Xbox Experience Noise Test

Of all the things the new Xbox experience is going to bring, one of the best things for me is the ability to install games to the hard drive. Not only will they load quicker but also cut the amount of noise the thing makes. Even with a newer Xbox the sound it makes when the DVD drive is spinning is a little ridiculous compared to the Wii or PS3. So exactly how much quieter will it be? Watch this...



Peace, love and respect... but mostly PEACE!

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Endurance Test

I've been going through my game case recently trying to actually finish off all those games I keep saying I'm going to finish off... one day. So far I'm doing quite well with another one finally complete (Conan on the 360) after not touching it for around 8 or 9 months. One of the biggest problems I find is that if I put a game down for a length of time I can rarely be bothered to relearn the controls again. Often it's not as difficult as I think it'll be it's just this mental block I create. The thing is I'd left Conan with only the final boss left to fight, so why hadn't I just done it and traded it in for something else months a go?

Within around 15 minutes of asking this question the answer arrived with a resounding thud... the kind of thud sound that banging your head repeatedly against a wall would create. This boss wasn't a test of skill, it was a test of endurance. Six bloody stages of endurance to be precise. Each time I got his energy bar down to zero I thought that's it, I've done it, but the game had other ideas. The thing transformed into something else and I had to do the same again... and again... and again. I realised I wasn't actually even enjoying playing it anymore, which is a shame as whilst not a fantastic game the rest of it had been lots of fun. It was only my stubbornness of not wanting it to get the better of me that carried me through. There was no joy having got there though, just relief. I could finally get rid of it knowing I beat it, and I couldn't get rid of it fast enough! So 85% of games go unfinished? Someone tell the developers of this in case they make a second one please!

There are no endurance tests to join the GAMEOV3R Forum, just some unpleasant jobs for the newest member...

Seven Trials?

I finished Prey on the 360 last night. Quite an old game now but available very cheap. It's not bad but a little disorientating when the floor can suddenly become the ceiling. None of the puzzles are actually that difficult but it can sometimes be hard to actually see where you're supposed to be going.

Anyway that's not really what I'm writing about... the bit that confused me more is a short level right near the end where you meet up with your spirit Grandpa. In it he tells me I must complete seven trials but strangely I never found these, neither were they ever mentioned again. In fact within around half an hour of being told about this I'd finished the game. Maybe the game was intended to be longer and these trials didn't make the final version? Maybe the developers thought I wouldn't notice? Anyone know what the old fool was on about?

"Earth's savior doesn't want the job." There are worse jobs on the GAMEOV3R Forum believe me...

Transfer from 20Gb 360 Hard Drive to a 60Gb 360 Hard Drive

If you're upgrading from a 20Gb 360 hdd to a 60Gb you know it works thanks to Lee's post earlier this week.

I also made the change to a 60Gb 360 earlier this week and interestingly enough I had a chance to compare the software and cables supplied for the transfer to the 60Gb with those supplied when transferring to a 120Gb as this seems to be where the confusion lies.

So let's play Spot the Difference!

60Gb120GbAt first glance it may appear to be the same but a closer inspection, if your eyes are good enough to read the text on the disk sleeves, you can see that the software is different. The transfer won't work if you use the 120Gb software unless you're using the 120Gb hdd. The part number for the 60Gb hdd is X13-45328-04 and that's the one you need for the transfer to work.

I suspect that the newer 60Gb software works with all sizes of hdd considering that Microsoft only tell you to make sure the destination drive is the same size or larger than your original source drive and that all mention of the 120Gb size has been removed from the packaging and booklet.

If you have an old 20Gb that's ageing faster than it should then the 60Gb is a great option. The one I have operates quieter and has a manufacter date of 08/08 so I'm hoping all the gremlins have been ironed out seeing as my old console was an 06 version. You will need to have lots of patience while you wait for MS to post you a cable, thanks for saving me the pain Lee, or you could ask Gamestation if they have a Transfer Pack. If you trade in at Gamestation, as I did, they'll very kindly loan you your original hdd to take away with you so that you can transfer all your content which makes the whole deal sweet and very straight forward. Just make sure they give you the right software. The Gamestation shop that I went to only had the Elite Transfer Pack so despite them being helpful and loaning me the pack they didn't have a clue if it would work or not.

Another chance to migrate to the GAMEOV3R Forum?

Xbox 360 Memory Upgrade Offer

Update to the post regarding those Arcade Xbox 360 console owners without enough free space for the 'new experience' arriving on November 19th.

Go to this web page to see if you are eligible for the upgrade offer. Apparently you'll be offered either a free 512MB memory unit or a discounted refurbished 20GB hard drive. Not a bad deal at all really.

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Xbox 360 20GB to 60GB Data Transfer

I'm posting this purely in the hope that people thinking about upgrading for whatever reason to the Xbox 360 with a 60GB hard drive will come across it among all the posts on forums that say this doesn't work.

