Recent Gaming Stuffs

God I've gotten lazy with this blog.

Anyway, so this will mostly be about Warhammer 40,000 Eternal Crusade and DOOM 2016, my two most anticipated games this year.

ETERNAL CRUSADE

You can check out my current lineup of Eternal Crusade videos here. The game is still in Early Access, and will be for some time, but you can get it and start playing as Space Marines or Chaos Space Marines for $40. Eldar will be added in a future patch, though we're not sure when exactly that will be. Orks will not arrive until after the game goes into full release, as this is a partially free-to-play faction and they want to service the paying customers first. Note that these will be free updates.

There are 4 subfactions for both Space Marines and Chaos: Space Marines can be Ultramarines, Blood Angels, Dark Angels, or Imperial Fists (Space Wolves are still in development much to my dismay), while Chaos can be Black Legion, Alpha Legion (yay!), Word Bearers, or Night Lords (Iron Warriors still in development).

It will eventually be open world a la Planetside 2, and they have a world map now to remind everyone of that, though it's still essentially Space Marine with more weapons.

The graphics are nothing spectacular, but serviceable, and will hopefully improve as the game is updated. It runs Unreal Engine 4 so there is plenty of potential. The menu screen really needs to add more options, however, and do away with the simple slider as it means nothing.

I did notice a 1.7 GB download update this morning, so hopefully there will be some nice goodies next time I play. (Notes indicate plasma pistols and CHAINAXES!!!!)

Still trying to talk mysterysquick to get it, but he is determined to hold out until Eldar become playable.

DOOM 2016

Open Beta started (officially) today. It is currently setting Steam on fire I think, as a lot of people are extremely negative about it. My thoughts:

Graphics are good but not great. Gameplay (Multiplayer-only, I should mention) feels fast, with elements from new and old shooters.

Customization is a nice feature, leading to some delightfully garish paint jobs on both armor and weapons. Silly to have however, as only team-based multiplayer is available, so everyone is forced to wear the same colors anyway (weaposns still keep their paint jobs I think; and during the team set up and victory screens you can see the custom armor).

Weapons feel underpowered, particularly the rocket launcher and super shotgun, which should border on one-hit-kill levels of damage. Damage numbers instead of chunky salsa is head-scratching.

Loadouts are fine, but I would prefer to run around picking up weapons as I go.

Demon transformation adds a nice wrinkle to the game.

Overall I am enjoying it, though it will not become THE GREATEST FPS EVER, which seems to be what some people were expecting. It's worth a look.

OTHER THOUGHTS

I will eventually get a video up for Smite, though probably on the Redshirt Brigade channel as I will mostly likely be playing with JollyChaos and ChaosReaperXD when I do so.

Of course, the MOBA I was most looking forward to was Warhammer 40,000 Dark Nexus Arena. it closed on March 31, having never made it out of Early Access due to underwhelming support. This particularly sucks for anyone who actually spent money on the game, i.e. purchased skins and such.

I suppose now the game I most want is Warhammer 40,000 Battlefleet Gothic Armada, followed by Tower of Guns. Hopefully there are some Steam cards in my future.

Wii U

Christmas has come and gone, and hopefully we all got some new gaming toys.

This year's big surprise is my wife getting me a Wii U. I'm an old school Nintendo fan, and most of what I can get on PS4 and Xbox 1 are available on PC, so the Wii U seemed logical.

She got me the Smash Bros./Splatoon bundle. I have only played Splatoon once so far, and I can say the controls will take some getting used to. Smash, on the other hand, is the Smash we all know and love.

I already knew I had to have Smash for Wii U once it was announced Mega Man would be a playable character. Ironically, while I have not played a lot of Mega Man games, I am a big fan (mysterysquick is the big Mega Man guy, though). We already have the unlockable characters, well, unlocked, so now it's a matter of getting the DLC characters we want (Ryu from Street Fighter and Cloud from Final Fantasy VII) as well as costumes for Mii Fighters (Mega Man X for my gunner).

Yep, you can create fighters in Smash using your Mii. There are 3 styles available: Brawler, Swordsman, and Gunner. You can choose what equipment they use (affecting whether they are Speedy, Defensive, Strong, or some combination of the 3) and what their Special moves are (B button) and costume. More equipment and costumes are unlocked through the various single player modes. Equipment can also be used to customize existing fighters.

My youngest son also got Lego Jurassic World from his brother, who got a pile of GameStop cards for Christmas (he got a PS4 so I wanted to make sure he had money to start a library). I don't think he's really played it yet though. And this week we got Disney Infinity 3.0. I was very "meh" on the game when it was first released and featured Disney and Disney/Pixar characters, then 2.0 came out with Marvel Comics characters, which got my attention. Finally, 3.0 came out, adding Star Wars, and the part of my brain that wants all things Star Wars lit up like Times Square. So, using gift cards we got for Target, we purchased the Wii U Starter Set, which includes Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano, and the Twilight of the Republic playset. Prequel characters are unacceptable, so I also snagged Darth Vader. Later, I picked up the Frozen boxed set (comes with Anna and Elsa) for my daughter (who is 19 months and obviously isn't playing yet, but she loves Frozen and so will probably still find it entertaining), then my sons picked out Kylo Ren and Hulkbuster Iron Man. JollyChaos is slightly addicted to the game now. He wants to get it for PS4 but doesn't really have anyone to play with, so he's apparently OK just playing at my place.

So looks like I'll be spending a lot of time on Smash and Disney Infinity. Since I can play in the living room it's a bit easier than gaming on my PC right now I'm afraid.

World Of Warcraft: Part 2

So where did I leave off. Oh yes, Endless Nightmares. After Mortality went down a guild called Endless Nightmares was recruiting new members for their raid group. I had switched my hunter's spec from Marksmanship (which I had leveled with, bad idea at the time) to Beast Mastery. Oddly enough, my wife's hunter had been Beast Mastery, but ended up switching to Marksmanship when she joined Endless Nightmares.

Thus began our time as raiders in WoW. This was probably the most fun period for me (my wife not so much, not sure if the guild leadership didn't like her or what, but there were times she was left out of raids that left us scratching our heads).

Anyway, my first raid with them was temporary. One of the members (a warlock), was running late, so I filled in for a couple of bosses in Karazhan. The first boss, Attumen the Huntsman, dropped the schematic (engineering recipe) for the best scope in the game at the time (attaches to a bow, crossbow or gun for I think extra crit). The warlock was an engineer at max skill, so he could make it, but of course, was not in the group. I was the only other engineer, so even though my skill was still too low, I got the pattern. What was funny, this was only my second time on this boss. The lock player was understandably annoyed, as he was at Exalted reputation with the faction that deals with Kara (The Violet Eye, I think) and had never seen it drop (he got it the next week though). That provided me with motivation to level my engineering skill, which also yielded the schematic for the second best scope, although I had no reason to make that one.

This would prove to be the height of my WoW powers, though we only barely got into tier 5 content by the end. We raided Karazhan weekly, and eventually had enough people for 2 groups (it was a 10-person raid), one for members who needed gear, and one more as a speed run (by this point, I was in the latter). Typically there was a competition of sorts among the damage classes to see who would top the damage meter. Usually our mage would come in first, while second place would go back and fourth between my hunter and the warlock.

Finally we had enough people to start 25-man content (Vanilla WoW raids were 10, 25, or 40 player raids. TBC had a couple of 10 player raids but most were 25 players). Gruul's Lair came first. I think we actually got through the first boss just fine (more or less). It was actually 5 bosses at once and required a fair amount of coordination. This is where my wife and I could really shine. One of these bosses was ideal for paired hunters to tank. He had only ranged attacks, and would polymorph whoever was highest on his threat meter, so two hunters stacking damage and trading polymorphs was one of the recommended ways to tank him (the other option is to have a Balance druid in Moonkin form tank him solo, as transformed druids are immune to polymorph). I remember we screwed up once, as the call went out for all DPS to move to another boss, so, being hunters, we just kind of went and started on that boss before our assigned target was down. Oops. Other than that, having my wife and I tank this thing was a great way to go.  Gruul gave us a lot of trouble, though strangely, once we got him down he was practically on farm.

Magtheridon's Lair came next. Interesting fact: I never got to be straight DPS on this guy. First time playing it was in a pug (our guild leader was in the pug and they needed more players so a few of us got invited), and I was assigned as a cube clicker. He has some kind of overpowered nuke, and 5 players in the raid had to click on these cubes in the room to banish him and prevent him from casting it. I was perpetually a cube clicker after that. I seem to remember him being fairly easy. Not sure we ever wiped actually.

To be continued...

World Of Warcraft

I started playing World of Warcraft back in January 2007. It's not the first MMO I've played and I doubt it would be the last, but it's probably the best, at least so far. Most of the fun was in the early years; admittedly it eventually became a grind and I don't think I'm getting back into it any time soon.

Back in 2006, around, April-May or so, I started a club in Dark Jedi Organization called United Marine Brigades, supporting Battlefield 2 and the Special Forces expansion, eventually adding Battlefield 2142 as well. My wife joined as well and (after I stepped down as overall commander) moved up to second-in-command. Ultimately, World Of Warcraft brought this club down. We had become somewhat bored with BF2 and didn't see another multiplayer shooter on the horizon to help reinvigorate the club.

