Archive for April, 2011

The Sony Xperia Play

Posted: April 30, 2011 by Sk4zZi0uS in Android, Consoles
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Ok so today we have a wee treat for the mobile gamers out there… The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play
So what exactly is the Xperia Play? Well its a handheld gaming smartphone produced Sony Ericsson running Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), the device is the first device to be part of the PlayStation Certified program which means that it is able to play PlayStation Suite games. The Play started shipping globally in March 2011, with a launch lineup of around 50 titles, most of which are games already found on the android market that have been tweaked to make use of teh built in controls rather than on screen controls usually found in touch screen phone games.

The device is a horizontally sliding phone, slider below resembles the slider of the PSP Go. The slider features a D-pad in an indented area on the left side, a set of standard PlayStation buttons in an indented area on the right, a long rectangular Touchpad in the middle, start and select buttons in an indented area on the bottom right corner, an option button on the bottom left corner as well as two shoulder buttons (L and R) on the back of the device. The original form, has a long rectangular touch screen, as well as four buttons below, a back button, an option button, a home button and a search button. The device features a 1 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a Qualcomm Adreno 205 GPU, a display measuring 4.0 inches (854 × 480), a 5 megapixel camera, 512 MB RAM, 512 MB internal storage, and a microUSB connector. It supports microSD cards, as opposed to the Memory Stick Pros used in PSP consoles.

Inside the box you’ll find a 16GB memory card, a screen protector, a Greenheart USB charger, a car USB charger, two USB cables, headphones and a 1500mAh battery.

I’m planning on using this as an pocket emulation platform as the Android market has a stack of old school console emulators available to download. Why didn’t I just do this on my Nexus One? Simple… The touch screen on the nexus one sucks and has trouble translating multi touch gestures when finger positions cross axis on the screen.

I will take a crack at some of the PsOne games when more become available.

Anyway take a look at the video. So far its a cracking phone but it does worry me when a company bundles in a screen protector. I like my devices to be able to survive without little extras and it should that sony has very little faith in the screen of this device. Could it be a scratch magnet?

the.Nerd.view: Doctor Who

Posted: April 30, 2011 by jakejaylee in Uncategorized
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The Silence? Really? Your kidding me right. It’s all some kind of joke. I mean, instead of being back one of the all time greatest Doctor Who baddies in the form of Omega, who’s MO is to take control of the TARDIS and make people hear voices, you sided with a new bad. The Silence, one of the worse names I have ever, ever heard.

Yes, I was one of those people you watched the end of the last season and said to myself: “Awesome the Big Bang gives the writers a way to start the universe again with the Time Lords and Daleks still alive and kicking, without the Time War bullshit. Without shoe-horning the Daleks into the show every fucking season!”

Also, the classic bads kick the ass of the new. That’s a fact.

I mean if they didn’t why do the shoe-horn the Daleks into every new season. Even though by the storyline they shouldn’t be there. It makes no sense. I can’t wait for the Cybermen to return, because they have to use the classic Cybers or again it will make no bloody sense. Then again I guess these days the writers on Doctor Who care more about the mindfuck than the storyline.

Who is River Song? I know, she’s River Song, that’s her name. As she says, her timeline is going in the other way to the Doctor, why can’t she just be River Song. Why does she have to be Amy’s child. You know, that child with the regeneration powers. Oh wait, what?Again with the mindfucks.

I love Doctor Who, always have. When I watch the show I don’t tend to care or notice these issues, when I come from the TV and think about what I have seen, it doesn’t make sense…

Fruit Ninja (Android) Review

Posted: April 29, 2011 by jakejaylee in Android
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Ah, Fruit which is of course healthy for you. Ninjas which are cool to almost all nerds, along with Zombies, Squirrels and so on. So why not mix the two together for make an additive little time waster game? And yes, that is all this game is, a simple time waster, a highscore game with Open Feint support for both achievements and online scoreboards.

There are 3 modes on the Android version of the game: Classic, Arcade and Zen. Classic is the normal mode and more or less fruit fly up on-screen and you have to swipe across the fruit to cut it in half to get points, if you miss 3 times or hit a bomb it’s game over. Some good timing and some “skill” can grant you multipliers, but they do sometimes feel a tad random on my ZTE Blade.

Arcade is about the time, but instead of lifes you have a time limit and bombs often remove ten points from your score. Every so often you will get a chance to swipe a special fruit which can lead to a massive amount of fruit on-screen to slowing the clock and so on. For high scores Arcade is really the meat of the game. Then there is Zen, it’s more about relaxing with a cool 90 seconds, no life limit and no bombs, a mode for those who just want to kill some fruit.

All of the modes have Open Feint online scoreboards and this is a great thing. You can focus on your friends list and try to be the best out of your group or you can try to be the best in the world, the choice is yours. This really adds replay valve, as does the achievements which will really talk to the hunters out there, but really they don’t add that much to the game.

