GeekwithEnvy

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Torchlight II Soundtrack for Free and My Rant

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To help you get in the Torchlight mood, Runic games has released the Torchlight II full soundtrack with album artwork, pretty nice right? You can download the soundtrack for free on the official Torchlight II website. The release day for Torchlight II is Thursday September 20th.Torchlight II Outlander

I don’t know if you’re into this kind of thing or not but personally I love the music from many of my favorite game titles. I think that the music in games is often overlooked, which is quite sad considering the amount of hard work and talent that goes into these compositions. I love listening to soundtracks while I work, I find that it can really put me in a creative mood.

Many gamers will just queue up their favorite play list and turn the in-game music off, which I totally get why you would want to do this after playing the game several times, but when you first play a game, try to experience the game the way the developers wanted you to experience it. I am also referring to the sound effects here too, remember that these guys are custom tailoring the audio to the in-game world around you, it adds an entire layer of depth to your experience.

What’s more interesting is that if you ask most gamers today if they enjoy classical music they would probably answer no, but in reality we are surrounded by it, whether it’s in our favorite games or movies. Now, I’m not limiting everything to just the classical stuff, there’s a lot of other good non-classical tracks out there. I often prefer the more ambient music while I work or study. There are plenty of crazy game soundtracks out there that I like, in fact there’s a ton of classic game music that has be re-done with a full orchestra and includes music from titles like Zelda, Castlevania, and even Sonic The Hedgehog. Just Youtube any of your favorite songs and you will most likely find many different versions and interpretations, there’s even a whole orchestra dedicated to game music. You can check them out here.

So I say to those who work in the game industry and create music and audio effects, your work is appreciated!

Get Ready For The WiiU

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Nintendo will be releasing the Wii U on November 18th, 2012 and it looks pretty awesome. The Wii U will come with the all new WiiU game pad which has a 6.2″, 16:9 aspect ratio, LCD touch screen which has developers coming up with some pretty unique ways for you to interact with your favorite games. The handheld device also has a front facing camera and motion control. The new gamepad controller is a mini gaming powerhouse on it’s own that will allow Wii U owners to play their favorite games even when you can’t use your TV. With TVii you will be able to watch movies, TV shows and more right on your Wii U gamepad.

WiiU Controller

The Wii U console it self  is similar to the original Wii but with a more rounded look which comes in both black and white. Nintendo also has released a new Wii U Pro controller that looks similar to another well known controller on the market and should be useful when more precise controls are needed. Of course, the new WiiU just wouldn’t feel new unless it was capable of delivering HD graphics, which it does at 720p,1080i,and 1080p. What about your old Wii games? Well most all of your Wii games will work just fine with the new console, though I’m not sure how they will look with an HD output.

WiiUProControlWhite

 

The Wii U will be available in two versions, the Deluxe Set which will have 32GB of internal storage along with a Nintendo Land video game, Wii U Game pad Stand, Wii U Game pad Cradle, and Wii U console stand, Wii U Game pad with stylus and a Digital Promotion that will allow gamers to accumulate points for future downloads on the Nintendo eShop. The Basic Set will include 8GB of internal storage, Wii U Game pad with stylus, sensor bar, and power adapters and both versions will include an HDMI cable.

The Deluxe Set will be priced at $349.99

The Basic Set will be priced at $299.99

I personally am glad to see the return of Pikmin which looks absolutely amazing in HD on the new Wii Console. The new console will really help Nintendo match up with other gaming console features and not only that but I think in many ways, with the new gamepad, I think it should really stand out. The idea of bringing a mobile concept and merging it with the WiiU I think is really smart. The timing of the release feels right too and I think it should sell well in the U.S. Again, the console goes on sale 11-18-2012.

Want the full rundown of WiiU information? Head on over to Nintendo’s official page.

World Of Warcraft Screenshots Contain User Info

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When you want to take a screenshot in World of Warcraft you can press the print screen button. However, players are starting to complain that the game is placing watermarks on their screenshots that contain User ID’s, timestamps, and server IP addresses. The watermarks may have been there since 2008.

World Of Warcraft Logo

PCGamer believes that the watermarks were in place so Blizzard could track down players who are using private servers and breaking the terms of service.

So what’s the big deal? Well, basically this information could be used to track other players down allowing someone to stalk you or try to get you tangled up in a phishing scam.

So what can you do? You can remove the watermark by changing your screenshot quality to the highest setting. You can change your screenshots to this setting by typing: /console SET screenshotQuality “10″.

Blizzard has not officially replied to any questions about the watermarks but I imagine they will have to address the issue sooner or later.

Steam Gets Ready for Big Picture Beta

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SteamLogoWebValve will soon begin public testing this week of “Big Picture”, a new mode that will optimize Steam for you HDTV.  Big Picture mode will offer support for controllers making feel more like your PC is in console mode, which will be nice when playing on your television.

This is something that Steam customers have been asking for for quite some time and I can understand why. It’s not impossible to get things up and running on your HDTV now, but it can be a bit time consuming getting everything to work the way you want, especially the first time you set everything up.

Making sure your audio system is hooked up right and ensuring your surround sound is actually working properly, checking refresh rates and changing screen resolutions, and having to work with different input devices to navigate, swap, and play games can get a bit tedious. Big Picture mode should smooth all of this out and make it easier to bring your power house gaming rig to your HDTV with ease. At least we hope so, as this is only going to be a beta release. I would gladly try it out and provide feedback as I think this is actually a really cool idea.

The crew at Valve are constantly hard at work trying to improve their existing products as well as looking into the future and trying to capture and create the next big ideas for gaming. This is one of my favorite companies to watch just for those reasons alone.

 

Torchlight II

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Well fellow action RPG fans, get ready for Torchlight II. The game will feature the highly demanded multi-player co-op mode that will allow you to play with your friends on the Internet for free with an all new matchmaking service. You will also be able to play using a LAN connection.

Torchlight Screenshot Ember

 Torchlight II is set in a much larger open world environment that features level randomization, hub towns, and weather effects. The game will also come with an editor to allow users to create their own mods.

There are four new classes, the Outlander,the Embermage, the Berserker, and the Engineer. Once you pick a class you will be able to choose from many different weapons. There are three new weapon types, Cannons, Fist Weapons, and Great Weapons. All of these weapon types are useless of course without some enemies to destroy and Torchlight II is loaded with new enemies which drop a ton of loot.  You will undoubtedly find your self running out of space rather quickly and you will have to make some tough choices on what loot to keep and what loot to toss.

Torchlight II Screenshot Frost

I really love the artistic style of Torchlight in general and Torchlight II, with it’s many new lands to explore and new UI,  looks really polished and even better than the first game. The team at Runic has made the UI more user friendly which should make it easier for new players to get into the game. Pets will also make a return and become even more useful then ever before as you wander deep into the new world.

Torchlight II will launch as a digital download from Runic Games, Steam, Perfect World, GamersGate, GameFly, and GameStop on September 20th, 2012.