Heh

Update from the office. I think I got the hang of things. I think.

Work has again been piling up. So I shall be incapitated in a hill of programming and graphic stuff for the next few weeks. HOWEVER, I have decided on the system to create the new game. It shall be the DS! Muwahahahaha. The system fits the idea perfectly. Heh. If it kicks off, this would be THE project. Once done, I can try to load it up on the net and let everyone enjoy.

Those interested in creating homebrew software for the DS can take a look here. Watch out! Coding heavy!

DS-ness

Been busy for the last few days... This includes work and the DS. I've been downloading roms to load up and my list is increasing steadily. However, I have also downloaded a couple of homebrew software.

One is a PDA-like software called DSOrganize that has Vcard, a to do list, text editing, address book, an MSpaint thing, planner, calendar, calculator and mp3 player. However, it felt a bit wonky (there is no handwriting recognition software (although this is a rather difficult to program in the first place.)) and the calibration of the stylus was a little off when running the program. I would say that the functionality is there tho. So if you ever need to run your DS as a PDA, look no further.

The second is a software called Moonshell. This sweet app is a multimedia player that can run movies (converted mpegs, avis and the likes), image viewer, and mp3 player. They even put extra effort to give the ability to change the interface skin. Right now it made my very shiny DS lite into a very shiny iPod wannabe. W00tness :D

Anyway, if you ever have the chance... get Meteos. Great puzzle game with very good funky music. :D

Screw Shoot-em-ups!!!

I got an even better idea last night before falling asleep. The whole concept is pretty damn simple, I don't know why nobody has thoght of it before. I think the game is pure genius! And it's not an RPG. How is that possible?!

I am getting my office friend to help me out with the programming (hopefully). Together we will rule the world! Mwahahahha!!!

So many things.... so little time

My brain is working overtime recently. One is mainly because of work. The other may be because of a discussion with a couple of colleagues of mine. I've been known to
a) draw comics/art
b) writing stories
c) making up PnP RPG systems
d) making up Computer/Console Game
e) making homemade movies

Right now, I am currently in the process of doing e). A friend of mine and myself have decided to make a homemade movie with the 10 years old analog Sony Handycam that I have recently acquired. We have thought up of the story board and all, that but we have yet to see production of the thing. It will be made eventually (by the end of next month hopefully) and I will be stuck with work...

With all the thinking, I may want to start with d) soon. However, I'll be stuck with this part time. The last time around I tried this was about 3+ years ago. We managed to get collision detection to work (from scratch) but the project didn't go as planned. The 4 of us got busy with RL (work for me, and higher education for the rest) and therefore it stalled and died there.

However, I have never lost interest in creating a game. I am hoping to start of easy,. My first idea is to create a shoot-em-up. This is mainly because with a shoot-em-up, all the basics of video game design can be learnt and applied.

Some of these basics include: Collision detection, animation, pre-programmed path, learning path, difficulty settings, and a bunch more. However, I do not know where to start. Google or wikipedia?

Review Time again!

This time around I'll talk about Metroid Prime Hunters.

First of all, this is an FPS. Yes FPS. On a portable handheld console. How do they do it you ask? Well, the stylus acts as the reticle aim (mouse look), and the d-pad acts as move forward/backward/strafe left and right. And the L button is for firing the equipped weapon. How to change weapons? There's a large enough area in the touchscreen that allows for weapons, items, and morphball. Jumping is done by double tapping the touchscreen or pressing the A button. Overall, the layout while quite different from a mouse and keyboard setup, is actually pretty damn good. The higher the sensitivity of the stylus, the lower the accuracy but the faster the screen moves (as per mouse). The usage of the stylus/touchscreen is highly utilized with this game.

The graphics looks pretty good actually. The texture isn't PS2 quality but they are much better than the PS1. Infact, the game looks pretty good. The colors are vibrant, and the enemies look pretty good. The enemy AI, while standard fair, do get a bit tough later on.

