The Cerebellum

Okay so I went to add the Vietnam DLC to my installation of Battlefield Bad Company 2, both of which I had bought and downloaded through Steam. Well first off the key code is not easily located nor mentioned except in game when it asks, then you can’t simply copy then paste into the field, even though Steam gives the option to copy to clipboard and if that wasn’t crappy enough EA decides that it would be best to not save the code field if you enter it incorrectly the first try, so you have to re-enter the entire key string.

After that aggravation, I then check key bindings and none of the settings I have for the main game show in the Vietnam mod… The only thing the same is that all the aircraft bindings are cleared from my workaround to fix the broken BFBC2 control settings.

So not even the Steam Cloud nor the friking game can share the control settings…

*E|M|F* Call of Duty: Black Ops server is online. Join here with Steam. Server name: E|M|F Ranked Server IP: 173.199.100.215:3084

Valve has announced an “extensive update” for its mulitplayer shooter, Counter-Strike: Source, and is now in limited beta.

“The update includes a host of new features and functionality developed in collaboration with Hidden Path Studios,” explained Valve. “This beta will run for a limited time, and once complete, the update will be deployed to all Counter-Strike: Source owners for free.”

Among that “host of new features and functionality” you’ll find the following:

144 achievements added
New lifetime player stats and summary screens
New match player stats and summary screens
New end of round display with MVP and interesting fact about a player
Updated scoreboard with new icons, visual style, MVP stars, and avatar pictures
New cinematic death camera
New domination and revenge system
Added avatar icons to voice chat, scoreboard, and end of round display
Incorporated many source engine updates

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 for the PC is a mess, the shipped product had issues that were pointed out in the Beta, but alas…

Update: I think the only item that needs to be removed to fix the spinning and not being able to move left right, is the mouse look right, left and look up, down. It appears that there is a conflict with the mouse action and the shared joystick command.

My focus here is about removing the Joystick input from game options. I had originally dug through the files in the beta trying enable the throttle and trigger for my Logitek 2.4 wireless joystick, since there is apparently no way to remove (or add some joystick buttons) from the in-game option, I started digging through the input files to add or remove unwanted lines. The problem seems to be caused by the controls being designed for console game pads.

Then when I went to play the retail version, my player would not strafe or turn right or left in vehicles, (and I could type in game using those keys). I was messing with the mouse axis “look left, right” and the “look up, down” I think I switched them and the problem went away, so I was able to play. My clan-mate would go in game and spin in circles uncontrollably, with no joystick ever have been installed on the machine. He was also unable to set or unbind keys in game. This procedure fixed his problem. Continue reading

No this isn’t about fishing in hot springs, although the fish would be pre-cooked when you caught them. This about the techniques that asshats are using to steal your information.

A new phishing target has been players Steam accounts, as you can see by this image that it looks like it could be a legitimate system message from Steam. I would hope most would be attentive enough to notice the url in the link and see that it doesn’t direct to steam, but unfortunately some will fall for it. Oh yeah, please leave you Steam passwords in the comments below.

This weekends free to play game is Unreal Tournament 3 Black. It will be available through Steam, with pre-loading available now. The free play will start on Thursday 10am PST and run through the weekend. I would expect a discounted sale price to quickly follow, (my guess would be a 50% cut) from the current price of $19.99.

Over at the Steam store Valve has announced that Far Cry 2 is on sale today for $15 — 50% off.
The DLC Fortune Pack is also available at the normal price of $5. The Fortune’s Pack brings more vehicles, weapons, and mulitplayer maps to the game.

This weekend steam will allow players to try Unreal Tournament 3 Black for free all weekend long. This isn’t some stripped demo, it’s the full version.

They also have put it on sale $11.99 until March 15th.

Is this an attempt at getting more people playing it or just one last grab for cash before players forget about it and move on to Quake Live (as they are already doing)?

Details Here