Have you Fragged anyone lately?!?

Finally!! Streaming media to the PS4 via the Media Player . Features, bugs and a wishlist!

2015-06-20T09:48:00.001+01:00

The Playstation E3 2015 Presentation was, by common consensus, full of thrilling moments. So many that it was hard to keep track of everything that featured in the presentation.

I am hoping it will turn up on the Playstation Network as a free download. In the meantime, some of you may want to revisit the Presentation here:

Those who reflected and discussed the presentation, tended to leave out a little piece of information - that the Playstation was finally getting a Media Player, and that it would be available by the end of the day [15 june 2015].

Playstation made it really easy to install the app - a shortcut appears on the Playstation Home Screen which lets you download the app directly. It is a small file.

It can stream media through USB, and via PC etc. So far I have tried streaming media via a NAS drive and a Kodi setup with upnp enabled. I will confirm if Universal Media Server and Playstation Media server will be accessible via the PS4, but there is no reason to think that it won't work. At the time of writing this post, Universal Media Server website and our old favourite, PS3 Media Server website haven't been updated.

It's a fairly simple select the file/playlist and click 'play' affair. Options are limited in terms of whether to display the file names etc as a list or in a grid. We can mark media files as favourites. I tried a video from the E3 presentation, and some music files. They played well, without any stutter, but then I didn't expect a stutter for a 1080p web download that a Raspberry pi B can play without any difficulty.

It is likely that we may see an official Bluetooth Media Player remote in the near future, perhaps closer to Xmas this year. In the meantime, the CEC-HDMI connection usually works ~~very~~ fairly well between my Smart TV and the Playstation, and this remained the case with the Media Player. I am not able to stop a media file using my remote, but I can pause it. [Sony Bravia Remote ]
PS4 media server is faster and simpler to use compared to the PS3 streaming setup. However, times have moved, and most people who were interested in streaming media back in the days of the PS3 have probably experienced had other media streaming options, such as Roku devices, Now TV, Kodi/XBMC, and various Smart TV's. This does lead to the inevitable comparison.

The PS4 Media server is better than Sony Bravia's media player. However, the lack of visualisations, absence of the ability to obtain related media from the internet etc may be noticeable in this generation of people constantly attempting to 'cut the cord'. For the hard core HTPC enthusiasts, there is always the Plex app, and I am guessing they are interested in low wattage, silent options and in this regard the PS4 will probably not be their primary HTPC device. By this time, some PS4 owners had probably stopped bothering about media support, though they might have held a grudge that we weren't given what was promised in the first instance. Most will be very satisfied with the fact that they can now use the PS4 to stream media, and will not have any problems with the lack of bells and whistles.

With regards to streaming itself - When it worked it worked very well. Just like with the PS3 , there is the rare occasion when it suddenly does not find any media in the NAS / UPNP drives. Nothing short of restarting the app seems to help at this stage. I can confirm that when the player could not locate the server , or find the files, other streaming devices around the house had continued to function as normal.

It is able to play audio in the background, at least while I browsed the other home screen and other options. I hope some games will allow us to stream music from our playlists while we play games. This too is yet to be tested.

Known issues and features to be desired at this point include:

Listing album tracks in alphabetical order rather than by Track number order, when streaming through a DLNA server.
We cannot store media onto the PS4's hard drive.
Still no audio CD playback
No FLAC support.
No DTS support
Not compatible with NTFS
Limited support for subtitles [only seems to work with avi files. ].
No search option, makes it a chore to search through large media collections
No visualisation during audio playback
DLNA connections can drop. No refresh option available. Closing the app and restarting doesn't always help
I was a bit disappointed at the lack of HEVC or H.265 support.This may matter to some, because the PS4 is hopefully going to be around for a few more years and people will without fail compare the major consoles for their media playback capabilities. I am also not sure if it supports 4k streaming. There is nothing on the official blog about 4K playback.
No preview thumbnails or clips
No 3D support.

At present, the media player supports various codecs - It should be enough for most users. I found it a satisfying experience. It is no where close to replacing a HTPC, but no that is down to individual needs and tastes.

If you visit the Playstation store for PS Vita, you will find a Network Media Player for PS Vita as well. This was released in October last year and codec support may not be identical.

I am not able to spend more time with the media servers at present. However, if we don't start seeing detailed reviews / discussions online, I might return to update this post.

In the meantime, PS4 has a minimalistic, no frills, simple to use Media player which will definitely extend the functionality of the Playstation

--- UPDATE: Universal Media Server works with Playstation Media Player, though it may be identifying it as a PS3 or an unknown renderer. I was able to stream music and videos using UMP. PS3 Media Server did not recognise the PS4 Media Player and vice versa.

So many games, so little time

2015-06-11T02:40:00.001+01:00

It's been more than a year since my last blog entry. So much has happened in these months, thankfully not just in the world of gaming.

