It’s Been A While

Hey!  You still OK?  Good.  It’s been a while since I’ve put something substantial on here and I’ve found myself with an unexpected sick day and have been sent home from work.  When did wordpress change?!  I’ve got 4 posts in unfinished draft form and to be honest they are so out of date now it would be pointless to put em up so I’ll briefly go over what I’ve left out and then more on to what I’m playing now.  So if you want to hear about Gungnir and Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time, scroll to the bottom now.

NEWS: PS3 Firmware Update Inbound

It’s been a while since we’ve had an update for Sony’s home console, so what can we expect when we turn on our machines tomorrow?

• Playstation 2 backwards compatibility
•  Improved web browser support
• Updated video codec support
• Better sorting method for music, photos and downloaded content
• Updated Media Server support eliminating the DLNA Protocol 2006 error
• Reduced number of options under the “System” tab merging common options under sensible headings

Dream on.

It’s only taken 5 years but Sony will now be implementing a sleep timer and virtual surround sound through headphones on all it’s content.

Anyone care?

Happy Nippon Ichi Monday over at Zavvi

Standard Monday happenings from Zavvi giving up to 80% off selected products.  Having a gander through as I usually do I couldn’t help noticing the sheer amount of Nippon Ichi games and how good the price was for each, so, If you’re interested then keep reading, if you’re not then go about your day.

Tales of Symphonia HD

Tales of Symphonia has been around for a while and yet I’ve never given it a fair shot.  Every time I sit down with it something else comes a long and I often get sidetracked and forget what it is I’m doing and have to start over.  This is likely to be the case with Tales of Graces as well as that is still sitting unfinished next to me.  So why a blog about Symphonia?  WELL.

Recently due to my Diablo venture I’ve splashed out on a new PC capable of playing games on full whack making the visuals look noticeably better then their console counter parts.  With that in mind I’ve applied the same to getting the most out of my old console games.

Using a Gamecube emulator and the physical disk copy of Tales of Symphonia I legitimately bought and own, I’ve been able to res up the visuals to a Vesperia and Graces standard and they look fantastic.  I’ll let you be the judge.

 

These two taken very early on in the game show the level of detail applied by the emulator.

If I find anything else particularly beautiful looking I’ll be sure to post it.

NEWS: YouTube

The Shuvlarse YouTube channel is now up and actually has a video on it now.  In response to Konami’s request earlier (Something about gaming when we were younger) I posted a short video of me playing a segment from Silent Hill 2, the Theme of Laura.

Here it is for those who care.

It’s likely Ill be doing more videos in the near future so If you’re interested then subscribe, if you’re not then don’t.

😀

E3 2012: Nintendo

You could say Nintendo had the most riding on this years E3 purely because of the new hardware.  Was it going to have 3rd party support, a strong launch window line up and actually be any good.  I’d go with yes, maybe, yes.

E3 2012: Sony

With Microsoft’s self destruction behind us we looked to Sony to follow up with what can only be described as damage limitation and to be fair, they patched up the gaping wounds left only hours earlier.  Sony’s main focus was games which ranged from new IP, to tried and tested, to down right worthless but at least there was a games presence to speak of.

E3 2012: Microsoft

E3 2012 is over and all that’s left to do is reflect on what we’ve seen and heard and decide whether or not we care.  Most of the internet has been doing something similar for the last 3 days so I’m already a little behind but here it is.  The best and the worst of E3 2012 as decided by me.

Diablo: Get Over The Bugs

So Diablo walks the earth again but maybe with a stubbed toe and a crutch as the launch has been hampered by a few technical hitches server wise and that “game crippling” bug with the Demon Hunter’s – Paladin’s Shield equip.  But seriously, for all the aggro that this will inevitably cause it seems to me at least that the internet has somewhat thrown their toys out of the pram and got their nickers in a twist over some early teething problems.  What game, regardless of always on DRM hasn’t had bugs on day one?

NEWS: Kingdom Hearts 3D 20th July

So the new Kingdom Hearts finally surfaces on the 3DS on the 20th July here in the UK and heres hoping it’s going to be the sequel we’ve all been hoping for.