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.

Port Forwarding for Video Games

So as many of you online console gamers might be starting to notice the requirements and demands of your home network and Internet Service Provider to play these games has become higher than ever before. Due to this many gamers experience problems with lots of lag and frequent disconnects from game servers. What many people don't realize is that their router could have many different security features that either limit this flow of data or completely halt the process. There are two options that gamers have to either alleviate or eliminate these problems all together and they are called port forwarding and DMZ. First, let us start with what a port is. A port is basically in essence a door on the router that controls the flow of information from the internet into your network. What port forwarding does is open those doors completely to your gaming console after you have assigned it a static IP address. At this point you might be saying to yourself that this sounds awfully complicated. If you are not as network savy and knowledgeable there are two things you can do. The first being accessing the website www.portforward.com. This site gives an in-depth step by step guide for each router and each game. For those who want the port numbers directly click the link link They also feature a free tool to check your ports afterwards o make sure they are functioning correctly. The second thing you can do is contact your Internet Service Provider and they can open those ports for you as well. Forwarding ports is relatively easy to pick up and learn and can be used for a variety of situations not just gaming. The second option that I spoke about was called DMZ. What DMZ stands for is Demilitarized Zone. Basically what that means is when you engage this option on your router for your gaming console again with a static IP address it will place your console directly outside of the router. Warning! This should only be done with gaming consoles as this can expose a huge security risk for PC's and laptops. This should only be used as a last resort if all else fails. This as well can also be found on www.portforward.com.
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