Capture Footage from Your Game Console to your PC

Many gamers find on occasion that they want to capture an ‘epic’ clip and put it on YouTube to ‘Show the Internetz’ how good they are at their favorite game. This poses a dilemma. Some games like Halo 3 have the Theater option, but there is no ‘Send to YouTube’ Option. So, how do you get this footage off the console and onto your PC?

It’s actually quite simple, however it’s not going to be free. Yes, you heard me not free. You will have to spend a bit of money if you are serious about capturing clips. Now, we’re not going to be covering the disgraceful ‘Camming’ method. We’re going to show you how to do it the right way with a capture card.

Let’s talk about capture cards. You can spend between 15 USD and 1000 USD on capture cards depending on exactly how serious you are. I recommend the Dazzle by Pinnacle. If you end up getting the Dazzle, it’s going to pretty self explanatory. Instal the software, plug in Xbox, Connect Dazzle to USB port, run software. You get the idea.

I personally however, have opted for (after testing the Dazzle) an Internal Capture card. This provides me with more control and flexibility. If you are going to use an internal capture device you’re going to need to be a bit more advanced. First of all, you’ll need to get into the guts of your PC. If you’re not comfortable with that, you should be getting the Dazzle. Then you’ll need to install the drivers for the device. Once again, if you can’t do that get the Dazzle. So, once you have got your card installed and the drivers installed you’re going to need to install some software to run the card. I personally recommend VirtualDub.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 not working or crash to deaktop with Windows Vista

I purchased Battlefield Bad Company 2 for the PC and was eager to play some online multiplayer warfare. I pop open the DVD drive and load it onto my Gamer Laptop PC.

The specs of the Gaming Laptop -
Intel Core 2 Duo DUAL CORE
512MB nVidia GeForce 7950GTX PCI-Express Video
3gb DDR2 Ram
160gb 7200 rpm HD
Built-in Intel® PRO/Wireless 4965 802.11 a/g/n
Internal 7-in-1 Card Reader (MS/MS Pro/MS Duo/MS Pro Duo/SD/Mini-SD/MMC/RS)

After an hour of loading and online update it said play now! Woot Woot lets go! The game launches and everything loads to the menu screen, now time for some multiplayer action! Five minutes later loading the server list I click join. Then the game crashed to desktop or white screen, Big WTF! OK lets try single player mode, WTF that crashed to desktop too. So I go into settings change video to LOW settings with no luck it still crashes to desktop. Next I updated my video drives and audio drivers BFBC2 still crashed or freezes. Looking on my desktop there was no Battlefield Bad Company 2 icon or anything at all in the Start, Programs menu. Thinking that was odd i deleted and reinstalled BFBC2. Still no icons and not working.

Searching online I found some fixes that i thought might work.
1. Run as admin (did not work)
2. Go to Documents, BFBC2 Folder, find settings, click it, find “dxversion=” change it to dxversion=9 (or 10) (did not work)
3. Disable your virus scanner and re-install Battlefield: Bad Company 2 (did not work)

The FIX
I had this same kinda of problem installing Battlefield 2 and never got it to install with widows vista. Looking in my disk collection I found a copy of Windows XP Media Center. So i thought F*** it, I Backed Up my Gamer Laptop HD and deleted everything. I put the Windows XP cd in and installed it then updated all drivers next re-installed Battlefield Bad Company 2. Now on the desktop I see an BFBC2 icon, WooT WooT! Clicked the icon and the game started, single player and multiplayer work fine now.

So if you are running Windows Vista and cant play BFBC2 try loading up Windows XP and you will be Happy!

Install Games to the Xbox 360 Hard Drive

Quite recently, Microsoft issued a mandatory update for the Xbox 360 Dashboard via Xbox LIVE. This update is called the NXE or ‘New Xbox Experience’. There are lots of great features in this update, besides the new 3D interface.

One of my personal favorites is the ability to install your games to the Xbox 360’s Hard Drive. This is extremely useful for a few reasons, the first being that it will in most cases make load times faster. Very often it does nothing, and in the case of Halo 3, it increases the load time. The second, and probably more important reason is that it makes your Xbox 360 almost silent. This is because the DVD drive in the Xbox no longer needs to spin, the drive generates most of the noise that the Xbox is constantly put down for.

Installing the games is quite simple. All you need is your Xbox and the game you want to install.

Once you have the Disc in the tray and the Xbox is sitting on the Dashboard screen, scroll to ‘My Xbox’ and select the game you want to install. Do not press the ‘A’ Button. Instead press the ‘Y’ button. This will bring you to a game details screen, from which you can choose the ‘Install to hard drive’ option.

The process usually takes about 15-30 minutes depending on various factors. When this is finished, you’re free to play away!

