rebelpeon.com

Category: consoles

  • Good Time to be a Gamer

    As many people know, this week is E3.  This means, that all the soon to be released stuff gets previewed this week.  The most notable stuff that’s come out in the last few days is the Xbox 360, and the PS3.  Nintendo has released some stuff on the Revolution, but nothing to the extent of Microsoft and Sony.

    Needless to say these next gen consoles are going to rock.  Microsoft has finally realized what the original Xbox should’ve been (and actually almost is with xbmc).  Sony, has, at least on paper, produced a machine that seems unheard of with respect to hardware.

    Personally, I’m looking forward to the 360 more than the ps3.  Yeah, the ps3 seems to have the edge with hardware specs, but who knows if that will really mean anything, plus it’s coming out after the xbox.  The things I really am looking forward to the 360 are the multimedia hub aspect to it, because, frankly, that’s pretty much all I use my xbox for right now.  However, the dual HD outputs and the ability to have 7 wireless controllers on the ps3 entices me also.

    I guess it all comes back to the title…it’s a good time to be a gamer.

  • XBox Power Cable Revisited

    I actually received my replacement xbox power cable about 2 weeks ago, but I just haven’t gotten around to posting about it.  I have no idea what got into me, but I’ve been supremely lazy.  Anyways, the reason I even mention it, is because it came with a manual.  That’s right, a power cord with a manual.  What has the world come to?  I suppose I could be thankful, since I could’ve been sent the ginormous cord.

    Well, apparently, even the new power cords aren’t doing what they were initially planned to do.  Here’s a shocker, since the problem seems to be the actual solder jobs in the power supplies.  Not quite sure how a power cord could alleviate that problem, but then again, I’m no Microsoft engineer.

  • Xbox Power Cable

    Apparantly there is a recall on Xbox Power adapters.  You can read all about it at news.com.  It seems to effect US consoles sold before Oct ‘03.  Go get yourself a new cord!

  • Weekend Nerdiness

    On Friday I got a copy of Knights of the Old Republic 2 (KotOR2).  Needless to say, the weekend has been dominated with playing it.  Amazingly enough I still haven’t finished it yet.  For those of you that didn’t play the first one on either xbox or PC, go do yourself a favor and get it.  It’s by far one of the best game I’ve ever played.  Needless to say, KotOR2 is pretty much more of the same. 

    Now, I know that a lot of you are thinking, “What?  It’s just more of the same exact game?”  Well, in a nutshell, yes.  Granted there are a few improvements, but 95% of the game is exactly the same, just with a new/continuation of the story.  What’s really nice, is that they pretty much took everything that everyone wasn’t a fan of in the first one, or stuff they wanted, and put it into the second one.  The ability to have two weapons config set and ready to go, longer gameplay, dual-bladed light sabers, more weapons, etc. 

    What’s really creepy is that it seems as if it’s using my saved games from KotOR1 to fill in the story for this one.  I’m not sure if it really is or not though, because it’s been so long since I played it, but you go to some of the same planets in both, and it’s crazy because how the story has progressed.  If you haven’t played KotOR1 yet, you really should play it first before 2, just to appreciate the way the stories blend so well together. 

    I actually never beat the first one because I got to the end boss, and since I didn’t have light saber throw, I was practically impossible (I was light side).  Then I tried to beat it again on the harder level and didn’t even get to the end boss as the dark side.  So far, I haven’t had any problems with this one, so I’m imagining it’s going to be like the first.  At least in this type of game it makes sense.  I mean, at least in the last one, you were combating the strongest being in the universe.  I suppose I shouldn’t have just been able to roll over him, but it would’ve been way cooler.

    Now, I’m just hoping that they don’t have a max cap on the level of character you can have in the new one, because if it’s anywhere near where it was in the first one, I’m about done leveling up.

  • Remote Controlled On/Off

    I love the Xbox, and everything it does.  However, there’s one annoying little thing that you simply can’t do, turn it on and off remotely.  Yes, I know this makes me supreme of lazy, but since it’s so tied into my Home Theater setup, it would be extremely nice if I could operate its powerstate like I do all the other components in my system. 

