Godzilla: Unleashed

I've gotta admit, I've been playing the hell out of Godzilla: Unleashed the last few days.

I bought this game used at Rogers Video..... whoa, over a year ago??? Sheesh. And I hadn't even really played it til now. I was probably hoping I'd have time last summer to play it. Like the previous Godzilla game, Godzilla: Save the Earth for Xbox, these are good summertime games.

Godzilla videogames are like Godzilla movies: they get terrible reviews from the critics, but they are mindless fun. There's a lot to dislike about Godzilla: Unleashed-- the controls are sluggish, clunky and not always responsive. The storyline is cheesy & just a series of static comicbook-style pictures for the cutscenes, with terrible voicework. But for a G-fan like me, it is surprisingly fun. The graphics are great, the monsters sound/look right, and the cheeziness just makes it feel more like a Godzilla movie. But for the average videogamer that doesn't know those old movies, this game probably wouldn't stand up on its own.

I've also just started playing Deadspace: Extraction... it seems like an ok game, but it wasn't quite as compelling as a jump-in-and-play fighting game like Godzilla: Unleashed. I will go back to it when I'm in the right mood. And I've been playing Deadly Creatures, it is a nice game but very slow-paced and the lack of map coupled with generic routes means you have to visualize the entire level in your mind, which is tiresome. Now I'm currently playing Tron 2.0: Killer App on Xbox... an old gift.... my previous save file was from Dec. 2006... yeesh.....



later
don

Olympic Torch

Yup I've only been watching the 2010 Olympics for the last 2 weeks and not much else... besides being ill (again?!) ugh..... my TV shows have been piling up on my PSPgo, waiting to be watched & deleted. What's cool is that I recently got an 8GB CF card at Costco for like $9.97 or something. great price, and it seems to work in my Neuros Recorder II+ fine. Now I can record like 15 hours of TV or something? For $10.00 that's pretty sweet.

So I have to admit... I have a bit of gadget-lust for the 2010 Olympic torch. It just looks very cool; sleek & elegant design with metal trim that reminds me of a PSP.





I kinda want one... now I wish I'd put my name in to be a torch bearer or whatever the process was. I'm sure I could buy one off of eBay, but I really don't want an overpriced USED model... I'd rather it be new, clean or if used, then used by me.





Just another one of those things that falls into the useless-but-cool category like the Sony Rolly.



later
don

Jabra Halo bluetooth headphones

So I've spent the last week or so being tortured by these Jabra Halo bluetooth headphones that I bought. I believe they are the model that I saw in Hong Kong & regretted passing up on.... I got them from Future Shop during a sale.

I like the PSPgo Bluetooth headphone remote, but I really want to be free from wires altogether, and I also want the ease of over-the-head headphones. There are very few of those that are bluetooth, and fewer still that aren't HUGE.

The Jabra Halo bluetooth headphones were at times very nice but other times frustrating as hell. There are some really good things about them, and I really REALLY want to like them. But the problems are just too much.

The good - they are so comfortable.... the outside band is a soft vinyl, while the inside and earphones are a really nice soft velvet. They are fairly stiff, and shaped with the earphones slanting "outward" to try to mimic the ear shape.





They fold up, making them a bit more compact. It's also how they turn off apparently.



The sound is pretty good. It's better than I thought it would be, and it's actually a bit better sound quality than the PSPgo bluetooth remote. The Jabra halo control placement is good, though instead of having touch volume controls, they should have made those tactile buttons; a volume rocker button.



The bad - I had connection problems nearly right away... it paired with my PSPgo fine at first, but none of the controls on the headphones worked. And I kept having to re-pair it every time I turned off & on my PSPgo. So I was thinking, "these are not going to work out... damn I really like them too....." and was determined to return them.

Then yesterday I re-paired them for the upteenth time and adjust the bluetooth profile on the PSPgo first to HSP (mono headset profile)-- that was pretty bad sound quality, but the volume and play/pause buttons finally worked! So then I switched it to AVRCP and the sound quality went back to stereo yet the headphone controls kept working. Success, I hoped. Maybe I'll keep them after all!

But then I kept having problems where the PSPgo and the headphones kept thinking they were paired, but no sound was coming out of them. One time I even got the controls to work, but there was no sound. What the...????

Also all the removing and adding of the Jabra bluetooth profile kept causing my PSPgo to freeze on a "please wait..." screen.

