A Survivor is… Lara Croft. Awesome!

Yellow PlayStation Blues

Hey, what’s up.  I am finally taking a break from gaming.  Sadly, not by choice, but by mechanical failure.  I have been with my loving PS3 for only 2 and 1/2 years and it already crapped out on me.  I have the “Yellow Light of Death (YLOD)”. 

I took my beloved PS3 apart and cooked it with a heat gun as was suggested on the forums.  This trick actually worked, but a few weeks later I am back to where I was before. 

I believe I went wrong by having it in a cramped entertainment stand back when I first got it.  One time it got so hot that it melted a candle.  So after that I always tried to keep it out in the open and let it get enough airflow.  But it was either too little too later or it was just a bad egg from the get go. 

The sad thing is, Sony doesn’t have a great warranty plan on this stuff.  It would have cost me $175 to get it fixed.  After that I may still have problems with whatever machine I get back.  So rather than put up with it any further I decided to sell my junk PS3 or Ebay to someone who will want to take the time to hack away at it and I am going to get a PS3 slim.

I figure I’ll be much better off that way.  The slim has a slower processor and consumes less energy, so it will be less likely to burn out.  The slim also turns itself off if you let it get too hot. 

I did some research to see if there is anything else I can do to keep the cool.  They sell a device called the intercooler, which is a system of fans that hooks up to the back of the PS3 and is supposed to help with cooling.  But I kept seeing a lot of negative posts about how this device would actually restrict airflow instead of improve it.  I could find no significant proof either way so it seems better to pass on the intercooler. 

Another question, is it better to put your PS3 in a vertical or horizontal position?  I saw a lot of posts for and against both setups, but no proof either way.  So if anyone has proof of what the coolest position is, let me know.

But my plan is to put the PS3 on top of a rack, in the horizontal position in my entertainment stand.  It will be sitting up about 2.5” to 3” and have about 4” to 5” of headroom, with plenty of open space at the sides and back.  It’s also suggested that you vacuum out your vents frequently, so I will make sure I do this every couple of weeks. 

So anyhow, thanks for reading my post and please share your experiences with your system.

Analog Drift Blog – Episode 13

Move over Natal

I’m sorry Xbox fanboys, but Natal sucks.  It’s just a fancier EyeToy.  I’ve got my eyes set on the PlayStation Move. 

PS3 Games - E3 2010 - LittleBigPlanet

Analog Drift: Preview - L.A. Noire Screens Surface

View Full Album

New screen shots of Rockstar’s up and coming 1940s mafia themed game have finally surfaced over at www.gameinformer.com. They didn’t offer too much more information than what you would usually expect. I would imagine Godfather II, but good, mixed with a little GTA. Sounds good, but I will have to see more.

By the way, what ever happened to Mafia II?

New God of War III Trailer

Last night www.gametrailers.com posted a new trailer for the upcoming, epic game, God of War III.  While it is kind of hard to tell what the hell is going on here, the game still looks pretty awesome.  It seems as if they have cranked up the detail since we saw this at E3.  I can’t wait for the upcoming March release.  Check out the video below.

Late to the Party – God of War

All of the kids these days are talking about this God of War III game.  Every time I read an article about a hack and slash game like Dante’s inferno they talk about how much it reminds them of God of War.  It’s as if God of War is some kind of bench mark for games with big dudes and big swords hitting stuff. 

I never really understood the draw until now.  I always thought of it as a game where you press square over and over and watch stuff die.  I recently borrowed the God of War Collection from a friend and my eyes were opened up.

God of War is more than just a dumb beat-‘em-up.  Hidden behind all of the blood and guts is an awesome set of fighting mechanics, boss fights, weapons and puzzles. 

The first game does look a little dated at in parts where they show an in-engine cut scene, or any time you have a close-up encounter.  But, when you’re fighting in the thick of it, those problems are pretty unnoticeable. 

The scale of some of the environments is very impressive.  I very much enjoyed the scenes where you would see Ares stomping soldiers in the background.  It made the game feel epic as only God of War can. 