Virtually all of my officers ended up moving on to WoW. One of them convinced my wife to download the trial (at the time, I think it was a 14-day trial). After taking a look while she was playing, I decided to give it a shot. Then my friend and neighbor (he lived upstairs from us at the time and kept his laptop in our apartment since he pretty much always played with us) decided to try it as well. Next thing I know, we're buying WoW and signing up for subscriptions.

The Burning Crusade era

We began not long after the first expansion was released (sorry, we can't wax nostalgic over vanilla WoW, because we weren't there). I initially created an Orc warrior named Axisomega, but by level 12 decided I wanted a hunter, which was a bad idea since my wife was playing one. Hers is an Orc, mine is a Tauren initially named Axisomicron. We joined our friend's guild (named Awesome Squad) on the lightning's Blade PVP realm (bad plan) and began the quest to level 70. My neighbor played a Tauren warrior (named Brenyeto) but ended up falling way behind, as he kept selling his quest greens and buying vendor gear. So our main players consisted of two hunters, an enhancement shaman (Shadowmurk), a shadow priest (Geekranger) and a rogue (forget his name; we called him Slicer but I don't remember for sure if that was the name of his toon). We later added a warlock (Oddun) and a holy paladin (Jiir), and a balance druid (forgot his name tho). See our problem? No tanks! We knew an Orc warrior named Ragrim who occasionally tanked for us, but he had guild obligations and eventually quit. Once we got to level 70 and wanted to get ready to start raiding we were in trouble. Jiir was willing to tank but Shadowmurk was adamant he would never heal. Brenyeto was way behind for a while and I was still too far behind on my paladin. So we had to pug tanks for a time. Eventually Brenyeto got caught up, and we set about to getting him tank gear, which involved me smelting lots of felsteel (I was mining/engineering) and then tracking down a blacksmith, who made him the felsteel armor set and charged him way too much for the service (usually it's a small fee or even free if you provide your own materials; this guy charged some 250 gold). He never really got the hang of tanking though. I think he still plays but he mostly plays hunters now.

Anyway, during this time some of us started Alliance characters on the Duskwood realm. All Night Elves too somehow. Shadowmurk rolled a warrior, my wife a priest, and myself a druid. Smart! We had a healer, and a tank, and someone who could do whatever was needed (Shadowmurk needed more help with tanking than my wife did with healing, quite the opposite of what was expected). We initially joined a guild called Ozrael's Dominion, which was part of DJO. Eventually we decided we liked things better on the Horde, and transferred our toons to Duskwood (my hunter and paladin, my wife's hunter and warrior). We initially joined a guild called Mortality, but they lasted less than a week.

Eventually we joined a guild called Endless Nightmares, and that's when we finally took to raiding.

(To be continued)

DOOM: The Wishlist

As many of you know, there is a DOOM reboot in the works being developed by Bethesda Softworks. If memory serves it reboots the original DOOM and DOOM 2 (ignoring DOOM 3) and is to feature a more old-school gameplay experience, which I would question had Wolfenstein: The New Order not delivered just such a promise (or so I've heard at least; tough getting a lot of new games when you have a family to support after all).

So here's a list of what I want to see: my favorite thing about shooters. THE WEAPONS. Basically, revamped versions of the classic DOOM weapons, not so much new weapons. Anyway, here's my list.

CHAINSAW: Really, not much to change about it. it's a chainsaw. Unless they want to make it a chainSWORD, which will probably run into legal issues.

PISTOL: While I wouldn't mind seeing the pistol go away (see below), revamping it into a futuristic version of the Colt 1911 .45 ACP pistol would be fine. It's a last-resort weapon anyway. Alt-Fire: Probably none. Maybe it can be a melee attack (HUMILIATION)

ASSAULT RIFLE: Borrowing from the fantastic Brutal DOOM mod, the pistol would no longer be the (only) starting weapon. Marines are typically equipped with some kind of assault rifle, so a futuristic version of the M16 or maybe F2000 would be appropriate. Perhaps limit it to 3-round burst mode. Alt-Fire: Semi-auto I guess.

SHOTGUN: And not the old backwoods wood-stock shotty from the old game, a proper tactical pump-action shotgun, though it would essentially function the same. Whether it will still be Ol' Reliable like the old days remains to be seen. For those not in the know, the shotgun was your best friend in DOOM. Most of the weaker enemies could be killed in 1-2 hits, if all the pellets hit, and had a reliable fire rate. 50 rounds of ammo was not much but shotgun shells tended to be plentiful. Alt-fire: Hold down to keep the barrel pointed while racking and firing maybe?

SUPER SHOTGUN: Introduced in DOOM 2, presented as an upgraded shotgun. For the price of 2 shells instead of one, it dealt 3 times the damage (slightly more than a rocket) if all of the pellets hit. It was debatable how much it was worth using over the standard shotgun, however, as it had a much slower reload time. Anyway, I want to see Quake 2's massive super shotgun return for this one. Alt-Fire: Primary fire is both barrels, so maybe alt-fire can be fire them alternately, creating a rapid fire effect at the cost of some damage.

CHAINGUN: Let's face it, DOOM's chaingun was underwhelming. It was essentially a full-auto pistol. It used the same ammo, and dealt the same damage if I recall. We can do better. Quake 2's chaingun had the right idea, it spun faster the longer you kept shooting. Admittedly both had limitations due to the technologies of the day, but that's not the case any more. Let's do a proper man-portable minigun. .30-caliber ammo firing about 3,000 rounds per minute. There would be a firing delay while the barrels get up to speed, and would  run out of its belt-fed ammo in a few seconds of sustained fire (and the barrels would probably be pretty hot, but we don't care about that), but the carnage would be GLORIOUS. Most enemies would be ripped (AND TORN) to shreds. Alt-Fire: Spin the barrels without firing, like The Heavy in TF2.

ROCKET LAUNCHER: If alt-fire modes are possible, I would like to see this modeled after the rocket launcher in Unreal Tournament. Primary fire is the standard "launch a rocket and watch something explode" more, while alt fire is effectively a grenade launcher. Maybe even keep the UT version's ability to simultaneously launch multiple rockets!

PLASMA GUN: I'm iffy on this one. While I'm OK with it being an energy assault rifle (like the old days), I also wouldn't mind if this became a proper beam weapon. OK, so here are my options: It fires "laser projectiles" (encapsulated plasma) on full auto that explode on impact. The beam could be an alt-fire mode (so I get both wishes) that's basically a laser flamethrower (probably at a cost of quicker ammo consumption).

THUNDERBOLT: Returning from the original Quake. It's a really cool weapon, seeing as how it throws lightning at monsters. Can be used (and I think even Quake allowed this) to fry a bunch of enemies if they are standing in water or swimming. Not sure what an alt-fire mode could be...

BFG 9000 10k: Yes, I am deferring to Quake 2 here. I love DOOM, and the BFG was an amazing ultimate weapon for its day, but I think Quake 2's BFG was sooooo much better. While the BFG 9000 would fire a single massive burst that would kill several enemies at once, the 10k could clear entire rooms. Perhaps an upgraded version could be made: The primary fire is a large burst useful for taking down bosses, while the alt-fire mode is a wide dispersal that can clear roomfuls of smaller monsters.

More Gran Turismo

I apologize for the lack of videos. it's not just parenting; it gets really hot on the second floor of my house, which is where my PC is located. So when I get a chance to play it's much more comfortable to do so downstairs in the living room on the PS3. I could play on my wife's computer, but it's not set up to record video of my games.

So it's been all about Gran Turismo 5. I am glad that I don't have to go crazy getting the game's various licenses, as it's a pain in the ass and takes away from the actual racing (I'm sure there are benefits to acquiring the licenses; perhaps access to certain races or cars that otherwise can't be acquired, and certainly 100% completion).

I finally have a car that I want to use for the Gran Turismo World Championship race series. I had originally planned to use my 2010 Camaro SS with the racing modification, but that car will not be sufficient. Instead I will be using a racing modified 2009 Corvette ZR-1. I ran the first race with the ZR-1 I bought for JollyChaos and won handily, despite the fact that it had serious issues with understeer (sheer power won the day). So I bought another ZR-1 (a 185k credit high-end sports car) and applied the racing mod (another 385k credits, ouch! But it includes some upgrades, such as the full customization transmission and suspension) and then the remaining upgrades to make this an 880-horsepower monster.

Racing modifications add some performance upgrades, reduce weight (more so than the typical weight reduction upgrades), and repaint the car to make it look like a professional race car; it's only available on a fairly limited number of models. As I have a preference for American cars with a muscle car heritage (the 2010 Camaro SS, 1969 Camaro Z28, 1970 Challenger R/T, and several Corvettes are eligible), I went with the 'vette.

Lucky for me, there haven't been any cars in the used lot that I really wanted (almost bit on a 1998 Ford Escort rally car, but I generally stick to classic muscle cars), so I was able to just focus on making money and upgrading the Corvette.

JollyChaos' ZR-1 actually came about when I planned to buy him the Lamborghini Aventador, but turns out that that car is paid DLC which is no longer available (I imagine you can still get it if you buy the XL Edition, I have the standard edition). After some consideration he chose the ZR-1, which then led me to decide that I needed one myself (I could easily with the GT championship with my GT-R or R8, but without the racing mod they would look rather out of place).

On another note, Redshirt Brigade is back for Extra Life, but we will be live streaming the weekend after Extra Life Day due to the recently-married mysterysquick going on his honeymoon. We will be broadcasting on his Twitch channel starting at 8 AM on November 14. For the first time we will actually be at his (new) apartment, so there will be some logistics that need to be worked out (previous years have been at my house).

Finally, a new update!

OK, four months between updates is bad.

I mentioned on one of my videos that my daughter (now 1) is very active, so I can't really just leave her to go jump on my computer. My 6-year-old son can keep an eye on her, but he's not always great about it and working the overnight shift means I have very little energy. I may be going through a shift change in the near future so we'll see how that affects things.

Anyhow, when I have been playing it's been Grand Theft Auto V, as evidenced by my last several videos. Twitch has a new direct export to YouTube feature, which is why the live streams I uploaded lack my usual intro. The annoyance being that it wasn't able to upload it all at once, hence the 15 minute bits.

I recently acquired Gran Turismo 5 for PS3, as anyone who follows my Facebook page knows. God I forgot how much I loved that series (though I probably could have just read my old blog post about it as a reminder). It was rather funny trying to drive a car in GT5 (a fairly accurate simulator) after spending so much time playing GTA V (and its arcade-y driving model). But I made the necessary adjustments. I am by no means a great driver, but I'm better than I used to be.

One of my missions in Gran Turismo is to collect every classic muscle car possible. Here is my list so far:

1969 Chevy Camaro Z28
1970 Dodge Challenger R/T
1970 Dodge Charger 440 R/T
1970 Plymouth Superbird
1970 Chevy Chevelle SS 454
1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1
1966 Shelby Cobra 427
1962 Buick Special

Of course, old school muscle cars have a tendency to be very poor track cars (though they get better with tuning and upgrades) so for races outside the confines of 1979 and earlier, I have a few favorites:

2010 Chevy Camaro SS (700 hp, all upgrades)
2010 Subaru Impreza WRX STi (508 hp)
2009 Nissan GT-R SpecV (850 hp, all upgrades)

Recently I also purchased a 2009 Audi R8 5.2L FSI Quattro for races requiring German makes. I'm not fond of it as the rear mounted engine gives it a certain quirkiness at times (i.e. I spin the hell out on it a lot, not easy to do on an AWD vehicle). It's mostly upgraded (870+ hp) needing only the weight reduction and chassis reinforcement upgrades..

The Camaro was really my go-to vehicle for quite some time, up until I reached the Expert series races. There's a series for turbo-powered cars with a race on the High Speed Ring track (very easy) that rakes in $36k for a win, against cars in the 300+ hp range. The Camaro is a normally aspirated vehicle (albeit with a supercharger) that's ineligible, while my modestly upgraded WRX sedan was already running over 400 hp. I made sure to upgrade the suspension and transmission (the full customize transmission is one of the most important upgrades for your vehicle; for money I took my Camaro to the Supercar championship race on Daytona. $17k per win!) and went nuts. This was around the time I decided to get the GT-R, as it's one of the best cars for the money imo.

At some point I'll tackle the Gran Turismo and Polyphony Digital championships, but I haven't decided what car to run yet. I want one with a racing modification, or at least a full-on race car, but we'll see what unfolds. I need to stop blowing money on muscle cars for a while though.

Possible future build

OK, so one blog post per month isn't terrible right?

I think the problem is a combination of my computer being on the second floor and my inherent laziness, although having small children doesn't help.

Anywho, my youngest son's computer has been having weird issues lately (it likes to just shut off, usually during gaming. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to let me know). This is also the computer that JollyChaos uses when he visits, so it's a major annoyance, since we basically can't game together, unless I use The Official Wife Of MythicalDakka's computer and he uses mine.

The silver lining is that if the computer fails, there's a chance I can order a new one for myself. And so I have priced a reasonable build (sub-$2000) on Newegg as a replacement for my current rig, which either would become The Official Wife's PC (moving hers to my son's room), or would become my son's PC (with my wife keeping her current system, as she hates change).

So here's the parts list, with an explanation of why I chose each part.

Omega Game Tech "Thor" 2015

CPU: Intel Core i7-4790K

Admittedly somewhat overkill for gaming, a Core i5 or even an AMD FX would be fine, but I am currently using a Core i7 so I'd hate to step down to an i5. Besides, now that I am into producing videos it can't hurt to have the extra processing power. And I'm sure games will start taking advantage of more cores before long. Unlocked for overclocking too.

Motherboard: Asus Maximus VII HERO

I've cheaped out on motherboards in past builds. They've been fine, don't get me wrong, but they tend to be really lousy at overclocking or they lack features (my current board does not support SLI. Always read the specs, kids). So going with a solid foundation this time around.

CPU Cooler: Corsair Hydro Series H100i

I used this on JollyChaos' computer. Seems pretty solid, runs quiet. Only issue was that I had to kind of jury-rig the radiator on the top of the case, as the screw holes simply didn't line up (it's a ThermalTake Commander G42. Quite a nice case actually, this was a minor annoyance).

RAM: G.Skill RIPJAWS X DDR3 2400 8 GB

G.Skill makes good, cheap RAM. I've used it in most of my builds (I think...). I was originally going to use Corsair Dominator RAM, but this knocked $50 off the total. I originally wanted 16 GB but I can always upgrade down the road.

GPU: EVGA GeForce GTX 960 2 GB FTW Edition

I've used EVGA cards before but got turned off a bit as they seemed slow to update their cooling setup. They seem to have done so since then, so no reason not to here. I'm currently using a GeForce GTX 570, which initially had me fixated on getting a GTX 970. But since I'm playing on a single 1080p monitor (I technically use 2 monitors but I game on one while using the other to keep an eye on OBS, Audacity and such), a GTX 960 should be plenty sufficient, and it's quite a bit cheaper to boot. Plus the FTW version is heavily overclocked at the factory.

SSD: Samsung 850 EVO 500 GB

Having one of these as your system drive is a beautiful thing. Load times are reduced to almost nothing. Windows loads in seconds. And 500 GB at this price is a coup. Only wish i could install 2.

Hard Drive: Seagate Barracuda 7200 rpm 3 TB

Because SSDs still aren't big enough to hold everything yet, most systems still need a hard drive. 3 TB is pretty reasonable (I currently have a 1 TB, due to the original 2 TB dying, plus an external 1 TB I had bought for a previous computer that had run out of hard drive space years before). Any excess games can go on here, as well as the videos I produce, and all my music.

PSU: Corsair CX600 600-watt 80 plus Bronze PSU

Corsair makes really good power supplies. The GTX 960 only asks for a 400-watt PSU so this one has power to spare (perhaps to drop a second GPU in the future).

Case: Cooler Master HAF 922

This is my favorite mid-tower case. My current system is built into one of these, no reason not to use it again.

Optical Drive: LG Blu-Ray drive

I can't think of a good reason to get a Blu-Ray burner.

OS: Microsoft Windows 8.1

My experiences with Windows 8.1 have not been bad. Plus Windows 10 is a free upgrade and I've heard good things about it.

TOTAL with SHIPPING: $1581.04 (cheapest shipping option, most parts will arrive the next day).

Of course, the price is subject to change (I believe some parts are on sale). I also would consider moving to a HAF 932 full-tower case as it more readily accepts the H100i.

As always, feel free to respond with any suggestions :)

Back on track, I hope

Shift changes are not easy. I think I mentioned previously about a temporary shift change. Normally I work 10 pm - 6 am, but as I needed training on a new process, I spent the last couple of weeks working 6 am - 2:30 pm. This week I will be back on my regular schedule, though I imagine I will be pretty exhausted for a bit while I get acclimated again.

Spent a few bucks on some games on Steam (I had leftover Christmas money, and I got more for Valentine's Day from my awesome wife). Square Enix had a big sale last week, so I grabbed the Deus Ex bundle (Deus Ex Game Of The Year, Deus Ex Invisible War, Deus Ex The Fall, and Deus Ex Human Revolution), the Thief bundle (Thief Gold, Thief 2, Thief: Deadly shadows, and, well, Thief, with all related DLC), and the Hitman bundle (Hitman Codename 47, Hitman 2 Silent Assassin, Hitman Contracts, Hitman Blood Money, Hitman Absolution with all related DLC, and Hitman Sniper Challenge). Then over the weekend there was some stuff on sale (there's always stuff on sale, especially on weekends). Initially I picked up Corporate Lifestyle Simulator (a pretty ridiculous hyperviolent game, but for $1 can't go wrong) and Magicmaker (haven't played it yet but sounds entertaining). Then through the Co-op Sale that Steam ran over the weekend (in honor of Valentine's Day), I grabbed Terraria and Saints Row IV (with all related DLC). Total? Less than $40.

