Some PC Games, are better played with a Game Pad

If you are gonna play games like Shadowrun, Overlord and Halo 2 on a PC, you would be better off investing in an Xbox 360 controller rather than simply playing with your trusty keyboard and mouse combination. The reasons are pretty simple:

• Mouse-aiming is crippled in Shadowrun. You actually get penalized for accurate shooting.
  
  Quoting a Gamespy review:
  
  "The fast-aiming ability of the mouse has been negated by an accuracy penalty when aiming via mouse (as opposed to plugging in a gamepad). Abilities add either a generous auto-aim (Smartlink) or conduct area-effect (Strangle) as to negate the need for accurate shooting."
  
  
• Overlord's controls are more finely-tuned on the Xbox 360 controller, and offers more options compared to using a keyboard and mouse.
  
  Quoting a 1UP review:
  
  "Problem is you need finer control than the keyboard-and-mouse setup offers on the PC. Play enough battles requiring simultaneous attacks from a gremlin horde and your antihero, and you'll notice a huge difference when using a gamepad.
  
  As is now becoming the standard, Overlord maps its controller layout to the ubiquitous Xbox 360 pad -- the left stick moves the master, and sweeping the right stick gives total control of the minions. So if you don't already own a gamepad, add that to the price tag."
  
  
• 4 words when it comes to playing Halo 2 with an Xbox 360 controller: "Force Feedback" and "Auto Aim"
  
  Quoting a Gamespot review:
  
  "playing with a controller is a bit closer to the original console experience, right down to force-feedback support. This creates some really weird and potentially unbalanced trade-offs in multiplayer. By default, a player with a mouse will be able to turn more quickly and, if that player is skilled, more accurately than a gamepad user. Gamepad players can increase the right-stick sensitivity to turn faster, but they also get another benefit that feels downright dirty.
  
  Like the console version, the PC game employs a certain amount of auto-aim when you're using a gamepad. This makes sticking to other players for up-close shotgun blasts or melee attacks significantly easier with the gamepad, and there doesn't appear to be any way to disable it or even detect that another player is using a pad. After pumping up the gamepad's sensitivity, we found ourselves doing more damage when armed with a gamepad"

Letting Strangers Drive Your Kart

I was at the bookstore cafe again today (refer to this post) getting some Mario Kart DS WFC action when a 7-year old decided to approach and ask me what I was playing.

Seeing that I was playing a racing game, he no longer needed an answer but instead proceeded to give comments on my racing style, the opponents and the kart that I was using. The interesting part came when he asked whether he can give it a go.

As with the previous casual gaming experiment, the kid just wanted to know how to get the kart moving. He proceeded to play for more than an hour while I had coffee with the proprietor of the shop.

Matriculation

For a boy who dislike outdoor activities and cherish the phrase "home sweet home" such as myself, going for a Pre-U lifetstyle means parting with my closest friends and family.

Yes, like MOST people who appealed for entry in matriculation, I'm currently feeling nervous yet exciting right now. Nervous because I do not know what lies ahead of my path ; exciting because I can finally try to live on my own, without relying on my mom and dad.

As you can see, or probably not if you haven't view my profile yet, my hometown is in Segamat, Johor. And guess what? I got an offer to matric at Penang - KMPP (Kolej Matrikulasi Pulau Pinang)! Consider the distance which will take approx. 7 to 9 hours of car journey, going there is also a problem. In fact, I had hear comments from people saying that KMPP is one of the best matriculation center available in our country if compared with other. I don't know whether this is true, or not. However, I do agree that living in a duty free country and a country far from my hometown will definitely increase my experience by a TON.

When it comes to living outside by your own, friend is indeed played an important role. Based on this fact, I hope I will manage to find some good friends when being there. Since there is only 10% of chinese students there, I think the odd for me to live with my another 3 roommates (malay) will probably higher than living with Chinese. I'm not a person that is race discrimination. It's just... Well, it will be quite comfortable if your roommates is with the same races as you did, don't you think so too?

