Chris Pirillo » gamer

Windows 7 – Better for Gamers?

Chris — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 10:21:51 +0000

Windows 7 – Better for Gamers? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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During a live call session the other night, people were on the phone to gab about Windows 7. We talked about everything from security to aesthetics. This particular caller, Sonu, is a member of our live community on a regular basis. He is a gamer, and had something interesting to note in favor of Windows 7 that I hadn’t yet heard. I’m wondering if you are experiencing this, as well.

Sonu has been using Windows Vista for awhile now, and has only recently upgraded to Windows 7. He has the exact same hardware setup, and all of the same software installed now as he did with Vista. However, he’s noticed one very large – and very welcome – change: he is getting 10-15 frames-per-second (FPS) more than he did back when he used Vista.

Is this something you other gamers out there are noticing as well? I imagine that this absolutely is a very good upgrade for you if you are. Let’s hear from you gaming Geeks… are you getting more FPS now on Windows 7 than you did on other operating systems?

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An Insider’s Look at the New Game Aion

Chris — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 01:00:57 +0000

An Insider’s Look at the New Game Aion is a post from Chris Pirillo

XX0wnsXY (Becca) is a girl gamer geek. She’s hardcore, boys, and regularly beats out her male counterparts in various games she plays. She’s been a part of our community for quite awhile now, and has contributed insights and commentary in the past when we’ve talked about various games.

Becca emailed me today, with the below review/guide for her new favorite game Aion. She took the time to write a very comprehensive piece for all of you, so I wanted to post it in full. Credit for the below goes entirely to Becca!

This is my first MMORPG (Massively Multi-player Online Role – Playing Game). (I used to be so against RPGs, but this one has swayed me). So, my review is submitted from a new user’s point of view. I would really like it if anyone with past MMORPG experience can reply and offer an experienced point of view on the game. I think the two contrasts would be interesting.

So the game is called Aion (”Eye-On”). It is, as I said, a MMO-RPG. It’s categorized as PvPvE (Player vs. Player vs. Environment). It’s been out in Korea for a year or more, and was released in the US a month ago.

The story line, in simple terms (although they go into great detail in multiple cut-scenes throughout the game, with awesome graphics):

A world of peace began to crumble after some of the race called “Draken” rebelled against the God “Aion”, and in turn, a huge battle broke out and the world was shattered in to three pieces. These events became known as “The Cataclysm” (Kat-a-Cliz-em) This created three races: “Elyos” (good) who live in “Elysea”, and Asmodians (Evil) who live in Asmodae, and Balaur -(The Draken renamed after their rebellion; not a playable race, NPC’s only, and are hostile against both Elyos and Asmodians, (which plays into the PvPvE.) who reside in the Abyss. The third piece, known as the “Abyss” is the space between Elysea and Asmodae, where both factions gain access at level 25 and begin the true PvP (Player vs. Player) aspect of the game.

You are able to choose which faction you would like to be at the start of your game. You begin your game by choosing one of the 4 classes, Male or Female; Warrior, Mage, Scout, or Priest. I, personally, chose to start as a Priest. You can customize your characters appearance greatly (from hair, skin, eye, and lip color, to extremety thickness, voice and much more).

You begin your journey in the “starter area”, which is different for each faction, of course. You level from 1-9 with simple quests that help you get acquainted with the various menu options and NPC’s. You also become acquainted with your current skills and abilities. Along with that, you become acquainted with the game’s travel systems, which are:

A Flight Transporter – Allows you to pay a fee to fly (on a winged animal of some sort, very cool looking) to your destination. The graphics are awesome during flight.

A Teleporter – You simply pay a fee and jump into a portal – and your game loads into your destination.

You can bring up your map by pressing “M”. It will give you a full overview of the area you are in, along with surrounding areas. You can press “N” and a smaller, more transparent version will appear, which is convenient while walking/flying and still needing to see where you are going. When you are grouped with other people in the same area, they will appear on the map as blue diamonds.

You will also become acquainted with Soul Healing and resurrection. Should you die along the way (and you will, believe me), you will be given the option to return to the place where you last bound your soul (You bind your soul to obelisk’s in major cities), or you can choose to wait (up to 30 minutes) and ask for someone to come resurrect you. Chanters and Clerics have the ability to resurrect. There are also resurrection stones that can be bought and acquired during quests that can be used on another player.