I have continued to keep an active interest in games, and rarely begrudge the lack of time to actually sit down and play. I continue to collect games, no thanks to Steam sales, GOG and Humble bundle. And I continue to follow gaming news and curate a magazine on Flipboard. Flipboard went through a phase of encouraging interaction with the readers which I now miss. However it let's me enjoy video games as a spectator sport and for that I am thankful. I am hoping to resume blogging by the end of the year. In the meantime I will post a few links coinciding with my Flipboard activities.

Be seeing you!

I'm a MEDLEY gamer ... Now you too can find out what kind of a gamer you are [Humour?]

2014-02-03T20:57:00.000+00:00

Apparently I’m a MEDLEY Gamer :

MEDLEY =

Image from Wikipedia

‘Mainstream

Ex-PC Elitist

Dormant/Diverse]

Loner / PoLitician

Enhancer

Yearner’

Gamer.

Say What??? Read on to see how you could find out what type of gamer you might be.

This post started with the view to give my opinion [rant] on whether PC’s are really the medium of choice for casual gamers . Of course, this started with the premise that I would consider myself to be a casual gamer who was entitled to have an opinion, given that I have a blog [tick], played games on PC’s for years [tick], and now rarely get the chance to play games [tick] and of course use consoles, pc’s, tablets as well as smart phones to feed my gaming needs, however latent they might be [tick tick tick]

However, being the conscientious blogger, I thought I should verify if I was justified in calling myself a ‘casual gamer’ as opposed to just being a slightly dementing gamer who no longer knows how to fiddle with a pc.

And I realised that I probably did not fit the demographics/definition of a casual gamer. At the same time I could qualify as one of several gamer types. As there were too many to remember, I went ahead to create an acronym for myself.

Here’s how you could do it for yourself - oh! please do share your gamer types with the rest of us!!

Step 1 : Search for definitions, and list down all those gamer types, that seem to fit the bill. If you aren’t satisfied after checking one website, head to the next, and so on and so forth. Remember to write down the words, in case you do not have the time to visit the pages a second time

I went to some the the top search engine finds for the phrase ‘types of gamers.’ And this is what I found - Over the years there have been an incredible number of views about how many types of gamers our there. Some of them were a bit more scientific, such as the one at the ‘theschwartz’ website. Some, like the annex wikia post seemed to have been well researched, with lots of references at the end of the post. Some posts seemed to have a bit of an overlap, while mentioning additional gamer types. My favourite posts were the ones from CVG and Kotaku, which were both amusing, and yet easy to relate to, though they probably won’t appeal to all gamers. I also found this post from spike.com, which had little over 9200 views at the time of my writing this post. I skimmed through it, as the photos were distracting me from reading what they wrote. If you check that link, you probably shouldn’t do it at work, though I can’t really say it’s NSFW.

Step 2 : Find an online acronym maker. Feed the words that you feel suit you best. Click the ‘create acronym’ button, feel free to check out the options some of these websites offer, and when you are pleased with the result, share it with the rest of the world.

Step 3: Spread the word - I wonder if some of the more skilled readers can come up with a tool/website which can do all of this in one go + - an option to automatically create a badge, or share the result with social networking sites etc. If someone does come up with something like that, please also let me know, and I’ll update this page accordingly.

Hopefully that was fun.

I might return to my thoughts on PC Gaming vs Console gaming sometime in the future. In the meantime, I had posted a discussion along these lines in March 2008. Perhaps the arguments remain valid six years later?

Where to pre-order PS4 or XBOX 1 in UK?

2013-06-23T22:03:00.000+01:00

Playstation 4 pre ordering + best price so far

Oct 2013 :
Update: If you follow sites like HUKD etc, then you will have seen many posts claiming that the cheapest deals were those from an online shop called - Simply Games. Internet Forums are now noticing that the site seems to be ‘forcing people to upgrade ps4 pre-orders to get a unit at launch’.

Original Post:

I trolled most of the pre ordering sites for ps4 as mentioned on the ps4 website.
This was only to find out about their return policies and price matching policies etc. These websites also take pre orders for xbox, so the rules will apply for either console.

As of now there are no Bundle deals. But most websites will allow you to cancel a pre-order with full refund.

Amazon was not listed on the sony website but they have good T&C . Please note that unless you are an amazon prime subscriber, you will have to pay 2 or 3 pound extra to receive the console on launch day. Tesco states it will deliver on launch day at no extra cost. I think some of the other websites noted here will also offer free delivery, but not sure about delivery on launch day. I'll update this post if I find out more. Use the comments section to keep us informed.

I wonder if there will be special bonus for pre orders, like they had for those pre ordering ps3 from virgin . One wonders if Zavvi [formerly virgin megastore] has something up it's sleeve? Zavvi is giving 2% cashback for xbox pre orders - via quidco but not so for ps4...

