Upgrade

My third XT720 started sapping batteries and stopped connecting to the mobile network... Awesome. After trying my provider's third-party vendor, corporate store, head office, and warranty replacement centre, they finally let me upgrade to a Nexus S... It's pretty :)

I played through Uncharted last week, and it was fun, but nothing earth-shattering. The story got a little silly, the cover system was frustrating, the gunplay was kinda boring, and the jumping controls were too loose... Not exactly fantastic in a game primarily comprised of cover-based shooting and jumping puzzles. I did enjoy the dialogue though. Anyway, I'm well into Uncharted 2 now, and while the camera and scripted events are hugely improved and supremely impressive, the rest of the game feels about the same... Naughty Dog may have peaked at the first Jak and Daxter game.

Back On The Scene

New acquisitions:

• 50 Cent: Blood On The Sand (360)
• Metroid: Other M (Wii)
• Need For Speed: Nitro (Wii)
• Chronicles Of Pern: Dragon Riders (DC)
• Mortal Kombat Mythologies: Sub-Zero (PS)
• Pandemonium! (PS)
• Dragon Slayer: The Legend of Heroes (TGCD)
• Dark Seed (PC)
• Starship Titanic (PC)

I've only had time to sit down with Legend Of Heroes, Mortal Kombat Mythologies, Need For Speed, and Pandemonium! so far, and while I'm pretty happy with all of them, there're different reasons behind each...

Dragon Slayer: Legend Of Heroes seems to be a pretty straightforward Japanese RPG from Falcom, and their Ys series has me on a bit of a Falcom kick. Considering that Trails In the Sky (the sixth Legend Of Heroes game) was just released in North America for PSP, I thought I'd look into its roots with the only other English release in the series; it was a nice surprise to discover that Faxanadu (NES) and Sorcerian (PC) are also part of the Dragon Slayer series... Yeah, there're over 25 games if you count all of the sub-series :) Ooh, and I noticed an allusion to the 1984 Bruce Cockburn song "Lovers In A Dangerous Time" in Legend Of Heroes! So the pop-culture references of the recent Falcom translations (e.g lyrics from Hall and Oates' "Maneater" in one of the PSP Ys games) is apparently a bit of a tradition...

Anyway, Mortal Kombat Mythologies is friggin' hard. Interesting game with some really fun sequences, but jumping puzzles and limited lives 'n continues were a very bad idea.

Need For Speed: Nitro is fun, and so far totally worth the $8 I spent on it.

Pandemonium! is just as awesome as I remembered; fantastic platformer.

Death

Been busy; released a new CD with my band; that was prolly the biggest time sink.

Anyway, I've finished Ys I & II Chronicles. It was great fun; reminiscent of Half-Minute Hero, which, I guess, is therefore reminiscent of Ys Book I & II ;) That brings me up to speed on the English releases of the Ys series... And I want more. Here's hoping someone ports and translates Ys IV and V soon!

My 360 RROD'd... Gonna buy a new one; might splurge and get the Kinect bundle in anticipation of Double Fine's new Sesame Street game. Was almost done Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood when it went.

Seriously considering tracking-down an iPad to play Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP.

Explored m0n0wall and pfSense as router solutions at work.

What else is new... Stumbled across a copy of Guardian Heroes for SEGA Saturn, but the owner of the shop didn't want to sell it to me because it was in such poor condition.

Oh! I'm on my third XT720 and second SIM card; all under warranty... I still dig the phone, especially considering what I paid for it.

QA

So the free first episode of the Back To The Future game will only let me play once before the "Play" button stops working... I have to reinstall the game to play again. This issue has been discussed on TellTale's forums, and the best solution seems to be running the game in compatibility mode for Windows XP... Yeah, a game that was released in 2011 needs to be run in way to maximise its compatibility with an operating system from 2001.

I downloaded the Crysis 2 demo and was prompted to make an account in order to play; this process is apparently powered by GameSpy, which should be totally awesome because I already have a GameSpy account. Unfortunately, the game doesn't recognise my GameSpy account, and won't let me make a new account because my e-mail address is already associated with my GameSpy account...Wheee!!!

On a more positive note, Ys I & II Chronicles on PSP is fantastic!

So Busy

I've been absolutely swamped lately... Mostly with sysadmin work (we're quickly outgrowing our current infrastructure here) and recording sessions with one of my bands.

I did, however, manage to clean-up the following computers:

• Inspiron 1150 (sound and USB don't work... Click the link... No, seriously) for a friend so she could do Photoshop work while her main laptop is in repair.
• Inspiron 8600 (1.5GHz Pentium M, 1.2GB DDR333, GeForce FX Go5200) that I got for free.
• A killer custom desktop: ASUS P5K-E/WiFi-AP, Core 2 Duo E6750, 2GB 800MHz DDR2, 320MB BFG GeForce 8800 GTS OC; three SATA hard drives totaling 800GB; a sweet Lian-Li mid-tower chassis. This one was also free; not sure what to install on it though... Seems like a good opportunity to revisit Linux or BSD.

