SpawnPoint

Anyone who has gamed with me for any amount of time knows that after a while, I get tired of the same old maps. CS 1.6 had a great variety of maps (more than 20) and yet, no one would play anything but dust2. Eventually this made me tired of the same old game over and over and over, and hence I started playing NS again. Somehow this got me into KcK (Kustom Karnage) who was all about the custom maps. With hundreds of maps to play, it was great having something new everytime I played. 

Then TF2 came out and well, NS kinda got pushed to the side for a while. TF2 is a great game. Unfortunately, it requires teamwork and so few people actually know how to work with a team. Regardless, a few months after beta, I'm sitting here getting tired of playing the same old maps all the time. The only maps I really enjoy are dustbowl and hydro. I cringe everytime we get stuck playing those maps over and over though. 

So I have a solution to this problem. Custom maps! Pretty much any gamer has heard of fpsbanana (formerly csbanana) and has been to their site to try out all their fun custom stuff. I mostly stick to the maps because I have no desire for my game to look all squirrely. So I've gone through the 90+ maps on fpsbanana and picked out the cream of the crop just for you. Here they are in no particular order:

cp_castle
This is the ONLY map I've found that has a "dustbowl" type feel. As a red player, you start out with just one point to cover. At first this can seem kinda lacking, but it can be tough to keep just one point. Once the BLU team captures the point, you'll start the round over with two points (one locked) to control. If BLU manages to capture both, you'll move to the last area with again, two control points (one locked). On the plus side, this makes the map a lot of fun and definitely a change of pace. I think most TF2 players enjoy the dustbowl type style of play and unfortunately, the map is going to wear on us. Castle has some larger areas (long canyon type areas similar to the last area in dustbowl) but overall, the map is well thought out.  At a whopping 36mb, those of you who run servers may want to steer clear as this map will gobble up your bandwidth in a hurry.

cp_labor_b2
If you've played custom maps for TF2, you've probably played the original of this map - labor_beta. The original isn't much different than this version minus the solid objects that you can shoot through and the extremely long timer for the middle cap point. This map has a "well" minus the water type feel to it.  The areas are fairly close, there are forward spawn points and the mapper kept things fairly close. The map is still 22mb but at least you won't be sniped from half way across the map.

cp_wolf
There are mixed reviews on this map, but I've played enough TF2 and enough custom maps to know when something is good and when it's not. This map may not have all the pretty stuff everywhere, but the layout is very good. It's a "gravelpit" type map with plenty of access to the points. The one downfall this map may have is that since A is practically at the BLU spawnpoint, the BLU team typically fails to rush to B and thus will likely lose the match. B is by far the harder to cap point and for whatever reason, new teams have a hard time figuring out that if they rush to B, they'll be able to capture it before the engineers get several sentries up and going. At just 6mb, this map is perfect for most servers.

ctf_dock
I hesitate at adding this map simply because it's a water map. Most people don't care for water and water maps tend to be less friendly to pyros. BUT, this map does have a well thought out layout and the water is only hindering if you decide to take the water way to the intel room. The mapper put a lot of time and work into making both sides as fair as possible. Intel isn't hard to defend and it's not impossible to get in and grab the intel and make a mad dash for your base. As far as maps go, this map definitely was well planned and at just under 4mb, it's worth adding to your server.

ctf_jinxed_b3
If any one map on this list were to be considered my personal favorite, this would be it. This map is not only well thought out, it requires team work and keeps the game very fast paced. The map itself is somewhat small but it meets the purposes of the map seeing as how this isn't your grandma's ctf map. There's only one intel and it's located in the middle of the map. It's neutral until someone grabs it. Once someone has gained control of the intel, they follow their team color arrows (if you're BLU, you follow the BLU arrows) to a capture point which is in the enemy base. Now this provides some very fast paced action and definitely requires some teamwork. The only downfall this map has is that people often don't understand that to capture they must take it to the enemy base and thus they often return it to your own where they manage to die and make an easy cap for the other team. Again, I HIGHLY recommend this map for everyone! Unfortunately, the recent updates to the map have pushed it's size to 25mb.

