A Gamer and his poetry

So I was a little bored and decided to enter a giveaway for a game (Killing Floor) on a particular forum I frequent. Killing Floor is a co-op Zombie Survival First Person Shooter that places you in Great Britain in a fictional post-apocalyptic world where Zombies rule the roost. The giveaway was also for a modification of the game with a futuristic twist as hinted at by a part of the poem.

I made up a little poem in around 20 minutes (admittedly not my best effort) as an entry and I thought I'd post it here for all to read:

MY ENTRY is for KILLING FLOOR,
Cos I'm quite the FPS wh*re.
I'm tired of third person shooters,
or spending time at the local Hooters.


When I saw a zombie game in this thread,
I was thrilled at a chance to kill the undead.
I'd never really heard of this game until now;
Checked out a few videos, I was impressed and how!


I have an undying need to stop them eating my brains,
Hack the limbs off these moving remains.
Surrounded by the smell of sweet decay,
I'd stand sending out a cordite spray


I guess Britain's an undead haven,
Ragtag soldiers with beards unshaven.
Pouring lead into a Siren's spleen,
Singing God Save the Queen!


Doesn't hurt that you've sweetened the deal,
With a fight from the future to grease the wheel.
Who wouldn't like a total conversion,
what with England undergoing an undead subversion.


It all comes down to my love for the game,
For the joy of the fight, not for honor or fame.
I look down the scope, forever with hope...
That every zombie spawned....
Will be another enemy pwned.

Disclaimer: The first line was a requirement of an entry, and no I don't spend time at Hooters, that part was made up :P

I've been running around Boston lately and I hope to have some time later to make a post here about my recent (mis-)adventures. Till then, have a good one!

Thankful for Tech

 We keep saying "Oh I wouldn't be able to carry on without computers", but few of us would be able to elucidate why exactly we need technology so much. So I came up with 6 reasons I'm thankful for computers and associated tech.

1. Information - Now with the entire world connected, any information I want is just a fingertip away. All with detailed write-ups, pictures and graphs to boot. Being a student in this age is far easier than 20 years ago. News from an umpteen number of sources is available at the click of a button.
With everyone putting up guides on how to do pretty much everything there's little chance of being unable to accomplish a task - whether it be repairing an RRoD'ed 360 by oneself, submitting an assignment on pressure transducers, making a DIY touchscreen or cooking up some chocolate mousse. Learning is everyone's right.

2. Gaming - Where would I be without games, and the PC was what started it all for me. Endless hours have been spent letting off steam (pun intended ;) ) on some of my favorite games. All the while they've become far more interactive with computing horsepower increasing exponentially and technologies like 3D vision enhancing the level of involvement in the game.

3. Staying connected - I can stay in touch with my family halfway across the globe, share pictures and videos. No more expensive phone calls to another country either, when voice-chat is just a tab away. With all my friends on twitter, orkut and facebook, it's easier to find people you wanted to catch up with long ago but never were quite able to find. On top of this apps like Dropbox help me keep up to date with work, especially collaborate with my project mates. Portability and mobility, thanks to our smartphones and other networked devices is also a welcome change from yesteryear.

4. Entertainment - I remember the hours I spent browsing through music store shelves as a kid trying to find 2 good discs and I couldn't really mix and match all the tracks I wanted. Now it's so easy to listen to the track or see the video on YouTube and then go onto one of the numerous online stores to buy each track or video or movie individually. Besides, with video quality ever increasing the sky's the limit when it comes to satisfying those of us who love bigger displays on our PCs.

5. Paying bills and shopping - There's no substitute to paying bills in the comfort of my home. Movie tickets, train tickets, flight tickets - you name it, they're all online with discounts! I also love shopping on the Internet, helps to grab all those awesome deals that pop up around Christmas and Thanksgiving and around Cyber Monday, even if I'm half a world away. 

6. Simulation and Design - Yeah this is a bit more in the line of work, but anyway with computers, we can test every situation we wish to, thrash out every scenario we want without having to build a complete model and THEN find out that the design doesn't work. These days it helps that the processing power of a supercomputer of a few decades ago is encompassed within most high end processors. The same goes for drug testing too, the effect of drugs doesn't need to be directly tested on animals or people, not to mention the fact that computers have been a great tool in sequencing cures for several diseases.

