Classic Gamer Brain » firmware update

The 8-bit Show Episode #2

franky1029 — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 03:48:00 +0000

Click the title to head over to our 8-bit show blog!

We decide to shoot for a weekly podcast, negating everything we said last week… oh well. Poot and I discuss Dragon Ball Origins, Old Commodore 64 games, and how much we hate Sony.

*In our haste to get the podcast up, I omitted a very special thanks to Waffle Slayer from Juggalo Gamers, thanks again ninja!*

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You can also check out our Twitters: daBean | Poot

Show notes in the full post.
Study Says Wii Controls Don’t Contribute to Aggression
New Wii update targets modded save files, alters user agreement
Kingdom Hearts DSi at least kind of real
Nintendo confident core will be satisfied in 2009
Nintendo Plans to Build Online Community Says Reggie Fils-Aime
Mgestyk Fusion marries Wiimote and PC in interesting new way
Chrono Trigger piracy checks already beaten
Hardware Hackers Make Some DSi Flash Progress [Acekard]
Is Sony ripping off costume entries for LittleBigPlanet?
Sony-Owned Columbia Pictures Pulls Movies From Xbox Netflix
Guitar Hero Arcade: Some More Details, Some More Pics [Guitar Hero]
Frets On Fire For The Blind [Frets On Fire]
Rumor: EA/GameStop weighing Season Pass to cheaper games

Opening music: Brentalfloss’ Megaman 3 With Lyrics
Break music by Poot on the KORG DS-10
Closing music main theme from ATF for the Commodore 64

Bad News Sunday

poot — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 23:00:00 +0000

In this new segment I talk about the bad news we heard in the last weak. Just cause I feel we should talk about the bad too.

Ok so I think the worst news came from Sony and the newPSP 3000. The new PSP came out to fix the ghosting that the old LCD made. That would have been a great idea. But the new LCD has a new and worse problem; the scan lines that you see, and the people seem to shake instead of just have a ghost image. Sony has said “On some occasions, scan lines may appear on scenes where brightness changes drastically, due to the hardware features of the new LCD device on PSP-3000. Installed with this new LCD device, PSP-3000 offers more natural and vibrant colors on its screen, but the scan lines have come out to be more visible as a result of improving response time to alleviate the afterimages on PSP-3000. Since this is due to hardware specification, there are no plans for a system software update concerning this issue.” With no hope of it being fixed is it worth it? I say not even. All we can do is hope they come out with a better one.

The Nintendo DSi hits Japan on November 1st, and you can pre-order for it to be imported to you. But I hope you have a lot of money. The system runs for ¥18,900 thats around $180 here. If your impatient you can go on YesAsia.com or Play-Asia.com and get it imported to you for $299.99. thats with out shipping. The cheapest is at Model-Gadget.com selling for 272.99+ shipping. You want free shipping go to Gadget-Asia.com but the price there is 318.30. To me thats just outrageous. First off the DSi store is regional. Second, it will get here at some point for a lot less than 300$. I guess it’s just the price you pay to try to be better than everyone else.

The Wii has some bad news. They came out with a new update that doesn’t even do much. But the main thing it seems to do is stop the installing of fake programs, aka homebrew. But if you already have homebrew there is nothing to worry about. It will not stop those from running. I can understand trying to stop pirating. But to make an update who’s sole purpose is to do that is crazy. So those of you who didn’t get on the DVD homebrew program and updated, will have to wait. Probably not for long, though.

That raps up bad news sunday. I hope you don’t feel that bad. Have a great week. Your friend Poot.

Wii Update

franky1029 — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 12:40:00 +0000

Just released, is the latest system update for the Wii. The update brings home the ability to allow you to buy games for your friends from the shopping channel, as well as a photo channel update which lets you place your own picture as the icon for the channel in the Wii main menu. The shop icon also gets a face lift.

If you download the photo channel update, you will no longer be able to listen to mp3s from your Wii. Instead, they will now need to be in .m4a format (AAC).

If any hidden features of this update surface, I’ll post back (or you can post them here)

In game XMB could be another bad step for Sony.

franky1029 — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 01:45:00 +0000

Sony recently provided their 2.0 update on the PS3, and while many owners of the next-gen console welcomed the features it provided, such as enhancing the PSP support to make it possible to turn on and access music, photos and videos from your home console, to the portable, anywhere you have wifi access, others were hoping for one particular feature. As we have seen with some Xbox games, it is possible to listen to your self-made playlists in game. After the release of the new system update for the PS3, many gamers posted on blogs, and in game forums, such as the CAG forum (and was mentioned in the latest CAG Cast) that the Cross Media Bar (XMB) needed to at least be available in game in some form. I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.
It is probably in the best interest of Sony to stray from that tactic. As we could see with the Xbox, the support for that was offered by Microsoft, but it was up to the game developers to utilize this function. It is also possible with the Wii, and while I have not had a chance to see this is action, Excite Truck is said to use music found on the SD card to play your own soundtrack. Obviously, the next gen consoles support this function, but as said before, its up to developers to place the function in their game.
Sometimes, developers just don’t want this. It is not a quick and easy process to make a game. Time is spent deciding what content goes into the game. From characters, levels, story, visuals, controls, game development is many pieces coming together to create an interactive movie (sometimes), but always interactive content. It is said that the soundtrack to movies is often one of the most important part of the film making process. If the music isn’t right, then the feeling that is trying to be conveyed to the audience is lost. The same is true for games, and may be even more important, as you are part of the action itself. Composers create music to enhance the game play, time and money is poured into it, and its no longer unusual to see a soundtrack for a game itself. Audio is obviously important to game studios.
It has recently been suggested that Sony has had to beg developers to stick with them, and continue support for their behemoth of a gaming system. While this may not be true, it is obvious that the PS3 is having trouble with the software aspect of their system. Because of this, if they provided a system update that would allow your own music to be played during any game, the hard working people who made the game for you, might feel cheated. It would be like theaters offering an ipod to you as you go watch a movie; the theater has cheated the movie industry on letting their art come across as it was meant to, and you have cheated yourself of enjoying that art. Sony does not want to distance their selves any further from game studios, and allowing the XMB to be used anytime in game, could do just that.
As for all the other features that would come with the inclusion of the XMB, they’re just a bonus, save for the messaging on the Play Station Network. That would definitely be something that any gamer would welcome, even if its only to see the instant someone messaged you, and who it was. Everything else really isn’t needed in game, but would be nice to know you could do. So, while I’m sure the in game XMB will come eventually, it may not be for some time, but demand is high, and Sony is realy looking to please. And when it does, keep in mind the functionaly may fall short of expectations due to system limitations. Sony could also make it possible for developers to turn off access to the XMB. Mainly, I can see it as another, in a long list, of bad moves on Sony’s part, if they don’t play this card right.