Xbox 360: After it sold out!

The local news says it was the #1 toy and of course I knew that because I was at Wal-mart at 11:45PM November 21st with my dad’s Grand Cherokee ready to buy it, but 15 people got there first and it got sold out. Went outta line to look at the display model for 30 seconds. Had $450 reserved for it. Then when I drove back I pleaded that I wanted him to drive into Target at 6:30 AM so I could be 1st in line. He had to take his vehicle into St. Paul, MN. I had my Jeep Cherokee with no license plate to drive. Knew it was going to be sold on Ebay 2x that amount. I don’t have a pay pal or a card. Parents won’t buy it off Ebay. I even got Project Gotham Racing 3 and Perfect Dark Zero. I have to wait until January when it’s in stores. It’s not just any toy; it’s a next generation console with HD graphics and Project Gotham 3!



I never did get mine :( I feel horrible.

Saw PSP with HDD | Working Designs filed Chapter 7 bankrupty

I saw a 4 GiB PSP HDD from Datel (the British videogame peripheral manufacture). The device boots from the memory stick duo drive and the HDD clips onto the back of the battery department. This can be used for AAC, MP3, and game saves. Datel doesn’t say how this affects battery life. As I see it the HDD isn’t used all the time. When in the media player the MP3s are streamed and play for an hour. I guess PSP fans’ dream has come true. It’s probably the best Christmas present this year.

Having 128 kbps MP3 files instead of 64 kbps AAC doesn’t bother me. The improvement in space doesn’t matter to me. Finding a new device that’ll play AAC files is not worth it.



Even though the PSP with HDD looks like a brick, I’d carry it around and can fit in my pant’s pocket. How much it will cost?

In recent news, the RPG developer and publisher Working Designs filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy two days ago. It couldn't afford to stay in business because there are more RPGs now than 5 years ago. IGN says, "Working Designs final games were expensive to produce and were too obscure to make gains" Game Arts (developers of Lunar Silver Star Story, Lunar 2 Eternal Blue, Grandia games) got Ubisoft to publish their future games. Likewise, I haven’t been able to play Lunar games yet. I rather read a review because there are smarter gamers who play it than me.

Working Designs has once released Magic Knight Rayearth on the Sega Saturn despite the company having lost source code in a hard drive dump and had to reconstruct it again. They lost money publishing it in the states because their fan base wanted them too further leaving the company in debt.

Computer I asked for Christmas to improve my gaming experience by 50%.

Systemax™ Dual-Core AMD Athlon™ 64 X2 4400+ / Microsof® Windows® XP Professional / 1GB DDR / (2) 250GB SATA HDDs / DVD±RW Dual-Layer / DVD/CD-RW Combo / Media Reader / ATI Radeon® X700 256MB

Emulating Marvel Super Heroes Vs. Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, Raliant Silvergun, Daytona USA, Daytona USA 2 in MAME

I was reading reviews of what RPGs are coming to United States in 2006. There are seven of these including Final Fantasy 12, Disgaea 2, Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana 2, Grandia 3, Suikoden V, Xenosaga Episode 3, Kingdom Hearts 2, and whatever else comes out. Those are the only ones I can think of now.

And I am thrilled I got Marvel vs. Capcom - Clash of the Super Heroes running on my PC using MAME32. I own Marvel Vs. Capcom for Dreamcast so it's legal. It is 45.2 MiB uncompressed (22 MiB ZIP). I’m wondering if most DC games in the fighting genre are around 50 MB. The best part is when you insert coins (or hit start) the female goes, “Lets go crazy!” The music is like Street Fighter and Mega Man. It’s like Street Fighter 2 Turbo or plays like it. On the 2nd level I get beaten. Then I got bored of the MAME version and played it on DC instead. I got to the 3rd stage using the controller (I don’t own an arcade stick). Maybe I should! The controls in the emulator were somewhat goofy although I used a game pad.


