» 2008 » September

I think this one turns out much better than Jessica Simpson. This time I played with more masking and something new – displacement mapping and desaturation using sponge tool on her hair (the blonde hair just didn’t fit her evil looks). I’m not sure if I should make her skin even darker. hmmm….

I am going to start playing with more abstract designs as oppose to just image manipulation. It’s fun but I guess its time for something new.

Again thanks steelfrog for his extremely helpful tips. I hope you guys will like this one. And as usual comments and feedbacks are more than welcome!

I was reading an article on cnet and I have to agree completely with what David Carnoy have mentioned about the present and future of the Sony PlayStation. The current PlayStation 3 has just started to take off with the lowered production cost (chip shrunk from 90nm down to 45nm) and with slightly more games worth purchasing. Sony should get back or at least break even from the investment and money lost from selling each console under cost when it first came out. That won’t be possible however, if Sony started researching on a completely new processor chip from the ground up as it would need to inject a huge chunk of money for research and development all over again, well before Sony could profit from the current console. Therefore it makes much sense for Sony to stick to the current chip design and modify it.

As a PlayStation 3 (60GB with Spiderman 3 Blu-ray DVD) owner since November 2007, I would prefer to hold on to this console for at least a few more years as oppose to buying a new console every 2 years because I’m just not ready to make another expensive purchase, just like most of us normal consumers who would like to make purchases at the cheapest possible price unlike the hardcore gaming fans who will rush to get new consoles/games on their very first release days. I too agree Sony should improve the current console, not just on the technical side but the look and feel of the console as well. The PlayStation 3 console is huge, though its surprisingly quiet. It would be great if its size could be reduced to the same side as the slim PlayStation 2. I think the slim version of the PS2 is one of the sleekest console of all time, if not THE sleekest. And I assume by the time it can be shrunk to that size, the price will drop as well?

Sony should ignore and forget about Microsoft from releasing an XBox 720 or XBox1080 (I personally like the name XBox1080 as it would match with the current Full HD format). Why? What happened to the earlier versions of the XBox360? Remember the infamous Red Ring of Death? How many times did someone you know had to send back the console for a repair or a new one? Don’t get me wrong, I am not a PS3 fanboy and certainly not here to bash XBox360, at least not in this article and I don’t see a point in bashing it anyway as I heard from people the newer versions are much more stable than the older ones. I just want to point out that history would repeat itself if Microsoft rushed into releasing a new console. And even if a new XBox is released with better graphic capabilities, its not all about the graphics. First if a game has great graphics but no actual playing value, the game would still not be worth purchasing, well most of the time. Take the Nintendo Wii for example, it doesn’t have the graphics compare to the XBox360 and PlayStation 3 but its the best selling console these days. The reason is because it is innovative and it suits a broader range of audience from non gamers, casual gamers and to the hardcore gamers. To me its basically a tweaked GameCube!

But then again, imagine what the PlayStation 4 can do with a completely new chip.

What do you think?

Have you ever experienced a scenario where one of your frequently used programs stopped working because one of your hardware’s drivers was out of date? And what are drivers?

Drivers are software that all the PCs need in order to communicate with hardware such as printers, fax machines and scanners. One example of such scenario would be for example, in PC gaming, say you had a video card and assume you never updated your driver except the time during the initial installation when you started using your current PC for the first time. You wanted to play a fairly new game, chances are you would need to update the driver of your video card. Without updating your driver, you would not be able to either start the game or play the game in a stable way.

Now you know that your hardware are constantly in need of the most up to date drivers, you might ask, is this going to be tedious work to check for new drivers for all your hardware? Uniblue’s driver update tool called Uniblue DriverScanner will help you do all the scanning. You can get the free trail version from their site as well which scans your entire computer’s hardware/devices and displays to you which drivers are out of date, up to date and the total number of drivers you have installed. Full version will allow you to download required/recommended drivers by clicking the “Download Driver” button. If you are worried that the new driver will cause problems to your computer, the scanner also gives you the option to backup all your drivers as well as ones you have selected to perform a backup. When something goes wrong, you know have the backup to restore to previous stable state.

With this software, you will not have to worry about which driver for which hardware is out of date. With a touch of a button, it will scan your entire computer and inform you which drivers need to be updated. Instead of letting your frequently used programs to tell you they need driver updates and stop you from using them, let this scanner tell you what you need to update before you use those programs.

Call of Duty 5 will be released on November 11th for US and November 14th for Europe. From watching the trailers on Gametrailers.com This game might be better in terms of game play and graphics. The game features 4 player co-op game play which is something I really want to have and the graphics have improved and got bloodier. The reason why I said “might” is because as long as I haven’t played it, I don’t see a point to judge a game based solely on trailers.

I’ve been asking myself do I want another COD game that takes place in the past? And most importantly do I have time to play COD 4 AND 5. As far as I can tell, COD 4 is more than enough for my daily online multiplay needs. And honestly I prefer modern to futuristic over games taking place during the World War 1/2 time periods. Something like Halo and Gears of War (Haze was horrible based on the demo I played). I just think we have enough of those and should focus more on the modern time if not in the future.

