Welcome to the Home of Game Strategies and Stories
28 Nov 06
I apologize for not getting news up sooner. I'm still here and everyone is just fine. The adjustment continues and is proving taxing. I'm going to try to ease back into things. All I've managed lately is a few security updates. That's because I don't want the place trashed just because I'm not checking on it every day.
We've survived the Wii and PS3 launches. I have no new consoles yet. I couldn't bring myself to pull the trigger on the Walmart online bundle. It forces you to buy eight games, and I don't have any interest in six of them. I'm not in any rush given my limited gaming time. That probably means I'll find one before some people desperately searching for them. If Nintendo's shipping claims are to be believed, there should be many opportunities before the holidays.
One of these days I'd like to do a full write up on Ebay speculation and these launches. The short of it is there were so many speculators that they drained the top end market almost immediately. That left much smaller margins than most speculators were hoping for. In fact, the Houston Chronicle had an interesting article about it. I particularly liked the professor's quote. Hopefully, the hated bundle market will dry up just as quickly. I know you can argue that the bundles are just serving the market, but I'm not buying that line. Maybe if I saw a Wii, Zelda, extra controller + nunchuk, and classic controller, I might.
I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I know we were quite thankful for all the blessing in our house.
Jason
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9 Nov 06
I had planned to get back to a more regular schedule this week. It just shows what my plans are worth. My wife woke me up at 3:30 in the morning on Monday. We rushed to the hospital and Joshua Brennen was born at 6:03 a.m. He was 7lbs 8 oz and 21.5 inches long. We're back home now but still recovering. He's a wonderful baby, but it's quite an adjustment. Once things settle down, I'll try to start getting caught up. If you have a story you've been meaning to post in the forum, now would be a great time.
Jason
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1 Nov 06
It's All Saints Day. It's a time for us to look back and remember those we've lost in the past year and further back. It's a time to let go of the past and move on with life.
As I've mentioned, I've been thinking about some changes to make around here. I put up a new poll to get some feedback. I'll just take a moment to explain the options.
The user support wiki would be a Talk Strategy wiki. I would imagine it would have game pages, short stories, perhaps a little history and commentary on gaming, this site, or whatever. The advantage of a wiki is that one person doesn't have to get stuck with all the work. Sometimes just adding one line can be a great help. It's another way to get people involved.
The Monday, Wednesday, Friday article or column refers to a revised schedule for this site. I had been doing five days a week, but it seemed that important things were lost in the wash while I spent too much time writing fluff to fill space. A regular schedule keeps me from being too lazy, but not doing daily lets me write more in depth, track down interviews, get more media up or whatever.
More hard content is related to that. I'd like to keep the focus on stories and upcoming games. I can focus on previews, interviews and actual researched articles and commentary. I'm not saying that there won't be link sessions, off the cuff commentary or my general blathering. I want to know if there's interest in making the hard content less of a rarity around here.
Dropping reviews is exactly what it sounds like. I can write game reviews, but I don't enjoy it that much. I have a high standard for playing a game until I've fully experienced it. Even with games I enjoy, there are often parts I don't like. With Gamerankings and Metacritic increasing the focus on numbers, I'd like to focus on gameplay. In short, there are tons of sites doing reviews. I didn't start this place to do what everyone else does. I'll still give impressions, but I don't see a handful of reviews a year as value added.
Story series is also as you'd expect. I like writing stories, and they still seem popular. Should they remain a rare treat or become regular features?
What is a freeform blog? How can a blog not be freeform? Believe it or not, some people actually enjoy me rambling on about whatever strikes my fancy in a gaming related sense. Vote away if you'd like more of that. Note that not voting for it doesn't make all the bad go away. It just means you won't see more of it.
A web comic here? Some have said its time has already passed. I have some good ideas, but I haven't worked out the whole art thing yet. I have a few options. Let me know if this is something I should work on.
What about the graphics overhaul? I know I've promised it forever. You wouldn't believe some of the ideas on the reject pile. I keep plugging away at this. Perhaps it's time best spent on something else. Or maybe you think that this place will take off if it looks a bit more professional. Either way, let me know.
So give me some feedback and/or vote in the poll. Let me know how to make this place better. Thanks for your support.
Jason
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25 Oct 06
Howdy. I'm still alive. I think things will slowly start getting back to normal around here. I can't make any promises, but my wife got good news at the OB visit today. Everything is looking good and the risk is down. My personal stress level has dropped a lot. Maybe I can get some work done around here again.
It's not that I haven't done anything. There have been some significant security changes. Hopefully, you haven't noticed any of them. You might have noticed the lack of comment spam. We'll have to keep our fingers crossed that it continues to work that well.
I've been thinking about the site as well. Some things here work well. Others, not so much. I'm going to try to slowly implement some changes to see if we can't improve things. One thing I'm looking at is going to column updates three times a week as the norm. That way I can focus more on quality content. Without an active forum and a steady supply of new stories, the logs indicate that most people are checking here once a week or less. There's nothing wrong with that, but it means there's little harm to giving less frequent updates if there's more meat to them.
Another thing I've been playing with is starting a Talk Strategy wiki. There seems to be some interest in sharing knowledge about strategy and tactical games on a more in depth level. With a wiki you could just add your tip or strategy to the game page. By creating game pages we'd know what everyone is playing and get a feel for what they're thinking about it. Let me know what you think, both the merits of a wiki and how it might work.
There is some gaming news out there. It looks like the Supreme Commander beta will be starting soon. 3DGamers has some slots for subscribers. I imagine Fileplanet has the same. Also, you might have noticed some price drops in the TS Store. I was a bit surprised to see that the new Marvel action RPG is getting better reviews than the new Splinter Cell. I'm guessing it's just a factor of more reviews, but it's still unexpected. Speaking of surprises, I thought Railroads! would get better reviews. Who would have thought it would be a system hog?
