note about article: most of the locations/ prices/tickets/hours are directly from the sites I link. There are probably many more place that I could list, but I think these are the ones most adults will want to see >.> sorry for the formatting and not comments on each place, I recommend them all but honestly I don’t know any more.. This part here is to just say. I SUCK AT RECOMMENDING STUFF SO YOU SHOULD EXPLORE ON YOUR OWN. And a sigh I should never right something like this again

Stuff to do in Seattle

Art:
              S.A.M (Seattle art museum): http://www.seattleartmuseum.org/

Downtown:
   1300 First Avenue
    Seattle, WA 98101-2003
    206.654.3100
    TTY 206.654.3137
hours:
         Wednesday–Sunday: 10 am–5 pm
         Thursday & Friday: 10 am–9 pm
         Monday & Tuesday: closed

Waterfront Sculpture park:
2901 Western Avenue
Seattle, WA 98121
206.654.3100
TTY 206.441.4261
hours:
          opens: 30 minutes prior to sunrise
          closes: 30 minutes after sunset

Seattle Asian Art Museum:
1400 East Prospect Street
Volunteer Park
Seattle, WA 98112–3303
206.654.3100
TTY 206.344.5267
hours:
Wednesday–Sunday 10 am-5 pm
Thursday 10 am-9 pm
Monday & Tuesday: closed

Random stuff to do:

Space Needle: http://www.spaceneedle.com/
Space Needle (idk what this part meant when I was looking up the address)
400 Broad St.
Seattle, WA 98109
Located near the Monorail and Seattle Center House at 5th Avenue North & Broad Street.
hours:
Monday – Sunday 9:00am – 12:00am
prices:
Adult (ages 14-64): $18.00
Youth (ages 4-13): $11.00
Child (age 3 & under): Free
Senior (ages 65+): $16.00
Active Military Adult w/ ID: $16.00
Active Military Youth w/ ID: $9.50

Pike Place Market:
hours:
Monday through Saturday, 10am to 6pm
Sunday, 11am to 5pm
hours for shops in the underground level:
Monday through Sunday,
11am to 5pm

It’s been a long time / I shouldn’t've left you (left you) / without a strong link to click to–

Okay, let’s just stop that silliness in its tracks.

• (Joystiq, Destructoid) PlayStation Move reviews are starting to come in. Here’s Joystiq’s look at the hardware & experience, and here’s Destructoid’s impressions of the "living room experience." I dunno, I just can’t get behind these new motion control gimmicks, but hey, maybe you’re excited.
• (Siliconera) From the "what is this I don’t even" department: Tokyo Jungle, Sony’s urban jungle game. "In 20XX mankind left Earth leaving animals to fend for themselves. The once busy streets of Tokyo are now home to lions, tigers, and chickens. All of them are fighting for survival in this PlayStation 3 game developed by the creative PlayStation C.A.M.P. team inside Sony Computer Entertainment." Reportedly a Pomeranian and a thoroughbred horse are key characters.
• (also Siliconera) Here’s a bunch of cool sequels and remakes we’ll never see in America: Final Fantasy Legend III, Disaster Report 4, White Knight Chronicles Episode.Portable: Dogma Wars. One we probably will see? Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, because I hate Monster Hunter games and therefore they’ll inevitably all end up Stateside…
• (NintendoLife) Brush up on your Japanese; while G.G. Series Ninja Karakuri Den was released to DSiWare not more than a few days ago (and was at least moderately entertaining), NintendoLife has first impressions of the surprisingly English-friendly G.G Series Collection+, available for import for your DS.
• (Cubed3) Haven’t bought a DSi or DSi XL yet? Well, good news – prices for Nintendo’s handhelds are being slashed. With the 3DS on its way in the next six months or so, Nintendo has dropped the DSi to $149.99, and its chubby friend the DSi XL is now only $169.99. Fancy taking a step backwards in time? The DS Lite is still $129.99. (All prices USD.)
• (Polygamerous) Yes, last but not least, news from our very own site. Mike pinged me in WoW last night to let me know that a new shirt had been added to the store. I took one look and ordered it immediately. What could so immediately get me to part ways with my hard-earned payola, you ask? Simple: the power of the Three Controller Moon shirt (also in women’s!). P.S. Did you know we have other shirts? We totally do.

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659).

This Week In Gaming

• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/20/this-is-the-full-83-track-rock-band-3-setlist/
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/23/game-developers-choice-online-award-nominees-announced/
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/23/peer-into-these-new-portal-2-screens/
• According to rumors floating around the Internet, the PS3 has finally been hacked
• Andrew Cuomo, New York Attorney General, released a statement saying that GameStop, along with five other companies, will pay millions of dollars in fines after it was discovered that they’ve tricked thousands of customers into paying hidden fees.
• (joystiq) DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue sequel coming to XBLA, PSN in September
  With justice not entirely dispensed, evil still to be vanquished and plenty of downtrodden to be, uh, heroed,the titular DeathSpank returns in DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue. Hothead Games today announced a full-on sequel to this summer’s Diablo homage (parody?) on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network — and it’s almost complete! Thongs of Virtue will be launched on PSN and XBLA on September 21 and 22, respectively.
• (shacknews) Lord of the Rings Online Free-to-Play Launching on Sept. 10
  Turbine’s Lord of the Rings Online will officially go free-to-play on September 10. The move comes after a beta test, which began on June 16
• (gamesindustry.biz) News: Amazon stops selling XBLA titles
  Online retailer Amazon has decided to stop selling Xbox Live Arcade games via its website, ending a partnership which began only 16 months ago in April, 2009.
  Previously, the site had offered redeemable codes for purchase, allowing customers to pay for XBLA titles in national currency rather than with the publisher’s proprietary Microsoft Points.

Rumor Mill

• Expect to hear news about the next DOOM game soon.
• Microsoft is working on making a handheld videogame system that will also be a smart phone. Primary purpose being gaming though.

5 Deals in 5 Minutes

• Kmart is giving out $20 gaming coupons with the purchase of Mafia 2 or Red Dead Redemption.

• Best Buy hands over a $25 gift card when you buy two $39.99+ games or accessories.

• TRU has another week of free collectible Halo Reach cards which also double as $10 off coupons for Xbox 360 Halo games.

• Target prices the WiiMote + Motion Plus bundle at $29.99

• FocalPrice.com offers this 6-Piece Mario Kart Toy Set for $7.79 with free shipping. That’s the lowest total price we could find by $15. This 6-piece set includes Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, and more.

Question of the Week

(from @spudpuffinz ) : What was your first video game?

• lougagliardi: Castlevania from 1987
• Glassofwater2: not sure, some educational game…
• admon09: super Mario 3 and ultima
• Ninthbatter: The Oregon Trail, and yes all I did was hunt.
• Broadwayblues: my first video game was choplifter or missile command on 2600
• Linedan: Combat and Space Invaders on the Atari 2600. (Feel free to get off my lawn.)
• stoppableforce: Donkey Kong, on the Atari 5200.
• aoirselvar: either pacman or adventure on the atari, awesome graphics
• belghast: Sears and Roebuck Pong
• mrbryo: burgertime on the intellivision
• tinkerpriest: super mario bros for snes
• TwilliK: Either Wolf3D with no enemies, Exile (an RPG) or like Spy Fox (I was like 3-5)

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659).

