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Gameplay

Achron requires a little explaining in terms of how it works. The core of the game is a pretty standard RTS fare, with three playable races and a variety of units for each. Where Achron really stands out, however, is it's primary gameplay element: fully-funtional time travel. In addition to the mini-map and controls on the game screen, there is also a timeline displaying all the actions taken by the player the last 8 minutes or so, extending about a minute into the future as well. At any point during gameplay the player can jump forwards and backwards on this timeline, allowing them to change their actions in the past and have these changes then affect the timeline ahead of them. Players are also able to send units forward and backwards through the use of Chronoporters, resulting in battles where a unit may find itself fighting alongside itself. Naturally, these elements result in a variety of interesting strategies - for example, you send your units to defend against an attack from the north when the timeline changes and you find those same enemies now attacking from a different direction against your unprotected base.

So how fun does this turn out to be? In short, very. Although the idea of free-form time travel sounds a little confusing at first, the concept is quite easy to get to grips with and you will soon find yourself managing changes in the timeline with ease. Paradoxes are not a problem, as the model of time-travel used by the game resolves these impossibilites in an effective manner - the two or more states of a paradox will alternate between each other until one falls off the end of the 8-minute timeline.

As the game is not yet complete single-player gameplay is currently restricted to the tutorial levels and AI players, although the developers have promised an extensive campaign spanning all three playable races. The multiplayer community is well-established, if a little small; the users in the official IRC channel are always willing to play regardless of how new a player is.

Overall, gameplay gets a 7/10.

Graphics

The in-game HUD is sleek and well-designed, with an easy to understand layout. The quality of the graphics for levels is largely dependant on the level itself - although a large number of textures and scenery are available it is mainly up to the creator of each map to determine how detailed the level will be. In terms of units and buildings, however, the game could use some work: most of the models are uniquely designed and clearly distinguishable from each other, although the textures are rather bland and repetitive.

Graphics gets a 5/10, though with a little work to the textures this could easily be increased.

Story

Since the game is still in development and the single-player campaign has yet to be released, not much is currently known about the storyline of Achron. The website hints at an interesting plotline, if somewhat generic, though until the campaign is released it isn't clear what quality the storytelling will be.

For the time being I won't assign a score to storyline, though once the campaign is released this will be revised.

Sound

The sound of Achron can be separated into sound effects and music. The sound effects of the game are fairly average, though limited at the current time (again, Achron is still in development so additional sound effects may be added in the future. The music of Achron is all custom, and features a distinct ambience - the majority of songs are quite peaceful, with a few faster paced songs. The music isn't anything amazingly spectacular, but it definitely adds to the feel of the game.

Sound gets a 6/10.

Conclusion

Overall, I give Achron a 7/10 - it definitely shows a lot of promise and the concept of free-form timetravel is a unique idea that has never been implemented as well as it has in Acron, though there are several areas where development is still needed. I highly recommend pre-purchasing it - you will recieve every alpha and beta build, the full version of the game when it is released some time this year, and any updates and add-ons to the game after that.

Perfect Dark is the 2nd FPS RARE released on the N64 in 2000 at the end of the N64's lifetime back when RARE wasn't sucking complete dick and getting *crag*ed in the ass violently by Microsoft while warm milky seruem leaks from every ovrice of it's body and cries at the shadow of what it once was. Anyways if you've ever played Goldeneye, Perfect Dark pretty much is a complete upgrade to it.

When you get hit by something, instead of flying back 80 feet and never being able to get anything done you only get knocked back a little. It's barely noticable most of the time unless you have extreme sheilding and some asshole is firing at you with an automatic weapon. Melee weapons aren't as good as they are in Goldeneye however for what melee lacks in power makes up for it by being an incredibly useful stealth strike. It can disarm gaurds giving you time to pop a cap in there ass while they pick up there gun. Melee attacks also apply a dizzy effect in multiplayer(and single player if you get hit by a gaurd from behind). The dizzy effect is alot like smoking pot, the more hits you get in the more screwy your victim's vision gets and before he/she(or you)know it someone is completey unable to indentify anything or get around proficentally, this is both incredibly terrifying and amusing. It probably doesn't help the dizzy effect carries over between lives meaning you can pretty much win multiplayer by punching the shit out of your friend, standing a safe distance away, and shooting him until he drops. Rinse, repeat.