The graphics are great and the whole game runs very smooth on my ZTE Blade, which is a lower end phone, but I have overclocked it. I have played the game on a iPhone before and I can say that it is easily on par with that version on my phone. The splatter of fruit juice against the background is awesome and the sounds play to this factor.

Easily one of the great time killer games on par with the likes of Angry Birds but Fruit Ninja does lack the content and if it lacked the online scoreboards I don’t think the game would be worth the money. At the current price of £0.74p it’s a great game to have, yes I know Angry Birds is free on Android- The adverts are a pain in the arse! On it’s own merits, Fruit Ninja is a fun, but small game that is worth it’s asking price.

Score 8 out of 10.

That Email….

Posted: April 29, 2011 by jakejaylee in Consoles
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Here it is, a full unedited copy of the email Sony has sent out. Just incase you don’t get a chance to get one yourself!

 ”Valued PlayStation Network/Qriocity Customer:

We have discovered that between April 17 and April 19, 2011, certain PlayStation Network and Qriocity service user account information was compromised in connection with an illegal and unauthorized intrusion into our network. In response to this intrusion, we have:

1)     Temporarily turned off PlayStation Network and Qriocity services;

2)     Engaged an outside, recognized security firm to conduct a full and complete investigation into what happened; and

3)     Quickly taken steps to enhance security and strengthen our network infrastructure by re-building our system to provide you with greater protection of your personal information.

We greatly appreciate your patience, understanding and goodwill as we do whatever it takes to resolve these issues as quickly and efficiently as practicable.

Although we are still investigating the details of this incident, we believe that an unauthorized person has obtained the following information that you provided: name, address (city, state/province, zip or postal code), country, email address, birthdate, PlayStation Network/Qriocity password and login, and handle/PSN online ID. It is also possible that your profile data, including purchase history and billing address (city, state, zip), and your PlayStation Network/Qriocity password security answers may have been obtained. If you have authorized a sub-account for your dependent, the same data with respect to your dependent may have been obtained. While there is no evidence that credit card data was taken at this time, we cannot rule out the possibility.  If you have provided your credit card data through PlayStation Network or Qriocity, to be on the safe side we are advising you that your credit card number (excluding security code) and expiration date may have been obtained.

For your security, we encourage you to be especially aware of email, telephone, and postal mail scams that ask for personal or sensitive information. Sony will not contact you in any way, including by email, asking for your credit card number, social security, tax identification or similar number or other personally identifiable information. If you are asked for this information, you can be confident Sony is not the entity asking.  When the PlayStation Network and Qriocity services are fully restored, we strongly recommend that you log on and change your password.  Additionally, if you use your PlayStation Network or Qriocity user name or password for other unrelated services or accounts, we strongly recommend that you change them, as well.

To protect against possible identity theft or other financial loss, we encourage you to remain vigilant to review your account statements and to monitor your credit or similar types of reports.

We thank you for your patience as we complete our investigation of this incident, and we regret any inconvenience.  Our teams are working around the clock on this, and services will be restored as soon as possible. Sony takes information protection very seriously and will continue to work to ensure that additional measures are taken to protect personally identifiable information. Providing quality and secure entertainment services to our customers is our utmost priority.  Please contact us at www.eu.playstation.com/psnoutage should you have any additional questions.

Sincerely,
Sony Network Entertainment and Sony Computer Entertainment Teams

Sony Network Entertainment Europe Limited (formerly known as PlayStation Network Europe Limited) is a subsidiary of Sony Computer Entertainment Europe Limited the data controller for PlayStation Network/Qriocity personal data”

The PlayStation Issue.

Posted: April 27, 2011 by jakejaylee in Consoles
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In our first ever podcast for The Big Nerd Show me and Sh4z ripped apart the whole PlayStation issue by pointing out that the PSN users shouldn’t bitch about something they get for free and that Sony mishandled the hacking story by pulling the plug on PSN for over 7 days but things have now changed and it turns out that PSN was indeed hacked, massively hacked. Personal details, including Credit Card details may have been stolen and as someone who does have a PSN account, be it for the PSP Store and has used my Debt Card on it should I worry, should gamers as a whole worry and also a deep look at how Sony (mis)handled PSN.

Stories that effect nerds often don’t touch the main media, outside of some PR bullshit for Call Of Duty or the next console on the market. It was a shock to wake up today, turn on BBC News 24 as apart of my morning pre-work day to see that Sony and PlayStation was everywhere. I already knew what was going on because of Twitter, but this was insane, “experts” in console gaming were on morning prime time News talking about PlayStation. Talking about how this could destroy the PlayStation brand and the public trust in Sony.

