Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (SW: TFU) has a demo up on the XBOX Live and I grabbed it today to check out the gameplay for myself. The game was previewed some time ago with spectacular force powers. It also has particle and physics technologies like DMM and Havoc which are said to heighten the effects of the overkill force powers.
The demo allows you to take control of the Apprentice through the Tie Fighter factory hunting for a Jedi master. You come pre-equipped with force push, lightening, grip and of course your trusty lightsaber. The game is set to be released in a couple of weeks, so a demo is appropriately timed to hype the game in addition to the plethora of videos readily available on any gaming website.
Call it a Mulligan
Well darn it, I died again.
In the little gaming time that I get these days I’ve been slowly traversing the massive world of Mass Effect. Without giving any of the plot away, I’m on the planet of Noveria and have essentially been stuck at the pivotal part of the game for the past couple of months now. I’ve tried various tactics to get past this point and all of my efforts have been faced with the inevitable fade to black.
Microsoft Extends XBOX 360 Warranty
Microsoft has announced that they’re going to extend the warranty of all XBOX 360’s to three years from the date of purchase. This includes issues of the 3-rings and any other faults. They will handle the repair free of charge, including the shipping.
I wonder how the people who’ve already paid for the shipping and repair feel about this and what Microsoft is doing for them. Also, on a more personal note, my XBOX 360 is a used one that I got in July of 2006. I have no clue how long the previous owner had the console before I acquired it, so I wonder how I would make myself avail of this service should the need arise.
In relation to this particular announcement, Microsoft also indicated that the potential repair would run them close to $1 Billion. It’s good to see that the company is spending the money to keep their current customers happy which will only garner them future customers.
Cheers
Classic Gaming Goodness
I have fond memories of playing the original Prince of Persia on my PC in the early 90’s and enjoyed it immensely. The games involved some hair-raising moments and a fun game play. The newer 3D iteration of the game, in my opinion, were no where near the hits that the original was. The graphics were surely cutting edge for it’s time, as well as audio. The class side-scroller was also key to this game, but unlike other games the progression wasn’t forced upon the player.
Like a wonderful blast from the past Ubisoft is set to release this awesome classic on XBLA with updated graphics and probably a new story. I just can’t wait for this one!
Another classic find of mine recently was the open-source version of Star Control 2 called The Ur-Quan Masters. I have vivid memories of the countless hours my friends and I spent in melee with the variety of ships. I had never spent much time in the game itself, but having since found The Ur-Quan Masters, I’ve take the opportunity to check out the game as well and am really enjoying the quirky humor.
Unlike POP, this is a true to it’s origin port to make the original classic work on newer machines. The game runs under Windows, MacOS X, Linux and BSD. One of the best parts of this game was the awesome music for each race in the game. Listening to this music again just brings back a flood of wonderful memories.
Cheers
XBOX 360 Dashboard Update Available
The XBOX 360 dashboard update has been released on XBOX Live and there are already people griping about some of it’s features. The full feature list is listed in my previous post here.
Turns out that the IM feature that everyone was looking forward to is unavailable for any account that is deemed a Child account, i.e., younger than 18 years old. The ironic part is that the people who would most probably use this feature are the younger than 18 crowd rather than the older crowd.
With the little time that I have for gaming, if I were to get onto the 360, I’d rather spend my time playing a game than sitting there IM’ing people.
This is indeed a very curious course of action for Microsoft.
Cheers
PC Gaming Dilemma
I got into PC gaming shortly after my introduction to computers in my early teens back in the early 90’s. During that time, MS-DOS was the OS of choice and all games required some level of tinkering before they would function. Anyone from that era should have fond memories of EMM386 and counter-parts used to get a game to run.
Through all that mess, I still actively bought, installed, tinkered and played many PC games. At the same time, in the console market, the Nintendo Entertainment System reigned supreme. My father did buy an NES console for my brother and me and we dutifully played through Super Mario Brothers and were amazed that 8-bit graphics.
XBOX 360 Spring Update
Microsoft has an announcement of the upcoming Spring update to the XBOX 360. Amongst the plethora of new features, some of the interesting ones are Windows Live Instant Messaging support. You’re probably thinking how you’re going to type out those IMs with the keypad or if you’ll have to create a new shorter-than-SMS style of text’ing?
Fear not, Microsoft is coming with a textpad add-on to the existing controller. This does fall short of the web browser, that shouldn’t be included IMO, that people want.
The other cool feature is listing the achievement name and GS points with the little pop-up, and that’s very cool. Read the rest of this entry »
XBOX 360 Elite
After quite a lot of speculation and rumor mongering, the XBOX 360 Elite has been announced by Microsoft.
The basic summary of changes include a console in black, a HDMI port, 120 GB hard drive, but still no official word on the small 65nm processor which supposedly runs cooler. The only “upgrade” here that I would even remotely consider is replacing my stock 20 GB hard drive with the larger 120 GB variety.
I currently use the component cables to connect my X360 to my TV and optical audio cables to get the games surround sound. With an HDMI option I would just need to run a single cable to get everything. However, since I already have 2 HDMI devices plugged into my receiver I would need to invest in some sort of an HDMI switch to get this 3rd device going. In my book, that’s just not worth the extra money, not to mention that the XBOX 360 Elite already costs about $479 to start with.
Perusing a few of the gaming forums seem so to indicate that I’m actually in the minority of existing X360 owners who has no intentions to trade in their existing X360 at a loss and fork over lots more money to get the Elite version. Many of these people also don’t have a TV that have HDMI inputs, so this must be the true definition of a fanboy.
Cheers
It’s All Fun And Games
Until more than just your poor TV, window or other household items start getting hurt by people swinging those Wiimotes with too much gusto and involved in some destructive gaming. I saw a picture of a boy with the Wiimote shaped welt across his face when his cousin lost control of the remote.
And now, we have a woman with a black eye to show for what happens when you’re not careful playing Zelda.
Nintendo has responded to the complaints of a wimpy strap by providing a beefier version. But what can they possibly do to protect themselves from people using their Wiimotes as swords. You don’t need to swing the remote that drastically to accomplish what you want on the screen, but in the heat of the moment, can you control yourself?
I’m going to continue sticking to my theory that after enough damage is caused either to in-animate objects or other humans, people will start returning these consoles. I don’t think Nintendo really thought about how these controllers would be used.
Cheers
Destructive Gaming
The Next-gen consoles are all trying to make their game controllers better than the previous generation. The XBOX 360 only added wireless capability, the Sony PS3 SIXAXIS controller added wireless capability with motion sensing, and the Nintendo Wii employs the most revolutionary controller.
The Wii allows users to use its Wiimote to control the action on the screen with realistic motions. The controller employs a simple strap put around your wrist to ensure that the controller doesn’t go hurling out of your sweaty palms. However, turns out that this single safety device is prone to breaking causing the Wiimote to become a finely guided missile headed for none other than your beloved HDTV.
If you think it takes the strength of an overactive adolescent or adult to cause this strap to break, think again. There are reports of little girls enjoying a game of Wii Sports bowling or tennis causing this sort of damage.
Perhaps creating a controller that players would have to swing around wasn’t such a good idea after all?? Nintendo does make a “classic” controller for the Wii, how long do you think it will be before people start flocking back to that?
Cheers
[Via Engadget]
