Adobe Illustrator CS4 Upgrade Mac Description:

Explore new paths with the essential vector tool
Adobe Illustrator CS4 software is a comprehensive vector graphics environment with new transparency in gradients and multiple artboards that invite you to explore more efficient ways to design.

A single file can encompass multiple outputs
New multiple artboards allow you to manage an entire project within a single file. With up to 100 artboards varying in size, common elements such as colors, type, and symbols can be quickly updated all at once across all project components. The timesaving benefits are supported by independent research.

Drawing tools are intuitive
The new Blob Brush tool for natural sketching results in a single, filled object. Advanced path controls and graphic styles make drawing with vectors intuitive

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2295 in Software
• Brand: Adobe
• Model: 65008999
• Released on: 2008-10-27
• Platforms: Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger
• Format: DVD-ROM
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 1.75″ h x 5.75″ w x 7.75″ l, .54 pounds

Features

• Create files containing up to 100 artboards and display them any way you want–overlapping, side by side, or stacked; save, export, and print artboards independently or together; save a selected range or all artboards as a multipage PDF file
• Define the opacity of any individual color stop in a gradient; reveal underlying objects and images, and create rich color and texture mixes using multiple layers, knockouts, and cover-up fades
• Sketch with a brush that generates a single clean vector shape, even when strokes overlap; draw naturally, using the Blob Brush tool together with the Eraser and Smooth tools
• Interact with gradients right on your object; set gradient angle, position, and elliptical dimensions; add and edit colors using sliders–all with immediate feedback where you work
• Collaborate with your team, work across products, and deliver almost anywhere thanks to integrated tools and extensive format support; confidently design for print, interactive experiences, motion effects, and more

Customer Reviews:

Great Graphic Application (but I still wish it were more like Freehand)
I upgraded to CS4 because Apple’s OS Leopard doesn’t officially support my older CS2 version. To be honest, the earlier version had nearly everything that I needed in a vector program. I was disappointed that Adobe no longer supplies a paper manual but they do offer one month’s access to Lynda.com tutorials, which have probably helped me more than a manual would have. There are several dozen tutorials by Deke McClelland which are very good (I still miss not having a manual nearby to thumb through). I also used the Illustrator CS2 “WOW” book which has lots of tips and techniques and samples of some great effects that are possible with Illustrator (the CS4 version is not yet published). I had been using Freehand up through version 9 and switched to Illustrator when Adobe bought Macromedia. I still have trouble with the switch and keep hoping that Adobe will adopt some of Freehand’s features. For example, Freehand’s one selection tool was much easier to use and did everything that Illustrator’s three separate selection tools accomplish. But the longer I use Illustrator, the easier it gets and the more I like it. Bold, graphic images are easy to create and when combined with raster art, there are no limits to what’s possible.

Not many improvements for the price
It is not a GREAT update, but it does include a few important differences, main of which is its ability to manage multiple artboards (just as the old FreeHand).
I started with Illustrator 88 about 20 years ago and then switched to FreeHand till Adobe decided to kill it, so I’m not very friendly with the company.
If you have some money to spare, its ok.

Amazon.com Product Description
Design quickly and confidently with new Adobe Illustrator CS4 software, and deliver easily across tools and media thanks to tight integration with the Adobe Creative Suite family of products. New features such as multiple artboards, a Blob Brush tool for intuitive vector painting, and transparency in gradients with on-object controls invite you to explore more efficient and creative ways of working.

Use multiple artboards to work faster across many designs, all in one file. And increase your efficiency with controls right on your objects, such as those for gradients that now include color-stop transparency. Click to enlarge.

Upgrade to Adobe Illustrator CS4

Licensed owners of Illustrator CS3, Illustrator CS2, or Illustrator CS can upgrade to Adobe Illustrator CS4. Licensed owners of Illustrator CS3, Illustrator CS2, or Illustrator CS are also eligible for special upgrade pricing to certain editions of Adobe Creative Suite 4.

Owners of FreeHand 9, 10, or MX, and owners of CorelDRAW can also switch to Illustrator CS4.

Top reasons to upgrade to Adobe Illustrator CS4

Multiple artboards
Create files containing up to 100 artboards of varying sizes and display them any way you want–overlapping, side by side, or stacked. Save, export, and print artboards independently or together. Save a selected range or all artboards as a multipage PDF file.

Transparency in gradients
Define the opacity of any individual color stop in a gradient. Reveal underlying objects and images, and create rich color and texture mixes using multiple layers, knockouts, and cover-up fades.

Blob Brush tool
Sketch with a brush that generates a single clean vector shape, even when strokes overlap. Draw naturally, using the Blob Brush tool together with the Eraser and Smooth tools.

Gradients exposed
Interact with gradients right on your object. Set gradient angle, position, and elliptical dimensions. Add and edit colors using sliders–all with immediate feedback where you work.

Integration and delivery
Collaborate with your team, work across products, and deliver almost anywhere thanks to integrated tools and extensive format support. Confidently design for print, interactive experiences, motion effects, and more.

Enhanced user experience
Stay in the creative groove thanks to interface improvements that include on-object controls. Interact with tools smoothly, and increase your efficiency using new timesaving features and shortcuts.

In-panel appearance editing
Edit object characteristics directly in the Appearance panel, eliminating the need to open fill, stroke, or effects panels. Work with shared attributes and control display for faster rendering.

Arrange multiple deliverables–such as packaging, cards, and an ad layout–on different artboards, all in one file. Click to enlarge.

Drawing with the Blob brush is a truly painterly, fluid way to create vector forms. Click to enlarge.

Choose tool options, stay precisely oriented, and make complicated edits to your artwork without interrupting your train of thought. Click to enlarge.

Multiple Illustrator documents are accessible via clickable tabs and can be viewed side by side or top to bottom by selecting a preset arrangement or dragging a tab. Click to enlarge.

Refined graphic styles
Combine styles for unique effects and increased efficiency, and apply styles without disturbing an object’s existing appearance. Enjoy new thumbnail previews and an expanded library of prebuilt styles.

Clipping masks demystified
Work with masks more easily by viewing only the clipped area of your objects during editing. Take advantage of Isolation Mode, and use Edit Clipping Path for even more control.

Separations Preview
Avoid color output surprises such as unexpected spot colors, unwanted overprinting, overprints that don’t overprint, white overprinting, and CMYK blacks in text and placed files.

Top new features of Adobe Illustrator CS4

The following are features in Illustrator CS4 that enable new ways of working so you can get the creative results you’re after more efficiently and deliver designs more easily, anywhere.

Multiple artboards
Define working areas of varying sizes with complete freedom, all within one document. Work on a variety of projects in a single file and share settings and content across designs. You no longer need to use page tiling to create multipage PDF files, and you can arrange up to 100 artboards of different sizes any way you want–tiled, overlapping or freeform. You can even create an artboard inside an artboard to easily export just a piece of a composition.

Multiple artboards provide the most powerful way yet to organize projects with multiple pages or diverse outputs. Sharing objects, styles, and output settings is a great time-saver, and you can apply symbols or test color variations with Live Color while viewing artwork in multiple contexts. Quickly set up bleeds and crop marks, and choose to show video-safe areas using preset profiles.

Export your artboards in any supported file format as a series of files that are automatically numbered in sequence, or save as a single, multipage PDF file–your choice.

Transparency in gradients
Create a gradient of many colors and define the opacity of any or all individual colors assigned to your color stops. Transparency within a gradient simplifies creating interaction between layers and enables easy mixing and knockouts. Use transparency to create cover-up fades or to reveal underlying objects or images. For example, make a rainbow gradient on one object, and then simply set the blue gradient slider or color stop to 0% opacity level to show what’s underneath.

You can even apply multiple fills to a single object, such as a pattern fill overlaid with transparent gradients, to create highlights and shadows that simulate the fabric of a draped garment. In the Appearances panel, simply apply additional fills and then use the Gradient tool to define opacities. And change the shape of that object as much as you want–all of your fills will follow along.

Transparency in gradients also enhances work between Illustrator and other Creative Suite 4 components in which transparency and gradients behave in a similar fashion, such as Adobe Photoshop CS4 Extended, Adobe Flash CS4 Professional, and Adobe Fireworks CS4 software.

Gradients exposed
On-object interaction plus new elliptical gradients exposes the power of gradients in Illustrator CS4. The new controls enable fast adjustment with minimum interruption of your train of thought–no need to shift your attention to the Gradient panel.

Work with gradients right on your object with immediate visual feedback. Color sliders and swatches appear on your selected object, with gradient stops that you can drag along the gradient bar. You can add and delete gradient stops and set the angle and position of the gradient by clicking directly on the controls.