This week in Gaming

• Bill roper departs Cryptic: http://startrekonline.com/node/2029?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
• Bioshock Infinite: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/12/bioshock-infinite-preview/#continued
• Limbo sells 300k: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/16/limbo-sells-300k-design-philosophy-discussed-by-playdead
• Call of duty Black ops prestige edition: http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/12/call-of-duty-black-ops-prestige-edition-comes-with-working-rc-s/#continued
• Source joystiq
  (Compared to last year) July sales surge resulted in a minor 2% drop in Xbox sales while every other console suffered double digit drops. This, as you can see in our lineup below, has earned the Xbox 360 the rare opportunity to best the Nintendo DS as the best-selling piece of video game hardware last month. To put things in perspective, NPD analyst Anita Frazier notes, “It’s the first time since September ’07 (Halo 3 launch) that the 360 was the top-selling hardware platform.”
  • 360: 444K, down 9K (-2%)
  • DS: 398K, down 113K (-22%)
  • Wii: 254K, down 169K (-40%)
  • PS3: 215K, down 90K (-30%)
  • PSP: 84K, down 37K (-31%)

1. 1. NCAA Football 11 – Xbox 360 – EA – 368K
   2. NCAA Football 11 – PS3 – EA – 299K
   3. Crackdown 2 – Xbox 360 – Microsoft – 209K
   4. Super Mario Galaxy 2 – Wii – Nintendo – 193K
   5. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 – DS – WBIE – 142K
   6. Red Dead Redemption – Xbox 360 – Take-Tw
   7. LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4 – Wii – WBI
   8. Dragon Quest IX– DS – Nintend
   9. New Super Mario Bros. Wii – Wii – Nintendo
   10. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Xbox 360 – Activision

• Capcom to sponsor zombie protest at London House of Parliament
  The Citizens for Undead Rights and Equality (CURE) is joining forces with game publisher Capcom for some slow walks and good times. The undead organization is mustering its forces for a gathering across from the London House of Parliament on August 30 to promote zombie awareness and Capcom will be sponsoring the event.
  A list of CURE’s demands:
  • To permit the marriage of living and the undead
  • To increase the minimum statutory retirement age to beyond death
  • To make cemeteries more comfortable for their inhabitants
  • Attendees will receive a limited edition t-shirt celebrating the event, and the best-dressed zombie will win a game console. “It’s going to be a great day to be undead,” says CURE spokesperson Stacey Forsythe. “Our gathering will be loads of fun, and provide a real talking point in Westminster. We’re hoping that the spectacle will bring smiles to those in the area on Bank Holiday – but also make people think about the undeadly serious issues which face zombies these days.”
  • “This is a brilliant cause, and one which Capcom heartily endorses,” says Capcom’s Leo Tan. “As the leading publisher of zombie-related videogames, we feel very strongly that any hostile treatment they receive in our games is recognised as being entirely fictional – the undead are people too.
  • Members of the undead who are interested in supporting CURE’s cause can visit their official website and email votecure@googlemail.com for more information.
• (joystiq) Subway restaurants offer early access to PlayStation Move in new contest
  Sony and Subway are continuing their bizarre cross-marketing relationship. The newly-announced “Fiery Footlong Frenzy” promotion will award “more than $1 million in retail value” of prizes, at a rate of “one prize per minute.” Up for grabs are PS3 systems, games (including collector’s edition versions of Gran Turismo 5,LittleBigPlanet 2 and Uncharted 2), 3D HDTVs, PSP systems, and an exclusive opportunity to win the PlayStation Move motion controller before it goes on sale. Diners will be able to find codes on specially-marked 32 oz. drink cups, Monterey Jack Sun Chips, and breakfast sandwiches, starting today.
  According to Subway’s Tony Pace, partnering up with the PlayStation Move reflects upon Subway’s image of a healthy lifestyle. “As a brand that values active lifestyles, Subway is pleased to join Playstation in the launch its new active gaming platform and offer our fans this exclusive opportunity,” he said in a press release. Does this mean we’ll be seeing Jared Fogle playing against Kevin Butler in a mascot-powered ad campaign? We hope so!

Rumor Mill

• Valve is working on a DotA(Defense of the Ancients) game.

• Gearbox Software is looks at acquiring the rights to make a new Duke Nukem game.

• In SWTOR Naboo will be one of the planets. An unfortunately where there’s Naboo there’s Gungans.

Question of the Week

In honor of CoH: Going Rogue. When given a choice between Good/Bad factions which do you choose and why? (thanks to thesyddiegrl for the idea)

Twitter:

• StoppableForce:  I tend towards “bad” factions because the choices on the side of “good” tend to be really boring fantasy races.
• quietambition: I choose whichever side I find more interesting. Good or bad isn’t relevant, although it seems to be “bad” more often lol
• spudpuffinz: Well in Company of Heroes: Going Rogue, I always choose the paragon path, because its usually the way to better bonuses.
• glassofwater2: good normally, but if the good guys are boring, and the bad guys have cookies, then I go bad

Forum:

• Farva: I try going bad, but after my first bad decision I feel so guilty I play extra nice after that. I’m just big baby deep down.
• ColbyTS: I feel you Farva, every time I start Fallout 3 I think to myself this is the time I will blow up Megaton, but when the time comes I bitch out and turn into a blubbering mess…
• Jitterbug: I always play as a good guy first, and then on the second play through I go bad. Except in Mass Effect. For some reason, in that game I just can’t bring myself to go the renegade path. I am always a good guy.

In 2005 California passed a law to prevent the sale of violent video games to children under 18. This law however has as been blocked by a federal appeals court, which says the ban is an unconstitutional infringement on free speech. The law itself is slowly working its way to the U.S. Supreme Court in which they will make a final ruling on if video games are a form of speech like movies or books. Yet this hasn’t stopped organizations like MAVAV(Mothers Against Videogame Addiction and Violence) from attempting to get the sale of violent video games banned in other states. So lets take a closer look as to why we as gamers want video games to be classified as a form of speech.

For one, when someone tells us to turn off the game we can say that we’re just asserting our 1st amendment rights. But more importantly if video games become classified as a form of speech then they can’t be banned. It will also allow game developers to be protected from lawsuits such as the ones that claim that the game is responsible for the child‘s behavior. John Hinckley Jr. didn’t shoot President Regan because “Catcher in the Rye” told him too. He did it because he was mentally unstable and felt that doing it was the best way he could get the attention of Jodie Foster and his family.

Now some of you may be thinking well if video games are like movies then they can prohibit the sell of them like they do with “R” rated movies. Well here’s the thing, it’s not illegal for someone under the age of 17 to buy a R rated movie that’s just the stores policy. The MPAA(Motion Picture Association of America) isn’t a regulatory body. They’re a non-profit business and trade association that provide a voluntary rating system that companies choose to follow. Most retail stores follow the ESRB, ACB, or PEGI rating system for the sale of video games.

Now for those of you that don’t live in the states it’s a bit of a good news bad news situation. The good news is that the “Western” countries like to have a unified or similar classification of goods. This makes it much easier for foreign trade and 90% of all law passed is about trade or business. The bad news however, right now there are a lot of people in power that don’t understand video games and base their opinion off the opinions of people who donate money to their campaigns. Like how Hillary Clinton has the exact same opinion as MAVAV.

Any opinions expressed in posts on Polygamerous are not necessarily the opinions of Polygamerous or the other Authors/Editors/Podcasters of Polygamerous.

Part 2- Math

As I have discussed in Part 1 of this series my main goal in my search was to find a applicable solution to be able to play online multiplayer games, mainly at that time, World of Warcraft. My first venture was to actually attempt to try Dialup. In theory it started out pretty well. Our phone lines aren’t very good here in WV so at most you were getting around 24kbps. Not that great however you could log into WoW and move around. Your ping was actually pretty low in comparison to something like satellite. Usually in a major city I would get around 350 or so, something I could actually work with.

