Awhile ago one of my favorite FPSs of all time got an update. But update was not merely an update. It was an UPDATE.

Yes, Counter-Strike: Source had a patch that incorporated a few things that were missing in the game and changed a few others. The game play itself isn’t different and the guns are basically the same, but what did happen were a ton of UI changes and a couple of things to change the game itself around to bring it into the new Steam era (so to speak).

Acheivements: Honestly it seems like every frickin’ game that is released on Steam now has quite a few Achievements to obtain. In some games they actually matter (ie TF2 where you can get upgraded weapons for completing class achievements) but most of the time they are there solely to stroke the E-Peen of the player. Bragging rights so to speak.

CS:S got 144 achievements for you to painstakingly achieve. Does it enhance your game play if you collect all 144. No, but you get bragging rights and the satisfaction of completing them. It’s a way to say “look at the time I’ve wasted things I’ve accomplished that you haven’t!”. For me it’s a long-awaited addition to this great game. Not like I don’t play it too often to begin with, the achievements just make the gameplay last a lot longer.

Maybe it’s just me, but I like to strive to get as many achievements as possible, and luckily CS:S’s achievements are achieved by PLAYING THE DAMN GAME. Don’t do anything special, don’t try to get a specific achievement. You’ll get all of them just by playing the game as its intended to be played. Do whatever you want, you’ll get achievements soon enough.

Dominating/Revenge: Similar to TF2 if you get at least 3 kills without the target killing you at all (you can die by others but not that specific person) you will be able to be dominating that person. You can dominate as many players as you want at any given time and will stay dominating them until they kill you.

Revenge is taken upon an enemy that is dominating you. If you kill an enemy that is currently dominating you, you’ll get a revenge kill meaning that in order for them to be dominating you again they’ll have to get another 3 consecutive kills on you without you killing them.

It doesn’t do much other than raise/lower your self-esteem and show you which enemy players are more skilled than yourself.

New UI: The UI while you’re fighting and playing didn’t change, but when you tab to see the players’ scores or when the match ends those parts of the UI changed completely. They are a lot more cartoony, but they give a bit more information about the matches themselves. First of all, when you tab you can see who’s dominating you, who you’re dominating, how many matches each team has won, how many players are on each team and how many of them are alive.

Also when a round ends there will be two things that are shown. First of all is the MVP of that round. It’s the person that killed the most players on the enemy team, there is only one per game, not per team mind you. Even a player of the losing team can be the MVP, they just have to kill the most people. Plus you can see the MVPs for the entire game when you tab. They’ll have a star and a number next to their name. So a star and then a 3 would mean that they were the MVP for 3 different rounds.

Need a mouse here!

When PC gaming it’s not always essential to have the best equipment on the market, but it sure as hell helps to have some decent stuff. Depending on he games you intend to/do play you’ll need a pretty good computer now a days. However, it’s the “extra” equipment that people leave out that can matter the most depending on the genre of games you like to play.

One piece of equipment that I’m missing at the moment for my “new” gaming set up is a mouse. Sure I’ve got a shitty Dell Mouse, but when it comes to gaming I want something a little more. I’ve got a ZBoard with WoW theme and FPS theme detachable key sets and that works great (plus for $50.00 on sale with a Game Stop gift card that I wasn’t using anyways). However for gaming in general it’s probably a better idea to focus on the mouse.

Why the mouse?

Depending on the genre the mouse is most likely the most-used piece of your set up when you’re killing baddies, commanding armies for the glory of the Swarm, or farming the EXP off of mobs in a favorite MMO. We’re always using it to do SOMETHING be it positioning our screen or anything important the mouse is there.

You can go through life without a keyboard with tons of interchangeable binds, and so could you without a mouse that had more than 2 buttons. However, if you want some extra breathing room for key binds in your games a decent gaming mouse would be a wise decision to get! Something simple even if it has a few buttons on the sides that you can bind to whatever your heart desires, or you could get a 12 button death machine.

The only thing that stops you is a) personal preference and b) how much you’re willing to spend. Each person will be different, and since I’m a 16yr old kid that mows lawns for people once and again my budget isn’t going to be a lot of cash!

Examples of what you can do with a Gaming Mouse

FPS: For an FPS you could bind some macros depending on the game, but a common thing is to bind your weapon swaps to a few of the buttons on the side(s) of your mouse. Let’s say your mouse has 5 buttons, depending on the FPS you’ll have anywhere from 1-5 (usually) weapons to choose from in the heat of battle. What you can do with the side buttons is make each one a different weapon slot. So if you want to switch to your first weapon you could simply press a mouse button rather than having to hit a number key leaving your left hand still controlling your movement.

