Nintendo DS IS Beating The PSP In Europe

Up your's PSP! Here I move into Nintendo fanboy mode....

BOING

Nuff said, this site posted these figures:

PSP-
United Kingdom: 795,000
France: 500,000
Germany: 350,000
Spain: 295,000
Other Regions: 500,000
Total: 2,450,000 units since September 2005

Nintendo DS -
United Kingdom: 1,000,000
France: 750,000
Germany: 520,000
Spain: 425,000
Other Regions: 1,005,000

TOTAL OF 3,700,000 units since its launch in March 2005

Now indeed as that site points out its not difficult to see the PSP has sold more in the time it's been out, but it is incredible to see that it still has a long way to go to catch up and I still fail to think up any great titles coming out on it anytime soon. Apart from Initial D. And that probably won't come out over here. I'm sure there's plenty of UMD movie's coming out to watch.

Microsoft Stick It Early To The Hacker Community

The new 360 update which you can't help but download if you go online, will stop you from playing that lovely disk you downloaded off the internet last month.

What disk you say? Nah don't play dumb, you know the one, that "retail demo disk" you wanted to try out in your xbox. It's Microsoft's mistake to have put a copy in the retail pods anyway that was blatently stuffed onto a writable DVD. Well they've patted themselves on the back stating that their latest update prevents a yet uncompromised flaw within the xbox 360 security system...

We're sure there's still plenty more though, we found one using a watering can.

last night a dj saved my life

Spider-Man 3 Apparently Pictures Hit T'Internet

Spider-Man 3 Apparently Pictures Hit T'Internet - gotta love the many ways we can abuse the english language!

Go here for em


The pictures show a singing Mary Jane, and from what I know I don't think the Dunst is doing any singing sort of film at the moment. This must be her character furthering developing her "career" and this may lead to her spending little time with Peter and could be the reason for him developing an interest in the (somewhat role-reversed) Gwen Stacy.

Speculate away friendly neighbourhood Spidey-Fans. Its still to far away unfortunately, with a release date of next year... but we still have Superman woohooo!!

Special Magic Uptyfiddle Competition

The Prize: Being the best there is and a signed piece of loo roll from Ratty

The Competition: After doing my morning surf I went to look at a piece on Tom's Hardware about stuff and found this picture:

A fine picture it is, a really fine picture. However I can't for the life of me figure out what it's promoting, which in itself may prove the reason for E3 BANNING THE BABES. Me and Kev were planning to "do" E3 this year but have decided to boycott it for this reason alone. Sorry America, you'll have to do without us.

Still even after staring at the picture for a very long time this morning we just can't figure out what they're trying to sell. It looks like they could be holding 7inch vinyls, but how does that fit in with the checkered flag look?

Answers on a postcard pleeeeease. We also accept other pictures as proof. Pictures of girls.

Dead Or Alive Was Worth The Wait

It really is a beautiful game, and one for everyone to play and enjoy. We had a multiplayer session with it on Saturday evening and it was never easy to see who the winner was. That's great! It's still early days yet with us finding the characters we like, unlocking some more and figuring out the complex reversal system.

Now I've been playing through the story modes for each of the characters and I hope to try out the online stuff sometime this week too. But my god does it look awesome. The wrestling ring is a great example of the lovely lighting effects and attention to detail that we've now come to expect from Team Ninja. After watching some of the final cutscenes for the characters I can only dream of how lovely Ninja Gaiden 2 will be, praying it will grace the 360!

Right now I can see a lot of people trading in the game because, much like Ninja Gaiden the game is not easy to pick up, play and win straight away. There is no "easy" setting and it's not going to be easy to get all of those achievement points. But that's the point - of the points. Yes.

It doesn't matter anyway because you have the time to play it now. There's nothing really coming out until March now, unless you count Full Auto which really doesn't impress us. We tried the demo last week when we got the 360 back, and while it looks pretty, it just seems dated. Remember the Interstate series? They did what Full Auto is trying to do, 5-10 years ago and much better.

Spend the time wisely now, play Dead Or Alive 4. If you can get a copy.

Watch 'The IT Crowd' online before others!!!

clicky clicky

We're great fans of Graham Lineham here in the GameOverYeah bunker, black books, father ted, big train, all that, so we're pleased to recommend his brand new comedy. We were fairly concerned after seeing the trailers on the telly that it would be cack, studio audience, geek culture laughs stuff, but it's very good indeed.