Marvel vs. Capcom

Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter

Raliant Silvergun

MAME

Also I downloaded Daytona USA Twin Arcade (own it for DC also) and the game wants to network, but there is no network. I want MAME32 to override it. I also have Radiant Silvergun ROM (which works with a ST-V BIOS).

Plus, I downloaded 19xx, Air Change Blade, Gunbird 2, Daytona USA 2, GigaWing 2 , King of Fighters ’94, Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter. Pro Gear, and Radiant Silvergun from a ROM server. I’ve also been looking for IKARUGA without luck (also own it for Gamecube). I’ll remember to ask for Marvel Super Heroes vs. Capcom next time I’m in the game store.

Meanwhile, the UPS mail man brought a HP ink jet printer to the door and told me it was for our family. Someone is getting a computer for Christmas. My mother wants a laptop to go on world wide web. I asked for an Athlon 64 X2 processor and 1 GB RAM in a new case.Who the hell knows.

Revolution tech specs Revealed

I found the official Revolution specs from Nintendo. Nintendo believes that high resolution graphics don’t need to be HD therefore reducing the manufacturing cost by one half. Revolution is 2.5x the polygon output of the Gamecube. The Hollywood is based on the same agriculture as the Gamecube. We know that Nintendo will have 104 MB of T1-SDRAM, 16 MB of EDRAM, and 512 MB of internal HDD space to store ROMs and gamesaves. Revolution will have some cut down version of an IBM dual core 64-bit processor. Media will be single and dual layer DVD. Nintendo technical team is working with the original ArtX engineers. ArtX worked with Nintendo to build the Nintendo 64 and Gamecube. We’ll have to see if Nintendo will package some free ROMs at retail! Hmm, the core system is expected to sell for $150 USD and games for $50 USD.

Known Games in development

Legend of Zelda
Metroid Prime
Kid Icuras
Super Mario 128
Super Smash Bros Melee Online
Ubisoft First Person Shooter (Far Cry Instincts)





Other technical specs

• WiFi with NDS
• Approx 2.5x better graphics than Gamecube
• Gamecube controllers ports and memory card ports on the right side
• Controller has a gyroscope
• NRV Controller used for NES/SNES games
• NRV Controller has analog stick attachment
• NRV Controller has spring loaded triggers
• Final version is smaller than the E3 prototype
• Neon light boarders the DVD input
• Revolution logo has DVDs for “Os”
• Fully compatible with Gamecube SDKs
• Launch date during Thanksgiving 2006
• 100% backwards compatible with Gamecube MiniDVDs.
• Plays movies for free
• Emulates N64, NES, SNES and quite possibly Sega Genesis and Gameboy
Advance
• Two USB 2.0 ports
• USB 10/100 RJ-45/Eternet jack.

Care to comment?

First of all is Nintendo right with the controller? Is the controller a revolution?

Gaming over Wild Blue Information

Here is my wikipedia article on my broadband ISP written mostly by me. I'll try to descibe my MMORPG experience over satellite in Wisconsin. The Winter cold does not affect my connection!

Wild Blue Communications is a relatively affordable Ka-BAND satellite internet service provider in the United States covering most of the geography. The Ka band (kurz-above band) is a portion of the K band of the microwave band of the electromagnetic spectrum. Ka band roughly ranges from 18 to 40 GHz.




The headquarters is in Greenwood Village, Colorado even though local transmissions are licensed out to stations in other states such as Wyoming.

The maximum bandwidth subscription is 1.5 Mbit/s down (256 kbit/s up) and always slightly less than that. The basic package of 512 kbit/s at $50 USD is approximately three times as expensive as dialup. The satellite equipment is approx $299 without professional installation. WildBlue claims superior performance both in terms of upload and download speed and also latency through its use of newer satellite technology.

First Person shooters are a big problem because of the 2 to 3 second latency between satellite and ground server, but MMORPGs for some reason are quite playable with no slowdown most of the time. The first person shooter requires the location of the node, what weapon and health the node has, and who she/he is firing at all in real time. MMORPGs are turn based combat so the player node bandwidth isn't as much. The recommended web browser for Wild Blue is Mozilla Firefox because WebPages load faster when surfing internal hyperlinks. Internet Explorer, Netscape, and Opera are fully supported.

