Don’t Hit Save competition!

Jeff Loafers. Lovers? Lofvers.

I’ll come again.

Jeff Lofvers is awesome. He does lots of neat stuff, but you may have actually heard of Don’t Hit Save, a webcomic about office work. Right now, he’s holding a contest where he’ll art YOU in his grandiose style (and it’s pretty damn stylish).

Pretty Sweet, huh?

Would you like a chance to win a full-body portrait and get his signature on your very own Don’t Hit Save t-shirt? It’s free, and you’ll cover up your torso in style! Or you can frame it and hope it appreciates in value, and you can sell it to some future hipster for serious bank!

Even if you don’t win the Grand Prize, there’s three Runner Up prizes where you get a drawing of your head. In case there’s a need to jog your memory from a moment ago, here’s my own mug again.

Still looking good!

How to enter? Simple! Use either the contact form or comments section of Don’t Hit Save! Full details can be found in the news post here, along with ways to get multiple entries! One of the easiest ways is to throw money at the guy on his Pateron, where you’ll get an entry for every dollar you’re contributing throughout March!

Get you one!

Competition ends on March 31st, winner chosen whenever Jeff Fiver feels like it in April I guess.

Good luck!

[FREE] Snag Starcraft and Brood War!

Not much else to say, other than it’s a solid game. Get your copy here!

Played it to death? Perhaps a mod will interest you! Antioch Chronicles really stood out for me because of the voice acting, which seems to stand up even today. It’s unfinished, but still good.

As always…

Enjoy and have fun!

Joe Dever, publisher of the Lone Wolf game books, has passed on

Where to begin…

Joe Dever may not have been the first to combine elements of Dungeons & Dragons with Choose Your Own Adventure playbooks, but damned if he wasn’t one of the best. His stories regarding the world of Magnamund and the creation of the Psionic-Ranger-Monk bad asses known as the Kai were prominent through my formative years. Once I learned the series were a thing, I was spending my allowance each month at the bookstore for the next installment, wanting to continue the journey in the boots of Silent Wolf, renamed Lone Wolf, who survived the destruction of the Kai monastery and his fellow Kai at the hands of their archenemies, the Darklords of Helgedad.

Can’t be slain by normal weapons, but you don’t find that out until he tears you asunder…

Many years later, I found out that the books were reprints of the ones written many years before in the UK, and that there was some odd abridging (and game-breaking flaws) in the later books. Despite this, I adored the series, even dressing up one Halloween as the last Kai Lord in a homemade Lone Wolf costume. I remember very little from that time, other than the borrowed cowboy boots I wore were two sizes too small and really hurt my feet to walk around in for hours. I persevered, because Lone Wolf wouldn’t have worn sneakers… not sure the boots were appropriate but they were WAY better than sneakers.

I wasn’t about to look like an idiot, dressing as some fictional character no one would understand, while wearing these stupid things.

So here was a book series where you had a character you could continue to bring through multiple stories, along with coins and treasures you collected. Some items did nothing, some actively harmed you, but many were incredibly useful and would help you defeat puzzles or problems way into future installments. You kept track of a character sheet that would remind you of the items and money you possessed, your weapons, and your Combat Skill (how good you fought) and Endurance Points (how much damage you took before you died).

In 1999, Joe Dever released a chunk of his books, including Combat Heroes, Grey Star the Wizard and the Freeway Warrior series, to be archived on Project Aon. In addition to the books, there’s some tools that will keep your character sheet active and randomly generate numbers when requested (during combat and some action sequences). I recommend checking this archive out and treating yourself to a solo gaming experience like none other.

Joe Dever’s illness was kept secret, and he had been battling it for some time, and on November 29, 2016, the battle was over. He will be missed, but his legacy will live on. Thank you for your contributions; your multi-path adventure games, your RPG’s, your novels, your video games, all of it. Rest well, and may Sommerlund welcome you home.

 

[Extra Life] Play games, heal kids!

Start your gaming journey here: http://www.extra-life.org
Get on my level: Team 3Ronin!
Live stream: http://twitch.tv/gcrusher

Greetings fellow gamers! What does November 5th mean to you?

Many will note it’s Guy Fawkes Night, brought into mainstream popularity with some movie. Others may be burning candles, giving praises and offering sacrifices at their shrines set up to Canadian classic rock legend Bryan Adams for being born that day.

Not judging. Good jams.

For me, it’ll be a 24-hour marathon, where I do all things gaming, all the while asking for donations to fuel my sleepless drive to great success. A couple years ago, I ran a Dungeons & Dragons game with friends online and played a whole mess of video games, right along with my wonderful wife.

This year, I’m hoping to marathon some Rock Band and Titan Quest in addition to other gaming endeavors. With the generosity of awesome people, I’ll be able to achieve my personal and group goals for donations to the Children’s Miracle Network and help a lot of kids get they treatment they need at Doernbecher Children’s Hospital.