Admittedly Chris Morris is the best thing in the first episode by a country mile, and Roy reminds us of another of Lineham's creations, another irritable, loud, obnoxious Irish chap with a trampy style.

Many of you may actually be geeks, you are, after all looking at a 'blog' about 'videogames' on the 'internets' via a 'screen'. Please don't take any of the jibes to heart, it's all in good humour.

and if you don't like it, you can always laugh at this.

Teflon Level One - The XBox 360 Trouble Saga Comes To An End (for now)

Microsoft, all is forgiven for the time being. You got my XBox 360 back to me just in time for Dead or Alive 4.

IT FINALLY CAME YESTERDAY! In it's long brown cardboard box, with new hard drive and what I actually think is a different type of power supply. Someone else with have to let me know what theirs looks like - mine hasn't got any ventilation holes and has some little feet on it that makes you want to stand it on its side..

Anyway, its back (sent off on Monday - brand new one on Thursday) - I've got all my games downloaded again, account restored, the Teflon level is down again and peace has been restored to the galaxy.

In summary what have we learned?

- Technical support is not getting any better anytime soon, even with people from this country. But I do know this depends on the company and who you talk to, it's pot luck. I happen to know some lovely techies.
- Without a 360 there is still a lot to do. I don't see how I actually have time to play the console, I've got so many other things done these past couple of weeks. I've even lost that paler complexion.
- Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.

So all in all a happy ending and the end of a seemingly forced feature from the powers that be.

an expensive life saver

Nintendo in slightly smaller redesign frenzy

So you'll have all seen this picture by now, the forthcoming DS redesign, that will see the console shed 20% of it's weight, and shave off about a centimeter around the edges. We here at GameOverYeah are all for making things smaller and lighter, but it doesn't really seem enough to us. Okay the 'Lite' thing is quite good, allowing the backlight to have four different settings, but I'm more than happy with two settings, ON and OFF. But it looks very similar to the old Nintendo DS, after a new years resolution.

One of the things that we love about the Nintendo DS is the fact you don't need to be precious about it. We're more than happy getting the old boy out in a skate-park, at a crowded football stadium, or during a happy slap. We don't really care if it's bulky frame gets a knock, because it can probably take it. and then some. I Hope this redesign retains some of this solid structure, and doesn't end up feeling like a flimsy piece of kit that needs to be played in an airtight vault. We don't want Nintendo fans feeling they can only play their handheld console on their own sofa, in front of the telly.

Still, white though, that's pretty nice.

Also, having looked at the picture some more, why is the stylus so fucking long. I hope they aren't changing the size of it, I like the small one that can be tucked away in the corner of my fat hand while I use the dpad and buttons. The long Nintendogs Stylus indicated that long pen size ones aren't ver nice, it makes it feel like I'm back at school, writing essays, getting bullied and trying to look at the girls playing netball.

Mother 3 Information Begins To Trickle Out

We've been following the development of Mother 3 for god knows how long now. The original two are fantastic games and really take you out of the regular RPG element that's become reused over and over in modern games.

Starmen.com has the best bit of information we've seen yet and was updated yesterday with some new information from Shigesato Itoi's blog.

Some snippets of info include:
- Japanese release date of Spring 2006
- No release known for any other country
- Not going to be the same title that was being developed for the N64 and DD
- It's been in development for at least 2-3 years
- Finally look at Mr Saturn's webcam for some great positioning of the loved figure

It would be nice if we'd sometime see the engine used in Mother 3 appear in a DS version of the game, perhaps Mother 4, or an interpretation of the 3rd title.

For more information on the series, check out Wikipedia:

- Mother (NES)
- Mother 2 (Earthbound) (SNES)
- Mother 1 + 2 (GBA)
- Mother 3 (GBA)

The 360 Troubles Saga: Here's The Bits You Have Missed So Far

Okay so I've been through the problems I've had with the 360, and the events that followed. But what happened after that?

1) Man on phone actually referred me to DHL, so I looked for me local one - it was local which was nice, just down the road in Poole.
2) I voluntarily work long hours at work at the moment, racking up some overtime dollar so I left delivery the package until the weekend.
3) Saturday - printed off the packing label - it's actually for UPS and NOT DHL.
4) Followed the link to the UPS site to find where my local UPS is.
5) ITS IN BLOODY LONDON
6) Give package to Dad who luckily is able to give it straight to a UPS man cause he works in a place that can do that.