Also, Shopto has an interesting price guarantee but they will charge a nominal amount for a refund.

What to the websites say about their refund policies etc?

Shopto

If a pre-paid pre-order has been cancelled your payment will be automatically credited back to your ShopTo account.
This credit will then be used automatically against your next transaction with us. Please contact our customer service team if you wish for this to be refunded with full terms and conditions found at the bottom of this page.
If you decide to cancel a paid pre-order funds paid will appear in your ShopTo.Net account balance. If you request this balance to be refunded back to your card an administration fee of £0.70p will be deducted from your refund total.

They will honour the price quoted at the time of pre-ordering even if the price goes up. They will also match a lower price if the price drops. The balance amount will be refunded as credit to your shop to account

Tesco: Their policy states that 'Either of us has the right to cancel this order and you will a receive a refund.' It does not mention a price match guarantee. One has to pay 20£ at the time of pre-order. Free delivery on launch day, plus tesco club card points.

ASDA

20£ at the time of pre-order.
What if I fail to purchase the Sony Playstation 4?
If you choose not to use your Discount Code to purchase a Sony PlayStation 4 from Asda Direct by the date we've informed you of, the Discount Code will be cancelled and you will be refunded your £20.

Sainsbury

They have an offer for 1000 nectar points if you preorder. [They are offering 2000 nectar points for the purchase of an ipad. ]
No funds will be taken from your card/account until the goods are dispatched. In the event that there is a price drop, see Pre-Order Price Promise , a lower price will be charged.

Orders can be cancelled up to the point where they are sent to our distribution centre for dispatch.

Smyths - cannot preorder online!

ZAVVI -
Pre order - 0£, can refund

Gamestop.co.uk
Can refund. Will charge at dispatch time

--- Best price so far: Gameseek [not listed on sony's website]

339.75 or 332.95 if you buy via quidco -
Note that I could not find the quidco offer for gameseek even though the person posting the deal says so. I submitted this price at the amazon website and ask others to do so as well

What we got with the XBOX one

2013-06-18T16:44:00.001+01:00

A friend of mine recently compiled a list of the 'features' that come with the XBOX one. This is not the same feature list that is being promoted by Microsoft, but just as important. And this is what you should know about the Xbox one before you go get yourself one:

19.6.13

New update from xbox. They did a u turn after listening to their fans ... finally...after years of developing the console . The video at the end is still as relevant though

xbox update:

"An internet connection will not be required to play offline Xbox One games - after a one-time system set-up with a new Xbox One, you can play any disc based game without ever connecting online again. There is no 24-hour connection requirement and you can take your Xbox One anywhere you want and play your games, just like on Xbox 360.
"Trade-in, lend, resell, gift, and rent disc based games just like you do today - there will be no limitations to using and sharing games, it will work just as it does today on Xbox 360."

the score card so far...

1.) ~~24 hr once a day connection, failure to connect results in no gaming function available on the system.~~
2.) once every hour check if on a friend's console.
3.) If you have no availability to high speed internet..your options AS STATED BY M$ get a 360!
4.) Indirect region lock of the physical console and software. If you are not one of the 21 countries, get a 360
5.) forced install
6.) tying each game to your live profile...which i guess indirectly means that you MUST have a live membership now (correct me if i am wrong here)
~~7.) No "renting" a game out the box because SYSTEM SIDED DRM is in place~~
~~8.) "Loaning" a game requires both parties to have a live membership, is limited to a one time activation, REQUIRES AS STATED BY M$ a 30 day wait. Not available out the box.~~
9.) HEAVY RE-SALES RESTRICTIONS: Peer to peer sales are completely gone. Re-sales by authorized dealers TBA. not available out the box. Anyone other than me think that the "authorized" dealers might be limited to gamestop and M$?
10.) Mandatory kinect 2.0 - privacy issues..etc etc etc
11.) Cancellation of profile results in the LOSS of your games on hard drive. likewise if you are banned..
12.) no XBLA carry over
13.) no indie games...having developers go to publishing is in essence killing this. What do game developers say about this? Check it out here

Also, if you weren't one of the 1.5 million viewers who saw this video within hours of it being published, check this video out to find out more - straight from the official launch announcement ...

Finally, apologies if this post appears to be biased, even though i've kept my own views to myself. But speaking of bias, a very interesting comparison of how bing and google autocomplete xbox related searches .

Streaming Media to PS3 [and ps4??] [Part 3] - Universal Media Server

2013-06-06T19:50:00.000+01:00

Update: PS4 media streaming is a vague possibility sometime in the future. Despite several years of reviewing PS3 user feedback, apparently no one at Sony considered the need for PS4 to support audio CD playback, mp3 playback, or DLNA - which would be needed to stream media from PC’s and Macs.

