 3.06 with an i845 chipset. Ok, sure, but the P4 was built for RDRAM, NOT DDR! How many times do I have to yell at my monitor with that fact! Every benchmark I have read (Check Tomshardware.com) has placed the 3000+ “way below” what the latest P4 can do with PC1066 RIMMS. Actually, it is below what previous models have done! Does that mean the extra cache and increased bus speed is actually “worth” the “300 to 400+ (hehe) AMD model points” from the 2600+? The 3000+ is a 2.16 GHz CPU (AMD White paper link – page 33) while the “older” 2600+ is a 2.13 GHz CPU (AMD White paper link – page 35). I highly doubt it.

In several of Toms Benchmarks, the new, as of this writing, AMD 3000+ is placed below A P4 2.53! So what the hell does the “3000+” really mean? Does it mean that they are at the end of the product cycle and cannot get any more blood from a stone (no great increase in MHz from the model 2600+), so they decided to “crank up the model number, just because they can?”

Until AMD quits making random claims as to it’s performance compared to “nothing,” and stamping a “meaningless” model number on the box, I will continue to stay away from AMD. If you are still interested in getting a new AMD CPU, check those model numbers and the CPU specs because, yes, they do “overlap” from the old to the new. One more mark in the “hate AMD column.”

Unfortunately, I built a VIA based computer with Dual P3′s. That was a total flop, but not the fault of the CPU… What?!?! CPU is not everything?!?!

I have to say that the Intel 810 chipset with a P3 1 GHz was a total flop, also. However, Intel also kicked out (yup, you guessed it), a more expensive version, how ever slight, called the 815. This powers a few of my current computers without fail.

When the Athlon XP was gaining momentum (and a cult following), it was, I feel, due to the P4 being saddled with PC133 memory. People would bench an AMD with DDR and a P4 with PC133 (No DDR support at the time) and call the Athlon a winner.
What kind of crap is that?

However, most “current” benchmarks, as of this writing, that are public have either side winning by such a small margin that performance vs cost is a factor. Yes, AMD is cheaper and you will be very happy with your system if you construct one around an AMD CPU with quality components.

Update 26JAN2003

Speaking about benchmarks, last check with AMD’s “performance” specs on a model 2800+, they were using an ASUS motherboard with Nforce2 chipset drivers and BIOS that are, and I quote, “not publicly available.” Even if they do become available later on, they are “advertising” performance numbers that consumers have no ability to match. Another mark against AMD.

The P4 was built for RAMBUS memory. In every benchmark I have viewed, P4 with RAMBUS performs very well up against a “comparable” AMD Model Blah+ and even smokes them in the most important Benchmark: Gaming. Yeah, I know… More cost… But remember, I am not in the hardware junkie category while trying to save money. Then again, even stamp collecting is going up in price.

But you can over clock it!

Sure, but placing more stress on a CPU that is already “over spec’ed,” as I feel, tends to not make any sense.

I do admit that a “different-from-norm” cooled CPU and components, as in water-cooled, is a great idea and a super geek way to go! The amount of time, effort and money to get a system up and running reliably is quite a task in itself, but obtainable, nonetheless.

I have wanted to do that just because; even without over clocking my system components… just because it is “cool.” Pardon the unneeded pun.

Oddly enough, the same person that “saves” $100 on a CPU will go and get 4 case fans, a water cooling system and pretty neon lights when they could have spent that money on a “better” CPU and quality components to wrap around it . Then again, if your over clocking efforts fail, you will not have to spend much more money on replacing your fried components.

Example:

At a LAN party (ok, I will get to that part), I had a, becoming dated by my standards; P2 300 MHz with dual Voodoo 2′s installed. I tweaked the OS beyond the call of duty and optimized the graphics settings for many games. Not once, sacrificing the tweaking  for stability, nor graphics quality… What is the point of 120 Frames Per Second if it looks like crap and the system is unstable?!?

I must admit, though, the Voodoo 2′s would put out too much heat. Without an additional case fan or a small “CPU” fan blowing between the cards, the system would lock up every so often. I also knew it was due to heat because at the previous location of the system, the room temperature was a constant 68 degrees (or, sometimes, even much cooler) and never had a bit of trouble.
After placing the 2 fans in the case (probably only needed one), I did not have another problem.

A guy arrived at the LAN party (told you I would get here), that also had dual V2′s. We exchanged many supportive 3dfx stories and both enjoyed the performance of the cards. Under usual circumstances, the V2′s all performed “very well” at many CPU ranges… This person had an AMD CPU 300 MHz (I believe K5 or 6, one of them) over clocked to 450MHz. He had the side panel “permanently” removed due to “cooling” issues. Even with that, it did not help. The system locked up almost every ten minutes (like clockwork.) Each time, I would giggle and say the customary “AMD” slam or something along those lines while he returned some Intel bashing comments and blame the “higher than normal room temp” for the crashing. He told me “If it was stable, It would smoke your system.” I took that challenge.

Finally, we decided to try and place a desk fan (read big 14 inch box fan) constantly blowing inside the open case. We were then able to play a complete game of Quake 2 without interruption.

The challenge began. We did the benchmark (demo) with the currently configured (as in, no time to “tweak” for performance) system and I came out on top… Way out on top. By around 25 to 40% increase. Needless to say, the rest of the night, I did not hear anymore “pro” AMD or “anti” Intel comments.

Once again… as AMD clearly is trying to impress upon people… MHz is not everything. However, also note that over clocking your computer’s other components may not be the solution. Check into making your system perform better without sacrificing stability to do it!

Cost

I think that the majority of AMD purchasers are not looking for “more” performance, but the cheapest they can get. AMD, hands down, wins that title… but it is not always a good title.

Looking in my inbox, I have to guess, from my experience, that about 80% of the “My computer crashes all of the time, it must be the OS’s fault” are running AMD and (usually) VIA chipset boards… Not a good record of accomplishment if you consider the “amount of market share” AMD has. If people are seeking cost reduction, VIA is the way to go… unfortunately, I have had very poor experience with VIA chipset boards, had floods of E-Mail telling me about all of the problems relating, and pin pointing to them. From AGP to USB to total system lockups, AMD and VIA are at the root cause… Take note… they are the cause for Intel Failures; also… as sited in my previous dual CPU example. Can it be fixed? I am sure, but I am not about to wait around 6 months for an updated BIOS to fix a problem that should not have been around, anyway.

Update:

www.viaarena.com is an outstanding spot to locate information about VIA chipsets. I am not about to reproduce the information here. If you are having problems, please search the Forums and FAQ for more information.

I am even considering firing up the CUV4X-D again after Service Pack 1′s release, updated BIOS, “better” drivers, etc.

Update 03NOV2002:

The Dual P3 board CUV4X-D has been running just fine for a few months, now. It seems as though my problems were solved by updated BIOS, 4in1 drivers and a higher end power supply.

A better fix for that dilemma? If you are going to reduce the cost of your next PC, please get a “High end” AMD CPU and an AMD chipset board… As with Intel, I feel that the CPU manufacture knows “best” as to how to interface
with their chip for better overall performance and stability… and the price of more money. You will thank me later.

Conclusion

I thank you for making it this far in my dribble about AMD and Intel. I am sure that, from the comments and “facts based on opinions ” that I have, I am going to get flames from the AMD supporters, but that is OK! I am not trying to tell you never to get AMD. I want you to be happy. Whether you get an Apple, AMD or an overly priced SGI, I couldn’t care less. Just remember that if you ask for my opinion or recommendations on a subject, you will get it… whether or not you agree with it is totally up to you.

