My main computer tower's motherboard got fried recently and as such I'm out a tower. I figure this is as good a time as any to start reviewing all the new toys I've gotten to upgrade an old tower until I decide to commit to buildling a new intel i7 tower. I'll put up reviews of some of the new electronics and parts I've gotten:
1) WD's 1TB Caviar Black Harddrive.
-while the new rage is green tech that saves on power and noise, I decided to put a caviar black in there as its a little bit faster and currently I'm not too concerned with the power difference. If I ever raid a few 1tb's together i may consider it, but considering how bad software raid is sometimes i've decided just to throw in one for now.
2) WD My Book 2TB Mirrored. This has just been ordered as 1TB of data is a good amount and it seems like a good idea to have it be mirrored especially on an external harddrive. WD has two green caviars in there and supposedly its very simple to use. Updates on how it is when it gets here in a few days.
3)Macbook Pro
Ok, ok I caved. I got an apple machine. I started out in my youth as a mac kid but upon getting my very own computer for the first time senior year of high school, I got a Dell and switched to Windows. Looking back, it was a good time to get away from Apple as that's when they started doing too much with their OS and machine models. I have nothing against Windows and the PC market but I am very much a child of marketing. Having used an iPod and iPhone for a while now I decided to get a macbook as my first laptop. The fact that it can run both Windows XP and OSX was key factor.
Asthetcially the laptop is stylish and pretty and the unibody aluminum build is quite nice. Its also very easy to access the harddrive and battery with a single latch. Upgrading the ram is a little more difficult as it involves a few screws but is a snap overall as well. Newegg was selling Macbook Pros for 1899 with free shipping and they still don't tax mail order shipments so it was quite the deal. 4gb of ram ran me about 79.99 and a 500gb wd blue series sata notebook drive was 99.99. Doing a self upgrade is significantly cheaper than getting a macbook pro with those specs from apple.
Why Pro and not just the standard macbook? I don't really use firewire but I do appreciate the nicer screen resolution and the much better viewing angle. The macbook's screen viewing angle is not nearly as good. The Macbook Pro also has slightly better speakers and a better graphics card. That only matters as I would like to sometimes use it as a desktop replacement if I'm ever traveling or away from my tower. For a typical user who doesn't care about all of that the Macbook is significantly cheaper at 1299.
Windows XP SP3 loaded without problems the second time I installed it. For some reason the trackpad didn't work in XP the first time. I still have no idea why that happened and why I couldn't get it to work.
Cons: Apple now uses a mini Display port for video out instead of VGA, DVI, or HDMI out. Mini Display port is still fairly uncommon and adapaters are required if you want to connect the macbook to an HDTV, monitor or projector. The adapaters are also fairly pricy, about 29.99 from apple for a DVI or VGA cable. If you go to monoprice.com you can get an HDMI adapter but since minidisplay port doesn't output sound, you still need to run a seperate audio cable out from the laptop.
Lastly just a headsup for anyone hoping to upgrade the harddrive in their macbook. You will need a torx 6 screwdriver. Apple uses torx 6 mounting screws to secure the harddrive. Just remove them from the harddrive that came with your laptop and put them onto the replacement drive. Torx 6 is surprisingly small so check your toolkit to see if you have it.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
back to the blog
So after a year hiatus, I'm back and planning on blogging more in the future. We'll continue video game commentary and perhaps add tech/electronics in general and maybe food as well as I now have a bit more free time. Hopefully the next post will be up soon.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
super smash bros. brawl and link's crossbow training
My 360 Red Ringed on me and I have gotten it back, but I've decided its time to show my Wii a little bit of love as it has been neglected lately. Since Super Smash Bros. Brawl is out I went to the BestBuy in Noho on Sunday and picked it up along with Link's Crossbow Training game, as I've been meaning to try the plastic zapper mold. I must admit, I have been having fun with these two games.
We'll start with Link's Crossbow. This game brings me back to Nintendo's original zapper game: DuckHunt. The plastic holder integrates the Wiimote and Nunchuck in pretty well, just don't expect to put it together and take it apart quickly. Out of laziness i've just relegated a set to the gun and just keep it in gun mode.
