Tag: games

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Hamachi

My brothers are out of town but that won’t stop us from playing DOTA :P This morning, we played against each other as if we were on the same network. Well, not really since there was a slight latency delay due to the generally poor quality (and expensive at that!) of Internet connection in this country. But it definitely was playable.

So how did we do it? We used Hamachi, an almost zero-configuration virtual private networking (VPN) utility. It was such a breeze to use: We set it up, I created a VPN (along with an access password), and we all joined the VPN. It’s not your heavy metal, ultra-robust, super secure VPN solution but it’s enough for most needs and, as I said, almost zero-configuration*.

*We did encounter a snag when we couldn’t find games in DOTA but we found the solution here. Basically it means going to Control Panel->Network Connections->Advanced->Advanced Settings and putting Hamachi to the top of the list of connections.

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Blizzard Games Online Store

Since I’ve been playing DOTA quite frequently, I decided to buy Warcraft III and Warcraft III: Frozen Throne. I checked out the prices at the local shops but I was turned off by the price. So I decided to check out Blizzard’s online store. Ordering was easy and soon I was downloading the installers via Blizzard’s custom Bit Torrent client. You also get a personal page where all the games you bought, whether online or boxed, from Blizzard are listed. Since I already have Starcraft and Starcraft: Brood War, I simply registered them and now I have four Blizzard games in my collection which I can retrieve and download any time. Best of all, you can download either the PC or Mac version. I’m loving Blizzard! Maybe I’ll get Diablo II next. Hmmmm.

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Defender Of The Ancients

I have belatedly discovered Defender of the Ancients or, as it is more commonly called, DOTA. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you would know that it is a scenario map of Warcraft III. In the scenario map, you and the other players play heroes against each other. To aid in this pursuit, you have available weapons, armor, potions, and other items that enhance you abilities. Sort of like a It’s like a role-playing game in a nutshell.

Previously, I’ve only been playing Starcraft as that’s about the only good game I can play on my old IBM Thinkpad X22. However, when I got my Asus EEE PC, I found out I can actually play Warcraft III, and consequently DOTA, reasonably well. So now, after almost 5 years I’m  finally playing it.

Better late than never.

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Game Crab Boardgame Cafe

I was looking for a place to go to for Friday night and I read about Game Crab Boardgame Cafe. Board game cafes are places where you can play, what else, board games. Apparently the concept is big in the US and Europe and these guys are aiming to bring and make it big here. Curious as to how it all works, I invited Michelle for a visit.

The cafe is situated at the 2nd floor of FBR Arcade in Katipunan where Yellow Cab Katipunan branch is. Thankfully, There was sufficient parking at the basement as parking is a major pain in Katipunan.

When you go in, the friendly servers and game masters welcome you in, ask you what your order is, ask you what game you want to play, show you how to play and so on. We first played two rounds of Amazeing Labyrinth and then an assisted (by JB) round of Heroscape. The whole board game cafe concept sounds fun in writing and I’m glad to say it actually is quiet fun in actuality.

However, I’ll have to say that the food is definitely not Game Crab’s main attraction. We tried the “special” pasta and the chili wings. The pasta sucks and the chili wings were so-so (but they are hot indeed). It’s too bad since it could easily be made better and make the place a really good place to hang out in.

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Starcraft II

A few days ago, I downloaded and watched the Starcraft II gameplay videos for the Protoss and Terran races. The Protoss video was cool. They have a lot of new tricks up their sleeves: mobile energy sources, zealots who rush to combat, huge mechanized units and an overly powerful unit called the mothership. But it was the Terran video that totally blew me away! Aside from light but high mobile infantry, they also have a bunch of new air units one of which can transform into a bipedal ground unit. But the best unit has got to be the Thor: A huge bipedal ground unit that’s essentially huge guns on two legs. We ended up  so inspired that we played Starcraft. And guess what? It was still lotsa fun. If that’s the case for a game that’s almost 10 years old, I just can’t imagine how Starcraft II will be. Can’t wait!