Well with the end of September approaching two games are almost out that I'm looking forward to playing. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 will be based on the the Marvel Civil-War comic arc and will feature the time tested dungeon grind that we've become accustomed to from X-Men Legends and the first Marvel Ultimate Alliance. Who doesn't love team ups of all sorts of Marvel Comic heros and/or villians? I'm curious to see what the story line is and how the game plays.
The other game that the die hard Halo fan in me is looking forward to is non other than Halo ODST. After playing various games on Xbox Live I've found myself always coming back to Halo 3. The matchmaking system is still the best out there for Live and being able to party up easily with friends is a key feature that I wish other developers would learn from Bungie. My only gripe with Halo 3 is that they essentially nerfed matchmaking a bit. As the varience in ability was lessened it becomes much harder for one very good player to take on more than a few other players at once, something that was very possible in the first Halo. Playing as non superhuman spartans wil change the game dynamic a fair amount and it should give the game a very different feel. Hopefully I'll spend a good amount of time playing Halo ODST online with friends. Updates and verdicts on the games to come soon.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Batman Arkham Asylum
In lieu of a long post on Batman Arkham Asylum I'll merely say if you enjoy Batman and/or action adventure games in general, get it. Simple. The game has a nice coherent story line, great animation/grahpics, fun gameplay and has the voice actors from Batman the Animated series. Batman is voiced by Kevin Conroy, Joker is voiced by Mark Hamil and whoever voiced Harlee Quin is the same. Brings back childhood memories of batman but the animation style is definitely darker and closer to the style of the comic books. I think it is a great blend of the two batman universes. No matter what system you play own I'd recommend it.
Thoughts on OS X
Well I've added a Macbook Pro to my collection. I've been on it for a while now and I've been switching back and forth from OS X and Windows XP. Recently I updated to Snow Leopoard but I don't think I've been using OS X long enough to really appreciate the Snow Leopard update. It definitely feels like an update as opposed to an overhaul. We shall see how Windows 7 comes along.
Hardwarewise I'm enjoying the Macbook Pro. The unibody laptop definitely has a great build quality and hasn't given me any issues thus far. For those of you who are new to the macbook lines, be careful of the edges. They are quite sharp, surprisingly.
For any of you keeping up with this blog (I know, I know its been a while) don't worry I have not become a Apple only fan boy. I still use Windows XP for some things and see the benefits and cons of each so no worries there. For desktops I support Windows as the price of a Mac Desktop is utterly ridciculous, when you can build your own OS X tower legally, things might get a bit more interesting. For all you Linux/UNIX users out there, I'm really not nerdy or hardcore enough to have any input on that issue and defer on the fanboyism.
Hardwarewise I'm enjoying the Macbook Pro. The unibody laptop definitely has a great build quality and hasn't given me any issues thus far. For those of you who are new to the macbook lines, be careful of the edges. They are quite sharp, surprisingly.
For any of you keeping up with this blog (I know, I know its been a while) don't worry I have not become a Apple only fan boy. I still use Windows XP for some things and see the benefits and cons of each so no worries there. For desktops I support Windows as the price of a Mac Desktop is utterly ridciculous, when you can build your own OS X tower legally, things might get a bit more interesting. For all you Linux/UNIX users out there, I'm really not nerdy or hardcore enough to have any input on that issue and defer on the fanboyism.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
catastrophic failure
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.
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.
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.
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