DOA Movie

Watch the unsurprisingly crap DOA (Dead Or Alive) courtesy (for the moment) of Google Video.



On the plus side, you do get to see Holly Valance running around in a bikini. On the downside... it's shit.

Deus Ex Hi Def

Anyone who knew me when I first started really PC gaming will remember the fun I had with Deus Ex.

Deus Ex was a first-person shooter/RPG with a difference: you didn't have to shoot anyone. In theory it was possible to sneak the whole game using only stun darts, tasers and your bare hands, leaving a trail of unconscious bad guys (and good guys if the mood took you). Each level was approachable in several different ways: Go in with guns blazing and kill everything that twitches, or stick to the shadows and complete your missions completely unnoticed. The former earned you a reputation as a complete psycho amongst your colleagues, the latter confirmed their opinion of you as a total pansy. Conversations with game characters completely depended on their perception of you and some would release different information depending on what they thought of you.

This diversity made the game very replayable, so I am understandably excited about the Deus Ex - Project HDTP (High Definition Texture Project) - a team of modders and coders who are attempting to update the graphical look of the game to something more suitable for the 21st Century. Here're their objectives:

Features:
1. All new remodelled and retextured Objects.
2. Objects will sport a high resolution of 256.
3. Brand new character models and matching high resolution skins.
4. Character models are more individual. For example each guard/trooper type will now have its own model instead of using the generic one.
5. Character models now have their own fingers (removing the 'mittens' effect).
6. Models that require animation will be full animated from scratch to compliment the higher quality feel.
7. Characters look darker and more moody to enhance the game play experience.
8. Vehicle models and weapons will be remodelled, skinned and reanimated.

Work is progressing nicely with several areas completely remodelled already, although no work has been done on others. This is just the excuse I need to replay this excellent game again.

Anyone Remember?

I'm sure I used to do something every other Friday night, but I can't quite put my finger on it. I used to read about it somewhere on the web which would jog my memory and ...

... No, it's gone.

Anyone got any ideas what it might have been?

Sony Rushes Out 3.10

Sony have apparently rushed out firmware 3.10 for PSP in response to the complete and utter defeat of all current firmwares at the hands of the homebrew community. Apparently it's available under Network Update if you're really desperate to get your hands on the following 'features':

GAME:

• It enjoyed PLAYSTATION�Network tie frames and the function for was strengthened.

NETWORK:

• From [LocationFree™ Player] it will be able to remake the video file of MPEG-4 AVC formats and LocationFree™ base stations where model life is LF-PK20 (Japan) or LF-B20 and LF-B10 (the United States) (Sony product) it is this necessity.
• The fact which is detailed against LocationFree™ Player http://www.sony.net/Products/LocationFree/psp/ To refer.
• [the Internet browser] [indication set] [memory economies] this it was added.

SETTINGS:

• In [sound set] [Dynamic Normalizer] functions were added.

Woo Sony, with these Firmware updates you are really spoiling us. Bring on that Dynamic Normalizer please!

My initial reaction was that they were holding this back ready for the next 'crack' but if that's the case they'd have had to have known what the hole was, in which case, why not just release it anyway.

Some people on various PSP homebrew forums were decrying this latest crack as the death of the PSP. Downgrades (or custom firmware) for all means noone will buy software (according to the doom-and-gloom merchants) which means that the console will die. I'd love to actually know the proportion of people who a) bother cracking a console and b) crack and then don't play pirated games, to those who either don't know about the exploits, don't care, or are too worried to follow 8 simple steps.

Going Down Boxhill on the Back of Me Hog

Here's a cool vid showing some tricksy bike (and one car) manoeuvres in San Andreas.

Games! Chawwacters!

Yay... Strongbad flash games optimised for wiimote play!

Currently available: Strongbadzone; Secret Collect; Kid Speedy and Population: Tire, and it says "More To Come"!

Gaaaames!

All PSP Firmware Exploited - R* To Blame Again!

The news broke early this morning that all versions of PSP Firmware from 2.0 right up to the latest 3.03 are vulnerable to a user-mode exploit that allows code to be run.