If you are not resurrected, you return to your bind point, and beside you will be a Soul Healer. For a fee, you will be healed of soul sickness (this makes your movement slow and you are unable to fly/glide) and you will recover your experience that you lost. The amount of experience lost depends on your level. The price of soul healing goes up the more times you die, and becomes very expensive over time, so you must be careful. You don’t have to worry about soul healing when it comes to PvP. If you are killed by the opposite faction, soul healing only costs 1 gold and you do not lose any experience. You do, however, lose Abyss Points (discussed later).

At level 9, you receive an “ascension” quest, which will allow you to become a “Daeva” (advanced humans who have tapped into the power of the Aether to gain new abilities and strengths that put them far beyond the power levels of any mortal human) and choose your subclass. The subclasses are:

For Warrior – Gladiator or Templar.

For Scout – Assassin or Ranger

For Priest – Chanter or Cleric

For Mage – Sorcerer or Spirit Master

I started as a Priest, so I chose to evolve into a Chanter. I won’t go into too much detail about the classes/subclasses, as that would take entirely too much time, but each one has its positives and negatives. I like being a Chanter, because we can adapt to pretty much any situation (I.E – we can heal, have buffs, have decent DPS – Damage per Second, and are needed in many group situations).

Shortly after you have completed your ascension quest, you receive a quest to earn your wings. Yes, you can fly in this game, which is something I hear is much different from any MMO out there. The flight ability in this game is so much fun and adds a new and interesting aspect to PvP. You will find that pre-abyss (lvls 1-24), you will use your wings mostly to glide down long hills to make your trips a little faster. There are a few designated areas where you are free to fly, otherwise you can only glide.

If you are interested in PvP before level 25, there are opportunities for this. There are temporary openings from one world to another (Elysea to Asmodae and vice versa) that allow you to go to the opposite factions world and hunt the enemy. These are known as Rifts. However, you have little chance to stay alive, unless you are grouped with other people. I found this annoying at times, because I would be trying to complete a quest in my world, and out of nowhere, comes a group of enemies and of course, I get killed. When the shoe is on the other foot however, it’s fun. Yeah Yeah, I can dish it but can’t take it. Enemies of the opposing faction show up on your radar as red diamonds. You will have to worry more about this in the Abyss.

The good thing is that rifts close after a certain number of people enter them, so they do not last forever. There are even spy quests that you can acquire that require you to go to the enemy’s world and complete a mission. They are very hard, but offer great rewards. I have yet to complete them… like I said, very hard.

Throughout your leveling experience, you will occasionally need to learn new skills/abilities. These are learned from your class trainer, and are in designated areas in the game. As you level, the price of learning your abilities goes up and can become quite costly. (At level 28 I paid over 70,000 gold for my new abilities).

Once you have bought your skill manual, it will appear as a book in your inventory (Hit I to access your inventory). Double click the book, and that skill will be learned. You can then press the letter K on your keyboard, and it will bring up a list of all of your skills. You can find your new skills and drag and drop them into your skill bar at the bottom of your screen:

Don’t worry, gold is plentiful in this game, and easily acquired. If you manage your gold right, you will have no trouble. If you do find yourself needing more, there are options to receive gold through the in-game mailing system. All you have to do is ask a friend for gold and they can attach it to mail and send it to your in-game mailbox (found at most major cities, in game). Gold is not hard to acquire through Grinding (Killing NPC enemies), either. There are also other options like selling items you have acquired via the Trade Broker (also found in major cities), or general goods merchants.

Like with many other games of this type, you can learn professions. Along with the professions, you can also Gather, which eventually evolves into Extraction. You begin gathering different plants/herbs. As you level, you receive the ability to extract the essence of an item, rather than the item itself, called Extract Vitality. After that comes Aether extraction, which is extracting from the sky (you must fly and risk falling to your death if you are not careful). I suggest leveling these things as you go. Many people say that it is not important, so I did not bother with it at first. When I reached level 20 I realized that many of the NPC’s gave quests to gather/extract an item and bring it to them. I skipped many quests and they add up! I spent many hours going back to level my gathering/extraction. Major setback, but I’m glad I did it. Definitely do this as you go.

Leveling solo is very do-able until level 20+. You will begin receiving quests that require a group. They will have the [group] prefix, letting you know to not even attempt to do the quest without more people to help. These are the most fun for me. You get to interact with other players and become an important part of the other players success. Very few of the quests you acquire are [group] quests, however they offer such great rewards, that they can’t afford to be skipped. Aion offers a LFG (Looking for Group) chat channel, which makes it easy to find people to group with.