Radial gradients are enhanced with the new ability to set dimensions independently, to create an elliptical gradient of any proportion.

Blob Brush tool
The Blob Brush tool generates a clean, filled, vector shape while you sketch, even when strokes overlap, merging your paths naturally into a single object that’s easily selected and edited. Now, when you draw, you don’t get the typical jumble of paths, you get an outlined and filled shape–no expansion or Pathfinder tools required. And you can customize how your drawing flows together, choosing options for stroke character and pressure sensitivity.

Drawing with the Blob brush is a truly painterly, fluid way to create vector forms, especially when used in combination with the Eraser and Smooth tools. Use these tools together–alternately stroking and erasing–to perfect your silhouette to get a single, smooth outline without ever needing to expand paths or use the Pathfinder panel.

Integration and delivery

Collaborate with your team, work across products, and deliver anywhere, using integrated tools and extensive format support. Illustrator CS4 enables export of editable, workable content for web, interactive, and RIA projects. And moving smoothly among Adobe tools is easier than ever, thanks to cross-product feature support and common interface elements.

Flex integration
Enrich your Flex applications more easily and take advantage of further support for designer-developer efficiency with Adobe Flex 3 integration. Flex Skin Design extensions for Illustrator enable reliable creation of vector skins with export in native Flex format.

Smooth send and receive
Send your artwork anywhere with broad support of even more file formats and across Adobe products. Enjoy cross-product feature support such as the ability to import multiple artboards from Illustrator into both Flash and Adobe InDesign CS4 software.

Work across multiple applications
Streamline your work among multiple applications with more tool commonality, increased consistency of tool behavior, and new user-interface enhancements across the components of Creative Suite 4.

Smart Guides readouts are set up in the Preferences panel. View rotation angles in degrees, along with guides that show you relationships with nearby objects–continuously, while you transform your selection. Click to enlarge.

Isolation Mode now supports more object types, including compound paths, gradient mesh objects, images, and clipping masks. Click to enlarge.

Edit an effect such as Distortion in the Appearance panel and choose to view just that attribute while you edit. Click to enlarge.

To edit an attribute, simply click on a fill or stroke in the Appearance panel to access the corresponding options. Click to enlarge.

Enhanced user experience

Stay in the creative groove, thanks to significant interface improvements. Work faster and smarter with the following features that help reduce clicks and make interacting with Illustrator easier and more productive.

Options where you work
Choose tool options, stay precisely oriented, and make complicated edits to your artwork without interrupting your train of thought. New features in Illustrator CS4 help focus your attention where you need it most–on your artboard and on your objects.

Tabbed document view
With multiple open documents in a tabbed view, you can bring windows to the front with one click. Tabbed documents are also spring-loaded for easy copying and pasting. Simply drag a selection from your window onto a document tab, and that document pops to the front so you can paste your selection where you want. And, you can arrange multiple document windows in a tiled or cascaded view for easy visual comparison and even faster copying across documents.

Spring-loaded panels
Get to your panels even more quickly with springloading. Panels now expand automatically when you drag an object on top of the panel icon.

Practical Smart Guides
Smart Guides are more intuitive and practical, with an unobtrusive look and new behaviors, such as alignment to objects on the artboard rather than to the cursor. New on-object readouts tell you exactly where you are, without your having to shift focus away from your work.

Isolation Mode advances
Isolation Mode now supports more object types, including compound paths, gradient mesh objects, images, and clipping masks. You can isolate a single object as well as top-level layers. Control your view while in Isolation Mode with new support for Outline View and with quick locking and hiding of objects. It’s now easy to add new objects to a particular place in a stacking order, reducing the need for the Paste In Front/Back and Arrange commands.

Check the new iconic breadcrumbs to see at a glance what type of object you’re editing. The icons symbolize Layer, Group, Symbol, Path, and Image. The labels in the breadcrumbs are clickable so you can quickly navigate through your layers and objects. When you’re finished working in Isolation Mode, exit using the Escape key.

In-panel appearance editing
Edit multiple object characteristics directly in the Appearance panel. This improved panel shows attributes for single and multiple objects, such as fill or stroke color, which you can edit by simply clicking on the attribute–even when it’s shared among objects.

Another new function in the Appearance panel is the ability to control the display of individual attributes. You can simply click the eye icon to turn off a complex effect that must be re-rendered with every move, so that you can work faster and keep your creative momentum going.

And if you wish to select all objects in your artwork that have certain attributes, you can use a new Same Appearance Attribute option in the Select menu. Once you have selected objects with at least one common attribute, you can edit that attribute in the Appearance panel and see immediate results on all the objects at once.

The power of the new Appearance panel lies in centralization of control and streamlining of your workspace. You no longer need to keep multiple panels open to apply and edit fills, strokes, complex attributes, and more. You can even copy and paste within the panel, so adding attributes to any object is fast and simple.

Refined graphic styles
Apply sets of attributes to objects and text as a single graphic style, layering and combining styles for unique effects. The Graphic Styles panel provides new functionality that includes an option to preview all your styles on the seleted object or group of objects. It’s now easy to choose a style without having to actually apply it.

The Graphic Styles panel and the Appearance panel work hand in hand, supporting creation of complex styles that can be quickly applied without destroying an object’s original appearance. Add a new style while pressing the Option key (Mac) or the Alt key (Windows) and observe that it doesn’t replace the object’s existing appearance. To see all the attributes that make a graphic style, click on the style and find its attributes listed in the Appearance panel–each easily edited.

Illustrator CS4 makes graphic styles even more attractive with a new library of prebuilt styles to jump-start your creative exploration. New libraries include sets of effects such as pre-set blurs and drop shadows that you can add without affecting fills. And, of course, you can generate your own libraries of graphic styles that you can use again and again.

Clipping masks demystified
Work with masks more easily, thanks to true WYSIWYG behavior. Now, when the clipping object or group is selected, you will see only the clipped area (the visible parts of your objects). Edit the masking object in Isolation Mode or choose to make it visible using the Clipping Path menu options. Plus, with the buttons in the Control panel for Edit Clipping Paths and Edit Contents, you have truly intuitive choices for viewing and editing both your masks and masked objects.

Separations preview
Help ensure flawless printing using the new Separations Preview panel. Avoid color output surprises such as unexpected spot colors, unwanted overprinting, overprints that don’t overprint, white overprinting, and CMYK blacks in text and placed files. The Separations Preview panel displays a list of spot and process colors; you can choose to display individual colors for previewing color separations onscreen. Illustrator CS4 continues the tradition of improving print support so you can deliver artwork that prints more reliably than ever.

Thumbnail previews show you the style on your selected object, even on live text. Change style attributes in the Appearance panel and text still remains editable. Click to enlarge.

In this example, see how only four steps can create a soft, mixed shape. Use the Blob Brush tool to draw a red-filled object. Click a Graphic Style such as Airbrush 2 while pressing the Option key (Mac) or the Alt key (Windows) . Draw a blue-filled blob. Click Airbrush 2 again while pressing Option or Alt. Click to enlarge.

Work with masks more easily, thanks to true WYSIWYG behavior. Click to enlarge.

Check how your color separations will look using the Separations Preview panel. See the preview on your artboard while you work. Click to enlarge.

Creative Pro Online Services

Connect to the power of the online community through your creative desktop. New online services accessed from within Adobe Illustrator CS4 let you search for help and get answers from the online community; share your screen with colleagues or clients in a few quick clicks; get color inspiration from your peers, and more. With new online services in Illustrator CS4, you can take your ideas to the next level.

Adobe Community Help
Get the power of an online search engine within your Illustrator CS4 software, but with more targeted results thanks to Adobe Community Help. Searchable content includes the comprehensive product-specific Help that Adobe has always delivered, plus additional Adobe and third-party content chosen by experts at Adobe and in the design and production communities. With Adobe Community Help, you can find the focused answers you need, fast. (Internet connection required for extended content.)

Acrobat.com
Acrobat.com is a set of online services–file sharing and storage, PDF converter, online word processor, and web conferencing–that you can use to create and share documents, communicate in real time, and simplify working with others. Thanks to the connection between one of the Acrobat.com services, Adobe ConnectNow, and Illustrator CS4, you can meet live over the web to share your screen, present creative concepts and ideas, and brainstorm with up to two online guests for no additional service charge. To share your screen with colleagues and clients, choose File > Share My Screen. Guests can then see your desktop on their screens as you work. You can exchange ideas using the chat pod, add a live video or audio feed, or use the Whiteboard feature to enable guests to comment on content. You can even temporarily hand over control of the screen to a guest to collaborate on a file. Additional Acrobat.com services, such as Share, Create PDF, My Files, and Adobe Buzzword, are accessible via your web browser. (Internet connection required.)

