GW2: The achievement that did not exist

...but I did it anyway.

  As I leveled my character I noticed that seeing dead or downed players on the mini-map was a common occurrence, many of them would die several times on tougher dynamic events and required constant reviving, it was almost a full-time job but I never put much though into it since the XP from reviving them was decent.

  When I reached lvl 30 I found my self in a pretty Silvary town filled NPCs and I took a break to start with dinner preparations, so I left my character in that "safe looking" town and went to the kitchen, little did I know that this little Silvary camp(south of kessex hills) was constantly raided by undead, so to my surprise I was dead when I came back from the kitchen, that was my first death. From that moment I decided to challenge my self to reach max level without dieing, so I deleted that character and restarted from scratch.

  Regardless of my wish to not die, I was not about to just play safe since there is no fun in that, I did however begun to take extra precautions when I had to go AFK. At first I would teleport to safe location but that had a cost, then I remembered that I had a Hall of Monuments Teleportation stone(to access my HoM rewards from GW1) in my bag that would teleport me to a safe instance, I could use it at anytime providing I was not in combat and when I leave the instance I would return to my former location, it was perfect, so from then on I begun using it every time I wanted to go AFK.

  The reason I was able to avoid death can be summed to one word, "dodging". It is the most powerful combat mechanic in the game, it's great to avoid those mean red circles and the nasty 1-shot hits from bosses, however I still see a lot of players ignoring it and just standing there taking the punishment which I assume is the reason for most deaths.

type /deaths to see your death count
  That screen-shot was taken 9 days ago and ever since I got to level 80 tried to get my self killed, first I would farm whole groups of undead, then I tried soloing Veterans eventually I died the next day when I tried to solo 3 veteran NPCs but I did so with a smile, my quest was over...

  I must say that I had a lot of fun doing this achievement even though it was just for personal satisfaction. It reminded me of when I played the old Diablo 2 in hardcore mode, every time my hp bar dropped bellow 30% I could feel my heart ponding against my chest, I even went down a few times during my adventure and I could feel the sweat going down my back when it happened.

  I'm however a bit disappointed that the "lifetime survivor" achievement was not working(and still isn't at this time) as it would clearly be complete by now.

Guild Wars 2 launch

  We were all excited by the GW2 launch, however once the head-start begun it was chaos. I love Guild Wars in all its glory but I have to say it had one of the most problematic launches I have seen, and I have participated a few.

  Some of the problems were to be expected such as login server overload due to sheer amount of players trying to login and reserve their names, other problems however like party members not showing in the map or players in a party not being able to join the same instance, those hit me completely by surprise because in all betas and stress-tests they done previously every feature worked perfectly.

  Like all companies ArenaNet begun doing daily patches which in my books is great, but for some reason players hate them because it stops them from playing for a few minutes, here is a message for those guys out there "they are fixing things the game you are playing, stop being retarded specially when the 'downtimes' are basically 10-15 min once a day".

  The game never stopped being playable and due to the Overflow system players could always play the games even if their server was full plus the downtimes are minimal, so even though they had a rough time I believe it was still a reasonably successful launch.

Quantum Conundrum review

This game has several similarities with Portal, in fact both come from the mind of the designer(Kim Swift) as and such you will be spending your time going from room to room surpassing challenges as they come.
In this game you take the role of a kid visiting his uncle, a genius Professor named Fitz Quadwrangle who has turned his mansion into a huge laboratory, on arrival you find that as usual something went wrong and you are now stuck in the mansion.

One thing my geeky side finds very entertaining is that Quadwrangle, who acts as a narrator/guide in a similar manner to Glados in Portal is voiced by John de Lancie, who will be easily recognized by anyone who enjoyed watching Start Trek as Q, which is also in that series related to the quantum phenomena, so has you can imagine every time Professor Quadwrangle spoke I was literally imagining Q saying those words which added to the enjoyment of the game.

The mechanic of the game revolves around using dimensions who change the properties of the world in order to overcome the challenges. These four dimensions are the fluffy(objects becomes lighter), heavy(objects becomes heavier and can resist lasers), slow and reverse gravity dimensions, they change the physics of all objects and can only be used one at the time. Initially you have little control over the dimensions them selves and its usually one or two at the same time, but as the game progresses you will start using more dimensions.