So I've decided that I just can't win this one.... I'll be taking them back tomorrow. Sucks, I really like them & just want them to work. I don't think it's a bad unit, from all the reviews I've read it seems like pairing is a consistant problem, which is odd considering Jabra is all ABOUT bluetooth-- you'd think they'd know how to do it RIGHT.

But that's another sad thing I've noticed about bluetooth... there are NO good bluetooth headphones that stand out in the field. Every model I've come across has poor reviews. I have no idea why bluetooth headphones are so hard to create.



later
don

Hands on - PSPgo Bluetooth remote PSP-N270

Finally my PSPgo Bluetooth remote-- the PSP-N270-- came in the mail from Play-Asia! I charged it up and have been trying it out today.

It doesn't come with any headphones, which surprised me because I thought they might at least include those white earbuds that are included with the previous PSP remotes. Not that I need any; I'm using my fave earbuds, Creative EP-630, which I find have great sound.

One thing I was not really prepared for was registering or "pairing" it with my PSPgo (and my Toshiba NB205 netbook which also has bluetooth)... I knew that this is a Japanese product and the instructions would be in Japanese, but I honestly thought that there'd be more pictures in the instructions! Preferably using cute anime-style characters, hehe. But there's very little by way of diagrams, so I was left guessing as to how to pair the device to my PSPgo.

It comes with a 2-sided foldout:

page 1

page 2

If anyone can translate these and give me some tips on pairing multiple devices, please let me know.


I don't have a cellphone and have never really used/set up a bluetooth device before. But it seems that you hold down the POWER button when you start it up, and the flashing blue light turns into a flashing orange light & I believe it's ready to be paired. So then you go into the PSPgo SETTINGS menu and register it under the BLUETOOTH® DEVICE SETTINGS. It was not too difficult.... I was online looking for info about the bluetooth remote when I read that it could be paired with up to 8 devices. So after I paired it with my PSPgo, I then registered it with my NB205. And it worked well enough... but then it lost "pairing" with my PSPgo, so I'm not sure if I'm not doing things right or what. I re-paired it with my PSPgo... it's a shame I can't yet figure out how to use it for both because I have to say, for some reason it sounds really good with my NB205 netbook! The bass comes out much stronger than with the PSPgo. Maybe the NB205 bluetooth transmitter is stronger?

During normal use the PSPgo Bluetooth light stays on steady, while the remote light flashes about every 3 seconds.





As you can see, it's a bit larger than the PSP-1000 & PSP-2000/3000 remotes, but it has a better clip. And it's really light weight.... it's hard to believe there's a battery in this, it's so light.






The (non-removable) clip is good for clipping it to my shirt or a pocket.




Controls are basic, similar to the previous remotes: PLAY/PAUSE, FF, REW, and VOLUME.

There appears to be a microphone on the remote for Skype and maybe cellphone calls if you have a cellphone paired with it?

On the right side there's the POWER and MODE buttons, as well as the mini B USB charging port.



On the left side there's "telephone" button, which I assume is for answering incoming cellphone calls. And also a pinhole RESET button.





The remote comes with a small standard to mini B USB cable, and notice that the standard side has the notches specific to the PSPgo power adapter, meaning that you can charge the remote using the adapter or a PC.



Since this effectively turns the PSPgo adapter into a mini B USB charger, can we charge a PSP-2000/3000 with it using the USB port? Probably... but the PSPgo battery is lower capacity than those PSP models so I'm not sure how effective it would be.

Once it's paired with the PSPgo, as long as you have the BLUETOOTH® CONNECTION set to ON in your SETTINGS menu and the wi-fi switch on, it will usually connect to the remote if the remote is powered on. When it's connected you see the Bluetooth® "B" symbol in the volume bars:



When the PSPgo is connected to the bluetooth remote, the standard audio jack is disabled; plug in headphones to your PSPgo and there's no sound. And if you have BLUETOOTH® CONNECTION set to ON when you connect the PSPgo to your PC or TV using the USB, a warning message pops up that the Bluetooth will be temporarily disabled-- even if you don't have the wi-fi switch on.

So ultimately, how do things sound listening through the PSPgo bluetooth remote? Pretty good, actually. There is some background hiss-- but the earbuds I'm using are very sensitive to sound quality. You can't hear it using the stock PSP earbuds from previous remotes, for example. Even though you control the volume, you're not actually adjusting the volume on the PSPgo-- it's on the remote only. For those who complain that the PSPgo's volume isn't loud enough (a common PSP problem) this remote can boost the volume A *LOT*. You can turn up the PSPgo volume, then turn up the remote volume some more.

