“Apparently, the game’s menu screens aren’t framerate-limited. This means that when there’s nothing else going on, your graphics hardware renders the bejeezus out of those screens…”

As the post says, you need to add the following lines to your variables.txt file in Documents\StarCraft II\variables.txt:

• frameratecapglue=30
• frameratecap=60

It will cap your framerate to around 60fps. To show you just how bad this issue is, I used FRAPS to show the framerate before and after the file edit:

Starcraft II - Mission Archives menu at 340 frames per second (Before)

Starcraft II - Mission Archives menu at 63 frames per second (After)

I don’t know whether this is operating system specific, but I do know that other menus such as Lab Upgrades causes the same issues. I had a friend FRAPS his game and he was experiencing the same crazy numbers as I was.

I run the game using the Ultra graphics setting across the board at 1920 x 1200 resolution; you may get different framerates for your system but no doubt the problem will occur regardless. Whether it affects Macs or not remains to be seen. My gaming system is as follows for your reference:

• Intel Core2 Extreme 9650 quad core CPU
• 2 x NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX graphics cards, SLi capable
• 4GB DDR2 RAM
• 1TB hard disk space
• Windows 7 OS

Blizzard has just released a new StarCraft II patch, version 1.0.1. Unfortunately it does not mention any fixes for graphical issues. Hopefully they will pick up on this soon.

I haven’t played Magic for that long but I wanted to try out the new core set to see how it fairs. The best way to get started is to buy the Fat Pack; you get the following to start your collection:

• 40-card basic land pack
• Eight 15-card booster packs from the M11 core set
• Player’s guide with visual encyclopedia
• Special edition Spindown life counter
• Excerpt from Planeswalker Novel
• Nice box to keep it all in

Now the one thing I am disappointed about in this Fat Pack, is the lack of plastic dividers for your cards. Older Fat Packs used to have them, but it seems they are skimping on what you get these days. However, you do get 8 booster packs which is pretty good. All I need now is several hours to plan and create my deck of destruction!

So what’s been going on in the world of game and tech etc. during this time? What I should have done was do a post for each of these but here is a very condensed version! In no particular order…

Starcraft 2 – Beta
I did a post about this on the Girlygeekdom blog, but to summarise… it is smokingly hot and I’m not talking about the summer heartwave we are getting in the UK. It is due to be released on 23rd July. I’ll try not to disappear when this arrives, and also promise to step outside once in awhile.

Apple iPad
Great for some, mediocre for others. Your lifestyle dictates whether this is a good match for you or not. Personally speaking, there isn’t much room for this slab in my life. I need a full OS, I need power, I need an open platform and I need to run existing applications I currently have. Also regardless of what Steve Jobs said in his keynote speech, this for me is not going to replace a netbook. And it’s too damn heavy.

E3
I personally prefer the Tokyo Game Show than E3, but this year I think the event has been very interesting. Microsoft announces Kinetic, Sony with their 3Dness, and Nintendo with their new 3DS portable console. Out of the three industry heavyweights, Nintendo outshines the rest. I’m buying the 3DS without a doubt; Kingdom Hearts, Zelda, Kirby, Final Fantasy, Kid Icarus the list goes on. And NO 3D GLASSES REQUIRED!

Sci-Fi London
A great event every year, I couldn’t go to the entire event because of fencing commitments. However, I did go to the Anime All-Nighter; 10 hours of anime movies back to back starting at midnight (with the odd RedBull/toilet break inbetween). I absolutely loved it, it’s like a pub lock-in but in a cinema. The best anime was Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Bladeworks. I cannot tell you the sheer awesomeness of seeing this on the big screen; if you love Rin, Lancer et al then you must watch this. Unfortunately for some, it was the last anime shown that morning and the majority of the audience were fast asleep. I made sure I was completely awake for it.

iPhone 4
To grip or not to grip, that is the question. Either way, I am getting the HTC Desire running Android in a few weeks. At least people who are experiencing death grip woes get a free bumper case, offer valid until 30th September.

World Cup 2010
The tech angle for this is that I will never, ever, forgive ITV for their “transmission error”: showing a Hyundai ad JUST AS GERRARD SCORES THE FIRST GOAL FOR ENGLAND. Insert rage sentence here.

IT Crowd – Series 4
Our beloved geek series is back on Channel 4. Join Moss, Roy and Jen as they embark on more ridiculous IT shenanigans with utmost hilarity. Street Countdown!