The game is fun, you point and aim your cursor and try to shoot targets and score points. There are score multipliers for consecutive targets hit without a miss. Where you hit the target matters with more points for hitting the bullseye. To mix things up a bit there are targets you can hit, enemies to shoot at for points and even a ranger mode where you move link around with the Nunchuck and turn him by aiming to the left or right off screen. It works pretty well and is quite fun. It isn't a long game but there is replay value as you go back to try to earn higher scores to get more medals. Some of the later levels will require a few retries and you can always go back for bragging rights for the high score. For 20 bucks its not a bad buy, you get the "gun" and the game. If you've ever enjoyed lightgun games and aren't expecting for a long shooting adventure and more of something along the lines of a more in depth wiiplay shooter its a definite buy. I hope that more games that incorporate the Gun come out soon.
Now onto the main entry: Smash Bros.
Anyone who has ever played any of the smash bros. be it melee on GameCube or the original on N64, this game is great fun and shows a good amount of polish. While on the surface it may seem to be just a button masher, there is skill involved for all you dedicated gamers. I appreciate the single play campaign that is included this time around and it is by no means short. Its also a great way to unlock characters that are hidden in teh game, to add to your roster. There is also the traditional solo campaign where you just pick your character of choice and try to get through all the brawls.
But what is Smash Brothers without multiplayer. Nintendo has integrated online play into this rendition of the game and it works, sort of. When i first got the game, finding a game online was .... rather impossible. There were few games to be found and I was frequently disconnected before a game was found. On Monday night, the online play was working better and finding me games, but I believe that wireless play for the game is still less than ideal. The game seems to slow down to the speed of the worst connection so the action becomes rather unfluid if there is a bad connection. This combined with the fact that unless you're hardcore and feel like setting up a match with three other friends, you have no control with regards to the connections you find. There are definite teething pains with the online component and in some regards I wish Nintendo had picked another game to give its online play the first go around, but on the other hand I hope that Nintendo figures out how to deal with the lag issues and makes improvements with Wii updates. To be fair Xbox live took a while to settle down into the great service that is now and Wii online is free, so I'll take it with a grain of salt.
The characters are beautifully animated and look pretty good on my HDTV (get the component cable, get rid of your composite if you're playing on HD) As I play more of it this week there will be future updates.
Verdict: buy, even if you don' t see the appeal yet, you will after you play it. Its also a great party game as anyone can pick up the game and play but it will stay in your wii for a while as there is a lot of depth in the game as well.
We'll start with Link's Crossbow. This game brings me back to Nintendo's original zapper game: DuckHunt. The plastic holder integrates the Wiimote and Nunchuck in pretty well, just don't expect to put it together and take it apart quickly. Out of laziness i've just relegated a set to the gun and just keep it in gun mode.
The game is fun, you point and aim your cursor and try to shoot targets and score points. There are score multipliers for consecutive targets hit without a miss. Where you hit the target matters with more points for hitting the bullseye. To mix things up a bit there are targets you can hit, enemies to shoot at for points and even a ranger mode where you move link around with the Nunchuck and turn him by aiming to the left or right off screen. It works pretty well and is quite fun. It isn't a long game but there is replay value as you go back to try to earn higher scores to get more medals. Some of the later levels will require a few retries and you can always go back for bragging rights for the high score. For 20 bucks its not a bad buy, you get the "gun" and the game. If you've ever enjoyed lightgun games and aren't expecting for a long shooting adventure and more of something along the lines of a more in depth wiiplay shooter its a definite buy. I hope that more games that incorporate the Gun come out soon.
Now onto the main entry: Smash Bros.
Anyone who has ever played any of the smash bros. be it melee on GameCube or the original on N64, this game is great fun and shows a good amount of polish. While on the surface it may seem to be just a button masher, there is skill involved for all you dedicated gamers. I appreciate the single play campaign that is included this time around and it is by no means short. Its also a great way to unlock characters that are hidden in teh game, to add to your roster. There is also the traditional solo campaign where you just pick your character of choice and try to get through all the brawls.
