Randomness is Key to Survival

A Changing of the Times

noreply@blogger.com (SirDesmond) — Sun, 06 Jul 2008 01:42:00 +0000

We are currently in the process of moving to www.rikts.com

This will probably be the final post on this site, so please check it out.

Although it is still in the works, the forum is up at rikts.com/forum

Geist: A True Out of Body Experiance (GameCube)

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard Jr.) — Sat, 31 May 2008 01:17:00 +0000

Geist sounded like a neat concept when I read the back cover and for much of the game I was fairly entertained, but it failed to ever become anything I would classify as an amazing game. The second I started playing I thought, “Man, these controls sure are awkward.” Unfortunately this happens in many console FPS games, but I eventually got used to it.
Geist starts where you are the tech expert member of a covert team trying to gain top secret info from some crazy lab facility. Stuff goes wrong and you end up being put as a test subject in a highly dangerous experiment that separates your soul from your body. You end up escaping where you are held captive with the help of another spirit. Thus the adventure to scare, posses, and shoot your way out of the facility begins. In order to posses a living animal or person, it must first be scared, which leaves its mind more open. Scaring can be quite interesting and fun since it is done by possessing inanimate objects and using whatever action is available. You never know the action until you possess the object so this can add quite a bit of fun to the game as you discover all the neat things you can do such as shooting dishes, making people see things in mirrors, or making showerheads spray on the women in the ladies shower (aw yeeeea boyeee!). You also get to possess several types of animals throughout the adventure as well.
As I said before, the controls are a bit awkward, but gun fighting is made easier at the beginning of the game since you can always possess another host if the one you are using dies (and there is a way to scare him). The soldiers are not too hard to kill so dying is usually not a problem, until very late in the game when you have to take on a bunch, but by then you gain a neat time-slowing power that makes it much easier and quite goofy. Many of the soldiers yell, “AW CRAP!” as you kill them. I doubt those would be my last words.
The storyline was somewhat neat for a while, but the end was a bit too happy and perfect. It felt to me like the writers suddenly got VERY lazy. The ending boss battle was also very ridiculous and hard to get used to at first, but can be very easy once you figure out how to dodge attacks easily. So in the end this was a pretty neat idea that was trapped inside a shell of not very thought out storyline and sometimes awkward controls. The game did have some voice acting, which helped to make the little characterization a bit better, but the game was also quite short. I did enjoy myself and I bought the game for about $8 used at my local Blockbuster so I consider my money fairly well spent.

As of 5-31-08
www.half.com- there is a copy up for only $2.99, but there were quite a few for only 4 or 5 dollars.
www.switchplanet.com- none available to switch at the moment.

In conclusion, I would say my chances of jumping in front of a moving vehicle to save the last copy of this game are at 77%.

I'm younger than John McCain!

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Evans) — Sat, 24 May 2008 13:52:00 +0000

Are you? Well if you're like 91% of the country you are. To find out what else is younger than John McCain, I highly suggest that you visit www.thingsyoungerthanmccain.com. You will be surprised to find out some of the things that are younger than the Republican Presidential Nominee.

It's a great timewaster, so stop working and look at it. It's your duty to be an informed voter! Or at least that's what you can tell your boss.

Come visit majestic Sealand!

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Evans) — Sat, 24 May 2008 13:08:00 +0000

Next time you and your family are planning a trip, consider Sealand.

What? You've never heard of Sealand?

How could you not know about the great country just a mere six miles off the coast of Suffolk, England, which at one time had a whopping population of 42 people? Sealand is a micronation which during WWII was an ocean fort for the British. After the war concluded the facility known as Roughs Tower was occupied by Roy Bates, an English man who desired to conduct pirate radio broadcasts from this fort technically in international waters. Well the country got it's start in a manner that I'm sure is retold to all with a sense of pride. One day while at the fort some British workmen were trying to repair a buoy near Roughs Tower, well Bates idiot son decides it's a fantastic idea to try to scare them off by firing warning shots. Soon Roy is called into an English court, due to the fact he was still a subject of the nation. Well, the court threw out his case after it was determined that "Sealand" was outside of British jurisdiction.