In Oct 2013, Shuhei Yoshida tweeted about how user feedback would be fed back to the developers team : “Thanks for the feedback to the lack of MP3 and DLNA support at the launch of PS4. I'll share with the PS4 Dev team for future consideration."- too little too late? It is hoped that Sony did not deliberately withhold media support, to promote their own subscription based music and video services.

I do not know if this lack of media support was an oversight.

At this point, one can’t help but recall how, when PS3 was first launched they were unable to add the rumble pad feature on their sixaxis controller. This was due to copyright infringement issues. At that time, Phil Harrison, Sony's president of worldwide studios, said he didn't see a need for Sony's controllers to have rumble. He felt that that rumble was the "last generation feature" and that he thought "motion sensitivity is [the next-generation feature]." [http://www.1up.com/news/sony-rumble-generation-feature]

We are expecting PS4 firmware update 1.6 , and no news of DLNA support so far.

-----

So, this is the third post on this topic.

The previous posts remain valid and so do check them out if you are interested.

This post is to highlight a new Media Server that can share media to the PS3. It’s called the Universal Media Server, and it can run on OsX, Linux and Windows.

If that sounds similar to the excellent PS3 media server, then you are right. According to the UMS website:

“Universal Media Server is a DLNA-compliant UPnP Media Server.

It is based on PS3 Media Server by shagrath. It is actually an evolution of the "SubJunk Build" of PMS.

UMS was started by SubJunk, an official developer of PMS, in order to ensure greater stability and file-compatibility.”

The website also hosts a comparison between various media servers : http://www.universalmediaserver.com/comparison/

This server supports a range of devices, including the ps3. And one can enhance it’s utility with various add ons, which can be found on the website.

I don’t necessarily feel the need to replace PS3 Media server, but it is worth trying if people also need to be able to stream to other media players. I am guessing it will work with the PS4 as well???

The Humongous Gaming Bundle / An attempt to make the definitive list for Game Bargains

2013-06-02T17:56:00.000+01:00

Not every gamer has the time or the resources to troll every gaming forum hunting for game sales and discounts. So, it would be nice to have a list of websites where discounted games are being sold.

This was easy a few years ago. We would wait for a Humble Bundle sale, or a steam sale - both were infrequent and lasted a reasonable period of time. Even the more casual gamer would have a chance to benefit from the deals. The steam sales in particular were brilliant as some of the offers would be repeated during the duration of the sale, so if one missed a game in particular, we could always hope that it would come back in a few days.

Now, there are flash sales, weekly sales so on and so forth. One can always pick up an unexpected bargain from amazon, costco etc… Not to mention Ebay!

So what made me want to compile such a list?

Well I was looking for a game bargain on ebay for some weeks, and suddenly this weekend there were at least three sellers on ebay selling the game [Patrician IV] for 2 - 4 pounds. This could not be a coincidence. Some random google searches later I realised that a website, groupee was selling a bundle of games for 1 $, including Patriach IV and it's expansion. Groupee included even more games if we paid more than 5$. In other words, some enterprising ebay dealers were probably buying a bundle of games for 1$ , selling one game out of the lot for 4£ . A quick ebay search revealed that the same sellers were also selling ‘indie bundles’ comprising of all the other games being sold in the groupee bundle!!

So, do we want to feel pleased at getting a ‘bargain’ on Ebay, when the same game and lot more might be available or much less???

I would prefer not to do so…

So here are the sites [in no particular order] that can hopefully get me a good deal at a short time. Buyer’s are advised to use their discretion and decide about the legality of the offered bargains before they buy.

PCGAMER UK Forum’s thread on Bargains - Dedicated as well as casual gamers who fastidiously post details for every possible gaming sale. Sometimes there are also some clever posts on combining discounts , voucher codes etc to get a better deal
Hot UK Deals - A search feature lets you look for specific games, and a search on the website [but perhaps not on the smart phone apps] will also allow you to search for people wishing to make a trade .
Savvy Gamer: A dedicated blog posting almost every day about new sales, discount codes etc . As an update: From Oct 2013, Savvy Gamer website is also releasing savvy gamer gaming bundles.
Ebay - A search for 'steam game code' often brings up some good deals. As mentioned earlier, if there is a good bargain, it might have been part of a flash sale recently.
Product activation keys - there are websites which claim to legally procure and sell digital activation codes. So there must be price comparison websites for such sales? I found http://www.dlcompare.com/ and http://gocdkeys.com/index.php after a google search. They offer amazing prices for some recent games including Skyrim, Skyrim Dragonheart , Metro Life, Tomb Raider. I did not try to buy any key, and am looking at various forums to see if anyone has posted about their experience - I am yet to find any feedback from the forums, and that does put me off buying from these sites at present
Zinio - Why Zinio? I recently bought a single issue of PcGamer, as I needed something to read, and pcgamer’s digital download came with a steam activation code for a decent game.
Steam Game Sales - This site lists all price drops and sales , not just for steam, but also for some of the other digital distribution websites known to have good sales. The list can be arranged according to percentage discounted, final price,store and date when the sale was announced! The website covers sales in the following websites, all of which are worth visiting, should one be browsing for random sales :
Flash sale websites/ Bundle Sales for charity etc. There are many such websites and several sales going on at any point of time. Some of the websites are well known, but there are newer arrivals in this arena. I’ve tried to list a few here: Humble Bundle Indie Royale - Indie Bundles Macheist http://www.macheist.com/ http://www.bundle-in-a-box.com/ - Indie Bundles http://groupees.com/ - The website selling Patrician for 1 USD http://www.thefreebundle.com/ - Actually a bundle of free indie games - for free! doh!The Greenlight Bundle - http://www.thegreenlightbundle.com/ - Occasional Bundles, but good Indie Gala http://www.indiegala.com/ Bundle*Stars http://www.bundlestars.com - Multiple deals and bundles
Trade your Steam gaming keys - http://www.steamtrades.com/forum
Steam key giveaways - http://www.steamgifts.com/ I don’t quite get this , but it seems to work for those willing to put in the effort.

