An April Fool’s Day to Remember!

As seen here: Let’s Watch Game Trailers in ASCII Art – Metal Gear Solid 4 – Kotaku.

Everyone, get your butts over to YouTube now.  I just checked and there is indeed a TextP option for the resolution.  It’s just…  Pure awesome.  I don’t know how else to describe it.

Oh, also, Koticku is the greatest joke I’ve seen yet.  That one was sheer brilliance.

I dont’ know if this will work:

Oh wells, I can’t get the TEXTp to embed, but this is one of the vids with it.

Oh, the great mind of greatness

Yes, I think that we have a winner here.  A pure example of brains and cunning.  So great that the tale will be shared for weeks to come.  Perhaps his name will go into the history books under brilliance.  Yes, indeed.

In all seriousness, if you’re going to try to steal something, why would you go ahead and happily admit it to the officials?  Then, bribing the authorities in hoping of “getting out of it”..  Yea, I can’t even process the right words to describe this man.

However, Justin D. May, I must admit one thing about you.  You most certainly are crazy, dumb, and brazen.  If anyone is playing Modern Warfare 2 now and reading this, please try to hunt this man down and laugh at him.

I personally don’t own Modern Warfare 2.  I’m also not in a position where I can attempt such a feat.  However, I still think this guy needs to be laughed at.

At the very least, he has his fifteen minutes of fame.

Well, this basically encompasses most of my own thoughts

Well, Gametrailers has finally come out with the review of the recent Pokémon game.  I can’t say that I disagree with their sentiments at all.

While this series is rather solid and effective at performing the tasks that it sets out to accomplish, the games are fundamentally hurt by the repetitive tasks.  This series has never required much thought, you might as well turn off your mind while playing the game.  There is no real challenge unless you are going against another live player.  This has been true since the first game that came out.  The games also need to branch out in more ways than just adding new moves and creatures to collect, seriously.

If GameFreaks can follow through and actually innovate in this series with the next installment, I’ll be floored.  For now, I shall continue to tell everyone these two facts: you can survive the game by hitting a total of five buttons (up, down, left, right, a); and that if you’ve played one pokémon game, you’ve played them all.

Despite my harsh words, these games are not horrid.  They just need to reinvent themselves.  I also have not explored all the side-games that are related to this series.  However, I cannot honestly considered the spin-offs to be innovation for the actual series.

Congratulations, Australia

For the last decade or so, I have been close friends with an Australian resident, Kat_Aclysm.  So, while I have not personally experienced the degree in which games are censored and scorned down there, I have heard quite a bit.  I’ve also had my share of anxiety since I have often sent down material to her that was more or less labeled as “contraband” down there due to their rating system.

However, it looks like those days are soon coming to an end.  News is surfacing that the new Attorney General, John Rau, who is replacing a raving lunatic known as Atkinson has a bit of common sense in his brain.  He actually has publicly stated that he supports the implementation of mature, or MA 18+, rated games.

So, on behalf of adults all around this globe, I do applaud you sir.  Now, if only Germany, the Middle East, and China would…  nah.

Source: John Rau open to R18+ rating, says campaigner | News.com.au.

My thoughts on Nintendo’s upcoming system

Well, in case anyone has not kept up with the news: last night, Nintendo made a brief announcement about a new system, the 3DS.  Now, from what I’ve read so far, this announcement was more of a small statement, so there are not many details.  However, the details that are available are quite tantilizing.

First, this is not a re-iteration of the Nintendo DS.  This will be a new line and new hardware.  So, I am hoping to see many improvements based on this information.  I have been really irritated that the DS doesn’t support the most up-to-date (even at the time of the release) wireless security protocol, WPA and WPA2.  So, Nintendo, please fix this.

Now, for the main thing of interest: 3D gaming without the use of special glasses.  I am quite intrigued, to say the least.  I’ve also seen several videos so far on how this can be achieved.  Most people who have commented on this announcement find it most likely that head-tracking will be the key to this technology.  For anyone who is unfamiliar with the concept, here is a video of a rather brilliant demonstration:

If this is the type of technology that will be implemented, I am certain I’ll be pleased.

For now, the news is still rather fresh and sketchy, so there isn’t much to go on.  I also don’t know how much of the news being leaked is rumor and how much is reality.  Still, I am certain that I will be watching for any new developments on this device.

Source: What We Know (And Think We Know) About The Nintendo 3DS – Nintendo 3ds – Kotaku.

Confessions of a cheater.

First and foremost, I wish to admit that I have used Action Replays, Game Genies, and all that thorough my gaming lifetime.  If you are the type of person who thinks that the fact that I’ve cheated to get rid of those annoying headaches of grinds or just annoying games, well…  Sorry?

Anyway, I wish to speak of this subject for a moment and bring up the reasons why people like I cheat.  Whether or not you agree with my reasons, so that is your call.  Just remember: I am not ruining your game.

Oh, before I get any further, I want to make one thing clear.  I have a personal etiquette.  I don’t cheat on multiplayer games, even I can tell you that is no fun.  I only cheat against the AIs in games.  I also do minimal cheating in general, so in general, you’ll find that I have completed games honestly.

