Technology & Gaming

The Joy of Widescreen
I recently purchased a Dell 2007WFP 20.1" Widescreen LCD Monitor. I will share my thoughts on this monitor. We are all aware the world is moving away from boring square TVs in favor of beautiful widescreen HDTV's. The human eye sees the world in wide aspect, not a 4:3 square, so why should you look at your PC that way? Recently widescreen PC Displays have become very popular. Game developers are now shipping products with widescreen support right out of the box. The 2007WFP has a native resolution of 1680x1050, which is a 16:10 aspect ratio. Valve Software, makers of Half Life 2, was one of the first developers to embrace widescreen support in their games. Lucasarts included widescreen support for the PC and Xbox verions of Battlefront II. Others have implemented widescreen support via a game patch like Crytek did for Far Cry.

Gaming in widescreen, for me, is a completely different experience than gaming on a standard 4:3 monitor. Games look and feel more immersive. I find myself revisiting older games just to replay them in widescreen. WidescreenGamingForum.com is an excellent resource for PC gamers looking to migrate to a widescreen display. WGF.com also shows you how to run your old games in widescreen through .ini settings and other means. I have included a few compressed jpg screenshots from Half Life 2 and Battlefront II in widescreen below. Click to view full screen.

I find playing games in widescreen adds a different aspect (no pun intended) to the gameplay. The user has a larger view area. Instead of trying to focus on a narrow area in front of me, I now have a more natrual viewing area. My eyes are relaxed, able to see all the action without straining. The action feels like it is happening around me. I am not simply viewing the action, I feel I am part of it. It may sound silly to those would have not gamed in widescreen. Once you try it, you'll know what I mean!

Working on the desktop is much nicer as well. The added screen "real estate" helps when viewing or editing photos and videos. Browsing the web is much more comfortable. I have Windows Media Center Edition 2005 and on my old 4:3 monitor a widescreen video would be a small band in the middle of the screen. Now I can enjoy movies and HDTV shows in full screen from a comfortable viewing distance.

Overall, I feel like PC gaming is "back" for me. I have a desire to now replay all my old games and conquer new games, all in widescreen! I got my 2007WFP when Dell was offering a $100 off coupon plus free shipping. Keep an eye out on websites like slickdeals.net to make sure you don't pay full price!

Color Banding and the Fix
It's rare these days to encounter good customer service, as we've recently been reminded. I have always purchased Dell LCD monitors for my home PCs because of the low prices and quality screens Dell produces with partners like Samsung and LG/Philips. I never encountered a problem, but I heard the horror stories if one was unfortunate enough to have a problem. Long hold times, difficult to understand Customer Service Reps, and more. Soon after I ordered, I began to read the horror stories about the "07" line of Dell LCDs. The initial factory line experienced a problem with color gradient banding, as extensively documented here, and here.

I headed to the Dell Community Forums and to my surpise Dell listened to their customers and responded! All I had to do was send a private message to Chris from Dell and I would be shipped a new monitor with updated firmware that fixed the problem! I sent my PM to Chris on 5/29/2005, and received my new monitor on 6/20/2006 at no cost to me! Now that is what I call service. Dell is to be commended for identifying the problem, listening to customers, and taking quick corrective action. I wish there were more of that out there.

Here are a few pics of the new monitor! Click to view full screen.

When I first looked into getting a blog I first tried the free ones. Then I tried some manual installs with well known software solutions like Wordpress. Finally I stumbled upon Serendipity (www.s9y.org). What an excellent program! I won't discuss specific technical issues, but let me say it was extremely easy to setup and install. The primary developer, Garvin Hicking, always takes the time to kindly answer any questions you may have on the user forums. If you are looking at a software package to handle your blogging versus a more generic setup like blogger.com, please give Serendipity a try. Best of all, it's free! Of course, if you like it you should dontate to keep the project moving forward.

You may have noticed I changed the look and feel of my site. I went from a darker tone to a lighter, easier to read layout. This wonderful layout is the work of a talented gentleman named Carl Galloway. His excellent templates for Serendipity allow the user great flexibility in how your site looks. I am specifically using his 1024px template.

