BSD & Gaming

Only six more days till Fallout: New Vegas is available for those of you waiting to run out and grab a copy hot off the press. I myself am not in any rush and will not likely get a copy till long after the hoopla is over.  Bethesda’s Fallout 3 was a disappointment compared to the first two incarnations of the game, but I do admit that after watching the G4TV trailers I found myself more interested than I expected. Fallout: New Vegas is being developed by Obsidian Entertainment and not Bethesda which may be it’s saving grace.  Let’s hope Obsidian will be able to steer the Fallout franchise back on course.

It seems like all the shows I have any interest in have been taken off the air till next season or in some cases permanently. I hope there are some good movies due out this year because lately my viewing choices are really slim. Oh well time for more Trek Online when I have free time.

It’s not the newest MMO out there, but it is new for me. I’m referring to Star Trek Online (STO). It’s funny to me that I have been enjoying this game so much when you consider the fact that  magazine and fan reviews of the game are giving it a poor rating. The truth of the matter is despite all it’s criticism I’m experiencing something in an MMO that I haven’t in a very long time. I’m having  fun and enjoying it!

The game itself is quick and intuitive, for me the real focus is PvP space combat. The way combat works in STO reminds me a lot of the Starfleet Command 1 & 2 game series which I liked a lot back in the day. Amazingly STO was shoved out the door after only two years of development and in that short a time period I’m surprised they have accomplished as much depth and functionality as they have. Most game developers would still be in the planning stages arguing over details.

Like any online game I’ve met some cool people and some complete idiots, nothing new there. I’ve been wanting a good science fiction MMO that doesn’t take months of endless grinding before you can do anything fun. I don’t dislike sword and sorcery themed games, I’m just tired of them for now. In STO there is some tedium in the leveling since Klingon content is limited but when you group with others on missions or get into the PVP combat it becomes a lot more enjoyable. I was able to go from a starter character to a mid level rank very quickly compared to other MMO’s, days instead of months.

In STO there are only two factions currently available to players, Federation and Klingon, with the Federation being the more fleshed out of the two. The Klingon side is very limited in terms of in-game PvE and general content. Even so I play the Klingon side pretty much exclusively, the Federation ambiance is a little too “touchy feely mary sunshine” for my taste. I prefer the Klingons because they are just earthier… grittier in style. I’ve finally worked my way up to getting a D7 Battle Cruiser… yeah baby!!

All together I’d say STO boils down to this; If you are able to enjoy what the game offers now and willing to be patient with it’s growing pains, if you do not have attention deficit disorder, and you are looking for some light fun then I would say give it a shot.

However, those demanding and expecting a maturity of content and game play that comes after years of tweaking like WoW or EVE, then I would definitely not recommend this game for you.

Decide for yourself, go take a look on the official pages. [LINK]

As promised I put together the details of my FO3 adventure and what it took to get it running. The WineHQ page had tons of good info on it, many of the people there had already done the hard part of figuring out what was needed. I just had a few minor changes for my hardware and that was about it.

I’m hoping Fallout: New Vegas will also work when I get my hands on it.

Details here – [LINK]

By now most Fallout fans have seen the PC Gamer layout, and I have to say after looking at it myself I think it will be fun.

If you have not seen the spread yet check out N.M.A.’s info here – [LINK]

Some games are just so much fun that it’s great to go back into my collection and dig them out again for another round.

Using WINE I installed Lords of the Realm II. I didn’t have any issues with the install and the process took relatively no time. I found a no-cd fix for it a long time ago which requires you to copy over extra files from the disk. But the advantage is I can put my cd back into storage for safekeeping.

Now that my installation is done I have the game almost ready to go. The next step is to setup winecfg to run the game in a window (personal preference), and I found the sound would not work unless I set it up for emulation mode. After that I was all ready to play.

The game is fun and addictive, and for me it’s definitely in the top end of my all time favorites. There are not many games that have much staying power, but this one does.

If you don’t have a copy of this game and want some inexpensive entertainment, just head over to eBay, there are usually a few copies for sale. Enjoy!