The problem however is that dialup suffers from the exact opposite problems that satellite has. With Sat, you have a fair amount of bandwidth (The amount of data you can send and receive), but extremely high latency ( how fast that data takes to get from your computer to, say… blizzards server). With Dialup you have an extremely small amount of bandwidth but a better amount of latency. Dialup is actually fine if your just doing nothing in wow but daily quests and farming. Wow running by itself only uses about 2kb/s worth of data, which a dialup connection can handle. However when you decide to go into a group or zone the amount of data required to be sent to and from your computer is increased and overtakes the dialup threshold. Resulting in a complete freeze up.

Essentially I went to test this connection in a ToC 5 man, right when the mobs were pulled the entire zone locked up. Once everyone was dead my computer was able to finish downloading the events of what had just happened and I essentially watched my 4 group mates try to kill the bosses in fast forward until we had all died.

I sat there defeated once again…

(Suck my nuts Coach Rod)

I can’t actually recall who/what/when/where/why I started looking at mobile broadband as a means of gaming. It may have started because my parents who live in rural WV use a mobile broadband card as their main source of internet connectivity. There are 2 HUGE hindrances with mobile broadband however. 1.) Price- Well I guess the price problem is tied in with Problem #2, but let’s just say I pay $55/month for my connection, the average price is around $65/month, the real problem is how it ties into 2.) The Cap- You severely limited to the amount of data you can download using a mobile broadband device. Mine is only 5gig/month. Yes you did read that correct. 5 gigabytes/month is what I am allowed to DL.

So I had to really answer a few questions before I proceeded. The first and foremost….. How much bandwidth does WoW and other online games actually use and would I be able to stay under that Cap. After many hours of googling I was able to figure out that in a raiding situation WoW would only be using on average 10kb/s. This number is greatly dependent on a lot of MoD usage. I am a MOD whore but I was able to trim down some of the mods I use as well as use a mod called Fubar_AddonSpamfu, which is now called Spamalyzer. Which told me which add-ons were bombarding my computer the most and I could eliminate them. However I couldn’t just think about WoW, I had to consider the other big part of my online community and being a raid leader. Ventrilo!

Now, we use Ventrilo as a tool in our gaming community not just for WoW, but the other online games we play, to make a long story short I was able to change the voice quality from 10 to 7 using the Speex codec, this change had no real discernable effects on the actual quality of our Ventrilo server. What it DID do was shave about 3kb/s off when people were talking over vent. And being a large gaming community that has been together pushing 10 years we tend to talk quite a lot.  Running on quality 7 Vent uses around 3-3.5 kb/s when others are transmitting voice to me (thanks ihealzu)

So from what I have gathered I would use bare minimum 36 MB/hour for raiding in wow, and around 10-12 MB/ hour using Ventrilo. So all together, we were looking at a solid number of <50 MB/hour raiding. So, I had a number for bandwidth to work from. As a guild we raided 3.5- 4 hours 3 nights a week in 25 mans, and I ran another 10 man raid group. 10 man raiding in wow uses much less bandwidth but for the sake of micromanagement let’s just look at those 3nights/week 25 man raiding.

For the sake of this math I overestimated EVERYTHING, because a big clutch in Mobile Broadband is, if you go OVER your SCREWED. It takes only minutes to see horror stories of people using mobile broadband devices to download movies and music who go over and get hit with bills over $10,000 dollars! This is not an option for me AT ALL. I quickly tallied up the amount of bandwidth I would allow myself to use per week to be around 1200MB.

So, I said I would raid 3 nights/week at 4 hours/raid. This meant worst case scenario I would be using 600 MB/week for 25 man raiding. Leaving me with 600MB to use on other projects. Those other projects ended up being 2 short 10 man raids/week and of course, The Slash 2 Podcast. Surprisingly, the podcast uses quite a lot of bandwidth, since we are utilizing high quality Skype codec’s, to ensure that the sound is good, this average out to around 150-200MB/show.

Bottom line is, If I am just doing my WoW raids, and my podcast, a mobile broadband connection with a cap of 5gigs/month would be sufficient for me to do so, pending some crazy factors that I haven’t even gotten to yet.

1.) Is a 3g Connection even available anywhere around my area

2.) Cell phones don’t work where I live, so can I get something to boost that signal and still be viable

3.) What will the latency even be like if I can get it all of this to even work.

All of these questions will be answered entirely in Part 3 of my experience with Mobile Broadband Gaming.

These instructions are for Pidgin, but can probably be adapted to other IM clients (for instance, Andy has managed to get in using Trillian, I believe).

1. Create a Google Talk or other Jabber/XMPP account. The easiest possible way to do this is just to sign up for Gmail. If you already have a Gmail account, congratulations: you’ve already completed step 1. Creating jabber accounts for other services is outside the scope of these instructions, but here’s some instructions from WikiHow.
2. Add your Gmail account or Jabber account to Pidgin. Go to the Accounts menu, then Manage Accounts, then Add – choose Google Talk for a Google Talk/Gmail account, or XMPP for a Jabber account. Sign in and all that jazz.
3. Once you’re signed into your account, from the Buddies menu, click Join a Chat. Choose your Google Talk or Jabber account. The information you need to join is:
   • Server name: conference.thestoppableforce.net
   • Room name: polygamerous
4. Feel free to change your handle. Or don’t. It’s your call, really.
5. Success! (Hopefully.)

I can try to do a limited amount of troubleshooting if people can’t connect. If you can’t use third-party clients at work, I do know you can use Meebo – most of the above instructions apply, with the exception that in addition to being signed into a Google Talk or other Jabber account, you also have to be signed into Meebo – otherwise the option to join a Conference never appears. Not that I would ever suggest you do something like sign into a videogame podcast chatroom from work.

*cough*

Hope to see you join us soon!

BONUS ROUND: Mike’s instructions on connecting via Meebo.

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659).

This Week In Gaming

• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/09/sources-microsoft-waving-kinect-beta-invites-around/
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/09/four-new-species-revealed-for-star-wars-the-old-republic/

• Give to A Good Cause and Land A Voice Acting Role

• 1000 Variables for ME3 Want to know just how many different decisions that you made in Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2 will determine the storyline and events in Mass Effect 3? How about over 1,000
• Teen’s Video Game Habits Lead Police to Marijuana Stash
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/09/assassins-creed-brotherhood-collectors-edition-comes-with-jac/ Spend $100 for a sweet game, some comics, maps, an artbook, and a creepy as #*(%$()* Harlequin Jack-in-the-box. Thing. This is also known as ‘Nightmare Fuel.’
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/06/sonic-colors-to-maybe-spin-dash-our-hopes-on-november-16/
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/09/nomura-definitely-wants-to-make-a-the-world-ends-with-you-sequ/

• (joystiq) GameStop lists ‘Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate Edition’ for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360
  If you’ve held off on purchasing Dragon Age: Origins until now … keep holding off. GameStop listings have appeared for something called “Dragon Age Origins: Ultimate Edition” on PS3, Xbox 360, and PC, supposedly due for release on October 12 for $59.99.
  The listings have no information at all about what’s included in the package — and neither EA nor BioWare have officially announced this thing, though we’ve asked for a comment regardless — so it’s anyone’s guess as to what’s included. If it were truly “Ultimate” it would include the Awakenings expansion and all the DLC. Now that word’s out about this thing’s existence, we expect an announcement soon, at which point we’ll learn the precise level of ultimateness contained within.

• Pokemon Black and White to feature new Pokemon only (until you beat it)
  At long last, Game Freak has discovered exactly why you’ve been so hesitant to jump on the last few generations of Pokémon titles: It’s all those old Pokémon, of course. It’s hard to feel like you’re on a level playing field when you don’t recognize a few of the ‘mons introduced in Pearl or Ruby or Silver — but, according to a blog post from Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda, that won’t be a problem in Pokémon Black and White.
  Going by Andriasang’s translation of the blog, players of the upcoming generation of Pokémon titles will only encounter all-new monsters until they clear the game. The developer hopes this will make the game a fresh experience for veterans and newcomers alike — though Masuda admits that coming up with new monsters has been completely challenging. Well, yeah, we’d assume anything after number 300 would be tough to come up with. Here, we’ll try: Stonedog! He’s a dog! But he’s made of stone.

