Psydotek

Why is it a gaming keyboard? Full n-key rollover when using the PS2 port. Extremely important when you're punching keys quickly and need every keystroke to register. Some gamers don't need/want all sorts of extras. They just need it to work properly every time. As for the cost, the Cherry key switches cost about $1/switch and are proven reliable for long term use (only Topre switches are considered more reliable but cost twice as much). I've been using a Filco keyboard with blue Cherry switches for the last 7 months and it's been the best ~$150 I've spent on my computer. In the same vein, the Logitech G9X mouse is gaming mouse despite only having the basic 2 main buttons, a scroll wheel, and forward/back thumb buttons.

Latest drivers? Videocards overheating from poor ventilation? Perhaps you may need to turn down the clockspeed a tad? Change the SLI modes (experiment with AFR1, AFR2, and SFR)?

+1 for Supreme Commander and Company of Heroes. If you don't have the first Supreme Commander already, just go straight to the SC: Forged Alliance expansion (it's a standalone expansion). If you have an older computer, other good options include C&C Red Alert 2 and Total Annihilation.

Ah, true... I wonder if the 200 proof ethanol we have in the pathology will work even better...

Or even more bots i'm sure. They were supposed to be working on the computer AI for an even greater challange in the next update (1.3, not sure if it's released yet but should be soon if it's not out yet).

It's fine if you don't mind the 30% water touching your computer parts. I think the question you're thinking of is "is 70% alcohol strong enough..."

Spybot Search & Destroy + AVG. Both work well on Vista 64. CC Cleaner is also good for cleaning up the registry and other temp files. I run all 3 along with Scandisk before a HD defrag.

I went with Vista for my recent build (August 2007) simply because i didn't want to have to worry about switching my OS midway through my computer's life just to take advantage of the new things (i.e. DX10). I'm still working on tweaking the services and other things that autorun, but otherwise it works plenty fast. Turning off file indexing got rid of the annoying HD chatter that would last up to 10-15 minutes after booting up...

Another +1 for the PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750.

There's no single player campaign/story mode like Homeworld had. Single player is essentially skirmish mode found in other games. But when you think about games like Master of Orion or Civilization/Alpha Centauri, there wasn't much of a campaign/story either. Pick your race, build, and conquer. Games can last afew hours to afew weeks (if the map is big enough). I'm thinking a that a real time Master of Orion is the best description i can think of with all space battles happening on the same screen/map as the galaxy.

Published by Stardock Entertainment and developed by Ironclad: http://www.sinsofasolarempire.com http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sins_of_a_Solar_Empire It's gotten rave reviews, is the next closest thing to Homeworld, and has MINIMAL DRM. Also, the game sold over 100k copies in about 3 weeks after release early February. In fact, the minimal DRM/copy protection is one of the things that's propelled the game into the spotlight. There's a huge discusson over on the SoaSE formus (http://forums.sinsofasolarempire.com) about the DRM and how it compares to other games (Bioshock and Starforce comes up more than once). Stardock is one of the few companies that's realized that rather than prevent piracy (in order to "increase" sales) by punishing legit buyers with overbearing DRM, they'd much rather have a kick@$$ game that'll appeal to as many people willing to spend their $$$ on a good game and not worry about those who would not have bought the game anyways. Their only copy protection is a standard keycode which you register with Stardock online and is required to download update patches. This way they reward people who purchased the game and not those who have pirated it. Additionally, you don't need to have the disc in the computer to play, and you can easily install the game on multiple machines (you're technically allowed 2, but i don't see anything stopping you from installing it on more for the occasional LAN party). Their goal is to make the user experience better for those who have purchased the game compared to those who have pirated it (when it's usually the other way around for most other games). Additionally, the game was designed to run very well on older machines (another way of broadening the amount of potential buyers) so you won't be forced to buy new hardware to play but still looks great on bleeding edge computers. Anyways, i've bought it, but haven't played it much yet (still busy with Simcity 4 and *gasp* Bioshock). However it's next in line. --------- According to the above, a recipe for success is: 1 - Make kickass game 2 - Price it well (SoaSE only costs $30-40 depending on where you shop) 3 - Have it run well on a wide variety of system specs 4 - Minimal DRM 5 - ??? 6 - Profit

Nope, i'm looking forward to it too (a.k.a. Clear Sky). I love the first one (though i have yet to beat it... got close to finishing it on the old computer, and i'm 2/3 through the game on my "new" computer but i'm currently sidetracked with other games at the moment). Red Alert 3 (loved the first 2) Also, can't forget Project Origin ("sequel" to FEAR). There's also a bunch of Wii and DS games i'm wanting.

I'm thinking back to System Shock 2 and the Regeneration Chambers where you actually had to find them and activate them manually before they'd work...

Alright, fine... I'll get to it once i peel myself away from Simcity 4.

So i finally picked up Bioshock. It's currently sitting on my bed in full unopened packaging. However i'm still having doubts about the whole SecuROM potential rootkit issue (there's even some people that have stated SecuROM disables all their CD burning software/hardware). I've recently reread all the the articles saying it's not one, the 2kGames forums regarding the DRM software, Steam forums, sysinternals forums, etc. and i still can't convince myself to open the box. I made the mistake of downloading the demo on Steam and enjoying it immensely... I also went through the uninstall and fairly thorough "deleting SecuROM" procedure (it's findable on the Steam Forums and involves null registry entries using the regdelnull utility to completely remove the SecuROM registry entries). Anyhoo, should i just get over this whole issue and jump into Bioshock and not worry about the limited number of validations (5 right now) or take the game back and play it safe? Is it worth it to play through the game once and deal with the SecuROM issues (even if temporarily at least)? I suppose i have enough hard drive space to leave it installed for the life of the computer... But that means leaving SecuROM on too. Ugh... [and yes, i'm paranoid so ]