MMO / RPG: These genres can require a lot of key binds depending on the game. MMOs in general will require you to use a decent chunk of your keyboard depending on your role in the game, but most of the time you’ll fill up the entire left half of your keyboard with useful binds. However there is always a chance that you’ll need a few more buttons, well if you have a gaming mouse you’re in luck. Just use the extra buttons on your mouse to bind to some useful abilities.

RPGs can be similar, like I said it does depend on the game. MMOs are less forgiving when it comes to key binding, but it can be extremely useful depending on the RPG to have a few extra buttons for some key abilities to free up your keyboard for various other tasks.

RTS: In most RTSs knowing the key binds for crucial abilities or buildings can improve your micro managing abilities ten-fold. Less time spent moving your mouse and clicking the specific button for a building or ability on a unit, and more time spent positioning your armies can make or break a battle and can give you extra time to react in the heat of a battle. Let’s face it, you’re not always calm when playing and not thinking of those key binds on your keyboard, however if they’re right on the mouse you’re probably more likely to remember them and hit them accordingly.

Of course there are other genres, and other applications for extra buttons on a mouse but in the end you can see how useful it can be to have a decent gaming mouse. It can theoretically make or break a game depending on how well you know how to use those extra buttons.

Examples of Gaming Mice

Okay so before I go and order my gaming mouse there are a few things I need to do. First of all is budget how much I’m willing to spend on one. Like I said I don’t have a ton of money to my name so I’m looking for something cheap, of course cheap is also another word for basic. I won’t get a 12-button behemoth, but I doubt I’d use that anyways.

Think about what you want before you go and purchase something. Just because that 12-button mouse is within your budget you should also ensure that you’ll be able to put all 12 buttons into good use otherwise it’s a waste of your good money.

The cheapest mouse you’ll find is probably around $30. I’ll stick to a budget of  $50.00,  however I’ll be willing to compensate if the mouse is really what I want/a great deal. Depending on your budget you could be spending around (over even) $150.00 for some of the higher-end mice .

I used newegg.com to shop for some great deals on some good mice, and I’ve narrowed it down to these mice.

Rilgon suggested the Logitech MX518 to me. On Newegg it’s priced at $35.99 and has free shipping. It’s well below my budget which is an excellent and according to the description has 10 programmable buttons. Can anyone say hells yes? There are hundreds of reviews and 80% of them are stating that it’s an exceptional mouse.

The NZXT AVATAR by Razer was also one that fit my budget. Priced at $44.99 on Newegg I was sure it would be a great deal, plus it also has free shipping. The price is once again lower than I had been expecting. However I’m generally not one for the Razer brand, the stuff the make looks very sleek and great and it does work well, but it’s generally a bit pricy for what the product is actually worth. But that’s just me, it’s still a consideration.

Lastly we have the Logitech G500. On Newegg it’s priced at $56.99 so it’s almost $7.00 over my budget. It’s got 10 programmable buttons and you can even store the settings on it and take those same settings to any other computer which I think is pretty schweet. Once again hundreds of people have reviewed/rated the mouse and over 70% rated it 5 stars.

And the winner is…

I chose the Logitech MX518 for a couple of reasons. 1) It was cheap I didn’t go over my budget at all with it and I got everything I wanted and more. 2) The mouse seems comfortable while the Avatar seems almost awkward. 3) Lots of additional mouse buttons so I can bind a lot of delicious macros/abilities depending on the game I’m playing.

I’ll know when it arrives how good of a decision it was, but for now I’m extremely happy with my choice.

-Craig, Executor of Dreams

Vroom! Vroom!

I have returned from my home away from home in Cape Cod AND a Summer Camp for a week in New Hampshire with my fellow Scouts. Lucky for you I have another 2 weeks before I go on tour down south for a week.

Shall I start cranking out posts? Will the podcast be a definite yes now?

Damn straight, or else we will donate my body to science dead or alive.

P.S. The Pokewalker is frickin’ awesome for long camping trips, can anyone say ~10000 W is frickin’ amazing?

Well, worry not! I’ve now found a game (actually, my friend Captain Redram found it.  Says a lot about him, doesn’t it?) so high in excrement and physical fiber that it’s bound to make you bruise your bowels before you play it again.

Now with extra hogwash!

Overview
There’s not much to say here, it’s all in the title: try not to shit your pants.  God help you if you do.

The nuts and bolts of the game aren’t that much more extravagant: it’s a Newgrounds produced, flash based game based on poop.  I’m sure that’s not new.

Naw, really? I didn't know! It wasn't obvious enough!