ctf_mach2
This map is likely one of the most popular custom CTF maps available. With a 2fort type feel and a fair layout, the map has become quite popular - two bases face each other with an island in the middle surrounded by sewer waters. There's no area in the map that's not accessable by any class. Teams that are aggressive will likely control the map and return captures over and over.  At 11mb the map is perfect for an additional CTF map for any servers rotation.

ctf_turbine_v3
Although a simple map, this map makes a good addition to the CTF maps. It has two bases with an open area in the middle which has plenty of obstacles to keep it from being too much of a sniper haven. With a vent and two hallway  that leads to the intel room, it makes for a fast paced capture the flag map. At 15mb, it definitely pushes the acceptable map size limit, but it's worth the bandwidth.

And runner-ups:

gas_kaboom_beta2
This map is definitely a fun style map. Teams must capture the intel in the opponents base and then take it a capture point in the base which then releases deadly gas into the opponents base killing anyone who is not in a safe zone. This map is not ideal for normal rotation, but a fun every now and then type map.

cp_overflow_b3
This map would have been included in a must have except the spawnpoints are screwed up on one side. Until the mapper corrects this problem, it's fun to play every now and then but definitely not a regular bases since one team has an advantage over the other.

cp_rats_alpha2
Like the gas map, this map is definitely a fun style map and not really ideal for normal rotation. Identical to some CSS rats maps, this map is fun for every now and then play and for something new.

ctf_rugby
This map is great if you know how to play rugby. There is one neutral intel in the middle of the map which one team gains control of simply by nabbing the intel. Once the intel is dropped, there is a period of time before it becomes neutral again. Thus the opposing team is unable to grab the intel and must wait for it to become neutral. Although the mapper has put a lot of time and effort into removing the sniper haven that this map is, unfortunately, there are still spots where snipers can camp out and cause havoc for your team.

ctf_splat_b3
This map is absolutely amazing. It not only looks great, but the game play is amazing. Unfortunately, the map is "freakin' huge" and thus not realistic for normal game play. For servers with unlimited bandwidth for fast download, they may very well enjoy this map and thus it has found it's way to this list. At 36mb, there's no real reason for the map to be this large. 

And that is all! I hope those of you who are running TF2 servers find this information to be useful.

There's an update to ventrilo!!! Apparently all the whining and crying convinced the fine developers over at ventrilo to release a patch. 

Here's the info:

Obviously some people have had a few problems with the 3.0 upgrade. But nothing that couldn't be overcome with a few changes in configuration files and an understand of how to tweak the default guest account.

With that said we have built a fairly good list of things that people would like to see changed. I'll list them here.

1) Clients will not display the (GUEST) tag by default. There will be a menu option called View -> Guests similar to View -> Rank if you want it on by default. Simple thing to add.

2) Given the Dup IP complaints the User Editor will default all "New" accounts created to "No Limit". The default guest account setting requires a server tweak, but the licensees have been given a quick way to get around that in the mean time. Or, have your server admin login and adjust the setting of the guest account live. Then issue a "Kick all guests". Problem solved.

3) MOTD for guest account will have option to display only if it changes like the normal motd.

4) An oversight in the user editor not displaying a horz scroll bar for REALLY long names was found. I'll see if I can get that fixed as well since it shouldn't be a problem.

I do want to point out as I explained to DragonST that with the guest account tag removed all these are still subject to the guest account rights. But the default settings (minus the Dup IP) provides them with the same basic rights they had on 2.3 as a non-Server Admin. The only thing changed is the offending tag and nothing else. As stated makes them the same thing as a normal 2.3 client.

If I have missed anything then please let me know and I'll update this post. But do it quick as I will start the work Thursday morning.

With any luck I should have an updated Windows 3.0.1 client no later then Friday. Maybe earlier. And a Mac 3.0.1. to follow a day or two later depending on how fast the windows client updates go.

