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I recently got a product from Diamond Multimedia and have the pleasure to test out one of their video capturing devices using a USB stick. They sent me the VC500, one of the two video capture products they have (the other one is VC600). Don’t be mistaken the USB stick is not your everyday USB stick where you can store data in it but rather a device that will connect your gaming console, my PS3 for example, to your PC for video captures. I will update this review as I test and play around with the VC500.

So onto the unboxing! Nice packaging by the way, to me first impression is important, call me shallow but I love products with great packaging. Obviously great looks do not necessary mean great product. Just the first impression.

The only thing you need to install are the video and audio drivers from the CD provided. Pretty straight forward just like any other hardware driver installations (mouse, video card and web cam). The part where it took me a while due to experience is getting it to work. Perhaps it took a bit longer than I expected to get it to show the blue screen that tells you that you have connected the VC500 and your source properly, my PS3 in this case. Here is their quick demo using one of the three softwares that come with the CD called ArcSoft ShowBiz:

The other thing I had to change was from PAL (by default) to NTSC_M since we are in North America and I was all set and ready to capture my first ever video from a gaming console to my PC. Unfortunately I only have HDMI or the RCA (composite) cables and no S component, the highest I got for my video was 420p. You will also notice its choppy as well as the sound and video are out of synch. I have posted a comment on their youtube video page and hopefully I get a reply regarding this. I hope its not because of my ATI HD5670 video card being too out of date.

Here is my result:

Now let’s talk about the software ArcSoft ShowBiz. So far I find it really easy to use, the only setting I had to change was the PAL to NTSC_M under Device setting -> Video decoder. All I needed to do to start recording was by pressing the red “Capture” button just below the screen. You also have the option to perform screen capture during the recording as well as going full screen. Click the same button but in green letters “Stop” to stop the recording. Video formats available are MPEG1/2, AVI and WMV.

Once I had my first video recorded, it was just a click away from uploading to YouTube. ARcSoft ShowBiz has a built-in YouTube integration so you can upload videos within the program. Unfortunately I had problems uploading to YouTube as I kept getting the error about losing internet connection, this is something I need to ask them. I therefore, uploaded manually through YouTube instead.

So far I like what I see. One small complain I have though would be the quick start guide is a bit too “quick”. If it had more info such as how to run those softwares, even just briefly, would be more helpful. It basically just tells you to run the CD and install the drivers. Another complain, a bigger one in my opinion, is that it doesn’t come with y splitters. Y splitters are to split the output to two sources. In order to play on both the PS3 and record at the same time I need to output to two destinations. It would also be great if they could include a pack of 3 Y splitters for the RCA/component cables. I still have to buy them as I am currently connecting my PS3 directly to VC500 and I was actually playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare on my PC monitor.

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Battlefield Play4Free looks pretty promising even though it doesn’t have the best graphics but doesn’t mean it will be a bad game. So far based on the trailer, I am more than convinced the game will be worth playing on PC until I get a new PS3 next year. Yes, mine overheated (yellow light of death) again for the second time and died a total of 3 times with the first one being the Blu-ray control board dead.

I’ve already paid $180 to Sony to fix the control board issue, then another $90 to resoldered the board for the first overheat. I am not going to pay another $90 just to have it resoldered and get it fried again. I might as well accept the fact that I bought a lemon. There is no chance in hell I am going to fork out money to fix this, I’ve already forked out enough to buy a new one almost.

So what’s the point?

One reason I believe its a lemon is the fact that, the second overheat happened after 2 games of Call of Duty, don’t tell me the console will overheat after 2 games which lasted for less than 20 minutes. My friend joked its probably because the game got to intense. I laughed out loud.

So that H.A.W.X 2 AC-130 trailer failed pretty badly in my opinion. Today I found this trailer for the new Ace Combat series – Ace Combat: Assault Horizon and let me tell you, my eyes were as wide and big as they could be while watching it. Just jaw dropping!

What’s so special you ask? At first I kind of expected it to be yet another arcade shooter from the series but as the producer points out in the trailer, this is a “rebirth” of the series because the game play is different now. And I think the difference is why I’m so in love with it. Based on the trailer, you are now interacting with your plane and your enemies closer. When you blow up the enemy fighters with missiles or the machine gun, you will get to see pieces flying off, sort of like the human dismemberment from say, Dead Space or Dead Rising.

From what I saw in the trailer, looks like you will also get a few slow motion dog fights and being chased by enemies where you actually get to see the enemy chasing after you from the third person camera view. AND, looks like you get to fly and blow things up in a helicopter as well????

I mean, wow, just wow. I was literally wowing for the entire trailer from start to finish. I hope there’s a TBA soon as I will be getting this one first day no doubt. Its been too long for us Ace Combat fans to wait for the next installment for the Ace Combat series.

Just…..just look at this amazing trailer! I’m sold! LOVE LIVE ACE COMBAT!

So Gametrailers post this “AC-130 Massacre Gameplay” and ironically I think this is a massacre for the game, well at least this AC130 part. Although I am a Call of Duty fan, by all means I am not a fan boy since I do have a fair share of negative feedbacks for it. But let’s not go back there again.

