NFSU2 LAN experience

Last Thursday, Yanesh, a friend, invited me to his house for a LAN party. Our plan was to connect some PC's and to play NFS Underground 2 on LAN!

That was just fantastic!

Our plan was like this:

• Connect as many PC's together. However, we had no network hub. So we decided to do with only two computers.
• No hub also meant to modify existing LAN cables! We had to arrange for a crossover cable. Luckily, I use one at home. So I brought it to Yanesh's.
• Another friend, Kavin, brought his computer too! Great!

We started our first hour by configuring LAN (simple using Windows XP). But the great challenge was to be able to start a game on LAN! Wow, after an hour Kavin and I succeeded in finding the right sequence of buttons to push!

Here are the steps in some simple words:

• Select a PC to be the server and create a game with server mode
• With other computer, select "filter" and choose the right settings
• Then click the game to enter
• Click "Ready" on top
• Click "Start" on server

And did the game start!

We were seven in all; we made three teams and each team played against each other team a few times...

We did not encounter any technical issue.... that was cool.... NFSU2 played well....

The tournament finished at three in the morning!

Yannick, a friend, had to go to an interview at eight! We accompanied him home.

As for me, I had to get to work at nine. So I went to bed at Yanesh's at four! Got up at seven-thirty.... and obviously wouldn't make it on time!

No need to say that I was a bit sleeping at work that day!

But it was all great fun! Thanks very much guys!

Next time we're planning to play with more computers and using a network hub, of course!

Playing Half-Life 2, the best game ever

Half-Life is a shooter-game developed by Valve Software and published by Sierra. It was released in November 1998. By brother and (he-)cousin were really crazy about the game at the time and played it for more than 12 hours a day for a whole month at least! No wonder, the game was rated 'best game ever' by PC Gamer many times. That's because the game was innovative in terms of technologies that are used.



Then came Half-Life 2, released in 2004. It's only now that I have started to play it and I must admit it really is the best game ever. All Half-Life games have been given the award many times. It is a real pleasure to play such a nice game. I love it because it tries to achieve perfection for its

• advanced facial animation
• respect for the laws of physics, such as that of mass, friction and gravity
• high graphics
• good AI

Then there's Counter-Strike, an online game and Half-Life 2 Episode One out. Phew! What an array of games! I think there's more than enough for me to enjoy!

Some related sites:

Half-Life at Wikipedia
Half-Life 2 at Wikipedia