Continue reading »]]> It’s already the first week of December but you still have enough time to procure some goodies for those gamers & geeks on your gift-list! There are some fantastic game releases this year and we’ll show you some of the ones we think are the coolest!

Check these out…

Assassin’s Creed: Revelations

Stabby stabby…

The latest Ubisoft inhumation tale, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations looks pretty good. While not an addition to the main story line, it definitely succeeds in fulfilling your climbing-around-and-jump-stabbing needs for this year.

Here’s a synopsis:

When a man has won all of his battles and defeated all of his enemies; what is left for him to achieve? Ezio Auditore must leave his life behind in search of answers, in search of the truth. In Assassin’s Creed® Revelations, master assassin Ezio Auditore walks in the footsteps of the legendary mentor Altaïr, on a journey of discovery and revelation. It is a perilous path — one that will take Ezio to Constantinople, the heart of the Ottoman Empire, where a growing army of Templars threatens to destabilize the region.

In addition to the culmination of Ezio’s award-winning story, a refined and expanded online multiplayer experience returns with new and additional modes, maps, and characters, allowing you to test your slaying skills against others from around the world.

This one certainly looks like a solid choice. And, you can get it quicker as a digital download!

Batman: Arkham City

I am the terror that flaps in the night! Or wait.. wrong caped crusader.

Batman is back in the next Arkham installment and this game is sweet. Check it out.

Batman: Arkham City is third-person Action-Adventure game that delivers an authentic Dark Knight experience rooted in an original and engrossing story as well as a combination of melee combat, stealth, investigative and speed-based challenge gameplay. A sequel to 2009′s Batman: Arkham Asylum, Arkham City features the full range of classic enemies seen in the previous game, in addition to Catwoman, who is a playable character and has her own storyline in the new release.

Additional features include: a range of new gadgets, an increased number of possible melee opponents and a range of movement options for Batman that include leaping, sliding, gliding and the grapple hook.

This one should definitely be on the list for any Batman fans. For the PS3 or Xbox 360 gamers, there is a Collector’s Edition that comes with all sorts of neat goodies (Batman statue, art book, early access to in-game bonuses and more!) – definitely a great gift idea.

Battlefield 3

For the First-person Shooter fans on your list, there are two big buys you should be looking at. The first one on this list is Battlefield 3, from DICE and EA.

Battlefield 3 leaps ahead of the competition with the power of Frostbite 2, the next installment of DICE’s cutting-edge game engine. This state-of-the-art technology is the foundation on which Battlefield 3 is built, delivering superior visual quality, a grand sense of scale, massive destruction, dynamic audio and incredibly lifelike character animations. As bullets whiz by, walls crumble, and explosions throw you to the ground, the battlefield feels more alive and interactive than ever before.

In Battlefield 3, players step into the role of the elite U.S. Marines where they will experience heart-pounding single player missions and competitive multi-player actions ranging across diverse locations from around the globe including Europe, Middle-East and North America.

If you’re getting this as a gift for someone, you may want to discreetly find out if the intended recipient is a Battlefield fan or a Call of Duty fan – some folks take that seriously .

This one is also available for Digital Download if you want to get it quicker!

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3

This is the other big First-person Shooter game for 2011, from Infinity Ward & Activision. Between Modern Warfare 3 and Battlefield 3, you’ve got a couple of great options to “deck the halls with bombshells falling – falalalala…”. If one doesn’t do it for the gun-nut/gamer on your list, there’s nothing wrong with getting both!

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is First-person Shooter rooted in a fictional, but ultra realistic near-future conflict of mostly American forces with those of the Russian Federation around the globe.

The third installment in the Modern Warfare branch of the Call of Duty franchise, Modern Warfare 3 features a heavy focus on multiplayer gameplay which includes innovative new functionality that encourages multiple gameplay combat strategies, a new 2-player co-op option, new play modes, weapons and more. The game also includes a gripping single player campaign that picks up where Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 left off.

Modern Warfare 3 is also available as a Digital Download, so you can get it even faster! And for the console-gamers (Playstation 3 / Xbox 360) on your list there is a “Hardened Edition” of Modern Warfare 3 that comes with all kinds of tangible & digital goodies – including (but not limited to) one year of full membership in the Call of Duty Elite service (which gets you future DLCs, map packs and more!)

