PSP Go! disappointments

E3 2009 has gone by and somehow I am not surprised but disappointed on Sony. It’s about my previous post, I am half wrong and half right. Wrong because Sony will be releasing a new hardware, dubbed “PSP Go!”, right because it isn’t a new PSP.

Somehow, a PSP fan like me should be excited, but no I am not. It’s an utter dissapointment. They say it’s a new PSP, but for me, its still the same. No upgrade on capabilities, no new control scheme (no second analog stick or no touch interface or motion sensor), same resolution and same games. *sigh*.

What do we get?
- a slimmer form factor that can be very uncomfortable when you’re actually playing with it.
- a very unreliable sliding mechanism
- a smaller display size
- no UMD that means saying goodbye to your UMD game library
- harder to reach shoulder buttons
- and a heftier price tag ($250)

The PSP Go also has some redeeming factor
- the slimmer form factor can make more portable so you can slide it in your pocket
- lighter
- has bluetooth interface (hopefully you can connect your bluetooth headphones to it)
- 16GB of flash for more storage plus a Memory stick,
All these can improve its stature as a better music / video player. *sigh*.

When the rumor of the PSP Go was confirmed, I planned to buy one because of its portability, but seeing the specs, I’ll just keep my old PSP2000 and buy a decent music/video player, maybe an iPod Touch.

It’s really quite depressing that something that you’ve waited for months was quite a dissappointment. I am just wishing that the Microsoft’s Zune HD is also a gaming console. On another note, Blizzcon is nearing and hopefully I won’t be disappointed that they will announce the release of StarCraft2 there.

The truth in MyBrute

Lately the office was infested by brutes, mybrutes that is. Everyone seem to be fond of those cute little bastards who smacks each other to death in a battle simulation. It’s kinda amazing how such a very simple game, that you have little control over your character seems fun.

To those who are still oblivious, to what I’m talking about, just head over to MyBrute’s site or become my pupil by challenging my character(you wont be getting a bear but if your kind enough to give my little brute some experience points). But if you want to know more about mybrute by searching google, you’ll get sickened that there are a lot of sites that posts scams on getting a pet bear or a wolf or just a dog. It’s not actually a scam since you wont be losing money or sensitive info on these, but these are flat out lies.

Some of it says that you’ll be getting a bear or a wolf by becoming their pupil. Basically, the bear or wolf are additional weapons since their attacks are great. So having them by your side is very nifty. They’ll be asking you to level up your character till level 4 or even higher until you get a bear. But is it really true, its a big NO!!!!!! Getting a pet bear is totally random. Random, as in can’t be determined by whatever you do.

So what do they get by recruiting you? There are rewards if you have a pupil. The first on every unique IP that created a character by becoming your pupil, the master will get 1 experience points. And every time that pupil level, the master will also get 1 experience points. After every unique IP, they’ll have 5 extra experience points if they push you until level 4.

It’s really quite sickening how people will deceive you in the Internet nowadays. As for me I’m just asking a favor and telling you flatout, that you cannot get a bear or a wolf by being my pupil. If your just kind enough to donate a few experience points, well, thank you very much.

OK, back to the experience points given by your pupils. From what I’ve observed, it’s really the 1st brute that a certain IP has pupiled on you that will give you the extra experience. Here’s what I’ve tried:
1. On a fresh computer(haven’t accessed mybrute/no character) on a fresh IP. Got experience.
2. On a fresh computer with IP that already created a mybrute character. No experience.
3. Different browsers. No experience.
4. Using Google Chrome’s Incognito Window. No experience.
5. Used a proxy server. No experience(maybe because some had already used it) and some proxy servers can’t register brutes.

Well, that’s it for now. I’ll be trying out some methods to figure out how to get extra experiences without deceiving anyone. Enjoy my rant. And happy MyBrute-ing.

Welcoming the Jackalope(Ubuntu 9.04, Jaunty Jackalope)

Yes, finally, I’ve gotten my hands on to Ubuntu’s latest iteration, 9.04, or the Jaunty Jackalope. It was released last April 23, 2009 but unfortunately, I just happen to install it today, April 25, because I was stuck at the office doing some extra work. *sigh*. It’s Canonical tenth release of the distribution and will be supported until October 2010. By the way, its the fourth Ubuntu distro that I had used.

After downloading the ISO, I ran my Unetbootin and installed the installer on my usb flash disk. BTW, unetbootin is a program that allow you to copy the installers of linux distros onto your portable drive or even your hard disk, eliminating the need of burning the ISOs unto a CD/DVD. And it’s much faster installing through your flash drives and hard disks. Anyways, I restarted and booted up my installer, clicked and Install icon on the desktop, choosed which partition to install to, changed keyboard, language, time zone, then it moved on to the installation part. After 10 minutes or so, the laptop rebooted, and next thing I know, Ubuntu 9.04 was installed. That’s one hassle free installation of an OS.