No, I'm most certainly not parting ways with my Orange Box - get your own!!!!

Actually, several of those "Black Friday" sites out there are announcing that Orange Box will be on sale the day after Thanksgiving (at least that day - no idea if this includes other days or not) for $25!!! That's a super sweet deal considering Orange Box is normally $50. I'm hearing BioShock is on sale for $25 that day as well. Looks like Black Friday just might be heaven for us gamers.

Like most gamers, you probably have used Ventrilo at least at some point in time (assuming you don't use it everyday and rarely disconnect like me). So you'll be excited to hear that tonight there will be an official new release of Ventrilo! FINALLY!

Here is the pre-release announcement from ventrilo.com:

Wii announced today that it "is now including the Wii Remote Jacket for the Wii Remotes in all new hardware being shipped. For Wii owners who purchased their systems prior to this addition, [they] are offering to send free Wii Remote Jackets for their existing Wii Remotes."

So if you have a Wii, head over to http://www.nintendo.com/consumer/jacket/jacketrequest.jsp and get yours now.

I just tried the new TF2 (Team Fortress 2) which is in Beta right now.... TOTALLY AWESOME. The game is a tad laggy on my computer, but I'm sure I can tweek that out of the equation. The game itself is totally funny, easy to learn and the players, amazingly helpful and nice! Not one person said, "Are you a girl?"

Even better, I bought it pre-release on Orange Box and it comes with a ton of games (Portal, HL2 EP1, HL2 EP2, HL2 LC, HL2, Peggle Extreme (okay....) - and of course TF2) and if you already own HL2 and EP1, you can gift them to someone else. So your games don't go to waste. I've already got HL2, so I'll be gifting my extra copy to my sister. :)

This game is a MUST have!

http://videolamer.com/index.php/514 Spawnpoint should hire this guy as a writer.... he's hilarious!

http://videolamer.com/index.php/842 ROFL. So funny!

http://videolamer.com/index.php/90 This guy makes some good points. And to top things off, he actually included images in his article. Makes you think huh?

Nintendo is amazing. I'm going to go worship my Wii right now. All kidding aside, this thing has some amazing stuff happening. Move over XBOX and PS3.... they're no where near the league that the Wii is in. Nintendo announced some REALLY exciting new things at E3 this year. Take a gander at this: The Wii Balace Board (at least called that for now) Think that looks odd? Take a look at this video: http://e3.nintendo.com/wii_fit.html As if that's not cool enough, take a look at the Wii Zapper (at least called that for now): Now add the Wii Wheel for use with Mario Kart Wii..... And this video of Super Mario Galaxy... http://e3.nintendo.com/wii_supermariogalaxy.html And I see no reason to see the light of day for many many months. I love my Wii!!!!

I found this article on CBC News.

A high number of middle-school youth may be playing violent video games, but that's not a worrisome trend, according to a study just released by Massachusetts General Hospital's Center for Mental Health and Media.

The study examined the gaming habits of 1,254 children from two states, focusing on the types of games played and the social facets of gaming.

Published in the July issue of Journal of Adolescent Health, this study is the first to ask middle-school youth in detail about the games they play and to analyze how many of those titles are rated M (Mature — meant for ages 17 and up). It found two-thirds of boys and one in four girls played at least one M-rated game "a lot in the past six months."

Video game critics may find ammunition in the study, especially considering the emotional trends it uncovers. It found that many of those playing violent games are playing to vent anger and stress. However, the study's lead author expresses hope that the study's findings will improve the current discourse on violent games.

"Violent game play is so common, and youth crime has actually declined, so most kids who play these games occasionally are probably doing fine," says Cheryl K. Olson, ScD, co-director of the Center for Mental Health and Media.

"We hope that this study is a first step toward reframing the debate from 'violent games are terrible and destroying society' to 'what types of game content might be harmful to what types of kids, in what situations.' We need to take a fresh look at what types of rules or policies make sense."