So in short, I nearly missed my 10 days to use the packing label they gave me because of some important misinformation. Hmmmm. Anyway I'm remaining calm about the whole thing, it should arrive at the repairs place today and while I'd love to see it this week, I know I won't be playing Dead Or Alive on Friday.

TEFLON LEVEL 3.

REEVES AND MORTIMER IS COMING OUT ON DVD!

YES!


These are the greatest two things to ever come to DVD:

The Smell Of Reeves And Mortimer: The Complete Collection
Bang! Bang! It's Reeves And Mortimer

Now I'm not getting my hopes up because Shooting Stars was due for release on DVD last year according to play. Unfortunately it vanished...

In other news... The Original Vic Reeves Big Night Out is only £7.99!

So They're Bringing Back Friends - ALREADY?

Aint It Cool News are reporting on it here, but the actual original source is here.

Apparently NBC are looking at airing four new hour long episodes in 2007 to reunite the cast members for god knows what reason apart from $$$$$. THEN they go on to say they may make another spinoff with the three guys, Ross, Joey and Chandler. Who knows if they'll separate them from their women or not?!?


Personally I don't see why they don't keep going with the Joey spinoff, I think it's great! Far better than Friends got after about Season Five. They're becoming too focused on ratings on networks like Fox and NBC, canceling GREAT shows almost every week and replacing them with puuuure shite. Look at Tru Calling - okay I'm biased but that was a great show!

Alternatives to canceling? OFFER IT TO ANOTHER NETWORK like they did with other shows, try some new writers, consider ratings worldwide - okay get Joey off Channel 5 and onto E4. Apart from that, erm... keep up the good work?

The Portable World Gets Smaller, Well Not Really

Bye Gizmondo, it was nice having you.

bless em, they don't even know what they're promoting!

We at GAME OVER, YEAH applaud you. You beat off the bullies and found your own style, you set up your own shop and aimed for the stars. Okay you missed, but at least you tried - and you tried in a dominated market full of kids with rich parents that just had more cash than you. You were also better than the N-Gage which, while not being difficult (lets face it - a pack of Top Trumps beats an N-Gage hands down, cool factor 5 to 0) you did it all the same.

Good luck with the next handheld you bring out - which going by past trends, should be 2015. Hopefully it will also be able to hover.

Rumor Explosion? The Nintendo Horizon RS - Is Everything Coming Together? What Is The Nintendo DS2? Is Nintendo Toying With Us?

What could this be?


Is this going to be the new name for the next Nintendo console?

Want to lose weight?

Want a lovely lady?

TOUGH, YOU CAN'T HAVE HER SHE'S MINE DON'T TOUCH HER

Ready for more questions?

Are you a Nintendo "fan"? Do you have any loved ones? Girlfriend? Boyfriend? Pet? Did your parents disown you? Then it's more than likely you're spending far too much time looking for every shred of Nintendo Revolution information you can lay your hands on and report on it in your blog. Which by the way, is and always will be a blog, something which doesn't get any sort of respect from fans or the media if you are trying to be taken seriously. It shows that like us, you're far too lazy to actually make a proper site with proper staff and do proper media stuff.

However Nintendo must love you, you're giving them all the publicity they could ask for and they don't have to pay a penny for it! They never will either, and then they'll take money from you when you buy stuff.

It's a weekly event now that someone makes some new Revolution image. Be it of the dashboard, a new controller piece, a logo, anything and then it's only moments before a "fansite" takes it and passes it onto the world. They don't try to figure out whether or not it's real, they don't actually do anything - until someone else denounces it. Until then we're sitting here with a ton of fake crap that just confuses everything. I can't even remember what the Revolution controller looks like anymore?!?!

At least some people have the right idea.

We've had our fun in the past with demonstrating how far a rumor can go and while the French probably still believe it's true - we pissed off a lot of people, which in fairness is one of the main reasons we did it.

World - lighten up. Go outside and explore your country. Go rebuild bridges with people you've angered. Go tell that girl (you don't dare tell) that you fancy her. Go make a difference, give a man a net. Go out on a Friday night, get drunk and beat up that copper.

Just don't tell us about fake Nintendo crap - we're boycotting it.

Ratty Says 'Games Will Become Less Violent'

Screw doctors, they're useless at their job and mostly end up killing their patients on accident or in the case of shipman - on purpose.

Doc "Jeanne Funk" if that is her real name, is informing the Internet that :

"Games will continue to grow more violent because that's what sells. And I think there will be more sexual elements because that's the progression of things."