(The) Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim

The much-anticipated next installation in the Elder Scrolls series, Skyrim is sure to please. Beautiful graphics, the solid Bethesda Role-playing Game style and a great story make this a smart buy for pretty much any gaming fan on your list. Here’s a synopsis;

The next chapter in the highly anticipated Elder Scrolls saga arrives from the makers of the 2006 and 2008 Games of the Year, Bethesda Game Studios. Skyrim reimagines and revolutionizes the open-world fantasy epic, bringing to life a complete virtual world open for you to explore any way you choose.

Story: “The Empire of Tamriel is on the edge. The High King of Skyrim has been murdered. Alliances form as claims to the throne are made. In the midst of this conflict, a far more dangerous, ancient evil is awakened. Dragons, long lost to the passages of the Elder Scrolls, have returned to Tamriel. The future of Skyrim, even the Empire itself, hangs in the balance as they wait for the prophesized Dragonborn to come; a hero born with the power of The Voice, and the only one who can stand amongst the dragons.”

This is a big release for 2011, you should probably just grab this one if you’re not sure what to get . There is also a lovely Collector’s Edition that includes a statue, a Skyrim art book and more! If you have an Elder Scrolls fan on your list, this Collector’s Edition would be perfect!

L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition

L.A. Noire: The Complete Edition bundles the game with all of the DLCs and addon content that has been released to date. This is also the release that brings L.A. Noire to PC gaming!

Amid the postwar boom of Hollywood’s Golden Age, newly minted detective Cole Phelps is thrown headfirst into a city drowning in violence and corruption. Utilizing groundbreaking new technology that captures an actor’s facial performance in astonishing detail, L.A. Noire is a violent crime thriller that blends breathtaking action with true detective work to deliver an unprecedented interactive experience. Interrogate witnesses, search for clues and chase down suspects as you struggle to find the truth in a city where everyone has something to hide.

Against an overarching plot of violence and betrayal, L.A. Noire challenges players to solve a series of self-contained cases as they work their way through the ranks of the LAPD. Each case features a distinct storyline with a beginning, middle and end, and each successfully solved case brings new challenges and leads Cole closer to the true story at the dark heart of the Los Angeles criminal underworld.

L.A. Noire is a very cool game and another solid choice for the gamer on your list. This one is also available for Digital Download!

Minecraft

We recently did a review on a game called Survivalcraft, for the Windows Phone platform, which is a “clone” (though not exactly) of this game; Minecraft.

Minecraft is a game about placing blocks to build anything you can imagine. At night monsters come out, make sure to build a shelter before that happens.

Minecraft is a great game for anybody who likes playing games like Tetris or enjoys building with LEGOs. It also adds a nice survival touch to block-play. This one is worth checking out for sure.

Check these games out to give the gamers on your list something they’re sure to enjoy!

(Just click the titles)

Continue reading »]]> Today, I am reviewing Survivalcraft, a Minecraft clone on the Windows Phone platform (the first one and darn good!).

Since I’m reviewing a game for the Windows Phone, I thought it fitting to write the review from my Windows Phone (Samsung Focus). I’ve been holding back by review until the first update for the game was released as it brought (among other things) the ability to take in-game screenshots. Woohoo! I have a screenshot app on my phone (Sideloaded, thanks to the ChevronWP7 unlocker) but it doesn’t currently support screenshots in games or videos. So I wanted to wait until I had good visuals before completing the game review.

Note: I have never played the original Minecraft, this review will not be a comparison.

A ship maroons you on the shores of an infinite block world.

As the game starts, you see a ship sailing away – leaving you stranded on the beach. You’re on your own now!

How rude! Hmph! ... Hey.. hey wait! Come back!

….

What is the only reasonable response to such treatment in an infinite block world?

First, since I have the screenshot, we wait a little longer – staring forlornly after the ship. But you know you can’t stand there forever, the sun will set eventually on your little (large) strip of sand and you’re not going to want to be exposed when night falls (even though there’s no creatures yet).

You need shelter.

How do you find shelter in an infinite block world?

