Red's Box

In case you didn't notice Red's Box now has a new domain! Huzzah! From now on either go to http://www.jeroddunn.com or I will melt your soul for an eternity. Not really, http://redsbox.blogspot.com will still forward you, but that's no fun, use the new URL! Use it now!

Yay!

If you hadn't heard, with the soft launch EA pulled I wouldn't blame you, Electronic Arts has launched a new web based free to play First Person Shooter called Battlefield Heroes. This is a cartoony shooter with a visual style reminiscent of Team Fortress 2 and a fun, light hearted stab (damn Commandos) at the competitive Battlefield formula.

Visually the game is pretty nice, lots of bright colors and great animations. The two different sides are different enough to typically be able to tell them apart from a distance with the Royals looking similar to the "high school jocks" and the Nationals looking like those punk greasers. The over done cartoon style will also help the game keep its graphical appeal well into the future, something that the gritty realistic games have tend to have trouble with.

The gameplay is simple, but not boring. There are three hero types: the Gunner, Soldier and Commando. The gunner is your heavy weapons specialist carying a light machine gun, anti-tank bazooka and shotgun. The soldier is your everyday middleman with his submachine guns, pistols (or shotgun) and anti-infantry grenades and the commando is your typical sniper that carries a knife. Both sides have the same classes which lends balancing to be a little simpler for the development team. All three classes are fun to play, but you can't change at will. One you create a hero he is the class you chose forever and experience (and clothing, weapon upgrades, etc) are tied to that particular hero for ever. So if you have a level 10 gunner you will need to create a new level 1 commando if you want to snipe.

The UI is a little weird, there is no server browser which tends to frustrate me when the game keeps dumping me into a server that is poorly balanced and not fun to play. But I'm not complaining too loud since the game is entirely free - you can purchase clothes and other customizations - and a ton of fun to play. Hop online and fire up an account, if you do look me up (Player name RedeyeLE) and add me to your friends list (so we can join each others' games!) and we'll frag some Nationals!

So in preparation for the now official hurricane season I've taken some preventative measures to protect my analog game collection. Last year, when big bad Ike came rolling through Houston, I took a risk that the hundred plus games I own would potentially be lost forever. You see, I store my games pretty close to a window in a nook that is located in the dinning room. If we had taken any amount of water damage or lost a window (thankfully we didn't) my games would have been soaked and very likely ruined forever.

So this year I have taken action, and that action comes with the help of a nice CD holder and Google Documents. When I came up with this concept of game storage I wasn't really sure how much effort would be involved, but fortunately I have a fantastic wife willing to be a team player when team playing is needed.

First things were first, I needed an easy to transport, robust and simple storage device. My local Fry's Electronics pulled through for me in the way of a Merax Aluminum 300 CD/DVD hard case. I got it as an open box item for several dollars off making a great deal, the only thing I wound up short on was the key to lock it, but this was not a feature I felt would be necessary. I also went with the higher capacity due to a couple factors: A) I had no idea how many games I actually owned and B) I had no idea of those games that I owned how many were single DVDs and how many had 2-6 CDs that would need to be stored. As it stands I filled a little over half of the case which gives me some room to grow.

The first thing I did when I got home was take the cardboard sheets that are provided to allow you to title each sleeve and throw it out. I felt it was pretty silly having to keep up with writing down what game goes in what number sleeve on a little cardboard sheet. Instead I fired up Google Documents to start a spreadsheet. This way I can access my game list from any machine, which is particularly useful when I'm on my laptop in the other room or in another city during an evacuation!

I also decided at this point that there was going to be no way to easily organize my games alphabetically or by any other ordering scheme, because reordering them everything I buy an "A" game or what have you would just be silly. So, with the help of my wonderful wife, I piled in. Going through each box and/or jewel case filing the CD/DVDs in as many slots as necessary and recording the game's Name, Genre, Activation key (this is important!), and slot number(s). After a couple hours of effort and several episodes of True Blood we finally finished.

The result? I have since installed as many as three games I completely forgot I had that I am now very excited about playing all over again and I have a grab and run system for the next big bad hurricane that rolls through sunny Houston. I also gained the added advantage of being able to compactly stash all my games right next to my desk where I can easily flip open my Google Doc spreadsheet, find which game I want to play, make note of its location and pull it out. I also no longer have to go digging for manuals and leaflets for those pesky CD keys. This little system is so handy we went back up to Fry's and nabbed another case to store our movies in.

I highly recommend everyone take a few hours of your time to save your collections in a manner that will hopefully help preserve them for posterity. After all, in 20, 40 years you may not be capable of running them, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to show your grandkids all the fantastic vintage game disks you used to play!

It has begun to dawn on me that I not only appreciate many of the games that come to me virtue of Ubisoft, but I greatly appreciate them. I not only don't hate them, I may actually like them. I am currently slugging through Far Cry 2 appreciating every road side ambush, every expertly placed terrain set piece and the combat in general. It has been a long time since I've enjoyed a game of this type and it has got me thinking about Assassin's Creed, Prince of Persia, Rainbow Six Vegas (1 and 2), HAWX (which is currently in the mail on its way to me), even games like The Settlers: Rise of an Empire have really captured my attention in ways that a lot of games don't anymore.

The most amazing part really is that I would literally beg for sequals of these games to release, yes even a 7th Settlers game, just for a chance to experience their majesty once again. Keep up the good work Ubi, your efforts are not lost on this nerd.