Finally. WiiWare is available in Australia.

Now if only we knew how much games cost ?

Updated the Wii. However all thats to be seen are the shop prices. As in points. What exactly does that equate to in real life ?

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What a year. My heroes. Creative people who’ve influenced me. Given great inspiration and enjoyment are all passing on.

Gary Gygax, Dave Stevens. Now Arthur C Clarke.

Inevitable but sad.

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Gods !

I’ve been dry of WoW for almost two years. Now Blizzard have finally produced Starcraft 2. Sob.

It looks good. Essentially a three dimensional isometric view with all the same units. Just with more detail and more explodey bits.

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Yes. An oldie but a goodie.

Just shows that solid gameplay trumps flashy graphics and wizbang features any day of the week.

Been playing it all weekend whilst we’re in Terrigal.

Is the best game that will play on the notebook.

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The new patch to Supreme Commander does two things.

1. No longer requires authentication against the DVD when it starts. Yay !
2. Can now show the frame rate using a keystroke command

I was shocked to discover that my machine was only managing 7.5 fps. 8800GTS video cards aren’t too expensive at around $450 – $500.

The problem is that I need to get a new power suplly as well. Tack on another $200 for a good one.

The game itself only cost $100. Now I’m facing $700 to play at a decent clip. Had I not discovered the fps button I’d never have thought it was running slow.

Yeesh !

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Having burnt out on WoW some months ago. I transfered my Burning Crusade pre-order to Supreme Commander.

I got huge mileage out of Starcraft. And since Blizzard are way too busy I figured Total Annihalation’s creator couldn’t go too far wrong.

Just started playing. Love the graphics and detail. Being able to scroll from ground level all the way back to global. Dual screen is a revelation. I’m currently using dual screens on the desktop. Great to have a game that does so as well.

Running on an AMD64 X2 4200 with a gig of RAM. The graphics card (6600GT) isn’t too flash but it seems to be coping with 1920 x 1080 and 1280 x 1024.

The game starts hard. Air cover is necessary right from the beginning. Its good to be playing a self contained game again. Time is a precious commodity.

RTS goodness.

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Finally made it to this pop culture expo. Last years was huge but I was too busy to go. Cleared some time and went this year. The last convention I went to was quite some time ago. I dimly recall it was the last time that Dave Sim came out to Australia. That would date it as being in the previous millenium.

The very fact that its a pop culture expo means that things have changed quite a bit. Most decidedly for the better. Theres a broader spectrum of stuff. So there are girls about. Not just girl friends (although theres quite a few of those too). Predominantly teenagers although there were some families and older folk (that would be me).

There was a good selection of activities. Good use of the Olympic Park facilities was made. The expo was centralised into two areas. The main area occupied a small number of rooms for the talks / guest appearances and a general amphitheatre showing videos to take a break.

The dealer rooms were all held in one expo hall five minutes away from the main section.

There seemed to be less international guests and of lower profiles. Nonetheless they were entertaining. The headliner was Summer Glau. She did Q & A on Friday night and Saturday. She was very open and generous during her talks. A good sized crowd of folks turned out to see her.

Clare Kramer gave a very good talk. Came across as very confident and relaxed. She handled a good range of questions. The best were about her opinion on what qualities are needed to be a good actor.

Kevin Weisman also gave a confident and funny Q & A. His experiences on Alias were great. Amusing that he was the only one allowed to improvise. He was very surprised about the widespread love for his part in Clerks 2.

Mira Firlan was interesting. It was good to discover some of her background and what drives her as not just an actor but as a person. She filled us in on the goings on in the post B5 world. Along with her new work in Lost.

Its interesting that everyone nominated their current work as the most favourite (if they had to choose). A common running theme was that TV work was extremely hard and long. That fun and practical jokes were not appreciated by the production companies.

The surprise for me was Crispin Freeman. I like anime but have a preference for manga. Although I don’t read or watch either all that much. I caught the last half of his dubbing class. This involved hauling audience members out to go through an actual dubbing. Immensely amusing and showed exactly how hard it is.

I only caught the last five minutes of his mythology talk as I’d gone to the Kevin Weisman Q & A. What I heard was great and I’m sorry I missed it as Kevin was also doing a session on Sunday. Crispin had quite a rockstar following. He actually looks quite like a manga / anime character. He was signing at a stall and was asked to sign a girls chest (a boobignature if you will). Much to the bemusement of his significant other or agent.

Paradoxically with the huge popularity of Japanese manga and anime in the US. All the production companies are having trouble staying in business. That corners and consequently quality was dropping.

The dealer room had a good mix of the usual suspects and new stuff. Kings Comics were upfront with a good sized stand. They had Gary Frank as their guest. I’m not a big one for signatures or sketches from anyone so I just hovered for awhile.

Weta Collectibles had a small selection of excellent products. Chief was the sculpts from the HellsGate London computer game. They had the game trailer playing. Quite impressive graphics but it didn’t seem to have any game play in it. In the display cases as well, were a range of fifties inspired science fiction weapons. Complete with case and ammo. Very cool.