Multiplayer also got a pretty huge upgrade with the addition of AI computers to play against(simulants), you are able to choose preset simulant personalities that kinda set up computers to almost be there own class sometimes depending on what you choose(Speedsims are incredibly fast, Turtlesims are slow but have lots lots of sheild, etc). You can also customize which weapons spawn on the map, choose the map of course(or put it on random), choose music for the stage, switch attires and heads around to form a more unique character, and create preset gamemodes to load up with ease. Theres also multiplayer challenges to keep yourself busy that unlock new maps and shit to spawn on the map(Like cloaking). Also RARE geniously put in a feature that allows you to darken your  side of the screen while completely crouched in order to troll screenlookers who know the map well enough to find you.

Weaponry is quite excellent as it was in Goldeneye and unlike Goldeneye each weapon has a secondary firing mode which allows guns to be used diffrently depending on what it is and where you can make it useful at. An example of this would be with the Laptop Gun, the laptop gun is basically a powerful bamf automatic weapon thats made out of a laptop, the secondary fire of the weapon allows you to throw the laptop on the ground and set up a mini-sentry that mows down enemies until it runs out of ammo. Another great example of a weapon with profound use for secondary fire is with the Super Dragon. Primary fire is the basic automatic weapon while secondary fire turns your gun into a grenade launcher. It's worth getting to know how to switch to secondary fire and back as some weapons are actually better in secondary fire, like the phantom that will shoot explosive shells instead of shitty faggy space lasers, the shotgun that will rapid fire two rounds at a time instead of one and for my favorite weapon the Mauler instead of single shotting with an energy shot  will charge up a shot as you wait for your next target. Despite all of these great weapon useages Perfect Dark to my distaste has alot of weapons that can kill you in a single shot, with 3 rocket launcher variants and 3 very easy to use instant kill weapons it kinda kills the point of weapon vareity espicially when you're playing multiplayer and you have 2 of those weapons available on the map you're on, other than that though you have plenty of variety in gunware, you know, kinda like how a FPS should be. You are also able to unlock some of the guns that were in Goldeneye however shamefully you can only use them in Single Player.

As for the story mode gameplay it pretty much plays the same as Goldeneye, it's still faster to sidestrafe and run at a 90 degree angle to get around and you can screw with the AI though not as well now, they're pretty damn intelligent for a N64 game actually. You can also co-op missions with a friend or if you don't have friends you can summon a simulant that will help you on missions, the partner simulants are surprisingly not completely retarded. You can get away with leaving them behind half way across the level and they'll be able to find you without much trouble thanks to the radar, this is useful also for the few escorting parts of the game, you'll find that you don't have to baby whoever the hell you're escorting and if they have a gun it's even better seeing as they'll defend themselves pretty much flawlessly and may even help you out every now and then by killing that one guy you forgot to kill or something. Aiming HUD is kinda meh, though you can fix it with a cheat that makes the aiming cursor the exact same as the one that was in Goldeneye if it bothers you that much. The story is pretty ok, it's nothing that'll get your panties wet but you sure as hell aren't going to be bored with it, also theres aliens, and you get to fight with aliens and kill aliens and it's better than Halo.

Overall I give the game a 10/10, you can get the game on Xbox Live or hunt down an orignal copy for the N64. Definately something you guys should look into.