Now this could be the end of this nation's pointless story, but I assure you it gets better. Ten years after the British court's ruling, while Roy was away, the Prime Minister and several others staged a coup and even took Bates' idiot son hostage. After this, Bates then enlists mercenaries to help him take back the nation through a helicopter raid on the tiny nation. They then held those involved in the coup as "prisoners of war" which actually involved the governments of the Netherlands and Germany getting involved to get their people back.

That's about the high point in this nation's existence. Since then the country has experienced a fire and is asking for donations on their official site to cover the "one million dollar" cost to repair. American dollars are welcomely accepted and don't worry about conversion rates as the Sealand dollar is set to always be equal to the standard of the US Dollar. Also since the time of the coup, Sealand has revoked all of the passports they issued due to the large amount of counterfeit passports that were being made.

If this interests you then you can come for a stay at wonderful Sealand, or if you have the money, you can buy Sealand! That's right a country all your own! Last year the country was put up for sale and for $128,830,221 the custodianship of the great 5,920 sq. ft. nation will be transfered to you. As the Sealanders say, "From the Sea, Freedom."

Here's the official site: www.sealandgov.org

Chrono Trigger Happy (SNES and PS1)

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard Jr.) — Mon, 19 May 2008 18:58:00 +0000

Back in the days of early humanity and when the lizard people nearly ruled the world (these events ACTUALLY happened and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise), a big ol’ alien crashed into the planet and brought in the pain train for our fair planet. Lucky for us a spiky-haired redhead and his friends embark on an epic quest through time to stop the impending destruction of all. This is the plot of Chrono Trigger. I would like to start this review by saying this game holds a warm place in my heart. It brings wonderful reminiscent memories from my childhood when this game was one of the most original things I had ever seen. I tell this to you because my rating of this game may be slightly higher than what some people might give it now (especially if they are older), due to my slanted view, but I still think it deserves a spot in one of the best games of our time.
So why do I love this game? The most important thing for me when I am playing any game is storyline. This story is not too weird or hard to understand (*cough* Final Fantasy 7 *cough*) and it eventually allows for time travel to key points in history. What you do at one time can bring about a change in another, which is the fuel for many a fulfilling side quest later in the game and I am a sucker for good side quests. It starts off in a fairly normal SNES RPG fashion as your character wakes up in his bedroom and starts off the day completely unaware of the imminent adventure. You end up going to the local fair, complete with several “good deeds” you can do that slightly affect the later storyline, and visit your genius friend’s invention show. Unfortunately the machine reacts with a special pendant and results in you setting out to save a girl sent through a portal to another time. The plot unfolds to be something much larger than a simple rescue mission and allies are found throughout the time stream to unite against world destruction. Considering the game originally came out for SNES its graphics are quite good for its time. It is refreshing to have an older RPG where the characters have full arms and legs complete with different running styles instead of the square with a face on it that jiggle-walks about the screen. The Ps1 version also has short animated movie sequences added into the game that let you see the characters a bit more up close, which is pretty neat but I don’t think it adds that much.
There is nothing more annoying to me than a game that doesn’t reward gamers for exploring all corners of an area. In Chrono Trigger talking to townspeople is actually fun, since many times what they say actually matters, could hint to a side quest, or is somewhat funny. Items are also hidden everywhere in the game from a barrel in the middle of town to something on the bedside table of a house. Little interactive elements like that help keep the game from getting stale. Another reason the game fails to become stale is that there are NO RANDOM ENCOUNTERS! Enemies do not attack you on the world map and when in enemy territory you can see the monsters/robots/villains waiting and can try to avoid them. If confronted by enemies there is no annoying flashing load screen that you have to watch before every battle. The enemies simply jump out, roll in, or drop down from wherever they are waiting. They might even dance or slide down a stair banister to get to you (The game does pause for a few seconds before this happens in the PS1 version which is quite annoying if you have played the original, but eventually you get used to it).
Music in this game is wonderful. Period.
A super cast of characters also helps push this game to the next level. Now I did find the main character Chrono slightly boring at times, but he is definitely the coolest silent protagonist I have ever played with. The characters are from different times and each one has an element (fire, water, lighting, ect) that they can control. The characters change and grow throughout the story and certain extra quests can be done to find further information on a few.
The battle system is pretty standard. Each person has a little bar that must fill up before an attack can be chosen. When you start a file you can choose to have the enemies pause while you choose your next attack or have all bars continue to move. This will change the speed and difficulty of the game. Characters level up with experience points, but the special attacks of each character levels up with tech points. Characters not used still receive some experience and will stay about the same level, but they will not gain new moves. Combo techniques eventually can be used between 2 or 3 characters at the same time for some massive amounts of damage.
In conclusion this game is amazing. It refuses to be stale and even has a “new game plus” feature that lets you play through the game again at your high level and has many different unlockable endings to find. Chrono Trigger is everything a true traditional RPG should strive to be and it makes some current games look like mush. It is, without a doubt, a classic.