Storywise, I haven't gotten very far, but there's sufficient information. On the other hand, the reason I don't play it for too long is because I tend to get hand cramps with the the amount of strafing that is required. The keyboard/mouse setup doesn't have this because the WASD keys are quite far apart, but the D-pad is actually quite close. But it does allow me to at least finish one stage before the cramp starts. I wonder how it would feel with the standard DS...

Oh, the best part is the Online play, espcially on WFC. I sucked big time, but that's because I've only played the game for 2 hours before trying out the MP game. But I think I may have gotten the hang of it. Hahahaha. The maps are balanced, and there is much fun to be had... I can't wait to find 16 players playing at the same time.

Final Verdict? It's a great game. One of the must haves for the DS, mainly because it's THE FPS to play on it. Highly recommended.

Review Time again!

This time around I'll talk about Metroid Prime Hunters.

First of all, this is an FPS. Yes FPS. On a portable handheld console. How do they do it you ask? Well, the stylus acts as the reticle aim (mouse look), and the d-pad acts as move forward/backward/strafe left and right. And the L button is for firing the equipped weapon. How to change weapons? There's a large enough area in the touchscreen that allows for weapons, items, and morphball. Jumping is done by double tapping the touchscreen or pressing the A button. Overall, the layout while quite different from a mouse and keyboard setup, is actually pretty damn good. The higher the sensitivity of the stylus, the lower the accuracy but the faster the screen moves (as per mouse). The usage of the stylus/touchscreen is highly utilized with this game.

The graphics looks pretty good actually. The texture isn't PS2 quality but they are much better than the PS1. Infact, the game looks pretty good. The colors are vibrant, and the enemies look pretty good. The enemy AI, while standard fair, do get a bit tough later on.

Storywise, I haven't gotten very far, but there's sufficient information. On the other hand, the reason I don't play it for too long is because I tend to get hand cramps with the the amount of strafing that is required. The keyboard/mouse setup doesn't have this because the WASD keys are quite far apart, but the D-pad is actually quite close. But it does allow me to at least finish one stage before the cramp starts. I wonder how it would feel with the standard DS...

Oh, the best part is the Online play, espcially on WFC. I sucked big time, but that's because I've only played the game for 2 hours before trying out the MP game. But I think I may have gotten the hang of it. Hahahaha. The maps are balanced, and there is much fun to be had... I can't wait to find 16 players playing at the same time.

Final Verdict? It's a great game. One of the must haves for the DS, mainly because it's THE FPS to play on it. Highly recommended.

I'm gonna skip past the review in this post...

I'll eventually finish it off, but I have some much more interesting news. It's 1:37am in the morning and I'm still in the office. Time for a break... Right now, it is noon July 11 in the US (EST). So what does this mean? July 11 marks the day of the street break date for the Nintendo DS Lite. It's good news for Nintendo who's taking this current handheld console war by storm. Japan alone has had 2 million sales since its debut. And yes it looks a bit like an iPod. Feels like one too. I've got handgrease stains all over it and had to get a glasses lense cloth wiper thingie.

More interestingly is that Sony (executives, and not Sony fanboys surprisingly) has been spouting crap recently. Check them out here and here. Sony's been doing very bad PR for quite sometime, but for some reason, people are only noticing it now. I have to admit that I was one of them, but they provided an alternative platform from Nintendo at the time (and Nintendo had to screw up with the whole third-party deal after the SNES :/).

With the PS3, nobody will ever need a PC? I suppose there will be a keyboard and mouse peripheral later on? I sure the hell don't wanna type on a virtual keyboard (like the ones on touchpanels) when IMing, Plus I am not so ambidextrous to handle 2 analogue sticks to play FPS (and that's the only thing that's putting me off Halo 2 :D Love it for the atmosphere and dialogue). I can play FPSs just fine with the keyboard and mouse (or a D-Pad with the Stylus-NDS style). Since the PS3 can replace the PC, can I replace my hard disk in case of an utter system failure? Is there a recovery disk? I sure hope so.

