It's Alive!!

It's official (mostly). As of the end of the long weekend, the new site is up and running. I am still missing a couple little graphical items, but those should be coming soon. So for the most part I am very happy with where everything is right now. 

This does mean however that THIS site is pretty much dead. I won't be taking it down (b/c most of my pics are anchored here) but this will be the last post that i make on it (barring any sort of issue with the official one). 

So from now on if you want to read anything that may be going on in my life, the babies life, or the lives of several of my friends that are posting with me, you need to go here.

Again, this is not the end, but a new beginning. 

The OFFICIAL WiFi Pirate site is up! 

http://wifi-pirate.com

Official Site Coming Soon

Well i finally bit the bullet and got a REAL .com. I am naturally working on setting things up the way I want them to look, so until then this is still the site to see. When the sheet falls, and the reveal is made you can go here for my true site. It will be a while, so bear with me until then. To anyone that cares send me some suggestions for the new site. It will be like the current one but with a more organized navigation. Sections will be broken up so they are easy to find. 

If you have help to offer (i am looking for help with graphics, resources, and of course and editor) feel free to leave me a comment or email me.

Thanks everyone. I hope this is what i expect it to be... Forward into the future!!

Goldeneye N64

All aboard for another trip in the "Way Back" machine. Going back now to the late 90's, when my friends and I didn't have a lot to worry about. Fresh outta high school, working crappy jobs just to have money to buy what ever we wanted, not to many worries to hold us down. 

Enter the Nintendo 64 and the game that would rule our nights for years, "Goldeneye 007". I am not sure that I or really anyone, can put a finger on what exactly it was about this game that made it such a time sink. One things for sure though, we all lost countless hours playing this game over and over and over again. 

The story of the game followed directly the story of the movie. It made a few twists and turns but always kept up with the movies plot. You, of course, play as Pierce Brosnon, as the one and only James Bond. Shooting your way through several different environments, using many an amusing gadget, and different powerful weapons. 

The story mode was fine and good, but it really took a back seat to the real draw for this game, the multi-player modes. Five different modes, Eleven different maps, and Thirty different characters to choose from. Countless different variations of the different modes lead to an almost endless list of ways to approach each and every map. My friends and I would play literally all night and never get tired of it. To this day I can still pick up the controller and almost always pinpoint where all the other opponents are strictly based on what they are seeing in their square of the screen. This game (and it's later successor Perfect Dark) was the biggest reason I had such a hard time giving up my N64 a few years ago. 

About a year ago there was a rumor that it might eventually make its way onto the Xbox Live Marketplace. That, sadly, will probably never ever happen due to a mountain of red tape that apparently Microsoft and Nintendo and who ever else is involved can't seem to climb. 

Until the day that they make it for some other system (possibly a download for the Wii Virtual Console) I will have only my memories to keep me company. I don't even care that the graphics haven't aged well AT ALL, I just love the game and everything that went along with it at the time. 

Another Dead Hero...

Well the big news of the day, and probably the week, is that the 1up Network is pretty much dead. 

As of yesterday UGO Entertainment took over EGM and it's sister site 1Up.com. If the story had ended there it probably would have been fine, however it sadly did not. UGO in corporate buy-out fashion, swung the mighty axe of Destruction +1. They put an end to one of, if not the best, gaming magazine left out there. As an avid reader of this magazine, almost since the beginning, I feel like i have come to really know most of the writers and editors there. Granted i have never met any of them, but if you read something from a group of people each month for years, you feel close to them. 

When Ziff decided to kill off the "Official Playstation Magazine" i felt almost the same way. Seeing as how most of the former writers there were absorbed into the EGM/1up scene it wasn't so bad. I still could catch up on projects that everyone was working on, where they were headed and what they wanted to do next. 

This, again, is not where the story ends. When UGO shut down EGM, they also sent most of their stars from the 1up network packing as well. Shane Bettenhausen, Ryan O'Donnell, Nick Suttner, Philip Kollar, James "Milkman" Mielke, Ryan Scott, Matt Chandronait, Jay Frechette, and Greg Ford. That is just a few of the 40 employees that were part of the lay offs. This is the truely sad part of everything. 