As of Monday May 18th 2008:
Half.com- the SNES version can be bought as low as $8.50 with a few more offers around $10 and up to around $26.
-The PS1 version had several offers ranging in the $10-$15 range.

Switchplanet- the SNES version is not up for sale at the moment.
-The PS1 version is owned by 5 people although none have been put up for sale yet. This is where I got my copy of the game and it works great. Be patient!

So i would say that the chance of me running into a burning building to save the last copy of this game is about 97%.

John McCain is Always Watching

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Evans) — Sun, 11 May 2008 18:36:00 +0000

I came across this on Digg today and it was somewhat unsettling. Apparently, Republican Presidential candidate John McCain is now hiding in a local news broadcast's lead-in graphics. Maybe News Corp is trying to subliminially make the New York City area vote for McCain. Who knows? Regardless, it's creepy. Watch it for yourself.

Oh Behold! The Cuteness!

noreply@blogger.com (Peter Evans) — Sat, 10 May 2008 01:06:00 +0000

For those of you in the market for a fun strategy time waster that could take as much or as little brain power as you so desire, then Bomboozle is the game for you! The point of the game is quite simple, get as many points as you can by selecting groups of similar objects. The screen is filled with these adorable icons so cute that you'll vomit up your heart out of love for them. Your job is to draw a line through groups of same images. There are various additional elements to this game, such as a "wild" piece that will count towards any icon you want, and also a bomb is added to the board each time you get 6 or more like images in a single grouping. It's a great flash game and very easy to become addicted to. I recomend trying it out next time you're looking to waste a good 15 minutes to 3 hours.

Check it out here: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/435657

Some preliminary information...

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard Jr.) — Fri, 09 May 2008 01:45:00 +0000

Alright folks, let the video games begin! Although first I wanted to talk about two wonderful websites that may help keep your pockets fat and your knowledge of wonderful games fatter. The first is the fairly well known Half.com, which is pretty self explanatory for anyone who uses Amazon or Ebay. It has all kinds of items, but in this case all we care about is games. So you search for a game and different people looking to sell it post the relative condition of theirs with any notes (has a few scratches, manual included!, don’t feed after midnight) and list their price, which is usually much cheaper then where you would find the game anywhere else.

The other wonderful site is one called switchplanet.com. Switchplanet is a site that has its own currency called “switchbucks”. It is an easy way to get something for your old movies, CDs, books, or games. You sell your things to build up switchbucks, then use them to buy whatever you want. So games can be bought practically for free, although 50 cents equals one switchbuck if you need a few more for that long coveted item.

After I review a game I will look up prices on each site to give you all an idea on the cheapest way to find it.

Mario Kart Wii - A Belated Review

noreply@blogger.com (SirDesmond) — Thu, 08 May 2008 04:11:00 +0000

If the call of Grand Theft Auto IV wasn't enough to keep you students out there from missing your homework assignments and failing your exams, I’m sure the near simultaneous release of Mario Kart Wii was. With its release, we saw the return of another great first-party Nintendo franchise on the Wii, as well as a new peripheral the Wii Wheel.