So I was not too impressed with the way you get to rain fire from the AC-130, I didn’t hear any reload at all from its cannon like in the Call of Duty version. That alone was enough for me to say no to this game. The sound effect is just isn’t there, even the ones that I could barely hear weren’t engaging enough. The whole thing resulted in a very boring game play in my opinion.

And as for the actual flight mode where you get to fly other figher jets, well, let’s just say after playing the demo over the weekend, I still prefer the Ace Combat series.

Bayonetta was good, I personally thought it was much better than Devil May Cry. This week, the demo for SEGA’s upcoming third person shooter Vanquish, was out and I finally had a chance to try it out. First impression, wow, got to love the demo they picked for us. It is the one that Gametrailers has posted before. You get to fight the ginormous robot boss for this demo, which is basically the majority of the demo. I really love that battle suit (forgot the name of it) of the character you are controlling. The gun can morph into 3 different modes – shotgun, heavy machine gun and assault rifle that shoots quicker than the heavy gun. Only complain here is I wish the guns were louder, that’s it.

I love a lot of things about this game, huge boss, huge drop ships for you to shoot in the demo and you can make your character Tom to have a smoke in the middle of a gun fight. What more can you ask for? The third person system is pretty much the same as other ones so regular third person shooters will feel right at home. Remember Max Payne and its bullet time slow mo? Well its also in Vanquish (I’m sure there are other games that have bullet time), only this time you don’t need to fill up any meter to activate it, it will activate as soon as you are about to die, which opens up a few seconds for you to shoot your way out of harm.

The demo didn’t really let me do the power slide move (or maybe I’m just a noob and haven’t figured out how) which I don’t like, it looks kind of weird to be power sliding your way to cover. It reminds me of what soccer players do when they score goals, they do a power slide in front of the fans.

So after playing this short but sweet demo of Vanquish, I’m half sold. The only hold back right now is the fact there is no online component to it as mentioned in Destructoid. So I might actually wait a bit for this one until the price by half or something. I’m thinking of buying Bioshock 2 since the price has dropped to 29.99 and PLUS it has multiplayer, not that I want to play it though.

I thought I could resist not getting Starcraft 2 right away but I was wrong, so very wrong. After watching this campaign overview. This evil trailer is making me have second thoughts. Even if I decided to get it right away, would there actually be any stocks on the shelf? I doubt it!

I`m still debating though, since I won`t be playing the online multiplayer as much (I am still very addicted to Modern Warfare 2), is the story still worth the $59.99 plus tax? Another concern is whether my computer can actually handle it. I think the latter is the bigger question.

I can so see myself giving in to temptation….

Update: I went to EB Games today after work just to see if I was lucky enough. I didn’t get it obviously due to popular demand and everyone pretty much pre-ordered the game, what a surprise! I was told there were still copies at a nearby mall, but I didn’t bother to drive opposite way just to get it since I was 5 minutes away from home. I will try my luck again tomorrow.

Proporta’s solution to the Apple iPhone 4 antenna issue

If you’ve been keeping up with the Apple press conference from Friday, you’ll know that they’ve generously offered all iPhone 4 customers their bumper case for free.

Guy Monson co-founder of Proporta says “We at Proporta think it’s very generous of Apple and admire their commitment to solving the problem. We believe that it’s good for Proporta as it’ll help open people’s eyes to the need to protect their mobile devices – something we’ve been saying for the past 14 years. CASEFREE at www.proporta.com

As a mobile device accessories company with over 3,000 cases, power solutions and screen protectors, we realise that a free case is a free case and that a lot of customers will still want fully surrounded protection. So we’d like to offer customers 20% off any Proporta Case or Screen Protector for the iPhone 4, if they return their bumper case to us, with the promotion code

Some other Proporta cases available with this offer are:

The Silicone Reception Case with SteriTouch, which kills 99% of all germs and also solves the antenna problem.

The Mizu Shell is a super tough silicone style case with a soft touch finish that will also remedy the antenna issue.

For those customers who don’t want a case at all, Proporta is also offering a Front, Back and Side Protector Film Kit which offers protection from scratches, scrapes and fingerprints, and also helps prevent loss of signal from the antenna by cleverly covering up the reception “hot spot” that can be restricted by your hand when using the iPhone. and is available to pre-order from Proporta today. And don’t forget Proporta ships worldwide so this offer extends to US customers too.

We’ve heard about some kid marrying one of these anime girls a while back, then recently Konami announced Hotel Plus so that these kids can spend some quality time with their dead girlfriends, actually they were never alive to begin with, by the sea. It is sort of like traveling and going on vacation, except by yourself and your DS. Kudos to Konami for knowing how to profit off these poor souls with no real social interaction with real people, especially the girls.

I would love to see these guys get all awkward and stuff when they find out they are dating the same girls since there are only 3 girls in the game, though they have many hair styles to choose from. But they are still the same characters nevertheless. So have fun with that.

This is why Japan has such a low birth rate due to the fact that all the guys over there are obsessed, yeah OBSESSED with virtual girls. I know the game and the series in general offers tons of customization and possibilities but I still don’t think the game girls can ever replace the real thing, errr girls. Bottom line? Excuse my language but I just think they need to get laid. Period. End of story.

I’m so glad I have a real girlfriend and I won’t trade her for any game characters, no matter how cute/hot they are. In the end, they are still god damn pixels.

I mean, come on look at this trailer: