All posts by Seferia

I exist. I play video games. There you go.
Typical rambling

Congratulations, Australia

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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.

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My thoughts on Nintendo’s upcoming system

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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.

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Confessions of a cheater.

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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.

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I must admit, I am intrigued

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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.

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Yes! Only to become Mweh..

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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.

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This is… Newsworthy?

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Well, I decided to pick on the news for today, since video games just aren’t providing…  Ok, they are providing fun topics, but I want to talk about something different.  So, I went to Google News and I found this:

Super-sized mother determined to become world’s fattest woman in two years | Mail Online.

I think my brain just broke.  Ok, this person is overweight.  They are unhealthy.  So, what do they decide to do?  …They decide that they want to gain even more weight to make a world record.  This is admirable?

Really, is this some sort of admirable act?  Because I don’t see why this person should be encouraged by anyone.  However, I read bits in this piece about how people have sent this women items to help her gain weight.  Just… wow.

Now, does everyone need to be a tooth-pick?  No.  However, you don’t encourage someone to break a world record by making oneself unhealthy.  It just should never be done.

Typical rambling

Oh, Sony…

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Sony, Sony, Sony.  Yes, I am going to get your Move, but still, Sony…  This just smacks with arrogance.  I mean, do we really need to get to mudslinging in the console wa-  Oh right, we already had that from way back in my youth.

Does it make business sense to downplay your competitors by pointing out their flaws?  Yes.  Is it the smoothest move around?  Probably not.  I am quite glad that they showed gameplay along in this advertisement, but perhaps they should have just brought up the positive points without the comparisons?

Oh, who am I kidding?   Every company on the face of the Earth does this sort of stuff.  Perhaps not to this degree, I mean, they use “studies show” instead.  So, I should expect this sort of attitude.

Anyway, I have to be honest, I did enjoy the commercial.

Typical rambling

Mini-review: Piece of junk peripheral.

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Well, I come today to speak of an annoyance that I originally thought may possibly have some potential: the pokéwalker.

pokewalker

This tool, which I originally thought was a potentially useful item has turned out to be nothing more than a hassle.  Here is the premise that it was sold to me on (granted, I didn’t do full research at any point): that this device would be useful in power-leveling pokémon due to the fact that the counter could be tricked (I will get back on that).   Now, here is the reality: this device should never be used for leveling pokémon, ever.  Not unless you don’t plan on using them.   For starters, you can only level a pokémon a single level per walk.  Second, if the said pokémon does level, it does not queue you on the additional abilities that you should have access to.  Instead, you lose the chance to learn those abilities all together.  So, this is the worst way to level an effective pokémon.

Now, this device can be easily tricked.  I’ve been able to trick it into thinking that hundreds to thousands of steps have been taken by some rather simple tricks.  First: simply wave your hand up and down.  This will get the device to think you are taking steps.  Thus, you can get it to gain watts just by sitting at your desk or on your couch.  Next, I’ve had the thing clipped to my bag and then simply drove on shaky road.  That alone gave the device enough jults that it awarded me 30 watts.  Quick math here, but that is 750 “steps” for a 10 minute drive.  Hence, I can see very few people taking the cue to walk around as this device is supposed to convince a person to do.

Now, there is one useful thing that this device does provide.  There is a mini-game in which a person can catch wild pokémon.  This single mini-game alone makes up for the pathetically limiting leveling scheme that is implemented (though in retrospective, given that the device has a person miss out on evolution and move choices, I suppose that the one level limit is good).  In general, catching a wild pokémon on this device is rather simple: get ten watts, pick the mini-game, click on the bushes with !s, weaken the pokémon, then catch it.  Of course, each path only has about 6 choices of wild encounters, so it is rather limiting there as well.

All I can say is that I am glad that I didn’t have to pay extra money for this peripheral.  It simply would not be worth it if it did not come packaged with the game.  Now, I can provide thoughts on the game; however, for fairness, I should wait until I’ve messed around enough to unlock all the game-play choices.

Reference: Pokémon Heart Gold & Soul Silver – PokéWalker.

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I shouldn’t want this, but it is too cute to not want.

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I will be honest, this looks like a childish game.  I am certain that it is targeting children with the design of the characters.  Yet, despite that fact, I can’t deny that it is completely adorable.  Perhaps I am a sucker, perhaps I am insane, but I want this game despite how childish it appears.

Is there anything wrong with that, though?  Absolutely not.  I can indulge in silly things like that and find contentment in my existence.  For instance, at the moment, I have a guilty obessession with Endless Ocean.  The game, honestly, isn’t the greatest.  However, I just love it.  I love dolphins;  I love sharks;  I love the idea of diving; and I probably would never get to experience this stuff in real life.

Oh wells, here’s to loving those unique queer games that get overlooked by the X-box Live “hardcore” idiots.

Source: Monster Hunter > Thread – Felyne Spinoff Trailer.