Rumor Mill

• The Next DLC for Borderlands will be about a rebellious ninja Claptrap who creates an army from spare parts. Enemies are said to include Claptrap versions of various menaces from the game, including Grunts, Midgets, Kamikazes, Rakks, and Turrets.

• With the finical success of Bioware’s Cerberus network, Activision (and several other major game developers) will be following suit by including an online pass with the new version of Call of Duty Black Ops.

• Blizzard and Activision CEOs are butting heads over when World of Warcraft Cataclysm should be released. Blizzard wants it be be released as soon as it’s ready while Activision wants to delay the release until spring of 2011 to compete with SWTOR.

5 Deals in 5 Minutes

• Madden NFL Roundup!!!!!

• There’s also a Fallout New Vegas Coaster Set for $5 which comes with a $15 gaming coupon that will be redeemable launch week of Fallout New Vegas.

(Sorry for the short editorial this week. Between my career and having a cat I didn’t have much time to write this week. And I may have put this together in the last 15 minutes.)

Some days it’s truly amazing what people complain about. For example I was reading a chat dialog between two people in which one of them was claiming that Halo Reach stole the jetpack idea from Resistance 2. They then began to add obscenities to their dialog and questioned each other’s sexuality. I guess neither of them had played Star Wars Battlefront because they had a class that used jetpacks. Before that there was a game called Tribes that used them. And if you really want to get into it Jetpac for the ZX Spectrum was the first to really “revolutionize” gaming by adding a jetpack. When a developer takes and idea and improves on it it’s not stealing, it’s progress.

Almost all inventions are made by someone taking someone else’s idea and improving on it. You may have heard of how Marconi “stole” the idea for the radio from Tesla. However what you may not know is that while Tesla discovered the principles of radio he couldn’t actually get it to work(flame away Tesla fanboys). So when someone says that Microsoft stole Kinect from the Playstation Eye-Toy they didn’t; they took an existing idea and made it better. Now there are a few exceptions of truly original ideas like what Goodyear did with vulcanized rubber, but that was a total fluke on his part(it’s a cool story, Google it).

So the lesson here children is that if someone takes your idea don’t get pissed. Look to see what they did and improve on their model. Before you know it you’ve created a competition between the two of you that will last for decades. Oh sure both of your products are basically the same thing but you’ll try to distinguish them from each other by getting console exclusives like Halo and Uncharted–oops. You were suppose to make that connection on your own, my bad.

Any opinions expressed in posts on Polygamerous are not necessarily the opinions of Polygamerous or the other Authors/Editors/Podcasters of Polygamerous.

Part 1- History

This story, like so many others, begins with a man who has it all. The fame, the fortune, the glory that was 30Mbit/s high-speed internet. However fate would have far darker plans for our hero. This story is about one man who lost everything, he was made to crawl through the bottoms and filth of the desolate lands of the internet. Only to find retribution and reclaim a small part of himself to become… The One!…who kicks your ass gaming from a cellphone.

I am often surprised at the number of people I meet in the gaming world who lack access to proper low latency high-speed internet. It’s a situation that I never gave second thought to until I was included in the number. I had lived in a the college town of Morgantown, WV. For 10 years with my wife. Typical of a WV Mountaineer we owned a trailer and lived in a trailer park. However we did have a banging internet connection thanks to our buddies at Comcast. Fate had other plans and we soon packed our bags and moved to a very rural location in central WV.

I obviously knew going in there would be no thing as high-speed internet, neighbors had probably never even heard the words “DSL”. The property however did have Hughesnet Satellite internet service. I am a VERY avid gamer, which includes playing World of Warcraft. I was the raid leader and was depended on by many people. In my head of course I thought “Yeah ill have a little high ping but nothing I can’t manage” I was horribly, HORRIBLY mistaken.

The problem with Satellite internet isn’t necessarily download speeds, but Latency. Latency is a measure of the time it takes for you to send a packet of information (I click the 2 key!) to the game and for it to send information back reflecting that command. The number that comes out is usually displayed in milliseconds (MS) and is referred to as a “ping”. Now back in Morgantown, I would have a ping around 80-100 ms when playing online games. The means when I am playing a sniper on Enemy Territory it would wake only 80 milliseconds from when I click the fire button, to when I would see the red dust. This situation however does not apply when looking at a satellite internet connection.

With a satellite connection, in good times, you may only be able to achieve an average ping of 800-900ms. Again this is only in BEST case scenarios, more often than not your ping will be in the thousands. This is because your signal must travel 22,236 miles before it reaches the internet “backbone” here on earth.  Even traveling at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) with zero interference, one would still have a better ping on some dialup connections than with Satellite internet. What this means is, when I am playing that sniper and I click the fire button, there is almost an entire seconds worth of time before I see that my target has moved back behind cover and my bullet has struck a rock in the background. My position is compromised and my ass is toast. You can see now the predicament we are in playing games that are not Hearts Online.

Of course I tried to make it work, I have played games all my life I couldn’t just stop now. I tried to raid in Warcraft, which was horrible. The Latency was fine if I was farming materials, doing a few daily quests, searching the Auction House. But in a raid situation where you constantly need to move to avoid things… well let’s just say looking back it was hilariously awful. Of course I wasn’t laughing then, I was PISSED. I Vowed that somehow I would be able to play these games I love so much, not to mention keep up with my weekly podcast that was just beginning to see new levels of success (before my move of course) (If you want to know how bad it was go listen to a few episodes in the late teens).

My quest had really just begun and it was not an easy one to complete. I started around December looking for better options and was able to achieve my first 25 man raid on a mobile broadband connection around late January. But I get ahead of myself, there is ALOT that happened in between. Some good, a lot bad. But the results were the only thing that kept me sane. In the next part of this series I will show you step-by-step how I was able to put together a rig that not only allows me to bring down small aircraft, but continue to dominate the online gaming community….from a cellphone.

Click Here for Part 2

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659).

This Week In Gaming

• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/02/fable-3-for-windows-not-arriving-day-and-date-with-360-version/
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/02/michael-jackson-the-experience-will-be-playable-at-gamescom/
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/02/walmart-doing-midnight-launches-for-madden-nfl-11/
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/08/02/nintendoware-weekly-blayzbloo/ Do you want to own the cutest DSIware game out there? How about Blayzbloo? Go ahead. You know you want to.
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/31/vietnamese-government-implements-restrictions-on-online-games/ (via Joystiq) Citing increased real-life criminal activity originating in the online space, the Vietnamese Ministry of Information and Communication has placed a number of tight restrictions on massively multiplayer titles. These include bans on any and all advertisements for online games, as well as regulations forcing ISPs to shut off service to gaming cafes and retailers after hours.

• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/30/analyst-call-of-duty-online-could-make-100-million-in-its-firs/ DERP DERP Great idea, Bobby! :B
• American McGee’s Alice 2! http://www.ea.com/alice Alice…what…have…you…done?

Rumor Mill

• Disney is looking at acquiring their own development and publishing studio so that they will no longer depend on outside sources.
• We could be seeing the first expansion to starcraft 2 as soon as this christmas.
• Want a chance to play SWTOR, well Bioware will have live server demos at PAX and are rumored to be giving away testing keys.

Question of the Week

If you could have any 2 game characters team up who would they be?

