Praising Mods!

I love the Mod. That is, Game Modification not the Mod Sub-Culture that originated from the sixties (Mod Wolves are quite a different matter).

My purchases of PC Games have several factors (Re-Playability, Originality, Fun, Specs and Modding if you want the full list) and if a game is more or less open for the successful community that follows to use the tools to transform it into something better or completely different then, Game Developers you've got my sold. Mods are the extreme version of customisation in gaming which also appeals to me.

The first ever Mod I cut my teeth on, what the originally named mod called Mod 1, For Cossacks European Wars (And the Art of War Expansion) which reskinned a huge amount of units and added several more. I was so overjoyed the mass armies of Clone Pikemen and Musket Infantry were gone I cried. At last, many men in the armies of European Wars would not should men on their on side because the blood on their identikit uniforms made them look like the Generic European Red Army.

It also gave me three more cannons. Anything with old fashioned Cannons is awesome. Trust me on this.

Then came Forgotten Hope, for BF1942. I caught the 2nd or 3rd Beta release and it was a pretty big damn Mod. It should be. As much as I loved Battlefield 1942, I hate the rushed design of the 2nd World War (Damn you EA!) , Unrealistic Weapon fire, Tanks with Cardboard armour and Russians not having the PPSh. Downloading the the thing and updates for it was always a hassle, but I think it was worth it because the amount of detail with new armour, weapons and heavily detailed maps based on proper Battles of the 2nd World War was so damn worth it. It also unlocked and added several voice commands for the Axis and Allies as well as introducing the Aussies with the best voice Commands of all. FH plans to return in Battlefield 2 and possibly will be ported over to BF3 (ugh).

Another good Mod? The Creators of Terrae Expungnae for Rome: Total War demand Medals and several Awards for gaming alone. Vanilla Rome Total War is fun, But at times you want tear your hair out at the whacky. Who skinned these Romans? Why is Rome a three state nation!? WTF! PIGS!? DOGS!? Thankfully, TE removed all that rubbish. It also re skinned all the armies, united Rome, added several more factions and revamped the more silly ones (The Egypt is now, thank god Grecian Themed like it was back them instead of Komedy Asterix) made the Campaign Map much much bigger (Right up to India) and tweaked Combat Values with the Units themselves to make it more epic. They also redid the Battlefields in the new map, making each one unique. Worth getting if you want an epic, easier and less silly game of RTW.

The Cinematic Mod of Max Payne is also quite fun. Max swaps his battered leather jacket for a sweeping post Matrix Gun-Fu Trench Coat, shade and stubble as does Mona albeit both contract a lethal form of RSI for holding those heavy hand guns (Trust me, when you unarmed or using the knuckle duster you will know what I mean) and get a load of new guns as well as some excellently reskinned weapons from the usual game. The Minigun and Colt Magnum will be your favourites, they were mine. Also, Bullet time comes with some epic music now and baddies squirt anime-esqe amounts of blood all over the place. Movie epicness in a can.

Star Wars fans, embittered by the odd blandness of Empire At War and the Prequal coat tail rider of the Expansion? Dispair ye not! Empire at War has several promising mods being made our touched up right now, including a Realism Mod (Phoenix Rising) an Extra Content Mod (Steiners Units) or total Conversions that let you play in the Stargate and Battlestar Galactica Universes. Star Wars mods are quite common on both FPS and RTS platforms.

Speaking of Star Wars, tired of the tacky Multiplayer modes in Jedi Academy? Get Movie Battles 2 and enjoying flying around Movie Authentic Maps setting Jedi alight with your Mandalorian Flamethrower. Go on, treat yourself. Just stay clear of those damn Jedi Lightsabers. Different combat system or not, dismemberment still hurts.

Games so open to modding also spawn excellent mini mods, some games like the Garrys Mod and Civ IV evidently show this on their Mod Content Download sites. Modding has even spread to MMO games, like WoW with its crazy client side interface mods and hilarious nude skins. Second Life, The slightly original but slightly creepy at times MMO is infamous for the Modability of it. That is a word now people. On my blog at least.

Even TF2 already has a number of client side mods and tweaked Server Mods coming out now.