But what is Smash Brothers without multiplayer. Nintendo has integrated online play into this rendition of the game and it works, sort of. When i first got the game, finding a game online was .... rather impossible. There were few games to be found and I was frequently disconnected before a game was found. On Monday night, the online play was working better and finding me games, but I believe that wireless play for the game is still less than ideal. The game seems to slow down to the speed of the worst connection so the action becomes rather unfluid if there is a bad connection. This combined with the fact that unless you're hardcore and feel like setting up a match with three other friends, you have no control with regards to the connections you find. There are definite teething pains with the online component and in some regards I wish Nintendo had picked another game to give its online play the first go around, but on the other hand I hope that Nintendo figures out how to deal with the lag issues and makes improvements with Wii updates. To be fair Xbox live took a while to settle down into the great service that is now and Wii online is free, so I'll take it with a grain of salt.
The characters are beautifully animated and look pretty good on my HDTV (get the component cable, get rid of your composite if you're playing on HD) As I play more of it this week there will be future updates.
Verdict: buy, even if you don' t see the appeal yet, you will after you play it. Its also a great party game as anyone can pick up the game and play but it will stay in your wii for a while as there is a lot of depth in the game as well.
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Delays
Until we find some games that we are willing to purchase and play there'll be a dearth of opinions until games such as GTA IV, the new Smash Bros., and other games come out. Frankly after the plethora of games in Nov. the break is kind of welcome. I am patiently waiting for Smash that's for sure, Falcon on the other hand is patiently waiting for his RROD'ed 360 to get back from Microsoft which has been dead since mid December. Secretly hoping mine makes it through the GTA IV cycle.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
Quick & Efficient Update
November has been crazy with games coming out left and right. Add on the fact that we've been lazy and busy with updates so there's a lot to write about. Here we go:
Halo3: Wraps up the story with campaign. AI has improved to the point where you don't have to drive! Given the option to play with up to three other friends on live to run through the campaign, if you're trying to beat legendary, go with the friends they don't walk into your line of fire... as much hopefully. True to Bungie's style there are lots of extra things to do like find skulls and hidden terminals throughout the campaign to keep you exploring the levels after you've run through them to find all the hidden content. If you're stuck and admit you cheat a little here and there, there's a gazillion youtube videos on how to find everything. To keep the replay value of campaign even higher you can run through each level with different settings from the skulls turned on and even arcade style point scoring. As you don't get points for assisting it can make for some hetic kill jacking between friends. Definitely gives the game a different feel and spin.
Multiplayer is a more of the Bungie matchmaking we've come to expect as the standard for gaming in an online party with xbox live. It really is the standard that most of us have come to expect other games to meet. More on that later. You just sign in, invite your friends you want to play with and choose a type of matchmaking list. The list isn't super diverse as a lot of the gametypes in the game aren't in a matchmaking list.... yet. Lets hope Bungie updates and rotates lists frequently enough to keep people interested. Overall if you enjoy a shooter, or have ever liked a Halo. Give it a go. Strong Buy
Guitar Hero 3: New wireless guitar is pretty sweet. Its heavier, wireless, the neck comes out for transport and it all runs on two AA batteries. The guitar overall has more of the PS2 guitar hero II feel. The buttons aren't as clicky and there's two ways attach the strap to the guitar. I like this guitar a lot more because the Explorer guitar was X shaped and would get uncomfortable during longer periods of play.
The game itself is a more polished high def version of the game. The animation has been cleaned up a bit and the HUD has been modernized to fit the current music. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on the audience, the window to hit the notes has been expanded to the point where I've though I've missed notes and still gotten by as if i nailed it. Definitely is more forgiving to the new player and its much easier to hit the streaks of notes but the timing is a bit different to the hardcore Guitar Hero 2 faithful. Going back and forth between the games is not recommended unless you're rather quick at adjusting as GHIII can destroy you GHII timing.