There! I hope this list brings up some good bargains for you. I personally use options 1 and 2 very often, especially when I’m just curious as to what comes up. I do end up making impulsive purchases, so whether I actually save money is debatable.
If you have an other links to share, or found this post helpful [or not] please leave a comment

Amazing Dos games on your browser -- free!!

2012-12-05T22:12:00.000+00:00

This website contains several dos games, completely free. They are legal/shareware/freeware, and so one should have no problems clicking the link given below:

http://www.classicdosgames.com/online.html

while there are many well known games, I was pleased to see games like Disney’s Aladdin and Jill of the Jungle, which probebly weren’t cult hits, but made for many hours of happy gaming for me a long long time ago!!

Dragon Age Origins...serious gender issues

2011-05-08T21:31:00.002+01:00

When tales of the last battle against the Blight will be written, one Grey Warden’s Tale will be repeated by all. Miranda ... the one person who sacrificed her love[s] and risked her own life to save the world from the ravages of darkspawn.
The lores will be handed from generation to generation - each version more fantastic that the previous one, but none more shocking than the one Miranda herself came across in one of her subsequent quests to find Morrigan, the sorcerer from the wilds, who left Miranda at the gates of her hardest battle ever..... Miranda heard rumours about her being spread - including one where it was said that she had fathered a child with Morrigan.....

After ninety hours of playing dragon age origins, in which not once did my character deviate from her role, even sacrificing Morrigan even when she was one of my most powerful team mates.....but when history was being written, this is what it did to me? A gendering spell of some kind eh? Disappointing....

Problems installing Dragon Age Origins Ultimate Edition - Steam version?

2011-01-30T19:09:00.002+00:00

I'm going to list some difficulties encountered while trying to install Dragon Age Origins Ultimate Edition - Steam Version

I have finally managed to install it, but after a lot of grief, and so thought that this post might help others in a similar situation.

1. It's a 23 GB installation. This does not seem to be mentioned anywhere when you buy the game. Most game packs on steam allow you to install individual games, but not in this case. If you write to steam, they will tell you that this is a problem with EA, and they can't do anything about it.

2. If you have enough bandwidth to download 23 gb in a month, you have to check if you have enough memory to install the game. Of course if you don't, you may either delete stuff to free memory, or install on a different hard disk.

3. So then, How to install Steam games on a different folder/hard disk?

The answer is here: https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=7418-YUBN-8129
But I'll quote it here at the end of my post to save you time

4. So then, now that you've installed the game, you will find out during your installation, or from the steam page that when you first play the game, you will be asked to enter the cd keys, which will enable you to access all the game content. [Un]Surprisingly, you aren't asked for any key, and when you try to access the downloadable content, you will see that it's installed, but you are not authorised to access the game content. Then begins a crazy google hunt to see what happened and how you might access what you have paid for. [I had emailed steam asking to be allowed to download the vanilla game instead of all the add ons, but I was told that Steam could not do so. Imagine then my annoyance at having downloaded 23 gb of stuff only to find that I cannot use it anyway!!!]

I am therefore also quoting this link from EA forums, which will give you at least two different ways of solving the problem. I used two techniques, and it was only after trying the second one did the add-ons show up.