I wonder in the history of Modding, has anyone considered going back and Pimping out, let say, Pong. Repaint that white Rectangle Neon Green, make the sound effects scream AWESOME WICKED SICK instead of bleeping when your oppoment doesn't hit back.

I could rant for hours about good Mods, but I don't have the time. Occasional I will do a Mod Mini Review here on this blog, but for now simply check out Mod DB and look out for something you like.

Memories, Mockings & Thoughts on Sid Meirs Civilization

Today, I'm going to share my memories of Sid Meirs Civilization with you.

Now, I am too young for Civilization 1, Heck, I was a wee kiddie during the Microprose era of gaming more interested in watching cartoons on TV.

But, It all began with Civilization 2, the PlayStation version to exact. This was even before I began serious PC Gaming. The story is basically this, I was hanging around some kid friends house and watching him play the PSX. Bored, I look at the arranged pile of games on his shelf and Civ 2 (His Dads) caught my eye. I asked to borrow it.

It got me hooked. I believe only the Discworld games or Hogs of War kept me on the PSX longer than that game. I even got my best friend addicted to the game, but eventually I had to return it. A few years later, I borrowed a copy of Civ III from a friend in Secondary School and once again found myself glued to my computer chair, wasting an entire weekend on the thing. I also had to return that too.

Several years later in 2004, I grabbed a copy of Civ III from a shelf in a Safeway (Now a Morrisons) Super Market for ten pounds. I played Civ III on and of, But I was quite annoyed that Mods and Online Player were reserved for the damn Expansions packs. Britain was always going to be that horrible shade of Orange forever it seemed.

In the Summer of 07, I grabbed the Civilization Collection Boxset from Amazon. I now have Civ I to IV as well as both Expansions to three and even a little Civ Card Game, Booklet and Extras DVD Rom. In the late Summer, I snagged The War Lords Expansion too. I have both Civ IV and Warlords on my PC, and I'm still playing a game now.

Over the years, The game has changed. A lot. For the good and the bad. For example, I remember the Advisers in Civ 2 were Video Clips of actual people camping it up when you asked for advice. The Military Advisers was of course, my favourite. Like a cheap Kane from Command and Conquer, he demanded me to thrust my sword into the beating hearts of my enemies, Which I would attempt just for him. I couldn't say no. Also, Elvis was the Entertainer Advisor. Elvis is everywhere in the Civ series. The King isn't dead, He is just an aide or tool for a crazed Dictator like me.

I was quite saddened how Advisers were toned down to floating heads in Civ III and then became just plain text and icons for Civ IV. But life is cruel I suppose, and I expect somebody will whack out a Mod with those floaty worried looking heads in the future. Another difference between Civ II and the more modern versions is the Leaders of the Empires.

Instead of having one or two, you had FIVE. Each nation had Five. They were all different of course, but wow. Five! I can recall alone Russia had Lenin, Romanov, Peter The Great, Ivan The Terrible and Tsar Empress Catherine The Great. All the good stuff was text or in game though, the Leaderheads of the Diplomacy were pretty laughable at the time (Paintings, Photos or just a Picture of a Statue. You WILL FEAR EMPEROR MARBLE MAN!)

Civ II however was simple. You either built your Empire up and crushed everyone else, or went the wussy way out and attempted to build the Space Ship. The AI in Civ II was damn well crude though. I am not joking. Sometimes, It was a miracle if they could cobble together a stable Empire. If they declared War on you, they would care not if you had an efficient up to date army and send waves of Cavemen Warriors and Spearmen charging at your Tanks and Armoured Cars. Even at peace, they had an annoying habit of trumping their men all over your Empire making you extremely paranoid. Besides, that is rude. DO I LEAVE MY MASSIVE ARMY OF MUSKETEERS OUTSIDE MY CAPITAL CITY, HENRY THE VIII? NO! I DON'T!

Yes, Civ II was primitive by today's Civilization Standards. There was no borders, or civics or fancy treaties or resources. There was simply war, or peace. And peace was pretty boring, since all you could do was build up your cities/armies and give them rude names . And fear the Barbarians until you could amass the Tech for the gun. War in Civ II was simple, Sprite collided with Sprite, chop or bang sfx went off and you watched the little HP segment bar praying your little guys would win.