RUBBISH

Grand Theft Auto sold well because of what you could do, you could go round places and do things you couldn't do in real life with no holds barred. I'm not going to throw in figures because it may prove me wrong, but other games sell well. Looking at Animal Crossing - yeah it's got mild Mafia roots but the regular person doesn't see it.

So Professor Ratty (yeah, I'm better - I'm no shitty Doctor) is here to says that games are going to become less violent.


Look at some of the upcoming wonders like Katamari, the mythical Mario 128, Mario Kart, Pacman, Buzz, Dancing Games, Tetris, Nintendogs, Project Gotham, the next gen Sonic - games that have sold amazing quantities for decades! DECADES! One of these days GTA will fall on it's arse, it's done too well for too long now. It's always been about the gameplay, GTA just happens to be violent - if the next one continues with it's violence but has rubbish gameplay it'll be useless. If the gameplay's amazing but there's a minimal edge on violence it may still do well.


Another thing, that funk doctor wrote this:

"The Internet: Is There Desensitization?"

WHAT IN JACKIE CHAN DOES THAT MEAN?

I bet twelve people bought that book, and something tells me that those twelve are die hard fans of doc funk that were on a course or something... Looking at her site you can see she's written a lot of anti video gaming books mainly aimed at the violence sector. Great.

Windows Live Preview - A Google Killer?

Anti Microsoft people had better leave now, because you're really not going to like this.

I'm a big fan of Paul Thurrot's writeups on stuff that Microsoft roll out, he's one of their "MVP's" and really goes into a level of detail that's not boring, but really interesting.

Now he's giving an insight into Windows Live and what products and services Microsoft is encompassing with this Google-battling IP.

Check out the writeup now.

There's nothing much I can really add to what he's written, I'm already using a few of the services on there - primarily Windows Live Mail and Messenger. I've used some of the others too like OneCare which initially functioned wonderfully but led to strange 5 second freezes on my pc that really became irritating. That got removed quickly. I do find their homepage customisation nicer than the Google one, I just think you get more customisation - and its looks prettier. SHINY!

I have a couple of invites left to Windows Live Messenger if anyone fancies giving it a whirl, send me an email if you want one.

SCORE! New Cillit Bang Advert

THE Barry Scott is back on our screens in a new LOUD ADVERT for Cillit Bang.

It's so bad it's good.

Oh and for the uneducated, check out the legendary remix of the original Cillit Bang advert here!

Nuff said

Are You A Hardcore Gamer?

WHAT is a hardcore gamer? WHAT is a pro gamer? WHAT is a gamer?

I've turned to my ever helpful friend Wikipedia to answer my questions after looking at the definitions of gaming profiles you can have on XBox Live like Pro, Recreational etc..

They say a Pro Gamer is they who take their game to the next level. Now this is going to be painful for me as I hate writing words badly. BADLY. A person who considers themselves a pro gamer is someone playing all the time or exercises (dare i write it) pwnage. That felt dirty.

Now I for one am not a fan at all of this lingo, with the sites like Pure Pwnage following the characters and how practice this art on people like (nooo don't make me write it...) "noobs" (blaaaa). I can understand how people like this mentality, and it isn't that I don't respect it. I just don't like rubbing it into someone's face when I've managed to push some buttons in a different way to them, which let me win. I have to be careful here, I don't want to demean gaming in any way!

I don't consider myself one of these gamers.

Now while a Pro Gamer is probably a geek who considers themselves not to be a geek - you have the Hardcore gamer. They who devote a lot of their time to playing video games, thought to be the driving force behind the gaming market, playing more than casual players. Also likely to value gameplay over graphics. However searching for hardcore gamer in Google reeks of PC stuff again, Google Images bring up graphics cards and mice.


Now this probably defines me but I don't consider myself one of these gamers.
I don't want to be defined as a hardcore gamer. It's like an interview I heard with Ricky Gervais recently where he said the papers labeled him as "stocky". He didn't want to be called stocky - he'd rather just be called fat - stocky makes it sound like your genetics are just uselessly fighting it! Like him with "stocky" I don't like thinking myself as hardcore, even if I am.

They haven't got a definition for Casual Gamers. This is probably the type of person that plays a game every now and again, like your girl may play a game every now and again. You're casual about how you play and don't really care whether you win or lose.

