Encom releases Space Paranoids online [Tron Legacy ARG]
The Tron Legacy viral marketing has expanded; Space Paranoids (a game from the original Tron movie) has been released by 'Encom' as a browser based game. 42 Entertainment and Disney Interactive paired up to release an online, Unity-based version of the arcade game featured in the original movie. It's a first person tank simulation game where you have to avoid enemy tanks and Recognizers. Just don't think you can be the best at Space Paranoids Online, that spot is held by Flynn himself. Space Paranoids online is a great game and even if you haven't participated in the ARG you should give it a try.
If you want to check out the Tron Legacy ARG some more, check out Flynn Lives; from there you can try and get your own Encom Employee badge to access the Encom Employee Intranet page. Encom is the corporation that Flynn worked for in the original movie and has flourished to become a huge company in the sequel Tron Legacy.The Encom Group 7 badges are professionally made and look a bit like this (this is not my badge).
MekTek releases Mechwarrior 4 Mercenaries- How to install it
Looking for a way to install MekTek's Mechwarrior 4? Head to to "Plan C".
It seems that MekTek FINALLY got through all of the legal hassle of convincing Microsoft that MechWarrior 4 should be free. The problem is that their release of the free MechWarrior 4 is having some serious issues. MekTek's website is still down after being on the wrong side of a mad grab for files. According to Battletech.com, MekTek logged about 100,000 unique hits for MechWarrior 4: Mercanaries before their 'heavy duty' server couldn't take it any more and committed seppuku. You might think "well, if I got the files via a handy external torrent, I'm in the clear, right?" WRONG. It seems that MekTek's auto updater is coded to check their website for some stupid reason to apply patches. So good luck installing the game or patches when their servers are down. (Although they did fix this for any future patches).
If you are still having issues with MekTek, you can use Plan B: Dwell On It has a hadny link & guide to grabbing and installing the game. Then, you just have to let MekTek's MTX launcher do it's deal to patch away the CD checks.
If you do NOT want to deal with MekTek's MTX launcher bullshit (plan C), here is a work around for you. This is done by the very hardworking Retro-Future Rodent on SA. Caveat: This only works with MekTek patches 17-20, but will allow you to bypass MTX completely.
You'll NEED the "mechwarrior4mercenaries.all.to.51.03.01.0017.mtx" file for this, but neither of
the other .mtx patch files are needed.
I'm also including a registry file that you'll need to edit one of line in notepad. Change:
"MTXGamesPath"="E:\\mektek"
to where you've installed mektek. Hopefully with this patch you'll never need to have run MTX,
but anyone who has doesn't want to mess up their installation should change that before opening it.The rest is simple enough:
Open mechwarrior4mercenaries.all.to.51.03.01.0017.mtx with a program that deals with zips. I use 7zip.
Make a folder somewhere on your hard-drive, I used E:\Mechwarrior.
Copy all the files inside the "base" folder into the folder you just made. This can take a while, you're moving just over 2GbCopy all the files and folders from my patch zip into the folder that contains MW4Mercs.exe
Run patch.bat and wait for it to finish. Should only take a minute or so and will inform you as each file is patched.
Copy everything in PATCH and paste it over the contents of your Mechwarrior directory, overwriting files.
Run Mechwarrior4.regYou should now be patched and ready to play, you can delete /patch/, patch.bat and xdelta. I've done some test installations and it's worked fine, allowing me to get right in, make a player and join a multiplayer server each time.
I only have access to XP Home though so anyone with Vista or 7 may well have to look at the commands in patch.bat and run them manually if it shits itself in either OS, that or give me the money to buy a copy of 7.
Reports are that his patch works on Windows 7, so give it a try and see if it works for you.
I have mirrored the MekTek patch files that Retro-Future Rodent provided. Go forth and enjoy the bounty of MekTek's free MechWarrior 4: Mercenaries (multiplayer or singleplayer).
Ubisoft sees DRM as “vital” to success for Splinter Cell Conviction
This is really dis-hearting to see;Splinter Cell Conviction’s Maxime Béland is defending Ubisoft's "always on DRM" as vital to the success of the game. “We consider that protecting our PC games is vital to our business and will allow us to continue investing in the development of creative and innovative games on the PC platform,” even though the DRM has been nothing but failure for legitimate customers for Assasins Creed. The public has been very outspoken about Ubisoft's DRM failure and it's surprising to see that the DRM is going to stay. When you design a system that DDoS's itself, what do you expect?
As always with super restrictive DRM, it's the legit customers that get screwed. Pirates cracked the game before it was even released, although there are still some issues with Assasins Creed (the game downloads bits of data for each level). This DRM also completely destroys any First Sale rights since the game is tied permanently to your Ubisoft account. The game looks super fun, but I will wait to play it on a Xbox 360
COD Modern Warfare 2 Free Multiplayer on Steam
If you haven't played Modern Warfare 2 online multiplayer yet, this weekend is your lucky day. Steam is offering a 3 day pass to online multiplayer this weekend starting sometime today (April 8th).The game will be free to play presumably until sometime on Sunday evening; there isn't a specified starting or ending time. Check the Store section of steam for the pre-load link and start downloading.
I finally get to try out some Modern Warfare 2 multiplayer; I'm still not happy about the lack of dedicated servers but at least I can try it for free. I played the single player on the console at the local game center, but I was unimpressed with much of it: Why helllooo red jam smeared all over the screen.. why couldn't that have gone the route of L4D2 blood smears?
I'm going to give multiplayer a solid try, but I'm not expecting it to change my mind on purchasing Modern Warfare 2. Plus, I'm probably going to get rocked by all the people with their weapons unlocked.