Adobe Kuler
Explore, create, and share color themes with Adobe Kuler. Kick start your creative projects with color inspiration from the online Kuler community. Browse thousands of themes by newest, most popular, or highest rated; or search themes by tag word, title, or creator. Themes can be downloaded and moved to your Swatches panel with a single click. You can also upload colors from your Swatches panel to share with others. (Internet connection required for community functionality.)

Adobe Bridge Home
Visit Adobe Bridge Home–an online channel available in Adobe Bridge CS4–and stay up to date with what’s new from Adobe and the design, web development, and video and audio production communities at large. Watch the latest video tutorials for Illustrator CS4, listen to a podcast interview with a leading designer, or learn about the next training event in your community. Discover tips and resources that can help you work smarter and faster. (Internet connection required.)

Part of the Adobe Creative Suite 4 family

Adobe Illustrator CS4 is integral to the Adobe Creative Suite 4 family of products, providing a vector graphics environment that serves as the foundation for design across media.

Illustrator complements the other components of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium software for creating resolution-independent graphics that easily move among products and out to print, web, interactive, and mobile media. Design Premium provides all the tools you need to deliver your designs across media in a unified, intuitive environment.

Also a component of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Web Premium software, Illustrator CS4 is the key for building rich vector assets for use on the web and in interactive experiences, and for creating lightweight assets for mobile content. Web Premium provides a complete solution for creating and maintaining interactive websites, applications, user interfaces, mobile device content, presentations, and other digital experiences.

For film, video, audio, and interactive media, get Adobe Creative Suite 4 Production Premium software, which includes Illustrator CS4 as the foundation for building creative assets for use in video and film. Production Premium is a total post-production solution, with tighter-than-ever integration between video, audio, and design tools for a smooth workflow from concept to delivery.

Adobe Creative Suite 4 Master Collection software is your premier solution for professional creative work, including, of course, Illustrator CS4–the key to creating the vector graphics that are the basis of your designs. Master Collection combines the best of Adobe Creative Suite 4 Design Premium, Web Premium, and Production Premium editions, giving you advanced productivity features so you can create content for virtually all media using one value-packed offering.

World of Warcraft Description:

Vivendi (72212) World of Warcraft PC

• Amazon Sales Rank: #493 in Video Games
• Brand: Blizzard Entertainment
• Released on: 2004-11-23
• ESRB Rating: Teen
• Platforms: Mac, Windows XP, Mac OS X, Windows
• Number of items: 1
• Dimensions: 1.50″ h x 5.50″ w x 7.50″ l, 1.00 pounds

Features

• This game requires a monthly fee, and an internet connection to play
• Create and customize your own hero from the unique races and classes of the Warcraft universe
• Explore an expansive world with miles of forests, deserts, snow-blown mountains, and other exotic lands
• Visit huge cities and delve through dozens of vast dungeons
• Adventure together with thousands of other players in an enormous, persistent game world

Customer Reviews:

Awesome Game, Even For Older Players
This game is, quite simply, the best Fantasy MMORPG I have ever encountered. Having played during the entire 11 day Stress Test, I can honestly say it will probably be around even longer than EverQuest. This work of art has all the magic of EQ, without the many frustrations that finally caused me to give up on EQ (such as extreme grind, a very punitive death penalty, and being forced to group at high levels).

The graphics in WoW are awesome. Some people complain about the “cartoonish” colors, etc. I find these graphics to be very pleasing to the eye, and extremely well detailed and arranged. Guess this just shows that it isn’t possible to please everyone, particularly those who go out of their way to find a flaw in other people’s creations. To me, it is just right.

I won’t elaborate on the basics of the game, such as the 8 races and 9 classes. Others have already covered them. Rather, I will focus on some other areas that are important to older players (I will soon be 60 years old, and no longer have the lightning-fast hand to eye coordination and sharp vision I once enjoyed).

There appeared to be no need for extremely quick reflexes in this game, but instead a player needs to use strategy and planning to avoid getting in over one’s head. The wonderful hotkey bar across the entire bottom of the screen was very helpful and well thought out. Kudos to Blizzard for making such a great interface. The screen is not all cluttered up like it is in most games.

The game runs on a 24-hour clock, so it is dark nearly half the time. Blizzard wisely chose to not make the game black as night in most locations. It is possible to play effectively in caves and other usually extremely dark areas, without benefit of an external light. I thought this was a very wise decision and really enjoyed playing in those locations for the first time ever in an MMORPG. Some players complain that it is too bright. I would say to them: Turn down your Gamma control in the game if you like. Many of us do not have your young night-vision, and we are paying customers too. I think that Blizzard got this part just right.

The quest system in this game is better than I have ever seen. I actually liked doing quests, something I haven’t previously enjoyed. Also, quests give lots of experience, and since they can usually be done on a casual basis, they don’t require the same level of one-track focus that they do in other games I have played.

During this “way too short” Stress Test, I decided to try a variety of different characters and locations, so played the following characters: Night Elf Druid, lvl 12; Tauren Hunter, lvl 13; Human Mage, lvl 8; Human Warlock, lvl 6; Gnome Warlock, lvl 6; Troll Shaman, lvl 6. Unfortunately, I have a full-time job and could only devote about 40 hours a week to the game. The initial leveling rate is quite quick, with it slowing down a lot at about level 12. Just about right, IMO.

The game is bug-free, for the most part. It is way more bug-free than SWG is even today. I would be willing to pay a subscription now, if it would “get me my game back!”. There are only two problems I see with this game:

1. Even though the Stress Test ended at 6pm Sunday evening, three days later I am still going through withdrawal and still have no desire to play on my two City of Heroes and three SWG accounts.

2. World of Warcraft is still not out, so my pre-ordered copy hasn’t arrived, nor do I know when that will happen. The sooner, the better, IMO. There is no doubt in my mind that this game will be way more popular that EQ2, which I also plan to try. Hopefully WoW will arrive first.

I for one really appreciate these Reviews that Amazon has. I find them very helpful. The only problem I see with them is that there are only FIVE stars in the rating system. This is a shame, for World of Warcraft certainly deserves a TEN.

WoW is more than it’s cracked up to be
I just spent the last week playing the World of Warcraft Stress Test Beta, and I can tell you that it was better than I expected. Even though the game wasn’t finished, it still has many features that make it head and shoulders above every other MMORPG I’ve played.
Now, I, like many others, have been waiting in ancicipation for this game to come out, and when I had the chance to play the stress test, I was elated. Considering the majority of my MMOG experience is in EverQuest, I will list a few of the improvements (at least what I see as improvements) over the MMORPG “norm.”

1) Experience from completing quests is noticable, and the rewards from completing them are worthwhile. I was always frustrated with EverQuest’s quest structure, and the only reason to do a quest was for the item quested for, not for the experience gain. In WoW, it is possible to gain more experience from completing a quest than from killing a monster.

2) Experience progress is anything but vague. Every time a character kills a monster or completes a quest, the experience points are clearly given, and a meter with the character’s progress within a level is clearly marked with numbers. So it’s impossible not to tell how much experience killing a monster was worth. No more questionable meters with random values.

3) The world is easy to get around in. And it doesn’t take an hour to get where you need to be, if you know where you’re going. This was one of my biggest problems with EverQuest, because, as a semi-casual player, sometimes I don’t have the time to run for an hour to complete a quest, or, in some cases, die, then have to make a corpse run and take twice as long as it originally was supposed to take. Which leads me to my next point.

4) Death is reasonable. If your character dies, its ghost spawns at the NEAREST graveyard, so there is no need to manually bind your character somewhere. Also, there is no XP loss if you choose to run your character over to its corpse. In my opinion, the death system is one of the best, as you can choose to lose XP by ressurecting right at the graveyard, or just run to your character’s corpse and revive there with no experience loss. And before you can ressurect your character in a graveyard, it will let you know exactly how much XP will be lost. This replaces the 3 hours of grinding time needed to replace the lost XP.

5) An XP grind is perfectly possible, but not necessary. It is very possible to level up consistently without having to play for 5-7 hours a day. Between XP from killing monsters and the great quest completion XP, I was able to level a character to 17 in 3 days of semi-casual play. Now granted, those were the first 17 and the easiest, but it’s also possible to gain a level a day, almost unheard of in EverQuest.

To make a long story short, this will be a great game, but there is still a lot of work needed to make it release-ready. Since there is no official word yet on its release, I wouldn’t hold my breath, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on.