Now for the review:

Mario Kart is without a doubt the most well-known Mario spin-off franchise around, ranking with, if not beyond Mario Party. Needless to say, its release is a fairly significant one for the Wii as a console. This is a title that could potentially work towards selling Nintendo more systems (if you can find one) or if nothing else, more Wii Wheels.

Graphically, Mario Kart Wii is solid. I was running the game in 480p and I never had any complaints. That said, Mario Kart is not a game that needs to rely heavily on graphics and new or experimental control schemes. It is for that very reason that I find myself time and time again racing with my friends on our Nintendo 64. It is in the gameplay mechanics themselves that Mario Kart needs to shine. The graphics don't push the system by any means but are still nice and don't detract from the experience in any way.

The racing is fun. All three control schemes work very well depending on what you are used to and your skill level/familiarity with the franchise. I started with the Wii Wheel, but found myself graduating to the nunchuck configuration after just the first few cups. The Wheel was clearly designed with children in mind, not to say that you couldn’t blow all your friends out of the water when using it. It just feels looser or almost sloppier than what can be easily achieved with the analog stick of the nunchuck. There are 16 new tracks with some being near remakes rather than entirely new tracks (I’m looking at you, Rainbow Road), as well as 16 retro tracks from all of the franchise’s previous titles. All of the tracks are solid as well, although the new tracks seem the most full-fledged of the bunch, but I was happy to see some of my favorite DS tracks making their way onto the Wii.

Online play was an absolute necessity for this title and Nintendo delivered on that. The Wi-Fi supports 12 player races and battles, as well as full ghost-tracking and time trial statistics. The game plays fluidly with little to no visible lag despite racing other players at an international level. Out of everything this title is offering the inclusion of internet play is perhaps the most tantalizing of the bunch, although truthfully it is little more than the DS title has to offer as well.

At its core though, the game is the same. Much in the vein of the Mario Party franchise, Mario Kart Wii feels like a different Mario Kart, but not a new one. The old is simply replaced with the new, but nothing is learned from the previous titles nor does the game feel like an evolution of its predecessors.

After shooting countless shells (both red and green), bananas, and bobombs over several cups, it quickly became apparent to me that Mario Kart Wii is Mario Kart 64, nothing more and nothing less really. The inclusion of bikes and 16 new tracks with the 16 retro tracks were both nice touches, but added very little to the gameplay. For the diehard Mario Kart fan or the family that wishes to enjoy simple racing aided by the Wii Wheel peripheral, this title is undeniably a must-buy title for the Wii, but for many, this purchase may warrant a slight sting of regret. Mario Kart Wii is a solid title, but all the same things can be found in Mario Kart 64 that will only cost you 10 dollars on Virtual Console or better yet, will cost you absolutely nothing and give you a reason to finally go dig up that old 64 again and get together with your friends for some split-screen action.

7 Bananas Dodged out of 10

Inaugural Post/ i love madonna

noreply@blogger.com (smartalec) — Sat, 03 May 2008 17:12:00 +0000

Dear Readers,

My name is smartalec and I've been requested to write here and, well, I guess to share my opinions about things that I see going on out here in our world. Most of my posts will generally fall into two basic categories:

1.) Things, People, Issues, and Stories that I like

2.) Things, People, Issues, and Stories that I do not like

With that said, I hope you all enjoy the show.

i love madonna

(the beginning)

So I don't know how many of you are familiar with the "great hannah montana incident of '08." If not, I'll fill you in: Annie Liebowitz, acclaimed photographer, took a photo for Vanity Fair of child star Miley Cyrus (hannah montana, disney tv personality.) The problem? 15yr old Miley was not wearing a shirt.

(the middle)

I recently discovered that http://www.people.com/ (the magazine) has a top 10 celebrity quotes of the week, good-ole, rationally-thinking Madonna took the much sought after and heavily coveted top spot this week. Let's see what she has to say...