I recently upgraded due to a faulty DVD drive in my old 20GB 360 and took the opportunity to go for a larger hard drive due to the recent price drop. The form you fill in on the Microsoft website in order to obtain the free data migration cable only mentions the Elite console, but I crossed this out and sent it off anyway. During the three weeks I spent waiting for the cable (yes, three weeks Microsoft!) I've heard advice from game shops that the process may not work for the 60GB console. I've also read numerous posts on forums from people that say they have tried this and it doesn't work. I couldn't find a single article that said a 20GB to 60GB transfer had been successful. I was getting a little worried and thinking my only option may be to buy a Microsoft Memory Unit and transfer my saves that way. While not a huge outlay it's not something I really wanted to be having to spend more money on.

Anyway the cable turned up the weekend and worked a treat. Everything was transferred over in around 40 minutes. With the licenses transferred everything is back to normal only with a bit more free space. The only reason I can think that others have had trouble is if the CD that comes supplied with the cable has been updated since the 60GB console was released and maybe the older kits intended for the Elite don't work?

EDIT: Further Reading...

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Experience This

The new Xbox 'experience' is set to arrive on November 19th but first there are a few hurdles to overcome... the update requires 128MB of free space and therefore a hard drive is recommended for the optimal experience as some Arcade console users are going to be struggling for space.

The update is not optional so Microsoft have said that they plan to offer some kind of solution but haven't yet stated exactly what that will be. Users in this position are being told to keep checking xbox.com for details in the coming weeks. Free memory units for all? Discounted hard drive or memory units for affected customers? Either way if it ends up costing these customers for something they are forced to accept there could be some unhappy people come November 19th.

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de BLOB - Review

Gameov3r forum member FALLEN124ANGEL got his hands on de Blob recently. We haven't heard a peep out of him since. Judging by this review de BLOB probably has something to do with it!

de Blob is a new 3rd party Wii game developed by BlueTongue. The game starts with a cut-scene showing Chroma City, a peaceful, colourful place, suddenly getting invaded by Inkies of the I.N.K.T. During the process, all civilians are kidnapped and drained of all colour and freedom so that they can be forced to work in the now black and white city. However, 5 brave characters resisted the mass arrest and escaped to become ‘Colour Revolutionarys’. These are Prof, Bif, Zip, Arty and your character.

Before each level, you are given the choice of what mood of music you’d like to play to which range from Blissful to Jazzy, even one called Competitive! On the loading screen, your Wiimote pointer works as a paintbrush allowing you to scribble over the background while you wait. As you paint more, you get a treat of a comic book-style objective page.

You play as ‘de Blob’, a transparent, well, blob! The aim of the game is to restore colour to the now-dull areas of the city and stop the evil I.N.K.T corporation before they do any more damage. You do this by collecting the wandering colour capsules and paint the levels, trees, buildings, the lot. As you play through the levels, you encounter timed challenges set by fellow coloured creatures. These come in 4 different types: there’s painting certain streets in certain colours, as set by Arty, squishing I.N.K.T troopers, more often than not set by Bif, Zip normally sets timed sprints and finally there’s Prof who instructs you to restore main landmarks with colour. Mixing colours are easy and sometimes vital for some of Arty’s tasks.

The colours you can pick up are blue, yellow, and red from which you can mix into green, purple and orange. The maps are absolutely massive which helps to show just what the Wii is actually capable of. As you play through, you learn new moves to help you get about the areas of the city, such as the Zip-Jump, or Z-Jump, which simply requires you to lock onto each target in turn and jump for one to another. Once you’ve finished each stage, you unlock the stage as a speed-run mode.

You play the game using the Wiimote + Nunchuk combo. Controls are very simple and easy to pick up. As you’d have thought, you walk (or rather slide) by using the Nunchuk’s control stick. Other actions are locking on which is done by holding the Z button, jumping by flicking the Wiimote downwards, centering the camera behind you with the C button, rotating the camera around you by pressing the sideways buttons on the D-Pad and using the compass to show you objectives/challenges with the A button.

…and that’s just the story mode! As well as this, there’s a Free Paint mode where you can take as much time as you wish on any of the stages you’ve unlocked and a Multiplayer mode. In multiplayer, you have one paint capsule and the aim of the game is to paint as much as you can and rack up lots of points. The only thing is that the other player can lock on and jump at you to steal the paint so that they can get as much points as they can.

Right, I reckon I’ve been going on for long enough, so I leave you with this message, GET THIS GAME!! Definitely a 9.8/10 from me.

Thanks Fallen.

So the man from the Gameov3r FORUM! He say ... YES!! Did you get de Blob?

Space Invaders 'Even More' Extreme

Space Invaders Extreme on the DS and PSP has been one of my most played hand held games for a while now, and has featured here on the blog before. It really is a great update of a classic and I just discovered there is going to be a version released for the XBLA!

