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/

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