The range seems quite good. I think it's listed at about 30 feet, but I found it works even farther. I tested it at about 60 feet between PSPgo and remote... there were some dropouts past that range. At short range it seems fairly solid. I never keep my PSPgo too far away from me, but there are times when I walk into another room leaving it behind while listening through the remote with no problems.

I've always considered the PSP headphones remotes to be an essential accessory for me... I bought my first PSP (PSP-1001) in 2006 as an MP3 player, and the remote lets me put the PSP in my pocket and control basic functions with it clipped to my pocket. Because of the ease of control, it's actually a bit more handy than my dedicated, smaller mp3 player. But the PSP K-series are relatively big & bulky, the PSPgo is nice & small and I hoped that the bluetooth remote would return that convenience & functionality that has been missing from this model of PSP so far.

It comes close, but it's not quite as good as the previous remotes. Yes it controls the same basics, but with the previous remotes I could pause the music, and the PSP would eventually go into SLEEP MODE. Then when I was free to start listening to music again I would press PLAY on the remote and it would wake the PSP up, press PLAY again and it resumes playing where it left off.

The problem with the bluetooth remote is that it can't wake the PSPgo up from SLEEP MODE. So yeah, you use the remote to pause the music and if it's left alone for 10 minutes the PSPgo goes into SLEEP. But if you want to resume, you have to pull the PSPgo out, turn off the HOLD switch, slide it up, make sure that the remote is powered on... it's a lot more unwieldy. The big gain is that there's no cable connected to the PSPgo itself.

But the biggest problem with the Bluetooth remote is that there is a slight delay in sound; noticible when watching video. It's not so bad that it's unwatchable, but there is a very small delay. With music of course there's no problem since there's nothing to compare it to.

Then there's the additional power consumption of having the wi-fi/bluetooth switch on. It does shorten the play time of the PSPgo. The remote's power consumption seems not bad. I turn it off when my PSPgo is off (the remote will also shut off by itself if there's no signal for a period of time) I'd estimate the battery time of the remote to be about 5-6 hours.

And when you use the play/pause or track buttons, there's a BEEP through the remote, I guess to let you know it registered the button press, but it would be nice if I could disable that. There doesn't seem to be a beep when adjusting volume until you reach the maximum volume on the remote.

So this is the evolution of the PSP headphone remote. There are definite drawbacks: not being able to wake the PSPgo from SLEEP MODE is a big one. Shorter battery life for the PSPgo and having to recharge the remote is another.... it's nice that the USB cable fits into the PSPgo adapter, but that means both your PSPgo and the remote are competing for the adapter. It would've been nice if they made it a splitter so both devices could be recharged simultaneously. It's just lucky that a few days before I happened upon an open-box PSPgo adapter at Future Shop for like $4.83 or something.... I thought, "do I really need another adapter?" but at that price, what the heck, y'know? Good thing I got it so now I can charge both devices.

And like I said, there is a bit of a delay in sound, most noticible when scrolling through the XMB or watching video, though it is a very SLIGHT delay.

The big advantages to this new remote is of course not having the PSPgo physically tethered to your ears. And the remote gives you the choice of using your own headphones. Plus it adds volume on top of the PSPgo's regular volume, so that's a boost.

I don't think that bluetooth, or at least this implementation of bluetooth remote, is quite "there" yet as a proper replacement of the previous inline PSP remotes. But it's about the only choice we have for the PSPgo.



later
don

Retro Game Challenge

I've really been loving my DS lately. It's just been such a fun little gaming machine (part of that may be due to *cough*)

I just started playing Retro Game Challenge. It's a collection of old pseudo-classic games from the mid-80's. What sets it apart is how they present the collection: you (the player) are "trapped" by some insane gamer guy, who makes you play all these old "retro-style"games. But what's weird is that you are transported to this guy's past, and you're in his living room sitting beside a version of him as a child. He talks to you, and shares his game collection, magazines, etc. But then there are screens with the grown-up version of him where he's like this Matrix-style guy crossed with the professor-head-guy from Brain Age, and he sort of mildly taunts you... it's all very weird, but actually quite a cool way to package this collection.

