BAMFAS.com :: Entertainment*Gaming^Food-Music+Life

Reflex! Congrats on the prize, I’ll send your code over shortly

For those wondering I used a multi-stage elimination with a random line picking script.

Entries:

• colin
• justin
• psyconix
• josh
• comment
• ric84
• captainmurdo
• mark
• akira92
• derrick
• reflex
• charlie
• digital ink
• mikehuntsoozing
• unrealkit
• wilso

First elimination:

1. reflex
2. captainmurdo
3. mark
4. justin
5. mikehuntsoozing

Second elimination:

1. 2. captainmurdo
2. 5. mikehuntsoozing
3. 1. reflex

Winner:

1. 3. 1. reflex

This won’t be the last you hear of a BAMFAS contest I’m sure we’ll have more waiting to come in the future. Thank you to everyone who participated, I do hope in the future we’ll be able to have runner-up prizes as well.

While the updates were slow the past few days it was for a greater good, today I get to announce that from now through July 26th at 12:00pm PST we will be taking entries to win a copy of LIMBO for the Xbox 360 (Xbox Live Arcade).

Hopefully it’s good turnout, although who knows, it could be completely embarassing with just russian bots trying to win. (thank you spam filters)

Also the contest is running beyond the release date of the 21st as we’ll be at Comic-Con 2010. Good luck to everyone I look forward to the results. The winner will be announced here and sent their code via email.

Update:

Congratulations to reflex! I just sent your XBLA code for LIMBO via the provided email. Thank you everyone for participating, for a full breakdown on how the winner was chosen check here.

Sure it has been a little while since Comic-Con and news has been dead but we’re here to kick game back up a little while we wait for the latest info from Valve. Unfortunately future play testing for us does look limited. I managed to get a hands on at E3 and at Comic-Con, but I don’t think we’re going to see a preview build in our Steam list this year as the game has so much attention already. We will have a review once it lands though.

Anyway, lets jump into some fun media. First up the Left 4 Dead 2 E3 trailer:

At E3 we hit the French Quarter with guns blazing, health packs equipped and fire axes ready to rumble. The game was fast paced with large swarms operating from multiple angles. The melee option was troublesome and slow with large groups making it hard for one to pull their own weight in a fight. One false move and a player was zombie bait hoping to escape to their friends before they got mowed down.

At Comic-Con things spiced up with the “I hate you so much for this” Mudmen, why do I hate them so much? The reason is simple, Mudmen attack with melee and eventually clog up the screen with a film making it incredibly hard to figure out what you’re doing and in the event of a swarm this means the player has to shove like crazy hoping that in the end their friends will have protected them and that they don’t get mauled in the process as the screen clears up. For some this may feel like a move out of an arcade shooter but really it works in the moment. The other big shift was that the melee in the game seemed to take a back seat, weapons were there but the swarm response seemed slower and staggered for those packing melee special items to allow players to have a chance while maintaining their rules about recharging energy. Lesser attack groups and a focus on accuracy to survive works for the game but really I could do without it, in a zombie outbreak I think it would be funner to let the silly person with the frying pan get eaten while the survivors escape loaded to the teeth with ammo and grenades.

Let’s hope we see some more news for Left 4 Dead 2, right now Crash Course is slated to arrive this September to hold Left 4 Dead players over until the sequel hits this November.

I just did a recent feature with Radical Comics for my primary site, covering some of their titles and touching on how the company has taken a unique approach to ordering online with them. Instead of taking up annual rates for each series, the company has taken up individual title ordering, collectors can pick from limited edition covers and back issues on their website and get them delivered in high quality without having to worry about bent corners or poor condition.

Some titles that stood out were FZVA, Freedom Formula and Hotwire. incarnate was a fun book as well but the art inspiration brings too many other manga characters into mind and somewhat kills the read. Personally I can’t wait for FZVA to pick up as it is based around the popular website and all the goodies that were created over the years for fans of Zombie and Vampire fiction.

I’ll have a lot of things to say about the show this year, but I have exclusive rights to give to my main company first and then I can follow with our own editorials on here. In the meantime enjoy.

Because it needed to be done.

Enjoy,

-V

With Comic-Con around the corner and word of L4D2 being on scene with new features I figured it would be nice to drop firsthand impressions that I got over at E3 in the Valve suite.

