INX-Gaming Tutorial – Setting up your Web Hosting.

Posted on September 3, 2007 by admin

This is the first of many more tutorials to come. In this tutorial we will be going through setting up your Web Hosting using the INX Control Panel.

Firstly you need to log in to your Control Panel. The link is http://panel.inx-network.com/login.php

Once there, you will be logged in to your Control Panel and will see somthing similar to this.

web hosting setup

You need to go to the Web Hosting part of your Control Panel, the link to it is on the bottom of the nav bar, circled on the above picture. Once you have clicked on that, you will be presented with a page just like this.

web hosting subdomain and domain selection

If you have a domain you wish to use with the INX Web Hosting please fill in the top box, if you wish to use a free subdomain, use the lower box. As advised, this can take a while so please be patient.

Once you have installed your Web Hosting, you will be presented with a page with all the information you need to connect to your Web Hosting. If you come across any problems, please try Reinstalling or in the worst case, contact INX Support.

Canceling Your Web Hosting

Canceling your Web Hosting couldn’t be easier, a button is available at the bottom of your Web Hosting information. You can cancel your Web Hosting for any reasons, some are -

  • Changing the name
  • Removing every file.
  • No use for it.

Hope this helps,

INX-Gaming Matt

Matt@INX-gaming

www.INX-Gaming.co.uk

Posted in Tutorials | 2 Comments

The Demo Dilemma

Posted on August 6, 2007 by John

Recently I downloaded the XBox 360 demo of Codemaster’s Overlord. And I was hooked from the very first line. After all, I think that we can agree that “Rub some acid in his eyes: That’ll freshen him up!” is an awesome opening line. The rest of the demo followed the same style: well-scripted, with tongue in cheek minions encouraging you to be evil, and damn good fun.

After purchasing the game I thought I was onto something. After all, if I’d have played a demo of Dead Rising I’d have known before purchase that the mission-critical text was impossible to read on my Standard Definition screen. So I decided to download more game demos to evaluate. Please note that the following are not meant to be in-depth reviews of the game, they are deliberately very short and non-exhaustive reviews of the game demos.

Lego Star Wars II: Lego and Star Wars based adventure game. Another comedy game: characters falling over and getting hit by vehicles has never been this funny. The puzzles are interesting and satisfying to solve. I’m holding back from purchasing this one because I don’t think that it will hold any real lasting appeal for me; it’d be good for dropping in and out of, similar to Spiderman 3. But I still haven’t completed that yet so…

Quake IV: Classic Alien Shooter. Good graphics, good dialogue, good weapons, interesting story and monsters, but there’s nothing new here. Making a shining pinnacle of a classic genre is always a worthwhile thing to do, but there’s nothing in terms of concept or gameplay that really make this stick out. When I have completed F.E.A.R and want another FPS I will probably make this investment.

Ninety Nine Nights: Fantasy hack ‘n’ slash. N3 is a very impressive game which has vast numbers of beautifully rendered ally and enemy soldiers battling it out on screen while you hack and slash with an effortlessly graceful style in the middle of them. N3 seems to suffer from the same problems that most hack and slash games do which is that rather than learn all the complex controls for combos it’s easier for the player to just repeat the same ones over and over again, which undermines the variety of moves and makes gameplay repetitive.

Shadowrun: Shoot ‘em up with magic. Shadowrun was a really fun demo to play. The magic element really sets this game apart – your character can teleport through walls away from people while firing at them. You can run, leap, glide, teleport, throw up destructible but hindering walls… there’s tremendous variety. Even among all this chaos the game appears to be well thought out and balanced: no one magic spell seems to be dramatically more useful than any other. The tutorial is well-made and not boring as most demos are. Best of all the demo sets up an intriguing background story that I would really like to explore and progress through. What’s that? There’s no single player campaign? Only single player skirmishes? Ah forget it. Single player story driven FPS are my favourite. I’m partial to multiplayer as much as anyone else, but the campaign really drives the game forward and gives you something to progress through, and it’s a huge lost opportunity that it’s not present here.

