Diablo 3 Day I Pitstop: How’s your Internet Connection?

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 16th, 2012

If it’s one thing gamers will never compromise, it’s their Internet connection. The launch of Diablo III has prompted gamers around the country to scrutinize the quality of their Internet connectivity. As a fan myself, I really take these things seriously and no amount of marketing BS will convince me otherwise. The proof is in the pudding and it seems that not everyone is a chef.

This feedback is based on a number of qualitative feedback from friends and personal experience as well.

So far, it seems that Diablo 3 works fine with the following ISP’s

Wireless:
Smart (tethered) – I tether my MacBook with my iPhone 4s and get to play just fine
Globe (tethered) – I get to play with Rico of Technogra.ph (he tethers using a Samsung Galaxy S II)

Wired
PLDT – Generally good. I hopped into a number of games of friends and we’re rolling seamlessly.

On another note, one ISP stands out to be the provider to avoid for Diablo III:

Sky Broadband – Woes to Sky Broadband. They really dropped the ball on this one. I used to swear by Sky publicly as the best wired connection money can buy in the country. Service has dropped to a really poor rating in the past 2 months.

Brendan outlined it all here in a comment:

Hi there,

Many many emails to Skybroadband support center regarding Blizzard downloader P2P issues and unplayable in game experience with Diablo 3 (may be DNS, but may be that they have restricted Port 1119, which Diablo 3 uses) – to no avail.

Sky simply does not respond to queries and when you call them they tell you to send an email through to support center. Its a vicious circle.

Playing it on my friends PLDT connection works perfectly.

After 2 years with Sky, seems like PLDT really is the way to go.

- Brendan

As my cousin said, ” Pre-term fee for Sky is PHP 2,000.00, Diablo 3 is priceless. If it doesn’t work at 3Mbps, I’m dropping them for (insert ISP here).” Sorry Sky Broadband. I swore by your services. I really did. But sad gamer can’t compromise.

You know what’s most interesting? My wireless tethering is faster than my ethernet connection. Why, Sky, why? Note that I write this not to smear Sky’s reputation but 2 months of your IT support not knowing what the problem is makes for really bad service. Fans have waited for Diablo III for about a decade and we absolutely need to be online to play this (there is no offline mode). So you definitely should understand why gamers feel really bad about this and need to switch. We waited 9 years for Diablo III. We absolutely can’t wait for you.

To the others: how’s your gaming experience? Add me up: LOLMOWER#1648

Stay a while and listen: The Diablo III Launch

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 14th, 2012

EDIT: In the finishing stretch of the installer, the devs change the color of the progress bar and go into minute details of how much longer it’s going to take. Brilliant. The anticipation!!!

—————–

At 8:01AM PDT servers around the world opened for the launch of Diablo III. But Blizzard really knows how to tease and the servers only unlock the installer, in time for the actual launch of the game which is sometime on the 15th of May PDT.

You know what’s better than trending on Twitter? Crashing a server. After the game unlocked, everyone got this error:

“ERROR: Unable to initialize streaming. Please check
your Internet connection. If this problem persists,
please contact Blizzard Techinical Support.
(CreateStreamingManifest::GetStreamingManifestContents)”

Looks like the seed hasn’t been uploaded yet. Or something. Or really there are just too many people.

This is the most in(tense) product launch ever. A launch I’ve been waiting for over a decade. Exciting!

One day till Diablo III. Retail Version vs Digital Download

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at May 14th, 2012

Don’t be surprised if a lot of people call in sick tomorrow. Starting 3AM, Tuesday, May 15 the servers for Diablo III are going live. Fans have been waiting a decade for the triumvirate to be completed. I still remember my days in college, cutting a few classes just to join in on the LAN sessions at the gaming cafe beside school.

For the record I didn’t buy the collector’s edition as I’ve learned the hard way that these things take up a lot of space (case in point: Warhammer Online Collector’s Ed) and despite the fact that the box comes with cool add ons to your character, the real-money auction house system will definitely spark a number of doodads that will make the Collector’s Ed exclusives cry manly tears.

On the D3 Facebook group, Joseph Datu has unboxed his PHP 11,000 Collectors Edition with the Diablo Skull + 4GB USB Soulstone. It’s huge!

D3 Collector’s Ed photo by Joseph Datu. Congratulations! If I had more space in my place, I’d definitely get this.

Instead of the retail box — Collector’s Edition counted, I really just wanted to download the game way ahead of time so it would be a breeze installing. No box. No lines. I still own the game. Not sure if this is symptoms of getting old, but at this point in my life, 10 years after Diablo II, I prefer foregoing the formalities and getting it on. Save paper.

So that’s it. Looks like a long evening. 3AM guys. See ya in New Tristam.

Diablo III Open Beta Weekend. Anyone can play!

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at April 20th, 2012

What you need to know:

Blizzard is opening up Diablo III for open beta this weekend.

