MOAR LANZ!

Seems to be LAN season at the moments as I will have attended at least 3 LAN's within 3 week(ends) in a row.

At the 1st one we fired up AVP2 (which lasted most of the night :D ).

The last LAN is a student oriented LAN at which I will be adminning game servers (that I installed, patched and configured using Linux dedicated server software) etc.

On another note. It looks like the UT3 Linux release (rumoured to be released soon) won't make it in time for the last LAN unfortunately :(

Now, this begs the question: Before the last LAN, what should I spend money on:

• 2 x Western Digital Scorpio 2.5" 7,200 RPM HDD (for the XPSM1730)
  or
  
• 2 x 1Tb Western Digital HDD's for the server...?

I really should buy myself a Gigabit switch, but HDD space is more important. Apparently :)

Soul Calibur 4 & PSP Tinkering

Soul Calibur 4 has become available and a friend of mine is offering a gathering for some practice before the big weekend of pure Soul Calibur...

On another note, I have managed to make the ulitimate (well, a slightly custom) Despertar del Cementerio (Pandora) Kit with ELF-Menu and... USB support! (think of it kinda like a Live bootable PSP OS :P).

All using homebrew...

Next up, Wii CFW ^_^

No more games for Linux?

As I am now a dedicated Linux user, I am finding it interesting (and annoying) to see a decline in Linux games. For example NWN2 and UT3, both of which were released last year have both previously had Linux versions made, but no more.

Is this because it's easier/cheaper to develop for directx/windows?

If this trend continues, I will never purchase a windows game again and I will continue my gaming shift from PC to console.

Freeloader + SSBB = Awesomeness

I just received my copy of Super Smash Brothers: Brawl from Play Asia and it rocks! (I have played the Japanese version already but now I own my own copy). Hopefully I can practice some more when the real UNI holidays kick in...

Now off to do some SSBB UNI stuff :P

Dusting off the PSP

In a feet of awesomeness (and some help from a fiend), I was able to get 3.52 M33-4 (CFW) on my (Japanese) PSP Last night :)

I'm not sure if this is even worth it because I can't find any decent (working) media players for ogg/flac/vgm/ffmpeg and I want to be able to play my games as iso's but so far, no success.

I am also going to pandora (battery) it, but I would like to wait until I have at least 1 spare battery.

At least I have emulation :)


UPDATE: 26/03/2008 @1307
I found out why some homebrew apps and iso's won't load, I apparently have fake memory sticks that don't properly implement magicgate :(

I'm shelling out $150 for a genuine 8Gb SanDisk (I won't buy anything Sony anymore), I should be able to run just about everything :)

Rock band... rocks. Apparently.

Well, My friend has Rock Band and he says it's really, really, really, really, really awesome.

So I am invited over to his place for simultaneous Rock Band and LAN, but UNI assignments prevent me from going over there :(

Picking up unfinished games

After receiving my (late) Christmas present of Advanced Wars: Days of Ruin, I realised that I haven't even finished the fist one (AW:DS)!

This got me thinking... Why did I stop playing it? but better yet, why shouldn't I pick it back up again?

I'm now playing AW:DS and I will probably finish off, Burnout 3: Takedown (1 more gold medal needed!), Pokémon and some other games that I have effectively "shelved".

I just have to make sure that I don't distract myself from UNI studies too much :P

In what appears to be an attempt to (possibly) minimise FUD, this GameTab article points out that Vivendi (aka Blizzard) are purchasing a significant amount of ActiVision and will be merging with them creating the company name Blizzard Activision (for corporate brnding only).

I for one, welcome the new Blizzard Activision overlords... Well no. I don't :P

I foresee another EA simile, that is going to drive developers away from quality game development and instead towards a kind-of "sweat shop" like setup.

But I could be wrong. I can only hope that they don't become an "EA-like" managed company, although it would be nice to a Diablo-based MMORPG in the near future :)

Wrath of the Lich King Revealed

I really shouldn't but I'm stealing bandwith (78Mb total) to download the trailer for this from 3dgamers :P

The whole destructible buildings concept seems unneeded but hey lets try make another red faction-like game of which these features will probably only be available in instances...

Seems pretty uninteresting but (apart from what I wrote above) I will try to withhold judgement until it comes out as I will inevitably buy^H^H^H pre-order it.

Not only but also, seems like the official wow community site has suffered a slashdot-like effect soon after the anouncement :P

I keep getting "404 Not Found" error every time I try to download it from there:

Not Found

The requested URL /wrath/movies/wrath-trailer/Wrath_Of_The_Lich_King_US.avi-downloader.exe was not found on this server.

lol

WoW Armory Goodness

Well not only have I almost hit level 58, but a friend of mind told me about the awesome but very slllllllllllooooowwwwwww WoW Armory. now I can find some decent weapons and redo my talent spec (Enhancement) all from the official WoW community site :)

I must say that Blizzard must be listening to their customers because this is a such a useful tool that should have been implemented a long time ago.