Verdict: If you truly loved GHI or GHII you'll enjoy GHIII. If you're wondering what the craze is, get the game and join the millions who love emulating a rock star. If you actually play guitar or a musical instrument and wonder what the point is, give it a try maybe you'll like it maybe you'll still hate it. Lastly the reason people play this instead of actually learning guitar is similar to the reason people shoot people in a video game and don't actually go out and shoot people with guns in real life. There's also no significant learning curve, you can rock out within minutes, try that with a real instrument.
Orange Box: Best investment for your 60 dollars out there. Gives you a chance to play through the whole half life 2 story and the newest part of the story. Half Life 2 is an amazing game and for anyone who hasn't played it on PC this is a great chance to see the story first hand on your 360. Besides that there's a game called Portal included. It's wickedly entertaining and provides a thinking game with skillful manipulation of the character. The game is also rather humorous and makes it difficult to put down unless you get frustrated with some of the later puzzles. Team Fortress 2 had some teething pains and updates have been issued to tone down certain play styles like bunny hopping ( jumping around the map instead of running around like a normal soldier) and the online matchmaking hopefully has improved. Unfortunately if you're used to Halo style matchmaking where it is rather effortless games that rely on an xbox setting up and hosting a match can become infuriating as games stop in the middle if the host leaves and the game doesn't automatically find someone in that game to host the rest of the game. It is also difficult to find games that are open because by the time you actually manage to join the game has either started or isn't available. It is a uniquely balanced game with very amusing classes and hilarious animated characters.
Verdict: Strong Buy. So many games for the price of one! Long play value.
Call of Duty 4
Where to begin. I have mixed feelings about this great game. Campaign is short but great if you don't play it on the harder settings. Call of duty uses its traditional if you cross this line it'll trigger the next event style. It flows nicely if you play it on the normal difficulty and play with that attitude. If like me, you're more of I'll hang back and defensively kill everyone before moving forward ala any of the rainbow games, on the higher difficult settings the enemies don't really stop coming, there's an endless supply. If you truly want to enjoy the Call of Duty 4 story, play it on normal and push forward ALWAYS and you'll get the game the developers intended. Overall the campaign is relatively short but is done well. Where the game excels (for the most part) is in multiplayer.
In multiplayer there is a system similar to halo3 where you rank up in the game by earning experience points and get military rankings for each level. Along with that system there's challenges to meet which along with ranking up enables you to unlock new guns and attachments and abilities called Perks. Some of you newer players might complain that its unfair that the better players get the better guns/weapons/skills. How are you supposed to fight them on an equal playing ground. That is somewhat alleviated by the fact that once you kill someone you can always take their customized gun and the game balances parties somewhat. It is a rather ingenious way to make players want to keep playing to unlock everything. There are lots of weapons, attachments, perks and challenges to meet. This game will be competing with Halo3 for the sheer number of hours gamers will spend on Xbox Live. The only major shortcomings i have with the game are: The party system is still harder to use than Bungie's. In order to coordinate with friends i like being able to see how they're doing in a game so i have an idea of the time it'll take till they're finished a game and can join my party. This is a feature in halo3, not cod4. Parties are frequently broken up or people are dropped at the start of a game destroying your party. Who wants to wait 20 mins for those who made it to finish their game before trying again. After games finish sometimes parties are broken again. If the party leader tries to leave a game right after it finishes his party doesn't come with him. He has to reinvite everyone. COD4 is a relatively new game so its also experienced and still experiencing some Xbox Live growing pains. Sometimes I can't log onto Xbox live with the game even though i can sign on with other games. Infinity Ward is aware of the problem and they have been trying to work out the problems with Xbox Live. Lastly the host issue. COD runs similar to Team Fortress in that one Xbox is the host of the game. If that host quits.. game over. It would be nice if the game could automatically find the next best host and let the remaining 11 players finish the game. Also gamers leave the game regularly and the teams are balanced because matchmaking automatically sticks people onto the understaffed team.
Verdict: If you like shooters with a compelling story BUY! COD4 and Halo3 will both be played online for a long long time. Serious replayability.
