I love my Wii. It is not without its criticisms, but I am rarely given reasons to actively complain. My biggest irk in the last year, besides that three month stint it spent in the box right before Metroid Prime 3 came out, is the wired nunchuk controller. The Wii has few “next-gen” claims about it. It’s really only given that distinction for its chronology and not for any truly “next-generation” functionality. Motion controllers could have been solvent for the Gamecube and the cost would have probably just brought it in line with its Sony and Microsoft counterparts. Wireless controllers, however, make it seem like it belongs in this generation of gaming. For me though, the wire linking the remote to the nunchuk has always been enough for me to complain. It’s not a long wire and it rarely constrains my movement, but something about it makes me willing to pay, oh I don’t know, $30 for a wireless solution. Luckily the stars have aligned.

Nyko showed a wireless nunchuk attachment at CES that should be priced at $30 and is looking like a release by February. For thirty bones, there are attachments of certainly more dubious utility. I’ll be picking one up.

Link

Filed under: Gadgets | Technology,Video Games — Roy @ 4:21 pm

For the uninitiated: First there was Guitar Hero. It was exciting and innovative, so people played and sequels were made. Then after that franchise changed hands, Rock Band was born. The idea? Extend the fun of being a star guitar player to the other parts of the band and get your friends involved at the drum, bass and vocal positions.

Now, somebody out there wants you to never leave the house. The Stage Kit for Rock Band features an “Interactive Light and Smoke Stage Show” for the game on Xbox 360. It was found on GameStop’s website with image and description. While both have since been yanked, the page is still live with the release date of June 23rd. $99.99 is all you’ll need to soak up the last of your will to be productive.

If the word ‘Interactive’ means anything close to the lights and smoke playing with the beat of the music, employers are going to have to start giving out fat raises because the value of leisure time is about to skyrocket on June 23rd. And not because of the summer solstice.

Link

Filed under: Gadgets | Technology,Video Games — Roy @ 12:47 pm

MacWorld 2008 keynote is Tuesday. I, personally, will spend the morning furiously refreshing Engadget looking for ultra-portable laptops and aluminum clad Blu-Ray drives I really cannot afford. (Fortunately, Visa doesn’t know that yet) Until then, there’s a flash game of significant merit that might be worth your time. I have always wanted to be Steve Jobs. I don’t have a lot of dreams, but that one is on the list. There’ll be a poll on how depressing that is some other day. Anyway, this game puts you in his shoes collecting items for his keynote in Pac-Man-style, avoid-the journalists/ghosts gameplay that is sure to entertain the family for at least a commercial break during Sunday football.

um, go Chargers.

Link

Filed under: Video Games — Roy @ 2:25 pm

First, a spot of history: The Xbox 360 has a high failure rate, resulting in the Red Ring of Death (RRoD) which necessitates a trip to Microsoft for repair. Microsoft, for it’s part, has been taking care of these things, even extending the warranty for 360’s from one to three years. Repair usually takes weeks, though, and a lot of folks have been griping about the reliability of the 360 – the popular view holds that insufficient cooling is responsible for the failures. These Xbox’s use a 90nm process for the chips and ram.

Now, a 65nm process has been in the works for a while, codenamed Falcon. It’s not a new system, just a redesign of the existing xbox – new hardware, same games. It looks the same from the outside as well. But, this 65nm process means less heat is generated, and less power is consumed. As such, the prediction is greater reliability.

It turns out that the Falcon is here – has been for a while, actually – but it’s been snuck in quietly, presumably so people don’t avoid the old 90nm stock like the plague. But that’s exactly what I would do if I were buying another Xbox. Anyway, the Falcons first appeared in Halo 3 Special Edition boxes, but have also been spotted in regular units. After a few months of gathering data, a guide has been created to identify Falcons. I know you want the short version, but there doesn’t appear to be one – the guide isn’t even guaranteed to work. It’s just the best information we have right now. Anyway, follow the link, read the (first) post, and go score a Falcon!

Image shamelessly lifted from here

Filed under: Gadgets | Technology,Video Games — Max @ 3:35 pm

Microsoft recently released a snap-on keyboard for Xbox 360 controllers which greatly improves the text entry, and thus messaging functions, of the console.

I picked up one of the Xbox 360 Messenger Kits the other day, and it rocks. Basically, it’s a little thumb-keyboard that snaps onto the controller for text entry; presumably this was released to compliment the Windows Live Messenger integration that was added to the 360 via a dashboard update in spring 2007. The kit does prevent the use of the headset that comes with the Xbox 360, so a new headset with in-line volume control and muting is included, along with an instruction manual – I’m not sure who needs instructions, though. Installation consists of snapping the thing onto the controller.

The keyboard itself is a pleasure to use. Press a key, and the keyboard lights up in white – perfect for gaming in the dark. The keys themselves depress with a satisfying click; whoever was in charge of the tactile experience should get a medal. I find myself writing needlessly long messages to people online, complete with grammar, while I get responses of the “madden?” or “no work” variety. The unit is quite light, the controller isn’t much heavier with it attached, I actually prefer it with the chatpad (as it’s called) attached.

The only real drawback, in my opinion, is the price. $30 is a little steep for something that just doesn’t get used that much, unless you think you’ll do a lot of instant messaging from the Xbox. Since any USB keyboard will work for text entry, as will the on-screen keyboard, it’s $30 you don’t really need to spend – but you’ll be glad you did.

Filed under: Gadgets | Technology,Video Games — Max @ 1:41 pm

Halo 3. Prettier and more polished; you’ll still feel right at home if you’ve whiled away a chunk of your life playing Halo and its sequel. Graphically, the game is fantastic – the world of Halo in all its next-gen glory. The single player campaign delivers a satisfyingly epic end to the story, with full support for co-op play. Adversarial multiplayer is still top-notch, both in gameplay and matchmaking. But, you expected all of this…

What you didn’t expect were all the little features Bungie added to the package. Take Forge, for example: a tool for creating custom levels – you can’t change the actual map, but the type, number and locations of items can be varied. Along with the ability to create custom rule sets for games, Forge practically ensures that people will still be playing Halo 3 years from now.

Also new is video playback – gameplay videos are recorded, and snippets can be excised and shared from your bungie.net profile, be they images or video. Features like this aren’t things that sell games, but they do make you wonder how other developers get away with charging $60 for games that feel bare-bones by comparison. If you’ve ever wondered why Gears of War has such an inferior matchmaking system compared to Halo 2, you know exactly what I mean.

The game plays how you would expect: massive firefights with seemingly intelligent enemies, massive firefights with seemingly brain-dead enemies, and wild rides in a variety of locales on earth and elsewhere. The weapon balance has been improved, making multiplayer matches even more interesting. A new class of items, Equipment, has been added – this includes items such as the Bubble Shield, which is paradise when your shields are gone and enemies are still shooting – at least until they run inside the shield and then shoot you. Other equipment, such as Auto-Turrets, have more offensive roles.

In campaign mode, Halo 3 picks up right where Halo 2 left off. There’s no recap, so a quick review of wikipedia might be a good idea to refresh your memory.

Finally, this is a game that everyone with an Xbox 360 should own. It’s a top-notch game in every sense: graphics, sound, story, controls, single player, multiplayer, and overall presentation. None of the new features are truly new to gaming, but they’re so well implemented that the result is a game that truly raises the bar for everything that comes after it. Simply put, it’s worth every penny of the $60 price tag.

Filed under: Reviews | Guides,Video Games — Max @ 8:03 am