Black Viper

July 30, 2002

The Putting Out The Flames Rant

 Articles, The Rant  No Responses »
Jun 142002
 

Introduction

Being as how I have openly exposed my life and my computer knowledge to others freely on blackviper.com, it seems that their is always somebody that feels they are the chosen one to insist their point of view is correct. Needless to say, most of the time, they are wrong. This seems to disturb me in more ways than one.

As I begin, keep in mind that I enjoy reading other opinions as long as they are presented in a clear manner. Someone that feels compelled to voice their opinion to a complete stranger in a vulgar and rude way is by no means counted, usually by anyone, as a rational thinker, nor a person that knows what they are talking about.

For example, while you are sitting in a restaurant, a person stands up and announces loudly that “This place sucks and will be closing in 5 minutes.” At this point, a few things will happen:

  • Most people will shrug off this announcement and continue enjoying their meal because “it is fine for them.”
  • Some will think that “Hey, that jackass has no clue because I know the place does not close for another 2 hours.”
  • Others still will wonder if this person actually knows something but “wait to see if anyone else gets up and leaves.”
  • Even still, an employee, spooked by the rude outburst, may call the police and have this “possible violent individual removed for the safety of the customers.”

Regardless of the outcome, the results are “nothing good comes from this person making a fool out of themselves.” If this individual, instead, decided to contact the person responsible for his discontent, then, just maybe, they would have a much better chance of actually accomplishing something and getting their complaint resolved.

In my E-Mail box, I have witnessed on many occasions, this exact type of behavior.

Personal Attacks

In 30 years, I have yet to have anyone walk up to me in public and say anything about my hair length, how I dress, or be visibly angry that I am driving a new car or live in a nice house. In the last few months, I have received dozens of E-Mails saying, in part, just that. Is it because the Internet acts as a shield to people? False sense of anonymity? Do they feel that banging on the keyboard and hitting send “really does not do anything?” Do they feel that another human is not on the other side receiving this dialog? What drives someone to be so upset at viewing a personal web site of someone they have never met or never will, but feel compelled to voice their, usually irrational opinion, to them? Is this a plus?

Windows XP Knowledge Attack

With my Windows XP pages dealing with Service configurations, I have received numerous positive feedback and kudos. Plenty of people enjoy my information and glad I spent the time in studying the different configuration options to relieve the burden on the “average” user. Not to mention, share this knowledge while asking “nothing” in return. As you may have already guessed… some people do not like this.

This person was absolutely sure that their information was correct! They even had proof! So sure that they felt they must write to me and tell me that I had no clue what I was talking about! Here are some quotes directly from it, including punctuation errors (but slightly edited for a PG-13 audience)… and I am the dummy: :)

“hey dummy..

its amazing how stupid people are when they link to your page.. so at least you can fix the HUGE F#$^%&G ERROR on your page…

setting the service to manual WILL NOT ALLOW WinXP TO START IT ON ITS OWN WHEN IT NEEDS IT…

manual can ONLY BE STARTED BY THE USER

this is directly from f#$^%&g help in service section..”

They then quote this passage in the Windows XP Help section:

“If you have a typical installation, many services are configured as “automatic” (that is, they start automatically when the system starts or when the service is called for the first time). If a service is configured as “manual,” you must start the service manually before it can be loaded by the operating system and made available for use.”

Judging by only the help document information alone, this person has a good case. At least they thought so. In reality, they are way off.

For example, if you place the System Event Notification service in Automatic, then place COM+ Event System service in Manual, then reboot. Upon returning to the desktop and getting back to the services.msc, you will clearly see that COM+ Event System service fired right up EVEN THOUGH it was configured as Manual.

Other services, depending upon system configuration, will do the same thing. In fact, with regards to the Help and Support service, even if it is disabled, it will place itself back to automatic and start if you click on the “Help and Support Icon” in the start menu. I replied with that information and never received a response back. This knowledge is the difference between reading a help document and real world experience.

Please remember, folks, if you do insist on flaming someone because of their “knowledge,” ensure that your facts are correct.

A few more flames are located on the Windows XP Praise and Flames Page.

Hacks, Cracks and Cheats

Probably the MOST negative feedback I receive is due to my “Hacks, Cracks and Cheats Rant“ located here. I am not going to reprint the mass amount of items I have on that page, but in summary, it seems that plenty of people commend me on my strong opinion to “stop” that type of behavior, but it is not intended that way! Being as I am only one person, I am not attempting a crusade against all the “bad” people destroying the software industry, nor trying to rid the planet of cracks and cheats with regards to (multi-player) gaming. I just got tired of rude people asking me for illegal material. Funny thing is, these same rude people, instead of asking me questions about hacks, cracks and cheats, are now turning against me and filling my inbox with flames. Why?

True Story

Being how that I am tall and thin… I have endless difficulty finding pants my size. This is not helped any by the fact that I ONLY wear Levi Pre-Washed Button Fly 501′s. One day while wandering around town, I found a “Levi’s Outlet Store.” A smile appeared on my face and I proceeded to park and wander on in… After a few minutes of looking and failing to find 501′s, I asked a clerk where they were located.

“I am sorry, we do not carry those.”
“What? You do not carry Levi’s or just 501′s?”
“Levi’s… Sorry.”

Wow. I was mad. I figured that this was “false advertising” and a pathetic excuse to lure people into a store just to find (what I feel) are cheap imitations.

What did I do? I could have thrown punches, kicked racks over and broke windows but instead… I took my puzzled look and left. Even if the store decided to “actually” carry the products they “advertise,” I would not go back.

This is how the “flamers” should feel about my “Hacks, Cracks and Cheats Rant.” Search, look, not find anything, move on… These people type a few words in a search engine, notice my “page” is full of “hits” about the very topic they are looking for. A smile appears and they click on in just to find it is the exact opposite of what they were seeking. They yell, cuss and must voice their opinion on “why I am wrong for not having Cracks, Hacks and Cheats.” Once again, why?

Some positive feedback… for once…

After placing some Flash content for the Navigation bars on the site, I received nothing but good comments concerning the structure and layout. After a few months, I received a rather lengthy E-Mail about how the alternating pictures under “My Stuff,” while fading in and out is pretty, actually is more annoying than any banner or pop up ads and continue to bog his P166 down. They must scroll the Navigation bar off the screen to even be able to read the site. I replied with, in short, Okay… what would you like me to do? I received another lengthy E-Mail on possible solutions. I implemented some suggestions on how to make the site better within the hour and looked at doing more. This interaction made them happy that “their really is someone on the other side of this site and their opinion counted for something” and it made me happy that “my site is accessible to a variety of viewers.”

If this person wrote “You suck and so does your site. Fix it.” I would have ignored the E-Mail, giggle at the “need” to upgrade their “P166″ and continue business as usual.

Before you hit that “send” button, ensure you understand that their really IS a person on the other side of the web receiving your comments. At that time, they are also looking back at you.

Black Viper
June 14, 2002

Revision History

June 14, 2002: Initial release.

Dungeon Siege Review

 Articles, Gaming, News, Reviews, Software  No Responses »
Apr 092002
 

After playing Diablo 2 and Diablo 2 LOD for almost two years, the need for another hack and slash RPG that does not dddrrraaaaggg on with a story or have a turn based combat system that you can take a leak during and not miss anything. Funny thing is, I did take nature breaks in Dungeon Siege during combat and lived to tell about it!

