Humanoid

It was hard to tell what station had what kind of content though.

Patch 1.0.2 notes, there's a fair bit of rebalancing going on there alongside the bug fixes. EDIT: DRM-free version is updated on the account website too, have to redownload the whole game though.

It's not even the full series. The only instalment I played, and then only because it was on the driver floppy for my Gravis Gamepad, was Goodbye Galaxy (I think).

RoboCop? Privateer

It's $20, so yes.

Had a couple hours to play some sort of two-player multiplayer game. Thought, why not finally try Company of Heroes? Neither of us had ever touched it, let alone knew the slightest bit about it mechanically, but with limited time, decided to dive right in. 2vs1 against an AI on Easy, should be plenty of opportunity to mess around learning the mechanics as we go, right? Wrong. Ah well, I'll go play the tutorial sometime soon I guess.

I've gone for the DRM-free options of single player games, generally: I've ignored Conquistador, Larry and Shadowrun for Steam (indeed I didn't bother asking for a complimentary Steam key for the former, which they were offering on request). However I do see the value in some cases - I went for the Steam version of Monaco because I really can't rely on multiplayer partners to figure out setting up the unencumbered version. (The alternative would have required setting up Hamachi for virtual LAN play)

Few more points: - The low voltage standards of 1.35V and 1.25V are officially called DDR3L and DDR3U respectively. This does not affect cross-compatibility, any motherboard that accepts DDR3 will run them. The only real tradeoff here is cost, though the difference is usually not significant. Low voltage DDR3 has the bonus of additional overclocking headroom, as there's no issue with running them up to Intel's maximum recommendation of 1.5V, which should allow for higher frequencies to be stable. - As general advice, it's almost always better to run fewer sticks than filling out all your slots - that is to say, on dual-channel platforms, run two larger capacity sticks instead of four smaller ones. This is mainly done to minimise the potential points of failure. In theory it probably also results in a tiny bit less latency, but essentially that's immeasurable. - A lot of vendors these days try to capitalise on the bling factor, providing stupidly tall and awkwardly shaped heatspreaders on their non-budget products. These are largely cosmetic, memory does not run hot enough for any one solution to meaningfully differentiate itself from the other. If you're planning on running a custom CPU cooler (which I tend to be in favour of), be sure that tall memory coolers don't get in the way. - Don't forget to set the correct profile for your memory in the BIOS once installed. By default they'll usually be set to some conservative setting which all platforms can run. The XMP profile(s), which are embedded in the memory, will set the correct (i.e. the maximum they were tested at) settings for your memory, so usually it's just a matter of turning that on. - DDR3 prices are unfortunately at a long-term high currently. While memory prices have always been very volatile, the driver in this case is more serious than it has been in the past. Until last year, there were only four manufacturers of DDR3 chips (as distinct from the vendors who solder the chips onto circuit boards): Samsung, Hynix, Micron and Elpida. Elpida has gone broke, leaving the pool of suppliers smaller than ever. Further, the manufacturers have been known to engage in cartel behaviour in the past, and while they technically may not be doing so now, it is in none of their interests to increase production and cause a return to the average price. So while prices will undoubtedly fall again as DDR4 looms, most observers expect the new price plateaus to be a fair bit higher than they have been in the past. - That said, Skylake and Haswell-E, the first generation Intel CPUs which will use DDR4, are still a couple years off.

The majority of DDR3 sold today is in pairs, i.e. dual channel kits. All that means though is that they've been tested together. So something marketed as tri-channel is basically the same product, except there happens to be three sticks in the pack that have been tested together, and so forth. There is no such thing as a dual(or whatever)-channel stick of RAM, the terminology only applies to the kits. At the consumer level, tri-channel was mainly used for the first get i7-9xx Nehalems, and quad-channel is in the current high end SB-E and forthcoming IB-E platforms, so there's not much market for them. As far as consumer advice goes, memory frequency really only matters when using integrated graphics, and latency, well, it's really of trivial effect for anything. Still, better rated memory tends to indicate that it's further away from its theoretical limit, and therefore can be said to be potentially more reliable. So to answer the direct question: Will anything called DDR3 do? The answer is a qualified yes. As in, it'll almost certainly work, but some of them will mean running your system out of spec, which may technically invalidate your warranty if anything goes wrong. Neither Intel or Asus will support you using 1.65V memory, whilst on the other hand, Asus will support the higher RAM frequencies marked 'OC', even if Intel do not.

No less specific than describing someone as Danish I expect. The religion you speak of is Judaism, which many Jews happen to practice. I'm sure someone will put this in better terms, as opposed to someone whose knowledge of the subject comes from playing Civilization.

Intel recommend a maximum voltage of 1.5v, and that's probably the only spec I'd stick to, avoid the 1.65V stuff. There's a perception that lower voltage stuff is better quality and has better headroom to be pushed, and I don't disagree: there are two lower voltage standards at 1.35V and 1.25V. Modern PCs don't use the FSB terminology as such, but still, to derive the frequency of the RAM from the rating there, divide by 8 (and round a bit). e.g. PC17000 ~= 2133MHz.

Not using the Doc Wagon?