Option one:

Thanks to snowysoul at this link:
http://social.bioware.com/forums/forum/1/topic/58/index/5124036/1#5331838

Got 2 CD keys one for the Ultimate edition and one for all the DLCs with it
Make sure Dragon Age is closed and not open
The Ultimate edition key is entered on this site under Profile > Registered games and put code with the correct platform that you have. try with dashes at first, (worked for me) if not try without it.
For the DLCs to work enter that second key under Profile > Redeem Promo code enter it in there and without dashes as when i did it with dash no dice!
Start up the game and check your downloaded content and it "might" say unauthorized, mine did but gave it a minute and tab over to buy then back and it cleared up. i suspect all it needed was time to check to the DA servers idk. hope this helps.
Also just some FYI used this on a windows 7 64 bit system

----For Steam buyers this worked for me so here it is from another thread----.
For everyone who is having problems with the DLC on the ultimate edition - I have the answer. I was told what to do by a friend of mine who had the same problem and his worked straight away, didn't thing the same would work for me but gave it a try anyway.

hopefully it will work for everyone else too.

find your dragon age folder, you may have saved it else where but this is how I find mine.

C:\\\\Program Files \\\\ Steam \\\\ steamapps \\\\ common \\\\ dragon age ultimate edition

once your in there find the file that says REDIST should be near the bottom, once in there run the file that says DAOU_UpdateAddinsXML_Steam when that finishes run the other file called DAUServiceSetup_Steam, when both have finished start up your dragon age ultimate and hopefully everything should be working.

Option 2
Thanks to shemmie at this link

http://social.bioware.com/forums/forum/1/topic/58/index/5124036/2#5558036

FOR THIS TO WORK, CHECK http://social.bioware.com/user_entitlements.php
IF THE DLC IS NOT LISTED, IT WILL PROBABLY NOT FIX IT. IF IT IS LISTED, IT SHOULD FIX IT.

Download this - http://supportfiles.bioware.com/dragonage/DAUServiceDiagnostic_beta.exe

Run it.

Read the log file.

If it says:

[Sunday Dec 26 10:42:30 2010] rc=0 ; ServiceStatus=NotInstalled]

Wait for it to finish. Then go to Services.msc (Control Panel / Admin / Services)

Refresh services list.

Find "Dragon Age: Origins - Content Updater" on the list, right click, and "Start" it.

Load up game, log out (if logged in), log in - all content should be authorized.

Installing Steam Games on a different Folder

During the installation of Steam, you have the option to install Steam to a location other than the default. Since Steam relies on the game files residing in the SteamApps folder, your game files cannot be moved outside of this folder. The game files must be in the SteamApps folder in order to function.

If Steam is already installed, you may move the installation to another location, such as a different hard drive using the following process.

Moving Your Steam Installation
Important:
Please ensure that you have your Steam account name and password before following this procedure. Also ensure that your account is linked to your current email address so that you can reset your password if necessary.
It is not recommended that you install Steam to an external hard drive due to potential performance issues.
Warning:
It is highly recommended that you create a backup of your SteamApps folder before attempting this process. If there is a problem in this process and you do not have a backup of your games or the SteamApps folder, it will be necessary to reinstall the games individually. Please see the Using the Steam Backup Feature topic.
The following instructions are a simple way to move your Steam installation along with your games:

Exit the Steam client application.

Browse to the Steam installation folder for the Steam installation you would like to move (C:\Program Files\Steam by default).

Delete all of the files and folders except the SteamApps folder and Steam.exe

Cut and paste the whole Steam folder to the new location, for example: D:\Games\Steam\

Launch Steam and log into your account.

Steam will briefly update and then you will be ready to play. All future game content will be downloaded to the new folder (D:\Games\Steam\SteamApps\ in this example)

If you encounter any errors during the move process or when Steam is launched from the new location, it may be necessary to perform a more thorough process:

Exit the Steam client application.

Browse to the Steam installation folder for the Steam installation (continuing the from the last section example, this would be the new location of D:\Games\Steam\.

Move the SteamApps folder from the Steam installation folder to your desktop.

Review the Uninstalling Steam topic for instructions to uninstall Steam (this must be done to remove your old Steam installation settings from the Windows Registry).

Review the Installing Steam topic for instructions to re-install Steam to the desired location.

Move the SteamApps folder into the new Steam installation folder to copy all of your downloaded game content, settings, and saved games to the new location.

Start Steam and log in to your existing Steam account to confirm that the move was successful.

Important:
If you are moving your Steam installation to a new hard drive and want to keep game saves/profiles for third party games that are not saved on Steam Cloud most of these can be found in your Documents folder: ~\Documents\[username]\My Games\. Moving this folder to the same location on your new hard drive will maintain your saves/profiles.

Note, I've included all the information including the links where I got the content from. I am not responsible if this does not work for you, and of course try at your own risk.

I did say I wasn't going to complain, but must also mention, that when I first contacted steam support asking for help, I mentioned that I was running win 7 via bootcamp. Rather than respond to my problem was , ie of not having enough memory to install a game on my win installation, Steam wrote to me saying that

We are unable to provide support for running the Windows version of Steam on a Mac, even when using Boot Camp.

Please use the native Mac version of Steam.