Grouping is used for [Group] quests and instances. You can join the “LFG” Chat channel and ask for more people to help with your quest. Usually typed in this format: “Level 31 Chanter LFG Legendary Amethysts. PST (please send tell, which is just a whisper.). You will hopefully get some responses and from there, can invite people to your group (right click their name and select “invite to group”).. rinse and repeat.

One of the most menacing problems for MMO’s are the gold spammers (Those who want to sell you gold – it’s illegal, but people do buy so it keeps the gold spammers running rampant). They spam the chat with their links and make it hard for you to read any conversation going on between your legion or group. One easy fix to this is to create a new chat tab, and customize the options to allow only chat from your legion or group. To do this, open chat and right click on one of the tabs. From there you can choose “Add Tab”. Name it, and customize tab options. Voila!

At level 20. you can acquire “Stigmas”, which are basically extra abilities that you can receive that can separate one of the same class from the other. There are many stigmas that one class can choose, and that’s what makes me (one chanter) different from another. You must complete a quest to enable you to equip stigmas, but after that as you level, you will acquire more stigma slots. To view your current stigma slots, press “P” and select the Stigma tab.

Stigmas can be acquired from quests, NPC drops, or bought from the trade broker. Some are more rare than others. Each stigma requires stigma shards (can be acquired in the abyss from NPC enemies) to equip, and can only be equipped by a stigma master.

The next milestone is level 25. This is when you receive your “Abyss Entry Quest”, which is quite long, but very easy. Once you complete this quest, you gain entry access into the Abyss – the main PvP area. During the quest, you have to pick which area of your world you will access the Abyss from. Once you pick, you can enter the abyss by flying to the portal in the sky only in that area.

The Abyss offers many things, and has beautiful graphics. It offers many high experience/pay/item reward quests, and of course, it offers PvP. The Abyss can be very overwhelming at first. When you enter the Abyss, you are in a safe zone. There is an Aetheric Field around this area that prevents any enemy from penetrating. Once you venture out, you can collect quests, grind abyss enemies for high experience and abyss points (Points collected in the Abyss that when enough are acquired, you can get special items), and PvP.

Venturing out into the abyss requires flight. You can teleport to some areas, but you will have to fly a lot. There are flight rings that you will find between certain areas that you can fly through to gain flight time. You can refer to the bar at the bottom right of your screen to monitor your flight time drain. If you strafe through the rings, you can refill your bar quickly. There are also potions that increase flight time, along with equipment perks.

The ultimate goal of the Abyss is to capture fortresses from the opposing faction. I have no experience in this, but a month into the game, people are already doing it. You can see which fortresses are owned by which faction by pressing “M” to bring up the map and refer to the color key.

PvP is the most exciting feature for some MMO players. I like a little bit of both PvP and PvE. As I said before, when venturing out into the Abyss, you will run into an enemy from the opposing faction. They will appear on your radar as red diamonds, and when you are close enough to them to actually see them, their name will appear in red. They will have a rank (ie Rank 7 soldier), which is in reference to their abyss points. The lower their rank the more abyss experience they have, so beware of going against anyone too much lower than you. You are also unable to see the opposing faction’s level. Some like it this way, some don’t. Personally, I think it adds an interesting twist and requires a bit more strategy when approaching an enemy. To view your Abyss points/ranking press “P” and hit the “Abyss” tab:

As I continue to level, I learn more and more about the game. I do not have anything to compare the game to (first RPG), but I not only experience nothing but good things, I also hear good things, for the most part. The graphics are probably the best part of this game. They are absolutely beautiful. The storyline is interesting to follow, and it isn’t a total grind-fest to level. The pace is good, and the Abyss is fun.

Aion, like any other MMO (from what I’m told) has it’s problems. There are gold spammers and bots. The game has been out for a month in the US, and so far the development team has been working hard to keep them at bay. I’m not sure they will ever be totally rid of them, but I look forward to seeing what they come up with.

There are many guides for Aion out there, all of this content was written by me. All screen shots were taken in – game by me. Some sources were used for the storyline.

Very, VERY well-written and detailed guide, Becca! Thanks so much for sending this in. I have a feeling several of our gamer Geeks are now salivating to get their hands on Aion!

Is This the Ultimate Game Controller?

Chris — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 04:36:00 +0000

Is This the Ultimate Game Controller? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I met up with Cyrus while I was at PAX recently. He demonstrated for me (and all of you) what could possibly be the coolest, most uber-ultimate game controller ever! Imagine never having to pick up and hold a controller again, or mash keys on your poor, overworked keyboard. Imagine, if you will, that all you have to do is slip on a glove.