Unfortunately if you start a custom class, it looks like the game just saddles you with a default loadout of SMG and pistol and no spells, even when I dumped all my points into Willpower+Spellcasting. Was just a test rather than actually a serious attempt at another playthrough for now though.

So basically by the term 'wired' they're saying the enhancement a coffee IV then.

One of those actions potentially benefits me, the other benefits Ubisoft. So....

I always felt sieges ended up being more of a case of exploiting the game mechanics than anything - the garrisons are so large, and gathering allies so mechanically unwieldy that the best approach always ended up being taking putting all my archers at the top of the troop list, telling my entire army to stand their ground and take potshots at the castle until their ammo ran out, then repeating until the garrison size became manageable. I think the whole mechanic signalled the end of my dalliance with the game.

Yeah, registered one of my Steam keys but haven't bothered downloading it, and gave away the two extra keys. Not sure how the Berlin eligibility for those players will work, guessing it might just drop three Berlin keys in my mailbox and have me send them out again. I wonder - given that the DRM-free version still supports user-made content (with manual installation), it's probably not outside the realms of possibility that once the DLC is purchased via Steam (a requirement imposed by MS), if it'd be possible, whether easily or with some fiddling, to then just transfer that content over into the DRM-free version.

Finally managed to wrangle together four people for the full Monaco experience. Arguably the most fun in gaming I've had this year.

Fundamentally yes, but some of the origin stories, ironically perhaps, serve to undermine that by removing any reason for you to stay. i.e. they do the exact same thing complained about in Kirkwall, except it's done in the prologue instead of the second act.

So this is Fallout: Mojave Moon?

^ I asked myself the same question repeatedly throughout DA1 though.

It wasn't until midway through the game that I realised I could move into melee and swing as a single action instead of having to do them separately. No luxury of being able to control angle of attack that way though, but at least the guy could get in three swings per round. There are some 'huh' aspects in how the special abilities are balanced though - e.g. shotguns get to do damage and cause -1 AP with the Kneecap ability, the melee equivalent, Pommel Strike, does no damage (let alone splash damage) for the same cost and at greater risk. And you need three ranks in the skill instead of one... yeah. Shaman seem interesting, but their summoning items are expensive single-use consumables that could potentially disappear in a single round. As much as the dialogue options of Charisma appeal, I'm a bit wary of that.

Turned him into my healer (what's with the "last damage taken" healing mechanic anyway?) and aim buff bot (actually that's another complaint of mine - keeping up these short duration buffs is nothing but busywork and doesn't really add to the game). That said, he was at least more useful than the random hired adept I took on an earlier mission, who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn. Given that for most missions, I rolled with a couple of AoE guns and an AoEing mage though, melee didn't really fit my strategy, so on my next playthrough I'll give it a proper chance.

Finished too. Happy. Think I might replay it within a week or two. Only major bug that impacted gameplay was that the music tended to hitch and get all choppy at times (moving the game to my SSD - love the portability of no install process by the way - made no difference). Annoying, but it goes away in 10 seconds or so. My classless character ended up a pretty standard, SMG-wielding deadeye, with some moderate decing skills (i.e. I let the always-provided NPC deckers tackle the Matrix stuff) and a bunch of points dumped into charisma but without any real spellcasting (well, picked up enough to be able to haste myself but that's it). Plenty of wasted points to be sure, but still ended up as lethal in combat as the NPCs, so being a bit adventurous isn't completely screwing yourself. I'll say the implementation of the Matrix, in that it's mandatory in places and the consequent assignment of a Decker NPC every time one is coming up is a bit of an unfortunate design decision. All it basically means is if you play one, you can drop the NPC for one a bit more effective in combat (since the NPC ones are hopeless). It's not an *option*, it's just another level in the game like the Fade was in DA1. Non-spoilerish campaign comments were that it was effectively enough plotted, but I have some issues with the pacing. A lot of the combat is back-loaded, which is a bit unfortunate for those who had grown to enjoy the sparse and fairly short encounters early on. The final level turned into a bit of a slog - not quite Deep Roads level of tedium, but still a bit repetitive for my tastes. And given the mission structure, if you forget to regularly check the vendors when you're in the quest hub, you might find yourself hobbled for the next segment. Difficulty is generally fine - early on I was concerned that normal difficulty seemed a bit of a cakewalk, but by midgame it's a solid challenge: I think my final party wipe count was three. In the end, it's a game that reflects its origins and the way it was made. It's obvious where the corners are cut and where the wallpaper has been applied, but I'm confident enough it's the missteps will be learning ones. As an early project I do very much believe they overshot a fair bit on the reward fulfilment costs (I mean, $65 got international shipping on a T-shirt), and as much as I love my feelies, I love bigger games more. Onwards and upwards. Finally I'll say it again: I'm very very happy with the decision to drop the loot system. I didn't miss it one bit, and it'd have been nothing but padding out the game length. I'd be happy if this became the norm for the future. Shedding that baggage I might call the best feature of the game. EDIT: Oh, one more thing, not sure if a flaw or a bug. I had an issue where my player character could equip an ESP but couldn't use it. I had no points in ESP control, but then that skill description does not specify that it is required, and the ESP when purchased didn't have any red requirements listed either (which would have prevented me from equipping it in the first place).

If they had the 220v/110v switches on the PSU, they probably were.