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"SE"XBOX

25 Jan 2008
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Technology Video games

Allen showed me a video last night regarding the Mass Effect feature the Fox Network made. They said Mass Effect featured graphic sex and full frontal nudity. Here's an article with this YouTube video of the Fox Network report. Okay, I admit that I haven't played the game that much but listening to their round-table discussion, it's like they could have done more research. It's good that they acknowledged the presence of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) ratings. Hmm...Kids playing their dad's video games? Well, "in this day and age where kids aren't always supervised," adults can restrict what gets played in their consoles through parental controls. It was mentioned in the statement Microsoft gave! The Wii and PS3 have them too (I've heard the PS3 parental controls are a bit unintuitive but it's still there). Heck, even the PSP have them! Of all the gaming devices out there, I think it's only the DS that doesn't have them, just the overly protective and annoying Friend Code system to prevent kids from accidentally playing with child molesters. In consolation, some of them in the report have what the others lacked: common sense. I think the problem mainly lies with the uninformed adults that don't know about the parental controls. In conclusion...

Do more research about what you talk about. "Have you ever played Mass Effect?" "No." ? Why target Mass Effect in the first place? Just because it has sex? There are other games out there with even more explicit sex with women with boobs bigger than melons! Who would play a 30+ hour game just to see a sex scene worth about two minutes?
To the Adults (especially those with younger siblings or those with kids under their care): Look at the ratings and learn to use the parental controls.
To the Kids: You're better than your parents at these things but they're your parents. Keep them informed and don't manipulate them. If they don't think you're ready to play certain games, then you're not ready.
To the Much Younger Kids: Stay cute and don't grow up so fast. Cherish your childhood. Play with your Fisher-Price see-saws and cars or LEGO bricks. Let your imagination go wild and dream.

Thank you!

No Extra Lives

9 Oct 2007
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Reflection Video games

Originally from this site but it went down for some time. Anyway, here it is the article just in case it goes down again:

Moscow: 10-yr-old commits suicide after parental ban on computer games A 10-year-old school boy committed suicide by jumping from his 19th floor apartment here after his parents banned him from playing computer games. Andrei Smirnov, a class three student, jumped to his death yesterday after receiving the wrath of his parents due to bad conduct in school and a poor performance in studies. The boy's class teacher had written remarks about his bad conduct in the school diary which he had tried to erase to escape the wrath of his parents, according to Komsomolskaya Pravda tabloid. Angered by the teacher's remarks and their son's attempt to deceive them, Andrei's parents banned him from playing games on his computer. Local experts here have expressed concern over the unhealthy dependence of children on computers. According to Director of Centre for Legal Psychological Assistance Mikhail Vinogradov, children who are banned from using their computers could easily resort to suicide, since they do not realise the consequences of taking the extreme step. Comment: The child was banned from playing computer games and took his life. As parents and as societies, do we provide our children with reasons to live for, for oppurtunities to be creative and enhance their self-worth, their self esteem? The answer for the vast majority unfortunately, is No. It is the price all humans pay under pathocracy, since some of its characteristics are the 1. suppression of individualism and creativity 2. impoverishment of artistic values 3. impoverishment of moral values; a social structure based on self-interest and one-upmanship, rather than altruism. And make no mistake. The world currently is ruled by pathocrats.

The comment attached to the article is worth noting. Is the cause of his suicide really dependence over computers? Why? Computer games are like TV shows, movies or books. They provide entertainment, may tell stories, and give simulated experiences that may never be possible in real life. Aside from being 'time wasters' and stress relievers (well, there are also games that are just so frustrating that they cause stress...hahahahaha!), they are also a form of escape from the real world. One can't drive at 2000+ km/h in real life but it can be done in computer games. The same can be said with many other illegal acts done in the virtual world. At the end of the day, nobody gets hurt until a kid brings a real gun to school. I digress. Was it that the kid found a better life in video games than in the real world? If he was addicted, what drove his addiction this far? Can society provide the "anti-drug" to the addiction?

