Archive for the ‘video games’ Category.

Playstation 3s Locked Out Of Network By Bad Programming

Something strange happened yesterday to Playstation 3 owners.  They were prevented from logging on to the Playstation Network, and in so doing, prevented from access to online gaming.

The culprit?  Bad programming.  For some reason the old “fat” PS3s had a bug in their firmware that assumed this year was a leapyear, and so instead of yesterday being the 1st of March for them, they were put into a leapyear 29th of February.  This date/time conflict in turn caused validation to fail when logging in to Sony’s Playstation Network.

The newer “thin” PS3s were not affected.

Reports say that now that the date is such that everyone can at least agree on the month, connections are being allowed once more.  More or less, everything is good again.

If you’re still having problems with your PS3 however, you can set your date manually in your system settings to correct the issue.

Fitness Video Games – Priceless?

The Nintendo Wii is certainly showing us that these days fit is it! But the real money is in old video games, so it seems.

A recent auction on eBay saw a rare NES game, Bandai’s Stadium Events, sell for over $41,000, and included free shipping!  Still sealed in shrinkwrap with its original price tag of $29.99 on it, this positively ancient fitness game certainly wracked up the bids.  But the question is, why?

Bandai Stadium Events for NES sells for $41,300 on eBay.

Bandai Stadium Events for NES sells for $41,300 on eBay.

Stadium Events was a lackluster original Nintendo Entertainment System game from Bandai, released in 1986, and based on the use of the Family Fun Fitness Mat (later bought by NES from Bandai and rebranded the Power Pad) in which players literally stomped and hopped around on a big mat on the floor instead of just using a handheld controller.  It was a fad that really didn’t catch on.  And Stadium Events was a game that didn’t really impress even amongst those who enjoyed that fad.  A veritable micro-niche within a disinterested market, Stadium Events was often relegated to the bargain bin if it could be found in any store at all.

But, Stadium Events hit an even harder time.  When Nintendo bought the Family Fun Fitness Mat from Bandai and resold it under the name Power Pad, in the US all of Bandai’s old mats and games for it were recalled (and presumably destroyed) by Nintendo to be replaced by their own rebranded versions.  Making one of the crappiest games ever one of the rarest games ever.

And that, apparently, is why a mint-condition copy of the American release of Stadium Events seems to be worth $41,300 to someone.  There was not a mint copy to be had.  Until now.

Excessive Video Gaming Fingered In Rise Of Rickets

Now, I love a good positive PR for gaming as much as the next gamer.  And I hate a stupidly blown-out-of-proportion PR story where video games are blamed for all sorts of random acts of violence that frankly are just the results of bad people being bad people.  However, this story has a moral, even though it does put a slightly negative connotation on gaming.  The moral?  That all life needs balance, and anything in excess, taken to an extreme, is not healthy.

Over in Britain they’re seeing a rather shocking rise in the number of cases of Rickets.  Rickets being the disease generally caused by a deficiency in Vitamin D, that results in bone malformation like bowed legs.  It was common in old times because of poor diet, especially amongst the impoverished, of which there were many in the Victorian Era and earlier.

Now days however, it is rather surprising to see such a simply avoided malady on the rise.

It is suggested, and as a result young gamers are being focused upon, that the cause is not necessarily bad diet, but in the gaming youth not leaving their homes, causing a lack of sunlight which is necessary for the body’s absorption of Vitamin D.  So if you are a gamer with pasty skin that recoils like a vampire from the dreaded light of our sun, it may be suggested then that you perhaps put down the Xbox controller for a moment and get out a little more.  Or at least get a lamp which more accurately mimics sunlight.  And try taking some extra Vitamin D.  If you don’t, your bones may suffer and you may never walk right again.

Now, another interesting factor in this particular case however is not just a lack of sunlight, but in one factor different in Britain than, well, a lot of other countries like the United States of America.  Britain doesn’t add Vitamin D to their milk.  Over in the US where all manner of vitamins are added to foodstuffs like they were pellets for Pac Man, Vitamin D is plentiful so even with poor absorption rates due from a lack of sunlight, you’re still more likely than not to be absorbing enough to avoid having Rickets.  But in Blighty, where vitamin additives are strongly frowned upon, it’s becoming a problem.

