Matt Heston

I thought I’d show off my desktop, and explain some of the things I’ve done to it. If you’re interested in modding your desktop, I can give some basic tips and where to start.

1. Background: Searching for good wallpapers is a real pain, even when using google. I’ve found that the top ranked search results for “desktop backgrounds” and such lead to either super-artsy pages or shady ones which both have page layouts like they were designed in the 90′s. My suggestion is you check out 4scrape.
It is a image database that updates regularly, so no matter what kind of wallpaper you’re looking for, 4scrape will likely have it. This suggestion does come with a caveat, though. Because it autonomously collects it’s images, or “scrapes” them, there aren’t any human filters. So if you’d prefer only clean images, click the advanced search button, then in the purity mode box, filter out what you don’t want to see.

2. Docks: If you’re a mac user, you’re already familiar with docks and how much more convenient they are to desktop icons. It’s one of the many features macs have built in to make them easier than windows-based PCs. However, with ObjectDock, XP and Vista users can have it just as good. You can get it free, or pay $15 for the plus version. The only reason you wouldn’t want such a helpful tool is if you have a barebones system and can’t afford the slightest amount of RAM used for convenience.

3. Rainmeter: This tool is great if you use xp, or if you find Vista’s sidebar not quite what you want. Rainmeter keeps track of a number of things going on on your computer and with the world. I use it to keep track of my network traffic, my RAM and processor usage, and software news straight from Overclock.net. I have the HUD.Vision skin applied just for aesthetics, but you might find other uses and looks for it. Check out Rainmeter!

For whatever your gaming news needs are, whether they be the latest trailers and screenshots or the games that will be worth the money or the latest controversy, I’ve pulled together a list of websites that will let you know more than you ever wanted about video games. Each one of these are unique to each other and offer different views, so at least one of these should suit your needs.

1. Kotaku

This is the gaming blog that began it all, the grandpappy of video game news. It has some polish, and is generally safe for kids, save for when they cover M-rated games. But whether or not simply discussing mature games isn’t kid safe is at your discretion. Uncluttered but still relevant, I’d suggest this for any bloggers, casual gamers, or anyone who doesn’t want too much of a good thing.

2. Metacritic

While this site is not strictly a gaming website, (it’s also about movies, dvds, tv, and music) it does give you the most accurate least inaccurate reviews of games anywhere. I say this because this site doesn’t actually write reviews, it aggregates them from a number of trusted reviewers and scores it based on them. While it’s a common feature, I like getting the list sorted by recent games or highest rated. After buying some real lemons, I always go onto metacritic before I make any video game purchase and see what the reviews were. I’m considering sending this link to my grandmother in hopes my little brother never has a “ultra bad but well-intentioned” birthday gift.

3. GamePolitics

This is the site where the filthiest games meet the most fame-ravenous politicians. As video games are this generation’s rock n’ roll, they never have a shortage of articles about people yelling about the latest ‘danger to our children’. But the most appreciated feature of this site is they are amazingly even-handed with the mountains of content they provide. While anything with the word “politics” in it must be approached cautiously, GamePolitics is useful for anyone, regardless of political leanings, that wants to know the threats of, and what’s threatening the games industry.

4. N4G

Self-described as “…a social game news site that covers the game industry 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.” This site is great for more hardcore gamers and people hip with the social networking scene. It may be too in-depth for some, as it provides articles not just about the games themselves, but also about the business of gaming, the debates, and just about any other bit of gossip even vaguely game-related. Actually, I can’t recommend it’s social networking aspect too much, the most social I’ve seen gamers online is when they’re ruthlessly arguing.

5. GameFAQs

(Sorry, I- I, uh, couldn’t get a logo)

This site isn’t about gaming news at all. But it is a helpful tool that plenty of gamers use when they’re stuck. It’s better than any cheat code book, magazine, or sponsored game guide could be, because the cheats, FAQs, and guides are all written by and judged by the players. It has some frivolous polls and Top 10s there for laughs, but they don’t distract from the site at all. It’s an indespensable resource for anyone who plays challenging video games.

But as useful as gamefaqs is, don’t go to their sister site, gamespot, for gaming news. It’s not worth it.