Start digging! You’ve got a long way to go before you have a respectable dwelling but there’s no reason to stop there. Go exploring, spelunking, base-jumping (sorry, no parachutes), build an underground lake or fall into an underground lake from very far above after removing the block directly beneath your feet!

Woops!

WELCOME TO SURVIVALCRAFT!

Developed for the Windows Phone platform by kaalus, Survivalcraft seems much more fulfilling than your average mobile game. You can build yourself a monstrous, sprawling castle that wraps around whole mountains or a giant, glass, floating tower. Or, you can go the route I’m working on right now which is; urban development. You can catch a glimpse of my in-progress highway system (the straight roadway) in the photo above. I have two roads that blaze straight lines in from the beach that you start on that are connected far inland. Everywhere inside those roadways is now undergoing urban development, which means it’s all going to be leveled like when you use the leveling tool in Sim City. Flat. Then, a city!

That’s gonna take a while but everything will go much quicker and more smoothly since the Alpha 1.1 version was released. There are a whole slough of new features, which you can read about HERE (on the developer’s blog). So if you had looked at it before and it wasn’t quite up to your standards, I really think it’s worth another look, because..

..damn this game is addicting.

Crafting, building, destroying, falling, climbing.. maybe a little sleeping. I’m having a lot of fun with this game and there aren’t even any creatures to threaten your safety… yet! They’re certainly on the way. I was pretty skeptical about the movement-controls and how well this would all work but I’m really having a blast (I hope my girlfriend isn’t getting jealous). The developer is listening to the community to help determine the direction of this game and he’s doing a great job of implementing the features that the users really want.

Great job bringing this lovely blockiness to Windows Phone kaalus! Thanks to the original Minecraft developers for giving kaalus a (seemingly, as I haven’t played it) great beast to start with!

It’s time to go ruin some block world habitats and scenery for my urban development. You should visit the Survivalcraft links below. I definitely recommend buying this game at the lower price before it gets too hot – and it is definitely heating up.

• Developer kaalus’ blog site: http://kaalus.wordpress.com
• Get Survivalcraft for Windows Phone: http://tinyurl.com/SurvivalcraftWP7
• Survivalcraft Community Forum: http://survivalcraft.lefora.com (what? “InstantIdiocy” is a Moderator an Administrator there?!)
• Facebook page for Survivalcraft for Windows Phone: http://facebook.com/Survivalcraft.WP7
• Web-based IRC chat for Survivalcraft: http://tinyurl.com/SurvivalcraftChat
• Survivalcraft Wiki Page: http://survivalcraftwp7.wikispaces.com – [unofficial]
• Le wiki français: http://survivalcraft.wikispaces.com – French-language Wiki - [unofficial]

-Posted from WordPress for Windows Phone.

Continue reading »]]> Or, Happy Thanksgiving!

I’m posting tonight since I’ll probably be pretty busy tomorrow. I suppose Devasin could post (since I didn’t invite him over for our dinner) but I’m pretty sure Jews don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.

..heh.

Anyway, have a good Turkeyday from InstantIdiocy and don’t forget to get your game on!

Be thankful if you have a working game system because my gaming desktop computer has died, RIP. No ETA on replacement.

–

Also: New game review on the way from HeadIdiot; Survivalcraft: a Minecraft clone for Windows Phone 7. Coming soon!

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Steve Jobs, 1955-2011

Steve Jobs has died today; October 5th, 2011. There are plenty of stories around with the details, I just wanted to share a couple of thoughts with you. Nothing silly though, I’m being serious here.

Steve Jobs did amazing things for the world of technology. If not for him, I might not be sitting here typing this as I am. The electronic world could be a vastly different place if not for the ideas and drive of Steve Jobs. He leaves behind an amazing legacy that will keep his name in our minds for a very long time. We owe it to him to make sure we remember his many, many contributions to society. Remember just how much you enjoy the use of those little gadgets or computers that wouldn’t be what they are without Steve Jobs – computers and gadgets that have driven amazing feats of technology all over the world.

It doesn’t matter what kind of mobile phone you use, which brand of laptop you prefer or even whether or not you own any of them. His imprint is everywhere, all around you. In the grocery stores, assisting the employees with tallying up your 3 carts of groceries. In the doctors’ office, running the system that’s performing laser surgery on your eyeball. In pretty much every business in every city, in every school, etc – you will find something that Steve Jobs helped bring into creation in one way or another.

