9 May
Continuing to test my new Kaiser Baas Series 8 Game Recorder (see Phase One here). Moving on to some standard definition shots from a high definition console. These Xbox 360 screen captures came out surpringly well, all things considered.
Standard definition, stadard sight.
Xbox Home – topical centrepiece there.
7 May
I recently acquired some basic game capture hardware, namely a Kaiser Baas Series 8 Game Recorder. It runs in standard definition through AV cables and I have misplaced said cables for my Xbox 360 and my PS3 (who knew I would ever need them?). Luckily I have a Wii with which to test the screenshot features. Here I do just that.
I’m running The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. You can read my review of the game here.
Faron Woods Map, sick auto-border.
Dang them ‘shrooms.
26 Apr
This is serious business, people.
The life of someone who finds enjoyment in so many things, meaningless or otherwise, is both a blessing and a curse. On the one hand, it’s hard to get bored, ever. On the other, it’s so easy to get distracted by shiny new things when they come along that perfectly good forms of entertainment are often left in the cold after a laughably short amount of time. Sometimes it doesn’t even matter how “good” the product is; something in our capitalist-educated minds compels us to desire what is fresh. As time goes on and the “pile of shame” grows, it gets steadily harder to find the time to get to the things we leave at the bottom.
This can be a problem for just about anyone (though, let’s be honest, a fairly insignificant one in the scheme of things), but when you’re like me and you place value in your ability to form a complete and educated opinion on every material product you experience, it can get a tad frustrating.
4 Apr
It has recently come to my attention that last month marked the 15th anniversary of the Nintendo 64’s release in Australia. Shame on me for letting that go unmarked. Here’s something to try and make up for that error.
On Christmas Day, 1999, a year and a half after migrating to the sunburnt country from South Africa, I received my first home gaming console. My life would never be the same again.
Under a generous amount of wrapping paper, the Nintendo 64 greeted me in a glorious swirl of black, grey and “atomic purple“. As a wide-eyed child I had sampled some of what the console had to offer at friend’s houses, but this one was mine. Plugging it into the largest CRT television in the house and then pushing that oversized switch on the console’s curved shell resulted in a singular moment of awe that seemed impossible to match. I had my ticket to the school playground war of words; I was lodged firmly in Nintendo’s corner.
The limited edition pack I received on December 25, 1999. Words cannot express the nostalgia.
The next three years, long as they seemed to a pre-pubescent boy, were filled to the brim with some of my fondest gaming memories ever. This is the list of my top eleven favourite Nintendo 64 games of all time.
30 Mar
To be honest, I just wanted an excuse to test the Vita’s in-built screenshot features. Many pictures coming up…
It has been just over a month since the worldwide launch of the Playstation Vita (You can see my first impressions of it here) and now that I’ve had some more time with the console, I can add a thing or two to my earlier article about it.
My main home screen, bubbles and all.
One of the things that has most impressed me in the last month about the Vita is its battery life. It’s a little refreshing to know that I have between four and a half to five hours to play around with on every charge (that’s while playing a Vita game with brightness and sound a decent way up) rather than the barely three hours the Nintendo 3DS yields at full stretch. Continue reading
5 Mar
Here starts a new series of articles called “In Defense Of”, which will attempt to address some of the negative accusations leveled at a host of popular things. Modern Warfare 3 (released on November 8th last year) seems like as good a place to start as any, because there are millions of people playing it even right now.
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I N D E F E N S E O F
–==Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3==–
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The Case Against:
The Call of Duty franchise is growing stale and Modern Warfare 3 is a glaring example of this. Every year the series repackages the same game and calls it a new one, expecting everyone to buy it anyway. Putting the disc into your console or PC will give you exactly the same experience as you got from Modern Warfare 2. The game is terrible and no-one should play it. Battlefield 3 is better in every way.
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Indeed.
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The Defense:
It’s amazing how little time can elapse before a popular videogame franchise becomes ‘cool’ to hate on. But it’s simply astounding that such a franchise can attract as much bashing as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 does and still sell so ridiculously well as to become the highest selling entertainment media property of all time. That’s ultimately the bottom line when it comes to the latest COD: Its sheer sales numbers tell the best story of its enduring quality. No extra argument needed.
But extra argument I will give. Continue reading
25 Feb
I know it has been three months since the latest Hyrulian adventure was released, but like I said I’m not going to be able to post a whole lot of game reviews near release. I finished Skyward Sword just over a month ago and hey, people are still playing it, so here we go.
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Platform: Wii
Developer: Nintendo
Rating: M
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Still going strong after 25 years.
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is only just behind Majora’s Mask as my favourite Zelda game of all time. Read on to find out why. Continue reading
24 Feb
I looove lists. Especially top fives/tens. You’ll be seeing a few of them here on Vagrant Rant, starting here. Enjoy : )
Unless the end of the world comes on time according to the Mayan calendar, it is going to be an incredible year for entertainment media. There is just so much to look forward to. I won’t bore you with the album releases I am most looking forward to this year, but here are my top ten most anticipated movies and games of (the rest of) 2012!
MOVIES
10. Looper (Info)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis play the same character, but one is trying to kill the other. Sound intriguing? I certainly think so.
9. Snow White and the Huntsman (Trailer)
An epic reimagining of the classic fairytale with more violence and more Chris Hemsworth/Charlize Theron. Looks awesome.
8. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (Trailer)
I’m not the world’s biggest Lord of the Rings fan but I actually read The Hobbit, so I’m keen to see how it turns out as a film.
7. The Amazing Spider-Man (Trailer)
Hopefully director Marc Webb can deliver a version of Spider-Man that has its own unique identity. The trailers suggest he will.
6. John Carter (Trailer)
The 100 year-old inspiration for the likes of Star Wars and Avatar finally looks like getting a worthy movie adaptation. Continue reading
23 Feb
Please forgive me for that horrible, horrible pun.
The Playstation Vita launched around the Western world today and I was fortunate enough to be able to pick one up. Not that it was cheap. Not in the slightest.
Day One haul, clockwise from bottom left: Starter Pack, PSVita Wifi Model, Preorder Bonus Box, Uncharted: Golden Abyss, Little Deviants, PSN Voucher, Memory Card. My wallet hurts.
Just under $600 all up. Ouch. Let’s get straight to some first impression reviews. Continue reading
20 Feb
This is probably the closest I’m going to get to posting a videogame review at the time of its launch. I usually take quite a while to finish games (if I finish them at all).
I imported Catherine two months ago with a friend and finished it recently. Catherine was released in the USA last July, but was only released here in Australia two days ago.
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Platform: PS3, Xbox 360
Developer: Atlus
Rating: MA15+
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The key is to look at the OTHER stuff on the cover. That gives you a better idea of the kind of crazy game you’re in for.
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Oh, how these words haunted me while playing through Catherine. As stupidly obvious as they may sound, heeding them is easier said than done when you’re trying to solve devious block puzzles with an oppressive time limit and a grotesque mess of body parts constantly on your case. Make no mistake, Catherine is a very crazy, very difficult game. But it is also a multi-layered experience that rewards persistence and skill by telling a story the likes of which no other mainstream game has ever attempted. Dare I say it is worth a look. Continue reading
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