The Peregrine Glove gives you the power to control your game with the touch of a finger – literally. There’s no need to have to look down at a keyboard, or fumble for the correct keystrokes. Your game is now a part of you.

You can perform over 30 unique actions simply by touching your fingers, your palm or your thumb. Cyrus claims that it’s not as difficult to get used to as you would think. He demonstrated the Peregrine Glove while playing a game he’s been running for about four years. He said after probably 20 minutes, he had the basic hang of things. And, in under two hours he was playing like a pro using only the Peregrine Glove!

Free yourself from the constraints of cumbersome mice and keyboards when you’re playing your favorite game. Get rid of mis-strokes during a battle. Just touch your fingers together, and you’ll be wondering how you ever lived without this in your life.

Essential Reality P5 Gaming Glove

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How to Play Games and Get Free Stuff

Chris — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 04:45:44 +0000

How to Play Games and Get Free Stuff is a post from Chris Pirillo

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During our latest GoToMeeting, we were viewing Connor’s desktop. Connor wanted to show all of us a way to get free things by playing the same games you’re already playing every day!

Eamonn is JACTs gamer reward software that supports more than 300 different games. Eamonn simply rewards active game play and does not interfere with the game itself. Eamonn is 100% free of any adware, spyware or malware.

You play your favorite games and JACT’s software client, Eamonn, rewards you with “BUX” for active game play. These “BUX” accumulate in your account and can be redeemed for prizes from the JACT Mall. Think of it as a frequent flyer rewards program but for gamers.

You’re playing games anyway, so you might as well get some stuff out of it!

We do the GoToMeeting thing regularly, and it’s such an easy way to share desktops. There’s a VOiP function as well, which is how I pull in the presenter each week. Using GoToMeeting is just so much better than having to drive across town, or fly across the country (or the World!).

Email me your ideas for our next meeting!

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What is the Gamer’s Bill of Rights?

Chris — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 09:05:06 +0000

What is the Gamer’s Bill of Rights? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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A Gamer’s “Bill of Rights” was unveiled two months ago by Stardock.com, which included many of the things that gamers should have been given in the first place. Is it stating the obvious? Well, let’s look at the rights:

Gamers shall have the right to return games that don’t work with their computers for a full refund.
Gamers shall have the right to demand that games be released in a finished state.
Gamers shall have the right to expect meaningful updates after a game’s release.
Gamers shall have the right to demand that download managers and updaters not force themselves to run or be forced to load in order to play a game.
Gamers shall have the right to expect that the minimum requirements for a game will mean that the game will play adequately on that computer.
Gamers shall have the right to expect that games won’t install hidden drivers or other potentially harmful software without their consent.
Gamers shall have the right to re-download the latest versions of the games they own at any time.
Gamers shall have the right to not be treated as potential criminals by developers or publishers.
Gamers shall have the right to demand that a single-player game not force them to be connected to the Internet every time they wish to play.
Gamers shall have the right that games which are installed to the hard drive shall not require a CD/DVD to remain in the drive to play.

Sounds very promising, doesn’t it? Publishers aren’t following it. Games like Spore, which drew fire from all sides for its strict DRM policy obviously didn’t follow this framework. But will publishers like EA, notorious for protecting their IP, follow this new set of guidelines? Well, let’s see what Spore specifically broke in this rights at launch:

Spore treated played like criminals. No-no.
It has to connect to the Internet every ten days to validate itself. Bad.
The DRM used, SecuROM runs with a rootkit (allegedly, granted). Poop.

So, Spore has already violated these rights, and this has driven many people to the “If I’m treated like a criminal, I might as well be one” train of thought (those who rely on BitTorrent for warez). Can you blame them? DRM aside, let’s look at the rights – and wonder if they’d actually work.

Like the Human Rights created by the United Nations, there’s a lot of gray area – some rules get followed, and others don’t (seemingly, on a whim). Will video game producers follow this line of thinking as well, and only use the rights on a per-game basis? Companies like Relic, with Company of Heroes, have really done a lot in proving they don’t really want your money. A patch made by Relic for Company of Heroes, just as its expansion came out, allowed players who didn’t own the expansion to play against them in multiplayer, giving those users the sides that you could not get beforehand.

