the daily inxling!

I’ll say straight up - I’m not a fan of Tomb Raider games.

Progressing through miles and miles of level to screw up for just pressing the jump button a bit too soon, then falling down a crevice, then having to go back and do the same thing again another 10 or more times isn’t my idea of exhilarating excitement, before I discover by accident that I wasn’t meant to be jumping in that direction at all. Any combat is shallow and pointless. It’s an exercise in timing and luck, and the gaming industry’s oldest enemy “Frustrator” rears his familiar face.

Tomb Raider Legend is the 7th of 9 titles in the series (the 9th being the eagerly awaited Tomb Raider Underworld). It’s gone a long way to address the issues mentioned above:

Your “backup” team give you advice. Constantly. Your progress is saved regularly. The combat has been given added depth by the addition of sliding tackles, jumps (with bullet time, of course, what did you expect, real time? n00b) and side kicks, as well as the staple shooting with infinite ammo.

The puzzle solving has evolved too: it’s generally fairly easy to see what you need to do at a given time. There are exceptions, for instance when you’re doing battle with a giant black demon and you have to turn a gravity-gun on these four blocks on the wall that opens a container directly above you that you can use your grapple hook to pull a magical stone out of… I got somewhat stuck as to why the monster, that was taking damage, was just regenerating it. I had to take the stone out to progres! Of course! A bit of explanation would have been useful here.

If I seem unclear as to exactly what the stone, the demon, and the blocks are exactly it’s because I am unclear. That brings me onto my next point: the story has been revamped and includes all manner of arcane nonsense about King Arthur’s sword Excalibur and the cutscenes (skippable, thank God, they’re usually between a checkpoint and a hard part) are well scripted and executed. I say “arcane nonsense” but it definitely serves to drive the story forward and to a wide variety of locations: Kazakhstan, Nepal and Cornwall.

“As in take the M5 to the A30 Cornwall?” Lara asks incredulously, as I admire the improvements in script.

Tomb Raider Legend definitely still suffers from the problems that have always marred the series but the puzzles are original enough, the combat deep enough, and the game presented well enough to make converts of many nay-sayers and bring back the fans that were lost by the atrocity otherwise known as “Angel of Darkness”. If you liked the original Tomb Raiders then you’ll love this. If you want to try to expand away from your usual diet of shootyshooty action games and maimymaimy bloodandguts then pick this up and give it a try.

- John

And yes, I did a whole review without once commenting on her chest. Marvellous.

Look mate, it’s http://www.inx-gaming.com.

It’s not some weird affiliates link.

Really, you do puzzle me sometimes. Please, sort yourself. We’ve changed to www.inx-gaming.com. Thanks

Hey all,

I spend most my days hosting and looking after other clans game servers, but just for once this week I have been busy for probably the first time in a year, playing with my own Call of Duty 4 game server.

Introducing:

85.234.148.4:28160 !! INX-Gaming.co.uk >> Call of Duty 4 Public #1.

We’ve setup a mix and match of the following Call of Duty 4 game-types:

• Free-for-all
• Deathmatch
• Team death match

Our Call of Duty 4 public server is already pretty much full from 12-12 We have lots of INX admins and forum regulars popping in, so why not come and show us how to play Call of Duty 4?

With Day of Defeat Source gaming servers being ported over to the Orangebox engine, just about all addons and plugins that previously worked, stopped working. Lovely

After a lot of reading about, testing and changing our mod central installers, we’ve got Manimod back up and running for Day of Defeat Source on our auto installer.

The PSP. It’s a powerful, well distributed little beast. With a good couple of hour’s battery life, it’s own memory card, good media support, an easy interface, wireless connectivity, USB connectivity and a nice wide screen (while being totally pocket-sized) it has a lot of potential. So why have we seen so many cheap PS2 knockoffs with no thought to maximising the PSP’s unique qualities?

Part of the problem appears to be that it’s thought that making a game for the PSP is simple.

Step 1: take parts of an existing well-liked distributed franchise and either port them directly or rehash them then port them, or tack a bit on then port them (Tomb Raider, Splinter Cell, and Prince of Persia respectively).

