This post will cover how to activate and use Steam to manage your software. I personally love steam. It keeps my games up to date and I don’t need a freaking DVD in my machine. Another nice feature is that if you ever need to re-install in the future steam remembers your key for you! No more need for keeping the manual around!

In this “How to” I will go over how I activated Call of Duty – Black Ops on Steam even though I bought the game from Futureshop. As long as the game you got is on Steam, this procedure should work. I’ve done this for a couple of games now.

First open Steam. At the bottom left corner of the screen click on “Add A Game” and then select “activate a product pm Stream” as seen bellow.

A new window will pop up and present a prompt. Click “Next”.

Click “I Agree”

Enter CD-Key. You will see this window Below.

Tell steam to download and install the game.

Hope this helps those of you who use steam but had to buy the game the more traditional way!

UPDATE – Thanks to my friend Craig of “Basement Coders” found this link of all the games you can activate in this manner.

Robert Culp

August 16, 1930 – March 24, 2010

We were deeply saddened to learn of the death of actor Robert Culp on March 24, 2010. We were fortunate enough to work with Culp during the making of Half-Life 2, when he wrestled invisible headcrabs, expressed a passionate interest in animation, and taught us all how to bring a character to life from words on a page, as he voiced one of gaming’s most beloved villains, Dr. Wallace Breen. He will be missed.

Here’s the original article:

http://cdn.store.steampowered.com/message/684719971438930515/?l=english&cc=CA

I play on a server and they changed the cart into a horse. The horse would even get up on it’s hind legs if it was excited. I thought it was really cool but I have to say someone has too much time on their hands.

AI First Reactions

So far I must admit I have been really impressed with some of the changes in game play. The AI in SC2 is incredible. If you think you will win against the computer on EASY you are mistaken. There is no more of the defend the ”First rush”, tech up and kill the computer.

Star Craft 2 Units

While a lot of our favorites are back there are a quite a few that are no longer with us. Most units that have been removed have been recycled, given new names or new abilities. It will be interesting to see if during the single player campaign if there will be any mention of the changes. Blizard if you are reading this I REALLY hope you will explain the changes! Some of the units that are no longer with us are:

Terran

• Medic
• Fire Bats
• Drop Ship

Protoss

• Shuttle
• Dragoons
• Reaver
• Corsair

Zerg

• Lurker
• Wraiths
• Science Vessel
• Goliath
• Vulture

NOTE – As I find more units that are missing I will post them here. Also note because this is a BETA units are constantly getting added and removed.

New Game play Dynamics

There are several new things to worry about in SC2. There is explosion damage that can now slow down units. There are also some units that can now jump or teleport to small ledges. A third thing I have found is there is also destructable wall or rocks. These destructable items are typically located at the back of your base. You might have noticed that things like shuttles and “hidden” units like lurkers have been removed. This will definately make changes to the game play.

Good Starcraft 2 Links

http://www.starcraft-source.com/

In order to get these firmware updates for your Xbox, you normally would download them from Xbox Live. Xbox Live has two types of offerings, free and Gold Membership.

The free version gets you free game demos, game add-ons, games on demand, arcade games, avatars, and voice/text chat. The Gold Membership gives you Facebook, Twitter, Last.fm, streaming Netflix, video chat, and Xbox Live parties.

In either version, you get firmware updates for your hardware to increase performance or update certain software features. With Xbox Live, when you sign in using your Gamertag, you are automatically notified of any new updates.

However, what if you do not use Xbox Live? How do you update your Xbox 360 without an Internet connection or a very slow Internet connection?

There are two ways to do this: either copy the update to a USB flash drive or download the update to your computer and then update your Xbox 360 console.

Method 1 – Download Update to Flash Drive

First, connect up a USB flash drive to your computer and make sure it has enough free space on it. Also, make sure it’s formatted as FAT32 and not NTFS.

Next download the latest update for the Xbox from here:

http://download.microsoft.com/download/d/1/8/d181ee58-de70-4484-936b-0e9161ccd6b2/$systemupdate_fall09_8955.zip

It’s about 83.5 MB. Make sure you keep the name of the zip file as $SystemUpdate_Fall09_8955.zip. Once downloaded, go ahead and extract out the zip archive to the root of your USB flash drive.