Oh, and I'm on the last battle in Ys III, which is good because Ys I&II ships today :)

Kinected

Looks like I'm getting a Kinect... Damn you, Tim Schafer.

Anyway, I'm about half-way through Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, and it's amazing, and overwhelming, and holy crap.

REAL

Having a nice little conversation with a supposed former 3DO employee right over here.

Oooh, I like it when they squeal!

I finished Epic Mickey last night... It's a good game, and I might even play through it again some day to see everything I missed, but it's just disappointing to see so much potential wasted.

Fans of Disney, 3D platformers, and exploration will find a lot to like there, and the game does tell one of the best Mickey Mouse stories I've seen since Runaway Brain, but there's also a lot to criticise in terms of gameplay design and consistency.

It's sad to see so many elements done right, only to be slapped together into a lacklustre final product.

Anyway, on to Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood...

Mindless?

I keep reading about how much mindless fun Bulletstorm is... Mindless? Really? The demo presented something more akin to a combination of The Club and MadWorld than a DOOM clone like Painkiller (Bulletstorm's predecessor) or Serious Sam... Or Will Rock ;) The latter games are mindless; the only real strategy there comes in the form of surviving vast hordes of enemies by employing twitch reflexes and simple resource management. Games like The Club, MadWorld, and presumably Bulletstorm are more about creatively stringing-together fast-paced and original combos while being keenly aware of your environment and how you interact with it.

Anyway, the Bulletstorm demo was a lot of fun, Killzone 3 is very pretty, and Epic Mickey is almost done... I can't say I'm really stoked about any of them though.

Christmas II

Stacking comes out this week... Which reminds me that I forgot to mention playing through Costume Quest: Grubbins On Ice over Christmas! It was wonderful! Stoked for Stacking!

Speaking of Christmas I finally got an OtterBox for my XT720 as well as Ninja Golf for my 7800... Yeah, both had to be imported from the States, and it took about a month longer than expected.

Wait, what? Oh, yeah, I did say Ninja Golf... A BRAND-NEW, SEALED COPY OF NINJA GOLF!!!

Gee, thanks...

Remember this computer? That client contacted me the other day looking to upgrade. We went with 64-bit Windows 7 Home Premium and a 60GB OCZ Vertex 2 SSD; the two Raptors became a RAID 0 scratch disk.

All was working beautifully until he plugged-in his LaCie 526; Windows wouldn't let him set it above 1280x720. Restarting, installing LaCie's monitor drivers, and even forcing the native resolution wouldn't work... I had him double-check every driver, setting, and OSD option, but we couldn't figure it out. I suspected Windows was treating the monitor as a TV, and instructed him to check the EDID setting while I was on the phone with him, but he couldn't find it.

I had him contact LaCie, and they promptly responded with a horribly written e-mail instructing him to contact Microsoft and download some nondescript patch for Windows 7 (yeah, just "download a patch to fix the issue") and let them know if he found a solution.

So I did some more reading and noticed that the EDID setting only appears if the monitor is receiving a digital signal. Since the client couldn't find the setting, I'm guessing the monitor was defaulting to DVI-A. I had him force it to DVI-D in the OSD, the EDID setting appeared, and when he changed it appropriately, Windows allowed the monitor's native 1920x1200 resolution.

LaCie should've been aware of such a possibility, especially for a customer who bought a $1500+ monitor.

Ys, Ys, Ys... And a Birthday

Ys VI is pretty good, but is a definite step backward in just about every regard after playing Ys Seven... And it really shows how little work Konami put into the PSP port when immediately followed by Ys III; it's easy to forget that they're running on the same engine! Ys III is very slick, and the gameplay mechanics keep things moving briskly. I don't think I've ever played an action RPG so fast-paced... I like it. A lot.

I bought a copy of the Sonic Adventure 2 Birthday Pack for Dreamcast, today... It's a pretty sweet package, plus I didn't own a copy of Sonic Adventure 2.

Oh, and the Bulletstorm demo's been sitting on my PS3 (Silver XBL at the moment) since it came out... No time to play :(

Not the band...

