Continue Character Number Pyramid

Q. Write a C program to print the following character number pyramid as:

1
A B
2 3 4
C D E F
5 6 7 8 9

Ans.

/*c program character number pyramid*/
#include<stdio.h>
int main()
{
 int num,r,c;
 static int i=1;
 static char ch=A;
 printf("Enter no. of rows : ");
 scanf("%d", &num);
 for(r=1; r<=num; r++)
 {
  for(c=1; c<=r; c++)
  {
    if(r%2==0)
       printf(" %c",ch++);
    else
       printf(" %d",i++);
  }
  printf("
");
 }
 getch();
 return 0;
}

The output of above program would be:

Figure: Screen shot for character-number pyramid C program

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Find the binary value of decimal number in C

 C++ Program to Find the Binary Value of Decimal Number Using for loop
C++ Code:

1. #include<iostream>
2. #include <stdio.h>
3. using namespace std;
4. 
   
5. int main()
6. {
7.   int n,x,a, c, k;
8. 
   
9.   cout<<"Enter an integer in decimal number system";
10.   cin>>x;
11.   n=x;
12.   cout<<"Binary Value OF Given Number Is: ";
13. 
    
14.  for( a=1;n!=0;a++)
15. 
    
16.   {
17.      n=n/2;
18. 
    
19.   }
20. 
    
21. a=a-2;
22.   for (c = a; c >= 0; c--)
23.   {
24.     k = x >> c;
25. 
    
26.     if (k & 1)
27.       cout<<"1";
28.     else
29.       cout<<"0";
30.   }
31. 
    
32. 
    
33. 
    
34.   return 0;
35. }

Sample Output:

Decimal to Binary Conversion Sample output

Image view of Code:

Decimal to Binary Conversion C++ program code

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SQL

SQL – QUERIES

I. SCHEMAS

Table 1 : STUDIES

PNAME  (VARCHAR),  SPLACE (VARCHAR),  COURSE (VARCHAR),  CCOST (NUMBER)

Table 2 : SOFTWARE

PNAME (VARCHAR), TITLE (VARCHAR), DEVIN (VARCHAR), SCOST (NUMBER), DCOST (NUMBER), SOLD (NUMBER)

Table 3 : PROGRAMMER

PNAME (VARCHAR), DOB (DATE), DOJ (DATE), SEX (CHAR), PROF1 (VARCHAR), PROF2 (VARCHAR), SAL (NUMBER)

LEGEND :

PNAME – Programmer Name, SPLACE – Study Place, CCOST – Course Cost,  DEVIN – Developed in, SCOST – Software Cost, DCOST – Development Cost, PROF1 – Proficiency 1

QUERIES :

1. Find out the selling cost average for packages developed in Oracle.
2. Display the names, ages and experience of all programmers.
3. Display the names of those who have done the PGDCA course.
4. What is the highest number of copies sold by a package?
5. Display the names and date of birth of all programmers born in April.
6. Display the lowest course fee.
7. How many programmers have done the DCA course.
8. How much revenue has been earned through the sale of packages developed in C.
9. Display the details of software developed by Rakesh.
10. How many programmers studied at Pentafour.
11. Display the details of packages whose sales crossed the 5000 mark.
12. Find out the number of copies which should be sold in order to recover the development cost of each package.
13. Display the details of packages for which the development cost has been recovered.
14. What is the price of costliest software developed in VB?
15. How many packages were developed in Oracle ?
16. How many programmers studied at PRAGATHI?
17. How many programmers paid 10000 to 15000 for the course?
18. What is the average course fee?
19. Display the details of programmers knowing C.
20. How many programmers know either C or Pascal?
21. How many programmers don’t know C and C++?
22. How old is the oldest male programmer?
23. What is the average age of female programmers?
24. Calculate the experience in years for each programmer and display along with their names in descending order.
25. Who are the programmers who celebrate their birthdays during the current month?
26. How many female programmers are there?
27. What are the languages known by the male programmers?
28. What is the average salary?
29. How many people draw 5000 to 7500?
30. Display the details of those who don’t know C, C++ or Pascal.
31. Display the costliest package developed by each programmer.
32. Produce the following output for all the male programmers

