Category: Personal

I finally upgraded my Xbox 360 to Xbox Live, though it cost me over £100 to do so! Why so expensive? First, I needed to buy that official wireless adapter as a way of connecting to the Internet without the aid of cables. Due to the way my router is set-up in my house, it was impractical to run the long Ethernet cable from the router to the console (as the router was in the lounge, while the console was upstairs).

The wireless adapter cost £60, but luckily I had enough points on my HMV games card to take £10 off. Still, it is a bit much for this accessory… The next item I had to purchase to access Xbox Live is a 12-month Gold subscription. With this special membership, I can download playable demos, film trailers, music videos and Dashboard themes.

This so-called ‘Gold’ membership – an upgrade over the limited Silver status – cost £40 and it only last for one year… Once this is over, you will need to spend another £40 to remain a member on Xbox Live.

So that’s £90 spent already just to go online. For the Nintendo Wii, it was free and the Wi-Fi was built in to the machine…

But I haven’t finished yet, as I needed some Microsoft Points in order to purchase items available on the Xbox Live Marketplace. So this means spending a further £20 to get 2,100 points.

Now that I got everything required to play Xbox Live (wireless adapter, 12-month subscription and points) just how much did I spend? Well, that’s £110! But was it worth it in the end? Yes, absolutely.

The ability to play online games in multiplayer mode is fantastic and I had the opportunity to sample this experience for the first time while playing against MrSamuari (Jason) in Virtua Tennis 3.

There was a slight bit of lagging – due to the different broadband speeds – but it was playable. In fact, the tennis game was quite competitive between Jason and myself. He won in the end, but I will get him next time!

I wasn’t a fan of online gaming initially but since playing the excellent Mario Kart DS with a group of friends over the ‘net, I have to admit its addictive. Now that I have Xbox Live, I’m looking forward to playing the sublime Gears Of War with Jason, Josh and Nigel soon. This should be a blast (sorry, bad pun)!

So playing online is one great part of Xbox Live, the next is the ability to download new stuff for your console including new game levels and Dashboard themes.

In the case of Dashboard themes for example, for only 400 Microsoft Points you can have the Heroes look (see the image above). There are many more to choose from but surprisingly there wasn’t any on 24 or Formula One…

In addition you can download playable demos for forthcoming Xbox 360 games. So with that, I’ve downloaded two games I was interested in: Top Spin 2 (a tennis game) and Forza Motorsport 2 (Microsoft’s answer to Gran Turimso). Both were free.

But the best part of Xbox Live is the ability to communicate with your friends with instant messaging thanks to the new update. MSN Messenger works quite well on the Xbox 360 and even though it was quite tricky to type messages using the controller, by using a spare USB keyboard ‘borrowed’ from my old Apple iMac, I can now type out my messages just like I do if I was on my computer.

So despite the high costs to get going, it is worth every penny.

As a big fan of Guitar Hero II, the opportunity to play this fantastic music rhythm game on Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is finally here. Ever since it first appeared on Sony’s PlayStation 2, I always wanted to see how it would look and feel in high definition form, with downloadable content to expand the game play.

Well, now I have it thanks to my sister buying an imported copy and am I happy with it? Difficult to say as the visuals do look amazing in HD but the same cannot be said with the new and exclusive X-plorer guitar controller…

I have read many stories online regarding an unresponsive whammy bar (it has something to do with the build quality) and initially I thought I was lucky to have a working guitar controller. Alas, this wasn’t the case and the first time I’ve play this on my Xbox 360, the whammy bar refused to work…

So instead of getting a replacement – which proved tricky as it was brought in Germany – I’ve decided to find a solution with some help from Google. And after typing some key words like ‘Guitar Hero II controller problem’ and ‘Xbox 360 guitar’ into the search engine, found this useful site.

I followed the instructions carefully and made the necessary small changes to make the whammy bar work properly. After taking it apart, unloosing the two important screws and rotating the device even so slightly, it now works! Good news you would think but unfortunately the whammy bar is so loose, it now ‘flops’ around…

Despite that, I can still enjoy the game. Just completed the Medium Career mode without any difficulty and my next step is to play through Hard to unlock more new bonuses. As for the game play, there is a hint of delay when strumming compared to the PlayStation 2 version. It seems to have a tiny lagging issue and even though I calibrated my Samsung HDTV to stop this, I have to strum the notes a fraction more early to play it.

Nevertheless, the new songs exclusively for the Xbox 360 are not that bad to play to (apart from My Chemical Romance) and the high definition visuals are spectacular. It just a shame that the X-plorer guitar controller doesn’t match the feel and quality to the SG controller available on the PlayStation 2…

I finally received my very late Christmas present from my sister, a plush Rosie!

Rosie is a sweet blue cat that I simply adore in Animal Crossing: Wild World. She is my favourite character in the game and when she left Leaftown (the name of my village), I was devastated.

But now Rosie is here to stay and despite looking purple than blue, her smile and cuteness will always cast a lasting impression to me!

As you can tell by my previous post, I wasn’t that keen on Sony’s next generation console, the PlayStation 3. The high cost and the lack of some serious games at this moment of time made me switch sides to Microsoft.

When the Xbox 360 was first release back in 2005, I wasn’t that interested as I enjoyed the wide range of games available on my PlayStation 2. But over time, I began to appreciate the quality of the games on offer and was impressed by what it can do (such as online play and downloadable features).

By purchasing the Xbox 360 (the Premium version with wireless controllers and 20-gigabyte Hard Drive), I finally understand what the fuss was all about with this video game system.