Also present were the new Superman Returns sculpts. The boxes were quite large so I’d imagine the actual product is too.

Towards the centre was artists alley. Two back to back stands of local artists which was great to see.

There was a group called Novus Ordo. They specialise in costumes. They had a good selection of well made Star Wars costumes and props (R2 units, carbonite Han Solo and such). Various costumes were modelled both in the hall and outside. Their Mara Jade and Grievous costumes were exceptional.

All up it was a fun experience. A good selection of guests and activities. The facilities were good. Food was readily available if a little expensive. At least there were healthier alternatives to the usual fare. Parking was easy.

Would I go again ? Possibly if they have guests who interest me.

BTW excuse the graininess of some of the shots. I was practicing low light with no flash. Faster lens are in mind.

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Been mucking with Brain Training. Prodding my cortex with simple problems.

Amusing thing was I started it up at twelve thirty in the morning. The doctor suggested I get a good nights sleep as its better for the brain.

Not wanting to disagree. I went to bed.

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Man I thought I dropped a ton of cash when the PS2 launched. The Australian price for the PS3 is going to be $830-$999. Thats a truck load of moola. And I can just imagine its only got one controller. Then I’d want a couple of games. So at least $1200 easy.

Looks like we’ll be going the Nintendo Wii. I’ll take the funky name and cheaper price tag any day.

The DS has been racking up some heavy usage around here. Really looking forward to some of the new games too.

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I try to eliminate as many cables around my desk as possible. Somehow they just keep proliferating.

The nice black Nintendo DS I picked up in Hong Kong stopped charging last weekend. I figured it was the battery so I rang around various stores to get a replacement. During the process, I thought “Gee wouldn’t it be great to have a USB to DS charging cable. Then I could shelve the UK power adaptor they gave me.”.

Something along the lines of the sync / charger that Apple use to supply with the Ipod. Where the sync / charger cable gives the user the option to plug into a USB port or a normal power point by way of the included power adaptor.

Some dedicated intarweb time turned up the Powerwave battery and charger set. Discovered the local games pusher carried it discounted (the salesguy said breathlessly) at twenty dollars. Never mind the Powerwave site stating that the recommended price is nineteen ninety nine.

Back to the point. Powerwave have put alot of thought into this set. They include two usb to DS cables along with the charging dock, battery and a screwdriver. The dock also has a switch to flip between battery charging and DS charging.

A little experimentation showed that the DS charging function had ceased to be. An ex charging port. Seriously not happy but at least I have a work around. Nintendo’s repair service charges are quite high given the original cost of the unit.

So in this case, I’m happy to have some additional cables around the place. And my kids can continue Mario Karting.

Guess I have an excuse to buy a DS lite now.

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Blizzard are peddling World of Warcraft 2 week trial disks for $2.

An insidiously addictive game waiting for the unsuspecting.

Whilst in Shanghai and Hong Kong it was impossible not to notice the advertising. Elves beckoning from billboards. Orcs challenging from the sides of buses. Even Coke cans were exhorting me to login.

I will resist the siren call. I’ve been free for over a month.

I don’t miss it. Really I don’t.

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This has done the rounds of the news sites. Its definitely disturbing the lengths that Blizzard have gone to making sure that people aren’t cheating in WoW.

Warden goes quite far in analysing everything a computer is doing whilst connected. I’m sure that Microsoft would get raked over hot flaming coals with a sprinkle of napalm for doing such a thing.

Oh wait, apparently Microsoft were caught doing something similar as well.

In my case, Blizzard won’t find much as my Windows partition exists solely to run WoW.

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The PSP looks like a great gadget. Unfortunately it looks very fragile and I have two little boys. So I don’t think it’ll last the distance. Even if I was buying it for myself.

I do find it amusing that Sony keep releaseing new firmware upgrades to prevent homebrew apps. Although homebrew is probably driving some sales. Judging from the various forums alot of people who have PS2 and PSP are finding it frustrating that most PSP games are ports.

The Gameboy Micro on the other hand looks a possibility around the house at the moment. My gaming budget is skewed towards the kids since I can only afford so much. Most games are variants on old themes / styles as well so I’ve “Been there. Done that.”.

The bizarre thing is that Nintendo are planning to charge a premium for the Micro even in Australia. There will only be a thirty dollar gap between the DS and the Micro when its released in November. It does however fix the biggest issue thats prevented me from buying one, the screen. It better be given the size.

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E3 has been a regular stormfront of new products. New consoles and new new handhelds.

The disappointing thing is that there didn’t seem to be any really new types of games. All the launch titles are quite ho hum. Nothing really good other than better graphics and sound. Microsoft and Sony have tried to sidestep this by boosting / plugging the media centre functions of their offerings.

The new machines themselves are quite interesting. I like how everyone is going to wireless controllers. The PS3 controllers look unusual. I’ll reserve judgement until I’ve played with one. Most likely we won’t see anything truly interesting until developers really push the new hardware. IBM are making off like bandits in this current round of new consoles.

However I think that only the hardcore will jump in first. Microsoft timing Halo 3′s launch for the same time as the Sony PS3 launch is amusing. However limited backward compatibility on the 360 would annoy me if I had an Xbox.