I want to think I'm somewhere between Hardcore and Casual which is why I chose "Recreational" as my GamerCard Zone. I don't play to win everytime, while it's fun I just love playing the game - that's what it's about for me. When I play games locally with other people I simply love the interaction, being with people I care about and having a laugh and fun. I can get bored quickly playing a game on XBox Live with people shouting and getting their backs up purely because they got shot by someone or blown up by a team-mate's grenade. Or shooting you in the head with a sniper every time you spawn and labeling you as "Pwned". I still don't like writing that.

What do you consider yourselves? And am I wrong - I mean is a Pro Gamer something else, is "pwning" something that everyone does and enjoys apart from me?
I think I'm just confused, maybe I dunno what kind of gamer I am.

SHIT! MAYBE I'M NOT A GAMER?! Eeeeeeeeeeek!

Could The DS Become A Mobile Phone?

Well not in the UK - we still haven't found a decent hotspot.

But this gentleman certainly has! This could be what the DS will look like when it gets its redesign which everyone seems to think is coming this E3. Apparently a huge voice-over-ip scheme is being plotted which will allow all Nintendo DS user's to call each other for free using an WiFi hotspot anywhere. Just in the same way you use Mario Kart and Animal Crossing at the moment.

I don't see why this won't happen, but I don't know if I'd use it either...

Actually screw that, I'll happily dial random friend codes and leave people strange messages and maybe even accidentally meet celebrities! YESSSSS!!!

Maybe I don't need my 360 anymore, while it is about the size of a mobile phone from the 80's - they don't like you having it within a 20cm radius of you.

Now if you must excuse me, I must get back to orchestrating my newly found "tea swap" phenomenon I started at work.

Look, They've Made a Sitcom About You

You may have seen the adverts of late on Channel 4 for it's latest foray into the world of Sitcom. Its starts at the beginning of Feb and you can watch it a week early online, much like the BBC had done with Kev's fave the Mighty Boosh.

It's about the IT lot who sit in the basement fixing all of your computer troubles, yup that's probably the occupation of about 80% of the people reading this right now. That probably means some people may think it's reality TV...

Erm QUICK FACT - it's by the people who brought you Father Ted and a lass who did some stuff on the Office. Looks funny judging by the ad's and the writeups, bound to be better than the book group.

Give it a go, you're only going to be playing some computer game anyway aren't you?
I know we would be!

What To Do Without A 360?

Time to go play on another machine then...


Do we:

1) Finally have a crack at Resident Evil Zero?
2) Go back to Halo 2 and try to climb some more ranks?
3) Have yet another go at Ninja Gaiden?
4) Some form of movement game on the PS2?
5) Propose to a random lady?

Well I haven't had a crack at either of these since before Christmas, and since I've just got paid I'll get some alcohol and option 5) is probably going to happen again before the weekend is done.

However, because I still haven't managed to get my 360 shipped I will need a long term solution. So maybe I'll just go for all freekin 5 of em. Got your own suggestion? I'll take anything on, why not hey?

MY TINA!!! Dead Or Alive 4 Is Out NEXT WEEK!

All men with an XBox 360 (probably all women too - all 4 of em) get ready to book yourself in on the night of the 27th of January because Dead Or Alive 4 is finally coming out in the UK. As usual it will be accompanied by the revealing outfits and gameplay to die for.


So probably better close the curtains too and tell mum not to enter the room at all costs.

I however will probably not be playing it because I'll be in jail by then after running through Microsoft's Reading campus in some satanic homeage to the punisher movie armed with archery.

Why? I don't think my XBox will have been exchanged by then.
So look out Reading - I'm coming.

SINGSTAR IS GOOD

My obsession with the 80's will never end, and what better way to celebrate the glorious decade than singing really badly and having a game telling you so.

Singstar found me out.

I picked up the 80's version for a good friend of mine, as she has been rattling on about how great it is for a bit now. I've gotta say as always she's 100% correct, it's really bloody clever and a lot of fun!

I feel pretty bad for completely ignoring the game because I thought it was just another karaoke workover, giving me nothing more than the XBox Music thing I have. How wrong I was.

£38 for the game and 2 microphones. The games got the videos for the tune you sing to, and somehow manages to figure out how good your pitch is - matching it to the bars on the screen as you sing. When I started out at the beginning of the eve, bopping along to 9 to 5 and Rio I was OK, getting around the 2,000 - 3,000 mark and being labeled an amateur by the game.