Also, there is still time to grab the Star Wars Humble Bundle. I bought it for myself and Mysterysquick as it's not something I could just pass up (or allow him to pass up, and it was his birthday anyway). For as little as $1, you get Knights Of The Old Republic, Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy, and Dark Forces. In the beat-the-average tier, you get Battlefront II, Knights Of The Old Republic II, Republic Commando, Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Starfighter, and Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II. In the top tier (at $12), you will also receive Empire At War, The Force Unleashed Ultimate Sith Edition, and The Force Unleashed II. So basically the entire Dark Forces/Jedi Knight series minus Mysteries Of The Sith (the Jedi Knight expansion, it's only $3 and will certainly go on sale at some point). It's $137 worth (at full Steam retail price) for $12, and you get to help charity. SPOILER The current beat-the-average price is $11.53, so I would say if you're going to buy that you may as well just shell out the extra $0.47 and get the top tier so you can get all of the games. Well worth it.

Favorite films of 2014

Hi all, thought I'd throw together a little post about my favorite films from last year. Admittedly I have somewhat juvenile taste in films. I like action flicks, especially those based on comic books. So sue me :P


1. Guardians of the Galaxy

This was a tough call to make, as Marvel had a couple of really excellent films last year. But  I give the nod to Guardians for being generally funnier.

Chris Pratt was hilarious as Han Solo's nephew Peter Quill/Star-Lord, the group's leader. He always manages to step into trouble, and usually has some quip prepared for it as he tries to then dig his way back out. Bradley Cooper voices Rocket, an anthropomorphic raccoon with a bit of a foul mouth and some anger issues. On the note of anger issues is former WWE wrestler Dave Bautista as Drax the Destroyer, who seeks vengeance for the death of his family (and has some unintentionally hilarious moments as he is incapable of understanding metaphors). Uhura Neytiri Zoe Saldana is Gamora, an assassin raised by Thanos (still currently a background player, and is the Bigger Bad for this film as he was for The Avengers. He gets lines this time though). Finally we have Groot, a humanoid plant voiced by Vin Diesel (who surprisingly can say a lot despite only being able to say "I am Groot"). Somehow this motley bunch has to learn to work together to stop the villain, Ronan the Accuser of the Kree Empire (played delightfully hammy by Lee Pace).

2. Captain America: The Winter Soldier

This was Marvel's other excellent film, with a darker tone than Guardians, hence the 2 spot.

Chris Evans reprises his role as Steve Rogers/Captain America, now working for S.H.I.E.L.D. in preparation for the next Avengers film. Scarlett Johansson also returns as Natasha Romanov/Black Widow, and Samuel L. Jackson also also returns once again as Nick Fury. New to the franchise is Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon, an Army veteran with an experimental exoskeleton capable of powered flight. Robert Redford appears as Alexander Pierce, a senior S.H.I.E.L.D. official, and the Winter Soldier is played by Sebastian Stan. Nasty things are happening within S.H.I.E.L.D., leaving Cap and Black Widow on the run trying to stop it...

3. How To Train Your Dragon 2

I am a huge fan of the first film, and went into this bracing myself for Sequelitis. Fortunately, the film did not disappoint.

The cast from the first film reprise their roles, now set 5 years later, with all the kids grown up. Hiccup went through a mighty growth spurt, and while still very lean (by Viking standards), he is no longer a scrawny weakling. Things are great in Berk, with the dragons fully assimilated into the Vikings everyday lives. But all this about to be shattered by a new threat, as someone is out to gather an army of dragons, which means capturing as many as possible. Naturally this includes the dragons of Berk. there are a couple of surprises in store for Hiccup, not all of them good. There are some terrific action sequences in this film. It can get a bit predictable but is no less enjoyable.

4. Transformers: Age Of Extinction

I might take some flak for this one, but I love Transformers. As a child of the '80s I grew up watching the cartoon, and back when the first live action film was in production, my skepticism ended the moment Peter Cullen was announced as the voice of Optimus Prime once more (this is arguably the moment the series became a financial success). I realize the scriptwriting can be brain-dead at times and the plot rarely makes sense (seriously? Why is Earth always the center of the damn universe???). But I watch these movies to see giant robots voiced by Peter Cullen smash giant robots voiced by Frank Welker (the original voice of Megatron, and many others, for those not in the know). This entry FINALLY brings us the DINOBOTS, my all-time favorite Transformers. Sort of, anyway, as Michael Bay likes to dick around with things. While Grimlock was a, well, lock to return, and Slag He's Slug now He'll always be Slag That's a bad word in England so he was renamed Slug the Triceratops one (my favorite) is present, Swoop (the pteranodon) is replaced by totally-not-Swoop Strafe )the difference being Strafe has two heads), and a Spinosaurid Dinobot named Scorn. Snarl, the Stegosaurus, gets left out (again), as does Sludge, the sauropod (but I doubt anyone misses him).

Anyway, giant robot dinosaurs, smashing stuff, explosions, YAY!

5. Big Hero 6

This was a pleasant surprise. I took my 6-year-old son to see this and he absolutely LOVED it.

So this tech-genius kid Hiro gets accepted to a rather prestigious tech school (his older brother, Tadashi, who is also a student there, is instrumental in this; he mainly wants Hiro to stay out of trouble). Shortly thereafter, Tadashi is tragically killed, and Hiro uses Baymax, Tadashi's robotic nurse project, to try and find his killer, teaming up with Tadashi's friends along the way. OK, that may not sound impressive, but go watch it anyway.

Trying to get back on schedule

OK, so producing videos has been tough lately.

Every year around this time, my employer initiates what is known as "inventory". This isn't a simple matter of taking stock of the company's product, it's a comprehensive cleanout of all work areas. In order to expedite this, we are expected to work 5 days at 10 hours each for two weeks, and usually some time on the weekend as well. As I work third shift (10pm-6am), weekend work usually means 8 hours Friday night into Saturday morning. So added up, that's 58 hours. Add to that my family obligations, and I wind up working close to twice as much as sleeping.

Typically I leave at 6, and arrive home shortly after 6:30, so I'm in bed by 7. I usually get up at 2, shortly after my wife leaves for work. The last two weeks I've been at work until 7 or 8 (there are a couple of days I was able to get in by 9; I had one day each week I was able to go in for 8) and still generally needed to be up by 2 (although if my daughter was all set and still napping I would doze on the couch until I needed to get up to get my son off the bus).

So averaging 5 hours of sleep during the week did no favors for my YouTube channel, especially when it's right after the holidays, which in itself makes it tough to produce videos.  But barring the occasional Friday night I should be back on regular 8 hour shifts now.

I have been able to play some World of Warcraft, which lately has been mostly about leveling my Death Knight. He is level 91 now with his level 1 garrison featuring a barracks and a forge (his professions were originally skinning and mining, but recently I dropped skinning for blacksmithing). I had also built a forge in my warrior's garrison, but it turns out the only gear i can produce out of it is part of the Warlords Crafted set, which is limited to 3 items worn. As a jewelcrafter, I already had a necklace and 2 rings on, so no level 630 weapons/640 armor for me, and I replaced the forge with an alchemy lab. Back to my Death Knight, I also changed his specializations. While his off-spec remained Unholy, I dropped Frost in favor of Blood. I think I just like using 2 handed weapons with a Death Knight, and Blood offers pretty good survivability for leveling (I originally ran him as Blood back in Wrath of the Lich King, though that was before Blood became the dedicated tanking spec).

Also I was rather disappointed with the release date for the PC version of Grand Theft Auto V being pushed back to March. I was initially excited at the prospect that Rockstar was offering $1 million of in-game currency if you preorder it, and now they are also offering a free game (from a small list, but free is free); however, the way it works is they charge a 15% non-refundable deposit at the initial time of order. This is at least partly because you get your bonus game at this point, but also makes it so you think twice about cancelling your preorder if they push the release back again, as you are now out that money either way. Anyhow, I will now not be preordering. Hopefully when I put the money on my Steam account I will not blow it on a sale that pops up before March 24th.

Happy Holidays!

Happy holidays from the Dakka household! Nothing new and exciting to report on any gaming-related gifts that I received (no new microphone, oh well) but the big news is the PC that I got for JollyChaos:

Case: Thermaltake Commander G42 Mid-Tower Case
CPU: AMD FX-9370 4.4 GHz 8-core processor
Motherboard: Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD3 AM3+ motherboard
RAM: G.Skill Ripjaws X 8GB DDR3 1866 SDRAM
GPU: HIS IceQ X2 Boost R9 270X 2GB
SSD: Crucial MX100 256 GB SSD
HDD: Western Digital Caviar Blue 1TB 7200 RPM HDD
PSU: Rosewill ARC 750 Watt PSU
Cooler: Corsair H100i closed-loop liquid CPU cooler

I also threw in a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers and wireless networking adapter, as this is his first gaming desktop (he's coming from a dirt-cheap laptop from a few years ago).

I had wanted to record a video of the build process, but it ended up not working out that way. I also didn't have time to worry about pictures.

Most of the build was no big deal. The main issue was installing the radiator for the H100i. The holes drilled into the radiator did not match up with the screw holes at the top of the case, and after much difficulty, I was able to jury-rig it on there. A couple of screws go through the actual screw holes, while the other 2 I was able to get on there go through the vent holes. Still, it's on there and isn't moving, so I'll take it. But be warned if you ever get the H100i.

As for performance, I have not been able to benchmark it, nor overclock it due to time constraints (it's what I get waiting until the last weekend before Christmas). As I understand it the 9370 is not a great overclocker so I'm not holding out high hopes. Also strangely Dawn Of War caused the system to lock up on install.

