FINAL FANTASY XIV @ E3:

-T- here! Here’s the report for FINAL FANTASY XIV at E3 2010! Lots of answers, and many leaked pictures that I forgot to post. I’ve explained the character creation and demo videos in detail. It’s basically just following along in the video. Notice that you can change the bust size in character creation…. more on that below in the character creation section! The YouTube videos are uploaded in HD, double click to view full screen!
——————————

1) Overall Impression

2) Guiding through E3 Video 1 (character creation- bust sizes changeable?! read for more!)

3) Guiding through E3 Video 2

4) Questions and Answers I found:

5) Summary of Facts Tidbits from E3(ZAM compiled this)-ZAM article, click to read

6) Leaked Images- All Mithra/Miqo’te NPC’s, and most Alpha test monsters, and more. Read the rest of this entry

          

Hi!  It’s -B- here.
I’m just a casual girl gamer so don’t expect anything professional from me.

I recently finished playing a series of food/cooking games (specifically for the Nintendo DS) and wanted to share my journey through the cooking lessons, or other, with you.  It all started when I got my hands on the Wii game Order Up!  I had tried Cooking Mama before.  I didn’t like the game enough to play more than the first couple of recipes the one time I tried it, but I really liked Order Up!  I was drawn in by the unique and interesting characters with their kooky quirks and looks and the game’s humor.

The opening scene was amusing.  Dropped from an airplane and landing in a nice, cushy dumpster, I started off at the bottom of the restaurant business meaning I’m working as a minimum wage cook for somebody else.  At Burger Face, I learned the basics cooking burgers, of course, and making French fries using the appropriate motions and buttons with the Wii remote.  Soon after, I said goodbye to Burger Face and got my own little restaurant and continued to work my way to the top.  The key was to finish the orders in a timely fashion by learning to multi-task and giving tasks to the cooks I hired.  I let the other cooks peel the lettuce and slice the ingredients until I realized I didn’t have to grab each leaf and that the two flashing lines were a gauge telling me when I should cut!  Once I realized my mistake, I felt…silly for not getting it earlier.  By the way, are things like sugar a spice?  I guess so since it probably comes from something like sugar cane, which is a plant.  Anyway, after making Mexican, Italian, and fine dining food, you’re invited to compete in a competition.  The scenes during the event and the ending scene is outrageous and comical.  It was a pretty good way to end the game although I thought the game itself was a bit short.

I will now go over the Nintendo DS games as mini-reviews.  Enjoy. Read the rest of this entry

          

By Gophn

INTRODUCTION

Rocksteady Studios’ Batman: Arkham Asylum is the latest of the long line of Batman video games over the last two decades. However, this particular Batman game has something different in respect to almost every other… it’s actually good, or should I say AMAZING.

I have been a huge fan of the Dark Knight since the first time I read some DC comics from a local comic shop and even enjoyed the hilarious 1970’s Batman TV series.  It was not until the Batman Animated Series that a new generation of kids (including myself) saw a true representation of the chronicles of Batman and the comic history behind the Dark Knight.  That is why I felt that it was great that Arkham Asylum actually stayed true to the comic series by having DC writers and the Animated Series get together to hammer out such an amazing tribute to Batman.  Even the original voice actors (Batman, Joker, and Harley Quinn) of the Animated Series are back to breath more life into this game.

Arkham Asylum seems to pickup from a Batman comic time period after the Robin and Batgirl era.  From the title, this game will take place in the one and only Arkham Asylum (mental asylum) with all of Gotham’s most notorious crazies and professional villains. The most amazing thing about this game is the in depth storyline content of the Batman world and the great pacing that leads you from action to story twists seamlessly.  I will elaborate about the details in a moment, as well differences between this “Game of the Year Edition” and the original release.

Questions to be answered in this review:
1) If you haven’t play the original release of Arkham Asylum:
“Is this just another game with Batman?”  “Is it even worth playing or should I pass?”

2) For those that haven’t played the original release:
“What does this GOTY (Game of the Year) edition have compared to the original?” “Is it worth to buy?” Read the rest of this entry

          

Hey folks, just wanted you to know what I am up to.