Again i have been reading, listening, and watching videos, podcast and articles from these guys for years now. It feels like you just lost touch with friends that you have had for years and now you may never know what they are up to next. 

Talent was one thing that the group had for certain. I defy you to watch any of the 1up show episodes and not find something informative, or funny in every single one. I guess that is why it is so hard to understand why UGO would cut most of it's star lineup. 

No more 1Up Yours, no more 1Up Show, no more 1Up FM... i don't understand it. I am not trying to be melodramatic here but it's really sad. I loved getting my news from those guys, finding out what was the next big thing, or the next flop. Seeing all the fun they were having making the 1Up Show made me want to be a better writer so that i could one day have a job like that. Seriously, i started this blog with the thought in the back of my head that one day i could be part of a group of people that produced informative well balanced shows like them. 

I can't imagine what Garnett, David Ellis, Jeremy, and the rest of the guys that are left, are going through. To have to go back to that empty office where they all had so much fun, spent so much time together. It must be torture. I guess if there is a bright side at least they still have jobs to go to. 

I can only hope that the members that have been separated can find some way of getting back in the game. Though it has changed a lot over the past several hours, i look forward to the future projects that they all work on. I hope they keep us (the gaming public) updated with everything they are doing, and where they plan to go next. 

So sorry to see it end this way 1Up. I know i am not the only out there that will miss the weekly updates from your podcasts and such. Good luck to everyone in whatever you do next. And to all those that are left at their desks, keep doing what you have been for years and you will still have loyal fans willing to give you candy, and even booze once in a while. 

End of the world, no. End of something great, positively.

It's A Boy!!

I didn't think it was possible, honestly. With all the women in my family i really didn't think it would happen. However i guess nature wasn't listening, b/c sure enough, we are having a boy. 

Everything went well during the ultra sound. Measurements are fine, development is fine, things are all where they should be and working according to how they should. As of right now my son weighs in at a hefty 11oz. and is only a day off the pace of the original due date. 

It has finally started to sink in that we are going to have a kid in the next few months. We started looking at things for the room, and clothes. Some things from family members have already started coming in.

As i told my wife since i am the only male in a family of about 10 female children, grand children, and great grand children, our SON will be spoiled rotten. My father seemed pretty chill about having a grandson but i could tell deep down he can't wait to take him on his first fishing trip. 

Names have been picked out, for years now, and our son will be Brandon Xavier. I can't wait to meet the little guy when he comes out... 

Congratulations!! It's A...

Friday we will hopefully be able to find out what we are having. I don't think either my wife or I really care what we are having, so long as it is healthy. So far in the few ultrasounds we have had the baby has not been very cooperative. Legs crossed, revealing nothing of what it may be. The appt we have Friday is apparently a 45min deal, so hopefully with that amount of time they will be able to say one way or another what's up.

Stay Tuned. If i find out actually what we are having i will post it asap. 

More MGS LBP info

So more information has come out on the MSG pack for LittleBigPlanet. The pack will hit the PSN on December 23rd (just in time for virtual stocking stuffing). The individual costumes will cost $2 or you can buy them as a pack for $6. Which includes the Snake, Meryl, Mantis, and Raiden costume. Raiden as announced before will not be sold as a stand alone, only in the pack.

The MGS level pack will also be $6 and includes a HUGE variety of items. First the Gurlukovich costume not available in the other costume pack. Also, 72 stickers, 12 materials, 10 decorations, 18 objects, and apparently more they don't mention. The biggest part (or maybe the smallest) is in this pack you will receive the "Paintinator", a small paint ball gun that your sack boy will carry around. It's the gun that is featured in the video above. 

Once again this whole package is looking better and better. Now that they have patched the game again (1.07) they added an ingame store to buy items from the PSN. They also added a more specific way to search for levels, in game. Very nice additions.  

!

As an update to a story i posted about previously Media Molecule and Sony have let loose with a few more details on the upcoming Metal Gear Solid pack for LittleBigPlanet. 

In addition to the costumes, buying the "Level Pack" will set you up for 11 new Trophies for LBP. Also of note is the fact that your Sackboy will be able to pack some heat (sort of) in the form of a paintball gun. This also will lend to the trophies that you can collect. 