Anyhow, JollyChaos will be heading to YouTube fairly soon, as he also received a Razr Kraken Pro headset and a Blue Snowball microphone.

More WoW and Power Rangers

My warrior has reached level 98 and all of my garrison buildings are upgraded to level 2 (Mine, Herb Garden, Fishing Shack, Barracks, Lumber Mill, Storehouse, Gem Boutique). All that remains is getting to level 100 so that I can upgrade my garrison to level 3. I have the resources and gold necessary to do so, it's just a matter of leveling. My wife has reached level 100 with her druid and has upgraded her garrison so she only needs to upgrade her buildings now. Of course, getting the level 3 blueprints isn't as easy as buying the level 2 blueprints...

I am currently questing in Spires of Arak. I could simply move on to Nagrand now that I am level 98 but I like to run the storyline quests and Spires has a lot of them. I think I've wrapped up 5 or 6 of the 9 storyline quests. I think the quest to get the blueprints for the Salvage Yard is in Spires as well so waiting to come across that.

I think Vol'jin's Pride in Talador is my favorite outpost so far. Nothing like having access to a cannon to rain hell on large groups of enemies. The Smuggler's Den in Axefall (Spires) has been underwhelming thus far, while the Lumber Yard at my Gorgrond outpost allows the summoning of a shredder that is a lot of fun.


The other day I found that the remaining episodes of Power Rangers Super Megaforce was on. Specifically I was looking for the finale, "Legendary Battle", which would feature the return of many past Rangers, including Tommy (who will never be rid of this franchise it seems). SPOILERS Unfortunately, there was little point in their presence, as they appeared briefly helping out civilians (unmorphed, of course) in the aftermath of an attack by the Big Bad (which apparently destroyed the Zords at the end of the previous episode). If you weren't sure who they were, the producers helpfully briefly overlaid a transparent helmet on each of them.

Tommy was a bit of a curveball, as he could have (theoretically) shown up as one of 4 of the 5 Rangers he's served as (the Red Turbo Ranger was obviously not possible, having turned that over to TJ partway through that season). He was teased as the White Ranger, making his initial appearance in a white T-shirt, and even carrying Saba. But when he appeared at the end he was morphed into the Green Ranger.

But it still seemed silly. The Big Bad and his armada were taken down by the Red and Sixth Megaforce Rangers. For some reason there was still an army of mooks left, and that's when the Legendary Rangers (as they've been called throughout the season) finally decided to show up.

See, this is the 20th anniversary of the show (well, technically that was last year, but due to some hiccups, I think this was the 20th season), so Saban had to do something big (the 10th anniversary featured the excellent "Forever Red", while the 15th was "Once A Ranger", the only bright spot in a terrible season). They decided to tease the Legendary Rangers by having the Red Ranger have a recurring dream of all previous Ranger teams showing up, and by giving the Megaforce Rangers access to the powers of Rangers from previous years. This meant that once morphed, they could transform into any previous Ranger.

But the actual Legendary Rangers felt wasted. Sure, it was an army of mooks, but Rangers mow these guys down by the hundreds before breakfast. While it was cool to see every previous Ranger team show up (in a bit of a quirk, some teams were appropriately missing the Rangers whose role Tommy had filled, as he can't be the Green Ranger, White Ranger, Red Zeo Ranger and Black Dino Thunder Ranger at the same time, but both the Turbo and Space Ranger teams were there, even though both teams were mostly composed of the same people and therefore it would have been impossible), only a handful of the original actors appeared. This was likely a money issue, as there are dozens of actors to call back and they would all need to be paid. But the ones that were there barely got any face time. It probably would have been best left as a 2 part episode to try to give each veteran Ranger something to do.

Here's the list of old-school Rangers who appeared (unmorphed or helmetless; the stunt workers in costume obviously don't count):

Jason David Frank as Tommy (Mighty Morphin' Green Ranger, though teased as White Ranger)
Selwyn Ward as T.J. Johnson (Power Rangers in Space Blue Ranger)
Patricia Ja Lee as Cassie Chan (Power Rangers In Space Pink Ranger)
Danny Slavin as Leo Corbett (Power Rangers Lost Galaxy Red Ranger; on Earth for no apparent reason)
Reggie Rolle as Damon Henderson (Power Rangers Lost Galaxy Green Ranger; on Earth for no apparent reason)
Melody Perkins as Karone (Power Rangers Lost Galaxy Pink Ranger; on Earth for no apparent reason)
Sean Cw Johnson as Carter Greyson (Lightspeed Rescue Red Ranger)
Alison MacInnis as Dana Mitchell (Lightspeed Rescue Pink Ranger)
Jason Faunt as Wesley Collins (Time Force Red Ranger)
Hector David Jr as Mike (Power Rangers Samurai Green Ranger)
Brittany Pirtle as Emily (Power Rangers Samurai Yellow Ranger)
Chris Auer as Robo Knight (Megaforce Sixth Ranger from Season 1)

Steam sales and World of Warcraft

As I mentioned previously, I had $50 on my Steam account to put towards GTA V as soon as Steam lets me preorder it. Then a Steam sale hit last week. I thought for sure I was doomed.

Fortunately, the Official Wife decided that the kids' Christmas gift to me would be $60 for my Steam account. Hooray! I haven't added the money yet but I have time. Meanwhile, it was time to go shopping. Here's what I got:

Dungeons & Dragons: Chronicles Of Mystara This classic arcade beat 'em up is something I have been pining for, ever since the movie theater that had the game got rid of it (note to movie theaters: arcades are still awesome, get better games). I played it Thanksgiving night with JollyChaos, but he hated it. Guess beat 'em ups aren't his thing.

Scribblenauts Unlimited JollyChaos has Super Scribblenauts for the Nintendo DS. I messed around with it a bit, it's a fun game. Then it was ruined when I watched TotalBiscuit's video on Scribblenauts Unlimited.

Democracy 3 Another TotalBiscuit video based purchase. Partly because one of the countries he is playing is The Imperium Of Man.

Hammerwatch This is a fun little hack-and-slash dungeon crawl. I haven't spent much time on it but it's a fun time waster. I'll be making a video on this soon I think.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion GOTY Deluxe Edition Finally replaced Oblivion from my late Xbox 360 (another recent replacement was from EA offering Dragon Age: Origins for free on, well, Origin). Only better as it includes all of the DLC (or at least close to it), which is actually more than I had on my Xbox. Previously I had Knights Of The Nine, Fighter's Stronghold, Wizard's Tower, Vile Lair, and Thieves' Cave (I think that's what they're all called). This also adds the Shivering Isles expansion and more. It's also highly moddable on the PC.

Baldur's Gate Enhanced Edition Yes, I have a thing for classic games. This gem I had purchased years ago (over Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II no less!), and some mixup led to its disappearance. So it's nice to finally replace it. It runs on the very old Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition ruleset (which I am no longer familiar with; 3rd edition D&D came out in 2000 I think. For comparison, Neverwinter Nights is based on the 3rd Edition rules, Neverwinter Nights 2 and Dungeons & Dragons Online run 3.5 Edition, and Neverwinter is based on 4th Edition. 5th Edition has just been released). Good for fans of Dungeons & Dragons or loves deep RPGs.


On to WoW...

Leveling is slow, given my somewhat limited playing time. I am up to level 95 and I also upgraded my rings to ilevel 540 pieces, and made an epic ilevel 650 necklace, made possible by my Warrior being a Jewelcrafter (I made rings for my wife's druid as well). I mainly want to upgrade my garrison to level 3 but that can't happen until I get to level 100.  I may also not be able to stick with my guild as their raid schedule seems to be Sunday nights and weeknights which is right before I go to work.

Happy Thanksgiving! and other thoughts

Happy Thanksgiving, one and all, from the Dakka household!

I have been progressing somewhat in World of Warcraft. My Warrior (Dakkasmash on Duskwood if anyone cares to know) is up to level 93. My garrison now features a level 2 Mine which is certainly reaping benefits for a Jewelcrafter. Piles and piles of ore. What's better is my wife has her mine up and running and is sending me the ore that she gathers :D

What I really need is to upgrade my Gem Boutique so that I can assign Olin Umberhide and get even more production. Olin is the first Follower you can recruit after building your garrison. He is a Protection Warrior who has the Jewelcrafting profession, so he can be assigned to the Gem Boutique to increase production. He could serve as a bodyguard I think but as Dakkasmash is a Warrior that would be a little silly.

Apparently in order to upgrade my garrison buildings to level 2 (with the exception of the Mine) is to either set up an outpost in a particular zone (I want to say Talador) or reach level 96. So we shall see how soon it happens.

The trailer for Jurassic World has been released. Can't say I'm excited, since the last Jurassic Park film was pretty bad. Apparently they finally get the dinosaur theme park up and running, but forgot that it's still a bad idea to breed predators.

Side note: IGN posted an article this morning asking if Jurassic World really needs a genetically modified dinosaur. ALL of Jurrassic Park's dinosaurs were genetically modified: it was stated in the book and movie that amphibian DNA was used to fill the gaps in the sequence. This is what allowed the dinosaurs to change sex and breed uncontrollably (all dinosaurs were bred female, but some amphibians are known to spontaneously change sex and the inGen scientists didn't do their research), and I seem to remember that being at least part of the reason the T. rex could not see you if you weren't moving (might have been in the book; some frogs' eyesight is predicated on movement if I remember correctly). So someone needs to go watch the movies again.