By the way, wish me luck ya? I'm going for KMPP due 29th May 2007. It's kinda rush for me though. Thought I can enjoy my 2 weeks of holiday. Well, guess it's fate!

Introduction

I've been playing computer games when I got my first computer during my early teens. I started off with Wolfenstein 3D, from which I got hooked to 3D shooters such as id Software's Doom, Doom II, Doom III, Quake, Quake II, Quake III Arena and Quake IV.

I am never a fan of "realistic, one shot kill, team-based" 3D shooters such as Counterstrike or Rainbow Six but when it comes to team-play in a sci-fi setting, Unreal Tournament 2004's Onslaught mode had me at hello.

Aside from 3D shooters, I also have a penchant for strategy games, be it real-time or turn-based. From building theme parks in Bullfrog's Theme Park game, I went on to building transportation networks in Chris Sawyer's Transport Tycoon. I dabbled in the SimCity series but the only title in the series to hold my attention long enough to produce a decent end-game would be SimCity 2000.

In terms of turn-based strategy games, I had my fill with Sid Meier's Civilization series in which my favourites are Civilization 2 and Civ 4. Heroes of Might and Magic 2 further expounded the appeal turn-based strategy games by making the "just one more turn" itch so much harder to scratch.

Just recently, two RTS games had grabbed my attention, Command and Conquer: Red Alert 2 and Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. Westwood Studio's (and subsequently EA's) line of Command and Conquer games have always established the bar in which other games strive to achieve or overcome. Red Alert 2 represents the perfect balance between presentation, game play and storyline which I think has not been surpassed by any RTS game yet.

Advancements in computer games such as hyper realistic graphics, physics algorithms and improved artificial intelligence have all led to increased demands for more powerful computer equipment. As a PC gamer, it is quite difficult "keeping up with the Joneses" in both technical and monetary terms. So from hardcore gamer, I decided to become a casual player. How did I do that? I bought a Nintendo DS.

This blog basically is about my Nintendo DS, and my reviews of the games that I play on it.

Two Situations

Here are some situations whereby you might find casual games on handheld consoles to be quite handy. I can only think of two at the moment.

1. Babysitting kids

The game is not for you to play with, but rather it's for the kids. If you are babysitting a hyperactive child or basically any kid that has already been exposed to video games, chances are you will have a better chance of keeping the kid occupied with a video game rather than with anything else. If your underage charge starts asking for Grand Theft Auto instead of Mario Kart DS, tell him that playing the game will make him go to hell. Kids are gullible that way.

2. Waiting for your date

Waiting is probably the activity that you do most when you are dating someone who is either a vain pot or a metrosexual. They tend to spend A LOT of time in the bathroom or in front of the dressing table before stepping out with you.

It is normal to be feeling excited over how your date will look like but this only happens at the start of the relationship, the feeling of excitement will soon be replaced with boredom. Short games on your PSP or Nintendo DS will help alleviate your suffering.

Buying on a budget

Purchasing original games can be quite expensive, not unlike supporting any other good cause. Take it this way, when someone doesn't pay for services rendered by you, it would definitely leave more than just a bitter taste in your mouth.

Nintendo DS games are in particular more expensive then their PC counterparts. Perhaps it is the materials used to manufacture those cartridges or the fact that no form of localization has been done on any of the titles on the DS or maybe it is due the lack of a large enough customer base to drive prices down.

It might seem a bit discouraging but there are some ways to stem the assault on your wallet. Here are some tips if you are on a budget:

1. Instead of "New", think "Secondhand". Pre-owned games tend to sell for much lower prices compared to their retail counterparts. No need to worry about the condition of the games because as far as original games are concerned, they are usually pretty well treated by their owners. I scour a particular Internet forum for bargains and I bought 3 games for an average of RM 60 each. A new game would cost around RM 130 a title.
   
   
2. Wait. Patience is a virtue and instead of rushing out to grab a hot new game, wait for all the hype (and price) to go down before purchasing the particular game. Besides, waiting allows you to evaluate the game in terms of reading/watching reviews and hearing what your fellow gamer friends have to say about the game. You don't want to rush into things and part with your hard-earned cash for the very latest half-baked trash.
   