I usually do not care much about a story since very little is “new” in terms of story line from the norm: Unknown hero gets bless with skill and saves the planet. When I fired up the Single Player mode, a cut scene started with a “farmer” working and a wounded friend collapses outside the field. The farmer gets the task of, well, in short, saving the realm. I liked how the introduction came about, for about 5 minutes, until I realized that this realm is totally infested by monsters! You must assume the farmer is oblivious so long as not to notice the transition. Regardless, as I have said before, story is not important. If I wanted a good story, I would read my Steven King Novels. :)

Beside the lack of storyline pulling the game together, I did notice one thing right off. The world is beautiful. All the textures, from the forest floor to the structures littered throughout are truly outstanding. Lush environments like a snow covered mountaintop and a green forest, complete with swaying trees. Water flows and mist forms. Something that I have not seen is a gratuitous lens flare that tends to be a standard annoyance in some games. Be warned, having all details cranked up does require a bit of horsepower. Since there are no real “loading” scenes, all game information loads, by the looks of the hard drive LED, constantly. This is a good and a bad thing. Good not to stare at a static loading screen, bad because the hard drive access will slow your frame rate down. If you have borderline system pushing the minimum requirements, you should turn details down or if anything, invest in more memory. By the looks of the task manager, this game uses more memory than ANY other game I have played to date.

Do not think that this will be a one sitting game, though. After I played for a few hours, I felt that I did not even scratch the surface of single play. Continuing through the realm, I did realize that leveling up a character is going to be quite a bit of time investment. Luckily, you can take your single player character and import it into a multiplayer game for further advancement.

As itself, I will have to compare Dungeon Siege to Darkstone and not Diablo like everyone else tends to do. Diablo has statically rendered imagery and a fixed isometric view. True, hack and slash is there, but like Darkstone, Dungeon Siege renders everything in a 3D environment. You may rotate the camera, and zoom in and out at will. Let me make this perfectly clear. Camera action implemented well MUST be there for me to even give it a good rating. I always had a constricted feeling with Tomb Raider’s “up close to her booty” view and clipping issues. I usually play Darkstone from a “2D Gauntlet” overhead view, mainly because it was easy to control battles and I hated constantly adjusting the view with the cursor keys. Not with Dungeon Siege. Using the camera zoomed all the way out, it still performs rather well. Building roof’s seamlessly become transparent while entering and all environment objects (trees,
etc) become transparent to be able to view the party better. You may also move the cursor to the edge of the screen to adjust the camera view. Perfect for morons like me that are not coordinated enough to use any other method. Game developers take note: This is how it is supposed to be.

Your character, even though there is set attributes, to include the standard Strength, Dexterity and Intelligence, but no strict rule when it comes to leveling up. Do you feel like wielding an ax? Go for it. Wish you could switch to a bow? Can do. Use some spells to heal and summon creatures and you are in route to a well-rounded Dungeon Siege character. I discovered, though, that not specializing in a particular field might make the game a wee bit longer than I had wanted. One character made level 12 Combat Mage before another character had 5′s in all skills. This makes it difficult to continue through to harder areas until the easier ones are completed over and over. That is ok. It does make some frustration factor because the game, even though your skill levels are around 8, considers you a level 15 character. High-level items and spells are available in the shops but seem far, far away to reach. I may create (yeah, I will) more characters with 2 skills in various configurations to balance out the difficulty and time factors. Hm. Looks like replay value increased! :)

Combat can be as simple or complex as you wish. You can micro manage all available characters (up to 8) or let the computer figure it out by setting up battle orders for your formation. I did notice that, even on the “highest most aggressive” setting, the character may kill a monster, stand still until another monster hits them from a distance, then head off after them. Usually this activity effects melee characters as the ranged spell casters and archer types tend to attack properly… as long as you move forward a few feet. I must say, though, that fleeing a battle with my melee characters to regroup and heal has never had more meaning than now while viewing multiple arrows sticking out of them. You can see the hit. :)

I discovered that you colud click on another characters portrait icon and put them in “guard mode.” This seems to follow the guarded character around and protect them by fighting with whatever equipped weapon to select as well as automatically heal with little input. One time, I put my character in guard mode and took a nature break. When I came back, I expected to have to wait the customary 60 seconds to “get out of ghost mode” after death. What I found was my character kicking butt and healing my partner’s character much better than what I could do. I asked her what she needs me for and the reply was “I don’t know.” The fact that the AI can take on advanced path finding and battle scenarios is a total plus. Rejection from a multiplayer game because I was “not needed” is a bummer.

I am also not one to have the music running. After all, it sucks up CPU cycles, but with Dungeon Siege, the music fits. From swords hitting icemen to birds a chirping, the environmental sound effects fit well to set the scene, as does the music. Every movie, from the dawn of time, has used music to set the scene. A critical plot twist or mass murder is around the corner, the music changes to convey that fact. The same thing happens in Dungeon Siege. I do not even realize the music is running most of the time. It just fits.

After logging many hours of game play, including both single and multiplayer mode, I must say that this is going to be the next time killer for me. Combining outstanding graphics with hack and slash game play will keep you interested for some time. Even though I was initially angry that the “Siege Editor,” a development utility for creating your own Dungeon Siege worlds, was not released on the retail CD, it does give me the time to figure out what I do and do not like about the environments. Unfortunately, there is not much to dislike.

Whether you are seeking an open-ended RPG and have a nuclear powered system, or looking for something other than Quake 3 to show off your graphics card, go out and get Dungeon Siege. Unless you are looking for a thick plot to read, you will not be disappointed.

BV and BlackViper.com Rant

 Articles, The Rant  No Responses »
Mar 222002
 

What is the price of fame?

Many late nights sitting at a keyboard, attempting to get things just right…

The end result?

Many questions, comments, and feedback attached with a flood of opinions. Most of the time, constructive and kind, but not all of the time.

How did it all start?

After a six year stretch in the US Navy, I had the clothes on my back and the desire to get my butt in a house within six months. I did it in five. Regardless, my apartment was very empty and I was sleeping on an air mattress. I just plain refused to get furniture until I got into my new house. Why? Mainly because I did not want to move all of the stuff! Believe me when I say that it is rather difficult to ask a “prospective mate” if they would like to stop on by some time and curl up on an air mattress…

So, what was the original purpose of www.blackviper.com?

A singles ad. Plain and simple. Being as that I quit drinking a few years back, the bar scene really does not thrill me. Since I am also not a very big social creature (surprised?) I felt that an ad in the news paper with a whole lot of SWM seeking SWF, etc (no pun intended) was really not my style. I figured that it would be good to learn HTML, have some quality content that someone would like to see, and have people “get to know me” before meeting in person.

February 14, 1999, BlkViper.com was born. I had “News” of which just really consisted of me rambling, kind of like a diary of sorts. I had my “About Me” page to allow a lady to see an overview of who I was without asking the lame “small talk” questions that makes everyone uneasy. I also added many photo’s. Not just of me, but of the house that I was in the process of building. Build it and they will come. :) Kitty came shortly after and he received more hits on his photo’s page than I did. As of this writing, he has twice as many hits as I do.

Did it work?

Sort of. I met a few women and usually after the first date (and sometimes before) they would casually ask if they could “see the house” that I was going to move into. Funny…they did not believe me? Needless to say, none of them ever worked out.