-Bullroar

Surprisingly good game!
I’ve played by subscription or beta tested ten MMO’s now, and I was very shocked to find that World of Warcraft blew them all out of the water. I seriously only checked the game out at first because a friend of mine was going to play, but the more I read into it, I was hooked (so much so, that I now work of the Stratics staff for this game!). I was lucky enough to get into the stress test, and I do not believe I am exagerating when I say that every other MMO out there is going to have a serious run for its money.

Even in Beta, this is the single most stable, lag-free game I have ever played, and I am on a three-year old gaming system. I did find the learning curve a little steep for first timers, but I think that will be rectified with a manual. The questing system is so far beyond any other game, it is truely in a class by itself. Grouping is optional, and does need some work (its actually harder to get XP in a group than soloing) but the implementation of all group members receiving quest items practically eliminates the need to camp an area to get your quest drop, if everyone in the area is smart enough to group up, that is! And as items only drop if you have the quest, there’s no people hanging around just to make money.

The PvP system is INCREDIBLE, and this is coming from someone who completely avoids PvP unless there is a true point to it. WoW has implemented a full ranking system with real rewards, such as special mounts, titles, weapons, even elite barracks for high-ranking PvPers. There’s even a useful honor system, where you are punished in rank for killing people below your level, or non-violent NPC’s. You’re a jerk? No goodies for you!

This one will be very worth checking out. A word of warning, the newbie zones get very crowded when a new phase starts and its easy to give up at first based on that. If you are planning on checking this game out in open Beta, wait two days, THEN log in if you think this will be an issue. You will get a much truer population level to play with at that point.

From Amazon.com
World of Warcraft didn’t invent the online role-playing genre, but it certainly benefits from the missteps of other titles that have come before. A mind-boggling array of improvements in graphics, gameplay, networking, and interface–really every category–makes this game the crown prince of the genre, a great starting place for newbies, and a challenge to any other MMORPG currently in the works.

The game’s beautifully rendered locations are filled with small details, such as flying birds and flowing water.

A History of Conflict
WoW takes place just four years after the real-time strategy Warcraft series, which chronicles a 25 year struggle between the Alliance (humans, dwarves, gnomes, and elves) and the Horde (orcs, tauren, trolls, and undead). Even though there’s tons of accumulated story to the series, new players should not be daunted. The background is there for you to explore, but you don’t have to tread a lot of Azeroth history to get into the action.

The game looks magnificent. There’s plenty of detail and variety to the landscapes and interiors, and the artwork has a refreshingly playful style. There’s not a lot of variety in the character creation process, but with all the skills and proficiencies to combine in the game, WoW focuses its customization not on the appearance of your character but rather on the character of your character. The game lets you adopt any two trade skills, regardless of character race or class, and combine those skills in useful ways. If you choose skinning and leatherworking, for example, you can fashion bags from the carcasses of monsters you defeat, which will allow you to carry even more inventory items.

Expanded Commerce
You can sell the items you make, find, and loot through a variety of outlets. Like any role-playing game, WoW has merchants who will buy your cast-off items for fixed prices, but you can also sell to other players at your own price through in-game chat or by leaving it with one of the auction houses located across the map. This virtual free market is a game within the game, like Monopoly somehow inserted into the middle of Chess. Heck, you can even send items C.O.D. to other players via the game’s mail system.

The game’s Quest Log keeps track of up to 20 quests at a time.

In other online role-playing games, starting players have to invest dozens of hours whacking at small prey and doing other odd jobs one at a time to gradually “level up” to more interesting challenges. WoW lets players accept a variety of quests–up to 20 at a time without penalty for abandoning any of them before they’re complete. The makers boast 2,000 existing quests with more being added, many of them noncombat in nature. Where some games only grant experience through battle, WoW grants experience for exploring and fulfilling quests too.

A Level Playing Field
There’s also a built-in handicap for casual players where your character enters a rest state when you log off from the game. The longer you’re logged off (up to a week), the bigger the experience bonus you’ll get when you return to battle. An enemy tagging feature–the player who lands the first attack on an enemy claims the loot for himself or his party–prevents onlookers from swooping in and pilfering items from a monster that you brought down. That resolves a common complaint of other titles.

Icons and pop-ups help put complex controls easily within reach.

Most games severely penalize players when they die in-game, usually by shaving experience points, funds, or both. In WoW, death just relocates your ghost to the nearest graveyard, and the only penalty is the time it takes you to get back to resurrect your character’s corpse.

All of this makes for a very complicated game, but the well-designed interface puts all the game’s elements into icons either visible framing the action or within a simple keystroke. The enemy’s artificial intelligence is quite strong too: Monsters will join nearby fights to aid their comrades, switch targets strategically midbattle, and ambush players. The map system fills in details on places you’ve visited, so you always know where you are and where you’ve been.

Overall, World of Warcraft is a game that’s easy to learn, challenging to master, beautiful to watch, and tons of fun to play. –Porter B. Hall

Amazon.com Product Description
For the first time, players can experience the lands of WarCraft’s Azeroth from a new, in-depth perspective. As heroes, they explore familiar battlefields, discover new lands, and take on epic quests and challenges in Blizzard’s massively multiplayer online role-playing game. Blizzard has taken care to make the game accessible and fun both for hard-core 60-hour-a-week players and for more casual adventurers.

Game Informer Review

Having had the privilege of playing in the World of Warcraft beta for the last several months and logging several days playing in the retail version, I feel qualified to say this to all the haters and the doubters: You are wrong. Blizzard has done it again, succeeding in epic fashion to craft a title that once again makes me fear for my social life. Though WoW doesn’t radically differ from the tried-and-true MMORPG formula, the subtle tweaks, additions, and special layer of Blizzard polish make it an amazing and fresh experience.

From the moment you log in to WoW, it draws you in and keeps you enthralled with its endless content, entertaining combat, and delightful presentation. Perhaps the single thing that makes adventuring and crafting in WoW so captivating is the way that you can choose your own pace and style of play. Whether you are popping in for half an hour before dinner or pulling a 16-hour power session on the weekend, you’ll be able to find something to do, accomplish it, and feel like you actually got somewhere. This has largely to do with the quest system – throughout my playtime, I was on a variety of quests, ranging from simple delivery to intense dungeon crawls. Unless you’re trying to get a crew together to do something very specific and all of your friends are offline, it’s awfully unlikely that you’ll be sitting in town looking for a group like some other MMOs are infamous for.

The sights of the world of Warcraft are anywhere from grandiose to chilling to simply beautiful. While the Forsaken (my race of choice) battle to keep the evil Scourge and do-gooder humans from eradicating their fledgling undead society in the corrupted Tirisfal Glades, the night elves work ceaselessly to purify the towering forests of Kalimdor of the aftermath of the great war against the Burning Legion. These struggles are epic, and the way that they are presented hammers the point home. Also, the world is drawn in the slightly off-kilter Warcraft style, which lends that extra little immersive touch. Though WoW doesn’t sport the sheer bleeding-edge technology of EverQuest II, it nonetheless is one of the best-looking games I’ve ever played. Plus, this allows WoW to run acceptably on even low- to mid-end machines.

WoW also does many more things that almost completely remove the tedium and “grinding” commonly associated with the genre. Tradeskills are easy to learn, simple to use, and allow you to craft useful items. Combat is fast and fluid, with little “sit on auto-attack until the monster is dead” going on. Travel times are not bad at all, since all of the towns and cities are linked by quick transit. Basically, nothing ever feels like a timesink that’s just there to keep you playing and paying the monthly fee. It really says something when I’ve yet to be bored or annoyed for a single moment after playing an MMORPG for weeks.

Some people have been afraid that WoW sacrifices its long-term appeal in favor of ease of use, much like the way certain folks think of City of Heroes. To this criticism, I say humbug. WoW offers both depth and breadth of content for players to experience, and I seriously can’t imagine anyone getting bored with the game before the inevitable expansion comes out. Between tradeskills, questing, exploring, high-level dungeons, and player-vs-player combat, there is so much to do in WoW that it seems silly to think that there’s not enough content. What really blows my mind, though, is that it’s all fun. This truly is the best online role-playing game to date. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to defend my people from a filthy human invasion.