Programmer

      Mr. Arvind – has 15 years of experience

KEYS:

1. SELECT AVG(SCOST)  FROM SOFTWARE WHERE DEVIN = ORACLE;
2. SELECT PNAME,TRUNC(MONTHS_BETWEEN(SYSDATE,DOB)/12) "AGE", TRUNC(MONTHS_BETWEEN(SYSDATE,DOJ)/12) "EXPERIENCE" FROM PROGRAMMER;
3. SELECT PNAME FROM STUDIES WHERE COURSE = PGDCA;
4. SELECT MAX(SOLD) FROM SOFTWARE;
5. SELECT PNAME, DOB FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE DOB LIKE %APR%;
6. SELECT MIN(CCOST) FROM STUDIES;
7. SELECT COUNT(*) FROM STUDIES WHERE COURSE = DCA;
8. SELECT SUM(SCOST*SOLD-DCOST) FROM SOFTWARE GROUP BY DEVIN HAVING DEVIN = C;
9. SELECT * FROM SOFTWARE WHERE PNAME = RAKESH;
10. SELECT * FROM STUDIES WHERE SPLACE = PENTAFOUR;
11. SELECT * FROM SOFTWARE WHERE SCOST*SOLD-DCOST > 5000;
12. SELECT CEIL(DCOST/SCOST) FROM SOFTWARE;
13. SELECT * FROM SOFTWARE WHERE SCOST*SOLD >= DCOST;
14. SELECT MAX(SCOST) FROM SOFTWARE GROUP BY DEVIN HAVING DEVIN = VB;
15. SELECT COUNT(*) FROM SOFTWARE WHERE DEVIN = ORACLE;
16. SELECT COUNT(*) FROM STUDIES WHERE SPLACE = PRAGATHI;
17. SELECT COUNT(*) FROM STUDIES WHERE CCOST BETWEEN 10000 AND 15000;
18. SELECT AVG(CCOST) FROM STUDIES;
19. SELECT * FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE PROF1 = C OR PROF2 = C;
20. SELECT * FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE PROF1 IN (C,PASCAL) OR PROF2 IN (C,PASCAL);
21. SELECT * FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE PROF1 NOT IN (C,C++) AND PROF2 NOT IN (C,C++);
22. SELECT TRUNC(MAX(MONTHS_BETWEEN(SYSDATE,DOB)/12)) FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE SEX = M;
23. SELECT TRUNC(AVG(MONTHS_BETWEEN(SYSDATE,DOB)/12)) FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE SEX = F;
24. SELECT PNAME, TRUNC(MONTHS_BETWEEN(SYSDATE,DOJ)/12) FROM PROGRAMMER ORDER BY PNAME DESC;
25. SELECT PNAME FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE TO_CHAR(DOB,MON) = TO_CHAR(SYSDATE,MON);
26. SELECT COUNT(*) FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE SEX = F;
27. SELECT DISTINCT(PROF1) FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE SEX = M;
28. SELECT AVG(SAL) FROM PROGRAMMER;
29. SELECT COUNT(*) FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE SAL BETWEEN 5000 AND 7500;
30. SELECT * FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE PROF1 NOT IN (C,C++,PASCAL) AND PROF2 NOT IN (C,C++,PASCAL);
31. SELECT PNAME,TITLE,SCOST FROM SOFTWARE WHERE SCOST IN (SELECT MAX(SCOST) FROM SOFTWARE GROUP BY PNAME);

32.SELECT Mr. || PNAME || - has || TRUNC(MONTHS_BETWEEN(SYSDATE,DOJ)/12) || years of experience “Programmer” FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE SEX = M UNION SELECT Ms. || PNAME || - has || TRUNC (MONTHS_BETWEEN (SYSDATE,DOJ)/12)  || years of experience “Programmer” FROM PROGRAMMER WHERE SEX = F;

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String Searching Function in C

Nothing much to say, here I present you with a searching function. It takes
two-character string (array) as the argument and finds the position of the second
string in the first. For example, if the two arrays passed to the function have
the following values:

String 1: ”I like C++”

String 2: “C++”

then the function will return 7, because as an array, string 1 has the word
C++ starting from the index number 7.