Later I got worse and worse, attempting the same Erasure record I couldn't even get a thousand points! While my talented company was somewhere in the 8,000 region! EIGHT THOUSAND! I really do bow down before that sort of greatness. I've decided to blame my singing "ability" on the fact I am northern and male. If they had a Joy Division record in there I'd be a Singstar dammit!

I knew I couldn't sing and now I have a PlayStation 2 backing me up! Now I just need a game that makes fun of my DIY skills. DIYStar?

The Nintendo "Horizon" - Is This The Revolution? Is It Fake? Do We Care?

I don't know why this ended up in my Inbox, I can only think it was so I'd run the story I am currently writing. I've got an email from David at Aussie-Nintendo.com pointing me in the direction of a blog.


Yes someone's made a blog, and they claim to have images of something called the Nintendo Horizon, which to me looks like a poor mans version of the GameCube dashboard.

Have fun with it.

The Next Stage Of 360 Fault Hell - The Tech Support Helpline

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Okay now that's out of the way with... You all remember that little problem I had on Saturday? The one where my 360 stopped working piece by piece? First the horrid freezing screen when a game loaded, then the same thing when the dashboard was loading until finally the three satanic lights appeared?!

Well it didn't get any better, blowing 24 hours of cool air through the vents on the power pack and system didn't do anything. Leaving it unplugged, plugging it back in, taking out the hard drive, putting it back in. Everything that the site asked me to do. Wonderous.

So, next logical step without actually voiding the warranty - phone the tech heads...


PHONECALL TRANSCRIPT

SUPPORT (voice is male, boring and robotic)- Hello there, welcome to XBox 360 tech support how can I help? (doesn't sound like he wants to help)

RATTY (me) - Hi there, erm, my XBox is dead (these are not made up words, this is exactly what I said)

SUPPORT (still bored) - Okay, have you tried unplugging all of the cables and hard drive and plugging them all back in?

RATTY - Yes I have, I've done it several times.

SUPPORT - Can you do it again now for me?

RATTY (miffed) - Erm, I guess so (does as asked, makes no difference) Nope no change, sorry.

SUPPORT - We'll need to exchange it then. Okay we can do this one of three ways, the first being the easiest. (goes on to explain the three methods, of which the first one is audible, the next two slowly get quieter and make no sense)

RATTY - I'll pick the first one please!

SUPPORT - Email you the postal label to put on a box and you'll phone DHL?

RATTY - (sees why that's the "easier" option - less work for support) Yeah

I'm going to skip the rest as it involves me getting pissed off with his subtle smarmy mockery of my email address and more boredom, oh and that he forgot to say goodbye. Now this would be perfectly understandable if the phonecall met one of the following criteria:

- He was foreign (he wasn't he was proper english)
- He was doing me a favour and not his job
- He didn't work for the richest company in the WORLD

The email still hasn't come through with my packing label AND THEY WANT MY HARD DRIVE! So what was the point of the detachable wonder? I am going to lose all of my saves you bastard. I'm now ready to not recommend the XBox 360 now, I am losing faith.


TEFLON FUCKING LEVEL 5.

It's All Just A Little Bit Of Nintendo History Repeating

Keen reader Slippy has sent in the following image, also informing us that the advert shown is actually 10 years old now, taken from FHM I think:

I actually don't remember this ad! But how funny is it? Nintendo were plainly bricking themselves when the PS1 appeared, and now with hindsight you can see none of these warnings really did anything...

Wonder if they'll use the same campaign for the Revolution? Probably not as they do consider themselves in a different league with their next console and "are not competing" with the XBox 360 or the PS3.

So long as it works for longer than 1 month we'll happily announce it "best new generation console".

Three Red Lights - The Begining Of The End Of My XBox 360 Love

The inevitable has happened, my 360 has died. Dead in the sense that it works sometimes but doesn't do very much.

I got to play Geometry Wars briefly, I wanted to start getting back into Perfect Dark now, but I get some horrible corrupted displays when I try.


Now most of the time I start up the console and I get what is commonly being referred to now as the "Three Red Lights of Death" - MS's new Blue Screen of Death. I've read people have found it to be a heat problem, a power issue and other things that include standing the console on its side, dangling the power supply from a crane and pissing through the ventilation shafts, yes SHAFTS.

I've tried everything I know how to do as a PC savvy chap without taking the thing apart. For the first time ever I've noticed how warm the air is that actually comes out of the back of the box. I was hoping this would never happen to me, I was hoping it was only an issue with several launch machines.