Concept:
Perfect the model that EverQuest made popular

Graphics:
Colorful, diverse, and a gorgeous fit for the Warcraft universe

Sound:
Mood music, thundering effects, and limited Warcraft 3-style voices make a rich environment

Playability:
The default user interface has its limitations, but there are already wonderful mods out for it

Entertainment:
Simply the best, most polished, and flat-out fun MMORPG to date

Replay:
High

Rated: 9.5 out of 10
Editor: Adam Biessener
Issue: February 2005

2nd Opinion:
Blizzard didn’t do it first, but they’ve done it the best. While most of the standard massively multiplayer conventions are in place, all of the non-fun fat has been trimmed away, leaving behind a wholly unique and absorbing experience that is simultaneously simple, deep, and incredibly engaging. The game’s acronym of “WoW” may be the first word that escapes your mouth when you emerge into the gorgeous artistic beauty of Azeroth. The epic grandeur of the setting combines with continually entertaining activity. You never feel bored or disinterested . Every turn of the corner brings a new sight, sound, battle, or wonder. Combining many of the best qualities of Blizzard’s former games, along with the finest aspects of MMOs, World of Warcraft’s only major fault is that it may make playing other similar titles seem like a chore. It’s quite simply phenomenal as it solidly sets a new high bar for the genre.

Rated: 9.5 out of 10
Editor: Matt Miller

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DUNGEON KEEPER 2 Description:

If you built it they will succumbProduct InformationCreate the most wicked loathsome underworld imaginable.  Dig out yourunderground kingdom.  Populate your dungeon with a variety of beasts suchas the Skeletons Dark Elves Trolls and evil Warlocks.  Prepare them forbattle with training rooms workshops and magical libraries.  With the helpof the dreaded reaper conquer your enemies and expand your empire in your questto defeat the King and invade the land heroic good.Product Features Build the Dungeons of Your Darkest Dreams First construct a nightmarish floor plan.  then direct your Imps to dig out the tunnels rooms and chambers for your new home.  Slap them around if they are not working fast enough. Infest Your Dungeon with Vile Beasts Discover a portal so evil creatures can find their way into your domain.  Mine gold to pay their wages build places for them to rest in and a hatchery where they can feed. Put Your Minions To Work For You Construct training rooms to improve the fighting skills of your dungeon dwellers a library where they can research and learn devious new magic spells and a workshop to create new traps to thwart encroaching do-gooders. Battle the Forces of Good Fulfill your strategic role as the evil overlord leading your wicked hoards in combat against those righteous heroes.  Cast devastating spells to crush your enemies and support your minions.  Or join the action at dungeon level by possessing your creatures and battling from a first person perspective using special spells and abilities. Entertain the Creatures of Your Dungeon Keep your minions happy by creating casinos where they can drink and gamble.  Or build a pit arena where they can gain combat experience or sit back and enjoy the fights from a ringside seat.  Torture Chambers are popular attractions for

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6293 in Video Games
• Brand: Electronic Arts
• Model: DUNGKEEP2
• ESRB Rating: Mature
• Platforms: Windows NT, Windows 98, Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Me
• Format: CD
• Dimensions: .31 pounds

Customer Reviews:

A fascinating idea that doesn’t quite reach it’s full potential

I bought Dungeon Keeper 2 a few years on budget out of curiosity and at the time it struck me as being quite a fun game. I completed it, then decided to sell it, as it didn’t grab me *that* much. About a year later I thought back to it and realised how much I would like to play it again, so I bought it again and worked my way through the campaign.

Dungeon Keeper is a real time strategy game with an obvious difference. You play on the side of evil and try to crush the sickeningly pure and good inhabitants of the Sunlit Kingdom. But there is more to the game than simply a change of side. In most Real Time strategy games you have control over your minions and little control over the terrain. In Dungeon Keeoer 2 the opposite is true. You can dig out your subterranean kingdom any way you see fit. You can build a few large rooms with few corridors, or you can build mazes of corridors and many small rooms; whatever strikes you as being a good strategy. However you have little control over your inhabitants. If you build a room it will attract a certain type of creature. Workshops attract Trolls, Libraries attract sorcerors, Combat Pits attract Dark Knights etc. But you can’t order anyone to actually do anything. Of course they like to keep busy, so Trolls will toil ion the Workshop and Sorcerors will research Spells in the library but the only way to force someone to do anything is to physically lock them in a room.

Strategically Dungeon Keeper is potentially rich. Gold is mined as a resource and is in only limited supply. Your creatures demand payment and higher level creatures demand a higher wage. If you run out of money your hard trained creatures will leave your dungeon in anger, so there is certainly pressure in completing a mission before your gold reserves run out. A dungeon with many corridors may make it harder for invaders to wind their way to your vulnerable dungeon heart and make good areas for boulder traps, but may result in your creatures having to walk too far to get to lair, hatchery or treasury. Obviously the converse is true. Many large rooms make areas accessible to your creatures but leave you wide open to enemy encroachments. No strategy is really the “right” one most of the time, and missions should not be thought of as a puzzle with only one solution.

Aesthethically Dungeon Keeper 2 is great. The graphics are good at conveying stone passages and gold seams, and you may feel feel a hint of gold fever as you zoom in to your treasury laden with chests overflowing with gold coins. The presentation is all quite tongue in cheek though so expect smiles rather than chills when you survey your realm. The voice acting is uniformly good and often amusing; the Troll with make a goofy annoyed sound when picked up and hearing the Goodly Folk describe you as a “foul fiend” is amusing. The music is excellent too. Although synth infused it contains a menacing ambience to convey your dungeon and Gregorian chant style music to denote the Heroes.

However there are some faults to the game. As I said Dungeon Keeper 2 is *potentially* strategically rich. Some missions simply need you to crush a rival Keeper and that isn’t actually all that difficult. Simply build a dungeon, train them up using Training Rooms and Combat Pits and when your army is large enough and well trained enough just plant a call to arms flag on the dungeon heart and they’ll destroy it. For me the game is at it’s best when your dungeon is on the defensive as this is where your arsenal of traps comes into use. There is much strategy in placement of traps. Some can be used in harmony with others for greater effect. A freeze trap by itself for instance isn’t much use but in conjunction with a lightning trap it can be brutal. Establishing killing zones laced with traps is an under utilised aspect of the game. Which is a shame as it’s the most satisfying. Too often you’re expected to be the attacker and this is where the game tends to play too much like a standard real time strategy game.
The spell list is curiously unsatisfying and limited too and some spells you might use only a couple of times in the game.
Of the game modes the Campaign is probably the best, as there are a wide variety of mission styles to complete. There is a Skirmish mode but the AI is too passive and most maps just require you to build up an army and unleash it. There are a few exceptions, but they are too few and far between.

However it’s worth pointing out that it’s rated Mature for a reason, mainly for the Mistress character. Her cries of ecstasy as she is being tortured on her own equipment certainly might meet with the disapproval of some family members if they hear it. Perhaps a pair of headphones would be recommended when playing this.

Overall a highly enjoyable and unusual strategy game that unfortunately could have improved upon. Still highly recommended.

What a great game, playable on XP too!
There were complaints from fellow reviewers who could not play this game on current PC with Windows XP. I decided to try this game (distributed by Sold-Out) anyway because I do have a Win2000 system sitting around. But first I tried it on my most up-to-date WinXP gaming system, which isn’t anything to brag about. I don’t know what Sold-Out did but the game works fine on my gaming rig. This game comes with the most recent 1.7 patch. Everything runs smoothly and the game is fun. It’s quite unique because you get to play a “bad-guy.” Remember that this isn’t simply a strategy game, it is also a tycoon game too, because you have to worry a lot about the happiness of your denizens. The big CON is that the graphics are really out-dated by today’s standard and the fact that DK3 isn’t pending production anytime soon, which is really sad.

System:
Core 2 Duo E6300 w/ 1GB RAM
ATI x1900GT
WinXP

Wonderful nostalgia
I used to play Dungeon Keeper years ago and when I got a new laptop recently I wanted to relive this game. I bought Dungeon Keeper 2 and it is all the fun and addiction I remember. The game itself is great, it is hilarious, fun, and oh so addicting. It’s hard to stop playing and the difficulty is just right to remain enjoyable. If you like strategy games, or are one of those people (like me) that tends to root for the bad guy, you should buy this game!
I did have some compatibility problems and the game kept crashing and freezing up my entire computer, or else it would just shut down altogether and I would lose my progress. It’s unfortunate that the game doesn’t translate well to newer machines, but I still think it’s worth it to play. I just have to save my game every two minutes :/ .

Pet Vet 3D: Animal Hospital Description:

Calling all animal lovers! Have tons of fun running your very own pet vet clinic. As a doctor you’ll get to take care of fuzzy bunnies, adorable cats, dogs, horses, ponies and even piglets. Packed with oodles of awesome activities ranging from animal examinations, dog training and even horse back riding; you’ll learn amazing facts about animals while you treat, care, and love them! You will be given opportunities to run and operate your own animal hospital with your very own staff. Which will let you examine various animals and find out what’s wrong, also the tools and knowledge to be able to diagnose the problems of your patient and then finally be able to cure them of their sickness. You will even be able to go shopping to pick up yummy foods, pet toys, and vet supplies. Most importantly you will be able to develop relationships with your patients by showing love, affection during playtime.

