Red Swingline

Ok, so the title is a bit misleading.  We did lots this weekend, but the neat stuff for me dealt with the computer.  First, we signed-up for iTunes and downloaded an episode of LOST that we missed a few weeks back.  It took 3 days to fully download, because:

1) We have the equivalent of WiMax, but our radio antenna is low and thus our speeds vary greatly and are very subject to change due to interference of other home networks.  We shoot our beam across the valley to a tower near Shenandoah National Park, and that goes across many homes in our development alone.  Typically, I can average 100-130kb download.  Sometimes not so much.  Either way, it is by bursting, so I’ll get a second of 150 kb, then 5-10 (or more) seconds of silence. 

2) Combine the above with sending servers not accustomed to this, and we time out on large files (Lost was around 200MB).

We watched it Saturday night, and I will say that I was impressed with the quality.  It was by no means television quality, but it was better then they make it sound. 

On Friday, the first of my new toys arrived: Railroad Tycoon III.  Yes, it’s almost 2 years old - but it’s new to me.  Haven’t spent too much time on it, but I did play the tutorial, and it is good.

On Saturday, I went on a hunt, a hunt for quite possibly the best game created yet, that was supposed to have launched last week: Civ IV.  No one had it.  At least at the big stores.  Best Buy wasn’t selling it online anymore, Circuit City online AND instore didn’t have it (In store guy told me I was like the 30th person to ask, and all he could say was that shipment was delayed).  Target didn’t have it, neither did Wallyworld.  I was upset.  I look around online, and there was no word of a launch delay.  So I made a trip to the mall on Sunday, and sure enough, Gamestop had some copies.  They told me I was easily a triple-digit sale (as in they’ve sold over 100 copies in my sleepy village).

Now I know why the big guys didn’t have it.  While you can’t find an official press release, you heard it here first:  The first batch of games have MAJOR installation issues.  None of the issues are critical, and they have posted work-arounds to them on their website.  But my BRAND NEW RIG, with a BRAND NEW ATI X850 PLATINUM card had driver issues that forced me to download a 25 MB file, unistall old drivers, delete directX9.0C, uninstall the game, reinstall the game, reinstall DirectX9.0C, install new drivers, then cross my fingers.  It worked.  But the average joe shopper would have issues, and would be barking all the way back to the big chains and/or the game support.  So I think they let some stuff slip through to the hardcore audience, and held off on mass shipment until these bugs could be worked out on the CD’s.  Speaking of which, I have the collectable edition CD’s, not because they are spiffy, but because THEY ARE MISLABELED.  Yes, they labeled the “PLAY” and “INSTALL” CD’s wrong.  They fessed up tot hat one on their website too, but only after you clicked a link to “HEY, It says I have the wrong CD in…”.

That said, I also played the tutorial.  Even after all the hassle, I am speachless.  I consider myself an expert at the previous CIV’s, and I tell you I have much to learn.  Many more nuances.  I look forward to playing a few of you online…

This entry was posted on Monday, October 31st, 2005 at 10:33 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.