New XBox Experience and Video Streaming Problem
Having trouble playing video since the latest XBox360 system upgrade? I was - and was convinced it was a bug with TVersity and transcoding. I was going to try bootcamping my old MacbookPro just so I could try WMP11 (my current Windows machine is Server 2003, hence the TVersity) when I decided to give Connect360 one more shot. Unfortunately, I got the same result with every video that I had tried under TVersity as well. I was told I didn't have the necessary software even though I had downloaded the media update many months ago.
On a whim I went to the support site for Connect360 where I ran across this tip:
I've installed the NXE Update and now my videos won't play!
Microsoft has released the long-awaited New Xbox Experience update for the Xbox 360. We have verified that Connect360 is fully compatible with the new update. The only known possible hiccup is video playback: In order to play back your videos using the updated firmware you will need to reinstall the Media Update available on Xbox Live.
So I just re-downloaded the media playback support and guess what? Everything works. I haven't tried TVersity again (the machine is powered down) but I'm sure it will be fine now as well.
I'm pretty surprised by this. I know the percentage of XBox360 users streaming video over their network is probably a minority, but you would imagine something like this would have been caught in QA.
As a quick side note, I'm not so enamored of the new UI. It's a bit too cutesy and I find some menu items a bit oddly placed (especially DVD playback). However - the "Install to Hard Drive" is priceless. I would have paid for that by itself. The speed boost isn't a heck of a lot, maybe 15-20%, but it adds up, and best of all - games play incredibly quiet now. I don't get the 'loud as a 747' fan during games.
What was "THE" game for you this year?
2007 was a banner year for video games, at least for me. With Bioshock, Call of Duty 4, Mass Effect, and Halo 3 all coming and all being, in general, "big" games, it was a great year for the consoles. (I didn't do any PC gaming at all last year.) I'm not so sure about this year.
Review: Star Wars - The Force Unleashed
Ok, so I'm a bit of a Star Wars nut and I may not be the best person to write an objective review of a Star Wars game, but I have to say Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (TFU) is easily one of the best Star Wars games I've played, and the best on the latest generation video game consoles. Read on for more...
Review: Burnout Paradise (Regained)
Way back in February I did a quick review Burnout Paradise, the first real Burnout for the next gen systems. I talked about how disappointing the races were due to the open sandbox approach of the game. Burnout has always been about speed, and once you do something to make you want to slow down, you lose something what makes Burnout fun. The further lack of a reset for races just made me want to give up - which I did.
Review: Soulcalibur IV (XBOX 360)
So I have an admission to make. I've been playing fighting games for about as long as I can remember, but I've always been more of a button masher than anything else. I may learn a move or two, but I generally just like to run into a fight and win by going crazy. That's what I call tactics. If a game allows that, then I'm happy. Soulcalibur IV was my first introduction to the series so I can't compare to any of the previous incarnations. It's also only the second fighting game on the 360 I've played. (I've got a copy of Dead or Alive as well.) So what did I think?
Review: Rock Band
So folks know I'm a big fan of the Guitar Hero series. When I first heard of Rock Band, I was pretty interested. For those who don't know - Rock Band expands upon the Guitar Hero concept by letting up to 4 people play at once. Two guys play guitar, one does drums, and another sings. I got Rock Band (thank you, you know who you are!) a few weeks ago and I've finally had time to play it a bit and share my experiences.
Forget web development, I'm becoming a gold farmer
After many years in the web development business, I've decided it's time to move on. Why? Because I think life as a World of Warcraft gold farmer will be much more lucrative and fufilling. I mean just look at the facts:
- In all my life as a web developer, I've not gained one level. After a month of WoW, I'm level 30 (half way to 31)
- How many murlocs do you get to kill when working on web pages?
- In web development, I have to deal with difficult clients ("Can you move this 5 pixels left? Now 2 pixels right"). In WoW I just kill my problems.
- ColdFusion may be rapid, but nothing is as quick as a few warrior skills (shouting and cleaving) and a good mace.
- And lastly - it's not like World of Warcraft is addictive. I can stop playing any time I want to. Really.
So that's it. No more silly "Ask a Jedi". Now it's "Ask a Warrior." No more presentations on Spry or ColdFusion Ajax support. Now I'll present on how quickly I rose through my first 20 levels. If you want personal support, just meet me on Alexstrasza. I'm Romana, the hot warrior night elf!
Review: Burnout Paradise (Lost)
When it comes to video games, one of my favorite genres are racers. I tend to divide racers into two main categories. On one side you have "serious" racers like Turismo and Forza. These games require serious skills. Every turn requires planning and you try to memorize courses and proper lines.
Review: SimCity DS
I've played many video games throughout my life, but I can think of only two that caused me to play until the sun rose. One was Civilization, in just about all it's incarnations. (I need to find a good Mac version I think.) The other game was SimCity. For those few people who don't know what SimCity is, it is a simple city simulator. You lay out various zones (residential, commercial, or industrial), lay down basic utilities, roads, etc, and then sit back and watch your city grow. If you place homes next to industries, your population will suffer. Take that along with a thousand other obscure rules and you have an amazingly fun, and addictive, little game.
When I heard that SimCity was moving to the DS, I was pretty impressed. SimCity was known to really tax a PC, especially in the later stages when your city had grown to a large size. I knew there would be some compromises, but I decided to give it a try.
Review: Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords
One of the most surprising things about the XBox 360 console is not the "big" games, but the fun little games you can play via XBLA (XBox Live Arcade). These games typically run from 5-10 dollars and are simple games. They may not have the graphics of Call of Duty or the depth of Bioshock, but they can be quite good for the price. About a month or so I finally listened to a friend who told me to check out Puzzle Quest: Challenge of the Warlords. I knew it was a puzzle game, but it was also - get this - a RPG. Now frankly - I like RPGs quite a bit, and I like puzzle games a bit, but I thought this would mix like beer and oatmeal. Turns out the game is great and easily one of the best purchases I've made on XBLA.
So how exactly do you mix a RPG and a puzzle game? The basic idea of the game is that each battle is done via a puzzle. The puzzle is simple - mix 3 or more of the same color gem. But the RPG aspect kicks in when you are look at what matching gems get you. Some gems given you a form of mana (magic points) which are distributed among four different types. Some gems give you gold or experience, and some gems do direct attacks on your enemy.
You have a few basic character classes, including your typical fighters and mages, and you can customize your name and picture. Your character also has multiple skills that affect your magic ability and fighting skills. You also have an inventory of weapons, armors, and magical jewelry you can add as well.
But wait - along with basic combat you also have a citadel (I called it my crib) that you can customize. You can capture enemies and learn spells or train them as mounts (my sexy female knight spent the game riding a giant rat). You can even craft new magical items. Oh - and you can even lay siege to cities. Once a city is captured, it will give you money once a month.
And oh yeah - there was a plot to the game as well. Something about killing some big undead dude. I'm not intentionally trying to downplay the plot. It was ok. But frankly, I just enjoyed playing the game and increasing my character stats. In ways it reminded me of Diablo. Diablo had a plot - but really it was just a fun RPG to play.
Anyway - check the game out. You can download a demo for free and the game even includes multiplayer. By the way, the screen shots below are from the PSP version. My source for screen shots didn't have any from the XBLA version which is definitely better than the ones you see here.