The Outfit: WW2 squad based shooter. The game comes with a single player campaign mode. Sadly this demo didn’t. This is the XBox 360′s answer to the Battlefield series (while it looks different it has in common most aspects of gameplay), and it makes a fine job of it: within minutes of playing a Nazi approached me from behind, stamped on the back of my knee, and attacked my throat with a knife. You can call for a variety of vehicles to be dropped from the sky (literally dropped, I got crushed by one), but whatever you do don’t try to run towards them if there’s a river in the way. Your “Outfit” has been given all the training and equipment necessary to conduct vital attacks behind enemy lines, but they haven’t been taught how to swim, and are dead from the moment their toes cut the water. At £22 from Amazon this is a game that I will make an investment in. There’s one “small” problem: the text is tiny on my Standard Definition TV. There’s no good reason why this isn’t a PC game and frankly it should be: mouse and keyboard are far better for this genre.

Project Sylpheed: Space Combat Flight Simulator. Perhaps because I haven’t played a flying game in a while, or perhaps because the background is mostly black with stars it’s very difficult to know just which way up is. It’s also hard to guage your speed and distance from the spacecraft that you’re attacking. The Microsoft Combat Flight simulator had an option of writing the distance away from the other planes above the aircraft, and that would have been useful here. I think if you’re a fan of the genre then this is probably a good one, as the spacecraft control well and there seems to be a variety of weapons, but this just isn’t the one for me. Another problem is that I was getting eyestrain from the text on the briefing screen, probably due to the light blue on blue text in Standard Definition. The names of the planets on this screen were illegible because the font was too small.

Having had that marathon session I’ve reached the following conclusions: that I will buy The Outfit.

And a High Definition TV.

- John

Play nice ;)

Posted in Game Reviews, John | 1 Comment

Clan sponsorship & free game servers

Posted on July 27, 2007 by Olly

Is your clan looking for sponsorship? A free server?

Are you pro? A bunch of commited lads who’ve been playing CSS since it beta’d on the BBC micro?

Will you put our name on your T-shirts at the LAN’s you attend? Girls already do that for me anyway, woof.

Maybe you’ll tattoo INX-Gaming on your arse, because you’ve only come to INX-Gaming because we’re the biggest and best around.

You’ll try and sell as MANY servers for as possible? Making INX-Gaming a huge game server provider?

GREAT! Where do we sign up?

INX-Gaming do not sponsor clans!!!1111shiftone

If you have just MSN’d us, or messaged us on livechat, and have been linked to this blog post, please don’t take offence.

Take it as just me being very honest, and telling you how it is. No bullsh*t!

Let me explain, and detail, why we don’t sponsor clans, point by point:

It says clearly on our contact page we don’t sponsor

Go on, have a look at http://www.inx-gaming.co.uk/support/. It’s likely you have found our MSN / Windows Live Messenger, or Xfire address on there. in haste you didn’t read the writing next to it:

» Live / MSN Messenger – sales@inx-gaming.co.uk. For sales enquiries only. We do NOT provide technical support via msn. Please also note we do not offer sponsorship to clans, so please don’t ask.

Oops! Missed that bit. Maybe we should tattoo it to our head. And I concede, we don’t state it for Xfire, we tell you to look above:

» XFire – inxgaming. As above! :)

Clearly it says on the contact page we don’t sponsor. Don’t worry, I don’t read all the crap on webpages either. We all skim read. It happens. In fact only this morning I skim read an entire edition of Nuts Magazine.

Although those few that think “Yes, I did read that but we’re an exception”.

Yes you quite clearly are. Very rarely do I walk down the street to see pro-CSS players with their head shoved up their own arse. There are no exceptions. None, no thank you!

What about our paying customers?

If I bought a kebab from Chilli Masters in Spalding (my favourite local takeway), and then saw Chaz and Jon come out with free kebabs, I’d start a fast food dual. No, really I wouldn’t stand for it.

If you went into the off license and bought some beer, only for the people to come along side you and take a free case (hey, on the house lads, you are pro underage drinkers), you’d not be happy.