• nevikjames My pairing would have to be Zelda and Alice, my two favorite fictional females
• glassofwater2 mangks and kerrigan to kill all of raynor’s raiders but then kerrigan kills mangks and attacks raynor’s raiders. all planned.
• blackkitty4 The dude from Contra (NES) and Snow from FFXIII. Just to see Contra dude kick Snow’s ass *so* hard. With a spray gun. I suppose that’s not “teaming up,” is it. Hm. Ok, ok, for two that would team up, I’d say GlaDos and Navi. GlaDos likes to talk, and Navi likes to tell people to listen.
• NinthBatter Commander Shepard and Fox McCloud
• stoppableforce Ezio from Assassin’s Creed 2, and Garrett from the Thief series.
• Cadistra I think SSBB and Marvel vs. Capcom 3 have taken care of my favourites…
• dicehateme Kirby and Solid Snake – it’d be like an adult Boy & His Blob.
• Achloryn Battletoads and Double Dragon….. oh wait..

“Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.” Jackson Browne

There has been a lot of controversy over Blizzards RealID system since its announcement. For those of you that don’t know Blizzard has recently introduced the RealID system to their battle.net. RealID attaches your real name to your account so that whenever people play with you they know that they’re playing with Stan Smith rather than Bonerjam94. The major argument against RealID is that people will have an easier time tracking down someone in the real world. So is this an issue of an invasion of privacy or merely an attempt to strengthen a community? Read on to find out.

Anonymity is a luxury that we’ve enjoyed on the internet since its birth. The internet is a bit of second start for most of us. Nobody knows your past so you’re able to bring forward the best parts of yourself while concealing all the negatives. However this will only work for so long. Once you start spending time with people(even internet people) you will start to loosen up and they’ll be able to see the real you. Even the best actor will eventually slip up. But if you’re pretending to be someone else just to see if you can fool other people you may want to see a mental professional because that’s the first signs of a sociopath.

The next question we need to ask ourselves is if anyone really cares who we are? I mean I have several friends that are fairly well know but even they have nicknames that they use on their accounts rather than their real names. The people that should care are parents. Your child can use the internet at anytime and with your permission play virtually any game. Unfortunately there are a lot of creeps out there that will try to take advantage of your child. And if they knew your child’s real name they could easily locate them with Google.

I really do understand Blizzard’s reasoning for implementing the RealID system. If no one could hide behind a username people would hopefully act more like they would in public. Plus when you talk about your internet friends you can call them “Judy” rather than “Psycholock”.  The thing is though, I already know almost all of my online friends real names. But then again I’ve built actual friendships with these people and these aren’t just random encounters.

When all is said and done anonymity both matters and doesn’t. As long as minors use a service their identities will have to be protected. There’s no getting around that one. Anonymity is a luxury that adults have and I wouldn’t be surprised for it to be slowly phased away. I mean look how many of you are on twitter and facebook, the world can already see everything about you. So just because you act a certain way on the internet doesn’t mean it’s not a reflection of who you are in real life. Like the quote at the top says, “our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.”

Now we all know that videogames make great gifts, but how do you know what game  is both appropriate and enjoyable for them? Well to put it simply nobody knows your child better that themselves. Ask them. Who knows you may even find a game that you can play with them. However do not be fooled by the name of the game. Just because a game is named “Halo” doesn’t mean it’s appropriate for your 10 year old.

Which brings me to my next point, do your research. You have the internet right? What am I thinking, of course you do you’re reading this. Anyway, go to Google and search the game you’re thinking about getting. Read several reviews of the game and make sure you check out the E.S.R.B. rating. Doing this should give you a good idea about the game but some of it may be a bit confusing.

If you are unsure about anything don’t be afraid to ask. You can always ask the person working the gaming section of the store that you’ve gone to. For the most part they are pretty knowledgeable. Another option is to email us here at info@polygamerous.com and we’ll be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. We’ll give you an honest and accurate review and recommendation.

Now teenagers and preteens are a bit more tricky to figure out. They’re at a stage in their lives that they want to do more grown up things and that includes mature games. Now 99% of stores will require you to be a certain age(for most it’s 17) before they’ll let you purchase the game. So of course your child is going to ask you if you would buy it for them. The best way to determine if they are mature enough to lay the game is to have them sit down and talk to you about the game. Ask them: Why they want to play it? What makes it fun? And is it ok that you watch them play it after you get it? If they can’t talk about it with you in a grown up manor they’re not ready for a mature game. Even if all the game has is some blood and the use of the sh*t word, there are other elements to a mature game that you may not know. For example the online community for mature games use mature language. If you child doesn’t know any better they’ll start using the words. And let me tell you, when a 10 year old calls grandpa a “mother f*cking f*gg*t” Christmas is just never the same.

Now this is the real import one. It’s ok to say no. Seriously, you can say no and it won’t be the end of the world. Oh sure your child may throw a fit, but fits pass over time and if they’re throwing a fit then they’re obviously not ready. And hey they’ll either forget about it or have a meaningful revelation about the whole thing when they’re in college(it happened to me).

At the end of the day videogames are just that “games”. While games help us learn and improve our reaction time both physically and mentally, they are a privilege and not a right. And no matter what give your kids love. Even if you have to say no, just being there and showing that your child is important to you is better than anything else.

Any opinions expressed in posts on Polygamerous are not necessarily the opinions of Polygamerous or the other Authors/Editors/Podcasters of Polygamerous.

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

This Week in Gaming

• codemasters dishes on acquisition expansion:

  Codemasters employees worried about having to pack up their stuff and head for Bangalore should probably relax, as VP of studios Gavin Cheshire denied such plans in a Develop interview. After a recent 50 percent acquisition by Indian company Reliance Big Entertainment, worry apparently spread about the possibility of Codemasters relocating development to its new parent company’s home country. “I can safely say that this is absolutely not the case,” Cheshire said. “There are obviously some ‘strategic’ moves for both partners, but in terms of development at the level we’re at, it’s very much about Reliance investing in our skills and abilities over here in the UK.”

  Let’s hope Reliance is investing lots, as Cheshire spells out a whole mess of titles currently in development at the UK-based publisher’s trio of development studios. “Our Guildford studio is working hard on Bodycount, and we will be looking to take that franchise further and further with the addition of more IP. In Southam it’s full steam ahead with the next iteration in our Flashpoint series, as well as the next Dirtand Grid.”

  Thankfully, with all those games in development, the publisher has a plan — and an upcoming game engine, EGO 2.0 — for helping to manage it all. “We are focused on EGO 2.0 at the moment, which will be coming in with a massive title that we can’t talk about just yet. That will really keep us cutting-edge.” Cutting-edge, you say? Figure skating sim confirmed?! We think so!

• preview star wars the force unleashed 2 at comic con:

  During the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 Comic-Con panel, LucasArts producer Haden Blackman led a gameplay preview for the assembled crowd, showing off some new elements of the sequel which again stars fallen Vader apprentice Starkiller. The demonstration built on last month’s E3 preview, with plenty more scenes of messy Stormtrooper cleanup — it’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta do it.

  As he showed troopers sliced, diced and Forcefully obliterated, Blackman noted that the development team has worked to diversify enemy AI. Player feedback from the first game criticized the different types of enemies for all acting the same, so LucasArts has created separate AI behavior for almost all of the enemies in the sequel. Of course, this also goes for the new enemies, of which Blackman introduced a giant walker equipped with a shield and a Carbonite gun. To defeat the menace, Starkiller must first use his Force power to rip off the shield, and then take on the vulnerable walker while dodging its freeze ray blasts.

  Blackman also showed off the beefed-up Jumptroopers. While they’ve been made into more formidable grunts, they’re now susceptible to Force Lighting, which makes their jet packs go haywire. The crowd was audibly giddy when Blackman demonstrated the effect, with the zapped Jumptrooper flipping around uncontrollably before taking a violent plunge to his death. The new “Jedi Mind Trick” power also proved to be a crowd pleaser, as Starkiller pitted enemies against each other and forced others to run into the nearest cannons and explode.

