Thursday 24 March 2011

New Ap to make your life easier, and cooler

A new Phone ap released that you should enjoy :)

http://www.tansoapps.com/tanso

You can now download anything from the web, by just TOUCHING and HOLDING the image, video or link. Introducing the Tanso Download Manager Plus. This powerful application allows you to download multimedia files to your iPhone or iPod Touch. You can then view or play the downloaded files right on your mobile device. Serving as a small portable disc, you can take copies of important documents wherever you need to. The possibilities are endless and you'll be amazed at its practicality.
Tanso Download ManagerAvailable on the App Store
Download and storage of multimedia(movies, images, audio files etc…)
Organize your saved files using our simple file manager system
Support PDF documents open any pdf file
Supports compression files .zip, .rar and .gzip
Save your bandwidth option to download large files on WIFI only
Protect your files with a built in passcode security lock
Requirements Compatible with iPhone and iPod touch
Requires iOs 4.0 or later.
Support Need help? Get in touch with us at support@tansoapps.com.
Screenshot

Sunday 6 March 2011

Gamers Today

I've been gaming since before I could ride a bicycle and I can remember even way back then my favorite games where those where you required some sort of teamwork, although it wasn't very deep of a co-op experience on NES or SEGA Genesis like it is today, it was still the best kind of gaming.

Which makes me wonder why so many gamers today seem almost anti-teamwork. This really struck me lately as I have been playing a lot of Battlefield Bad Company 2 Demo, a teamwork heavy title. I was driving the heavy tank destroying walls to give easier access to the up-links, taking out emplacement MGs and making tonnes of call outs (back button to spot enemy for the team). I COULD have just sat further back and went for enemy kills, but I pride myself on being a team player. Anyways this was going on for a good amount of time and my team was benefiting from my actions, so much so that the enemy team decided it was time to take out my pesky tank. I dodged afew RPGs and Stationary AT rockets but ended up taking a decent amount of damage before I retreated out of enemy sight. 

At this point I assumed I would just wait for an engineer to walk by and fix me up, now I've played as engineer a lot and I know that with as much damage my tank had taken it would be popping up on engineer mini-maps as a wrench, indicating this vehicle was in need of repair, and I expected some friendly mechanic service.

What I found instead were multiple engineers playing only for themselves, using my tank as cover as they advanced forward without the slightest bit of repair, even 1 or 2 who ran past me and looked back right at me just to continue running towards the path I had so nicely cleared for them, It like they were sticking their tongues out at me when they did this, this happened for a good 5 minutes before I decided to just drive the tank in and do what damage I could before the enemy would destroy it, which wasn't very long with 25 health.

I understand that it could have just been circumstantial, maybe those Engineers that past were new to the game(demo) or they were in a squad that they needed to keep up with or any other reason, However I've seen this happen in countless co-op or team based shooters.

Gears of War, a downed team mate can be picked up by simply pressing X near them, but you would be surprised how many players ignore you, even when you crawl over to them and they seriously just have to press X and continue shooting, but choose to instead stay in that position for a little while longer before running off leaving you to your fate.

Battlefield, Medics wont heal you even when you follow them and are clearly hurt, same with engineers to your vehicles, or assault players not giving ammo.

L4D(1&2), You go down near a team mate and they just run off on they're own. Although in this case there is an instant satisfaction usually granted by the game when you see that team mate get caught by a hunter or smoker or jockey or whatever karma(and the game) decides to throw at them.

I could name tonnes more and I'm sure so can anyone reading this, but I wont because I'm sure I've already made my point.

What I'd like to know though, is why? Why are some gamers so self oriented? 

Is it because you just want to improve your stats and care little for the win or loss outcome of the match? 
That can't be right because most games reward you with points or stat increases if you save your team mates.

Is it because you are not paying attention to the fact that your team is in need or you just "didn't see them"?
I doubt it because most games implement some type of HUD notification to inform you of this.

Despite how much games reward or notify you that a team mate is in need of your assistance players today still seem to just, not help.

So if you are one of those greedy players that play only for themselves, which I doubt if you joined a mature gaming community such as Battlestrats, however if you are one of those players remember to pick up a team mate and get some points for your efforts, and who knows maybe even make a new friend.

SpooN04 Bringing random gamers together since 1985 :)

Friday 4 March 2011

Trash Talking and You

Trash Talking Online these days seems to go hand in hand with gaming itself, it's as if the recipe given to gamers is formed in such a fashion with the maturity level of most gamers today(myself included) the only possible outcome is trash talking.