Also the trailer for Star Wars Episode VII drops this weekend. Select theaters will be playing it but it should also be available online. This is contributing to my dilemma of having to push to see multiple films in theaters next year, as The Avengers: Age Of Ultron arrives in May followed by Star Wars in December (which is just wrong but I wouldn't want my movie up against the Avengers either). I do have mixed feelings though, given the debacle that was ALL THE PREQUELS. But it's Star Wars so I still feel obligated to go.

Some random stuff

So while I'm working on a couple of videos...

I haven't updated on Pokemon X in some time. I actually hadn't played in a while, but due to some sleeplessness last week I made some progress. I am now up to 6 badges, and finally, all those Pokemon (including my favorite, Blastoise!) will now behave for me (the badges cover me for Pokemon up to level 80). I can also Mega Evolve my Pokemon, which came after the 3rd or 4th badge. The gym leader has the item needed to accomplish this (it combines with a Pokemon held item, such as Blastoisinite) and even gives you a Lucario. Well, technically the Lucario decides to travel with you and she agrees, but whatever. I can Mega Evolve 4 Pokemon: Lucario, Blastoise, Charizard (to Mega Charizard X) and Gengar (the other Pokemon came with their element but I came across a Gengarite later). My team currently consists of Golett (Ghost/Ground), Charizard (Fire/Flying, or Fire/Dragon when Mega Evolved), Lapras (Water/Ice), Lucario (Fighting/Steel), Delphox (Fire/Psychic) and Tyrantrum (Rock/Dragon). I will probably shift things around; now that Charizard can Mega Evolve into a Dragon type I don't really need Tyrantrum. Also it's redundant to have 2 Fire types so I will likely drop Delphox at some point, as well as Lapras (I need to fit Blastoise somehow!). I will probably add Amaura to the team (replacing the loss of Lapras' Ice type and Tyrantrum's Rock type; will need to level up to evolve to Auroros though). I don't currently have a replacement Psychic type but if I can fit on a Dark type that might be OK too.

World Of Warcraft: Warlords Of Draenor dropped last week. I haven't played a significant amount, but my wife and I have played through the intro and have started our garrisons. That seems like a cool feature; you seem to finally be getting some acknowledgement for everything you've done in service to the Horde or Alliance and you are getting your own base of operations. We'll see how far along I get with it.

I don't remember if I mentioned it before, but I have a problem: I want to get GTA V for PC, which doesn't release until January. Fine. Here's the issue: The money that has been allocated might be staring down a Steam Holiday Sale before the pre-order becomes available. Which would really mess up my plans. See, there's a few games I've been pining for recently as well, most notably Chronicles Of Mystara (the old Dungeons & Dragons arcade beat 'em up) and Scribblenauts Unlimited. There's also Shovel Knight, The Stanley Parable, Democracy 3, DuckTales Remastered (the remake of the old NES game), Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon (an homage to '80s action films and Saturday morning cartoons) so, yeah. A Steam sale would probably drain my funds. We'll see how it goes.

My PC's: A history of Dakka's time playing PC games

I guess you could call it that. Here's all the PC's I've had over the years (including family PC's that weren't technically mine). I'll try to recall the details as best I can. Also something of an age test, proof that I am over 30 years of age :)

IBM Intel 286-pased PC (x2)

These were the first sort-of family computers we had (I supposed technically it was the TI-99/4A but that was more of a game console). They were actually issued by my dad's employer and he used them for work, but he had a few games on them. Initially Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and Family Feud (and Leisure Suit Larry, but I wasn't allowed to play for reasons you can probably figure out) which I was terrible at. The first one had an amber screen monitor with a (built into the monitor!) 5.25" floppy drive (remember floppy disks? Hell, remember 5.25" floppies?) while the second one had a 3.5" floppy drive and color monitor. They didn't even run Windows. They ran MS-DOS (Remember DOS? The last remnants of DOS can be found in modern Windows as the Command Prompt), and an early one at that (no later than v3.3). The second one got a couple more games added to it. There was a Space Invaders-esque shooter called Galactix, which basically had to be reinstalled every time I ran it, and Eye Of The Beholder 2: The Legend Of Darkmoon (based on Dungeons & Dragons), which after a time just quit. So not a great gaming experience, but you have to start somewhere. I'm not sure what happened to the first one, but my dad gave the second one to someone else in the family who upgraded it to DOS 6.22 and even installed Windows 3.1 (which ran very poorly).

Packard Bell Intel 486-based PC

This was the first family computer (in the days before everyone got their own) my mother bought after my parents divorced. I believe it was my freshman year of high school (so 1994) and that was part of the reason she got it, that it would be a helpful tool for school. This was the family computer through my high school years.It ran an Intel 486 DX2 running at 66 MHz (Yes, MHz, there was a time before GHz speed multi-core processors) with 4 MB of RAM (yep, we didn't have GB of RAM at the time), later upgraded to 8 MB, a 420 MB hard drive (no GB hard drives either? Damn! Wait, those are in TB now...), a 2x CD-ROM drive, and a 14.4 kbps modem (You see, kids, back before broadband internets, we had to use a device called a modem, which dialed a phone number through your land line to the service provider... wait, you don't know what a land line is either? Ah, forget it...). This was still before discrete GPU's were a thing. I think it had a Cirrus Logic video chip. It ran MS-DOS 6.20 and Windows For Workgroups 3.11. While it came with a few games, the most notable of which was one called Mega Race, this is the system where I got started PC gaming and began to morph into the computer geek standing before you typing this blog today. The first PC games I ever purchased were Falcon 3.0 (which led to getting the full Falcon Gold package that Christmas) and the shareware for a little game you might have heard of called DOOM (remember shareware? OK, kids, back then we didn't really have Internet and free downloadable demos and such. Shareware was basically getting a demo for a small fee. DOOM shareware, which contained the first of 3 4 episodes, cost $5). I added more games down the line, to my mother's dismay. Warcraft II, TIE Fighter, and Mechwarrior 2: Mercenaries, plus the demo of Duke Nukem 3D (included on the disc with the very first issue of boot magazine, the precursor to the excellent MaximumPC). Unfortunately it was tough getting to play on a computer that had to be shared with everyone else, plus it aged pretty quickly. I had a few games that I bought that I pretty much never played due to aging hardware (Betrayal In Antara and Blood come to mind. I think I left those with a friend).

Side note: I remember spending around $70 on a shiny new 33.6 kbps modem towards the end of this computer's usefulness. We were using AOL and I figured this would help out, you know, faster speeds and all. First, Packard Bell apparently used motherboards with insanely tight expansion slots (this was the old ISA architecture, for the record). Even tapping it with a hammer didn't help. Second, once we finally got the damn thing in, I was never able to get it to work. These were the days before Plug and Play (well, technically Plug and Play existed, but it was in its infancy so it wasn't too reliable), so you often had to manually deal with I/O conflicts. It had a conflict with the old modem, unsurprisingly, but I couldn't just go and rip it out as it was also the sound card. So money wasted. thanks, Packard Bell.

Gateway Intel Pentium-based PC

My dad got this in 1996. It ran a Pentium processor clocking in at 166 MHz (insanely fast at the time), with 16 MB of EDO RAM, a 2 GB hard drive (if memory serves anyway), a 4 MB Matrox Millenium GPU (THIS IS A THING NOW!), a 28.8 kbps modem, and either a 4x or 8x CD-ROM drive. It ran Windows 95, the last Windows OS where DOS mattered (it was still hanging around in Windows 98 but it was barely relevant).

My time on this computer was limited. While an intelligent person, my work ethic in school, well, sucked. So I was often heavily restricted on video game time outside of summer. Still, I managed to get some games on there. Mechwarrior 2 (with the Ghost Bear's Legacy expansion), Quake, and Police Quest 4 come to mind. My dad had Fury3, Eurofighter 2000 and Myst (I hate Myst). I think I had worked my way up to Star Colonel in MW2 (yes, that stood for Mechwarrior 2 years before Modern Warfare 2 came out. Deal with it). Anyway, my first online gaming experience came on this PC, in the form of Multiplayer BattleTech:Solaris.

eMachines AMD Athlon-based PC

My mom got this after I graduated high school. It rocked an AMD K6-2 at 300 MHz (later upgraded to the 350 MHz version), 32 MB of SDRAM (later upgraded to 96 MB and then 128 MB), a 2 MB ATi 3D Rage  GPU (later upgraded to a 16 MB 3dfx Voodoo 3), a 2 GB hard drive (later had a 20 GB drive added in), a 24X CD-ROM drive, and a 56k modem. It ran Windows 98. I don't think I had too many games on here, mainly Baldur's Gate, but after my brother got it he used it as a gaming system. Quake II and Quake III were featured. I believe he had the original Thief as well.

Compaq Pentium-based Laptop PC

Bought this cheap off ebay. Pentium 133 MHz, 16 MB RAM, 1 GB hard drive. Swappable floppy drive and 4x CD-ROM. Mostly played old DOS games on it. Sound didn't always work.