    If you visit Xbox-Scene, there is a tutorial on how to do it, but it requires you to find a specific chip and then program it.  Since I don’t have a programmer, that was kind of out of my league.  Of course, someone figured this would be an easy way to make a few bucks.  Welcome the XIR from CheapLPC. 

    I purchased the Pro version, because I’m ok with spending less and having to do one solder connection.  Installation was a snap; simply slide some wires into the motherboard molex connector, and solder the one point.  Granted, the one solder point was a bit awkward because of it’s location, but definitely not that hard by any stretch.  I had to reprogram the Pronto last night with the xbox remote configuration, since I currently don’t have an xbox remote.  This, unfortunately, took the vast majority of my time because I pretty much redid my whole configuration since so much had changed (no more DVD player, Colleen’s, no more Digital Cable Box).  However, the XIR preformed flawlessly, just as advertised.  I slipped the IR Receiver so it just pokes out on the front display and now when there’s a commercial or nothing on TV worth watching, I can easily flip to the xbox without having to get up to turn it on.  The thing can even turn on and off my modchip via the remote.  I just have to install a (not included) wire from it to the dreaded d0 point.  Granted, for me, there’s no real reason to have the modchip off, but who knows.

    Now all I need is some Wireless Controllers, and I’m all set.  Granted, they are already on my Amazon.com Wishlist, so here’s wishing.

  • Nerds

    So, I officially sank to a new low of nerd this week.  As everyone probably knows, Halo 2 came out yesterday.  Well, since I’m such an Xbox fanboy, I snagged it.  Now, granted, I own very few xbox games, but I figured, Halo was so quality that I had to give props to Bungie and Microsoft and make the purchase.

    Now, the reason that this has made me reach a new level of nerd, is because I didn’t just wait to get it on Tuesday or pre-order it.  Oh no, I was out on Monday night at midnight picking it up.  First stop was the EBGames on campus.  Wow, that was mistake.  I got there around 11:30 to find a line that stretched from EBGames to Follett’s (for those of you unaware, that’s about a block).  However, being the resourceful person I am, I hadn’t gone on this Halo 2 journey alone.  Instead, a coworker went to Meijers, while I went to EB.  Turns out he was the line at Meijers.  Needless to say, out to Meijers I went. 

    Now, you may be thinking to yourself, “Wow, he is a nerd,” but just wait, because the story isn’t done.  I then headed back to my apt and played till about 3am. 

    “Damn, 3am, what about work the next day?”

    Already taken care of, since I took Tuesday off to play with some friends and coworkers.  We had a projector for 2 of us, and a large screen tv for the other 2.  We also ordered a Jimmy John’s sub platter and had a good ol’ time.  It was crazy how fast the day actually passed.

    Overall, I’m very impressed with the game.  The graphics are top notch, and they added a bunch of cool stuff (like throwing someone out of a vehicle while it’s going, weilding two guns at the same time, etc).  It has definitely lived up to the hype.  Now I just need to take the time to beat it and watch all the cutscenes, since we weren’t really watching the cutscenes while playing co-op.

    Yet another game that I need to beat on the Xbox.  This past weekend, I really got into Fable as I waited on stuff being reconfigured on my server.  Good times indeed.

  • Gamecube Stuff is Gone

    Well, as of today, the last of my gamecube stuff is gone.  The broadband adapter sold today.  I just have to send it out and I’m done.  Overall, I lost $4 on the Gamecube mistake.  I’m happy with that.  The broadband adapter sold for $45 (retails for $35), the memory card sold for $24 (retails for $30), and the Phantasy Star Online game sold for $55 (I paid $45).  If only amazon.com didn’t take out such a huge chunk, I could’ve made money on the venture.  Oh well, no biggie, at least I made back all the cash I spent (minus taxes).  I’d definitely recommend using amazon.com if you’re trying to sell something, especially if amazon.com doesn’t actually sell it, but they have it listed.  That’s how I was able to get over retail value for two of the products I sold.

  • Getting Rid of the Cube

    Well, I was easily able to return the cube to best buy.  However, ebgames doesn’t take returns on cube accessories that have been opened (broadband adapter and memory card).  Plus, I accidentally disposed of the reciept for Phantasy Star Online 1 & 2, so they wouldn’t take that back either.  Talk about a bummer.  Well, off to ebay to sell them, or so I thought.