This addition to the game sounds better and better the more i hear about it. To get a complete list of the trophies (both new and old) go to PS3Fanboy's site for just that.

This is all good news considering the fact that i got on to play LBP for the first time today in a while and couldn't get "Online" with it. I wasn't able to access any community levels, or anything else that required a connection to the servers. I thought they got all this sorted out. Did i miss something?

Strictly for the game Nerds.

The people that get it are already laughing. The ones that don't never will.

One good plug deserves another...

So since i got a plug on a recent Podcast from Fullsignull, i figured i would return the favor. I know you're not really supposed to send traffic away from your site but...

FullSignull is a website that revolves around Games and Tech. The also (as mentioned) have a podcast on iTunes, available here. They are just on their 9th podcast now and are starting to hit their stride, so to speak. 

Check out their site and give them a listen. Maybe if i send them enough hits i can get a guest spot on a show one day. 

You got your MGS in my LBP...

Finally a LBP download that i can get behind. Coming apparently very soon to the PSN is a download for LittleBigPlanet that will give you several things from MGS4. You can get them all separate for a small fee or together for a slightly larger one. Items include the "Old Snake" costume *pictured above* also a Meryl costume, and a Screaming Mantis suit. You can also get the MGS level pack as well. Sony will throw in for free if you buy them all a Sackboy version of Raiden from MSG4. 

They haven't given an exact date for the pack or a price break down. However if the past packs are any indication then the suits will be around 99¢ and the package deal probably around $4.99. Since there haven't been any "Level Packs" released there is no indication of what the price may be for that.  I can't imagine that they would charge much more than $5 for it though. It depends on what is involved in it i guess to determine the price. 

The Ol' Bait and Switch, "Home" Style!!

Ok so it's a given that this is going to happen (the Internet was created for these things) but this is just funny to watch. I love the reactions from the other avatars as they all just walk away.

Final Fantasy 6

Well i figured today was as good a day as any to drop a retro review of my favorite game of all time. Final Fantasy 6, or as it was known for so long in the states Final Fantasy 3.

I have such great memories of this game. I remember the first time i saw a friend of mine playing it at his house. I watched him play through about the first hour of the game with wide eyes, internally plotting how i could get the money to buy my own copy. 

I think the first thing that i got caught up in with this game was the graphics. For the time it was probably one of the most colorful and beautiful SNES games on the market. From the environments, to the characters, the spells, everything looked amazing on that 26 inch tube television. 

The story, as i would find out through playing the game, was very inviting and easy to keep up with, yet never boring. Of course this was before the cliche' of stories that had a main character that couldn't remember their past, but needed to save the future. I don't remember the exact count but, along the way you would meet and be able to use a very wide cast of characters. Ninjas, Fighters, Mages, even Gamblers and a feral human/animal thing would all join your party. Each bringing their own special abilities and weapon types.

The Music, well the music from most games sticks with me years after the game has gone. Nobou Uematsu composed some of the most memorable music of the series (at least for me) for this game. Once again, like River City Ransom, I took some of the music and made a ring tone for my cell phone. It's hard to describe music from a game like this and do it justice, the easiest thing to do would be go and find it and give it a listen. I am sure that you can find most if not all of the important songs on imeem.

Gameplay... well as far as RPG's go or the Final Fantasy series goes, it wasn't really revolutionary. However it did introduce a couple of new gameplay mechanics to the series. Sabin (the monk/fighter) had different special moves that he could pull off so long as you entered them in SFII style on the controller. There were also a couple times when your party would be forced to split up and you had to control each independently of the other. These situations usually happened at key plot points in the story. 

There isn't room enough for all the good things that i could say about this game. Like i said before it is probably my all time favorite game. I own it for about three different systems. I play though the bulk of the story regularly about once every 2 years. Sure i know how the story will end, and nothing surprises me anymore in the game but that doesn't matter. From the first time i played it years ago to the last time i played it a couple months ago it still entertains me. 

If you have never played the game before and are a fan of RPGs from the later era of the SNES days, you owe it to yourself to play this one. Other than the original SNES cart, you can also find it on the GBA, and on the PSX as part of the "Final Fantasy Anthology".

Later, Sports. First, The News.