There’s also the problem of piracy. No matter what rights are in place, piracy is nearly unavoidable. There aren’t many options left to protect your IP anymore. The only viable solution is to use those pesky little rootkits that mess up your computer, make your antivirus software freak out every time you do anything, and force you to leave your Internet connection on while you’re away just so your game can validate itself. There is less incentive to pirate if you weren’t treated like one. Yeah, there’s the occasional bastard, but the money you make because your game is good and it’s not shackled in DRM may encourage more people to buy it. Of course, publishers will laugh if you suggest the honor system (which is basically no DRM).

Another thing to consider is returns. The return policy is usually handled by the retailer, which doesn’t handle it so well. The rights mandate that gamers should be able to return a game without any date limit (no 30 day restriction) – which means that stores like Best Buy and GameStop would need to sign off. If not them, then the publishers. Publishers usually don’t take on the responsibility of taking back returned games, unless it’s a recall or the Activision Guitar Hero 3 (Wii) debacle. So this ‘right’ is really something that should be considered by several sides: who handles the returns? From which pocket does the gamer get a refund, the store or the publisher?

Another problem (a big one) concerns system requirements. For as long as anyone can remember, games on the PC have system requirements that are never true – simply used as a way for people to buy the game, thinking their system has enough power, and then using it as an upgrade vehicle to buy the components to actually run it. After all, what does “minimal” mean? Does it mean “able to open” the game? Or does it mean to run the game? The language here has to be more specific. This right is a must if the PC games industry wants to survive.

While the rights have promise, it will be a long time until they’re acknowledged and are applied by all – gamers and game companies alike.

Gamers Raising Money for Charity through Gaming Marathons

Chris — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 09:09:21 +0000

Gamers Raising Money for Charity through Gaming Marathons is a post from Chris Pirillo

I received a very interesting email recently from Cody, who goes by the name of Ninboycl in our chat room. He wanted to let me know about a very cool charity. I like the idea behind it so much, I had to pass it on for all of you to check out.

I am a follower of this group called TheSpeedGamers. They play video game marathons for charities that are in their area, and are in need of money. They have done a few of these marathons, but there are a few problems. They’re having a hard time getting publicity for the marathons, seemingly because they are promoting it for charities that aren’t well-known. They tried many times to gain publicity on well-known sites with high traffic. I was just wondering maybe you could mention them in one of your videos or blogs to possibly get more viewers for their upcoming 72 hour Metroid Marathon for St. Judes cancer fund starting on Friday, August 15 at 6pm CST. It would be great for publicity for upcoming marathons… and to boost their donations. I thought I would ask you as I know almost 80% of your audience (including me) are gamers, and it would be great if they could see this.

Cody, I am more than happy to pass along information about this wonderful group of gamers. Now THIS is what community is all about. TheSpeedGamers do gaming marathons to raise money for various charities. In their first marathon they raised $1090 for St. Jude. The second marathon they raised $1355 for Giggles Therapy, one of their local Autism organizations.

Keep up the great work, everyone. And to all of you reading this post… why not do what you can to help raise money for St. Jude’s? It’s an amazing organization, helping thousands of children every year.

Xbox 360 Secrets

Chris — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 05:16:07 +0000

Xbox 360 Secrets is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I know many people consider themselves “experts” when it comes to knowing all about the Xbox 360. XeWoN has sent in the following list of “tips”… which cover Xbox 360 features that are largely unknown to most people.

Shut Down Feature. Shut down is featured in 2 places on the Xbox 360. You can, of course, turn it off from the power button, using a media remote or by disconecting the power. You can also shut the console down by pressing the “guide” button, and then going to the personal settings. Select “shut down”. The other way is to hold the “guide” button down for about 3 seconds and choosing “shut down”.
Xbox Orignal Custom Music. If you wish to listen to your music on the 360 and play an orignal Xbox game… all you need to do is start the music playing and then insert the game. It should then start to load the game while playing your music. The only problem is that the music from the game will still be playing, and can overlap your music.
Manual Moving Visualization. When you are listening to your music in the music player, you may have seen that there is a visualization. You are able to use your right thumbstick to move and change the speed of the visualization.
Composite and Compenent. When you have the composite/compenent cable pluged in and you switch to standard definsion setting, the image is produced down both cables. You can plug the Xbox 360 into two screens, but you don’t get two different images. It’s the same image on both screens.
Change Vision Camera Effect. You can change the effect that the vision camera does to the dashboard background. To start with, you need the Xbox 360 Vision Camera plugged in to the Xbox 360. To change the effect, all you need to do is press the “guide” button, go to “personal settings”, then “themes”. Select “customize”, and then “camera effect”.

