barely fatal

I need sleep. Last night I joined the Shadows in PlanetSide – and it was way too late when I finally logged. I still have to figure out how the game works, besides the shooting at enemies part. I get lost in bases, don’t know what gear to use and what the heck I am supposed to do. Give me some time, and I’ll find out.

The night before yesterday I also went to bed … well, waaaaay too late. That time it was Oblivion. I need sleep.

At work I was allowed to carry stuff around, crawl under tables, pack and unpack all our equipment: the team moved to another office space, again. I moved five times within the same building in one year. Then, I had to write Release Sheets, you know, for software releases. And manpages. Gee, that wasn’t too bad after all. Two more weeks and I’ll be gone. New job signed for, fresh start next month. Now I only need to find a new apartment. No, first I need sleep. Later.

PlanetSide Reserves

The PlanetSide 1-year-trial started some days ago. Remember, we mentioned it earlier this year. I’ll try it, but hell, Oblivion gets full attention besides tons of other stuff I have to organise first.

Now I’m sitting here, waiting for the postman. I can track the package, it’s on the way. I even know the time when it was loaded in the truck this morning. Where the hell is that guy?

It’s not that I want Oblivion so badly. I actually wait for my new harddrive. I have to reinstall Windows and set everything up, that always takes a day. I have pre-loaded all Windows updates, got all new drivers, in short, I’m ready.

I can’t leave the house, and I need to buy food, do my laundry and go to the ATM. And next week I’ll hardly find the time for a complete Windows revamp. He better come soon.

Update:
Believe it or not, but the package arrived and everything works. Oblivion is really great, although I think I have to upgrade my graphics card after all. It runs smooth in towns and in dungeons, but it’s just way too slow in the wild. But first I have to get my stuff organized so I actually find the time to play.

Well, I downloaded the Battlefield 2 “Booster Pack” Euro Force. Three maps, seven weapons (one for each class) and four new vehicles. It comes for 10 Euros and is only available by download. You can buy a box, but all you get is a piece of paper with a download code. You have to register a nickname at GameSpy and EA and use the EA downloader.

Installation went without problems at high download rates (>200k). It also was the first Battlefield 2 patch I could install without the need to trick Windows into thinking the programs directory was on another partition (my system partition is always full).

You can only use the new weapons with the new faction, the European Union, on the three new maps. The maps are really fresh, you have the Chinese Great Wall, an infantry/sniper map, the tank-heavy Operation Smoke Screen and the mixed (though also mostly vehicle-based) Tabara Quarry map. All maps play well and have a distinct new look, even though they re-use most of already well-known buildings from main program. The weapons are more or less variations of those from the other classes, but of course nobody once to ruin the balance. The new sniper rifle is very precise and allows devastating results if used right – no, I’m not talking about me.

So, ten bucks for three maps and a few weapons, is it a rip-off? Well, there are enough games out there which offer a lot more – and for free. However, it’s new content, and it’s good stuff. I’d say yes ten bucks is 2 bucks too many, but besides that it’s fair deal. Or it would be, if EA managed to fix the remaining bug. It still happens that the game messes up team and enemy flags – teamkills are the result. The net code also could be a lot better. I find it hard playing without skips, sound problems, jumps and freezes. It’s not my box, it works perfectly in single player mode.

So if you play a lot and want those maps, get them. And now EA, before you continue working on the second booster pack, fix the game, you hear!?