It never fails. Every time I talk up a piece of software, such as Punkbuster becoming part of Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning (WAR), it comes back and kicks me in the balls. Since Mark Jacobs announced that WAR would be using Punkbuster, I've been out on the message boards giving my side of the argument. Punkbuster has never really given me problems, aside from an issue with Quake Wars: Enemy Territory's second demo and a brief stint with a Call of Duty 4 patch. I've dealt with Punkbuster on both the client and server side.
My argument all fell apart when I went to play Call of Duty 4 yesterday.
Punkbuster Failed to Initialize.
Punkbuster Failed to Initialize.
Punkbuster Failed to Initialize.
Punkbuster Failed to Initialize.
You were kicked for PB INIT FAILURE.
No amount of firewall finagling or anti-virus witchery did the trick. All the changes and tweaks suggested by the official Punkbuster support team didn't help. In the end, I was left doing what I always do with computer problems that befuddle me: Google.
A few clicks through Google in search of PB INIT FAILURE fixes and I came across a posting including a download for a new, and supposedly working, PB folder. I downloaded the folder, deleted my old PB folder, and replaced it with the new one. Problem solved. No re-installs, no updating, no nothing. Just a working Punkbuster.
Now I'm curious what Punkbuster support will say about my fix.
Showing posts with label ET:QW. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ET:QW. Show all posts
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
What I Really Did This Weekend
If you've been following along, I had some spare time to game this weekend. Here is what I played:
Bioschock demo - Downloaded via Steam. Great graphics, killer atmosphere, and exceptional game play. However, I can't help but admit that my first person gaming skills have passed me by. I just could not get a decent grip on my aim to hit any of the mask-wearing freaks in this demo. After finishing the demo, I definitely have thoughts about buying the game.
ET:QW demo 2.0 - I don't know if it was just an error or something, but the demo would not allow me to play online due to "Punkbuster not being installed". Every other Punkbuster game I own works fine and Punkbuster is most definitely installed. Doing a bit of research it turns out that demo 2.0 clients can only connect to Punkbuster disabled servers. I don't have enough time to fuck around with a demo, so I canned it before even trying.
Pirates of the Burning Seas trial - Oops, they don't have a open trial offer. The only trial is through a buddy key program and unfortunately nobody I know bought the game. Well thats a lie, I did find one person who offered to send me a key, but never actually sent it. If I do get the key I will probably give it a go.
Peggle Extreme and Peggle Deluxe Demo - Peggle simply rocks, and not just because it is available via Steam. Peggle Extreme comes packaged with The Orange Box, but I had never paid much attention to it. Due to some no-Internet time (bad storms this weekend), I played a good bit of Peggle. I was thoroughly enthralled with the game and downloaded the Peggle Deluxe Demo as well.
The game is very casual at heart, but definitely hits on some hardcore gaming tendencies (high scores, replays, combos). I found myself alt-tabbing into Peggle repeatedly while playing World of Warcraft and Portal, but often not alt-tabbing back! The actual game costs only $9.95 through Steam and should the wife approve the purchase order, I will own it soon.
Portal - Also part of The Orange Box, Portal is an award winning puzzle game. I admittedly have never finished this spectacular game. I am actually still sort of stuck on a certain level, but I forget which one. If it wasn't for Peggle I would of probably beat the game and downloaded some fan-made bonus levels.
World of Warcraft - Sadly I must admit that I played an unhealthy dose of World of Warcraft on top of everything else. I deleted my warrior alt and started a new warrior alt. Why? Because Undead are cooler than Trolls.
I also spent a good amount of time running battlegrounds on my main, Tanglefoot the Troll Shaman. I earned enough honor for a new piece of Vindicator's gear and am halfway to another piece.
I also got around to grinding honored reputation with every faction needed to gain access to all the Heroic Mode dungeons in The Burning Crusade. Now, I haven't actually tried a Heroic Mode dungeon, but at least now I can if I so choose.