The study also found that M-rated games hold plenty of appeal for those surveyed, even though the rating should hinder their access to such games. The Grand Theft Auto franchise — where carjacking, murder, prostitution and drug deals are all in a day's work — was the most popular game with boys, and the second-most popular with girls, a finding that surprised researchers.

Gaming more social than expected

Video gaming habits are also the subject of another new study, this one in the July issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, a journal of the American Medical Association. Like the Massachusetts report, this examines social aspects of video gaming.

"The rapid growth of video game popularity has generated concern among practitioners, parents, scholars and politicians," according to the article.

"Particularly during adolescence, when social interactions and academic success lay the groundwork for health in adulthood, there is concern that video games will interfere with the development of skills needed to make a successful transition to adulthood."

However, both studies conclude that video gamers lead healthy social lives and that gaming itself is a highly social activity.

"Contrary to the stereotype of the solitary gamer with no social skills, we found that children who play M-rated games are actually more likely to play in groups — in the same room, or over the internet," says Olson. "Boys' friendships in particular often centre around video games."

The AMA study found that while video gamers may be less likely to read and do homework on school days, they spend an equal amount of time interacting with parents and friends.

The second study surveyed 1,491 10- to 19-year-olds during the 2002-2003 school year. Participants kept 24-hour time-use diaries and recorded their time spent playing video games, with parents and friends, reading and doing homework, and in sports and active leisure.

Despite the encouraging social indications, the AMA report concedes that video games and playing habits bear watching in the future.

"Although we focused on the relationship between time spent in video game play and other activities among adolescents, an important next step for future research will be to assess the ways in which video game play is related to academic and social outcomes among American youth," the report concludes.

"Our results indicate that game play has different social implications for girls and boys who play. Future studies aimed at understanding how and why girls vs. boys use game play to fulfil different social needs are warranted."

So I talked my husband into an hour of Discovery HD Theater.... called Gamer Generation. We only watched part 1 because we can't bear to be away from our computers for that long. :P Kidding.... kind of.

ANYWAY - for those of you who missed it, here's my recap of what it discussed and what I thought.

First, they discussed the creator of the Sims and Sim City (etc) and Spore. The game looks a lot cooler in HD and when and if it is ever available, I'm sure we'll get a copy or two. There was a lot of focus on the huge shows where gaming companies portray what they're working on - new games - new consoles - the works.

Second they discussed Korea. Now I dunno about the rest of you, but this whole section seemed behind the times to me. Although I have to admit, I like some of what they had to show. Apparently that really old game Starcraft is still hugely popular there. So popular that they have these huge arenas where 25,000 people pay big money to watch them compete. Yikes! Seems interesting - but it's definitely.... odd.

The next part was about America's Army. First, I never knew the game was free and second, didn't realize that it was created by the Army as a recruiting effort! They actually urge soldiers to play the game! Insane! I considered downloading and trying the game until they said that once you die - you stay dead. That's ick. There's a reason I love gungame and Natural Selection. You respawn INSTANTLY. I hate the down time.

Then they had a long huge part about gaming in Arab countries. Now no offense to anyone who made this show, but I used to teach at a Muslim school (no I'm not Muslim or from the middle east or any of that - I just happen to have my teaching degree). There was NO WAY that any of my parents or students would EVER play a violent game - ever. Most of my students were not permanently here in the US and almost all of them went home to their Arab countries during the Summer (and often during religious holidays as well). So I find it hard to believe there's this huge group of people who want to play games in those countries. BUT - assuming I'm wrong (like that ever happens!) they discussed a game made by a middle eastern company which was funded and sponsored by the palestine government. Apparently there was some distraught feelings regarding all the FPS games from the "west" where Arab's were always the enemy and in their opinion - "losing everyday". Now no offense, but there are no Arab's in Day of Defeat. There are no Arab's in Natural Selection. There are no Arab's in Battlefield 2142. Who says the guys in CS 1.6 or CSS are Arab's? Can I not have brown hair, brown eyes and a tan and not be Arab? Regardless, this particular game is based on an actual event where some guy shot up a mosque and killed a ton of people. Quite frankly, this whole part of the interview was disturbing. (like the little boy who goes on and on about why are people always killing the Arab's in the games? Why aren't the Arab's killing them? Uh... okay lil boy)