Compaq Intel Pentium II-based Laptop PC

My mother bought this sometime after the emachines. I'm having a hard time remembering the specs, which is sad since I used to have it, but I think it was a Pentium II at 333 MHz, 156 MB of SDRAM (which is a weird number, I know, but for some reason that's what happened), a 10 or 20 GB hard drive, CD-ROM, and a 56k modem. I messed around with it a bit but mostly stayed away from gaming. Probably explains why I can't remember the specs/

IBM Pentium II-based PC

My then-girlfriend's father had this while we were living with him. Pentium II 400 MHz (I think), 64 MB of SDRAM, 2 MB ATi 3D Rage II (later added in a 4 MB 3dfx Voodoo as a strict 3D card. Yes, that's how it was done then). I forget how big the hard drive was, and how fast the CD-ROM drive was, plus a 56k modem. I added an external CD burner as well. It ran Windows 98.

Starcraft, X-Wing, TIE Fighter, and X-Wing Alliance, especially notable as this is when I began online multiplayer for real (joining The Rebel Alliance, originally as DashRendar01, then changing my name to Solid_Snake). I also had MechCommander, Diablo and a few other games.

HP Pavilion Intel Pentium 4-based PC

Aha! Now I remember the model! This was truly my first computer, as I bought it myself. I even remember the date: September 11, 2001. I think the towers had just fallen. Anyway, this was something of a mistake, as, possibly being distracted by the days events, I walked into CompUSA and bought more or less the first package we came across. It had a Pentium 4 running 1.3 GHz, 128 MB of PC600 RDRAM (Remember RDRAM?), later upgraded to 256 MB, a 32 MB nVidia TNT2 (later upgraded to a 32 MB GeForce 2 MX400, then a 64 MB GeForce 2 MX400. I'll explain in a bit), a 40 GB hard drive, a 48x CD burner and 16x DVD-ROM (remember when mulitple optical drives were a thing? Hell, they aren't necessarily even standard anymore), and a 56k modem. It ran Windows Millenium, later upgraded to Windows XP. It also included a 17" monitor, printer, keyboard (which I actually still have) and mouse.

This computer did give me some problems. The original had a sticky power button, and one day it stuck completely. I had just upgraded to 256 MB of RAM and to the 32 MB GeForce 2. My girlfriend asked why I replaced a 32 MB graphics card with a 32 MB graphics card and had to explain that not all GPU's are created equal. Anyway, so I had a replacement plan with CompUSA. I brought it in and had a replacement within a week. Unfortunately, it was back to stock. So I trudged on with the replacement as-is until the hard drive failed. The next replacement got the upgrades, albeit with a 64 MB GeForce 2.

It was also briefly used as a Freelancer server.

Dell Dimension 4600 Pentium 4-based PC

Not only the model, but the number too! My soon-to-be-wife helped me get this shortly before our first anniversary. Pentium 4 3.0 GHz with Hyper-Threading, 1 GB of PC2700 SDRAM (later upgraded to 2 GB), 80 GB hard drive (later adding a 40 GB hard drive as well), 128 MB nVidia GeForce FX 5200 (later upgraded to a 256 MB GeForce 6600), a Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS sound card, 19" CRT monitor (it was 19" CRT, 17" CRT or 15" LCD. Which would you have chosen?), keyboard (which I still have) and mouse (I do tend to go through mice). Also a 48x CD burner and 16x DVD-ROM. Ran Windows XP. Notable as the last computer I purchased with a floppy drive and modem. At the time I couldn't quite bring myself to give them up, and they were cheap options. Of course, I ended up never using them. The floppy drive was eventually removed as I needed its power adapter for the second hard drive. I eventually bought a 1 TB external hard drive as well.

HP Pavilion Pentium 3-based PC

Got this when my mom no longer needed it. Pretty much the same as my other HP, but with a 933 MHz Pentium 3 and PC100 SDRAM. I added in a GeForce MX-4000 card as well. Ran Windows Millenium but upgraded to Windows XP.The only PC I've killed in a fit of rage (it was pissing me off and I slammed my fist onto it. Did you know hard drives are sensitive to shock? I do).

Dell XPS M170 Pentium-M based Laptop PC

I helped a friend of mine purchase this as his first new computer in several years. It has a Pentium-M 2.2 GHz processor, 2 GB of SDRAM, a 256 MB nVidia GeForce GTX 7800M GPU, a 120 GB 7200 RPM hard drive, 16x DVD burner, and a 17" 1920x1200 screen. Runs Windows XP Professional. This computer eventually became my wife's when my friend opted to buy an Alienware laptop several months later (never got my hands on that one though). It was pretty solid for a while, though one of the weakness of laptops (limited ability to upgrade) eventually caught up to it. Had a couple of issues that Dell covered under warranty (not impressed with their customer service btw) when first, one of the fans went out and it would overheat (took 2 weeks of telling this to Dell before they finally said the fan and heatsink needed to be replaced. Duh.) and after that the GPU failed (Dell was much more agreeable this time). We still have it although it doesn't see much use anymore (I may start using it here and there as it's the only Windows XP system we have now).

Gateway DX4300 AMD Phenom II-based PC

This is a computer my friend got as a backup when his other computer was down for repairs. He gave it to me when I built him a new system. It has an AMD Phenom II x4 running at 2.66 GHz (it's a quad core, my first multicore system) with 8 GB DDR2 SDRAM, a 1 TB 5400 rpm hard drive, an ATi Radeon HD 3200 (upgraded to an 896 MB nVidia GeForce GTX 260) and a 16x DVD burner. It runs Windows 7. This eventually became my oldest son's computer while he was living with us and is now sort of my youngest so's computer (he uses it to watch WALL-E every night) and is the guest gaming computer.

Gateway LX Series Intel Core 2 Quad-based PC

This was my friend's computer after he got rid of his Alienware. It briefly became my wife's computer to replace the aging laptop. It has a Core 2 Quad 2.66 GHz, 8 GB DDR2 SDRAM, a 650 GB hard drive and a nVidia GeForce GT 120. It ran Windows Vista. It started having an issue with randomly rebooting so it's been cannibalized.

Omega Game Tech Ed Mk.I Intel Core i5-based PC

First system I ever built. My friend decided he was all set with off-the-shelf desktops and wanted a custom built system. So we took to Newegg. It has an Intel Core i5-750 2.66 GHz with 8 GB DDR3 1600 SDRAM, 1.5 TB Western Digital Caviar Black 7200 RPM hard drive, 1280 MB GeForce GTX 470 graphics card, all on top of a Biostar motherboard, powered by a Cooler Master 600W power supply, with a DVD burner, all wrapped up in a Lian Li aluminum mid-tower case (with side window and blue LED front fan). Runs Windows 7 Home Premium. I eventually added in a Cooler Master Hyper 212+ CPU cooler with 2 fans and overclocked the CPU to 3.3 GHz, although it apparently didn't stick (I blame the crummy motherboard. Lesson learned). This was my PC for a time when my friend decided he wanted a laptop as his backup computer, and is my wife's current system.

Omega Game Tech Ed Mk.II Intel Core i7-based PC

Second system I ever built; based on a Maximum PC design. My friend wanted an upgrade, so to Newegg we went. Ordered an Intel Core i7-2600 (sadly not the 2600K which allows overclocking) with 8 GB of DDR3 1600 SDRAM, a 2 TB Western Digital Caviar Black hard drive, a 120 GB OCZ Vertex 2 SSD, a 1280 MB nVidia GeForce GTX 570, all on top of an Asus motherboard, powered by a Corsair 750W 80-plus Gold certified power supply, all wrapped up in a Cooler Master HAF 922 mid-tower case with a Blu-Ray/DVD burner combo drive. Ran Windows 7 Professional. Eventually became my PC (which I am still using) when my friend decided he wanted another laptop instead. Not the same computer when it started; the stock CPU cooler crapped out and was replaced by a Rocketfish cooler (best I could do on short notice), the SSD died within a few months (never replaced, since it was a nice performance boost but was not mission critical), the hard disk failed (replaced by a 1 TB Seagate Barracuda 7200 RPM hard drive; not a big deal since I still have the external drive), and it runs Windows 7 Ultimate (which I had purchased for a PC that was ultimately never built).

Extra Life update and Power Rangers follow-up

Damn, didn't realize how long it's been.

Anyways, mysterysquick and I had our Extra Life live stream last weekend. Great fun, and this far raised $430 combined for Hasbro Children's Hospital! So thanks to everyone who donated and/or watched, we really appreciate it. I am currently working on a highlights reel to put on my YouTube channel.

I promised a follow up to my Power Rangers blog, so here are my favorite team up episodes:

Honorable Mention:"Shell Shocked" (Power Rangers In Space)

Doesn't really count since the Space Rangers aren't teaming up with another Power Rangers team. Instead, in a bid to remain relevant, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the rather sad live action ones from the Ninja Turtles series) appear first as mind-controlled villains, then helping the heroes. It actually ended up being surprisingly entertaining

5. "To The Tenth power/The Power Of Pink" (Power Rangers Lost Galaxy)

This two-parter teams up the Space Rangers with the Galaxy Rangers and kicked off the (usually) annual tradition of teaming up This Year's Rangers with Last Year's Rangers. As you might have guessed, the Pink Rangers feature rather prominently, and (SPOILER) culminates in the death of Kendrix Morgan, the Lost Galaxy Pink Ranger (first Ranger to die in the line of duty; handled bloodlessly to keep it kid friendly).