I scored a complete copy of Dragon Force for Saturn (well, the warranty card and foam insert are missing) for $100. While I've long been aware of it as one of the more sought-after games for that console, the game never really appealed to me; I've rarely made the time to explore real-time strategy titles outside of the Shining Force series and Blizzard's entries in the genre. Upon starting Dragon Force with minimal preparation, I quickly discovered it isn't a traditional strategy game. There's this interesting hybridisation of slow-moving kingdom politics and super-fast-paced RTS battles. After about ten successful skirmishes and a handful of set-pieces, I decided that I should probably read the relatively thick game manual and start over... And I'm really looking forward to it :)

Oh, and I finished God Of War: Ghost Of Sparta and I'm at the final battle in Ys VI; both are solid titles and worth your time. Ventureland in Epic Mickey was lots of fun, but it's still only a shining moment in an otherwise disappointing game.

Almost done...

Picked-up 3D Dot Game Heroes, Flower, Noby Noby Boy, WipEout HD, and Yakuza 3 for PS3; can't think of many more that I'm itching to grab.

As for the general PS3 gaming experience so far, Flower is sublime, God Of War III is exactly what I expected (gorgeous, entertaining, and kinda pointless), the MotorStorm games are great fun, Noby Noby Boy is oddly endearing, and Uncharted is really engaging albeit rough around the edges (I hear the sequel fixes a lot of that).

I snagged a few demos as well: Hot Shots Golf: Out Of Bounds is solid, The Killzone 2 demo is nothing special, and the PixelJunk games were huge disappointments (I was really looking forward to Eden and Shooter).

I haven't done a proper tally yet, but the selection of PS3-exclusive titles feels kinda weak for a current-generation system; the XBOX 360 and the Wii really seem to be a step ahead. Don't get me wrong though; the PS3 is still an impressive console and worth owning, especially if you don't have a 360 ;)

Reflow

PS3 is fixed... Was still full of dust, even after the blasting I initially administered. Lessons learned: Open your PS3 when cleaning it, and become familiar with cooling-system activity.

$80 and an hour wait for a cleaning and reflow with a 60-day warranty seems reasonable.

I hope this lasts.

YLOD

For context, I spent a good five minutes or so blasting the system with compressed air before I even plugged it in last week, and I keep the console (like all of my consoles) on a hard surface in a well-ventilated area; I have a launch 360 in the same unit.

Anyway, I updated to 3.55, dissociated the console from previous owner's PSN account, formatted the HDD, registered on PSN, downloaded and installed some demos, streamed some TV, played a bunch of Uncharted, then YLOD... I'm guessing it didn't like that much continuous use :( When I unhooked everything to have a closer look, the system had literally coughed-up some massive dust bunnies while the fan was going; I had to tweeze them out through the vents. I removed the hard drive to see if it was at the root of issue (apparently HDD errors can also cause YLODs), but it won't even boot to the 'no hard drive' error screen... And my Uncharted disc is still in there.

I'm gonna take the thing to a particular local shop 'cause they have one of these; they supposedly charge ~$80. There're DIY fixes, but this isn't one I want to fuck around with.

Otherwise, it was a pretty swell week otherwise; Flower is a sublime game!

Library

Found each of the following PS3 titles (not "Greatest Hits") for under $20...

• Folklore
• Heavenly Sword
• inFamous
• Lair
• Motorstorm
• Ratchet & Clank Future: A Crack in Time
• Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction
• Uncharted

My PS3 blacklog is probably about on par with that of every other console I own :)

I also happened upon copies of Full Throttle (PC) and Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story (Jaguar).

URNot(red)E

Got the 60GB hardware-backward-compatible PS3 with two SIXAXIS controllers, a Wireless Keypad, two charging cables, and the following games:

• Assassin's Creed II
• Bionic Commando*
• Bioshock
• Bioshock 2
• Buzz! Quiz World (with four buzzers)
• Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
• Dark Void*
• Demon's Souls*
• Dragon Age: Origins
• God Of War Collection
• God Of War III
• Golden Axe: Beast Rider*
• Grand Theft Auto IV
• Heavy Rain
• LittleBigPlanet
• ModNation Racers
• Mortal Kombat vs. DC Universe
• Motorstorm: Pacific Rift
• The Orange Box
• Red Dead Redemption
• Street Fighter IV
• Unreal Tournament III

(* = factory sealed)

I'll be flipping most of the games since I either already have them on another platform, would rather play them on Windows, or have little interest in keeping them... Demon Souls, the God Of War games, Heavy Rain, LittleBigPlanet, ModNation Racers, MotorStorm, and Red Dead Redemption will likely be the only ones to make the cut.