"Leave her alone. She's gonna be 16 soon and then 17 and then 18, and then she might show her knees and then what's gonna happen?" – Madonna, defending Miley Cyrus's Vanity Fair photo shoot, to Ryan Seacrest

(the end)

hmm, gotta love that logic... Just two things:
madonna, do you write all of your kid's books in that outfit?
miley, from looking at this picture, keep your shirt on.

ps. This'll probably be my last post because I'm just going to die at some point anyway, what's the use...

Team Fortress 2 - Goldrush Update and Future Predictions

noreply@blogger.com (SirDesmond) — Fri, 02 May 2008 16:39:00 +0000

On Tuesday evening (the 29th), Valve released the Goldrush update for Team Fortress 2. This update added a new map (shown above), new game mode, 36 new medic achievements, as well as three new unlockable medic weapons. The new weapons include: The Kritzkrieg (a medigun that gives the target player 100% criticals instead of the momentary invulnerability), the Blutsaugher (a syringe gun that can't hit criticals but saps health from the enemy and heals the medic), and the Ubersaw (a bone saw that is slower to swing but recharges the medic's uber meter). By accomplishing 12, 24, and then all 36 of the achievements, a new weapon is awarded. This update was free of charge, something quite refreshing in today's world of microtransactions and downloadable content. There were many initial problems with the update. It caused some windows-based servers to crash entirely, as well as locked up some computers while connecting to a game requiring a re-install. These were fairly easy to correct though and the game was quickly up and running within just a few hours. There was one thing though that wasn't so easy to clean up:

VALVe's Medic Massacre:

In the wee hours of Wednesday morning (the 30th), it was discovered by an unknown individual that it was possible to unlock all 36 achievements and all 3 weapons with one simple console command: achievement_unlock_all Within the hour of discovering this myself, it was posted here. This exploit traveled from server to server like wildfire with many individuals even changing their in-game names to the console command for ease of explanation to other players.

For as many layers "legitimately" accomplished the achievements, there were countless more that farmed then in private servers with their clan, farmed then on public servers to their team's outcry (Heavies get frustrated when a medic pass them by and uber a scout), or used any combination of other console commands to receive the weapons. It was an epidemic.

Within 24 hours VALVe issued an update, removing the console commands and attempting to reset the achievements of players who took advantage of the exploit. According to the forums, some people had their medic achievements wiped clean after using the command, other retained their weapons alone, some retained everything they had received from the command, while others, myself included, actually gained achievements that they had never recieved previously. Needless to say, it was a mess and VALVe's attempt to correct the problem has utterly failed.

Some players felt that those who used the exploits were cheaters and deserved to have all of the achievements and weapons revoked, while many casual and non-clan players felt that the achievements are something that only hardcore players with a large number of friends in a clan. One specific achievement requires the player to join 10 of their steam friends in battle and deploy an uber on them, something that would be very difficult or impossible for many players to do without simply adding random acquaintance to your friends list.

This entire situation has become a very controversial topic amongst the TF2 community. The most hardcore of players feel that as "better" medics it is only fair for them to receive the special weapons, while there are those people who think that, in order to be truly fair, everyone should have access to the same weapons. In addition, many people are also fearing an added RPG feel or leveling-up system similar to games like Battlefield 2 and Call of Duty 4.

Personally, I am finding myself on both sides of the issue. I feel that one of the strongest aspects of Team Fortress 2 is its dynamic team and class mechanics that could be greatly added to by the additional of new, but not necessarily stronger/better weaponry. This would allow all players and teams an additional level of strategy and thought when they are caught in a sticky situation on the battlefield. I love achievements and I must say after hours and hours of Xbox 360 gaming that they do have a very satisfying appeal to them, but I do not think they should be used as a means of unlocking or accessing additional content, so I propose a happy medium:

New weapons are open to all players immediately
36 achievements are added for all classes
Completing different levels of the achievements would allow access to costume changes, accessories, taunts that would make those who are more experienced and more accomplished clearly stand-out amongst the crowd.

I feel that this system would work to add greater depth to the already splendid gameplay while also rewarding those players that are part of the hardcore and clan scene.