Where do I start here. Magicka was made by Paradox Interactive, and is exclusively for PC. On to everything else

GAMEPLAY

In Magicka, you are a wizard. Your goal is to defeat numerous enemies with your wizardly magick. You use different elements for your main source of attack, eight of which are bound to QWER and ASDF while two others are made by combining water and cold or water and fire. You can put up to five different elements in a spell, and activate it using certain button combinations. There are also a little more than 20 Magicks that you can find, which are similar to spells but the order matters and Magicks are activated using the space bar. You use the left mouse button to move around. You can play multiplayer, or go it alone and try to get things done that way. The game isn't particularly entertaining and is brutally unforgiving when you are playing alone, but it really gets interesting once you get some friends together. Your buddies are capable of reviving you, which lowers the difficulty even if they do kill you about as often as they bring you back to life. The main source of fun here is seeing exactly how ridiculous everything gets. Meteor Shower and Crash to Desktop will likely kill your pals, but are absolutely hilarious when they go right or horribly wrong. The multiplayer of this game is some of the most fun I have ever had, simply because of how funny the whole thing is. Expect to die often, and in absurd ways. Amazing/10

Story

Like most every multiplayer-oriented game, the story is a very weak point for this game. The whole thing is incredibly simple, and mostly serves as an excuse to get you to go to certain places. It kind of works though, as you are usually too busy trying to see exactly what is and isn't immune to Crash to Desktop to think about how poor the story is. Not completely terrible/10

Graphics

The game is pretty stylized, but it doesn't exactly look the best. Don't expect something on the level of Crysis or really any good-looking game. One thing to note is that the graphics don't look overly dated or irritating, so at least it has that going for itThe character animations are pretty basic, but they don't do a terrible job at simplicity. Some animations are quite satisfying, oddly enough. Try giving your sword ice and then swinging it, or killing a monster while it is slowed by cold. Neat stuff. Some cool stuff/10

Sound

Of similar quality to the graphics and the story, none of the sound effects or music are anything particularly special. Likely the most important part of the whole thing is that the sound effects and music aren't really grating. Much of the music at least fits whatever is going on at the time, which is certainly good. There aren't very many satisfying sound effects, most of the satisfaction from your attacks is from the big numbers, the resulting gore, and on rare occassion the animations. Decent/10

.Overall

The story is poor, but very rarely does anybody care about that in a multiplayer-oriented game. The sound effects won't make your ears bleed, but it isn't often that you will find yourself casting a spell specifically for the noise it makes. It isn't ambitious with the graphics, but it reaches the goals it has set for itself quite well. The gameplay is the main selling point here. This game is one of the best multiplayer experiences available, and the concept is interesting enough. The spell casting system is only slightly robust, but the way the elements interact with eachother and with enemies is enough to get you experimenting and quite frequently *crag*ing things up. Which is good, since *crag*ing things up is exactly what the game is about. Great for plenty of laughs and fun times, so long as you have a few friends. I would be only slightly adamant about recommending this game were the pricetag higher, but as it costs only $10 for the base game on your average day it is certainly worth the cost. Excellent game/10

tl;dr: AWESOME MULTIPLAYER FUN SPELLS WHO GIVES A SHIT ABOUT THE STORY AND SOUND GRAPHICS AREN'T VERY GOOD YOU SHOULD GET THIS GAME

Super Meat Boy was released quite a while back, developed solely by a two-man indie team by the name of Team Meat. Granted that the development time for the pair was less than two years, I cannot applaud enough what they had accomplished in this time. The game itself is a brutally punishing platformer that will have you feeling like a god in the end. One level giving you trouble for half an hour will become your greatest sense of joy in the 20 seconds it took you to complete it; and this feeling will happen all the time.

The game starts out with the simplest of stories. A fetus has a beef with a square of beef and he steals Meat Boy's love interest, Bandage Girl, only to dangle it in front of Meat Boy in every single level, in where our hero gets to Bandage Girl and then Dr. Fetus steals Bandage Girl again, accompanied usually with a classic gaming move, like the Doctor doing his best falcon punch impersonation, or sticking a spear in Bandage Girl and pulling her into whatever weird zone Dr. Fetus goes into when he teleports away. The cutscenes are pretty good, and they've always got a bit of humor, along with the intros showing a nice homage of games past.

