My streak of going a year without major computers problems just ended: in one week, two of my computers have completely fallen. Total cost? About $250 to fix everything.

The first thing that went wrong was my old laptop (a 12″ Dell laptop, 2ghz) wouldn’t boot. I took it to the shop and found that the motherboard had died. Fortunately (since I’m in China) fixing it is even an option, so I went with that. about $35 to get this old machine up and running. It’s worth it though, to have an extra laptop around. It works perfectly for Serato.

The second crash, and more serious of the two, was my desktop. The last week I’ve noticed green aberrations on the screen and was hoping that it was just a loose connection on the inside of the PC. Unfortunately that wasn’t the case, so the video card has to be replaced outright. What really sucks though is that this broken video card was bought three years ago for a whopping $400. The one I’m replacing it with costs twice as much and is faster, though. It should last longer too, since it doesn’t run at ludicrous temperatures (the video card I’ve been using for 3 years, the 8800GTS, is dubbed “the space heater” online).

May my newly restored computers not melt or otherwise fail in the next 24 months!

Old & busted:

Hot, new shit:

I might be enjoying this game a little too much. That’s how good it is.

I remember playing the original Starcraft when it was released, in 1998. What I remember most about it was that it was one of the first games that I ever pirated (downloaded off the internet) and that its production values immediately blew me away. The music, artwork and atmosphere of the game were all unparalleled for the time period, and that’s not even to mention the gameplay which has made Starcraft one of the most popular competitive games of all time since then. So, you can imagine my anticipation.

How’s the sequel?

In a word, incredible. I can see why this game took such a long time. They’ve really managed to polish every part of it, from the menus and sound effects to the character animations and voicework. I’ve been a member of the official beta for about 2 weeks now (huge thanks to Peter who generously donated an invite to me) and my record online is 30-30 even. Despite starting in the platinum (highest) league of competitive play, I’ve dropped down to copper – 4 levels down! Despite the newness of the game, many online players have reached a high level of skill, using objects and units in clever ways. I learn something new in almost every game, even though I’m 50+ games in.

Yesterday I heard news that the beta is coming to a close soon, before the game officially releases on July 27th. For me, that’ll be a good thing. I’m getting Starcraft-ed out.

Here are some screen shots I took:

Read more about Starcraft 2 on Blizzard’s official site.