The Mind Of OverlordTomala
Computing / Nerding it up!

Microsoft admits to neglecting the PC gaming platform

It’s been far beyond obvious for a quite some time that Microsoft hasn’t exactly had much interest in the PC Gaming market. Not when they have been trying to sell a console, and the failure of GFWL not only proves this but also this article where Microsoft basically wishes they could have done what Steam has accomplished to keep PC Gaming alive and well.

“Valve is right down the street from us,” Spencer noted. “They’ve done a great job of keeping the PC ecosystem strong at a time where I don’t mind saying that we could have been more focused on what was going on in PC gaming.”

He also goes on to say:

“We were probably too focused purely on console,” Spencer admitted. “With Steam, [Valve has] done an amazing job of building this thing that, in a lot of ways, we should have been building as well at Microsoft.”

It’s amazing to think of in retrospect. Considering that back in the 90’s Microsoft wanted Windows to be the future platform of gaming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gun4erVV8CM

My how times change.

All in an Overlord's day / Gaming / Nerding it up!

Open Thread: Progress!

Back running under Fedora with kernal 3.11.6-201, and I have to say that game performance is highly noticeable. I tried playing TF2’s Helltower map and it kept choking on the particle systems. Now it’s smooth like a baby’s arse. Later today I think I’ll test one of the sawmill maps since it literally rains down particles. But yeah, now I can finish up my hunt for swag in the comfort of Linux, just how the GabeN intended.

I also installed an Open Source driver for my Logitech G510 which gives me full control of my G Keys plus some new keyboard apps. Sooooo nice to be able to color my keyboard under Linux instead of being stuck with vanilla keys. Think tomorrow I’ll put my binds back together so that I can raise proper hell.

And finally I decided to transfer over some old DOS games to play under DosBOX (which works great btw). Mounting is a bit different but thanks to the instructions included within the program I managed to figure it out. I mounted my /usr/local/games directory as drive C and went to town playing Cosmo’s Cosmic Adventure… now that’s old.

All in an Overlord's day

I think I have my work cut out for me

Updated the kernal on Fedora because I heard it has great performance improvements. Ran the updates, restarted, all current and previous versions of the kernal give me either a black screen or a graphically glitched screen when X starts. I think it might have something to do with the video driver. I’ll have to futz around with that tomorrow after getting off work… if I’m up for it.

I also went on a nostalgic MSDOS abandonware hunt earlier and found a few games. One of them being the original tetris. I’ve found that music + tetris = ever lasting distraction.

Oh well, time to dream for awhile before I begin the vampire shift.

Gaming

You can vote up Obduction on Steam Greenlight

If you haven’t heard via Cyan’s Kickstarter for Obduction they have recently announced that they would like to distribute Obduction via Steam. If you have an account on Steam you can login and vote them up of you want to support their project. Here is a link to the Steam Greenlight page.

We want Obduction to be distributed through Steam. As the first step in that direction, we have officially submitted the Obduction concept to Steam Greenlight. Greenlight is not just about getting Obduction approved on Steam, but it also helps more people find out about Obduction. But we need your help with this. To get the word out and show your support, head over to Greenlight and rate or favorite Obduction.

They also plan on selling their new IP through GOG and Humble Bundle. Also it will be DRM free, so no hassles. 😀

Work

Back into the ol routine

So work has gotten back into the habit of cutting my hours extremely short then calling me in at the last minute. Two days in a row now they have been trying to call me in early and I get the message too late because I’m either sleeping off an all niter or I’ve just been real busy. Today I came in two hours early, but not at the time they wanted me. Why can’t they just give me a proper schedule? Oh right, it interferes with profit…

I don’t work for Wal-Mart, but fuck then for inventing the Just In Time Scheduling routine and fuck any company that believes it’s a brilliant idea.

Are you fucking serious?

Do ghosts play Portal?

Originally posted over at JAGB

Lets face it. Most of us who have played the original portal know all of the memes attached to the game and the series in general. “The Cake is a lie” being one of the oldest jokes in the book at this point. Not these S.P.O.O.K’s in Oklahoma though! Local news station KJRH has a special report that will probably make you laugh a bit if you’ve played the game.

Of course, at this point the video has gone viral (if you can’t tell by looking at the comments) and the criticism of the entire internet has reached their eyes. They responded on their facebook page with this:

In a response to our story on KJRH, we’ve been labeled ” clueless ghost hunters” by Jason Joe Wayne Blevins …personally, I take no offense, as he is focused only on one thing, the chalk board. At NO TIME did I or any member of my team make any claims as to a paranormal cause, only that the time and placement of this phrase on the chalk board were unusual. It’s sad, that these few individuals that throw their negative comments about my team around do not do the countless hours of evidence review, research, and time spent on sites. If this individual can do it better, or anyone else can do it better, get out there and DO IT.

It gets better! They also claim that the chalk board message was written two years before the release of Portal. Clearly it’s the ghost of GabeN that is at fault for all of these lulz.

“Yes, we’re familiar with both the game and the phrase… our question’s about the chalkboard are : why was it written there? What did they mean by it? And the fact that it was written 2 years before the game ” Portal” was released is interesting as well,”

Oh well… It’s a good way to publicize your service at least! I imagine GLaDOS is having a good laugh about this.

All in an Overlord's day / Gaming

Still addicted to Scream Fortress.

For the last few years I’ve realy been addicted to the TF2 Halloween event. Especially with all the swag I manage to find when I go trick or treating on other servers. My inventory has expanded quite a bit since starting. I have all the way until the 11th and I’ve been taking breaks in between. Something tells me my hours on TF2 will go up tremendously.

I also worked on my server a bit. I added some plugins that interested me. Such as disabling any team killing until a boss monster has been defeated, the option to become a skeleton if you’re a sniper, the option to move to other teams which I still need to play with a bit when I’m alone on the server, and I can’t remember what else. I have the server currently setup as a Halloween themed server on quickplay, hopefully I’ll get enough traffic so that people can get gifts. I’m getting sick of landing on servers where people try to kill each other during boss fights. Hopefully if anyone lands on my server they like the no pinion, no premium options that I have too.

All in an Overlord's day

I did my part yesterday

Last night while I was in costume I went out to get some v8 juice and some iced tea (I was pretty warm), and finally found a nice place to sit at in one of the parks so I could grab a sip of tea and this kid starts talking to me. I’d wager that he was about 14 or so. He asked me how my trick or treating was going… Told him that I went to some weird house where they were giving out big v8 bottles. What was weird was that he wanted me to give him directions. So I pointed at one of the local churches where I saw 3 people (one of them being a pastor) and said “That dude is handing them out”. Then I left. Wouldn’t want him to come find me afterwards.

Another weird thing was that someone actually recognized my costume. There were some high schoolers dressed in homestuck troll garb and one of them rode a bike up to me because they saw my horns. Needless to say I was surprised people in this small town even know what homestuck is.