Geek Fitness

Over the course of 5 and a half years of playing WoW, I managed to pack on a few pounds…and by few I mean somewhere in the range of 80-90 pounds. It was a gradual gain over the years, compacted by my lifestyle decisions, namely:
1. Job as a sys admin where I sat majority of day
2. Second job as a WoW raider where I spent my nights sitting in a chair killing dragons
3. Sponsorship* by Papa Johns wherein I would plow through a pizza most raid nights

*Unfortunately, Papa Johns wasn’t aware they were sponsoring me, and I’m pretty sure I kept that local Papa Johns afloat during the economic downtimes. … Continue Reading

Trigah’s Game Priority List

Having killed Heroic Lich King with my 10-man guild in late June, I was finally able to break away from the grasp that World of Warcraft had on me for close to 5 and a half years. After leaving the game, I found myself spending more and more time at work grinding away at real life accomplishments, and returning home late at night confused as to how to spend the few hours before bed.

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Final Fantasy XIII Review : Micromanagement Promotion

I have finished the tutorial section of the game (so about 20 hours in).  The newly revamped active time battle system has created a fast paced strategy/puzzle game with an RPG wrapper.  Not all of the other aspects of the game are up to the same level, but luckily those can be easily ignored, leaving just a entertaining and challenging battle system.

A couple of somewhat minor gameplay changes have a significant impact on the game by significantly cutting down on the repetition and grinding.  I play games for fun and these changes allow me to focus more on what I find fun in this game.

1. The majority of battles are unique and present a challenge
2. Health is refilled and debuffs (poison, magics, etc.) are removed at the end of every battle
3. Both during a fight or immediately after losing a fight, you have the option to “retry”, which places you right outside of the last encounter, allowing you to make the necessary setup changes to your group before re-engaging, or allowing you to bypass the fight completely if possible
4. The linear nature of the maps allows you to know where you are going and significantly cuts down on the pointless wandering of its predecessors

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New Kings & Castles developer video

Kings & Castles is an upcoming game developed by Gas Powered Games and Chris Taylor ( Dungeon Siege , Total Annihilation , and Name Your Link). The company has been generating buzz about the game through video blogs and diaries about their work in progress.

Go see the latest video blog here: http://gaspowered.com/kingsandcastles/

Xenonauts – an Indie remake of the original X-Com

As a follow-up to my post yesterday regarding the latest X-Com announcement, here comes news of an Indie developer (Goldhawk Interactive) hard at work on a modern-day X-Com replacement: Xenonauts.

Although I’d love to see this come to fruition, something tells me that this game has a long ways to go before it can please X-Com fans. I wholly support the effort though.

Thanks to Kotaku for making us aware of this news.

X-Com Is Back!?

The good news: Yesterday, 2k Marin (makers of Bioshock 2) announced they are developing a new X-Com game.

The bad news: They announced the next X-Com game will be a first-person shooter with “strategic elements”.

While I look forward to watching this game’s development progress, I can’t help but wonder why after almost 20 years we still have less-than-authentic games such as UFO: Aftermath that even attempts to bring back the strategic and tactical glory that was the original X-Com.

The original X-Com still ranks as my favorite game of all-time. You can still find it on Steam. Go get it.

WoW: Fall of the Lich King

The day is finally upon us as the Lich King is being added into Icecrown Citadel. This encounter will finally give players the chance to confront and defeat the villain that has plagued players throughout Wrath of the Lich King, and is the sole obstacle in my path to retiring from World of Warcraft. … Continue Reading

Review: Astro A40 (Customer Service)

Coming from a PC FPS background, I found myself lamenting the loss of headphones when I purchased CoD:Modern Warfare 2. Doing some research on headphones I could use with my Xbox, I came across the Turtle Beach x41 and the Astro A40. The consensus seemed to be that though the Turtle Beach x41 was more practical due to it being wireless, the Astro A40 had better overall sound. In the end I decided to go with the Astro A40 as I figured the wires were a small price to pay for better sound.
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Gamer’s Mass Effect Trailer Mixed to Terminator: Salvation Trailer – Sweet

This trailer found on GameTrailers.com perfectly mixes scenes from Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2
to the backdrop of the awesome Terminator Salvation
trailer.  Kudos to the author, “Rarthus”, who has done a wonderful job putting this together.

Check out the video here: Mass Effect: Salvation Trailer at GameTrailers.com

And check out the original Terminator: Salvation HD trailer.

Please note: There are Amazon affiliate links above.

Best Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Killstreak

Alright, I’ve found it – I don’t know why I hadn’t been using this combination all along.  Unless you’re talking about using the nuke option, this is by far the best killstreak setup you will find.

1. Predator Missile – 5 Kills
2. Harrier Strike – 7 Kills
3. Chopper Gunner or AC-130 – 11 Kills

Once you’re seasoned at MW2, a 5 kill streak will be an every game occurrence.  With the Predator Missile killstreak reward, you’re guaranteed at least one – in some cases two or three – additional kills via the missile.  You’ll find that you’re immediately able to call in the Harrier Strike – which, unless your enemies are quick on their launchers, you’ll find will grant you at at least another three or four kills.  And just like that, you’ve got a match-altering killstreak waiting for your command.  I personally prefer the AC-130 because of its devastating rockets and coolness factor; but I do know that many prefer the Chopper Gunner.

Sincerely,

chingtastical (proud of my 1.24 K/D ratio and 23 killstreak record)