Bioschock demo - Downloaded via Steam. Great graphics, killer atmosphere, and exceptional game play. However, I can't help but admit that my first person gaming skills have passed me by. I just could not get a decent grip on my aim to hit any of the mask-wearing freaks in this demo. After finishing the demo, I definitely have thoughts about buying the game.
ET:QW demo 2.0 - I don't know if it was just an error or something, but the demo would not allow me to play online due to "Punkbuster not being installed". Every other Punkbuster game I own works fine and Punkbuster is most definitely installed. Doing a bit of research it turns out that demo 2.0 clients can only connect to Punkbuster disabled servers. I don't have enough time to fuck around with a demo, so I canned it before even trying.
Pirates of the Burning Seas trial - Oops, they don't have a open trial offer. The only trial is through a buddy key program and unfortunately nobody I know bought the game. Well thats a lie, I did find one person who offered to send me a key, but never actually sent it. If I do get the key I will probably give it a go.
Peggle Extreme and Peggle Deluxe Demo - Peggle simply rocks, and not just because it is available via Steam. Peggle Extreme comes packaged with The Orange Box, but I had never paid much attention to it. Due to some no-Internet time (bad storms this weekend), I played a good bit of Peggle. I was thoroughly enthralled with the game and downloaded the Peggle Deluxe Demo as well.
The game is very casual at heart, but definitely hits on some hardcore gaming tendencies (high scores, replays, combos). I found myself alt-tabbing into Peggle repeatedly while playing World of Warcraft and Portal, but often not alt-tabbing back! The actual game costs only $9.95 through Steam and should the wife approve the purchase order, I will own it soon.
Portal - Also part of The Orange Box, Portal is an award winning puzzle game. I admittedly have never finished this spectacular game. I am actually still sort of stuck on a certain level, but I forget which one. If it wasn't for Peggle I would of probably beat the game and downloaded some fan-made bonus levels.
World of Warcraft - Sadly I must admit that I played an unhealthy dose of World of Warcraft on top of everything else. I deleted my warrior alt and started a new warrior alt. Why? Because Undead are cooler than Trolls.
I also spent a good amount of time running battlegrounds on my main, Tanglefoot the Troll Shaman. I earned enough honor for a new piece of Vindicator's gear and am halfway to another piece.
I also got around to grinding honored reputation with every faction needed to gain access to all the Heroic Mode dungeons in The Burning Crusade. Now, I haven't actually tried a Heroic Mode dungeon, but at least now I can if I so choose.
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Gaming Impasse
I've found myself at a gaming impasse. My wife, bless her heart, is out of town all weekend. That leaves me (plus the dog, cat, and rabbit) alone to game. Unfortunately, I don't know what the hell to play!
World of Warcraft has once again brought out the true Heartless. I spend more time cussing, bitching, and griping than I do playing. I could probably bypass the pain by avoiding battlegrounds and PvP all together, but then what would I do? I don't really enjoy PvE and I'm not really ready to sign up for any raids. My gear would probably get me laughed out of the room anyways.
I could try a new game, but I don't really want to spend the money. Looking at some demos and trials that are out, I have some choices to make. So, I put them in a nice little list.
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Demo 2.0 - I played the original demo, but felt the game was a bit messy. Supposedly, the developers have heeded the call and updated the demo to reflect recent changes to make the game more accessible. I guess it's worth giving a try. Bonus: its available through Steam.
Bioshock demo - Game is supposedly great, so hopefully the demo will be as well. Bonus: its available through Steam.
Pirates of the Burning Seas trial - This was supposed to be my next MMOG, but the delay and SOE publishing announcement fizzled my enthusiasm. Lackluster reviews have kept me away since. My worry with the trial is that I will not have enough time to actually enjoy the game. I don't want to spend a couple days grinding for nothing.