I moved all I had from the two bedroom apartment to my three bedroom house after it was finished. I thought the apartment looked empty, now the house looked pathetic. What was I going to do? I had big plans but even though the house looked nice, it still was rather empty.

Then, by total accident, I met my current G-Fri. Even though she cruised through my “About BV” page, she did not even glance at any of the “material” items that I had posted. She liked me for me. Even though I had plenty of pictures to lure even the most materialistic of woman my way, she did not even care. There goes the “single’s ad” concept. :)

Now What?

I also had knowledge that I have gained over the years of trying to squeeze the last bit of performance out of my system. Believe me when I say that, at one time, I was formatting my hard drive once or twice a week just because I felt like it. I hated it when a game would run slowly or look awful, so I would spend a mint just trying to get the best out of my system. I had a few E-Mails asking me about what my hardware consisted of, so, along with all of the other “My Stuff,” I posted my Computer Status. It saved me the time of typing the same thing over and over. Not only that, but it gave me a quick reference as to what I had! Yes, sometimes I even surf my own site. :)

I love gaming. So, the idea of posting up my CRPG character stats from different games was, I thought, a pretty good idea. I promptly posted my Rage of Mages and Diablo One characters. Almost immediately, I had requests for me to E-Mail them the character files. I refused. I spent many hours on developing my characters and I sure was not going to “give away my time.”

Funny thing is, I was spending upwards of three hours a night updating the site and trying to tweak it to my liking. The problem was, no one was coming here! I wanted to come up with content that someone would actually read.

Content?

I hated not knowing what was actually making my OS tick, and since Win95/98 was soooo non-power user, Windows 2000 was the key. The problem that I encountered is that very few people actually made the plunge and went to Windows 2000! Microsoft advertised it as a “business/enterprise” OS. In my experience, it was much more stable than Win95/98, played plenty of games (even though some just refused to work) and was power user friendly.
You could actually see what was running! Since I had already spent many late nights fiddling with Windows 2000 (and many a later nights repairing my fiddling), I decided to post some Services Information. Unfortunately, I rarely ever received any E-Mails from users that utilized my information! I about gave up.

Their came a time when I was just plain fed up with computers. Tired of patches, tired of “new” drivers, sick of people asking for “free” tech support, and I wanted out. I canned the site, tried to isolate myself from my computers, plopped down and watched cable TV. That lasted about 48 hours.

Enlightenment?

One day, I discovered that the HTML pages that I deleted locally were not actually being deleted on the server. I started poking around and found out that the page about “Windows 2000 Services” that I actually deleted and did not update was still accessible on the site. It had thousands of hits! I did not get it. I have not updated that “page” for months. I actually changed the name of the file and adjusted the content to help people understand better and they were reading the other page! I started searching on the net as to “why?” I found out that people have been posting my URL directly to the page. Here, I thought that they would post it to the index page, of which was actually getting little if any visitors. I had to figure something out.

Did you have a plan?

You bet. I set up the “original page” as a redirector to my “new” content and it worked like a charm. People were posting links to the information more and more since it was being “updated.” Go figure. Now that I had viewers, I wanted my information to be presented nicely. For about 2.5 seconds, I kicked around the idea of posting banners and such around the site… after all, I was actually having readers! I quickly dismissed it due to the fact that I do not like them! I instead decided to go for Flash. It was rather difficult, but I found Swish and used their product. That is how the Navigation bars came about.

Good response?

Yes indeed. I started receiving E-Mails saying that my site was very well designed and people liked what they saw! I was in heaven. This also had a side effect.

More content?

I signed up for Windows XP Beta program and received a CD in the mail around July 2001. I immediately started sifting through the services just to find out that many were about the same as Windows 2000! I knew that this would be my chance for people to actually use the information that I “already” have! I set up the “Windows XP Services 411” page, added the URL to a few search engines and the traffic, slow at first, started rolling in. People were arriving at the site, but for some reason, assume that I would freely give up cracker information! Not only was I getting positive feedback, but I was also getting requests for Hacks, Cracks and CD Keys. I was getting more and more upset. I then added the “Hacks, Cracks and Cheats Rant” to inform people that I do not divulge that kind of information. It worked…kind of. I think that someone got angry and to get back at me, posted that I did give out that kind of information. Needless to say, I was getting more E-Mails than I really wanted about the subject.

Solution?

I added more Flash to the site and removed all of “normal” links to my E-Mail address with the only link available to pop up the default E-Mail client with a short message. That has worked wonders…but I still receive, every once in awhile requests for Warez content and complaining that I don’t have any! It sure slowed it down, though.

Any other “hate” mail?

Oh yes. After Windows XP was released to the public, people started E-Mailing me much more often. 90% of the time, it was to congratulate me on a site well done and spending the time with XP to allow my information to be known. The others? Hate mail from people saying I was stuck on myself, bragging about my equipment, accusing me of everything from being a self centered jerk to an egotistical pig. Wow. I started to think that “fame”
was really not on my list of “good” things.

Kind of odd that the same person that will slander someone via E-Mail would never think of walking up to someone in the local mall and telling them the same thing…face to face. Why? Probably because, usually, these people are weak minded and scared that they would get the crap kicked out of them… Regardless, I get some winners E-Mailing me…

More to add to the list?

On February 2, 2002, I had a kind reader inform me that a site may have copied my Services information, almost word for word. I went there and sure enough! It may be a total coincidence, but it sure looked to
me that it was my information. I lashed out and posted this page. Needless to say, I have never encountered this kind of situation before. The webmaster did not seem too receptive, so I thought that it would be just rather pointless to spend any more time on doing something that someone else may just take credit for! Just no point.

Is there light at the end of the tunnel?

A bright light. On February 10th, 2002, Chris P. wrote to me and said that my site will be featured in the Lockergnome newsletter. I was thrilled. My E-Mails and hits per day on my XP services page went from
four E-Mails and 100 hits to eight E-Mails and about 1000 hits per day. Wow… Big difference. People are actually noticing my work!
I am super thrilled.

On February 12, 2002, I was notified by Chris P. that he would try to get my link up on “TSS.” TSS? What was that? I had no clue, but I was hoping it was a good thing.

On February 20, 2002, I woke up to 25 E-Mails in my inbox. I was surprised! When I returned from work, I had another 25.
What the hell? One person wrote that he “saw” my link on The Screen Savers and checked me out. Then another…then another… I had to figure this out. I had since forgot about Chris P’s reference to “TSS” in a prior E-Mail and started searching. I then found TechTV.
I about fainted. I could not believe that my site could have been on TV! I confirmed this fact with another E-Mail (and also many more people telling me about it). Now I am getting about 15000 hits in one day. Wow. People did notice.

Update: On June 20, 2002, I will appear live on TechTV’s “The Screen Savers” to talk about Windows XP and services configuration. If you are lucky enough to get TechTV with your local cable provider or satellite company, tune in!

Feeling better?

Oh yes. I am happy that someone finally has recognized my work and I am also happy that my three years of plugging away at the keyboard paid off in BlackViper.com. I have had my 15 seconds of fame and glad that it happened. This will definitely outweigh any peoples comments about “My stuff” which also has been on the rise. Even though the site originally started out as a “pat on my back,” I am happy where it has ended up, a little part of me.

Black Viper

March 26, 2002

Revision History

March 26, 2002: Initial release.

June 20, 2002: Included information about appearance on TechTV.

XBOX Rant

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Dec 282001
 

Console or Computer?

