The MANN-Conomy Update

Team Fortress 2: Mann-conomy Item Sets

With this update, Valve is turning TF2 into something like Diablo. There're item sets now. Gather all the items in a set to get an added bonus.

For example, gather all the items for the Tank Buster set (The Black Box, The Batallion's Backup and The Grenadier's Softcap) and you'll get a resistance to damage caused by sentries by 20%.

If the items seems familiar well, it should. They were the result of the contest that was made at Polycount, a 3D modelling community. The contest was held from 24th May to 28th June and the winners were announced on 12th July early this year.

Like all things TF2, some of the items here are outrageous and funny. Imagine being hit by the Holy Mackeral (Scout Baseball Bat replacement which is a mackeral wrapped in a newspaper). Personally, the Spy's new hat, the Familiar Fez, cracks me up.

It amazes me every time I see things like this. It just goes to show how close to their community Valve is... unlike lets say, Ubisoft.

Team Fortress 2: Mann-conomy Item Sets

TF2 Polycount Pack Contest Winners

TF2 Polycount Pack Contest

Yahoo Messenger Automatic Spam Message

This thing happened to me a couple of times now so, I'd just thought of posting about it.

A person I haven't chat with on Yahoo for a long time sent me a message telling me about this IQ site and to click a link. That raised some flags for me.

Friend1: BUZZ!!!
Friend1: u there?
Me: nope
Me: no one here but rats
Me: hi
Friend1: hey .. whats up??
Friend1: I just took a test to see what my IQ was hehe
Me: haha
Me: nothing
Friend: :)
Me: ah?
Friend1: thought I woulda gotten higher... got a 103 lol
Friend1: if you can do better than me ill buy you a drink.. maybe more
Me: that is normal
Friend1: try beating me... http://www.tiny.cc/quiziq I bet you cant haha.
Friend1: do it now while I finish up some homework (Warning flags start appearing here)
Friend1: gotta finish writing this stupid essay.. i hate finals week
Me: finals? (My friend and I graduated 6 years ago)
Friend1: BRB .. take that test!
Friend1: interesting
Friend1: so, how many yahoo ids have u got

I unravelled the tiny url link and found that it points to youtube. Though I would not recommend clicking on the link just the same.

A few months later, I got this message from another friend whom I haven't spoken to in a long time:

Friend2: BUZZ!!!
Friend2: how are you doing?
Me: hi
Me: fine fine
Friend2: hey r u there?
Friend2: :)
Me: yes, i'm here
Friend2: I just took an IQ quiz here.. pretty cool (Ah, this seems familiar...)
Me: i see
Me: you again
Friend2: got a 113 lol... thought I was smarter than that (Not answering me and ignoring the fact I caught him/her/it in the act - bot)
Me: so
Friend2: you should see if you can do better than me... if u can ill do somethin for ya
Friend2: try beating me... http://www.tinyurl.com/whatsmyiqscore I bet you cant haha.

In this conversation, as you can see, it is obviously automated. The format is familiar enough for most normal humans to identify this as a machine.

Anyway, just  a heads up to everyone to be careful of these tricks. Warn your friends or family who have not logged in to their accounts in awhile to change their passwords.

Resolve tinyurl into a full link

Real War Machine Suit

Popular Science: Real War Machine Suit

You know, one of my main motivations for watching Iron Man is the suit. Something about a mech-like suit that is hard to scratch and have the weaponry of a whole army gives me the chills of excitement.

You don't see suits like that outside movies or games... until now.

Anthony Le, 25 took one month and $4,000 to create an actual working (sort of ) War Machine suit. The faceplate can move up and down and the shoulder-mounted minigun spins when a button on the glove is pressed. Though no real weapons are attached, the gun could be converted to fire paintballs.

The rest of the article could be found at Popular Mechanics.

Wikipedia: War Machine

Iron Man Movie 2

Today I Die

Today I Die

This is a beautiful little flash game by Daniel Benmergui. There's no instructions for the player, just simple words and the ability to click and drag things on the screen.

Simple as this game may be, its is heavy with symbolic meaning. I find it very touching.

I can't really tell much about it without giving spoilers as it would ruin the whole experience. So, I would like to suggest that everyone should give it a try.

Mac is now Steam-ing

Steam for Mac

Valve have finally launched the Mac version of their popular gaming platform, Steam. I am expecting there to be a lot of happy Mac gamers

The library of games available for the Mac on launch are pretty large. It's currently listing at 60 games, but most of the games are from indie developers. Valve will release more games every Wednesday for the next few weeks. If you have a game already on the PC,  you can just download it again on the Mac.

