jhotmann's GameSpot Blog Posts

The Dark Knight (New PC!)

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:18:42 -0800

Well folks my lappy just wasnt cutting it anymore and the monitor went out so i decided to build a new gaming pc

Specs:

Intel Core2 Quad Q6600 (2.4 ghz for now)

EVGA 8800 GTS (G92-512 Mb)

4 Gb G Skill Ram

EVGA nForce 780i A1 Motherboard

150 Gb Western Digital Raptor Hard Drive

500 Gb Western Digital Hard Drive

Lite On 20x DVD Recorder

950 Watt Rosewill Power Supply

Antec 900 Case

Logitech G11 keyboard and G9 mouse

Pics:

All parts getting ready to be installed

The case looks so lonely and empty but not for long

Much better, 780i motherboard, Q6600 with Zalman CNPS9700 Heat Sink and Fan

G Skill Ram

A beast of a graphics card...Runs Crysis on high settings!

Everythings loaded up

The ugly mess of hidden cables

All finished!

The set-up

There it is. I decided to name it The Dark Knight not necissarily because I like Batman but just because it sounds BA

What do you think?

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"The Dark Knight (New PC!)" was posted by jhotmann on Thu, 07 Feb 2008 15:18:42 -0800

Windows Vista-Initial Thoughts

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 23:19:26 -0700

Ok so my sister just graduated from high school and for a graduation gift my grandparents got her a laptop for college...we got it this week while she was off at camp for a week and i was messing around with it before bed getting it loaded with the programs she uses and removing all the crap that comes on a new computer. Its an hp laptop with vista home premium so it has many of the cool features like the aero theme and all that cool visual stuff, but other than that im not too impressed with vista...heres why...

1) Its annoying...ok so you know those apple commercials where the guy who is the mac is talking to the nerdy guy who is the pc and the pc has this bodyguard looking guy who asks him to cancel or allow pretty much anything...yeah thats really how it is. even deleting a shortcut took two confirmations...first to see if i was sure i wanted to delete it and then to another one to "allow" it to be deleted. and when i was installing itunes so she could put all her ipod music and stuff on her computer it must have asked me 4 or 5 different times if i wanted that program to be allowed to install itself...i know you can probably disable that somehow but its just ridiculous that is that way in the first place. I know its probably on there for complete computer idiots but i think they've taken it way too far.

2) Its un-intuitive...one thing i really dont like compared to previous versions of windows (95-xp) is the start menu...instead of things poping out to the side like you're used to, things just open in the menu and the icons are small...also each folder is clicked on to show the next level kinda like when you explore a folder in xp and it has the folder list on the left side of the window...its kinda hard to explain but the point is its not near as easy as 95-xp start menu. i didnt get to look a whole lot but from what i saw there was no way to change this without making the start menu look like windows 98 which isnt aestecly pleasing compared to vista stuff.

3) This is more of a gripe at all computer manufacturers...all that "usefull" software that comes on a new computer is the worst thing ever! not only are the programs crap, but they are a pain to uninstall and remove all their little pieces that are left behind...this isnt a big deal to my sister because shes no computer wiz or anything, but to anyone with even a mediocre amount of computer skills who wont ever use those programs its an annoyance...oh and whats with computer companies not giving people an operating system cd anymore? they leave "recovery" stuff on a harddrive partition so if you get into a problem the computer can be restored to factory settings with all the crap software on it again...we pay for the operating system, so why cant we get a cd with just the operating system on it so we can reformat and have a clean operating system install with none of the useless crap...hers had the option of creating restoration disks but they do the same thing as the stuff on the harddrive partition...once vlite (a program that can customize your windows cd) gets a few more things added and worked out im probably going to make her a custom vista cd with all the crap removed...i did it for my computer with nlite (google it if you're interested) and removed over a gig of useless stuff that was on my windows cd and i set it up so that the installation process required no user imput and even was able to add my printer drivers and a couple programs like firefox and 7-zip to the installation.

On the subject of program compatability, i didnt run into any problems but i didnt install too many programs...firefox, itunes, aim were all compatable which are what she mainly uses, and i also put photoshop 7.0 on it and it works fine...i wish i would have had more time to try and put a couple of my games on there to see if they were compatable but i didnt so im not sure about all that stuff.

anyways I will be sticking with xp on my computer for quite a while, as long as they keep putting out games that would normally be pc only on xbox 360 as well ill have no reason to upgrade to vista so i wont...besides i did some modding so my computer looks pretty much like vista minus the cool transparency stuff that the aero theme has but oh well. do any of you guys have vista and what are your thoughts on it?

