I'm sure he's better at repairing things than I am
I updated the site to WordPress 2.8 today and did not get it to work despite numerous reinstalls and furious googling. I managed to roll back to the previous version (2.7.1) and nothing seems to be broken. If you see something seriously out of place, I’d appreciate a note.
Due to the number of people having to change their Xbox 360s, I am surprised the topic of migrating to a new console hasn’t been talked about more. I’ve been through it a couple of times, but only this latest migration has really pumped up my blood pressure.
As it happens, I’ve moved to a new console on both the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 lately and it feels fitting to compare the process. I’ve had enough grief from both that I can’t really say which one is the lesser evil, but overall, I’m a little less angry at Microsoft.
The actual process itself is not terribly taxing. You plug in either a Microsoft-branded memory module or for the PS3, any USB memory stick, and copy or move your saved games to that. Then you boot up your new console, sign in to your existing profile and move or copy over your saved games. Resume being entertained.
If only each step of the way wasn’t riddled with tears. In a surprise move, the copying (or moving) of saved games is broken on both platforms. Shouldn’t be terribly difficult, no? Well, yes, if some of the saved games weren’t locked. In a game of virtual Russian roulette, I managed to dodge every bullet I would’ve actually cared about, so this only annoys me. On the PS3, Motor Storm: Pacific Rift, Lost Planet and parts (!) of the Devil May Cry 4 saved games wouldn’t move. On the Xbox 360, same situation, with the additional twist that some of the saved games could only be moved, not copied. Considering the reliability of the whole process, this did not leave me terribly amused. I didn’t make notes of the guilty 360 titles.
Once you have moved your saved games over, thus far everything is working alright. Except the one title I’ve put over some 30 hours into lately, Fallout 3 on the PS3. It does not let me save any of the moved games once I load them up.
To add insult to injury, I started up a new game of Fallout 3, which does let me save the game, to find out that every time I should get a Trophy, it informs me (with a cling) that “You did not earn a Trophy”. Well, thank you. (No, I have not received any Fallout 3 Trophies before.) I haven’t been this aggravated in a while, feels like goddamn PC gaming all over again.
Migrating the profile and in the PS3′s case, the separate Playstation Network profile, was hassle-free. I would have appreciated some user input and information when Xbox Live downloaded all of my small (I think sub 50 MB) XBLA titles while migrating, as this did take an hour or so. Of course it left me in the dark regarding which titles I still have to download manually.
Not that any of that did me any good when I hauled the Xbox 360 to a Rock Band party, only to discover that none of my paid for and downloaded songs work when I’m not connected to Live. I did use the XBLA ownership transfer tool, but either it didn’t work or it doesn’t apply to the Rock Band DLC.
(Edit: Using the transfer tool (which is not easy to find) again, it appears that all of my content now works. I had to re-download all of it, but luckily it only downloaded the licenses from Live, not the content itself.)
It’s clearly a process both console manufacturers have neglected to really work on and something which could leave a sour taste in the mouth for a long while, especially for people who need to go this numerous times, as is likely the case with Xbox 360 owners.
So what’s the new hardware like? Worth all this troble? I moved from a launch phase 60 GB PS3 to the current 80 GB model, bundled with Little Big Planet, and from a launch phase Xbox 360 Premium to the current Pro.
On the Playstation front, I do like the Dual Shock 3 compared to the rumble-less Sixaxis. Even Motor Storm feels like something, now, and I’m looking forward to playing Sega Rally as God intended. The console seems even quieter than before, but the hard drive makes plenty of noise compared to the practically soundless old one. I mourn the loss of two USB ports, but it’s not really an issue. I had the occasional use for the now missing memory card readers. I expected them to at least hang on to their own Memory Stick format. I have a separate PS2 Slim and the support was buggy anyway, so the loss of backwards compatibility does not bother me.
The Xbox 360 change got me a triple-size hard drive, from 20 GB to 60 GB, allowing me to actually install games on the HDD. This is a great improvement, as it completely eliminates the DVD roar. The DVD noise does not sound improved at all, but at least it’s a less frequent invasion of your ears. The power brick seems smaller and it comes with narrower cables, as I’d expect with the supposedly much reduced power consumption.
All told, I’m all for the change, but I could do without the grief, especially since these seem to be a failure of processes on the platform owners’ part.
Courtesy of Wordle.net, this is a portrait of Dusty Gamer at the age of 354 posts. Some surprises in there, too – I mean, “helicopters”? Really? It’s got the top 100 words I’ve used, not including “common” English words.
I play videogames on two CRT TVs. The smaller one does not have a headphone jack, which is a problem, because I usually play on it when my wife is watching TV or playing something else on the bigger TV. If I’m on the bigger TV, using headphones, I’m bothered by the amount of static noise the TV’s headphone jack outputs. You effectively do not enjoy the quiet moments in games because of the fuzz you hear.
I thought that I should get the audio output directly from the component RCA cables to my headphones. It looked like I couldn’t get an easy double RCA/F to stereo 3.5 mm F piece. Rather, I had to get a double RCA/M to stereo 3.5 mm F adapter and two RCA/F to RCA/F adapters to connect them. I was worried that the amount of static I heard would only increase, due to the number of connections the signal would have to go through, but at least I’d be able to play with headphones on the headphone jack-less TV, too.
When I set it up and fired up Guitar Hero III, I initially thought that my connections didn’t work. I didn’t hear anything. Then the music came through and I realized that for the first time, I was hearing nothing because I wasn’t supposed to hear anything. Not a whisper of static or the slightest electrical whine. The overall sound quality is rather improved. I couldn’t believe how much the old TV was distorting the sound output of the Xbox 360. Needless to say, I will be using the component output on the other TV as well, from now on. I haven’t checked out the output of the PS3 yet, but most likely it’s just as good.
As is the case so often with video and audio setups, you don’t miss the good stuff until you try something better. And yet again, I couldn’t imagine going back, especially considering that this set me back all of 10 € (~15 USD).
I’ve now played enough Rock Band and Guitar Hero III to feel like I’m up to comparing the toy guitar playing. I have not played Guitar Hero I or II very much, just some hours at parties, so that may affect my judgement.
The Rock Band experience was elevated considerably when we switched the plastic Fender Stratocasters to Xbox 360 Guitar Hero’s plastic, wireless Gibson Les Pauls. Part of the issue was that the Stratos had been used by a lot of people and they seem rather prone to breaking – the whammy bar was hanging uselessly on every Strato we had and the strum bars all had their quirks, like only registering up or down strumming, or requiring quite a bit of force to work. My own Les Pauls hadn’t been used nearly as much and worked perfectly.
On the whole, the Stratos feel flimsy compared to the Les Pauls, even if their proportions are more authentic. The Strato’s angular neck is irritating to the fret hand over time. The Les Paul has sturdier construction, even though the detachable neck may be prone to connection issues – I haven’t had any, though. It certainly helps when transporting the equipment. In a party environment, the wireless nature of the Les Paul is a major plus.
I’m not crazy on the Guitar Hero guitar and bass track arrangements. The last tier of songs on “medium” feels like hard work and just unnecessarily difficult, with sudden jumps in the level of skill required – going from “alright” to “I don’t see a way in hell I’d ever be able to clear that” in the same song. “Hard” I can’t really see myself clearing at any time, but we’ll see what yet more practice entails.
Rock Band has this covered a lot better, with “medium” difficulty rarely asking more from you than you can handle and with many players able to play the easier songs on “hard” and some songs on “expert”. I feel that’s the way it should be, allowing you to progress naturally, getting used to the extra fret buttons a step at a time, whereas Guitar Hero slams you into a concrete wall starting from “medium” and doesn’t provide any clues as to how to get on with it. This is very understandable considering that the guys who originally designed Guitar Hero, Harmonix, moved on to dream up Rock Band and Activision brought in Neversoft (the Tony Hawk guys) to continue Guitar Hero. Thus they’ve had to build on the Guitar Hero gameplay without having a chance to really work with it.
On the whole, I fee like Rock Band is the superior toy guitar experience, as long as you use proper toy guitars instead of the indigenous brand. However, Guitar Hero has plenty of room for you to grow, if you’re looking for a challenge. I just feel GH III is a bad place to get started with the phenomenon. I find myself looking for a copy of Guitar Hero II even though I’m not even through the “medium” difficulty yet.
I have upgraded to WordPress 2.5 from 2.0.6.
There seems to be something wrong with my feed, though. If yours doesn’t appear to be updating, please let me know and I’ll look into it.
I bought a pair of Sennheiser CX 300 in-ear headphones because my Sennheiser PX 100s are a little cumbersome on the go. The PX 100 has been a good set at work – I usually hear through if someone calls out for me, and being a rigid, foldable headband set, it’s easy to just drop them around my neck if I need to talk a while. On the go, though, having to fold them away is something of an annoyance, and the open design is not ideal in traffic noise. It can be hard to listen to talk programming, even if music is usually alright.
