Waiting For Fallout 3

Just a little over a month more before Bethesda Software's take on the venerated role-playing classic hits stores. I gotta admit- I can't wait to get my grubby little fingers on my very own copy of Fallout 3.

For those unfamiliar with the title, the Fallout series of role-playing games was set in a post-apocalyptic, alternate reality. Remember the Cold War in the 50's? What if we actually went straight to World War 3 from there? In the Fallout universe, the survivors have been living in underground Vaults for several years, only to come out and find a desolate, wasteland of a world. And that pretty much sets the stage for Fallout.

Usually, you start out as a Vault-dweller, or as a descendant of vault-dwellers, and as you do some exploring and go about your business, you'd probably discover a greater evil on the rise, and you, as the reluctant hero, end up being mankind's last hope.

I'll probably go into the details of the first few games (Fallout, Fallout 2, Fallout Tactics, and the XBox's Fallout: Brotherhood of Steel) in my future posts. For now, it's enough to know that Bethesda Software- the dudes from the hugely successful Elder Scroll series of role-playing games, have so far done a great job in bringing back Fallout from the dead.

Here's the latest Fallout 3 video trailer from GameSpot. Enjoy.

Here's the very first trailer that came out earlier this year, if you missed it:

Fallout 3 comes out on October 28. Not just for the PC, but for the XBox 360 and the Playstation 3 as well. Can't wait!

Cheers, everyone!

Dead Space Out This Month

If you're a fan of sci-fi horror games like last year's BioShock, the X-box's Fatal Frame 2, the under-appreciated Clive Barker's Undying and the more classic System Shock 2 , then Dead Space is probably a game you should look out for.

A hands-on preview by Ricardo Torres is out on Gamespot. It's borderline spoiler-free, and gives you a good idea of what you'll be up to when you leap into the game.

You may have already figured it out: something goes terribly awry in some huge space vessel. A dear lady-friend is on board, so you're here to rescue her, and here you are trying to make heads-and-tails of the dismembered corpses you see all over. Yes, you also get to upgrade your gear- weapons, armor, and even special abilities- anything you can do to help you get to the bottom of this mess.

Ah, you can expect a lot of nasty beasties as well. And you know they get progressively more ornery as you make your way through the game. Monster bosses that await you at the end of each level? Likely so. But before we all get ahead of ourselves, why not go ahead and read the rest of the preview on Gamespot here.

Dead Space by Electronic Arts hits the shelves on October 20.

Cheers, everyone!

5 Ways of Dealing with Repetitive Strain Injury

Here's a post that I first published on another blog of mine, The Life and Times of The Renzie Man. A little bit of advice for all you fellow gamers out there, especially those who have yet to experience the pain and discomfort of Repetitive Strain Injury. Read on!

I’ve had the misfortune of not being able to type for more than a couple of weeks. The doctors said it’s RSI, or Repetitive Strain Injury. Or Cumulative Trauma Disorder (CTD). Or Work related Upper Limb Disorder (WRULD). Whatever it is, the joint area that connects my right pointy finger with the rest of the hand got all swollen up, and for a time, unbelievably painful, particularly with the smallest bit of movement.

Which meant that I was pretty much getting by with just the left hand for two weeks. So it’s been ice packs and hot packs for me, and a lot of pain killers.

On the plus side, I’m just a little more proficient with navigating with a mouse using my left hand.

It’s actually pretty serious, particularly for people who spend a big chunk of their waking hours in front of a computer. Surfing isn’t much of a problem. It’s really those who type a lot, or play games a lot, or in my case, both. Repetitive Strain Injuries can keep you from performing your job well, or if you’re a gamer, it can keep you away from that MMORPG you’ve been obsessively immersed in for days.

I do a lot of writing for clients (e.g. continually churning out articles and blurbs on a keyboard), on top of maintaining a number of blogs. After three to four hours of non-stop keyboard-work, what do you suppose I do to take a break? Play computer games! Oh the tendons on my hand are just happy to do more button-mashing and mouse-clicking!

You take your hand’s well-being for granted until the pain slowly creeps in. At first, it just feels a little tired. So you go on with your work-play routine anyway. Then you feel the joint stiffness. Swelling starts building up. After a day, the pain sets in- so bad that at this point, you can’t even move your mouse anymore, or type with both hands. The swelling spreads to the surrounding areas. It dies down after a while, but it still takes at least two weeks for you to get yourself back to two-hands-typing form.

Dealing With Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI)

1. Prevention is key. Don’t wait for RSI to happen to you. Or in my case, don’t let it happen again. Take a few minutes break after an hour of keyboard-mashing. Fifteen minutes every hour or hour-and-a-half should be alright. And use those fifteen minutes to do something else- not by checking Facebook, or Plurk. Really take time to walk away from the keyboard and recreate some other way. Make a sandwich, read a book or plant an herb garden or something.

2. Your state of well-being counts. Which means proper nutrition and lots of exercise. Strengthen those arm muscles to improve circulation and endurance. Drink lots of water. Eat the right kind of food.

3. Invest in more ergonomic keyboards, mice and other interfaces. There are lots of nice keyboards out there designed to keep the wrists in a more functional position while typing, as well as all kinds of gaming interfaces for those who play all day. Adaptive technology enables the consumer to have access to a wide selection of special keyboards, mouse replacements and even pen tablet interfaces and speech recognition software. Might be wise to consider these. Heck, I know I would.

4. Observe a good sitting work posture. Being conscious of your posture at work also plays a role in preventing Repetitive Strain Injury, or RSI (and a lot of other body pains for that matter).

5. When things start to go downhill, consult a licensed medical professional. The tendency of some people is to self-medicate. Unless you’re a medical professional yourself, you shouldn’t go ahead and pop some pills for the pain. Besides, there are a lot of available pain management protocols available for different kinds of Repetitive Strain Injuries, for different kinds of lifestyles. Help your doctor figure out the best one for you.

So there you have it. Hopefully it doesn’t happen to you- coz it’s really such a bitch to have, what with all the pain and discomfort.

Cheers, everyone!