Nintendo @ E3 (PressCon)

12 Jul 2007
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Gadgets Video games Wii

E3 is here again and day 2 has just started a few hours ago. Also just a few hours ago, Nintendo's Media Briefing/Press Conference started and went on for a little more than an hour. Typical of a Nintendo E3 conference in the past few years was to give some statistics and then unveil some new stuff. Here are some highlights I got and some impressions. Oh yeah, Reggie Fil-Aimes was the main speaker (just like before). Wii Zapper This is similar to the prototype unveiled before but this time, the nunchuk attachment is also used. It's two handed so you'll be holding it like a tommy gun. It's going to be sold at a MSRP $19.95. A bit expensive considering it's just a mount, but I guess the finish & quality adds to the price...oh yeah, the branding too. One important thing to note here is that it still uses IR for pointing. It's quite sad that they didn't opt to have a light gun-like device instead since it would work better with the upcoming games (Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, Ghost Squad and Medal of Honor). Well, fortunately it's also going to be packaged with one or two of these games. I doubt that I'll shell out money for these. I just can't get over the idea of not having a light gun. Mario Kart & Wii Wheel Reggie talked about how the DS was using the Nintendo Wifi Connection (NFC) and the 250+ M wifi sessions (5.5 M DS user has already played online). [Hahaha, I love playing Tetris DS online.] Reggie then mentioned that the Wii already had Pokemon Battle Revolution where players could bring their Pokemon to the online arena. Well, for me it wasn't really that good since it lacked the matchmaking capabilities and statistics. Good thing he also promises other games that will go online (Aw, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption isn't one of them). What seemed like a promising online experience was playing Mario Strikers Charged online and I read about this article weeks before and this game seems like something to keep an eye on. Also, he announced Mario Kart for the Wii! Reggie said that this wasn't the Mario Kart we used to play because of its online capabilities. One interesting thing is that he mentions that there will be multiple players playing real time. He just didn't mention how many (he just said to stay tuned). Oh how I wish they'd develop F-Zero for the Wii and have a 30-player (or at least a 12-player) online cup. I really enjoyed F-Zero GX on the Gamecube... Reggie said that in Mario Kart for the Wii, there was a tool that could help novice players & veteran players and even out the ground. Enter the Wii Wheel. It's basically a little wheel with a diameter of a Wii Remote and an inch. I don't really get how this will leverage the other novice players...well, maybe less intimidating controller? But still... What was kind of awkward was that Reggie seemed to pause for an applause after showing the Wii Wheel but didn't get any applause. Well, if I were there, I wouldn't really applause, too. The attachment seemed pretty much useless (well, I could be wrong but for now, that's what I think). Brawl On a short note, they said that Super Smash Bros. Brawl will be released this December 3! w00t! The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass No new info here, but any demo of Zelda is sweet. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption There was a short demonstration on MP3 and no new info was said. Well, there was that Z-Locking but still had free aiming. So you could do a circle-strafe while having full control of your aim. Satoru Iwata speaks The fourth president of Nintendo basically talked about separating the psychological barriers between novice players and veteran players. He said that the Wii Zapper & the Wii Wheel does just that. I can't help but think, is there something more to these attachments? I still find it weird. After that, he said that best game designs combine all player levels and combine them. Whee~! Let's bring the family closer together. Nintendo: We're just getting started. Some other upcoming games shown during the PressCon were Brain Age 2, Super Mario Galaxy, Flash Focus, and MyWord Coach. Brain Age 2 has been on my wish list and still is. More brain games and it'll be released this August 20! Super Mario Galaxy is also coming this November 12. News has been satisfactory for Super Mario Galaxy so nothing unexpected. There's also a vision training 'game', Flash Focus, that has activities to improve the eyes from range to visual focus. It has activities like a baseball strike zone and seems quite interesting. Japan's having all the fun right now but it'll localized to the US pretty soon. There's also MyWord Coach from Ubisoft. This was announced months back and what's weird was that there's also going to be a MyLife Coach. Mentoring you on different aspects of life? Shigeru Miyamoto: "Have you been getting your sweat on lately?"! Good old Shiggy was there to talk about a new game: WiiFit. Nope, it's not a game of trying to fit little pieces together. It's a health game. Also, it will be using something called a Wii Balance Board. This may sound weird but this really interested me. This reminded me of that old FamiCom game with the mat and there were different activities you could perform such as running. It was quite a workout then. So, what's up with WiiFit? There are different activities which include step aerobics, hula-hoops, yoga poses ...This is done through sensors on the foot pads. It seems to be pressure sensitive in key areas such that it can sense where your center of gravity is and how it shifts (in real time) and can determine your weight (not so sure about this but seems so). The device is also very thin and can also act as an interface with games (whole body input). Skate/snow boarding games anyone? In addition to that, it's also wireless! In WiiFit, they showed how it measured the center of gravity, BMI (an approximation) and had graphs for the statistics. These statistics could also be compared with the statistics of the other users. Do I see the Biggest Loser: Home Edition? What's the rationale behind WiiFit? Since the Wii was usually placed in the living room, what they wanted to do was to make the Wii more relevant to everyone in the household. To achieve this, they thought of health. Let's go back to the game. Three fitness trainers (well, they said they were fitness trainers) demonstrated the game through three activities:

One legged stretch: It was basically a stretching exercise and the challenge here was to keep the balance at the center while doing this.
Step aerobics: Aside from stepping on the board and stepping off, it has been coated with a Dance Dance Revolution-like feel to it that you had to follow the steps according to what's shown on screen.
Sideways twist: You basically twisting body left & right. The balance & on-screen feedback makes sure you perform the different exercises correctly.