WildBlue uses a 28 x 26 in (508 x 660 mm) mini-dish and external satellite modem to bring their service to customers anywhere in the USA. The modem connects to a PC or Mac much the same way a cable or DSL modem would, via RJ-45/ethernet to a network card. The modem updates it's firmware automatically.

The orbital Ka-Band commutation satellites used for Wild Blue is WildBlue-1 with some additional help from Anik-F2 satellite. WildBlue-1 was launched into low orbit early 2005.

Randy visited | Bought Magna Carta

What did I do the last 4 days you’re asking? Play Star Ocean 3 - Till the End of Time and Wave Race Blue Storm on TV and stare at the web browser. The action-time battle system is pretty cool in Star Ocean 3. I am not suppose to use one character to fight everything, but it works so I do it. My characters have powerful enough weapons to win the battles.



Not the smartest of choices, but buying another Xbox 360 game would’ve been silly without the actual Xbox 360. So instead we went over at Toyriffic in Hudson, WI to buy Magna Carta Deluxe Box Set for $60. It wasn’t even my first choice. I got confused with all the games. I wanted something new and would’ve got Half-life 2 if I didn’t already own it. Magna Carta is another anime RPG. I must have 50 RPGs! Gees. I remember when I had only one console RPG! (Sometime in 2000)

Then my friend and I played ESPN NHL 2K5, Winning Eleven 8 International, and Katamari Damacy (weird ass game from Namco). Not my cup of tea, but I might play it on Wednesday. I shall play more videogames and read less Internet. I scored an own goal on myself, but won anyways. Randy sucks.

We talked about Wisconsin things such the Taurus RAGING BULL MODEL 444 .44 Magnum REVOLVER he wants to buy in the future for hunting deer or using at the target range. I bet it’s on his Christmas wish list too. Here’s the play list Randy and I listened to while driving around in River Falls, WI and Hudson, WI. 35 degrees that day. 25 degrees today with chance of light snow which is usual Wisconsin weather. 55 degrees down to 25 degrees in 24 hrs.

1. Alan Jackson - I don't need the Booze (3:15)
2. Garth Brooks - The Thunder Rolls (3:42)
3. Brooks & Dunn - She's Not The Cheatin' Kind (3:27)
4. Big & Rich - Big Time (3:56)
5. Dwight Yoakam - Guitars, Cadillacs (3:05)
6. Tim McGraw - She never lets it go to her heart (3:03)
7. Tim McGraw - It's your Love (3:45)
8. Brooks and Dunn - Little Miss Honkeytonk (3:02)
9. Tim McGraw - For a little while (3:33)
10. Dixie Chicks - Wide Open Spaces (3:35)
11. confederate railroad - Daddy Never Was the Cadillac Kind (3:44)
12. Gretchen Wilson - Redneck Woman (3:30)
13. Garth Brooks - Rodeo (3:52)
14. confederate railroad - When you Leave that Way (4:12)
15. confederate railroad - Queen of Memphis (Club Mix) (6:07)
16. Big & Rich - Rollin' (Ballad of Big and Rich) (4:50)
17. Garth Brooks - To Stand outside the Fire? (3:51)
18. Allison Krauss - When You Say Nothing At All (4:07)
19. Alan Jackson - Chattahoochee (2:28)
20. Brooks and Dunn - Ain't nothing about you (3:21)
21. Alan Jackson - Mercury (3:38)
22. Garth Brooks - The Dance (3:40)
23. Garth Brooks - American Honky-Tonk Bar (3:32)
24. Tim McGraw - My best friend (4:39)
25. Deana Carter - Strawberry Wine (4:39)


I picked up the Mario Kart DS and it plays as well as Super Mario Kart should. If you like Nintendo characters you’ll like it a lot. My favorite character is either Mario or Peach. I’m a fan of the N64 and SNES tracks. I believe in order to unlock the remaining 4 I had to place 1st in every one of those on 150cc.