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MMORPG Etiquette

Chris — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:27:06 +0000

MMORPG Etiquette is a post from Chris Pirillo

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A community member writes: “I have been a player of the MMO, Massive Multiplayer Online game, City of Heroes and the expansion, City of Villains since the original CoH came out in April of 2004. I have ran across plenty of newbies and general idiots over the course of almost four years. I hope these tips help people not to be such “noobs”.”

Don’t spam the announcement channels with chit-chat. It is annoying going into some game zones (game levels/maps) and seeing people spamming chit chat to the entire map. Not only does it get annoying, but if you are looking for a team to play with, it makes that a little harder if your announcement scroll off the the chat screen quickly.
Don’t pester people with team invitations. If you want to invite someone, do the polite thing and send them a private message with the /tell command. This allows you to see if they would like to join your team. If they are not interested, or they are doing something else, wish them luck. Sometimes, they wish you luck back. If you invite first, you may end up getting ignored.
Don’t pester people to Power Level you. If you have friends who are willing to power level you, then run with them. Do not go to the high level zones and expect some random high level character to help you get a lot of levels quickly. If you want to level somewhat quickly on City of Heroes/Villains, then run the Task Forces for heroes and the strike levels for villains. When you play these at the lowest available level, you tend to level up around two, three or even four levels in the span if the Task Force/Strike Force.
Don’t pester the people in the auction houses. Some people worked hard, in the game that is, to get what they are selling. Just because you need to get the one thing there that cost more than what you got, then work to get the extra bit in the game. If you have friends that play, ask them if they can let you have the amount you need. Just don’t pester them, or they will not be your friends for long.
Don’t pester someone asking if they have a TeamSpeak or a Vent server. Chances are, if you annoy them and they have one, you wont get invited to join. Also, once on a TS / Vent server, don’t annoy the people there. Don’t play music over the server, but make have your sounds levels good. You don’t want to be too quite or too loud. You may also want to make sure that the people are not hearing echos or game sounds effects from your side. It is also good to set your vent/ts client to have a P-t-t (Push to Talk) button configured. This way, game sounds wont activate the microphone, and it also wont allow your clients to constantly broadcast out.
Don’t pester someone to join a guild (super group/villain group in C O H/ C O V). If the guild is asking for people, then send a message to the person who is recruiting.

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Tips for Girl Gamers

Chris — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 06:42:35 +0000

Tips for Girl Gamers is a post from Chris Pirillo

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This may come as a surprise, but I am neither a girl, nor a Gamer! However, I do have an excellent top 5 list here, sent in by a community member… who happens to be a girl gamer!

Don’t underestimate yourself. I know my first time in game, I gave everyone in the room that was “specking” (watching) me a real LOL. I had no idea what I was doing, however I stuck with it and to my surprise I got tips! People offered their advice and knowledge of the game I was playing. Pretty soon, you too will be a force to be reckoned with.
Join a “Clan or Guild”. When I first started gaming, I had no idea what these words meant to the gaming world, or that they even existed. It’s basically a group of people who play together. It’s really like one big family (or small depending on the clan). From a clan I learned a lot about the teamwork aspect of gaming. I’ve become to know some of my clan-mates so well, that I am currently trusting one of them to build my computer. It is really a great experience for gaming.
Learn as much about the game as possible. A lot of games give you the option to go into “training” or “single player” modes. I found these modes helpful to learn the maps and their layouts. That way, when I go into an actual game, I won’t have to wonder where to go or what the objective is. Watching those who are experienced at the particular game you are playing, is helpful as well. You can study their movements, strategies, and adapt them to your personal play style.
Don’t offer your gender unless asked. Most people would hear me say that and think that they already know the reason I say this. I don’t say this because you automatically make yourself a target by admitting your gender. Although, that is something that females do have to deal with, I have not personally encountered it enough to consider it a real problem. The reason I do say this, however is there are a lot of people who will pretend to be female in game. Why? I don’t know.. some expect that it will get them some sort of special treatment, however lame it may seem. Offering your gender seems a little bit too obvious that you are looking for attention just based on your gender. I, use voice chat in lots of games I play, so I do get asked if “I’m a girl” a lot. Then, I will say yes. Most people I have ran across find it a great thing. My in game name in all games I play is XX0wnsXY (as well as in #Chris. Most people don’t think twice about my name.. however there are a few who understand that XX are female chromosomes and XY are male Not obvious, however, anyone who knows their biology can know the meaning of it. I’ve had quite a few compliments on the brilliance of that! (not tooting my horn).
Don’t let the bad experiences discourage you. While gaming has, for the most part, been a wonderful experience, I have had a good share of derogatory comments, insults, and doubt, thrown my way. Many people have not accepted the fact that females are entering the gaming scene, now more than ever. Maybe it’s fear of change? Maybe they’re skeptics due to those people who do take advantage of the fact that females are rare to gaming. Either way, you have to have fun with it. “Owning” a person or two who makes these comments, usually shuts them up real quick. Otherwise, there are options such as “mute” and “ignore” in most games to rid of those you do not desire to converse with.