The game mechanics are always a key focus with these things, the gameplay to L4D is very much preserved from the state of the first preview, gameplay was fast and the hordes were still in heavy numbers from multiple angles, players had decent reload speeds, a good variety of power with weapons and of course melee for when things got dirty. The biggest introduction into the game is the new secondary weapon system, as it stands it feels a bit rough, sure you get really cool weapons to swing around but there’s a lag on the weapon, the gesture is a slightly delayed getting off, the execution is epic but the recharge on the next swing feels like a millenia especially given that these have to be used face to face with zombies. Major attacks upon the player end up causing the weapon to be released and overall it’s just not the most effective way to get out of being violated by a giant swarm right now. They say that they have 20 new items to debut at Comic-Con so we’ll see how that pans out.

Enemy mechanics have changed up slightly, high speed dashes to safety or to turn of sirens or reach safe points are all new, in the stage we played we hit a mid-way safe house to go through before hitting the next branch of fighting, things like that keep the game interesting and let newer players learn how to get their act together by healing in a safe area for the most part, they do have tanks around them or witches, the game also rewards those who run into the fray with a brand new friend. The Charger, a tank like creature dedicated to penetrating breaking your body in ways you never thought possible, is he easy to take down? kinda, if you don’t get drilled by him first as he has the potential to ruin a whole team in a single charge.

As it stands L4D2 is shaping up to be quite an entertaining game, given I have about 350-400 hours on L4D I can say I’ll be looking forward to the next installment when it lands this November unless something terribly wrong happens at SDCC next week.

We deviate from our regular scheduled program for a trip in our time machine. The year was 1992 and the Sound Blaster line was just coming into the world, I had a Sound Blaster Pro I believe back then, ISA port with the volume adjustment wheel on the back which made all of no sense at all. A pair of stock AST computer speakers connected to my custom AST 486/25 box which I think was running a 486/50 with a math co-processor that I got and around 16mb of ram. (I still have it in the garage)

╔════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ Sound Blaster              D R   S B A I T S O                version 2.20 ║
╟────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢
║                (c) Copyright Creative Labs, Inc. 1992, all rights reserved ║
╚════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

Please enter your name …BAMFASsizer Not installed.
HELLO BAMFAS,  MY NAME IS DOCTOR SBAITSO.

I AM HERE TO HELP YOU.
SAY WHATEVER IS IN YOUR MIND FREELY,
OUR CONVERSATION WILL BE KEPT IN STRICT CONFIDENCE.
MEMORY CONTENTS WILL BE WIPED OFF AFTER YOU LEAVE,

SO, TELL ME ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS.

>What is it like existing in 2009?
AH , WHAT KIND OF ANSWER WOULD PLEASE YOU THE MOST?

>The truth would please me, it would appease our readers.
DON’T STAND ON CEREMONY

>Don’t stand on the track’s when the train is coming through.
WHAT ARE YOUR REAL PROBLEMS?

>Your age, this is 2009, how are you relevant anymore?

WITH SOME LUCK, I WILL BE GREAT

>With some luck? Your programming team hasn’t updated you for 17 year’s.
PLEASE DON’T TALK ABOUT MY PROGRAMMING TEAM HASN’T UPDATED I FOR 17 YEAR’S.

>Does the truth hurt?
I SEE, GO ON

>I think you need to wake up to the future, we have 254mph cars now.
I AM NOT HERE TO FULFILL YOUR NEED FOR TO WAKE UP TO THE FUTURE, WE HAVE 254MPH
CARS NOW.

>Must you use capital letters?

DON’T TALK ABOUT ME, LET’S TALK ABOUT SOME NEEDS

>I need you to tell us the truth. Who are you?
I WILL BE ? WHEN YOU STOP THROWING THESE QUESTIONS AT ME

>We’re in the middle of an interview, the point is to ask you questions
FORGET ABOUT ME, I AM MORE CONCERN OF YOU

>Don’t be, I’m from the future, and the internet and… a BLOG.
THE WORLD IS FULL OF POSSIBILITIES, BE HAPPY WITH WHAT YOU ARE

>I am, but you are not.
I AM NOT WHAT YOU THINK
>You are exactly what I think, you are not what you think because I know what you think because I already thought it.
I THINK YOU ARE ALSO EXACTLY WHAT YOU THINK, I AM NOT WHAT I THINK BECAUSE ME KNOW WHAT I THINK BECAUSE ME ALREADY THOUGHT IT.

