Another Sunday, Another Update

I'll post some content with this as well, but I wanted to let people know we're going to have another TF2 Tribe play today. 7pm Central, we've changed our group page on Steam so now you can sign up without being invited. Very important, but you still need to have Steam. (If you don't you can get it at the link, how were you planning on playing with us anyway?)

But the real big news is we have a Tribe Server. No it's not ready yet, we'll have a big announcement when it's ready. We'll have like a grand opening party or something. But we have one, it will be awesome, and you can get involved in it's creation (i.e. picking which maps and mods we put in) if you get involved.

If you join you too can be super cool, but not so super cool you won't get tickets from cops.


And since you guys have been so super cool here's one more link.
Signs like these make me sad I ran most of my marathons in foreign countries.

Valve wants a New Pay System

Members of Tr!be Gaming
getting ready to defend
the point

Valve's Gabe Newell recently gave an interview where he said that Valve wants to change the way gamers pay for their games. Wait, put down the pitchforks, they want to make it so that if you are a player other people like to play with, or you being on a server causes others to show up you'd pay less to buy other valve games. The flip side of this is talk of griefers and trolls having to pay full price and being charge extra for voice chat, so they don't run off other players.

I've asked some people what they think about this and the main reaction is people are for this, but they're worried about how they would gauge the trolls and griefers. Would this be a community based thing or vote on the servers you're on. Since this is just hypothetical I don't think there's too much to get worried about here, but it does make for some interesting talk about the future of gaming.

Nope, no griefers here.

One other thing that came out was talk of games moving from having a sequel every couple of years to having games updated every couple of months (much like Team Fortress 2 is updated now), supposedly Left for Dead 2 is quickly adapting a similar model, and Portal 2 may join the plan also.

Still want my Guard Dog for TF2.

I will say this if there is one company I trust to turn the industry on its ear, it's Valve. They do so many things right in their games. I maybe biased, but I was never a PC gamer, and I really was out of video games entirely aside from party games with my friends (i.e. Rock Band, Mario Kart, etcetera). It was Team Fortress 2 that really sold me on PC gaming, brought me back into first person shooters. But it's the Steam application that has really made it easier to buy games, and get a community going around these games.

So here's to you Valve thanks for all the hours of fun at such a low price. (Over 300 hours on TF2, grand total spent $10. $20 if you count getting my wifes copy of Team Fortress.)

Tables

This is a geek blog. So after looking at the article title you may ask "What's geeky about tables?" Click on the link below.

Table of Gaming +3

One of the pictures says plans to come soon. So far my searches have turned up nothing. If anyone finds anything let me know. Even if it's a site where they are for sale. This table has everything room for 7 (including DM), a discrete message system in case the DM needs to tell you something without letting everyone know (or vice versa), foot space, and area for your dice. Each player gets a walled off section without cutting into the maps area. Also notice it has room for character sheets or books in between each players area. Oh yeah and it has a built in sound system.

I wish I could post the pictures from the new gallery, but they are protected.

So in order to make it up to you here are some videos of cool tables.



Not specifically geeky, but I'm excited because that is one useful table. Now if only extra chairs unfolded from it.

On the other hand...this is probably the least useful table you'll ever have, but your friends will love it.



So thanks to all of you on the internet who take something like a table and make it awesome. I'm always amazed by the amount of ingenuity I find on the internet.

Credit to Team

Emphasis on TEAM!

I finally started playing Team Fortress 2. Yeah the game that came out 2007, we're so topical on this blog. (We just finished Avatar and I just started TF2.)

If you are one of the three PC gamers out there not playing this game, stop reading this review, and download this game from Steam. It will cost you $10, and yes an online First person shooter (FPS) that is approaching its 4 year mark is actually still worth picking up.

I've primarily been a console gamer in my life. I was pretty good at Goldeneye and Perfect Dark but that's about where my FPS skills maxed out. My problem is that FPS on average are games you have to learn by playing other humans. Where I like to get the basics down versus the computer and refine my skills against humans type of player. This game is (should that be was at this point?) a game changer. Not good at sniping, that's fine, be a medic, or build turret guns, or man the flamethrower. This game is not a first person shooter in the traditional format, you have a class it has strengths and weaknesses, and your team instead of an individual will be the deciding factor of a match.

The effect of an individual was what kept me out of games like Counter-Strike for years, and coincidentally away from PC gaming in that period. I didn't have the time or inclination to get my ass handed to me for hundreds of hours before I could start doing the owning. Besides I like a cooperative game better anyway. I love being the hero of the team, or the guy who does something really useful for the team more then I like owning noobs. And that's what surprised me first on this game, a great player can be like a force of nature. But since every class has a rock-paper-scissors element to it, there is a class that can cancel you out, and you will eventually run into it. When that happen you need a teammate.

The other thing that amazed me with this game is the attention to detail. You get hidden weapons just for playing every couple of deaths you'll get a screen saying you got a new item. It's random, but you can trade or melt down weapons to make others, or outright buy what you need. But the impressive part is none of these weapons are super weapons, they all have positives and negatives. It's more so you can tailor the class to your playing style. Also the attention to detail shows in how the levels are made so that they are easy to navigate after your 2nd or 3rd time in them. Ask me about the Caves in Goldeneye, not all FPS are worried about this. The art is made so you can identify what class is approaching, and what they're carrying even at a distance.

If you would like to see the rest of the "Meet the..." videos you can find them here. The videos are probably the best example of the in game humor, and graphics. Both of which I was a fan of long before I played the game. Warning: The in game graphics are slightly worse then the videos but not by much. So seriously give this game a chance even if you hate first person shooters. If you love FPS's you've probably already played this game.

Technology

A couple of links dealing with tech: good, bad, ugly, beautiful. We've got all the bases covered.

First up two links stolen from Greypaw.
Focused sunlight is powerful enough to melt steel, or rocks. In fact they state there is no substance on earth that can stand up to it.

An innovative doorknob. Could be useful, would definitely take some getting used to.

Finally someone thinks about the hardcore gamers out there.

I'm assuming this is justwell named wireless network but given the way the American intelligence community is...there's an outside chance you might want to stop any illegal activities if this shows up.

Not really tech related butAwesome Samus cosplay.

I saved this one for last so I could squeeze in a tangent. Japan promises amazing technology for 2022 world cup. Some of this technology is so amazing I would have been willing to see Japan host the World Cup for these items.

However Japan will not be hosting the 2022 World Cup as Qatar won the right to host it, and Russia won the bid for 2018.