Anyways, anyone have some thoughts to spare? I may end up just vegetating in front of World of Warcraft. I'm sure my wife will love this when she gets around to reading my blog again :P
World of Warcraft has once again brought out the true Heartless. I spend more time cussing, bitching, and griping than I do playing. I could probably bypass the pain by avoiding battlegrounds and PvP all together, but then what would I do? I don't really enjoy PvE and I'm not really ready to sign up for any raids. My gear would probably get me laughed out of the room anyways.
I could try a new game, but I don't really want to spend the money. Looking at some demos and trials that are out, I have some choices to make. So, I put them in a nice little list.
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Demo 2.0 - I played the original demo, but felt the game was a bit messy. Supposedly, the developers have heeded the call and updated the demo to reflect recent changes to make the game more accessible. I guess it's worth giving a try. Bonus: its available through Steam.
Bioshock demo - Game is supposedly great, so hopefully the demo will be as well. Bonus: its available through Steam.
Pirates of the Burning Seas trial - This was supposed to be my next MMOG, but the delay and SOE publishing announcement fizzled my enthusiasm. Lackluster reviews have kept me away since. My worry with the trial is that I will not have enough time to actually enjoy the game. I don't want to spend a couple days grinding for nothing.
Anyways, anyone have some thoughts to spare? I may end up just vegetating in front of World of Warcraft. I'm sure my wife will love this when she gets around to reading my blog again :P
Friday, September 14, 2007
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars - Initial Impressions - Part III
Click here for Part I of my Enemy Territory: Quake Wars initial impressions.
Click here for Part II of my Enemy Territory: Quake Wars initial impressions.
In Part II of my ET:QW initial impressions, I talked about the wonderful question: "What the fuck just killed me?" ET:QW employs a very standard scrolling chat window that details kills.
However, at times, this can be totally awesome. My absolute favorite weapon in ET:QW is on the Scrogg sniper class. Scrogg snipers receive flying drones. A player can launch a drone and fly it around for thirty seconds. At any time during flight, the player can cause the drone to explode. Think of it is as a flying grenade, perfect for rooting out camping snipers. The flying controls are spot on, easy, and allow for near perfect placement. The drones are easy enough to shoot down in the open, but a good pilot will use cover and height to ambush unsuspecting targets.
The flying drone is just one of many cool toys that are in the game. Honestly, I just don't have the time currently to test them all out. I said before, that there was a lot to this demo and it could be a bit confusing, but that doesn't mean there isn't a few cool surprises hiding in the game. And demos are the perfect time to play with these toys, before every single player learns how to counter them.
ET:QW offers enough new awesomeness that it should have a fairly strong following. Unfortunately, due to its more advanced play mechanics, it won't attract throngs of new players. For wily old veterans, ET:QW may just be the game they have been waiting for. ET:QW goes a long ways in providing fast and fun action. In the end, fast and fun should keep it going.
Click here for Part II of my Enemy Territory: Quake Wars initial impressions.
In Part II of my ET:QW initial impressions, I talked about the wonderful question: "What the fuck just killed me?" ET:QW employs a very standard scrolling chat window that details kills.
Example: heartless_ [weapon] UnluckyNewbSo, it isn't impossible to figure it out, but more often than not players will never see it coming. I guess it proves the age old; "You never hear the one that gets ya."
However, at times, this can be totally awesome. My absolute favorite weapon in ET:QW is on the Scrogg sniper class. Scrogg snipers receive flying drones. A player can launch a drone and fly it around for thirty seconds. At any time during flight, the player can cause the drone to explode. Think of it is as a flying grenade, perfect for rooting out camping snipers. The flying controls are spot on, easy, and allow for near perfect placement. The drones are easy enough to shoot down in the open, but a good pilot will use cover and height to ambush unsuspecting targets.
The flying drone is just one of many cool toys that are in the game. Honestly, I just don't have the time currently to test them all out. I said before, that there was a lot to this demo and it could be a bit confusing, but that doesn't mean there isn't a few cool surprises hiding in the game. And demos are the perfect time to play with these toys, before every single player learns how to counter them.
