The Wong Network v3

I actually waited for a month before doing this because the hardware placement and connections kept on changing. Computers 8, 9, and 10 were added recently and the wiring for the second floor is also new.

Game Review: Tom Clancy's EndWar

Game: Tom Clancy's EndWar
Developer: Ubisoft Shanghai
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platform/OS: Windows XP
Release Date: February 24, 2009
Total time to accomplish: ongoing
Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Clancy's_EndWar
Rating: 3.5/5

It's been a while since I have played strategy games. The last strategy game that I seriously played was Medieval II Total War and it was also of the 3D battlefield genre. The story is set in the not so distant future and World War III is currently ongoing. Three major countries are pitted against each other in this war: The United States of America, The European Federation, and the now powerful Russia. The goal of the game is simple; dominate all battlefields to become the ultimate world power and crush the other two nations.

I have always been a fan of futuristic weapons and vehicles so I was obviously awed at what I saw with EndWar because they are mostly upgraded versions of what is available today.

smoke and track trails from the vehicles are ultimate eye candies

I had trouble with the dynamics of the game at first because I it was more of multitasking rather than just looking for the enemy and shooting them (like in the usual FPS that I play). I couldn't multitask well at first and I often get helmet fire with all the information that I have to interpret and respond to. I ended up having a few units killed because I couldn't respond quickly when they were getting killed off and their unit card was already flashing red. Well anyway, once you get used to having all these information fed into you, you can act quickly and know what's the next best move.

The game graphics were amazingly very detailed and very realistic and it added to the wartime feel of the game. You can actually zoom in on a single infantry and you can see its actions -- whether he's shooting, getting shot at or whatever. Smoke clouds and gunfire were mersmerizing to look at. Buildings actually get damanged and eventually collapse when you fire on them long enough.

you can almost see the expression on the soldier's face

nothing screams awesome more than night battles

There's also a voice command function that the game offers. A string of commands can be given to the game so that you don't have to click so much to make your units move, defend, capture, or attack enemy units or buildings. I didn't use this much as the computer or game had trouble hearing what I was saying. It could've been the microphones fault too but who knows. I did use it a couple of times during non-engagement periods in the games but it was too tiring to do so because I literally had to shout into the microphone for it to hear me properly. The game also has this training module for would be voice command players to get you acquainted on how to use the voice commands and for speech recognition of the game. I'm not sure if the game still picks up on speech recognition while you play so I can't say for sure if the game was stupid and didn't understand me half the time I tried the voice commands or it was still in the process of learning my speech.

The factions in the game have different units, each having its equivalent in the other faction. My personal favorites, no matter what faction I play as, would be transports plus infantry and the artillery. The artillery is very very useful in chipping away enemy defense and offense as they are long ranged and deals a deadly blow when their fire is clustered. I always have 2 artillery units target a single enemy unit to eliminate them faster. The downside of the artillery vehicles is that if the enemy gets close enough, they would become useless. So make sure to always have some tanks and helicopters within attack range of the artillery. Not too close tho since artillery vehicles are magnets for weapons of mass destruction moves.

my favorite type of unit

All in all, the game gives a great preview of what we can expect from future large-scale strategy games. Although EndWar feels too good to be true at first, the game does get pretty repetitive, annoying, and boring and the AI will get pretty predictable. It's a different story altogether if you play with a real person. I enjoyed it when I played it with my brother because humans are more exciting to battle against over programmed AIs. The game scores high on graphics, game play, and game environment while low in providing a continued excitement until the end of the game. 3.5 out of 5 points is a high score and this game is a must try.

Cloning a Hard Drive

Here's the story:

My Dad's Sony VAIO laptop is running out of hard disk space. Sucky 80GB of hard disk memory came with the laptop and all his files were filling it. He bought a newer 320GB hard disk and I installed Windows XP using the Windows XP SP2 CD we have. I had trouble installing at first because the installation kept having errors (failed to copy xxxx file, press enter to retry). I wiped the hard disk clean with a single pass zero utility of Ultimate Boot CD. I re-installed again and it worked.