Take a moment to appreciate the gift we’ve been given and don’t forget who helped make a reality of that fancy little phone in your pocket (that you live on!).

Rest Well Steve Jobs – from everybody, everywhere.

Continue reading »]]> THQ gives word that they’re finally bringing the new Map Pack (“The Rock”) to the PS3 and Steam. It’s due out on August 30th and 31st, respectively. See the complete post below.

THQ is pleased to announce that “THE ROCK” Map Pack will soon be available for Homefront® Multiplayer on the PlayStation®3 and Steam for Windows PC.

Fall in soldier! Command has issued orders to capture two all new Homefront® Multiplayer maps – Alcatraz and Bridge, as well as new areas to dominate the enemy in Team Deathmatch. We’re going to take back San Francisco, one piece at a time:
o Alcatraz – America’s most infamous prison becomes the site of fierce close-quarters fighting.
o Bridge – A combined arms effort to secure the North Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge and surrounding area, large-scale warfare at its best!
o Waterway – Wage war atop storefronts and in the streets of the Spillway, where every inch feels like a mile.
o Overpass – Battle in a fan-favorite Ground Control space for the first time in Team Deathmatch!

This Homefront DLC offering is scheduled to become available to Sony regions on August 30th & 31st, carrying you further into a war-torn occupied America. Ready the troops, “THE ROCK” is coming soon!

The Homefront Team

http://www.homefront-game.com/

For those of us who have enjoyed Homefront, this is good news. With Kaos studios being closed recently, it’s good to know they are still continuing to provide the community with awesome maps.  Thank you THQ!

Continue reading »]]> Battlefield 3 Synopsis (under NDA)

Alright, so the Alpha test was available to some people back in July. I was able to join July 28th – Aug 1st and even in that short time I fell in love with the game. Knowing it was in Alpha and a lot of it would change, it was the most impressive game I’ve played so far. I can’t go into too much into it due to the NDA, but I did get over 500gigs worth of videos and I’ve got some good clips to show you when I can.

But that’s all old info. You can Google the Alpha to see leaked videos, because loads of people broke the NDA to show it off to you and I’m partially glad they did because its beautiful. But I’m keeping with it so I’ll wait.  But I believe because of those leaked videos they decided to release this Paris Multiplayer Gameplay Trailer which is pretty sweet and a MUST watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhBjBy5OOFY

But that’s not all, not even CLOSE. This past week, GamesCom went down in Cologne Germany. Press Conferences were livestreamed at horrible hours for us in the US on the west coast, but thankfully it was able to be played later as soon as it was done.

At GamesCom they has a release featuring Patrick Soderlund (Exec VP EA) and Karl Troedsson (GM Dice) and they revealed the 2 player Co-Op mode Live on the PS3. Showing some very nice voctal team work between the two of them. See the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4xMRBejFog

Another amazing mode, which will feature randomization so each attempt will be unique! With 6 missions and randomization what else could you ask for? Not to mention with the integration with Battlelog.. But We’ll go into that more later this week.

And lastly they debut the 65 Conquest Mode on the Caspian Border map seen below, Which features Tanks, Helicopters and JETS. It looks amazing and its another thing to keep me up at night thinking about. Oh and the 64 players mode is only supported on the PC, finally a PC exclusive! Not that the Console doesn’t get their own exclusive. Console gets an in-game server browser but you know what, I prefer Battlelog. Now onto the Jets

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8S_eEv_A5k

And lastly They’ve also announced that those who have pre-ordered Battlefield 3′s Limited Edition through Origin you will get a 48 hour head start in the “Open” Beta, due in September (exact date TBD) . More info once more is released.

Alright everyone I hope that will hold you until later this week by then I’ll have some more info and screenshots, and who knows maybe the NDA will be up by then and I can post all my goodies. Till then See you on the Battlefield.

Continue reading »]]>

For those that don’t know, I’ve been in a gaming group for some time called Kill-on-Sight (KoS). In anticipation of the release for Battlefield 3 in a couple months (and the Beta next month, have I mentioned it yet? I’ll get into that later), we decided to sponsor a Bad Company 2 Server for them. The server is hosted by Gameservers, who offer plenty of nice features such as Ventrilo or Team Speak, all at a very reasonable price!