The hacker group Noobz posted a Hello World proof of concept, exploiting, once again, the GTA:LCS savedata 'sploit that caused previous firmware security to crumble to the 'homebrew' scene. By going back and re-examining some previous hacks they discovered that the FW patch issued by Sony didn't completely fix the hole. Nice coding Sony!

Given the uber-homebrew-dev Fanjita said only this week that the current kernel mode exploit that allowed the 2.80 downdater to work seems to be unpatched right up to 3.03 which means that all the scene needs is a user-mode hole in order to leverage it. And bingo! Here it is, courtesy of our friends at Rockstar! Not only do they make great games, but they enable the entire homebrew scene!

Anyway, my best bet is that anyone daft enough to have updated beyond 2.71 should be able to play homebrew by Sunday night.

Hands Up Who's Getting One?

Edge break the story that the UK release for PS3 will be March 23rd and the price will be £425. So you're looking at nearly £500 to play even one game.

So let's see 'em.. Who's in?

How Big Is Azeroth?

Last week we heard that World of Warcraft hit 8 million users.

How big a virtual world does it take to house all those Horde and Alliance guys and girls? Answer: Not very big, according to Tobold of Tobold's MMORPG blog.

Based on an average marathon runner's speed of 12mph Tobold runs corner to corner and with a bit of simple maths comes up with the answer: Kalimdor is 41 square miles and Azeroth (pre-Burning Crusade) is 80 square miles.

For an idea of how big (or small) that is - the island of Manhattan is 20 square miles and the Isle of Wight is 146 square miles.

I'm betting the inhabitants of Azeroth aren't as weird as the locals on the latter though.

At the Mall

Announcing the new Mii Mega-Mall v2.0... A downloadable app for the PC and Mac that allows you to browse the four main online Mii sites, download to your PC and transfer to your Wiimote. It also handles uploading.

Including a new handy preview function you can check out how the Mii's look before you download them.

Feature list:

• Mii Preview -New
• Image Uploading -New
• Rating System -New
• Community Policing -New
• Column Sorting -New
• Built-in RSS capabilities
• Download Mii from the Mega-Mall
• Multiple simultaneous downloads
• Transfer downloaded Mii to your wiimote (using Bluetooth)
• Copy Mii from your wiimote to your PC (using Bluetooth)
  
• Upload your own Mii to the Mii Mega-Mall to share with others

Bitbeltane at Ruut's Gaff

Borag Thungg,

Accordion to the ancient Sudo calendar, it is the Post of 'Fi, which means it's time to boot the old script droid and get another festival of video games -a- rokin.

As tantalising and sweet as the bountiful bleeding edge techno-fruits of Munchk Towers are, it's my go at the tiller so that means it's a wonderful rose tinted trip back in time to those heady days of Sixth Generation Era for you this 'Fi, Young Fellah-me-laddo. Chin up though, this isn't the bad old days of tiny round screens and tinfoil, all that's old is new again! Quick sharp, grab that trusty old DS Lite and delve into this here bucket of sparkly wonderment. Pick a game or two from The List and stick them onto a bit of USB or CDROM.

We'll fire them up in multi player conditions in a controlled experiment and see what will go into our Ruut's Gaff chart of 6G. The excitement! You'll be standing by these games though, and you'll gain points for originality -- what priceless gem can you find among all these nasty licences? Where is our new Multi Player Citizen Kabuto?

For inspiration, and to get the D12s of this adventure rolling, I offer Mario Hoops 3 on 3, a slick high fructose Mushroom Land B-Ball Tourney with coins, explosions, tantrums and fireballs that I'm tapping the heck out of at the moment. Ignore the scores, just drag it and boot it sometime this week and take a peak into the practise lessons. There's a book load of moves, taps, gestures and combos to learn, so it's worth having a look at this one, I predict long loud sessions.

Villagers need food, so F5 last episode's snacks.asp and head on over to the gaff, see another Bitbeltane in with friends.

