| |
| | Dungeons and Dragons: Eye of the Beholder Wii AnnouncedPronto Games made the announcement that Dungeons and Dragons: Eye of the Beholder Wii is in development.. There already a Dungeons and Dragons: Eye of the Beholder game gor the GBA, so we dont know if the Dungeons and Dragons Wii version will be a new game or just an adaption of the gba game |
Back in another airport on my way home. At least the flights not too late and the (potential) customer was pretty happy. Got a middle seat though so not sure how much gaming i'll get done no the way home. Might be a home time for some sleep catch up. And if anyone asks i have on idea what cairns is like other than the airport, two cabs and a tiny office... Ah the joys of work travel
Ok now for the rest of the stuff not related to my current gaming
addiction. We went to trivia last night and had a great night. We
managed a very respectable 3rd with 90 points only 2 behind the winner
for the night. Of course 3rd doesn't get you any prizes but it made us
feel pretty good about the night. I think the biggest surprise answer
that we got right was Vanessa's call with "Jason and Kylie" as the
people who dueted the hit "Especially for you". I think our most
impressive round (although we did get a perfect round first round) was
still the music round with only two missed questions.
Prior to trivia though I did consume "THE BEST" steak sandwich I've
had in a long time, in fact I have two of them. It was so good I even
took before and after photos. As I'm blogging from the plane (by
"blogging" I mean writing this up in a word doc to post later, but it
does make the flight go faster) so the photo post will have to wait
until a little later.
To digress for a little I've just glanced at my battery meter 3:41
(76%) remaining. I guess selecting that power save option and
disabling Wifi in the bios actually does save some power. Also I'm on
a dual battery system today so I've got another one of these to go
This flight to Cairns is the longest I've been on since our honeymoon
and I'm really starting to appreciate the iPod. Not only have I been
able to listen to the latest Space News, a few of my favourite tracks
and some new music news, I've also managed to listen to my last
singing lesson and mentally practise my exam program. Why didn't I
jump on this band wagon earlier?
Well I think this is about it for plane blogging, the guy in front has
put his seat back and that is pretty much the end of using my laptop.
It's hard enough to use on the plane as it is… That's what you get for
making people jealous with 1920 x 1200 resolution, it's not the
easiest to fit between airline seats.
Time for the DS to get some love.
Star Wars: Battlefront II is my current poison on the Xbox. As I was
discussing with Ben (last night at Trivia, but we'll get to that
later) the shooter is not without its problems. Its three major flaws
are AI, Visibility in maps and voice bugs in Xbox Live. (stop reading
now if you don't' really care what I think of the game)
The least offensive of the three is the visibility in some of the
environments. Maps like Dagobah and Felucia are some of the worst
offenders. This is not so much of an issue when you're playing only
against human opponents but it seems that the AI controlled players
can "see" just that much better than you can. The main problems come
from the maps that try and recreate the ambience of the planet. They
really give the impression of a dense alien forest clouded in mist.
The lack of visibility ensures every movement you take on the map is a
measured one, tearing around the map (not unlike most of the AI
controlled players) almost guaranties walking straight into a member
of the opposing team. The City based maps have none of these issues
and feel just like a frantic urban battle with shots flying from every
angle and high losses from friendly fire.
AI is the chief complaint of many reviews of the series and although
your AI allies are hardly your most valuable asset they do aid to the
frantic nature of the battles. The most noticeably flaws are the
running headlong into a fire fight and standing next to an enemy
completely oblivious to any other dangers around them. (This is often
quite amusing to watch, provided you a fair way away preferably
perched high away from the fire fight watching from a sniper scope).