Honorable Mention: Penny Arcade

The guys who make the webcomic Penny Arcade are, hands down, the voice of the videogame market. With Mike Krahulik illustrating and Jerry Holkins writing, they’ve made one of the most popular webcomics on the Internet. While this is an achievement many could settle for, they’ve also created Child’s Play, a charity that has raised nearly 5 million dollars for toys in children’s hospitals worldwide. They also started PAX (short for Penny Arcade Expo), a gamer convention that has nearly doubled in attendance each year since 2004. When these guys have something to say, the whole industry listens.

As I have said before, the idea of A-list actors voice acting in games is a point of curiousity for me. I’m not sure what I’m missing when game commercials use 50 Cent or Vin Diesel or Samuel L. Jackson or some other celebrity as a selling point. Some people I talked to suggested that game-buyers might go for a game with a celebrity because of their talent as an actor, or some similar reason. I might be more inclined to believe that if there were some good actors in these games (actually, close inspection reveals there are a few exceptions, Patrick Stewart voiced a few lines in Elder Scrolls IV, and Ron Perlman did the opening for some of the Fallout games).

And yet, I am a hypocrite.

Brutal Legends is an action/adventure game made by Double Fine. The first trailer for it basically showcases Jack Black voicing the protagonist. Despite the “Look, look! We have Jack Black in this game! You guys like him, right?” feel I got from it, I was still quite excited. Yes, excited. Double Fine is led by Tim Schafer, who has made cult classic games like Pyschonauts, Grim Fandango, and The Secret of Monkey Island. Any snob who has an inflated opinion of the artistic merit of video games knows and loves this guy.

My dilemma with this game then is despite the cartoony aesthetic and overdone voice acting of Jack Black, the designer’s track record is platinum. It’s like if Steven Spielberg, immediately after recieving his Oscar for Saving Private Ryan announced he would be directing a family movie involving a cop dressing as a fat black woman.

Watch this as I have:

Actually, I have to admit that cyberbullying is a real threat to many kids today. But only because kids are really, really freaking stupid. Tell me- would there even be a problem if people weren’t as emotionally invested with computers? I saw a video of a girl telling reporters about how someone took a picture off her MySpace account and made a fake site, which caused her to lose many of her friends. My thought after watching that was, basically, her friends trusted their computers more than they did her.

As I see it, cyberbullying only really began when social networks like MySpace and Facebook started becoming part of our society, when asking for a friend request was as natural as asking for a phone number. At this point, kids got the chance to interact with each other in a brand new way. But instead of adapting with the Internet, they brought their schoolyard rules with them. The cliques, popularity contests, and attention-seeking ploys are all natural ways for kids to establish their social identities, but these social rules aren’t the same as they are on the Internet.

The slang IRL is definitive proof of this. It dates back to early 90′s chatrooms and stands for In Real Life. Did those early chatters mean to imply that interaction over a computer network was less real than face-to-face conversation? Although, back then, no one was stupid enough to use their real names.

To further my point, I have been called many bad names on the Internet. People have used racial slurs to insult me even though most don’t even apply to me. In forums, I have been likened to Adolf Hitler for sharing my viewpoint. None of this bothers me. In fact, I do the same to these people quite often. Sometimes, it’s even amusing.

But if a pretty girl were to walk up to me and point out a blemish on my face, it’d bother me for the rest of the day.

The problem is, well-meaning parents are going six kinds of crazy trying to root out “cyberbullies” by filtering the sites their children their children can visit, trying to bring about laws to monitor the Internet, and attempting to punish those who dare to say mean things about their children, when all it calls for is a shift in perspective.

Perhaps kids might be better off if they stopped sharing their personal lives with strangers, or if they developed friendships without relying so much on their computer, or if they found something bad about them, they simply logged off. Parents could help out more if they stopped drying their child’s eyes let them learn how to separate Real Life from the Internet, or if they stopped chasing anonymous people on the Internet, or if they were really worried, gave their kids just a little time with a lifeless machine.

There’s a joke that circulates between experienced Internet users. They sometimes say, “The Internet is serious business.” Why would they find that so funny?

Because it’s a non-sequitur.