ET:QW offers enough new awesomeness that it should have a fairly strong following. Unfortunately, due to its more advanced play mechanics, it won't attract throngs of new players. For wily old veterans, ET:QW may just be the game they have been waiting for. ET:QW goes a long ways in providing fast and fun action. In the end, fast and fun should keep it going.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars - Initial Impressions Part II
Click here for Part I of my Enemy Territory: Quake Wars initial impressions.
I left off my last post talking about the objectives system built into ET:QW and how, for a new player, it can be confusing. I don't want potential players to be discouraged. I am not stating that ET:QW's objectives based system is a failure. It works, but at a cost of being a major barrier to entry.
ET:QW is a tough game to pick up and have fun with right away. For the purposes of a demo, that baffles me. I expected better from this game. It feels like the team at Splash Damage wanted to highlight too many aspects of their game in the demo, instead of providing a streamlined demo to introduce players to the game. A simpler map, with simpler objectives would go a long ways to improving early opinions about this title.
Moving on, the action in ET:QW far surpasses that of any Battlefield title, in both speed and veracity. Battlefield games are notorious for having a bit more relaxed style of play with an emphasis on wide open game play. ET:QW does a much better job of focusing players onto a single objective. Spawn points are usually up close to the action, and often times will drop a player right into the middle of the fight. This minimizes the need for a team to spread themselves across an entire map. Teams and players can focus on the current area and progress from there. I have found no reason to go backwards on the demo map so far, except to grab a vehicle.
Speaking of vehicles, they are fairly well done in ET:QW. There is no "vehicle specific class", so any player should be able to hop into any vehicle and go to town. I've never really enjoyed vehicles in these type of games, so I have not tested them very much. So far, I have not been camped at a spawn point by any flying vehicles, always a plus in my book!
My final area of concern for ET:QW is the lauded: "What the fuck just killed me?" There are so many new tricks in ET:QW, that I've found myself more than once trying to figure out what just killed me. Players die fast. Once the damage starts, it rarely ends in survival. As the game play is faster, it stands to reason that players are likely to die without seeing the cause. It can become annoying, but hopefully with time players will have enough experience to know what owned them.
Part III has been posted here.
I left off my last post talking about the objectives system built into ET:QW and how, for a new player, it can be confusing. I don't want potential players to be discouraged. I am not stating that ET:QW's objectives based system is a failure. It works, but at a cost of being a major barrier to entry.
ET:QW is a tough game to pick up and have fun with right away. For the purposes of a demo, that baffles me. I expected better from this game. It feels like the team at Splash Damage wanted to highlight too many aspects of their game in the demo, instead of providing a streamlined demo to introduce players to the game. A simpler map, with simpler objectives would go a long ways to improving early opinions about this title.
Moving on, the action in ET:QW far surpasses that of any Battlefield title, in both speed and veracity. Battlefield games are notorious for having a bit more relaxed style of play with an emphasis on wide open game play. ET:QW does a much better job of focusing players onto a single objective. Spawn points are usually up close to the action, and often times will drop a player right into the middle of the fight. This minimizes the need for a team to spread themselves across an entire map. Teams and players can focus on the current area and progress from there. I have found no reason to go backwards on the demo map so far, except to grab a vehicle.
Speaking of vehicles, they are fairly well done in ET:QW. There is no "vehicle specific class", so any player should be able to hop into any vehicle and go to town. I've never really enjoyed vehicles in these type of games, so I have not tested them very much. So far, I have not been camped at a spawn point by any flying vehicles, always a plus in my book!
My final area of concern for ET:QW is the lauded: "What the fuck just killed me?" There are so many new tricks in ET:QW, that I've found myself more than once trying to figure out what just killed me. Players die fast. Once the damage starts, it rarely ends in survival. As the game play is faster, it stands to reason that players are likely to die without seeing the cause. It can become annoying, but hopefully with time players will have enough experience to know what owned them.
Part III has been posted here.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars - Initial Impressions
The developers and fans of Enemy Territory: Quake Wars do not want the game to be compared to any of the Battlefield (1942, Vietnam, 2) games. Unfortunately, they built a team based multi-player shooter that has vehicles and unit classes, so comparisons are imminent. After all, Battlefield 1942 sort of defined team based multi-player shooters with vehicles and unit classes. It may not have been the first, but it was the most defining in my opinion.
Whether players believe ET:QW is anything like Battlefield or not, for me, there are enough comparisons to be made. Honestly, both games play the same. In Battlefield you are advancing from flag to flag. In ET:QW you simply advance from objective to objective. ET:QW has the benefit that objectives are a lot more interesting and can change on the fly. For example: the demo map has the GDF forces charging forward to build a bridge in order to advance on to securing the bridge, followed by advancing a mobile base.
Err well, I think those are the objectives. Battlefield's flag capture system may be static, but at least it is understandable to pretty much everyone. The objectives in ET:QW tend to be confusing at first and confusing in the end. Players can hit the "m" key to select a new mission (objective), but often times missions disapear as the objectives are met. As a new player, I spent most of my time confused on what I should be doing. There is little guidance to indicate what objectives need to be done or in what order they should be done to maximize effect. I guess it is up to the players to figure out?
Part II has been posted here.
Part III has been posted here.
Whether players believe ET:QW is anything like Battlefield or not, for me, there are enough comparisons to be made. Honestly, both games play the same. In Battlefield you are advancing from flag to flag. In ET:QW you simply advance from objective to objective. ET:QW has the benefit that objectives are a lot more interesting and can change on the fly. For example: the demo map has the GDF forces charging forward to build a bridge in order to advance on to securing the bridge, followed by advancing a mobile base.
Err well, I think those are the objectives. Battlefield's flag capture system may be static, but at least it is understandable to pretty much everyone. The objectives in ET:QW tend to be confusing at first and confusing in the end. Players can hit the "m" key to select a new mission (objective), but often times missions disapear as the objectives are met. As a new player, I spent most of my time confused on what I should be doing. There is little guidance to indicate what objectives need to be done or in what order they should be done to maximize effect. I guess it is up to the players to figure out?
Part II has been posted here.
Part III has been posted here.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars Demo
Enemy Territory: Quake Wars has launched a demo.
I have found two great download links:
N-Zone
Yahoo!
I should have comments up later this week.
I have found two great download links:
N-Zone
Yahoo!
I should have comments up later this week.
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Linux Gaming with Radeon
It is no secret that I am becoming a fan of Linux. Over the past year I have completed the first half of my Red Hat Academy courses and have begun studying for my Linux+ certification. My interest in Linux extends beyond education and work. I am a gamer, and Linux gaming is a sore spot to an otherwise great operating system.
Digging around on the Internet, I found an article showing off Enemy Territory: Quake Wars running on a Linux box sporting the new 8.41 display drivers for Radeon HD 2900XT video cards. If you need to understand one thing about Linux gaming, it is that the lack of driver support is a main cause for the faltering Linux game market. However, this is changing as the article shows.
This gives me a bit of faith that Linux may become a viable platform in the future for gamers. My ultimate dream would be to have a complete Linux distribution built completely around games. How many gamers would love to have an entire operating system dedicated to their hobby? I know I would.
Digging around on the Internet, I found an article showing off Enemy Territory: Quake Wars running on a Linux box sporting the new 8.41 display drivers for Radeon HD 2900XT video cards. If you need to understand one thing about Linux gaming, it is that the lack of driver support is a main cause for the faltering Linux game market. However, this is changing as the article shows.
This gives me a bit of faith that Linux may become a viable platform in the future for gamers. My ultimate dream would be to have a complete Linux distribution built completely around games. How many gamers would love to have an entire operating system dedicated to their hobby? I know I would.
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