The laptop has a genuine Windows XP key and I entered it into the enter-key-field when Windows ran for the first time... and it wouldn't go through! I sought the help of Mr. Google and found out that the genuine key would only work with Sony's version of Windows that came with the laptop. OH NO's!

I thought and thought and thought about the problem at hand and I told my Dad to bring the laptop to Sony and have them install their version of Windows. My Dad asked me if there was an installation CD that came with the laptop (I knew there was none) so I told him I'd take a look inside the box. My brother (I asked him to do it) took a look inside the box and found no installation CD. I thought and thought and thought about the problem at hand.

and then..
AHA! I'll just clone the entire disk! That way, I'll still have Sony's version of Windows then I'll just wipe the entire disk clean with the internal formatting system (Norton Ghost in Dell, idk with VAIO). This way, the laptop won't lose any software it needs to run -- like the fingerprint recognition and what-nots.

Anyway, I searched online for cloning tools and I chanced upon an article that lists down some software that does the job well. And guess what? My trusty handy-dandy GParted (July 08 version) was listed! So I went to do it and it only took something like an hour (I was doing something else so I didn't notice) to copy everything from the external device to the new HD. I booted the PC and it showed "Operating sytem not found". BOO! What did I do wrong now.

Then I remembered I haven't flagged the Windows partition as "boot". So I went into GParted again and flagged it.

and then.. *drum roll*
WINDOWS XP BOOTED! WOOT!
This is the time I did my happy dance (or poses)

It did a quick diskcheck to ensure that everything's intact and.. TA-DA! Everything's like the old hard disk! WHEE!

OK. This celebration may be very shallow for the people who have done this countless times before, but yes, this is my first time so give me credit for doing it right with minimal to no guidance at all.

*happy dance*

:D

Game Review: Mirror's Edge

Game: Mirror's Edge
Developer: EA Digital Illusions CE (DICE)
Publisher: Electronic Arts
Platform/OS: Windows XP
Release Date: January 13, 2009
Total time to accomplish: 10 hours (approx.)
Links: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirror's_Edge
Rating: 5/5

OK. I just finished playing the game and I'm now blogging about it. It's a bit rare for me to do this but Mirror's Edge is REALLY REALLY REALLY GOOD.
PLUS! Faith, the character that you play as, is really pretty!

Basically, Mirror's Edge is a first person action-adventure game. It delineates from my usual fare of first person games. This time, I had to scale walls, jump rooftops, climb pipes, and run and run and run some more. Mirror's Edge takes gaming one step further and destroys the barrier that separates reality from fiction. Every climb you make, every jump you do, it's as if you, yourself, are doing it. I catch myself lurching forward in my chair trying to clear the near impossible jump between buildings 50 floors high.

hanging on for dear life

The graphics are awesome and the colors are just vibrant and strong. The background music is also awesome. The game play is awesome and the environment sound effects are totally awesome. The controls are easy, making the moves easy to combine and use effectively. Obviously, I am lacking in vocabulary because of the awesomeness of this game so I just resort to using awesome as the universal awesome-er.

The game lacks the usual HUD, allowing for a more realistic feel. The visibility of complete arms, legs, and torso when running, jumping, sliding, shimmying, etc. adds this sort of attachment to the character.

the view you will get from the rooftops

Guns, in this game, are dispensable. It's something that you pick up, use to kill enemies, and then throw away. Guns will only slow you down, especially the big ones. You have to use your mind to think through the environment and see the best way to isolate the enemy and disarm or knock him unconscious and then take his gun and go trigger happy while using your uber awesome moves to slide on the floor. The use of the environment is critical to success in Mirror's Edge.. and not just a race of who has the bigger gun. That, in my opinion, sets it apart from all the other action games.

I'm not going to spoil the fun and surprise for you, so go ahead and play Mirror's Edge and I assure you a 100% satisfaction with the game.
Although there are times that you just can't really figure out how to get over an obstacle and you have to repeat that section over and over again (which explains the long play time). But trial times aside... AWESOMMMEE!!

one wrong move and buh-bye for you

I hope they make a sequel (which I highly doubt). [correction: they are going to! YAY!]

CSA Valentine's Cake Sale