Have you all played Dune 2? In 1992 that masterpiece started this genre called RTS. The game gives player an outstanding feeling, combining the events on the battlefield with some nice music which is calm when there are no gunshots and which become very aggressive on a big fight, raising your adrenaline.
Then, Blizzard came with Warcraft I (Orcs&Humans) which was a good alternative for all those who finished Dune 2. Unlike Dune 2, Warcraft had multiplayer support giving new perspectives in the RTS world.
Warcraft II came 2 years later, introducing Battle.net, where you could find many players to fight with. It had better graphic and map editor and much more campaigns.
Other Game companies were making RTS games like: Dark Reign, Total Annihilation, Age Of Empires, etc. But most of them were bad clones of those existing, one of the only with new elements was Age Of Empires, which introduced something from Civilization giving the game an unique feeling.
Z was good, came in with a new idea of territory control instead of buildings construction for getting units, but without multiplayer, the game did not live long.
And then the revolutionary Starcraft came out, many believe that even nowadays it is still the best game ever. One of the best AI ever, everything you need for multiplayer, supporting up to 8 players in the same time. But above all, the game had 3 completely different races to choose from. For the first time, they were completely different in both looking and administration/strategy. So now it was like 3 in 1 game, after you play with Zerg, you get the Protoss and you feel like you are in a new game.
Rise of Nations, Age of Wonders, Empire Earth, Earth 2140, War of the Worlds, etc etc.. All these were a complete waste of time from the developers.
However I should not miss Dungeon Keeper which came with new elements and new feeling but the games lack in units' AI, specially on multiplayer when you meet the opponent and things get too chaotic.
Settlers series is good, but has too many bugs and some problems in battle where you cannot control your soldiers well, giving you the feeling that you are not really in control of your army. Kinda frustrating.
After Warcraft III - Reign of Chaos which brought in some RPG elements into RTS making the game attractive, no other strategy game had success. Why? Because the developers are working only on graphics and only on bringing new units, 100 new units, 1000 new units, addons with even more units, maps but nothing new in the game engine or in the strategy.
They all are obsessed in introducing 3D in Real Time Strategies and even Turn Based ones. Hellooo!!! People who play such games are not very interested in the 3D elements, they want something new in the game, to make it attractive!!! Waste your 3D on shooters and RPGs where people might appreciate it, but not on strategies.
Some of you probably wonder why I did not mention Command&Conquer series. It's because they are not good, they are Dune2 clones bringing only new units, nothing new in the feeling part of the game. A good strategy game is tasted in 2 phases: 1) You explore the game and it's features playing single player scenarios or campaigns, unfortunately after some time you get bored. 2) You start making strategies and play with other players always improving your style and never getting bored because the games turns out into a sport like ping-pong or chess or even soccer from the coach side of view. The games which are poor at 2nd phase, die fast. Therefore I would make a top 3 of best RTS ever:
1) Starcraft
2) Warcraft III
3) Dune 2
Yea, yea, no multiplayer(at least not in the original version) on Dune 2, but it deserves it's place since it was the first of his type.
Friday, June 02, 2006
World Of Warcraft how to make cash tips
World Of Warcraft how to make cash tips
The only place where you can double your money in 2 days is Auction House, where you can make profit even without farming, only with a few silver to invest on cheap listed items which you will resell later for higher prices. You can also go for speculations between Gadgetzan AH and your usual AH. Farming such as Scarlet Monastery is only about (or mostly about) luck and waste of time, therefore is not recommended.
Here is a list with 7 easy ways of getting money:
1) Get Enchanting and Tailoring as professions. First go farm some linen, wool, silk, etc. Then make as many green items as possible. Disenchant them and put the essences and dusts on AH. It will take you no fee for listing, so you can list for high prices without losing money if they dont sell.
2) Farm elementals. If they are low level they will drop elemental fire, elemental earth, elemental water or elemental air which are used on many professions and will sell good on AH. Higher level elementals will drop heart of fire, core of earth, globe of water and breath of wind. All these also sell good on AH. And if you decide to go for the highest level elementals, you have chance to get essence of fire, essence of earth, essence of air or essence of water. A single such essence could sell around 10 gold or higher, depending on the server where you play.
3) Go to AH and buy cheap green items(without buyout, just bid on those listed for low) and you will eventually get a lot of them for a small amount of money. Disenchant then all and list the resulted materials back on AH.
4) Get Herbalism and Alchemy professions. Watch the AH on your server to see if herbs or potions sell better. Even low level herbs such as Briarthorn could sell for 40s a peace(not 1 stack). Always list the herbs in the quantity of 1 and not 20 stacks. If some potions are selling good(like frost oil) go gather as many herbs possible for those potions and make them.
5) Are you a herbalist? Do you know what Ghost Mushroom is? Do you know that on some servers you can sell a single piece for 1gold+ ? Go to the dungeon in The Hinterlands and gather as many as you can, this will be one of the quickest way to make money. While you wait for the herbs to respawn, go kill some trolls, they have chance to drop Wildvine, which also sells for 1 gold on most servers. Some of those troll camps also have treasures.
6) Planning to get a mount? Don't forget to get a seargent pvp rank first and honored state so you can get it much cheaper. Others which are not pvp rank or honored need mount? you can buy for them and also keep some cash for yourself since it will make it worth for both parties.
7) Get Skinning profession but always keep in mind that you must stay as much possible on areas where there are many beasts(The Barrens, Thousand Needles, Desolace, Swamp of Sorrows, Dustwallow Marsh, Ungoro Crater). Hunting the yellow turtles from Hinterlands would be very easy and you could get lots of turtle scales, which would sell good on AH.
Do you want more? Check Tips and Tricks or go to the forums at http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com
The only place where you can double your money in 2 days is Auction House, where you can make profit even without farming, only with a few silver to invest on cheap listed items which you will resell later for higher prices. You can also go for speculations between Gadgetzan AH and your usual AH. Farming such as Scarlet Monastery is only about (or mostly about) luck and waste of time, therefore is not recommended.
Here is a list with 7 easy ways of getting money:
1) Get Enchanting and Tailoring as professions. First go farm some linen, wool, silk, etc. Then make as many green items as possible. Disenchant them and put the essences and dusts on AH. It will take you no fee for listing, so you can list for high prices without losing money if they dont sell.
2) Farm elementals. If they are low level they will drop elemental fire, elemental earth, elemental water or elemental air which are used on many professions and will sell good on AH. Higher level elementals will drop heart of fire, core of earth, globe of water and breath of wind. All these also sell good on AH. And if you decide to go for the highest level elementals, you have chance to get essence of fire, essence of earth, essence of air or essence of water. A single such essence could sell around 10 gold or higher, depending on the server where you play.
3) Go to AH and buy cheap green items(without buyout, just bid on those listed for low) and you will eventually get a lot of them for a small amount of money. Disenchant then all and list the resulted materials back on AH.
4) Get Herbalism and Alchemy professions. Watch the AH on your server to see if herbs or potions sell better. Even low level herbs such as Briarthorn could sell for 40s a peace(not 1 stack). Always list the herbs in the quantity of 1 and not 20 stacks. If some potions are selling good(like frost oil) go gather as many herbs possible for those potions and make them.
5) Are you a herbalist? Do you know what Ghost Mushroom is? Do you know that on some servers you can sell a single piece for 1gold+ ? Go to the dungeon in The Hinterlands and gather as many as you can, this will be one of the quickest way to make money. While you wait for the herbs to respawn, go kill some trolls, they have chance to drop Wildvine, which also sells for 1 gold on most servers. Some of those troll camps also have treasures.
6) Planning to get a mount? Don't forget to get a seargent pvp rank first and honored state so you can get it much cheaper. Others which are not pvp rank or honored need mount? you can buy for them and also keep some cash for yourself since it will make it worth for both parties.
7) Get Skinning profession but always keep in mind that you must stay as much possible on areas where there are many beasts(The Barrens, Thousand Needles, Desolace, Swamp of Sorrows, Dustwallow Marsh, Ungoro Crater). Hunting the yellow turtles from Hinterlands would be very easy and you could get lots of turtle scales, which would sell good on AH.
Do you want more? Check Tips and Tricks or go to the forums at http://forums.worldofwarcraft.com
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
used reese hitch
Tom was forced to admit today he needs a new reese hitch for his Wolkswagen, as his old one finally gave in. The problem is not only he is short on money, but so am i these days, so he might end up buying a used reese hitch, even i advise against it. Usually, that is. I don't have so much experience with these technical/mechanical things, but i surely know an used object is less reliable than a new one. On the other hand, maybe if the quality of the reese hitch is good enough, it could overcome the fact that it's used, so it could be better than a new, low-quality one.
ford 24 foot motorhome
I saw an interesting announce today ( "Caravan International on Ford Transit chassis 1981 1993cc petrol. Aluminium CI body, 4/5 berth, shower/toilet, electric water pump, full cooker, 3W fridge, heater, dual battery, mains hook-up, fresh & waste water tanks, re-upholstered.Carefully restored in 2004. New brake calipers and cylinders, cambelt etc. MOT. Inspection welcome. Realistic price. More pics available. £1650" ), i'd really like to give it a try, although i only
have £1200 for this. I've always wanted a Ford Transit, and my
husband shares the same preference, but i have my doubts about it. We'll see... If it won't be this one, another 24 foot motorhome will wait for us out there, maybe at a higher price, tho. I won't
give up in this quest of finding the perfect motorhome for me and my family, which would give us the means of living the life of liberty we want.
have £1200 for this. I've always wanted a Ford Transit, and my
husband shares the same preference, but i have my doubts about it. We'll see... If it won't be this one, another 24 foot motorhome will wait for us out there, maybe at a higher price, tho. I won't
give up in this quest of finding the perfect motorhome for me and my family, which would give us the means of living the life of liberty we want.
Four Points by Sheraton Lexington (4points)
I wonder if u should choose Four Points by Sheraton Destin-Ft Walton Beach, in my next vacation's trip to Florida Panhandle.
I read a lot about it, it seems people love it (highly rated, very appreciated and all) and it does get all kind of awards lately, but i just think it's a tad boring; all the "nice oasis"stuff it's a bit stereotypic for my taste, but i don't think i can get more of such a "paradise" like idea of resort....whatever. At least i can plug my laptop there, and maybe , just maybe, i *could* ( hmmmm ) check out the pools there, hehe....and the drinks, yeah, mmmmmmm...I didn't understand where they got their name, though, i don't quite like it. What, 4 out of 5 points? Like that "11 euro" hotel, which, of course, didn't offer any rooms at 11 euro per night, gosh :P Much higher, much higer. Why the hell did they name it like
that, then? 4points, u say? or maybe the 4 points in mathematics: 3
that form a plane and 1 for whatever, u could draw a line that
intersects it. Or whatelse u want :P Ok, time to draw my wise conclusion for tonight-> my 4 points are (very original, huh?):
1. If i get the time, i'll go there
2. Can't be bothered to look for another hotel, this one seems fine
3. Maybe a cheaper one will do, tho?
4. Can't get my dog with me, that's bad :( They should understand we can't be separated , lol.
I read a lot about it, it seems people love it (highly rated, very appreciated and all) and it does get all kind of awards lately, but i just think it's a tad boring; all the "nice oasis"stuff it's a bit stereotypic for my taste, but i don't think i can get more of such a "paradise" like idea of resort....whatever. At least i can plug my laptop there, and maybe , just maybe, i *could* ( hmmmm ) check out the pools there, hehe....and the drinks, yeah, mmmmmmm...I didn't understand where they got their name, though, i don't quite like it. What, 4 out of 5 points? Like that "11 euro" hotel, which, of course, didn't offer any rooms at 11 euro per night, gosh :P Much higher, much higer. Why the hell did they name it like
that, then? 4points, u say? or maybe the 4 points in mathematics: 3
that form a plane and 1 for whatever, u could draw a line that
intersects it. Or whatelse u want :P Ok, time to draw my wise conclusion for tonight-> my 4 points are (very original, huh?):
1. If i get the time, i'll go there
2. Can't be bothered to look for another hotel, this one seems fine
3. Maybe a cheaper one will do, tho?
4. Can't get my dog with me, that's bad :( They should understand we can't be separated , lol.
domain name appraisal scam?
Recently I get this kind of emails from some guy(s) who says he is interested in my domains:
I need a proof that our price is fair. I hope you understand the
importance of this question.
Usually, people who are selling names or web sites, provide buyers with appraisals. This is a common practice and I'm not going to change this rule because it's the best way to protect an investment.
I heard many appraisal companies often made inaccurate appraisals. So I cannot accept appraisal from each and every site. I will only accept appraisals from independent appraisal companies I know and trust.
Reading responses from experienced sellers I was impressed by one
reply: "Many Internet users are not smart enough and popular domain brokers are using this fact to make money. They offer them cheap appraisal services. But if their customers would have something in their heads they'd understand experts could not make a professional research for $15-$20. These appraisals are made by machines. Easy money for such appraisers as http://www.Afternic.com and several other major brokers that offer cheap auto-generated appraisals. In my eyes, all services under $60-$65 are not manual and the results are generated by special scripts. I don't trust auto-generated appraisals."
The same is true for GoDaddy and SEDO. Their services are not manual.
They are just collecting money using their well-known names.
Thank you for understanding. I'm looking forward to do business with you.
He probably has some appraisal sites and wants me to appraise the domains there, then he will not gonna buy them anymore.
If he was such a big domain investor, he should know which domains to buy and which not, without any kind of appraisals.
I need a proof that our price is fair. I hope you understand the
importance of this question.
Usually, people who are selling names or web sites, provide buyers with appraisals. This is a common practice and I'm not going to change this rule because it's the best way to protect an investment.
I heard many appraisal companies often made inaccurate appraisals. So I cannot accept appraisal from each and every site. I will only accept appraisals from independent appraisal companies I know and trust.
Reading responses from experienced sellers I was impressed by one
reply: "Many Internet users are not smart enough and popular domain brokers are using this fact to make money. They offer them cheap appraisal services. But if their customers would have something in their heads they'd understand experts could not make a professional research for $15-$20. These appraisals are made by machines. Easy money for such appraisers as http://www.Afternic.com and several other major brokers that offer cheap auto-generated appraisals. In my eyes, all services under $60-$65 are not manual and the results are generated by special scripts. I don't trust auto-generated appraisals."
The same is true for GoDaddy and SEDO. Their services are not manual.
They are just collecting money using their well-known names.
Thank you for understanding. I'm looking forward to do business with you.
He probably has some appraisal sites and wants me to appraise the domains there, then he will not gonna buy them anymore.
If he was such a big domain investor, he should know which domains to buy and which not, without any kind of appraisals.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
SONY vaio VGN-FS315S and Geforce go 6400 problems
After getting a SONY VAIO VGN-FS315S with the following config:
Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.86GHz
LCD X-Black15,4 screen with 1280x800 resolution
1024 MB RAM
100 GB Hard drive
DVD-/+RW optical drive
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6400 (128 MB)
Realtek High Definition Audio Soudcard
Intel PRO/100 VE (wired network interface)
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG (802.11b/g standards)
I installed Warcraft III Frozen Throne and after half hour of playing, I was getting errors like:
BCCode : 100000ea BCP1 : 855E9810 BCP2 : 843AC848 BCP4 : F7A57CB4
BCP4 : 00000001 OSVer : 5_1_2600 SP : 2_0 Product : 768_1
among with the "System has recovered from a serious error" message.
The same thing was happening in Civilization 4.
In the benchmark and stress programs, all was fine, I was not getting any error. I was in the point of returning the laptop, but I have found one some forums something about new drivers and I gave one more chance.
I downloaded the NVIDIA Forceware 82.10 (x32) drivers from
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1227 and things are much better now, almost no more crashes.
So it was definitely a video card problem, I assume some kind of overheating since it was happening only after some minutes of playing.
Intel(R) Pentium(R) M processor 1.86GHz
LCD X-Black15,4 screen with 1280x800 resolution
1024 MB RAM
100 GB Hard drive
DVD-/+RW optical drive
NVIDIA GeForce Go 6400 (128 MB)
Realtek High Definition Audio Soudcard
Intel PRO/100 VE (wired network interface)
Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG (802.11b/g standards)
I installed Warcraft III Frozen Throne and after half hour of playing, I was getting errors like:
BCCode : 100000ea BCP1 : 855E9810 BCP2 : 843AC848 BCP4 : F7A57CB4
BCP4 : 00000001 OSVer : 5_1_2600 SP : 2_0 Product : 768_1
among with the "System has recovered from a serious error" message.
The same thing was happening in Civilization 4.
In the benchmark and stress programs, all was fine, I was not getting any error. I was in the point of returning the laptop, but I have found one some forums something about new drivers and I gave one more chance.
I downloaded the NVIDIA Forceware 82.10 (x32) drivers from
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1227 and things are much better now, almost no more crashes.
So it was definitely a video card problem, I assume some kind of overheating since it was happening only after some minutes of playing.
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