How to Use DOSBox to Play Classic Games

If you want to make your classic games run on a modern PC, you'll have to become familiar with DOSBox, a fully configurable DOS PC emulator that is absolutely necessary for getting most pre-Windows XP games up and running.

The first step is to download a copy of DOSBox that will run on your machine. Head over to the DOSBox download page and pick up a copy for your operating system of choice. For the purposes of this guide, we’ll assume that you’re running Windows and must download the Windows-compatible DOSBox version 0.74.

Install DOSBox anywhere you please, and then set up a specific folder for all your old DOS games with a short name that’s easy to remember, like C:\DOSGAMES. Create a separate folder in the DOSGAMES directory for each game you want to play, but be sure to keep all filenames as short as possible. In the days of DOS, all files had to conform to an 8.3 naming strategy (eight characters before the period, three characters after), so for simplicity’s sake keep all your filenames at eight characters or less if you’ll be running them within DOSBox.

Since DOSBox emulates a self-contained version of DOS on your desktop, you need to fool it into thinking that your DOS game folder (C:\DOSGAMES) is really your root C:\ drive. To do that, you have to mount the DOSGAMES folder as a virtual hard drive. Double-click the DOSBox executable in your Start menu, and when you see a black box with a Z:\ prompt, type the following command: mount c c:\dosgames. That tells DOSBox to treat the C:\DOSGAMES folder as the root C:\ drive. 

To get to your new C:\ drive (or any drive, for that matter), simply type c: at the Z:\ prompt. This action will put you in the C:\ drive (which is actually C:\DOSGAMES), and from there you can navigate to any of your game directories by typing cd followed by the folder name. CD stands for “change directory,” and you can use it to navigate to any directory on your hard drive. For example, if you have a copy of Duke Nukem 3D on your hard drive in the folder C:\DOSGAMES\DUKE3D, you can play the game by typing cd duke3d to move to the folder and then typing the name of the executable (in this case, duke3d) to run the game.

You'll have to remount the proper directory every time you start DOSBox, which can become a pain if you’re just running the same programs over and over again. Here’s a shortcut: Open up the dosbox.conf file in your DOSBox directory, scroll down to the [autoexec] section, and add the following lines of code:

mount c c:\dosgames
c:

That way, DOSBox will default to your game folder every time you start it up.

Enjoy your classic games all over again, and stay tuned for more DOSBox tips and tricks.

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Japan Gets PlayStation Vita First, Rest of World Still Delayed to 2012

When will the PS Vita launch in the U.S. or Europe or anywhere that isn't Japan? We still have no idea, but according to Sony, Sony's PS3-like portable game system will debut in he Land of the Rising Sun on December 17 with 26 launch titles. The Vita 3G version—Sony's selling one with, one without—will also run on NTT DoCoMo's cellular network.

The "rest of the world" delay, which Sony admitted in August after promising repeatedly that we'd see this thing by the end of 2011, is turning out to be less of a big deal than anyone thought. No one expected Nintendo's 3DS—specifically the 3DS's software—to be so underwhelming. Absent great games, a platform's nothing more than potential energy in search of a kick. Price drop or no, Nintendo's 3DS has yet to receive one, and yesterday's announcements involving awkward add-on peripherals and at least one highly anticipated game (Kid Icarus) bumping to 2012 haven't helped.

Not that Sony's had an easy year. The company spent 2011's earliest months recovering from the Japanese earthquake, then hounding PS3 hacker George Hotz in a public-relations-unfriendly legal kerfuffle over Hotz's PS3 jailbreak. In April, hackers—supposedly in retaliation for Sony's pursuit of Hotz—took aim at the PlayStation Network (and eventually several other Sony properties), triggering one of the longest, farthest-reaching online service failures in modern history.

The Vita represents Sony's latest love-letter to traditional gamers. It's considerably larger than an iPhone or Android mobile, unusually powerful (for a handheld) and therefore power-hungry, and it's as expensive as a fully-loaded PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. Sure, an iPhone costs up to $600 or $700, but most are paying $200 to $300 for the 16GB or 32GB versions with a new contract. That, and they're getting a lot more than just a bulky handheld gaming system.

"This new device is packed with every possible function, and that's why we confidently call it the ultimate entertainment system," said Sony games unit honcho Hiroshi Kawano at today's press conference.