I am no expert when it comes to SQL, PHP, or coding of any kind, but if I can do it, so can you!

Send me a Friend Request! My Gamertag is Arts Got a Gun.

Those screenshots are unbelievable, and the following quote makes my geek bones quiver with anticipation!

"Many of the nine UT2004 vehicles have been revamped to be grouped into the Axon Team. Facing off against Axon is the brand new Necris team, which will have their own set of nine vehicles. Someone at Epic must be a "Back to the Future II" fan, because one of these new rides happens to be none other than a hoverboard. (Though hopefully sans the pink color scheme and "Mattel" label.) Tim says that while it's technically not a vehicle, "the new hoverboard is quickly becoming a play test favorite. Instead of your trusty rocket launcher, hoverboard riders have a grapple that they can use to latch onto other vehicles. It's quite a sight to see a Hellbender towing three hoverboard riding teammates into the fray behind it." So basically, you've got power, McFly! Let's hope these hoverboards can go over water."

Of course, I purchased the chip from Newegg, the best online store for computer stuff! ;)

While single-threaded performance is strong, where the processor really shines is multi-tasking on the desktop. The AMD Athlon 64 X2 blows away its main competitor, the Intel Pentium D. Say you want to play a game while running a virus or spyware scan in the background. Or encode a DVD while watching TV. With single core chips, this scenario is technically possible but horribly slow. With dual core, there is no need to compromise, you can do both!

It is amazing that such advanced technology is now available on the desktop, for people like us to buy. If you have a Socket 939 motherboard, usually a BIOS upgrade will get you support for the X2 CPU's, and you too can enjoy dual core goodness!

Visit many internet forums and very mention of Half Life 2, Valve, or Counterstrike brings the Steam haters out of the woodwork. Steam is new. It challenges how we think about content distribution. No longer do you have to drive down to your local store and buy physical media. Hard Drive crashed? No problem. Open up Steam, login to your account, and redownload the game! Steam is a very easy system. Download the small app. Install, create an account, buy the game you want and download it. Within an few hours (depending on your connection) you can start playing your game; all done from the comfort of your computer room.

Content owners need a method to protect their works. Gamers do not want to feel controlled after spending $50. Games are freely pirated over P2P networks and usenet. How does a company protect its assets? It is a fine line to walk. We need to respect the content owners' rights. Remember, you do not own the game. You simply purchase a license to use the software per the terms and conditions of the EULA. That's it. The notion that you "own" something because you happen to be in possession of physical media should end now. This is the key factor that causes people to dislike Steam. The perception is the consumer has lost rights because they no longer possess a tangible product. Let me break something to you; you never possessed a tangible product before! Software is code. It is air.

I say, "Get over it". This is the wave of the future. As 15, 20 and someday 30Mb connections become the norm; content owners can tremendously lower the distribution costs by selling direct to the public like Steam does today. This is good for everyone. It means better games for us. Developers can pour additional money into development instead of blowing it on distribution. What's not to like?

The Steam software itself has been very stable for me, but I understand others may not have the same experience. This is a separate issue. As with many things on the internet an idea is thrown out there and everyone latches on to it and we forget why we are complaining. Stop being a robot, step back and realize that Steam, while not perfect, is the wave of the future.

When I first read about it I didn't think I would like it because, 1) it is turn-based, and 2) the player does not actually "control" the fight, and 3) It's an "RPG". I am a big fan of the Jedi Knight Series of PC games where you control the action, much like a FPS title. From the very first moment KOTOR hooks you and never turns back. Forget any preconceived
notions you have about RPG's because this game transcends genre labels.

So why am I writing this? I think every gamer owes it to him or herself to pick this game up and play it. The story of this game has a huge plot twist that I guarantee you will not see coming. The plot in this game is arguably better than the Star Wars films themselves. Once the plot twist is revealed you'll want to finish the game quickly. Quick, however, this game is not. The average gamer on their first time through will probably take 40 - 45 hours. Yes, you read that right. 40 hours of pure gaming bliss.