Of course, an Airplane would then run out of fuel and land on the Victor of the combat. Civ II was also the only game you could go Ronald Reagan with your Nuclear Weapons, because the only consequences (Fallout) could be easily cleared up by 'Engineers' (which became Workers in Civ III and IV). Nuclear Weapons in that age had an odd habit of hovering Horizontally and staying in cities B&B on their way to their targets. When they had a decency to finally get there and explode, you simply had to move your armour in and take other. No annoying SDI Defence Satellites here folks.

One thing of Civ II that has stuck with me, is the simple Midi-esqe Soundtrack. Dum dum de dum dum de dum! It said it had twelve of these things, but they all sounded the same too me really. One thing I would miss is the option to change the Fog of War look. One of the options was a crude Atlas like background, another the cover of the game it self. Civ III and IV should have kept that baby going at least. Civ II also had the epic Video Clips of wonders being completed. And the most detailed Palaces you could make, Well, Detailed Throne Rooms anyway.

So that was Civ II, Simple but you'd get your Conquering the World with your favourite Nations Empire fix. Lets move on to the Civilization III Era.

So man Evolved, Things became less flat and static. Armies of men became 3D and moved around a lot more, occasionally sneezing or scratching themselves at the same time in a disturbing manner. Resources sprouted across the lands, but needed tending. Men rose up for the cities, donned loinclothes and Plastic Hard Hats and began the job of wrecking the wilderness to get to the precious mines. It is now optional to see if you want a Grid on Shield icons all over the map, you can thankfully turn them off to stop them from spoiling the grand view. Ugh, think of the traffic congestion things could cause too. Instead of decorating a Throne Room, you can now more or less decide how your Palace looks like. It gives you several different styles of buildings. Feel free to mix and match and create something horribly ugly or be boring and choose all the same pieces.

And Empires adopted borders and became efficiently colour coordinated. These were just some of the few changes of the more modernised version of Civilization III. Things are different, yet at the same time some things have never changed. A joy to us all was the coloured influence borders. Nothing is more satisfying than looking at the minimap and seeing the massive size of your Empire brushing against the smaller snarky ones who insist I am compensating. Am not, Greece! or your overseas Colonies.

Workers and Resources were indeed also a welcome addition. Not only was it nice to see them help build roads, little towns and mines around the former Wilderness of your land that gave you a solid sense of change, progress and rising to power but there was something wicked about trading your own workers for some gold to another power. You could also capture them and drag them back to your Empire at gunpoint in times of war. The Workers Improvements and the new Resources brought in the excellent tactics of Attrition when it came to war. Now you could bombard your enemies improvements and roads, making them suffer slowly in movement and general production with your Bombers and Battleships or loot the things with your own Armies for that precious gold.

Also, we finally get to see our Leaders in the flesh. Animated Leaderheads are finally ours. However, the bad news? Only one Leader per nation now. And nations themselves can't change their colour. Poor France, did anyone actually play you I wonder with that horrible shade of pink and creepy butch looking leader of yours? At least, our Leaders had different clothes for each era eh? Who doesn't like Abe The Barbarian? Or Westernised Tokugawa? Or Bowler Shaka Zulu? Leaders also are attached to concepts and Ideologies, and hate certain others which means some nations will always be at each others throats. Pray to god you aren't India led by Gandhi, and find yourself sharing a border with Shaka. Things will get messier than a Raptor Rampaging through a Junior School for Fat Children.

The AI in Civ III, isn't as bad as it was in Civ II. But it had its own little retardation phases. For example, it would make outright insane demands on the diplomacy screen. Many times, Mao wanted me to give back his three cities I took from him in the last two hundred years, all my gold and Fission simply for one Dye resource. Not going to happen, fool. Go force your workers to work themselves to death more. It also thinks upgrading their units is for wussies. They have blind faith their Pikeman can hold off even the most accurate of Nuclear Weaponry. Of course, the AI got tougher and more smart the higher difficulty level you went. And god help you if you Nuke some AI and not be prepared for the massive gang bang of chaos that will follow, believe me on this people. Nuclear Warfare in Civ III isn't a simple forgivable Faux Pas like it was in the previous games.