So how does one of our customers feel, let’s call him Andrew, when he / she has shed out £30 for a big public Counterstrike server? He loves it, cos we are great. He’s happy to pay the money monthly. He’s been with us 6 months now.

And then, then little dlibert in da txtspeak vuice sez a forum post.

HEAR ME NOW!!1 WE IZ GOT A FREE, SRY SPONSORD SVR FROM DA BOYZ @ INX. COME JOIN. AYE N BUY A SVR.

Point made clear? Andrew’s going to go apesh*t. And likely so.

While we are charging for a service (yes we are a business, and there to make money….SHOCK HORROR), we will not give something free to a clan while other customers are paying their hard earned cash.

It aint worth it, love

Contrary to what the templates you can copy and paste your clan name, and the GSP name into, it aint worth it for us GSP’s.

I’ve spent 4 years in marketing and business development. With the best due respect, I find it a lil irritating when I’m told how we should be advertising ourselves.

Putting your banner on our website, it aint going to work.

Really, you could get the red devils to explode our name across the air.

I am not bovved.

Again, don’t take offence if you’ve been linked to this. I’m telling it as it is, and having a little gest at the same time.

But for Pete’s sake (or Andrew’s), have a look at our affiliates system – www.inx-gaming.co.uk/affiliates.

If you are a brilliant clan, well done. You’ll never be as pro as me at CS, but PLEASE keep on trying.

Seriously, if you are a respected clan, and you like our services, earn yourself £5 for referring us. Then you can get a proper server. A proper custom control panel. All the works.

And you won’t have to tattoo Olly on your arse.

Have a good weekend all!

Posted in Game Servers | 24 Comments

Insurgency at INX!

Posted on July 25, 2007 by admin

At last, after rigorous testing, we are happy to announce that you can now safely switch your game servers to and from Insurgency! We are also accepting Insurgency orders which will be setup instantly via our automated system.

If you already have an account with us, here’s the quickest way to install the game:
1.  Log into the Server Control Panel
2. Click on ‘switch game’ next to the game you are currently running.
3. Select ‘Half-Life 2: Insurgency’ from the list. Do not tick the ‘install game’ box, just click Switch!
4. Back on the main page you will see an ‘Update’ button. Click this then restart your game server.

Please note that although we have tested the game thoroughly, Insurgency may not work perfectly for all customers. The game itself is still in beta so do not expect it to be bug free for at least several weeks. May I remind you that the game takes a good 30 seconds to load after you click the Start/Restart button; there is nothing we can do about this, it is the game itself causing the delay!

Happy gaming :)

Posted in Game Servers | Leave a comment

Insurgency. The summer’s most popular game server?

Posted on July 2, 2007 by Olly

I’ve a quick break from the support tickets to catch some breath…

With the game’s developers stating the game so close, gunshots can be heard, we ask, just what is the kerfuffle surrounding this game?

Lazy I know, but quoting direct from the official Insurgency site for starters:

Insurgency’s primary concept is to create an immersive online combat experience for the player,with an emphasis on teamwork and realistic elements to create intense firefights in detailed urban environments. The first scenario is set during the present war in Iraq, after the fall of the government and the uprising insurgency that followed as a result.

What’s that in short? Having talked to a member of the team, he quotes it as a cross between CS Source and Battlefield 2. Battlefield 2 without the irritating base spammers. Wow, get me some of that.

For me, the media (although in short supply, does the pre-reputation justice. Just look at this:

Insurgency screenshot

We’ve also uploaded the Insurgency trailor for your viewing pleasure. Go on, have a look, it’s pure goodness.

I can almost invisage an ice cold beer, sitting, waiting for the enemy to come round the corner.

So when’s it out? Apparantly yesterday, apparantly today! I do know the team are working flatout to iron some bugs. Expect a windows release imminently, and linux server within the next few days.

As soon as the linux server files are available- we’ll deploy the game to our control panel, bringing you lovely Insurgency gaming servers.

Please email us on sales@inx-gaming.com if you are interested in ordering one of these awesome servers!

