By Cyrris , 28th October 1:30 pm
I have been playing a lot of Team Fortress 2 lately, and it’s been fun. Despite being based on the same engine as Half-Life 2 and CS:Source (which my PC runs flawlessly), TF2 has been pushing my computer over the edge, with low framerates during the more intense firefights. On top of this, the performance of the Unreal Tournament 3 demo and the Crysis singleplayer demo has made it all rather obvious: my PC can’t hack it anymore.
On the one hand, I am loathe to spend so much on what will now only be used on a handful of games - unlike before, I now tend to just stick to a few treasured series. It will also be less of an upgrade and more of a… complete replacement. Most of the technologies inside my current box (AMD Socket 939, DDR memory, AGP graphics) are all well and truly out of date, and aren’t going to catch up to the demands of modern games with a simple component upgrade here and there. I’ve never had to buy a whole new box up straight before.
» Read all of “It’s Getting to That Time Again“…
By Cyrris , 6th October 5:26 pm
Today I bit the bullet and went out to buy a new mouse. My Logitech MX500 has served me well over the last 4 years or so, but it was in a terrible state of disrepair. I wasn’t too concerned about the paint chipping off the logo, but having one of the slick pads constantly dislodging itself underneath was starting to drive me nuts. On top of that, I had to open the mouse up to stuff some paper under the left mouse button to make it contact with the clicker more solidly, as it had started to miss clicks. Then the scroll wheel started to feel wierd.
So, my goal for a new mouse was basically to find something as close to the MX500 as possible. The shape and weight of it were perfect for me, and I am not one to like changes to my computing habits, so similarity was a must. Thankfully, Logitech provides exactly that in the latest revision of it’s G5 mouse. As you can see, it’s the same shape and features mostly the same buttons as it’s predecessor:
On top of being very similar to an already excellent mouse, the G5 has some bonuses. Changable weights (which of course I used to get the exact same weight as the MX500), side-tilts on the scroll wheel, a fabric cord, much better grip texture, and the laser engine features a 3-tier DPI precision selector. The pads on the bottom are also much larger, less prone to coming off, and much, much slicker. Given how much I use it, the $AU 66 seems like a worthwhile investment, even if most of its extra features are completely superfluous.
By Cyrris , 1st October 8:59 pm
No, we haven’t been taken over by an army of Barbie dolls. Rather, the change you see on Aelon today is for a cause. While pink isn’t exactly my favourite colour, the cause is a worthy one. Pink for October is the brainchild of Matthew Oliphant, a member of the 9rules Network of which this site is also a part. It is essentially the online version of the pink ribbon, raising awareness of breast cancer, and this year looks to be the biggest one yet.
Given that this type of cancer has affected not only some of my close friends but also my own immediate family, this wasn’t something I felt I could pass up. As well as going pink, I’ll be donating the entirety of Aelon’s advertising income for October. For the purpose of transparency, Text Link Ads Inc. tells me that’s $75.38 US which I would otherwise have used to buy a video game or some other such nonsense.
So if you do run a website of your own, go and read up on going pink.
By Vermouth , 29th September 7:23 pm
The Halo franchise has been something of a lightning rod amongst first-person shooters. Some criticize the game for getting too much praise, while others enjoy it’s somewhat unique style of combat that’s especially well tuned for consoles. As a matter of full disclosure I gave the first two games high scores of 9.7 and 9.6 respectively so I fall within the fan camp. If you’re a fan, this is the definitive Halo game to get, if you haven’t enjoyed the series then you probably won’t fall in love with this game - but you’re likely to get more out of this one than any previous Halo release.
» Read all of “Hail to the Chief: A Halo 3 Review“…
By Vermouth , 25th September 7:23 pm
This week Valve took the lid off of the Orange Box, allowing people who pre-purchased it to get in on the beta of Team Fortress 2. Playing the game again has been a hoot. It is a lot like Team Fortress (and Classic), only different in some key areas. It retained all that you like about the old game, 2 fort, Dustbowl, rocket jumping, flag running, engineers, and above all it maintains that feeling of tightly directed chaos that made the prior Team Fortress games great. But what it does differently is how it makes all the classes valuable, and it does away with some of the more spammy elements of the game. It also does a lot more to encourage playing as a team than the previous game.
» Read all of “Team Fortress 2 Beta“…
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