You can play the game Here!

Gameplay
Controlled like a standard text-based adventure, Don’t Shit Your Pants (referred to as DSYP from here on out) is a blast from a distant, smelly past.  DSYP (who’s very acronym is dirty from the sound of it) controls very much like a train on training wheels: there are only certain buttons you can push, and everything else does nothing.

Which constitutes the “horror” part of this game: not being able to tell your idiot of a character (play the game for 5 minutes and you’ll realize he doesn’t know how to read, pee, or fetch a doggie bag) to enter a washroom and use the toilet.

Eventually, you find the keywords you need to affect your horrible bottom bruiser in positive and not so positive ways.  I don’t want to spoil everything, suffice to say that you should remember that this is, in fact, a glorified poopy joke, and that should be your greatest guide.

Upon completing your wasteful adventure, you may or may not receive an achievement, which is the main point of this game: achieve the title of Poop king.  Earning every achievement will earn you this barely auspicious title, for a total of 10 achievements.  Wait, I said 10? I meant 8, because 2 of them come hand in unwashed hand with another.  Once you’ve acquired achievement in the game you get a couple of perks: a crown.  And that’s it.

Suffice to say that the appeal behind this is beyond me: archaic controls, lack of options, and the unoriginality of the whole idea makes me sick to my duodenum.  If I wasn’t so immature, I’d have had a fecal fit already.

Gameplay: 3/10, and it only has 3 because I did get a couple of laughs from from one of the achievements.

Okay, I got a number of laughs from this game.  It was a pain in the ass to navigate my way to the end, but the jokes were incredibly immature and right up my alley.  Still nowhere near complex enough to be my kind of game.

4/10.

Maybe I'm lacking in IQ, but this is lacking in class. *ahem*

Aesthetics
It’s a flash game.  It’s a flash game in a world where a lot of flash games look good.

This one, in fact, does not.  It looks terrible and pixelated.  In fact, it looks like shit.  Terrible, but thankfully censored, shit.

I’m sure I programmed something as good looking as this in my grade 11 comp sci class.  Actually, I’m positive I’ve HAND DRAWN shit better than this, and many of my long time readers will agree I’m nowhere near good at drawing.

Now, with that said, at least it’s keeping with a theme, and this was probably done on purpose; however, this was obviously a project the creator had no intention of spending any deal of time on, regardless of theme and feel.

Well, shit.

Now, the music? It doesn’t exist save when you win and when you… loose your package.  And granted, the little ditties are hilarious either way and fit the occasion, but that’s it.  There’s nothing to it.  Fuck, Pacman had more sound to it.

Waka waka, the sounds are crappa.  Plus, the only good looking thing in this game happens to be the fucking horrible pink wallpaper from Barbie hell, which is the second scariest thing in this game aside from the controls.

Actually, that’s about all the atmosphere there is to this game.  For a horror thriller, the only thing causing you to shit your own pants in fear is the clock and the neon pink background.

But that’s not the point is it? The point of this game is to make you laugh.  And that, if you accept basic irony and have the maturity level of a 5 year old, is something you can find in this game.

4/10, for at least having the common decency to not show Ken’s penis.

Overall?
8/20? Not a fantastic score there, folks.  If this came in a box, it’d be a coaster.  Thankfully, it’s a flash game and costs nothing, save your dignity and whatever excuse you have for a mature mind.

Might as well give it a shit, and see what happens.  It takes like, 2 seconds.
Obviously, not was he was hoping for.

However, I will say that if you have the patience to get through the achievements, it can be a laugh and a hoot, and it certainly is a game involving thought.  Immature thought, but thought nonetheless.

We Require ideas.  Writing isn’t easy, and with as broad a topic as “video games,” we might need a little time to wrap our head around things before we write about it.

It also means that we would love to have those ideas presented to us! Please, for the love of me, tell us what you want to read about; the Wii? Pokemon? Metal Gear Solid? Flash games? WHAT?!

This has been an announcement from the authors at We Require More Rupees.

Your Benefactor

Dylan

Edit: Oh yes I almost forgot, this also means someone other than Craig will be posting. So lucky you.

Mamoswine

I have one of these, and I needed a nickname. What did I choose?

The Fuzz.

So what happens when he fights?

“The Fuzz used Take Down!”

If only he had intimidate too…

What about you guys? Have anything poke hilarious?

Luckily, the timeshare that we own has 2 TVs in it, so can anyone say console gaming bonanza? I can!

There are a few games that I’ve been meaning to finish for my Wii that I haven’t gotten around to mostly because I’ve been playing so many awesome games on the PC or have been doing other things *cough Pokemon cough*. Since I probably won’t be able to post on the site for those two weeks here’s the list of games I’m intending to finish.