Posted in Game Previews | 1 Comment

Taking the moral high ground: walkthrough, FAQ, and cheat codes

Posted on June 24, 2007 by John

In 2291, in an attempt to control violence among deep space miners, the new earth government legalised no-holds-barred fighting.

In 2007, in an attempt to control controversy among computer game developers, John of INX Gaming wrote a walkthrough and FAQ about taking the moral high ground in games development, which led to no-holds-barred fighting. It went:

1. Violence must have context.

“IFCO recognises that in certain films, DVDs and video games, strong graphic violence may be a justifiable element within the overall context of the work. However, in the case of Manhunt 2, IFCO believes that there is no such context, and the level of gross, unrelenting and gratuitous violence is unacceptable.” The Ireland Film Censors Office banned its first ever game, swayed by the fact that being able to mutilate someone’s genitals for entertainment is difficult to condone. It’s all too easy to say “well, that’s just IFCO, who cares?” Well, the censors in Great Britain and Italy threw their mega-weight behind the ban as well. More importantly, Sony (more on them later) and Nintendo made their agreement clear by refusing to publish the game on either of their consoles (source). So it would seem that Rockstar made some Wii and PS3 programmers waste a lot of time coding a game that cannot (reasonably) be published.

Nice one.

2. Ask permission to use art assets

Using real-world art assets in a game is a standard development procedure because it generally leads to a far more immersive result far quicker than producing your own would do. But choose wisely, otherwise your game assets might go down as well with some non-gamers as well as superfluous torture goes down with IFCO. Specifically, families of murder victims who have photographs of their child’s abduction used in games without consent (source). In this case the developer, Legacy Interactive, apologised immediately and removed the picture from future copies of the game (release five years ago). Hindsight is a wonderful thing, and their subsequent correction of the error of judgement makes it difficult to condemn them.

Now we come onto a much more publicised and much more contentious issue: cathedrals in FPSs. Generally people’s view on this is dictated by their view on religion and their views on the company in general, because that is how people work. Cathedrals are public iconic spaces which makes them ironically ideal for a place of respect, worship and retreat to a lot of people and a perfect setting to an FPS about the end of civilisation as we know it for others. Without getting onto a rant on Christianity’s or Sony’s ethics, it’s fairly obvious that people who hold certain places with sacred reverence are people that are going to get annoyed if you use that place for something that is out of place there by its very nature. For example, imagine if your grandma’s house was used as a setting for a game where the aim is to beat up old people. You may not mind, but chances are you (and your grandma) will.

Sony have (as of the time of writing) apologised but not offered to change the game, and haven’t offered any money to Manchester Cathedral’s youth group. It’s difficult not to make a mental comparison between their apology and Legacy Interactive’s which leaves LE’s looking decidedly more sincere. For one thing it came quickly. For another they attempted reparations.

3. Realise why this is important

Someone at the latest GDC (I can’t remember who at the time of writing, but it impressed me which is why I quote it – if you know please email me!) said that games development is in its early years, and it’s up to us as the current generation of developers and consumers to remember that “it’s ours to make good, and it’s ours to f*** up”. Developers pushing the boundaries are a sort of teething (as painful as it is for the programmers at Rockstar who had their work effectively cut), and people getting irate about their space being used are another, but essentially we have to make sure that we act responsibly.

Anyone who claims that it’s not possible to produce a game that doesn’t offend anyone is right as long as there’s Jack Thompson in the world. But it is important for us as developers and consumers to take some responsibility for our products and the offence they cause.

And a bit of moral high ground with it.

- John

Play nice. ;)

Posted in John | Leave a comment

Why “they” should merge STALKER and FEAR

Posted on June 18, 2007 by John

When I play FEAR I am always struck by the quality of the AI: when you burst out on a group of enemy soldiers they swear, duck, and run for cover. They’ll break windows and jump through the other side for cover. After you attack them they (audibly) find out how many people are left and assess the situation. You don’t need to suspend any disbelief to think that you are attacking a highly trained group of soldiers.