Now if DAO worked on Mac, this would still make sense. I don't see why my problem would be any different than what would be faced by someone who had a windows only pc/laptop and found out that they had bought a game which would require 23gb to install, and they didn't have enough space to install the same...aah well, if you haven't bought the game yet, please check your hard disk space first!

Open Source Strategy Game Maker - Spring Engine - And loads of free games!!!

2011-01-07T22:29:00.000+00:00

If you have been interested in making your own Strategy game, check out :
http://springrts.com/

It is a real time strategy game engine which can be used across mac,windows and linux, and has a growing collection of games already available for play...

The screenshots page will be great to have a feel. in case you learnt about this for the first time on this blog, and you also use it to design your own games, please drop a comment and let me know.

Back To The Future First Episode - Free from Telltale Games

2010-10-26T19:07:00.000+01:00

Telltale games are offering the first episode of their new point and click adventure based on the ‘Back to the Future’ franchise.

All you have to do is follow the instructions on their site: http://www.telltalegames.com/bttfoffer
If you have an existing account, there is no need to make a new account, you will get a chance to log in using your existing details and still get the offer.

To find out more about the game you can go here:
http://www.telltalegames.com/bttf

Just an icon for those who can't wait for Guild Wars 2:

2010-09-30T17:40:00.002+01:00

Just made an icon for those who want Guild Wars 2.
Feel free to download and use.

Stream Internet TV on your PS3

2010-06-02T16:51:00.000+01:00

This may be the first of few posts on how one may stream video content on PS3 . Read this in conjunction with the posts about streaming media to your PS3.

For now, let me mention tha PS3 iplayer and PS3 music video utility, not to mention the browser support for youtube.

Let me add this website to the list :

www.blinkbox.com

Which has a special interface for your ps3 when you load it from the ps3 browser....Try it...

30 Years of pacman

2010-05-21T20:20:00.000+01:00

Pacman celebrates it’s 30th year today...and while you can visit the official pacman site at : http://pacman.com/en/ to find out about it’s history and play a flash version, but what might be een more fun is to go to the google website [now what was the link again?] and play it on it’s first ever interactive google....

Now...is there an android version as well???

Steam on Mac

2010-05-12T20:37:00.001+01:00

Finally - The steam client for mac has come out of beta...

It was hard to find the download link, and so I decided to download a mac demo, and then clicked on the link to install windows steam...and I got the mac installation file --

Here’s the link:

Install Steam Now

Can’t wait to install torchlight, and watch the line between pc and mac blur.....mac will get such a boost from this....

Also, even if you did not own it previously, you get to download a free copy of Portal for mac. It’s also available for free for PC now.

UPDATE: Portal is free only till May 24, so if you haven’t downloaded your free copy yet, it’s time to do is soon!!

Two problems - in the list of games that i own, Team Fortress 2 seems to be absent. Hope it isn’t lost for ever... Second, I loaded torchlight, and for some reason it does not let me load my saved characters --- it might be back to boot camp for torchlight then...

Cheers!!!

Super Mario Brothers - Crossover version

2010-05-03T11:10:00.000+01:00

Hardly 4 days old, and over 400000 votes - resulting in 4 stars...

This is a flash conversion of the classic super mario brothers game. It’s a brilliant conversion, with excellent responsive controls. However the best part of the game is that it allows you to play as other favourite game characters like the guy from Contra. The characters have their signature moves and fighting abilities, and do not simply mimic mario in it’s world. You can play as the character that you can control best, or chose an axe throwing character which destroys the maps in more ways than mario had ever imagined!

It’s a fun game....if only they had put a coin slot to complete the experience!!

http://www.playedonline.com/game/598161/super-mario-crossover.html

Mechwarrior 4 and all extensions for free!

2010-05-01T20:41:00.000+01:00

In honor of BattleTech’s 25th anniversary, Smith & Tinker has authorized MekTek.net and MekTek Studios to distribute MechWarrior 4 (along with its expansion packs) completely free. For years, MekTek.net has been the central point for online distribution of MechWarrior 4 expansion packs. Now they can provide the core game free to the fans as well.

Unfortunately the website servers have crashed since download was offered, so you may have to wait longer to get your hands on it, but the popularity of the download itself should suggest what a great game it is!!

Streaming Media on PS3 from OSX or Mac [or Streaming Media on PS3 Part 3]

2010-04-25T21:57:00.000+01:00

This is my third instalment of how to stream media onto the PS3.

The only difference is that this time we are going to look at ways to stream stuff from your Mac to the PS3. It may work on xbox360 as well.

Three software can do the trick.

PS3 media server : This is cross platform, and works as well on the mac as it does on windows. It’s free, and although development seems to have stopped for some time, it probably does not need any fixing in the first place. I don’t use any other software on machines running Win XP, Win 7 or Mac OSX
Rivet : Is a paid software which states that it can stream media onto PS3 and XBOX
Playback: Is another software which claims to stream to either of the consoles. Again it’s a paid software.