Warfare was more or less like it was in Civ II, but a lot more pretty now units have animations and are 3D and all. Artillery actually became more useful, now it could do more than simply damage walls. Like I mentioned earlier, Bombers and Plane have more use too and now instead of the fuel limit just have to be based in cities with Airports. Makes sense now. Nukes can only be transported in Nuclear Submarines. Every nation also has a unique Military Unit. Germany has The deadly Panzer, Russia has Cossack and England (Ugh) has the Man'O'War. Yeah, I know. Sid Meir sucks when it comes to the British in all these games. You can also prepare your economy for War as well for once, which is a nice touch for mass production of Tanks, Guns and Soldiers. Sadly, your government has to pay for maintaining your Armies instead of the cities like the past. Veteran Units also become Generals, which gives a stack of Military Units better Attack and Defence Stats, simply by holding your nations flag and saying Ho! repeatedly during a battle. Who knew Hip-Hop was so inspirational back then?

Diplomacy is much more streamlined too. In Civ II, you needed to train Diplomats to do anything harder in Diplomacy than War/No War. He's been fired in Civ III and forced to become a worker, because I can't see how a guy who sucks so bad in stealing some paperwork can find any more work in the modern world of Civilization III. Nations can trade resources for resources or cash, agree on defence treaties or alliances as well as trade matters too. Hell, if you really have the balls you can use Diplomacy as a tool of appeasement but you are going to need more than two Knights and a wonky Catapault, which the AI sometimes thinks is enough to get me to hand over Orleans. Ain't happening, Joan! Oh, and watch out for Global Warming. It is much more dangerous in the game.

The Tech Tree has been stripped and streamlined too, some Techs dropped while others are merged together. This is pretty good, considering I don't have to waste my time to research the tech that gives my guys the tech to produce the factories that also need a tech to gain access to the resource needed to build a simple ship covered in metal. It also means, we get the kick ass stuff much faster.

Some units got laid off from Civ II. And I mean some. Like I mentioned earlier, Diplomat Smith has exchanged his Dandy Tophat and Coat tails for his Hard Hat. You remember the weird Alpine Soldier? He hung us his skiis. Armoured Car? Gone. Now taped to the sides of Battleships. All those sword carrying guys on the Medieval Ages are now rolled into one Unit. Forts can also be built by the Workers when a certain Tech is learnt, Forts built on certain tiles with good defence stats can improve those stats as well as the defensive stats of a unit fortified inside.

At last, there is another way to win the game that doesn't involve the drawn out process of Nuking nations until they lie down and let you take over. You can win the infamous Cultural Victory. What is Culture? Is the fuel that powers your nation, attracts many people and lets your workers paint your land that lovely colour of yours as far as the eye can see. Monuments and places of Art and learning Attract Culture, as well as unlocking certain tech. You can also control how much your nation invests on throwing those wild parties of yours with your treasury with a slider. You also have a slider to decide how much Boffins will be working on the whole Science thing too, Instead of Researching on what makes Dogs hate Cats like we do in the real World. You can also win with score, so try and be the best at grabbing tech, spending cash and conquering your foes.

However, Civ III alone sucks. The Expansion Packs are the real winners, allowing online play as well as modding and other stuff. And since we're on the RAGE subject, I'd like to ask Sid Meir what was he thinking, when he decided that Big Big Empires diserve such a high Corruption Rate? Trying to satisfy cities full of fussy Gotham and Metrololis-esqe morons around a continent without trying to cripple my War and Expansion Campaigns isn't my idea of fun. If I wanted that stuff, I would have gotten Corruption Buster Tycoon. Curbing Expansion in a game based on nurturing your tiny single citied tribe into a nation is wrong. And I thank my stars they fixed this crap in Civ IV. The Government system is still pretty poor too. It is a simple a matter of getting the right tech, leaving behind the crappy Governments and sticking with just Democracy for Peace and Communism for War.