• Amazon Sales Rank: #9554 in Video Games
• Brand: Viva Media
• Model: 00275
• Released on: 2007-05-10
• ESRB Rating: Everyone
• Platforms: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 2000
• Format: CD
• Dimensions: .35 pounds

Features

• 3 levels of challenging game play
• Tons of animals from 5 different species including horses, ponies, dogs, cats, rabbits, and piglets.
• 100+ animal ailments to diagnose and treat
• Earn a good reputation with pet owners and watch your business grow
• Ride out and survey the land

Customer Reviews:

Excellent game!
Very good game! I would recommend it even if you have the original pet vet game.

The graphics are in 3d, much easier to see than pet vet. You just click where you want the vet to go instead of making the vet walk there using the arrow keys. You can zoom in, scroll camera, or rotate camera. There is 3 game play options; easy, medium and hard. There is also a scenario mode or free-play mode.

There are 6 different animal species, including horses, ponies, dogs, cats, rabbits, and piglets. No guinea pigs in this game, unfortunately. You feed them, play with them, examine them, pet them, and even teach them tricks. There are over 100 animal ailments to treat.

You have to maintain the vet’s energy by eating and her fitness level by resting or sleeping often. You can upgrade the hospital or the animal enclosures. You can even buy items like a mini kitchen, stereo system, or TV. You can go to the store to buy medical equipment, toys, books, feed, a female horse, or even hire help.

The two things I dislike about this game are you can’t actually give the animal medicine or buy it; you just click the button to check-up on animals. Also, time goes by too fast.

The BEST vet game ever!
I gave this game to my 7 year old daughter who has always dreamed of being a veternarian when she grows up. She absolutely LOVES this game. I have enjoyed playing it with her. We have to make money to buy feed, enclosures & supplies. She must budget, watch the time, eat, rest and sleep. Also, she has empolyees that help out and the funniest part is when the employee falls asleep on the bench in front of the clinic. When the vet falls asleep time is fast-forwarded and the animals look like they are doing a JIG in the enclosures. My daughter and I think this is just hilarious and laugh every time. This is an interactive game my daughter loves. Now if I could only get her away from it. Very addictive and fun for my 7 year old!

Satisfied after much research, trial and error and patience!
I have never reviewed a product, but after reading some of the things said about this game (trying to research answers for some of the problems we were having) I felt the need to review this to help those considering buying it to better understand and get past some of the complaints of the quick-to-give-up.

I began this game with frustration also. Every complaint that I have read I have experienced. But I have the advantage of being married to a computer business owner. First we had upgrades to make, specifically for our video card. We still experience glitches now and then like her sitting beside a chair instead of on it, but the game runs smoothly now without the “getting stuck” complaint.

The complaint that you only get bunnies (this took much research) has turned out to not be a problem either. There are four skills that you will be working on: healing (giving proper diagnosis and follow-up), stroking (giving the animals attention), cleaning (keeping their habitats clean), and playing (playing with the animals for exercise). Each of these skill areas increases the more you do them. In order to get the next animal (which I believe is a cat) you must first max each of the four skills for the first animal (bunnies). I found that this took a long time for my 8 year old to do. But she is patient and loved the bunnies while she had only them. MANY weeks after doing just bunnies, she has finally advanced to cats and is thrilled. I appreciate that the game writers took into consideration that in order to take care of 2 species you must first fully understand how to take care of ONE. As you continue to master each specie you are given another. We have enjoyed reading the “books” you can buy, becoming educated on each animal, and receiving a certificate to hang on your wall once you’ve read all the books in a series.

One review I read said they had a fairly new computer and they were upset it wouldn’t run nicely on their machine. We have 3 computers in our house (being in the business) and the one our children use is NOT a new machine. We didn’t have to have a new machine to run this game. Just an upgraded video card. If this game isn’t working like you think it should, get a little computer advice from someone you can trust who knows what they are talking about. I’m glad we stuck it out with this game. I think you won’t be disappointed if you can just work past the bugs and unknown. When my 8 year old, 6 year old and 4 year old are in bed, I have been known to sign-in to the game and play a little myself.

Cisco-Linksys WGA54G Wireless-G Gaming Adapter Product: Cisco-Linksys WGA54G Wireless-G Gaming Adapter Discount. List Price: —- Amazon Price: Price Too Low To Display! Click Here To See Amazon Sale Price Add to cart to see low price@ Availability: In Stock Usually ships in 24 Hours Free Shipping Available

Compare Prices on Cisco-Linksys WGA54G Wireless-G Gaming Adapter

The Wireless-G Game Adapter gives any wired Ethernet-equipped game console wireless connection capabilities. The Game Adapter can be used in two different ways. If you have an existing home wireless network and a cable or DSL Internet connection, the Game Adapter lets your PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube attach to the network so you can get into online games without running wires to the game room. Or, use a pair of Game Adapters to form a “cable-less cable” between two game consoles for head-to-head gaming – in the same room, or all the way across the house.It’s completely driver-free, so it works on any platform. Since there are no drivers to load, setup is a snap. In some cases, it works right out of the box! If your setup’s a little different – just configure the network settings through your PC’s web browser, plug it into your game box, and go.The Wireless-G Game Adapter provides lag-free gaming with communication speeds up to 54Mbps when connected to other Wireless-G devices. It can also connect to Wireless-B (802.11b) devices and networks at 11Mbps.Spend your time gaming, not stringing wires, with the Linksys Wireless-G Game Adapter.

• Brand: Cisco
• Model: WGA54G
• Format: CD
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 4.00″ h x 2.00″ w x 7.00″ l, 1.55 pounds
• Networking: Ethernet

Features

• Lag-free head-to-head or Internet gaming at up to 54 Mbps, without stringing wires
• Converts wired-Ethernet-ready game consoles to Wireless-G (draft 802.11g) network connectivity
• Works without drivers on PlayStation2, Xbox, and GameCube
• Also connects to Wireless-B (802.11b) networks at 11 Mbps
• One year limited warranty

Hardware works, software stinks
This took me about 2 hours to set up, after about 20 attempts. The hardware works fine, but both the setup utility and the operating manual are poor and only handle connecting to simple networks. I have a non-standard (read: I didn’t let Microsoft set up my network automatically) network and a Linksys Wireless G router, with 128 bit WEP (encryption) as well as MAC filtering set on. (My neighbor across the street also has a wireless network, which I didn’t know until I started fooling around with this one.)
In essence, if you use a router gateway to the net (which you absolutely should for its inherent hardware firewall capabilities) and you use wireless encryption (which you absolutely should to make it difficult for a techie neighbor from eavesdropping in on your network) you must set this device up manually. Not only that, but you have to set up your game machine network settings manually as well.

First, routers usually also act as DHCP servers (meaning that they’ll automatically give an IP address to anything logging onto the network). That means that unless you give the device a static IP address you’re never sure which address your game machine will have when it boots up. The same thing is true of the WGA54G. Unless you specify a proper static IP address and netmask, it won’t connect. So you have to give both the game machine and the WGA54G (different) static addresses within the range of your local network and which don’t conflict with any existing devices.

Secondly, if you do MAC filtering, you need to realize that the WGA54G has TWO ethernet adapters: the wired one (which you stick the cable plug into) and the wireless one (that connects to the antenna). The MAC address of the WIRELESS device must be included in the filter settings of your router, or it’ll be blocked. Linksys doesn’t make it clear how to find that address (it gives you the wired MAC address on the label), but the wireless MAC device is one of the two MACs you’ve got to include in your
router’s filter list. (Hint: it’s one digit higher than the wired MAC address — just add 1 to the last two hex digits). The other MAC address needed is of the IP adapter contained in your game device (or attachment). That you have to obtain from your game network setup screens. I’m not completely sure why the WGA54G’s wired adapter address isn’t needed, my guess is that since it doesn’t make any packet requests of the wireless router (interacts only with the game machine) it’s not “seen” by the router.

You’ll have to all of this by logging into the WGA54G’s built in HTTP (web) server interface and your router’s interface, not with the setup software on the disk.

Finally (on the Xbox, anyway), you’ve got to specify another static IP address for the game adaptor AND specify the router address as the DNS server (remember it allocates IP addresses for connected devices and stands between you and the internet, translating your network requests to the outside world.