There are about 8 retro games that are knockoffs of actual '80's videogame genres; like there's a total Galaga clone, an platforming game series, another shmup (space shoot-em-up) like Galaga, a racing game much like Rally-X, there's even an old-style RPG game.... and you'd think these knockoffs would be throwaway versions without much thought to them. But they are actually quite good games in their own right. To progress in the overall game you need to complete challenges in the retro games, like do some obscure action in a game or score a certain number of points. The challenges can be challenging, but they haven't felt cheap so far. That's what makes Retro Game Challenge a step above other compilations-- the games are pretty solid. And there's the overall story arc of being transformed back into a kid playing these games in front of an old TV with a "frienemy" (on the lower screen) who not only talks to you about things like "shovelware", but also shares new issues of a video game magazine you can read in game... and you want to read them because they contain cheat codes and hints about the games you play. Not to mention the funny little digs at '80's gaming. It's terrific stuff.

My complaints are minor ones, the biggest being the lack of variety for this collection.... only 8 games I think, and some are sequels of earlier games in the collection-- so technically there's only 6 or so different games. Doesn't sound like much but at least they're good. And the overall story arc of the 2 kids (one of them being you, the player) talking about video games in the '80's can sometimes be corny and tedious, though it's worth it because it really reminds us of the fun & wonder of the early video game era.

It's clear that the developers of Retro Game Challenge love video games, and their nostalgia of the 8-bit era really shows through in this collection. If you like those old classic compilations, this is one to check out. It's got a lot of primitive charm that keeps me hooked.


later
don

Nintendo Game & Watch series - Donkey Kong II

The other day I had to do some cleaning out of a storage room, and I came across one of my old handheld system from waaaaay back. Presenting from Nintendo's Game & Watch series-- Donkey Kong II! (click on pics to view larger)



I like how on the bottom right corner it says "MULTI SCREEN".... hmm, is that something like.... Dual Screen???

We all know that Sony recycled the basic design of the PSPgo from the Sony Mylo.... but it's clear here that Nintendo is no stranger to recycling designs themselves. When I first saw the DS Lite I was immediately reminded of my old Donkey Kong II game, but I couldn't remember where it was.... so today I decided to compare the two.



The game premise of Donkey Kong II is that Donkey Kong Jr. must rescue his dad, who's chained on the top screen by Mario! I know Donkey Kong kinda deserved it after kidnapping Mario's (then) girlfriend Pauline and throwing all those barrels down on him in the original Donkey Kong game, but who knew Mario was so vindictive??



DK Jr throws a key from the bottom to the top screen, then jumps over snappers, electric sparks and once at the top screen he throws the key again (randomly) to one of the 4 chain's locks. He dodges ravens as he climbs up the vine (can't go from vine to vine, only straight up/down) and unlocks each chain one at a time until all 4 are done. Then Donkey Kong falls off the side of the platform he's on and DK Jr catches him! The cycle repeats.

There are 2 difficulty settings: "Game A" and "Game B". The graphics are LCD cutouts, and there's no backlight, so you need really good lighting to see things properly. And that's about all there is to it. Oh yeah-- when not playing the game, it shows the time, and there's an alarm setting as well. What more do you need from a handheld in the mid-'80's?

My DK II handheld has a broken clasp; it was originally a thin plastic clasp on the top panel that snapped the 2 panels locked. I remember it having a white discoloration from the plastic being stressed. I'm not sure how it broke off completely... must've happened in storage.

It takes 2 LR-44 watch/calculator batteries in it, which I picked up from London Drugs. Since there's not real "graphics" to speak of, I imagine the power consumption requirements are pretty low and it should have a fairly long battery life.

A fun little memory burn and a reminder that I've been a handheld addict for a lot longer than getting my first PSP in 2006.....


UPDATE: there's actually a flash version of the game! That's pretty cool, that's pretty much what it is like, though the colours aren't as vivid.


later
don

The PSP in China

For the first few weeks I didn't see any PSP stuff when I was in China. At first I was in the outskirts of Shenzhen, then toured around Shanghai a little, and spent a bit of time in Fujian province. Now I wasn't exactly in electronics areas... but even in the department stores there seemed to be not much PSP stuff, I saw a lot of cellphones, and a variety of cheap mp3/mp4 players. I even saw "mp5"(?) players... I'm not sure what that means.

But near the end of my trip, I did manage to see a bit of PSP stuff. Well, the consoles mainly. But it was in Huaqaing Bei and in Hong Kong where I really saw PSPs & UMD games.

I mentioned in Huaqaing Bei that there was a little shack where the owner was trying to activate a TIFF exploit of some sort on a PSP-3000. I'm not up on the latest exploits or custom firmwares, but I believe that there's currently only limited (custom) firmware ability on a PSP-3000.

