Free Non-Loader

From the number of news reports today it appears that the Wii Freeloader and Twilight Princess homebrew hack are dead thanks to new firmware update 3.3. Of course you can always opt not to download it although how long it'll be before a game forces it on you is anyones guess... and my guess is it'll be on the SSBB disc. I wonder where that leaves Datel and all the people who have purchased one already?

Check out the Gameov3r FORUM, in the words of Tony the Tiger it's grrrreat!

Anything You Can Do

Firstly an apology for the lack of posts lately. Holidays and work commitments have been difficult to work around and it may continue like that for the next few weeks.

Some more information is starting to come out on what Microsoft have up their sleeves for the Xbox. The title 'Lips' has been cropping up a lot lately and it's now revealed to be the Xbox answer to SingStar. In addition to the included 30 odd songs is a wireless microphone that features some kind of motion sensing which allows you to score points with your moves as well as your voice. You can also use and sing your own music apparently.

In another move towards trying to attract the more mainstream consumer, Microsoft are rumoured to be working on 3D avatars in a similar (very... very... similar) vein to Nintendo's Miis. You'll be able to create exactly the look you want, including hundreds of clothing options which sounds like micro-transaction heaven for Microsoft. It's possible they may be introduced into arcade and retail games as playable characters as well. I'm not really for or against the idea in principal, although if that's how they're going to look I must say I don't find them very attractive. Miis definitely have a certain charm these lack.

In other news Microsoft are starting to fear they are running out of ideas to copy from Nintendo and Sony. Several employees fainted due to the pressure of trying to come up with an original idea and the offices descended into pandemonium. Calm was soon restored when a nameless employee caught wind of a press announcement from Nintendo about a product that may be possible to duplicate making only minor alterations.

Why not copy this and paste it on the GAMEOV3R Forum

Assassin's Creed

He's creeping me ooouutt!! You don't have to make an ass of yourself in public... do it on the GAMEOV3R Forum instead

Naked Gun GTA IV Edition

Frank Drebin: That's the red-light district. I wonder why Savage is hanging around down there.
Ed Hocken: Sex, Frank?
Frank Drebin: Uh, no, not right now, Ed. We've got work to do.

You take a chance getting up in the morning, visiting the GAMEOV3R Forum, crossing the street or sticking your face in a fan

I Quit!

Or more to the point... do you?

What is it with people who quit early when playing a ranked game on Rock Band online? Well, not only Rock Band but it's this game that seems absolutely rife with them. It seems that if you're winning by a reasonable margin at some point in an online game I reckon 50% of the time your opponent will quit the game early. It's almost like you have to make mistakes on purpose to try and make sure it's a close game right down to the last few notes. Although even then I've had people quit on me. I started off sending them messages but frankly I can no longer be bothered and they just go straight on to my avoided player list but it does spoil the game. This game is badly in need of a patch to introduce some kind of disconnect statistic or something similar to try and lessen the number of times this happens. It's not clear to me if there is any punishment for quitting early but I certainly don't seem to be awarded a win when it happens. Having reached the 20 wins at Tug of War achievement I doubt I'll be playing that mode any longer as it just takes all the fun out of it. I'm proud to say I haven't quit once as if I don't play well enough I deserve to lose, and I have done on many occasions.

So a message to all you quitters out there, (there's a lot of you and you know who you are!) in most games there's a winner and a loser and you need to learn to deal with both. What's the point of playing to win if you aren't prepared to lose?

Visit the GAMEOV3R Forum or if you're a quitter... don't bother

Cluckin' Bell!!!!!

I was getting pretty hacked off with GTA IV and my 360 a couple of weeks back. I would switch on the 360, sign into XBL, select GTA IV and wait for the game to load. The thing was that sometimes it simply wouldn't load. The screen would just freeze and the console would lock up. I'd have to either eject the disc to get back to the blades or switch off the cream coloured plastic bucket and start again. Sometimes the loading sequence would stop at the disclaimer screen and sometimes, more annoyingly the game would load and I'd start to play. 15 or maybe even 30 minutes game time later it would all freeze up. Incredibly annoying when I was in the middle of a mission, having not had had chance to save yet, or if I was on my way to meet a virtual friend. The virtual friend doesn't know that I stiffed him because my Xbox crashed. They'd think I was off living it up with someone else instead of them and they'd put a black mark against me in their little friendship diary.

This problem was routine every time I played GTA IV for a couple of weeks. I was so used to the problem occurring that I wouldn't start any missions or anything else integral to the story until the game froze once and I'd restarted. The fault never manifested itself more than once a session.

Thankfully I no longer have to shout "Cluckin' Bell" every time I play. I have found a solution that has eliminated this problem. If you're experiencing a similar issue listen up! You should listen up too Rockstar because something isn't right! I discovered the "fix" one day because I'd taken GTA IV out of the drive. I opened the tray, inserted the disc, closed the tray and the game booted up. I played with no problems at all. Since then I began opening and closing the tray to load the game every time I want to play and it works. Every time. No lock ups and no freezing. And do you know what? I have no idea why!

Come on over to the Gameov3r FORUM for solutions to all of life's problems*



*not entirely true.

Short Changed?

When Halo 3 was released there was such an uproar on the internet about the fact that it only runs at 640p and not what is regarded as a minimum for HD, 720p. The reason given for this by Bungie is that they made a trade off on the resolution to incorporate full range HDR lighting. Sounds like a bit of a cop out is what seemed to be the general opinion. Some comments suggested it's not a true next generation game because of it. Suddenly every man and his dog knew about developing a game and called Bungie lazy and untalented for short changing them 80p.

Having never played a Halo game before I didn't get swept up in the hype and kept clear of all the arguments... until last week. Being available for around £15 - £20 now I finally decided to pick up a copy and I'm glad I did. While it was a short run through in single player I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of it and I was very impressed with the graphics. What makes it look so good? The lighting. Simple as that. It reacts absolutely perfectly and gives everything a believable solid feeling the likes of which I've felt in very few games. It seems maybe, just maybe, the developers really do know what they're doing. So for those still feeling like they're owed 80p here's my 2 penneth towards it (and this goes for any game using similar techniques)... try just enjoying the game and stop worrying that somebody with too much time on their hands decided to count the pixels.

Visit the GAMEOV3R Forum in full HD although sadly fancy lighting effects are not included