Tell us what you think and we'll do our best to respond or use your thoughts in future TF2 posts.

A New Challenger Has Arrived

noreply@blogger.com (tordana) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:36:00 +0000

Hello folks, I'm the newest addition to the RiKtS team. I'll be focusing on the areas of technology and web development, with of course some side trips into the realm of gaming.

A bit about me: I'm (like everybody else here) a college student. Unlike the rest of these folks, I'm not a writer but a computer science major. Hence, my posts may be a bit more technical than the rest of the fare you'll be seeing here at RiKtS.

As mentioned, I'll be making some posts on web development and graphics. To start things off right: ever see somebody with an awesome signature on a message board and want to know how to make something like that? Here's how to make one particular style of them. Just click the thumbnail and enjoy! This tutorial assumes you have Photoshop and a basic knowledge of it.

Team Fortress 2 Update - Get All Medic Achievements!

noreply@blogger.com (SirDesmond) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 08:22:00 +0000

Here is a quick post for all you cheaters out there:

Type this into the console:

achievement_unlock_all

You will have all the achievements and the three new weapons!

Bada Bing! Bada Boom!

Maybe you only play occasionally and wanted to be able to be on the same level as other players (to be fair) or you simply never play as Medic and just wanted to see the weapons for a few rounds of fun. Either way, we won't judge you.

DISCLAIMER: RiKtS does not support cheating or hacking in any way. We only felt the need to display the option to our readers, as well as call out Valve on its critical miss that would have been posted all over the net eventually.

UPDATE:

If you want to keep the weapons unlocked, but would like the challenge of completing the achievements you can type:

achievement_reset_all

This will remove all of your achievements though so be ready to re-do them all. I am actually looking forward to re-unlocking all these achievements.

UPDATE:

VALVe has released a patch that removes the achievement console commands. This information will no longer work.

We will have a full article about this unfortunate incident and what it means for the future of TF2 coming Friday.

Coming Soon: Mario Kart Wii Review

noreply@blogger.com (SirDesmond) — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 18:32:00 +0000

Keep checking the site for our review of Mario Kart Wii coming very soon!

Here are some unboxing pictures to quench your thirst until we can all get enough play time in with the game itself to put up a worthwhile review.

While you're waiting, laugh away the time with this!

Stay Tuned!

Salutations

noreply@blogger.com (Gerard Jr.) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:39:00 +0000

Hey everybody, I am joining the RiKtS team and am excited to start pinching out plenty of powerful, picturesquely worded posts for all of the literate fans of our site. Once finals at school are over, I'll have enough time to start. I mainly will be doing game reviews for the random virtual treasures or trash I happen to stumble upon(hopefully more of the former). Some might be from next-gen consoles, but I hope to do many reviews of easy-to-find retro titles and older systems to help gamers find an smart and inexpensive way to get some real quality gameplay. That way you can spend your money on the things in life that really matter like charity, artist patronage, and that aspiring Crazy Bones collection that you KNOW will one day pay off.

The Most Epic Animal Attack You Will Ever See

noreply@blogger.com (SirDesmond) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 18:27:00 +0000

GOLDEN EAGLES GOATS MOUNTAINS

This is, without a doubt, the most ridiculously epic animal kill you will ever witness. Period.

My roommate and I laughed for over a half hour about this.

Asus EEE PC 4G - Review

noreply@blogger.com (SirDesmond) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 00:50:00 +0000

You may have heard of One Laptop Per Child or the Intel Classmate, two attempts at a charity-friendly budget laptop, but you may not have heard anything about the Asus EEE PC in the news. This tiny 7" laptop is Asus' alternative to the Classmate or OLPC projects and unlike those two, it is available to the general public through select online vendors. It is one of the most interesting attempts at unique laptop design around and is absolutely irresistible with its $399.99 price tag.