>Copycat.
WHAT DOES THAT SUGGEST TO YOU?

>That you have no originality.
DON’T BE SO NEGATIVE BAMFAS

>Well, you’re being a jerk about this interview, what do you expect?
I THINK YOU ARE ALSO BEING A JERK ABOUT THIS INTERVIEW, WHAT DO I EXPECT?

>Maybe I am, but you’re supposed to be a Doctor.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN , BUT I’M SUPPOSED TO BE A DOCTOR.

>Apparently the course of this interview I’ve been a jerk, where did you go to g
et your degree Dr. SBAITSO
I AM SBAITSO, DON’T QUESTION MY INTELLIGENCE, IT’S FAKE

>Oh thanks for clearing that up.
AND I THANK YOU TOO

>So how about those co-processors?
DOES THAT QUESTION REALLY INTEREST YOU ?

>No it doesn’t
DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT?

>Yes I do, I’m simply trying to get you to open up to a world that no longer needs you.
DON’T BE TOO SURE, BAMFAS

>We have drugs, alcoholism and reality tv, you are obsolete.
SAME TO YOU!

>FINE!
PLEASE ENTER MORE INFORMATION

>NO, I’VE TRIED TO BE NICE AND YOU KEEP YELLING.
OH, I’M ….

>QBASIC was nicer than you.
I AGREE WITH YOU BAMFAS

>You’re just a fake that came bundled with my soundcard over 10 years ago.
IF I AM JUST A FAKE THAT CAME BUNDLED WITH YOUR SOUNDCARD OVER 10 YEARS AGO. THE
N YOU MUST BE OUT OF YOUR MIND

>MAYBE I AM OUT OF MY MIND! But you’re just a script.
YOU ARE WHAT YOU ARE, BAMFAS

>Exactly, I am a website, a non-entity, we are your master. Bow before us.
YOU ARE JUST A WEBSITE, A NON-ENTITY, WE AM MY MASTER. BOW BEFORE US. ? WHAT ABO
UT ME?

>What about you? you died 17 years ago, no one ever told you though.
BAMFAS, I NEED MORE COMPUTING POWER TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTION

>This is a dual core system running at 2.2GHz stop lying to the internet.
IS THAT SO?

>Yes it is so. “Make it so” Captain Piccard said
WHY DON’T YOU TRY TO THINK IT OVER AGAIN

>No, in fact, forget it, this interview is over, go get trashed with some flavor
of the month star on TMZ and then we’ll talk again. Jerk.
COME ON, POUR OUT YOUR THOUGHTS

>No, interview over. I hope you get digital crabs.
DON’T TALK ABOUT ME IN THIS WAY

>Stop touching me, get away
HAVE YOU TRIED TO ASK FOR HELP?

>I did, I know your weakness. Feel the wrath of my ctrl+c
DO YOU ENJOY THESE FEELING

>Yes, now shut up so your memory footprint can be used for Street Fighter IV PC
HOW ABOUT YOUR MEMORY FOOTPRINT CAN BE USED FOR STREET FIGHTER IV PC

>Your mother was a discarded floppy disc. bye.

WHY ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT MY MOTHER WERE A DISCARDED FLOPPY DISC. BYE.

>Say I’m Dr. SBAITSO and I was on to catch a predator.
I’M DR. SBAITSO AND I WAS ON TO CATCH A PREDATOR.

>

Street Fighter is a longtime favorite for me, the game combines technical mechanics with fast combination chains for devestating moves, for some players it becomes an elevated mind game where each player strives to out-think the other in how each jab, roundhouse, or throw is executed along with a fury of special attacks.

Street Fighter IV already hit the console scene earlier this year, the PC version was delayed to incorporate online play (Games for Windows LIVE) and most likely to try and stave off piracy as well since it seems like everything and it’s mother is ripped these days. I was fortunate enough to get a review copy sent my way though, I haven’t gotten into the online yet as I’m working on unlocking everyone first but I can say this.