Gaming has been in my blood since the first time I played PONG at a friends house. Was it fate that PONG debuted the same year I was born? I think so. My first gaming system was a Atari 2600. I truly enjoyed all of the blocky sprites and the genuinely uncomfortable smash-the-corner-in-to-the-palm-of-your-hand one button black joysticks that came with the system. Many hours were spent in front of the TV set, playing mindless hand-eye coordination games. Those were the days…

My first “true love” has to be the Commodore 64. A computer built for the home user, as opposed to Apple’s in schools and IBM’s in office’s and an outstandingly (for the time) advanced system. Not only was it used for “educational” purposes, such as typing up my school reports (and having others pay me to do theirs), to keep my parents happy, but it was used to teach me the beginnings of programming. The games were so enjoyable that I figured that no console (without a keyboard) could possibly ever touch a “dedicated” computer environment built for gaming. RPG’s are hindered on anything less than the ability to have a keyboard for input. I knew that I would never want to go back to a console…

Along came Nintendo. I did enjoy the “updated” graphics (compared to the 2600) that the console sported, but the game pad really made me mad. I liked joysticks. I purchased an Advantage for the system and that really breathed new life in to a console that I figured would not go much farther. Back to the Commodore 64…

After a long absence from the gaming industry while I served in the US Military, I returned with a EXTREME need to play the best of the best… After all, the amount of time that had passed, we should have all been playing 2048×1563 on a flat panel screen… Not quite.

The first “Gaming System” I built had a new P166 with 32 MB Memory and a Matrox 4 MB card. Hell, with this, you could do SO much, right? After all, the Commodore only had 64K! Wrong. It was not until I built the state-of-the-art P2 300 with Dual VooDoo 2′s that the industry actually caught up to where I felt they should have been already! Then, the gaming industry started to annoy me. With a different Direct X version arriving every week, driver versions that had to be installed in a particular order and buggy games with large patches being the “norm” and not the exception, I began to remember the days of the Atari 2600 when you could just “Plug” in the cartridge and “Play” away.

Having my “Gaming System” evolve from that super P2 300 to the now (as of this writing) P4 1.8 GHz with a 64 MBvideo card (twice as much RAM as my system memory had in the FIRST computer). I did not expect much from a console system…
But, after all, it does have the tried and true “PC” components installed!

The XBOX

With a hard drive, a crippled P3 733 and a bastardized GeForce3 at the helm, I figured the XBOX would send me back to the days of “Plug and Play.” I am very sick of OS configurations, driver conflicts, patches and tweaks. I want to play. Plug in controllers, insert DVD and fire it up… Wow. It does look very pretty, but I am sure that it cannot touch the frame rates, nor the pure cool factor of playing Max Payne at 1600×1200 on a system that I “normally” use for gaming… But, I was not planning on it. After all, the XBOX was ONLY $300. :)

(UPDATE: 23FEB2002) I do wish that SOME game developer would get the bright idea of using the hard drive and memory cards for something more than save games… Like, maybe even CONTROLLER CONFIGURATIONS! Wow! They might even be able to INCLUDE them in the save game, of which I am assuming that configurations for 12 buttons, 2 d-pads and 2 sticks cannot take up THAT much room! I almost always hate the “default” controls. I want to remap every button to what ever I want. When is this actually going to happen?!?

Copyright infringement?

The music industry has lately (and a bit more quietly in the past) voiced a rather drastic opinion on “Digital” copies of music. Whether it be file swapping MP3′s on Napster or making a backup copy of a CD to play in the car or give to the kids for their room, the music industry says that it is VERY wrong. Ok. Fine. I was under the impression that I could copy the CD for PERSONAL use…

Micro$oft and there wonderful Windows Product Activation that I am VERY not happy with, also is taking a rather drastic approach to copy protection by pinning software to the hardware. Ok. Fine.

Lets meld the technology, shall we? A feature on the XBOX is the ability to “copy” music CD’s to the internal hard disk for later playback either with or WITHOUT a game in the system! Yes, you can, if you so desired, take a CD, “rip”
it to your friends XBOX and walk away while your friend enjoys the newly copied songs! Is that NOT copyright infringement? Micro$oft actually HELPS you do this?!? For two industries to collide so on this system, I am surprised that the music industry allowed it to happen. After all, you can also copy a song onto the little memory unit…

(UPDATE: 18FEB2002) A kind reader informed me that you actually cannot copy a song onto the memory unit… the original statement was just to see if someone has made a program to do so… but why would you need to… since you can just take the CD and copy it direct, anyway!

Online Gaming

I want to play online. Period. I do not have the ability to do so because cable/DSL is yet to be available in my area. Even though I have called the phone company under different names (heheh) and expressed my deep desire for such a high speed connection, they do not seem to care much. Here comes Micro$oft.

Soon, Micro$oft will be offering an online opportunity for the Xbox to link up gamers to play over a broadband connection. This could be a good and a bad thing. I feel that allowing the XBOX to be placed on such a medium would also allow the undesirable effects of “downloadable” patches to fix a game that was released to early (or should have never been released at all). Even so, how about those wonderful folks, such as I, who cannot get broadband? Will we just be stuck with a crappy/buggy game? Even though I no longer enjoy updating to newer and “faster” drivers, at least I am ALLOWED to download and install them! Will we be “allowed” to purchase an “expansion” pack to FIX the game and add a few “new” features without having to use the internet? I am also sure that the expansion pack will NOT be free… Even more food for thought, will we be able to swap songs off of the XBOX to others with broad band connection? Only time will tell…

Ports?

Console ports over to the PC have been around for quite awhile, but never really catch on. The restricted interface (game pad), the annoying “save game points” and the jump/seek/kill puzzle solving of the console games is sad at best. Can the XBOX turn around this trend?

I am hoping that game developers will use the internal hard drive for something other than patch storage. I also hope that they realize that more than one person can play a particular game on a system. Dead or Alive 3 does save your progress and unlock particular sections, but does not have the ability to “save” profiles of different users. A console downfall in my opinion. Project Gotham Racing saves your progress, gives stupid stats such as how long you have played, and gives the ability to copy it to a memory card for transfer to another system. Kudos to the developers. Azurik gives the ability for a single player game with save points. GET OVER IT! If I want to save every three feet, I should be able to! I hate the developers telling me WHEN and WHERE I can save. Very annoying…

Minimum requirements?

Something that has really burned me in the recent past is the minimum requirements for games. You may not feel my pain, but it really sucks to have a “super computer” and all the games run just fine on a P200! Do we really need to play Quake at 275 FPS? We can only visually see between 60 and 70hz! Anyway, I would much rather have a game that has detail sliders, etc, than to be STUCK at what a developer thinks the game should be at… I do understand they are attempting to market their games to a large audience, not the relatively small number of people with high end gaming systems, but the choice can and should be there.

Diablo 2 was one of the “could have done more” games. Blizzard is famous for marketing games for the masses, but they also have plenty of followers that actually LIKE playing a game above 640×480!

Since the XBOX has a relatively “high” configuration compared to the minimum requirements of games at the local software store, I am hoping that developers will make games that actually utilize the system powers and not be stuck in the “got to work on a low end system” loop. Unfortunately, I am sure that the XBOX will get many ports from soon to be released PC games. Since the development cycle has raised so high, I am also sure that when the brand new game is released for the XBOX in 2005, not many people (hard core) will take notice. The ports will more than likely be stuck in the “minimum PC” configuration loop and not be able to take full advantage of the XBox powers. Sounds to me like a lose/lose situation…
Back to the PC…

Black Viper
December 28, 2001

Revision History

December 28, 2001: Initial release.