    Aaron Binford recently started selling his cd’s on amazon.com, while undercutting all the other personally sellers on there.  Turns out he’s already made close to $300.  Well, what have I got to lose?  I throw up the game, broadband adapter, and memory card on Sunday.  Today, just an hour or so ago, PSO sold for $55 ($10 more than what I bought it for, but $10 cheaper than the cheapest other seller on amazon.com).  Hopefully the other items will sell just as nicely.  One can only hope.  Now I just need to get to the post office tomorrow and get it sent off. 

    This is way better than taking a huge loss, that’s for sure 🙂

  • Gamecube Mistake

    Well, I finally got a GameCube.  Granted, the only reason I got it was because of the $100 Gift Certificate to Best Buy I received from my credit card company.  So, I bought the broadband adapater, memory card, and Phantasy Star Online for it.  I got it all hooked up and I was able to stream some of the games to the gamecube.  Most of the games worked fine, but granted, it’s a wee bit more of a hack than on the xbox.

    Now, this morning, I’m questioning my decision.  The system was free for me (minus tax), however, the other 3 things added over $100.  I think I’m going to return everything and just use the $100 Best Buy gift card to buy cd’s instead.  The nice thing about the xbox, is that I can use it for other things (i.e. streaming music to my reciever and speakers from my server upstairs), but the GameCube can only be used for games and I don’t game that much.  Once the initial fun wears off, it will just sit around collecting dust.  Heck, the xbox does that enough on it’s own.  Thankfully the xbox is easy to repackage, and I’ll just return it to Best Buy.  The other stuff (minus the game) might be a little harder, since it’s some great packaging that you have to destroy to actually get the product out. 

    Hopefully EBGames will take them back, otherwise ebay here we come!

    I guess this marks the end for the gamecube category.

  • Xbox Media Center

    I normally keep fairly up to date with releases of Xbox Media Center (xbmc), but lately I haven’t been because I found a version (the build released on January 5th) that was stable, and did everything I wanted to.  All I can say, is, DAMN!  I downloaded the latest release as of 2 days ago (the May 9th release I believe).

    First of all, they’ve gotten rid of the same skin they’ve been using as the default for a long time.  It’s not that I wasn’t a fan of the old skin, but this new one is so much more polished. 

    Second of all, the smb streaming is absolutely perfect for me.  However, that may be because of the new router that actually doesn’t reduce the speeds to the xbox to 1Mbps.  I’ll talk about my new router a little later though, because I don’t want to give it intensely glowing reviews, and then have something stupid happen a day later 🙂

    And finally, the greatest feature I think they ever could’ve added, is the addition of an http server.  Now, you may be thinking, why the hell would they do that?  Well, all I can say is, this http server allows you to control whatever xbmc is playing.  Yes, that’s right, you could essentially hook up your xbox to a reciever, speakers, and a network connection.  Granted, not all features are currently supported via the website, but you can easily add things to your queue, etc. 

    Now, the reason I think this is so damn cool, is that in my office, ever since we moved out the noisy rack, we contemplated getting some sort of jukebox setup that we could all connect to and add tracks to, etc.  This way we don’t all have to wear headphones, or have 5 different songs playing in the background.  A modded xbox is now a possible solution to our problem.  We could all add whatever songs you want to listen to to the playlist.  There are still a few things that would need to be tweaked (like deleting stuff that’s currently in the playlist, etc).  This is the exact sort of solution that I was thinking about for the office.  In fact, I had seen a similar thing at a party I had gone to a few years back at Presidential Towers.  I can’t remember the name of the company that was having the party, but they do a lot of training, and web developement.  Needless to say, they had a webapp that you could browse their music collection, and then add to the current playlist.  It was one of the cooler ideas I’ve seen for a small business/office.

    And now that xbox’s are $150, this means you can get a awesome little media center for around $200 (if you mod it yourself).  To all those with xbox’s, I say go for it because it’s so easy, and you can get so much more out of your black and green box.