Red Alert free; hurricanes

If you haven't heard already, EA's letting anyone download the original Command & Conquer: Red Alert for free today at this site. You can also get Red Alert 2 "free" if you pre-order Red Alert 3. I'd say that's a hell of a deal for folks who were already planning on buying Red Alert 3.

If you've never played a Red Alert game, I can't say I'm sure you'll enjoy the original (just because it's so old), but it's definitely worth trying. The only RTS series that compares in popularity is Starcraft. Red Alert was my favorite RTS until I played LOTR: Battle for Middle Earth 2.

edit: I tried for hours to get the original Red Alert working on my Win XP -- the Win 95 version and the DOS version -- but to no avail. I give up. I hope you have more luck with it.


On another note, hurricane Gustav could knock out my internet for a while.

I live just north of Houston. Right now, Gustav's aimed for New Orleans (city of my birth), but I've been watching hurricanes long enough to know that the weather forecasters are only making educated guesses and this thing could turn at any time. Even if Gustav doesn't turn, it might spin out tornadoes here or drop enough rain to knock out the power. I'm too far inland to worry about it, really. It's the people on the coast who need your prayers, but I'm just letting you know I might not update this site for a while after Monday.

If you're one of the folks evacuating or travelling through Louisiana right now, be aware that gas stations are running out of gas and not all of them will have more delivered anytime soon. Some relatives of mine just drove back to Houston from Mobile. Ironically, they said I-10 was alright (they travelled in the middle of the night), but Texas is diverting traffic around Liberty and other areas. 1960 east of Houston (the route I usually take to 90) is closed off.

Hurricane Hannah's looking like it might hit the Florida keys soon.

May God keep you safe.