Have you Fragged anyone lately?!?

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?

2011-01-30T19:09:00.002Z

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!!!

2011-01-07T22:29:00.000Z

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

2010-03-09T18:46:00.000Z

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 !!

2010-03-01T19:42:00.001Z

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

2010-02-14T06:34:00.004Z

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...

Yellow Light of Death - PS3

2009-09-17T20:13:00.006+01:00

After years of posting about XBOX and Wii dying, it is only fair that I post about the PS3's yellow light of death. As I type, BBC Watchdog is showing a watchdog investigation into defective PS3 consoles [Sept 20 2009 show].

Gamesindustry.biz has covered it here. I quote

As a stunt for the show, Watchdog set up a van outside Sony's UK headquarters – dubbed the PlayStation Repair Action Team – earlier this month and offered to fix consoles suffering from the hardware problem for free.

Watchdog received 155 complaints from viewers, with 10 viewers showing up for the street stunt. Watchdog also issued a technical report to Sony, based on only three home consoles, one of which had already been subject to an attempted repair by a user.

Well, this seems to be affecting the original PS3's, so if you have one, hope it doesn't break, or else sell it on ebay, as it still gets a higher resale price than the newer ones...As one game podcast said, there are many with collections of ps2 games who appreciate the backward compatibility of the original ps3s.

Here is a link for a guide to fix the Yellow light of death :http://www.squidoo.com/fix-my-ps3

Gamescon 2009 blog for you

2009-08-23T00:36:00.002+01:00

Lazy - that's me

Not at GAmescon - that's me again!

But I do have a good friend, who has been slogging it at Gamescon, and for our benefit he also put up a blog to chronicle his experience!

I know I haven't heard the end of it yet --- and so I think I ought to share it with others as well --

to go ahead and have a gander :

Presenting ' A wanderer's tales ' http://surferosh.blogspot.com/

Play Crysis Warhead for free for 1 week...

2009-08-15T23:51:00.005+01:00

Are you interested in a free trial for Crysis Warhead...

Introduction
As promised in July's monthly update a brand new trial period is coming! This is the perfect opportunity to get your friends and family involved in some great online battles in Crysis Wars. You'll get full access to both LAN and Online play and you can even use the editor with the trial client, for free!

Summer Trial Period
We're giving you another entire week to enjoy the Crysis Wars. We'll be providing you with full information in the very near future on how to take part in this trial. Those of you that have keys from previous trials, they will be reactivated on the trial period start date.

Go here:

http://www.mycrysis.com/newsdetails.php?news=42258

Yet another London Gaming Expo!!!23 -24 May

2009-05-18T19:58:00.003+01:00

We've been to this one before! And it was more fun than other gaming showdowns...

If you are interested head to London this weekend 23-24 May for a gaming expo and a comics expo - lots of wonderful costumes [and let me see if I can pull my photos from last time and post them here]

The good thing about a blog with a select follower group is that I simply add some links and let you do the work...so here's the link ....

Mind you 23 May might not be great for gaming fans as it will be filled with comic fans --- and here's why:

Cosplay World Record @ MCM Expo

Be part of our World Record Atempt May 23rd at London MCM Expo. We hope to smash our own World record for the largest number of people in costume from a video game.

Are you attending in Cosplay? Want to take part? Help us plan the attempt and register in advance.

Update 16 May, We NOW have OVER the number required to break the record. But we still need MORE. We want to make this a BIG win.

Personally, it might be more fun going there on the 23rd itself!!

Gaming Wallpapers

2009-05-15T19:16:00.004+01:00

check out Orioto's game based wallpapers....

Must thank Lifehacker.com for pointing this out....

This one adorns my desktop now:

GameON! London

2009-05-13T23:27:00.005+01:00

Consumer exhibition for gamers in London... Not too many exhibitors signed up at present, but neither do the tickets cost a lot. And you are sure to see some good gaming [-- +- goody bags?? ]

It's due to be held on 20 - 21 June, in London [doh!!] and if I get a chance, I will make sure I am there....

Website: http://www.gameonlondon.co.uk/

Official spiel from the website:

GameOn! London is the premier exhibition for Video Gaming, eSports and Gaming Entertainment in the UK, coming to Olympia National Hall, on the 20th & 21st June 2009.
GameOn! London will be open on Saturday the 20th from 10:00am to 07:00pm and on Sunday the 21st from 10:00am to 06:00pm.
See and play the latest games from the world's best publishers, the latest gaming hardware, and see the best players in the UK compete for £40,000 in the finals of the United Kingdom eSports Association Dell XPS Premiership - live!

Play against and with friends in our live gaming events and
show London just how good you are!

Finished Mass Effect -- now ready for Mass Effect 2

2009-05-13T23:21:00.002+01:00

Just finished Mass Effect.

It's a game you can play at your own pace, and depending on what character you chose and how u use your xp points to level up your character, the game may rarely become too challenging...but what will interest you is the story and the cinematography. You get lots of options in the game, and as I am not someone who tends to replay the same game to see alternative endings, I am really pleased that I chose options that fit with my nature---because I got an ending which really appealed to me!! Wish I had recorded the gameplay ie the video from the endings - it was great to watch my character.... aah!! not telling!!

I think only the first or second skirmish annoyed me..that was before I understood how to use the game controls to my advantage. The story takes place in various worlds, and the missionsand worlds were all wonderful barring one world where they had little brainless apes moving around, and I had to find one amongst hundreds because it had picked up a data capsule or something. Blurgh!
Off all the choices I made, there was a choice that meant I could lose one of two members of my squad in action... The one I chose to save later became a romantic angle for my character -- makes me wonder what would have happened if I'ld saved the other character??? hmm!!

neway guys - nice game for those of us who are aging... nothing terribly exciting in terms of action , but cerebral enough in terms of it being a rps with a story line....

hmmm now what next??
guild wars [again]
team fortress 2
far cry 2
sim city 4
sims 3 [yet to be released]
perfect world
dragonica beta

decisions...

PS: That's a character created in mass effect - does she look like anyone you know?? Meg Ryan maybe??

Free Upgrade for Guild Wars - 4th anniversary special

2009-05-06T18:35:00.003+01:00

From the NCSoft website :

Free Xunlai Storage Pane - Limited Time Offer
To celebrate the Guild Wars® 4 Year Anniversary, we’re giving away a free pane of storage to all Guild Wars players. Here’s how you can claim your free pane of storage:
Go to the Guild Wars section of the NCsoft Store, select Xunlai Storage Pane and click on the Buy Now button.
You will go to the Xunlai Storage Pane information page—click on the Buy Now button again.
You will be prompted to log in to your NCsoft account (NOTE: This is different from your Guild Wars account). If you do not already have one, please click the Create Account button and follow the prompts.
Once you have logged in, select the Guild Wars account that will receive this upgrade. If you have not already linked your Guild Wars account to your NCsoft Master Account, you will have an option to link your Guild Wars account now.
Once you’ve selected your Guild Wars account, you will see a screen where you can enter a coupon code. Please enter FREESTORAGE and click the Apply Coupon button.
You will receive a page confirming that you were charged $0.00 for your storage pane. Please click on the Continue button.
Congratulations! You should now have a new pane of Xunlai account storage for your account. If you were logged in to Guild Wars during this process, please make sure you log out and back in for this upgrade to apply.
For more information please read the Frequently Asked Questions about this promotion.
If you find that your Guild Wars game account is already linked to a NCsoft master account and you do not remember the NCsoft master account information, please follow the instructions provided here.