Step 2: when you’ve managed to compile them successfully, plunge the graphics and animations quality until the framerate rises to a barely acceptable level.

Step 3: ship the game. Yes it looks tacky and is buggy and frustrating, but so are all games for the PSP so who cares?

The consumer does. And since it’s our money, we’re going to spend it on games that have been designed, and implemented from the ground up for the console. Silent Hill: Origins is such a game. Without doubt the best lighting we’ve seen on the PSP, and it can rival plenty of XBox 360 games. It can be noticed best when you’re wearing a torch on your chest and swinging your fists around: it looks incredible. Climax Studios has successfully managed to reproduce the defining gritty horror of the series and has brought it all to the smallest screen. The only problem is that the Silent Hill series is the sort of thing that you play alone at night in a dark room with the sound turned up for hours on end (as they recommend before the opening title screen that this game should be played). And most of my PSP gaming happens on a brightly lit bus while I’m trying to ignore screaming children, and screaming adults, come to that.

The best games for the PSP are “pick up and play” ones. The sort where you can make progress, or have a complete game, within 5 minutes, or at most under 10 minutes. The Burnout series is a great example of this. I know that Burnout Legends and Burnout Revenge use pretty much the same engine, and EA didn’t even try to make a pretence about Burnout Dominator (which was shipped under the same name for both PS2 and PSP!) but Burnout is perfect for this sort of thing: there is progress (so something to look forward to on those commutes) but short bursts of gameplay keep it fresh and entertaining and playable in short stretches. The same cannot be said of Dungeon Siege - imagine Diablo on the PSP - that had lots of progress but horrible story, and dialogue and graphics, and…

So far the best PSP game that I’ve had in terms of how addictive and entertaining it is while being able to play in short bursts is Worms Open Warfare 2. Maybe not only because Worms really uses the wide screen that the PSP provides, perhaps because it’s really easy to control and perhaps because it’s a low-tech game (so it doesn’t require development time to be spent on high-detail 3D graphics and animations which would be better spent on improving gameplay and fixing bugs), but this game alone is worth having a PSP for. I was in the middle of a really exciting match today, my third attempt against an enemy team on Hard difficulty setting, and I’d just used the Ninja rope to swing in over the opponent’s last worm and…

My PSP ran out of batteries.

- John

Now, you can’t tell me you having noticed anything different, because there’s a whole brand new look to our site. Even if you’ve been lazy and only gone to the forums, you will have noticed the difference and all the threads telling you about our new site.

Now, if you haven’t had a chance to look round, how many of you have thought, great, it’s a new site, but how does it really benefit me except more bugs and a new slim look!? Firstly, just make sure your not in punching distance of Carl or Olly, because OMG their is SO much benefit for you, it’s really unbelievable how much we have been depriving you over the last 5 years.

Well start with

MyINX

MyINX is a unique login system for all INX systems. Can you remember when you used to have to remember the billing link, support link and the panel link, and as if that wasn’t enough, you had to  remember the different usernames and passwords. Well not anymore, with MyINX, it is a simple one click log in to any of the INX Services. No need to remember your billing pass, just log in and click billing. How much easier could it get? Not much im glad to say! So, if your not already signed up, do I have to say it… I hope not but I will anyway, What are you waiting for?

Knowledge Base

Now, I know we’ve already had a knowledge base, so your probably thinking, ohh, just get on with it your boring me to death, it’s same old same old. But oh no, not this knowledge base, in the famous words of M & S, “This is not just any old Knowledge Base, this is an INX, advanced and edited my professionals regularly knowledge base.” Go and take a look, you’ll be surprised at it’s tidyness and effectiveness.

 Staff Blog

Well, your reading this, so you’ve obviously seen the new look to our staff blog and our integration with the new site. So, what do you think? We think it’s just what the doctor ( or in our case Olly) ordered. Now unfortunately, with great power, comes great responsibility, so that meas myself, Olly, Carl and John are going to have to entertain you with our terrible stories.

About Us

So what? Every GSP has an About Us page, so what makes INX special? Well that’s exactly it. What makes us different from every one else? Not sure, head over to the About Us page and find out, it contains, why you should you use us, why our existing customers chose us. Our setup, what makes us superior to other GSP’s and our hand built control panel. Then take a look at our panel with a tour create by no one other than the creator.