During the show, they seemed to have some calibration problems but overall, it seems like a promising device...although might not be used by a lot of games. Just in case I didn't mention the other features in WiiFit, in the list were muscle training (push-ups and all that), yoga exercises and other fun games such as Soccer heading (leaning left to right to "head" the balls, while dodging anything else that comes flying in. In Closing... They said that they want to steal precious minutes from other activities for video games. Rawr. I say rawr indeed. Aside from that, they said consumers are no longer satisfied with consuming entertainment (points to Flickr, facebook, etc.). Reggie said: "The future should belong to all of us." Reggie mentions about the WiiWare and how it's being opened to partner developers. I can't help but think: how about us? We're the consumers right? Can't we have our share of the action? Does that mean no 'homebrew' software from the consumers? I hope they open that possibility up... --- IGN has already posted about this conference and if you want more detail and photos, you might want to check this out.

Finally, it arrived!

I got component cables for the Wii :D I ordered them from Play-Asia.com, together with a few other goodies. While I was there, I ordered three OSTs: Okami, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus. Aside from that, I got a YPbPr Power Box for component cables. I had some doubts whether it would work or not considering how it looked and the relatively cheap price tag of US$ 12.90 (~626.46 PHP) Compared to the JVC JX-66 3-to-1 Component Video A/V Switcher (US$56.94). Yesterday, the box arrived :D

Here is the Power Box which looks exactly as Play-Asia.com shows on its site:

Have you seen the boxes of those cheap toys that flash when you play with them (like the yo-yos)? This box just reminds me of those :P I tested this a few hours ago and it suprisingly worked quite well! Comments on Play-Asia.com said that there was some interference at times but it's basically ok. If it fails on me, I'll have to get that JVC JX-66 or settle with switching the component cables manually. The Ico and Shadow of the Colossus OSTs were just as I expected them. Practically all of the OSTs I have look like that (except maybe FFIX and Final Fantasy 2002-0220) .

Hm...Despite the fact the primary item on the list was the Wii Component Cables, I didn't bother taking pictures of them. Instead, the Okami OST got all the attention!

Okami. One reason I loved the soundtrack was because it had a really Asian feel to it (Well, the story of Okami is set in Japan :P). One reason why I love Asian music is because it really captivates its listeners and fills them with emotion. If you listen to a Chinese song that has a title of: "Ducks playing on spring water", that's the imagery that'll most probably emerge. *Sigh*. I miss playing Shadow of the Colossus. I love the game because of the sense of achievement it gives after each boss (the colossi) is defeated. And you know, they're the only enemies in the game but that's not a problem. Equipped with only a sword, a bow and arrow and your good old horse (but sometimes you battle alone), you get to fight these massive creatures. I just wish there were more colossi in the game :P I hope there'll be another game like this...and it won't be on the *gasp* PS3.

Addicted to life?

Computer Addiction or Just Modern Life? Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday February 14, @10:29PM Ant writes to tell us that ABC News has an interesting look at computer addiction and what it might take to be considered addicted in today's society. From the article: "Video games and the Internet have been subject to suspicion since the computer became a household fixture. One complaint: People get sucked into spending enormous amounts of time on the computer, to the detriment of other parts of their life. But are they addicted? The answer depends on what you mean by 'addicted.' Most experts say computers are not addictive in the same sense that drugs are, but they could be on the same level as gambling."

The world becomes smaller through the internet. Loads of information are waiting to be found. Either that, or publish your own. The internet has truly helped with communication. Sending documents, pictures, and other data is no problem with the help of e-mail, file sharing and the like. These are all happening in the virtual world, but the social aspects are very real. I guess this is why "computer addiction" is somewhat like gambling. We put in some time and hope to gain even a little from it in any aspect, but mostly socially. Unfortunately, it is difficult to call virtual communities communities. Although there may be discussions, actions or movements of individuals or groups in the community, one can always opt to "quit" the community temporarily or forever. Also, communities can get too large and quickly change in number that makes it hard to recognize individuals. In online or networked games, one can be part of a guild or clan. One may have started it, be invited into it, or requested for membership. But if one decides to stop being a member, one can just press a button and quit the group. The same goes with forums and lists. One can choose to participate, lie low, or just leech information. With all these movements and instability in the virtual world, it cannot be helped that it becomes fragmented. And with this fragmented world comes a fragmented individual. Thinking again, rarely are people able to self-actualize themselves in the greater scheme, but are often able to in smaller social groups. And sometimes, that's all that matters because in these groups are those people that truly matter to them.