1. No More Heroes 2: A Desperate Struggle- It’s better than the first by far, and I loved the first, but I never finished it because when was around rank 7 Monster Hunter: Tri came out.
2. Monster Hunter: Tri- It killed my NMH2 time, but then it was squashed by TF2/Global Agenda. This is a really good game, and I just never “finished it”. Although I use “finish” lightly since the game is sort of like an MMO in which you’re almost never done even if you’ve completed single player.
3. Pokemon SoulSilver- I need to beat Red, whether he likes it or not his damn Pikachu DIES. Only problem is that there’s a huge gap between around 50-60 to level 80 where his Pokemon are at. Here comes grinding the Elite 4 a few times!

The first two will definitely entertain me for the first week, but the second week I’m camping so I’ll have to sneak in the SoulSilver grind whenever possible. It’ll be like drugs, except more addicting and arguably better for my health!

Who wants to make a bet that the next post will be me rather than Phil/Alex?

I put $5 on myself, and yes I can do that!

*Adjusts monocle*

Mayhaps I’m late to the party, but at least I’m fashionably late. Yes, yes a little well-dressed joke for you!

Left to Right: Mordecai, Lilth, Brick, Roland

I actually got this game for Christmas (yes I said Christmas and not “the holidays” sue me, no,  sue Phil) along with CoD:MW2 and my new computer. Now I had played a bit of it here and there up until somewhere in the middle of February and thought it was a decent game. It was interesting, the rare (and awesome) combo of an RPG and a FPS fascinated me and drew me into the game.

Now that I finally got around to completing the game I believe it’s  (well overdue) time to sit down and talk about the game and why you should’ve gotten it by now.

Story

As you enter the world of Pandora you are able to choose between 4 characters each with extremely different play styles and mechanics. Background information isn’t a huge deal, all that you need to know is that each of them is one of the many treasure hunters that have grown up dreaming of the world of Pandora and the mystical Vault that seals treasure fit for a thousand lifetimes. The hell if you know how much it’s worth, there’s money to be made and you’re a man/woman who desires cold, hard, cash!

The world itself is extremely interesting. Most of the time it looks like a worn-out destroyed sort of Fallout-esque land covered in red sand and rusted-over junk. However, as you progress  through the game you go through magnificent caves, snowy mountains, and even green jungle-like areas. Most of the time though you’ll feel like you’re in the wild west, or the badlands. It does suit the story though.

As you progress through the game it’s realised that getting to the Vault isn’t as easy as you anticipated. Firstly because no one knows anything about it other than that it can only be opened once every 200 years and that they key to the Vault has been separated into fragments and strewn about Pandora.

You end up becoming the savior of various groups of people and defeating gangs and horrendous monsters more than you do becoming rich as you first anticipated. The table has been turned and before you know it, you’re on your way to becoming a hero, rather than a treasure-seeking mercenary.

8/10

Characters

The characters have almost no background story you find small hints of it when you play as each one, but unless you’re looking for one your probably will not be that successful in your search.However, when it comes to actually playing the game, the character that you choose will make a massive impact as to HOW you play.

Lilith- a Siren, she has a special ability that allows you to phase into another demention to travel at extremely fast speeds and deal massive elemental damage upon returning to this demention. When playing as Lilith you’ll want to use light weaponry since it’s ideal to move extremely fast. Although a sniper rifle within your reach isn’t a horrible choice for solo-play.

She’s my favorite to play by far since you can do some pretty intense, awesome shiet with her, but when starting out she is HORRIBLE to play solo. Her character is meant to sneak around and do quick damage, so in a large fight against multiple enemies, she can get screwed pretty easily (innuendo not intended but there). However in the late game I’d have to say she becomes a force to be reckoned with.

Brick- a Beserker, his special ability is one of my favorites basically he injects himself with some champion juice (steroids) and goes into a blood-thirsty rage. In which he will punch the living piss out of anything within melee range, and he gains a speed boost and a health regen boost. The way he’s played is a Tank, he can take tons of hits and deal some massive damage since he specializes in the AoE weaponry such as explosives.

As for the difficulty, he’s not that hard to play, but can be extremely fun I’d definitely recommend playing as him if you like being able to take massive hits.

Mordecai- a Hunter, his special ability is to call upon his bird, Bloodwing, to devour an enemy of its choice. He’s the sniper of the group, he’s not meant to be up close and personal. So, grab a sniper with a damn good scope and get to those headshots. In the rare case of an enemy actually reaching you, be sure to take an SMG or a Pistol and get working!