The story is kind of thin, but they do everything possible to make Kratos seem like a bad ass.  Kratos is not just bad, he’s actually kind of a jerk off at times.  You will often see him carelessly slaying scared towns folk and there is even a part where you burn a caged soldier to death.  But still we love Kratos, for he is awesome.

So I come back from my adventure an a God of War fan and I am ready to tackle God of War II and soon after God of War III. 

Don’t squat with your spurs on.

This week Rockstar released the list of preorder bonuses for their upcoming western game, Red Dead Redemption.  I know I gripe about pre-order bonuses sometime, but there is some good virtual crap up for grabs.  Rockstar Warehouse is even offering a t-shirt!  As for me though, this cowboy will probably be picking up his pre-order at Amazon and pocketing the $10 gift certificate and golden guns.  Here is the full list of items available.

Gamestop
Red Dead Referendum
Vote for the exclusive in-game outfit (No winner has been announced yet, so get your vote in for your outfit of choice).

• The Savvy Merchant – Buys guns and ammunition from any gunsmith for half the cost.
• The Deadly Assassin – Regenerates “Dead Eye” targeting twice as fast.
• The Expert Hunter – Receives double the amount of skins and hides from hunting.

Amazon
The Golden Guns Pack – Golden guns for your character which award you twice as much fame for each kill.  The more fame you get, the more in-game side missions become available.  So there will be more opportunities to duel, more kidnapped townsfolk to rescue and you can bribe lawmen for less.
+$10 gift card on future purchases at Amazon

Best Buy
The War Horse – A horse for your character that is faster and takes less damage
Faster + increased damage resistance

Target
$5 gift card on future purchases at Target

Wal-Mart
$10 gift card on future purchases at Walmart.com

Rockstar Warehouse
Red Dead official game t-shirt

As You Command, Mighty Megatron…

It has been revealed that as a bonus for pre-ordering Transformers: War For Cybertron you will get Shockwave as a playable character in the multiplayer mode, “Escalation”.

Sure Shockwave does look pretty sweet.  Am I excited, yes.  Am I overjoyed… No.  I miss the days when you would get some type of tangible swag such as a keychain or t-shirt.  In this day in age we just have to settle for a piece of digital code that unlocks something already living on the game disc you just bought.  And sooner or later they’ll sell it for $1.99 on PSN and everyone will have it. 

But, if the game still looks good close to the release date, you bet I will be putting my money down.

The year was 1991. This was way before your 1ups and IGNs of the world. I had little knowledge of the gaming world outside of my own bedroom. I was deep into my 8-bit world and didn’t realize, until one day at a friend’s house where I learned of a whole world of 16-bit video games that lived on the video game system know as the SEGA Genesis.

We played Kid Kameleon and a little game known as Sonic The Hedgehog! My life was changed forever and I became a die hard SEGA fan. This fandom escalated into a full blown addiction which later lead me to Sonic The Hedgehog 2, 3 and Sonic & Knuckles.

I eventually strayed from the path when the Sony PlayStation came out but I came back to SEGA again in 1999 and purchased the SEGA Dreamcast. Sonic stole my heart once again when Sonic Adventure came out, but since then Sonic has definitely lost his way.

The most recent offerings from Sonic team have left much to be desired by Sonic fans. With lack luster titles such as Shadow the Hedgehog, Sonic The Hedgehog for the PS3 & 360 and Sonic Unleashed it’s a wonder Sonic fans like myself have not given up on their pointy blue mascot.

Things are about to change. It seems as though SEGA has heard our pleas and set out to create a continuation to the old school 2-D Sonic games. Today SEGA unveiled plans to release Sonic 4 on Xbox Live and PlayStation Network (PSN).

Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 will take place after Sonic & Knuckles, but is "a brand-new adventure... what you are looking at is the beginning of a new story arc," says associate brand manager, Ken Balough to GameSpot:

"I think the best way to view it is as a first part in a much larger adventure. When Sega released Sonic 3, ultimately it was the part 1 of a story that saw its conclusion in Sonic & Knuckles.

In that same spirit, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 is a bigger story, and this is that first chapter. I think it's also safe to say that by the end of the episode one, fans will be very excited to see what's in store for episode two!"