I encourage everyone to join me in this mighty endeavor. If you can’t spare the time, but got a couple bucks, then feel free to help the cause in that way too. Whether you’re participating, donating, or just watching the stream, I appreciate your participation so much!

As always…

Enjoy and have fun!

[Music] Borderlands: The Soundtrack

And now for something completely different… and yet, not.

500 Followers??

WHAT.

I’m still not entirely sure what I’m doing with WordPress yet. I said I’d just put up a blog now and then try and fine-tune things later, have sections for certain kinds of posts, etc. Then I promptly forgot to do that. Still swinging a hammer when a scalpel would do the job better.

For those who know me, I’ve always had a penchant for hammers anyway.

I want to thank everyone following me. Even the bots. I’m sure there’s plenty of them, but I’m still showing love. Robots need love too.

Anywho, to all my awesome followers out there, any recommendations on web tutorials I can benefit from? I tend to shy away from third-party mods, having been warned by friends that WordPress can be easily hacked by unlicensed plug-ins. I’d just like to use the tools available to me to improve the quality of this blog. Thanks in advance to anyone who takes the time to help out.

Much thanks, and as always…

Enjoy and have fun!

[FREE] Shadowrun Returns Backer Rewards unlock codes

Come a little closer, if you think you’re Wiz enough…

Go here to get ’em!

[Steam] The Summer Sale is coming… why am I not excited?

There’s speculation on what day the sale will commence, depending on what people say and the sources they found. I was under the impression it would’ve started June 2nd, but when it didn’t, I didn’t find myself anxiously refreshing the page, hoping to catch it the moment it came out.

Why is that?

Well, I suppose we’ve already had a sale from Humble Bundle, and currently we’ve got GOG rocking some sweet pricing, so we’re no longer at a want for low prices for fun games. Back when Steam was the only game in town (other than Origin whom I have a hard time keeping a civil tongue about), their sales were a pretty big deal. During the length of the seasonal sale, you’d be given a limited time to perform specific actions, such as collecting achievements in certain games, all for the glory of getting rare in-game items and profile badges to flaunt your awesomeness.

As time went on, the discounts weren’t quite as grand and most of the seasonal activities being reduced to the equivalent of ‘spend more money’, giving you cards you’d trade with friends or the community at large that you’d exchange for profile badges. Most would collect the cards by purchasing inexpensive games to fill the sale’s XP bar and then sell the seasonal cards via Marketplace while the demand was super-high, hoping to cash in on making more than what they initially paid out. Greed ruled, with die-hard competitions hungering for the rare foil cards necessary for them to construct the mightiest of badges and unlock the rarest of profile wallpapers feeding the fire.

Today, there are players that have profiles that number into the 500’s, with PalmDesert being one of the most famous. Can’t hate him for his mighty feats, he looks to actually play to completion most of the games he collects as opposed to just throwing money at the system in order to stay on top. I see the magnitude of these figures of PalmDesert and his competitors, and realize a regular player just isn’t going to ascend to these heights without spending a small fortune in order to do so.

Unless I’m blown away by the amount of varied activities offered to the people to complete, or the in-game items awarded are really spectacular and wide-spread over multiple gaming titles like they used to be, I’m going to have nothing to be excited over when the Steam Sales are rolled out this year. This possible future saddens me a little, compared to how stoked I once was when the possibility of getting a new game for a super-low cost and possibly putting rare goofy pair of Summer Shades on a character was cause for celebration.

Eh. First world problems, right?

Rant over.

Enjoy and have fun!

[FREE] Guild Wars 2 is Free to Play!

Update: It’s free, just go download it already.

Add me on your GW2 friend list: gCrusher.7301
Which server do you want? Gate of Madness, of course!
Need more content? Buy the Heart of Thorns expansion here!

Why should you dig Guild Wars 2?

First off, the big one. Even though it’s an MMO, there’s no monthly fees. Pay for the game once, and you’re done, as opposed to feeling like you must play it at least once a month to get your subscription money’s worth. Further purchases through micro-transactions help the devs but even that’s not pushy.

The only micro-transactions you’re going to find are aesthetic. Sure, there’s a few items here and there that can improve on mining/harvesting, and there’s purchases you can make to increase your storage space, but no additional purchases are necessary in order to survive (and thrive) playing this game.

Creating a character gives you background choices that matter. Even the most random background choice can play a role in your personal story missions, each chapter unlocked every 10 levels. You may get a piece of gear to start that’s outclassed by regular loot drops, but the skin is unlocked, making it so you can transmute a regular piece of armor into a particularly cool shadowy mask or neato steampunk monocle any one of your characters owned once upon a time.