It'll be getting an HD makeover plus Jeff Minter will be doing the visualizers for it. It's also set to feature up to 4 player co-op and versus modes. Co-op allows players to take on the Arcade Mode with more challenging enemies but with a shared life pool. Whether this will be online or not is unclear at the moment and unfortunately we have to wait until 2009.

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85%

It is true that only 15% of gamers complete the games they play. A massive 85% of us don’t finish what we start!

I wonder what the figures would be for people that don't finish watching a movie? What if we’re faced with a bowl of ice cream or a Millie’s cookie? 100% complete I’m sure.

Not the fairest comparisons considering the length of a movie or the amount of time a Millie’s cookie would last in the hands of some Gameov3r members, compared to the time required to finish a video game.

So, are games too long? Too hard? Are there just too many games or are gamers a fickle bunch that move on to a newer, better game as soon as one’s released? Who says we only finish 15% of games we play anyway?

The 85% figure comes from Microsoft and is based on Achievement figures. This isn’t a figure representing a gamer obtaining all the available Gamer Points in a game just finishing the story/final level. It doesn’t in anyway represent Sony or Nintendo although I think that a similar percentage would be true for PS3 owners. The Wii might be slightly different, if the Wii is truly owned by a majority of casual gamers, we may well have a figure even higher.

Is something fundamentally wrong with games if hardly anyone finishes them?

If there is, then how are developers going to get us to complete the games we play? Making games shorter or creating compilations of mini games is one way and does seem to be the approach of some narrow minded Wii developers that are cashing in on the popularity of the console and it’s perceived casual market. Making games easier isn’t the answer although having a choice of difficulty levels certainly helps to make a game accessible for everyone. More often than not though developers force the player to play through on Normal or harder if you’re going to get any bonuses, unlockables or Achievements.

ATARI have taken a step in a direction. Maybe. Playing Alone in the Dark, a flawed game in many ways, presents the player with the opportunity to skip scenes, basically skip whole sections of the game thus providing the player with a chance to simply avoid a tough part of the game. Perhaps ATARI included this feature because Alone in the Dark plays so awfully that they thought there would be little chance of anyone getting to the end any other way and inadvertently find themselves being mentioned here. But maybe, just maybe, they saw the 85% and decided to try something a little different.

Who knows, maybe sometime soon 85% of us will finish the games we start.

Do you start what you finish or does it inexplicably get cut off halfway through? Many more jokes spring to mind, but now is not the time for toilet humour…… Gameov3r’s FORUM awaits…..

Wii Storage Solution?

It seems rumours of a hard drive for the Wii have been shot down by this translation from the Japanese press conference regarding Nintendo's solution to the storage problem facing many Wii owners.

Satoru Iwata said:
"We will make it so that, when there is not enough room on the Wii's internal memory, you will be able to purchase and download Virtual Console and WiiWare software directly from the Shopping Channel to an SD memory card. We will also make it so that you will need to go through just one process in order to transfer Virtual Console or WiiWare software stored on an SD card to the Wii console and then be able to play it. We would like to deal with this issue utilizing two methods. Since the updates to realize these new structures will require significant revisions to the Wii system, and these changes need to be made by taking care of a variety of different angles, this method will become effective beginning next spring. For some of you, this may be considered late. But please know that we really appreciate your cooperation and understanding. We are working hard so we can begin the service as soon as possible."

What I would hope this 'one process' means is that all games whether stored on your Wii or SD card show up as a channel available to play. If the game you select to play happens to be on the SD card the Wii would make room on its internal memory by moving a game/s to the SD card if necessary and then copying the game you want to play to the Wii and launching it all in a short space of time. If this isn't what is being described then this still seems like a bit of a half measure, especially considering how long we still have to wait. You still won't be playing VC or WiiWare titles directly from SD card or indeed any form of external storage. I can understand the piracy issues involved with doing that and lets face it with the R4 and similar cards on the DS and the 'Homebrew' channel on the Wii, Nintendo already have plenty to worry about there. I did think the solution would perhaps be more of a direct solution than what will be offered however.

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Nintendo DSi

Here it is then, the much rumored new Nintendo DS, the DSi. Arriving in Japan on November 1st and due in Europe sometime around Spring 2009. Features then...

• 17% bigger screens.
• Slightly thinner than a DS lite but slightly wider.
• "Audio enhancements", AAC playback.
• Built in 640x480 cameras, one external and one internal next to the mic.
• Built in browser.
• SD memory card slot (plus internal storage) for saving pictures and downloadable games from the DSi shop.
• Shorter battery life than the DS lite (depending on screen brightness) but a faster charging time.

For all those additions you do lose the GBA slot so no more GBA games or Guitar Hero on Tour.

Tempt anyone?

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