Finally, the most upsetting part of this documentary at least for me was about the effect of gaming on all of us - the gamers. There was a whole discussion on about how gaming makes us all killing machines and has adverse affects on us. They even had that Jack Thompson guy on there going on and on about how it makes us killers. Well, honestly, if Natural Selection makes me more apt to shoot something I see that looks like a huge gremlin with razor sharp claws - bring it on. There were references to Columbine and some kid who shot 8 people - 5 of the shots being "headshots".

I spent the first 5 or so years of my CS career playing with mostly the MP5. During that time, I could take out an entire team with just my mp5. I was pretty good for the average gamer hanging out in public servers. BUT - when I went and tried out the MP5 in real life at a shooting range - not one bullet hit the target. So saying that playing these games makes it possible for you to shoot people with more accuracy - please.

Anyway, we'll see what Part 2 has in store when I get around to watching it in a couple of days. Apparently there's a lot of focus on the "uber geeks" of that crack game called "WOW". Maybe there'll be a lot of fast forwarding since RPGs are so unappealing to me. We'll see.

Okay... here's my beef people. I've been gaming now for going on 8 years. I've always loved playing my games. But the best part of online gaming is the people. I've enjoyed goofing around with people, having a laugh and well, just having a good time with good friends.

At the same time, most people who game for as long as I do normally find themselves in a clan (or two). Now before I go any further, I'd like to make sure I'm very clear that I'm not referring to Clan AI (my CS gaming clan). Although AI has certainly had it's fair share of drama. I'm referring to a different clan of a game I will refrain from mentioning simply because it would be too easy for people to put two and two together. Anyway, back to my point. What's with all the drama? There's not one clan I've been in or known people that where in that hasn't had a whole boat load of drama.

Now bear with me while I draw my conclusions here. When you say "drama" what's the first thing that comes to mind? Boring long movies? Teenage girls in high school? Cat fights? Soaps? Pretty much a whole bunch of stuff that revolves around females, right? Now most gamers whether we like it or not are male. There are a few females out there that game but the numbers are staggeringly in the men's favor. So having said that - what's with all the drama? Why is it that clans full of 90%+ men have so much drama? Maybe drama doesn't have anything to do with women and everything to do with maturity?

Anyway, let's just say that I've about had it with all the blasted drama. I want to paddle some of these lil boys and send them to their room without dinner.

In my review a few weeks back, I mentioned the burn-in issue with Mario Party 8. I don't play a lot of MP8, but I do play when I have friend over and of course - anytime there's something big to unlock (like a new character and a whole game board). So you can imagine how irritated I was about the unchanging screen on the game anytime you are on any screen other than the main load screen.

So I called Nintendo and yelled at them after sitting down to watch "Lady in the Water" (surprisingly not a horrible movie) and noticed that I could still see the MP8 screen. My TV is only about a month and a half old - 63" plasma - and so I was rather ticked to see my investment ruined thanks to Nintendo and their $50 game.

However, surprisingly, their staff was really nice. The initial guy I talked to didn't know what I was talking about. He took my number and told me he'd have someone call me back. Well that someone called back within 10 minutes and had an actual solution. It seems that those of us who have newer TVs typically run the Wii in widescreen mode (it's an actual setting on the Wii console). I affirmed that I do run my Wii in widescreen mode (since my TV is widescreen). I had tried changing the viewing mode on the TV and the bars never disappeared. BUT - it seems if you change the mode on the actual Wii console, those nasty bars disappear.