But, as noted, it is a problem very easily remedied.  Get some damn sun.  Or if you refuse to do that much for yourself, take some freaking vitamins.  Problem solved.

All that said, I’d like to address one misconception.  It is suggested that it is video gaming itself causing the lack of ultra violet exposure.  However, I propose that this is in fact not specifically the case.  The rise in domicile extremis is more likely the result of the rise of social networking.  With more and more activities of friendship partaken in virtual and/or remote environments instead of literal physical ones, there’s less “going out” and more “staying in” to do things together.  And “together” is even itself becoming more a virtual reality than actuality.  While it is true that a lot of gaming is used as a social networking environment, it is by no means the only such source.

So, regardless of your antisolar proclivities, the point remains strikingly the same.  If you don’t get enough sun, and you don’t take your Vitamin D, for whatever reason, Rickets may be in your future.  It’s incredibly easy to avoid.  Forewarned is forearmed.

Go forth and be healthy.

Bioshocked – The World Needs More Steampunk Role-Playing Games

Bioshock - A Steampunk genre first-person shooter

Bioshock - A Steampunk genre first-person shooter

I recently made a “new” game purchase: Bioshock on the PS3.  You may wonder what in blazes took me so long.  Well, price, mainly.  And that I wanted it on the PS3.

And I have to say, I really really wish more game developers delved not only into role-playing games (RPGs) but the Steampunk genre as well.

Okay, so Bioshock isn’t really an RPG.  (Unless you mean of the rocket-propelled grenade variety.  It has those.Bioshock is a first-person shooter (FPS), but it does have RPG-like elements to it, which helps make it more enjoyable.

But Bioshock itself isn’t really the special thing here.  I mean we could go back to games like Arcanum.  Now there was a real RPG.  The thing is, I love a setting of invention, and I love a good RPG.  And even better yet if you can find a way to mix in some magic.

The world needs more games like this.  The rawness of the dawn of invention.  The creativity of making.  The thinking.  I love it.

OpenOffice … Mouse – WTF?!

OpenOffice.org, the great organization that brought you … OpenOffice (of all things), is planning on making a move into PC hardware to improve your office productivity.  (And gaming.)  They call it the OOMouse and it might even be available by February 2010.

OOMouse - Brought to you by OpenOffice.org

OOMouse - Brought to you by OpenOffice.org

All I have to say is: WTF?!

This multi-button mouse produced in conjunction with WarMouse has 18 programmable buttons.  (And ugly blocky very unaesthetic ones at that.)  But that’s not all.  Each of these buttons can be double-clicked and can operate in key, keypress, or macro mode.

The OOMouse also comes with the obligatory scroll wheel, of course, and the not-so-obligatory 512KB of flash memory for remembering 63 separate configurations, of which will be 20 default configurations for common programs like … OpenOffice (of course), Adobe Photoshop, GIMP (Gnu Image Manipulation Program … the freeware alternative to Photoshop), World of Warcraft, Call of Duty, etc.  Funky.

It is also purportedly one of the first mice to ever include an analog joystick similar to that from a Microsoft Xbox 360 joystick and can use the joystick as a keyboard?  (Really?!)

OOMouse - Check that out, an analog joystick on a mouse!

OOMouse - Check that out, an analog joystick on a mouse!

“In the three joystick-as-keyboard modes, the user can assign up to sixteen different keys or macros to the joystick, which provides for easy movement regardless of whether the user is flying through the cells of a large spreadsheet in Microsoft Excel or on the back of an epic flying mount in World of Warcraft.

Umm … yeah.  If you say so.  I’m thinking that the assortment of 18 buttons and a scrollwheel and a joystick on a mouse might ever so slightly cause not just a few people to suffer from information overload.

But whatever.  It’s still pretty freaking cool!

(Well, except for the colors.)

The OOMouse will be compatible with Windows, Linux, or Macintosh.  And should be priced around $75.  If you really want one, check it out here.

As of yet though, no mention of adjustable weight balancing.  Clearly ergonomics is not the primary feature of this slick puppy.  Maybe it’ll be a feature for the OOMouse2…