I don't want to diss the PS3 (infact I will probably get it too after the mod+console price comes down in a couple of years), but the way the higher ups in Sony are (what's a kind work for fucking up?) handling the negative publicity quite badly. And the choice of words are important because you are trying to sell you product. Brand name will get you only to a certain point. Be smart Sony.

I just had a talk to my brother thru Skype yesterday, and he made a comment that I believe is coming thru. I think I am getting in touch with my gaming grassroots. Haha! How true.

Oh by the way, a link to youtube.com for much hilarity.

As Promised

Review: New Super Mario Bros.

The game is cute. Brings back to the classic platformer that Maro is known for. Interestingly enough, he lost all flying abilities (SMB3: Racoon, Tanooki, SM64: Flying Cap) but he retained SM64's butt stomp and wall jump. They added a couple of twists here and there (Look out with the mega and mini mushrooms!). But it's mostly the crazy platforming goodness that Mario is famous for.

The controls are very tight and respond quite accurately. The stylus was pretty much unused in the game, so, it's the D-pad and buttons only. And the thing is, you only need to run it with 2. Run/Shoot fireballs and Jump/Swim. The L/R buttons are used to view the map forward and backwards. Simple. Like I said, a real classic platformer.

What I am proud of is the level design. The see-saws from SMW are back, as are pipes for transports/secret rooms, pulley platforms from the original, moving platforms, donut platfoms, switches ('P' and '!'), pits, mushrooms, hanging ropes, secret staircases, mini-mushroom only areas, clouds, springs, spinning springs and many more. The level design is made quite well, and while some are fairly easy, some are... a pain and quite frustrating.

The 2D/3D mixture works well in the game, with the sprites and 3D rendered models blend very nicely with each other. Almost everything is animated and runs at a decent framerate. I have not had any problems with any slowdow of sorts.

The only gripe I have with the game is the saving function. You can only save after completing a fortress or tower. Only if you have beaten the game 100% can you save the game at any time.

I don't give a numerical rating for games, but I would say this is one game that you should get for the DS. Plus fr those people who started playing Video games during the PS1/2 era should take a step back and try it out. I mean, 3D is all nice and shiny, but 2D games rely wholly on gameplay to sell. And gems like this makes it all worthwhile.

More VG stuff...

It's 3:15 a.m. on a Sunday morning (Dammit, Sweden should have won!). I have to wake up in 5 hours to get some work done in the office. Plus the fact that I can't stop sneezing and having a running nose doesn't halp with the sleep either :/

I played on Mario Kart DS Wifi and from the looks of it, I suck. Haha. But that was before I went to Gamefaqs.com and did a bit of reading. Right now I'm just doing practices (tho I still kept losing). Maybe I'm not doing something right... Gotta try some other neat tricks.

Right now I have 11 games on my NDS.
Advance Wars Dual Strike
Castlevania Dawn of Sorrow
New Super Mario Bros.
Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time
Metroid Prime Hunters
Brain Age
Goldeneye 007
Trauma Center: Under the Knife
Animal Crossing Wild World
Viewtiful Joe Double Trouble
Super Mario Kart DS

I will give each game a quick review of sorts in each upcoming blog entry. Right now I think I should get some sleep. Cheers.

More gaming-related post

Currently listening to lozow.mid (Legend of Zelda Theme (NES version)) - Checkout VGmusic.com

I played my NDSlite again last night. And I seriously enjoy the games I am playing now. Which prompted me to check out VGmusic.com to get some old school midis. Yes, midis! In this new age of mp3s, divx, wma, and other formats of digital audio, I am listening to midis. But I am rather (not really) surprised at the quality of the midis that are downloadable in VG music. Some of the rearranged/remixed/medleys/whatever nots pieces, are of excellent quality. Of course the original composed music must be great as shown by Legend of Zelda's composer Koji Kondo.