• Valve Unbans Thousands of MW2 Players
• Street Fighter and Tekken Universes Collide
• Sony Developing Successor to Blu-ray

• (gamesradar) Maxis and EA unveil Darkspore

  Wow… EA just let loose a big ol’ surprise early on in today’s press conference. Following the inevitable Sims 3 expansion, Maxis jolted the audience with a completely unexpected direction for its Spore franchise.

  Darkspore isn’t a direct extension of Spore, as it’s an action-RPG that will take place in its own sci-fi universe. Watching it in motion, it looks like a lovely little Diablo-esque loot hack with a crapload of custimization. Better still, Maxis claims Darkspore will take a couple cues from the Spore character creator (Which for most people, was the most fun thing about Spore, anyway.)

  The press conference emphasized a focus on co-op and customization, as the players toil to build an arsenal of “living weapons” by collecting DNA used to “level up” level up your multiple heroes with atributes. You’ll be able to switch between the numerous characters you create on the fly in order to deal with enemies appropriately.

• (gamesradar) New Mass Effect 2 DLC announced, story to focus on Liara

  A new DLC pack for Mass Effect 2 has just been announced on BioWare’s official Mass Effect site. Titled ‘Lair of the Shadow Broker,’ the new mission pack finds Shepard and Liara joining forces.

  “Two years ago, Commander Shepard died and Liara T’Soni fought in a desperate struggle against the Shadow Broker to recover her former Commander. Now that Shepard is back, it’s time to even the score,” says BioWare. No release date for Lair of the Shadow Broker has been announced, but we do have three new screens for you to check out.

Rumor Mill

• Unless they get shot down by the corporate, the new Medal of Honor game will let you play as Al-Qaeda.

• Raven Software is currently in pre development for a Deadpool game.

• Pac-Man the movie, coming to Japan spring 2012.

5 Deals in 5 Minutes

1. Just 1 Deal this week- Starcraft II is out this week and the best deal is over at Kmart. They’re throwing in a $20 coupon good towards a future gaming purchase.

Question of the Week

Are you getting SC2 at launch, waiting, or not at all and why?

• TedtheThird: waiting. Don’t have the cash to get it plus #CivV in September.
• Lougagliardi: I’m not getting SC2 at all. I’m not a fan of RTS’
• TheElitists: as soon as the EB games open. This is the MOST anticipated game sequel of all time
• legacyofheroes: getting it @ launch tomorrow bright and early 9am
• quietambition: Not at all. RTS makes me make a fool out myself. I also find it gets really repetitive.
• ninthbatter: I’ll get it tomorrow or later this week, no rush for me to play. I’m not Korean so I could never be a real contender.
• stoppableforce: Not getting it. Don’t like RTSes – not good at them – completely unexcited about Starcraft II. The end.
• thesyddiegrl: Yup! My pre-order has been in for SCII for a few weeks now. I’m not big into Battle.Net tho, will just be playing it for fun.
• tinkerpriest: picking up my copy tomorrow at launch, midnight release would be a nightmare w/work tomorrow
• Rilgon: Getting it as soon as it’s available for digital purchase (12 PM CST).
• ZeroPhoenix: hell ya im sending my old lady to pick it up first thing in the morning while im at work.

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

This Week in Gaming

• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/19/pachter-online-multiplayer-games-to-blame-for-game-sales-declin/

  Last month’s NPD figures were rather disappointing, reflecting a 15 percent decline in year-over-year sales. With the exception of Red Dead Redemption and Super Mario Galaxy 2, it appears gamers simply aren’t buying as many games as they used to … and, predictably, Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachterhas a theory.

  The problem? Online games. According to Pachter, “the overall decline was due to a very large number of people playing multiplayer online games.” With an estimated 12 million players spending 10 hours a week rampaging through Activision’s shooter, Pachter argues that online games like Modern Warfare 2, Halo 3and Bad Company 2 have “sucked the available time away from what otherwise would be spent playing newly purchased games.”

  While there are many other factors to consider — the still-sluggish economy, the declining sales of key Wii software (a la Wii Play) — Pachter’s point does seem to have some merit. Unfortunately, his publisher-centric solution is unlikely to win him many fans among gamers. The “monetization of multiplayer,” as he describes it, would have publishers figuring out some method to charge gamers to play online. It’s a risky proposition that could bear some terrible consequences, but the current model is, as Pachter puts it, “devastating for publishers and shareholders, who are seeing sales and profits decline.”

• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/19/netflix-streaming-headed-to-canada-this-fall/

  “Finally!” We have to imagine that’s what millions of Canadians are shouting at the top of their lungs this morning, as Netflix announced plans to launch a streaming-only service in America’s northern cousin sometime “this fall.” That said, French Canadians take note: the service will only be launching in English, with a French option to follow “over time.”

  So will the service be accessible through Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii, as it is in the US? According to the announcement, “Canadian Netflix members will be able to instantly watch a broad array of movies and TV episodes right on their TVs via a range of consumer electronics devices capable of streaming from Netflix, as well as watching on PCs and Macs.” A Netflix representative told Joystiq this morning, “We’re not announcing the Netflix ready devices until the service launches, but it’s fair to assume that several popular, brand name devices will be capable of streaming from Netflix to TVs at launch – in addition to the ability to watch instantly on computers — and that we’ll add to the family of devices over time.” While the service doesn’t launch until this fall, interested Canadians can head over to the Netflix Canada website right now and sign up for ongoing, (presumably) more specific notifications about when “streaming instantly” will go live.

• How’s That Slim Xbox 360 Selling?
• Paid Call of Duty? Activision Says No.

• (via joystiq) For those about to rock — well, you should probably just cool your jets, as you’ve still got a little while to wait. A press release from Harmonix has announced that its upcoming, keyboard-infused rhythm title Rock Band 3 will hit North American store shelves on October 26, 2010.

  Accompanying this announcement was the unveiling of the pre-order bonuses being offered by major retailers. Folks who reserve the title at Wal-Mart get a $10 e-Gift card. Those who go with Amazon will unlock an exclusive in-game guitar. Pre-orders who go with GameStop will be able to download three songs for free at launch: “My Own Summer” by The Deftones, “Blue Monday” by New Order and “Burning Down the House” by Talking Heads.

• The NPD Group has their monthly video game sales report for the month of June 2010 up and it’s about what you’d expect — Red Dead Redemption holds the top spot with a slew of Nintendo titles not far behind. Turned out to be a tough month for hardware sales.
• Okami-den vido features babeh gods and new allies! When Okamiden was first revealed, we learned that Chibiterasu would be accompanied by several different companions, each offering their own unique abilities. Until now, though, we’d only ever seen the young warrior Kuninushi. Now, a new video released by SiliconEra shows a young – and cute – crew of new allies, like a mermaid girl with water for hair, and a young fan-wielding girl.  Also, if you played the original Okami, then you’ll recognize some of the gods that come to help you out…
• NIS America has three AWESOME-looking games on the horizon: Another Ar Tonelico, Clandun: This is an RPG (which is basically 3D-Dot Game Heroes in a PSP RPG), and the most hilarious (and difficult one): ZHP: Unlosing Ranger VS Darkdeath Evilman (Zettai Hero Project). ZHP is – and I quote: “an RPG grindfest that you can play over 40 MILLION TIMES.” You can customize…EVERYTHING. It’s crazy.
• Mega Man Universe? Yeah, I dont’ even know.

Rumor Mill

• Call of Duty Black Ops will have a Zombie mode similar to zombie Nazis from Call of Duty: World at War.
• There is currently in development(by EA) a Harry Potter MMO set to be released around 2012.
• Twilight the Videogame alpha testing will start in a few months.