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Whack me in the Face – You Know you Want To

Chris — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 00:13:23 +0000

Whack me in the Face – You Know you Want To is a post from Chris Pirillo

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I’ve always wanted to see my heads popping in and out of virtual holes. Mitch programmed my head into a “Whack a Gnome” game, that you can play for free in your web browser.

You can go to my blog to find this game, along with others. I’m hoping that some more of you will create other cool and fun games that we can all enjoy. Here’s your chance to whack me in the head… and apparently, it’s addictive!

I also have links to documentation for gamer testing, learning to create your own games, etc. If these are things that interest you, be sure and check them out!

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Are You a First Person Shooter N00b?

Chris — Fri, 11 Jan 2008 14:31:45 +0000

Are You a First Person Shooter N00b? is a post from Chris Pirillo

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If you are new to playing first person shooter games, then this video is for you! Here are some excellent tips sent in by a community member to help newcomers (and old-timers!) to improve their gaming experience.

When you are a beginner, don’t put yourself down if you get killed almost constantly. Use a kit that you can get good at quickly, mainly an assault rifle type weapon, and try to learn the maps you will play on most. Also, it is good to ask people who have played the game more than you about any tricks and tips to help you not die as much.
When playing the game, you never want to stop and stand in one place for too long. This just allows people to sneak up and find you, and also allows snipers to find you and take you down that much easier. Moving targets are much harder to hit, and allows you to quickly dip and dive in and out of cover making it that much harder for the bad guys to keep their sights on you.
Check behind you every few seconds. This is one of the most important tips to stay alive for a long period of time. If you don’t check back every few seconds, people will sneak up behind you and humiliate you in front of the rest of the group by knifing you in the back or just gunning you down without you ever being able to return a shot. If you check back, you may be able to surprise some one who is trying to sneak up on you and make them the one who is getting humiliated.
Never, ever, ever Cheat! The one thing you can do to completely tarnish your reputation as a gamer is too cheat by using hacks and or glitches in the maps. This just makes the other players dislike playing with you, and makes you go through a lot of trouble regaining the respect you once had, and also gives you trouble when trying to find a game to play in if you become widely known as a cheater.
Keep your calm. If you start to be damaged, even if it is very serious, don’t lose your calm. When you panic, you will tend to make another mistake, which normally winds up getting yourself killed. When you stay calm, you can look for cover, or even identify where you are being shot from and return fire, maybe even killing the person who was attacking you, or just go under cover to regain your composure and get ready to face off against your attacker.

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Flash Games for Gamers

Chris — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 21:59:31 +0000

Flash Games for Gamers is a post from Chris Pirillo

Try ‘em all, but keep the ones that you love the most – which is your favorite? :)

And have you ever wanted to be a professional gamer?

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Gears of War for PC Game Review

Chris — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 07:31:14 +0000

Gears of War for PC Game Review is a post from Chris Pirillo

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My friend Bwana from Bwana.tv reviewed this game for me. He did an amazing job, and the game looks great! Gears of War was released in November of 2006, and sold over 10 million copies in the first ten weeks! Let’s see Bwana’s take on the computer version of this game.

Gears of War features the amazing tactical action and multiplayer excitement found in the critically acclaimed Gears of War for the Xbox, and a variety of all-new content, including three new multiplayer maps, a new multiplayer game type, Game Editor, five new campaign chapters and DirectX 10 support. Gears of War thrusts gamers into a deep and harrowing story of humankind’s epic battle for survival against the Locust Horde, a nightmarish race of creatures that surface from the bowels of the planet.

The game’s story component puts you in the shoes of Marcus Fenix, who up until the very beginning of the game was serving time in prison for treasonous behavior. But the war effort requires his special brand of badness, so he’s quickly set free, dressed up in his old soldier garb, and put back into action with the members of Delta Squad. Your enemy is the menace known as the Locust, which seems to be an amalgamation of different races and creatures, all seemingly devoted to exterminating your kind and taking over your planet. The game’s plot points are inconsequential and work in a number of meaningless MacGuffin devices that serve as the only impetus you need to march from point A to point B while gunning down bad guys the whole way. You’ll blast even more bad guys in the PC version of the game, which has a new section at the start of the final act that fills in a blank left by the 360 version. It does a better job of explaining how you go from running away from a huge beast with rocket launchers mounted on its head and shoulders to showing up at a train station to take the battle to the enemy general before he ruins everything.