I cannot comment on the advantages, if any, of paying for Rivet or Playback as I can’t justify paying for it when the PS3 media server seems to serve all my needs, and when I refuse to pay for those software just to try them. If someone can compare the three, or can recommend other software for the mac, please let us know.

My earlier entries on this topic:
Streaming Media to PS3 - Part 1
Streaming Media to PS3 - Part 2
Internet Radio via PS3

Cheapass Gamer - Credit when it's free!

2010-03-29T22:38:00.000+01:00

When I started this blog, one of my intentions was to find ways of introducing people to gaming. Of course, not everyone has a state of the art ‘Gaming Machine’ and neither will everyone want to shell out money to buy games when they don’t even know if they like games.

I keep trying to post links to free games on this blog. But as one can see, it’s not been easy for me to keep updating this blog as frequently as I would like.

So, here on the fragem blog, once and for all, I post a link to the mother of all free games threads...one that’s hosted on the [in]appropriately named Cheapa**e gamer forum...though the web url is slightly different...

This thread is regularly updated with links to free games. The games are classified according to categories, and if you read the thread you can also come across descriptions and screenshots of the games. How can I not give this poster credit where it’s due...or rather... free!!

Now, at risk of not having you return to this blog for a long time...here’s the link:

Megazell's Free And Legal PC Games

Cheers!

McDonald's Monopoly - Play.com Voucher

2010-03-29T21:37:00.000+01:00

In case anyone is interested in getting 1 pound off when you spend 8.95£ or more at play.com/mcd by 31.5.10

Feel free to enter this code -- PN63LMVKNCYH .If you use it, please do leave a comment so I can update this post. You will be doing others a favour as I suspect the code cannot be used more than once.

Tales of Monkey Island for PC/Mac via - Macheist

2010-03-09T18:46:00.000+00:00

Macheist.com has a great offer going on at present, where for a little over 13 pounds [19.95$] you get a load of software for your mac.

The software package isn’t that great as there are good free alternates to most of the software. However if you have been looking for a web page creator which is slightly better [so they say] than iWb, then this bundle is a great bargain.

Amongst other items, are two games. One of which is Tales of Monkey Island. Now one would be forgiven for thinking that the macheist bundle will only give us access to the Mac version of the game, but when I went to the download page, I discovered that I could download all the episodes - for either the Mac or the PC.

So those of you who wanted to play Tales of Monkey Island, either on the PC or the Mac, don’t wait any longer...go for the macheist.com nanobundle now!

PS3 date bug ... affects all fatty playstation 3 !!

2010-03-01T19:42:00.001+00:00

DO any of you remember the problem that microsoft zune players had ?? It was similar - something to do with dates...and microsoft dcided not to do anything about it as once that date passed, the problem would not recur for another 100 years!!!

Hehe!

I checked the psn blog, and looking at how they think they will solve the problem in 24 hours, i wont be surprised if their preferred path of action is masterful inaction!

As you may be aware, some customers have been unable to connect to the PlayStation Network today. This problem affects the models other than the new slim PS3.

We believe we have identified that this problem is being caused by a bug in the clock functionality incorporated in the system.

Errors include:

* The date of the PS3 system may be re-set to Jan 1, 2000.
* When the user tries to sign-in to the PlayStation Network, the following message appears on the screen; “An error has occurred. You have been signed out of PlayStation Network (8001050F)”.
* When the user tries to launch a game, the following error message appears on the screen and the trophy data may disappear; “Failed to install trophies. Please exit your game.”
* When the user tries to set the time and date of the system via the Internet, the following message appears on the screen; “The current date and time could not be obtained. (8001050F)”
* Users are not able to playback certain rental video downloaded from the PlayStation Store before the expiration date.

We hope to resolve this problem within the next 24 hours. In the meantime, if you have a model other than the new slim PS3, we advise that you do not use your PS3 system, as doing so may result in errors in some functionality, such as recording obtained trophies, and not being able to restore certain data.

As mentioned above, Please be advised that the new slim PS3 is not affected with this error. We are doing our best to resolve the issue and do apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Command and Conquer 4 promo and free ps3 game

2010-02-14T06:34:00.004+00:00

In the build up to the release of Command and Conquer 4, previous C&C games are available for free download : http://www.commandandconquer.com/classic

Also in celebration of valentines day, playstation network is giving flow for free - today only - log on to playstation store today to download flow...

Classic Sierra Online games for free:

2009-09-28T23:28:00.004+01:00

This link here will let you play several classic Sierra online games for free:

http://sarien.net/

If you never played these classics, or have a netbook which doesn't have an Ion processor and Nvidea graphics --- then you simply have to try these games...