1part competitive gaming
1/2cup Microphone
3parts Bored gamers with nothing of value to say

Now I don't want to bash trash talking too much because I consider it to be an art form of sorts,a time killer, a demonstration of wits or a pre-game competition in itself. Who ever can come up with the best insult or most interesting way to inform the other player that they are bad at the game before even previewing the opponents actual skill level wins.
A few things during trash talking however that should be memorized like your grandmother memorized her bible, lest you want to look like an angry 11 year old, or make the room think you have little to no intelligence.

AVOID THE UNORIGINAL.
"Your a fag" and "Shut the F*&K up" will get you torn up by a veteran trash talker like myself.
In fact when I go into a pre game lobby conversing with my team mates and some guy randomly says "STFU" thinking hes cool or funny, He becomes my target for the whole game, I honestly do this EVERY TIME someone starts off with stfu.(i have problems)
Keep in mind I play gears of war 2, a quick explanation to clarify how the game works.
No respawns, when you die you go to the DEAD ROOM, where you can chat with anyone else on EITHER TEAM who is DEAD, until the round ends. Which can last up to 5 minutes.

So as I was saying when a player opens with something as weak as STFU, I make them my best "friend" for the game, I inform them that they are now my best friend and continue talking to them, quickly without pause jumping from topics such as "hows the weather" to "why's your mother so easy?" never actually allowing them to answer, every now and then prompting my victim to "tell me to stfu again". In which case he either does or says nothing. If the opponent does repeat STFU then I continue with my reign of online abuse while adding an extra level of hostility in my topics, they would now vary from "why don't your parents don't love you? is it because your obese?" to "wow I thought someone as tough as you would be good at this game". Important to note that also I hunt down this player in game when I can't speak to him, kill him, then kill myself(only to be done when playing with a team you know can still deliver the win) so I can continue to taunt him the entire round. Every time I do this the game ends in 3 possible results.
1-The opponent ceases to speak, in which case I ask them "you told us/me to STFU but now your the one not talking, why is that?"
2- They quit, in which case I MAY send them a text over Xbox live asking "what did you learn?"
or 
3- They speak up, trying to make a verbal comeback but it always ends with them making loud noises in a feeble attempt to over compensate for their lacking ability to think of anything good to say.

Which brings me to my next point.
LOUD NOISES MAKE YOU LOOK SLOW.
If you are in a verbal combative situation online against a person who is hitting you with witty comments that pack enough insult to sting your pride and you are unable to find the words to defend yourself, the worst thing you can do is begin making loud obnoxious sounds. It is affective in respect that your verbal assaulter will not be able to get a word in to continue bashing you, however they no longer need to, congratulations you are now giving off the impression of a child screaming at the top of its lungs in a store, Even the friends you came into the game with are annoyed with you for offending their eardrums. Loud noises are to be avoided.

NEVER USE REAL LIFE THREATS.
If you are sitting on your sofa in your underwear playing video games you are in no position to "kick anyones ass" so don't claim you will over the mic. Threats are overused by people who cannot actually fight or lift anything heavier than their remote and everyone knows it. The moment you threaten someone over the internet you are given a face, and its the face of a 15 year old skinny kid with acne and braces, no matter how deep your voice is. There are no win for this situation either, if you offer a threat knowing you will never have the consequence of having to actually fight, the opponent being fully aware of the lack of consequence himself will 90% answer "BRING IT ON". On the bright side you now BOTH have the same acne covered 15 year face with braces to anyone listening in. Be aware that variation to threats have the same effect. "If i saw you on the street I would run you over" has the same result as "I will come to your house and fight you" if you use this you will be this guy...


Resized to 94% (was 750 x 600) - Click image to enlargePosted Image


However have found a way to effectively use threats to your advantage
My trademark threat is - "I will come to your house and give you a puppy, a cute 1, and a few years later when you are attached to it I will come back and kill it!!" But that's a form of using humor as a weapon which I will touch on later. 

USE LOGIC.
This is very simple, Stay withing the bounds of reality and stay on topic as often as possible.
Although it is true that a random off topic comment can disorient your opponent.
Ex: "wow you are really bad at this game"
"I'm sorry to hear about your mom getting shanked in prison"
It is to be used in moderation, and only when appropriate, if used too often or done wrong you will lose the perception of being intelligent and will give your combatant the perception of being "out of your IQ league". Don't fret dumb dumb, we all make mistakes. 