In Guangzhou, not only did I see some PSPs (not many UMD games though) I also saw PSP magazines.... man I wish I'd bought one as a souvenir.... at least one of these magazines appeared to be weekly(!)-- can you imagine a weekly PSP magazine? Wow. But what was more shocking was that I saw magazines dedicated to hacking the PSP. And these weren't just shady printed-out-of-someone's-basement type of underground magazines, these were glossy professionally printed mags. I don't read Chinese, but when they have M-33 printed in big bold english on the cover, you get the picture. Flipping through them, I saw "Chick-HEN" and I'm sure other references to modding PSPs.

So finally I'm in Hong Kong.... this is THE place to find electronics, right? And of course, I saw PSP stuff, even PSP UMD games. All through my trip I was searching for a PSP game: Macross. I kept coming up empty, no one knew what I was talking about. In Hong Kong, I came across one store, a great little toy shop at the airport that I *wished* I had more time to explore-- they had mecha toys, Godzilla toys ( just hitting all my buttons!) and PSP UMD games (as well as DS games)-- and the worker there at least knew of it. He said it was a "very old" game, and they don't carry it. Oh well.

Anyway, I'm in Hong Kong and I wanted to see if I could acquire a modded PSP. I know that it's probably fairly easy to DIY, just buy a Pandora's Battery & a cheap memory stick I suppose. But I did see some sweet looking PSPs. There were quite a few of the Carnival Colours, and I saw my fave, the pearl white PSP-3000. Oooooo. Do I need a 5th PSP? Sure don't-- but I can't help but be dazzled by it's beauty. The prices for PSPs overall in China and in Hong Kong were about the same as here, maybe a bit less. But I didn't have time to hit Hong Kong's electronics area, "Computer City", so no new PSP for me.

I was surprised to come across an HMV store in Hong Kong. And they sold PSP stuff, I bought Pixel Junk Monsters, a limited edition UMD version that comes with a little cellphone charm. I dunno, I bought it for the novelty value, and it was cheap. I also bought a Gundam game, which I haven't even played yet, again just to fill the mech-game hole left by not finding that Macross game, and it was fairly cheap, again novelty factor.

But one interesting thing about PSP sales in the big stores in Hong Kong is that if you want to buy a console, you must buy AT LEAST one game along with it. You can't go into the HMV (or other legitimate big store like Fortress) and just buy a PSP system alone. Why is that? I'm not sure, but I guess it's their way of combating buying a console just to hack it? That doesn't exactly make sense, but I can't think of any other reason....

So I'm in the HMV in Hong Kong, which looks like most other big HMVs I've been in like in Vancouver or something, and there's this kid, maybe a teen, who's talking english but he looks & sounds like he's from Dubai. He's talking with his dad & mom about buying a PSP, and he's looking at the models. The PSPgo is also displayed alongside the PSP-3000's, and he points & says, "that one isn't hackable, is it?" So this Dubai family is talking about which PSPs are hackable, and the kid gets on his cellphone to phone a friend to confirm which models are hackable "to put games on"! This seems like just an "average" family, yet they are aware of the hackable rep of the PSP.

All this makes me wonder whether all the panic from third-party game pubs & devs about PSP piracy is maybe justified. I know there's a considerable hacker scene here, but I still think that in North America the average PSP buyer is not aware of custom firmware. But just from my casual experiences in China they seem a lot more aware.

It's really interesting though, that the PSP is a little more higher-profile in China, I saw more people with PSPs than I usually see here in Canada. There was a bored street vendor playing a PSP-3000, I look over and say, "Monster Hunter 2!" and he nods. I saw a few guys playing some multiplayer game in AD-HOC, one had a PSP-1000, the other had a PSP-2000 I believe. Nobody's using the PSPgo, I did show it off to a guy in Guangzhou, and he was freaking out about how cool it was, but then he asked, "can you hack it?" and I had to let him down about that. Then his girlfriend came up, he showed it to her, and guess what her question was.

Her followup statement was, "buying the [digital download] games is too expensive"... Sony should really be paying attention to the overall motivations for custom firmware. Yes we all like free, but maybe the prices of games is also a factor, right?

I was really glad to have found a 16GB M2 (memory stick micro) for my PSPgo at the Sony Store in Hong Kong. As I'm buying it, my dad asks the cashier in Cantonese, "This isn't a fake, right?" to which she replied, (basically) "Umm, we're the Sony Store, we don't deal in fakes!".... so that was funny.



later
don