If this sounds like Greek to you, well you’re in good company. But this device is not inexpensive and is promoted as being easy to use.

It may be that Linksys can’t tailor its software to every situation, but they can certainly write better documentation to help novices cope with the issues raised by slightly more complicated local networks. I also think that its odd that a wi-fi “G” device doesn’t support the newer and more secure WPA encryption standards (which Linksys certainly includes in its wireless routers). That means that you will have to run your whole network on WEP encryption if you have this device set up, because WPA devices can’t coexist with WEP encryption. WEP can be hacked, and WPA basically, cannot (unless you’re a lot spookier than the average wardriver).

Yeah, it runs kind of hot, and yeah its LED lights are kind of strange, but who cares about that? The problem with this device is that it seems to have been shipped too early and because it’s a game device is not being seriously supported or updated by Linksys in the same way that they’d support a “serious” device.

Like I said, the hardware seems to work fine (haven’t experienced any of the dropped signals others report here), it’s the software and documentation that’s lacking.

Is there a better alternative? I don’t know, I don’t have the money and time to find out and I got this puppy running, so I’m movin’ on to other things. I do know that Linksys is a decent manufacturer and can do better.

IF you can get it configed, works great!!!
Ok, several other people have left reviews here on troubles configuring this device and I ran into the same. After hours and hours of searching the web, I found a tip here and a tip there and eventually got it configured. Hopefully this will help someone who is having some trouble configuring this device.

First I have the WGA54G v2, however, I believe these should help anyone who has v1 or the AG devices.

1) Plug the adapter into your CPUs ethernet port with the RJ45 cable that comes with it and the other end into the game adapter.
2) Since the game adapter will default to 192.168.1.250, you will need to configure your ethernet port to work with the above address. I set mine to 192.168.1.249.
3) Plug in the power for your game adapter and give it about 30 seconds to boot up and configure itself. Open your browser and go to 192.168.1.250 (may want to run the setup on the CD first), but some people may be able to go directly to the game adapter without running the setup CD.
4) Once you are logged on the game adapter, be sure to set up your WEP settings, if you want to use it. Sorry WPA or WPA2 security doesn’t work, so you have to configure your whole network to use WEP.
5) On the advanced page you need to be sure you are using a Mixed Mode even if all your devices are ‘G band’, also don’t forget to set the router to mixed too. Cloning should be disabled and don’t forget to set the gateway.
6) After changing the settings on the game adapter and you can test your device by pinging 192.168.1.250 on your network. If you get a response your are set, if not, you should start over and make sure you set up everything correctly.
7) Once you have the game adapter working, unplug it from your computer and plug it into the game console. You will need to set your game console to use a static IP as well. Configure your game console to use a static ip as well. (at least I had too, I used 192.168.1.251)

Linksys tech support is hopeless, don’t even waste your time calling them. IMPORTANT: if your wireless light doesn’t stay on, don’t worry about it. Mine doesn’t and it works fine, I spent hours trying to get it to turn on when it was working all the time. As long as you can ping it you are fine.

I hope these directions helps save someone the hours I spent figuring this out, and I really, really, really wish Linksys would do better with their documentation.

Great Product Once It’s Working…
I didn’t read all of the reviews so some of this information is probably repeated. Although some people have not had any problems, I feel I should walk through a good method for setting up this device with most security features, i.e. WEP, disabled SSID broadcast, and MAC filtering. I also use DHCP, so I will talk about this as well.

1) Log in to the web utility and perform all of the following manually (don’t use the setup disk). If you are unable to log in to the web utility, this may be due to an issue which Linksys has conveniently left out of it’s technical documentation. On some computers, you must set your IP address and Default Gateway for your wired adapter. IP: 192.168.1.100 and Default Gateway: 192.168.1.250 Now log in to the utility as suggested by Linksys

2) As far as entering all of the necessary information, I recommend disabling the SSID and MAC filter (on your router) first. Go ahead and enter the WEP key and SSID into the WGA54G’s web utility. Save the information and then proceed to the advanced tab. If your router uses DHCP, click on the appropriate button, then save the settings. (You probably won’t be able to access the WGA54G after this using your PC). Follow the correct device startup sequuecne discussed below and you are almost good to go.

3) Now you can worry about the MAC filter and SSID broadcast. Changing either option does not require you to re-access the WGA54G. Change the appropriate settings on your router and you should be good to go.

Note: Don’t worry if the Wireless-G LED isn’t lit. This does not mean anything. The device could be working perfectly and you wouldn’t even know it because the LED is rarely solid. Nice of Linksys to mention that, huh?

Note2: Make sure you follow the correct startup order of devices. Router on, WGA54G on, XBox on.

Note3: I found patience to be the most important thing. If you are like me, you require instant network gratification. I am using this device to play Halo with some friends on a LAN at home. When the XBox starts looking for a multiplayer game, give it time!!!!! Give it up to 30 seconds (the first time) to connect to the router and find the game. After the first time, it should find games right away.

Fianl Note: The router I used was the Linksys WRT54GS, although the use of a different router with the same capabilities should not affect (ideally) the above process.

Acer Aspire Timeline AS3810T-8737 13.3-Inch Brushed Aluminum Laptop – Over 8 Hours of Battery Life Description:

Acer Aspire Timeline AS3810T-8737 Notebook comes with these specs: Intel Core2 Duo Processor SU7300, Windows 7 Home Premium, 13.3- Inch HD Widescreen CineCrystal LED-backlit Display, Mobile Intel GS45 Express Chipset, 4096MB DDR3 1066MHz Memory, Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD, 500GB SATA Hard Drive, Built-In Webcam, Multi-in-1 Digital Media Card Reader, 2nd Generation Dolby Sound Room Audio Enhancement, Intel WiFi Link 5100 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N Wi-Fi CERTIFIED, 3 – USB 2.0 Ports, 1 – HDMI Port, Convenience Buttons- Multi-Gesture Touchpad, Acer PowerSmart Technology, Acer Backup Manager, Touchpad-lock, 6-cell Li-ion Battery (5600 mAh), 8+ hours of battery life, 3.5 lbs. | 1.6 kg (system unit only), AC Power Adapter, AC Power Cord, Wireless Setup Card, Registration/ Limited Warranty Card, McAfee Internet Security Suite (60-day insert)

• Amazon Sales Rank: #89 in Personal Computers
• Color: Aluminum
• Brand: Acer
• Model: AS3810T-8737
• Dimensions: 1.10″ h x 12.70″ w x 9.00″ l, 3.50 pounds
• CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo 1.3 GHz
• Memory: 4GB SODIMM
• Hard Disk: 500GB
• Processors: 1
• Display size: 13.3

Features

• 1.3GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 Processor
• 4GB DDR3 1066MHz Memory
• 500GB SATA Hard Drive; 802.11a/b/g/Draft-N Wifi Connectivity
• 13.3″ HD Widescreen CineCrystal LED-backlit Display; Intel GMA 4500MHD Graphics
• Windows 7 Home Premium; Over 8 Hours of Batter Life

Customer Reviews:

Great Features and Quality for a Good Price!
First, I would like to say there is a ~$590 version of this laptop also sold here on Amazon. The differences between that laptop (Product ID: Acer Aspire Timeline AS3810T-4925) and this one (Acer Aspire Timeline AS3810T-8737) is the 4925 has 3GB of ram where the 8737 has 4GB. Also the 4925 has a 320GB HDD while this 8737 has a 500GB HDD. I’ve noticed some of the specifications on the 8737 page are incorrect most notably the ones mentioned above. There is also another model (6376) that is considerably more money (~$[...]) and without a lot of research I only see that it’s processor is 1.40GHz instead of the 1.30GHz that the 8737 has. As I’m typing this this laptop is listed on Amazon for $[...] even though I purchased it this past Friday for $[...]. [...].

So far I’m in love with this laptop. Now it’s only been a couple of days but it’s great. I was a little worried about the keyboard since the keys were not your normal design but after about 20mins with it I love it. It took just a little while to get used to it. I purchased this laptop because my MSI Wind U100 had a resolution of 1024×600 where the height of the screen wasn’t friendly for some applications. This laptop’s resolution is not only perfect but the screen size 13.3″ instead of 11.1″ is great. It’s not too big and not too small, just right. The multi-touch pad is also a neat feature, although the only one I’ve been using frequently is the scrolling which is two fingers up and down on the pad. If you rather use a regular wired/wireless mouse instead of the pad it’s easy to do that with the included button just outside the mouse pad. This button will disable the mouse pad so that you don’t accidently trigger it while typing. The build of the laptop itself is also very nice. The outside lid is Aluminum while the rest of the laptop appears to be plastic. I’ve seen some people were unhappy with the lid not going back further. It seems to recline somewhere between 45-60 degree angle. It shouldn’t be a problem unless your using a docking station in which the laptop is in a vertical position.