Exams are still being a pain in the behind for now, so I'll be back with some posts, along with College Chronicles Part 6, when they're done and dusted.

Team Fortress 2 - A game for the ages...

My favourite game from the recent past is Team Fortress 2 (for the PC). 2 or 3 years ago, I got this gem of a game as a gift from a cousin as part of Orange Box. I’ve been hooked to it since. Having been used to Counter Strike’s fast paced and serious shooting action, TF2 was a refreshing (and much needed in my opinion) change. The strength of the game obviously lies in its classes.

The Spy’s knife, ability to disguise and cloak are all typical characteristics you’d associate with the “spy” moniker and TF2 does not give any huge advantage to its use either since the spy’s disguise fails when he’s shot a bit by an enemy and he’s revealed to the opposition once he uses the knife to backstab. Making him French was a touch of class. The Soldier has that perfect “American Sarge” look to him and the Minigun-wielding Heavy being Russian (not to mention a bit of a dunce) adds to the character. Every class has a perfect foil, a complete enemy. For instance, the Engineer might appear all powerful – what with his Sentry Guns and teleporters. But, the Spy is the answer to dominating the Engineers. No class can thus claim to be superior. The Scout’s speed balances out his relative lack of firepower. I liked it a lot that Valve spent the time hyping each class, making them correspond to different regions of the World (eg. The Aussie Sniper, the German Medic, Scottish Demoman), giving them intro videos (and they still keep it coming).

Even though the Pyro was a bit less powerful initially, the addition of the Backburner by Valve fixed it. It’s great that Valve keeps supporting the game all through the last 2 years with new updates that give the game new life and players the zeal to give new additions a go. Every advantage they give to one class is countered by another update to the other classes (the Razorback served as a defence for the sniper for instance). The Medic’s role is highly important in the battle too, with his few seconds of invulnerability for him and a comrade being able to break the deadlock in the face of an almost perfect defence. I’ve enjoyed that ability countless times while playing as a Heavy. Even as recent as this month the Soldier vs Demoman duel (along with the recent comics by Valve) on TF2 made me WANT to play the game for more than just stats. Adding an unlock to whichever class won the duel made it even sweeter.

The graphics are great even two years on, and it doesn’t take a very high-end rig to run it. The cartoony effect is not at all overdone, and it helps that every class is visually distinct from every other one even from a distance. I’ve also noticed how the Heavy smiling more as he racks up more kills. Everything is pretty easy to see and you don’t need to memorize the maps to know where the control points are or intel is. The sound is simply awesome too, with automatic cries from each character like “Fire, Fire, Fire”, “Here I come”, “God save the Queen”, “Hey Look at me ma!”, “We must stop little baby” and “KABOOM” adding to the hilarity. The sound of silly stuff happening like the Scout’s ball going Bonk on someone’s head and hitting people with the baseball bat are all so well done. Body part labeling after your character dies, using piss to put out a fire, the good looking critical hit and “Bonk” animations all add to the lolz

While in CS and other Multiplayer-oriented FPSes I usually felt frustration at dying repeatedly sometimes, here things like getting points for Revenge made it all the more fun, getting stabbed in the back is more hilarious than annoying. The addition of bases into which you can go to get away from the fast paced action and resupply quickly is also quite nice. The ability to send quick tips like “Spy” or “Thanks” to a teammate using just 2 keys from the keyboard without having a headset to communicate with has also helped me greatly.

Here's a video that runs through all the cast intros from TF2:


I love games like Halo and MGS4, but the thing is this game has always had me going back to it no matter how many times I decide “Alright I’ll go try some other game for a while”. It’s a game that one can play both competitively as well as just pick up and play for the fun of it. Every time I play, there’s some new and funny event I experience that I can't wait to tell my fellow gamers. After the endless hours spent sniping from the balcony on 2Fort, frantic overtime runs and the many days of standing next to the cart with a medic in support, I can confidently say this is the most I’ve enjoyed any game and the longest that joy has lasted.