More to Come

Now, we don’t want you to get your knickers in a twist, so were releasing bits at a time. There is still plenty to come, so don’t worry, your not missing out. Upcoming features include the new and improved Download Core and an impressive ….. , now that would be telling now wouldn’t it and we can’t have any of that!

So in the famous words of Julias Ceaser, or as of now Olly, “Veni, Vidi, Vici - I came, I saw, I conquered”

That’s all for now but don’t blink, or you might miss something.

Remember the game that brought the Fantasy RPG to millions? The Diablo series is back, with the endless pointing and clicking and levelling up and hacking and slashing and running back and forth to sell every last low-grade axe you came across?

Diablo 3 Gameplay Trailer here, viewer discretion advised.

There are new gimmicks, such as smashing at broken walls to crush your foes, and really neat new game features, such as massive leaps and much better online support. Although I know many people who played Diablo 2 (myself included) I only know one person who has actually completed it, but it made me break out my old copy and start from scratch again.

Only question is: will they have the Necromancer class? Oh, and the Butcher.

- John

Play ni- ARRRR! FRESH MEAT!

Another day, another Team Fortress 2 server update. At least we are safe in the knowledge Team Fortress 2 is being well looked after, and your game servers running tip top

Here’s the buzz:

The required update for Team Fortress 2 and its dedicated server are now
available.  Please run hldsupdatetool to receive it.  The specific
changes include:

Jason

Simply reboot your Team Fortress 2 server from our control panel to force the update. Any problems, please raise a support ticket.

Here’s hoping for a quiet weekend and no Team Fortress 2 or, god forbid, a Call of Duty 4 game server update :/

- Olly

Beta, has become better! Steam updates were released last night for Day of Defeat Source. Those that have been playing he beta of DOD Source will be familiar with the new changes.

The big required Day of Defeat: Source update has now been released. his means the Day of Defeat: Source Beta has also ended.  Please update our servers by running hldsupdatetool.  The specific changes include:

• Switched to using the Orange Box engine
• Added new map, Palermo

As above, apart from a new map Palermo, Day of Defeat Source has moved over to the Orange Box gaming engine, also used by Team Fortress 2. We wait with baited breath to see whether Counterstrike Source will also move over.

The main addition to Day of Defeat Source is players will now see a reward / achievement based system, which is prevalent in Team Fortress 2.  Revenge freeze cams, nemesises, and detailed stats are now active in game.

It’s worked with Team Fortress 2, but is it welcome in Day of Defeat Source. Only time will tell as to how the ageing community takes it.

Three updates in four days. Until the next one

- Olly

Call of Duty 4 Linux server 1.7 patch is here. Finally, after kicking dustbins and even considering playing different games in frustration, we’ve received the 1.7 linux patch! You have to love how it makes it way at around 4am GMT

Without further ado the technical blurb:

•  Fixed an exploit that allowed players to access certain console dvars during multi-player matches.
• Fixed a crash that could occur when a Chinatown Sabotage match would go into over-time.
• Fixed a bug where the MP icons (Bomb, Defend, Capture, etc) were always showing up as English regardless of the install language.

Thanks very much to Ryan and co at Icculus as ever.

But we do have to ask the Call of Duty 4 game makers, why does it have to be this way every time?

Here’s how it works:

• Call of Duty 4 1.7 patch released client side. Also released server side for Windows. No COD 4 Linux update.
• Gamers eagerly update their clients to 1.7. But no Linux update. They cannot connect to 1.7 servers.
• Something like 75% of servers were shown to be running at 1.6, which shows either they were Windows weren’t updated, or more likely you have around 75% of Call of Duty 4 servers running on Linux.

Result, Call of Duty 4 drops heavily in the “most played” rankings. People go to other games. The Call of duty 4 game server community is dead for a week.

So why we wonder can’t we see the patches released at once? I’m sure there’s a good reason

Anyway, we have tested and distributed this patch to your Call of Duty 4 game servers. A reboot on your control panel should effect the update. If not, as always, please contact our support team at http://support.inx-network.com

Until the stress and heart ache of the next patch

- Olly.