Jason does a post mortem on the past generation of consoles.
Archives for January 2008
Using a Laptop as a WiFi adapter for your 360
Connecting wirelessly to the internet is one of the greatest conveniences ever (up there with Micro Magic microwaveable French fries) and is usually pretty cheap. A wireless router now can be had for very little money and setup is a breeze. Connecting your Xbox 360 wirelessly, however, is still expensive due to an overpriced adapter. The adapter costs entirely too much to justify its convenience.
But, if you happen to already have a WiFi-enabled laptop, you may be in luck. Through a little trickeration, you can turn your laptop into a WiFi adapter. Instructables shows you how to do it.
A Very Weird and Blocky Future
How many video games does it take to make a man? TODD LEVIN begins an epic new series to trace his life in gaming systems. Part one: paddles to jump-start your heart, and the end-all, be-all red fire button.
Most definitely worth the read, if nothing more for a reminder why Pac Man on the Atari 2600 sucked so hard. I am looking forward to this series.
Overheard on the ‘net – Rock Band
I’d like to present to you overheard on the ‘net:
I beat a song in Rock Band on expert today while holding a baby. There’s no achievement for that, but there should be.
–via Google Talk.
Making the PSP Better
While checking my daily online gaming news with attitude, I came across an interesting announcement made by Sony at this year’s CES: download movie to your PSP using a PS3 and Blu-ray discs. With the advent of Warner Brothers moving exclusively to Blu-ray (bummer, I just bought an HD-DVD player) and this new download ability, Sony seems to be making some right moves for a change. However, could this mean that Sony is looking at the UMD format as a failure?
Predictions (or what Sony should do):
- Redesign the PSP once again and remove the UMD all together, and release games on memory sticks. The memory stick could even be used to save game progress. Sell the PSP at the Nintendo DS price point.
- Not charge for this service of copying Blu-ray to PSP (some how I think there’s going to be a money making scheme somewhere).
- Release more PSOne games on the PlayStation Network – two a week. (Beats is fun for $5, but it’s pretty much all there is.)
If #1 became a possibility, I’d be all over it like ugly on an ape.
If you want to already copy movies to your PSP (or any device for that matter), check out Handbrake.
January Releases
It’s time for the monthly video game releases for January. Not a ton of killer titles, but Burnout Paradise is great way to start out the year. Advance Wars on the DS also will probably be added to my collection. Take a look. Think you’ll pick anything up this month?
January 8th
NFL Tour
Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom
January 22nd
Burnout Paradise
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty – Turning Point looks to be in the running for the worse box-art of 2008.
January 8th
Sonic Riders: Zero Gravity
Balloon Pop
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law
Luxor: Pharaoh’s Challenge
January 15th
Endless Ocean: Dive, Discover, Dream
CSI Hard Evidence
Furu Furu Park
Samurai Warriors: Katana
Nitrobike
January 22nd
No More Heroes
One Piece: Unlimited Adventure
January 8th
Brain Challenge
January 15th
Advance Wars: Days of Ruin – I was not aware we were this close to the release of the new Advance Wars.
Pocket Pets (Dogs, Cats, Hamsters more)
Corvette Evolution GT
Miami Nights
Jackass: The Video Game – This game can’t have a single redeeming quality, but with my love for all things Johnny Knoxville and morbid curiosity, I may pick this one up. Pray for my soul if I actually like it.
Barnyard Blast – With a subtitle of “Swine of the Night,” can you really go wrong with this one?
Command and Destroy
January 22nd
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games
Mega Brain Boost – All these brain games! My brain is going to explode it’s so overworked!
January 8th
The Sims Carnival SnapCity
Chessmaster 10th Edition JC
The Sims Carnival BumperBlast
January 15th
Rail Simulator
Disney Princess: Enchanted Journey – Isn’t that redundant? I mean, they are Disney Princesses. If they’re going on a journey, it’s assumed it’s going to be pretty friggin’ Enchanted.
Battlefield 2142 Deluxe Edition
Sword Of The Stars: Born Of Blood
Flatout: Ultimate Carnage
January 22nd
Pirates of the Burning Sea – Putting the Pirates in your MMORPGs!
Pet Vet 3D: Animal Hospital Down Under
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
SunAge
January 29th
The Sims Castaway Stories
The Lost Crown: A Ghosthunting Adventure
January 8th
NFL Tour
January 22nd
Burnout Paradise
Turning Point: Fall of Liberty
January 8th
Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law
January 22nd
Rainbow Island: Revolution
Blog Banter #2 – New Year’s Goals
Blog Banter is a group of bloggers passionate about anything and everything video games. We enjoy getting together once a month to write about the same subject. You will be amazed at the different viewpoints so many people can have on the exact same topic! Links to all the participant’s articles can be found here. If you are interested in participating, contact bs angel for more information. Enjoy our stories!
This month’s Blog Banter topic is “New Year Resolutions” and gaming. I don’t really like the idea of “resolutions” as they often are nebulous and don’t have a tangible result. When I look out at the new year before me, I think of changes I’d like to make in terms of goals. Sure, a great resolution would be to “eat better” but that doesn’t get results. A goal of “lose 25 pounds” on the other hand, is what I need to motivate me to stick to the change. Rewards don’t hurt, either, but that’s a different subject.
So this year’s New Year’s Goal for Gaming for me is to branch out, try something new. I’ve always played the old stand-bys: I stick to a few specific genres like first person shooters (Halo 3, The Orange Box) or action games (Crackdown) or Nintendo propeties (Zelda Phantom Hourglass, Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3). It’s time to branch out!
Resident Evil was a series I never got into. I played a couple hours of the RE remake for the Gamecube, but that didn’t float my boat. I thought about giving Resident Evil Zero a try but never got around to it. It wasn’t until I played Resident Evil 4 at Game Crazy one afternoon that really got my attention. I picked it up and never looked back. RE4 has become one of my favorite games, ever. I never played any of the “survival horror” games before this but Resident Evil 4 opened my eyes.
I’m hoping the same thing will happen again this year. I’m not sure what game it will be, but it has to be something I never would have thought twice about before. Maybe it will be Culdcept Saga for the 360. Maybe I’ll pick up a PSP, a console I never would have thought I’d ever pick up. I may go totally off the deep-end and give Endless Ocean a try. The possibilities are limitless!
In my hands
That’s right! It’s Mario time! Yeah, I don’t have a Wii yet, Santa screwed it up and left it at my parents’ house (he still thinks I’m twelve years old, I guess) but it will be in house this weekend. Can’t wait!
StarCraft on the DS
Via Starfeeder.com’s Flickr stream.
What do you get when you combine a big video game publisher not wanting to port over a game to other systems and a community containing homebrew developers? You get an unofficial port of that game.
Since no official plans were ever announced from Blizzard, two French homebrew developers have taken it upon themselves to create a port of the popular PC game, StarCraft, for the Nintendo DS, calling it StarLite. Because they’ve only been working for three weeks, the game is a bit limiting right now and still needs a lot of work.
Fun Games of the Year
We don’t get to play every game that comes out every year. Heck, combined we probably hit 10% of the titles that came out this year. So we feel a little unqualified to declare a particular game the “Game of the Year.” It would be presumptuous and rude. So we’re going a little different route this year, naming the “Fun Games.” Games we had the most fun playing this year. They may not be the prettiest games or the deepest story lines, but they were the games we keep going back to, the games we can’t put down.
So without further ado, Nat and my picks for the Fun Games of the Year:
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