I have in my possession two highly anticipated and demanded high-end Intel Core i7 Mobile notebooks.
• Clevo W860CU (aka. Sager NP8690) …… new 15.6″ with mobile Core i7 and single Nvidia GTX 280M (standard MXM 3.0B)
• Dell Precision M6500 ……. new 17″ with mobile Core i7 and single ATI FirePro  M7740 -or- Nvidia Quadro 2800M/3800M (Proprietary modules)

I will be doing my “ultra-detailed” review for each of them, as well as do a mini comparison for them. Also, I can even make service manuals for them since I took the time to document the fully disassemblies of the systems. Read the rest of this entry

          

What is a virtual OS or “Guest Operating System”?

Why would anyone one want to use a virtual machine?

What is VirtualBox?

What does VirtualBox have over the other alternatives (like VMware or VirtualPC)?

What is required to run VirtualBox on your system?

How do you setup VirtualBox on my system?

Can you do everything in a VirtualBox “Guest OS” (even 3D games)?

… Read more to find out the answers to these questions …

Read the rest of this entry

          

By Gophn

Firstly, I would like to personally thank Justin Nolte of Xotic PC in providing me with this system for testing and evaluation. I will be going over the latest in notebook (as well as desktop) technology in the new undisputed “World’s Fastest Notebook.”

This will be the most detailed and in-depth review you will ever find for notebooks on the Internet… I want to make sure you know everything that I found about any review that I will do. I believe that one should be as informed as possible for any future purchase… especially when its a high-end electronic or computer.

Read the rest of this entry

          

Better late than never. I would have done everything yesterday, but I was beat.

I had many many pics to go through and chose the ones that were not obviously bad… and I had to update the “E3 Booth Girls” post.

This is day three, I got a lot of video footage and interviews…. as well as my team taking many many pics.

Things to watch for:
- detailed booth pics
- Star Wars: Old Republic characters
- Wii MotionPlus (add-on to Wii-mote)
- Ninja Turtles
- G4 set for their coverage on E3 Live.
- Square-Enix products in nice displays
…. etc…

here are the pics of Day 3:
- I will update it with more pics and videos when I finish uploading them.

Check back and I will also make a “E3 Coverage” tab at the top of the page as well. Read the rest of this entry

          

By Gophn

INTRODUCTION

Square-Enix’s The Last Remnant is a new single player RPG (role playing game) that was just released on the PC (Windows). It was originally released for the Xbox 360 in late 2008, but this is not just a port (the same exact game, but on another system). This game has been improved and tweaked for better graphics and performance.

In the age of MMORPGs (massive multiplayer online role playing games), people find that they can endlessly play and develop their characters while feeling that something is missing… namely the narration and uniqueness of an offline RPG. It is rare that a Japanese single-player RPG with such a famed developer/publisher like Square-Enix to release a game for the PC since their bread and butter had always been console systems.

I have been a fan of Square for a long time since their days in the NES (Nintendo) & SNES (Super Nintendo) to their most recent games. Final Fantasy has always been the largest and most well-known franchise for Square, but they have released some of the most popular games and mini-series like Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Xenosaga, Kingdom Hearts, etc.

I found this game to be up to par in graphics evolution (from game to game), having amazing music scores, and an innovative fighting/battle system that seems quite epic at times. However, there are a few downfalls such as the overall design/look of the game since it feels too generic at times, the plot is kind of lacking, and other minor annoyances that I will elaborate on in a moment. Read the rest of this entry

          

By Gophn

INTRODUCTION

Uprising is an expansion to Red Alert 3, which is part of the long living RTS (real-time strategy) game series of the “Command and Conquer” world…. specifically expanding on the Red Alert series.

The interesting thing about this game was that it was announced to be a single-player expansion, which was strange for a C&C title.

Since I have been a Red Alert fan since the beginning, even getting a chance to beta test a few of them (the last one being the expansion to Red Alert 2, called Yuri’s Revenge), I had to make a review for this game. Read the rest of this entry