February 18, 2002: Included information about transfering songs onto a memory unit.

Pool of Radiance 2 Review

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Dec 132001
 

From my Commodore 64 days, I remember SSI and the D&D games sucking away plenty of my teen years. Sometimes, I wish I could go back and enjoy those game play moments again. Pool of Radiance RoDM, the old name that it is, released on the PC in September of 2001. Needless to say, 13 years of computing did little for this game. Even though the graphics are well done for the only (seemingly low) resolution the game supports, the rest of the game needed a little more development time before release.

CRPG’s have been wasting my time for many moons now and I so desperately need another to do so. I do enjoy endless hours of non-thinking slashing and hacking my way through dungeons upon dungeons slaying the best of the best monsters the genre can throw at me. Pool of Radiance RoDM promised to deliver this fix for me. Unfortunately, due to technical difficulties, I was unable to enjoy a minute with this game.

First impressions are everything. The first thing I usually do is go to the options screen and crank up all details. Hm.

Where are they? There is no resolution selection (fixed 800×600) no gamma, particle effects sliders, detail texture settings, or anything else of value. Wait! I can change the shadows! Even though some of the armor textures gave me a headache like a checkerboard suit on a TV screen at close range, most of the environments do look good as well as the spell effects. That alone does not impress me much. I can get “technology demo’s” much cheaper than $50. Also, do not go looking for a custom key configuration option. You will be searching a long time. If you are needing keyboard shortcuts, you are stuck
with the insane defaults that are placed in game. For example, “/” to bring up your character sheet. Wow. I think I would rather have, maybe: “C”!?

I wanted a multiplayer game to take hold of my G-fri and I and whisk us away, instead, I got 3 days of trouble shooting to find out that the game is severely flawed in the way it handles multiplayer connections. Mainly, it does not allow a “dot-zero-dot” in the IP address of server, nor client computers. For those of you that use ICS for your internet needs, “192.168.0.94″ is not an option in playing the game. It pretends to work, but the client is unable to join the game. After releasing control from DHCP and creating a static IP address of 192.168.10.11 and x.x.10.10, the game worked fine, until after playing for two hours we decided on creating new characters from mistakes made right off the bat. Upon doing so and selecting our new six characters (and having no choice but using a full party of 6) the game was created and a full eight characters were in the game! Each system displayed them differently, whether one system had two monks and another had two mages was not the point, but the fact that you would essentially be required to delete your old characters to create a new game was preposterous. Not only that, but even if you get a 10th level character in a multiplayer game and wish to (heaven forbid) want to play in a different game with different people, the character is “deleted” from the multiplayer “roster” and reset back to Level 1. What a waste. On top of all that, the multiplayer characters can only walk five feet away from the “leader” of the party before being warned. It gets crowded really fast.

I must be desperate if, even after the weekend of troubleshooting this software, I still want to play. I attempted to create a “single” player character. You may select up to four party member to use on your adventure. Unfortunately, going along with the new AD&D rules, experience point gain is slow at best, and the turn-based combat style, even though well implemented, takes a huge chunk of time. Picture six zombies lumbering along, you swing ax, miss, six zombies lumbering along… So I opted to create a “single” character party to avoid having to split the experience point gain with multiple characters. Bad idea. One of the character classes that is selectable, a Barbarian, was a prime candidate for “single” player action. Strong, can attack twice in one round using one of the Barbarian’s special “feats” and fighters are normally well suited for such a mission. He was, only for a short time. Upon entering the first dungeon and encountering a wraith, the Barbarian idea turned out to no longer be feasible. The wraith is immune to physical damage.

If you are looking to customize the look of your character, please do not look here. The only options available are limited differences between each selectable paper doll in the selection screen. These are totally useless the moment you put on any armor due to everyone looking about the same afterwards. Thankfully, the Half-Orc is large and the “Halfling” model is small, but that can also be a problem. Trying to position all your characters on screen without doing something that would be not be considered a “smart” move is difficult. Do not even think of running. Everything within melee range gets a free, and often fatal attack. Even if you survive that, the creatures will hunt you down and fight to the death. The computer does not have to go by those rules, though. Lizard men can just turn around and “disappear.”

The sound and music is a totally different issue. Hearing the first music score, I had severe flashbacks from my C-64 days. It sounded as if they took the three voice track and put it right on the CD! The voice acting is not only laughable, but the quality frequently was not optimum.

After sighting all of its shortfalls, I still think that a few more months of refining would have helped put this game at the tip top of the genre, instead it has left me empty and wanting to fire up my C-64 all over again. Random dungeon generation in multiplayer is a plus, if there was more than, say, three tiles per set to use.

Even though I have such a need for a new CRPG like a Crack Whore on a street corner, I will not be revisiting this game for a long time. Until it becomes stable, multiplayer connectivity issues are resolved and above all, the ability to be able to install the damn game in a different directory than the default, I am not even going to bother putting it back in my computer.

It just hurts too much.

NHL 2002 Review

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Oct 132001
 

Here we go again! The new release of the ever-popular NHL series is out the door of EA Sports. I will warn you, though; I am far from a sports fan. I grew up around motor sports but with a family that shunned all others. That has still carried over to my adult attitude. Hockey is one game that I can sit down, watch an hour of, and not be totally board out of my skull. Fast action, rapid transaction of events, the winner in the last seconds, it all adds up to a good time. Hockey is exciting and NHL 2002 conveys that attitude to as the previous itinerations have for the last few years.

Options are numerous, to include custom teams, importing faces, different levels of rules and AI attitude, and changing detail levels of players and arena. I always play on simulation. This year, I decided to try out the other options of “beginner.” I scored well over 20 goals in the first (short) period alone. I am thinking that I am a little more advanced than that. Barring that, I am glad that I did! The announcer actually walks you through some basics of game play and I thought it was a great touch. Whether or not the earlier versions contained this feature, I do not know, but at least it is here.

Yearly updates to the graphics and sound engine are mandatory for me to remain interested and actually plunk out my hard-earned dollar and it happened here. Last year, I was impressed with the detail of the players. This year I am impressed with the detail of everything else! The audience, the first few rows anyway, work well with the short “cut” scenes between plays. This detail alone is a great touch. Something that many may not notice and take for granted if they have not been playing NHL since 97. :) Game play is smooth and the difficulty levels seem to scale rather well. An over abundance of scoring is possible on “beginner,” but throw the game on simulation and prepare to be in for a challenge. The announcer’s ability to crack a “good” joke still is pathetic, but I guess you cannot ever replace the Live-in-the-booth improvisation that true announcers have to face.

As always, multiplayer is well implemented with the ability to play on LAN or use EA Sports match making service via TCP/IP. My G-fri (a big Ducks fan) and I (Sharks!!!) go head to head over the LAN with no problems at all! The games response was fast and truly enjoyable. Controller configuration is completely customizable as well as having different configuration setups for others in the house, if need be.