Lets move onto Civ IV now, shall we? In my general opinion, Civilization IV is pretty much the best one of the three so far. Improving on the mistakes it made in Civ III and expanding some ideas from Civ III possibly inspired by the modding Community, Civ IV is bigger AND badder. For once, the game Engine is awesome. Seriously. The world at the start of a new game looks so pure, beautiful and balanced you almost think it would be a shame to stamp your mark on it, flood it with cities and mines and them bomb the crab out of it in countless wars and Skirmishes.

They've also decided to give some nations more Leaders, some Leaders have different likes and ways of running things than the other chap. For example, Frederick The Great of Germany would rather have his nation brimming with Schools, Universities and Monuments while Kaiser Wilhelm would want Endless rows of Factories and a Strong Lean Mean Army of Square Heads. You can even choose, with a custom game to mix and match Leaderhead Personalities up.

Ah, Customisation! One of the sweet sweet words of modern gaming. Making something yours, not some lame cloned avatar. Yes, games in Civ IV are much more customised than they were with Civ III. You can choose several new different planet layouts, choose to have a flat world where ships collide with invisible wall instead of the cylinder approach as well choose how Vicious Barbarians would be, the length of turns a game will have (from 200 at the smallest to 1200 at the highest) the Victory Conditions, slowing those borders down for a more Settler based approach to gaining land to deciding whether it will always be war or peace, neither the two.

The game also comes with an easy to learn Map Editor and Creator. Yes, you can even use the thing to cheat a little in your game if some bastard AI backstabs you at the wrong moment during your plans for world Conquest. Oh, and Religion is back. Workers seem to also finally learnt how to sail their own boats and can now build Sail Boats and Oil/Gas Platforms on the seas themselves.

It includes four new Victory Conditions too. You can either kiss everyone ass, donate Settlers and tech, switch Religion when asked or give away free stuff for most of the game. When the UN comes to power, they elect you into power as the head of the Club. You win and pass the Resolution to ban Nukes, which makes the post game crushing the World easier. You can also win converting the entire world to your state Religion, By owning 70% of the land including most of the world Population or by simply being the most Cultural Nation on the planet. Much more varied that crushing everyone or running away in a Space Ship.

Also, they got rid of the crap pre-packed easily abused Governments thing. Now you can make your own Government, Mixing and matching the civic system they first knocked up in Alpha Centuri. Yes, at last you can have that Corporate whore of a Theocratic Police State you have dreamed of. Civ IV also packs quite a few more nations that it did have in Civ III, as well as giving them elite units for certain eras.

So on the WARRRGH War side, what has changed? Well, Mr Nuke is no longer that easy going character of the days of Civ II. Mr Nuke is now hated and feared. Mr Nuke can not even leave the city Silo he was built in. And Mr Nuke is 50% screwed if the SDI shields have been installed over the enemy nations airspace. Mr Nuke pretty much is mostly useful in easy Modern Era settings.

Combat it self is pretty different. Units still have health, but percentages and calculations have taken a more active role. Some Monuments and constructions as well as Resources can give all units trained or built in your territory better attack, defence or turn based movement skills. Units can also be trained a huge amount of RPG like talents like better city defence, healing or better defence percentages on tiles. We're a long way from the days where a bigger pile of units could crush a smaller pile people.

So who is the Champion of the Modern Era? Combined Armed Stacks, Filled with Modern Armour, Mechanised Infantry and Mobile SAM and Artillery Trucks. Marines have also been beefed up a little, and have learned how to actually swim and hold their guns without Water Wings this time too. The Warlords Expansion introduces a famous person Unit, known as Warlord who spawns in your Capital after a certain Victory who can be attached to a stack and made leader who upgrades the unit he is attached to, used to build a Military Academy that makes more Elite Armed forces from a certain city or simply attached to the city to help it grow. Warlords are not invincible keep in mind, so don't slap them to any old Unit.