Music, paint and lego...

17 Dec 2005
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Life Reflection Video games

Yet another casualty of gaming...
Taken on December 16, 2005 (GMT+08:00) from: http://thestar.com.my/...

Teenage gamer electrocutedBY MARC LOURDES

(Thursday December 15, 2005)

PETALING JAYA: A 16-year-old boy was found electrocuted in the study of his Section 4 home here at 3am yesterday.

Yap Wai Chung was discovered lying on the floor when his parents rushed into the room upon hearing a ear-splitting scream.

His father, who declined to be named, said Wai Chung had asked him on Tuesday night to replace his faulty computer modem.

Worried about his sonâ€™s addiction to computer games, he lectured the teenager about it and told him to limit his computer playtime to an hour a day.

After the scolding, Wai Chung ate his dinner and continued playing computer games while his parents went off to bed.

Unknown to Wai Chung, his father had asked a friend that night to change the modem.

Wai Chung's mother, who also did not wish to be named, said that when she woke up at 1am to get a drink, she saw her son watching television.

â€œEverything seemed fine and I didnâ€™t suspect anything,â€ she said.

However, two hours later, Wai Chung screamed loudly.

â€œWe rushed to the study and found Wai Chung on the floor with electrical wires around his body,â€ the father said at the University Malaya Medical Centre, where Wai Chung's body had been sent for a post-mortem.

His father said a note was found on his computer, asking his parents to give his beloved computer to a friend.

Petaling Jaya Deputy OCPD Supt Abdul Rahman Ibrahim confirmed the incident.

When I become a father...

This makes me not want to expose my kids to computer/video games at an early age even more. (even more? yeah...I've been thinking about this a lot, thanks to my lil bro's addiction...) One of the first few things my kids will be playing with are musical instruments, paint, modeling clay and lego...

I guess there will be a time when they will be exposed to games, and probably that I would still be playing video games...Plus, totally not exposing them to games will somewhat leave them out of conversations.

Being a responsible parent seems hard...but quite fulfilling :P I don't know...it'll still be a while 'til I become a father :P

Video Games

22 Oct 2004
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Video games

Yesterday, I just played Star Ocean on the PS2. I was just inventing stuff and not moving on with the storyline. I think I spent more than three hours doing so. What makes me wonder is that I keep doing the same thing. Well, not really exactly the same thing. I try out different combinations, but still, it is essentially the same thing. I think it's the probablility of getting different inventions that keeps me going. I try this and get that....I try it again and I get another...I try something else and I don't get anything at all. I think of it similar to the slot machines. There's this subconscious or inert (or something) motivation of some sort that keeps me going. Some might think this or I am pathetic. Well, maybe you haven't tried playing video games. I mean, really PLAY video games.

Okay, video games aren't so good. Well, I consider video games like watching a movie or reading a book. It's a form of entertainment. However, sometimes I think that it's becoming something more. Something that will lead me to my own demise. Well, I think I exaggerated a bit but I think it's true. On the other hand, playing video games has given me ideas that I might have not conjured up on my own. I learn words that I don't normally use. I get to experience adventures that could never happen in real life (seems pathetic but it's true!). Think: Where else could I race at over 1000 kph without ever hurting myself? Where can I go on an quest to rescue a princess and meet humans, humanoids and the like (other species included), explore vast plains, unforgiving wastelands, treacherous mountiains or the inside of an infernal volcano? Some of these can happen in real life yet the experience would risk my life or would take lifetimes to accomplish (both doing it, or trying to invent or waiting for the technologies). In video games, I could do them all in F-Zero, The Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Metroid Prime and the many others.

Don't get me wrong. Real life cannot be replaced with virtual life. PC and video games bring us out on fieldtrips to parallel or completely different worlds where we could never go (or do) in real life.

Probably I'll dive deeper some other time...For now, let me continue with my gaming....

"SE"XBOX

No Extra Lives

Nintendo @ E3 (PressCon)

Finally, it arrived!

Addicted to life?

Music, paint and lego...

Video Games

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