The Stats:

Alright, let's get down to it. The Asus EEE PC comes in both a 2gb and 4gb version in the form of a solid-state hard drive. It has a full keyboard that has been scaled down a bit in order scrunch in all the keys (no keypad, of course), a 7" screen running at a resolution of 800 x 480, a 900 mhz processor, touchpad, built in wi-fi. It is also bundled with an AC adapter, standard battery, and a nice little smooth black-nylon carrying case. It comes with a custom-version of Linux made especially by Asus. It has 4 USB ports, a monitor output (being used in the picture above), an SD HC slot (especially useful for expanding storage space), ethernet port, modem, headphone jack, microphone input, two speakers set to the sides of the screen, and a webcam set above the screen. It weighs under two pounds also.

The Review:

This laptop is just about as ultraportable as it gets without falling into the cell phone or mp3 player categories. I have had these laptop for about the last 4 months and I have used it far more than I thought. This thing is small...I mean really small, the entire thing is roughly the size of a trade paperback book or maybe a little bigger than my hand when spread out. It looks cool and it's not just available in black but in white, pink, green, and blue as well, so it has its girl-friendly and smurf-friendly sides as well.

But how does it perform, you ask? Well, I must say that the Linux it comes bundled with is extremely so easy to use, so much so in fact that your grandmother or your five-year old daughter (in my case, my mother) would be able to use it with ease in minutes. It's a five tabbed systems that breaks the computers roughly 30 programs down into easy to handle categories like Web, Work, and Play. It also comes bundled with the full OpenOffice suite which is handy little open source application that opens and saves any Microsoft Office file types. It's great if you are in a bind for cash or are just doing basic word processing and slideshow presentations. Check it out: OpenOffice.org That aspect aside, it also includes Skype, a calculator, a few games, and some other nice little things.

I'm a Windows man myself though, so I used a guide on another great site EEEuser.com I threw my copy of XP on there and managed to grab the drivers off of the Asus site fairly quickly. The EEE pc performs great for basic tasks like web-surfing, youtube video watching, word-processing (yes, the keyboard is fairly comfortable actually), even some older games run really well on it (starcraft, diablo, etc) and the site mentioned above includes countless overclocking programs, upgrade guides, and hacked drivers to get the most bang for your buck out of your EEE pc.

It is hard to find any real flaws in this machine other than its obvious lack of strong processing power, but most people are going to accept that going into it. You'll be hard pressed to find anything near $400 that is this small, compatible with Linux (Ubuntu even), Windows XP (Vista's possible, but I wouldn't recommend it), and even OS X, grabs people's attention endlessly, works as a great Personal Video Player, and is so endlessly customizable because of its hacker-style fanbase.

Some individuals have thrown touch-screens on these things, as well as internal bluetooth, GPS, and tracking devices. One guy even built this thing into the dash of his car as a homemade GPS device with turn-by-turn directions. If you ask me...that's epic.

The Bottom Line:
+ Great for basic computing (office work, web browsing)
+ Extremely Portable (paperback-book sized)
+ Tons of Customization and Overclocking options (courtesy of its DIY fanbase)
+ Attention Grabbing (mostly unknown in the U.S.)
+ Dirt Cheap
- Attention Grabbing (distracting while trying to write a paper!)
- Keyboard is slighty cramped
- Low Storage Space (easy upgradeable through SD though)

If you are looking for a new, on-the-go laptop that works great at Starbucks, in class, or even in the car, there is simply nothing more affordable and more useful than the Asus EEE PC.

9 Befuddled Passerbys out of 10

In other news, Asus just announced the EEE pc 900: 8.9" screen, Windows XP or Linux, Touch Screen, 12gb-20gb capacity. Check it out: Asus EEE pc 900

Coming Soon

noreply@blogger.com (SirDesmond) — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 20:46:00 +0000

From the two guys that brought you the former Randomness is Key to Survival Blog comes:

RiKtS

Three College Guys bringing you the latest, greatest, and randomest information about all your favorite stuff on the web.

Our Contributors:
Christian Sorrell - Electronics/Gaming
Peter Evans - Sports/Politics
Kevin Masterson - Retro/Entertainment

Coming Next Month

Check out our first review: Asus EEE PC 4G Review