5 Deals in 5 Minutes

1. SEGA Genesis Firecore System w/ 20 Pre-Loaded Games for $28 + free shipping
2. Retrogen Sega Genesis Handheld Game Console for $28 + $1 s&h
3. Over at Best Buy, Green Day Rockband, Skate 3, Battlefield Bad Company 2, and Final Fantasy XIII are $39.99 each. Reward Zone members may be able to get an additional $20 off of Final Fantasy XIII with this coupon. They’ve also got a buy 2, get 1 free offer on $9.99 PSP games.
4. Kmart is taking $40 off Transformers: War for Cybertron when you buy an Xbox 360 250 GB console. PS3 owners can pick up ModNation Racers, God of War III, and MLB 10: The Show for $39.99 each.
5. Kinect for Xbox 360 with $30 Walmart gift card, game for $199 + $1 s&h

Question of the Week

What is your drink of choice while gaming?

• mohalen: Fresh H2O with ice, or some kind of fruit punch, or cokewaternice
• Triz: Anything I have ready, basically, which mostly is milk.
• tartdarling: non alcoholic: plain ol’ coke, alcoholic: beer/jager depending on the night.
• nochecazador: Lemonade or Sweet Tea. Root Beer if it’s available.
• mulletsWow: nothing special but some ice cold diet pepsi, or a glass of ice water.
• glassofwater2: Stash Earl Gray tea that has been left out for about 30min to an hour.
• lougagliardi: Tea, Mt. Dew or Pepsi and tons of it.
• GridDragon: merlot
• Achloryn:  Not that you won’t hear this thousands of times, i’m sure, but Mt Dew. Sometimes with a shot of vodka!
• quietambition: Water or beer depending on time of day/week
• deaf_marty: my drink is a Grand Marnier, that is a blend of true cognacs and distilled essence of bitter orange. I are fancy like that.
• bryterside:  I always start a raid with a cold IPA and a glass of water
• kirinkouki: Non alcoholic: water with ice or juice, alcoholic: wine coolers or malt liquor.
• tinkerpriest: sweet tea, juice, or koolaid. (Depends on what we have in the house)

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

This week in Gaming

• http://g4tv.com/thefeed/blog/post/706172/Call-Of-Duty-Black-Ops-Pre-Orders-Reportedly-Outpacing-Modern-Warfare-2.html
  Treyarch’s traditionally been perceived as the “B” development team for the Call of Duty franchise, but impressive showings for Call of Duty: Black Ops have suggested their latest could be a coming out party of sorts for the studio, a culmination of their work on the series. Besides industry buzz, it seems to be translating to potential sales, as GameSpot reports a Pacific Crest Securities analyst is currently estimating that Black Ops pre-orders are outpacing those for Modern Warfare 2.
  Pacific Crest Securities analyst Evan Wilson made the claim in a report released to various outlets. Wilson increased his sales estimate for Black Ops’ holiday sales from 10 million to 12 million.
  In the past, the Treyarch-developed Call of Duty games have performed extremely well but failed to achieve a similar blockbuster status to the Infinity Ward-produced installments. Growing evidence suggests that could change with Black Ops, scheduled for a release on November 9.
  Source: GameSpot
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/12/star-trek-online-producer-could-easily-see-the-game-using-turb/
  Star Trek Online’s new executive producer Daniel Stahl recently stated that he “could easily see” a hybrid free-to-play model working for Cryptic’s MMO. Stahl specifically mentions (recent Warner Bros. acquisition) Turbine’s Lord of the Rings Online and Dungeons & Dragons Online as “interesting plans” worth taking note of. DDO went freemium last year to create a dungeon full of gold for the developer; LotRO will roll the die for the same fate this autumn.
  Stahl expressed that Turbine’s model creates a “robust way to demo the game” and allows those wanting more to pay for a subscription or purchase items á la carte. With Cryptic’s parent-company Atari operating at a loss, ways to beam up revenue would appear logical. It’s unclear if it’s a sign of the future, but Cryptic did conduct a free-to-play away mission back in May.
• Star Wars the Old Republic has entered BETA
• This just in. Bobby Kotick has left Activision and in search of the real Sookie Stackhouse. Either that or new legal documents reveal the inner douche.
• Dragon Age 2 announced by Bioware and EA :
  Dragon Age 2 thrusts players into the role of Hawke, a penniless refugee who rises to power to become the single most important character in the world of Dragon Age. Known to be a survivor of the Blight and the Champion of Kirkwall, the legend around Hawke’s rise to power is shrouded in myth and rumor. Featuring an all-new story spanning 10 years, players will help tell that tale by making tough moral choices, gathering the deadliest of allies, amassing fame and fortune, and sealing their place in history. The way you play will write the story of how the world is changed forever.” The release goes on to detail a new, “more responsive” combat system, improved graphics, and a “dynamic story” that will offer up as-of-yet unseen locations, characters, and chapters in the expansive Dragon Age lore.
• Team Fortress 2 Engineer Update is Live (full teams of engineers play head to head within 10 minutes of release)
  Valve has finally released the long awaited,and incessantly teased, Engineer update forTeam Fortress 2. Included in the update are four new maps: Thunder Mountain, Hightower, Upward and (the “community built”) ColdFront as well as 35 Engineer-based achievements, among a slew of other bonuses.
  Engineer fans will have new weapons and items in their arsenal, including the wrench-replacing “Gunslinger” that allows engineers to build mini-sentries, the sentry-controlling “Wrangler” and the devastating shotgun replacement, the “Frontier Justice.”
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/10/maxis-spore-based-action-rpg-to-be-announced-at-comic-con/ Neat! Apparently going to be announced at the SDCC is the MMO ‘based on the hit game of Spore.’
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/07/09/rumor-aksys-localizing-999-9-hours-9-persons-9-doors/ This great-looking game has been given the green light for localization! “999 is a graphical text adventure with a sort of Saw-like premise. Nine people are trapped on a cruise ship and somehow wired to explode. A sadistic mastermind requires them to work together (but only in groups of up to five people) in order to open the nine doors that correspond to the nine passengers and escape from the rooms in which they’re held.”

Rumor Mill

• Borderlands 2 is in production and are currently seeking voice actors as the game will be fully voiced this time.
• Nintendo has been made an offer to purchase them. Word is that they are seriously considering it and the person trying to buy them is Sir Richard Branson.

Question of the Week

If given a choice of gender in a game, which do you choose and why?

• lufitoom: I always play a female. I never wanted a penis irl, don’t want one in a game either.
• greyseer: If I have a character concept in mind: whichever gender best honors the concept. Otherwise: male, to match self.
• dechion: Generally male, since I am one. Excepting Draenei which will always be female since I dislike the male model. – it depends on the game and the persona of the character I want to play.
• david_carroll: Depends on the game. If I can make a sleek, roguish male, I’ll probably do that. Otherwise, it’s all chicks.
• tartdarling: female. Playing a guy character just feels awkward to me.
• arcania: Female unless I need a male character for RP plot reasons. I can and will play them. Females are just more natural.
• stoppableforce: Honestly, it’s a coinflip. I’m going with female right now in P3P, though, to check out the storyline (for a review, maybe!).
• rzrstrm: I get cool female ideas,but I often have a hard time playing them. Most of my characters are male.
• glassofwater2: female, cause they tend to look better then the male chars. IE female worgen to worgen in cata.
• __deadpool__: I go with male toon for all except for casters or any class that wears full body robes, cause guys shouldn’t wear dresses.
• valkyrierisen: I play chicks. And I’ve played chicks for so long I keep considering rolling a male but feel odd.
• next_jen: Female, because that’s what I am and I can relate better w/the character when it’s the same sex as me.