Legend of Zelda is known for its cinematic composition which makes it comparable to John Williams (of Star Wars, Close Encounter of the Third Kind, Harry Potter fame).

For thos interested in dance/trance kind of music, I would suggest Rockman/Megaman soundtrack. Especially the remixes. Or if you want Grunge/Rock there's the more recent Guilty Gear series.

I guess this classifies me as a gaming geek/nerd. But the music *is* simply good. Also, try and check out the older Nobuo Uematsu (Final Fantasy) compositions. I think they're better than the recent ones. Yoko Shimomura (Squaresoft/Square-Enix's Mana series' composer) and Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Xenogears) as well.

For now, I'm gonna enjoy the jazz remix of Super Mario Bros.' themes by djpretzel from Over Clocked

Cheers.

WiFi-ness

I played Metroid Prime Hunters yesterday. Online. And it felt goooooooood. The game did not feel laggy at all even tho I was connected to my home adsl. I tried to run it at a local starbucks, but it blocked the required port, and I could only connect to the net but not NWFC.

I fought some guy named OniLink online, and got my ass whooped. Hahaha. But it felt really good. You know what does this mean? It means, portable online gaming is available to me! :D N more sitting at home (tho I still need to find a wireless point with the ports made open) and gaming all day long. Wow.

My DS Friend Code:
Metroid Prime Hunters 3221-9453-3136
Mario Kart DS 3694-3928-4974

Now off to work!

DS Lite

I think I might be transforming this blog into somewhat into a video game blog. Hahahaha.

For your information, walking in Low Yat, Bukit Bintang and Sungai Wang Plaza for 3 hours straight with no stops is very tiring business. Especially if you're recovering from a cram earlier in the day from trying to climb a 45 degree angle hill on a bike. (My poor legs still haven't recovered yet.)

After much questioning and probing, I got a NDS lite, with 230VAC charger, the screen protectors, a Supercard, 512 SD flash card, a firmware mod, and a hard cover case to store everything. The NDS lite comes with a spare stylus which is nice (incase I lose the first). All for about USD320 (RM1200). The price of the NDS lite itself was USD170 @ RM650, which must say rather expensive (the orignal NDS is priced at a modest USD118 @ RM450). Ok I admit I might have gone a real binge buying the whole thing, but it is worth it.

I chose Enamel Navy (since they didn't have the Jet Black model which is an EU exclusive) as my color and off to home I went.

The result? Beautiful. Simply beautiful. I'll take pictures of the thing later on or something :D

I finally got it connected to my Linksys wireless router last night. While I wasn't able to get anything done apart from connecting worldwide and yet getting nobody because of Streamyx's crappy ass line (the only reason why I haven't played Guild Wars in the past week is because my connection to the GW server is horrendous! I coudn't farm and explore the game :/). On the other hand, I got a good grip in configuring the WiFi connectivity for my NDS. Which literally means that I might visit a hotspot with comfy chairs and play.

Now I need to get one of those spectacle lens cleaner cloths to wipe the handgrease...

The New Console War

Not so long ago, two companies were fighting over something called the "video game market". On one hand was Nintendo. The other was Sega. Since then, Sega has dropped from becoming a harware provider and instead became a software developer. (I still love my Dreamcast tho). I don't think I should be labelled as the voice of reason, and these are my opinions. But I do have some sort of credentials. Systems I own/played are:
Amiga (I think or was it a Commodore 64. Hahaha can't remember.)
Nintendo: NES (owned), Gameboy(owned) SNES (owned and loved it), N64(owned),GBA (owned),
Sega: Megadrive (played often enough-Neighbor's), Gamegear (owned), Dreamcast (owned and loved it.)
Sony: PS1 (owned, second batch I think), PS2 (owned, first batch buggy as hell.)
Microsft: Xbox (Haven't played it in a while...)

Recently, with E3 2006 over along with the ridge racing, giant enemy crab which you atteack its weak point for MASSIVE damage (Sorry Sony, it's just too damn funny. Your presentation sucked.), there are 3 consoles (and 1 OS but that's a different matter) to worry about...