The CX 300s were an impulse buy. They were cheap at Heathrow and a friend had just recommended a set like them (indeed, I think it may be the same set, actually). I was a little wary of the in-ear design, but I’m liking them a lot. The soft rubber pad does not irritate the ear, unlike the hard plastic of regular headphones – the kind that comes with any MP3 player, for instance. I’ve used them for several hours on time, without any irritation of the ears.
The phones don’t work unless you get a snug, airtight fit. Luckily there are three sizes of replaceable rubber pads with the phones. Once all is set, you have pretty effective sound insulation, allowing you to drop your volume levels considerably. People sitting next to you probably appreciate the insulation as well.
The bass these things can reach for the price is impressive. I’ve liked using them when playing Guitar Hero. You really get that rock gig feeling with the very low, thumping bass. The sound isn’t muddled in the least, either. I guess someone might find the discant treble too high, actually, but it doesn’t bother me.
The cord is a little short, but very flexible. The one thing that bothers me is the amount of acoustic rustle you get when the cord brushes against your clothes. Thus I think these may not be ideal sports headphones, but good for gaming and public transportation. And they take up so little space!
Chris from Introversion has a remarkably clear and level-headed post up on the state of piracy on the PC and what needs to be done. I basically agree with him on everything.
Sony’s new 40GB PlayStation 3 will not have backwards compatibility only support PS1 games, not PS2. I find this confusing and strange. It was only last year they said that backwards compatibility is a a natural, core part of the PlayStation experience.
Sony’s take is that they want to spend the money elsewhere and that they feel their extensive library of 65 PS3 games is enough to satisfy the market. Sure, the PS2 is still available, so it’s not a huge deal, but the way the PS3 is a very complete package, hardware-wise, just took a hit. And once again, it’s Europe getting the shaft. Sony talks about choice, but Europe only has one model available, and that’s the new 40GB one – the 60GB model (with limited BC) is being phased out, and the 80GB model (with full BC) was never released here.
Regardless of how big a deal this is to the average console-buyer (not very), I find Sony’s mixed messages disconcerting. Where’s their gameplan? Even Nintendo’s tight-lipped approach would be better.
Eurogamer has the official line.
Edit: Sony’s statements change so fast, I have trouble keeping up. It looks like PS1 games are supported, after all, yei. It’s the 8000 title PS2 library we’re really talking about, though.
I bought a new PC about a year ago, hoping that it would be enough to enable me to play PC games for perhaps two years. Imagine my joy when the first two games I need to check out are both unplayable. (We might also discuss whether I had to spend some 1000€ on hardware I’m only needing a year later, but let’s not go there.) With just some four hours of tinkering, the issue is gone – I don’t know why I even bother, this is time I could’ve spent completing Halo 3.
My system specs should be well above the minimum to play both games: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+ dual core processor, GeForce 7600 GTS 512 MB (something of a low-end card, but perfectly serviceable), 1 GB RAM (low, but enough), Abit Fatal1ty AN9 32X motherboard (high-end a year ago). I was getting something like 5-10 frames per second at 800 x 600 resolution and low settings on both games – they were entirely unplayable, right from the menus. I was not amused.
The basics of updating every single GPU, CPU and motherboard -related driver didn’t help, so before flashing BIOS (“just in case”) I sat down to Google for a solution. After vigorous searching and browsing it turned out that I needed to access my nVidia control panel’s advanced mode and select single-monitor support for 3D applications. The default was dual-monitor support, it seems. This solved the issue – Enemy Territory runs very well, Airborne less so, but it’s well within playable performance. It looks like this affects many people with dual-monitor setups. Even though most games don’t care about the second monitor (they’re not using it for anything, as you can usually see), these two somehow waste their energy on it. I didn’t have to unplug the monitor or anything, just turn off the 3D support for it, which is fine anyway, I only use it for a web browser or Photoshop.
Not that I’m entirely happy. After the issue was gone, there was still the usual BS of adjusting settings and restarting the game several times until I got a level of quality I was happy with, along with high enough FPS, wasting a further hour with that. What’s positive is that even on low quality settings, the PC games of today are starting to look pretty sweet. The reason I’m posting this is I tend to rank high on Google and if I can cut down on someone else’s time looking for a solution to this, it’s worth it.