I'd like to remove the system from the previous owner's PSN account before reformatting, but I can't connect to PSN unless I install the 3.55 system update (3.50 is currently installed). I'm hesitant to install the update after hearing all the horror stories about it neutering the optical drive and causing instabilities with previously-installed software... I'd hate to have to pay an extra $100+ just to get a refurbished model that lacks the hardware for which I specifically bought this model :(

Once again, not quite a month :)

So, Epic Mickey... I was talking about how the freedom of choice between countless solutions to the challenges of each area is overwhelming, and when the quests and platforming sections are good, oh man are they ever good! Unfortunately, the quests and platforming sections aren't always good... Actually, they're often downright boring and uninspired. Seriously, a lot of the content seems like it was just phoned-in, and has made me consider quitting the game altogether on more than one occasion. What keeps me going are the hints at something interesting down the line; those moments when everything just clicks and the bigger picture comes into focus pique my curiosity, and I end-up playing for another hour... At which point I've again grown tired of the vapid fetch quests and half-baked jumping puzzles and corridors.

I'm still not done Ys 6, though I am about to begin the endgame, point-of-no-return section. Y'see, my PSP's been somewhat neglected since I picked-up my new smartphone ;) It's a Motorola XT720 running Android 2.1, and while it's not exactly top-of-the-line or bleeding-edge stuff, it's still awfully swell.

On a bittersweet note, after nearly eight impressive years, my trusty Athlon XP 3200+ system is finally being retired (i.e. my parents are getting it, albeit somewhat stripped-down from its former glory), and I've built something new out of a fine selection of free parts... The result?

• Athlon 64 3500+
  
• ASUS A8V Deluxe
  
• 3GB DDR400 RAM (dual channel)
  
• 512MB AGP8X Radeon X1950 Pro
  
• SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS
  
• 80GB + 320GB SATA HDDs
  
• DVD+/-RW
  
• DVD-ROM
  
• Windows XP Pro x64
  

...And it's all in a slick-looking Cooler Master Centurion case!

One last thing: Looks like I'm getting a hardware-backwards-compatible 60GB PS3 with ~20 games from a buddy of mine! Sweet :)

Not quite a month...

Sorry for my recent absence... Work, music, and a particularly nice girl all contributed.

I did find the time to make all kinds of progress in Ys 6, and while it's been a lot of fun, I can't wait to finish it and get into Ys 3; same engine, but supremely optimised with a properly fleshed-out narrative... Mmm. Ghost Of Sparta'll fit in there somewhere, I'm sure.

I also tracked-down a copy of and got started on Fragile Dreams on Wii, and man, is that a ever a beautiful and lonely game! I'd've spent much more time with it if I hadn't gotten a sweet deal on a new copy of Epic Mickey :) Basically, I paid a premium to get the latter title new, so I'm gonna make sure I get my money's worth and play it ASAP. Anyway, I'm a few hours in, and I'm loving it! Yeah, Epic Mickey's reminiscent of the oversaturated third-person mascot-driven platformer genre from previous console generations, but it's just so slick; great graphics, tight controls, a neat gimmick (create the world around you with paint, or destroy it with paint-thinner), and a genuinely interesting take on familiar characters. The cutscenes feel out of place, the camera can be mildly frustrating at times, and there are secret warps that can make following the narrative feel very stilted, but all of that good and bad isn't what's really important.

So yeah, we have a nostalgic 3D platformer that may seem a little rough around the edges... Who cares? Well, you should. It's old news that Warren Spector (Deus Ex) headed-up the development of this game, we've known about the infusion of his trademark branching, morality-based gameplay almost since the project was first announced, and the game certainly looks dark and foreboding, but only once you begin to experience the repercussions of your many actions will you understand the feeling I'm about to describe. Every area has numerous solutions, and they're not all black and white decisions between good and bad. Sure, you can play the game with a focus on altruism and paint, or be more self-serving and paint-thinner your way through the world, but there are also a lot of gray-area alternatives and seemingly extraneous paths throughout, and that's where things get interesting. Here's an example: I had already solved an area in various ways, and noticed a couple of gears I hadn't seen before. The gears were clearly susceptible to my paint-thinner, so I erased one, and then the other, and then something broke and a gremlin I had befriended earlier started yelling at me. Apparently, I had just undone all of the hard work he'd performed for me behind the scenes. I promptly re-painted the gears, but it was too late; the damage had been done, and there was no going back! I was just being irresponsible with my destructive powers, and the game surprised me with real repercussions. I honestly felt kinda bad! What's great about Epic Mickey is that these situations become more morally challenging and complex as the game progresses. I'm nowhere near the end yet, and I really can't wait to see what's next :)

Oh, and Shank got really repetitive as I slogged through it... I'll finish it some day.

As for work, blah! Bandwidth issues (looking into fancy multi-WAN routers), planning for a new server and server software, moving our main database offsite and migrating to a remote client setup, planning a major anti-virus upgrade after our previous solution started taking-down computers with 40GB (or smaller) hard drives, re-imaging computer labs over the holidays, updating and expanding our BlackBerry server, and much, much more. I need a real vacation.