The Worlds Of Warcraft

In 1994 Blizzard Entertainment (also known as Activision) released the first game related to the World of Warcraft series. The game was named 'Warcraft: Orcs and Humans' and was to be the starting point of this popular series. The Warcraft universe was set in a magical fantasy land named Azeroth as were all the following Warcraft titles released. A full ten years later Blizzard Entertainment released 'The World of Warcraft' on November 23, 2004 and the Warcraft craze really took off.

In the actual game players control a character in either first-person or third-person views. First-person is when you play the game looking through the eyes of your selected avatar and thrid-person view is when you view the game from just behind/above your character or avatar. 

The game is played through these views as the player explores the landscape of Azeroth combating foes either controlled by the game (bots) or characters controlled by other human players. During your exploring and combat situations you also have various quests to complete.

To enter the game you must choose which realm you want to play in. Each realm is actually a server that runs a world map and there are two main categories to choose from. The first realm category is called 'player versus player' and this consists of players basically fighting various other human players in an open combat situation on the Azeroth map. The second realm category is called 'player versus environment' and this consists of completing various game quests as well as open combat between foes.

Once a suitable realm is chosen a new character must be created. This character will either be from one of two factions- The Alliance or The Horde. You can only speak to characters in your own faction and this is the same when creating groups to roam the landscape. Once you have decided which faction to join you must then choose the race of you character. 

The typical fantasy races are covered including Trolls, Orcs, Humans or Dwarves. Orcs and Trolls fall into the Horde faction category and Humans and Dwarves fall into the Alliance faction category. The final option for your character involves you having to choose it's 'class'. These classes include Warriors, Priests and magical Mages.

To be involved in the World of Warcraft there is a certain outlay to pay. Your subscription is paid to cover you for playing for a certain amount of time much like paying pre-paid for a mobile/cell phone. If you are a Warcraft addict you can pay by credit or debit card and this allows you to play on a regular basis with little worry about your subscription ending.

Shogun 2 Freezing

Shogun 2 is one of the most popular games worldwide. Recently, Shogun 2 players have been complaining that it freezes a lot. It's so annoying for the player if the game is freezing in middle of the gameplay. Let us discuss a few tips & tricks that worked for many people.

Follow the tips given here in order to ensure that the problem is fixed permanently and your computer is fully optimized for the extreme gaming performance.

Defragment the Registry

Registry fragmentation is the state where the registry data is divided into multiple parts taking a longer time to retrieve the information. Defragment the registry as it would help fixing Shogun 2 freezing. Windows registry is the central database which stores important information about the game files and each time the game is being run on computer these files are being accessed by the game. You have to make it sure that the registry data is not fragmented. The fragmentation in this data causes games to lag and freeze frequently.

Fix Registry Errors

Just as conducting a registry defrag scan it is recommended that you conduct a registry cleaner scan to detect and remove registry errors from your Windows registry. Most of the times the games freeze due to corruption in Windows registry.

Solve Compatibility Issues

Compatibility issues may result in Shogun 2 freezing. Do the following steps to solve the problem on your own:

Open My Computer. 

Open C:\Program Files\< Shogun 2 Installation Folder> 

Right click the main executable file of the game and select "Troubleshoot Compability" option.

Accelerate the DirectX Features

There is also another way to reduce game freezing which is to accelerate the DirectX features in your system. You can follow the following procedure to carry out this task:

Click Start | Run. 

Type "DxDiag" and press ENTER. 

Click "Sound" tab. 

Under "DirectX Features" move the slider from "Full Accelerator" to "No Accelerator" in order to disable the DirectSound feature. 

Click OK.

Clean the System

Using a System Cleaner program delete the temporary stuff from your hard disk, such as, temporary files, temporary internet files, browser cache, etc. Too many files stored on your hard disk lead Shogun 2 freezing problem.

You can use a System Cleaner application which normally comes with the System Utilities software. Otherwise use the built-in Disk CleanUp tool in Windows as shown here:

Click Start | All Programs | Accessories | System Tools | Disk CleanUp. 

Select a drive and press ENTER. 

Follow the on screen instructions.

PlayStation 3 Servers Crashed and Hacked - Are Gamers Now Switching to Xbox 360?

With the online serves for Sony PlayStation 3 networks crashing last month, does this mean some gamers cross over to Xbox 360 and abandon the PS3?The $60 per year Xbox 360 online cost may sound a little expensive, but at least the Xbox servers don't crash.

From about mid April 2011 to mid May 2011 the PlayStation 3 network was down. The apparent cause of the network being down was due to hackers. Apparently these hackers were able to intrude the PlayStation 3 servers, and cause serious damage to the servers. It was so bad, that you could not even play any of your favorite games online for over a month. So many gamers playing Call of Duty Black Ops, in multiplayer were not able to play the multiplayer online.

It was also announce that Sony believes account information, including passwords were compromised. Some reports suggested the credit card info was also compromised but according to Sony this was not the case. The reason gamers have their credit card information on file with Sony is mainly due to the PlayStation store. The store you can buy older games, demos, game add-ons and downloadable content to name a few. 

If you frequently did this, you could store your credit card information in the PlayStation store in what's called your wallet. This gave you the ability to buy a game, and not have to re enter your credit card information over and over again. A great idea, as long as it secure, which just found out it is not.

Sony has recently announced they will give (5) five or so games away for free, as an apology to their gamers. Sony has also announced for any user of the PlayStation network, they can sign up for a year's worth of free credit monitoring.

The thing about the Microsoft Xbox servers to play online games cost you $60 per year. Which too many not seeming like a bad option, if it's a secure environment. If you think about it, Microsoft has been dealing with the online line stuff for years, so one would think they would have a leg up on Sony.

This raises another question about updates; it said that Microsoft runs updates for the 360 users about twice a year, and Sony you have to do it for just about every game you want to play. The updates can be very annoying, considering it took me 45 minutes to download all the updates so I can play the first BioShock game on my PS3.

I guess if it really comes down to it, Xbox does have its durability issues. Meaning many true Xbox 360 gamers have gone through more than one console; mainly due to the ever popular RROD or Red Ring of Death. At the same time make your decision on what your friends have, so you can have fun and enjoy your gaming experience with others.