Anyone can download it and play all the characters up to Level 13.

Download it now.

That is all.

More details.

Borderlands 2 Trailer: Best cell shading I’ve seen (also 96% more dubstep!)

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at February 23rd, 2012

Saw this today. And it’s still months away from September 2012. Impressive.

Nightfall: Martial Law

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at November 28th, 2011

Wrote my first piece for GeekOut. Finally, a place where I can talk about board games and card games.

I recently acquired a copy of Nightfall: Martial Law created by AEG after having spent a couple of months researching for a new deck building card game I could play with my regular board game group. The ‘Nightfall’ series is a fairly popular franchise in the gaming community set in a world where vampires, zombies, werewolves and the human “hunters” duke it out to control what’s left of civilization. And before you get illusions of “vampires” and “werewolves” of either being sparkly-clean or abs-endowed, nope this isn’t Twilight.

Read more.

OMGeek.net — South East Asian PC Gaming Community

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at September 21st, 2011

Nice to know there are more and more organized SEA based gaming communities sprouting up from the Interwebs. Despite whatever Internet connection you have at home, ping will always be an issue due to the locations of dedicated servers for gaming. For those who don’t understand, gamers like me are always on the lookout for “dedicated servers” — computers that have the sole purpose of hosting online game matches. If your game is being hosted on computers such as these, you won’t experience as much lag.

OMGeek has a bunch of dedicated servers and the group is dedicated to gaming in South East Asia, which means that you’ll always be in the same time zone when you come home from work to play. One of the biggest hurdles of gamers around the world is that coming home from work, you realize that everyone you play with is asleep because you’re on opposite sides of the world!

Right now OMGeek has two servers up for Red Orchestra and Terraria, with a Battlefield 3 server coming soon when the game launches this year!

How to troll the bots of Counterstrike: Source

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at September 19th, 2011

Never knew you could do this. But it’s too hilarious especially with the added sound pack. And it’s really only going to work if you’re playing against bots.

Do you own an iPhone?!?!?!! Do you!??!!

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at September 8th, 2011

So yeah, stop it already!!

[source]

Indie Games from the Karlo Licudine aka The Accidental Rebel

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at August 29th, 2011

Karlo Licudine used to do a lot of professional blogging before. Most of you may know him as Karlo “Pinoyblogero” while others may know him more as that young talented guy who creates great CSS templates for several companies. I’ve always been in touch with Karlo for various projects these past 2 years and on the side I’d visit his site to see what’s been up.

For those who don’t know, Karlo has shelved his “Pinoyblogero” persona and is now busy as the Accidental Rebel, developing local video games for the PC, Mac and Linux.

Check out RESCUE SUPPORT, a game he made for LudumDare #21. He made this game in 16 hours following this year’s theme of “ESCAPE.”

This game is my entry to Ludum Dare #21, a widely known rapid game making contest on the internet where participants need to create a game solo in 48 hours. The theme for this contest is “Escape”.

Play it here. I found it fascinatingly addicting and was amazed at what Karlo was able to do in less than a day. He’s planning on improving it of course but he’s got the core mechanics down — it got me hooked for more than 10 minutes.

Or check out this demo for a Jose Rizal themed mystery / adventure game done Phoenix Wright style. It’s called Detective Rizal and the Jaded Ruby.

This is a game I’m working on for the “Jose Rizal is in a Video Game” competition. It’s a tribute to the 150th year of Jose Rizal.

Detective Rizal and the Jaded Ruby is an adventure game with a mystery/detective concept inspired by the Phoenix Wright series and Detective Conan Anime.

In game music for trailer and game by Jerel Limayo.

There’s a demo which you can download as well.

In any case, I’d suggest browsing his site. He’s got other stuff including The Pacifist (platformer) and Trapped in Time (top down shooter). It’s good to know that we’ve got passionate local talent here trying to start something on their own. Supporting him is easy. Share his site. Play his games. Give great feedback and cheer him on!

Keep up the good work, Karlo!

Counterstrike: Global Offensive Video Preview

Posted by Jayvee Fernandez at August 26th, 2011

Firebomb on the way!

The new Counterstrike is nearing its beta release this October. Scouring the Internet you will find more speculation that fact with regards to the changes to one of the world’s most popular LAN games. Counterstrike: Global Offensive or CS:GO isn’t a Counterstrike 2. In fact if you watch the video, it’s pretty similar to the game we’ve come to love in LAN parties with a number of changes that introduce new play styles.

For instance, the new Molotov Cocktail does damage over time (DOT) to anyone stepping on the flames. This is very strategic for blocking off choke points and key targets for a short period of time. The other addition would be small revamps to popular maps such as in de_dust where the underpass has been widened with a stairwell that leads up opposite the tunnel.

I’m excited! Especially since today, I don’t need to spend countless hours playing from an Internet cafe (while cutting class). The game will be available for download via Steam and will also be on the XBOX 360 and the Playstation 3.