My birthday
I got insanely drunk and played LAN games; apparently I can headshot quite well while inebriated. Everything else is a blur; I think we spent an hour trying to blow up the airbed at 4am. I highly recommend Danzka vodka with Mountain Dew.

Final Fantasy XIII
I completed it! You either love it or hate it, I personally liked it a lot. The battle system is to die for, yes the game is mostly on rails but the game does get going after awhile. There are some insanely difficuly bosses to beat, namely Proud Clad and Gigantuar if you find him on Gran Pulse. I’m just happy that I saw the ending after clocking in around 70 hours of gameplay. Also, I hate Barthandelus.

And finally…

Inception
I saw this movie when it was released on Friday. I have sat here for awhile thinking of how to review it and in summary, I just can’t. It’s such an amazing experience, that any words uttered on this page would not do it enough justice. Not to mention it’s rather difficult to describe, my mind was blown. If you think Memento was a mind masher, try this on for size… only Nolan can produce something like this on the big screen and succeed. A plot peppered full of twists and turns, stunts galore, and a great protagonist supported by a wonderful cast; these are the makings of a movie that will pull you in. I also love the music score by Hans Zimmer, it fits in with the film sequences perfectly.

I don’t like how you can’t change your characters. In fact the freedom of team customisation that is akin to say FF 7 or 8 is almost completely removed. Why Squeenix why? I tell you why, because they replaced this with something called the Paradigm Shift. You will soon realise just how important this function is, and how you cannot progress through the game without it. One time, during a 2 minute battle I must have switched Paradigms about 8 times; each Paradigm in the deck comprises of different tactical stances and roles for each team member. Your team works cohesively and dynamically depending on the situation. I like it, in fact after awhile I started to like it a lot. But walking into the next battle with full health is a bit weird, and I think takes away some of the real mechanics from the game. The left shoulder becomes a bit overused though. My index finger is testament to that.

The graphics are gorgeous, it’s so lush and lovely I just want to jump right in there. But everything seems to be on rails, rather like the old fashioned gun-toting Time Crisis. It does take the fun out of exploring, I am hoping that later on it will open up a bit more. I presume it will be, as you can catch a Chocobo to help you travel around. I encountered my first summon on Monday, or Eidolans. Shiva is a sister pair, which transforms into a rather awesome bike. It’s cooler than Fenrir for God sake. The game really picks up at this point, as the earlier chapters are too easy and slightly boring. Mainly they are used for tutorial purposes, which in a way is good. It would be too overwhelming to introduce so many new features in one go, so that was probably a good idea.

This game is gargantuan no doubt about it, I will write something more substantial once I complete it. Whenever that may be!

1. Final Fantasy XIII – I want to play this so badly it hurts. Final Fantasy XII was disappointing for some, but bets are on in regards to whether 13 will redeem the franchise. I pre-ordered this back in Spring 2009, that’s how keen I am. Suffice it to say, I will be MIA come 9th March. I must warn my friends and family in advance that I am not dead during this time, honest.

2. Starcraft 2 – How can you not YEARN for this game to be released! I predict a complete standstill in South Korea with their GDP plummeting to an all-time low when this puppy gets released. This game has been in development for what seems like an eternity. We can’t wait any longer Blizzard.

3. Bioshock 2 – Big Daddy is back! I loved the first game; interesting storyline and it looked oh so pretty on my PC. I think I will be playing this on the PC platform again, cranking it up to 1920 res sounds lovely with all the graphical wonders up to maximum. I may as well let my quad core processor and sli graphics cards stretch its legs.

4. Command and Conquer – Tiberian Twilight – Kane just won’t stay dead; this is the final conclusion to the Tiberian saga that spanned 15 years. I still have fond memories of the first ever Command and Conquer, and I am salivating at the prospect of experiencing this once again. There will be a co-operative mode,  a definite plus and I am looking forward to the LAN play.

5. Diablo 3 – I gave up wondering when this game will be released, “it will be done when it’s done”. And by Jove it’s almost there! I need another decent RPG to get to grips with; this might just be the answer. Besides, how can you not want to at least try this with such a huge following.

6. Blazblue: Calamity Trigger – If you like Guilty Gear, then you will certainly enjoy this. There is still a market for 2D beat em up scrollers; the graphical effects for each move in this is amazing. The yanks have had this for some time now, it’s about time us Europeans get a taste. The developers were quite apologetic about the delays, and have said they will release bonus characters just for the European release as a thank you for our patience.