Of course, the story is already pretty much a throwaway and then we see the game's shining area; the gameplay. You start off easy, where it's nearly impossible to die. In the course of a few short levels, you get up to speed with mechanics and then you're subjected to fiery pits and sawblades in which you'll surely die multiple times. The game quickly becomes familiar, though, and eventually your skills are sharpened to where the levels no longer pose a threat. On later chapters, often it will become a test of sharp reflexes and muscle memory. On Rapture levels, it's easy to spend ten minutes on a single level. After the initial five minutes, though, the beginning portion of the level can be cleared within seconds, and it's suddenly the easiest thing to do, no matter how many times you died to it. In the end, nearly every level you thought was hard at some point becomes easy.

And then there's the boss fights. At the end of each chapter, after you beat 17/20 levels (if you didn't do all 20 you're a wimp), you get to fight the chapter baddie. Usually, it's just another platforming level with some elements of danger added in. Get chased by a giant chainsaw mech, and get to the end without being ground chuck. The levels are still fun, however, and are usually accompanied with good music to boot. An exception to the rule is the chapter 4 boss, which is primarily a memory level. Once you're done with that and the excellent music, however, you're sent on another level in which to exercise your anger. (Rapture!)

Warp zones and bandages also give another layer of fun to the game. Warp zones can unlock new characters with abilities to play the game, and getting enough bandages scattered around levels (Usually in difficult or hidden areas) can unlock other characters not found in warp zones. The characters are familiar indie icons, with people such as Captain Viridian or The Kid showing up in the roster. Each one has their own power, with people such as Ogmo affording double jumps, or Runman being able to run really, REALLY fast. Not all characters are right for the job (Most of them are slower than Meat Boy) but some will make your life much easier. They aren't usable in boss areas or the final chapter, but they'll definitely help you on the way.

With the massive amount of levels even doubled with the dark world, levels awarded by striking an excellent time on the light world parallel, there's a ton of content waiting for you in this game. Along with the levels in-game, the PC version includes a special player-made world called Super Meat World, in which user levels and additional creator levels are uploaded. Given the amount of difficulty in the later levels, you'll be trying to save Bandage Girl (And fail at it) for months to come. This game is worth every penny, normal priced ($15) or on sale.

[The game is also on the Xbox 360. Bandage-unlocked characters are different, and there's less content on Super Meat World (Known on the 360 as "Teh Internets"), but all in all it's still the same old good game.]

• Fixed a Linux dedicated server crash in vphysics.so
  

http://www.minecraft.net/play.jsp?server=1f7aad51f0a13549b083f92edb55481f

this is an advanced server

blah blah blah here is were you can find the command sheet:

http://www.minecraftwiki.net/wiki/Custom_servers/MCSharp#Install

have fun kiddies

I really don't give a shit what you think about this either play or don't play. i will load in the other maps later so you can have a varitey of choices on where you want to build. kthxbai

Does Digi get the Portal 2 blog on its website feeds?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh7Z6ADqyGA

This may or may not be because my brain is on fire again.

Power Rangers

install the script and then enjoy a better internet

Another huge Steam sale. Now, it's like the Steam Treasure Hunt, but instead of trying to get TF2 hats, now you can get MAP PACKS 'N JUNK for other games you might own. Oh, and some shades for TF2.

Here's the prizes, and...

Here's the sale.

Here is the controller file for project 64 to be used with perfect dark and the NRage_DInput8_V2.dll Plugin that should be set in the input plugin area of the settings. Here is the download link: http://www.mediafire.com/?255xfltpexkejn3

These are the controls:

Analog controls:

Up: Keyboard Up key

Left: Move the mouse left

Right: Move the mouse right

Down: Keyboard Down key

Buttons:

Start: Keyboard Enter

A: Mouse wheel up

B: Right Mouse Click

L-Trig: Push Down Mouse Wheel

R-Trig: Mouse wheel down

Z-Trig: Left Mouse Click

C Buttons( on modern controlers a c-stick):

Up: Keyboard number 1 (I suggest using the number pad near the arrow keys)

Left: Keyboard Left Key

Right: Keyboard Right Key

Down: Keyboard number 0 (I suggest using the number pad near the arrow keys)