If the function cannot find the second string inside first then it will return
the value -1, indicating that the search was unsuccessful.

The program below is easy to understand; therefore, I have left it up to you
to understand how it is working.

   //C++ program which searches for a substring
   //in the main string
   #include<stdio.h>
   int search(char *string, char *substring);

   void main(void)
   {
   char s1[50], s2[30];
   int n;

   puts("Enter main string: ");
   gets(s1);
   puts("Enter substring: ");
   gets(s2);
   n=search(s1,s2);

   if(n!=-1)
     {
     puts("Index Number: ");
     printf("%d", n);
     }
   else
     puts("The substring cannot be found...");
   }


   //FUNTION DEFINITION
   //this function takes two arguments
   //first is the pointer to the main
   //string and second argument is the
   //pointer to the substring
   //it returns the index number of the
   //main string where the substring is found
   int search(char *string, char *substring)
   {
   int i=0,j=0, yes=0, index;

   while(string[i]!=

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GET BACK HIDDEN DRIVE AGAIN IN MY COMPUTER

Start->Run->Type cmd and enter.

In command prompt type disk part and hit enter.

Then type list volume and hit enter.
       It displays drive details.

Drive letter which you want to get back.
If you want to get back volume D,type select volume D and hit enter.
       It appears select volume.

After that type assign letter D and hit enter.

Restart computer once.

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Acer Aspire 4520

Acer recently introduced the AMD-powered Aspire 4520 laptop in India. This laptop is aimed towards the entry-level segment which attracts first-time laptop buyers and students. The 4520 is a 14.1-inch value notebook with good specifications and feature set. This laptop model is sold as-is and there is no customization provided from Acer’s end. So, one needs to make sure the specs are nice and the laptop has enough firepower to get through all of your daily applications.

This 2.6kg laptop does feature some interesting inclusions in the form of Dolby-certified surround sound system and the latest nVidia chipset and graphics. For a budget laptop, it does pack in some serious components which are usually not seen in budget systems. More on it later in this article.

Since this model is relatively new worldwide, we’ve tried to focus on providing detailed information with respect to design, usability, specs, build quality, software-support and user experience. The rigorous benchmarking for the laptop components will be done shortly and reflected in this article as soon as possible.

So, without wasting any time, let’s explore the Acer Aspire 4520 laptop.

Design & Build Quality:

The most noticeable thing on first sight is the shiny black lid of the notebook with trademark Acer logo. The design of the Aspire 4520 is based on the new “Gemstone” concept, a joint-creation of BMW’s designer team from DesignWorkUSA & Acer. A lot has been said about the new design and now we see why.

Open the lid, and you’re greeted with pearl-white interiors. Everything from the keyboard, the palm rest and the touchpad is white. The feel is rich and you generally associate such designs from uber-pricey laptop models. Considering this is a budget laptop, no one would mind a bit of style and elegance except for business users. It’s a personal preference in the end. We were happy with the looks and Acer’s color preference. The laptop can be closed easily as Acer uses magnetic the approach. It stays shut tightly the moment you bring the lid closer to the flat horizontal surface. One has to use both the hands to open the lid. The shiny lid also fingerprints very easily. Though it can be wiped off easily, it’s a bit annoying.