Super Mario Galaxy:
If you own a Wii, buy this game. It will be a staple game for the Wii. It uses the Wii's control scheme well, it doesn't feel gimmicky. The actions and button presses/shakes match and make sense. It's classic Mario 64 with a very clean framerate and shows what the Wii can do graphically given the time and attention necessary to do it. The game so far is more of the standard Mario fare, kidnapped princess; go save her; fight Bowser. Added to the game are some new mechanics such as shooting from planetoid to planetoid and running around them. Warning for those who nauseate quickly and haven't really tried the 3d gaming aspect. It can be a bit disorienting the first few minutes you play trying to get around or chase objects in a 3d perspective especially if you're running to the southern part of the planet and end up running upside down. After your brain adjusts to the game camera's view of Mario it truly is an entertaining and fun game.
Verdict: Strong Buy.
Upcoming games to look at: Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect
Halo3: Wraps up the story with campaign. AI has improved to the point where you don't have to drive! Given the option to play with up to three other friends on live to run through the campaign, if you're trying to beat legendary, go with the friends they don't walk into your line of fire... as much hopefully. True to Bungie's style there are lots of extra things to do like find skulls and hidden terminals throughout the campaign to keep you exploring the levels after you've run through them to find all the hidden content. If you're stuck and admit you cheat a little here and there, there's a gazillion youtube videos on how to find everything. To keep the replay value of campaign even higher you can run through each level with different settings from the skulls turned on and even arcade style point scoring. As you don't get points for assisting it can make for some hetic kill jacking between friends. Definitely gives the game a different feel and spin.
Multiplayer is a more of the Bungie matchmaking we've come to expect as the standard for gaming in an online party with xbox live. It really is the standard that most of us have come to expect other games to meet. More on that later. You just sign in, invite your friends you want to play with and choose a type of matchmaking list. The list isn't super diverse as a lot of the gametypes in the game aren't in a matchmaking list.... yet. Lets hope Bungie updates and rotates lists frequently enough to keep people interested. Overall if you enjoy a shooter, or have ever liked a Halo. Give it a go. Strong Buy
Guitar Hero 3: New wireless guitar is pretty sweet. Its heavier, wireless, the neck comes out for transport and it all runs on two AA batteries. The guitar overall has more of the PS2 guitar hero II feel. The buttons aren't as clicky and there's two ways attach the strap to the guitar. I like this guitar a lot more because the Explorer guitar was X shaped and would get uncomfortable during longer periods of play.
The game itself is a more polished high def version of the game. The animation has been cleaned up a bit and the HUD has been modernized to fit the current music. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on the audience, the window to hit the notes has been expanded to the point where I've though I've missed notes and still gotten by as if i nailed it. Definitely is more forgiving to the new player and its much easier to hit the streaks of notes but the timing is a bit different to the hardcore Guitar Hero 2 faithful. Going back and forth between the games is not recommended unless you're rather quick at adjusting as GHIII can destroy you GHII timing.
Verdict: If you truly loved GHI or GHII you'll enjoy GHIII. If you're wondering what the craze is, get the game and join the millions who love emulating a rock star. If you actually play guitar or a musical instrument and wonder what the point is, give it a try maybe you'll like it maybe you'll still hate it. Lastly the reason people play this instead of actually learning guitar is similar to the reason people shoot people in a video game and don't actually go out and shoot people with guns in real life. There's also no significant learning curve, you can rock out within minutes, try that with a real instrument.
Orange Box: Best investment for your 60 dollars out there. Gives you a chance to play through the whole half life 2 story and the newest part of the story. Half Life 2 is an amazing game and for anyone who hasn't played it on PC this is a great chance to see the story first hand on your 360. Besides that there's a game called Portal included. It's wickedly entertaining and provides a thinking game with skillful manipulation of the character. The game is also rather humorous and makes it difficult to put down unless you get frustrated with some of the later puzzles. Team Fortress 2 had some teething pains and updates have been issued to tone down certain play styles like bunny hopping ( jumping around the map instead of running around like a normal soldier) and the online matchmaking hopefully has improved. Unfortunately if you're used to Halo style matchmaking where it is rather effortless games that rely on an xbox setting up and hosting a match can become infuriating as games stop in the middle if the host leaves and the game doesn't automatically find someone in that game to host the rest of the game. It is also difficult to find games that are open because by the time you actually manage to join the game has either started or isn't available. It is a uniquely balanced game with very amusing classes and hilarious animated characters.
