Checking to see if an issue is due to the console or a game update.

Ever get those glitches where no matter what you do they just won't go away no matter what you do. Then your so aggravated you can't figure out what to do. This technique is relatively simple and easy to do. First what you are going to want to do is delete your game cache if your on XBox360 by going to settings > storage and then highlight the hard drive and the message press Y to clear game cache. If your using the PS3 what your going to want to do is go to the Game section on the XMB then scroll up to where it says Game Utility Data. This area stores the updates and installed data from the game your saved games are located in another menu section labelled Saved Game Data. What your going to want to do is Delete all the data for that game in that Game Utility Data using the triangle button. After you do this step on your consoles your going to want to make sure you are disconnected from the wireless completely or pull the network cable out. This is going to ensure that your system won't download and install the updates for the game. Your game will start up using the initial launch version. At this point go ahead and see if you experience the same issue. If you don't have the same issue the issue was an issue with the corrupt data saved on the console. If after this you re-connect your console to your network re-download the patch and experience the same issue than the issue is with the patch. Now if when the game starts up using the initial launch version and you still are having the issue then there could be a defect with the disc or it could be an issue that hasn't been patched yet. At that point the only thing you can do is alert technical support of the issue so that they can attempt to create a patch. If you have any comments, questions or suggestions please feel free to leave a comment below and I will get back to you.

HELP WANTED: Looking for Writers and Web Designers

We are currently looking to expand and therefore we are looking for more people. We are only looking on filling two positions at the moment one for a writer and the other is for a Web designing position.
For the writing position I am not looking for anything crazy. I just would like to have someone help me manage some of the articles so that we can possibly write more. The right person needs to be tech savvy. Some one who is a quicker learner is a bonus as well. I would appreciate at least one sample on a relevant topic.
For the web designing position what I am mainly looking for is someone moderately skilled in HTML and would be willing to educate himself further. We are looking to try and currently get a site going at the moment as well as possibly forums but this is all TBD and I am looking to get some prototypes going. Creativity is a plus as well as having a sample piece. For more information please leave a comment with your e-mail and which position you would like to fill

Game Cache and Game Utility Data

So you turn your console on and the game crashes, skips, the audio sounds or the video skips/doesn't render properly. It is very frustrating I know but we can't call up technical support and yell at them because lets be honest many of these issues we can really solve these ourselves. I think every gamer knows deep down inside you should have a somewhat in-depth knowledge of how it works and how to perform simple repairs on their gaming system or PC. So back to the problem sometimes this really isn't even caused by your game. Well what else would cause it then? Sometimes your Gaming console installs information to your hard drive of your gaming console and during the transfer sometimes that data becomes corrupt. Another thing is that your patches are stored in the Game cache(XBox)/ Game Utility Data (PS3) sometimes if during the download those files become corrupt or stop working for another reason. If there is a patch their that is for the specific issue and it isn't working or has become corrupt that is your problem. Don't worry this isn't a hard fix at all. For XBox if you go to system > storage and then hover over your hard drive and then it should say at the bottom of the screen it will say press Y to clear the game cache. WARNING this will clear all updates from the hard drive as well. It will not delete your saved games which is stored under a completely different section. For PS3 on the XMB if you go to where the games are and then go up to where it says Game Utility Data and then hit triangle and there should be an option that says delete. WARNING this will clear the updates for that game as any quick load information and the system will have to re-patch the game and reinstall this data fresh. IF you have any questions, concerns or suggestions for this topic feel free to leave a comment down below.

I thought you guys might enjoy this indie Mario trailer

Nothing can ever really take the spot of the original 1993 Super Mario Brothers movie. Yes it was corny, old school and comical but most people i talk to have some sort of place in their heart for that movie. Though after searching on the web today i had come across a trailer that was created and shown at SXSW (South by South West) college festivals. What might you ask would this video be? Well it's a short 2-3 minute trailer of a complete revamp and re imagination of the Super Mario Brothers. It takes the Mario Brothers and puts them modern day in a real life drama. I have searched and not been able to find anything out about the rest of the movie. So if anybody knows anything please speak up and comment.  Check down below for the video:

Avast anti-virus software

So over the years there have really only been two well known Anti-Virus companies McAfee and Norton. I have used these multiple times and I would like to say they are anything but helpful or user friendly. Most are not designed with their target group in mind which kind of alienates the less tech savy. Meaning they avoid trying to use it which can only amplify an already horrible situation because they avoid trying to use it because they don't know how to. There messages and reminders to renew are harassing as comes the price tag with it as well.I can say that there is one company out there who probably doesn't get as much mainstream credit as they deserve. Who might this company be you ponder? Well Avast of course!! Avast provides a variety of protections at cheap affordable prices. 3 PC coverage for there full internet security package for only 29.99. That's ten dollars a computer what do you pay for Norton 39.99. Not to mention that most basic internet user probably could easily do with their free version which offers considerable coverage to the other two companies password protection right now is only 9.99. It pretty much operates itself with little input as how frequent to do scans but if you do have to use it is a simple interface that is easy to operate as well as has the advanced options for the users who choose to use it. I use the free version right now and the scans are quick and thorough and there message and reminders are polite and friendly. Not to mention in works very well with games and has a game mode so it won't interfere You can easily check the program out by going to http://www.avast.com. they have a chart of all their cover and the prices. If you have any questions, suggestions or comments please leave me a comment

DirectX Diagnostic

So what is the one thing that most games use now of days and you probably don't even know it. Tha t program would be DirectX. What is DirectX and what does it do you might ask? Well DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces (API's) that are mainly used in handling multimedia tasks mainly gaming and video services use this. Sometimes these games don't render properly or display funny or you'll get a video with no picture but sound. Most Game or application technical support will want to see what your system has as far as hardware. You can also test Direct3D, Direct Draw, as well as sound settings and more. Once your done you can save the info to a .txt file and e-mail to the technical support agent. The agent will then be able to take it and go through it to find a possible solution or they will pass it to the proper people. This also a great tool for troubleshooting media and game issues as well. If you have any questions or would like to see something added please post a comment or contact me by email.

Internet browser troubleshooting and fixes

So many times when your surfing the web you run into errors. Many of these errors are caused by your cache, cookies and other browser pertinent information that helps you surf the web. Let's start witha very basic explanation on what the cookies and cache are. Basically what happens is that everytime you go to a website your browser will save specific portions of that site to your computer as your cache and cookies. This allows your computer/browser to quickly go to the site and load the page. So what happens is that errors sometimes get saved to those files and when those files are loaded the errors are as well and it will seem as if the website/server is displaying this error when truly nothing is wrong. The first thing that you can do to ensure this doesn't continuously happen. On all browser is a way to clear your cache and cookies. For IE8 it is located under Tools > Internet Options. For firefox it is under Tools > Clear Browsing History. At this point the only files you need only to concern yourself with deleting Cookies, Cache and Temporary Internet Files(IE8 Cache). Then the other thing you can do depending on what troubleshooting steps you would like to take is to enter private browsing via the Tools menu in most browsers. Private browsing allows you to surf the web without the browser saving to your cache and cookies thus not allowing errors to be saved to those files. Some other things you can try for other similar browsing issues is ensuring that your Adobe programs are up to date (i.e. Flash, Reader, Shockwave and AIR) as well as ensuring that your Java Client is up to date. Those programs control whether certain things are displayed on the webpage (i.e. Pictures, Video, Applets). If you have any questions about anything not contained in this article feel free to leave a comment or send me an E-mail and I will update this article accordingly.