Now all you have to do is take the USB stick over to your Xbox console, plug it in and then turn on the console. It will automatically start the update program. At the prompt, select Yes, update now.

When you see the Xbox Dashboard, that means the update has been completed! Pretty easy eh!

Method 2 – Copy Update to Disc

The second way is to simply download the update from the Xbox.com website and then burn the update onto a disc. Then just pop the disc into your Xbox console and the update will start automatically.

This method is useful if you have no access to the Internet. You can then burn a disc and give it to a friend or burn a disc at the office and apply the update at home, etc.

Those are basically the only two ways to update an Xbox that is not connected to the Internet! If you have any problems, post a comment here and I will try to help.

I was playing the pipeline map and this was for only the first level of the 3 level payload race! Thanks to that engineer who kept running around like he had his head was chopped off!

Kill/Death ratio = +4.25

The next closest player on my side has 32 kills.

1.) Make sure that you have a compatible video card from nVidia

2.) Download the most up to date driver for your video card. Install it. My card is a GTX280-SSC

3.) Download the nVidia 3D drivers called 3D Vision. Fill out the form for your own machine. Here’s an example of what I did for my own machine:

4.) Once you have downloaded the file run it. My File was called: NVIDIA_3D_Vision_v191.03_driver.exe

5.) Run “Enable 3D Vision Discover” in the START – ALL PROGRAMS – nVidia Corporation – 3D Vision

6.) Run through the Wizard.

7.) Right Click desktop and open NVIDIA Control Panel

8.) Click on Setup Stereoscopic 3D

9.) Make sure that it’s enabled.

10.) Set Keyboard Shortcuts button displays the stereoscopic 3D effects shortcuts. These are the default shortcuts and I find that they work well.

*NOTE* – For Left 4 Dead I find I like the depth to be around 75%. For Team Fortress 2 I think I like something like 7 or 8. – UPDATE – I can’t play left 4 dead very long at 75%. I think about 15% is much easier on the eyes.

Thanks to my buddy Ken for borrowing me his 3D glasses to try this out.

You can get the patch from Blizzard here: Starcarft 1.16.1 download

StarCraft and StarCraft: BroodWar no longer require the CD while playing the game.  To play without the CD, please follow the following instructions:

Windows Users:

Make sure you have “Hide extensions for known types” unchecked. To do this please use the following steps:

1. Click Start -> Programs -> Accessories -> Windows Explorer
2. Click on Tools -> Folder options (Windows Vista users may have to press the Alt key to see the tools option at the top of the window)
3. Click on the View Tab In the list, look for the “Hide extensions for known file types” option, and make sure that it is unchecked.
4. Click OK to save the changes.
5. Now you will need to copy some files from the Game CDs

If you own only StarCraft, copy “INSTALL.EXE” from the StarCraft CD to your StarCraft folder and rename it to “StarCraft.mpq“.

If you own StarCraft: Brood War, copy “INSTALL.EXE” from the StarCraft: Brood War CD to your StarCraft folder and rename it to “BroodWar.mpq“. 

If you wish to play the StarCraft original missions then please copy and rename the install file from the original StarCraft CD as well, as listed directly above.

Mac users:

1. If you own only StarCraft, copy “StarCraft Archive” from the StarCraft CD to your StarCraft/StarCraft Files/ folder.
2. If you own StarCraft: Brood War, copy “Brood War Archive” from the StarCraft: Brood War CD to your StarCraft/StarCraft Files/ folder.  If you wish to play the StarCraft original missions then please copy the Starcraft Archive file from the original StarCraft CD as well, as listed directly above.

Official Blizzard release notes on this…

http://us.blizzard.com/support/article.xml?locale=en_US&articleId=21150

I will most likely blog about my experiences with the xbox 360 now that I get to have a little more hands on experience with it.

Thank you Microsoft!

I have divided to split this guide into two sections:

1. Installing Homebrew
2. How to run Backups of your games

Section One – Installing Homebrew

What’s needed?