Upcoming, I owe you some reviews and will give my take on the whole impending PS/Wii launch and holiday gaming season. Thanks for the patience.
Jason
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13 Oct 06
New security measures are in place. Please notify me if you notice any problems. Now maybe I can get back to adding content again.
Tonight I have a short, sweet review for you. It's a hardware review of the Lapinator lap board.
As you may recall, I got a new laptop this year. It's not a hardcore gaming machine, but it did turn out to be more powerful than I expected. Part of the price of that power was heat. Put simply it wasn't comfortable to use as its name implied for more than a minute. Needing a table to use it kills some of the functionality of a portable computer. I needed a good lap board. I solicited recommendations. The only one that got more than lukewarm responses was the Lapinator.
I purchased one through Amazon. I got the Lapinator Plus. I had a 15.4 in laptop and needed the surface area. My wife's work laptop would have fit nicely on the original Lapinator. With the plus model, she has room to use a mouse on the surface as well.
The first thing you notice is how light the board is. It's so light, I mistook it as flimsy. It's not. You have the flat textured work surface on top. There's a border around the edge which is handy for keeping things like a pen or mouse from sliding off. The border and bottom are cloth. The bottom has two padded rails that cushion you legs from the surface and keep it elevated to avoid trapping heat. The board also comes with three stick on rubber feet that can be used to raise the back of your laptop off the surface if your unit uses any downward cooling fans.
The work surface feels only lightly textured, but provided a surprising firm grip with the rubber feet on my laptop. Even tilting at somewhat extreme angles failed to result in any slipping. My laptop does have a downward exhaust for the video card so I used the rubber feet. They installed easily and didn't hurt the grip on the laptop at all.
The cushions below the board were quite comfortable using in a chair, car and recliner. Even without the heat issue, it was far more comfortable than just holding the laptop. The padding is firm enough that normal usage of the laptop didn't result in any movement. In short, it's a stable, comfortable work surface.
So how did the heat do? The Lapinator uses a thinsulate layer to stop the heat from the laptop from getting to your legs. For my wife's work computer, she can use it all day without getting hot. For my laptop in battery conservation mode, I can do pretty much the same. I use battery conservation most of the time when I want to use a lap board. I'm usually just doing some typing or surfing. When I crank the system up to full power for gaming or something, it gets really hot. I can get about an hour in that mode before the heat starts to seep through the board. It never got very hot on my legs, but it wasn't an absolute barrier either.
The other side of the equation is the release of body heat. The padded rails on the bottom are supposed to allow air flow. They do a good job most of the time. Obviously if I sit deep down in a comfy chair with it, there's no air flow and my legs get hot. That's not a problem with the board. The other thing to keep in mind is that the Lapinator is just a heat barrier. It's not an active cooling solution. It won't fix problems you have with laptop overheating.
In summary, the Lapinator Plus is light, comfortable and effective. It helps me use my laptop more. Definitely recommended. 4.5/5 Stars.
Jason
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10 Oct 06
I'm still alive. Thanks for asking. Things will probably remain a bit chaotic on the front page front for a while. I'll try to get back in a groove once things settle down. I'm getting things done, but not always with the site as the priority. I'll just give you a couple quick updates and return to the shadows.
Barring emergencies, I should have a couple of projects done soon. That should release more time for the site. I'm also going to take this opportunity to get back to the site redesign that's been on hold forever. I'm slow with the graphics and such, but let me know if you have any ideas.
I'd feel really bad about the time away, but then remember I'd be going off on console wars and such. Most of you have told me you don't care about such things. Plus there's plenty for you to do. There are demos out there for Paraworld (updated), Medieval II: Total War, Battlefield 2142, Star Wars: EAW Expansion, AOE III Expansion, and Dominions 3. Then there are all the great holiday releases to fill your dreams.
I'm probably going to try to kick out a few stories here and there. Paraworld has been locking up on me. I'm giving up on recent releases until the new rig. So I'll be doing some classic gaming. Maybe I'll pry something out of your library and get you to fire it up again.
Jason
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3 Oct 06
Things aren't back to normal yet. I think I'm going to concentrate on high value targets for a while. So I'll be working on things like screens, interviews, stories, reviews, and sections. I might not be updating the front page much unless something is finished. I realized at the hospital how much stress I've been under lately. I also realized that I was starting to take some of that out here. That's not fair. I hope you'll forgive me if I lighten the front page load. I think the end result will be better and more interesting content.
Let me know if things are sliding too badly. Also let me know if there are specific upcoming games you'd like to see covered. Thanks again for the kind thoughts and prayers.
Jason
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2 Oct 06
First, I apologize if anyone was having problems with the GoGamer links. As you may know, they revamped their website. Part of that process was redoing all the sponsor links. I guess they weren't quite as efficient as they had hoped. The old ones went down and time went by before the new ones were up. It's fixed now. Let me know if you have any problems. By the way, I noticed that they have Hidden and Dangerous 2 for cheap. Even though I didn't love the interface, I found the game quite fun. Kestrel has provided a couple of stories from the original H&D that will give you a feel for the game.
You may recall that my son David was born 10 weeks premature. He's fine now, and you wouldn't know it from looking at him. Needless to say, we're being very cautious with this pregnancy. That means that I just got back from several hours at the hospital. Everything is fine, and the baby has been convinced to wait for a while. However, I'm exhausted so I'm going to shut it down for the night. I hope you all are having some good gaming out there. I appreciate all the kind thoughts and prayers. If you have a moment, a few more couldn't hurt. Thanks.
Jason
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