   
3. Bargain Bins. From where I come from, I rarely see bargain bins for Nintendo DS games in game shops, but the same does not apply to game shops like Dubai or the online stores of Play-Asia.com and YesAsia.com. You can get bargain prices for brand new games with the benefit of free shipping as well (applies only to the online sites)!
   
   
4. Be nice to your game shop owner. This is generally for the more experienced gamer who most likely has a tendency to do his or her shopping rounds in just a few places. Make nice with the shop owner and you probably get a discount.
   
   
5. Research, research, research. Just like how location is important in real estate, it pays to do some research on how prices are for games selling in different locations where you can actually purchase them (so don't go too far). This applies if you are new to video gaming or are a casual gamer who isn't accustomed to purchasing games all the time. Why is research important? It helps a person in this kind of scenario:
   
   "Once, a guy asked in an online forum where to get a Nintendo DS and a reply came back saying he should get it from a shop he trusts. How would a guy establish a level of trust if he is totally new to video games and has not purchased anything from any video game shop in the first place?"

I hope that the above tips are helpful; I for one know they have worked well for me.

Popular Sites for Roms Download

If you are a Nintendo DS/Lite owner, have a flash cart, you would probably searched on the Internet via popular search engine such as Google.com by the keyword "NDS roms download". As you may know, you may probably having a hard time finding a ideal site which accumulate and organize all Roms with the exact order.

To make you finding NDS roms easier, I had decided to share some of the websites that offered NDS roms download to ease your searching pain.

Before linking to the websites below, there are several statements to read:-
* All sites posted and linked below does not contain malware and spyware
* All sites posted and linked below does not require you to register an account in order to download the file, unless stated with [R]
* All download speed results are tested via Streamyx 1MBPS

1. DS-ROM-NEWS [DS]

• Do not tricked by the website title "NEWS" as this site offered great amount of NDS roms for download.
  
• This site does offer 2 download sites and has a great download speed. I can reached average download speed of 40-55 kbps per file.
  
• Although this site does not has a decent user-interface or other graphic elemental design, just some plain text, it does offered every single roms that had been uploaded.
  
• The only drawback is you will need to enter image verification code for each download. It's kinda hard to tell which one is o, O or Zero (0).
  
• All roms are packed in .rar format to minimize the file size. HTTP direct download.

2. DARoms.com [General]

• Unlike DS-ROM-NEWS, this site does offered a wide range of roms to download. Ranging from GameBoy, Mame, NeoGeo, Snes, GBA and even NDS.
  
• All roms are compressed and packed by using 7zip, which indeed has a better compression ratio than WinRar. So the file size has been tremendously reduced and you can download the roms in just a couple of seconds.
  
• Great and ideal site for 56k modem users.
  
• HTTP direct download

3. NDS ROMS for DS Flash Cards [NDS]

• Strictly NDS roms only
• This site is updated only once in a while, which means you probably won't find the latest roms available for download.
• Uses eMule direct download links. User will required to install eMule before proceeding and initial a download progress
• Speed varies and depends on the total of uploaders / downloaders

4. EmuWizards [General]

• Roms ranges from popular title such as Nintendo GameBoy to Sega Saturn and Sony PS2 ISO's.
• HTTP direct link download
• Download speed is decent
• A forum had been setup to discuss and find the latest roms. Like any other forum, you had to register in order to post a thread or reply to a post.

5. RomUlation [General] - Contributed and submitted by LEVIATHAN from lowyat.net

• Frequent updates
• Roms include GBA, PSX, NDS, N64, PSP and even roms for classic console!
• Although popup may occur one time (perhaps?), it can be closed with no cookie trackback
• No registration required to download roms
  
• Clean, sleek view of rom list. Also include a sort function
• Fast and reliable download speed via HTTP protocol
  
• Forum provided to discuss the games (registration required to post)
  

If you had any other great links for roms download, please leave a comment and I'll update them as soon as possible.