Except the "ultimate entertainment system" these days can do a lot more than merely entertain. The Vita's not a phone. It's not a messaging device (oh, it'll have stuff like Skype and Twitter...you know, because that's worked so well on the keypad-less PSP). It sports a pair of low-end VGA cameras, so it's not something you'll be popping out to snap pics for photo albums. It won't do 3D (okay, so that's maybe a plus). It won't organize your life. Its app store's restricted to games, because that's all it is: a souped-up PSP with a clever double-touchpad angle—a portable PS3 with a "TOUCHAXIS" in lieu of a SIXAXIS.

"But it's not meant to do any of that stuff!" you're saying. And you're right. And that doesn't really address the issue I'm getting at, which is whether there's still a market for this kind of device. I mean, of course there's a market for it, but is it sustainable and substantial enough to warrant a $250 to $300 system that you'll have to tow alongside your tablet or laptop and smartphone? Nintendo's been able to sidestep that question with the DS up to this point because it's big with kids. Less so the PSP. Does Sony think it'll be any different with the Vita?

You—that's the you screwing up your face and preparing to let me have it down below—may be perfectly happy packing enough kit to make a 1980s Gordon-Gekko-style brick-phone look like a matchbook, but will you be enough to offset the consumer trend toward one-device-fits-all? That, as the iPhone 5 and future Android and Windows phones loom, is the question foremost on Sony's mind at this point, I'm betting.

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How to Play Classic PC Games in Windows 7

Classic PC games only get better with age--but if you don't apply the right tricks and tweaks, they won't run on your Windows 7 computer. Not to worry: We've assembled a series of quick how-to guides to help you make your favorite games work on your modern PC, in all their 640-by-480 pixelated glory.

Every now and then we get tired of blowing up baddies in Battlefield or running raids in World of Warcraft. Sometimes we just want to settle down for a spell and play through Daggerfall for the umpteenth time, or take the Marathon series for a spin and see what all the hubbub was about. We yearn for a simpler time--a time when MIDI soundtracks rang in our ears as if our Sound Blaster had an orchestra in it, and we could still count the pixels on the screen.

So we dig out our old CD wallets and burrow through boxes of old floppy disks, only to discover that even though we still have the game, it won't install or play on our modern Windows 7 PCs. Even XP is too new for most of our favorite classics. Instead of playing games, we end up spending hours scouring the Internet for patches and install guides to get our old games working on our new PCs.

Planescape: TormentAnd now we're going to save you the trouble. We're starting with five how-to guides that will help you get Daggerfall, Duke Nukem 3D, Grim Fandango, three RPGs based on BioWare's Infinity Engine (Baldur's Gate, Planescape: Torment, and Icewind Dale), and the Marathon trilogy working on your PC perfectly. What's more, some of these games have been updated to look better than new, with fan-made patches that make the game work with 16:9 monitors at high resolutions, update the in-game graphics and rendering engines, and more. And every time we figure out how to get another classic game working, we'll add it to the list on the right side of the page.

Be warned: Some of these guides can be pretty tricky to follow. You'll need to be well acquainted with your PC to get many of these old games to work. And in some cases you'll need to dust off your DOS skills and get to know the DOSBox emulator (we've included a DOSBox primer, as well). No one said it would be easy.

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Could the PS4 Really Be On the Way?

BitMob reports that an anonymous source claims the words "PlayStation 4 in 18 months" were uttered during a "high level meeting" at Sony. Sony, naturally, responded with the usual "we don't comment on rumors and speculation" so beloved of tech companies and so frustrating to people actually wanting answers.

BitMob's reporter Rus McLaughlin believes that the source from Sony is reputable and trustworthy, but has his doubts over whether the company is really likely to launch a PlayStation 4 on the world within the next 18 months.

I'm inclined to agree, vagueness of the statement and the source aside. The PS3 launched in 2006, putting it roughly five years into Sony's much-publicized ten-year cycle. Its predecessor, the PS2, launched in 2000 and is still just about limping along today, eleven years later. Several publishers, including 2K Sports, are still putting out PS2 versions of their new titles, and the fact the console is cheap certainly doesn't hurt its sales -- particularly when you take the huge back catalog of titles into account.

In fact, arguably the only real reasons that the PS2 isn't still the leading console are the advent of HD and the growth of online console gaming. Standard definition graphics certainly don't stop a game from being great, as anyone who has played Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii will tell you. Some may see the lack of constantly being bugged by online notifications and Achievements as a good thing, allowing the player to focus their attention on the game itself, rather than the metagame. And you certainly don't have to worry about palette-swap DLC and Season Passes on the PS2.

