Vent?

Greg gets a new job

July 4th, 2008 Posted in Personal | No Comments »

Well, I have a new job, working new hours, which has put my life in to a bit of a spin. Getting home later in the evening means I just can’t get as much done as I used to! Had to stop going to karate, hope to get in to a rhythm and go back at a later date, but who knows? So I’ve just been a little out of my comfort zone for the past couple of weeks while I’ve been hoping to get a new job, then during my transition… And it’ll probably continue for a week or so while I get used to things. Good thing Gametrailers has been able to provide the goods, coz I’ve hardly had a chance to search for stuff!

Wii Platformer: Wario!

July 4th, 2008 Posted in Games | No Comments »

First came across this at Kotaku, of course. When I first read about it there, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Platform games are great… Well, they were when I was 10. Then, after we became saturated by these kinds of games, they sort of started to die off, especially after the onset of 3D in games, until they were only really appearing on handheld systems (sure, there were some on consoles, but many of them were special kind of platformers — like Paper Mario and the like). Watching the video, this looks really good. Hearkens back to the good old days of really high-quality platformers, and there are some really fun-looking ideas in there. Might be one to look out for…

Pixeljunk Eden gameplay

July 3rd, 2008 Posted in Games | No Comments »

I’d heard a lot about this game, so I thought I’d check it out. Many in the business are suggesting it’s the best out of the three Pixeljunk games, and they think it’s an innovative, fresh kind of game. Certainly looks pretty cool. Might have to find the cash for this one, it’s been a long time since I last purchased a PSN game, and it looks like the fun, simple kind of game I like to download from these services — like flOw was… Great game that… Plus, I need some trophies (although there is apparently a problem with the 2.40 update — hasn’t affected me, though)…

Guitar Hero: On Tour? No thanks.

July 3rd, 2008 Posted in Games | No Comments »

OK, I’m a nerd, I love my video games, and so on, and so forth. But I’m a strange one, I am. While I have all available systems, I’m not much of a handheld gamer. Since moving back to Oz and buying a car, I haven’t felt the need to whip out my DS or PSP all that often — well, God of War was worth it… And now Guitar Hero: On Tour has been released on DS, and if you’ve been reading this site, you should be fairly aware that I’m a fan of music games, particularly the Guitar Hero franchise. But you know what? I’m not interested in playing it on DS. Here’s why.

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Using PS3 controller as PC game controller

July 2nd, 2008 Posted in Gadgets, Games | 1 Comment »

I have been using my old man’s puty this week while he has gone up north to visit my brother and his family. It’s a better computer than mine (although my dad had some pretty strange programs running that slowed it down… HAD being the operative word), and for this reason I thought it was about time I downloaded GameTap and tried it out — in order to describe it’s service you good peeps, of course.

Anyway, after installing, I realised I HATE using keyboard and mouse for action games and the like, and I wondered where the hell my PS2-to-USB converter was… Or even a PS2 controller, for that matter. And I got to thinking… The PS3 controller uses a generic USB cable to connect to the PS3, could it work as a PC game controller? So I plugged it in. XP immediately recognised it as a PS3 controller and announced it was working properly and ready to use. All good? No. Tried using it and, although even GameTap recognised the PS3 controller was attached, it didn’t allow me to assign buttons. Sigh. Fail. Did I give up? No!

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Xbox 360 price drop

July 2nd, 2008 Posted in Games, News | No Comments »

You may or may not be aware, but the Xbox 360 is now the cheapest console available in Australia. Well, the core system at least. At $349, it is not a terrible price, and may pick the sales of the poor fella up off the floor. OK, it might not, sales in Oz aren’t exactly ground-breaking, and that’s probably part of the reason we get screwed in the hip-pocket department. Sigh.

For clarity, Arcade System: $349, Pro: $499, and Elite: $649; the difference being the hard drive, I believe- Arcade at a fat 0 (but I can’t be sure of that, they’d have to let you save your arcade games somewhere, given the name), Pro 20 GB, and Elite 60 GB. Hopefully that will spur some Wii price drops, because we know Nintendo needs all the help it can get selling it’s system. And the PS3 is a great price already, so I don’t expect that to drop. *Ahem*

Read this article at Screen Play for more info.