7. Alan Wake – A mysterious and atmospheric adventure awaits, and also the fact that I am going to creep myself out while playing this. It reminds me of Max Payne, well of course it does since it’s the same developers once again to bring us this. Might I add that the graphics are out of this world which will entrench you in the immersive game play.


Some worthy mentions…

Some of these didn’t quite make it to the list; they are all very good games don’t get me wrong but I’m not willing to give up an organ for them.

Fable 3
Formula One 2010
Dante’s Inferno
Halo: Reach
Fallout: New Vegas


Sequels for existing games

Maybe not for 2010, but I would love to see new sequels for certain games. Some will never surface (most of them are relic PC titles), one can only dream.

Soul Calibur
Zelda
Mario Kart
Elder Scrolls
Dead or Alive
Dungeon Keeper
Freespace 2
Grim Fandango
Deus Ex
Duke Nukem (just kidding, this will NEVER HAPPEN)

Before I even opened it, the box itself is beautifully packaged. I love the artwork. The PSP itself has a 20th Anniversary logo in the corner and on the back is more wonderful tattoo artwork. The entire PSP is covered in glitter, it looks like fairy dust. So pretty! It’s a PSP-3000, you can change the language from Japanese to English so no problems there (well OK slight menu guess work required). It comes with the Final Fantasy – Dissidia game but of course it is in Japanese so playing it will be difficult. Again the artwork on the game case is amazing.

A small Christmas present to myself!


Footnote: There are other PSP Dissidia bundles across Europe and US, but it will include a normal PSP white/silver with the game. You will not get what is pictured here.

As ever, I have taken some pictures and video footage of the event. The first video is a general tour of the expo, and the second contains clips from the Cosplay Masquerade competition that was held on Sunday. I have to apologise in advance for some of the commentary, it was completely on the fly but there are no profanities that I am aware of!

London MCM Expo – A quick tour, with a bit of randomness thrown in.

London MCM Expo – Sunday’s Cosplay Masquerade

I personally never use sponsored links for the above reason, and I have found that US links also appear occasionally even though I did a search within “pages from the UK”. This seems rather pointless, especially when shopping around for a product. The initial introduction of Google paved the way for a better user experience when it comes to web searching. Now, it seems the cacophony created from money grabbing shouts louder than the voice of usability and relevance.


Goodbye…
It is with some sadness that we say farewell to 3D Realms. During my teens, I grew up on games such as Wolfenstein 3D and Duke Nukem. To see a company such as 3D Realms go under after so many years seems such a waste. The game I do remember other than Duke was Rise of the Triad; back then 3D Realms were more widely known as Apogee Software. The multiplayer element was great fun, splattering someone’s innards with one shot always made me chuckle.

However, Apogee/3D Realms are best known for the Duke Nukem franchise. Duke Nukem 3D in particular caused some controversy in terms of game content. Apparently, it is unhealthy for the common populace to be exposed to things such as prostitutes, violent sexual themes and sadistic humour. The game was banned in several countries, but my thoughts on this topic is this; it is a game not reality. If the player cannot distinguish between the two and attempt to re-enact morally unethical elements from a game, then they are beyond hope to begin with.

Unfortunately, with the demise of 3D Realms, the same may befall the completion of Duke Nukem Forever. If you have been monitoring this game, it has been in development hell for the past decade or so. According to an ex-3D Realms employee, the game was in the final stages before the company axe. So near yet so far, the fate of DNF looks grim and I do not hold much hope. Coincidentally, I love how the acronym for DNF also means Did Not Finish…

There were lots of talks and keynote speeches, including how Blizzard felt mistakes were made with World of Warcraft in terms of the questing mechanics. I am also quite pleased that Fallout 3 got the Game of the Year award. Also, Little Big Planet swept up Best Game Design and the Innovation Award amongst others. There is full coverage on Gamasutra.

I am now going to enjoy my weekend, but before I do here’s some light entertainment for you. If you feel your life is going on a downward spiral, then the misery of others will surely bring you back up.

In addition, this bug will only kill friendly NPCs and other friendly players so taking this out on the RvR battlefield wouldn’t work anyway. As a side note, if you are affected you can step outside of the city which will remove the problem. Such as zoning to The Maw; using your Book of Binding will not work and of course the Flight Master is out of the question, since he would be dead before you even clicked on him.