Then there's also the fact that the PS3 is arguably starting to hit its stride. While it has always trailed somewhat behind the Xbox 360 in Western territories, Sony's products have always enjoyed strong performance in Japan, and this year in particular sees a wide range of exclusive PS3 titles which may well prove to be system sellers -- chief among which is Uncharted 3, but it's also worth taking more niche titles like Dust 514 into account too.

And this isn't even considering the fact that there's no real need for new tech at this point -- TVs that accept pictures of higher than 1080p resolution are several years away at this point, and even further away for mainstream acceptance. Meanwhile, 3DTVs are still treated with suspicion and skepticism by the public right now. So all that could be feasibly improved within 18 months would be graphical performance and frame rates at current resolutions -- and that might not be a big enough jump in fidelity to convince people that a new system is worthwhile. Unless Sony wants to go down the virtual reality route -- which, as Nintendo will tell them, is probably not a great idea.

In short, the PS3 is still very much alive and well -- as is its predecessor, for that matter, thanks in part to the evergreen nature of casual titles such as the EyeToy series, Singstar and the original Guitar Hero games. Sony bringing a PS4 into the picture within 18 months would potentially mean that they had five systems in the marketplace at once -- PS2, PS3, PS4, PSP and Vita. And dividing the market that much seems like a really, really bad idea -- unless each platform was designed to cater to a very specific subset of gamers rather than being the "universal entertainment system" which both Microsoft and Sony seem to be gunning for with their current consoles. That said, Sony isn't averse to making really, really dumb decisions once in a while -- PSP Go says hello.

Exactly how and why the "PlayStation 4 in 18 months" soundbite got out or what it means is something we can't be sure of right now. But as with so many of these "anonymous source makes vague statement" stories so beloved of the industry, it's highly likely to be nothing more than that thing Sony doesn't comment on -- rumors and speculation

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Call Of Duty Modern Warfare 3

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (abbreviated as Call of Duty: MW3 or simply MW3) is an upcoming first-person shooter video game, currently being co-developed by Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games with Raven Software assisting in development.^[7] It will be the third installment in the Modern Warfare series, and the eighth Call of Duty installment. Sledgehammer Games has announced the game to be the first entry in the Modern Warfare series to have built-in support for color-blind gamers.^[8]

Gameplay

Like its predecessors, Modern Warfare 3 is a first-person shooter video game. It will run at least at 60 frames per second.^[9] Activisionconfirmed at Gamescom 2011, that Modern Warfare 3 on the PC will have dedicated servers support.^[10]

Campaign

The player assumes the role of various characters during the single-player campaign, changing perspectives throughout the progression of the story. Each level is a mission that features a series of objectives that are displayed on the heads up display, which marks the direction and distance towards and from such objectives. Damage to the player is shown by blood shown on the screen. The player's health regenerates as time passes. Tasks vary in their requirements, having the player arrive at a particular checkpoint, eliminate enemies in a specified location, stand their ground to defend an objective, or plant explosive charges on an enemy installation. The player will be accompanied by troops who cannot be issued orders.

Cooperative

Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games have revealed that Modern Warfare 3 will feature a new Survival Mode. Survival Mode features one to two players fighting endless waves of enemies with each wave getting more difficult. Despite being much compared to the World at WarNazi Zombies mode, enemies do not spawn at fixed locations like the zombies do, but instead, at tactical positions based on the current location of the player. The mode will be available on all multiplayer maps in the game and in the mode, players can earn "cash" for items such as weapons, upgrades and ammo.^[11][12]

Multiplayer

Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games have also recently revealed that they have revamped the entire killstreak reward system. They have stated that while Treyarch had slightly improved the system, it was not enough to make the system feel perfect. Along with revamping the entire killstreak reward system, Modern Warfare 3 will also have a completely revamped ranking and unlocks system. Unlike Call of Duty: Black Ops, Modern Warfare 3 will not use a currency system.^[13] Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games have also revealed that they are removing annoyances that make players rely less on skill and more on perks. To do this, they are removing certain perks that give players a power advantage over others who do not possess the same perk. 'Quick-scoping' has also returned, having been absent in Black Ops.^[14] Unlike Black Ops, Modern Warfare 3 will not feature dive to prone or "dolphin dive" due to various balancing issues. ^[15] The teams have also revealed that to fix bugs and glitches, they will not use full updates but instead Treyarch's hot fix system to fix problems much quicker.^[16]