While the concept of the game is interesting and fun, I found the puzzles them selves to be boring as my brain was craving for some hard challenges, mainly because the narrator usually tips you in how to overcome the problem reducing that feeling we get after achieving something difficult, making most part of the game feel almost like a big tutorial.

Like all puzzle type games there is little re-playability value, unless you like to try doing the same puzzles against the clock or/and in this case with less dimension switching, but then it no longer becomes a mental exercise and its all about reflexes and luck.

In the end regardless of what I felts about the challenges the game was fun, and when you look at the price of the game its definitely worth the cost, so far two DLC(downloadable content) have already been announced for this summer meaning puzzles will no doubt become more interesting from now on.

Bulletstorm review


A futuristic first-person-shooter filled with mutants, criminals, gore and everything else you can think of, this game caters to the primal urges of every FPS lover.

You are Grayson Hunt, the leader of a small blackops task-force called Dead Echo who went rogue because they found out that General Sarrano was using them as his personal assassination squad to murder innocents, after that you and your team became space pirates until an opportunity arises for you to make Sarrano pay.

The plot is pretty straight forward and there are no major plots or twists, but this game isn't about the story, playing this game is just like going to see a transformers movie, you go there for the special effects, the explosion and possibly to see some hot actress they forcefully added to the film, this game is no different.

In Bulletstorm combat is visceral and very fast-paced as you need to get in close and personal and kick some ass... literally, sliding through the ground kick enemies in to the air and blowing their head off is a common occurrence in this game.


There is some sort of progression were it allows you to spend point you earn from killing enemies to restock and upgrade your weapons slightly, so if you like games like Unreal Tournament where you are awards more point for doing double kills, then you probably will love Bulletstorm because not only do you get more points for a double or triple kill you also get point for killing your target with style.

I truly had a great time playing this game. I found my self smiling or laughing the whole game because the character are always making witty jokes at each other and shooting at the balls of the enemies for extra points is not only hilarious, but because also it appeases my inner-phycopath in a way I haven't felt since WH40k:Space Marine.