Verdict: Strong Buy. So many games for the price of one! Long play value.
Call of Duty 4
Where to begin. I have mixed feelings about this great game. Campaign is short but great if you don't play it on the harder settings. Call of duty uses its traditional if you cross this line it'll trigger the next event style. It flows nicely if you play it on the normal difficulty and play with that attitude. If like me, you're more of I'll hang back and defensively kill everyone before moving forward ala any of the rainbow games, on the higher difficult settings the enemies don't really stop coming, there's an endless supply. If you truly want to enjoy the Call of Duty 4 story, play it on normal and push forward ALWAYS and you'll get the game the developers intended. Overall the campaign is relatively short but is done well. Where the game excels (for the most part) is in multiplayer.
In multiplayer there is a system similar to halo3 where you rank up in the game by earning experience points and get military rankings for each level. Along with that system there's challenges to meet which along with ranking up enables you to unlock new guns and attachments and abilities called Perks. Some of you newer players might complain that its unfair that the better players get the better guns/weapons/skills. How are you supposed to fight them on an equal playing ground. That is somewhat alleviated by the fact that once you kill someone you can always take their customized gun and the game balances parties somewhat. It is a rather ingenious way to make players want to keep playing to unlock everything. There are lots of weapons, attachments, perks and challenges to meet. This game will be competing with Halo3 for the sheer number of hours gamers will spend on Xbox Live. The only major shortcomings i have with the game are: The party system is still harder to use than Bungie's. In order to coordinate with friends i like being able to see how they're doing in a game so i have an idea of the time it'll take till they're finished a game and can join my party. This is a feature in halo3, not cod4. Parties are frequently broken up or people are dropped at the start of a game destroying your party. Who wants to wait 20 mins for those who made it to finish their game before trying again. After games finish sometimes parties are broken again. If the party leader tries to leave a game right after it finishes his party doesn't come with him. He has to reinvite everyone. COD4 is a relatively new game so its also experienced and still experiencing some Xbox Live growing pains. Sometimes I can't log onto Xbox live with the game even though i can sign on with other games. Infinity Ward is aware of the problem and they have been trying to work out the problems with Xbox Live. Lastly the host issue. COD runs similar to Team Fortress in that one Xbox is the host of the game. If that host quits.. game over. It would be nice if the game could automatically find the next best host and let the remaining 11 players finish the game. Also gamers leave the game regularly and the teams are balanced because matchmaking automatically sticks people onto the understaffed team.
Verdict: If you like shooters with a compelling story BUY! COD4 and Halo3 will both be played online for a long long time. Serious replayability.
Super Mario Galaxy:
If you own a Wii, buy this game. It will be a staple game for the Wii. It uses the Wii's control scheme well, it doesn't feel gimmicky. The actions and button presses/shakes match and make sense. It's classic Mario 64 with a very clean framerate and shows what the Wii can do graphically given the time and attention necessary to do it. The game so far is more of the standard Mario fare, kidnapped princess; go save her; fight Bowser. Added to the game are some new mechanics such as shooting from planetoid to planetoid and running around them. Warning for those who nauseate quickly and haven't really tried the 3d gaming aspect. It can be a bit disorienting the first few minutes you play trying to get around or chase objects in a 3d perspective especially if you're running to the southern part of the planet and end up running upside down. After your brain adjusts to the game camera's view of Mario it truly is an entertaining and fun game.
Verdict: Strong Buy.
Upcoming games to look at: Assassin's Creed, Mass Effect
Thursday, November 8, 2007
upcoming reviews
There's been a lack of updates but posts on Call of Duty 4, Guitar Hero 3, Super Mario Galaxies, and Orange Box are to come... whenever we get around to it.
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