Interstellar Marines: Running Man: http://www.interstellarmarines.com/game/running-man/

I never thought that in today’s day of age that there were people out there that didn’t have broadband. I was pretty much always plugged in playing on Xbox Live or World of Warcraft at all hours of the day and night. Then I got married and moved out into the woods. So the long and short of it, is that I went from some pretty kick-butt broadband to dial-up. Then I bought a USB modem from Verizon, but being too far from the tower meant frequent drops in the data stream. Then I got Hughesnet, and that is what I am going to focus on here.

Does Hughesnet work on Xbox Live? Yes and no. If you have done kind of research on this subject, then you know that they say pretty specifically that “twitch gaming” isn’t supported by Hughesnet, and I can verify that. I can’t play any kind of multiplayer on satellite internet. No Modern Warfare 2, no Halo 3. Bummer ‘eh? Before you get all mad, keep in mind that there are things that are possible on Xbox Live that you might not realize.

Things that you can’t do on Xbox Live via Satellite Internet:

• Mulitplayer
• Chat

Things that you can do on Xbox Live via Satellite Internet:

• Title updates (The update that you get when you first play a game when connected to Live.)
• Sign In to your gamer profile
• Rate games
• Read your messages and compose voice and text messages to your friends
• Twitter and Facebook work fine
• Download demos, add-ons and themes*
• Stream movies on Netflix*

Now keep in mind that I have the plan that allows 450 MB of data. *Using Netflix and downloading demos eats up your allowance pretty freaking fast, so I recommend that you do these things at 2-7 AM, during the ‘free’ part of the night. My wife and I watched a couple of episodes of Lost on Netflix and I had to use our free monthly token to reset our usage. So, it is something that isn’t really practical but it’s good to know that you can use it.

Now, there are some technical things that I have discovered about the service. Navigating to http://www.systemcontrolcenter.com/ has become some sort of obsession of mine. This allows you to see all sorts of things about your modem, and your service.

Now when I first fired up the internet, the first thing that I did was see if Xbox Live worked on my brand-new 360 Slim. It picked up the wireless just fine and signed in to Live. This made me so happy. I was schlepping my 360 to work and getting updates and demos there. I did notice however that there were things that didn’t work. Just getting around wasn’t working. I couldn’t browse anything on Live. I was signed into Live, but opening the demos page returned an error. At this point, I was navigating to Xbox.com and putting items in my download queue. Then I found this: http://www.systemcontrolcenter.com/stlui/fs/advanced/turbo_page_config_frame.html

Turbo Page is a pre-fetching service that is on my default. It seems to make pages load faster by having the servers take some of the load off the modem. What this does is totally fruck up Live. Once I turned this option off, Live came alive. However, for some strange reason, title updates didn’t work. It is very easy to navigate to the link above and enable the turbo page option and download the updates that you need.

Overall, it is kinda nice being able to go online. After years of being offline it is nice to have some functionality on Live. While you can’t play multi-player MW2, you can keep up to date with things like ‘This Week in Xbox’ and game videos. Seeing your friend’s gamerscore and played games is nice too. It’s not perfect, but it is better than nothing.

Hope this helps. Leave me a comment if you have a specific question that isn’t covered!

Don’t forget to email us your questions, comments and reviews to info@polygamerous.com OR call in to our voicemail at 407-584-POLY (7659)

This Week in Gaming

• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/26/forget-the-bfg-the-vuvuzela-is-dooms-ultimate-weapon/#continued
• http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/26/psa-current-xbl-members-can-roll-accounts-into-gold-family-plan/
• No new SSX
• Video Chat on the 3ds
• (joystiq) PS3 firmware 3.40 update adds enhanced Facebook integration, video editing ‘soon’
• (shacknews) Shooter MMO ‘Global Agenda’ Ditches Subscriptions
  While Global Agenda’s previous $12.99 monthly subscription was optional, those who didn’t pay it found their game more than a little restricted. Subscribers gained access to the alliance vs. alliance ‘World Domination’ mode, the auction house, crafting, in-game mail, improved communication and more, not forgetting character levels beyond thirty.
  “Future content updates will be delivered via optional paid expansions,” Hi-Rez explains, to support the game. One such expansion, named ‘Sandstorm,’ is being released for free in two parts this summer to give players a freebie taste of the new way.
• Nintendo 3DS coming out 2011!
• Pax Prime performers! PAX Prime’s “bigger and better” convention hall will play host to big names like 2K Games, Capcom, EA, Microsoft, Nintendo and Ubisoft. The main stage will see a cadre of returning musical acts, including Anamanaguchi, Jonathan Coulton, MC Frontalot, Metroid Metal, The Minibosses, Paul and Storm and The Protomen.
• Just for the heck of it – the extended gameplay trailer for Portal 2. You monster.

Rumor Mill

• The first round of Star Wars the Old Republic testing started this weekend with 200 people given codes to test the starting planets. The starter planet testing will continue until launch and Bioware will continue to give out codes in a similar fashion until everyone that has signed up for testing has had a chance to play.
• Apparently the new Twisted Metal game will only be rated T for teen. They want it to appeal to a broader audience aka are hoping it will push PS3 sales.
• They are currently working on a script for the Assassin’s Creed movie following the plot of the first game. The team that will be making it are the same ones that make the live action mini movie for the second game only this time they’ll have a much larger budget.

5 Deals in 5 Minutes

1. Toys R Us has a bunch, including: buy 1, get 1 40% off on all PS3, PS2, and PSP games, buy 1, get 1 50% off on all $19.99 and under games
2. Best Buy, it’s buy any Wii game, get one for 50% off
3. Walmart Video Game Bundles once again!
4. Steam. Steam. Steam. need I say more?
5. goHastings.com offers WET for Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 for $14.99. Apply coupon code “GAMETIME10″ to cut it to $13.50.

Question of the Week

• japoniano: a hara-kiri in a MortalKombat where the character stabs its own eyes
• broadwayblues: Has to be all of the interrogation sequences in Splinter Cell; Conviction. Some of them are brutal! also, Viva Piñata is kinda gruesome too.
• glassofwater2: a zombie eating a corpse in deadspace
• david_carroll: The pitch dark. It’s just full of grues. Or did you have a different meaning of “gruesome” in mind?
• slash2kormus: Smurf: Rescue in Gargamel’s castle for the Atari 2600. 28 years later, the nightmares continue.
• gettingworse: the game update message after you put a game disk into an PS3 that you just bought
• mrbryo: (FEAR) a railgun bullet through a body hanging on the wall, missing limbs with blood drip-age, oh ya…
• talkingship: Easily the golf club beat down in Bioshock.  Close second is the decapitations in Fallout 3.

Videogames have been around since 1958,tennis for two being the first, so the logical step would be to first find someone who has been playing games since the beginning. Tennis for Two was a popular attraction at the Brookhaven National Laboratory October 18th 1958, so finding someone that had played that game  specifically might be to difficult. Instead we’ll start with the Magnavox Odyssey and our subject Steven.

Steven has been playing games since the early 70s and even after 2 wives and 4 kids he still finds time to play most new releases. Steven has seen the evolution of gaming from a first hand perspective. Everything from pong to the birth of motion control, Steven has pretty much seen it all. However before videogames he played board and card games like the generation before him.

This leads me to think that maybe videogames are just the entertainment of this century. It’s quite possible that videogames won’t even be around when I’m old and in need of sponge baths. For all we know the next big thing could be people fighting each other giant giants robots. Will I play videogames the rest of my life? Probably, but it won’t be like how I play them today. I’ll play them for nostalgia and lecture my grand kids about how, “When I was your age we didn’t have giants robots, we fought each other, zombies, and Nazis in a virtual world. Pluto was still a planet and that’s how we liked it!”

Any opinions expressed in posts on Polygamerous are not necessarily the opinions of Polygamerous or the other Authors/Editors/Podcasters of Polygamerous.