Mordecai is another fun one, but if you can’t aim for beans (or your life in this case) then he’d probably not be that enjoyable. Like Lilith he’s extremely weak, but can deal some massive damage. If you are a good/decent sniper then you’d be fine with him, but otherwise I’d try a different character.

Roland- is a Soldier, his ability is to plant a frickin’ turret and watch it mow down everyone that stands in his path. Bad ass? Hell yes! Aside from dealing some great damage and being able to take a few hits he’s your well-rounded support character. He’s alright in solo play, but co-op is where he shines the brightest.

When playing as Roland be sure to use your combat rife, shot-gun, or anything that packs a punch. He’s your soldier, and he’s ready to kick some ass. I haven’t played as him at all so I can’t really give an accurate thought as to his difficulty, but he seems well-rounded and overall fun to play.

9/10

Heard you like bosses that shot lasers!

Game Play

The easiest way to describe the game play of Borderlands is simply BAD ASS! I guess if you wanted to you could say it’s similar to Fallout 3, but I wouldn’t go that far. Borderlands is a fine game to play solo, you’ll definitely want to play through the game at least once on your own. For the PC at least, it’s got your average FPS controls. Use WASD to move and shoot with your mouse. All the keys are in the right place and are easy to reach. The 360/PS3, I’m not sure, but what I’ve heard from friends is that the controls are alright there as well.

However, when it comes to the gameplay itself it gets intense. In the beginning you get your normal RPG, it’s simple, easy to learn, and a few tedious quests. Once you get out of the noob zone and into the city the game begins to pick up pace. You’re fighting bosses of various sizes and difficulties and killing creatures that would scare the piss out of you if you encountered them in your actual life.

Each level you get you’re able to spec your guy/gal into one of 3 different talent trees. Each character has a different tree and no matter how you spec them you’ll have a different play style. For Lilith for example if you specced one way you’d be focusing on your special ability more than your weapons, but if you specced a different way you’d but shooting fire out of your guns and have a weaker special ability.

The customization in this game is well-done, and if you don’t like what you specced then you can change it at any point in time. Not to mention the tons of guns that you can acquire. There are literally hundreds upon thousands of guns in the game. Some are stupid, some are amazing, each are great in their own situation.

9.5/10

Graphics

Possibly the most interesting part of the game are its graphics. Not to say it isn’t a fun game, but the most unique part of it seems to be its graphics. It almost feels as if you were in some sort of comic book. The colors are vibrant and everything seems to be a rather punk-style cartoon.

They may be a little hard to get used to for some, but I like it. It’s unique, it’s fresh, they fit the game perfectly. It’s as if you were literally in the middle of a comic book, filling in the pages with your own unique story.

9/10

Music

The music was probably the only part of the game that I wasn’t enthused about. Don’t get me wrong it was decent stuff, but there wasn’t ENOUGH of it. You’d be traveling in a zone and there would be around 2 different types of music. It wasn’t dynamic enough. The same fighting music was used for most of the game aside from the bosses.

I just expected a little bit more out of the music department, but other than that it’s fine, just fine.

5/10

Online

The online has improved significantly since the game came out (at least for the PC). For awhile it was practically impossible to even play online with friends unless you wanted to spend a lot of time port forwarding and wondering why the hell it still wasn’t working. There were programs that you could use, but it still doesn’t excuse the fact that the online for the PC SUCKED.

However they patched that shit up and it’s all good in the hood now. So, as for the online portion of the game, THAT’S where the game shines. When playing CO-Op with 1-3 friends you’ll have the most fun in this game. It’s the same storyline and everything, but it get’s a lot more challenging, and a lot more fun. For instance, a boss that is challenging on single player, Skagzilla, took us a lot more time and a lot more wipes when there were 4 of us. He was a BITCH.

The increased difficulty is something that I enjoy in the game. It’s not that the game is easy, but it’s the most fun, and the most challenging when you’re in a group. If you’re going to get the game, at least try to convince a few other friends to get it since that’s the way that it should be played.

10/10

The Verdict

I’d give it an 8.4/10 after totaling up all of my ratings. I believe this game to be spectacular, one of my favorites of all time, but the music portion of the game was what hurt the rating for me. Most of the time I’d just end up blasting some music and turning up the sound so I could hear the gunshots.

Still though, if you haven’t played this game I’d definitely recommend renting it, if not purchasing it!

Now to ponder the thought of purchasing the DLC…

*slurp* Mmm good tea as usual

-Craig

Hi-Rez wins at life. ‘Nuff said.

Right, well time to go terrorize the dome and kick people into wells!

-Craig