Also, up to 24th May, Valve is also giving out Portal for the all expensive price of free. Portal would be the first Valve developed game available on the Mac. I'll be waiting patiently when they bring out Team Fortress 2.

Steam Store: Free Portal
Steam Store: Torchlight

FREE STUFF: Command & Conquer Classic

Download: Command & Conquer Classic

In anticipation for Command & Conquer 4, EA have released free versions of a few of the early Command & Conquer series. It is completely free and patched to work on more version of Windows besides Windows 95.

The free games include Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Command & Conquer: Tiberium Dawn, Command & Conquer: Tiberium Sun and it's expansion Firestorm. Generals is not in that list, I'm afraid as they released classics related to the Tiberium series.

Doukutsu Monogatari (Cave Story)

Cave Story (English tribute site by SkyeWelse)

Doukutsu Monogatari (Original by Studio Pixel)

A long time ago (I'd say around 2004), a friend of mine asked me to try out this game. It's a free game, distributed on the net. Now, at that time, what drew me to try it was not of how amazing the story was, the number of weapons, upgrade, graphics or music or even the fun factor.

No, I decided to try playing this game because of the circumstances in its creation.

It was made by one man and it took him 5 years to complete it.

Awesome April 1st 2010

Well, now that April Fool's Day is over, here are some great April Fool's gag I found around the web.


There are a couple of new games from Blizzard... for mobile devices:

• Blackthorne 2: Thorne Harder - Set 16 years after the original game. The game boasts uncanny life-like AI and photorealistic graphics.

• Queen's Quest - The story of Kerrigan after the Brood War. It has amazing 2D graphics and incorporates a text parser ala old school adventure games (like King's Quest maybe).

Blizzard's new Battle.net Matchmaking. Give it a try.

Blizzard's new merchandise:
Battle.net Neural Interface
Diablo 3: X-Treme Gamer Blanket
Diablo 3: Deckard Cain GPS voice pack
WoW: Equipment Potency Equivalent Number


Notable mentions:

Ubisoft: Rabbids: Splinter Cell Conviction (JP);
Ecco 2: Water Wars
Razer: Venom
Kotaku: Announcing Koticku

Non-game related:
Starbuck's new Plug And Pour
More cup sizes from Starbucks


[UPDATE 2]

Nokia Morph

In my humble opinion, this is the most awesome concept of a mobile media/communication device I've ever seen.

If this ever became real, it'll most likely revolutionize the way we use our media. Much like the the iPhone, in a way.

Imagine this, instead of downloading updates to your software, how about updates to your hardware? Imagine that you saw an update for this device that enables it to become a digital camera. Another update might add HD video recording functionality to it. Yet another could add flash or night vision capability.

You could practically change the device to suit your own needs and preferences. There may be as many varieties as there are people with this device. Consumers are no longer constrained to what the manufacturers can produce. 

If this is the future, I hope to still be around to see it.

Nokia Morph Concept 

Big Red Button

Big Red Button

It's big... it's red... I wonder what will happen if I press it....

Assassin's Creed 2

I'm enjoying Assassin's Creed 2 for the PC. There are so many improvements made compared to the first game. You can use different weapons now, have more various killing moves and new assassination techniques (it's pretty awesome to stab n throw a guard off a roof while hanging just under him or stab a guard from inside a haystack and pull him in).

There's a new economic system in place too. You actually have money and can upgrade your town with it which in turn brings in more money. A lot of people complain that the economy system is pointless but I'm not one of them. The main point of the game is to kill people. I find the economy mini-game is a nice little distraction.

PSA - Save The Murlocs

D.E.H.T.A. - Save The Murlocs

Druids for the Ethical and Humane Treatment of Animals (DEHTA) have made a public service announcement regarding saving the creatures known as the murloc.

See the abuse these hapless creatures had to endure under evil adventurers looking for phat lewt. Not only are their properties taken, their body parts are also being sold as a delicacy.

All around Azeroth, no tribe is spared by these merciless hunters for no matter where they are, these adventurers always managed to find them. But with our help, these wonderful creatures can be saved.

Lets do our part and help the "Save the Murloc Foundation". And together, we CAN make a difference.

WoWWiki: Murloc 
WoWWiki: D.E.H.T.A.

Avatar

Though there are two movies with the name 'avatar', I mean James Cameron's Avatar. I'm not really interested in the Last Airbender movie (just found out about it anyway and it's not out yet).

I went to catch this movie a couple of weeks ago and I must say, it is truly impressive. Every single creature looks real, especially the humanoid Na'vi. The expressions one their face gives you the impression that they are real people.