Dan’s Space on the Web

my brother convinced me to give GTAIV a try, since he had a copy of it and it seems that many have named it one of the top games of 2008. I inserted the DVD and started installing 1.5 hours ago.

I still haven’t played it yet.

steps to install GTAIV (DVD Version) on a PC!

1. install from DVD. 2 DVDs. bah. I hate having to come back to the PC and see it prompt for the next disc. And then at the end it needs the first disc again.

note: at the start of installation it tells you
installation of GTA4… requires installation of Rockstar Games Social Club, Sony DADC SecuROM, Adobe Flash, Microsoft .NET Framework, Games for Windows – LIVE, Internet Explorer, and DirectX.

Wow, that’s a long list.

finally, after installing game files…

2. check online to see if game release date has passed
3. enter serial key and activate online
(what if I don’t have an internet connection at the moment?)

wait! another thing before you play…

4. need to sign up for Rockstar Social Club.
note: I just realized that maybe you don’t really have to, you can opt to run in offline mode. However for the purposes of today’s lesson, we’re aiming to get the full experience out of the game.

5. need to link rockstar social club account to windows live account for achievements (i think that’s what its for)

finally, got that all out of the way… can I play the game now? No.

6. need to download and install (manually) the latest Games for Windows – LIVE update.

I wonder if the Steam version has similar problems. I’m pretty happy with Steam’s services so far.

Update: Woohoo! The game finally launched. Well something did. “To save your progress and achievements you have to sign in to your Live account.” OK, sounds good. “An update for this game is available. you will have to update it before you can play it with Windows Live.*”
!@#$%^

*I can’t remember the exact wording. but it was something along the lines of “update it or you can’t get the full experience”

Why can’t they just check and slipstream the update during installation? they already require the net to check for release date.

[click on above images for full-size]

VS: Kemikal – lassekongo83
Wall: Guild Wars – somewhere in Arbor Bay (screenshot by me)
Winamp: Ebonite by WinstonGFX
MirandaIM: HUD Port by chaodam and GoneDark for ieview (slight mod by me) note: currently miranda site down, cannot retrieve link.
Rainlendar 2.0: aerial RL by danillooc
Icons: Guild Wars Dock Icon by aphaits and Chakram by apathae

Icons are Guild Wars, Music (folder), My Computer and Firefox (from left to right). I finally got around to using GCalDaemon to sync my Rainlendar and Google Calendar. I also have my wallpaper scheduled to automatically change when it’s day (I set it to right after I wake up) and when it’s dark. Check the day shot here (yea, I spoofed it just for the shot).

Things to do before I graduate and return to Singapore: “Borrow” a projector and console over a break – Check.

Completed Halo 3 in under 8 hours (on normal difficulty). “Criminally short”, to quote the Escapist, but still pretty awesome.  Nothing like blowing up a Covenant Scarab, and that last maul run is probably the best “omg-the-place-is-exploding-run” sequences I have ever played.

[click above thumb to see larger version]

VS: areao4 by heylove
Wall: Great Wolf Shrine, Far Shiverpeaks (personal screenshot)
Winamp: iChange x240 by ~takanory / Picture: Flight of Dan, Guild Wars Character Select
Icons: Guild Wars Dock Icon by =aphaits, Elements Icon Suite by ~pantoni
Rainlendar 2.0: default shadow skin

Guild Wars: Eye of the North brought yet another game full of breathtaking level design. I just couldn’t help taking screenshots, and this one works well as a wallpaper. Will upload it along with others later on.

[click above thumb to see larger version]

VS: areao4 by heylove
Wall: G W E N
Winamp: iChange x240 by ~takanory / Picture: Guild Wars: Eye of the North
Icons: Guild Wars Dock Icon by =aphaits, Elements Icon Suite by ~pantoni

In celebration of the upcoming release (and sneak peek in a few hours!).

p.s. Looking for casual players to play through this. I play (on the average) 1 hour a day during weekdays, up to 5 hours on weekends.

Just installed and played half an hour of this new “Action Arcade MMORPG”, and I’m rather impressed.

The interface is reasonably sleek and intuitive, graphics and visual effects are good, and the soundtrack is pretty epic.

Gameplay-wise, it utilizes instancing to allow you to play through a proper storyline, with the option of just joining random people or creating your own private stage to play with yourself and/or your party. Yep, seems like there isn’t much running around to find stuff to grind, and no pointless leveling up. You’ve got real goals to accomplish, just like in any other action RPG.

It lives up to the “Action Arcade” part of the genre, providing fast-paced action and that satisfying feeling of beating stuff up quick and hard. This may be a great game to just pop in during work breaks to relieve stress. Awesome.

The client, being in beta, does unfortunately have its fair share of quirks. A few that I’ve noticed so far is that during the dialog scenes it sometimes progresses through too fast, has some rather obvious translation errors, and the stage background music seems come in at the wrong time, not suiting the mood of the cutscene and sometimes overlapping with the next track.

Overall, this is definitely something I’ll be spending at least another few hours on. It’s like Ragnarok Battle Offline but with the MMO aspect.

Argh I’m a few days late, can’t believe I forgot about this.

[w00t link!]

THIS IS MADE OF WIN. ’nuff said.

Don’t miss the happy hardcore mix or the dancing pink ranger .

I first found out about this after watching this video (which is also made of win) that appeared on joystiq awhile back.

MASSIVE!!

Get the high resolution (720p, 78MB) version here!
(use right-click save-as to download)

This Playstation 3 title is definitely something to look forward to, right up there next to FF13. Of course, it’s not coming out until the end of the year (or next year, for international release), so I still don’t feel the need to get a PS3 just yet.

Hi-def version via official site, here.

Wow, I think I nearly cried (with joy and excitement) when I saw this.

Edit: Now on gametrailers.com (HD)