The Age Of PC Gaming

I have been playing PC games for a long time now & while it may not be my go to platform it offers something many consoles do not.  One of the most important things PC games have over console games is the price.  While the original set up can be expensive once you have a good PC many of the games can be quiet inexpensive. Some of the older games did not even require you have the disc once the initial install was completed.  You could borrow the game to your friend worry free if they lost or damaged the disc (obviously if they did that they would be dead to me).

Another big plus of PC gaming is that you have a trusty mouse & keyboard.  I just feel there is a level of control you get from them that just isn't there with a normal console controller. For me if I want to play an real time strategy game I will always go for the PC version over console.  I love being able to map keys to what works best for me & the game I am playing. The mouse allows great speed & control which in an RTS can be very important.  Anyway lets get on with the show & talk about some games.

For me I feel the Command & Conquer series really got me into PC games.  I loved building up my base, creating a ton of units & then moving in & crushing the enemy. One of the most notable things about the series were the stories & actors used. Some of my favorites actors were; Joseph D. Kucan, James Earl Jones, Michael Biehn, Nicholas Worth, Udo Kier & Micheal Ironside.

While the series has a few turkeys in it like; Renegade & Tiberium Twilight as whole the series is very solid. My favorites titles being; Red Alert 2 & 3, Tiberium Sun & Generals.  If you like real time strategy games I strongly recommend playing one or all of them - except for the crappy ones.






If you have not played Half Life then you probably don't own a PC or have never played a first person shooter.  Outside of that you have no excuse not to have played this game.  My interest was peeked watching my friend playing it one day & I thought I must try this game for myself. After a brutal fight I stole his copy of Half Life & ran home as fast I could. Looking back I think using a crowbar to knock him out may have been excessive.

The story is set in a top secret research base.  They scientists are experimenting with other worldly forces, which funny enough does not work out to well.  A smallish tear is created that is large enough to let through a lot of crazy creatures.  Who will save the day?  A scientist called Gordon Freeman. He graduated MIT with a PhD in theoretical physics & later went on to be an ass kicker & savior of humanity. Hail the Freeman!

Two official add-ons were released where you got the chance to see the game from two other perspectives. The first was through the eyes of Corporal Adrian Sheppard part of the Black Mesa Black Ops clean up team. The second was through the eyes of Barney Calhoun a security guard. Don't let Barney fool you he is much more than a mere security guard.

Closing advice: play it. That is all.

When most people hear Warcraft they think two things: oh World of Warcraft, that MMORPG with way too many expansions & oh yeah isn't there a movie coming out about that? While I did spend nearly three solid months playing World of Warcraft the key driving force which led to me to playing the game in the first place was Warcraft 3 Reign of Chaos.

Warcraft 3 was the classic build your base up & complete objectives.  You could pick from four races; Humans (not bad), Orcs (Awesome!!), Night Elves (don't mess with them), Undead (creepy but crazy strong).  Each race had their own back story which intersected with the others.  The music & level designs always fill me with me excitement & pull me right into the action. The add-on; Frozen Throne added new units along with new story & the same great races.

Within all of this awesomeness was a little more awesome.There was a set of maps for something called Defense of the Ancients.  You play as a hero character completing missions & traversing the lands, you could play solo or with/against other players.  Originally I had thought this would what World of Warcraft would be - it really wasn't!

I loved & still love this game & when you consider how far the series came for the original to Warcraft 3 its amazing.  I look forward to Warcraft 4 especially if Blizzard make it an RTS. Once again all I can say is play it & play it hard.


Well its that time again where I say that's all folks & move on. Before I do that I want to mention some games that require your attention: Unreal Tournament (I don't care what people say the original is the best), Settlers 2, Sims, Plants vs Zombies, Commandos, Die Hard Trilogy 2 (I just really liked it).  All the best & I will see you next post!

Amstrad-ing To Like This!

My parents came home with a computer one day. I had no idea where they got it from & being honest I still don't.  My memory is a little fuzzy as the Amstrad was just a foot note in my gaming life but I think I owned the 386SX.  The floppy disks were 8 half inches which was a crazy big, to give you an idea check out the image below (far left is the 8 half floppy, far right is or was the standard floppy).

For the time I had with Amstrad (which was not long as it disappeared one day with out a trace) I did two things on it. Use paint which was great fun & play the two games I had. One of those games was
called The Dam Busters. The objective was to destroy dams, to do this you had to; set your route, fly your plane to a dam & then blow it up - simple, easy - no, no it was not.  Getting your plane off the runaway into the air was not too bad but the flight to your destination took a long time.  Once near the dam you had to be at the right altitude & speed. If you dropped the bomb too early you, fly too fast or be at the incorrect altitude you would fail.  The moment was over quickly & although you had multiple bombs (3 if I remember correctly)  you had to fly a distance away before retrying your approach.

I don't have that much patience now I had even less then so I usually got frustrated & walked away from it. I then would go back to it the next day looking forward to playing & then realise why I had quit it the day before.

The game I loved on the Amstrad was called Sleuth (turns outs out that's not the name or I just can't find it anywhere - I never had the original box just a copy).  It was a basic top down image of house, black & white.  Your character a detective who was a small white cube. A murder was committed & through asking questions & investigating rooms you had to work out who the killer was & how they did it (yes it sounds like Cluedo but it wasn't already check FYI I used to watch the show on TV).  I loved trying to work out who the killer was & going through the different rooms even though with the exception of their size there was no visual difference. I remember in one of the hallways there was a secret door way which led to as you can guess a secret room.  There was not a lot there really but occasionally the killer was waiting for you.

It was a great game & I loved playing it.  I just wish I knew what it was really called. If anyone knows please let me know.

That is all I have for my first PC but I will leave you with the image of the great Amstrad & my Alienware Aurora A3 as a reminder as to how far we have come with home computers.