The game play just flows well. Wander into a new area, and see it display on your map, cutting through the fog of war that looks more like rough brush strokes depicting a rough land-mass. Exploration has great rewards; clear a section of map and reap tangible benefits. Rarely will you be going up to NPCs to start a quest or mission in a given area. Just getting within the area’s influence will alert you that something needs doing. And usually, there’s multiple ways to help, more than just ‘Kill X of [monster]’, adding in gathering or aiding wounded and other multiple non-combat alternatives to increase favor with a particular NPC. In addition, when you do enough of a task to finish the quest, you’ll be alerted, again, without needing to talk to the area NPC to acknowledge you did all the things.

There are a total of eight classes, eight crafting disciplines, and five races to play for the original game. Each class has its own weapon restrictions, but no two classes will handle a weapon the same way. A greatsword could be the focus of ranged laser-like blasts in the hands of a Mesmer, or used to do a cyclone-like attack with a Guardian. You decide what weapon works best in your hands, and feel free to experiment with different combinations to tap into the play-style you like.

For exploration and combat that takes you beneath the waves, you get a re-breather as a separate piece of equipment, along with underwater-specific weapons like a spear, trident or spear gun (with the same focus of giving different attack styles to different classes even when equipped with the same type of weapon). I liked how you never have an air gauge when swimming (even without the re-breather), so no chance of drowning if you experience lag or have to divert your attention to some real-life situation while underwater.

There’s limitations as to what you have in your 1-through-0 hotkeys. Some may balk at a lower level of customization here as opposed to other MMOs. Me, I approach the limited number of options as a challenge. Keys 1 through 5 will be reserved for different weapon attacks (1-3 for main hand, 4-5 for off hand, or all 5 if you’re using a two-handed weapon). Number 6 is your healing skill (every class gets one and it can be customized). 7-9 are reserved for skills you purchase using skill points you accumulate mostly through exploration and some via leveling up (usually in bursts, not 1/level or anything like that). Lastly, 0 is your one Elite skill, a power that can turn the tide of a battle but usually has a long cool-down. Getting one of these Elite skills costs a lot of skill points, so choose wisely. In addition to land-based skills, you get a separate load-out when underwater; just note that some powers don’t work as well down in the depths as they do with your feet on Terra Firma.

As the name suggests, you can join a guild to team up for guild-only events. Some offer additional benefits, like lotteries, ranking, and access to the guild bank. I joined up with Time Warner Cable (no affiliation to the company) and there’s some decent people in the crew.

Lastly, when you only have to pay half price to get your own copy download for free, it makes the choice to give it a try a little easier. Looking forward to seeing you in Tyria soon!

Enjoy and have fun!

[GOG] Saints Row: The Third – The Full Package now DRM-free!

Put the kiddies to bed, then CLICK HERE.

By now, you’ve probably heard of this series. Where GTA went more realistic, Volition pushed the envelope for bizarre hilarity as hard as it would go.

The original two games need not be played to figure out what’s going on. By the end of the second game, you became the main crime boss of Stilwater, having just beaten out the competition, the Ultor Corporation. Your controllable sociopath has risen to power in that city, but you quickly learn that just because you may have been a bad-ass in middle school, that means precisely jack when you become a Freshman in high school.

Welcome to Steelport. There’s a new enemy, The Syndicate, and they don’t take too kindly with your publicity stunt where you rob a bank for kicks… one directly under their influence. But the mighty leader of the Third Street Saints will not be cowed by this new criminal element, and your avatar will blast their way through all obstacles to gain the power, wealth and respect deserving of their station.

More than just the wacky-fun aspect of the game, I like that character customization is so varied. Play as a guy, a girl, or go with something entirely different. Want a metallic blue-skinned creature that has the curves of a lady but has a full beard and the gravelly pipes of a burly bloke? Why not? As long as the result is a bipedal humanoid when it’s all said and done, none of your subordinates will bat an eye, all still respectfully calling you Boss. And you’re not stuck with your beginning choices. Hit up a shop in-game called Image As Designed and, for a small fee, completely remake your character but keep your current progress, weapons, etc.

Customization doesn’t stop there. Trick out your ride (and any other ride you can steal), get improvements on your firepower, select the kind of Saints Row Homies you want to roll with, and upgrade, upgrade, upgrade! You’ll cap out eventually on everything you can increase or own, but it won’t be for a good long while.

Also, when you finally get around to playing through the story missions (a nice distraction from dominating the city bit-by-bit), you’ll meet the Mayor of Steelport, and that figurehead will blow your mind.

No spoilers.

As long as you have a sense of humor, and you’re the correct age range for the game’s Mature rating, I wholeheartedly recommend Saints Row: The Third – The Full Package, especially at its low, low price of $5 right now at Good Old Games!

Enjoy and have fun!