Splundig vur Thrigg

The King is Dead!

Another post from the burgeoning Zelda-blog 5 Rupees (which I finally realised was meant as in 'my two-pennyworth', duh) this time taking a po-faced (poe-faced?), yet tongue-in-cheek look at the cyclic downfall of the Hyrulean monarchy, and offering up a couple of alternative scenarios.

Regarding Democracy:

This would allow everyone, including the Zoras, Gorons and Gerudo to be represented in a united government. This would allow issues such as the freezing of the Zoras homeland and the spread of the Twilight to be dealt with quickly and efficiently with a united government. It would also allow capitalists like Malo to spread their business and start franchises that aid the people, as well as work up a strong economy for the Republic of Hyrule.

WoW Hits 8 Million

Well, I don't play WoW, but this struck me as a pretty impressive and deserved a mention. To put it in context, 10.5 million xbox 360's sold last year, and 8 million people on a single game on the PC!

Further proof the PC platform is alive and kicking!!!Guardian Linky

Dudda Dah Dah Dah Dah

Kotaku and Joystiq are both running stories on a bunch of cool new vids that have appeared on YouTube that appear to be showcasing a new third person version of Ghostbusters.

Joystiq have links to all four videos and are quietly positive about it, carrying further links to AintItCool and supposed developers ZootFly.

Kotaku are slightly more downbeat, saying it's probably a Gears mod (sounds unlikely to me as there is no released editor for Gears. It's much more likely to be a Source mod or a base Unreal mod if it's an amateur job.)

I would simply love to play a free-roaming Ghostbusters game, especially given the environmental destruction visible in that video. Imagine multiplayer versions, imagine opposing franchises of Ghostbusters competing for business. This game has a lot of mileage in today's gaming environment... the only question is does the enthusiasm of the thirty-somethings who remember GB fondly have enough weight to carry it?

iPhone to Kill DS and PSP...

...say Joystiq.

Oh no it won't say Kotaku.

Make up your minds guys.

Personally I think it will flop, especially in this country. Early adopters and Appleheads will buy it, but it's simply not going to get the market penetration that the iPod has. Much of this functionality is available already in various forms, as many of the Fi Clubbers can testify, but the public at large simply aren't interesting in having all that stuff on their phone. I think the mobile-using public are split largely into two groups:

• firstly, the 3210 PAYG faithful. It makes phone calls and plays Snake, and when it stops, they'll get the cheapest thing they can find in Tesco;
  
• secondly, there are those who want it small, shiny and discrete. It fits in your jean pocket, your hand/man-bag or your shirt pocket.

There is only a small minority of people who want this kind of product convergence, as it invariably ends up with a larger, much more expensive device. Chuck in the huge scratchable screen (it takes discipline to keep the screen pristine on something like this), the (must be approaching) saturation of the iPod / other mp3 player, the price tag, and the lack of a stylus with which to pick your ears, and I think Apple may seriously have misjudged their market.

Or maybe I'm just jealous...

What Do We Want?

Idle speculation and comment piece hopefully...

What do we want as individuals and as a group from 2007 in terms of tech and specifically games?

I'll post in the comments as things come to me, I expect.

How to Win at Wii Tennis

Nicely done article on winning at Wii tennis.

As you swing, rotate the Wiimote so that the buttons face upwards, and smash the Wiimote into your opponent’s face. Try to aim for vital spots, such as the eye sockets, teeth, or the bridge of the nose.

The Revolution Will Be Digitised

The DS Revolution hit before the week end, and first impressions were favourable. As expected, just seeing them at Fi Club on Friday prompted a few more purchases, so I reckon now is a good time to post my experiences after a week end of play.

The card isn't totally straight-forward to set up -- once I figured out what needed to be done it was no problem, but I ended up going to the web site to find the install software to set up the microSD card after getting no joy from the bundled mini CDROM. The problem is more to do with documentation that talks about files that are not on the card and that none of the web site files mention in the filenames. To save you guys the hassle, just go to the web site and grab the latest kernel files from there, they've changed the way they name the files on the site in the new version and it's easier to understand now. Looks like the new files hide all but the game files themselves in the file list now, so it'll look better.