1. Sony's Playstation 3. A high end gaming console that will cost a gamer USD599 for its premium hardware, and USD499 for its core console.

Pros: Best graphics (supposedly, but however showings at E3 displayed that Microsoft's Windows Vista with DirectX 10 proved much better with Crysis), Blu Ray Technology, Wi-Fi (premium), HDMI (premium),20GB Harddrive(core), 60GB harddrive (premium), Flash card reader (premium). I won't add more, you can check out the link for details on the hardware. Good thing as well is that it runs on Linux with homebrew capabilities. Lots of 3rd party developers as well, a nice mix of Japanese and American. Also, it's online capable and can communicate with the PSP.

Cons: Expensive. USD599 for premium? That's RM2300+-. That's without adding the shipping, middleman profit, and the rest. I can a good computer with that. Blu Ray technology might end up being like the old Betamax tapes or LD. Why did people stick with VHS, VCD and DVD? because it's cheaper. I think with DVD being accepted as the mainstream optical data storage technology, I doubt Blu Ray will get a good foothold anytime soon. I would say about 2-3 years before Blu Ray gets anywhere. The SDK (Software Development Kit) costs USD10000. Yeap, 10 grand. Which means Games are more expensive. It's approximated that the games for PS3 will cost anywhere between USD60 and USD80. Even if you do work in the US, it's still helluvalot expensive. Also, the best thing that they showed in the communication with the PSP was that it was a rearview mirror for Ridge Racer. I mean... come on, show something better! I won't doubt that it can be better, but the demo lacked strength. The console is the largest by far. You can probably kill someone with it. I am also assuming it is quite heavy too.

2. XBox 360. It's already out. It's online. It has great graphics. Already has a foothold in the market. It also has 2 sets (core and premium)

Pros: It's Microsoft. Live Anywhere where you get to use the same ID when on Xbox, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Vista. Upgradable to HD-DVD, Wireless gamepad (premium). Huge library of games. Halo 3. Wi-Fi (USD100 dongle). HDMI. VoIP. The price is reasonable (USD299 core and USD399 premium) and the extras for the premium, are really extras unlike the PS3.

Cons: It's Microsoft. Black screen of Death (TM). Overheating. VERY loud optical drives, American/European developers mostly. Limited to Action, Sports adventure games, and not enough RPGS (same problem faced by the original Xbox). It's Microsoft. The console is also quite large.

3. Nintendo Wii. Well... I was a Nintendo Fanboy once (during the SNES-Mega Drive/Genesis days), I'll try not to be biased :)

Pros: Great 1st party support. And from the looks of it, they're beginning to attract 3-rd party devs too (Square-Enix are back!). The Wii-mote! The Wii-mote! Go catch the trailer! It's thin (3 DvD boxes stacked next to each other). Virtual Console (which not only allows you to download and play NES, SNES and N64 games, but also Megadrive and TurboGraFx 16 games. Not only that that, with the VC, you can download homebrew games.) Gamecube games compatable. Much much cheaper SDKs (USD2000) which allows for much much cheaper games. Can you imagine that? CHEAP games! WiiConnect24, Wifi, Bluetooth, DS connectability. All this at less than USD250 (final pricing is unconfirmed as of writing.)

Cons: The name. Wii. Lower GPU compared to Xbox360 and PS3 (tho it's been quoted that the final product will be a bit more better looking than the original Xbox). The Wii-mote could put off some players and devs. I mean, what can you do with it? Lack of a harddisk. The brand name (Nintendo=games for kids). No HDMI. No Dolby 5.1

Overall, I think 2006 will be a good year for the gaming industry. Sony has opted for the better hardware and technology = better gaming. Microsoft has opted more towards Online (with Live Anywhere). Nintendo... well, Ninty's trying to get the common people, the average joes to join in and have some fun. Yeap.... it's going to be a good year indeed.

Cheers.