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July 2000

Wednesday, July 26, 2000

New Top Links Added Cage @ 5:30 Comments

Once again I've updated and added new links. Here's a partial listing of the sites that have made it into my Top Links section.

Best New Unreleased Games of 2000 Part 1 Cage @ 5:14 Comments

I've put up the first article for the new site. Best New Unreleased Games of 2000 Part 1 briefly covers a few of the best games that I saw at E3 and have been looking forward to this year. While there have been more games then ever released this year there still are only a few that will really be worth your playing time. These are some of the best titles you should be keeping an eye out for the rest of the year.

Act Labs Force RS / RS Shifter Cage @ 1:13 Comments

Over a year ago I was looking at Force Feedback racing wheels for my PC. At the 1999 E3 I became quite enamored with the Act Labs Force Feedback RS. At the time they were also showing the RS Shifter, which is now available. Here's a shot of what it looks like:

I finally broke down and ordered one today. They have a special deal via the Act Labs web site where you can get the Force RS and RS Shifter for $189.99. The package also comes with a full version of Need for Speed III.

Diablo 2 Barbarian Cage @ 0:32 Comments

I've been re-playing Diablo 2 with a Barbarian character. So far I've found it much easier going then when I used a Sorceress. Here are a few tips:

Make sure you pick up the Howl Warcry. It's invaluable for creating spacing so that you don't get overrun by monsters.
While it's important to invest in Strength and Life, don't forget Dexterity. Your big brawny Barbarian will have a hard time hitting anything with a low Dexterity. Dexterity also helps you avoid getting hit, especially by lower level monsters.
Try to get a weapon that steals life early on. Instead of gulping down so many potions you can concentrate on killing.

While Diablo 2 has been fun, it's lost a bit of interest for me after playing through it once. It becomes very click oriented and lacks real replay value. That type of experience is better found in an on-line RPG such as EverQuest.
In a future article I'll take a look at some of the hot new games and hardware I saw at E3 this year. I'll also be exploring a new computer upgrade.

Friday, July 21, 2000

Local Links Added Cage @ 10:18 Comments

Over the last 4 years that I've lived in Bakersfield I've noticed how hard it is to connect with local computer resources. I've added a "Local" section to my links list for those who want to find local web resources for Bakersfield.

Compaq iPAQ 3650 Pocket PC Cage @ 9:30 Comments

I'm still waiting for my Compaq iPAQ 3650 Pocket PC. I ordered mine from Amazon.com. Today I went ahead and put another order in at PDAMart. They say that they don't charge until the order ships, and that I can cancel at any time before it ships. The web site and shopping interface isn't as sharp as it is at Amazon, but they seem to have strong user support for hand held PC's. I also considered ordering at MobilePlanet but their shopping cart gave me an incorrect total of over $1,000. I suspect it had something to do with their use of cookies, and my previous order at PDAMart just prior to using the MobilePlanet shopping cart. In any case it made me nervous about ordering from them, so I didn't complete the process.

Once I do get my PocketPC I'll be sure to post up a review, along with a slew of links to other on-line resources.

Finished Diablo II With Sorceress Cage @ 7:05 Comments

I just finished playing through Diablo 2 with a Sorceress last night. Despite my attempts to initially create a multi-talented "tank mage" I ended up depending on spells and evasion tactics from after Act 1.

Duriel at the end of Act 2, and Hephasto who appears just before the end of Act 4 gave me the most trouble. Here are a few tips that might help you out if you play a Sorceress.

Duriel is located in a small room that you can not back out of without using a Town Portal. On systems with 128MB of RAM or less you will experience quite a bit of lag as the level is loaded in. Duriel is very strong, so it's quite possible you will get hit several times and killed if you don't start trying to move immediately. Duriel is so strong that he can rapidly kill a Sorceress even if she is wearing high quality Splint Mail armor. Duriel quickly taught me the folly of the "tank mage" approach. No matter how much effort I put into better armor and items to raise my defensive abilities it wasn't enough. The only thing that bought me a little bit of time were items that raised my hit points.

The most effective tactic for my Sorceress was to use Blaze. Pick up a +2 or +3 staff of Blaze, ignite, and run like crazy around Duriel. Create a Town Portal when possible, and make liberal use of your health and mana potions. Duriel has a freeze attack that is a "Demonic power" and resistances to cold won't help much. Items that reduce the time for cold effects will help, as will items that speed your base movement. A good set of Fast or Fastest run/walk are a must for a Sorceress. You will spend a lot of your time in the game avoiding monsters and using hit and run tactics.

Monsters that have high resistances to all magic, and that are fast also pose a problem for a Sorceress. Hephasto has both, and he likes to close rapidly with you and go toe to toe towards the end of Act 4. Cold based attacks can not be counted on to slow him down because of his high resistance to magic. He has a lot of hit points, so any magic based attack will take quite some time to kill him. You definitely will want to try to kill as many of the monsters around him as possible before you take him on.

Against any high level "boss" creature a few successful Static Charge spells can quickly drop some of their hit points. I had neglected to develop this skill, so I didn't even try this approach. Instead I relied on Fire Wall spells. The Fire Wall spell can do massive amounts of damage, and it sticks around for awhile. I could have used a Blaze spell instead, but by then I had sold my Blaze staff. I knew a Level 1 Blaze wasn't going to be too successful. Using Fire Wall still didn't make it easy, and I ended up dying quite a few times in the process. Hephasto was certainly one of the toughest monsters in the entire game for me. In comparison Diablo was a cake walk.

There you have it. For more tips on Diablo tactics and walk-thoughs you can visit Diabloii.net or for those who are especially frustrated you can visit Gameguru for Diablo 2 trainers and cheat programs (single player mode only).

Sunday, July 16, 2000

UMax UGate-3000 Cage @ 16:04 Comments

I've uploaded my review of the UMax UGate-3000 hub and Cable/ADSL gateway. It's a bit short, but it should help those who are looking around for a way to network a couple of computers together and share a Cable Internet connection.

Since this is the first review I've put up on my revised site, let me lay down some of the ground rules for products that are reviewed here:

Only finished products that are available now, and that were purchased with the reviewer's own money will be covered.
Reviews will appear all on one page. No clicking through hundreds of banner filled pages to get to the meat of the review.
If a product doesn't look interesting, it won't get reviewed. I don't plan on featuring reviews of "Daikatana Gold" or the "Cheese Whiz 2000" - ever.
No freebies will be accepted from companies who have their products reviewed here.
Companies may advertise here, but the advertisements will be clearly marked, and will not be for products under review.

That's about it. I hope to become more active with updating content in the future. It's not my full time job, but I'll try to get something up at least every few days for now. I'll see what direction things take in the future.

Site Revised Cage @ 10:35 Comments

Yep, the site is finally up and running. I've finished updating the look, and I'll start to add some content soon. Things to look forward to include:

and more.