Instant Idiocy sponsors its first gaming server.

Kill-on-Sight was founded back in 2003 as a Medal of Honor: Allied Assault clan. I came to join them back in the Battlefield 2 days, somewhere around 2005-2006. From there, we went through Battlefield 2142, Call of Duty Modern Warfare,  and many more games to end up at Battlefield Bad Company 2. Now we’re waiting for Battlefield 3 and looking for a few good men and women interested in  joining the KoS Community (16 years or older) to tear it up with us once it’s released.

We’ll post more info on days and times for events such as “Frag the InstantIdiocy Staff.” Yeah, there may not be that many of us, but still.. some of us won’t be easy targets. More info about Battlefield 3 is coming very soon. A lot of info has been released so I’ll get a good summary of everything for you all as soon as possible. Once the Beta is released and the NDA ends, I’ll be able to go in-depth on the Alpha build and give instant info on the Beta. A lot to look forward to, so stick around. See you on the Battlefield!

Continue reading »]]> Teach Parents Tech is a little project put together by some folks from Google. It is, essentially, a way to help the more tech-savvy folks assist those who aren’t so savvy. Having a brain full of technical information can definitely put you at risk of being bombarded with questions from those who don’t know as much as you. Depending on who you are, this is either a challenge to be met or a burden to be avoided at all costs. Regardless of how you view the situation, if you do decide to lend some assistance, Teach Parents Tech is here to help.

Easy-to-use web interface.

Choosing some options from a simple interface is all it takes to send help to your loved ones, so you can bask in a job well done – or get back to that video game you were so rudely interrupted from!

Preview of what will be sent

Once you finish filling out the form, click Preview and the site will generate a sample of what the finished page will look like. Then you enter in your e-mail address and your recipient’s and click Send to get the handy tech support videos on the way.

In all likelihood you’ll still get a call or a message asking for help because they wanted it to come from you and not somebody they don’t know. If so, at least you tried ha! Just do your best to assure them that these videos will definitely help them if they take a moment to watch.

And don’t forget; probably the most important thing you can teach a neophyte-techy is how to search Google for the answers to their questions, before asking everybody they know .

Continue reading »]]> SPOILER ALERT: I’m going to recommend this watch to you in the review. I couldn’t make myself wait until later in the review to suggest it; you should go buy this watch. I’ve never been happier with any item I’ve strapped to my wrist. But I suppose you want more than just my recommendation, so let’s break it down.

The Casio Waveceptor WVM120 is a solar-charged, atomic-time-keeping wristwatch that is meant to survive people like me who are rather cruel to their possessions (really, I just think things should be able to be used). It’s not an ocean-diver’s watch, I wouldn’t recommend it in the field of battle, I have my doubts about its performance in space and I don’t think it could take a direct hard blow from a hammer. But none of that matters to me, because I’m just a regular guy who ends up in a lot of situations where a typical watch would probably end up in pieces – and many have. Not this one though, so far it’s a wrist-tank (or at least an armored car). But for all that it’s not intended to do, I have a feeling this watch would show me up and perform just fine in space or combat.. or space combat.

The first thing I tend to break on a watch is the strap or the clasp. The Waveceptor didn’t come with any fancy strap made from adamantium links, exotic leathers, kevlar or any other sort of strange material. It’s just a basic black resin strap with a simple buckle clasp.  They also have a silver metal band but I opted for the resin as metal on watches usually irritates my wrist. But so far, the strap is in perfect condition, the buckle looks like new still, the metal hardware doesn’t irritate my skin and the strap is comfortable overall. I’m about 9-10 months into the life of this watch and the fact that it’s still 100% intact is amazing.

The watch itself has a completely digital display, clean lines, no extra dials or knobs just for looks, a stainless steel back (that also doesn’t irritate my wrist!!) and bezel, 4 buttons that are very easy to press, a very durable face and an overall feeling of quality and durability. It looks good sitting on the wrist of pretty much anybody; whether they be in a business suit, swim shorts & flip-flops or hiking gear. The display is easy for me to read but it should be noted that some of the text on it is rather small. I have great vision but it might not be so easy for others to read. It has lots of features, so mastering the functions of the watch are definitely the only negative aspect of this watch. It doesn’t take too long to get the hang of it though and if you keep the booklet handy for a while, you should have no problem. Let’s take a look at those features, shall we?