Action and FPS game fans will soon forget they are not actually controlling the lightsaber with the mouse and keyboard. Instead you will be planning your next move; your strategy. The player is able to queue four moves in advance, including healing and shields.

Graphically this game will not win any awards. The battles are where the game truly shines. Lightsaber effects are bright and beautiful. The environments, while not spectacular looking, especially when compared to a game like Half Life 2, give the player a true feeling they are inside a living, breathing world.

The best part of the game is the ability to choose Light Side or Dark Side. The game is very different depending on the path you take. Ultimately your goals are the same, but how you achieve them is what is important. You are forced to choose a path, and your actions dictate your alignment with the force. This effectively doubles your gaming experience to 80 hours if you decide to play it through as both light and dark. You also have the ability to choose your gender, male or female. Ah the choices!

In short, if you do not own this game, buy it. Now. You have no excuse. If you enjoy games then you must experience KOTOR. The game is $20 for both PC and Xbox.

I just want to give a quick plug to my favorite tech news site on the web. The Tech Report is an excellent source of Technology news, information, trends, facts and figures. If you are a tech newbie or an enthusiast, you'll find something of interest. Be sure to stop by the very active forums, I hang out there when I am not busy.

Also, if you play Unreal Tourmament 2004 (UT2004), catch me on the TR UT2004 Game Server.

So I just picked up an EVGA GeForce 6800GS (from newegg.com of course, where else?) Sure, it's not a huge upgrade from my old 6600GT, but it does make a difference when you want to use some AA and AF in games.
EVGA has always done a great job with their packaging and support. My 3DMark2005 score went from 3444 to 5049. Not bad for a video card upgrade. Just an early Christmas gift to myself!

For a detailed review of the 6800GS, be sure to visit my favorite tech website, The Tech Report. I have included one more glamor shot. :)

I sold my original GBA back in ’02 since it had no back light which really made it unplayable. Since I am starting to travel more in my job I wanted some portable gaming goodness. I put off buying the SP because I had used a friend's and it felt cramped to hold and it had no headphone jack (!), which I consider essential. (Yes, I know you can buy an add-on for the SP that allows you to use a headphone.) If the original Game Boy had a headphone jack, why couldn't the next-gen unit have it?

Anyway, I read this review on Ars. I was sold. I had some old GBA games laying around, so I figured it was time to spring for the Micro.

Review:

Playability: All I can say is WOW! This thing not only small, but VERY comfortable to hold! I'd say I have average size hands, and it is very nice to use. The “a” and “b” button are very easy to press and are perfect size for the thumb. The “L” and “R” shoulder button are easy to use, but you’ll need to press them nearer to the center of the unit and not on the edge like the SP.

Screen: I can't say enough about the screen. It’s only 2 inches. It looks small when the unit is off, but when you turn it on the screen just springs to life! It is incredibly bright! There are 5 levels of brightness. I find level "3" to be the best, 4 and 5 and just way too bright, however in sunlight conditions you might need it that bright. The screen is just so vibrant and clear. Text is easy to read, and I didn't squint at all when reading text in Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past (old SNES game ported to GBA). Honestly my only real concern was the size (smallness) of the screen, but from the moment I turned it on those fears were alleviated.

Sound: Well the sound is not too great. The speaker does not get very loud at all. Not really a big deal since this one actually HAS a headphone port. I will be using that most of the time so it’s not really a concern.

Battery: The battery is rechargeable. I have found the advertised 6-10 hours play time to be accurate. One cool thing is that the Start and Select buttons glow blue and red. Blue indicates a good charge, and red indicates the charge is getting low.

One downside is that it only plays GBA games, NOT old Game Boy and GB Color games. I've already played those to death so it wasn't a big deal for me.
I took some pics (excuse my fingerprints) that hopefully shows it off nicely. Overall I am very happy with this. I can finally see the backgrounds of Castlevania: Circle of the Moon! The game was simply unplayable on the old GBA.

On to the pics. Please excuse my photography skills (or lack thereof!). Be sure to click the thumbnails for a full size picture!