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"Windows Vista-Initial Thoughts" was posted by jhotmann on Fri, 01 Jun 2007 23:19:26 -0700

New Banner...

Wed, 23 May 2007 09:49:07 -0700

So i had a few minutes before work and i decided that a new banner was needed so i made this one really quick...of course its themed after one of the greatest games of all time: half life 2. do you like?

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"New Banner..." was posted by jhotmann on Wed, 23 May 2007 09:49:07 -0700

Spring Break Ski Trip

Mon, 19 Mar 2007 17:17:11 -0700

Well folks i finally got to try out my new skis. Me and two buddies went up to Denver last weekend and skied two days in Winter Park. It was like 50 degrees and so it was pretty hot and the snow got pretty slushy in the afternoons but overall it was pretty fun. Switching from snowblades (99 cm) to my skiis (161 cm) was kinda weird at first and after i got used to them i began to like them more than the snowblades. Heres some photos...

Catching some air...

Sunburned faces arent fun...

We're on top of the world...

Thats all for now...what did you guys do for spring break?

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"Spring Break Ski Trip" was posted by jhotmann on Mon, 19 Mar 2007 17:17:11 -0700

Ski Stuff

Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:46:23 -0800

Well my friends I have just spent some money...and instead of spending it on computer or xbox 360 games i have purchased some skiing gear. I go at least 1 or 2 times a year so im thinking it will save a lot of money over time.

Im buying a friends 2004 Salomon 1080's which look like this...the ones on the right

Those arent the actual ones but you get the idea.

Then I was thinking, "im going to need some boots to go with my new skis." so i looked online for a good deal and found these boots...

So they should be arriving in the mail today... as for poles ill probably just look for some cheap ones at a ski shop when i go home for spring break. So now im all set for my ski trip to winter park over spring break!

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"Ski Stuff" was posted by jhotmann on Fri, 16 Feb 2007 11:46:23 -0800

New Banner

Tue, 30 Jan 2007 20:30:14 -0800

Well i saw that a lot of people were making new banners so i though i would too because my last one was way too plain....what do you guys think?

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"New Banner" was posted by jhotmann on Tue, 30 Jan 2007 20:30:14 -0800

Near Death Experience

Sun, 31 Dec 2006 15:36:05 -0800

Last night (Dec. 30) I went out with 5 friends to dinner. All day it had been raining and sleeting so the roads werent in their best condition and were getting worse. After we ate we were heading to my friends house to watch the UFC fight on tv. We're in a late 90's Ford Explorer with 4 people (only one of which had a seat belt on) and the roads are now very icy. The driver was doing good for a while, we didnt slide at all for several blocks and he began to get over-confident. We got up to about 40 mph (maybe around 65 kmph...if i remeber the conversion correctly) when all of the sudden we start to slide....and we started going more and more sideways until we had pulled a complete 180 degree spin. This whole spinning thing lasted about 10 seconds but it felt like minutes (I had about a billion thoughts going through my head...I was for sure that we were going to roll his car) and no one said anything or made any noise. We he the curb and miraculously we didnt flip, we skid through the grass about 10 feet and came to a stop. The driver and I thought it was one of the coolest things ever but the other guy was freaked out and the girls were just in shock. All in all it was probably one of the coolest experiences of my life...

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"Near Death Experience" was posted by jhotmann on Sun, 31 Dec 2006 15:36:05 -0800

My Latest Adventure...

Fri, 24 Nov 2006 20:28:53 -0800

Well last night i decided to stray from my normal conservative decisions and made the spontaneous decision to wait outside of best buy for a new pc monitor. There was a Westinghouse 22" lcd for $200 (normally $500) and so i braved the nearly freezing temperatures for 11 hours. Well i have to say that as i type this on a bigger than life monitor that i am super pleased with my purchase. Gotta love black friday deals...

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"My Latest Adventure..." was posted by jhotmann on Fri, 24 Nov 2006 20:28:53 -0800

I Wish...

Thu, 12 Oct 2006 21:25:40 -0700

I really really really really wish that the x360 would support keyboard and mouse for gaming. For many reasons...

1. Upgrading a pc costs a ton of money. With the same amount of money i would spend on a new graphics card i can get a 360 that will run games just as good or even better. So if they had a keyboard and mouse it would be like playing on the pc only a crap ton cheaper.

2. RTS games on the 360...who wants to play those with a controller. RTS with controller=stupid. If halo wars is exclusive for 360 (which from what ive heard so far it will be) then its going to be a thorn in my side because ill want to play it but at the same time wont because ill have to use a controller to do so.