• Nintendo Wii
• SD Card
• The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princes
• Wii Brew SD installer (Microsoft Windows OS)
• A Microsoft Windows PC with an SD Card Reader

What this hack will do is load a ‘fake game’ into Zelda Twilight Princess which will exploit a buffer overflow, thus allowing you to install homebrew on your Nintendo Wii (Much alike what is done on a PSP with Grand Theft Auto)

1. To format your SD Card into ‘Fat-16’ – Insert your SD Card into the SD reader in your PC, Go to ‘My Computer’, Find the SD Card Reader, Right Click and select Format, A dialogue box should appear, Under ‘File System’ section select ‘FAT’, Format, Leave the SD card inserted.
2. Download ‘Wii Brew SD installer’ from http://www.mediafire.com/?mdinnlyniyk
3. Once downloaded run the ‘Wii Brew SD installer’ just downloaded. Select the file location – this should be the location of the SD card just formatted. To determine what this is go to ‘My Computer’ and check the letter in front of the name of the SD card – such as ‘F:’
4. Select the region your Zelda Twilight Princess copy is from, most likely where you purchased your game. Then select ‘Homebrew Channel’, ‘Homebrew Browser’. DVDX will be installed in section two. You can probably install it now, but this is just the way I do it.
5. Take a look at the inner circle of the date surface of your Zelda Twilight Princess copy. Depending on the inner circle number will determine which ‘save slot’ you will load the save file on. Note down the save slot. Now, your SD card is prepared.
6. If you haven’t created a save game file of Zelda Twilight Princess please do so now (on your Wii) Now unplug the SD card from your PC and insert it into your Nintendo Wii. Switch on your Nintendo Wii. Erase the Zelda Twilight Princess saved game file, and copy the Twilight hack to your Nintendo Wii and finally execute it within Zelda Twilight Princess. As this may seem quite complicated and so the guys from WiiBrew have created a video showing exactly how this is done.
7. Accept the disclaimer by pressing 1 on the Wiimote. Head back to the Wii menu and the Wii homebrew channel will be present.

Section 2 – Running backed up games

Now that Homebrew is installed I will now provide instructions on playing backed up games.
Please note that this guide is only applicable to you if you own a copy of the game. I do not condone piracy as it is ILLEGAL and I will not hold responsibility and any liability for any illegal actions in which you may take. What’s needed?

• Homebrew installed (Shown in section one)
• SD Card
• DVD-R burner
• Blank DVD-R media
• Nintendo Wii
• WinRAR (Windows)

1.) We will install cIOS36 Rev6 – Download (In Spanish) To save you registering you may use either of the usernames and passwords provided below:
Username
Password
InstructableUse
Wiiwii
foobar
foobar

2.) Download IOS36-64-v1042.wad

3.) Put IOS36-64-v1042.wad into the root of your SD card, this is done by formatting your SD card (refer to section one, step one). Make a folder called ‘apps’, copy ‘CIOS36’ into the apps folder just created and put ‘cIOS36_rev6-Installer.dol’ into the ‘CIOS36’ folder.

4.) Boot the installer and it should install it onto your Nintendo Wii. Voila, it’s now installed.

5.) Now it’s time for installing DVDx, which you can download here.

6.) Extract the file, place the DVDx files into the SD card by using your PC. Place dvdx under the ‘apps’ folder, with the .dol file placed within ‘driveletter’/apps/dvdx/.dol file here. Now run the installer on your Nintendo Wii by selecting the .dol file.

• Select ‘Advanced Install’
• Select 249
• And press install

7.) Download WAD Manager 1.3 and also Download backup launcher beta 0.3

8.) Extract ‘Backup Launcher 0.3 beta.wad from the RAR archive, create a folder in the root of the SD card, name this folder wad. Place the backup launcher 0.3 beta.wad into the wad folder created.

9.) Run the Wad Manager 1.3, press A, A, and select Backup Lancher 0.3 beta.wad, press the + button. When it’s installed, press the ‘home’ button and your Nintendo Wii console should restart. Present will now be Backup Launcher 0.3 as a new channel.

10.) You can now backup your games using a freeware application called Imgburn.