Most likely people will wait and see. I will be. Not that I have much choice. Australia is usually pretty low down the release schedule most of the time.

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XBox 360. Playstation 3. Nintendo Revolution. Sony PSP. Nintendo Gameboy (they say the DS is complementary).

Thats a heck of alot of gaming options. Granted they don’t all compete in the same areas. Still thats spreading the gaming dollar pretty far.

Given the choices I’d most likely go PS3 as its backwards compatible with my existing library. We’ve got a small but significant library of games that I’d hate to waste. Mostly around Eye Toy and the karaoke stuff which the kids really like.

I do like the new Xbox. The old one left me stone cold. It was a big ugly box. At least Microsoft made the controllers smaller. Watched the MTV promo for the 360 which was high on hype and low on content.

However I’m leaning towards the PSP as my gaming needs have shrunk to miniscule. I’m happy to do the serious gaming on the PC and sneak in some arcade action on the PSP whenever.

I don’t have a pressing desire to upgrade just yet. Lets wait and see when GT5 comes out. Sony have been very good at claiming technical marvels but the Playstation is universally acknowledged as hard to program for. Alot of developers only just got the hang of the PS2 and they’ve rolled 3 out. Add to this, Sony have been very hit or miss in terms of features and design lately.

This Christmas is going to be a bloodbath one way or another.

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Dropped into EB Rhodes to have a look round as all the shops are open until 7pm. Handy since its on the way home.

What should they have behind the counter ? A sample Sony PSP. Using my Jedi mind powers I summoned it to me.

Its an incredible bit of kit. Nicely built. Hats off to Sony on the design. It draws you to it. Didn’t get to examine its innards. The EB assistant only allowed me to have a quick play.

I can see how it attracts fingerprints and dust. The matt black screen dominates the whole front face. The buttons are clustered around the edges. Hanging on for dear life. The thumb joystick is very cool.

Fired it up with Ridge Racer. The screen really knocks you out. Its a huge bright widescreen bit of LCD goodness. Clear and bright. Ridge Racer’s intro looked spectacular.

It will be mine. Oh yes. It will be mine.

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Yes. I’ve been busy wandering around Azeroth. I know I have an addiction but I can control it. Right ?

Its been a long time since a game has grabbed me quite this strongly. Not since the days of Starcraft in fact. Say thats another Blizzard product. Having not bought a game for quite awhile. Strong reviews in early December prompted me to part with some readies. Even though it was a subscription based service.

Whats great about the game is the balance and scope. The game balance is exceptional. All the character classes have strengths and weaknesses. Just drop into the forums to read all the whinging about whose character class is the suckiest. The class development breaks up into specialisations. All this forces players to decide on strengths and specialties.

Add to this professions which give a good mix of activities. This isn’t new, mind. Various other games have these concepts. The upshot is players need to learn how to play each character to best effect,

The binding ingredient is that Blizzard foster cooperative team work as much as possible. Key to this is the optional player versus player mode. Players cannot pillage other players for their possessions. Helped along is the fact that death is a minor inconvenience.

Most quests are achievable if players cooperate as a team. This is where the character class strengths mesh to best effect. To balance this, Blizzard have a funky formula to distribute experience points based on player level disparities. The higher the level disparity, the less experience everyone gets. So this encourages groups of similar level players.

Skill development comes through practice. So its not surprising for players to be offering free enchantments or goods simply for the practice. Its not unusual to be wandering around and have something given to you or have an enchantment cast on you by a passerby.

Not having played a MMORPG before I can’t compare. The sheer size of the world and the graphical representation is huge. I’ve only played Alliance so far but the different lands are depicted well. From the snowy dwarven lands to the ethereal elven forests.

Little touches like the visual reflection of your wardrobe. Animals playing. Will of the wisps hovering around tree boughs. Giant statues in front of Stormwind and Iron Forge. Player pets. Mounts. Its all these little things that add up to a fun place.

The only downside is the incredible shortage of money and the high price of goods. Standard shops run a huge markup. Which is why the auction house is so popular. Its a constant scramble to earn money to pay for skills upgrades, equipment and raw materials. Again being forced to make choices and tradeoffs between skills and gear.

The economics is interesting. Money is injected into the economy by players finding (through quests or wholesale slaughter) money or materials / goods to sell. This is offset by money flowing out whenever stuff is bought at in-game stores or players buy skills. But only Blizzard would know the ratio.

Is there inflation ? Part of this is governed by the class population / distributions and the number of players at any one time. Which would set the demand.

The main problem with the game is its popularity. Blizzard totally underestimated the “smash hit” level. They are attempting to remedy the server overloads. But its a constant battle. Of the game companies, Blizzard have the most online game server experience and are very responsive to customer feedback. I’ve only experienced small outages and problems.

So its quite a complex game. Certainly I can see where all the development time went and why they discontinued Diablo. Its one game that I’d recommend reading the manual. Plus its the most sizeable manual I’ve come across in awhile.

A hearty two thumbs up. I hope to see you at the next Goldshire dance party (clothing optional).

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