Synopsis

Characters

The game will see the return of Task Force 141 Captain John "Soap" MacTavish (voiced by Kevin McKidd), former SAS Captain John Price (voiced by Billy Murray) and Russian informant Nikolai who are on the run after killing the rogue U.S. Army Lieutenant General Shepherd. Russian Ultranationalist Vladimir Makarov (voiced by Roman Varshavsky)^[17] will also reprise as the game's primary antagonist.^[18] Several new playable characters have been added, including Derek "Frost" Westbrook (voiced by Corey Stoll)^[17] and Sandman (voiced by Christopher Meloni)^[17], a pair of Delta Force operatives in New York City; Marcus Burns (voiced by Christian Coulson)^[17], a Sergeant in the Special Air Service fighting in London; and Yuri, a Russian federal security agent.^[18] Wallcroft (voiced by Craig Fairbrass)^[19] from Call of Duty 4 will also return in the game.

New non-playable characters that have been confirmed so far include Truck and Grunt (voiced by Troy Baker)^[17], who form part of the Delta Force fire team alongside Frost and Sandman.^[20] A Delta Force operative named Grinch was also announced (and will be voiced by Tobey Maguire).^[17]

Plot

The game will immediately follow the events of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, where the Russian Federation continues its invasion of the United States of America, and has also expanded its offensive to Europe, including England, France and Germany.^[18] Campaign stages are also planned for Somalia, Sierra Leone, Moscow and Dubai. Gameplay videos fromE3 2011 in Los Angeles showed Delta Force soldiers helping Navy Seal Teams force a Russian submarine to surface in the East River and boarding it to destroy the other boats in the harbor. Later on, Delta Force soldiers are on a mission to destroy a radar jamming installation on top of the New York Stock Exchange.^[18]

Development

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 was known to be in development after a legal dispute between Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and Vince Zampella and Activision resulted in the pair being fired from the company. Several dozen Infinity Ward employees followed West and Zampella as a result of the ongoing dispute, causing Activision to enlist the services of Sledgehammer Games and Raven Software to assist development of the title.^[21]

On May 13, 2011, four teaser trailers were released on the official Call of Duty YouTube page, separately titled "America", "England", "France" and "Germany", indicating the various locales of the game. The same day, video game website Kotaku leaked information about the game, confirming that it would be a direct sequel to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, as well details regarding weapons, levels and modes found in the game.^[22]

On May 23, 2011, Activision released the first gameplay trailer for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 on YouTube ahead of its official premiere during the NBA Western Conference Finals.^[23] On May 31, 2011, Activision announced Call of Duty: Elite, a brand new social service for the Call of Duty community to track and compare statistics, create videos and access premium content. The service will be fully integrated into Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, and will launch to coincide with the game's release.^[24] On June 6, 2011, 11:00AM (PDT), the first live gameplay demo of Modern Warfare 3 was presented by Robert Bowling and Glen Schofield at E3 2011. On June 14, 2011, 12:35PM (EST), the first live gameplay demo of the new Survival Mode was played by Jimmy Fallon and Simon Pegg on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon.^[25] On August 9, 2011, the trailer for the new Survival Mode was released on Youtube.^[26]

On August 24, 2011, the PepsiCo-owned brand Mountain Dew officially announced on their Facebook page that they would be promoting the game with their '"Game Fuel"' soda variants, which would be cherry-citrus-flavored (the original Game Fuel that promoted Halo 3 in 2007 and brought back in 2009 to promote World of Warcraft) and Tropical-flavored (a brand-new flavor that was tested by 500 Dew Labs members). The drinks are to be released in October 2011 and will feature codes to give the player double experience points in-game.^[27]

To promote the game, Activision will be holding a two day event called Call of Duty: Experience (Call of Duty: XP for short) which will take place in Los Angeles, CA from September 2nd, 2011 to 3rd. It will feature many things including the reveal of the new multiplayer which attendees will be able to play for the first time. In addition, all attendees will receive the Hardened Edition for free as a gift for attending.^[28] Contents included within the Hardened Edition include the game disc with "unique art", one year membership to Call of Duty: Elite, "special founder status" on Call of Duty: Elite which includes an exclusive in-game emblem, playercard, weapon camouflage, clan XP boost, and more exclusive benefits, premium collectible steelbook case, exclusive PSN animated timeline theme theme for PS3 only, Exclusive Spec Ops Juggernaut Xbox Live avatar outfit for Xbox 360 only, and a limited edition, collectible field journal, which chronicles "the entire saga with 100+ pages of authentic military sketches, diagrams, and written entries."^[29]

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