3. FPS games are so much better with keyboard and mouse (IMO of course...this is my blog so its all my opinion). A keyboard has tons of buttons that you can customize and map it out exactly how you like it. Also a mouse is much more precise than a controller (especially in my case because i havent ever been super good at using a controller for a fps). And for me using a keyboard and mouse appeals more to my coordination; my thumbs just dont work as well as the rest of my fingers and using a keboard and mouse i only have to worry about using 1 thumb for the spacebar and thats easy. And changing weapons works much more seamlessly with a scroll wheel or number buttons instead of having to cycle through on a controller.

I heard that the ps3 might support keyboard and mouse for some games and if they do props to them, but i dont want a ps3 because they are way overpriced and made by sony (who i personally dont care for as a company...although m$ isnt the greatest company in the world either...but thats not what this blog is about). Microsoft really needs to incorportate the keyboard and mouse into the 360 for us poor pc gamers who still want to play the latest games without having to put them on low settings and having to worry about lagging and all that good stuff, but microsoft probably wont.

Thats all i have for this...for the few of you that might actually read this, i invite you to sign this petition so that microsoft might slightly consider adding keyboard and mouse support.

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"I Wish..." was posted by jhotmann on Thu, 12 Oct 2006 21:25:40 -0700

School

Mon, 28 Aug 2006 15:24:00 -0700

Well classes starte back up at good old Hardin-Simmons University. They were pretty boring today and will be tomorrow since its the first couple of days but oh well. Im glad to be back around some of my friends that i havent seen since school let out last year. Well thats all for now...hope everyone else is enjoying school or will when it starts back up.

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"School" was posted by jhotmann on Mon, 28 Aug 2006 15:24:00 -0700

My Computer

Sun, 06 Aug 2006 23:02:42 -0700

Wow, today i got the random idea to reformat my hard drive and get rid of some junk on my computer so thats what i did. It took me many hours to get things back to how i want them but im very pleased now...the reformat and getting rid of some random junk freed up 15 gigs of space. Since i only have a 60 gig hard drive, those 15 gigs are huge. i just thought i would share.
peace out

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"My Computer" was posted by jhotmann on Sun, 06 Aug 2006 23:02:42 -0700

Check out my video

Sat, 05 Aug 2006 22:18:34 -0700

[ Watch Video ]

This is me from last december when i busted on my face really hard, but it was crazy fun

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"Check out my video" was posted by jhotmann on Sat, 05 Aug 2006 22:18:34 -0700

How is everyone in gamespot land?

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 14:23:23 -0700

Things are going pretty well for me right now. The union is good and everything else. How are all of you guys out there if you read this?

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"How is everyone in gamespot land?" was posted by jhotmann on Mon, 10 Jul 2006 14:23:23 -0700

level 12 and over 600 posts

Sat, 27 May 2006 08:54:00 -0700

I know 600 may seem like a very small number for many of you guys out there, but for me its a big accomplishment. Before i started the C&C union i had like 60 so i think 540 posts since then is pretty good. Unfortunately i dont have time to post like 100 a day but oh well. Well i just thought it was time to write another blog.

Peace out

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"level 12 and over 600 posts" was posted by jhotmann on Sat, 27 May 2006 08:54:00 -0700

Profile Pic

Sat, 29 Apr 2006 23:48:36 -0700

I recently discovered that you could put a profile picture in this place so i put one up. The picture can only be 84 by 84 so it doesnt look its best but its definitely one of my favorite photoshop creations. what do you think?

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"Profile Pic" was posted by jhotmann on Sat, 29 Apr 2006 23:48:36 -0700

Command and Conquer 3 and the union

Sun, 23 Apr 2006 17:57:21 -0700

Second attempt at starting a C&C Union. Hopefully this time it will work since they recently announced a Command and Conquer 3. I'm super pumped for the game and for the union to hopefully get started.

Peace out

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"Command and Conquer 3 and the union" was posted by jhotmann on Sun, 23 Apr 2006 17:57:21 -0700

Check it out

Thu, 06 Apr 2006 14:56:04 -0700

Made this today with photoshop....I'm pretty pleased with my work

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"Check it out" was posted by jhotmann on Thu, 06 Apr 2006 14:56:04 -0700

Attempting to start a union

Fri, 24 Mar 2006 15:42:46 -0800

Well last night i stayed up late because i got the idea to start a command and conquer union so i had to make a banner and icon and start all that stuff. I'm really hoping my "charter members" say yes so i can start this union and not have to wait 30 days to try again.

Well thats all ive got for now.

Peace out

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"Attempting to start a union" was posted by jhotmann on Fri, 24 Mar 2006 15:42:46 -0800