Also, you can't capture Workers anymore. Instead, they get removed from the map. An interesting Warfare tactic is sadly destroyed. Oddly enough, Nuclear Submarines and AEGIS Missile Cruisers are missing from the Navy Unit List, making Naval War smaller and more simple. Caravels can also only carry Workers, Great People, Missionaries or Scouts. Meaning the Colony rush won't happen until you gain access to Galleons. Interestingly though, Submarines can carry the same people as well as Spies. The Military Transport Helicopter returns too, with room for four.

Famous People can now be born in your Cities, Scientists, Entertainers, Merchants and Prophets pop up now and again. You can either make them build their specialist building, join the city and become the Mayor or make them research a tech in a Tech tree. Hell, if you have more than two lying around you can off them for a Golden Age. I'm not sure how killing two great people of the Civilised World can to do. Maybe everyone gets easily jealous in the world of Civ IV. Amusingly, Great People are assigned names from real great people. Recently, Bill Gates popped up in the late Medievil Age of a game I am playing (He was a Merchant). Windows 1422 must have sucked, because a few turns later the same nation start their Golden Age. Oh Bill, when will you learn?

Diplomacy in Civ IV is a more fine tuned version of the Civ III version, without the AI making dumb demands every five minutes. Sadly, for I assume for PC reasons you can no longer trade Workers. Removal of such a feature is stupid though, because SLAVERY is a main civic. You can work people to death in your nation, but as long as they are yours it is okay now. Warlords introduces the concept of Vassilage, so you don't have to eradicate everything that belongs to your rival now, just crush half of him and force him to become part of your extended Empire. Stalin, Who coincidently is a new Leaderhead in the Warlords Expansion would indeed approve. You can either hit a enemy Civ in the face until he begs you his Vassilage or some weaker nations will ask your to be their big brother because their next door Neighber who has a bigger army and a different Religion is not sending them Christmas Cards anymore. Relations have gotten more detailed, you can seriously annoy an entire nation if you keep trading with a guy who not only is a different religion to theirs, but is a Vassel to their Rival. At least now, Civilizations have excuses to hate and war on you.

Speaking of Religion, which appeared in the first Civ III pack one has no way of making sure his state stays worshipping a one god. This makes an attempt to a Religious Victory down right Impossible because by the modern age an average city in Civ IV is worshipping two Religions already. Some Mods have compensated for this by making Inquisition Units that can remove Religion buildible, thank my nations chosen god. Religions themselves are quite interesting, any city in another nations shares your nations Religion you can see it and a certain area around it. Also, if you get a Religious Prophet you have founded a Religion in a certain city (Say Nara) you can build the Religions Shrine Building. Which gets you gold.

They even made the Cultural Border more awesome. Now, like proper maps with coloured in borders the colour it self alighs it self Geograpically beside Rivers and around Mountains. Some of the Resources and most of the improvements are nicely animated too. Zoom in onto your slowly graphically expanding city and not only will you see your cute little Mount Rushmore, but hear the voices of your citizens and a light version of your nations Theme. It seems awesome how the tiny 2D gridded world of Civ has evolved into this massive excellently crafted slowly changing gridless beauty my Riflemen Infantry is defending. Finally in Civ IV, you can actually SEE the impact your nation is making to the world with creation and construction, not just destruction now. Until Global Warming hits. Be careful on how many Nuclear Weapons you use (Or not, because the AI at least in Warlords cares not for Global Warming and uses thoses things more than they actually use their Bombers) and how many Fossil Fuel Power Stations your build because soon, you will be strugging to feed your slowly starving nation. And there isn't a Tech that makes Sand edible in this game.

Sadly, they have removed anything to do with your Palace aside from just rebuilding it in another capital. This sucks. I demand to design my own house dammit, I am a Godly King Emperor of my nation! Fine, I'll make a nest in one of our damn Wonders.

Civ IV has quite a few new wonders, as well as some old ones returning and a few renamed ones too. The 3D movies that were cheaply replaced by graphical pictures in Civ III are back and even better. Sadly, only Wonders still trigger movies. You think by now, Sid would have movies for new Governments, the loss of a Civ or a new Religion being founded too?

Civ IV is built using the PYTHON computer langauge and is incredibly moddable. Mods for Vanilla, Warlords of By The Sword are all over the place at the CivFanatics Website that add new content more in game features or the return of some remodeled favourites removed from the past. Hell, some of these little Mods and Mini Games are already featured inside Shipped Copies of the game.