An extension of this is the need they often have of laying a few more
rounds into a corpse. It seems to happen more in battles with Rebels
and the Empire. Your team is pushing forward down a corridor, enemy at
one end you at the other. One of your soldiers pushes ahead of the
rest of the team and takes down an enemy trooper, then in triumph he
bends down lays 5 or 6 more shots into the now lifeless corpse
shouting "Die Rebel Scum!" (Ok I've been playing the bad guys)
completely oblivious to the rest of the fire fight and 9 times out of
10 dies. It does often result in corridor fights ending with one man
standing (or kneeling shooting at a corpse). The other thing I find
annoying is their innate ability to walk perfectly into your cross
hairs just as you pull the trigger of the sniper rifle. Maybe it's
just my luck or poor timing. You can get around some of this AI
stupidity with using the squad commands (Up on the D-Pad, by default),
by putting a member of your team in your sights pressing the squad
command you can cycle through "Follow Me" and "Move Out". Follow Me
basically gets them to fall in behind you, shoot at your targets and
other things that shoot at you. Move out sends the back to their own
sadistic devices. Oh, my last AI quibble is with the enemy bots.
Doesn't matter what they are doing you take one shot at them (even if'
it's from across the map through a sniper scope and they have a
shotgun) they will turn in your direction and start shooting at you.
Handy if you are across the map with a sniper rifle.
Last rant: Voice in Xbox live. So far I've only managed to get this
working once for about half a map. Problem one, by default the system
is set to "Voice through TV" which actually doesn't turn the voice on
until your toggle it. Then there is options for who you talk to and
who you listen to. These are found in the Player list (pressing start
in the game then selecting from the Player List in the menu), by
selecting your name in the player list you can select options for
talking and listening. (these are toggled using left and right on the
D-Pad) the options are Everyone, My Team, Other Team, Friends, None.
Even after all of these options it often results in a reset of the
Xbox to get it working. Then it's still not fault less, and sometimes
randomly stops working. I have since downloaded updates from Xbox live
so I will post any other solutions or progress once we try that out a
bit more.
Other than those (which really aren't that bad) I find the game
completely addictive in the "Just one more round" sort of way.
Admittedly the stats collection aspect of the game really doesn't hurt
that. I'll just see if I can get one more of those medals, etc, etc.
One thing that makes the battles enjoyable is the multiple selection
of soldier types when you spawn into the game (some of which are
unlockable based on your progress in that round) the Standard Trooper
is still my current favourite although the Engineer (with the ability
to dispense ammo and health, so you can heal yourself) and the
Commando with the unlimited ammo chain gun are moving up the ranks.
At full price this game was probably a little flawed for it to feel
like great value for money. Now it's on the "Classics" list and is
under $50 it's definitely something you should have a look at if you
A. Like Star Wars B. Like Battle Style Games. Really how could jumping
into an X-Wing flying over to the enemy's hanger, jumping out,
slaughtering a few enemy pilots on their way to their fighters whilst
on your way to blow up their Shield Generator from the inside not
sound like fun??
From Cnet
Yamaha's RX-V2700 joins the RX-N600 in the company's latest network receiver range. The receivers have internet radio, an Ethernet connection and port for Yamaha's iPod dock, allowing access to music from a variety of sources.
Upside
The RX-V2700B features 7.1-channel surround sound, with a total of 980W of power. High-def buffs take note: unlike the HDMI-free RX-N600, there are three HDMI inputs and one output, and the receiver is compatible with 1080p resolution.The receiver works with Windows Media Connect for Internet radio as well as MP3, WMA and WAV file playback from a remote PC. It can also act as a client in Yamaha's wireless-streaming MusicCast network. A USB port allows you to listen to music stored on a flash drive or an MP3 player with a USB interface.
Audio enhancements include the Pure Direct design, which diverts signals away from unnecessary circuitry to limit interference, and a compressed music enhancer, which improves high and low responses for audio in digital formats.
There's room for custom installation with the V2700; the receiver is capable of multi-zone applications, and many AV inputs and speaker terminals are re-assignable.
Downside
The USB port won't allow you to hear tunes stored on an iPod -- you'll need to shell out around $150 for Yamaha's YDS-10 iPod dock. That seems like a lot of coin, but the dock also allows you to view images and video files from the player.As with the RX-N600, the list of available Internet radio stations is set by Yamaha, and while it's a very comprehensive selection, the inability to add more radio streams may disappoint some.
Outlook
Yamaha's network receivers represent the merging of PC data and home theatre that's gradually been taking place over the past few years. It's great to see HDMI connectivity and video upscaling making an appearance on the V2700 -- digital music and video collections need not be experienced at low quality anymore.The RX-V2700 is available now for $2499.
Hong Kong, October 24th of 2006 - Lik-Sang.com, the popular gaming retailer from Hong Kong, has today announced that it is forced to close down due to multiple legal actions brought against it by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Sony claimed that Lik-Sang infringed its trade marks, copyright and registered design rights by selling Sony PSP consoles from Asia to European customers, and have recently obtained a judgment in the High Court of London (England) rendering Lik-Sang's sales of PSP consoles unlawful.
As of today, Lik-Sang.com will not be in the position to accept any new orders and will cancel and refund all existing orders that have already been placed. Furthermore, Lik-Sang is working closely with banks and PayPal to refund any store credits held by the company, and the customer support department is taking care of any open transactions such as pending RMAs or repairs and shipping related matters. The staff of Lik-Sang will make sure that nobody will get hurt in the crossfire of this ordeal.
A Sony spokesperson declined to comment directly on the lawsuit against Lik-Sang, but recently went on to tell Gamesindustry.biz that "ultimately, we're trying to protect consumers from being sold hardware that does not conform to strict EU or UK consumer safety standards, due to voltage supply differences et cetera; is not - in PS3's case - backwards compatible with either PS1 or PS2 software; will not play European Blu-Ray movies or DVDs; and will not be covered by warranty".
Lik Sang strongly disagrees with Sony's opinion that their customers need this kind of protection and pointed out that PSP consoles shipped from Lik-Sang contained genuine Sony 100V-240V AC Adapters that carry CE and other safety marks and are compatible world wide. All PSP consoles were in conformity with all EU and UK consumer safety regulations.
Furthermore, Sony have failed to disclose to the London High Court that not only the world wide gaming community in more than 100 countries relied on Lik-Sang for their gaming needs, but also Sony Europe's very own top directors repeatedly got their Sony PSP hard or software imports in nicely packed Lik-Sang parcels with free Lik-Sang Mugs or Lik-Sang Badge Holders, starting just two days after Japan's official release, as early as 14th of December 2004 (more than nine months earlier than the legal action). The list of PSP related Sony Europe orders reads like the who's who of the videogames industry, and includes Ray Maguire (Managing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Alan Duncan (UK Marketing Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Chris Sorrell (Creative Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Ltd), Rob Parkin (Development Director, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited), just to name a few.
"Today is Sony Europe victory about PSP, tomorrow is Sony Europe's ongoing pressure about PlayStation 3. With this precedent set, next week could already be the stage for complaints from Sony America about the same thing, or from other console manufacturers about other consoles to other regions, or even from any publisher about any specific software title to any country they don't see fit. It's the beginning of the end... of the World as we know it", stated Pascal Clarysse, formerly known as the Marketing Manager of Lik-Sang.com.
"Blame it on Sony. That's the latest dark spot in their shameful track record as gaming industry leader. The Empire finally 'won', few dominating retailers from the UK probably will rejoice the news, but everybody else in the gaming world lost something today."
I know most of the vouchers are useless but the :Pre order your Wii at Myer and receive 16 redeemable coupons offering up to $600 in savings on future purchases of Wii and electrical products. Coupon list below!
MYERONE member's will also automatically receive a special bonus exclusive. Not only will you receive $600 worth of vouchers if you preorder the Wii, but you will also receive a free copy of GT Pro Series 2 for Wii.
Donkey Konga quartet performed solo
As a party game, the appeal of Donkey Konga is self-evident -- who doesn't enjoy clapping and banging on things? But while the game is well-tuned to allow gamers of all skill levels to join in, experienced rhythm gamers will be bored to tears by most of the game's patterns. How to crank up the difficulty? Simple -- quadruple the bongos.
Tommy Gun over at CrackedRabbitGaming has done just that, drumming along to the Pokémon Theme on four sets of bongos at once. Tommy posted a video of his feats as well as some tips for other bored gamers with four bongo controllers lying around (Hello? Anyone? Bueller?)
Previous drumming insanity: Taiko: Drum Master
Now I think it's time for another nap
Pa