Finally some news worthy, uh, news. 

Konami announced that they are bringing several of their games over to the iPhone and iPod Touch. The games that interest me the most are Silent Hill: The Escape, and Metal Gear Solid Touch. 

Silent Hill: The Escape is "a First person 3D shooting game that lets players utilize the control features on the iPhone and iPod Touch..."

Metal Gear Solid Touch is "an original game that brings to life the world and characters" of MGS4. There are eight "touch shooting" levels available in the initial release and more to come later. 

The other titles they announced were, Dance Dance Revolution S Lite and Frogger. Neither of which really grabbed me and made me happy i actually have an iPod Touch now. MSGT is supposedly coming out for a "Spring 2009" release. And if John Davison is to be believed then Silent Hill: The Escape is headed to the iPod/iPhone this month.

You Look Nice Today

Ok so I have long since been trying to find Comedy Podcasts that were, in actuality, comedic.  Recently I stumbled upon a few Twitter feeds for a couple different people that always seem to make me laugh (hotdogsladies, scottsimpson, and lonleysandwich). Looking deeper into the info behind these guys, much to my surprise and excitement, they conduct a podcast. 

The name of the Podcast is "You Look Nice Today." It is a little hard to describe. I guess you could roughly put it into words by saying it is a couple of guys sitting around talking and cracking jokes. But that wouldn't do it the justice it deserves. They are all very smart, well read, and have a vocabulary that far exceeds my own. However what draws me to the podcast is their extremely dry wit. Listening to them banter back and forth is great, most of the time i find myself rewinding parts b/c i have just laughed through the tail end of a joke. 

It may not be video game related but it is well worth the listen if you just want straight up humor on you iPod or other mp3 playing device. I mean really how can you go wrong with a podcast that has episode titles like "Nicklepuss" and "Where is the ham?"

Here is the link to their podcast through iTunes. 

Cue the tumble weeds...

Ugh! This truly is the "Dry Season". I can't find anything news worthy out there. The only thing really talked about is how bad the VGA's were last night on Spike. I will find out for myself tonight. I figured recording them on my DVR then having the ability to fast forward the horrible celebrity banter was the best option. 

There aren't any new games coming out that are worth even mentioning. The Christmas season sucks as far as new releases, especially if you can afford to buy things when they come out the month before. Then you don't even have something to look forward to in your stocking. 

I don't even think i can come up with something interesting that i saw/thought about on the highway today. Other than the fact that it is 70° today and Christmas is a week and a half away.

Way back Wednesday, now on Thursday...

Let's see, where to begin. 

River City Ransom. This is one of those games that you play over and over again, never really caring about how short it is (or how short you could make it). I remember playing this one with a friend A LOT over the course of about a day and a half. I don't think it was even a continuous play, i think we played it, stopped then played more starting from the beginning. 

This game was memorable for a huge list of small quirks that just made it so much fun. For instance, the fact that the main characters were "Alex" and "Ryan", pretty simple boring everyday names. Also the "story" revolved around you getting through River City then defeating the man behind the take over of "River City High School" named "Slick". In defeating Slick you also rescued Ryan's girlfriend "Cyndi". That was pretty much the entire plot.

This game also managed to hide the fact that it was a beat-em-up wrapped around a RPG. Inside the various stores you were able to purchase food, books, and other accessories. Food ranged from egg rolls to pizza, and the books had titles like "Stone Hands" and "Dragon Feet". Buying books, and sometimes different foods would boost your stats, as well as giving you a permanent upgrade to your attacks and defence. 

Also this game was just a huge time sink if you wanted it to be. I can remember playing for hours on end just taking one player with a stick and one with a rock and just playing stickball in the game. Probably now what the developers had in mind with those two weapons but, i am sure i am not alone in using them for that purpose. 

The interaction between the enemies and heroes was pretty good too, i can't remember any specific lines of dialogue. However i do remember that the names of the gangs were hilarious. You had the "Generic Dudes" the "Frat Boys", and more specifically you had guys named "Moose" that you fought against. Oh and sometimes when they died, if they didn't run away, they would say things like "Barf!". Hilarious!

The music also has a way of working it's way into my head from time to time. So much so that i actually took the music from the store interior and made it my ring tone on my cell phone. 

