This is an update to Want To Shoot Rich In The Face?

Quake Live is an FPS style game that’s completely in-browser, and that means it’s cross-browser/cross-platform compatible.

The plan here is to schedule an event to get a bunch of PCMech readers (yes, that means you’re invited) into the game to see if you guys and gals actually like it or not. Consider it a "mass review" to test out the game along with being able to play with an actual PCMech author, that being yours truly.

From the previous article, I’ve discovered a few things, with the biggest being that if you’re running things that block scripting and Flash such as NoScript or FlashBlock for Firefox, the game will not work. You will need to temporarily disable those for gameplay.

In addition there are several options you can set to make gameplay better per your computer’s specifications, such as adjusting texture detail, full-screen mode and so on. This is accessed in-game by pressing ESC on your keyboard and making the appropriate adjustments. The video below shows you how to do this, so be sure to watch it. Bear in mind you can go higher or lower, so even if you have an older computer, you can disable/downgrade enough stuff to make the game enjoyable and fluid on play.

Note on the video: My frame rate is crappy because my capture software isn’t designed to "grab" high-frame stuff like that. Believe me when I say the frame rate you’ll get will be a million times better and completely fluid.

This video makes note of my Quake Live ID:

http://www.quakelive.com/#profile/summary/frostedside

After logging in to Quake Live, you can add me in as a friend by going to the above link, or you can manually add by searching for the ID frostedside.

See video below for more details. There are also some scheduling notes below the video.

Scheduling notes

As for when I plan on getting everybody in on a game, it may happen this evening (as in today Wednesday November 18) during the PCMech LIVE broadcast from 8pm to 10pm EST.

The Iphone is just cool. Calling it a phone is almost a disservice because what it really is is a full mobile computing platform. And in that vein, it can also be a mobile GAMING platform.

Now, I’m not a big gamer (my regular readers know that). But, I did spend a little time playing around in the App Store looking for some decent free games for the Iphone. I wanted to see what the phone could do. And I came across Maze Finger.

This game is simplistic as hell, but the graphics are pretty cool. I decided to create a quickie video to show you. NOTE: I was using a Flip Video in the dark to record this, so yeah, it is kind of out of focus. But, you’ll get the idea.

What do you think? Do you think the Iphone and the Ipod Touch could be Apple’s competition to some of the other popular mobile gaming platforms? I do.

Sometimes there are freebie games released that are just plain frickin’ awesome and TrackMania is one of them. This is a racing game. While it’s true it has little to no driving realism to it, nobody cares because it’s just a blast to play.

For you old-school arcade gamers out there, remember Pole Position? Think of TM Forever as Pole Position on steroids, just as cool and a whole lot more.

TrackMania runs via the Steam client.

Looks like this once installed:

What does it look and play like? I recorded a solo round that I played, so see for yourself:

(to see a better quality version of this vid, go here)

NOW YOU’VE GOT TO ADMIT – this is pretty darned good for free, right?

Oh, and for nostalgia, here’s what the original Pole Position arcade game was like: