Curse you, PCChips!

The 866MHz (133MHz FSB) Pentium III-based system I mentioned a few posts back went to my cousin and her kids for Christmas; they were running a 600MHz (66MHz FSB) Celeron-based Compaq Presario with 128MB of RAM, so this was a nice upgrade. I took the Celeron system back with me to see what could be upgraded so that they could have a decent second system for the kids to do homework 'n such. I had a Socket 370 850MHz (100MHz FSB) Celeron chip lying around, but stability was sketchy in the Compaq system, even after a BIOS update that supposedly added support for newer CPUs. I also got my hands on an old Slot 1 667MHz (66MHz FSB) Celeron system that also supported Socket 370 CPUs, but it wouldn't boot with the 850MHz chip, and BIOS updates weren't possible (long story, blame PCChips). So, their second computer's gonna be a 667MHz Celeron system with 256MB of RAM... I'm installing Windows 2000 as I type this.

In video game land, Guitar Hero II co-op is awesome, and the single-player game is as fun as ever. I don't think the track list is as strong this time around (I'm about 29 songs in) and some of the vocal performances are kinda weak, but I'm still enjoying it quite a bit. I really wish I had the time to get into Bully and Enchanted Arms, but they're just gonna have to wait... Probably a couple of months :( Picked-up Top Spin 2, Amped 3, and Perfect Dark Zero ($70 for all three), and they're all solid. Top Spin 2's load times are a little long, and Perfect Dark Zero's aiming feels kinda stiff, but they're all still pretty fun. I've added my "gamer card" to the column on the right there, so you can kinda see what I've been up to. It neglects to mention, however, all the game demos I've been downloading and playing. Highlights so far include Dead Rising, Lost Planet, Ridge Racer 6, and Tony Hawk's Project 8. Sonic The Hedgehog and Test Drive Unlimited were real let-downs, and stuff like Full Auto and Ninety-Nine Nights were about as mediocre as expected. Gears Of War continues to be stupid-awesome.

Dear "The System"...

...You just got beat :)

I was out doing some "Boxing Week" shopping today, redeeming gift certificates and such, and I came across some pretty good XBOX 360 deals. I managed to snag a Platinum Hits version of Kameo for $20, and Enchanted Arms also for $20! I mean, $15 off for Kameo was pretty exciting, but $50 off for Enchanted Arms? Awww yeah.

Those deals, however, were nothing when compared to my coup de grace: D-Link's DWL-G730AP. For $59.99, you can pick-up a tiny portable router/access point meant for hotel rooms and remote offices. What I like most about it is that it has this really nifty third setting called "Client Mode" that is only mentioned in the fine print and the manual... "Client Mode" is apparently D-Link-speak for "fantastically cheap wireless bridge". It's kinda sad that a compact, USB- or wall-powered, multifunction device like this costs so little and is abundantly in stock when "game adapters", bridges, and larger multifunction access points ranging from $90 to $200 are sold-out across the board. Anyway, yeah, that's right, I saved $70 getting my XBOX 360 wireless. Eat it, Microsoft! You know where you can stick your overpriced USB WiFi adapter... Yeah... Right there.

Oh yeah, and I rocked Guitar Hero II while I was in Best Buy... I attracted a crowd.

This is... Interesting

The wireless adapter for the XBOX 360 is $129.99. Yeah, $129.99. That's the price of a decent wireless bridge, so I figured that's what it is; a wireless bridge that plugs into the 360's ethernet port. I was mistaken. It is a USB wireless a/b/g adapter. Yeah, $129.99... FOR A USB WIRELESS ADAPTER!?!?!? How about a big 'ol "fuck that!" No, seriously, I could buy one of these for the same price and get more features, or a bridge or an access point for considerably less money... Ugh. Also, I didn't realize that all the good 360 games are going for $70. Right, so, that list in the last post? Let's shorten it a bit: Another wireless controller, Kameo, Enchanted Arms, and I'm considering Perfect Dark Zero.

In other news, I didn't realize that my XBOX 360 came with so much content. Demos for Burnout Revenge, Kameo, and Tomb Raider Legend, as well as both HD and regular videos for various products and such... I was wondering where those 4GB had gone ;)

Finally, I forgot to mention in my last post that the XBOX 360 auction listing my brother bid on was suposed to include the HD-DVD player. The package he received, however, did not. The matter is being explored.

"Have a holly jolly Christmas..."

We do the gift thing on Christmas morning in my family, and by the end of it this year, I thought I'd done pretty well. In terms of video games, I got Bully, Guitar Hero II with the guitar controller, We ♥ Katamari, and Resident Evil 4 (PS2). After spending the rest of the morning playing through the first nine songs of Guitar Hero II co-operatively with my older brother (way too much fun), we all headed off to his place for Christmas dinner. When we got there, he had something in the middle of his living room floor covered with a towel; I asked him about it, and he said it was my Christmas present. It turned-out to be an XBOX 360 Pro Console, Wireless Racing Wheel, Gears Of War Limited Collector's Edition, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, Project Gotham Racing 3, and XBOX Live Arcade Unplugged. He had the winning bid on it at a charity auction. He was outbid on the PS3 package. Yeah. Holy shit.

Playing these games in 1080i (the highest my TV supports) is a thing of beauty, and the 360's presentation as a whole is quite impressive. Everything from the composite/component combo cable to the various software update methods just make sense and made the experience a notably smooth one. I like the idea of user profiles, I appreciate the wireless controller setup, and being able to update my console without connecting to XBOX Live (download the updates on my PC, burn them to a disc) is just a smart move. The backwards compatibility is pretty nice, and seems to run quite well for the most part. I did notice a few issues though, like the choppy movies in Conker: Live & Reloaded, and the apparent inability to save your progress in Soul Calibur II. Most disappointing, however, is the fact that I can't play my original XBOX copies of Burnout Revenge, Crazy Taxi 3, ESPN NFL 2K5, Gunvalkyrie, Jet Set Radio Future, Metal Gear Solid 2, Midnight Club 2 and 3, NBA Street 2, NHL 2K7, Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath, Otogi 1 and 2, OutRun 2, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Project Gotham Racing 1 and 2, ToeJam & Earl III, Top Spin, and The Warriors. That means that my original XBOX is still hooked-up alongside the 360, but now using only standard composite cables because my TV only has two component inputs; one set for my DVD+/-RW/VHS box , and one for my 360. I guess I could use the 360 as my new DVD player though, and use it as the optical device for my 5.1 decoder in the process (also currently hoooked-up to my DVD/VHS combo box)... We'll see what I get around to doing.

Anyway, so now I plan to pick-up a WiFi adapter, another wireless controller, Dead Or Alive 4, Dead Rising, and I'm considering Kameo, Perfect Dark Zero, Table Tennis, Test Drive Unlimited, and Viva Pinata :)

"Gone, gone, gone, she's been gone so long..."

I decided to put that 80GB HDD from the P3 machine to use as a second drive in my secondary machine (2.4GHz P4B). I switched it over to Windows XP a little while back for use as a hard-wired download/burning machine (my main gaming/audio production box is wirelessly connected to the network), and it serves that purpose well. With this new second hard drive, I was able to install Debian (3.1 rev4, 2.6.8 kernel) as a second operating system without messing with partitions 'n such. I opted for GRUB as my bootloader, but while looking into my options, I came across something that some of you may find useful. By keeping Windows in the primary hard drive and using GRUB, I had to write the bootloader to the MBR of the Windows drive; not an issue for my purposes, and much simpler to set-up that way. For those of you who would like to install Linux on a secondary drive without altering the Windows drive significantly, take a look at this article. It outlines how to 'trick' Windows' NTLDR bootloader into detecting the Linux installation. One of the main advantages of this method is easy uninstallation of the Linux system; returning things to a normal Windows-only boot simply requires editing the boot.ini file.