I don't want to have to do any of these things. In fact I don't want to have to hear that other people have these issues. A console is there to work when you switch it on, something I've been used to with every Nintendo unit I have ever bought. In the last couple of generations I have only started to notice issues with machines, being the PS1, 2, XBox and now the 360.


I'm going to leave it until tomorrow unplugged and in a cool area until I give it one final try before I call the dreaded tech support. I've heard people not getting a replacement box for weeks which will drive me nuts. I've also heard of little compensation too.

Current 3 Red Lights of Death Situation - Teflon level 3 (slightly miffed)

Final Fantasy XI Beta Makes Us Appreciate Warcraft

Good bloody god!

Right, people of the world what is your number one reason for buying a console?
Our's is:

"BECAUSE YOU DON'T HAVE TO FIDDLE ABOUT WITH SHIT AND EVERYTHING WORKS ONCE YOU PLUGGED IT INTO THE TELLY"

Throw that assumption right out of the window right now if you're considering giving the Beta of Final Fantasy XI a spin. The disc comes with the OXM mag this month.

It took me the better part of 140 minutes last night to do get to the game, yes thats nearly 2 and a half hours. Want to know why? No? Piss off then.

Still here? Ah, ok. Here's an easy to follow list:

1. Switch on XBox 360 and put disc in
2. Go to shitty Play Online menu thing made by Square
3. Install shitty Play Online browser
4. Find code on internet USING A PC to register shitty browser.
5. Put in code.
6. After getting code wrong several times because handwriting is illegible, enter browser.
7. Update shitty Play Online browser
8. Enter browser again
9. Register - much better with USB keyboard
10. Install game (takes about an hour - no joke)
11. Listen to what is now really annoying music while install takes place. Look at pictures of girls.
12. Look at sharp razor
13. Press Play Game
14. Register game using codes and passwords and loud noises
15. Press Play Game
16. Update game
17. Wait for longer, unplug speakers again
18. Play Game

Finally after getting into the game we chose what we wanted to be and do. The game does not look like an XBox 360 game at all - just a high res PS2 game. There's nothing special, the controls are dire and the music once again drove me nuts.

just keep running

Add to the fact I couldn't figure out where to go and you've got the real excuse to go back to World of Warcraft. It's unbelievable really how spoilt we are by that game, it's had so much thought put into it and is just reliable and usable. FFXI is nothing, absolutely nothing next to it. I am going to give it another go tonight and maybe just maybe, I'll have changed my mind by Sunday - we shall see!

UPDATE - Well apart from the death of my 360 renderring any sort of Final Fantasy update useless, it appears that Greg from the Guardian has had the EXACT same problems and has pretty much written the same article I have here. Three days later.

We Make Our Predictions For XBox In 2006

Anything IGN can do - so can we.

Prediction 1: There could be some more XBox 360's in the shops soon
Prediction 2: There could be some more games in the shops soon
Prediction 3: EBayers will continue to profit ALL YEAR from 360's
Prediction 4: XBox Live Marketplace will start selling food
Prediction 5: No one will care about the HD-DVD addon
Prediction 6: Something will happen to annoy gamers in Europe
Prediction 7: J Allard will announce which way he swings
Prediction 8: Rare will surprise us by announcing a new Killer Instinct (please)

Now lets pick at what they said...

IGN said:

- Halo 3 not till 2007
SHIT! We really didn't want to have to wait another year. So we're going to ignore this and predict November 2006 because we can't admit such a loss

- New GTA will appear simultaneously on PS3 and XBox 360
Huh? So no Halo 3 this year, but the PS3 will be out in the states this year and with a new GTA? Why does this seem really unlikely? We predict that MS will do the impossible and actually buy Rockstar using candles and nuclear warheads.

- Increase to $30 for Live Arcade games
WHAAAAAT? They'd never get away with that unless it was something like Halo 1!

- Matt Cassamamamamaa will start writing for the XBox section
Okay they didn't write that, but he may as well do judging by the state of the GameCube section

What next for IGN? Another feature about this year or the last one where they tease their readers by having "insider" knowledge but can't tell anyone what it is.

Ubisoft Bringing Us Splinter Shell

Geddit? We just had to use that pun because no one else did and to be honest it's the best pun you'll ever see from us.

Ubisoft are bringing a Turtles game, they must have somehow nabbed the franchise from Konami and are basing it on the apparently upcoming movie due 2007. Now this is the first we've heard of a turtles movie in ages!


