Posts tagged online
Jun 9th
Drawball is not just some paint program. Drawball is a massive canvas where anybody can add their own piece of art. Every user is given a set ink amount, and once it’s gone, it’s gone. Artists can choose any color they like, zoom into a specific part of “the ball,” do a little puzzle to make sure that you are really a human, and draw away for the world to see. You’re probably wondering what’s possible in Drawball, so here are some pictures to awe and amaze you. You can click on a picture to enlarge it.
These are just a few examples of the great art that you can find at Drawball, so head over there and see if you can be the next great artist.
Jun 8th
Valve announced in their weekly update news that the Pyro would be receiving the next major update with 3 new weapons to unlock along with a lot of achievements. For people worried about how this will effect the game as much as the Medic update did, here’s a quote that should put your mind at ease:
We’ve spent time looking at how the recent Medic release went, and have rolled feedback from that release into the new item designs for the Pyro and into the design of the achievements required to unlock those items.
The Axtinguisher, as pictured to the left, is one of the three new unlockable weapons for the Pyro. This axe will only do half the damage of the standard axe in a normal situation, but if your enemy is on fire, then the Axtinguisher will always hit a critical. For those of you who aren’t into the whole unlocks thing, then Valve has some news for you too:
Along with all of the new content, we’re also going to be making some significant changes to the Pyro class for everyone, regardless of whether they have unlocked any new items.
Valve did not announce an official release day for the update, but expect it to come this month.
Jun 6th
Today I decided to step away from energy drinks, and review a good ol’ fashioned zombie slaughtering flash game, just like grandma used to make. Anyways, I popped open Mozilla, and went straight to my second favorite source of flash games, Addicting Games. I looked at their front page and noticed Zombie Arena. That’s where the loathing began.
As a zombie hunting enthusiast, it was my duty to try this game out. First off, I wish to say that the name was very misleading. I assumed that I would be in control of a character in some sort of arena, but that dream was crushed as the player is in the middle of a forest. I decided to overlook this, and proceed with the game. You start off with the only weapon you’ll need, the Shotgun. For my first 300 kills, I used nothing but the shotgun. As the game proceeded, the difficulty barely wavered. In fact, the only time I got close being challenged, I unlocked the Minigun, which allowed me to singlehandedly stave off the entire zombie invasion without moving. Of course, the major fault with the Minigun is that it has no splash damage. Only the zombie who you’re pointing the gun directly at takes any damage. Now, moving more into game play, Zombie Arena is painfully easy. I lasted 11 minutes no sweat, and only died because I left my keyboard. The AI is also incredibly stupid. Even for a flash game, the zombies were getting stuck behind trees, making them easy targets for my ill-gotten shotgun.
All in all, I would say avoid this game. You get a far better zombie shoot-em-up in Endless Zombie Rampage or The Last Stand 2. Go play one of those instead.
Jun 3rd
Let’s say that you are at school and you couldn’t print that paper that’s due in a few minutes. How are you going to get onto your computer, get the file, and print it out in time? LogMeIn is the answer. LogMeIn allows people, both Mac and PC users, to access their home or office computer for free, unlike other such services like GoToMyPC. Just because LogMeIn is free doesn’t mean that it’s cutting out any great features like:
- Change color settings for better response time
- Chat with Host Computer
- Remote Reboot
- Clipboard (Paste) Sync
- and many more features with LogMeIn Pro
If you are worried about your computer’s safety, then you shouldn’t be, because LogMeIn has 256-bit encryption during use and you have to have a separate password than your Windows login password to access your computer with LogMeIn. After sign up, you can optionally use LogMeIn Pro for 1 month, although I wouldn’t recommend it because you’ll miss some of the features that come with it. If you really want to stick with LogMeIn Pro, it’ll cost $12.95 a month or $70.00 a year. You can take off $20 from the yearly subscription with the coupon code FTZZ-GLDC entered during checkout.
Check back soon at The Pxl Lab to read a review about LogMeIn Hamachi, the free software that easily creates a LAN network over the internet with your peers!
May 31st
Steam, the service that Valve uses to distribute games online, is known for its excellent copy protection, easy game downloading, and large base of players. Valve announced that they will be adding two more features to help gamers in the near future, namely keeping save games and key bindings on the user’s account, so that players that play their games on multiple computers can keep their data with them. I, who use two computers to play Steam games, find this news a godsend from Valve. This news is also great for people on a single computer, because if a freak accident like a hard drive wipe or fire wipes out the data on your computer, then you still have it when you get a new one! The games that will first see the effects of this update are Half Life, Half Life 2, Counter Strike: Source, and the upcoming Left 4 Dead. I can only hope that they add it to Team Fortress 2 soon after. For those of you that don’t have Steam, you can take advantage of the download button below to get it.