Civ IV also has an extremely well done online version of the game, which can be played in several different ways. You can now insult somebodies sexuality AND harass them for all their cities for gold online. Be the asshat that was once the AI's job.

I must say in the long run, Civilization has indeed only gotten better. It has became more streamlined, more beatiful looking and more challenging. One can play for weeks, even months before he finishes a game. In time too, annoyingly, the game has gotten pretty big. If you have Civ IV and both Expansions installed as well as a few mods, say goodbye to at least four gigabytes of HD space.

I can't see really how, After the latest Expansion Civ can get any better. Maybe Civ V will be a MMO game, where a server represents an entire World, and a single game can take three months to finish. A game where you can pick a nation name, upload a flag from your HD and cobble together several Elite Units before hopping in and taking on the world for a few lumps of gold, a Mine of Gems and the Fire Axis Studio Wonder.

Civilization and Sid Meinr, The people of the Pooposkosy Empire Federation Salute you and your mad Gold trading glory. Now, give me Civ V for free or I'll blockade your capital!

Go Go Go! Talking bout Counter Strike

Lately, I've become re-addicted to Counter Strike Source. What can I say, the two minutes chaotic kamikaze violence where your aim is to complete the objective or at least take as many Terrorists or Counter Terrorists down with you is just one of those really addictive formula.

I have a soft spot for CSS. I got it free with my copy of HL2 in 2004 which also had HL2DM on it and I can never uninstall it from my PC.

But one of the aims of my recent re-addiction, was to master the Shotgun of the games. In my eyes, the Shotgun is one of the manliest weapons in gaming next to a Rocket Launcher, Bolt Action Rifle or Dagger. Sure you can cause chaos safely with your fancy pants sniper rifle or have a certain kill with that plastic sub-machinegun that fires more than one bullet a second but a real man gets up and close and bathes in the blood cloud of his decimated enemy. It after all, makes you stronger.

Besides, when guarding a hostage or bombsite which is inside or has a small alleyway or corridoor the Shotgun is indeed going to be the king of the killing field. You can't run away from my three clouds of buckshot, you Scout carrying pansey now. Wish you bought the Desert Eagle now, don't you!

It really is a pleasure for me to kill somebody in CSS with the more bulky, least reputible weapons. It is truly the pwn when somebody gets wasted with the UMP, the Dual Wielded Beretta or that embarassingly expensive Rambo Minime Machine Gun. Mac 10 and Schmidt Machine Pistol kills are also a must too for me. This little facination also helps me with my notorious cheapness. I rarely buy the more expensive guns, I'd rather stack up on a good pistol, armour and nades. It pays off when I can finally afford the Rambo gun with ease.

Another reason I have gotten re-addicted to the game is that I have decided to try more of the custom maps. Office, Dust and Italy are great in moderation but are so goddamn boring. Especially on those forty and fifty map severs. Instant OMG Rush mode right there and then. The current server I play on has some interesting new maps as well as expanded versions of the official ones (rooms, new inter connecting routes and new bomb sites) make for a more interesting and less cramped style of gameplay. Not to mention, shooting down doors and blasting brick walls open for some routes. Who doesn't like random map destruction? huh? huh? Nothing more kick ass that smashing a freaking door with your tiny Bowie Knife. Andy McNabb got nothing on me apparently.

What player model do you choose I also hear you ask? I being a minor Patriot always grab SAS on The CT side and Elite Crew for the CT side. Sometimes, I grab a Navy SEAL or Phoenix Connection to remind me of the early days of CSS too. I'm not much of a fan of the other two newer Terrorist skins. The Winter Camo dude looks odd in most maps and the Guerilla guy looks too portly and high to be a terrorist of El Cubadoroa. You see this guy in a local CSS server, make sure you give him the UMP.

