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Mortal Kombat 9 – the reboot – a look back

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Last weekend, when I thought I would be catching up on my Halo Lore and playing Halo 3, I ended up playing the reboot of Mortal Kombat. Known also as “MK9” – this Mortal Kombat game retold the story of the tournament I loved to sneak off to play as a kid. Those quarters that went in to the arcade cabinet, trying to get as far as I could before my mom finished her trip around the mall. I was always more of a Street Fighter II buff, but Mortal Kombat had a draw to it that few other games did. Even the young geek in me loved the digitized actor sprites that made the characters so realistic for the time. Mortal Kombat had it all.

Over the years the series got more and more strange, and introduced and endless stream of characters. This game brings it back to the core – but still has a few surprises. What I wasn’t expecting was the story mode, which I enjoyed without shame. It tells the a story of Raiden coaching the Earth Realm Kombatants through the tournament. Liu Kang wins the tournament, but the story is only about a third of the way finished there. Little did I realize that the story was going to be several hours worth of fights – lucky for me it was a weekend and I played it through in one sitting!

As usual, I’m several months late to the party, but I wanted to share what was a fun experience. If you skipped all of the Mortal Kombat games since maybe Mortal Kombat 4, well, then you probably didn’t miss much – I don’t feel like I did. A few references are made to other games and even the movies here and there, a nice nod to the people that have been with the series through thick and thin. Overall I’m glad I found this recently and picked it up – I found it enjoyable. If you’re an adult gamer with a tinge of nostalgia for the series you won’t be let down.

One MAJOR thing left out of MSN for Windows 8: technology news

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I already had an entirely different article written, on an entirely different topic last night, but the moment I saw this I threw it all out and wrote this article for this morning. As Microsoft and NBC part ways on their several-year MSNBC joint venture, the all new “MSN for Windows 8” website has been unveiled. But it seems to be missing a key ingredient. Continue reading “One MAJOR thing left out of MSN for Windows 8: technology news”

FTP for Windows RT

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Update 1: if the idea of the command prompt doesn’t appeal to you, read Clive’s comments below this post for using the Windows Explorer FTP feature, or see my new article about mFTP, a free app from the Windows 8 Store.

Some things we just take for granted. Maybe you’ve used CoffeeCup FTP, FileZilla, or CuteFTP – well whatever you’re used to, it’s not in Windows RT. You just had to get a Microsoft Surface, didn’t you? Haha, it’s okay, so did I. But, since you can’t go back to old familiar stand-by FTP clients, I asked this week what option you have when you need to upload a file to an FTP server in a pinch? Relax, Microsoft has had you covered for over a decade!

Windows RT has a command prompt. It’s true! From the Start Screen, just type three letters: cmd and a command prompt icon will appear. Click that. Look familiar? Good. Now you can type ftp exampleservername.com – and away you go! Perhaps, in yourcase, it’ll be ftp.exampleservername.com, whatever… you should know your own server. The point is, once logged in, you can upload and download files through the command line!

The two biggest things to know: first, by default you’re in ASCII mode, which is for transferring text files – to transfer a binary file, you should switch to BINARY mode. Just type the word “binary” and you’ll switch modes – then you can upload MP3s, JPGs, PNGs, EXEs, and so on. Second: if you are trying to upload or download files to the server, they are coming from and going to whatever folder you were in before you started the client. You can use the “lcd” command to change your local directory, but by default you start out in C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\.

More commands and important sub commands are available on Microsoft.com, though a simple HELP command will present you with some helpful information.

1944 – Murder, My Sweet

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The perfect introduction to the Film Noir genre. For most people my age, the entire genre is a mystery in itself – we never had films like these. When the Max Payne games made their original debut in the 2001, it was our first “Noir” experience. The stoic narration, the flashbacks, the constant “blacking out” and starting over – none of it made much sense, it was just a fun journey to play through. Then I saw Murder, My Sweet.

The movie introduces you to an array of characters, including Moose, who you immediately develop a soft spot for. But as the movie carries on, the plot starts out as a simple bit of detective work and becomes gradually more nefarious. The movie is a spin on The Maltese Falcon, which if my movie history memory serves me correctly, had been made in to about 4 different movies in the span of just one decade… but this one really nails it for me. Everything from lights and camera work, to how shadows cascade across a room – every detail was well thought out in Murder, My Sweet. There is even a scene where our protagonist, Detective Marlowe, gets drugged, and has a fever dream, filled with paranoid dellusions – much as one might remember from the Max Payne games (now re-released on mobile devices!).

Yes, it’s a 1944 black and white detective film. But I go back to this classic over and over, and enjoy the thrill ride every time.