We remember hearing about a film being made by Jon Woo ages ago which was going to be done in CGI, which in theory could be amazing if they go with the look of something like the Final Fantasy - making it more adult. Being done with the Dreamworks Shrek or Robots look would make it a little bit more kiddy which won't be bad, just not as good!

We love the turtles and they've never set a foot wrong, (even with the third film) they helped raise us and make us the respectable citizens we are today.

Quick, Hide - Video Ringtones Are Here, Don't Mention That Frog...

These are bound to get annoying overnight, but you never know they could end up being really cool. Have a look here and get a trial copy to make your own clip.

Already in the hands of corporates such as Jamster - (yup the crazy frog bastards) the 'Watchtones' are plugged as the next big thing to hit your mobile.

Available for around 50 different makes of phones such as Symbian and Windows Mobile's you'll soon be able to show off your latest porn find to your mates when they ring you. Hopefully this will lead to lots of uncomfortable situations when encountering old people on busses.

look forward to our new pamflet coming soon on the dangers of public transport arousal

Clothing + Technology Merge Horror - Levi's iPod Jeans

Would you pay $200 (something like £12,000 in english money) for a pair of Jeans that you could dock your iPod into?

I know I wouldn't, (I'd buy something from eBay instead) come on, what in the hell is wrong with a pair of Jeans that comes with a pocket?

The beeb are running a report that Levi have decided to make some money by making the RedWire DLX - some Jeans that come with an iPod dock, remote and headphones.

Apparently Levi have been rubbish with their finances in the last year and look to turn it round with these musical trousers. We're just waiting for Casio to make a watch with an iPod dock so we can all walk round pretending we're Leela from Futurama.

That's got far more "cool" power to brag in front of your mates with that some Jeans.

"Hey guys look at my powerful arm - its got an iPod built in"

sounds better than

"Hey guys check out my legs, they play music"

THATS why the Terminator was cool and why you don't see films about musical trousers... yet.

artist's impression of the iJeans

All that's missing now is the internet so you can download illegal music through your boxers / thong (depending on how fresh you feel in the morning).

The Next Killer Ap For The DS

It's no secret that everyone bought the original GameBoy for one game alone is it?

TETRIS!

Simply packing the game in with the machine kept it going for another couple of years alone and who knows, the next iteration really could do the same thing, especially when you see pictures
like this...

YES! This is going to be great! Up yours other puzzling games!

Just look at what's going on though - using the Nintendo WiFi connection you can compete with other addicts from around the globe to see two to four players and see TEN OF THEM playing simultaneously when on local WiFi. The bonus also being for local WiFi that you only need one dam cart! Read more about it at our trusted aussie friends site vooks.net.

Tetris has constantly been reinvented over the years, but never as good as this - they've even got a Mario Brothers 3 level in it!!

pure genius!

Really Good Fan Made Revolution Demonstration Video

Its not pretty like that Nintendo ON video or over the top like those rubbish ones someone made over at that dead Nintendo fanboy site...

It just simply shows how the Revolution remote will more than likely work in 10 short clips. There's some footage of Mario Sunshine and how it could interact, as well as Link in Soul Calibur 2.

In a time when there's going to be a lack of info about the console until around E3 it's nice to see something like this.

Have a look at the clip here.


I wish I had a flag waving woman like that

TeamSolix360 XBox 360 ModChip Scam Shows The World How Easy It Is

Go to the TeamSolix360 site and press CTRL+A to highlight the entire page.

So far several sites have failed to read the blatant information on the page that informs the reader that the site is indeed fake and is in fact an attempt to show that people like icemodchip are scams.

They have an entire page dedicated to it here

Something's obviously upset the guy who did the website as he seems to have a major spooky vendetta against infinitymods!


Don't care? Simply bored at work? Have a look at these instead!

That Fight Night Demo On XBox Live Marketplace Is Amazing!

If you have a 360, go to XBox Live Marketplace NOW and download the new EA demo of Fight Night. It's shockingly realistic if not a little slow to play, but that doesn't matter. Playing it on my monitor last night my jaw dropped as the chaps both walked on screen and started to beat the living crap out of each other.

Then I thought I'd try the two player, invited in my father who proceeded to beat me every single dam time. Now I don't know if that's because he was button bashing in his normal way that makes him and his pad engage in some merry dance that leads out into the hallway, or if it's due to the fact that I am rubbish.

The visuals are scary though, really scary - the way things move and stuff, it's just great. What people were saying about Burnout's advance's could be true if games are starting to look this good...

GIVE IT A GO