Left Side: (From left-to-right)

15-pin VGA port to connect to external monitor/LCD
S-Video Out to connect laptop to a TV-set
IEEE 1394 FireWire
Ethernet Port (LAN)
56k Modem
2x USB ports
5-in-1 memory card reader (SD, MMC, MS, MS PRO, xD)
ExpressCard/54 slot (above card reader)

Right: (From left-to-right)

8x DVD Burner
2xUSB 2.0 ports
Power-Jack
Kensington Lock Slot

Front: (From left-to-right)

Infrared reciever
Sounds ports (Line-in jack, microphone in jack, and line-out jack)
Volume Control meter (free flowing - doesn’t stop in either direction)

What lies below:

Everything beneath the laptop is protected by Acer-stickers. If you break the seal, the warranty is void. So, upgrading components such as RAM, HDD, and add-in modules is definitely not possible if you want to live a secure life with laptop’s warranty. But luckily, you won’t ever need to remove those stickers and upgrade anything. Find out why on the next page, as we reveal the specs.

Specifications:

Here’s a quick look at the specs of this modest laptop. This model of Acer Aspire 4520 sports the following:

• AMD (Turion) Athlon 64 X2 Processor - TK-53 (1.7GHz, 512kB L2 Cache combined)
• Nvidia nForce 610M chipset
• Nvidia GeForce 7000M onboard graphics capable of up to 256MB VRAM (shared)
• 1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM (512MBx2)
• 160GB 5400RPM 2.5-inch SATA HDD
• 8x DVD Burner with Dual Layer Support
• 14.1-inch WideScreen Acer CrystalBrite LCD (glossy display) capable of 1280×800 resolution
• 802.11b/g WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet
• Bluetooth 2.0+EDR
• 5-in-1 multiple card reader (SD, MMC, MS, MS PRO, xD)
• Integrated Acer Crystal Eye webcam (VGA/0.3 megapixel)
• S/PDIF (Sony/Philips Digital Interface) output for digital speakers
• ExpressCard Slot (Express Card/54)
• 6-cell Li-ion battery
• Dimensions: 342 (W) x 247 (D) x 35/38 (H) mm
• Weight: 2.67Kg
• Warranty: 1-year Internation Traveler’s Warranty from Acer.

As you can see, this laptop doesn’t have any weak link in the hardware it comes with. The TK-53 processor is the new mobile processor for S1-socket from AMD based on the 65nm fabrication process (code-named Tyler). It’s 64-bit capable too, so using this laptop with 64-bit operating systems is also possible. This is the only place where AMD beats Intel. Their budget processor offerings are feature rich and very affordable which help to keep the price of laptop down.

The 1GB 667 MHz RAM, 8x DVD Burner, 160GB HDD with integrated Bluetooth 2.0 module make this laptop a very killer deal. You won’t need to spend any extra penny to make this laptop the best choice for you. It’s so directly! By far, this is the best deal in the market currently. Not only it has good secondary configuration with respect to RAM, HDD, Optical Drive, Connectivity; it’s a fairly new model based on the latest AMD processor and Nvidia chipse+graphics. New is undoubtedly better than previous generation offerings in this case.

Graphics:

The onboard 7000M nvidia graphics is very basic. It’s strictly for running Aero on Vista and some casual gaming of some older titles. Don’t expect much from these chips and you’d be happy. The graphics core is DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 compliant with support for nVidia PureVideo technology and clock speed of 300MHz. There is no hardware support to help with HD playback due to the use of nForce 610M chipset. The PowerMizer technology helps to improve the battery life of the notebook.

LCD:

The display LCD screen is a glossy one with WXGA (1280×800 resolution). Quite standard for a budget laptop and more than enough for most needs. It has enough screen real-estate which the users will need for common office-tasks, presentations and general usage. The glossy screen is always annoying but you learn to live with it after some time. The images are very crisp on the display. Brightness is on the higher side, one needs to lower it down to suit your requirements. Lowering the brightness helps from the battery-life point of view too. The viewing angles are extremely poor from top/bottom. Thankfully, it gets better from left/right. Light leakage (at both the top and bottom of the screen) is there but it’s not that alarming. No dead pixels were found. Even if you find, there is little you can do because getting a replacement on this criteria is quite a task.