I also must say, CSS Ghosting has some pretty amusing sights from time to time. Watching brave Terrorists or CT's blazing hopeless last stands or witnessing some gormless CT trying to blast some crazy sob Terrorist cutting into his kidney with a bowie knife always makes me laugh. Even the Ragdoll corpses sometimes get blown, shot or slid into some hilariously amusing positions. Despite the graphics and seriousness of a Terrorist Attack, CSS will always have a comical side to me. Either with witty or LOL banter of the dead semi-bored pundits in the chat channel, the (sometimes) funny sound bytes or hearing some chap being snarky on the mic. Wondering around the map, watching people getting wasted and looking and the cheap destruction or your fellow players sprays in most VALVe games is always an interesting experince though.

Another thing amuses me about the game. It is always the same four guys being taken hostage. What power does Old Guy, Middle Aged Guy, Young Guy and Asian Guy hold in the ultra-violent but constantly resetting world of Counter Strike SOURCE? Do they have horrible luck and taste when it comes to going on holiday? Is it a Sick Fetish and they are all members of some Hostage Volunteers Group on MySpace? Could they perhaps know where all the women went in this crazy world of endless death and lolcat sprays? Where they perhaps, NPC's that helped Gman in his crazy quest during Black Mesa and got exiled like Gordon in Half Life? Who knows. All we know is, they are funny to shoot in the foot. I have an intricate theory that Middle Aged Guy owns the floaty invisible shop where everyone buys their weapons at the start of the round and has some sort of deal with the CT. Since he always dies last. Keep an eye on him will you? he could try and sell you some repainted Mac-10 he looted from some newbie Terrorist corpse when you are saving his creepy ass.

Do I have any favourite moments of my own adventures in the game? Recently, I went nuts and got five kills with the Pump Shotgun in the game. Sadly, I could never stop the CT's from disarming the bomb on the same round. Life is cruel, but you respawn still with your gun and new ammo :D. I also recall recently just buying a whole lot of AK's with the team and throwing them on the coffee table in the expanded Office map. It was utterly pointless, but we all got a free Assault Rifle for it!

Now I simply wonder what is left in store for CSS now that The Orange Box is out of the way. VALVe have confirmed that Achivements for it and his grand old man, Counter Strike will be in the works but we want more content. More guns. Chickens in Italy. Spetznatz CT and Escaped Convict Models for both teams.

Right, I'm all out of STEAM. Get it? Anyways, before I go I must mention if you liked Red Versus Blue check out the Leet World Machinma, set in CSS. An excellent parody of all those crap Reality Television shows that is on TV these days with the crazy Ultra Violence of CSS thrown in for win.

Welcome All! Press Start To Play!

What do you mean, press start to play? where is the start key? OMG OMG OMG. Did you try that weird key then? you know the little one, always skulking around your keyboard under a certain Esc key. That guy. Slap him now. Okay, loading Introduction.

Okay, lets get to introductions. Hello, I am Nurdbot. I am a Gamer. I am going on twenty this December, and I have been gaming since I was eight years old. I've played on several different platforms, starting with the ye olde Sega Master System and working my way up to the mighty gaming rig of today's PC Computers. I'll discuss more on that some other time.

Why am I writing a blog? For several reasons really, one is to blow off the gaming ramblings and other junk floating around in my head. Another reason, I always wanted to be a Gaming Journalist. Writing has always been a hidden little passion of mine, always wanting my attention despite my hobbies and other things that keep me busy.

But enough about me. Lets talk about games. What are my tastes? Well, I suppose. Almost anything really (Barring the Fantasy Grind MMO Clones South Korea pumps out) and I will have a go at something even if only just once.

Yes, I'm my time I have commanded grand armies and empires and fought in more action leaded scenes with twin MG-42 machine guns held in my avatars bulging Arnie like muscles than I have hot dinners. I've hit armies of minions with swords and guns too. I even enjoy building things rather than smashing them, as my Movie Studios and Former Sims can claim.

Oh. And I love Mods too. Mods are the 2nd love of my life in games next to the games themselves. If you are part of a Mod, I love you. Consider that a badge of honour good sir.

So sit back, let the cat out of the room and pop open a can of diet coke or something. Even tea will do. A quick shout out to PC Gamer who in one of their letters to another fellow like me, inspired me to do this. Now, select your team!