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Sunday, April 9, 2017

Breath of the Overrated

So I preordered a Nintendo Switch.... received it in the mail about 5 days after launch (stupid Best Buy) and have been playing The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild ever since. There are some great, great elements to the game.

Unfortunately, one of the worst things is the combat. It's so bad it actually RUINS the entire game. It's not about dying a lot, which does happen, but the targeting is so inaccurate yet it demands precision. Link is always getting hung up on climbing a nearby obstacle, making him a easy target for a one-shot kill-- which even the lowest enemies are capable of, by the way. Not only capable of, but they do it often, leading to frequent deaths.

Link can only target in 4 basic directions, think 12:00, 3:00, 6:00, 9:00 yet he needs to be able to target in 8 directions. Makes for a frustrating experience.

 All the enemies can do one-shot kills, but it takes about 100 hours of gameplay before Link is strong enough to one-shot kill even the lowest enemy. Gee, that sounds fair. This is supposed to be the "Champion" the game keeps going on about.

The enemies are faster than Link. He's so unbelievably sluggish you'd think at least he'd have enough health to compensate. But nope. Again, play for 100 hours and maybe you can last 10 minutes before getting one-shot killed.

It's ridiculous how game reviews are giving this a 10/10 when the combat mechanics are nearly completely broken. A big part of the game is broken, so it's impossible to rate a game like that 10/10.


There's so much wrong with the combat, and the game requires you engage in combat to advance. If there was only exploration, that part of the game gets 10/10. But the combat gets 3/10. Average the 2 together and Breath of the Wild is a 6.5/10 game overall.

While it's immensely fun to wander this huge world, especially on a handheld, and the puzzles are usually fun, the broken combat mechanics destroy so much of the fun and it's a shame that Nintendo won't get the message to improve it because of all the fawning reviews.


Saturday, June 11, 2016

USB Type C adaptive charging is a complete dumpster fire

It's mid-2016 as I type this and let's face it... USB Type C is a total mess.

Unlike previous USB formats such as Micro USB, Type C is not being universally standard. The whole success of USB is that it is a standard. All phones basically used it, all computers basically connected to it via a Micro to Type A USB cable. For years we had mostly no troubles with the USB format, and Micro USB.

The problem with USB Type C is that it's not just the connector port, it needs to be properly implemented with USB 3.1 which is a connection standard that allows more functionality. It should be mandated that *ALL* USB Type C devices *MUST* use USB 3.1 and have ALL the same features, whether that's HDMI out, transfer speeds, and this is what's pissing me off the most.... CHARGING standards.

Here's the mess: a bunch of phones have come out that have USB Type C yet have different charging standards. Some still support Qualcomm's quickcharge standard. Some like the Nexus 6P & 5X, use adaptive fast charging. We know about the problems with using out-of-spec Type C to A cables. So basically we can't always trust that different cables will work. It used to be much easier that a micro USB cable would just plain work. Not so with USB type C.

My problem is with my Nexus 5X. It often won't rapidly charge if it's turned on. it might SAY it's "rapidly charging" on the lock screen, but not only is it not rapid charging, it barely charges at all. I've used Ampere to check after noticing it wouldn't be charged after a couple hours plugged in. I tried different power outlets, reversing the charging cable (all using the supplied cable & charger) and when I bought another Google Store Type C charger, same problem.

I guess it could be the hardware. But I've read many cases of the same types of charging problems from Nexus 6P owners. Thankfully my 6P doesn't have this problem.

I think that the Type C so-called "standard" isn't as standard as it should be. What a mess.



later
don 

Monday, June 6, 2016

War of the Monsters stole my money



Have you ever felt you were cheated out of money? Like someone stole cash from out of your pocket?

That's how I feel about buying War of the Monsters on PSN.

I paid something like $4.00 for it. I know that doesn't sound like a lot. But I was so excited by the concept-- a monster movie brawler that looked fast and cheesy fun. I anticipated getting into it as it was downloading its 1.2 GB game file to my PS3....

