Battery Life

Battery life is always the bugbear of handhelds. Too often gaming is cut short because the battery has died.
One of the main reservations I have about buying an iPhone is the battery life. If it’s anything like the Touch I’ll be charging the thing every day, which is just crap.
The DS however has amazing battery life, lasting very long trips without batting an eye. Why? Why is it so much better?
Also the X-Box 360 has batteries for it’s controllers, what is the opinion on the battery life there?
Is it a ploy by Microsoft to try and get you to buy the charging stations?
The PS3 controllers don’t have any batteries, relying instead on a cable that plugs directly into the PS3.
I think that’s a better system?!
Hopefully Apple’s boffins are beavering feverishly away in the background and improve the battery life when the next iPhone comes out.
Here’s hoping.

Don’t forget about the awesomeness of Zero Punctuation!

I hadn’t watch one of these in a while. Freakin brilliant!!!

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Why Wii?

I recently saw some adverts, can’t remember whether they were TV or print, that were giving away a Nintendo Wii with a Full HD TV?

Why? What’s there reasoning? A non-HD console (or at least the lowest def console) with a full HD TV? Just doesn’t make sense!

Are Nintendo Wii’s cheap at the moment? Do they have surplus?

Why not a PS3 Slim or an Arcade 360?

I’m not knocking the Wii, it’s a very cool console, but why with an HD Tv?

Graphics plateau?

It’s usually at about this time in the console life cycles (4-5 years in) that the PC begins to pull ahead with raw power, and we start seeing noticeably superior games (graphically). Moore’s Law is still in effect, but being able to see large graphical improvements in games is getting harder to discern. There is usually always one developer who steps up with an amazing looking game on the PC, even if it’s only for bragging rights, but at this stage the two year old Crysis still holds the crown and there is not much else in the pipeline except maybe Rage, Project Offset, and S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat, although from the trailers I’ve seen none of these look better than Crysis.

This raises some questions. Have we reached a plateau with graphics? Is what we have “good enough”? If the PC is a barometer of where graphics are heading, as it has been in the past, then things are definitely slowing down. There is a case of diminishing returns as you get closer to photo realism and you don’t need any more power to make the side of a building or a race car track look more realistic than they do now on current technology. But surely there is still a long way to go with animations and rendering people? and physics could still be greatly improved. Maybe it’s just another indicator that the PC is a shadow of it’s former self as a major games platform?

Intel are hoping that their new Larrabee graphics cards will revitalise the market but unless they are blindingly fast and developers get on board with them they will only add to the problem because they have a different architecture to current GPUs which will mean more development costs when making games for them.

I hope we haven’t already had all the great leaps forward in visual fidelity and further improvements prove to be only incremental. I still want to be blown away. I guess we’ll have to wait for the next-gen of consoles to find out how significant the improvements can be.

FAT is the new s l i m

From DS Fat -> DS Lite -> DSi -> DSi XL - Nintendo have put the beef back on!

Just a quick post. There’s been a lot of talk on the interwebs about the new DSi LL to be known as the DSi XL in the West. And yes, that XL stands for Extra Large. When everybody else from Sony to Apple is obsessed with making everything smaller and smaller Nintendo thinks it’s time to buck that trend and are bringing out a ginourmous new DSi. Comparison images and video here…

One thing I would say is that I would find my iPod Touch much more usable with a slightly larger screen but I would want a significant jump up in resolution to go with it. The pixels must be HUGE on the DSi XL which isn’t seeing any such jump in resolution! However I think the reasoning is sound here and that is that this version of the DSi is aimed at an aging gamer market and this is just another example of Nintendo trying to extend their reach into the untapped partially sighted grandparents market lol I have another name for it – DSi Large Print Edition! 😀

A sign of things to come…

…or just a blip on the radar? A while ago I wrote a few posts about topsy turvy console sales in Japan where, in a very rare state of affairs, the Xbox 360, then the PS3 AND the PSP took it upon themselves to dominate Wii sales albeit for a very very short time. @SpawnSeekSlay said “Call me when this happens in the USA LOLWTFBBQs” 😉

He was right, this was a Japan only trend at the time and a short lived one at that but now it’s happened again, in the US and also in Austrailia. The PS3 outsold BOTH the Wii and the 360 in the US during the launch month of the PS3 “Slim”. And it did this at a time when both the competition also had price cuts. It has also been (to my surprise) the top seller in Australia recently?!

Seeing as all three consoles saw a price drop but the competition still didn’t move the same number of units as Sony could this now indicate more than a short term boost and lead onto Sony finally start closing the sales gap? Who knows and only time will tell.

I think it’s slightly more than just a blip on the radar but I don’t think they’ll ever overtake the Wii or even the Xbox anytime soon but one things for sure, Sony have had a few very good exclusives out this year with more to come in the New Year and that’s surely helping things along. This year we’ve seen several PS3 exclusives released to great critical acclaim. We’ve had InFamous, Killzone 2, Demon’s Souls, Uncharted 2 and the New Ratchet & Clank all released in 2009 and all score 90% or above at IGN. Then there’s Gran Turismo 5, MAG, Heavy Rain, White Knight Chronicles (massively updated from the initial Japanese release), God of War III and The Last Guardian yet to prove themselves next year. If ever there was a time for Sony to start picking up the pace it’s surely going to be on the back of a list of exclusives like that!