"We're going to deliver a Genesis-era Sonic game as if it were created today that goes to the core of what classic Sonic fans desire. All the Sonic favorites [are] here for sure!

Spin dash, power sneakers, etc. But you will also see the homing attack added, and in true Sonic fashion, you can compete with your friends for the fastest level times through leaderboards."

Source: http://www.ps3news.com/

Transformers: War For Cybertron Figures (Pics)

View Full Album

Get an eye full of these awesome figures from the upcoming video game, Transformers: War For Cybertron.  I’m sorry Sarah, I am definately going to have to get at least one of these when the game comes out, to add to my collection.

PS3 Motion Controller Delayed

Sony recently announced the delay of their PS3 Motion Controller.  I for one didn’t really expect a release this Spring considering the fact that they still haven’t announced an official name for the product or any games to accompany it.  This will probably prove to be a good thing for them since they will have more time to formulate a proper amount of games and marketing push.

TOKYO, Jan. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) today announced that it will release its new Motion Controller(1) (tentative name) for the PlayStation®3 (PS3®) computer entertainment system in fall 2010 in Japan, Asian regions and countries, North America and Europe/PAL territories together with an extensive line-up of exciting software titles. The new controller, combined with the PlayStation®Eye camera(2), can detect the natural and intuitive movement of the hand and reflect the precise movement within the game, delivering a whole new entertainment experience on PS3.

"We have decided to release the Motion Controller in fall 2010 when we will be able to offer an exciting and varied line-up of software titles that will deliver the new entertainment experience to PS3 users, " said Kazuo Hirai, President and Group CEO, Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. "We will continue to work to have a comprehensive portfolio of attractive and innovative games for the Motion Controller, not only from SCE Worldwide Studios but also from the third party developers and publishers, whom we have been working closely with. We look forward to soon unveiling the exciting software line-up that further expands and defines the PS3 platform as the ultimate entertainment system for the home."

SCE will vigorously promote the Motion Controller as the de facto controller of the PS3 platform along with the DUALSHOCK® series controller and will deploy various measures to enhance the software title line-up for the Motion Controller, delivering groundbreaking interactive entertainment only possible on the PS3 platform.

(1) Motion Controller is a tentative name.
(2) Users will need to use the PlayStation Eye camera to enjoy the Motion Controller on PS3.

Dragon Age Thoughts

A lot of people have been singing the praises of Dragon Age: Origins for months.  I too was wooed by this title at first, but after an extended period of play time it has lost its luster. 

Dragon Age: Origins or DAO has an impressive depth of story paths, dialogue choices, plot paths, items to collect and enchant, spells to learn, crafts to make and other good stuff.  All of this is a great building block for an amazing RPG.  But towards the end of the game it felt more like a job and less like I was playing a video game for enjoyment. 

The combat has an MMORPG repetitiveness to it.  You have a variety of different spells and actions you can perform to mix up the monotony, but none of them are truly amazing to look at.  I also found spell activation to be cumbersome, this is where it becomes evident that this game was meant to be played on PC with a nice row of keyboard shortcuts.  But no matter how they mix it up I couldn’t stand one more moment of hacking and slashing the same small variety of enemies over and over.

My version of choice was the PS3 version and I was very put off by the visuals.  The textures seemed either washed out or very low resolution at times.  The character models seemed oddly proportioned and facial animations were very outdated looking.  Every character in the game seemed to have the same rigid skeleton with no hope for any kind of differentiation between any of the character poses and mannerisms. 

The cut scenes also fell way too short of my expectations.  I found all of the conversations to be very dull and unexciting.  Usually I’m the kind to sit back and enjoy a good Metal Gear Solid style hour and a half cut scene, but I found myself dying for them to be over.  The stories seem to throw a lot of stuff at you where you have no idea what they are talking about and don’t really care in the long run.  I did however like the massive amount of dialogue choices they give for your character, but it would have been nice to see them vocalize your character’s dialogue like the rest of the characters in the game.

Sorry for the hate, but for my score of Dragon Age: Origins I give it a much overhyped 6 out of 10