I was greeted by a revamped login screen, very sleek indeed. Though the installation was very easy, getting me up and running on my laptop was quite tedious. I tend to reinstall the whole OS when I’m upgrading with Ubuntu(that’s what I was accustomed to since 7.04). Good thing there was the Synaptic Package manager. There’s a ton of program that I need, including the driver for my video card. After installing the driver, the Compiz fusion effects that I growned to love with Ubuntu is back. And also the psptoolchain for my homebrew development.

So what’s good about this new release. Here’s some that I know.
1. Gnome 2.26. It got the Brasero as the default burning utility and improved handling of multiple monitors with an updated gnome-display-properties. The later was great for me since I often used multiple monitors with laptop.
2. New notification system implemented, very much sleek and less obtrusive.
3. X.org server 1.6. I don’t know much detail about this, but will surely have improvements, graphics wise.
4. Wacom tablet hotplugging. I don’t use this stuff.
5. Boot performance. It’s a bit faster than 8.10.
6. Linux kernel 2.6.28. We don’t know much about the kernel, do we?
7. Ext4 filesystem support. It now supports 1 exabyte files( I don’t even have 1 terrabyte hardrive.)
8. Cloud computing. Not interested.
9. Computer Janitor. Quite a decent way to clean up softwares. I usually don’t remove unneeded applications, and the only time that my Ubuntu is clean is when I install a new version. Very useful for someone like me that tries out many application.

My verdict: for those, who doesn’t want the hassle of upgrading your Ubuntu, it’s not that very feature packed. But the new feel and look, is very much welcome. Still a nice release for Canonical.

Karmic Koala is slated for release in October 2009. I hope that it provides more feature than Jackalope.

It’s been a year of brewing games

Time surely flies fast. It’s already been a year since I started homebrewing games for the PSP. I’ve only released one game but, it surely did a lot for me. It’s time for me to reflect, what drive do I have to continue with PSP homebrew development?

More than a year ago, I planned to buy me a PSP. I bought it so that I can keep my self occupied with when I commute to work. I spent 3-4 hours a day on the bus, and that’s a lot of time wasted. That’s where the PSP comes in, during those 3-4 hours a day, I can play games, read some ebooks, watch some movies and tv shows, and listen to mp3’s. But what really compelled me to buy a PSP, was to develop games.

Playing games was very fun indeed. Yet, somehow I also found that programming was equally fun. So, why not make games, playing is fun and programming is fun, if I add them, would they be twice the fun. Hell yeah it does. Yes, making PC games was good, but there were already a plethora of games out there. I want people to play my games too. It’s quite a great redeeming factor that after you toiled for hours for your creation, that somehow, someone will appreciate it.

I need a platform where I would have the better chance that more will be able to play my games. And there I saw the chance with the homebrew psp scene. Right after I got my credit card, I immediately got my PSP.

After four months of studying, I released Tweexter. It was indeed, good to have some people appreciate your work. Though the downloads were just over a thousand(I wasn’t able to count the other downloads offsite), it still good.

But somehow it felt a little shallow. It’s quite incomplete, and being a true game developer was the thing can make this complete.

I entered Anino Games. With Anino, I was able to have a chance to develop a DS game. And after five months, I was able to move to Gameloft. After I’ve become a real developer, now I’m craving to develop more on homebrew. Because, I wasn’t really able to make a homebrew game during my employment.

Now, I’m going back to my roots, the homebrew development. I just need to find my time, to develop my game.

Anyways, why did I chose homebrew game development over PC games?

First, the demand is greater int the PSP platform. I’ve been thinking of moving to PC game development because of the existence of some great free game engine, but still the number of games and the exposure will be less compared to those that I can achieve being in the PSP platform. We PSP fans could not watch our beloved console die. The games is dismal, but the console is great. I also considered moving to iPhone/iPod game development, but the device is not really meant for games. Yeah, you could get away with some novel gameplay, but it’s only for that. The traditional gameplay doesn’t work with it. Very disappointing indeed(watchout for my next post regarding why iPhone is still too you to beat Nintendo and Sony in the portable game console race). And there’s so much iPhone games in the appstore that I doubt that I could get 1000 people to play my game. Remember my reason that I want more people to play my game and appreciate it. Just a little thank you is enough reward for me for making a game.

Second, making a game with the PSP is still hard enough, with very little tools to help you by. It is more rewarding to finish a game that you work so hard to complete.

It’s only two, but enough to drive me forward to make games. Maybe after I finish this game that I am working on, I will be moving to the PC game scene. But it is still hard to tell, since I’m cooking up more than two ideas for my PSP games.

Thanks for, once again, wasting a few minutes of your time reading my rant.

Starcraft 2 Update: Battle Report 2

There is still no news when Starcraft II will be released. But for me any Starcraft II news is still good news. Hearing(it’s actually reading) it is like drinking a cold water after passing through a desert. It’s another Battle Report with the Terrans duking it out with the Zergs.

If only the cheat “operation CWAL” works against Blizzard. *sigh*. Even if the game won’t come out this year, it will be very pleasing to know when it will be out. Hopefully, at 2009’s Blizzcon, the announcement will be made.