Sony PS3 ads FTW!!

I love the new Sony PS3 Slim commercials. Like the Apple ads they’re funny enough for me to actually want to go go out of my way to watch ’em as they’re generally quite entertaining. OK, some are more win than others but they’re a hell of an improvement on previous efforts in that they actually tell you something about what the PS3 does and in a humorous way that’s a lot less abstrat than previous efforts. Here’s links to all the ones I could find on YouTube. It all started here with this one regarding the price drop…

PS3 $299:

What’s wrong with him?:

Uncharted 2:

Weapons:

Epic:

Jenny:

Which Borderlands Class Are You?

Well this will be my first official game buy for the PS3 excluding the PS3 itself and whatever is bundled with it.
Now ive been watching alll the trailers and caught the review but I still didnt really know what the characters and classes were…. so I looked them up!
Heres a link to a nice little review of the classes in short terms! And good for me because the reviewer often compared them to World of Warcraft classes lol

Now the discussion on who should play who, doesnt really matter because you can play anyone but initially i think its important to start the class you should specialize in to level up throughout primarily and master it.
My opinion is based on looking at all 4 of our playing styles, or from what ive seen of you all, and on the fact that Guido and I (and ross?) will be playing 2 player Co-op often.
Since its a FPS and plays like an RPG it would make sense to play it like how you manage combinations in Warcraft. If you have a Tank and a Healer then your set to handle any obstacle… so thats where I see me and Guido… With BRICK the Berserker (TANK) and ROLAND the combat soldier (OFF/DEF/HEALER)… and since Im more of a Run-and-Gun playstyle the berserker aka shock trooper maybe destined for me (im less likely to die with more HP and shields lol), and Ham could be the Paladin type jack of all trades with solid offense, defence and healing powers…. lol now that im writing this I wanna play the paladin lol WAAAH!!
The other 2 are the damage causers or in Warcraft we call them the DPS (damage per second). MORDEKAI the sniper may suit RealmEnder, because in GoW he was a good sniper (but not as good as me of course lol) and he gets flustered when getting ganked so would be good to keep him at the distance doing the uber headshots.. plus he wears spandex gimp gear so theres another reason why blair may suit him lol jk. That leaves LILITH the thief style character, with her wicked invisibility special talent (that does damaging shockwave to all enemies when entering or exiting invis!!) and if u gank an enemy from behind while invis u do 3-4x more damage… Rogues where certainly the best characters to have in PvP and most annoying when fighting them! SO Roscopct would suit the little inconspicuous invis assassin character that can run in and out of combat at will and turn invis to gank an enemy from behind (especially if its on me… kill stealer rosco lol) or turn invis and do the bolt towards Roland to heal or get protection behind his magic super turret…
If you want to have a look at the skill trees from each character from Borderlands check this, Its similar to WoW.
Anyway what does everyone think?
I wanna play them all! Its just floating ideas/opinions so if u dont wanna play as someone I will, happy to swap! lol

BETA Shopping List (this list is beta as! beware of glitching)

Well what better way to do a shopping list of all the gaming tech (so I dont forget) than to blogify it!
It will be impossible for me to make a list with any sort of chronological style because unlike the pre-order king guido, I wait for the deals and impulse buy…
Well here goes my Pre-Xmas/Xmas/Boxing Day/New Year and beyond beta as list of things I need!! (not want but neeeeed!! to fuel the appetite!)

Brain Power!

Spawns New Alpha Brain!

Well my first purchase is a better Brain CPU/Mega Fan Combo to handle these purchases and the gaming ahead, the current setup is so beta it cant even handle NobyNobyBoy gameplay… fuck!? how is it going to handle Borderlands? Modern Warfare2? jeez the brain is flipping out already at the thought of the brain system resources required to handle it!! BSOD/Faint anyone?! So Ill soon welcome you to Spawns New Alpha Brain v1.0 (Ex-Beta)! 50% better brain processor speed, double the RAM and a Duel fan system upgrade for half price! deal!

PS3!

2 Down - 1 to go - PS3 coming!

Well with some great deals out at the moment and I bet more coming for xmas Im sure ill end up with one before xmas, before i even have a 1080p TV to play it on… fuckn beta as! but oh well gotta get the deal when the deals on! Maybe there will be a TV unbeatable sale before xmas, but usually better after? in NY? or have I got this wrong? fuckn brain processor is glitching as we speak, Hard drive headache going nutz and eyeball system has stopped/frozen… thank fuck for the upgrade coming… this is bullshit!!

TV!

