Sager NotebookWell, as many of you know, after a two year+ wait with no ETA in sight, I decided to cancel my Pandora pre-order and put those funds towards the best gaming laptop I could reasonably afford. Now, I know that getting a desktop would be both more powerful and cheaper than getting a laptop, but the reasons why I decided on a gaming laptop rather than a gaming desktop are many. For one, I already bought a quality HP TouchSmart PC desktop not too long ago as my main PC and maxed that out, with the only downside of the system being the on-board video, which I was unable to upgrade, as previously detailed. In other words, it does everything I need a desktop PC to do, save for anything that requires discrete video, like non-casual gaming. Next, my oldest daughter's old HP laptop kicked the bucket, and she is presently without a system. My laptop has been an older Gateway Tablet PC for some time (in fact, it was my main system until it died from heat exhaustion (since repaired) and I replaced it with that HP), which I also maxed out, but it is now too long in the tooth to game (and is missing modern-day niceties like HDMI out). However, it will be a perfect laptop for my daughter, and her being 5 going on 6, I thought it preferable to get myself a new system and hand her down my still perfectly functional Gateway (especially since her 4 year old sister - who will surely also use it - is a terror). In other words, instead of having to get her a cheap laptop (and no, netbooks don't have the required resolution for Web games like Webkinz, ironically), it seemed more logical to spend a bit more on something fitting my needs and do the hand-me-down thing. Next, having something both portable - since I can't ever guarantee I can sit in any one place for any length of time - and with the latest connectivity options, gives all kinds of flexibility that a desktop simply wouldn't offer me (again, HDMI out in conjunction with HDTV will prove very useful). Finally, since I need to give my Gateway laptop to my daughter anyway, I'd prefer not to be without a portable workstation, since you never know when such a thing can come in handy (I suppose my work Thinkpad laptop might have been an option in a pinch, but it's preferable not to mix too much personal with business).

After a considerable amount of research and shopping around, including with Alienware and budget brands like Asus, I found that by far the best deals were with Sager, whose laptops hands-down have the best gaming-centric options for the best price. Depending upon model and whatever incentives they happen to be offering, you can get anywhere from 1.5x to 2x the bang for the buck that you can anywhere else (Sager notebooks are available direct and also from a variety of resellers). So, with budget, feature-set and overall bang-for-the-buck taken into consideration, I settled on the Sager NP8760-S1. The specs are pretty good:

After watching Avatar in 3D, I've been thinking off and on about how this technology could apply to gaming. Would those 3D effects make a game more immersive, or just be another gimmick?

As I was playing Dungeons of Daggorath again this morning, I was struck by how much clever audio can enhance a game, more than making up for simplistic graphics and the like. I think we have a tendency to strongly underestimate the power of sound for suggesting certain emotions and sensations.

UNBOXING again, THANKS MarkVergeer!
PART 1:

Check it out, I'm very happy with these, especially the two part look at the ColecoVision USB 128-in-1 multicart! Let me know what you think guys, thanks!

Play.tm has a huge History of Resident Evil up. It's a lengthy read, but I suspect survival horror fans will want to check it out. Here's a snippet:

If Alone in the Dark is credited with inventing the modern survival horror genre, then it was Resident Evil that refined it and turned into something that truly appealed to almost every gamer.

Of course, if you want to learn more about Alone in the Dark and its relation to the Resident Evil series--it's chapter 1 of Vintage Games! :)

Hey guys, after a couple months (damn lack of time) here finally I present MaximumRD's Intellivoice parts II AND III!

That's right, ended up being three parts total but since it had been a couple month since the first and some subscribers had been waiting I decided to keep quiet until both were uploaded and ready to go LOL!

Throbbing headache when trying to run the PC version of Gears of War. It crashes when you try to start it on any computer. How come? Read more below...

Check it out! Daniel Bienvenu contacted me to narrate a video for his latest COLECOVISION project. He is a homebrew programmer deeply involved in programming new titles for the classic Colecovision system. This title will be worked on throughout 2009 and hopefully debut sometime in 2010! Here is the resulting video, it is just one of a series of sneak peek teaser videos to get the word out on this exciting new project for Colecovision enthusiasts!