Last year, it seemed that I would score a goal on pure luck. A “round-the-back-off-the-skate-through-the-score-board” would never go in, but a lame blooper straight down the pipe would hit often. The general rule, the more times you shoot, the more often you score. It seems that it is not “all” luck in NHL 2002. Some great shots went in and the stupid ones were normally blocked, but the tired and true way of “get puck, shoot,” still is very valid. Moving the puck around with the game pad seemed effortless, but I usually opt for a “high” cam for the largest view of the ice. Players are very fluid in their motion and the game “speed” seems right on the money. In years past, it would seem that it would take only seconds to take the puck from one end to the other and back, but EA Sports has seemingly toned the arcade feel down a bit. Only thing that does is make a much more realistic game, always a plus.

Having the ability to play a full season (142?) games is also a plus, but I will never be able to find the time to do so. Armchair interactive hockey playing is my forte and I think I will keep it at just that. Regardless, there is a new “feature” of “NHL Cards” that can be collected and traded from player to player. Collecting these cards is not an easy task, though, because you have to accomplish particular events to earn additional points giving you the right to purchase more cards. Options include unlocking “cheat” codes, making players “Hero’s” for a period or two, etc. However, I like it. What is the only draw back? No multiplayer support added. I was hoping to be able to use that as a scoring system to find out how well (or poorly) I am doing against my in house rival. Unfortunately, no such luck. Therefore, if you wish to play from beginner on up to simulation in single player mode, you can earn many points just by completing the “easy” tasks with the same user profile and rack up those cards.

Since at the time of this writing, I am strapped with analog connections, I usually do not dally with any “online” gaming services unless they offer much more than what I can do locally. That essentially means that I did not even attempt to log on to EA’s match making service, but the option is still there, regardless.

After a few great hockey games and no “required” reboots, NHL 2002 was well worth the money to support this franchise. I am hoping that when next September comes along, that the whole audience is modeled and you can see the players sweat.

Diablo 2: Lords of Destruction Review

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Oct 132001
 

Diablo 2 LOD came out and I was ready. I needed a boost of new character classes, items and a completely new level for me to keep on going. Right up to the emanate release of the beta version, Blizzard kept quiet about support for “800×600″ resolution. When I first saw the new screen shots, I smiled. Finally, my plea was answered. At that resolution, everything, well, just works! You could see far enough for ranged characters and spell casters, you did not have a “pixilated” view of your main character, and the interface was not as “prominent.”

Even though Diablo 2 LOD adds two new character classes, the Druid and the Assassin, new items and abilities (huge amount) and a brand new area, I have to say that my first thoughts about the “expansion” was that this is the way that Diablo 2 was supposed to be! Everything kind of fit together in the puzzle. The game play ability differences between (a rather short) Normal Act 4 and Nightmare Act 1 was big. Act 5 filled that gap perfectly. Have you ever wondered why? I believe that late in the development cycle, the idea of having all the characters play balanced and the complete complement of items up and functioning well was too much of a task and they cut it short. Blizzard released Diablo 2 for initial reaction, play balance, stability testing of their Battle.net servers and continued to work on the rest of it to be released as a separate product to add additional revenue for funding further development and bandwidth of their free service. Am I mad about this? No, not really, just that I rather felt a little cheated. Was it worth the extra year wait? Without a doubt, yes.

Diablo’s expansion, Hellfire was pathetic, but LOD, coming out of Blizzard themselves, made up for it. The additional items alone were a massive pull! New monsters and different area for high level characters to repeat is even more of a bonus. 800×600, wow, much better. After all, of the patches, Diablo 2 LOD released version was stable and a total blast! There is, however, some areas where I feel that it was dragging and I wanted it to just end. As in Act 3 and those little bastards running around with the big knives, teleporting fire throwers in Act 5 are annoying. Act 5 areas also seem large compared to just about every other section in the rest of the game. Large may not be the proper choice of words. Maybe strung out is better. Sometimes you just want it to end! Really so you can get on to another section to play more! Replay value just jumped. :)

At any rate, Diablo 2 LOD is an outstanding addition that should have been in the released version from the get go, but I will get over it. The added features are necessary to have for any Diablo 2 fan that wants to play anything higher than a “Normal” character. Could it have been better? Yup. I would liked to have seen a dedicated server option for LAN based or open games and also a selection bar to pick what kind of connection you have. 100 Mb of bandwidth on a LAN is NOT used very well if the game is “thinking” it is connected via modem to the internet. Warping or jumping of characters bothers me a lot considering the lack of lag time and the available bandwidth. It happened all too often in Diablo and it still happens here. Sometimes, I guess, things never change, until “Diablo 3″ comes out in full 3D bump-mapped goodness. :)

Diablo 2 Review

 Articles, Gaming, News, Reviews, Software  No Responses »
Oct 132001
 

Blizzard! Give me my life back!!! The original Diablo was (and still is) the single most long lasting game on my hard drive. It may not be the first game installed, but it will be there. When I first caught wind of Diablo 2′s up and coming release, I knew that I would be in for some trouble. If Blizzard could possibly expand Diablo, create more characters, items, monsters, plus offer up even more features that I wanted, but did not know at the time, I knew I was in for the long haul.

I must admit, when Diablo 2 was first release, I was disappointed for about five minutes. The graphics looked like they came straight from 1996. I quickly got over the 640×480 “accelerated” isometric view and got deep into hacking and slashing. What two things compel me to continue day after day, monster after monster? The hope that the next item that drops will be the “super duper death wand of kick ass” and to gain more experience points than the hardcore forum scrubbing gamer. I do not care if I kill 1000 skeletons, as long as I never know what the hell they are going to drop! This is the case here. Diablo 2 expanded on Diablo’s items by a ton. Immeasurable if you really ask me. With Socketed items, Magic items, Set Items, and Unique items rounding out the list, I must say Diablo 2 always keeps me guessing. Another great feature that I did not even know that I wanted is the “show items” button. In Diablo, if an item drops, you have to sweep the mouse back and forth rapidly to “see” what fell on the ground. Now, after hitting “show items,” all the text appears on the screen, including different colors for the different types of items. Oh, heaven has found me. Anyway, if “Hell-fire” would have added on that feature to Diablo, I would still be playing it!

Battle.net is another draw. Secure dedicated servers and a ladder that has a (slim) chance of climbing offers more fun than any one should be able to experience. Battle.net is what bit me with the insane bug. I knew that this was worse than crack. Unfortunately, due to my pathetic analog connection, I was unable to justify struggling at 96k (56k x 2 modems) just to have a glitch and die, losing hours of “hard earned” experience points. That did not stop me, though.

I liked the secure server idea due to the large amounts of cheating on the single player side. I do not use cheats of any sort to raise my characters up to high value, just a good mouse, and a lot of time. Nevertheless, providing proof of such a fact is, without a doubt, difficult. Regardless, I decided that the best course of action was to forget Battle.net for now and play a LAN game where there is no lag. More than a year later, the game lives on.

Diablo 2 offers many features that I wanted and needed in a hack and slash style RPG, but there still were a few more things that I would have changed. The graphics were too low, the item sets were invalid after the amount of time needed to find them, and the “storage” space was minuscule.

EAX support is available in a limited capacity. While traveling through dungeons, everything has an echo to it. This is okay, though, because that is really all it needs in a fast-paced game such as this. I have yet to walk up to a door and think to myself, “gosh, I wish I could hear the monsters breathing in there to know how many there is.” I just barge in and eat dust or kick ass! Still, the wonderful “ding” of a ring or amulet is a great sound… and modeled so well!