Probably nearly have it all already!! lol

Have the Bachelors wicked entertainment couch!! but i just feel like I need something else??? Well what more do I need? How about a TV capable of keep up with my new brain capabilities! Dont need some piece of beta shite blowing a pixel on the final boss just because it cant keep up with my 24inch python arms and ripping abs (fuck ive been listening to Brucie on GTA4 waaaay too much!!). Rightie hoe this large investment is giving me the shits! ok literally i think i need to go for a shit… ok back… where was I? oh yeah.. fuck big questions here. Do i go Sony? Samsung? Panasonic? does it really matter?, Do i go LCD? Plasma? LED? once again does it really matter?, What amount is good to spend but not stupid? $4000 overdoing it? And whens the best time to wait to get the best deal? prexmas? boxing day? NY sales? After the NY?… At the moment im liking the look of the Samsung, but think i should go Sony because most of my entertainment is Sony… but im going new and fresh here so that doesnt matter, but am getting a PS3 so could use the bravia sync on it.. or probably never use the option really lol. Am going 46inch at this stage, 1080p obviously, 100hz minimum (most newish ones are, newer are 200hz), Was thinking plasma due to the better contrast ratio, I feel it gives a richer picture of highlights and shadows in the picture, LCDs can look bland on colour, but less problems/risk with them? and less power comsumption. Ok I better stop before my brain literally goes BSOD/RROD/YLOD! What do you guys think?

iTouch!

I will finally join the FNG group who touch themselves way too much!

Well as the caption says Ill finally be joining you all with this new toy… will be getting the 3rd generation version… but as far as I know the 8gb doesnt have the 50% faster processor… anyone know? And with no 16gb Ill have to take the step up to the 32gb id say. If this is the case I wont be buying one immediately unless a Hong Kong friend can get one cheaper but they seem the same price worldwide.. damn Apple! So with a Ps3 coming, a new TV coming that will literally rip my wallet a new asshole I think the Touch will be pushed back a bit… Oh well will be left out again as will just be taking the DS camping again this year when u all are Touching lol

Games & Accessories

Ill be safe @ home now when playing crazy fuckn americans in Borderlands! Im ready for u you fuckn sugared up yankie 12yr old muther f*ckrs!!

Im so getting one of these vests! I can see myself on my couch.. 3metres away from my 46″ Screen playing a FPS multiplayer! Im so going to PWN some ass wearing this.. I maybe fuckin ‘beta as’ in FPS online multiplayer but shit ill look the fuckin business doing it!!
Well havent talked about games yet? jesus this is a gaming site, did you really think id be leaving that out? My god where to start!?!?! Well 360 is going to be my RPG console at the moment (excluding Gears of War, exclusives and random bargain bin games), have still got both Condemned 1 and 2 to go, and just ordered Star Ocean. Others that will be certain will be Dragon Age:Origins (getting way too hyped for this!!) and Mass Effect 2… and I dont really wanna think about anything else as yet as that will take me awhile to finish them up inbetween PS3 bits n bobs. Onto PS3… this will be my FPS console of choice… Borderlands will be a certainty in the NY!, MW2 will be too but most likely pre-owned id say, 6-8hr campaign + MP isnt worth $150!. And well Guido has enough games that ill never catch up, and the thought sickens me lol, May get Fallout3 GOTY, and may get Dragon Age:Origins on PS3 if it truely is epic! oh and i have to platinum WipeOutHD if its the last thing i do on this planet, that mutherf*cken game is going DOWN!! Man i do feel like Steroid junkie Brucie from GTA4 lol Listening to Metallica at the moment probably isnt helping with my anger management either lmao.

Well that completes the BETA As Shopping List.. more to come probably in Beta v1.1 patch update!

Patch v1.1 Update
Well as i said its beta as, yes there is a patch within 24 hours of release of the post… not much different to alot of the games out there, or the ps3 😛
Ok so other NEEDS:
1) Internet connection… with who? have to find out whos best in Brighton area. Heard Telecom no good there?
2)Wireless Modem/Router… will just go the G type, no point of N?? Any brand better than any other?
3) Headset and clipon keypad… well sony have pulled a microsoft here with there pricing thats for sure… $70 each? lol May just keep the bluetooth headset I got with my UK phone.. if i can find it, its in a box… somewhere.

Wow nearly 1200 words in this post… must have been on the Red Bulls last night!

I am the Noby Noby Boy™ master! :-D

I finally got all the trophies in Noby Noby Boy™ tonight! I had to look some of them up because there was NO way you would even fluke some of them. For example you get one for uploading a length of precisely 765m?!? Usually you upload something in the thousands so you could say you have a one in several thousand chance of hitting that number except that you don’t normally bother to upload such a piddly amount. Another one required you to eat precisely and ONLY the letters NOBY NOBY BOY in the in-game user manual?! One additional letter before or after and you don’t get the trophy. I love the fact that you can EAT the user manual!!

I also got a trophy for making my head smaller than my arse lol I used the inbuilt youtube uploading feature so you can see how rediculous this looks!!

I also discovered that you can take screen shots in game. I wish every game had this feature! Some do but not enough although it’s getting more common. Here’s one that shows you that Noby Noby Boy™ isn’t all about Nobs lol Check out the tits on that chick! They’re huge and yes, Noby Noby Boy™ has jiggle physics!! LOL

Team Ninja would be proud!