I do have one problem with the technology though. When I first heard about it, I thought I could stop changing the Discs in my Xbox 360 and just press a button to switch games. Unfortunately, not so. You still need to have the game in the DVD drive for proof of ownership. (Please Microsoft, make this happen in the next Dashboard update)

Happy gaming!

-Zane

Attention Blood Thirsty Gamers!!! Turok for pc will quench your bloodlust!!!

 

Based on Epics Unreal 3 Engine, this next-gen title definately delivers

You play the games main character Turok, the typical soldier with a troubled past fighting his way through impossible odds with an an arsenal of lethal weapons:

The Bow, Knife, SMG, Shotgun, Chaingun, Pulse rifle, Flamethrower, Sticky, Bomb Pistol, pistol, & Grenades

Their are minor details in the enviornments that could use a few tweaks, but the level enviornments are well done with tight graphics and framerates

The story line is typical yet still keeps one intersted in the overall gaming experience and the action people, is freakin’ BRUTAL.

So brutal, the game becomes somewhat tedious and overwhelming at points yet it does it in a way that drives the player to the brink of actually

loving the abuse and has them begging for more.

From small seamingly harmless dinosaurs to the mighty T-Rex and to what seams at times like hordes of well armed enemy soldiers, this game throws everything at you along with the faucet from the kitchen sink tied to a grenade.

Aside from the very minor almost nit picky graphics issues, Terminator as my witness, Turok will not disappoint

 

 

GAME TAP – Hit it, or quit it?

A few months ago while burning the midnight oil, I decided to check out Ted Turner owned subscription based game service GAME TAP.

At first glance I thought, “yeah rite! Another game site where they charge you a fairly low fee and give you access to crap no one wants to play”. WRONG! After downloading the free player it took me to a free games category where I found Tomb Raider Legend. Needless to say the addiction had a stranglehold on me. The game downloaded fairly quick and easy using a Comcast cable modem (about 1 hr. 15 mins.) with easy to read and understand user menus and prompts.

Last time I checked Game Tap had Nearly 1000 game titles to choose from and the list is growing.

I purchased Game Tap’s 1-month trial for 99 cents and upgraded to their gold package after the trial for $7.99 per month with the option to purchase the service for an entire year for about 70 bucks

Customer service is great also. I experienced a problem with a game called Rogue Trooper late one night and called tech support as a last ditch effort, and Game Tap’s tech guided me through a few menus, a spot on msconfig, a reboot and everything was pimpin’!

If you’re an avid gamer like me I highly recommend this service.

Latest Version 2.9.0 of Fraps has just been released.

According to the Fraps 2.9.0 Release Notes this is what’s new.

“Fraps release adds support for Vista and DirectX 10 games. With games starting to appear using DirectX 10 graphics we are happy to report that benchmarking, video capture, and screenshots are now all fully supported for these titles.”

With more DX10 games coming to store shelves, it will be good to see some more DX10 game video coming online.“ Vista also includes a rewritten audio subsystem. Fraps can take advantage of this and directly record a sound stream from the machine without requiring any support from the soundcard driver. This allows you to capture in-game audio even if you are using a USB headset or other audio device which does not normally support a “Stereo Mix” or “What U Hear” recording input.”

This is very good to hear.

“Since the Vista Desktop Window Manager (DWM) runs through DirectX we have also added a new option to monitor the desktop under Vista. You can now take screenshots and record video from the desktop just like any other game or 3D application.”

Other fixes are:

Added support for DirectX 10
Added option to monitor Desktop Window Manager under Vista
Added Direct Stream sound recording for Vista
Fixed screen tearing in video captured from DX9 games
Fixed G15 LCD output running fast on Vista machines
Improved resource sharing with multithreaded games
Added numerous crash and compatibility fixes

I always liked Fraps for capturing gaming video and love to see they’re keeping the software updated. You can try Fraps for Free by clicking here.

Basics of PSP Software

So you just brought a new Playstation Portable? or perhaps you have had one for a while and are getting bored with the same old games that suck. This is going to be the first “Dark Tip” for the blog. This is a bit more geeky than the average user would do so this might not be in taste for you.

Firstly you are going to want to be able to find out your firmware. The way to do this is to go to your menu (ie. Photos, Music, Video, Game) and go to settings. Then you need to go to the System Settings and then System Information . If your firmware is 2.00 to 2.80 then you can get home brew through various  images that creates a buffer overflow. If you are higher than that firmware you should upgrade to 3.03 IF you have a unpatched version of Grand Theft Auto : Liberty City Stories. You can find out if you have an unpatched version by checking out the update included on the UMD. If it is 2.00 then you are safe and can have home brew. If it isn’t then currently there is no luck for home brew. The next steps for those who can take a while to write up and would result in a very long post so i will link you to the necessary tutorials. If you have 1.50 or 1.00 you already are perfect for tweaking the PSP.

Link : The Ultimate Downgrade Guide