The LCD screen used in this laptop is an AUO-manufactured one.

Webcam & Microphone:
The Acer Cystel Eye webcam is located right at the top, above the screen. When the webcam is under use, a tiny green LED light turns out right next to it. Nothing much can be expected from the webcam, it works and is good-enough for casual video conferencing. The bundled software which helps to bring the best out from the webcam allows to take pictures only. Support for video recording is not present. The microphone quality is really worth mentioning. The sound recorded from it was very true and clear. Somehow, the background noice/echo was minimum. Seems almost similar in performance with the Altec Lansing 502i headset.

Speakers:

The speakers are the USP of the new design as they are Dolby-certified. The sound quality is better than most other laptop speakers. On most laptop speakers, the sound is tinny and not sufficiently loud. But that’s not the case with two built-in ‘Acer 3DSonic stereo’ speakers. You won’t be disappointed with the sound, enough said! Not only it’s sufficiently loud, there is some depth and a bit of bass to ‘feel’ the music. Even at max volume, the sound delivered is true unlike other laptops which are only good up to 50% volume. This makes the 4520 sport the best speakers on a laptop out there. The free flowing scroll wheel for volume at the front of the laptop is handly to increase/decrease the volume swiftly.

Heat & Noise:

The laptop runs very quiet even at none or up to moderate loads. The fans kick in under high load and only then the fan’s noice gets audible. Well within tolerable limits. The DVD burner however is very noisy and produces a lot of vibrations when it’s reading some optical media. After 1 or 2 hours of continous usage on the table, it does get warm. Especially underneath the laptop, just below the battery and centre. But that’s just about it. Nothing serious about it considering it uses the onboard graphics chip for video. If you plan to use it for long hours like a desktop, considering buying a cheap USB-notebook cooler. It really helps to keep the notebook cool regardless of the runtime.

Keyboard & Touchpad:

If you’re a laptop user already, switching to the Aspire 4520 won’t be a herculian task. The size is pretty much standard of what laptops feature. Within no time you get adjusted to its layout. Having used Acer laptops in the past, the keyboard featured on this model is radically different. We’re not talking just about the use of white color. It’s not curved as some earlier keyboards of Acer laptops were - to bring in ‘ergononics’. The text marking are etched in black color on the white keys, so there are no readability issues. The second use of a key, is highlighted in a cool shade of blue. The keyboard is a bit cramped near the arrow keys. Usually the space left and right of the up-arrow key is left blank so there are no accidental presses. But Acer has provided the Euro and Dollar key there. You just have to be a bit more careful due to this.

The touchpad is very near to the funny-shaped Space key. There is no distinct physical separation in the form of some gap or barriers betweek the space bar key & the touchpad. Due to this, while typing one can easily trigger the sensor on touchpad which may lead to some errors. The pressing of the touchpad keys does produce some clicking noice. Otherwise, the touchpad was very responsive and felt durable.

Acer offers a nice feature-set of additional keys in addition to the Fn+combo options. One can switch off the LCD, choose between external monitor or the laptops display , mute/enable voice and switch-off touchpad easily. In addition, Acer provides LED lights for HDD activity/ Caps and NUM lock status on the top left. The power button is right at the top-centre with an attractive blue light around it when the laptop is running. Bluetooth and WiFi LEDs are the bottom side and can be seen even when the lid is closed. The green-colored “e” button triggers the Acer Empowering software in Windows. About five other shortcut keys are found just below the Power button for mail, web browser, etc. These are also user configurable via the bundled software.

Battery life:

The laptop comes with a 6-cell 4800 mAh Li-ion battery. With some casual websurfing, a 30-mins audio playback, software installation and word processing; the laptop lasted nearly 2 hours. Quite decent for a budget laptop. If you tweak a litte, additional 15 minutes or so of usage can be extracted from the laptop’s battery.