Apart from WoW I am also considering purchasing an xbox360 but an American (US) one is appealing to me more and more...

I leave you with a list of upcoming games that I think make it worthwhile to buy an xbox360:

1. Soul Calibur 4
   
2. Fallout 3
   
3. Resident Evil 5
   
4. Fable 2
   
5. Halo 3
   
6. XBLA Games
   
7. And many, many more... :P
   

ZOMG SoulCailbur4!!!111!!1

This is probably old news already but I like to post stuff that I find anyways :P
As noted on gametab, Soul Calibur 4 is comming!

I'm a bit sceptical about the Wii spin-off: "Soul Calibur: Legends" but, as a fan of the series I will probably end up buying it anyway :P

If it comes out on the XBOX360, then that will be my ultimate buying decicion for buying the aforementioned console!

I just hope that it's not a Playstation 3 exclusive like Soul Calibur 3 was...

No XBOX360 Elite for Aus?

I have been speaking to my nutter gaming mates about the possibility of a (black) XBOX360 Elite for Australia, however they say that it's an unlikely thing. EB Games (should be burned down and the company dissolved) have said that there will be a limited run and they also state that it will come will all the normal elite goodness but will also have an inbuilt HD DVD dive.

Are EB telling the truth? or do I just prey that they do come out. Perhaps I should talk the friendly and knowledgeable people at Games Traders to verify whats happening with this awesome sounding console.

I really want to start playing Guitar Hero II but mostly I can't wait to get Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80's!

EzyDVD starts EzyGames

Through the regular spam^H^H^H^H email that they send me each month, I just discovered today that the DVD franchise known as EzyDVD now has en eStore for video games as well!

Unlike Games Warehouse, EzyGames - like EzyDVD - will ship within Australia for free!!!

Now I am wondering if I should write to Games Warehouse and see if they will compete by offering the same shipping...

ZOMG!!1!1 Pokemon is here!

Pokemon Diamond and Pearl is here!!!

Like a good book, I'm finding it really hard to put it down :P
Anyways, not time to blog right now, gotta go catch 'em all...

BURNOUT 2! PERFECT!!!!

My absolutely fastastically awesome friend, managed to get me the long awaited and missing part of my (Acclaim) Burnout/Burnout 2 set!!!

Now I own every English copy of Burnout and Burnout 2 that was ever released!!!

Now I have to consider whether it's worth extending my set to allow for the newer (EA based) Burnout titles such as Burnout 3, Burnout Revenge, Burnout Dominator and (eventually) Burnout 5....

Importance of Video (and Computer) Games

How often do you find yourself longing to play a particular game only to have other affairs interfere with your ability to be able to (at least) play? Does this affect emotional status and/or mental alertness?

I find that it does. Too many times I am pulled away from games like WoW (and allot of computerized puzzle games) only to find my mood to be that of a disgruntled/depressed/grumpy/negative nature. Which people around me generally don't like.

As a friend of mine pointed out; It is similar to the likes of denying an elderly person from trying to watch their favorite TV show...

This is also one of the reasons that I loose sleep. I am sometimes forced to play games during hours that conflict with normal everyday life, such as staying awake until 0300h just so that I can get the (uninterrupted) playtime that keeps my mood in balance and my mental alertness at it's peak, however a lack of sleep contradicts this entirely!

There is considerable study showing that Video Games are not only an important aspect of entertainment^[1], but can also be an automatic (subconscious) learning experience^[2]

So how does one go about trying to fit more game-hours into one's life, without sacrificing too much (eg. sleep, work etc)?

References:


1. 2006, BAFTA, Video Games are as Important as Film and Television: Video Games Awards become BAFTA’s ‘third arm’ [PDF]



2. L. Bedigian (2006). Professor James Paul Gee shows the world the importance of video games. [HTML]

Draino's Networking and Tech: Dead XBOX HDD???

Draino's Networking and Tech: Dead XBOX HDD???

Laziness prevents me from re-posting the above linked article here :P

R.I.P. Lik-Sang

This is old news but I'm posting it because it should be known EVERYWHERE!.

Multiple games sites have reported that Lik-Sang have ceased business and are closing down after receiving lawsuits from Sony EU (SCEE) possibly due to lack of potential future Sony sales.

This is a classic example of Sony's poor customer attitude.
I however have decided to boycott purchasing ANY Sony product from now on.

More details here, here and here

P.I.P Lik-Sang. You will be missed by many gamers.