In other news, I found a copy of Super Smash Bros. for N64. Both this game and its sequel have become insanely popular, notably so among some good friends of mine. I, however, never quite understood their fascination, as it seemed like a terribly simplistic fighting game. Sure, it's cool to duke it out with four of your favourite Nintendo characters in themed arenas, but the damage system made no sense to me and the controls consisted of only two attack buttons. Anyway, I bought it, as it's both rare and supposedly a fun party game... I should have known, of course, that it's much deeper than my initial observations suggested. Yes, the damage system is still weird, and yes, there are only two attack buttons, but the fighting system they control is ingenious! Attacks are divided into strong and weak categories, and vary based both on what your character is doing (running, jumping, crouching) and which direction you hold the stick. The combinations are many, the strategy is deeply involved, and the pace is frenetic. Add power-ups and unique character abilities (Samus' charge attacks, Kirby's ability-adapting ability) to the mix, and you've got a highly-rewarding game that is easily approachable to newcomers. Definitely worth a closer look if you missed this one, and the current N64 and GameCube versions are probably good practice for the upcoming Wii iteration of the franchise.

A Blast From The Past!

Remember that Windows 2000 machine I mentioned a few posts back? Well, I was paid more than sufficiently to fix it, only to receive an e-mail from the owner a few days later saying they'd bought two new Athlon 64-based Compaq towers (got a great deal on them through a Best Buy employee discount). I was then requested to transfer the data from the computer I'd just repaired to the new ones. I agreed to help them, and they again insisted on paying me a more than sufficient amount for the services rendered. They were also going to throw-out the Windows 2000 machine, but I said I'd take it. 866MHz Pentium III, 384MB of PC133 RAM, 80GB 7200RPM WD HDD, 24x LG CD-RW, and a 5-port PCI USB 2.0 card were the most notably salvageable components.

I got my new used machine home and went digging through my pile of parts to see what I could do with it. I ended-up adding a DVD-ROM drive, another 64MB of RAM (458MB total), and swapping the 80GB HDD (that'll go in one of my nicer machines) with two 6.5GB drives I had. It's ugly, but it runs well. Anyway, while I was looking for parts, I came across the shell of my old 300MHz Pentium II machine. This box is close to my heart because it's the first computer I ever really played with; tweaking and such. Sure, I started back with my Commodore 128 and had a 386 and a 486 DX2 66 before I got this one, but this P2 was where I started upgrading video cards and RAM, adding more optical drives, flashing the BIOS, and really getting to know the modern Windows environment well. It turned out I had enough parts lying around to rebuild this one as well, so here I am, posting from my old P2-300, Intel AL440LX, 128MB of PC66 RAM, 6.5GB HDD, CD-ROM, 32MB ATi Rage Fury, Sound Blaster Live!, Windows 98SE machine.

The really cool thing was that the last hard drive I'd used in there was still there, and I hadn't touched it in over three years! All the old software, games, bookmarks... Ah... Memories... *sniff* I've since updated it with the latest versions of Firefox, Thunderbird, Winamp 2, and WinRAR, and the latest compatible versions of Java, Adobe Reader, and Quicktime; oh, and three years worth of Windows Updates :) It's a little sluggish to start-up and load programs, but once you're in, it's solid.

Nostalgia rules.

Christmas Shoppers and Lying Friends!

I was at Best Buy last night to pick up a surge protector and some compressed air, and two important things happened. First, I discovered that Best Buy is selling the PC versions of Max Payne and Max Payne 2 for $4.99 CDN and $9.99 CDN respectively. Both Max Payne games for $15? That's a deal. Second, I discovered that Best Buy apparently no longer sells compressed air (luckily, the Wal-Mart next door still did).