Benchmarks:

As mentioned in the specs, this laptop features the new 65nm based TK-53 processor. It is no match to the Core 2 Duo’s. Intel continues to hold the performance crown. But the TK-53 does manage to better the Core Duo processors which is evident from the SiSoft Sandra Processor Arithmetic benchmarks. The Memory Bandwidth is around 4000MB/s.

Vista’s Windows Experience Index score for this laptop turned out to be 2.5 It is determined from the lowest sub-score from the values for Processor, Memorym Graphics, Gaming Graphics and HDD transfer rates. Since this laptop features onboard graphics, a low score in the gaming graphics sub-score was expected and that was exactly the case.

Software Issues:

The Acer Aspire 4520 comes pre-installed with some basic Linux (which is also named as Basic Edition) distribution. The choice of Linux was to keep the laptop’s end price down. The driver and recovery CDs feature the Acer software suite and device drivers for Windows Vista. If you can live with the shiny new version of Microsoft’s latest operating system, then all is fine.

If you are a Windows XP fanatic, you will run in to a lot of problems. Although, the Windows XP installation ran smoothly, the problems started to crop up when we decided to install one device driver after another. The drivers on the Acer UK and Acer’s China site were all downloaded. Initially, we had trouble installing even the basic chipset drivers from nvidia. Thankfully, the nvidia website had some solution. Then we managed to get the video drivers working too. The next restart revealed XP running on the native 1280×800 resolution crystal clear. Bluetooth drivers weighed a good 90-odd MB but the installation went fine. There were two separate driver models for webcam and WiFi. Apparently, components from different manufacturers were used to build this laptop. So, getting the drivers to work required some trial and errors. But, most of the components were up and ready to work. The sound drivers played unfair all along. Nothing helped! Nor the Vista drivers, XP drivers from the China website and neither did the Realtek’s solution from their official website. By this time, we gave up on XP and Aspire 4520 duo. Somethings are just meant not meant to be together. At this point of time, XP is not gonna happen on 4520, taking into consideration all these issues. Average user will get lost surely. Some users on the web claim to have got XP running well with all the devices working from the driver locations we hinted above, but we were not so lucky.

See Full Review>>

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Team Fortress 2

As one of the first shooters to pioneer team- and class-based gameplay, the first Team Fortress quickly became a favorite among the online community, inspiring devotion and spawning innumerable user-created modifications that many still play today. Team Fortress 2 was announced almost a decade ago as a sequel to the original mod, and went through many transformations and design iterations before its release last October as part of The Orange Box. At heart, TF2 remains true to its roots, pitting two teams against each other in objective-based competition. Players on both teams select one of nine character classes, each with their own unique abilities, strengths, and weaknesses. TF2s cartoon aesthetic and stripped-down classes belie its complexity, and the dynamic interplay of abilities and strategies is nuanced, hectic, and challenging. The result is a fantastic multiplayer experience that proves itself a worthy successor to its seminal ancestor.

As a purely multiplayer game, Team Fortress 2 has no need for a storyline. Instead, it has characters. Each class is a uniquely styled character with his own amusing personality (some of whom have been featured in hilarious "Meet The..." video features that are readily available online). These classes come equipped with three weapons, generally classifiable as a primary gun, a secondary weapon, and a melee weapon. For example, the soldier class comes armed with a rocket launcher, a shotgun secondary weapon, and a shovel for close quarters combat. Classes are grouped into offense, defense, and support, though their actual roles in combat are far more fluid.

The offensive group includes the scout, the pyro, and the soldier. The scout is lean, fast, and nimble (he can double-jump), but light on health. He can capture points twice as fast as other classes and can quickly gun down less robust classes, but his relatively low health makes him highly susceptible to sentry guns and the Heavy’s minigun. The pyro wears a black flame-retardant suit to protect himself from his flamethrower, which can light opponents on fire. While deadly at close range and in enclosed spaces, the pyro is much less effective in open areas. The soldier wields a powerful rocket launcher that is effective at any range, though its small clip and slow reload rate can be a hindrance.