DO NOT BE A RACIST.
Everyone knows a funny joke about another race, they are offensive, rude and funny as all hell. Racist jokes are great between friends, no matter what race you are or what race you are talking about, as long as the joke is actually, you know funny. However in a game lobby with strangers informing the other person that they are a "racial slang word that negatively depicts their skin color, origins and/or religion" is NOT funny, is LOW and does more damage to your cause then it does good. Over Xbox live or PSN you have no face, you are perceived by your voice and the words you choose to share. These are the building blocks others use to "see" you. Dropping the N-Bomb on someone will instantly give the impression that you hail from a prestigious line of obese inbred greasy hicks with a strong family name in the trailer park community. Also this actually gives the person of other race the advantage, they can now turn around use their own racial stereotypes against the racist,(I wont give any examples but I'm sure you can think of something) and anyone in the game who does not own a KKK outfit will be drawn to take the "racial victims" side, even if they don't say anything. 
NOTE: If you are called something racist NEVER turn around and use that persons race against them as a comeback. It's as useful as "you" - "no you" and will rally anyone of that race against you, naturally defending they're own race or beliefs or what ever. You see this all the time in North America vs UK players. 

BE ABLE TO BACK IT UP.
Believe it or not I don't go into a game talking trash, I usually wait for someone to instigate it because honestly I'd rather have a nice conversation paired with a fun game instead of back and forth banter turning the game into a grudge match.
However If I were to go into a game trash talking I would feel confident in doing so because of the level of skill I possess in the game I am playing. 

I never(well maybe sometimes) trash talk in MW2 because I'm simply not good enough at the game to back myself up. No matter how good my insults are at the start of the game, if my team loses the other person wins the verbal altercation, even if they are going against every rule I am posting in this blog, game skill > verbal/trash talking skill. No matter what you throw at them it is all deflected and countered by the fact that they are better than you. There is a gray area however if your team wins but you are lower on the scoreboard than the other person. 

REMAIN CALM.
It will happen often that you run into someone that gets under your skin, either due to them being annoying, better than you at the game or even very good at trash talking. When this happens you must remain calm at all times, never show your anger or frustration. If you are boiling up inside and your face is turning red it is better to say nothing than an ill conceived weak comment that can easily be turned back against you. Wait until you get your chance to get back into the fight by either killing them in game and tea bagging them and then rubbing it in their face, or getting the win. If need be count to ten, take a deep breath and try to restart from scratch. If you start yelling at them I guarantee you will be met with the same response every time, laughter and shame. The fashion in which they dish out this laughter will differ from person to person ranging from "haha ok calm down kid" to "woooow spaz much?" to "omg look at this guy" to straight up laughing in your "face". No matter what words they choose, you can always HEAR the smile on their face and the chuckle behind the words. Either way if you have been upset enough to lose your cool, you have lost. Because ultimately the whole point of an online argument is to reach one of 2 goals, being right or affecting the emotions of another in a negative way. So remain calm, it's better to say nothing then to flip out. Live to fight another day.

BE FUNNY.
You don't have to be blunt or offensive to win an online argument, in fact these are by far some of the least affective ways to verbally subdue your opponent, It is the equivalent of going punch for punch, you just keep going until 1 person is too tired or too hurt to continue, work smart not hard. Using humor is like going punch for punch using each joke as a heavy haymaker to the jaw,nose or throat. Humor is a sign of intelligence and key to winning any online word based first fight. If you use observations about the other player followed with a twist of phrase or a punch line people will laugh and they will be laughing at your enemy, with each laugh you are growing favor of the "crowd" and pushing the other guy deeper into his online trash talking grave. What's more is when people are laughing at him he will get frustrated and turn to one of the "DO NOT DO RULES" from this blog, he will use racism, spew loud noises to "silence" you, or flip out.
Meaning you have broken him. Pat yourself on the back and get ready for some bad profile feedback, you win.

Now I hope these help to step up your online pre-game trash talking skills but remember the words of a wise old man.

"Winning an online argument is equivalent to winning the special Olympics, you may have won but your still retarded"

Thursday 3 March 2011

Gears of War 3

Well now, its almost time for the gears of war 3 beta, which as you may know by my photo (gow3 logo) or anyone who games with me knows, I LOVE GEARS! I explain my love for gears as it bieng MY star wars. Now Jedi's dont hate, im not comparing the franchises, i'm just saying thats how much I love it.... so if anyone else here is a fellow gears head heres some info on the upcoming game/beta

release date: sep-20-2011
beta release: mid-april-2011
how to get into the beta, the only guaranteed way in is with a copy of Bulletstorm epic edition. (there will be other ways in, but space is limited)
If you are part of the beta through bulletstorm you automatically unlock an animated flaming lancer (assault rifle with chainsaw bayonet)
you have the opportunity to unlock 4 cosmetic unlockables.
Thrashball cole. The character Cole train was the biggest baddest Thrashball (football) player and his old uniform #83 is available by playing 70 games in the beta, than playing another 13 as Augustus "Cole train" Cole
Golden Retro Lancer (Pendulum Lancer) by using it for X amount of games in the beta.
there are 2 others that have yet to be mentioned.