May 28th
Face of Mankind Rebirth is a unique game in two rights. One, it is an upcoming MMOFPS set in space, which sounds like a good game to me already. Two, it has already been on the market for a year. You may be thinking “Doesn’t the title say ‘Preview?’ Is this guy insane or what?” Well, Face of Mankind (without the Rebirth part) was on the market for about a year as a pay-per-month game, but the publishers left the game. So now, the developers are coming back and releasing the game for free, this time the way they want the game to be played. When I played the beta of the original FoM, I was left thinking that this could be the coolest MMO ever made, with a few changes like better third-person combat, an easier mission system, and less of a learning curve for novices. The developers have taken these and other ideas from players to create FoM Rebirth, a game that I hope will set the standard for any future MMOFPS’s (Tabula Rasa doesn’t count in my opinion).
If you click on the link to visit the homepage of FoM Rebirth, you’ll notice that there really isn’t anything there. So if you are looking to learn more about the game, visit either the main fan site for FoMR, or check out the game page at MMORPG.com. You can also be assured that any more news on this game will be posted on the blog.
May 26th
The Jotti Malware Scanner is easy enough: upload a file, wait for it to be scanned by all of the scanners listed on the left image, then see if your file is infected or not. The simplicity of the Scanner is what makes it so useful, because instead of having 3 or 4 different virus scanners on my computer checking for viruses, you can have a website scan the file with 20 Anti-Virus scanners at once.
Of course, having an online virus scanner does not mean that you shouldn’t take advantage of a normal virus scanner on your computer. I use Avast! Antivirus (used by the online scanner, as it happens), which scans my files on a daily basis, checks emails for viruses, and looks for phishing websites while I browse the internet.
So, if you need to scan files from an office computer or a computer without antivirus, try using The Jotti Online Malware Scanner to scan files one at a time. If you are looking for a great desktop scanner though, Avast! is the way to go.
May 26th
Have you been looking to play some great-looking games without leaving the comfort of Firefox? Look no further than InstantAction, a website created just for that purpose. Made by GarageGames, the leader of independent game design, InstantAction brings quality games like Think Tanks and Marble Blast to you for free, with micro transactions helping to keep the site in business. InstantAction takes advantage of being a web-based service by letting you easily join groups/parties of up to 8 people to play games and chat. Currently only one game has a single-player option, which is Marble Blast; however, more games should have that option once the service is stripped of its beta tag.
The only thing I don’t like about InstantAction is that I seem to lose connection to the party leaders right before a game starts, so I have to try and find another host to play a game. Other than this, I think that InstantAction will shape up to be a really great online gaming service in the coming months as it grows in popularity.
May 25th
Typing is a very important aspect of using your computer, whether it be a Mac or PC, that takes time to master. One attempt at mastering this skill is TypeRacer, an online so called “competitive” typing game, which involves many users entering into a race, and then proceeding to all type the same random quote from a movie, book, song, and quotes from the popular media. As you type this quote, your racer icon moves along, and also displays a handy wpm (word per minute) icon by your name. The races range from a few racers to many competing to win the title of ultimate racer so that you get absolute reverence from your peers! This game also has incorporated an anti-bot, which was instituted very quickly after its release, due to the huge number of bots typing 180 wpm or higher. After the anti-bot was instituted, every time you type 110 wpm or higher (until they incorporate a permanent account system) you must complete a CAPTCHA-style paragraph in your wpm – 20 or higher. Still, even with the anti-bot, there are some true freaks typing 150 wpm or higher every day. This is one of the most effective games at boosting your typing speeds (for whatever purpose you have) because of the variety. Since the quote you type is random, you get a large variety of texts with odd punctuation here and there, to stop you from getting in bad habits. It even makes you correct every single mistake before you can move on.
I personally thoroughly enjoy TypeRacer, as it gives me a 30 second long break in between studying. The only flaw I personally can see in the game are periods of lag every few minutes, which has mostly been fixed since the launch of the game. I found that every once in a while you can learn something from the quotes, because of the diversity in the subject matter of the typing. Even though it may not be the best waste of your time on the internet (and it has it’s flaws), it certainly ranks well for its creativity.
May 25th
At first glance, The Last Stand 2, created by ConArtists, may just look like another zombie survival horror flash game. As soon as you start playing, you see that that’s not the case. The Last Stand 1 set the precedent by having players survive 20 nights shooting off zombies that rush your half-built fort, and by day searching for survivors, guns, or repairing the fort for the next night. The Last Stand 2 takes it up a notch by giving the player 40 nights to travel from their starting town to Union City, which is the last safe place left. The player can choose different routes to get to Union City, giving the game replay value. I’ve played through the game 3 times now and never taken the same path, and I’ve always had a different selection of weaponry. TLS2 also cranks it up a notch during the night battles by letting players place bear traps and explosives around the perimeter. For those of you that think that TLS2 is just too difficult, though, let me recommend playing TLS2 with cheats.
I would say that The Last Stand 2 is the best flash game I’ve played since Line Rider, which is saying something because I played Line Rider like no other back in its glory days. TLS2 has the perfect blend of shooting, strategy, and blood that makes you want to keep playing it over and over.