Music and cut scenes from Blizzard have always been top notch and Diablo 2 is no exception. With Diablo’s extremely limited install option (3 MB) everything ran off of the CD. At that time, it was very annoying to have your CD drive spin down just to spin back up to access that new item/monster/texture. I “done got smart” one day and kept the music to a reasonable level and found myself humming Diablo tunes months later. Diablo 2′s music is environmentally sound, varied, and worthwhile, even if you do not opt for a full install.

New, ground breaking game play, this is not. Diablo 2 game play has been around for, well, since Diablo! Isometric, tile based, simple to use interface, customizable hot keys are excellent, but innovation would be completely
3D modeled with an adjustable camera view (even Diablo you could “zoom” in 2X) that was not in place with this version, but the real-time lighting effects keep the innovation meter at a reasonable level.

Technically speaking, Diablo 2 never crashed. Patch upon patch would come and a different bug introduced, but never was it unstable. Hell, Diablo ran on many of my different hardware configurations and installed on Win 95, 98, 98SE, NT, 2k, Me and XP!!! Diablo 2 is no exception to the quality that Blizzard puts out. Having a game that crashes after 15 minutes is a lame excuse, but a bug that “so and so happens on Tuesday with this hardware
and you are wearing a Led Zeppelin T-Shirt, you visit the desktop” is not something that I would call easy to Beta test.

Repeatedly, I find myself looking toward my G-fri and saying, “you know, this combo of characters may work out better.” She lets out a big sigh and off we go to start again, slashing our way to kill the big guy we all know as Diablo.

WPA and Piracy Rant

 Articles, The Rant  No Responses »
Oct 042001
 

Introduction

Cracks, hacks, unwrappers, SafeDisc, and CD keys. These are all items associated with piracy in one form or another. Whether
you want to make a backup copy or use a CD crack to:

  • Avoid easy access to the real CD because of small children around.
  • Avoid having to purchase 8 copies of a game to hold a LAN party.
  • Avoid swapping out CD’s every time you wish to change games.
  • Swap Games with friends to have the largest collection on the planet.
    or
  • Just because you can…

The software industry says that it is wrong.

The issue

I am not a angel. I go a few miles over the speed limit, do “California Stops,” and try to bend rules without breaking them. I am in complete support of the software industry in paying for their software, but have you ever thought about this:

What if the music industry told you that you can only play your CD in one player? You need to purchase one copy for the CD player in the bathroom, kitchen, car and entertainment center. How long would that fly?

I have a “license” to use a program on ONE system. If I use a different computer, I need to uninstall the software on the first and reinstall the program on the new computer but not have both systems with the same software package active at any giving time. Corporate systems are different in the fact that if the business has 100 computers, they will more than likely have 100 people sitting at those systems on a daily basis…

I have a different take on it.

I cannot use a game more than once at a time. If I install a game on eight computers, I can only use one at a time. Period. WAIT, you say, that is not right! You can have your friends come over and use those systems and you are still using only one! BUT, I am still able to use my copy as I intended…

How about renting a movie and inviting your friends over? Should the rental agent charge per seat? A $3 movie rental for ONE person, but if you are having a party of 10, you will need to fork over $30? How many “honest” people would kind of, well, fib? The movie industry says no rebroadcast or “public showing.” How public is public?

I must say that I am extremely proud that I have purchased all (190+ at this writing) of my games listed here! Yes, adding it up on your fingers and toes, it is a lot of money. But, I feel that I have supported the software companies in creating better games. Why? I really could not tell you. Of my collection, I could probably pull out 10 or 20 GOOD games, but the “bad” ones still were purchased. Wouldn’t be nice to “demo” the real game before you plunk out the money? Sure, you can download trial versions of software and check them out in a limited capacity, but I feel that is even worse than beta testing. Trying out one level single player does not help in figuring out how multiplayer action works, etc. Is that justification to copy a CD from a friend to “check it out?” Only your honor can decide. Excuses I have heard include “Since I already have it here, I guess I do not REALLY need to go spend money on it!”

SafeDisc is one of the copy protection schemes out there that, some have reported, does not allow them to play the game at all! If you have an older CD ROM drive or even some newer ones, certain copy protection schemes may not work on your system. Is this right?

Supposedly, I am allowed to create a backup copy of any software for personal use. If there is protection embedded on the CD to not allow me to do that, how is that “right” affected? Yep, you guessed it! It is actually eliminated to the “honest” consumer.

I normally do not surf forums and such, but since I was having plenty of problems with Pool of Radiance 2, I started showing up. Within two hours, there was a post from someone stating that POR hit the warez seen. A few posts down, people complaining that the game that they PURCHASED would not work on their system. That wonderful protection bought the game industry two hours and made many customers angry. Is it all worth it? I still purchased two copies for my G-fri and I to play, but made me think why in the hell I spent $100 to get the game two hours before it was “free.” Makes a honest man wonder.

Microsoft is starting to sway my feelings as far as copy protection and their new “Windows Product Activation” push. If you are not aware of how WPA works, I am not going to get into it here, but I will touch on a few major parts of
it. WPA “locks” your hardware with a particular code generated and sent to Microsoft. After which, life is normal until you must format or change a certain amount of hardware. At that time, you are required to reactivate your product to continue using it. I consider that “asking permission” to use the software I purchased! It does not make me very happy. Since I have used Windows XP, I have called Microsoft 7 times, not to mention the three times I had to reactivate FrontPage 2002 after installing it on Windows 2000, then Windows XP RC1, and then Windows XP RC2. Surprise! I am going to have to do it again October 25th when Windows XP really hits the shelves and end of this year when I get a totally different system. How annoying. It only took me 15 minutes to find the “crack” for those products using one of the BIG search engines…

Take my “for instance” as an example. Most people now have multiple systems. Granted. Not everyone, but there is a large number of people that have “upgraded” in the last few years and passed their “old” system to the kids, etc. What if those people had to purchase multiple copies of an OS for use on multiple home systems? Windows XP Pro retails for $300 (full version). That would be $600 for an OS! Probably more than most “average” people spent on there computer to begin with! Now, back to BV. As mentioned before, I have several computers in the house with the possibility of more before the end of the year. Do you really think I am willing to spend $3000 on an operating system “for personal use,” just to have it be replaced in 12 to 24 months by the next best thing out of Redmond, WA? I laugh at the thought. What is a guy to do?

You can site that not all systems NEED to have the Pro version installed. Ok. Also, not all systems need to have the “full” version. Ok. So, best case, I purchase three pro full (I really like bootable), five upgrade home versions. That is still $1400 ($300 x 3 + 5 x $100 = $1400). That equals around $70 per month in the two year OS cycle. That’s a chunk of change folks.

Cnet had an article that stated Malaysia was selling pirated copies of Windows XP on the street for $3-$6, RIGHT NOW. Yes, Three to Six Bucks! Looks like it would be cheaper (and more fun) to head to Asia on a plane and get cheap copies than to purchase them legally! Looks like WPA stopped piracy, huh! Nope, just really made real customers very angry.

I just feel that there should be a “Site License” for those 1% that have more than one computer. I am also not going to jump for joy when M$ gives a “discount” of $10 on a $300 product. Wow. Thanks Bill.

Needless to say, I am still anti-pirate. I earn my cash and gladly give it up to a company that makes a fine product that I enjoy for many years. Will Black Viper return to the days of my Commodore 64 computer and continue the cracking scene while swapping games with neighbors? Only time will tell. But if I have to call and ask permission from different companies to install multiple games after a “format c:” the software industry will no longer be receiving one persons cash…

Black Viper
October 4, 2001

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