Social engineering FAIL

  My final exams are done and I am glad to say it all work as planned, now for the next 2 months i wont have much to do other then focus on my hobbies, and we all know what those are... gaming!
  While browsing the web I came across an interesting conversation about some kid who tried to scam another guy by posing as Steam employee in order to steal someone else's account, this is known as social engineering, its the act of tricking another person into giving you information/access you should not be allowed to have, one could also call it social hacking, this event reminded me of something someone tried to do to me back when I used to play Counter-Strike on steam several years ago, anyway here is the conversation:
br0kenrabbit says: hi
Greg_ValveOLS says: good evening
br0kenrabbit says: What's ip?
br0kenrabbit says: up?
Greg_ValveOLS says: my name is greg a member of the valve online Support team
br0kenrabbit says: On MSN?
Greg_ValveOLS says: yes :)
br0kenrabbit says: Why?
Greg_ValveOLS says: we logged multiple ips from your account and ned to verifi your information
br0kenrabbit says: My information?
Greg_ValveOLS says: we believe someone may have stolen your account mmmm you havent shared youre account infomation with anyone have you?
br0kenrabbit says: No. I don't even have it written down.
Greg_ValveOLS says: hmmm maybe a keylogger on you r PC then maybe you need a format?
br0kenrabbit says: Well...
Greg_ValveOLS says: if you can verify your account information to me i can insure that only your ip have access to it Its a new security feature were trying because this happens so muchlogin names and passwords aint safe anymroe You know. L:)
br0kenrabbit says: Well
Greg_ValveOLS says: dont worry this connect it secure
br0kenrabbit says: Can I be honest with you, Greg?
Greg_ValveOLS says: k
br0kenrabbit says: Look, I don't know how you go this MSN account name, don't really care, either.
br0kenrabbit says: Unlike you, I DO work for Valve. Trace my ip and you'll see.
Greg_ValveOLS says: huh?
Greg_ValveOLS says: bs
br0kenrabbit says: Trace it.
Greg_ValveOLS says: how
br0kenrabbit says: Start/run/cmd type Tracert and then my IP address and hit enter.
Greg_ValveOLS says: oh k
br0kenrabbit says: As an employee, I know that Valve employees will NEVER contact users over MSN. I also know a valve employee will NEVER ask a user for his/her username and password.
br0kenrabbit says: I'm putting a temporary hold on your Steam account.
Greg_ValveOLS says: why?
br0kenrabbit says: Have you read the ToS?
Greg_ValveOLS says: Tod?
Greg_ValveOLS says: tos
br0kenrabbit says: terms of service
Greg_ValveOLS says: were?
br0kenrabbit says: Greg, this is a serious infraction against the Tos. You are at risk of losing your account.
Greg_ValveOLS says: why
br0kenrabbit says: I just told you why
Greg_ValveOLS says: :(
br0kenrabbit says: I need some information from you if you want me to unlock you account. I'm going to write you up but I will only suspend you account for three days, since this is your first infraction, okay?
Greg_ValveOLS says: k
br0kenrabbit says: First, what is the name the account is registered to. Not the user name, the persons real name who created the account. This is for verification purposes.
Greg_ValveOLS says: xxxxx xxxxxxx
br0kenrabbit says: Is this you?
Greg_ValveOLS says: ya
br0kenrabbit says: Are you the only user of this account?
Greg_ValveOLS says: ya
br0kenrabbit says: Okay, and what is the username
Greg_ValveOLS says: xxxxxxxx
br0kenrabbit says: Okay.
br0kenrabbit says: I see you have purchased a few of our games, thank you. :)
Greg_ValveOLS says: some. dude
Greg_ValveOLS says: m
br0kenrabbit says: Do you always log on from the same IP?
Greg_ValveOLS says: ya
br0kenrabbit says: And who is your internet providers, your ISP?
Greg_ValveOLS says: xxxxxxx
br0kenrabbit says: Thank you. One moment, please, let me verify this information.
Greg_ValveOLS says: am i gonna be bale to play 2nite?
br0kenrabbit says: What is your city of residence?
br0kenrabbit says: That depends on if you cooperate. You're doing fine so far.
Greg_ValveOLS says: xxxxxx
br0kenrabbit says: Illinios?
Greg_ValveOLS says: yes
br0kenrabbit says: Okay. And what is the password associated with this account?
Greg_ValveOLS says: xxxxxxx
br0kenrabbit says: Okay. Do not try to log into steam. If you are connected now you need to log off.
Greg_ValveOLS says: why
br0kenrabbit says: So I can update your account.
Greg_ValveOLS says: can I play 2 nite
Greg_ValveOLS says: clan fight
Greg_ValveOLS says: wont win without me heh
br0kenrabbit says: Heh. You'll have to wait a few minutes. Are you logged off?
Greg_ValveOLS says: ya
br0kenrabbit says: Okay. Give me just a moment.
br0kenrabbit says: Try to log in now.
Greg_ValveOLS says: k
Greg_ValveOLS says: It says login failed wtf wtf!!@?
br0kenrabbit says: Greg
Greg_ValveOLS says: did u ban me???????????>WHY
br0kenrabbit says: Greg
Greg_ValveOLS says: what
br0kenrabbit says: Valve will never ask for your username and password.
  The most interesting part of this conversation was the fact that this kid was fooled with the same trick he himself was using in the first place which was most entertaining.

  Like I said this reminded me of a time when some random 13 year old asked me if  I wanted free full games in my steam account, it was such an obvious trap I wondered if the guy was being serious in his attempt to steal my account information, but I went along with it to see how far it would go.

  At some point he sent me a file, I don't remember if it was a .txt or a .doc file but either one was ludicrous, as I read the content of the file I laughed, it was a survey asking for several information two of which were the account name and password, I asked myself who would get caught by such a ridiculous scheme but then again I also knew several gullible people back then specially the younger generation who would probably be blinded by the prize to see the obvious.

  In the end I gave him the survey back with fake information, he then replied saying the information was not correct, I told him "really? are you sure?", he clearly didn't pick up on the sarcasm so I told the guy how what he was doing was as ridiculous as he was an idiot, of course he tried to defend his scheme saying how he had given access to several other people, then I blocked the guy from the friends list and never saw the guy again.

  I think the most saddest part of this is that this kid probably started doing this because someone else did it to him and he probably fell for it, otherwise there was no reason for him to think such a thing would actually work.

 
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