Again after watching those trailers, COD 5 is certainly a great game, it might or might not be better than COD 4, I guess time will tell and it really differs from person to person. For those that are fans of WW1/2 then I think COD 5 will probably suit them better. Hopefully when Call of Duty 6 comes out the game will take place somewhere in the future and/or in space which is what I ultimately am looking for in the next COD series.

As for COD 5, well, I will keep debating with myself whether its worth buying or not. A demo would be nice!

Images from the Official Call Of Duty Site

There are many people looking for more information on moving their vehicles between different states in the US. I stumbled upon a car transport company called CarMovers.com and it has been around for over 8 years. Since I’m a techy blogger so I will keep it on the more technical side and review the web site.

The web site is simple, easy to navigate and straight to the point. You will immediately see the “Get FREE Auto Shipping Quotes” section as soon as you enter the site. This placement is perfect for those looking for a quick quote to see if the cost is within their budgets. The Zip Code Finder uses a fancy and no traditional style of finding the zip code. Once you have filled in all the required fields, you are then presented with auto transport companies that are based on the zip code you have entered. Then click on “Get Quotes” and fill out your personal information and you will get your quote.

Other than the main section of getting a free quote, the site also contains a lot of helpful information related to anything from finding a transport company to preparing your vehicle for shipment and there is also an extensive Q & A section that will help answer some of the more frequently asked questions.

LEGO was part of my childhood, it was and still is an innovative toy. When you combine LEGO with Batman, the result is an extremely addictive game with so many features to keep you from turning off your PSP.

I have never played LEGO Star Wars but I’ve played LEGO Indiana Jones (demo). I think LEGO Indiana Jones is an average game, probably because I am not a huge fan of the series. On the other hand, I’ve always loved Batman series so its only naturally for me to love LEGO Batman as well.

 

Story and controls
The story is no brainer, all your well known villains are in this game including Penguin, Poison Ivy, Joker, Riddler, Clayface and Mr.Freeze are here terrorizing Gotham City. Your job obviously is to clean up the mess. The controls are very simple with jump, punch and switch between the two characters etc. Anyone will be able to figure out the controls almost immediately. Tips will show up when you are near key areas so most of the time you will know what to do and how to get to a particular area. Player friendly is one of the reasons why I think this game is worth the money. Auto aim also exists so that your character will punch whatever is breakable (if in range).

 

Game play and graphics
As I mentioned the controls are easy to get a hang on, this also makes the game play more enjoyable because you can actually PLAY the game instead of constantly trying to figure out what is what. I assume because the target audience is kids since its rated E for everyone. When you destroy objects, you will get LEGO pieces, those are actually your money that you can spend on upgrading your suits and other “toys”. This greatly increases the replay value of this game because of the unlockable and upgradable items. After the first chapter, you are given either to continue to next chapter or back to the Batcave. Instead of picking continue which will load the next chapter, you can save the game and enter your Batcave.

After finishing the first episode as Batman/Robin, you can then play as Riddler/Clayface by unlocking the option in the Batcave or you can choose to continue with the other two Batman episodes.

 

 

The Batcave is amazingly designed with detailed textures (when comparing to PS2 graphics) and the cave is really big separated by different areas. The main area will allow you to pick one of the 3 episodes using one of Batman’s vehicles which are made of LEGO. You can jump from episode to episode and don’t have to play them in order. You can also go back to the mansion and check your trophies from your accomplishments.

Aside from having detailed buildings, the characters all have detailed facial expressions as well which make the cut scenes so much more fun to watch (the cut scenes are hilarious by the way!).

 

Sound
The Batman themed music is pretty much from the Batman movies starred Michael Keaton (personally I think he was the best Batman) if not exactly the same. The music is so good that as I’m writing this review, its still in my head playing non stop. But I’m guessing I might get bored of it sooner or later.

 

Final verdict
LEGO Batman is a perfect casual game for those looking to kill some time. It might not have online component but the shear amount of unlockables will keep you playing for hours and hours. I also suggest you buy this game for PSP instead of for PS3 and/or XBOX360 because it doesn’t utilize the graphic capabilities of the two next-gen consoles. So there is no point getting it for them but to get it for your PSP and even the DS if you have one. I am sure I have not covered EVERYTHING this game has to offer but I hope this helps those that are planning/thinking about getting this game a bit.

I also want to apologize for the quality of the pictures as I took them using my digital camera while playing the game.

8/10

Yet another great teaser from Gametrailers.com. This one features playing with pirate and ninja sackboys. I seriously think I will be stuck customizing my own sackboy for at least the first day and appreciate it for another day before I will actually get to play the levels. And this game is pretty hyped up based on the comments and ratings for the past trailers/teasers/previews. I apologize for lack of a better word to describe this game so far, which is EPIC. And I hope it IS in fact epic when it is released on October 21.

And please no delays!

Sorry for mentioning this so late in time, I just found out this game has its own official web site and its own news site which I had no idea they existed! Again I apologize for being a noob.

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