The laptop comes with some unneeded programs pre-installed but it isn’t too much trouble to just jump into the Control Panel>Programs and Features and uninstall what isn’t wanted. Windows 7 Home Premium is a wonderful OS from my experiences over the last couple of months since release. It’s very user friendly and I love the new Taskbar. Acer also has some software for you to create a backup disk for your windows installation. You will need a usb DVDR/W drive for this however and I haven’t tried it yet. This isn’t necessary however because you have the restore partition on the hard drive but it would be a wise decision if your planning on formatting the whole drive for another installation or if your drive were to go bad.

The battery life is amazing. For a laptop of this size I wouldn’t have expected to get 8hrs of battery life but after trying it out it is as advertised. The speakers at times do sound a little buggy where I get sound distortions but this might have been due to some problem with VirtualBox/Ubuntu. The wireless G is great. I used to have problems connecting in some areas with my MSI Wind U100 but those same areas work perfectly with this laptop. I haven’t had the opportunity to try it out with wireless N yet.

I really can’t find much at fault with this laptop. Very nice quality and at what I thought was a very reasonable price. I hope Amazon brings the price back down to where it should be though. Out of the 3 models I referred to at the beginning of this post I’d vote that this model (8737) gives you the most bang for your buck.

Good Performance and Usability
I searched for a laptop for several months before deciding on this one. It seems that the 13″ ULV Processor laptops from HP, Toshiba, Lenovo, etc all had issues of one kind or another that dissuaded me from moving in one of those directions. Most of the competitors also have the SU4100 processor, and i’m glad I opted for this SU7300 as it compares performance-wise with my 17″ HP Core 2 1.73GHZ processor. The only thing it lacks is graphics memory, but if your intended use is not for high power graphics, this one will be just fine.
The only issues I have found with it after a few weeks of operation is that the screen brightness flickers occasionally and then returns to the proper brightness. Similarly, the audio will chirp once in a while with intensive processor operation. Neither issue is problematic enough to concern me, but is the only reason that I gave 4 stars instead of 5.
The build quality is quite good, and if I had to make the choice again, I would still buy this laptop.

Impressive lightweight from Acer
I just received this Acer 3810T early this week and I’m very impressed. Solid build quality despite being very thin and the LCD is bright with very good contrast. It runs much faster than any netbook I have ever used since it has an Intel CULV processor – the SU7300. It also has a huge 500-Gb HDD and 4-Gb of DDR3 RAM. I have only had mine long enough to charge the battery twice – but I would rate the battery life at 6+ hours while surfing with wireless and brightness set at less than 50%. The speakers are pretty good – but not loud enough for long-term music listening or movies. I cannot detect any flex in the keyboard – but the keys are a little too glossy to suit me. Both the webcam and the on-board microphone are excellent and this is a great system for Skype calls. The lid appears to be aluminum but be careful – it is pretty flexible when twisted. But, to Acer’s credit, the frame around the LCD is very solid and much better than the cheap and flimsy frames on most other sytems (except for MacBooks). The battery is slightly loose on one side on mine but it is not a deal-breaker at all. Overall, this is a great Acer for the price, with a really nice LCD and good battery life, but the build quality on the Acer 1410/1810 series is a little better. Oh – one last thing – the hard drive on mine is a Western Digital – no cheapy Ocean-gate or T-shiba on this system.

Amazon.com Product Description

Acer Aspire Timeline 3810: All Thin, All Light, All Day

Averaging more than 8 hours of battery life, the Acer Aspire Timeline notebook PC series makes “all day computing” a reality. You’ll be able to remain productive as you work remotely from 9 to 5 without ever stopping to plug in and recharge, or keep yourself entertained throughout an entire coast–to-coast flight without worrying whether you’ll make it to the end of your movie. The thin and light Timeline 3810 (model AS3810T-8737) is made for modern mobile work and play with its 3.5-pound weight and thin measurements–less than one-inch thin at its slimmest point and just over an inch at its thickest.

The high-definition, 13.3-inch CineCrystal LED backlit widescreen display (16:9 ratio) offers 33 percent more energy savings than traditional notebook screens. A Multi-Gesture Touchpad enables you to pinch, flick and swirl your fingers across the touchpad for more natural photo and video viewing as well as intuitive navigation of websites. The Multi-Gesture Touchpad allows you to scroll, zoom in and out and flip through web pages, photos, spreadsheets and more. An integrated Acer Crystal Eye HD webcam delivers smooth video streaming and high quality images for online chats and business video conferences, even in low-light situations.

Pre-installed with the Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium operating system (64-bit version), you’ll be able to easily create a home network and share all of your favorite photos, videos, and music. Windows 7 is the easiest, fastest, and most engaging version of Windows yet. Better ways to find and manage files, like Jump Lists and improved taskbar previews, help you speed through everyday tasks. Windows 7 is designed for faster and more reliable performance, so your PC just works the way you want it to.

Key Features

Averaging more than 8 hours of battery life, the Acer Timeline 3810 sets a new standard for value, mobility and productivity.

Glossy clean FineTip keyboard in water lily design offers new typing experience.

• 13.3-inch LED-backlit widescreen display with 1366 x 768-pixel resolution, 16:9 aspect ratio and 200-nit high brightness
• Energy efficient 1.3 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SU7300 processor with ultra-low voltage for extended battery life. The dual-core SU7300 has a has a power consumption rating of just 10 watts, a fast 800 MHz front-side bus (FSB), and 3 MB L2 cache.
• 500 GB hard drive
• 4 GB of installed RAM with 1066 MHz speed, expandable to 8 GB
• Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 4500MHD with up to 1700 MB of shared video memory and support for DirectX 10 games.
• Multi-gesture touchpad supports circular-motion scrolling, pinch-action zoom, and page flip. (Learn more)
• Thermal-efficient cooling innovation ensures the notebook achieves comfortable skin temperature during use.
• Crystal Eye HD webcam supports Acer PrimaLite technology, which consists of a premium sensor, firmware and lenses to provide superior video performance under low-light conditions. A built-in digital microphone helps keep background noise levels low and minimizes echoes.
• Stereo speakers with 2nd generation Dolby Sound Room audio enhancement transforms the experience of movies, music, and games.
• Draft-N Wi-Fi wireless networking (802.11a/b/g/n) with SignalUp technology for enhanced antenna efficiency
• Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000)
• 5-in-1 memory card reader compatible with MultiMediaCard, Secure Digital card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick PRO and xD-Picture Card
• 3 USB 2.0 ports for connecting a wide range of peripherals–from digital cameras to MP3 players.
• HDMI port for connecting to a compatible HDTV or home theater receiver for uncompressed digital audio and video via a single cable. Also includes standard analog VGA video output.
• Windows 7 Home Premium makes it easy to create a home network and share all of your favorite photos, videos, and music. And you can watch shows for free when and where you want with Internet TV on Windows Media Center. Get the best entertainment experience with Windows 7 Home Premium.
• Get more features with Windows Anytime Upgrade. It’s the best way to add features to Windows 7, takes as few as ten minutes, requires no software or downloads, and you’ll keep your existing programs, files, and settings. Windows will walk you through the simple upgrade process.
• Pre-loaded software includes Microsoft Works SE 9.0 for word processing and spreadsheet work. Enjoy a 60-day trial version of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007.
• Over 8 hours of average battery life with included 6-cell battery (5600 mAh)
• Dimensions: 12.7 x 9 x 1.1 inches (WxDxH)
• Weight: 3.5 pounds
• Warranty: One-year parts and labor limited warranty with concurrent International Traveler’s Warranty

What’s in the Box
This package contains the Acer Aspire Timeline AS3810T-8737 notebook PC, rechargeable lithium-ion battery, AC adapter, and operating instructions

It also comes with the following software: McAfee Internet Security Suite (trial version); CyberLink PowerDVD; Google Toolbar; Acer Recovery Management; Acer GridVista; Microsoft Works; Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 Trial (60 days)

Learn More

The Multi-Gestured Aspire 1410

A Multi-Gesture Touchpad allows you to pinch, flick and swirl your fingers across the touchpad for more natural photo and video viewing as well as intuitive navigation of websites. The Multi-Gesture Touchpad enables you to scroll, zoom in and out and flip through web pages, photos, spreadsheets and more. The TouchPad can also be disabled with a one-touch button, eliminating accidental cursor movement with palms and wrists when using an external mouse.