According to Bwana, the graphics are pretty good. They aren’t quite on the level of some of the newer games out there. The graphics for the original Gears of War released for the Xbox last year were simply unparalleled at the time. The soundtrack for this game is excellent, much like its Xbox counterpart. The weapons are fantastic, and the new features are fun. It can be pretty system intense, so make sure that your computer has the capability to handle it. Also, if you aren’t comfortable using the mouse and keyboard to play, you can buy an adaptor and use the controller from an Xbox 360.

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Halo 3 Slayer

Chris — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 02:06:35 +0000

Halo 3 Slayer is a post from Chris Pirillo

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – You’ve seen me review the new Halo 3, and play the Oddballs custom game. This time, GamerAndy and I are going to try Slayer.

I received an advance copy of Halo 3 hanks to my friends at Edelman PR. I’ve already done a review on the game, and played Oddball .

I asked Andy if he’s tried Forge yet… he indicated he hadn’t, but thought it would be boring. Dude! Hardly! How cool is it when you blow things up, record it, play it back and freeze frame it… then take screenshots!?

Again in Slayer… just like with everything else on Halo 3 thus far… the graphics are just WOW. I keep using the word “astounding” over and over, but it truly is.

At least with Slayer, I died in vibrant color and detail! Who says I can’t be a true gamer? For those of you asking if you should get a PS3 or an XBOX360… just watch these videos, and decide for yourself.

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Halo 3 Oddball

Chris — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 01:41:09 +0000

Halo 3 Oddball is a post from Chris Pirillo

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http://live.pirillo.com/ – Watch as I play the custom game “Oddball” on my pre-release copy of Halo 3. I’m playing with my friend GamerAndy, and I got one point!

I received an advance copy of Halo 3 hanks to my friends at Edelman PR. I’ve already done a review on the game. Now I’m going to try out a couple of the custom games.

The active Camo is amazing. I continue to be astounded by the sheer beauty of the graphics in this game. Absolutely… amazing.

Oh yeah… and I didn’t lose!

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How to Handle Remote Tech Support

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:30:00 GMT

Using GoToAssist is the easiest way to view and control another person's computer online. Use it to provide instant technical support to family, friends and customers. Start a session with just one click, and instantly connect with the other party.

Network Tools for Windows

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

You need these network tools, no matter which operating systems and networks you have to support. SolarWinds ipMonitor: Affordable Network Monitoring for SMBs. Get turnkey network, server and application availability monitoring with SolarWinds ipMonitor v9.0. This easy-to-use, reliable solution for SMBs delivers out-of-the-box availability monitoring so you always know exactly what's up with Active Directory, DNS, Exchange, FTP, Web, IMAP, MS SQL Server, and SMTP. Download your free trial today. Or, try their totally free tools! And, through 2/29, save 20% when you purchase ipMonitor 9.0.

Get Your Own Web Site

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

Starting at just $3.99/month, web hosting from GoDaddy includes 99.9% uptime, 24/7 support and free access to GoDaddy Hosting Connection, THE place to install over 30 FREE applications sure to help you get the most from your hosting plan and Web site. Enter code CP2 at checkout, and save an additional 10% on any order.

Plus, as a friend of Chris Pirillo, enter code CHRIS7, that's C-H-R-I-S and the number 7, when you check out, and save an additional 10% on any order. Get your piece of the internet at GoDaddy.com.

VMware and Parallels for Virtual Machines

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 06:30:00 GMT

It doesn't matter if you're running on Windows or Mac OS X - every power user needs either Parallels or VMware (or both). There's never been an easier way to test software without destroying your primary operating system's stability. Think of how many times you wish you could press a 'reverse' button on your computer. Plus, there's no easier way to try new Linux distributions - see what all the fuss is about. Run Windows in OS X, run Linux in Windows, but the best way to do either is with VMware and/or Parallels.

Coupons for Online Shopping

chris@lockergnome.com (Chris Pirillo) — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 07:56:13 GMT

This feed is fueled by Lockergnome Online Shopping and Coupon Codes

Before you shop next time, see if we have a coupon first.