And I need to check up on the registration of Century College yet and take an orientation. I’ll be taking some required writing, math, and speaking some English report. I shall record MP3s at home when I’m confidant.

If I went to Best Buy to spend money today I’d bankrupt myself. Being a smart lad. I won’t buy the expensive computer hardware. I could get those insanely popular Apple iPods Gen 4, but the fact remains I have two mp3 players already. I want an Xbox 360. And Nintendo hasn’t given me any idea what they’re developing for Revolution! It’s impossible to get excited for it.

Here’s my Trance playlist I play in my room while I read internet game reviews and drink soda.

1. Paul van Dyk - For An Angel ’94 (7:45)
2. Underworld - Dark Train (10:05)
3. ATB – 9PM till I come (3:15)
4. Push - Journey of Life (rank 1 remix) (5:45)
5. Rank 1 - Airwave (4:33)
6. Cygnus X - Superstring (4:58)
7. DJ Sasha & John Digweed - Enjoy The Silence (7:45)
8. BT - Flaming June (3:20)
9. Atlantic Ocean - Waterfall 2002 (Original Mix) (5:07)
10. Jacob & Mendez - Moondust (Airbase Remake) (9:16)
11. Underworld - Born slippy (9:44)
12. Sasha - Xpander (9:36)
13. Armin Van Buuren - Solar Stone (5:53)
14. Cygnus X - Positron 2002 (Marco V remix) (4:06)
15. Chicane - Offshore (1997) (3:05)
16. Armin Van Buuren - Blue Fear 2003 (7:33)
17. Moonman - Galaxia (Solar Stone Remix) (5:06)
18. paul van dyk - another way (3:25)
19. Push - Universal Nation (5:50)
20. ATB – Hold You (Club Mix) (5:03)
21. Armin Van Buuren - Astronauts (8:27)
22. DJ Sasha & John Digweed - Always (Psychedelic Martini Mix) (3:39)
23. ATB - Don't Stop (3:40)
24.) Binary Finary – 1999 (3:25)

Bob’s still working at Home Depot in Minnesota. He said to me they’re working him hard. He’s likes those rock. We haven’t seen each other for months because he’s always working. Last time I saw him was when Star Wars Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith was in theaters.

This life of mine really sounds interesting don’t it?

Bought 2 new NDS games | Slow friendships these days mates

Tonight I’ve been listening to Cygnus X – Position 2002 over and over again. It’s a trance song and the female vocal has a nice voice. At midnight I bought Mario & Luigi Partners in Time and Mario Kart DS at Wal-mart. I’ve heard that Mario Kart DS has most cleverly executed game play and therefore simply the best Mario Kart ever created.

WITC called my house asking if I want to continue classes in January 2005. After what happened last year to me. I can take it though. I’m strong. In CCNA 1 class, I haven’t read as much as I should have which failed the class for me. I’m pissed off I don’t have many friends there. Friends come and go. But I knew I didn’t get help and none of the other students are gamers. I mean I really should read that book. Computers are my life. We’re suppose to work like bread and butter. Doesn’t seem too, but I’m focused. My future employer’s agent who interviewed me last Friday probably seen my current webpage with all the game pics, game list, room pics, stuff by now and it might’ve been a mistake. It was to prove I could design webpages which is now true. I should’ve worked more on it. With so little information I find it hard to add.

I’m afraid of writing game reviews. I’m afraid I’m not good enough, but that didn’t seem to stop me in the past. My older webpage has a whole bunch of reviews



I am going to forget owning Xbox 360 this year because Microsoft recalling the entire stock they sold and the shipment back to the customer isn’t suppose to occur until 2006! The CPU heatsink is defective in 33% of the Xbox 360s released in the United States. What’s worse is the Windows partition on the HDD gives critical errors surpassing X360s with the fatal heat sink issue. When the Xbox 360 shuts down suddenly it’s a heatsink problem. When it shows the Screen of Death, it’s a operating system problem.