One other thing of interest happened while I was in Best Buy though; there was, surprisingly, this attractive female salesperson in the video games section who was helping out another girl and her mother. The customer was asking for a copy of the "World Of Warcraft expansion pack". I overheard and was already headed in their direction, so I mentioned that it hadn't been released yet as I walked by them. At this, the daughter turned towards me and angrily insisted that it was indeed available. Thinking that I had misheard their original conversation, I asked "The Burning Crusade?" and she said yes. I wasn't about to get into anything (she was much larger, and clearly angrier that I was), so I shrugged and turned to walk away. That's when she fired at me with "Then how come all of my friends I play with already have it!?" in an amazingly rude and sarcastic voice. I just said, "Okay," gave the cute salesperson a nod, and walked away. No, it hasn't been released yet; Blizzard is aiming for a January 2007 release.

Oh yeah, I took some time with their display PS3 on my way out. I believe I was playing the Motorstorm demo. It was very pretty.

Christmas Shopping Pirates!

I did some Christmas shopping for a few friends the other day. Tim's getting a TurboTap (expands the number of controller ports from one to five) for his Turbo Grafx 16, and Collin's getting Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Mortal Kombat, and Jurassic Park (all for Genesis). Naturally, I picked-up a few things for myself while I was out. I got The Legend Of Zelda: Oracle Of Ages (GBC) and A Link To The Past (SNES), Wario Land II (GB), Streets Of Rage 3 (Genesis), and Splatterhouse (TG16). The Wario Land II cartridge, however, turned-out to be a pirated copy, so I was able to exchange it for Street Of Rage (Genesis).

Wario Land II first showed signs of trouble when it proved to be a tight fit in my Game Boy Advance SP, and then really had me confused when the title screen appeared and I was apparently playing the Japanese version of the game. This prompted me to examine the label more closely, and, strangely, it read "USA". That was when I noticed the top of the front side of the cartridge only said "GAME" rather than the normal "Nintendo GAME BOY". This was a relatively high-quality pirated copy, and played perfectly, but I'd prefer the real thing.

Score!

I was at a friend's house last night, and I noticed a copy of Yoshi's Story (N64) on the floor by a pile of CDs and DVDs. This was an interesting find because this was the same friend who gave me his Nintendo 64 with Mario Kart 64 as payment for fixing his PowerMac G5-based recording studio rig a little while back. I've seen Yoshi's Story going used for as much as $35 CDN, and the previous game in the series (Yoshi's Island; SNES, GBA) is one of my all-time favourite video games, so this was an exciting event. I asked why he didn't tell me about it back when I got the console from him, and he said he'd just forgotten, but that I could take it with me. Then he remembered that he found a copy of Super Mario 64 in his house the other day, and gave that to me as well :)

In other news, I found a copies of Killer Instinct Gold (N64), Mario Paint (SNES) along with the SNES mouse, and The Legend of Zelda: Oracle Of Seasons (GBC) today.

Oh! Be sure to play through the trial version of Bookworm Adventures Deluxe! Fantastic game!

I think I have a problem :)

Sold an old laptop, fixed a couple of computers, and ended-up with more money than I expected to. This all happened, unfortunately, just before I brought my defective copy of Skies Of Arcadia back for an exchange, and I left the store with a little more than my credit's worth :) I walked out with F-Zero X (N64), F-Zero (SNES), Tetris 2 (SNES), and... SUPER METROID!!! This is an exciting event. Tetris 2 is a fun head-to-head game, F-Zero is classic (but this cart looks to be sketchy; doesn't always work, battery's dead), and F-Zero X is a blast... But SUPER METROID!!! This is easily one of the best games for the SNES, easily one of the best games of the 16-bit era, arguably one of the best games Nintendo has ever made, and by far one of my favourite games ever! It becomes abundantly clear after even just the first ten minutes of gameplay that this one is something special. The attention to detail, the little touches that will immediately feel familiar to fans, the ambience, the narrative, and the fluidity of it all... Not bad for a two-dimensional platformer from 1994.