Like with the previous games i have listed in this section of my blog, i would love to see another more updated version. Again, however, i don't want some slapped together shadow of a game. If they can't make one worth the time of the fans of the original, don't bother. I am happy just playing the Virtual Console version of the NES cart for the time being. 

Home Delay

This is why people have lost faith in Playstation home.

From PS3Fanboy.com

Did you hear? The Home open beta starts today. The client has been patched up to version 1.03 and the servers are down while Sony does various jiggerypokery behind the scenes. TedTheDog states that the service should be back up, along with the launch of open beta, "early PM UK time," though he adds that he can't be more specific than that, thanks to the nature of the global updates.

Ted also confirms that the Home icon will appear on the XMB as soon as the final switch is pulled, though people who are using their PS3s at the time will need to restart. In case you're wondering, it's already past Midday in the UK, so it could go live at any minute. We'll update this post as soon as that happens.

[UPDATE] TedTheDog has updated with the current situation, as of 3pm GMT (10am EST): "Still progressing nicely, now on the testing stage. No eta still as I wouldnt want to guess how long it will take for each region to verify its elements are working but we're getting there." Shouldn't be too long now ...

More updates after the break[UPDATE 2] Rut roh! "Testing complete and a couple of technical problems have been found. We need to iron these issues out first and I'm waiting to hear how long that might take (I'm not qualified to even guess, its very technical). Apologies, I know you all want to get in but we must get these things right. And please remember, this is a beta and today is our first step into the Open Beta environment and what we're doing today is part of the beta process itself."

Also, it appears that the Far Cry 2 and Uncharted spaces won't be available in the European beta today. Likewise the new Diesel and Ligne Roset stores, along with the Red Bull Air Race, won't be available til next week. The American beta should include all these things today. Feel free to say mean things about SCEE in the comments below.

[UPDATE 3] Things don't seem to be going brilliantly over at Sony HQ. TedTheDog writes: "Apologies for the delay in an update, you may have noticed a PSN outage in the last hour. Things seem back on track now although the outage delayed us a little we are moving again. Hope to have another update soon."

According to the Twitter post of both PS3Fanboy and PSHomeCentral, the Home servers are now live. At least until they crash from all the people trying to get in. The time is 4:40pm Est

Mama... Mama I'm Coming Home!

So the wait is over. Tomorrow December 11th 2008, Playstation's Home Open Beta will be here. Really the only question bigger than what will it be like is, does anyone still care? 

I mean this thing was announced in March of 2007 and was slated for its "Original" release in Sept of the same year. It has been in development since 2005. PS3 owners have been hearing literally for years about the functionality of the social networking community. There has been closed beta testing since before summer. Sony has been dropping tiny little tidbits here and there for what seems like forever. When the wool was partially pulled off of our collective eyes they revealed that most of what was promised has been "scaled back". 

About the only thing that i care about with this anymore is the "Trophy Room". Where, you guessed it, your trophies are displayed for you and your friends to see. I may venture out of my house to look around the different game inspired sites. Some seem more exciting than others, like the Uncharted Bar, or the Far Cry 2 desert. 

I dunno i just can't get excited about it anymore. Even knowing for SURE that it will drop tomorrow, i still don't care much. I guess time will tell if their years of work on the community was worth it. I am sure though that the people that drool over the NXE avatars, and the Wii Mii's will be all about this. Eh... 

Random thoughts

So i am driving down the road today (where i do some of my best and most random thinking) and two things came to my mind.

One if you want a quick trip to the mental hospital, here is a Pro-Tip. Sit on the side of a major highway in just your underwear and pet a dead animal like it is your best friend. 

Second, why hasn't Uno Rush come out for LIVE Arcade? They tease us with this new game like a year ago (ok more like 6 months i guess). How long can it possibly take to craft an Uno game? I mean, you already had all the foundation laid with the first one. Slap on a new coat of paint, drop in the new gimmick, and push it out to the public. Now the official write up on the Xbox home page has a date of TBD. Which means either they aren't doing it anymore and don't want to tell us. Or they have no earthly idea when it will either be done or through certification.  Well poop on you. I'll go back to shooting Nazis...