The night before this happened I had been talking with my wife, Cheryl, about getting a PS3 for a week on trail to see what she thinks. To see what I think. I installed the PlayStation app on my Android phone and within 12 hours we both agreed that it wasn’t ever going to happen and I uninstalled the PlayStation app. I work in a busy, city centre workplace with the public and I had customers talking to me about how they are going to leave the PlayStation 3 for the Xbox 360. Some of these customers I have seen for years and they we’re trying to talk me into getting a PlayStation 3, now it’s don’t ever touch it again!

I tweeted about getting a Sony NGP, that’s not going to happen. A Android based tablet is all I want and Sony’s PlayStation Suite Software will be kept miles away from it. It’s a shame, but this is more about personal details than good games. People can and more than likely will be harmed in one way or the other over this. Be it in their credit score or their bank account.

This whole thing was poorly handled by Sony from the get go. Turning PSN offline without notice, waiting close to 7 days to say that it’s been hacked and then, at the end that players personal detail may have been lifted. It’s sick and Sony does that to answer for it, I know there maybe fan boys reading this and they say; “No Sony doesn’t own you anything!”

Don’t they?

Really?

My last address and a old bank account was linked to my PSN account. Sony should tell me why they let this happen. In a world of firmware updates, why wasn’t it picked up before and patched? Sony does owe us a lot of answers, because without then, the trust is gone and a lot of players will leave them. Answer us quick and tell the truth.

This reckless issue will dog Sony and PlayStation for years…

Games That Made Me… Part One.

Posted: April 26, 2011 by jakejaylee in Games That Made Me
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I was going to upload a nice little video of myself playing DOOM, with my voice talking about why I love the game. However after two tries, two of which failed because of some weird issue with FRAPs and my headset I can’t pick up my own voice and I’m going to have to look again tomorrow when I’m more awake and I hope, less ill (I have a chest infection).  I think it’s bet to do a written up part of this new season of posts for The Big Nerd Show and in this post I will be talking about the games that came before DOOM. The games that I got started on with the PC!

It’s best to say that Mario didn’t do anything for me and nor did Sonic. Could of been down to the awful 90s cartoons, who knows. I did have a platform hero of my own and believe it or not, it wasn’t Duke Nukem. It was Jazz Jack Rabbit. It’s one of the many games that make me miss Shareware, because money was great growing up and I had to grab Shareware. Something that has died over the year. Due to the Internet. Huh, does the decline in Shareware and the rise of illegal game download crossover I wonder…

I remember playing that Jazzed up Rabbit on a black and white screen laptop, screen blur was the normal and that didn’t matter at all. The game was fast, there was guns… It sounds like an Epic Game… It was Epic Games, Epic MegaGames back then and yes Cliffy B helped make it. Other games from back when included Wolfenstein 3D, Blake Stone and Dizzy. All great DOS games that really haven’t done much (well, OK Wolf3D still lives).

All of these games where the type of thing that grow me as a gamer, playing on a 486 with little RAM and often from a floppy disk as the hard drive was small and DOS back when was large. The games that follow from this point really made me as I am now. DOOM, Monkey Island, Duke Nukem 3D, Rise Of The Triad, Elder Scrolls Arena, Fallout and so on. As you can see First Person started to take over and by the time we had real full 3D games like Unreal and Quake that’s where I really took of into the world of Pro Gaming. I still live in the shadow of these games. Portal 2 was my main love and that stems from the love from Valve made in the fire of Half Life. Duke Nukem Forever has taken forever but is nearly here and the Elder Scrolls go without needing a whisper.

After playing over 200 hours of Fallout 3 and more than 66 hours of Fallout New Vegas and this based of what I played as a child. Also, as I played as a child on a keyboard and then added the mouse.  Never using a controller and people wonder why I’m not much of a console person. PC Gaming is a way of life, so is console. It’s not about what you play on, it’s about what is right for you so stop bitching when someone you know doesn’t use the same system.

The Big Nerd Show EP 0.5 – It can only get better

Posted: April 24, 2011 by Sk4zZi0uS in Podcast
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In this special Beta podcast Jelly.Zero and Sk4zZi0uS rip apart the whole PSN Offline Story, how short Portal 2 really is, some more talk on consoles (sorry) and how some servers in Counter Strike Source can become a dirty pub.

Squirrels! And Hello from The One and Only (untill the clones) Jelly Zero!

Posted: April 24, 2011 by jakejaylee in About Me
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Just made my mind up to write a short “About Me” post: I’m a Former Pro PC Gamer of the Old Days (Quake, Q2, Q3, UT, CS, TF, etc), now married and a “real” job. Boo. I’m gong through IVF treatment (we want mini-me’s). I’m a Android based phones and I’m not, I repeat not a iPhone/iPod/Apple fan at all, ever, shut up. I love squirrels, infact I believe one day Squirrels will run this blog and steal our voices for Podcast, the webshow we be our dead bodies used like Muppets… You know the truth, can you live with it?

That’s about it for now.