2.40 update video, Pt. 2

July 1st, 2008 Posted in Games | No Comments »

OK, thought I’d better follow up on the last PS3 update post. The Trophies video was released pretty much straight after the last one, and it has since been announced that update 2.40 will be available July 2… Tomorrow. So get downloading, and check. it. out.

The video is interesting, and shows that the Trophy system is very much like the Xbox Live Achievement system, and I don’t have a problem with that at all. I mean, in reality, they all steal ideas from each other, and this leads to the provision of a better service for all gamers, regardless of which system they may own.

Only problem is, I’m gonna have to play through Super Stardust HD again to unlock the Trophies. Wait. That’s not such a problem. I love that game.
From Gametrailers again. 

Regional price discrepancies…

July 1st, 2008 Posted in News | No Comments »

We all know we pay shitloads more than the rest of the world for certain products — video games, CDs, DVDs, the list goes on. Well, it might not, but at least these three are things we pay more for. Finally someone else is bringing it to the attention of the rest of Australia.

I found this post at News.com.au through Kotaku. It is a quite well-written article covering digital distribution, and includes a helpful table of pricing. It’s ace. It needed to be done, and not just by us bloggers. Next, we need someone to look at the difference between the pricing of games, consoles, and DVDs themselves, for further proof. Then maybe, well… nothing will happen, probably… Sigh.

Sigh. Rock Band 2 announced.

June 30th, 2008 Posted in Games | No Comments »

Ok, I’m not gonna pretend i didn’t expect this to happen, I just didn’t expect it to happen so soon. Due for release towards the end of the year (as early as September for Xbox 360), I’m kind of hoping this will spur the release of Guitar Hero World Tour. Of course, that may mean that my choice will have to be made sooner, and will probably be harder, but the point is it will be earlier. I have been fanging for a bit of Rock Band or Guitar Hero WT action for some time now (as you may well be aware), so in a way the news is welcome. I guess. And there’s more news than I expected.

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What’s set for PlayStation 2.40 Update?

June 30th, 2008 Posted in Games | 1 Comment »

Not the most interesting video, I must agree, but if you are kinda hoping to find out what is coming soon in the new update for the PS3 firmware, it might be worth watching. Yeah, I watched it the whole way through, and found some things rather happy-making. For example, the ability to adjust the volume levels of your own music, should you choose to play it, it a great idea. Mostly pretty standard stuff. Oh, and it doesn’t cover Trophies… Apparently that’s coming soon. From Gametrailers.

Comparison: Osaka and Tokyo

June 29th, 2008 Posted in Japan, Travel | No Comments »

Tokyo is a bit of a Mecca for some people, especially in regard to technology and video games, and it also has a pretty good reputation for nightlife and fun, but a lot of people overlook Osaka, Japan’s second-largest city. Perhaps for many of us it’s a bit of an unknown, so there’s not much reason to go there. Well, it depends what you want really – Osaka is definitely a worthy destination.

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Media Servers…

June 28th, 2008 Posted in Gadgets | No Comments »

I was rooting around online and i came across this article at iTWire, mentioning that Google Media Server is now available in Beta form for all your media server needs. The reason it made me post here is that I just didn’t think that it wasn’t a normal thing for many people. There are possibly a lot of people that are interested in this topic, and there will probably be many more to come… So you wanna know if it’s worth setting up a media server?

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TV coming to PlayStation 3

June 27th, 2008 Posted in Gadgets, Games | No Comments »

I’ve been out of Oz for some time now, and as a result, I am not much of a TV watcher anymore. In Japan, I watched most of my favourite shows streaming online — not the most legitimate of methods, but I had to get access to my shows somehow! Since returning to Oz, I haven’t had much of a chance to watch much TV, but I have wanted to… So I’ve missed out on a hell of a lot.

If I was American, I could have gone home not only to TiVo, but also to the awesome stylings of the Xbox Live Video Marketplace (seriously, that thing is glorious). Then there’s netflix; US iTunes had TV shows for a long while (but Oz got them recently… well, some shows at least); and Australia is STILL locked out of the official South Park streaming site… Seriously, we get the short end of the stick for everything (see empty Xbox Live Video Marketplace for proof). Well… things are about to change.

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