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By Mark D, December 8, 2011 12:42 pm

You ever go to help a friend whose wondering why their computer is running slow, get there and discover that they have about half a screen filled with toolbars? Normally I’d just figure the person was an idiot and didn’t realize what they were downloading. In reality there’s no reason to even download toolbars anymore, since most browsers now come with search boxes built into them. But toolbars still exist for browsers mostly so the company which made them can track your internet usage. If there’s a real use for browser toolbars, I haven’t seen them yet.

But lately I’ve been noticing a new trick that is annoying as hell. You go to install a game and your given the choice between the manual or automatic install. Now back in the day this was sort of important. Games would run largely off of the CD, but the installer gave you the option of installing all the files to the computer so the game ran faster. This mattered back in the day when your hard drive was only a gig and installing everything from the CD could take 200-400 MBs. Now it doesn’t matter as much given the size of hard drives, but most installs give you the option of custom installs.

Custom installs are largely jokes these days, but something that installers have been doing lately is sneaking in a toolbar installation. Now this isn’t something new, but in the past you would get a screen asking you if you wanted to install a GoDaddy Toolbar. Now though when you go to select what items you want in the custom install it seems to be a choice of game components, toolbars and useless non game related crap. I can only imagine the number of people who do the automatic install and wonder why they suddenly have a new toolbar.

It’s time to stop this. Trust me game companies, I’ve had a million chances to download a new IE toolbar. It’s not as though I’m suddenly going to change my mind about them because it’s on the install program.  Packaging toolbars with installation programs is one of the most annoying trends in gaming today. I can only imagine they do it because they are getting paid to.  But it’s a disservice to anyone who trusts installers to just install the games and wouldn’t actually look to see what is being installed.

As long as I’m bitching, I’d also like to see the return of actual options of what to install when installing a game. If it’s possible to run stuff of the disc, that would be nice. Not all of us have 1 TB hard drives growing off of the trees. I’m sure there’s plenty of stuff (including the god dam music) that can be left on the CD just fine. Especially if you are going to force us to have the CD/DVD in the drive to run the game anyway.

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By Mark D, October 2, 2011 12:49 pm

(Editor Note: This game is designed by a friend of mine and I offered my help. I’ve long had a link to his blog in my side blogroll. This is not a review and I have not played the game, neither am I being paid for this.)

Panzer Clash will be published by TOG Entertainment on October 15th 2011.

Panzer Clash is a light, card-based wargame about Second World War Panzer battles for 2 – 4 players. Pick a side, either Axis or Allies, and build a deck of 40 – 60 cards out of a pool of over 100 cards in order to defeat your enemy.

The deck or Supply contains Factories, Units, Events and Terrain Modifiers. Factories are needed to build Units and Terrain Modifiers as well as to power Events. Units and Events, which usually belong to one or more of the four factions (Germans, Japanese, Americans and Soviets) are used to attack and deal damage to the opponent, have certain beneficial effects on the game or are used to weaken the opponent. For each point of damage a Player receives through Units and Events, he or she puts one card from his or her Supply (deck) onto his or her Junkyard (discard-pile). Is a player unable to draw a card from the Supply, he or she loses immediately.

Panzer Clash started out as a re-theme of my fantasy card game Elemental Clash and ended up being so much more . . .

Panzer Clash is already up for pre-orders on www.togentertainment.com. There is a pre-order special: Order two or more Faction Packs and get one Terrain Pack (MSRP 5.99 $) for free. Also included with every pre-order: An exclusive and limited Promo Card!

I am also pleased to announce that there will be a Soundtrack (a proper audio CD) to go along with the game. Many great metal bands have3 already pledged their support for the project, and the CD will be released on December 21st 2011.

What is more, there are already Panzer Clash shirts for sale at http://www.redbubble.com/people/jilocasin/shop/t-shirts. If you like the game, order one and show your support!

For more infos on the game please visit www.panzerclash.com