Play wise, the system is cool and it works pretty much how you'd expect it to. I can't see any way to get back to the card interface during game play other than just rebooting, but then that's the only way to get to the DS interface so that's as expected too. It has locked up a couple of times over the past couple of days (during Trauma Centre whilst using SELECT to skip the jibber-jabber is one I can remember), booted to OS saying no DS card inserted a couple of times (power down, latch card in and out again and power up fixes this) and a couple of white boots.

This sounds like a lot of errors, but I've been really giving it some welly and I've tried every game on the chip at least a couple of times ( I have 23 games installed). After a load of leaping in and out of games I have settled down to playing a few that I like, but that still involves a lot of rebooting and flicking from ROM to ROM. Based upon the massive amount of game swapping, I don't feel like this is a problem at all, and still really rate the product. My play has been changed by the sheer choice of games now. It's like running into an empty theme park when the gates open in the morning. So much promise.

And so the DS begins to 'feel' like the Playstation and PSP did after they were breached. Games used to have a heavy feel of value to them, and visiting the different sections of the different game shops in town was a fun part of my visit to town. Now, games come so freely, and in many cases, before the game shops stock them, the high street game shop is vestigial. I visited GAME today (OK, not a good example of a game shop, I'll admit) but it felt hollow and empty and pointless in there. I have all those games. Games now are less about justifying the amount that I had to pay to play it (making me feel guilty if I didn't complete it or didn't play it for a certain length of time) and have now become short ways to pass the time. I dip in and out of games on the PSP and the DS now at a whim -- 'done with this particular buzz now, want some point n click'.

Marketers work really hard to attribute value to things that inherently have no value -- CDs are a great example, the 'jewel case' that is supposed to be displayed like an object of value, the whole idea of building a collection of them and showing them off. (CDs fail even where they try so hard -- they are made of crappy scratchable material and the jewel cases are one of the flimsiest forms of packaging ever invented -- they snap, crack, scuff and shatter far too easily). The value isn't in the CD itself at all, the object of value is in the code, the software -- *that's* what the coders worked to create, the gamepak itself was stamped out of some machine. CDs, DVDs and Video Games all boil down to software, and reducing them down to their respective MP3s, AVIs and ROMs, while leaving the essential product completely unchanged makes them feel far far cheaper. Game play, while unaffected, feels lighter, less pressure to 'get through' a game. It has become more about play.

I think that when web enabled devices become more portable with better battery life and always on connections, the already amazing quality of freely available to play web based games (like orisinal) will become such that we will question why we used to fork out upwards of 30 quid for this stuff.

And there's more...

Thanks to all who made it to our Wiitox session the other night.

I found these as well, although more of the same really:

NDS Xtreme 4Gbit http://www.divineo.co.uk/cgi-bin/div-uk/ds-extreme.html

www.divineo.co.uk - Product Information

DS Mediaplayer + ..... http://www.divineo.co.uk/cgi-bin/div-uk/ds-media

www.divineo.co.uk - Product Information

Sorry, not sure if I've created any links there or not.
Any tips on how to put links up on blog will be gratefully received.

It's time for some Wiitox!

After our Christmas excesses (I know it wasn't just me), let's start the new year with a little Wiitox programme.
So this Friday5th, I would like to invite the usual suspects round for another meeting of Snack Club, although maybe we should go easy on the snacks............................Nah!
There will be plenty of opportunity to exercise your hands, eyes and brains, and "maybe get a blister on your little finger, maybe get a blister on your thumb".
Usual rules apply.
Apologies if this post comes out odd, I've not posted before.

Happy New Year to everyone.

Sitting in the Back Row

Check out this clip of some guys playing Wii Sports in a Cinema using a home-made sensor bar.

I'm going to call Carlton in Cosham and see how much it would cost us to get hold of the place for a while. I think we should wait (as they say on the clip) until Metroid Prime is out at least.