Now, here’s my main reason for cheating, this little game called Pokémon.  This game alone makes me cheat like crazy, and I will tell you why.  First and foremost: I beat this game when I was in 10th grade.  I know, the name and some functions have changed, but admit it, the game is the same.  You’ve played one pokémon game, so you’ve played them all.  The only real difference between the games is the critters that you can catch.  The mechanics have been tweaked only slightly, so none of the “impovements” change my statement.

Second, I was 16 when the first Pokémon came out, I am now much older.  So, I just don’t find it right to go walking around looking for kids to trade pokémon with.  So, I have gone to various legnths to try to get all the critters.  In the GBA days, I had multiple GBAs and a GBA Player for my Gamecube.  I also had the Pokémon Box.  So, I simply bought two cartridges and tried to get as many of the guys all on my own.  However, this is a very tedious process.  Hence, I turned to the action replay to make my life easier there.  I boosted experience so that I could get through the game a bit faster on one cartridge and so on to try to complete my deck.  I never really achieved much though because I quickly became bored.

Once the DS editions came out, I found that I did not have the desire nor funds to get multiple editions of a DS, let alone the game.  Also, I determined that the DS doesn’t support the type of security I put on my wireless network.  While I could turn the security on and off, this would also require reconfiguring about 10 parts of my network each time.  That is simply a waste of time and effort to occasionally go online with my DS.  I’ve tried the Nintendo WiFi adapter as well.  Let’s just say that I was never successful and leave it at that.

So, instead, I hunted down encounter codes.  Oh, not to mention, Nintendo in their kindness made things harder on the fan that doesn’t want to make their life center around this game.  If I wanted the event pokémon legitly, I would have to stop caring about nearly all other games and keep tabs on when and where to go to get these things.  I have a life, so I just don’t find that to be a very worthwhile endeavor.  Hence, the encounter code became my friend.  With that code alone, I was able to fill up my deck with fully customizable critters without giving myself a huge headache.

So, will I cheat at Pokémon games?  Most definitely.  I feel no remorse at all.

Note, I have also cheated on other games like GTA and Fallout 3.  Sometimes, I just want to play the game or mess around.  The developers put in cheats in these games, so I am just having fun in a way that they approve.  Anyway, I wanted the tank to blow up people!  If I have five tanks, even better.

On my final remarks, I want to remind anyone reading this that most games that I’ve played involved no cheating with the exception of guides.  Even then, I try to go in blindly first then turn to the guide after my butt has been kicked.  In the end, no matter what your morals are on this issue, have fun with games.

Now, for the reason I put up this article.  The encounter codes are out, and I’m going to abuse them!

here AR codes – Pokemon SoulSilver Version Message Board for DS – GameFAQs.

I must admit, I am intrigued

During the last few months, I’ve taken a few quick peaks at the new title coming out of Atlus, Trauma Team.  I have to admit, the premise is so insane and off the wall that it is attracting me.  I can’t imagine a more insane choice of doctors, even Scrubs would have to bow to the insanity of this cast.  They are simply out there.

However, I am held back by my past experiences with this series, namely, the first entry on the Wii.  I simply couldn’t stand the controls and killed patients left and right there.  However, perhaps I just didn’t give it a good enough try, or perhaps I should have tried the series on the DS.

I’ve also spotted the DS titles on sale for cheap on Amazon.  I may, I repeat: may, decide to go ahead and give at least one of them a try.

As for this title, I think it is fair to say that I will wait until it is on sale.  Even with the insanity that is weaved into it, I simply cannot see this game to be worth fifty dollars.

Official Trauma Team Website.

Yes! Only to become Mweh..

I find this to be a very acceptable thing indeed.  I really hope that this means I can buy a simple USB external harddrive and extend the memory capabilities of my 360.  To be honest, I have been afraid to use my 360 for much in regards to installations, downloads, and whatnot because 20 GB just simply is not a lot of space.  Well, I also don’t want to blow a fortune on items that can be revoked with the press of a button, but that’s besides the point.

I’ve had several games that I’ve been tempted to install onto my hardrive to improve performance.  I’ve also wanted back-ups of my downloads.  This here looks like it will do the trick.

Now, to back away from my excited ramble for a moment, I shall quickly explain what it is that I am excited about.  You see, for years, the X-box 360 has had only two choices for memory.  First, you had your memory card, which was simply not really a viable option.  It is only a 512 MB card that was propriety hardware.  Simply expensive and impractical.  Next, you had the internal harddrives.  Now, any smart person bought a 360 with a harddrive.  Well, I bought mine in the first wave/era, so I was stuck with a 20 GB in a generation where space became important real quick.  Microsoft did provice upgrade solutions for those like me; however, the price of those harddrive upgrades were simply highway robbery.  To put it simply, I upgraded my PS3 from a 60GB internal drive to a 500 GB internal drive at half the price of the upgrade price for the 120GB 360 Harddrive that’s been on sale.

So, for microsoft to provide this solution is a breath of fresh air.  Now, just watch as they make it propriety hardware locked..

Update: Fully read the article, now.  I jumped to a happy point upon seeing this news, and even in the announcement, Microsoft has taken away my joy.  There is a 16 GB limit to the storage device capability, with another limit of only being able to use two storage devices.  So, Microsoft, you have toyed with the consumer yet again.  While this is still a good option for backing up files, this won’t be the great advent of wow that I was originally hoping it to be.

Source: Xbox 360 gaining USB storage support in 2010 update — Joystiq.