In the defensive group youll find the demoman, the heavy, and the engineer. Demomen have grenade launchers that can ricochet shots around corners, and remote-detonated sticky bombs that are great for setting traps. Heavies have the most health, but are also the slowest since they carry a giant minigun that can shred nearby opponents in seconds. Engineers have the unique ability to build structures, like sentry guns, ammo/health dispensers, and teleporters. Though they are armed with shotguns as well, their primary concern is building and maintaining their machines in strategic locations.

Support characters are an eclectic bunch: the medic, the sniper, and the spy. The medics primary gun restores his allies to health, and can charge up to release an ubercharge, giving him and his target temporary invulnerability. The sniper is deadly at long range, able to charge up his bullet by remaining zoomed to the point where a headshot will instantly kill almost any foe. The spy is able to disguise himself as a member of the opposing team and can deliver one-hit kills by stabbing enemies in the back. He also has devices that can destroy the engineers structures, making him very dangerous when behind enemy lines.

Though different classes clearly lend themselves to different roles on the battlefield, the strategies each can employ are far from limited, and it can be difficult at first to decide which class to play. While certain classes seem more straightforward than others, they all have their nuances that can only be learned over time. Fortunately, you have the option to switch classes every time you respawn, or any time you run back into the spawn point. This gives both teams the flexibility to change strategies on the fly, and its one of the key elements that make Team Fortress 2 so dynamic.

This flexibility can also cause problems, especially for teams that arent communicating properly. If half the team decides to switch it up while the other half decides to stay the course, the resulting disarray can scuttle your chances of victory. There are useful hotkeys that allow you to send quick messages, and many players use voice chat to stay on point. Still, many a team has fallen to defeat due to dissonant strategy, and as such Team Fortress 2s biggest strength is also its biggest liability. Your success is tied to your teams success and, in part, so is your enjoyment of the game. Just as being part of a fluid, coordinated team is truly excellent, so too is being part of a fractured, dysfunctional team truly frustrating. These are two extremes, to be sure, but such is the inconsistent nature of a game experience that depends so wholly on other players.

Fortunately, most of the TF2 experience falls somewhere between those two extremes. Every game mode demands a cooperative strategy (there are no Deathmatch modes), but the basics arent hard to grasp. In the Capture the Flag mode, players must grab a briefcase of intelligence from the opposing teams base and return it to their own. In the Control Point mode, teams fight to capture all the control points on the map. The Attack/Defend mode challenges one team to capture the control points while the other team defends, and teams switch roles between rounds. Each of the maps is designed for one or two specific game modes, and all are meticulously designed to create numerous strategic approaches for both teams.

Since the games release last October, Valve has released a few new maps and game modes, slowly expanding the somewhat sparse catalog. They have also recently released three new weapons for the medic that you unlock by completing achievements. These weapons feature slight stat tweaks and new abilities that add a new element of customization to the class, and no doubt herald future weapon deployments for the other classes. While this did cause a (hopefully) temporary imbalance in the number of people playing as medics and a rise in overtly self-interested tactics, it offers new challenges and goals for players. This new content helps extend the replay value of TF2, which makes the high price point a little easier to swallow.

Valve has done a fantastic job creating and balancing the maps, classes, and other game elements that are within their control. Still, Team Fortress 2 is a purely multiplayer game and, as such, lives and dies by the team. Most of the time youll find yourself well matched, but the inherent uncertainty of the game can make for some vexing sessions. Your best move is to seek out friends and servers that are least likely to yield such sessions, and then enjoy the fertile battlegrounds that Team Fortress 2 so expertly cultivates. Youd be remiss not to reap this harvest.


By Chris Watters, GameSpot

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