It is a fantastic console and to play games in near high definition (1080i) is amazing. I am aware that there will be a new version of the Xbox 360 (named Elite, which has a bigger capacity Hard Drive and HDMI port) will be coming soon. But after reading some articles online, the Elite machine doesn’t offer True High Definition as the HDMI only supports 1.2 (unlike the PlayStation 3 with 1.3). In addition, the new colour scheme – black – means it costs more…

Nevertheless, I am happy with what I have right now. I have yet to connect myself to the Xbox Live Marketplace, as I will need to purchase that so-called ‘Gold’ membership (it cost £40 every twelve months). Plus, I will need to purchase a special wireless adapter for online play (due to the router being in the lounge and the Xbox 360 upstairs).

As for what kind of games I am playing, I have a choice of six quality titles to enjoy.

The most addictive game right now is Gears Of War. It looks absolutely gorgeous and the game play is so absorbing. Damn addictive and initially I was rubbish, as I kept on dying… But after playing a few hours, I became use to the style of playing this great action game by considering how valuable hiding is!

Virtua Tennis 3 is another fine game. I used to play this to death on my Sega Dreamcast and with this latest version the simple game playing experience is still there. The visuals certain look impressive – very close to being photo realistic.

Speaking of photo realistic, Project Gotham Racing 3 features 80 of the most exotic sports cars. The ability to race around the streets of New York, Tokyo and central London is a unique experience and with the great graphics, you can spot the familiar landmarks as you race past them at over 180mph!

Test Drive Unlimited is another racing game that I like to play and even though I remember playing Test Drive II on my faithful Amiga 1200 back in the early 90s(!) to race a wide variety of cars on an island with over 1000 miles to drive on is simply unbelievable.

But for pure sensation, the opportunity to use everyday objects to kill a shopping mall filled with zombies is a strange but satisfying experience. Dead Rising reminds me of Powerstone (using items lying next to you as weapons) crosses between the horror of Resident Evil.

And last in my gaming collection is Crackdown, which is a clone of True Crime: Streets of LA. I don’t understand what I have to do as the gaming environment is pretty huge and they’re so many people to shoot or run over!

Currently, I am playing all these great games on a small CRT television set. Luckily, it supports 60 MHz. But I am planning to get a nice Samsung HDTV soon. This will make a big difference when playing in high definition.

At last! Sony’s next generation console is finally on sale in Europe and despite the high price of four hundred and twenty five pounds, I am not that enthusiastic to rush out and buy one.

Why not? I’ve played many of the launch games available on the PlayStation 3 and wasn’t all that impressed. Sure, it looks gorgeous when you hook it up to a massive high definition television set but if you look beyond the visuals, the game play hasn’t moved on since the PlayStation 2 days…

Take for example, Formula One Championship Edition. I’m a big fan of video games based on my favourite sport and after playing this on a 62-inch HDTV I felt the game playing experience all too familiar… In fact, it was exactly the same game as F1 06 on the PS2! Just more pretty that’s all.

Ridge Racer 7 was another game I’ve played. Powersliding these outrageous racing cars is actually quite good fun but I’ve seen it all before… on a PSP.

Sorry to sound all-negative so far in my post, but I expected more from a console that is supposedly the most powerful on the market.

It’s funny to think that I did pre-order this machine months before the Japanese launch and now, that day has finally arrive for European gamers.

The price is certainly off-putting and I don’t see the justification of buying an expensive games console just because Sony are moving into a new digital format with Blu-ray. If there wasn’t a Blu-ray drive, then it will be significantly cheaper.

In addition, the news that the European (PAL) PlayStation 3 will use firmware updates to run old PlayStation 2 games is not great. Without the necessary hardware (the Emotion Engine) to emulate the PS2 games in its original form, the games will feel and look different (or at worst, won’t work at all).

As for the current games on offer, none of them look that special – graphics and game play wise – apart from MotorStorm. The killer or triple ‘A’ titles have yet to appear e.g. Metal Gear Solid 4 and Gran Turismo 5. So the need to buy one on launch day is not there.

I would rather buy the Xbox 360 instead. Got the Nintendo Wii and even though it’s a fantastic little console, there aren’t any new games available on the system since it was launch. The Xbox 360 has a wide range of great games including Gears of War and Dead Rising and I look forward to buying this new console to satisfy my needs.

Maybe if there is a price cut or more suitable games are out on the PlayStation 3, then I will buy one. But for now, I will say no thanks.

I haven’t played The Sims 2 for quite some time – around two years – but since I have purchased all the expansion packs, I’ve decided to install all these onto my PC and experience the new game playing features in my favourite life simulation video game.

Playing The Sims 2 is a fantastic experience. I love the social interaction by controlling each of the little characters. Yes, sometimes I can be a bit cruel by finding amusing ways to kill off unwanted Sims… But it is part of the game’s charm. The ability to manipulate each Sim to your own action in making friends, working in jobs and buying stuff is part of the appeal.

The latest expansion pack is Seasons and for the first time ever, the Sims environment is affected by different weather conditions. In the past, a typical day in the life of a Sim is usually bright and sunny… Pretty dull to be honest, but this new feature gives a realistic feel to the changing of the four seasons.

In addition to the Seasons, the ability to have pets brings a whole new set of game play to the popular Sims. I believe the success of Nintendogs on the Nintendo DS has made EA (the developers of the game) to add this in to make it even more lifelike. The AI of the dogs and cats are pretty impressive, mimicking the behaviour of the real life animal (from scratching the furniture to chasing the postman)!

One thing for sure, without the lasting appeal of The Sims, I wouldn’t have got into Animal Crossing! Both of these games are similar in concept. Don’t have any goals to complete and yet, compelling to play and addictive.