4. "Reinforcements From The Future" (Power Rangers Wild Force)

This one (might also have been a two-part episode but I haven't seen it in a while) brings the Time Force Rangers in to help the Wild Force Rangers counter a new threat: Mutant-Orgg hybrids. It also teams them up with Bennett Ransik, the villain from Commando Time Force, who is now a good guy it appears.  After the action dies down we are treated to a nice little get-together among the new friends.

3. "Thunder Storm" (Power Rangers Dino Thunder)

The Dino Thunder Rangers team up with the Ninja Storm Rangers. But first, Mesagog and Lothor team up and mind-control the Ninja Storm Rangers (at least the Wind Ninja Rangers), giving us some awesome Ranger vs Ranger action. It also featured one of (in my opinion) one of the most epic morphing sequences outside of an anniversary show. Plus we get to see villain vs villain!

2. "Once A Ranger" (Power Rangers Operation Overdrive 15th Anniversary Special)

This one was overshadowed by the fact that it took place during what was arguably the worst Power Rangers series ever. Rita and Zedd's (i.e. the villains from Mighty Morphin') son Thrax (no idea when this happened) is back for revenge and manages to de-power the Overdrive Rangers. Sentinel Knight brings in a team of veteran Rangers (Ninja Storm Blue Ranger Tori, Dino Thunder Yellow Ranger Kira, Mystic Force Green Ranger Xander, SPD Green-but-promoted-to-Red Ranger Bridge, and most awesomely, Mighty Morphin' Black Ranger 2, Adam). In addition, Alpha 6 makes a return to bring the Morphing Grid back online and restore the Overdrive Rangers. This is also probably my all-time favorite morphing sequence, with each classic Ranger getting their moment.

1. "Forever Red" (Power Rangers Wild Force 10th Anniversary Special)

The remnants pf the Machine Empire from Power Rangers Zeo (in this case, they are old Big Bad Beetle Borg costumes) return to resurrect Lord Zedd's Zord Serpentera. Word of this reaches Tommy (who is somehow retaining his Zeo powers) and calls in the Red Rangers (and a Sixth Ranger who happens to wear red) to take them down. This was originally supposed to be a two-part episode; the second part was to feature each Ranger call in their Zords. this was nixed due to money concerns, as the Zords were no longer featured in the toy line and would have been expensive to produce. However, what we got was still awesome, featuring:

Jason (Mighty Morphin' Red Ranger) Yep, Jason is back and he kicks ass!
Tommy (Zeo Red) As opposed to Mighty Morphin Green. Or Mighty Morphin' White. Prior to Dino Thunder Black.
TJ (Turbo Red) Another former Tommy role.
Andros (Space Red) Also advance scout
Leo (Galaxy Red) Late to the party
Carter (Lightspeed Red) Sent to retrieve Cole
Wes (Time Force Red) Got a job at his dad's company
Eric (Time Force Quantum Ranger) Got to ride along because he happens to also wear red
Aurico (Alien Red) Space Ninja Ranger hitched a ride with Leo
Cole (Wild Force) The hero of the story for the most part. Gets showed up by Jason early on.

Omega Game Tech rides again!

So since you're probably confused by that title, Omega Game Tech is what a friend and I came up with as a name for a PC repair business with an emphasis on gaming computers. I had my sister design some logos, and we built a couple of systems, and that's as far as it went.

My friend built his system and assisted with building another for a mutual friend (and is actually the PC I am using right now). I built a prior system for that friend (which my wife is currently using. This guy likes new computers.) as well as a system for another friend (a very budget build) and that was it. Until this week.

My sister-in-law wanted to get a budget gaming PC for her son's birthday (he turns 13 tomorrow if memory serves). She asked her oldest son (he's almost 24 and a bit of a geek himself) about it who directed her toward me. So after getting the budget and realizing I had to work in a monitor, I came up with this.

So not a lot of legwork for me, simply picking a MaximumPC bundle on Newegg. But it came with nice discounts and allowed me to work within the budget. For those who don't want to look, here's the parts list:

• Case: NZXT Source 210 Elite White (aka Imperial Stormtrooper)
• CPU: AMD FX-6300 Vishera 6-core APU Black Edition 3.5 GHz
• GPU: Sapphire DUAL-X AMD Radeon R7 265 2GB
• Motherboard: Biostar TA970 AM3+ ATX motherboard
• PSU: Corsair CX-500 500-watt power supply
• RAM: Crucial Ballistix Sport DDR3-1600 8GB
• SSD: Crucial MX100 256GB
• HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB 7200 RPM
• Optical Drive: Samsung 24x DVD burner
• CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO
• Monitor (not pictured): Samsung 22" 1080p LED monitor
• OS: Windows 8.1 64-bit

I'm mostly happy with the parts. The motherboard is not one that I am crazy about. I used a Biostar on the first computer I built. It's been solid but is sorely lacking in some areas (like overclocking). But again, discounted. Fits in the budget. Also I prefer Intel CPUs and nVidia GPUs but this is a budget build so you take what you can afford, and getting a 6-core proc for that money is not entirely a bad thing.

So I got started. Prep the case:

Start by installing the motherboard standoffs. It doesn't bolt down directly to the case; it rides on these little guys. This case came with a tool to help screw them in tight; if your case lacks such a tool, get some needlenose pliers.

Then I prepped the mobo.

It's easier to install the CPU and RAM right now while the board is on a flat surface rather than standing on the case.

This is the most nerve-wracking part of building a PC for me as CPUs are pretty sensitive and often the most expensive part (though not necessarily in a gaming computer, especially a budget build. That's reserved for the GPU).

RAM is easy, just unlock the clips and snap them into place. Now, CPUs typically come with a heatsink and fan as well.

I have to say, AMD's stock heatsink is beefier than Intel's, as is the fan. That said, we also have the Hyper 212 EVO, which is the best bang-for-the-buck heatsink on the market right now. So there's only one thing to do with the stock cooler.

Into the trash (in this case the diaper pail).

I then snapped the rear I/O shield onto the case.

I was suprised as a lot of cases come with one, which then has to be discarded so that it can be replaced with the one that comes with the motherboard. Thanks for saving me a step NZXT!

Then I bolted in the motherboard.

The mobo actually has a bracket already installed to accomodate the stock AMD cooler (Intel coolers use plastic pushpins that snap into the motherboard; bravo AMD for having a sturdier cooler as well). This had to go to make room for the Hyper 212.

You can see once that was gone I installed the backplate. Then I installed the graphics card.

I am pleased to see that it came with a dual fan cooler. I have used EVGA boards in the past (I mentioned my loyalty to nVidia right?) but I will likely look for a GeForce card with a better cooler next time.

I popped in the DVD burner next.

Just pop off the faceplate on the case, slide it in and bolt it down (it's somewhat toolless as the brackets lock it into place as well). I then started getting a bit lazy with the camera. I installed the HDD and PSU.

I skipped the SSD for the time being as it turns out Crucial doesn't include a drive bay adapter (my OCZ did, but it also crapped out within 6 months...) Now it was time for the Hyper 212. Start with the thermal paste (I use Arctic Silver 5).

Just a little BB-sized dab. Now for the beast.

That's no moon....

It comes with a 120mm fan (set to push out the back, venting the hot air; you could also reverse the rear case fan and set the Hyper 212 fan to push cold air onto the heat sink if you wish). A second fan is pretty cheap and works insanely well for what amounts to a $50 cooler (push-pull is very nice; I use it on my wife's computer with the old Hyper 212+).

Once I got a drive bay converter I installed the SSD. I had to move the hard drive as the power cables needed more space to work. I connected the SATA cables, all power cables, all the headers I could (there's sadly a USB 3.0 port on the front of the case that went unused as there was no motherboard connection; perhaps there's an adapter I can get to connect it to USB 2.0 but that kind of defeats the purpose...). Unfortunately i didn't have time to pretty up the cables so it looks like a serpent's nest. If we ever install front fans (there's room for 4 more fans on the case) I will have to try rerouting some underneath the motherboard tray and tie up the rest.

Booted up with no issues and started to install Winblows Windows!

The Omega Game Tech TK-421 (ok, even I thought that was kind of lame...)

A couple of notes:

I did not connect the hard drive SATA cable right away. I read a while back that Windows Vista would get a little wonky if it saw two drives and would install the OS on one drive and the system volume on the other. This means if one drive was removed (say, installing a larger capacity HDD) it rendered the system unusable and required Windows to be reinstalled. It may have been fixed but I still take the precaution (it takes no time to connect the cable afterwards).

The Hyper 212 EVO ended up a little tall for this case. Everything seemed to fit flush as far as I can tell so perhaps the case is not as deep as reported. Others have reported this problem while still others find it fit just fine. So keep that in mine; you ideally want a pretty deep case for a skyscraper-style heat ink (and you want this heatsink). My PC uses a Cooler Master HAF 922, and I highly recommend it as it is huge and will more than easily accept it. I went with the NZXT Totally-Not-A-Stormtrooper as it was part of a discounted package. I recommend Corsair cases if you have the money and Cooler Master cases if you don't.