That aside, improvements for gears of war 3.
as anyone whos played gears 2 knows, the online is.... inconsistent to say the least, how many times have you rammed your shotgun into the enemy's gut, pulled the trigger and watch him laugh at you then proceeding to kill you and spam you with messages calling you a skrub. This is due to connectivity to host issues, area, connection speed, host upload speed etc... Gears 3 is implementing dedicated servers. now to any REAL gear player, this is the best feature, I always say that if gears 3 was just gears 2 with a dedicated server i would be happy.
That bieng said... there is still a host advantage. The dedicated servers are only there to "pick up the slack" meaning, this is not confirmed, but i assume it means, that when you fight an enemy it will be a fair fight everytime, except when fighting host, in which case HOPEFULLY even with his advantage it will always be the SAME advantage each time, so u can adjust your strategy to fighting him accordingly, instead of just hoping your bullets connect properly.

whoo, That felt good to be able to say, now for the rest of the improvements

Human Shield Grenade tags - Now when u have an enemy in your arms as a human shield you can stick a grenade to his back and kick him into his friends for an explosive reunion.

Improved Tac Com - It is no longer black and white and fuzzy, it looks like a virtual Tron type of layout, which is cool, but what I have noticed is that when playing Capture the Leader you can now see an outline of the leader through walls when using the tac com, now I do not know if this is only when a teamate has line of sight of the leader, or if it works with any enemy within line of sight, but it looks like something people will either love or hate. Also I do not know if this "x-ray" vision works on other gametypes. I'm not Epic Games, I'm just reporting what I know, hear and see.

New gametypes...but not really
Submission - Before the launch of gears of war 2, alot of gamers were very excited to try "Submission Mode". 5v5 + 1 AI with a shotgun... the rules are simple, its like capture the flag... except the flag has a shotgun and a bad attitude. Simply incompasitate the "meat flag" and use him as a human shield bringing him to a circle, other team tries to stop you and do the same.
This game type didnt do so well, for various reasons I wont get into.

Guardian - 5v5, 1 player on each team get to be the "Leader" all other players have infinite respawns until they're leader is killed, then they have to do what they can with the 1 life remaining. Simple enough

WAAZAM! COMBINO MAGIC!
Gears 3 - Capture the Leader. The rules are, 1 player on each team plays the "Leader" and the rest of the team has infinite respawns as long as the leader is alive...so far the same.. BUUUT! now you cant just kill the leader, you have to meat shield him and bring him to a circle. I do not know if that will end the game or cease the enemy respawns. but it looks cool, I have HEARD (not confirmed) the leader will be able to do something when meat shielded to hinder the enemy's progress...if not you could always yell at your team like a little girl bieng kidnapped by Ronald McDonald.

Team Deathmatch - New to the franchise, like most team deathmatches except its elimination style. each death takes away respawn tickets until you are the last one left, this is designed to leave the drama and clutch moments gears of war players know and love so much

Beast Mode - its like reverse Horde.
For those who dont know, horde is 5 players surviving wave after wave of enemy AI until you reach wave 50 or die a lonely virgin... horde is best for people who suck, or are new to the game getting used to the controls.
Now Beast mode you will get to play as the locust hordes, sort of like Left for dead Versus or Scavenger. Now I do not know it players will be able to play as the COG during horde mode but i would expect that you can. The more you play the bigger Locust you can unlock to play. Epic does not want this to be unlockable the first time you play, so it will take some time to get the really badass ones.

ok what else?
new weapons
1 shot - heavy weapon, mountable sniper rifle that kills in...u guessed it..1 shot

digger - grenade launcher that diggs underground then pops up like an unwanted boner infront of your classmates and goes boom... usefull for people in cover.

Pendulum Lancer (retro) Assault rifle used during the Pendulum wars, a HUGE blade bayonet replaces the iconic chainsaw, expanding reticle when fired so it will probably be best used as a burst weapon, I've heard it it great for taking out shotgunners, so I'm ASSUMING the lessened accuracy will be compensated by extra power. also has a charge attack like the chansaw, except you run into your enemy and spear them up into the air and toss them like a prom date.

Gorgon Pistol - In gears 2 it was a full auto in burst pistol, fun to use but mostly useless, it is upgrading to a SMG style pistol, could be interesting.

Hammerburst will now have ironsights for better accuracy, also a franchise first.

Double barreled Shotgun, easy enough to explain, LOOONG reloads, devastating killing power per shot.

All weapons will now have multiple executions EACH (even the mortar), you will have to unlock them by using said weapon and earning experience... the longer the execution the more experience... risk vs reward.

other notes,

the roddie run looks alot faster, eliminating the need to roll every 5 seconds to keep up speed.

If theres anything i missed please let me know (i was just doing this quickly off the top of my head)
and i look forward to playing with u guys in the beta