Overall, Nintendo was friendly, prompt, and geniunely concerned. They fixed the problem so I can continue playing my game too. I will say though, that I'm not thrilled that this information was easily accessible somewhere on the net and wasn't anywhere in the manual that came with the game. So problem fixed - but the problem still shouldn't have occurred to begin with.

So I beat Mario Party 8. Apparently you actually "win" MP8 after completing the Star Battle. The Goomba board took me two tries and the train board three tries. Overall, the single player part of the game is actually pretty fun and challenging. The best part is that when you win, you unlock tons of stuff. After finishing boards 1-5 (the ones that come unlocked with the game), the creepy little hat dude that runs the show awards you with the Star Rod. BUT - Bowser doesn't like that you are crowned the one and only SuperStar of Mario Party 8 and so he steals the star rod from you and makes you play his game board (thus unlocking it). Even more, he makes you play against Blooper (thus unlocking him). Blooper is actually kind cute so I might have to retire my Toad days and start using Blooper.

Anyway, Bowser's board is set in space. Basically you run around this space station thing and try to steal stars from your opponent (at least in the single player star battle version). To win you have to steal ALL of your opponents stars. There are two new candies just for this board and both are scary and hopefully don't show up in other game boards. One turns you into Bowser, let's you roll two dice and steals two stars from any opponent in your path. The other turns you into a Bullet Bill, let's you roll three dice and steals one star from any opponent in your path. Scary huh?

Then there are the ? spaces that turn the board around and make everyone move in the opposite direction. The only saving grace for this whole thing was the turnstile areas in the map. There are two or three areas where once you go through, your opponent has to go the opposite direction. They end up at the same spot but it saves your hide should someone have one of those scary candies.

So I finished that on my first try and Bowser handed over the Star Rod. But being Bowser, he decided it was time to take it back. So he swiped that thing and made me play some weird minigame that wore me out. Basically you hold the wiimote above your head and swirl it kinda like a lasso all the while dodging all sorts of things from Bowser. Then you when the Star Rod (which you're holding above your head) reaches full power, you throw it at Bowser. Whoever lives, wins. I practiced like 10 times and only one once. My husband practices several times and won only once. I even turned to him at one point and said, "I don't even know why I need this rod. What good does it do me?" to which he said, "I can't believe you just said that." ROFL.

ANYWAY, I went for it and amazingly, survived (barely - only 1 health left!). And then the credits rolled. And rolled. And rolled. And you can't skip them. BORING.  But at the end they gave me 200 carnival cards so that unlocked for new games in the extra area for me. :)

So I gave the new games a try. The chain chomp one was okay. The racing moped game.... pretty fun! I actually enjoyed it even tho it's freakishly hard. I so can't wait for mario kart!

So, as I mentioned in my WiiView of Mario Party 8, there's this single player area where you've gotta battle it out on each board with a different computer character. Well wouldn't you know it, I made it all the way to the Train board when Toadette cheated!!!!! TWICE!

The first time, I wasn't even CLOSE to the star when she made it over to Holly Koopa and bought the ONLY star for 50 coins leaving me to start all over again. So I start the board over again determined to pwn Toadette. This time I'm like at 500 coins or something (maybe more like 71) and Toadette keeps landing on the ? spaces which moves my train farther from Holly Koopa. Then I land on the vent spot which puts me back inside the train but in the train exactly in front of Holly Koopa (I want to be in the train behind her). So I make it all the way around by purchasing a Thrice Candy (three dice blocks) and make it within 4 spots of her but just 2 spots in front of Toadette who happens to only have 48 coins. So I'm thinking I'm doing great because there's no way Toadette will win cause I'll get to Holly first and she won't have 50 coins.

GUESS WHAT SHE WHIPS OUT?!?!?! A BOWLO CANDY!!!! So she turns into a beach ball and happens to roll a 10 and runs over me STEALING 20 of my coins!!!!! And of course she makes it to Holly Koopa who gives her the star and I lose AGAIN! I almost chucked my wiimote at that annoying lil toadette thing!!! ARGH!