When I play STALKER I am always struck by the quality of the game environment. If you choose to wipe out a group of mercenaries that are holding off a vicious group of pseudodogs then the next time that you return to the area the dogs will be in force. If you do choose to do missions for one faction then their members will like you more, and be more likely to fight for you in future. The game environment is an autonomous immersable machine.

So which “they” should produce a game that is immersive on both local and global levels? “They” would need to produce a game that supports the modding community, that provides material for a vast multiplayer community such as new maps and game types. They should use next generation development methods to produce maintainable software for next generation consoles. Using next generation development methods precludes the concept of a “crunch time”.

Does any such company exist? If so, can they get cracking?

- John

Posted in John | Leave a comment

Nobody does it better

Posted on June 15, 2007 by Olly

One the most frustrating things of being the UK’s leading game server provider, is your unimaginative ‘competitors’ copy overything you do.

Whether it be game servers for a quid a slot….fast downloads…..hardware….

Over the years our competitors have copied all our good ideas. And generally executed them in a sucky way. ul.

It does suck, but as Del Monte just said to me on Yahoo Messenger….’It’s a compliment really‘.

Having just seen a medium sized competitor create their own blog, I did cough and screach ‘FFS! Get an imagination!‘ at the top of my voice, but then started cackling after that. The kind of competitor that uses poor performance Windows for game servers (rofls), and an off the shelf control panel they can’t alter….because they don’t have that ability to do otherwise.

There are game server providers out there we have lots of respect for. These aren’t one of them. I suppose I just pity them at the end of the day

gg lads, but always one step behind.

*sings Nobody Does It Better at the top of his voice*

Posted in From the office | 7 Comments

Forum Changes

Posted on May 31, 2007 by Rich

Last night we committed some changes to the forum, mostly rearranging some existing forums, merging a couple together and adding one or two more.

What does this mean for you? Well not much really ;) All the good stuff is still there waiting for you to add your 50pence worth.

To go into a little more detail, the forums have been divided up into two main categories.

The first is Community and Entertainment, which is for discussing everyday life, sharing a joke, or talking about that brilliant film you’ve seen and just wanted to share with everyone. You can discuss who won the latest football game or you can meet up with potential clan members or opponents if you’re looking for a match.

The second is Gaming and Technology, for discussing Gaming and Technology surprisingly enough ;) Wanna show everyone the cool maps or mods you’ve got on your INX gameserver? Got a handy gadget you think everyone needs? Want to debate whether Counter Strike Source is better than Counter Strike 1.6? Well you can!

As ever, we always listen to suggestions, so if you have ideas for almost anything you think INX Gaming should do, please drop a post in the suggestion box.

Finally before you go and catch up on the forum posts, please sign our Battlefield 2/2142 petition. You know it makes sense ;)

Posted in From the office | 2 Comments

Battlefield 2 Ranked Game Servers

Posted on May 25, 2007 by admin

There’s been quite a lot of discussion on the forums about this recently. Basically, Electronic Arts are refusing to allow us to sell ranked BF2 game servers (because to do so you must be a member of EA’s trusted partner scheme). Every time we try to make contact, they either ignore us (and believe me, we’ve tried everything, even leaving people voicemails and inviting them out to lunch!) or they reply with a pre-written response along the lines of “the scheme is full”.

Battlefield 2 is going down the toilet. When ET Quakewars comes out, the toilet will be well and truly flushed. The only way to restore the game to its former glory is to have more stable (and cheaper) game servers online. Cheaper game servers = more people buying game servers, therefore the game becomes more popular; simple! And we hope to charge 99p per slot for a BF2 ranked game server, just like all our other games.

Please sign our petition by adding your name in a comment below. The more signatures, the better. We will then send it to EA, as a final hope that they will allow us (UK’s Biggest GSP, without BF2 servers!) to host ranked servers of their game.

We, the undersigned, would like INX-Gaming to become an EA trusted partner for the purpose of selling Battlefield 2 Ranked game servers at 99p per slot. EA, we have had enough of this idiocy!

Posted in Game Servers | 87 Comments