But once I started playing, I discovered there aren't any controls. The developers MADE NO CONTROLS for playing the game. At least not any that WORK. Sure, they say the triangle and square buttons are attack, R2 is block, but the controls don't actually do that. At least not unless you're not being attacked or are completely alone on the battleground.

War of the Monsters is a COMPLETE RIP-OFF of a game purchase with absolute SHIT controls. This came from Incognito Studios, the makers of one of my favourite games Twisted Metal: Head On?!?

PSN needs to have a refund option for games that are obvious garbage. It only took 5 minutes to discover this was complete garbage. I feel like it stole my money.


later
don

Thursday, March 17, 2016

New Nintendo 3DS XL backplate chipping


























Man... This happened just this afternoon... I was even playing my New Nintendo 3DS XL this morning and I didn't see it. I have no idea why it's chipping away, looks like a top layer coating.

It's also starting on the other side, these are where my hands grip the console.




I think there's a quality control issue with whatever they used to coat the NN3DSxl. I've had this unit since launch.


Later
Don

Monday, February 2, 2015

Trying to pre-order a Saygus V2 smartphone



I'm trying to get to the shop page on the Saygus website, not having much luck... just a blank "shop" title with nothing much else.

Maybe their site is getting hammered...



later
don

Tuesday, January 27, 2015

Kingston MicroDuo 3.0 16GB doesn't fit




















  I just bought a Kingston MicroDuo 3.0 16GB flash drive. It has full-size USB on one side and micro USB for plugging into devices like my Nexus 5.

The huge problem is the full-size USB. It's slightly too big.





Compared to my USB cable plug, you can visibly see the Kingston is slightly wider and taller. Man, what is it with Kingston and their crap inability to conform to standards? This is not the first Kingston product that's been too big. I have 2 SD cards that have major problems fitting into SD slots like my 3DS... because they are slightly too large.

I tried putting this stupid MicroDuo USB stick into my Asus X205TA USB port, it *barely* fit. Now I think it's been stretched. Now regular USB plugs are a bit looser in that slot.

This would be a great little device if Kingston could only conform to standards like 99% of the USB/SD storage community.

I've had it with Kingston now. Three strikes already. I'm done with your garbage, Kingston.



later
don


Thursday, April 24, 2014

PSN makes PSP titles available to download on Vita then takes them away again



I am so, SO *SO* angry with Sony right now.

The other day, I read that PSP titles on our download list could FINALLY be downloaded onto our Playstation Vitas! So I looked at my Downloads list and sure enough, EVERY PSP title I had on there had the Download button next to it. Wow! So I downloaded 2 of the 3 PSP titles that I couldn't download previously, Star Wars Battlefront: Renegade Squadron and Twisted Metal: Head On. I didn't download Star Wars Battlefront: Elite Squadron yet... had I only known...

Yesterday Sony reverted our Downloads list back to the way it was before, with most of the PSP content "Cannot download using a PS Vita system." ARRRGHHHH!!!!

This is Sony we're talking about. The SAME Sony that will take every opportunity to screw with its handheld customers. I suffered so much grief from them during the PSP years. There are parts of Sony that I simply HATE. I swore off digital downloads for years because of their antics.

What is GALLING about Sony's about-face is that clearly, Sony can (literally) at the flick of a switch make these games available for download. I'm not talking about getting them free. I paid for these full games. I didn't pirate them. I don't know if they made a mistake and accidentally flipped the switch making these games available, but it's so frustrating that all this time their content is right there and they arbitrarily deny them from their customers. This is the true SCE Sony style.

And when I was marveling at how we could download our previously purchased  PSP games, I thought, "Hey, I don't have a digital copy of Syphon Filter: Dark Mirror... I wonder how much it costs... if it is reasonable I would pick it up"... yes, I would have BOUGHT MORE GAMES had this open policy stayed in effect. Geez Sony, you wouldn't actually want that, huh? Happy customers who buy more of your games? Imagine.

I hate you so much, Sony. Thanks for reminding me of the bad old days of 2007-2010, when you did your best to make it suck to be a Sony customer.



later
don