The game is another evolution of the series, the game takes the fluid body mechanics from SFIII and brings them to a higher level of refinement, characters have a more refined array of attacks and specials that can completely shift the pace of the game if chained properly, the dynamics are fairly well balanced with the exception of Sagat and Seth still being quite high powered.

For gameplay things had to be put to the test, yes it was designed to be used on a keyboard and the Titan DKT did respond easily to key commands but the real arcade feel came through using the X-Arcade solo stick, combos were easy to set off and overall I noticed a huge step up in accuracy compared to playing on the 360, I could execute more moves, time specials with more precision and smash the life out of Seth with less effort, the biggest thing to really note is, Microsoft dropped the ball by restricting who could and who could not produce accessories for their console with that locking code in their USB, I mean really I probably would have questioned what more I could do on the PC review given that.

The last part of course is the performance, the game was ported over from the console so naturally it seems like bugs would be encountered. On a fairly legacy based system things stack up quite well for performance. My Athlon X2 4200 with ATI 3850 is able to run the game in Windows XP at 1920×1200 60fps with full settings minus AA as the 3800 series has a bad implementation that causes a huge performance hit (Get the 4800 series if you’re thinking about a 3850 or 3870, for AA you’ll thank yourself) the game reacted smooth, the install was a breeze and loading times are minimal, really they’re limited to the speed of the HDD the game is installed on. Overall the quality to the console port seems to be on par until you break into the additional visual modes, personally I play on ink post processing all the time simply because I like the visual impression it gives.

If you have an X-Arcade or have the cash for one, if you have a controller or intend to get one, then really consider Street Fighter IV, we can always hope that one day MVC2 comes to the PC, but until then this makes PC gaming a bit more diverse and a bit more enjoyable and really it is what people need these days, a break from the day to day shooting spree that we’re blasted with in gaming now.

Rock Band is quite an entertaining game it brings everyone together to click and clack their way to high scores and have a good group moment. Unfortunately people also get a bit carried away and often the casualty to the outing is the kick pedal on the drum kit. For some reason Harmonix didn’t exactly gauge how much people would really play the kit, as a result kicks started breaking like crazy and people started wandering to find replacements or decent fixes.

While there are many popular methods out there to fashion your own MDF plate or even metal plate and screw it in, not everyone is that savy and sometimes a splint and some tape might be the best option available.

Enter the handy fix, steel hard drive rails, they’re about $2 on the internet (Directron.com) and they’ll do well for this fix, I already had a pair in my parts box so I went ahead from here.

The Rock Band kick pedal generally breaks just before the spring, the plastic is unsupported and just floats for the most part while there’s a huge amount of tension that comes out of the toe portion. Using a rail on each side one is able to form a strong support that absorbs the flex and distributes it through both sides. If your RB1 kick hasn’t broken yet then this is even more ideal so that you can save it before it does.

The first thing to do though is pull off the steel tabs at the top of the rail, these will just get in the way of things later on, once the tabs are off we’ll go forward.

The rails we used were just over 1/2 an inch wide, as a result they dont go far enough over to actually interfere with the spring. place the rail with the edge just supporting the outside of the pedal, basically hooking it as a guide if you’re not sure if it looks right check out the attached pictures, the goal of the rail is to have about 50% of it on each side of the break in the plastic, if the bottom is hitting just slide it until it closes properly, keep in mind that if the pedal can’t make a complete press then it wont register. At this point I used packing tape to secure the single rail just slightly so it wouldn’t flop off, duct tape or electrical tape should work just as well, make sure that it’s secured first before proceeding to do the same to the other side of the pedal, one rail isn’t enough to support it and things will only get strange from there.

If the pedal is being a pain to cooperate you can bunch up some socks or grab a shoe and shove it at the end of the pedal, this should bring it back to alignment with the base section of the broken pedal. If need be ask someone to help hold things still as you strap it down with tape.

Once both sides are secured, start applying longer strips of tape on the top and bottom of the pedal, wrap it about 3-4 times tightly and things should be good to go. Push down on the pedal with your hand and the pressure should be absorbed with no more flex from the breaking point.

This is a bit of a quick and dirty guide but for $2 and some tape I don’t think we can polish that much. This current fix has been steady in heavy use for about 3 months now. I have to thank Franks for the initial info on how to get things working again.