When people look at my watch at first, they tend to dismiss it as just a basic cheap-ish watch. I recently had a friend make a comment about how he was surprised I didn’t have some fancy watch on, considering my penchant for tech toys and gadgets. I was happily obligated to explain to him that I did indeed have a fancy watch on my wrist and here’s what make’s it awesome:

• Solar-panels on the front face keep an internal battery charged. Casio claims that the watch will keep accurate time even if it goes without any light for 8 months.
• Watch has a handy power-saving function. Every morning when I pull my watch out of the drawer to put on, the display is off until it gets some light. I’m guessing it’s a light & activity-based function. If it was only light-based, it wouldn’t matter if it could go for 8 months with no light source, you wouldn’t see anything. So, pressing buttons probably also keeps it awake and if you’re nowhere near a light source for that long, you’ll be using the light button!
• Receives atomic-time calibrations automatically from all over the world. You shouldn’t ever really have to manually set this watch but you can if you like.
• Once the initial setup of the watch is complete, it will automatically adjust the time when you travel through different time-zones. It may not update immediately upon entering the new time-zone but it will at some point shortly after.
• You can view World Time in all sorts of other places.
• Comes with 4 daily alarms and 1 snooze alarm, as well as the friendly hourly chime (I haven’t really used these yet, I have an alarm clock by the bed).
• It features a handy countdown timer and a 1/100 second stopwatch.
• Water resistant to 100M. That means it could probably be worn to around 30 feet of water-depth for a couple hours no problem. Water resistant to 100M does not mean you can wear it 300 feet under water.
• Very durable and reliable construction. Every part of the watch feels like it was meant to last a long time under good use. The band is tough but flexible and comfortable and the watch itself isn’t too bulky or covered in extra pieces that can get caught on something and break. The metal of the clasp feels solid and tough. The buttons work easily but aren’t flimsy. I think you get the point, it’s durable .

There is a longer list of “features” but I consider those just “technical specifications” which isn’t what I’m too concerned with for this review. You can view the full spec-sheet here if you would like though! My goal is to give you a rundown of what the features actually mean to the average user and to share my perspective of the product as it relates to my needs.

Given all of that, here’s my official position on the Casio Waveceptor WVM120 Solar/Atomic Wristwatch (that really makes it sound like a super-hero gadget or something doesn’t it?):

Buy it. Unless you need something glamorous (really guys? “bling” is for teenagers), this watch will not let you down. It’s sort of a Jack-of-all-wristwatches. It has a lot of great features and durability, but it’s not meant for deep-diving, extreme physical impact (like using it to deflect an enemy bayonet attack) or extremely-formal fancy occasions. Here’s a list of tons of things you could definitely do with this watch on your wrist:

• Skydiving
• Rock climbing
• White-water rafting
• Shallow scuba diving/snorkeling/swimming
• Washing dishes
• Doing construction
• Work in an office
• Spelunking
• Camping
• Showering
• Makin’ love
• Sniping
• Living underground with no light source for months on end
• Competitive cross-country blind-folded llama herding
• I think we’re getting off the track…
• Etc.

Basically, aside from the most extreme situations, this watch can take it all. The water resistance means that, literally; it can take a lickin’ (say, from a giraffe or a St. Bernard) and keep on tickin’. I’m not getting paid to say any of this, I paid full price for this watch like 9 months ago – I just freakin’ love this watch! I might order another one just in case I do try to deflect gunfire or do a 500ft dive and the watch lets me down. I have nothing negative I can say about this watch for myself. I don’t like flashy watches, I don’t need a deep-diver’s watch and I avoid heated military combat situations. This has been the perfect watch for me and I hope I never have to buy another.

Here’s some photos from the Amazon product page, I’ll add some shots of how well it’s held up later.

Front of the watch.	The back-plate and the resin strap.
Buttons on the side, large but not obnoxious.	The measurements of the Waveceptor WVM120
Some people like to see the packaging .	More to come!